It was, quite simply, an impossible situation. Saul had started out with a 3,000-man army (13:2), but the fear of the Philistines had caused many of them to “scatter,” leaving Saul with only 600 soldiers (13:15; 14:2). Meanwhile the Philistines had “30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance” (13:5).

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Not only did the Israelites not have any chariots, the premier weapons of the ancient world which combined the speed and power of a horse with the armaments of a footsoldier. No, Saul’s army was still stuck firmly in the Bronze Age, while the Philistines had progressed to much harder weapons of iron. In fact, at the time the battle broke out near the Philistine camp at Michmash, there were only two iron swords in the entire Israelite arsenal – and they belonged to Saul and his son Jonathan (13:22).

Who, being so outnumbered and outgunned, would imagine that victory was possible? Jonathan, that’s who. Oh, he had no illusions about his people’s military prowess. But he understood an important concept that we would do well to believe: “The Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few” (14:6). In short, Jonathan knew that the battle wouldn’t be decided by numbers or technology, or even by strategy or tactics. Instead, it would be the Lord Who would decide the winner.

But Jonathan wasn’t foolish enough to repeat his ancestors’ mistake, when they tried to force God to give them victory by carrying the Ark of the Covenant into battle (see 4:3). No, he asked the Lord for a sign that he should attack (14:9-10), and when he received the sign (14:12), he didn’t hesitate. And the Lord not only gave him victory over the twenty Philistines he first encountered (14:13-14). God also sent a great earthquake (14:15) which demoralized the Philistines and energized the Israelites. Jonathan’s combination of faith and daring was the spark that ignited a great fire of victory for God’s people.

So, how will we respond to the challenges that face us today? Many of them may seem overwhelming, even impossible. But as we seek to determine the Lord’s will and to do what He calls us to do, we can be confident that He is willing and able to accomplish whatever victories will be best for us and which will bring Him glory. So as William Carey, the great Baptist missionary to India famously urged, let us expect great things from God and attempt great things for God today.

I Samuel 13:19-14:15 (NASB)

19 Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.”
20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.
21 And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the hoes.
22 So it came about on the day of battle that neither sword nor spear was found in the hands of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but they were found with Saul and his son Jonathan.
23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

14:1 Now the day came that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on yonder side.” But he did not tell his father.
2 And Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron. And the people who were with him were about six hundred men,
3 and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the LORD at Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
4 And between the passes by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp crag on the one side, and a sharp crag on the other side, and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
5 The one crag rose on the north opposite Michmash, and the other on the south opposite Geba.
6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few.”
7 And his armor bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart; turn yourself, and here I am with you according to your desire.”
8 Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them.
9 “If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you’; then we will stand in our place and not go up to them.
10 “But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the LORD has given them into our hands; and this shall be the sign to us.”
11 And when both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, the Philistines said, “Behold, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.”
12 So the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, “Come up to us and we will tell you something.” And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has given them into the hands of Israel.”
13 Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer behind him; and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer put some to death after him.
14 And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about twenty men within about half a furrow in an acre of land.
15 And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders trembled, and the earth quaked so that it became a great trembling.