Introduction The people have requested a king. Saul has been selected and rejected (chapter 13); three chapters record three great sins on Saul s part; impatience (chapter 13); pride (chapter 14) and disobedience (chapter 15). Wiersbe divides the chapter into two big ideas ; faith in God brings victory (vv.1-23) and foolish words bring trouble (vv.24-52; see TBEC Old Testament History; pp.240-244). What happens when the faith of one person unites with the resources of God? What does it mean to have faith in God? The contrast of course is the faith of Saul, verses the faith of Jonathan. Faith is NOT a force and your words are NOT the container of the force. Faith is confidence in the person of God. One is weak and wavering; one is strong and fearless. One is insensitive to the things of God; the other is insensitive to the will and workings of God. One is misguided and carnal; the other seeks God s blessing and God s favor. An article in Reader s Digest spoke of a 67 year old man named Bill who had managed to donate over one hundred pints of blood over the years. No doubt many people who owed their health, perhaps their life to this man s kindness. How do you think this man s good deeds will be viewed in heaven? Here s what Bill thinks; When that final whistle blows, and St. Peter asks, What did you do? I ll just say, Well, I gave one hundred pints of blood, Bill says with a laugh. That ought to get me in. Bill was probably joking. Let s hope so--because if he s serious, if he thinks his good deeds will get him into heaven; even if he s trusting one hundred pints of donated blood; he s trusting the wrong blood (Joe McKeever, Kenner Louisianna). The Problem 1 Samuel 14:1 (NKJV) Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, let us go over to the Philistines garrison that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father. The Philistines had long kept the people of Israel in bondage. With the establishing of Saul as king and the gathering of the children of Israel together; the Philistines met the threat by reinforcing a garrison to guard the pass at Michmash (13:23). Jonathan saw the posting of the Philistine guard as an opportunity to attack and see the Lord work--(don t let a good opportunity go to waste). 1
Saul was living a life of hesitation, paralysis, unbelief (see verse 2). Jonathan was acting in faith. 1 Samuel 14:2 (NKJV) And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. God allowed Saul to be appointed king in part to provide redemption--deliverance from the oppression of Israel s enemies. Saul is type of the carnal man. In spite of all that God had done through Saul, and all God taught Saul through Samuel; Saul was not a man of faith who sought to glorify God. Why didn t Jonathan tell his father? Some suggestions include Saul may have vetoed the idea; and Jonathan had no desire to seem divisive at this critical time. But the plan was sound--what threat would a couple of Jews be to a whole garrison of Philistine guards? Perhaps they were defectors who wanted to find refugee in the Philistine camp. Jonathan wasn t about to let the Philistines strike first--and so he plots a first strike commando type raid. 1 Samuel 14:3 (NKJV) Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabods brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LordS priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. Saul the rejected king is with Ahijah the rejected priest. Do you remember? Ahijah is the great-grandson of Eli the priest; Icabod was born the day the ark of the covenant and both sons and Eli died. The offspring of Eli would have short ministries and brief lives (see 1 Sam. 2:27-36; 3:11-14). The Setting 1 Samuel 14:4 (NKJV) Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 1 Samuel 14:5 (NKJV) The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah. 2
Two armies occupy high positions facing one another; separated by a rocky valley. Saul is on the outskirts of Gibeah with a tiny band of some 600 men; with Saul is Ahitub--the Lord s priest from Shiloh. 1 Samuel 14:6 (NKJV) Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. Romans 8:31 (NKJV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 1 Samuel 14:7 (NKJV) So his armorbearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart. 1 Samuel 14:8 (NKJV) Then Jonathan said, Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. 1 Samuel 14:9 (NKJV) If they say thus to us, Wait until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 1 Samuel 14:10 (NKJV) But if they say thus, Come up to us, then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us. The guards response becomes the guidance Jonathan needs. Should Jonathan wait for the Philistines to come over or meet them on their own turf? 1 Samuel 14:11 (NKJV) So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden. 3
The Philistines mock Jonathan and his armor bearer; comparing them to frightened animals who somehow have the courage to come out of their holes. 1 Samuel 14:12 (NKJV) 12Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you something. Jonathan said to his armorbearer, Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel. 1 Samuel 14:13 (NKJV) And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. 1 Samuel 14:14 (NKJV) That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land. A half-acre was the amount of land it took to plow With faith comes hope. If we have no faith we have no hope. Without faith we have no future. Without faith there is no meaning, no purpose, no significance in life. People who have no faith in the true and living God find significance in other things, lesser things; significance is found in loved ones, in celebrities, in politics, in social causes, in science, but not in Christ. Psalm 37:5 (NKJV) Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 1 Samuel 14:15 (NKJV) And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. The Philistine Army Panics (vv.16-23) 4
1 Samuel 14:16 (NKJV) Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there. 1 Samuel 14:17 (NKJV) Then Saul said to the people who were with him, Now call the roll and see who has gone from us. And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there. 1 Samuel 14:18 (NKJV) And Saul said to Ahijah, Bring the ark of God here (for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel). Call for the ephod? Ephod and Ark are very similar in the Hebrew. 1 Samuel 14:19 (NKJV) Now it happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, Withdraw your hand. 1 Samuel 14:20 (NKJV) Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every mans sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion. 1 Samuel 14:21 (NKJV) Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Those Jews who were with the Philistines either as slaves or captured prisoners now join the fight. 1 Samuel 14:22 (NKJV) Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. 1 Samuel 14:23 (NKJV) So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven. 5
What began as the adventure of a young man, soon became the cause of the whole nation. And it was a victory for which God was given credit (Chafin; p.115). 6