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1 Samuel 13:15

in 1 Samuel 13

Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men.

KJV

And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men.

This verse in 1 Samuel 13

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
Samuel arose - Saul could not return to his own station at Michmash, seeing it was occupied by the Philistines; so, perhaps by Samuel’s advice (since, according to the text, he preceded him there), he effected a junction with Jonathan at Gibeah. Some would read “Saul” instead of “Samuel.”

This site's exposition

about six hundred men

on 1 Samuel 13:15-16

Saul counts about six hundred men, a remnant of the three thousand of verse 2 and a fraction of the 300,000 mustered at 11:8. The numbers carry the argument without comment: a king who summoned a nation in chapter 11 now holds a garrison, and the cause named is disobedience, not the enemy’s size. Saul’s camp stands in Benjamin while the Philistines hold Michmash across the pass.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

But Samuel rose up and went up from Gilgal, etc. The prophet demonstrates the same change of the kingdom which he had predicted by word also by changing the place. For even the Lord, who said of the unbelievers: "Arise, let us go from here" …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 3 · Written before 604.

proposed

23. As if from a height to level ground, the teacher of holy Church comes when he rebukes the faults of sinners, and bends the loftiness of his station when he humbles himself through the affection of charity to examine the crimes of the wicked. Rightly therefore it is said of him who had reproved the sinner: 'He arose, and went up.' For the chosen preacher rises when he raises himself by intention to the height of his spiritual way of life; and he ascends when he arrives at the lofty eminence of that same life through habitual practice.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and it does not appear that he either prayed with Saul or directed him. Yet in going up to Gibeah of Benjamin, which was Saul's city, he intimated that he had not quite abandoned him, but waited to do him a kindness another time.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Thus were they for their sin diminished and brought low. The Philistines ravage the country, and put all the adjacent parts under contribution. The body of their army, or standing camp (as it is called in the margin,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And Samuel arose,....
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

And Samuel arose - Though David, in the Divine purpose, is appointed to be captain over the people, yet Saul is not to be removed from the government during his life; Samuel therefore accompanies him to Gibeah, to give him the requisite help in this conjuncture. About six hundred men - The whole of the Israelitish army at this time, and not one sword or spear among them!

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

But now, your kingship shall not endure. Because Moshe said so in the Torah, "[and] he does not stray from the commandment right or left, so that days of his reign are lengthy…." 10 Devarim:20. Hence, if he does stray, the days [of his reign] will not be lengthy.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Samuel 13:14:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

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. 4 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

29 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיָּ֣קָםand he arose

    vaiyakomH6965 →628 times

  • שְׁמוּאֵ֗לSamuel

    shemuelH8050 →141 times

  • וַיַּ֛עַלand he went up

    vaiyaalH5927 →890 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הַגִּלְגָּ֖ל<the> Gilgal

    hagilgalH1537 →41 times

  • גִּבְעַ֣תGibeah of

    givatH1390 →45 times

  • בִּנְיָמִ֑ןBenjamin

    binyaminH1144 →166 times

  • וַיִּפְקֹ֣דand he mustered

    vaiyifkodH6485 →303 times

  • שָׁא֗וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעָם֙the people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • הַנִּמְצְאִ֣יםwho were found

    hanimtzeimH4672 →455 times

  • עִמּ֔וֹwith him

    imoH5973 →1050 times

  • כְּשֵׁ֥שׁabout six

    kesheshH8337 →216 times

  • מֵא֖וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • אִֽישׁ׃man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • וַיֵּלֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • לְדַרְכּוֹon way his

    ledarkoH1870 →707 times

  • וְיֶתֶרand the rest of

    veyeterH3499 →

  • הָעָםthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • עָלָהit went up

    ʾalahH5927 →890 times

  • אַחֲרֵיafter

    ʾachareiH310 →715 times

  • שָׁאוּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • לִקְרַאתto meet

    likratH7122 →139 times

  • עַם־[the] people

    ʾam-H5971 →1873 times

  • הַמִּלְחָמָה[of] the battle

    hamilchamahH4421 →320 times

  • וַיָּבֹאוּand they went

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הַגִּלְגָּל<the> Gilgal

    hagilgalH1537 →41 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

6 stops

Each 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

    1 Samuel 14:2

    Meanwhile, Saul was staying under the pomegranate tree in Migron on the outskirts of Gibeah. And the troops who were with him numbered about six hundred men,

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 10:28–29

      Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Samuel 13:15–16

      Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went up to Gibeah in Benjamin. And Saul numbered the troops who were with him, about six hundred men.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 13:2

    He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And…

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 10:26

      Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.

    • 1 Samuel 13:5

      Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of…

    • 1 Samuel 14:31

      That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were very faint.

    • 1 Samuel 13:23

      And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.