King Saul only has six hundred men with him and among them only he and his son Jonathan have swords. Saul and most of his troops are trembling in fear but Jonathan, who is a man of faith, along with his armor-bearer, also a man of faith, believe that the God of Israel is able to give victory no matter how badly the Israelites are outnumbered and no matter how few weapons the Israelites have at their disposal.
"Now a detachment of Philistines had gone out to the pass at Mikmash. One day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor-bearer, 'Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.' But he did not tell his father. Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left." (1 Samuel 13:23, 1 Samuel 14:1-3) We don't know why Jonathan said nothing to his father. It might have been to avoid worrying him, for no doubt Saul would have considered it foolhardy if he had known what Jonathan had in mind.
"On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. One cliff stood to the north near Mikmash, the other to the south toward Geba. Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, 'Come, let's go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.'" (1 Samuel 14:4-6) Jonathan didn't know for certain whether the Lord would give the Philistines into his hands or not, but he knew that the Lord could. And because he knew that the Lord could, he was willing to be used by the Lord to subdue the enemy.
His young armor-bearer bravely agrees with him. "'Do all that you have in mind,' his armor-bearer said. 'Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.' Jonathan said, 'Come on, then; we will cross over toward them and let them see us. If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.'" (1 Samuel 14:7-10) Jonathan has either asked for one of these specific signs from the Lord or the Lord has told him what to watch for. They are to allow the Philistines to see them and wait to see how they respond. The Philistines may say, "Stop right there! Don't come any closer. We'll send some men over to speak to you." In that case, Jonathan and the armor-bearer are not to go on the attack. But if the Philistines tell them to approach, this is the signal that the Lord is going to give them victory in battle.
Why would the Philistines not be alarmed at the sight of these two Israelites? They probably assume these two men are deserters, come to surrender in exchange for preserving their lives. Or it could be they assume King Saul has sent these two men to deliver a message of surrender on behalf of all Israel. The Philistines have too much strength in numbers to worry about two men appearing on the scene. They arrogantly believe they have nothing to fear.
"So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. 'Look!' said the Philistines. 'The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.' The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer,' Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson.'" (1 Samuel 14:11-12a) This taunt is exactly the sign Jonathan was waiting for. "So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, 'Climb up after me; the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.'" (1 Samuel 14:12b)
"Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre." (1 Samuel 14:13-14) By faith these two men slay twenty Philistines in a surprise attack. They catch the soldiers off guard, likely because the soldiers thought they were there to surrender, not there to fight. They could hardly have expected two men to mount such a ferocious attack.
"Then panic struck the whole army---those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties---and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God." (1 Samuel 14:15) Philistines who aren't even at the outpost on the cliff and who don't even know about the attack are struck with panic. They are thrown into confusion. They can't think what to do. Because two men had the faith to believe the Lord could give victory in the face of such great obstacles, the Lord now moves in a mighty way. He throws the entire Philistine army into such a state of fear that they are useless as a fighting force.
The Lord promised that if the Israelites would be obedient to Him, "The enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven." (Deuteronomy 28:7) Jonathan and his armor-bearer have taken these words to heart. Though they are but two men, their faith benefits their whole nation. The Lord rewards their faith by causing their fierce enemy to tremble in fear.
It is our enemies---not us---who should be trembling in fear. I am ashamed to admit I am prone to giving in to fear. I wish that wasn't the case. I have the tendency to imagine the worst-case scenarios and to fall prey to anxiety. I'm having a difficult week right now, in fact. Something I am trying to keep in mind is that fear does not come from God. It comes either from our own worried minds or from the devil himself. But it is not God's will for his children to run to and fro in a blind panic: that's something He's reserved for our enemies. If we find ourselves in a panic, it wasn't sent to us from the Lord, for His holy word assures us that He has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) We live in a scary world where things take us by unpleasant surprise. We see and hear terrible things on the news. A good way to combat those things is to focus on the God for whom no problem is too big to handle. I hope to be able to do that today to combat my own anxious thoughts. I think that's why Jonathan and his armor-bearer were able to be so brave in our text today: they focused their thoughts on God and not on the enemy.
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