1 Now it fell on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on yonder side. But he didn't tell his father.
2 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;
3 and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Yahweh in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. The people didn't know that Jonathan was gone.
4 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.
5 The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.
6 Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that Yahweh will work for us; for there is no restraint to Yahweh to save by many or by few.
7 His armor bearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart: turn you, behold, I am with you according to your heart.
8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will disclose ourselves to them.
9 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.
10 But if they say thus, Come up to us; then we will go up; for Yahweh has delivered them into our hand: and this shall be the sign to us.
11 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.
12 The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. Jonathan said to his armor bearer, Come up after me; for Yahweh has delivered them into the hand of Israel.
13 Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armor bearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armor bearer killed them after him.
14 That first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land.
15 There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled; and the earth quaked: so there was an exceeding great trembling.
16 The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went [here] and there.
17 Then said Saul to the people who were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. When they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.
18 Saul said to Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was [there] at that time with the children of Israel.
19 It happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said to the priest, Withdraw your hand.
20 Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, [and there was] a very great confusion.
21 Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines as before, and who went up with them into the camp, [from the country] round about, even they also [turned] to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
22 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
23 So Yahweh saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over by Beth Aven.
24 The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food until it be evening, and I be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food.
25 All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground.
26 When the people were come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped: but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath.
27 But Jonathan didn't hear when his father charged the people with the oath: therefore he put forth the end of the rod who was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.
28 Then answered one of the people, and said, Your father directly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats food this day. The people were faint.
29 Then said Jonathan, My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
30 How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for now has there been no great slaughter among the Philistines.
31 They struck of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. The people were very faint;
32 and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.
33 Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against Yahweh, in that they eat with the blood. He said, you have dealt treacherously: roll a great stone to me this day.
34 Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them, Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and don't sin against Yahweh in eating with the blood. All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there.
35 Saul built an altar to Yahweh: the same was the first altar that he built to Yahweh.
36 Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. They said, Do whatever seems good to you. Then said the priest, Let us draw near here to God.
37 Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? will you deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he didn't answer him that day.
38 Saul said, Draw near here, all you chiefs of the people; and know and see in which this sin has been this day.
39 For, as Yahweh lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.
40 Then said he to all Israel, Be you on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. The people said to Saul, Do what seems good to you.
41 Therefore Saul said to Yahweh, the God of Israel, Show the right. Jonathan and Saul were taken [by lot]; but the people escaped.
42 Saul said, Cast [lots] between me and Jonathan my son. Jonathan was taken.
43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. Jonathan told him, and said, I did certainly taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and, behold, I must die.
44 Saul said, God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.
45 The people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it: as Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn't die.
46 Then Saul went up from following the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.
47 Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he 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 himself, he put [them] to the worse.
48 He did valiantly, and struck the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them.
49 Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal:
50 and the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the captain of his host was Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle.
51 Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.
52 There was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man, he took him to him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Samuel 14
Commentary on 1 Samuel 14 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 14
1Sa 14:1-14. Jonathan Miraculously Smites the Philistines' Garrison.
1. the Philistines' garrison—"the standing camp" (1Sa 13:23, Margin) "in the passage of Michmash" (1Sa 13:16), now Wady Es-Suweinit. "It begins in the neighborhood of Betin (Beth-el) and El-Bireh (Beetroth), and as it breaks through the ridge below these places, its sides form precipitous walls. On the right, about a quarter of an acre below, it again breaks off, and passes between high perpendicular precipices" [Robinson].
2. Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah—Hebrew, "Geba"; entrenched, along with Samuel and Ahiah the high priest, on the top of one of the conical or spherical hills which abound in the Benjamite territory, and favorable for an encampment, called Migron ("a precipice").
4. between the passages—that is, the deep and great ravine of Suweinit.
Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison—a distance of about three miles running between two jagged points; Hebrew, "teeth of the cliff."
there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side … Bozez—("shining") from the aspect of the chalky rock.
Seneh—("the thorn") probably from a solitary acacia on its top. They are the only rocks of the kind in this vicinity; and the top of the crag towards Michmash was occupied as the post of the Philistines. The two camps were in sight of each other; and it was up the steep rocky sides of this isolated eminence that Jonathan and his armorbearer (1Sa 14:6) made their adventurous approach. This enterprise is one of the most gallant that history or romance records. The action, viewed in itself, was rash and contrary to all established rules of military discipline, which do not permit soldiers to fight or to undertake any enterprise that may involve important consequences without the order of the generals.
6. it may be that the Lord will work for us—This expression did not imply a doubt; it signified simply that the object he aimed at was not in his own power—but it depended upon God—and that he expected success neither from his own strength nor his own merit.
9, 10. if they say, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand—When Jonathan appears here to prescribe a sign or token of God's will, we may infer that the same spirit which inspired this enterprise suggested the means of its execution, and put into his heart what to ask of God. (See on Ge 24:12).
11. Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes—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.
14, 15. that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armour-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow—This was a very ancient mode of measurement, and it still subsists in the East. The men who saw them scrambling up the rock had been surprised and killed, and the spectacle of twenty corpses would suggest to others that they were attacked by a numerous force. The success of the adventure was aided by a panic that struck the enemy, produced both by the sudden surprise and the shock of an earthquake. The feat was begun and achieved by the faith of Jonathan, and the issue was of God.
16. the watchmen of Saul … looked—The wild disorder in the enemies' camp was described and the noise of dismay heard on the heights of Gibeah.
17-19. Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us—The idea occurred to him that it might be some daring adventurer belonging to his own little troop, and it would be easy to discover him.
18. Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God—There is no evidence that the ark had been brought from Kirjath-jearim. The Septuagint version is preferable; which, by a slight variation of the text, reads, "the ephod"; that is, the priestly cape, which the high priest put on when consulting the oracle. That this should be at hand is natural, from the presence of Ahiah himself, as well as the nearness of Nob, where the tabernacle was then situated.
19. Withdraw thine hand—The priest, invested with the ephod, prayed with raised and extended hands. Saul perceiving that the opportunity was inviting, and that God appeared to have sufficiently declared in favor of His people, requested the priest to cease, that they might immediately join in the contest. The season for consultation was past—the time for prompt action was come.
20-22. Saul and all the people—All the warriors in the garrison at Gibeah, the Israelite deserters in the camp of the Philistines, and the fugitives among the mountains of Ephraim, now all rushed to the pursuit, which was hot and sanguinary.
23. So the Lord saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Beth-aven—that is, "Beth-el." It passed over the forest, now destroyed, on the central ridge of Palestine, then over to the other side from the eastern pass of Michmash (1Sa 14:31), to the western pass of Aijalon, through which they escaped into their own plains.
24. Saul had adjured the people—Afraid lest so precious an opportunity of effectually humbling the Philistine power might be lost, the impetuous king laid an anathema on any one who should taste food until the evening. This rash and foolish denunciation distressed the people, by preventing them taking such refreshments as they might get on the march, and materially hindered the successful attainment of his own patriotic object.
25. all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey—The honey is described as "upon the ground," "dropping" from the trees, and in honeycombs—indicating it to be bees' honey. "Bees in the East are not, as in England, kept in hives; they are all in a wild state. The forests literally flow with honey; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees as you pass along, full of honey" [Roberts].
31-34. the people were very faint. And the people flew upon the spoil—at evening, when the time fixed by Saul had expired. Faint and famishing, the pursuers fell voraciously upon the cattle they had taken, and threw them on the ground to cut off their flesh and eat them raw, so that the army, by Saul's rashness, were defiled by eating blood, or living animals; probably, as the Abyssinians do, who cut a part of the animal's rump, but close the hide upon it, and nothing mortal follows from that wound. They were painfully conscientious in keeping the king's order for fear of the curse, but had no scruple in transgressing God's command. To prevent this violation of the law, Saul ordered a large stone to be rolled, and those that slaughtered the oxen to cut their throats on that stone. By laying the animal's head on the high stone, the blood oozed out on the ground, and sufficient evidence was afforded that the ox or sheep was dead before it was attempted to eat it.
45. the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not—When Saul became aware of Jonathan's transgression in regard to the honey, albeit it was done in ignorance and involved no guilt, he was, like Jephthah [Jud 11:31, 35], about to put his son to death, in conformity with his vow [1Sa 14:44]. But the more enlightened conscience of the army prevented the tarnishing the glory of the day by the blood of the young hero, to whose faith and valor it was chiefly due.
47, 48. So Saul … fought against all his enemies on every side—This signal triumph over the Philistines was followed, not only by their expulsion from the land of Israel, but by successful incursions against various hostile neighbors, whom he harassed though he did not subdue them.