Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 15:5
And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
5. a city of Amalek ] Perhaps the capital or chief settlement was simply called Ir-Amalek = “the city of Amalek,” as Rabbah was called Ar or Ir-Moab = “the city of Moab” (Num 21:28; Num 22:36).
in the valley ] Heb. nachal, which signifies a ravine or torrent-bed. See Sinai and Palestine, p. 505.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. Saul came to a city of Amalek] I believe the original should be translated, and Saul came to the city Amalek; their capital being called by the name of their tribe.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A city of Amalek; their chief city, where their king was, as is probable from 1Sa 15:8.
Laid wait, intending to draw them forth of their city by some pretence, like that of Joshua, Jos 7, and then to intercept them, and so surprise their city: which haply they did, though it be not here recorded, it being not worth while to mention all the minute circumstances of such matters.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Saul came to a city ofAmalekprobably their capital.
laid wait in thevalleyfollowing the strategic policy of Joshua at Ai (Jos8:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Saul came to a city of Amalek,…. With his army, perhaps the nearest city of it to the land of Israel; though some think that Amalek was the name of the city, and was the metropolis of the nation, and had its name from thence: and laid wait in the valley; which was near the city, to intercept the inhabitants when they should come out against him: or “he contended” w as some render it, he fought with them there; the Targum,
“he ordered his army,”
set them in battle array, or pitched his camp there.
w “et certavit Pagninus”; “ut contenderet cum eo”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) A city of Amalek.Better rendered, The city of Amalek: no doubt, their principal place of arms.
And laid wait in the valley.Better, in a torrent bed, then dry (Arabic, Wady). There is a strange tradition in the Talmud that Sauls mind misgave him when he came to this torrent bed; thus he called to mind the command of Deu. 21:4 to slay an heifer at a torrent in expiation of a murder, and determined not to carry out the stern charge of Samuel, but to spare rather than to slay.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Laid wait in the valley That is, set an ambush (from ) in one of the great wadies of the Negeb, or south country. Strategic warfare was likely to be most successful with those wild sons of the desert.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 15:5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
Ver. 5. And laid wait in the valley. ] Or, Skirmished by the burn or brook: declining the mountains, lest it should have proved prejudicial to the Kenites who dwelt there.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
laid wait: or, fought, 1Sa 15:5
Reciprocal: Jos 8:4 – lie in wait
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 15:5. Saul came to a city of Amalek Or, to the city of Amalek. For the metropolis of the kingdom seems to be here meant, the name of which some have thought was Amalek. And laid wait in the valley Or fought them in the valley; for they came out to give him battle.