How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for now has there been no great slaughter among the Philistines.
An oath was an extremely serious matter in the ancient Near East (1 Samuel 14:26; cf. Judges 14:8-9). One did not violate a king’s oath without suffering severe consequences. Jonathan saw the folly of Saul’s oath clearly because he wanted God’s glory (1 Samuel 14:29-30). The Hebrew word translated "troubled" (1 Samuel 14:29, ’akar) is the same one from which "Achan" and "Achor" come (Joshua 7:25-26). Saul, not Jonathan, had troubled Israel, as Achan had, by his foolish command (1 Samuel 14:24).