How was Jonathan able to say this?

[JennyG]

1 Sam 14, v 8-10:
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them.
If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place and will not go up unto them.
But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up; for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us.

It isn't like when Gideon put out the fleece, when he was a bit apologetic about praying for a sign twice. It isn't even like Abraham's servant specifying the sign Rebecca was to give him, because again, he prayed for it to be so first.

I'm wondering if anyone can say why it was not presumptuous for Jonathan to think up a test like this apparently off the top of his head, and then proceed on the assumption God would honour it -? Of course God did honour it, so it can't have been presumption!

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Here's how I read it:

Jonathan and his aide are conducting their military affairs, (the context is the divine-army), they are acting wholly out of faith. In NT terms, we might even be so bold as to say they are manifestly "Spirit-led." Remember, this is not just a battle-report. This is a prophetic report of a significant action. It's purpose is to inform (in this case) the faithful acts of these two.

Jonathan's thought seems to go like this:
1) We are out here to hunt the enemy, and take their lives. These are oppressors.
2) There are some of the enemy, but what should we do in this circumstance?
3) Whatever we do, in faith, the Lord will bless. If we should die in the midst of our work, we have the confidence that was God's will for us as his soldiers.
4) Here's a plan of attack:

a) let's show ourselves to them--note that there's no plan to run; maybe they will need to, maybe not.
b) if they tell us to "Halt!" we will let them come to us--and then we will decide how to proceed as they advance.
c) if they tell us to come to their place, we will do it--they think they are bossing us about, and we are wimpy and compliant.
d) that overconfidence is our opening--we will shock them with our ferocious attack; the Lord deliver one or two of them to us anyway!​

I think the word about the "sign" is simply a statement of faith. They plan to treat the demand/invitation to "come up" as divinely ordained circumstance. The outcome which we read now on the page is the only necessary "validation" that God used this engagement according to the faith of these men.

We don't need to impute presumption to them, if they were willing to leave the outcome to God. They reported what they said and did, and the prophet wrote it down, and gave the divine seal to their work after the fact.

 

[JennyG]

That's very helpful indeed. I couldn't say it was a real problem, since the outcome is clear enough, but now I see what Jonathan's actual thought process must have been, which was what I didn't before.
Thank you very much for taking the trouble!