“One day Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul said to the young man carrying his armor, ‘Come, let’s go across to the garrison of the P’lishtim on the other side.’ But he didn’t tell his father.” – 1 Samuel 14:1
From verse 1, the action kicks off fast and furious with Jonathan’s proposal to his armor bearer.
He said ‘Come, let’s go across to the garrison of the P’lishtim on the other side.’
Now, we shouldn’t be surprised at Jonathan’s boldness.
After all, it was Jonathan’s assassination of the Philistine governor that started this war in the first place.
Also, notice the verse clearly says “One day Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul said to the young man carrying his armor.”
“One day”?
Exactly which day are we talking about here?
The answer to that question is two-fold.
First, keep in mind the original Scriptures were not broken up into chapters as our Bibles are today.
So “one day” is simply referring back to chapter 13 where we were told, “A garrison of Philistines had gone out to the pass of Mikhmas.”
Second, and this is something we modern folks often have difficulty grasping, whenever you come across phrases such as “on that day” or “in that day” in the Scripture, we’re not necessarily talking about a 24-hour period.
For example, take a look at this opening verse from the book of Genesis:
“In the beginning
God created the
heavens and the earth.”
–Genesis 1:1
A lot of folks mistakenly assume this means the creation of the heavens and the earth took place on the first day.
But if you read the text carefully, you’ll notice the creation of the heavens and the earth is not necessarily said to have occurred on the first day.
Rather, it says it occurred at a period of time called “the beginning”.
So don’t assume the first day of the creation story equals “the beginning”.
The first day could have been AFTER “the beginning“…
And this “beginning period” could have been a 10-minute period or it could have been 10 billion years.
Ya feeling me here?
So, in like manner, the “one day” in verse 1 of 1st Samuel Chapter 14 could be referring to the overall period or context of the situation.
We could accurately reword it by saying something like…
“During the time the Philistines sent a garrison of soldiers”…
Or…
“In response to the garrison of soldiers sent by the Philistines”…
So Jonathan’s proposal to his armor bearer could have been the next day, or even a few days later.
The important point here is that it took place when the garrison of Philistines went to Mikhmas.
Are you feeling me?
Done.
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