1 Samuel 14:46-52 - He fought valiantly

14:46-48

“Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines”. Saul did not see the victory right through. We are not told why he stopped pursuing the Philistines. He may have been in a huff, or it may just have been a random decision. We are then given some positive news about Saul. “He fought against their enemies on every side”. Saul inflicted punishment on all these enemies. We are also told that he “fought valiantly” against the Amalekites. So Israel was delivered “from the hands of those who plundered them”. 

14:49-52

The chapter closes with information on Saul’s family. He had three sons and two daughters. He also had only one wife. This is an area where he was superior to David, who was weak in this area. Saul’s reign was one of perpetual conflict, especially with the Philistines. Saul recruited as many brave and mighty men into the army as he could find.

1 Corinthians 7:17,18 - In whatever situation

7:17

Paul now introduces a general concept, illustrated by two examples. The concept is “each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to him”. Now this is not a hard and fast rule, but a general principle. It is our human nature to think that changing the circumstances is the key to greater happiness, or the answer to a problem. In terms of the popular adage, “the grass always looks greener ...”. The truth is that our relationship with Christ is the crucial thing. It is my experience that God is more concerned with changing me than changing my circumstances. Indeed, once He has changed me, then the circumstances may change, but my trust and obedience to Christ is the key factor, not the circumstances. The principle Paul is teaching is not just for the Corinthians, but one that he applies to all the churches.

7:18

The first example he uses is that of circumcision. As we know from Galatians and other parts of the New Testament (see Acts 15), circumcision was a very contentious issue in the early church, and Jews took great pride in being circumcised. Paul’s teaching is that it doesn’t matter either way. So if someone was circumcised they should remain so. Apparently it was possible to remove the marks of circumcision. However, I don’t wish to dwell on this matter! Conversely, if someone was uncircumcised when they were called, then they should remain so. That this was a general principle, rather than a hard and fast rule, is illustrated by the fact that Paul did have Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3).

1 Samuel 14:40-45 - Tell me what you have done

14:40-44

No one knows exactly what the Urim and Thummim were, but they seem to have operated like lots. Anyway, Saul places himself and Jonathan against the rest of the army, and the lot falls on Saul and Jonathan. Then it is used to choose between Saul and Jonathan, and, of course, Jonathan is chosen. Jonathan tells Saul what happened, and Saul is still set on killing Jonatahan.

14:45

The soldiers were dead against Saul killing Jonathan. They knew that it was Jonathan who had set them out the route to victory, and that Saul’s edict on not eating was pretty stupid. They knew that Jonathan must have had God’s help in order to defeat the Philistines. “So the men rescued Jonathan and he was not put to death”. Saul’s authority, such as it was, was further diminished.

1 Corinthians 7:15,16 - God has called us to live in peace

7:15,16

Paul then addresses the opposite extreme view, those saying that the believer must remain with the unbeliever at all costs. Paul says that if the unbeliever “leaves” (which implies divorce), then the believer is not bound. The believer does not know whether or not their unbelieving partner would be saved. Note that throughout this chapter Paul has not time for super spiritual nonsense, of whatever sort. Again the instruction is applied equally to the husband and wife. There is the question of whether the believer can remarry in such circumstances. The view most consistent with Paul’s teaching in this chapter would seem to be that it is better for them to remain single, but if they do remarry they have not sinned. Divorce in the Old Testament, and in the Graeco-Roman world implied the freedom to remarry. 

What about the case, not addressed here, where both partners claim to be believers, but one of them divorces the other against their will (and there has been no adultery or abuse). Divorce is rarely simple, but I would suggest that in this case the partner insisting on divorce is like the unbeliever in Paul’s teaching here, and so the same “rules” apply.

1 Samuel 14:36-39 - Let us pursue the Philistines

14:36,37

Saul then, ceasing the moment, wants to go and completely rout the Philistines. He shows no inclination to consult the Lord. However, the priest tells him they should consult the Lord first. So Saul asks God, but gets no answer. Saul was never a man guided by God, or wanting to do what pleases God. He was deeply unstable, and never had a clue what he was doing. So we have more evidence here of God having rejected Saul.

14:38,39

Saul decides that the reason he is not getting an answer is that someone has sinned. He is looking for anyone to blame except himself. He also makes the declaration that even if the “sinner\2 is his son Jonathan, that man should die. The people knew that it was Joanathan who had broken Saul’s order about not eating any food, but they kept quiet about it, probably wondering what was going to happen next.

1 Corinthians 7:13,14 - The unbeleiving husband has been sanctified

7:13

The same rule applies whether the man is a believer and the woman not, or whether the woman is a believer and the man not. Throughout the teaching here there is a remarkable symmetry between the man and the woman. The instructions apply equally to men and women. In the society of the time this was amazing, for the man usually had a lot more rights than the woman. Those who accuse Paul of being a misogynist really haven’t a clue what they are talking about.

7:14

Those who were suggesting that divorce was the right course of action may have looked back to the Old Testament, where in general if an unclean thing touched a clean thing, the clean thing became defiled. And Ezra's instructions in Ezra 9 may have seemed to support divorce. However, in Ezra the Jews had chosen to marry non-Jews. A Christian should not marry a non-Christian, but here we are speaking about the situation where the couple were already married when one became a believer. And Paul says that in this situation the believer sanctifies the unbeliever for the purpose of the marriage. Paul is not saying that the unbelieving partner is automatically saved by the believer’s faith, he is talking about the temporal situation. Likewise, any children proceeding from the marriage are sanctified. 

1 Samuel 14:31-35 - You have broken faith

14:31-33a

The men, not having had anything to eat, were exhausted. They then took the sheep and cattle and ate them, still with the blood in the animals, this was against the Law. So what we have is that a stupid and irrelevant order given by Saul helps to lead to the people breaking the Law. One of the men tells Saul what was happening.

14:33b-35

Saul tells them that they “broken faith” and asks for a large stone to be rolled over. This stone would be used for the proper sacrifice of the animals. The men were then told to bring their sheep or cattle to the stone and they would be sacrificed there, with the blood drained out of them. Saul is now all fastidious about the Law not being broken. So the men did as they had been told and Saul built an altar there. We are told that this was the first altar that Saul had built. This may be just a statement of fact, or it could be implying that Saul was somewhat tardy in giving glory to God.