4:5,6a
Initially it seems that their reasoning was correct. On the appearance of the Ark, all Israel raised an enormous shout. It was so loud that the Philistine camp heard it as well. However, Israel was treating the Ark more as a luck charm than the actual presence of God. If they had treated it as the actual presence of God then the nation would have gone into deep repentance. We all need to be very wary of treating religious practices of any sort as “lucky charms”.
4:6b-9
Initially the Philistines were wracked with fear. What had happened in Egypt many years ago was apparently well known in the region, and the Philistines feared that a similar thing would happen to them. Notice that they say “they are the gods ...” While they were aware of the historical events they thought the Israelite God was just the same as other “gods”. Now if they were afraid at this point, why weren't they afraid to attack in the first place? Maybe they thought the “gods” were no longer with Israel (which in a sense was true!), but when the Ark was brought out and they heard the great shout this caused them to reassess the situation. Whatever the case, instead of giving in to fear, they rallied themselves together, not wanting to be enslaved by the Hebrews.
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