JONATHAN'S EXPLOIT AT MICHMASH.
1Sa 14:1-23.
IT has sometimes been objected to the representation occurring at
the end of the thirteenth chapter of the utter want of arms among
the Hebrews at this time that it is inconsistent with the narrative
of the eleventh. If it be true, as stated there, that the Israelites
gained a great victory over the Ammonites, they must have had arms
to accomplish that; and, moreover, the victory itself must have put
them in possession of the arms of the Ammonites. The answer to this
is, that the invasion of the Philistines subsequent to this in such
overwhelming numbers seems to have been the cause of the miserable
plight to which the Hebrews were reduced, and of the loss of their
arms.
Whether we are to take the statement as quite literal that in the
day of battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of
any of the people save Saul or Jonathan, or whether we are to regard
this as just an Oriental way of saying that these were the only two
who had a thorough equipment of arms, it is plain enough that the
condition of the Hebrew troops was very wretched. That in their
circumstances a feeling of despondency should have fallen on all
save the few who walked by faith, need not excite any surprise.
The position of the two armies is not difficult to understand.
Several miles to the north of Jerusalem, a valley, now named Wady
Suweinet, runs from west to east, from the central plateau of
Palestine down towards the valley of the Jordan. The name Mūkmas,
still preserved, shows the situation of the place which was then
occupied by the garrison of the Philistines. Near to that place,
Captain Conder* believes that he has found the very rocks where the
exploit of Jonathan occurred. On either side of the valley there
rises a perpendicular crag, the northern one, called in Scripture
Bozez, being extremely steep and difficult of ascent. "It seems just
possible that Jonathan, with immense labour, might have climbed up
on his hands and his feet, and his armour-bearer after him." (*"Tent
Work in Palestine.")
It is evident that Saul had no thought at this time of making any
attack on the Philistines. How could he, with soldiers so poorly
armed and so little to encourage them? Samuel does not appear to
have been with him. But in his company was a priest, Ahiah, the son
of Ahitub, grandson of Eli, perhaps the same as Ahimelech,
afterwards introduced. Saul still adhered to the forms of religion;
but he had too much resemblance to the Church of Sardis - "Thou hast
a name that thou livest, and art dead."
The position of the army of Israel with reference to the Philistines
seems to have been very similar to what it was afterwards when
Goliath defied the army of the living God. The Israelites could only
look on, in helpless inactivity. But just as the youthful spirit of
David was afterwards roused in these circumstances to exertion, so
on the present occasion was the youthful spirit of Jonathan. It was
not the first time that he had attacked the garrison of the
Philistines. (See 1Sa 13:3.) But what he did on the former occasion
seems to have been under more equal conditions than the seemingly
desperate enterprise to which he betook himself now. A project of
unprecedented daring came into his mind. He took counsel with no one
about it. He breathed nothing of it to his father. A single
confidant and companion was all that he thought of- his armour-bearer,
or aide-de-camp. And even him he did not so much consult as attach.
''Come," said he, "and let us go over unto the garrison of these
uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us; for there
is no restraint by the Lord to save by many or by few." No words are
needed to show the daring character of this project. The physical
effort to climb on hands and feet up a precipitous rock was itself
most difficult and perilous, possible only to boys, light and lithe
of form, and well accustomed to it; and if the garrison observed
them and chose to oppose them, a single stone hurled from above
would stretch them, crushed and helpless, on the valley below. But
suppose they succeeded, what were a couple of young men to do when
confronted with a whole garrison? Or even if the garrison should be
overpowered, how were they to deal with the Philistine host, that
lay encamped at no great distance, or at most were scattered here
and there over the country, and would soon assemble? In every point
of view save one, the enterprise seemed utterly desperate. But that
exception was a very important one. The one point of view in which
there was the faintest possibility of success was, that the Lord God
might favour the enterprise. The God of their fathers might work for
them, and if He did so, there was no restraint with Him to work by
many or by few. Had He not worked by Ehud alone to deliver their
fathers from the Moabites? Had he not worked by Shamgar alone, when
with his ox goad he slew six hundred Philistines? Had he not worked
by Samson alone in all his wonderful exploits? Might he not work
that day by Jonathan and his armour-bearer, and, after all, only
produce a new chapter in that history which had already shown so
many wonderful interpositions? Jonathan's mind was possessed by the
idea. After all, if he failed, he could but lose his life. And was
not that worth risking when success, if it were vouchsafed, might
rescue his country from degradation and destruction, and fill the
despairing hearts of his countrymen with emotions of joy and triumph
like those which animated their fathers when on the shores of Sinai
they beheld the horse and his rider cast into the sea?
It is this working of faith that must be regarded as the most
characteristic feature of the attempt of Jonathan. He showed himself
one of the noble heroes of faith, not unworthy to be enrolled in the
glorious record of the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews. He showed
himself pre-eminent for the very quality in which his father had
proved deficient. Though the earnest lessons of Samuel had been lost
on the father, they had been blessed to the son. The seed that in
the one case fell on stony places fell in the other on good ground.
While Samuel was doubtless disconsolate at the failure of his work
with Saul, he was succeeding right well, unknown perhaps to himself,
with the youth that said little but thought much. While in spirit
perhaps he was uttering words like Isaiah's, "Then said I, I have
laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nought and in vain,"
God was using him in a way that might well have led him to add, "Yet
surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." And
what encouragement is here for every Christian worker! Don't despond
when you seem to fail in your first and most direct endeavour. In
some quiet but thinking little boy or girl in that family circle,
your words are greatly regarded. And just because that young mind
sees, and seeing wonders, that father or mother is so little moved
by what you say, it is the more impressed. If the father or the
mother were manifestly to take the matter up, the child might
dismiss it, as no concern of his. But just because father or mother
is not taking it up, the child cannot get rid of it. ''Yes, there is
an eternity, and we ought all to be preparing for it. Sin is the
soul's ruin, and unless we get a Saviour, we are lost. Jesus did
come into the world to save sinners; must we not go to Him? Yes, we
must be born again. Lord Jesus, forgive us, help us, save us!" Thus
it is that things hid from the wise and prudent are often revealed
to babes; and thus it is that out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings God perfects praise.
But Jonathan's faith in God was called to manifest itself in a way
very different from that in which the faith of most young persons
has to be exercised now. Faith led Jonathan to seize sword and
spear, and hurry out to an enterprise in which he could only succeed
by risking his own life and destroying the lives of others. We are
thus brought face to face with a strange but fascinating development
of the religious spirit - military faith. The subject has received a
new and wonderful illustration in our day in the character and
career of that great Christian hero General Gordon. In the career of
Gordon, we see faith contributing an element of power, an element of
daring, and an element of security and success to a soldier, which
can come from no other source. No one imagines that without his
faith Gordon would have been what he was or could have done what he
did. It is little to say that faith raised him high above all
ordinary fears, or that it made him ready at any moment to risk, and
if need be, to sacrifice his life. It did a great deal more. It gave
him a conviction that he was an instrument in God's hands, and that
when he was moved to undertake anything as being God's will, he
would be carried through all difficulties, enabled to surmount all
opposition, and to carry the point in face of the most tremendous
odds. And to a great extent the result verified the belief. If
Gordon could not be said to work miracles, he achieved results that
even miracles could hardly have surpassed. If he failed in the last
and greatest hazard of his life, he only showed that after much
success one may come to believe too readily in one's inspiration;
one may mistake the voice of one's own feeling for the unfailing
assurance of God. But that there is a great amount of reality in
that faith which hears God calling one as if with audible voice, and
goes forth to the most difficult enterprises in the full trust of
Divine protection and aid, is surely a lesson which lies on the very
surface of the life of Gordon, and such other lives of the same kind
as Scripture shows us, as well as the lives of those military heroes
of whom we will speak afterwards, whose battle has been not with
flesh and blood, but with the ignorance and the vice and the
disorder of the world.
One is almost disposed to envy Jonathan, with his whole powers of
mind and body knit up to the pitch of firmest and most dauntless
resolution, under the inspiration that moved him to this apparently
desperate enterprise. All the world would have rushed to stop him,
insanely throwing away his life, without the faintest chance of
escape. But a voice spoke firmly in his bosom, - I am not throwing
away my life. And Jonathan did not want certain tokens of
encouragement. It was something that his armour-bearer neither
flinched nor remonstrated. But that was not all. To encourage
himself and to encourage his companion, he fixed on what might be
considered a token for them to persevere in one alternative, and
desist in another. The token was, that if, on observing their
attempt, the Philistines in the garrison should defy them, should
bid them tarry till they came to them, that would be a sign that
they ought to return. But if they should say, "Come up to us," that
would be a proof that they ought to persevere. Was this a mere
arbitrary token, without anything reasonable underlying it? It does
not seem to have been so. In the one case, the words of the
Philistines would bear a hostile meaning, denoting that violence
would be used against them; in the other case they would denote that
the Philistines were prepared to treat them peaceably, under the
idea perhaps that they were tired of skulking and, like other
Hebrews (1Sa 14:21), wishing to surrender to the enemy. In this
latter case, they would be able to make good their position on the
rock, and the enemy would not suspect their real errand till they
were ready to begin their work. It turned out that their reception
was in the latter fashion. Whether in the way of friendly banter or
otherwise, the garrison, on perceiving them, invited them to come
up, and they would "show them a thing." Greatly encouraged by the
sign, they clambered up on hands and feet till they gained the top
of the rock. Then, when nothing of the kind was expected, they fell
or the garrison and began to kill. So sudden and unexpected an
onslaught threw the garrison into a panic. Their arms perhaps were
not at hand, and for anything they knew, a whole host of Hebrews
might be hastening after their leaders to complete the work of
slaughter. In this way, nearly twenty Philistines fell in half an
acre of ground. The rest of the garrison taking to flight seems to
have spread a panic among the host. Confusion and terror prevailed
on every side. Every man's sword was against his fellow. "There was
trembling in the host, in the field, and among the people; the
spoilers and the garrison, they also trembled, and the earth quaked;
so it was a very great trembling. Whether this implies that the
terror and discomfiture of the Philistines was increased by an
earthquake, or whether it means that there was so much motion and
commotion that the very earth seemed to quake, it is not very easy
to decide; but it shows how complete was the discomfiture of the
Philistines. Thus wonderfully was Jonathan's faith rewarded, and
thus wonderfully, too, was the unbelief of Saul rebuked.
Seen from the watch-tower at Gibeah, the affair was shrouded in
mystery. It seemed as if the Philistine troops were retreating,
while no force was there to make them retreat. When inquiry was made
as to who were absent, Jonathan and his armour-bearer alone were
missed. So perplexed was Saul, that, to understand the position of
affairs, he had called for Ahiah, who had charge of the ark (the
Septuagint reads, ''the ephod"), to consult the oracle. But before
this could be done, the condition of things became more plain. The
noise in the host of the Philistines went on increasing, and when
Saul and his soldiers came on the spot, they found the Philistines,
in their confusion, slaughtering one another, amid all the signs of
wild discomfiture. Nothing loath, they joined in harassing the
retreating foe. And as the situation revealed itself others hastened
to take part in the fray. Those Hebrews that had come for protection
within the Philistine lines now turned against them, all the more
heartily perhaps because, before that, they had had to place their
feelings so much under restraint. And the Hebrews that lay hid in
caves and thickets and pits, when they saw what was going on, rushed
forth to join in the discomfiture of the Philistines. What a
contrast to the state of things that very morning! - the Israelites
in helpless feebleness, looking with despair on the Philistines as
they lay in their strong- hold in all the pride of security, and
scattered defiant looks and scornful words among their foes; now the
Philistine garrison surprised, their camp forsaken, their army
scattered, and the only desire or purpose animating the remnant
being to escape at the top of their speed from the land of Israel,
and find shelter and security in their native country. "So the Lord
saved Israel that day; and the battle passed over unto Bethaven."
And thus the faith of Jonathan had a glorious reward. The
inspiration of faith vindicated itself, and the noble self-devotion
that had plunged into this otherwise desperate enterprise, because
there was no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few, led
thus to a triumph more speedy and more complete than even Jonathan
could have ventured to dream of. None of the judges had wrought a
more complete or satisfactory deliverance; and even the crossing of
the Red Sea under Moses had not afforded a more glorious evidence
than this achievement of Jonathan's of the power of faith, or given
more ample testimony to that principle of the kingdom of God, which
our Lord afterwards enunciated, "If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence unto
yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible
unto you."
This incident is full of lessons for modern times. First, it shows
what wide and important results may come from individual conviction.
When an individual heart is moved by a strong conviction of duty, it
may be that God means through that one man's conviction to move the
world. Modesty might lead a man to say, I am but a unit; I have no
influence; it will make very little difference what I do with my
conviction, whether I cherish it or stifle it. Yet it may be of just
world-wide importance that you be faithful to it, and stand by it
steadfastly to the end. Did not the Reformation begin through the
steadfastness of Luther, the miner's son of Eisleben, to the voice
that spoke out so loudly to himself? Did not Carey lay the
foundation of the modern mission in India, because he could not get
rid of that verse of Scripture, "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature"? Did not Livingstone persevere
in the most dangerous, the most desperate enterprise of our time,
because he could not quench the voice that called him to open up
Africa or perish? Or to go back to Scripture times. A Jewish maiden
at the court of the great king of Persia becomes the saviour of her
whole nation, because she feels that, at the risk of her life, she
must speak a word for them to the king. Saul of Tarsus, after his
conversion, becomes impressed with the conviction that he must
preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and through his faithfulness to
that conviction, he lays the foundation of the whole European
Church. Learn, my friends, everyone, from this, never to be
faithless to any conviction given to you, though, as far as you
know, it is given to you alone. Make very sure that it comes from
the God of truth. But don't stifle it, under the notion that you are
too weak to bring anything out of it. Don't reason that if it were
really from God, it would be given to others too. Test it in every
way you can, to determine whether it be right. And if it stands
these tests, manfully give effect to it, for it may bear seed that
will spread over the globe.
Second, this narrative shows what large results may flow from
individual effort. The idea may not have occurred for the first time
to someone; it may have been derived by him from another; but it has
commended itself to him, it has been taken up by him, and worked out
by him to results of great magnitude and importance. Pay a visit to
the massive buildings and well-ordered institutions of Kaiserswerth,
learn its ramifications all over the globe, and see what has come of
the individual efforts of Fliedner. Think how many children have
been rescued by Dr. Barnardo, how many have been emigrated by Miss
Macpherson, how many souls have been impressed by Mr. Moody, how
many orphans have been cared for by Mr. Müller, how many stricken
ones have been relieved in the institutions of John Bost. It is
true, we are not promised that every instance of individual effort
will bring any such harvest. It may be that we are to be content
with very limited results, and with the encomium bestowed on the
woman in the Gospel, ''She hath done what she could." But it is also
true that none of us can tell what possibilities there are in
individual effort. We cannot tell but in our case the emblem of the
seventy-second Psalm may be verified, "There shall be an handful of
corn in the earth on the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof
shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like
grass of the earth."
Lastly, we may learn from this narrative that the true secret of all
spiritual success lies in our seeking to be instruments in God's
hands, and in our lending ourselves to Him, to do in us and by us
whatever is good in His sight. Thus it was eminently with Jonathan.
"It may be that the Lord will work for us; for there is no restraint
to the Lord to save by many or by few." It was not Jonathan that was
to work with some help from God; it was the Lord that was to work by
Jonathan. It was not Jonathan's project that was to be carried out;
it was the Lord's cause that was to be advanced. Jonathan had no
personal ends in this matter. He was willing to give up his life, if
the Lord should require it. It is a like consecration in all
spiritual service that brings most blessing and success. Men that
have nothing of their own to gain are the men who gain most. Men who
sacrifice all desire for personal honour are the men who are most
highly honoured. Men who make themselves of no reputation are the
men who gain the highest reputation. Because Christ emptied Himself,
and took on Him the form of a servant, God highly exalted Him and
gave Him a name above every name. And those who are like Christ in
the mortifying of self become like Christ also in the enjoyment of
the reward. Such are the rules of the kingdom of heaven. "He that
loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal"
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