Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 120
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
1S
| 13:21–14:17
blacksmith. The charges were as follows: a quarter of an ounce of silver for
sharpening a plowshare or a pick, and an eighth of an ounce for sharpening
an ax or making the point of an ox goad. So on the day of the battle none
of the people of Israel had a sword or spear, except for Saul and Jonathan.
The pass at Micmash had meanwhile been secured by a contingent of
the Philistine army.
One day Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to
where the Philistines have their outpost.” But Jonathan did not tell his
father what he was doing.
Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of
Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron. Among Saul’s men was
Ahijah the priest, who was wearing the ephod, the priestly vest. Ahijah
was the son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the
priest of the Lord who had served at Shiloh.
No one realized that Jonathan had left the Israelite camp. To reach the
Philistine outpost, Jonathan had to go down between two rocky cliffs that
were called Bozez and Seneh. The cliff on the north was in front of Micmash, and the one on the south was in front of Geba. “Let’s go across to the
outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the
Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle
whether he has many warriors or only a few!”
“Do what you think is best,” the armor bearer replied. “I’m with you
completely, whatever you decide.”
“All right, then,” Jonathan told him. “We will cross over and let them see
us. If they say to us, ‘Stay where you are or we’ll kill you,’ then we will stop
and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come on up and fight,’ then we
will go up. That will be the Lord’s sign that he will help us defeat them.”
When the Philistines saw them coming, they shouted, “Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of their holes!” Then the men from the outpost
shouted to Jonathan, “Come on up here, and we’ll teach you a lesson!”
“Come on, climb right behind me,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer,
“for the Lord will help us defeat them!”
So they climbed up using both hands and feet, and the Philistines fell
before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed those who came behind them.
They killed some twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over
about half an acre.
Suddenly, panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and
in the field, including even the outposts and raiding parties. And just then
an earthquake struck, and everyone was terrified.
Saul’s lookouts in Gibeah of Benjamin saw a strange s ight—the vast
army of Philistines began to melt away in every direction. “Call the roll