How does Saul respond to Jabes Galaad’s danger, and why does he refuse to kill his opponents afterward?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He summons Israel with the cut oxen and a threat to the oxen of anyone who will not follow Saul and Samuel, then defeats the Ammonites with three companies. Afterward he forbids killing that day because the Lord has brought salvation to Israel.

Chapter breakdown

About a month later Naas the Ammonite comes to fight Jabes Galaad. All its men offer to serve him under a covenant. He agrees only on condition that he pluck out all their right eyes and make them a reproach in all Israel. The ancients ask seven days to send messengers to all Israel’s coasts, saying they will come out to him if no defender is found. The messengers reach Saul’s Gabaa and speak before the people, who lift their voices and weep. Saul comes following oxen from the field, asks why they weep and hears the words of Jabes’s men.

When Saul hears, the Lord’s Spirit comes upon him and his anger is greatly kindled. He takes both oxen, cuts them in pieces and sends them by messengers to all Israel’s coasts, warning that anyone who does not come and follow Saul and Samuel will have the same done to his oxen. The Lord’s fear falls on the people, and they go out as one man. Saul numbers them in Bezec: three hundred thousand children of Israel and thirty thousand men of Juda. The messengers are told to promise Jabes Galaad relief tomorrow when the sun is hot. They deliver the message, and Jabes’s men are glad. The men say they will come out in the morning and allow the other side to do what it pleases with them.

Next day Saul puts the people into three companies, enters the middle of the camp in the morning watch and slays Ammonites until the day grows hot. The rest scatter so that no two remain together. The people ask Samuel who questioned Saul’s reign, demanding those men be brought to be killed. Saul forbids killing anyone that day because the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel that day. Samuel invites the people to Galgal to renew the kingdom. All go there, make Saul king before the Lord and sacrifice peace victims before him. Saul and all Israel’s men rejoice greatly.

The story inside

Naas answers Jabes’s covenant offer with the right-eye condition and intended reproach. The ancients seek time to look for a defender, and their message reaches a weeping crowd at Gabaa. Saul learns the news from the field; the Spirit, anger and oxen summons are followed by the people going out together and the separate Israel and Juda counts. Relief is promised for the next hot day, and Jabes’s men respond to the message with gladness and their come-out statement. Saul’s three-company attack in the morning watch scatters the Ammonites. A demand to kill critics then meets Saul’s explicit refusal, grounded in the Lord’s salvation that day. Samuel calls for renewal at Galgal, followed by kingship before the Lord, peace offerings and rejoicing.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The threat and requested time are specific. Naas names all right eyes and reproach in Israel; Jabes’s ancients ask seven days and condition coming out on finding no defender. The request is kept without inventing a negotiated truce.
2
Mobilization and battle keep their separate numbers. Both oxen and the full threat precede three hundred thousand Israelites and thirty thousand of Juda at Bezec. The attack later uses three companies in the morning watch and lasts until the day grows hot.
3
Saul gives a reason for refusing revenge. The crowd demands the critics’ deaths, but Saul says none will be killed that day because the Lord has saved Israel. The source then moves to kingdom renewal and joy, without reporting a new legal pardon or the critics’ later response.

Test your recall

What condition and seven-day request bring the messengers to Gabaa, how does Saul’s summons lead to relief, and why does he reject the crowd’s killing demand?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 29186–29209
1 Kings Chapter 11 Saul defeateth the Ammonites, and delivereth Jabes Galaad. 11:1. And it came to pass about a month after this, that Naas, the Ammonite, came up, and began to fight against Jabes Galaad. And all the men of Jabes said to Naas: Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. 11:2. And Naas, the Ammonite, answered them: On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may pluck out all your right eyes, and make you a reproach in all Israel. 11:3. And the ancients of Jabes said to him: Allow us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the coasts of Israel: and if there be no one to defend us, we will come out to thee. 11:4. The messengers therefore came to Gabaa of Saul: and they spoke these words in the hearing of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. 11:5. And behold Saul came, following oxen out of the field, and he said: What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabes.
Lines 29211–29229
11:6. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul, when he had heard these words, and his anger was exceedingly kindled. 11:7. And taking both the oxen, he cut them in pieces, and sent them into all the coasts of Israel, by messengers, saying: Whosoever shall not come forth, and follow Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they went out as one man. 11:8. And he numbered them in Bezec: and there were of the children of Israel three hundred thousand: and of the men of Juda thirty thousand. 11:9. And they said to the messengers that came: Thus shall you say to the men of Jabes Galaad: To morrow, when the sun shall be hot, you shall have relief. The messengers therefore came, and told the men of Jabes, and they were glad. 11:10. And they said: In the morning we will come out to you: and you shall do what you please with us.
Lines 29231–29251
11:11. And it came to pass, when the morrow was come, that Saul put the people in three companies: and he came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and he slew the Ammonites until the day grew hot, and the rest were scattered, so that two of them were not left together. 11:12. And the people said to Samuel: Who is he that said: Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men, and we will kill them. 11:13. And Saul said: No man shall be killed this day: because the Lord this day hath wrought salvation in Israel: 11:14. And Samuel said to the people: Come, and let us go to Galgal, and let us renew the kingdom there. 11:15. And all the people went to Galgal, and there they made Saul king, before the Lord in Galgal, and they sacrificed there victims of peace before the Lord. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced exceedingly.