1 Samuel 11 - Saul's Victory Over Nahash and the Renewal of the Kingdom

1. This chapter is the height of Saul's kingship — his first military action, ending in total victory and
2. Saul here is a king in the fullest sense — functioning exactly as the judges did, who were themselves kings.
   1. "The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul" (v. 6) — the identical language used of Othniel, Gideon, and Samson.
   2. His rallying of Israel through the hewn oxen (v. 7) mirrors the hewn concubine of Judges 19.
   3. He is God's instrument of deliverance from both the physical enemy (Nahash) and Israel's own spiritual
3. The Lord receives the credit, not Saul.
   1. When some want to execute the men who had earlier rejected Saul's kingship (cf. 1 Sam. 10:27), Saul refuses:
   2. Saul names God as the author of the victory. The mercy shown is God's mercy, not a display of Saul's
4. The chapter makes Saul's later failure all the more tragic — he knew what Spirit-empowered, God-glorifying