1 Samuel 13:20

20 So all of the people of Israel had to go down to the Philistines. They had to go to them to get their plows, hoes, axes and sickles sharpened.

1 Samuel 13:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 13:20

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines
Were obliged to go into Palestine, into some one or other of the cities of the Philistines, or to their garrisons, where the trade of a smith was exercised:

to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter;
which are the parts of the plough made of iron, with which the earth is cut and thrown up:

and his axe and his mattock;
or pick axe; with the one wood is felled and cut, and with the other stones are dug; and each of these for their several uses needed sharpening; and when they did, they were obliged to go to the Philistines to have them done, they having no smiths among them.

1 Samuel 13:20 In-Context

18 Another went toward Beth Horon. The third went toward the border that looked out over the Valley of Zeboim. That valley faces the desert.

19 There weren't any blacksmiths in the whole land of Israel. That's because the Philistines had said, "The Hebrews might hire them to make swords or spears!"

20 So all of the people of Israel had to go down to the Philistines. They had to go to them to get their plows, hoes, axes and sickles sharpened.

21 It cost a fourth of an ounce of silver to sharpen a plow or a hoe. It cost an eighth of an ounce to sharpen a pitchfork or an axe. That's also what it cost to put new tips on large sticks that were used to drive oxen.

22 So not one of Saul's or Jonathan's soldiers had a sword or spear in his hand when he went out to battle. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had those weapons.