Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
God caused the Philistines to fight one another (1 Samuel 14:20; cf. Judges 7:22; 2 Chronicles 20:23). Some Israelite deserters or mercenaries who were fighting for the Philistines even changed their allegiance and took sides with Jonathan. The tide of battle had turned. Beth-aven stood near Michmash, but the exact site is uncertain.