1 Samuel 4:21 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 4:21
And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
child
לַנַּ֗עַרla.Na.'ar
H5288
(concretely) a boy (as active) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
I-chabod
אִֽי'i-
H350
Ikabod · proper noun, a man's name
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
glory
כָב֖וֹדkha.Vod
H3519
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
departed
גָּלָ֥הga.Lah
H1540
to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Israel
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֑לmi.Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · preposition + proper noun, a place name
because
אֶל'el-
H413
near · preposition
ark
אֲר֣וֹן'a.Ron
H727
a box · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
הָאֱלֹהִ֔יםha.'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
taken
הִלָּקַח֙hi.la.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, niphal infinitive construct
law
חָמִ֖יהָcha.Mi.ha
H2524
a father-in-law (as in affinity) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
husband
וְאִישָֽׁהּve.'i.Shah
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 26:8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
Psalms 78:61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
Jeremiah 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
Psalms 78:64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
1 Samuel 4:11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
Hosea 9:12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from t…
Psalms 106:20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 4:19–end
We have here another melancholy story, that carries on the desolations of Eli's house, and the sorrowful feeling which the tidings of the ark's captivity excited. It is concerning the wife of Phinehas, one of those ungracious sons of Eli that had brought all this mischief on Israel. It cost her her life, though young, as well as that of her father-in-law, that was old; for many a green head, as well as many a hoary head, has been brought by sorrow to the grave: it worketh death. By what is here related of her it appears,
I. That she was a woman of a very tender spirit. Providence so ordered it that, just at this time, she was near her time; and our Saviour hath said, Woe to those that are wi…
ELI HEARING THE TIDINGS. (Sa1 4:12-22)
Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside--The aged priest, as a public magistrate, used, in dispensing justice, to seat himself daily in a spacious recess at the entrance gate of the city. In his intense anxiety to learn the issue of the battle, he took up his usual place as the most convenient for meeting with passers-by. His seat was an official chair, similar to those of the ancient Egyptian judges, richly carved, superbly ornamented, high, and without a back. The calamities announced to Samuel as about to fall upon the family of Eli [Sa1 2:34] were now inflicted in the death of his two sons, and after his death, by that of his daughter-in-law, whose infa…
She named the child I-chabod - The versions are various on the original words כבוד I-chabod; the Septuagint, ουαιβαρχαβωθ ouaibrachaboth; the Syriac, yochobor; the Arabic, yochabad. But none of these give us much light on the subject. It is pretty evident they did not know well what signification to give the name; and we are left to collect its meaning from what she says afterwards, The glory is departed from Israel; the words literally mean, Where is the glory? And indeed where was it, when the armies of Israel were defeated by the Philistines, the priests slain, the supreme magistrate dead, and the ark of the Lord taken?
This is a very eventful, interesting, and affecting chapter, and prep…
The Church Fathers
And she named the child Ichabod, etc. Ichabod is interpreted as "woe to glory," or "glory has departed," which no one will nearly dispute as being an apt name for the Jews of that time. But the glory of faith was transferred from Israel to the Gentiles, from the Synagogue to the Church; but at the end of the world, it will return to Israel. Let us rejoice in the glory transferred to us; let us fear for it to be transferred from us to its homeland, which is to be brought back on the wagon of new conversation.
27. The ark indeed is captured: because now, by God's authority, the sacraments of Holy Scripture are retained by true believers with the capacity of true understanding. And the glory of Israel is transferred: because, after it fell from true religion, it ceased to be fragrant through the reputation of good fame. Moreover, the glory of Israel is rightly said not to perish, but to be transferred: because the fame of religion, which it lost, passed over to the Gentiles. For the glory was indeed transferred: because in the holy Church the fragrance of true religion is fragrant, which, established in faith in the Redeemer, holds the gift of the Holy Spirit as a pledge for the certainty of eternal splendor, which it awaits. Therefore she refuses to rejoice over her newborn son: because indeed, while she perceives that past glory has passed over to the Gentiles, she groans that she is giving birth into captivity. She also names her son from the transfer of glory: because indeed she perpetually represents the impiety in which she persists, as if by a name set before her. Moreover, through the fact that a name is given to him by his mother, what we see can be openly understood. For he received his name from her, from whom the merit of impiety came to him.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Ichabod — When the tidings of the disastrous defeat of the Israelites in the battle against the Philistines near to Mizpeh were carried to Shiloh, the wife of Phinehas “was near to be delivered. And when she…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Ark Of The Covenant · Esteemed the glory of Israel — Esteemed the glory of Israel
I-Chabod · General references — General references
Judgments · Eli’s house — Eli’s house
Parents · Involved in children’s wickedness — Involved in children’s wickedness
Patriotism · .Phinehas’ wife — .Phinehas’ wife
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And she named the child Ichabod,.... Which some render, "where is the glory?" as in the margin of our Bibles; but it signifies "no glory", as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; her husband being dead, she gives her child its name; the reason for which name follows:
saying, the glory is departed from Israel: the God of glory, or the glorious Lord, was departed from Israel; the ark, the symbol of his presence, being taken from them, and carried captive by the enemy; see Psalm 78:61.
because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law, and her husband; who were dead; these are the words either of the writer of this book, or, as Abarbinel thinks, of the women that assisted at her l…
The judgment which fell upon Eli through this stroke extended still further. His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child (near) to be delivered. ללת, contracted from ללדת (from ילד: see Ges. 69, 3, note 1; Ewald, 238, c.). When she heard the tidings of the capture (אל־הלּקח, "with regard to the being taken away") of the ark of God, and the death of her father-in-law and husband, she fell upon her knees and was delivered, for her pains had fallen upon her (lit. had turned against her), and died in consequence. Her death, however, was but a subordinate matter to the historian. He simply refers to it casually in the words, "and about the time of her death," for the purpose of givi…
The name Ichabod contains the Hebrew word kabod (glory; see Exod 24:15-17). A similar word is used to describe Eli in 1 Sam 4:18 (Hebrew kabed, “heavy”). The disappearance of the Ark parallels the demise of Eli’s house. Although the Israelites experienced a stunning loss of divine glory and protection (cp. Ezek 8–10; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24), God’s glorious presence would subsequently return to his people (1 Sam 6:1-21; cp. Ezek 43:1-8).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 4:21
I chavod. There is no glory; similar to, "He will save "10 Iyov 22:30.אִי נָקִי one who is not innocent, [meaning the same as] אֵין נָקִי.
Because of the capture of. Meaning the same as 'to the capture of', but it is unnecessary to remove the expression of 'to' for one who understands its meaning.
Because of the capture of. Envers etweirs l'estre pris in O. F.
And because of her father-in-law. I.e., because of this misfortune that her father-in-law and husband had perished.
