1 Samuel 10

10 17, 18 AND Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpah; and he said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you: but ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saveth you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands. So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families, and the family of the Matrites was taken: and Saul the son of Kish was taken; but when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore they asked of the LORD further, Is there yet a man to come hither; And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. And they ran and fetched him thence; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king. Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and mid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. And Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and there went with him the host, whose hearts God had touched. But certain sons of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

11 1 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite said unto them, On this condition will I make it with you, that all your right eyes be put out; and I will lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days’ respite, that we may send messengers unto all the borders of Israel: and then, if there be none to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and spake these words in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voice, and wept. And, behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the words

6 of the men of Jabesh. And the spirit of God came mightily upon Saul when he heard those 7 words, and his anger was kindled greatly. And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. 8 And the dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man. And he num- bered them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men 9 of Judah thirty thousand. And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, To-morrow, by the time the sun is hot, ye shall have deliver- 10 ance. And the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To-morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that 11 seemeth good unto you. And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three com- panies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and smote the Am- monites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scat- 12 tered, so that two of them were not left together. And the people said unto Samuel, Who is 13 he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring 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 hath wrought deliverance in Israel.

The thread of the narrative in ch. 8, which has been temporarily dropped in order to give an account of the circumstances by which Samuel was privately made acquainted with the man whom Jehovah had chosen to rule his people, is now resumed, and Saul’s public election by lot to the regal office described. Since the revelation to Samuel and the choice by lot were equally declarations of Jehovah’s will, there could be no contradiction between them: the latter publicly confirmed the former for the satisfaction of the people.

17. Samuel called the people together.** He convoked the national assembly or “congregation of Israel,” which had made the request for a king through its representative elders (8 : 4). This body was composed of all Israelites of twenty years old and upward, who had not forfeited their privileges, together with foreigners admitted upon certain conditions. Its political functions were necessarily limited by the nature of the theocracy, and consisted rather in accepting the declared will of Jehovah than in originating measures of its own. Thus: the Law was solemnly accepted by it. Leaders and kings chosen by Divine command were presented to it for approval, as on the present occasion, and in the case of Joshua. In later times some of the kings appear to have been actually elected by it. It possessed a national judicial authority. It claimed some voice in questions of alliance and peace and war. A. F. K.

17. Mizpah.** The highest hill in the neighborhood is the well-known Neby Sanwil, the ancient Mizpah, the most conspicuous spot in the whole country round, commanding a view of Jerusalem. It rises abruptly from the tableland, with terraced and well-cultivated sides, to a height of 500 or 600 feet. From its peak Gibeon, Ataroth, Beeroth, Ophrah, Rimmon, Ramah, Gibeah, are all distinctly seen; Gilead, Moab, Bethlehem, the hills of Hebron, the Plain of Sharon, and the Mediterranean are visible in the far distance. It was, therefore, well named Mizpah, “the watch-tower.” H. B. T.

19. The lots must now be cast before the Lord, although God had already appointed the king. It was requisite for Israel to learn that the choice of a king was not to be left in the power of human error or to chance; that no other but Jehovah is the Sovereign Elector, upon whom it depends who shall be king. C. G. B.—God, who is ever constant to his own decrees, makes the lots to find him out whom Samuel had anointed. If once we have notice of the will of God, we may be confident of the issue: there is no chance to the Almighty; even casual things are no less necessary in their first cause than the natural. Bp. H.

20-24. In obedience to his direction, the people “present themselves before the Lord by their tribes and by their thousands,” and first the tribe, then the family, and lastly the individual chosen is revealed. Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, is given by God to His people as their king. Drawn out of his hiding-place, he is presented by Samuel to the assembled nation with words of generous commendation: “See ye him,” he cries, pointing to the chosen one as he stands towering above the crowd by his shoulders and upward—“See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people.” The people joyfully accept the goodly young monarch, and receive him with shouts of “Long live the king!” E. V.

25. Here again, and more fully than before (1 S. 8 : 11-18), Samuel told the people “the manner of the kingdom,” and “wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord.” “The manner of the king” as explained to the people on the former occasion gave them one side of the case—the license he would take to make exactions upon them of all best things for his royal state; but here “the manner of the kingdom” seems rather to mean the royal charter or constitution according to which he was to administer the government under Jehovah their Supreme King. Inasmuch as the Lord had anticipated this very result—the demand and necessity for the Lord had consented should be set up in his person. He was not to rule as by his own right; he was not to govern for his own glory. Hanna.—And if, in the result, we find the Hebrew monarchy less absolute than generally among eastern nations—if the people retained possession of more of their natural and social rights than in other eastern kingdoms—and if the strong exertion of kingly power was in after ages resented by them as a wrong instead of being recognized as a just prerogative—it is entirely owing to the sagacious care and forethought of Samuel, acting under Divine direction, in securing from utter destruction at the outset the liberties which the people so wilfully cast into the fire. In fact, the more deeply we contem-

a king—and had provided for it in the civil code given through Moses (De. 17 : 14-20), it can scarcely be doubted that this chapter of restrictions and regulations was precisely the royal charter which Samuel rehearsed on this occasion to the people and wrote it in the book (so the Hebrew), and placed it in the national archives. Among other things it provided that the king should have a copy of “this law” for his special use, that he might consult it daily in person and guide his administration by it through all his life. H. C.

In presence of all the people, the first of the prophets, standing before the first of the kings, would have him distinctly to understand that it was no absolute unlimited monarchy that plate the character of Samuel, the more its greatness grows upon us; and the more distinctly we recognize the most truly illustrious character in Hebrew history since Moses. Thus, under Divine sanction, and amid the despotisms of the East, arose the earliest example of a constitutional monarchy. Kit.

26. After the national convention at Mizpah, in which the lot fell on Saul, and he was acknowledged to be their king by all the heads of the tribes, he retired to Gibeah and resumed his ordinary occupations; taking on him none of the state, exercising none of the powers and prerogatives of royalty. Hanna.

27. It is emphatically remarked, that “Saul held his peace.” That was kingly. He was content to bide his time. He knew that the state of affairs around must soon afford him an opportunity of acquiring the personal consideration he yet lacked; and he felt that any show of resentment, and bald assertion of his authority till then, would only expose him to derision. The opportunity he must have greatly desired was very soon afforded. Kit.

1. Then. Simply And. There is nothing in the Hebrew text to mark whether the interval was long or short. We may gather from ch. 12 : 12 that an Ammonite attack was threatened before Saul’s election, and probably the actual invasion took place not long after.

Nahash the Ammonite. South and east of the Israelite settlements on the eastern side of the Jordan dwelt the powerful tribes of the Ammonites and Moabites. The Ammonites appear to have lived north and the Moabites south of the Arnon. The Ammonites were a fierce marauding tribe: the Moabites a settled and civilized nation. United by the tie of common descent from Lot, they were generally in alliance against Israel. Twice during the period of the Judges they “oppressed Israel.” After their defeat by Jephthah, the Ammonites are not mentioned until the present occasion. A. F. K.

3. The Jabesh-Gileadites will first try whether their brother Israelites on the other side of the river will not do something to rescue them from so revolting an outrage. They ask a respite of seven days, at the end of which, if no one come to save them, they promise to surrender at discretion. Trusting to the jealousy between the tribes that dwelt on the different sides of the Jordan, or too confident in his own strength to care for what they might do, Nahash grants the request. Hanna.—We may also infer that Divine Providence thus far restrained his hands in order to give to the new monarch an opportunity of affording such signal proof of his capacity, decision, and military conduct, as might win for him the general admiration of his subjects and secure his full possession of the royal power to which he had been appointed. Kit.

5. Came after the herd out of the field. It hence appears that Saul now lived retired in rustic occupations, exercising no authority over the people, but leaving all to the management of Samuel. Patrick.

6 “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul when he heard the tidings.” The Spirit of the

Lord evidently means here that spirit of courage, of noble energy, of dauntless resolution, which was needed to meet the emergency that had arisen. His first act was a symbolical one, very rough in its nature, but an act of the kind that was best fitted to make an impression on an Eastern people. W. G. B.—7. A couple of the oxen belonging to Saul are slaughtered on the spot, and cut in pieces. “Go to all the borders of Israel,” he said to the messengers, “and proclaim that thus shall it be done to the oxen of every one who followeth not after Saul and Samuel.” He named the trysting place and the day of meeting. A ring of triumph sounded from his words and acts. “All the borders of Israel” was the borrowing of a phrase used by the elders of Jabesh when they spoke with Nahash. Sime.

8. Bezek, opposite to Jabesh-Gilead on Saul’s own side of the Jordan, is named as the place of rendezvous. The summons is so responded to that on the morning of the sixth day from that on which the messengers left the beleaguered city, Saul finds himself at Bezek at the head of upward of three hundred thousand men. Hanna.

10. That which appears most to have contributed to the fatal security of the Ammonites was the subtle message sent out by the Jabeshites, that having in vain implored the help of their brethren beyond the river, they had now no resource left but to march out the next morning, and cast themselves upon the mercy of the Ammonitish king. This news, once spread through the camp, could not fail to render the guards and sentinels still more remiss and negligent.

11. This transmission of messages—this raising of an army (and not only simply calling into action troops standing ready for service)—this march of that large army by difficult roads—this reviewal of it—and the final march to meet the enemy—and the complete and sudden victory within so short a time, far surpasses anything we find in modern warfare. The Ammonites were so humbled by this great overthrow, that we do not read of any further hostilities between them and the Israelites during the remainder of Saul’s reign, nor indeed until the latter end of that of David. Kit.

11. Jabesh was rescued from destruction, and its inhabitants long remembered the debt of gratitude which they owed to Saul. It was the men of Jabesh who at peril of their lives recovered the bodies of Saul and Jonathan from Philistine insults, and gave them honorable burial (ch. 31 : 11-14): it was Gilead which was the chief centre and stay of the waning fortunes of

Saul’s house during the early part of the reign of David (2 S. 2 : 8, 9 ff.). A. F. K.

12,13. How noble were these beginnings of Saul! His prophecy showed him miraculously wise, his battle and victory no less valiant, his pardon of his rebels as merciful : there was not more power showed in overcoming the Ammonites than in overcoming himself, and the impotent malice of these mutinous Israelites. Now Israel sees they have a king that can both shed blood and spare it ; that can shed the Ammonites’ blood and spare theirs : his mercy wins those hearts whom his valor could not. Bp. H.

We can hardly conceive a more promising commencement to a reign, or one more calculated to gather power and work deliverance for Israel. Saul’s is just the character of many a young man, full of high and noble feeling, modest, and distrustful of self, coming from a religious home or the influence of religious impressions, and placed in a post of responsibility, of activity. All is promise ; we look for high distinction of the best kind, and for bright and blessed deeds for God and for good. Alford.—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. Hanna.

Self-control, promptitude, courage, capacity, ascription of praise to God, forbearance toward men, these are all exhibited by the young king. Yet from this moral elevation Saul miserably fell. He who seemed to be the rising hope of Israel became one of the most hapless and tragical personages in all his nation’s history. He who showed at first patience and self-control became a restless, jealous king. His great fault was wilfulness, leading to the most foolish impatience, and wretched envy. He who executed his first military exploit so skilfully, and with such complete success, became notorious for his failures. And, at last, he who had shown such fearless readiness to set upon the Ammonites was afraid to encounter the Philistines. Not that his natural courage had died out of him, but the sustaining faith in God was gone. “God is departed from me, and answereth me no more.” He who was so averse to shed the blood of disaffected subjects shed the blood of many faithful men, as of the priests of the Lord, and hurled the javelin from his own hand again and again at the worthiest of all his subjects, hating him without a cause. The true character of a man will show itself. No veil will cover it ; no prudential consideration can bind it. Sooner or later it will have its way. The higher the promise of virtue, the greater the momentum of him who falls from his integrity, the farther he goes into evil. The path of the wilful and proud is one of waning light and thickening darkness ; but “the path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more until the perfect day.” D. F.

Than that of Saul there is no history which, as we read it, brings home to us a stronger sense, perhaps none so strong a sense, of this life which each one of us is, living, as a life of probation ; no history which makes us so vividly to realize the fact that God takes men and puts them in certain conditions to try them ; to see how they will bear themselves under these conditions, how far they will profit by the opportunities for good, resist the solicitations to evil, which these will inevitably offer to them. Abp. Trench.