1 Samuel 13:3

3 Y'honatan assassinated the governor of the P'lishtim in Geva. The P'lishtim heard of it; so Sha'ul had the shofar sounded throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear!"

1 Samuel 13:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 13:3

And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in
Geba
Not the same with Gibeah of Benjamin, as Jarchi; for it can hardly be thought that Jonathan should place himself with his thousand men where the Philistines had a garrison; or that if this was the same with that in the preceding verse, that it should be called by another name in this; but Gibeah and Geba were two places, as Kimchi observes, both indeed in the tribe of Benjamin, and it is very probable not far from one another; see ( Joshua 18:24 Joshua 18:28 ) . This seems to be the same with the hill of God, where was a garrison of the Philistines, ( 1 Samuel 10:5 ) , who after their defeat by Samuel contented themselves with some strong holds and garrisons in some parts of the land to keep Israel in awe; the Targum understands this of a single person, a governor of the Philistines in this place, whom Jonathan slew, and so Jarchi; and according to R. Isaiah he was one that was appointed to gather the tax for them:

and the Philistines heard of it,
which alarmed them, and made them prepare for war:

and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land;
not he in person, for he was at Gilgal, as the next verse shows; but he ordered it to be blown, being aware of the preparations the Philistines were making to attack him:

saying, let the Hebrews hear;
both what his son had done, and what the Philistines were doing.

1 Samuel 13:3 In-Context

1 Sha'ul was - years old when he began his reign, and he had ruled Isra'el for two years,

2 when he chose three thousand of Isra'el's men. Two thousand of them were with Sha'ul in Mikhmas and in the hills of Beit-El, and a thousand were with Y'honatan in Giv'at-Binyamin. The rest of the people he sent back to their respective tents.

3 Y'honatan assassinated the governor of the P'lishtim in Geva. The P'lishtim heard of it; so Sha'ul had the shofar sounded throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear!"

4 All Isra'el heard that Sha'ul had assassinated the governor of the P'lishtim and thus made Isra'el a stench in the nostrils of the P'lishtim. So the people rallied behind Sha'ul in Gilgal;

5 while the P'lishtim assembled themselves together to make war on Isra'el - 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and an army as large as the number of sand grains on the seashore. They came up and pitched camp at Mikhmas, east of Beit-Aven.