Though not expressly stated, it is doubtless implied that he sent the portions by the messengers to the twelve tribes, after the analogy, and probably in imitation, of Jdg 19:29. He made use of the revered name of Samuel to strengthen his own weak authority. Samuel accompanied Saul in the expedition 1Sa 11:12.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Sa 11:7-11

And he took a yoke of oxen.

Rallying to the Kings standard

Everything seems to point to this as the time when a decisive blow may be struck. If we are only equal to the situation, we may do something effectual in our time for the spread of the kingdom of God. I daresay you remember that scene in Scotts Lady of the Lake, where Roderick Dhu gathers the clan to war by sending through the land the cross dipped in blood. Wherever the symbol went there was a general uprising, and Norman left his new-made bride and took hold of the consecrated symbol, and rushed forth to rouse the land, and all the minor duties were absorbed in the one great and one all-absorbing duty to the cross. Oh, would that this spirit possessed all the clansmen of Jesus, and when He sends His Cross through the land let us not remain among our joys or sorrows or minor duties, but let us rally to His side and strike for victory. And into this missionary crusade we may enter with every assurance of success. (Hugh Brown.)

Enthusiastic leaders

Caesar might never have conquered Britain if his standard bearer had not aroused the soldiers by leaping into the water and rushing for the shore and many a splendid possibility is lost for lack of enthusiasm to lead off. We seem afraid of it; we put off our boots and dabble about the edge of it, but catch us tripping and taking a header! (Weekly Pulpit.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 7. He took a yoke of open] The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act similar to that of the Levite, Jdg 19:29, where see the note. And both customs are similar to the sending about of the bloody cross, to call the clans to battle, practised by the ancient Highlanders of Scotland. See at the end of this chapter. 1Sa 11:15

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel; wisely considering, that the sight of mens eyes do much more affect their hearts than what they only hear with their ears. He joins Samuel with himself, both because he was present with him, as appears from 1Sa 11:12, and that hereby he might gain the more authority to his command, and strike the greater terror into all despisers of it.

The fear of the Lord; either,

1. A great fear; great things being oft thus expressed; as cedars of God, mountains of God, &c. Or,

2. A fear sent upon them by God, as Gen 35:5, that they should not dare to deny their help.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. he took a yoke of oxen, and hewedthem in pieces(see Jud19:29). This particular form of war-summons was suited to thecharacter and habits of an agricultural and pastoral people. Solemnin itself, the denunciation that accompanied it carried a terriblethreat to those that neglected to obey it. Saul conjoins the name ofSamuel with his own, to lend the greater influence to the measure,and to strike greater terror unto all contemners of the order. Thesmall contingent furnished by Judah suggests that the disaffection toSaul was strongest in that tribe.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And he took a yoke of oxen,…. Of his own or his father’s, which he had just followed out of the field, and for which chiefly that circumstance is mentioned:

and hewed them in pieces; as the Levite did his concubine, Jud 19:29

and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers; some carrying a piece one way, and some another, throughout all the tribes; for to them all the government of Saul extended, and which by this he let them know it did:

saying, whosoever cometh not after Saul and after Samuel; he names both, because he himself, though chosen king, was not inaugurated into his office, nor was Samuel put out of his; and because he knew he was despised by some, who would not object to and refuse the authority of Samuel, and therefore if they would not follow him, they would follow Samuel; and he mentions himself first, because of his superior dignity:

so shall it be done unto his oxen; be cut to pieces as these were; he does not threaten to cut them in pieces, but their oxen, lest he should seem to exercise too much severity at his first coming to the throne:

and the fear of the Lord fell on the people; they feared, should they be disobedient, the Lord would cut them to pieces, or in some way destroy them, as well as Saul would cut their oxen to pieces; for their minds were impressed with a sense of this affair being of the Lord:

and they came out with one consent; or “as one man” t, as if they had consulted together; being under a divine impulse, they set out from different parts about much the same time, and met at a place of rendezvous next mentioned.

t “tanquam vir unus”, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(7) A yoke of oxen.In a moment all the great powers of Saul, hitherto dormant, woke up, and he issued his swift commands in a way which at once showed Israel that they had got a hero-king who would brook no trifling. In that self-same hour, striking dead the oxen standing before his plough, he hews them in pieces, and handing a bloody strip to certain of the men standing around him, weeping for grief and shame and the wrong done to Israel, bade them swiftly bear these terrible war-signals throughout the length and breadth of the land, and by these means to rouse the nation to prompt action.

On this strange war-signal of king Saul, Ewald, in his History of Israel, Book II., section iii. 1 (note), remarks, how in like manner it was formerly the custom in Norway to send on the war-arrow; and in Scotland a fire-brand, with both ends dipped in blood, was dispatched as a war-token.

Not improbably Saul cut the oxen into eleven pieces, and sent one to each of the other tribes.

And the fear of the Lord fell on the people.It was some such mighty awakening under the influence of the Spirit of the Eternal, as is here related of King Saul, which suggested to the poet Asaph the bold but splendid image of the seventy-eighth Psalm, when, after describing in moving language the degradation and bitter woe of fallen Israel, the singer, struck with a new inspiration, bursts forth with Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies, &c. (Psa. 78:65). The people rose as one man (see margin) against the enemies of their national freedom. It was the same Spirit of the Lord which inspired Saul to put himself at the head of the children of Israel which now laid hold of all the people, lifting them up, and giving them new strength and resistless courage, and the mighty feeling that God was with them.

It was owing to some influence of a similar nature that with scanty numbers, ill-armed and ill-trained, the Swiss won for their land centuries of freedom on memorable fields like Laupen and Morat, though the proudest chivalry of Europe was arrayed against them. it was the same Spirit which impelled the peace-loving traders of the marshes of Holland to rise as one man, and to drive out for ever from their loved strip of fen land the hitherto invincible armies of Spain. No oppressor, though backed by the wealth and power of an empire, has ever been able to resist the smallest people in whose heart has burned the flame of the Divine fire of the fear of the Lord.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

7. Took oxen, and hewed them in pieces Lucian says that among the ancient Scythians, when any great injury called for punishment, an individual who was deeply interested in the matter cut an ox in pieces and sent it round, whereupon all who would help avenge the wrong that had been done took a piece, and swore by it to do his utmost to punish the offender. The import of this symbolical act the words of the messengers explained. It was the king’s prerogative to call the people out to battle; this act showed that he was terribly in earnest. Saul’s conduct could not but remind the people of the similar act of the Levite of Mount Ephraim, (Jdg 19:29,) and also of the bitter vengeance wrought on the inhabitants of this same Jabesh-Gilead for their refusal to respond to that call. Jdg 21:10.

After Saul and after Samuel He adds the name of Samuel to his own in order to strengthen the authority and influence of his command.

Fear of the Lord fell A fear inspired by Jehovah. The people were made to feel that a most important movement for the honour of all Israel was at hand.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Sa 11:7. Took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces See the note on Jdg 19:29. Bochart Hieroz. pars 1: lib. 2 cap. 33 and Martin’s Explic. des Textes.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Sa 11:7 And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent [them] throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.

Ver. 7. And he took a yoke of oxen. ] His own, likely, which he was following from the field. 1Sa 11:5 These he slayeth and sendeth abroad, as that Levite did his dead concubine, Jdg 19:29 and as the Scots do their fire cross, with proclamation that all men above sixteen years of age, and under sixty, shall come into the field, to oppose the common enemy. a

So shall it be done unto his oxen. ] He knew that deeds would persuade more than words; and that fear of punishment prevaileth most with the many. He therefore taketh upon him like a king, which yet would have been to small purpose, but that –

The fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. ] Whereas otherwise the malcontents would have said, Minarum strepitus, Asini crepitus.

a Life of Edw. VI, by Sir Jo. Heywood, 20.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

hewed. Always used of dividing what is already dead, and mostly of sacrifices.

messengers = the messengers.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

with one consent. Hebrew as one man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

he took: The sending the pieces of the oxen was an act similar to that of the Levite – see note on Jdg 19:29. An eminent Scotch writer describes the rites, incantations, and imprecations used prior to the fiery cross being circulated, to summon the rough warriors of ancient times to the service of their chief; and he alludes to this ancient custom, which in comparatively modern times, has been practised in Scotland; and proves that a similar punishment of death, or destruction of their houses, for disobeying the summons, was inflicted by the ancient Scandinavians, as recorded by Olaus Magnus, in his History of the Goths. This bears a striking similarity to the ancient custom of the Israelites. With the Highlanders, a goat was slain; with the Israelites, an ox. The exhibition of a cross, stained with the blood of the sacrificed animal, was the summons of the former, while part of the animal, was the mandate of the latter. Disobedience in one nation was punished with the death of themselves or oxen, and burning of their dwellings in the other.

hewed: Jdg 19:29

Whosoever: Jdg 21:5-11

the fear: Gen 35:5, 2Ch 14:14, 2Ch 17:10

with one consent: Heb. as one man, Jdg 20:1

Reciprocal: Jdg 11:5 – to fetch Jdg 21:10 – Go and smite Ezr 10:8 – And that whosoever

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Sa 11:7. Sent them throughout all the coasts Wisely considering that the sight of mens eyes does much more affect their hearts than what they only hear with their ears. After Saul and after Samuel He joins Samuel with himself, both because he was present with him, and that hereby he might gain the more authority. The fear of the Lord fell on the people A fear was sent upon them by God, so that they did not dare to deny their help. The fear of God will make men good subjects, good soldiers and good friends to their country. They that fear God will make conscience of their duty to all men, particularly to their rulers. They will honour the king, and all that are in authority under him. They came out with one consent God, who put courage into Saul, and now induced him to assert his royal authority over the people, influenced them with a fear of offending him, so that they readily came and joined him at his call.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

11:7 And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent [them] throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after {d} Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.

(d) He adds Samuel because Saul was not yet approved by all.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes