Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
And the messenger answered - Never was a more afflictive message, containing such a variety of woes, each rising above the preceding, delivered in so few words.
1. Israel is fled before the Philistines.
This was a sore evil: that Israel should turn their backs upon their enemies, was bad; and that they should turn their backs on such enemies as the
Philistines, was yet worse; for now they might expect the chains of their slavery to be strengthened and riveted more closely.
2. There hath also been a great slaughter among the people.
A rout might have taken place without any great previous slaughter; but in this case the field was warmly contested, thirty thousand were laid dead on the spot. This was a deeper cause of distress than the preceding; as if he had said, "The flower of our armies is destroyed; scarcely a veteran now to take the field."
3. Thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead.
This was still more afflictive to him as a father, to lose both his sons, the only hope of the family; and to have them taken away by a violent death when there was so little prospect of their having died in the peace of God, was more grievous than all.
4. The ark of God is taken.
This was the most dreadful of the whole; now Israel is dishonored in the sight of the heathen, and the name of the Lord will be blasphemed by them. Besides, the capture of the ark shows that God is departed from Israel; and now there is no farther hope of restoration for the people, but every prospect of the destruction of the nation, and the final ruin of all religion! How high does each wo rise on the back of the preceding! And with what apparent art is this very laconic message constructed! And yet, probably, no art at all was used, and the messenger delivered the tidings just as the facts rose up in his own mind.
How vapid, diffused, and alliterated, is the report of the messenger in the Persae of Aeschylus, who comes to the queen with the tremendous account of the destruction of the whole naval power of the Persians, at the battle of Salamis? I shall give his first speech, and leave the reader to compare the two accounts.
Ω γης ἁπασης Ασιδος πολισματα,
Ω Περσις αια, και πολυς πλουτου λιμην,
Ὡς εν μιᾳ πληγῃ κατεφθαρται πολυς
Ολβος, το Περσων δ' ανθος οιχται πεσον.
Ωμοι, κακον μεν πρωτον αγγελλειν κακα·
Περσαις, στρατος γαρ πας αλωλε βαρβαρων.
Of which I subjoin the following translation by Mr. Potter: -
Wo to the towns through Asia's peopled realms!
Wo to the land of Persia, once the port
Of boundless wealth! how is thy glorious state
Vanish'd at once, and all thy spreading honors
Fallen, lost! Ah me! unhappy is his task
That bears unhappy tidings; but constraint
Compels me to relate this tale of wo:
Persians! the whole barbaric host is fallen.
This is the sum of his account, which he afterwards details in about a dozen of speeches.
Heroes and conquerors, ancient and modern, have been celebrated for comprising a vast deal of information in a few words. I will give three examples, and have no doubt that the Benjamite in the text will be found to have greatly the advantage.
1. Julius Caesar having totally defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, wrote a letter to the Roman senate, which contained only these three words: -
Veni, Vidi, Vici;
I came, I saw, I conquered.
This war was begun and ended in one day.
2. Admiral Hawke having totally defeated the French fleet, in 1759, off the coast of Brittany, wrote as follows to King George II.: -
"Sire, I have taken, burnt, and destroyed all the French fleet, as per margin. - Hawke."
3. Napoleon Buonaparte, then general-in-chief of the French armies in Italy, wrote to Josephine, his wife, the evening before he attacked Field Marshal Alvinzi, the imperial general: -
"Demain j'attaquerai l'enemie; je le battrai; et j'en finirai."
"To-morrow I shall attack the enemy; I shall defeat them, and terminate the business."
He did so: the imperialists were totally defeated, Mantua surrendered, and the campaign for that year (1796) was concluded.
In the above examples, excellent as they are in their kind, we find little more than one idea, whereas the report of the Benjamite includes several; for, in the most forcible manner, he points out the general and particular disasters of the day, the rout of the army, the great slaughter, the death of the priests, who were in effect the whole generals of the army, and the capture of the ark; all that, on such an occasion, could affect and distress the heart of an Israelite. And all this he does in four simple assertions.
John Gill Bible Commentary
And the messenger answered and said,.... He delivered his account gradually, beginning with generals, and then proceeding to particulars, and with what he thought Eli could better bear the news of, and so prepared him for the worst; in which he acted a wise part:
Israel is fled before the Philistines; they have given way and retreated, and which might possibly be done without great loss, and which, though it was bad news, might not be so very bad:
and there hath also been a great slaughter among the people; this is worse news still; however, the number of the slain is not given, nor any mention of particular persons that were killed: so that, for any thing yet said, his own sons might be safe: but then it follows:
and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; the news of which must be very affecting to him, and strike him closely; though he might expect and be prepared for it by what both the man of God and Samuel from the Lord had related to him:
and the ark of God is taken; the thing he feared, and his heart trembled before for it; this was the closing and cutting part of the account; the messenger foresaw that this would the most affect him, and therefore referred it to the last.
