1 Samuel 11:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 11:7
And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
yoke
צֶ֨מֶדTze.med
H6776
hence · noun, common masculine singular construct
oxen
בָּקָ֜רba.Kar
H1241
beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gen… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
pieces
וַֽיְנַתְּחֵ֗הוּvay.na.te.Che.hu
H5408
to dismember · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sent
וַיְשַׁלַּ֞חvay.sha.Lach
H7971
to send away · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
coasts
גְּב֣וּלge.Vul
H1366
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Judges 19:29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve…
Judges 20:1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land…
Genesis 35:5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
Judges 21:5-11 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they…
2 Chronicles 14:14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exc…
2 Chronicles 17:10 And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 11:5-11
What is here related turns very much to the honour of Saul, and shows the happy fruits of that other spirit with which he was endued. Observe here,
I. His humility. Though he was anointed king, and accepted by his people, yet he did not think it below him to know the state of his own flocks, but went himself to see them, and came in the evening, with his servants, after the herd out of the field, Sa1 11:5. This was an evidence that he was not puffed up with his advancement, as those are most apt to be that are raised from a mean estate. Providence had not yet found him business as a king; he left all to Samuel; and therefore, rather than be idle, he would, for the present, apply himself to h…
THEY SEND TO SAUL, AND ARE DELIVERED. (Sa1 11:5-11)
he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces--(see Jdg 19:29). This particular form of war-summons was suited to the character and habits of an agricultural and pastoral people. Solemn in itself, the denunciation that accompanied it carried a terrible threat to those that neglected to obey it. Saul conjoins the name of Samuel with his own, to lend the greater influence to the measure, and to strike greater terror unto all contemners of the order. The small contingent furnished by Judah suggests that the disaffection to Saul was strongest in that tribe.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 11:7
He took a yoke of open - The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act similar to that of the Levite, Jdg 19:29 (note), where see the note. And both customs are similar to the sending about of the bloody cross, to call the clans to battle, practiced by the ancient Highlanders of Scotland. See at the end of this chapter, Sa1 11:15 (note).
John Gill on 1 Samuel 11:7
And he took a yoke of oxen,.... Of his own or his father's, which he had just followed out of the field, and for which chiefly that circumstance is mentioned:
and hewed them in pieces; as the Levite did his concubine, Judges 19:29
and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers; some carrying a piece one way, and some another, throughout all the tribes; for to them all the government of Saul extended, and which by this he let them know it did:
saying, whosoever cometh not after Saul and after Samuel; he names both, because he himself, though chosen king, was not inaugurated into his office, nor was Samuel put out of his; and because he knew he was despised by…
The Church Fathers
And behold, Saul came, following oxen from the field, etc. And behold, the Lord came as a helper at the right time in tribulation, who was born as a man in the world after many experts in the law and learned philosophers, whom, however, He drove from the field of external freedom to taking on the walls of the Church by teaching heavenly things, and who was always diligent in considering the tears of the Church, so that He, as a pious comforter, might wipe them away and console them.
And taking both oxen, he cut them into pieces, etc. And taking both the wise man of carnal observance of the law and the one who gloried in secular philosophy, the Lord destroyed whatever they knew arrogantly with evangelical simplicity, truth, and humility; and He sent this through all the boundaries of the Church by the works of the evangelists, who earn the name by announcing well: Saying, Whoever will not depart from his paternal way of life, which was in the world, and will not gird himself up to undertake the spiritual struggle, by following the admonitions of the Gospel and prophecy in profession and deed, thinking to govern everything discreetly through action, or beneficially meditated by rumination on the word, as an example of those of whom it is said: Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? (I Cor. I), at the end he will find them to be destroyed.
Therefore, the fear of the Lord seized the people, etc. Upon hearing through the Gospel what heretics and schismatics, what pagans and unfaithful Jews are to suffer, the people of the faithful, struck with a wholesome fear, departing from the enticements of the old man, took themselves into the unity of the Catholic Church. And, scorning all the lurking places of the apocrypha, they came to be counted by Christ in the light of the shining Gospel, and to receive their name in heaven. For this reason, Bezec is rightly interpreted as lightning, certainly signifying that heavenly light of truth and grace, about which the Lord, teaching that heretics are to be avoided, said, "And they will say to you, 'Behold, here,' or 'Behold, there.' Do not go out, nor follow them;" He added and said, "For as the lightning flashes under heaven and shines to the other part under heaven, so will the Son of Man be in His day" (Luke XVII). And about which the Psalmist says, "He multiplied and troubled them" (Psalm XVII). Nor is it without reason that Bezec is also said to mean poverty. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew V). And those who, leaving everything, follow the Lord, why would they not be thought to be counted by their King in Bezec?
Dictionary and topics
Farm — (Matt. 22:5). Every Hebrew had a certain portion of land assigned to him as a possession (Num. 26:33-56). In Egypt the lands all belonged to the king, and the husbandmen were obliged to give him a…
Jabesh — Dry. (1.) For Jabesh-Gilead (1 Sam. 11:3, 9, 10). (2.) The father of Shallum (2 Kings 15:10, 13, 14), who usurped the throne of Israel on the death of Zachariah.
Meroz — A plain in the north of Palestine, the inhabitants of which were severely condemned because they came not to help Barak against Sisera (Judg. 5:23: comp. 21:8-10; 1 Sam. 11:7). It has been identified…
Messenger — (Heb. mal’ak, Gr. angelos), an angel, a messenger who runs on foot, the bearer of despatches (Job 1:14; 1 Sam. 11:7; 2 Chr. 36:22); swift of foot (2 Kings 9:18).
Nahash — Serpent. (1.) King of the Ammonites in the time of Saul. The inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead having been exposed to great danger from Nahash, sent messengers to Gibeah to inform Saul of their extremity.…
Saul — Asked for. (1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. (2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, “asked for”), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first…
Yoke — (1.) Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc. (Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3). It was a curved piece of wood called ’ol. (2.) In Jer.…
Armies · Cutting oxen in pieces, and sending the pieces throughout Israel — Cutting oxen in pieces, and sending the pieces throughout Israel
Armies Of Israel, The · Collected by: Extraordinary means — Collected by: Extraordinary means
Jabesh-Gilead · Beseiged by the Ammonites — Beseiged by the Ammonites
Jews, The
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֮Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
hands
בְּיַ֣דbe.Yad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
messengers
הַמַּלְאָכִ֣יםha.mal.'a.Khim
H4397
a messenger · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
saying
לֵאמֹר֒le.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
forth
יֹצֵ֜אyo.Tze'
H3318
to go (causatively · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
to do or make · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
oxen
לִבְקָר֑וֹliv.ka.Ro
H1241
beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gen… · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
fear
פַּֽחַדpa.chad-
H6343
a (sudden) alarm (properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
fell
וַיִּפֹּ֤לvai.yi.Pol
H5307
to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
people
הָעָ֔םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
out
וַיֵּצְא֖וּvai.ye.tze.'U
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
one
אֶחָֽד'e.Chad
H259
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
consent
כְּאִ֥ישׁke.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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 Ammonites had resolved to bring upon all Israel.
Sa1 11:7
He took a yoke of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent (the pieces) into every possession of Israel by messengers, and said, "Whoever cometh not forth after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen." The introduction of Samuel's name after that of Saul, is a proof that Saul even as king still recognised the authority which Samuel possessed in Israel as the prophet of Jehovah. This symbolical act, like the cutting up of the woman in Jdg 19:29, made a deep impressio…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
· Obliged to unite against enemies
— Obliged to unite against enemies
Kings · Had power to make war and peace — Had power to make war and peace
Nahash · 1. An Ammonite king . — 1. An Ammonite king .
Ox, The · Custom of sending the pieces of, to collect the people to war — Custom of sending the pieces of, to collect the people to war
Tact · Of Saul, in managing malcontents — Of Saul, in managing malcontents
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
