Jonathan’s bold move into the camp of the Philistines
results in a shocking victory for Israel.
The people hear the commotion in the camp and all, including those who
had not come with Saul, join the battle and put the Philistines to flight. Saul sees it as about himself and vows that no
one should have anything to eat until he is avenged on his enemies. Why would you cause your army to fast in the
midst of battle? Saul actually calls
down a curse on anyone who eats and Jonathan, not having any idea his father
has done this, eats the readily available honey to strengthen himself for the
battle. The Lord made the honey
available to the army, we are told the honey was on the ground, was dropping,
no one had to forage for it. As Jonathan
points out, he was strengthened by this honey, it was an advantage, and the
people were at a disadvantage by not eating anything, therefore, they failed to
completely win the day, the Philistines escaped the fate the Lord had prepared
for them this day.
The one criminal, sometimes called Dismas (from an
apocryphal Gospel ascribed to Nicodemus), saw something no one else saw or
imagined. The bystanders and the other
thief saw this man who would be king, with the mocking inscription, “King of
the Jews”, over his head, and joined in the mockery. This man, however, prayed to Jesus that He
would remember me when you come into your kingdom. How could he believe Jesus was a king coming
into His kingdom as he died on the cross?
Even if he did believe that, how could he plead with Jesus that he
remember him as anything other than a justly condemned man who was dying for
his sins? The one man with good judgment
in this scene is that man and he makes the most brilliant plea ever. When it all looked bleak and impossible, the
man received the ultimate pardon.
In the Anglican world there are some who concern themselves
greatly with issues like apostolic succession as defined by who laid hands on
whom to consecrate them. Who was
Ananias? Simply a disciple from Damascus, one of those for whom Paul had been
looking, nothing more, nothing less. He was
chosen by God to be the one to lay hands on Paul and impart the Holy
Spirit. His initial reaction was
reluctance, he thought it would possibly mean his martyrdom. You can certainly hear his response to the Lord
as saying, you don’t seem to know what I know about this man, it isn’t wise to
go to him. What an honor for Ananais it
had to have been later, when Paul became the greatest missionary in the church,
the man who wrote approximately 2/3s of the New Testament, to tell others of
his role in that man’s life. What is
also amazing is that what the Lord proposed to do with Saul/Paul (Greek and
Hebrew – same name, God didn’t rename him), was to show him all he would
suffer. Grace, the only way Paul was saved, made him consider suffering as an
honor. Does grace have the same effect
on you?
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