Some of the most sorrowful and yet beautiful words of Scripture are those which were penned by David, as recorded in 2 Sam. 1. 19-27, on hearing of the tragic deaths of Saul and Jonathan on Mt. Gilboa at the hand of the Philistines. His love for the two men is clearly shown in verse 23: “Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”
The words to Jonathan himself, however, are even more touching: “I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” “How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished”: thrilling words of two mighty men of Israel!
Jonathan must have been a man of outstanding character. The Scriptures do not say much of him, but enough to give us a small insight to the man and the character which David so loved.
Young Jonathan was a very honoured man in Israel; his father had been made King. Israel’s desire to be a strong united nation, able to conquer her enemies, looked as though it would come to fruition under Saul, who was a goodly man, of great stature, and an obvious leader of the people—something that was sorely needed. In the early part of his reign he, and most probably Jonathan, with a great number of Israel, slew many of the Ammonites. Saul brought some sense of unity among the tribes.
Jonathan must have been pleased with his father; we can picture the two, fighting side by side on the battlefield, both with the same zeal and ambition to weld Israel together and rid her of her enemies.
Saul’s first two years reign were promising, but after that he began to fall away. One of Israel’s greatest enemies of the time,the Philistines, occupied a garrison inside the borders of Saul’s own tribe at Geba. Two years had gone by in Saul’s reign and the Philistines were still there. Jonathan is actually first mentioned in Scripture in his exploit against the Philistines at Geba, as recorded in 1 Sam. 13. Saul had gathered 2,000 men together at Michmash, whilst 31 miles to the south at Gibeah, the birth-place of Saul, Jonathan was stationed with a further 1,000 men. Between these two places, the Philistines encamped at Geba which was about 11 miles north-east of Gibeah. Geba was situated on a hill that overlooked the pass of Michmash and it was a very strategic position. Whoever occupied it could control the land round about. It appears that Saul was sitting it out, waiting for a chance to attack. Jonathan was the closer of the two camps to the Philistine stronghold and, either on instructions from Saul or of his own volition, he attacked the outpost and smote it. He was a man of great faith and courage, and it is highly probable that he decided to attack with his 1,000 men without instructions from Saul. Saul broadcast news of the attack throughout the country and before long the Philistines heard of it.
The attack meant real war between the two nations and so the people were called together to Gilgal by Samuel to dedicate themselves to God that they might receive help and that Samuel might offer sacrifices on their behalf. In doing so Jonathan and his men had to withdraw from Geba, leaving it open for the Philistines to occupy the area again, which was what happened. Whilst all the people were in Gilgal awaiting Samuel, who had promised to come on the seventh day, the Philistines gathered a huge army and took up position at Mich-mash, on the other side of the gorge from Geba. The Philistines held a strategic position once again and Saul knew it. Jonathan, possibly, was undaunted by what was going on.
Gilgal was just below Jericho, about eight miles from Michmash, and if Saul wished to attack the garrison now he would have to make the steep ascent that lead from Gilgal to Michmash. To men such as Jonathan this would have been no problem, but Saul was not so sure. The seventh day came and Samuel had still not arrived. Most of the people by now had become terrified of the huge army and had hid themselves in caves and the scrub, whilst others had fled across the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was left with about 600 men out of the original thousands that had probably been there. Saul could wait no longer and decided to offer the sacrifice himself, only to find at the completion of doing so that Samuel was approaching. Saul gave his reasons for his rash action, but Samuel could only reply with the stunning words that his kingdom was to be taken from him and given to another. Saul had been put on trial and had failed. Put yourself in his place—would you have done the same?
But put yourself in Jonathan’s place. He doesn’t say a word in the proceedings at Gilgal and yet his father’s action must have caused him grief. By faith he had defeated the Philistine garrison, but his great effort was of no avail because of his father’s folly. Had Jonathan been in command at the time, things might have been different.
Seeing the hopeless position, Saul and his 600 men returned to Gibeah with Jonathan.
The events as Gilgal were indeed disheartening. But Jonathan was not a man who gave up easily. His father had made a mistake, but it could be rectified—by faith.
Jonathan was a man of outstanding faith. One day he and his armour bearer slipped quietly out of Gibeah and walked up the gorge that led to the place where the Philistine garrison was. Approaching it near the two sharp crags, Bozez and Seneh, Jonathan made a proposition to his armour-bearer as recorded in 1 Sam. 14. 6: “Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, ‘Come 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 to the Lord to save by many or by few Jonathan’s armour-bearer was of the same faith as himself, and agreed to the proposition, so the two faithful men put their plan into operation. Fully persuaded that God would help them, they deliberately exposed themselves to view of the Philistines. They had previously requested from Yahweh that, if the Philistines told the two men to come up to them at the top of the cliff, then such would be a sign that He would deliver the enemy into their hand.
The Philistines noticed the two men below and began to mock at the apparently defenceless Hebrews. But they were unperturbed and stood awaiting a sign from God. The sign was given, “And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armour-bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing”.
Armed with a few small weapons and the shield of faith, the two men crawled up the cliffs under cover of the two crags. Reaching the top they caught about twenty Philistines by surprise and slaughtered them. Within minutes, such was the commotion caused by the great earthquake that God caused to happen and the confusion in thinking that the Israelite attack was a great one, the Philistines began attacking each other, mistaking one another for the enemy. Across the gorge at Gibeah, the watchmen of Saul heard the commotion, and it wasn’t long before Saul and all his men were on the battlefield aiding Jonathan, together with many others from surrounding areas who had joined in the fighting. By the faith of Jonathan and his armour-bearer, Yahweh wrought a great victory for Israel and saved them.
The Philistines fled, with the Israelites in hot pursuit. But Saul once again wanted the glory of the victory for himself. He charged all the people who were chasing the Philistines and said, “Cursed be the man who eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies”. But Jonathan was unaware of the adjuration and, whilst pursuing the enemy, he stopped and partook of some honey. Immediately one of his number told him what Saul had said. Jonathan apparently was unperturbed by his father’s rash words, saying, “My father hath troubled the land; See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? For had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”
Once again the efforts of Jonathan had been marred by Saul. Nevertheless, the men of Israel must have been particularly strong and courageous for they pursued the Philistines from Michmash to Aijolon, a distance of some 15 miles, on that day without partaking of any food. The day’s activities, however, were not over, for the climax had yet to come. Saul, by advice from Abimelech the priest, asked counsel of God as to whether the people should pursue the Philistines further that night. He had previously brushed the priest aside at Michmash, but now, when the odds were more on his side, he had time to wait. God did not answer. Saul knew immediately that something was wrong, someone had sinned. There was one way to find out who had sinned: by lot. Before enquiring of God, however, Saul made the decree, that the guilty man would die, even if it were Jonathan, his son. He then asked counsel of God to give a perfect lot, that they might know who was the guilty man. The lot fell upon Jonathan. An indication of the people’s love and respect for Jonathan is borne out in these proceedings. Most of them knew he had broken his father’s vow in partaking of the honey, yet not one said a word against him.
The Scriptures seem to infer that Saul knew all the time that Jonathan was the guilty man. He was probably jealous of his courageous son and wanted to put him out of the way, so that the glory of the victory might be his. Saul was quite determined to carry out his decree. Whilst Jonathan did not deny his guilt and remained silent, apparently quite resolved to suffer death, the people interceded on his behalf: “And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid! as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan that he died not.”
Despite this incident, in which he nearly lost his life, Jonathan respected and remained loyal to his father right up to the time of their death on Mt. Gilboa. The qualities of a great man are truly shown in Jonathan.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One