1 Samuel 13:5

THE PHILISTINES MUSTER TO AVENGE THEMSELVES

"And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and troops like sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Bethaven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in straits (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, or crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling."

Most of the scholars dispute the figure of 30,000 chariots, giving the number as either 3,000 or even 300. It makes no difference at all. Whatever the number, it was large enough to frighten all Israel into the most abject terror and flight. The Philistines had the great advantage over Israel because they controlled the iron industry.

"Saul was still at Gilgal" (1 Samuel 13:7). The meaning is that Saul had not withdrawn his troops east of the Jordan, for the Gilgal here was evidently the one just west of the Jordan river near Jericho. This gave Saul a comfortable distance from the Philistine forces at Michmash and also afforded him the option of fleeing across the Jordan if necessary.

The hiding of the Israelites in caves, holes, rocks, tombs and cisterns was similar to that of the people in the days of the Judges (Judges 6:2,11) and in the times of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 40:11-12). The situation looked bleak indeed for Israel at the time indicated here.