DEVOTED TO ONE ANOTHER

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, "Cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!" So none of the troops tasted food.

The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers told him, "Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, 'Cursed be any man who eats food today!' That is why the men are faint."

Jonathan said, "My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey. How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?"

That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted. They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood. Then someone said to Saul, "Look, the men are sinning against the Lord by eating meat that has blood in it."

"You have broken faith," he said. "Roll a large stone over here at once." Then he said, "Go out among the men and tell them, 'Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood still in it.' "

So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. Then Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first time he had done this.

Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive." "Do whatever seems best to you," they replied. But the priest said, "Let us inquire of God here."

So Saul asked God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand?" But God did not answer him that day.

Saul therefore said, "Come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let us find out what sin has been committed today. As surely as the Lord who rescues Israel lives, even if it lies with my son Jonathan, he must die." But not one of the men said a word.

Saul then said to all the Israelites, "You stand over there; I and Jonathan my son will stand over here." "Do what seems best to you," the men replied.

Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, "Give me the right answer." And Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, and the men were cleared. Saul said, "Cast the lot between me and Jonathan my son." And Jonathan was taken.

Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." So Jonathan told him, "I merely tasted a little honey with the end of my staff. And now must I die?" Saul said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan."

But the men said to Saul, "Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God's help." So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.

Then Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and they withdrew to their own land. After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he fought against their enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them. He fought valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, delivering Israel from the hands of those who had plundered them.

Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua. The name of his older daughter was Merab, and that of the younger was Michal. His wife's name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of Saul's army was Abner son of Ner, and Ner was Saul's uncle. Saul's father Kish and Abner's father Ner were sons of Abiel.

All the days of Saul there was bitter war with the Philistines, and whenever Saul saw a mighty or brave man, he took him into his service.

1 Samuel 14:24-52

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It had been quite a day for Saul, his son Jonathan and the Israelite army. Jonathan and his armor bearer had single-handedly defeated a Philistine outpost and Saul and his men had great success in their own attack on the Philistines after God had shook the ground and thrown the Philistine soldiers into confusion. With these accomplishments, you wouldn’t think there was anything that could spoil things for Israel…but there was.

For despite all the favorable events of the day, there were two others that counter-balanced those events and brought Israel into a negative light before God.

The first matter involved Saul’s imposed fast on his army. Scripture tells us that “Saul had bound the people under an oath” telling them that any man who ate before evening would be cursed and so “none of the troops tasted food” and because of it “were in distress”.

On the surface, there wasn’t anything wrong with Saul’s intent. It was common practice to fast during times that required focus and a reliance on God…and Saul wanted his men’s attention to be on defeating the Philistines, not what they would eat. The demand was not unreasonable since it was only for the day and the men would be able to eat in the evening.

But there were two problems with Saul’s demand.

First, his men were not devoted enough to keep it and, second, not everyone received his demand because you’ll recall that Saul’s son, Jonathan, and his armor bearer were off fighting and defeating the Philistine outpost during the first part of the day.

And so, as the “entire army entered the woods” and saw “honey on the ground”, they refused to eat it “because they feared the oath” but Jonathan, unaware of his father’s command, “reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb” before eating it and seeing “his eyes brightened”. The honey had given him energy…something the rest of Saul’s army lacked.

We read where one of the soldiers told Jonathan, "Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, 'Cursed be any man who eats food today!' That is why the men are faint." Jonathan, in a display of disrespect for his father, admonished him in front of his men saying, “My father has made trouble for the country. See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little of this honey. How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?" Jonathan unknowingly eating the honey against his father’s oath was not something that could be held against him. He didn’t know. But to undermine his father in front of his men was wrong and sinful…even if Jonathan showing support and sympathy for the army would benefit him in the end.

The second problem with Saul’s demand is that his men were not strong enough to keep it. We know because scripture tells is that the Israelites, exhausted after striking down “the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon”, “pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood”, a sin against God’s command to ensure all blood was drained from meat before eating. Scripture tells us that the sinful behavior was brought to Saul’s attention and he took immediate action, calling all his men together and giving them the following order:

"You have broken faith…Roll a large stone over here at once...(and) Go out among the men and tell them, 'Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood still in it.' " So everyone listened to Saul and brought an ox that night, slaughtering the animal there. “Then Saul built an altar to the Lord…the first time he had done this”. By his actions, even if he had never built an altar and sacrificed before, Saul showed that he wanted to make things right with God and seek pardon for the sins of his army.

So at this point, Saul thought things were worked out and he was ready to go back into battle with the Philistines. He told his men, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them till dawn, and let us not leave one of them alive." It was a common practice to attack at night where the element of surprise would usually give the attackers a benefit.

Saul’s men were ready to follow him but the priest intervened and injected spiritual wisdom telling Saul that they should inquire of God in the matter. And so scripture tells us that Saul asked God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand?", only to not receive a reply from God on that day.

Saul sensed something was wrong. Why would God not answer?

Saul sensed that someone in his army had sinned and thus taken him out of favor with God so he summoned all the “leaders of the army” and told them they needed to “find out what sin (had) been committed”. And in what would be an ironic tragedy, Saul adds, “As surely as the Lord who rescues Israel lives, even if it lies with my son Jonathan, he must die." His words struck the hearts of his army who knew Jonathan had eaten against the oath but the men remained silent, not saying a word.

So how would they find out who had brought God’s disfavor on Israel? Saul decides to cast lots, first having all the Israelites stand separate from him and Jonathan and, as Saul asks God in prayer to give him the answer, the lots are cast and the army is cleared of any wrongdoing.

Thus it came down to Saul and his son, Jonathan, and when the lots were cast again, they indicated that it was Jonathan who was guilty. Saul asks Jonathan about what he had done and Jonathan tells his father, “I merely tasted a little honey with the end of my staff” before asking, “And now must I die?" It just didn’t seem right or just to Jonathan for his to have to perish when he wasn’t aware of the oath given.

Saul had to be torn in what to do but, in the end, he felt his loyalty to God and the oath taken was more important than pardoning his son and so he said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you do not die, Jonathan." Note that Saul never asked God what he should do. Granted, God didn’t answer him the last time he sought him but that didn’t mean God wouldn’t answer him under the present circumstances. We’ve read over and over in the scriptures about how God is a righteous God of justice. Surely God would grant pardon in this case and spare Jonathan. But Saul never turned to Him…and as we’ll see, the call for proper justice had to come from a different place.

For we read where Saul’s men say to their leader and king, “Should Jonathan die — he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God's help." Jonathan and his armor bearer had defeated the Philistine outpost because they turned to God who brought them victory. And because he carried out God’s plan and desire, the Lord saved Jonathan as Saul’s men kept him from being put to death.

I can’t help but think God had a hand in the words spoken by Saul’s men. For their selfless compassion for Jonathan spared his life and ensured proper justice was carried out. They weren’t afraid to speak up and ensure the right thing happened, even if it meant challenging their king.

I wonder if we would be as bold as Saul’s men to speak up against injustice when we see it in our lives. Would we be as compassionate and caring…as selfless and loving?

We would if we stayed obedient to God’s word. For Paul wrote important words for us in his letter to the Romans. These words, drawn from a series of exhortations for the Christian church, serve as a primer for us as we seek to discern how to handle matters when we need to stand up for others. Paul said:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:9-10

Saul’s men were sincere in their love for Jonathan and showed it in their willingness to speak up in his defense. The men were clinging to what was good and right…for Jonathan deserved pardon and received it. Jonathan had to sense the devotion and brotherly love felt for him as well as the humility displayed by the men who were willing to place Jonathan above themselves.

O, what a better world we would have to live in if all peoples would embody these principles…to love sincerely…to hate what is evil and cling to good…to be devoted to one another in love…and to honor others above ourselves.

Come to think of it, Jesus was all of this and more. It’s why we admire and respect Him…why we love and desire Him…and why we follow and seek to emulate Him. It’s also why we were called to make disciples of Him, teaching all to obey what he commanded (Romans 28:18-20).

Yes, this world can be a better place to live in…but it’s only going to be that when everyone turns their hearts, minds and souls over to Jesus…the Savior, Redeemer and Friend…the One who was devoted to us first so that we might know how to be devoted to one another. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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