Of which I subjoin the following translation by Mr. Potter: -
Wo to the towns through Asia's peopled realms!
Wo to the land of Persia, once the port
Of boundless wealth! how is thy glorious state
Vanish'd at once, and all thy spreading honors
Fallen, lost! Ah me! unhappy is his task
That bears unhappy tidings; but constraint
Compels me to relate this tale of wo:
Persians! the whole barbaric host is fallen.
This is the sum of his account, which he afterwards details in about a dozen of speeches.
Heroes and conquerors, ancient and modern, have been celebrated for comprising a vast deal of information in a few words. I will give three examples, and have no doubt that the Benjamite in the text will be found to have greatly the advantage.
1. Julius Caesar having totally defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, wrote a letter to the Roman senate, which contained only these three words: -
Veni, Vidi, Vici;
I came, I saw, I conquered.
This war was begun and ended in one day.
2. Admiral Hawke having totally defeated the French fleet, in 1759, off the coast of Brittany, wrote as follows to King George II.: - "Sire, I have taken, burnt, and destroyed all the French fleet, as per margin. - Hawke."
3. Napoleon Buonaparte, then general-in-chief of the French armies in Italy, wrote to Josephine, his wife, the evening before he attacked Field Marshal Alvinzi, the imperial general: - "Demain j'attaquerai l'enemie; je le battrai; et j'en finirai." "To-morrow I shall attack the enemy; I shall defeat them, and terminate the business."
He did so: the imperialists were totally defeated, Mantua surrendered, and the campaign for that year (1796) was concluded.
In the above examples, excellent as they are in their kind, we find little more than one idea, whereas the report of the Benjamite includes several; for, in the most forcible manner, he points out the general and particular disasters of the day, the rout of the army, the great slaughter, the death of the priests, who were in effect the whole generals of the army, and the capture of the ark; all that, on such an occasion, could affect and distress the heart of an Israelite. And all this he does in four simple assertions.
Verse 18
When he made mention of the ark of God - Eli bore all the relation till the messenger came to this solemn word; he had trembled before for the ark, and now, hearing that it was captured, he was transfixed with grief, fell down from his seat, and dislocated his neck! Behold the judgments of God! But shall we say that this man, however remiss in the education of his children, and criminal in his indulgence towards his profligate sons, which arose more from the easiness of his disposition than from a desire to encourage vice, is gone to perdition? God forbid! No man ever died with such benevolent and religious feelings, and yet perished.
He had judged Israel forty years - Instead of forty years, the Septuagint has here εικοσι ετη, twenty years. All the other versions, as well as the Hebrew text, have forty years.
Verse 19
And his daughter-in-law - This is another very affecting story; the defeat of Israel, the capture of the ark, the death of her father-in-law, and the slaughter of her husband, were more than a woman in her circumstances, near the time of her delivery could bear. She bowed, travailed, was delivered of a son, gave the child a name indicative of the ruined state of Israel, and expired!
Verse 20
But she answered not - She paid no attention to what the women had said concerning her having borne a son; that information she regarded not.
Verse 21
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 prepares the reader for those signal manifestations of God's power and providence by which the ark was restored, the priesthood re-established, an immaculate judge given to Israel, the Philistine yoke broken, and the people of the Most High caused once more to triumph. God humbled them that he might exalt them; he suffered his glory for a time to become eclipsed, that he might afterwards cause it to break out with the greater effulgence.
Introduction
The Philistines set up the ark in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod; whose image is found next morning prostrate before it, broken in pieces, [1Sam 5:1-5]. The Philistines are also smitten with a sore disease, [1Sam 5:6]. The people of Ashdod refuse to let the ark stay with them; and the lords of the Philistines, with whom they consulted, order it to be carried to Gath, [1Sam 5:7], [1Sam 5:8]. They do so; and God smites the inhabitants of that city, young and old, with the same disease, [1Sam 5:9]. They send the ark to Ekron, and a heavy destruction fags upon that city, and they resolve to send it back to Shiloh, [1Sam 5:10-12].
Verse 1
Brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod - Ashdod or Azotus was one of the five satrapies or lordships of the Philistines.
Verse 2
The house of Dagon - On this idol, which was supposed to be partly in a human form, and partly in that of a fish, see the note on [Jdg 16:23]. Some think that this idol was the same with Dirceto, Attergatis, the Venus of Askelon, and the Moon. - See Calmet's Dissertation on the gods of the Philistines.
The motive which induced the Philistines to set up the ark in the temple of Dagon, may be easily ascertained. It was customary, in all nations, to dedicate the spoils taken from an enemy to their gods:
1. As a gratitude-offering for the help which they supposed them to have furnished; and,
2. As a proof that their gods, i.e., the gods of the conquerors, were more powerful than those of the conquered.
It was, no doubt, to insult the God of Israel, and to insult and terrify his people, that they placed his ark in the temple of Dagon. When the Philistines had conquered Saul, they hung up his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, [1Sam 31:10]. And when David slew Goliath, he laid up his sword in the tabernacle of the Lord, [1Sam 21:8], [1Sam 21:9]. We have the remains of this custom in the depositing of colors, standards, etc., taken from an enemy, in our churches; but whether this may be called superstition or a religious act, is hard to say. If the battle were the Lord's, which few battles are, the dedication might be right.
Verse 3
They of Ashdod arose early on the morrow - Probably to perform some act of their superstition in the temple of their idol.
Dagon was fallen upon his face - This was one proof, which they little expected, of the superiority of the God of Israel.
Set him in his place again - Supposing his fall might have been merely accidental.
Verse 4
Only the stump of Dagon was left - Literally, Only דגן dagon (i.e., the little fish) was left. It has already been remarked that Dagon had the head, arms and hands of a man or woman, and that the rest of the idol was in the form of a fish, to which Horace is supposed to make allusion in the following words: -