1 Samuel 9

1Sa 9:1-14.

SAUL,

DESPAIRING TO

FIND

HIS

FATHER'S

ASSES,

COMES TO

SAMUEL.

1. a mighty man of power--that is, of great wealth and substance. The

family was of high consideration in the tribe of Benjamin, and

therefore Saul's words must be set down among the common forms of

affected humility, which Oriental people are wont to use.

2. Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly--He had a fine appearance;

for it is evident that he must have been only a little under seven feet

tall. A gigantic stature and an athletic frame must have been a popular

recommendation at that time in that country.

3. the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul

. . . arise, go seek the asses--The probability is that the family of

Kish, according to the immemorial usage of Oriental shepherds in the

purely pastoral regions, had let the animals roam at large during the

grazing season, at the close of which messengers were despatched in

search of them. Such travelling searches are common; and, as each

owner has his own stamp marked on his cattle, the mention of it to the

shepherds he meets gradually leads to the discovery of the strayed

animals. This ramble of Saul's had nothing extraordinary in it, except

its superior directions and issue, which turned its uncertainty into

certainty.

4, 5. he passed through mount Ephraim--This being situated on the

north of Benjamin, indicates the direction of Saul's journey. The

district explored means the whole of the mountainous region, with its

valleys and defiles, which belonged to Ephraim. Turning apparently

southwards--probably through the verdant hills between Shiloh and the

vales of Jordan (Shalisha and Shalim)--he approached again the borders

of Benjamin, scoured the land of Zuph, and was proposing to return,

when his servant recollected that they were in the immediate

neighborhood of the man of God, who would give them counsel.

6. there is in this city a man of God--Ramah was the usual residence

of Samuel, but several circumstances, especially the mention of

Rachel's sepulchre, which lay in Saul's way homeward

[1Sa 10:2],

lead to the conclusion that "this city" was not the Ramah where Samuel

dwelt.

peradventure he can show us our way that we should go--It seems strange

that a dignified prophet should be consulted in such an affair. But it

is probable that at the introduction of the prophetic office, the seers

had discovered things lost or stolen, and thus their power for higher

revelations was gradually established.

7. Saul said to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring

the man?--According to Eastern notions, it would be considered a want

of respect for any person to go into the presence of a superior man of

rank or of official station without a present of some kind in his hand,

however trifling in value.

the bread is spent in our vessels--Shepherds, going in quest of their

cattle, put up in a bag as much flour for making bread as will last

sometimes for thirty days. It appears that Saul thought of giving the

man of God a cake from his travelling bag, and this would have been

sufficient to render the indispensable act of civility--the customary

tribute to official dignity.

8. the fourth part of a shekel of silver--rather more than

sixpence. Contrary to our Western notions, money is in the East the

most acceptable form in which a present can be made to a man of

rank.

9. seer . . . Prophet--The recognized distinction in latter times was,

that a seer was one who was favored with visions of God--a view of

things invisible to mortal sight; and a prophet foretold future events.

11-13. as they went up the hill--The modern village, Er-Rameh, lies

on an eminence; and on their way they met a band of young maidens going

out to the well, which, like all similar places in Palestine, was

beyond the precincts of the town. From these damsels they learned that

the day was devoted to a festival occasion, in honor of which Samuel

had arrived in the city; that a sacrifice had been offered, which was

done by prophets in extraordinary circumstances at a distance from the

tabernacle, and that a feast was to follow--implying that it had been a

peace offering; and that, according to the venerable practice of the

Israelites, the man of God was expected to ask a special blessing on

the food in a manner becoming the high occasion.

14. Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place--Such

were the simple manners of the times that this prophet, the chief man

in Israel, was seen going to preside at a high festival undistinguished

either by his dress or equipage from any ordinary citizen.

1Sa 9:15-27.

GOD

REVEALS TO

SAMUEL

SAUL'S

COMING, AND

HIS

APPOINTMENT TO THE

KINGDOM.

15, 16. Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before--The

description of Saul, the time of his arrival, and the high office to

which he was destined, had been secretly intimated to Samuel from

heaven. The future king of Israel was to fight the battles of the Lord

and protect His people. It would appear that they were at this time

suffering great molestation from the Philistines, and that this was an

additional reason of their urgent demands for the appointment of a king

(see

1Sa 10:5; 13:3).

18-20. Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is--Satisfying

the stranger's inquiry, Samuel invited him to the feast, as well as to

sojourn till the morrow; and, in order to reconcile him to the delay,

he assured him that the strayed asses had been recovered.

20, 21. on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on

all thy father's house?--This was a covert and indirect premonition

of the royal dignity that awaited him; and, though Saul's answer shows

that he fully understood it, he affected to doubt that the prophet was

in earnest.

21. And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest

of the tribes of Israel, &c.--By selecting a king from this least

and nearly extinct tribe

(Jud 20:46-48),

divine wisdom designed to remove all grounds of jealousy among the

other tribes.

22. Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the

parlour--The toil-worn but noble-looking traveller found himself

suddenly seated among the principal men of the place and treated as the

most distinguished guest.

24. the cook took up the shoulder . . . and set it before Saul. And

Samuel said, Behold that which is left; set it before thee, and

eat--that is, reserved

(see on

Ge 18:7;

Ge 43:34).

This was, most probably, the right shoulder;

which, as the perquisite of the sacrifice, belonged to Samuel, and

which he had set aside for his expected guest. In the sculptures of the

Egyptian shambles, also, the first joint taken off was always the right

shoulder for the priest. The meaning of those distinguished attentions

must have been understood by the other guests.

25-27. Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house--Saul was

taken to lodge with the prophet for that night. Before retiring to

rest, they communed on the flat roof of the house, the couch being laid

there

(Jos 2:6),

when, doubtless, Samuel revealed the secret and described the peculiar

duties of a monarch in a nation so related to the Divine King as

Israel. Next morning early, Samuel roused his guest, and conveying him

on his way towards the skirts of the city, sought, before parting, a

private interview--the object of which is narrated in the next

chapter.