Jonathan’s great military exploit
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📚Now one day it came about that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who was his armour bearer, “Come and let us go over to the Philistines’ outpost that is on the other side”. But he did not tell his father. 14:1 The first 23 verses of this chapter record one of the great individual military exploits in the Bible.⚜
2 📚And Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron, and the people who were with him were about six hundred men. 3 📚And Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod 📖. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
4 📚And on the pass by which Jonathan sought to reach the Philistines’ outpost, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other side. The name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The one crag was situated toward the north opposite Michmash, and the other toward the south, opposite Gibeah.
6 📚And Jonathan said to the young man who was his armour bearer, “Come, and let us go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised 📖 men. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can prevent the LORD from saving whether by many or by few 📖”.
7 📚And his armour bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Turn yourself forward. See, I am with you according to your desire”.
8 📚Then Jonathan said, “Look, we will cross over to these men, and we will let ourselves be seen by them. 9 📚If they speak to us like this: ‘Wait until we come to you’, then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 10 📚But if they speak like this: ‘Come up to us’, then we will go up, for the LORD has delivered them into our hands. And that will be a sign to us”.
11 📚And both of them let themselves be seen by the outpost of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews 📖 have come out of the holes where they have hidden themselves”. 12 📚And the men of the outpost responded to Jonathan and his armour bearer and said, “Come up to us, and we will tell you something”.
And Jonathan said to his armour bearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered 📖 them into the hands of Israel”.
13 📚And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet 📖, and his armour bearer after him. And the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armour bearer killed some after him. 14 And about twenty men fell in that first attack which Jonathan and his armour bearer made, within about half an acre 📖 of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.
Victory over the Philistines
15 📚And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled, and the earth quaked, so it became a very great trembling 📖.
16 📚And Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and saw the mob melting away, moving here and there. 17 Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Make a count now and see who has gone from us”. And when they had made a count, it was seen that Jonathan and his armour bearer were not there.
18 📚And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring here the ark of God”. For at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel.
14:18 Saul’s intention was to find God’s will for the present occasion. Compare 1 Sam 23:9-11; 1 Sam 30:7-8. Like Saul some people want to find God’s will when there is the prospect of some success or other, but think little of seeking Him simply to know their duty.⚜
19 📚And it came about, while Saul was talking to the priest, that the noise in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased. And Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand”.
14:19 It seems Saul decided to pursue the Philistines without waiting to see what God would say. Such action was typical of Saul.⚜
20 📚And Saul and all the people who were with him assembled and went to the battle, and they saw that every man’s sword was against his fellow soldier, and that there was very great confusion. 21 📚Moreover the Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines, who had gone up with them to the camp from the surrounding countryside, they also turned and came to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 📚Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines had fled, they also followed close behind them in the battle. 23 📚So the LORD 📖 saved Israel that day, and the battle passed over to Beth-Aven 📖.
Saul’s reckless vow and Jonathan’s danger
24 📚And the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had put the people under an oath 📖, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats any food until evening, so that I may take vengeance on my enemies”. So none of the people tasted any food.
25 📚And all the people of the land came into the woods, and there was honey on the ground. 26 📚And when the people came into the woods, they saw the honey dripping, but no man put his hand to his mouth, because the people were afraid of the oath. 27 📚But Jonathan did not hear when his father charged the people with the oath, so he put out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and dipped it in a honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes shone 📖. 28 📚Then one of the people responded and said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats any food today.’ ” And the people were faint.
29 📚Then said Jonathan, “My father has troubled 📖 the land. Please see how my eyes have shone, because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 📚How much more they could have done, if the people today had eaten freely of the plunder of their enemies which they found! For would there not have been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”
31 📚And they struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people became very faint. 32 📚And the people fell on the plunder and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood 📖. 33 📚Then they told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against the LORD, by eating meat with the blood”. And he said, “You have transgressed. Roll a great stone to me today”. 34 And Saul said, “Scatter among the people and say to them, ‘Each man must bring here to me his ox and each man his sheep, and slaughter them here and eat, and not sin against the LORD by eating meat with the blood.’ ” And each man from all the people brought his ox with him that night and slaughtered it there. 35 📚And Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first 📖 altar that he built to the LORD.
36 📚And Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them”. And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you”. Then the priest said, “Let us here draw near to God”.
14:36 Having gone through the forms of devotion, Saul’s self-confidence returns, his fear abates. He is ready to rush after the Philistines without seeking God’s will. He needed the priests’ reminder to “enquire of God”.⚜
37 📚And Saul asked counsel from God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hands of Israel?” But the LORD did not answer 📖 him that day.
38 📚And Saul said, “Draw near here, all you leaders of the people, and find out and see how this sin has happened today. 39 📚For, as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is in my son Jonathan, he shall surely die”. But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.
14:39 Saul adds another vow to his original one. This one too went unfulfilled.⚜
40 📚Then he said to all Israel, “You be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side”. And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you”.
41 📚Therefore Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, “Give a perfect lot”. And Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people were cleared.
42 And Saul said, “Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan”. And Jonathan was taken.
14:41-42 Casting lots to find God’s will was a common practice then – Josh 7:14; 18:6; 1 Chron 24:5.⚜
43 📚Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done”. And Jonathan told him, saying, “I just tasted a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand, and, look, I must die!”
44 📚And Saul answered, “God do so and more also, for you shall surely die, Jonathan”.
14:44 It would have been better for Saul if he had been as determined to put Agag to death as he was to kill Jonathan (1 Sam 15:8).⚜
45 📚And the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? God forbid! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he has worked with God today”. So the people rescued Jonathan, so that he did not die.
14:45 The men decided that if it came to a matter of oaths they too could make them.⚜
Saul’s victories over enemies
46 📖Then Saul went up from following the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.
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 wherever he turned, he troubled them.
14:47 Israel was surrounded by enemies. Moab and Ammon were to the east beyond the Jordan River. Edom was south, Zobah north, the Philistines west.⚜
48 📚And he gathered an army and attacked the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.
49 📚Now Saul’s sons were Jonathan and Ishui 📖 and Melchishua. And these were the names of his two daughters: the name of the firstborn was Merab and the name of the younger was Michal. 50 📚And Saul’s wife’s name was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. 51 📚And Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.
52 📚And the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul, and when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he took him for his service 📖.