1 Samuel 14:28

28 Then, one of the troops said, "Your father made the troops solemnly swear, 'Cursed is the man who eats food today,' and the troops are exhausted."

1 Samuel 14:28 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:28

Then answered one of the people, and said
To Jonathan, who might direct and encourage the people to do as he had done, at least so he did by his example, if not by words; the latter is not improbable: and therefore one of the men that came along with Saul, and had now joined Jonathan, and who heard what Saul had said, replied,

thy father straitly charged the people with an oath;
gave them a strict charge, with an oath or imprecation annexed to it:

saying, cursed be the man that eateth any food this day;
that is, until the evening, as in ( 1 Samuel 14:24 )

and the people were faint;
which is either the observation of the writer of the book; or it may be the words of the man, imputing the faintness of the people to this adjuration of Saul restraining them from food; or as taking notice how strictly the people observed it, though they were hungry, faint, and weary.

1 Samuel 14:28 In-Context

26 When the troops entered the forest, they saw the flow of honey, but none of them ate any of it because they feared the oath.

27 However, Jonathan had not heard his father make the troops swear the oath. He reached out with the end of the staff he was carrying and dipped it into the honeycomb. When he ate the honey, he had renewed energy.

28 Then, one of the troops said, "Your father made the troops solemnly swear, 'Cursed is the man who eats food today,' and the troops are exhausted."

29 Jonathan replied, "My father has brought trouble to the land. Just look at how I have renewed energy because I tasted a little honey.

30 How much better if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Then the slaughter of the Philistines would have been much greater."