July 23,
2007
Rise up,
LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee
before thee. (Numbers 10: 35 KJV)
This is
quite a story how Jonathan Saul’s son steps out in faith while his father does
nothing until the Lord and Jonathan make victory a sure thing.
1
Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto
the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines'
garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his
father.
Personally I think the Holy Spirit fell upon Jonathan in this story and because he followed the will of the Lord so perfectly the Lord enabled him to overcome a garrison of Philistines with only his armor bearer to help.
No one
is sure if Saul was left out of the loop unintentionally or on purpose. If it had been intentional then you
think Jonathan thought or the Holy Spirit would not allow him to tell his father
what he was up to because Saul probably would have ruined
everything.
2
And Saul tarried in the
uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the
people that were with him were about six hundred men; 3
And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the
son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew
not that Jonathan was gone.
The succession of the priestly line has not yet been broken as that will not happen until King Solomon’s days, but Ahijah (pronounced close to A. J.) grandson son of the evil Phinehas who was a priest and great-grandson of Eli the High Priest when Samuel began living at the Tabernacle was with Saul. Likely he was the High Priest because he was wearing the ephod of the High Priest. All of the soldiers and Saul were in Migron sitting under a Pomegranate doing nothing. It was really a useless bunch of people. Jonathan and his armor bearer where with the crowd when God’s direction caused Jonathan to leave.
4
And between the passages, by
which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison, there was a
sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of
the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5
The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and
the other southward over against Gibeah.
These two cliffs came close together and created a bottleneck for an army to go through.
6
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.
Jonathan understood the power of God, so if God wanted to use two people or an Army it was within God’s power. Jonathan is thinking that two people could accomplish this mission.
7
And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn
thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
This
had to be music to Jonathan’s ears.
God sent him confirmation.
8
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we
will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. 9 If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you;
then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them. 10 But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will
go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign
unto us.
The Philistines were above on one of the cliffs, so the idea was to attract some of the Philistines on top. Now if the Philistines said they would come to Jonathan and his assistant, it meant they would come down off the cliff come through the pass to meet Jonathan. If the Philistines told them to come up, they would climb the cliff and the only entrance out for the Philistines was the narrow passageway, so the Lord had given the Philistines into their hands. All of this was occurring in the early morning while most of the Philistines were asleep.
11 And both of them discovered themselves unto the
garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come
forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. 12
And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his
armourbearer, and said,
Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing.
And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up
after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
I suppose the Philistines were planning to give Jonathan and his armor bearer some type of beating, or perhaps kill them.
13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his
feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his
armourbearer slew after him. 14 And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made,
was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of
oxen might plow.
By hand to hand combat Jonathan took down twenty-five men and the armor dispatched them with Jonathan’s sword.
15 And there was trembling in the host, in the field,
and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled,
and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.
The Philistines was still sleeping, as it was early in the morning. Some awoke and saw the dead bodies, then the ground shook; God caused an earthquake and panic set in the Philistine Army. The Philistines were blinded and began killing one another thinking they were fighting the Israelite army. They were blocked from escaping because of the narrow pass between the two cliffs.
This
area should have been a safe haven for the Philistine army because there was
only one way in through the small passageway, which could have been easily
defended from intruders. They were
up high on a cliff so any other way for an army to get to them was to climb up
the cliff. Jonathan and his armor
bearer made themselves known to the Philistines then climbed up the wall of the
cliff so they were no threat to the Philistines. Jonathan and his assistant had
the army of God with them, unseen to the Philistines.
16
And the watchmen of Saul in
Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went
on beating down one another. 17 Then said Saul
unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And
when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not
there.
Saul understands there is trouble in the Philistine camp, so it was time for him to go kill some Philistines while the killing was good. It’s about time for Saul to do something; after all he has been sitting around doing nothing. Trouble with Saul is that he was afraid to do anything because it might be the wrong decision and they would be beaten, killed and enslaved.
Have
you ever worked with or for someone who refused to make a decision unless they
could see that they would come out on top, perhaps even grabbing the glory for
themselves? This was Saul. He was a glory grabber. Instead of giving the glory to God, he
grabbed it for himself. So here was
a chance to grab some glory.
18 And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of
God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. 19 And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the
priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and
increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.
Saul asked for the ark of God to give the appearance of seeking God as to what he should do. Many people do the same, they want to appear to be in God’s camp, but still want to control things themselves. But when the Philistines were really getting wiped out, Saul told the priest to never mind, stop praying, I can do this myself.
20
And Saul and all the
people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle:
and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very
great discomfiture.
21 Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines
before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round
about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and
Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the
men of Israel which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, when they heard that
the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
23 So the LORD saved Israel that day: and the
battle passed over unto Bethaven.
The only two people who are truly in the will of God are Jonathan and his armor bearer. Everybody else is a soldier wannabe who has been afraid to stand against the Philistines, Saul included. Some of these people had gone to live with the Philistines because there they could have a good life others had fled into the hills hiding from the Philistines. They all join the battle after the battle has been enjoined by Jonathan, his assistant and God. Well they were needed in the mop up operation, because the Philistines were on the run, and they needed to kill as many of the enemy as they could.
David Guzik made this story available in today’s lesson guide and I thought it well to also present the same story.
God
wins the same kind of victories today. In fact, one military man read this
account and used Jonathan’s exact strategy to win an important battle. Here is
the story from Major Vivian Gilbert, a British Army
Officer:
In
the First World War a brigade major in Allenby’s army in Palestine was on one
occasion searching his Bible with the light of a candle, looking for a certain
name. His brigade had received orders to take a village that stood on a rocky
prominence on the other side of a deep valley. It was called Michmash and the
name seemed somehow familiar. Eventually he found it in 1 Samuel 13 and read there: “And Saul, and
Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of
Benjamin but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.” It then went on to tell how
Jonathan and his armour-bearer crossed over during the night “to the
Philistines’ garrison” on the other side, and how they passed two sharp rocks:
“there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and
the name of the one was Bozez and the name of the other Seneh.” They clambered
up the cliff and overpowered the garrison, “within as it were a half acre of
land, which a yoke of oxen might plough.” The main body of the enemy awakened by
the melee thought they were surrounded by Saul’s troops and “melted away and
they went on beating down one another.” Thereupon Saul attacked with his whole
force and beat the enemy. “So the Lord saved Israel that
day.”
The
brigade major reflected that there must still be this narrow passage through the
rocks, between two spurs, and at the end of it the “half acre of land.” He woke
the commander and there read the passage through together once more. Patrols
were sent out. They found the pass, which was thinly held by the Turks, and
which led past two jagged rocks - obviously Bozez and Seneh. Up on top, beside
Michmash, they could see by the light of the moon a small flat field. The
brigadier altered his plan of attack. Instead of deploying the whole brigade he
sent one company through the pass under cover of darkness. The few Turks whom
they met were overpowered without a sound, the cliffs were scaled, and shortly
before daybreak the company had taken up a position on “the half acre of
land.”
The
Turks woke up and took to their heels in disorder since they thought they were
being surrounded by Allenby’s army. They were all killed or taken prisoner. And
so, after thousands of years British troops successfully copied the tactics of
Saul and Jonathan. (Keller, The Bible As History, pages
179-180)
We will
end here today and pick up on verse 24 tomorrow.
24 The LORD bless thee, and
keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
27 And they shall put my name
upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Numbers 6
KJV
Have a blessed day
Lee
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