22 Saul’s Rash Oath

After Jonathan had led the Israelites to an improbable “first strike” battle victory of the Philistines, there was little doubt that it would mean more intense fighting and warfare.

That was clear from the following verse:

1 Samuel 14:23

The idea of additional fighting, caused the insecure King Saul to inflict a rash oath upon the nation:

1 Untimely and Unwise Words

It appears that in his insecurity, Saul wanted both the respect and the fear of the people. He was also concerned about the rising popularity of his son Jonathan, who was the true military leader.

Therefore, he demanded that the weary and hungry army fast the entire day, until they had completed the task of defeating what he describes as “my enemies.”

Obviously, it would have been unwise to fight from sunup to sundown without receiving any nourishment.

1 Samuel 14:24b

While on the surface, Saul sounded spiritual, and king-like, the words were coming from the man who’d never shown any real spirituality.

We can see the motives for the oath were completely wrong:

• He described the Philistines as “his” enemies, rather than the enemies of the Lord, or even “our” enemies.
• He then rendered a “curse” upon anyone who would eat that day. Again, presuming a role that was not his. Only the Lord can curse anyone, and throughout Scripture, we see that when the Lord’s prophets rendered a curse, they were also speaking on behalf of God. But Saul wasn’t a prophet, and he wasn’t representing the Lord in this situation.

Saul was obviously discouraging his army at the time when they would need encouragement.

2 Jonathan’s Actions

Jonathan had been unaware of his father’s command not to eat:

1 Samuel 14:25-30

The famished Israelite army came to an area of a forest, where they found honey on the ground all around them, which was certainly an unusual occurrence.

Yet, because of the king’s edict none dared to eat, since they believed they would have been under a curse.

However as seen in the following verse, Jonathan was unaware of his father’s words:

1 Samuel 14:27

We can only assume that he was unaware, since as a military commander, he would have been completely occupied with the battle at hand. Nonetheless, when he saw the honey, he looked upon it as a blessing, and took some and ate.

We know this, as Scripture shows Jonathan had a pure heart and upright character.

The Bible says, “to the pure all things are pure”:

Titus 1:15

After eating the honey, Jonathan’s countenance was strengthened, but it was at that point he learned of his father’s words.

Jonathan then made a statement, he probably shouldn’t have, since as the king’s son, and top military commander, he was in a position of high leadership:

1 Samuel 14:29a

While we all must be careful with our words, it’s especially vital for those in positions of leadership.

Even though Jonathan shouldn’t have made the statement, his words concerning Saul were certainly true.

3 The Soldiers Actions

The army continued the fight against the Philistines, driving them from Michmash, some fifteen miles away to Aijalon.

While fifteen miles might not seem like a great distance, it certainly is, when referring to a difficult battle, in addition to fighting without any nourishment, which then points to how the soldiers reacted after the battle:

1 Samuel 14:31-35

The men “rushed upon the spoil” which speaks of them being unrestrained, as they desired any food they could find.

Therefore, they slaughtered the Philistine’s animals, cutting them open and cooking them onsite, without draining the blood as mandated by Old Covenant Law:

Deuteronomy 12:23-24

While Saul certainly bore responsibility, because of the oath he declared, the people still bore personal responsibility for not following God’s commandment which they would have obviously known.

In the same way, while our leaders are responsible for what they say and teach, each of us bear personal responsibility for knowing God’s Word ourselves and therefore, being able to discern truth from error.

The best example of this, is shown in Acts 17, where the apostle Paul applauded the attitude of the Bereans as opposed to those in Thessalonica:

Acts 17:11

We continue to see King Saul desiring to appear spiritual, and again presuming to act as the spiritual leader of Israel, as he called for a large stone, so that animals might be properly slaughtered before the Lord (with the blood drained):

1 Samuel 14:33-35

However, even with these actions, he declared that the people had acted treacherously by eating the blood, and still did not admit to any improper actions himself. This continued to show Saul’s poor and greatly lacking leadership, which would continue to decline, as shown in the remainder of the book.