1And Samuel will take a flask of oil and pour upon his head, and he will kiss him and say, Is it not that Jehovah anointed thee for leader over his inheritance? 2In thy going this day from me and thou shalt find two men by the sepulchre of Rachel in the bound of Benjamin in Zelzah; and they said to thee, The asses were found which thou wentest to seek: and behold, thy father cast off the matters of the asses, and was afraid for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? 3And pass on from thence and beyond, and thou camest to the oak of Tabor, there three men shall find thee going up to God, to the house of God, one lifting up three kids and one lifting up three rounds of bread, and one lifting up a skin of wine. 4And they asked thee for peace, and they gave thee two of bread, and thou receivedst from their hands. 5After this thou shalt come to the hill of God, where there Philisteim standing: and it will be when thou comest there to the city, and thou didst light upon a band of prophets coming down out of Bamah, and before them a lyre, and a drum, and a pipe, and a harp; and they prophesying. 6And the shout of Jehovah fell suddenly upon thee and thou shalt prophesy with them, and be turned to another man. 7And it was when these signs shall come upon thee, do for thyself what thy hand shall find, for God is with thee. 8And go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I come down to thee to bring up burnt offerings, to sacrifice sacrifices of peace: seven days shalt thou wait till my coming to thee, and I made known to thee what thou shalt do. 9And it was as he turned away his shoulder to go from Samuel, and God will turn to him another heart: and all these signs will come in that day. 10And they will come there to Gibeab, and behold, a band of prophets to meet him; and the spirit of God will fall suddenly upon him and he will prophesy in the midst of them. 11And it will be all will know him from yesterday the third day, and will see him and behold, he prophesied with the prophets, and the people will say, a man to his neighbor, What was this to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? 12And a man will answer from thence and will say, And who their father? For this it was for a parable, Is Saul also among the prophets? 13And he will finish prophesying and will come to Bamah. 14And Saul's friend will say to him and to his boy, Whither went ye? And he will say, To seek the asses; and we shall see that nothing, and we shall go to Samuel. 15And Saul's friend will say, Announce now, to me, what Samuel said to you. 16And Saul will say to his friend, Announcing, he announced to us that they found the asses; and the word of the kingdom he announced not to him, which Samuel said to him. 17And Samuel will convoke the people together to Jehovah at Mizpeh; 18And he will say to the sons of Israel, Thus spake Jehovah the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I will deliver you out of the hand of Egypt, and out of the hand of all kingdoms pressing you. 19And ye this day rejected your God who himself saves you from all your evils and your straits; and ye will say to him, That thou shalt put a king over us. And now stand ye before Jehovah by your tribes and by your thousands. 20And Samuel will cause all the tribes of Israel to come near, and the tribe of Benjamin will be taken. 21And he will cause the tribe of Benjamin to come near by his families, and the family of Matri will be taken, and Saul son of Kish will be taken: and they will seek and he was not found. 22And they will ask yet of Jehovah, Will the man yet come hither? And Jehovah will say, Behold, he hid himself among the vessels. 23And they will run and and take him from thence, and he will stand in the midst of the people; and he will be high above all the people,. from his shoulders and above. 24And Samuel will say to all the people, See whom Jehovah chose to him, for none like him among all the people. And all the people will shout and say, The king shall live. 25And Samuel will speak to the people the judgment of the kingdom; and he will write in a book and put before Jehovah. And Samuel will send away all the people, a man to his house. 26And also Saul went to his house at Gibeah; and there will go with him the army whom God touched their heart 27And the sons of Belial said, What shall this save us? And they will despise him and will not bring him a gift; and he will be as keeping silence.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 SAMUEL ANOINTS SAUL, AND CONFIRMS HIM BY THE PREDICTION OF THREE SIGNS. (1Sa. 10:1-27)
Then Samuel took a vial of oil--This was the ancient (
Judg 9:8) ceremony of investiture with the royal office among the Hebrews and other Eastern nations. But there were two unctions to the kingly office; the one in private, by a prophet (
1Sam 16:13), which was meant to be only a prophetic intimation of the person attaining that high dignity--the more public and formal inauguration (
2Sam 2:4;
2Sam 5:3) was performed by the high priest, and perhaps with the holy oil, but that is not certain. The first of a dynasty was thus anointed, but not his heirs, unless the succession was disputed (
1Kgs 1:39;
2Kgs 11:12;
2Kgs 23:30;
2Chr 23:11).
kissed him--This salutation, as explained by the words that accompanied it, was an act of respectful homage, a token of congratulation to the new king (
Ps 2:12).
2 When thou art departed from me to-day--The design of these specific predictions of what should be met with on the way, and the number and minuteness of which would arrest attention, was to confirm Saul's reliance on the prophetic character of Samuel, and lead him to give full credence to what had been revealed to him as the word of God.
Rachel's sepulchre--near Beth-lehem (see on
Gen 35:16).
Zelzah--or Zelah, now Bet-jalah, in the neighborhood of that town.
3 the plain--or, "the oak of Tabor," not the celebrated mount, for that was far distant.
three men going up to God to Beth-el--apparently to offer sacrifices there at a time when the ark and the tabernacle were not in a settled abode, and God had not yet declared the permanent place which He should choose. The kids were for sacrifice, the loaves for the offering, and the wine for the libations.
5 the hill of God--probably Geba (
1Sam 13:3), so called from a school of the prophets being established there. The company of prophets were, doubtless, the pupils at this seminary, which had probably been instituted by Samuel, and in which the chief branches of education taught were a knowledge of the law, and of psalmody with instrumental music, which is called "prophesying" (here and in
1Chr 25:1,
1Chr 25:7).
6 the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee--literally, "rush upon thee," suddenly endowing thee with a capacity and disposition to act in a manner far superior to thy previous character and habits; and instead of the simplicity, ignorance, and sheepishness of a peasant, thou wilt display an energy, wisdom, and magnanimity worthy of a prince.
8 thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal--This, according to JOSEPHUS, was to be a standing rule for the observance of Saul while the prophet and he lived; that in every great crisis, such as a hostile incursion on the country, he should repair to Gilgal, where he was to remain seven days, to afford time for the tribes on both sides Jordan to assemble, and Samuel to reach it.
9 when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart--Influenced by the words of Samuel, as well as by the accomplishment of these signs, Saul's reluctance to undertake the onerous office was overcome. The fulfilment of the two first signs [
1Sam 10:7-8] is passed over, but the third is specially described. The spectacle of a man, though more fit to look after his father's cattle than to take part in the sacred exercises of the young prophets--a man without any previous instruction, or any known taste, entering with ardor into the spirit, and skilfully accompanying the melodies of the sacred band, was so extraordinary a phenomenon, that it gave rise to the proverb, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" (see
1Sam 19:24). The prophetic spirit had come upon him; and to Saul it was as personal and experimental an evidence of the truth of God's word that had been spoken to him, as converts to Christianity have in themselves from the sanctifying power of the Gospel.
12 But who is their father?--The Septuagint reads, "Who is his father?" referring to Saul the son of Kish.
17 Samuel called the people together . . . at Mizpeh--a shaft-like hill near Hebron, five hundred feet in height. The national assemblies of the Israelites were held there. A day having been appointed for the election of a king, Samuel, after having charged the people with a rejection of God's institution and a superseding of it by one of their own, proceeded to the nomination of the new monarch. As it was of the utmost importance that the appointment should be under the divine direction and control, the determination was made by the miraculous lot, tribes, families, and individuals being successively passed until Saul was found. His concealment of himself must have been the result either of innate modesty, or a sudden nervous excitement under the circumstances. When dragged into view, he was seen to possess all those corporeal advantages which a rude people desiderate in their sovereigns; and the exhibition of which gained for the prince the favorable opinion of Samuel also. In the midst of the national enthusiasm, however, the prophet's deep piety and genuine patriotism took care to explain "the manner of the kingdom," that is, the royal rights and privileges, together with the limitations to which they were to be subjected; and in order that the constitution might be ratified with all due solemnity, the charter of this constitutional monarchy was recorded and laid up "before the Lord," that is, deposited in the custody of the priests, along with the most sacred archives of the nation.
26 And Saul also went home to Gibeah--near Geba. This was his place of residence (see
Judg 20:20), about five miles north of Jerusalem.
there went . . . a band of men, whose hearts God had touched--who feared God and regarded allegiance to their king as a conscientious duty. They are opposed to "the children of Belial."
27 the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents--In Eastern countries, the honor of the sovereign and the splendor of the royal household are upheld, not by a fixed rate of taxation, but by presents brought at certain seasons by officials, and men of wealth, from all parts of the kingdom, according to the means of the individual, and of a customary registered value. Such was the tribute which Saul's opponents withheld, and for want of which he was unable to set up a kingly establishment for a while. But "biding his time," he bore the insult with a prudence and magnanimity which were of great use in the beginning of his government.
