"Chapter 4: "the Glory is gone from Israel

(1) and Samuel’s word went forth to all Israel. Israel marched out to engage the Philistines in battle; they encamped near Eben-ezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek. (2) The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel; and when the battle was fought, Israel was routed by the Philistines, who slew about four thousand men on the field of battle. (3) When the [Israelite] troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD put us to rout today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh; thus He will be present among us and will deliver us from the hands of our enemies.” (4) So the troops sent men to Shiloh; there Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were in charge of the Ark of the Covenant of God, and they brought down from there the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of Hosts Enthroned on the Cherubim. (5) When the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all Israel burst into a great shout, so that the earth resounded. (6) The Philistines heard the noise of the shouting and they wondered, “Why is there such a loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And when they learned that the Ark of the LORD had come to the camp, (7) the Philistines were frightened; for they said, “God has come to the camp.” And they cried, “Woe to us! Nothing like this has ever happened before. (8) Woe to us! Who will save us from the power of this mighty God? He is the same God who struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague in the wilderness!

[...] Why did the Lord smite us? and this raised the anger of the Lord against them, as in the verse: "You say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ (Jeremiah 2:35) [...] They we are like a terminally ill patient who does not feel pain at all, thinking that they are righteous. They did not think to improve their deeds and seek salvation from God, but only said: "Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh," thinking that God will necessarily save his treasured ark from the Philistines, and through it, they too will be saved. But this is a false thought, since the ark is not an end in itself, only [a means] for them to preserve what is written in it:

And when the ark came to the camp, they cheered for victory, because they thought that just as he defeated the enemies when they entered the land and besieged Jericho, so too they would win now. And this too was a sin, as noted by R. Isaac Abravanel, since in the War of Jericho God commanded them not to make noise or raise their voices until the wall falls, which is the moment of victory. But they should not rejoice any sooner, only raise their eyes to the Lord to seek His salvation from their enemies. But they did not do so:

Rabbi Jehudah ben Laqish says, two arks were travelling with Israel in the desert; one in which the Torah was deposited and one in which the broken pieces of the tablets were deposited. The one in which the Torah was deposited was put into the Tent of Meeting; that is what is written: “Moses and the Ark of the Eternal’s covenant did not move from the camp.” The one in which the broken pieces of the tablets were deposited went out and returned in with them.

But the Rabbis say, there was only one, and once it went out in the days of Eli and was taken captive.

With every sort of plague in the wilderness. In (the midrash of) Sifrei we learn that this passage is a combination of statements. Those who made one statement did not make the other. The worthy among them said, "Who will save us from the hand of this mighty God?" while the wicked retorted, "This is the God Who smote the Egyptians with every plague. All the plagues which He had, He already brought upon the Egyptians. He has no more plagues."

Brace yourselves and be men, O Philistines! as if to say: Don't be animals that can never overcome the sons of gods, but be people who by the strength of their humanity can sometimes overcome gods and supernatural powers (as it is written: "because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” Genesis 32:28).

And even if you do not beat them, in any case be strong lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they enslaved you [...] Be men and fight! which is to say that someone vanquished in war, who nevertheless was a man and fought, is totally different than someone who gave himself over to his enemies without a fight. For he has excluded himself from the category of men, and is like an animal herded mindlessly. By fighting, you will have proven you are men and not animals.

And she called the boy Ichabod. Which is to say: where is the honor? there is no more honor for Israel. And she explained her words by saying that the glory has departed from Israel due to the capture... She meant that there were two Torahs: the Written Torah residing in the ark, and an Oral Torah that resides in the hearts of the wise men of Israel who received it from Moses, the faithful shepherd. If one is missing, the other can make up for it. In other words, if the ark had been taken alone, and Ali and his sons were alive, it would have been possible to retrieve the Torah through them. As Rabbi Meir said: if the Torah were ever forgotten by Israel, we could recreate it through pilpul (Talmudic reasoning). But now the honor is definitely gone, since both the ark was captured and her father-in-law and husband were dead.