Jabesh-gilead Rescued

"Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead." "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee." "On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel."

Messengers come to Gibeah; the people weep. "And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field." "The Spirit of God came upon Saul… and his anger was kindled greatly." He cuts a yoke of oxen in pieces and sends them through Israel: "Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen." At Bezek: 300,000 of Israel and 30,000 of Judah (Hebrew).

In the morning watch Saul's three companies break into the camp; the survivors are scattered "so that two of them were not left together." The people want to kill those who had despised Saul. "There shall not a man be put to death this day: for to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel." At Gilgal "they made Saul king before the LORD."

Jabesh-gilead and Benjamin

Jabesh-gilead's bond with Benjamin goes back to Judges 21, where its women were taken for Benjamin's survivors. Saul of Gibeah rescues it; at his death its men will risk their lives to bury him (31:11–13).

Nahash and the right eye

Mutilating defeated enemies is attested in Assyrian royal records, where blinding prisoners is recorded. Removing the right eye would disable a soldier who looked past his shield. 4QSam-a, followed by Josephus, says Nahash had already been doing this to the Gadites and Reubenites; see the passage page.

How many? (11:8)

The Masoretic Text has 300,000 from Israel and 30,000 from Judah. The library's Greek has 600,000 and 70,000. Large numbers in Samuel vary widely among witnesses; ʾeleph may also mean a military unit rather than a thousand.