1 Samuel 11

1 Samuel 11:1

TlIEN Nahash the Ammonite. He was either the king of the children of Ammon, or the captain of his host; who laid siege to Jabcsb-Gilead, as Josephus saith, about a month after Saul w’as chosen king: but had levied war against them before, (xii. 12.) which was the occasion of their desiring a king. * * Came up against Jabesh-Gilead.] He renewed, it is likely, their old pretensions to this country: which they had made in the time of Jephthah. For Jabesh-Gilead was in the tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan; bordering upon the Ammonites: who laid a claim to tliis. country, which the Israelites took from Sihon and Og, as we read in Judg. xi. And all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will seme thee.] Be his subjects, but not slaves, with whom no covenant was made. ^cLND Samuel said unto all Israel.] In the presence of Saul, as appears from ver. 3. 5. Behold, I have hearkened nnto you in all that you said unto me, and have made you a king.] This speech was. made before they parted from Gilgal: where they had re-* newed the kingdom.

1 Samuel 11:2

And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition I will make a covenant ivjth you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes. He would not put out both their eyes, because that would have made them unserviceable to him; but only the right, which (as many learned men have observed) was most useful in war; the left eye heing covered with their shields, which they held in their left hand: so Procopius Gazaeus, the left eye is covered with the shield; with the right tve see our enemies. And lay it for a reproach upon all Israel’] This is the only reason he gives for such insolent treatment, that all Israel might know what they were to expect, if he could prevail over them. And now, behold, the king walketh before yon,]. To rule and govern them, (Numb, xxvii. 17.), And I am old and grey-headed.] And therefore verywilling to be discharged from the government of you. And, behold, my sons are with you.] Reduced also to the state of private persons; being the king’s subjects, no less than you: And I have walked before y mi from my childhood to this day.] He appeals to them whether he had not always discharged his duty faithfully, from the very beginning; when G6d had made him a prophet to instruct and guide them.- For now they might freely accuse him, if they had any thing to allege against him: both he and his sons being, now become subjects to a Inore sovereign authority.

1 Samuel 11:3

And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days, that we may send messengers into all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee.] It may seem strange, that either they should submit so soon to such base conditions; 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 visible: for Saul they thought was not able to help them; having not yet taken upon him the government, but living privately; (see ver. 5.) and Nahash, it is like, was loath to drive them to desperation, by denying them this short space to expect relief, which he thought could not possibly come to them, though Saul should appear aud endeavour to levy an army; for that he imagined could not be done in so few days. Behold, here I am: witness against me before, the Lord, and before his anointed.] He offers himself to be tried, and to give a public account of his administration: being ready to answer any thing that could be objected against him. Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken?] He desires them to testify, if he had ruled after the manner of

1 Samuel 11:4

Then came messengers to Gibeah of Saul. So called, because Saul was there bom, and bred, and dwelt. And’ told the tidings in the cars of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.] As men despairing of relief.

1 Samuel 11:5

And-, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth ihe people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. By this it appears (as 1 noted in the conclusion of the foregoing chapter), that some men, not only refusing to submit to, him, but despising him, ho went and lived retired, and led a rustic life: exercising no authority over the people; but leaving all to Samuel’s management.

1 Samuel 11:6

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him when he heard these tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. But now he resolved, by an impulse he felt from heaven, to shew that God had chosen him to be their king. Who, upon this occasion, gave him an extraordinary measure of courage, zeal, and military skill.

1 Samuel 11:7

And he took a yoke of oxen. Which he had newly brought out of tho field, (ver. 5.). AndJiewed them in jrieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel, by the hand of messengers, saying, TFfto-, soever comes not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen.] He herein begins to give a proof, of his, resolution, by this terrible threatening; and by the representation he made of the execution he intended, if he was disobeyed. Whereby it appears, that the kings of Israel assumed such an absolute power as Samuel described chap. viii. One part of which consisted in making Avar, and raising soldiers, by their sole authority, and punishing those that did not come to the army at their summons. For*. we never read that they consulted the oracle before they: went to war; nor that they are reproved by the prophets, for that neglect. In like manner they made laws, which is, the act of a sovereign." For though they could not alter the laws of Moses, but were to. govern themselves by them; yet, in things not determined there, or were not clear and* plain, they made what laws they thought good; as appears by David, and Solomon, and other of their best princes. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people.] They were no less affected with the cutting these oxen in pieces, than they had been with the using the Levite’s concubine in like, manner, (Judg. xix. 19.) as Bochartus notes: who observes, something like this among heathen people, (Hicrozoic. par. i. lib. ii. cap. 33.) And they came out with one consent.] God, who put courage into. Saul, possessed the people also with a fear of’ offending him; now that he asserted his royal authority over them. For he names himself before Samuel (the. kingly dignity being superior to the prophetical), but wisely mentions hhu also, that they who did not reverence himself as their king, might follow the prophet, whom all reverenced.

1 Samuel 11:8

And when they numbered them in Bezek. Of thisplace, see upon Judg. i. G. The children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.] It is thought by some, that the Philistines invaded them in the west, as the Ammonites did in the east, (just as they had done formerly in the time of Jephthah, Judg. x. 7, 8.) which is the reason sofew of Judah came in at this summons; being engaged elsewhere against another dangerous enemy. But they would not wholly neglect to come to his assistance in this other, war, but shewed their forwardness to obey him, as much as they were able. Bertram, also, Altingius, (in his Shilo, lib, iii. cap. 11.) and others, take it as an honour done to.. irif wf Vwwi CHAP. XI.] THE’ FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. this tribe, which had the pre-eminence, that tbey’were numbered by themselves. But Sir J. Marsham looks upon it as the beginning of a schism, (Secul. ix.)

1 Samuel 11:9

And they said xtnto the messengers that came, Titus shall ye say to the men ofJabesh-GMead, To-morrow, by that time the sun shall be hot, ye shall have kelp, &c. The morrow after their return, before noon.

1 Samuel 11:10

TJterefore the men of Jabesh said.) Unto Nahash the Ammonite. To-morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us that which seemeth good to you. In case, that is, relief did not come to them by that time: of which they pretended to have no hope. Most look upon this as spoken ironically and in mockery: but Grotius takes it for a stratagem, to make them secure: according to the opinion of those times, that they might delude an enemy by deceitful words: as Elisha did the Syrians, 2 Kings vi. IS, 19, &c. (See lib. iii. dc Jure Belli et Pacis, cap. 1, sect. 17.)

1 Samuel 11:11

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 monriug-ivatch, and slew the Ammonites till tlie heat of the day.] lie set upon them, I suppose, on three sides, and the men of Jabesh issuing out on the other, they were so distracted that they could make little resistance: but the Israelites got into the midst of them very early, and made a great slaughter of them till noon. And it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.] This is added to shew, w r ith what a complete victory Saul began his reign: whereby God established his authority.

1 Samuel 11:12

And the people said unto Samuel. AVho, it appears from hence, accompanied Saul in this expedition, to encourage him with hopes of good success. Who is he that said, Saul shall not reign over ns? bring the men, that we may put them to death.] Great successes make great alterations in the affections of the people; who quietly saw Saul contemned a little while ago; but now would have inquiry made after those sons of Belial, who spake opprobriously of him, (x. 27.)

1 Samuel 11:13

And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day. He prudently dissembled his knowledge, of their despisal of him, before the kingdom was confirmed to him: but this moderation, now that he was wonderfully victorious, argued greater wisdom and goodness. For nothing is more glorious than to be humble and meek in the height of power. For to-day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel.] Besides the policy he exercised in pardoning offenders (whereby he laid the strongest obligations upon them to be faithful to him), it wa^ a piece of piety to imitate God, who had been so good to them all..

1 Samuel 11:14

Then Samuel said unto the people, Come, and let us goto Gilgal, to renew the kingdom there. New kingdoms are not easily settled. And this place was famous upon many accounts, as Mizpeh was, where Samuel first declared him king. Particularly, Samuel was wont to judge the people here, (vii. 1G.)

1 Samuel 11:15

And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king, before the Lord in Gilgal. He had been anointed in Ramah; and chosen by lot in Mizpeh; but still some disdained to own him as their king: which made him content himself for a time (as I said before) 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,, acknowledged by all the people for their king. Which is the meaning of these words, they made Saul king; for it is certain, it was neither they nor Samuel that could make a king; but God alone: who ordered Samuel to anoint him, and then made the lot to fall upon him; and now inclined the hearts of all the people to submit to his authority. The LXX. here say, 1’xp*** 2ajuv?)A, &c. that Samuel here anointed Saul king over Israel. And Josephus, (lib. vi. cap. G.) that he again anointed Saul, T<£ ayfy tAafy, with holy oil. But there is not a word of this anointing in the Hebrew text, no, nor in the Vulgar Latin: and the Targum very well expresses it, they made Saul to reign, i. e. would not let him any longer lead a private life; but prayed him to take the government upon him according to God’s ordinance, and promised subjection to him. Gilgal seems to have been chosen. for this purpose, rather than any other place: because there was a sanctified piece of ground, as Abarbinel speaks, where, when they entered into Canaan, the ark first stood: which now, perhaps, they brought hither,’ and offered sacrifice before it. And there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings before the Lord.]. Who was present, as I observed before, (sec Judg. xx. 1.) in such great assemblies of the body of the people: with whom both they and their king made a covenant of obedience to him, by offering of the sacrifices. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced together.] By feasting upon the peace-offerings: giving thanks to God for the late victory, and for settling the kingdom. CHAP. XII..