Mar. 7, 2008 - Why The Philistines Are Afraid of Hebrew Teenagers.
The name of Jonathan's armor-bearer is not found in Samuel, but, as this story progressed, it became increasingly difficult to refer to him as 'Jonathan's armor-bearer', so I am calling him Kalb.
Jonathan twirled an arrow lazily between his fingers. Camp life in Migron was somewhat dull. The Philistine camp at Micmash, east of Beth Aven, numbered 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and so many men that the scouts had been unable to count them. The army of King Saul, Jonathan’s father, numbered about six hundred men, all of whom were terrified.
“Look,” said Jonathan’s armor-bearer, Kalb, who was lying on the grass nearby.
A cloud of dust was stirring on the pass at Micmash.
“Another Philistine raiding party,” said Jonathan.
This was the fourth raiding party to leave the Philistine camp. The first had gone towards Ophrah, the second towards Shual, and the third towards the borderland overlooking the Valley of Zeboim.
“They’ll attack us,” said Kalb.
Jonathan nodded absently, a near suicidal plan forming in his mind. “Come, said Jonathan, “let’s go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” He jumped up and started in that direction. Behind him, Kalb hastily gathered their weapons and followed him.
They hid near the pass. The two great cliffs, Bozez and Seneh, loomed above them. “Come,” said Jonathan, “let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”
Kalb looked up towards the pass. What Jonathan proposed was practically suicide, no matter which way you looked at it. But then, when the Philistines attacked their camp they would die anyway. He turned trusting eyes to his master. “Do all that you have in mind. Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.”
With this confirmation, Jonathan began to lay out his plan. “Come then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, for the Lord has given them into our hands.”
They rose from their hiding place and walked boldly toward the outpost in full view of the guards. The Philistines saw them.
“Look!” they shouted in contempt. “The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.” They laughed in scorn and gestured to the two boys. “Come up to us, and we’ll teach you a lesson.”
Jonathan turned to Kalb. “Climb up after me; the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.”
They began to climb up the pass while the Philistines laughed and shouted insults. They were abruptly silenced by Jonathan’s swift and deadly blade. Warriors though the Philistines were, their strength met its match against the young Hebrew prince’s sharp edge, wielded by an arm made strong by helping his father in the fields before Saul’s unexpected kingship. Kalb was equally violent as he protected Jonathan’s back.
The Philistines, at last dismayed by the ferocity of the two boys, fled back to the main camp, shouting wildly. The half-acre battlefield was strewn with the bodies of twenty members of the Philistine raiding party who would never rise again.
Comments
Mar. 7, 2008 - Good intertwining of Scripture and plausible fiction!
Posted by Stephanie10
Mar. 7, 2008 - oohh! :)
Posted by Luthien
Luth
Mar. 10, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Striker
~Striker
