1 Samuel 11:1-15
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help.a And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow 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.
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.
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.
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.
1 Samuel 11:1. Then Nahash. Septuagint: “Then within about a month Nahash, &c.”
1 Samuel 11:2. That I may thrust out all your right eyes. This was a cruel reply to men who solicited a covenant. Josephus remarks, that this would disqualify them for every thing, except taking care of their flocks and agriculture, because in war they almost veiled the left eye with their shields; and the right eye being lost, they could not keep their guard against a foe. This is much the same as the cutting off the right thumbs. Such is man, devoid of revelation, religion, and the grace of God.
1 Samuel 11:6. The Spirit of God came upon Saul. Sacraments and ordinances are not in vain; the Lord had given the Spirit with the anointing oil.
1 Samuel 11:8. Bezek, a town in Judah, where the tyrant Adoni-bezek had reigned. And here we ask, where was there a nation on earth that could raise 330,000 men in three days, except among the Hebrews? Their civil polity was mild and good.
1 Samuel 11:11. Three companies. This was wise, for immense armies obstruct their own movements; they are also soon dispersed by the want of water and food, and by their irregular supplies. A handful of Greeks at the pass of Thermopylæ stopped half a million of Persians.
1 Samuel 11:15. There they made Saul king. This was equivalent to a coronation: it was done with very solemn religious services.
REFLECTIONS.
The oppression of Philistia in the west, and the menaces of Ammon in the east, had very much contributed to make the Israelites solicitous for a king. And Saul, it presently appeared, was most opportunely inaugurated to the throne for the relief of Jabesh, and the salvation of his country. Truly God was good to Israel; and though displeased with their distrust in asking a king, yet he was not wanting to exercise towards them the richest tokens of his protecting love.
In the terms dictated by Nahash to Jabesh, we are awfully struck with the barbarity and wanton cruelty of ancient tyrants. Adoni-bezek had cut off the right thumbs and right toes of seventy kings, and was compelled to glorify God when his cruelty was requited in kind: here the loss of the right eye and slavery were required of a suppliant people. Surely God permitted those men to live as the scourge of humankind. Alas, to what horrors do crimes degrade the nature and character of man! But strange as it may appear, all this cruelty was combined with a brutal courage. He waited the seven days, and allowed the Israelites time to assemble; for he dared and invited a general battle.
Saul, on hearing of the invasion, discovered dispositions becoming the anointed of God. The spirit of wisdom, energy and courage, descended on his soul. Unfettered by the contempt of many at home, and unawed by the force of Ammon, he declared that every Israelite who followed him not, should be cut in pieces, as having forfeited all claim to the national compact. Dividing his army into three divisions he crossed the Jordan and defeated the enemy before the time appointed. Raw, and totally inexperienced as a soldier, he discovered all at once the consummate courage and skill of a veteran in war. Hence he silenced all his rivals with the lustre of his name; and secured the throne amidst the acclamations of all the army. So it shall always be, when God arises for the salvation of his people.
His clemency moreover was not eclipsed by his courage. When his hasty friends, intoxicated with victory, called for the lives of those who had refused their homage to the king, he restrained them by an oath. He would not becloud the glories of the day by the rigours of justice. How God-like is the exercise of mercy to vanquished and misguided men. How preferable to severity, wherever it can be exercised with any prospect of safety! The opponents of Saul, if either honour or virtue remained in their hearts, would now become his fastest friends. They would revere him on the throne as the Lord's anointed, and as inspired with the spirit of prophecy, courage, and compassion, above the elders of his country, and above the humankind. It is happy and prosperous with a nation when every heart reveres its sovereign as the minister of heaven, and divinely directed in all his measures.
Samuel, having done his duty as prophet and judge of Israel in the inauguration and anointing of Saul, next took the people from Jabesh to Gilgal, which was the direct road home for many of the army; and not far out of the road for any of them. He deemed the recent change in the government a necessary occasion for the renewal of the covenant with God; and he wished to do it on the very spot where Joshua had made their fathers swear fidelity to the Lord. After the first renewal of the covenant in this place, victory attended the arms of Israel, and Samuel was desirous that the like victories should now attend them under their king.