1 Samuel 4:9

Be strong. But, as is often the case, despair served only to nerve them to bitter determination. The greatness of the danger—for as heathen the Philistines fully believed that the ark would act as a charm—and the fearful alternative of being servants , i.e. slaves to those who not so very long ago had been slaves to them, made them resolve to do their very utmost. The result was a complete victory.