The victory over the Philistines is immediately undercut by Saul's own hand, for he binds the army under a rash oath and curse "Cursed be the man who eats food until evening" (v. 24).
There is no divine instruction behind the oath.
The result is not an energized army but a famished one (v. 28).
The one who should have led his people into strength has instead drained them.
Jonathan, ignorant of the oath, eats honey to be strengthened (v. 27).
Upon hearing of the oath, Jonathan immediately recognized that "My father has troubled the land" (v. 29).
He noticed what the writer of Samuel has been showing, that Saul is not a deliverer, but rather a burden.
Saul's rash oath produces sin in his people.
Once they win, the hungry army slaughters livestock and eats with the blood (vv. 32–33), violating the law.
Saul responds with a makeshift altar and a call for correction, trying to run damage control, while ignoring the initial cause: his rash oath. 1.Saul's first altar marks not devotion but disorder (v. 35).
When Saul seeks God's guidance to press the attack, God is silent (v. 37).
The lot falls on Jonathan. Saul's response is to pronounce death on his own son (v. 44).
The people intervene and ransom him, for they have more clarity about what God had done than Saul did. (v. 45).
Jonathan's near-execution by his father's unjust word points forward.
The innocent one, Jonathan, is bearing another's curse. Jonathan is ransomed from it, but Christ instead ransoms his own people through bearing the curse (Gal. 3:13).