John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 13

Saul reigned one year
"Or the son of a year in his reigning" ^F19 ; various are the senses given of these words: some interpret them, Saul has a son of a year old when he began to reign, Ishbosheth, and who was forty years of age when his father died, (2 Samuel 2:10) , others, who understand the words of Saul himself, think there is an "ellipsis" or defect of the number, and that it may be supplied, that Saul was the son of thirty or forty years, or whatsoever age he may be supposed to be at when he began his reign; others take the words in a figurative sense, that he was like a child of a year old, for purity and innocence; so the Targum,

``as the son of a year, in whom there are no faults, so was Saul when he reigned;'' or he was but a year old, reckoning from the time he was turned into another man, and had another heart, which was immediately after he was anointed king at Ramah by Samuel; or he was but a year old with respect to his kingdom: the inauguration of a king is "natalis imperil", the birthday of his kingdom, and therefore the words are well enough rendered by us, "Saul reigned one year"; which is to be reckoned either from his unction at Ramah, or rather from his election at Mizpeh, to the renewal of the kingdom at Gilgal:

and when he had reigned two years over Israel ;
which the Jewish chronologers ^F20 make to be the whole of his reign, which is not probable, considering the many things done in his reign, the many battles he fought with all his enemies on every side of him, and his long persecution of David; and there were no less than three high priests in his reign; Josephus says ^F17 he reigned eighteen years in the lifetime of Samuel, and twenty two years after his death, in all forty; which agrees with (Acts 13:21) . Some interpret it he reigned two years well, and the rest in a tyrannical way; or that at the end of two years, when David was anointed, the kingdom was not reckoned to him, but to David; and to this purpose Dr. Lightfoot writes, that he had been king one year from his first anointing by Samuel at Ramah, to his second anointing by him at Gibeah (Gilgal I suppose he means); and he reigned after this two years more, before the Lord cast him off, and anointed David; and the time he ruled after that was not a rule, but a tyranny and persecution ^F18 ;

but the sense Ben Gersom gives is best of all, that one year had passed from the time of his being anointed, to the time of the renewal of the kingdom at Gilgal; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, then he did what follows, chose 3000 men In the first year of his reign was done all that is recorded in the preceding chapter; and when he had reigned two years, not two years more, but two years in all, then he did what is related in this chapter.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (wklmb lwav hnv Nb) "filius anni Saul in regnando ipsum", Montanus.
• F20: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 13. p. 35. Juchasin, fol. 11. 1.
• F17: Antiqu. l. 6. c. 14. sect. 9.
• F18: Works, vol. 1. p. 55.

Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel
Out of the 300,000 that went with him to fight the Ammonites, and returned with him to Gilgal, where he now was, and has stayed as may be supposed about a year, since now he had reigned two years. These 3000 men some of them doubtless were appointed as a guard about his person, and the rest were a standing army to preserve the peace of the nation, to protect them from their enemies, to watch the motions of the Philistines, and to be ready on any sudden invasion:

whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash, and in Mount Bethel ;
"Michmash", according to Bunting, ^F19 was four miles from Gilgal.

and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin ;
the native place of Saul, and this Jonathan was the son of Saul, (1 Samuel 13:16) . According to Bunting ^F26 , Gibeah, where Jonathan was stationed, was eight miles from Michmash:

and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent ;
to their own houses; or, as the Targum, to their cities; these were those who came at his summons, and were numbered at Bezek, and went with him to the relief of Jabeshgilead, and had been with him ever since, and were now dismissed.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Travels of the Patriarchs p. 126.
• F26: Ut supra, (Travels of the Patriarchs) p. 127.

And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in
Geba
Not the same with Gibeah of Benjamin, as Jarchi; for it can hardly be thought that Jonathan should placehimself with his thousand men where the Philistines had a garrison; or that if this was the same with that inthe preceding verse, that it should be called by another name in this; but Gibeah and Geba were two places,as Kimchi observes, both indeed in the tribe of Benjamin, and it is very probable not far from one another;see (Joshua 18:24Joshua 18:28) . This seems to be the same with the hill of God, where was a garrison ofthe Philistines, (1 Samuel 10:5) , who after their defeat by Samuel contented themselves with some strongholds and garrisons in some parts of the land to keep Israel in awe; the Targum understands this of a singleperson, a governor of the Philistines in this place, whom Jonathan slew, and so Jarchi; and according to R.Isaiah he was one that was appointed to gather the tax for them.

and the Philistines heard of it ,
which alarmed them, and made them prepare for war:

and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land ;
not he in person, for he was at Gilgal, as the next verse shows; but he ordered it to be blown, being awareof the preparations the Philistines were making to attack him:

saying, let the Hebrews hear ;
both what his son had done, and what the Philistines were doing.

And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of
the Philistines
For though it was smitten by Jonathan, yet it was by the order of Saul, and so ascribed to him; it seems to be a concerted thing to fall upon the garrisons of the Philistines, and get them out of their hands, and so deliver Israel entirely from them; but it was not wise for Saul, if he had such a scheme in his head, to disband his large army, as he had lately done:

and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines ;
who were highly incensed against them by this action, and vowed revenge; the name of an Israelite was abhorred by them; and perhaps this action might be attended with much craft and cruelty; and if these garrisons were held by agreement, they might charge them with perfidy, with breach of articles, and so their name was made to stink among them, as the word signifies:

and the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal ;
by sound of trumpet.

And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with
Israel
To prevent their further encroachments on them, and designs against them; for they perceived they intended to cast off their yoke, and free themselves entirely from them:

thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen ;
it may seem incredible that so small a people as the Philistines were, who only were possessed of five cities, or lordships, with the villages belonging to them, except what they had taken from Israel; and even if assisted by the Tyrians, the author of Sirach in the Apocrypha says:``And he destroyed the rulers of the Tyrians, and all the princes of the Philistines.'' though he seems to have respect not to this time, but when Samuel discomfited them, (1 Samuel 7:10) .

I say it may seem incredible that they should bring such a number of chariots into the field; wherefore this must either be understood of 30,000 men that fought in chariots, as Lyra interprets it, and in which sense it is plain and certain the word chariots is sometimes used, as in (2 Samuel 10:18) (1 Kings 20:21) (1 Chronicles 19:18) , or else of some sort of carriages, not chariots of war, at least not all of them; but what were brought to carry the baggage of their infantry, which was very large, and to carry away the goods and substance of the Israelites; some have thought that there is a mistake of the copier, who instead of (vlv) , "three", read (Myvlv) , "thirty": so Capellus; and the rather because in the Arabic and Syriac versions it is only "three thousand"; but even this is too great a number, understood of chariots of war; for never any people in the world was known to have so many chariots of war; Pharaoh in his large host had but six hundred, (Exodus 14:7) Jabin king of Canaan had indeed nine hundred, (Judges 4:3) and David took from the king of Zobah one thousand chariots; but whether they were all chariots of war is not certain, (2 Samuel 8:4) . Solomon indeed had one thousand and four hundred chariots, but they do not appear to be chariots of war, but some for use, and some for state and grandeur.

Wherefore, if a mistake in the copy is admitted of, and this can be confirmed by some MSS, yet we must recur to one or other of the above senses; some of them must be understood of other sort of carriages, or of men that fought in these chariots; and allowing ten men to a chariot, which seems to be the usual number by comparing (2 Samuel 10:18) with (1 Chronicles 19:18) then 3000 men would fill three hundred chariots, which are as many as it can well be thought the Philistines had Zerah the Ethiopian, who brought into the field an army of million men, had no more than three hundred chariots, (2 Chronicles 14:9) , and no more had Antiochus Eupator in his army, ``And with him Lysias his protector, and ruler of his affairs, having either of them a Grecian power of footmen, an hundred and ten thousand, and horsemen five thousand and three hundred, and elephants two and twenty, and three hundred chariots armed with hooks.''

Darius in his vast army had but two hundred ^F1 , and in the very large one which Mithridates brought against the Romans there was but one hundred; and now 3000 men in three hundred chariots were but a proportion to 6000 horsemen, which in those times and countries was a large cavalry:

and the people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude ;
the infantry was so large as not to be numbered; however, the phrase denotes a great multitude of them; Josephus says ^F2 there were 300,000 footmen:

and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven ;
where Saul, before he went to Gilgal, had his quarters, (1 Samuel 13:2) . Bethaven was a place near Bethel, on the east of it, (Joshua 7:2) though Bethel itself was afterwards so called when Jeroboam had set up the worship of the calves there, (Hosea 4:15) it signifying the house of vanity or iniquity.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Curtius, l. 4. c. 9.
• F2: Antiqu, l. 6. c. 6. sect. 1.