Eli had been sitting on his seat by the roadside watching; "for his heart trembled for the ark of God" (v. 13a). When the news came to him that the ark had been captured, he fell off his seat backward, broke his neck, and died (vv. 17-18).
When the wife of Phinehas, who was pregnant and about to deliver, learned that the ark had been captured and that her husband and her father-in-law had died, she bowed down and gave birth to a son (vv. 19-20). She named the child Ichabod (v. 21), meaning "No glory," indicating that the glory had departed from Israel. Glory is God Himself. When God departed, the glory departed from Israel.
Samuel observed all these tragedies, and they became lessons to him, warning him and reminding him throughout his service to God. Thus, his being placed by God in His wisdom under the custody of the old Eli was very profitable, for he learned certain things positively and observed other things negatively. This helped Samuel to remain pure in his service to God his entire life. When he was about to die, he could remind the people of Israel that he had never defrauded them, oppressed them, or taken anything from them (12:3-4).
While Samuel was under Eli's custody, God taught him in a very fine way, built him up, and established him as His proper priest. As such a priest, Samuel became a judge to judge Israel, a prophet to prophesy for God, and the one to bring forth the kingship. By this kingship the kingdom of God was established on earth. This is a picture of what our situation should be today. We need to be, first, a Samuel, and then, a David, enjoying Christ to such a degree that what we have enjoyed of Christ will become a kingdom, which is the church.
According to Matthew 16:18-19 the church and the kingdom are identical. The kingdom today is the church, and within the church there is the intrinsic essence—the Body of Christ. The church is visible, but the Body of Christ, as the intrinsic essence, is invisible. In the visible church there is the kingdom, the reigning, of God. In this visible church there is also the intrinsic essence as the very content, the reality, of the church. Our human body is visible, but the life within the body is invisible. The principle is the same with the church and the Body. The Body is the intrinsic life of the church.