Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 121
1S
| 14:18-35
S am u el – K I N G S
109
and find out who’s missing,” Saul ordered. And when they checked, they
found that Jonathan and his armor bearer were gone.
Then Saul shouted to Ahijah, “Bring the ephod here!” For at that time
Ahijah was wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites. But while Saul was
talking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp grew louder and
louder. So Saul said to the priest, “Never mind; let’s get going!”
Then Saul and all his men rushed out to the battle and found the Phi
listines killing each other. There was terrible confusion everywhere. Even
the Hebrews who had previously gone over to the Philistine army revolted
and joined in with Saul, Jonathan, and the rest of the Israelites. Likewise,
the men of Israel who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim joined
the chase when they saw the Philistines running away. So the Lord saved
Israel that day, and the battle continued to rage even beyond Beth-aven.
Now the men of Israel were pressed to exhaustion that day, because Saul
had placed them under an oath, saying, “Let a curse fall on anyone who
eats before e vening—before I have full revenge on my enemies.” So no
one ate anything all day, even though they had all found honeycomb on
the ground in the forest. They didn’t dare touch the honey because they
all feared the oath they had taken.
But Jonathan had not heard his father’s command, and he dipped the
end of his stick into a piece of honeycomb and ate the honey. After he had
eaten it, he felt refreshed. But one of the men saw him and said, “Your
father made the army take a strict oath that anyone who eats food today
will be cursed. That is why everyone is weary and faint.”
“My father has made trouble for us all!” Jonathan exclaimed. “A command like that only hurts us. See how refreshed I am now that I have eaten
this little bit of honey. If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the
food they found among our enemies, think how many more Philistines
we could have killed!”
They chased and killed the Philistines all day from Micmash to Aijalon,
growing more and more faint. That evening they rushed for the battle
plunder and butchered the sheep, goats, cattle, and calves, but they ate
them without draining the blood. Someone reported to Saul, “Look, the
men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that still has blood in it.”
“That is very wrong,” Saul said. “Find a large stone and roll it over here.
Then go out among the troops and tell them, ‘Bring the cattle, sheep, and
goats here to me. Kill them here, and drain the blood before you eat them.
Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with the blood still in it.’”
So that night all the troops brought their animals and slaughtered them
there. Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first of the altars he
built to the Lord.