Ichabod

ICHABOD (ĭk'a-bŏd, Heb. ’îkhāvôdh, inglorious). Son of Phinehas, Eli’s son who was killed by the Philistines at the battle of Aphek when the ark was taken. Ichabod was born after his father’s death and was given this name by his mother on her deathbed because, she said, “The glory has departed from Israel” (1Sam.4.19-1Sam.4.22). His nephew Ahijah was one of those who remained with Saul and his men at Gibeah just before Jonathan attacked the Philistines (1Sam.14.2ff.).

---

ICHABOD ĭk’ ə bŏd (אִֽי־כָבוֹד, where is the glory? or no glory). The name given to the son of Phineas, one of Eli’s two evil sons, by his mother when she bore him on her deathbed. News arrived from the battle of Aphek that the Philistines had killed both Hophni and Phineas and captured the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When their father heard this tragic news, he fell backward and broke his neck. Phineas’ wife, upon hearing that her husband and father-in-law had died and that the Ark of the Covenant was gone, immediately went into labor. In her despondency she named the child Ichabod, saying “the glory is departed from Israel” (1 Sam 4:19ff.). Ichabod later appears in 1 Samuel 14:3 with his brother’s son, called here Ahiah and elsewhere Ahimelek, the man who stayed with Saul and his 600 men at Gibeah.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

ik’-a-bod, i’-ka-bod (i-kha-bhodh, "inglorious"; Codex Vaticanus, ouai barchaboth; Codex Alexandrinus, ouai chaboth, Atimos): Son of Phinehas, Eli’s son, slain at the battle of Aphek when the ark was taken. Ichabod was born after his father’s death. His mother gave him this name on her death-bed to indicate that the "glory (had) departed from Israel" (1Sa 4:19 ). He was thus important as a symbol, though little is recorded of him as an individual. His nephew Ahijah was one of those who tarried with Saul and the six hundred at Gibeah just before Jonathan’s brave attack upon the Philistines (1Sa 14:2 f).