1 Samuel 14:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 14:4
And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
an appellation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
one
הָֽאֶחָד֙ha.'e.Chad
H259
properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Bozez
בּוֹצֵ֔ץbo.Tzetz
H949
Botsets · proper noun, a place name
name
וְשֵׁ֥םve.Shem
H8034
an appellation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
other
הָאֶחָ֖דha.'e.Chad
H259
properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Seneh
סֶֽנֶּהSe.neh
H5573
Seneh · proper noun, a place name
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 13:23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 14:1-15
We must here take notice,
I. Of the goodness of God in restraining the Philistines, who had a vast army of valiant men in the field, from falling upon that little handful of timorous trembling people that Saul had with him, whom they would easily have swallowed up at once. It is an invisible power that sets bounds to the malice of the church's enemies, and suffers them not to do that which we should think there is nothing to hinder them from.
II. Of the weakness of Saul, who seems here to have been quite at a loss, and unable to help himself. 1. He pitched his tent under a tree, and had but 600 men with him, Sa1 14:2. Where were now the 3000 men he had chosen, and put such a confidence in? S…
between the passages--that is, the deep and great ravine of Suweinit.
Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison--a distance of about three miles running between two jagged points; Hebrew, "teeth of the cliff."
there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side . . . Bozez--("shining") from the aspect of the chalky rock.
Seneh--("the thorn") probably from a solitary acacia on its top. They are the only rocks of the kind in this vicinity; and the top of the crag towards Michmash was occupied as the post of the Philistines. The two camps were in sight of each other; and it was up the steep rocky sides of this isolated eminence that Jonathan and his…
The name of the one was Bozez - Slippery; and the name of the other Seneh, treading down. - Targum.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 14:4
And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison,.... One of which is called the passage of Michmash, 1 Samuel 13:23 and was that by which they went from Gibeah to Michmash; the other, which might be called the passage of Gibeah, was that by which they went from Michmash to Gibeah, and in effect was but one; and this was seized by the garrison of the Philistines, on that part of it which was towards Michmash; so that there was no way of access to the camp of the Philistines, which Jonathan therefore proposed to go over to and destroy, but his difficulties were very great:
there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side; n…
The Church Fathers
One was called Bozez, etc. Bozez, "in it he blossomed": Sene, "distress" is said. The interpretation of which is evident, for not less in flourishing than in opposing, that is, bringing distress, the ascent of the saints is hindered, and by the tireless enemy they are struck so that they might fail either in body or in heart.
But there were rocky cliffs on either side of the pass, etc. There are frequent dangers lying in wait from both the right and left for the holy teachers striving to ascend against the wiles of evil spirits, that is, in glory and ignominy, in prosperous and adverse situations; and just as teeth are accustomed to chew and deliver food to the stomach, so unclean spirits, formerly broken by the frame of the blessed, seek how to seduce the simple, corrupt the just, defile the chaste, and cast the fallen into the body of their wickedness.
Since the life of the elect is lofty in merits, while the condition of malignant spirits is lowly, what does it mean that there is said to be an ascent by which Jonathan tries to reach the garrison of the Philistines? For concerning these same Philistines as a type of demons, it was said not far above: "Going up, they encamped at Michmash" (1 Kings 13:5). But they are said to be above us insofar as we appear lesser in strength. They are also known to be above us in that which we cannot penetrate through understanding. Therefore, as often as we resolve to contend with reprobate spirits, we must prepare our strength for the ascent, because as men we strive to fight against angels. Hence also that vigorous athlete, powerfully encouraging his fellow soldiers, says: "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). For because he had foreknown that he would fight against the spiritual wickedness of principalities and powers, he was certainly preparing the strength of his mind for the ascent to the heights. When wicked spirits subject the hearts of sinners to themselves, they indeed dominate them through manifold vices. If therefore we strive to overcome them there as well, it is very necessary for us to ascend, so that we may be able to powerfully strike their ranks. For the lustful must be saved in one way, the slothful in another; the vainglorious in one way, the proud in another. But in order that the chosen teacher may be equal to all these things, because he raises his mind through the keen counsels of constant meditation, he strengthens himself as if for the ascent to the Philistines. Well indeed, not one ascent is affirmed, but many ascents are said to exist, because innumerable enemies must be met by many paths. This is done well when fitting and proper remedies are applied to individual vices. For, to touch briefly on some of them, the spirit of fornication is driven away by the virtue of continence; but it is more easily overcome if the flesh diminishes its assault through abstinence, lest, conquered, it submit itself to worldly desire. Gluttony is broken by abstinence; but he who does not fill his mind with spiritual food cannot maintain abstinence from bodily food. For he powerfully weakens the body who inflames his heart with love of…
Dictionary and topics
Bozes — (the height), one of the two sharp rocks between the passages which Jonathan entered the Philistine garrison. It seems to have been that on the north. (1 Samuel 14:4,5)
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…
Ishui — (quiet), the second son of Saul by his wife Ahinoam (1 Samuel 14:4) comp. 1Sam 14:50 (Died B.C. 1053.)
Moabite — The designation of a tribe descended from Moab, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:37). From Zoar, the cradle of this tribe, on the south-eastern border of the Dead Sea, they gradually spread over the region on…
Passage — Denotes in Josh. 22:11, as is generally understood, the place where the children of Israel passed over Jordan. The words “the passage of” are, however, more correctly rendered “by the side of,” or…
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…
Seneh — The acacia; rock-thorn, the southern cliff in the Wady es-Suweinit, a valley south of Michmash, which Jonathan climbed with his armour-bearer (1 Sam. 14:4, 5). The rock opposite, on the other side of…
Bozez · A rock near Gibeah — A rock near Gibeah
Jonathan · .Victory of, over the Philistines at Michmash — .Victory of, over the Philistines at Michmash
Philistines · Jonathan and his armour-bearer smote a garrison of, at the passages — Jonathan and his armour-bearer smote a garrison of, at the passages
Jonathan's heroic act. - With strong faith and confidence in the might of the Lord, that He could give the victory even through the hands of very few, Jonathan resolved to attack the outpost of the Philistines at the pass of Mukhmas, accompanied by his armour-bearer alone, and the Lord crowned his enterprise with a marvellous victory.
Sa1 14:1-2
Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, "We will go over to the post of the Philistines, that is over there." To these words, which introduce the occurrences that followed, there are attached from וּלאביו to Sa1 14:5 a series of sentences introduced to explain the situation, and the thread of the narrative is resumed in Sa1 14:6 by a repetition of Jonath…
The Philistines had already secured this area (13:23), so Jonathan and his armor bearer had to move carefully.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 14:4
Between the passes that Yonoson wanted to cross. It was thus made: There was a rocky precipice from this side of 'between the passes,' and there was a rocky precipice from the other side of 'between the passes.' The valley is called 'between the passes,' and it had a stone from here, and a stone from here, one on this side and one on the other side, and the valley was between the two passes. It was that valley that Yonoson wanted to cross.
Rocky precipice. The name of one precipice was Botzeitz and the name of the second was Seneh.1 The names of the two rocky crags are indicative of their terrain. Botzeitz as implied by its name, had a smooth and slippery surface making it very difficult to…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— Often sharp-pointed and craggy
Seneh · A rock protecting the garri — A rock protecting the garri
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).
