Nahash, the king of the Ammonites (cf. 1 Samuel 12:12; 2 Samuel 10:2), attacked the tribes on the east of the Jordan, no doubt with the intention of enforcing the claim to part of Gilead asserted by his ancestor in the time of Jephthah (Judges 11:13), and besieged Jabesh in Gilead,

(Note: The time of this campaign is not mentioned in the Hebrew text. But it is very evident from 1 Samuel 12:12, where the Israelites are said to have desired a king, when they saw that Nahash had come against them, that Nahash had invaded Gilead before the election of Saul as king. The Septuagint, however, renders the words כמחרישׁ ויהי (1 Samuel 10:27) by καὶ ἐγενήθη ὡς μετὰ μῆνα, and therefore the translators must have read כּמחדשׁ, which Ewald and Thenius would adopt as an emendation of the Hebrew text. But all the other ancient versions give the Masoretic text, viz., not only the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, but even Jerome, who renders it ille vero dissimulabat se audire. It is true that in our present Vulgate text these words are followed by et factum est quasi post mensem; but this addition has no doubt crept in from the Itala. With the general character of the Septuagint, the rendering of כמחרישׁ by ὡς μετὰ μῆνα is no conclusive proof that the word in their Hebrew Codex was כּמחדשׁ; it simply shows that this was the interpretation which they gave to כמחריש. And Josephus (vi. 5, 1), who is also appealed to, simply establishes the fact that ὡς μετὰ μῆνα stood in the Sept. version of his day, since he made use of this version and not of the original text. Moreover, we cannot say with Ewald, that this was the last place in which the time could be overlooked; for it is perfectly evident that Nahash commenced the siege of Jabesh shortly after the election of Saul at Mizpeh, as we may infer from the verb ויּעל, when taken in connection with the fact implied in 1 Samuel 12:12, that he had commenced the war with the Israelites before this. And lastly, it is much more probable that the lxx changed כמחריש into כמחדש, than that the Hebrew readers of the Old Testament should have altered כמחדש into כמחריש, without defining the time more precisely by אחד, or some other number.)

- according to Josephus the metropolis of Gilead, and probably situated by the Wady Jabes (see at Judges 21:8); from which we may see that he must have penetrated very far into the territory of the Israelites. The inhabitants of Jabesh petitioned the Ammonites in their distress, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee;" i.e., grant us favourable terms, and we will submit.

1 Samuel 11:7 Parallel Commentaries

he took The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act similar to that of the Levite, Jud.

19:29, (see note). An eminent Scotch writer describes the rites, incantations, and imprecations used prior to the fiery cross being circulated, to summon the rough warriors of ancient times to the service of their chief; and he allude to this ancient custom, which in comparatively modern times, has been practised in Scotland; and proves that a similar punishment of death, or destruction of their houses, for disobeying the summons, was inflicted by the ancient Scandinavians, as recorded by Olaus Magnus, in his History of the Goths. This bears a striking resemblance to the ancient custom of the Israelites. With the Highlanders, a goat was slain; with the Israelites, an ox. The exhibition of a cross, stained with the blood of the sacrificed animal, was the summons of the former, while part of the animal, was the mandate of the latter. Disobedience in one nation was punished with the death of themselves or oxen, and burning of their dwellings in the other.

hewed

Judges 19:29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones...

Whosoever

Judges 21:5-11 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation to the LORD...

the fear

Genesis 35:5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was on the cities that were round about them...

2 Chronicles 14:14 And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came on them: and they spoiled all the cities...

2 Chronicles 17:10 And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat...

with one consent [heb] as one man

Judges 20:1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba...