5. The Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen--Either this number must include chariots of every kind--or the word "chariots" must mean the men fighting in them ([2Sa 10:18]; [1Ki 20:21]; [1Ch 19:18]); or, as some eminent critics maintain, Sheloshim ("thirty"), has crept into the text, instead of Shelosh ("three"). The gathering of the chariots and horsemen must be understood to be on the Philistine plain, before they ascended the western passes and pitched in the heart of the Benjamite hills, in "Michmash," (now Mukmas), a "steep precipitous valley" [Robinson], eastward from Beth-aven (Beth-el).
[1Sa 13:6-8]. The Israelites' Distress.
6. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait--Though Saul's gallantry was unabated, his subjects displayed no degree of zeal and energy. Instead of venturing an encounter, they fled in all directions. Some, in their panic, left the country ([1Sa 13:7]), but most took refuge in the hiding-places which the broken ridges of the neighborhood abundantly afford. The rocks are perforated in every direction with "caves," and "holes," and "pits"--crevices and fissures sunk deep in the rocky soil, subterranean granaries or dry wells in the adjoining fields. The name of Michmash ("hidden treasure") seems to be derived from this natural peculiarity [Stanley].
8. he--that is, Saul.
tarried seven days--He was still in the eastern borders of his kingdom, in the valley of Jordan. Some bolder spirits had ventured to join the camp at Gilgal; but even the courage of those stout-hearted men gave way in prospect of this terrible visitation; and as many of them were stealing away, he thought some immediate and decided step must be taken.
[1Sa 13:9-16]. Saul, Weary of Waiting for Samuel, Sacrifices.
9-14. Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings--Saul, though patriotic enough in his own way, was more ambitious of gaining the glory of a triumph to himself than ascribing it to God. He did not understand his proper position as king of Israel; and although aware of the restrictions under which he held the sovereignty, he wished to rule as an autocrat, who possessed absolute power both in civil and sacred things. This occasion was his first trial. Samuel waited till the last day of the seven, in order to put the constitutional character of the king to the test; and, as Saul, in his impatient and passionate haste knowingly transgressed ([1Sa 13:12]) by invading the priest's office and thus showing his unfitness for his high office (as he showed nothing of the faith of Gideon and other Hebrew generals), he incurred a threat of the rejection which his subsequent waywardness confirmed.
15-16. Samuel ... gat him ... unto Gibeah ... and Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah--Saul removed his camp thither, either in the hope that, it being his native town, he would gain an increase of followers or that he might enjoy the counsels and influence of the prophet.
17-18. the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies--ravaging through the three valleys which radiate from the uplands of Michmash to Ophrah on the north, through the pass of Beth-horon on the west, and down the ravines of Zeboim ("the hyænas"), towards the Ghor or Jordan valley on the east.
19-20. Now there was no smith found throughout ... Israel--The country was in the lowest state of depression and degradation. The Philistines, after the great victory over the sons of Eli, had become the virtual masters of the land. Their policy in disarming the natives has been often followed in the East. For repairing any serious damage to their agricultural implements, they had to apply to the neighboring forts.
21. Yet they had a file--as a kind of privilege, for the purpose of sharpening sundry smaller utensils of husbandry.
Chapter 14
[1Sa 14:1-14]. Jonathan Miraculously Smites the Philistines' Garrison.
1. the Philistines' garrison--"the standing camp" ([1Sa 13:23], Margin) "in the passage of Michmash" ([1Sa 13:16]), now Wady Es-Suweinit. "It begins in the neighborhood of Betin (Beth-el) and El-Bireh (Beetroth), and as it breaks through the ridge below these places, its sides form precipitous walls. On the right, about a quarter of an acre below, it again breaks off, and passes between high perpendicular precipices" [Robinson].
2. Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah--Hebrew, "Geba"; entrenched, along with Samuel and Ahiah the high priest, on the top of one of the conical or spherical hills which abound in the Benjamite territory, and favorable for an encampment, called Migron ("a precipice").
4. between the passages--that is, the deep and great ravine of Suweinit.
Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison--a distance of about three miles running between two jagged points; Hebrew, "teeth of the cliff."
there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side ... Bozez--("shining") from the aspect of the chalky rock.
Seneh--("the thorn") probably from a solitary acacia on its top. They are the only rocks of the kind in this vicinity; and the top of the crag towards Michmash was occupied as the post of the Philistines. The two camps were in sight of each other; and it was up the steep rocky sides of this isolated eminence that Jonathan and his armorbearer ([1Sa 14:6]) made their adventurous approach. This enterprise is one of the most gallant that history or romance records. The action, viewed in itself, was rash and contrary to all established rules of military discipline, which do not permit soldiers to fight or to undertake any enterprise that may involve important consequences without the order of the generals.
6. it may be that the Lord will work for us--This expression did not imply a doubt; it signified simply that the object he aimed at was not in his own power--but it depended upon God--and that he expected success neither from his own strength nor his own merit.
9-10. if they say, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand--When Jonathan appears here to prescribe a sign or token of God's will, we may infer that the same spirit which inspired this enterprise suggested the means of its execution, and put into his heart what to ask of God. (See on [Ge 24:12]).
11. Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes--As it could not occur to the sentries that two men had come with hostile designs, it was a natural conclusion that they were Israelite deserters. And hence no attempt was made to hinder their ascent, or stone them.
14-15. that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armour-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow--This was a very ancient mode of measurement, and it still subsists in the East. The men who saw them scrambling up the rock had been surprised and killed, and the spectacle of twenty corpses would suggest to others that they were attacked by a numerous force. The success of the adventure was aided by a panic that struck the enemy, produced both by the sudden surprise and the shock of an earthquake. The feat was begun and achieved by the faith of Jonathan, and the issue was of God.
16. the watchmen of Saul ... looked--The wild disorder in the enemies' camp was described and the noise of dismay heard on the heights of Gibeah.
17-19. Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us--The idea occurred to him that it might be some daring adventurer belonging to his own little troop, and it would be easy to discover him.
20-22. Saul and all the people--All the warriors in the garrison at Gibeah, the Israelite deserters in the camp of the Philistines, and the fugitives among the mountains of Ephraim, now all rushed to the pursuit, which was hot and sanguinary.
23. So the Lord saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Beth-aven--that is, "Beth-el." It passed over the forest, now destroyed, on the central ridge of Palestine, then over to the other side from the eastern pass of Michmash ([1Sa 14:31]), to the western pass of Aijalon, through which they escaped into their own plains.
24. Saul had adjured the people--Afraid lest so precious an opportunity of effectually humbling the Philistine power might be lost, the impetuous king laid an anathema on any one who should taste food until the evening. This rash and foolish denunciation distressed the people, by preventing them taking such refreshments as they might get on the march, and materially hindered the successful attainment of his own patriotic object.
25. all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey--The honey is described as "upon the ground," "dropping" from the trees, and in honeycombs--indicating it to be bees' honey. "Bees in the East are not, as in England, kept in hives; they are all in a wild state. The forests literally flow with honey; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees as you pass along, full of honey" [Roberts].
31-34. the people were very faint. And the people flew upon the spoil--at evening, when the time fixed by Saul had expired. Faint and famishing, the pursuers fell voraciously upon the cattle they had taken, and threw them on the ground to cut off their flesh and eat them raw, so that the army, by Saul's rashness, were defiled by eating blood, or living animals; probably, as the Abyssinians do, who cut a part of the animal's rump, but close the hide upon it, and nothing mortal follows from that wound. They were painfully conscientious in keeping the king's order for fear of the curse, but had no scruple in transgressing God's command. To prevent this violation of the law, Saul ordered a large stone to be rolled, and those that slaughtered the oxen to cut their throats on that stone. By laying the animal's head on the high stone, the blood oozed out on the ground, and sufficient evidence was afforded that the ox or sheep was dead before it was attempted to eat it.
45. the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not--When Saul became aware of Jonathan's transgression in regard to the honey, albeit it was done in ignorance and involved no guilt, he was, like Jephthah [Jud 11:31, 35], about to put his son to death, in conformity with his vow [1Sa 14:44]. But the more enlightened conscience of the army prevented the tarnishing the glory of the day by the blood of the young hero, to whose faith and valor it was chiefly due.
47-48. So Saul ... fought against all his enemies on every side--This signal triumph over the Philistines was followed, not only by their expulsion from the land of Israel, but by successful incursions against various hostile neighbors, whom he harassed though he did not subdue them.
Chapter 15
[1Sa 15:1-6]. Saul Sent to Destroy Amalek.
1. Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee ...: now therefore hearken thou unto ... the Lord--Several years had been passed in successful military operations against troublesome neighbors. During these Saul had been left to act in a great measure at his own discretion as an independent prince. Now a second test is proposed of his possessing the character of a theocratic monarch in Israel; and in announcing the duty required of him, Samuel brought before him his official station as the Lord's vicegerent, and the peculiar obligation under which he was laid to act in that capacity. He had formerly done wrong, for which a severe rebuke and threatening were administered to him ([1Sa 13:13], ). Now an opportunity was afforded him of retrieving that error by an exact obedience to the divine command.
2-3. Amalek--the powerful tribe which inhabited the country immediately to the eastward of the northern Cushites. Their territory extended over the whole of the eastern portion of the desert of Sinai to Rephidim--the earliest opponent ([De 25:18]; [Ex 17:8-16])--the hereditary and restless enemy of Israel ([Nu 14:45]; [Jud 3:13]; ), and who had not repented ([1Sa 14:48]) of their bitter and sleepless hatred during the five hundred years that had elapsed since their doom was pronounced. Being a people of nomadic habits, they were as plundering and dangerous as the Bedouin Arabs, particularly to the southern tribes. The national interest required, and God, as King of Israel, decreed that this public enemy should be removed. Their destruction was to be without reservation or exception.
I remember--I am reminded of what Amalek did--perhaps by the still remaining trophy or memorial erected by Moses ([Ex 17:15], ).
4. Saul gathered the people together--The alacrity with which he entered on the necessary preparations for the expedition gave a fair, but delusive promise of faithfulness in its execution.
Telaim--or Telem, among the uttermost cities of the tribe of Judah towards the coast of Edom ([Jos 15:21], ).
5. Saul came to a city of Amalek--probably their capital.
laid wait in the valley--following the strategic policy of Joshua at Ai ([Jos 8:4]).
6. Kenites--(See on [Jud 1:16]). In consequence, probably, of the unsettled state of Judah, they seem to have returned to their old desert tracts. Though now intermingled with the Amalekites, they were not implicated in the offenses of that wicked race; but for the sake of their ancestors, between whom and those of Israel there had been a league of amity, a timely warning was afforded them to remove from the scene of danger.
[1Sa 15:7-9]. He Spares Agag and the Best of the Spoil.
7-9. Saul smote the Amalekites--His own view of the proper and expedient course to follow was his rule, not the command of God.
10-11. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul--Repentance is attributed in Scripture to Him when bad men give Him cause to alter His course and method of procedure, and to treat them as if He did "repent" of kindness shown. To the heart of a man like Samuel, who was above all envious considerations, and really attached to the king, so painful an announcement moved all his pity and led him to pass a sleepless night of earnest intercession.