So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” But God did not answer him that day.
Here is, I. Saul's boasting against the Philistines. He proposed, as soon as his soldiers had got their suppers, to pursue them all night, and not leave a man of them, Sa1 14:36. Here he showed much zeal, but little discretion; for his army, thus fatigued, could as ill spare a night's sleep as a meal's meat.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 14:36-46
And Saul asked counsel of God,.... He agreed to the motion of the high priest, and asked counsel by Urim and Thummim; the Targum is, as before,"inquired by the Word of the Lord:" shall I go down after the Philistines? pursue after them in their flight to their own country, which, lying to the sea, was a descent: wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel?
He answered him not that day - Why was this answer delayed? Surely Jonathan's eating the honey was no sin. This could not have excited God's displeasure. And yet the lot found out Jonathan! But did this argue that he had incurred guilt in the sight of God?