(22) There was neither sword nor spear.--These words must not be pressed too literally. The general result of the raids alluded to in 1Samuel 13:16-17 was that in the open valleys of Southern Canaan, especially in the Benjamite territory, the districts whence Saul and Jonathan could most easily recruit their thinned and dispirited forces, there was an absence of arms. This fact is especially dwelt upon, for the Philistines appear to have armed their fighting men to the teeth. (Compare the description of their champion, Goliath, who is described as "clad in armour.")

But with Saul.--These words probably signify that the companies of regulars, who throughout this disastrous period were always with the king and prince, were--in contrast to the country people around--fully armed. (See allusion, for instance, to Jonathan and his armour-bearer in the next chapter.)

Verse 22. - There was neither sword, etc. Armed only with clubs and their farming implements, it is no wonder that the people were afraid of fighting the Philistines, who, as we gather from the description of Goliath's armour, were clad in mail; nor is it surprising that they despised and neglected Saul and his few men, whom probably they regarded as an unarmed mob of rustics. The Ammonites probably were far less efficiently armed than the Philistines, who, as commanding the sea coast, could import weapons from Greece.

13:15-23 See how politic the Philistines were when they had power; they not only prevented the people of Israel from making weapons of war, but obliged them to depend upon their enemies, even for instruments of husbandry. How impolitic Saul was, who did not, in the beginning of his reign, set himself to redress this. Want of true sense always accompanies want of grace. Sins which appear to us very little, have dangerous consequences. Miserable is a guilty, defenceless nation; much more those who are destitute of the whole armour of God.So it came to pass in the day of battle,.... When that drew near, and they were called to it, and obliged to fight or flee, or surrender:

that there were neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: which was not owing to their leaving them behind in the camp, or casting them away from them through fear, as they followed Saul with trembling, but to the cause now mentioned. In what manner some preceding battles were fought with the Philistines and Ammonites, notwithstanding, have been accounted for on 1 Samuel 13:19, but it is strange that the Israelites did not furnish themselves with the arms of the Philistines at the defeat of them in Ebenezer, 1 Samuel 7:10 and with the arms of the Ammonites at Jabeshgilead, 1 Samuel 11:11 and that such a warlike prince as Saul appeared at his first setting out to be should not in the first place take care to provide armour for his men by some means or another; for that those that left him should have arms, and not those that abode with him, does not seem reasonable. It may be the Benjamites, being expert in slinging, were indifferent to and neglected the use of any other weapon, or method of fighting:

but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found; swords and spears, and with them only.