I Samuel 13 Saul Usurps The Office Of The Priest.

The Philistines remained a threat early in Saul’s reign. When his son Jonathan attacked the Philistines at Geba, Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land for all Israel to join the fight (vv. 1-4). However, the Philistines greatly outnumbered them, so that many hid or fled across the Jordan (vv. 5-7a). Saul stayed at Gilgal and waited the seven days that Samuel had told him, but when he did not arrive Saul took it upon himself to offer the burnt offering, but then Samuel arrived (vv. 7b-10). Samuel rebuked Saul for not keeping the commandment of the LORD his God, and as a result the kingdom would be taken from him and be given to a man after the LORD’s own heart, and Samuel went on to Gibeah of Benjamin, while Saul gathered together about six hundred men (vv. 11-15). Saul, Jonathan, and the people followed Samuel to Gibeah while the Philistines camped in Michmash (vv. 16-18). However, since there was no blacksmith in Israel, the only ones with swords or spears were Saul and Jonathan, so that the rest were without any weapons to fight (vv. 19-23).