Samuel anoints Saul
10
📚Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Is it not because the LORD has anointed you to be the leader over his inheritance 📖?10:1 Anointing with oil spoke of God’s anointing. Saul was declared king on three separate occasions. Here at Ramah the anointing was private and no one but Samuel observed it. At Mizpah there was a public proclamation (1 Sam 10:17-24), and later still at Gilgal Saul was confirmed as king (1 Sam 11:12-15). Samuel accepted Saul as king although, in doing so, his own public position and that of his family was eclipsed. How important it is that God’s servants should be ready to step aside and fade into the background when God’s time comes, and allow others to take the prominent position! Compare John 3:30.⚜
2 📚When you have left me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, “The donkeys which you went to seek are found, and, look, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, ‘What shall I do about my son?’
3 📚“Then you shall go on from there and come to the plain of Tabor, and there three men will meet you going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a wineskin full of wine. 4 📚And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you are to take from their hands.
5 📚“After that you will come to the hill of God 📖, where the garrison of the Philistines is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets 📖 coming down from the high place with a harp and a tambourine and a flute and a lyre before them, and they will prophesy. 6 📚And the Spirit 📖 of the LORD will come on you, and you will prophesy with them and will be changed 📖 into another man. 7 📚And let it be like this: when these signs come to you, do 📖 for yourself as the occasion demands; for God is with you 📖.
10:2-7 Saul had not known Samuel and could not know whether he delivered God’s message. Samuel gave him three signs which would show that Samuel was a true prophet of God and that Saul should believe his message.⚜
8 📚“And you shall go down before me to Gilgal. And, look, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings 📖. You must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do”.
10:8 This was a test for Saul which he failed – 1 Sam 13:8-10.⚜
Saul becomes king
9 📚And it happened when he had turned his back to go away from Samuel, that God gave him another heart. And all those signs took place 📖 that day. 10 📚And when they came to the hill, there a company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came on him, and he prophesied among them.
10:10 Verses 5,6. It is not revealed what sort of prophesying this was. It was done to the accompaniment of music and among a group of prophets (v 5). Perhaps in this case it was simply praising God under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Compare 1 Chron 25:1.⚜
11 📚And it came about, when all who knew him previously saw that now he prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 📚And someone from that place answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
10:11-12 The Spirit of God had begun His work of making Saul a different person, and people noticed it with great surprise.⚜
13 And when he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
14 📚And Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To look for the donkeys. And when we did not see them anywhere, we went to Samuel”.
15 And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you”.
16 📚And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found”. But he did not tell him about the subject of the kingdom 📖, which Samuel spoke about.
17 📚And Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpeh, 18 📚and said to the children of Israel, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians and out of the hands of all the kingdoms and of those who oppressed you. 19 📚And today you have rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your disasters and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘No, but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands”.
20 📚And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
10:20 Apart from God speaking through His prophets, Israel had two methods of determining God’s will in public matters – casting lots (1 Sam 14:42; Josh 18:6-10; Neh 10:34), and the Urim and Thummin (Ex 28:30). In this case they probably cast lots. Only Samuel knew at this time that God had chosen Saul as king. This event was for the purpose of revealing it to the nation.⚜
21 When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he could not be found. 22 📚Therefore they inquired of the LORD further, “Has the man come here yet?” And the LORD answered, “Look, he has hidden himself among the baggage”.
10:22 Saul was initially a shy and retiring person. God’s Spirit made him a different person (v 6), but the old still struggled with the new.⚜
23 📚And they ran and brought him there. And when he stood up among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders on up. 24 📚And Samuel said to all the people, “See the one whom the LORD has chosen; for there is no one like him 📖 among all the people”. And all the people shouted and said, “God save the king!”
25 📚Then Samuel told the people the plan 📖 of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each man to his house.
26 📚And Saul also went home to Gibeah, and a band of men, whose hearts God had touched 📖, went with him. 27 📚But some wicked fellows 📖 said, “How will this man save us 📖?” And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he kept silent.