1 Samuel 14:24
And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food. And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
The verse stands in a crisis permitted to rebuke Saul's perversity and to teach Israel humility and faith, and because of his sin in his presumptuous sacrifice Saul himself was not to have the honor of defeating the Philistines. Jonathan, Saul's son who feared the Lord, was chosen as the instrument to deliver Israel, and moved by a divine impulse that the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few, he acted with his armor-bearer, a man of faith and prayer who encouraged the plan. Together they withdrew secretly and sought guidance with earnest prayer, agreeing on a sign to determine their course, then threaded the gorge under cover and took the Philistines' taunting challenge to come up as evidence the Lord would prosper them. They climbed by a secret and difficult path to a cliff deemed inaccessible and weakly guarded, penetrated the enemy camp, and slew the sentinels who offered no resistance from surprise and fear.
In that setting Saul forbade the people and soldiers to eat any food until evening under a solemn curse so that he could be avenged on his enemies, seeking personal revenge and glory rather than God's honor. The ban was a rash, unreasonable, human and profane command made in blind zeal without wisdom or wise judgment and without divine inspiration, putting Saul's ambition and royal authority above his people's needs, and God was displeased with it. The people were distressed by the oath and left weary and faint after a hard day's labor, and though God had provided honey in the wood to strengthen them, fear of the oath kept them from eating. Even Jonathan and his armor-bearer grew weak, and the ban troubled the land and hindered the pursuit of the Philistines.
Jonathan tasted the honey without knowing of the vow, and his revival exposed how the ban had harmed the effort. Yet Saul treated the violation as a capital offense and was prepared to kill his own son to enforce the oath and uphold his honor and royal authority. When the restriction expired, the exhausted and hungry soldiers ate captured animals with their blood, violating God's law against eating blood, showing how the vow burdened the people and led to further wrongdoing.