12. So I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven’t even asked for the lord’s help!’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.”
13. “How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
14. But now your kingdom must end, for the lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the lord’s command.”
15. Samuel then left Gilgal and went on his way, but the rest of the troops went with Saul to meet the army. They went up from Gilgal to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. When Saul counted the men who were still with him, he found only 600 were left!
16. Saul and Jonathan and the troops with them were staying at Geba in the land of Benjamin. The Philistines set up their camp at Micmash.
17. Three raiding parties soon left the camp of the Philistines. One went north toward Ophrah in the land of Shual,
18. another went west to Beth-horon, and the third moved toward the border above the valley of Zeboim near the wilderness.
19. There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews.
20. So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith.