1 Samuel 14:29

29 Jonathan said, "My father has made trouble for the land! See how much better I feel after just tasting a little of this honey!

1 Samuel 14:29 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:29

Then said Jonathan, my father hath troubled the land
The people of the land, as the Targum, the soldiers in his army; afflicted and distressed them, and made them uneasy in their minds, like troubled waters; the Arabic version is,

``my father hath sinned against the people;''

hath done them injury by forbidding them to eat. This was not wisely said by Jonathan; how much soever his father was to be blamed, it did not become him as a son thus to reflect upon him, and it might have tended to mutiny and sedition:

see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted
a little of this honey;
the benefit he received by it was very visible; it might easily be discerned that he was greatly refreshed with it, and his spirits invigorated by it; it was to be seen in the cheerfulness of his countenance, and the briskness of his eyes: and he suggests it would have had the same effect upon the people, had they eaten of it, as he had done.

1 Samuel 14:29 In-Context

27 Jonathan had not heard the oath Saul had put on the army, so he dipped the end of his stick into the honey and lifted some out and ate it. Then he felt better.
28 Then one of the soldiers told Jonathan, "Your father made an oath for all the soldiers. He said any man who eats today will be cursed! That's why they are so weak."
29 Jonathan said, "My father has made trouble for the land! See how much better I feel after just tasting a little of this honey!
30 It would have been much better for the men to eat the food they took from their enemies today. We could have killed many more Philistines!"
31 That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon. After that, they were very tired.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.