1 Samuel 13
Bibelen på hverdagsdansk
Sauls ulydighed imod Gud
13 Saul var 30 år, da han blev konge, og han regerede i 42 år.[a] 2 Han udvalgte 3000 af de bedste israelitiske krigere og tog de 2000 med sig til Mikmas i bjergområdet ved Betel, mens han lod de 1000 blive hos sin søn Jonatan, der tog til Geba.[b] Resten af hæren sendte han hjem. 3-4 Jonatan angreb og udslettede filistrenes garnison i Geba. Rygtet om denne israelitiske oprørshandling nåede hurtigt til filistrenes hjemland, og Saul skyndte sig at sende bud rundt i hele Israel om, at han havde udryddet filistrenes garnison, og at man kunne forvente, at filistrene nu ville gå til modangreb. Derfor indkaldte han hele Israels hær til at samles ved Gilgal. 5 I mellemtiden samlede filistrene en mægtig hær på 3000 stridsvogne, 6000 ryttere og lige så mange fodfolk, som der er sandkorn ved stranden. Denne hær rykkede frem og slog lejr ved Mikmas øst for Bet-Aven. 6 Da israelitterne fik øje på fjendens enorme hær, mistede de totalt modet og nogle gemte sig i klippehuler, grotter, kløfter, gravhuler eller tomme vandreservoirer. 7 Andre krydsede Jordanfloden og undslap til Gads og Gileads land.
Saul blev i Gilgal med sine mest loyale krigere, som dog rystede af skræk. 8 Han ventede på Samuel i syv dage, som han havde fået besked på. Men Samuel kom ikke til Gilgal som ventet, og Sauls mænd begyndte at forlade ham. 9 Da besluttede Saul at ofre brændofferet og takofferet uden Samuel. 10 Netop som han var færdig med det, kom Samuel. Saul gik ham i møde for at byde ham velkommen. 11 Men Samuel udbrød: „Hvad har du dog gjort?” „Hvad skulle jeg ellers stille op?” indvendte Saul. „Mændene begyndte at desertere, du kom ikke til den tid, vi havde aftalt, og filistrene gjorde klar til kamp ved Mikmas. 12 Så tænkte jeg: ‚Filistrene kan angribe, hvad øjeblik det skal være, og jeg har endnu ikke bedt Herren om hjælp.’ Derfor tog jeg mod til mig og ofrede selv brændofferet i stedet for at vente på dig.”
13 „Hvor var det tåbeligt af dig at overtræde Herren, din Guds, bud!” udbrød Samuel. „Havde du bare adlydt ham, ville han have ladet dig og dine efterkommere bevare kongemagten i Israel for altid. 14 Men nu har din ulydighed kostet dig kongedømmet. Herren ønsker nemlig en mand, han kan stole på. Han har allerede udvalgt den mand, som skal være konge for hans folk i stedet for dig, for du har overtrådt hans bud.”
15 Derefter forlod Samuel Gilgal og tog til Gibea.[c] Men Saul og de 600 mand, der var tilbage af hans hær, tog af sted for at møde fjendehæren. 16 Saul og Jonatan og deres 600 mand slog lejr i Geba tæt ved Mikmas, hvor filistrenes hær lå. 17 I mellemtiden rykkede tre afdelinger ud fra filistrenes lejr. Den ene satte kursen mod Ofra i Shual-området, 18 den anden søgte i retning af Bet-Horon, og den tredje mod området over Zeboimdalen i ørkenen.
19 På den tid fandtes der ikke en eneste smed i hele Israel, for filistrene ville forhindre hebræerne i at ruste sig med sværd og spyd. 20 Derfor var israelitterne tvunget til at opsøge en filistersmed, hver gang de skulle have slebet deres plovskær, hakker, økser eller segl. 21 Prisen for en slibning var 2/3 shekel for plovskær og hakker, 1/3 shekel for økser, segl og pigstave. 22 Denne situation var årsag til, at der ikke fandtes et eneste sværd eller spyd i hele Israels hær, bortset fra Sauls og Jonatans. 23 I mellemtiden var en afdeling af filisterhæren rykket frem og havde besat bjergpasset ved Mikmas.
Footnotes
- 13,1 Den hebraiske tekst siger ordret: „Saul var søn af år i sin regeringstid og regerede i to år over Israel.” De fleste græske håndskrifter mangler vers 1, mens nogle har 30 år. ApG. 13,21 taler om, at Saul regerede i 40 år. Det er muligvis et rundt tal, da den hebraiske tekst siger „to år”. Deraf kommer formodningen om de 42 år. Dog er det også muligt, at versene 1 og 2 skal forstås som følger: „Da Saul havde regeret i to år, udvalgte han 3000…”
- 13,2 Teksten taler om „Benjamins Gibea/Geba”.
- 13,15 På hebraisk: Benjamins Gibea/Geba. Om det er Geba eller Gibea er ikke helt sikkert.
1 Samuel 13
Living Bible
13 By this time Saul had reigned for one year.[a] In the second year of his reign, 2 he selected three thousand special troops and took two thousand of them with him to Michmash and Mount Bethel while the other thousand remained with Jonathan, Saul’s son, in Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. The rest of the army was sent home. 3-4 Then Jonathan attacked and destroyed the garrison of the Philistines at Geba. The news spread quickly throughout the land of the Philistines, and Saul sounded the call to arms throughout Israel. He announced that he had destroyed the Philistine garrison and warned his men that the army of Israel stank to high heaven as far as the Philistines were concerned. So the entire Israeli army mobilized again and joined at Gilgal. 5 The Philistines recruited a mighty army of three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and so many soldiers that they were as thick as sand along the seashore; and they camped at Michmash east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw the vast mass of enemy troops, they lost their nerve entirely and tried to hide in caves, thickets, coverts, among the rocks, and even in tombs and cisterns. 7 Some of them crossed the Jordan River and escaped to the land of Gad and Gilead. Meanwhile, Saul stayed at Gilgal, and those who were with him trembled with fear at what awaited them. 8 Samuel had told Saul earlier to wait seven days for his arrival, but when he still didn’t come, and Saul’s troops were rapidly slipping away, 9 he decided to sacrifice the burnt offering and the peace offerings himself. 10 But just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and to receive his blessing, 11 but Samuel said, “What is this you have done?”
“Well,” Saul replied, “when I saw that my men were scattering from me, and that you hadn’t arrived by the time you said you would, and that the Philistines were at Michmash, ready for battle, 12 I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us and I haven’t even asked for the Lord’s help!’ So I reluctantly offered the burnt offering without waiting for you to arrive.”
13 “You fool!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have disobeyed the commandment of the Lord your God. He was planning to make you and your descendants kings of Israel forever, 14 but now your dynasty must end; for the Lord wants a man who will obey him. And he has discovered the man he wants and has already appointed him as king over his people; for you have not obeyed the Lord’s commandment.”
15 Samuel then left Gilgal and went to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin.
When Saul counted the soldiers who were still with him, he found only six hundred left! 16 Saul and Jonathan and these six hundred men set up their camp in Geba in the land of Benjamin; but the Philistines stayed at Michmash. 17 Three companies of raiders soon left the camp of the Philistines; one went toward Ophrah in the land of Shual, 18 another went to Beth-horon, and the third moved toward the border above the valley of Zeboim near the desert.
19 There were no blacksmiths at all in the land of Israel in those days, for the Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear of their making swords and spears for the Hebrews. 20 So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, discs, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith. 21 The schedule of charges was as follows:
For sharpening a plow point, 60¢
For sharpening a disc, 60¢
For sharpening an ax, 30¢
For sharpening a sickle, 30¢
For sharpening an ox goad, 30¢
22 So there was not a single sword or spear in the entire “army” of Israel that day, except for Saul’s and Jonathan’s. 23 The mountain pass at Michmash had meanwhile been secured by a contingent of the Philistine army.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 13:1 Saul had reigned for one year. The Hebrew, from which the numbers have evidently dropped out in copying, reads: “Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign, and he reigned . . . and two years over Israel.”
1 Samuel 13
King James Version
13 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.
3 And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
4 And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.
5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.
7 And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
9 And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
10 And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.
11 And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.
13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.
15 And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men.
16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
17 And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual:
18 And another company turned the way to Bethhoron: and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
19 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:
20 But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.
21 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.
22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.
23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
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