Why Was the Ark Taken/2
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Why Was the Ark Taken?
Exegetical Approaches
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The Children of Israel's Sins
The entire nation sinned and was therefore punished.
Idolatry – General Sins
The Children of Israel were punished because of their idolatry and generally bad conduct.
Eliminating the idols in Shemuel I 7:2-4 – This approach proves from the contrast to Chapter 7 that when the nation believed in idols they were defeated, but when Shemuel commanded them to get rid of their idols and they believed in Hashem they were suddenly victorious. The religious transformation is what accounts for the completely opposite result.
Mentions of Shiloh in Other Places – All of the verses in Yirmeyahu 7:12-14, 26:3-6 and Tehillim 78:56-60 imply that Shiloh was destroyed because of idol worship that occurred there. Yirmeyahu compares what will happen to the Beit HaMikdash with what already happened in Shiloh, and it seems that the sins are the same.
The story of Mikhah's idol – The Abarbanel and Malbim bring the story of Mikhah's idol as an example of the Children of Israel worshiping of idols. Shofetim 18:31 notes that Mikhah's idol existed for as long as the Mishkan was in Shiloh.
Not explicitly mentioned – There is no mention of idolatry in the early chapters of the book of Shemuel. This is probably the reason that motivates other commentators not to take this approach.
Why was the ark taken – This approach explains why the Children of Israel were defeated, but it is unclear why the ark needed to be taken. Abarbanel attempts to address this by citing the verse from Vayikra 26:19 that the punishment for not listening to Hashem's commandments is that He will shatter the pride of the nation. This could possibly refer to the ark.
Deaths before the bringing of the ark – These commentators can easily explain why the four thousand people died even before the ark was brought to battle.
Battle Related Sins
There was a specific sin which happened in the battle itself which caused the defeat and the exile of the ark. There are a few possibilities as to what was that sin:
Not Asking Hashem
The Children of Israel did not ask Hashem if they should go to war or for permission to go to war.
Sources: Ralbag
Did they not ask? According to Radak, Hashem commanded the people to go to war and there was no need for the Children of Israel to ask if they should. This is how Radak explains the first words in the chapter that the words of Shemuel told all of Israel to go to war. Ralbag, in contrast, explains that those words are a continuation of the previous chapter and are unrelated to going to war.
Parallel cases in Tanakh – There are many battles in which we do not hear that the Children of Israel first asked if they should go to war.1
Motivation – It is unclear how Ralbag gets his approach, especially as there are no verses which speak of that sin.
Why was the ark taken? This approach adequately explains the defeat, but it is unclear why the ark was taken.
Victory in Shemuel I 7 – According to Ralbag, it is possible that in Shemuel I 7 the nation is victorious because here they do ask Hashem if they should go to war. See Shemuel I 7:9 were Shemuel calls to Hashem that he should save the Children of Israel and Hashem answers him.
Other mentions of Shiloh in Tanakh –
Taking the Ark to Battle
The Children of Israel sinned by taking the ark to battle.
Was this forbidden? – It is unclear from the verses in Tanakh if taking the ark to battle is prohibited or not. There are many verses where it seems that the Children of Israel do take the ark to battle and they are not defeated. For example, the ark plays a role in the battle of Yericho, Moshe speaks of the ark traveling in front of the camp and vanquishing their enemies, Pinchas takes the "holy vessels" to war against Midyan, and Uriyah tells David that he cannot sleep in his home while the ark is in battle. These verses all imply that one is allowed to take the ark to war. The commentators above suggest two ways for avoiding this contradiction:
- Talmud Yerushalmi and Rashi explain that taking the ark to battle was permitted, but that there were two arks, only one of which was taken to war while the other stayed in the Mishkan. In our story, this rule was violated.
- Abarbanel and Malbim suggest that one is only allowed to take the ark to war when there is explicit Divine permission. In our chapter, neither Shemuel nor the Urim VeTummim were consulted.
Other mentions of Shiloh –
Deaths before the sin – This approach has difficulty explaining the deaths which occurred in the first stage of the battle before the ark was brought.
Attitude Toward the Ark
The Children of Israel believed that the ark itself would ensure their victory, and they forgot that Hashem controls their destiny.
The sin – Two verses in our chapter may indicate that this is what the Children of Israel believed.
- In verse 3, the elders of the nation ask why Hashem defeated them, and they then suggest to bring the ark and that it will save them from our enemies.
- In verse 5, the joyous shout of the Children of Israel upon the arrival of the ark shows that they believed only in the ark and they did not cry to Hashem that he should help them.
Victory in Shemuel I 7 – Prof. Elitzur suggests in his article that Tanakh is juxtaposing these two battles against the Philistines in order to contrast them. He says that Tanakh is showing that only if one believes in Hashem and cries out to him will one be successful.
Other mentions of Shiloh – Yirmeyahu 7 describes how the Children of Israel believe in the protection of the Mikdash and trust that it will save them. In this context, Yirmeyahu mentions the destruction of Shiloh and it appears that the sins are parallel.
Deaths before the sin – This approach might account for the deaths of the first four thousand people by saying that the bringing of the ark merely reflected a problem that already existed.
Eli's Sons' Sins
Only Eli's sons sinned, but this caused the defeat of the whole nation.
Shemuel's prophecy in Chapter 3 – These commentators use the prophecy of Shemuel in the previous chapter as a proof that Hashem was going to cause the defeat of the nation due to the sins of Eli's sons. Additionally, the first verse of Chapter 4 may refer to Shemuel's earlier prophecy regarding the sons of Eli.
Eli's sons bringing of the ark – The Malbim suggests that the mention of Eli's sons being next to the ark when it was taken shows that it was taken as a result of their sins.
Mentioning of the sin – This is the only sin which is explicitly mentioned in the opening chapters of Sefer Shemuel.
Collective punishment – The main problem with this approach is that the whole nation is being punished for the sins of only two people. However, this is not the only case in Tanakh where this occurs.3
