Fire and ice, faith and fear
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Faith, fear, opportunity, God's will, enemy, pressure.
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Fire and ice, faith and fear
- 2. One day Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Come on, let's go over to where the Philistines have their outpost." But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing. 2 Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron. 3 Among Saul's men was Ahijah the priest, who was wearing the ephod, the priestly vest. Ahijah was the son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the LORD who had served at Shiloh. No one realized that Jonathan had left the Israelite camp. 4 To reach the Philistine outpost, Jonathan had to go down between two rocky cliffs that were called Bozez and Seneh.
- 3. 5 The cliff on the north was in front of Micmash, and the one on the south was in front of Geba. 6 "Let's go across to the outpost of those pagans," Jonathan said to his armor bearer. "Perhaps the LORD will help us, for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether He has many warriors or only a few!" 7 "Do what you think is best," the armor bearer replied. "I'm with you completely, whatever you decide." 8 "All right then," Jonathan told him. "We will cross over and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Stay where you are or we'll kill you,' then we will stop and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come on up and fight,' then we will go up. That will be the LORD's sign that He will help us defeat them."
- 4. 11 When the Philistines saw them coming, they shouted, "Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of their holes!" 12 Then the men from the outpost shouted to Jonathan, "Come on up here, and we'll teach you a lesson!" "Come on, climb right behind me," Jonathan said to his armour bearer, "for the LORD will help us defeat them!" 13 So they climbed up using both hands and feet, and the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armour bearer killed those who came behind them. 14 They killed some twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over about half an acre. 15 Suddenly, panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and in the field, including even the outposts and raiding parties. And just then an earthquake struck, and everyone was terrified. 16 Saul's lookouts in Gibeah of Benjamin saw a strange sight--the vast army of Philistines began to melt away in every direction.
- 5. – 1Sa 14:6 NASB Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, "Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few."
Editor's Notes
- Israel was in a very tough situation, Jonathan and a 1000 troops had attacked a garrison of the Philistines at Geba. The Philistines responded and amassed a large army of about 600 000 men enlisted from many different peoples and where occupying much of Israel going about pillaging and destroying the land and killing many. In 1 Sam 13 we read that Saul and his men were in a tight spot and hard pressed by the enemy on every side. They resorted to hiding in caves in the rocky outcrops. Saul had called on Samuel 7 to come and seek the Lord, but Samuel tarried and after 7 days Saul decided he was going to sacrifice the burnt offering himself. This broke the spritual protocol and Samuel informed Saul that his kingdom will end and the Lord has already raised up another and will take it from him.Saul and Jonathan left Gilgal ended up with about 600 men at Gibeah just outside Jerusalem. No one had any swords because the Philistines placed an embargo of Iron import on Israel and had killed all the blacksmith’s After having hid for a while watching from the hiltop as the Philistine raiding parties pillaged their land Jonathan became angry and decided something had to be done.
- Follow God’s commands: Saul was instructed by Samuel to wait but grew anxious after the seven days had passed, his army was leaving in fear, so he took matters in his own hand. He decided to do the right thing the wrong way. Like many of us in a tight situations we do things that we think will get God to act on our behalf but fail to give attention to the correct protocols. For instance we don’t pay our debtors and we think because we tithe we are covered or we act miserably to our spouse but because we serve at church we are ok etc. God’s commands must be followed with the right protocol, the right way with the right reasons.Know the odds – Jonathan’s statement “for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or a few” shows the foundation of faith in his life. Faith is a response to revelation, faith comes about because we know God. Jonathan knew God and therefore knew that with God the odds was always in his favour. This knowledge and faith formed the basis for his actions, if he had no faith he would’ve acted from fear and would’ve looked at other options like running away or compromising with the enemy. But because he had faith he acted with courage and boldness.Act on a maybe – This faith in God made it possible for him to act on a maybe. He couldn’t do nothing anymore he was sick of watching his nation destroyed. He said to himself if I die trying it is better than just hiding. Remember he didn’t say this from a sense of despair but from faith. He didn’t give his life to the Philistines but put his life in God’s hands and said “Lord I know you can use me so here goes.” He also didn’t head long rush into a fight but approached the situation carefully and once in the situation he checked if they were on track with God. When we are uncertain of God’s will, we act by faith on the best information we have but then we regularly check along the way if we are going in the direction that pleases God. We make sure we are following His path.
- The enemy is not such a united coordinated army as they would like us to believe. The enemy intimidates through numbers and violence but because they are unrighteous and held together by fear there is actually a lot of weakness that stems from internal disloyalty. When faith stands before the enemy it exposes these weaknesses and causes them to crumble from the inside.In verse 16 we see how the Philistines melted away and where scattered here and there. Faith is like a flame to a block of ice, no matter how solid it appears before faith it will melt and lose all its strength.There were Israelites that joined the Philistines but when they saw them fleeing before Israel they turned and re-joined their country men (verse 21). Saul then also finished his altar not to be sacrificed on but to serve as a memorial of what God had done. Our faith will be memorials to encourage the faith of the next generation.