Many or Few

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Before Jonathan climbed that cliff, he said, “Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). He was not saying small armies are better. He was saying that the size of the army does not decide the battle. God does. This truth shows up all through the Bible.

Gideon’s army was too big. Gideon started with thirty-two thousand men, and God sent most of them home. First everyone who was afraid went home, twenty-two thousand of them. Then God tested the rest at the water, and Gideon was left with three hundred (Judges 7:1-7). God told Gideon why: with a large army, Israel would brag that they had saved themselves. The army was not too small for God. It was too big.

David had five stones. David walked out to Goliath with a sling and five smooth stones, and he used one. He told the giant why he was not afraid: “the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 17:47). David trusted God the same way Jonathan did, just three chapters later.

Jehoshaphat’s battle. When a huge army came against Judah, God told King Jehoshaphat, “the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). Then He said, “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (20:17). God’s people praised Him, and God won the battle for them.

Elisha’s servant. One morning Elisha’s servant saw the city surrounded by enemy horses and chariots, and he panicked. Elisha told him not to be afraid, because those with them were more than those against them. Then God opened the servant’s eyes, and the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:15-17). God’s army had been there the whole time.

Strong in weakness. Jesus told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). When you feel small, God’s power shows up clearly.

God chooses the weak. “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). God loves to use ordinary people, so that everyone can see the power is His.

One Man for many. The greatest rescue of all was won by one Man. On the cross Jesus stood alone, after His friends had run away. “By one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

Sure about God. None of this means being outnumbered is special. Jonathan did not even know he would win. He said, “it may be that the Lord will work for us” (14:6). He went anyway, because he was sure about God, not about the odds.

What to do. When you feel small or alone, pray and remember, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Then do the next right thing God asks of you.

Jonathan’s words in 14:6 state a truth about God that Israel’s history shows again and again: “nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.” The Hebrew word for restrains, ma’tsor (say: mah-TSOR), means a hindrance, something that holds back. Nothing holds God back. God does not prefer small numbers. Numbers simply do not limit Him.

Judges 7:2-7. God cut Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300 in two steps, and He gave the reason before the first one: if the army stayed large, Israel would claim the glory for itself and say its own hand had saved it. The reason was spiritual, not military. God removed every way Israel might credit the victory to its own strength.

1 Samuel 17:45-47. David says the same thing only three chapters after Jonathan: “the Lord does not save with sword and spear.” Jonathan and David both trusted God’s power, while Saul sat counting men under a pomegranate tree (14:2). Both young men who trusted God became heroes of faith, while the king who counted fell away.

2 Kings 6:15-17. Elisha’s servant counted the enemy correctly but came to the wrong conclusion. Elisha did not pray for more soldiers. He prayed that his servant would see. God’s fiery army had been there all along. Zechariah 4:6 sums it up: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.”

Faith, not presumption. Two truths keep this from being misunderstood. First, it does not make reckless risks holy. Jonathan’s words were humble: ulay (say: oo-LIE), “it may be that the Lord will work for us.” That is faith in a Person, not a guaranteed outcome. It is the opposite of Israel’s mistake in 1 Samuel 4, when they carried the ark into battle like a good-luck charm.

Weakness and power. Second, the Bible does not treat weakness as good in itself. Weakness matters because it shows God’s power. Jesus told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and Paul answered that he would boast in his weaknesses, “that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul also wrote, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

God’s way of working. In 1 Corinthians 1:27 Paul says God chose the weak things of the world to shame the mighty. Gideon’s three hundred, David’s one stone and Jonathan’s two men show how God works, so that all the glory goes to Him. Hebrews 11:34 says that by faith God’s people “out of weakness were made strong.”

The One who stood alone. Jesus won our salvation alone, on the cross, when everyone else had fled. “By one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). When you feel outnumbered, remember that the victory that matters most is already won.

Words You Cannot Take Back

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Saul’s oath was a foolish choice. God was already winning the battle, and Saul made the whole army swear not to eat until evening. By the time the sun went down, his men were too weak to chase anybody. His own son was under a death sentence for a taste of honey, and the army had to talk Saul out of it. One sentence, said too fast, cost him the day.

Saul is not the only person in the Bible who made a rash promise. Rash means quick and careless.

Jephthah’s promise. Jephthah promised God that if he won a battle, he would give the Lord whatever came out of his doors to meet him. When he came home, his own daughter came out to meet him, dancing (Judges 11:30-35). It is one of the saddest chapters in the Bible, and it starts with a man trying to make a deal with God for a victory.

Herod’s promise. King Herod promised a dancing girl anything she asked, up to half of his kingdom. She asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod was very sorry, but he did it anyway because of his oaths and because of his guests (Mark 6:22-26). He killed a man of God so that he would not look weak in front of people.

The forty men. More than forty men swore that they would not eat or drink until they had killed the apostle Paul (Acts 23:12-14). Paul’s nephew heard about the plan, and the Roman commander moved Paul away that night under guard. God protected Paul, and their oath came to nothing.

What Jesus taught. Jesus told His followers not to swear big oaths at all. He said to let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matthew 5:33-37). James taught the same thing (James 5:12). People make big oaths when their plain words cannot be trusted. Jesus wants His followers to be honest every time they speak, so that a plain yes is always enough.

Speak truth. Paul wrote, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25). Honest words are a way of loving people.

Slow to speak. James wrote, “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). Saul was quick to speak, and his anger did not help anyone. “For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).

Think first. Ecclesiastes 5:2-5 warns us not to be hasty with our mouths when we speak to God. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not keep it.

When you are wrong. Saul was trying to be serious about God. He just spoke before he thought, and then he would not back down. When you have said something foolish, admit it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Then go and make it right with the people you hurt.

Saul’s oath in 14:24 led to most of what went wrong in the rest of 1 Samuel 14. Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land” (14:29), using akar (say: ah-KAR), a verb for bringing ruin. The damage came one step after another: a faint army (14:28, 31), the sin of eating blood at dusk (14:32-34), silence from God (14:37) and an innocent man under sentence of death (14:44).

Other rash vows. In Judges 11:30-35 Jephthah vowed to give the Lord whatever came out of the doors of his house, and it brought him terrible grief. In Mark 6:22-26 Herod kept his oath to Herodias’s daughter because of his oaths and his dinner guests, and he killed John the Baptist, a prophet he respected, to save face. In Acts 23:12-14 more than forty men bound themselves under a curse to kill Paul, and the plot failed when Paul’s nephew overheard it. Each time, a person treated his own words as more binding than doing what was right.

Jesus on oaths. In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus does not just make oaths stricter. He tells His followers not to swear at all, and He calls them to plain honesty: let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. James 5:12 repeats it almost word for word, so the early church clearly taught it. People reach for oaths when their ordinary words are not trusted. When a person’s words are always true, an oath adds nothing.

Keeping your word. Psalm 15:4 praises the person “who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” A godly person keeps an honest promise even when it costs him. Saul’s case was different. His oath was not costing him; it was costing other people, and it pushed them into sin. Keeping a promise that requires sin is never right.

Zeal without wisdom. Ecclesiastes 5:2-5 fits Saul’s situation closely: do not be rash with your mouth, because it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Saul’s oath was not irreligious. It was zeal without wisdom. James 1:19 gives the cure: “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”

The way back. In the end the army refused the sentence and pointed to the evidence: “he has worked with God this day” (14:45). When we have spoken rashly, the way back is not to defend our words but to confess them. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

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Complete all sections to finish!

Read each section and answer the questions correctly.