the south (from its drought) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
against
מ֥וּלmul
H4136
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
Gibeah
גָּֽבַעGa.va'
H1387
Geba · 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).
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 14:5
The forefront of the one was situate northward, over against Michmash,.... The northern precipice of this rock was towards Michmash, where the Philistines lay encamped, and where was the passage of Michmash the garrison went into and possessed:
and the other southward, over against Gibeah; the southern precipice faced Gibeah, and both precipices were to be got over before he could get to the garrison, these lying between the two passages; the one at one end, called the passage of Michmash, the other at the other, which might be called the passage of Gibeah.
The Church Fathers
A prominent rock towards the north, etc. Gabaa represents a hill, that is, the height of virtues; Magmas indicates the humility of the mind, from which virtues arise. And rightly Magmas is considered towards the north, while Gabaa is situated to the south, because in the coldness of temptations, humility is especially learned and proven; in the light of the grace of the helping Spirit, it is prospered and perfected. But since the ancient enemy tries both to hinder the prosperous course of granted virtue, and to take away the humility of the acquired virtue from teachers and disciples during adversities, rightly the ascenders against the Philistines, Jonathan and his armor-bearer, are impeded by the prominent rock to the north opposite Magmas, and the rock extending to the south against Gabaa. Yet, with the Lord acting on behalf of His own, all the savage efforts of the enemies soon fail. For, as the words of Jonathan testify, full of no less faith than virtue, it is not difficult for the Lord to save, whether by many or by few.
The first rock juts out to the North, the other to the South, because through concupiscence the fervor of charity is extinguished, and through sin the ardor of concupiscence is increased. For the reprobate mind, while it is subjected to concupiscence, is stripped of charity, and while it does not fear to sin, it kindles in itself ever more fierce desires for sinning. For as if placed at the highest altitude and heat of its day, in the flood of sin it both rejoices immoderately and is dissolved ardently. Therefore he badly strives to cure the disease of concupiscence who thinks to fulfill his desires more greedily by sinning so that he might find rest. Indeed, concupiscence after sin will be all the greater, the more the delight of sin begins to be pleasing to itself. But the first rock is said to be situated opposite Magmas, the other to jut out facing Gabaa. Magmas, as we have already sufficiently explained, means humility; Gabaa is interpreted as hill. Concupiscence stands directly opposite to humility, while the enticement of sin stands against heavenly conduct. For everyone who desires what is forbidden, while he despises the one who commands, is proud. Therefore he stands opposite to humility, which he does not retain in the devotion of obedience. But he who is also dissolved in the fervor of sin, as if by the noonday brightness, juts out against Gabaa, that is, the hill, because while he opposes heavenly things, he is prepared for the punishments of hell. But since such people are also led to eternal life by the preaching of the Saints, let us consider the zeal of those preachers in the deed of Jonathan. For there follows: (Verse 6.) Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf, for it is not difficult for the Lord to save, whether by many or by few.
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)
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…
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…
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…
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
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 14:1-15
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…
