# Saul acts before Samuel arrives United Kingdom · Draft · BSB Content revision: 169ca54c500f5edf · No editorial review date recorded [Citation / readable page](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/saul-gilgal-offering/) [Open interactive map](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?event=saul-gilgal-offering) [Markdown](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/saul-gilgal-offering/index.md) [JSON](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/saul-gilgal-offering/index.json) Date: Early Saul · Conflict with the Philistines Facing Philistine forces and the dispersal of his army, Saul offers the burnt offering at Gilgal before Samuel arrives. Samuel announces that Saul’s kingdom will not endure and that the LORD has sought another leader. This warning concerns Saul’s dynasty; chapter 15 adds a further announcement of rejection. The surrounding account describes Israel’s military fear and lack of weapons. The damaged age-and-reign formula in verse 1 is not used here to calculate exact dates. ## Primary Scripture [1 Samuel 13:1–23 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2013%3A1%E2%80%9323&version=BSB) 13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years. 13:2 He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home. 13:3 Then Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. So Saul blew the ram’s horn throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 13:4 And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. 13:5 Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns. 13:7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, remained at Gilgal, and all his troops were quaking in fear. 13:8 And Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the troops began to desert Saul. 13:9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered up the burnt offering. 13:10 Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 13:11 “What have you done?” Samuel asked. And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash, 13:12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will descend upon me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” 13:13 “You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 13:14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the LORD.” 13:15 Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men. 13:16 Now Saul and Jonathan his son and the troops with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Michmash. 13:17 And raiders went out of the Philistine camp in three divisions. One headed toward Ophrah in the land of Shual, 13:18 another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness. 13:19 And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.” 13:20 Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles. 13:21 The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad. 13:22 So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons. 13:23 And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash. ## Related Scripture [1 Samuel 10:8 · teaching](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2010%3A8&version=BSB) Samuel’s earlier instruction tells Saul to wait at Gilgal until he arrives. ## Location evidence Gilgal’s exact location is disputed, so the marker and shaded area indicate a broad proposed setting, not an altar or battlefield. Event map marker: Approximate region; \[longitude, latitude\] = \[35.49, 31.87\]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue. Gilgal (lower Jordan region): Approximate region. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[35.49, 31.87\]. Classification source: editorial. Illustrative regional extent: \[\[35.44,31.82\],\[35.54,31.92\]\]; not a measured confidence interval. [Biblical setting · Joshua 4:19-5:12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%204:19-5:12&version=BSB) [OpenBible · possible locations / region](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/ab94aea/gilgal-1) Michmash: Proposed site. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[35.276858, 31.872817\]. Classification source: editorial. [OpenBible.info: Michmash (CC BY 4.0)](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/adea06c/michmash) [Biblical setting · Joshua 4:19-5:12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%204:19-5:12&version=BSB) [OpenBible · possible locations / region](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/ab94aea/gilgal-1) [BSB textual footnotes: 1 Samuel 13:1](https://biblehub.com/bsb/1_samuel/13.htm) ## For the class How does pressure affect Saul’s response to an instruction he has received? ## Interpretation and reuse Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review. Record source: editorial (content/authored/united-kingdom.json) Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0. Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas. Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm [Use this atlas with AI / data documentation](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/ai/)