1 Samuel 14:24 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the distress of the Israelites even on the day of their victory. Even the best times have some harm mixed in with them. Many good causes meet trouble, even when they seem most successful, because the people carrying them out handle them badly.

Saul forbade the people, under pain of a curse, to eat any food that day (1 Samuel 14:24). We may suppose, first, that as king he had the right to place this restriction on his soldiers and back it with a curse, so they submitted. God even showed, by the lot, that Jonathan was the one who had touched what was under a ban, though he did so in ignorance, and for that reason God would not be asked of them at that time. Second, Saul likely did it with a good motive. He may have feared that the people, after being kept on short rations, would find plenty of food in the abandoned Philistine camp, gorge themselves, waste time, and become unfit for further battle that day.

Even so, the order was badly judged and very unwise. If it saved time, it cost strength, and the chase needed strength. It was also harsh and displeasing to the people. It was worse than muzzling an ox while it treads out the grain. To forbid them to feast would have been reasonable, but to forbid them even to taste food, when they were hungry, was cruel. It was also wrong to enforce the ban with a curse and an oath. Did Saul have no lighter penalty for military discipline? Death would have been too much for such an offense, especially death joined with a curse. Leaders may correct and rebuke, but they may not curse those under them. Our rule is, "Bless, and do not curse." When David speaks of an enemy who loved cursing, he may mean Saul (Psalm 109:17-18).

The people obeyed Saul, but the command brought trouble with it. The soldiers were tormented, because while they were chasing the enemy they came to a wood full of wild honey. It dripped from the trees onto the ground, because the Philistines had likely broken the honeycombs in their flight to get some quick refreshment and left the honey running. Canaan was a land flowing with honey, and this is one example of that. They could have taken honey from the rock, from the hard rock (Deuteronomy 32:13), yet for fear of the curse they did not even taste it (1 Samuel 14:25-26). Those deserve the name of Israelites who can deny themselves and their appetites when cravings are strong and the pleasures of sense are tempting, because they fear guilt and a curse, and do not want their table to become a trap. Let us never feed ourselves, much less feast ourselves, without caution.

Jonathan fell under the curse through ignorance. He had not heard of the order, because after he bravely forced the enemy line he was still in the chase. In that situation he could reasonably have been thought exempt from the command, since he was away on such a good service. Still, it seems everyone took it for granted, and Jonathan himself did not later object, that the order covered him too, even though he had been absent on such an important errand. Not knowing any danger, he took a piece of honeycomb on the end of his staff and ate it (1 Samuel 14:27). It refreshed him greatly. His eyes were brightened, which had begun to grow dim from hunger and weakness. It made his face look cheerful, and others could tell the difference (1 Samuel 14:29): "See how my eyes have been brightened." He thought no harm and feared none, until one of the people told him about the order, and then he found himself in a snare. Many a good son has been troubled this way, in more than one sense, by the rashness of an unthinking father. Jonathan, for his part, lost the crown he was heir to because of his father's folly, which may have been a bad sign of what was to come.

The soldiers also grew faint and weak in the pursuit of the Philistines. Jonathan had seen that this would happen. Their spirits would droop and their strength would fail without food. That is how our bodies are made. They soon become unfit for work if they are not given fresh support. Daily work cannot be done without daily bread, which our Father in heaven graciously gives us. Bread strengthens a person's heart. Jonathan reasoned well when he said that if the people had eaten freely, there would have been a much greater slaughter (1 Samuel 14:30). As it was, they were very faint, very tired, as the Chaldee says, and they began to think more about eating than about fighting.

The worst result of all came in the evening, when the restriction was lifted and they returned to food with such greed that they ate the meat with the blood, directly against God's law (1 Samuel 14:32). We say that two hungry meals make the third a glutton, and it was so here. They would not wait for the meat to be properly killed, for they killed the animals on the ground instead of hanging them up as usual so the blood could drain out. They also would not wait for it to be properly cooked, but fell on it while it was still only half boiled or half roasted (1 Samuel 14:32). Saul was told of it and rebuked them for the sin (1 Samuel 14:33): "You have sinned." But he did not, as he should have done, look at himself as partly responsible, since he had caused the Lord's people to sin. To stop this disorder, Saul ordered a large stone to be set before him. He told all who had animals for their own use to bring them there and kill them on that stone under his eye (1 Samuel 14:33). The people did so (1 Samuel 14:34). They were so easy to guide and correct when their ruler did his duty. If rulers would only use their authority as they should, people could be improved more easily than we often think.

On this occasion Saul built an altar (1 Samuel 14:35), either to thank God for the victory or to make atonement for the sin the people had committed. This was the first altar he built. Perhaps the rolling of the great stone, used for killing the animals, made him think of turning it into an altar. Saul was turning away from God, yet now he began building altars, as many do, showing zeal for the form of religion while denying its power. See (Hosea 8:14). Some read it this way: he began to build the altar, laying the first stone, but he was in such a hurry to keep pursuing the victory that he could not stay to finish it.