The Consequences of Foolish Words

1 Samuel 14:31-46

³¹They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint. ³²The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood. ³³Then they told Saul, “Behold, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a great stone to me here.” ³⁴And Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there. ³⁵And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord. ³⁶Then Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light; let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.” ³⁷And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day. ³⁸And Saul said, “Come here, all you leaders of the people, and know and see how this sin has arisen today. ³⁹For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But there was not a man among all the people who answered him. ⁴⁰Then he said to all Israel, “You shall be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.” ⁴¹Therefore Saul said, “O Lord God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O Lord, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped. ⁴²Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was taken. ⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die.” ⁴⁴And Saul said, “God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan.” ⁴⁵Then the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die. ⁴⁶Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. ⁴⁷When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned he routed them. ⁴⁸And he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them. ⁴⁹Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger Michal. ⁵⁰And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. ⁵¹Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. ⁵²There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.

Saul has created an emergency. He forces his army to go without food through a rash and foolish curse (vow) he places on everyone. The battle is intense, and his men are starving. When given the opportunity, the soldiers kill the animals they have taken as plunder and ravenously eat, disregarding God’s commands against eating the blood.

When the animals were slaughtered on the ground, the blood was not able to drain from the meat. The altar allowed the blood to drain. The prohibition against eating meat without the blood drained is as old as God’s permission to Noah about eating meat (Genesis 9:3–4). The blood signified the life of the animal, and out of respect for God’s gift of life, no blood was to be eaten. This prohibition is repeated several times in the laws given by Moses (Leviticus 17:10–14; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15–16). However, the only recorded instance of the violation of this command in the OT is in this account.

Steinmann, A. E. ©2016. 1 Samuel. (p. 268). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Up to this point, Saul hasn’t mentioned God once, not even when he brought down the curse on the whole army. Jonathan relied on God for victory, but Saul hasn’t given Him a thought. Saul is bent on the pursuit of the Philistines, continuing in his disregard for God. The High Priest pumps the brakes and tells Saul that they need to consult God. This consultation with God reveals that a vow has been broken. But God isn’t talking. Saul needs to know who broke the vow and so the Urim and Thummin (Exodus 28:30) are utilized. Saul continues in his penchant for rash vows and promises that even if it is Jonathan who has caused the breach, he will die. Stupid, stupid man.

Of course Jonathan is revealed as the one who broke the vow made by his father and Saul is willing to see him die for it. Fortunately, Saul’s soldiers are smarter than he is and make sure Jonathan is not killed. The whole situation is a hot mess.

Saul cannot seem to restrain his mouth. He just keeps digging the hole deeper and deeper. The fact that he is willing to let Jonathan die for his foolish words boggles the mind. I think that Saul believed the sin of eating the blood was where the problem lay. God didn’t even take note of that. Instead, He goes after Saul’s rash words and Jonathan is caught. Jonathan admits he broke a vow he didn’t even know had been made and agrees to die for the mistake. The difference between Jonathan and Saul is startling. As Jonathan bravely and boldly owns his own mistake, while Saul makes yet a third vow! He asks God to punish those who would not execute Jonathan. At this point, as readers, our respect for Saul is completely destroyed. He’s out of control.

That form of vow often included a punishment on the oath-taker if he were not to carry out the deed: “may God punish me if …” Interestingly, Saul does not use a pronoun in this vow. Perhaps by this point he has become slightly more circumspect about his rash vows. The first not only caught Jonathan in an inadvertent breach of an oath but also cost Saul complete victory over the Philistines. The second vow unintentionally targeted Jonathan. Now for the third vow Saul called down God’s punishment, but on no particular person. The ambiguity paved the way for Jonathan’s discharge from the punishment.

Steinmann, A. E. ©2016. 1 Samuel. (p. 269). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

So was God angry about Jonathan’s consumption of the honey, or about the never-ending flow of crazy vows from Saul? I leave that to your discernment.

Jesus Himself left us instruction about the impact of our words.

Matthew 12:33-37

³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. ³⁶I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, ³⁷for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Our words can have consequences that are filled with blessing or evil. My dad always used to say, “put your brain in gear before you put your mouth in motion.” He wasn’t wrong, but it took me a long time to learn it – and I still fail all the time. Instead, along with everyone else who has said something foolish, I must lean into the forgiveness given to me by Jesus' own blood.