the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before.
The first words of this paragraph, which relate to Samuel, that his word came to all Israel, seem not to have any reference to the following story, as if it was by any direction of his that the Israelites went out against the Philistines.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 4:1-9
And the Philistines were afraid,.... When the spies returned, and reported to them the reason of the shouting: for they said, God is come into the camp; into the camp of Israel, because the ark represented him, and was the symbol of his presence; and these Heathens might take the ark itself for an idol of the Israelites; the Targum is,"the ark of God is...
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. (c) Before we fought against men, and now God has come to fight against us.