Risk

1 Samuel 14:6-11

Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, “Wait until we come to you,” then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, “Come up to us,” then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand.

This is such a strange story. Jonathan’s father, Saul, was chilling at the pomegranate cave while he should have been fighting and Jonathan got the wild idea to go fight Israel’s enemies with just his armor-bearer. At this point, Jonathan seems either very brave or incredibly stupid…or both. Either way, his statement to his armor-bearer shows his bravery. He says, “It may be that the Lord will work for us…”

He does not even know for sure if the Lord will deliver him in this situation! He thinks that he and his armor-bearer may very well die and he presses forward anyway! Here is what I think is happening: Jonathan, knowing his father is not doing what the Lord had commanded him, is following through with the plans the Lord has given his people. Jonathan simply desires to be obedient to what the Lord commanded, whether it ends in his death or victory. Wow!

We see this same type of obedience from Jonathan later in the same chapter…

1 Samuel 14:24, 27, 43 ²⁴And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food…²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright…⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die.”

Needless to say, the people of Israel rose up and protected Jonathan from Saul because they knew that Jonathan had saved them from their enemies.

So what can we take away from this? I think this story, among other things, gives us an example of the benefits of faithfulness. You may notice throughout this story that the people Jonathan associates with are fiercely loyal to him. Jonathan’s armor-bearer is willing to go on a suicide mission with him. Also, the people of Israel put their lives at stake in order to save Jonathan from the King! Jonathan’s faithfulness to the Lord showed his people that he did not just care for himself, but for all of them!

An even greater example that Jonathan is showing here is that of one man laying his life down for the entire nation. Where have you seen that before? Can you say, J-E-S-U-S? The greatest example of self-sacrificial faithfulness is Jesus Christ willingly dying on the cross for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God. The Old Testament is full of pictures of the gospel, including this one.