1 Samuel 11:2

_AND NAHASH THE AMMONITE ANSWERED THEM, ON THIS CONDITION WILL I MAKE A COVENANT WITH YOU, THAT I MAY THRUST OUT ALL YOUR RIGHT EYES, AND LAY IT FOR A REPROACH UPON ALL ISRAEL._ Thrust out all your right eyes - literally, scoop or hollow out the ball. This barbarous mutilation is the usual punishment of usurpers in the East-inflicted on chiefs; sometimes also, even in modern history, on the whole male population of a town. Nabash meant to keep the Jabeshites useful as tributaries, whence he did not wish to render them wholly blind, but only to deprive them of their right eye, which would disqualify them for war. Besides, his object was, through the people of Jabesh-gilead, to insult the Israelite nation....

1-11 The first fruit of Saul's government was the rescue of Jabesh-gilead from the Ammonites. To save their lives, men will part with liberty, and even consent to have their eyes put out; is it then no wisdom to part with that sin which is as dear to us as our right eye, rather than to be cast into hell-fire? See the faith and confidence of Saul, and, grounded thereon, his courage and resolution. See also his activity in this business. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon men, it will make them expert, even without experience. When zeal for the glory of God, and love for the brethren, urge men to earnest efforts, and when God is pleased to help, great effects may speedily be produced....

Verse 1 Samuel 11:2. _I MAY THRUST OUT ALL YOUR RIGHT EVES_] This cruel condition would serve at once as a badge of their _slavery_, and a means of incapacitating them from being effective warriors. _Theodoret_ observes, "He who opposes his shield to the enemy with his left hand, thereby hides his left eye, and looks at his enemy with his right eye; he therefore who plucks out that right eye makes men useless in war." _Josephus_ gives the same reason....

CONFIRMATION OF SAUL IN THE KINGDOM (1Sa 11:1-15; 1 Samuel 12:1.). EXPOSITION THE DEFEAT OF THE AMMONITES (1 Samuel 11:1). 1 SAMUEL 11:1, 1 SAMUEL 11:2. NAHASH THE AMMONITE. The same name is found in 2 Samuel 10:2 as that of the father of Hanun, wh

AND NAHASH THE AMMONITE ANSWERED THEM,.... In a very haughty and scornful manner: ON THIS CONDITION WILL I MAKE A COVENANT WITH YOU, THAT I MAY THRUST OUT ALL YOUR RIGHT EYES; some Jewish writers go into a mystical and allegorical sense of these words, as that Nahash ordered the book of the law to be brought, which was their right eye, that he might erase out of it these words, AN AMMONITE OR MOABITE SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION OF THE LORD; others understand it of the sanhedrim, which were the eyes of Israel; and others, which come a little nearer to the sense, of the slingers and archers, the desire of the eyes of Israel; and who, by having their right eyes thrust out, would be in a great measure spoiled for taking aim; for the words are to be understood literally; the intention of Nahash was to disable them for war, and that they might become quite unfit for it, as Josephus...

4. THE KING'S FIRST VICTORY AND THE RENEWAL OF THE KINGDOM AT GILGAL CHAPTER 11 _ 1. The victory over Ammon (1 Samuel 11:1)_ 2. The kingdom renewed (1 Samuel 11:12) Nahash the Ammonite encamped against Jabesh-gilead. Nahash means “the serpent.” This invasion took place before Saul had been made king. From chapter 12:12 we learn that it really was the occasion why Israel demanded a king. In despair the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead offered to make a covenant with this old foe of Israel, whom Jephthah had so successfully fought. Ammon represents typically the enemy of God's people characterized by evil doctrines and perversions of the truth of God. How often compromise is made with the most subtle errors which emanate from Nahash, the serpent! But he makes his condition,

1 SAMUEL 11. SAUL DELIVERS JABESH-GILEAD AND IS MADE KING. (J) continues the ancient narrative, sequel to 1 Samuel 10:16. Putting aside 1 Samuel 11:12, inserted by an editor to connect this chapter with the Deuteronomic document, the rest shows clearly that the writer knew nothing of any previous public appointment of Saul to be king: when the messengers come to Gibeah, they do not ask for Saul, and no one thinks of him until he himself intervenes. 1 Samuel 8 is probably a later addition; the reference to Judah, before David comes upon the scene, and the exaggerated numbers, are not characteristic of the earlier documents in _Samuel._ 1 SAMUEL 11:1. About a month after Saul's interview with S

A COVENANT. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read this word in the text, which already implies it. RIGHT EYES. As the shield covered the left eye, the right was necessary for seeing. The loss of it incapacitated men from fighting....

_that I may thrust out all your right eyes_ Such barbarities are not unknown in the East even now. Vambéry describes the blinding of prisoners as a regular practice at Khiva. _Travels in Central Asia_, p. 138. The savage character of the Ammonites is attested by Amos 1:13. The loss of the right eye was intended to disable them for war, the left eye being covered by the shield, as the amputation of his thumbs and great toes (Judges 1:7-8) was designed to incapacitate a man for the use of the bow and destroy his swiftness of foot....

THEN NAHASH THE AMMONITE— Saul had not long to wait for an occasion to shew himself worthy of the kingdom of Israel. Nahash, a king or general of the Ammonites, came against Israel. This was one of the pretences which the Israelites made use of for a change of government, ch. 1 Samuel 12:12.; and it seems that they had sufficient grounds for a fear of this invasion, as Nahash appears to have been a man of a most cruel and insolent disposition, from the terms which he proposed to the men of Jabesh, which were no less disgraceful than barbarous. See _Psalmanazar's_ last Essay....