Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 13:1

"Saul was [forty] years old when he began to reign; and when he had reigned two years over Israel," — 1 Samuel 13:1 (ASV)

Saul reigned one year. —The only possible literal translation of the Hebrew of this verse is, “Saul was the son of one year (that is, one year old); he began to reign, etc.” In several places in the Books of Samuel, the numbers are quite untrustworthy (we have another instance of this in the 5th verse of this chapter). The present verse, however, is an old difficulty, with the corruption or gap in the text dating from a very distant period.

The English translation is simply a probable, but conjectural, paraphrase. The Chaldee and some of the Rabbis thus strangely interpret it: “Saul was an innocent child when he began to reign”—that is, was as innocent as a one-year-old child, etc.

The Syriac and others paraphrase much as our English Version. The Septuagint omits the verse altogether. The Speaker’s Commentary thus literally translates the Hebrew, marking with a dash (—) where a number probably originally stood: “Saul was—years old when he began to reign, and he reigned—and two years over Israel.” On the whole, the usually accepted meaning is that Saul had reigned one year when the events related in the last chapter took place, and after he had reigned two years, he chose the 3,000 men and did what is related in this chapter.