Saul's first opportunity to distinguish himself came when peril developed for the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead. The Ammonite king besieged the place, and in response to the people's appeal for terms, he proposed to thrust out all their right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel (1 Sam. 11).
Numbers 32 comes to mind here, and the singular request of the two-and-a-half tribes to Moses. Jordan had not yet been crossed, the real enemies of the Lord and His people had still to be overthrown, yet these tribes sought a portion for themselves where they were. The place was the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and in their eyes was good for cattle. Material prosperity for themselves, not the glory of God, was the governing motive in their request. “Wherefore,” said they, “if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.” Moses was deeply grieved, for he personally longed to go over and participate in the goodly inheritance that a gracious God had searched out for His people. Nevertheless he granted the tribes what they asked for.
Jordan is a familiar type of death, but not (as supposed by some) the death of the body, but the death of Christ as applied experimentally to ourselves while still in the body. Thus the Apostle says in Colossians 2:20, “dead with Christ,” and in chapter 3 verse 1, “risen with Christ.” Have we really accepted this position? If we have, then we are already in our soul's consciousness across Jordan. We realize union with Christ in the heavenly places, and we know something of the sweetness of the Apostle's marvelous outburst in Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”