7.11 Beth-car, mentioned nowhere else; location unknown.
7.12 Jeshanah, about seventeen miles north of Jerusalem, was later a border town disputed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (2 Chr 13.9). The Israelites were encamped at Ebenezer (see 4.1) when the Philistines attacked them earlier, so that Samuel’s victory restores the boundaries that existed at the beginning of ch. 4.
7.14 Israel recovers Ekron and Gath (see 5.8, 10), the Philistines are driven out, and Israel’s internal enemies, here called the Amorites, are also pacified.
7.16–17 Bethel, about ten miles north of Jerusalem, was an important religious center throughout the history of Israel. Along with Gilgal (see 11.14), Mizpah (see 7.5), and Ramah (see 1.19), it was one of the chief cities of the central hill country where Samuel dispensed justice.
1 SAMUEL 8
Israel Demands a King
1When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.
4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, 7and the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8Just as they have done to me,a from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
10So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattleb and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
Israel’s Request for a King Granted
19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. 22The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.”
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a Gk: Heb lacks to me
b Gk: Heb young men
8.1–22 A long time has passed, and Samuel is an old man. Despite the security the Israelites enjoyed under his leadership, they approach him and request a king. The people’s demand is presented as arbitrary and offensive to Samuel and to the Lord himself. This is another Mizpah passage (see note on 7.2–17; Introduction).
8.2 Samuel’s sons, like Eli’s, are unqualified to succeed their father, a detail that carries an implicit warning about dynastic succession in a narrative in which Israel is about to get its first king. According to 1 Chr 6.33, Joel was the father of Heman, the chief temple musician appointed by David. Up to this point events have been confined to the central hills, but the sons of Samuel have their headquarters in Beer-sheba, at the traditional southern boundary of the country.
8.5 Cf. Moses’ anticipation of this request in Deut 17.14.
8.6–7 Samuel feels personally insulted, but the Lord reminds him that the people’s demand is a rejection not of Samuel, but of the Lord himself, Israel’s true king. The judges were divinely chosen and appointed, but a human king will expect his son to succeed him, taking the choice of leadership away from the Lord.
8.8 This verse interprets the demand for a king in terms of the Deuteronomistic understanding (see Introduction) of Israel’s past as a history of repeated apostasy.
8.11–18 He will take, used by Samuel six times in warning the people about what to expect from a king.
8.12 Commanders of thousands, commanders of fifties, the ranking officers of military units of various size.
8.15 In addition to the religious tithes that supported the temple and priesthood (see Deut 14.22–29; 26.12–15), there apparently were also tithes on agricultural products and livestock (v. 17) that supported the royal estates.
8.19–22 Undeterred by Samuel’s warning, the people renew their demand and the Lord acquiesces.
1 SAMUEL 9
Saul Chosen to Be King
1There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.
3Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the boys with you; go and look for the donkeys.” 4He passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.
5When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.” 6But he said to him, “There is a man of God in this town; he is a man held in honor. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out.” 7Then Saul replied to the boy, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?” 8The boy answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9(Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer” for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) 10Saul said to the boy, “Good; come, let us go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.
11As they went up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12They answered, “Yes, there he is just ahead of you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town, because the people have a sacrifice today at the shrine. 13As soon as you enter the town, you will find him, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those eat who are invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” 14So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the shrine.
15Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16“Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering ofa my people, because their outcry has come to me.” 17When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall r
ule over my people.” 18Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate, and said, “Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?” 19Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer; go up before me to the shrine, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, give no further thought to them, for they have been found. And on whom is all Israel’s desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?” 21Saul answered, “I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
22Then Samuel took Saul and his servant-boy and brought them into the hall, and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, of whom there were about thirty. 23And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, the one I asked you to put aside.” 24The cook took up the thigh and what went with itb and set them before Saul. Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat; for it is setc before you at the appointed time, so that you might eat with the guests.”d
So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25When they came down from the shrine into the town, a bed was spread for Saule on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.f 26Then at the break of dawng Samuel called to Saul upon the roof, “Get up, so that I may send you on your way.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.
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a Gk: Heb lacks the suffering of
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Q Ms Gk: MT it was kept
d Cn: Heb it was kept for you, saying, I have invited the people
e Gk: Heb and he spoke with Saul
f Gk: Heb lacks and he lay down to sleep
g Gk: Heb and they arose early and at break of dawn
9.1–26 In a story with a folkloric atmosphere, the young Saul goes on a search for some strayed donkeys and finds a kingdom.
9.1 Saul’s home in Benjamin (see 4.12) was Gibeah (10.26), also known as Gibeah of Saul (11.4) or Gibeah of Benjamin (13.2), a city atop an imposing hill about four miles north of Jerusalem in the direction of Ramah (see notes on 1.1; 1.19).
9.3 The donkeys, better “some of the donkeys.” The ostensible purpose of Saul’s mission is not of vital importance (he does not face the economic ruin of the loss of all the animals), a fact that heightens the dramatic irony of the narrative when the higher, divinely intended purpose of the mission is revealed.
9.4 The hill country of Ephraim, a general designation for the highlands north of Benjamin. Land of Shalishah. Location uncertain, but there was a Baal-shalishah (see 2 Kings 4.42) not far from Gilgal (see note on 10.8) in the southeast corner of Ephraim. Land of Shaalim, probably the same as the land of Shual (see 13.17), a designation of the hill country north of Bethel. Land of Benjamin can hardly be correct, since Saul is traveling north and will soon reach Ramathaim (see note on 1.1).
9.5 Samuel’s father is called a Zuphite in 1.1; the land of Zuph is his home district.
9.9 This antiquarian notice, which explains the word seer in v. 11, seems to have become misplaced in the text.
9.12 The shrine at Ramathaim was the sort of local place of sacrifice later condemned (see 2 Kings 23.8–9, 19–20). It is acceptable here because the temple has not yet been built in Jerusalem.
9.13 People…eat. In this type of sacrifice portions not set aside for the deity were given to the worshipers to “eat in the presence of the LORD” (Deut 12.18).
9.14 Samuel is mentioned by name for the first time in the story of the anointing of Saul in 9.1–10.16. The seer may have been anonymous in an older version.
9.16 To anoint someone was to smear the head with fat or oil (10.1). The rite sanctified a person for some sacral office (see also 10.6). Ruler (Hebrew nagid), an individual who has been selected to become king either by the reigning king (1 Kings 1.35; 2 Chr 11.22) or, as in this case, by the Lord. From the perspective of ch. 7 the Philistines have been driven to a safe distance, but the author of the present, older story knows nothing of that tradition (see 10.5).
9.20b Better, “And to whom does all of Israel’s wealth belong, if not to you and to all your ancestral house?” The point Samuel is making is that Saul need not worry about a few lost donkeys, since all the riches of Israel will soon be his.
9.21 Saul is mystified by Samuel’s remarks. As a Benjaminite, he belongs to the small tribe descended from the youngest son of Jacob. We learn in 10.21 that Saul’s family or clan, which he says is the humblest in Benjamin, is called Matri.
9.24 Took up indicates not that the cook physically lifted the thigh but that he set it apart or reserved it for a special use. This is the “thigh that is raised” of Lev 10.14, 15 (cf. Ex 29.27; Num 6.20), which was ordinarily reserved for the priests. As when he receives consecrated loaves of bread in 10.4, Saul is being treated as if he were a priest, an indication of the sacral character of kingship.
9.25 As an honored guest, Saul sleeps on the roof, where the air is fresh and cool.
9.27–10.8 Samuel anoints Saul king and sends him home with special instructions.
1 SAMUEL 10
Samuel Anoints Saul
27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the boy to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” 1Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him; he said, “The LORD has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you rulera over his heritage: 2When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: What shall I do about my son?’ 3Then you shall go on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor; three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from them. 5After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim,b at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy. 6Then the spirit of the LORD will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person. 7Now when these signs meet you, do whatever you see fit to do, for God is with you. 8And you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
Saul Prophesies
9As he turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10When they were going from therec to Gibeah,d a band of prophets met him; and the spirit of God possessed him, and he fell into a prophetic frenzy along with them. 11When all who knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12A man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13When his prophetic frenzy had ended, he went home.e
14Saul’s uncle said to him and to the boy, “Where did you go?” And he replied, “To seek the donkeys; and when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16Saul said to his uncle, “He told us that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingship, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.
Saul Proclaimed King
17Samue
l summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah 18and said to them,f “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, ‘No! but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your clans.”
20Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man,g and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22So they inquired again of the LORD, “Did the man come here?”h and the LORD said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them. 24Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
25Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship; and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people back to their homes. 26Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went warriors whose hearts God had touched. 27But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.i
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