1 Samuel 13–31

SAUL’S FAILURE

13Saul was thirty years^B old when he became king, and he reigned forty-two years^C over Israel. ²He chose three thousand men from Israel for himself: two thousand were with Saul at Michmash^g and in Bethel’s hill country, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah^h of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the troops away, each to his own tent.

³Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrisonⁱ in Gibeah,^F and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land^k saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”^{Gl 4}And all Israel heard the news, “Saul has attacked the Philistine garrison, and Israel is now repulsive to the Philistines.” Then the troops were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵The Philistines also gathered to fight against Israel: three thousand^H chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore.^m They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.^In

⁶The men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because the troops were in a difficult situation. They hid in caves, in thickets, among rocks, and in holes and cisterns.^{o 7}Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.

Saul, however, was still at Gilgal, and all his troops were gripped with fear. ⁸He waited seven days for the appointed time that Samuel had set,^p but Samuel didn’t come to Gilgal, and the troops were deserting him. ⁹So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” Then he offered the burnt offering.

¹⁰Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. So Saul went out to greet him, ¹¹and Samuel asked, “What have you done?”

Saul answered, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me and you didn’t come within the appointed days and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, ¹²I thought, ‘The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³Samuel said to Saul, “You have been foolish.^q You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.^r It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel,^{s 14}but now your reign will not endure.^t The Lord has found a man after his own heart,^Au and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded.” ¹⁵Then Samuel went^B from Gilgal to Gibeah in Benjamin. Saul registered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men.

¹⁶Saul, his son Jonathan, and the troops who were with them were staying in Geba^v of Benjamin, and the Philistines were camped at Michmash. ¹⁷Raiding parties^w went out from the Philistine camp in three divisions. One division headed toward the Ophrah^x road leading to the land of Shual. ¹⁸The next division headed toward the Beth-horon^y road, and the last division headed down the border road that looks out over the Zeboim Valley^z toward the wilderness.

¹⁹No blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel^aa because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise, the Hebrews will make swords or spears.” ²⁰So all the Israelites went to the Philistines to sharpen their plows, mattocks, axes, and sickles.^{C 21}The price was two-thirds of a shekel^D for plows and mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for pitchforks and axes, and for putting a point on a cattle prod. ²²So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hand of any of the troops who were with Saul^ab and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.

JONATHAN’S VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINES

²³Now a Philistine garrison^a took control of the pass at Michmash. 14That 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^b on the outskirts of Gibeah.^Ec The troops with him numbered about six hundred.^{d 3}Ahijah,^e who was wearing an ephod,^f was also there. He was the son of Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod^g son of Phinehas, son of Eli the Lord’s priest at Shiloh.^h But the troops did not know that Jonathan had left.

⁴There were sharp columns^F of rock on both sides of the passⁱ 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.^j Perhaps the Lord will help us. Nothing can keep the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”^k

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.”^{l 13}Jonathan 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^m were terrified. The earth shook,ⁿ and terror spread from God.^{Ao 16}When 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^B at that time. ¹⁹While Saul spoke to the priest,^p the panic in the Philistine camp increased in intensity. So Saul said to the priest, “Stop what you’re doing.”^C

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!^{q 21}There were Hebrews from the area who had gone earlier into the camp to join the Philistines, but even they joined the Israelites^r who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²²When all the Israelite men who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim^s heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they also joined Saul and Jonathan in the battle. ²³So the Lord saved Israel that day.^t

SAUL’S RASH OATH

The battle extended beyond Beth-aven, ²⁴and the men of Israel were worn out that day, for Saul had^D placed the troops under an oath:^u “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^E 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^F 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.^v When he ate the honey,^A he had renewed energy.^{Bw 28}Then 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.^a Just look at how I have renewed energy^C 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^b all the way to Aijalon.^c Since the Israelites were completely exhausted, ³²they rushed to the plunder,^d 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.”^e

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.^f

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^g said, “Let’s approach God here.”^h

³⁷So Saul inquired of God,ⁱ “Should I go after the Philistines? Will you hand them over to Israel?” But God did not answer him that day.^j

³⁸Saul said, “All you leaders of the troops, come here. Let’s investigate^D 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…