1 Samuel 14:32

1Sa 14:32 And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew [them] on the ground: and the people did eat [them] with the blood.

Ver. 32. And the people flew upon the spoil.] Hard hunger, which driveth the wolf out of the wood and breaketh through stone walls, as we say, made them impatient, {a} when once the evening was come, that they might do it with safety of their lives.

And the people did eat them with the blood.] And so with the hazard of their souls, because they did it against an express law of God. {Lev 17:14 Deu 12:16; Deu 15:23} Pain of death prevailed more with them than fear of hell.

{a} Praefestinatione et fame expectare nequibant. - Cajetan.

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 14:32. The people flew on the spoil — Like ravenous birds. They were so faint and hungry that in the evening, when the pursuit was given over, they seized upon and devoured what was eatable of the spoil, and had not patience to wait the killing and draining of the blood from the beasts, in the manner it ought to have been done according to the law. But did eat them with (or rather in) the blood — Thus they who made conscience of obeying the king’s commandment, for fear of the curse, made no scruple of transgressing God’s command.

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

14:32-34 The men were famished, so they ate meat without draining the blood. This act violated God’s law (see Lev 17:10-14) and thus constituted sinning against the Lord. To prevent more sin, Saul used a large rock as a field altar so that the animals’ blood could be properly drained. The incident would never have occurred had it not been for Saul’s foolish oath.

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

Verse 32. The people did eat them with the blood.] They were faint through hunger, and did not take time to bleed the cattle on which they fed. This was another bad effect of Saul's rash adjuration.

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

(32) And the people flew upon the spoil . . . —No doubt, had the men of Israel not been so faint for want of food, and utterly weary, many more of the Philistine host would have fallen: as it was, vast spoil was left behind in the hurried flight; but it was the beasts that the conquerors greedily seized, their hunger was so great. “The moment that the day, with its enforced fast, was over, they flew, like Mussulmans at sunset during the fast of Ramazan, upon the captured cattle, and devoured them, even to the brutal neglect of the Law forbidding the eating of flesh which contained blood.”—Stanley. (See Lev_17:10-14; Lev_19:26.)

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

32. the people did eat them with the blood] As soon as it was evening, the fasting people flew upon the spoil to satisfy their hunger, and in doing so transgressed the primeval prohibition (Gen_9:4), which was re-enacted in the Mosaic law (Lev_17:10-14), and observed in the early days of the Christian Church (Act_15:20).

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 the people flew upon the spoil,.... Like a swift and ravenous bird, as the eagle, and which seems to have its name in Greek from this word, see Isa 46:11. When the evening was come, and they were free from the oath of Saul, and being extremely hungry, faint, and weary, they were even ravenous for food and with the greatest haste and eagerness laid hold on what came first to hand:

and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground; and there they lay in their blood, which in such a position would not run out freely as when slain and hang up:

and the people did eat them with the blood; they were so hungry they could not stay the dressing of them, but ate them raw with the blood in them, not being squeezed or drained out, at least not half boiled or roasted. Some of the Jewish Rabbins (a) are of opinion(a) See Jarchi in loc.

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

Blood, contrary to a two-fold law, Genesis ix. 4., and Leviticus xvii. 14. The blood ought to have been carefully extracted and buried. (Calmet) --- This was another bad effect of Saul’s rash oath. (Worthington)

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).

The people flew upon the spoil, to wit, at evening, when the time prefixed by Saul was expired.

With the blood; not having patience to tarry till the blood was perfectly gone out of them, as they should have done. See Gen 9:4; Lev 17:14; Deu 12:16. So they who seemed to make conscience of the king’s commandment for fear of the curse, make no scruple of transgressing God’s command.

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

32. The people flew upon the spoil, and… did eat… with the blood — This was another unfortunate result of Saul’s hasty oath. So voracious did the people become by the evening time that, in their haste to satisfy their hunger, they waited not for proper dressing and cooking, but ate the sheep and oxen with the blood, thus violating an oft-repeated commandment of the law. See marginal references. The reading of the Keri ויעשׂ, from עושׂ, or עישׂ, to fly upon, after the analogy of 1Sa_15:19, is to be preferred before ויעשׂ of the Kethib, for עשׂה gives in this connexion, no good sense.

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

The people flew upon the spoil. The written text has, "And the people set to work upon the spoil, and took sheep," etc., but as the sentence is not very grammatical the kri has corrected it from 1Sa_15:19. The versions have either "greedily desired," or "turned themselvesunto." The people who had waited until evening, when the oath forced upon them by Saul was over, then in their hunger broke the law doubly: first in killing calves with their dams on the same day, (Lev_22:28) and secondly, more seriously, in so killing them "on the ground" that the blood remained in the carcase. The law enjoined the utmost care in this respect (ibid. 17:10-14), but the people were too weary and hungry to trouble about it.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Slew - At evening, when the time prefixed by Saul was expired. With blood - Not having patience to tarry 'till the blood was perfectly gone out of them, as they should have done. So they who made conscience of the king's commandment for fear of the curse, make no scruple of transgressing God's command.

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

The people rushed. Meaning 'the people rushed,' an expression of, עַיִט [birds of prey [הָעַיִט] who swoop down].

Sheep, cattle and their young. I say that this was in violation of, "It and its young you must not slaughter [on the same day]," and he, therefore, called them sinners. But our Rabbis said in [Perek] שְׁחִיטַת קָדָשִׁים [in Maseches Zevochim] that they sanctified them for peace-offerings, from which they were eating before the sprinkling of the blood. This is what Scripture [means when it] states, "And the people ate with the blood," i.e., they ate of the sacrifice when the blood was yet in the basin.

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.