no reliable estimates no reliable estimates | Result Israelite victory | |
about 4,000 soldiers and militia men 180-200 chariots and infantry, 4,600 men in total Similar Siege of Jebus, Jewish–Babylonian war, Siege of Azekah, Sack of Jerusalem, Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem | ||
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.
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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. 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.
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." Jonathan is recalled to have found a secret path around the Phillistines, allowing him to flank them and defeat them.
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." 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." 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.