! Samuel 4-8
The Philistines captured the Ark of God and defeated the Israelites on the battlefield, and Eli's son were both killed. Then Eli heard what had happened, he fell off his chair and died. His daughter-in-law gave birth to a son, naming him Ichabod, which means "The Glory has departed from Israel", since the ark of God was captured and taken. The Philistines took the ark of God into their temple, setting it beside their idol, Dagon. Over the next few days, they noticed each morning that the Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. The Lord brought devastation on the Philistines and afflicted them with disease until they finally decided to send the ark of God back to the Israelites. The Israelites received the ark and consecrated Eleazer to guard it and all the people turned back to the Lord and got rid of all their idols and foreign gods. When the Phillistines later came up to attack them again, Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf and He answered, thundering against the Phillistines and the Israelites defeated and subdued them so that they stopped invading Israel's territory. Throughout the rest of Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines and Samuel continued leading Israel as their judge. When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to serve as leaders of Israel, but they perverted justice and turned aside after dishonest gain. The people and elders of Israel asked Samuel to appoint a King, since his sons had not followed his ways and they wanted to be like the other nations. When Samuel prayed to the Lord for guidance, He told Samuel that the people had rejected Him as their king. The Lord told Samuel to listen to them, but warn them solemnly that their new king will make claims over them and enslave them for his own gain. Samuel warned them that they will cry out to the Lord for relief from their king, but the Lord will not answer. The people refused to listen and persisted in demanding a king to rule over them and to lead them. The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to them and give them a king."