Ichabod and The Glory Days

Text: 1 Samuel 4:1-22

“She named the boy Ichabod, saying, ‘The Glory has departed from Israel.’” —1 Samuel 4:21

There’s an old Bruce Springsteen song that romanticizes the “Glory Days” that have passed one by. The artist concedes:

I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it
But I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
A little of the glory of, well time slips away
And leaves you with nothing mister but
Boring stories of… Glory days

Without the anointing of God’s Spirit in our daily lives (1 John 2:20-27), our stories can regress into nothing more than boring religious anecdotes of the past and drab accounts of antiquated spiritual memories.

In 1 Samuel 4, Israel was in a state of devastation. Her glory days appeared to be a cold and distant past—a fading memory. The priesthood, as far as the sons of Eli were concerned, had been polluted with corruption. The Philistines defeated Israel, killing thirty thousand of their men. Additionally, the two sons of Eli were killed as the Philistines captured the sacred ark of God. When Eli heard this news, he fell from his seat, broke his neck, and died. When his daughter-in-law heard of these events, she went into labor and died giving birth to a son. The child was named “Ichabod,” which means, “the glory is departed from Israel.” What a bleak time this was in their divinely decorated history—the glory of God was gone.

Israel had been brought low because of their own sin, and now God had removed His presence from them. They regarded the ark as the ultimate good luck charm, nothing more than a religious symbol, and believed they could not lose as long as they carried this ancient relic with them into battle. Their presumption was a delusion, their superstition a fallacy. They had been smitten by the same presumption of Samson (Judges 16:20), and the kind of deception that will come upon many people in the last days as they embrace a “form of godliness while denying” God’s transforming power (2 Timothy 3:5). They will cling to religion as a good luck charm while rejecting the true governance of Christ as Lord. They will talk about God as a “buddy” while never regarding His holiness, or speaking of the need for repentance. They have merely added a belief system to their minds while denying Jesus access to the throne of their hearts.

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“Instead of attempting to get right with God, these Israelites set about devising superstitious means of securing the victory over their foes. In this respect most of us have imitated them. We think of a thousand inventions; but we neglect the one thing needful… They forget the main matter, which is to enthrone God in the life, and to seek to do His will by faith in Christ Jesus.”

God will never relegate Himself to being our good luck charm. And the new birth is more than an ancient memory. God longs to be a living and abiding presence in our daily lives, so that we never find ourselves reveling in some distant memory while missing what He wants to do in us and through us today. Think about that as you seek to abide in His presence this week.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, forgive us of any presumption we may have in our hearts. Bring into the light any sin that has grieved the Holy Spirit in us, that we may have the humility to repent and be cleansed of things that have dishonored you. Revive our hearts to overflow with anticipation of stories you still want to write upon our lives today, miracles that you still want to perform, and greater things you still want to do in and through us. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Questions for personal reflection, small group discussion, or dinner table conversations:

1. When are we most likely to become overconfident? What does the phrase “fear of God” mean to you?
2. What were the Israelite losses in battle before and after the priests brought the ark of the covenant to the battlefield? (1 Samuel 4:2, 10) After their initial defeat by the Philistines, what strategy did the elders of Israel take for granted in approaching the next battle? (v3)
3. How did the army of Israel react when the ark of the covenant arrived at the front? (v5) What reaction did the news of the ark’s arrival provoke among Israel’s enemies? (v7) How did the Philistine commanders motivate their troops to fight harder rather than be discouraged? (v9)
4. What became of the ark and the priests at the end of the battle? (v11) Of all the bad news reported to Eli, what was the proverbial “last straw”? (v18) What other family member ultimately died as a result of hearing the bad news? (vv19-20) How did the naming of Phinehas’ son relate to the worst outcome of the battle against the Philistines? (vv21-22)
5. Where might religious activity for God have replaced time with God in your daily life? Is there a sin of presumption of which you might need to repent?

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