1 Samuel 14
-Jonathan, who had the help of his armor bearer, decided to
cross over and check out the Philistine garrison that was on the other side.
Jonathan did not tell his father of this bold adventure, probably because it
would never have been approved. Saul was staying in the outskirts of his home
town of Gibeah in Benjamin under the pomegranate tree that was in Migron
according to Scripture. His 600 men were with him there (1 Samuel 14:1-2).
Ichabod’s older brother, Ahijah, was there wearing the linen as one from the
line of Eli in priestly service, and the people did not know that Jonathan had
gone (1 Samuel 4:19-22; 14:3).
-Some description is given as to the area where Jonathan was
venturing, and then the king’s son exclaimed in faith to his armor bearer, “Come
and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD
will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few (1
Samuel 14:4-6).” His armor bearer told him to proceed with all that was in his
heart and pledged his loyalty though this was a very dangerous mission in enemy
territory. The plan was to reveal themselves to the Philistines with a sign
being sent from God. If the enemy said, “Wait until we come to you…” then they
would stand in their place and not go up to them. But, on the other hand, if
they say, “Come up to us…” then they would indeed go up, for the LORD would
have shown that He was going to give them into their hands (1 Samuel 14:7-10).
As the action played out, the Philistines called Jonathan and his armor bearer
to come up to them. In their minds, they thought there were many other Hebrews
that would soon be coming out from hiding in a guerrilla style attack. Jonathan
arose climbing up on his hands and feet with his armor bearer right behind him,
and they proceeded to kill 20 Philistines in the first encounter by themselves
within about half a furrow in an acre of land. Then there was trembling in the
camp among all the people as the LORD began to operate His Divine plan. A great
earthquake occurred, which is not that uncommon in this region, and Saul’s
watchmen in Gibeah could observe what was happening. The multitude of
Philistines were melting away before them by the Hand of the Almighty. They
were dispersing with chaos and confusion. A quick census was taken by Saul’s
camp to see who was there, and it became determined that Jonathan and his armor
bearer were gone. As Saul spoke with the priest and asked for the Ark to be
brought to him, the commotion in the Philistine camp escalated prompting Saul
to say to the priest, “Withdraw your hand (referring to the use of the Urim and
Thummin in withdrawing their hand from the linen ephod, or vest, as a way to
determine God’s will).” The men with Saul rallied at this point and came to the
battle. Every man’s sword, remember Israel was very limited in their weaponry
here (refer back to 1 Samuel 13:19-22), was against his fellow man in a very
great maelstrom of confusion. Apparently, there were Hebrews who had
temporarily sided with the Philistines, but they betrayed the pagans and
rejoined their brothers, the Israelites, who were with Saul and Jonathan. Then,
all the men who had previously hidden themselves in fear (1 Samuel 13:6)
responded coming out of the hill country of Ephraim and chasing the enemy
closely in the battle. “So the LORD delivered Israel that day, and the battle
spread beyond Beth-aven (1 Samuel 14:11-23).”
-The armies of Israel had been hard-pressed on that day, and
Saul had done a very foolish thing. He put them under an oath to curse any man
who ate food during the raging of the battle that day until he had avenged
himself of his enemies. Notice here that the motivation was not Godly, it was for
selfish desires of his own doing. So none of the people had tasted food that
day and were famished thus weakening them. There was honey on the ground as
they entered the forest during the battle (more than likely spoils from the
enemy’s stash), but nobody dared to take and eat to become stronger except for
Jonathan who had not been there to hear of the oath and curse. His “eyes
brightened” with the nourishment as he ate, but soon he heard one of the men
say, “Your father strictly put the people under oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the
man who eats food today.’” Jonathan, seeing that the people were weary because
of bad commands, said, “My father has troubled the land. See now, how my eyes
have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.” Then, he went on to
say that if they would have eaten more of the spoils of their enemy, the
slaughter of the Philistines that day would have been much greater. Chaos
continued to reign that day as the Israelites struck down Philistines from
Michmash all the way to Aijalon until the people became too weary (1 Samuel
14:24-31).
-Then, in their haste and hungry appetite, they rushed
greedily upon the rest of the spoil of the Philistines taking sheep, oxen, and calves
slaying them and eating them with the blood, which was against Mosaic Law.
Saul, recognizing this, called them out, “Behold, the people are sinning
against the LORD by eating with the blood. You have acted treacherously; roll a
great stone to me today.” This stone rolling references a hasty altar that he
wanted put together on which to offer a propitiatory sacrifice to the LORD to
curb the Almighty’s anger. The people complied and brought their oxen and sheep
to be slaughtered properly and cooked for eating in the right way. This was
Saul’s first altar that he had built to the LORD (1 Samuel 14:32-35).
-After these things, Saul prompted his people to go down and
take spoil from the Philistines by night until the morning killing all the men
that they possible could. The people agreed with him, but the priest among them
said, “Let us draw near to God here.” Saul inquired of the LORD for his
direction in this matter; however, He did not answer him on that day. Therefore,
Saul got the notion to draw all the chiefs of the people near and investigate
for any sin that was holding up their progress towards the enemy. Not only
that, Saul guaranteed that whoever was found guilty of insubordination, even if
it was his son Jonathan, would surely die. The people went with his program as
Saul asked for a perfect lot to determine the matter. He sided himself and his
son Jonathan on one side and all the people on the other. The lot fell to him
and Jonathan. Then, the lot was cast between them, and it was found that
Jonathan indeed was the guilty party. He confessed his honey eating in the forest
with the end of the staff that was in his hand. He surrendered his life for
death before all the people and the king, who was his father. Saul was about to
kill his son, but the people stepped up to speak common sense into the
situation. They proclaimed, “Must Jonathan die, who has brought about this
great deliverance in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, not one hair of
his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” Saul
capitulated, which was becoming a trademark of his leadership in Israel. Thus,
the people rescued Jonathan that day according to the will and plan of God. As
future events would play out, Jonathan would do some rescuing of his own with
his best friend, David, as King Saul became more and more jealous and violent (1
Samuel 18:1-20:42). When it was all said and done, Saul refrained from pursuing
the Philistines allowing the enemy to go back to their own place (1 Samuel 14:36-46).
-“Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought
against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, the sons of Ammon, Edom,
the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he inflicted
punishment. He acted valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, and delivered
Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.” This denotes the rising success
of the nation under kingly authority now during this period of Israel’s
history. The Word of God, in some genealogy work, then names the king’s sons:
Jonathan, Ishvi (aka Abinadab, see 1 Chronicles 10:2), and Malchi-shua. Not listed
here, but in 1 Chronicles 8:33, Ish-bosheth (aka Eshbaal), is also named as a
son of Saul, who was probably the youngest of his sons. It also lists his
daughters: Merab, the first born, and the younger, Michal (who became David’s
first wife, 1 Samuel 18:27). Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz.
The captain in his army was his uncle, Abner, who was the son of Ner. War
persisted with the Philistines becoming more and more severe all the days of
Saul. The words… “when Saul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he attached
him to his staff” should be interpreted that he took them unto himself for
their help in fighting and his benefit in controlling the nation (1 Samuel
14:47-52).
-*Application* We can see the double-mindedness of this
first Israeli king being played out in this chapter. Some decisions were good
and noble. Others were presumptuous and degenerating. Saul was never able to
fully get it all going in the right direction with consistency. This, if we
read interpreting Scripture with Scripture, demonstrates a lack of wisdom and
faith (James 1:5-7). Let’s not have our doubts today. Let’s trust the LORD and
seek His wisdom being assured of His accurate and unswerving Voice in our
lives.
Verse to Memorize:
1 Samuel 14:6
