Jonathan and his armor bearer pt1

This is one of my favorite parts of the Bible! If you attended Sharing Life for very long, you probably heard me preach on this passage several times. There is sooooo much stuff to learn from this passage. I think I'll take the next few days and talk about some of the stuff from this passage.

I Samuel 13:16-14:14

16 Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Mikmash. 17 Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three detachments. One turned toward Ophrah in the vicinity of Shual, 18 another toward Beth Horon, and the third toward the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboyim facing the wilderness.
19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!” 20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. 21 The price was two-thirds of a shekel for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

22 So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

23 Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Mikmash.
1 Samuel 14

1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, 3 among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. 5 One cliff stood to the north toward Mikmash, the other to the south toward Geba.

6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”

7 “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.”

8 Jonathan said, “Come on, then; we will cross over toward them and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands.”

11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. “Look!” said the Philistines. “The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.” 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.”

So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel.”

13 Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. 14 In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.

When you look at the verses from Chapter 13, it points out a few things. It points out where they were compared to where the others were. But it also points out the fact that all the blacksmiths were gone! This is a problem for Israel. They can't get any swords or serious weapons made because of the blacksmith issue. Instead, they made due by sharpening their farming instruments.

You may be thinking that it isn't that big of deal...but would you want to go to battle with no sword? I wouldn't! I would have probably ran the other way. But Israel was a little more resourceful. They took their farming instruments and made them into weapons. They did the best they could with what they had. They were going into battle with only Saul and Jonathan having swords.

Now, you need to understand a couple of things about this situation. Jonathan at the time of this battle is around the age of 16. He's just a kid. He's got an armor bearer...a guy who carries his sword until it comes time for him to use it. The armor bearer is probably around 14 years old at this time. Here's a couple of kids out in the middle of a battle that it doesn't look like there's any way they can win.

As a side note, anyone wanna sign up to be an armor bearer? This is the guy who carries the sword until it's time to use it, then you gotta give up the sword to the guy you're following around. WHAT? Are you crazy? I gotta carry your sword until you need it, then I get to stand here with nothing to defend myself? No thank you! I'm not signing up for this job!!

But guess what, this goofy kid signs up to be his armor bearer. There must be something wrong with this boy. Both of these boys. Just wait, it gets worse!

As you begin looking in Chapter 14, you see that Saul and his men are sleeping under a tree and Jonathan gets a bright idea. He says to his armor bearer, dude, let's go over to the philistine guys and see what's up. Maybe God will help us. Nothing can stop God from saving regardless of the number. And guess what his armor bearer says, you got it bro, I'm with you heart and soul.

I told you those two boys were crazy! They've lost their minds. They're headed over to the enemy alone with only one sword! Then it get's worse...because they aren't just gonna go spy on them.

Jonathan says, ok dude, let's go over there and let them see us. If they say to stay where we are, we will stay there and not move...but if they tell us to come up there, we will climb up because it will be our sign that the Lord is gonna help us.

They go over to the enemy and guess what. The enemy tells them to come on up and fight. So Jonathan says, come on dude, God is gonna show Himself big time.

Guess what? God showed Himself! The passage tells us that Jonathan and his armor bearer climbed up and the Philistines fell in front of Jonathan and his armor bearer followed and killed them. They killed about 20 men in half an acre.

There are a gozillion lessons we can learn from this passage. Tomorrow, we'll start trying to figure out what they are. Some of them will be obvious, others not so much. But I can promise you one thing, it'll be fun.