1 Samuel 11:1

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):

Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.

1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 11 Nahash besiegeth them of Jabesh-gilead; offereth them a reproachful condition; they have seven days granted them to consult and seek relief; they send messengers to Saul, . He is provoked; sends messengers to all the Israelites to come in to their help; they come to the number of three hundred and thirty thousand men, . He sends word to the besieged, who deceive Nahash; who with his army is slain, . The people are ready to slay Saul’ s enemies; in which he opposeth them: he is invested in the kingdom at Gilgal, . Then, i.e. about that time; this particle being used in some latitude, as is frequent; for that this happened before, and was the occasion of their desire of a king, may seem from ; although it is possible that Nahash’ s preparation, and declared intention of warring against them, might cause that desire, and that Nahash did not actually come against them (which is here related) till their king was chosen. Nahash the Ammonite; either the same with him, , or his father and predecessor. Came up to war, probably to revenge and to recover their former great loss by Jephthah, . Jabesh-gilead was beyond Jordan, and near the Ammonites, who dwelt in part of Arabia. Make a covenant with us, to wit, upon good conditions, so as we shall enjoy our religion and properties. We will serve thee; in other things we will be thy subjects and tributaries. The occasion of this offer was, that they saw no likelihood of relief from their brethren the Israelites in Canaan, who were remote from them, and then weak and divided, and scarce able to defend themselves from the Philistines.

1 Samuel 11:1 Then 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.Ver. 1. Then Nahash the Ammonite came up.] After long preparations, and for the old hatred, and upon the old claim, as also to revenge the overthrow then given them by Jephthah. And encamped against Jabeshgilead.] Because it lay near to their country, and had been much weakened by that cruel slaughter of their men, and not like to be relieved, because the Israelites were ill-agreed among themselves about the choice of their new king. Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.] Take us for thy confederates, and not for thy slaves. This was to make as good terms for themselves as they could; but they should not have made any with that accursed nation.

(1) Nahash the Ammonite.—Nahash was king of the children of Ammon (see 1 Samuel 12:12). This royal family was in some way related to David (see 2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:16-17). At the time of David’s exile owing to the rebellion of Absalom, a son of Nahash the Ammonite is specially mentioned as showing kindness to the fugitive king. Jabesh-gilead was a city situated in Northern Gilead, in the territory assigned to Manasseh. Josephus states that it was the capital of the country of Gilead. The Ammonites were a kindred race to the Moabites, being descended from the same ancestor, the patriarch Lot. They asserted that a portion of their territory had been taken from them by Israel, and in the days of the judges sorely harassed the people. The Judge Jephthah attacked and defeated them with great slaughter. It was, no doubt, to avenge the disgrace they had suffered at the hands of Jephthah that their warlike monarch, Nahash,—deeming the opportunity a favourable one, owing to the old age of the reigning judge, Samuel,—invaded the Israelitic country bordering upon his kingdom, and besieged the city of Jabesh-gilead. Make a covenant with us.—The citizens of Jabesh-gilead, feeling their isolation and comparative remoteness from the chief centre of the people, were willing to pay a tribute to the Ammonite king, and made him overtures to this effect.

CHAPTER XI Nahash, king of the Ammonites, besieges Jabesh-gilead; and proposes to its inhabitants the most degrading conditions of peace, 1, 2. They apply to their brethren for help, 3, 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, 5-8. He sends to Jabesh-gilead, and promises help, 9, 10. Saul attacks the Ammonites next morning, and gives them a total overthrow, 11. The people are greatly encouraged, and propose to put to death those who are opposed to Saul's government: but this he prevents, 12, 13. Samuel leads the people to Gilgal: they offer sacrifices, and renew the kingdom to Saul, 14, 15. NOTES ON CHAP. XI Verse 1. 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, 2 Samuel 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.

Ch. 1 Samuel 11:1-11. Saul’s victory over the Ammonites 1. Then] Simply And. There is nothing in the Hebrew text to mark whether the interval was long or short. The Sept. however omits the words “But he held his peace” at the close of ch. 10, and begins this chapter “And it came to pass after about a month that Nahash, &c.” This rendering represents a very slight variation in the consonants of the Hebrew text, and possibly preserves the original reading. At any rate we may gather from ch. 1 Samuel 12:12 that an Ammonite attack was threatened before Saul’s election, and probably the actual invasion took place not long after. Nahash] The king of the Ammonites (ch. 1 Samuel 12:12). This Nahash can hardly have been the Nahash who “shewed kindness to David” during his wanderings (2 Samuel 10:2), but probably his father or grandfather. According to Josephus he was slain in the battle. the Ammonite] South and East of the Israelite settlements on the Eastern side of the Jordan dwelt the powerful tribes of the Ammonites and Moabites. The limits of their respective territories cannot be exactly defined, but the Ammonites appear to have lived north and the Moabites south of the Arnon. The Ammonites were a fierce marauding tribe: the Moabites a settled and civilised nation. United by the tie of common descent from Lot, they were generally in alliance against Israel. Twice during the period of the Judges they “oppressed Israel” (Judges 3:12-14; Judges 10:11), and even crossed the Jordan and occupied Jericho (1 Samuel 3:13, 1 Samuel 10:9). After their defeat by Jephthah, the Ammonites are not mentioned until the present occasion. During the early part of David’s reign they were on friendly terms with him, but the studied insult offered by Hanun to his ambassadors (2 Samuel 10:1 ff.) led to a war which resulted in the capture of their metropolis Rabbah (2 Samuel 12:26). In the reign of Jehoshaphat they once more invaded Judah in conjunction with the Moabites (2 Chronicles 20), but were signally defeated, and became tributary to Uzziah and Jotham (2 Chronicles 26:8; 2 Chronicles 27:5). Even after the Return their old hostility survived (Nehemiah 4:7-8). Judas Maccabaeus found them “a mighty power,” and “fought many battles with them until at length they were discomfited before him” (1Ma 5:6-7). Jabesh-Gilead] i.e. Jabesh in Gilead, the extensive district lying immediately E. of the Jordan between Bashan on the N. and Moab and Ammon on the S. and S. E. To the southern portion of this district the Ammonites laid claim (Judges 11:13). A terrible vengeance had been executed on Jabesh for its neglect to join the levy of Israel in the war against Benjamin (Judges 21:8 ff.), but from this blow it had recovered, and Nahash now attacked it as the capital of Gilead, and the key to the possession of the country. The name of Jabesh still survives in the Wady Yâbis, which runs down into the Jordan valley a few miles below Beth-shan.

Nahash was king of the children of Ammon, as appears from 1 Samuel 12:12.

1. Nahash the Ammonite — From 1 Samuel 12:12, we learn that he was king of the children of Ammon, and also that a knowledge of his warlike intentions was one reason of Israel’s urgent request for a