1 Samuel 15:4

4 And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he numbered them as lambs, two hundred thousand of footmen, and ten thousand of men of Judah. (And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he counted, or registered, them in Telaim, and there were two hundred thousand footmen, and also ten thousand men of Judah.)

1 Samuel 15:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 15:4

And Saul gathered the people together
Or "made them to hear" ^F18, by the sound of a trumpet; or by sending heralds into all parts of the land to proclaim the above order of the Lord, and summon them to come to him, perhaps at Gilgal; so the Septuagint version, and Josephus ^F19:

and numbered them in Telaim;
thought to be the same with Telem, a place in the tribe of Judah, ( Joshua 15:24 ) , the word signifies "lambs"; hence the Vulgate Latin version is,

``he numbered them as lambs;''

and the Jews ^F20 say, because it was forbid to number the children of Israel, which was the sin of David; therefore every man had a lamb given him, and so the lambs were numbered, by which it was known what was the number of the people; and the Targum says, this was done with the passover lambs, it being now the time of the passover; but the numbering here made was not of the people of the land in general, and so there was no occasion of such a precaution, only a numbering and mustering of the army when got together and rendezvoused in one place: the sum of which is here given,

two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah;
which last were reckoned separately, as distinct from the other tribes of Israel, to show their obedience to Saul, who was of another tribe, though the kingdom was promised to theirs; but R. Isaiah observes, that the reason why so few of the men of Judah came, in comparison of the other tribes, was, because they envied the government being in one of the tribe of Benjamin, when they thought it should have been in one of theirs; the number is greatly increased in the Septuagint version, which makes the whole to be 400,000, and 30,000 men of Judah; and so Josephus ^F21.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (emvyw) "audire fecit", Vatablus, Drusius.
F19 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 7. sect. 2.
F20 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 22. 2. Jarchi in loc.
F21 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 7. sect. 2.)

1 Samuel 15:4 In-Context

2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have brought to mind whatever things Amalek hath done to Israel; how Amalek against-stood Israel in the way, when Israel went up from Egypt. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have remembered all the things that the Amalekites did to Israel; how they opposed Israel on the way, when Israel came up from Egypt.)

3 Now therefore go thou, and slay Amalek, and destroy thou all his things; spare thou not him, nor covet thou anything of his things; but slay thou from man unto woman, and little child, and sucking, ox, and sheep, and camel, and ass. (And so now go thou, and kill the Amalekites, and destroy thou all of their things; spare thou not any of them, nor covet thou any of their things; but kill thou every man and woman, and little child, and suckling, yea, every ox, and sheep, and camel, and donkey.)

4 And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he numbered them as lambs, two hundred thousand of footmen, and ten thousand of men of Judah. (And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he counted, or registered, them in Telaim, and there were two hundred thousand footmen, and also ten thousand men of Judah.)

5 And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he made ready ambushments in the (dry bed of the) strand. (And when Saul came to the Amalekite city/And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he prepared an ambush in the dry riverbed.)

6 And Saul said to (the) Kenites, Go ye, depart ye, and go ye away from Amalek, lest peradventure I wrap thee in with them; for thou didest mercy with all the sons of Israel, when they went up from Egypt. And Kenites departed from the midst of Amalek (And so the Kenites departed from the midst of the Amalekites).