Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 8:10 - 8:10

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 8:10 - 8:10


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

In accordance with the instructions of God, Samuel told the people all the words of Jehovah, i.e., all that God had said to him, as related in 1Sa 8:7-9, and then proclaimed to them the right of the king.

1Sa 8:11

“He will take your sons, and set them for himself upon his chariots, and upon his saddle-horses, and they will run before his chariot;” i.e., he will make the sons of the people his retainers at court, his charioteers, riders, and runners. The singular suffix attached to בְּמֶרְכַּבְתֹּו is not to be altered, as Thenius suggests, into the plural form, according to the lxx, Chald., and Syr., since the word refers, not to war-chariots, but to the king's state-carriage; and פָּרָשׁ does not mean a rider, but a saddle-horse, as in 2Sa 1:6; 1Ki 5:6, etc.

1Sa 8:12

“And to make himself chiefs over thousands and over fifties;” - the greatest and smallest military officers are mentioned, instead of all the soldiers and officers (comp. Num 31:14; 2Ki 1:9., with Exo 18:21, Exo 18:25). וְלָשׂוּם is also dependent upon יִקַּח (1Sa 8:11), - “and to plough his field (חָרִישׁ, lit. the ploughed), and reap his harvest, and make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots.”

1Sa 8:13

“Your daughters he will take as preparers of ointments, cooks, and bakers,” sc., for his court.

1Sa 8:14-17

All their possessions he would also take to himself: the good (i.e., the best) fields, vineyards, and olive-gardens, he would take away, and give to his servants; he would tithe the sowings and vineyards (i.e., the produce which they yielded), and give them to his courtiers and servants. סָרִיס, lit. the eunuch; here it is used in a wider sense for the royal chamberlains. Even their slaves (men-servants and maid-servants) and their beasts of draught and burden he would take and use for his own work, and raise the tithe of the flock. The word בַּחוּרֵיכֶם, between the slaves (men-servants and maid-servants) and the asses, is very striking and altogether unsuitable; and in all probability it is only an ancient copyist's error for בִּקְרֵיכֶם, your oxen, as we may see from the lxx rendering, τὰ βουκόλια. The servants and maids, oxen and asses, answer in that case to one another; whilst the young men are included among the sons in 1Sa 8:11, 1Sa 8:12. In this way the king would make all the people into his servants or slaves. This is the meaning of the second clause of 1Sa 8:17; for the whole are evidently summed up in conclusion in the expression, “and ye shall be his servants.”

1Sa 8:18

Israel would then cry out to God because of its king, but the Lord would not hear it then. This description, which contains a fearful picture of the tyranny of the king, is drawn from the despotic conduct of the heathen kings, and does not presuppose, as many have maintained, the times of the later kings, which were so full of painful experiences.