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1 Samuel 11

ARC · Chapter 11/31

1Então subiu Nahas, ammonita, e sitiou a Jabez-gilead: e disseram todos os homens de Jabez a Nahas: Faze alliança comnosco, e te serviremos.

2Porém Nahas, ammonita, lhes disse: Com esta condição farei alliança comvosco: que a todos vos arranque o olho direito, e assim ponha esta affronta sobre todo o Israel.

3Então os anciãos de Jabez lhe disseram: Deixa-nos por sete dias, para que enviemos mensageiros por todos os termos de Israel, e, não havendo ninguem que nos livre, então sairemos a ti.

4E, vindo os mensageiros a Gibeah de Saul, fallaram estas palavras aos ouvidos do povo. Então todo o povo levantou a sua voz, e chorou.

5E eis que Saul vinha do campo, atraz dos bois; e disse Saul: Que tem o povo, que chora? E contaram-lhe as palavras dos homens de Jabez.

6Então o espirito de Deus se apoderou de Saul, ouvindo estas palavras: e accendeu-se em grande maneira a sua ira.

7E tomou um par de bois, e cortou-os em pedaços, e os enviou a todos os termos de Israel pelas mãos dos mensageiros, dizendo: Qualquer que não sair atraz de Saul e atraz de Samuel, assim se fará aos seus bois. Então caiu o temor do Senhor sobre o povo, e sairam como um só homem

8E contou-os em Bezek: e houve dos filhos d'Israel trezentos mil, e dos homens de Judah trinta mil.

9Então disseram aos mensageiros que vieram: Assim direis aos homens de Jabez-gilead: Amanhã, em aquecendo o sol, vos virá livramento. Vindo pois os mensageiros, e annunciando-o aos homens de Jabez, se alegraram.

10E os homens de Jabez disseram: Ámanhã sairemos a vós; então nos fareis conforme a tudo o que parecer bem aos vossos olhos.

11E succedeu que ao outro dia Saul poz o povo em tres companhias, e vieram ao meio do arraial pela vela da manhã, e feriram a Ammon, até que o dia aqueceu: e succedeu que os restantes se espalharam, que não ficaram dois d'elles juntos.

12Então disse o povo a Samuel: Quem é aquelle que dizia que Saul não reinaria sobre nós? Dae cá aquelles homens, e os mataremos.

13Porém Saul disse: Hoje não morrerá nenhum, pois hoje tem obrado o Senhor um livramento em Israel.

14E disse Samuel ao povo: Vinde, vamos nós a Gilgal, e renovemos ali o reino.

15E todo o povo partiu para Gilgal, e levantaram ali a Saul por rei perante o Senhor em Gilgal, e offereceram ali offertas pacificas perante o Senhor: e Saul se alegrou muito ali com todos os homens d'Israel.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Nahash, king of the Ammonites, cruelly threatens the city of Jabesh-gilead. Saul, moved by the Spirit of God, summons Israel and leads a crushing victory, consolidating his reign with popular support.

Explanation

The extreme cruelty of Nahash's demand—gouging out the right eye of every inhabitant as a condition of surrender—shows the kind of existential threat that quickly unified the tribes of Israel around Saul's leadership. Saul's reaction, cutting oxen into pieces and sending them as an urgent summons throughout the territory (a dramatic gesture similar to one later used by the Levite in Judges 19, but here used to call for help, not for vengeance), shows decisive leadership in a moment of crisis. Saul's generosity in forgiving those who had doubted him before the victory ('today no one shall be put to death, for today the Lord has worked deliverance') shows a promising start to his reign marked by magnanimity, a virtue that unfortunately would not endure throughout his rule.

Fun facts

  • The city of Jabesh-gilead, saved by Saul here, would be the same city whose inhabitants later recovered his body from the wall of Beth-shan, decades afterward, following his death in battle (1 Samuel 31:11-13), a gesture of gratitude that brought this story full circle.
  • The act of cutting oxen into pieces as an emergency summons (v.7) directly echoes Judges 19:29, but here it is used for the positive purpose of military mobilization, rather than as a protest against an atrocity.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Samuel 11:1Making a vassal treaty in exchange for sparing a city was common practice between defeated and victorious peoples — Jabesh-gilead tries to surrender on normal terms, with no idea of the brutal demand about to come.
  2. 1 Samuel 11:2Gouging out the right eye of every man was not just gratuitous cruelty: a warrior without his right eye loses sight on the side where he holds his shield, making him unable to fight. Nahash is proposing to permanently disarm Jabesh-gilead, not merely humiliate it.
  3. 1 Samuel 11:3Asking for a seven-day delay before accepting the cruel condition was a last desperate attempt to get outside help — Nahash agrees, perhaps overconfident that no one would arrive in time to help.
  4. 1 Samuel 11:4The collective weeping in Gibeah shows how deeply the threat to Jabesh-gilead moved all of Israel, even though no one yet knew what to do about it.
  5. 1 Samuel 11:5Finding Saul plowing with the oxen, an ordinary, unglamorous task, shows he was still living as a common farmer even after already having been privately anointed king.
  6. 1 Samuel 11:6The same expression used in the prophetic episode of chapter 10 returns here, but with a different effect: now the Spirit of God manifests as righteous anger and resolve to act, not as a trance.
  7. 1 Samuel 11:7Cutting an ox into pieces and sending them through the tribes as a war summons is the same grave gesture used earlier in Judges 19 — a sign that ignoring the call would bring the sender the same fate as the animal.
  8. 1 Samuel 11:8The separate count of Israel and Judah, subtle as it is, already anticipates the future political split between the two parts of the kingdom, which would become permanent centuries later.
  9. 1 Samuel 11:9Promising the exact hour of rescue — “by that time the sun be hot” the next day — gave the besieged a concrete deadline to hold out one more night with real hope.
  10. 1 Samuel 11:10By announcing surrender for the next day, the men of Jabesh in effect deceive Nahash, hiding the fact that they expect to be rescued before the cruel condition can be carried out.
  11. 1 Samuel 11:11Attacking by surprise, before dawn and on three fronts at once, is an efficient military tactic that explains the crushing victory against an enemy that did not expect organized resistance.
  12. 1 Samuel 11:12The people want to put to death those who had despised Saul in the previous chapter — the military victory already changes public opinion about the new king’s legitimacy.
  13. 1 Samuel 11:13Saul’s clemency right after the victory contrasts with the violence he would later show as king — he credits the victory to God, not himself, and uses that to restrain the people’s desire for revenge.
  14. 1 Samuel 11:14“Renewing the kingdom” at Gilgal serves to publicly confirm, now backed by a concrete military victory, the choice of Saul that had earlier been made only by lot at Mizpeh.
  15. 1 Samuel 11:15This second ceremony at Gilgal marks the true start of Saul’s reign with unanimous popular support — quite different from the skepticism he faced right after being chosen at Mizpeh.

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