1 Samuel 13:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 13:11
And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
done
עָשִׂ֑יתָ'a.Si.ta
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Saul
שָׁא֡וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
saw
רָאִיתִי֩ra.'i.Ti
H7200
to see · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
people
הָעָ֜םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
scattered
נָפַ֨ץna.Fatz
H5310
to dash to pieces · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
camest
בָ֙אתָ֙va.ta
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
days
הַיָּמִ֔יםhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
appointed
לְמוֹעֵ֣דle.mo.'Ed
H4150
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Philistines
וּפְלִשְׁתִּ֖יםu.fe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · conjunction + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
together
נֶאֱסָפִ֥יםne.'e.sa.Fim
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Michmash
מִכְמָֽשׂmikh.Mas
H4363
Mikmas or Mikmash · proper noun, a place name
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
1 Samuel 13:2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with…
1 Samuel 13:5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as th…
1 Samuel 13:16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Mic…
1 Samuel 13:23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Genesis 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
2 Kings 5:25 But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
Joshua 7:19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 13:8-14
Here is, I. Saul's offence in offering sacrifice before Samuel came. Samuel, when he anointed him, had ordered him to tarry for him seven days in Gilgal, promising that, at the end of those days, he would be sure to come to him, and both offer sacrifices for him and direct him what he should do. This we had Sa1 10:8. Perhaps that order, though inserted there, was given him afterwards, or was given him as a general rule to be observed in every public congress at Gilgal, or, as is most probable, though not mentioned again, was lately repeated with reference to this particular occasion; for it is plain that Saul himself understood it as obliging him from God now to stay till Samuel came, else h…
SAUL, WEARY OF WAITING FOR SAMUEL, SACRIFICES. (Sa1 13:9-16)
Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings--Saul, though patriotic enough in his own way, was more ambitious of gaining the glory of a triumph to himself than ascribing it to God. He did not understand his proper position as king of Israel; and although aware of the restrictions under which he held the sovereignty, he wished to rule as an autocrat, who possessed absolute power both in civil and sacred things. This occasion was his first trial. Samuel waited till the last day of the seven, in order to put the constitutional character of the king to the test; and, as Saul, in his impatient and passionate has…
And Saul said - Here he offers three excuses for his conduct:
1. The people were fast leaving his standard.
2. Samuel did not come at the time, למועד lemoed; at the very commencement of the time he did not come, but within that time he did come.
3. The Philistines were coming fast upon him.
Saul should have waited out the time; and at all events he should not have gone contrary to the counsel of the Lord.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 13:11
The Church Fathers
Saul also was dishonored because he did not wait for Samuel the high priest. It behooves you, therefore, also to reverence your superiors.
Because I saw that the people were slipping away from me, etc. The mystical sense of these words, as is clear from what was explained above, is easily understood. He immediately added, and said: Moreover, the Philistines were gathered together at Michmash, which means in humility; for unless they were deprived of humility, they would by no means prefer themselves to the Lord; nor unless the spirits of pride besieging the gates of the heart, would they, who dwell in high places and yet observe the humble, arrogantly despise Him.
Now this we all in common do charge you, that every one remain in that rank which is appointed him, and do not transgress his proper bounds; for they are not ours but God's.… And those things which are allotted for the high priests to do, those might not be meddled with by the priests; and what things were allotted to the priests, the Levites might not meddle with; but every one observed those ministrations which were written down and appointed for them. And if any would meddle beyond the tradition, death was his punishment. And Saul's example does show this most plainly, who, thinking he might offer sacrifice without the prophet and high priest Samuel, drew upon himself a sin and a curse without remedy. Nor did even his having anointed him king discourage the prophet.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Samuel — Heard of God. The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly…
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…
Church And State · reproved — reproved
Gilgal · .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered — .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered
Presumption · .Saul, in sacrificing — .Saul, in sacrificing
Samuel · Reproves Saul; foretells that his kingdom will be established — Reproves Saul; foretells that his kingdom will be established
Saul · .Is reproved by Samuel for usurping the priestly functions — .Is reproved by Samuel for usurping the priestly functions
Sin · The wicked: Plead necessity for — The wicked: Plead necessity for
Usurpation · .By King Saul, in assuming priestly functions — .By King Saul, in assuming priestly functions
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).
And Samuel said, what hast thou done? This question he put to bring him to a confession of what he had done, otherwise he guessed at it by his countenance; or rather, by the prophetic spirit he was endowed with, he knew it certainly that he had offered the sacrifices without waiting for him:
and Saul said because I saw the people were scattered from me; they were deserting, and he feared, if he stayed any longer, they would all leave him; this was one reason of doing what he did:
and that thou camest not within the days appointed; seven days were appointed, and because the seventh day was come, though it was not gone, he concluded Samuel would not come at all; and that was another reason w…
Saul's untimely sacrifice. - Sa1 13:8, Sa1 13:9. Saul waited seven days for Samuel's coming, according to the time appointed by Samuel (see at Sa1 10:8), before proceeding to offer the sacrifices through which the help of the Lord was to be secured for the approaching campaign (see Sa1 13:12); and as Samuel did not come, the people began to disperse and leave him. The Kethib וייחל is either the Niphal ויּיּחל, as in Gen 8:12, or Piel וייחל; and the Keri ויּוחל (Hiphil) is unnecessary. The verb יעד may easily be supplied to שׁמוּאל אשׁר from the word למּועד (see Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 851).
Sa1 13:9
Saul then resolved, in his anxiety lest the people should lose all heart and forsake him altogether…
What is this you have done? Samuel’s question was a rebuke, not a request for information (cp. Gen 3:13).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 13:11
What have you done? Did I not say to you, "I will go down to you to offer the burnt-offering?" I will offer it up, and not you.
At the appointed day. At the beginning of the [appointed] day.
