see that he must have penetrated very far into the territory of the Israelites. The inhabitants of Jabesh petitioned the Ammonites in their distress, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee;” i.e., grant us favourable terms, and we will submit.
Verse 2
But Nahash replied, “On this condition (בּזאת, lit. at this price, בּ pretii) will I make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and so bring a reproach upon all Israel.” From the fact that the infinitive נקור is continued with ושׂמתּי, it is evident that the subject to נקור is Nahash, and not the Israelites, as the Syriac, Arabic, and others have rendered it. The suffix to שׂמתּיה is neuter, and refers to the previous clause: “it,” i.e., the putting out of the right eye. This answer on the part of Nahash shows unmistakeably that he sought to avenge upon the people of Israel the shame of the defeat which Jephthah had inflicted upon the Ammonites.
Verses 3-4
The elders of Jabesh replied: “Leave us seven days, that we may send messengers into all the territory of Israel; and if there is no one who saves us, we will come out to thee,” i.e., will surrender to thee. This request was granted by Nahash, because he was not in a condition to take the town at once by storm, and also probably because, in the state of internal dissolution into which Israel had fallen at that time, he had no expectation that any vigorous help would come to the inhabitants of Jabesh. From the fact that the messengers were to be sent into all the territory of Israel, we may conclude that the Israelites had no central government at that time, and that neither Nahash nor the Jabeshites had heard anything of the election that had taken place; and this is still more apparent from the fact that, according to 1Sa 11:4, their messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and laid their business before the people generally, without applying at once to Saul.
Verse 5
Saul indeed did not hear of the matter will he came (returned home) from the field behind the oxen, and found the people weeping and lamenting at these mournful tidings. “Behind the oxen,” i.e., judging from the expression “yoke of oxen” in 1Sa 11:7, the pair of oxen with which he had been ploughing.
When the report of the messengers had been communicated to him, “the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and his anger was kindled greatly,” sc., at the shame which the
