Reflections on 1 Samuel 13

1 Samuel 13 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Saul was a young man when he became king, and he ruled Israel for two years.
   
2. Then he chose three thousand men from Israel to be full-time soldiers and sent everyone else home. Two thousand of these troops stayed with him in the hills around Michmash and Bethel. The other thousand were stationed with Jonathan at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.
   
3. Jonathan led an attack on the Philistine army camp at Geba. The Philistine camp was destroyed, but the other Philistines heard what had happened. Then Saul told his messengers, "Go to every village in the country. Give a signal with the trumpet, and when the people come together, tell them what has happened."
   
4. The messengers then said to the people of Israel, "Saul has destroyed the Philistine army camp at Geba. Now the Philistines really hate Israel, so every town and village must send men to join Saul's army at Gilgal."
   
5. The Philistines called their army together to fight Israel. They had three thousand chariots, six thousand cavalry, and as many foot soldiers as there are grains of sand on the beach. They went to Michmash and set up camp there east of Beth-Aven.
   
6. The Israelite army realized that they were outnumbered and were going to lose the battle. Some of the Israelite men hid in caves or in clumps of bushes, and some ran to places where they could hide among large rocks. Others hid in tombs or in deep dry pits.
   
7. Still others went to Gad and Gilead on the other side of the Jordan River. Saul stayed at Gilgal. His soldiers were shaking with fear,
   
8. and they were starting to run off and leave him. Saul waited there seven days, just as Samuel had ordered him to do, but Samuel did not come.
   
9. Finally, Saul commanded, "Bring me some animals, so we can offer sacrifices to please the LORD and ask for his help." Saul killed one of the animals,
   
10. and just as he was placing it on the altar, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to welcome him.
    
11. "What have you done?" Samuel asked. Saul answered, "My soldiers were leaving in all directions, and you didn't come when you were supposed to. The Philistines were gathering at Michmash,
    
12. and I was worried that they would attack me here at Gilgal. I hadn't offered a sacrifice to ask for the LORD's help, so I forced myself to offer a sacrifice on the altar fire."
    
13. "That was stupid!" Samuel said. "You didn't obey the LORD your God. If you had obeyed him, someone from your family would always have been king of Israel.
    
14. But no, you disobeyed, and so the LORD won't choose anyone else from your family to be king. In fact, he has already chosen the one he wants to be the next leader of his people."
    
15. Then Samuel left Gilgal. Part of Saul's army had not deserted him, and he led them to Gibeah in Benjamin to join his other troops. Then he counted them and found that he still had six hundred men.
    
16. Saul, Jonathan, and their army set up camp at Geba in Benjamin. The Philistine army was camped at Michmash.
    
17. Each day they sent out patrols to attack and rob villages and then destroy them. One patrol would go north along the road to Ophrah in the region of Shual.
    
18. Another patrol would go west along the road to Beth-Horon. A third patrol would go east toward the desert on the road to the ridge that overlooks Zeboim Valley.
    
19. The Philistines would not allow any Israelites to learn how to make iron tools. "If we allowed that," they said, "those worthless Israelites would make swords and spears."
    
20. Whenever the Israelites wanted to get an iron point put on a cattle prod, they had to go to the Philistines. Even if they wanted to sharpen plow-blades, picks, axes, sickles, and pitchforks they still had to go to them. And the Philistines charged high prices.
    
21. (SEE 13:20)
    
22. So, whenever the Israelite soldiers had to go into battle, none of them had a sword or a spear except Saul and his son Jonathan.
    
23. The Philistines moved their camp to the pass at Michmash,
    

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    Saul's first military encounter, which was with the Ammonites, happened during the first year he was king and led to his reaffirmation as king. Though some supposition is required, it appears that the military encounters with the Philistines, recorded in chapter 13, were during his second year as king. By this time he was attempting to establish a regular army rather than a full dependence on a volunteer militia which he used with the Ammonites. He had recruited a standing army of 3,000 of which he had assigned 2,000 under his leadership and stationed at Michmash, and 1,000 led by his son Jonathan stationed at Gibeah. These locations were selected to avert Philistine attacks.
    
    Jonathan led his troops to attack a Philistine garrison at Geba which was between Michmash, where his father's troops were stationed and Gibeah where his troops were. This stirred up the Philistines, who gathered a large force to attack Israel, forcing Saul to fall back to augmenting his standing army with a volunteer militia. Once Saul's forces all arrived and the Philistine forces were assessed, they realized they were sorely outmanned and out "gunned." Besides larger numbers, the Philistines had horses and chariots and weapons, of which the Israelites had none. They had been forced previously to depend on the Philistines for any implement of iron. The Philistines had not allowed the Hebrews to have any blacksmiths for fear they would make swords and spears. So the Israelites were up against this superior Philistine force with no weapons of iron.
    
    While we can understand the fear of the Israelites that caused the troops to begin deserting, God expected them to remember all the times He had intervened for them and brought victory. They were to teach their children, generation after generation, of all the Lord had done for Israel. Their default response to this superior force should have been to look to the Lord rather than to desert. The situation proved to be a test for Saul. Would he wait on the Lord or take the situation into his own hands? He failed the test. Samuel had evidently instructed Saul to wait seven days for him to come and offer the burnt offering and seek God's help. When the seventh day came and Samuel still had not shown up, Saul did what was unlawful by offering the burnt offering himself. The smell of the offering was still in the air when Samuel showed up and asked Saul what he had done.
    
    Waiting on the Lord is often the greatest exercise of faith we encounter. What we do in these times of waiting can say as much, if not more, about our faith than what we do under the pressure of opposition. Waiting on the Lord is not "doing nothing" even though it feels that way. And when that feeling of "doing nothing" overwhelms us we are prone to do as Saul and do something even if it is wrong, and usually it is. For doing anything ahead of the Lord is wrong and will not bring the results we desire. In Saul's case, Samuel told him, "You have been foolish. You have not kept the command which the LORD your God gave you. It was at this time that the LORD would have permanently established your reign over Israel, but now your reign will not endure." (13:13-14)