1 Samuel 13:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 13:3
And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
garrison
נְצִ֤יבne.Tziv
H5333
something stationary · noun, common masculine singular construct
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּים֙pe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Geba
בְּגֶ֔בַעbe.Ge.va'
H1387
Geba · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑יםpe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
heard
וַֽיִּשְׁמְע֖וּvai.yish.me.'U
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Saul
וְשָׁאוּל֩ve.sha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
blew
תָּקַ֨עta.Ka'
H8628
to clatter · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
trumpet
בַּשּׁוֹפָ֤רba.sho.Far
H7782
a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or curved horn · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
land
הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Hebrews
הָעִבְרִֽיםha.'iv.Rim
H5680
an Eberite (i.e. Hebrew) or descendant of Eber · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
hear
יִשְׁמְע֖וּyish.me.'U
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 10:5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thith…
Judges 3:27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from…
Judges 6:34 But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi-ezer was gathered after him.
Joshua 18:24 And Chephar-haammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their villages:
Joshua 21:17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,
1 Samuel 13:16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Mic…
1 Samuel 14:1-6 Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the…
2 Samuel 2:28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 13:1-7
We are not told wherein it was that the people of Israel offended God, so as to forfeit his presence and turn his hand against them, as Samuel had threatened (Sa1 12:15); but doubtless they left God, else he would not have left them, as here it appears he did; for,
I. Saul was very weak and impolitic, and did not order his affairs with discretion. Saul was the son of one year (so the first words are in the original), a phrase which we make to signify the date of his reign, but ordinarily it signifies the date of one's birth, and therefore some understand it figuratively - he was as innocent and good as a child of a year old; so the Chaldee paraphrase: he was without fault, like the son of a…
HE CALLS THE HEBREWS TO GILGAL AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. (Sa1 13:3-4)
And Jonathan--that is, "God-given."
smote the garrison of the Philistines . . . in Geba--Geba and Gibeah were towns in Benjamin, very close to each other (Jos 18:24, Jos 18:28). The word rendered "garrison" is different from that of Sa1 13:23; Sa1 14:1, and signifies, literally, something erected; probably a pillar or flagstaff, indicative of Philistine ascendency. That the secret demolition of this standard, so obnoxious to a young and noble-hearted patriot, was the feat of Jonathan referred to, is evident from the words, "the Philistines heard of it," which is not the way we should expect an attack on a fortress to be…
Jonathan smote - He appears to have taken this garrison by surprise, for his men had no arms for a regular battle, or taking the place by storm. This is the first place in which this brave and excellent man appears; a man who bears one of the most amiable characters in the Bible.
Let the Hebrews hear - Probably this means the people who dwelt beyond Jordan, who might very naturally be termed here העברים haibrim, from עבר abar, he passed over; those who are beyond the river Jordan: as Abraham was called עברי Ibri because he dwelt beyond the river Euphrates.
The Church Fathers
And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines, etc. And every humble teacher conquers, and with the grace of the Holy Spirit helping, contends against the ranks of malignant spirits, exposing their snares, by which they endeavor to snatch away the height of heavenly life from men.
5. Just as the battle line of the bridegroom excels in rank, so also it was the first to receive the titles of victory. For Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines: because chosen virginity, exalted by the citadel of continence over the flesh, extinguishes shameful impulses. And rightly it is called the garrison of the Philistines: because in the virginal body, carnal impulses do not have the rest of delight, but the standing of battle. They stand indeed: because they attack, but they cannot rest: because they do not in the least delight the holy mind. The garrison of the Philistines in Gibeah is therefore struck, when the desires of the flesh are thoroughly weakened by chosen virgins, and they obtain the peace of triumph, while they no longer have the accustomed wars. Toward which victory indeed, because they often advance by the exhortation of their elders, a thousand men are in Gibeah with Jonathan: but Jonathan is reported to have struck the camp of the Philistines. And because by the example of others, others are often stirred to the emulation of virtue, there follows: (Verses 3, 4.) And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines, which was in Gibeah. When the Philistines had heard this, Saul sounded the trumpet throughout all the land, saying: Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard this report: Saul has struck the garrison of the Philistines, and Israel rose up against the Philistines. Therefore the people cried out after Saul in Gilgal.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Encamp — An encampment was the resting-place for a longer or shorter period of an army or company of travellers (Ex. 13:20; 14:19; Josh. 10:5; 11:5). The manner in which the Israelites encamped during their…
Garrison — (1.) Heb. matstsab, a station; a place where one stands (1 Sam. 14:12); a military or fortified post (1 Sam. 13:23; 14:1, 4, 6, etc.). (2.) Heb. netsib, a prefect, superintendent; hence a military…
Geba — The hill, (2 Sam. 5:25 [1 Chr. 14:16, “Gibeon”]; 2 Kings 23:8; Neh. 11:31), a Levitical city of Benjamin (1 Kings 15:22; 1 Sam. 13:16; 14:5, wrongly “Gibeah” in the A.V.), on the north border of…
Music, Instrumental — Among instruments of music used by the Hebrews a principal place is given to stringed instruments. These were, (1.) The kinnor, the “harp.” (2.) The nebel, “a skin bottle,” rendered “psaltery.” (3.)…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Samuel — Heard of God. The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly…
Armies · General references — General references
Garrison · A military — A military
Geba · A city of the tribe of Benjamin, assigned to the — A city of the tribe of Benjamin, assigned to the
Israel · .Etc — .Etc
Philistines · Jonathan smote a garrison of, at Geba and provoked them — Jonathan smote a garrison of, at Geba and provoked them
John Gill on 1 Samuel 13:3
And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba,.... Not the same with Gibeah of Benjamin, as Jarchi; for it can hardly be thought that Jonathan should place himself with his thousand men where the Philistines had a garrison; or that if this was the same with that in the preceding verse, that it should be called by another name in this; but Gibeah and Geba were two places, as Kimchi observes, both indeed in the tribe of Benjamin, and it is very probable not far from one another; see Joshua 18:24. This seems to be the same with the hill of God, where was a garrison of the Philistines, 1 Samuel 10:5, who after their defeat by Samuel contented themselves with some strong hol…
The war with the Philistines (1 Samuel 13-14) certainly falls, at least so far as the commencement is concerned, in the very earliest part of Saul's reign. This we must infer partly from the fact, that at the very time when Saul was seeking for his father's asses, there was a military post of the Philistines at Gibeah (Sa1 10:5), and therefore the Philistines had already occupied certain places in the land; and partly also from the fact, that according to this chapter Saul selected an army of 3000 men out of the whole nation, took up his post at Michmash with 2000 of them, placing the other thousand at Gibeah under his son Jonathan, and sent the rest of the people home (Sa1 13:2), because hi…
Geba was located between Jonathan’s forces at Gibeah and Saul’s forces at Micmash. A deep gorge separated Geba and Micmash (see 13:23; 14:5). • The ram’s horn (Hebrew shofar) was used to raise a signal—e.g., to muster an army (Judg 3:27). For other uses, see Lev 25:9; 2 Sam 6:15; 15:10; 18:16; 20:1; Hos 5:8; Joel 2:15. • Non-Israelites often used the term Hebrews disdainfully (see 1 Sam 14:11; 29:3; see also Gen 39:14; 43:32). Saul might have used it to strike a nerve and arouse the people’s pride in their identity.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 13:3
The Philistine governor. They had a government official [who ruled] over Yisroel and they stationed him in Givas Binyomin.2Yonoson assassinated him as an open act of rebellion against the Philistines.—Radak
Let the Hebrews hear. That we have rebelled against the Philistines and they should beware of them.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
