Verse 16
16. The watchmen of Saul Who were stationed where they could observe all the movements of the Philistine army.
In Gibeah We are not to suppose that all the watchmen here referred to were stationed in one spot, but that they were placed on different heights north and northeast of Gibeah; and, being sent out from Saul’s headquarters, they there made their reports. So we need not alter the reading Gibeah.
The multitude melted away Dissolved, and perished by killing one another. Their swords were turned against each other, (1 Samuel 14:20,) for Jehovah interposed as in the days of Gideon, (Judges 7:22,) and set his seal to the faith of the youthful hero Jonathan.
They went on beating down one another This, probably, gives the best sense of the Hebrew, וילךְ והלם , and it (that is, the multitude) went and smote. Gesenius renders: “ They went on and were scattered, that is, dispersed themselves more and more.” Others, with the Septuagint, take הלם as an adverb, hither, and, supplying its correlate, render, went hither and thither.
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