1 Samuel 11:3

CONFIRMATION OF SAUL IN THE KINGDOM ( 1 Samuel 11:1-15 ; 1 Samuel 12:1-25 .).

EXPOSITION

THE DEFEAT OF THE AMMONITES ( 1 Samuel 11:1-13 ).

1 Samuel 11:1 , 1 Samuel 11:2 .

Nahash the Ammonite. The same name is found in 2 Samuel 10:2 as that of the father of Hanun, who treated David's ambassadors so shamefully, and probably they mean the same person. He is there said to have shown kindness to David; and as we read in 2 Samuel 17:25 that Abigal (so the Hebrew, not Abigail as the A.V who was David's wife), Amasa's mother, was the daughter of Nahash, and as Abigal was the sister or half-sister of Zeruiah, David's aunt, there seems to have been some relationship between them. The Ammonites were old enemies of the Israelites, alleging that Israel had taken possession of territory east of the Jordan which rightfully belonged to them ( 11:13 ); but after their defeat by Jephthah their power was so broken that they allowed a century to elapse before they ventured again to assert their claim. Nahash, apparently after other invasions ( 1 Samuel 12:12 ), now attacks Jabesh-Gilead, a city in the half-tribe of Manasseh, which had been cruelly treated by the Israelites ( 21:10 ), but apparently had risen again from its ruins. Its inhabitants were willing humbly to submit to Ammonite rule; but Nahash will grant them no other terms than that they should let him thrust out— Hebrew, bore through— all their right eyes, not from any special spite against them, but as an insult to all Israel. No better proof could be given of the disorganisation of the nation than that a petty despot should venture to show his contempt for it in so offensive a way.

The elders who govern the town know nothing of a king having been appointed, nor do they send to Samuel to ask him, as the judge, to protect them; but they request a seven days' respite, that they may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel, and Nahash, feeling sure that no combined action would be the result, grants their request, that so Israel far and wide might know of his triumph.