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John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 11 This chapter relates the distress the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead were in on account of the Ammonites, 1 Samuel 11:1 upon which they sent messengers to Saul, whose spirit was immediately stirred up to help them, 1 Samuel 11:4, and prepared for it, and came up soon enough for their relief, and slew their enemies, 1 Samuel 11:7, which gained him much honour and...
John Gill
And all the people went to Gilgal,.... Agreed to the motion, and marched along with Saul and Samuel thither: and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal; that is, they declared him to be king there; he was inaugurated into, and invested with his office, otherwise it was God only that made him king, who only had the power of making one, see Acts 2:36. Josephus says (e) that Samuel...
Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have the first-fruits of Saul's government, in the glorious rescue of Jabesh-Gilead out of the hands of the Ammonites. Let not Israel thence infer that therefore they did well to ask a king (God could and would have saved them without one); but let them admire God's goodness, that he did not reject them when they rejected him, and acknowledge his wisdom in the choice of the...