1 Samuel 14:20

20 Sha'ul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, [and there was] a very great confusion.

1 Samuel 14:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:20

And Saul, and all the people that were with him, assembled
themselves
The six hundred men that were with him, unless we can suppose the 1000 that had been with Jonathan in Gibeah were here still, see ( 1 Samuel 13:2 )

and they came to the battle;
to the field of battle, the place where the army of the Philistines had lain encamped:

and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow;
taking one another for Hebrews, or treacherous and disaffected persons; so that, though the Israelites had neither swords nor spears, they needed none, for the Philistines destroyed one another with their own swords; and there was a

very great discomfiture;
noise, tumult, confusion, slaughter, and destruction.

1 Samuel 14:20 In-Context

18 Sha'ul said to Achiyah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was [there] at that time with the children of Yisra'el.

19 It happened, while Sha'ul talked to the Kohen, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Pelishtim went on and increased: and Sha'ul said to the Kohen, Withdraw your hand.

20 Sha'ul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, [and there was] a very great confusion.

21 Now the Hebrews who were with the Pelishtim as before, and who went up with them into the camp, [from the country] round about, even they also [turned] to be with the Yisra'elites who were with Sha'ul and Yonatan.

22 Likewise all the men of Yisra'el who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Efrayim, when they heard that the Pelishtim fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.