Глава 11

Victory of Saul over Nahash, king of the Ammonites. 1 Samuel 11:1. And [it was about a month later] Nahash the Ammonite came and besieged Jabez-gilead. And all the inhabitants of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you. “About a month later” - after Saul was elected king. Nahash the Ammonite is the king of the Ammonites. The Ammonites lived in the southern reaches of eastern Transjordan. Jabez Gilead is a city located in the middle part of eastern Transjordan, Gilead. 1 Samuel 11:2. And Nahash the Ammonite said to them: I will make an alliance with you, but in order to gouge out the right eye of each of you and thereby bring dishonor on all Israel. In addition to the dishonor caused to Israel, depriving the conquered of the right eye could have another purpose. By depriving the inhabitants of Jabez of their right eye, Nahash “wanted to make them incapable of war, because those holding a shield in their left hand close their left eye, while their right eye looks at their enemies.” Therefore, deprivation of the right eye can easily lead to the defeat of those who are deprived of it (Blessed Theod., Commentary on 1 Kings, question 23; cf. Josephus “Antiquities of the Jews,” 6:5, 1). 1 Samuel 11:3. And the elders of Jabez said to him, Give us seven days to send us envoys throughout all the borders of Israel, and if no one helps us, we will come to you. “We will come out to you” to fulfill your demand. 1 Samuel 11:5. And behold, Saul came from the field behind the oxen and said, “What has become of the people that they are crying?” And they told him the words of the inhabitants of Jabez. “And then Saul came from the field behind the oxen.” Obviously, he still continued to lead the working agricultural life that he led before his election as king. The royal way of life and the royal environment appeared later. 1 Samuel 11:6. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul, when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled; “And the Spirit of God came upon Saul” - a spirit of noble determination to go and free the innocently oppressed, in full confidence that the Lord would not abandon him with his help. 1 Samuel 11:7. and he took a pair of oxen, and cut them into pieces, and sent messengers into all the borders of Israel, declaring that this would be done to the oxen of anyone who did not follow Saul and Samuel. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they all came forward as one man. “To understand any thought, to fully assimilate it, ancient man needed a more or less vivid image. A Jew, who had not yet experienced what royal power was, could only fully comprehend its power when he was told that for disobedience to the king he would lose an ox, the most expensive item in an agricultural economy, and at the same time they showed for clarity a piece of a chopped ox” (Ya. Bogorodsky, “Jewish Tsars”, Kazan, 1884, pp. 34–35). 1 Samuel 11:8. Saul examined them at Bezek, and the children of Israel were found three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. Bezek is a city in the middle part of western Transjordan, opposite Jabesh-gilead. “Men of Judah” - warriors from the tribes of Judah and Simeon; “sons of Israel” are warriors from the remaining tribes, except for the tribe of Levi, who was exempt from military duties due to their constant service at the tabernacle of the Lord. The disintegration of the Jewish people into Judah and Israel was felt long before the final division of the Jewish monarchy into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. (For more information about this, see Pokrovsky’s work “The Division of the Jewish Kingdom into Judah and Israel.”) 1 Samuel 11:11. The next day Saul divided the people into three companies, and they entered into the midst of the camp during the morning watch and smote the Ammonites before the heat of the day; those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them remained together. “Into the middle of the camp” of the enemy. “During the morning watch,” i.e. during the period from 2 to 6 am. In ancient times, the Jewish night was divided into three watches, each of four hours. The first lasted from 6 to 10 pm, the second from 10 pm to 2 am, and the third, called the morning watch, from 2 to 6 am. Since the time of the subjugation of the Jews to Roman rule, the Jews have adopted the division of the above-mentioned hours of the night into four watches, three hours each, just as was customary among the Romans (Matthew 14:25; Mark 13:35). 1 Samuel 11:12. Then the people said to Samuel, “Who said, “Should Saul reign over us?” give these people and we will kill them. Wed. 1 Samuel 10:27. Obviously, Saul's military feat broke the last doubt of the people that he could be the desired (1 Samuel 8:20) king of Israel. 1 Samuel 11:13. But Saul said, “This day no one should be killed, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.” Wed. 1 Samuel 10:27, end of v. 1 Samuel 11:14. And Samuel said to the people, Let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. 1 Samuel 11:15. And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal, and there they offered peace offerings before the Lord. And Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly there. The unanimous recognition of Saul as king over Israel by the Gilgal national assembly smoothed over the dangerous division of public opinion that was revealed in relation to Saul during his first election in Mizpah (1 Sam. 10:27). When the power of the king was recognized by all the people, the prophet Samuel had the opportunity to freely relinquish the title of judge of the Jews. “And they offered peace offerings there”: see note. to 1 Samuel 7:9. But it can be assumed that the expression “before the Lord” indicates the temporary presence of the tabernacle of the Lord in Gilgal (cf. 1 Samuel 10:17,19,22). You might be interested in: