John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 14

Now it came to pass upon a day
At a certain time, a little after the garrison of the Philistines has made the movement, (1 Samuel 13:23) and it is not to be taken strictly for the day time; for it is probable it was in the night that the following proposal was made, and began to be carried into execution; for Josephus ^F11 says it was day light when Jonathan and his armourbearer came to the camp of the Philistines. He had formed his scheme perhaps the night before, and he and his man set out in the night time, and by break of day came up to the garrison, as after related:

that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bore his
armour ;
as was usual in those times for generals of armies to have such, and so in later times. Such were Automedon to Achilles, and Achates to Aeneas, as Grotius observes:

come and let us go over to the Philistine garrison that is on the other
side ;
that is, go over the valley which lay between Michmash and Gibeah, to the Philistines, that lay on the other side the valley beyond it. So it was not in the valley itself, but at a pass on the hills, at the bottom of which this valley lay, and could be seen at a distance, and pointed at with the finger, as Jarchi notes:

but he told not his father ;
lest he should disapprove of his project, and hinder him from pursuing it. And had not his spirit been stirred up to this by the Lord, of which he was fully persuaded, he would have acted not only a rash part, but contrary to military discipline, in engaging in an enterprise without the knowledge and direction of his general; unless we can suppose he had an unlimited commission from his father to attack the enemy, at discretion, at any time, and any where.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 2.

And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah
Not daring to go out against the Philistines, but remained in the furthest part of Gibeah, at the greatest distance from the camp of the Philistines, in the strongest part of the city, or deeply entrenched in the outer, part of it in the field:

under a pomegranate tree ;
where were his headquarters; his tent or pavilion was erected under a large spreading pomegranate, which protected him from the heat of the sun: or

under Rimmon ;
the rock Rimmon; under the shelter of that, and in the caverns of it; where a like number of Benjaminites he now had with him formerly hid themselves, (Judges 20:47)

which is in Migron ;
a part of Gibeah, or rather of the field of Gibeah, so called; for near it it certainly was; and is also mentioned along with Michmash, and as lying in the way of the march of Sennacherib king of Assyria, to Jerusalem, (Isaiah 10:28)

and the people that were with him were about six hundred men ;
which is observed to show that no addition was made to his little army; it was the same it was when he came thither, the people did not flock to his assistance, being in fear of the army of the Philistines, which was so powerful; see (1 Samuel 13:15) .

And Ahiah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother
Ichabod was the child that Phinehas's wife bore prematurely on hearing the news of the ark being taken and of the death of her husband and father-in-law, which name she gave him on that account, and died; see (1 Samuel 4:19–22) , he, it seems, had an elder brother, called Ahitub, who died young, and this Ahiah was the son of him; for not he, but Ahitub, was Ichabod's brother:

the son of Phinehas ;
so Ichabod was:

the son of Eli ;
so Phinehas was:

the Lord's priest in Shiloh ;
this refers not to Ahiah for he was not now priest in Shiloh, which was destroyed: and besides, he was now in the camp of Saul; but to Eli, who when living exercised the priest's office in Shiloh:

wearing an ephod ;
as Ahiah now did; not such as common priests wore, but the ephod the high priest wore, which had the breastplate of judgment, the Urim and Thummim, in it, by which inquiry was made, (1 Samuel 14:37) . The meaning of all this is, that the high priest is now with Saul, and the ark also, which and the high priest might be sent for on this occasion, (1 Samuel 14:18)

and the people knew not that Jonathan was gone ;
or they would have gone with him, namely, the military men that were particularly with him; he and Saul were in two different parts of Gibeah, with distinct bodies of men; whether the thousand that Jonathan first had with him all continued is not certain; it seems probable they did not; it can hardly be thought he should have more with him than were with Saul; see (1 Samuel 14:2) , though from (1 Samuel 14:17) they seem now to have been together.

And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over
unto the Philistines' garrison
One of which is called the passage of Michmash, (1 Samuel 13:23) and was that by which they went from Gibeah to Michmash; the other, which might be called the passage of Gibeah, was that by which they went from Michmash to Gibeah, and in effect was but one; and this was seized by the garrison of the Philistines, on that part of it which was towards Michmash; so that there was no way of access to the camp of the Philistines, which Jonathan therefore proposed to go over to and destroy, but his difficulties were very great:

there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other
side ;
not that there was on each side of the passage or passages to the right and left a cragged rock, between which men passed as they went from place to place; for the position of them in the next verse shows the contrary; but there was "the tooth of a rock" ^F12 , as it is in the original text; or a promontory or prominence on the one side towards Michmash, which stood out like a tooth; and another promontory or prominence on that towards Gibeah; so that both must be gone over to get to the camp, the only passage being guarded by the garrison; and indeed it seems to me there was but one rock, and two precipices at the opposite parts of it, and which stood between the passages, which precipices must be climbed over:

and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh ;
which, according to the Targum, the one signifies "lubrication", being smooth and slippery, and the other "treading", being more trodden and beaten: but Hillerus ^F13 derives both from clay, which seems not so agreeable to a rock; though in another place ^F14 he makes the former to have its name from whiteness, which is the colour of some rocks and clifts; and one should think the latter rather has its name from bushes, brambles, and thorns, that might grow upon it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (eloh Nv) "dens petrae", Pagninus, Montanus; "scopulus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
• F13: Onomastic. Sacr. p. 73, 82.
• F14: Ibid. p. 43.

The forefront of the one was situate northward, over against
Michmash
The northern precipice of this rock was towards Michmash, where the Philistines lay encamped, and where was the passage of Michmash the garrison went into and possessed:

and the other southward, over against Gibeah ;
the southern precipice faced Gibeah, and both precipices were to be got over before he could get to the garrison, these lying between the two passages; the one at one end, called the passage of Michmash, the other at the other, which might be called the passage of Gibeah.