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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 14:16 - 14:16
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Flight and defeat of the Philistines. - 1Sa 14:16. The spies of Saul at Gibeah saw how the multitude (in the camp of the Philistines) melted away and was beaten more and more. The words וַהֲלֹם וַיֵּלֶךְ are obscure. The Rabbins are unanimous in adopting the explanation magis magisque frangebatur, and have therefore probably taken הֲלֹם as an inf. absol. הָלֹום, and interpreted הָלַם according to Jdg 5:26. This was also the case with the Chaldee; and Gesenius (Thes. p. 383) has adopted the same rendering, except that he has taken הָלַם in the sense of dissolutus, dissipatus est. Others take הֲלֹום as adverbial (“and thither”), and supply the correlate הֲלֹם (hither), so as to bring out the meaning “hither and thither.” Thus the lxx render it ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν, but they have not translated וַיֵּלֶךְ at all.
1Sa 14:17
Saul conjectured at once that the excitement in the camp of the Philistines was occasioned by an attack made by Israelitish warriors, and therefore commanded the people: פִּקְדוּ־נָא, “Muster (number) now, and see who has gone away from us;” and “Jonathan and his armour-bearer were not there,” i.e., they were missing.
1Sa 14:18
Saul therefore resolved to ask God, through the priest Ahiah, what he should do; whether he should go out with his army against the Philistines or no. But whilst he was talking with the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines became greater and greater, so that he saw from that what ought to be done under the circumstances, and stopped the priest's inquiring of God, and set out with his people without delay. We are struck, however, with the expression in 1Sa 14:18, “Bring hither the ark of God,” and the explanation which follows, “for the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel,” inasmuch as the ark was then deposited at Kirjath-jearim, and it is a very improbable thing that it should have been in the little camp of Saul. Moreover, in other cases where the high priest is spoken of as inquiring the will of God, there is no mention made of the ark, but only of the ephod, the high priest's shoulder-dress, upon which there were fastened the Urim and Thummim, through which inquiry was made of God. And in addition to this, the verb הַגִּישָׁה is not really applicable to the ark, which was not an object that could be carried about at will; whereas this verb is the current expression used to signify the fetching of the ephod (vid., 1Sa 23:9; 1Sa 30:7). All these circumstances render the correctness of the Masoretic text extremely doubtful, notwithstanding the fact that the Chaldee, the Syriac, and Arabic, and the Vulgate support it, and recommend rather the reading adopted by the lxx, προσάγαγε τὸ Ἐφούδ· ὅτι αὐτὸς ἦρεν τὸ Ἐφοὺδ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐνώπιον Ἰσραήλ, which would give as the Hebrew text, יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי הַהוּא בַּיֹּום הָאֵפֹוד נֹשֵׂא הוּא כִּי הָאֵפֹוד הַגִּישָׁה. In any case, ובְ'ני יִשְׂרָאֵל@ at the end of the verse should be read יִשׂ לִבְנֵי or לִפְנֵי, since וּ gives no sense at all.
1Sa 14:19
“It increased more and more;” lit. increasing and becoming greater. The subject וגו וְהֶהָמֹון is placed absolutely at the head, so that the verb וַיֵּלֶךְ brev eh is appended in the form of an apodosis. יָדְךָ אֱסֹף, “draw thy hand in” (back); i.e., leave off now.
1Sa 14:20
“And (i.e., in consequence of the increasing tumult in the enemy's camp) Saul had himself, and all the people with him, called,” i.e., called together for battle; and when they came to the war, i.e., to the place of conflict, “behold, there was the sword of the one against the other, a very great confusion,” in consequence partly of terror, and partly of the circumstance alluded to in 1Sa 14:21.
1Sa 14:21-22
“And the Hebrews were with the Philistines as before (yesterday and the day before yesterday), who had come along with them in the camp round about; they also came over to Israel, which was with Saul and Jonathan.” סָבִיב means distributed round about among the Philistines. Those Israelites whom the Philistines had incorporated into their army are called Hebrews, according to the name which was current among foreigners, whilst those who were with Saul are called Israel, according to the sacred name of the nation. The difficulty which many expositors have found in the word לִהְיֹות has been very correctly solved, so far as the sense is concerned, by the earlier translators, by the interpolation of “they returned:” תָבוּ (Chald.), ἐπεστράφησαν (lxx), reversi sunt (Vulg.), and similarly the Syriac and Arabic. We are not at liberty, however, to amend the Hebrew text in this manner, as nothing more is omitted than the finite verb הָיוּ before the infinitive לִהְיֹות (for this construction, see Gesenius, Gramm. §132, 3, Anm. 1), and this might easily be left out here, since it stands at the beginning of the verse in the main clause. The literal rendering would be, they were to be with Israel, i.e., they came over to Israel. The fact that the Hebrews who were serving in the army of the Philistines came over to Saul and his host, and turned their weapons against their oppressors, naturally heightened the confusion in the camp of the Philistines, and accelerated their defeat; and this was still further increased by the fact that the Israelites who had concealed themselves on the mountains of Ephraim also joined the Israelitish army, as soon as they heard of the flight of the Philistines (1Sa 14:22).
1Sa 14:23
“Thus the Lord helped Israel that day, and the conflict went out beyond Bethaven.” Bethaven was on the east of Michmash, and, according to 1Sa 14:31, the Philistines fled westwards from Michmash to Ajalon. But if we bear in mind that the camp of the Philistines was on the eastern side of Michmash before Bethaven, according to 1Sa 13:5, and that the Israelites forced their way into it from the south, we shall see that the battle might easily have spread out beyond Bethaven, and that eventually the main body of the enemy might have fled as far as Ajalon, and have been pursued to that point by the victorious Israelites.