Why Was the Ark Taken/2

Why Was the Ark Taken?

Exegetical Approaches

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Taking the Ark to Battle

The Children of Israel sinned by taking the ark to battle.

Sources: Yerushalmi ShekalimShekalim 6:1About the Yerushalmi, RashiDevarim 10:1About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, Abarbanel #3Shemuel I 4:41About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, Malbim #3Shemuel I 4:3-4About R. Meir Leibush Weiser

Was this forbidden? There are many verses in Tanakh which imply that it is permitted to take the ark to battle, making this approach difficult.¹ These commentators respond to this argument in one of two ways:

• Wrong ark – Talmud Yerushalmi and Rashi claim that there were two arks, only one of which was permitted to be taken to war, while the other was supposed to stay in the Mishkan.² In this story, the people took the wrong ark to battle.
• No Divine permission – Abarbanel and Malbim suggest that the people were only allowed to take the ark to war with explicit Divine permission.  In our chapter this was lacking.

"וַיִּשְׁלַח הָעָם שִׁלֹה וַיִּשְׂאוּ מִשָּׁם אֵת אֲרוֹן" – Malbim attempts to prove from this phrase that the decision to take the Aron was that of the nation alone and that they did not consult either Shemuel or Eli.

Measure for measure – According to this position, the ark's being captured by the Philistines was a measure for measure punishment for the nation's having wrongfully taken it to war.

Initial defeat in battle – This approach has difficulty explaining the deaths which occurred in the first stage of the battle before the ark was brought.  At that point the nation had not yet sinned, so they should not have been deserving of defeat.

Other mentions of Shiloh – In later references back to the destruction of Shiloh, the verses never blame the nation's taking of the ark to battle as the reason for Hashem's decision.  This position might claim that though the nation suffers defeat and the ark is taken, Shiloh as a whole is not yet destroyed during this war.³  Its destruction, thus, might have been for entirely different reasons.

Magnitude of defeat

Cultic Sins

The severe defeat resulted from the nation's sinning in the area of religious worship.

Worship of Foreign Gods

The nation was punished for their idolatrous ways.

Sources: RadakShemuel I 4:4About R. David Kimchi,⁴ Abarbanel #1Shemuel I 4:41About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, Malbim #1Shemuel I 4:3-4About R. Meir Leibush Weiser

Evidence of idolatry – Though the opening chapters of Sefer Shemuel do not speak of idolatry,⁵ these sources find evidence for it elsewhere:

• Shemuel I 7 – Chapter 7 speaks of Shemuel's calling on the nation to rid itself of foreign gods, telling them that if they do so they will be victorious over the Philistines.  This suggests that until that moment, they had been worshiping idolatry and that it was the reason for the defeat described in Chapter 4.
• Shofetim 18 – Abarbanel and Malbim point to the idol of Michah as evidence of the nation's sinning in this regard, as Shofetim 18:31 notes that Mikhah's idol existed for as long as the Mishkan was in Shiloh.
• Yirmeyahu 7 – Yirmeyahu compares the destruction of Shiloh to that of the impending destruction of the Mikdash, implying that the reason for both was one and the same. Chief among the sins listed as causes for the latter's destruction is treachery against Hashem and straying after foreign gods, suggesting that these were prevalent in Shiloh as well.
• Tehillim 78 – The psalmist explains that Shiloh was destroyed due to the rebellion against Hashem and the worshiping of idols ("יַּכְעִיסוּהוּ בְּבָמוֹתָם וּבִפְסִילֵיהֶם יַקְנִיאוּהוּ").

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.

Wrong Worship of Hashem

The Children of Israel believed that the ark itself would ensure their victory, and they forgot that Hashem controls their destiny.

Sins of Eli's Sons

Only Eli's sons sinned, but this caused the defeat of the whole nation.

Sources: Seder Eliyahu Rabbah12About Seder Eliyahu, Abarbanel #2Shemuel I 4:41About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, Malbim #4Shemuel I 4:3-4About R. Meir Leibush Weiser

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.⁶

Ark-Related Sins

The entire nation sinned and was therefore punished.

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.

Sources: Abarbanel #4Shemuel I 4:41About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, Malbim #2Shemuel I 4:3-4About R. Meir Leibush Weiser, Prof. Yehuda Elitzur⁷

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.

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: RalbagShemuel I 4:1About R. Levi b. Gershom

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.⁸

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

¹ For example, in Bemidbar 10:35-36, Moshe speaks of the ark traveling in front of the camp and vanquishing their enemies and in Bemidbar 31:6 Pinchas takes the "holy vessels" to war against Midyan.  Similarly, in Yehoshua 6, the ark plays a role in the battle of Yericho, and in Shemuel II 11:11, Uriyah tells David that he feels uncomfortable sleeping in his home while the ark is at battle.  In addition the very name, "אֲרוֹן בְּרִית י"י צְבָאוֹת" might further suggest that it was meant to play a military role.

² Rashi explains that the ark which went to battle was that made by Moshe when he went to get the Tablets, as described in Devarim 10.  The other ark was made by Bezalel when he constructed all the vessels of the Tabernacle, and  it remained there.  The Yerushalmi says that the former held the broken tablets and the latter the full ones.

³ See Shemuel I 14:3 which mentions Achiyah the priest wearing the Efod "in Shiloh", suggesting that Shiloh was still a center of priestly activity during Shaul's reign.  Others suggest that the words "in Shiloh" refer not back to Achiyah who is mentioned at the beginning of the verse, but only to the immediately preceding word, Eli. As such the verse would just be saying that Eli had presided in Shiloh, but nothing about Ahiyah's abode.

⁴ Radak combines this approach with that below, saying that both the nation and Benei Eli were guilty.

⁵ In contrast to the Books of Shofetim and Melakhim, Sefer Shemuel only speaks of the nation worshiping foreign gods once, in Shemuel I Chapter 7.

⁶ See Yehoshua 7 where the entire nation is defeated in battle against Ai because of the sin of Akhan.

⁷ In his article in Yisrael VeHamikra (Jerusalem, 2000): "Even HaEzer" pp. 96-102.

⁸ Examples include: Shemuel II 8:1-8, Shemuel II 12:26-31, and Shemuel II 21:18-22.