Ichabod

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For the character in Washington Irving's story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", see Ichabod Crane.

Ichabod (meaning inglorious in Hebrew) is named by the Books of Samuel as the brother of Ahitub^[1]. Ichabod is also identified by the Books of Samuel as having been the son of Phinehas, and as having been born on the day that the Ark was taken into Philistine captivity, his mother having gone into labour due to the shock of this event. The identity and name of his mother is not given, and she is said to have died shortly after having given birth to him, and having named him.

In the masoretic version of the Books of Samuel, his name is said to be a reference to the fact that the glory is departed from Israel, either in reference to the death of his father, or of Eli, or a reference to the loss of the Ark. The Septuagint, however, states that his name was a complaint: woe to the glory of Israel. The Codex Vaticanus refers to him as ouai barchaboth, i.e. as I Bar Chabod - I, son of Chabod or No, son of Glory. According to textual scholars,^{[citation needed]} this section of the Book of Samuel, the sanctuaries source, derives from a fairly late source compared with other parts, and hence this justification of his name may simply be a folk etymology. In many ancient cultures (and some modern ones, generally oriental) it was common to give children an unpleasant name (for example, smelly dog) to ward off evil, and it is quite possible that this is the real reason for Ichabod's name.

Despite being barely mentioned in the current text of the Hebrew Bible, the fact that Ahitub is referred to as being the brother of Ichabod, rather than as son of Phinehas (or of anyone else), has lead textual scholars to suspect that Ichabod was once seen as a far more significant individual, and that the reasons for this have since been lost^[2].

[edit] Related Uses and Cultural References

Ichabod, Ichabod / The glory is departed is a line from Robert Browning's poem Waring, 1842 ^[3].
Ichabod and I is the title of British band The Boo Radleys' 1990 debut album.
Sincerely, Ichabod is a song by post-hardcore christian band: Project 86
Ichabod is often used to criticize churches that are viewed as leaving their intended purpose to be more appealing to the secular world, causing the Glory of God to no longer be the attraction. Spurgeon used it in his sermons: http://www.earnestlycontending.com/ewministries/others/spurgeon/timepresent.html