The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.
"So the people brought ... the ark of the covenant; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God"  (1 Samuel 4:4)!  The exclamation point here is our own.  The passage certainly deserves it.  There could not possibly have been any more incongruous and contradictory elements than: (1) the sacred ark of the covenant and (2) the scandalous reprobate sons of Eli serving there as its custodians.  There could not have been anything accidental about the manner in which the inspired author placed these two OPPOSITE elements in such an eloquent juxtaposition.