1Sa 4:12-18 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 12 Came to Shiloh the same day - The field of battle could not have been at any great distance, for this young man reached Shiloh the same evening after the defeat. With his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head - These were signs of sorrow and distress among all nations. The clothes rent, signified the rending, dividing, and scattering, of the people; the earth, or ashes on the head, signified their humiliation: "We are brought down to the dust of the earth; we are near to our graves." When the Trojan fleet was burnt, Aeneas is represented as tearing his robe from his shoulder, and invoking the aid of his gods: - Tum pius Aeneas humeris abscindere vestem, Auxilioque vocare Deos, et tendere palmas. Virg. Aen. lib. v., ver. 685. "The prince then tore his robes in deep despair, Raised high his hands, and thus address'd his prayer." Pitt. We have a remarkable example in the same poet, where he represents the queen of King Latinus resolving on her own death, when she found that the Trojans had taken the city by storm: - Purpueros moritura manu discindit amictus. Aen. lib. xii., ver. 603. She tears with both her hands her purple vest. But the image is complete in King Latinus himself, when he heard of the death of his queen, and saw his city in flames: - - It scissa veste Latinus, Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina, Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans. Ib., ver. 609. Latinus tears his garments as he goes. Both for his public and his private woes: With filth his venerable beard besmears, And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs. Dryden. We find the same custom expressed in one line by Catullus: - Canitiem terra, atque infuso pulvere foedans. Epith. Pelei et Thetidos, ver. 224. Dishonoring her hoary locks with earth and sprinkled dust. The ancient Greeks in their mourning often shaved off their hair: - Τουτο νυ και γερας οιον οΐζυροισι βροτοισι, Κειρασθαι τε κομην, βαλεειν τ' απο δακρυ παρειων. Hom. Odyss. lib. iv., ver. 197. "Let each deplore his dead: the rites of wo Are all, alas! the living can bestow O'er the congenial dust, enjoin'd to shear The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear." Pope. And again: - Κατθεμεν εν λεχεεσσι καθηραντες χροα καλον Ὑδατι τε λιαρῳ και αλειφατι· πολλα δε σ' αμφις Δακρυα θερμα χεον Δαναοι, κειροντο τε χαιτας. Ib., lib. xxiv., ver. 44. "Then unguents sweet, and tepid streams, we shed; Tears flow'd from every eye; and o'er the dead Each clipp'd the curling honors of his head." Pope. The whole is strongly expressed in the case of Achilles, when he heard of the death of his friend Patroclus: - Ὡς φατο· τον δ' αχεος νεφεος νεφελη εκαλυψε μελαινα Αμφοτερῃσι δε χερσιν ἑλων κονιν αοθαλοεσσαν, Χευατο κακ κεφαλης, χαριεν δ' ῃσχυνε προσωπον· Νεκταρεῳ δε χιτωνι μελαιν' αμφιζανε τεφρη. Iliad, lib. xviii., ver. 22. "A sudden horror shot through all the chief, And wrapp'd his senses in the cloud of grief. Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head: His purple garments, and his golden hairs. Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears." Pope. It is not unusual, even in Europe, and in the most civilized parts of it, to see grief expressed by tearing the hair, beating the breasts, and rending the garments; all these are natural signs, or expression of deep and excessive grief, and are common to all the nations of the world.

1 Samuel 4:12-18

Verse 12

Came to Shiloh the same day - The field of battle could not have been at any great distance, for this young man reached Shiloh the same evening after the defeat.

With his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head - These were signs of sorrow and distress among all nations. The clothes rent, signified the rending, dividing, and scattering, of the people; the earth, or ashes on the head, signified their humiliation: "We are brought down to the dust of the earth; we are near to our graves." When the Trojan fleet was burnt, Aeneas is represented as tearing his robe from his shoulder, and invoking the aid of his gods: -

Tum pius Aeneas humeris abscindere vestem,

Auxilioque vocare Deos, et tendere palmas.

Virg. Aen. lib. v., ver. 685. "The prince then tore his robes in deep despair,

Raised high his hands, and thus address'd his prayer."

Pitt.

We have a remarkable example in the same poet, where he represents the queen of King Latinus resolving on her own death, when she found that the Trojans had taken the city by storm: -

Purpueros moritura manu discindit amictus.

Aen. lib. xii., ver. 603.

She tears with both her hands her purple vest.

But the image is complete in King Latinus himself, when he heard of the death of his queen, and saw his city in flames: - - It scissa veste Latinus, Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina,

Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans.

Ib., ver. 609.

Latinus tears his garments as he goes.

Both for his public and his private woes:

With filth his venerable beard besmears,

And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs.

Dryden.

We find the same custom expressed in one line by Catullus: -

Canitiem terra, atque infuso pulvere foedans.

Epith. Pelei et Thetidos, ver. 224.

Dishonoring her hoary locks with earth and sprinkled dust.

The ancient Greeks in their mourning often shaved off their hair: - Τουτο νυ και γερας οιον οΐζυροισι βροτοισι, Κειρασθαι τε κομην, βαλεειν τ' απο δακρυ παρειων.

Hom. Odyss. lib. iv., ver. 197. "Let each deplore his dead: the rites of wo

Are all, alas! the living can bestow

O'er the congenial dust, enjoin'd to shear

The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear."

Pope.

And again: - Κατθεμεν εν λεχεεσσι καθηραντες χροα καλον Ὑδατι τε λιαρῳ και αλειφατι· πολλα δε σ' αμφις Δακρυα θερμα χεον Δαναοι, κειροντο τε χαιτας.

Ib., lib. xxiv., ver. 44. "Then unguents sweet, and tepid streams, we shed;

Tears flow'd from every eye; and o'er the dead

Each clipp'd the curling honors of his head."

Pope.

The whole is strongly expressed in the case of Achilles, when he heard of the death of his friend Patroclus: - Ὡς φατο· τον δ' αχεος νεφεος νεφελη εκαλυψε μελαινα Αμφοτερῃσι δε χερσιν ἑλων κονιν αοθαλοεσσαν, Χευατο κακ κεφαλης, χαριεν δ' ῃσχυνε προσωπον· Νεκταρεῳ δε χιτωνι μελαιν' αμφιζανε τεφρη.

Iliad, lib. xviii., ver. 22. "A sudden horror shot through all the chief,

And wrapp'd his senses in the cloud of grief.

Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread

The scorching ashes o'er his graceful head:

His purple garments, and his golden hairs.

Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears."

Pope.

It is not unusual, even in Europe, and in the most civilized parts of it, to see grief expressed by tearing the hair, beating the breasts, and rending the garments; all these are natural signs, or expression of deep and excessive grief, and are common to all the nations of the world. Verse 13

His heart trembled for the ark of God - He was a most mild and affectionate father, and yet the safety of the ark lay nearer to his heart than the safety of his two sons. Who can help feeling for this aged, venerable man? Verse 17

And the messenger answered - Never was a more afflictive message, containing such a variety of woes, each rising above the preceding, delivered in so few words.

1. Israel is fled before the Philistines.

This was a sore evil: that Israel should turn their backs upon their enemies, was bad; and that they should turn their backs on such enemies as the

Philistines, was yet worse; for now they might expect the chains of their slavery to be strengthened and riveted more closely.

2. There hath also been a great slaughter among the people.

A rout might have taken place without any great previous slaughter; but in this case the field was warmly contested, thirty thousand were laid dead on the spot. This was a deeper cause of distress than the preceding; as if he had said, "The flower of our armies is destroyed; scarcely a veteran now to take the field."

3. Thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead.

This was still more afflictive to him as a father, to lose both his sons, the only hope of the family; and to have them taken away by a violent death when there was so little prospect of their having died in the peace of God, was more grievous than all.

4. The ark of God is taken.

This was the most dreadful of the whole; now Israel is dishonored in the sight of the heathen, and the name of the Lord will be blasphemed by them. Besides, the capture of the ark shows that God is departed from Israel; and now there is no farther hope of restoration for the people, but every prospect of the destruction of the nation, and the final ruin of all religion! How high does each wo rise on the back of the preceding! And with what apparent art is this very laconic message constructed! And yet, probably, no art at all was used, and the messenger delivered the tidings just as the facts rose up in his own mind.

How vapid, diffused, and alliterated, is the report of the messenger in the Persae of Aeschylus, who comes to the queen with the tremendous account of the destruction of the whole naval power of the Persians, at the battle of Salamis? I shall give his first speech, and leave the reader to compare the two accounts. Ω γης ἁπασης Ασιδος πολισματα, Ω Περσις αια, και πολυς πλουτου λιμην, Ὡς εν μιᾳ πληγῃ κατεφθαρται πολυς Ολβος, το Περσων δ' ανθος οιχται πεσον. Ωμοι, κακον μεν πρωτον αγγελλειν κακα· Περσαις, στρατος γαρ πας αλωλε βαρβαρων.

Of which I subjoin the following translation by Mr. Potter: -

Wo to the towns through Asia's peopled realms!

Wo to the land of Persia, once the port

Of boundless wealth! how is thy glorious state

Vanish'd at once, and all thy spreading honors

Fallen, lost! Ah me! unhappy is his task

That bears unhappy tidings; but constraint

Compels me to relate this tale of wo:

Persians! the whole barbaric host is fallen.

This is the sum of his account, which he afterwards details in about a dozen of speeches.

Heroes and conquerors, ancient and modern, have been celebrated for comprising a vast deal of information in a few words. I will give three examples, and have no doubt that the Benjamite in the text will be found to have greatly the advantage.

1. Julius Caesar having totally defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, wrote a letter to the Roman senate, which contained only these three words: -

Veni, Vidi, Vici;

I came, I saw, I conquered.

This war was begun and ended in one day.

2. Admiral Hawke having totally defeated the French fleet, in 1759, off the coast of Brittany, wrote as follows to King George II.: - "Sire, I have taken, burnt, and destroyed all the French fleet, as per margin. - Hawke."

3. Napoleon Buonaparte, then general-in-chief of the French armies in Italy, wrote to Josephine, his wife, the evening before he attacked Field Marshal Alvinzi, the imperial general: - "Demain j'attaquerai l'enemie; je le battrai; et j'en finirai." "To-morrow I shall attack the enemy; I shall defeat them, and terminate the business."

He did so: the imperialists were totally defeated, Mantua surrendered, and the campaign for that year (1796) was concluded.

In the above examples, excellent as they are in their kind, we find little more than one idea, whereas the report of the Benjamite includes several; for, in the most forcible manner, he points out the general and particular disasters of the day, the rout of the army, the great slaughter, the death of the priests, who were in effect the whole generals of the army, and the capture of the ark; all that, on such an occasion, could affect and distress the heart of an Israelite. And all this he does in four simple assertions. Verse 18

When he made mention of the ark of God - Eli bore all the relation till the messenger came to this solemn word; he had trembled before for the ark, and now, hearing that it was captured, he was transfixed with grief, fell down from his seat, and dislocated his neck! Behold the judgments of God! But shall we say that this man, however remiss in the education of his children, and criminal in his indulgence towards his profligate sons, which arose more from the easiness of his disposition than from a desire to encourage vice, is gone to perdition? God forbid! No man ever died with such benevolent and religious feelings, and yet perished.

He had judged Israel forty years - Instead of forty years, the Septuagint has here εικοσι ετη, twenty years. All the other versions, as well as the Hebrew text, have forty years.