What Seems Right to Us

1 Samuel 13

What seems right to us is not always what is right to God. People look at actions, but God looks at the heart. If our heart is aligned with Him, then our actions will be, too. But if our heart is not in the right place, then it doesn’t matter if our actions are right or not. They will not be pleasing to Him.

Jonathan Defeats the Philistines – 1 Samuel 13:1-23

After Saul had been the king for a few years, he assembled Israel’s first standing army. When they first entered the Promised Land, every military-age man was required to fight. Then, after they settled the land, they just gathered a select group of men to fight in whatever regional battle arose. But, as king, Saul chose 3,000 men to be a permanent military force. Two thousand of them fell under Saul and were stationed in Michmash and the hill country around Bethel and the other one thousand fell under his son, Jonathan, and were stationed only a few miles away in Gibeah.  

The numbers in this passage are difficult to understand. It is possible that Saul was the king for a year before the battle against the Ammonites. Then, he served as the confirmed king for another two years or for another year, totaling two years, before he assembled the army. Regardless, it was early in his kingdom that he decided it would be best to have trained men, ready to fight whenever the need arose so he didn’t have to take the time to assemble an army. The main reason the people wanted a king in the first place was so he would defend them against their enemies. So, Saul thought the best way to defend them was to have a standing military and the people had no objections. Samuel warned them that a king would take their sons for military service, and they basically said they hoped he would.

So, their first order of business was to defeat the garrison of Philistines that were posted between their two posts. Jonathan quickly defeated them with the one thousand men under his command and Saul blew the trumpet to alert the rest of the nation. The trumpet sound served both as a victory and warning signal and all the people were called together at Gilgal. This was only the beginning of Saul’s fight with the Philistines. They had won the first battle but now they had to prepare for their retaliation.

As predicted, the Philistines gathered their own troops and encamped in Michmash which is where Saul’s men were stationed before the battle in Geba about a mile and a half away. The Philistine army was much larger than the one Saul had assembled for Israel. They had 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and more soldiers than could be counted. Israel only had 3,000 men and no chariots. The Israelites must have regretted their initial attack because the Philistines were obviously much more equipped than them. Instead of standing to fight, the Israelites hid in caves, holes, rocks, tombs, and pits. Wherever they could go to get out of sight, they went. Some even crossed over the Jordan River into the easter territory occupied by Gad in the land of Gilead. Those who didn’t flee stayed with Saul, but they were terrified.

Previously, Samuel had told Saul to go to Gilgal and wait a week for him to come to him. Then, he would give Saul further instructions and offer peace and burnt offerings. But as Saul waited, more people began to run away. When the week was complete and Samuel still had not come, Saul decided to present the offerings himself. But as soon as he finished burning the animal to the Lord, Samuel arrived. Immediately, he realized what Saul had done and asked why he did not wait as he was told. Saul told him about the large Philistine army gathered against them and said he was losing more soldiers with each passing day. Since Samuel had not come within the week, Saul was unsure if he was coming at all, and he didn’t want to go into battle without God’s favor. Though Saul had been anointed by God as king, he was not a priest who was authorized to offer sacrifices, and Samuel wasn’t there to do it. So, Saul reasoned that it would be better for an unauthorized person to present the sacrifice, than for it not to be offered at all.

Samuel quickly told Saul that this was foolish thinking because it went against God’s commands. Saul had done what he wanted to do and what he thought was best, instead of God’s will. Because of this, God would not allow Saul’s son to rule after him. God had chosen a different man to succeed him. This man was someone who had a heart for God and His ways. He would follow the Lord instead of doing what made sense to him.

Oddly, there was no recorded reaction from Saul. After being scolded by Samuel and told that his kingdom wouldn’t continue, he simply left Gilgal to meet his army in Gibeah. His soldiers had dwindled from 3,000 to only 600. While the Israelites regrouped in Geba, the Philistines raided three of the surrounding towns, stirring up more trouble. Then, to prevent a surprise attack by the Israelites, they traveled away from Michmash down into the gorge between the two camps

Now, remember that the Philistines were oppressing the Israelites in the decades before Saul became king. During this time, they controlled all the iron manufacturing so that Israel had no ability to make durable weapons against them. The Philistines had learned about iron from the nations before them, but they kept that knowledge from the Israelites so they would have an advantage over them in battle. Because no one in Israel knew how to make iron products, they had to pay the Philistines to make the equipment they needed for farming. This meant that only Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in all the land of Israel. Since the Philistines fought with modern weaponry and the Israelites were still using slings and arrows, they were at a disadvantage against their enemies.