“I FLED FROM THE BATTLE TODAY!”

1 Samuel 4:12-18                                 (ESV)

“12 A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.

13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ARK of GOD. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out.

14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, "What is this uproar?" Then the man hurried and came and told Eli.

15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

16 And the man said to Eli, "I am he who has come from the battle; “I FLED FROM THE BATTLE TODAY." And he said, "How did it go, my son?"

17 He who brought the news answered and said, "ISRAEL HAS FLED before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ARK OF GOD has been captured."

18 As soon as he mentioned the ARK OF GOD, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was OLD and HEAVY. He had judged Israel forty years.”

Most people have never heard the names Hophni and Phinehas.  They were sons of Eli, the High Priest of Shiloh.  Having two sons myself, it is astounding that Hophni and Phinehas were not better examples of living for GOD, especially since their father was the High Priest.  Samuel, although he was born of Elkanah and Hannah, was raised by Eli, but he had a great testimony of obedience to his CREATOR.  The thing that Samuel had in his favor was he was consecrated as a promise to GOD by his mother Hannah before he was conceived.  Samuel’s father, Elkanah, simply said “...only, may the LORD establish his word!” (1 Samuel 1:23).  

Samuel was given to the LORD before he was conceived, but Hophni and Phinehas weren’t.  Hophni and Phinehas were of the blood line of Eli, but they didn’t serve GOD, but their own interests.  Hophni and Phinehas were killed in a battle where the ARK of GOD was captured by the Philistines, and the nation of Israel was defeated.  When “a man of Benjamin RAN” to inform Eli that the defeat had occurred, AND THAT HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS HAD DIED, and the ARK of GOD was lost to the Philistines, he also informed Eli that “I FLED FROM THE BATTLE TODAY."  Not that he had fought for the ARK of GOD, but “I FLED FROM THE BATTLE TODAY." 

What will I have to tell ALMIGHTY GOD when I stand before HIS Judgement Seat about how I defended the ARK of GOD?  Will I tell HIM that HIS reputation of being worth dying for was dropped into the hands of the enemy?  Did fear of losing my earthly life concern me more than guarding HIS NAME?  Or will I have to admit that “I FLED FROM THE BATTLE TODAY?”  

GOD FORBID!  May my commitment to GOD ALMIGHTY be so devout that I will proclaim HIS EXCELLENCIES to a lost and dying world with my last breath!  May “I FLED FROM THE BATTLE TODAY” never cross my lips, not be said of my actions!!!