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.
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.