1 Samuel 9

9 1 Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. 2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a young man and a goodly : and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he : from his shoulders and upward he was higher 3 than any of the people. And the asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

Verses 4-14. Saul’s search brings him to Ramah and to a meeting with Samuel.

15,16. Now the LORD had revealed unto Samuel a day before Saul came, saying, To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be prince over my people Israel, and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines : 17 for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. And when Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said unto him, Behold the man of whom I spake to thee ! this same shall have 18 authority over my people. Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I 19 pray thee, where the seer’s house is. And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer : go up before me unto the high place, for ye shall eat with me to-day : and in the morning I will 20 let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them ; for they are found. And for whom is all that is 21 desirable in Israel ? Is it not for thee, and for all thy father’s house ? And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel ? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin ? wherefore then speakest thou to me after this 22 manner ? And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the guest-chamber, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty 23 persons. And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I 24 said unto thee, Set it by thee. And the cook took up the thigh, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which hath been reserved ! set it before thee and eat ; because unto the appointed time hath it been kept for thee, for I said, I have in- 25 vited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. And when they were come down 26 from the high place into the city, he communed with Saul upon the housetop. And they arose early : and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of 27 them, he and Samuel, abroad. As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still at this time, 10 1 that I may cause thee to hear the word of God. Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that the LORD hath anointed thee to be prince over his inheritance ?

Verses 2-8. Samuel assures Saul by three signs. He will meet : (1) two men at a certain place with word from his home ; (2) three men at another point bearing gifts for him ; (3) a band of prophets at yet another point whom he shall be moved to join. Samuel further bids Saul tarry at Gilgal seven days until his coming.

9. And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart : and all those signs came to pass that day. 10 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him ; and the spirit

11 of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetimes saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the 12 people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And one of the same place answered and said, And who is their father? 13 Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place. 14 And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To 15 seek the asses: and when we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel. And Saul’s 16 uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not.

The Divine direction for which prophet and people were to wait was not long withheld. Its object, if we may venture to judge, was to embody in the person of the new king the ideal which Israel had had in view in making their demand for a monarchy. He should possess all the natural attractions and martial qualities which the people could desiderate in their king; he should reflect their religious standpoint at its best; but he should also represent their national failings and the inmost defect of their religious life: that of combining zeal for the religion of Jehovah, and outward conformity to it, with utter want of real heart submission to the Lord, and of true devotedness to Him. In truth, the history of Saul is a summary and a reflection of that of Israel. A monarchy such as his must first succeed, and finally fail when, under the test of trials, its inmost tendencies would be brought to light. Such a reign was also necessary, in order to bring out what was the real meaning of the people’s demand, and to prepare Israel for the king of God’s election and selection in the person of David. A. E.

The Lord did not refuse the people’s request, as He would have done if the thing desired had been in itself sinful, and the appointment of a king had been at variance with the Divine constitution of Israel. But He granted it in such a way as to teach them that while the kingdom, with God’s presence and favor, might be a great blessing, it would be the reverse if erected and maintained in a spirit of insubordination to the Divine will and authority. He gave them first in Saul a king without God, then in David a king after God’s own heart. W. H. G.

9 : 2. To an Oriental people, a stately and commanding personality was essential to an ideal king. Nor could any one have more fully realized the wishes of the people in this respect than Saul. “A choice young man and a goodly; there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he; from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.” W. G. B.

3. How far God fetches his purposes about! The asses of Kish, Saul’s father, are strayed away: what is that to the news of a kingdom? God lays these small accidents for the ground of greater designs: the asses must be lost; none but Saul must go with his father’s servant to seek them; Samuel shall meet them in the search. Bp. II.

4-6. They seek for them two days in vain; resolve at last to return, but finding themselves near Ramah, the dwelling of Samuel, the servant suggests that they should consult the prophet. How simple, how trivial, we might say; how purely accidental, how remote from any visible connection with the filling up of the throne of a kingdom—all the incidents of this search after these lost asses. Yet all foreseen—all pre-arranged—fitted in with a Divine communication made to Samuel (verses 15, 16), to whom the very day and hour of Saul’s coming to him were pre-announced, they all formed part of that plan or method by which the Divine purpose relative to Saul’s elevation to the throne of Israel was at once indicated and executed. What was true of this part of Saul’s history was as true of every other part of it; and what was true of him is as true of every other man—as true of each of our lives. All is under the eye, all moves obedient to the will of God: his power preserving all, his wisdom directing all; the great and the little, the seemingly trivial and the apparently important, conspiring together to fulfil his ends. The truth is, we must either bring God into all, or keep God out of all. To him and to his presiding Providence all must be attributed—all or nothing. Never, if but the right idea of Him be in our thoughts—never can we bring Him in too often, or associate Him too closely, too constantly, with the whole current of our existence, with every incident of every hour of every day. Hanna.

15,16. Little did Saul think that his coming and his errand was so noted of God, as that it was fore-signified unto the prophet; and now, behold Samuel is told a day before of the man, time, and place of his meeting. 17. The same God, that foreshadowed Saul to Samuel, now points to him, “See, this is the man;” and commands the prophet to anoint him governor over Israel. He that told of Saul before he came, knew before he came into the world what a man, what a king he would be; yet he chooseth him out, and enjoins his anointing. Bp. II.

19-27. To prepare Saul, it was necessary to fall forth in him expectations, it might be vague, of great things; to inspire him with absolute confidence in Samuel as the medium through whom God spake; and finally, by converse on the deepest concerns of Israel, to bring out what lay inmost in his heart, and to direct it to its proper goal. Accordingly, Samuel invited Saul first to the feast and then to his house, at the outset intimating that he would tell him all that was in his heart. A. E.—“Go up before me,” said the prophet, “to the high place, for ye shall eat with me to-day, and to-morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart.” The young Benjamite obeys, little prepared for what ensues. Strange that when the sacrifice is over, and the thirty invited guests—all men of mark—sit down to the feast, that there should be a place at such a table and among such guests for one so young and so unknown; stranger, that that place should be the one of highest honor; stranger still, that as the feast went on, the portion, prepared and reserved as for some peculiarly distinguished guest, should be set before him, and that the prophet should turn to him and say before them all, “Set it before thee, and eat; for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people.” But strangest of all, the private interview that follows. The sun has set, the feast is over, the guests are gone, when Samuel summons him to the house-top, and there reveals to him the purpose of the Eternal, and tells him that he is to be called to the throne of Israel. Night and sleep break up the conference; but soon as the day dawns Samuel hastens to renew it. They go forth together; and so soon as they get clear of the town, Samuel says to Saul, “Bid the servant pass on before us, but stand thou still awhile, that I may show thee the word of God.” Who can tell us what that word of the Lord was which, when once more alone, the prophet poured into Saul’s listening ear? Deeper far than all the impressions already made were those created by the words of the aged and honored delegate of Heaven—who closed and crowned all by drawing out a vial of oil and pouring it on Saul’s bent head, and kissing him, and saying, “Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?” Hanna.

It was the kiss of congratulation upon the dignity to which he had been raised; and, while it indicated the dignified respect of Samuel to the man appointed to reign over the house of Israel, it also testified his cheerful acquiescence in the appointment, and his willingness to hand over the government to him. No man ever resigned the first power of the state into other hands with so much courtesy, tenderness, dignity, and grace. Samuel was truly a great man. Kit.

The sacred oil was used for Saul’s ordination as for a Priest. He was the “Lord’s Anointed” in a peculiar sense, that invested his person with a special sanctity. And from him the name of “the Anointed One” was handed on till it received in the latest days of the Jewish Church its very highest application,—in Hebrew, or Aramaic, the Messiah; in Greek, the Christ. Stanley.—The pure, golden, gently flowing oil, where used in worship, is in general a symbol of the Divine nature and spirit. In the regal consecration, it sets forth the unimpeachable Divine majesty transferred to the person of the anointed one. Only the king is called absolutely “the Lord’s anointed” (1 S. 24 : 6), and, indeed, the king of Israel, of God’s people. As certainly as God stood to this people in a special covenant relation, must its rightful king stand in nearer relation to Jehovah, being the depository and representative of Divine majesty. Certainly we have here a complete contrast to the deification of kings, such as we often meet with on heathen soil. Israel’s king is never the personification or incarnation of Deity, but always remains accountable to his God, and is called to account by God’s messengers, since this God is holy, and gives living revelations of Himself. The Lord who conferred this dignity can also take it away again, but of course only He. Orelli.

10 : 2. Take Saul as you see him before the first wrong step was taken that gave its false bias to all his after-life, how amiable, how attractive does his character appear! He was no mere boy when his father’s asses were lost; he was old enough to be himself a father. Yet he did not think that the parental authority had ceased, the filial obligation departed. Two days he had sought the asses diligently, doing what his father had commanded, but the third he said to the servant that was with him, “Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.” And Saul did not misjudge the affection that his father bore him; on his return home two men met him, dispatched in haste, and said, “Lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?” All this tells strongly in his favor who had established such a place for himself in his father’s heart, and who proved himself such a jealous guardian of that place. Hanna.

2-8. Samuel gave him overwhelming evidence of the truth of his commission, by foretelling to him several of the incidents of his day’s journey. These signs must have removed from Saul’s mind any lingering doubt or suspicion. Sime.

9. God gave him another heart.** Lit. “turned him another heart.” The Divine inspiration transformed the simple countryman into the King and Deliverer of Israel. The heart in Scripture denotes “the centre of the whole mental and spiritual life of will, desire, thought, perception, and feeling.” A. F. K.—In the language of Holy Scripture, his “heart,” that is, in Old Testament language, the spring of his feeling, purposing, and willing, was “turned into another” from what it had been, and he was “turned into another man,” with quite other thoughts, aims, and desires than before. The difference between this and what in the New Testament is designated as “the new man,” is too obvious to require detailed explanation. But we notice two important points: as in the one case it was only an overpowering influence of the Spirit of Elohim, not the abiding Presence of the Paraclete, so the moral effects produced through that influence were not primary, but secondary, and, so to speak, reflex, while those of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of God’s people are direct, primary, and permanent. A. E.

Called suddenly as he was to his royal station, he was endowed with high courage and nobility of spirit. His whole subsequent history, however, shows that he had never been renewed in the spirit of his mind—even amid the apparent solicitude for God’s honor which he sometimes assumed, you can discover nothing like the influence of religious principle. Mason.—How much may a man get from heaven, how far may he be carried on, and yet break down. We may become quite other men from what we once were, and yet not such as Christ would have us to be. There may be an influence of the Spirit furnishing us for many a good and fruitful work on earth, and yet it may not be that unction of the Holy One which guides unto all truth, and unto all holiness, and seals us unto the day of eternal redemption. Hanna.

All those signs came to pass that day. Saul had not advanced far on his journey before “the signs,” given to him by Samuel, began to come to pass. At the tomb of Rachel he lighted on two men, who told him of the finding of the asses. This was the first sign promised. The second befell a little farther on, at the oak (plain) of Tabor. Meeting Saul, apparently at a cross-road, came three men, who, after a friendly greeting, told him they were “going up to God, to God’s house.” One of them was bearing three kids, another three rounds of bread, and the third a skin of wine.

10-12. The third sign befell them as they approached “the hill.” As he and his servant passed a rising-ground or Bamah, close to the place, a band of prophets was seen coming down the slope. Sime.—Moving to the music of psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp, the prophetic afflatus falls upon them; they prophesy; and the scene becomes so inspiring, the sympathies of men so moved go forth with such power upon other souls, that even Saul catches the inspiration and he prophesies! H. C.—Saul himself was overcome of the Spirit of the Lord, prophesied with them, and was as it were changed into another man. People asked in astonishment: “What is this that has come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” A man of the people, however, asked: “Who then is their father?"—the father of the prophets. That is, Is the gift of prophecy a consequence of noble birth, and not much rather a free gift from above? Delitsch.—But it seems evident, from the surprise occasioned by his appearance among the prophets, that he had never shown any zeal for the glory and worship of Jehovah; and the sudden ecstasy at Gibeah, having no foundation of spiritual principle, came to naught. Alas! men may sing spiritual songs with emotion who have no enduring spiritual life. D. F.

1. S. 10 : 10 and 19 : 20.

The sacerdotal order was originally the instrument by which the members of the Jewish theocracy were taught and governed in things spiritual. But during the time of the judges the priesthood sank into a state of degeneracy, and the people were no longer affected by the acted lessons of the ceremonial service. They required less enigmatic warnings and exhortations. Under these circumstances a new moral power was evoked—the Prophetic Order. Samuel was the instrument used at once for effecting a reform in the sacerdotal order, and for giving to the prophets a position of importance which they had never before held. So important was the work wrought by him that he is classed in Holy Scripture with Moses (Jer. 15 : 1 ; Ps. 99 : 6 ; Acts 3 : 24), Samuel being the great religious reformer and organizer of the prophetical order, as Moses was the great legislator and founder of the priestly rule. Samuel took measures to make his work of restoration permanent. For this purpose he instituted companies, or colleges of prophets. One we find in his lifetime at Ramah ; others afterward at Bethel, Jericho, Gilgal, and elsewhere. Their constitution and object were similar to those of theological colleges. Into them were gathered promising students, and here they were trained for the office which they were afterward destined to fulfil. Their chief subject of study was, no doubt, the law and its interpretation ; oral, as distinct from symbolical, teaching being henceforward tacitly transferred from the priestly to the prophetical order. Subsidiary subjects of instruction were music and sacred poetry, both of which had been connected with prophecy from the time of Moses (Ex. 15 : 20) and the judges. Having been themselves trained and taught, the prophets, whether still residing within their college, or having left its precincts, had the task of teaching others. P. S.

Samuel was the Founder of the Prophetic Order. Individuals in previous ages had been endowed with prophetic gifts, but with Samuel commenced the regular succession of prophets which lasted all through the period of the Monarchy, and did not cease until after the Captivity. The degeneracy into which the Priesthood had fallen during the period of the Judges demanded the establishment of a new order for the religious training of the nation. For this purpose Samuel founded the institutions known as the Schools of the Prophets. The “company of prophets” at Gibeah (1 S. 10 : 10), and the scene at Ramah described in 1 S. 19 : 18, imply a regular organization. These societies are only definitely mentioned again in connection with the history of Elijah and Elisha, but doubtless continued to exist in the interval. By means of these the Order was maintained. Students were educated, and common religious exercises nurtured and developed spiritual gifts. But it was not all members of the Order who possessed special prophetic gifts ; nor was it among them only that the gifts of inspiration were found. The prophets were the privy-councillors of kings, historians of the nation, instructors of the people. It was their function to be preachers of righteousness to rich and poor alike : to condemn idolatry in the court, oppression among the nobles, injustice among the judges, formality among the priests. They were the interpreters of the Law, who drew out by degrees the spiritual significance which underlay ritual observance, and labored to prevent sacrifice and Sabbath and festival from becoming dead and unmeaning forms. Strong in the unshaken consciousness that they were expressing the Divine will, they spoke and acted with a fearless courage which no threats could daunt or silence. Thus they proved a counterpoise to the Despotism of Monarchy and the Formalism of Priesthood. In a remarkable passage in his “Essay on Representative Government,” Mr. J. S. Mill attributes to their influence the progress which distinguished the Jews from other Oriental nations. “The Jews,” he writes, “had an absolute monarchy and a hierarchy. These did for them what was done for other Oriental races by their institutions—subdued them to industry and order, and gave them a national life. But neither their kings nor their priests ever obtained, as in those other countries, the exclusive moulding of their character. Their religion gave existence to an inestimably precious institution, the Order of Prophets. Under the protection, generally though not always effectual, of their sacred character, the Prophets were a power in the nation, often more than a match for kings and priests, and kept up in that little corner of the earth the antagonism of influences which is the only real security for continued progress.” A. F. K.

This then was one part of the labors of Samuel. He laid the foundation and fostered the rapid growth of a grand system of national education. At Ramah he trained men to be Israel’s teachers ; but he did not confine himself to this. Most of the great ornaments of David’s court were his disciples, and it is probable that large numbers of the wealthy and more promising youth of the kingdom went to his schools simply to learn something of those wonderful arts of reading and writing, which opened so new a world to the youth of a race always distinguished for its intellectual aptitudes. And through them Samuel raised the whole people mentally and morally. Trained men henceforward were never wanting for high service both at court and throughout the land. Other results followed of which the whole world reaps the benefit. The gift of a series of inspired men would have been impossible had Israel continued in the state of ignorance into which it had sunk in the time of the Judges. Brave fighting men there might have been plenty; occasionally a man of witty jest and proverb like Samson; an Isaiah never. He and his compeers were educated men, speaking to an educated people, and themselves foremost in the rank of teachers. When inspired prophecy ceased, gradually the scribes took the prophets’ place; so much so that in the Chaldee Targum “prophet” is often translated “scribe;” and however inferior their work, yet they kept learning alive. The Old Testament was the fruit of Samuel’s schools, and so also was the New. The noble tree which he had planted was still vigorous when our Lord traversed the land of Israel; for none but an educated people could have understood his teaching, and retained it in their memories, and taught it to mankind. If Paul added to the teaching of Gamaliel the intellectual training of a Greek university, it was in order that he might give to Christian teaching that many-sidedness which was necessary for its reception by Greek and barbarian as well as by Jew. But side by side with him in equal perfectness stands the Jewish John. And it was Samuel who laid the broad foundations of that culture which, carried on first by prophets and then by scribes, made the Jews capable of writing the Bible, of translating the Old Testament into Greek, of teaching its principles in most of the cities of Greece, and finally of going forth as missionaries, carrying with them the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. R. P. S.

PUBLIC ELECTION OF SAUL AS KING. HIS VICTORY OVER THE AMMONITES. HIS GENEROUS FORBEARANCE.