Kings I 15:17

17 And Samuel said to Saul, Art thou not little in his eyes, a leader of one of the tribes of Israel? and the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel.

Kings I 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 15:17

And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah
Which, in ( 2 Chronicles 16:1 ) is said to be in the thirty sixth year of Asa's reign, or rather of his kingdom; for it can never mean the year of his reign, for Baasha was dead many years before that, since his reign began in the third of Asa, and he reigned but twenty four years, and therefore must die in the twenty seventh of Asa; but it is to be understood of the kingdom of Judah, when it was divided from Israel; from that time to this were thirty six years, seventeen under Rehoboam, three under Abijam, so that this year must be the sixteenth of Asa; thus it is calculated in the Jewish chronology F21, and which is followed by many of the best of our chronologers:

and built Ramah;
a city in the tribe of Benjamin, ( Joshua 18:25 ) , but taken by the king of Israel, which he rebuilt or fortified:

that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah;
that his people might not go to and from Jerusalem, and worship at the temple there; this garrison lying on the borders of both kingdoms, he thought hereby to cut off all communication between them.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 16.

Kings I 15:17 In-Context

15 And Saul said, I have brought them out of Amalec, that which the people preserved, even the best of the sheep, and of the cattle, that it might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, and the rest have I utterly destroyed.
16 And Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night: and he said to him, Say on.
17 And Samuel said to Saul, Art thou not little in his eyes, a leader of one of the tribes of Israel? and the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel.
18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said to thee, Go, and utterly destroy: thou shalt slay the sinners against me, the Amalekites; and thou shalt war against them until thou have consumed them.
19 And why didst not thou hearken to the voice of the Lord, but didst haste to fasten upon the spoils, and didst that which was evil in the sight of the Lord?

Footnotes 1

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.