1 Samuel 14:30

30 How much better it would have been if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been much greater?”

1 Samuel 14:30 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:30

How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of
the spoil of their enemies which they found?
&c.] That is, had they been, allowed eat freely of the provisions, of bread, wine they found in the enemy's camp, they would have been much more refreshed and strengthened than it could be supposed he was with eating a little honey; if that had had such an effect upon him, of what service would a full meal have been to the people?

for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the
Philistines?
the people would have had more strength to smite them, and would have pursued them with greater ardour and swiftness, and so have made a greater slaughter among them than they had; he intimates that Saul's end would have been better answered by suffering the people to eat, than by forbidding them.

1 Samuel 14:30 In-Context

28 Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”

29 “My father has brought trouble to the land,” Jonathan replied. “Just look at how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

30 How much better it would have been if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been much greater?”

31 That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were very faint.

32 So they rushed greedily to the plunder, taking sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them on the ground and ate meat with the blood still in it.