1 Samuel 11:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 11:9
And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
a man in general (singly or collectively) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Jabesh
יָבֵ֖ישׁya.Veish
H3003
Jobesh · proper noun, a place name
glad
וַיִּשְׂמָֽחוּvai.yis.Ma.chu
H8055
probably to brighten up · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Psalms 18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
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…
Bezek--This place of general muster was not far from Shechem, on the road to Beth-shan, and nearly opposite the ford for crossing to Jabesh-gilead. The great number on the muster-roll showed the effect of Saul's wisdom and promptitude.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 11:8
The children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand - This was a vast army, but the Septuagint make it even more: "All the men of Israel were ἑξακοσιας χιλιαδας, Six Hundred thousand; and the men of Judah ἑβδομηκοντα χιλιαδας, Seventy thousand." Josephus goes yet higher with the number of the Israelites: "He found the number of those whom he had gathered together to be ἑβδομηκοντα μυριαδας Seven Hundred thousand." Those of the tribe of Judah he makes seventy thousand, with the Septuagint. These numbers are not all right; and I suspect even the Hebrew text to be exaggerated, by the mistake or design of some ancient scribe.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 11:9
And they said unto the messengers that came,.... From Jabeshgilead, that is, Saul and Samuel said to them, as follows:
thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead: when they returned unto them, as they were now upon the departure:
tomorrow, by that time the sun be hot; when it smites with the greatest heat, as at noon: this morrow seems not to be the next from their return home, or going from Saul, but the morrow after they were got home, and should deliver the message to those that sent them, 1 Samuel 11:10 and so Josephus (z) says, it was on the third day the assistance was promised them:
ye shall have help; Saul with his army by that time would come and raise the siege: and the mess…
The Church Fathers
So the messengers came, and announced to the men of Jabesh, etc. Those who first feared the wiles of the heretics and the thorns of their arguments, later, being strengthened by the consolations of stronger and more learned doctors, promise that they will not come to them now in the night of dialectical deception, but in the manifestation of the most radiant truth and virtue, not now to be condemned with them by the Church, but to bear arms against them with the Church.
And they said to the messengers who came: Thus you shall say, etc. They once said with a living voice to those present, they also speak to us today consulting their writings, the defenders of the Church, and they command to be sent to the members of the same Church in peril, never to go out to listen to heretics, certain of their salvation, where the truth of the evangelical sun has shone. It is also said to all who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness; because the patience of the poor shall not perish forever (Psalm IX). But when the day of judgment will have inclined, eternal salvation will be given.
10. Such perhaps is what is said to us by the counsel of that wise man: "If the spirit of one having power rises up against you, do not quickly abandon your place" (Eccles. 10:4). The place of each elect person is the position of a good way of life. But when it is permitted, the attacking spirit can have power, because he could in no way assault the hearts of the elect unless the divine dispensation permitted it. He therefore commands that we not abandon our place, because if we are strong amid the brief darkness of temptations, the divine light will quickly be present, at whose coming the power of darkness vanishes. Well therefore is it said: "For tomorrow, when the sun has grown hot, there will be salvation for you." The exhortation of holy preachers is day, because when it touches the tempted hearts of the lesser ones, it raises them to the hope of victory. But night follows this, because even if divine aids are withdrawn, still the rushing darkness of carnal desires does not depart. What then is the morrow but the coming of divine visitation? For it is called the morrow because the splendor of divine help is very near to the tempted elect. Whence also through the prophet the Lord says: "I am a God nearby, and not a God from afar" (Jer. 23:23). Hence the Psalmist says: "The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth" (Ps. 144:18). Hence likewise the Lord himself promises, saying: "Before you call upon me, I will say: Behold, I am here" (Isa. 58:9). The first day, then, is the light of preaching; the morrow is that of divine grace. But it should be noted that he said: "When the sun has grown hot," so that the brightness of day might illuminate the obscurity of understanding, and the heat of the sun might kindle the love of the heart; so that the mind might see through light the good that it desires, and might long through the heat of the mind for what it sees. For this twofold remedy of the mind is presented against the double warfare of the devil. For the malign spirit, in order to overcome the minds of the elect by tempting them, first casts before them the darkness of evil thoughts, then kindles the flames of concupiscences, because unless he has first blinded the mind, he does not drive it to the depravity of concupiscence. But when the elect mind is permitted to be tempted, its state is disturbed in both respects, because it can feel the troubles…
Dictionary and topics
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.
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…
Sun — (Heb. shemesh), first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons. The…
Jabesh-Gilead · Beseiged by the Ammonites — Beseiged by the Ammonites
Nahash · 1. An Ammonite king . — 1. An Ammonite king .
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).
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…
Bezek was about fourteen miles west of Jabesh-gilead. • The narrator’s use of the terms Israel and Judah anticipates the later division of the kingdom (1 Kgs 12).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 11:8
He counted them in Bezek. Our Rabbis said that he counted them using earthenware shards.4 See Maseches Yoma 22b. According to this rendering, Bezek is not a name of a place, but rather a description of the means used by which to count the people. Another explanation is that בְּבָזֶק means 'with pebbles,' i.e., he took a pebble from each one, and counted them, similar to, "And he counted them with lambs,"5Below 15:4. i.e., he took a lamb from each one, and counted them with the lambs, just as they would count them with half shekels.6 See Rashi Ibid. Targum reders, in the verse, "as one who loads a pebble [אֶבֶן] for throwing in a slingshot,"7 Mishlei 26:8. as one who loads a בִּזְקָא into a s…
