1 Samuel 11:1–15

11:2 Certain that he holds the upper hand, Nahash reacts with cruel brutality. The usual expression for “make a treaty” was “to cut a treaty” (cf. Gen. 15:10–18; Jer. 34:18–19), but Nahash does not propose cutting sacrificial animals. Instead he suggests gouging out the right eyes of the men of the city. Such painful and humiliating mutilation of defeated warriors was not uncommon in that period, as it incapacitated them from further effective combat. A foot soldier carried his shield in his left hand, which would block the vision of the remaining eye (Josephus, Antiquities 6.69–70). Furthermore, loss of the right eye would hamper use of a bow and arrow.

Nahash not only seeks total unconditional surrender; he also aims to “bring disgrace on all Israel.” Ammonite expansion was aimed at all Israel’s territory, and so Nahash aims to undermine the morale of those west of the Jordan as well.

11:3 The conditions are so shocking that the elders of Jabesh request “seven days’ respite,” and, surprisingly, Nahash agrees. He is confident of his own superiority and Israel’s incapacity to muster a response—especially in such a short time. However, the elders employ deliberate ambiguity by stating, “We will give ourselves up.” Literally they state, “We will come out,” which might mean “surrender” (e.g., 2 Kings 18:31; Jer. 38:17), but could equally mean “march out to battle” (e.g., Deut. 20:2; 1 Chron. 20:1). Further, their mention of “one to save us” (a root found also in 1 Sam. 11:9, 13) echoes a term used for a judge (or “deliverer”; Judg. 3:9, 15). Such is the type of intervention they hope for.

11:4 Lack of time makes it improbable that the messengers went throughout Israel (as maintained by Josephus, Antiquities 6.73). They head straight for Benjaminite territory to request assistance from those to whom they are related (cf. comment on 11:1). It was a journey of two days to reach “Gibeah of Saul,” which is so called to distinguish it from other places called “The Hill” (rather than to suggest they were aiming to inform Saul). The messengers first deliver their appeal to the people in general, who greet the news with dismay.

11:5 Attention focuses on Saul, who has resumed his farming. There is no royal bureaucracy or state resources for him to inherit. He seems to maintain a very modest establishment, despite what Samuel foretold.

At evening, when he is “coming from the field behind the oxen,” he learns of the distress gripping the community. When he asks what has occasioned such weeping, he is informed of the crisis situation in Jabesh. No one had thought to alert him.

11:6 When Saul hears the news, “the Spirit of God rushed upon” him in the way the judges were empowered for office (cf. comment on 10:2–6 [at v. 6]), with “rushed” particularly recalling Samson (Judg. 14:6, 19; 15:14). This reinforces and heightens his earlier endowment of capacity for leadership. His diffidence is dispelled and his anger aroused by Nahash’s proposed treatment of the people of Jabesh (cf. Judg. 14:19). He feels the intended insult to the cause of the Lord and is stirred up to confront it.

11:7 Saul immediately takes two of the oxen he had been driving home and dismembers them, sending their pieces “throughout all the territory of Israel”—an action copied from the earlier gruesome episode of the Levite’s concubine (Judg. 19:29; 20:6). He uses the messengers who have come from Jabesh to spread his summons and imposes a form of conscription on the nation, invoking a curse on any who do not respond. Even so, the combination “after Saul and Samuel” indicates a measure of uncertainty as to whether his own name would carry sufficient weight. He does not mention the Lord or the tribes’ covenant obligations to their fellow Israelites.

“The dread of the Lord fell upon the people” normally describes a reaction that comes over the enemies of the Lord when he intervenes on behalf of his people. Here it probably stems from Israel’s apprehension that the Lord will implement the curse of his anointed king, and therefore the nation unites in its response.

11:8 “He mustered them” (from Hb. paqad, “to act with authority”; 2 Sam. 18:1) describes Saul’s organizing his militia for the campaign at Bezek, probably on the west bank of the Jordan, with Jabesh about 17 miles (27 km) to the east, across the Jordan.² Bezek could be reached in a day’s—or night’s—march by fording the river.

The size of Saul’s forces is again uncertain, with lower figures (possibly as low as 3,000 and 300, respectively) being proposed on the basis of another understanding of the term translated “thousand” (cf. comment on 1 Sam. 4:2). On either calculation their relative sizes indicate a proportionate response from north and south. The existence of separate figures for the contingents from Israel and from Judah does not constitute evidence that this material originated after the division of the kingdom. Throughout the period of the united kingdom the separate identities of north and south were already recognized (cf. 2 Sam. 2:10; 5:5; 19:42–43).

11:9 “They said” may refer to the elders of Israel sending the people of Jabesh word by means of their messengers to assure them that by the following midday relief will arrive. “Salvation” is from the same root as “one to save” (v. 3). This secret message brings understandable relief to those in the besieged city, but the Ammonites remain unaware of the commitment or of the assembled forces.

11:10 Acting on the information they receive, the men of Jabesh send a cleverly worded message to the besieging forces. “We will give ourselves up to you” is literally “We will come out to you (plural),” which could be interpreted as “We will surrender” (NIV) but also as “We will join battle” (cf. v. 3). This is intended to induce the Ammonites to let down their guard even further. Of course, “You may do to us whatever seems good to you [lit., “in your eyes”; surely a reflection on v. 2]” describes quite different outcomes depending on the meaning attributed to the message.

11:11 Once darkness falls and a new day begins, Saul deploys his forces in three units (cf. 2 Sam. 18:2), who in the darkness cover the ground to Jabesh undetected. When they attack the Ammonites, they penetrate to the center of their camp “in the morning watch,” that is, the third watch of the night, from about two o’clock until dawn. Then they “struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day.” Since the besieging army offers up stiff resistance, it is six hours before the victory is complete, with the survivors so scattered “that no two of them were left together” to mount any counterattack. The Lord has given Saul a resounding victory.

11:12 Samuel appears to have accompanied the troops to relieve Jabesh, and, when the victory is secured, the people approach him with a view to dealing with those who had refused to recognize the legitimacy of Saul’s appointment as king (10:27). Flushed with their success, the army demands the execution of those who had treated the king contemptuously. In this transitional period the people still approach Samuel with this request. While they acknowledge Saul as their military leader, they are not yet accustomed to dealing with him as their king.

11:13 Saul, however, is adjusting to his position and assumes the reins of government by dealing with the request addressed to Samuel. Saul displays commendable self-restraint by forgoing vengeance and firmly rejecting the popular proposal. His amnesty is a gracious beginning to his reign (cf. 2 Sam. 19:22). He also acknowledges that the battle was won not by human effort or ingenuity but because the Lord “worked salvation” (cf. 1 Sam. 11:3).

11:14 This verse and the next summarize what is described more extensively in the following chapter. Building on the people’s enthusiasm and Saul’s attribution of the victory to the Lord, Samuel offers a counterproposal to the people. They should acknowledge and endorse Saul’s status by going to “renew the kingdom” at Gilgal, to the west of the Jordan.³

Considerable emphasis is placed on the fact that Gilgal provides an appropriate setting for finalizing Saul’s new status as king of the nation, with the place itself being named three times in these two verses and “there” used to pinpoint it four times. Gilgal was where the Israelites first camped after crossing the Jordan (Josh. 4:19), and by Samuel’s day it had become an important religious center. This is the first of three momentous occasions in which Samuel and Saul will be there together (also 1 Sam. 13:7–14; 15:10–26).

But what does it mean to “renew the kingdom”? Some scholars consider the expression to be evidence of an editorial attempt to harmonize various accounts of how Saul became king and thus avoid an obvious narrative contradiction with what occurred earlier at Mizpah (10:17–27). Others, more plausibly, argue that “renew” points to the restoration of a damaged item to its original condition. Saul had failed as king by not striking against the Philistines as expected (10:7), and now his kingship must be reestablished.⁴ However, a substantial case has been made that the kingship in view is not primarily Saul’s but Yahweh’s. Israel has compromised its allegiance to the Lord by its request for a human king, and so Samuel is proposing that in the inauguration of Saul there should be a renewal of the covenant, with Saul’s kingship placed in proper perspective under that of the kingdom of the Lord himself.⁵ And where better to make this new start than at Gilgal, where Israel first entered into the land?

11:15 Samuel’s proposal is unanimously endorsed, and the people travel to Gilgal, where “they made Saul king before the Lord.” This summary statement clearly shows that the transition in national leadership has been effected from Samuel as judge to Saul as covenant king in a solemn religious ceremony “before the Lord.” The sacrifice of peace offerings makes meat available for communal feasting, which enhances the general jubilation at the start of this new phase in Israel’s history.