2. Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree at the threshing floor at the edge of the hill. Saul had about 600 men with him.
3. One of the men was named Ahijah. Ahijah was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub. Ahitub was the son of Phinehas. Phinehas was the son of Eli. Eli had been the Lord’S priest at Shiloh. Now Ahijah was the priest who wore the ephod. These men did not know that Jonathan had left.
4. Jonathan was planning to go through a pass to get to the Philistine camp. There was a large rock on each side of the pass. The large rock on one side was named Bozez. The large rock on the other side was named Seneh.
5. One of the rocks faced north toward Micmash, and the other faced south toward Geba.
6. Jonathan said to his young helper who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s go to the camp of those foreigners. Maybe the Lord will use us to defeat them. Nothing can stop the Lord—it doesn’t matter if we have many soldiers or just a few soldiers.”
7. The young man who carried Jonathan’s weapons said to him, “Do what you think is best. Whatever you decide, I am with you all the way.”
8. Jonathan said, “Let’s go! We’ll cross the valley and go to the Philistine guards. We’ll let them see us.
9. If they say to us, ‘Stay there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are. We won’t go up to them.
10. But if the Philistine men say, ‘Come up here,’ then we will climb up to them. That will be a sign from God. That will mean that the Lord will allow us to defeat them.”
11. So Jonathan and his helper let the Philistines see them. The Philistine guards said, “Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were hiding in.”
12. The Philistines in the fort shouted to Jonathan and his helper, “Come up here. We’ll teach you a lesson.” Jonathan said to his helper, “Follow me up the hill. The Lord is letting Israel defeat the Philistines.”
15. Great fear spread among the Philistine soldiers—those in the field, in the camp, and at the fort. Even the bravest soldiers were afraid. The ground began to shake, and they were completely overcome with fear.
16. Saul’s guards at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin saw the Philistine soldiers running away in different ways.
17. Saul said to the army with him, “Count the men. I want to know who left camp.” They counted the men. Jonathan and his helper were gone.
18. Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring God’s Holy Box!” (At that time God’s Holy Box was there with the Israelites.)