1Sam 13

Good and bad examples of initiative in leadership

Background: Under Samuel’s leadership, Israel had regained some level of independence from the Philistines (7:13-14). However, when Samuel became old, the people demanded to be led by a king rather than by corrupt priests such as Samuel’s own sons (8:1-5). Now Saul had been anointed as king some time ago (perhaps one year, v1), but was not confirmed in this role until after he rallied a peasant army of three hundred thousand Israelites and relieved Jabesh-Gilead from a siege by the Ammonites (ch. 11). Ch. 13 tells of how his lack of faith became evident already one or two years later (v1), and of the consequences (v14).

Read: 1 Samuel 13

1) vv1-2: What measure(s) did Saul take first after becoming king?

What might have been the purpose of stationing this small and ill-equipped army in the hill country of the tribe of Benjamin?
How was it possible to do so without interference by the Philistines? 7:13-14
- How seriously did the Philistines take this threat? cf 14:8-11

2) vv3-4: To get a picture of the unfolding events, find on Google earth the towns of Michmash (today: Mukhamas), Gibeah, and Geba (today: Geva Binyamin).

Geba overlooks the gorge separating it from Michmash (wadi Suwaynit), and a pass north of it from Michmash to Gibeah (see map). What led Jonathan to start a new war with the Philistines by attacking this border garrison, and without asking his father (cf 14:1)?*
- While Jonathan’s foray is described in ch. 14, the present chapter (v3ff) focuses first on the aftermath. To whom did Saul sound the alarm horns now, and why not before?**
- Why only after the first victorious battle? v5

**3) vv4-7: Why did Saul order everyone to Gilgal? Why not hold Michmash, where his troops had been trained to hold the high ground? v5**

Where was Gilgal? Jos 4:19-20 =>
Why retreat to the fords of the Jordan river? vv7-8
Read 1Sa 10:7-8. Did Samuel mean for Saul to go down to Gilgal only now while on the run from a Philistine counterattack?
- Why not? What did Gilgal symbolize that could justify to instruct Saul in this specific location? Jos 5:1-15
- Why didn’t Saul go there while there was time (v1)?

4) vv8-12: Why then did Saul bother now to still go to Gilgal? v12

What was wrong with that, and why did no one say so?***
When Samuel arrived, why didn’t he commend Saul for taking initiative and doing what someone had to do?

5) vv13-15: Wasn’t it insubordinate and rude of Samuel to call his new king foolish? After all, wasn’t Saul the new leader chosen by God and His people?

Why did Samuel risk to incite Saul’s wrath, and to be apparently proven wrong by Saul’s subsequent success as a battle commander (14:47-52)?
How did Saul react to this news? Do you think he remained friends with Samuel? Why didn’t he abdicate and ask who should be king in his place?

6) vv15-22: How did the Philistines maintain their tactical advantage even after Saul returned from Gilgal?

Without arms, outnumbered, and cut off from the Benjaminite mainland in every direction, what options were left to Saul?

7) Personal & application

What human weaknesses are highlighted by this chapter that give the enemies of Christian faith every advantage?
In your personal experience, have you or your church community suffered any losses from similar failures?
Christians are called to put on spiritual armor. How does this chapter illustrate the need for it? What does this imply:
- a) for those in leadership positions like Samuel, Saul or Jonathan?
- b) if you are like any of the ‘ordinary’ Israelites who had the choice between running away, changing sides, or following Saul or Jonathan for better or worse, or Samuel (which no one did)?

* Jonathan’s attack on Geba has been taken by some as referring to the same place as 10:5. However, Geba has later been identified by Kitchener with the modern town of Jeba/Geva. Ch. 14 is ambiguous on which side of the wadi Suwaynit and the pass north of it Jonathan attacked a garrison (14:4). Commentators who regard ch 14 as an incident distinct from the capture of Geba (13:3) assume that Jonathan wished to cross over from there to attack a new Philistine outpost of Michmash described in 13:23. However, why call Jonathan’s foray his first strike (14:4), if it was not the same as the attack on Geba that started the war, 13:3-5, at a time when both Gibeah and Michmash were still occupied by Saul, 13:2?

Furthermore, returning in 14:15 to where it was interrupted after 13:17-27, the narrative now explains how the entire Philistine invasion force in Michmash and even their death squad (raiders) panicked: When one man killed only one of their outposts, the only one who panicked was Saul because he was not ready and had not yet sacrificed in Gilgal, and so he allowed the Philistines to seize the strategic highground of Michmash without resistance (ch 13). By contrast, after Samuel declared in 13:14 that God had chosen a man after His own heart (even since before creation, cf Gen 3:15), the earth shook and the Philistines killed each other, while the Israelite guard in Gibeah was watching!

** The term Hebrews shares consonants with and sounds like ‘slaves’ and was used in this derogatory sense by their enemies. According to 14:21, the Philistines made no difference between Israelites and those who dwelled among them.

*** Saul brought sacrifices again in 14:35-37 and even built an altar with no one objecting, except that God did not answer. Also king David built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings at some point, albeit at the command of the prophet Gad (2Sa 24:18–19). By contrast, Samuel had commanded Saul to wait not only seven days, but until he will arrive to direct Saul in what he should do.