When the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has Yahweh struck us today before the Philistines? Let us get the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.
This was probably the time when Shiloh, the religious centre of the nation, was destroyed (Psalms 78:60-61; Jeremiah 7:12,Jeremiah 7:14; Jeremiah 26:6). But the priests managed to escape to Nob, taking with them whatever they could of the house of God (see 21:1-6; 22:18-19; 1 Kings 8:4).