1 Samuel 11 · a question people ask
Is 11:7 meant to recall Judges 19?
Saul's home is Gibeah (10:26, 11:4), the name of the town of Benjamin in Judges 19 (Judges 19:14). In Hebrew, Saul "cut them in pieces" (11:7) with the verb Judges uses in 19:29 and 20:6 (tap cut them in pieces), and throughout all the borders of Israel (11:7) is the same three Hebrew words as in Judges 19:29. Those verses are cited here, not retold. 1 Samuel 11 doesn't mention Judges, so whether the likeness is meant is a question of reading. Christians read it in two main ways. Both agree that 11:7 gives its own meaning in words: "Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen" (11:7).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The likeness is meant to be heard
Those who read it this way point to how much the two share: the verb for cut in pieces (Judges 19:29; 11:7), the words throughout all the borders of Israel (Judges 19:29; 11:7), Gibeah (Judges 19:14; 11:4), and Jabesh Gilead, the town from which "no one came" to the assembly at Mizpah (Judges 21:8). Israel answered both calls as one: the congregation "was assembled as one man" (Judges 20:1), and here "they came out as one man" (11:7). On this reading, the chapter sets Saul's call from Gibeah, which ends in rescue for Jabesh Gilead, beside the one in Judges.
Judges 19:14 · Judges 19:29 · Judges 20:1 · Judges 21:8 · 1 Samuel 11:1 · 1 Samuel 11:4 · 1 Samuel 11:7
A call to arms explained by its own words
Those who read it this way point out that the words aren't only Judges 19's. The elders of Jabesh had already sent messengers "to all the borders of Israel" (11:3), with the same three Hebrew words. The verb is also the Law's word for cutting up an offering, "He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces" (Leviticus 1:6), and at Carmel Elijah says, "let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces" (1 Kings 18:23). On this reading Saul's act needs no earlier story to explain it, because 11:7 explains it: "so shall it be done to his oxen" (11:7).
1 Samuel 11:3 · Leviticus 1:6 · 1 Kings 18:23 · 1 Samuel 11:7
The verses
“Saul also went to his house in Gibeah; and the army went with him, whose hearts God had touched.”
“Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice and wept.”
“He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, then sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man.”
“So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.”