1 Samuel 13:16 – 23 “Now Saul and Jonathan his son and the troops with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash. And raiders went out of the Philistine camp in three divisions. One headed toward Ophrah in the land of Shual, another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.
And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.” Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles. The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an ax, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad. So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons. And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.”
Plowshares, mattocks, axes, oxgoads, pitchforks, and sickles – these were the only weapons the Israelites had to fight the Philistines. WHY? The Israelites had forsaken the One True Living God, and in turn, He had also forsaken them. By this point, the Philistines shouldn’t even have existed; the Israelites should have wiped them out. Instead, the Philistines had so much control over the Israelites that they were making sure the Israelites wouldn’t be able to arm themselves. Why were there no blacksmiths in Israel? Couldn’t some Israelite have sneaked off to learn? Evidently, the Philistines had infiltrated Israelite society so thoroughly that they would know if a blacksmith appeared. This fact suggests that there might have been Israelites who were secretly cooperating with the Philistines and reporting on their own people.
Now three separate Philistine raiding parties had left the camp. The day of battle had arrived, but only Saul and Jonathan had actual weapons; on the other hand, the Israelites had mattocks, axes, oxgoads, pitchforks, and sickles. Wielded effectively, these hand tools could be deadly, although there were no long – range weapons such as spears or bows and arrows.
APPLICATION: Sometimes we come up to situations for which we feel totally unprepared! We look at our resources and despair, feeling that all our efforts are doomed to failure. But the question that God posed to Moses at the burning bush interview is still valid: What is that in your hand?
True, Saul’s men lacked traditional weapons; yet, those hand tools, if sharpened and used intelligently, could do a great deal of damage. The challenge for Saul was going to be that of strategy. Saul and his men would need to take the Philistines by surprise in a situation in which long range weapons and chariots would be ineffective. And the biggest question of all was this: would God help the Israelites?
Over – reliance on technology is a bad mistake. It is better to have simple tools that work than to have something sophisticated that breaks down and requires expensive parts to repair. At the moment, we have a digital refrigerator that is nothing more than a giant doorstop. A power surge hit one day, frying the mother board. Until now, we have been unable to find anyone who can work on the refrigerator.
Sitting in that camp and looking at fighting men armed only with farm tools, Saul might have been tempted to despair. But God had anointed Saul as king and even if Saul had failed in the matter of the sacrifices, God was still honoring that anointing. The saddest part of the whole story was that Saul never really turned to the Lord himself, preferring to rely on Samuel to do all the believing for him.
Faith does not grow when we have everything we need. Faith grows when we are forced to depend on God. When we returned to our village during the Northern Ethnic Conflict of 1994, I had very few surgical instruments with which to operate. One day a woman came with vaginal bleeding; she had lost a pregnancy but retained part of the placenta. With no uterine curettes available, my husband bent a chromed bicycle spoke into the shape of a curette and then attached the large brass valve stem for a big lorry tire as a handle. I used that curette for a long time until I was able to get better instruments. With no electricity, we needed light to do deliveries and start IV’s. My husband rigged up a car battery to a 12-volt light, placing the battery in the lower part of a small bedside stand and then rigging a support for the light so that we had a portable light source that could be wheeled wherever we needed it. Until then, we had been relying on flickering kerosene lamps.
Perhaps today you feel stranded. The place where you worked has folded and you are struggling to pay bills. Why not ask God to show you what He has already built into your situation? What talents or interests do you have? Do you belong to any hobby groups? Don’t overlook anything; you never know what God may use to save you.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, there are many who are reading these words and who wonder if there is anything good or redeemable in their lives. Please open the eyes of these people to see the provision you have already built into their situations. Help Your children to move forward. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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