1 Samuel 14:17

17 Sha'ul ordered the forces with him to call the roll and see who was missing. So they called the roll, and found Y'honatan and his armor-bearer not present.

1 Samuel 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:17

Then said Saul unto the people that were with him
To some of the officers, particularly the muster master;

number now, and see who is gone from us:
for he concluded that this agitation and confusion in the host of the Philistines were occasioned by an enterprise of some of his men, who by some stratagem or another had thrown them into this disorder:

and when they had numbered:
which was soon done, being but six hundred men in all:

behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there;
from whence it might be inferred, that this commotion the Philistines were in was occasioned by an onset of theirs on the outer guards or sentinels of their garrison or army, which had alarmed them.

1 Samuel 14:17 In-Context

15 There was panic in the field camp among all the P'lishtim; likewise, the garrison and the raiding party panicked. Besides all this, there was an earthquake; thus it grew into panic caused by God.

16 Sha'ul's men on watch in Giv'at-Binyamin could see the enemy camp scattering and running in all directions.

17 Sha'ul ordered the forces with him to call the roll and see who was missing. So they called the roll, and found Y'honatan and his armor-bearer not present.

18 Sha'ul told Achiyah, "Bring the ark of God here"; for at that time the ark of God was with the people of Isra'el.

19 But while Sha'ul was talking to the cohen, the uproar in the camp of the P'lishtim continued and kept getting louder. Sha'ul said to the cohen, "Put your hand down."