1 Samuel 14

1 Samuel 14 is the fourteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains Saul's actions against the Philistines. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 7–15 which records the rise of the monarchy in Israel and the account of the first years of King Saul.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 52 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis. Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q51 with extant verses 24–25, 28–34, 47–51 and 4Q52 with extant verses 41–42.
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint include Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus.

Places

Analysis

This chapter gives some detailed narratives on the actions of Saul, 'oscillating between a favorable view and a negative, unfavorable verdict', which in the end 'reinforce the conviction that Saul was not a man after God's heart'. There is a contrast between Saul and his first son, Jonathan, where Saul is depicted as reckless, acting foolishly on one occasion, interrupted a consultation to rush to battle on another, and finally endangered the life of his son, whereas Jonathan is described as 'possessing the characteristics of a charismatic leader, stood in the tradition of those who waged God's battles' and became God's instrument: he held the assumption that 'the LORD will act for us', depended on God's approval of his action, and attributed the victory to God.

The Battle of Michmash (14:1–15)

The Philistines camped at Michmash on the north side of the deep ravine, known today in Arabic as Wadi es-Suweinit, whereas the Israelites camped in Geba to the south of the ravine. Jonathan and his armour-bearer bravely clambered up from the ravine through hard-to-climb rock formations, as indicated by their names, Bozez and Seneh, and succeeded in defeating a group of Philistine soldiers.

Verse 2

"The outskirts of Gibeah": Gill suggests that Saul did not dare to fight the Philistines, so he remained in the furthest part of Gibeah, at the greatest distance from the camp of the Philistines, in the strongest part of the city, or deeply entrenched in the outer part of it.
"Under a pomegranate tree": later Saul was said to sit "under a tamarisk tree in Ramah". The Hebrew word for "pomegranate" is "rimmon", here is meant for the tree as it is an appellative noun, not the "Rock of Rimmon", which was located on the north-east of Michmash.
"Migron": means "a precipice", one of the conical or spherical hills which are plenty in the Benjamite territory, and favorable for an encampment, or to observe the motions of the Philistines.

Verse 3

"Ahijah": could be the same as Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, the priest at Nob, who would later be a victim of Saul's vengeance, as the name Ahijah and Ahimelech may have been the same person, but it is also possible that Ahimelech was a brother of Ahijah and his successor in the high priesthood. As an elder brother of Ichabod, Ahitub was probably about the same age as Samuel, so his son could have already been high-priest that fifty years or more must have elapsed since the death of Eli.
"Wearing the ephod": here may not refer to the ordinary priestly vestment of white linen, but to the official garment worn only by a high priest, with a breast-plate of gems as well as "Urim and Thummim", used to make inquiry of the Lord.

Saul's actions (14:16–52)

After Jonathan had caused panic in the Philistine garrison, Saul finally brought his troops to engage in battle. Believing that it will ensure success, Saul placed an oath on his troops to refrain from eating until evening, a rash act, which would make the troops to be too famished to achieve a complete victory, and even become a threat to Jonathan's life. Jonathan was unaware of the oath, so he ate some of the plentiful honey available and was refreshed, but he would face death penalty as the consequences from the oath. This led Jonathan to refer Saul as one who 'has troubled the land' and who had prevented a total victory. Being very hungry for respecting the oath of refraining from eating the whole day, the Israel troops seized animals from the spoil, and ate them before carefully draining blood from the meat, as they slaughtered on the ground, not on a stone from where the blood could flow away. 'Eating with blood' was forbidden by Torah. Nonetheless, Saul believed the failure to wipe out the Philistines was due to lack of divine support, so investigation was made by means of a sacred lot to find whose fault it was found. The lot fell to the king's family and specifically with Jonathan. Although Jonathan and Saul were willing to accept the verdict, the Israel soldiers insisted to spare Jonathan's life. The account closes with a more positive note on Saul as a successful leader and the head of a household.