“What have you done?”
The question has to be asked even when the answer is known (Genesis 3:8-9).
“The people were… you had not… besides that, the Philistines… So I felt I had to…”
“That was a foolish thing to do… You have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you.”
There is no “I felt I had to” when it comes to not obeying God. And justifying our behavior by looking to others is always a very bad sign (Genesis 3:12-13; 1 Samuel 15:20-21).
“If you had obeyed, he would have let you…”
Despite all my faults / limitations and by the grace of God, I believe myself to be still on Plan A for my life. May I never hear the phrase, “If you had obeyed…”
“…the Lord will find the kind of man he wants…”
May I ever be the kind of man you want, Lord (Acts 13:22)!
“The Philistine soldiers went out on raids from their camp in three groups…”
The tip of the spear. The principles underlying war tactics have never changed.
“The Israelites had to go to the Philistines to get their plows, hoes, axes, and sickles sharpened; the charge was one small coin for sharpening axes and for fixing goads, and two coins for sharpening plows or hoes.“
This clearly shows good will on the part of the Philistines to coexist with the Israelites (1 Samuel 14:21; Judges 15:6). That technology possessed by the Philistines was the “nuclear bomb” of the age. I wonder: was it David who brought it back from his time with the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:1-4)?