In 1 Samuel 14, Jonathan (son of king Saul) goes up against the Philistines accompanied by no one other than his armour bearer. As I started reading this chapter, I thought what stupidity! Two men against an army? And a great army at that according to 1 Samuel 13 vs 5 – “Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude…”
How could two men possibly stand a chance against so many? Imagine the terrible things that would have happened to Jonathan and his armour bearer had they been captured? The Philistines were a cruel people. Remember what they did to Samson? – Judges 16 vs 21. Even king Saul did not want to be taken alive by them – 1 Samuel 31 vs 3 and 4.
As I continued down the passage of scripture though, I came to 1 Samuel 14 vs 6; and the later part of the verse struck me – “… For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few”. Nothing stops the Lord from working through many people or only a few… We tend to think in terms of strength in numbers or as the popular phrase goes, “the more the merrier”, but it is not so with the Lord. In God’s kingdom, things work by faith… And Jonathan must have known that in undertaking such a bold feat. He was not being foolish; he was displaying faith.
Jonathan must have been aware of the consequences should he be captured, but unlike most of the Israelites that hid in fear of the Philistines (1 Samuel 14 vs 5 and 6), he chose to put his faith in God over his fear of the enemy. Therefore, he did not only talk about going over to the Philistine garrison; he actually did it because of his complete belief, confidence, and trust in God’s ability to protect him and deliver the enemy to Israel.
We see further evidence of Jonathan’s faith in God through two statements that he makes. In 1 Samuel 14 vs 10 he says, “… For the Lord has delivered them into our hand…” and in 1 Samuel 14 vs 12 he says, “… for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel”. Jonathan was already claiming the victory through God before it happened. Notice the term “has delivered” as opposed to “is going to deliver” or “might deliver”. Now that’s faith!
And that faith was all that was required to move the hand of God! As the two men went up to meet the Philistines, God did the rest. He brought about an earthquake and confusion in the camp of the Philistines, and they fled abandoning their camp (1 Samuel 14 vs 15 to 22). 1 Samuel 14 vs 23 says, “So the Lord saved Israel that day…”. The Lord vanquished the Philistines; the Lord did all the work. All that Jonathan had to do, was believe.
Likewise, all that we have to do is believe – to put our confidence and trust in God’s ability. When we put our faith into action by making that first move, God will do the rest. Logic may say that something is impossible (like two men against a great army) but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19 vs 26).