1 Samuel 14:24-46 (New Living Translation)
24 Now the men of Israel were pressed to exhaustion that day, because Saul had placed them under an oath, saying, “Let a curse fall on anyone who eats before evening—before I have full revenge on my enemies.” So no one ate anything all day, 25 even though they had all found honeycomb on the ground in the forest. 26 They didn’t dare touch the honey because they all feared the oath they had taken.
27 But Jonathan had not heard his father’s command, and he dipped the end of his stick into a piece of honeycomb and ate the honey. After he had eaten it, he felt refreshed. 28 But one of the men saw him and said, “Your father made the army take a strict oath that anyone who eats food today will be cursed. That is why everyone is weary and faint.”
29 “My father has made trouble for us all!” Jonathan exclaimed. “A command like that only hurts us. See how refreshed I am now that I have eaten this little bit of honey. 30 If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they found among our enemies, think how many more Philistines we could have killed!”
31 They chased and killed the Philistines all day from Micmash to Aijalon, growing more and more faint. 32 That evening they rushed for the battle plunder and butchered the sheep, goats, cattle, and calves, but they ate them without draining the blood. 33 Someone reported to Saul, “Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that still has blood in it.”
“That is very wrong,” Saul said. “Find a large stone and roll it over here. 34 Then go out among the troops and tell them, ‘Bring the cattle, sheep, and goats here to me. Kill them here, and drain the blood before you eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with the blood still in it.’”
So that night all the troops brought their animals and slaughtered them there. 35 Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first of the altars he built to the Lord.
36 Then Saul said, “Let’s chase the Philistines all night and plunder them until sunrise. Let’s destroy every last one of them.”
His men replied, “We’ll do whatever you think is best.”
But the priest said, “Let’s ask God first.”
37 So Saul asked God, “Should we go after the Philistines? Will you help us defeat them?” But God made no reply that day.
38 Then Saul said to the leaders, “Something’s wrong! I want all my army commanders to come here. We must find out what sin was committed today. 39 I vow by the name of the Lord who rescued Israel that the sinner will surely die, even if it is my own son Jonathan!” But no one would tell him what the trouble was.
40 Then Saul said, “Jonathan and I will stand over here, and all of you stand over there.”
And the people responded to Saul, “Whatever you think is best.”
41 Then Saul prayed, “O Lord, God of Israel, please show us who is guilty and who is innocent.” Then they cast sacred lots, and Jonathan and Saul were chosen as the guilty ones, and the people were declared innocent.
42 Then Saul said, “Now cast lots again and choose between me and Jonathan.” And Jonathan was shown to be the guilty one.
43 “Tell me what you have done,” Saul demanded of Jonathan.
“I tasted a little honey,” Jonathan admitted. “It was only a little bit on the end of my stick. Does that deserve death?”
44 “Yes, Jonathan,” Saul said, “you must die! May God strike me and even kill me if you do not die for this.”
45 But the people broke in and said to Saul, “Jonathan has won this great victory for Israel. Should he die? Far from it! As surely as the Lord lives, not one hair on his head will be touched, for God helped him do a great deed today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.
46 Then Saul called back the army from chasing the Philistines, and the Philistines returned home.
Dear God,
Saul’s relationship with Jonathan will come up several times in the rest of 1 Samuel. I will admit to you that I have always had a little bit of a soft spot for Saul. I know he grieved you by doing a pre-battle sacrifice and ceremony before Samuel arrived, but at least he was trying to keep worshiping you. In this instance, however, he was stupid to make this curse in the first place. As the text says, everyone was weak from hunger. That is not a great way to fight an enemy. And then Jonathan’s sin (is that the right word?) was revealed, so Saul felt compelled to fulfill his oath. I am still not sure where you stood on that whole thing. Did you want him to kill Jonathan? I do not think you did, but this story intimates that you were upset about the broken oath and expected some sort of punishment.
Is there room for stupid people in your kingdom? Does the new covenant allow for a well-intentioned idiot? When the people asked Samuel for a king, did you really just pick Saul as a placeholder until David was old enough to be king? And what about Jonathan? Why take the kingdom away from him? He seemed to be pretty good and faithful. He was certainly faithful to David.
In the next stories, we will see Jonathan trying to deal with his dad as a tyrant, and Saul getting exasperated with Jonathan. It is one of the more complicated sets of stories for me, and I am not sure I will know any more about what to make of them after talking with you about them than I do now.
Father, speak to me as a dad. Help me, first and foremost, to love you well. Help me to give you all the glory for every good thing and point people to you when they are both celebrating and afraid. To paraphrase a Rich Mullins song, “If I Stand,” if I am in a good place, let me know that you brought me there. If I am in a bad place, let me fall on the grace that brought me to you in the first place. If I celebrate, let me celebrate all that you do for me and this world. And if I weep, let it be simply as someone who longs to be with you.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
