Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 14:1
Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that [is] on the other side. But he told not his father.
Ch. 1Sa 14:1-15. Jonathan’s deed of daring
1. that bare his armour ] A confidential attendant like the squire of the middle ages.
But he told not his father ] For fear lest he should forbid so hazardous an attempt. From this point to the end of 1Sa 14:5 we have a series of clauses introduced parenthetically to describe the circumstances under which the attack was made. 1Sa 14:6 resumes the thread of the narrative by a repetition of Jonathan’s words. The vivid detail marks the account of one familiar with the spot.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now … – Rather and, since this verse is in immediate dependence upon the preceding. When Jonathan saw the garrison come out again and again, in defiance of the armies of the living God, at length upon a day he determined to attack them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Sa 14:1-23
Come, and let us go over to the Philistine garrison.
Jonathans exploit at Michmash
It is evident that, Saul had no thought at this time of making an attack on the Philistines. How could he, wish soldiers so poorly armed and so little to encourage them? Samuel does not appear to have been with him. But, in his company was a priest, Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, grandson of Eli, perhaps the same as Ahimelech, afterwards introduced. Saul still adhered to the forms of religion; but he had too much resemblance to the Church of Sardis–Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. The position of the army of Israel with reference to the Philistines seems to have been very similar to what it was afterwards when Goliath defied the army of the living God. The Israelites could only look on, in helpless inactivity. But just as the youthful spirit of David was afterwards roused in these circumstances to exertion, so on the present occasion was the youthful spirit of Jonathan. It was not the first time that he had attacked the garrison of the Philistines. (1Sa 13:3.)
But what he did on the former occasion seems to have been under more equal conditions than the seemingly desperate enterprise to which be betook himself now. A project of unprecedented daring came into his mind. He took counsel with no one about it. A single confidant and companion was all that he thought of–his armour bearer, or aide-de-camp. And even him he did not so much consult as attach. Come, said he, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us; for there is no restraint by the Lord to save by many or by few. No words are needed to show the daring character of this project. The one point of view in which there was the faintest possibility of success was that the Lord God might favour the enterprise. The God of their fathers might work for them, and if He did so there was no restraint with Him to work by many or by few. Had He not worked by Ehud alone to deliver their fathers from the Moabites? Had he not worked by Shamgar alone, when with his ox goad he slew six hundred Philistines? Had he not worked by Samson alone in all his wonderful exploits? Might he not work that day by Jonathan and his armour bearer, and, after all, only produce a new chapter in that history which had already shown so many wonderful interpositions? Jonathans mind was possessed by the idea. After all, if he failed, he could but lose his life. It is in this working of faith that must be regarded as the most characteristic feature of the attempt of Jonathan. He showed himself one of the noble heroes of faith, not unworthy to be enrolled in the glorious record of the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews. What encouragement is here for every Christian worker! Dont despond when you seem to fail in your first and most direct endeavour. But Jonathans faith in God was called to manifest itself in a way very different from that in which the faith of most young persons has to be exercised now. Faith led Jonathan to seize sword and spear, and hurry out to an enterprise in which he could only succeed by risking his own life and destroying the lives of others. We are thus brought face to face with a strange but fascinating development of the religious spirit–military faith. The subject has received a new and wonderful illustration in our day in the character and career of that great Christian hero, General Gordon. No one imagines that without his faith Gordon would have been what he was or could have done what he did. It gave him a conviction that he was an instrument in Gods hands, and that when he was moved to undertake anything as being Gods will, he would be carried through all difficulties, enabled to surmount all opposition, and to carry the point in face of the most tremendous odds. And to a great extent the result verified the belief. One is almost disposed to envy Jonathan, with his whole powers of mind and body knit up to the pitch of firmest and most dauntless resolution, under the inspiration that moved him to this apparently desperate enterprise. All the world would have rushed to stop him, insanely throwing away his life, without the faintest chance of escape. But a voice spoke firmly in his bosom–I am not throwing away my life. And Jonathan did not want certain tokens of encouragement. It was something that his armour bearer neither flinched nor remonstrated. Whether in the way of friendly banter or otherwise, the garrison, on perceiving them, invited them to come up, and they would show them a thing. Greatly encouraged by the sign, they clambered up on hands and feet till they gained the top of the rock. Then, when nothing of the kind was expected, they fell on the garrison and began to kill. So sudden and unexpected an onslaught threw the garrison into a panic. And thus the faith of Jonathan had a glorious reward. The inspiration of faith vindicated itself, and the noble self-devotion that had plunged into this otherwise desperate enterprise, because there was no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few, led thus to a triumph more speedy and more complete than even Jonathan could have ventured to dream of.
1. This incident is full of lessons for modern times.
1. First, it shows what wide and important results may come from individual conviction. Did not the Reformation begin through the steadfastness of Luther, the miners son of Eisleben, to the voice that spoke out so loudly to himself? Did not Carey lay the foundation of the modern mission in India, because he could not get rid of that verse of Scripture. Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature? Did not Livingstone persevere in the most dangerous, the most desperate enterprise of our time, because he could not quench the voice that called him to open up Africa or perish? Learn, everyone, from this, never to be faithless to any conviction given to you, though, as far as you know, it is given to you alone.
2. This narrative shows what large results may flow from individual effort. Think how many children have been rescued by Dr. Barnardo, how many have been emigrated by Miss Macpherson, how many souls have been impressed by Mr. Moody, how many orphans have been eared for by Mr. Muller, how many stricken ones have been relieved in the institutions of John Bost.
3. Lastly, we may learn from this narrative that the true secret of all spiritual success lies in our seeking to be instruments in Gods hands, and in our lending ourselves to Him, to do in us and by us whatever is good in His sight. It was not Jonathans project that was to be carried out; it was the Lords cause that was to be advanced. Jonathan had no personal ends in this matter. He was willing to give up his life, if the Lord should require it. It is a like consecration in all spiritual service that brings most blessing and success. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The battle of Michmash
These were evil days for the people of Israel. But it was in these dark days that Jonathan shone so famous. It is yet true that difficulties prove our mettle, and that the greater the hardship or peril, the more is the victory worth telling.
I. The presence of the enemy should rouse our courage. Is there not need for more chivalry among the soldiers of Christ? How sin lords it over us, even in England. Intemperance, lust, cruelty, ignorance, are the enemies of our ]and; and they do almost as they like; they are slaying our people, starving our children, dishonouring our women. Think, for instance, of the history of one gin palace Where are our Jonathans? If we could not tolerate the presence of an invading foe how can we bear to see the arrogance and cruelty of the enemies of Jesus Christ in this so-called Christian land? It was Jonathan who conceived the plan of attacking the Philistines; which leads us to say–princes should set the example. Officers, to the front. Have you wealth?–use it as becomes a prince of God. Have you learning?–use it to slay ignorance. How the example of Lord Shaftesbury has animated weaker men, and made them feel like the armour bearer of Jonathan
II. It is true that earnest leaders should not lack brave followers. We are not told the name of the young man who was Jonathans armour bearer, but he was worthy of the situation. Listen to him: Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. As if he had said, Look at me; do I look like flinching? If thou art first, I will be second! I am ready to follow thy lead: thou canst not go where I will not be close behind. If Jesus Christ could only have a Church like that armour bearer, how soon the victory would be ours! And it is yet true that the best of leaders is all the better for the knowledge that his followers will not fail him. Let those of us whose place is not to lead, yet help our commander by acting, so that whenever he looks at us he will see our faces say, I am with thee according to thy heart.
III. Jonathan knew that God can win by a minority. He said to his companion, There is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. He remembered that God had promised, One shall chase a thousand, two put ten thousand to flight. If, in fighting the Lords battles, we wait till we outnumber the foe, we shall never do exploits. Joshua and Caleb were outvoted, but they said, Let us go up at once and possess it. The twelve apostles did not wait, but, in the teeth of the Sanhedrim, preached Jesus and the resurrection. At one time John Wesley was almost the only clergyman who dared the rotten eggs of the Philistines of his day, and now he and his brother have a monument in Westminster Abbey!
IV. At the battle of Michmash, we have been taught that God helps them who help themselves. God worked with the brave men who had gone alone. This trembling of God, as it is called in the margin, struck a panic into the hearts of the Philistines. This might have happened if Jonathan had not gone up, but most likely not. God works yet by means, and delights in cooperating with His people. If you want God to help you, help yourself. Climb up the hill in spite of Philistinic sneers, and when you are at the top, the earth shall quake. You will not be alone very long. Saul brought his army after the brave pair had gone alone, and the number of Sauls people increased directly, as you read in verses 21, 22. The enslaved Hebrews rose against their masters, and these also who had hid themselves. So the Lord saved Israel that day. (Thomas Champness.)
The valiant soldier
While the Philistines are making inroads upon Israel–sending out their different companies–and strengthening themselves in garrisons or strongholds–poor Saul remains, with his six hundred men, fearful and dispirited, under a pomegranate tree; a standing proof of what God had told Israel should befall them when they sinned against Him–their enemies the head, and they the tail. But God never will leave Himself without a little faithful remnant, be it ever so small, so despised, or so invisible. Havent you sometimes seen a tree of which the fruit has been gathered, with just two or three left on in some part that has been overlooked, or in the very uppermost bough, where they could not well be reached? Now, God compares the very few of His people, whom He reserves, to this: Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof. (Isa 17:6). When we look at this we need to ask, with intense earnestness, Lord, make me one of those few. Jonathan, bold as a lion, strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, says to his armour bearer, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his lather. No, he had learned not to confer with flesh and blood, when flesh and blood made him a coward in the cause of his God. When you see plainly what is your duty, however difficult, go forward. There will be many evil counsellors, who can talk much of the trials and difficulties, and make other hearts faint like their own: but, you recollect, the Lord does not like such soldiers; He would not let them stay in His army, for He well knew how catching fear is, and what sad work it makes in the camp of Israel. There is a Counsellor from whose lips you may ever hear, Fear not. Incline your ear, and come unto Him. We see the children of this world urging each other forward–overcoming endless difficulties–and accomplishing immense designs–while, too often, if Gods children have any great work which they would fain do for Him, a thousand difficulties, and ten thousand fears are started, and while they are debating the enemy is gaming ground. Oh, for one such view of our precious Master as Jonathan had! Did we thus see Him all difficulties would vanish. (Helen Plumptre.)
Room for services in the church
In the fourteenth chapter we see on the part of Jonathan what may be described as a disorderly courage. Disorderly courage has often been crowned with successes, and has therefore presented a strong temptation to ill-controlled natures. Free lances have unquestionably done good service in many a man, physical and moral. At the same time there ought to be a great central authority in all well-conducted operations. Room should always be left for genius, and for those sudden impulses of the soul which it is sometimes impossible to distinguish from inspiration: but taking the rank and file, and looking upon the Church as a whole, it will he found that a quiet exercise of discipline and a steady pursuit of paths of order will answer best in the great issue. In the Church, let us repeat, room should be found for all sorts of men: for the great king and the young soldier, for the flashing genius and the slow moving mind. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XIV
Jonathan and his armour-bearer purpose to attack a garrison of
the Philistines, 1.
Saul and his army, with Ahiah the priest, tarry in Gibeah, 2, 3.
Jonathan plans his attack of the Philistine garrison, 4-10.
He and his armour-bearer climb over a rock: attack and rout the
garrison, 11-15.
Saul and has company, seeing confusion on the Philistine host,
come out against them; as did the men who had hidden
themselves; and the Philistines are defeated, 16-23.
Saul lays every man under a curse who shall eat food until the
evening; in consequence of which the people are sorely
distressed, 24-26.
Jonathan, not hearing the adjuration, eats a little honey, which
he found on the ground, 27-30.
The Philistines being defeated, the people seize on the spoil,
and begin to eat flesh without previously bleeding the animals,
which Saul endeavours to prevent, 31-34.
He builds an altar there, 35.
Inquires of the Lord if he may pursue the Philistines by night,
but receives no answer, 36, 37.
Attributes this to some sin committed by some unknown person:
makes inquiry by lot; and finds that Jonathan had tasted the
honey, on which he purposes to put him to death, 38-44.
The people interpose, and rescue Jonathan, 45.
Saul fights against the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites,
46-48.
An account of the family of Saul, 49-52.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV
Verse 1. Come, and let us go over] This action of Jonathan was totally contrary to the laws of war; no military operation should be undertaken without the knowledge and command of the general. But it is likely that he was led to this by a Divine influence.
The armour-bearer is the origin of what we call esquire, from escu, old French, a shield; armiger is the Latin, from arma, weapons, and gero, I bear. In the times of chivalry, the armiger, or esquire, was the servant of the knight who went after him, and carried his lance, shield, &c. It is now (strange to tell!) a title of honour.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was a rash and foolish attempt, if it be examined by common rules; but not so, if we consider the singular promises made to the Israelites, that one should chase a thousand, &c., and especially the heroical and extraordinary motions which were then frequently put into the minds of gallant men by Gods Spirit, whereby they undertook and accomplished noble and wonderful things; as did Samson, and David, and his worthies.
On the other side; beyond that rocky passage described below, 1Sa 14:4,13, which he pointed at with his hand.
He told not his father, lest he should hinder him in so improbable an enterprise. Nor was it necessary he should inform him of it, because he had a commission from his father to fight when he saw occasion, as he had done without his fathers privity, 1Sa 13:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the Philistines’ garrison“thestanding camp” (1Sa 13:23,Margin) “in the passage of Michmash” (1Sa13:16), now Wady Es-Suweinit. “It begins in the neighborhoodof Betin (Beth-el) and El-Bireh (Beetroth), and as it breaks throughthe ridge below these places, its sides form precipitous walls. Onthe right, about a quarter of an acre below, it again breaks off, andpasses between high perpendicular precipices” [ROBINSON].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now it came to pass upon a day,…. At a certain time, a little after the garrison of the Philistines had made the movement, 1Sa 13:23 and it is not to be taken strictly for the day time; for it is probable it was in the night that the following proposal was made, and began to be carried into execution; for Josephus k says it was day light when Jonathan and his armourbearer came to the camp of the Philistines; he had formed his scheme perhaps the night before, and he and his man set out in the night time, and by break of day came up to the garrison, as after related:
that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour; as was usual in those times for generals of armies to have such, and so in later times; such were Automedon to Achilles, and Achates to Aeneas, as Grotius observes:
come and let us go over to the Philistine garrison that is on the other side; that is, go over the valley which lay between Michmash and Gibeah, to the Philistines, that lay on the other side the valley beyond it; and so was not in it, but at a pass on the hills, at the bottom of which this valley lay, and could be seen at a distance, and pointed at with the finger, as Jarchi notes:
but he told not his father; lest he should disapprove of his project, and hinder him from pursuing it; and had not his spirit been stirred up to this by the Lord, of which he was fully persuaded, he would have acted not only a rash part, but contrary to military discipline, in engaging in an enterprise without the knowledge and direction of his general; unless we can suppose he had all unlimited commission from his father to attack the enemy, at discretion, at any time, and any where.
k Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jonathan’s heroic act. – With strong faith and confidence in the might of the Lord, that He could give the victory even through the hands of very few, Jonathan resolved to attack the outpost of the Philistines at the pass of Mukhmas, accompanied by his armour-bearer alone, and the Lord crowned his enterprise with a marvellous victory.
1Sa 14:1-2 Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, “ We will go over to the post of the Philistines, that is over there.” To these words, which introduce the occurrences that followed, there are attached from to 1Sa 14:5 a series of sentences introduced to explain the situation, and the thread of the narrative is resumed in 1Sa 14:6 by a repetition of Jonathan’s words. It is first of all observed that Jonathan did not disclose his intentions to his father, who would hardly have approved of so daring an enterprise. Then follows a description of the place where Saul was stationed with the six hundred men, viz., “ at the end of Gibeah (i.e., the extreme northern end), under the pomegranate-tree ( Rimmon) which is by Migron.” Rimmon is not the rock Rimmon (Jdg 20:45), which was on the north-east of Michmash, but is an appellative noun, signifying a pomegranate-tree. Migron is a locality with which we are not acquainted, upon the north side of Gibeah, and a different place from the Migron which was on the north or north-west of Michmash (Isa 10:28). Gibeah ( Tuleil el Phul) was an hour and a quarter from Geba, and from the pass which led across to Michmash. Consequently, when Saul was encamped with his six hundred men on the north of Gibeah, he may have been hardly an hour’s journey from Geba.
1Sa 14:3 Along with Saul and his six hundred men, there was also Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, the (elder) brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest at Shiloh, and therefore a great-grandson of Eli, wearing the ephod, i.e., in the high priest’s robes. Ahiah is generally supposed to be the same person as Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub ( 1Sa 22:9.), in which case Ahiah ( , brother, i.e., friend of Jehovah) would be only another form of the name Ahimelech (i.e., brother or friend of the King, viz., Jehovah). This is very probable, although Ahimelech might have been Ahaiah’s brother, who succeeded him in the office of high priest on account of his having died without sons, since there is an interval of at least ten years between the events related in this chapter and those referred to in 1 Samuel 22. Ahimelech was afterwards slain by Saul along with the priests of Nob (1Sa 22:9.); the only one who escaped being his son Abiathar, who fled to David and, according to 1Sa 30:7, was invested with the ephod. It follows, therefore, that Ahiah (or Ahimelech) must have had a son at least ten years old at the time of the war referred to here, viz., the Abiathar mentioned in 1Sa 30:7, and must have been thirty or thirty-five years old himself, since Saul had reigned at least twenty-two years, and Abiathar had become high priest a few years before the death of Saul. These assumptions may be very easily reconciled with the passage before us. As Eli was ninety-eight years old when he died, his son Phinehas, who had been killed in battle a short time before, might have been sixty or sixty-five years old, and have left a son of forty years of age, namely Ahitub. Forty years later, therefore, i.e., at the beginning of Saul’s reign, Ahitub’s son Ahiah (Ahimelech) might have been about fifty years old; and at the death of Ahimelech, which took place ten or twelve years after that, his son Abiathar might have been as much as thirty years of age, and have succeeded his father in the office of high priest. But Abiathar cannot have been older than this when his father died, since he was high priest during the whole of David’s forty years’ reign, until Solomon deposed him soon after he ascended the throne (1Ki 2:26.). Compare with this the remarks on 2Sa 8:17. Jonathan had also refrained from telling the people anything about his intentions, so that they did not know that he had gone.
1Sa 14:4-5 In 1Sa 14:4, 1Sa 14:5, the locality is more minutely described. Between the passes, through which Jonathan endeavoured to cross over to go up to the post of the Philistines, there was a sharp rock on this side, and also one upon the other. One of these was called Bozez, the other Seneh; one (formed) a pillar ( ), i.e., a steep height towards the north opposite to Michmash, the other towards the south opposite to Geba. The expression “ between the passes ” may be explained from the remark of Robinson quoted above, viz., that at the point where he passed the Wady Suweinit, side wadys enter it from the south-west and north-west. These side wadys supply so many different crossings. Between them, however, on the north and south walls of the deep valley, were the jagged rocks Bozez and Seneh, which rose up like pillars to a great height. These were probably the “hills” which Robinson saw to the left of the pass by which he crossed: “Two hills of a conical or rather spherical form, having steep rocky sides, with small wadys running up behind so as almost to isolate them. One is on the side towards Jeba, and the other towards Mukhmas” ( Pal. ii. p. 116).
1Sa 14:6 And Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, “ Come, we will go over to the post of these uncircumcised; it may be that Jehovah will work for us; for (there is) no hindrance for Jehovah to work salvation by many or few.” Jonathan’s resolution arose from the strong conviction that Israel was the nation of God, and possessed in Jehovah an omnipotent God, who would not refuse His help to His people in their conflict with the foes of His kingdom, if they would only put their whole trust in Him.
1Sa 14:7 As the armour-bearer approved of Jonathan’s resolution ( , turn hither), and was ready to follow him, Jonathan fixed upon a sign by which he would ascertain whether the Lord would prosper his undertaking.
1Sa 14:8-10 “ Behold, we go over to the people and show ourselves to them. If they say to us, Wait ( , keep quiet) till we come to you, we will stand still in our place, and not go up to them; but if they say thus, Come up unto us, then we will go up, for Jehovah hath (in that case) delivered them into our hand.” The sign was well chosen. If the Philistines said, “Wait till we come,” they would show some courage; but if they said, “Come up to us,” it would be a sign that they were cowardly, and had not courage enough to leave their position and attack the Hebrews. It was not tempting God for Jonathan to fix upon such a sign by which to determine the success of his enterprise; for he did it in the exercise of his calling, when fighting not for personal objects, but for the kingdom of God, which the uncircumcised were threatening to annihilate, and in the most confident belief that the Lord would deliver and preserve His people. Such faith as this God would not put to shame.
1Sa 14:11-13 When the two showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, they said, “ Behold, Hebrews come forth out of the holes in which they have hidden themselves.” And the men of the garrison cried out to Jonathan and his armour-bearer, “ Come up to us, and we will tell you a word,” i.e., we will communicate something to you. This was ridicule at the daring of the two men, whilst for all that they had not courage enough to meet them bravely and drive them back. In this Jonathan received the desired sign that the Lord had given the Philistines into the hand of the Israelites: he therefore clambered up the rock on his hands and feet, and his armour-bearer after him; and “ they (the Philistines) fell before Jonathan,” i.e., were smitten down by him, “ and his armour-bearer was slaying behind him.”
1Sa 14:14 The first stroke that Jonathan and his armour-bearer struck was (amounted to) about twenty men “ on about half a furrow of an acre of field.” , a furrow, as in Psa 129:3, is in the absolute state instead of the construct, because several nouns follow in the construct state (cf. Ewald, 291, a.). , lit. things bound together, then a pair; here it signifies a pair or yoke of oxen, but in the transferred sense of a piece of land that could be ploughed in one morning with a yoke of oxen, like the Latin jugum , jugerum . It is called the furrow of an acre of land, because the length only of half an acre of land was to be given, and not the breadth or the entire circumference. The Philistines, that is to say, took to flight in alarm as soon as the brave heroes really ascended, so that the twenty men were smitten one after another in the distance of half a rood of land. Their terror and flight are perfectly conceivable, if we consider that the outpost of the Philistines was so stationed upon the top of the ridge of the steep mountain wall, that they would not see how many were following, and the Philistines could not imagine it possible that two Hebrews would have ventured to climb the rock alone and make an attack upon them. Sallust relates a similar occurrence in connection with the scaling of a castle in the Numidian war ( Bell. Jugurth. c. 89, 90).
1Sa 14:15 And there arose a terror in the camp upon the field (i.e., in the principal camp) as well as among all the people (of the advanced outpost of the Philistines); the garrison (i.e., the army that was encamped at Michmash), and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked, sc., with the noise and tumult of the frightened foe; “ and it grew into a trembling of God,” i.e., a supernatural terror miraculously infused by God into the Philistines. The subject to the last is either , the alarm in the camp, or all that has been mentioned before, i.e., the alarm with the noise and tumult that sprang out of it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jonathan Smites the Philistines. | B. C. 1067. |
1 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father. 2 And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men; 3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD‘s priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. 4 And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah. 6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. 7 And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. 8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. 9 If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them. 10 But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us. 11 And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. 12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. 13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him. 14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. 15 And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.
We must here take notice,
I. Of the goodness of God in restraining the Philistines, who had a vast army of valiant men in the field, from falling upon that little handful of timorous trembling people that Saul had with him, whom they would easily have swallowed up at once. It is an invisible power that sets bounds to the malice of the church’s enemies, and suffers them not to do that which we should think there is nothing to hinder them from.
II. Of the weakness of Saul, who seems here to have been quite at a loss, and unable to help himself. 1. He pitched his tent under a tree, and had but 600 men with him, v. 2. Where were now the 3000 men he had chosen, and put such a confidence in? ch. xiii. 2. Those whom he trusted too much to failed him when he most needed them. He durst not stay in Gibeah, but got into some obscure place, in the uttermost part of the city, under a pomegranate-tree, under Rimmon (so the word is), Ha-Rimmon, that Rimmon near Gibeah, in the caves of which those 600 Benjamites that escaped his themselves, Judg. xx. 47. Some think that there Saul took shelter, so mean and abject was his spirit, now that he had fallen under God’s displeasure, every hour expecting the Philistines upon him, and thereby the accomplishment of Samuel’s threatening, ch. xiii. 14. Those can never think themselves safe that see themselves cast out of God’s protection. 2. Now he sent for a priest, and the ark, a priest from Shiloh, and the ark from Kirjath-jearim, 1Sa 14:3; 1Sa 14:18. Saul had once offended by offering sacrifice himself, ch. xiii. 9. Now he resolves never to fall into that error again, and therefore sends for a priest, and hopes to compromise the matter with God Almighty by a particular reformation, as many do whose hearts are unhumbled and unchanged. Samuel, the Lord’s prophet, had forsaken him, but he thinks he can make up that loss by commanding Ahiah, the Lord’s priest, to attend him, and he will not make him stay for him nor reprove him, as Samuel had done, but will do just as he bids him, 1Sa 14:18; 1Sa 14:19. Many love to have such ministers as will be what they would have them to be, and prophesy smooth things to them; and their caressing them because they are priests, they hope, will atone for their enmity to those ministers that deal faithfully and plainly with them. He will also have the ark brought, perhaps to upbraid Samuel, who in the days of his government, for aught that appears, had not made any public use of it; or in hopes that this would make up the deficiency of his forces; one would have supposed that they would never bring the ark into the camp again, since, the last time, it not only did not save them, but did itself fall into the Philistines’ hands. But it is common for those that have lost the substance of religion to be most fond of the shadows of it, as here is a deserted prince courting a deserted priest.
III. Of the bravery and piety of Jonathan, the son of Saul, who was much fitter than the father to wear the crown. “A sweet imp (says bishop Hall) out of a crab-stock.”
1. He resolved to go incognito—unknown to any one, into the camp of the Philistines; he did not acquaint his father with his design, for he knew he would forbid him; nor the people, for he knew they would all discourage him, and, because he resolved not to heed their objections, he resolved not to hear them, nor ask their advice, 1Sa 14:1; 1Sa 14:3. Nor had he so great an opinion of the priest as to consult him, but, being conscious of a divine impulse putting him upon it, he threw himself into the mouth of danger, in hope of doing service to his country. The way of access to the enemies’ camp is described (1Sa 14:4; 1Sa 14:5) as being peculiarly difficult, and their natural entrenchments impregnable, yet this does not discourage him; the strength and sharpness of the rocks do but harden and whet his resolutions. Great and generous souls are animated by opposition and take a pleasure in breaking through it.
2. He encouraged his armour-bearer, a young man that attended him, to go along with him in the daring enterprise, (v. 6): “Come, and let us put our lives in our hands, and go over to the enemies’ garrison, and try what we can do to put them into confusion.” See whence he draws his encouragements. (1.) “They are uncircumcised, and have not the seal of the covenant in their flesh, as we have. Fear not, we shall do well enough with them, for they are not under the protection of God’s covenant as we are, cannot call him theirs as we can, by the sign of circumcision.” If such as are enemies to us are also strangers to God, we need not fear them. (2.) “God is able to make us two victorious over their unnumbered regiments. There is no restraint in the Lord, no limitation to the holy One of Israel, but it is all one to him to save by many or by few.” This is a true easily granted in general, that it is all alike to Omnipotence what the instruments are by which it works; and yet it is not so easy to apply it to a particular case; when we are but few and feeble then to believe that God can not only save us, but save by us, this is an instance of faith, which, wherever it is, shall obtain a good report. Let this strengthen the weak and encourage the timid: let it be pleaded with God for the enforcing of our petitions and with ourselves for the silencing of our fears: It is nothing with God to help, whether with many or with those that have no power, 2 Chron. xiv. 11. (3.) “Who knows but he that can use us for his glory will do it? It may be the Lord will work for us, work with us, work a sign or miracle for us.” So the Chaldee. We may encourage ourselves with hope that God will appear for us, though we have not ground on which to build an assurance. An active faith will venture far in God’s cause upon an it may be. Jonathan’s armour-bearer, or esquire, as if he had learned to carry, not his arms only, but his heart, promised to stand by him and to follow him whithersoever he went, v. 7. We have reason to think that Jonathan felt a divine impulse and impression putting him upon this bold adventure, in which he was encouraged by his servant’s concurrence, otherwise the danger was so great which he ran upon that he would have tempted God rather than trusted him. And perhaps he had an actual regard to that word of Joshua (Josh. xxiii. 10), One man of you shall chase a thousand, borrowed from Moses, Deut. xxxii. 30.
3. How bold soever his resolution was, he resolved to follow Providence in the execution of it, which, he believed, would guide him with its eye (Ps. xxxii. 8), and which therefore he would carefully attend and take hints of direction from. See how he put himself upon Providence, and resolved to be determined by it. “Come” (says he to his confidant), “we will discover ourselves to the enemy, as those that are not afraid to look them in the face (v. 8), and then, if they be so cautious as to bid us stand, we will advance no further, taking it for an intimation of Providence that God would have us act defensively, and we will prepare as well as we can to give them a warm reception (v. 9); but if they be so presumptuous as to challenge us, and the first sentinel we meet with bid us march on, we will push forward, and make as brisk an onset, assuredly gathering thence that it is the will of God we should act offensively, and then not doubting but he will stand by us,” v. 10. And upon this issue he puts it, firmly believing, as we all should, (1.) That God has the governing of the hearts and tongues of all men, even of those that know him not, nor have any regard to him, and serves his own purposes by them, though they mean not so, neither do their hearts think so. Jonathan knew God could discover his mind to him if he pleased, and would do it, since he depended upon him, as surely by the mouth of a Philistine as by the mouth of a priest. (2.) That God will, some way or other, direct the steps of those that acknowledge him in all their ways, and seek unto him for direction, with full purpose of heart to follow it. Sometimes we find most comfort in that which is least our own doing, and into which we have been led by the unexpected, but well observed, turns of Providence.
4. Providence gave him the sign he expected, and he answered the signal. He and his armour-bearer did not surprise the Philistines when they were asleep, but discovered themselves to them by day-light, v. 11. The guards of the Philistines, (1.) Disdained them, upbraided them with the cowardice of many of their people, and looked upon them to be of the regiment of sneakers: Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of their holes. If some of Christ’s soldiers play the coward, others that play the man may perhaps be upbraided with it. (2.) They defied them (v. 12): Come, and we will show you a thing, as if they came like children to gaze about them; but meaning, as Goliath (ch. xvii. 44), that they would give them as meat to the fowls of the air. They bantered them, not doubting but to make a prey of them. This greatly emboldened Jonathan. With it he encouraged his servant; he had spoken with uncertainty (v. 6): It may be the Lord will work for us; but now he speaks with assurance (v. 12): The Lord has delivered them, not into our hands (he sought not his own glory), but into the hand of Israel, for he aimed at nothing but the advantage of the public. His faith being thus strengthened, no difficulty can stand before him; he climbs up the rock upon all four (v. 13), though he has nothing to cover him, nor any but his own servant to second him, nor any human probability of any thing but death before him.
5. The wonderful success of this daring enterprise. The Philistines, instead of falling upon Jonathan, to slay him, or take him prisoner, fell before him (v. 13) unaccountably, upon the first blows he gave. They fell, that is, (1.) They were many of them slain by him and his armour-bearer, v. 14. Twenty Philistines fell presently. It was not so much the name of Jonathan that made them yield so tamely (though some think that this had become terrible to them, since he smote one of their garrisons, ch. xiii. 3), but it was God’s right hand and his arm that got him this victory. (2.) The rest were put to flight, and fell foul upon one another (v. 15): There was trembling in the host. There was no visible cause for fear; they were so numerous, bold, and advantageously posted; the Israelites had fled before them; not an enemy made head against them, but one gentleman and his man; and yet they shook like an aspen-leaf. The consternation was general: they all trembled; even the spoilers, those that had been most bold and forward, shared in the common fright, the joints of their loins were loosed, and their knees smote one against another, and yet none of them could tell why or wherefore. It is called a trembling of God (so the original phrase is), signifying not only, as we render it, a very great trembling, which they could not resist nor reason themselves clear of, but that it was supernatural, and came immediately from the hand of God. He that made the heart knows how to make it tremble. To complete the confusion, even the earth quaked, and made them ready to fear that it would sink under them. Those that will not fear the eternal God, he can make afraid of a shadow. See Pro 21:1; Isa 33:14.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
First Samuel – Chapter 14
Saul’s Vacillation, vs. 1-3
Jonathan appears to have been’ a man who sought action, and who was ready to confront the enemy, pagan, Philistines relying on the Lord to give Israel the victory. He must have tired of the vacillation of his father, King Saul, and of his own initiative determined to precipitate a battle. He did not inform his father of his determination, and in that sense was guilty of insubordination, of course. He set out toward the Philistine garrison, he and his armour bearer alone.
Saul had his tent pitched under a pomegranate tree at Migron on the outskirts of Gibeah, his capital. His six hundred loyal men remained there with him. He also had Ahiah (or Ahijah, as he is also called), the high priest pretending. Ahiah was the son of Ahitub, who was the brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas and grandson of Eli, who was born prematurely the day the ark was captured by the Philistines. This event had occurred perhaps fifty years before this time (see 1 Samuel, chap. 4).
The ark was still in the house of Abinadab (1Sa 7:1-2), and Ahiah presided over a tabernacle without the ark, the chief article of its makeup. He also claimed the high priesthood without authority, for he and his family had been displaced by the decree of the Lord (1Sa 2:27-36).
Though he pretended to the office the Lord did not recognize him. Saul, however, seems to have expected to benefit by his presence there with the ephod of the high priest.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES
1Sa. 14:1. Garrison of the Philistines. The advanced post mentioned in 1Sa. 13:23. For the situation of the armies see note on 1Sa. 13:6.
1Sa. 14:2. A pomegranate tree, etc., rather the pomegranate, a well-known tree. According to Jdg. 20:45, a rock near Gibeah bore the name Rock of the pomegranate (Rimmon), and was well adapted for a fortified position. It is a natural supposition that the same rock is meant here, named after the well-known pomegranate. (Erdmann.) This is the more probable because a pomegranate tree is not sufficiently high to admit of the erection of a tent beneath its branches. Migron. A place of this name is mentioned in Isa. 10:28. Its exact site is not known, but it lay in this neighbourhood. It may be, however, that this spot is another of the same name, as the word signifies a precipice, and the entire district is rocky and precipitous. Six hundred men. His forces, then, had not increased since he came to Gibeah, as might have been expected. (Wordsworth.)
1Sa. 14:3. Ahiah, the son of Ahitub. This man was therefore a great-grandson of Eli. He is generally snpposed to be the same person as Abimelech, mentioned in 1Sa. 22:9; 1Sa. 22:11. The signification of Abijah (as it ought to be written) is Friend of Jehovah, and that of Abimelech is Friend of the King, viz., of Jehovah. It is quite possible, however, that Ahiah may have died without sons, and been succeeded by a brother named Abimelech. The Lords priest in Shiloh. As Eli was so emphatically known and described as Gods priest in Shiloh, and as there is every reason to believe that Shiloh was no longer the seat of the ark (see chap 22; 1Ch. 13:3-5), it is far better to refer these words to Eli. This fragment of genealogy is a very valuable help to the chronology. The grandson of Phinehas, the son of Eli, was now High Priest; and Samuel, who was probably a few years older than Ahitub, was now an old man. All this indicates a period of about fifty years or upward from the taking of the ark by the Philistines. (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa. 14:4. Between the passages, etc. The ground is thus described by Robinson in his Biblical ResearchesIn the gorge or valley are two hills of a conical or rather spherical form, having steep rocky sides, with small wadies running up behind each, so as almost to isolate them. One is on the side towards Geba, and the other on the side towards Michmash. These would seem to be the two rocks mentioned in Jonathans adventure. They are not indeed so sharp as the language of Scripture would seem to imply, but they are the only rocks of the kind in the vicinity. In his Later Researches he says, The ridges on either side of the valley exhibit two elevated points which project into the great wady; and the easternmost of these bluffs on each side were probably the outposts of the two garrisons of the Philistines and the Israelites. The road passes around the eastern side of the southern hill, the post of Israel, and then strikes over the western part of the northern one, the post of the Philistines and the scene of Jonathans adventure. These hills struck us now, more than formerly, as of sharp ascent, and as appropriate to the circumstances of the narrative. They are isolated cliffs in the valley, except so far as the low ridge, at the end of which they are found, connected them back with the higher ground on each side.
1Sa. 14:6. These uncircumcised. It is remarkable that this epithet, used as a term of reproach, is confined almost exclusively to the Philistines. This is probably an indication of the long continued oppression of the Israelites by the Philistines, and their frequent wars. (Biblical Commentary.) May be. This indicates not a doubt but the humility which was coupled with Jonathans heroic spirit. (Erdmann.)
1Sa. 14:10. This shall be a sign, etc. All attempts to bring Jonathans conduct within the rules of ordinary human action are vain. Though it is not expressly said, as in the case of Gideon (Jdg. 6:34), Othniel (1Sa. 3:10), and others, that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, yet the whole course of the narrative, especially 1Sa. 14:13-16, indicates an extraordinary Divine interposition and tends to place Jonathan on the same platform as the judges and saviours of Israel. (Biblical Commentary.)
1Sa. 14:11. Behold the Hebrews come forth. As it could not occur to the sentries that two men had come with hostile designs, it was a natural conclusion that they were Israelite deserters; and hence no attempt was made to hinder their ascent, or stone them, as they were scrambling up the ridge. (Jamieson.) Come up to us, etc. They hoped to have sport with them, not supposing that they could there climb the rock. (Clericus.)
1Sa. 14:14. Twenty men within, as it were, an half acre of land. Rather a half furrow of a yoke of land. This indicates the position of the fallen, after Jonathan, pressing impetuously on. had struck them down one after another, and his armour-bearer after him, had killed those that were not dead. This occurred in the space of about half a furrow in a piece of land which one with a yoke of oxen could plough in a day. (Erdmann.) Their terror and flight are perfectly conceivable, if we consider that the outposts of the Philistines were so stationed upon the top of the ridge of the steep mountain wall that they could not see how many were following, and the Philistines could not imagine it possible that two Hebrews would have ventured to climb the rock alone and make an attack upon them. Sallust relates a similar occurrence in connection with the scaling of a castle in the Numidian war. Bell. Jugurtha. c. 89, 90. (Keil.)
1Sa. 14:15. The earth quaked. Keil and others think that it merely trembled with the noise and tumult of the frightened foe, but there can be no reason why it should not be understood to describe a real earthquakea supernatural interposition of God. Just as a strong east wind divided the waters of the Red Sea; just as the great hailstones smote the Canaanites to death at the going down of Bethhoron (Jos. 10:11), as the stars in their courses fought against Sisera; as the Lord thundered with a great thunder and discomfited the Philistines at Ebenezer (1Sa. 8:10), so now the earth quaked at the presence of the Lord who fought for Jonathan. (Biblical Commentary.) A very great tremblinga trembling of God, i.e., a supernatural terror infused by God into the Philistines. (Kiel.)
1Sa. 14:16. The watchmen of Saul looked. This shows that the distance between the two encampments was not great. The multitude melted away. The Hebrew text is here very obscure. Multitude may be rendered tumult. Many read the multitude, or the tumult, dispersed hither and thither.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Sa. 14:1-16
JONATHANS VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES
This victory
I. Reveals the character of Jonathan. His words and his deeds proclaim him to have been a man of physical courage, and of humble piety. These two elements united in the character of one man make him as perfect a specimen of manhood as it is possible to find. The possession of either characteristicand especially of the lattergives to its possessor a claim on our respect. Couragean absence of fear in the presence of bodily dangera willingness to expose ones body to risk for the sake of gaining a certain endis a quality which is not met with in every person, and it deserves to be acknowledged and honoured wherever it is found. But there are many physically brave men who have no godliness: God, in whom they live and move and have their being, is never acknowledged by them, and their deeds of daring are undertaken and accomplished without any thought of seeking His help or rendering to Him thanksgiving for deliverance. And it cannot be denied that there are godly men who are naturally timid in the presence of bodily dangerthat, although godliness has a tendency to make a man brave in every sense of the word, it does not so change his natural disposition as to make one who is constitutionally fearful bold and daring in a remarkable degree. But when a courageous man is a man of Godwhen his deeds of daring are undertaken in dependence upon God, and when he acknowledges Him in all his ways, he is a man in the highest sense of the word, and a consciousness of Gods favour increases his natural courage and makes him willing to do and to dare anything in the path of duty. That Saul was a physically brave man we have abundant proof. But he had now been for some time in the field, and had evidently done nothing. So far as can be gathered from the Scripture record, he had remained inactive since his interview with Samuel. We can but contrast his present hesitation with his decision in relation to the Ammonite invasion, and see in the change which had come over him how departure from God may make a naturally courageous man timid and hesitating. But Jonathan evidently added to his fathers natural bravery a spirit of humble dependence upon God, and reminds us of Israels first warlike leader Joshua, in whom were also united these two noble characteristics. Let us go over to the Philistines garrison speaks for the courage of the warrior-prince, while It may be that the Lord will work for us tells of his godly character.
II. Reveals Gods approval of His servants undertaking. This victory of Jonathans is one among the many instances upon record in the history of Gods Church of the special seal of Divine approval which is always set upon eminent faith. Old Testament history gives many illustrations of the truth of the Saviours words, All things are possible to Him that believeth (Mar. 9:23), and the success which crowned this undertaking makes it a striking one. It is instructive to notice the increasingly evident marks of Divine approval which were vouchsafed to Jonathan on this occasion. God first condescends to give His servant just enough encouragement to lead him to persevere in his project by accepting the sign which he had proposed. Here was just enough token of Gods approval to lead him to go on, but not enough to do away with the exercise of faith. A man of less confidence in God might have faltered here, and have been tempted to regard the Philistines invitation as only a remarkable coincidence. But Jonathans faith was strong enough to see in it a token that the Lord had delivered the enemy into the hand of Israel, and the faith which could discern the Divine approval in an incident apparently so trivial was soon to receive an abundant reward in an unmistakable manifestation of Jehovahs presence in the terror-stricken host, and in the quaking earth. This is the method of Divine working generally. God always looks with approval upon undertakings which are born of confidence in His power and goodness, but although He may, during their progress, vouchsafe sufficient tokens of His power and presence to encourage the hearts of His servants, He may withhold His most decisive and unmistakable manifestations until their courage and faith have been abundantly tested.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa. 14:6. Divine power of faith, which makes a man more than men! The question is not what Jonathan can do, but what God can do, whose power is not in the means, but in Himself. O admirable faith in Jonathan, whom neither the steepness of rocks nor the multitude of enemies can dissuade from such an assault!Bp. Hall.
Hope, founded on faith.
1. It is certain,a matter of faiththat the Lord can save by many or by few.
2. It may be a matter of hope that He will work for us. (People often say: I have faith that we shall succeed in this enterprise. That is not properly a matter of faith, but only of hope. We believe that God can give success when it is His will; we are persuaded that our enterprise is righteous and would have desirable results; therefore we hope it may be Gods will to give us success).Translator of Langes Commentary.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Jonathans Surprise Attack on the Philistines. 1Sa. 14:1-23
Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.
2 And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;
3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabods brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lords priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
4 And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
5 The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah.
6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to have by many or by few.
7 And his armor-bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them.
9 If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them.
10 But if they say thus, Come up unto us; they we will go up: for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us.
11 And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armor-bearer, Come up after me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor-bearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armor-bearer slew after him.
14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were a half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.
15 And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.
16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.
17 Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.
18 And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.
19 And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.
20 And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every mans sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.
21 Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan.
22 Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
23 So the Lord saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Beth-aven.
1.
Why did Jonathan fail to tell Saul of his plan? 1Sa. 14:1
Saul would probably have opposed such a daring enterprise. In the first place, he would be reluctant to see his son risk his life in such an expedition. In the second place, he had lost a great deal of his courage because of the stunning announcement of judgment which Samuel had made to him. The same fear and trembling which had come upon the people had affected their leader.
2.
Where is Migron? 1Sa. 14:2
Migron is a locality which has been lost to modern geographers. Indications in the narrative would point to a place on the north side of Gilbeah and a different place from the Migron on the northwest of Michmash (Isa. 10:28). Saul felt this was a good place to wait and observe the activities of the Philistines. Since it is called the uttermost part of Gibeah, it is taken to be in the vicinity. Saul still had only 600 men with him.
3.
Why was Ahijah not at Shiloh? 1Sa. 14:3
When the Ark was taken from Shiloh, the place was no longer regarded as the center of worship. Later David fled from the presence of Saul, and the Tabernacle itself was at Nob (1Sa. 21:1). The Ark was still in the house of Abinadab in Kiriath-jearim on the west side of the border of Judah near Philistia. A priest would hardly be safe at that point, and his services were needed by Saul.
4.
What was the advantage of the two campsites? 1Sa. 14:4
Israel was on one crag, and the Philistines were on the other. The site of this valley is almost impenetrable. One can hardly go down into the valley on horseback. About a mile eastward of the line between these two promontories the valley is so narrow and so deep that the opposite heights are less than a mile apart. The two armies would keep each other under observation without fearing a frontal attack at this point.
5.
On what did Jonathan rely? 1Sa. 14:6
Jonathan was convinced that Israel was the nation of Gods own choosing and that God would preserve them in every situation. He did not know for sure that God would give them success in the particular venture that they had in mind, but he hoped that He would. He knew that it did not make any difference whether there were a few men or many in an army. As he said: For there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few (1Sa. 14:6 b).
6.
What was so frightening about Jonathans attach.? 1Sa. 14:7-15
Things in Israel were rapidly coming to a sorry state. Samuel had returned to Gibeah because Shiloh had been forsaken. Saul came with just a few men because all the people were of a mind to desert and many had done so already. There were no smiths for making of weapons since they required iron work. The two enemy armies were at the time separated by a mile-long valley between two high crags, one some 50 feet of sheer rock, the other about 100 feet of sheer rock. Jonathan relied entirely upon the guiding hand of Jehovah, not even mentioning the expedition to his father. More than likely his father would never have permitted him to go. Hence when he suddenly appeared in the camp of the Philistines it was terribly unexpected and actually frightened them beyond measure. If the Philistine soldiers were really valiant, they would come down after Jonathan and his armor-bearer; if they said, Come up, they were lazy, cowardly, and careless. This would indicate to Jonathan the advisability of continuing his attack.
7.
Why is mention made of what oxen might plow? 1Sa. 14:14
Rural people would measure things by standards to which they were accustomed. A furrow of land was what could be plowed with a yoke of oxen in one day. It is like the Roman jugum, or jugerum, containing some 28,000 square feet. The area where the battle was fought is described as the furrow of an acre of land, because the length only of an half-acre was to be given and not the square footage,
8.
Why did the Philistines tremble? 1Sa. 14:15
The situation was reversed. The Israelites had trembled when they saw the mammoth Philistine host coming out against them. After Jonathan and his armor-bearer surprised the Philistines, the Philistines were afraid, The very fact that they did not expect two men to climb the cliff alone led them to relax their vigil. Two men coming upon them in an unexpected way confused them and frightened them.
9.
Why did Saul call for the Ark? 1Sa. 14:18
The Ark had led the Israelites into battle on a number of occasions. Priests carried the Ark into the Jordan River when Israel crossed over into Palestine (Jos. 3:6). Moses refused to send the Ark into the ill-fated battle against the Canaanites (Num. 14:44). When Israel was walking in Gods paths, the Ark was a symbol of His presence. When they were rebelling against God, the fact that the Ark was with them did not guarantee a victory for them. This truth was demonstrated in the days of Elis sons as the Ark was captured by the Philistines. Saul could hardly have forgotten this lesson, and he surely would not have risked losing it again. His decision to call for the Ark must have been prompted by his desire to find out the Lords will with regard to the battle. He must have thought his having the Ark with him would have helped him to learn this will.
10.
Was the ark again brought into the camp? 1Sa. 14:19
Saul commanded Ahijah the priest to fetch the Ark; but while he was conversing with the priest, the noise and confusion in the Philistine camp was brought to his attention. The way was then clear. It was up to the Israelites to pursue the enemy and there was no need to command, Withdraw thy hand. There would be no need for the priest to give any further order or to make any further move towards fetching the Ark. Even though there is mention of some Israelites who had not joined with the men of Saul but rather had joined with the Philistines, the Israelites won a victory and pursued the Philistines first to the north and then to the west.
11.
Who were the Hebrews with the Philistines? 1Sa. 14:21
These men were defectors and captives. Notice that they are called Hebrews, while the people of Saul were called Israelites. Living had become so difficult in Israel that these people had sought asylum with the enemy even at the risk of calling down the wrath of their own people upon them. David fled to Achish, king of Gath, in order to escape the murderous intentions of Saul (1Sa. 21:10).
12.
Where was Beth-aven? 1Sa. 14:23
Beth-aven was near Ai. Ai lay near Beth-el on the road which ran from Jerusalem to Shechem. It was east of Michmash. The Philistines fled westwards from Michmash to Aijalon (1Sa. 14:31). If we bear in mind the fact that the camp of the Philistines was on the east side of Michmash before Beth-aven (1Sa. 13:5), the fact that the Israelites attacked it from the south explains the extent of the battle. As the main body of the Philistines fled as far as Ajalon, they were pursued to that place by some of the Israelites.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Now it came to pass.As if in strong contrast to Saulwho at Gilgal openly made light of the supernatural assistance promised by Samuel, showing plainly by his conduct on that memorable occasion that he hardly believed in the part the invisible King had laken in the history of the peoplethe action of Jonathan at Michmash, which led to the rout of the Philistine army, is related with some detail. Jonathan was the typical warrior of that wild and adventurous agerecklessly brave, chivalrous, and generous, possessing evidently vast strength and unusual skill in all warlike exercises. He was animated with an intense faith in the willingness and power of the Eternal to help Israel. This mighty faith in the ever-presence of the God who chose Israel, was the mainspring of the victorious power of all the great Hebrew heroesof men like Joshua and Gideon, Barak and Samson. David, the greatest of them all, we shall see, possessed this sublime spirit of faith in a pre-eminent degree. But King Saul utterly lacked it; hence his rejection.
The young princes heart burned within him at the degradation which the Philistine occupation brought upon the people. His father was too prudent to engage in battle with his own feeble and disorganised forces, so Jonathan determined, with the help of the Divine Friend of Israel, to strike a blow at these insolent foes. Under any other circumstanceswithout the consciousness of supernatural helpto attempt such a feat of arms would have been madness; but Jonathan had an inward conviction that an unseen Arm would hold a shield before him. It is noticeable that he never communicated his desperate purpose to his father, Saul.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JONATHAN’S ADVENTURE, AND THE ROUT OF THE PHILISTINES, 1Sa 14:1-23.
1. The young man that bare his armour An officer much like the aid-de-camp in modern service, and usually a favourite of the commander.
1Sa 16:21.
He told not his father For probably his father would have opposed such a daring enterprise.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Chapter 14.
YHWH Commences The Work Of Deliverance Through Jonathan ( 1Sa 14:1-14
Jonathan, Saul’s son, and a man of great faith, clearly found it a hard and trying experience to watch the marauders going about their oppressive work, while he, and Saul and his men, moved around the mountains keeping out of the way, and his restless spirit longed to do something more positive. Surely, he thought, YHWH would want them to act in some way to help His downtrodden people? Thus the sight of the small unit of Philistines who were watching out for them from the crags seems especially to have irked him, and in the end he decided that here at least was something that he could do something about on his own (this indiscipline in itself suggests that he was still only a young man with a young man’s faith in himself and disregard for discipline).
So he called his ‘armourbearer’ and explained to him his purpose. His intention was to attack the detachment of Philistines who were stationed in the hills watching for any sign of Saul’s men. His armourbearer, who was no doubt unswervingly loyal to him, fell in line with him. He informed him that he was willing to go with him wherever he went, and was willing to follow him in whatever he attempted to do. The final result of Jonathan’s faith would be that the nest of Philistines were rooted out and mainly killed, something which would then result in panic in the Philistine camp.
It should be noted that this chapter presents us with a deliberate contrast between Jonathan, the man whose firm faith in YHWH brings about the victory, and who eschews folly, and a Saul who, without Samuel’s help, appears to be lost and not sure what to do. First he waits under the pomegranate tree, and then he dithers in his camp talking to the Priest. And when he finally does belatedly act he commits a gross folly. So Jonathan is seen as positive and unhesitating, firm in his faith and confident in YHWH, while Saul is seen as equivocating, as attaching to himself the new High Priest from the failed house that had previously caused the glory to depart from Israel, as making foolish oaths, and initially as not feeling that he can go forward without a talisman like the Ark, until he is finally forced to do so by the circumstances. While deeply religious, for he consults the High Priest, makes unthinking oaths and deprecates the eating of blood, his is revealed as a religion tied to symbols rather than to obedience. His lack of closeness to YHWH, already reflected at Gilgal, continues to be revealed. It is made very apparent by this that he no longer has Samuel with him, and that he lacks ‘the Spirit of YHWH’.
1Sa 14:1
‘ Now it fell on a certain day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on that side over there.” But he did not tell his father.’
Jonathan now calls on his armourbearer to accompany him in an assault on the Philistines. An ‘armourbearer’ (literally ‘bearer of stuff’) was not strictly just there in order to carry weapons. It was more a position of trust and honour. Such a man was basically a faithful servant, in this case also a soldier and probably a seasoned veteran, who carried out his superior’s wishes in any way that he desired. In many cases he might have nothing to do with armour, or even go to the battlefield. He could be a household servant with special attachment.
But, as we have suggested, in this case he was probably a seasoned soldier who was allocated to Jonathan in order to act as his right hand man, and stay with him when danger was around, with a special responsibility to watch his back. They were comrades-in-arms.
That is why Jonathan called on him to join him in a secret foray against the Philistine contingent who were watching out for them from the crags. He did not want his father to know, presumably because he knew that his father would forbid it. And the worst that could happen was that the two of them might die together.
1Sa 14:2-3 a
‘And Saul abode in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate-tree which is in Migron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred men, and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of YHWH in Shiloh, wearing an ephod.’
Meanwhile Saul with his men had moved from Geba to a precipice (migron) on the borders of the land around Gibeah, where there was a prominent and well known pomegranate tree. With them also was Ahijah, who was presumably the High Priest (he was wearing the ephod), having now reached the age at which he could serve.
“Ahi-yah” could be another name for ‘Ahi-melech’, with Yah and Melech (king) interchangeable, or Ahimelech (1Sa 21:1; 1Sa 22:9) may have been his brother or son. We are reminded that he was the son of Ahitub who was Ichabod’s elder brother, and, as we know, Ichabod (1Sa 4:21) was the son of Phinehas, who was the son of Eli. Eli had been the priest of YHWH in Shiloh. Thus Ahijah was of Eli’s line and was not in YHWH’s favour, as the reference to Ichabod (‘the glory has departed’) emphasises. It is probable that Ahitub had either died comparatively young, or was for some reason disqualified from the High Priesthood as a result of some defect, which would explain why Samuel had had to act as High Priest until Ahijah came of age. Now, however, Ahijah had taken up his position (he was wearing the ephod, a special sleeveless jacket worn by the High Priest – compare 1Sa 2:28 – although the term here probably indicates the wearing of all the special garments of the High Priest) and was presumably with Saul in order to provide him with divine guidance. Had Ahitub still been alive he would have been around Samuel’s age. The phrase ‘The priest of YHWH in Shiloh’ probably refers to Eli. Shiloh has probably by this time dropped out of the picture as a Sanctuary. Ahijah is mentioned again in 1Sa 14:18.
The mention of Ahijah here is significant, and especially his connection with Ichabod – ‘the glory has departed’ (see 1Sa 4:21-22). The prophetic wisdom and inspiration of Samuel has been replaced by the ritualistic activities of an uninspired Priest from a rejected line. Saul still had enough of his religion in him to want YHWH’s guidance, but he had lost the source of his true contact with YHWH and was now making do with very much second best. This comes out all through the passage in his hankering after the Ark of God (1Sa 14:18), in his foolish oath made on his own behalf (1Sa 14:24), in the near execution of Jonathan (1Sa 14:44-45) because the Priest could get no answer from YHWH, and in the inability to take advantage of the situation to defeat the Philistines once and for all (1Sa 14:46).
1Sa 14:3 b
‘And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.’
Meanwhile Jonathan was on his way, and no one knew that he had gone. He had simply slipped away unnoticed. He had not wanted anyone to prevent him from going.
1Sa 14:4-5
‘ And between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side, and a rocky crag on the other side, and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.’
The actual scenery of the road that Jonathan took to reach the Philistines is described. It presents us with a picture of mountain grandeur. As he proceeded along the mountain passes with his companion he saw a rocky crag on each side rising up like a tooth. One was called Bozez which means ‘shining’. This was because the sun shone directly on it causing its white chalk to blaze with light. The other was named Seneh which means ‘acacia’, probably because of its acacia trees, which are still to be found in the associated valley.
1Sa 14:6
‘ And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised people. It may be that YHWH will work for us, for there is no restraint to YHWH to save by many or by few.” ’
As they progressed Jonathan explained his intentions. They would continue to make their way towards the Philistine outpost, trusting in YHWH to work for them. For as he pointed out, YHWH was able to save by many or by few (compare Jdg 7:4; Jdg 7:7). Jonathan is thus seen as a man of great faith, which was why he could not see how YHWH could possibly let the ‘uncircumcised Philistines’ triumph in the end. The Philistines were looked down on by their neighbours because unlike most people in Canaan they were uncircumcised. They were thus often derogatorily known as ‘the uncircumcised Philistines’.
We note that Jonathan had learned the lesson that had been forgotten by a failing Saul, that ‘YHWH could save by many or by few’. Jonathan knew that what mattered was not the number in the army, but that YHWH was working for them. If that were the case were irrelevant. Had Saul remembered that lesson, a lesson especially brought home by the story of Gideon (Jdg 7:6-7 – Saul had twice as many men as Gideon, also divided into three companies) he would never have offered the sacrifices before Samuel came.
1Sa 14:7
‘ And his armourbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Turn yourself, for see, I am with you according to what your heart desires.” ’
Jonathan’s faithful attendant was willing to follow wherever he led. Whatever Jonathan wanted was good enough for him. So he told him to ‘carry on’. It should be noted that this faithful follower was essential to his plan. We must never forget the importance of a faithful assistant. ‘Turn yourself’ may suggest that Jonathan had stopped and turned round to speak to him. Now, says his attendant, he can turn round again and go forward.
1Sa 14:8-10
‘ Then said Jonathan, “Look, we will pass over to the men, and we will disclose ourselves to them. If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them. But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for YHWH has delivered them into our hand, and this will be the sign to us.” ’
Jonathan then laid out his plan of action. They would cross over to the crag where the Philistine outpost was stationed and allow them to see them. Once they had done that their actions would be determined by how the Philistines responded. If they said, ‘wait there until we come to you’, that is what they would do. They could then be ready to defend themselves, or even slip away among the rocks. If, however, they said, ‘Come up to us’, then they would go up, and that would be a sign that YHWH was going to deliver the Philistine garrison into their hands.
1Sa 14:11
‘ And both of them disclosed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, “Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.” ’
Acting accordingly, they made their presence known to the Philistines, with the result that they were greeted with jeers. So the cowardly Hebrews had come out of the holes where they had hidden themselves, had they?
1Sa 14:12
‘ And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.” And Jonathan said to his armourbearer, “Come up after me, for YHWH has delivered them into the hand of Israel.”
Then the Philistines jeeringly called on them to come up so that they could ‘learn something from them’, at which Jonathan turned to his companion and declared, “Come up after me, for YHWH has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” He had received the sign that he wanted. Now he had no doubt that YHWH was with them. The Philistines may have been uncertain about how many Israelites were with Jonathan, hidden among the rocks, so we can understand their wariness. And they knew what good mountain fighters the Israelites were. But what they probably did not expect was that Jonathan would actually do what they asked. They probably thought that he had stumbled on them by accident and would now curry away.
1Sa 14:13
‘ And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armourbearer after him, and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew them after him.’
Instead the two men scrambled up the sides of the hill. They had been mountain men all their lives and it presented no difficulty to them. And arriving at the summit, and probably taking everyone by surprise, they attacked the Philistines boldly. Although the Philistines well outnumbered them they probably could not all get at the two at the same time because of the terrain. They may well also have been looking round warily for other Israelites trying to creep up on them. But the result was that Jonathan and his companion, filled with zeal for YHWH, was able to slay them all one by one.
1Sa 14:14
‘ And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land.’
There were apparently just over twenty men in the outpost of whom most were killed, although it may well be that there were a few more and that one or two escaped to take the news back to the main camp of a ‘ferocious and victorious attack’ by the Israelites. And this all took place in an area which was a mere ‘half a furrow’s length in a yoke of land’. The size of a yoke of land would be determined by what could be ploughed in a certain time by a yoke of oxen.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Sa 14:4 And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
1Sa 14:4
1Sa 14:4 Word Study on “Seneh” Strong says the name “Seneh” ( ) (H5573) means, “thorn.” PTW says it means, “enemy.”
1Sa 14:6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
1Sa 14:6
1Sa 14:15, “And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.”
Heb 11:34, “Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
1Sa 14:12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
1Sa 14:12
1Sa 17:44, “And the Philistine said to David, Come to me , and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.”
1Sa 14:21 Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan.
1Sa 14:21
1Sa 29:4, “And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?”
1Sa 14:24 And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
1Sa 14:24
1Sa 14:29-30, “Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”
1Sa 14:33 Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day.
1Sa 14:33
1Sa 14:41 Therefore Saul said unto the LORD God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped.
1Sa 14:41
[28] F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963), 157.
“And Saul said, O Jehovah, God of Israel, why hast thou not answered thy servant this day? If the iniquity be in me, or in Jonathan my son, Jehovah, God of Israel, give Urim; but if thou shouldest say that the iniquity is in thy people of Israel , give Thummim. And Jonathan and Saul are taken, and the people escaped.” ( LXX)
Now the LXX is able to throw light on the use of the Urim and the Thummim by the ancient Israelites. Apparently, the two stones could only give one of two alternatives to each throw.
1Sa 14:45 And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.
1Sa 14:45
1Sa 13:3, “And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.”
1Sa 14:47 So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.
1Sa 14:47
1Sa 11:14, “Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there .”
1Sa 14:49-51 Comments – Saul’s Genealogy 1Sa 14:49-51 records Saul’s pedigreed.
1Sa 14:52 And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.
1Sa 14:52
Deu 6:17-19, “ Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God , and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, To cast out all thine enemies from before thee , as the LORD hath spoken.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Philistines Defeated
v. 1. Now it came to pass upon a day, v. 2. And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah, v. 3. and Ahiah, the son of Ahitus, Ichabod’s brother, v. 4. And between the passages, v. 5. The forefront, v. 6. And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised, v. 7. And his armor-bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart, v. 8. Then said Jonathan, v. 9. If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you, v. 10. But if they say thus, Come up unto us, v. 11. And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines, v. 12. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing, v. 13. And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, v. 14. And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow, v. 15. And there was trembling in the host, v. 16. And the watchmen of Saul, v. 17. Then said Saul, v. 18. And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel; v. 19. And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, v. 20. And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, v. 21. Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, v. 22. Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim, v. 23. So the Lord saved Israel that day,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
JONATHAN SMITES THE PHILISTINE GAR–BISON (1Sa 14:1-15).
1Sa 14:1
Now it came to pass upon a day. Literally, “And there was a day, and Jonathan,” etc.; or, as we should say, And it happened one day that Jonathan. The phrase means that Jonathan’s brave feat took place not many days after the garrison had occupied the cliff, probably only two or three, but without definitely stating how many. He told not his father. Not only because Saul would have forbidden so rash an enterprise, but because secrecy was essential to any chance of success: probably too the purpose came upon him as an inspiration from above.
1Sa 14:2
Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah. I.e. the part nearest Geba. Under, not a, but the pomegranate tree, the well known tree at Migron. Saul evidently shared to the full in the love of trees common among the Israelites (see 1Sa 22:6). The Hebrew word for pomegranate is Rimmon, but there is no doubt that the tree is here meant, and not the rock Rimmon (Jdg 20:45, Jdg 20:47), so called probably from a fancied resemblance to the fruit. Migron, said to mean a cliff was apparently a common name for localities in this mountainous district, as in Isa 10:28 we read of one lying to the north of Michmash, whereas this is to the south.
1Sa 14:3
Ahiah, the son of Ahitub. (See on 1Sa 13:9.) It is interesting to find the house of Eli recovering at last from its disaster, and one of its members duly ministering in his office before the king. It has been debated whether he was the same person as Ahimelech, mentioned in 1Sa 21:1, etc; the supposition being grounded on the fact that Ahiah is never spoken of again. But he may have died; and with regard to the argument drawn from the similarity of the names, we must notice that names compounded with Ah (or Ach), brother, were common in Eli’s family, while compounds with Ab, father, were most in use among Saul’s relatives. Ahiah or Ahijah means Jah is brother; his father is Ahitub, the brother is good; why should he not call another son Ahimelech, the brother is king? Jehovah’s priest in Shiloh. This refers to Eli, the regular rule in Hebrew being that all such statements belong, not to the son, but to the father. Wearing an ephod. Literally, ephod bearing. The ephod, as we have seen on 1Sa 2:18, was the usual ministerial garment; but what is meant here is not an ordinary ephod of linen, but that described in Le 1Sa 8:7, 1Sa 8:8, wherein was the breastplate, by which Jehovah’s will was made known to his people, until prophecy took its place. All this, the former part of the verse, must be regarded as a parenthesis.
1Sa 14:4
Between the passages. I.e. the passes. A sharp rock. Literally, “a tooth of rock.” Conder (‘Tent Work,’ 2:112) says, “The site of the Philistine camp at Michmash, which Jonathan and his armour bearer attacked, is very minutely described by Josephus. It was, he says, a precipice with three tops, ending in a long, sharp tongue, and protected by surrounding cliffs. Exactly such a natural fortress exists immediately east of the village of Michmash, and is still called ‘the fort’ by the peasantry. It is a ridge rising in three rounded knolls above a perpendicular crag, ending in a narrow tongue to the east, with cliffs below, and having an open valley behind it, and a saddle towards the west, on which Michmash itself is situate. Opposite this fortress, on the south, there is a crag of equal height, and seemingly impassable. Thus the description of the Old Testament is fully borne out’a sharp rock on one side, and a sharp rock on the other.’ The southern cliff was called Seneh, or ‘the acacia,’ and the same name still applies to the modern valley, due to the acacia trees which dot its course. The northern cliff was called Bozez, or ‘shining,’ and the true explanation of the name only presents itself on the spot.” Conder then describes how, “treading perhaps almost in the steps of Jonathan, after arriving on the brink of the chasm, or defile of Michmash, they were able to descend Seneh, even with horses and mules. “I noticed,” he says, “that the dip of the strata down eastward gave hopes that by one of the long ledges we might be able to slide, as it were, towards the bottom. It is not likely that horses had ever before been led along this ledge, or will perhaps ever again cross the pathless chasm, but it was just possible, and by jumping them down one or two steps some three feet high, we succeeded in making the passage. Though we got down Seneh, we did not attempt to climb up Bozez …. Horses could scarcely find a footing anywhere on the sides of the northern precipice; but judging from the descent, it seems possible that Jonathan, with immense labour, could have ‘climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armour bearer after him’ (1Sa 14:13). That a man exhausted by such an effort could have fought successfully on arriving at the top can only be accounted for on the supposition of a sudden panic among the Philistines, when they found the enemy actually within their apparently impregnable fortress.”
1Sa 14:5
Was situate, etc. The word thus translated is that rendered pillar in 1Sa 2:8, and the verse should possibly be translated, “And the one tooth (or crag) was a rocky mass on the north over against Michmash, and the other was on the south over against Geba” (not Gibeah, as the A.V.; see 1Sa 13:16). But the word is omitted in the versions, and may be an interpolation.
1Sa 14:6
Uncircumcised. An epithet of dislike almost confined to the Philistines. But underneath the whole speech of Jonathan lies the conviction of the covenant relation of Israel to Jehovah, of which circumcision was the outward sign. Notice also Jonathan’s humble reliance upon God. It may be that Jehovah will work for us, etc.
1Sa 14:7
Turn thee. The Hebrew seems to have preserved the very words of the young man, and the difficulty in rendering this phrase arises from its being a colloquial expression. “Face about” would be our phrase; but the sense is, “On with you; I will follow.”
1Sa 14:9
Tarry. Hebrew, “be still,” “stand still,” the word used by Joshua of the sun (Jos 10:12, Jos 10:13); but not the word rendered stand still just below, where the Hebrew has, “We will stand under us,” i.e. we will stop just where we were.
1Sa 14:10
A sign. The waiting of the garrison for Jonathan and his armour bearer to mount up to them would be a sign of great indifference and supineness on their part; but what he rather meant was that they were to regard it as an omen. Kim’hi has a long digression in his commentary on this place to show that there was nothing superstitous in their looking for a prognostic to encourage them in their hazardous undertaking. God, he says, bade Gideon go to the camp of the Midianites to obtain such a sign. as Jonathan looked for here (see Jdg 7:11).
1Sa 14:11
Both of them discovered themselves. They had crept up the precipice unseen, but at some convenient spot near the top they so placed themselves that the garrison must see them, and waited there till their presence was observed. Behold, the Hebrews. There is no article in the Hebrew. What the Philistines say is, See! Hebrews come out of the holes wherein they had hid themselves.
1Sa 14:12
Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. The Philistines thus give Jonathan the very omen he had desired. The last clause is a popular phrase, and expresses a sort of amused contempt for the two adventurers. Raillery of this sort is not at all uncommon between the outposts of two armies.
1Sa 14:13
Upon his hands and upon his feet. Of course a single stone rolled down upon them while thus clambering up the precipitous side of the cliff would have sent them to the bottom; but the Philistines, apparently considering the ascent impossible, seem entirely to have neglected them. The youthful appearance of the two no doubt contributed to throw them off their guard. And they fell before Jonathan. The brevity of the Hebrew very well expresses the rapidity of Jonathan’s action. Used to mountaineering, he was ready, as soon as he had reached the summit, to commence the attack, and the Philistines, little expecting so vigorous an onslaught from so feeble a force, were surprised, and made but a slight resistance. The armour bearer also behaved with a bravery like his master’s.
1Sa 14:14
Within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. The Hebrew for this long circumlocution is, “within about a half furrow of a yoke of land.” The Septuagint translates, “with darts and slings and stones of the field,” but the other versions give no support to this rendering. The Israelites, like most ancient nations, were accustomed to measure land by the quantity which a yoke of oxen could plough in a day,something really less than an acre,so that the A.V. gives the fight sense. When Jonathan made his attack, the garrison probably, not knowing bow few their assailants were, ran in confusion to the narrow tongue of land where the exit was, and getting in one another’s way, were soon panic stricken and helpless.
1Sa 14:15
Trembling. I.e. “terror,” “fright.” In the host. Hebrew, “in the camp,” i.e. the main camp at Michmash, contrasted with the field, i.e. the open country, in which the soldiers were foraging for supplies. The people. I.e. the camp followers, as opposed to the soldiers. All these were terrified by the garrison rushing down the pass, with tidings of the attack magnified by their fears, and who communicated the alarm to the spoilers, who, having now for a fortnight met with no resistance, had probably discontinued all measures of precaution. The earth quaked. This may be taken literally, but is more probably a poetical description of the widespread terror and confusion which prevailed far and near. So it was a very great trembling. Literally, “and it became a terror of God;” but the name of the deity (Elohim, not Jehovah) is constantly used in Hebrew to express vastness.
DEFEAT OF THE PHILISTINES (1Sa 14:16-23).
1Sa 14:16
The watchmen, etc. Condor says (‘Tent Work,’ 2:115), “The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin must have seen dearly across the chasm the extraordinary conflict of two men against a host, as the ‘multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.’ The noise in the host was also, no doubt, clearly heard at the distance of only two miles, and the army would have crossed the passage with comparatively little difficulty by the narrow path which leads down direct from Geba to Michmash, west of the Philistine camp. Thence the pursuit was towards Bethel, across the watershed, and headlong down the steep descent of Aijalonthat same pass where the first great victory of Joshua had been gained, and where the valiant Judas was once more, in later times, to drive back the enemies of Israel to the plains.” The multitude. The Hebrew is, “And behold the tumult was reeling and going and thither.” Of course hither has dropped out of the text before and thither. The Septuagint and Vulgate both read “hither and thither.” Tumult means the din made by a confused mass of people, and so the crowd itself. Melted away does not give the exact meaning. The Philistines were not dispersing, but were reeling, moving to and fro purposeless, and in confusion. It may mean, however, to shake or melt with terror, as in Isa 14:31, where it is rendered art dissolved.
1Sa 14:17, 1Sa 14:18
Number now. On hearing from the watchmen that fighting was seen on the other side of the ravine, Saul commands the roll to be called, that he may learn who has made the attack, and finds only his son and the armour bearer missing. Uncertain what their absence might mean, he said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. The Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee support this reading, but the Septuagint has ephod, and there can be no doubt that this is the right reading; for the verb rendered. Bring hither is never used of the ark, but only of the ephod; nor was the ark used for making inquiry of God, but the ephod with the breastplate inserted in it. The rest of the verse is a gloss added by some scribe struck at this strange mention of the ark, which we know was still at Kirjath-jearim. It is itself corrupt and ungrammatical, being, “For the ark of God was in that day and the children of Israel.” Still both the reading ark and the gloss are very ancient, being found in the versions, except the Septuagint, as above.
1Sa 14:19
Withdraw thine hand. Saul, impatient of delay, cannot wait till the will of God is made known to him. There would have been no real loss of time, and he might have been saved from the errors which marred the happiness of the deliverance. But this precipitancy very well shows the state of Saul’s mind.
1Sa 14:20
Saul and all the people assembled themselves. Margin, were cried together, i.e. summoned by trumpet note. The Syriac and Vulgate, however, make the verb active, and translate, “And Saul and all the people with him shouted and advanced to the battle.” Discomfiture. Rather, “dismay,” “consternation,” as in 1Sa 5:9.
1Sa 14:21, 1Sa 14:22
Round about, even. All the versions by a very slight alteration change this into turned, which the A.V. is forced to supply. With this necessary correction the translation is easy: “And the Hebrews who were previously with the Philistines, and had gone up with them into the camp, turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.” It appears, therefore, that certain districts of the Israelite territory were so completely in the power of the Philistines that they could compel the men to go with them, not perhaps as soldiers, as is our custom in India, but as drivers and servants. These now turned upon their masters, and were reinforced by the Israelites who had taken refuge in Mount Ephraim. It is noteworthy that these subject “Hebrews” retain the name of contempt given them by their masters.
1Sa 14:23
Over unto Beth-aven. Hebrew, “the battle passed Beth-aven,” i.e. no rally was made there. In 1Sa 14:31 we read that the pursuit continued as far as Aijalon. For Beth-aven see on 1Sa 13:5.
SAUL‘S RASH COMMAND (verses 24-35).
1Sa 14:24
The men of Israel were distressed that day. The word is that used in 1Sa 13:6 of the state of terror and alarm to which the Israelites were reduced by the Philistine invasion; here it refers to their weariness and faintness for want of food. For Saul had adjured the people. Hebrew, “had made the people swear.” He had recited before them the words of the curse, and made them shout their consent. His object was to prevent any delay in the pursuit; but in his eagerness he forgot that the strength of his men would fail if their bodily wants were not supplied. But though worn out and fainting, the people faithfully keep the oath put to them.
1Sa 14:25
And all they of the land. Hebrew, “the whole land,” or, as we should say, the whole country, which had risen to join in the pursuit. Honey upon the ground. The wild bees in Palestine fill fissures in the rocks (Deu 32:13; Psa 81:16) and hollow trees with honey, till the combs, breaking with the weight, let it run down upon the ground. A similar abundance of honey was found by the early settlers in America.
1Sa 14:26
The honey dropped. More correctly, “Behold, a stream (or a flowing) of honey.”
1Sa 14:27
Jonathan, who had not been present when his father charged the people with the oath,literally, “made the people swear,”dipped the end of his staff hastily, so as not to hinder the pursuit, in an honeycombHebrew, “into the honey wood,” i.e. into the hollow branch or trunk out of which the honey was flowing (but see So 1Sa 5:1). His eyes were enlightened. I.e. made bright and clear, the dimness caused by excessive weariness having passed away. But this is a correction made by the Jews (kri), and the written text (c’tib) has “his eyes saw,” which is more forcible and poetic. When the A.V. was made the kri was supposed to be authoritative, but most modern commentators have come to the opposite conclusion.
1Sa 14:28
And the people were faint. There is great diversity of opinion whether this be part or not of the speech of the man who informed Jonathan of the oath forced on the people by Saul. It makes, perhaps, the better sense if regarded as the continuation of the history, and inserted to justify Jonathan’s disapproval of his father’s hasty command. The fight rendering is were weary, as in the margin and Jdg 4:21.
1Sa 14:29
My father hath troubled the land. I.e. hath brought disaster upon it (see Gen 34:30; Jos 7:25). This disaster was the incompleteness of the victory, owing to the people being too exhausted to continue the pursuit.
1Sa 14:30, 1Sa 14:31
For had there not been now a much greater slaughter? This clause is really an indicative: “For now the slaughter of the Philistines is not very great.” Nevertheless, the pursuit was continued as far as the pass of Aijalon, and though, owing to the increasing weariness of the people, but few of the Philistines were overtaken, nevertheless it would compel them to throw away their arms, and abandon all the booty which they had collected. For very faint the Hebrew has very weary, as in 1Sa 14:28.
1Sa 14:32
The people flew upon the spoil. The written text has, “And the people set to work upon the spoil, and took sheep,” etc; but as the sentence is not very grammatical the kri has corrected it from 1Sa 15:19. The versions have either “greedily desired,” or “turned themselves unto.” The people who had waited until evening, when the oath forced upon them by Saul was over, then in their hunger broke the law doubly: first in killing calves with their dams on the same day (Le 22:28), and secondly, more seriously, in so killing them “on the ground” that the blood remained in the carcase. The law enjoined the utmost care in this respect (ibid. 1Sa 17:10-14), but the people were too weary and hungry to trouble about it.
1Sa 14:33, 1Sa 14:34
Ye have transgressed. Better as in the margin, “dealt treacherously,” i.e. faithlessly, to the covenant between Israel and Jehovah. Roll a great stone unto me this day. Or, as we should say, this minute; but the Hebrew uses “this day” for anything to be done at once (see on 1Sa 2:16). The purpose of this stone was to raise up the caresses of the slaughtered animals from the ground, so that the blood might drain away from them. On tidings of this arrangement being dispersed throughout the army, the people obey Saul with the same unquestioning devotion as they had shown to his command to abstain from food.
1Sa 14:35
And Saul built an altar unto Jehovah as a thank offering for the Divine favour in gaining so great a victory. The same was the first altar, etc. Literally, “As to it he began to build an altar unto Jehovah.” On these words the question has arisen whether the meaning be that Saul began to build an altar, but with characteristic impetuosity left off before he had completed it; or whether on that occasion he commenced the custom followed by David (2Sa 24:25) of erecting altars as the patriarchs had done in old time. The latter interpretation is more in accordance with the usage of the Hebrew language, and is approved by the translations of the Septuagint and Vulgate.
HOMILETICS
1Sa 14:1-12
Inspiration in Christian enterprise
The facts are
1. Jonathan, on his own responsibility, and without his father’s knowledge: resolves on an attack upon the Philistine garrison.
2. He expresses to his armour bearer his hope that God will help, and also the ground of that hope.
3. He proposes to regard the first encouragement from the enemy to ascend the cliff as a sign of coming success.
4. The sign appearing, Jonathan advances in confidence of victory. The recent transgression of Saul was now bearing some bitter fruit in his comparative inactivity and helplessness. It is not likely that Jonathan was ignorant of the displeasure of the prophet of God, or was surprised at the embarrassment which had come upon his father’s affairs. In seasons of disaster and wrong there are select men of God who mourn the sins of their superiors and the woes of their country. Being one of this class, Jonathan may be regarded as exhibiting some of the highest results of the instruction and influence of Samuel during the slow reformation subsequent to the victory at Ebenezer. It is in God’s heart to have pity on his people and to deliver them; but at this juncture can we not discern a wise propriety, not unmixed with retribution on the king, in conferring the honour of deliverance upon a man of piety, whose heart evidently yearned for the highest good of Israel? Thus do we see here, as in many other instances, how readily, and where not looked for, God raises up instruments to effect his purposes when the ordinary instruments fail through sin. Private enterprise can often accomplish what, in consequence of a loss of the right spirit, organised and official effort is utterly powerless to perform. The enforced inactivity of Saul, the desolations of the spoilers, and the multitudes of refugees in the caves of the mountains, must have produced a most depressing effect on the king and his followers. In their extremity, under an inspiration most pure and noble, help came in the daring enterprise of Jonathan, as recorded by the historian. It is possible that a secular mind on reading the narrative may regard the story as just one of those records of military adventure that are to be found in the annals of all warlike nations. But we are to form our estimate of the event by the light of Scripture; and when we consider it in connection with God’s revealed purpose to work out the Messianic covenant through a chosen race, the tenor of Jonathan’s life, and especially his words declaring his faith in God (1Sa 14:6), we must then see here not a wild freak of a daring soldier, nor even a clever device for achieving merely military distinction, but a true and noble inspiration to accomplish a great work in the name of God, and for the ultimate realisation of the Divine purposes. It may be assumed that, under the present conditions of the kingdom of Christ in the world, there is frequent and full scope for endeavours corresponding, in their relation to the organised efforts of the Church and in their chief characteristics, to the effort of Jonathan in its relation to the monarchy. Likewise the same inspiration is needed for the more perfect development and successful use of the organised forces of the Church. While nations live in sin, fearful evils fester in our crowded towns, debasing and dangerous customs hold multitudes in bondage, avenues to the human mind lie untraversed by Christian men, and possibly propriety degenerates into a rigid, obstructive conservatism, there is room for men and women who dare to go and do what seems impossible, and for a fresh baptism on the hosts of God to inspire them to deeds of valour and self-denial. It is possible that spurious forms of enthusiasm may arise, and may pass for heaven-created zeal. Contagion of sentiment may obtain the force of a torrent. The emotional element in religion may be abnormally developed, and incline, under stimulus, to deeds which no sound judgment will justify. But grant all this, and more, and yet it is true that there is a pure inspiration in the service of Christ much to be coveted. Let us consider the characteristics of such a true inspiration.
I. IT IS DISTINGUISHED BY INDIVIDUALITY. Whether it be found in private action or in the combined effort of the Church, it does not appear as the mere product of organisation, nor as a revival of stereotyped custom. Jonathan’s inspiration began in his own heart. It was, in the shape it took, the natural outcome of the man. Considerations of the position of affairs aroused his nature, but he was no copyist, no waiter upon other men’s deeds. Keeping the secret from his father was essential to the more perfect individuality of his feelings and his enterprise. Ideas grow in power over us when we nourish them. Sometimes, like the Apostle Paul and Jonathan, we do better not to “confer with flesh and blood, but brood over our thought and purpose, by the aid of the Spirit of God, till they become a power which must work outwards in forms true to our own personality. There is far more individuality in the Christian Church than is at present developed. When a Christian is, as the result of brooding over things, so permeated with a conviction of his obligation to Christ, a yearning to save men from sin, and a spirit of self-sacrifice, as to be mastered by these forces, he will find out some way in which his natural aptitudes and capabilities may be turned to account in Christ’s service. All great and beneficial movements have borne the stamp of individuality, from the labours of the Apostle Paul on, by Luther, up to the latest endeavours to save the waifs of our city population.
II. IT CONTEMPLATES AN END CONFORMABLE TO THE END FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED. Jonathan reveals his piety and his intelligence in using language to his armour bearer to the effect that he thought it probable that the Lord might save through his instrumentality. He sought the salvation which God loves to accomplish, and for which the order of Providence was working. It is our privilege to take a wider and more spiritual view than even a devout Hebrew. There is an end contemplated by God, and being wrought out by the great sacrifice on the cross, with its concomitant influencesa multitude that no man can number redeemed out of every nation, kindred, and tribe from the bondage and pollution of sin. Whoever sets his heart on any good work, conformable, and therefore tributary, to that issue,be it social amelioration, rescue of lost ones from vice, sanitary improvements, diffusion of knowledge,is so far sharer in the true inspiration. But especially is that a true and noble inspiration which not only aims at ends which, being good and moral, are so far conformable and helpful to the end for which Christ died, but aims at that spiritual salvation on which the heart of Christ was supremely set when he gave himself a ransom for us. This is the longed for issue of all those noble workers at home or abroad who visit the abodes of sin, and seek, as though they cannot refrain from it, to gather the poor degraded ones into the Saviour’s blessed fold.
III. IT IS CHARACTERISED BY FREEDOM FROM PERSONAL VANITY. Jonathan’s motives were transparently pure. There was none of the restlessness of the inactive soldier craving for opportunity to display prowess; no regard for self in his self-denial and risks. His references to the Lord and the saving of the people he loved reveal a true, generous, self-sacrificing spirit. It is when works of benevolence, and especially works strictly spiritual, are devised and carried through in this spirit that we are under the influence of a true inspiration. A love of praise, a desire for prominence, fondness for being counted a great and successful worker, an unreasonable sensitiveness to apparent neglect, and kindred feelings, are the “little foxes” that steal the grapes.
IV. IT IS MARKED BY IMPLICIT DEPENDENCE ON THE POWER OF GOD. Jonathan showed prudence and skill in the ascent of the precipice and in the encouragement he sought for advancing by means of the “sign;” but the feat passes out of the category of “reckless,” or even, in the common usage of the term, “daring,” when we note that, having the sign as a kind of answer to the prayer of his heart, he rested his success not on his skill or strength, but on the Lord, with whom there “is no restraint to save by many or by few.” He was inspired every step of the way up the rocks by trust in the ever present Power which shields the faithful and works the wonders of redemption for his people. Here lies the secret of the true inspiration that has wrought so powerfully in the Church of God in its purest and most successful eras. The apostles felt that it was not of man, but of God, to save. A few feeble Jews were mighty, through God, to the pulling down of many a stronghold. It is this which enables the missionary to toil on amidst the loathsome vices of the savage, and the friend of the outcast at home to attempt what none others dare.
V. IT IS MARKED ALSO BY THE BUOYANCY OF HOPE. When Jonathan said, “It may be that the Lord will work for us,” it was not to express uncertainty, but to cheer a man of less faith, and to indicate the belief that God was about to use him in his service. He rightly interpreted his yearning to be used as an inspiration of God, and when the “sign” came that assured him that his heart’s desire was accepted, he moved on with a cheerful spirit. “Come up after me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.” The modesty of the assurance! “The hand of Israel;” not “my hand.” This buoyant spirit that looks on in hope founded on deep conviction of God’s faithfulness inspires every one who is truly called to labour for Christ. The tone of the apostles all through their toils is one of cheer. The golden gates of the eternal city seem ever to shine before them, and they hear already the new song. Every one on whom this true apostolic succession has come enters into sympathy with them, and no longer toils with dejected brow and despairing heart.
General lessons.
1. There is abundant encouragement for Christian work in the historically illustrated fact that God does accomplish great results through feeble and varied means.
2. It is a question with each of us whether we really believe that there “is no restraint with the Lord,” and whether lack of faith in this great truth does not explain much in our life and labour which we deplore.
3. We may ask ourselves whether there is anything in the present state of the Church and the world affording scope for our special exertion after the manner of Jonathan’s.
4. It should be an inquiry as to whether we are open to receive and welcome an inspiration from the Lord to enter on some work involving self-denial and difficulty.
5. If we think we are inspired to undertake some difficult work for Christ, we should discriminate between sudden impulse and mature irresistible longing; and, seeking counsel of God, follow the signs of Providence.
1Sa 14:13-23
God’s faithfulness to his own.
The facts are
1. Jonathan and his servant ascend the precipice and slay, on a narrow strip of land, about twenty men.
2. A panic arising, from a combination of causes, the commotion attracts the attention of Saul’s sentinels.
3. It being ascertained that Jonathan was engaged against the Philistines, inquiry is sought of God, by Saul, through the priest Ahiah.
4. The tumult among the Philistines increasing, Saul abruptly stops the inquiry and leads on his followers to battle.
5. The deserters and the fugitives fall on the rear of the retreating Philistines. The historian sums up the narrative of events in this section by the suggestive words, “So the Lord saved Israel that day.” It was “the Lord,” working through the instrumentality of a noble hearted man and the events concurrent with his actionnot withholding the reward of fidelity, notwithstanding the questionable conduct of the king. “It is the Lord,” must be the verdict of history, not only of their deliverance, but of many others in all time.
I. GOD‘S FAITHFULNESS IS SEEN IN PERFECTING THE WORK WHICH HE INSPIRES. There can be no doubt but that Jonathan received this “good and perfect gift” of inspiration, to seek the salvation of his country, from God. We have seen that it could not have been a mere human, earth born impulse. There may be a point at which the human free aspiration becomes touched with a Divine power; but, as a whole, the impulse is of God. The narrative tells us how certainly God wrought for the perfecting of that which he saw in the heart. Not a step of his way did Jonathan find to be a practical denial of the truth of his inward prompting. Thus the life of the true man of God is crowded with evidences of the Divine faithfulness. He who begins a “good work” within us will carry it through. He is “not unrighteous to forget our work of faith and labour of love.” He will “perfect that which concerneth us.” “Loving his own,” he loves “to the end.” Abraham, under an inspiration from God, went forth, and all through his pilgrimage he found Jehovah to be a covenant keeping God. In our painful and protracted endeavours, in obedience to an aspiration born from above to rise to the heights of holiness and to bless others, we shall find him faithful who hath promised never to leave nor forsake us.
II. IN MAINTAINING HIS FAITHFULNESS TO HIS PEOPLE GOD CAUSES VARIED INFLUENCES TO CONVERGE ON THE DESIRED RESULT OF EFFORT. The Divine faithfulness is not arbitrarily and absolutely manifested. It is seen in realising the desired end by a succession of events naturally connected. Jonathan’s exertions were put forth as though all rested on the courage of his own heart and the strength of his own arm. The narrative shows us how an unseen hand upheld the brave soldier, and caused diverse things to converge on the one issue: e.g. the young soldier’s skill, tact, and courage; the folly of the defenders in allowing him a footing on the narrow pathway of the upper part of the precipice; the fear aroused through ignorance of the full facts of the assault; the panic spread from post to poststrengthened, possibly, by a slight shock of earthquake; the onward movement of Saul’s troop; and the opportunity created for the rallying of fugitives and deserters (1Sa 14:21, 1Sa 14:22).
Such an historical episode is of great value to us, as indicating in distinct, traceable incidents the reality of that Divine wisdom and power which ever presides over all the efforts of Christians to rid themselves and the world of Sill. It illustrates as on a picture the great formula of faith”All things work together for good to them that love God.” As “the stars in their courses fought against Sisera,” and as even holy angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation,” so may it be said, in the case of every one who strives to purify himself from all sin, or seeks by some bold or ordinary endeavour to win the world over to Christ, “all things are yours,”are being governed by the Lord of all so as to subserve the one holy end to the attainment of which your hearts are inspired.
III. IN MANIFESTING HIS FAITHFULNESS TO HIS PEOPLE GOD PERMITS THE IMPERFECT TO SHARE IN THE BLESSINGS PROCURED BY THE MORE PERFECT. Primarily, it was God’s compassion for Israel and his covenant with Abraham that must account for this new deliverance. Secondarily, it was a reward to Jonathan’s fidelity and self-consecration. Saul had shut himself out of the honour and privilege of obtaining deliverance for the nation. Even now his old folly and rashness reappear, in religiously beginning to seek counsel, thus honouring God, and then in irreverently discontinuing to seek that counsel, through his impetuous haste to join in the pursuit, thus preferring the impulse of his heart to the declared will of God. Nevertheless, even Saul derives great advantage from the prowess of the good and devout Jonathan. God, in his mercy, does not sacrifice the final interests of his people to the folly of a leader. Thus, also, Joseph’s brethren shared in the prosperity won by their holy and wise brother. The inferior Christians of today participate in some of the outward blessings accruing to the faithful as the result of their fidelity.
General lessons.
1. It would be a profitable study to note in detail, over the field of sacred and Church history, and in the sphere of private Christian enterprise, to what a large extent the world is indebted for spiritual, material, and educational good to the honour God has put on the labours of the most faithful of his servants.
2. We may be perfectly sure in the pursuit of any holy enterprise, to which personally we may feel inadequate, that God, with whom is “no restraint,” will develop helping circumstances.
3. The helping circumstances desiderated will arise, not at first, but only as we faithfully press along the line of duty.
4. The cumulating record of God’s faithfulness to his people through the long ages should make us calm, strong, and immovable in the most perilous of enterprises undertaken for Christ.
1Sa 14:24-35
Unwise zeal and moral obtuseness.
The facts are
1. Saul by a rash vow causes great distress among the people and diminishes the fruits of victory.
2. Jonathan, unawares, takes food contrary to his father’s prohibition, and on being informed of the truth, deplores the unwisdom of the vow.
3. As a consequence of the enforced exhaustion, the people at the close of the day violate the ceremonial law by a voracious meal of flesh unduly prepared.
4. Saul, professing to be shocked at their sin, provides means by which the offence may be avoided, and raises an altar unto the Lord. The turn in affairs brought on by Jonathan’s heroism was most welcome to Saul, as it seemed to be the return of the prosperity which had received a check in his own sin at Gilgal. There had been no expressions of sincere penitence, nor, as far as the narrative gives light, any effort to regain former relationships to Samuel. The impulsive rush from the inquiring priest to join in the pursuit revealed a state of mind which at once accounts for the curse pronounced on any one who should dare to take food. The facts included in the section before us furnish a conspicuous instance of unwise zeal and moral obtuseness.
I. UNWISE ZEAL. The zeal of Saul was conspicuous enough. As in the case of Joshua (Jos 8:8-13), there was an intense desire to put into a single day all the exertion possible in order to make the victory over God’s enemies more complete. There was clearly in his mind an idea that he was doing God service (verse 33). But the unwisdom of the zeal is equally conspicuous; for it prevented, by the physical weakness induced, the very end designed (verses 29, 30): it caused pain and annoyance to an obedient people, who, while submissive, must have lost some respect for their monarch’s judgment; it exposed the best man of the day to a great peril, and the people to a strong temptation to commit excess. Unwise zeal may be considered variously.
1. As reform. It assumes diverse forms according to the circumstances of the case.
(1) Sometimes the aim may be wrong, as when the Jews in apostolic times, in their zeal, not according to knowledge sought most energetically to perpetuate a decaying ceremonial. The same is true of all who compass sea and land to make mere proselytes to their order or sect, or to bring modern feeling and usage back, in matters of minor significance, to the style of the past.
(2) Often the method is wrong, as in the case of Saul. Men have not always the wisdom to conserve or develop, as the occasion may demand, their energy suitably to the end in view. There is an enormous waste in the world from this cause. Perhaps no man, in his daily calling, is free from this form of unwise zeal. We see illustrations of this in the untiring effort of some to be justified before God by their own deeds of righteousness; in the constant and painful flow of penitential tears and self-inflicted sorrows as means of the forgiveness which comes only by calm trust in Christ; and in the wild and ill considered agencies sometimes used to win careless men to Christ.
(3) Sometimes the end is good and the method, but the time is unsuited. It might be good for Israel to chase the foe with full energy, and also good to fast, but the time was not suitable for the conjunction of the two. It is mistaken zeal to concentrate all strength on the edification of a Church when multitudes are living outside the fold of Christ. Wisdom lies much in doing work at the right season.
2. As to origin. Saul’s unwise zeal arose from his impulsive temperament not being chastened and regulated by a diligent use of the counsel which was always available to him as king from God. This radical error accounts for the ill-balanced judgment which could not see the effect of a long fast on physical energy, for the rash utterance, for the eager springing at the first chance to escape from the helpless position consequent, on recent transgression, and for the egotistical reference to avenging his own enemies. The origin of unwise zeal in most instances is connected with deficient waiting upon God. The knowledge of men may be defective, their temperament may be impulsive, their prevision of a low grade, their self-regulation a matter of emotional pressure rather than of reason; and yet if such men would, remembering their obvious imperfections, devoutly wait on God for his guidance, and seek daily grace to govern themselves, they would avoid many blunders in practice. Imperfectly balanced men will never do work in life perfectly. We must lay to our account a large proportion of foolish deeds in Christian and secular enterprise. The calming, enlightening power of devotion is not fully recognised.
3. As to consequences. In Saul’s case, as already indicated, it induced trouble and pain to his people, interfered with the most perfect success of Jonathan’s effort (verses 29, 30), lowered himself in the eyes of his subjects as a king deficient in judgment, and, by exercise, intensified the defective qualities which gave rise to it. We have here a summary of what always attends unwise zeal. Every foolish display of energy, even in a good cause, brings distress to those who have the interests of religion and humanity at heart. Being a waste of power, and therefore a violation of the moral and social laws by which God brings the highest results to pass, it impedes the subjugation of evil to good. and the final triumph of God’s kingdom. The world is suffering still from erratic courses, destitute of sound judgment, pursued in the name of religion; from a concentration of energy on superficial instead of on radical evils; and from an undue application of resources to the curative methods, in frequent oversight of the preventive.
II. MORAL OBTUSENESS. The moral obtuseness of Saul’s character had manifested itself in his evident inability to see at Gilgal. (1Sa 13:8-10) the stupidity of seeking to please God by an act of worship which itself was a violation of his explicit commands. Character becomes more fixed as time passes on; and here we see Saul so morally obtuse as not to perceive that, while condemning a ceremonial offence on the part of the people (verse 33), he was unconscious of the folly of his own conduct, and of the moral offence both of laying on the people a serious hindrance to victory and of preferring his own wild impulse to the counsel of Jehovah. Moral obtuseness may be regarded in reference to
1. Its causese.g. inherited dulness of conscience, imperfectly formed moral discrimination in early years, growing habituation to formal religious acts, the influence of a low state of public morality, and postponement of sincere repentance after known transgressions.
2. Its manifestatione.g. in rigid external observances to the neglect of spiritual culture, combination of religious zeal with positive indulgence in immoral feelings, ease in detecting palpable offences in others with self-complacent views of one’s own condition, insensibility to the truth which awakens the finer spiritual feelings of other men, and coarse treatment of the sensitive.
3. Its dangere.g. in being inaccessible to many of the most elevating influences, rendered more dense by every repeated exercise, and productive of a delusive self-righteousness which becomes more self-assertive in proportion as inward unholiness prevails.
4. Its treatmente.g. by distinct personal teaching of the most discriminating and pungent character, placing the individuals in close association with persons of fine spiritual discernment and delicacy of character as a striking foil, prompting to acts that will tend to reveal the inward incompetency, and special prayer for the quickening of the life giving Spirit.
General lessons:
1. Cultivate a refined moral sensibility in youth as a basis for life.
2. Men in office need prayer for special spiritual wisdom.
3. When sin has been committed it should be repented of at once, and special prayer made lest its inward influence be to lower the tone of feeling.
HOMILIES BY B. DALE
1Sa 14:1-15. (GEBA, MICHASH.)
The heroism of Jonathan.
“Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised, etc. (1Sa 14:6). The character of Jonathan is one of the bravest, most generous: devout, and blameless in history. Of his earliest years nothing is recorded. When first mentioned he was in command of a thousand soldiers (1Sa 13:2), and his overthrow of the Philistine garrison in Geba was “the first act of the war of independence;” but (as in the case of MosesAct 7:25) it failed to deliver his people from oppression. His attack upon the enemy’s camp at Michmash, which is here described, resulted in victory. He inherited the physical strength and courage of Saul; but in other respects presented a contrast to his father; exemplified the best, as the latter exemplified some of the worst features of the age, and set a pattern of true heroism for all time.
“What makes a hero? an heroic mind
Expressed in action, in endurance proved.”
I. EXALTED ASPIRATIONS (1Sa 14:1) which
1. Are cherished in adverse circumstances (1Sa 13:22; 1Sa 13:2). Instead of being crushed by adversity, “an heroic mind” bears it patiently, rises above it, and aspires to higher things (Act 21:13). In its midst it shines all the more brightly, like gold purified by the fire.
2. Lead to courageous projects. Jonathan often looks across the ravine between Bozez and Seneh (1Sa 14:4, 1Sa 14:5), and revolves in his mind how he can strike a blow at the apparently inaccessible fortress of the enemy; and at length goes forth secretly in the night or at early dawn, attended only by his armour bearer. To communicate his project to others, even if it were as yet clear to himself, would be to hinder or defeat its accomplishment. He feels called to attempt something great, and “confers not with flesh and blood.”
3. Are inspired by the Divine Spirit. More of “the mind of the Lord was doubtless made known to Jonathan than to the king, notwithstanding the presence of the priest with him (1Sa 14:3). What appears presumption to others is often to one Divinely taught the simple path of duty.
II. EMINENT FAITH (1Sa 14:6), including
1. A firm conviction of the covenant relation of God to his people. “These uncircumcised” in opposition to Israel. Jonathan’s thought was not of himself, but of his people, and of the promises and purposes of God concerning them.
2. A lofty conception of the unlimited power of God to save them. “There is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few” (2Ch 14:11; Mic 2:7). In comparison with his might the strength of man, whether much or little, is nothing. He has often used “the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty” (1Co 1:27, 1Co 1:28), and he can do so again. Faith is shown in contemplating the power of God, and is thereby greatly increased.
3. Humble reliance on the gracious cooperation of God on their behalf. “It may be that the Lord will work for us.” He is ready and able to afford help, but whether it will be given in connection with a particular course of action is, without express direction or promise, uncertain; and the indications of his will should be followed with humility, hopefulness, and confidence. “The measure of faith is the measure of God’s help.” “All things are possible to him that believeth.”
III. PRUDENT WATCHFULNESS (1Sa 14:9, 1Sa 14:10).
1. In contrast to reckless adventure. Faith in God gives insight into the hidden principles and tendencies of things, teaches the adoption of appropriate means, and makes men calm as well as fearless when others lose self-control, and adopt foolish and dangerous expedients (Act 27:25, Act 27:30).
2. In ascertaining the prospects of success. If the enemy are on the alert and exhibit courage, it will be vain to expect to take them by surprise (1Sa 14:9); but if they feel themselves secure in their position, are careless and slack, and blinded by self-confidence, “the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel” (1Sa 14:12).
3. In working wisely with a view to that end. God works by means, and not without them, and the wisest means are the most successful.
IV. DARING ENERGY (1Sa 14:11-14) in
1. Enduring great risk.
2. Putting forth immense effort. “Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees.” It is a severe as well as a dangerous climb to reach the point where the conflict begins.
3. Following up every advantage to the utmost. “When he came in full view of the enemy they both discharged such a flight of arrows, stones, and pebbles from their bows, crossbows, and slings that twenty men fell at the first onset, and the garrison fled in a panic.”
V. INSPIRING SYMPATHY (1Sa 14:7, 1Sa 14:13). A believing and heroic spirit begets the same spirit in others.
1. At first those with whom it comes into closest contactit may be a single individual.
2. Afterwards a host (1Sa 14:21, 1Sa 14:22).
3. And their aid contributes to the general result. “The history of battles should teach us the mighty power of sympathetic relations.”
VI. DIVINE APPROVAL.
1. Expressed in the overthrow of the enemybringing them into confusion (1Sa 14:15), turning them against one another (1Sa 14:16), and saving Israel from their oppression, as well as in the Providential ordering of all things that contributed to it.
2. In commendation of “the spirit of faith” in which the enterprise was undertaken and carried out.
3. Recognised by all the people. “He hath wrought with God this day” (1Sa 14:45)wrought effectually through his favour and power. The day was won by Jonathan; still more by God. “So the Lord saved Israel that day” (vers 23). And to him the glory must be ascribed.D.
1Sa 14:16-23. (GIBEAH.)
Impatience in seeking Divine counsel.
“Withdraw thine hand” (1Sa 14:19). In order to ascertain the will of God two things are necessary:
1. A special method of communication. In ancient days it was “by dreams, Urim, and prophets” (1Sa 28:6). The Urim (light, illumination) and Thummim (perfection, completeness, truth) were symbols of some kind or other attached to or placed within the folded breastplate connected with the ephod of the high priest (Exo 28:30; Num 27:21). “The question brought was one affecting the well being of the nation, or its army, or its king. The inquirer spoke in a low whisper, asking one question only at a time. The high priest, fixing his gaze on the ‘gems oracular’ that ‘lay on his heart,’ fixed his thoughts on the light and perfection which they symbolised, on the holy name inscribed on them. The act was itself a prayer, and, like other prayers, it might be answered. After a time he passed into the new, mysterious, half ecstatic state. All disturbing elementsselfishness, prejudice, the fear of manwere eliminated. He received the insight he craved. Men trusted in his decisions, as with us men trust the judgment which has been purified by prayer for the help of the eternal Spirit more than that which grows only out of debate and policy and calculation” (Smith’s ‘Dic.’). “When at length a visible king reigned by Divine appointment, the counsel of the Urim and Thummim passed into the public ministry of the prophets, which modified and controlled the political organisations of the kings” (‘Bible Educ.,’ 4:37). We have now the written word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
2. A proper spirit of inquiryhumility, sincerity, faith, patience, and perseverance. Saul “inquired of the Lord” (Jdg 1:1; Jdg 20:27; 1Sa 10:22), but not in a right manner, impatiently breaking off his inquiry before the answer came, and commanding the priest to desist from pursuing it. In like manner many persons begin to pray, and forthwith cease, instead of “continuing instant in prayer;” ask, and wait not to receive; call upon God under the pressure of trouble, and neglect to do so when it has passed away. Such impatience in seeking to “understand what the will of the Lord is”
I. ARISES FROM UNDUE CONCERN ABOUT SECONDARY MATTERS.
1. The need of human effort, as if nothing else were necessary to success (Psa 23:1-6 :16, 17; Psa 127:1, Psa 127:2).
2. The gain of earthly honour or other advantages. Saul was eager to obtain, beyond everything else, the glory of a victory over his enemies.
3. The loss of a favorable opportunity. But “there is no time lost while we are waiting God’s time. It is as acceptable a piece of submission to the will of God to sit still contentedly when our Lord requires it as to work for him when we are called to do it” (M. Henry).
II. PROVES SINFUL INDIFFERENCE TO THE HIGHEST OBJECT.
1. Inappreciation of its worth. Men often imagine that their own wisdom and strength are sufficient, and that it can be done without.
2. Indisposition to bow to its authority. They love to have their own way.
3. Incredulity as to its communication at the right time and in the right manner. They disbelieve the promises as well as reject the conditions of obtaining them.
III. EXHIBITS RECKLESS DISREGARD OF THE LORD HIMSELF. By
1. Seeking him in an insincere, inconsistent, and hypocritical manner, which the cessation of prayer plainly shows (Job 27:10).
2. Preferring personal and immediate convenience to his honor, and desiring his help only in so far as it may be conducive to self-interest.
3. Disobedience to his will; for to act without the knowledge of that will when it may be obtained is a manifest act of disobedience (Isa 30:1).
IV. INVOLVES DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES.
1. Destitution of the highest counsel and aid.
2. Unpreparedness for duty and conflict.
3. A course of recklessness, sin, trouble, and humiliation (1Sa 14:24, 1Sa 14:37, 1Sa 14:39, 1Sa 14:44, 1Sa 14:45). “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually” (Hos 12:6). “I will hear what God the Lord will speak,” etc. (Psa 85:8).D.
1Sa 14:24-46. (MICHMASH, AJALON.)
Rashness.
“Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening,” etc. (1Sa 14:24). Rashness is often a cause of trouble; and some persons might profitably ponder the advice once given by the town clerk of Ephesus, “Do nothing rashly” (Act 19:36). It is also, sometimes, very sinful, as it was in Saul. Whilst pursuing the Philistines, and wishing to exterminate them, he imposed a solemn oath upon the people not to take food until the evening under penalty of death. This rash oath was followed by two others of a similar nature (1Sa 14:39, 1Sa 14:44), all indicating the recklessness and wilfulness of his course. His concern for the law (1Sa 14:33, 1Sa 14:34), his erection of an altar (1Sa 14:35), his asking counsel of God before going to spoil the enemy by night (1Sa 14:37), his eagerness to ascertain by lot the cause of the silence of the oracle (1Sa 14:41), were not an exhibition of genuine piety; they were rather a substitute for it, and the fruits of an unsanctified, blind, and passionate zeal; and the death of the noble Jonathan, if it had taken place, would have completed his folly and sin. Consider his rashness as
I. REVEALING A WRONG STATE OF MIND.
1. Inconsideration. His oath was uttered without deliberation (Ecc 5:2). He did not consider whether it was according’ to the will of God, nor what its consequences might be. He did not afterwards reflect how far the transgressions of others and the silence of Heaven might be due to his own fault, and he did not apparently recognise his fault when plainly set before him.
2. Insincerity. “It did not proceed from a proper attitude toward God, but was an act of false zeal in which he had more regard to himself and his own kingly power than to the cause of the kingdom of Jehovah” (Keil).
3. Vainglory. “That I may be avenged on mine enemies.” “In this prohibition there was a secret pride and misuse of power, for he desired to force, as it were a complete victory, and then appropriate the glory of it to himself.”
II. IMPOSING A NEEDLESS BURDEN upon others. Once and again it is said “the people were faint” (1Sa 14:28, 1Sa 14:31). They were exhausted with severe and prolonged exertion, famished with hunger, and unable to continue the pursuit. Their suffering was great, their power diminished, their temptation strong. But Saul had thought only of himself. Rulers should seek the welfare of their subjects rather than their own glory; and all men should consider the effect of their resolutions, promises, and commands on other people, and use their influence over them for their good.
III. OCCASIONING GRIEVOUS SIN in them (1Sa 14:32-35). They avoided one offence only to commit another with a rashness equal to that of Saul himself (Gen 9:4; Deu 12:16; Le Deu 3:17; Deu 7:1-26 :27). He censured and checked them. Would that he had also censured and checked himself! But men who severely condemn the faults of others are often blind to their own, even when the former reflect and are occasioned by the latter (Psa 19:12, Psa 19:13). The altar, erected doubtless with a view to the presentation upon it of thank offerings for the victory, was still more needed for the sin offerings (expiatory) which ought to have been offered on behalf both of ruler and people (Le 1Sa 4:13, 1Sa 4:22).
IV. IMPERILLING INNOCENT LIFE. Not having heard the oath, Jonathan, in unconsciously violating it (1Sa 14:27), was morally blameless. Yet his act could not be passed by with due regard to the great name in which the people had been adjured. It interrupted Divine communications (1Sa 14:37), and resulted in his being chosen by the lot (1Sa 14:42). Again Saul should have been led to consider his own error as its cause, and a trespass or guilt offering might have sufficed (Le 1Sa 5:4). To inflict the “curse” would be wholly unjust, as is implied in Jonathan’s simple, mild, and submissive remonstrance (1Sa 14:43). But Saul’s last oath was more reckless than his first; it was ignorant and wilful, showed more concern about the literal fulfilment of his word than humble and faithful obedience to a higher will, and brought him to the brink of a great crime.
“Take then no vow at random: ta’en in faith
Preserve it; yet not bent, as Jephthah once,
Blindly to execute a rash resolve,
Whom better it had suited to exclaim,
‘I have done ill,’ than to redeem his pledge
By doing worse” (Dante, ‘Par.’ 5.).
V. BRINGING DEEP HUMILIATION (1Sa 14:45). The ominous silence of the people (1Sa 14:39) is followed by their unanimous and resolute voice, in which reason and justice, conscience and God, speak with irresistible might. They set their will in opposition to his, and he is compelled to submit. His purpose is frustrated. “The son is raised above the father, and the people above the king.” But although his sin is now forced home upon him, of voluntary submission there is no sign. Rashness and self-will are sure to meet with a check, and happy is he who lays to heart the lesson which it teaches.
VI. DEFEATING ITS OWN AIMS. (1Sa 14:46). “My father hath brought disaster on the land,” etc. (1Sa 14:29, 1Sa 14:30; Jos 7:25). The completeness of the overthrow of the enemy is marred. The opportunity of inflicting a fatal blow upon them is lost. “And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul” (1Sa 14:52). That which begins in rashness ends in disappointment and grief.D.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
For Lange’s chapter 14 passage quote and footnotes, see 1Sa 13:1 ff.
4. 1Sa 14:1-15. Jonathans bold attack on the Philistines.
1Sa 14:1. On a day (), on the definite day on which the following occurred. The words: And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer: Let us go over to the Philistines garrison, are repeated in 1Sa 14:6 for the continuation of the narrative which they introduce. What lies between [1Sa 14:2-5] is a statement of the existing special circumstances and local relations. This detailed narration shows that it is taken from the account of an eye-witness. The garrison of the Philistines is the advanced post mentioned in 1Sa 13:23. On the other side.1
The interjacent statements introduce us into the details of the whole situation: 1) Jonathan says nothing to his father of his purpose, because he would have forbidden it as too dangerous; the undertaking is set on foot secretly, in the hope of surprising the enemy in sleep or unprepared. 2) Saul (1Sa 14:2) is encamped at the extremity of Gibeah. This is mentioned to show that Jonathan could unknown to him make such a blow. Gibeah (1Sa 14:16) is the city Gibeah in Benjamin, whither also Samuel had gone from Gilgal (1Sa 13:15) back of Geba towards the south, yet with its extremity (1Sa 14:16) not so far from the pass of the southward-trending Wady, that the movements in the ranks of the Philistines opposite could not be thence observed. Under the pomegranate-tree which is in Migron. By rimmon we must here understand not the name of a place, but, on account of the Art., the well-known pomegranate. According to Jdg 20:45 a rock near Gibeah bore the name Rock of the pomegranate [Rimmon]; and was well adapted for a fortified position. It is a natural supposition that the same place is meant here, named after the well-known pomegranate. Luther here renders Migron incorrectly suburb. Linguistically it can only signify a place, which, however, from the local relations cannot be the Migron of Isa 10:28, north of Michmash, whose name seems to be found in the ruins of Magrun, eight minutes from Beitin. Rob. II. 340 [see Am. ed. I., 463, Stanleys Sin. and Pal. 202]. Rather this place lay south of the pass of Michmash on the northern extremity of Gibeah-Benjamin (Saul), and was marked by the well-known pomegranate. From the context it appears that Gibeah-Benjamin2 extended far along on the heights which stretched out (south of Geba) north-east towards the pass of Michmash, and ended in a rock on which the pomegranate stood, and on whose declivity lay the place Migron. The word means perhaps precipice (Then.) which is linguistically better than threshing-floor (Rosenm. Alterth. II., 2, 171). That two contiguous places should bear this name is, on account of the nature of the ground, as little surprising (Winer) as the frequent occurrence of the names Ramah and Gibeah (Geba).3) Sauls following consisted of about six hundred men and Ahiah the high-priest. We must render: And Ahiahbare the ephod.3 The words priest of Jehovah in Shiloh belong not to Ahiah (Sept., Luth.), but to Eli. Wearing the ephod was a sign of the high-priestly office. Probably Ahiah was with Saul at Gilgal, and ministered in the offering there made by him. The name Ahiah [Jehovah is brother or brother of Jehovah] is identical with Ahimelech [brother of the king] under which this great-grandson of Eli, the sole survivor, (1Sa 2:33) of the house of Eli, appears (1Sa 21:2; 1Sa 22:9; 1Sa 22:11; 1Sa 22:20; 1Sa 30:7, e. a.). As to whether of the two names was the original, Ewald remarks that they may have been used without much distinction (since melech king might refer to God) as in Elimelech (in Ruth) and Elijah (Gesch. II. 585, Rem. 3).The people with Saul also knew nothing of Jonathans purpose. This statement connects itself naturally with the remark on Sauls following.4) Exact description of the ground which Jonathan had to traverse in his bold secret enterprise, 1Sa 14:4-5. According to Robinsons remarks the plural passes is to be explained of the several passages which were made possible by the side-valleys. It is not probable that the plural refers to a long passage over the mountain (Then.). Further the word between is intelligible only on the supposition of several passes. Between these passes lay opposite one another two rocky crags or projections, formed by the side-wadys opening right and left into the deep, precipitous Wady es-Suweinit. Robinson went from Jeba (Geba) through that Wady across to Michmash. In this passage (from south to north) he had on the left two hills with steep rocky sides. Behind each, says he, runs up a smaller Wady, so as almost to isolate them. One is on the side towards Jeba and the other towards Mukhmas (II. 329 [Am. ed. I. 441]). To this observation of Robinson answers exactly the description in 1Sa 14:5, according to which the one rock-ledge, Bozez, was a column4 on the north, the other Seneh, on the south, opposite Geba.
1Sa 14:6. Continuation of the narrative, with resumption of Jonathans words to his armor-bearer [1Sa 14:1], but with the difference that the Philistines are here not called by their own name, but uncircumcised. This expression marks the difference between them and Israel as covenant-people, which forms the basis for the following utterance of Jonathan. Ewalds characterization of Jonathans feeling as a mixture of youthful impatience and lofty courage (III. 48) does not fully explain the inner side of this deed. Its natural basis is youthful heroic spirit and impetuous desire of achievement; but it receives high ethical value and significance from its religious root in Jonathans God-fearing and God-trusting heart, whose feeling is expressed in the word: Perhaps Jehovah will work for us, for there is no restraint to Jehovah to save by many or by few.Over against the uncircumcised Jonathan is clearly conscious: 1) that his people is the chosen one, belonging to the Lord, with whom the Lord has made a covenant, and 2) that the Lord cannot deny His almighty help to this people as their covenant-God. This word of Jonathan expresses the genuine theocratic disposition of the liveliest consciousness of God and the firmest trust in God, whence alone could come a true deliverance of the people from their oppressive burden. The perhaps indicates not a doubt, but the humility which was coupled with Jonathans heroic spirit; he is far from tempting God. The humble and modest hope which is expressed in the word: perhaps the Lord will work for us is straightway grounded on the truth: there is no restraint to the Lord, that is, he is at liberty to save by many or by few; that is, the Lords help is not dependent on the extent or the degree of the means by which it is realized; his helping power is not conditioned, but absolute. The same thought in Psa 147:10-11; 2Ch 14:11; 1Ma 3:18-19.
1Sa 14:7. The answer of the armor-bearer contains: 1) encouragement to carry out his design, and 2) assurance that he will act with him and stand by him according to his will. Render: do all whereto thy heart inclines.5
1Sa 14:8. Jonathan explains that, in carrying out his purpose, he proposes that they first show themselves to the Philistines.In verses 9, 10, we are told how he would therein find a divine sign whether the Lord would grant unto them success in their design. He supposes two cases. If the Philistines at his hail should say: keep still ! till we come to you, they will not go up to them; for that would be a sign of courage and preparedness. But if they should say: come up to us, they will go up; for that would be a sign of carelessness and slackness. This he would regard as a divine sign that God had given the Philistines into his hands. The divine sign, which Jonathan proposed to find, was a fact which guaranteed the success of the enterprise on its natural-human side also.
1Sa 14:11. When Jonathan and his esquire showed themselves, the latter of the two cases occurred. The outposts of the Philistines cry scornfully: Hebrews are coming forth out of their holes, and call out to them: Come up to us, and we will tell you something. An expression taken directly from the life of the people, containing an apparently bold challenge, yet (as we may see) not meant in earnest, and concealing cowardice or careless security and neglect. Cleric.: They hoped to have sport with them, not supposing that they could there climb the rock. Jonathan is now sure that God has given them into his hands.6
1Sa 14:13. Lively description of the execution by Jonathan and his armor-bearer of their bold undertaking and the brilliant result. On his hands and feet Jonathan climbed up the rock, and the armor-bearer after him. The text-reading: and they fell before Jonathan and his armor-bearer, etc., gives a very good sense, as Then. expressly admits. We need not, then, after the Sept. read: and they turned before Jonathan and he smote them, where Sept. incorrectly read for . How (as Ewald asserts) the connection favors the reading of the Sept. is not to be seen.The armor-bearer slew completely after him.The Sept. has whence, however, we are not to read . [more fully] instead of the text slaying; the latter is to be retained from the connection, the narrative, from the rapidity of the affair, pressing on to describe how Jonathan, pushing on, strikes down with overwhelming might every one whom he meets, without stopping to kill completely, while the armor-bearer, following him, kills those that were struck down, that they might not rise again. The Heb. word () means killing completely, as in 1Sa 17:51; 2Sa 1:9 sq.A like bold deed in scaling a castle in the Numidian war is told in Sall. Bell. Jugurth., c. 89, 90.[This force of complete killing can hardly be assigned to this Heb. form (Polel, here causative of Qal, of ). It means simply kill, and so in the passages cited by the author, and the statement here seems to be that not only Jonathan, but also his armor-bearer (like the feudal esquire) took part in the combat. The phrase fell before him fairly means fell dead; the words do not warrant the history gotten out of them by Dr. Erdmann. But the Heb. text, though somewhat hard, may be maintained without this. See Text. and Gramm.Tr.]
1Sa 14:14. The result of this first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made: about thirty men were thus killed. In the last words of the verse the overthrow is set forth in terms taken from ploughing: in about a half-furrow of a yoke of land.This indicates the position of the fallen, after Jonathan, pressing impetuously on, had struck them down one after another, and his armor-bearer after him had killed those that were not dead. This occurred in the space of about half a furrow in a piece of land which one could plough with a yoke of oxen in a day.7 In the length of about a half-yoke lay the twenty slain Philistines stretched out in a row. Cleric.: Such apparently was the extent of the point of rock which the Philistines had occupied. Of the translation of the Sept.: about twenty men with darts and slings and stones of the field, Clericus rightly says: They translated conjecturally what they did not understand. To Ewalds rendering as if a yoke of land were in ploughing (so Bunsen, who regards this as an extract from a poet) there are, in the first place, two objections: 1) that the word () means furrow, and not ploughing, and 2) that yoke of land means not the animals, but the land itself. Further objection to this rendering, especially in reference to the completed fact here related [Ewald represents it as an advancing act, while the first half of the verse speaks of it as finished.Tr.], see in Thenius.[The Sept. text may easily be gotten from the Heb., omitting the . . . as repetition (see Then. and Wellhausen), and gives a better sense. Bib. Com.: There is nothing remarkable in twenty men being killed in half an acre of land; and moreover the Heb. sentence is extremely obscure, without any apparent reason for its being so. A measure of time would not be out of place, if the words could mean in about half the time that a yoke of oxen draw a furrow in the field. Others, less well, understand here a space enclosed by a furrow. Philippson remarks that the ancients were accustomed to measure land by the ploughing of oxen; but the difficulty here is not in the way of stating the land-measure, but in understanding why it is stated. Kitto (Daily Bib. Ill.) gives a good narrative of the exploit of Jonathan. The text must be regarded as unsettled.Tr.]
1Sa 14:15. The consequence of this bold deed: panic fear among the Philistines. The success of Jonathans deed and this consequence are to be explained by supposing that the outposts of the Philistines did not think it possible that the two men could get up, and, when they did, feared that a body of Israelites were behind them, since they could not see down the steep declivity. The camp of the field [Heb.: in the camp (or host) in the fieldTr.] is the whole camp of the Philistines; the terror, which had seized all the people of the outposts, now took possession of the principal camp also. The spoilers also, the body of plunderers, trembled. There are many examples in military history of the contagious power of such fright, extending from a few widely out. And the earth quaked is not to be understood of an earthquake, but of the trembling of the ground under the fearful uproar of the Philistines.And became a terror of God. The phrase and became refers to the before-described disaster of the Philistines, all this grew into a terror of God, that is, the Philistines recognized herein a mighty help of the God of Israel, by which they had been thrown into this terror. [The natural rendering is the earth quaked and became a terror of God, that is, the trembling earth became the sign of the wrathful intervention of God (comp. Vulg.); a miraculous earthquake seems to be here described. Others regard the divine name as a superlative addition, and render a great (a panic) terror (Gesen., al.) like cedars of God Psa 80:11, but this is not probable in this prose narrative.Tr.]
5. 1Sa 14:16-23. General flight and overthrow of the Philistines in consequence of Jonathans exploit.
1Sa 14:16. Gibeah of Benjamin is not the present Jeba (Then.), which rather answers to Geba. Though the former was farther from the Philistine camp, we need not be surprised that Sauls watchmen could see thither, since from their elevated position they could with sharp eyes see what was going on at that distance (nearly five Eng. miles), or, if not, could go nearer.And behold, the multitude or the tumultthough may here mean multitude (Gesen. s. v.), it is better to render tumult, since the narrator has in his eye the crowd thrown into confusion by Jonathans attack. This consideration sets aside one of Thenius reasons for here also following the free translation of the Sept.;dispersed hither and thither. It is better to supply hither ( before ), which might easily have fallen out from homophony; or (with the Rabb. and Ges.) read the Inf. Abs. and render were more and more broken up. [For another view see Text. and Grammat.Tr.] 1Sa 14:17. Saul could explain the affair only as an Israelitish attack. The numbering ordered by him showed that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing.
1Sa 14:18. Bring hither the ark of God. A change of text (Keil) after the Sept. so as to read: Bring the ephod, for he wore the ephod at that time before Israel, on the ground that the ark had been placed in Kirjath-jearim, and was not used in asking questions of God, is suspicious, because the ark, which was thought to be connected with Gods presence, was often taken along to war. Comp. 1Sa 4:4-5; 2Sa 11:11; 2Sa 15:24-25. Why could they not, in accordance with this established custom, have taken it from its usual place in decisive battles, and afterwards carried it back? But it is not said that Saul wished to inquire of God at the ark. He wished first to advance with it against the enemy. But, when he saw that the tumult increased in their camp, and that they were already as good as beaten, he desisted.8 [If Saul had not wished to inquire of God by the ark, he would not have said bring hither, (but carry forward), nor withdraw thy hand. It seems better, therefore, to read ephod, whether we adopt the whole reading of the Sept. or not.Tr.]
1Sa 14:19. And the tumult. and it increased more and more is a broken construction, the subject being first put absolutely, and the predicate-sentence put as relative-sentence. Withdraw thy hand; that is, from bringing the ark = desist. Instead (1Sa 14:20) of were assembled, called together (Niph.), read with Sept. (Alex.), Vulg., Syr., Arab., shouted (Qal), for there was no need of an assembly, as they were already there (Then.), and besides, what is the meaning of and Saul was called together and all the people, since Saul was the assembler? Translate: And Saul and all the people shouted (raised the war-cry) and advanced to the battle. From this war-cry of the advancing host under Saul that which follows is easily explained. In consequence of the terror thereby produced, the confusion in the Philistine army was very great. That every mans sword was against his fellow in such confusion (comp. Jdg 7:22; 2Ch 20:22-23) is explained by what is related in 1Sa 14:21-22. There were Hebrews in the host of the Philistines. By this name, the usual one among foreign nations, the Philistines called the Israelites in their midst. The Art. (the Hebrews) refers to the exacter definition in the relative sentence. And the Hebrews were with the Philistines, as formerly, who had gone up with them to the camp. [It is better to insert who () after Hebrews, as in Eng. A. V.Tr.]. Bunsen supposes that these were prisoners, who had hitherto been compelled to fight against their countrymen. Or, they may have been levies from the part of the land which the Philistines held. To render divided out roundabout among the Philistines gives no good sense; the idea of roundabout is inappropriate to the whole situation. It is therefore better to read,9 with Sept., Vulg., Chald., Syr., Thenius, Buns., turned. The otherwise insuperable difficulty in the Infin. thus vanishes, and we render: these also turned to be with Israel; that is, went over to Israel. This, of course, they could not do without turning their arms against their oppressors. In addition to these (1Sa 14:22) came all the Israelites who had been in hiding on the mountains of Ephraim; when they heard of the flight of the Philistines, they too joined in the pursuit.
1Sa 14:23 1) affirms that this fortunate achievement was due to the help of the Lord, and 2) states the direction which the battle took. The battle passed over to Bethaven. Between this statement that the fight moved northeast10 from Michmash to Bethaven, and that in 1Sa 14:31, that the Philistines were smitten that day from Michmash to Ajalon [west], an insoluble contradiction has been discovered, and it has been proposed to read Bethhoron (which lay west of Michmash) instead of Bethaven. But such a contradiction cannot be admitted, because the movements in such a battle are so fluctuating. Here in 1Sa 14:23 we have an account of the battle which continued, and passed, not far from Michmash indeed, over to Bethaven in a northeasterly direction; in 1Sa 14:31 is an account of the completed battle, and the final result is given, which is naturally this, that the Philistines, drawn by the Israelites from their native land towards Bethaven, fled, the greater part of them at least, westward, and were beaten as far as Ajalon. Bunsen: In general the flight of the Philistines was naturally westward (1Sa 14:31), yet no exception can on that account be taken to our passage.
6. 1Sa 14:24-31. Sauls rash order. Between 1Sa 14:23 and 1Sa 14:24 the Sept. has: And the whole people was with Saul about ten thousand men, and the battle spread in the whole city in the mountains of Ephraim. And Saul committed a great error (that day and adjured). This is an explanatory addition to the original text with whose curtness it does not harmonize. It is not in itself improbable that the original six hundred men should grow to this large body in the course of the battle, and that the fight should extend over the mountains of Ephraim is to be expected from the dispersed condition of the Philistines, and is even indicated in the end of 1Sa 14:23. The phrase in the whole city has arisen from a misreading of the following word wood ().The Masoretic text is short, sharp, and to the point, corresponding to Sauls position and conduct as here described.And the men of Israel were distressed that day. In 1Sa 13:6 the same word () is used to express the oppressed condition of the Israelites. Here it is Saul that presses and drives the people in the pursuit of the Philistines. The word means harassed, wearied out, and Thenius objection that one does not see by whom or by what the Israelites were pressed, explains itself.The wearied condition of the people made Saul fear that the pursuit of the Philistines would thereby be interrupted, and the honor of the day for him diminished. And Saul adjured the people.11He made them swear an oathbound them by an oath. Cursed be the man that eateth food until evening and I be avenged on my enemies.Sauls passionate zeal, spurred on by selfishness, self-will and personal desire for revenge causes him to lose sight of the command of nature, to act cruelly towards his brave warriors, and over and beyond to injure his cause. Blind zeal only hurts. Berlenb. Bible: In this prohibition there was a secret pride and misuse of power, for he desired to force, as it were, a complete victory, and then appropriate the glory of it to himself. The people kept the oath even under the strongest temptation to break it.
1Sa 14:25. And the whole land came into the wood.The land is put for the people, as appears from 1Sa 14:26. Comp. Jer 22:29. The honey which they found in the forest on the ground flowing ( ) was not that honey-like substance which is found on the leaves of certain bushes and taken off them, but real honey from bees who built on trunks of trees or in clefts of rocks, which, as Schultz (Leistungen, V. 133) has seen in the wilderness of Judea, often flows in streams on the ground from the over-full and pressed honey-structure (comp. Deu 32:13; Jdg 14:8; Ps. 81:17).
1Sa 14:26. On account of the oath no one partook of the refreshing food which thus presented itself.
1Sa 14:27. Jonathan, however, had not heard the oath of his father. He dips his staff into the honey and eats, in accordance with the haste of the pursuitthat is, into the honey-comb (Sept.: ; Vulg.: favum, the comb, not the liquid honey), which presented itself; into the comb, not the liquid honey, because only in this way could he get enough with the tip of his staff. Instead of saw (Kethib) read were enlightened (Qeri); see a similar transposition in Heb. in 2Sa 24:20, comp. 2Sa 5:16. The word describes the bodily and mental refreshment, the reviving of soul, which shows itself straightway in the eyes.
1Sa 14:28. The last words: And the people are faint are spoken by the man who tells Jonathan of the oath of his father, and at the same time stand in contrast with the refreshment which Jonathan had indulged himself in.
1Sa 14:29 sq. Jonathans disapproval of his fathers conduct by pointing to the injury he has thus done the land and people: My father has troubled (, perturbare), brought disaster on the land (Gen 34:30; Jos 6:18; Judg. 4:35). The disaster is this: that the people, wearied with the battle, had lost all strength by the lack of nourishing food ( ). The defeat of the Philistines was thus less complete than it would otherwise have been (1Sa 14:29).12 Maurer renders as independent sentence: for now the slaughter of the Philistines is not very great.
1Sa 14:31. See on 1Sa 14:23. Ajalon, the present village Ylo, in the southeast end of a valley extending westward from Bethhoron. Rob. Later Bib. Res. 188 [Am. ed. III. 145and II. 253, 254; 14 miles out of Jerusalem, Smiths B. D.Tr.] The mention of the great weariness and exhaustion of the people concludes the account of Sauls rash conduct, and leads to the statement of its consequences.
7. 1Sa 14:32-46. The consequences of Sauls overhaste, and the end of the battle.
1Sa 14:32.13 And the people flew upon the preythat is, as soon as it was evening, comp. 1Sa 14:24. The same expression in 1Sa 15:19. The people slew the animals to the earth, down to the ground, and then ate upon (or, over) the blood, blood being on the bodies because they were on the ground, and so with the blood. On the preposition () see Exo 12:8 [Eng. A. V.: with], where also it introduces the basis or accompaniments of the food. The people transgressed the command in Lev 19:26 : Ye shall not eat on blood [Eng. A. V.: with], that is, no flesh under which or on which there is blood. This is an extension of the prohibition of eating blood in Lev 3:17; Lev 17:10-11, which is based on the fact that the blood is conceived of as the seat and bearer of the life.
1Sa 14:33. The peoples eating is characterized as a sinning against the Lord.14 Saul calls this conduct faithlessness, because the law of the covenant was transgressed. For now the Sept. has (unnecessarily) hither. [The , to-day, this day, is here not well rendered by now, which would be ; the Sept. reading is better.Tr.]
1Sa 14:34. Saul directs his informants to disperse themselves among the people, and announce that every one should bring his beast to him, and slay here on the great stone, that there might be no sinful eating.15 Sauls command, which speaks for his careful observance of the Law, was carried out by the people. As every where before, so here the people display unconditional obedience to Saul. Only by slaughtering on the stone was it possible to separate the blood from the flesh. When the slaughtering occurred, the night had already set in. The Sept. reading: what was in his hand instead of his ox in his hand [Eng. A. V.: with him] is unnecessary.
1Sa 14:35. Saul built the altar to the Lord as thanksgiving for this victory over the Philistines. The same he began to buildthat is, he built this as the first, comp. Gesen. 142, A. 1. [Bib. Comm.: began to build, but did not finish, as 1Ch 27:24. So Abarbanel; but, according to the Midrash, Saul began among the kings the building of altars (Philippson). Wordsworth: It seems to be implied that this was the first time he had made acknowledgment to God for his successes.Tr.] Probably he here used the great stone which he had caused to be brought. He thus established a place for the worship of God in commemoration of this victory.
1Sa 14:36. He is, however, not satisfied with the defeat of the Philistines, but proposes to spoil them that night till the morning. According to Jonathans statement, indeed, the defeat was not total. Saul rushes on in his wild desire of revenge, perhaps incited by the consciousness of having committed a gross folly, and thereby hindered the victoryand this he will now make good. The people are again ready immediately to carry out his desire. The priest, however, desires first to have the decision of the Lord. Hither, that is, to the altar which had been built. [Patrick: because it was dangerous to undertake any thing without Gods advice. Bib. Comm.: because the priest doubted whether Sauls ardor was a righteous one, and bravely stood in its way.Tr.]
1Sa 14:37. The inquiry of the Lord was conducted by the high-priest Ahiah through the Urim and Thummim.16 The Lord shall say whether the Philistines are to be pursued, and whether He has delivered them into Israels hands. There are therefore two questions: whether further pursuit? whether happy result? The failure of a divine answer is for Saul a sign that there is a fault somewhere, on account of which the Lord is silent and does not promise His help.
1Sa 14:38. Chief ( corner, point), the principal men, the heads of the people (Jdg 20:2), probably the elders (Num 11:30). The whole people are called by their representatives, to find out wherein (or whereby) this sin hath been this day. There is no need to read (with Then. after Vulg.: per quemand Sept.: ) on whom () this sin rests, instead of wherein (). Rather the thing than the person was here first to be regarded, since the question was of an offence unatoned for,which, however, indeed, could not be fixed without at the same time discovering the person.
1Sa 14:39. After the first [here=because, for], which gives the ground, follows a second and a third, the former introducing the declaration, the latter resuming it after the parenthesis. The silence of the people is (as appears from 1Sa 14:45) sign of their conviction that Jonathan had done nothing wrong. [Perhaps, also, sign of their regard for Jonathan. It does not seem that Saul was here guilty of profanity (Bib. Comm.), since he may have used the divine name reverently (the expression was very common among the Israelites), but he is guilty (Bib. Comm.) of further rashness.Tr.]
1Sa 14:40. Saul proceeds to decide what was the offence which prevented the divine answer. The means which Saul here employs reminds us of how Samuel (1Sa 10:20-21) by the lot as means of divine decision presented Saul to the people as the king chosen by the Lord. While in the great double question in 1Sa 14:37 Saul had applied to the Lord by Urim and Thummim, and by His silence received also an answer, and that a decisive one, he now, in order to discover the cause of this divine decision, employs the lot, as is clear from the words taken [1Sa 14:41] and cast [1Sa 14:42] (comp. 1Sa 10:20 sq.), which are never used in connection with Urim and Thummim. The people, who had not answered him when he swore a second rash oath in which he recognized the possibility of Jonathans guilt and death, now expressly approved his arrangements, but silently decided for Jonathans innocence and exemption from punishment. Saul (1Sa 14:41) before the casting turns to God with the cry give (or establish) right. , unpunishable, then exemption from punishment, innocence, right, truth. So Jdg 9:16; Jdg 9:19; Jos 24:14. The result of the trial is that Jonathan is taken, 1Sa 14:42.The Vulgate agrees with the Heb. in 1Sa 14:41 only in the beginning and end: and Saul said to the Lord God of Israeland Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people went out. The intermediate words agree in part with the Sept., which in 1Sa 14:41-42, has a long paraphrase. In this Then. and Ew. see a part of the original text, reading [Thummim] for , and finding here the complete formula which was employed in the use of Urim and Thummim. Against which Keil justly remarks, that there is no sign here of the use of Urim and Thummim, since the words in 1Sa 14:41 are provably never used of it, but always of the lot, and it is clear from passages like 1Sa 10:22 and 2Sa 5:23 that Urim and Thummim did not consist merely in answering Yes and No, but God by it gave answers, which could by no means be gotten by the lot. The Sept. reading is, therefore, nothing but a subjective and erroneous opinion of the translators.
1Sa 14:43 sq. Jonathan thinks death unavoidable: Lo, I must die.Saul confirms this with an oath: God do so and more also, comp. 1Sa 3:17. Both hold the erroneous opinion that a sinful promise or oath must be kept. That the lot fell on Jonathan meant only, as a divine disposition, that the person was discovered on whom, according to Sauls opinion, rested the fault, by reason of which Gods answer to his question was silence. Against both rises the peoples voice as the voice of God. The question [1Sa 14:45] Shall Jonathan die? and the answer: Far be it, express the sorrowful astonishment and the energetic protest of the people who were inspired by Jonathans heroic deed and its brilliant result. But the decisive fact for the people was the firm conviction that God was with him and carried out through him this deed of deliverance. Over against Sauls oath the people set their own: As the Lord liveth, there shall not a hair of his head fall to the ground. To the second wrought (1Sa 14:45) supply the object of the first: this great salvation. And the people rescued him, not, as Ewald says, by putting another to die in his stead, but solely by their energetic protest, in the face of which Saul is obliged to let his oath go unfulfilled. For a similar intervention of the people see Liv. 8:35.[Patrick: They did not rescue him by force and violence, but by their petition to Saul and the reason they gave for it. Josephus saith that by their prayers and vows to God they delivered him. They were too forward indeed to swear directly against Sauls oath; but of the two, his being the most rash, God was pleased to annul it, and absolve him from it.Wordworth: Observe the humiliation to which Saul is reduced by his disobedience.Kitto: The enlightened consciences and generous enthusiasm of the people.Tr.]
1Sa 14:46. The closing statement. Saul desisted from further pursuit of the Philistines, with whose overthrow as far as it could be effected under the harmful consequences of his blind zeal, he had to be contented. The Philistines went back to their own land. In spite of this serious defeat their strength was not broken (comp. 1Sa 14:52). The fact that Saul desisted from pursuit shows that he understood the Lords silence as a denial, and was obliged to recognize as the cause of it not Jonathans conduct, but his own arbitrary and rash procedure.
II. Summary account of Sauls wars and family-relations. 1Sa 14:47-52
1Sa 14:47-48. And Saul had taken the kingdom, then he fought, or: When Saul had taken the kingdom, he fought. The words do not stand in pragmatical connection with the preceding narrative of the battle against the Philistines, as if the intention was to state that thus (by this victory) Saul gained royal authority (Then., Keil). His accession to the throne is mentioned merely as starting-point for the historical-statistical statement of the various wars which he carried on from the beginning of his government. The already-related war against the Ammonites is here again mentioned, and of the war against the Philistines it is said, in accordance with the design of this interposed section, at the end (1Sa 14:52), that it extended throughout his whole reign. His whole government was a warlike one. Wars are here mentioned, of which nothing is elsewhere said. What is said of his wars before and after this is determined by the theocratic point of view, and is designed to show how Saul, in fulfilling his royal calling (essentially a warlike one), came into principial17 conflict with the theocratic task and significance of the kingdom, and therefore incurred of necessity the judgment of God. The wars, which he had to carry on with his enemies roundabout, are the following: against the Moabites and Ammonites in the East, against the Edomites in the South, against the kings of Zobah in the Northeast (Zobah, a district of Syria, lay probably north-east of Damascus, between the Euphrates and the Orontes, see 2Sa 8:3 [perhaps included the eastern flank of the mountain-chain which shuts in Cle-Syria on that side, the high land about Aleppo, and the more northern portion of the Syrian desert (Geo. Rawlinson in Smith B. D.).Tr.]), and against the Philistines in the West. Thus the roundabout is pictured to us. The word [Eng. A. V. vexed18] indicates the point of view from which these wars are to be regarded as victories: he declared guilty (Keil: by deeds), the Hiph. [causative] of the verb being often used of judges (Exo 22:8; Deu 25:1; Job 32:3), he inflicted punishment, or executed judgment against these nations, because they warred against Gods people and thus opposed the Lords designs with respect to Israel. They were national wars, which Saul carried on for the honor of the Lord and of His people.Sauls development of power against the Amalekites is made specially prominent; he gathered strength [ , Eng. A. V. incorrectly: gathered a host]. This war against the robbing, plundering hereditary enemy, the Amalekites, is in the next chapter described from the theocratical point of view (Then.).
1Sa 14:49-51. Sauls household and family. Three sons are mentioned: Jonathan, Ishwi and Malchishua. Instead of Ishwi in 1Sa 31:2; 1Ch 8:33; 1Ch 9:39, is Abinadab. In the last two passages a fourth is named, Eshbaal,19 who is certainly the same with Ishbosheth, 2Sa 2:8. The daughters: Merab and Michal.Sauls wife: Ahinoam, a daughter of Ahimaaz.[Bib. Comm.: It is not improbable that Ahimaaz may have been of the priestly family (Ahimaaz was son of Zadok, 2Sa 15:36), and perhaps it may have been owing to such a connection that Ahijah was brought into prominence by Saul. If there is any truth in the above supposition, it would be an indication that Saul was not married till after his election to the throne. But to this last there are serious objections, especially the age of Jonathan, and the whole is a mere conjecture.Tr.]Sauls captain of the host, general-in-chief, Abiner, abbreviated (1Sa 14:51) Abner, his cousin; in the next verse this relationship is stated more fully: Kish, Sauls father, and Neri, Abners father, were sons of Abiel.20
1Sa 14:52 connects itself as to subject-matter with 1Sa 14:46, in order, after the general view of Sauls wars, to show that he had to carry on a hard struggle with one of these peoples, the Philistines, all his life, and so give the ground for the necessity that Saul was under, of forming and maintaining a central body of markedly valiant men about him. This finishes the historical-statistical sketch of Saul as a warrior-prince, to which belongs also from this point of view the mention of his three sons, who fell in battle with him (1Sa 31:2), and of Abner, his general. The national-historical significance of Saul as a king whose mission was essentially that of a warrior is thereby definitely characterized. At the same time the description of Saul as theocratic king is here ended. In what follows is shown how the Lord transferred the theocratic mission from him to another man. Ewald: According to the prophetical perception of the Work, Saul ceases with chap. 14. to be the true king, and therefore the history of his reign is here concluded with the necessary general remarks about him.We cannot (with Then.) hold that the remark (1Sa 14:52) when Saul saw any strong or valiant man, he took him, is intended to introduce the narrative of Davids coming to Saul after the victory over Goliath (1Sa 18:2), on the ground that here it drags too much after what precedes. It would, if we accepted Thenius view, stand too abruptly and too far from this narrative of David. It rather concludes the foregoing account, and connects itself with the account of the first formation of a standing army by a levy from the people (1Sa 13:2).
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
1. The history of Saul up to this time shows with what splendid gifts he was endowed for the fulfilment of his theocratic royal calling, to free from their enemies, especially the Philistines (1Sa 9:16), the covenant-people, who had been united and raised into a new religious-moral life by Samuel. The following narrative of his victorious wars against the enemies of Gods people proves that he fulfilled his war-mission. A knightly king stood at the head of the people, who formed about him a school of heroes and drew to him a vigorous army, and a knightly spirit pervaded the whole people. But Saul led the way in warlike spirit no less than in all virtues of self-denial and self-discipline,he was a warrior-hero, who maintained on the throne the moderation of his former life. (Schlier., 25 [Knig Saul, 9]).
2. Yet there shows itself in the development of Sauls inner life (13, 14) a principle, which is directly in conflict with the theocratic principle of the Israelitish kingdom: that of human self-will, which does not subject itself in humility and unconditional believing obedience to the divine will, and fails to establish the absolute supremacy of the latter among the people of God. At the beginning of the fulfilment of his warrior-calling against the Philistines Saul was put to the proof, whether in his royal office he would master his own will and yield unconditional obedience to the word and will of God as true king of His people. This test Saul did not stand, when he was required to follow the divine directions as given him by Samuels mouth, which should have been for him Gods mouth. As bearer of the theocratic-royal office bestowed on him, he set himself in conflict with the theocratic-prophetic watch-office, which Samuel held that he might be the organ of the royal will and command of the covenant-God of Israel. He thus denied the principle of the unconditional sovereignty of God, which was to be set forth and unfolded in his kingdom. It was therefore certain that Gods holiness and justice could not permit his kingdom to be permanent (1Sa 13:13-14).
3. The first test of faith, which Saul had to submit to, was a theocratic necessity; for Saul must first prove to the Lord by deeds that he wished to be unconditionally subject to the Lords will, to yield obedience (putting down all self-will) to His word which was to be revealed to him by prophets, and to trust alone to His help. Such tests as Saul had to stand, are, in the life of princes and peoples, as of individuals, in the church as in every member of Gods people, of divine significance; failure to stand them leads away from the Lord, brings to naught the Lords purposes, results in misfortune and destruction. The individual elements of Sauls probation, the typical significance of which elements for all times and circumstances of the kingdom of God is obvious, are found partly in his outward position, partly in his inner life. The external position of Saul, as to time and place, was one of extreme distress. In consequence of Jonathans successful coup de main, the Philistines were advancing with a powerful army. The people of Israel, whom he had summoned after Jonathans heroic exploit (1Sa 13:3) to battle against the Philistines, became disheartened and despondent, and dispersed themselves; even the permanent band, which he had gathered around him, lost courage and began to disband. The seventh day had come, and Samuel, who had bidden him wait till he came to Gilgal to sacrifice for the people and announce Gods will, had not yet made his appearance. This distressing and dangerous position (as he himself 1Sa 13:11-12 intimates) gave occasion in his heart to the temptation to act contrary to Gods will and command. In the first place fear of the threatening dangers seized on his heart; to fear joined itself impatience, which prevented him from waiting out the time appointed by Samuel; alongside of the impatience was doubt of the trustworthiness of the divine promise given him through Samuel; this produced unquiet in his mind, which drove him to take self-willed measures to help himself, and dissipated more and more his trust in God; then came sophistical calculation by his carnally obscured understanding; his heart-frame towards God of immovable trust and unconditional obedience was given up. It was the root of unbelief from which all this sprang.The consequences of this unstood trial of faith show themselves straightway in two directions: 1) for Sauls inner life: over against Samuel, or, what is the same thing, over against the holy and just God (who had addressed Himself to his conscience through Samuels question what hast thou done?) he does not follow the exhortation of his conscience, sorrowfully and penitently to confess his guilt, but, on the one hand, he seeks to excuse and justify himself by pointing to the certainly threatening dangers, as if he had done nothing but his duty, carrying his defence to the extent of an untrue reproach of Samuel (thou camest not at the set time), and, on the other hand, he declares his conduct to be thoroughly pious and God-fearing, affirming that he desired simply before the battle began to seek in sacrifice the Lords face, while in fact this sacrifice against Samuels express command had its deepest root in the unbelief of his heart, wherein he turned from God to his own flesh and blood, and showed himself openly disobedient to the will of God. The self-justification of the impenitent heart leads to unclearness and untruthfulness, since lies and truth are mixed together; self-justification before the Lord is inseparable from self-deceit and hypocrisy. Here begins the unsteadiness and passionate character of Sauls inner life, as we see it afterwards (chap. 14) time and again, in all the external success of his arms, in all the prosperity of his warlike enterprises. 2) In respect to his theocratic royal calling followed the divine judgment: Thy kingdom shall not stand, for thou hast not kept the command of the Lord. The house of Saul, which otherwise would have held the theocratic kingdom permanently, is here declared to have lost it, because Saul had not fulfilled the fundamental condition of unconditional obedience of faith. The judicial sentence is more fully expressed after the second trial (chap. 15). There the divine judgment proceeds further to reject his person in consequence of continued disobedience; here we have first the rejection of his house, so far as, beginning from him, it might have become the permanent possessor of the theocratic royalty. The divine judgment, which is completed by this word of Samuel, was a righteous one, for in this way Saul strove, so far as in him lay, to change the Israelitish theocracy (in which God would be King of Israel and by His servants, the prophets, rule in affairs of state and war) into such a kingdom as the heathen had, whose kings did everything according to their own pleasure. Saul strove after unrestrained freedom and authority, but thus became a slave to desire, driven by an evil spirit, and ripe for speedy destruction (Roos, Einl. in d. bibl. Gesch. [Introd. to Bib. Hist.], 2, 271).
4. Jonathans second bold deed of arms (1Sa 14:1-15) is, in contrast with Sauls failure to stand the trial of faith, an example of victorious heroic faith, which consists in unconditional but humble reliance on the almighty help of the Lord (perhaps the Lord will, etc., 1Sa 14:6), does not, in this confident reliance, fearfully weigh and reckon the much or little of human means of accomplishment (there is no restraint to the Lord, etc., 1Sa 14:6), but yet wisely and prudently observes the signs given by the Lord, governs its conduct by them, and then in Gods power performs great things (there came a fright of God, 1Sa 14:15).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1Sa 14:1-15. The test to which faith is put: 1) When the need rises higher and higher, and threatens destruction. 2) When the divine help comes not at the expected hour. 3) When human support wholly fails. 4) When ones own heart doubts and is afraid.
1Sa 14:8-15. Doubt of the heart tempted by unbelief as to the Lords power and help: 1) Its root in the yet unconquered self (self-love, self-will, self-conceit). 2) Its manifestation in disobedience to the will of the Lord. 3) Its fruit the loss of the blessings of divine grace.
The question of conscience: What hast thou done? 1) What it signifies in the sight of the Lord (1Sa 14:8-10). 2) With what excuses an evil conscience answers it (1Sa 14:11-12). 3) What judicial answer the word of God gives to it (1Sa 14:13-14).
The steps in the fall from faith into unbelief: 1) Unrest through doubt and fear. 2) Sin in impatience and disobedience. 3) Excuses that have no ground. 4) Accusation by Gods Spirit. 5) Sentence by Gods word.[It is questionable whether we should regard Saul as having had true faith in God.Tr.]
J. Disselhoff: First steps towards the fall of an already approved servant of God: 1) From what hidden corner of the heart has come forth the stumbling-block which made him stumble. 2) What has hindered him, after stumbling, from again walking upright on his feet.[Henry: It is not sinning that ruins men, but sinning and not repenting; falling and not getting up again.Tr.]
[1Sa 13:14. Henry: Was not this hard, to pass so severe a sentence upon him and his house for a single error, and that seemed so small, and in excuse for which he had so much to say? No. (1) The Lord here shows that there is no sin little, because no little God to sin against. (2) He shows that disobedience to an express command, though in a small matter, is a great provocation; as in the case of our first parents. (3) He warns us to take heed of our spirits; for that which to men may seem but a small offence, yet to Him that knows from what principle, and with what disposition of mind it is done, may appear a heinous crime.Tr.]
[1Sa 13:6-7. Mans extremity is Gods opportunity.
1Sa 13:10. A few minutes more, and how great a calamity might have been averted, how great a blessing gained! (Saul could wait no longer, and yet Samuel came when he had just finished the burnt-offering, and had not yet offered the peace-offering, 1Sa 13:9.)
1Sa 13:12. And I forced myself. Reluctant and self-deceived disobedience.
1Sa 13:13. The folly of disobeying God.
1Sa 13:14. Jehovah hath sought him a man after his own heart: 1) A man devout, not merely by fits and starts, but profoundly and habitually. 2) A man not self-willed, who would rule according to the command of God through the prophets. 3) A man who when he had done wrong would penitently submit to Gods chastening, invincibly trust in Gods goodness, and faithfully strive to live more according to Gods will. (In these and similar points, Saul and David might be contrasted.) Maurice: This was the man after Gods own heart, the man who thoroughly believed in God, as a living and righteous Being; who in all changes of fortune clung to that conviction; who could act upon it, live upon it; who could give himself up to God to use him as He pleased; who could be little or great, popular or contemptible, just as God saw fit that he should be. How many of us feel that those who have committed grave outward transgressions may nevertheless have had hearts which answered more to Gods heart, which entered far more into the grief and the joy of His Spirit, than ours ever did! (See the whole Sermon in Prophets and Kings.)Tr.]
1Sa 14:1 sqq. S. Schmid: When God has resolved to accomplish something great and wonderful through a man, He knows how in a wonderful manner so to move his spirit that, without tempting God and with a believing heart, he attempts that which is above his nature and his power.
1Sa 14:6. Berlenb. Bible: There is no restraint to the Lord, etc. These words have such force that nothing can be added to them without abating their force. In so saying Jonathan goes through all apparent great perils with a spirit becoming a soul at once righteous and composed. It is true, O God, that it is no harder for Thee to deliver us by few than by many. Our strength counts for as little before Thee as our weakness.The measure of faith is also the measure of Gods help. Such a soul undertakes everything with heartiness because it does not long consider. It knows that God can do everything, and that is enough for it. The more it doubts, too, its own powers, the more it trusts the power of God.S. Schmid: Two points has a pious man in his performances especially to observe: one is that his faith shall confide in Gods promise; the other, that he shall not doubt Gods almightiness.[Hope, founded on faith: 1) It is certaina matter of faiththat the Lord can save by many or by few. 2) It may bea matter of hopethat He will work for us. (People often say: I have faith that we shall succeed in this enterprise. That is not properly a matter of faith, but only of hope. We believe that God can give success when it is His will; we are persuaded that our enterprise is righteous and would have desirable results; therefore we hope that it may prove to be Gods will to give us success.)Tr.]
1Sa 14:18-19. Starke: That is the way with all hypocrites; when a rainburst of misfortune falls upon them, they are quite devout, pray industriously and seek defence and protection from God; but when the storm is past they run off again, and ask not after God, Luk 17:17.[Wordsworth: Saul is a specimen of that class of persons who show a certain reverence and zeal for the outward forms of religion, and even a superstitious reliance on them, but are not careful to cherish the inner spirit of vital religion.Tr.]
1Sa 14:23. The Scriptures ascribe everything to God. And in order not to ascribe everything to the creature, they do not say: Jonathan delivered Israel, but, God saved Israel. From this we can see that a soul which truly resigns itself to God is in His hand only a poor instrument, which He is wont to use with greater advantage the less it works anything of itself, but merely follows the hand and the will of God.
1Sa 14:24. [Wordsworth: Observe his egotism. He does not call them the enemies of the Lord, but he says: that I may be avenged on mine enemies; and he speaks in this self-confident tone even after that the Lord had just marvellously interfered to save Israel.Tr]Cramer: To make a vow inconsiderately is censurable, and woe to those who deliberate without consulting God, Isa 30:1.Hall: Hypocrisy is always covered with a blind and ungrateful zeal, Rom 10:2.S. Schmid: The lack of foresight in those who fancy themselves quite too wise or are carried away by violent passions often lets the fairest opportunity of accomplishing something good slip between the hands.
1Sa 14:32. S. Schmid: A sin seldom remains alone, and from one error always arise several others.Hall: A hasty vow commonly brings much mischief after it.
1Sa 14:33. Berlenb. Bible: Thus do hypocrites know how to see evil in others, but not in themselves.Osiander: That is the way with hypocrites, they will never be guilty, but others shall always be so.
1Sa 14:35. Cramer: Hypocrites have the appearance of holiness; but the power of godliness they deny, 2Ti 3:5 : Eze 33:31.Osiander: Hypocrites wish to be regarded as if they were promoting the honor of God and of His name, and yet in fact are seeking nothing but their own honor.
1Sa 14:36. Starke: A Christian should begin nothing till he is first assured of the divine will.Berlenb. Bible: Saul as a picture of stout self-reliance always wishes only to carry out his purposes without God, to get booty, make the victory greater, annihilate the enemy. It never came into his head to ask Gods counsel.
1Sa 14:38-39. Cramer: Gods eyes look at faith, and without that it is impossible to please God, Jer 5:3; Heb 11:6.S. Schmid: Unjust sentences and rash oaths should not be approved, but condemned at least by silence.
1Sa 14:40. S. Schmid: It is wise conduct not to oppose the authorities, but to be pleased with their words and works, so long as Gods word and conscience permit.
1Sa 14:42-44. S. Schmid: He who has a good conscience is not afraid of Gods judgment, Joh 3:21. To push justice to extremes is often to do the greatest injustice.[Scott: Those who are indulgent to their own sins are generally severe in animadverting on the sins of others; and such as most disregard Gods authority are most impatient when their own commands appear to be slighted.Tr.]
1Sa 14:1-15. The believing spirit of Gods soldiers against the enemies of Gods kingdom: 1) It confers not with flesh and blood, but makes the boldest ventures alone with its God (1Sa 14:1-3). 2) It shrinks not back before the greatest difficulties and perils (1Sa 14:1-6). 3) It humbly leaves success to the Lord (1Sa 14:6, perhaps, etc.). 4) It trusts alone in Gods almightiness without regard to human might (1Sa 14:6, there is to the Lord, etc.). 5) It marks the signs from the Lord, by which it becomes certain of its success (1Sa 14:7-12). 6) It gains, by Gods help, a glorious victory (1Sa 14:13-15).
1Sa 14:16-23. The Lord helps His people in the conflict against their enemies, in that 1) He suddenly and unexpectedly defeats them upon hidden paths and in a wonderful manner (1Sa 14:16-19); 2) He brings their enemies into confusion and causes them to turn their weapons against each other (1Sa 14:20); 3) The forces of His people that had yielded He rescues again and brings them back to His side (1Sa 14:21), and 4) the disheartened and despairing He collects again to His host, to be partakers in His victory.
1Sa 14:24-46. The folly of those who let themselves be ruled by carnal zeal: 1) They are thoughtless and over-hasty in their resolutions; 2) They are unintelligent and err in the means for their aim; 3) Falling heels over head they miss the goal; 4) Led astray, they carry away with them into error and sin the men who are under their influence; 5) While in self-seeking and self-will striving after good reputation before God and men, they must before God and men be put to shame.
1Sa 14:35-46. The exhortation, Let us draw near hither unto God. 1) Whereon it rests. (a) On the nearness of God to us; (b) on our duty in all things to place ourselves before Gods face. 2) What it aims at. (a) The clear knowledge of the will of God; (b) the consciousness and manifestation of our own sin before the Lord.
1Sa 14:37. Gods silence when we question Him is also an answer, which 1) calls us to earnest self-examination, in order to discover to us the impure ground in our heart, from which the question proceeds, and 2) causes us to mark the divine delay as to that which we desire in a carnal way.
1Sa 14:45. When is the peoples voice Gods voice? 1) When it is an echo of that which God by His word and His deeds of grace has spoken into the heart and conscience of the people. 2) When it is a contradiction to that which clearly opposes the word and work of God.
1Sa 14:24-45. Misuse of the name of God in the service of hypocrisy: 1) By idle swearing in over-hasty resolutions. 2) By impenitent invocation of divine help in self-willed undertakings. 3) By zeal in the name of the Lord against other peoples sins, while ignoring and concealing ones own.
1 Samuel 14. J. Disselhoff: The time between the stumbling and the fall. We see, 1) How Gods wondrous faithfulness drives Saul not to shame at his unbelief, but only to carnal zeal; 2) How he wishes to supply the half-felt want of thorough repentance by outward service of God; 3) How therefore the further gracious respite and help of God led not to upright action but to security. [The fall of Saul may be fully and instructively traced by the help of Historical and Theological, Nos. 3 and 5.Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1] , is an abbreviation of the strengthened demonst. that; it is seldom found, as here, without preceding substantive. Comp. Dan 8:16; Ewald, 103 d.
[2][This might be true of the district of Gibeah, but not of the town itself, which occupied the summit of a high rounded hill; nor does it seem necessary to put Migron near Michmash; the statement in 1Sa 14:16 rather supposes a greater distance.Tr.]
[3][See Textual and Grammatical on this verse.Tr.]
[4] , poured out, from , then firm, hard. [Better from .Tr.]
[5]The is difficult, the rendering turn thee, i. e., go, not being allowable. It is, therefore, better to read with Ewald instead of , and , instead of , and render: do all to which thy heart inclines. The words: see, I am with thee according to thy heart, i. e., as thy heart desires, present no difficulty, so that it is unnecessary, with Then, after Sept., to insert after and read: lo, I am with thee, as thy mind (is also) my mind. The Heb. text is more appropriate to the occasion from its curtness and pregnancy.
[6]At the beginning of 1Sa 14:12 we find the fem. form for garrison [] instead of the usual masc. () On this Bttcher remarks: The grammatical ground is that in 1Sa 14:12 it is said: the people (from several points) of the whole garrison cried out. The whole is properly expressed by the feminine form. See on Gen 38:18.
[7] is the furrow which the plough makes, as in Psa 129:3. It is in stat. abs. instead of stat. const., because three nouns here stand together. Ew. 291 a: Sometimes the second noun of such a series seems to remain in stat. abs., so that we can only tell from the sense of the whole, the relation of the third to the two preceding. Isa 48:11; Ecc 12:13. properly something bound, then a pair or yoke of oxen, then the ground ploughed by a yoke of oxen in a definite time, = jugum; jugerum.
[8][For which gives no sense, read .
[9][. . . Tr.]
[10][According to 1Sa 13:5, Bethaven was northwest from Michmash, and there is therefore no contradiction here.Tr.]
[11]Read not as if from , acted foolishly, but Impf. Apoc. for , from , Ges. Gr. 76, 2 a.
[12] , properly thereto comes that, then let alone, not to mention, and after an affirmation all the more, how much more, 2Sa 4:11; Gen. 155, 2 a. often serves to introduce more strongly the apodosis of a conditional sentence: yea, then. Ew. 358, 2 a; Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10; Num 22:29; 2Sa 2:27. The indicates that the apodosis is a question.
[13]For the meaningless read , Imperf. Qal. of with Dag. forte implicit. instead of , Ges. 72, R. g. So after insert Art. with Qeri.
[14] for with retracted vowel. Ew. 188 c.
[15] to the blood. The change of Prep. does not alter the meaning; stands for as in Jdg 6:39 (see Maur. in loc.), 2Sa 1:24; 2Sa 10:7both sometimes occurring in the same sentence, as 1Sa 25:25; 1Sa 26:15 sqq.; 2Sa 2:9; 2Sa 20:23.
[16][That is, by the Ephod, to which was attached the breastplate with U. and T.Tr.]
[17][Principial (Germ. prinzipiell) is founded on, or connected with principles, in contrast with what is accidental, inadvertent, not fundamental.Tr.]
[18][So Philippson (schreckteer), taking the rad. meaning of the verb to be to be unquiet. Ges. renders: to pronounce guilty, gain ones cause, be victorious.Tr.]
[19][On the relation of Eshbaal, Ishbosheth and Ishwi, and the text in 1Sa 14:51, see Text. and Gram. in loco.Tr.]
[20][So 1Sa 14:51 must be rendered instead of as in Eng. A. V.Tr.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The history of Israel under the reign of Saul, brightens up a little in this Chapter. Jonathan, the son of Saul, prompted, it should seem, by a Divine impulse, goes forth with his armour-bearer only, to a garrison of the Philistines. He is made successful: – the host of Israel, when informed of it, follows after; and a great slaughter is obtained over the Philistines. In the close of this Chapter, we have a short relation of Saul’s family.
1Sa 14:1
(1) Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.
There appears so much of God’s mercy, manifested in what we read in this chapter, that I beg the Reader, more particularly to regard it, When the Lord works without means, and sometimes contrary to means, this becomes a more striking display of his Almighty hand. Let the Reader, before he enters upon the events recorded in this chapter, observe the dangerous state of Israel. There were with Saul, but six hundred men, and they trembling with fear: whereas, the host of the Philistines consisted of thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand of the sea shore for multitude. How was it, that this great host had not swallowed up the handful of Saul’s army? Was it not, because the Lord restrained them? Can it be referred unto any other cause? Though Israel merited nothing from God, but his displeasure, yet the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great Name’s sake. This Samuel had said, and this the Church had found, in all ages. Compare 1Sa 12:22 , with Psa 106:7-8 . And cannot the Reader find similar proofs in his own history? Oh! it is sweet, it is precious, when we discover the aboundings of grace, over the aboundings of sin. There is a blessed nevertheless, in all the histories of God’s people.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Saul’s Early Efforts
1Sa 13:11Sa 141Sa 14
IN these two chapters we have an opportunity of seeing how Saul betook himself to his kingly work. He did not rush upon his office in indecent haste. We have seen that after his anointing he returned to pursue his usual avocations, and that only upon receiving a special summons from men in distress did he arise to vindicate his true position in Israel. Having overthrown Nahash the Ammonite and received a renewal of the kingdom at Gilgal, it appears that Saul rested one year, in the sense of quietly reigning over the people and carefully laying to heart the entire situation occupied by his rejoicing subjects. Who can describe the joys of the first year of assured honour and responsibility! During that period of anticipation what dreams delight the vision, what holy vows sanctify the heart, what splendid images of social and general beneficence gladden the mind! Why should not the first year be a type of all the years that are yet to come? Yet it is only a time of rest, preparation, and discipline. Saul’s two years of quiet kingship saw him become at their close a most energetic and aggressive monarch. This is the danger of kingship as well as its occasional duty. Officers are bound to make work for themselves in order to justify their position. So kings may sometimes feel called upon to enter into military operations, merely to show that theirs is no nominal royalty, but a living dignity bound to demonstrate its strength and majesty. What is the use of being a king if one cannot dazzle the other nations of the earth by unimagined resources worthy of a supreme throne? Nothing is more likely to be misunderstood by rude heathenism than quietness. The undisciplined mind makes no distinction between tranquillity and cowardice. It believes in spirited policies, spectacular displays, floating banners, resounding trumpets, and flashing steel. Apart from this the uncultured mind can see no royalty worth recognising, and the danger is that even true kings may be tempted to answer such folly in its own way, and thus to incur peril and cost to the most disastrous degree. It must be remembered that Saul was a young king, that he was in very deed the first king in Israel, wholly without experience, yet a man of like passions with all that had ever been called to lofty social position. It is easy now to criticise Saul, and to say what he should have done under the various circumstances which constituted the atmosphere of his times; but we shall display a more magnanimous judgment if we regard him as an infant king, and make large allowances for his being the first monarch in Israel. How all first men have suffered for the race! Surely, it was an awful thing to have been the first man, and a scarcely less trying thing to have been the first sovereign of any people! It would indeed be a shame to kings nowadays, and to all men of lofty office and authority, if they attempted to justify themselves by the mistakes and follies of the pioneers of history. Men in these later days should show all the virtues of their predecessors, and none of their vices, and should show the virtues themselves in their noblest proportions.
We are now face to face with the first war which Saul in his completed kingship undertook. What if it should be a record of recklessness, ambition, usurpation, and no small amount of folly? The wonder would be were it otherwise. In many instances we ought to be more surprised by the wisdom of men than by their unwisdom; yet how prone we are to point out their mistakes and accumulate them into a heavy indictment rather than to stand in amazement before their sagacity and self-control, and praise those qualifications as unexpected but most honourable characteristics. The spiritual application of this incident teaches us that every man in the Church is a soldier acting under divine leadership, or human leadership divinely appointed, and that the solemn and unchangeable duty of the great army is to make daily aggression upon the whole camp of evil. The very existence of that camp should be regarded as a challenge. There need be no waiting for formal defiance; the Christian army is justified in regarding the existence of any form or colour of evil as a call to immediate onslaught. We fight not against men, but against their corruptions. We do not kill our brother men, we seek by divine instrumentalities to slay the evils which have debased their manhood. There must be war in the world until all evil is driven out of it. Physical carnage is incompatible with the Spirit of Christ, and is, therefore, ever to be regarded with horror and inexpressible detestation; but the grand spiritual war is never to cease until the last black spot of wickedness is taken away from the fair robe of the moral creation.
In contrast to the energetic and aggressive monarch, we have now to look at a panic-stricken people. “When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed)… as for Saul he was yet in Gilgal; and all the people followed him trembling.” It has been thought by some that the trembling refers to the Philistines; but of this we see no proof in the narrative. The Philistines were accustomed to war. Their chariots were thirty thousand; their horsemen were six thousand, and the people were as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude ( 1Sa 13:5 ); it was not likely, therefore, that a people so vast and so accustomed to war under their kings and princes should be immediately struck by panic. The picture presented by Israel is remarkable for its light and shade. Look at King Saul in the first flush of royal pride and ambition, responding to what he believed to be a divine vocation, and aboundingly confident of immediate and complete success; he was a man who regarded his own progress as the rush of a mighty wind, and looked upon his sword as the very lightning of God. But his people were unaccustomed to his leadership; many a stout battle had Israel fought, and not a few victories had Israel won, but in this case a new element enters into the calculation. It is true that Saul had overwhelmed Nahash; but compared with the Philistines gathered in their full strength Nahash was indeed a contemptible foe. On the other side, therefore, we have a misgiving people, faint-hearted, filled with the distracting fear which weakens all whom it agitates, and trembling with apprehension. If the case had to be argued from the condition of the people, no special sagacity would be required to predict the result. Is it not so also in the great moral conflict of the world? Judging by what is seen in the spirit and action of nominal Christians, who could justly regard them as men of intrepidity and invincible resoluteness? What trembling, what hesitation, what nightmare fancies, what ghostly noises in the night, what nameless spectres have combined to make the Church afraid! What a genius the Church has for creating fears! How afraid the Church is of sensationalism, offending the weak, annoying the sensitive, disturbing the slumbering! What wonder if amid all this unworthy hesitation the war should be going against the divine standard! But we must not look at the people: our eyes must be upon the Captain of our salvation. In his heart there is no misgiving; he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet; he never turns back from the war; his sword is always highest in the air, pointing the road to danger and to victory.
It is no injustice to say that today the Church is trembling in face of the scepticism, the selfishness, the cupidity, and the unspiritual philosophy, which signalise the times. Blessed are we, even in the midst of all this faint-heartedness, if we can get one glimpse of Christ as he himself presses on to the point where the fight is deadliest, and grows in strength as the battle grows in fierceness.
We now come upon one of the mistakes of Saul’s first campaign. He had been ordered to go down to Gilgal before Samuel ( 1Sa 10:8 ): “And behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings.” Saul was to wait in Gilgal seven days for the coming of the prophet. A remarkable point should be noted here, namely, that Samuel even after his valedictory address did not wholly abandon his supremacy in Israel. Saul waited as he supposed the seven days, and then in his impatience he commanded to have brought to him a burnt offering and peace offerings, and he then by his own hand, or by the hand of the priest who was with him, offered the burnt offering. Alas for Saul! No sooner had an end been made of offering the burnt offering than behold Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him that he might salute him. But Samuel was an earnest man, and as such he immediately questioned Saul as to the sacrifices. Saul justified himself on the ground that Samuel did not come within the appointed time, and as the case appeared to be urgent he ventured to command the offering of the sacrifices. Samuel was, however, within the time, for he came on the evening of the seventh day, thus testing the patience of Saul to the very extremity. But providences would be no tests did they not keep us waiting even to the last moment. Had Samuel come on the morning of the seventh day Saul’s confidence would not have been subjected to a complete trial. Saul was now to be taught that to be really royal a man must first be really loyal. Obedience is the first condition of rulership. There was no need for this usurpation of the priestly office on the part of Saul. It is at this point that so many mistakes are made, that men will imagine that the cause of God is in necessity, and will rush in a spirit of usurpation to do the work which God himself has undertaken to be done by other hands. When will men learn to stand still, and in holy patience await the coming of the Lord? When will men give up the self-idolatry which supposes that unless they undertake to quicken the movements of Providence, the destinies of the universe will be imperilled? The worship of patience may be more accepted than the service of rashness. Though, however, the judgment of Heaven was pronounced against Saul, it was not intended to take immediate effect. This is a point to be often noticed in the reading of Scripture: that which we think to be imminent may be distantly perspective; but the one thing that is imminent beyond all question is the infinite displeasure of God in regard to every sinful and foolish deed. The judgment may be held back and long delayed in mercy and patience, but no evil can escape divine penalty. We are reaping every day harvests sprung from seed sown long years ago. We wonder that this or that judgment should have happened today, forgetting that no judgment arises, except out of a sequence which we ourselves began, the criminal misfortune being that we forget the seed-time in which we were so busy, and only see the black harvest which we are bound to cut down and appropriate.
In the fourteenth chapter we see on the part of Jonathan what may be described as a disorderly courage. Jonathan undertook to make a movement on his own part without seeking the advice or sanction of his father. We must not too hardly blame Jonathan, for if his father was a young king, he himself was a young man who had yet all his honours to win. Disorderly courage has often been crowned with successes, and has therefore presented a strong temptation to ill-controlled natures. Free lances have unquestionably done good service in many a man, physical and moral. At the same time there ought to be a great central authority in all well-conducted operations. Room should always be left for genius, and for those sudden impulses of the soul which it is sometimes impossible to distinguish from inspiration: but taking the rank and file, and looking upon the Church as a whole, it will be found that a quiet exercise of discipline and a steady pursuit of paths of order will answer best in the great issue. In the Church, let us repeat, room should be found for all sorts of men: for the great king and the young soldier, for the flashing genius and the slow-moving mind.
This action on the part of Jonathan brought him into trouble Saul knew that some one was missing, and after going through a process of inquiry and numbering it was found that Jonathan and his armour-bearer were not present. In his eager impetuosity Saul had adjured the people saying, “Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies” ( 1Sa 14:24 ). Jonathan was unaware of the order, so in going through a wood where there was honey upon the ground, Jonathan put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened. On being informed of the order of the king, Jonathan denounced the action of Saul, and in very deed it was irrational and intolerable. Afterwards when a lot was drawn between Saul and Jonathan, Jonathan was taken, and on being interrogated he confessed saying, “I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and lo, I must die.” But the people would not have it so. The king was taught that day his first lesson as to the power of the democracy. Even kings must under some circumstances be the subjects of their people Israel was at that juncture a people to be found ready. Their appeal was nobly conceived and nobly expressed. “And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day” ( 1Sa 14:45 ). Trust the people. There are occasions on which the proverb is true: Vox populi , vox Dei . The instincts of a great people are never to be lightly treated. Saul might on this occasion indeed be secretly inclined to concur with the popular verdict, but whether he was or not, the popular verdict, in so far as it is right, must always overrule the arbitrary and oppressive decrees of kings.
We have reserved for a concluding paragraph a memorable incident recorded in the fourteenth chapter. Dealing as we now are with the early efforts of Saul, we must point out with especial vividness that in connection with this war Saul built his first altar: “And Saul built an altar unto the Lord: the same was the first altar that he built unto the Lord” ( 1Sa 14:35 ). Some have regarded this as an act kindred to the service which Samuel condemned. Whether that may be so or not in a technical sense, the fact of the altar being the “first altar” is full of beautiful significance. We read in the Gospel of John of the first miracle that Jesus did. In Genesis we have read of Abraham returning to the altar which he built at the first. What a noble vision is opened up by the very words first altar, first miracle, first war, first victory. Some of us have not yet begun to build an altar. Some of us have not sat down for the first time at the table of the Lord. Some of us have yet to make a real beginning in life! Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
VIII
THE PASSING OF SAUL AND HIS DYNASTY
1Sa 13:1-14:46
There are real difficulties, puzzling to a Bible student, in 1 Samuel 13-14. These difficulties are of three kinds: first, in the text; second, in the order of events; third, in determining the length of Saul’s reign. The first difficulty of the text is the first sentence, 1Sa 13:1 . According to the historian’s formula elsewhere, introducing the account of a reign, we would naturally expect this initial sentence to tell us two facts: Saul’s age when he began to reign, and the duration of his reign, somewhat thus: “Saul was thirty years old when be began to reign, and he reigned over Israel forty years,” but our present Hebrew text cannot be so rendered, nor can we satisfactorily make out the text from a comparison with the versions. The Hebrews designated numbers by letters, hence it is quite easy in the matter of numbers for a mistake to creep in. In the Hebrew of 1Sa 13:1 Saul’s age is not stated. When the versions attempt to supply the number from internal evidence, it amounts only to conjecture. The unrevised Septuagint omits that first verse altogether, but a revision of that version gives it, and makes it read that Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign. The American Standard Version fills the blank with forty years as his age when he began to reign, and connects 1Sa 13:1-2 . The Jew, Isaac Leeser, in his English version, renders that first verse thus: “When Saul had reigned one year and two years he reigned over Israel,” which leaves here the whole verse “up in the air,” with two gaps in it. Other Jews render it thus: “Saul was the son of a year when he began to reign, and when he had reigned two years he chose for himself, . . . ” This rendering could be made to mean that Saul was as inexperienced, or as simple, as a year old child when he commenced to reign, but after he had reigned two years he began to assume the air of royalty by organizing a small standing army as a bodyguard, or as a nucleus around which militia levies could be assembled in time of war. In the judgment of the author, there is no direct connection between 1Sa 13:1-2 , nor is he able to remove the difficulty. It seems probable that the first sentence should follow the usual formula of the historian, and that if we had the true text, it would so appear.
The second text difficulty is in 1Sa 13:5 , which gives the Philistines “thirty thousand chariots,” a number which seems to be incredible, so unnecessary, and so wholly out of proportion to other departments of their army, that one is disposed to imagine that some copyist erred in writing the Hebrew letters by which they express the number of chariots. Probably the number was 1000.
The third text difficulty is the word, “ark,” in 1Sa 14:18 . We would naturally conclude from 1Sa 7:1-2 , and from 1Ch 13:1-14 that the ark remained at Kirjathjearim until its removal to Jerusalem by David. Moreover, David says expressly, “We sought not unto the ark in the days of Saul.” The best explanation of this difficulty is that the Septuagint, with a better Hebrew text before it, renders the verse thus: “And Saul said to Ahijah, Bring hither the Ephod. For he wore the Ephod at that time before Israel.”
In determining the order of events we find that the paragraph, 1Sa 14:47-52 , gives a summary of Saul’s wars and of his family, and inasmuch as the historian gives no details of at least three of these wars, to wit: the war with Ammon, with Edom, and with the kings of Zobah, i.e., Syria, the difficulty is to know just where these wars should be placed. Evidently there is no place for them after the beginning of this section, and if they be put before this section, then time must be allowed for them, as well as for the arrival to mature age of Saul’s sons and daughters.
In determining the duration of Saul’s reign, the difficulty in the Hebrew text of 1Sa 13:1 forces us to rely upon one statement only, that by the apostle Paul (Act 13:21 ) who says: “Saul reigned by the space of forty years.” In an edited edition of Josephus’ “Antiquity of the Jews,” Book VI, last sentence of that book, the reading is: “Now Saul, when he had reigned eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and after his death 2 [and 20], ended his life in this manner.” The words “and 20” in brackets must be regarded as an interpolation, being out of harmony with the author’s heading of the sixth book which assigns only thirty-two years from the death of Eli to the death of Saul. Leaving out the bracketed words, Josephus says that Saul reigned eighteen years while Samuel lived, and two years after he died. The author stands by Paul’s statement that he reigned by the space of forty years, and contends that this harmonizes best with all of the elements of the history. The history unquestionably makes Saul a young man when he began to reign. There must be time for all of the wars mentioned in the summary, 1Sa 14:47-52 , and for Saul’s children, sons and daughters, to become grown. 1Sa 13 presents Jonathan a grown man and avalorous captain. Therefore the author assumes that between 1Sa 12 , when Saul’s reign properly commenced) and 1Sa 13 , we must allow an interval of perhaps twenty years, and we must conclude, from the success of Saul in waging victorious war with Ammon, Edom, and the kings of Zobah, or Syria (1Sa 14:47 ) that such an interval must be provided for in the order.
It is easy to understand why the historian gives no details of these wars. His object is to bring us quickly to that part of Saul’s reign in which, by two great decisive acts, he violates the kingdom charter. For years, then, we presume that Saul was faithful to that charter, prosperous and successful in every direction, but this period of prosperity is followed by a triumph of the Philistines, who so dominated the land as to bring about the conditions as described in our text, 1Sa 13:6-7 ; 1Sa 13:19-23 , and it is at this period of national disaster that 1Sa 13 commences the story. Indeed by this disaster God providentially prepares the way for an account of Saul’s first great test, which could not come except under hard conditions. We may count it a difficulty to give the proper rendering of 1Sa 13:3 , which says that “Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba.” Very able scholars contend that this word should not be rendered “garrison” but “monument,” the Philistines having erected a monument there as a memorial of their domination over the land. Another scholar contends that it means an officer who at that point collected the tribute from the subjugated Hebrews, but none of the versions so renders the word, so we will count that word to mean garrison.
Another line of interpretation, as to the order of events is advocated by mighty minds, including Edersheim, for whose wide range of learning, splendid scholarship, pity, reverence, and especially the gift of spiritual interpretation, the author has a profound respect. According to Edersheim, whose arguments sustaining his contention are so weighty, the boldest might well hesitate to claim dogmatically the rightfulness of the order we have just considered, and according to others, including the American Standard revisers, Saul was forty years old when he began to reign; was a man of family, his oldest son, Jonathan, being a grown man, and there is no interval between the history in 1Sa 12 and the history in 1Sa 13 , but it is continuous; therefore the wars (1Sa 14:47 ) with Ammon, Edom, and Syria, follow the victory over the Philistines recorded in 1Sa 13 , and the hard conditions under the domination of the Philistines recorded in chapter 1Sa 13:6-7 ; 1Sa 13:19-23 were the conditions at the beginning of Saul’s reign. This would place the test which decided the dynasty at the beginning of his reign, and with propriety place later the second test in the case with Amalek, resulting in his personal rejection. With this order, Josephus agrees. The serious objections to this theory of order are thus met by its advocates. They admit that the record in 1Sa 9 declares Saul to be a young man when he met Samuel, and that it is a part of a young man’s duty to be sent off to find the stray stock of his father, but argue that among Hebrews even a middle-aged man with a family is called a young man and is under the direction of his father, and that the preceding record nowhere gives Saul’s age, and that the only place where we would expect to find it (1Sa 13:1 ) the numeral expressed in a Hebrew letter is wanting, and must be supplied by conjecture based on the context. In meeting Paul’s express statement that Saul reigned by the space of forty years, they say that it is not in the line of Paul’s thought to be exact, and that his forty years is expressed in round numbers. These replies to the objections are not satisfactory, but are here given for what they are worth.
The hero of this war with the Philistines was Jonathan, Saul’s brilliant son. He it is that brings on the war by smiting the Philistines’ garrison at Gibeah, and he it is that decided the war in the great battle of Michmash. Saul’s part of the whole story is an undignified one. The following are the events, in order, leading up to his failure under the first test to which he was subjected: It will be remembered that Saul was made king with the special view of delivering Israel from the Philistines, and that having only 3,000 men they were divided into two small corps, occupying strategically the best positions of defense against the Philistines. Then when Jonathan’s exploit brought on the war by making Israel odious to the Philistines, they assembled the largest and best appointed army they ever sent to the field, and took post at Michmash. Saul sounded the trumpet alarm designed to bring all of the able-bodied men of Israel to his side. The place of assembly was Gilgal, which Samuel had appointed with the express command that when assembled they were to remain seven full days until he himself arrived, and when he had offered appropriate sacrifices, the war would be undertaken under Jehovah’s direction.
But the people having no arms, and frightened at the vast and well-equipped army of the Philistines, failed to respond. Some of them went into the caves in the sides of the mountains. Multitudes of them fled across the Jordan into Gilead. Saul’s own bodyguard did not all assemble, and in the days of waiting began to desert, so that he was left with a handful of men, liable at any time to be cut off and destroyed by the mighty army of the Philistines. In this case it tried his patience sorely to wait seven days, his army melting, the panic increasing, the Philistine army near and threatening.
This was the condition of a test of his character. It is certain that unless there could be assurance from Jehovah that he would lead and manifest his power, the panic would increase. Samuel designedly delayed his coming until the last hour of the appointed seven days. Saul had waited until late in the seventh day; Samuel had not come. It seemed to him that he must, by sacrifices, invoke the help of Jehovah. As he puts it himself, under these conditions: “I forced myself to make the offerings to Jehovah.” Before the offerings were completed, Samuel appeared, but Saul had already sinned. It was an express stipulation of the charter of the kingdom that the king must wait upon Jehovah’s will as expressed through his prophet. Only in this way could the kingdom endure. If the king acted on his own wisdom, as the kings of other nations, then it was certain he would fail. His only hope was to abide absolutely with that provision of the charter which acknowledged the theocratic idea that the earthly king was subordinate to the divine King. The penalty of his failure in this test was not his personal rejection as king, but it was the rejection of his dynasty. He himself remained king, but the monarchy could not be transmitted to his children. The kingly authority was to be removed from Saul’s family, and given to another family.
The events after this failure of Saul were as follows: First, the word of Jehovah through his prophet having been despised, Samuel leaves Saul, the panic increases, his followers decrease in number, he is left with a handful of men to take the most defensive position; then, as has been stated, it was Jonathan who delivered the people from this threatening condition. The prophet being gone, Jonathan asked Jehovah to designate by a sign whether he should attack the Philistine host. The sign was a very simple one. Jonathan having reconnoitered the enemy’s position, taking with him only his armor-bearer, found that they could be approached from the mountainside, and the test was, when he came within sight and hearing of the Philistines if they said, “Come up to us,” instead of “Remain where you are and we will come up to you,” that was to be God’s sign that he should make the fight. Hence he and his armor bearer alone commenced to fight, killing twenty of the enemy. They fell into a panic, supposing a mighty army to be behind these two men, and as their army was composed of troops from several nations, these in the confusion began to fight each other. Moreover, a large number of Hebrews, who had hidden in the caves of the mountain, came out and joined in the attack on the Philistines, so that their whole army was in inextricable confusion.
Saul, from his lockout, perceiving the confusion in the Philistine army and hearing the sound of battle, and still wishing to be guided by Jehovah, turned to the high priest present with his men, saying, “Bring hither the Ephod and enquire of Jehovah what we shall do.” The tumult continuing, he then restrained the priest before he had time to give Jehovah’s answer through the Urim and Thummim, and rushed headlong to the battle. So, in no respect acting under divine orders, but on his own wisdom, he enjoins that none shall stop to taste food until the Philistine army is entirely destroyed.
Two evil results come from this rash order. First, Jonathan being in the front of the battle and not having heard it, under the fatigue and hunger of a hard day’s work, sees a honeycomb in the rock. He delays only to touch the honeycomb with the rod in his hand and put it to his mouth, and somewhat refreshed goes on in pursuit, thus unwittingly bringing himself under the curse of his father’s vow. The second evil was that the people who had heard the command, at the end of the day, famished with hunger, took from the spoils of the battle and butchered the animals for meat, without complying with the law, which forbids an Israelite to eat blood. This second wrong being reported to Saul, he seems to be convinced that somebody had sinned, and after stopping the unlawful method of eating food, he appeals to the high priest to determine for him who had disobeyed his order. The lot disclosed that it was Jonathan, who frankly avowed it. Saul announced his death j warrant, but the people refused to permit the death of the hero : who had gained them the battle.
The radical critics of the Bible story consider it a light offense, that a man with authority as king, under Saul’s hard conditions, after waiting till the seventh day was nearly ended for Samuel to come, should proceed to inquire the divine will, apart from the prophet of God. To this we reply, that, while all of these hard conditions are admitted, and while the natural effect of these conditions upon any man placed under the responsibility of a leader is also admitted, these very conditions were essential to the test, if the theocratic idea of the charter is to be preserved. It made no difference how hard the conditions) nor how many should desert, nor how few remained, nor how strong the enemy, nor how formidable their equipments, if only Jehovah be with them; and it made no difference how strong an army ‘Saul might have, nor how few in comparison with the enemy, nor how much superior his own equipment to that of the foe, he was doomed to failure if Jehovah was against him. Therefore, when, through fear and impatience, he deliberately violated the central thought in the charter of the kingdom, it was well that the kingdom should pass to another family, and not be perpetuated in his house.
It is an interesting fact that while God had withdrawn his prophet from Saul, there yet remained two methods of ascertaining the divine will: the one employed by Jonathan by asking a sign from God, the other through the high priest and the Ephod. In a wavering kind of way, Saul clings to the second method. He still on occasion seeks the mind of Jehovah through the high priest, but never unless he is in extremity. You must distinguish between the two tests of Saul. The first test which we have considered, settled the question of the dynasty alone; the next test to be considered in the next chapter, settles the question personally for Saul, as to whether he is to remain king.
The last paragraph of chapter 1Sa 14:47-52 is a generic account of Saul’s reign, naming his various wars waged victoriously, his family relations, and reciting two facts characteristic of his reign, namely, (1) that sore war with the Philistines prevailed all his days; (2) all through his reign he was accustomed to add valiant men of whatever nation, to his bodyguard. But this custom of Saul’s was not peculiar to him. David followed his example, and hundreds of monarchs since his time, some of them limiting altogether to foreigners, as the Janizaries of the Sultan of Turkey; the Scottish Archers, the Swiss Guard, and the Irish Brigade of French Kings; the Italian Corps of Charles of Burgundy; the famous Potsdam giants of the king of Prussia; and many others.
This summary of Saul’s family omits the mention of Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, his two children by her, and his grandchildren, sons of Jonathan and Michal. By way of anticipation of the history, and to show that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, and further to show that in a great man’s downfall many are dragged down with him, let us notice the tragic fate of the various members of Saul’s family. Abner, Saul’s cousin and general, was murdered by Joab. Saul himself, with three of the four sons by his wife, including the heroic Jonathan, perished in battle with the Philistines. His fourth son by his wife was assassinated; his two sons by his concubine Rizpah, and the five sons of his daughter Michal born after she was taken from David, were all hanged to appease one of Saul’s sins; Jonathan’s son was crippled by his nurse, and afterward defrauded of half his inheritance. Note the text for a’ practical sermon in this section, Saul’s words, “I forced myself” (1Sa 13:12 ).
QUESTIONS
1. What real difficulties, puzzling to a Bible student, do we find in 1 Samuel 13-14?
2. State the principal text difficulties, with an explanation of each.
3. What is the difficulty in determining the order of events?
4. What is the difficulty in determining the duration of Saul’s reign?
5. What other line of interpretation, as to order of events, is advocated by mighty minds, including Edersheim?
6. Who was the hero of this war with the Philistines?
7. State in order the events, leading up to Saul’s failure under the first test to which he was subjected.
8. What was the penalty of Saul’s failure in this test?
9. State the events after this failure of Saul.
10. What was Saul’s part in the battle?
11. What have radical critics of the Bible story to say against the Divine procedure in this part of the history?
12. What is your reply to this?
13. What interesting fact must yet be noted in this connection?
14. What is the nature of the last paragraph of 1Sa 14:47-52 ?
15. Was this custom of Saul’s peculiar to him?
16. Is this summary a full account of Saul’s family?
17. By the way of anticipation of the history, and to show that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, and further to show that in a great man’s downfall many are drawn down with him, state the tragic fate of the various members of Saul’s family.
18. What is the text for a practical sermon in this section?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1Sa 14:1 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that [is] on the other side. But he told not his father.
Ver. 1. Jonathan the son of Saul said. ] By an extraordinary instinct of the Spirit, and by the force of his faith, founded upon God’s promise, Deu 28:7 ; Deu 32:10 the ground of all true valour and magnanimity.
Said unto the young man that bare his armour.
But he told not his father.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a day: i.e. a certain day.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 14
Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man that bear his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison on the other side. But he did not tell his father. And Saul tarried in the uttermost parts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men; And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas ( 1Sa 14:1-3 ),
And so forth, it gives these guys in background. You don’t remember them anyhow, let me just tell you the story.
Jonathan the son of Saul woke up early one morning. He got to thinking, no one else was awake yet. He got to thinking “You know, there’s a whole army of the Philistines over there. Maybe God wants to give Israel the victory over that army of the Philistines today. Now if the Lord wants to give the victory to Israel over those Philistines, He doesn’t need a whole army. He can give the victory to one man as well as six hundred or to two. It really doesn’t make any difference to God whether we have a huge army, or whether we just have a few if God wants to give the victory to Israel.”
He was just lying there thinking about these kinds of wild thoughts. “After all God is great, and the greatness and the power of God, He doesn’t need a whole army, He can give the victory to just two men.”
So he woke up his armorbearer. He said, “I’ve been thinking about something really weird and wild, I want to pass it by you. I’ve been thinking if God wants to give the victory to Israel today over the Philistines, He doesn’t need the whole army. He can give the victory to just a couple guys. Why don’t we go over there and see if God wants to give the victory to Israel today.” Talk about a venture in faith. I love ’em.
So he and the armourbearer dressed quietly and they slipped out of camp while everybody else was still sleeping. Jonathan on the way towards the Philistines said, “Now we want to make sure God’s in this thing.”
“So when we get near the garrison of the Philistines, when the centurions spot us, if they say, ‘Hey you fellas come up here we’ll show you a thing or two.’ Then we’ll know that God wants to give the victory to Israel, and we’ll go at them. But if they say, ‘Wait you guys, we’re gonna come down and show you a thing or two.’ Then we’ll know that God doesn’t want to give the victory to Israel and we’ll get out of here as fast as we can.”
So as they got over near the garrison of the Philistines, and the centurion spotted these two guys coming, they said, “Look at those stupid fools coming right up here to the camp. Hey you guys come up here, we’ll show you a thing or two.”
John said, “All right man let’s go.”
It said, “They started climbing with their hands and feet,” really just scrambling up that hill to get into the camp of the Philistines. Man, they jumped right in the middle of the garrison. Jonathan started knocking the guys over, and his armourbearer was running them through. About a half acre of ground, they wiped out twenty of the Philistines and the rest of the guys began waking up, they were all discomfited. They began to swing at each other. They began to run and flee, and over on the other side of the valley old Saul finally woke up, and he rubbed his eyes, and he looked across, and he saw the Philistines all running. He saw the battles going on. He saw two guys in the middle just really wiping them out.
He said, “Number off quick who’s missing?” They numbered off, and they said, “It’s Jonathan and his armourbearer.”
Now Saul at this point makes a foolish statement. Saul said, “Let the man be cursed who eats anything today before God has avenged Saul of all of his enemies.” Now the man, who was so humble to begin with, is now beginning to manifest some real pride. “Saul of all of his enemies, God curse any man who eats anything today before Saul is avenged of all of his enemies.” A foolish curse and vow.
So the men with Saul began to pursue the Philistines. All day long the Philistines were in disarray and retreating. As they were running through the woods, there was a honeycomb, and it was dripping honey down to the ground. Old Jonathan running through took his spear and put out the end of it and began to eat the honey, and he was revived, he was refreshed. Actually he’d been chasing Philistines all day and he was just about shot physically, and honey is such a quick energy source. Just it zings right into your system. He was refreshed, and took off again chasing the Philistines. God gave a great victory to Israel that day over the Philistines.
But I like the philosophy of Jonathan. I like the daring. I like the venture in faith. “Who knows what God wants to do today. If God wants to do something, He doesn’t need a whole army. He can do it with one as well as a thousand. Let’s see what God wants to do. Let’s venture out and find out what God might want to do today.” I love those kinds of days when you just sort of venture out to see what God might want to do.
Now as the troops gathered together, and sort of surveying the victory. Saul said, “Let’s chase them tonight. We’ve got them on the run, let’s go after them tonight and wipe them out completely.” So they called the priests there and they said, “Inquire of the Lord shall we chase them”. There was no answers from God.
So Saul said, “All right who ate today?” Figured that someone had broken his vow because God wasn’t answering by the priests. So none of the men would say anything. He said, “If it is even Jonathan my son, surely he shall be put to death.”
So he said, “You guys all stand over there. Jonathan and I will stand here. And God give us a perfect lot.” They cast lots, and it fell on Jonathan and Saul. So they cast lots again and it fell on Jonathan.
Saul said, “What did you do?”
He said, “Well, dad I really didn’t know that you had made that curse and I was running through the woods, and I saw this honeycomb dripping honey. I was famished and I was about wiped out, so I took and ate some of the honey.”
He said, “My soul was revived.”
He said, “Dad, it wasn’t very smart for you not to let these guys eat. Had you let them eat of the spoils today, they would’ve had enough strength, we would’ve continued to pursue and totally wiped out the Philistines. Wasn’t so smart, dad, the thing that you said.”
Saul said, “Put him to death.”
At this point the men stepped in and said, “Oh no way. For he has wrought, or fought with God today. No man’s gonna touch him, no man will lay his hand upon him.” I like the statement, “For he hath wrought with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan and he wasn’t killed by his father.
So we see now there’s a bit of madness beginning to enter this man. Started out such a beautiful way. Started out with such tremendous potential and possibilities. But pride entered in. We see now the pride developing. This man again who had such a marvelous potential is gradually deteriorating before our very eyes, as he begins to exalt himself and turn from God. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Here we have a picture of Saul, with a part of the army about him, remaining idle in Gibeah. His son Jonathan moved to action by his sense of the degradation of his people, and his conviction of the strength of Jehovah, made a remarkable attack on the foe, which issued first in the slaughter of twenty men. This sudden onrush on the Philistines in so unexpected a way produced panic throughout all their hosts. As a result of this, Saul and the rest of the people who had been in hiding went forth to the rout of the Philistines.
It was in the midst of all this that again Saul’s weakness manifested itself in taking a rash oath that no man should stay to take food. This oath resulted in weakening the people, so that they were unable to accomplish so great a victory as they might have done.
The more terrible effect was that it imperiled the life of Jonathan, and caused the people themselves to sin in their hunger.
Perhaps one of the most interesting facts in connection with this story is the action of the people whereby Jonathan was rescued from the peril that threatened him in consequence of his father’s rash oath. It would seem as though, in the general consciousness of the true meaning and value of the vow, they had made considerable advance since the days of Jephthah.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Jonathans Exploit for the Lord
1Sa 14:1-15
Jonathan was a true knight of God. He was the Hebrew Galahad, a soldier without fear and without reproach. His life was pure, his word was true, he was faithful to the high claims of human love, and followed the Christ, though as yet he knew Him not.
He had entered into the spirit of the divine Covenant, and could not believe that God had forgotten and forsaken. Was not the old promise true that one [should] chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight? Deu 32:30. Happy are they who can rise above depression and misfortune into the clear heaven of fellowship with God, allying their weakness with His might, their ignorance with His wisdom! It may be that the Lord will work for us, said Jonathan; for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. Then he offered himself as the humble instrument of Gods will. The people recognized this. They said: He hath wrought with God this day. And the soul that reckons on God cannot be ashamed. The Lord saved Israel that day.In such works God and man co-operate. See Joh 3:21.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
1 Samuel 14
These were evil days for the people of Israel. But it was in these dark days that Jonathan shone so famous. It is yet true that difficulties prove our mettle, and that the greater the hardship or peril, the more is the victory worth telling. We learn from this chapter-
I. That the presence of the enemy should rouse our courage. Jonathan could not allow the Philistines to be even at Michmash, strong as it was, without ever striking a blow. Is there not need for more chivalry among the soldiers of Christ?
II. It was Jonathan who conceived the plan of attacking the Philistines, which leads us to say that princes should set the example. It is a shame when a private has to lead a forlorn hope, and yet too often in Church history we find the poor and ignorant more full of zeal for God than the rich and learned.
III. Earnest leaders should not lack brave followers. We are not told the name of the young man who was Jonathan’s armour-bearer, but he was worthy of the situation. The best of leaders is all the better for the knowledge that his followers will not fail him. Let those of us whose place is not to lead yet help our Commander by acting, so that whenever He looks at us He will see our faces say, “I am with Thee according to Thine heart.”
IV. Jonathan knew that God can win by a minority. If, in fighting the Lord’s battles, we wait till we can outnumber the foe, we shall never do exploits. Joshua and Caleb were outvoted, but they said, “Let us go up and possess it.” The fewer there are, the more room for Omnipotence. The units of Christian workers are the thin edge of the wedge.
V. At the battle of Michmash, we have been taught that God helps those who help themselves. God works by means, and delights in co-operating with His people. Do not wait till the enemy has fled, but turn the battle by your bravery, even if it be by a single hand.
T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 255.
References: 1Sa 14:6.-Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times” vol. i., p. 37. 1Sa 14:24.-W. Hanna, Sunday Magazine, 1865, p. 281.
1Sa 14:43-44
Saul had a right to give this general order that there should be no stopping; that that day should be dedicated to the overthrow of the enemy; that no man should taste food. And yet in this, as in all Saul’s conduct, there was a certain excess-an immoderation which carried it to rashness. For while, as a general order, it was wise, to make it special and particular was not wise. Jonathan made the poorest plea for a good cause that was ever made. Instead of saying, “I did not know your commands;” instead of saying, “Under God’s providence, the time came when that command ought to have been set aside for the sake of destroying the Philistines”-instead of saying these things, he said, “I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand.”
I. A little thing is always enough for disobedience. Besides, there was in his heart the idea that moral quality depended in some sense upon magnitude. Little things become important as a part of a series-that is, by aggregation. They collect and become powerful unities.
II. A little thing, or that which men call little, may be very trifling indeed for one purpose and in one direction; and yet for another purpose and in another direction it may be extremely potent.
III. Single actions may be insignificant, and yet by repetition may become well-nigh omnipotent.
IV. There are times when the soul stands at equipoise, and when it will take very little to carry down the scale. At such times we must be careful of little things. The breaking off of one bad habit may be the first of a series of steps which will lead to a spiritual change.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 5th series, p. 147.
References: 1Sa 14:6.-Parker, vol. vii., p. 68. 1Sa 14:14.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 521. 1Sa 14:27.-S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 1. 1Sa 14:37.-Parker, vol. vii., p. 68. 1Sa 14:44.-Ibid., p. 69. 1Sa 14:52.-Ibid., p. 70. 1Sam 14.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. ix., p. 356.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
7. Jonathans Heroic Deed of Faith
CHAPTER 14
1. Jonathans victory (1Sa 14:1-23)
2. Sauls adjuration and Jonathans deed (1Sa 14:24-32)
3. Sauls first altar and unanswered inquiry (1Sa 14:33-37)
4. Jonathan condemned and saved (1Sa 14:38-45)
5. Sauls battle and success (1Sa 14:46-48)
6. Sauls family (1Sa 14:49-52)
Jonathan, one of the most beautiful characters of the Bible, with a kindred spirit, his armour bearer, goes forward to attack once more the outpost of the Philistines. Saul knew nothing of it. The King is surrounded by a small company, among them the relations of Eli. They had an ephod, needed for inquiry from Jehovah, but we do not read of its use. Jonathan and his armour bearer and their conversation are blessed illustrations of true faith. What simplicity it reveals! Jonathan knew the Lord and knew that He loves His people and therefore would overthrow their enemies. He tells the armour bearer it may be that the LORD will work for us, for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. And the armour bearer, whose name we do not know, but known to God, answered him: Do all that is in thine heart; turn thee; behold I am with thee according to thy heart. They were in blessed unity. They cast themselves upon the Lord and let Him decide what they were to do. And the Lord, as He always does, answers to their faith. In spite of the difficulties, the sharp rocks, which they had to ascend, difficulties which are always connected with true faith, they overcome the foe. The Lord was there, for it was His battle and the earth quaked. But twenty men were slain by the two. A great confusion followed. The multitude melted away as they beat each other, and the Hebrews which had been with the Philistines turned against them. It was the Lord who saved Israel that day (verse 23).
Then Jonathan and his armour bearer were missed. Saul made an attempt in consulting the Lord, which did not succeed. Sauls adjuration was unnecessary and made in self-will. His oath is but the working of the natural man. In his blindness he thinks he can help along the complete defeat of the enemy by his legal injunction. On account of this foolish oath the people were in distress; legalism always puts burdens and distress upon the people of God. His own son Jonathan, ignorant of his fathers commandment, takes a little honey on the end of the rod and receives refreshment by it. Honey is the type of natural things and their sweetness. Their use in the right way is not forbidden. Like Jonathan we must touch them only with the end of the rod and take a little. If Jonathan had gone down on his knees and filled himself with all the honey he could eat, it would not have refreshed, but incapacitated him for the conflict. Jonathan was revived by the little honey he had taken, while the people fainted. But a worse result of Sauls commandment happened. The famished people ate meat with the blood. Thus Sauls restriction of a lawful thing led to the breaking of a divine commandment.
Saul erects his first altar, for he feels the need; perhaps less than that, he only fears the judgment of God. There is no answer from God when he inquired Shall I go down after the Philistines? What follows shows us again the impetuous and stubborn heart of Saul. Self-righteous and self-willed he is ready to slay his own son; the people rescued him from his own hands. What humiliation for King Saul!
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 2917, bc 1087, An, Ex, Is 404
it came to pass upon a day: or, there was a day
Jonathan: 1Sa 14:39-45, 1Sa 13:2, 1Sa 13:22, 1Sa 18:1-4, 2Sa 1:4, 2Sa 1:5, 2Sa 1:25, 2Sa 1:26
he told not: 1Sa 25:19, Jdg 6:27, Jdg 14:6, Mic 7:5
Reciprocal: Gen 49:27 – a wolf 1Sa 13:3 – the garrison 1Sa 13:23 – passage 1Sa 31:2 – Jonathan 2Sa 8:6 – garrisons 2Sa 23:14 – garrison 1Ch 9:39 – and Saul 1Ch 18:13 – garrisons
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 14:2. Under a pomegranate tree. Rimmon, a rock in the tribe of Judah. Jos 15:32. Jdg 20:47. This reading agrees best with the position of Sauls army, in a place of safety.
1Sa 14:3. Ahiah. Ahimelech, whom Saul slew with all the priests of Nob: 1Sa 22:9.
1Sa 14:6. Let us go over to the garrison. Matzab, a station, an out-post of the army. Hence Mythe, near Tewkesbury, a Roman station. In the time of sore calamity, which is a time of prayer, God prompted Jonathan, like Samson, to effectuate the salvation of the nation.
1Sa 14:14. A yoke; meaning oxen. Our Saxon fathers had much the same phrase, when they measured land by an ox-gang.
1Sa 14:18. Bring hither the ark. The LXX, Bring hither the ephod, which is evidently the true reading, as the ark was not with Saul. The army would not go to war without the ark of Jehovahs strength.
1Sa 14:21. The Hebrews, which had been captured and made slaves, came over to their brethren as soon as they could escape.
1Sa 14:24. Saul adjured the people not to taste food; whereas the more prudent Gideon had required bread of the men of Succoth for his army.
1Sa 14:26. The honey dropped from the hollow of trees, in that land of milk and honey, through the great heat of the weather. Honey-dews in excessively hot days will drop from the leaves of oaks, &c.; after which the leaf is apt to curl and decay.
1Sa 14:35. Saul built an altar, as priests and princes had ever done in all parts of the earth. What time he lost whilst the highest duties await his arm! He should have asked counsel when first engaged in this war.
1Sa 14:39. He shall surely die, though perfectly ignorant, and consequently innocent; for he had broken no known law. Rash vows should rarely be kept. This vow greatly lowers the character of Saul.
1Sa 14:52. Sore warall the days of Saul; yea, in most of the days of David also.Strong man. Sauls guards were the finest men that the nation could boast.
REFLECTIONS.
While the Philistines encamped on the plain, and sent out their parties to plunder the land; while Saul guarded the passes of the mountain! with six hundred men; and while all the inhabitants were fleeing from the invader, or hiding among rocks and in caves; Jonathan, prompted by a divine impulse, ventured with his armour-bearer to attack the garrison, or advanced guard of the enemy. What an act of faith and courage. A single man, attended with his lusty servant, advanced against an army. What an accomplishment of the promise, one of you shall chase a thousand! The Philistines said, come, intending to take him prisoner, or to put him to death. But on seeing in his countenance the soul of a hero, they awaited not the first blow of his sword: twenty of them fell before him. The consternation communicated itself to the camp; and they probably thought the gods were come down in the likeness of men; for correspondently to the divine impulse, the terrors of God fell on the multitude, and the earth trembled under their feet. What a scene of confusion! It was a nation affrighted at once. See the thousands of chariots locking the wheels of one another, and overturned by the fright and fury of the horses. See every man, infuriated with fear, cut down those who entangled him or obstructed his escape. See the Hebrew captives and slaves in this host, perceiving the hand of God against the enemy, catch up arms and attack their masters. See Jonathan enrol his name among the first of heroes, and heroes who believed in God; see him proceed in the career of slaughter till a thousand had fallen at his feet. See him restrain his arm only by the approach of night, and on reaching the confines of the enemys country.Here is the glorious son; but where is the gloomy father? Ah, the father, stung with his sentence, and torporized with unbelief, abode in Gibeah till the watchmen apprized him of the enemys route. And what did he do? When man is not guided by a gracious influence he often greatly errs. So Saul called for the ark, or rather for the ephod that the priest might consult the Lord; but ere that was performed, he said stay thy hand; and cursing the man who should taste any food, he instantly joined the pursuit. But the day that we haste to duty before devotion, we make poor speed; the people could not pursue with vigour for want of food. Finding honey in the hollow trees of a wood, they preferred hunger to a curse; but blessed not the policy of their prince. Jonathan, having passed the wood, was refreshed with a comb of the honey to complete the glories of the day.From this signal victory we may learn, that it is better for a nation to trust in God than in an arm of flesh. A single man, when animated by divine influence, is in himself a victorious army; for it is one with God to save by many or by few. Let the christian minister also be emboldened to speak and act for God, though scarcely a single man stand up to support him in the work; and let the individual not be afraid, though he be surrounded with the alien host. Jonathan was emboldened by the consideration that he went against the uncircumcised: for this was a sign of their not being in covenant with God.Saul having offended at Gilgal, now farther offended by rash swearing and hasty passions, so that the Lord answered him not. Thus while the son was exalted in the eyes of the nation, the father sunk in their esteem. Let us beware of strong passions and rash vows: they will bring shame upon us in the sight of God and men. Ah, how calamitous had this day proved to Saul, had not the people saved Jonathan from becoming a victim, like Jephthahs daughter, to the rashness of a fathers vow. Thus while they opposed oath to oath, and humbled Saul for his sin, they saved him the best of sons, the friend and companion of all his future wars.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 13:23 to 1Sa 14:15. The ancient narrative, continuing 1Sa 13:18. Saul was at Geba (see on 1Sa 13:2), having with him the priest Ahijah, carrying the ephodhere not a garment, but some article used in casting the sacred lot (see 1Sa 2:28*, Jdg 8:27). A valley lay between the two camps, dominated on either side by a steep crag, called respectively Bozez, Shining, and Seneh, Thorny. Unknown to Saul and the Israelites, Jonathan and his armourbearer descended into the valley, exchanged taunts with the Philistines on the crag above, climbed up, took the enemy by surprise, and, assisted by an earthquake (1Sa 13:15), created a panic amongst them.
1Sa 13:2. Migron: not identified.
1Sa 13:14 b. The text is corrupt and it is not clear how it should be restored.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The Philistines seemed content to intimidate Israel with their tremendous show of strength, rather than to attack Saul. One man, however, is not to be intimidated. Jonathan, in the face of Philistine power and in the face of Israel’s pathetic weakness and fear, decides to act apart from his father’s approval or even his knowledge. Jonathan’s faith is a refreshing contrast to Saul’s wavering indecision. He enlists only his armor-bearer to accompany him to the garrison of the Philistines.
There is no doubt interesting spiritual instruction in Saul’s remaining “under a pomegranate tree.” The pomegranate is a fruit full of seeds, speaking of the great fruitfulness the nation Israel will enjoy in the future millennium of earthly blessing. Does this not tell us that, typically speaking, Saul was excusing his present laxity by falling back upon the promise of the future? it is true we should deeply appreciate the promises of God in reference to future great blessing, but this should stir us to exercise a vital faith at present bearing true witness to Him who has given us such “exceeding great and precious promises.” Genuine faith does not encourage laxity, though it may have to wait for some time for God’s leading.
Verse 3 tells us that Ahiah (called Ahimelech in Chapter 22:9), the grandson of Eli, was priest at this time. Yet the priesthood was of no consequence to Saul, nor did Jonathan think of consulting the priest. The priesthood had regained no power since Eli’s day, and God’s prophecy as to there being no old man of Eli’s descendents would prove solemnly true in this case, when Saul had Ahimelech and other priests killed by Doeg the Edomite (ch.22:18).
These things are mentioned as indicating that Jonathan’s faith had no encouragement from circumstances. This is further emphasized in verse 4 by the two sharp rocks that stood on either side of the passage that Jonathan chose. Bozez means “shining,” indicating the apparent shining triumph of the Philistines over Israel at this time; while Seneh means “thorny,” perhaps typical of Israel’s suffering under the thorn-discipline of God. For Bozez was northward on the Philistine side, so that the southern sun would shine on its face, while Seneh was on the south side, toward Israel’s camp.
Jonathan does not speak to his armor bearer with any brash self confidence, but with a dependence that says only, “it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.” The armor bearer evidently knew Jonathan well enough to have confidence in the reality of his faith, and is ready to fully back him up, telling him, “I am with thee according to thy heart.”
Jonathan’s plan of attack had no military strategy in it whatever. The two men come into plain view of the Philistines, who have the advantage of a height well above them. They first decide that if the Philistines tell them to stay where they are until they come down to them, they will do so, and await the result. If, however, they are told to come up to them, they will take this as a sign from the Lord that He is assuring them of victory. Of course, if some had come down to Jonathan, these would be the only ones who might be killed, but since Jonathan and his armor bearer had been invited to come up, they were then in the very midst of the camp. The Philistines speak despisingly when they see the two men, saying they have come out of the holes where they had been hiding. They think of their being no threat whatever, and tell them, “Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.”
Taking this as the Lord’s answer, they fearlessly climb on hands and feet, undaunted either by the steep ascent nor by the contempt of the enemy. Notice, however, that Jonathan does not say, “The Lord hath delivered them into our hand,” but “into the hand of Israel.” Though Israel as a whole was of no help to Jonathan, yet his heart was concerned for the true welfare of the nation rather than for himself.
They reach the crown of the hill, where the contemptuous enemy has expected to make sport of them. But they immediately attacked with a strength begotten of faith in the living God. The Philistines fall one by one before the sword of Jonathan, and his armor bearer made sure the men were killed. About twenty men were quickly dispatched in this first sudden assault. But it did not end there. Confusion was spread into the ranks of the Philistines, and the whole garrison trembled together with the companies of spoilers, apparently thinking that many Israelites had invaded the camp by some means. At the same time God fought for Israel by sending an earthquake that further confused the Philistines. Saul’s watchmen, observing from a distance, were astounded to see the fighting and beating down of one another, for evidently the Philistines fought one another, not knowing who were enemies.
Of course Saul was perplexed, and his perplexity was not relieved by finding that, of his own army, only Jonathan and his armor bearer were missing. He called for Ahiah the priest, that he should bring the ark, no doubt with the intention of inquiring of God. But as he was talking with Ahiah, the increasing noise in the Philistines’ camp so excites him that he tells Ahiah, “Withdraw thine hand.” He is virtually saying. “We don’t need God’s direction now: the noise of the battle decides the matter for us.”
Bringing his army with him to the scene of battle, Saul finds that the Philistines are fighting against each other. Also Hebrews who had been among the Philistines, whether captives or disloyal because of fear, now took sides with Israel. Other Israelites who had hid themselves became brave on hearing of the defeat of the enemy, and joined the ranks of the pursuers. But it was clear for anyone who had eyes to see that it was not man, but the Lord Himself who saved Israel that day.
However, a most untimely element is interjected by the selfish pride of Saul. He had nothing to do with the rout of the Philistines, but pronounces a curse on any of his soldiers who eat food that whole day until evening, in order, as he says, “that I may be avenged on mine enemies.” How did he expect them to be sustained for the conflict? This is the same principle as that of telling the Lord’s servant he is to concentrate on fighting the Lord’s battles, and no to feed on the Word of God before doing so! One does not need to spend ALL his time eating, but if he does not digest the truth of God’s Word he will be less effective in Christian warfare.
The people were greatly distressed by the cruel prohibition of Saul as regards eating food, but they did refrain from eating. However, in coming to a wooded area they found honey on the ground and dropping, evidently from a tree. To have eaten a little of this energizing food would have taken practically none of their time but though God had made the food easily obtainable, Saul’s arbitrary command denied it to them. This is the same legal attitude of the Pharisees in criticizing the Lord for allowing His disciples to eat grain on the sabbath day (Luk 6:1-2). The Lord’s answer shows God’s heart of faithful care for men when they are hungry; for David and his men were allowed even to eat the showbread, which was not lawful under normal conditions (vs.3-4). But in his rigid legality, Saul did not even pretend to be acting for God, but for his own satisfaction in being avenged on his enemies.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
14:1 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, {a} Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that [is] on the other side. But he told not his father.
(a) By this example God declared to Israel that the victory did not consist in multitude or armour, but only because of his grace.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jonathan’s success at Michmash 14:1-23
Armed with trust in God and courage, Jonathan ventured out to destroy Israel’s enemy in obedience to God’s command to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan (cf. 1Sa 9:16). He would have made a good king of Israel. Saul remained in Gibeah, evidently on the defensive. His comfortable position under a fruit tree (cf. 1Sa 22:6; Jdg 4:5) in secure Gibeah, surrounded by his soldiers, contrasts with Jonathan’s vulnerable and difficult position with only the support of his armor bearer. Jonathan was launching out in faith to obey God, but Saul was resting comfortably and failing to do God’s will.
The reference to priestly activity at Shiloh (1Sa 14:3) shows that the nation still regarded Shiloh as a cultic site (i.e., a site where the people practiced formal worship).
"Saul is accompanied by Ahijah, a member of the rejected priestly house of Eli (1Sa 14:3), and this first mention of an Elide after the disasters which befell Eli’s family in chap. 4 triggers the response ’rejected by Yhwh.’ Lest the point be missed, it is reinforced by the odd and needless genealogical reference to Ichabod, Ahijah’s uncle, picking up on 1Sa 4:21-22, and reminding the reader that ’the glory has departed.’ His own royal glory gone, where else would we expect Saul to be than with a relative of ’Glory gone’? The axes which here intersect, the rejection of Saul and the rejection of the Elide priesthood, will do so again in 1Sa 22:11-19, when Saul will bloodily fulfill the prophecy of 1Sa 2:31-33, wreaking Yhwh’s will on the Elides." [Note: David Jobling, "Saul’s Fall and Jonathan’s Rise: Tradition and Redaction in 1 Samuel 14:1-46," Journal of Biblical Literature 95:3 (1976):368-69.]
Bozez (1Sa 14:4, lit. shining) was the south-facing cliff near the Philistine camp at Michmash, perhaps so named because it reflected the sun that shone on it from the south. Seneh (lit. thorny) faced north and was closer to Geba. Jonathan’s route was an extremely difficult one. This fact accounts for his being able to surprise the Philistines.
In contrast to Saul, Jonathan had a true perception of God’s role as the leader and deliverer of His people (1Sa 14:6). He viewed the Philistines as unbelievers under divine judgment whom God wanted exterminated (cf. Genesis 17). He believed that God would work for His people in response to faith, as He had done repeatedly in Israel’s history. He also had learned that superior numbers were not necessary for God to give victory in battle (cf. 1Sa 17:47; Jdg 7:4; Jdg 7:7).
"Other parallels with the story of Gideon commend themselves as well: the hero accompanied by only one servant (1Sa 14:7; cf. Jdg 7:10-11); the sign (1Sa 14:9-10; cf. Jdg 7:13-15); the panic (1Sa 14:15; cf. Jdg 7:21); the confusion, causing the enemy soldiers to turn on ’each other with their swords’ (1Sa 14:20; cf. Jdg 7:22); reinforcements from the ’hill country of Ephraim’ (1Sa 14:22; cf. Jdg 7:24); and the pursuit (1Sa 14:22; cf. Jdg 7:23 . . .)." [Note: Youngblood, p. 661.]
Perhaps Jonathan chose his sign arbitrarily simply to determine how the Lord wanted him to proceed. Some commentators have felt he did not.
"If the Philistines said, ’Wait till we come,’ they would show some courage; but if they said, ’Come up to us,’ it would be a sign that they were cowardly . . ." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 138.]
Half a furrow of land (1Sa 14:14) was half a parcel of land that a yolk of oxen could plow in one day. Evidently God assisted Jonathan by sending a mild earthquake to unnerve the Philistines further (1Sa 14:15; cf. Deu 7:23).
When Saul should have been acting, he was waiting, and when he should have been waiting, he was acting (1Sa 14:18-19). He may have viewed the ark as a talisman that he planned to use to secure God’s help. Or he may have used the Urim and Thummim. [Note: Merrill, "1 Samuel," p. 214.] As Saul watched, the multitude of Philistine soldiers that covered the area began to dissipate. He evidently concluded that he did not need to seek the Lord’s guidance or blessing (cf. 1Sa 13:12).
God caused the Philistines to fight one another (1Sa 14:20; cf. Jdg 7:22; 2Ch 20:23). Some Israelite deserters or mercenaries who were fighting for the Philistines even changed their allegiance and took sides with Jonathan. The tide of battle had turned. Beth-aven stood near Michmash, but the exact site is uncertain.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XIX.
JONATHAN’S EXPLOIT AT MICHMASH.
1Sa 14:1-23.
IT has sometimes been objected to the representation occurring at the end of the thirteenth chapter of the utter want of arms among the Hebrews at this time that it is inconsistent with the narrative of the eleventh. If it be true, as stated there, that the Israelites gained a great victory over the Ammonites, they must have had arms to accomplish that; and, moreover, the victory itself must have put them in possession of the arms of the Ammonites. The answer to this is, that the invasion of the Philistines subsequent to this in such overwhelming numbers seems to have been the cause of the miserable plight to which the Hebrews were reduced, and of the loss of their arms.
Whether we are to take the statement as quite literal that in the day of battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people save Saul or Jonathan, or whether we are to regard this as just an Oriental way of saying that these were the only two who had a thorough equipment of arms, it is plain enough that the condition of the Hebrew troops was very wretched. That in their circumstances a feeling of despondency should have fallen on all save the few who walked by faith, need not excite any surprise.
The position of the two armies is not difficult to understand. Several miles to the north of Jerusalem, a valley, now named Wady Suweinet, runs from west to east, from the central plateau of Palestine down towards the valley of the Jordan. The name Mkmas, still preserved, shows the situation of the place which was then occupied by the garrison of the Philistines. Near to that place, Captain Conder* believes that he has found the very rocks where the exploit of Jonathan occurred. On either side of the valley there rises a perpendicular crag, the northern one, called in Scripture Bozez, being extremely steep and difficult of ascent. “It seems just possible that Jonathan, with immense labour, might have climbed up on his hands and his feet, and his armour-bearer after him.” (*”Tent Work in Palestine.”)
It is evident that Saul had no thought at this time of making any attack on the Philistines. How could he, with soldiers so poorly armed and so little to encourage them? Samuel does not appear to have been with him. But in his company was a priest, Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, grandson of Eli, perhaps the same as Ahimelech, afterwards introduced. Saul still adhered to the forms of religion; but he had too much resemblance to the Church of Sardis – “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
The position of the army of Israel with reference to the Philistines seems to have been very similar to what it was afterwards when Goliath defied the army of the living God. The Israelites could only look on, in helpless inactivity. But just as the youthful spirit of David was afterwards roused in these circumstances to exertion, so on the present occasion was the youthful spirit of Jonathan. It was not the first time that he had attacked the garrison of the Philistines. (See 1Sa 13:3.) But what he did on the former occasion seems to have been under more equal conditions than the seemingly desperate enterprise to which he betook himself now. A project of unprecedented daring came into his mind. He took counsel with no one about it. He breathed nothing of it to his father. A single confidant and companion was all that he thought of- his armour-bearer, or aide-de-camp. And even him he did not so much consult as attach. ”Come,” said he, “and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us; for there is no restraint by the Lord to save by many or by few.” No words are needed to show the daring character of this project. The physical effort to climb on hands and feet up a precipitous rock was itself most difficult and perilous, possible only to boys, light and lithe of form, and well accustomed to it; and if the garrison observed them and chose to oppose them, a single stone hurled from above would stretch them, crushed and helpless, on the valley below. But suppose they succeeded, what were a couple of young men to do when confronted with a whole garrison? Or even if the garrison should be overpowered, how were they to deal with the Philistine host, that lay encamped at no great distance, or at most were scattered here and there over the country, and would soon assemble? In every point of view save one, the enterprise seemed utterly desperate. But that exception was a very important one. The one point of view in which there was the faintest possibility of success was, that the Lord God might favour the enterprise. The God of their fathers might work for them, and if He did so, there was no restraint with Him to work by many or by few. Had He not worked by Ehud alone to deliver their fathers from the Moabites? Had he not worked by Shamgar alone, when with his ox goad he slew six hundred Philistines? Had he not worked by Samson alone in all his wonderful exploits? Might he not work that day by Jonathan and his armour-bearer, and, after all, only produce a new chapter in that history which had already shown so many wonderful interpositions? Jonathan’s mind was possessed by the idea. After all, if he failed, he could but lose his life. And was not that worth risking when success, if it were vouchsafed, might rescue his country from degradation and destruction, and fill the despairing hearts of his countrymen with emotions of joy and triumph like those which animated their fathers when on the shores of Sinai they beheld the horse and his rider cast into the sea?
It is this working of faith that must be regarded as the most characteristic feature of the attempt of Jonathan. He showed himself one of the noble heroes of faith, not unworthy to be enrolled in the glorious record of the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews. He showed himself pre-eminent for the very quality in which his father had proved deficient. Though the earnest lessons of Samuel had been lost on the father, they had been blessed to the son. The seed that in the one case fell on stony places fell in the other on good ground. While Samuel was doubtless disconsolate at the failure of his work with Saul, he was succeeding right well, unknown perhaps to himself, with the youth that said little but thought much. While in spirit perhaps he was uttering words like Isaiah’s, “Then said I, I have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nought and in vain,” God was using him in a way that might well have led him to add, “Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” And what encouragement is here for every Christian worker! Don’t despond when you seem to fail in your first and most direct endeavour. In some quiet but thinking little boy or girl in that family circle, your words are greatly regarded. And just because that young mind sees, and seeing wonders, that father or mother is so little moved by what you say, it is the more impressed. If the father or the mother were manifestly to take the matter up, the child might dismiss it, as no concern of his. But just because father or mother is not taking it up, the child cannot get rid of it. ”Yes, there is an eternity, and we ought all to be preparing for it. Sin is the soul’s ruin, and unless we get a Saviour, we are lost. Jesus did come into the world to save sinners; must we not go to Him? Yes, we must be born again. Lord Jesus, forgive us, help us, save us!” Thus it is that things hid from the wise and prudent are often revealed to babes; and thus it is that out of the mouth of babes and sucklings God perfects praise.
But Jonathan’s faith in God was called to manifest itself in a way very different from that in which the faith of most young persons has to be exercised now. Faith led Jonathan to seize sword and spear, and hurry out to an enterprise in which he could only succeed by risking his own life and destroying the lives of others. We are thus brought face to face with a strange but fascinating development of the religious spirit – military faith. The subject has received a new and wonderful illustration in our day in the character and career of that great Christian hero General Gordon. In the career of Gordon, we see faith contributing an element of power, an element of daring, and an element of security and success to a soldier, which can come from no other source. No one imagines that without his faith Gordon would have been what he was or could have done what he did. It is little to say that faith raised him high above all ordinary fears, or that it made him ready at any moment to risk, and if need be, to sacrifice his life. It did a great deal more. It gave him a conviction that he was an instrument in God’s hands, and that when he was moved to undertake anything as being God’s will, he would be carried through all difficulties, enabled to surmount all opposition, and to carry the point in face of the most tremendous odds. And to a great extent the result verified the belief. If Gordon could not be said to work miracles, he achieved results that even miracles could hardly have surpassed. If he failed in the last and greatest hazard of his life, he only showed that after much success one may come to believe too readily in one’s inspiration; one may mistake the voice of one’s own feeling for the unfailing assurance of God. But that there is a great amount of reality in that faith which hears God calling one as if with audible voice, and goes forth to the most difficult enterprises in the full trust of Divine protection and aid, is surely a lesson which lies on the very surface of the life of Gordon, and such other lives of the same kind as Scripture shows us, as well as the lives of those military heroes of whom we will speak afterwards, whose battle has been not with flesh and blood, but with the ignorance and the vice and the disorder of the world.
One is almost disposed to envy Jonathan, with his whole powers of mind and body knit up to the pitch of firmest and most dauntless resolution, under the inspiration that moved him to this apparently desperate enterprise. All the world would have rushed to stop him, insanely throwing away his life, without the faintest chance of escape. But a voice spoke firmly in his bosom, – I am not throwing away my life. And Jonathan did not want certain tokens of encouragement. It was something that his armour-bearer neither flinched nor remonstrated. But that was not all. To encourage himself and to encourage his companion, he fixed on what might be considered a token for them to persevere in one alternative, and desist in another. The token was, that if, on observing their attempt, the Philistines in the garrison should defy them, should bid them tarry till they came to them, that would be a sign that they ought to return. But if they should say, “Come up to us,” that would be a proof that they ought to persevere. Was this a mere arbitrary token, without anything reasonable underlying it? It does not seem to have been so. In the one case, the words of the Philistines would bear a hostile meaning, denoting that violence would be used against them; in the other case they would denote that the Philistines were prepared to treat them peaceably, under the idea perhaps that they were tired of skulking and, like other Hebrews (1Sa 14:21), wishing to surrender to the enemy. In this latter case, they would be able to make good their position on the rock, and the enemy would not suspect their real errand till they were ready to begin their work. It turned out that their reception was in the latter fashion. Whether in the way of friendly banter or otherwise, the garrison, on perceiving them, invited them to come up, and they would “show them a thing.” Greatly encouraged by the sign, they clambered up on hands and feet till they gained the top of the rock. Then, when nothing of the kind was expected, they fell or the garrison and began to kill. So sudden and unexpected an onslaught threw the garrison into a panic. Their arms perhaps were not at hand, and for anything they knew, a whole host of Hebrews might be hastening after their leaders to complete the work of slaughter. In this way, nearly twenty Philistines fell in half an acre of ground. The rest of the garrison taking to flight seems to have spread a panic among the host. Confusion and terror prevailed on every side. Every man’s sword was against his fellow. “There was trembling in the host, in the field, and among the people; the spoilers and the garrison, they also trembled, and the earth quaked; so it was a very great trembling. Whether this implies that the terror and discomfiture of the Philistines was increased by an earthquake, or whether it means that there was so much motion and commotion that the very earth seemed to quake, it is not very easy to decide; but it shows how complete was the discomfiture of the Philistines. Thus wonderfully was Jonathan’s faith rewarded, and thus wonderfully, too, was the unbelief of Saul rebuked.
Seen from the watch-tower at Gibeah, the affair was shrouded in mystery. It seemed as if the Philistine troops were retreating, while no force was there to make them retreat. When inquiry was made as to who were absent, Jonathan and his armour-bearer alone were missed. So perplexed was Saul, that, to understand the position of affairs, he had called for Ahiah, who had charge of the ark (the Septuagint reads, ”the ephod”), to consult the oracle. But before this could be done, the condition of things became more plain. The noise in the host of the Philistines went on increasing, and when Saul and his soldiers came on the spot, they found the Philistines, in their confusion, slaughtering one another, amid all the signs of wild discomfiture. Nothing loath, they joined in harassing the retreating foe. And as the situation revealed itself others hastened to take part in the fray. Those Hebrews that had come for protection within the Philistine lines now turned against them, all the more heartily perhaps because, before that, they had had to place their feelings so much under restraint. And the Hebrews that lay hid in caves and thickets and pits, when they saw what was going on, rushed forth to join in the discomfiture of the Philistines. What a contrast to the state of things that very morning! – the Israelites in helpless feebleness, looking with despair on the Philistines as they lay in their strong- hold in all the pride of security, and scattered defiant looks and scornful words among their foes; now the Philistine garrison surprised, their camp forsaken, their army scattered, and the only desire or purpose animating the remnant being to escape at the top of their speed from the land of Israel, and find shelter and security in their native country. “So the Lord saved Israel that day; and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.”
And thus the faith of Jonathan had a glorious reward. The inspiration of faith vindicated itself, and the noble self-devotion that had plunged into this otherwise desperate enterprise, because there was no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few, led thus to a triumph more speedy and more complete than even Jonathan could have ventured to dream of. None of the judges had wrought a more complete or satisfactory deliverance; and even the crossing of the Red Sea under Moses had not afforded a more glorious evidence than this achievement of Jonathan’s of the power of faith, or given more ample testimony to that principle of the kingdom of God, which our Lord afterwards enunciated, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence unto yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
This incident is full of lessons for modern times. First, it shows what wide and important results may come from individual conviction. When an individual heart is moved by a strong conviction of duty, it may be that God means through that one man’s conviction to move the world. Modesty might lead a man to say, I am but a unit; I have no influence; it will make very little difference what I do with my conviction, whether I cherish it or stifle it. Yet it may be of just world-wide importance that you be faithful to it, and stand by it steadfastly to the end. Did not the Reformation begin through the steadfastness of Luther, the miner’s son of Eisleben, to the voice that spoke out so loudly to himself? Did not Carey lay the foundation of the modern mission in India, because he could not get rid of that verse of Scripture, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature”? Did not Livingstone persevere in the most dangerous, the most desperate enterprise of our time, because he could not quench the voice that called him to open up Africa or perish? Or to go back to Scripture times. A Jewish maiden at the court of the great king of Persia becomes the saviour of her whole nation, because she feels that, at the risk of her life, she must speak a word for them to the king. Saul of Tarsus, after his conversion, becomes impressed with the conviction that he must preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and through his faithfulness to that conviction, he lays the foundation of the whole European Church. Learn, my friends, everyone, from this, never to be faithless to any conviction given to you, though, as far as you know, it is given to you alone. Make very sure that it comes from the God of truth. But don’t stifle it, under the notion that you are too weak to bring anything out of it. Don’t reason that if it were really from God, it would be given to others too. Test it in every way you can, to determine whether it be right. And if it stands these tests, manfully give effect to it, for it may bear seed that will spread over the globe.
Second, this narrative shows what large results may flow from individual effort. The idea may not have occurred for the first time to someone; it may have been derived by him from another; but it has commended itself to him, it has been taken up by him, and worked out by him to results of great magnitude and importance. Pay a visit to the massive buildings and well-ordered institutions of Kaiserswerth, learn its ramifications all over the globe, and see what has come of the individual efforts of Fliedner. Think how many children have been rescued by Dr. Barnardo, how many have been emigrated by Miss Macpherson, how many souls have been impressed by Mr. Moody, how many orphans have been cared for by Mr. Mller, how many stricken ones have been relieved in the institutions of John Bost. It is true, we are not promised that every instance of individual effort will bring any such harvest. It may be that we are to be content with very limited results, and with the encomium bestowed on the woman in the Gospel, ”She hath done what she could.” But it is also true that none of us can tell what possibilities there are in individual effort. We cannot tell but in our case the emblem of the seventy-second Psalm may be verified, “There shall be an handful of corn in the earth on the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.”
Lastly, we may learn from this narrative that the true secret of all spiritual success lies in our seeking to be instruments in God’s hands, and in our lending ourselves to Him, to do in us and by us whatever is good in His sight. Thus it was eminently with Jonathan. “It may be that the Lord will work for us; for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.” It was not Jonathan that was to work with some help from God; it was the Lord that was to work by Jonathan. It was not Jonathan’s project that was to be carried out; it was the Lord’s cause that was to be advanced. Jonathan had no personal ends in this matter. He was willing to give up his life, if the Lord should require it. It is a like consecration in all spiritual service that brings most blessing and success. Men that have nothing of their own to gain are the men who gain most. Men who sacrifice all desire for personal honour are the men who are most highly honoured. Men who make themselves of no reputation are the men who gain the highest reputation. Because Christ emptied Himself, and took on Him the form of a servant, God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name. And those who are like Christ in the mortifying of self become like Christ also in the enjoyment of the reward. Such are the rules of the kingdom of heaven. “He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal”