Jonathan and the Defeat of the Philistines – my favorite Jonathan story. 😊

The Philistines and Israel are at something of a stalemate. The Philistines probably have plenty of men if they wanted to attack Saul’s camp. Verse 2 says that Saul’s “army” amounted to about 600 men, while 13:4 told us that the Philistines had thousands of chariots, horsemen, and troops “like the sand on the seashore.” So why didn’t the Philistines just go slaughter them all? Perhaps they didn’t feel very threatened by 600 farmers with sling shots and garden hoes. 😏

Maybe Jonathan got bored sitting around waiting for something to happen (rather like his father). So he sneaks off one morning with his armor bearer for a bit of adventure. Here:

“So Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come, let us go over to the garrisons of these uncircumcised; perhaps Yahweh will act for us, for there is no hindrance for Yahweh to save by many or by few.”
‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭LEB‬‬

🧔🏻‍♂️ Jonathan: “Maybe Yawheh will act for us.”

🧑🏽‍🦱 Armor Bro: “Yeah… Maybe He will. And maybe He won’t. Ever think of that? Curiosity killed the cat.”

🧔🏻‍♂️ Jonathan: “We’re not cats.”

🧑🏽‍🦱 Armor Bro: “Look at those cliffs. We’re gonna need to land on our feet and have nine lives.”

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Verse 6 is one of my favorite lines in all scripture. Here it is in the NLT:

“For nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!” 1 Samuel‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God does not require

favorable circumstances.

In fact, I think He prefers

“impossible odds.”

Jonathan comes up with a “sign.” And I’m not sure what I think of this.

We’ve seen Gideon come up with a sign – the fleece, both wet and dry.

The servant of Abraham came up with a sign for selecting the bride for Isaac – the woman who offered to water the camels.

Samuel gives Saul 3 signs (but not a partridge in a pear tree).

God has given plenty of signs throughout the generations. But this whole “If thus-and-so happens then it means THIS, but if the other thing happens then it means THAT” – that’s different. That’s a person coming up with the parameters for proof of God’s guidance.

Maybe I just don’t have this level of faith. Maybe the Lord doesn’t do “signs” like this anymore because we are now guided by the nudges and promptings of the indwelling Holy Spirit. I can’t think of a single instance of the Apostles doing anything like this after the day of Pentecost.

Jonathan assigns Divine guidance to the response of a Philistine. That’s wild to me.

😎 Marty the Philistine: “Hey Joe. Look! Couple a Hebrews have come out of their hiding spots.”

😎 Joe the Philistine: “Hey boys! C’mon over here. I wanna show ya somethin’.”

🫣 Lacy’s response: Ohhhh no. No no no. HUGE red flag. 🚩 Don’t go anywhere NEAR those guys. At the very least you’re asking for a wedgie. They look like they belong in a dark alley. Act casual. Turn around and walk away. Ignore them. Maybe whistle.

🧔🏻‍♂️ Jonathan’s response: That’s the signal! Let’s go! They’re goners.

Like I said, I don’t know if God does this anymore, but apparently it was a thing in the OT. I’ve heard of a few people doing things like this. “God if you want me to do XYZ then have someone in a pink Cadillac give me a thousand dollars.”

I kinda did that once. Excepting the pink Cadillac. And I didn’t ask specifically for $1,000. I just needed money for a mission trip. And God did it. 💵 A couple I had never met handed me a check for $1000 cuz God told em to. 😳 I don’t think that’s quite the same as attacking an outpost with 10 to 1 odds. But what do I know?

Moving on.

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It’s important to understand how Jonathan and his armor-bearer worked as a fighting team (verse 13). Jonathan would attack and wound an opponent, probably knocking them to the ground. Then the armor bearer would finish them off. 🗡️

This was not a huge outpost, but still 2 men taking out 20 is pretty amazing. And that’s when God decides to get in on this rumble.

It’s a bit unclear if there was an actual earthquake or if it was a shaking with Divinely-induced terror, but whatever it was it started a chain-reaction. Perhaps news travelled to the main Philistine camp that the entire garrison had fallen. Now the whole camp is in confusion. So much so that Israel’s army scouts keeping an eye on the Philistines can see and hear the tumult.

Saul assembles the troops, Jonathan and his armor bearer are missing, and Saul calls for the priest wearing the ephod. The Masoretic text has it that Saul called for the Ark, (and perhaps it was with them in this instance) but the last time we saw the Ark, the text said:

“The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long time—twenty years in all. During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them.”
‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭7‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Septuagint has it that Saul called for the Ephod, not the Ark. Perhaps he called the priest to go and get the Ark. The Ephod was how they got answers from Yahweh. And the line in verse 19 that all the texts agree on: “Withdraw your hand” seems to indicate that the priest was reaching into the pocket of the Ephod to retrieve the urim and thummim. But again, Saul doesn’t wait for an answer from the Lord. He gets up and races into battle. And while he’s at it, he pronounces a curse on anyone who eats all day. Fight first, eat later.

Some of the soldiers in the Philistine camp are non-Philistines who have been conscripted into the army; possibly even some Hebrews. They took this opportunity to attack their captors. As the army of Saul descended more hidden Hebrews came out of their bunkers to join in the battle. ⚔️

Saul’s senseless curse reminds me a bit of Jephtha’s rash vow. He kinda did the same thing before when he got all wound up and cut up the oxen and threatened the men of Israel to join him in battle “Or Else!” Maybe Tall Saul can fight all day without food, but this rash order has actually hindered the army and then sets them up to sin.

By the time they pause for a breather that evening, the men are so ravenous they are cutting up animals and eating the meat raw.

😳😬🤢

Saul gets all righteously indignant and fusses at them but does not once acknowledge that it was his stupid order and curse that put them in this position.

After dinner, Saul is ready to get everyone moving again to finish off the rest of the retreating Philistines by night.

Only the priest says, ☝🏽👳🏽‍♂️ “Hey, maybe we should pray about that first.”

“And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But He did not answer him that day.” 1 Samuel‬ ‭14‬:‭37‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I’m DYING to know what that LOOKED like! Did the urim and thummim not glow? Were they supposed to glow? Did they have blank sides? Did the priest cast them and get all blanks? Enquiring minds want to know!!

In the context of this narrative it seems that the reason the LORD does not respond is because there is “sin in the camp.” Jonathan is under his father’s curse because he didn’t know about the no-food rule and ate some honey they found in the forest. But I kinda wonder if the earlier incident with the ephod had anything to do with it. Saul calls for the priest but doesn’t wait for an answer and just goes ahead and does what he wants anyway. Maybe the Lord was like:

📱Incoming call: Saul

😑

📱👉🏼DECLINE

📱👉🏼Do Not Disturb

If the LORD won’t answer a question about whether or not to pursue the Philistines, maybe he will answer some questions about who the guilty party is.

The lots fall to indicate Jonathan who confesses to eating the honey and resigns himself to death. 🍯⚰️🪦

Again, this has weird Jephtha vibes.

Except that the whole army intervenes and saves Jonathan because God used him to save Israel from the army of the Philistines.

Saul and Jonathan kind of pick up where Joshua and Caleb left off. They have to claw back territory that Israel lost control of over the years. He keeps an eye out from strong, brave men, and when he finds them, just as Samuel told Israel a king would, he pulls them off their farms and puts them in his army. And the commander of this new army of Israel is Saul’s, cousin, Abner. Remember him. He’s going to be in several of the upcoming stories.