Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.
We reject the emendations which scholars have made to the text here on the basis of what is written in the LXX. As Keil said, "All the ancient versions give the Masoretic Text, not only the Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic, but even Jerome ... It is perfectly evident that Nahash began his siege of Jabesh-gilead shortly after the election of Saul as king at Mizpah."[6]  The only reason for denying this lies in the efforts of critics to establish their theory of "two sources."