1-Samuel 14
Go into the battle field!
Saul and his people were about four miles from the Philistines and both armies kept an eye on each other. Jews were significantly outnumbered in addition to them having no weapons.
Jonathan knew the power of God, he said to his weapon-carrier young man "Come let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." (Ch. 14 verse 6)
They walked until Philistines could see them and Jonathan said "If they[Philistines] say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand." (Ch.14 verse 10)
Jonathan and his weapon-carrier man came up to Philistines in a way that Philistines were in front of them on the sleep cliff and Jonathan and his servant were in front of them on the bottom of the cliff.
The Philistines called both of them up, seeing that there are only two of the them they probably didn't expect an attack. But Jonathan and his servant killed 20 people from the Philistines, they fell before Jonathan and the weapon-carrier servant helped Jonathan kill them as they were falling down.
"And there was panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic." (Ch.14 verse 15)
Saul soon found out that his son went up to Philistines and he saw the panic in the Philistines army and he and the rest of the Jews went up there and saw that Philistines were killing each other. This was truly the work of God and Saul and his army battled the rest of the Philistines and Philistines fled.
As Philistines fled Saul said "Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies." (Ch.14 verse 24)
As the men of Israel were chasing Philistines they got tired and hungry, when Saul was saying this curse Jonathan wasn't present, while people were walking the wilderness Jonathan had a taste of the wild honey that he found along the way, and ate it. Later he found out that his father placed a curse on anyone who eats before the evening, but Jonathan says that his father shouldn't have done that because if people were allowed to eat they would actually be more productive in fighting their enemies.
So by the evening people of Israel captured one of the Philistine city and captured their animals and started eating them with blood still in the meat--which was strictly prohibited by the law.
Saul then allows everyone to eat if they kill the animals properly and drain all the blood out.
Then Saul asks God if He will give him a victory over Philistines, but God did not answer him, and he was sure that it's because that someone sinned. As it turns out Jonathan was the one who came out guilty for eating the honey when Saul placed everyone under a curse. As a result Saul was getting ready to kill Jonathan to punish him for this sin, the rest of the people didn't agree with Saul and they saved Jonathan from being killed.
Saul fought a lot of Israel enemies and won many battles in favor for the Israel.
Today...
This story shows that Saul has fallen away from the Lord and is acting in his own wisdom and not seeking God's advice. Trying to present himself as a God-fearing leader without communicating to God.
We lie to ourselves when we call ourselves followers of Christ when we don't have a real relationship with Jesus, if we do not communicate then there is no connection between God and you as a person. Just like relationship here on earth is pointless and dead if there is no communicating the same happens with our relationship with God.
Another point that I want to call our attention on is that Jonathan went over to Philistines knowing that they can easily kill him, but he had a sort of faith and trust in God that maybe God will be on his side and give him a little victory in this battle.
He left his people, he left his family and went out there in the battle field and fought and won because God was with him.
Sometimes we get so comfortable in out little circle of church friends and our community that we rarely go out into the battle field--to people who don't know Jesus as their personal savior. We get used to our weekly routine of going to church and we think that it's enough to sustain our Christian life. That is not right-- we go to church to fill ourselves up with the Word of God, with encouragement, with love, so then we could pour ourselves out to the people who need Jesus-- listening to people's problems, praying for people, telling people about Jesus, helping the ones in need. (For us to be able to withstand our enemy and not be defeated in the battle we need our armor-- Word of God, Faith, Truth, Righteousness, and Readiness)
We are the light of the world, that doesn't mean we should ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we definitely need to be sharing this light of ours with people who don't have it yet.
Saul and his people were about four miles from the Philistines and both armies kept an eye on each other. Jews were significantly outnumbered in addition to them having no weapons.
Jonathan knew the power of God, he said to his weapon-carrier young man "Come let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." (Ch. 14 verse 6)
They walked until Philistines could see them and Jonathan said "If they[Philistines] say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand." (Ch.14 verse 10)
Jonathan and his weapon-carrier man came up to Philistines in a way that Philistines were in front of them on the sleep cliff and Jonathan and his servant were in front of them on the bottom of the cliff.
The Philistines called both of them up, seeing that there are only two of the them they probably didn't expect an attack. But Jonathan and his servant killed 20 people from the Philistines, they fell before Jonathan and the weapon-carrier servant helped Jonathan kill them as they were falling down.
"And there was panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic." (Ch.14 verse 15)
Saul soon found out that his son went up to Philistines and he saw the panic in the Philistines army and he and the rest of the Jews went up there and saw that Philistines were killing each other. This was truly the work of God and Saul and his army battled the rest of the Philistines and Philistines fled.
As Philistines fled Saul said "Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies." (Ch.14 verse 24)
As the men of Israel were chasing Philistines they got tired and hungry, when Saul was saying this curse Jonathan wasn't present, while people were walking the wilderness Jonathan had a taste of the wild honey that he found along the way, and ate it. Later he found out that his father placed a curse on anyone who eats before the evening, but Jonathan says that his father shouldn't have done that because if people were allowed to eat they would actually be more productive in fighting their enemies.
So by the evening people of Israel captured one of the Philistine city and captured their animals and started eating them with blood still in the meat--which was strictly prohibited by the law.
Saul then allows everyone to eat if they kill the animals properly and drain all the blood out.
Then Saul asks God if He will give him a victory over Philistines, but God did not answer him, and he was sure that it's because that someone sinned. As it turns out Jonathan was the one who came out guilty for eating the honey when Saul placed everyone under a curse. As a result Saul was getting ready to kill Jonathan to punish him for this sin, the rest of the people didn't agree with Saul and they saved Jonathan from being killed.
Saul fought a lot of Israel enemies and won many battles in favor for the Israel.
Today...
This story shows that Saul has fallen away from the Lord and is acting in his own wisdom and not seeking God's advice. Trying to present himself as a God-fearing leader without communicating to God.
We lie to ourselves when we call ourselves followers of Christ when we don't have a real relationship with Jesus, if we do not communicate then there is no connection between God and you as a person. Just like relationship here on earth is pointless and dead if there is no communicating the same happens with our relationship with God.
Another point that I want to call our attention on is that Jonathan went over to Philistines knowing that they can easily kill him, but he had a sort of faith and trust in God that maybe God will be on his side and give him a little victory in this battle.
He left his people, he left his family and went out there in the battle field and fought and won because God was with him.
Sometimes we get so comfortable in out little circle of church friends and our community that we rarely go out into the battle field--to people who don't know Jesus as their personal savior. We get used to our weekly routine of going to church and we think that it's enough to sustain our Christian life. That is not right-- we go to church to fill ourselves up with the Word of God, with encouragement, with love, so then we could pour ourselves out to the people who need Jesus-- listening to people's problems, praying for people, telling people about Jesus, helping the ones in need. (For us to be able to withstand our enemy and not be defeated in the battle we need our armor-- Word of God, Faith, Truth, Righteousness, and Readiness)
We are the light of the world, that doesn't mean we should ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we definitely need to be sharing this light of ours with people who don't have it yet.
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