1 Samuel 14:18
And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.
The verse belongs to Israel's battle with the Philistines, when Saul waited with his small force while turmoil and confusion grew in the Philistine camp. At that moment he called for the ark of God to be brought, with its attendant priests, while the priest inquired of God to seek His direction before attacking. As the noise of battle increased, he impatiently told the priest to withdraw his hand and advanced without waiting, then led Israel's army to join the assault. He did this without knowing that Jonathan and his armor-bearer had started the defeat, but he and his men then learned that God was already bringing deliverance through them amid the Philistines' confusion.
He hoped the ark's presence would revive his soldiers' courage and help him defeat the Philistines, even though he knew Israel had been defeated when Hophni and Phinehas brought the ark into battle. His resort to the ark was an attempt to make up for lack of true piety with religious display and to proceed without Samuel's support and reproof. The crisis was permitted to rebuke Saul's perversity and to teach Israel humility and faith, and because of his sin in his presumptuous offering he would not be given the honor of vanquishing the Philistines. Instead Jonathan, the king's God-fearing son, moved by a divine impulse, was chosen with his armor-bearer, a man of faith and prayer, to deliver Israel by a secret attack in the faith that the Lord works for His people and saves by many or by few.