Battle of Michmash
| Battle of Michmash | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Later Israelite Campaigns | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Israelites | Phillistines | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Jonathan | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
3,000 soldiers 1,000 militia men Total: 4,000 Israelite soldiers |
180-200 hamashhith units(each consisting of a 4-man chariot guarded by three units of four soldiers) 3,000 infantry Total: 6,200 Philistine soldiers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| no reliable estimates | no reliable estimates | ||||||
| ||||||
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
The first book of Samuel states that the Philistines were encamped near the city of Michmash with a massive army consisting of about 30,000 chariots, 6,000 cavalry, and an unknown number of infantry. Modern-day scholars believe that the highest number of infantry that the Philistines had in their army was probably around 50,000-60,000 heavy infantry, armed with spears, swords, and bronze round shields. The Israelites under their king Saul numbered around 3,000 men, 2,000 of whom were commanded by Saul and the remaining 1,000 by his son Jonathan. The book of Samuel states that the Philistines sent out large numbers of their troops out to raid the surrounding countryside, leaving only a small garrison behind to guard the narrow mountain pass near the city of Michmash.
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 6,200 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
Sources
- Richard A. Gabriel (2003), The Military History of Ancient Israel, Praeger, ISBN 0-275-97798-6