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1 Samuel 4:3

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Let us fetch the ark - They vainly supposed that the ark could save them, when the God of it had departed from them because of their wickedness. They knew that in former times their fathers had been beaten by their enemies, when they took not the ark with them to battle; as in the case of their wars with the Canaanites, Numbers 14:44, Numbers 14:45; and that they had conquered when they took this with them, as in the case of the destruction of Jericho, Joshua 6:4. From the latter clause they took confidence; but the cause of their miscarriage in the former they laid not to heart. It was customary with all the nations of the earth to take their gods and sacred ensigns with them to war. The Persians, Indians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, Philistines, etc., did so. Consecrated crosses, blessing and hallowing of colors and standards, are the modern remains of those ancient superstitions.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

In the evening of the defeat of the Israelites the elders held a council, and resolved to send for the ark, which is described in full, as implying that in virtue of the covenant God could not but give them the victory (compare Numbers 10:35; Joshua 3:10).

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advantage they could wish for. They own the hand of God in their trouble; but, instead of submitting, they speak angrily, as not aware of any just provocation they had given him. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, Pr 19:3, and finds fault with him. They supposed that they could oblige God to appear for them, by bringing the ark into their camp. Those who have gone back in the life of religion, sometimes discover great fondness for the outward observances of it, as if those would save them; and as if the ark, God's throne, in the camp, would bring them to heaven, though the world and the flesh are on the throne in the heart.
Ellen G. White
Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4a, 105-6
Ellen G. White
The Story of Redemption, 185-7
Ellen G. White
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, 516
Ellen G. White
SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 2 (EGW), 1011
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