Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

visible symbol of the most high God had rested over it in the holy of
holies. But now it did not bring any victory, and there was mourning
throughout Israel.
The law of God, contained in the ark, was a symbol of His
presence, but they had shown great disrespect for the
commandments and had grieved the Spirit of the Lord away from
them. When the people did not honor God's revealed will by
obedience to His law, the ark could not help them any more than a
common box. They looked to it the way the idolatrous nations
looked to their gods. They violated the law it contained, for their
worship of the ark led to hypocrisy and idolatry.
Tragic News Kills Eli
When the army went out to battle, Eli had stayed at Shiloh.
With dread he waited for the result of the conflict, "for his heart
trembled for the ark of God." Day after day he sat outside the gate of
the tabernacle by the highway, anxiously expecting a messenger to
come from the battlefield.
Finally a Benjamite, "with his clothes torn and dirt on his
head," rushed to the town and repeated to eager crowds the news of
defeat. The sound of wailing and crying reached Eli beside the
tabernacle. The messenger came to him and said, "Israel has fled
before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among
the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead." Eli
could endure all this, terrible as it was, for he had expected it. But
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