Saul's Men Are Hindered By A Rash Oath Made By Saul, While Jonathan Who Knew Nothing Of It Breaks The Oath (1 Samuel 14:23-31 a).
The contrast between the spiritually dead ritualist and the true man of faith continues. Jonathan the man of faith has enabled YHWH to act on behalf of His people. Now we discover that Saul, the spiritually dead ritualist, has put a curse on anyone who eats any food before he, Saul, has been avenged on his enemies, thus bringing Jonathan, the man of faith, who has been concerned for YHWH's honour and as YHWH's instrument in defeating the Philistines, into unconscious error. Not only was this unfair on Jonathan but it was also something which would prevent the victory from being the great success that it should have been, and would even put Jonathan's life at risk. And all because of Saul's folly.
Analysis.
a And the battle passed over by Beth-aven (1 Samuel 14:23 b).
b And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats any food until evening comes, and I be avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food (1 Samuel 14:24).
c And all the people came into the forest, and there was honey on the ground, and when the people had come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath (1 Samuel 14:25-26).
d But Jonathan did not hear when his father charged the people with the oath, which was the reason why he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened (1 Samuel 14:27).
c Then answered one of the people, and said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food this day.” (1 Samuel 14:28).'
b And the people were faint. Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if it had been that the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? For now has there been no great slaughter among the Philistines” (1 Samuel 14:29-30).
a And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon (1 Samuel 14:31 a).
Note that in ‘a' the course of the battle is described, and in the parallel the continuing course of the battle. In ‘b' we are informed of the people's distress as a result of Saul's oath, and that its purpose was in order to gain vengeance for him on the Philistines, and in the parallel that the people were faint because of that oath, with the result that there was no great slaughter among the Philistines. In ‘c' no man ate of the honey for fear of the oath, and in the parallel why they have not eaten is explained to Jonathan. Centrally in ‘d' the hero of faith whose trust really was in YHWH breaks the oath unwittingly and is benefited by it.
‘So YHWH saved Israel that day.'
The result was that YHWH saved Israel that day, and the Philistines were driven back in the direction of Beth-aven. From there they would flee down the pass of Beth-horon to Aijalon and thence down to Philistia. So the account which began with the parlous state of a helpless Israel ends with the Philistines in full flight leaving Israel, at least for the time being, a free country. And it was all because of YHWH. YHWH had again saved His people.
It should, of course, be noted that the description that we have of what happened is very truncated so that we only get the gist of something that actually took place over many hours, and at the heart of it from now on will be Saul and his six hundred. It is thus they who will immediately now be involved and will be affected by Saul's rash oath. How far ‘the Hebrews' joined in the actual pursuit (if at all) we do not know. The remainder of the Israelites would clearly come in at the tail end, and would probably deal with stragglers and some who had taken refuge in the hills. From their own point of view they would enjoy some of the credit, but the main chase would be by Saul's men. All would, however, recognise that they owed it all to YHWH. All they had done was follow up on His working.
1 Samuel 14:23-24 (23b-24)
‘And the battle passed over by Beth-aven.'
The course of the battle is now described and taken up again in verse 31a. Bethaven was near Bethel and Ai, and was on course for the pass that would lead down to Aijalon, from where the Philistines could make their way home.
‘ And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats any food until evening comes, and I be avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.'
Meanwhile the men who should have been rested and invigorated, to say nothing of being exultant, were instead distressed. Note especially the contrast of ‘that day' with the reference to ‘that day' in the previous verse. In 1 Samuel 14:23 it was a victorious ‘that day'. It was YHWH's day of salvation. Here it is a distressed ‘that day'. And it is all due to Saul's foolishness. It is because he has put a curse on any of his band who partake in food until the Philistines have been utterly routed and he himself has gained his own personal vengeance. Note that his thought was not on the good of his faithful followers, but on his own personal aggrandisement and satisfaction, regardless of the effects on them. It was, of course, an act of desperation. Feeling that YHWH was not with him he was trying every desperate means of altering the situation by religious manoeuvring. First he would place this curse, and then later he would consider calling on the Ark of God in order that it might lead them forward. But if only he had realised it there was only one sensible option open to him and that was full repentance, for Scripture constantly makes clear that full and genuine repentance regularly alters such a situation (compare 2 Chronicles 33:11-13; Jonah 3:5-10). But such repentance does not go along with a craving for personal vengeance. If we feel sorry for Saul we should recognise that he had no sorrow for sin, but simply a desire to come out of affairs looking good and feeling satisfied.
Saul's purpose in his curse would seem to have been twofold. Firstly it was because he believed that religious fasting would somehow gain him the extra support of YHWH, and secondly it was in order to ensure that his hungry troops concentrated solely on killing the Philistines rather than on turning aside to food to satisfy their hunger. But while it actually made no difference to the most important events of the day, its actual effect would be to render his men inefficient and unable to pursue the enemy to the end, on the long chase back to Philistia. So we discover that Saul had moved from following the living prophetic beliefs of Samuel, to the dead ideas of the religious ascetics who made much of such ritual, and Israel would suffer for it. We can compare Isaiah 58 which depicts similar attitudes towards fasting. It is being made clear that he was following dead ritual because he was no longer spiritually attuned and obedient, and that the reason for it was because Samuel was no longer with him because of his disobedience. The writer has already indicated the same thing in his attitude to the Ark of God (verse 18). Having lost his contact with YHWH he has to resort to religious gimmicks.
It will be noted again that his curse is not said to be in order to further YHWH's purposes. It is rather so as to enable Saul to get what he wants, personal vengeance on his enemies. It indicates how far he has fallen from his true calling. Here is a man who has lost his way.
‘ And all the people came into the forest, and there was honey on the ground, and when the people had come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.'
The result of the curse was that when, on passing through the forest while on the chase, his men found energy giving food readily available, they were unable to take advantage of it because of their fear of the oath.
Canaan is elsewhere described as a ‘land of milk and honey'. At this time there were wild bees in abundance in the forests, and they would make their nests in the trees and some of the honeycombs would hang down from the trees full of honey, and would seemingly even drip honey. Travellers have described seeing such things in hot countries.
‘ But Jonathan did not hear when his father charged the people with the oath, which was the reason why he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened.'
Jonathan, however, had not been there when the oath was made, and knew nothing about it, and so he did take advantage of the honey, and was, as a result, physically strengthened. The last point is important. The writer does not see Jonathan as culpable.
‘ Then answered one of the people, and said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food this day.” And the people were faint.'
Seeing Jonathan's action one of Saul's men pointed out to him that he was breaking his father's oath. And the writer then takes the opportunity to draw out the fact that because of that oath the people were faint. He is stressing Saul's folly, not Jonathan's.
‘ Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if it had been that the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? For now has there been no great slaughter among the Philistines.”
Jonathan also draws out the fact of Saul's folly. He points out how his strength has been restored by eating the honey, while the failure to do so by Saul's men has resulted in the chase not being as effective as it should have been. Had they only been able to restore themselves by eating the honey, and by taking advantage of provisions that the fleeing Philistines had dropped, they would have been fighting fit. But now they were weak and faint. So the writer wants us to recognise that Saul's break with Samuel and resultant folly has brought failure in the midst of triumph.
‘And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon.'
The detail of the battle is again taken up. From Michmash to Aijalon, a journey of over twenty miles, partly down a fairly steep pass, there was a continual slaughtering of the fleeing Philistines. If possible they had to be persuaded not to return. It would at least keep them at bay for a time.
1 Samuel 14:31-32 (31b-32)
‘And the people were very faint, and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood.'
Such was the panic among the Philistines who were in headlong flight, that Saul's men, in spite of their weakened state, were still able to continue the chase and slaughter the stragglers all the way from Michmash to Aijalon, a distance of nearly twenty miles over rough ground. This is an indication of the quality of Saul's men (see 1 Samuel 14:52). They would by now have been able to arm themselves with proper weapons dropped by the enemy.
But they were naturally very weak after their exertions without food, and thus as soon as the day ended at sunset, (with the result that the curse ceased to be active), they were so hungry that they threw themselves eagerly on the spoils left behind by the Philistines, slew their sheep, oxen and calves, and ate them raw without being concerned about eating the blood. This was, of course, contrary to the strict regulations of the Law which forbade the eating of the blood (see Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10-14; Deuteronomy 12:16).