The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Restraint” it comes from the Hebrew Word “matsor” which means “restraint, hindrance.”
With just his armorbearer, Jonathan launches a bold attack against overwhelming odds. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is 1 Samuel 14.
Jonathan, without telling his father Saul, decides with his armorbearer to climb up secretly toward a Philistine garrison, expressing genuine faith, “it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.” They arrange a sign, that if the Philistines invite them to come up, it will confirm the Lord has delivered them, and when the Philistines mockingly call them forward, Jonathan and his armorbearer climb up and kill about twenty men within a small area, causing panic that spreads through the entire Philistine camp.
Saul, noticing the chaos from a distance, discovers Jonathan and his armorbearer are missing, and joins the pursuing battle, which turns into a great victory as even Hebrews who had previously joined the Philistines, and those hiding in the hills, rally to fight alongside Israel. In the midst of this pursuit, Saul foolishly places the army under an oath, cursing anyone who eats food before evening, hindering his own exhausted troops, and unknowingly setting up Jonathan, who had not heard this oath, to unknowingly break it by eating a bit of honey along the way.
When the troops, exhausted and famished, finally eat plunder that evening without properly draining the blood, violating God’s law, Saul builds an altar to correct this. Discovering through casting lots that Jonathan unknowingly broke his earlier oath, Saul declares he must die, but the people intervene forcefully, refusing to let Jonathan, who “hath wrought with God this day,” be put to death, and they rescue him from Saul’s rash vow.
Jonathan’s confident faith, that God can save through few just as easily as through many, produced a remarkable victory, while Saul’s impulsive, unnecessary oath nearly cost his own son’s life and hindered his troops needlessly. This chapter contrasts genuine trust in God’s power with rash, self-imposed religious restrictions that end up causing real harm.
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