1Sa 13:1-2 - Commentary

Commentary

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Text -- 1 Samuel 13:1-2 (NET)

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Context

Saul Fails the Lord

13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for forty years. 13:2 Saul selected for himself three thousand men from Israel. Two thousand of these were with Saul at Micmash and in the hill country of Bethel; the remaining thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. He sent all the rest of the people back home.

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Cross Reference (TSK)

ITL

Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:

· Benjamin the tribe of Benjamin of Israel

· Bethel a town of Benjamin bordering Ephraim 18 km north of Jerusalem

· Gibeah a town of Judah 8 km north of Jerusalem, 5 km east of Gibeon (SMM)

· Israel a citizen of Israel.,a member of the nation of Israel

· Jonathan a man who was a descendant of Gershom son of Moses,son of Saul of Benjamin,son of the high priest Abiathar in David's time,the son of Shime-i, David's brother,son of Shammah/Shagee; one of David's military elite,son of Jada of Judah,son of Uzziah; overseer of the country treasuries for King David,a man who was uncle and counselor of King David,father of Ebed who accompanied Ezra leading the clan of Adin back from exile,a man who opposed Ezra's reforms; son of Asahel,a chief priest; son of Joiada,priest and head of the house of Malluchi under High Priest Joiakim in the time of Nehemiah,son of Shemaiah of Asaph of Levi; father of Zechariah,a man who was secretary and dungeon keeper for King Zedekiah; son of Kareah

· Michmash a town of Benjamin 12 km north of Jerusalem

· Saul the sixth king of Edom,son of Simeon and a Canaanite woman,son of Uzziah of Kohath son of Levi

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Verse Notes / Footnotes NET Notes

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 13:1 The MT has “two years” here. If this number is to be accepted as correct, the meaning apparently would be that after a lapse of two years ...

¹tc The MT does not have “thirty.” A number appears to have dropped out of the Hebrew text here, since as it stands the MT (literally, “a son of a year”) must mean that Saul was only one year old when he began to reign! The KJV, attempting to resolve this, reads “Saul reigned one year,” but that is not the normal meaning of the Hebrew text represented by the MT. Although most LXX mss lack the entire verse, some Greek mss have “thirty years” here (while others have “one year” like the MT). The Syriac Peshitta has Saul’s age as twenty-one. But this seems impossible to harmonize with the implied age of Saul’s son Jonathan in the following verse. Taking into account the fact that in v. 2 Jonathan was old enough to be a military leader, some scholars prefer to supply in v. 1 the number forty (cf. ASV, NASB). The present translation (“thirty”) is a possible but admittedly uncertain proposal based on a few Greek mss and followed by a number of English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, NLT). Other English versions simply supply ellipsis marks for the missing number (e.g., NAB, NRSV).

²tc The MT has “two years” here. If this number is to be accepted as correct, the meaning apparently would be that after a lapse of two years at the beginning of Saul’s reign, he then went about the task of consolidating an army as described in what follows (cf. KJV, ASV, CEV). But if the statement in v. 1 is intended to be a comprehensive report on the length of Saul’s reign, the number is too small. According to Acts 13:21 Saul reigned for forty years. Some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, NLT), taking this forty to be a round number, add it to the “two years” of the MT and translate the number in 2 Sam 13:1 as “forty-two years.” While this is an acceptable option, the present translation instead replaces the MT’s “two” with the figure “forty.” Admittedly the textual evidence for this decision is weak, but the same can be said of any attempt to restore sense to this difficult text (note the ellipsis marks at this point in NAB, NRSV). The Syriac Peshitta lacks this part of v. 1.