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CHAPTER 7 : Saul Marches against the Philistines - Position of the two
Camps - Jonathan's Feat of Arms - Saul Retreats to Gilgal - Terror
among the People - Saul's Disobedience to the Divine Command, and
Rejection of his Kingdom. (1 SAMUEL 13)
AT Gilgal Saul had been accepted by the whole people as their king,^120 and it now
behooved him to show himself such by immediately taking in hand as his great work
the liberation of the land from Israel's hereditary enemy the Philistines.
For this purpose he selected from the armed multitude at Gilgal three thousand men,
of whom two thousand under his own command were posted in Michmash and in
Mount Bethel, while the other thousand advanced under Jonathan to Gibeah of
Benjamin (or Gibeah of Saul). Close to this, a little to the north, at Geba, the
Philistines had pushed forward an advanced post, perhaps from Gibeah, to a position
more favorable than the latter. Unable, with the forces at his disposal, to make a
regular attack, it seems to have been Saul's purpose to form the nucleus of an army,
and meanwhile to blockade and watch the Philistines in Geba. So far as we can
judge, it does not appear to have lain within his plan to attack that garrison, or else
the enterprise would have been undertaken by himself, nor would it have caused the
surprise afterwards excited by Jonathan's success.
As it is of considerable importance for the understanding of this history to have a
clear idea of the scene where these events took place, we add the most necessary
details. Geba, the-post of the Philistines, lay on a low conical eminence, on the
western end of a ridge which shelves eastwards towards the Jordan. Passing from
Geba northwards and westwards we come to a steep descent, leading into what now
is called the Wady-es-Suweinit. This, no doubt, represents the ancient "passage of
Michmash" (1 Samuel 13:23). On the opposite steep brow, right over against Geba,
lies Michmash, at a distance of barely three miles in a north-westerly direction. This
Wady-es-Suweinit is also otherwise interesting. Running up in a north-westerly
direction towards Bethel, the ridge on either side the wady juts out into two very
steep rock-covered eminences - one south-west, towards Geba, the other northwest,
towards Michmash. Side wadys, trending from north to south behind these two
eminences, render them quite abrupt and isolated. These two peaks, or "teeth," were
respectively called Bozez, "the shining," and Seneh, either "the tooth-like," "the
pointed," or perhaps "the thorn," afterwards the scene of Jonathan's daring feat of
arms (1 Samuel 14:1-13). Bethel itself lies on the ridge, which runs in a north-
westerly direction from Michmash. From this brief sketch it will be seen that, small
as Saul's army was, the Philistine garrison in Geba was, to use a military term,
completely enfiladed by it, since Saul with his two thousand men occupied
(^)