Saul Defeats the Ammonites

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(1 Samuel 11:1) Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you."

In the last chapter, Saul had just been made king of the Israelites.  Nahash, king of the Ammonites, came and encamped across from Jabesh in Gilead in the half tribe of Manasseh on the eastern side of the Jordan River.  The men of Jabesh, desiring peace and not war, asked to make a covenant with Nahash and they would serve as tributaries paying tax to him.

(2) And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, "On this I will make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it a reproach on all Israel."

Nahash told the men of Jabesh that the only way he would make a covenant with them was if he was able to put out the right eye of every man.  In this way, he would disable them for war, but they would still be able to do menial jobs for him.  Soldiers fought with shields in their left hands which covered their left eye, so that a soldier without his right eye was in effect blind.  However, they would still be able to do labor.  It would be a reproach on all Israel that they were weak and cowardly to allow such misery on some of their own and not do anything about it.

(3) And the elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers to all the coasts of Israel, and then if there is no man to save us, we will come out to you."

The elders of Jabesh actually asked for a seven days' respite before they would agree to Nahash's condition.  I suppose if they had not had time to ask their brethren to help them and be refused, it would not be the reproach Nahash was looking for, so it seems he granted it.

(4) Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul and told the news 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 ails the people that they weep?" And they told him the news of the men of Jabesh.

The messengers from Jabesh went to Gibeah where Saul was.  They told the people of Gibeah the news of Nahash's threat, and the people wept aloud.  Saul came out of the field after his herd and heard the people.  He asked what the problem was, and he was told about the predicament of the people 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 cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, "Whoever does not come forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen." And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.

The Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard the news, and his anger was hot against Nahash for his cruel threats against the inhabitants of Jabesh.  He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent the pieces throughout Israel with messengers telling the people that whoever did not come forth with Saul and Samuel, the same thing would be done to their oxen.  The fear of the Lord fell on the people making them fear what the Lord might do to them if they did not obey Saul, and they all came out in one accord.

(8) And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah, thirty thousand.

When Saul numbered the men at a place called Bezek, there were 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 from Judah.  Some Biblical scholars suggest that Judah was mentioned separately because they were usually the first to go to battle.  However, Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, makes more sense to me when he wrote that "This looks like the language of later times, times perhaps subsequent to the establishment of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah."  Since Samuel surely wrote his accounts later in his life, it is reasonable to expect he might have written it that way.

(9) And they said to the messengers who came, "Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.'" And the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.

"They" were probably Saul and Samuel, after counting the men in their army, who told the messengers to go back to the men of Jabesh in Gilead and tell them that the next day, by the time the sun was hot in the sky, they would have help.  The messengers carried that message to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad to hear it.

(10) Therefore the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you."

Upon hearing that news, the men of Jabesh told Nahash that they would come out to him the next day, and he could do to them whatever he wanted to do.  They did not tell him that they indeed had help but let him believe that he would be ridiculing Israel and plucking out the eyes of the men of Jabesh.

(11) And it was on the next day that Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch and killed the Ammonites until the heat of the day, and it came to pass that they who remained were scattered so that two of them were not left together.

The next morning Saul put the people into three companies, and they went into the midst of the Ammonites before daybreak, as the morning watch was the last watch of the night before daybreak.  They began killing the Ammonites and continued killing them until the heat of the day, probably around noon.  Those who were left of the Ammonites were scattered and fled alone, no two being left together.

(12) And the people said to Samuel, "Who is he who said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring the men, that we may put them to death."

The Israelites then asked Samuel who the men were who had derided Saul (1 Samuel 10:27).  They wanted him to bring them forward so that they be put to death.

(13) And Saul said, "There shall not a man be put to death this day, for today the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel."

However, it was Saul who spoke out and said that they would not kill any one of them for the Lord had brought them victory and saved them from the Ammonites.  He still had that forgiving spirit he had had when those men rejected him in 1 Samuel 10:27.  I'm sure they had participated in the battle when Saul had called them, begrudgingly or not, and the Lord had saved them, so there was no need to kill anybody.

(14) Then said Samuel to the people, "Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there."

Saul then called for the people to gather at Gilgal where the tabernacle and ark first were when they had first camped when they had crossed over the Jordan.  He called for them to renew the kingdom there.  Saul had shown himself worthy to command the people and while the people's hearts were eagerly toward him, he took the opportunity to very publicly anoint Saul as king a second time.

(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.

All the people did go to Gilgal and unanimously declared Saul to be their king before the Lord.  They made sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord for the victory and probably for their king they had so desired.  Saul and all the people rejoiced together greatly, the people in their king, Saul in the good will of his people, and all of them in the victory God had given them.

Thus Saul had proved himself worthy to be called the king of Israel.  God had shown the people in the last chapter His choice for their king, but some people had doubted that Saul was worthy.  Samuel had very much been against the people having an earthly king, but how graciously and unselfishly he directed the people to renew the kingdom and rejoice in their king.  He felt no jealousy toward Saul for taking over as head of the people.  When Saul had correctly given the glory to God for their victory (verse 13) and had shown mercy to those who had opposed him, he had proven himself to be a Godly choice for a king.  The good old prophet Samuel would have accepted Saul as king anyway because the Lord had chosen him, but at this point, he felt satisfaction in the choice of Saul as king and wanted the people to confirm their feelings and rejoice in their king, as this was the way it was to be now.