Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 14:36

"And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Then said the priest, Let us draw near hither unto God." — 1 Samuel 14:36 (ASV)

Let us go down after the Philistines by night.—In the depth of the night, when the rough feasting on the captured beasts was over, King Saul would have had the bloody work begun afresh. He would have hurried after the fleeing Philistines and, with a wild butchery, completed the great and notable victory. With the implicit obedience his soldiers always seemed to show him—whether a vow of total abstinence, a desperate charge, a wild night attack, or ruthless bloodshed was imposed on them by their stern and gloomy king—the army at once professed themselves ready to fight again.

Only one man in that army, flushed with victory, dared to withstand the imperious sovereign, possessing the bravery that comes only from righteousness. The high priest, Ahiah, doubted whether such wholesale bloodshed was in accordance with the will of God. This bloodshed would surely have resulted from Saul's conquering troops pursuing a dispersed and vanquished enemy. No command to exterminate these Philistines had ever been given, and that day, so glorious in the annals of Israel, was wholly due to the special interposition of the Eternal Friend of Israel. Ahiah said, “Let us first inquire of the oracles of God”—alluding, of course, to the jewels of Urim and Thummim on his high-priestly ephod.