If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them.
We must here take notice, I. Of the goodness of God in restraining the Philistines, who had a vast army of valiant men in the field, from falling upon that little handful of timorous trembling people that Saul had with him, whom they would easily have swallowed up at once.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 14:1-15
If they say thus unto us,.... By this and what follows he gives his man a sign by which both might know how they should conduct themselves in this expedition, and what would be the issue, whether they should succeed or not: should they say, tarry until we come to you; this, as it would express boldness in the men of the garrison, and show...
if they say, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand--When Jonathan appears here to prescribe a sign or token of God's will, we may infer that the same spirit which inspired this enterprise suggested the means of its execution, and put into his heart what to ask of God. (See on Gen 24:12).