Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 4:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Connects Samuel's word with Israel's deployment against Philistines at Eben-ezer.
Samuel's word opens onto a field where Israel loses
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2
Read 1 Samuel 4:1 as one step in 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2: it connects Samuel's word with Israel's deployment against Philistines at Eben-ezer. The complete scene shows that Samuel's established word leads directly into battle at Ebenezer, where the Philistines defeat Israel and about four thousand die.
Why This Verse Appears Here
1 Samuel 4:1 belongs here because it connects Samuel's word with Israel's deployment against Philistines at Eben-ezer. Without that detail, the transition traced in 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2 would lose a stated action, speech, or consequence.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 4:1 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2: it connects Samuel's word with Israel's deployment against Philistines at Eben-ezer. Prophetic recognition does not guarantee military victory, and the casualty notice does not make dead soldiers into scenery or ancient Philistines into a modern enemy.
What Remains True
Connects Samuel's word with Israel's deployment against Philistines at Eben-ezer. Within 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: The enduring claim is contextual rather than triumphal: Samuel's established word leads directly into battle at Ebenezer, where the Philistines defeat Israel and about four thousand die. Prophetic recognition does not guarantee military victory, and the casualty notice does not make dead soldiers into scenery or ancient Philistines into a modern enemy.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 4:1's precise role in 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2. Include the first historical horizon, material uncertainty, one person or cost a leader-centered reading could obscure, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2 — Samuel's word leads into Israel's first defeatSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The verse division joins Samuel's word to war, but the timing, force numbers, and historical setting cannot be independently reconstructed in full.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 4:1–4:2; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 4:1–4:2
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10.5, 2010
Supports: One relatively early integrated/two-edition account of composition, structure, and historiographic value, retained as a contested model.
Exact location: Garsiel, JHS 10.5 (2010), pp. 1–42, named structural or composition discussion covering the movement that includes 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 1:1–4:1a, pp. 14–49
Open source ↗scholarly monograph abstract and contents
Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel
Rachelle Gilmour
Oxford University Press, 2021 online; 2022 print
Supports: One literary, ethical, and political account of divine and human violence; publisher-visible scope does not establish consensus.
Exact location: Gilmour, Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel (2021/2022), official abstract and TOC: relevant discussion for 1 Samuel 4:1–4:2, including 1 Samuel 12 pp. 71–81, Saul's rejection pp. 90–139, Eli's house pp. 140–150, or ark violence pp. 154–185 as applicable
Open source ↗open access scholarly monograph
The Biblical Herem
Philip D. Stern
Brown Judaic Studies, 2020 digital edition
Supports: Philology and historical comparison for the ban, used without normalizing violence or proving dependence.
Exact location: Stern, The Biblical Herem (open digital edition, 2020), philology pp. 5–18, ancient comparisons pp. 19–88, Samuel–Kings and 1 Samuel 15 pp. 165–188, conclusion pp. 217–226
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15
Suzanna Millar
Bible and Critical Theory 19.1-2, 2023
Supports: One intersectional reading of constructed and unstable ethnicity; modern categories are not treated as exact ancient identities.
Exact location: Millar, 'Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15,' Bible and Critical Theory 19.1–2 (2023), pp. 1–22, especially pp. 1–4
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access reception and ethics article
Rethinking Amalek in This 21st Century
Steven Leonard Jacobs
Religions 8.9, article 196, 2017
Supports: Reception and ethical evidence about dangerous modern Amalek mappings, never historical identification or permission for violence.
Exact location: Jacobs, 'Rethinking Amalek in This 21st Century,' Religions 8.9 (2017), article 196, numbered sections and paragraphs
Open source ↗