John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 4

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel
Or was "known", as the Targum, the word of prophecy by him, which related to what befell Eli and his family; this was spread throughout the land, and everyone almost has knowledge of it, and which began to be fulfilled in the war between Israel and the Philistines, later related; or the doctrine, instructions, and exhortations of Samuel to the people of Israel, were by the means of others conveyed throughout the land; and yet they went into measures which proved fatal and ruinous to them; or the word of Samuel, which was from the Lord, came to Israel, to stir them up to go to war with the Philistines, whereby the punishment threatened to Eli's family would begin to have its accomplishment:

now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle ;
according to the word of Samuel, or of the Lord by him; though Ben Gersom thinks they did this of themselves, which was their sin, and did not ask counsel of the Lord, nor of Samuel his prophet; but it seems as if the Philistines were the aggressors, and first came forth to war against them, and they went out to meet them ^F1 , as the word is, and defend themselves as it became them: this was forty years after the death of Samson, and at the end of Eli's government, who judged Israel so many years, when they had recruited themselves, and recovered their losses they sustained by Samson; and when they perceived a new judge was raised up among the Israelites, who was likely to be of great service to them, and to prevent their authority over them, and therefore thought to begin with them as soon as possible:

and pitched beside Ebenezer ;
a place so called by anticipation, and had its name from an later victory obtained, when Samuel set up a stone between Mizpeh and Shen, and called it by this name, (1 Samuel 7:12) , it signifies a stone of help:

and the Philistines pitched in Aphek ;
a city in the tribe of Judah, bordering on the Philistines, (See Gill on Joshua 12:18).

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: (tarql) "in occursum", Pagninus, Montanus.

And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel,
etc.] Prepared for battle, and put themselves in a posture for it; formed themselves in a line of battle, and so invited and challenged the Israelites to fight them:

and when they joined battle;
engaged with each other, the Israelites doing the same, putting themselves in a proper form and posture for fighting; or "the battle was spread", or "spread itself" ^F2; that is, as the Targum, they that made war were spread; the soldiers were placed in order for battle, to the right and left, which took up on both sides a large space; though Abarbinel understands this in a very different sense, and takes the word to have the same signification as in (Psalms 78:60), where it has the sense of forsaking; and so here the Israelites forsook the battle, and fled, which brought on their destruction, flight being, as the Jews say ^F3, the beginning of fall or ruin, as it follows:

Israel was smitten before the Philistines;
they had the worst of it and were beaten:

and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men;
so many fell upon the spot, in the field.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: (hmxlmh vjtw) "et diffusum est praelium", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius.
• F3: Misn. Sotah, c. 8. sect. 6.

And when the people came into the camp
At Ebenezer, where they pitched their tents, and from where they went out to battle, and whither they returned after their defeat:

the elders of Israel said, why has the Lord smitten us today
before the Philistines ?
they were right in ascribing it to the Lord, who had suffered them to be defeated by their enemies, but it is strange they should be so insensible of the cause of it; there was a reason ready at hand, their sins and iniquities were the cause of it, the corruption of manners among them, their neglect of bringing their offerings to the Lord, and the idolatry that many of them were guilty of, at least secretly, (1 Samuel 2:24) (7:3).

To punish them for which, they were brought into this war, and smitten in it; and yet they wonder at it, that so it should be, that they the people of God should be smitten before Heathens and uncircumcised Philistines; and the rather, since they went to battle with them according to the word of the Lord by Samuel; not considering that they went into this war without humiliation for their sins, and without praying to God for success, and that it was intended as a correction of them for their offences against God:

let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us ;
in which the law was, sometimes called the covenant between God and them; and which was a symbol of the divine Presence, for want of which they supposed they had not the presence of God with them, and so had not success; and the rather they were encouraged to take this step and method, because that formerly Israel had success against their enemies when the ark was with them, (Numbers 31:6) (Joshua 6:6) though no doubt in this there was an overruling providence of God, by which they were led to take such a step as this, in order to bring the two sons of Eli into the camp, that they might be slain in one day, according to the divine prediction:

that when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our
enemies ;
Foolishly placing their confidence in an external symbol, and not in the Lord himself; ascribing salvation to that, which only belongs to him, whether of a temporal or spiritual kind: and such folly and vanity are men guilty of when they seek to, make use of, and trust in anything short of Christ for salvation; as in carnal descent; in the rituals of the law; in the ordinances of the Gospel; in any religious exercises, private or public; or in any works of righteousness done by them: in Christ alone is salvation from spiritual enemies; and indeed from the Lord only is salvation and deliverance from temporal enemies.

So the people sent to Shiloh
They liked the proposal of the elders, took their advice, and joined with them in a message to Eli the high priest at Shiloh:

that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord
of hosts, which dwells between the cherubim ;
which overshadowed the mercy seat that was upon the ark, and was the residence of the divine Majesty; therefore having this with them, they concluded they should have the presence of God with them, and so success, see (Psalms 53:1) (99:1)

and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark
of the covenant of God ;
these, either with or without the leave of Eli, took the ark out of the tabernacle, and carried it on their shoulders to the camp, or however attended it there, being borne by other priests or Levites; and by this means they were brought into the camp, and so to battle, to meet their doom there; according to Bunting ^F4 , it was carried by them forty two miles.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Travels of the Patriarchs p. 123.

And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the
camp
Being brought thither by the men that carried it:

all Israel shouted with a great shout ,
so that the earth rang again; this they did as now sure of victory, because of the ark, and to give spirit and courage to each other to go forth to battle, and to strike a panic into their enemies.