Battle of Michmash

Part of Later Israelite Campaigns

Date	c 1025 BCE
Location	Michmash, Israel
Result	Israelite victory

Belligerents

Israelites

Phillistines

Commanders and leaders

Jonathan

Unknown

Strength

about 4,000 soldiers and militia men

180-200 chariots and infantry, 4,600 men in total

Casualties and losses

no reliable estimates

Later Israelite Campaigns

Mount Tabor Spring of Harod Valley of Elah Michmash Mount Gilboa Jebus

Campaigns of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah

Battle of Michmash Siege of Jebus Sack of Jerusalem (10th century BC) Battle of Qarqar Siege of Azekah Siege of Lachish Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem Sennacherib's campaign in Judah Battle of Megiddo (609 BC) Jewish–Babylonian war Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC) Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)

According to the Bible, the Battle of Michmash was fought between Israelites under Jonathan, son of King Saul and a force of Phillistines at Michmash, a town east of Bethel and south of Migron.^[1]

Strength of combatant armies

According to a modern estimate, Saul's army consisted entirely from infantry, about 3,000 soldiers and 1,000 militia men.^[2] Phillistine army strength is estimated at about 4,600 men, consisting of 3,000 infantry soldiers and 180-200 special hamashhith units. Each hamashhith was composed of a chariot carrying 3-4 men with javelins, swords and spears and three squads of infantry runners, 4-men each.^[3]

Biblical account

As described in 1 Samuel 13, "Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped in Michmash."^[4] Jonathan is recalled to have found a secret path around the Phillistines, allowing him to flank them and defeat them.^[5]

Jonathan silently approached the Phillistine garrison with his armour-bearer, not telling his father of the act, and passed two rocky crags: "there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez and the name of the other Seneh."^[6] The two single-handedly climbed the ramparts and attacked the garrison "within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plough." They are said to have killed twenty men together. The remainder of the camp awoke with confusion, and "melted away and they went on beating down one another."^[7] Finally, a miraculous earthquake threw the entire Phillistine host into disarray. Drawn by the sounds of combat, Saul approached the garrison with his own force only to find that the army had already torn itself apart in fear, with the majority of survivors fleeing from Saul's army.

References

↑ Isa. 10:28
↑ Gabriel (2003), p. 208
↑ Gabriel (2003), p. 207
↑ 1 Sam. 13:16
↑ 1 Sam. 14:5
↑ 1 Sam. 14:4
↑ 1 Sam. 14:14-16

Sources

Richard A. Gabriel (2003), The Military History of Ancient Israel, Praeger, ISBN 0-275-97798-6

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