After Saul had been King over Israel for two years, he chose three thousand soldiers to be ready at any time for a battle. He took two thousand with him to a place called Michmiash, and left one thousand with his son Jonathan, at Gibeah.
Now, the Philistines had begun to cause much trouble again in the land of Israel. They were not at all afraid of King Saul. They even placed some of their soldiers in forts, or garrisons, throughout the land, and those soldiers, instead of Saul, ruled the Israelites.
Not far from Gibeah, on a hill, was a ruling Philistine garrison. Jonathan and his soldiers fought against that garrison and drove the Philistines away. Then the other Philistines heard what Jonathan had done and they became angry. They gathered a very large army of thousands of chariots and horsemen and came to fight against King Saul.
The Israelites had believed that if only they had a king like other nations they could drive all their enemies away. Now God had allowed them to have a king; but their enemies were troubling them as much as before. The Philistines had even taken away their swords and spears and would not let them make any more weapons. Only a few of the men of Israel were prepared to fight.
King Saul sent swift messengers through the land to call the soldiers of every tribe together. Because he was King, they came when he called; but they came trembling with fear of the Philistines. They knew they could not fight without weapons even if they had a king to lead them out to battle.
When Samuel heard about the trouble, he sent word to King Saul that he would come and offer sacrifices to God at Gilgal and pray for the King and for his people. Then God would show him what they should do.
King Saul and his men hurried to Gilgal to meet Samuel; but when they arrived he was not there. They waited for several days; still he did not come. All the time the Philistines kept sending more soldiers to their camp, until it seemed that their numbers could not he counted. Saul’s men became more frightened than ever. Some of them began to steal away and to cross over the Jordan River, to hide in the country on the east side, where two and one half of the tribes lived. Others hid in caves, and in thickets near by, and some crept in among the rocks or crawled into deep holes in the ground.
Finally Saul became afraid that all his men would leave him. So, instead of waiting longer for Samuel, he offered a burnt sacrifice upon the altar at Gilgal just as Samuel would have done. Now God had forbidden any one except his priest si or the Levites to offer a sacrifice, and although Saul was King of Israel, God did not want him to do such a thing.
While the sacrifice was yet burning, Samuel arrived, and when he saw what Saul had done he was much displeased. He asked, “Why have you done this?” and Saul replied, “Because my people were afraid and were scattering to different parts of the land, and you were so long coming I feared the Philistines would attack us before you should arrive. I was forced to do this thing.”
Samuel knew that Saul was not forced to disobey God. He knew the King was trying to make an excuse for his wrong-doing. And he said, “You have acted foolishly, for you have not kept the commandment of the Lord. And because of your disobedience, some day God will take away the kingdom from you and give it to another man who will obey him.”
Instead of telling Saul what to do about the Philistines, Samuel turned and went away. Then Saul counted his soldiers and found that only six hundred were still with him. He marched with them back to his old home at Gibeah, where Jonathan had been stationed at the first, and the Philistines camped near Michmash.