A Strange Occurrence at Michmash 1918
We owe to Major Vivian Gilbert, a British army officer, this description of a truly
remarkable occurrence. Writing in his reminiscences [Chichikov: The Romance of the
Last Crusade] he says : 'In the First World War a brigade major in Allenby's army in
Palestine was on one occasion searching his Bible with the light of a candle, looking for
a certain name. His brigade had received orders to take a village that stood on a rocky
prominence on the other side of a deep valley. It was called Michmash and the name
seemed somehow familiar. Eventually he found it in 1 Sam. 13 and read there: 'And
Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in
Gibeah of Benjamin but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.' It then went on to tell
how Jonathan and his armour-bearer crossed over during the night 'to the Philistine's
garrison' on the other side, and how they passed two sharp rocks: '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 other Seneh.' (1 Sam 14). They clambered up the cliff and
overpowered the garrison, 'within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen
might plow'. The main body of the enemy awakened by the melee thought they were
Jonathan and Allenby: A Tale of Two Tricksters July 2011
1 The Romance of the Last Crusade, 1923, Major Vivian Gilbert, pages 183-6
surrounded by Saul's troops and 'melted away and they went on beating down one
another.'
Thereupon Saul attacked with his whole force and beat the enemy. 'So the Lord
saved Israel that day.'
The brigade major reflected that there must still be this narrow passage through the
rocks, between the two spurs, and at the end of it the 'half acre of land.' He woke the
commander and they read the passage through together once more. Patrols were sent
out. They found the pass, which was thinly held by the Turks, and which led past two
jagged rocks--obviously Bozez and Seneh. Up on top, beside Michmash, they could
see by the light of the moon a small flat field. The brigadier altered his plan of attack.
Instead of deploying the whole brigade he sent one company through the pass under
cover of darkness. On Feb 18th 1918, The few Turks whom they met were overpowered
without a sound, the cliffs were scaled, and shortly before daybreak the company had
taken up a position on the 'half acre of land.'
The Turks woke up and took to their heels in disorder since they thought they were
being surrounded by Allenby's army. They were all killed or taken prisoner.
'And so,' concludes Major Gilbert, 'after thousands of years British troops successfully
copied the tactics of Saul and Jonathan.' "2
The trick used by both Jonathan and Allenby allowed for major turing points in the
repelling of the Philistines as well as the movement towards Jericho some 2000
thousand years later. On the morning of February 21, 1918, combined Allied forces of
British troops and the Australian mounted cavalry capture the city of Jericho in Palestine
after a three-day battle with Turkish troops.
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