1 Samuel 14:38

38 Then Saul said, "Come here, all [you] leaders of the people, {so that we find out} what the sin was this day.

1 Samuel 14:38 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 14:38

And Saul said, draw ye near hither all the chief of the
people
Or, the corners of the peoples ^F7; the princes, as Jarchi interprets it: and so the Targum, the heads of the people, in allusion to the cornerstones in buildings, which are the ornament, strength, and cement of them, see ( Zechariah 10:4 ) , though Abarbinel thinks the tribes themselves are meant, which lay encamped everyone in a corner by themselves, separated from one another; and these he would have brought together; not the heads only, but everyone, small and great, that it might be seen and known where the sin lay; but he should have observed, that the tribes of Israel were not now present with Saul, but a small number of them:

and know and see wherein this sin hath been this day;
he concluded, from having no answer from the Lord, that sin had been committed, which was the cause of it; but never thought of his own rash oath, which was the cause of the people's sinning, and had brought his son into danger; nor the sin of the people in eating the flesh with the blood; nothing ran in his mind but the breach of the oath with which he had adjured the people, and this he was determined to find out, if possible.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (Meh twnp) "anguli populi", Pagninus, Montanus

1 Samuel 14:38 In-Context

36 Saul said, "Let us go down after [the] Philistines [by] night, and let us plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave [alive] a man among them." So they said, "Do all that [is] good in your eyes." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here."

37 So Saul inquired of God, "Should I go down after [the] Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him on that day.

38 Then Saul said, "Come here, all [you] leaders of the people, {so that we find out} what the sin was this day.

39 For as Yahweh lives, who delivers Israel, [I swear] that even if it [is] in Jonathan my son, {he will certainly die}!" But nobody from all the army answered him.

40 Then he said to all Israel, "You will be {on one side}, and I and my son Jonathan will be {on the other}." And the army said to Saul, "Do [what is] good in your eyes."

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "and know and see"