1 Samuel 14
14
1That same day Saul’s son Jonathan said to the attendant who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s cross over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.” However, he did not tell his father.
2Saul was staying under the pomegranate tree in Migron#Is 10:28 on the outskirts of Gibeah.#14:2 LXX reads on top of the hill#1Sm 13:15–16 The troops with him numbered about six hundred.#1Sm 13:15 3Ahijah,#1Sm 22:9–12,20 who was wearing an ephod,#1Sm 2:28 was also there. He was the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod#1Sm 4:21 son of Phinehas, son of Eli the Lord’s priest at Shiloh.#1Sm 1:3 But the troops did not know that Jonathan had left.
4There were sharp columns#14:4 Lit There was a tooth of rock on both sides of the pass#1Sm 13:23 that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine garrison. One was named Bozez and the other Seneh; 5one stood to the north in front of Michmash and the other to the south in front of Geba. 6Jonathan said to the attendant who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men.#1Sm 17:26,36; Jr 9:25–26 Perhaps the Lord will help us. Nothing can keep the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”#Jdg 7:4–7
7His armor-bearer responded, “Do what is in your heart. Go ahead! I’m completely with you.”
8“All right,” Jonathan replied, “we’ll cross over to the men and then let them see us. 9If they say, ‘Wait until we reach you,’ then we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10But if they say, ‘Come on up,’ then we’ll go up, because the Lord has handed them over to us — that will be our sign.”
11They let themselves be seen by the Philistine garrison, and the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they’ve been hiding!” 12The men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer. “Come on up, and we’ll teach you a lesson!” they said.
“Follow me,” Jonathan told his armor-bearer, “for the Lord has handed them over to Israel.”#2Sm 5:24 13Jonathan climbed up using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer behind him. Jonathan cut them down, and his armor-bearer followed and finished them off. 14In that first assault Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck down about twenty men in a half-acre field.
A Defeat for the Philistines
15Terror spread through the Philistine camp and the open fields to all the troops. Even the garrison and the raiding parties#1Sm 13:17–18 were terrified. The earth shook,#1Sm 7:10 and terror spread from God.#14:15 Or and a great terror spread#2Kg 7:6 16When Saul’s watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, they saw the panicking troops scattering in every direction. 17So Saul said to the troops with him, “Call the roll and determine who has left us.” They called the roll and saw that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were gone.
18Saul told Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God,” for it was with the Israelites#14:18 LXX reads “Bring the ephod.” For he wore the ephod before Israel at that time. 19While Saul spoke to the priest,#Nm 27:21 the panic in the Philistine camp increased in intensity. So Saul said to the priest, “Stop what you’re doing.”#14:19 Lit “Withdraw your hand”
20Saul and all the troops with him assembled and marched to the battle, and there the Philistines were, fighting against each other in great confusion!#Jdg 7:22; 2Ch 20:23 21There were Hebrews from the area who had gone earlier into the camp to join the Philistines, but even they joined the Israelites#1Sm 29:4 who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22When all the Israelite men who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim#1Sm 13:6 heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they also joined Saul and Jonathan in the battle. 23So the Lord saved Israel that day.#Ex 14:30
Saul’s Rash Oath
The battle extended beyond Beth-aven, 24and the men of Israel were worn out that day, for Saul had#14:24 LXX adds committed a great act of ignorance and placed the troops under an oath:#Jos 6:26 “The man who eats food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies is cursed.” So none of the troops tasted any food.
25Everyone#14:25 Lit All the land went into the forest, and there was honey on the ground. 26When the troops entered the forest, they saw the flow of honey, but none of them ate any of it#14:26 Lit but there was none who raised his hand to his mouth because they feared the oath. 27However, Jonathan had not heard his father make the troops swear the oath. He reached out with the end of the staff he was carrying and dipped it into the honeycomb.#1Sm 14:43 When he ate the honey,#14:27 Lit he returned his hand to his mouth he had renewed energy.#14:27 Lit his eyes became bright#1Sm 30:12 28Then one of the troops said, “Your father made the troops solemnly swear, ‘The man who eats food today is cursed,’ and the troops are exhausted.”
29Jonathan replied, “My father has brought trouble to the land.#1Kg 18:17–18 Just look at how I have renewed energy#14:29 Lit how my eyes became bright because I tasted a little of this honey. 30How much better if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Then the slaughter of the Philistines would have been much greater.”
31The Israelites struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash#1Sm 14:5 all the way to Aijalon.#Jos 10:12 Since the Israelites were completely exhausted, 32they rushed to the plunder,#1Sm 15:19 took sheep, goats, cattle, and calves, slaughtered them on the ground, and ate meat with the blood still in it. 33Some reported to Saul, “Look, the troops are sinning against the Lord by eating meat with the blood still in it.”#Gn 9:4; Lv 17:10–12
Saul said, “You have been unfaithful. Roll a large stone over here at once.” 34He then said, “Go among the troops and say to them, ‘Let each man bring me his ox or his sheep. Do the slaughtering here and then you can eat. Don’t sin against the Lord by eating meat with the blood in it.’” So every one of the troops brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. 35Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first time he had built an altar to the Lord.#1Sm 7:12,17
36Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines tonight and plunder them until morning. Don’t let even one remain!”
“Do whatever you want,” the troops replied.
But the priest#1Sm 14:3,18–19 said, “Let’s approach God here.”#Jdg 18:5–6
37So Saul inquired of God,#1Sm 10:22 “Should I go after the Philistines? Will you hand them over to Israel?” But God did not answer him that day.#1Sm 28:6
38Saul said, “All you leaders of the troops, come here. Let’s investigate#14:38 Lit know and see how this sin has occurred today. 39As surely as the Lord lives who saves Israel, even if it is because of my son Jonathan, he must die!” Not one of the troops answered him.
40So he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.”
And the troops replied, “Do whatever you want.”
41So Saul said to the Lord, “God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant today? If the unrighteousness is in me or in my son Jonathan, Lord God of Israel, give Urim; but if the fault is in your people Israel, give Thummim.”#14:41 LXX; MT reads said to the Lord, “God of Israel, give us the right decision.”#Ac 1:24 Jonathan and Saul were selected, and the troops were cleared of the charge.
42Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan,” and Jonathan was selected. 43Saul commanded him, “Tell me what you did.”#Jos 7:19
Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey#1Sm 14:27 with the end of the staff I was carrying. I am ready to die!”
44Saul declared to him, “May God punish me and do so severely#1Sm 25:22 if you do not die, Jonathan!”
45But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die? He accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel! No, as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground,#2Sm 14:11; 1Kg 1:52; Ac 27:34 for he worked with God’s help today.”#Jn 3:21 So the people redeemed Jonathan, and he did not die. 46Then Saul gave up the pursuit of the Philistines, and the Philistines returned to their own territory.
Summary of Saul’s Kingship
47When Saul assumed the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies in every direction: against Moab, the Ammonites,#1Sm 11:1–13 Edom, the kings of Zobah,#2Sm 8:3–10 and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he caused havoc.#14:47 LXX reads he was victorious 48He fought bravely, defeated the Amalekites,#1Sm 15:3,7 and rescued Israel from those who plundered them.
49Saul’s sons#1Sm 31:2; 1Ch 10:2 were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. The names of his two daughters were Merab,#1Sm 18:17–19 his firstborn, and Michal,#1Sm 18:20,27; 19:12; 2Sm 6:20–23 the younger. 50The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of his army was Abner son of Saul’s uncle Ner.#2Sm 2:8 51Saul’s father was Kish.#1Sm 9:1,21 Abner’s father was Ner son of Abiel.
52The conflict with the Philistines was fierce all of Saul’s days, so whenever Saul noticed any strong or valiant man, he enlisted him.#1Sm 8:11
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1 Samuel 14: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Samuel 14
14
1 ONE DAY Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor-bearer, Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side. But he did not tell his father.
2 Saul was remaining in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron; and with him were about 600 men,
3 And Ahijah son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, was wearing the ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan was gone.
4 Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistine garrison there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side; one was named Bozez, and the other Seneh.
5 The one crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.
6 And Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For there is nothing to prevent the Lord from saving by many or by few.
7 And his armor-bearer said to him, Do all that is in your mind; I am with you in whatever you think [best].
8 Jonathan said, We will pass over to these men and we will let them see us.
9 If they say 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, Come up to us, we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be our sign.
11 So both of them let the Philistine garrison see them. And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.
12 The garrison men said to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, Come up to us and we will show you a thing. Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into Israel's hand.
13 Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, his armor-bearer after him; and the enemy fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him.
14 And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made was about twenty men within about a half acre of land [which a yoke of oxen might plow].
15 And there was trembling and panic in the [Philistine] camp, in the field, and among all the men; the garrison, and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked, and it became a terror from God.
16 Saul's watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away and went hither and thither.
17 Then Saul said to the men with him, Number and see who is gone from us. When they numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing.
18 Saul said to Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God–for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel.
19 While Saul talked to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp kept increasing. Then Saul said to the priest, Withdraw your hand.
20 Then Saul and all the people with him rallied and went into the battle, and behold, every [Philistine's] sword was against his fellow in wild confusion.
21 Moreover, the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, 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, they also went after them in hot pursuit in the battle.
23 So the Lord delivered Israel that day, and the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.
24 But the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had caused them to take an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food before evening and until I have taken vengeance on my enemies. So none of the men tasted any food.
25 And all the people of the land came to a wood, and there was honey on the ground.
26 When the men entered the wood, behold, the honey was dripping, but no man tasted it, for the men feared the oath.
27 But Jonathan had not heard when his father charged the people with the oath. So he dipped the end of the rod in his hand into a honeycomb and put it to his mouth, and his [weary] eyes brightened.
28 Then one of the men told him, Your father strictly charged the men with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food today. And the people were exhausted and faint.
29 Then Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.
30 How much better if the men had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now the slaughter of the Philistines has not been great.
31 They smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint.
32 [When night came and the oath expired] the men flew upon the spoil. They took sheep, oxen, and calves, slew them on the ground, and ate them [raw] with the blood.
33 Then Saul was told, Behold, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood. And he said, You have transgressed; roll a great stone to me here.
34 Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people and tell them, Bring me every man his ox or his sheep, and butcher them here and eat; and sin not against the Lord by eating the blood. So all the men brought each one his ox that night and butchered it there.
35 And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar he built to the Lord.
36 Then Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night and seize and plunder them until daylight, and let us not leave a man of them. They said, Do whatever seems good to you. Then the priest said, Let us draw near here to God.
37 And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel? But He did not answer him that day.
38 Then Saul said, Draw near, all the chiefs of the people, and let us see how this sin [causing God's silence] arose today.
39 For as the Lord lives, Who delivers Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But not a man among all the people answered him.
40 Then he said to all Israel, You be 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 the Lord, the God of Israel, Give a perfect lot and show the right. And Saul and Jonathan were taken [by lot], but the other men went free.
42 Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.
43 Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan said, I tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. And behold, I must die.
44 Saul answered, May God do so, and more also, for you shall surely die, Jonathan.
45 But the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan, who has wrought this great deliverance to Israel, die? God forbid! As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head perish, for he has wrought this great deliverance with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
46 Then Saul ceased pursuing the Philistines, and they went to their own place.
47 When Saul took over the kingdom of Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he made it worse for them.
48 He did valiantly and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.
49 Now Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua; and the names of his two daughters were, of the firstborn, Merab; and of the younger, Michal.
50 The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The commander of his army was Abner son of Ner, Saul's uncle.
51 Kish the father of Saul and Ner the father of Abner were sons of Abiel.
52 There was severe war against the Philistines all the days of Saul, and whenever Saul saw any mighty or [outstandingly] courageous man, he attached him to himself.
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