1 Samuel 10
10
Saul Anointed King
1 # ch. 9:16; 16:13; 2 Sam. 2:4; 1 Kgs. 1:34, 39; 2 Kgs. 9:1, 3, 6 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head #[Ps. 2:12] and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince#10:1 Or leader over #Deut. 32:9; Ps. 78:71his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince#10:1 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks over his people Israel? And you shall . . . . to be prince over his heritage. 2When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by #Gen. 35:19, 20 Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, #ch. 9:3, 4 ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now #ch. 9:5your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ 3Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the #Gen. 13:18 oak of Tabor. Three men #[Judg. 20:31] going up #Gen. 28:22; 35:1, 3, 7to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5After that you shall come to #ver. 10 Gibeath-elohim,#10:5 Gibeath-elohim means the hill of God #ch. 13:3, 4 where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down #[ch. 9:12]from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6#ver. 10; ch. 11:6; 16:13; [Num. 11:25; Judg. 3:10; 14:6, 19] Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, #ver. 10; ch. 19:23, 24and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7Now when #Ex. 4:8; Judg. 6:17; Luke 2:12 these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, #Josh. 1:5; Judg. 6:12for God is with you. 8Then go down before me #ch. 11:14, 15; 13:4 to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and #ch. 11:15 to sacrifice peace offerings. #ch. 13:8Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
9When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 10When they came to #ver. 5 Gibeah,#10:10 Gibeah means the hill behold, a group of prophets met him, #[See ver. 6 above]and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? #ch. 19:24; [Matt. 13:54, 55; John 7:15]Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12And a man of the place answered, #[Isa. 54:13; John 6:45] “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, #[See ver. 11 above]“Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
14 # ch. 14:50 Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, #See ch. 9:4-6“To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16And Saul said to his uncle, #ch. 9:20“He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.
Saul Proclaimed King
17Now Samuel called the people together #[ch. 11:15] to the Lord #ch. 7:5, 6at Mizpah. 18And he said to the people of Israel, #Judg. 6:8, 9; [ch. 12:8]“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19#ch. 8:7, 19; 12:12 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore #Josh. 24:1present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
20Then Samuel #Josh. 7:14, 16, 17brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot;#10:21 Septuagint adds finally he brought the family of the Matrites near, man by man and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22#See ch. 22:10So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, #ch. 9:2he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him #2 Sam. 21:6 whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, #2 Sam. 16:16; 1 Kgs. 1:25, 39; 2 Kgs. 11:12; 2 Chr. 23:11“Long live the king!”
25Then Samuel told the people #See ch. 8:11-18; Deut. 17:14-20the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26Saul also went to his home #ch. 11:4at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27But some #ch. 2:12; Deut. 13:13worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
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1 Samuel 10: ESV
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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1 Samuel 10
10
1Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul's head, and kissed him, saying, “The Lord has anointed you as ruler of his chosen people.#10:1. This line is given in the form of a question, but is better translated as a statement, since a question can imply uncertainty. 2When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb in Zelzah, on the border of Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys you went to look for have been found.
Now your father isn't concerned about them but is worried about you. He's wondering, ‘What about my son?’
3You will leave there and go on to the oak at Tabor where you will meet three men on their way to worship God at Bethel. One will be carrying three young goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a skin of wine. 4They will greet you#10:4. Literally, “shalom,” the usual greeting of the time. and give you two loaves of bread which you should take.
5Next you will come to Gibeah of God, where the Philistines have a garrison. As you come into town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place led by harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying. 6The Spirit of the Lord will come on you with power. You will prophesy with them, and you will become a different man. 7After these signs have happened, do what you need to do, for God is with you. 8Then go ahead of me to Gilgal. I assure you I will come and join you to present burnt offerings and friendship offerings. Wait there seven days until I come to you, and let you know what you should do.”
9The moment Saul turned to leave Samuel, God gave Saul a different way of thinking,#10:9. “Different way of thinking”: literally “turned another heart to him.” Since in Hebrew the heart was where thinking occurred, this relates to the mind. In many ways this corresponds to the Greek concept of a “mind change,” which is the real meaning of conversion. So in a sense Saul could be said to have been “converted” at that point. and all the signs were fulfilled that day. 10When Saul and his servant arrived in Gibeah, there was a procession of prophets coming out to meet them, the Spirit of God came on Saul with power, and he also started to prophesy with them.
11Everyone who had known Saul and now saw him prophesying with the prophets said to each other, “What's going on with the son of Kish? Is Saul one of the prophets too?”
12A man living there responded, “But who is their father?”#10:12. In other words, the prophetic gift is not dependent on genealogy. So it became a saying: “Is Saul one of the prophets too?”
13After Saul had finished prophesying, he went to the high place. 14Saul's uncle asked Saul and his servant, “Where have you been?”
“We were looking for the donkeys,” Saul replied. “When we couldn't find them we went to Samuel.”
15“Please tell me what he said to you,” Saul's uncle asked.
16“He promised us the donkeys had been found,” Saul replied. But Saul didn't tell his uncle what Samuel had said about him becoming king.
17Samuel called the people of Israel to come before the Lord at Mizpah. 18He told the Israelites, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I led Israel out of Egypt, and I saved you from the Egyptians and from all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. 19But now you have rejected your God, the one who saves you from all your troubles and disasters. You told him, ‘You must appoint a king to rule us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and family groups.”
20Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 21Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its family groups, and the family group of Matri was chosen. Lastly, Saul, son of Kish, was chosen. But when they looked for him, he couldn't be found. 22So they asked the Lord, “Has he arrived here yet?”
The Lord replied, “Go and look—he's hiding among the baggage.”
23They ran and brought Saul over. When he stood among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than anyone else.
24Samuel said to everyone, “Can you see the one the Lord has chosen? There's no one like him anywhere!”
All the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
25Then Samuel explained to the people all that a king would do. He wrote it down on a scroll and placed it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent everyone home.
26Saul also returned to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by warriors whom God had encouraged to help him.
27But some obnoxious men asked, “How could this man save us?” They hated him and didn't bring him any gifts; but Saul did not retaliate.#10:27. In the traditional Hebrew text the chapter finishes here. However, in one scroll found at Qumran there is the following additional information which relates to the following chapter and is included here for interest. “Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been severely oppressing the people of Gad and Reuben. He would gouge out their right eyes and would not let anyone help them. There wasn't anyone left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, hadn't gouged out. However, there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had gone to live in Jabesh-gilead.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com