"The Ark of God is taken.--_Samuel 4:17._
GOD helped the Israelites again and again, but they would not leave off
their wickedness, and at last He punished them still more. There came
up a nation to make war upon them, fiercer than any before, called the
Philistines. Then the Israelites fancied that if they took the Ark of
the Covenant out into the battle with them they would get the victory,
as they had done when Joshua conquered the land.
But God had never bidden them take the Ark. He had commanded that it
should stay in its place at Shiloh. They did not heed this, but took
it out into the camp, and all the people shouted for joy when it was
brought, with the two priests, Hophni and Phinehas, Eli's sons, to
take care of it. When the Philistines heard the shout, they said that
the gods of Israel were come, and that they must fight all the more
bravely. And they did.
God would not help His people because of their self-will, so He let
them be beaten by the Philistines, and Hophni and Phinehas were killed,
and the holy Ark of God was taken by these heathens. And when poor old
Eli, the High Priest, heard the sad news, he was so much shocked, that
he fell down backwards and broke his neck and died.
God still shewed His power, for when the Philistines put the Ark into
the temple of one of their false gods the idol fell down and was
broken; and wherever it was taken the people fell sick, till at last
they sent it back to the Israelites: but it never came back to Shiloh.
It was hidden in a lonely house in the woods; and the Philistines were
strong and the Israelites were very weak and miserable, because they
had been so very disobedient.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF ELI.--1 Sam. 4:17, 18.]