And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.
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Commentary
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Gill's Exposition
And when he numbered them at Bezek,.... Which was the place appointed to meet at, the same with that in Jdg 1:4; see Gill on Jdg 1:4 though some take the word to be an appellative, and not, the proper…
Barnes' Notes
Though not expressly stated, it is doubtless implied that he sent the portions by the messengers to the twelve tribes, after the analogy, and probably in imitation, of Jdg 19:29. He made use of the…
Adam Clarke
He took a yoke of open - The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act similar to that of the Levite, Jdg 19:29 (note), where see the note. And both customs are similar to the sending about of the…
What is here related turns very much to the honour of Saul, and shows the happy fruits of that other spirit with which he was endued. Observe here,
I. His humility. Though he was anointed king, and…
Cambridge Bible
he took a yoke of oxen Those doubtless with which he had just been ploughing (1Sa 11:11).
and sentthem] - Them," i.e. the pieces, is rightly supplied. Symbolical acts are often more eloquent than any…
Cross References
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