When God Works Despite You
Notes
Transcript
I. Faith in God Brings Victory
I. Faith in God Brings Victory
Setting: (1-5)
Why Jonathan doesn’t tell his father. Clearly Saul has relieved Jonathan of his command, due to having no army. Otherwise, Jonathan would have used them. He’s only got his armorbearer. If Saul was interested in having Jonathan fight, he would have given him some kind of army. So Jonathan is frustrated with his father’s inability to trust God to win the victory.
Where Saul was located
He had an Elide Priest with an Ephod with him. Wait, what? Then why didn’t he consult God sooner? The Priest had the Urim and the Thummim in the Ephod.
The Rocky Passes of Bozez and Seneh at Michmash.
Jonathan initiates the battle (6-15)
“nothing hinders the Lord from saving by many or by few” most important line in this section. The difference between faith and presumption is firm reliance on God’s express promises. Lev 26:3, 7-8; Deut 32:28-30 When just a few Israelites obeyed God, they could claim God’s promise that he would win the battle for them, regardless of their size.
‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
“For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them.
Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had surrendered them?
Jonathan’s “strategy” is the worst. He gives up the element of surprise and just goes for it. But it works! The Philistines have become so overconfident that they no longer expect any attack, and Jonathan’s bold move so catches them off-guard that they flee in terror. 20 men killed in an area about the size of my backyard. That combined with a mild earthquake was enough to convince the superstitious Philistines that the gods were against them.
Saul Watches the Battle (16-19)
Rather than take the initiative, Saul first wastes time by calling roll to see who was missing. While that might be a valid question for later, it is not the thing to do now. The thing to do is to capitalize on the opportunity rather than worry about who gets the credit/blame.
Then Saul wants to go through some kind of worship ritual. Not clear exactly what, as the Ark of the Covenant was not used to determine God’s will, nor did people sacrifice to it. Maybe the Priest was supposed to use the Urim and Thummim now? or maybe Saul thought he had to sacrifice before the battle, and since the Ark was the presence of God, he needed it here? Anyway, there had been plenty of time to consult God already. Now is the time for fighting and Saul is just delaying more by his obsession over getting the ritual right.
Israel Joins the Battle (20-23)
Whatever the Reason, Saul switches to fighting in the middle of whatever the priest was doing, perhaps out of fear of missing out on the victory.
Jonathan’s display of bravado had the effect of energizing the Israelite army, completely independent of Saul. The deserters from the nearby areas returned. We now find out that some of those deserters had switched sides. But now they have Philistine armor and weapons so the Philistines cannot tell who is on their side and who is on the side of Israel.
They pursued the Philistines for about 15 miles to Beth-aven (Location)
II. A Foolish Vow brings trouble
II. A Foolish Vow brings trouble
Saul’s Vow - (24) Notice that the focus of the vow is his own vengeance. The problem with this is not revenge - it’s his job to defend Israel - the problem is that it is not about the Lord, but about himself. What Saul’s motive is besides this is not told us. What is clear is that it is quite stupid. God never commanded that an army go without food to prove themselves, and by not eating while chasing the Philistines for many miles, they got very faint.
Jonathan unintentionally breaks the vow and show how foolish it was
(27) Jonathan’s actions previously help us to see him in a positive light. Vows are very serious; Psalm 15:1, 4 God expects you to keep them. However, since he wasn’t there and couldn’t be expected to know, who would blame him for doing what came naturally? And we already were told that it was his faith that gave him the courage to win the victory. He is a war hero already.
Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
(25-29) the narrator records Jonathan’s actions to show us how foolish the vow was. the honey was made by ground bees, and the commotion from the war had disturbed a nest so that the honey was right there on the ground. Jonathan just tasted a bit and he felt better. It’s not an accident that the narrator told us that he felt better. It’s obvious that he would feel better, when he’s been running for hours without time to eat. And he actually repeats this fact (v.27, 29)
(29-30) Jonathan’s reply is also recorded to further show the foolishness of the vow. He is quite ready to criticize his father, and points out another obvious fact - if the army had been able to eat the food they found, they would have more energy and have been able to defeat the Philistines even more decisively.
(31-35) The record of the people’s eating the blood also shows the foolishness of Saul’s vow. They did that precisely because he had deprived them of food. Once evening came and they were released from the vow, they were so hungry that they could not restrain themselves to kill the animals properly, and ate the food without draining the meat of the blood. Saul wasn’t wrong to step in here, though he didn’t anticipate this and had to be told it was happening. But it is interesting that the narrator said this was the first altar he built. When he offered the sacrifice in the last chapter, there must have been an altar already there. Saul wasn’t the kind of man to build altars, because he really wasn’t very spiritual. What this shows, however, is that Saul’s foolish vow weakened the men’s resolve so that they ended up breaking the Law of Moses. He set them up for failure by putting them in a compromised state.
(36-46) Saul overreacts with a foolish judgment
(36-37) Saul now seeks counsel to know if he should pursue the Philistines, but God doesn’t answer. Again, it seems that the question is unnecessary. God is clearly already at work. Go with it. But what is quite clear is that God is still taking the vow seriously, for to withhold an answer was an obvious sign of God’s displeasure.
(38-41) Saul gives Jonathan the third degree. Until now no one said anything about execution. One might infer it from the curse, but Saul has just taken another oath that clearly specifies death.
(42-44) Further, he goes through the process of discovering the same way Joshua did with Achan. Yet Achan knowingly disobeyed the command of God and caused the death of 36 men; Jonathan delivered Israel and ignorantly broke a foolish vow by just eating a little honey. These things are not like each other.
There was a procedure in the law for sins done in ignorance, and this certainly would qualify. Leviticus 4:27-29 states that if anyone sins in ignorance against any command of God, he could offer a female goat-kid or lamb and it would be forgiven. Since God did command that oaths be kept, and Jonathan didn’t know, this should have been all that would have to be done. Furthermore, Saul has thoughtlessly made an oath, and there was a procedure for that, too. It was the same as for unintentional sins (Lev 5:4-6). Saul seem to suspect his son, and seems determined to make an example of him.
‘If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty,
or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.
And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering.
‘Or if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever it is that a man may pronounce by an oath, and he is unaware of it—when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in any of these matters.
‘And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing;
and he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
The People provide a counter-oath based on the clear evidence that God used him (45) Now the law makes provision for a husband to nullify his wife’s vows, but it did not have any ruling on oaths of the King vs. the people. So can they do that? Well, as Jonathan points out, it is clearly unjust to kill someone who was used to bring victory because he violated a rule he didn’t know existed. So I think God sides with the people here. Yes, Jonathan broke the vow and that was sin (sin is sin even when you don’t know it’s wrong.) But it is much worse to kill the victor.
Not only do the people nullify the King’s Word, but the King’s overreaction means they don’t actually pursue the Philistines like he planned. Saul’s pride at being disregarded has once again gotten in the way of God’s deliverance. the Philistines are defeated, but they remain a threat, unlike the Ammonites.
The Summary of Saul’s Reign (47-52)
Summaries usually occur at the end of a king’s account, but here there’s one more story left to go. Maybe because Saul loses his legitimacy in the next chapter?
We have the list of Saul’s Sons, but there’s a question about how many. Other references name two more - Esh-baal and Abinadab. We know from ch 31 that Jonathan, Malchi-shua, and Abinadab died with Saul on Mt Gilboa. Esh-Baal is the same as Ishbosheth. So what happened to Ishvi? perhaps he died early?
We find out that Saul did his job well when he had a big enough army. We have the stories of his fight with the Ammonites (ch 11), against the Philistines (ch13-14, 17, 31), and against the Amalekites (next chapter). We do not have the stories of his war against the Moabites, Edomites, and the Kings of Zobah.
All his days he constantly kept on the lookout for men of soldier material, and did exactly what Samuel said the King would do back in chapter 8.