1 Samuel 11

Then Nahash the Ammonite marched up and set up camp against the town of Jabesh-gilead to attack it. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make an agreement with us, and we will serve you."

1Then 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.

NoteThe Ammonites were a people living east of the Jordan River, in what is now Jordan; they and Israel had fought on and off for generations. Jabesh-gilead was an Israelite town on that same eastern side of the river, cut off from the main body of Israel by the Jordan valley. The town had old ties of marriage and kinship with the tribe of Benjamin, Saul's tribe. The "covenant" or "agreement" being asked for here is a surrender treaty: the town would keep its lives and become a subject population, paying tribute and supplying labor or troops to Nahash.

2But Nahash the Ammonite answered them, "I will make an agreement with you on one condition: I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and so bring shame on all Israel."

2And 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.

NoteIn ancient warfare a man fought with a shield on his left arm, which covered the left side of his face. Destroying the right eye left a man unable to aim or fight but still able to work: it disabled a town's fighting men permanently without killing them. "Reproach" here means public humiliation: every mutilated man would be a walking advertisement that Israel could not protect its own.

3The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days to wait. Let us send messengers all through the land of Israel. If no one comes to rescue us, we will come out and give ourselves up to you."

3And 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.

Note"Elders" were the senior heads of families who governed a town and spoke for it. "Coasts" in 1611 English meant borders or territory generally, and has nothing to do with the sea.

4The messengers came to Gibeah, the town where Saul lived, and told the people there what had happened. Then all the people cried out loud and wept.

4Then 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.

5Just then Saul came in from the field, walking behind his oxen. Saul asked, "What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?" So they told him what the men of Jabesh had said.

5And, 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.

NoteSaul had already been publicly chosen as king in the previous chapter, but he is here walking home behind his plow oxen. Israel at this point had no palace, no capital and no standing army; the news has to reach him at his farm.

6When Saul heard those words, the Spirit of God came powerfully on him, and he burned with anger.

6And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.

NoteThe Hebrew verb is a violent one, the Spirit "rushed" or "seized" upon him. The same phrasing is used of the earlier judges such as Gideon and Samson: a sudden, temporary surge of power for a specific emergency, rather than a permanent state.

7He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces all through the land of Israel by messengers. They said, "This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not march out behind Saul and behind Samuel." Then a fear from the LORD fell on the people, and they came out together as one.

7And 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.

NoteButchering an animal and sending the pieces around was a recognized summons to war, and it carried a double force. It was a threat (this is what happens to your livestock if you stay home) and it echoed the way treaties were sealed in this period, by cutting an animal apart to picture what would befall anyone who broke the agreement.

8When Saul counted them at Bezek, there were three hundred thousand men from Israel and thirty thousand men from Judah.

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

NoteBezek was a mustering point west of the Jordan, opposite Jabesh-gilead. The Hebrew word translated "thousand" (eleph) can also mean a clan or a military unit of unspecified size, so the totals may mean 300 units from Israel and 30 from Judah rather than 330,000 individual men. The text can be read either way. The separate counting of Judah is a hint of the split between north and south that becomes open division later in Israel's history.

9They said to the messengers who had come, "Tell the men of Jabesh-gilead this: 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.'" The messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.

9And 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. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.

Note"By the time the sun is hot" means mid-morning, well before noon, a promise of rescue within hours, not days.

10So the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever you think is best."

10Therefore 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.

11The next day Saul split his men into three groups. They came into the middle of the Ammonite camp during the last watch before dawn and killed Ammonites until the hottest part of the day. The ones who lived were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

11And 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.

NoteThe night was divided into three watches. The "morning watch" was the last of them, running roughly from two o'clock until sunrise, the darkest, sleepiest stretch, and the standard hour for a surprise attack.

12Then the people said to Samuel, "Who was it who said, 'Shall Saul rule over us?' Bring those men here so we can put them to death."

12And 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.

NoteThis refers back to the end of the previous chapter, where certain men had openly sneered at Saul's selection as king and refused to bring him the customary gift. The people now want those men executed for it.

13But Saul said, "No one will be put to death today, because today the LORD has rescued Israel."

13And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day: for to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel.

14Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and make Saul king again there."

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

NoteSaul had already been chosen by lot and presented to the people at Mizpah in the previous chapter, but not everyone had accepted him. "Renew the kingdom" means holding a second, public confirmation ceremony now that he has proved himself in battle. Gilgal was a long-standing gathering and worship site in the Jordan valley near Jericho.

15So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king in the presence of the LORD. There they offered peace offerings to the LORD, and Saul and all the men of Israel celebrated with great joy.

15And 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.

NotePeace offerings (Hebrew shelamim) were the one kind of sacrifice in which the worshipers ate most of the meat themselves. Only certain portions went on the altar; the rest became a shared feast. So this is a coronation banquet as much as a religious rite. "Before the LORD" means at the sanctuary, in the place set aside for worship.