1 Samuel 13

13 1 SAUL was [thirty] years old when he began to reign ; and he reigned two years over Israel. And Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel ; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the mount of Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin : and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 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. And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines And the people were gathered together after Saul to Gilgal. And the Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude : and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward of Beth-aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in holds, and in pits. Now some of the Hebrews had gone over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead ; but as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed : but Samuel came not to Gilgal ; and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither the burnt-offering to me, and the peace-offerings. And he offered the burnt-offering. And it came to pass that, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt-offering, behold, Samuel came ; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done ? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash ; therefore said I, Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not intreated the favor of the LORD : I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt-offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly : thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee : for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue : the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath appointed him to be prince over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men. And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Geba of Benjamin : but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.

Verses 17-23. Incursions of three Philistine bands. General disarmament of Israelites (long prior to the events here narrated).

14 1 Now it fell 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 yonder side. But he told not his father. And Saul abode in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron : and the people that 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 the LORD in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. And between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto 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

6 front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba. 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 save by many or by few. 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. Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto the men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. 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. 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 the sign unto us. 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. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew 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. 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 them after him. And 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. And 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. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked ; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went hither and thither. 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. And Saul said unto Ahijah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was there at that time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased : and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand. And Saul and all the people that 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 discomfiture. Now the Hebrews that were with the Philistines as beforetime, 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. Likewise all the men of Israel which 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. So the LORD saved Israel that day ; and the battle passed over by Beth-aven. And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon.

Verses 24-46. Saul’s selfish and hurtful command to abstain from food, causing a breach of the ritual law by the exhausted army. Jonathan rescued from Saul’s unjust judgment of death.

It was the object of the historian to trace the course of events, remarkable and instructive in themselves, which placed on the throne the most illustrious of Israel’s kings. Hence of the earlier years of Saul’s reign no note is made (except his one exploit, 1 S. 11 : 4-11), till from a young man (ch. 9 : 2) he had become mature in years, with a son already grown to manhood (ch. 13 : 2, 3). The fortunes of the kingdom meanwhile had greatly changed, as may be seen by comparing ch. 11 : 8 with 13 : 2, 19-22. There is a chasm in the narrative, which after an interval of some years is resumed in the thirteenth chapter. Conant.

Saul appears to have been a young man at the time of his election. But in the Philistine war of chs. 13, 14, his son Jonathan is already a trusted warrior (13 : 2), twenty years old at least. The natural inference is that a period of at least ten or fifteen years is passed over in silence between ch. 9 and ch. 13. This interval allows time for the development of Saul’s character. It would be strange indeed that he should at once flatly disobey the prophet to whom he owed his elevation : but if some time had elapsed since his election the act becomes much more intelligible. A. F. K.

13 : 1. Saul must have been reigning at this point more than two years. The Hebrew for the first clause, “Saul reigned one year,” according to universal and therefore decisive Hebrew usage, must refer, not to the duration of his reign, but to his age when he began to reign. Saul was the son of — years in [at the point of beginning] his reigning. The numeral for either twenty or thirty has probably dropped out, the sense intended being—Saul was twenty and one years of age (or thirty and one) when he began to reign. A similar omission is probable in the second clause: “And when he had reigned [perhaps] twenty and two years over Israel,” these events that follow took place. H. C.—The Hebrew is the common formula for denoting the age of a king at his accession, and the length of his reign. We must render, “Saul was [ ] years old when he began to reign, and reigned [ ] and two years over Israel.” Either the numbers were wanting in the original document, or they have been accidentally lost. Thirty is supplied in the first place by some MSS. of the Septuagint, and is a plausible conjecture. A. F. K.

2-4. The Wady Suweinit is a ravine which forms one of two passes leading up from the Jordan Valley at Gilgal, south of and partly parallel with the route of Joshua up to Ai and Bethel. On the northern side of this ravine, four miles south of Bethel, is Michmash, referred to so often in this narrative. At this point the ravine is very deep, as may be seen in the illustration on page 289. On its southern eminence lay Geba, at this time a garrisoned outpost of the Philistines, while Saul was encamped in Michmash. (The case is reversed in verse 16.) At the same time Jonathan lay with his thousand men at Gibeah, south of Geba. B.—The villages of Mâkhmâs and Jeba preserve the names and mark the sites of Michmash and Geba. They stand on the north and south respectively of the Wady es Suweinit, a deep ravine with precipitous sides running from the highlands of Benjamin to Jericho. “About two miles southeast of Ai it becomes a narrow gorge with vertical precipices some 800 feet high.” Jonathan was in Gibeah, a few miles to the southwest of Geba. A. F. K.

All suddenly Jonathan fell upon this garrison at Geba, smote and dislodged them. It startled the Philistines as would a clap of thunder from a clear sky, and the people of all Philistia seem to have rushed to arms to maintain their supremacy and to avenge themselves for this defeat. H. C.—The Philistines advanced in overwhelming strength, and compelling Saul to withdraw to Gilgal, on the Jordan, pitched their camp in Michmash. Wilson.

5-7. The army with which the Philistines now invaded the land was the largest and best appointed which they had yet brought into the field. From their position at Gilgal the Israelites could see that mighty host, and under the influence of terror rapidly melted away. The situation was indeed becoming critical in the extreme. Day by day the number of deserters increased, and even those who yet remained

“behind him” “were terrified.” And still Saul waited from day to day. A. E.

8-14. Saul was in deep solicitude; it was his crisis of moral trial. Samuel had told him (10 : 8) to tarry seven days till himself should come, when he would offer the requisite sacrifices, and seek help from their God. Saul waited till the morning of the seventh day; then, impatient of Samuel’s delay, and lacking the repose of real trust in God, he ordered the sacrifice to proceed. Scarcely had he finished when Samuel came up; rebuked his disregard of the Divine directions and his lack of faith in God; frankly told him he had done foolishly; had forfeited his position as the accepted king of God’s people, and must be, sooner or later, superseded by one who would obey his Divine Sovereign implicitly and trust him with all his heart. Thus Saul was weighed in the balances of this searching test and found wanting. Obedience less than implicit and absolute is no real obedience at all. Saul made shipwreck on the point of this vital distinction. From this time onward his career was downward and rapid. H. C.

In the deed itself and in the excuse offered for it lay the seeds of all those vices of character that afterward so fully and so fatally developed themselves in his disastrous career. An impulsiveness that would not wait to consider—an impatience that could not brook restraint—a self-will that would not bow its neck to any yoke—a self-deception, if not untruthfulness, that put lying excuses into his lips, and taught him to use the tyrant’s plea—a superstition which placed that value on the mere form of a religious act that belongs only to the spirit in which it is performed—and a godless independence and insubordination that made light of the direction and aid of heaven, and threw off the authority of God,—all these lay folded up in embryo here. Hanna.—The tendency of the man was to emancipate himself from God’s law and make himself supreme, to follow his own bent and natural impulse, to the setting aside of God’s positive commands. Saul desired to be his own master, and he was left to himself by God. In this its first king, as in a mirror, behold Israel itself. Israel, like Saul, has turned to his own way. Because he hath rejected the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected him from being king. In this character, behold multitudes among ourselves reflected. How many there are with whom everything for time and for eternity trembles in the balance, and the question is whether they will serve the Lord in life or whether they will not. Alford.

14. A man after God’s own heart. This expression occurs only here and in the quotation (Acts 13 : 22), “I have found David the son of Jesse a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” It was uttered by Samuel on the occasion of his reproving Saul for not obeying the commandment of the Lord (verse 13). B. D.—“The man after God’s own heart” stands in opposition to the character of Saul, who is described as acting foolishly by breaking the commandment of God, and rejected by him; that is, deprived of the succession to the crown in his family, on account of his folly, presumption, and disobedience. It therefore means, one who would obey the commandments of God delivered to him by his prophets, and whom, therefore, God would thus far approve and continue to favor. Chandler.

David, more perfectly than any in high place before or after, realized in his public and private capacity the true duty and real privilege of submission and obedience; and it was on account of this more than with regard to his private character, which with all his faults was very lovely, that he was honored with this high distinction. The difference between him and Saul was that his heart was right—his public principle was right—though more than once, being still but dust, he fell into crime and committed grievous mistakes; whereas Saul was wrong in public principle—wrong at heart, although his career was not altogether wanting in honorable actions, just sentiments, and heroic deeds. Kit.—Saul gives no evidence of having upon and within him the permanent influence of religion, of having anything that we could call the fear and love of God in his heart. David, in spite of his grievous faults, had on his heart and conscience continually the impress of the majesty, the tenderness, the encompassing presence, of God. It is better to have our part with David than with Saul, with a loyalty to God that is not always consistent rather than with an outward propriety that is never really loyal. Liddon.

Verses 19-22.

The only discernible place for this brief narrative in the history seems to be at the very beginning of this chapter. The period of which it speaks must have been during the fifteen or more years of the early reign of Saul, concerning which we have no record. B.—Peace had been purchased for Israel at a heavy price. The oppressor ruled in every village, blew out every forge, carried away every weapon of war, and plundered the people at his will. Freedom was dead in the Hebrew land. At some previous period the Philistines had entered the country in force, and reduced it to subjection. Their conquest was thorough and lasting, so that the spirit of the Hebrews became broken by years of oppression. These pages of their history, like those of similar periods of bondage in the Book of Judges, are left out of the record; while the story of the deliverance now to come is written at full length, with a pen which seems to betray its joy in almost every word. Sime.

14 : 1. In verses 15 and 16 of the previous chapter it appears that Saul and Jonathan with about 600 men had ascended from Gilgal to Geba on the south side of the deep chasm of the Wady Suweinit, while the Philistines encamped in Michmash on the north side, thus reversing the positions held in ch. 13 : 2, 3. B.—In these circumstances it is once more the noble figure of Jonathan which comes to the foreground. Whatever fitness he might have shown for “the kingdom,” had he been called to it, a more unselfish, warm-hearted, genuine, or noble character is not presented to us in Scripture than that of Jonathan. Weary of the long and apparently hopeless inactivity, trustful in Jehovah, and fired by the thought that with Him there was “no hindrance to save, by much or by little,” he planned single-handed an expedition against the Philistine outpost at Michmash. As he put it, it was emphatically a deed of faith. A. E.

The site of the Philistine camp at Michmash, which Jonathan and his armor-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 toward 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. The great valley runs nearly due east, and thus the southern cliff is

THE VALLEY OF MICHMASH (Wady Suwelait).

almost entirely in shade during the day. The contrast is surprising and picturesque between the dark cool color of the south side and the ruddy or tawny tints of the northern cliff, crowned with the gleaming white of the upper chalky strata. The picture is unchanged since the days when Jonathan looked over to the white camping-ground of the Philistines, and Bozez must then have shone as brightly as it does now, in the full light of an Eastern sun. Though we got down Seneh, we did not attempt to climb up Bozez. But judging from the descent, it seems possible that Jonathan, with immense labor, could have “climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor-bearer after him.” Conder.

6. O admirable faith of Jonathan, whom neither the steepness of rocks, nor the multitude of enemies, can dissuade from so unlikely an assault! O Divine power of faith, that in all difficulties and attempts, makes a man more than men, and regards no more armies of men than swarms of flies! “There is no restraint to the Lord,” saith he, “to save with many, or by few.” The question is not, what Jonathan can do, but what God can do; whose power is not in the means, but in himself. That man’s faith is well underlaid that upholds itself by the omnipotency of God: thus the father of the faithful built his assurance upon the power of the Almighty. Bp. II.—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. W. G. B.

8-10. He put himself upon Providence, and resolved to be determined by it. “We will discover ourselves to the enemy, if they bid us stand, we will advance no further, taking that intimation of Providence that God would have us act defensively; but if they challenge us and the first sentinel we meet with bids us march on, we will push forward, assuredly gathering that it is the will of God we should act offensively, and he will stand by us.” Upon this issue he puts it, firmly believing, as we all should, that God has the governing of the hearts and tongues of all men, and serves his own purposes by them, though they mean not so, neither doth their heart think so. Jonathan knew God could discover his mind to him and would do it, since he depended upon him, as surely by the mouth of a Philistine as by the mouth of a priest. 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 his conduct. H.

This open appearance of the Hebrews was as startling as unexpected, nor could the Philistines have imagined that two men alone would challenge a post. With genuine Eastern boastfulness they heaped abuse on them, uttering the challenge to come up. This had been the pre-concerted signal; and Jonathan and his armor-bearer crept up the rock on their hands and feet. As Jonathan reached the top, he threw down his foremost opponent, and the armor-bearer, coming up behind, killed him. There was not room for two to attack or defend in line. And so twenty men fell. All this time it would be impossible to know how many assailants were supporting Jonathan and his armor-bearer. This difficulty would be still more felt in the camp and by those at a little farther distance. The terror, probably communicated by fugitives, who would naturally magnify the danger, perhaps into a general assault, soon became a panic. Presently the host became an armed rabble, melting away before their imaginary enemy, and each man’s sword in the confusion turned against his neighbor. A. E.

The shaking of the earth, and the shaking of the enemies’ host, and the shaking of the Israelite hearts with the thrill of victory, all leaped together. On all sides the Philistines felt themselves surrounded. The Israelites whom they had taken as slaves during the last three days rose in mutiny in the camp. Those who lay hid in the caverns and deep clefts with which the neighborhood abounds, sprang out of their subterraneous dwellings. From the distant height Saul, who had watched the confusion in astonishment, descended headlong and joined in the pursuit. It was a battle that was remembered as reaching clean over the country, from the extreme eastern to the extreme western pass—down the rocky defile of Beth-horon, down into the valley of Aijalon. The victory was so dedecisive as to give its name, “the war of Michmash,” to the whole campaign. The Philistines were driven back not to reappear till the close of the reign. Stanley.

23. Beth-aven.** Saul crossed the valley from Geba to Michmash, and drove the Philistines back in a northwesterly direction to Beth-aven, half way between Michmash and Bethel. Thence the pursuit was across the watershed, and headlong down the pass of Beth-horon to Aijalon, where the valley begins to open out toward the plain of Philistia:—that same pass where Joshua gained his great victory over the five Amorite kings. The whole distance was between fifteen and twenty miles. A. F. K.

24. All Israel is adjured not to eat any food until the evening. He stops not to reflect that the order he issues defeats the very end he aims at. Not an hour of the day is to be lost, but by denying his fainting soldiers food, they do less instead of more. It is the thoughtless, imperious, arbitrary command of one who cares more for himself than for his men, a command saturated with the spirit of self-idolatry—“That I may be avenged on mine enemies.” Is this the end for which the Hebrews are to spill their blood, that he, Saul, may be avenged? Such was the bitter fruit that his being permitted to co-operate with Jehovah bore; and we do not need to have armies at command, or the affairs of a nation to guide, to come under the fatal spell of the spirit that ignores God, and claims for self the credit and the glory which are due alone to Him. Hanna.

25-30. However faint, none dared break the fast during that long and weary day, when they followed the enemy as far as the western passes of Aijalon that led down into the Philistine plains. But Jonathan had not known it, till one told him of his father’s vow after he had paused in the forest to dip his staff into honey that had dropped from the combs of wild bees. For such an offence Jonathan was certainly not morally responsible. Considering how small an amount of nourishment had helped him in his weariness, he could only deplore the rashness of his father, whose vow had, through the faintness which it entailed on the people, defeated the very object he had sought. A. E.

32-35. The first fatal mischief that Saul’s rash order wrought, was to involve the people in a breach of the ceremonial law. Denied all food for a whole day, when evening comes, so ravenous is their appetite that they cannot wait till the animals they kill are thoroughly drained of their blood, and so they violate the Mosaic precept which forbade the blood to be eaten.

Saul was even moved to take upon him the new character of a religious instructor of the people. “Ye have transgressed,” he said to them. “Sin not against the Lord in eating with blood.” He had a stone rolled to him, on which the animals might be so slaughtered as to take out all the blood. He built an altar on which burnt-offerings might be presented for the putting away of the great public guilt that had been contracted. That, we are particularly informed, was the first altar that he built unto the Lord. No altar at Mizpah for the acknowledgment of God in entering upon his first campaign—no altar at Gilgal, upon which there might be confession of the guilt contracted there—no altar even at Michmash, to render thank-offerings for the wonderful deliverance vouchsafed to Israel—no altar any time or anywhere, till this particular offence of eating blood was committed. Hanna.—That it should never have entered his mind to build an altar to God before, this was the point on which the Spirit of God directed that the sacred historian should pronounce emphatically. How keenly significant is that parenthetical sentence: “The same was the first altar which he built to the Lord!”

39. In the right direction of the lots as they were cast, it was the evident design of God to bring out to view the evil of Saul’s inconsiderateness. He was the only culpable person, and God made that fact evident. Now, one would have thought that if anything could have brought him to a sense of his error, it would have been the discovery that his rash decree and oath had implicated his own son Jonathan in liability to suffering and death. But no! he did not see it; he would not see it. Our indignation rises when we hear him say, “God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan;” and we are ready to exclaim, “What! another oath? Has not one done mischief enough? cannot you see it? do you not feel it?” Nothing can exceed the hardening influence of that professed religion which leaves a man unsuspicuous and ignorant of himself. Newman.

44,45. If Jonathan had not found better friends than his father, so noble a victory had been recompensed with death. He, that saved Israel from the Philistines, is saved by Israel from the hand of his father. Bp. H.—With generous enthusiasm they cried, “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.” These remarkable words should be meditated upon in connection with those addressed by Jonathan himself that morning to his armor-bearer, “It may be the Lord will work for us.” The Lord did work for him; and truly he wrought with God. It was a great day for Israel, and from the beginning to the end Jonathan was the hero of that day. Kit.

So the Lord saved Israel that day. 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. W. G. B.

COMMISSION TO DESTROY AMALEK. SAUL’S SECOND DISOBEDIENCE. FINAL REJECTION. SAMUEL SLAYS AGAG.