Battle with the Philistines
1 Kingdoms 13, verse 1. Saul chose for himself three thousand men from the men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and on the mountain of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people away, each man to his dwelling. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 2. And Jonathan smote Nasib the Philistine who dwelt in the hill; and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “The servants have rejected us!” 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 3. All Israel heard it said that Saul smote Nasib the Philistine. Now Israel had been put to shame before the Philistines, and the people cried out after Saul at Gilgal. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 4. Then the Philistines gathered to fight with Israel. Thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen came up against Israel, and as many troops as the sand on the seashore. And they came up and encamped in Michmash opposite Beth Aven southward. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 5. When the men of Israel saw they were in danger, they did not draw near. Instead the people hid in caves, in holes, in rocks, in trenches, and in pits. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 6. They even crossed the River Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people standing with him were confused.
Saul's Unlawful Offering
1 Kingdoms 13, verse 7. Then Saul waited, as Samuel had said, for seven days for a testimony. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and his people scattered from him. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 8. So Saul said, “Bring me a sacrifice so I may offer the whole burnt offering and peace offering”; and he offered the whole burnt offering. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 9. And it came to pass, when he finished presenting the burnt offering, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him so that Samuel might bless him. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 10. Then Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw the people scatter from me, and you did not come within the days of testimony as you arranged, and the Philistines gathered at Michmash, 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 11. then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not prayed in the presence of the Lord.’ Therefore I forced myself, and I offered a burnt offering.” 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 12. And Samuel said to Saul, “You have rendered it vain because you did not keep my commandments which the Lord commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 13. But now your kingdom shall not stand. The Lord will seek a man for Himself after His own heart, and the Lord will appoint him to be ruler for His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 14. Then Samuel arose and departed from Gilgal, and the remnant of the people followed behind Saul to join with the men of war. And when they arrived from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin, Saul numbered the people with him, about six hundred men. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 15. Saul, Jonathan his son, and the people with them remained in Gibeah of Benjamin and wept. But the Philistines encamped in Michmash. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 16. And the troops came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned by way of Ophrah toward the land of Shual. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 17. Another company turned by way of Beth Horon, and another company turned by way of Gibeah, overlooking the Valley of Zeboim. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 18. Now there was not a blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 19. Thus all Israel went down to the land of the Philistines to forge each man's ploughshare into his light armor, his tool, his ax, and his sickle. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 20. It was near the time of the harvest, and three shekels is the value of a ploughshare, and the same value for the axes and the sickles. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 21. And it came about in the days of the Michmash war, there was neither sword nor spear to be found in the hand of any of the troops with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son. 1 Kingdoms 13, verse 22. And they went out from the land of the Philistines to the place beyond Michmash.