There ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with earth on his head.
"(And when the messenger arrived) Eli was sitting upon his seat by the road, watching"  (1 Samuel 4:13).  There is no excuse for calling "the road" in this passage the road that led to the scene of the battle as did G. B. Caird who wrote that, "Eli was sitting ... by the road along which the messenger must come, and yet the messenger reached the city without encountering him"![6]  To remedy this "impossibility" as he called it, we are advised to accept the Septuagint (LXX) in this place.  however, the Septuagint (LXX) is no better than what we have here.