Antiquities Book 6, Chapter 5
Saul's Expedition Against The Nation Of The Ammonites And Victory Over Them And The Spoils He Took From Them.
1. After one month, the war which Saul had with Nahash, the king of the
Ammonites, obtained him respect from all the people; for this Nahash had
done a great deal of mischief to the Jews that lived beyond Jordan by
the expedition he had made against them with a great and warlike army.
He also reduced their cities into slavery, and that not only by subduing
them for the present, which he did by force and violence, but by
weakening them by subtlety and cunning, that they might not be able
afterward to get clear of the slavery they were under to him; for he put
out the right eyes 9 of those that either delivered themselves to him
upon terms, or were taken by him in war; and this he did, that when
their left eyes were covered by their shields, they might be wholly
useless in war. Now when the king of the Ammonites had served those
beyond Jordan in this manner, he led his army against those that were
called Gileadites, and having pitched his camp at the metropolis of his
enemies, which was the city of Jabesh, he sent ambassadors to them,
commanding them either to deliver themselves up, on condition to have
their right eyes plucked out, or to undergo a siege, and to have their
cities overthrown. He gave them their choice, whether they would cut off
a small member of their body, or universally perish. However, the
Gileadites were so affrighted at these offers, that they had not courage
to say any thing to either of them, neither that they would deliver
themselves up, nor that they would fight him. But they desired that he
would give them seven days' respite, that they might send ambassadors to
their countrymen, and entreat their assistance; and if they came to
assist them, they would fight; but if that assistance were impossible to
be obtained from them, they said they would deliver themselves up to
suffer whatever he pleased to inflict upon them.
2. So Nabash, contemning the multitude of the Gileadites and the answer
they gave, allowed them a respite, and gave them leave to send to
whomsoever they pleased for assistance. So they immediately sent to the
Israelites, city by city, and informed them what Nabash had threatened
to do to them, and what great distress they were in. Now the people fell
into tears and grief at the hearing of what the ambassadors from Jabesh
said; and the terror they were in permitted them to do nothing more. But
when the messengers were come to the city of king Saul, and declared the
dangers in which the inhabitants of Jabesh were, the people were in the
same affliction as those in the other cities, for they lamented the
calamity of those related to them. And when Saul was returned from his
husbandry into the city, he found his fellow citizens weeping; and when,
upon inquiry, he had learned the cause of the confusion and sadness they
were in, he was seized with a divine fury, and sent away the ambassadors
from the inhabitants of Jabesh, and promised them to come to their
assistance on the third day, and to beat their enemies before sun-
rising, that the sun upon its rising might see that they had already
conquered, and were freed from the fears they were under: but he bid
some of them stay to conduct them the right way to Jabesh.
3. So being desirous to turn the people to this war against the
Ammonites by fear of the losses they should otherwise undergo, and that
they might the more suddenly be gathered together, he cut the sinews of
his oxen, and threatened to do the same to all such as did not come with
their armor to Jordan the next day, and follow him and Samuel the
prophet whithersoever they should lead them. So they came together, out
of fear of the losses they were threatened with, at the appointed time.
And the multitude were numbered at the city Bezek. And he found the
number of those that were gathered together, besides that of the tribe
of Judah, to be seven hundred thousand, while those of that tribe were
seventy thousand. So he passed over Jordan, and proceeded in marching
all that night, thirty furlongs, and came to Jabesh before sun-rising.
So he divided the army into three companies; and fell upon their enemies
on every side on the sudden, and when they expected no such thing; and
joining battle with them, they slew a great many of the Ammonites, as
also their king Nabash. This glorious action was done by Saul, and was
related with great commendation of him to all the Hebrews; and he thence
gained a wonderful reputation for his valor: for although there were
some of them that contemned him before, they now changed their minds,
and honored him, and esteemed him as the best of men: for he did not
content himself with having saved the inhabitants of Jabesh only, but he
made an expedition into the country of the Ammonites, and laid it all
waste, and took a large prey, and so returned to his own country most
gloriously. So the people were greatly pleased at these excellent
performances of Saul, and rejoiced that they had constituted him their
king. They also made a clamor against those that pretended he would be
of no advantage to their affairs; and they said, Where now are these
men?—let them be brought to punishment, with all the like things that
multitudes usually say when they are elevated with prosperity, against
those that lately had despised the authors of it. But Saul, although he
took the good-will and the affection of these men very kindly, yet did
he swear that he would not see any of his countrymen slain that day,
since it was absurd to mix this victory, which God had given them, with
the blood and slaughter of those that were of the same lineage with
themselves; and that it was more agreeable to be men of a friendly
disposition, and so to betake themselves to feasting.
4. And when Samuel had told them that he ought to confirm the kingdom to
Saul by a second ordination of him, they all came together to the city
of Gilgal, for thither did he command them to come. So the prophet
anointed Saul with the holy oil in the sight of the multitude, and
declared him to be king the second time. And so the government of the
Hebrews was changed into a regal government; for in the days of Moses,
and his disciple Joshua, who was their general, they continued under an
aristocracy; but after the death of Joshua, for eighteen years in all,
the multitude had no settled form of government, but were in an anarchy;
after which they returned to their former government, they then
permitting themselves to be judged by him who appeared to be the best
warrior and most courageous, whence it was that they called this
interval of their government the Judges.
5. Then did Samuel the prophet call another assembly also, and said to
them, "I solemnly adjure you by God Almighty, who brought those
excellent brethren, I mean Moses and Aaron, into the world, and
delivered our fathers from the Egyptians, and from the slavery they
endured under them, that you will not speak what you say to gratify me,
nor suppress any thing out of fear of me, nor be overborne by any other
passion, but say, What have I ever done that was cruel or unjust? or
what have I done out of lucre or covetousness, or to gratify others?
Bear witness against me, if I have taken an ox or a sheep, or any such
thing, which yet when they are taken to support men, it is esteemed
blameless; or have I taken an ass for mine own use of any one to his
grief?—lay some one such crime to my charge, now we are in your king's
presence." But they cried out, that no such thing had been done by him,
but that he had presided over the nation after a holy and righteous
manner.
6. Hereupon Samuel, when such a testimony had been given him by them
all, said, "Since you grant that you are not able to lay any ill thing
to my charge hitherto, come on now, and do you hearken while I speak
with great freedom to you. You have been guilty of great impiety against
God, in asking you a king. It behoves you to remember that our
grandfather Jacob came down into Egypt, by reason of a famine, with
seventy souls only of our family, and that their posterity multiplied
there to many ten thousands, whom the Egyptians brought into slavery and
hard oppression; that God himself, upon the prayers of our fathers, sent
Moses and Aaron, who were brethren, and gave them power to deliver the
multitude out of their distress, and this without a king. These brought
us into this very land which you now possess: and when you enjoyed these
advantages from God, you betrayed his worship and religion; nay,
moreover, when you were brought under the hands of your enemies, he
delivered you, first by rendering you superior to the Assyrians and
their forces, he then made you to overcome the Ammonites and the
Moabites, and last of all the Philistines; and these things have been
achieved under the conduct of Jephtha and Gideon. What madness therefore
possessed you to fly from God, and to desire to be under a king?—yet
have I ordained him for king whom he chose for you. However, that I may
make it plain to you that God is angry and displeased at your choice of
kingly government, I will so dispose him that he shall declare this very
plainly to you by strange signals; for what none of you ever saw here
before, I mean a winter storm in the midst of harvest, 10 I will entreat
of God, and will make it visible to you." Now, as soon as he had said
this, God gave such great signals by thunder and lightning, and the
descent of hail, as attested the truth of all that the prophet had said,
insomuch that they were amazed and terrified, and confessed they had
sinned, and had fallen into that sin through ignorance; and besought the
prophet, as one that was a tender and gentle father to them, to render
God so merciful as to forgive this their sin, which they had added to
those other offenses whereby they had affronted him and transgressed
against him. So he promised them that he would beseech God, and persuade
him to forgive them these their sins. However, he advised them to be
righteous, and to be good, and ever to remember the miseries that had
befallen them on account of their departure from virtue: as also to
remember the strange signs God had shown them, and the body of laws that
Moses had given them, if they had any desire of being preserved and made
happy with their king. But he said, that if they should grow careless of
these things, great judgments would come from God upon them, and upon
their king. And when Samuel had thus prophesied to the Hebrews, he
dismissed them to their own homes, having confirmed the kingdom to Saul
the second time.
Ammonites, obtained him respect from all the people; for this Nahash had
done a great deal of mischief to the Jews that lived beyond Jordan by
the expedition he had made against them with a great and warlike army.
He also reduced their cities into slavery, and that not only by subduing
them for the present, which he did by force and violence, but by
weakening them by subtlety and cunning, that they might not be able
afterward to get clear of the slavery they were under to him; for he put
out the right eyes 9 of those that either delivered themselves to him
upon terms, or were taken by him in war; and this he did, that when
their left eyes were covered by their shields, they might be wholly
useless in war. Now when the king of the Ammonites had served those
beyond Jordan in this manner, he led his army against those that were
called Gileadites, and having pitched his camp at the metropolis of his
enemies, which was the city of Jabesh, he sent ambassadors to them,
commanding them either to deliver themselves up, on condition to have
their right eyes plucked out, or to undergo a siege, and to have their
cities overthrown. He gave them their choice, whether they would cut off
a small member of their body, or universally perish. However, the
Gileadites were so affrighted at these offers, that they had not courage
to say any thing to either of them, neither that they would deliver
themselves up, nor that they would fight him. But they desired that he
would give them seven days' respite, that they might send ambassadors to
their countrymen, and entreat their assistance; and if they came to
assist them, they would fight; but if that assistance were impossible to
be obtained from them, they said they would deliver themselves up to
suffer whatever he pleased to inflict upon them.
2. So Nabash, contemning the multitude of the Gileadites and the answer
they gave, allowed them a respite, and gave them leave to send to
whomsoever they pleased for assistance. So they immediately sent to the
Israelites, city by city, and informed them what Nabash had threatened
to do to them, and what great distress they were in. Now the people fell
into tears and grief at the hearing of what the ambassadors from Jabesh
said; and the terror they were in permitted them to do nothing more. But
when the messengers were come to the city of king Saul, and declared the
dangers in which the inhabitants of Jabesh were, the people were in the
same affliction as those in the other cities, for they lamented the
calamity of those related to them. And when Saul was returned from his
husbandry into the city, he found his fellow citizens weeping; and when,
upon inquiry, he had learned the cause of the confusion and sadness they
were in, he was seized with a divine fury, and sent away the ambassadors
from the inhabitants of Jabesh, and promised them to come to their
assistance on the third day, and to beat their enemies before sun-
rising, that the sun upon its rising might see that they had already
conquered, and were freed from the fears they were under: but he bid
some of them stay to conduct them the right way to Jabesh.
3. So being desirous to turn the people to this war against the
Ammonites by fear of the losses they should otherwise undergo, and that
they might the more suddenly be gathered together, he cut the sinews of
his oxen, and threatened to do the same to all such as did not come with
their armor to Jordan the next day, and follow him and Samuel the
prophet whithersoever they should lead them. So they came together, out
of fear of the losses they were threatened with, at the appointed time.
And the multitude were numbered at the city Bezek. And he found the
number of those that were gathered together, besides that of the tribe
of Judah, to be seven hundred thousand, while those of that tribe were
seventy thousand. So he passed over Jordan, and proceeded in marching
all that night, thirty furlongs, and came to Jabesh before sun-rising.
So he divided the army into three companies; and fell upon their enemies
on every side on the sudden, and when they expected no such thing; and
joining battle with them, they slew a great many of the Ammonites, as
also their king Nabash. This glorious action was done by Saul, and was
related with great commendation of him to all the Hebrews; and he thence
gained a wonderful reputation for his valor: for although there were
some of them that contemned him before, they now changed their minds,
and honored him, and esteemed him as the best of men: for he did not
content himself with having saved the inhabitants of Jabesh only, but he
made an expedition into the country of the Ammonites, and laid it all
waste, and took a large prey, and so returned to his own country most
gloriously. So the people were greatly pleased at these excellent
performances of Saul, and rejoiced that they had constituted him their
king. They also made a clamor against those that pretended he would be
of no advantage to their affairs; and they said, Where now are these
men?—let them be brought to punishment, with all the like things that
multitudes usually say when they are elevated with prosperity, against
those that lately had despised the authors of it. But Saul, although he
took the good-will and the affection of these men very kindly, yet did
he swear that he would not see any of his countrymen slain that day,
since it was absurd to mix this victory, which God had given them, with
the blood and slaughter of those that were of the same lineage with
themselves; and that it was more agreeable to be men of a friendly
disposition, and so to betake themselves to feasting.
4. And when Samuel had told them that he ought to confirm the kingdom to
Saul by a second ordination of him, they all came together to the city
of Gilgal, for thither did he command them to come. So the prophet
anointed Saul with the holy oil in the sight of the multitude, and
declared him to be king the second time. And so the government of the
Hebrews was changed into a regal government; for in the days of Moses,
and his disciple Joshua, who was their general, they continued under an
aristocracy; but after the death of Joshua, for eighteen years in all,
the multitude had no settled form of government, but were in an anarchy;
after which they returned to their former government, they then
permitting themselves to be judged by him who appeared to be the best
warrior and most courageous, whence it was that they called this
interval of their government the Judges.
5. Then did Samuel the prophet call another assembly also, and said to
them, "I solemnly adjure you by God Almighty, who brought those
excellent brethren, I mean Moses and Aaron, into the world, and
delivered our fathers from the Egyptians, and from the slavery they
endured under them, that you will not speak what you say to gratify me,
nor suppress any thing out of fear of me, nor be overborne by any other
passion, but say, What have I ever done that was cruel or unjust? or
what have I done out of lucre or covetousness, or to gratify others?
Bear witness against me, if I have taken an ox or a sheep, or any such
thing, which yet when they are taken to support men, it is esteemed
blameless; or have I taken an ass for mine own use of any one to his
grief?—lay some one such crime to my charge, now we are in your king's
presence." But they cried out, that no such thing had been done by him,
but that he had presided over the nation after a holy and righteous
manner.
6. Hereupon Samuel, when such a testimony had been given him by them
all, said, "Since you grant that you are not able to lay any ill thing
to my charge hitherto, come on now, and do you hearken while I speak
with great freedom to you. You have been guilty of great impiety against
God, in asking you a king. It behoves you to remember that our
grandfather Jacob came down into Egypt, by reason of a famine, with
seventy souls only of our family, and that their posterity multiplied
there to many ten thousands, whom the Egyptians brought into slavery and
hard oppression; that God himself, upon the prayers of our fathers, sent
Moses and Aaron, who were brethren, and gave them power to deliver the
multitude out of their distress, and this without a king. These brought
us into this very land which you now possess: and when you enjoyed these
advantages from God, you betrayed his worship and religion; nay,
moreover, when you were brought under the hands of your enemies, he
delivered you, first by rendering you superior to the Assyrians and
their forces, he then made you to overcome the Ammonites and the
Moabites, and last of all the Philistines; and these things have been
achieved under the conduct of Jephtha and Gideon. What madness therefore
possessed you to fly from God, and to desire to be under a king?—yet
have I ordained him for king whom he chose for you. However, that I may
make it plain to you that God is angry and displeased at your choice of
kingly government, I will so dispose him that he shall declare this very
plainly to you by strange signals; for what none of you ever saw here
before, I mean a winter storm in the midst of harvest, 10 I will entreat
of God, and will make it visible to you." Now, as soon as he had said
this, God gave such great signals by thunder and lightning, and the
descent of hail, as attested the truth of all that the prophet had said,
insomuch that they were amazed and terrified, and confessed they had
sinned, and had fallen into that sin through ignorance; and besought the
prophet, as one that was a tender and gentle father to them, to render
God so merciful as to forgive this their sin, which they had added to
those other offenses whereby they had affronted him and transgressed
against him. So he promised them that he would beseech God, and persuade
him to forgive them these their sins. However, he advised them to be
righteous, and to be good, and ever to remember the miseries that had
befallen them on account of their departure from virtue: as also to
remember the strange signs God had shown them, and the body of laws that
Moses had given them, if they had any desire of being preserved and made
happy with their king. But he said, that if they should grow careless of
these things, great judgments would come from God upon them, and upon
their king. And when Samuel had thus prophesied to the Hebrews, he
dismissed them to their own homes, having confirmed the kingdom to Saul
the second time.