was now fully recognized as the king of Israel. At the invitation of Samuel
“all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the
Lord in Gilgal.” Samuel now officially anointed him as king (11:15).
Although Samuel never ceased to be a judge in Israel, yet now his work in
that capacity practically came to an end.
Saul now undertook the great and difficult enterprise of freeing the land
from its hereditary enemies the Philistines, and for this end he gathered
together an army of 3,000 men (1 Samuel 13:1, 2). The Philistines were
encamped at Geba. Saul, with 2,000 men, occupied Michmash and Mount
Bethel; while his son Jonathan, with 1,000 men, occupied Gibeah, to the
south of Geba, and seemingly without any direction from his father
“smote” the Philistines in Geba. Thus roused, the Philistines, who
gathered an army of 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and “people as
the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude,” encamped in Michmash,
which Saul had evacuated for Gilgal. Saul now tarried for seven days in
Gilgal before making any movement, as Samuel had appointed (10:8); but
becoming impatient on the seventh day, as it was drawing to a close, when
he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Samuel appeared and
warned him of the fatal consequences of his act of disobedience, for he had
not waited long enough (13:13, 14).
When Saul, after Samuel’s departure, went out from Gilgal with his 600
men, his followers having decreased to that number (13:15), against the
Philistines at Michmash (q.v.), he had his head-quarters under a
pomegrante tree at Migron, over against Michmash, the Wady esSuweinit
alone intervening. Here at Gibeah-Geba Saul and his army rested, uncertain
what to do. Jonathan became impatient, and with his armour-bearer
planned an assault against the Philistines, unknown to Saul and the army
(14:1-15). Jonathan and his armour-bearer went down into the wady, and
on their hands and knees climbed to the top of the narrow rocky ridge
called Bozez, where was the outpost of the Philistine army. They
surprised and then slew twenty of the Philistines, and immediately the
whole host of the Philistines was thrown into disorder and fled in great
terror. “It was a very great trembling;” a supernatural panic seized the
host. Saul and his 600 men, a band which speedily increased to 10,000,
perceiving the confusion, pursued the army of the Philistines, and the tide
of battle rolled on as far as to Bethaven, halfway between Michmash and
Bethel. The Philistines were totally routed. “So the Lord saved Israel that