1 Samuel 13: 1 – 23
Self Promotion
13 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent. 3 And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal. 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. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. 7 And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9 So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11 And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, 12 then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” 15 Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, about six hundred men. 16 Saul, Jonathan his son, and the people present with them remained in Gibeah of Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped in Michmash. 17 Then raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned onto the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual, 18 another company turned to the road to Beth Horon, and another company turned to the road of the border that overlooks the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. 19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” 20 But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; 21 and the charge for a sharpening was a pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads. 22 So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son. 23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
Have you ever wanted to tout your own horn? I mean that in certain times of your life you would like to shout to the world, ‘Hey everybody look at me!’ If you are a portion of the people who are reluctant to blow your own horn or if the phrase "self-promotion" makes you cringe, then these words of advice are for you.
The basic idea is pretty simple: Help others and you will benefit, too. Some call this approach enlightened self-interest. I call it basic common sense.
1. Help other people without expecting anything in return.
2. Introduce others to people they would enjoy, or benefit from knowing.
3. Serve, don’t sell. Let your actions be your "sales pitch."
4. Develop true expertise in one or more areas that other people value enough to seek you out for it.
5. Become a reliable source of good information on a short list of topics.
6. Only make claims you can prove.
7. Specialize. It is very hard to be known for nothing.
8. Proof your work.
9. When it comes to gentle self-promotion, most people say too little about what they have accomplished. This is a big mistake. Be proud and honest about your achievements are when asked.
10. Be authentic. Social influence is the power of humans interacting authentically with other humans.
11. Minimize trivia. Only tell people what they need to know to help you accomplish what is most important. If you want someone to volunteer for your community organization, tell them about your community projects, not about what you do for a living.
12. Know what matters most to the person or organization with which you are interacting, and then tailor your communications accordingly. Do your homework.
13. Ask for feedback, and then use it.
14. Attack your blind spots. Doing so requires challenging many of your most cherished beliefs.
15. Be energetic. Show your passion.
16. Write three drafts. It's nearly impossible to write anything well without going through at least three drafts. You will be amazed at the mistakes you made on the first two.
17. Never stop learning.
18. Never stop growing.
19. When you accomplish something and others congratulate you, don’t minimize your work or brush off the compliment with false humility. Show pride in your work, and be grateful for the acknowledgment. Always accept credit for the good work you have done. Be thankful not prideful.
20. Listen carefully. If you don’t listen, you prove two things to people. First, you don’t care about them. Second, you aren’t very smart.
21. Talk less. If you are genuinely interested in other people, you will be genuinely interested in what they have to say.
23. Be persistent. The higher you aim, the longer it will take to achieve. Don't get discouraged when weeks or months go by. That is par for the course.
24. Take time to give yourself perspective- Exercise; Travel; Be quiet; Play with kids or a dog; Volunteer. In many cases, when you step away from your challenges, you get one giant step closer to solving them.
25. There is no substitute for spending time with other people. When you do this they will sing your goodness without you having to do it for yourself.
In today’s study we see how quickly Saul allow all the praise and adoration thrown at him go to his head. He gave himself a self promotion. He elevated himself to do things that were not his right to do. And boy did he ever suffer the consequences of doing so.
13 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent.
The general summary nature of the verses is indicated by the fact that at the end of verse 2 Saul disbands the army, retaining only his own special fighting force, while in verse 3 he summons all Israel together again. This would point to the fact that at some stage the Philistines had established themselves firmly in the parts of Israel that bordered on their own territory and probably even wider afield, even penetrating with their garrisons into the hills. It meant that the Israelites were now discovering what life without Yahweh as their King meant.
3 And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”
At the time of this verse there was clearly a Philistine garrison stationed at Geba, which was a high point on the opposite side of a steep ravine from Michmash. Saul may well have been at Michmash precisely in order to keep it under observation because of the intended attack. Then, no doubt following a fixed plan which he had agreed with his father, while the smallish Philistine garrison were watching Saul on Michmash, Jonathan brought his own unit from Gibeah and attacked and destroyed the unsuspecting Philistine garrison on the height of Geba. This was clearly intended to be a first strike in a bid for freedom from occupation. The aim of destroying the outpost may well have been in order to delay any information getting back to the Philistines when the Israelites started to mobilize.
It might have been Saul’s plan to have a small success that he could present to the people, a success which would also put pressure on his fellow-tribesmen as they recognized that the die had now been cast. However that may be, it was inevitable that at some point it would reach the ears of the Philistine rulers, so meanwhile Saul had taken the next step of ‘blowing the ram’s horn throughout the land’, with heralds going out in order to mobilize all the tribes of Israel far and wide in accordance with their treaty obligations.
4 Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal.
The news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and had thus guaranteed retaliation by them, accompanied the summons, and the people therefore gathered together with Saul at Gilgal, knowing that ‘Israel were targeted for retaliation by the Philistines’. They knew that repercussions would undoubtedly follow, so that all would know that it was better to get their strike in first. The fact that Saul and his units then moved to Gilgal supports the idea that his being in Michmash, in the mount of Bethel and in Gibeah has only been a temporary expedient. If this Gilgal was the Gilgal in the Jordan valley it was beyond the line of the usual Philistine activity and therefore ‘safe’, at least for the time being. The Philistines did not like fighting in the hill country where their chariots and horsemen were useless. The gathering at Gilgal was in order to engage in seven days of freewill offerings which would act as a plea for help, prior to Samuel’s appearance in order to make a final burnt offering and give final instructions from Yahweh, in accordance with the normal procedure when the tribes were called together that he had arranged with Saul back in chapter 10 verse 8.
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. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven.
Meanwhile the Philistines gathered their forces. The Israelite scouts reported that they had thirty units of chariots, six large units of horsemen, and so many infantry that they could not easily be counted. These came and encamped in Michmash, east of Bethaven. Bethaven was near Bethel and Ai, thus the Philistines may have been watching the pass that led up from Jericho and Gilgal through which the Israelite army would have to come.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits.
When the men of Israel saw the problem that this gave them, (they either could not now use the pass, or had tried and failed), they were filled with distress, and feared the worst, so they dispersed themselves in hiding places in the mountains by Gilgal, probably because they recognized that they were trapped and if they stayed together the Philistines could stream down on them at any time and take them by surprise, while in the mountains it would be a different story.
It would appear from what follows that the offering of sacrifices at Gilgal for seven days, followed by a special offerings made by Samuel on the seventh day, was seen as necessary whenever the tribal muster came together, in order that they might receive instructions from Yahweh. This was in accordance with the practise laid down by Samuel in 10.8. Thus it was necessary to wait at Gilgal, with the host partly in hiding, until Samuel arrived to perform the necessary sacrifices.
7 And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
This indicates that some of the Transjordanian tribes slipped back home, while the remainder remained at Gilgal in a sad state of fear (hidden among the rocks). The main importance of the statement, however, is that Saul and his followers had remained in Gilgal with the bravest of the people.
8 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
We learn that whenever Saul came to Gilgal in order to prepare ritually for what Yahweh might want him to do, seven days of sacrifices offered by ordinary priests were seen as essential preparation before the final burnt offering and peace offerings that Samuel would offer as substitute High Priest which would enable him then to show Saul what Yahweh wanted him to do. However, when the seventh day came Samuel had not arrived at the time when Saul was expecting him, and meanwhile many of the people were slipping away, or were scattering in the hills in hiding. This was causing Saul to panic.
‘9 So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering.
So when Samuel did not arrive at what he saw as the expected time the impatient Saul felt that he could wait no longer, and ordered that the burnt offering and peace offerings should be brought. ‘And he offered the burnt offering.’ This may mean that he called on the ordinary priests to offer it, and that his sin was in not waiting on Yahweh’s timing. This path is unlikely in that the priests knew the importance of only Samuel offering the Burnt offering. They would be acting out in sin even in obeying the direction of their king.
The most likely indication is that Saul himself offered it in the guise of a king-priest. Most local kings were king-priests, and the idea then is that he went beyond his station because he saw himself as ‘a king like all the nations’. Either way he was committing a gross sin, for the whole point of Israel’s unique relationship with Yahweh was that they took their orders from Him.
10 Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
In reading the verses we can almost expect what will happen next as being a perfect timing. The impatient Saul had acted too soon, for as soon as the offering of the burnt-offering had been finalized, Samuel arrived in time to fulfill his duty. And Saul went out to greet him so as to welcome him. It appears that he did not feel that what he had done was really so bad after all, which demonstrated how much he was spiritually lacking. He saw what he had done as a military necessity, not as disobedience
11 And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, 12 then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”
But Samuel was taken aback by Saul’s act. To him what Saul had done indicated a total lack of faith in Yahweh. It was rebellion of the highest order. ‘What have you done?’ he cried. This may have been because he saw Saul as having broken the levitical law concerning the limiting of the offering of sacrifices to the Aaronic priesthood, or because he saw him as not having waited for Yahweh’s instructions, and thus as having interfered in the process laid down by Yahweh by which Samuel received his guidance and direction from God and ensured Yahweh’s blessing. Either way it was disobedience and sacrilege.
13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
Samuel now told him that he had behaved very foolishly, because he had not kept the word that Yahweh his God had commanded him. If only he had done so, and had demonstrated his faith in Yahweh and had continued to be faithful, Yahweh would have established his dynasty forever. His descendants after him would have been kings over Israel.
14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
The outcome of this flippant disregard to give honor to The God Of Israel came back harsh. Saul learned that because he had not been obedient, while his kingship would continue, it would not continue beyond his own lifetime. For the fact was that Yahweh has now looked elsewhere and found a man after His own heart, a man who would have waited, a man who would seek to do only His will, and He has already in His own mind appointed him to be the future co-leader of Israel. And all this because Saul had not fulfilled what Yahweh had commanded him.
Significantly and at the same time sadly one result of his failure was that Samuel now had no instruction for him from Yahweh, and he was thus left to manage things on his own. Our Merciful God Yahweh however, had not totally deserted His people for He would in the event enable him, along with his son Jonathan, eventually to defeat the Philistines and drive them back. But this would not be because of Saul, but because of Jonathan’s faith in Him. This was a tragedy for Saul because if Samuel had been guiding him perhaps he would not have committed the folly of making a rash vow, and the victory would have been all the greater.
15 Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, about six hundred men.
The impression we have is that Samuel has now left Saul to his own ways. He has left Gilgal and made for Gibeah of Benjamin, and is no more heard of in chapters 13-14. However, his being in Gibeah does indicate that he is still available as a last resort, for Gibeah is Saul’s home town, not Samuel’s. It is in clear contrast with 15.34 where Samuel returns to Ramah and sees Saul’s face no more. So while Saul is now left to see to his own affairs there is still a chink of light for him. He is not totally deserted. (If only he had known how to repent like David did all might have been made well?
Meanwhile Saul has counted up what was left of his army and it has come to six hundred men. This may indicate that even many of his standing army (verse 2) had deserted him and were hiding in the hills.
16 Saul, Jonathan his son, and the people present with them remained in Gibeah of Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
With his six hundred men Saul, along with Jonathan, made camp in Geba because the Philistines were in Michmash. This meant that the position in verses 2-3 was now reversed. The two sites were separated by a deep ravine and each was observable by the other, although neither could easily reach the other. Saul had to be constantly on the move in this way because his army was not strong enough to meet the Philistines face to face.
17 Then raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned onto the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual, 18 another company turned to the road to Beth Horon, and another company turned to the road of the border that overlooks the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
Meanwhile the Philistines went out looking for spoil, but Saul’s force was not strong enough to be able to do anything about it, and thus all he and his men could do was watch while time and again spoilers or raiders came out of their camp and went in three directions seeking booty. One marauding party would regularly take the road that led to Ophrah and the land of Shual. One would take the road to Beth-horon. And the third would take the route to the border road between Judah and Benjamin which looked down on Zeboim. Israel were thus being despoiled. The Philistines’ hope was presumably that by doing this they would draw Saul out of his strong position on Geba. But he knew that such a move would have been folly. While his men were in their strong position at Geba the Philistines could not touch them. Let them be seen to leave their position and they would be lucky if any survived. He had little trust in his ‘host’ hidden in the hills.
19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” 20 But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; 21 and the charge for a sharpening was a pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads.
The Philistine strategy is described. They had allowed no smiths in Israel, and the result was that if the farmers wished to sharpen their tools properly, and to point their goads, they had to go to a Philistine smith. In between times they had to make do with using a file, which was of limited use. The aim in this was in order to make it impossible for Israel to produce swords and spears.
22 So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.
And that was the reason why Saul’s soldiers had no spears and swords. Such sophisticated weapons as there were, were only possessed by Saul and Jonathan themselves. The remainder had primitive ones. This serves to bring out the courage of Saul’s men. In spite of their lack they were still present with Saul with whatever sharp instruments or effective clubbing instruments they had been able to lay their hands on.
23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
Meanwhile the Philistines, aware of Saul’s small guerilla force, sent a smallish garrison to a peak on the pass of Michmash so as to keep watch over the camp of the Israel contingent, and over the general countryside. They were no doubt also well aware that there was an army of unknown size hidden in the hills. But it would seem that they had little fear about what that army could do to them.
We must not overlook the bravery both of Saul and of his small army. They had come from the relative security of Gilgal, leaving their ‘army’ cowering among the hills, and, lacking in suitable weapons, had come out in order to keep an eye on the activities of the Philistines, even though it must have seemed that they could not do much about them. Their only available tactic seemed to be to wait and keep the Philistines from venturing further into the mountain country, while at the same time hoping that God would do something that would enable them to gain an advantage over the Philistines. Should that happen they could act and call in some of their reserves. But the situation did not look promising. And so with their primitive ‘weapons’ they waited in their mountain stronghold, helplessly watching the Philistine activities, and thinking ‘if only Yahweh would do something’. -Which is in fact precisely what He was planning to do for there was still one man who was attentive to His voice?
