1 Samuel 10

1 poured it upon his head. This private anointing of Saul by Samuel, as in the case of David (xvi.), was only a prophetic intimation of the Divine purpose that Saul should eventually be elected king, and would serve to teach him that, though chosen by the people, he owed his authority to God.

3 plain. Rather, “oak.”

Beth-el. Going, probably, to sacrifice at Jacob’s altar (see Gen. xxxv. 6, 7; Judges xx. 18), as the regular observances of the tabernacle were interrupted.

5 the hill of God. Heb., “Gibeah of God.”

a company of prophets. This is the first allusion to the so-called “schools of the prophets,” of which Samuel is supposed to have been the founder. In these schools a number of men were trained to discharge the duty of public teachers. A “prophet,” in the Scripture sense of the word, is not only a “fore-teller,” but a “forth-teller,” or expounder of the truth. By the means of the Israelite prophets the law of God became more generally known, and a marked improvement in the spirit and practice of the people was the result. Besides a knowledge of the law, they were instructed in sacred psalmody, also accompanied by “prophesying”—that is, in the art of composing and singing sacred hymns, often with instrumental music.

8. See note on xiii. 8.

12 it became a proverb. This was used as a proverbial saying when any one was seen to be mingling with persons to whom he had before been a stranger, and for whose society and pursuits his previous education and habits had not prepared him.

17. Mizpeh. Cp. Judges xx. 1; 1 Sam. vii. 5.

22 if the man should yet come thither. Probably, “Has there yet come hither a man?” i.e., “some one besides those we have seen.”

Stuff. “Baggage.”

26 a band. Rather “the host” (R.V.). The main body of the people accompanied him from the assembly.

27 brought him no presents. A strong mark of disrespect (see note on ix. 7) and disloyalty to God, the nation, and Saul, for which they narrowly escaped death: see xi. 12, 13.