To me, this passage shows sharp contrast between Saul and his son Jonathan.  The nation of Israel stands on the brink of destruction, threatened by a massive force of enemy Philistines, and without modern weapons with which to fight.  To make matters worse, the Israelite army has dropped considerably in numbers, from 3,000 men a short time ago (chapter 13) to just 600.  In the face of these overwhelming odds, Saul and Jonathan both make choices - one to trust in God's faithfulness and deliverance enough to take action, and one to sit in inaction.

 

Saul does nothing in this passage beyond sitting under a pomegranate tree.  This detail seems to indicate that he was holding court there, but there is no preparation for battle, no attempt to rouse his troops to action, and no mention of a consultation of God.  Perhaps he is afraid of going to battle with such a small army, or is still reeling from the harsh words just delivered to him by Samuel.

 

Jonathan, however, takes action.  What he does seems unwise and even insane - leaving the main body of the army to launch a solo sneak attack on a Philistine outpost.  This seems like a scene from a Rambo movie, right?  Even more incomprehensible is his methodology for determining whether he has God's favor - he sets conditions (whether the Philistines go out to meet him, or tell him to come to them), and expects God to follow them.

 

But, God does deliver!  The Philistines fall before Jonathan and his armor-bearer.  Even against the odds, God delivers on his promise to protect and defend the nation of Israel.  But, this promise needed someone to act on it.  Saul chose passivity, but Jonathan took the promise in his hands and gave God an opportunity to fulfill it.

 

Truth is something that must be acted on regardless of how we feel.  The author of 1 Samuel gives us no indications that Jonathan was afraid before his attack, but I can't help but think that there was something in him that protested loudly at the course of action he took.  Without the promise of God in place, it was sheer insanity.  But, he chose to act, moving beyond his fear to a place of trust in what he knew to be true - that God had made a promise to him and his people, and that He would not fail to fulfill it.

 

What does this mean for us?  It is hard to apply the lesson of Jonathan's action literally.  We have no such promise from God that he will always protect us from harm, and it doesn't seem wise to give God conditions for communicating with us as Jonathan did.  But, we do have promises that God has made to us - he has promised to love us, to never leave us, to re-make us in his image, and to answer us when we call on him.  These promises are useless to us unless we are willing to respond in faith.

 

A fellow traveler,

 

Ben