A Lot Wrong!

So Saul asked God, “Should we go after the Philistines? Will you help us defeat them?” But God made no reply that day. [1 Samuel 14.37]

Here are some really interesting thoughts to ponder.  Saul had made some kind of oath after realizing that God was working with Israel to defeat the Philistines.  That oath was that no one was to eat anything that day.

The reason Israel was experiencing such victory that day was because Jonathan and his armor bearer had gone out on their own and initiated an attack on the Philistines that led to the Philistines becoming panicked.  Because Jonathan and his armor bearer were not present when Saul's oath was made, Jonathan had no way of knowing that he was not to eat anything and so, when he came across honeycomb, he ate some honey!

That evening, as the tide of the battle was overwhelmingly in Israel's favor, the Israelite soldiers butchered and ate livestock without first draining the blood - a huge no-no according to God's Law.  Saul got word of it and demanded they drain the blood before eating any more.

Saul decided sometime that same evening that Israel should pursue the Philistines all that night but the priest on duty there suggested they first ask God.  Doing so however yielded no answer from God.

Assuming something was wrong, Saul resorted to sacred lots (similar to rolling dice) to determine what sin and sinner was responsible for God's silence.  Jonathan was indicated as that sinner for his having eaten honey that day in violation of his father's oath that Jonathan had no way of knowing anything about.

Now, in my mind there is a LOT wrong with this whole scenario! 

Why would Jonathan be indicted for a subjective sin (subject to an erratic oath he had no knowledge of - not to mention that his father who made the erratic oath was already out of favor with God) when all the troops were not indicted for a brazen sin of eating meat with blood in it?

So then, Saul 'prayed' and asked God to show who was guilty and then cast sacred lots.  The person indicated by the sacred lots happened to be Jonathan.  Just how "sacred" was the practice of casting sacred lots anyway?  Remember that sacred lots were used to accurately determine Achan had betrayed Israel, but that 'sacred lot' was cast by righteous folks,  In contrast, Saul was out of favor with God - something was bound to go awry!

I am inclined to draw personal lessons from this story only in light of the fact that Saul was totally out of control and his actions only made trouble for himself and everyone else!

Father, I struggle to see the 'take-away' from this particular set of events in Israel's history.  However, I do know without question that the problems and surrounding confusion described in this event can be traced back to Saul's rebellion against You.