Jonathan is Rescued by The Troops

During the US civil war Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast. Lincoln was a man of deep, if at times unorthodox, faith. At one point one of the ministers said, “Mr. President, let us pray that God is on our side”. Lincoln’s response … More

Response

A direct result of Saul’s curse occurred after the Israelites had chased the Philistines as far as Aijalon (vv. 31-35). The troops were faint from lack of food and as soon as the sun set, they pounced on the spoil of livestock. However, no provision was made for the proper drainage of blood (cf. Lev 19:26; Deut 12:16). The meat was eaten “with the blood,"  which was a violation of Mosaic law (vv. 31-32). Saul was soon told that his troops were sinning against God by eating this meat “with the blood.” He ordered a stone rolled to the spot and the troops were ordered to bring their livestock to the central stone for slaughter, which was considered an altar, the first altar which Saul erected.

After the men had eaten, Saul determined that perhaps it would be a good idea to press the attack against the Philistines into the night (vv. 36-39). The officers agreed, but the priest (Ahijah) suggested that it might be wise to consult God regarding the proposed pursuit. So Saul inquired of God about the matter, but He did not answer him. By this silence God rebuked Saul for taking the oath in the first place (vv. 36-37).Saul realized that there must be sin in the camp. Though it was generally known through the ranks that Jonathan had violated his father’s curse, no one ventured to point the finger of accusation at him (vv. 38-39). Since no one would report any violation of the royal curse, Saul would find the guilty party by casting lots. These lots indicated Jonathan (vv. 40-42). The prince confessed to tasting a little honey during the midst of the battle. Now that Saul had bound himself by an oath to execute the guilty party, Jonathan was fully prepared to accept his fate. Then Saul took a third oath which reinforced the second, that Jonathan would surely die (vv. 43-44).

At this point the troops intervened. These soldiers took an oath that not one hair of Jonathan’s head would fall to the ground. Thus it would appear that the oath of the many took precedence over the oath of the one, even if the one was the king. In this case Saul must have been very relieved that his troops overruled him (v. 45). Saul and his men returned home (v. 46). The Philistines withdrew from Israelite territory. They would return to fight another day. The author now interjects a brief summary of other accomplishments of Saul’s reign (vv. 47-52). Chapter 14 closes with one other negative note about the king. Any men capable of military leadership were pressed into service on the royal staff. Such a policy became necessary because of the uninterrupted nature of the conflict with the Philistines (v. 52).

Application

When I do wrong, even unintentionally, do I respond like Jonathan or like Saul? Sticking to the story, just to save face like Saul did, only compounds the problem. It takes more courage to admit that I am wrong, like Jonathan did, than to hold to an error.

I Samuel 14:31-52 (English Standard Version)


Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »