1 Samuel 14:9

9 If they say to us, 'Stay there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are. We won't go up to them.

1 Samuel 14:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:9

If they say thus unto us
By this and what follows he gives his man a sign by which both might know how they should conduct themselves in this expedition, and what would be the issue, whether they should succeed or not: should they say,

tarry until we come to you;
this, as it would express boldness in the men of the garrison, and show that they were ready to come out and fight, would portend evil, and then what they had to do was to be upon the defensive:

then we will stand still in our place;
wait till they came to them, and make the best defence of themselves as they could, showing as little fear as possible, and not attempting to retreat and flee:

and will not go up unto them;
neither go backwards nor forwards; not backward, which would show fear; nor forward, to expose themselves to too much danger from the garrison, they appearing to be bold and intrepid.

1 Samuel 14:9 In-Context

7 The officer who carried Jonathan's armor said to him, "Do whatever you think is best. Go ahead. I'm with you."

8 Jonathan said, "Then come. We will cross over to the Philistines and let them see us.

9 If they say to us, 'Stay there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are. We won't go up to them.

10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, and the Lord will let us defeat them. This will be the sign for us."

11 When both Jonathan and his officer let the Philistines see them, the Philistines said, "Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in!"