1 Samuel 13:8

And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed,.... He tarried to the seventh day, but not to the end of it, or towards the close of it, as he should have done: but

And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. He tarried seven days.

Seven days; not seven complete days; for that the last day was not finished plainly appears from Samuel’ s reproof, which had then been groundless and absurd, and he had falsely charged Saul with breaking God’ s command therein, . And as Samuel came on the seventh day, and that with intent to sacrifice; so doubtless he came in due time for that work, which was to be done before sun-setting, ,39. So Saul waited only six complete days, and part of the seventh, which is here called seven days; for the word day is oft used for a part of the day, as among lawyers, so also in sacred Scripture; as , where Christ is said to be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, i.e. one whole day, and part of the other two days. Moreover this place may be thus rendered: He tarried until the seventh day, (as this same phrase is used, , Heb. until the seventh of the days,) (as the Hebrew lamed is oft taken,) the set time that Samuel had appointed.

1 Samuel 13:8 And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel [had appointed]: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.Ver. 8. And he tarried seven days,] i.e., Till part of the seventh day was past; but because patience had not her perfect work, wanting nothing, the line of hope was not drawn out to the full length. Saul lost his kingdom by his precipitancy and prefestination. If Samuel stayed to the last hour, it was not but by direction from the Lord whose ordinary course it is to prove us by delays, and to drive us to exigents, that we may show what we are: for that is every man in truth, that he is in a temptation.

(8) And he tarried seven days.—When was this “set time” appointed? It seems difficult at first to refer back to the day of Saul’s mysterious prophetic consecration (1 Samuel 10:8), which took place at least some three or four years—perhaps much longer—before the event here related, especially as we know that Saul and Samuel had been together on one occasion certainly at Gilgal in the meantime (1 Samuel 11:14-15); and yet the extraordinary solemnity of the warning of the seer at the time of the anointing at Ramah evidently pointed to some event which should in the future happen at Gilgal, and which would be a most important epoch in King Saul’s career. All these conditions are satisfied in the meeting between the prophet and the king, here related. It is best, then, to understand this event as the one alluded to on the day of anointing at Ramah, and to conclude that this grave warning and positive direction had been repeated, probably more than once, since then by the seer to the king. (On the place Gilgal, and on the nature of the “sin of Saul,” which was so terribly punished, see Excursus E and F at end of this Book.) Saul, we read, waited seven days, but before the seventh expired, gave up waiting, and offered the sacrifice without the seer, and thus, as Josephus says, “he did not fully obey the command.” His faith failed him under pressure at the last, and he acted on his own responsibility, quite irrespective of the positive command of God. The people were scattered from him.--This trial of the king’s faith was doubtless a severe one. The panic which pervaded all Israel was every hour thinning the host Saul had gathered round him at Gilgal. The martial king longed for a chance of joining battle: and this he was forbidden to do until the seer had offered sacrifice, and publicly inquired of the Lord; and the day passed by, and Samuel came not. An attack on the part of the Philistine army, encamped at no great distance, seemed imminent, and Saul’s forces were rapidly melting away.

Verse 8. He tarried seven days according to the set time] Samuel in the beginning had told Saul to wait seven days, and he would come to him, and show him what to do, 1 Samuel 10:8. What is here said cannot be understood of that appointment, but of a different one. Samuel had at this time promised to come to him within seven days, and he kept his word, for we find him there before the day was ended; but as Saul found he did not come at the beginning of the seventh day, he became impatient, took the whole business into his own hand, and acted the parts of prophet, priest, and king; and thus he attempted a most essential change in the Israelitish constitution. In it the king, the prophet, and the priest, are in their nature perfectly distinct. What such a rash person might have done, if he had not been deprived of his authority, who can tell? But his conduct on this occasion sufficiently justifies that deprivation. That he was a rash and headstrong man is also proved by his senseless adjuration of the people about food, 1 Samuel 14:24, and his unfeeling resolution to put the brave Jonathan, his own son, to death, because he had unwittingly acted contrary to this adjuration, 1 Samuel 14:44. Saul appears to have been a brave and honest man, but he had few of those qualities which are proper for a king, or the governor of a people.

8–14. Saul’s disobedience and its penalty 8. the set time that Samuel had appointed] It seems clear that the historian intends to refer to Samuel’s injunction in 1 Samuel 10:8, although in all probability the interview there recorded had taken place many years before. But the command may have been repeated now, and in any case the spirit of it survived. Chosen by Jehovah expressly to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, Saul was not at liberty to begin the war of independence upon his own authority, but was to wait until duly commissioned to do so by Samuel.

Had appointed - This appointment has of course nothing whatever to do with that made years before 1 Samuel 10:8, the keeping of which is expressly mentioned at the natural time 1 Samuel 11:15.

8. He tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel — It is proper to complete this sentence, as our translators have done, by had appointed. The reference is to Samuel’s words, as recorded in chap. 1 Samuel 10:8.