Presence and absence
1 Samuel 4:12 – Chapter 7
In a reminder of earlier readings, today’s passage is a story of the Ark of the Covenant, which was seen as representing the presence of God in a way we have no modern equivalent for.
While the story is about the literal ark being taken by the Philistines (and ultimately returned as being too powerful to handle), the layers of metaphor are also deep.
It is the shock of the loss of the ark that leads to Eli’s death and apparently the death of his daughter-in-law as well. The name of Eli’s grandson born after his death is Ichabod, meaning “the Glory has departed from Israel.” This refers to the humiliating military defeat but also to the symbolic loss of the presence of God with the loss of the ark.
The plague that was brought on the Philistines and attributed to the presence of the ark was apparently the bubonic plague, which was spread by rodents and resulted in painful tumors in the neck, armpits and groin. The use of gold tumors and mice as a guilt offering would not only have been a gift of gold, but also a way to symbolically banish both the tumors and their carriers from the land.
It is interesting to notice that the absence of the ark was bad for the Israelites, but the presence of the ark was bad for the Philistines. To the person (or nation) that does not honor God as God, God’s very presence is painful.