So on the day of the battle no sword or spear was to be found in the hand of anyone in the army that was with Saul and Jonathan. No one but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.p>

Now Ahijah was carrying<n id="1" /> an ephod. He was the son of Ahitub, who was the brother of Ichabod and a son of Phineas, son of Eli, the priest of the <sc>Lordsc> in Shiloh. The army was unaware that Jonathan had left.p>

But Jonathan had not heard about the oath his father had made the army take. He extended the end of his staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb. When he ate it,<n id="1" /> his eyes gleamed.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Then he said to all Israel, &#8220;You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.&#8221; The army replied to Saul, &#8220;Do whatever you think is best.&#8221;p>

However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings,<n id="1" /> and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value.<n id="2" /> They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised<n id="3" /> and worthless.p>

<p class="bodytext">On every mission on which Saul sent him, David achieved success. So Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not only all the army, but also Saul&#8217;s servants.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So David set out and went to the place where Saul was camped. David saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general in command of his army, were sleeping. Now Saul was lying in the entrenchment, and the army was camped all around him.

David called to the army and to Abner son of Ner, &#8220;Won&#8217;t you answer, Abner?&#8221; Abner replied, &#8220;Who are you, that you have called to the king?&#8221;

David said to Abner, &#8220;Aren&#8217;t you a man? After all, who is like you in Israel? Why then haven&#8217;t you protected your lord the king? One of the soldiers came to kill your lord the king.