Let’s continue to get our bearings by reviewing the details of what’s happened so far.
Recall that Jonathan was hanging out with his armor-bearer at a place called Mikhmas (Saul’s tribal home territory of Benjamin).
Jonathan and his servant were on one side of a huge dried river bed (called a WADI in Hebrew) and the Philistines were on the other side.
Feeling cocky and bold, Jonathan and his side-kick decided to taunt the Philistines by shouting insults at them and daring them to come out and fight.
The fact that Jonathan was willing to risk his life here shows just how strong his faith in God was.
During the shouting match, one of the Philistines yelled out “Come up to us”.
For Jonathan that was the sign that God was on his side and that he and his servant should quickly move to launch a surprise attack.
So they crawled up the steep rocky walls above the wadi and attacked.
Jonathan’s courage was well rewarded when he found himself facing off the Philistines in a narrow passageway that enabled him to mow down about 20 Philistines one after another as effortlessly as a hot knife slicing through slabs of soft butter.
This put the entire Philistine camp in a huge panic.
Soon after, when Saul caught wind of what was happening, he was a bit unsure at first.
But then he decided to join the fight in full force with his 600 men.
Once that happened, other Israelites who had been in hiding and even those who were on good terms with the Philistines decided to switch their loyalties back to Israel and joined their Hebrew brethren in slaughtering the Philistines.
Recall, it was during this time that Saul got so excited about winning he came up with that retarded vow that no one was to eat or rest until the Philistines were completely defeated.
This was a bad move that demoralized the soldiers and would cause them to sin later on.
Nevertheless, Israel seized the victory that day.
But afterward, Saul’s men, starved, thirsty, and exhausted, took some of the animals from the Philistines as spoils and hurriedly butchered the animals without draining the blood properly.
From a Torah perspective, this was a HUGE no-no.
Saul noticed this and stopped them, and then had a big stone brought to him for the animals to be properly slaughtered upon so the blood could be properly drained out of the meat.
Saul did the right thing here, but the whole irony of this situation is that it was his vow that caused the men to break the Torah in the first place.
Onward.
After everyone was fed and rested up, Saul, still in a state of euphoria, suggested they keep on attacking the Philistines during the nighttime hours until every last one of those enemy cockroaches was crushed to the ground.
That’s what would’ve happened but the priests stepped in saying it would be wise to consult with God first.
So Saul posed a couple of questions to God using the Urim and Thummim.
To his surprise, he got no answer.
That’s when it dawned on him it must be because someone in his camp had sinned.
So, the next step was to figure out what the transgression was and who had committed it.
This brings us to where we’re at right now.
So what takeaway can we glean from all of this?
What came to me was seeing how many Hebrews who had been reluctant to join the battle against God’s enemies dove in wholeheartedly once momentum kicked in and things got going.
Jonathan triggered the spark that turned into a raging bonfire.
The lesson here is if you’re feeling stuck in some area of life, the solution to complacency is just to do something…ANYTHING!
Once you start building momentum, you’ll be amazed at how God arranges countless little things and big things in your life to support your bold decision to act in faith.
Ya feeling me?
Our God is a God of action, not sitting around waiting for something to happen.
Abraham did as God said immediately, as did Moses (well, OK, so he had a bit of a slow start, but he caught on soon enough).
Jeremiah stood up against the powerful kings because God told him what to do, and look at what Ezekiel went through, what with laying on one side for a year, then the other side, etc.
They all did as God said, without delay.
Gabriel, well, he also was a little slow at first, but once he was sure it was God, he got things done.
We, as humans, need to be convinced, and God understands tha, and is willing to give us the benefit of the doubt to show himself when he has something he wants us to do.
But it is up to us, in the end, to do it, and when we are in a rut, as you say, Rich, the best (and probably only way) out of it is to get off our tuchas and do something about it.
Loved this comment. Amen!