The matter of the kingdom

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 10:9–16, “And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place. And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses: and when we saw that they were no where, we came to Samuel. And Saul’s uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not.”

Samuel gave Saul some specific things to look for and Saul experienced everything that Samuel told him in the exact order. He met the prophets and joined them. In those days, there were prophets who went about speaking in ecstatic ways, that is, languages that people couldn’t understand, and Saul joined that group and spoke with them. On the other hand, Samuel, the prophet who brought the Lord’s message, spoke in the regular language of the day so that people could understand exactly what he said and was called a seer. Saul didn’t ever become a seer and needed Samuel to give him instructions from the Lord. Saul’s uncle found Saul and his servant and asked them where they had been. Saul only told his uncle about the experiences that his servant could confirm and said nothing about his secret meeting with Samuel. That was to be revealed at an appropriate time and place.

A vial of oil

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 10:1–8, “Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands. After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee. And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.”

Even though Samuel knew that he was giving his job, one that he enjoyed, to another man, he obeyed the Lord and did as he was told. He anointed Saul to be king over Israel, culturally and spiritually this was a highly significant event and, later, it changed the course of David’s life. In order to confirm that this was from the Lord, Samuel told Saul what events would transpire in the immediate future. Samuel told Saul that he would meet two men at Rachel’s tomb, an important landmark, who would tell him that the donkeys had been found and his father was now concerned about him. Saul would then meet there men, one carrying kids, one carrying bread and the third carrying a bottle of wine. These men would give him some of the things they were carrying and then finally Saul would meet some prophets who and he would join them in prophesying. Remember that Samuel had not met Saul before that day and Saul didn’t even know who Samuel was so it would have been impossible to arrange all these things beforehand. However, everything that Samuel predicted happened. After that Saul was to go to Gilgal and wait for Samuel. Gilgal was a very important place because this is where the Israelis renewed their contract with the Lord after they entered the Promised Land. (Joshua 5:9, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.”) At that stage they no longer had any of the stain of their slavery in Egypt, where the Egyptians tried to commit genocide by killing all the baby boys. This was the place chosen where Israel would be introduced to their new king and become, for the first time in the history, a monarchy with the king of their own choice. (compare Deut 17:15, “Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.”) They would soon have their own king but not the king that the Lord had chosen.

The chiefest place

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 9:18–27, “Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s house is. 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. 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? 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? 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. And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee. 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. And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. 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. 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.”

It is interesting to note, again, that Saul had no idea of who Samuel was. Samuel was the Judge of Israel but Saul hadn’t even heard of him, let alone know what he looked like. This is a sad commentary on the state of the nation at that time. We do know that Samuel followed a circuit from year to year and should have been well known and that Benjamin, as a tribe, didn’t want to be part of the structure of greater Israel so the fact that Saul didn’t know Samuel was more likely to be because Saul’t tribe tried to stay away from the rest of the nation. It is also important to remember that the people asked Samuel to give them a king like the nearby nations. These people selected their kings, or perhaps the kings selected themselves, on their size and their ability to lead the nation in battle. Saul was good looking and a big man so he was selected on the criteria used by the nearby nations like Israel had asked. When Saul asked Samuel about the seer, Samuel told Saul that he was the seer. As Samuel had been warned by the Lord of Saul’s arrival he was prepared to meet him. In fact, Samuel had already arranged a civic reception for Saul to attend and had selected the choicest cut of meat for him. Saul’s most pressing issue was the whereabouts of the donkeys so Samuel put his mind at ease and told him that the donkeys had been found. Saul was surprised at the attention given to him because he wasn’t from an important tribe or family so he was surprised. Never the less, he attended the civic reception where he was put in the place of honour. Later Samuel called Saul for a private meeting and told him to come alone, without his servant.

Is the seer here?

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 9:11–17, “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? 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: 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. 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. Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, 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. 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.”

This passage has enough colour to let us know that it was written by an eyewitness to the events. We know that these records were compiled into a longer history much later but they compilers used original eyewitness accounts. This is true of the entire body of early Israeli history as we find in the Old Testament. Why would someone say that they they met some young women who were going to get water unless this was recorded by someone who what happened at the time? Saul and his servant asked the young woman if the seer was there. They told him that the seer, we find out that the seer is actually Samuel later in this eyewitness account. Perhaps Saul and his servant lived outside Samuel’s regular circuit and were unfamiliar with the fact that he was the Judge. The also belonged to the tribe of Benjamin who had a record of being rebellious. The girls told Saul that Samuel was going to perform a sacrifice on a local altar so they would have to hurry. We discover that this wasn’t a mere coincidence but that the Lord had moved the people in this historical episode as a person might move the pieces on a chess board. Samuel knew that these young men were coming and when they appeared on the scene the Lord confirmed to Samuel that this was the man who would save Israel from the Philistines. He was the man that Samuel was to anoint as king of Israel.

Lost donkeys

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 9:3–10, “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. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. (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.) Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God was.”

Having been introduced to Saul, a man who was very good looking but came from the smallest of all the tribes. The tribe of Benjamin had almost been completely destroyed after they defended their men who had followed Sodom’s sin but had just been saved so they were still rebuilding by the time Samuel was Judge of Israel. Moving from an introduction, we seem to head into the mundane. We read about a man who lost his donkeys and sent his son to find those donkeys. This gives us and idea of Saul’s importance in the scheme of things. His family had some status because they had servants but they didn’t have sufficient contacts to help them look for their lost donkeys. Benjamin’s land was next to Ephraim’s so Saul had to go away from his home territory and move into an area belonging to another tribe. They didn’t find the donkeys there so they kept looking but eventually Saul realised that they had been looking for the donkeys for quite a while so they should go home so that his father wouldn't worry about him rather than the donkeys. Saul’s servant knew that there was a man of God living nearby so they decided to ask this man if he knew anything about the donkeys. Saul knew that such people didn’t work for nothing, for the Law required that priests be paid for their work. The servant said that he had some money so they decided to give that to the man of God. They went up towards the place where the man of God lived.

There was not a goodlier person

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 9:1–2, “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. 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.”

Samuel was praying to the Lord to give Israel a king. While this was happening we are introduced to a character who fitted all the physical characteristics that one would expect of a king. The king, in those days, would be expected to lead his armies into battle so who would be better than the tallest man in the Land? This man, Saul, was tall and good looking and, no doubt, would inspire the people and make them feel courageous under his leadership. Later, we see that the Lord chose another king, not because of his physical characteristics but because of his spiritual characteristics. (Compare 1 Sam 16:7, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”) Whenever a person wants to lead the Lord’s people that person must be qualified in an emotional and spiritual way rather than physically or materially for bad leadership will always lead to the destruction of any group of the Lord’s followers. The group may continue and look prosperous but when judged by the behaviour according the Lord’s standards they may just be leading people away from the Lord.

Make us a king

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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1 Samuel 8:4–22, “Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.”

Samuel didn’t learn the lesson that brought about the destruction of Eli’d family even though he was a good Judge and Priest in Israel. He didn’t take any time to discipline his children while they were growing up. They decided that it was time for them to have a king of their own. The Lord had intended that Israel become a constitutional monarchy before they ever entered the Promised Land. (see Deut 17:14–20, “When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:  And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.”) So, in one sense they were just asking what the Lord had commanded. On the other hand, they didn’t want a king for the right reasons, they wanted to be like the other nations who lived nearby. In those cases the kings were not commanded to abide by the Law of the Lord or be governed by humility. Samuel was upset because, he believed, the people had rejected his leadership but the Lord told him that they were not rejecting him but the Lord. They also wanted to choose their own king rather than wait for the Lord to choose a king for them. Samuel also warned them about the problems that come with having a king; who would tax them and take their family members to serve in his army and in his palaces and other projects. Never the less, they were committed to having a king. Samuel, however wasn’t going to give them a king without first praying and asking the Lord to guide him.