Quotes About Strategy

the men of Israel would turn in the battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.”

They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.

Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more.

So they commanded the Benjamites: “Go, hide in the vineyards

Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.

And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.

The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions, and during the morning watch they invaded the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them, until the hottest part of the day. And the survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home.

And raiders went out of the Philistine camp in three divisions. One headed toward Ophrah in the land of Shual,

another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.

And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.

One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But Jonathan did not tell his father.

Meanwhile, Saul was staying under the pomegranate tree in Migron on the outskirts of Gibeah. And the troops who were with him numbered about six hundred men,

Now there were cliffs on both sides of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost. One was named Bozez and the other Seneh.

One cliff stood to the north toward Michmash, and the other to the south toward Geba.

“Very well,” said Jonathan, “we will cross over toward these men and show ourselves to them.

If they say, ëWait until we come to you,í then we will stay where we are and will not go up to them.

In that first assault, Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck down about twenty men over half an acre of land.

How much better it would have been if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder they took from their enemies! Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been much greater?”

And Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until dawn, leaving no man alive!” “Do what seems good to you,” the troops replied. But the priest said, “We must consult God here.”

Then Saul gave up his pursuit of the Philistines, and the Philistines returned to their own land.

So Saul summoned the troops and numbered them at Telaim—200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.