1 Samuel 13–14:23: Faith versus Fear

Summary

Israel faces the Philistines with fear and almost no weapons. Jonathan strikes a Philistine garrison, and Saul summons the nation to Gilgal. The Philistines gather with chariots and horsemen as many as the sand, and the Israelites hide in caves, cisterns, and tombs. Saul waits seven days for Samuel, the people begin to scatter, and Saul offers the burnt offering himself. Samuel arrives and tells him he has acted foolishly: his kingdom will not continue, because the Lord has sought a man after his own heart. By then only about six hundred men are left, and only Saul and Jonathan carry a sword or spear.

Then Jonathan and his armor-bearer slip toward a Philistine outpost. Jonathan says that nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. They climb up and kill about twenty men, and panic and an earthquake seize the Philistine camp. Saul’s watchmen see the camp dissolving, and soon the Philistines are turning their swords on each other while hidden Israelites rejoin the fight. “So the Lord saved Israel that day.”