March 30

March 30

1 Samuel 13–14

Scripture Text: 1 Samuel 13:1–14:52

Series: Read the Bible in a Year

As God had declared to Samuel, Saul would rule the people with order, and bring a unified front against the Philistines. God pronounced that Saul would save Israel from the Philistines. He makes a great beginning, such that Israel became an offensive stench to the Philistines. But Philistia rallied with a great number of troops. Israel now feared since they were outnumbered. 

Now is the time for King Saul to lead the people, to remind them that they should trust in God, not numerical and technological advantage. Instead, Saul is rattled by Samuel’s absence — Samuel who had said his farewell. After a week of waiting, during which the people were leaving their king, Saul oversteps his position as king and offers the sacrifice that the priest only should offer. As soon as he does, Samuel arrives. He informs the king that his kingship will not continue since God wants someone who will obey his commandments instead of making up his own ways. He wants a king in Israel whose heart is set on God, not himself. It seems all is over for Saul, especially since Saul and Jonathan, his son, are the only armed Israelites in the camp. 

Jonathan and his armor bearer decide to take on the Philistines without informing the king of enlisting the help of others. Coming in to the camp of the Philistines, they kill 20 men, and the rest begin to flee. Saul figures out what is happening and calls Eli’s grandson, the king’s priest, to bring the ark into the battle. That the son of Phinehas is involved with the king is further portent of Saul’s downfall. 

Though the Philistines are beaten that day, Saul begins to turn darker, perhaps because his son had been the hero of the battle and had not consulted his father. Whatever the reason, Saul wishes to be personally avenged. The conflict has come to be about Saul instead of the Lord, or even Israel. At the threat of a curse, Saul charges the people not to eat until that night, that they should busy themselves with defeating the enemy. Jonathan, not knowing the king’s order, eats some wild honey in the forest. When he hears of the king’s edict, he criticizes his father, a further sign of the ruin of Israel’s first king. To save face, Saul would actually put his son to death, but the people will not have it. They recognize it is Jonathan who is working with God and save him from Saul’s rash oath. The reading ends with charitable  words about the king’s reign, including his gift of finding strong men to serve, setting the stage for David.

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