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1 Samuel 9

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Introduction of Saul 1–2

1
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. ​
2
And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice 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 than any of the people. ​

The Search for Kish's Asses 3–5

3
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. ​
4
And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.
5
And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.

Saul and His Servant Seek the Seer 6–14

6
And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go. ​
7
Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?
8
And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way. ​
9
(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.) ​
10
Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was.
11
And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?
12
And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, he is before you: make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place: ​
13
As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him.
14
And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place.

The Lord Reveals Saul's Coming to Samuel 15–17

15
Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, ​
16
To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. ​
17
And when Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of! this same shall reign over my people.

Saul Meets Samuel 18–24

18
Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. ​
19
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 to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart.
20
And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house? ​
21
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 so to me? ​
22
And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons.
23
And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee.
24
And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left! set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. ​

Saul Is Anointed King Privately 25–27

25
And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. ​
26
And they arose early: and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad.
27
And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Samuel 9

Verse 1

a mighty man of power — Gibbor chayil, the phrase of Ruth 2:1 for Boaz, ‘a mighty man of wealth’: a man of strength and standing, and Kish is named with four generations of ancestors. He is ‘a Benjamite’, of the tribe that had been reduced to ‘six hundred men’ (Judg 20:47).

Verse 2

a choice young man, and a goodly — Saul’s name is the passive of shaal, ‘asked’, the verb of 8:10, ‘the people that asked of him a king’. His height ‘from his shoulders and upward’ is repeated at his presentation to the people (10:23). Later the LORD says, ‘Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature’ (16:7).

Verse 3

one of the servants with thee — The errand is an ordinary one, to look for the lost asses of Kish. The servant whom Saul takes becomes the one who names Samuel (v.6) and who holds the silver for him (v.8), so the way to the prophet is opened by the servant’s counsel.

Verse 6

a man of God… an honourable man — ‘Honourable’ is kabad, the root of ‘heavy’ and of ‘glory’ (4:18, 21; 5:6). The servant’s reason for trusting Samuel is that ‘all that he saith cometh surely to pass’, which matches 3:19, where the LORD ‘did let none of his words fall to the ground’.

Verse 8

the fourth part of a shekel of silver — A small sum, offered ‘to the man of God, to tell us our way’. Bringing a gift to a prophet appears also in 1 Kgs 14:3, where Jeroboam’s wife is told to take ‘ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey’. ‘Our way’ (derek) is the road to the lost asses; the answer Saul receives is far larger (vv.19–20).

Verse 9

the seer — The aside explains the title. A ‘seer’ (ro’eh, from the verb ‘to see’) was the older name for the one now called a ‘Prophet’ (navi). Samuel is called both, ‘the seer’ (vv.11, 18, 19) here and ‘a prophet of the LORD’ in 3:20, and 1 Chr 29:29 names ‘Samuel the seer’ beside ‘Nathan the prophet’.

Verse 12

a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place — The bamah, ‘high place’, is where the town sacrifices. 1 Kgs 3:2 gives the reason such places were used: ‘there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days’. The people will not eat until Samuel comes, ‘because he doth bless the sacrifice’ (v.13).

Verse 15

the LORD had told Samuel in his ear — Literally ‘had uncovered Samuel’s ear’ (galah, to uncover, with ozen, ear), the idiom Boaz used when he told the kinsman (Ruth 4:4). The revelation comes ‘a day before Saul came’, so Samuel is expecting him when he arrives.

Verse 16

to be captain over my people — The LORD’s word is nagid, a leader or prince, rather than the people’s ‘king’ (melek, 8:5). The ruler ‘may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines’, for ‘their cry is come unto me’, a line that echoes Ex 3:9, ‘the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me’, at the bondage in Egypt. Samuel anoints him nagid in 10:1.

Verse 18

Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate — Saul asks the seer himself where the seer’s house is, without knowing him. The gate is the town’s place of judging (Ruth 4:1), and Samuel answers in v.19, ‘I am the seer’. Samuel then tells him ‘all that is in thine heart’ and bids him eat with him.

Verse 20

on whom is all the desire of Israel? — The ‘desire’ (chemdah) is the king Israel had asked for, as Samuel later says of him, ‘the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired’ (12:13). The found asses are set aside with the words ‘set not thy mind on them’, and Samuel’s question turns to Saul and his father’s house.

Verse 21

of the smallest of the tribes of Israel — Benjamin is ‘little Benjamin’ in Ps 68:27, and it had been reduced to ‘six hundred men’ (Judg 20:47). Saul adds that his family is ‘the least of all’, as Gideon said, ‘my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house’ (Judg 6:15).

Verse 24

the shoulder — Shoq, the leg or thigh, the right portion that the law gives the priest from the peace offerings (Lev 7:32–33). It is set before Saul, ‘kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people’, so the portion was set aside before he came, as the LORD had told Samuel (v.15).

Verse 25

upon the top of the house — The flat roof of the house, which the law required to have ‘a battlement’ (Deut 22:8). Samuel ‘communed’ (dabar, spoke) with Saul there after the meal on the high place. The text does not give what was said, and Samuel calls him up to the same roof at dawn (v.26).

Verse 27

that I may shew thee the word of God — The verb is shama, to hear, in the causing form, so literally ‘that I may make thee hear the word of God’. It is the verb of ch. 8, where the people would not ‘hear’ Samuel’s voice (8:19). The servant is sent on ahead so that the word is for Saul alone.