1 Samuel 11

He did not, however, immediately assume the sceptre and throne: but went back to Gibeah, and waited till circumstances called forth his new energies, as we shall see in the next chapter. In the mean time there went with him a band,” (or company,) of men, “whose hearts God had touched,” in the same extraordinary way, and who probably became his companions and his counsellors. So we read in the book of Ezra, ((1 Samuel 1:2-5).) that the Lord “stirred up the spirit of Cyrus,” and of the fathers of Israel, and the priests and Levites, “whose spirit God had raised to go up, and to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.” For it is the pious manner of the sacred writers to attribute to the agency of God “‘every good gift, and every perfect gift,”

natural as well as spiritual, as we shall have repeated occasion to [notice].

CHAP. - Ver. 1—15. The king of Ammon threatening the men of Jabesh, they send to Saul for aid; who collects great army, and defeats them.—The cruel threatening here recorded might seem incredible, were not similar instances on record, and even still practised in barbarous countries, in the [case] of rebels, and as such Nahash affected to treat Israel. Hanway saw several instances of it; and such cruel [usage] where they occurred. The Asiatic Researches mention a town called Naskatapir, which means “‘the town of cut noses,” from the inhabitants having been deprived of all their noses; and the late Editor of Calmet suggests, that by such means Nahash meant to lay a reproach on all Israel, by calling Jabesh “the town of men who had lost their right eyes.”

A similar threat occurs in the history of the Indian war. The Gorchians threatened the inhabitants of Lelith Pattan with the loss of their right hands, unless they surrendered within five days. (Fragments, No. 121. See also Orient. Lit. No. [437].) The cruelty of this tyrant was, however, well rewarded by a total defeat; and Saul, by the same means, appeared firmly established in his kingdom. P Sr The method taken by Saul to collect this army, reminds us of the conduct of the Levite toward his murdered concubine, (see note on (Judges 19:29).) and refers to a custom of very high antiquity, and but lately extinct. Sir Walter Scott (Lady of the Lake, Canto 3.) refers to a practice very similar among the Highlanders and Scandinavians.

The Highlanders slew a goat, and stained with its blood “the fiery cross” that was sent to summon their ancient warriors; and disobedience to the summons was punished with death, or the burning of their houses. (See Orient. Cust. No. 794, and Orient. Lit. No. 437.) Saul’s conduct hitherto seems totally unexceptionable. After being chosen king, he retired to his husbandry till circum-

Notes on the verses

The manner of the kingdom.—That is, the nature of the consti- Chap.- XI. Ver. 1. Nahash the Ammonite.—That is, the king of the Am- Monites. We read of a king of this name in the time of David, (2 Samuel 10:2). Ver. 2. Thrust out right eyes.—[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 right hand, thereby hides his left eye, and looks at his enemy with his right eye: one, therefore, who plucks out that right eye, makes men useless in war.” Josephus assigns the same reason. Such barbarities were very common, and still prevail, in some places in the East.

]|—Bagster.: Ver. 5. Saul came after the herd.—This shows that he had not yet left his Ver. 7. Yoke of oxen.—{The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act similar to that of the Levite, Ju. xix. 29. where see the note. }—Bagster. See Ver. 15. They made Saul king.—This was a recognition of his authority, and some think that he was now anointed a second time.