1 Samuel 13:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 13:4
And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.
Gilgal · definite article + 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
Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the P…
Exodus 5:21 And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in th…
Genesis 46:34 That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwel…
Joshua 5:9 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gil…
1 Samuel 10:8 And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices o…
1 Samuel 11:14-15 Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.
Zechariah 11:8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred 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 13:1-7
We are not told wherein it was that the people of Israel offended God, so as to forfeit his presence and turn his hand against them, as Samuel had threatened (Sa1 12:15); but doubtless they left God, else he would not have left them, as here it appears he did; for,
I. Saul was very weak and impolitic, and did not order his affairs with discretion. Saul was the son of one year (so the first words are in the original), a phrase which we make to signify the date of his reign, but ordinarily it signifies the date of one's birth, and therefore some understand it figuratively - he was as innocent and good as a child of a year old; so the Chaldee paraphrase: he was without fault, like the son of a…
HE CALLS THE HEBREWS TO GILGAL AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. (Sa1 13:3-4)
And Jonathan--that is, "God-given."
smote the garrison of the Philistines . . . in Geba--Geba and Gibeah were towns in Benjamin, very close to each other (Jos 18:24, Jos 18:28). The word rendered "garrison" is different from that of Sa1 13:23; Sa1 14:1, and signifies, literally, something erected; probably a pillar or flagstaff, indicative of Philistine ascendency. That the secret demolition of this standard, so obnoxious to a young and noble-hearted patriot, was the feat of Jonathan referred to, is evident from the words, "the Philistines heard of it," which is not the way we should expect an attack on a fortress to be…
The people were called together - The smiting of this garrison was the commencement of a war, and in effect the shaking off of the Philistine yoke; and now the people found that they must stand together, and fight for their lives.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 13:4
And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines,.... For though it was smitten by Jonathan, yet it was by the order of Saul, and so ascribed to him; it seems to be a concerted thing to fall upon the garrisons of the Philistines, and get them out of their hands, and so deliver Israel entirely from them; but it was not wise for Saul, if he had such a scheme in his head, to disband his large army, as he had lately done:
and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines; who were highly incensed against them by this action, and vowed revenge; the name of an Israelite was abhorred by them; and perhaps this action might be attended with much craft and c…
The Church Fathers
And Israel rose up against the Philistines. With the word ministers pressing on, either to crush the enemies of their virtue, or with the trumpet of lofty preaching to rouse their neighbors to the path of virtue, the spirits of the listeners are aroused to undergo the spiritual struggle, to investigate, avoid, and overcome the wiles of the airborne powers.
Therefore the people cried after Saul in Gilgal, etc. As the zeal for performing virtues increases in the good, so also increases the zeal of the unclean spirits to hinder and break the same virtue; who, seeing the friends of the faithful risen against them, strive to assail these hills of various snares and deceptions with their forces: and as if they ascend in chariots, the Philistines, when numerous cohorts of gentiles, or of perfidious synagogues, or assemblies of heretics, ascend with the most wicked enemy against the army of virtue: they sit on horses, when they compel the hearts of the perverse, constricted by the bridle of error, to oppose the faithful: they proceed on foot, when they lay traps for themselves. Of which it is aptly subjoined:
6. When the garrison of the Philistines was struck, Saul sounds the trumpet, and after Saul the people shout: because holy preachers proclaim the heard virtues of the elect, and inflame the hearts of their subjects to the example of good work. To sound the trumpet is both to announce victory and to rouse the minds of others by the example of the victors to the purpose of spiritual warfare. For the people to shout after Saul is to undertake the daring of great devotion from having heard the preaching. At this point it should be noted that Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines, but Saul, sounding the trumpet, claimed that he himself had struck that same garrison. Because indeed the triumphs of the elect preachers are credited with the fact that hidden adversaries are overcome by their subjects. But as often as we conquer some enemies, it is necessary that we prepare ourselves for the struggles of overcoming others. For Almighty God, because He rewards His elect more abundantly, always wills them to stand in battle, so that they themselves may always be able to prepare for themselves the goods of an eternal reward. For this reason also, when the people are said to have shouted after Saul, it is added: (Verse 5.) And the Philistines gathered together to fight against Israel: thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and the rest of the common people like the sand which is on the seashore in great multitude.
Dictionary and topics
Garrison — (1.) Heb. matstsab, a station; a place where one stands (1 Sam. 14:12); a military or fortified post (1 Sam. 13:23; 14:1, 4, 6, etc.). (2.) Heb. netsib, a prefect, superintendent; hence a military…
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…
Armies · General references — General references
Gilgal · .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered — .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered
Philistines · Jonathan smote a garrison of, at Geba and provoked them — Jonathan smote a garrison of, at Geba and provoked them
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).
The war with the Philistines (1 Samuel 13-14) certainly falls, at least so far as the commencement is concerned, in the very earliest part of Saul's reign. This we must infer partly from the fact, that at the very time when Saul was seeking for his father's asses, there was a military post of the Philistines at Gibeah (Sa1 10:5), and therefore the Philistines had already occupied certain places in the land; and partly also from the fact, that according to this chapter Saul selected an army of 3000 men out of the whole nation, took up his post at Michmash with 2000 of them, placing the other thousand at Gibeah under his son Jonathan, and sent the rest of the people home (Sa1 13:2), because hi…
Saul had destroyed: The commander in chief often got credit for what his soldiers accomplished. • Saul’s kingship had been reaffirmed at Gilgal (11:15). Now the Lord would reject his kingship there because of his disobedience (13:7-14).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 13:4
And that Yisroel has become hateful. Literally, they have come in bad odor with the Philistines, an expression of hatred.
To follow Shaul to Gilgol. This is what Shmuel had said to him, "you shall go down to Gilgol ahead of me."3Above 10:8.