1Sa 14:24-46 | KingComments | STEP | It is clear that the LORD is at work and that He has delivered Israel. This is the highlight of this history. We see Him standing up for His people in grace, while the people have turned their backs on Him. The army moves on to defeat the Philistines. Saul turns it into a prestige case for himself. He speaks about “my enemies”. Saul does not speak of the LORD, not of Israel, but only of himself. He puts the people under oath because of his own feelings of revenge that the people will not eat before he has avenged himself. Saul swears several times in this chapter ( ) and every time he has not kept to what he has sworn. The character of Saul’s folly is legalism. By this he imposes a commandment on the people that robs them of their strength. Thereby the people are being worn out. Faith and the taking to oneself of what God gives, gives new courage and strength. A legal mind and a constant talk about commandments and prohibitions paralyzes the people of God. People who do that, also have no room in their thinking for acts of faith like that of Jonathan. They do not like it either, because it is outside the old, familiar paths. The issuance of this severe injunction is: 1. Non-political and unwise. It may seem as if time is gained that is otherwise spent on food, but in reality, the people lose the strength for pursuit. 2. Imperious and unfriendly to the people. If the people had wanted to have a feast, there would have been something to be said for the ban, but to forbid them to use food, although they are hungry, is cruel. 3. Wicked, because Saul connects the Name of God to it through a curse and an oath. This is not the way to reign. Those who are in reign over others may reprimand and punish, but they may not curse their subjects. When David speaks of one of his enemies as someone “who loved the curse” ( ), he may mean Saul. The people are obedient to Saul’s command, but what a torment it is when they enter the forest where they see honey on the ground. This means a great temptation for the people. However, the fear for Saul is so deep in them that they do not even dare to taste the honey for fear of Saul’s curse. Saul, through his legal performance, has closed the path of the people to the blessing of the land. Canaan after all is a land that flows with honey. Here we have an example of it. They can, as it were, suck honey from the rock ( ). The sweetness would quickly give them new energy. We see this with Jonathan.

‏ 1 Samuel 14:24-46

Saul Prohibits to Eat Food

It is clear that the LORD is at work and that He has delivered Israel. This is the highlight of this history. We see Him standing up for His people in grace, while the people have turned their backs on Him.

The army moves on to defeat the Philistines. Saul turns it into a prestige case for himself. He speaks about “my enemies”. Saul does not speak of the LORD, not of Israel, but only of himself. He puts the people under oath because of his own feelings of revenge that the people will not eat before he has avenged himself. Saul swears several times in this chapter (1Sam 14:24 ; 39 ; 44) and every time he has not kept to what he has sworn.

The character of Saul’s folly is legalism. By this he imposes a commandment on the people that robs them of their strength. Thereby the people are being worn out. Faith and the taking to oneself of what God gives, gives new courage and strength. A legal mind and a constant talk about commandments and prohibitions paralyzes the people of God. People who do that, also have no room in their thinking for acts of faith like that of Jonathan. They do not like it either, because it is outside the old, familiar paths.

The issuance of this severe injunction is:

1. Non-political and unwise. It may seem as if time is gained that is otherwise spent on food, but in reality, the people lose the strength for pursuit.

2. Imperious and unfriendly to the people. If the people had wanted to have a feast, there would have been something to be said for the ban, but to forbid them to use food, although they are hungry, is cruel.

3. Wicked, because Saul connects the Name of God to it through a curse and an oath. This is not the way to reign. Those who are in reign over others may reprimand and punish, but they may not curse their subjects. When David speaks of one of his enemies as someone “who loved the curse” (Psa 109:17-18), he may mean Saul.

The people are obedient to Saul’s command, but what a torment it is when they enter the forest where they see honey on the ground. This means a great temptation for the people. However, the fear for Saul is so deep in them that they do not even dare to taste the honey for fear of Saul’s curse.

Saul, through his legal performance, has closed the path of the people to the blessing of the land. Canaan after all is a land that flows with honey. Here we have an example of it. They can, as it were, suck honey from the rock (Deu 32:13b). The sweetness would quickly give them new energy. We see this with Jonathan.

Jonathan Takes Honey

Jonathan has not heard the curse and is therefore free to eat the honey. He does. He is out of the reach of the curse. This is a picture of faith and law excluding each other mutually. Jonathan is like the Lord Jesus Who drank from the brook by the wayside (Psa 110:7). Jonathan enjoys, in picture, a short moment of earthly things, not worldly things. Legalism is also: forbidding each other to enjoy the earthly things. We should not exaggerate the enjoyment of earthly things either, as if enjoying them is the only thing that life consists of.

With Jonathan we see how it can be done. He tastes the honey on the way, while his eye remains focused on the battle. He does not sit down at ease to eat his belly full of honey. He tastes “a little” (1Sam 14:29; Pro 24:13 ; Pro 25:16 ; 27; cf. Jdg 7:6). The battle remains the goal. On the one hand we must learn to avoid the folly of Saul and on the other hand we must learn from Jonathan how to enjoy the earthly blessings.

As soon as Jonathan has eaten, he is told about the curse his father has made. It is said that the curse of his father is the cause of the exhaustion of the people. Curse does not give strength to do what is asked, but rather has a paralyzing effect. Jonathan is not ashamed to point out his father’s stupidity. Instead of leading his people into battle and providing them with all the means to do so, Saul places the people under a law. In so doing he plunges the people into trouble. The same is said of Achan (Jos 7:25).

Jonathan talks about how much greater the blessing would have been if his father had not acted so foolishly. Our spiritual blessing would also be greater if many among us were not so legal or worldly-minded. The danger comes from both sides. Oppression or freedom prevents a great victory.

The use of a little honey has given Jonathan strength again. This allows him to see clearly again. Honey speaks of the sweetness of natural bonds. How good can it be when a warrior in the work of the Lord takes a moment of rest and enjoys his family, his wife, his children. This gives him the strength to continue his fight. Of the commandment of the LORD it also is written that the eyes are enlightened to know what must happen (Psa 19:8b). It indicates that true enlightenment is found on the path of obedience to God’s Word.

The People Eat Meat With the Blood

Although the people are exhausted, they gain the victory over the Philistines. But precisely because of this exhaustion, the people forget God’s law concerning the prohibition to eat meat with the blood. Thus, one sin of Saul causes another sin of the people. When evening has fallen, the people fall into the other extreme and eat meat with the blood. Instead of total abstinence from food, they surrender unrestrainedly to their desire to eat. The same can sometimes be seen with children who are raised under the law. Once they are independent, they surrender to a dissolute life.

When Saul is told what the people are doing, he suddenly becomes the pious Saul again, who seems to care about God’s commandments. He condemns the people. That he is the cause of their sinning does not occur to him. He does not seek the fault in himself. He does have a solution to this problem, but without any self-judgment.

Saul is the lawful man in the full sense of the word. If such a person sees something that is outwardly unsound, he makes powerful accusations about it. The solution that such a person offers is also a solution of its own making. He makes himself the center of a religious event. The great sacrificial stone must be brought to him and the animals to be slaughtered must also be brought to him.

Then Saul builds his first altar, which is probably also his last. A rejected king builds an altar together with a rejected priest. He is not a young believer, but an older man who has never done this before. This is tragic.

Saul Gets No Answer From God

Saul sees his chance to take maximum advantage of the situation and maximize the defeat for his enemies. He wants to continue the night with going down after the enemies. The people seem to react resigned, quite different from Jonathan’s armor bearer in 1Sam 14:7. The priest thinks that it is better to ask God first. Earlier, Saul prevented him from doing so at the last minute (1Sam 14:19).

Saul accepts the priest’s suggestion. He asks God if he shall go down after the Philistines and if God will give them into the hand of Israel. His questions sound good, but his mind is not subdued. He wants an immediate answer and he wants an answer that satisfies him. Now there is no answer from God. Before Saul did not want, now God does not want. God’s patience comes to an end. A man can come to God in a mind to which God cannot respond (Jam 4:3). Someone who comes with sincere repentance will always receive an answer from God, therefore God takes all time.

Jonathan Taken as Guilty

Even from this silence of God Saul does not ask himself why. He does not think about himself as a cause at all. He is completely blind to it. He does say that the LORD delivers Israel. This is always the mixture with religious people: willfulness and the expression of truths.

Just like Jephthah (Jdg 11:30 ; 34-35) Saul is prepared to sacrifice his child to his legalism in the conviction that this is right with God. The people do not react to Saul’s threats to tell the cause of God’s silence. The people do not want to betray Jonathan.

If Saul does not find out through the people, he tries through lot. In doing so, he does not go tribe after tribe, but immediately separates himself and Jonathan on the one hand and the people on the other. He does not seem to want to waste too much time following complicated procedures, although these are according to God’s will. Here, too, the people reside in the will of Saul.

Saul commands God to bring the truth to light. God does not let Himself be commanded, but He does govern the lots. The lots take Saul and Jonathan, and the people escape. God spares His people. Saul then orders that lots be cast between him and Jonathan. He knows it cannot take him, but for the form he lets the lots cast. Jonathan is indeed taken.

Then Saul orders Jonathan to tell what he has done. Jonathan is full of surrender. He bears witness to what he has done. Jonathan does not apologize by saying that he did not hear Saul’s commandment. This ignorance is not brought forth either by Jonathan or by the people. Jonathan is ready to die. His attitude is beautiful. He does not defend himself, nor does he start to attack his father because of his folly. He acknowledges his deed, but not as sin.

After the ‘confession’ of his son Jonathan Saul breaks loose. Saul’s evil heart is ready to kill his son. In his folly he is willing to kill the only man of faith among them. He has sworn it and so he will keep word. How far away is Saul from grace! He has no part in it himself and therefore knows of no mercy toward others, not even toward his own son who has won such a great victory for Israel.

The People Rescue Jonathan

Then Jonathan gets support. The people stand up for him. The people testify of Jonathan’s deed as “worked with God” and rescue him. The people see Jonathan’s deed as an act in which he has joined the side of God and has been engaged with Him in the same work. His disobedience to his father is negated by this. It should also have something to say to the people that they are testifying here against their king, a king whom they dearly desired and whom they have hailed.

A performance like Jonathan’s is only possible if someone is aware of God’s thoughts and joins them. The worker then works like God, he follows the way of God. We see this also with the first Christians in the book of Acts.

That Saul must give in because of the people must have been a humiliation to him, just as many things in his life have been humiliating to him. If only he would have admitted it. We do not hear Saul acknowledging that he was wrong. In him we see how the flesh works. Flesh does not distinguish the will of God and has no compassion for those who clearly live with God. It turns victory into defeat and disgraces God-given authority by its extreme commands. It turns joy into mourning and indignation.

In the same way, in many houses hard legalism has jumbled God-given authority, and the exercise of discipline is nothing more than carnal posturing. In such cases it is not surprising that ‘the people rise and speak’.

It seems that Saul does not complete the pursuit of the Philistines. His defeat before his own people has diminished his desire to continue his efforts to pursue and destroy the enemies. Therefore, the defeat of the Philistines is not complete, and he gives them the opportunity to return to their own homes. There they can prepare for new attacks on Israel.