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.
"When he mentioned the ark ...  Eli fell ... his neck was broken ... he died"  (1 Samuel 4:18).  Throughout the narrative here, Eli's chief concern, his greatest anxiety, had centered in the ARK.  Even the defeat of Israel, the great slaughter of the people and the death of his two sons did not affect the aged judge with the terrible degree of sorrow and mental anguish that came with the word of the loss of the ark of the covenant. That disastrous news utterly destroyed him.