When The Lord Succeeds Against All Odds

Intro: When People are Big and God is Small Ed Welch

Focus: The Lord uses His faithful servants to win the battles that seem against all odds for man, but easy for a Great God

As a sort of teaser for a much greater moment in Israel’s history when a young boys slays a Philistine giant, today we have a young warrior prince and his armor bearer go against the odds to defeat a garrison of Philistines and become the catalyst for their loss of a battle. The Lord loves to bring glory to his name by taking the insignificant and leading them to victory over the impossible.

In the OT, the victories were always sealed and delivered by the Lord’s power, but he always chose those unlikely heroes to accomplish the task. Some notable examples would be:

The leader of the exodus of Israel from Egpyt was an adopted Hebrew child who grew up in the Pharoah’s palace as an adopted son but who would not abandon his Hebrew people enslavement

One Judge of Israel Gideon started out as a scared farm laborer only to be used and called a mighty valiant warrior as he delivered Israel from the Midianites with only a small army

The decisive destruction of a Caananite city of Ai came because of the help of a unlikely ally…a gentile harlot named Rahab

The least likely group to be qualified for sitting under Jesus’ teaching and becoming the leaders of Christian movement were the uneducated, untrained, socially ostracized, Spirit-filled disciples that would carry the message of the gospel and change the world.

What we need to learn today is simply that the Lord is not concerned about the odds of men. He does not worry with statistical disadvantages or running out of luck. No problem is too big for him to overcome and no army is too great for him to defeat.

The theme and focus for our passage today is simply stated in those verses. We will see a bleak and grim situation in Israel, who is sitting under poor leadership and who is inches away from the enemies destructive forces. The situation seems impossible but as Scripture states,

Is anything too difficult for the Lord? (Gen. 18:4)

I. A Hopeless Situation for Man (13:15-14:3)

Coming off the foolish actions of a king that we looked at last Sunday, the narrative takes us to some circumstances that seem to set up the victory well in the end. But at first the slope downward is steep and it looks like it might be the end for Israel. Let’s look at 5 observations of the hopeless situation for Israel.

A. The Loss of Godly Leadership (13:15)

1 Samuel 13:15 “15 Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.”

It is important to observe that Samuel has left the scene after declaring that Saul will have his kingdom taken from him by the Lord. The absence of Samuel from the following verses means that the direction and wisdom of the Lord has also left the king and his military actions.

This obviously is not a great concern to Saul because we saw last week how Saul acted out of the desperation of his circumstances and not according to the instruction from God’s word. It is hard to imagine that Saul will even miss Samuel’s presence at all.

But it does highlight that God’s people are in a bad place with the absence of Godly leadership. Whether there are leaders over them who are not godly or they are absent all together, godly leadership is a must because with it comes the centrality of the word of God that they deliver to the people.

B. Surrounded by the Enemy (13:16-18)

The second observation is the location of the enemy. We read that the armies of the Philistines break up in three companies. (SEE MAP)

1 Samuel 13:16–18 “16 Now Saul and his son Jonathan and the people who were present with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin while the Philistines camped at Michmash. 17 And the raiders came from the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual, 18 and another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another company turned toward the border which overlooks the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.”

Now the Philistines are camped at Mishmash just 2 miles from Geba. This is the battle lines as you might call them. But these raiding parties spread out on three sides so that main roads from Orphah to the north, Beth-horon to the west and the Valley of Ze-bo-im to the east are all occupied by Philistine forces. This constricts Israel from any help or reinforcements coming from outside to help them in battle.

C. An Unprepared Army (13:19-23)

The third and somewhat odd observation is the lack of preparedness of Israel’s army. In v 19-23, we read that Saul’s army did not possess the skill of ironsmithing and therefore their weapons were more reflected of farmers than soldiers. What the Scriptures tell us is that the Philistines held somewhat of a monopoly on the shaping of iron into weapons and so Israel stood at a disadvantage. Farmers versus an equipped army seems like a very dismal and grim situation.

D. A Distracted King (14:2)

We continue with the fourth obeservation and that is the leadership of Israel’s King. Into chapter 14, versus 2, there is a contrast made that will stand for the rest of the chapter. In v 1, we see that Jonathan is eager for battle but his father Saul, the king, is much less motivated. We already saw the sad ending to the verses from last week, with Saul making foolish decisions of disobedience that led to the Samuel declaring that the Lord would be replacing Saul as king. Now with the enemy at Saul’s doorstep, how does the writer decribe Saul’s behavior?

1 Samuel 14:2 “2 Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron. And the people who were with him were about six hundred men,”

Now Scripture shows the pomegranate tree was a luscious and fruit bearing tree that was highly prized in Israel. It is often associated with rest and luxury which makes me think that it is mentioned here to show how the king has not only retreated from the battle lines to Gibeah, but sits under this tree, distracted from his purpose as leader over the people. This is a DEFCON 2 type of moment and Saul’s posture does not reflect the seriousness of such a moment, especially compared to the readiness and eagerness of his son Jonathan that we see in v 1.

E. The Companion of Fools (14:3)

One last observation of hopelessness that we see is the companions of Saul in Gibeah.

1 Samuel 14:3 “3 and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord at Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.”

Now remember the failure of Eli the priest and his ministry in Israel. Remember how the Lord cursed his family and priestly line because of their abuses of the worship of the Lord. Well, we are presented here with Saul being accompanied by the descendants of Eli, his great grandson, Ahijah. He was obviously still serving a priestly duty as we see him wearing an ephod but it seems the connection is being made of this rejected king and rejected priestly line spending time together in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even the name Ichabod is mentioned again which means, “glory gone or glory departed.”

One commentator asks:

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 3: 1 Samuel–2 Kings (Revised Edition) Commentary

“(with) His own royal glory gone, (who) else would we expect Saul to be than with a relative of ‘Glory gone’?”

Now all of these observations lead us to consider hopelessness and the dire situations that we all find ourselves in. For the Christian, dire straits as we learn last week are an opportunity to put our trust in the Lord. Christian people cannot be hopeless people because of the omnipotent power of our God and Lord.

Instead of falling into hopelessness, we can see these moments as a great moment to express faith in God to do the impossible. Meditate on his attributes so you are reminded of who He has revealed himself to be and how He promises His people that he will deliver and sustain them in the most difficult moments.

When the Assyrians invaded Jerusalem, King Hezekiah makes a bold and helpful statement to his people about the power and might of the Lord and our needed faith in him,

2 Chronicles 32:7–8 “7 “Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. 8 “With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”

II. The Hope of Faithful Leaders (14:1,4-10)

Jonathan, the son of Saul, is contrasted as a faithful leader regardless of his heritage and family name. What a joy it is to see Jonathan display characteristics of godliness in contrast to his father the king. It should remind us of the power of the Lord to break the deficiencies of family failures. If you come from a lineage of fools, abusers, and rebels, this is not a death sentence for you. Instead, look at how Jonathan was made different and his lineage didn’t dictate his future.

Let’s see four godly traits that the Lord gives Jonathan to lead Israel well in this moment of their history:

A. Courage (1,4-6a)

1 Samuel 14:1 “1 Now the day came that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.”

1 Samuel 14:4–6 “4 Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp crag on the one side and a sharp crag on the other side, and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The one crag rose on the north opposite Michmash, and the other on the south opposite Geba. 6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.””

Now Jonathan has a warrior spirit that is not going to let the circumstances lead him to fear. He is infused with a passion to do hard things, to not allow the path ahead to turn him around. In these verses, Jonathan is willing, with his armor-bearer companion by his side, to take on the enemy. He does not tell his father about his plans and why should he. He clearly sees his father for who he truly is.

Instead, he devises a plan to go over to the camp of the Philistines. His plan includes taking a hard mountainous route, one that he is not willing to back down from, in order to accomplish his task. These crags of the mountainous terrrain were obviously so well known they were given names. Their names mean Slippery and Thorny to add to the drama of the route he was taking.

His courage should push the believer to ask yourself: are you motivated to do hard things…to take the sharp and rugged road no matter the difficulty. This type of personality comes natural to some more than others. But I believe that a transformed heart in Christ leads us to be courageous because fear is replaced by faith.

Now courage is really the turning from fear of man and turning to confidence in God to work in and through us. If we believe in the Lord’s power by His spirit, we will have confidence to do what the Lord requires of us.

B. Faith (6)

The second characteristic in Jonathan is his faith in the Lord. Look at the end of v 6

1 Samuel 14:6 “6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.””

Here Jonathan confesses that the Lord’s power is not restrained nor is his will undone. If the Lord chooses to save he will save many or few, whatever He has determined to accomplish. This is an excellent statement to full the mission of God if we set out to be faithful, we trust that the Lord will transform many or few, whatever He chooses in His sovereignty.

C. Trustworthiness (7)

The third characteristic is Jonathan is someone to be trusted. Here his armor bearer by his side is willing to go into the battle and fight alongside Jonathan showing us that as a leader, Jonathan is one who can be trusted by others. Again, if we contrast the actions of Saul, he seems to have abandoned his army to retreating to another place. What kind of a leader flees the battle?

But Jonathan is pressing forward to fight the uncircumcised, trusting in the power of the Lord to work through him.

D. Wise (8-10)

1 Samuel 14:8–10 “8 Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them. 9 “If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you’; then we will stand in our place and not go up to them. 10 “But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hands; and this shall be the sign to us.””

Jonathan shows the last characteristic as wisdom as he trusts in the sovereignty of God to work out the deliverance of his enemies. Notice first his faith again to move forward. He will cross over to the men, not being afraid of them, trusting in the Lord to carry forth his plan. Then his wisdom was applied in seeking the Lord’s direction through his providence. He tells his armor bearer that if these Philistine enemies ask them to come over after revealing themselves, then they know that the Lord is giving them into their hands. They were seeking a sign from the Lord.

It is wise to seek the direction of the Lord before we move forward. Often in Scipture, Israel would surrender themselves to teh providence of the Lord where he controls all events as a way to help them decide a course of action. They would cast lots knowing that the Lord directed all affairs.

In the church today, we still follow the word of God and the providence of God as a way to make decisions in our lives. We look for how the Lord is working or not working in determining steps that we need to take. If I was going to prioritize the tools we use to make wise decisions, I would use:

The written word of God illuminated by the Holy Spirit and prayer

The counsel and advise of others who walk by the same Holy Spirit

The providence of the Lord as he directs your circumstances and works through your prayers

The Lord will honor those who seek his direction His ways. This is wise living.

III. The Lord Grants the Victory in the End (14:11-23)

In the final verses of this section, we see how the Lord grants victory to Israel in spite Israel being overwelming underdogs.

A. The Lord’s Servant Shifts the Tides of War (11-15)

In verses 11-15, Jonathan see the Lord’s hand at work delivering the enemies over to them and in 11-15 they rise up and slay 20 soldiers. Now we need to see that it was the Lord who delievered these enemies into the hand of Jonathan instead of praising Jonathan for the defeat.

What ensued was a great terror and trembling in v 15. Three times the HB word HARADAH is used to express the immediate change in the confidence of the Philistines. They went from arrogant to fearful. V 15 concludes with the earth shaking and leading to a “great trembling.” We should interpret that earthquake as a demonstration of the Lord bringing about the victory with Jonathan.

The Lord allowed Jonathan’s victory to become the catalyst for Israel to bring a great defeat on their enemy that day.

B. The Lord’s People Rally to Defeat their Enemy (16-23)

In the final verses, Saul enters in the picture again. A report comes to Saul by the watchmen that the Philistine army was scattering and retreating. He has no idea why nor does he know his son Jonathan was missing. He has to count his meager-sized army to realize Jonathan’s absence.

Once he realizes his son was missing and part of the cataylst for the Philistine retreat, Saul still does not engage in the opportunity to advance over his enemies. He calls his priest to bring the ark to him, most likely to utilize it superstitiously against his opponents, only to change his mind when he says, “withdraw your hand.” Saul just seems like such an indecisive leader in these moments.

But none the less Israel rallies the troops, they advance on the retreating Philistines and the Lord grants them victory that day as v 23 concludes

1 Samuel 14:22–23 “22 When all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, even they also pursued them closely in the battle. 23 So the Lord delivered Israel that day, and the battle spread beyond Beth-aven.”

In spite of Saul’s buffoonery as King, the Lord gets the glory for the victory and he highlights once again for His people the way in which he uses faithful humble servants to carry out His great accomplishments.

Like I said last week, we should not see ourselves in anyone else besides Saul who act unwisely, who seek our own advantages, who can be given such great opportunities and we will fail at them in our own sinfulness.

The Kings of Israel show all of God’s people that man’s power is hopeless and the Lord’s power is our only hope. We cannot accomplish good outside of the power in our Lord and thanks be to God that Jesus was sent into the world in all his perfections, in his complete rigteousness to be the King this world truly needs. He displayed true and complete royalty and he put that royalty on full display by defeating the great enemies of sin, death and Satan.

The Lord is our only hope for victory. He will always beat the odds and come out vicotrious. Nothing can stay his hand and no power is to great for him to overcome. This includes your sin which He graciously provides freedom from if we put our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He is mighty to save!

I love the lyrics to this hymn by the Getty’s

What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong

Who holds our days within His hand? What comes, apart from His command And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand

Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trial? Who sends the waves that bring us nigh Unto the shore? The rock of Christ