8 - Bible Commentary | Karuna Sadan

Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” (1 Samuel 11:1)

The name Nahash means serpent or snake. We can see in this account a similarity between satan, our spiritual enemy, and Nahash, the enemy of Israel. The goal of the enemy is to weaken our spiritual sight (our spiritual eyes)

Taking away the right eye of the men of Jabesh would weaken them in war. Likewise, when our spiritual eyes are weakened, it makes us ineffective in spiritual warfare.

⁵ Now there was Saul, coming behind the herd from the field; and Saul said, “What troubles the people, that they weep?” And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6 Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused. (1 Samuel 11:5-6)

What you hear is important because it can either bring the spirit of the Lord on you or the spirit of fear. Faith comes by hearing, and so does fear. (Romans 10:17). In this case, when Saul heard the words of the men Jabesh, the Spirit of God came upon him and moved him to action.

So it was, on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and killed Ammonites until the heat of the day. (1 Samuel 11:11)

The time period of the Morning Watch is from 3:00 am to 6:00 am.

But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.” (1 Samuel 11:13)

Saul wisely knew this was no time to take revenge on his opponents. satan, having failed in the attack through Nahash, now tried to attack Israel even in victory – by dividing the nation against each other. satan will attack us in any way he can, and he often uses times of victory to attack.

Chapter 11