“Jonathan decided one day to attack the nearby Philistine army attachment outpost.”
~ 1 Samuel 14:7
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you make good decisions? How do you know when you have made a good decision? What would a bad decision look like to you? Saul made bad decisions. Saul was the first guy to be anointed king over God’s specially chosen guys and gals. After 325 years of having different guys and a gal – who were known as judges, stepping up to fight marauding guys who lived in land areas that bordered their land area, God finally gave into the Israelite people groups guys and gals – His specially chosen guys and gals, what they were wanting – a king just like their neighboring countries and people groups of guys and gals had. Samuel anointed a big dude by the name of Saul to be their king. Saul had no idea how a king should act. Saul did not hesitate though to take on guys who lived in land areas that bordered the land that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . who were not happy campers that the Israelite people groups guys and gals were living in the land area of Canaan. The Philistine people group’s guys were particularly irritating troublemakers. The land area where the Philistine people groups guys and gals lived was not part of the land area that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . the Philistine people groups guys and gals lived on a narrow strip of land that skirted the Mediterranean Sea. This narrow strip of land today is known as the Gaza Strip. The Philistines – who are known today as the Palestinians, are still trying to mess big time with the Israelite people groups guys and gals. During his forty year tenure as king, Saul was able to raise havoc with guys from the people groups who were enemies of the Israelite people groups guys and gals. Saul won battles that he fought against Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Amalekite and Philistine people groups armies and against the kings of Zobah. Even though Saul could be valiant at times, a number of Saul’s decisions would haunt him.
One of the first reported battles that Saul fought defined Saul as a guy who did not make good decisions. Your grandpaa thinks that Saul had been king for several years before this first reported battle happened. The hero of this first reported battle was Jonathan. Jonathan was Saul’s oldest kid. 1 Samuel 14 starts out with a Philistine army attachment of soldiers having settled in near where Saul had made his base in Gibeah. The Philistine army by this time had essentially overrun the land area where the Israelite people groups guy and gals lived. Jonathan decided one day to attack the nearby Philistine army attachment outpost after the soldiers in the Philistine people groups army would not stop making life hard for God’s specially chosen guys and gals. The Philistine army’s attachment outpost was situated at the top of a steep cliff. Jonathan asked his armor bearer to go with him. Verse 7 says, “‘Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said, “Go ahead, I am with you heart and soul.”’ Jonathan trusted God to help him. It was Jonathan’s hope that when the Philistine soldiers spotted him and his armor bearer climbing up the steep cliff that they would egg them on to keep climbing to the top of the cliff at which time . . . Jonathan’s armor bearer did not hesitate to climb up the cliff with Jonathan. When Jonathan and his armor bearer got to the top of the steep cliff, they immediately wiped out about twenty of the Philistine soldiers. When the other Philistine soldiers saw what Jonathan and his armor bearer had done to their buddies, a panic that was driven by God took over their minds. They ran. When Saul’s lookouts saw the Philistine soldiers trying to escape, the rout was on for Saul’s soldiers to kill the Philistine soldiers and to take as much loot from the Philistine soldiers as they could find.
Saul made an oath that if one of his soldiers ate something before the Philistine soldiers were beaten up by his soldiers, that that soldier would be cursed. Because it takes energy to run after another guy and energy comes from eating food, Saul made a really bad decision to ask his soldiers not to eat while they were chasing the Philistines soldiers. At the same time, if one of the soldiers did eat something, the oath that Saul made would have that soldier be killed. Jonathan was not told of the oath that his dad had made. When Jonathan saw honey oozing out on the ground in the woods that he had entered with his soldiers, Jonathan ate some of it. When the news reached Saul that his kid had eaten some honey, Saul – because of the oath that he had made, was ready to kill Jonathan. Because the soldiers in Saul’s army knew that Jonathan was the guy who had initiated the Philistine army’s rout, they defended Jonathan. Making right decisions can be tough calls to make. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have had to make a number of tough decisions over the years. After your grandmaa and grandpaa spent about seven weeks in Colombia in the summer of 1976 on a nearly thirty member summer team, they decided that Colombia was the country where they wanted to go to as missionaries. After your grandmaa and grandpaa were told by the South American Mission leadership that it might be impossible to get visas to be missionaries in Colombia, your grandmaa and grandpaa decided that Peru was the country where they wanted to go to as missionaries. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were then told by the South America Mission leadership that the mission in Peru had used up almost all of the visas that the Peruvian government had allotted to South America Mission. After the South America Mission leadership told your grandmaa and grandpaa the visa situation in Peru, your grandmaa and grandpaa decided that Bolivia was the country where they wanted to go to as missionaries. Because your grandmaa and grandpaa never made an ‘oath’ to go to Colombia or Peru as missionaries, God has richly blessed them for having obediently listened to His leading.
1 Samuel 14 (571)