Under a pomegranate-tree at the edge of Gibeah farthest from the Philistines’ camp sat the King of Israel talking with the grandson of the high priest Eli. They were talking about the ark of God, which had been taken away from Shiloh to a battle against the Philistines when Samuel, the gray-headed old prophet, was only a young man. How many changes had come to Israel since that sad day when the ark of God had been stolen! And still the Philistines were fighting against the Israelites, and still they were ruling them.
While King Saul and his. companion were talking together, two men from Saul’s army slipped quietly away. They were Jonathan, Saul’s son, and the young man who carried Jonathan’s shield and sword and spear. Jonathan had said, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ camp. It may be that the Lord will work for us; for he can save his people by a few as easily as by many soldiers.” Jonathan had strong faith in God, and he was a brave young man. His armor-bearer, too, was brave, so they started out together, telling no one of their plan.
God was well pleased with Jonathan, and he caused the Philistines to become afraid of the young Prince. In a very short time he and his armor-bearer had killed twenty men. Then God sent a great trembling among the Philistines, and the ground shook beneath their feet. Things began to totter and fall, and the Philistines believed that a strong enemy had come suddenly to fight against them. They heard the cries of those whom Jonathan and his armor-bearer were killing, and now they seized their weapons and made ready to fight.
But instead of attacking their enemies, the Philistines began to fight against each other. And the cry of the battle rang out across the valley and reached the city of Gibeah.
King Saul had appointed some men to watch the camp of the enemy by day and by night, and to be ready to send him word whenever the Philistines were forming a line for battle. When the watchmen saw the excitement in the Philistines’ camp, they sent messengers to tell him that something strange was happening to their enemies. “Men are stirring about in every direction,” the messenger said, “and some are falling and others are running away.”
Sa ul called his soldiers together quickly and counted them to see if any had gone from them. Then he saw that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing. So he and the other men prepared for battle and ran out to join in the fight. Then, too, the Israelites who had been hiding in caves and in thickets among the rocks crept out to see what this noise meant. And then they hurried out to join in the fight against the Philistines.
And what a fight they had! The Philistines, their strong enemies, now ran like cowards from the battle and int the woods. The men of Israel chased after them like swarms of angry bees. And as they ran other Israelites came out to join in the chase.
But after a while the men of Israel grew very faint and weak because they had eaten no food all that day. Saul had commanded them to eat no food until evening, because he did not want to stop long enough in the chase to take a bite. If any man should disobey him, that man should be put to death, he had said. And because the soldiers feared Saul they would not eat. They grew so faint from the chase that many of their enemies got away, whom they might have overtaken and killed. Jonathan did not know about his father’s command, and as he was passing through the woods with a band of men he found some wild honey and ate of it. Then one of his companions said, “Your father forbade us to touch food before evening.” But it was too late, for Jonathan had already eaten.
When Saul heard about Jonathan’s act, he said, “You have dis-obeyed, and now I must keep my word even though you are my son. I must put you to death.”
But the people who stood by refused to let their King do such a cruel deed. They cried, “God forbid that Jonathan should be killed for this act. Was not God with him today when he brought us this great victory over our enemies!” And they saved the young Prince alive.