11:5
Saul arrived, oblivious to what was happening. Indeed, this seems to be a rather common state of affairs for Saul. Saul asked the people what was going on, and they relayed the message to them that had come from Jabesh-gilead.
11:6
On hearing the news “the Spirit of God suddenly took control of him, and his anger burned furiously”. Anger is not necessarily a bad emotion, but it is a potentially dangerous one. It is right to be angry at injustice, or when your people are in great danger. However, what starts out as righteous anger can very easily morph into unrighteous rage. So we have to be very careful. However, we see here that in this case it was the anger of the Lord that was manifesting in Saul.
11:7
In response Saul took a team of oxen and cut them up into pieces. These pieces were then sent throughout Israel to the various tribes. This action was reminiscent of the Levite and his concubine. The pieces of oxen were sent along with a message calling the people to arms to fight against the Ammonites, and a warning of what would happen if they failed to answer the call. Saul also sent the message in the name of “Saul and Samuel”, perhaps indicating a lack of confidence. The terror of the Lord fell upon the people, and they all responded.
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