Be strong, and behave yourselves like men, O you Philistines, that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
The fact that the people shouted loudly when the ark arrived at Ebenezer from Shiloh (1 Samuel 4:5) may be another indication that they were hoping to duplicate the victory at Jericho (cf. Joshua 6:20). Likewise the response of the Philistines when they heard the cry recalls Rahab’s revelation of how the Canaanites feared Yahweh (Joshua 2:9-11). These allusions to the victory at Jericho contrast the Israelites’ present attitude toward God with what it had been at that earlier battle.