1 Samuel 9 – Verses 1 - 2; In the previous chapter, verse 20, the people of Israel make it clear that they want a king to lead them. What kind of a king did the people want? Most likely a person who was impressive, who would represent their nation well to other nations. So God gave them the kind of king they wanted, “an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites,” who also came from a family of some social standing. Yet we’ll find later that God picks His people in other ways. Man looks at the outside appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
Verses 3 – 17; The ability of God to orchestrate events is always impressive. In this age of cell phones and emails, human beings can still struggle to make connections at times. But God easily pulled off this “chance” meeting of Saul and Samuel with the help of some lost donkeys and the suggestions of Saul’s servant.
Verse 12 – 13; Later on, the “high places” in Israel, located at Dan and Bethel, were centers for worship that combined sacrifices to Yahweh with rituals directed toward the Canaanite gods. Obviously that is not the case here. In addition to the sacrifices that were to be brought to the temple or tabernacle, some locales would, apparently, hold other times of sacrifice as well. As long as these were done in full obedience to Yahweh’s spoken laws and in worship to Him alone, there was nothing wrong with those sacrifices, as Samuel himself, who lived there, was present and blessing this occasion.
Verses 18 – 27; Samuel’s greeting to Saul, you can imagine, took Saul aback. Why would Samuel be speaking to him like this? As if to demonstrate that all this was not a mistake, Samuel had a portion of meat brought out which he earlier had set aside, explaining that he was expecting guests, and Saul was it. Perhaps this was enough to convince Saul that all this was no accident.
1 Samuel 10 – Verses 1 – 8; After anointing Saul as king, Samuel told Saul of a number of signs that would come his way. These signs confirmed what Samuel had already said (the lost donkeys were found, v. 2), provided for his physical needs (with the two loaves of bread – v. 4), and provided for his spiritual needs (to have the Spirit of God put upon him so he could govern as king – v. 6).
Verses 9; “God changed Saul’s heart.” This was in fulfillment to what Samuel had predicted in verse 6. I have to wonder if this change was entirely for the best. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that God would bring about something bad in Saul. But Saul, up to that point, had been a pretty humble, unassuming type of a person – qualities we’ll continue to see in this chapter (see verses 16 and 22). But Saul needed to have a bold heart to be able to lead the people, and though he was the impressive type of person the Israelites wanted to see as king, it turned out that he didn’t have the inner qualities for the job. The New Testament says that the word of God penetrates, revealing all that is in our hearts, and that the Spirit of God convicts when we need convicting. When the Spirit of God came into Saul’s heart and changed him, it was for the good. God gave Saul everything he would need to be successful, but in the end, it appears, he wasn’t able to handle it humbly.
Verses 10 – 27; In verse 12, it says that Saul “prophesied” along with the prophets. I believe this refers to an experience similar to speaking in tongues in the New Testament, rather than predicting future events.
Saul’s humble heart continued to show itself. He did not tell his uncle what had happened, and hid when his big moment came to be revealed as king.
Though this was an exciting moment for the people of Israel, and a life-changing one for Saul, Samuel reminded the people that their demand for a king had been tantamount to rejecting God. There would be dire consequences.
As I said earlier, God gave Saul everything he would need to be successful, including “valiant men whose hearts God had touched” (verse 26). Apparently, not even God can please all the people all the time. Though God had chosen an impressive, kinglike person, some “despised” Saul (verse 27), no doubt wanting a person whose leadership credentials were better established than his.
1 Samuel 11 – Verses 1 - 3; Jabesh Gilead was in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the two and a half “transjordanian tribes;” i.e., tribes that had settled on the east side of the Jordan River – Gad, Reuben and half of the tribe of Manasseh. Being cut off from the rest of Israel like this, they were especially vulnerable to attack. Since their territory bordered the Ammonites, this time the attack came from Nahash, who we find out in chapter 12, was the king of the Ammonites at the time.
Verses 4 – 11; This gave Saul an opportunity to show his leadership (or more accurately, God an opportunity to establish Saul more firmly as king. Saul rallied the Israelites to the tune of 330,000 soldiers, and they easily defeated the Ammonites.
Verses 12 – 15; Now that it was clear that Saul was indeed ruler of Israel, some wanted to take revenge on the nay sayers, but Saul would have none of it. In his early days as king, Saul truly was an admirable and good ruler. Why was the kingship ratified at Gilgal? Perhaps because of its historical significance as the site where the covenant was renewed during the conquest (in Joshua 4 – 5). By taking the people back to that place, Samuel would be sending the message that though there was now a king, nothing else was going to change in Israel, especially not their devotion to Yahweh as their ultimate king.
1 Samuel 12 – Verses 1 – 5; Samuel bids farewell to the Israelites (as leader – he’s not going anywhere for a few years) and first asks them if he has abused his power in any way. Ironically, what he mentions to the people are the exact oppressions that Saul and future kings would bring upon them.
Verses 6 – 18; Samuel reminded the people that God had come to their rescue again and again. Yet they asked for a king, rather than relying on God to raise up people to deliver them. That turning away from God was a serious thing. To demonstrate how serious – and as a show of God’s power – Samuel called on God to send thunder and lightning. We can assume that such weather was unusual during the wheat harvest, or Samuel wouldn’t have pointed it out (verse 17).
Verses 19 – 25; Despite the fact that the Israelites had demanded a king, Samuel assured them that God would not reject them. Why? For the sake of his name. There was no way God was going to allow his name to be sullied because of the failures of His people. His goal through them was to show all nations the true God. Of course He loved them and wanted what was best for them, but his ultimate goal was that all nations would recognize the unique nature of the God of the Israelites and be drawn to Him.
1 Samuel 13 – Verses 1 – 7; This is the first we hear of Saul’s son, Jonathan. The fact that Jonathan is not identified (at first) as Saul’s son shows that the author was intimately familiar with the events of the time. It did not occur to him that Jonathan would need to be identified. Everyone knew the king’s Son!
The event described here must have happened some time after Saul became king, perhaps 10 or more years into his reign. Saul would have gotten married at 20 at the earliest, and we have to believe that Jonathan would be 18 or older before 1000 men would be entrusted to his leadership. Though Saul often gets a bad rap as a king, we can assume that the first 10+ years of his reign were good and without major incident or spiritual failure.
Though Israel was able to defend itself against the Philistines, they did not have the confidence (or the manpower, they believed) to attack the them. So when Jonathan attacked the outpost, it was a surprising, bold move. Some Bible commentators have suggested that Saul jealously took credit (verse 4) for Jonathan’s valiant attack, and that we can see the beginning of his later jealousy of David. I disagree. Though Saul might have been motivated by his ego, it was common for official language of a kingdom to say, “The King has done this or that,” even if it was a military leader who did it, since the king was ultimately responsible for all that happened in the kingdom. Compare, for example, all the things Solomon was said to have done with the construction of the temple (1 Kings 6 and following), when, in reality, it was the skilled workers who did it under Solomon’s orders. The imminent attack of the powerful Philistine army sent a panic into Israel, to say the least (verses 6 and 7).
Verses 8 – 15; When Samuel didn’t show at exactly the time he had previously arranged with Saul, Saul offered sacrifices in an unauthorized way. What was so bad about what Saul did? First, Samuel’s reaction makes it clear that this was an ongoing behavioral problem for Saul. When David had isolated failings, he wasn’t immediately rejected as king. Neither, we can assume, was Saul. So this failing must not have been an isolated incident. In matters of the kingship, it was fine and good for Saul to take initiative. But in spiritual matters, he needed to recognize God’s word as spoken through Samuel and give him the appropriate respect. Saul was not to operate as king independent of the law and the prophets.
Verses 16 – 23; Why was there not a blacksmith in Israel? It could be that the Philistines (and other surrounding nations) had a monopoly on the production of iron implements, and that the technology to do that had not yet made its way into Israel. It could also be that this was a time of oppression under the Philistines, so no smithy was allowed. I favor the second explanation, as verse 19 gives us the impression that the absence of blacksmiths was a strategic move by the Philistines. If only Saul and Jonathan had swords or spears, how did the army fight? They may have used farm implements (like spades or pitchforks or oxgoads) and they also, we know, prevalently used bows and arrows and slings. Yet they were at a tremendous disadvantage, compared to a well-armed force, adding to their fear.
1 Samuel 14 – Verses 1 – 14; It’s not wonder that Jonathan later became best of friends with David. Both of them had a great trust in the ability of God to rescue against great odds. Jonathan and his armor-bearer (and we can assume the armor-bearer did more than carry armor – I’m guessing he was Jonathan’s right hand man) were able, with God’s help, to overcome the Philistine outpost.
Verses 15 – 23; I’m a little troubled by some of the things I see in this chapter. First, Ahijah, Eli’s grandson, was serving as priest. Chapters 2 and 3 make it clear that not only Eli and his sons, but his whole family line were rejected as priests. Second, it looks as if Saul wants to use the ark of the covenant as a good luck charm again – not its intended use.
Verses 24 – 48; Saul’s tendency to make rash decisions shows itself here. Who knows his motivation for commanding his men to abstain from food? Maybe it was another way of manipulating God into action with a forced fast. Whatever the motive, it wasn’t very wise when it came to waging a military campaign. When Jonathan unknowingly transgressed Saul’s command, it caused a distraction that allowed many Philistines to escape. The victory could have been greater if Saul had not made such a rash command.
Verses 49 – 52; Some observations about Saul’s family. Abner, his military commander, (and a very capable man) was his cousin. His daughter Michal later became David’s wife. His reign was blessed by success in military conquest against many of the surrounding nations, but also cursed with the struggles of war.
1 Samuel 15 – Verses 1 – 3; This is in accordance with words Moses spoke in Deuteronomy 25:17-19. When God gave them rest in their new land, the Israelites were to blot out the “memory of the Amalekites from under heaven.” Why was the punishment on the Amalekites so severe? Other peoples had attacked Israel when they were vulnerable (as the Amalekites had), but the Amalekites were singled out for this kind of punishment. I believe it’s because the Amalekites, coming from Esau’s grandson Amalek, were the Israelites own flesh and blood – close relations, as were the Edomites (Esau’s descendents) Moabites, and Ammonites (Lot’s descendents). God had higher expectations for Israel’s closer relatives, and the Amalekites continually antagonized Israel.
Verse 6; Moses’ second wife (possibly after Zipporah, his first wife, passed away) was a Kenite. There had always been friendly relations between the Kenites and Israel.
Verses 7 – 10; Saul failed to carry out God’s instructions when he didn’t totally destroy the Amalekites, but kept back the best of their plunder.
Verse 12; Saul set up a monument in his own honor. Saul often gave the appearance of trying to follow God, but was very self focused. The previous chapter (verse 35) mentions that the altar Saul set up was the first time he had done that – a significant detail.
Verses 13 – 15; God didn’t want any other sacrifice than the sacrifice of obedience from Saul.
Verses 16 – 21; Even after direct confrontation, Saul was still trying to explain and excuse his actions rather than expressing remorse.
Verses 22 – 23; These are important words. They can be a theme for many old testament people. They should be the theme for all believers in God. Whether it makes sense to us or not, God wants us to trust his greater wisdom and knowledge and simply obey.
Verses 24 – 34; Saul is finally remorseful, but it’s too late. Unfortunately, his remorse is not motivated by love for God but by preservation of self and his kingship. Samuel then shows Saul how to fully obey the commands of God when he personally put Agag, the Amalekite king, to death. |
