1 Samuel 13 is the first years of the shift from Judges to a King. Samuel is the last judge, Saul is the first king. The kingdom is emerging out of the promise to Abraham.
By this stage we have the 12 tribes taking up their inheritance all over the region but they are still being troubled by other nations.
1 Samuel 13
From beginning to end, God’s people will be troubled, it is a war of spiritual proportions that plays out in the natural world. Thank God for the weapons of our warfare that are not carnal but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds, as the awesome Apostle Paul writes (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Saul and his son Jonathan have an army of men, 2000 with Saul, 1000 with Jonathan. Jonathon hits the enemy and the sound went out to the Hebrews.
But the enemy gathered together, 30,000 chariots, 6000 horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude. How many do you think that is? The enemy greatly outnumbered Israel. It must have been formidable. The noise, the energy in the air, the space of land they took.
Do we think the enemy outnumbers us too? Israel was terrified, or in the King James language, ‘distressed’ – which in the Hebrew language means tyrannized, harassed. They were hiding in caves, behind trees, in rocks…anywhere they could.
Now here it gets very interesting. Because this situation is so common.
God has spoken, maybe the prophets have spoken. But when it doesn’t seem to happen in the right time, we take our own steps, we try to help the situation.
We do not understand obedience, or the protocols of the kingdom of God. We do not understand the hierarchy of order and spiritual command.
And what do we say ‘I was forced to do something because the deadline was there, I couldn’t wait for what God said to come to pass’.
Saul has eternal consequences of this action. The thing that God had made available to him was now removed, forever.
Our expectation is always grace isn’t it? Always forgiveness? Which is absolutely and categorically true, but, that does not negate consequences.
This chapter is worth thinking about, because it reveals something of how the kingdom of God works. And what does Samuel declare:
‘But now thy kingdom shall not continue; the Lord hath sough him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee’
1 Samuel 13:14
1 Samuel 14
Let’s see the difference between Jonathan and Saul.
Saul and his squad ‘tarried’ under a tree at the uttermost part of the area. He even had one of the children of the old priesthood there. Do people even know when the kingdom has bypassed them?
Jonathan however is thinking we need to deal with this enemy. He takes a young man with him and says;
‘it may be that the Lord will work for us; for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few’.
1 Samuel 14:6
What faith!?!?! God does not need the 30000 chariots to win the battle. He does not need the agreement of all the dogmatic church denominations to see cities saved with the gospel. God can do it with few who believe. I love this understanding of God. It is powerful.
And the young man says to him ‘do it, I’m with you’.
Oh people of God. Are you behind the one who God has chosen, anointed?
This chapter is like a movie. Jonathan clearly loves and trusts God, and dares to put his life fully into it.
And we see the outcome from verse 8-14, culminating with ‘and the earth quaked; so it was a very great trembling’. God is not to be messed with.
Now the rest of Israel join in, and ‘the Lord saved Israel that day’. Thank God for a man like Jonathan right?
But he had not heard that his father had made an unnecessary pronouncement. If anyone ate food before the evening they’d be cursed. And Jonathan ate some of the honey.“
Saul is making mistakes, even though he is making all the appearances of asking God. He is already out of alignment. To the point where he asked God and ‘he answered him not that day’.
And then he finds out Jonathan ate and states that he will die. But the people stand up for him. ‘for he hath wrought with God this day’ 1 Samuel 14:45.
We see the battles; the family of Saul named and discover that ‘sore war’ was the Philistines took place all the days of Saul. The repercussions of error.
