Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

1 Samuel 15:4

in 1 Samuel 15

So Saul summoned the troops and numbered them at Telaim—200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.

KJV

And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.

⋯

This verse in 1 Samuel 15

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Two hundred thousand - and ten thousand - The Septuagint, in the London Polyglot, have Four Hundred thousand companies of Israel, and Thirty thousand companies of Judah. The Codex Alexandrinus has Ten thousand of each. The Complutensian Polyglot has Two Hundred thousand companies of Israel, and Ten thousand of Judah. And Josephus has Four Hundred thousand of Israel, and Thirty thousand of Judah. All the other versions are the same with the Hebrew text; and there is no difference in the MSS.

This site's exposition

numbered them in Telaim

on 1 Samuel 15:4-6

Saul musters two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand of Judah at Telaim, then carries out a careful evacuation of the Kenites before the attack lands. The Kenites are spared by name because they showed kindness to Israel in the exodus generation, the same kindness clause the history books use of Rahab and later of Ruth. Saul can distinguish, and act on the distinction, when mercy is the question; the chapter's failure is that he distinguishes the very same way where the command left no room for it.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

Saul therefore commanded the people and counted them, etc. And we, in order to be able to conquer the battles of vices, must gather gentle and innocent thoughts in our heart; namely, imitators of that spotless Lamb, who deigned to redeem us with his blood …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 6, Chapter 1 · Written before 604.

proposed

By the name of lambs, men of great prudence are usually designated. Hence through John it is said: "I saw upon Mount Sion a Lamb standing, and with him a hundred forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads" (Rev. 14:1). For those who had taken up the name of the Lamb were called lambs. Explaining who they are, he also says: "These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins."

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Saul numbered them in Telaim, which signifies lambs. He numbered then like lambs (so the vulgar Latin), numbered them by the paschal lambs (so the Chaldee), allowing ten to a lamb, a way of numbering used by the Jews in the later times of their nation. Saul drew all his forces to the city of Amalek, that city that was their metropolis (

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

And Saul gathered the people together,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Saul gathered the people together--The alacrity with which he entered on the necessary preparations for the expedition gave a fair, but delusive promise of faithfulness in its execution.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Telaim - Probably the same as “Telem” Jos 15:24, one of the uttermost cities of Judah, toward the coast of Edom. The name means “lambs,” and was probably so called from the numerous flocks. Two hundred thousand ... - A wonderful contrast with the six hundred men who composed his whole army before 1Sa 13:15, and a proof how completely for a time the Philistines had been driven back. The separate mention of the men of Judah shows how little union there was between Juduh and Ephraim even at this time; a circumstance which throws light upon the whole after history.

The words behind it

14 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.

  • וַיְשַׁמַּ֤עand he summoned

    vayshama'H8085 →1159 times

  • שָׁאוּל֙Saul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעָ֔םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • וַֽיִּפְקְדֵם֙and he mustered them

    vaiyifkedemH6485 →303 times

  • בַּטְּלָאִ֔יםat <the> Telaim

    batelaimH2923 →

  • מָאתַ֥יִםtwo hundred

    matayimH3967 →581 times

  • אֶ֖לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • רַגְלִ֑יfoot soldier[s]

    ragliH7273 →

  • וַעֲשֶׂ֥רֶתand ten

    vaaseretH6235 →176 times

  • אֲלָפִ֖יםthousand<s>

    ʾalafimH505 →505 times

  • אֶת־with

    ʾet-H854 →929 times

  • אִ֥ישׁ<the> man of

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • יְהוּדָֽה׃Judah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

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

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

8 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 13:15

    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.

    it leads to

    • 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,

    • 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…

    • 1 Samuel 13:6–7

      Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

  • Through

    Joshua 15:24

    Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 23:14

      And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.

    • 1 Samuel 23:24

      So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon,

    • 1 Samuel 23:19

      Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?

  • Through

    1 Samuel 11:8

    And when Saul numbered them at Bezek, there were 300,000 Israelites and 30,000 men of Judah.

    it leads to

    • Judges 1:4–5

      When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.

    • 2 Samuel 24:9

      And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

The Death of Agag — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Death of Agag — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 15 →

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 6, Chapter 1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 15 →