I ntroduction: The beginnings of Saul as king are fascinating. On the basis of 1Sam. 11, Saul will receive widespread popular approval and we may assume that his rule begins at the end of this chapter. In 1Sam. 9:1–10:1, Saul was set as king over Israel privately by God. At the end of 1Sam. 10, Saul was brought before the people of Israel and selected as their king possibly by lots and possibly as an elaborate ceremony. In this chapter, Saul takes a leadership position from a military standpoint (which was the public’s chief reason for desiring a king), and this gains him popular approval, which essentially begins and solidifies his rule over all Israel.

Also in this chapter we see shades of the division of Israel into two nations. In v. 8, we have troops coming from Israel (the northern portion of the Jewish nation) and from Judah (the southern portion). Recall that in earlier chapters, the Philistines drove a wedge between the two parts of Israel. Recall that even before then, the judges were often from specific areas. Therefore, even though in this chapter, we see Saul gaining popular approval throughout all Israel, we also recognize that there are two separate territories that make up Israel; and we know from history that these two territories will split into two sovereign nations after the death of Solomon.

This chapter begins with Nahash, a ruler of the Ammonites, besieging the kingdom of Israel from the east. If the additional information found in certain translations and the information found in Josephus are to be believed, Nahash had attacked the Gadites and the Reubenites with great success. To help you with the location, Reuben and Gad are both tribes on the east side of the Jordan. Gad’s boundaries went from the Sea of Chinnereth down to the Dead Sea and the tribe of Reuben occupied the area east of the Dead Sea, on the northern half of that body of water (see the map below right). Given the relative juxtaposition of these countries, these are the two countries that we would expect Ammon to attack first. If we were to depend upon most translations, we might see this as an attack upon Jabesh- gilead, without reference to what has gone before. However, the additional material indicates that Nahash has attacked most of Gad and Reuben and that the surviving males find themselves in the city of Jabesh-gilead, which appears to be the last hold out for the eastern Israelis. These men

The attack spoken of in this chapter is upon the city of Jabesh-gilead, which, as you can see by the map, is located near the Jordan River (approximately 3 miles east of the Jordan) in east central the territory of Gad. As is obvious from the map, Ammon butts up against Gad and Reuben, and would be a natural place for the Ammonites to begin their invasion of Israel. Jabesh-gilead is pretty far from the heavily populated areas of Israel, making their deliverance unlikely.

ask for terms of servitude and Nahash says that his terms are he will gouge out their right eyes and then make them servants of his. They then ask for a seven-day reprieve from their fate, and Nahash grants that reprieve. The men of Jabesh-gilead send messengers throughout Israel, and Saul responds. He assembles an Israeli resistence, under the guidance of Samuel and in the power of the Holy Spirit. In v. 11, we have the actual battle, wherein Saul successfully strikes and scatters the forces of Nahash. On the basis of this great victory, Saul is made king over all Israel through popular recognition. This victory and Saul’s ascension to the throne of Israel are both celebrated in Gilgal.

There are a couple of things which will stand out in this chapter: even though Saul will apparently assume the reigns of civil rule, Samuel will be looked to make decisions which should belong to a king (1Sam. 11:12). This is to be expected, as Samuel has been the unquestioned ruler over Israel for several decades now (my guess would be for at least 40 years and possibly even 60 years). Therefore, even though the people will cheer on Saul as their king, they will still go to Samuel for some guidance as he was a judge.

You should notice Saul’s bravery. Even though, when his name was called to rule over Israel, he hid (1Sam. 10:22), when he is called upon to lead an army to destroy the Ammonites, he took a military leadership role without wavering. After defeating the Ammonites and being publically inducted as King over Israel, Saul, for a moment, had the opportunity to destroy his political enemies—and graciously, he chose not to. Saul had no problems with those who disagreed with him being allowed to live. Recall that the first king of Israel, Abimelech, killed all of his half-brothers in order to insure his claim to the throne. Saul was willing to be gracious to his enemies.

Finally, you may recall that back in 1Sam. 10:8, Samuel seemed to prophesy about Saul going to Gilgal and waiting 7 days for Samuel to come and to offer up sacrifices to God. We will discuss if this chapter contains the fulfillment of Samuel’s words.

Slavishly literal:

Moderately literal:

[Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.] And so about a month later, went up Nahash the Ammonite and so he encamped against Jabesh-gilead; and so say all men of Jabesh unto Nahash, “Cut for us a covenant and we will serve you.”

1Samuel

11:1

[Historical note: Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.] About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and encamped against Jabesh-gilead. Then all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

[Historical note: During this same time period, Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was attacking and oppressing both the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would typically gouge out their right eyes and Israel had no one to deliver them. Nahash had gouged out the right eyes of virtually every male east of the Jordan, with the exception of 7000 men who had escaped from the Ammonites and were holed up in Jabesh-gilead]. About a month after Saul was selected as king of Israel, Nahash the Ammonite brought his vicious army to Jabesh-gilead. The men at Jabesh begged Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will be your servants.”

Let’s see what others have done. Also, I will include a portion of what the NRSV tacks onto the end of the previous chapter. God’s Word™ includes that same portion, but places it where it logically belongs—at the beginning of this chapter. Several other translations include this either as a footnote or as part of the text. I have included a large number of translations here because you may or may not have this additional text in your translation and you may wonder from where I am teaching.

Dead Sea Scrolls [Na]has king of the [Ammonites oppressed the Gadites and the Reubenites viciously. He put out the right [ey]e of a[ll] of them and brought fe[ar and trembling] on [Israel. Not one of the Israelites in the region b[eyond the Jordan] remained [whose] right eye Naha[sh king of] the Ammonites did n[ot pu]t out, except seven thousand men [who escaped from] the Ammonites and went to [Ja]besh-gilead.

Then after about a month,

Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-[Gilead]. So all the people of Jabesh said to Nahash, [“Make a covenant] with [us, and we will serve you.”]

Latin Vulgate And it came to pass about a month after this, that Naas, the Ammonite, came up, and began to fight against Jabes Galaad. And all the men of Jabes said to Naas: Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.

Masoretic Text [Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.] And so about a month later, went up Nahash the Ammonite and so he encamped against Jabesh-gilead; and so say all men of Jabesh unto Nahash, “Cut for us a covenant and we will serve you.”

Septuagint And it came to pass about a month after this that Naas the Ammanite went up, and encamped against Jabis Galaad; and all the men of Jabis said to Naas the Ammonite, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”

Significant differences: The most significant difference is the missing portion of Scripture found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It appears as though these lines were lost around the time of our Lord’s first advent.

CEV [The Dead Sea Scrolls add “King Nahash of Ammon was making the people of Gad and Reuben miserable. He was poking out everyone’s right eye, and no one in Israel could stop him. He had poked out the right eye of every Israelite man who lived east of the Jordan River. Only seven thousand men had escaped from the Ammonites, and they had gone into the town of Jabesh in Gilead. About a month later...] About this time, King Nahash of Ammon came with his army and surrounded the town of Jabesh in Gilead. The people who lived there told Nahash, “If you will sign a peace treaty with us, you can be our ruler, and we will pay taxes to you.”

NJB About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite marched up and laid siege to Jabesh in Gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a treaty with us and we will be your subjects.".

NLT {Dead Sea Scroll 4QSam^a continues [v. 27]: Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and Reubenites who lived east of the Jordan River. He gouged out the right eye of each of the Israelites living there, and he didn’t allow anyone to come and rescue them. In fact, of all the Israelites east of the Jordan, there wasn’t a single one whose right eye Nahash had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites, and they had settled in Jabesh-gilead.}

About a month later, King Nahash of Ammon led his army against the Israelite city of Jabesh-gilead. But the citizens of Jabesh asked for peace. “Make a treaty with us, and we will be your servants,” they pleaded.

REB About a month later Nahash the Ammonites attacked and besieged Jabesh-gilead. The men of Jabesh said to Nahash, ‘Grant us terms and we will be your subjects.’

God’s Word™ King Nahash of Ammon was severely oppressing the tribes of Gad and Reuben. He would poke out everyone’s right eye and allow no one to rescue Israel. There was no one among the Israelites east of the Jordan River whose right eye King Nahash of Ammon had not poked out. However, seven thousand men had escaped from the Ammonites and gone to Jabesh Gilead. About a month later Nahash the Ammonite blockaded Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we’ll serve you.”

JPS (Tanakh) [From Septuagint and 4QSam: About a month later], Nahash the Ammonite marched up and besieged Jabesh-gilead. All of the men of Jabesh-gilead said to Nahash, “Make a pact with us, and we will serve you.”

NASB Now Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us and we will serve you.”

NRSV Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead. About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

Young's Updated LT And Nahash the Ammonite comes up, and encamps against Jabesh-Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh say unto Nahash, ‘Make with us a covenant, and we serve you.’

This prologue found in the NRSV is not found in the Greek nor is it found in the MT but it is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This introduction found in the NRSV certainly seems to make more sense than the way the MT reads (which simply jumps into the subject without any sort of introduction); and it seems unlikely that this would certainly be added to Scripture as a result of someone’s very fruitful imagination.

What is the gist of this verse? The viciousness of Nahash the Ammonite is made clear: he has waged war against the eastern tribes of Israel, and, upon conquering them, would gouge out their right eye. There were only 7000 men of Israel who remained, who were holed up in Jabesh in Gilead.

Translation: [Historical note: Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.] As is obvious, several translations include a rather lengthy prologue to this chapter (this was actually tacked onto the end of the previous chapter). Its origin is one of the manuscripts found with the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QSam^a).

Apparently, we only have but one lone Hebrew manuscript which supports this addition. However, there is some support for this historicity of this additional paragraph, as the NRSV points to Josephus, Antiquities VI. v. 1 (68–71).

Off the Internet, I located the following quote from Josephus: AFTER one month, the war which Saul had with Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, obtained him respect from all the people; for this Nahash had done a great deal of mischief to the Jews that lived beyond Jordan by the expedition he had made against them with a great and warlike army. He also reduced their cities into slavery, and that not only by subduing them for the present, which he did by force and violence, but by weakening them by subtlety and cunning, that they might not be able afterward to get clear of the slavery they were under to him; for he put out the right eyes (9) of those that either delivered themselves to him upon terms, or were taken by him in war; and this he did, that when their left eyes were covered by their shields, they might be wholly useless in war. Now when the king of the Ammonites had served those beyond Jordan in this manner, he led his army against those that were called Gileadites, and having pitched his camp at the metropolis of his enemies, which was the city of Jabesh, he sent ambassadors to them, commanding them either to deliver themselves up, on condition to have their right eyes plucked out, or to undergo a siege, and to have their cities overthrown. He gave them their choice, whether they would cut off a small member of their body, or universally perish. However, the Gileadites were so affrighted at these offers, that they had not courage to say any thing to either of them, neither that they would deliver themselves up, nor that they would fight him. But they desired that he would give them seven days' respite, that they might send ambassadors to their countrymen, and entreat their assistance; and if they came to assist them, they would fight; but if that assistance were impossible to be obtained from them, they said they would deliver themselves up to suffer whatever he pleased to inflict upon them.

Besides the fact that this manuscript is probably the oldest manuscript that we have and is in agreement with Josephus’ historical account (which would have come from the Bible), we also have the fact that Nahash is called the king of the Ammonites in this prologue, a fact which is missing in the MT and Greek texts, and which is abnormal. When a warrior king would attack Israel, they are not simply identified by their nationality, but by their title (see Judges 3:8, 12, 17 4:2 etc.). In other words, we would expect Nahash to be called king of the Ammonites rather than simply an Ammonite.

Several scholars do not blame the missing lines on a poor manuscript, but upon the eye of the scribe jumping from one paragraph with the name Nahash in it to the next paragraph, and leaving out the first paragraph (this is called a parablepsis).

So what we have here is the warrior Nahash, an Ammonite king, who has been attacking the eastern tribes of Israel, defeating the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Apparently, once he has defeated this city or that, he gouges out the right eye of all the males (perhaps even the females). It says that he would not allow them a deliverer, indicating that Nahash struck swiftly and without mercy, not allowing time for Israelites to appeal to their brothers on the west side of the Jordan. Only 7000 men remained (and possibly, 7 family-clans remained) and they were hold up in Jabesh, Gilead, a city located in the northern third of Gad, fairly close to the Jordan River. Gilead is affixed to the name as this general area was originally known as Gilead prior to Israel moving in and conquering it at the end of the exodus.

Now, is there any reason that a scribe would simply not reproduce this section? No, not at all. What probably happened is, we have the problematic manuscripts. Given the many differences that we have come across in the book of Samuel between the Greek and the Hebrew, more differences than could simply be called a matter of translation or interpretation, at some point in time, the Hebrew manuscript must have been extremely poor with many passages partially done due to wear and tear. Apparently, at some point in time, there were only a couple of Samuel manuscripts remaining which could be used (which probably occurred around the time that the LXX was first translated) and they were obviously quite damaged. Possibly to the Masoretes, only the poorest of manuscripts remained for this book; and, not wanting to add any additional material to Scripture, these Masoretes carefully included only the words and verses which they were able to verify. Apparently, at some time or another, a much better manuscript family existed, but we have no idea how widespread this manuscript family was or just who had access to it. However, even our versions of the LXX lack this first verse, which is found only in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the writings of Josephus.

You may recall that there was a small portion of the end of 1Sam. 10:27 which we were uncertain about; that is, it may or may not belong to the end of 1Sam. 10 and it may or may not have been translated correctly. Given that this is translated one way from the Hebrew, but differently in the Greek and Latin and in the Greek of the Dead Sea Scrolls; and given that there was a textual problem right here as well (essentially, what is found above was left out of the Hebrew); this gives credence to the alternate rendering which I have listed below:

Alternate (and possibly the best) translation: And it came to pass after a month... The Greek and apparently a manuscript from the Dead Sea Scrolls begins this chapter with about a month later. That is reasonable and probably belongs in the text.

One month after what? Most people understand this to mean a month after Samuel introduces Saul to the people of Israel as their next king. All of this is in keeping with the additional text and this is how most translations read, with or without the additional text. In my Dead Sea Scrolls, the sense is, Nahash begins to besiege Jabesh Gilead a month after his attacks on eastern Israel began.

Here’s the deal: the elders have gone to Samuel asking for a king. They do not just do this out of the blue. They are not bored and decide, “Hell, what we need is a king.” There is probably something occurring which causes them to go to Samuel and ask for a king, even though this is not specifically mentioned in 1Sam. 8; and what this probably is, is Nahash making his moves against various cities in eastern Israel. Perhaps he has only attacked one or two cities so far. Why would these elders not mention this to Samuel? They want a permanent king, not a temporary deliverer. They do not want someone to come along, save them from Nahash, and then, face some other threat in the future, which requires another deliverer. They want someone who is permanent. Now, the military necessity of a king is cited by these elders (1Sam. 8:20), which suggests that Nahash is just beginning to war against Reuben or Gad.

If this is the case, then it indicates that Nahash is moving quite quickly over eastern Israel. Perhaps just one or two major attacks on a couple of key cities, which result in the eyes being gouged out of all the males, resulted in a scattering of those in eastern Israel. Those who remained were in desperate fear. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Jordan, reports of these attacks are just now reaching western Israel, and therefore, this group of elders go to Samuel to ask for a king. This is further evidences by 1Sam. 12:12, which reads: [Samuel is speaking to the people of Israel] “When you saw that Nahash, the king of the sons of Ammon, came against you, you said to me, ‘Now, but a king will reign over us.’ although Jehovah your God was your king.” This confirms that Nahash advancing against Reuben and Gad was the motivation for asking for a king.

If by any chance you want to see an even more detailed examination of just exactly after what event is one month later, see Robert Gordon, I & II Samuel A Commentary; Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI; ©1986; pp. 62–64.

Translation: ...Nahash the Ammonite went up... Nahash had beaten down almost all of Reuben and Gad; now, he was going to go after their last holdouts, who were in Jabesh.

The name Nahash is nâchâsh (ש ָח ָנ) [pronounced naw-KHAWSH] in the Hebrew, and it means snake, serpent. This is obviously an onomatopoeic word. According to Gnana Robinson, Nahash means serpent in the Sanscrit as well.

It is not clear whether this is a name appropriately given him by the Israelites, or whether he assume this name as one which would strike historic fear in the hearts of the Israelites. Perhaps his parents decided to name their kid snake (no telling what his name means in the Ammonite language; however, given that the Jews and the Ammonites are first cousins, their languages are probably very nearly equivalent.

We will hear more about Nahash in the future; furthermore, we will see a good relationship between himself (or a descendant of his) and King David in the future as well (see 2Sam. 10:2 17:25–27 1Chron. 2:16–17 19:1). You may wonder just how this is even possible; the US and Japan were bitter enemies in 1944; but 1960, our relations had warmed considerably. There is no reason to think that things between Ammon and Israel could not be repaired after 40 or 50 years.

Translation: ...and encamped against Jabesh-gilead. Jabesh besieges Jabesh-gilead, which is just on the other side of the Jordan midway between the Yarmuk and Jabbok Rivers. You may recall Jabesh-gilead from the book of Judges when most of the Benjamites were killed by their fellow Israelites. Once they were down to 600 male Benjamites, the Israelites suddenly realized that they were about to destroy one of the twelve tribes of Jacob. There was another problem: the only city that did not participate in this cleansing effort was Jabesh-gilead. What the Israelites decided to do was to wipe out the male population of Jabesh-gilead and to keep alive 400 virgins to marry those who remained of the Benjamites. See Judges 19–21 for the entire story.

altogether, this gives us: [Historical note: Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.] About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and encamped against Jabesh-gilead;... Assuming the historical information found in the NRSV is correct, Nahash, a powerful leader of the Ammonites, was viciously attacking all of east Israel. In his wake, he left behind men whose right eyes had been gouged out. Josephus gives us a broader picture that apparently some had their hands or feet cut off.

Ammon, as you have observed in the map presented earlier, is east of eastern Israel. The two illegitimate sons of Lot by his two daughters were Moab and Ammon, both of whom were given land east of the Jordan (Gen. 19:38 Deut. 2:19, 37 Joshua 12:2). Israel had trouble with both of these countries throughout history. Moab and Ammon are both mentioned in the book of the Judges (Judges 3:13–30 10:6–11:33). As is true today, Israel was surrounded by enemies, whose hatred rivaled the hatred of her enemies today. You must realize that the Jews are chosen of God, and therefore, we would expect vicious attacks upon Israel throughout all of history. There is more here than mere animosity between sets of peoples—therefore, the resultant viciousness and evil should not be unexpected.

1Samuel 11:1a
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
All I have at this point is the English translation found in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible and from the NRSV (and a few other translations give their version of this as well). I do not have access to the Greek or Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, at this point, I don’t even know if this text is Greek or Hebrew (although it appears as though the 4QSam^a text is Hebrew—I personally have not seen this to confirm it).

1Samuel 11:11b
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
wa (or va) (ַו) [pronounced wah]	and so, and then, then, and	wâw consecutive	No Strong’s # BDB #253
hâyâh (ה ָי ָה) [pronounced haw-YAW]	to be, is, was, are; to become, to come into being; to come to pass	3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect	Strong's #1961 BDB #224
What is actually found here is: k^emachărîysh (שי.רֲח-מ) [pronounced k^e-mah-khuh-REESH], which is simply the kaph preposition followed by the Hiphil participle of to be silent. What follows is not an alternate reading, but what actually would have to be here in order for this to read: And it came to pass after a month...
k^emô (מ׃) [pronounced k^emoh]	like, as, when; thus, so; when, afterwards, as soon as	Adverb/conjunction	Strong’s #3644 BDB #455
chôdesh (ש∵דֹח) [pronounced KHOH-desh]	new moon, month	masculine singular noun	Strong’s #2320 BDB #294
There are several things which would have to be changed in order for this to be the correct rendering. The easy one is, the rho (ר) in Hebrew is often confounded to the dâleth (ד). However, also, a yodh (י) must be removed and a wâw must be added () in a different place in order for this to read And it came to pass after a month... Now, the wâw could be replaced with a vowel point, which would have been added centuries later, meaning that only the yodh would have to disappear to make this work. So, I am not saying that this is incorrect; I am simply showing you that this is not simply a matter of well, you could read it this way, or you could read it that way. It is not that simple. On the other hand, it is a reasonable approach. Furthermore, given that the text at the beginning of the next chapter is problematic, it should not surprised us to have a problem right here.
Now, on the other hand, given that the LXX text reads this way, as do the Dead Sea Scrolls, and given that the Hebrew text is so close to this alternate reading, we may reasonably assume that this should read And it came to pass after a month...

1Samuel 11:1c
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
wa (or va) (ַו) [pronounced wah]	and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore	wâw consecutive	No Strong’s # BDB #253
׳âlâh (ה ָל ָע) [pronounced ģaw-LAWH]	to go up, to ascend, to come up, to rise, to climb	3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect	Strong's #5927 BDB #748
Nâchâsh (שָחָנ) [pronounced naw-KHAWSH]	serpent and is transliterated Nahash	masculine proper noun	Strong’s #5176 BDB #638
׳Ammôwnîy (י.נ-ע) [pronounced ģahm-moh-NEE]	transliterated Ammonite	gentilic adjective with the definite article	Strong’s #5984 BDB #770

1Samuel 11:1d
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
wa (or va) (ַו) [pronounced wah]	and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore	wâw consecutive	No Strong’s # BDB #253
chânah (ה ָנ ָח) [pronounced khaw-NAW]	to bivouac, to camp, to encamp in [or, against], to set up camp	3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect	Strong's #2583 BDB #333
׳al (לַע) [pronounced ģahl ]	upon, beyond, on, against, above, over, by, beside	preposition of proximity	Strong’s #5921 BDB #752
Yâbêsh (שֵבָי) [pronounced yaw^B-VEYSH]	to be dry, dried up, withered; transliterated Jabesh	cognate of verb (Strong’s #3001); acts as a proper noun	Strong’s #3003 BDB #386
Gal^e׳êd (ד̤על-) [pronounced gahl^e-ĢAYD]	witness-pile, hill of witness; and is transliterated Gilead	proper noun; location	Strong’s #1567 BDB #165
Although some exegetes treat this as one noun, Jabesh-gilead; I think the idea is that this is the city Jabesh in Gildean (sort of like Boston, Massachusetts).

1Samuel 11:1e
Hebrew/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	BDB and Strong’s Numbers
wa (or va) (ַו) [pronounced wah]	and so, and then, then, and; so, that, yet, therefore	wâw consecutive	No Strong’s # BDB #253
âmar (ר ַמ ָא) [pronounced aw-MAHR]	to say, to speak, to utter; to say [to oneself], to think	3^rd person masculine plural, Qal imperfect	Strong’s #559 BDB #55
kôl (לֹ) [pronounced kohl]	with a plural noun, it is rendered all of, all; any of	masculine singular construct with a plural noun

Doctrines Alluded To
The Ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament	Various Levitical Offerings