And he took a yoke of oxen
Of his own or his father's, which he had just followed out of the field, and for which chiefly that circumstance is mentioned:
and hewed them in pieces;
as the Levite did his concubine, ( Judges 19:29 )
and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of
messengers;
some carrying a piece one way, and some another, throughout all the tribes; for to them all the government of Saul extended, and which by this he let them know it did:
saying, whosoever cometh not after Saul and after Samuel;
he names both, because he himself, though chosen king, was not inaugurated into his office, nor was Samuel put out of his; and because he knew he was despised by some, who would not object to and refuse the authority of Samuel, and therefore if they would not follow him, they would follow Samuel; and he mentions himself first, because of his superior dignity:
so shall it be done unto his oxen;
be cut to pieces as these were; he does not threaten to cut them in pieces, but their oxen, lest he should seem to exercise too much severity at his first coming to the throne:
and the fear of the Lord fell on the people;
they feared, should they be disobedient, the Lord would cut them to pieces, or in some way destroy them, as well as Saul would cut their oxen to pieces; for their minds were impressed with a sense of this affair being of the Lord:
and they came out with one consent;
or "as one man" F20, as if they had consulted together; being under a divine impulse, they set out from different parts about much the same time, and met at a place of rendezvous next mentioned.