Synopsis of the Chapter
Nahash king of Ammon wishes to gouge out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh-gilead. Saul hears this and gathers an army, with which he cuts down the camp of Nahash to destruction. Wherefore, verse 12, the Hebrews applaud and confirm the kingdom for him at Gilgal.
Verse 1: Nahash demands a treaty ¶
1. MAKE A TREATY WITH US — that is to say: Strike a covenant with us, as the Septuagint translates. The Chaldean: Determine a pact for us, and we will serve you; as if they said: We will be your subjects and servants, but as allies, not conquered in war and captured by force, as slaves.
Verse 2: Gouging out the right eyes ¶
2. ON THIS CONDITION I WILL MAKE A TREATY WITH YOU, THAT I MAY GOUGE OUT ALL YOUR RIGHT EYES — both for disgrace and reproach; and to render them half-blind and useless for war: "For soldiers cover the left eye with a shield, and use the right in battle." So Abulensis. Hear Josephus, book VI of the Antiquities, ch. 5: "This man (Nahash), hostile to the Jews dwelling beyond the Jordan, having entered the region with a great and strong army, began to subjugate their cities; and not content with having taken away their liberty for the present, in order to remove all possibility of rebellion in the future, he gouged out the right eye of those who surrendered voluntarily as well as those subdued by force; so that since the shield denies vision to the left eye, they would be entirely useless for war."
Dionysius adds a third reason, namely that Nahash wished by this blinding to strike terror of himself into all the Hebrews, so that no one would dare to rebel against him.
Tropologically, Nahash in Hebrew means the same as "serpent," that is, the devil, "who gouges out the right eyes of his own, when, having conquered those who were abstaining from him, he so prevails through gluttony that they desire only carnal things, and do not attend to spiritual things, which they used to love," says St. Gregory, Bede, and Angelomus. For spiritual things are on the right, that is, the better and more excellent; but carnal things are on the left, that is, the more worthless.
Verse 3: Seven days' respite ¶
3. GIVE US SEVEN DAYS — to seek counsel and help from the other Hebrews. The proud Nahash granted them this not out of pity, but out of arrogance, says Dionysius, thinking that no one would dare to come to their aid. For he thought that in so few days so great an army could not be assembled.
Verse 5: Saul following the oxen from the field ¶
5. AND BEHOLD, SAUL WAS COMING, FOLLOWING THE OXEN FROM THE FIELD. — Saul was therefore a plowman, says Abulensis, and although he had already been made king, he returned to his customary farming when no other royal business presented itself. So also David, after being anointed king by Samuel, returned to pasturing his sheep.
See and admire here the simplicity and modesty of the first kings, Saul and David, and the dignity and excellence of agriculture; inasmuch as kings and princes formerly practiced it. Thus Romulus, Remus, Curius, Fabricius, and the first Roman Senators and Leaders were plowmen and farmers.
Philo says: "Moses, considering the art of shepherding to be noble, himself engaged in this occupation." And St. Basil: "Do not despise a man when you hear he is a shepherd. The first who pleased God, Abel, was a shepherd. Moses, that great lawgiver, fed cattle on Mount Horeb; and through shepherding he came to converse with God. Shepherding and the administration of a kingdom are sisters, as it were. Therefore the Lord, embracing both, is both shepherd and king."
Verse 6: The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul ¶
6. AND HIS ANGER WAS KINDLED EXCEEDINGLY. — Saul sharpened his righteous anger against Nahash the idolater and tyrant demanding such unworthy terms from the Israelites, so that this anger might serve as a whetstone of courage, and spur him to just vengeance and defense of his subjects.
Hear St. Basil, Homily 10 On Anger: "Indignation is the sinew of the soul, providing fortitude and constancy for accomplishing good things; restraining the soul when it is softened and made wanton by pleasure."
Therefore St. Ambrose, book I of On Duties, ch. 21: "Be angry where there is fault at which you ought to be angry; for it cannot be that we are not moved by the indignity of things; otherwise it is judged not as virtue, but as laxity and negligence."
Tropologically St. Gregory says: "Behold, before Saul could be exceedingly angry, the Spirit of the Lord first rushed upon him. We see therefore how fearful the anger of the Saints ought to be, if we consider the Spirit of the Lord rushing upon them."
Verse 7: Saul cuts the oxen in pieces ¶
7. AND TAKING BOTH OXEN, HE CUT THEM IN PIECES. — Saul imitated the example of the Levite, who cut his wife, killed by rape, into pieces, and scattered them throughout all Israel, and thus roused all to avenge the outrage, Judges 19:29.
WHOEVER DOES NOT COME OUT AND FOLLOW SAUL AND SAMUEL, SO SHALL IT BE DONE TO HIS OXEN. — From this it is clear that Samuel, with God's guidance, assisted Saul and was present in the camp and the battle, to encourage all toward it, and by his prayers and merits to obtain victory for them from God.
Note here: Saul was good for as long as he followed Samuel as his guide; but when he neglected his admonitions and commands, he became wicked and reprobate.
But why does he not threaten the same to the men themselves? Rabbi Solomon answers: "He did not wish to threaten the penalty of death or mutilation, lest at the beginning of his reign he should seem to start with great severity." New princes, therefore, if they are wise, should follow that saying of Claudian: "The mildest is the lot of kingdoms under a new king."
Verse 8: Three hundred thousand men ¶
8. AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND, AND THE MEN OF JUDAH THIRTY THOUSAND. — Saul reviewed them in Bezek, which was a place near the Jordan, whose king was Adoni-Bezek, Judges 1:5.
Mystically, Bezek in Hebrew means "lightning" or "poverty," which Bede, drawing into a mystical meaning, asserts: "All the faithful, citizens of the eternal homeland, are to be numbered and gathered in Christ the Lord, who is compared to lightning, Luke 17:24."
Verse 9: Tomorrow there shall be deliverance ¶
9. TOMORROW THERE SHALL BE DELIVERANCE FOR YOU. — Admire here the prudence and speed of Saul, who in one day assembled such great forces, arranged them, marched against the enemy by forced marches, fought, conquered, and triumphed, so that he could say with Julius Caesar: "I came, I saw, I conquered."
WHEN THE SUN GROWS HOT. — Mystically Blessed Peter Damian: "When the mind, first weakened through sloth, having returned to itself, grows warm again with desire for its Creator; when it abandons the torpor of negligence, and the flame of holy love kindles the cold of former insensibility; then, as if with the sun growing hot, victory is gained over the enemy."
Verse 11: Saul divides the army into three ¶
11. SAUL ARRANGED THE PEOPLE INTO THREE DIVISIONS — so that in three columns and from three positions they might rush unexpectedly into the enemy camp; and thus overwhelm and occupy them, so that none of them might escape.
Mystically, Blessed Peter Damian: "What does it mean that he divided the people into three parts, except that there are three principal virtues of the soul: namely faith, hope, and charity? By these three virtues, with Christ as leader, every diabolical temptation is conquered."
AND HE ENTERED THE MIDST OF THE CAMP IN THE MORNING WATCH — to attack and overwhelm those lulled by sleep or half-asleep.
AND HE STRUCK AMMON — that is, the Ammonites. Josephus adds that their king Nahash himself was slain.
Verse 13: No one shall be put to death today ¶
13. AND SAUL SAID: NO ONE SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH ON THIS DAY — because this is a day of joy, victory, and triumph, which it is not fitting to pollute and stain with the slaughter and mourning of citizens, says Josephus, Abulensis, and Dionysius.
Verse 14: Let us renew the kingdom at Gilgal ¶
14. LET US GO TO GILGAL AND RENEW THE KINGDOM. — Samuel chose Gilgal, both because this place was near the Jordan, where the battle had been fought and the victory won; and because Gilgal was a celebrated place on account of Joshua's camp in chapter 5; and because Samuel was accustomed to judge the people at Gilgal. Hence it is probable that Samuel here again anointed Saul as king.
Saul was therefore anointed three times by Samuel: first, secretly and privately, chapter 10, verse 1; second, publicly at Mizpah; third, after the victory, likewise publicly at Gilgal. So say Abulensis, Sanchez, Serarius, and others. Likewise David was anointed king three times.
Verse 15: Peace offerings and rejoicing ¶
15. AND THEY OFFERED PEACE OFFERINGS THERE — in thanksgiving for the peace obtained for Israel through Saul's victory; and as a petition that this peace might be firm and lasting for both Israel and Saul. For in the fresh exultation of so great a victory and the inauguration of the new king and conqueror Saul, it was fitting that these sacrifices be offered for public celebration at Gilgal, even though the ark of the covenant was not there, nor the tabernacle, nor the altar of holocausts.