Saul defeats the Ammonites
11
📚Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and camped against Jabesh-Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you”. 11:1 The Ammonites were the descendants of Lot (Gen 19:36-38; Deut 2:19), and therefore related to Israel. But they were enemies of God’s people (Jud 3:13; 11:4-32). Jabesh-Gilead was a town east of the Jordan River and north of Ammon.⚜
2 📚And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “I will make a covenant with you on this condition: that I may gouge out all of your right eyes, and so bring disgrace on all of Israel”.
11:2 Any sort of treaty with evil people results in some kind of loss (Ex 34:12; 1 Kings 20:34, 42; 2 Chron 18:1; 2 Cor 6:14-18).⚜
3 📖And the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite, so that we can send messengers to all the territories of Israel. And then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you”.
4 📚Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and told the news in the hearing of the people, and all the people raised their voices and wept.
11:4 Gibeah was in Benjamin and Benjamin had close family ties with the people of Jabesh (Jud 21:12-14).⚜
5 📚And just then Saul came from the field behind his oxen, and Saul said, “What is wrong with the people that they are weeping?” And they told him the news about the men of Jabesh.
11:5 Was Saul more interested in farming than in being king?⚜
6 📚And the Spirit of God came on Saul when he heard that news, and his anger burned greatly.
11:6 The Spirit of God now propelled Saul into the forefront of the national life of Israel.⚜
7 📚And he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territories of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, “So will it be done to the oxen of the one who does not come out after Saul and after Samuel”. And the fear of the LORD 📖 fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8 📚And when he counted them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
11:8 Bezek was west of the Jordan, but not far from Jabesh east of the Jordan.⚜
9 📚And they said to the messengers who had come, “This is what you are to say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have help.’ ” And the messengers came and told this to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10 📚Therefore the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you can do with us all that seems good to you”.
11 📚And on the next day this occurred: Saul put the people in three groups, and they came into the middle of the camp in the morning watch 📖, and killed the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it came about that those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
12 📚And the people said to Samuel, “Who is the one who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men so we can put them to death”.
13 📚And Saul said, “Not a man will be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked deliverance in Israel”.
11:13 Once more Saul shows modesty.⚜
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 offered sacrifices of peace offerings 📖 before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly 📖.
11:14-15 1 Sam 10:8, 25. Though here Saul is confirmed as King, in the chapter which follows Samuel teaches the people that God was still the Ruler over Israel, and that both they and King Saul must obey God (vs 13-15).⚜