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1 Samuel 4:12
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10 So the Philistines fought, and aIsrael was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.  
11 Also athe ark of God was captured; and bthe two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.  

Death of Eli

12 Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and acame to Shiloh with his clothes torn and bdirt on his head.  
13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on aa seat by the wayside watching, for his heart2 trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.  
14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli.
15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and ahis eyes were so dim that he could not see.  
16 Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.” And he said, a“What happened, my son?”  
17 So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.”
18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

Ichabod

19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.
20 And about the time of her death athe women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she1 regard it.  
Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
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1 Samuel 4:12

Came to Shiloh the same day - The field of battle could not have been at any great distance, for this young man reached Shiloh the same evening after the defeat.

With his clothes rent , and with earth upon his head - These were signs of sorrow and distress among all nations. The clothes rent, signified the rending, dividing, and scattering, of the people; the earth, or ashes on the head, signified their humiliation: "We are brought down to the dust of the earth; we are near to our graves." When the Trojan fleet was burnt, Aeneas is represented as tearing his robe from his shoulder, and invoking the aid of his gods: -

Tum pius Aeneas humeris abscindere vestem,

Auxilioque vocare Deos, et tendere palmas .

Virg. Aen. lib. v., ver. 685.

"The prince then tore his robes in deep despair,

Raised high his hands, and thus address' d his prayer."

Pitt.

We have a remarkable example in the same poet, where he represents the queen of King Latinus resolving on her own death, when she found that the Trojans had taken the city by storm: -

Purpueros moritura manu discindit amictus .

Aen. lib. xii., ver. 603.

She tears with both her hands her purple vest.

But the image is complete in King Latinus himself, when he heard of the death of his queen, and saw his city in flames: -

- It scissa veste Latinus, Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina,

Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans .

Ib., ver. 609.

Latinus tears his garments as he goes.

Both for his public and his private woes:

With filth his venerable beard besmears,

And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs.

Dryden.

We find the same custom expressed in one line by Catullus: -

Canitiem terra, atque infuso pulvere foedans .

Epith. Pelei et Thetidos, ver. 224.

Dishonoring her hoary locks with earth and sprinkled dust.

The ancient Greeks in their mourning often shaved off their hair: -

̈́ ,

, ' .

Hom. Odyss. lib. iv., ver. 197.

"Let each deplore his dead: the rites of wo

Are all, alas! the living can bestow

O' er the congenial dust, enjoin' d to shear

The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear."

Pope.

And again: -

̔ ͅ · '

, .

Ib., lib. xxiv., ver. 44.

"Then unguents sweet, and tepid streams, we shed;

Tears flow' d from every eye; and o' er the dead

Each clipp' d the curling honors of his head."

Pope.

The whole is strongly expressed in the case of Achilles, when he heard of the death of his friend Patroclus: -

̔ · '

ͅ ̔ ,

, ' ͅ ·

ͅ ' .

Iliad, lib. xviii., ver. 22.

"A sudden horror shot through all the chief,

And wrapp' d his senses in the cloud of grief.

Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread

The scorching ashes o' er his graceful head:

His purple garments, and his golden hairs.

Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears."

Pope.

It is not unusual, even in Europe, and in the most civilized parts of it, to see grief expressed by tearing the hair, beating the breasts, and rending the garments; all these are natural signs, or expression of deep and excessive grief, and are common to all the nations of the world.


 
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