1 Samuel 14:24-46

1 Samuel 14:24-26

After Israel’s great victory under the leadership of Jonathan, Saul made a tragic mistake. The day ended in victory, but that did not mean that it had not been hard. Remember that for Saul, the day began with him resting under the pomegranate tree, expecting defeat. He did not see any chance at victory, but Jonathan had led Israel into battle and trusted that God would indeed grant them victory. In the end they won, but Saul, after having a hard day made a rash oath. He declared that no one should eat anything for the rest of the day. Even though they had won the battle and the spoils, and even though they were passing through a part of the land that was giving them plenty of honey to eat and enjoy, they could not.


Jonathan was traveling with the Israelites, but he did not hear Saul’s command about no one eating. He did not know that his father had cursed the ones who might break that command that day. When some honey dropped on his rod, Jonathan casually ate it as he cleaned his rod. Some of the Israelites noticed this and informed him of the command Saul had given. This left Jonathan facing death. Because of Saul’s rash oath, he ended up having to sentence his son. But what is even worse is that Jonathan was the one who had the faith to even pursue the Philistines, and Israel would not have even been in the position they were in if it had not been for Jonathan. Now Jonathan was being punished for no reason, because Saul had no legit reason to even make such a command that day.

Saul, at this point, realized that he had messed up, but in more than one way. First, he did not trust that God would protect him and his people. He was ready to give up before the battle even started. What is even worse is that later in the chapter, it says that Saul made his first altar to God. Now while it is not clear how long he had been king at this point, the fact that he had not taken the time to worship God and seek God’s wisdom and guidance in the situations he had been facing is bad enough. Then, once he asked for God’s help in pursuing his enemies further and knowing what he should do about Jonathan’s mistake (although he did not realize he had messed up), God was silent. He did not receive an answer right away. So instead of being patient, he left it up to chance and finally decided that Jonathan had to pay for his disobedience (which really was not disobedience). Thankfully, the people of Israel stood up for Jonathan and refused to let Saul punish Jonathan in that way.

We have seen several times that Saul was not a patient man. Samuel had previously given him clear instructions on how long to wait before he went into battle. After making a rash decision that day and making the sacrifices before Samuel’s arrival, he lost his privilege of being Israel’s king. After his death, his family would no longer be in the royal line. Now, after not hearing from God right away, he decided to go ahead with his decision and kill his own son, the man who had been the reason that Israel had been delivered that day. God’s timing is not always our timing, and we cannot always expect God to answer our prayers right away. If we do not receive an answer immediately, we should not conclude that God was rejecting our request. We should instead continue to seek His wisdom and guidance. Our lives should not be on our time table or our schedule. Only God knows what is best for our lives, and we must learn to trust His timing in whatever situation we may be facing. Part of the fruit of the Spirit is patience, and although it may be hard, we must all learn to have patience. Sometimes it is in those moments of waiting that God teaches us life’s biggest lessons.

Matt