Bible Commentaries
1 Samuel 9

Verses 1-16

THE TRAGEDY OF SAUL

1 Samuel 9:1 to 1 Samuel 31:13

Saul as King (9:1-12:25)

The Choice of Saul and His Anointing (9:1-10:16)

Here we come to a second document about the kingship, setting it in a much more favorable light. Saul is represented as the son of Kish, a prosperous farmer. Saul was sent in search of some straying asses belonging to his father. The itinerary of the search is described in detail, although the place names are still a puzzle to archaeologists. Weary with the search, Saul and his servant, after traversing the land of Benjamin, turned to what would appear to be Ramah, since it is described as the dwelling place of Samuel, the man of God.

At this point we have an interesting insight into one of the prophetic roles. Saul regarded Samuel as a professional consultant who would divine for a fee. The prophetic nomenclature has retained three names in Hebrew to describe a prophet; two of these are translated "seer," and the emphasis in them falls on vision and audition. The third name, translated "prophet," originally seems to have described an ecstatic type of prophet who was thrown into abnormal psychical and physical states, performed extraordinary acts, and often spoke in an unintelligible tongue. In verse 9 we are told that this third word "prophet" had, at the time of writing, become the inclusive term, so that a "seer" was now a "prophet." Attempts have been made to differentiate absolutely between the two types. In such attempts the seer is said to be a solitary individual and the ecstatic prophet a gregarious one; the seer prophesies to order, whereas the ecstatic prophet has to be stimulated. Actually all such differentiations are unsafe. For example, Samuel is a seer when he is consulted by Saul, and yet he is also found in the company of ecstatics with their abnormal behavior and dances (1 Samuel 19:18-24). It was out of this strangely varied background that the later canonical prophets like Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah emerged. Often they received their messages as seers did, by sights presented to the eye or by sounds coming to the ear; but they also disclose the abnormal characteristics of the ecstatic type (Isaiah 20:2; Ezekiel 3:14-15; Ezekiel 4:4; chs. 8-11).

The city apparently had one gate, and its shrine or high place would be situated at its highest point, with a hall adjoining in which the cultic feasts would be eaten. Saul and his servant arrived when a special sacrificial feast was being celebrated. It is an interesting point that Samuel was to preside over this, an indication that priestly and prophetic roles were closely intertwined in these early days. The feast was associated with the type of sacrifice in which the blood of the sacrificial victim was poured out at the foot of the altar as a gift to God, the flesh being broiled and partaken of by the worshipers. In this way God and the worshipers communed together through the life of a third party, the sacrificial beast.

Samuel had been divinely warned beforehand that a Benjaminite whom God had appointed as king would arrive. Here we find an emphasis on Samuel’s capacity for insight into the divine mind and purpose, a capacity which was God-given and which is central in the whole biblical revelation. When Saul arrived, he was identified in Samuel’s prophetic consciousness as the divine appointee and was given the place of honor at the feast, over his own protest. So sure had Samuel been of the divine purpose as testified to in the deeps of his spirit, that he had delayed the feast until the promised visitor arrived.

Saul was put to sleep on the roof as was customary in the hot climate, and in the morning the prophet communicated to him the divine message. The giving of the oracle was followed by a private anointing as king, after even Saul’s servant had been sent away. The term "anointed" was especially applied to Israel’s monarch, and the practice of anointing with oil as an indication of the Lord’s choice was the normal practice at the consecration of kings. Since the same practice was also employed for priests, this is a reminder that, like them, the king was a holy person, possessing charismatic qualities because he was divinely chosen and endowed. From now on, the king made a third with the priest and the prophet in the inner hierarchy of Israel’s religious life.

As a sign of Saul’s divine appointment, Samuel warned him that on his homeward journey, at the tomb of Rachel near Bethel, he would meet two men who would inform him that his father’s asses had been found. He was then to change his route to go to the oak of Tabor. Here three men carrying varied provisions would supply him with bread, and he would pass on to "the hill of God," Gibeathelohim (Gibeah). Here there was a holy place where the Lord was worshiped, even though the place seems to have been in the Philistine sphere of influence and to have had a Philistine officer or prefect to collect tribute (according to the best meaning of the Hebrew word translated "garrison"). Saul would meet a band of prophets descending from this high place, and would himself experience the same possession by the Spirit which they were manifesting.

At this point we meet, for the first time specifically in the biblical text, the "dervish" type of prophet. These prophets, whom we have already described as ecstatics, banded themselves together and showed many abnormal characteristics. They appear to have been thrown into a frenzy and to have prophesied when the convulsive state was on them. They carried musical instruments, often as an aid to the stimulation of this abnormal state. We find their counterparts elsewhere in the ancient world, but the comparison is only superficial. Beneath their extraordinary forms of conduct and frenzied fanaticism, they often carried a real zeal for the Lord, were the exponents of pure religion, and were the bearers of authentic divine messages which they fearlessly declared. Not only Samuel but also Elijah and Elisha were associated with such bands, and they made a lasting and significant contribution to the prophetic tradition of Israel.

We are told that Saul experienced a change of heart on leaving Samuel. Already (in vs. 6) Samuel had promised that, when the Spirit took possession of him, he would be turned into another man, and this process is represented as beginning already. What Samuel had foretold now came to pass. Saul fell in with the band of prophets at Gibeah; the Spirit of God came mightily upon him; and he was thrown into a frenzy of ecstatic utterance, so much so that a proverb arose from the experience — "Is Saul also among the prophets?" The saying was an indication that a complete change had been wrought in Saul’s personality.

This section does not finish with Saul’s meeting Samuel, as Samuel had promised, but with the future king in conversation with his uncle, still keeping secret the matter of his kingship.