1 Samuel 10:3

_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:_ The plain - or the oak of Tabor; not the celebrated mount, for that was far distant. THREE MEN GOING UP TO GOD TO BETH-EL - apparently to offer sacrifices there at a time when the ark and the tabernacle were not in a settled abode, and God had not yet declared the permanent place which He should choose. The kids were for sacrifice, the loaves for the offering, and the wine for the libations....

1-8 The sacred anointing, then used, pointed at the great Messiah, or Anointed One, the King of the church, and High Priest of our profession, who was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, not by measure, but without measure, and above all the priests and princes of the Jewish church. For Saul's further satisfaction, Samuel gives him some signs which should come to pass the same day. The first place he directs him to, was the sepulchre of one of his ancestors; there he must be reminded of his own mortality, and now that he had a crown before him, must think of his grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the dust. From the time of Samuel there appears to have been schools, or places where pious young men were brought up in the knowledge of Divine things. Saul should find himself strongly moved to join with them, and should be turned into another man from what he had been. The Spir...

Verse 1 Samuel 10:3. _THREE MEN GOING UP TO GOD TO BETHEL_] Jacob's altar was probably there still, Genesis 28:19. However this might be, it was still considered, as its name implies, _the house of God_; and to it they were now going, to offer _sacrifice_. The _three kids_ were for _sacrifice_; the _three loaves of bread_ to be offered probably as a _thank-offering_; and _the bottle_ or skin full of _wine_, for a _libation_. When the blood was poured out before the Lord, then they feasted on the _flesh_ and on the _bread_; and probably had a sufficiency of the _wine_ left for their own drinking....

THE PLAIN OF TABOR - It should be “the oak or terebinth”” of Tabor” (Judges 4:11 note). It has been ingeniously conjectured that “Tabor” is either a different form of “Deborah,” or a corruption of it, and that the “oak,” or “terebinth of Tabor,” is the same as “Allon-bachuth,” the oak under which Deborah was buried, and which lay “beneath Bethel” Genesis 35:8. The terebinth, where the three men came upon Saul, must have been at some point previous to that where the road leading northward from Jerusalem branches; when they reached that point they would go on with their offerings to Bethel, he would pursue his journey to Gibeah....

EXPOSITION SAUL ANOINTED TO BE KING, AND SIGNS GIVEN HIM CONVINCING HIM OF THE TRUTH OF HIS APPOINTMENT (1 Samuel 10:1). 1 SAMUEL 10:1 A VIAL OF OIL. Hebrew, "the vial of oil," because it was that same holy oil with which the priests were anointed (Exodus 29:7). Throughout Holy Scripture the office of king appears as one most sacred, and it is the king, and not the priest, who is

THEN SHALL THOU GO ON FORWARD FROM THENCE,.... From Zelzah and Rachel's sepulchre there: AND THOU SHALL COME TO THE PLAIN OF TABOR; not that which lay at the bottom of the famous and well known mountain Tabor; for that was in the tribe of Zebulun, at a great distance from hence: but a plain, so called perhaps from the name of the owner of it: AND THERE SHALL MEET THEE THREE MEN GOING UP TO GOD TO BETHEL: the same with Luz, where Jacob built an altar, and called upon God; and so Elohimbethel here is the same with Elbethel, Genesis 35:6. Here was an high place as at Ramah, whither in those times, when there was no fixed place for worship, the tabernacle at one place, and the ark at another, the people went up to worship; and they might the rather choose this, because it was a place devoted to the worship and service of God by their father Jacob; so the Tar

2. THE STORY OF SAUL AND HIS ANOINTING Chapter S 9:1-10:16 _ 1. Saul the son of Kish and the lost asses (1 Samuel 9:1)_ 2. Samuel and Saul (1 Samuel 9:11) 3. Saul anointed King (1 Samuel 9:25; 1 Samuel 10:1) And now the Lord gives them a king according to their choice. “He should possess all the natural attractions and martial qualities which the people could desire in their king; he should reflect their religious standpoint at their best; but he should also represent their national failings and the inmost defects of their religious life; that of combining zeal for the religion of Jehovah, and

1 SAMUEL 9:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 10:16. SAMUEL ANOINTS SAUL AS KING. (J), taken from one of the oldest narratives (see Introduction, p. 273). Note the absence of any connexion with the Deuteronomic narrative in the previous chapter also the inconsistencies; in 1 Samuel 7:13 the Philistines were permanently disposed of; in 1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:5, they are oppressing Israel and have a garrison in the heart of the country; in our present narrative we have no trace of hostility to the Monarchy. This section preserves important features of primitive religious l

PLAIN. oak, or terebinth; growing generally alone, becomes. conspicuous landmark. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim_. App-4. BETH-EL. House of God. Evidently. place of worship, in the absence of any "place", according to Deuteronomy 12:5, &c. Compare Exodus 20:24. CARRYING. Probably their firstfruits. Compare 2 Kings 4:42....

_the plain of Tabor_ Rather, THE OAK OF TABOR. It has been ingeniously conjectured that this is to be identified with the oak under which Rebekah's nurse Deborah was buried "under Bethel" (Genesis 35:8), and the palm tree between Ramah and Bethel under which Deborah judged Israel (Judges 4:5), _Tabor_being either a corruption or dialectic variation for _Deborah_; but nothing certain is known about the place. _going up to God to Bethel_ On the sanctuary at Bethel see note on 1 Samuel 7:16. As yet the presence of God was only connected with holy places, or the Ark, and the Omnipresence of God scarcely realised. See Genesis 28: