Behold the multitude melted away Were discomfited and scattered; so that fewer and fewer were seen in a company together. They went on beating down one another Not being able in this confusion to distinguish their friends from their enemies. Then said Saul, Number now, &c. Saul, upon the report of the watchmen concerning the seeming confusion in the army of the Philistines, concluded that some of his people had gone out unknown, and attacked them. He therefore ordered them to be numbered, to see who were missing.
Related Commentaries of 1 Samuel 14:16
1 Samuel 14:16-17
16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.
17 Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.