World English Bible
- Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”
- Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make it with you, that all your right eyes be gouged out. I will make this dishonor all Israel.”
- The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.”
- Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice and wept.
- Behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, “What ails the people that they weep?” They told him the words of the men of Jabesh.
- God’s Spirit came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned hot.
- He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, then sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man.
- He counted them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
- They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’” The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
- Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.”
- On the next day, Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
- The people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring those men, that we may put them to death!”
- Saul said, “No man shall be put to death today; for today the LORD has rescued Israel.”
- Then Samuel said to the people, “Come! Let’s go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.”
- All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
“Courage at Dawn—When the Spirit Stirs a People”
Nahash (“serpent” in Hebrew) marches from the high plateau of Ammon down into the Jordan Valley and lays siege to Jabesh-Gilead, a frontier town east of the river. His demand—“let me gouge out every right eye and bring disgrace on all Israel” (New International Version)—is not only brutal but deeply symbolic:
Western readers sometimes miss the family tie: Jabesh-Gilead had rescued surviving Benjaminites after the civil war of Judges 19-21. Saul, a Benjaminite from Gibeah, quite possibly grew up hearing gratitude-stories about Jabesh. Their cry for help was, in a sense, a cousin’s plea.
Cross-references: Judges 19-21; Deuteronomy 32:10 (“the apple of His eye”); Psalm 25:20 (honor vs. shame).
News reaches Saul while he is still plowing—an earthy reminder of last night’s devotion, where we noted that royalty begins in ordinariness. “Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he burned with anger” (v. 6).
Key Hebrew notes
• “came powerfully” – צָלְחָה, tsalach, to rush or burst forth,
the same verb used for the Spirit on the judges (Judges 14:6).
• “anger burned” – וַיִּחַר אַפּוֹ, vayichar apo, lit. “his nose grew
hot.” Hebrew pictures anger as flaring nostrils—not petulance but
intense resolve.
Saul hews his oxen and sends the pieces through Israel: an echo of the Levite who dissected his concubine in Judges 19. The earlier story mobilized Israel to punish Benjamin; this time the pieces rally Israel with Benjamin. God is quietly healing tribal wounds.
Archaeological sidebar
A fragmentary Dead Sea Scroll (4QSamᵃ) adds that Nahash had already
blinded many from Gad and Reuben, leaving “7,000 men” who escaped to
Jabesh. The scroll fits the brutality described and explains Israel’s
immediate fear.
Saul divides the army into three columns—another judge-like pattern (see Gideon, Judges 7:16)—and attacks “during the last watch of the night” (roughly 2–6 a.m.). Ancient armies seldom expected a pre-dawn strike; torches and moonlight favored surprise. By mid-morning the Ammonites scatter “so that no two of them were left together.”
Theology in the timetable
Throughout Scripture, salvation often breaks in “very early in the
morning” (Exodus 14:24; Mark 16:2). Dawn belongs to resurrection.
Suggested hymn
“God of Grace and God of Glory” (Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930)
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour.
Some Israelites, flush with success, want to execute the earlier skeptics who doubted Saul’s fitness to be king (see 10:27). Saul’s answer: “No one shall be put to death today, for this day the LORD has rescued Israel.”
Here the new king shows a Christ-like spirit: victory is God’s, vengeance is surrendered (Romans 12:19). Augustine later used the scene to illustrate how “holy anger is tempered by holy mercy.” Calvin saw in it proof that “the Spirit who inflames courage also restrains cruelty.”
Samuel seizes the teachable moment: “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” Gilgal, Israel’s first campsite after crossing the Jordan (Joshua 4-5), is the place where reproach was “rolled away.” By gathering there, the nation links its fresh monarchy to its ancient redemption. Peace offerings follow; community eats before God (foreshadowing the Lord’s Table) and “Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.”
Broader biblical arc
• Spirit-empowered deliverer → covenant ceremony → table
fellowship.
• The pattern anticipates Jesus: Spirit-anointed at Jordan, new covenant
in His blood, banquet of the Kingdom.
The Spiritual Use of Anger
Anger “under the Spirit” defends the oppressed; anger “under the flesh”
simply destroys. Consider Ephesians 4:26-27—“In your anger do not
sin.”
Unified Obedience
Israel rose “as one man” (v. 7). Paul echoes it in Philippians 1:27,
“contending as one.” What ox-piece message rouses today’s church toward
unity?
Mercy Sealing Authority
Saul’s clemency legitimizes him more surely than any sword could.
Authority that pardons mirrors heaven (James 2:13).
Remember and Renew
Each victory calls for a Gilgal—a space to remember, worship, and renew
vows. Where is your Gilgal this week?
• Judges 3:9-11; 6:34 – Spirit on Othniel and Gideon
• Psalm 18:29-30 – “With my God I can scale a wall.”
• Isaiah 61:1-3 – The Spirit on the Anointed One, proclaiming
freedom
• Luke 4:18-21 – Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in Nazareth
• 2 Chronicles 15:12-15 – Covenant renewal with joyful feasting
O Lord of hosts,
You hear the cries of the besieged and You stir Your Spirit in willing
hearts.
Ignite in us a holy anger against injustice;
temper it with mercy that reflects Your own.
Unite Your church as one body, fearless at dawn,
quick to rescue, slow to condemn.
Teach us to end every victory in worship—
renewing our promises, remembering Your faithfulness,
and rejoicing before Your face.
Through Jesus Christ, our greater Deliverer. Amen.