1 Samuel 9:18

_THEN SAUL DREW NEAR TO SAMUEL IN THE GATE, AND SAID, TELL ME, I PRAY THEE, WHERE THE SEER'S HOUSE IS._ Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. Satisfying the stranger's inquiry, Samuel invited him to the feast, as well as to sojourn until the morrow; and in order to reconcile him to the delay, assured him that the strayed donkeys had been recovered....

18-27 Samuel, that good prophet, was so far from envying Saul, or bearing him any ill-will, that he was the first and most forward to do him honour. Both that evening and early the next morning, Samuel communed with Saul upon the flat roof of the house. We may suppose Samuel now convinced Saul that he was the person God had fixed upon for the government, and of his own willingness to resign. How different are the purposes of the Lord for us, from our intentions for ourselves! Perhaps Saul was the only one who ever went out to seek asses, and literally found a kingdom; but many have set out and moved their dwellings to seek riches and pleasures, who have been guided to places where they found salvation for their souls. Thus they have met with those who addressed them as if aware of the secrets of their lives and hearts, and have been led seriously to regard the word of the Lord. If this...

EXPOSITION SELECTION OF SAUL AS KING BY THE VOICE OF PROPHECY. GENEALOGY OF SAUL (1 Samuel 9:1). 1 SAMUEL 9:1 A MAN … WHOSE NAME WAS KISH. The genealogy of Saul is rendered obscure by the Hebrew custom of abbreviating such records by the omission of names. The family documents were no doubt kept in full, but when transcribed, as here and in the First Book of Chronicles, only a summary is given, and as the omitted links are not always the same, great difficulty is necessarily the result. The most satisfactory genealogy is that given b

THEN SAUL DREW NEAR TO SAMUEL IN THE GATE,.... Either at the door of his own house, just as he was coming out of it, or within the gate of the city as Saul entered that, Samuel came to it, in order to go through it to the high place, which it is probable was without the city; wherefore it is very properly said that Samuel came out to meet them, 1 Samuel 9:14 AND SAID, TELL ME, I PRAY THEE, WHERE THE SEER'S HOUSE IS; one knows not which to wonder at most, the simplicity and humility of Samuel to be in so plain an habit, unattended by servants, and yet going to a public festival, so that he seemed to be no other than a common man, to be inquired of whereabout his house was; or the ignorance of Saul, who had lived so long in the world, and so near Samuel, and yet had never seen and knew not the chief magistrate in the nation, so famous both for his civil and religious charac

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

IN THE GATE. Hebrew "in the midst of the gate": i.e. the open place near the gate where judgment was given....

Saul entertained by Samuel 15. _Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear_ Lit. "had uncovered Samuel's ear," a figure of speech said to be derived from the practice of removing the hair or a corner of the turban from another's ear in order to whisper a secret into it....

_Samuel and Saul Meet._ 1 Samuel 9:11-21 _Samuel and Saul Meet._ 1 Samuel 9:11-21 11 _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? 12 And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, _he is_ before you; make haste now, for he came today to the city; for _there is_ a sacrifice of the people today in the high place: 13 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. 14 And they went up into the city: _and_

SAUL AND SAMUEL MEET For the picture of Samuel in this c, as a person of local rather than national importance, cp. Intro. § 6. On early prophecy, see Intro. § 4. 1 SAMUEL 9:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 10:16 comes from a different source from 1 Samuel 8 : see intro. there. The author of this section gives no hint that the choice of a king was displeasing to God. But we meet with the views of 1 Samuel 8 again when we come to 1 Samuel 10:17....