Free The Prince: Jonathan by Francine Rivers

provides!” He ate and felt his strength increasing.
    Men stopped and watched him, but made no move to take any of the honey.
    “Eat!” Jonathan looked around at them, perplexed. “What’s the matter with you?” He dipped his staff again and held it out to them. “The honey will strengthen you!”
    “We can’t!”
    “Your father made the army take a strict oath that anyone who eats food today will be cursed. That is why everyone is weary and faint.”
    Jonathan went cold, and then hot. “My father has made trouble for us all!” Would he have to die for eating the honey? “A command like that only hurts us. See how refreshed I am now that I have eaten this little bit of honey. It is a gift from the Lord!”
    “If we eat it, the king will have us killed.”
    He pressed them no further. His father would excuse him, but would not excuse others. “If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they found among our enemies, think how many more Philistines we could have killed!” All the Philistines would have been dead before the day was over.
    Jonathan turned away and continued the chase. Those who could, followed.

    From Micmash to Aijalon, the Philistines fell. Many escaped because Saul’s men were too exhausted from lack of food to follow after them. When the Hebrews came upon sheep, cattle, and calves, they fell upon them, slaughtering the animals in the field and cutting away chunks of flesh, their mouths dripping blood as they ate to satisfy their ravenous hunger.
    The priest cried out, “Stop what you’re doing! You’re breaking the Law.”
    The men did not listen.
    Saul built an altar and ordered the men to bring the animals there. “Kill them here, and drain the blood before you eat them. Do not sin against the Lord by eating meat with the blood still in it.”
    “Do not sin against the Lord.” The priest ran, echoing the king’s command. “You must not eat meat with blood still in it!”
    Sickened, Jonathan turned away. It was too late to undo what the men had done.
    Anxiety spread through the camp. The men who had followed Jonathan came to him. “We will say nothing of what you did in the forest.”
    Jonathan was troubled by their fear. Did they really think the king would kill his own son? Would he? Could he?
    Saul summoned him. “So you disobey me again?”
    Jonathan’s stomach was a cold knot of fear. He felt sweat break out on the back of his neck. Had someone told the king about the honey? The king’s advisors looked at Jonathan, their expressions closed, watchful. “You go out to war without my leave!”
    Jonathan lifted his head. “God gave us victory.”
    “You might have been killed! What did you think you were doing, going out against the Philistines with only your armor bearer? Where is he?” Saul looked around. “Why isn’t he at your side?”
    “He’s asleep.” Jonathan bared his teeth in a forced grin. “It has been a long day, Father.”
    Saul laughed and pounded Jonathan’s back. “My son! The warrior!” He looked at the men. “He climbs a cliff, kills more than a score of Philistines, all better equipped and more skilled than he, and then he sets the entire Philistine army on the run!” His eyes glowed as he looked at Jonathan. “You bring honor upon your father, the king.”
    Jonathan saw something dark in his father’s praise. “The panic that came upon the Philistines was from the Lord, my king. It is the Lord who rescued Israel this day.”
    “Yes!” Saul pounded him again. “The Lord.” He smiled at the others. “But we’ve kept them running, haven’t we?” He went to a table and unrolled a map. “Let’s chase the Philistines all night and plunder them until sunrise. Let’s destroy every last one of them. Think of the wealth it will bring me!”
    Jonathan thought that unwise. “The men are exhausted. And now that they have eaten, they will sleep as though drugged.”
    Saul glared at him. “The men will do what I say.”
    And perish