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1 Samuel 4 · a question people ask

Did the Philistines think Israel had many gods?

In the text

The chapter gives their words and no more. First they said, "God has come into the camp" (4:7). Then, "Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness" (4:8). In Hebrew the word for God and for gods is the same, elohim; in 4:8 the words with it, mighty and these, are plural, and the WEB has gods. What they spoke of was Egypt, and the priests and diviners the Philistines call (6:2) speak of Egypt again in 6:6: "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?"

The verses

“The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” They said, “Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. 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 kinds of plagues in the wilderness.”
1 Samuel 4:7-8 · World English Bible
“Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn’t they let the people go, and they departed?”
1 Samuel 6:6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 4

1 Samuel 4: The glory has departed

Eli fell not when he heard his two sons were dead, but "When he made mention of God’s ark" (4:18). And Ichabod's mother, told the ark was taken and her husband dead, gave only one reason in her own words: "The glory has departed from Israel; for God’s ark has been taken" (4:22).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions