שמואל א, פרק ד׳, פסוק כ״א

In her final moments of life, lying on her deathbed under the heavy shadow of national and personal disaster, a mother names her newborn son. This name immortalizes a double tragedy, serving not just as a mark of private grief but as a declaration of a profound spiritual crisis experienced by the entire nation. The commentators explain that the child's name translates to "no glory," or perhaps serves as a painful question asking where the glory has gone now that it is no more [רד״ק, מלבי״ם]. The meaning points to a harsh reality: at the exact moment of this child's birth, glory had been exiled and departed from the people of Israel [מצודת דוד].

The departure of this glory occurred because of two devastating events: the capture of the Ark of God and the deaths of the woman's father-in-law and husband [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The combination of losing the Ark alongside the leaders of the generation points to total destruction. Her father-in-law was a prophet and the High Priest, while her husband was destined to inherit that role, being more worthy and better than his brother [רלב״ג].

Beyond the loss of leadership, this tragedy represents a double loss of the Torah itself. The Torah exists in two forms: the written law resting in the Ark, and the oral tradition residing in the hearts of the sages. If only the Ark had been taken and the leaders remained alive, the Torah could have been restored through their wisdom and deep understanding. However, because the Ark was captured and the scholars who carried the Torah were killed, the glory departed completely, leaving no way to recover what was lost [מלבי״ם].

The scene in the delivery room is even more complex. A question arises regarding the exact words spoken by the mother, as the narrative seems to repeat her statement shortly after, but without mentioning her husband and father-in-law. A unique perspective suggests that the grieving woman, overwhelmed by immense pain, spoke only a single word to name her child. The women standing around her interpreted this name, assuming she chose it because of the captured Ark, her father-in-law, and her husband. But the dying mother heard their explanation and rejected it. It deeply bothered her that these women compared her personal loss to the catastrophic capture of the Ark of God. Fighting through the agony of death, she gathered her remaining strength to correct them. She made it absolutely clear that the name was chosen solely because the Ark of God was taken, for that alone represented the true departure of glory [אברבנאל].