1 Samuel 11:2

1Sa 11:2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this [condition] will I make [a covenant] with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it [for] a reproach upon all Israel.

Ver. 2. On this condition will I make a covenant.] Slaves he would make them, and perpetually so, - stigmatical slaves, utterly disabled to deliver themselves out of his hands.

That I may thrust out all your right eyes.] This was most inhuman and insolent. The devil - as another Nahash, which signifieth a serpent - would likewise put out the right eye of faith, and leave us only the left eye of reason; look to him narrowly. Those that would deprive the people of the Scriptures, and muzzle them in ignorance, do the like.

And lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.] For a base people that would live upon any terms; that boasted also of an almighty God, but durst not confide in him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 11:2. And lay it for a reproach upon all Israel — That is, disgrace the whole Hebrew nation, by serving some of their people in this opprobrious manner; for it must necessarily have reflected great dishonour upon the whole state, that they should suffer any of their people to be served so. He probably meant also to disable them for war, in which the right eye was of most use, their shields, which they carried in their left hands, in a great measure covering their left eyes. He proposes, however, to leave them one eye, that they might be fit to serve in any mean and base office.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:2 gouge out the right eye: Mutilation of captured soldiers was a common practice in the ancient Near East. These disfigured soldiers would have lost all depth perception, seriously curtailing their potential for fighting in a revolt.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This declareth that the more near the tyrants are to their destruction, the more cruel they are.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

thrust out all your right eyes--literally, "scoop" or "hollow out" the ball. This barbarous mutilation is the usual punishment of usurpers in the East, inflicted on chiefs; sometimes, also, even in modern history, on the whole male population of a town. Nahash meant to keep the Jabeshites useful as tributaries, whence he did not wish to render them wholly blind, but only to deprive them of their right eye, which would disqualify them for war. Besides, his object was, through the people of Jabesh-gilead, to insult the Israelitish nation.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. I may thrust out all your right eves] This cruel condition would serve at once as a badge of their slavery, and a means of incapacitating them from being effective warriors. Theodoret observes, "He who opposes his shield to the enemy with his left hand, thereby hides his left eye, and looks at his enemy with his right eye; he therefore who plucks out that right eye makes men useless in war." Josephus gives the same reason.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) On this condition.—The horrible cruelty of this scornful proposal gives us an insight into the barbarous customs of this imperfectly civilised age. Indeed, many of the crimes we read of in these books—crimes which, to modern ears, justly sound shocking and scarcely credible—are referable to the fact that civilisation and its humanizing influences had made but little way as yet among the nations of the world.

The object of Nahash’s cruelty was to incapacitate the inhabitants of Jabesh from ever further assisting his enemies in war; they would henceforth be blinded in the right eye, while the left eye would be concealed by the shield which fighting-men were in the habit of holding before them.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. that I may thrust out all your right eyes] Such barbarities are not unknown in the East even now. Vambéry describes the blinding of prisoners as a regular practice at Khiva. Travels in Central Asia, p. 138. The savage character of the Ammonites is attested by Amo_1:13. The loss of the right eye was intended to disable them for war, the left eye being covered by the shield, as the amputation of his thumbs and great toes (Jdg_1:7-8) was designed to incapacitate a man for the use of the bow and destroy his swiftness of foot.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Nahash the Ammonite answered them,.... In a very haughty and scornful manner:

on this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes; some Jewish writers go into a mystical and allegorical sense of these words, as that Nahash ordered the book of the law to be brought, which was their right eye, that he might erase out of it these words:

an Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; others understand it of the sanhedrim, which were the eyes of Israel; and others, which come a little nearer to the sense, of the slingers and archers, the desire of the eyes of Israel; and who, by having their right eyes thrust out, would be in a great measure spoiled for taking aim; for the words are to be understood literally; the intention of Nahash was to disable them for war, and that they might become quite unfit for it, as Josephus observes (r); the left eye being under the shield, as it usually was in war, and the right eye plucked out, they would be as blind men: he did not choose to have both their eyes thrust out, for then they could have been of no use and service to him as slaves or tributaries:

and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel; that they did not come up to the relief of their brethren, and defend them, and signifying that they must all expect the same treatment from him.

(r) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eyes: strange proposal! He would not render them quite blind, that he might not be deprived of their service. But he wished to render them unfit for war, (Calmet) as the buckler covers the left eye; (Josephus) and people who shoot with bow and arrow, keep it closed. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That I may thrust out all your right eyes; partly for a reproach, as it here follows; and partly to disable them from managing offensive weapons in battle; for their left eye served only or chiefly for defence, being covered by those large shields which then they used, and held in their left hand. He leaves them one eye, that they might be fit to serve him in any mean and base office.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Thrust out all your right eyes — This would incapacitate them for war, because the shield was carried on the left arm, and would thus partially be in the way of the left eye; but this loss of one eye would not render them unfit for other service, and the conqueror might still use them as slaves.

A reproach upon all Israel — Because they were unable to defend a part of their nation from such a barbarous treatment; and also to remind Israel that the Ammonites still claimed, as they did in the days of Jephthah, that a part of their land had been unjustly taken from them. Jdg_11:13.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thrust out, &c. - Partly for a reproach, as it here follows; and partly, to disable them. He leaves them one eye, that they might be fit to serve in any mean and base office.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Each right eye. Explain it literally. But the Midrash Aggadah [explains it figuratively, that he said,] "Bring me your Torah scroll which was given by the right hand [of God], and I will burn it, because He wrote in it, "Neither an Ammonite nor a Moavite may enter [into Adonoy's community]."

A sign of shame. An insult.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.