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One-sentence summary: The ark is stolen by the Philistines and recovered, Israel asks Samuel to give them a king, and the Lord tells Samuel to warn the people what will happen.
The word of Samuel comes to all Israel. Israel goes to battle against the Philistines, and they are defeated. The elders ask why and say they must bring the ark of the Lord from Shiloh to them. So they send word to Shiloh "that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim." The two sons of Eli are there with the ark. When the ark comes into the camp, all Israel shouts so loudly that the earth shakes. The Philistines wonder what it means, and when they understand that the ark of the Lord has come into the camp, they are afraid and say, "God has come into the camp. Woe to us, for such a thing has never happened before!" It is noted that they also refer to God as "gods." ("Who will deliver us from the hands of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with the plagues...") They tell themselves to brace up like men and fight, and Israel is defeated, and "there is a very great slaughter." Also, the ark of God is captured, and the two sons of Eli die. A man from Benjamin runs to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When the man tells the people, the whole city cries out. Eli wonders about the cry, and the man tells him about his sons and the ark. When Eli hears about the ark, he falls off the seat backward and breaks his neck and dies, because he is "old and heavy" and had judged Israel 40 years. When one of his son's wives, who is pregnant, hears about the ark and her husband and father-in-law, she goes into labor. The women who stand by her tell her not to be afraid because she has born a son. She doesn't answer but only calls the son Ichabod (meaning "the glory has departed from Israel") before dying.
The Philistines take the ark and bring it into the house of their god Dagon When they arise early in the morning, their idol has fallen and is bowing before the ark of the Lord. They set it up again, but the next morning, the same thing happens, with his head and hands broken off as well. And "the hand of the Lord [is] heavy on the city," and the Lord strikes them with tumors. They realize this and that the ark cannot remain, so they gather all the lords of the Philistines, and they tell them to carry the ark away to another city. After they carry it away, the hand of the Lord is heavy against that city, too, and the same happens there. It happens again in a third city. They gather the lords again and tell them to return the ark "to its own place" so it "doesn't kill [them] and [their] people." And it says that those who do not die are stricken with tumors, and "their cry [reaches] to heaven."
The ark is in the country of the Philistines seven months, and they ask their priests and diviners what to do. They tell them not to send it empty but to return it with a trespass offering so that they might be healed. When they ask what the offering is, they are given this answer: "Five golden tumors and five golden rats" for the number of the lords of the Philistines and the tumors and plagues. And they think this will give glory to the God of Israel. They are advised not to harden their hearts as Pharaoh did. They say they will yoke up two cows to a cart with the offerings of gold and the ark, and "let it go." If the ark returns to its place, they will know it is the Lord, but if it does not, they will assume these things happened to them "by chance." The cows head straight to a city of Israel. The Levites take it down, and they make offerings to the Lord. When the lords of the Philistines see it, they return. But the Lord strikes 50,070 men of that city because they look into the ark. Then, they say, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" They send messengers to another city and ask them to take it away.
The ark is brought to the house of Abinadab, and he consecrate Eleazar his son to keep it, and it remains there for twenty years, and all Israel laments. Samuel tells Israel that if they return to the Lord with all their hearts, put away the foreign gods, and prepare their hearts for the Lord and serve Him only, then He will deliver them from the Philistines, so they put away their idols. He tells them to gather at Mizpah and that he will pray to the Lord for them. They fast and corporately repent and pour out water before the Lord, and Samuel judges them there. The lords of the Philistines hear it and go up against them, so they appeal to Samuel to cry out to the Lord for them more, and he makes an offering of a lamb to the Lord and cries out for Israel, and the Lord answers. As he is making the offering, The Philistines draw near, but "the Lord [thunders] with a loud thunder" and confuses them, and Israel drives them back. And Samuel sets up a stone and calls it Ebenezer (meaning "thus far, the Lord has helped us.") So the Philistines are subdued and don't come into Israel's territory any more, and the Lords's hand is against them. Also, all their territory is recovered, and there is peace all the days of Samuel and also with the Amorites, and Samuel judges Israel all the days of his life, traveling among the cities but always returning to his hometown, Ramah.
When Samuel is old, he makes his sons judges over Israel, but they do not walk in his ways and "follow dishonest gain," take bribes, and "pervert justice." The elders gather and ask Samuel to give them a king since his sons don't walk in his ways. But the request for a king displeases him. However, he asks the Lord, and He tells him to listen to the people, because "they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me that I should not reign over them." He says it is just like they have done since they were brought up from Egypt and that they are doing to Samuel the same thing they have done to Him. However, he is to show them the behavior of the king that will reign over them. Samuel tells the people that their king will take their sons for chariots and horsemen, and they will be his servants. He will take the best of their fields and vineyards for his servants and take their servants and animals to work for him as well. Then, they will cry out in that day, but the Lord will not hear them. But they still refuse to obey and demand a king "that [they] may be like all the nations" and "that [their] king may judge [them]," "and fight all [their] battles." The Lord tells Samuel again to make them a king, and Samuel tells the people to depart.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Have you ever been so persistent in asking God for something, or so determined to do something, that the Lord gave it to you or let you do it, and you lived to regret it?
God is holy. We need to treat His presence a lot more seriously than we do sometimes.