1 Samuel 11:1 Komentář

In this chapter we have the first-fruits of Saul's government, in the glorious rescue of Jabesh-Gilead out of the hands of the Ammonites. Let not Israel thence infer that therefore they did well to ask a king (God could and would have saved them without one); but let them admire God's goodness, that he did not reject them when they rejected him, and acknowledge his wisdom in the choice of the person whom, if he did not find fit, yet he made fit, for the great trust he called him to, and enabled, in some measure, to merit the crown by his public services, before it was fixed on his head by the public approbation. Here is, I. The great extremity to which the city of Jabesh-Gilead, on the other side of Jordan, was reduced by the Ammonites (Sa1 11:1-3). II. Saul's great readiness to come to their relief, whereby he signalized himself (Sa1 11:4-10). III. The good success of his attempt, by which God signalized him (Sa1 11:11). IV. Saul's tenderness, notwithstanding this, towards those that had opposed him (Sa1 11:12, Sa1 11:13). V. The public confirmation and recognition of his election to the government (Sa1 11:14, Sa1 11:15).

The Ammonites were bad neighbours to those tribes of Israel that lay next them, though descendants from just Lot, and, for that reason, dealt civilly with by Israel. See Deu 2:19. Jephthah, in his time, had humbled them, but now the sin of Israel had put them into a capacity to make head again, and avenge that quarrel. The city of Jabesh-Gilead had been, some ages ago, destroyed by Israel's sword of justice, for not appearing against the wickedness of Gibeah (Jdg 21:10); and now being replenished again, probably by the posterity of those that then escaped the sword, it is in danger of being destroyed by the Ammonites, as if some bad fate attended the place. Nahash, king of Ammon (Ch1 19:1) laid siege to it. Now here, I. The besieged beat a parley (Sa1 11:1): "Make a covenant with us, and we will surrender upon terms, and serve thee." They had lost the virtue of Israelites, else they would not have thus lost the valour of Israelites, nor tamely yielded to serve an Ammonite, without one bold struggle for themselves. Had they not broken their covenant with God, and forsaken his service, they needed not thus to have courted a covenant with a Gentile nation, and offered themselves to serve them. II. The besiegers offer them base and barbarous conditions; they will spare their lives, and take them to be their servants, upon condition that they shall put out their right eyes, Sa1 11:2. The Gileadites were content to part with their liberty and estates for the ransom of their blood; and, had the Ammonites taken them at their word, the matter would have been so settled immediately, and the Gileadites would not have sent out for relief. But their abject concessions make the Ammonites more insolent in their demands, and they cannot be content to have them for their servants, but, 1. They must torment them, and put them to pain, exquisite pain, for so the thrusting out of an eye would do. 2. They must disable them for war, and render them incapable, though not of labour (that would have been a loss to their lords), yet of bearing arms; for in those times they fought with shields in their left hands, which covered their left eye, so that a soldier without his right eye was in effect blind. 3. They must put a reproach upon all Israel, as weak and cowardly, that would suffer the inhabitants of one of their chief cities to be thus miserably used, and not offer to rescue them. III. The besieged desire, and obtain, seven days' time to consider of this proposal, Sa1 11:3. If Nahash had not granted them this respite, we may suppose the horror of the proposal would have made them desperate, and they would rather have died with their swords in their hands than have surrendered to such merciless enemies: therefore Nahash, not imagining it possible that, in so short a time, they should have relief, and being very secure of the advantages he thought he had against them, in a bravado gave them seven days, that the reproach upon Israel, for not rescuing them, might be the greater, and his triumphs the more illustrious. But there was a providence in it, that his security might be his infatuation and ruin. IV. Notice is sent of this to Gibeah. They said they would send messengers to all the coasts of Israel (Sa1 11:3), which made Nahash the more secure, for that, he thought, would be a work of time, and none would be forward to appear if they had not one common head; and perhaps Nahash had not yet heard of the new-elected king. But the messengers, either of their own accord or by order from their masters, went straight to Gibeah, and, not finding Saul within, told their news to the people, who fell a weeping upon hearing it, Sa1 11:4. They would sooner lament their brethren's misery and danger than think of helping them, shed their tears for them than shed their blood. They wept, as despairing to help the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and fearing lest, if that frontier-city should be lost, the enemy would penetrate into the very bowels of their country, which now appeared in great hazard.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 11 This chapter relates the distress the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead were in on account of the Ammonites, Sa1 11:1 upon which they sent messengers to Saul, whose spirit was immediately stirred up to help them, Sa1 11:4, and prepared for it, and came up soon enough for their relief, and slew their enemies, Sa1 11:7, which gained him much honour and reputation among the people, and occasioned the renewal of the kingdom to him, Sa1 11:12.

Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead,.... A month after, as in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, that is, a month after Saul was chosen king; so Josephus (p): this prince was preparing for war against Israel before, which they hearing of, requested they might have a king to go before them in battle, Sa1 12:12 but now he actually marched from his own country, and besieged Jabeshgilead, a city in the land of Gilead, from whence it had its name, and lay in the half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan, see Jdg 21:8. It lay near to the Ammonites, and was part of the country they laid claim to in the times of Jephthah, which they now renewed, and attempted to gain it by force. This Nahash was king of the Ammonites, as he is called in the Targum, and by Josephus (q), and so in the Arabic version, see Sa1 12:12. and all the men of Jabeshgilead said unto Nahash, make a covenant with us; they desired to be his allies and confederates, live in peace and friendship with him, and enjoy their religion and liberties on certain conditions they were willing to come into; and this was the sense of them all, or at least the greatest part, which showed a mean and abject spirit in them, to make no defence of themselves, but as soon as besieged to move for a capitulation. This doubtless arose from a sense of their weakness, not being able to hold it out long, and from an apprehension that their brethren the Israelites, on the other side Jordan, could give them no assistance, being in an unsettled condition, having chosen a king, and he scarcely on the throne, and the Philistines having great power over them: and we will serve thee; not as slaves, but as tributaries; they were willing to pay a yearly tax to him. (p) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 1. (q) Ibid.

1. When I wished to assert the profundity of this sacred history in the preface of this work, I maintained that it could be seen especially in the fact that it was written by prophets. They indeed were accustomed to speak mystical things not only in words but also in deeds — to set forth plain things, yet to signify deep things. For since the Holy Spirit spoke through them, what they themselves said, as mere men, was plain, but it was profound and mystical, because the supreme and uncircumscribed Spirit was supplying the speech to men. Since, therefore, we are expounding the prophet Samuel as he speaks, we need all the greater diligence, inasmuch as he himself, sublimely taken up in the grace of the Holy Spirit, spoke outward things but saw inward things. He generally set forth carnal matters, but signified the innermost and spiritual realities. But since it is impossible by human effort to arrive at divine things, we must not trust in our own powers, but in the condescension of the Holy Spirit who, sent by the Redeemer, "has filled the whole world, and that which contains all things already has knowledge of every voice" (Wisdom 1:7). Let us hear, then, what the same prophet now relates concerning the undertakings of the Israelites. (1 Kings chapter 11, verses 1–2.) "And it came to pass," he says, "about a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and began to fight against Jabesh-gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash: 'Accept us as allies, and we will serve you.' And Nahash the Ammonite answered them: 'On this condition I will make a covenant with you: that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and make you a reproach in all Israel.'" 2. If one seeks the historical sense, nothing can be stated more plainly, nothing understood more easily. But if we wish to follow the spiritual sense, let us first hear Paul speaking, who, looking upon the old things, says: "All these things happened to them in figure, but they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11). He also indicates that there are spiritual wars, saying: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). Therefore, when Nahash is said to go up and fight against Jabesh-Gilead, the inner battles against vices are signified. By these words the course of sacred history is shown, so that new wars would be waged against the new king; and by bringing these to a successful conclusion, he would demonstrate the glory of his valor. Who then is this Nahash the Ammonite? What is Jabesh-Gilead? Now, Nahash is interpreted as "serpent," and Jabesh as "dried out." Concerning the serpent it is said in Genesis: "Because he was more cunning than all living creatures" (Gen. 3:1). If we seek the likeness of this serpent among the vices, what do we find more similar than the violent impulse of gastrimargia, that is, the movement of gluttony? Indeed, the movement of lust, the crime of theft, the appetite for base gain, the assault of anger, the bitterness of worldly sorrow, the sluggishness of sloth, the desire for vainglory, and the swelling of pride are openly detestable; but the vice of gluttony is all the more deceitful the more hidden it is, because it suggests food to the body as though it were necessary, yet while it abundantly nourishes the flesh, it plunges the sword of lust into the mind. It persuades that what is not a sin, but from the very fact that eating is accepted as though it were no sin, the soul is thereby subjected to the sin of lust. Hence in paradise the serpent is shown to have come to the woman to deceive her through the vice of gluttony—one who would suggest one thing but obtain another, so that while he displayed what should be eaten, he would administer an unforeseen death. This serpent therefore designates the greed of gluttony, because it both creeps under the guise of just necessity and spreads the poison of unholy pleasure. Rightly too is he called an Ammonite, which people is interpreted as "of sorrow," because what he urges seems pleasant, but it will be deeply mournful in eternal damnation. He is called a "people" because all gluttons, on account of their concern for the belly, are weighed down by a throng of innumerable cares. He goes up against Jabesh-Gilead because he strives to cast down to the craving for food the bodies of the just, which are established in the lofty virtue of abstinence. Rightly indeed is flesh called "dried out" that is not weighed down by the moisture of fatness. Nahash goes up against those whom he sees are dried out, because the spirit of gluttony wages more grievous wars against those whom he recognizes as worn thin by fasting. Rightly too is Nahash said to have begun to fight, because holy men do not hold the suggestion of gluttony in a pact of friendship but in the opposition of battle. For those who practice abstinence fight, as it were, against the serpent when they suppress the appetite of gluttony with great virtue, so that they may not be infected by the poison of lust. Indeed, the warfare of gluttony is to provoke the hungry bodies of the abstinent to a disordered filling of the belly. 3. But the appetite of gluttony can tempt perfect men, though it cannot overcome them. Rightly, therefore, he is said to have begun to fight against the dried-up woman, not to have conquered her, because chosen men feel the assault of carnal desires, but they know how to resist those same desires by the strength of the mind; they know how to provide for necessities through discretion. They know indeed how to suppress the fiercely rising assault of gluttony; they know how to furnish just nourishment for the body's need. For hence the outstanding Doctor says: "I know how to eat and to hunger" (Phil. 4:12). He indeed knows how to eat and to hunger who both moderately refreshes his body and does not consent to the vice of gluttony urging immoderate intake of food. Wherefore also, responding to Nahash, they say: "Have us as allies, and we will serve you." For they seek a treaty from gluttony who would wish to refresh the flesh according to their desire, if they could feel no incitements to lust in the flesh. As if they were saying: We will give you what is just for you, so that you do not inflict upon us what is not just. It is indeed just that the body be refreshed, but it is very unjust that the refreshed flesh be aroused through the burning of lust to the disgrace of the spirit. We therefore seek a treaty when we wish to so favor the flesh for the intake of food that we feel no evils of lust from the flesh. But this we can indeed wish for, yet we cannot obtain it, because surely we offer just refreshment as a kind of tribute to the flesh, but no goods of peace are promised to us by the flesh. For when we rightly direct the hearing of the mind to the responses of the vices, we recognize this indeed in the voice of gluttony: that if we fatten the flesh, we are struck with blindness of heart through growing concupiscence. Wherefore the same Nahash also says: "On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes." Our right eye is the gaze upon eternal brightness, but the left eye is carnal concupiscence. The right eye is therefore gouged out when the mind is struck with such blindness that it is no longer opened to see heavenly things. Indeed the eye is gouged out when the light is so torn away from the reprobate mind that no root remains from which a revived light might break forth. Nahash therefore gouges out the right eyes of his treaty-partners, when gluttony so prevails over the conquered abstinent that they desire only carnal things and no longer attend to what they used to love. And because whoever is cast down in this life is condemned in the future before the angels and the elect, there is added: "And I will make you a reproach in all Israel." For then the reprobate are made a reproach in all Israel, when at the final judgment they blush before all the elect for the iniquities they have committed. Or they are made a reproach in this life, because while they themselves with blinded heart boldly perpetrate evils, holy men blush for their faults. But let those who disdain to appear shameful, with their right eyes torn out, attend to what follows: (Verse 3) "And the inhabitants of Jabesh said to him: Grant us seven days, that we may send messengers to the borders of Israel; and if there is no one to defend us, we will come out to you."

And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, etc. Many faithful men of the Church, united in true love, often consented to serve humbly by obeying teachers, whom they esteemed as wise as serpents in frequent meditation on the Scriptures; but they did not fail to be as doves in keeping ecclesiastical peace. However, because there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, the fabricators of errors and cultivators of perverse doctrines continually revealed themselves, showing that they did not have the enlightened eyes of the heart, nor could it be said of them, "Your eyes are like doves" (Cant. II); but rather they desired to remove the right eyes from all their listeners, that is, the senses of heavenly and supreme contemplation, and to deflect them to see only the left and perverse things, rendering them impotent in the daily battle we wage against spiritual wickedness in high places. For this reason Nahash wanted to gouge out the right eyes of the Jabeites, so that while they covered the left side of their faces with shields in battle, they would not be able to see what they should do against the enemy, or for their own salvation. For this reason the ancient enemy tries to deprive the faithful of heavenly light, to render them useless in every spiritual fight.

Nahash, king of the Ammonites, besieges Jabesh-gilead; and proposes to its inhabitants the most degrading conditions of peace, Sa1 11:1, Sa1 11:2. They apply to their brethren for help, Sa1 11:3, Sa1 11:4. Saul hears of their distress; takes a yoke of oxen, hews them in pieces, and sends them throughout the coasts of Israel, with the threat that all who did not come to his standard should have his cattle served in like manner; in consequence of which he is soon at the head of an army of three hundred and thirty thousand men, Sa1 11:5-8. He sends to Jabesh-gilead, and promises help, Sa1 11:9, Sa1 11:10. Saul attacks the Ammonites next morning, and gives them a total overthrow, Sa1 11:11. The people are greatly encouraged, and propose to put to death those who are opposed to Saul's government: but this he prevents, Sa1 11:12, Sa1 11:13. Samuel leads the people to Gilgal: they offer sacrifices, and renew the kingdom to Saul, Sa1 11:14, Sa1 11:15.

Nahash the Ammonite - In the Vulgate this chapter begins thus: Et factum est quasi post mensem, "And it came to pass about a month after." This addition appears also in the principal copies of the Septuagint; though it is wanting in the Complutensian edition, both in the Greek and Latin, and is not acknowledged by any of the Oriental versions. But it is in Josephus, and probably was inserted from him into some copies of the Septuagint, and thence into the Vulgate. It appears to be of very little authority. We know little about Nahash; there was a king of this name among the Ammonites in the time of David, Sa2 10:2, but probably not the same person. Nahash might have been a common name of the Ammonitish kings. Make a covenant with us - They found they were in no condition to risk a war; and they wish to have peace, and desire to know his conditions.

NAHASH OFFERS THEM OF JABESH-GILEAD A REPROACHFUL CONDITION. (Sa1 11:1-4) Then Nahash the Ammonite came up--Nahash ("serpent"); (see Jdg 8:3). The Ammonites had long claimed the right of original possession in Gilead. Though repressed by Jephthah (Jdg 11:33), they now, after ninety years, renew their pretensions; and it was the report of their threatened invasion that hastened the appointment of a king (Sa1 12:12). Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee--They saw no prospect of aid from the western Israelites, who were not only remote, but scarcely able to repel the incursions of the Philistines from themselves.

Saul's Victory over the Ammonites. - Even after the election by lot at Mizpeh, Saul did not seize upon the reins of government at once, but returned to his father's house in Gibeah, and to his former agricultural occupation; not, however, merely from personal humility and want of ambition, but rather from a correct estimate of the circumstances. The monarchy was something so new in Israel, that the king could not expect a general and voluntary recognition of his regal dignity and authority, especially after the conduct of the worthless people mentioned in Sa1 10:27, until he had answered their expectations from a king (Sa1 8:6, Sa1 8:20), and proved himself a deliverer of Israel from its foes by a victorious campaign. But as Jehovah had chosen him ruler over his people without any seeking on his part, he would wait for higher instructions to act, before he entered upon the government. The opportunity was soon given him. Sa1 11:1-5 Nahash, the king of the Ammonites (cf. Sa1 12:12; Sa2 10:2), attacked the tribes on the east of the Jordan, no doubt with the intention of enforcing the claim to part of Gilead asserted by his ancestor in the time of Jephthah (Jdg 11:13), and besieged Jabesh in Gilead, (Note: The time of this campaign is not mentioned in the Hebrew text. But it is very evident from Sa1 12:12, where the Israelites are said to have desired a king, when they saw that Nahash had come against them, that Nahash had invaded Gilead before the election of Saul as king. The Septuagint, however, renders the words כמחרישׁ ויהי (Sa1 10:27) by καὶ ἐγενήθη ὡς μετὰ μῆνα, and therefore the translators must have read כּמחדשׁ, which Ewald and Thenius would adopt as an emendation of the Hebrew text. But all the other ancient versions give the Masoretic text, viz., not only the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, but even Jerome, who renders it ille vero dissimulabat se audire. It is true that in our present Vulgate text these words are followed by et factum est quasi post mensem; but this addition has no doubt crept in from the Itala. With the general character of the Septuagint, the rendering of כמחרישׁ by ὡς μετὰ μῆνα is no conclusive proof that the word in their Hebrew Codex was כּמחדשׁ; it simply shows that this was the interpretation which they gave to כמחריש. And Josephus (vi. 5, 1), who is also appealed to, simply establishes the fact that ὡς μετὰ μῆνα stood in the Sept. version of his day, since he made use of this version and not of the original text. Moreover, we cannot say with Ewald, that this was the last place in which the time could be overlooked; for it is perfectly evident that Nahash commenced the siege of Jabesh shortly after the election of Saul at Mizpeh, as we may infer from the verb ויּעל, when taken in connection with the fact implied in Sa1 12:12, that he had commenced the war with the Israelites before this. And lastly, it is much more probable that the lxx changed כמחריש into כמחדש, than that the Hebrew readers of the Old Testament should have altered כמחדש into כמחריש, without defining the time more precisely by אחד, or some other number.) - according to Josephus the metropolis of Gilead, and probably situated by the Wady Jabes (see at Jdg 21:8); from which we may see that he must have penetrated very far into the territory of the Israelites. The inhabitants of Jabesh petitioned the Ammonites in their distress, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee;" i.e., grant us favourable terms, and we will submit. Sa1 11:2 But Nahash replied, "On this condition (בּזאת, lit. at this price, בּ pretii) will I make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and so bring a reproach upon all Israel." From the fact that the infinitive נקור is continued with ושׂמתּי, it is evident that the subject to נקור is Nahash, and not the Israelites, as the Syriac, Arabic, and others have rendered it. The suffix to שׂמתּיה is neuter, and refers to the previous clause: "it," i.e., the putting out of the right eye. This answer on the part of Nahash shows unmistakeably that he sought to avenge upon the people of Israel the shame of the defeat which Jephthah had inflicted upon the Ammonites. Sa1 11:3-4 The elders of Jabesh replied: "Leave us seven days, that we may send messengers into all the territory of Israel; and if there is no one who saves us, we will come out to thee," i.e., will surrender to thee. This request was granted by Nahash, because he was not in a condition to take the town at once by storm, and also probably because, in the state of internal dissolution into which Israel had fallen at that time, he had no expectation that any vigorous help would come to the inhabitants of Jabesh. From the fact that the messengers were to be sent into all the territory of Israel, we may conclude that the Israelites had no central government at that time, and that neither Nahash nor the Jabeshites had heard anything of the election that had taken place; and this is still more apparent from the fact that, according to Sa1 11:4, their messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and laid their business before the people generally, without applying at once to Saul. Sa1 11:5 Saul indeed did not hear of the matter will he came (returned home) from the field behind the oxen, and found the people weeping and lamenting at these mournful tidings. "Behind the oxen," i.e., judging from the expression "yoke of oxen" in Sa1 11:7, the pair of oxen with which he had been ploughing.