1 Samuel 14
McGeeCHAPTER 14THEME: Jonathan’s victory over the Philistines; Saul’s hasty order is overridden
1 Samuel 14:18
JONATHAN’S VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINESOnce again Jonathan gains a great victory, but Saul takes the credit for it and reveals his jealousy. He actually would have destroyed his own son! Chapter 14 gives us the strategy of battle that Jonathan used against the Philistines. It is said that this is the chapter which the British General Allenby read the night before he made his successful attack upon the Turks in World War I. To me this is an interesting sidelight. I am unable to give you the details of the strategy of this battle since I am not well acquainted with the geography of the regionon a trip to Palestine I wanted to go there, but our time was limitedneither am I a military man. I am sure that when General Allenby read this chapter, it was a thrilling revelation to him to see how Jonathan executed his military tactics. General Allenby was a Christian who knew his Bible. Apparently Jonathan’s strategy was to take his men through a narrow pass. Here, with the few weapons they had to fight with, Jonathan’s army had a distinct advantage. A similar battle took place at Thermopylae, a mountain pass in eastern Greece, where the Greeks, although greatly outnumbered, were able to hold off the Persian army. In Israel’s case, this strategy certainly worked to their advantage since Israel was hopelessly outnumbered and almost unarmed. We will pass over the details of this battle and look instead at the great spiritual lesson that is here. Saul should not have taken the ark to the battlefield. As we have seen before in the days of Samuel, the children of Israel used the ark in a superstitious manner, thinking it would help them win their battles. Apparently Saul has the same reason.
1 Samuel 14:23
In spite of Saul’s action in bringing out the ark, Jonathan’s strategy won the battle on the human side. God is with this young manit is too bad that he did not live long. God saved Israel that day.
1 Samuel 14:24
SAUL’S HASTY ORDER IS OVERRIDDENIt is interesting to note that Jonathan did not know about his father’s strange order that no man was to eat until the battle was won. Actually Jonathan had already won the battle. Now we are beginning to see the real nature of Saul. Jonathan gained the victory, and Saul takes credit for it. He is not willing to give the credit to his son. His “modesty” is gone, and his jealousy is revealed.
1 Samuel 14:28
It was a foolish command that Saul had given. The men were weary. They had fought a battle and won. They needed something to eat. Saul said, “I will not let anyone eat anything until I am avenged of my enemies.” His modesty was absolutely gone.
1 Samuel 14:35
He actually built an altar to the Lord and offered sacrifices!
1 Samuel 14:36
God is not using this man at all.
1 Samuel 14:38
Saul, you see, is not willing to take the blame himself. He says that someone else has sinned. The army stood silently. They knew the victory was Jonathan’s. And now Saul was saying, “The reason God did not answer me was because someone did not obey me and broke the oath.” The army knew that Jonathan had tasted the honey, and they knew that Saul was putting up a tremendous front at this time. They stood in silence because he was the king.
1 Samuel 14:40
The army is not saying much.
1 Samuel 14:41
Saul believed Jonathan was guilty.
1 Samuel 14:42
Jonathan was guiltyguilty of doing what Saul had not wanted him to do. Saul had said, “Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day.” But was this something to die for?
1 Samuel 14:44
Saul would actually destroy his own son if he stood in his way. Why? Because Saul is jealous of Jonathan. He wants all of the glory for himself. The army had remained silent through all of Saul’s rantings and ravings, but when Jonathan’s life was at stake, they no longer kept quiet. We are now seeing the true character of Saul. Later on we will see how he will act in direct disobedience to God. He is going to do something that will bring tragedy to the nation Israel. Had not God intervened, it would have meant the extermination of the nation. Saul is revealing that he is not God’s man at all. He is actually Satan’s man.
We will see in the next chapter that Saul is not obeying God any longerhe is following his own devices. Finally the Spirit of God will no longer speak to him. God will no longer give him leading, and he will turn from God to the demonic world. Then we will study that remarkable incident when Saul actually consults the witch of En-dor. It is a section with a great lesson for us in these days in which we are seeing the manifestation of demonism, the occult, the worship of Satan, and astrology. God help America today because there are many Sauls abroad!