Saul

He had a son named Sha'ul who was young and good-looking; among the people of Isra'el there was no one better-looking than he; he stood head and shoulders taller than anyone else in Isra'el.

Once the donkeys belonging to Kish Sha'ul's father got lost. Kish said to his son Sha'ul, "Please take one of the servants with you, go out, and look for the donkeys."

On reaching the territory of Tzuf, Sha'ul said to his servant with him, "Come, let's go back; otherwise my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us."

"But look," Sha'ul said to his servant, "if we go to the man, what can we bring him? We've used up all the bread in our packs, and there's nothing for us to give the man of God - what do we have left?"

The servant replied again to Sha'ul: "See, I have here in my hand a silver quarter-shekel [one-tenth of an ounce]. I will give it to the man of God to tell us which way to go."

"Well said," Sha'ul answered his servant. "Come on, let's go." So they went to the city where the man of God was.

The day before Sha'ul arrived, ADONAI had given Sh'mu'el a revelation:

When Sh'mu'el saw Sha'ul, ADONAI said to him, "Here is the man I told you about, the one who is going to govern my people."

Sha'ul approached Sh'mu'el in the gateway and said, "Please tell me where the seer's house is."

Sh'mu'el answered Sha'ul, "I'm the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place, because you are going to dine with me today. In the morning, I will let you leave; and I will tell you everything that is on your heart.

Sha'ul replied, "I'm only a man from Binyamin, the smallest tribe in Isra'el; and my family is the least important of all the families in the tribe of Binyamin! Why are you saying such a thing to me?"

Sh'mu'el took Sha'ul and his servant, brought them into the room and had them sit in the place reserved for the most important of the invited guests, who numbered about thirty persons.

The cook took the thigh and the adjoining meat and served it to Sha'ul. Sh'mu'el said, "Here, this is what remains! Put it in front of you and eat - it was kept especially for you until the right time; because I said, 'I have invited the people.'" So Sha'ul dined with Sh'mu'el that day.

On coming down from the high place to the city, he spoke with Sha'ul on the roof.

They got up early. About daybreak, Sh'mu'el called out to Sha'ul on the roof, "Get up, so I can send you on your way." Sha'ul got up, and both of them -he and Sh'mu'el - went out.

As they were going down, at the edge of the city, Sh'mu'el said to Sha'ul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead"; so the servant went on. "But you, stand still now, because I want you to hear what God has said."

When those who knew him from before saw him there, prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, "What's happened to Kish's son? Is Sha'ul a prophet, too?"

Someone in the crowd answered, "Must prophets' fathers be special?" So it became an expression -"Is Sha'ul a prophet, too?"

Sha'ul's uncle said to him and his servant, "Where did you go?" He answered, "To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they hadn't been found, we went to Sh'mu'el."

"Tell me, please," said Sha'ul's uncle, "what Sh'mu'el said to you."

Sha'ul answered his uncle, "He told us that the donkeys had been found," but said nothing to him about the matter of his being made king.

He had the tribe of Binyamin come forward by families, and the family of the Matri was chosen, and Sha'ul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they looked for him, he couldn't be found.

Sha'ul too went home to Giv'ah, accompanied by warriors whose hearts God had touched.

The messengers came to Giv'ah, where Sha'ul lived, and said these words in the hearing of the people; and all the people cried out and wept.

As this was going on, Sha'ul came, following the oxen out of the field. Sha'ul asked, "What's wrong with the people to make them cry like that?"They told him what the men from Yavesh had said.