Comments on 1 Samuel 13 v1-4 Hot on the heels of their victory against the Ammonites (remember, only a week passes between ch. 10 and ch. 13 per 10:8), Saul sends his son Jonathan against the Philistines he kills one of their leaders. It is unclear how he was killed, but in any case it is heralded as a victory for the Israelites. After the victory Saul sends word among all Israel and tells them to gather for war, and ostensibly more of the same victory they have been enjoying. Notice here that Israel has gone on the offensive without the admonition of the Lord or the guidance of Samuel (cp. 3 Ne. 3:21, D&C 98:23-48). Unlike the incident in 11:6 where the Spirit impels him, here Saul takes it upon himself to go to war. The result is they end up in a really bad situation. From this point onwards we see Saul become an ineffective leader and his son Jonathan, who is apparently more God fearing then him, becomes the unofficial military leader. v4 "all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines", but in the preceding verse we are informed it was in fact Jonathan, Saul's son, and not Saul, that had "smitten the garrison". A simple misattribution? A vicarious attribution since Jonathon was his son? Or did Saul want the credit for his son's actions and deliberately stretch the truth? "a garrison of the Philistines", a poor translation. The JPS renders it "a Philistine prefect". Thus, Jonathan only killed a local Philistine leader and not a whole garrison. "Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines", not a good translation. A better translation would be "became malodorous/odious to the Philistines" based upon the same type of Semitism appearing in Gen. 34:30. It means they made the Philistines hate them. v5-7 The result of Jonathan's actions is the Philistines get really angry and gather for war. Unfortunately for Saul the garrison Jonathan sacked was nothing compared to the entire Philistine army. When the entire army gathers the Israelites are shaking in their boots and realize they have bit off way more than they can chew. The result is they go and hide wherever they can. v5 "thirty thousand", according to the Masorah, the Septuagint and some other versions read "three thousand". In either case, this was a lot of chariots, and Israel is not presented as having any. Chariots then were the equivalent of our modern tanks in combat. v8-10 Saul, cooling his heels after getting Israel into some very hot water, waits the remainder of the seven days Samuel told him to (cp. 10:8). However, when Samuel doesn't show up by day seven, Saul goes ahead and takes it upon himself to offer sacrifice in an effort to importune to the Lord against the Philistines. However, just after Saul performs the sacrifice, Samuel shows up, and Saul goes out to greet him. What has happened here is Saul has taken upon himself the duty of a priest. Coveting or encroaching on the Priesthood is not something looked upon favorably in the Law, cp. Num. 16:8-11, Num. 18:7. v11-14 Samuel sees what is going on and asks Saul what he thinks he is doing. Saul attempts to justify his actions trying to make it sound like he had to force himself to do it (v. 11-12). Saul tries to shift the blame onto Samuel, as had he been there earlier Saul would not have had to force himself to offer the sacrifice. After all, time was of the essence as Israel is in imminent danger from the Philistines, and Israel was deserting, right? Samuel rejects Saul's attempt to justify his actions, and condemns him. Samuel tells him he has acted foolishly in not obeying the commandments of the Lord (presumably what Samuel told him in 9:25 and 10:25), had he not done so his kingdom would have continued (v. 13). However, the Lord will now search out another man to replace him as king (v. 14). v13-14 Samuel is not revoking Saul's kingship on the spot, but is informing him that the family line could have continued on being kings through his lineage. Instead, the Lord will replace him and his family when the time is right. Notice in 15:1-3 Samuel is still treating Saul as the king of Israel, so he cannot be revoking his kingship here. These two verses are simply a statement indicating that Saul will ultimately be replaced as king when the Lord sees fit, which occurs later in 15:23. v14 The KJV renders the actions here in the past tense, "hath sought". A better translation would be "will seek out". The Lord has not yet had Samuel anoint a replacement Saul, but will later with David. v15-23 is a parenthetical insert dealing with the historical context of the present situation Israel finds themselves in. Verses 15-18 deal with how the armies arranged themselves. Verses 19-23 tell us about another military advantage the Philistines enjoyed, they have blacksmiths among them and Israel doesn't. v15 Samuel abandons Sauls, and Saul is left with only 600 men. Notice in v. 2 he had 3000, and that was before he summoned all of Israel to him to fight. Israel has abandoned Saul too. v20 informs us that previous to the assault recounted in v. 3 the Israelites and Philistines were on good enough terms to at least do business together. So, the attack in v. 3 appears to be unwarranted. The Philistines obviously weren't in any rush to give up their military advantage, but they also weren't being totally exclusive or oppressive as were the Ammonites. v22-23 Israel is nowhere near as well equipped as Philistia when it comes to combat. We find out here that only Jonathan and Saul have metal weapons and armor, perhaps from when Jonathan killed the Philistine prefect. The Israelite army was no match at all for what they were presently facing. The only metal they have is in the form of farm implements, and not weapons. Imagine the scene: farmers with axes and sickles squaring off against armored soldiers with swords and spears. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.