1 Samuel 13:1

SAUL 'S PROBATION AND FAILURE ( CHS . 13-15.).

EXPOSITION

WAR AGAINST THE PHILISTINES (verse 1-14:46).

Saul's age and length of reign. Saul reigned one year . This verse literally translated is, "Saul was one year old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel." In its form it exactly follows the usual statement prefixed to each king's reign, of his age at his accession, and the years of his kingdom ( 2 Samuel 2:10 ; 2 Samuel 5:4 ; 1 Kings 14:21 ; 1 Kings 22:42 , etc.). The rendering of the A.V. is too forced and untenable to be worth discussing. As we have seen before, the numerals in the Books of Samuel are not trustworthy; but the difficulty here is an old one. The Vulgate translates the Hebrew literally, as we have given it; the Septuagint omits the verse, and the Syriac paraphrases as boldly as the A.V.: "When Saul had reigned one or two years." The Chaldee renders, "Saul was as innocent as a one-year-old child when he began to reign." In the Hexaplar version some anonymous writer has inserted the word thirty, rashly enough; for as Jonathan was old enough to have an important command ( 1 Samuel 13:2 ), and was capable of the acts of a strong man ( 1 Samuel 14:14 ), his father's age must have been at least thirty-five, and perhaps was even more. As regards the length of Saul's reign, St. Paul makes it forty years ( Acts 13:21 ), exactly the same as that of David ( 1 Kings 2:11 ) and of Solomon ( 1 Kings 11:42 ); and Josephus testifies that such was the traditional belief of the Jews ('Antiq.,' 1 Samuel 6:14 , 1 Samuel 6:9 ). On the other hand, it is remarkable that the word here for years is that used where the whole number is less than ten. The events, however, recorded in the rest of the book seem to require a longer period than ten years for the duration of Saul's reign; thirty-two would be a more probable number, and, added to the seven and a half years' reign of Ishbosheth (see 2 Samuel 5:5 ), they would make up the whole sum of forty years ascribed by St. Paul to Saul's dynasty. It is quite possible, however, that these forty years may even include the fifteen or sixteen years of Samuel's judgeship. But the two facts, that all the three sons of Saul mentioned in 1 Samuel 14:49 were old enough to go with him to the battle of Mount Gilboa, where they were slain; and that Ishbosheth, his successor, was forty years of age when his father died, effectually dispose of the idea that Saul's was a very short reign.

OCCASION OF THE FIRST WAR AGAINST THE PHILISTINES ( 1 Samuel 14:2-7 ).