Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 11:1

"Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee." — 1 Samuel 11:1 (ASV)

Nahash the Ammonite. Nahash was king of the children of Ammon (see 1 Samuel 12:12). This royal family was in some way related to David (see 2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:16–17). At the time of David’s exile because of the rebellion of Absalom, a son of Nahash the Ammonite is specially mentioned as showing kindness to the fugitive king.

Jabesh-gilead was a city situated in Northern Gilead, in the territory assigned to Manasseh. Josephus states that it was the capital of the country of Gilead.

The Ammonites were a people related to the Moabites, being descended from the same ancestor, the patriarch Lot. They asserted that a portion of their territory had been taken from them by Israel, and in the days of the judges severely harassed the people. The Judge Jephthah attacked and defeated them with great slaughter.

No doubt, it was to avenge the disgrace they had suffered at the hands of Jephthah that their warlike monarch, Nahash—considering the opportunity a favourable one, because of the old age of the reigning judge, Samuel—invaded the Israelite country bordering his kingdom and besieged the city of Jabesh-gilead.

Make a covenant with us. The citizens of Jabesh-gilead, feeling their isolation and comparative remoteness from the chief centre of the people, were willing to pay tribute to the Ammonite king and made him overtures to this effect.