I-Chabod

Ichabod (UPDV spelling) is the son of Phinehas and grandson of Eli, born on the day the ark of God was captured by the Philistines. His name is given as a one-word verdict on what that day meant for Israel. He appears once at his birth and once in a genealogical aside two books later.

The Name and Its Reason

The lad's mother, dying in labor at the news of the ark's capture and the deaths of Eli and Phinehas, names him in the hearing of the women attending her: "And she named the lad Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel; because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband" (1Sa 4:21). The next verse repeats the naming explanation in compressed form, isolating the ark as the cause: "And she said, The glory has departed from Israel; for the ark of God was taken" (1Sa 4:22).

In the Priestly Genealogy

Ichabod is named once more in passing, as the brother of Ahijah the priest at Shiloh during Saul's reign: "and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Yahweh in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people didn't know that Jonathan was gone" (1Sa 14:3). The placement keeps Eli's line attached to the priesthood after the events at Shiloh.