1 Samuel 4:21, commentary and pictures

The dying wife of Phinehas named her newborn son I-chabod, meaning inglorious, to declare that the glory had departed from Israel. She gave that name because the ark of God had been captured by the Philistines and because her husband and her father-in-law had died, which she took as the loss of Israel's last hope. The ark was the sacred symbol of God's presence and abiding power among them, their boasted strength and confidence, which they regarded with awe and pride in past victories. God permitted enemies to take it to humble Israel and to show how vain it was to trust in the ark for victory while profaning the commandments contained in it, worshiping the ark itself instead of the God it represented. Their outward faith had become formalism and hypocrisy in which ceremony took the place of God, and by disobedience and violation of His holy commandments they separated themselves from Him, so He in anger took the ark away and left them in darkness and weakness.

Name and Its Setting

The dying wife of Phinehas named her newborn child I-chabod, meaning inglorious, to declare that the glory had departed from Israel. She gave the name because the ark of God had been captured by the Philistines, and because her husband and her father-in-law had died. She took the capture of the ark as the loss of Israel's last hope, and dying, she mourned that the glory was gone.

The capture came in a time of very great slaughter and national calamity. Israel received the news with terror and despair, and its military strength seemed useless. It was the greatest calamity that could befall Israel, and the heaviest blow the nation had suffered since becoming a nation.

Eli bore the news that his two sons were slain with calmness, because he expected it. But when he heard that the ark was taken he wavered in anguish, fell backward and died. He shared in the wrath upon his sons because he was guilty in great measure for criminally neglecting to restrain their transgressions.

The ark was the sacred symbol of God's presence and abiding power among Israel. It was their boasted strength and confidence, and the visible sign of their former standing and outward display of divine glory. They regarded it with awe and reverence, and also with pride in past victories.

Why the Glory Departed

God allowed the enemy to take the ark in order to humble Israel and to expose how vain it was to trust in the ark while profaning the commandments contained within it. The sacred object had been made their boast and confidence, and its removal took away what they had leaned upon. Israel had treated the ark as if it could by itself bring victory and save them, trusting and worshiping the ark instead of the God it represented while despising the law it contained. Its loss therefore marked the departure of the visible sign of God's presence and power and of the nation's former standing and outward display of divine glory.

Their outward, nominal faith had become formalism, hypocrisy, and idolatry, in which outward ceremonies took the place of God and Christ the foundation of those ceremonies was lost from sight. Their disobedience and violation of God's holy commandments separated them from God. Because they had violated His holy commandments, God in anger took the ark away. That removal left them in darkness and weakness and in a death-like spiritual stupor in which truth was powerless to stir them and the solemn influence that should attend worship was taken away.

What was required was not dependence on the sacred object but repentance and forsaking of sin. The ceremonial display could be absent for a time determined by God, yet even then faithful people could still reflect inner glory. Even in captivity they could still approach God through prayer and communion.

Later Echoes and Application

The loss of glory named in the verse marks not only the taking of the ark and the humiliation of Israel, but also Judah's captivity, the loss of the sacred vessels, and the ruin of the temple as another departure of God's glory. It illustrates the spiritual loss that comes when outward ceremonies take the place of God and Christ, the foundation of those ceremonies, is lost from sight. The same cry of I-chabod, meaning the glory has departed, applies to the burning temple at Jerusalem's destruction, when the sacred place was destroyed. There the cry expressed that Israel's glory had departed as the temple burned and the city fell to the Romans.

The absence of the ark from the camp represents the spiritual low state of God's people whenever they violate God's holy commandments. Disobedience weakens them and takes away the solemn influence that should attend their worship, leaving darkness and weakness. The ark represents the glory and defense that parents must regard as essential for their households. When they neglect religious influences and the means of grace, they cannot expect the Lord to work a miracle to deliver their children from temptation.

When parents choose a home for worldly interests rather than moral and social atmosphere, and let the world engross their time and strength and thought, the glory departs from them. When they move their families into places of temptation without counting the ark essential and neglect the means of grace, the Lord works no miracle to deliver them from temptation. Their children then form unfavorable associations and are contaminated by evil communications. They lose the tenderness of soul they once felt, and grow up unloved and unlovely in character with decided impiety and tendency to infidelity, so that parents reap what their selfish love of the world has sown.

The question whether the glory has forever departed expresses concern that the Vaudois, descendants of the Waldenses, had lost spiritual vitality and faithfulness as their religion, systems, and forms fell into apostasy. The phrase its glory has departed also describes Williamsport after the flood had left the town in ruins.