Somewhere around 1100 BC, the people of Israel went out to war against their neighbours, the Philistines. The Israelites carried with them, to the battlefield, "the Ark of the Lord's Covenant.". This was a huge gold-plated wooden box, which was believed to be the "dwelling-place" of God. So the Israelites believed that they would surely win the battle due to the �presence of the LORD� in their midst. Thus they went out to fight, full of confidence and shouting!
But the Philistines fought hard and emerged victorious. They slaughtered thousands of Israelites. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of the priest Eli were killed. And as for the Ark, it was taken into the Philistine camp. (Eli later fell down dead on hearing the news of his sons� death and the capture of the ark.)
Now, the wife of Eli�s son, Phinehas was pregnant at that time. The news reached her .And the Bible clearly records in 1 Samuel 4:19-22 that when she heard that the Ark of covenant was in Philistine hands, she went into labour and gave birth to a son and died. As she lay dying, she said, �My son shall be called �Ichabod�, for the Glory has departed from Israel.� (She referred to the Ark.)
How sad it is to know that Phinehas�s wife had to die in such hopelessness! The Israelites expected God to be contained in the Ark. When the Ark departed, they thought that God departed from them. And thus,the baby Ichabod got his name, which meant �no glory�!
The Ark which had been captured was a wooden box plated with gold that contained
# the stone tablets bearing the 10 Commandments written by God�s own hand
# a jar of manna, the bread that God used to feed the wandering Israelites
# Aaron�s rod that budded, which God used as an indication, that Aaron�s tribe was chosen to lead the people in worship.
But today, in Jesus, we have
# the New Commandment, which is to love one another, just as God loved us
# the Bread of Life... Eternal Life
# the never-departing Sceptre of Judah, which refers to the eternal reign of God over us, His people.
