Jonathan. It appears as if the narrator wanted, at an early stage of the story, to disassociate Jonathan from his father Saul. In addition, Jonathan’s surprise attack was attributed not to Jonathan but to Saul (v. 4). Saul was praised instead of Jonathan, but this was due to his being the king. Likewise, the conquest of Hebron was attributed to Joshua, in spite of the fact that it was Caleb who conquered the city (Josh 11:21; 14:14).
Following Jonathan’s successful attack against the Philistine prefect, Saul sounded the trumpet throughout the land with the message: “Let the Hebrews pay attention.” It is quite strange that an Israelite would use such a designation for his fellow Israelites. Scholars have pointed out the connection between the term Hebrew and ῾apiru. Some believe that the term ῾apiru refers to mercenaries. Gottwald suggested that Saul was appealing to a “third force” to listen, they were the ῾apiru warriors who served in the Philistine army. Saul summoned the ῾apiru to come and to fight alongside the Israelites.2 Evidently, they were a band of armed Israelites who gave their services to the Philistines, but returned to the Israelite side when the battle turned against the Philistines.
Upon receiving the news about the assassination of their prefect, the Philistines reacted quickly by gathering their huge army—including three thousand chariots and six thousand cavalry—compared to Sisera who had only nine hundred chariots (Judg 4:3). It deserves mention that the terrain in the surrounding area of Michmas was not fit for a large force of chariots. The large number of the Philistine battalion is indicated by the phrase “troops as numerous as sand” (Josh 11:4; Judg 7:12; 2 Sam 17:11). Meanwhile, we read that the Israelites were terrified, some of them were hiding. This was perhaps due to the fact that the troops with Saul and Jonathan did not have enough weapons to fight, thus: “no sword or spear was to be found in possession of any of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and Jonathan had them” (1 Sam 13:22). At the same time, the Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the territory of Gad and Gilead.3 Afterward, in 14:21 we read that the Hebrews came to the aid of Saul. Thus one wonders if the Hebrews mentioned in 13:3, 7 and 14:21 are the same people. The first group of Hebrews deserted the Philistine camp and escaped to the territory of Gad and Gilead. Subsequent to the Philistines losing the battle, a second group of Hebrews deserted the Philistine camp and joined Saul in his battle against the Philistines.
Following the feud between Saul and Samuel (see chapter 4), Saul returned from Gilgal to Geba of Benjamin. Meanwhile, the Philistines camped at Michmas, reversing their positions from the beginning of the campaign. Three squadrons emerged from the Philistine camp. The Philistines used the same strategy here that Saul used against the Ammonites; they divided their army into three. Their mission was to destroy the settlements in the east, north, and west. A similar view is found in Josephus’s account of the event, where he describes the Philistines as dividing their army into three companies.4 The Philistines divided their forces into three in order to accelerate the downfall of Saul. That left their main camp without ample defenses, which helped Saul defeat the Philistines. Kallai speculated that the Philistines were sending raiding parties in order to obtain supplies for their army. He maintained that the Philistine plan was not to confront the Israelites, but rather to rob and to intimidate the Israelites.5
Michmas
Chapter 14 continues to describe the battle between Saul and the Philistines. The main Philistine forces went to Michmas. They remained there, while, at the same time Saul was at the outskirts of Geba with six hundred troops. Geba is situated only a mile or two from Michmas. A deep ravine that turns into a wadi, called es.-S.uwēnīt., separates the two camps. The Philistine army camped north of the ravine while the Israelites encamped to the south. This wadi was an important pass from the Jordan Valley into the Ephraimite hills. Jonathan and his weapon bearer launched an attack on the Philistine post. This post was strategically accessed via a pass through the Wadi, naturally defended by rocks or a ford on both sides. On his side, these rocks were called Seneh and the other side was called Bozez. This attack was made without Saul’s knowledge or his troops. Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrison only after receiving a sign from God. This is similar to Gideon’s attack of the Midianite camp after receiving only a sign. In the raid, Jonathan and his armsbearer killed twenty people, which indicates that this post was small. Jonathan led the attack, and his weapon bearer would finish off those who had fallen behind. This unexpected attack caused turmoil and terror in the Philistine camp that was felt in the field and the raiding parties. According to Josephus, the raid took place while the Philistines were sleeping:
So they fell upon them as they were asleep, and slew about twenty of them, and thereby filled them with disorder and surprise, insomuch that some of them threw away their entire armor and fled; but the greatest part, not knowing one another, because they were of different nations, suspected one another to be enemies, (for they did not imagine there were only two of the Hebrews that came up,) and so they fought one against another; and some of them died in the battle, and some, as they were fleeing away, were thrown down from the rock headlong.6
This episode is similar to chapter 13. Both chapters 13 and 14 describe surprise attacks by Jonathan. In chapter 13, Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrison at Geba and in chapter 14 he attacked the Philistine garrison at Michmas. In both, Jonathan fights his father’s battles, replacing his father as a leader. Jonathan uses guerrilla tactics with small forces, surprising the enemy from different locations. Edelman reads 13:3 differently. According to her, it is a “literary fiction” since Jonathan was too young to take part in the war with the Philistines. Na’aman believes that chapters 13 and 14 have one purpose, which is the denigration of Saul.7 He points to the fact that Saul was rejected by Yahweh. He is at Gibeah without taking any initiative while his son Jonathan attacks the Philistines at Michmas. Even though at the end, Saul leads his men to a victory, all the glory goes to Jonathan. Na’aman explains this negative portrayal of Saul claiming that it was the Deuteronomistic editor who portrayed Saul as a man who deserted his God and did not wait to receive divine help to join Jonathan in chasing the Philistines.8 In addition, he made the army take an oath to fast, and thus he failed to see the negative effect of this on the army. Brooks adds to Na’aman’s hypothesis, asserting that the same author or editor also inserted the story of the conflict between Samuel and Saul. The aim was to downplay Saul’s success. According to her, if we remove the incident of this conflict and the references that attribute the victory to God, we might receive a better historical portrayal of the events.9
Jonathan’s attacks against the Philistine camps in Geba and Michmas were part of the rebellion against the Philistines. The first attack signaled the beginning of the bitter war against the Philistines that lasted all of Saul’s life. This attack was committed with Saul’s knowledge and approval. Since his election, the people of Israel were waiting to attack the Philistines, and one of the reasons Saul was elected was to confront the Philistine threat. Indeed, already in v. 2, before the attack, we learn that Saul built a force of 3,000 men from Israel and the remainder of the troops was sent home. Why did Saul dispatch the rest? We are not told, but Saul probably wanted to conceal his real intentions and to surprise the Philistines when he sent the troops home. Jonathan’s attacks against the Philistines came to challenge their rule. The attacks on Geba and Michmas had one purpose: to remove them from the territory of Benjamin. Saul was aware of his military weakness, so he employed guerrilla tactics and small forces. Following Jonathan’s attack at Geba, Saul retreated to Gilgal where he expected to receive support from the Giladites whom he saved before. Realizing afterwards that the Philistines could attack him there and given that the landscape topography favored them; he retreated back to Geba, which Jonathan controlled. Saul acted quickly because the Philistine forces were divided at that time into three columns. He wanted to attack the small force that was left in Michmas. Evidently, the Philistine commanders realized the situation: “Now the Philistine garrison had marched out to the pass of Michmas” (1 Sam 13:23). Saul lost the element of surprise, but this was reversed by Jonathan’s surprise attack.
Jonathan’s second attack was not premeditated. Jonathan and his attendant were scouting and gathering information about the enemy. They realized that they had an opportunity to defeat the Philistines. It was Driver who suggested that, based on the corrupt Hebrew text
