Named the ark, etc… There is great reason, by all these circumstances, to hope that Heli died in a state of grace; and by his temporal punishments escaped the eternal.
4:19. And his daughter in law, the wife of Phinees, was big with child, and near her time: and hearing the news that the ark of God was taken, and her father in law, and her husband, were dead, she bowed herself and fell in labour: for her pains came upon her on a sudden.
4:20. And when she was upon the point of death, they that stood about her said to her: Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. She answered them not, nor gave heed to them.
4:21. And she called the child Ichabod, saying: The glory is gone from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and for her father in law, and for her husband:
Ichabod… That is, Where is the glory? or, there is no glory. We see how much the Israelites lamented the loss of the ark, which was but the symbol of God's presence among them. How much more ought Christians to lament the loss of God himself, when by sin they have driven him out of their souls.
4:22. And she said: The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken.
1 Kings Chapter 5
Dagon twice falleth down before the ark. The Philistines are grievously afflicted, wherever the ark cometh.
5:1. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and carried it from the Stone of help into Azotus.
5:2. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.