1 Samuel 12:11

11 "Then the LORD sent ¹Jerubbaal and ²Bedan and ³Jephthah and ⁴Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all * around, so that you lived in security.

1 Samuel 12:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 12:11

And the Lord sent Jerubbaal
Or Gideon, as the Targum, for Jerubbaal was the name given to Gideon, when he first became a judge, ( Judges 6:32 )

and Bedan;
if this was one of the judges, he must have two names, or is one that is not mentioned in the book of Judges; the Targum interprets it of Samson; so Jerom ^F8, for the word may be rendered "in Dan"; one in Dan, who was of the tribe of Dan, as Samson was; and it was in the camp of Dan the Spirit of God first came upon him; and Kimchi observes that it is the same as Bendan, the son of Dan, that is, a Danite; and though he was after Jephthah, yet is set before him, because he was a greater man than he; and this way go the generality of Jewish writers {i}; but a man of this name being among the posterity of Manasseh, ( 1 Chronicles 7:17 ) . Junius, and who is followed by others, thinks that Jair is meant, and is so called to distinguish him from a more ancient Jair, the son of Manasseh, and with whom the order of the judges better agrees, see ( Numbers 32:41 ) ( Judges 10:3 Judges 10:4 ) but the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions read Barak; and he may rather be thought to be meant, because he was the instrument of delivering Israel out of the hand of Sisera, the captain of the host of Hazor before mentioned, ( 1 Samuel 12:9 ) and agrees with the words of the apostle, ( Hebrews 11:32 ) , who mentions those judges much in the same order:

and Jephthah, and Samuel;
meaning himself, who was the last of the judges, and who speaks of himself as of a third person, as Lamech does, ( Genesis 4:23 ) and this he did not out of ostentation, but to observe that God had made him an instrument of delivering them out of the hand of the Philistines, which must be fresh in their memory, as he had made use of others before him, when he sent judges, and not kings, and therefore they had no need to ask a king. The Syriac and Arabic versions read Samson instead of Samuel, and which also agrees best with ( Hebrews 11:32 )

and delivered you out of the hands of your enemies on every side;
not the judges, but the Lord; for the word for "delivered" is of the singular number:

and ye dwelled safe;
in the greatest security and confidence, without any fear of enemies, having God their King in the midst of them, and stood in no need of any other king to protect and defend them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Heb. Trad. in lib. Reg. fol. 75. K.
F9 So in T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 25. 1.

1 Samuel 12:11 In-Context

9 "But they forgot the LORD their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

10 "They cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.'

11 "Then the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

12 "When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us,' although the LORD your God was your king.

13 "Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the LORD has set a king over you.

Cross References

• 1. Judges 6:31, 32; Judges 7:1
• 2. Judges 4:6; Judges 11:1
• 3. Judges 11:29
• 4. 1 Samuel 3:20

Footnotes

• [a]. Gr and Syr read "Barak"