1 Samuel 10:17
in 1 Samuel 10After this, Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Samuel called the people together unto Jehovah to Mizpah;
KJV
And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh;
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This verse in 1 Samuel 10
Commentary
4 notes on this verse31. Mizpah, as I said, is interpreted as "watchtower." In the ordination of the king, the people are called to Mizpah, because those who come together to ordain a pastor of holy Church are taught to attend to his spiritual qualities, not his carnal ones. To watch, indeed, is to recognize the preacher to be ordained through the standard of sacred Scripture. For sacred Scripture is the mirror of the elect. A pastor is known as if through a mirror, when he is shown by his conduct to be such as is proclaimed in sacred eloquence.
This site's exposition
called the people together unto the Lord
on 1 Samuel 10:17-19
Samuel gathers all Israel to Mizpeh and rehearses the exodus deliverance before he says one word about a king, God's acts named first and the people's demand named second. Verse 19 restates in Samuel's own mouth what God had already told him privately at 8:7, that the request for a king is a rejection of the LORD who saved them out of their adversities. The public rehearsal at Mizpeh puts before all Israel what God had already judged in private, so that no one at the casting of lots that follows can say the choice was sprung on them without warning.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord at Mizpeh.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
As it was of the utmost importance that the appointment should be under the divine direction and control, the determination was made by the miraculous lot, tribes, families, and individuals being successively passed until Saul was found.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
But about the matter of the kingship he did not tell him. He possessed a discretionary nature. 7 See Maseches Megillah 13b.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּצְעֵ֤ק | vaiyatzek | and he called together | H6817 → | |
| שְׁמוּאֵל֙ | shemuel | Samuel | H8050 → | 141 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָעָ֔ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| הַמִּצְפָּֽה׃ | hamitzpah | <the> Mizpah | H4709 → | 40 times |
וַיַּצְעֵ֤קand he called together
vaiyatzekH6817 →
שְׁמוּאֵל֙Samuel
shemuelH8050 →141 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָעָ֔םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
הַמִּצְפָּֽה׃<the> Mizpah
hamitzpahH4709 →40 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Judges 20:1Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
it leads to
- Judges 11:11
So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.
- Judges 21:5
The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before…
- 2 Samuel 3:10
to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”
- Joshua 22:12
And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.
- 1 Samuel 3:20
So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD.
- Judges 11:11
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.