1 Samuel 14:1-23: Simple Faith and Self-Absorbed Spirituality

Here in the first half of this chapter, we are presented with the stark contrast between Saul and Jonathan. As I have meditated on this chapter, I have noticed several important truths that need to be expounded, but each of them boil down to the difference between simple faith and trust in God and a pseudo-religion of self-absorbed spirituality.

When Saul came to power in Israel, God declared in 9:16 that this would be the man who would deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines. Here we are, not too many chapters later, and we see Saul’s army depleted, discouraged, deserting, and deliberating how they might escape the impending destruction that the Philistine raiders will certainly level upon them. How disappointing! But Saul’s son Jonathan was one of a few who had not given up on God’s power or His faithfulness. He still recalled that the promise of God was that the people would be delivered from the Philistines. In 13:3, Jonathan and 1000 men smote a Philistine garrison in Geba, but in 13:4 we see that Saul took all the credit for the victory. Now, with their forces scattered and doom on the horizon, Jonathan tires of waiting for his father to take action, and he steps out in faith. This is the first contrast I want to point out.

I. Simple Faith is Active, but Self-Absorbed Spirituality is Reactive

Saul was trying desperately to keep himself out of harm’s way, staying under the pomegranate tree, not risking any further depletion of his 600 troops. Jonathan was ready to move. God had promised deliverance, and Jonathan knew that it would not be received by sitting and waiting. So he took action. He did not tell his father his plan because he knew that his father’s faith was not great enough to trust God for this victory, and probably because he did not want to involve his father in the plan and risk ruining his chances for victory.

So Jonathan and his armor bearer set out together; two men, united in purpose and believing in God. They climbed by hands and feet down a sharp crag known as “Bozez,” which means “slippery,” and up another one called “Seneh,” which means “thorny.” But Saul rested in the shade and did not take action until the battle was nearly over.

While we must be sure to count the costs of our efforts, we must also be sure that we are not failing to walk by faith. There is such thing as being careful, but there is also being carnal. And whenever we do not trust God to supply what He has promised, we cannot call that careful. It is sin. We sing an old song called “Standing on the Promises.” I wonder, if we really stood on the promises of God, how would our activity as Christians and as a church be different? More often, rather than standing on the promises, we are sitting on the premises, not actively walking by faith, but waiting until something happens that forces us to react in fear. Jesus Christ has promised that He will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Like Jonathan, we ought to be taking the battle to the enemy, believing God will honor the promise of His word. But all too often we are like Saul, resting in shady comfort while the enemy gains more and more ground. This is one difference between simple faith and self-absorbed spirituality.

II. Simple Faith Seeks the Fellowship of the Faithful; Self-Absorbed Spirituality Seeks the Company of Hirelings.

Jonathan is accompanied in his maneuvers by his armor-bearer. Now we might say, “What choice did the armor-bearer have?” Jonathan never talks it over with him, or asks his input. He never really invites him to come along. He says in v1, “Come!” and he says it again in v6. But notice what the armor-bearer said to him in v7. He doesn’t begrudgingly accept his marching orders as an obedient soldier. He says, “Do all that is in your heart; turn yourself, and here I am with you according to your desire.” Literally, the Hebrew reads, “I am with you like your heart.” Some have translated it, “I am with you heart and soul.” This means that he was going along in faith, believing just as Jonathan did that God was going to give them victory. Perhaps this man’s spiritual strength was the reason Jonathan chose him as armor-bearer. Or it could be that his working with Jonathan led to his spiritual strength.

Saul, on the other hand, enjoyed the company of Ahijah (v3). He was the son of Ahitub. Ahitub was the brother of Ichabod. Do you remember him? He was the one who was born as the news of the Ark’s capture reached Israel in Chapter 4? His name means “Where is the glory?” and he was given this name because his mother said that the glory has departed from Israel. Ichabod’s father was Phinehas. He was part of a wicked priestly duo with his brother Hophni who were sexually immoral and greedy with the sacrifices and offerings of God’s people. They were the sons of Eli, who, because he refused to deal with the ungodliness of his sons, was rejected as God’s priest. Ahijah is the first descendant of Eli we have read about since Chapter 4. Samuel had been raised up by God to be His man in Israel. But Samuel had announced God’s rejection of Saul. So Saul had nothing more to do with him. Instead, the reject king called to his side a reject priest who would be a spiritual yes-man and a good-luck charm.

Saul and Ahijah remind me of a factory supervisor and a clock-maker I read about some time ago. Every morning on his way to work, the factory supervisor would stop in front of the clock shop and set his watch to correspond with the clock in the window. One day the clock-maker asked what he was doing, and he said, “I am responsible for sounding the horn to end the day at the factory. My watch does not keep time, so I set it here every morning. The clock-maker, looking humored and embarrassed, said, “Well sir, my clock doesn’t keep good time either, so every afternoon, I set it to the horn at the factory.”

We have to be careful whose company we keep and upon whose counsel we depend. Jonathan and Saul each had supportive encouragers on their side. But in Jonathan’s case, his companion was a man of faith who was willing to risk his life on his trust in the promises of God. In Saul’s case, his companion was so dull to the real presence of God that he did not realize that he was no longer anointed for office. We have to make sure that we know the difference between godly and religious. The world is full of religious people, and whatever it is we want to do, we can find someone with a holy book and a religious trinket to give approval to it. But the godly person knows the will of God and seeks to live it. This person is wise in the Word, and discerning about what it is that God honors and approves. So, like Jonathan, we need godly people around us who will prompt us to walk in faith; not religious people who will just give a passing wink at our whims and wishes.

III. Simple Faith Manifests Gods Power; Self-Absorbed Spirituality Seeks to Manufacture God’s Power

Jonathan set out with one companion to take the battle to the enemy’s camp. He did not try to sneak in, but showed himself plainly to them, and allowed them to invite him up for a beating. He scaled down one cliff and up another by hand and foot. If victory was going to be experienced in this endeavor, it would have to be of the Lord. No human ability or strategy could accomplish a feat like this.

Saul, in v18, called Ahijah to his side. We read in v3 that Ahijah wore an ephod. An ephod was part of the priestly garments, and is normally associated with the pouch wherein the Urim and Thummim were kept. These were tools that the priest would use on occasion to determine God’s will. It was sort of like casting lots. No one really knows how it worked, and it is probably a good thing. People would be trying to copy it in our day and say they had access to a forgotten art of divination. We had this “church leader” in our town in Maryland who ran a hardware store on the side, and he was so convinced that he was of the priestly lineage, that he had bells and pomegranates sown onto the hem of his bluejeans. I can see that guy wearing an ephod and breaking out the Urim and Thummim.

When Saul called Ahijah in v18, we read that he said, “Bring the ark of God here.” Now, the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, reads differently, and that is significant, because it is based on an older text than we have available to research today. We call this a vorlogge – a text that came before. The Hebrew Old Testament on which the Septuagint is based reads ephod instead of ark here. And it really makes more sense of the passage, since we are told in v3 that he wore the ephod, and as far as we know, the ark remains at Kiriath-jearim where it went after returning from the Philistines in Chapter 7. So I am operating under the assumption that Saul asked Ahijah to come with the ephod so he could determine whether or not to enter the fracas. And while Ahijah’s hands were in the pouch, perhaps he was saying a prayer or some sort of incantation, or who knows what a reject priest does when he attempts to divine the will of God, Saul noticed that the battle was continuing and increasing, and he could resist no longer. I believe that chief among his fears was that a victory was going to be won and he would not be able to take the credit for it as he had done before. So before the priest could give him a decision, Saul ordered him to remove his hand (this only makes sense if we are talking about the ephod – if it was the ark, he wouldn’t have been touching it!), and off he went into the battle with his troops. But by this time, the battle was nearly over, and the victory nearly accomplished. It was not accomplished by the complicated religiosity of Saul and Ahijah but by the simple faith of Jonathan and his anonymous armor-bearer.

As we attempt to serve God in our day, we must remember that we have not been called to ritual observance and hasty planning. We have been called to walk with God by faith. I think Henry Blackaby’s book Experiencing God was important in many regards but perhaps none more significant than this: in that book, Blackaby called the churches of our day to engage in what he referred to as God-sized tasks. He indicted most churches who only set out to do what they can do in their own power, and said, if that is all we can do, we don’t need God. We need to embark on adventures of faith that will only be possible if the Lord is with us. When was the last time we said, “We will step out on faith and do this: ____________________. And the only way we can do it is if God shows up and shows off on our behalf for the glory of His name!”? We don’t often see the supernatural because we don’t often attempt it. People in our day wonder, “Where is the God of Elijah, which consumed the sacrifices with fire from heaven?” But the greater question is where are the Elijahs of God who are willing to stand in the face of opposition and say, “ God prove yourself through me, through us, as we step out in faith”? Only as we attempt the God-sized tasks will we manifest the power of God. All other efforts are only carnal attempts to manufacture His power by human ingenuity, and are destined to fail at worst, or be overwhelmingly mediocre at best.

IV. Simple Faith Lacks Nothing; Self-Absorbed Religion Lacks Everything

In the end, as we look back on this account, we see success coming to a band of two kindred souls who are determined to live for God against all human odds. They lacked numbers, they lacked strategy, they lacked weaponry, but they had the Lord, and with Him, victory was certain. For Saul, on the other hand, even with 600 men, even with an “expert” in his corner, and all the accoutrements of organized religion, he lacked the power of God, and in that, he lacked everything.

So we have to ask ourselves two questions: What do we have? And What do we lack? On the surface, it does not matter what we appear to have if we lack personal faith and the manifest presence of God. And if we have that, then it does not matter what we lack, for simple faith lacks nothing of significance.

In high school, I completed several hours of ground instruction for flying. I never did any in-flight training, but I did get to fly with an instructor one time in a little Cessna. I piloted the plane through take-off at Smith Reynolds Airport, flew it around Pilot Mountain, and brought it in for a bumpy, but safe landing. Never once did I lose sight of the ground. The entire route was flown by just looking down and following the line of Highway 52 through northern Winston-Salem and back again. In aviation, this is called VFR: Visual flight rules. However, thoroughly trained pilots are able to fly their aircraft even when they cannot see the ground or the horizon. In a cloud cover, in darkness, and in the worst of conditions, they are trained to pilot the plane according to IFR: Instrument flight rules. They trust their gauges and instruments to lead them when they cannot see. And thus, they can fly farther, and they can fly in more diverse and challenging conditions than those who can only fly by sight. So, in the life of faith, we must not rely on what is seen but what is unseen. Even when the darkness or the clouds of doubt obscure our path, knowing that we are walking according to God’s promises, in His presence, and with His power, we can be confident that He will bring us through victoriously.

We are not fighting wars of flesh in our day. The New Testament ethic is one of peace and non-violence, but it is not without warfare. Paul said in Ephesians 6 that our warfare is fought in the spiritual realm against the rulers and principalities of Satan and his demons. Yet even against these mighty foes, the Lord is powerful to save, whether by many or by a few. In the first century, the Lord used a handful of faithful followers to turn the world upside down. And so in our day, if we will walk in simple faith, and abandoned self-absorbed spirituality, He will do so again.