Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.
Then Nahash the Ammonite came up - Nahash, serpent (see the note at Judges 8:3).
And encamped against Jabesh-gilead - on the east of the Jordan; now ed-Deir, on the south bank of Wady Yabes, not far to the north of Helaweh, near the ancient road that leads to Beisan. The Ammonites had long claimed the right of original possession in Gilead. Though repressed by Jephthah (Judges 11:33), they now, after ninety years, renew their pretensions; and it was the report of their threatened invasion that hastened the appointment of a king (1 Samuel 12:12).
Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. In the then scattered and separated state of the nation they saw no prospect of aid from the western Israelites, who were not only remote, but scarcely able to repel the incursions of the Philistines from themselves.