Last week you saw the strong faith of Jonathan, King Saul’s son, and one of the greatest battle victories in the entire Bible.
At the same time, you saw the foolishness of King Saul and his unreliability in ruling as king.
You learned from Jonathan’s faith that anything is possible with God.
God hears our prayers and knows our hearts.
Jonathan had a strong faith and confidence in God. He knew that God could give victory in battle even with just a few men.
So, Jonathan resolved to attack the outpost of the Philistines at the pass of Michmash, with just his armor-bearer and the Lord.
Jonathan did not tell his father what he was planning to do.
Saul may not have approved of Jonathan’s bold move.
We then find out where Saul was: he pitched his tent under a tree, and had 600 men with him.
Jonathan sets out on this adventure of faith, just him, his Lord, and his armor-bearer.
We know Jonathan is a friend of David and with the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.
Jonathan and the young armor-bearer went over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised; Jonathan’s description of the Philistines, these “uncircumcised.”
We see that Jonathan had a genuine relationship with the Lord.
He knew that Israel was God’s chosen nation, and had a relationship with Jehovah an all-powerful God.
He also knew that God would not refuse to help His people in their time of need if they would just trust in Him.
Jonathan’s armor-bearer was ready to follow Jonathan wherever he went.
Jonathan then tells him that they would look for a sign to see if the
Lord would bless his attack.
He said if the Philistines said, “Wait till we come,” they would not go up to them; but if they said, “Come up to us” it would be a sign that the Philistines were afraid and didn’t dare leave their position and attack the
Hebrews.
When Jonathan and his armor-bearer finally showed themselves to
the Philistines, they said, “Come up to us, and we will show you
something.”
That was all Jonathan needed to hear. The Philistines were making fun of them, even though they didn’t seem to have the courage to meet them and fight them.
Jonathan got his sign and knew that the Lord had given the Philistines into
his hands.
Jonathan wasn’t just open to God working, he had the confidence in faith that God would work!
He then “climbed up the rock on his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer after him, and the Philistines fell before him, they were smitten down by him, and his armor-bearer was slaying behind him.”
The first blow Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck killed about 20 men.
When the Philistines saw this, there was fear among them.
Then to add to the Philistines’ confusion, the earth quaked.
Jonathan’s heroism shocked and frightened the Philistines.
The spies of Saul at Gibeah saw how the “multitude in the camp of
the Philistines melted away and was completely beat.”
Saul thought that this must have come about because of something the
Israelites did so he commanded the people to find out who had
undertaken this bold and independent action.
Saul then decides to consult God through the priest Ahijah as to
what he should do; whether he should go out with his army against
the Philistines or not.
But while he was talking with the priest, the commotion in the camp of the Philistines became greater and greater, so much so that he stopped the priest from seeking the Lord for direction.
Saul went out on his own, distracted from seeking God.
Saul had the responsibility to lead God’s people in battle, but he couldn’t take the time to seek God.
Then Saul went into battle without the ark of God with him.
As the confusion grew in the Philistine camp, Saul and the people who were with him came to the battle and saw the confusion. God had caused the enemy to turn on themselves and flee.
The Israelites followed hard after them in the battle.
God gave them victory by using Jonathan and his armor-bearer, but without God, they (and we) could do nothing.
the men of Israel were distressed because they were hungry.
Saul had commanded all his men to fast until they had been victorious over the Philistines.
Even though the men were hungry, they refused to eat anything, even some honey in the forest because they feared the curse that went along with their vow to fast.
Jonathan had not heard his father’s oath, so he dipped his staff in
the new honey, and put it to his mouth in his pursuit so he would
not have to stop.
The Bible says “his eyes became bright.”
His lost strength, which showed in his eyes, came back to him from eating the honey.
When the people told Jonathan of his father’s oath, Jonathan condemned his father’s restriction on the people.
The people continued the battle even though they were weak. But,
Unfortunately, they became so weak that after the victory they took
the Philistine animals slaughtered them and ate them without properly draining the blood.
They were so hungry that they killed the animals and just started eating.
When Saul was told what had happened, he rebuked them for the sin.
But what Saul didn’t do was realize that he was the one who had caused them to sin with such a foolish command.
He was so alarmed that he built an altar there to offer a sacrifice to the Lord.
Saul was beginning to make some mistakes in his reign as king.
He didn’t continue to seek the Lord as he should have.
He also gave a very foolish command to his people not to eat.
This only caused the people to sin.
Truly, Saul was to blame for the actions of the people.
Saul is determined to pursue the Philistines and pick up all the spoils.
This time he decides to ask for direction from the Lord, but he gets no answer.
Saul believed that someone had violated the fast, and was determined to find out who it was.
To find the guilty one, he made the people stand on one side, while he and his
son Jonathan went to the other and it was Jonathan.
When Saul asked his son what he had done, Jonathan confessed that he had tasted a little honey and was willing to take the punishment of death as so decreed hastily by his father.
Saul would have killed him but the people interceded saying, “Shall Jonathan dies, who has achieved this great salvation in Israel?
God forbid!
As truly as Jehovah lives, not a hair shall fall from his head upon the ground; for he has brought the victory with God today.”
So the people delivered Jonathan from death.
Saul had given the restriction without God’s authority and made the people commit to it with a solemn oath.
The people had conscientiously obeyed the command, but Jonathan disobeyed it without being aware of it.
Saul now sees that it was not Jonathan but it was his own sin through his oath
that caused God to not answer him.
With a feeling of guilt, Saul gave up any further pursuit of the Philistines. And the Philistines went back to their own land.
We must seek the Lord always so that we may be a strength to our brothers and sisters and not one to weaken them.
The Bible says we don’t fight with flesh and blood but we fight with an unseen enemy, a Spiritual battle.
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