Discovery Box1 Samuel 10:17--12:25
Context10:17 Then Samuel called the people together before the Lord at Mizpah. 10:18 He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power 1 of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. 10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! 2 Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”
10:20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 10:21 Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of Matri was chosen by lot. At last Saul son of Kish was chosen by lot. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found. 10:22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Has the man arrived here yet?” The Lord said, “He has hidden himself among the equipment.” 3
10:23 So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all. 10:24 Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? Indeed, there is no one like him among all the people!” All the people shouted out, “Long live the king!”
10:25 Then Samuel talked to the people about how the kingship would work. 4 He wrote it all down on a scroll and set it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away to their homes. 10:26 Even Saul went to his home in Gibeah. With him went some brave men whose hearts God had touched. 10:27 But some wicked men 5 said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. 6
11:1 7 Nahash 8 the Ammonite marched 9 against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”
11:2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “The only way I will make a treaty with you is if you let me gouge out the right eye of every one of you and in so doing humiliate all Israel!”
11:3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Leave us alone for seven days so that we can send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If there is no one who can deliver us, we will come out voluntarily to you.”
11:4 When the messengers went to Gibeah (where Saul lived) 10 and informed the people of these matters, all the people wept loudly. 11 11:5 Now Saul was walking behind the 12 oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, “What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?” So they told him about 13 the men of Jabesh.
11:6 The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry. 11:7 He took a pair 14 of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army. 15 11:8 When Saul counted them at Bezek, the Israelites were 300,000 16 strong and the men of Judah numbered 30,000. 17
11:9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy. 11:10 The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you 18 and you can do with us whatever you wish.” 19
11:11 The next day Saul placed the people in three groups. They went to the Ammonite camp during the morning watch and struck them 20 down until the hottest part of the day. The survivors scattered; no two of them remained together.
11:12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!” 11:13 But Saul said, “No one will be killed on this day. For today the Lord has given Israel a victory!” 11:14 Samuel said to the people, “Come on! Let’s go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.” 11:15 So all the people went to Gilgal, where 21 they established Saul as king in the Lord’s presence. They offered up peace offerings there in the Lord’s presence. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.
12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done 22 everything you requested. 23 I have given you a king. 24 12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day. 12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. 25 Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, 26 and I will return it to you!”
12:4 They replied, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king 27 is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” 28 They said, “He is witness!”
12:6 Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors 29 up from the land of Egypt. 12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you 30 before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. 31 12:8 When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave 32 them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s 33 army, 34 and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, 35 ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. 36 Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ 37 12:11 So the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, 38 Barak, 39 Jephthah, and Samuel, 40 and he delivered you from the hand of the enemies all around you, and you were able to live securely.
12:12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king! 12:13 Now look! Here is the king you have chosen – the one that you asked for! Look, the Lord has given you a king! 12:14 If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him 41 and not rebelling against what he says, 42 and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. 43 12:15 But if you don’t obey 44 the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king. 45
12:16 “So now, take your positions and watch this great thing that the Lord is about to do in your sight. 12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”
12:18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel. 12:19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God on behalf of us – your servants – so we won’t die, for we have added to all our sins by asking for a king.” 46
12:20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. 47 However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart. 12:21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty. 48 12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. 49 The Lord was pleased to make you his own people. 12:23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright. 12:24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you! 12:25 But if you continue to do evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
[10:18] 1 tn Heb “hand” (also later in this verse).
[10:19] 1 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew
[10:22] 1 tn Or “baggage” (so many English versions); KJV “stuff”; TEV “supplies.”
[10:25] 1 tn Heb “the regulation of the kingship.” This probably refers to the regulations pertaining to kingship given to Moses (see Deut 17:14-20).
[10:27] 1 tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).
[10:27] 2 tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran
[11:1] 1 tc 4QSama and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.
[11:1] 2 sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.
[11:1] 3 tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”
[11:4] 1 tn Heb “to Gibeah of Saul.”
[11:4] 2 tn Heb “lifted their voice and wept.”
[11:5] 1 tn Or perhaps, “his oxen.” On this use of the definite article see Joüon 2:506-7 §137.f.
[11:5] 2 tn Heb “the matters of.”
[11:7] 2 tn Heb “like one man.”
[11:8] 1 tc The LXX and two Old Latin
[11:8] 2 tc The LXX, two Old Latin
[11:10] 1 tn The second masculine plural forms in this quotation indicate that Nahash and his army are addressed.
[11:10] 2 tn Heb “according to all that is good in your eyes.”
[11:11] 1 tn Heb “Ammon.” By metonymy the name “Ammon” is used collectively for the soldiers in the Ammonite army.
[11:15] 1 tn Heb “and there in Gilgal.”
[12:1] 1 tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”
[12:1] 2 tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”
[12:1] 3 tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”
[12:3] 1 tn Heb “anointed [one].”
[12:3] 2 tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[12:5] 1 tn Heb “anointed [one].”
[12:5] 2 tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”
[12:6] 1 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 8).
[12:7] 1 tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”
[12:7] 2 tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”
[12:9] 1 tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”
[12:9] 2 map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.
[12:9] 3 tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”
[12:10] 2 tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.
[12:10] 3 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.
[12:11] 1 sn Jerub-Baal (יְרֻבַּעַל) is also known as Gideon (see Judg 6:32). The Book of Judges uses both names for him.
[12:11] 2 tc The MT has “Bedan” (בְּדָן) here (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). But a deliverer by this name is not elsewhere mentioned in the OT. The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “Barak.”
[12:11] 3 tc In the ancient versions there is some confusion with regard to these names, both with regard to the particular names selected for mention and with regard to the order in which they are listed. For example, the LXX has “Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel.” But the Targum has “Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel,” while the Syriac Peshitta has “Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.”
[12:14] 1 tn Heb “and you listen to his voice.”
[12:14] 2 tn Heb “the mouth of the
[12:14] 3 tn The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[12:15] 1 tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”
[12:15] 2 tc The LXX reads “your king” rather than the MT’s “your fathers.” The latter makes little sense here. Some follow MT, but translate “as it was against your fathers.” See P. K. McCarter, 1 Samuel (AB), 212.
[12:19] 1 tn Heb “for we have added to all our sins an evil [thing] by asking for ourselves a king.”
[12:20] 1 tn Heb “you have done all this evil.”
[12:21] 1 tn Or “useless” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “nothing”; NASB “futile”; TEV “are not real.”
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