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1 Samuel 13:1-23 — Saul's Unlawful Sacrifice

1Sam.13.1-23

¹Saul was [thirty] years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel for [forty]-two years. ²Saul chose for himself three thousand men from Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, each to his own tent. ³Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul blew the ram's horn throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴All Israel heard the news: “Saul has struck the garrison of the Philistines, and also Israel has become a stench to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to follow Saul to Gilgal. ⁵The Philistines assembled to fight against Israel, with thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven. ⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, because the people were hard-pressed, the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, among the rocks, in cellars, and in cisterns. ⁷Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. ⁸He waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. ⁹So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering and the peace offerings to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. ¹¹Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, ¹²I thought that the Philistines would now come down against me at Gilgal, and I had not sought the favor of the LORD. So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering." ¹³Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted 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. ¹⁴But now your kingdom will not endure. The LORD has sought out for himself a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." ¹⁵Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped in Michmash. ¹⁷Raiders went out from the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual; ¹⁸another company turned toward the road to Beth-horon; and the third company turned toward the road of the border that overlooks the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. ¹⁹Now no blacksmith could be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” ²⁰So all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his sickle. ²¹The charge was a pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the pitchforks, and the axes, and to repoint the oxgoads. ²²So on the day of battle, neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and his son Jonathan had them. ²³Now a garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

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4/11/2026

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