1 Samuel 14:47-52

Summary account of Saul's wars and family

47. So Saul took the kingdom The various wars undertaken by Saul whom the people elected king "to go out before them and fight their battles" are here summarily noticed. (1) Against Moab. See note on 1 Samuel 11:1. (2) Against the children of Ammon, as recorded in ch. 11, and perhaps upon other occasions. (3) Against the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, surnamed Edom (Genesis 25:30), who occupied Edom or Idumaea, previously called Mount Seir (rugged), the mountainous district stretching from the Dead Sea to the head of the Gulf of Elath. The Edomites were conquered by David (2 Samuel 8:14), and remained subject to Judah till the reign of Jehoram (2 Kings 8:20). They are fiercely denounced by the later prophets, especially Obadiah, for their hostility to Judah. (4) Against the Syrian kingdom of Zobah on the north-east. This kingdom was probably situated between Damascus and the Euphrates, but its exact position and limits are undetermined. The "kings" were apparently independent chiefs; in David's time it was ruled by a single king Hadadezer, and the account of David's wars with it testify to its power and importance (2 Samuel 8:3-10). (5) Against the Philistines throughout his reign (1 Samuel 14:52). No special account of the wars against Moab, Edom and Zobah is given, for the object of the book is not to give a complete history of Saul's reign, but to describe its salient features, and the sins which led to his rejection.

he vexed them The word means literally "to condemn," and so (if the reading is correct) "to conquer," the war being regarded as a suit against the enemies of God, in which defeat was tantamount to a verdict of condemnation. The Sept. however reads simply, "he was victorious."