1 Samuel 11:9

9 So Saul sent the messengers back to Jabesh-gilead to say, “We will rescue you by noontime tomorrow!” There was great joy throughout the town when that message arrived!

1 Samuel 11:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 11:9

And they said unto the messengers that came
From Jabeshgilead, that is, Saul and Samuel said to them, as follows:

thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead:
when they returned unto them, as they were now upon the departure:

tomorrow, by that time the sun be hot;
when it smites with the greatest heat, as at noon: this morrow seems not to be the next from their return home, or going from Saul, but the morrow after they were got home, and should deliver the message to those that sent them, ( 1 Samuel 11:10 ) and so Josephus ^F26 says, it was on the third day the assistance was promised them:

ye shall have help;
Saul with his army by that time would come and raise the siege: and the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh; what Saul had promised, and what a numerous army he had raised, and had now upon the march for their relief, and tomorrow would be with them:

and they were glad;
it was good news and glad tidings to them; it cheered their hearts, and gave them spirit.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 5.) sect. 3.

1 Samuel 11:9 In-Context

7 He took two oxen and cut them into pieces and sent the messengers to carry them throughout Israel with this message: “This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who refuses to follow Saul and Samuel into battle!” And the LORD made the people afraid of Saul’s anger, and all of them came out together as one.

8 When Saul mobilized them at Bezek, he found that there were 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.

9 So Saul sent the messengers back to Jabesh-gilead to say, “We will rescue you by noontime tomorrow!” There was great joy throughout the town when that message arrived!

10 The men of Jabesh then told their enemies, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you can do to us whatever you wish.”

11 But before dawn the next morning, Saul arrived, having divided his army into three detachments. He launched a surprise attack against the Ammonites and slaughtered them the whole morning. The remnant of their army was so badly scattered that no two of them were left together.