By Many Or By Few

1 Samuel 14:2-6 – Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left. On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. One cliff stood to the north toward Mikmash, the other to the south toward Geba. Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

1 Samuel 1:3 – Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.

1 Samuel 4:21 – She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.

1 Kings 19:12 – After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

1 Samuel 17:47 – All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Application:

• ·         In the account of the establishment of kingship in Israel it became particularly appropriate as a reference to God as the God of armies—both of the heavenly armies and of the armies of Israel.
• ·         The glory of Israel was Israel’s God, not the ark, and loss of the ark did not mean that God had abandoned His people—God was not inseparably bound to the ark.
• ·         In the symbolism of these occurrences the Lord appears to be telling Elijah that although His servant’s indictment of Israel was a call for God to judge His people with windstorm, earthquake and fire, it was not God’s will to do so now.
• ·         Both the Israelite and the Philistine armies will be shown the error of placing trust in human devices for personal or national security.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV