1 Samuel 11 - May 12, 2025

Saul's kingship receives public validation when Nahash the Ammonite threatens the Israelite city of Jabesh-gilead with gruesome mutilation. Upon hearing the news, God's Spirit empowers Saul, who rallies Israel by sending pieces of oxen throughout the territory with the threat of similar treatment for non-responders. His assembled force decisively defeats the Ammonites, delivering Jabesh-gilead. In the victory's aftermath, some suggest executing those who had earlier rejected Saul, but the king magnanimously refuses, recognizing that "the Lord has brought deliverance to Israel." Samuel uses this moment of national unity to reconvene at Gilgal and reaffirm Saul's kingship. This chapter demonstrates how crises often reveal authentic leadership while showing how power, properly used, brings deliverance rather than vengeance.