_Strong as a lion, and swift as an eagle_ (2 Sam. i. 23), Jonathan no sooner reached the summit than he rushed upon his unexpecting foes, and aided by his armour-bearer, slew at the first onset upwards of twenty men. Thereupon a sudden and uncontrollable panic seized the garrison and spread to the camp, and even the marauding hordes in the neighbourhood. A simultaneous earthquake (1 Sam. xiv. 15) increased the confusion, and when Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah looked towards the opposite end of the gorge of Michmash, they beheld the multitudes _melting away, going and beating down one another_. Unable to explain the cause of this sudden movement, the king ordered the High-priest Ahiah to enquire who had left the Israelite camp. On ascertaining that Jonathan was leading an attack upon the enemy, he would have a second time consulted the ark of God, but while he was talking, the noise in the Philistine host grew louder and louder. On this he bade the High-priest stay his enquiries, and putting himself at the head of his 600 followers, he rushed up the defile, and on reaching the opposite side found that a general panic had seized the foe, _every man’s hand was against his fellow, and there was a great discomfiture_ (1 Sam. xiv. 20).
It was the signal for a general rising. Even the Israelites in the Philistine camp turned against their captors, and were quickly joined by others of their brethren, who till now had remained concealed in the mountains of Ephraim. Onwards the pursuit swept over the high ground of Bethel and down the pass of Beth-horon to Ajalon[240]. In the excitement of the hour, and carried away by that rash impetuosity which henceforth seemed to mar all his actions, Saul cried to heaven, _Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged of mine enemies_ (1 Sam. xiv. 24). He had not yet encountered his heroic son, and the fasting people were spent and wearied. Soon the pursuit lay through a forest bedewed in divers places with the droppings of wild honey. Overcome with his exertions, which had brought such glory to the nation, and unaware of his father’s rash adjuration, Jonathan put forth the end of his staff into a honeycomb, and therewith refreshed his parched lips. An Israelite saw what he had done, and revealed the terms of the royal curse. _My father hath troubled the land_, said he, and once more mingled in the pursuit (1 Sam. xiv. 24–32).