Chapter 13
(Where is Saul from, and didn't it have a checkered past? He is from Gibeah, and yes it most certainly does have a checkered past! See Judges, those last few chapters!)
Chapter 13 opens with this verse:
1 Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, [1Sa 13:1 ESV]
12 ended with Samuel telling them that God would still be with them, despite their rejection of Him, so long as they keep the covenant. The last time we saw Saul was in Chapter 11, after the battle against the Ammonites. The kingdom was renewed, and Saul has decided not to put to death those who had opposed him. And apparently, for a year after that day, Saul just goes home to Gibeah and hangs out. But after a year, he somehow begins to take on the duties and responsibilities and the trappings maybe, of a real king.
2025 - There seem to be two very different translations of 1Sam 13:1. There is the version above, in the ESV, KJV, NKJV, and then there is the version below, from NASB95, NIV, NLT and others:
1 Saul was [thirty] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned [forty] two years over Israel. [1Sa 13:1 NASB95]
There is a sort of third, that goes along with the MSB note saying that the word "thirty" isn't really there in some manuscripts (hence the brackets), and those that honor these manuscripts show it this way:
1 Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign; and he reigned . . . and two years over Israel. [1Sa 13:1 RSV]. They know it isn't there so they put in dots. Note that there are more dots over on the other end. Who would think you could run into so many possibilities on such a simple verse?
Two years after this, Saul attacks a Philistine garrison and defeats it, provoking a full muster of the Philistine army.
2022 - NO, Saul did not attack this garrison. Vs 3 clearly says that it was Jonathan that attacked and took the garrison with his 1,000 men. Saul had 2000 men with him, he'd sent everyone else home. But once Jonathan takes the garrison, THEN, Saul sounded the trumpet to announce the victory. As this reads, though, Saul took credit for the victory (vs 4) and "the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal". But it does not say how many came.
The Philistines bring 30,000 chariots, and 6,000 horsemen and troops like the sand of the sea. They come and camp at Michmash. A lot of Hebrews hide in the holes in the rocks, caves, tombs and so on. Those that follow Saul do so trembling. They are all sure they're going to die.
2022 - So here is a map of Michmash, where everyone gathers to Saul, and the Philistines also gather there to fight. You can see Geba, just to the south, which is where the garrison of the Philistines was located, and then further south is Gibeah, where Jonathan was with 1000 men. The border with Philistia was far to the west. So this gigantic Philistine army had come all the way across Israel unopposed to restore that garrison. They basically cut the country in half as they came. You can bet they grabbed everything and everyone they came to as the marched to battle. The point is that Israel was pretty much undefended at this time. It is no wonder they were afraid, seeing an army like this coming against them...but remember, they were already under the thumb of the Philistines, or there would not have been a garrison in Geba, so far into Israel's territory.
In vs 11 Saul seems to indicate that he and what little bit of army Israel has are at Gilgal, well to the north of Michmash. So the Philistines had come back and restored their garrison, and issued a challenge for Israel to come and fight them. After seven days, Saul's army, as they hear the rumors of the size of the Philistine army, is deserting in droves. Who knows what originally mustered behind him, but they are leaving. He is a terrible leader.
Saul is apparently afraid also. Desertion is getting to be a problem, and Samuel has not arrived at the appointed time to offer sacrifices. He is late, so Saul takes it upon himself to offer sacrifices to God, though he is not a priest, and he has not waited as God commanded him to wait. He's grown impatient with God and taken matters into his own hands. Saul offers the burnt offering, but does not get to the peace offering before...
2024 - Saul's flaws:
He was hiding when they came to make him King.
Even after the victory over the Ammonites, Saul goes home for a year rather than "be King".
Then he starts acting like a King, but in two years he has not run the Phillistines out of the country.
He never calls upon God. He calls upon Samuel.
Saul is impatient. If it isn't on his timetable, he takes matters into his own hands.
Saul presumes upon the priesthood and usurps duties that are prohibited to him.
This was enough. At this point, God denies Saul a kingly succession.
Saul is an awful leader. He can only keep 600 men with him as an "army".
He orders that no one can eat until the battle is over...leading to exhaustion among his troops.
Even Jonathan realizes what a stupid order this was. Everyone would have known it was stupid.
Saul continues. He gives four terrible orders this day, then ends up not carrying out his own order since it turns out that Jonathan was on the receiving end of it. He is a feckless, thoughtless, self-aggrandizing leader. Who else do we know like that?
Samuel arrives. Saul says that he had to "force himself" to offer the sacrifices to preserve his army.
Samuel is quick to tell him that just because of this, the Lord has taken away what would have been his and his descendant's kingdom forever and given it to another. Saul's lineage will not continue. He is just too faithless and arrogant. Saul finds this out only three years after becoming King. He will be a "lame duck" king for a very long time. This has to weigh on him. We have already seen that he is not the strongest of characters in the land anyway, just the tallest and best looking. He won't hold up very well to his situation.
In vs 15, Saul and his "army" relocate from Gilgal to Gibeah. Basically, Saul goes home, apparently skirting around the Philistine army at Michmash. Note on the map that there is a second location for Gilgal, all the way to the east, and then yet a third east of Jericho across the Jordan. So we really don't know exactly where Saul was. The one far to the east makes the most sense, from the standpoint of him moving from Gilgal to Gibeah, and then in vs 16, they move from Gibeah to Geba. He has 600 men left against a huge army.
Since there is really no assembled Hebrew army, the Philistines send out three raiding parties to wreak havoc in various places. Each goes toward a different city. One goes west to Beth-horon, one north to Ophrah, and the third to the valley of Zeboiim to the east and shown as the Valley of Achor on the map above. Imagine the tactical problems this caused Saul. There is this huge force at Michmash, and now three other forces have been sent out, and he cannot possibly keep up with their locations. He could find himself surrounded, or ambushed at any time, especially if the main Philistine force marches south to engage the 600. Technically, Saul should have been wiped out completely here. The Philistines, for their part, may not have realized just how weak the Hebrew army was, and so did this to try and divide the forces of Israel. It doesn't really work since Israel's army is in disarray. Makes you feel bad for the three cities they raided. These were all left defenseless.
This verse:
19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears." [1Sa 13:19 ESV]. So the three cities that were raided were even more defenseless than they at first seem.
The Philistines had removed all the blacksmiths from Israel so that no swords or spears could be produced anywhere in the land. Then the Philistine blacksmiths charged them a fee to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes and so on. (First example of "gun control".) So in the Hebrew army, such as it was, only Saul and Jonathan had real weapons.
2022 - This is how it reads. Israel was so oppressed by the Philistines that they couldn't even sharpen their own axes. One wonders how they took the Philistine garrison in the first place? What happened to the weapons that were stored in that garrison? Surely there would have been lots of them given that they were in enemy territory and too far from Philistia for reinforcement. They should have been loaded for bear. Where did all those weapons go?
So you have a nation disarmed, completely, so much so that they can't so much as sharpen an axe, much less make a spear. Why were they this way? Because the Philistines knew that to keep a sure grip on an enemy, they have to be disarmed. And that is what our own government wants to do to us. What were the Philistines afraid of? That the people of Israel would fight back against their oppression. What do Americans want guns? So our own government cannot oppress us!