10 And the Philistines fight, and Israel is smitten, and they flee each to his tents, and the blow is very great, and there fall of Israel thirty thousand footmen; 11 and the ark of God hath been taken, and the two sons of Eli have died, Hophni and Phinehas.
12 And a man of Benjamin runneth out of the ranks, and cometh into Shiloh, on that day, and his long robes 'are' rent, and earth on his head;
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:10-12
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:10-11
(Read 1 Samuel 4:10-11)
The taking of the ark was a great judgment upon Israel, and a certain token of God's displeasure. Let none think to shelter themselves from the wrath of God, under the cloak of outward profession.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:12-18
(Read 1 Samuel 4:12-18)
The defeat of the army was very grievous to Eli as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, to whom he had been so indulgent, and who, as he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him as a father; yet there was a greater concern on his spirit. And when the messenger concluded his story with, "The ark of God is taken," he is struck to the heart, and died immediately. A man may die miserably, yet not die eternally; may come to an untimely end, yet the end be peace.