Chapter 11.
HEREIN IS DECLARED WHAT BEFELL THE SONS OF ELI, THE ARK,
AND THE PEOPLE AND HOW ELI HIMSELF DIED MISERABLY.FJAJ 5.108
1. ABOUT this time it was that the Philistines made war against the
Israelites, and pitched their camp at the city Aphek
Now when the Israelites
had expected them a little while, the very next day they joined battle,
and the Philistines were conquerors, and slew above four thousand of the
Hebrews, and pursued the rest of their multitude to their camp.FJAJ 5.109
2. So the Hebrews being afraid of the worst, sent to the senate, and
to the high priest, and desired that they would bring the ark of God, that
by putting themselves in array, when it was present with them, they might
be too hard for their enemies, as not reflecting that he who had condemned
them to endure these calamities was greater than the ark, and for whose
sake it was that this ark came to be honored
So the ark came, and the
sons of the high priest with it, having received a charge from their father,
that if they pretended to survive the taking of the ark, they should come
no more into his presence, for Phineas officiated already as high priest,
his father having resigned his office to him, by reason of his great age.
So the Hebrews were full of courage, as supposing that, by the coming of
the ark, they should be too hard for their enemies: their enemies also
were greatly concerned, and were afraid of the ark's coming to the Israelites:
however, the upshot did not prove agreeable to the expectation of both
sides, but when the battle was joined, that victory which the Hebrews expected
was gained by the Philistines, and that defeat the Philistines were afraid
of fell to the lot of the Israelites, and thereby they found that they
had put their trust in the ark in vain, for they were presently beaten
as soon as they came to a close fight with their enemies, and lost about
thirty thousand men, among whom were the sons of the high priest; but the
ark was carried away by the enemies.FJAJ 5.110
3. When the news of this defeat came to Shiloh, with that of the captivity
of the ark, (for a certain young man, a Benjamite, who was in the action,
came as a messenger thither,) the whole city was full of lamentations.
And Eli, the high priest, who sat upon a high throne at one of the gates,
heard their mournful cries, and supposed that some strange thing had befallen
his family
So he sent for the young man; and when he understood what had
happened in the battle, he was not much uneasy as to his sons, or what
was told him withal about the army, as having beforehand known by Divine
revelation that those things would happen, and having himself declared
them beforehand, - for what sad things come unexpectedly they distress
men the most; but as soon as [he heard] the ark was carried captive by
their enemies, he was very much grieved at it, because it fell out quite
differently from what he expected; so he fell down from his throne and
died, having in all lived ninety-eight years, and of them retained the
government forty.FJAJ 5.111
4. On the same day his son Phineas's wife died also, as not able to
survive the misfortune of her husband; for they told her of her husband's
death as she was in labor
However, she bare a son at seven months, who
lived, and to whom they gave the name of Icabod, which name signifies disgrace,
- and this because the army received a disgrace at this thee.FJAJ 5.112
5. Now Eli was the first of the family of Ithamar, the other son of
Aaron, that had the government; for the family of Eleazar officiated as
high priest at first, the son still receiving that honor from the father
which Eleazar bequeathed to his son Phineas; after whom Abiezer his son
took the honor, and delivered it to his son, whose name was Bukki, from
whom his son Ozi received it; after whom Eli, of whom we have been speaking,
had the priesthood, and so he and his posterity until the thee of Solomon's
reign; but then the posterity of Eleazar reassumed it.FJAJ 5.113