Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Time is the theme of the first verse of chapter 13, but it is a bit of a mystery. The general translation is “Saul was thirty years old at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.” Thing is, the number of years is NOT in the Masoretic texts. The Complete Jewish Bible reads “Sha’ul was — years old when he began his reign, and he had ruled Isra’el for two years” The Schocken Bible, Everett Fox 1995 reads “Sha’ul [was] —- years old upon his becoming king, and for —- years he reigned as king over Israel.” Rashi teaches that perhaps Saul was like a new-born one year old not having tasted sin yet as king. Or, he says, Saul was in a year of his reign, having reigned thus far two years. Steinsaltz puts a slight spin on that saying ‘Saul was one year into his reign, and two years he reigned over Israel.’ Which means that it was only a total of two years from when Saul was crowned king to this incident here, when he failed in his commission.

Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Mikmash and in the mountains of Bethel. One thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah. Saul and Jonathan had swords. Everyone else had whatever they could come up with. Every other fighting-aged man Saul sent back home. Without weapons and equipment, they weren’t much good to him anyway. Saul was about forty years old at this time, Jonathan being twenty. David hadn’t been born yet.

Jonathan struck the Philistine garrison that was in Geba. Saul proclaimed the news far and wide – and the people attributed the victory to Saul. The Philistines countered with thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and enough foot soldiers in the middle that they were like sand on a seashore. They came up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven, near Saul. The Israelites saw this and… some hid, some deserted across the Jordan, and all of them had the basic attitude: we’re gonna die.

Saul trembled in Gilgal. Wait. Wasn’t he in Mikmash a few verses ago? Yup. Samuel seems to have given him instructions similar to ones he had given before (1 Samuel 10:8). As the Philistines came into Israel to fight, Samuel had them withdraw so they could FIRST seek the Lord. Saul was at Gilgal. He was waiting. The men were waiting. Time was passing. They were waiting. There was a lot of waiting. But Samuel didn’t come. And the Philistines were camped. And people started to depart. Saul didn’t like when people walked away from him. Maybe at heart, Saul wasn’t as meek and humble as he had seemed. Perhaps Saul liked to be the center of attention and the center of approval? His behaviour seems to bear it out, whether it was a way he became after being in the limelight (certainly not alone in that) or whether he way always that way, although only recently had the opportunity to indulge (also not alone in that), we don’t know. But Saul can’t take the people leaving and he choses a course of action.

Saul got them to bring the burnt offerings and peace offerings and he, Saul, offered them up. He was king, true. But he wasn’t a priest. This was not his role. But he took it upon himself to keep the people from leaving. Just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived – it seems that God orchestrated this so that Saul could prove his faithfulness, but Saul failed instead of standing (James 4:7; 1 Corinthians 10:13). Samuel demanded to know what Saul was doing. Saul gave lots of excuses. He blamed Samuel for being late, the Philistines for amassing, and the men for leaving. It sounds VERY much like Adam and Eve talking to God (Genesis 3:12-13).

Samuel told him that he had acted foolishly. That Saul had not kept the commandment of the Lord that the Lord had commanded Saul to keep. Samuel says that in TRUTH, the Lord would have established Saul’s kingdom forever. That means Saul would have been an ancestor of Jesus. Saul and his son Jonathan would have built the Temple. They would have been written as the kings of Israel, the glory years of the nation. They would have been who we talked about. David may have still recorded psalms we sing, but would never have been king. Saul and Jonathan were God’s Plan A. Number One Prize. David was a plan B. A consolation. Saul’s choices determined this, not God.

Samuel goes on to say that God sought for Himself someone who would seek His heart, and found him – although David wasn’t in a womb yet. The Lord had chosen this unborn person and set him as prince over God’s people. Why? Because SAUL hadn’t kept to the Word he was given. We’re not responsible for what we don’t know (Romans 4:15). But when we have been given the Word, we need to obey it. Samuel left then and went from Gilgal to Gibeah. Saul sulked (I’m guessing) and counted his men. Six hundred left.

“So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare sharpened.” (1 Samuel 13:20)

The Philistines had completely subdued the Israelites – this is BEFORE this looming battle. BEFORE Saul was king. They had ALL weapons destroyed. They had forbidden blacksmiths. The Israelites had to go down to the Philistine cities to get their tools sharpened. Only Saul and Jonathan had managed to get a sword. Everyone else had farming tools in their hands. When this battle was about to go down, the Philistines had chariots, horsemen, and armed men. The Israelites had two swords, axes, and hoes. It is no wonder the Israelites were concerned. But when the Lord is on your side, nothing else matters (Romans 8:31). Back to present day.

Jonathan and his armour bearer were bored. Tired of waiting. Tired of being oppressed. Tired of not seeing God at work. So Jonathan had an idea. The two of them went over to the base of the hill where the Philistine Garrison was in the pass near Geba (where Jonathan had had a victory before). It really was a simple plan. They were going to call up to the Philistines. If they got answer A, God was invested in this opportunity and they’d go kick everyone’s butt. If they got answer B, God wasn’t giving them a victory and they’d skedaddle and look for the opportunity God was invested in. Notice it wasn’t a question of God NOT giving a victory, but whether THIS victory was the one God was giving. THIS is trust in God.

They called up. They got answer A. They went up and Jonathan started striking down Philistines right and left. His armour bearer came right up alongside him and anyone Jonathan knocked down but didn’t kill, the armour bearer killed him – either with his hoe or with a weapon a Philistine had dropped, it doesn’t specify. They took out twenty men in a half acre field. The earth trembled. The Philistines were confused and ran around in a panic. Word spread. Curiosity on the Israelite side, but terror on the Philistine side. God was at it again. Second, so far Saul hadn’t accomplished anything. In any case, on pain of death they were commanded and off they went.

The fighting went into the forest and in that forest were some busy bees. Jonathan saw the honey LITERALLY dripping on the ground, so he tasted some with the butt of his spear. Everyone was shocked. But Jonathan was busy smiting that morning and hadn’t heard the oath. They continued in battle and were very victorious. They struck the Philistines right back to Aijalon (about sixteen kilometers AND the valley where the sun stood still – Joshua 10). And they POUNCED on the spoils. Sheep, oxen, and calves. They killed them right there and ate them – with the blood. This was a HUGE no-no (Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:14, Deuteronomy 12:16, Acts 15:29, among others). Saul had them set up a huge rock and use it as THE slaughtering place. They were to let the blood drain out and THEN so what they want. So the people obeyed and they stopped sinning. Saul then built an altar to the Lord. This was the first one he had built – the previous altar hadn’t been built by him. It’s ironic. He is ADAMANT about ceremonial rules, but not in following all the commandments. This is religious thinking (2 Timothy 3:5).

Saul was thinking about things and said they should go down at night and attack, plundering them until dawn. The men agreed. The priest said they should ask God. So Saul asked. There was no answer. Saul figured that after he had stopped the men from sinning with the blood AND built an altar, he was due a response. The Lord NEVER owes us ANYTHING (Job 41:11; Romans 11:34-36). Saul never considered that it was his habit of sinning (rebelling against God’s commands) that was the reason God wasn’t answering.

Saul gathered everyone together and they cast lots to see who was guilty. None of the men said anything. They weren’t going to give up Jonathan. It fell on Saul and Jonathan, not the people. Then it fell on Jonathan, not Saul. Jonathan said he’d eaten honey. Saul ordered Jonathan’s death, but the people intervened. They were unwilling to see Jonathan (their hero) die over this foolish oath. They stopped Saul who was 100% willing to kill his eldest son over a stupid oath. Then Saul stopped following the Philistines, who went back home.

Saul took the kingdom of Israel to war and fought against all his enemies wherever they stood against him: Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he struck he defeated them. He gathered an army and delivered Israel from the hands of the Amalekites (detailed in the next chapter). No one plundered Israel anymore.

At this time (Saul being forty-two or so), his sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malki-Shua (Ishbosheth wasn’t born yet). His daughters were Merab and Michal. His wife was Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz. The captain of Saul’s army was his cousin Abner – son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. That was his family. Saul was at war his entire life. Especially with the Philistines. If Saul saw ANYONE who was a strong or valiant man, he took him into his service – which had been prophesied by Samuel (1 Samuel 8:11-12, 16-17).

Summary

Key Players: God, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan

Key Themes: Obedience, Rebellion, Sin, Victory

Key Verse(s): 1 Samuel 13:1-4, 9, 13-14; 14:1, 8-10, 23, 44-46