The Victory is God's

INTRO

Remember the phrase for 1 Samuel is Anointed One. Saul’s life will lead to David’s life, and David’s life will lead to the Messiah. In 1 Samuel 13, Jonathan led the Israelite army to its first victory under Saul. Then, in typical “Jonathan” fashion, Jonathan gave credit for the victory to Saul. Saul already showed signs of jealousy and pride. Jonathan was a mighty warrior (2 Samuel 1:22). Wiersbe describes Jonathan as, “a courageous warrior, a born leader, and a man of faith who sought to do the will of God.”¹

TEACHING

1 Samuel 14:1–6: It seems Jonathan was afraid of nothing as he led his attendant, or armor-bearer, to cross over to the Philistine garrison (v. 1). Jonathan didn’t tell his father, possibly because “Saul would have thought Jonathan’s plan was reckless.”²Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree near Gibeah, Saul’s home town, with 600 troops (v. 2). Ahijah was also there, wearing an ephod, the white garment of the Levitical priest (v. 3).³However, the troops did not know Jonathan had left.

The two sides of the pass Jonathan had to get through were named Borez, meaning slippery, and Seneh, meaning thorny (vv. 4–5),⁴communicating the danger in the journey. In verse 6, Jonathan stated why he was so brave, “Nothing can keep the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” Jonathan had faith in the victory and was ready to walk that out (Deuteronomy 20:1; Judges 7:7). One of the issues in the church today is that people are sitting under the pomegranate tree without enough faith to get up and go do what God’s called them to do (1 Samuel 9:16; Psalm 147:10). Saul should have had this mentality to win this victory, but it always ended up being Jonathan who had the faith instead.

1 Samuel 14:7–14: Jonathan had the support of his armor-bearer (v. 7). The Apostle Paul had Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, and Silas to walk with him as well. God surrounds us with people to walk with us who are like-minded. Jonathan looked for a sign from God to determine God’s will. He and his armor-bearer would allow the Philistines to see them approach. If they were told to wait for the Philistines to come to them, they would stop there. If the Philistines told them to come up to them, they would go up, “because the LORD has handed them over to us” (vv. 8–10). MacArthur points out this is similar to Gideon’s request for signs from God (Judges 6:36–40).⁵The Philistine soldiers called them up, so Jonathan and his armor-bearer went up to them (vv. 11–12). God gave Jonathan the sign he had requested, so he struck down 20 men and his armor-bearer finished them off (v. 14).

1 Samuel 14:15–17: Terror spread through the Philistine camp. Even “the earth shook, and terror spread from God” (v. 15). MacArthur states, “The earthquake affirms the fact that divine intervention aided Jonathan and his armor-bearer in their raid...[which] caused a panic among the Philistines.”⁶(Psalm 3:8; Proverbs 21:31). The soldiers saw Jonathan’s leap of faith and the panicking Philistines (v. 16). Saul then took a roll call to see who was missing and found only Jonathan and his armor-bearer were gone (v. 17).

1 Samuel 14:18–23: MacArthur states Saul told Ahijah the priest to get the ark of God (or possibly the ephod instead) in order to conduct an “inquiry into the will of the Lord.”⁷But while Saul was still speaking, the Philistines’ panic increased so Saul told the priest not to bother (vv. 18–19). Saul led his army against the Philistines who were fighting each other in great confusion (v. 20). Even the soldiers who fled Saul’s army to join the Philistines returned and attacked with the Israelites (v. 21). And the Israelites who had been hiding in fear, joined Saul’s army as well because the victory was clearly won (v. 22). Everyone on the battlefield saw the power of God, and the Lord saved Israel (v. 23).

1 Samuel 14:24–26: The soldiers returned from the battle worn out and hungry, but Saul failed to provide for their physical needs. Instead, Saul placed them under an oath that none would eat food before evening or they would be cursed (v. 24). Why would Saul put such a ridiculous curse on his own people? He was establishing his own control, not God’s. The soldiers went into the woods and saw honey flowing on the ground (vv. 25–26a). How many times have we seen the Promised Land described as a land flowing with milk and honey? The honey was there before them, but the soldiers ate none of it because of Saul’s curse (v. 26b). This is more evidence of Saul’s lack of understanding of who God is. He withheld what God had provided, showing his lack of dependence upon God as well. Saul wanted the credit for the victory for himself, not for the Lord (Psalm 19:9; 81:16; 119:103; Ezekiel 3:3.)

1 Samuel 14:27–33: Jonathan saw the honey and dipped into it. When he ate it, he received renewed strength (v. 27). Jonathan knew the Word of God and knew the honey came from the Lord. In order to experience God’s will, we must know the Word of God. When the troops told Jonathan about his father’s curse, Jonathan replied that Saul had brought trouble to the land by not allowing the troops to eat (vv. 28–30). The Israelites defeated the Philistines but were so exhausted they rushed to take the plunder of the animals, slaughtered them, and ate the meat with the blood still in it (vv. 31–33). The troops were so hungry they disobeyed God’s Law (Leviticus 17:10–14), bringing sin to the Israelites. As Jonathan explained in verse 30, “How much better if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies!”

CLOSING

When you follow God’s plan, there is freedom. When you follow man’s plan, there is bondage. In order to experience freedom, you have to step out in faith. Jonathan believed the victory was his, and in the process, he was able to experience more of the presence of God.