of the other was Sene: one rock stood out toward the north overagainst Machmas, and the other to the south over-against Gabaa. And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be the Lord will do for us: because it is easy for the Lord to save either by many, or by few. And his armour-bearer said to him: Do all that pleaseth thy mind: go whither thou wilt, and I will be with thee wheresoever thou hast a mind. And Jonathan said: Behold we will go over to these men. And when we shall be seen by them, if they shall speak thus to us: Stay till we come to you: let us stand still in our place, and not go up to them. But if they shall say: Come up to us: let us go up, because the Lord hath delivered them into our hands this shall be a sign unto us So both of them discovered themselves to the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said: Behold the Hebrews come forth out of the holes wherein they were hid. And the men of the garrison spoke to Jonathan, and to his armour-bearer, and said: Come up to us, and we will show you something. And Jonathan said to his armour-bearer: Let us go up, follow me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hands of Israel. And Jonathan went up, creeping on his hands and feet, and his armour-bearer after him. And some fell before Jonathan, others his armour-bearer slew as he followed him. And the first slaughter which Jonathan and his armour-bearer made was of about twenty men, within half an acre of land, which a yoke of oxen is wont to plough in a day. And there was astonishment in the camp, through the fields: yea and all the people of their garrison, who had gone out to plunder, were amazed, and the earth trembled: and it happened as a miracle from God. And the watchmen of Saul, who were in Gabaa of Benjamin, looked, and behold a multitude overthrown, and fleeing this way and that. And Saul said to the people that were with him: Look, and see who is gone from us. And when they had sought, it was found that Jonathan and his armour-bearer were not there. And Saul said to Achias: Bring the ark of the Lord. (For the ark of God was there that day with the children of Israel.) And while Saul spoke to the priest, there arose a great uproar in the camp of the Philistines and it increased by degrees, and was heard more clearly. And Saul said to the priest: Draw in thy hand.* : *He directed him to cease inquiring of God, as now it was clear that He had answered them. Then Saul and all the people that were with him shouted together, and they came to the place of the fight: and behold every man's sword was turned upon his neighbour, and there was a very great slaughter. Moreover the Hebrews that had been with the Philistines yesterday and the day before, and went up with them into the camp, returned to be with the Israelites, who were with Saul and Jonathan. And all the Israelites that had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, hearing that the Philistines fled, joined themselves with their countrymen in the fight. And there were with Saul about ten thousand men. And the Lord saved Israel that day. And the fight went on as far as Bethaven. : Saul's rash Oath.—And the men of Israel were joined together that day, and Saul adjured the people, saying: Cursed be the man that shall eat food till evening, till I be revenged of my enemies. So none of the people tasted any food and all the common people came into a forest, in which there was honey upon the ground. And when the people came into the forest, behold the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth. For the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard when his father adjured the people: and he put forth the end of the rod, which he had in his hand, and dipped it in a honey-comb: and he carried his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened.* And one of the people answering, said: Thy father hath bound the people with an oath, saying: Cursed be the man that shall eat any food this day. (And the people were faint.) And Jonathan said: My father hath troubled the land: you have seen yourselves that my eyes are enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey: how much more if the people had eaten of the prey of their enemies, which they found? had there not been made a greater slaughter among the Philistines? Defeat of the Philistines. So they smote that day the Philistines from Machmas to Ailon. And the people were wearied exceedingly. And falling upon the spoils, they took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people ate them with the blood.† And they told Saul that the people had sinned against the Lord, eating with the blood. And he said: You have transgressed roll here to me now`a great stone. And Saul said: Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them to bring me every man his ox and his ram, and slay them upon this stone, and eat, and you shall not sin against the Lord in eating with the blood. So all the people * He got new animation. KENRICK. †This was forbidden by the law. : : brought every man his ox with him till the night and slew them there. And Saul built an altar to the Lord; and he then first began to build an altar to the Lord. And Saul said: Let us fall upon the Philistines by night, and destroy them till the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And the people said: Do all that seemeth good in thy eyes. And the priest said: Let us draw near hither unto God. And Saul consulted the Lord: Shall I pursue after the Philistines? Wilt Thou deliver them into the hands of Israel? And He answered him not that day. And Saul said: Bring hither all the corners* of the people, and know, and see by whom this sin hath happened to-day. As the Lord liveth who is the Saviour of Israel, if it was done by Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. In this none of the people gainsaid him. And he said to all Israel: Be you on one side, and I with Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people answered Saul: Do what seemeth good in thy eyes. And Saul said to the Lord: O Lord God of Israel, give a sign, by which we may know what the meaning is, that Thou answerest not Thy servant to-day: if this iniquity be in me, or in my son Jonathan, give a proof: or if this iniquity be in Thy people, give a token. And Jonathan and Saul were taken, and the people escaped. And Saul said: Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken. And Saul said to Jonathan: Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, and said: I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod, which was in my hand, and behold I must die. And Saul said: May God do so and so to me, and add still more: for dying thou shalt die, O Jonathan. And the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan then die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? This must not be. As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, that he should not die. And Saul went back, and did not pursue after the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own places. And Saul having his kingdom established over Israel, fought against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and Edom, and the kings of Soba, and the Philistines and whithersoever he turned himself, he over.came. And gathering together an army, he defeated Amalec, and delivered Israel from the hand of them that spoiled them. And the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Jessui, and Melchisua: : * That is, the chiefs. 1 Kings xv. and the names of his two daughters, the name of the first-born was Merob, and the name of the younger Michol. SECT. LXI. SAUL IS SENT TO DESTROY THE AMALEKITES. DAVID IS The Destruction of the Amalekites.-And Samuel said to 1-35. Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over His people Israel now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel: how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt.* Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: spare him not, nor covet anything that is his but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda. And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent. And Saul said to the Kenites:† Go, depart and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shown kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Kenites departed from the midst of Amalec. And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over-against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of Amalec alive : but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword. And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but everything that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed. Saul's Second Sin.—And the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying: It repenteth Me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken Me, and hath not executed My commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a triumphal arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord out of the choicest of the spoils which he had brought from Amalec. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: * See p. 94. †The Kenites were descendants of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. KENRICK. Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord. And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear? And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain. And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak. And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel, and the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them. Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord, but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel: Yea I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain. But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the first-fruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal. And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice. But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord. And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better than thee. But the triumpher in Israel* will not spare, and will not be moved to repentance: for He is not a man that He should *The Lord of victories. |