1 Samuel 11
BSASBAn Ammonite king threatens to humiliate the people of Jabesh-gilead. The Spirit of God comes on Saul, who rallies all Israel and wins a great deliverance. Saul shows grace toward his critics and gives the credit to the LORD, and the kingdom is renewed at Gilgal.
1 Samuel 11:1
Nahash, king of the Ammonites, besieges Jabesh-gilead, a town east of the Jordan. The frightened townsmen offer to serve him if he will make a treaty. They choose submission over a fight they feel they cannot win.
BSA: treaty (“covenant, agreement”): The word means a binding agreement, literally one ‘cut’ with solemn ceremony, here offered from weakness.
1 Samuel 11:2
Nahash demands cruelty as the price of peace: the right eye of every person. A warrior needs his right eye, since the shield covered the left. The aim was to cripple Israel’s fighting strength and shame the whole nation.
BSA: reproach (“shame, scorn”): He wanted more than injury. He wanted all Israel mocked and disgraced before the nations.
1 Samuel 11:3
The elders buy seven days and send word through all Israel. Their words, ‘If there is no one to save us,’ show that they are hoping for rescue. The request seems confident, or at least desperate, and Nahash agrees to it.
BSA: save (“rescue, deliver”): They look for a deliverer, a word that echoes through Samuel and points beyond any human rescuer to God.
1 Samuel 11:4
The messengers come to Gibeah, Saul’s hometown, and report the terms in public. The people can do nothing but weep aloud. Israel has a king now, but no one yet seems to know what to do about the threat.
BSA: wept (“lifted up their voice and cried”): It was open, loud grief, with no plan to go with it.
1 Samuel 11:5
Saul is not on a throne but behind his oxen, coming home from ordinary farm work. He knows nothing of the crisis until he asks why the people are weeping. The first king is still a working farmer, and the news reaches him by way of his neighbors.
See also: 1 Samuel 10:26.
1 Samuel 11:6
When Saul hears the news, God’s Spirit comes powerfully on him, and his anger blazes. This is righteous anger over the disgrace of God’s people. Saul’s strength here is a gift of the Spirit, not his own.
BSA: rushed (“to prosper, to succeed”): The Spirit came with power to accomplish something, and the Spirit’s empowering is what makes success possible.
Hebrew: וַתִּצְלַח (wattitsláḥ, H6743) — “rushed, came mightily.” The Hebrew verb describes a sudden, forceful rush. The same word is used of the Spirit coming on Samson, so Saul is seized and empowered, not merely moved.
See also: Judges 14:6; 1 Samuel 10:6.
1 Samuel 11:7
Saul cuts up a pair of oxen and sends the pieces through the land with a warning: whoever does not follow Saul and Samuel will lose his oxen. The gruesome sign is a summons to arms. God’s fear falls on the people, and they come out united.
BSA: terror (“dread, fear”): The people’s response was not just fear of Saul but a dread sent from the LORD. one man (“united, single”): The tribes that had been scattered and weeping now stood together as a single body.
See also: Judges 19:29.
1 Samuel 11:8
At Bezek, west of the Jordan, Saul counts the army: 300,000 from Israel and 30,000 from Judah. The separate mention of Judah foreshadows the later division between north and south. The numbers show the whole nation answering the call.
BSA: numbered (“as their leader”): Saul now acts as the commander who musters the nation.
1 Samuel 11:9
The messengers are sent back with a promise: deliverance by tomorrow’s midday heat. The people of Jabesh rejoice at once. They have been given a word of hope, and it is time-bound and specific.
BSA: Deliverance (“salvation, rescue”): The same word is used in verse 13 when Saul credits the LORD, so the rescue is ultimately his.
1 Samuel 11:10
The men of Jabesh tell Nahash they will come out tomorrow and he may do as he pleases. Their words can be read as surrender, which would lull him into feeling safe. Whatever their intent, he is not ready for what comes at dawn.
BSA: come out (“go out, emerge”): It sounds like surrender, but it is the same word used for armies going out to fight.
1 Samuel 11:11
Saul splits the army into three companies and attacks in the morning watch, the last hours before dawn. The Ammonites are caught off guard and routed by midday. Their survivors are so scattered that no two remain together.
See also: Judges 7:16.
1 Samuel 11:12
In the flush of victory the people turn on those who had doubted Saul’s kingship. They ask Samuel to hand them over for execution. Success has made the crowd eager for revenge on those who once scorned Saul.
See also: 1 Samuel 10:27.
1 Samuel 11:13
Saul refuses. No one will die on a day of victory, because the LORD has brought salvation. He is gracious toward his critics and gives God the credit instead of himself. This is Saul at his best.
BSA: salvation (“deliverance, rescue”): Saul names the LORD as the real deliverer, not himself or the army.
See also: Proverbs 16:32.
1 Samuel 11:14
Samuel calls the people to Gilgal to renew the kingship. The kingdom began privately and a bit uncertainly. Now, after Saul has been proved in action, it is to be confirmed publicly before God and the whole nation.
BSA: renew (“restore, make new again”): The kingship is given a fresh start, now with the people’s wholehearted agreement.
1 Samuel 11:15
At Gilgal the people make Saul king before the LORD and offer peace offerings, which are shared meals of thanks and fellowship. The chapter ends in joy. The king is accepted, and God is thanked as the true giver of the victory.
BSA: peace offerings (“voluntary sacrifices to show thanks”): These offerings were eaten in a shared meal, so the celebration was fellowship with God and with one another. presence (“face to face, before”): The crowning happened in the LORD’s own presence, not merely before men.
See also: Leviticus 3:1.