841 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines,.... They passed over the valley that lay between Michmash and Gibeah, and presented themselves at the bottom of the hill or rock on which the garrison was, to the open view of it; and who might easily discern who they were, that they were Hebrews, as they did, as follows:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer,.... The guards that were set to watch the garrison, who descrying them, called to them, and said: come up to us, and we will show you a thing; we have something to say to you, a pretty thing to show you, when you shall pay dear for your boldness and impudence, in daring to come so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet,.... He did not attempt to go up the way or pass the Philistines kept, but turned aside and climbed up a precipice thought inaccessible, and came upon them unseen, and at unawares; for had he attempted to come up in any part where he was seen, they could easily have beat him down, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the first slaughter which Jonathan and his armourbearer made was about twenty men,.... Or the first blow they struck, as the Targum, they killed about twenty men; that is, they did not stop smiting, but followed their blows so quickly, that in a very little time, as well as in a very small space of ground, so many were killed: even within as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there was trembling in the host in the field,.... Belonging to Michmash, where the army lay encamped: and among all the people; the inhabitants of Michmash, or that attended the army, and furnished them with provisions, trafficking with them; the common people, as distinguished from the soldiers: the garrison; those that were in it, who did...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked,.... The city of Gibeah was built on an hill, from where it had its name; and these watchmen or sentinels of Saul were set by him no doubt in the highest part of it, whereby they could overlook the army of the Philistines as they lay encamped, and could observe their motions, and give notice...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said Saul unto the people that were with him,.... To some of the officers, particularly the muster master; number now, and see who is gone from us: for he concluded that this agitation and confusion in the host of the Philistines were occasioned by an enterprise of some of his men, who by some stratagem or another had thrown them into this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Saul said unto Ahiah, bring hither the ark of the Lord,.... That he, the high priest, might put on the ephod, with the Urim and Thummim, and inquire by them of the Lord before it, concerning the affair of Jonathan, what he had done, and the agitation that was in the host of the Philistines; so the Septuagint version, "bring the ephod", of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, while Saul talked with the priest,.... With Ahiah about bringing the ark, and inquiring before it: that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on, and increased; the shrieks and cries of those that were beat down and trampled upon, and were bruised and wounded; and indeed the cry of the whole host, being...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Saul, and all the people that were with him, assembled themselves,.... The six hundred men that were with him, unless we can suppose the 1000 that had been with Jonathan in Gibeah were here still, see 1 Samuel 13:2 and they came to the battle; to the field of battle, the place where the army of the Philistines had lain encamped: and, behold,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time,.... Who either were their servants and bondsmen they brought along with them, or such in whose cities they dwelt, or had taken as they came along, and forced into their army; or it may be some of them were renegades from the Israelites, deserters, who for safety and subsistence...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim,.... In the caves and rocks, thickets and pits there, see 1 Samuel 13:6 when they heard that the Philistines fled; now being delivered from their fears, and thinking themselves safe, ventured out of their lurking places: even they also followed hard after them in the battle;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the Lord saved Israel that day, c] And a wonderful salvation it was, that two men should throw such a vast army into confusion, which issued in the utter rout and destruction of them this only could be of the Lord, to whom it is justly ascribed, and was the effect of his sovereign good will and pleasure, and of his unmerited goodness; a free...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men of Israel were distressed that day,.... By reason of the following order Saul gave with an oath, forbidding any to taste meat till evening, when the people were faint and weary, which is the common sense of interpreters; but Jarchi interprets it, the men of Israel were ready, forward, and hasty, and drew nigh to fight with the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all they of the land came to a wood,.... Which lay between Bethaven and Aijalon; by whom are meant not all the inhabitants of the land of Israel, but all that came with Saul and Jonathan, and that joined them in the pursuit: and there was honey upon the ground; which dropped upon it, as in the following verse, or where it was produced by bees;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the people came into the wood, behold, the honey dropped,.... Either from trees, which produced it; so Diodorus Siculus (t) speaks of trees in some countries which produce honey; or from the sugar canes, as Jarchi; or rather from the honeycombs which were framed in trees by bees; so Hesiod (u) speaks of bees making their nests or combs in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath,.... Which charge was given, either before he came from Gibeah, before he came to Jonathan, or while pursuing, when Jonathan was with another party either fighting or pursuing: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand: the staff with which he walked, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then answered one of the people, and said,.... To Jonathan, who might direct and encourage the people to do as he had done, at least so he did by his example, if not by words; the latter is not improbable: and therefore one of the men that came along with Saul, and had now joined Jonathan, and who heard what Saul had said, replied, thy father...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said Jonathan, my father hath troubled the land,.... The people of the land, as the Targum, the soldiers in his army; afflicted and distressed them, and made them uneasy in their minds, like troubled waters; the Arabic version is, "my father hath sinned against the people;'' hath done them injury by forbidding them to eat. This was not wisely...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found?.... That is, had they been, allowed eat freely of the provisions, of bread, wine, c. they found in the enemy's camp, they would have been much more refreshed and strengthened than it could be supposed he was with eating a little honey if that...