Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:
I mean this was a tremendous formidable force of the Philistines that had come against them. People were hiding. Some were actually deserting, crossing Jordan going over to the other side to Gad, to Gilead, and those that were with Saul were trembling.