1 Samuel 13:23-14

International Children’s Bible

Israel Defeats the Philistines

²³ A group from the Philistine army had gone out to the mountain pass at Micmash.

14 One day Jonathan, Saul’s son, spoke to the officer who carried his armor. Jonathan said, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine camp on the other side.” But Jonathan did not tell his father.

² Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree at the threshing floor near Gibeah. He had about 600 men with him. ³ One man was Ahijah, who was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub. Ichabod was the son of Phinehas, Eli’s son. Eli was the Lord’s priest in Shiloh. He wore the holy vest. No one knew Jonathan had left.

⁴ There was a steep slope on each side of the pass. Jonathan planned to go through the pass to the Philistine camp. The cliff on one side was named Bozez. The other cliff was named Seneh. ⁵ One cliff faced north toward Micmash. The other faced south toward Geba.

⁶ Jonathan said to his officer who carried his armor, “Come. Let’s go to the camp of those men who are not circumcised. Maybe the Lord will help us. It doesn’t matter if we have many people, or just a few. Nothing can keep the Lord from giving us victory.”

⁷ The officer who carried Jonathan’s armor said to him, “Do whatever you think is best. Go ahead. I’m with you.”

⁸ Jonathan said, “Then come. We will cross over to the Philistines. We will let them see us. ⁹ They may say to us, ‘Stay there until we come to you.’ If they do, we will stay where we are. We won’t go up to them. ¹⁰ But they may say, ‘Come up to us.’ If so, we will climb up. And the Lord will allow us to defeat them. This will be the sign for us.”

¹¹ Both Jonathan and his officer let the Philistines see them. The Philistines said, “Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in!” ¹² The Philistines in the camp shouted to Jonathan and his officer, “Come up to us. We’ll teach you a lesson!”

Jonathan said to his officer, “Climb up behind me. The Lord has given the Philistines to Israel!” ¹³ So Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet. His officer climbed just behind him. Jonathan cut down the Philistines as he went. And his officer killed them as he followed behind Jonathan. ¹⁴ In that first fight Jonathan and his officer killed about 20 Philistines.

¹⁵ All the Philistine soldiers panicked. Those in the camp and those in the raiding party were frightened. The ground itself shook! God caused the panic.

¹⁶ Saul’s guards were at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. They saw the Philistine soldiers running in every direction. ¹⁷ Saul said to his army, “Check and find who has left our camp.” When they checked, they learned that Jonathan and his officer were gone.

¹⁸ So Saul said to Ahijah the priest, “Bring the Ark of the Covenant of God.” (At that time it was with the Israelites.) ¹⁹ While Saul was talking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp was growing. Then Saul said to Ahijah, “Stop. There’s not time to pray now!”

²⁰ Then Saul and the army with him gathered and entered the battle. They found the Philistines confused, even striking each other with their swords! ²¹ Earlier, there were Hebrews who had served the Philistines and had stayed in their camp. They now joined the Israelites with Saul and Jonathan. ²² All the Israelites hidden in the mountains of Ephraim heard that the Philistine soldiers were running away. They too joined the battle and chased the Philistines. ²³ So the Lord saved the Israelites that day. And the battle moved on past Beth Aven.