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NASB | 1 Samuel 13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty two years over Israel. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Samuel 13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel. |
Bible Question:
Ok, concerning 1 Samuel 13:1. Why is it not clear on how old Saul is when he was annointed King over Israel? Some Texts omitt the first verse, and some uses "Saul was..., then others say thirty or forty years old, lastly others say Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel. This is all confusing to me, can someone of knowledge please explain this to me, thank you and may you and yours be blessed. |
Bible Answer: Greetings Satnj! Here is what the Bible Knowledge Commentary says about 1 Sam. 13:1: ********** 13:1 . If the setting of the reaffirmation of Saul’s kingship and Samuel’s address on that occasion is the first anniversary of his coronation, it may be that the events of this chapter occurred after his second anniversary. This is a possible interpretation of the textually difficult passage translated by the NIV as Saul was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel 42 years. The Hebrew is literally, “Saul was years old when he began to reign and he reigned two years over Israel.” Obviously a figure has dropped out of the first part of the statement, and the second part cannot mean that he reigned for a total of only two years. Old Testament chronology implies—and Paul in his address at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:21) distinctly teaches—that Saul reigned for 40 years, no doubt a round number but close to the actual figure. There is no reason to think that the number “two” is suspect, however, for all manuscripts and versions retain it. It is only the desire to see 1 Samuel 13:1 as a regular formula for kingship (as in 2 Sam. 2:10; 5:4; 1 Kings 14:21; 22:42; etc.) that leads many scholars to postulate that “40” or some other figure is missing. In the context, however, the historian is not introducing a kingship formula (why do so here, well into Saul’s reign?), but is probably indicating that the Ammonite threat had come in Saul’s first year and now, in his second, the Philistines must be encountered. A problem remains with the first part of the Hebrew statement, “Saul was years old. . . .” Many scholars, following Origen (ca. a.d. 185-254), postulate “30” (so niv). Since Jonathan, Saul’s son, was already grown then and served as a military commander, Saul would have been older than 30. It is more likely that the figure to be supplied is “40” though this too is difficult to reconcile with the description (1 Sam. 9:2) that Saul was, at the time of his anointing, “an impressive young man.” Of course “young” in this latter passage may not be a good translation for the Hebrew baµh\uÆr, a word that could be rendered “choice.” The best translation of 13:1 would seem to be, “Saul was [40] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned over Israel for two years.” This is further supported by the next verse which begins with a verb in the preterite tense, a construction indicating a close connection with the previous clause. “Saul chose . . . ” (v. 2) implies that after he had reigned for two years Saul began to select and train a regular army, not the larger militia he had used previously. *********** I hope this helps! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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Questions and/or Subjects for 1 Sam 13:1 | Author | ||
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Providence | ||
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jessphillips | ||
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jessphillips | ||
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SATNJ | ||
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Morant61 |