CHAPTER 11

(1095 B.C.)

THE AMMONITES

¹Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you. (The Ammonites were old enemies of the Israelites, alleging that Israel had taken possession of territory east of the Jordan which rightfully belonged to them [Judg. 11:13]. But after their defeat by Jephthah, their power was so broken that they allowed a century to elapse before they ventured again to assert their claim. Jabesh-gilead was a city on the eastern side of Jordan, in the Tribe of Manasseh.

The name Nahash means bright shining serpent. Jabesh-gilead means hill of witnessing. Satan will encamp against us to destroy our witness. If we make a covenant with him, even as the men of Jabesh tried to do, our witness will be destroyed. No covenant of any fashion can be made with Satan.)

²And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. (Men in those days fought behind a shield, with the top covering their face with the exception of their right eye. That being put out, they could not see to fight; consequently, they would be a reproach.

Regrettably, most of the modern Church little sees how to fight, because their right eye has been blinded. They have made a covenant with Satan, which means they are preaching everything except Jesus Christ and Him Crucified [I Cor. 1:23].)

³And the elders of Jabesh said unto him (unto Nahash), Give us seven days respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to you (Nahash would hold them in such contempt that he would accede to their request).

⁴Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.

⁵And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field (Saul had been plowing); and Saul said, What ails the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.

⁶And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly (the only answer to Satan is the Spirit of God, Who works exclusively within the framework of the Finished Work of Christ [Jn. 14:16-17]; Saul was angry, and Believers today should likewise be angry at the threats of Satan).

⁷And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts (borders) of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever comes not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen (in other words, the enemy would take everything they had). And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent (if the modern Church cannot agree on anything else, surely it can agree on the fact that Satan is making havoc of Gods People; the only answer to that is the Cross [11:15; Gal. 6:14]).

⁸And when he (Saul) numbered them in Bezek, the Children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand (the Lord numbers all who will fight the good fight of Faith [I Tim. 6:12-13]).

⁹And they said unto the messengers who came, Thus shall you say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead. Tomorrow, by that time the sun be hot (about 8 a.m.), you shall have help. And the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad (the Holy Spirit now is our Helper [Jn. 14:16]).

¹⁰Therefore the men of Jabesh said (to the Ammonites), Tomorrow we will come out unto you, and you shall do with us all that seems good unto you (Israel was playing for time, in order to get the army together).

¹¹And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies (those three companies are the Name of Jesus, the Blood of the Lamb, and the Word of God); and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch (between 6 and 9 a.m.), and killed the Ammonites until the heat of the day (until noon): and it came to pass, that they (the Ammonites) which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.

SAUL CONFIRMED KING

¹²And the people said unto Samuel, Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death (the people now were drawn to Saul, and bitterly opposed to those who were not).

¹³And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day: for today the LORD has wrought Salvation in Israel (one of the few times that Saul acted in Righteousness).

¹⁴Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there (Gilgal means the reproach has rolled away; it was appropriate for the Kingdom of Israel to be started and accepted at Gilgal, for this was their first place of entrance into Canaan [Josh. 5:2-10]).

¹⁵And all the people went to Gilgal (about 35 miles south of Jabesh-gilead); and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal (his confirmation); and there they sacrificed Sacrifices of Peace Offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. (The Peace Offerings signified the Cross of Jesus, thereby the putting to death of self-will. As well, it was the secret of power for war as illustrated by Joshuas starting from and returning to that center many years before a war in which the weapons are spiritual and not carnal. Saul could physically accompany Samuel there, and also rejoice greatly, and yet remain a stranger, as we shall see, to the real and inward significance of the place.)