Both of their minds had begun to go a mile a minute. Time slowed down. It seemed like it took forever for the Philistines to notice Jonathan and his armor bearer. Then one of them on the north cliff at last called out, “Hey look! The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in!” Three other men joined him at the edge of the cliff. “My Baal! You’re serious! They are Hebrews! Did the bears chase you out?” The Philistines laughed. More joined them. There were about half a dozen of them now aware of the presence of the two Hebrews.
For a slight second, Gareb had the urge to brake off and run. But then he remembered Jonathan. No, there was no turning back now. They would wait for the sign from God. Then he started to swing his sling with his first stone.
The Philistines continued yelling, “Come on up here and we’ll teach you a lesson!”
Jonathan excitedly turned to Gareb. “That’s it! Climb up behind me! The Lord has rescued Israel!”
They took off at full speed toward the incline. The Philistines gathered at the top of the hill and started jeering down at them. There were now well over a dozen of them. Gareb let his first stone loose. It landed hard in a Philistine’s collar bone area and he went down wailing. As they reached the slope, Gareb shot his second and it dug into a Philistine’s eye and he collapsed to his knees.
The Philistines were mad now. One got impatient and started down the slope toward Jonathan. Another started screaming, “Archer! We need an archer!”
Jonathan and Gareb were at a major disadvantage as they tried to climb the steep slope on their hands and knees. Yet, Jonathan easily ducked under the attack of the charging Philistine and sliced into his side. The archer was at the edge of the cliff now. Gareb had been looking for him and was ready with his third stone already swinging around his head. Before the archer could shoot his first arrow, Gareb got him in the throat--his best hit ever. The archer’s whole body responded with a jerk and fell forward off the cliff hitting the ground head first. Three more Philistines charged down the slope toward the Hebrews. Gareb dropped his last stone and drew his curved plowshare to help Jonathan. As Jonathan dodged one swing, he cut the legs of another and his victim went tumbling down the hill. A Philistine passed Jonathan and ran straight into Gareb’s plowshare being unable to slow down. Jonathan blocked the attack of the other soldier and quickly slashed him across the chest.
They reached the top of the hill and Jonathan immediately blocked a slash with his sword and then used his free hand to pull the Philistine down and he tumbled down to Gareb where he finished him off. Then Gareb joined Jonathan at the top of the hill where they were immediately surrounded. Now they had the attention of over twenty men and there were still more running from tents to where the commotion was.
Jonathan started to hack deeper and deeper into the crowd of Philistines and Gareb stayed close behind watching for anything deadly that Jonathan missed. For the most part, Jonathan was stabbing, ducking, chopping at every suggestion from his instincts while Gareb finished the wounded and stopped attacks coming from behind. One soldier was obviously a captain not only because of his skill but because he had thick armor on. He and Jonathan exchanged several swings and blocks but Jonathan was much quicker. When Jonathan drove his sword into the captains chest, his blade sunk in to the handle and Jonathan was unable to pull the sword back out. Quickly, he side stepped, avoiding a spear that had been thrust at him. He grabbed the spear with one arm, pulled it towards himself and with the other arm he elbowed the Philistine bearing the weapon. From there Jonathan spun around and made a wide swipe with the spear bringing it across three Philistine faces.
At that moment, Gareb lost his balance and fell to his knees while trying to block an attack. His small plowshare broke when he tried to block an axe and now it was down to the size of a knife. Gareb ducked down and rolled, grabbing another sword of a dead Philistine. Now with two weapons, Gareb fought like he had never dreamed he thought possible. Three or four times he felt enemy iron touch his body. But no pain distracted him. All that was on his mind was his desire to survive and bring the enemy to their knees.
The Philistines were coming in from all sides and Jonathan and Gareb were soon separated. One Philistine after another, and sometimes a few at a time came at them. It was so much more intense and violent and difficult than they had expected. Yet somehow, their eyes were catching every deathly movement of the enemy as if time had slowed down. They were able to make right predictions and split second decisions to either dodge an attack or block it. Most of the Philistines were unprepared and had absolutely no armor on while a few took more strength to dispatch because of their protection.
But now it became even more difficult as they were separated. Jonathan slid his hands to the middle of his spear and used both ends against the never ending resistance. Now Jonathan was blocking attacks left and right and cutting flesh at every opportunity. Gareb was using the Philistine sword to block attacks and the broken plowshare to stab. For a while it seemed like nothing could stop them.
Then despair suddenly started to settle in both of the Hebrews. More and more Philistines were joining the fight. Many lay dead and more wounded but there were now about fifty Philistines surrounding the Hebrews. They had survived longer than anyone could have suspected, but their strength was quickly leaving them. Their supernatural courage and skill seemed to be evaporating and the end was near.
Then it happened. The Hebrews couldn’t notice it when it started but they did notice that the Philistines suddenly started to leave the scene and run for their lives.
One screamed, “Run! The Israelites are coming!” They started yelling frantically and shoving each other. “Get out of my way!”
Then both Jonathan and Gareb noticed it. The ground was vibrating violently and making a very loud rumbling sound. At first it sounded like an army of hundreds of thousands of charioteers was right around the corner. Suddenly the two Hebrews found themselves unchallenged, watching the rest of the Philistine army run to the woods. “They’re everywhere!” one cried as he started slashing at his own companions with his sword.
Gareb fell to the ground feeling more exhausted than he had ever been in his entire life. The ground and scattered dead bodies started to spin and turn into a blur.
~~~
Several miles away, Saul was sitting in a cool cave near Gibeah, waiting. What he was waiting for, he didn’t know. Should he go to the nearby town of Gibeah and find Samuel? Would Samuel tell him what to do next or was this the day that he was to die? Would his kingdom end after being appointed by God only a year earlier? Saul’s mind was mixed with confusion and boiling anger. Samuel is so selfish! God is so strict and unfair! It’s really their fault if the Philistines cause destruction. Then Abner burst into the cave. “Across the valley! The Philistines are melting away and retreating back toward Philistia!”
Saul’s mind raced. What did this mean? “Gather our forces and prepare to pursue. And while you are at it, see if you can find out if anyone is missing.” But should he go after the Philistines still without the favor of the Lord? Then he turned to the priest. “Go get me the ark.”
The priest sped off toward the area where the ark was being kept. Then Saul changed his mind and called out, “Never mind! Forget God’s favor! We need to pursue now! Cursed be any man who takes time to eat before I have avenged myself on my enemies!”
Minutes later, Saul was outside among his small army he had left. Abner came to Saul’s side. “My king, no one can find Jonathan or his armor bearer.”
~~~
Gareb regained consciousness several minutes later when cold water hit his sweaty face. The earth had stopped shaking and just above him was Jonathan with a pitcher full of water that he got from the Philistine camp.
“It’s good to see you’re still with us,” Jonathan said cheerfully as he poured more water Gareb’s arms and neck.
“What happened?” Gareb mumbled, while trying to regain his bearings.
“It appears that the Philistines mistook an earthquake for an enemy army on the attack.” Jonathan chuckled. “They are still frantically retreating toward the woods in Ephraim. Is that not the craziest thing ever?”
Gareb asked, “What are you doing?”
“You’ve got blood all over you. I need to make sure you aren’t seriously wounded. Do you feel any pain?”
Gareb’s muscles ached but there was no severe pain at all.
Jonathan continued, “It appears you only have a few small cuts. All this blood is not your own.”
Gareb shivered as he looked around at all the limp Philistines lying around them. Then he noticed that Jonathan too was covered in blood, also not his own.
They sat there and watched the sun set over the abandoned Philistine camp. They slowly took deep drinks of water from the bucket and tried to let reality sink in.
“Did that really happen, Jonathan?” asked Gareb.
Jonathan rubbed his dirty head in disbelief, “All I know is that God has rescued Israel today. Nothing stand’s against Yahweh’s victory.” Then Jonathan continued, “We cut down about 20 Philistines and I have no idea how many we wounded.
Gareb shook his head. “I still can’t believe it. This story is surely going to be passed down for generations to come! Israel has been delivered from the hands of the Philistines! Jonathan, we are a nation again!”
Jonathan chuckled. “It’s funny to think that we gave up on God and crowned a man—my father—to be king and drive out the Philistines. Who knew that God would do it Himself anyway?”
Several minutes later, the rest of the Hebrew army arrived. Zeblin ran to Jonathan and said, “Thank the Lord! Are you hurt?”
After he realized that Jonathan and Gareb were just fine, Zeblin remarked, “You guys are completely crazy! And yet you chased away an entire army of countless professional fighters! It’s a miracle!”
“You’re right, it is a miracle. We did very little,” replied Jonathan. “Yahweh did everything. Our bravery and strength and ability was all supernatural.”
But Zeblin continued, “You are great heroes tonight, young men. If only all of us had your courage.”
“Jonathan!” Saul was approaching them. “Jonathan, you foolish boy. You never do as I tell you! You’re lucky you didn’t get killed! Did you see the direction they went?” asked Saul.
Jonathan hesitated. Out of all the things that his father could have said to him… “They went into the woods of Ephraim.”
“Then let us move on! We can plunder the Philistine camp on our way back. But now we must not let them get away! I will get my vengeance, yet!” With that, Saul and his men continued running west.
When they were alone again, Jonathan asked Gareb, “Why is trusting Yahweh always considered the foolish thing to do?”
Gareb answered, “Because their god is small.”
Then, as tiered and as famished as they were, they joined the Israelites in the chase.
