One day, Jonathan said to his armour bearer, “Come let us go over to the Philistine garrison….” Jonathan was obviously not just sitting around, unlike his father who was sitting under a tree in Migron on the outskirts of Gibeah (v1-3). Jonathan was intent on the battle and he and his armour bearer went out without telling Saul. He didn’t even tell his men who were with him. Armour bearers were loyal and brave because the lives of their master’s often depended upon them. These two brave men went into a dangerous place, but their trust was in God.
There was a narrow pass between two sharp rocks and Jonathan went on this route to the Philistine garrison (v4,5). His trust was clearly in God as he said that The LORD may work for them for, He could save with few men as well as many (v6,7). The LORD was not restricted by numbers. We often say that one with God is a majority. His armour bearer was incredibly loyal and assured Jonathan that he would go with him. Jonathan was prepared to go simply to see what The LORD would do. His father had not had the same trust a short time before when he was waiting for Samuel. Jonathan must have been heartened by his armour bearer’s words of support; he trusted his master.
Paul writing to the Romans (8:31) says that If God is for us, who can be against us. It is not how much faith we may have, but faith in a great God, which is vital.
Jonathan then decided that they should cross over and show themselves to the Philistines. This was to see what God’s will was. He wanted to be sure. If the Philistines told Jonathan to wait until they came to them, that would be a sign for Jonathan and his men to stand still, but if they ‘invited’ them to go up to the Philistines, he would take it as God’s will for them to go against them (v8-10).
Knowing God’s will can be difficult at times, except where the Bible actually says, ‘this is the will of God for you’. (See e.g., 1 Thessalonians 4:3 and 5:18). Normally we have to pray for God’s leading and take one step at a time, or push doors, and trust in God.
Jonathan and his armour bearer reached the Philistine garrison and the men called to Jonathan to go up to them. He trusted this as God’s leading. It would appear that the garrison was high up on a rock about seven miles north of Jerusalem. The place is described by Josephus as “upon a precipice with three peaks, ending in a small, but sharp and long extremity, while there was a rock that surrounded them like bulwarks to prevent the attack of the enemy”. Jonathan had to get on his hands and knees to climb up. Jonathan and his armour bearer slew about twenty men as he trusted God for the battle (v11-14). Those in the camp were in great fear and trembling, but more so because God had sent an earthquake (v15). Even though the Israelites were outnumbered and ill-equipped against the Philistines. God was greater and they were no match for Him.
Meanwhile, Saul and his army at Gibeah, saw that the Philistine army was being scattered, so they decided to hold a roll call. They discovered that Jonathan and his armour bearer were missing. Initially Saul called for Abijah, one of Samuel’s sons (see chapter 8) to bring the ark of God which had been left at Kirjath (Kirjath) Jearim (see chapter 7). I doubt that Saul had really thought about the ark of God, but he was in trouble, and as with many even today, in such circumstances, they think about praying to God.
Samuel was still alive, but Saul sent for his son Abijah, who was a judge. Maybe he was considered to be a priest too, as priests were usually judges. As he was speaking to the priest the noise in the Philistine camp increased, he told the priest to hold off, realising that he needed to fight with Jonathan (v16-19). Saul didn’t give the priest chance to find out God’s will, Saul was impatient and did what he thought best. So, they went to battle (v20-23) and even those who had gone away into hiding, came out to join in the battle when they heard that they were on the verge of a victory. The important phrase here is that The LORD saved Israel that day (v23), it was His battle but using a faithful man like Jonathan. However, Saul seemed to want to take the credit, and put his army under an oath that they would not eat until they had routed the Philistines (v24). Instead of encouraging his army, he discouraged them. It might have sounded good to fast until they had defeated the Philistines, but it wasn’t right. Saul’s words indicate that he was controlled by pride and foolishness. He liked the people to think that he was being spiritual when he was not. Fasting was fine when God commanded it, but this was Saul threatening his loyal men with a curse if they didn’t complete the battle. The men were distressed rather than encouraged.
We often see that Saul was a poor leader of men. He often did it by imposing threats, as was evident here. Jonathan was completely different. He had not heard his father’s threat to the people, so that when they came to some honey in the ground, Jonathan took of it and was nourished (v25-30). Saul’s men would not touch it for fear and one of them told Jonathan of his father’s curse. Jonathan knew his father better than most, and said that his father was wrong, the honey was good and beneficial, and the victory would have been greater if they had had proper nourishment. I’m no expert on where honey is to be found except in a hive, but this was lying on the ground, evidently provided by God for their nourishment. Because the men did not eat of it, they were weakened and lacked the energy to fight as they could have done. Jonathan said that his father troubled Israel. Perhaps not the best thing to say in the circumstances, but true, nevertheless.
The soldiers had driven back the Philistines to Aijalon, quite a distance from Michmash, so they would be very exhausted (v31), and they rushed on the stuff that the Philistines had left and took the sheep, oxen and calves and slaughtered them for food (v32). Saul’s foolish command cause them to sin. Saul appearing to be so spiritual, told them that they were sinning by eating the blood (v33). To appease their sinning, he told them to bring the animals to him and he built an altar and slaughtered the animals there (v34,35).
Saul then commanded that they go after the Philistines by night and wipe them out, and the people said that they would do whatever Saul said (v36). The priest intervened and suggested that they seek God first and Saul agreed. However, God did not answer that day. Saul spoke about the sin, not his own, but Jonathan breaking the fast Saul had ordered. He seemed to be unconcerned that Jonathan may die. Even the people knew that Jonathan was right and not Saul (v36-39). He told them to cast lots as to whether Jonathan should die or he himself. It was clear that Jonathan had eaten the honey and Saul was taken up in his pride and didn’t care that Jonathan should die. The people knew that Jonathan had brought about the victory over the Philistines (v40-44) and they rescued Jonathan from Saul’s ungodly oath and curse (v45,46) and Saul left off chasing the Philistines and the Philistines returned to their own place. The victory could have been much greater but for Saul’s pride and stupidity.
Saul sought to establish his rule by attacking his enemies including Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zobah and the Philistines. He also attacked the Amalekites and delivered Israel from those who plundered them (v47-52). We are introduced to most of Saul’s family, sons, daughters, wife, and the commander of his army, Abner who was Saul’s cousin. There was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. He also noted any strong men and took them into his army. Even though he appeared to be strong, but we shall see that he was weak.
