1 Samuel 14 explained: Jonathan's Bold Climb, Saul's Rash Oath

Jonathan climbs the cliff (vv. 1-15)

Without telling Saul, Jonathan and his armor-bearer cross a rocky gorge to a Philistine post, trusting that the LORD can win "by many or by few" and taking the guards' mocking "come up" as their sign to attack. They kill about twenty men, and a panic and an earthquake that the text credits to God sweep through the whole Philistine army.

Saul joins the rout (vv. 16-23)

Saul starts to ask God for guidance through the priest, then tells him to stop as the enemy's chaos grows, and Israelites who had sided with the Philistines or hidden in the hills join the chase. The Hebrew text says Saul called for the "ark" here, but the ancient Greek version says "ephod", a priestly garment used to put questions to God, and many scholars think that reading is more likely.

A curse on eating (vv. 24-30)

Saul puts a curse on any soldier who eats before evening, so his exhausted troops fight on empty stomachs. Jonathan, who never heard the oath, eats some wild honey and feels revived, then says his father's oath has made trouble for the country by leaving the army too weak to finish the job.

Eating meat with blood (vv. 31-35)

At evening the starving soldiers kill captured animals on the ground and eat them with the blood still in, which Israel's law forbade because blood stood for life, and life belonged to God. Saul has a large stone set up so the animals can be killed and drained properly, and he builds his first altar to the LORD.

The lot falls on Jonathan (vv. 36-46)

When God gives no answer about a night attack, Saul casts lots, a way of getting a yes or no answer from God, to find who is at fault, and the lot picks out Jonathan. Saul swears his son must die, but the soldiers refuse to let the man who won the day be killed and rescue him.

Saul's wars and family (vv. 47-52)

A summary of Saul's reign lists his wars against neighbors on every side, including the Amalekites, along with his children and his army commander Abner. War with the Philistines never let up, so Saul kept recruiting any strong or brave man he found.

Key verse: 1 Samuel 14:6

Where Christians differ

Readers differ on whether God's silence and the lot mean Jonathan was truly guilty for breaking an oath he never heard, or whether the episode mainly exposes Saul's oath as rash and wrong from the start.

Something to think about

When a leader makes a rule that ends up hurting the very people it was meant to help, what makes it so hard for them to back down?