Saul’s Disobedience

Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. He kept two thousand with him at Michmash and up in the Bethel hills, and a thousand stayed with his son Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent the rest home.

Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost in Geba, and word of it got back to the Philistines. Saul blew the trumpet across the whole land, calling, “Let the Hebrews hear!”

All Israel heard the news: Saul had attacked the Philistine outpost, and now the Philistines hated Israel. The people gathered behind Saul at Gilgal.

The Philistines gathered to fight Israel: thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and soldiers as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. They came up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth Aven.

When the men of Israel saw the trouble they were in, they hid in caves and thickets, among rocks, in tombs and in pits. Some Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, but Saul stayed on at Gilgal, and the people with him trembled.

When Samuel anointed Saul, he had told him to go down to Gilgal first and wait there seven days. Then Samuel would come to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings and show him what to do. Saul waited the seven days Samuel had set, but Samuel didn’t come, and the people began to drift away.

“Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings,” Saul said. Then he offered the burnt offering.

He had barely finished when Samuel came, and Saul went out to greet him.

“What have you done?” Samuel asked.

“The people were scattering from me,” Saul said. “You hadn’t come by the time you set, and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash. I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down and attack me at Gilgal, and I haven’t pleaded for the Lord’s favor.’ So I made myself do it, and I offered the burnt offering.”

“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You haven’t done what the Lord your God commanded you. If you had, he would have made your kingdom over Israel secure forever. But now your kingdom will not last. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and he has made him ruler over his people, because you didn’t keep the Lord’s command.”

Saul, Jonathan and their men stayed at Geba in Benjamin. The Philistines camped at Michmash and sent raiders out in three groups: one toward Ophrah, one toward Beth Horon, and one along the border above the valley of Zeboim.

In those days there wasn’t a single blacksmith anywhere in Israel, because the Philistines had said, “We don’t want the Hebrews making themselves swords or spears.”

Instead, every Israelite went down to the Philistines to have his plow blade, mattock (a heavy digging tool), ax or sickle sharpened. The price was a payim each to sharpen a mattock, plow blade, pitchfork, ax or goad (a pointed stick for driving oxen). A payim was two-thirds of a shekel of silver, about a quarter of an ounce.

So on the day of battle, none of the people with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or a spear. Saul and his son Jonathan were the only ones who did.

And soldiers from the Philistine outpost went out to the pass at Michmash.

Saul was staying at the edge of Gibeah, under the pomegranate tree at Migron, with about six hundred men. Among them was Ahijah, wearing an ephod. His father was Ahitub, the brother of Ichabod. Their father was Phinehas, and Phinehas was the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest at Shiloh. No one knew that Jonathan had gone.

The way Jonathan meant to cross ran between two rocky cliffs, called Bozez and Seneh. One stood on the north side, facing Michmash, and the other on the south side, facing Geba.

“Come on,” Jonathan said to his armor-bearer. “Let’s go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Maybe the Lord will do something for us. Nothing can hold the Lord back. He can save with many people or with just a few.”

“Do whatever you have in mind,” his armor-bearer told him. “Go ahead. I’m with you all the way.”

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Jonathan said. “We’ll go over and show ourselves to them. If they say, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ we’ll stay put. If they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we’ll go up, because the Lord has given them to us. That will be our sign.”

The two of them stepped out where the Philistine outpost could see them. “Look!” the Philistines said. “The Hebrews are coming out of the holes they hid in!”

The men of the outpost called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up here to us, and we’ll show you something!”

“Climb up after me,” Jonathan told his armor-bearer. “The Lord has handed them over to Israel.”

Jonathan climbed up on all fours, and his armor-bearer came after him. The Philistines fell in front of Jonathan. His armor-bearer followed behind him and killed them. About twenty men died in that first attack, all within about half the length of a plowed row in a one-acre field.

Then a trembling spread through the camp, the field and all the people. The outpost and the raiders trembled too. The ground shook, and the trembling grew very great.

Saul told the men with him, “Count, and see who is missing.” They counted, and Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.

Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring God’s ark here.” At that time God’s ark was with the Israelites.

While Saul was talking to the priest, the uproar in the Philistine camp kept growing louder. Then Saul told the priest, “Take your hand away.”

Saul and all his men gathered and went into the battle, where they found the Philistines striking each other with their swords in wild confusion.

Some Hebrews had sided with the Philistines before and had gone up with them into their camp from all around. Now they too turned to join the Israelites under Saul and Jonathan.

The men of Israel who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim learned that the Philistines had run away. Then they too chased hard after them in the battle.

So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle moved on past Beth Aven.

The army came into a forest where honey was dripping onto the ground. No one lifted a hand to his mouth, because the people were afraid of the oath.

But Jonathan hadn’t heard his father put the people under oath. He dipped the end of the stick he was holding into a honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth. His eyes brightened.

One of the men spoke up. “Your father put the people under a strict oath: ‘A curse on anyone who eats food today!’” So the people were worn out.

Jonathan said, “My father has brought trouble on the land. Look how my eyes have brightened from just a taste of this honey. Think how much better it would have gone if the people had eaten freely today from the enemy plunder they found! Instead, there hasn’t been a great slaughter of the Philistines.”

That day they struck down the Philistines all the way from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people were completely worn out. They pounced on the plunder, took sheep, cattle and calves, and slaughtered them right on the ground. They ate the meat while the blood was still in it.

Word came to Saul: “Look, the people are sinning against the Lord. They’re eating meat with the blood in it.”

“You have been unfaithful!” Saul said. “Roll a large stone over to me right now.” Then he sent men out to tell the people, “Each of you, bring me your ox or your sheep and slaughter it here. Don’t sin against the Lord by eating the meat with the blood in it.” That night they all brought their oxen and slaughtered them there.

Saul built an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar he built to the Lord.

“Do whatever seems good to you,” the people answered.

Then the priest said, “Let’s come near to God here.”

Saul asked God, “Should I go down after the Philistines? Will you give Israel victory over them?” But that day God gave him no answer.

Then Saul said, “All you leaders of the people, come here. Find out who is to blame for this sin today. As the Lord lives, who saves Israel, whoever it is will surely die, even if it is my son Jonathan.” None of the people answered him.

Then he said to all Israel, “You stand on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will stand on the other.”

“Do what seems good to you,” the people told Saul.

So Saul said to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Show what is right.” Jonathan and Saul were picked out, and the people went free.

Saul said, “Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan.” The lot picked out Jonathan.

“Tell me what you have done,” Saul said to Jonathan.

“I did taste a little honey with the end of the stick in my hand,” Jonathan told him. “Here I am. I must die.”

Saul said, “May God punish me severely if you don’t die, Jonathan!”

But the people said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die, when he’s the one who brought Israel this great rescue? Never! As the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head is going to fall to the ground, because he has worked with God today!” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

Then Saul stopped chasing the Philistines and went back, and the Philistines went home.

Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malchishua. His two daughters were Merab, the older, and Michal, the younger. His wife’s name was Ahinoam, Ahimaaz’s daughter. The captain of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. Saul’s father was Kish, and Abner’s father Ner was the son of Abiel.

All Saul’s life there was fierce war with the Philistines. Whenever Saul saw a strong man or a brave one, he took him into his service.

Long before, in Moses’ day, Amalek had fought Israel at Rephidim, and the Lord had told Moses he would completely wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.

Saul called the people together and counted them at Telaim: two hundred thousand soldiers on foot, plus ten thousand men of Judah. He came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley.

Saul told the Kenites, “Go! Get out from among the Amalekites, so that I don’t destroy you with them. You were kind to all Israel’s people on their way up from Egypt.” So the Kenites moved out from among the Amalekites.

Then Saul struck the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, near Egypt. He took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and he wiped out all the people with the sword.

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the cattle, the fat calves and the lambs: everything that was good. They weren’t willing to destroy those. But they completely destroyed everything that was poor and worthless.

Samuel got up early to meet Saul, and he was told, “Saul went to Carmel and set up a monument for himself there, and then went on down to Gilgal.”

When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said, “You are blessed by the Lord! I have done what the Lord commanded.”

“Then what does this bleating of sheep in my ears mean?” Samuel said. “And the mooing of cattle I hear?”

“They brought them from the Amalekites,” Saul said. “The people spared the best sheep and cattle so they could sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We destroyed the rest completely.”

“Wait,” Samuel said to Saul, “and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” said Saul.

Samuel said, “You once saw yourself as small, but weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. He sent you on a journey and said, ‘Go and completely destroy those sinners, the Amalekites. Fight them until they are wiped out.’ Why didn’t you obey the Lord’s voice? Why did you take the plunder and do what was wrong in the Lord’s eyes?”

“But I did obey the Lord’s voice,” Saul said. “I went where the Lord sent me. I brought back Agag, the king of Amalek, and I destroyed the Amalekites completely. But the people took some sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Samuel said, “Does the Lord take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying his voice? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is like the worship of idols and household gods. Because you have rejected the Lord’s word, he has also rejected you as king.”

“I won’t go back with you,” Samuel told him. “You have rejected the Lord’s word, and the Lord has rejected you as Israel’s king.”

As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the edge of his robe, and it tore.

Samuel said to him, “Today the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you and given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. The Strength of Israel will not lie or change his mind. Because he is not a man, he will not change his mind.”

Saul said, “I have sinned. But please, honor me now in front of the elders of my people and in front of Israel. Come back with me, and let me worship the Lord your God.”

So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag, the king of the Amalekites, here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully.

“Surely the bitterness of death is past,” Agag said.

Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag to pieces in the Lord’s presence at Gilgal.

Then Samuel left for Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not go to see Saul again until the day he died, but he mourned for Saul.

And the Lord grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.