1 Samuelchapter 14
52 verses · Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition · 10th century BC · History
And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
Introduction
Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition, History, 1 Samuel Overview.
This chapter comes from the account of Saul's reign, written for a people who remembered the years when the Philistines held their hills. The king's son moves first here, and the king follows. It is a long battle narrative in two halves, a victory and then a crisis in the camp. Listen for the difference between Jonathan's words about the LORD and his father's oath. Watch how the army speaks at the end, and whose word prevails. The chapter shows a throne weaker at the end of a victory than at its start.
Context
- Who
- Israelites weighing a king's oath against a soldier's hunger
- What
- An account of Jonathan's attack on the Philistine outpost, the rout that followed, Saul's oath over the army, and the people's rescue of Jonathan.
- Where
- The pass below Michmash between the crags Bozez and Seneh, then the pursuit west to Aijalon.
- When
- About 1048 BC, in the same campaign as chapter 13, on the traditional reckoning.
- Why
- To show that the LORD saves by many or by few, and that the king's rash oath endangered the man God had used.
Historical context
Jonathan is the king's son, and he moves in this chapter on his own initiative and keeps his father in the dark. Ahijah, the priest at Saul's camp, is of Eli's line and wears the ephod, while Saul sits under a pomegranate tree with six hundred men.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The time is about 1048 BC, within the same campaign. The place is the pass below Michmash, and the text names the two crags on either side of it, Bozez to the north and Seneh to the south. The occasion is the Philistine outpost holding that pass at the close of the previous chapter.
The two men go up on hands and feet, which is a sheer scramble, to appear over the lip of a post that assumed its flank was impassable. An armour-bearer was a warrior's second, carrying the heavy shield and the spare weapons, guarding the man's back and finishing the wounded. Decisions were sought through the Urim and Thummim carried in the priest's breastpiece, and the lot later in the chapter falls on Jonathan by the same channel.
An oath laid on an army bound it absolutely, which is why exhausted men walked through a wood with honey dripping on the ground and did not touch it. Eating meat with the blood in it was forbidden by the law, so when the famished army fell on the plunder Saul rolled a great stone over for proper slaughter.
Significance
Jonathan's line is the theology of the chapter, and first hearers carried it out with them. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The people's question at the end is the other half of it. They ask whether Jonathan must die when he has accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel, and they ransom him. The army overrules the king's word in public for the first time, and the throne is visibly weaker at the end of a victory than at the start of it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi is the only commentator the corpus carries with text on this chapter, in the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., under CC-BY. On the word for the other side he sets out a rule of Hebrew, that it points away from the speaker rather than near him (Rashi on I Samuel 14:1:1). On the ephod worn at Gibeah he says the word means the Urim and Tummim, and he says the same of the ark Saul calls for later (Rashi on I Samuel 14:3:1 and 14:18:1). On the two crags he describes the ground, a rocky precipice on either side and the valley between them (Rashi on I Samuel 14:4:1). On the sign Jonathan set he glosses the word for waiting from the book of Joshua and the Psalms (Rashi on I Samuel 14:9:1). If the men said to wait, he says, they were succeeding and were proud (same ref). If they called him up, a fear from the Holy One was in their heart and they were afraid to move (Rashi on I Samuel 14:10:1). On the climb he reads the phrase about hands and feet as an idiom for going with all his might (Rashi on I Samuel 14:13:1). He notes that Radak takes it literally, of a crag so steep that hands and feet were needed (same ref). On the first slaughter he measures the ground as half the furrow of a pair of oxen ploughing a field (Rashi on I Samuel 14:14:1). On the watchmen he places them at Gibeah of Benjamin, keeping watch on the enemy (Rashi on I Samuel 14:16:1). On the muster Saul orders he glosses the verb as inspection, from the book of Job (Rashi on I Samuel 14:17:1). On the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines he says they had been there out of fear, and turned that day to help their brethren (Rashi on I Samuel 14:21:1). On the hard pressing of the men he reads it as being rushed into the war (Rashi on I Samuel 14:24:1). Radak and Metzudat David comment at nine verses, and the corpus holds no English version of either, so they stand as citations. They are Metzudat David on I Samuel 14:6:1, 14:7:1, 14:8:1, 14:11:1 and 14:19:1, and Radak on I Samuel 14:15:1, 14:20:1, 14:22:1 and 14:23:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, twenty-nine of them Midrash and eleven Talmud, each a locator without text. The wearing of the ephod draws Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 5:6, Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 5:10 and Shabbat 55b:14. The two crags draw Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 49:12:2 and Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 9:2. At verse 6 the corpus records Aggadat Bereshit 14:4, Esther Rabbah 8:7 and Otzar Midrashim, Chanukah, Midrash The Tale of Chanukah 3, and at verse 8, Chullin 95b:8. At verse 15 it records Bereshit Rabbah 81:4, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 133:29 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 135:2. The ark Saul calls for draws Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 6:1:5, Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 8:3:3 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 37:1:1. At verse 19 the corpus records Midrash Shmuel 24:7, Pesikta Rabbati 8:1 and Vayikra Rabbah 26:7. The hard pressing of the men draws Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayeshev 43, Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 1:2:4 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Amalek 3:18. At verse 26 it records Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 10:3:8 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 13:4, and at verse 27, Bava Batra 66a:3 and Bava Batra 80b:4. At verse 28 it records Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 227:9, and at verse 29, Ein Yaakov, Yoma 8:16 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 34:30:1. At verse 33 it records Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:12:2 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 19:26:1, and at verse 34, Bamidbar Rabbah 10:1 and Chullin 17b:6. At verse 36 it records Bereshit Rabbah 93:8, at verse 38, Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 18:1, and at verse 44, Otzar Midrashim, The Aleph Bet of ben Sira 1:10. At verse 45 it records Berakhot 55b:9 and Midrash Shmuel 17:3, and at verse 47, Bamidbar Rabbah 11:3 and Bereshit Rabbah 99:3. The last of the forty stands at verse 51, Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 8:4. The rabbis teach in these places, and this site reports them as their teaching rather than as a rule of the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Samuel 14:1:1, 14:2:1, 14:3:1, 14:4:1, 14:5:1, 14:9:1, 14:10:1, 14:12:1, 14:13:1, 14:14:1, 14:16:1, 14:17:1, 14:18:1, 14:21:1 and 14:24:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Samuel 14:6:1, 14:7:1, 14:8:1, 14:11:1 and 14:19:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus; Radak, Radak on I Samuel 14:15:1, 14:20:1, 14:22:1 and 14:23:1, cited only.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Jonathan and his armorbearer climb the crag
1 Samuel 14:1-2
Jonathan moves on his own initiative and does not tell his father, while Saul sits under the pomegranate tree on the outskirts of Gibeah with six hundred men who do nothing. The chapter opens on that contrast and holds it, one son of Saul acting in faith and one king commanding a camp that waits. Six hundred men are the whole muster left after 13:15.
The Hebrew word for pomegranate is Rimmon, and Adam Clarke linked it to the rock of Rimmon at Judges 20:45 to 47. Six hundred men of Benjamin had hidden there after their tribe's defeat, and Clarke thought Saul's six hundred sheltered in the same rock. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown give Migron the sense of a precipice.
1 Samuel 14:2
“Under a pomegranate tree - Under Rimmon, which not only signifies a pomegranate tree, but also a strong rock, in which six hundred Benjamites took shelter, Jdg 20:45. Probably it was in this very rock that Saul and his six hundred men now lay hidden.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Samuel 14:2
“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").”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The priest at Saul's camp is traced back to Eli and named as the nephew of Ichabod, whose name at 4:21 marks the glory departed. The line has survived the ark's capture and Shiloh's fall and still wears the ephod through which the LORD answers, the thing Saul calls for at verse 18. Naming Ichabod here ties this camp back to the ruin of chapter 4.
1 Samuel 14:3
“Whether “Ahiah” or “Ahijah” is the same person as “Ahimelech the son of Ahitub” (see the marginal reference), or whether Ahimelech was the brother or son of Ahijah, and his successor in the priesthood, it is impossible to say certainly. Most probably “Ahijah” and “Ahimilech” are variations of the same name; the latter element in each alone being different, מלך melek (king) being substituted for the divine name יה yâhh. Compare “Eliakim” and “Jehoiakim” 2Ki 23:34, “Eliab” and “Eliel” 1Ch 6:27, 1Ch 6:34. This fragment of a genealogy is a very valuable help to the chronology.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:3
“Saul had once offended by offering sacrifice himself, ch. xiii. Now he resolves never to fall into that error again, and therefore sends for a priest, and hopes to compromise the matter with God Almighty by a particular reformation, as many do whose hearts are unhumbled and unchanged.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Samuel 14:4-5
The narrator names the two cliffs, Bozez and Seneh, one toward Michmash and the other toward Geba. The detail makes the pass a real place with a real difficulty, so that Jonathan's plan reads as reckless by any military measure. Visitors to the site still describe the steep faces the two young men had to climb on hands and feet.
1 Samuel 14:4
“The name of the one was Bozez - Slippery; and the name of the other Seneh, treading down. - Targum.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 14:4
“Since the life of the elect is lofty in merits, while the condition of malignant spirits is lowly, what does it mean that there is said to be an ascent by which Jonathan tries to reach the garrison of the Philistines? For concerning these same Philistines as a type of demons, it was said not far above: "Going up, they encamped at Michmash" (1 Kings 13:5). But they are said to be above us insofar as we appear lesser in strength. They are also known to be above us in that which we cannot penetrate through understanding.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
1 Samuel 14:4
“Rock - Which is not to be understood, as if in this passage one rock was on the right hand, and the other on the left; for so he might have gone between both: and there was no need of climbing up to them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
John Gill pictured the two cliffs as the ends of one rock, facing the Philistine camp on the north and Saul's position on the south. Jonathan had to cross both before he reached the outpost. The pass named at 13:23 lies between them.
1 Samuel 14:5
“The forefront of the one was situate northward, over against Michmash,.... The northern precipice of this rock was towards Michmash, where the Philistines lay encamped, and where was the passage of Michmash the garrison went into and possessed: and the other southward, over against Gibeah; the southern precipice faced Gibeah, and both precipices were to be got over before he could get to the garrison, these lying between the two passages; the one at one end, called the passage of Michmash, the other at the other, which might be called the passage of Gibeah.”
1 Samuel 14:6-7
Jonathan states Gideon’s arithmetic in one sentence, that "Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few" in battle. He calls the enemy uncircumcised, the word David will use of Goliath, and goes forward on "Perhaps the LORD will work on our behalf," confidence without presumption. His armor-bearer answers with a loyalty the text never explains, "I am with you heart and soul."
1 Samuel 14:6
“Let us go over - Moved, doubtless, by a Divine impulse. There is no restraint to the Lord - This is a fine sentiment; and where there is a promise of defense and support, the weakest, in the face of the strongest enemy, may rely on it with the utmost confidence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew Henry held that Jonathan acted on an impulse from God, and that the armor-bearer's agreement confirmed it to him. Without that call, Henry judged, so great a risk would have tempted God. Two men now share one purpose.
1 Samuel 14:7
“We have reason to think that Jonathan felt a divine impulse and impression putting him upon this bold adventure, in which he was encouraged by his servant's concurrence, otherwise the danger was so great which he ran upon that he would have tempted God rather than trusted him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Samuel 14:8-10
Jonathan sets a sign to test whether the LORD has delivered the outpost to him, and the terms are his own: if the Philistines say "Come on up," he will go. It is a private test of providence agreed between two men, apart from the priest's ephod or a cast lot. Saul asks God at verse 37 and receives silence, while Jonathan's sign is answered before he climbs.
1 Samuel 14:8
“Then said Jonathan, behold, we will pass over to these men,.... Over the precipices to them, as steep and as cragged as they are: and we will discover ourselves to them; present themselves to them at daylight, and let them know plainly who they were, that they were Hebrews.”
Adam Clarke compared Jonathan's sign to the one Abraham's servant asked at the spring in Genesis 24:12 to 14. Each man named in advance the words that would show the LORD's answer. Jonathan let the Philistines' own words decide.
1 Samuel 14:9
“If they say thus unto us - Jonathan had no doubt asked this as a sign from God; exactly as Eliezer the servant of Abraham did, Gen 24:12.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Albert Barnes reads the events of verses 13 to 16 as the LORD's own hand in the battle, as plain as when the Spirit came on Gideon at Judges 6:34. The Philistines' words, come on up, gave Jonathan his sign. The earth quaked at verse 15.
1 Samuel 14:10
“Though it is not expressly said, as in the case of Gideon Jdg 6:34, Othniel Jdg 3:10, and others, that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, yet the whole course of the narrative, especially 1Sa 14:13-16, indicates an extraordinary divine interposition.”
1 Samuel 14:11-14
The outpost’s taunt, "the Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they were hiding," becomes the invitation that undoes it, and Jonathan climbs on hands and feet with his armor-bearer behind. The first slaughter is counted exactly, "about twenty men over half an acre of land." Two men do this with no army and no order from the king, so numbers cannot explain the victory.
1 Samuel 14:11
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Adam Clarke took the Philistine taunt as a boast of their strong position, a promise to show the Hebrews how well defended the outpost was. Jonathan heard the sign he had asked for. He says the LORD has given them to Israel, claiming the victory for the nation before he climbs.
1 Samuel 14:12
“Come up to us, and we will show you a thing - This was the favorable sign which Jonathan had requested. The Philistines seem to have meant, Come, and we will show you how well fortified we are, and how able to quell all the attacks of your countrymen.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Adam Clarke read the division of labor in the verse: Jonathan struck the guards down and his armor-bearer followed to finish each one. Clarke took the guards for the garrison's forward watch.
1 Samuel 14:13
“Jonathan climbed up - It seems he had a part of the rock still to get over. When he got over he began to slay the guards, which were about twenty in number, these were of a sort of outpost or advanced guard to the garrison. Slew after him - Jonathan knocked them down, and the armor-bearer despatched them. This seems to be the meaning.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew Henry allowed that Jonathan's name may have frightened the Philistines since his raid on Geba at 13:3. Henry gave the victory to God's right hand and arm. Adam Clarke took the measure as a proverb for a very small space.
1 Samuel 14:14
“A half acre of land - The ancients measured land by the quantum which a yoke of oxen could plough in a day. The original is obscure, and is variously understood. It is probably a proverbial expression for a very small space.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:14
“Twenty Philistines fell presently. It was not so much the name of Jonathan that made them yield so tamely (though some think that this had become terrible to them, since he smote one of their garrisons, ch. xiii. 3 ), but it was God's right hand and his arm that got him this victory.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Samuel 14:15-16
The panic spreads from the camp to the outposts and raiding parties, and "the earth quaked and panic spread from God," which lifts a skirmish of two men into an act of God. Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah see the troops melting away before anyone in the camp knows why. The trembling answers Jonathan’s hopeful perhaps of verse 6 with an outcome no plan of Saul’s had produced.
1 Samuel 14:15
“There was trembling in the host - They were terrified and panic-struck; the people in general round about, those in the garrison, the spoilers, and the whole country, were struck with terror; the commotion was universal and most extraordinary. The trembling of the earth is probably not to be taken literally, but as a metaphor for a great commotion in the country, though God might have interposed in an extraordinary manner, and produced a real earthquake; but their being panic-struck was sufficient to produce all the requisite confusion and dismay.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:15
“Trembling - The Hebrew is, a trembling of God, signifying not only a very great trembling, but such as was supernatural, and came immediately from the hand of God. He that made the heart knows how to make it tremble. To complete their confusion, even the earth quaked; it shook under them, and made them fear it was just going to swallow them up.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A trembling in the camp, and Jehovah saves Israel that day
Adam Clarke took the watchmen for scouts. He notes that the Vulgate has the Philistine troops lying on the ground, many struck down by Jonathan's sword and by the swords of their own camp at verse 20.
1 Samuel 14:16
“The watchmen of Saul - Those who were sent out as scouts to observe the motions of the army. Melted away - There was no order in the Philistine camp, and the people were dispersing in all directions. The Vulgate has, Et ecce multitudo prostrata, “And behold the multitude were prostrate;” many lay dead upon the field, partly by the sword of Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and partly by the swords of each other, 1Sa 14:20.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 14:17-19
Saul calls the roll, finds Jonathan and his armor-bearer missing, and calls for the ark so the priest can ask the LORD what to do. As the commotion grows, Saul cuts the process short and tells the priest to withdraw his hand. It is the first sign of a king who calls for inquiry and does not wait to finish it, and his inquiry at verse 37 gets no answer.
1 Samuel 14:17
“Number now - Saul perceived that the Philistines were routed, but could not tell by what means; supposing that it must be by some of his own troops, he called a muster to see who and how many were absent.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The ark stood at Kiriath-jearim from 7:1 until David moved it, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown prefer the Septuagint, which reads the ephod here. The ephod was the priestly garment worn to consult the LORD. Matthew Henry called the scene a deserted prince courting a deserted priest.
1 Samuel 14:18
“Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God--There is no evidence that the ark had been brought from Kirjath-jearim. The Septuagint version is preferable; which, by a slight variation of the text, reads, "the ephod"; that is, the priestly cape, which the high priest put on when consulting the oracle.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:18
“But it is common for those that have lost the substance of religion to be most fond of the shadows of it, as here is a deserted prince courting a deserted priest. Of the bravery and piety of Jonathan, the son of Saul, who was much fitter than the father to wear the crown. "A sweet imp (says bishop Hall) out of a crab-stock." 1.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown picture the priest praying with hands raised in the ephod. They read Saul's order as a judgment that God had already declared for Israel and the time for action had come. Albert Barnes sees the same haste at verse 35.
1 Samuel 14:19
“Withdraw thine hand--The priest, invested with the ephod, prayed with raised and extended hands. Saul perceiving that the opportunity was inviting, and that God appeared to have sufficiently declared in favor of His people, requested the priest to cease, that they might immediately join in the contest. The season for consultation was past--the time for prompt action was come.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:19
“Withdraw thine hand - i. e., “Desist from what thou art about.” Saul in his impatience to join the battle would not wait for the answer from God, which he had desired Ahijah to inquire for; just as later 1Sa 14:35 he would not wait to finish the altar which he had begun to build. Had he now waited he would doubtless have avoided the error into which he fell.”
1 Samuel 14:20-23
The rout turns the Philistine camp against itself before Saul's men strike a blow, and Hebrews who had gone over to the Philistine side and Israelites hiding in the hills both come out to join the winning side once the outcome is plain. The narrator names the true cause without qualifying it: so the LORD saved Israel that day. The battle rolls past Michmash to Beth-aven, a place name that will carry its own irony after Saul's next decision.
1 Samuel 14:20
“Assembled themselves - See marg. Many versions give the sense “shouted,” which is far preferable, and only requires a different punctuation.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:20
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John Gill reckoned these men as servants, conscripts or deserters who had joined the stronger side. Adam Clarke notes that the Septuagint reads slaves here, from a Hebrew word differing by one letter. These are the Hebrews of 13:7.
1 Samuel 14:21
“Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time,.... Who either were their servants and bondsmen they brought along with them, or such in whose cities they dwelt, or had taken as they came along, and forced into their army; or it may be some of them were renegades from the Israelites, deserters, who for safety and subsistence betook themselves to them as the stronger party.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:21
“The Hebrews that were with the Philistines - We may understand such as they held in bondage, or who were their servants. Instead of Hebrews the Septuagint read, οἱ δουλοι, the slaves; from which it is evident that, instead of עברים Ibrim, Hebrews, they found in their text עבדים abadim, servants. But this reading is not countenanced by any other version, nor by any MS. yet discovered.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
These Israelites had been hiding since 13:6. They joined the battle once the Philistines were fleeing, and Saul's six hundred men grew in number. Adam Clarke notes that the Vulgate and the Septuagint count about ten thousand with Saul, and John Gill finds the same figure in Josephus.
1 Samuel 14:22
“Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim,.... In the caves and rocks, thickets and pits there, see 1Sa 13:6 when they heard that the Philistines fled; now being delivered from their fears, and thinking themselves safe, ventured out of their lurking places: even they also followed hard after them in the battle; they joined the pursuers who came their way, and stuck to them, and closely pursued the flying army of the Philistines. According to Josephus (p), the army of Saul was now increased to 10,000. (p) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 3.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:22
“The men - which had hid themselves - See 1Sa 13:6. The Vulgate and the Septuagint add here, And there were with Saul about ten thousand men; but this is supported by no other authority.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
So the Lord saved Israel that day: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown trace the rout west over the central ridge, from the pass of Michmash toward Aijalon at verse 31. John Wesley notes that the LORD worked through the fighting men.
1 Samuel 14:23
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:23
“The battle - That is, the warriors who were engaged in the battle, and were pursuing the Philistines. Yet it is said, the Lord saved Israel that day: he did it by them: for without him they could do nothing. Salvation is of the Lord.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A rash oath and honey dripping in the wood
1 Samuel 14:24-26
Saul turns a day the LORD had already won into a test of his own, an oath sworn "before I have taken vengeance on my enemies" and laid on faint men. The troops keep it in a forest with honey on the ground, "because they feared the oath." The vow costs nothing yet and will nearly cost everything by the chapter’s end.
1 Samuel 14:24
“Saul had adjured the people - He was afraid, if they waited to refresh themselves, the Philistines would escape out of their hands, and therefore he made the taking any food till sunset a capital crime. This was the very means of defeating his own intention; for as the people were exhausted for want of food, they could not continue the pursuit of their enemies: had it not been for this foolish adjuration, there had been a greater slaughter of the Philistines, 1Sa 14:30.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:24
“Distressed - With hunger, and weakness, and faintness, and all by reason of the following oath. Avenged - As Saul's intention was good, so the matter of the obligation was not simply unlawful, if it had not been so rigorous in excluding all food, and in obliging the people to it under pain of an accursed death, which was a punishment far exceeding the fault.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Albert Barnes reads the Hebrew as all the land, meaning the returning Hebrews and hiding Israelites of verses 21 and 22. The forest became their meeting place.
1 Samuel 14:25
“All they of the land - literally, all the land, probably meaning all those named in 1Sa 14:21-22, who now flocked to the wood as a rendezvous.”
John Gill thought the honey dripped from combs that wild bees had built in the trees. Adam Clarke wrote that he had seen honey lying thick on trees and long grass, and had eaten it himself. The food lay within reach of starving men.
1 Samuel 14:26
“And when the people came into the wood, behold, the honey dropped,.... Either from trees, which produced it; so Diodorus Siculus (t) speaks of trees in some countries which produce honey; or from the sugar canes, as Jarchi; or rather from the honeycombs which were framed in trees by bees; so Hesiod (u) speaks of bees making their nests or combs in trees.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:26
“The honey dropped - It seems to have dropped from the trees on the ground. Honey dews, as they are called, are not uncommon in most countries; and this appears to have been something of this kind. I have seen honey in considerable quantity on the trees and long grass in the fields, and have often eaten of it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jonathan never heard the oath, so he dips the end of his staff in the honeycomb and eats. The narrator's verdict is "his eyes brightened," strength returning to a man who kept fighting while the army starved under his father's word. The son who won the battle by faith is the one his father's vow condemns.
1 Samuel 14:27
“His eyes were enlightened - Hunger and fatigue affect and dim the sight; on taking food, this affection is immediately removed. This most people know to be a fact.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 14:28-30
A soldier tells Jonathan of the oath, and Jonathan answers plainly, "My father has brought trouble to the land," pointing to his own renewed strength as proof the oath did harm. His closing question widens the charge, since an army fed on the plunder would have made the slaughter of the Philistines much greater. He does not yet know the words will nearly cost him his life.
1 Samuel 14:28
But often a lesser one, kindled with the zeal of charity, endeavors to bring back great men who are transgressing to the remembrance of the Scriptures. Whence it also follows: (Verse 28) And one of the people answered and said: "Your father bound the people with an oath, saying: Cursed is the man who eats bread today."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:28
“And the people were faint - Read, “are faint,” the words are part of the man’s complaint.”
Albert Barnes notes that the verb is the one Joshua used against Achan at Joshua 7:25, the word that named the Valley of Achor. Achan troubled Israel by taking what was devoted to the LORD. Matthew Henry saw in it an omen that Jonathan would lose the crown through his father's folly.
1 Samuel 14:29
“Then said Jonathan, my father hath troubled the land,.... The people of the land, as the Targum, the soldiers in his army; afflicted and distressed them, and made them uneasy in their minds, like troubled waters; the Arabic version is,"my father hath sinned against the people;''hath done them injury by forbidding them to eat.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 14:29
“Hath troubled - The same word as was applied to Achan Jos 7:25, and gave its name to the valley of Achor. This additional reference to Joshua is remarkable (compare 1Sa 14:24).”
1 Samuel 14:29
“He thought no harm, nor feared any, till one of the people acquainted him with the order, and then he found himself in a snare. Many a good son has been thus entangled and distressed, in more ways than one, by the rashness of an inconsiderate father. Jonathan, for his part, lost the crown he was heir to by his father's folly, which, it may be, this was an ill omen of.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Adam Clarke agreed with Jonathan that the oath meant to secure the pursuit left men too weak to finish it. Albert Barnes puts Aijalon fifteen or twenty miles from Michmash, a long chase for men who had eaten nothing. The Philistines escaped home.
1 Samuel 14:30
“How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found?....”
Blood on the stones; the people ransom Jonathan
1 Samuel 14:31-32
The pursuit runs from Michmash to Aijalon, and the starved army rushes on the plunder and eats "meat with the blood still in it" where it falls. The oath meant to secure a complete victory produces a different sin against the law. Barnes reads the rash vow and the eating with blood as one chain, a king’s private zeal creating a public transgression he then has to police.
1 Samuel 14:31
“And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon,.... Michmash was the place where the camp of the Philistines was when Jonathan first attacked them, and from whence they fled, and they were pursued by the Israelites that day as far as Aijalon.”
John Gill notes that the Hebrew verb for the troops' rush pictures a bird of prey swooping on the plunder. Matthew Henry notes that the hungry troops slaughtered the animals on the ground, leaving the blood in the meat. The faint troops ate at once.
1 Samuel 14:32
“Slew - At evening, when the time prefixed by Saul was expired. With blood - Not having patience to tarry 'till the blood was perfectly gone out of them, as they should have done.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Samuel 14:33-35
Saul acts at once, rolling a large stone as a place of slaughter so the animals can be killed and drained properly. The chapter adds that this was "the first time he had built an altar to the LORD," in the chapter of his rash oath and his cut-short inquiry. Zeal for the letter of the law and carelessness with the LORD’s word stand side by side in one king.
1 Samuel 14:33
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:33
“Sin against the Lord - See the marginal reference “u.” But the prohibition was older than the Law of Moses Gen 9:4. Compare Act 15:20, Act 15:29.”
Albert Barnes traces the ban on blood back past Moses to Genesis 9:4, and forward to Acts 15:20 and 29. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain the stone: an animal killed on it bled out onto the ground, and all could see it was dead before it was eaten. The whole army obeyed that night.
1 Samuel 14:34
“To lead a bull by hand is to destroy the sin of pride through the affliction of penance. For while by laboring one destroys what one committed through pride, one leads the bull to be slaughtered on the stone by hand. But what does it mean when he says: "Until night," unless that it is not permitted to sin, but it is permitted to destroy sins up until death?”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
Albert Barnes reads the Hebrew as Saul beginning an altar, built from the great stone of verse 33. He compares 1 Chronicles 27:24, where a census is begun and left unfinished. Saul's haste to pursue cut the work short.
1 Samuel 14:35
“And Saul built ... - i. e., of the great stone which they had rolled to kill the oxen and sheep upon, he began to build an altar to Yahweh (see the margin); but he did not finish it (compare 1Ch 27:24), in his haste to pursue the Philistines that night.”
1 Samuel 14:36-37
Let us go down after the Philistines by night: Saul proposes to press the victory through the night, and the priest counsels inquiry first, saying "We must consult God here" before any move. Saul inquires, and the narrator records that "God did not answer him that day," the earliest case of the LORD declining to answer Saul. The pattern ends at Endor in chapter 28, where Saul inquires, hears nothing, and turns to the medium.
1 Samuel 14:36
“Then said the priest - It is evident that Ahiah doubted the propriety of pursuing the Philistines that night; and as a reverse of fortune might be ruinous after such a victory, he wished to have specific directions from the Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:36
“Here he showed much zeal, but little discretion; for his army, thus fatigued, could as ill spare a night's sleep as a meal's meat. But it is common for rash and foolish men to consider nobody but themselves, and, so that they might but have their humour, not to care what hardships they put upon those that are under them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Shall I go down after the Philistines?: Albert Barnes notes that the verb for Saul's inquiry is the technical term for asking God through the Urim and Thummim. Matthew Henry held that a denied prayer calls for a search for the sin behind it. Saul begins that search at verse 38.
1 Samuel 14:37
“Asked counsel - The technical phrase for inquiring of God by Urim and Thummim, and applied also to inquiry of other oracles.”
1 Samuel 14:38-39
Saul treats the silence as proof that someone has sinned and calls the chiefs of the people forward to find out who. His oath widens without his knowing its target, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die, sworn over a son he does not yet suspect. No man among the people answers him, which the text leaves as an ominous quiet before the lot is cast.
1 Samuel 14:38
By these words he clearly demonstrated the well-ordered procedure of judgment, because the fault must first be discovered, and then the punishment imposed. For the order of judgment is thrown into confusion if punishment is pronounced before the examination of the discovered fault. For lest he strike before the examination, he says: "Bring here all the corners of the people, and see, and know through whom this sin has occurred today."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
Albert Barnes counts this a second oath, adding the guilt of taking the LORD's name in vain to the first rash vow. Matthew Henry reads the silence as loyalty to Jonathan. Barnes sees fear of Saul in it as well, from the replies at verses 36 and 40.
1 Samuel 14:39
“Saul’s rashness becomes more and more apparent. He now adds an additional oath, to bring down yet further guilt in “taking God’s name in vain” The expressions in 1Sa 14:36, 1Sa 14:40, indicate the fear in which the people stood of Saul. None dared to resist his will.”
1 Samuel 14:40-42
Saul narrows the field twice by lot, the people against himself and Jonathan, then himself against Jonathan. The lot is the formal priestly channel Saul trusts, set against Jonathan’s private test at the pass, one king waiting on a mechanism and one son moving on a hopeful perhaps. Jonathan is taken, and the reader already knows why the LORD did not answer at verse 37.
1 Samuel 14:40
“What does it mean that by the king's command the people are separated from the king and his son, except that when a hidden and suspected fault is sought, both the higher and lower persons must be examined? Indeed, often the people sin, and often their ruler sins; and sometimes the very fault of the subjects is ascribed to the prelate, by whose negligence it is said to be brought about.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
The Berean follows the longer text that Adam Clarke found in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, with Urim for Saul and Jonathan and Thummim for the people. The shorter Hebrew reads a prayer for a perfect lot, which John Wesley took as a request to show the guiltless. The lot falls on the royal house.
1 Samuel 14:41
“Lord God of Israel, Give a perfect lot - Both the Vulgate and Septuagint add much to this verse: And Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, Lord God of Israel, give judgment. Why is it that thou hast not answered thy servant to-day? If the iniquity be in me, or Jonathan my son, make it manifest. Or if this iniquity be in thy people, give sanctification.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:41
“Perfect lot - Or, declare the perfect, or guiltless person. That is, O Lord, so guide the lot, that it may discover who is guilty in his matter, and who innocent.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Gregory the Dialogist set this lot beside the ones that found Jonah at Jonah 1:7 and chose Matthias at Acts 1:26. Adam Clarke held that the lot answered only the question put to it, who had broken the king's oath. It laid no guilt before God on Jonathan.
1 Samuel 14:42
“Those who cast lots often discover hidden things through conjectures drawn from visible things. Thus indeed Jonah is identified while fleeing (Jon. 1); thus Matthias the Apostle is found worthy of apostolic eminence (Acts 1). We therefore cast spiritual lots when, through the outward signs of works, we arrive at knowledge of hidden things. For the lot of each person is his own manner of life.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:42
“And Jonathan was taken - The object of the inquiry most evidently was, “Who has gone contrary to the king’s adjuration today?” The answer to that must be Jonathan. But was this a proof of the Divine displeasure against the man? By no means: the holy oracle told the truth, but neither that oracle nor the God who gave it fixed any blame upon Jonathan, and his own conscience acquits him. He seeks not pardon from God, because he is conscious he had not transgressed. But why did not God answer the priest that day?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 14:43-45
Jonathan confesses the whole offense, "I only tasted a little honey," and Saul answers with a second oath as rash as the first. The people, not the priest and not the king, stop the sentence, swearing that "not a hair of his head will fall to the ground," so Saul's own army overrules Saul's vow. The text lets that stand without comment on either oath.
1 Samuel 14:43
Jonathan tasted of a honeycomb on a rod, and his eyes were enlightened, and his life was in danger because he acted through ignorance. For Scripture testifies to the fact that he did not know that his father had given strict orders that no one was to taste any food until the victory of the Lord was accomplished. However, the Lord was so angered that the lot disclosed him hiding, and he confessed openly, saying, "I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod, which was in my hand, and behold I must die."
Jerome · written before 420 · Against the Pelagians 1.33patristic
Adam Clarke set Saul's oath that Jonathan must die beside Herod's, which cost John the Baptist his head at Mark 6:26 and 27. Gregory the Dialogist drew two lessons from an oath the king swore twice and never kept: caution before swearing, and discernment when an oath binds a man to a wrong. The people answer Saul at once.
1 Samuel 14:44
“And Saul answered - thou shalt surely die, Jonathan - To save thy rash oath! So must John Baptist’s head be taken off at the desire of an impure woman, because a Herod had sworn to give her whatever she might request! Unfeeling brute! However, the king was Judge. But what said the people, who were the Jury?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 14:44
“In this passage it should be noted that the king twice uttered an oath above concerning the killing of Jonathan, whom nevertheless, overcome by the insistence of the people, he did not kill. What does it mean that he swore, and by no means kept the assertion of his oath? But from this matter two lessons come to us, namely that we ought to be both cautious and discerning. Cautious indeed, lest we swear; discerning, if we swear to do perverse things. For he who takes care not to swear cannot possibly commit perjury.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
1 Samuel 14:44
“Jonathan had a very good plea in arrest of the judgment. What he had done was not malum in se -- bad in itself; and, as for the prohibition of it, he was ignorant of that, so that he could not be charged with rebellion or disobedience.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Adam Clarke called the troops an honest jury who found that Jonathan had broken no law of God. Gregory the Dialogist noted that they spared him for the deliverance he had worked, with his royal birth left out of the plea. John Wesley read with God's help as God owning Jonathan's work.
1 Samuel 14:45
“And the people said - “Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid! As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground.” Here was a righteous and impartial jury, who brought in a verdict according to the evidence: No man should die but for a breach of the law of God; but Jonathan hath not broken any law of God; therefore Jonathan should not die. And because he should not, therefore he shall not.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 14:45
“What then is the meaning of what is said, "Shall Jonathan then die," unless that another would have died for the same fault? By these words of the people there is surely shown to us the power of great discernment, because in the judgment of the elect, not only must the causes of faults be weighed, but also the merits of persons. This is openly shown by these words, because Jonathan is declared not to die not because he was the son of the king, but because he had wrought great salvation in Israel.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
1 Samuel 14:45
“With God - In concurrence with God, he hath wrought this salvation. God is so far from being offended with Jonathan, that he hath graciously owned him in the great service of this day.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 Samuel 14:46-47
The pursuit ends here, the victory unfinished as Jonathan warned at verse 30, and the narrative widens to a summary of Saul's reign. Fighting Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zobah and the Philistines on every side describes a king never at rest, and "Wherever he turned, he routed them" credits real, if flawed, kingship. The summary treats this as the shape of the whole reign.
1 Samuel 14:46
“Then Saul went up from following the Philistines,.... Returned home to his own city, finding that he could get no answer from the Lord, whether he should pursue further or not, and losing the time and opportunity of doing it, by examining into the affair of his son, and casting lots to find it out: and the Philistines went to their own place; their country and cities, such of them as remained, who were not cut off by their own and the sword of the Israelites. Josephus (n) says, Saul killed about 60,000 of them.”
Saul's wars, his household, and his captains
Albert Barnes notes that before this victory Saul held the title with his land under Philistine occupation and six hundred half-armed men. John Wesley reads the verse as Saul taking up the rule he had nearly lost. Barnes sets the summary beside David's at 2 Samuel 8:15.
1 Samuel 14:47
“Took the kingdom - That is, resumed the administration of it, after he had in a manner lost it by the Philistines, who had almost turned him out of it.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Saul's first recorded fight with Amalek in Samuel is a single clause, delivering Israel "from the hands of its plunderers," with no hint yet of the standing sentence of Exodus 17. Chapter 15 returns to Amalek at length and makes the ban total. Barnes reads this as an early success that leaves Saul unprepared for the harder test.
1 Samuel 14:48
“Smote the Amalekites - This war is mentioned in the following chapter.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:48
“Because while He draws sinners of every kind to life, He is recognized as triumphing everywhere. The Lord was indeed commanding His soldiers, His princes, to carry out these triumphs when He said: "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). He commands the Gospel to be preached to every creature, because He willed that all kinds of men be led to the faith, so that while He displayed the noble triumphs of His kings, He might show them conquering everywhere.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
1 Samuel 14:49-51
The family list names Merab and Michal before their stories begin: Merab is given to another man at 18:19, and Michal becomes David’s wife and loses him to Saul’s jealousy. Abner is "the son of Saul’s uncle Ner," the king’s cousin, which explains the loyalty that carries Saul’s house into the war after his death. Every name in the list reappears later in the book.
1 Samuel 14:49
“This enumeration of Saul’s children and chief officers is according to the analogy of the subsequent annals of David and Solomen’s reign. But the one here called Ishui, is elsewhere (marginal references) called Abi-nadab; and a fourth son, Esh-baal or Ish-bosheth, is here omitted.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:49
“Ishui - Called also Abinadab. chap. xxxi, 2. Ishbosheth, Saul's other son is here omitted, because he intended to mention only those of his sons who went with him into the battles here mentioned, and who were afterwards slain with him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Albert Barnes notes that names beginning with Ahi run in the high priest's family, as Ahijah and Ahimelech show. He raised the possibility that Ahinoam came from that house, which would explain why Ahijah stood beside Saul at verse 3. Matthew Henry adds Rizpah, a secondary wife, from 2 Samuel 21:8.
1 Samuel 14:50
“The only other “Ahimaaz” mentioned in Scripture was the son of Zadok the priest. The word “Ahi” (brother) is frequently found in composition in names in the High Priest’s family, e. g. in Ahijah, Ahimelech. It is not improbable that Ahimaaz may have been of this family, as marriages between the reval and priestly houses were not unusual 2Ki 11:2; 2Ch 22:11, and perhaps it may have been owing to such a connection that Ahijah was brought into prominence by Saul.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:50
“There is mention of another wife of Saul's ( 2 Sam. xxi. 8 ), Rizpah, a secondary wife, and of the children he had by her. Of his camp and military actions.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Gregory the Dialogist tied this verse to 9:1, where Kish son of Abiel is first named. 1 Chronicles 8:33 names Ner as the father of Kish, a different reading of the same family line. Abner is Saul's first cousin here.
1 Samuel 14:51
“But what does it mean that he is called a cousin of Saul? A cousin is one who is born from the brother of one's father. Hence here too it is added: 'Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.' And when a king to be chosen was sought, it was said: "And there was a man named Kish, the son of Abiel" (1 Samuel 9:1).”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4patristic
The chapter closes on a standing condition, since the Philistine war never stops in Saul's reign, and the king enlists every strong or brave man he notices. That practice is the door David walks through at 16:21 and again at 18:2. A verse of summary becomes the hinge to the next stage of the book.
1 Samuel 14:52
“When Saul saw any strong man - This was very politic. He thus continued to recruit his army with strong and effective men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 14:52
“He had little reason to be proud of his royal dignity, nor had any of his neighbours cause to envy him, for he had little enjoyment of himself after he took the kingdom. He could not vex his enemies without some vexation to himself, such thorns are crowns quilted with.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: Narrative prose in one long battle day, carrying a private sign, a rash oath, an enquiry answered with silence, and a closing summary of the reign and the royal house, as Keil and Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The enemy's own taunt given as the sign | Jonathan sets the terms at verses 9 and 10 before he climbs, that if the garrison calls them up, that is the word to go. At verse 12 the garrison shouts the taunt about Hebrews coming out of the holes where they had hidden. The insult is the sign, so the word Jonathan was waiting for is spoken by the men he is about to fight.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826, on 1 Samuel 14:11 to 14. | 1 Samuel 14:9, 1 Samuel 14:10, 1 Samuel 14:12 |
| The sign answered and the enquiry unanswered | Jonathan's informal test at verses 9 and 10 is answered before he finishes climbing. Saul calls for the ark at verse 18 and then cuts the enquiry short himself at verse 19, and when he asks formally at verse 37 God does not answer him that day. The chapter sets one man's rough sign beside the other's proper channel and reports which one received a reply.Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel, 1864, on 1 Samuel 14:36 and 37. | 1 Samuel 14:10, 1 Samuel 14:19, 1 Samuel 14:37 |
| The oaths Saul swore | Saul binds the army with a curse on any man who eats before evening at verse 24. He swears again at verse 39 that the guilty man will die, even if it is Jonathan. He swears a third time at verse 44 that Jonathan will surely die. Each oath is heavier than the last, and the army overrules the third.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on 1 Samuel 14:24 to 26. | 1 Samuel 14:24, 1 Samuel 14:39, 1 Samuel 14:44 |
| The reign and the house set down in a list | Verses 47 and 48 name the enemies Saul fought on every side, Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, the Philistines and the Amalekites. Verses 49 to 51 name his sons, his two daughters Merab and Michal, his wife, and Abner son of Ner his commander. The lists read as plain record, and every name in them returns later in the book.John Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Samuel 14:49 to 51. | 1 Samuel 14:47, 1 Samuel 14:48, 1 Samuel 14:49, 1 Samuel 14:50, 1 Samuel 14:51 |
The structure
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
Seven units. Jonathan's plan and Saul under the pomegranate tree, verses 1 to 3. The two cliffs and the sign, verses 4 to 10. The climb and the first twenty killed, verses 11 to 14. The panic and the general rout, verses 15 to 23. The oath, the honey and the blood, verses 24 to 35. The silence, the lot and the ransom of Jonathan, verses 36 to 46. The summary of the reign and the house, verses 47 to 52.
The count in the half acre
Verse 14 counts the first slaughter precisely, about twenty men in an area of about half an acre. Adam Clarke and W. G. Blaikie both read the smallness of the ground as the point of the count, since a victory won in that space is hard to explain by numbers. The narrator then widens the frame at verse 15 with the earth quaking and the panic running through garrison, raiders and field alike.
The altar that is named as a first
Verse 35 records that Saul built an altar to the LORD, and that it was the first time he had done so. It stands in the same chapter as the rash oath and the cut-short enquiry. John Gill and Matthew Henry both read the two together: care for the letter of the law over the blood, and carelessness with the LORD's own word, in the same king on the same day.
The silence that opens a pattern
Verse 37 is the earliest recorded case of the LORD declining to answer Saul. The pattern runs through both books and closes at 28:6, where Saul enquires and receives nothing by dreams, Urim or prophets, and goes to En-dor. Keil and Delitzsch and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown both read verse 37 as the first beat of that line.
What the chapter hands forward
Verse 52 states a standing practice, that Saul enlisted any strong or brave man he noticed. That practice is the door David walks through at 16:21 and again at 18:2. The daughters named at verse 49 return at 17:25 and 18:19 and 18:27, and Abner at verse 50 carries Saul's house into the war after his death.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826, on 1 Samuel 14:47; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel, 1864, on 1 Samuel 14 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on 1 Samuel 14:1 and 2.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).