And Jonathan smote the outpost of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard [of it]. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
Jonathan strikes the Philistine garrison at Geba, and his father sounds the trumpet over the whole land. The question left hanging is whose victory it really was.
The chapter around this verse shows a nation in disarray, and one man acting differently:
In the previous chapter nothing can be more humbling than the confusion, distress, and utter helplessness of Saul and Israel. The only exception there is Jonathan, who "defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba." But this victory granted to Jonathan showed that God was still with His people. Those in responsibility only needed to know how to count on His presence and help. And yet the lesson was wholly lost on Saul.
Israel had other enemies. The Philistines were different, because they sat inside the land God had promised:
Here also we see in the Philistines the enemies who put faith to the test. We often have enemies we beat easily. People think we are spiritual because of them. Yet these are not the enemies that put faith to the test — not on God's part, nor, it may be said, on their own. With these, patience must have its perfect work. And the Philistines held this place with respect to Saul. It was good for the people to be free from their other enemies. But those were not the enemies that trapped them. Those were not the ones that displayed the enemy's power right in the middle of Israel and the promises.
Jonathan's blow was bold, and it stirred the Philistines at once:
Of course this was a very bold thing for a subject people, which the Israelites clearly had become. The Philistines hear of it, and at once begin to move against a people who were stirring themselves even this little. Faith does not fear to strike, no matter how total the oppression. Formalism may have laid its deadly hand on the saints of God so completely that no one dares lift his voice in protest. But faith will strike wherever there is an opportunity. It does not coldly calculate the effect, nor count up the numbers the enemy will be able to bring into the field to crush it. It counts rather on God alone. Here is something that is not according to Him — it must be denounced, it must be struck down.
The trumpet spread Saul's name, not Jonathan's. One writer sees Saul's failure start here, and points out what each name means:
In 1 Samuel 13 the time of testing and trial comes upon Saul, and he proves to be rejected. First the flesh takes for itself the honour due only to the Spirit. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba — and his name means "the one whom the Lord has given." But all Israel heard that Saul had done it, for he blew the trumpet and said, "Let the Hebrews hear." Saul was the one "asked for" by the people.
Saul does not call the nation Israel:
"And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, 'Let the Hebrews hear.'" What a summons from the king! Why call them Hebrews? Was this all that Saul had to say? Where was God in it? Entirely forgotten! This is exactly the kind of language a Gentile would use. Had Saul sunk to this? Had he never heard of Jehovah, the God of Israel? Had he never weighed His promises to the fathers, His purposes for their children, the chosen people, poor as they might be?
The same writer applies this to how we speak of God's people now:
This is what unbelief always did, and does now. "Our people" — "Our church!" Such language betrays the fatal fault of connecting things with ourselves instead of with God… I may do as I please with what is my own, and it is natural to resent anyone trampling on its rights. But I must take care what I do with what is not mine nor yours, but God's.
Saul had just sent the people home. Now he calls them back:
Saul cannot lead now; he must follow. But he follows a path he knows nothing about. He acts in the dark, while he imagines he has full light. There is no caution now, no seeking wisdom from God. He has just dismissed the crowd that had gathered against the Ammonites. Now he summons them again in haste with the trumpet. But God has no use for them.
- One man — while Saul and Israel are helpless, Jonathan alone acts, and his blow shows God had not left His people.
- One enemy — the Philistines sat inside the land. Easy wins prove nothing; this is the enemy that tests faith.
- One principle — faith strikes at what is not according to God without counting the odds against it.
- One theft — Jonathan struck the blow, but the land heard Saul's name. The flesh takes the honour due to the Spirit.
- One word — Saul called them "Hebrews," not Israel, and left God out. The same fault shows up whenever we say "our church" instead of God's.
And all Israel heard say, Saul has smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and Israel also has become odious to the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.
Jonathan struck a Philistine outpost, and the news reached the whole land as Saul's victory. The people gathered to him at Gilgal, hated by the Philistines and afraid.
Jonathan's raid is the one bright spot in a chapter of collapse. Then Saul's trumpet turns his son's act into the king's reputation.
Nothing could be more humbling than the confusion, distress, and utter helplessness of Saul and Israel. The only exception to the general condition is Jonathan, who "defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba." But this victory given to Jonathan showed that God was still with His people — if only those in responsibility knew how to count on His presence and help. And yet Saul missed the lesson entirely. He exalted himself through his son's achievement. He "blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear." So the report went out that Saul, not Jonathan but Saul, "had defeated a garrison of the Philistines."
The verse corrects the king. He summoned "the Hebrews"; the record says "all Israel" heard.
Saul's language was extraordinary. "Let the Hebrews hear." The Spirit says in the following verse, "All Israel heard say," and so on. "Israel" was the name of grace (Gen. 35:10); "Hebrews" was a term that merely recalled how Abraham, their father, first came into the land from across the Euphrates. But many things had happened since Abraham's day. His descendants had, by the grace of God, crossed both the Red Sea and the Jordan, and were now God's covenant people in the land of promise. Did not these mighty facts count for something? But Saul had no real sense in his soul of the people's true relationship with the Lord.
This unbelief did not die with Saul. It shows up in one small word: "our."
This is what unbelief always did, and does now. "Our people" — "our church!" Such language betrays the fatal habit of connecting things with ourselves instead of with God... So with the people of Israel here. If they were regarded merely as Saul's people, the Hebrews, or something of that kind, everything must go wrong. The starting point was false: it left God out, along with Israel's relationship to Him.
The report had a second half: Israel was now "a stench to the Philistines." Older translations say "had in abomination." That news sounds like disaster. It is not.
"And that Israel also was held in abomination by the Philistines." It was all right. God does not intend His people to be anything else in the eyes of those who hate them. They may respect or dread a people, which is natural enough; but the thing the world cannot stand is the claim of God. If you only hope to find a portion for yourselves from God, the world would hardly mind. They have their own fears, and they at least hope He may show mercy. But what offends the world is when you hold firmly that God Himself has called and blessed you — calmly and humbly, for you cannot be too humble about it.
The people came when called. What they carried to Gilgal was not courage.
The way the people received the news sadly shows their state. The news did not thrill them with energy or arm them as one man to finish off this proud enemy. It filled them with terror. They realise the Philistines now hold them in abomination. That fills their minds more than any hope of deliverance. How like unbelief in every age! It fears the consequences of any measure of faithfulness... to be occupied with the effect of our action on the enemies of God, rather than with God Himself, is to invite defeat.
Saul did not point the nation to God. He pointed it to the danger, and the tribes came.
Saul attributes Jonathan's victory, faith's victory, to himself (v. 4)... The flesh never seeks to gather souls around Christ: it makes itself the centre. This is how Saul acted when he tried to frighten the people with these words: "Israel had become a stench to the Philistines." In 1 Samuel 11:7 he had forced the tribes to follow him by threats; here he does it through fear. The result of acting this way is to gather Israel after himself. But the moral consequences soon follow. Those who put themselves under the flesh's leadership to find some measure of security soon feel that they have no security at all.
- Faith acts. One man counting on God struck the garrison, and that single act proved God had not abandoned His people.
- Flesh claims. Saul did not win the battle; he won the announcement. The nation credited him with his son's faith, and he gathered it around himself.
- Names betray. Saul called them "Hebrews," their natural, ancestral name. The record calls them Israel, the name of grace. How a leader speaks of God's people shows whether he sees God in them.
- The world reacts. Becoming offensive to the Philistines was not failure. What enemies cannot stand is a people who insist, humbly but firmly, that God has claimed them.
- Fear decides. Israel gathered, but weighed the enemy's hatred instead of God's help. Watching the opposition instead of God is how defeat begins.