Sermon Tone Analysis

Let’s refresh our memories with what happened in 1 Samuel 13:

King Saul (not the Saul whose name would later be changed to “Paul”, but the OT king of Israel in the 11th Century before Christ)—King Saul decided to take a few thousand men and go after the much stronger, much larger, much better-equipped Philistines.

King Saul and his son, Jonathan, go and poke the bear that is Philistia.

They realize, quickly, how outnumbered and out-gunned they are, and so the men with Saul run and hide in the rocks and pits, some in cisterns; others crossed the Jordan River (that is, they ran far, far away; you would, too).

Israel is scared and Saul is impatient.

He had been given direction from the Lord’s prophet, Samuel, to wait for seven days and then Samuel would come and tell Saul exactly what to do.

But Saul couldn’t wait or wouldn’t wait.

He felt compelled to offer the sacrifices ahead of Samuel’s arrival.

There’s a fancy, somewhat-technical, theological term for this.

It’s “DUMB”—d-u-m-b, dum-buh.

In a verse that is as sad as it gets, verse 15 tells us that Samuel left Gilgal.

The prophet of the Lord with the word of the Lord has left the building, er, battlefield.

Saul was left to fend for himself against the vastly superior Philistines.

Saul has 600 men left and no swords, no spears, and worst of all, no guidance from the Lord Yahweh.

This is where we find the Israelite army, “led” by Saul and Jonathan when we turn from Chapter 13 to Chapter 14.

As we start reading through 1 Samuel 14, we notice a few things right off.

We see:

Jonathan hatching a secret plan.

He did not tell his father what he was going to do.

Jonathan knew something; he at least worried what, if anything, Saul would do.

When we find Saul, he’s just chilling underneath a pomegranate tree.

Why not?

We catch up with two rejected leaders, Saul and Ahijah.

Saul was rejected as king in 1 Samuel 13. Samuel told King Saul that his kingdom will not endure because of his disobedience.

So Saul sits here, a rejected king.

And kind of out-of-nowhere, we are introduced to Ahijah, this man wearing the priestly ephod.

But what we learn from Ahijah’s little genealogy here is that he is the great-grandson of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh.

Eli’s line, including this fella, Ahijah, was rejected by the Lord (1 Samuel 2:27-36, 3:11-14).

So, the group with the bulk of the men is being “led” by two rejected leaders.

A secret plan, rejected leaders, and an impossible path forward.

Where Jonathan had decided to cross was apparently at the worst spot imaginable.

A narrow pass with a cliff on each side.

The names of the cliffs are given to us.

These must be some famous cliffs to be named.

Their names, Bozez and Seneh, can be roughly translated as “slippery” and “thorny”.

So there’s a path, but it’s nearly impossible to cross.

A secret plan, a couple of rejected leaders, an impossible path—this scene has been set.

What’s going to happen?

What’s it going to take to get Israel out of this mess?

In a word: faith.

Faith looks, not at our circumstances, but to our God

This is the kind of faith that Jonathan has and exercises.

This is what he says to his young armor-bearer:

1 Samuel 14:6b (NIV)

“Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.

Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

Jonathan is given faith to see what is truly before him.

It’s not an impossible task ahead for him, because he’s not alone.

His faith is expectant and understanding.

Jonathan says “perhaps”—a word used before in 1 Samuel (6:5; 9:6) that means “maybe”, but a “maybe” that always has a positive in mind.

This “perhaps” from Jonathan is expectant.

It’s not a “well, here’s hoping,” but rather a faith-filled expectation that the Lord who acts on behalf of His people will act on behalf of His people again.

When I was the operations manager for a financial advisory firm in KC, regarding some of our clients’ investments, we had to repeat often the phrase: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”

Just because a stock or an investment did this then doesn’t mean that’s how it’s gonna behave going forward.

Where God is concerned, past performance is a guarantee of future performance.

God is always faithful, always good, always just.

He will always fight for His people, always.

Faith believes this.

Faith trusts.

Faith expects.

Faith looks to the Lord, and not to circumstances.

What’s more, Jonathan’s “perhaps” confesses the power the Lord has and also retains the freedom of the Lord; Jonathan knows that the Lord will do as He pleases.

Faith doesn’t dictate to God, like Saul thinking he could coerce God’s favor out of Him.

Faith looks to God and trusts Him fully.

Saul’s just sipping on a pommie-salami in the shade of the pomegranate tree, worrying about numbers.

Jonathan on the other hand is trusting the Lord in spite of the circumstances.

Faith like Jonathan’s is expectant and it’s backed up with some understanding.

He knows there is no limit to what the Lord can do—just think about what the Lord has done in Israel’s history up to this point.

The authors of the Bible make a point to bring up God’s rescue of His people , God’s bringing His people out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea so they walked through on dry ground; God’s providing for His people in the wilderness; God bringing His people into the Promised Land; God providing judges to deliver the people.

Most recently, 1 Samuel 7, the Lord fought the Philistines for His people, throwing them into a panic: “the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle.

But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.”

There is no limit to what the Lord can do.

Or, as Jonathan puts it: nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by a few.

There is no obstacle to prevent the Lord from rescuing His people.

Nothing can stand in the way of the Lord’s salvation.

Nothing.

This is Jonathan’s faith, his conviction, his understanding.

Jonathan is walking by faith, believing God will lead them based on what the Philistines say to them.

The Philistines mock them a bit and then tell Jonathan to “come up to them” (v.

12), the exact words Jonathan used in verse 10.

And Jonathan goes forward in faith: 1 Samuel 14:12 “So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me; the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.”

Faith, like Jonathan’s, looks—not at our circumstances—but to our God.

There’s more:

Faith looks to God who gives the victory

Jonathan and his armor-bearer—the few the Lord will use to save (v.

6)—go, and the Philistines fall.

It started with 20 Philistines.

And then there was panic.

Then the ground shook.

This terrible panic was a panic sent by God (v.

15).

The Philistine army was melting away in all directions (v.

16).

The tumult (noise) in the Philistine camp increased more and more (v.

18).

When Saul and all his men decided to get off their biscuits and join the battle, what they found was the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords (v.

20).

This, because victory belongs to the Lord—certainly not to Saul or his lazy men, and not even to Jonathan and his armor-bearer (though Jonathan was certainly more involved than Saul).

The Israelites who had fled in fear even join in on the battle as soon as they heard the Philistines were on the run (v.

22).

It’s pretty easy to join the fight after the bad guys have left.

Sissies.

Faithless sissies.

Verse 23 sums up the entire battle:

Faith looks to the God who gives the victory in total, not just to a god who lends a hand.