1 Samuel 13

Saul had been king for one year. In the second year of his reign over Israel, this is what happened.

1Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is damaged. It follows the standard formula used for kings ("X was N years old when he began to reign, and he reigned M years") but the numbers themselves are missing or garbled, giving the literal nonsense of a one-year-old king with a two-year reign. Some ancient Greek copies leave the verse out altogether; other translations supply figures by guesswork ("thirty years old… forty-two years"). The rendering here follows the King James, which reads the verse as a note of time: one year into Saul's reign, and then the second.

2Saul picked three thousand men of Israel for himself. Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. He sent all the other men home.

2Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.

NoteIsrael had no standing army: men were called up from their farms when fighting threatened and sent home afterwards. Keeping three thousand men permanently under arms was something new. Michmash, Bethel and Gibeah are all in the hill country a few miles north of what would later be Jerusalem; "the land of Benjamin" is the territory of Saul's own tribe.

3Jonathan attacked the Philistine army post at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram's horn all through the land and said, "Let the Hebrews hear this!"

3And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

NoteThe Philistines were a people settled on the coastal plain to the south-west, organized around five main cities. They controlled the region and were ahead of Israel in metalworking, which is what verse 19 is about. An "army post" (KJV "garrison") was a small occupying detachment stationed in Israelite territory, attacking one was an open act of rebellion. The ram's horn was the standard instrument for sounding an alarm and calling men to muster; it carried for miles across the hills. "Hebrews" is the word outsiders normally used for the Israelites, and it is used here in a message meant to be heard as a challenge.

4All Israel heard the news that Saul had attacked a Philistine army post, and that the Philistines now hated Israel and found them disgusting. So the people were called to come join Saul at Gilgal.

4And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

NoteThe Hebrew idiom is that Israel "made itself a stench" to the Philistines, the same phrase used elsewhere for something that has become offensive and unbearable. It is about being intolerable rather than merely disliked.

5The Philistines gathered to fight Israel with thirty thousand chariots, six thousand men on horses, and soldiers as many as the sand on the seashore. They came up and set up camp at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

5And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.

NoteThirty thousand chariots is far larger than any known chariot force of the period, and some ancient copies read three thousand. Beth-aven means "house of trouble" or "house of wickedness"; it is a place name here, though elsewhere prophets use it as a deliberate insulting substitute for Bethel, "house of God."

6When the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight spot, and that their soldiers were hard pressed, they hid in caves, in thick brush, among the rocks, in cellars, and in pits.

6When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.

NoteThe King James reads "high places" here. The Hebrew word means a hole, vault or cellar: the point is that people crawled into whatever holes the ground offered, not that they climbed. It is not the same expression as the "high places" that appear elsewhere as hilltop shrines.

7Some of the Hebrews even crossed the Jordan River into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the men who followed him were shaking with fear.

7And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

NoteGad and Gilead lie east of the Jordan. Crossing the river put a major natural barrier between these men and the fighting.

8Saul waited seven days, the time Samuel had set. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began slipping away from him.

8And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.

NoteThe appointment goes back to Samuel's earlier instruction to Saul (1 Samuel 10:8) to go to Gilgal and wait seven days until Samuel came to offer sacrifices and tell him what to do.

9So Saul said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered up the burnt offering himself.

9And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.

NoteIn a burnt offering the animal was burned whole and none of it eaten; in a peace offering only part was burned and the rest became a shared meal. Offering sacrifice before a battle was the normal way of asking for divine backing before committing troops.

10Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and greet him.

10And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.

11Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul answered, "I saw that the men were slipping away from me, and that you did not come by the day you set, and that the Philistines were gathering at Michmash.

11And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;

12So I said to myself, 'The Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal now, and I have not asked the LORD for his favor.' So I made myself do it, and I offered the burnt offering."

12Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

Note"Asked the LORD for his favor" renders a Hebrew idiom that literally means to soften or stroke someone's face, the ordinary phrase for seeking the goodwill of a superior before making a request.

13Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. If you had, the LORD would have made your kingdom over Israel last forever.

13And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.

NoteSamuel does not say which command; readers have usually connected it with the instruction to wait at Gilgal in 1 Samuel 10:8, but the text itself leaves the reference open.

14But now your kingdom will not last. The LORD has looked for a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him to be leader over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."

14But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

Note"A man after his own heart" is a Hebrew way of saying "a man of his own choosing, one who suits him", the emphasis falls on God's selection rather than on the man's inner qualities. The word behind "leader" is one used for a ruler designated or marked out for the role.

15Then Samuel got up and went from Gilgal to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. Saul counted the men who were still with him, and there were about six hundred.

15And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men.

NoteThe Hebrew moves abruptly here; the ancient Greek version has a longer text in which Samuel goes his own way and Saul goes up from Gilgal to join his men.

16Saul, his son Jonathan, and the men who were with them stayed at Geba in the land of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash.

16And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.

NoteGeba is a separate town about two miles from Gibeah, sitting on the south side of the ravine opposite the Philistine camp. The King James prints Gibeah here, harmonizing the two.

17Raiders came out of the Philistine camp in three groups. One group turned toward the road that leads to Ophrah, in the land of Shual.

17And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual:

NoteThese were plundering parties rather than a battle force: they fanned out in three directions to strip the countryside of food and livestock and to terrify the population into submission.

18Another group turned toward the road to Beth-horon. The third group turned toward the border road that looks out over the Valley of Zeboim, facing the desert.

18And another company turned the way to Bethhoron: and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

19There was not a single blacksmith to be found anywhere in the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, "The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears."

19Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:

NoteA monopoly on metalworking was a standard way for a stronger power to keep a subject people disarmed. Farm tools could be maintained under supervision; swords and spears could not be made at all.

20So all the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plow blades, their plow points, their axes, and their digging tools.

20But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.

NoteThe Hebrew names of these four farm implements are not all certain: they are variously understood as plow blades, plowshares or ploughpoints, axes, and mattocks or sickles. All of them are agricultural, which is the point.

21The charge was a pim of silver for sharpening the plow points, the digging tools, the three-pronged forks, and the axes, and for putting a point back on the stick used to drive oxen.

21Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.

NoteThe KJV "file" comes from a misreading of an unfamiliar word. The Hebrew has *pim*, a unit of weight whose meaning was unknown until small stone weights stamped p-y-m were dug up in Palestine, about two thirds of a shekel of silver, roughly 7.6 grams. The verse is a price list of what the Philistines charged Israelite farmers to sharpen each kind of tool. An ox goad was a long pole with a metal point used to prod plow animals; the point had to be re-sharpened as it wore down.

22So on the day of the battle, not one of the men with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or a spear in his hand. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

22So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.

23And a group of Philistine soldiers went out to the narrow pass at Michmash.

23And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.

NoteThe pass at Michmash is a steep, narrow gorge with cliffs on either side, the only practical crossing between the two camps, and the setting for what happens next.