Nahash besiegeth them of Jabesh-gilead; offereth them a reproachful condition; they have seven days granted them to consult and seek relief; they send messengers to Saul, 1-5. He is provoked; sends messengers to all the Israelites to come in to their help; they come to the number of three hundred and thirty thousand men, 6-8. He sends word to the besieged, who deceive Nahash; who with his army is slain, 9-11. The people are ready to slay Saul’s enemies; in which he opposeth them: he is invested in the kingdom at Gilgal, 12-15.
Matthew Henry: 'In this chapter we have the firstfruits of Saul's government, in the glorious rescue of Jabesh-gilead out of the hands of the Ammonites. Let not Israel thence infer that therefore they did well to ask a king (God could and would have saved them without one); but let them admire God's goodness, that he did not reject them when they rejected him, and acknowledge his wisdom in the choice of the person whom, if he did not find fit, yet he made fit, for the great trust he called him to, and enabled, in some measure, to merit the crown by his public services, before it was fixed on his head by the public approbation. Here is, I…
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