“Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, ‘Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised [ungodly men]; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.’ So his armorbearer said to him, ‘Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.’ Then Jonathan said, ‘Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say thus to us, “Wait until we come to you,” then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. But if they say thus, “Come up to us,” then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.’ So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, ‘Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.’ Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, ‘Come up to us, and we will show [teach] you something.’ Jonathan said to his armorbearer, ‘Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.’ And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land. And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there.” 1 Samuel 14:6-16.

Jonathan was the eldest son of Israel’s first king, King Saul, at the time of the incident recorded above he was about thirty years old. The year was around 1020 B.C. some three thousand years ago.

This warfare begins in 1 Samuel 13, so I recommend you read it for a greater understanding of this study.

The Philistines had gathered a huge army against Israel which included thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and even more foot soldiers.

King Saul on the other hand could muster, at best three thousand men.

To make matters worse, none of Saul’s soldiers had a sword or a spear because the Philistines had prevented Israel from having any blacksmiths among them.

It is mainly for this reason that many of the Israelites fled this area and many more hid in holes, and in caves reducing Saul’s army to a mere six hundred men. Only God can save a country so under manned and under armed.

“Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, ‘Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.’” 1 Samuel 14:6.

It had to have been the Lord who put this outrageous thought into the mind of Jonathan in the first place. Who would have conceived of facing off against this enormous army with only their armorbearer?

Now look at the second half of this sentence, “…it may be that the Lord will work for us.” His words were according to the law; he did not say “God is going to work a miracle.” This would have been tempting God.

When the Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, one of the temptations involved taking Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and telling Him to throw Himself down, because the angels would bear Him up.

Think of the amazement of the religious leaders when they saw such a sight; they would have accepted Jesus as Messiah immediately. Or that is what the lie implies.

The sin, of course is that it was not the Father’s will for Jesus to do magic tricks to become the recognized Messiah, putting Him outside the Father’s will.

The Lord’s reply to Satan was a simple one though, and one we must all be aware of.

“Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”’” Matthew 4:7.

Jumping off the pinnacle of the temple would have been a shortcut to fame, but it would have forced God the Father to act to save Him, putting God to the test.

In other words, putting God in a position where He has to act, this is what, putting Him to the test means.

This is the wisdom that Jonathan showed, “…it may be that the Lord will work for us”, he did not say that, God will work for us; he left room for God to act according to His own will.

Christians make the mistake of putting God to the test when they say, God is going to heal you, or God is going to make you rich.

God loves us and does what is best for us, so He does answer prayer. But He is not a genie in a bottle that has to do our bidding, no matter how much faith we have.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.

Do not cease to pray for your needs; do not cease to cast your cares upon Him.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…” Ephesians 3:20.

“…and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience [by confession to God] and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:21-23.

“For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.” 1 Samuel 14:6c.

Such courage came from a great faith in God.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.

But for all of his faith, Jonathan was not presumptuous, he let God lead.

“Then Jonathan said, ‘Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say thus to us, “Wait until we come to you,” then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. But if they say thus, “Come up to us,” then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.’” 1 Samuel 14:8-10.

Jonathan has exhibited great faith by just being there, now he lays out a reasonable pair of choices through which God can indicate to him whether he is to go on or go home.

Many Christians use similar tactics to find God’s will, but they are often loaded in favor of the Christian getting his will not God’s. Lord, I really like this house, car, job, and so on, what is Your will sort of question. They then go on to load the query with a single, no means yes inquiry.

Even when God is able to shoot this down the Christian goes on to rationalize that God’s answer is being misunderstood by them somehow. Then they go ahead with what they wanted to do to begin with.

Of course when everything goes off the rails, they question God’s motivations.

“And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they [Philistines] fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.” 1 Samuel 14:13-14.

This is not right, many of these Philistines were seasoned veterans or trained fighters. Only God can do for a man the things that were accomplished that day.

Yet God not only strengthened the hands of these men, He went further still, He began to fight for all of Israel that day just as Jonathan said, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” 1 Samuel 14:12c.

“And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling.” 1 Samuel 14:15.

It is said that this was a trembling from God and was a trembling of the heart, though there was indeed an earthquake to go along with this mass hysteria which came from God.

This great fear came upon the entire camp of the Philistines, not just the army, but those who carried the supplies and tended the camp.

The garrison consisting of many seasoned soldiers and well trained men trembled also, along with the raiders who went out pillaging and destroying villages along the way.

“Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there.” 1 Samuel 14:16.

The watchmen who were located on a high point were able to see this huge army retreating in disarray, and from their vantage point it appeared like snow melting away on a hot day. So King Saul and the Israelites went to battle.

“Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion.” 1 Samuel 14:20.

One courageous man of faith and his armorbearer who trusted him put to flight an innumerable army in the power of God.

“No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” Psalm 33:16-19.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son [Jesus], but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16.

As Jonathan and his armorbearer gained a victory by God, so the One who gave them that victory also fought for all men.

Jesus Christ the righteous fought His battle on the cross, and in the three hours of darkness from noon to three the wrath of God fell upon Him with a fury that only the damned will come to vaguely realize as eternity upon eternity in the lake of fire roll over them.

The body of Jesus Christ was taken down from the cross a dead Man, but what men could not see was a soul burnt to ash, a sacrifice to God for all who would receive it.

And as the Battle Hymn of the Republic states, “As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.”

Hundreds of thousands of men and women have given their lives to purchase our freedom, freedom to worship God.

And to tell others of the grace of God who gave His Son so that all men may come to the knowledge of the truth and turn in faith to Jesus.

The horror, fear and intensity of warfare, yes, and the agony of death should never be minimized.

And those who stood in the gap for us all must never, never be forgotten. Remember that when your eyes survey the fields and fields of crosses extending back over 250 years.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14.

POne Half Acre taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 5-17-16, reposted on 6-14-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.