So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and 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 whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed [them].
Ver. 47. So Saul took the kingdom.] Out of which he had been well nigh ousted by the Philistines; he took it, that is, he undertook the managing administration of it. Or, he took it, though God had said he should lose it, as it were in opposition to God; and therefore gathered a host and beat his enemies round about. Like as wicked Ahab, to cross the oracle concerning the rooting out of his posterity, so followed the work of generation, that he left seventy sons behind him. 2Ki 10:1
And against the kings of Zobah.] The inhabitants of which country - lying between Batanea and Euphrates - are corruptly called by Pliny, a Nubei.
He vexed them.] Heb., He worsted them; and very much infested them; but the honour of vanquishing them was reserved for David.
a Lib. vi. cap. 28.