And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.
When Eli heard the sound of people crying out, he asked, 'What does all this commotion mean?' Then the man rushed in quickly and told Eli what had happened.
The writer is showing how Eli, though blind and elderly, immediately sensed something terrible had happened when he heard the sounds of distress from his community.
📚 Historical Context
This scene takes place after Israel's devastating defeat by the Philistines, where the Ark of the Covenant was captured and Eli's two sons were killed in battle. Eli, now 98 years old and blind, was sitting by the gate waiting anxiously for news from the battlefield. The messenger had just arrived in Shiloh with torn clothes and dirt on his head, traditional signs of mourning and disaster.
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