CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.—
1 Samuel 11:1. “Nahash.” He was king of the children of Ammon, as appears from 1 Samuel 12:12; 2 Samuel 10:1-2; 2 Samuel 17:27. He seems to have been connected with the family of David, since Abigail, David’s sister, was the daughter (perhaps meaning grand-daughter), of Nahash (2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:16-17), and perhaps, in consequence of this connection, was very friendly to David. Even after the destructive war with his son Harun, in which Uriah fell, and when David was in flight and banishment, we find another son of Nahash, Shobi, showing him marked kindness, (Biblical Dictionary.) “According to 1 Samuel 12:12, the threatening war with the Ammonites was the immediate occasion of the demand for a king. Naturally therefore, Nahash, having before made his preparations, entered the Israelitish territory soon after the king was chosen and confirmed.” (Erdmann.) “Jabesh-Gilead.” According to Josephus, this city was the capital of Gilead, and was probably on the site of the present ruins of El-Deir, on the south side of the Wady Jabis, not far to the north of Helaweh, near the ancient road that leads to Beisan. The Ammonites had long claimed the right to the possession of Gilead, and had been subdued by Jephthah.
1 Samuel 11:2. “On this condition,” etc. “The left eye would be covered with the shield in battle: the right eye was needed for aiming the spear; they would therefore be no better than blind if they lost their right eye.” (Wordsworth,) “Lay it for a reproach,” etc. “He sought to avenge upon the people of Israel the shame of the defeat which Jephthah had inflicted on the Ammonites.” (Kiel.)
1 Samuel 11:3. “If there is no one who saves us.” “The assumption of this as possible, and the fact that they sent to every region of Israel, shows that in this transition-period from the Judges to the King-dom, in spite of what Samuel had done to inspire unity of action, the old division of powers in tribal isolation and the consequent weakness against enemies still continued. (Erdmann.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 11:1-3
THE AMMONITE INVASION OF JABESH-GILEAD
I. Times of weakness are times of undesired visitation, When a man is commercially weak, and when he has least desire to see the face of those who will add to his embarrassments, then is the time when they are most certain to visit him. A visit from his creditors would not affright him if he had wherewith to meet their demands, but the very fact that his resources are inadequate makes them more likely to visit him. Especially if he has a creditor who is unkindly disposed towards him, that creditor’s visit will be most undesired; but a visit from him may be most certainly looked for. So there are times when the soul is depressed—when many things seem to combine to make a man morally weak, and that is the time when he may most certainly expect a visit from his great spiritual adversary. The tempter, by bringing up all his forces to assault the soul at such a time, reveals his watchful subtlety and his power to measure the resources of the human soul. In times of mental weakness from weakness of body, or from especially harassing circumstances, we feel least of all to desire to have to do battle with a strong temptation; yet then is the time when it is almost certain to assault us. The devil came to Christ when He was physically weak from forty days’ fasting, and when, without doubt, His human soul was depressed in consequence (Matthew 4:2). And again, when He hung upon the cross in great pain of body and sorrow of soul, he tempted Him through his emissaries with the taunt, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save; if Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mark 15:30). The geographical position of Jabesh-Gilead made its inhabitants at all times less able to defend themselves from the common national enemies than the people on the other side of Jordan. Being so far from the centre of government, they were at all times peculiarly exposed to danger. They do not appear at this time to have taken part in the national movement towards unity which had drawn together and strengthened the great mass of the Israelitish nation, and they were consequently much less able to defend themselves than most of their fellow-countrymen. As a natural consequence, their enemies chose this time to invade them and to insult them. At a time when, by reason of their tribal isolation as well as their defenceless geographical position, they had most to dread from a visit of the Ammonites, at this time the visit was made.
II. Times of weakness subject men to the insolence of their enemies. A consciousness that we are strong, either physically or in our circumstances, has a wonderful tendency to make men treat us civilly. A consciousness that we are spiritually strong will tend to make our spiritual and invisible enemies less daring in their assaults. A pugilist, in the presence of one who is his equal in strength and stature, restrains his natural insolence. If he meets a man who is bigger and stronger than himself, he becomes quite deferential. But bring him face to face with a man of half his own size and strength, and he will probably insult him. And so it is with the strength and weakness of social position. The wise man says that “the rich man’s wealth is his strong city” (Proverbs 10:15), and in this he often shelters himself as in a fortress, and shoots forth arrows of scornful contempt and insolence upon those who are socially dependent upon him, and who are consequently too weak to retaliate. And what is true in relation to individuals is true also of nations. The strong nations of the earth are, alas! often found insolently regardless of the rights of those who are too weak to defend their own liberties. Nahash would not have confronted the men of Jabesh-Gilead with so insolent an air, and proposed to them terms so humiliating, if they had not been in his eyes in so defenceless a condition.
III. Times of visitation from insolent enemies should drive us to the strong for help. It was wise of the men of Gilead not to attempt to meet their enemies in their own strength. It is most unwise of men to be too proud to acknowledge their own weakness. While it is unmanly to be always depending upon others for help—while a man is bound to exert himself to the utmost to free himself from difficulties—a refusal to seek help from a stronger fellow-creature is sometimes sinful. God has ordained that the strength of some should supplement the weakness of others, and the inequality of men in this respect is intended to bind them to each other. When, therefore, a man in distress from which he cannot extricate himself, chooses ruin rather than the aid of a stronger arm than his own, he refuses to fall in with a Divine ordination. And this truth can be extended to the help which can come only from an arm which is stronger than the arm of flesh. Times of especial trial and temptation should make men feel their dependence upon Omnipotent strength, and if they do not drive them to seek help from the strong God, they fail to fulfil the design of Him who either sent them for that purpose, or permitted them to happen that He might be glorified in delivering those who call upon Him in distress.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 11:2. In spiritual things this is precisely what is done by the Bishop of Rome. He is a “Nahash the Ammonite” in the Catholic Church of Christ. He requires of all Christians to make a surrender of their reason, conscience, and their will (which belong to their Master, Christ) as the price of communion with himself. If we are willing to allow him to “thrust out our right eyes,” then he will allow us to communicate with himself, but not otherwise.—Wordsworth.