Chapter 5.
SAUL'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE NATION OF THE AMMONITES AND
VICTORY OVER THEM AND THE SPOILS HE TOOK FROM THEM.FJAJ 6.28
1. AFTER one month, the war which Saul had with Nahash, the king of
the Ammonites, obtained him respect from all the people; for this Nahash
had done a great deal of mischief to the Jews that lived beyond Jordan
by the expedition he had made against them with a great and warlike army.
He also reduced their cities into slavery, and that not only by subduing
them for the present, which he did by force and violence, but by weakening
them by subtlety and cunning, that they might not be able afterward to
get clear of the slavery they were under to him; for he put out the right
eyes (9) Take
here Theodoret's note, cited by Dr. Hudson: � "He that exposes his
shield to the enemy with his left hand, thereby hides his left eye, and
looks at the enemy with his right eye: he therefore that plucks out that
eye, makes men useless in war."
of those that either delivered themselves to him upon terms, or were taken
by him in war; and this he did, that when their left eyes were covered
by their shields, they might be wholly useless in war
Now when the king
of the Ammonites had served those beyond Jordan in this manner, he led
his army against those that were called Gileadites, and having pitched
his camp at the metropolis of his enemies, which was the city of Jabesh,
he sent ambassadors to them, commanding them either to deliver themselves
up, on condition to have their right eyes plucked out, or to undergo a
siege, and to have their cities overthrown
He gave them their choice,
whether they would cut off a small member of their body, or universally
perish
However, the Gileadites were so affrighted at these offers, that
they had not courage to say any thing to either of them, neither that they
would deliver themselves up, nor that they would fight him
But they desired
that he would give them seven days' respite, that they might send ambassadors
to their countrymen, and entreat their assistance; and if they came to
assist them, they would fight; but if that assistance were impossible to
be obtained from them, they said they would deliver themselves up to suffer
whatever he pleased to inflict upon them.FJAJ 6.29
2. So Nabash, contemning the multitude of the Gileadites and the answer
they gave, allowed them a respite, and gave them leave to send to whomsoever
they pleased for assistance
So they immediately sent to the Israelites,
city by city, and informed them what Nabash had threatened to do to them,
and what great distress they were in
Now the people fell into tears and
grief at the hearing of what the ambassadors from Jabesh said; and the
terror they were in permitted them to do nothing more
But when the messengers
were come to the city of king Saul, and declared the dangers in which the
inhabitants of Jabesh were, the people were in the same affliction as those
in the other cities, for they lamented the calamity of those related to
them
And when Saul was returned from his husbandry into the city, he found
his fellow citizens weeping; and when, upon inquiry, he had learned the
cause of the confusion and sadness they were in, he was seized with a divine
fury, and sent away the ambassadors from the inhabitants of Jabesh, and
promised them to come to their assistance on the third day, and to beat
their enemies before sun-rising, that the sun upon its rising might see
that they had already conquered, and were freed from the fears they were
under: but he bid some of them stay to conduct them the right way to Jabesh.FJAJ 6.30
3. So being desirous to turn the people to this war against the Ammonites
by fear of the losses they should otherwise undergo, and that they might
the more suddenly be gathered together, he cut the sinews of his oxen,
and threatened to do the same to all such as did not come with their armor
to Jordan the next day, and follow him and Samuel the prophet whithersoever
they should lead them
So they came together, out of fear of the losses
they were threatened with, at the appointed time
And the multitude were
numbered at the city Bezek
And he found the number of those that were
gathered together, besides that of the tribe of Judah, to be seven hundred
thousand, while those of that tribe were seventy thousand
So he passed
over Jordan, and proceeded in marching all that night, thirty furlongs,
and came to Jabesh before sun-rising
So he divided the army into three
companies; and fell upon their enemies on every side on the sudden, and
when they expected no such thing; and joining battle with them, they slew
a great many of the Ammonites, as also their king Nabash
This glorious
action was done by Saul, and was related with great commendation of him
to all the Hebrews; and he thence gained a wonderful reputation for his
valor: for although there were some of them that contemned him before,
they now changed their minds, and honored him, and esteemed him as the
best of men: for he did not content himself with having saved the inhabitants
of Jabesh only, but he made an expedition into the country of the Ammonites,
and laid it all waste, and took a large prey, and so returned to his own
country most gloriously
So the people were greatly pleased at these excellent
performances of Saul, and rejoiced that they had constituted him their
king
They also made a clamor against those that pretended he would be
of no advantage to their affairs; and they said, Where now are these men?
- let them be brought to punishment, with all the like things that multitudes
usually say when they are elevated with prosperity, against those that
lately had despised the authors of it
But Saul, although he took the good-will
and the affection of these men very kindly, yet did he swear that he would
not see any of his countrymen slain that day, since it was absurd to mix
this victory, which God had given them, with the blood and slaughter of
those that were of the same lineage with themselves; and that it was more
agreeable to be men of a friendly disposition, and so to betake themselves
to feasting.FJAJ 6.31
4. And when Samuel had told them that he ought to confirm the kingdom
to Saul by a second ordination of him, they all came together to the city
of Gilgal, for thither did he command them to come
So the prophet anointed
Saul with the holy oil in the sight of the multitude, and declared him
to be king the second time
And so the government of the Hebrews was changed
into a regal government; for in the days of Moses, and his disciple Joshua,
who was their general, they continued under an aristocracy; but after the
death of Joshua, for eighteen years in all, the multitude had no settled
form of government, but were in an anarchy; after which they returned to
their former government, they then permitting themselves to be judged by
him who appeared to be the best warrior and most courageous, whence it
was that they called this interval of their government the Judges.FJAJ 6.32
5. Then did Samuel the prophet call another assembly also, and said
to them," I solemnly adjure you by God Almighty, who brought those
excellent brethren, I mean Moses and Aaron, into the world, and delivered
our fathers from the Egyptians, and from the slavery
they endured under
them, that you will not speak what you say to gratify me, nor suppress
any thing out of fear of me, nor be overborne by any other passion, but
say, What have I ever done that was cruel or unjust? or what have I done
out of lucre or covetousness, or to gratify others? Bear witness against
me, if I have taken an ox or a sheep, or any such thing, which yet when
they are taken to support men, it is esteemed blameless; or have I taken
an ass for mine own use of any one to his grief? - lay some one such crime
to my charge, now we are in your king's presence." But they cried
out, that no such thing had been done by him, but that he had presided
over the nation after a holy and righteous manner.FJAJ 6.33
6. Hereupon Samuel, when such a testimony had been given him by them
all, said, "Since you grant that you are not able to lay any ill thing
to my charge hitherto, come on now, and do you hearken while I speak with
great freedom to you
You have been guilty of great impiety against God,
in asking you a king
It behoves you to remember that our grandfather Jacob
came down into Egypt, by reason of a famine, with seventy souls only of
our family, and that their posterity multiplied there to many ten thousands,
whom the Egyptians brought into slavery and hard oppression; that God himself,
upon the prayers of our fathers, sent Moses and Aaron, who were brethren,
and gave them power to deliver the multitude out of their distress, and
this without a king
These brought us into this very land which you now
possess: and when you enjoyed these advantages from God, you betrayed his
worship and religion; nay, moreover, when you were brought under the hands
of your enemies, he delivered you, first by rendering you superior to the
Assyrians and their forces, he then made you to overcome the Ammonites
and the Moabites, and last of all the Philistines; and these things have
been achieved under the conduct of Jephtha and Gideon
What madness therefore
possessed you to fly from God, and to desire to be under a king? - yet
have I ordained him for king whom he chose for you
However, that I may
make it plain to you that God is angry and displeased at your choice of
kingly government, I will so dispose him that he shall declare this very
plainly to you by strange signals; for what none of you ever saw here before,
I mean a winter storm in the midst of harvest, (10)
Mr. Reland observes here, and proves elsewhere in his note on Antiq. B.
III. ch. 1. sect. 6, that although thunder and lightning with us usually
happen in summer, yet in Palestine and Syria they are chiefly confined
to winter. Josephus takes notice of the same thing again, War, B. IV. ch.
4. sect. 5.
I will entreat of God, and will make it visible to you." Now, as soon
as he had said this, God gave such great signals by thunder and lightning,
and the descent of hail, as attested the truth of all that the prophet
had said, insomuch that they were amazed and terrified, and confessed they
had sinned, and had fallen into that sin through ignorance; and besought
the prophet, as one that was a tender and gentle father to them, to render
God so merciful as to forgive this their sin, which they had added to those
other offenses whereby they had affronted him and transgressed against
him
So he promised them that he would beseech God, and persuade him to
forgive them these their sins
However, he advised them to be righteous,
and to be good, and ever to remember the miseries that had befallen them
on account of their departure from virtue: as also to remember the strange
signs God had shown them, and the body of laws that Moses had given them,
if they had any desire of being preserved and made happy with their king.
But he said, that if they should grow careless of these things, great judgments
would come from God upon them, and upon their king
And when Samuel had
thus prophesied to the Hebrews, he dismissed them to their own homes, having
confirmed the kingdom to Saul the second time.FJAJ 6.34