Nahash, the Ammonite king, besieges Jabesh-gilead, prompting its inhabitants to seek a peace treaty in exchange for submission. He offers a brutal condition of gouging out their right eyes, intending to disgrace Israel, while the citizens request seven days to seek help. This siege occurs shortly after Saul's election as king, with Jabesh-gilead being historically significant for its connection to Israel's conflicts with Ammon and their past destruction by Israelite forces.

1. 1 SAMUEL 11 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Saul Rescues the City of Jabesh
1 Nahash[a] the Ammonite went up and besieged
Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to
him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be
subject to you.”
BARNES, "Nahash was king of the children of Ammon, as appears from 1Sa_12:12.
He seems to have been connected with the family of David, since Abigail, David’s sister,
was “the daughter (perhaps granddaughter) of Nahash” 2Sa_17:25; 1Ch_2:16-17; and,
perhaps, in consequence of this connection, he and his family were very friendly to
David 2Sa_17:27.
Jabesh-Gilead must have been re-populated after its destruction (see marginal
reference). The Ammonites and Moabites resented the possession of Gilead by the
Israelites Jdg_10:6-18; 11.
CLARKE, "Nahash the Ammonite - In the Vulgate this chapter begins thus: Et
factum est quasi post mensem, “And it came to pass about a month after.” This addition
appears also in the principal copies of the Septuagint; though it is wanting in the
Complutensian edition, both in the Greek and Latin, and is not acknowledged by any of
the Oriental versions. But it is in Josephus, and probably was inserted from him into
some copies of the Septuagint, and thence into the Vulgate. It appears to be of very little
authority.
We know little about Nahash; there was a king of this name among the Ammonites in
the time of David, 2Sa_10:2, but probably not the same person. Nahash might have been
a common name of the Ammonitish kings.
1

2. Make a covenant with us - They found they were in no condition to risk a war; and
they wish to have peace, and desire to know his conditions.
GILL, "Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against
Jabeshgilead,.... A month after, as in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, that
is, a month after Saul was chosen king; so Josephus (p): this prince was preparing for
war against Israel before, which they hearing of, requested they might have a king to go
before them in battle, 1Sa_12:12 but now he actually marched from his own country, and
besieged Jabeshgilead, a city in the land of Gilead, from whence it had its name, and lay
in the half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan, see Jdg_21:8. It lay near to the
Ammonites, and was part of the country they laid claim to in the times of Jephthah,
which they now renewed, and attempted to gain it by force. This Nahash was king of the
Ammonites, as he is called in the Targum, and by Josephus (q), and so in the Arabic
version, see 1Sa_12:12.
and all the men of Jabeshgilead said unto Nahash, make a covenant with us;
they desired to be his allies and confederates, live in peace and friendship with him, and
enjoy their religion and liberties on certain conditions they were willing to come into;
and this was the sense of them all, or at least the greatest part, which showed a mean
and abject spirit in them, to make no defence of themselves, but as soon as besieged to
move for a capitulation. This doubtless arose from a sense of their weakness, not being
able to hold it out long, and from an apprehension that their brethren the Israelites, on
the other side Jordan, could give them no assistance, being in an unsettled condition,
having chosen a king, and he scarcely on the throne, and the Philistines having great
power over them:
and we will serve thee; not as slaves, but as tributaries; they were willing to pay a
yearly tax to him.
HENRY, "The Ammonites were bad neighbours to those tribes of Israel that lay next
them, though descendants from just Lot, and, for that reason, dealt civilly with by Israel.
See Deu_2:19. Jephthah, in his time, had humbled them, but now the sin of Israel had
put them into a capacity to make head again, and avenge that quarrel. The city of
Jabesh-Gilead had been, some ages ago, destroyed by Israel's sword of justice, for not
appearing against the wickedness of Gibeah (Jdg_21:10); and now being replenished
again, probably by the posterity of those that then escaped the sword, it is in danger of
being destroyed by the Ammonites, as if some bad fate attended the place. Nahash, king
of Ammon (1Ch_19:1) laid siege to it. Now here,
I. The besieged beat a parley (1Sa_11:1): “Make a covenant with us, and we will
surrender upon terms, and serve thee.” They had lost the virtue of Israelites, else they
would not have thus lost the valour of Israelites, nor tamely yielded to serve an
Ammonite, without one bold struggle for themselves. Had they not broken their
covenant with God, and forsaken his service, they needed not thus to have courted a
covenant with a Gentile nation, and offered themselves to serve them.
2

3. JAMISON, "1Sa_11:1-4. Nahash offers them of Jabesh-gilead a reproachful
condition.
Then Nahash the Ammonite came up — Nahash (“serpent”); (see Jdg_8:3). The
Ammonites had long claimed the right of original possession in Gilead. Though
repressed by Jephthah (Jdg_11:33), they now, after ninety years, renew their
pretensions; and it was the report of their threatened invasion that hastened the
appointment of a king (1Sa_12:12).
Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee — They saw no prospect of aid
from the western Israelites, who were not only remote, but scarcely able to repel the
incursions of the Philistines from themselves.
K&D, "Saul's Victory over the Ammonites. - Even after the election by lot at Mizpeh,
Saul did not seize upon the reins of government at once, but returned to his father's
house in Gibeah, and to his former agricultural occupation; not, however, merely from
personal humility and want of ambition, but rather from a correct estimate of the
circumstances. The monarchy was something so new in Israel, that the king could not
expect a general and voluntary recognition of his regal dignity and authority, especially
after the conduct of the worthless people mentioned in 1Sa_10:27, until he had answered
their expectations from a king (1Sa_8:6, 1Sa_8:20), and proved himself a deliverer of
Israel from its foes by a victorious campaign. But as Jehovah had chosen him ruler over
his people without any seeking on his part, he would wait for higher instructions to act,
before he entered upon the government. The opportunity was soon given him.
1Sa_11:1-5
Nahash, the king of the Ammonites (cf. 1Sa_12:12; 2Sa_10:2), attacked the tribes on
the east of the Jordan, no doubt with the intention of enforcing the claim to part of
Gilead asserted by his ancestor in the time of Jephthah (Jdg_11:13), and besieged
Jabesh in Gilead,
(Note: The time of this campaign is not mentioned in the Hebrew text. But it is
very evident from 1Sa_12:12, where the Israelites are said to have desired a king,
when they saw that Nahash had come against them, that Nahash had invaded Gilead
before the election of Saul as king. The Septuagint, however, renders the words
‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫ֲר‬‫ח‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫כ‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫ה‬ְ‫ַי‬‫ו‬ (1Sa_10:27) by καὶ ἐγενήθη ὡς μετὰ μῆνα, and therefore the
translators must have read ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ֹד‬‫ח‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫,כּ‬ which Ewald and Thenius would adopt as an
emendation of the Hebrew text. But all the other ancient versions give the Masoretic
text, viz., not only the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, but even Jerome, who renders it
ille vero dissimulabat se audire. It is true that in our present Vulgate text these
words are followed by et factum est quasi post mensem; but this addition has no
doubt crept in from the Itala. With the general character of the Septuagint, the
rendering of ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫ֲר‬‫ח‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫כ‬ by ὡς μετὰ μῆνα is no conclusive proof that the word in their
Hebrew Codex was ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ֹד‬‫ח‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫;כּ‬ it simply shows that this was the interpretation which
they gave to ‫.כמחריש‬ And Josephus (vi. 5, 1), who is also appealed to, simply
establishes the fact that ὡς μετὰ μῆνα stood in the Sept. version of his day, since he
made use of this version and not of the original text. Moreover, we cannot say with
Ewald, that this was the last place in which the time could be overlooked; for it is
3

4. perfectly evident that Nahash commenced the siege of Jabesh shortly after the
election of Saul at Mizpeh, as we may infer from the verb ‫ל‬ַ‫ַע‬‫יּ‬ַ‫ו‬, when taken in
connection with the fact implied in 1Sa_12:12, that he had commenced the war with
the Israelites before this. And lastly, it is much more probable that the lxx changed
‫כמחריש‬ into ‫,כמחדש‬ than that the Hebrew readers of the Old Testament should
have altered ‫כמחדש‬ into ‫,כמחריש‬ without defining the time more precisely by ‫ד‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫,א‬
or some other number.)
- according to Josephus the metropolis of Gilead, and probably situated by the Wady
Jabes (see at Jdg_21:8); from which we may see that he must have penetrated very far
into the territory of the Israelites. The inhabitants of Jabesh petitioned the Ammonites
in their distress, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee;” i.e., grant us
favourable terms, and we will submit.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:1. Then — That is, about that time; for that this happened
before, and was the occasion of their desire of a king, may seem from 1 Samuel
12:12; although it is possible that Nahash’s preparation might cause that desire, and
that he did not actually come till their king was chosen. Will serve — The occasion
of this offer was, that they saw no likelihood of relief from their brethren in Canaan.
COFFMAN, "THE THIRD AND FINAL PHASE OF SAUL'S SELECTION AS
GOD'S APPOINTED KING OF ISRAEL
The first phase of Saul's rise to the kingship was his anointing by Samuel (1 Samuel
10:1), which was a secret to the general public and even to members of Saul's
family. The second phase was his choice by the casting of lots at Mizpah, which was
generally known throughout Israel, but not known universally in Israel and not
even accepted by all the people. On this account, Samuel sent everyone to his own
home, and Israel waited for further developments which came almost at once. The
final phase of Saul's ascending the throne of Israel is dramatically presented in this
short chapter.
NAHASH'S ATTACK UPON JABESH-GILEAD
"Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men
of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a treaty with us and we will serve you." But
Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "On this condition I will make a treaty with
you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus put disgrace upon all Israel." The
elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days respite that we may send
4

5. messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we
will give ourselves up to you." When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they
reported the matter in the ears of the people; and all the people wept aloud."
"Nahash the Ammonite" (1 Samuel 11:1). Lockyer identified two Biblical characters
of this name: (1) the evil marauder here and (2) "The father of Shobi (2 Samuel
10:2; 1 Chronicles 19:1,2) who is spoken of as a friend of David at a later time."[1]
The same scholar gave the meaning of Nahash as "serpent," or "oracle."
Payne wrote that, "The narrator here suddenly switches to a new topic,"[2] but to
this writer it seems mandatory to see only one subject throughout 1 Samuel 8-11,
namely, the elevation of Saul to the throne of Israel. Every word of these four
chapters is focused on that one event.
H. P. Smith wrote that the author of this chapter seemed to be totally unaware that
Saul had been chosen as Israel's king at Mizpah;[3] but, as we shall note below, the
sacred text flatly denies such an opinion. In fact, Samuel, by sending every one home
following the events at Mizpah, actually anticipated something very similar to what
is related here (1 Samuel 10:25,26). The failure of Israel unanimously to accept Saul
as their king required that God would providentially bring about some further
event that would effectively achieve his purpose. That event was the invasion of
Nahash, his shameful and insulting treatment of the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, and
Saul's vigorous and successful response to it.
"Jabesh-gilead" (1 Samuel 11:1). This is the town that was destroyed by the
Israelites because of their failure to take part in the war against Benjamin (Judges
21:8-15). "It was located nine or ten miles southeast of the ancient town of
Bethshan, only two miles east of the Jordan river on the Wadi Yabis, a tributary to
the Jordan, and has been identified with the modern Tell Abu Kharaz."[4] Saul's
rescue of this town resulted in their lasting affection for him; and when, at the end
of Saul's reign, the Philistines defeated him and brought about his death, and after
they cut off his head and hung Saul's body on the fortress of Bethshan, the citizens
of Jabesh-gilead recovered Saul's body in a daring night long raid and gave his
remains an honorable burial (1 Samuel 31:8-13).
5

6. "On this condition ... that I gouge out all your right eyes" (1 Samuel 11:2). The
savage nature of the Ammonites is attested in Amos 1:13, where it is recorded that,
"They ripped up the women with child of Gilead." Josephus gave Nahash's purpose
here in the gouging out of their eyes as that of making them incapable of warfare.
The soldiers of that day carried shields which usually covered the left eye, hence, a
man with his right eye blinded would be incapable of fighting.[5] However, our text
here indicates that Nahash on this raid was more interested in bringing disgrace and
shame upon all Israel. He was no doubt interested also in gaining the territory
which the Ammonites had claimed back in the days of Jephthah (Judges 11:4-33).
We reject the emendations which scholars have made to the text here on the basis of
what is written in the LXX. As Keil said, "All the ancient versions give the
Masoretic Text, not only the Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic, but even Jerome ... It is
perfectly evident that Nahash began his siege of Jabesh-gilead shortly after the
election of Saul as king at Mizpah."[6] The only reason for denying this lies in the
efforts of critics to establish their theory of "two sources."
It is surprising that Nahash would have granted the citizens of Jabesh-gilead seven
days in which to seek help from their fellow Israelites; but it seems to have occurred
to Nahash that, after such an effort, his purpose of disgracing all Israel would be
even more effective. Besides, his arrogant over-confidence made him certain that
they would be unable to get any relief.
Note that the citizens of the beleaguered Jabesh-gilead knew nothing of Saul's being
made king. This was absolutely in keeping with the detached location of their city,
that, in all probability, having been the principal reason that they did not respond in
the war against Benjamin. There is nothing abnormal or surprising in their failure
to know that Saul was king of Israel.
ELLICOTT, " (1) Nahash the Ammonite.—Nahash was king of the children of
Ammon (see 1 Samuel 12:12). This royal family was in some way related to David
(see 2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:16-17). At the time of David’s exile owing to the
rebellion of Absalom, a son of Nahash the Ammonite is specially mentioned as
showing kindness to the fugitive king. Jabesh-gilead was a city situated in Northern
6

7. Gilead, in the territory assigned to Manasseh. Josephus states that it was the capital
of the country of Gilead. The Ammonites were a kindred race to the Moabites, being
descended from the same ancestor, the patriarch Lot. They asserted that a portion
of their territory had been taken from them by Israel, and in the days of the judges
sorely harassed the people. The Judge Jephthah attacked and defeated them with
great slaughter.
It was, no doubt, to avenge the disgrace they had suffered at the hands of Jephthah
that their warlike monarch, Nahash,—deeming the opportunity a favourable one,
owing to the old age of the reigning judge, Samuel,—invaded the Israelitic country
bordering upon his kingdom, and besieged the city of Jabesh-gilead.
Make a covenant with us.—The citizens of Jabesh-gilead, feeling their isolation and
comparative remoteness from the chief centre of the people, were willing to pay a
tribute to the Ammonite king, and made him overtures to this effect.
HAWKER, "This Chapter opens with an account of Israel's distress, by reason Of
the Ammonites' daring encampment against Jabesh-Gilead. The Gileadites are
disposed to submit to the Ammonites, but their terms are both insolent and cruel.
Saul being made acquainted with the circumstances of the case, commands all Israel
to assemble for the relief of the Gileadites. He routs the Ammonites in battle, and
makes a very great slaughter of them. All Israel rejoice, in consequence thereof, and
are full of praises of their new king.
1 Samuel 11:1
(1) ¶ Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and
all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve
thee.
These Ammonites were relations to Israel, being the descendants of Lot. And if the
Reader will consult Deuteronomy 2:19, he will find how graciously the Lord dealt
with them on that account. This was but a poor requital to Gilead. But when sin
7

8. weakens, every enemy takes advantage.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:1 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped
against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant
with us, and we will serve thee.
Ver. 1. Then Nahash the Ammonite came up.] After long preparations, [1 Samuel
12:12] and for the old hatred, [Ezekiel 25:15] and upon the old claim, [ 11:13] as also
to revenge the overthrow then given them by Jephthah.
And encamped against Jabeshgilead.] Because it lay near to their country, and had
been much weakened by that cruel slaughter of their men, [ 21:6] and not like to be
relieved, because the Israelites were ill-agreed among themselves about the choice of
their new king. [1 Samuel 10:27]
Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.] Take us for thy confederates, and
not for thy slaves. This was to make as good terms for themselves as they could; but
they should not have made any with that accursed nation. [Deuteronomy 23:3]
COKE, "1 Samuel 11:1-2. Then Nahash the Ammonite— Saul had not long to wait
for an occasion to shew himself worthy of the kingdom of Israel. Nahash, a king or
general of the Ammonites, came against Israel. This was one of the pretences which
the Israelites made use of for a change of government, ch. 1 Samuel 12:12.; and it
seems that they had sufficient grounds for a fear of this invasion, as Nahash appears
to have been a man of a most cruel and insolent disposition, from the terms which
he proposed to the men of Jabesh, which were no less disgraceful than barbarous.
See Psalmanazar's last Essay.
CONSTABLE, "Verses 1-5
The Ammonite siege of Jabesh-gilead 11:1-5
The Ammonites were Israel's enemies to the east. They were descendants of Lot
whom Jephthah had defeated earlier (Judges 11:12-33). Nahash evidently sought
8

9. revenge for Jephthah's victory over his nation. Jabesh-gilead lay a few miles east of
the Jordan Valley and about 25 miles south of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee).
Chinnereth is the Hebrew word for "lyre." The lake has the shape of a lyre, which
accounts for this name. The men of Jabesh-gilead offered to surrender and serve the
Ammonites provided Nahash would make a covenant with them rather than
slaughtering them.
Nahash's purpose to put out the right eye of his enemies was not uncommon in that
day. This wound made a conquered nation easier to control, and it testified to the
conqueror's superior power. Specifically it made aiming arrows with the right eye
impossible and therefore precluded a military revolt. Perhaps Nahash's decision to
attack Jabesh-gilead was the result of the Israelites breaking a treaty with his
nation.
"In the ancient Near East, the physical mutilation, dismemberment, or death of an
animal or human victim could be expected as the inevitable penalty for treaty
violation." [Note: Youngblood, p. 637.]
Nahash's willingness to let his enemies appeal for help shows that he had no fear
that threatening reinforcements would come. He was sure of his superiority and
may even have viewed the delay as an opportunity to ensure victory. At this time
Israel lacked a central government, national solidarity, and a standing army.
However, Saul was now Israel's king.
The announcement of the messengers from Jabesh-gilead led the people in Saul's
hometown, as well as elsewhere undoubtedly, to weep. They had again forgotten
God's promises to protect them since they were His people. Their reaction was a
result of viewing the situation from the natural perspective only. Contrast the
perspective of Caleb and Joshua earlier.
Why was Saul at home farming now that he was Israel's king? He had not yet
received direction from God or Samuel to do anything else, as far as we know. The
fact that he, the anointed king, was plowing also shows his humility. Estate owners
9

10. never worked the land themselves. [Note: Marvin Chaney, "Systemic Study of the
Israelite Monarchy," Semeia 37 (1986):61.] Furthermore he was willing to work
hard. Thus he was not self-centered at this time (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:5).
LANGE, "I. Saul’s Victory over the Ammonites. 1 Samuel 11:1-15
1Then [And][FN1] Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against[FN2]
Jabesh-Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said unto [to] Nahash, Make a covenant
with 2 us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered [said to]
them, On this condition will I make a covenant[FN3] with you, that I may
thrust[FN4] out 3 all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And
the elders of Jabesh said unto [to] him, Give[FN5] us seven days respite, that we
may send messengers unto all the coasts[FN6] of Israel, and then [om. then] if there
be no man to save 4 us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers [And
the messengers came] to Gibeah of Saul,[FN7] and told the tidings[FN8] in the ears
of the people; and all people lifted up their voices and wept.
5And behold, Saul came after the herd [oxen] out of [from] the field. And Saul said,
What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of 6 the men of
Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those7[these] tidings,
and his anger was kindled greatly. And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in
pieces[FN9], and sent them[FN10] throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hand of
messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so
shall it be done unto [to] his oxen. And the fear of the Lord [Jehovah] fell on the
people, and they came out with one consent [as one man].
8And when [om. when] he numbered them in Bezek, [ins. and] the children of 9
Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.[FN11]
And they said unto [to] the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto [to] the
men of Jabesh Gilead, To-morrow, by that [the] time the sun be hot,[FN12] ye shall
have help. And the messengers came and showed [announced] it to the men of
Jabesh; and 10 they were glad. Therefore [And] the men of Jabesh said, To-morrow
we will come out unto [to] you, and ye shall do with [to] us all that seemeth good
unto11[to] you. And it was so [came to pass] on the morrow that Saul put the people
in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning-watch,
and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day, and it came to pass that they
10

11. which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.
12And the people said unto [to] Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over
13 us?[FN13] bring[FN14]the men that we may put them to death. And Saul said,
There shall not a man be put to death this day; for to-day the Lord [Jehovah] hath
wrought 14 salvation in Israel. Then said Samuel [and Samuel said] to the people,
Come, and 15 let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. And all the people
went to Gilgal, and there they [om. they] made[FN15] Saul king before the Lord
[Jehovah] in Gilgal, and there they [om. there they] sacrificed sacrifices of peace-
offerings [ins. there] before the Lord [Jehovah]; and there Saul[FN16] and all the
men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1 Samuel 11:1-4. The siege of Jabesh by Nahash, king of the Ammonites.
1 Samuel 11:1. The need of a vigorous single leadership in war against the
surrounding hostile peoples, especially in the first instance for the war threatened
by the Ammonites ( 1 Samuel 12:12), had occasioned the people’s desire for a strong
regal government like that of those nations. God had yielded to their desire, and
through Samuel given them a king. But this king, after having been publicly
presented and greeted as king, had with-drawn into seclusion. For a part of the
people were unwilling to accept the new order of things under Saul’s kingly
authority, not believing that he could rescue the people from the threatening danger.
It was, therefore, all-important that Saul should, by some deed of deliverance, show
himself to be the king, who could lead Israel to victory over their enemies. A waiting
the moment when he could display his strength with the Lord’s help as his
Anointed, he had kept silence before the contempt of his enemies, and had retired to
the quiet of his accustomed rural occupations. And not long after the day of Mizpah
came the peril, in view of which the demand had been made for a king to lead the
people to battle. Nahash, the Ammonite, advanced with an army, and began the war
against Israel with the siege of Jabesh-Gilead. The Sept. inserts at the beginning of
this verse from the preceding ( 1 Samuel 10:27) the words: “and it came to pass after
a month,”[FN17] and is followed by Ew. and Then, though all other ancient
11

12. translations agree with the mas. text, only the Vulg. adds to the translation of the
text the words: et factum est quasi post mensem, an addition originating probably in
the Itala, which follows the Sept. The statement of time is evidently an
interpretation of the translation.[FN18] It is the less necessary for the connection by
reason of the looseness of the chronology here. According to 1 Samuel 12:12 the
threatened war with the Ammonites was the immediate occasion of the demand for
a king. Naturally, therefore, Nahash, having before made his preparations, entered
the Israelitish territory soon after the king was chosen and confirmed. If it had been
intended to give this datum of time the word “one” must necessarily have been
inserted.—On Nahash,[FN19] king of the Ammonites, see on 2 Samuel 10:2. We
have here a renewal of the war with the Ammonites, which (according to Judges
10:11) Israel had victoriously carried on under Jephthah. No doubt Nahash made
the same charge against Israel—claiming the territory east of the Jordan which, it
was alleged, Israel had taken from the Ammonites—which was then made by the
king and repelled by Jeph. ( Judges 11:13 sq.). Comp. Joshua 13:25. Jephthah’s
victory had not permanently broken the power of the Ammonites. Jabesh lay in
northern Gilead, and belonged to the half-tribe of Manasseh. According to Joseph.
(Ant6, 5, 1), it was the capital of Gilead; according to the Onom, “six Roman miles
from Pella on the way to Gerasa,” and is conjectured by Robinson (III:319) and van
der Velde (Mem, p323) to be the same with the present ruins of Ed-Deir,[FN20] on
the south side of the Wady Jabis, in which word is not improbably contained the
name of the old Jabesh. Jabesh was the only city ( Judges 21:9) which did not take
part in the war of extermination against Benjamin; its virgins were carried off for
the Benjamites ( Judges 21:6 sq.). For the important connection of Jabesh with
Saul’s end see 1 Samuel 31:11-13 and 2 Samuel4, 5.—The inhabitants of Jabesh are
willing to come to an agreement with Nahash, and submit on reasonable conditions.
This shows their entire defencelessness against the enemy, and characterizes Israel’s
weakness in consequence of the lack of firm and permanent union among its parts.
Instead of accepting their humble proposal, Nahash offers the Jabeshites the
extremest insult by the threat that, unless they surrendered unconditionally,[FN21]
he would put out the right eyes of all of them.[FN22] On cruel conduct towards
conquered enemies see Rüetschi, Herz. R. E. VIII:87 [also Arts. War in Dicts. of
Smith and Fairbairn, and Saalschütz, Archäologie der Hebräer, II:506.—Tr.].
Nahash will lay this as a reproach “on all Israel,” not because they had not courage
to help them (Bunsen), but with the intention of undertaking war against all Israel,
and avenging the insult offered by Jephthah. Josephus’ remark, that he threatened
to do this “in order that, their left eyes being concealed by their shields, they might
be wholly unserviceable,” is correct only on this supposition, that he in fact designed
to conquer first the city and then Gilead.
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13. PULPIT, "THE DEFEAT OF THE AMMONITES (1 Samuel 11:1-13).
1 Samuel 11:1, 1 Samuel 11:2.
Nahash the Ammonite. The same name is found in 2 Samuel 10:2 as that of the
father of Hanun, who treated David's ambassadors so shamefully, and probably
they mean the same person. He is there said to have shown kindness to David; and
as we read in 2 Samuel 17:25 that Abigal (so the Hebrew, not Abigail as the A.V
who was David's wife), Amasa's mother, was the daughter of Nahash, and as Abigal
was the sister or half-sister of Zeruiah, David's aunt, there seems to have been some
relationship between them. The Ammonites were old enemies of the Israelites,
alleging that Israel had taken possession of territory east of the Jordan which
rightfully belonged to them ( 11:13); but after their defeat by Jephthah their power
was so broken that they allowed a century to elapse before they ventured again to
assert their claim. Nahash, apparently after other invasions (1 Samuel 12:12), now
attacks Jabesh-Gilead, a city in the half-tribe of Manasseh, which had been cruelly
treated by the Israelites ( 21:10), but apparently had risen again from its ruins. Its
inhabitants were willing humbly to submit to Ammonite rule; but Nahash will grant
them no other terms than that they should let him thrust out—Hebrew, bore
through—all their right eyes, not from any special spite against them, but as an
insult to all Israel. No better proof could be given of the disorganisation of the
nation than that a petty despot should venture to show his contempt for it in so
offensive a way.
BI 1-11, "Then Nahash the Ammonite came up.
The immediate consequences of a national rejection of God
In the opening verses of this chapter we see the result of disobedience. Instead of
happiness for Israel; we fear that the invasion of which we now read, is but too prophetic
of those awful retributions which Samuel declared should come upon their wilful
rejection of the Divine Being. We take these words as illustrative of the consequences of
a national rejection of God.
I. That when a nation rejects God it may very naturally expect to be troubled by enemies.
There appears to have existed an old land quarrel between these two peoples, which had
occasioned the battle just mentioned, and which at this time they strive to revenge and
recoverse In the light of this history we gather that—
1. They were enemies of long standing. It was a deep seated hatred that time had
almost rendered chronic. It is easy to settle the dispute of yesterday, but when years
have passed they make the breach almost impassable. Thus God rendered dark the
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14. hops of Israel through enemies of the longest standing and the most dreaded.
(1) Would be bitter enemies.
(2) Would be despotic enemies.
2. They were enemies that had been previously defeated. They had been most
severely routed by Jephthah. The relatives, friends, and companions of these
warriors now threatening Israel with invasion were slain in that conflict. Truly, Israel
had need to fear such a foe.
3. These enemies were most opportune in their attack upon Israel.
(1) As regards the place. It was near to their own country, and was also extremely
weak.
(2) As regards the time of this threatened invasion. Israel was in a most
unsettled condition. The people were in a transition state, just changing an old
form of government for a new one, consequently were very much occupied with
their own affairs. There were new arrangements to make adapted to the changed
condition of things. All the strength, skill, and time that the nation could
command was required to be expended upon itself, to give it permanency, and to
give freedom from civil faction. Hence the Israelites were totally unprepared for
woe, and especially with so powerful a foe.
II. That when a nation rejects God its degradation is certain to follow. Nahash assumes
the weakness of the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and their consequent inability to defend
themselves from his army. He therefore commences at once to propose the most painful
and humiliating condition of peace. A condition indeed which would involve the whole
nation in disgrace.
1. These people are about to degrade the noble achievements of their ancestors. And
this is a true characteristic of a nation that has rejected God. When they have
rejected Him, the next thing to do is to throw away all the sacred memories of the
past, and to nullify their meaning.
2. These people are far more careful about their own comfort than the memories of
their past history. They would a great deal rather undo the achievements of their
ancestors than lose their own eyes.
3. These people were willing to degrade themselves by the breaking of a Divine Law.
They wanted to make a covenant with the Ammonites, which bad been strictly
forbidden by God. This is just what we might have expected. It is only natural that,
after they had dethroned the Divine Being, they should infringe His law.
4. These people are degraded by doubting the bravery of their country. When
citizens lose confidence in their defenders it is a sure sign that elements of weakness
are mining the society prejudicial to its welfare. May we never lose faith in the
heroism of our country!
III. These enemies and this degradation came immediately after the nation had rejected
God in proclaiming the new king.
1. As a reminder. To make the Israelites very careful in their revolution, and to give
them to feel that although they had got a king, he could not remove them from the
touch, nor could he shelter them from the displeasure of God.
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15. 2. As a prognostication. That notwithstanding their rejoicing at the public
recognition of the new king, the future history of the nation could not be altogether
smooth and glad. It was the calm before the tempest, and the invasion by the
Ammonites was the first peal of thunder announcing the nearing storm. Lessons—
(1) For a nation to reject God is for it, truly to forsake its best welfare—political,
social, and moral.
(2) That a nation rejecting God is sure to meet with numerous difficulties.
(3) That a nation by rejecting God introduces into its history the true element of
its ruin.
(4) This national destruction or sorrow may be delayed, but it is certain. (Joseph
S. Exell, M. A.)
The relic of Jabesh-Gilead
Primitive though the state of society was in those days in Israel, we are hardly prepared
to find Saul following the herd in the field after his election as king of Israel. We are
compelled to conclude that the opposition to him was far from contemptible in number
and in influence, and that he found it expedient in the meantime to make no
demonstration of royalty, but continue his old way of life. Human life was of so little
value in those Eastern countries, and the crime of destroying it was so little thought of,
that if Saul had in any way provoked hostility, he would have been almost certain to fall
by some assassin’s hand. It was therefore wise of him to continue for a time his old way
of living, and wait for some opportunity which should arise providentially, to vindicate
his title to the sceptre of Israel. Apparently he bad not to wait long—according to
Josephus, only a month. The opportunity arose in a somewhat out-of-the-way part of the
country, where disturbance had been brewing previous to his election (1Sa_12:12). Very
probably the Ammonites had never forgotten the humiliation inflicted on them by
Jepthah, when he smote them “from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty
cities, and till thou come to the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter.”
Naturally the Ammonites would be desirous both to avenge these defeats and to regain
their cities, or at least to get other cities in lieu of what they had lost. The history of the
Israelites in time of danger commonly presents one or other of two extremes: either
pusillanimous submission, or daring defiance to the hostile power. In this case it was
pusillanimous submission, as indeed it commonly was when the people followed the
motions of their own hearts, and were not electrified into opposition by some great hero,
full of faith in God. But it was not mere cowardice they displayed in offering to become
the servants of the Ammonites; there was impiety in it likewise. For of their relation to
God they made no account whateverse By covenant with their fathers, ratified from
generation to generation, they were God’s servants, and they had no right voluntarily to
transfer to another master the allegiance which was due to God alone. And it was not a
case of necessity. Instead of humbling themselves before God and confessing the sins
that had brought them into trouble, they put God altogether aside, and basely offered to
become the servants of the Ammonites. How often do men virtually say to the devil,
“Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee”! Men and women, with strong
proclivities to sin, may for a time resist, but they get tired of the battle; they long for an
easier life, and they say in their hearts, “We will resist no longer; we will become your
servants.” They are willing to make peace with the Ammonites, because they are wearied
15

16. of fighting. “Anything for a quiet life!” They surrender to the enemy, they are willing to
serve sin, because they will not surrender the ease and the pleasures of sin. But sin is a
bad master; his wages are terrible to think of. The terms which Nahash offered to the
men of Jabesh-Gilead combined insult to injury. “On this condition will I make a
covenant with thee: that I, may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach
unto all Israel.” “The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” But Nahash was
comparatively merciful. He was willing to let the men of Jabesh off with the loss of one
eye only. But as if to compensate for this forbearance, be declared that he would regard
the transaction as a reproach upon all Israel. “All the people lifted up their voices and
wept.” It was just the way in which their forefathers had acted at the Red Sea; and again,
it was the way in which they spent that night in the wilderness after the spies brought
back their report of the land. But, as in the two earlier cases, there was a man of faith to
roll back the wave of panic. As we are thinking how well Saul has acted on this occasion,
we perceive that an old friend has come on the scene who helps us materially to
understand the situation. Yes, he is all the better of Samuel’s guidance and prayers. The
good old prophet has no jealousy of the man who took his place at the bead of the
nation. But knowing well the fickleness of the people, he is anxious to turn the occasion
to account for confirming their feelings and their sins. Seeing how the king has
acknowledged God as the Author of the victory, he desires to strike while the iron is hot.
“Come,” he says, “let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.” (W. G. Blaikie, D.
D.)
Practical royalty
1. It is often true in life that circumstances drive us to make approaches which are
not congenial. Men are driven by stress of health or poverty, or some form of
perplexity not easily to be named in words, to offer to nut themselves into relations
with people whom under other circumstances they would never treat with. Such facts
in life we are bound to recognise. And it would betoken a poor quality of nature on
our part to associate with such recognitions too severe a moral condemnation. Our
common proverb is to the effect that “adversity has strange bedfellows.” The men of
Jabesh-Gilead, therefore, must be regarded as persons who are under oppressive
circumstances, and who are willing to make the best of conditions which are very
galling and humiliating.
2. No language is too severe to condemn the barbarous cruelty of Nahash; at the
same time he only shows what we might be under circumstances of equal temptation
and pressure. When we see how man can treat man, we are enabled to reason
upwards, and to see how possible it is for man to treat God profanely and
blasphemously. When man loves God he loves his neighbour also; but when man
ceases to love his neighbour, and then passes from mere displeasure to positive and
cruel hatred, it is easy for him to carry the spirit of hostility further and to include in
its base action even all that is heavenly and Divine. The moment we can treat a man
unjustly and cruelly we have disqualified ourselves for true prayer and real
communion with Heaven. Let there be no mistake about this matter. We cannot give
up our philanthropy and retain our Christianity.
3. Saul was engaged in his usual pursuits. The King of Israel was actually discharging
offices with the herd in the field, attending to the wants of his cattle, and otherwise
going about his business soberly and quietly. No intimation of unusual
16

17. circumstances seems to have reached him. How unconscious we sometimes are of
the circumstances which are nearest to us—unconscious, that is to say, of their real
import and deepest meaning! When we think all is proceeding as usual we may be
within touch of some occurrence that will determine all the remaining actions of our
life The commonplace and the marvellous often lie closely together. The picture,
then, is that of a great man attending to simple daily duties, and it will be a sad day
for any people who imagine that simple daily duties are not worthy of the dignity
even of the greatest man. Society has a right to expect great things from great men.
No greater tribute could be paid to Saul than that; threatened and despairing men
should appeal to him in the time of their agony. The men who shouted, “God save the
king,” did not pay Saul so fine a tribute as the men who came to him in their
extremity and asked for his sympathy and assistance. No sooner had Saul heard the
condition proposed by the King of Ammon than he burned with anger. We can best
describe a certain quality of anger by tracing it to the direct action of the Spirit of
God. Truly, there is a holy indignation. The sublime enthusiasm of Saul kindled the
faith of the people. A modern commentary, referring to this passage, has the
following illustrative remarks:—“It was owing to some influence of a similar nature
that, with scanty numbers, ill-armed, and ill-trained, the Swiss won for their land
centuries of freedom on memorable fields like Laupen and Morat, though the
proudest chivalry of Europe was arrayed against them. It was the same spirit which
impelled the peace-loving traders of the marshes of Holland to rise as one man, and
to drive out forever from their loved strip of Fenland the hitherto invincible armies
of Spain. No oppressor, though backed by the wealth and power of an empire, has
over been able to resist the smallest people in whose heart has burned the flame of
the Divine fire of the fear of the Lord “All these circumstances would be of little or no
concern to us if they did not point to a great spiritual reality. Tremendous foes
besiege us on every side. What is our defence in such time of assault? It is the fear of
the Lord, the Spirit of God, the Divine energy. God delights in humbling the boastful
and vainglorious “He that exalteth himself shall be abased.” Presumption is always
self-defeating; it is so in business, in war, in statesmanship, and in every act and
department of rational life.
4. Notice that this was not entered upon without preparation. There was no rush or
haste in the matter. Sometimes we proceed most swiftly when we seem to advance
most slowly. There should be a time for gathering strength together, measuring the
situation in all its dimensions, consulting Divine decrees, and putting the soul into
right relations with God. After such preparation everything will go rapidly. Every
stroke will be a victory.
5. A fit ending to a tragical process Gilgal was a sanctuary. After great doings on the
field of battle we must return to the house of prayer, we must, indeed, return to the
place where we began. We should enter upon no conflict until after we have been in
the sanctuary, and having completed the conflict we should return to the altar. Enter
upon nothing that cannot be sanctified at holy places and by holy names. There is
nothing too insignificant to be associated with the most solemn acts of worship; or if
we are conscious of such insignificance, we should not undertake the affairs which
admit of its application. Learn the useful lesson that Saul did not thrust himself into
prominence, and that even after he was appointed king of Israel he went about his
usual avocations until there was something worthy of kingliness to be publicly done.
Let us be rebuked in so far as we have supposed that we were released from duty
until some great and critical occasion arose. Having obtained our literary prize, let us
17

18. go home and take up the business of life in a quiet way. Do not think that anything
which nature or society requires at us is below our dignity because we have achieved
this or that popular success. (J. Parker, D. D.)
2 But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make
a treaty with you only on the condition that I
gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so
bring disgrace on all Israel.”
CLARKE, "I may thrust out all your right eves - This cruel condition would serve
at once as a badge of their slavery, and a means of incapacitating them from being
effective warriors. Theodoret observes, “He who opposes his shield to the enemy with
his left hand, thereby hides his left eye, and looks at his enemy with his right eye; he
therefore who plucks out that right eye makes men useless in war.” Josephus gives the
same reason.
GILL, "And Nahash the Ammonite answered them,.... In a very haughty and
scornful manner:
on this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all
your right eyes; some Jewish writers go into a mystical and allegorical sense of these
words, as that Nahash ordered the book of the law to be brought, which was their right
eye, that he might erase out of it these words:
an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord;
others understand it of the sanhedrim, which were the eyes of Israel; and others, which
come a little nearer to the sense, of the slingers and archers, the desire of the eyes of
Israel; and who, by having their right eyes thrust out, would be in a great measure
spoiled for taking aim; for the words are to be understood literally; the intention of
Nahash was to disable them for war, and that they might become quite unfit for it, as
Josephus observes (r); the left eye being under the shield, as it usually was in war, and
the right eye plucked out, they would be as blind men: he did not choose to have both
their eyes thrust out, for then they could have been of no use and service to him as slaves
18

19. or tributaries:
and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel; that they did not come up to the relief of
their brethren, and defend them, and signifying that they must all expect the same
treatment from him.
HENRY, "II. The besiegers offer them base and barbarous conditions; they will spare
their lives, and take them to be their servants, upon condition that they shall put out
their right eyes, 1Sa_11:2. The Gileadites were content to part with their liberty and
estates for the ransom of their blood; and, had the Ammonites taken them at their word,
the matter would have been so settled immediately, and the Gileadites would not have
sent out for relief. But their abject concessions make the Ammonites more insolent in
their demands, and they cannot be content to have them for their servants, but, 1. They
must torment them, and put them to pain, exquisite pain, for so the thrusting out of an
eye would do. 2. They must disable them for war, and render them incapable, though not
of labour (that would have been a loss to their lords), yet of bearing arms; for in those
times they fought with shields in their left hands, which covered their left eye, so that a
soldier without his right eye was in effect blind. 3. They must put a reproach upon all
Israel, as weak and cowardly, that would suffer the inhabitants of one of their chief cities
to be thus miserably used, and not offer to rescue them.
III. The besieged desire, and obtain, seven days' time to consider of this proposal,
1Sa_11:3. If Nahash had not granted them this respite, we may suppose the horror of the
proposal would have made them desperate, and they would rather have died with their
swords in their hands than have surrendered to such merciless enemies: therefore
Nahash, not imagining it possible that, in so short a time, they should have relief, and
being very secure of the advantages he thought he had against them, in a bravado gave
them seven days, that the reproach upon Israel, for not rescuing them, might be the
greater, and his triumphs the more illustrious. But there was a providence in it, that his
security might be his infatuation and ruin.
JAMISON, "thrust out all your right eyes — literally, “scoop” or “hollow out” the
ball. This barbarous mutilation is the usual punishment of usurpers in the East, inflicted
on chiefs; sometimes, also, even in modern history, on the whole male population of a
town. Nahash meant to keep the Jabeshites useful as tributaries, whence he did not wish
to render them wholly blind, but only to deprive them of their right eye, which would
disqualify them for war. Besides, his object was, through the people of Jabesh-gilead, to
insult the Israelitish nation.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:2. And lay it for a reproach upon all Israel — That is,
disgrace the whole Hebrew nation, by serving some of their people in this
opprobrious manner; for it must necessarily have reflected great dishonour upon
the whole state, that they should suffer any of their people to be served so. He
19

20. probably meant also to disable them for war, in which the right eye was of most use,
their shields, which they carried in their left hands, in a great measure covering
their left eyes. He proposes, however, to leave them one eye, that they might be fit to
serve in any mean and base office.
ELLICOTT, " (2) On this condition.—The horrible cruelty of this scornful proposal
gives us an insight into the barbarous customs of this imperfectly civilised age.
Indeed, many of the crimes we read of in these books—crimes which, to modern
ears, justly sound shocking and scarcely credible—are referable to the fact that
civilisation and its humanizing influences had made but little way as yet among the
nations of the world.
The object of Nahash’s cruelty was to incapacitate the inhabitants of Jabesh from
ever further assisting his enemies in war; they would henceforth be blinded in the
right eye, while the left eye would be concealed by the shield which fighting-men
were in the habit of holding before them.
HAWKER, "(2) And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I
make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a
reproach upon all Israel.
Observe, what fear must have taken possession of the minds of Israel, when the
people are ready to submit to the yoke of Gentile nations, and to be tributaries to
them. But reader, depend upon it, the same is in every instance. Guilt breeds fear.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this
[condition] will I make [a covenant] with you, that I may thrust out all your right
eyes, and lay it [for] a reproach upon all Israel.
Ver. 2. On this condition will I make a covenant.] Slaves he would make them, and
perpetually so, - stigmatical slaves, utterly disabled to deliver themselves out of his
hands.
That I may thrust out all your right eyes.] This was most inhuman and insolent. The
devil - as another Nahash, which signifieth a serpent - would likewise put out the
right eye of faith, and leave us only the left eye of reason; look to him narrowly.
Those that would deprive the people of the Scriptures, and muzzle them in
ignorance, do the like.
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21. And lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.] For a base people that would live upon
any terms; that boasted also of an almighty God, but durst not confide in him.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:3. Nahash grants the desired seven days, in which they are to
send messengers into every part of Israel; in this time he thought to finish his
preparations for the conquest of the city, in order, in the existing division of the
Israelitish tribes and forces, the more surely to attain his end. The Jabeshites
promised to yield themselves, if no one came to their rescue. The assumption of this
as possible, and the fact that they sent to every region of Israel shows that in this
transition-period from the Judges to the kingdom, in spite of what Samuel had done
towards securing unity of action, the old division of powers in tribal isolation and
the consequent weakness against enemies still continued. That the messengers ( 1
Samuel 11:4) go nevertheless not separately to the various tribes, but all together
first[FN23] to Gibeah of Saul, is doubtless according to instructions given them. And
the reason could be only that this was the residence of the elected king, and the
centre of the whole people. We are not to conclude (with Then.), from the fact of
their going not to Saul, but to the people, that they knew nothing of his election as
king; they presented their case before the people, and not Saul, because (as appears
from what follows) he was not in Gibeah, and did not return from his ordinary
occupation till after their statement was made.—The weeping of the people points to
the greatness of the danger and the painful consciousness of helplessness. Perhaps
Saul was held in least esteem in his native city.
3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven
days so we can send messengers throughout
Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will
surrender to you.”
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22. BARNES, "The elders - Observe the universal form of civil government among the
Israelites, by elders (Jdg_8:14, Jdg_8:16, etc.).
CLARKE, "Give us seven days respite - Such promises are frequently made by
besieged places: “We will surrender if not relieved in so many days;” and such conditions
are generally received by the besiegers.
GILL, "And the elders of Jabesh said,.... The magistrates and principal men of the
city:
give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers to all the coasts of
Israel; that is, cease from besieging them, from throwing in darts into the city, or any
other missive weapons, and from attempting to break open the gates, or break down the
walls of it, and storm it; such a space of time they desire, which was as little as could be
granted, to go and return in, and without this it would not be a reproach to all Israel, if
they were ill used by them, since they had no knowledge of their case, nor time to come
up for their assistance:
and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee; and submit
to be used at thy pleasure. And it seems that this was granted by Nahash out of a
bravado, and to reproach and insult all Israel, and bid them defiance; with whom he
sought to quarrel, having a design upon their land, and knowing very well their
condition, being awed by the Philistines; and having just chosen a king, and he an
inexperienced man in the affairs of war, and had no army; nor was it likely that one
could be assembled in so short a time, and come to the relief of this people, and
therefore he thought himself safe enough in granting their request.
HENRY 3-4, "IV. Notice is sent of this to Gibeah. They said they would send
messengers to all the coasts of Israel (1Sa_11:3), which made Nahash the more secure,
for that, he thought, would be a work of time, and none would be forward to appear if
they had not one common head; and perhaps Nahash had not yet heard of the new-
elected king. But the messengers, either of their own accord or by order from their
masters, went straight to Gibeah, and, not finding Saul within, told their news to the
people, who fell a weeping upon hearing it, 1Sa_11:4. They would sooner lament their
brethren's misery and danger than think of helping them, shed their tears for them than
shed their blood. They wept, as despairing to help the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and fearing
lest, if that frontier-city should be lost, the enemy would penetrate into the very bowels
of their country, which now appeared in great hazard.
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23. JAMISON, "send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel — a curious proof of
the general dissatisfaction that prevailed as to the appointment of Saul. Those Gileadites
deemed him capable neither of advising nor succoring them; and even in his own town
the appeal was made to the people - not to the prince.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:3. Give us seven days respite — It may seem strange, either
that they should propose to submit so soon to such base conditions, if they did not
receive help, or that Nahash should grant them so much respite when he saw them
so abject and inclined to yield to him. But the reason of both is evident; for the
elders of Jabesh thought Saul was not able to help them, having not yet taken upon
him the government, but living privately, 1 Samuel 11:5; and Nahash, it is probable,
was loath to drive them to desperation by denying them this short space wherein to
expect relief, which he thought they could not possibly obtain in the time, even if
Saul should endeavour to levy an army and come to their aid, for that, he would
naturally suppose, could not be done in so few days.
ELLICOTT, "(3) Give us seven days’ respite.—This kind of proposal has always in
time of war been a common one; such a request from a beleaguered fortress we meet
with constantly, especially in mediæval chronicles. It was, no doubt, made by the
citizens in the hope that Saul the Benjamite, in whose election as king they had
recently taken a part, would devise some means for their rescue. Between Benjamin
and the city of Jabesh-gilead there had long existed the closest ties of friendship.
How far back this strange link between the southern tribe and the distant frontier
town dated, we know not. When Israel was summoned “as one man” (Judges 21),
probably under the direction of Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, to avenge on
Benjamin the crime committed by the men of Gibeah, Jabesh-gilead alone, among
the cities of Israel—no doubt, out of its friendship for the sinning tribe—declined to
obey the imperious summons, and for this act of disobedience was rased to the
ground, and its inhabitants put to the sword. The tribes, however, subsequently
regretted their remorseless cruelty in their punishment of Benjamin, and feared lest
their brother’s name might perish out of the land; mindful, then, of the old loving
feeling which existed between the city of Jabesh-gilead and the tribe of Benjamin,
they gave the maidens of the ruined city spared in the judicial massacre perpetrated
on the citizens, to the fighting remnant of Benjamin, still defending themselves on
the impregnable Rock of the Pomegranate, “Rimmon,” and did what was in their
power to restore the ruined and broken tribe. Jabesh-gilead seems to have risen
again from its ashes, and Benjamin once more held up its head among the tribes of
Israel, and just now had given the first king to the people. No wonder, then, that the
city in the hour of its sore need and deadly peril should send for succour to Gibeah
in Benjamin, and to Saul, the Benjamite king. Neither the tribe nor the king failed
23

24. them in their distress.
HAWKER, "Verse 3-4
(3) And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we may
send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us,
we will come out to thee. (4) Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told
the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and
wept.
We do not hear of prayer, or supplication to the Lord, put up. No fast. No day of
public humiliation. The people lifted up their voices, and wept indeed, but it is not
said, that they cried unto the Lord. Oh! how sweet is it to recollect, in the distresses
of the soul, that the Lord waits to be gracious. See those promises; Isaiah 30:18; Isa_
65:24.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:3 And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days’
respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if [there be]
no man to save us, we will come out to thee.
Ver. 3. Give us seven days’ respite.] This the tyrant yielded unto, non ex pietate, sed ex
animositate, which proved to be his ruin. Pride goeth before destruction. Meanwhile the
men of Jabeshgilead tempted God in setting him a time; but he helped them nevertheless,
and made way thereby for Saul’s settlement in his kingdom.
PULPIT, "The elders who govern the town know nothing of a king having been
appointed, nor do they send to Samuel to ask him, as the judge, to protect them; but
they request a seven days' respite, that they may send messengers unto all the coasts
of Israel, and Nahash, feeling sure that no combined action would be the result,
grants their request, that so Israel far and wide might know of his triumph.
4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul
and reported these terms to the people, they all
24

25. wept aloud.
BARNES, "They came to Gibeah on account of the connection between the
Benjamites and the people of Jabesh Judg. 21.
In the ears of the people - They did not even inquire for Saul, so little was he
looked upon as king. 1Sa_11:5 shows how completely he was still in a private and
humble station.
CLARKE, "Then came the messengers to Gibeah - It does not appear that the
people of Jabesh-gilead knew any thing of Saul’s appointment to the kingdom, for the
message is not directed to him but to the people.
The people lifted up their voices and wept - They saw no hope of deliverance,
and they expected that their reproach would be laid on all Israel.
GILL, "Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul,.... Where he was born, and
brought up, and now dwelt; and he being elected king, it brought an honour to the place;
and from hence had this name, to distinguish it from the others, and this is the first time
it was so called. Now the messengers from Jabesh came hither directly, because they
knew that Saul, the chosen king, dwelt here, and the Benjaminites, of all the tribes, had
great reason to show regard to them, since it was from thence they had four hundred
wives, when they were reduced to six hundred men only, in order to raise up their tribe:
and told the tidings in the ears of the people; Saul being not at home in the city,
but in the fields, they reported to them the hardships their city was under, being
besieged by the Ammonites, and threatened that if not relieved in such a time, all their
right eyes would be plucked out:
and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept; moved with sympathy to their
brethren, and who by their intermarriage with them were nearly related to them; and
who might fear they would not stop there, but having taken that place would march
forward, and come to them, and use them in like manner; the thought of which was very
distressing to them.
HENRY, "They would sooner lament their brethren's misery and danger than think
of helping them, shed their tears for them than shed their blood. They wept, as
despairing to help the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and fearing lest, if that frontier-city should
25

26. be lost, the enemy would penetrate into the very bowels of their country, which now
appeared in great hazard.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:4-5. To Gibeah of Saul — So called, because it was the
place where Saul was born and brought up, and where he had hitherto dwelt.
Behold Saul came after the herd — For, being only anointed king, and not publicly
inaugurated, nor having yet had opportunity of doing any thing worthy of his place,
he thought fit to forbear all royal state, and to retire to his former private life,
which, howsoever despised in these latter ages, was anciently in great esteem. Saul
said, What aileth the people that they weep? — Let me know, that if it be a
grievance that can be redressed, I may endeavour to help them. “Good magistrates,”
says Henry, “are in pain if their subjects be in tears.”
ELLICOTT, " (4) Then came the messengers to Gibeah.—In the preceding verse we
read that it was resolved by the beleaguered city to send messengers to all the coasts
of Israel, but we only hear of the action taken by Saul in Gibeah. It therefore may be
assumed that this was the first city they sent to, not only on account of their ancient
friendship with Benjamin, but because Gibeah was the residence of the newly-
elected sovereign, Saul.
And all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.—This is exactly what might have
been expected from Benjamites hearing of the terrible straits into which the city
they all loved so well, and which was united to them by such close bonds of
friendship and alliance, was reduced; but though they grieved so deeply, they do not
seem of themselves to have been able to devise any plan for its relief, until their
great fellow-citizen took the matter in hand.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:4 Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the
tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.
Ver. 4. And all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.] This was to "weep with
those that weep." [Romans 12:15] And if in addition they "turned again unto the
Lord, that their" distressed "brethren might" the sooner "find compassion," as 2
Chronicles 30:9, they did best of all. God, in such a case, "will restore comforts unto
his mourners." [Isaiah 57:18]
PULPIT. "Among other places the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, where they
make no appeal to him, but tell their sad tidings in the ears of all the people.
Powerless to help, they can only weep; but in the midst of their lamentation Saul
came after the herd (Hebrew, following the oxen) out of the field. Saul was not
driving a herd of cattle home, but had been ploughing, and, labour being over, was
26

27. returning with the team of oxen.
5 Just then Saul was returning from the fields,
behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong
with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then
they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had
said.
CLARKE, "Saul came after the herd - He had been bred up to an agricultural life,
and after his consecration he returned to it, waiting for a call of Divine providence,
which he considered he had now received in the message from Jabesh-gilead.
It has often been remarked, that mighty kings and accomplished generals have been
chosen from among those who were engaged in agricultural concerns. In these
observations one fact is lost sight of, viz., that in ancient times agriculture was the only
employment. Trade and commerce were scarcely known; therefore all descriptions of
official dignities must be chosen out of this class, there being no other to choose them
from. We need not wonder at these words of the poet: -
Jura dabat populis posito modo consul aratro; Pascebatque suas ipse
senator oves.
“The consul, having now laid aside his plough, gives laws to the people;
And the senator himself feeds his own sheep.”
Ovid, Fast. lib. i., v. 204-207.
GILL, "And, behold, Saul came after the herd out the field,.... Where he had
been to look after the and take care of them, and see what condition they were in, and
followed them on their return home; for though he was elected king, he was not
27

28. inaugurated, and did not take upon him any state; and being despised by some, and no
provision as yet made for his support and maintenance as a king, and no business as
such for him to do, Samuel still acting in his office, he returned to his father's house, and
employed himself in rustic affairs, as he used to do: though some think this was casual,
that he had been in the field to recreate himself, or to meditate on the affairs of
government, and happened to return just as the herd came out of the field, and so
followed them; thus Jarchi interprets it not of his coming after the herd, but of his
coming after the fixed and usual time of the herd's coming out of the field; but Josephus
(r) is clear for it, that he had been about some rustic business, some part of husbandry in
the field, and returned to the city; nor has it been unusual for emperors and kings, and
persons in high offices among Greeks and Romans, and other nations, in times of peace,
to employ themselves in husbandry; so did the judges of Israel, as Shamgar, and Gideon,
and Boaz, Jdg_3:31 so Quinctius Cincinnatus being taken from the plough and made
dictator, after he had conquered his enemies, returned to his husbandry (s):
and Saul said, what aileth the people, that they weep? he supposed some evil
had befallen them, and desired to know what it was, that, if it lay in his power to help
them, he might:
and they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh; the message they brought,
and the account they gave of the distressed case of their city.
HENRY, "What is here related turns very much to the honour of Saul, and shows the
happy fruits of that other spirit with which he was endued. Observe here,
I. His humility. Though he was anointed king, and accepted by his people, yet he did
not think it below him to know the state of his own flocks, but went himself to see them,
and came in the evening, with his servants, after the herd out of the field, 1Sa_11:5. This
was an evidence that he was not puffed up with his advancement, as those are most apt
to be that are raised from a mean estate. Providence had not yet found him business as a
king; he left all to Samuel; and therefore, rather than be idle, he would, for the present,
apply himself to his country business again. Though the sons of Belial would, perhaps,
despise him the more for it, such as were virtuous and wise, and loved business
themselves, would think never the worse of him. He had no revenues settled upon him
for the support of his dignity, and he was desirous not to be burdensome to the people,
for which reason, like Paul, he worked with his hands; for, if he neglect his domestic
affairs, how must he maintain himself and his family? Solomon gives it as a reason why
men should look well to their herds because the crown doth not endure to every
generation, Pro_27:23, Pro_27:24. Saul's did not; he must therefore provide something
surer.
II. His concern for his neighbours. When he perceived them in tears, he asked, “What
ails the people that they weep? Let me know, that, if it be a grievance which can be
redressed, I may help them, and that, if not, I may weep with them.” Good magistrates
are in pain if their subjects are in tears.
JAMISON, "1Sa_11:5-11. They send to Saul, and are delivered.
28

29. COFFMAN, "Verse 5
SAUL'S REACTION TO THE THREAT OF NAHASH
"Now Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen; and Saul said, "What ails
the people, that they are weeping"? So they told him the tidings of the men of
Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul when he heard these words,
and his anger was greatly kindled. He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces
and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers,
saying, "Whosoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to
his oxen."
The words of these three verses confirm in the most vigorous manner the prior
existence of both phase (1) and phase (2) of Saul's being made king of Israel.
"Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen" (1 Samuel 11:5). He had obeyed
Samuel's command for everyone to go home, and he was coming in from the field
where he had been plowing.
"And the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul" (1 Samuel 11:6). This is a
confirmation of phase (1), his anointing by Samuel. This could not have happened
otherwise.
"He sent throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers" (1 Samuel
11:7). How could Saul have done this, unless he had been selected king by the
casting of lots at Mizpah? No critic has ever dared to answer that question. This
could have happened only after Saul had been formally appointed king of Israel at
Mizpah. Who were these messengers? They were most certainly from that group
mentioned in the previous chapter, "Saul went to his home in Gibeah, and with him
went men of valor whose hearts the Lord had touched." (1 Samuel 10:26).
"Whosoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel" (1 Samuel 11:7a). In these
29

30. words, Saul wisely invoked the authority of the great prophet Samuel in his
summons to all Israel. Critics, of course, love to do their act of rewriting the Bible on
a verse like this. H. P. Smith rejected the words and after Samuel, "as a later
insertion."[7] Bennett also called the words, "An addition; Samuel does not appear
in this episode."[8] This writer is not willing to allow unbelieving critics the honor of
re-writing the Bible to suit their theories. Of course, Samuel does appear in this
narrative as the authority behind all that Saul was able to do in this episode.
"So shall it be done to his oxen" (1 Samuel 11:7). These are the words of a king, not
those of some country bumpkin, who, for the first time, suddenly decided to rescue
Israel. Thus, we have a triple confirmation here of both the preceding phases of
Saul's designation as King of Israel. Nothing is any more unreasonable or
unintelligent than the critical nonsense about the `early and late sources.' Again, in
the words of Ewald, what we have here is nothing but the simple truth throughout
these four chapters, with every single statement in them fitting exactly as in a jig-
saw puzzle.
ELLICOTT, "(5) And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field.—Saul was
still busied with his old pursuits. At first this would seem strange, but it must be
remembered that the regal authority was something quite new in republican Israel,
and that the new king’s duties and privileges at first were vague, and but little
understood; besides which, jealousies, such as have already been noticed (1 Samuel
10:27), no doubt induced Saul and his advisers to keep the royalty in the
background till some opportunity for bringing it to the front should present itself. It
is, therefore, quite to be understood that the newly-elected king should be spending
at least a portion of his time in pursuits which hitherto had occupied his whole life.
He was not the first hero summoned from agricultural labours to assume, in a
national emergency, the command of an army. Gideon, we read, was called from the
threshing-floor to do his great deeds; and to quote from profane history, one of the
noblest of the sons of Rome, like Saul, was ploughing when the Senate fetched him
to be the dictator and the general of their armies; and to the plough we know that
that great man returned when his work was successfully accomplished and his
country saved.
HAWKER, "Verses 5-7
(5) ¶ And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What
aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.
30

31. (6) And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his
anger was kindled greatly. (7) And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in
pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers,
saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done
unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with
one consent.
We here see the effect of what was said in a former chapter, concerning Saul, that he
should be turned into another man. Though he had retired, after his election to be
king, to his father's house, yet he only waited an opportunity to testify that he was
changed. But I beg the reader to observe, both what is said of Saul in these verses,
and what is said of the people, that the whole is ascribed to the Lord. It was the
Spirit of the Lord that stirred him up; and it was from the same source, that put his
fear in the people. Precious in all instances, to trace our mercies to the fountain
head!
LANGE, " 1 Samuel 11:5-7. Saul’s first royal deed. He gathers the people together,
so that they rise as one man against the Ammonites, and the hitherto-existing
disunion is at an end.
1 Samuel 11:5. When the messengers arrive, Saul is in the field engaged in
agricultural labors. He is called from the plough, as Gideon from the threshing-floor
( Judges 6:11 sq.), to do great deeds for his people. “After the oxen” refers to his
walking behind the oxen, with which he had ploughed, and which are called in 1
Samuel 11:7 “a yoke of oxen.”
6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God
came powerfully upon him, and he burned with
anger.
31

32. BARNES, "This time the Spirit of God came upon him, as upon the Judges before
him, as a Spirit of supernatural energy and power.
CLARKE, "The Spirit of God came upon Saul - He felt himself strongly excited
to attempt the relief of his brethren.
And his anger was kindled greatly - I believe this means no more than that his
courage was greatly excited, he felt himself strong for fight, and confident of success.
GILL, "And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those
tidings,.... And filled him with pity and compassion to the inhabitants of Jabesh, and
with wisdom and prudence, and set his thoughts at work to contrive ways and means for
their relief, and with fortitude, courage, and resolution, to attempt their deliverance; so
the Targum,"the spirit of fortitude from the Lord dwelt on Saul:''and his anger was
kindled greatly; against Nahash the Ammonite for insulting Israel, and threatening to
use the inhabitants of Jabesh in such a cruel manner.
HENRY, "III. His zeal for the safety and honour of Israel. When he heard of the
insolence of the Ammonites, and the distress of a city, a mother in Israel, the Spirit of
God came upon him, and put great thoughts into his mind, and his anger was kindled
greatly, 1Sa_11:6. He was angry at the insolence of the Ammonites, angry at the mean
and sneaking spirit of the men of Jabesh-Gilead, angry that they had not sent him notice
sooner of the Ammonites' descent and the extremity they were likely to be reduced to.
He was angry to see his neighbours weeping, when it was fitter for them to be preparing
for war. It was a brave and generous fire that was now kindled in the breast of Saul, and
such as became his high station.
JAMISON, "
ELLICOTT, " (6) And the Spirit of God came upon Saul.—Nothing, perhaps, could
have moved Saul so deeply as this news respecting the distress of Jabesh-gilead; he
was affected not merely by the disgrace to Israel over which the Eternal had so
lately directed him to be anointed king, but by the sore peril which menaced the
ancient friend and ally of his tribe. On Saul’s heart, thus prepared for action, the
Holy Spirit fell, and endued him with extraordinary wisdom, valour, and power for
32

33. the great and difficult work which lay before him.
We read of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon men like Othniel (Judges 3:10) and
the other great Israelitic judges, who were raised up to be in their day the deliverers
of the people; and the immediate result of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon them
was to impart new and unusual power to their spirit, power which enabled them
successfully to surmount every danger and difficulty which barred the progress of
the great work they were specially called upon to do.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:6 And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those
tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.
Ver. 6. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul.] That is, The spirit of fortitude, saith
the Chaldee Paraphrast; not that "spirit of love, of power, and of a sound mind." [2
Timothy 1:7]
And his anger was kindled greatly.] Anger is cos fortitudinis, saith Aristotle, the
whetstone of courage (a) And Saul, though cold in his own cause when slighted and
rejected, [1 Samuel 10:27] is all alight, on fire, exarsit nasus eius, when God is
dishonoured, and his people so reproached.
CONSTABLE, "Verses 6-11
Saul's deliverance of Jabesh-gilead 11:6-11
God's Spirit came on Saul in the sense that He stirred up his human spirit (cf. 1
Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 10:10). Saul's response to the messengers' news was
appropriate indignation since non-Israelites were attacking God's covenant people
(Genesis 12:3). Saul may have had a personal interest in Jabesh-gilead since some of
his ancestors evidently came from there (cf. 1 Samuel 31:11-13). Following the civil
war in Israel, during which many Benjamites had died, many of those who
remained alive took wives from the women of Jabesh-gilead and the women of
Shiloh (Judges 21).
33

34. Saul did something drastic to impress the gravity of the Ammonite siege on his
fellow Israelites. He followed the example of the Levite whose concubine had died in
Saul's hometown (Judges 19:29-30). Later another plowman, Elisha, would
slaughter a pair of oxen and host a meal for his friends as he began his ministry as a
prophet (1 Kings 19:21).
"Saul's slaughter and dissection of his oxen is reminiscent of the Levite's treatment
of his murdered concubine and clearly is designed to connect the commencement of
his reign with the historical event which accounts for his Jabesh-Gilead maternal
roots." [Note: Eugene H. Merrill, "The Book of Ruth: Narration and Shared
Themes," Bibliotheca Sacra 142:566 (April-June 1985):140, n. 13.]
Saul linked himself with Samuel because Samuel was the recognized spiritual leader
of the nation. The Israelites probably dreaded both Saul's threatened reprisals for
not responding to his summons and the Ammonite threat.
"In Saul's energetic appeal the people discerned the power of Jehovah, which
inspired them with fear, and impelled them to immediate obedience." [Note: Keil
and Delitzsch, p. 112.]
The response of the Israelites constituted the greatest show of military strength since
Joshua's day (assuming eleph means "thousand" here). Bezek stood about 16 miles
west of Jabesh-gilead on the River Jordan's western side (cf. Judges 1:4-5). The
division of the soldiers into Israelites and Judahites probably reflects the division of
the nation that existed when the writer wrote this book. There is no evidence that
such a division existed when the event recorded here happened.
The messengers returned to Jabesh-gilead with the promise that their town would
be free by noon the next day. The leaders of Jabesh-gilead played with words as
they cleverly led the Ammonites into self-confidence, thinking that they would win.
The Ammonites had threatened to put out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh-gilead
(1 Samuel 11:2). The Jabesh-gileadites now told the Ammonites to do whatever
34

35. seemed good literally "in their eyes" (cf. 1 Samuel 14:36).
Saul wisely divided his troops into three companies. He attacked the besieging
Ammonites early in the morning. The morning watch was the last of three night
watches, and it lasted from about 2:00 to 6:00 a.m. These three watches had their
origin in Mesopotamia, but all the western Asian nations observed them before the
Christian era (cf. Lamentations 2:19; Judges 7:19). The only other place in the Old
Testament where this phrase "at the morning watch" occurs in Hebrew is Exodus
14:24. Then God slew the Egyptian soldiers as they pursued the fleeing Israelites
through the Red Sea. Perhaps the writer wanted his readers to view this victory as
another miraculous deliverance at the beginning of a new phase of Israel's existence.
The Ammonites did not expect the other Israelites to show so much support for the
Jabesh-gileadites. Saul thoroughly surprised and defeated them. [Note: For another
interpretation of 11:1-11 that views it as an artificially constructed story, see Diana
Edelman, "Saul's Rescue of Jabesh-Gilead (1 Samuel 11:1-11): Sorting Story from
History," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 96:2 (1984):195-209.]
NISBET, "COURAGE AND FORBEARANCE
‘The Spirit of God came upon Saul.’
1 Samuel 11:6
Amid a weeping people the tidings of the fate of Jabesh were told to Saul, who was
returning with the oxen from the field. Saul felt the sorrow of it all as much as
anybody, but Saul also felt it was no time to weep. The Spirit of the Lord came on
him mightily, and roused him to immediate action. Inspired by the courage of their
new-found king, the Israelites scattered the Ammonites like leaves before the wind.
And the scene closes with a national gathering at Gilgal, where once again the
kingship of Saul was ratified, and where with every token of national joy, peace
offerings were offered to the Lord.
35

36. I. One of the first lessons we should learn here is the way in which our opportunities
may reach us.—We read in Roman history that Cato was busy ploughing when he
was fetched by the Senate to assume the dictatorship. So here Saul was returning
from the field when the tidings of Jabesh-Gilead reached his ear. That was his first
great opportunity as king—the hour that was to be determinative of his future—and
it met him on one ordinary evening as he was returning from his day’s work in the
field. He had not to roam abroad to seek this hour, nor to leave the ordinary routine
of duty for it; in the midst of his daily and familiar tasks he was faced by this first
crisis of his kingship. It is in the common life of ordinary days that God sends us our
most glorious opportunities. It was when Nathanael was under the fig tree that
Christ spied him. It was when Matthew was sitting at his desk that Jesus called him.
It was when James and John were busy with their nets that they were summoned to
be fishers of men. And so it is at home, and in the school, and in the office, or in the
field, that we can show that we are kingly—that is, can show that we are Christ’s.
II. Another lesson we are to learn here is that God means us to do at once what must
be done.—That was the effect of God’s Spirit upon Saul—he acted whole-heartedly
and instantly. The people of Benjamin wept when they heard the tidings, but Saul
was roused into immediate action, and there can be no question that this immediate
action was the cause of Israel’s magnificent success. The three most important
letters in the alphabet, said Sir Walter Scott, are the letters N, O, W. There are few
habits more evil than the habit of dawdling and trifling and putting off the time. For
not only does that make the task seem harder, till the grasshopper becomes a
burden, but there is no joy or zest at all when the thing comes to be done at last. One
of the great words in St. Mark’s Gospel is immediately. When there was anything to
do, immediately Christ did it, unless He was prompted to delay by love. And no
better word than that which St. Mark so used could be found as a motto. The Holy
Ghost is saying, ‘To-day.’ Pleasant things are done with a double blessing when they
are done without procrastination. Unpleasant things are robbed of half their weight
when they are carried through without delay. Delays are dangerous, the proverb
says, and dangerous not only to the task, but to the soul of him who shirks the task.
III. Then lastly, we learn here the importance of using our victories rightly.—It is a
noble trait in the character of Saul that he was so forgiving in the hour of victory.
The people, mightily moved by their great triumph, were for putting to death those
36

37. who had flouted Saul; but Saul said, ‘There shall not a man be put to death this
day.’ That was a wise as well as a generous use of victory. It prepared the way for a
future of peace and union. Had Saul taken swift vengeance on his despisers, it would
have led to bitter feuds and bloodshed. But he used his first victory with
consummate wisdom, and so has taught us how we should act in ours. For there are
perils in victories no less than in defeats, and there are men who have lost because
they won. We are all apt, in the first flush of triumphs, to forget ourselves and the
things so hardly learned. Therefore is it necessary to cling close to God in the hours
when the trees of the forest clap their hands not less than in the seasons when we cry
with Jacob, ‘All these things are against me.’
Illustrations
(1) ‘It was a glorious victory, the first one that Saul won, but that act of clemency
was its noblest crown. His first exercise of power is to rescue Israel from threatened
bondage, and his first opportunity of vengeance he turns into an opportunity of
forgiveness. Such is Saul as he first takes into his hands the Jewish sceptre. His after
history presents one gathering, thickening mass of error, remorse, jealousy, anger,
melancholy, madness, ending all in mournful suicide. But never let us forget how
that dark history began, that it is the same Saul that was so dutiful and tender to his
father, so modest among his fellows, so generous to his enemies, whose career we are
about to trace. Looking at his life in its dark close, we see before us a moral wreck;
but it was a noble vessel that went to pieces. But why was the history of that wreck
written by the pen of inspiration? And why does that shattered vessel still lie there
before us? Why but that He who knows how dangerous an ocean it is that we have
to traverse, and how treacherous the coasts along which the voyage lies, would not
leave us without all kinds of warning given. And we shall be all the better prepared
to take home to our hearts those moral and spiritual warnings that that wreck gives
forth, if we carry with us the remembrance of what a goodly, kindly, generous, and
noble nature it was of which the shattered relics remain.’
(2) ‘Contemptuous criticism is a challenge to everything that is contemptible in a
man. Many a man who can stand fire cannot stand laughter or abuse. But Saul was
bigger and more generous. He would not stain the memory of that day with the
blood of his countrymen, however little they deserved his clemency. In this he was
surely as wise as he was right. When the day was over and the hot passion of
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38. revenge had died down, how much greater must their king have seemed to them
than if he had yielded to their suggestion.’
PULPIT, "And the Spirit of God came upon Saul. Rather, descended mightily upon
Saul (see 1 Samuel 10:6). No miraculous influence is here meant; far more full of
meaning and piety is the lesson so constantly taught in the Book of Judges, that all
mighty and noble acts are from God ( 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6; 15:14, etc.).
Even the heathen saw in enthusiasm something Divine, for it means the having God
within. The energy with which Saul acted was strictly natural, but yet as truly
Divine; and it is a sign of the irreligion of modern days that it can see and hear of
great and heroic achievements and assign no part in them to God. In the days of
Samuel and the judges the whole glory of such acts was ascribed to God. But equally
now, whenever men are moved to noble acts, it is "the breath of God" that descends
upon them and inspires them.
7 He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and
sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel,
proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the
oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and
Samuel.” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the
people, and they came out together as one.
BARNES, "Though not expressly stated, it is doubtless implied that he sent the
portions by the messengers to the twelve tribes, after the analogy, and probably in
imitation, of Jdg_19:29. He made use of the revered name of Samuel to strengthen his
own weak authority. Samuel accompanied Saul in the expedition 1Sa_11:12.
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39. CLARKE, "He took a yoke of open - The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act
similar to that of the Levite, Jdg_19:29 (note), where see the note. And both customs are
similar to the sending about of the bloody cross, to call the clans to battle, practiced by
the ancient Highlanders of Scotland. See at the end of this chapter, 1Sa_11:15 (note).
GILL, "And he took a yoke of oxen,.... Of his own or his father's, which he had just
followed out of the field, and for which chiefly that circumstance is mentioned:
and hewed them in pieces; as the Levite did his concubine, Jdg_19:29
and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of
messengers; some carrying a piece one way, and some another, throughout all the
tribes; for to them all the government of Saul extended, and which by this he let them
know it did:
saying, whosoever cometh not after Saul and after Samuel; he names both,
because he himself, though chosen king, was not inaugurated into his office, nor was
Samuel put out of his; and because he knew he was despised by some, who would not
object to and refuse the authority of Samuel, and therefore if they would not follow him,
they would follow Samuel; and he mentions himself first, because of his superior dignity:
so shall it be done unto his oxen; be cut to pieces as these were; he does not
threaten to cut them in pieces, but their oxen, lest he should seem to exercise too much
severity at his first coming to the throne:
and the fear of the Lord fell on the people; they feared, should they be
disobedient, the Lord would cut them to pieces, or in some way destroy them, as well as
Saul would cut their oxen to pieces; for their minds were impressed with a sense of this
affair being of the Lord:
and they came out with one consent; or "as one man" (t), as if they had consulted
together; being under a divine impulse, they set out from different parts about much the
same time, and met at a place of rendezvous next mentioned.
HENRY, "IV. The authority and power he exerted upon this important occasion. He
soon let Israel know that, though he had retired to his privacy, he had a care for the
public, and knew how to command men into the field, as well as how to drive cattle out
of the field, 1Sa_11:5, 1Sa_11:7. He sent a summons to all the coasts of Israel, to show the
extent of his power beyond his own tribe, even to all the tribes, and ordered all the
military men forthwith to appear in arms at a general rendezvous in Bezek. Observe, 1.
His modesty, in joining Samuel in commission with himself. He would not execute the
office of a king without a due regard to that of a prophet. 2. His mildness in the penalty
threatened against those that should disobey his orders. He hews a yoke of oxen in
39

40. pieces, and sends the pieces to the several cities of Israel, threatening, with respect to
him who should decline the public service, not, “Thus shall it be done to him,” but,
“Thus shall it be done to his oxen.” God had threatened it as a great judgment (Deu_
28:31), Thy ox shall be slain before thy eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof. It was
necessary that the command should be enforced with some penalty, but this was not
nearly so severe as that which was affixed to a similar order by the whole congregation,
Jdg_21:5. Saul wished to show that his government was more gentle than that which
they had been under. The effect of this summons was that the militia, or trained bands,
of the nation, came out as one man, and the reason given is, because the fear of the Lord
fell upon them. Saul did not affect to make them fear him, but they were influenced to
observe his orders by the fear of God and a regard to him who had made Saul their king
and them members one of another. Note, Religion and the fear of God will make men
good subjects, good soldiers, and good friends to the public interests of the country.
Those that fear God will make conscience of their duty to all men, particularly to their
rulers.
JAMISON, "he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces — (see Jdg_
19:29). This particular form of war-summons was suited to the character and habits of
an agricultural and pastoral people. Solemn in itself, the denunciation that accompanied
it carried a terrible threat to those that neglected to obey it. Saul conjoins the name of
Samuel with his own, to lend the greater influence to the measure, and to strike greater
terror unto all contemners of the order. The small contingent furnished by Judah
suggests that the disaffection to Saul was strongest in that tribe.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:7. Sent them throughout all the coasts — Wisely
considering that the sight of men’s eyes does much more affect their hearts than
what they only hear with their ears. After Saul and after Samuel — He joins Samuel
with himself, both because he was present with him, and that hereby he might gain
the more authority. The fear of the Lord fell on the people — A fear was sent upon
them by God, so that they did not dare to deny their help. The fear of God will make
men good subjects, good soldiers and good friends to their country. They that fear
God will make conscience of their duty to all men, particularly to their rulers. They
will honour the king, and all that are in authority under him. They came out with
one consent — God, who put courage into Saul, and now induced him to assert his
royal authority over the people, influenced them with a fear of offending him, so
that they readily came and joined him at his call.
COFFMAN, "Verse 7
ALL ISRAEL RALLIES AROUND SAUL
"Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.
When he mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel were three hundred thousand,
40

41. and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said to the messengers who had
come, "Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: `Tomorrow by the time the
sun is hot you shall have deliverance.'" When the messengers came and told the men
of Jabesh, they were glad. Therefore, the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will
give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you."
"The dread of the Lord fell upon the people" (1 Samuel 11:7b). In this action, the
direct intervention of God in the affairs of men is no less visible in this phase (3)
than it was in the other two phases of Saul's elevation.
Three hundred thirty thousand (330,000) men was indeed a near-miraculous
response. All of these events took place in only about a week's time, and during that
period Saul selected an army, procured weapons for them, organized them and
launched the campaign against Nahash. Critics who wish to revise these numbers
have nothing of any value whatever with which to replace them!
"Tomorrow by the time the sun is hot" (1 Samuel 11:9). This was only another way
of saying, "By noon tomorrow"! The message which the men of Jabesh gave to
Nahash was for the purpose of deceiving him and making him suppose that he
would encounter no resistance.
ELLICOTT, " (7) A yoke of oxen.—In a moment all the great powers of Saul,
hitherto dormant, woke up, and he issued his swift commands in a way which at
once showed Israel that they had got a hero-king who would brook no trifling. In
that self-same hour, striking dead the oxen standing before his plough, he hews
them in pieces, and handing a bloody strip to certain of the men standing around
him, weeping for grief and shame and the wrong done to Israel, bade them swiftly
bear these terrible war-signals throughout the length and breadth of the land, and
by these means to rouse the nation to prompt action.
On this strange war-signal of king Saul, Ewald, in his History of Israel, Book II.,
section iii. 1 (note), remarks, “how in like manner it was formerly the custom in
Norway to send on the war-arrow; and in Scotland a fire-brand, with both ends
dipped in blood, was dispatched as a war-token.”
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42. Not improbably Saul cut the oxen into eleven pieces, and sent one to each of the
other tribes.
And the fear of the Lord fell on the people.—It was some such mighty awakening
under the influence of the Spirit of the Eternal, as is here related of King Saul,
which suggested to the poet Asaph the bold but splendid image of the seventy-eighth
Psalm, when, after describing in moving language the degradation and bitter woe of
fallen Israel, the singer, struck with a new inspiration, bursts forth with “Then the
Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of
wine. And he smote his enemies,” &c. (Psalms 78:65). “The people rose as one man”
(see margin) against the enemies of their national freedom. It was the same Spirit of
the Lord which inspired Saul to put himself at the head of the children of Israel
which now laid hold of all the people, lifting them up, and giving them new strength
and resistless courage, and the mighty feeling that God was with them.
It was owing to some influence of a similar nature that with scanty numbers, ill-
armed and ill-trained, the Swiss won for their land centuries of freedom on
memorable fields like Laupen and Morat, though the proudest chivalry of Europe
was arrayed against them. it was the same Spirit which impelled the peace-loving
traders of the marshes of Holland to rise as one man, and to drive out for ever from
their loved strip of fen land the hitherto invincible armies of Spain. No oppressor,
though backed by the wealth and power of an empire, has ever been able to resist
the smallest people in whose heart has burned the flame of the Divine fire of the
“fear of the Lord.”
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:7 And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and
sent [them] throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying,
Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his
oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one
consent.
Ver. 7. And he took a yoke of oxen.] His own, likely, which he was following from
the field. [1 Samuel 11:5] These he slayeth and sendeth abroad, as that Levite did his
dead concubine, [ 19:29] and as the Scots do their fire cross, with proclamation that
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43. all men above sixteen years of age, and under sixty, shall come into the field, to
oppose the common enemy. (a)
So shall it be done unto his oxen.] He knew that deeds would persuade more than
words; and that fear of punishment prevaileth most with the many. He therefore
taketh upon him like a king, which yet would have been to small purpose, but that -
The fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.]
Whereas otherwise the malcontents would have said, Minarum strepitus, Asini
crepitus.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:7. The cutting up of the oxen alone would not have
exhausted the meaning which (as appears from the context) this symbolical action
was meant to have. There was necesssary also the sending of the pieces into every
region of Israel, that Isaiah, to every tribe, as in the similar procedure in Judges
19:29. The meaning of Saul’s sharp words by the messengers: Whosoever cometh
not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen, is only fully
expressed by the pieces which are sent along with them. Though the “pieces” are not
expressly mentioned in the text, as in Judges 19:29 (Then.), yet they must be
understood from the connection. As there the pieces of the shamefully murdered
woman’s body, so here the pieces of the hewed oxen are the factual summons of the
individual parts of the people to a common warfare, which was to avenge the wrong
done them. Along with this similarity, however, between the two actions and their
aims, there is an essential difference between them. In the former case the pieces
represented the crime of the violated rights of hospitality and the expiation which
was demanded. Here Saul sets forth the punishment to be expected by every one
who should not join the campaign against the enemy; he threatens the exercise of his
judicial power, which is a function of his royal office. The subject [i.e. executer] of
the threat is neither the people of the recusant person (Josephus), nor the invading
enemy, but it is Hebrews, the king of Israel, who is thoroughly conscious of his
authority to summon the whole people to war against the enemy, under the impulse
of the Spirit of God, which has come upon him. Saul here steps forth, in the name of
the Lord, who has chosen him to save His people from their foes, with an act of
sovereign theocratic royal power. As possessor of this power he names himself first
as leader of Israel, and then Samuel second. That, however, he does connect the
latter’s name with his, shows Samuel’s high position as prophet and watchman of
the kingdom and (with the retention of his judicial authority) as leader of the people
43

44. along with Saul, and proves also Samuel’s approval of this assumption of royal
authority before the people. His symbolical action and the accompanying threat,
which is to rouse the people from division to unity, and from lethargy to a common
enterprise, is thus stamped with the prophetic and judicial authority of Samuel,
under which Saul’s royal authority stands.—Clericus excellently remarks: “This
was a symbolical action which, by the exhibition of the pieces of the oxen, struck the
mind more than words alone would have done.” The action belongs to the category
of symbolical Acts, which set forth corporally and vigorously the content of the
following words, in order to strengthen their impression. See 1 Kings 11:30; 1 Kings
22:11; 2 Kings 13:18. Comp. the symbolical actions in the prophetic writings.—The
powerful impression made by Saul’s appearance and act is indicated in a two-fold
way: 1) The fear of Jehovah fell on the people. Clericus: “Either fear sent or in some
peculiar way infused into men’s minds by God, or fear lest they should offend God,
if they refused to obey the command of the king and the prophet.” The second
explanation is to be preferred; for Saul’s appearance is theocratic; he speaks in the
name and under the commission of the Lord, whose instrument Hebrews, as well as
Samuel, is. The people, impressed by his act and his words, recognize the holy and
mighty will of their God, and are seized by a wholesome fear before the Lord, which
leads them to recognize the obligation to fulfil his command revealed through Saul.
“The fear of the Lord” is here, therefore, not a “panic fear” (Thenius, Böttcher); for
Jehovah is not=Elohim, as Keil well remarks;[FN24] the reference is to the relation
of the people to their covenant-God, who anew reveals Himself; 2) And they came
out as one man. The effect of Saul’s appearance and message to the whole people
was that they rose out of division into a firm unity of parts (tribes) and powers. The
Spirit of the Lord, which impelled Saul to this noble and vigorous action, so
strangely contrasted with his former quiet life behind the plough, laid hold at the
same time on the whole nation, so that it was suddenly lifted up, as it were
involuntarily, in the uniting and strengthening power of this Spirit from above, to a
new life before God (in His fear) and within itself (in unity and union) against the
enemies of the theocracy.
PULPIT. "Acting then with Divine enthusiasm, Saul cut into pieces a yoke of oxen,
and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers. For a
similar act see 19:29. Probably Saul cut the oxen into twelve pieces, and sent one to
each tribe, with the threat that in case of disobedience their oxen would be similarly
treated. The threat was moderate in that it did not touch their persons, but severe as
regards their property, the labouring ox being man's faithful friend and servant. It
is important also to notice that Saul speaks not only in his own name, but also in
that of Samuel. It was as the man chosen of Jehovah to be king by the voice of his
prophet that he acted, and so as one possessed of legitimate authority; and it seems
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45. also that Samuel went with him in person to the war ( 19:12). And the result
answered to the energy with which Saul acted, for the fear of Jehovah—or, rather,
"a terror from Jehovah"—fell on the people, and they came out with one consent,
or, as it is rendered far more correctly and forcibly in the margin, "as one man."
United by the kingly power, it was a nation that rose to defend one of its injured
members.
8 When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of
Israel numbered three hundred thousand and
those of Judah thirty thousand.
BARNES, "He numbered them - This was done to see who was absent (compare
Jdg_21:9).
Bezek has been conjectured to be the name of a district rather than of a town. Two
villages retained the name in the time of Eusebius 17 miles from Nablous, on the way to
Beth-shean.
The children of Israel and the men of Judah - This looks like the language of
later times, times perhaps subsequent to the establishment of the two kingdoms of Israel
and Judah. Israel here (including Benjamin) is as ten to one compared with Judah. This
is about the true proportion.
CLARKE, "The children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the
men of Judah thirty thousand - This was a vast army, but the Septuagint make it
even more: “All the men of Israel were ἑξακοσιας χιλιαδας, Six Hundred thousand; and
the men of Judah ἑβδομηκοντα χιλιαδας, Seventy thousand.” Josephus goes yet higher
with the number of the Israelites: “He found the number of those whom he had gathered
together to be ἑβδομηκοντα μυριαδας Seven Hundred thousand.” Those of the tribe of
Judah he makes seventy thousand, with the Septuagint. These numbers are not all right;
and I suspect even the Hebrew text to be exaggerated, by the mistake or design of some
ancient scribe.
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46. GILL, "And when he numbered them at Bezek,.... Which was the place appointed
to meet at, the same with that in Jdg_1:4; see Gill on Jdg_1:4 though some take the
word to be an appellative, and not, the proper name of a place, and render it, "with a
stone"; with which he numbered, taking a stone from each, and laying them on a heap,
and then telling them (u); so Bizakion signifies little stones (w) with the Greeks: or "with
a fragment"; either of an earthen vessel, or of a stone, or of the branch of a tree they
carried in their hands, and so the king's servants numbered not the men, but the
branches (x):
and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand men; who came
together on this occasion; these were of the eight tribes and a half on this side Jordan:
and the men of Judah thirty thousand; which tribe is mentioned distinctly,
because a noble and warlike tribe, which usually first went up to battle; and though the
number of them at this time assembled may seem comparatively small, yet this may
easily be accounted for; because they bordered upon the Philistines, who watched every
opportunity to take an advantage of them, and therefore could not leave their tribe
destitute, but reserved a sufficient number to guard their coasts, and yet were desirous
to testify their obedience to Saul, though chosen king out of another tribe, when they
might have expected from prophecy that the dominion belonged to them. Josephus (y)
has made a gross mistake in the numbers here, he makes the men of Israel to be
700,000, and the men of Judah 70,000, contrary to the text, the Targum, Syriac and
Arabic versions; but the Septuagint comes pretty near him, which has 600,000 of the
men of Israel, 70,000 of the men of Judah.
HENRY, "V. His prudent proceedings in this great affair, 1Sa_11:8. He numbered
those that came in to him, that he might know his own strength, and how to distribute
his forces in the best manner their numbers would allow. It is the honour of princes to
know the number of their men, but it is the honour of the King of kings that there is not
any number of his armies, Job_25:3. In this muster, it seems, Judah, though numbered
by itself, made no great figure; for, as it was one tribe of twelve, so it was but an eleventh
part of the whole number, 30,330, though the rendezvous was at Bezek, in that tribe.
They wanted the numbers, or the courage, or the zeal for which that tribe used to be
famous; so low was it, just before the sceptre was brought into it in David.
JAMISON, "Bezek — This place of general muster was not far from Shechem, on the
road to Beth-shan, and nearly opposite the ford for crossing to Jabesh-gilead. The great
number on the muster-roll showed the effect of Saul’s wisdom and promptitude.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:8. The men of Judah thirty thousand — They were
numbered apart to their honour, to show how readily they, to whom the kingdom
was promised, (Genesis 49:10,) submitted to their king, though of another tribe, and
46

47. how willing they were to hazard themselves for their brethren, although they might
have excused themselves from the necessity of defending their own country from
their dangerous neighbours the Philistines.
ELLICOTT, " (8) Bezek.—Bezek was in the tribe of Issachar, in the plain of
Jezreel, an open district, well adapted for the assembling of the great host which so
promptly obeyed the peremptory summons of the war-signal of King Saul.
The children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty
thousand.—It has been suggested that this verse was the addition of some late
reviser of the book, who lived in the northern kingdom after the final separation of
Israel and Judah, but such a supposition is not necessary to account for the separate
mention of Judah and Israel, or for the apparently great disproportion in the
numbers supplied by the great southern tribe. The chronicler, with pardonable
exultation, specially mentions the splendid result of the young hero’s first summons
to the tribes, adding, with perhaps an undertone of sadness, that the rich and
populous Judah to that great host only contributed 30,000. There is no doubt, as
Dean Payne Smith well observes, that “as a matter of fact Judah always stood apart
until there was a king who belonged to itself. Then, in David’s time, it first took an
active interest in the national welfare, and it was its vast power and numbers which
made the shepherd-king, who sprang from Judah, so powerful.” In the reign of
King Asa of Judah, the numbers of the men of war of that proud tribe amounted to
300,000. It is, however, to be remembered that in the Old Testament Books, owing to
the mistakes of copyists, numbers are not always to be strictly relied upon.
HAWKER, "Verses 8-11
(8) And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three
hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. (9) And they said unto
the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead,
Tomorrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came
and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. (10) Therefore the men of
Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that
seemeth good unto you. (11) And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people
in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch,
and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they
which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.
47

48. The reader will have a better idea of Saul's enterprizing spirit, when he is informed,
that from Bezek, to the scene of action, was near 60 miles, and the army had to cross
Jordan also, in the accomplishment of it. Therefore he must not only have levied this
army by day, but marched by night, in order to have done what he did. But
principally let us behold the hand of the Lord in it. If God be for us, who can be
against us? And my brother, amidst all the threats, and besiegings of the enemy,
never forget how soon the Captain of our salvation can hasten to our rescue. Day
and night he is at hand, and no distance, no Jordan, no fire, or water, can separate
us from his love, and his powerful assistance. What a blessed recollection, amidst all
the hosts of the believer's foes?
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:8-11. Saul’s deed of deliverance by victory over the
Ammonites. The summoning of the people and the gathering of the hosts goes
swiftly on. The latter is presupposed in the phrase “numbered or mustered them.”
This took place in Bezek, in the Tribe of Issachar, in the plain of Jezreel, not far
from Bethshean, at about as great an elevation as Jabesh, according to the
Onom17[FN25] Roman miles north of Neapolis (Nablus), on the road to Scythopolis.
This place must not be confounded with the Bezek in the Tribe of Judah, where the
Canaanites and Perizzites under their king Adonibezek were beaten by Judah and
Simeon, Judges 1:3-4. In respect to the separate mention of Israel and Judah [ 1
Samuel 11:8] Clericus remarks: “this smacks of the times that followed the division
of the Israelites into two kingdoms.” See the same distinction made in 1 Samuel
17:52; 1 Samuel 18:16; 2 Samuel 2:9 sq.; 1 Samuel 3:10; 1 Samuel 5:1-5; 1 Samuel
19:41 sq.; 1 Samuel 20:24. That the large and powerful tribe of Judah has the
relatively small number (30,000) of warriors over against the300,000 of Israel, is due
to the fact that a large part of its territory was in the possession of the Philistines, as
to whose further advance more care had to be taken, now that the northeastern
frontier of the country was threatened by the Ammonites. The large numbers are
explained by the general levy of the people (a sort of militia).
PULPIT, "He numbered them in Bezek. This place was in the tribe of Issachar, and
must be distinguished from that mentioned in 1:3, 1:4, which was in Judah, and too
remote from the scene of operations. And here Saul appears as the commander-in-
chief; for the numbering included the forming of battalions, arranged in thousands,
hundreds, and fifties, and the setting officers over them. These, naturally, were the
chief men in each district. The result would be that, coming to Bezek, the appointed
rendezvous, a disorderly multitude, they would leave it as an army arranged in
order, and Saul, in the many difficulties that would arise, would have his first
opportunity of showing his powers of command. Children of Israel,… men of
48

49. Judah—the distinction which ended in the disruption of the nation. Judah, too, with
its 30,000 men, is but poorly represented, nor is it a sufficient explanation of the
small number who came that the tribe had enough to do at home in making head
against the Philistines. As a matter of fact, Judah always stood apart until there was
a king who belonged to itself. Then, in David's time, it first took an active interest in
the national welfare, and it was its vast power and numbers which made him so
powerful. Had it been so nearly overpowered by the Philistines, it could not so
suddenly have sprung forth with a might which made it well nigh a match for all the
rest.
9 They told the messengers who had come, “Say to
the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is
hot tomorrow, you will be rescued.’” When the
messengers went and reported this to the men of
Jabesh, they were elated.
BARNES, "The distance from Bezek to Jabesh-Gilead would perhaps be about twenty
miles.
GILL, "And they said unto the messengers that came,.... From Jabeshgilead,
that is, Saul and Samuel said to them, as follows:
thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead: when they returned unto them, as
they were now upon the departure:
tomorrow, by that time the sun be hot; when it smites with the greatest heat, as at
noon: this morrow seems not to be the next from their return home, or going from Saul,
but the morrow after they were got home, and should deliver the message to those that
sent them, 1Sa_11:10 and so Josephus (z) says, it was on the third day the assistance was
promised them:
49

50. ye shall have help; Saul with his army by that time would come and raise the siege:
and the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh; what Saul had promised,
and what a numerous army he had raised, and had now upon the march for their relief,
and tomorrow would be with them:
and they were glad; it was good news and glad tidings to them; it cheered their hearts,
and gave them spirit.
HENRY, "VI. His faith and confidence, and (grounded thereon) his courage and
resolution, in this enterprise. It should seem that those very messengers who brought
the tidings from Jabesh-Gilead Saul sent into the country to raise the militia, who would
be sure to be faithful and careful in their own business, and them he now sends back to
their distressed countrymen, with this assurance (in which, it is probable, Samuel
encouraged him): “Tomorrow, by such an hour, before the enemy can pretend that the
seven days have expired, you shall have deliverance, 1Sa_11:9. Be you ready to do your
part, and we will not fail to do ours. Do you sally out upon the besiegers, while we
surround them.” Saul knew he had a just cause, a clear call, and God on his side, and
therefore doubted not of success. This was good news to the besieged Gileadites, whose
right eyes had wept themselves dry for their calamities, and now began to fail with
looking for relief and to ache in expectation of the doom of the ensuing day, when they
must look their last; the greater the exigence the more welcome the deliverance. When
they heard it they were glad, relying on the assurances that were sent to them. And they
sent into the enemies' camp (1Sa_11:10) to tell them that next day they would be ready to
meet them, which the enemies understood as an intimation that they despaired of relief,
and so were made the more secure by it. If they took not care, by sending out scouts, to
rectify their own mistake, they must thank themselves if they were surprised: the
besieged were under no obligation to give them notice of the help they were assured of.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:9. The messengers from Jabesh are now dismissed with the
answer that help would be brought them the next day by the time the sun was
hottest. So confident is Saul with his army in the power of the prophetic spirit, that
the Lord will through them bring help. Bold assurance of faith which, in a great
undertaking, anticipates its success as an accomplished fact. The messengers from
Jabesh had the same confidence of faith.
10 They said to the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we
will surrender to you, and you can do to us
50

51. whatever you like.”
BARNES, "Tomorrow - Probably the last of the “seven days’ respite” 1Sa_11:3.
Their words were spoken in guile, to throw the Ammonites off their guard.
CLARKE, "To-morrow we will come out unto you - They concealed the
information they had received of Saul’s promised assistance. They did come out unto
them; but it was in a different manner to what the Ammonites expected.
GILL, "Therefore the men of Jabesh said,.... To Nahash the Ammonite:
tomorrow we will come out unto you; meaning if they had no help, which they
were well assured they should have; but this condition they expressed not, which they
were not obliged to, but left him to conclude they had no hope of any, the messengers
being returned, and the next being the last of the seven days' respite; and by this artifice
the Ammonites were secure, and not at all upon their guard against an approaching
enemy:
and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you; make shows of them,
pluck out their eyes, or put them to death, or do what they would with them.
11 The next day Saul separated his men into three
divisions; during the last watch of the night they
broke into the camp of the Ammonites and
slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those
who survived were scattered, so that no two of
51

52. them were left together.
BARNES, "The march from Bezek may have begun the night before. This disposition
of the forces “in three companies” (imitating Gideon’s strategy, compare the marginal
reference.) would not have been made until the morning when they were very near the
Ammonitish forces. “The morning watch” was the last of the three watches, of four hours
each, into which the night was anciently divided by the Hebrews. (See Jdg_7:19 note.)
The time thus indicated would be between two and six in the morning.
CLARKE, "Put the people in three companies - Intending to attack the
Ammonites in three different points, and to give his own men more room to act.
In the morning watch - He probably began his march in the evening, passed
Jordan in the night, and reached the camp of the Ammonites by daybreak.
That two of them were not left together - This proves that the rout was
complete.
GILL, "And it was so on the morrow,.... After the messengers were returned, and
delivered their message, and the men of Jabeshgilead had given the Ammonites reason
to expect that they would come out to them according to their agreement:
that Saul put the people into three companies; or "heads" (a), under so many
commanders, assigning to each their number, if equally, 110,000 in each, as Gideon
divided his three hundred into three companies, one hundred in each, Jdg_7:16 and
Abimelech, Jdg_9:43 it seems to have been their way of fighting in those days:
and they came unto the midst of the host: that is, of the Ammonites:
in the morning watch; the third and last watch of the night, by break of day, or
before, however before the sun was up; so quick was Saul and his men in their march,
though on foot. Bunting (b) computes the distance from Gibeah to Bezek forty miles,
and from thence to Jabesh sixteen; it is commonly reckoned that it was about sixty miles
from Gibeah to Jabesh. Josephus (c) says it was ten "schaeni", each of which contained
five or six miles:
and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day; that is, till noon, so that from
the morning watch till noon he was making slaughter of them:
52

53. and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered; those that were
not cut off by the sword of Saul were broken and dispersed, they could not stand their
ground against him:
so that two of them were not left together; to flee together, but every one
shifted for himself, and fled alone.
HENRY, "VII. His industry and close application to this business. If he had been
bred up to war from his youth, and had led regiments as often as he had followed droves,
he could not have gone about an affair of this nature more dexterously nor more
diligently. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon men it will make them expert even
without experience. A vast army (especially in comparison with the present usage) Saul
had now at his foot, and a long march before him, nearly sixty miles, and over Jordan
too. No cavalry in his army, but all infantry, which he divides into three battalions, 1Sa_
11:11. And observe, 1. With what incredible swiftness he flew to the enemy. In a day and a
night he came to the place of action, where his own fate, and that of Israel, must be
determined. He had passed his word, and would not break it; nay, he was better than his
word, for he promised help next day, by that time the sun was hot (1Sa_11:9), but
brought it before day, in the morning-watch, 1Sa_11:11. Whom God helps he helps right
early, Psa_46:5. 2. With what incredible bravery he flew upon the enemy. Betimes in the
morning, when they lay dreaming of the triumphs they expected that day over the
miserable inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead, before they were aware he was in the midst of
their host; and his men, being marched against them in three columns, surrounded them
on every side, so that they could have neither heart nor time to make head against them.
Lastly, To complete his honour, God crowned all these virtues with success. Jabesh-
Gilead was rescued, and the Ammonites were totally routed; he had now the day before
him to complete his victory in, and so complete a victory it was that those who remained,
after a great slaughter, were scattered so that two of them were not left together to
encourage or help one another, 1Sa_11:11. We may suppose that Saul was the more
vigorous in this matter, 1. Because there was some alliance between the tribe of
Benjamin and the city of Jabesh-Gilead. That city had declined joining with the rest of
the Israelites to destroy Gibeah, which was then punished as their crime, but perhaps
was now remembered as their kindness, when Saul of Gibeah came with so much
readiness and resolution to relieve Jabesh-Gilead. Yet that was not all; two-thirds of the
Benjamites that then remained were provided with wives from that city (Jdg_21:14), so
that most of the mothers of Benjamin were daughters of Jabesh-Gilead, for which city
Saul, being a Benjamite, had therefore a particular kindness; and we find they returned
his kindness, 1Sa_31:11, 1Sa_31:12. 2. Because it was the Ammonites' invasion that
induced the people to desire a king (so Samuel says, 1Sa_12:12), so that if he had not
done his part, in this expedition, he would have disappointed their expectations, and for
ever forfeited their respect.
JAMISON, "on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies —
Crossing the Jordan in the evening, Saul marched his army all night, and came at
daybreak on the camp of the Ammonites, who were surprised in three different parts,
53

54. and totally routed. This happened before the seven days’ truce expired.
COFFMAN, "Verse 11
SAUL'S GLORIOUS RESCUE OF JABESH-GILEAD
"And on the morrow Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the
midst of the camp in the morning watch, and cut down the Ammonites until the heat
of the day; and those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left
together."
This victory was of God Himself, as Saul freely admitted, and it was this victory that
constituted the third and final phase of Saul's rise to the throne.
The deployment of the forces of Israel in three companies was very similar to the
actions of Gideon in Judges 7:16f, as was also their attack in the third watch of the
night, between two o'clock and six o'clock in the morning.
ELLICOTT. "(11) The morning watch.—The morning watch was the last of the
three watches, each lasting for four hours; this was the old Hebrew division of the
night. Thus the first onslaught of the men of Israel under Saul would have taken
place some time between two and six a.m. The battle, and subsequent rout of
Ammon, continued evidently for many hours.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:11. They are overpowered by surprise. The time of the
“morning-watch” is from 3 to6 o’clock in the morning, when the night is darkest. As
Saul’s army was not a disciplined one, but hastily gathered from the whole people,
he could only hope to gain a complete and decisive victory by attacking the
confident Ammonites in their camp from three sides during their soundest sleep.
The army, divided into three parts, came “into the midst of the camp” from
different directions. The victory was complete “by the heat of the day;” the enemy’s
army is utterly scattered. “Two were not left together.”
PULPIT, "They came.; in the morning watch. By a forced march Saul came upon
the unsuspecting Ammonites just before daybreak, when sleep is deepest; and as his
host was unwieldy, he arranged it in three divisions, assigning to each a different
route, that they might not impede one another on the way, and might also cut off the
retreat of the enemy. As the fighting went on for five or six hours, until the heat of
54

55. the day, the Ammonites must at first have made some resistance; but when all three
divisions of Saul's army had come up, they were so utterly routed that "no two of
them were left together."
Saul Confirmed as King
12 The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it
that asked, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Turn these
men over to us so that we may put them to death.”
CLARKE, "Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign - Now, flushed with victory
and proud of their leader, they wished to give him a proof of their attachment by slaying,
even in cool blood, the persons who were at first averse from his being intrusted with the
supreme power! The common soldier is scarcely ever inspired by his victory to acts of
magnanimity; he has shed blood - he wishes to shed more!
GILL, "And the people said unto Samuel,.... By which it seems that Samuel
accompanied Saul in this expedition; though it is somewhat difficult to account for it,
that a man of his years should be able to attend so quick a march that Saul made; it may
be, therefore, that he might follow after him gently, and meet him quickly after the battle
was fought, when the people made the following speech to him:
who is he that said, shall Saul reign over us? is such a mean inexperienced man fit
to rule over us? who can bear his government, and submit to it? what can be expected
from him, that he should deliver and save us out of the hands of our enemies? in this
they had respect to the sons of Belial, and what they said, 1Sa_10:27, but now it
appeared he was sufficiently qualified, and God had made him an instrument of
55

56. salvation, and was a proper person to be king over them:
bring the men, that we may put them to death; so transported were they with
affection to Saul, and indignation against those men.
HENRY, "We have here the improvement of the glorious victory which Saul had
obtained, not the improvement of it abroad, though we take it for granted that the men
of Jabesh-Gilead, having so narrowly saved their right eyes, would with them now
discern the opportunity they had of avenging themselves upon these cruel enemies and
disabling them from ever straitening them in like manner again; now shall they be
avenged on the Ammonites for their right eyes condemned, as Samson on the Philistines
for his two eyes put out, Jdg_16:28. But the account here given is of the improvement of
this victory at home.
I. The people took this occasion to show their jealousy for the honour of Saul, and
their resentment of the indignities done him. Samuel, it seems, was present, if not in the
action (it was too far for him to march) yet to meet them when they returned victorious;
and to him, as judge, the motion was made (for they knew Saul would not be judge in his
own cause) that the sons of Belial that would not have him to reign over them should be
brought forth and slain, 1Sa_11:12. Saul's good fortune (as foolish men commonly call it)
went further with them to confirm his title than either his choice by lot or Samuel's
anointing him. They had not courage thus to move for the prosecution of those that
opposed him when he himself looked mean, but, now that his victory made him look
great, nothing would serve but they must be put to death.
JAMISON, "1Sa_11:12-15. Saul confirmed king.
the people said ..., Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? — The
enthusiastic admiration of the people, under the impulse of grateful and generous
feelings, would have dealt summary vengeance on the minority who opposed Saul, had
not he, either from principle or policy, shown himself as great in clemency as in valor.
The calm and sagacious counsel of Samuel directed the popular feelings into a right
channel, by appointing a general assembly of the militia, the really effective force of the
nation, at Gilgal, where, amid great pomp and religious solemnities, the victorious leader
was confirmed in his kingdom [1Sa_11:15].
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:12-13. The people said unto Samuel — Who, it appears
from hence, accompanied Saul in this expedition, to encourage him with hopes of
good success. Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day — Saul had
prudently dissembled his knowledge of their despising him before the kingdom was
confirmed to him. But the moderation which he now manifested, after he had been
so wonderfully victorious, argued still greater nobleness of mind, and benevolence,
and mildness of disposition. For nothing is more glorious than to be humble and
56

57. meek in the height of power.
COFFMAN, "SAUL FINALLY PROCLAIMED KING OVER ALL ISRAEL
"Then the people said to Samuel, "Who is it that said, `Shall Saul reign over us'?
Bring the men that we may put them to death." But Saul said, "Not a man shall be
put to death this day, for today the Lord has wrought deliverance in Israel." Then
Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom."
So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in
Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all
the men of Israel rejoiced greatly."
The meaning of this paragraph is that, at last, all Israel accepted Saul as king. The
Gilgal here is that famous place near Jericho where the ark of the Lord was first
placed in Canaan, and where Samuel visited regularly during his judgeship of
Israel.
G. B. Caird's comment on this passage is that:
"The story concludes with the public anointing of Saul, in which Samuel had no
part; and we may conclude from this that the idea of making Saul king over all
Israel had occurred to someone other than Samuel."[9]
This type of comment is not a comment upon the Bible at all, but upon the
Septuagint (LXX) and carries no weight whatever. Josephus' words cannot confirm
such a view because he was merely reading the erroneous interpretation which the
translators of the Septuagint (LXX) inserted into the true text.
The account which we have before us in the RSV is dependable, and there is not
even a hint in this passage of anything resembling "an anointing." That had already
been done and was recorded by the author of this book in 1 Samuel 10:1ff.
ELLICOTT, "(12) And the people said unto Samuel.—The great weight and
influence of the seer among the people is strikingly shown by this record of their
57

58. turning to him, even in the first flush of this great victory of Saul’s. It was Samuel to
whom the people looked to bring to punishment the men who had dared to question
the wisdom of electing Saul as king. It should be remembered, too, that the royal
summons to Israel which accompanied the bloody war-signal of King Saul, ran in
the joint names of Saul and Samuel. (See 1 Samuel 11:7.)
HAWKER, "(12) ¶ And the people said unto Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul
reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death.
The zeal of the Israelites for Saul, after so complete a victory, is not to be wondered
at. They would have sacrificed, no doubt, anything at the moment, to show their
loyalty. But we do not hear a word of ascribing the work to the Lord. Alas! what an
everlasting backwardness there is in our nature, to do this!
CONSTABLE, "Verses 12-15
Israel's commitment to Saul 11:12-15
Admirably, Saul sought no personal revenge on those who initially had failed to
support him (1 Samuel 10:27; cf. Judges 20:13; Luke 19:27). Furthermore he gave
God the glory for his victory (cf. Jonah 2:9; Psalms 20:7; Proverbs 21:31). He was
not self-serving at this time.
What Samuel called for was a ceremony to renew the Mosaic Covenant. [Note:
Klaus Baltzer, The Covenant Formulary, pp. 66-68; William J. Dumbrell, Covenant
and Creation, p. 135; and Lyle M. Eslinger, Kingship of God in Crisis, pp. 37,
383-428.] It was to be similar to those that had taken place in Joshua's day (Joshua
8, 24), in which the nation would dedicate itself afresh to Yahweh and His Law as a
nation (cf. Deuteronomy 29). As mentioned earlier, it is not clear whether Gilgal
refers to the Gilgal near Jericho or another Gilgal a few miles north of Bethel.
[Note: See my comments on 7:16.] A Gilgal north of Bethel would have been closer
since most of the activities recorded in these first chapters of 1 Samuel (at Ramah,
Gibeah, Mizpah, etc.) were all on the Benjamin plateau near Bethel. Yet the Gilgal
near Jericho was the Israelites' first camp after they entered the Promised Land,
and the place where they first renewed the covenant in the land (Joshua 4-5). For
this reason, that site would have stimulated the people's remembrance of God's
faithfulness to them and His plans for them as a united nation. Hopefully further
58

59. discoveries will enable us solve the puzzle of which Gilgal this was.
The people now gave united support to Saul as their king at Gilgal. This is the first
of three significant meetings of Samuel and Saul at Gilgal. The second was the time
Saul failed to wait for the prophet, offered a sacrifice prematurely, and received the
prophet's rebuke (1 Samuel 13:7-14). The third meeting was when God rejected
Saul as king for his disobedient pride following his victory over the Amalekites (1
Samuel 15:10-26).
Peace offerings expressed thanks to God for His goodness. This offering also
emphasized the unity of the participants in the sacrifice (Leviticus 3).
"Saul's ascent to the throne was now complete, and the 'great celebration' that
accompanied the sacrificial ritual more than matched Israel's earlier elation upon
their receiving the messengers' report of the imminent doom of the Ammonites (1
Samuel 11:9)." [Note: Youngblood, p. 642.]
In this incident Israel faced a very threatening situation physically and spiritually.
The people's reaction was to weep (1 Samuel 11:4). God went into action because He
had made promises to protect His people (cf. Hebrews 13:5-6). He provided
deliverance when His people thought there was no hope. The result was that God's
people rededicated themselves to following the Lord faithfully. Their weeping gave
way to rejoicing.
In this incident we also see Saul humble and hardworking (1 Samuel 11:5). God's
Spirit empowered him (1 Samuel 11:6), and gave him wisdom (1 Samuel 11:7-8) and
victory (1 Samuel 11:11). Saul gave God the glory for his success, and he was
merciful and forgiving toward his critics (1 Samuel 11:13). God also gave him favor
in the eyes of His people (1 Samuel 11:15; cf. 1 Samuel 2:30; Proverbs 16:7).
LANGE, " 1 Samuel 11:12. This bold deed of deliverance, performed under the
immediate impulse of the Spirit from above at the head of the nation, legitimizes
Saul before all Israel as their God-appointed king. It is quite in keeping with the
enthusiasm with which he had inspired the people that they wished to punish his
59

60. contemptuous opposers ( 1 Samuel 10:27) with death as traitors. The words: “Saul
should reign over us” are to be taken either as exclamation or as question.
PETT, " All Opposition To Saul’s Kingship Now Having Been Put To Shame, Saul
Is Officially Crowned as King of Israel (1 Samuel 11:12-15).
The returning Saul arrived back in triumph and the vast majority of the people
acknowledged that he had proved himself and determined to deal with the
murmurers against him (1 Samuel 10:27) by putting them to death. This was the
recognised way of dealing with obdurate opponents to a regime. But to his credit
Saul would have none of it. Then with his position established Saul was officially
confirmed as king at Gilgal.
1 Samuel 11:12
‘And the people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign over us?
Bring the men, that we may put them to death.”’
The exuberant returning troops would now look on Saul with a new light. It was one
thing to have a war-leader appointed by lot, it was quite another when you have
followed him into battle and been hugely victorious. None of them doubted him now.
Thus they approached Samuel who would have been awaiting their return and
called for all who opposed Saul to be put to death. In view of the fact that it was
expected that they would have brought presents to the new king they were possibly
mainly older men who through tribal loyalty could not bear the thought of being
ruled over by a Benjaminite.
PULPIT, "The people said unto Samuel. Even after this glorious victory the people
turn to Samuel, and doubtless his presence and influence had had great weight in
gaining obedience to Saul's command (1 Samuel 11:7). They now, with the old
tumultuous violence, demand' that those who had opposed Saul's election should be
put to death. Probably the ringleaders of Saul's opponents were some of the ciders
disappointed at not being chosen themselves (see on 1 Samuel 10:27). But Saul
displays, first, the kingly virtue of clemency, saying, There shall not a man be put to
death this day—a decision politic as well as generous, for bloodshed would have led
60

61. only to future feuds; and, secondly, piety, in so humbly ascribing to Jehovah the
salvation that had been wrought in Israel.
K&D 12-13, "Renewal of the Monarchy. - Saul had so thoroughly acted the part of a
king in gaining this victory, and the people were so enthusiastic in his favour, that they
said to Samuel, viz., after their return from the battle, “Who is he that said, Saul should
reign over us!” The clause ‫ינוּ‬ֵ‫ל‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫מ‬ִ‫י‬ ‫אוּל‬ָ‫שׁ‬ contains a question, though it is indicated
simply by the tone, and there is no necessity to alter ‫אוּל‬ָ‫שׁ‬ into ‫אוּל‬ָ‫שׁ‬ֲ‫.ה‬ These words refer
to the exclamation of the worthless people in 1Sa_10:27. “Bring the men (who spoke in
this manner), that we may put them to death.” But Saul said, “There shall not a man be
put to death this day; for to-day Jehovah hath wrought salvation in Israel;” and proved
thereby not only his magnanimity, but also his genuine piety.
(Note: “Not only signifying that the public rejoicing should not be interrupted, but
reminding them of the clemency of God, and urging that since Jehovah had shown
such clemency upon that day, that He had overlooked their sins, and given them a
glorious victory, it was only right that they should follow His example, and forgive
their neighbours' sins without bloodshed.” - Seb. Schmidt.)
13 But Saul said, “No one will be put to death
today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel.”
BARNES, "There shall not a man ... - An instance of great moderation, as well as
good policy, on the part of Saul. Compare David’s conduct (marginal reference).
CLARKE, "There shall not a man be put to death - This was as much to Saul’s
credit as the lately proposed measure was to the discredit of his soldiers.
GILL, "And Saul said,.... Preventing Samuel from giving an answer, being ready to
forgive injuries; as it was in his power as a king, and him only, to pardon those persons
that treated him in so ill a manner, and it was policy so to do, especially in the beginning
of his reign; and it plainly appears that this temper did not always continue with him;
though there is no reason to believe otherwise, that this was now owing to his lenity as
well as his prudence:
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62. there shall not be a man put to death this day; who by their appearance to his
summons had testified their obedience, and by their courage and valour had showed
their attachment to him, and to the interest of their country. Ben Gersom takes the sense
to be, that it might be right after, but not on this day to put them to death; or that this
was an artifice of Saul to deliver those men out of the hands of the Israelites, suggesting
as if it was his intention hereafter to put them to death, though not now, for the
following reason:
for today the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel; he does not ascribe the
victory to the quick dispatch he made, to his wisdom and prudence in forming the
scheme he did, and to his valour and courage, and that of his troops, but to the power
and goodness of God.
HENRY, "II. Saul took this occasion to give further proofs of his clemency, for,
without waiting for Samuel's answer, he himself quashed the motion (1Sa_11:13): There
shall not a man be put to death this day, no, not those men, those bad men, that had
abused him, and therein reflected on God himself, 1. Because it was a day of joy and
triumph: “To day the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel; and, since God has been so
good to us all, let us not be harsh one to another. Now that God has made the heart of
Israel in general so glad, let not us make sad the hearts of any particular Israelites.” 2.
Because he hoped they were by this day's work brought to a better temper, were now
convinced that this man, under God, could save them, now honoured him whom before
they had despised; and, if they are but reclaimed, he is secured from receiving any
disturbance by them, and therefore his point is gained. If an enemy be made a friend,
that will be more to our advantage than to have him slain. And all good princes consider
that their power is for edification, not for destruction.
ELLICOTT, " (13) And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day.—
A wise, as well as a generous, decision; anything like a bloody vengeance would have
been the commencement of future feuds and bitter heart-burnings between the new
king and the powerful families of the other tribes, who misliked and opposed his
election. Saul began his reign with wise discretion, as well as with heroic valour. By
this determined refusal to avenge the cruel affront showed to him, he taught “kings
to be” how truly a royal virtue was forgiveness of all past wrongs.
For to day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel.—And as yet unspoiled, the
king’s heart was full of humble reverent piety. By this first public act of pardon, he
“not only signified that the public rejoicing should not be interrupted, but reminded
them of the clemency of God, and urged that since Jehovah had shown such
clemency upon that day, that He overlooked their sins, and had given them a
glorious victory. it was only right they should follow His example, and forgive their
neighbours’ sins without bloodshed.” (Seb. Schmidt, quoted by Keil and Delitsch.)
62

63. HAWKER, "(12) ¶ And the people said unto Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul
reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death.
The zeal of the Israelites for Saul, after so complete a victory, is not to be wondered
at. They would have sacrificed, no doubt, anything at the moment, to show their
loyalty. But we do not hear a word of ascribing the work to the Lord. Alas! what an
everlasting backwardness there is in our nature, to do this!
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:13 And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this
day: for to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel.
Ver. 13. There shall not a man be put to death this day.] Mitisima sors est
Regnorum sub Rege novo. (a) But this held not long with Saul; witness his dealing
with David, Jonathan, the Lord’s priests, &c. He was never right.
For today the Lord hath wrought, &c.] Therefore this day shall not be obscured or
fouled with shedding of blood. So the citizens of Berne, for joy of the reformation
there wrought, pardoned a couple of traitors, and gave liberty to all their exiles to
return home again. (b)
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:13. In respect to this demand Saul appears in a yet nobler
light. His heart is full of humble piety; he gives the glory to God alone, saying, “To-
day Jehovah hath wrought salvation in Israel.” The victory over the foe is to him
nothing but a saving act of God Himself. He regards himself as simply the
instrument of God. This is the ground (‫י‬ ִ‫,כּ‬ “for”) of the rejection of the demand;
none should die that day. It is the utterance of royal generosity towards his enemies,
whose hearts it must have won. Thereby he gained another victory: 1) over
himself—he restrains himself in the exercise of a right, 2) over the anger of those
who demanded that justice be executed, 3) over his former opponents, who now
clearly see that which, under the influence of haughty contempt, they had doubted,
and4) over the whole people, who must have been carried along by him on the path
of noble moral conduct, and lifted above themselves to the height on which he stood.
The enthusiastic recognition of Saul by the whole nation as divinely appointed king
was factually (in contrast with 1 Samuel 10:27) completed.
PETT, "1 Samuel 11:13
‘And Saul said, “There shall not a man be put to death this day, for today YHWH
63

64. has wrought deliverance in Israel.”
To his great credit Saul stepped in and forbade it. This was not a a day for slaying
Israelites, it was a day for rejoicing, for on this day YHWH had wrought
deliverance for Israel. We should note in view of what follows that in these early
days Saul was revealed as someone totally worthy of the kingship. The initial choice
was shown to be a good one.
BI, "There shall not a man be put to death this day.
A magnanimous king
Louis XII of France is known in history as a most magnanimous prince towards his
enemies. On his accession he caused a list of these to be drawn up, and marked against
each name a black cross. This was looked upon by them that they were singled out for
punishment, and they accordingly fled. When Louis heard of it, he had them called into
his presence and assured them that they had no cause for alarm, since the reason why he
had placed the cross against their names was to keep him in mind of the Cross that
brings pardon to all. Among those who sought his pardon at this time were the
magistrates of Orleans, who had subjected him to such indignities while he was detained
as a prisoner in their city. Their deputation he dismissed courteously with the generous
reply that “it did not, become the King of France to resent the injuries of the Duke of
Orleans.” Of a like spirit was Lord Nelson, who penned in his cabin on the morning of
the battle of Trafalgar: “May humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the
British fleet.” (Charles Deal.)
The best way to conquer an enemy
Henry IV of France was wont to say that he was able to conquer all his enemies, by
treating them with such clemency and kindness when they were in his power that they
were changed into loyal subjects.
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us
go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.”
64

65. BARNES, "Let us go to Gilgal - i. e., to Gilgal by Jericho, where was a famous
sanctuary, in the tribe of Benjamin.
CLARKE, "Renew the kingdom - The unction of Saul, in the first instance, was a
very private act; and his being appointed to be king was not known to the people in
general. He had now shown himself worthy to command the people; and Samuel takes
advantage of this circumstance to gain the general consent in his favor. Josephus says
that Saul was anointed a second time at this convocation.
GILL, "Then said Samuel to the people,.... Agreeing to what Saul had said, and in
order to put them off from demanding the lives of the offenders, and willing to take them
while they were in a good disposition:
come, and let us go to Gilgal; which was the nearest place to them, on the other side
Jordan, from which they now were, and where the children of Israel first encamped
when they passed over Jordan, where the tabernacle and ark first were, and an altar was
built, and where meetings used to be held on certain occasions; all which might be
reasons why Samuel proposed to go to this place. According to Bunting (d), this place
was thirty six miles from Jabeshgilead:
and renew the kingdom there; that is, recognize Saul, own and declare him king of
Israel.
HENRY, "III. Samuel took this occasion to call the people together before the Lord in
Gilgal, 1Sa_11:14, 1Sa_11:15. 1. That they might publicly give God thanks for their late
victory. There they rejoiced greatly, and, that God might have the praise of that which
they had the comfort of, they sacrificed to him, as the giver of all their successes,
sacrifices of peace-offerings. 2. That they might confirm Saul in the government, more
solemnly than had been yet done, that he might not retire again to his obscurity. Samuel
would have the kingdom renewed; he would renew his resignation, and the people
should renew their approbation, and so in concurrence with, or rather in attendance
upon, the divine nomination, they made Saul king, making it their own act and deed to
submit to him.
K&D, "Samuel turned this victory to account, by calling upon the people to go with
him to Gilgal, and there renew the monarchy. In what the renewal consisted is not
clearly stated; but it is simply recorded in 1Sa_11:15 that “they (the whole people) made
65

66. Saul king there before the Lord in Gilgal.” Many commentators have supposed that he
was anointed afresh, and appeal to David's second anointing (2Sa_2:4 and 2Sa_5:3).
But David's example merely proves as Seb. Schmidt has correctly observed, that the
anointing could be repeated under certain circumstances; but it does not prove that it
was repeated, or must have been repeated, in the case of Saul. If the ceremony of
anointing had been performed, it would no doubt have been mentioned, just as it is in
2Sa_2:4 and 2Sa_5:3. But ‫כוּ‬ ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫ַמ‬‫י‬ does not mean “they anointed,” although the lxx have
rendered it ἔχρισε Σαμουήλ, according to their own subjective interpretation. The
renewal of the monarchy may very well have consisted in nothing more than a solemn
confirmation of the election that had taken place at Mizpeh, in which Samuel once more
laid before both king and people the right of the monarchy, receiving from both parties
in the presence of the Lord the promise to observe this right, and sealing the vow by a
solemn sacrifice. The only sacrifices mentioned are zebachim shelamim, i.e., peace-
offerings. These were thank-offerings, which were always connected with a sacrificial
meal, and when presented on joyous occasions, formed a feast of rejoicing for those who
took part, since the sacrificial meal shadowed forth a living and peaceful fellowship with
the Lord. Gilgal is in all probability the place where Samuel judged the people every year
(1Sa_7:16). But whether it was the Gilgal in the plain of the Jordan, or Jiljilia on higher
ground to the south-west of Shiloh, it is by no means easy to determine. The latter is
favoured, apart from the fact that Samuel did not say “Let us go down,” but simply “Let
us go” (cf. 1Sa_10:8), by the circumstance that the solemn ceremony took place after the
return from the war at Jabesh; since it is hardly likely that the people would have gone
down into the valley of the Jordan to Gilgal, whereas Jiljilia was close by the road from
Jabesh to Gibeah and Ramah.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:14. Then said Samuel — While the people were together by
Jabesh- gilead. Come, and let us renew the kingdom — That is, confirm our former
choice, and more solemnly and unanimously inaugurate Saul for our king. Herein
Samuel’s great prudence and fidelity to Saul appeared. He suspended the
confirmation of Saul at first, while the generality of the people were disaffected, and
now, when he had given such eminent proof of his princely virtues, and when the
people’s hearts were eagerly set upon him, he takes this as the fittest season for that
work.
ELLICOTT, " (14) Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal.—
This was the well-known sanctuary of that name, and was selected as the place of
solemn assembly, no doubt, because it was in the now royal tribe of Benjamin. It is
situated in the Jordan Valley, not far from Jericho, and has been the scene of many
of the most striking events in Israelitic history.
And renew the kingdom there.—There had been, as Samuel and Saul well
remembered, many murmurings on the occasion of the original royal election at
Mizpeh. Then the people had by no means unanimously accepted as sovereign the
66

67. Benjamite who was now crowned with the glory of a splendid success. The seer, with
striking generosity to one who superseded him in his position as judge, again
presented the hero Saul to Israel as their anointed king.
HAWKER, "Verse 14-15
(14) Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the
kingdom there. (15) And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul
king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace
offerings before the LORD and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
How beautiful Samuel appears in this. He directs the minds of the people to be
looking unto the Lord, and where to ascribe the praise. But oh! what rejoicings are
in the soul, when Jesus is crowned King, and our sacrifices, and peace-offerings, are
all found in him.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 11:14-15. Then follows, under Samuel’s direction, the formal
and solemn renewal of the kingdom. Samuel orders an assembly of the people at
Gilgal in the Jordan-valley; from the scene of victory the people, led by Saul and
Samuel, go to that holy spot. The object of the gathering he declares to be the
renewal of the kingdom with reference to the election of king at Mizpah, 1 Samuel
10:17 sq. What the “renewal of the kingdom” means must be learned from the
following words: There they made Saul king before Israel.—The word ‫כוּ‬ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫ַמ‬‫יּ‬ַ‫ו‬ [“made
king”] cannot be rendered “they anointed him,” because that is not its meaning, and
because the act of anointing could have been performed, not by the people, but only
by Samuel in the name of Jehovah. For the rest, if there had been a second
anointing, it would, on account of its importance, have been expressly mentioned, as
in David’s case, 2 Samuel 2:4; v3. The translation of the Sept.: “Samuel anointed
Saul” is obviously an interpretation, they stumbling at the strange word of the
original (‫כוּ‬ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫ַמ‬‫יּ‬ַ‫ו‬), which seemed to contradict 1 Samuel 10:17 sq, and adopting, as the
best expedient, the supposition of a second anointing (with reference to 1 Samuel
10:1), having in mind the double anointing of David. All the other ancient
translations follow the Masoretic text. Starting from the unfounded assumption that
an anointing is here spoken of, Thenius wrongly argues that here is a sign of
different authorship for chap 11 and 1 Samuel 16-10:1 , since a double anointing is
hardly supposable. It is in itself quite supposable, since it actually occurred in
David’s case, though then for a definite reason. But the text gives no support to this
supposition. For the words “they made him king before Jehovah” mean nothing else
than the solemn announcement and presentation of Saul before the nation as
divinely appointed king in consequence of the divine legitimation given by his
brilliant exploit against the Ammonites. [What is above said by Dr. Erdmann may
67

68. serve also as answer to Wellhausen’s critical remarks on this paragraph. He holds
that chap 11 attaches itself naturally to 1 Samuel 10:16, since Saul in 1 Samuel
11-11:1 is not king, though he knows that he will be, and his whole procedure
corresponds psychologically with exactness to the tone of mind naturally induced by
the signs 1 Samuel 12-10:9 . But this is no less true according to the present
arrangement of the text. There is historical motive for the double declaration as
king, and there is no external evidence to show that 1 Samuel 27-10:17 and 1 Samuel
14-11:12 are interpolations.—Tr.] The “before the Lord” (Clericus: “calling on
God’s name and offering sacrifices to Him”) indicates the essential difference
between this act and the proclamartion and homage at Mizpah, marking the
religious act of installation sealed with a solemn offering (before the Lord), by which
Saul was formally and solemnly consecrated to his office by the invisible God-king
with renewed homage and recognition of the whole nation, and another pledge to
keep the divine law. It is Saul’s solemn inauguration. The previous facts in the
history of his call are the ascending steps to this acme—the solemn beginning of his
royal rule.—“What had been done for Saul himself on the day of his anointing, and
for the people at the election of king had now in Gilgal been publicly renewed and
confirmed for the whole kingdom.” Schlier, Saul, p22. The “peace-offerings” which
were sacrificed “before the Lord” expressed joy and gratitude before the Lord, the
peaceful, joyful relation between Him and His people. Along with this religious side
of joy the connected sacrificial meal represented its human side. Thus was
celebrated at Gilgal by king and people a festival of great joy. There Samuel
performs the functions of priest, and, as prophet and priest, is and remains the
organ of the word and blessing of God, under which king and people equally stand,
and by which the two are to form the indissoluble theocratic unity and fellowship,
which from now on must be the foundation of the whole theocratic life.
PETT, "1 Samuel 11:14
‘Then said Samuel to the people, “Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the
kingship there.” ’
Meanwhile Samuel saw the opportunity to finally seal the kingship question. With
all the tribes gathered together (probably moreso than at Mizpah earlier in the
nature of the circumstances of a general levy), and with them all in agreement, he
suggested that all repair to the Sanctuary at Gilgal in order to renew the kingship.
Some see this as indicating the renewal of the Kingship of YHWH, others see it as
referring to the finalisation of Saul’s coronation. Both may be included for it is then
said that Saul was ‘made king before YHWH’.
BI 14-15, "Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.
68

69. The renewing of the kingdom!
“Gilgal!” The word means a wheel, a revolution. And is not the great circumference of the
year, measured as it is by a few hundred days in the poor chronicle of our lives, but by
hundreds of millions of miles in the celestial spaces—is it not just rounding up into
longer light, and beginning its benevolent motion for us afresh? We hear, too, of “the
renewing of a kingdom”; and those words impress us at once with some idea, though it
may be an indistinct one, of a renewal nearer home, that we are to solemnize; more
important to us than the sweep of an unconscious planet, than the changes of empire
past or to come, or any of the outward distinctions of the world. The shadows of the
future gathered over Samuel’s serene brow and his religious spirit; and he replied in the
words that I have read: “Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.”
That had been a hallowed place from the time that the Hebrew tribes entered the land. It
had been consecrated by religion and good success. There was the proper spot to repeat
their vows, to remember their obligations. It was aloof from public clamour and the
highways of ordinary life. There, where the Almighty bad “rolled away the reproach” of
His people, in the time when He alone was acknowledged as their sovereign, should they
repeat their allegiance to the new monarch whom they had chosen. There, in the face of
that dread majesty, soberly and apart, and not in the stir of a sudden triumph, and not
among the scenes of everyday passions, they should “renew the kingdom.” Let the
engagements that are made with a man’s self be now established. Let the hopes of a
Christian soul receive an increasing lustre. Let the pledges you owe to the powers of
heaven be cheerfully brought.
I. We may observe, in the first place, that we are now “renewing the kingdom” of our
earthly days. The year is renewed for us. The light is a little earlier in the eastern sky, and
lingers a little upon its farewell in the west as if nature was unwilling to bring two of its
greatest dreads upon man at once—at least in their fullest degree—the darkness gives
way as the cold increases. A new account is opening with Time, that rigorous master. But
bow, you may ask, can we make any compact with him? He calls all seasons and places
and lives his own. His dominion is absolute. He accepts no conditions from us. Without
asking whether or not we are ready to confirm his authority, he will lead us through his
inevitable changes, he will bring us down to his universal level of dust. And yet, when we
confront him, with God to help, and in the holy places of our nature, we feel that we are
possessed of a dominion more enduring than his own; that we have thoughts which are
independent of him, and hopes beyond his reach. We can oblige him to serve our best
interests, which we are apparently but the subjects of his despotic rule. We are apt to
consider him as a tyrant, the enemy of human liberty and enjoyment, inaccessible to
pity, and producing but what he means to desolate. His symbol is the falling sands of an
hourglass. His crown is an eternal baldness. His sceptre is a scythe for all the green
growths of mortality. But we are thus paralysing our proper strength, and undervaluing
our real importance in the comparison with him. What has Time to do with any of the
conclusions of the reason, or any of the fruits of the Spirit; with the very thought of duty,
or the recompenses of its award? The soul, in its purest exercises, soars far above him;
and in its farthest abstractions cannot see that he exists. But call him a real king; and
invest him with all the majesty that timid fancies have conceived. Even then we may
meet him upon grounds of mutual respect. We may call a convention with him at Gilgal.
We may stipulate concerning some of the powers of his government. We may say to him
with firmness, and so that he shall be influenced by what we say—Sire, we are your
children, in truth; we are your subjects, beyond the subjection that any earthly monarch
receives or claims. Our limbs are at your disposal, and our furrowing cheeks, and the
69

70. locks of our heads. Our treasure is yours, to consume or to divide. Our blood is yours, to
chill in the veins of our age, or to shed by calamitous appointments. We offer you no
resistance. But for all this you must perform something on your part. You must bestow
upon us opportunity. You must yield to us supplies. The means of knowledge and
improvement you must not, only leave unviolated, but increased. You must observe the
just limits of your sway. The rights of conscience and of the whole mind you must
scrupulously respect. You must lay no tyranny upon our honest wills. You shall not
blight our hearts, through fear of you, with any of the strokes of that despotism to which
we have surrendered our persons. So will we, on this new year’s day, stand in our Gilgal,
and “renew the kingdom“ with you there.
II. I now ask you to turn away from Time, and from every dominion of an outward sort,
and consider the empire that is within us. Here we have to deal, indeed, with ourselves
only. But that does not exclude the danger of being deceived, and oppressed, and
defrauded. Evil temptations will arise, and unwise counsellors. Despotism will be
attempted. Anarchy will be afoot. There will be rebellion. Licentious principles will
spurn at the wholesome restraints of law. Ignorance will mistake, and presumption will
be daring. Let us, in this respect above all others, “renew the kingdom” today. If the
same prophet whom I have imagined speaking before, should again take up his parable,
he would say:—
1. Now “renew” your good resolutions. What an uncertain kingdom is that of our
purposes! We determine and fall short. We attempt in a feeble way, and fail, as every
thing that is feeble must. Some tell us that we can do nothing if we try; and others
tell us that we can gain nothing if we succeed. Fablers! We depend as much at least
on the struggles that we make as on the destiny that is ordained. To aspire is better
than the contented fool’s best portion. To work towards an approved end is infinitely
richer than any counted and measured success.
2. “Renew” your affections. Balance them, and let none of them act the absolute
king. Purify them from their soils. Brush away the rust and the dust that have
gathered upon them from vulgar uses or a base inaction. Send them forth with a
clearer light and a more blessed efficacy. Bring into a beautiful order the dispositions
that bind you to your kindred, to your house, to your friendships, to your country,
and to your kind.
3. “Renew” the course of your meditations upon the subjects that concern your most
intimate welfare. You may find something faltering and unsettled in them. Establish
the principles of your judgment. Bring your conclusions into a harmony. Set up
within you a Divine and submissive order, that shall be after the pattern of that
eternal one, in the circles of which you dwell.
4. “Renew” your faith. Is not that a kingdom of itself? Is there any thing to be
compared to its undecaying dominion? It stands nobly apart from the world’s
turmoil, the world’s command, the world’s destruction. You can receive no such
strength as flows from that. It is all unsettled in your thoughts. You have allowed
momentary interests to intercept its everlasting light. You bays allowed a shallow
and sluggish scepticism to affront its all-embracing principles. Renew the kingdom
of the immortal in the breasts that will soon cease to beat. Renew it, though in the
absence of what you desire. Renew it, though in the face of discouragements. Renew
it, in its simplicity, in its sovereign beauty, in its reasonableness, in its might. He who
came to confirm the best truth with which such a faith is connected, when he ate “the
70

71. last supper” with His disciples, said, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the
vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom,” We
perceive that He was speaking, not of a kingdom that was subject to time; not of one
that was to be established in His own heart, for nothing there needed confirming;
but of that state of peace and glory which is preparing beyond this world’s troubles,
by the faithful deeds of man, and the abundant love of his Maker. Let every believer
anticipate it. Let him labour towards it. Let him make himself a believer indeed. (N.
E. Frothingham.)
The oath of fidelity that Israel universally swears to the new King, where
note
1.Samuel’s sublime wisdom in making no motion nor mention of this covenant of the
kingdom, at Saul’s first election, while the people were generally disaffected towards
him, because of his mean extract, rustic life, etc., but now when Saul had given them
such eminent proofs of his valour and virtue, and when God had honoured him with
so glorious a victory, which had made the people place their affections upon him
both eagerly and unanimously; then doth Samuel strike while the iron was hot and
set in with this fit season.
2. Samuel calls a general assembly from Jabesh to Gilgal, which was in their way
home to most of them, but more especially because it was a place famous for many
public conventions there kept, and particularly for the covenant renewed by Joshua,
between God and the people, when God rolled away reproach from Israel in their
circumcision, therefore was the place called Gilgal, which signifies rolling, etc. (Jos_
5:8.)
3. Here, he said, the people made Saul king, whereas it was the Lord’s immediate act
to constitute him king, chap. 8, 9, and 10:1, and the people only accepted of that
election the Lord had made for them, recognising the first Act by a renewed universal
consent. All now personally swearing allegiance to him to prevent any future factions
and insurrections, etc.
4. The ceremonies of Saul’s inauguration before the Lord, and His prophet Samuel,
some suppose to be these.
(1) They set the King upon his throne.
(2) They crowned him.
(3) They anointed him.
(4) They put the Book of the Law into his hand.
(5) They took an oath of him to observe it.
(6) They offered sacrifices of all sorts upon the altar that was at Gilgal, partly
praising God for present mercy both in the victory over Ammon and in their
settlement under Saul, from sad distractions, and partly praying to God for his
future favour, etc.
(7) Shutting all up with sundry signs of public joy. (C. Ness.).
71

72. 15 So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul
king in the presence of the Lord. There they
sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord,
and Saul and all the Israelites held a great
celebration.
BARNES, "Made Saul king - The Septuagint has another reading, “and Samuel
anointed Saul king there.” The example of David, who, besides his original anointing by
Samuel 1Sa_16:12-13, was twice anointed, first as king of Judah 2Sa_2:4, and again as
king over all Israel 2Sa_5:3, makes it probable that Saul was anointed a second time; but
this may be included in the word “made king” (see 1Sa_12:3, 1Sa_12:5).
CLARKE, "There they made Saul king - It is likely, from these words, that Saul
was anointed a second time; he was now publicly acknowledged, and there was no
gainsayer. Thus far Saul acted well, and the kingdom seemed to be confirmed in his
hand; but soon through imprudence he lost it.
On the custom referred to in 1Sa_11:7 I am favored with the following observations by
a learned correspondent: -
“It is considered that the authenticity of records respecting a peculiar people cannot
be better illustrated, or the fidelity of the historian more clearly ascertained, than by
proving that the manners and customs recorded are in unison with, or bear a
resemblance to, the manners and customs of other nations of the same antiquity; or,
what may be more correct, in a similar state of improvement; and the records of such
rites and customs may possibly acquire an additional mark of authenticity, when the
similarity is not so exact as to admit a presumption that the customs of one nation were
merely copied from the other.
“Sir Walter Scott, in the third canto of the Lady of the Lake, describes the rites,
incantations, and imprecations, used prior to the fiery cross being circulated, to summon
the rough warriors of ancient times to the service of their chief; and in the first note of
this canto he alludes to this ancient custom which, in comparatively modern times, has
been used in Scotland, and proves that a similar punishment of death or destruction of
the houses for disobeying the summons was inflicted by the ancient Scandinavians, as
recorded by Olaus Magnus, in his history of the Goths. A custom still more in point than
the one cited may be found to have existed in a more ancient nation, whose history is
supposed the most, if not the only authentic narrative of deeds of ancient times, and
which also records the sanguinary manners of uncultivated nations; see the preceding
72

73. chapter, 1Sa_10:1-8 (note). The similarity of the custom is to be found in the seventh
verse; with the Highlanders a goat was slain; with the Israelites, an ox. The exhibition of
a cross stained with the blood of the sacrificed animal was the summons of the former,
while part of the animal was the mandate of the latter. Disobedience in the one nation
was punished with the death of the parties, and burning of their dwellings; in the other,
the punishment was more simple, and more allusive to the sacrificed emblem, the
forfeiture or destruction of their oxen. It is not difficult to judge whether the comparison
be correct.
“The first verses record the sanguinary practices of ancient times, which to many
appear merely as the gratification of revenge, or as proofs of victory; yet when it is
considered that the right eye must chiefly aid the warrior in aiming at his adversary,
whether the weapon be of ancient or modern warfare, here arises a military reason,
corroborative of the truth of history, for the deprivation, and in some degree lessening
the cruelty of the mutilation, which would be increased if it were caused by revenge or
wantonness; though Nahash declares it to be a reproach upon all Israel.”
GILL, "And all the people went to Gilgal,.... Agreed to the motion, and marched
along with Saul and Samuel thither:
and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal; that is, they declared
him to be king there; he was inaugurated into, and invested with his office, otherwise it
was God only that made him king, who only had the power of making one, see Act_2:36.
Josephus says (e) that Samuel anointed him with the holy oil; and so the Septuagint
version here renders it,"and Samuel anointed Saul there to be king;''and it is not
improbable, that as he privately anointed him, he did it publicly also; if not at the
election of him, then at this time; and it is observable, that in the next chapter, and not
before, he is called the Lord's anointed. Now this was "before the Lord"; in this place;
this being, as Abarbinel observes, a sanctified place, where the tabernacle and ark of God
had been; and he supposes it probable that the ark was brought hither; but it was
enough that the people and congregation of the Lord were here, and who, when
assembled in his name, his presence was with them:
and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord; where
an altar was built, and on which they offered these peace offerings by way of
thanksgiving, partly for the victory obtained over the Ammonites, and partly for the
renewal of the kingdom to Saul, and their unanimity in it, as well as to implore and
obtain future peace and prosperity:
and there Saul, and all the people of Israel, rejoiced greatly; they in their king,
and he in the good will of his people, and both in the great salvation God had wrought
for them.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 11:15. There they made Saul king — Owned and accepted him
for their king. Saul had been anointed in Ramah, and chosen by lot in Mizpeh; but
still some disdained to acknowledge him for their king, which made him content
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74. himself for a time with a private life. But now, after this signal token of God’s
presence with him, in the late victory, he was, by common consent, received by all
the people for their king. Before the Lord — Not before the ark, the symbol of
God’s presence, as the expression sometimes means; for the ark was now at Kirjath-
jearim, and not at Gilgal; but in a solemn manner, as in God’s presence, appealing
to him as a witness of their sincerity in this transaction, and with solemn sacrifices
and prayers for his blessing upon it.
ELLICOTT, " (15) And there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal.—We
must not understand with the LXX. Version that Saul was anointed afresh at Gilgal.
The Greek Version reads, “and Samuel anointed Saul king there.” The Gilgal
convention was nothing more than a solemn national confirmation of the popular
election at Mizpeh. The words “before the Lord,” imply the presence of the Ark, or
of the high priest with the mystic Urim and Thummim. Bishop Wordsworth
understands the words “they made Saul king” to signify that after this “the people
would not allow him any longer to lead a private life, but they made him to assume
the royal state and authority to which he had been appointed by God.”
HAWKER, "REFLECTIONS
MY soul! in those Ammorites behold the sworn foes, not of Israel of old only, but of
the Israel of God, in all ages. How alive are they to harrass, and afflict believers.
The reproach of Israel is their delight. To put out their right eyes would be their
highest joy. And how hast thou, my soul, been ready to serve them, like the men of ,
Jabesh-Gilead, and to make any covenant with them, if they would but be easy in
their government. Dearest Jesus! be thou everlastingly praised, that thou wouldst
not let me rest in this yoke of sin, but didst come to my rescue, and hast gotten
thyself the victory, and brought down thine, and my enemies under thy feet. Oh!
grant, heavenly Lord, that I may never more, after so complete a deliverance, be
brought under the dominion of the enemy, nor meanly seek peace with thine, and
my sworn foes. Give me grace and strength, openly, and boldly in thy great name, to
wage war with sin, Satan, and the world. And in all my spiritual warfare, do thou as
the great Captain of thy little army, go on before me, and make me more than
conqueror, through thee, who hast loved me! Let this be my every day song; the
Lord is my light, and my salvation, whom then shall I fear; the Lord is my strength,
and my song, and he is become my salvation.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 11:15 And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made
Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace
offerings before the LORD and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
74

75. Ver. 15. And there they made Saul king.] Serrarius saith these were the ceremonies
used at such a time: (1.) They set the king in his throne; (2.) They crowned him; (3.)
They anoined him; (4.) They put the book of the law into his hand: They took an
oath of him to observe it; (6.) They offered sacrifices of all sorts; (7.) They showed
various signs and testimonies of public joy.
PULPIT, "They made Saul king. This is not to be interpreted, with the Septuagint,
of a second anointing of Saul, but of his confirmation in the kingdom by the
unanimous voice of the nation, whereas the first election of him at Mizpah had met
with opposition. Before Jehovah. I.e. with religious ceremonies conducted by
Samuel and the high priest. The difference between Saul's election at Mizpah and
the confirmation of it at Gilgal is much the same as between the first proclamation
or' a king and his coronation. The latter is the nation's acknowledgment of his
sovereignty, and the solemn consecration of him to his high office. Peace offerings
were tokens of joy and gratitude, and were followed by a feast. At this there was
great rejoicing, because the king whom they had desired had so quickly proved
himself worthy to be their head.
COKE, "1 Samuel 11:15. There they made Saul king— The meaning is, that there
they proclaimed and publicly acknowledged Saul for their king. The Targum
expresses it very well, they made Saul to reign.
REFLECTIONS.—The sons of Belial now shall see whether Saul is able to save
them, or not.
1. Saul was in the field, tending his cattle, when the message came. Though chosen to
be a king, yet returning to his old employment till God should call him out to action,
as he followed his cattle home, the cry of the people excited his inquiry; and when he
heard the cause, anger against the inhuman Ammonite kindled in his bosom; he felt
his spirit moved with unusual ardour, and instantly resolved the rescue of Jabesh-
gilead. Note; (1.) We must not hear the sorrows of the afflicted without kind
inquiries, and proffering ready help to alleviate their miseries. (2.) A holy
indignation against deeds of cruelty and wickedness is highly commendable.
2. The method that he took to raise the forces of Israel; He hewed a yoke of oxen in
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76. pieces, and sent these by the messengers into all the coasts, threatening so to do by
their oxen who should be absent from the general rendezvous; and joined Samuel's
name with his own, both to pay him honour, and to engage the readier submission.
The effect produced was great; God put his fear upon the people, and they instantly
assembled from every quarter, to the number of three hundred thousand men of
Israel, besides thirty thousand of Judah; whose proportion, though apparently
smaller than might be expected, may easily be accounted for, as the Philistines lay
on their borders, against whom they must be guarded. Note; Where the fear of God
is in the heart, there men will make conscience of their duty in every station, and be,
on principle, good subjects, good soldiers, and good servants.
3. Confident of success, Saul sends the messengers back with assurance of
immediate relief: he doubted not but on the morrow he should be with them, which
filled the city with joy. To perform his promise, he marches instantly in three
bodies; and though the distance was sixty miles, and all on foot, on the third day
before the morning-watch, he broke into the camp of the Ammonites, lulled into
security with the message which the men of Jabeth-gilead had sent them on the
return of the messengers, that they would come out to them the next day. A general
route ensued; till mid-day, they made havock of the flying Ammonites; and so
dispersed and destroyed them, that not two of all their numerous hosts were left
together. Note; When we go out. dependant upon God, we shall return crowned
with victory.
4. Samuel, it seems, had either accompanied them in the expedition, or met them on
their return: and, jealous now for the honour of their king, endeared to them by his
victory, though they had before taken notice of the insult, the people apply to him,
as judge in Israel, for the death of these sons of Belial, who had despised the
anointed of the Lord. Saul, like a good king, taking more pleasure in exercising his
clemency, than executing the offenders, interposes, and will not have that day
stained with Israelitish blood, in which God had wrought so great a salvation for
them. Note; All our successes must be ascribed to God; for it is his arm alone that
obtains the victory for us over our enemies spiritual and temporal. Samuel now
seizes the favourable disposition of the people, to confirm the kingdom to Saul: he
led them to Gilgal; and, amidst the joyful sacrifices for their past victory, Saul is
solemnly invested with the supreme power by universal consent, and with great
solemnity. Note; It is good to make use of a favourable gale while it blows.
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77. LANGE, "HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
See the Exegetical explanations. In addition the following remarks may be made:
1. The deeper the ignominy and the greater the need of God’s people under the
threats of the powerful foe, so much the more glorious was the deliverance, so much
the more overwhelming the manifestation of the glory and the faithfulness of the
covenant-God. The weeping of the people in view of the powerlessness of the
ununited tribes and of the scornful pride of the enemy, expressed at the same time
the humble, penitent spirit in which they sought the Lord’s help, as, in the time of
the Judges, after defection and alienation from God, they ever turned penitently to
the Lord when their need was greatest.
2. Saul’s call, in accordance with the occasion which led to the demand for the
kingdom, and in accordance with the historical relations of the people to the
surrounding heathen nations, was a military one. And so the prelude to his
assumption of the government and his public solemn confirmation as king of Israel
is this military deed, whose theocratic significance is indicated by the fact, that its
source and origin is said to be the laying hold and filling of Saul by the power of the
Spirit of God ( 1 Samuel 11:6). For the military work of the theocratic king must be
sanctified, guided, accomplished by God directly through His Spirit, in order that
the outer and inner conditions of the farther development of the theocracy in Israel
may be secured.
3. The “coming of the Spirit of God” on Saul ( 1 Samuel 11:6), and on the organs of
the theocracy generally, is not to be volatilized into an intensifying of their spiritual
life, an uplifting of themselves to words and deeds in the service of God, but must be
held to be a real, supernatural entrance of the Spirit of God into their inner life.
This, however, is accomplished here ( 1 Samuel 11:5-6) as in 1 Samuel 10:10, not
without an external, natural occasion and human instrumentality. The Spirit of God
advances along the path marked out by the divine wisdom.
4. There is a holy anger, justified before God, like that which seized Saul ( 1 Samuel
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78. 11:6). Its origin is the Spirit from above, whose flame kindles it; its object is the
power of sin, the shame and ignominy inflicted on God’s people and name, the
enemies of God; its aim is the honor of God and the furtherance of the ends of His
kingdom.
5. The power of the Spirit of God, which filled and impelled Saul showed itself, in its
comprehensive, penetrating power over the national life, by the twofold effect,
which was decisive for the first joint action of king and people, and also full of
typical meaning for their whole history as people of God: the fear of the Lord in the
relation of the people to their God, and the unity of their different parts (“the people
went out as one man”); the innermost, the fear of Jehovah, was the source of their
conjunction to a firm unity. To awaken and nourish the fear of God in the people by
energetic, divinely-guided government, and to set the people as one man in their
theocratic fellowship over against the heathen peoples as the people of the Lord, was
the task and calling of the theocratic monarchy. These two aims contain the roots of
the love of God and one’s neighbor as the twofold fundamental law of the kingdom
of God. Matthew 22:37-40; Deuteronomy 6:5 sq.; Leviticus 19:18.
6. When Saul, at his election as king and the partial homage which he received,
maintained silence towards his scornful enemies and practiced self-denial in
quietness and patience, he performed (over against the demand to visit deserved
punishment on the despisers of the Lord’s Anointed) under the guidance of God’s
Spirit an act of love to enemies, letting them go unpunished, and setting aside the
demand to visit strict justice on them by pointing to the grace and salvation wherein
God had just revealed Himself to the whole nation. A prelude of the disposition of
forbearing, merciful love, which finds its fulfilment in the New Testament according
to the word of the Lord ( Matthew 5:44), and through the Spirit from above ( Luke
9:55), and has its ground in personal experience of the merciful love of God ( Luke
6:36).
PETT, "1 Samuel 11:15
‘And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before YHWH in
Gilgal, and there they offered sacrifices of peace-offerings before YHWH, and there
Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.’
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79. It is interesting that no mention is made of Samuel being at Gilgal with the people,
nor of him offering a burnt-offering, or indeed any offering (contrast 1 Samuel
7:6-9), nor of him being involved in the ceremony. (LXX in fact recognises this and
amends the text). It seems inconceivable if Samuel was there initially that there was
no burnt-offering, and that if he was there his part in the ceremony was not
described. It is true that at some stage he must have arrived, but it may well be that
he waited seven days, as he had previously said to Saul (1 Samuel 10:8), in order to
avoid being directly involved in the ‘renewal of the kingship’. It is quite possible
that he felt that he had already done his part in authenticating Saul and now wanted
to leave it to the people (he was not very enamoured of the kingship anyway), only
arriving in order to finalise the situation. The writer may well have expected us to
remember 10:8 and see his words in that light.
Thus it is very possible that Samuel was not present at the celebrations and merely
appeared at the end in order to finalise things with his farewell speech as Judge of
Israel. He may well genuinely have felt that his time for acting as Judge had passed
and that the renewal of Saul’s confirmation as king was best left out of his own
hands and in the hands of ‘all the people” and of the priests at Gilgal. This would
explain why he deliberately delayed until the seventh day, at which point he would
arrive to give Saul his final instructions from his standpoint as a prophet (1 Samuel
10:8) and make his final farewell speech as Judge. This would indicate that he was
acknowledging publicly that his time for interfering in the question of rule over
Israel had passed and that now it was between Saul and the people. We must
remember that being an old man it would take him some time to get to Gilgal, and
the people in their enthusiasm would not necessarily have waited for him, which
would explain why no burnt-offering is mentioned, simply because one was not
offered until he did finally arrive.
The making of Saul as king ‘before YHWH’ again suggests that Gilgal was being
seen as the Central Sanctuary, and the offering of sacrifices of peace-offerings in
celebration and thanksgiving for their victory would be by the priests at Gilgal. It
was a time of festival and rejoicing, but not one of the regular festivals. Once
Samuel arrived he would no doubt take it on himself as the adopted son of Eli to
offer burnt-offerings, an important type of dedicatory offering not mentioned
above, but described in 10:8 and therefore assumed here on that basis. There
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80. appears at this stage still to have been no acceptable candidate for the High
Priesthood. Such a candidate will appear in 1 Samuel 14:3.
80