Old/New Testament

4 And all of Israel was influenced by Samuel’s words.

[In those days, the Philistines warred against Israel,]^[a] and the warriors of Israel went out to fight them. They camped at Ebenezer while the Philistine forces made camp at Aphek. ² The Philistines lined up against Israel; and when they advanced, they defeated Israel, killing about 4,000 of Israel’s warriors on the battlefield. ³ When the troops returned to their camp, the elders of Israel asked,

⁴ So the people sent messengers to Shiloh and brought back the covenant chest of the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, who is enthroned between the winged guardians.

The two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—accompanied the covenant chest of the True God on its journey to the battlefront. ⁵ When it entered the camp, the Israelites raised a shout so loud it seemed to shake the earth. ⁶ When the Philistines heard the noise, they wondered what the great shout from the Hebrews’ camp might mean; and when they heard that it was in response to the arrival of the covenant chest of the Eternal, ⁷ they shook with fear.

¹⁰ So the Philistines stood their ground and fought and won a great victory. The people of Israel were crushed, and the soldiers fled from the field of battle back to their homes. It was a horrible slaughter, with the Israelites losing 30,000 foot soldiers.

¹¹ But more importantly, they lost the covenant chest of the True God. The Philistines captured the chest, and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

¹² A Benjaminite ran from the battlefield and arrived in Shiloh that same day. He was in mourning—his clothes torn and dust heaped on his head. ¹³ When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his place of honor next to the city gate waiting anxiously for the covenant chest of God. When the man came into the city and told his news, the entire city cried out in grief. ¹⁴ But Eli, who could not see the messenger’s clothing, wondered at the meaning of the cries.

The man hurried to Eli and told him what had happened. ¹⁵ Eli was by this time 98 years old and blind.

¹⁸ When he heard this news about the covenant chest of the True God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate, broke his neck, and died, for he was very old and heavyset.

He was a leader over Israel for 40 years.

¹⁹ His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and close to the end of her term. When she heard the news—that the covenant chest of the True God had been captured by the Philistines and that her husband and father-in-law were both dead—she was bowed over by her labor pains. She gave birth, ²⁰ and as she was about to die, the midwives told her,

But she did not answer or seem to hear them. ²¹ She said only that the son should be called Ichabod, meaning, “Where has the glory gone?” For so it must have seemed to her with the loss of the covenant chest of God and the deaths of her husband and father-in-law.

5 The Philistines brought the captured covenant chest of the True God from Ebenezer to one of their capital cities called Ashdod. ² There the Philistines took the chest of the True God into the house of their god, Dagon, and placed it in a place of honor beside the idol of Dagon. ³ When the people of the city anxiously awoke early the next morning, there was Dagon, lying on his face on the ground, as if bowing before the covenant chest of the Eternal. So they grabbed the idol and put it back in its proper place. ⁴ But when they awoke the next morning, only the trunk of the idol was untouched. Dagon had fallen to the ground on his face before the covenant chest of the Eternal One again, and this time his head and hands had been cut off and were lying across the threshold. ⁵ That is why the priests and worshipers of Dagon in the house of Dagon in Ashdod refused to step on the threshold even till this day.

⁶ The hand of the Eternal One came down hard with punishment on the people of Ashdod while the covenant chest rested there. He ravaged the people of Ashdod and the surrounding territory and struck them with swollen, painful growths like tumors. ⁷ When the people of Ashdod saw how they were cursed, they said,

^8-9 So they gathered together all the rulers of the Philistines to ask what should be done with the covenant chest of Israel’s God.

They did so. But after they had moved the chest of the True God of Israel to Gath, another of the capital cities, the hand of the Eternal One began to punish the people of Gath and sent them into a panic. He also struck them with swollen, painful, tumor-like growths—the young and old alike. ¹⁰ So then they sent the covenant chest of the True God of Israel on to a third capital city, Ekron; but when the people of Ekron saw that the covenant chest was coming, they protested.

¹¹ So they gathered together all the rulers of the Philistines.

For there was great panic throughout the city. The True God’s hand rested heavily on them; ¹² and those He did not kill, He struck with swollen, painful tumors. Their suffering was so intense their cries could be heard in the heavens.

6 The covenant chest of the Eternal One had been in the land of the Philistines for seven months. ² Then the rulers of the Philistines sent for their priests and fortune-tellers.

¹⁰ And that is what the leaders did. They separated two milk cows from their calves. They yoked the cows to the wagon and took the calves home. ¹¹ They set the covenant chest of the Eternal upon the wagon, and next to it, they placed the box with the gold tumors and gold mice. ¹² The cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, mooing after their lost calves as they went. They went straight ahead without any hesitation, and the rulers of the Philistines followed as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth-shemesh were in the valley harvesting their wheat at that time. When they looked up and saw the covenant chest, they ran to greet it with joy. ¹⁴ The wagon came to a halt at a large stone in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh. The people split up the cart for firewood and sacrificed the cattle as a burnt offering to the Eternal One on the large stone. ¹⁵ The Levites took the chest of the Eternal and the box next to it down from the wagon. They took the gold images from the box and set them upon the stone altar. Then the people of Beth-shemesh offered sacrifices and made other burnt offerings to the Eternal One.

¹⁶ When the five rulers of the Philistines saw how their offering had been received that day, they returned to Ekron.

¹⁷ The five gold images of swollen tumors presented to the Eternal One by the Philistines as a guilt offering represented Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron—one for each. ¹⁸ Likewise the golden mice represented all the cities of the Philistines governed by their rulers, both the walled cities and the villages surrounding them. The large stone in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh where they set the chest of the Eternal remains there as a witness to these events.

¹⁹ The Eternal struck the people of Beth-shemesh because some looked into the covenant chest. God struck down 75^[b] men, and the people were saddened because of the slaughter the Eternal One had brought among their people.

²¹ So the people of Beth-shemesh sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim to tell them that the Philistines had returned the chest of the Eternal One to Beth-shemesh and that they should come down and take it with them.

9 Jesus convened a gathering of the twelve. He gave them power and authority to free people from all demonic spirits and to heal them of diseases. ² He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ^3-5 These were His instructions:

1. Travel light on your journey: don’t take a staff, backpack, bread, money, or even an extra change of clothes.
2. When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that city.
3. If a town rejects you, shake the dust from your feet as you leave as a witness against them.

⁶ The disciples left on their journeys from village to village. They preached the good news, and they healed the sick everywhere they went.

^7-8 Their mission didn’t go unnoticed. The local official installed by Rome, Herod, was especially anxious about the news because rumors were flying. Some people said that Elijah or one of the other ancient prophets had been resurrected, while others said that John, famous for his ritual cleansing, was alive and preaching again.

Herod was curious about Jesus and wanted to see Him.

¹⁰ The emissaries^[a] whom Jesus had sent out returned, and Jesus took them away from the crowds for a time of retreat in a city called Bethsaida. They gave Jesus a full report of their accomplishments and experiences. ¹¹ But soon the crowds discovered where they were and pursued Him. Jesus didn’t turn them away; He welcomed them, spoke of the kingdom of God to them, and brought health to those who needed healing.

¹² Picture what happened while in Bethsaida, where Jesus and His disciples were spending time with the crowds:

The sun is low in the sky, and soon it will be dusk. The twelve come to Jesus with advice.

¹⁵ They do what Jesus says, and soon groups of 50 are scattered across the landscape.

¹⁶ Then Jesus takes the five loaves and two fish, and He looks up to heaven. He praises God for the food, takes each item, and breaks it into fragments. Then He gives fragments to the twelve disciples and tells them to distribute the food to the crowd.

¹⁷ Everyone eats. Everyone is satisfied. Nobody goes away hungry. In fact, when the disciples recover the leftovers, they have 12 baskets full of broken pieces.