Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness.
The fact that the Israelites suffered a devastating slaughter (Heb. makkah, 1 Samuel 4:10), many times worse than their earlier recent defeat (1 Samuel 4:2), proved that victory did not come from the ark but from the Lord. Defeat was due to sin in the camp, including Hophni and Phinehas’ sin (cf. 1 Samuel 2:25). Israel had suffered defeat at Ai about 300 years earlier for the same reason: sin among the people (Joshua 7:11). Trying to duplicate previous spiritual victories by going through the same procedures is no substitute for getting right with God (cf. Judges 16:20; Matthew 23:25).