The ark captured; Eli dies
1 Samuel 4; Psalm 78:56–64; Jeremiah 7:12
Israel carried the ark into battle as a good-luck charm and lost; the Philistines captured it, Eli's sons were killed, and Eli fell and died at 98.
She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because God’s ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
1 Samuel 4:21 (World English Bible)
After a first defeat near Aphek, the elders brought the ark from Shiloh, and the camp shouted so loudly that the Philistines were terrified. They fought harder, killed 30,000, and took the ark. When the news reached Shiloh, Eli fell backward from his seat and broke his neck.
His daughter-in-law died giving birth and named her son Ichabod, “no glory.” Shiloh itself appears to have been destroyed; Jeremiah later pointed to its ruins as a warning.
Places
Dating notes
Eli was 98 and had judged Israel 40 years (1 Samuel 4:15, 18). Ussher, 1116 BC.