1 Samuel 14:17

17 So Saul said to his men, "Count the soldiers and find out who is missing." They did so and found that Jonathan and the young man who carried his weapons were missing.

1 Samuel 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:17

Then said Saul unto the people that were with him
To some of the officers, particularly the muster master;

number now, and see who is gone from us:
for he concluded that this agitation and confusion in the host of the Philistines were occasioned by an enterprise of some of his men, who by some stratagem or another had thrown them into this disorder:

and when they had numbered:
which was soon done, being but six hundred men in all:

behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there;
from whence it might be inferred, that this commotion the Philistines were in was occasioned by an onset of theirs on the outer guards or sentinels of their garrison or army, which had alarmed them.

1 Samuel 14:17 In-Context

15 All the Philistines in the countryside were terrified; the raiders and the soldiers in the camp trembled with fear; the earth shook, and there was great panic.

16 Saul's men on watch at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin saw the Philistines running in confusion.

17 So Saul said to his men, "Count the soldiers and find out who is missing." They did so and found that Jonathan and the young man who carried his weapons were missing.

18 "Bring the ephod here," Saul said to Ahijah the priest. (On that day Ahijah was carrying it in front of the people of Israel.)

19 As Saul was speaking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp kept getting worse, so Saul said to him, "There's no time to consult the Lord!"