1 Samuel 13:1 - Meaning and Application

We are not told what offense made Israel lose God’s presence and feel his hand turned against them, as Samuel had warned (1 Samuel 12:15). But it is clear they had left God, or he would not have left them. Saul was weak and poorly guided, and he did not handle his affairs wisely.

The first words in the original read, “Saul was a son of one year.” We usually take that as a way of dating his reign, but the phrase can also mean a person’s birth. Some have taken it to mean he was as harmless and innocent as a one-year-old child, as the Chaldee paraphrase says. Yet it may just as well suggest that he was childish, inexperienced, and unfit for the work before him. The later events fit that reading better. Our translation probably has the sense right, that Saul had reigned one year, and that nothing notable had happened yet, a year of little action.

In his second year, he took 3,000 men, keeping 2,000 under his own command and giving 1,000 to Jonathan, Saul’s son. He sent the rest of the people back to their tents (1 Samuel 13:2). If these men were meant as a royal guard, the number was too large. If they were meant as a standing army against the Philistines, they were too few. He may have trusted too much in this chosen force and treated the larger army, the one that had just beaten the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:8-11), as if it mattered less. That likely offended many people and left him with fewer soldiers when he later needed them. A ruler who leans on one party weakens his support among the whole nation.

He also had Jonathan attack the Philistine garrison at Geba (1 Samuel 13:3). There is reason to think this may have broken some agreement with the Philistines and was done in a dishonest way. The reason for that suspicion is the statement that Israel became offensive to the Philistines, or, in the Bible’s wording, they “stank” with them (1 Samuel 13:4), meaning they were seen as deceitful people whose word could not be trusted. If that was the case, the blame should fall not on Jonathan, who carried it out, but on Saul, his king and father, who ordered it and may even have hidden the truth from him. Nothing makes the name of Israel more hateful to outsiders than the fraud and dishonesty of those who bear that honorable name. If people who claim religion cheat, break promises, and betray trust, they bring shame on religion itself. Who can be trusted if not an Israelite, one who should be without deceit?

After Saul had angered the Philistines, he began to raise troops, when he should have done that first. Only after the Philistines were ready to pour in and punish him did he blow the trumpet through the land, among a people who were careless and perhaps unhappy with him, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear” (1 Samuel 13:3). So many as were willing came to Saul at Gilgal (1 Samuel 13:4). But most likely many held back, either because they disliked Saul’s policy or feared the Philistines’ strength. If he had called them sooner, they would likely have answered as quickly as they had when he marched against the Ammonites. We often find that later thinking would have done better if it had come earlier.

The Philistines then appeared in a far more frightening force than ever before, and all because of the challenge Saul had given them. They likely had help from their allies. Along with 6,000 horsemen, which was a large force in those days, they had 30,000 chariots (1 Samuel 13:5). Many of those may have been supply wagons rather than war chariots, but even so the army was huge. Their foot soldiers were like the sand on the seashore, so angry were they over the destruction of their garrison. If Saul had asked God’s counsel before provoking them, he and his people might have been better able to bear the trouble they had brought on themselves.

The Israelites had never shown such fear, weakness, and cowardice as they did then. Some may have come to Saul at Gilgal, but when they heard how many Philistines were coming and saw their preparations, their courage sank. Some think this was also because Samuel was not there with Saul. The people had once been tired of Samuel and wanted a king, but now they had little joy in their king unless Samuel was guiding him. In time, people always learn that God and his prophets are their best friends.

When they saw the Philistines at war and Samuel did not come to help, they did not know what to do. Their hearts failed them for fear. Some hid themselves. Rather than face death, they buried themselves alive in caves and thickets (1 Samuel 13:6). Sin creates danger and then strips people of courage. One faithful person can say, “I will not be afraid of ten thousand” (Psalm 3:6), but here thousands of unfaithful Israelites trembled before a great crowd of Philistines. Guilt makes people cowardly.

Others fled across the Jordan into the land of Gilead (1 Samuel 13:7), as far from danger as they could go, and to the place where they had recently won against the Ammonites. They hoped to find safety where they had once seen victory. Those who stayed with Saul followed him with fear, expecting to be destroyed, and the desertion of so many others left them weaker in both heart and hand. Saul himself, though he at least held his ground, seems to have had little courage left to strengthen and steady his frightened soldiers.