A Summary Of Saul's Earlier Reign And Its Successes And Of His Close Family (1 Samuel 14:47-52).
Having demonstrated both Saul's partial success, mainly through the faith of Jonathan, and his partial failure as a result of his own distorted religious ideas, the writer looks back and summarises his reign from when he took over the kingship. It will be noted that he could not have said what he did about the Philistines, firstly of Israel's subjection to them, and then of their triumph over them, had he not previously described the situation above. These had not occurred at the commencement of his reign. But now the Philistines too could be listed among the defeated nations, and thus a complete list of victories can be given. This explains why these words come after the incident above. The order is intended to be topical, not chronological.
Even then, however, the writer will not let all the credit go to Saul and he therefore introduces another figure, Saul's uncle, whose name is Abner, who is the commander-in-chief of the armies of Saul. It is almost as though he was saying, ‘Remember that Saul did not do it on his own'.
Analysis.
a Now when Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines, and wherever he turned himself, he put them to the worse (1 Samuel 14:47).
b And he did valiantly, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them (1 Samuel 14:48).
c Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchi-shua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the first-born Merab, and the name of the younger Michal, and the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz (1 Samuel 14:49-50 a).
b And the name of the captain of his host was Abner the son of Ner, the uncle of Saul. And Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel (1 Samuel 14:50-51).
a And there was fierce war against the Philistines all the days of Saul, and when Saul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man, he took him to him (1 Samuel 14:52).
Note that in ‘a' we are informed of the victories of Saul, while in the parallel we learn that in the case of the Philistines the warfare continued throughout the days of Saul with the result that he had always to be on the look out for good warriors so that he could maintain a standing army and as a result keep them in check. In ‘b' he delivered Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them, while in the parallel it is emphasised that he had in this the assistance of his uncle, the mighty Abner, commander-in-chief of his forces. Centrally in ‘c' we have described the family of Saul.
‘ Now when Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and wherever he turned himself, he put them to the worse.'
Note the reference back to ‘when he had taken over the kingship'. What we learn here indicates how little we know about Saul's genuine early achievements, for it is made quite clear that he had been kept constantly busy, especially in Transjordan against the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites, and against threats from the north from the Aramean kingdom of Zobah. But he had defeated them all. Only against the Philistines had he been unable to achieve victory, and now that too had been accomplished.
‘ And he did valiantly, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them.'
The separate reference here to the smiting of the Amalekites may refer to 1 Samuel 15, or it may have in mind earlier attempts by the Amalekites to invade Israel. The Amalekites were ferocious, wandering desert tribes (similar to the Bedouin) who would constantly swoop down on any nation that they found to be in a weak condition in order to kill simply for the pleasure of it, and in order to obtain tribute and booty, often in alliance with others (compare Judges 3:13; Judges 6:3). They were unholy predators. That was why in the end they had to be utterly destroyed.
Up to this point then Saul's reign could be said to have been reasonably successful, for while he had had to wait for success against the Philistines, he had succeeded admirably against others. And now at last even the defeat of the Philistines had been achieved.
However, as the writer has already indicated throughout 1 Samuel 13-14, Saul has also begun to go downhill, and this will be brought home in the Chapter s that follow where it will be demonstrated how the last part of Saul's reign reveals his continuing disobedience, his consequent rejection by YHWH, his subsequent illness, his sense of absolute monarchy, the murderous nature of his own inclinations, his opposition to David, the man of God's choice, and his own rapidly deteriorating spiritual state.