SAUL ANOINTED BY SAMUEL.
1Sa 10:1-16.
THERE is a remarkable minuteness of detail in this and other
narratives in Samuel, suggesting the authenticity of the narrative,
and the authorship of one who was personally connected with the
transactions. The historical style of Scripture is very
characteristic; sometimes great periods of time are passed over with
hardly a word, and sometimes events of little apparent importance
are recorded with what might be thought needless minuteness. In
Genesis, the whole history of the world before the flood is
dispatched in seven chapters, less than is occupied with the history
of Joseph. Enoch's biography is in one little verse, while a whole
chapter is taken up with the funeral of Sarah, and another chapter
of unusual length with the marrying of Isaac. Yet we can be at no
loss to discover good reasons for this arrangement. It combines two
forms of history - annals, and dramatic story. Annals are short, and
necessarily somewhat dry; but they have the advantage of embracing
much in comparatively short compass. The dramatic story is
necessarily diffuse; it occupies a large amount of space; but it has
the advantage of presenting a living picture - of bringing past
events before the reader as they happened at the time. If the whole
history of the Bible had been in the form of annals, it would have
been very useful, but it would have wanted human interest. If it had
been all in the dramatic form, it would have occupied too much
space. By the combination of the two methods, we secure the compact
precision of the one, and the living interest of the other. In the
verses that are to form the subject of the present lecture, we have
a lively dramatic picture of what took place in connection with the
anointing of Saul by Samuel as king of Israel. The event was a very
important one, as showing the pains that were taken to impress him
with the solemnity of the office, and his obligation to undertake it
in full accord with God's sacred purpose in connection with His
people Israel. Everything was planned to impress on Saul that his
elevation to the royal dignity was not to be viewed by him as a mere
piece of good fortune, and to induce him to enter on the office with
a solemn sense of responsibility, and in a spirit entirely different
from that of the neighbouring kings, who thought only of their royal
position as enabling them to gratify the desires of their own
hearts. Both Saul and the people must see the hand of God very
plainly in Saul's elevation, and the king must enter on his duties
with a profound sense of the supernatural influences through which
he has been elevated, and his obligation to rule the people in the
fear, and according to the will, of God.
Though the servant that accompanied Saul seems to have been as much
a companion and adviser as a servant, and to have been present as
yet in all Samuel's intercourse with Saul, yet the act of anointing
which the prophet was now to perform was more suitable to be done in
private than in the presence of another; consequently the servant
was sent on before (1Sa 9:27). It would seem to have been Samuel's
intention, while paying honour to Saul as one to whom honour was
due, and thus hinting at his coming elevation, not to make it
public, not to anticipate the public selection which would follow
soon in an orderly way. It was right that Saul himself should know
what was coming, and that his mind should be prepared for it; but it
was not right at this stage that others should know^ it, for that
would have seemed an interference with the choice of the people. It
must have been in some quiet corner of the road that Samuel took out
his vial of sacred oil, and poured it on Saul to anoint him king of
Israel. The kiss which he gave him was the kiss of homage, a very
old way of recognizing sovereignty (Psa 2:12), and still kept up in
the custom of kissing the sovereign's hand after elevation to office
or dignity. To be thus anointed by God's recognized servant, was to
receive the approval of God Himself. Saul now became God's messiah -
the Lord's anointed. For the term messiah, as applied to Christ,
belongs to His kingly office. Though the priests likewise were
anointed, the title derived from that act was not appropriated by
them, but by the kings. It was counted a high and solemn dignity,
making the king's person sacred, in the eyes of every God-fearing
man. Yet this was not an indelible character; it might be forfeited
by unfaithfulness and transgression. The only Messiah, the only
Anointed One, who was incapable of being set aside, was He whom the
kings of Israel typified. Of Him Isaiah foretold: "Of the increase
of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne
of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with
judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever." And in
announcing the birth of Jesus, the angel foretold: "He shall reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be
no end."
It is evident that Saul was surprised at the acts of Samuel. We can
readily fancy his look of astonishment after the venerable prophet
had given him the kiss of homage, - the searching gaze that asked,
''What do you mean by that?" Samuel was ready with his answer: "Is
it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over His
heritage?" But in so momentous a matter, involving a supernatural
communication of the will of God, an assurance even from Samuel was
hardly sufficient. It was reasonable that Saul should be supplied
with tangible proofs that in anointing him as king Samuel had
complied with the will of God. These tangible proofs Samuel
proceeded to give. They consisted of predictions of certain events
that were about to happen - events that it was not within the range
of ordinary sagacity to foresee, and which were therefore fitted to
convince Saul that Samuel was in possession of supernatural
authority, and that the act of consecration which he had just
performed was agreeable to the will of God.
The first of these proofs was, that when he had proceeded on his
journey as far as Rachel's tomb, he would meet with two men who
would tell him that the lost asses had been found, and that his
father's anxiety was now about his son. It must be owned that the
localities here are very puzzling. If the meeting with Samuel was
near Ramah of Benjamin, Saul, in returning to Gibeah, would not have
occasion to go near Rachel's tomb. We can only say he may have had
some reason for taking this route unknown to us. Here he would find
a confirmation of what Samuel had told him on the day before; and
his mind being thus relieved of anxiety, he would have more freedom
to ponder the marvellous things of which Samuel had spoken to him.
The next token was to be found in the plain of Tabor, but this Tabor
can have no connection with the well-known mountain of that name in
the plain of Esdraelon. Some have conjectured that this Tabor is
derived from Deborah, Rachel's nurse, who was buried in the
neighbourhood of Bethel (Gen 35:8), but there is no probability in
this conjecture. Here three men, going up to Bethel to a religious
festival were to meet Saul; and they were to present him, as an act
of homage, with two of their three loaves. This was another evidence
that God was filling men's hearts with a rare feeling towards him.
The third token was to be the most remarkable of any. It was to
occur at what is called ''the hill of God." Literally this is "Gibeah
of God" - God's Gibeah. It seems to have been Saul's own city, but
the name Gibeah may have been given to the whole hill where the city
lay. The precise spot where the occurrence was to take place was at
the garrison of the Philistines. (Thus it appears incidentally that
the old enemy were again harassing the country.) Gibeah, which is
elsewhere called Gibeah of Saul, is here called God's Gibeah,
because of the sacred services of which it was the seat. Here Saul
would meet a company of prophets coming down from the holy place,
with psaltery, and tabret, and pipe, and harp, and here his mind
would undergo a change, and he would be impelled to join the
prophets' company. This was a strange token, with a strange result.
We must try, first, to form some idea of Saul's state of mind in the
midst of these strange events.
The thought of his being king of Israel must have set his whole
being vibrating with high emotion. No mind can take in at first all
that is involved in such a stroke of fortune. A tumult of feeling
surges through the mind. It is intoxicated with the prospect.
Glimpses of this pleasure and of that, now brought within reach,
flit before the fancy. The whole pulses of Saul's nature must have
been quickened. A susceptibility of impression formerly unknown must
have come to him. He was like a cloud surcharged with electricity;
he was in that state of nervous excitement which craves a physical
outlet, whether in singing, or shouting, or leaping, - anything to
relieve the brain and nervous system, which seem to tremble and
struggle under the extraordinary pressure.
But mingling with this, there must have been another, and perhaps
deeper, emotion at work in Saul's bosom. He had been brought into
near contact with the Supernatural. The thought of the Infinite
Power that ordains and governs all had been stirred very vividly
within him. The three tokens of Divine ordination met with in
succession at Rachel's tomb, in the plain of Tabor, and in the
neighbourhood of Gibeah, must have impressed him very profoundly.
Probably he had never had any very distinct impression of the great
Supernatural Being before. The worldly turn of mind which was
natural to him would not occupy itself with any such thoughts. But
now it was made clear to him not only that there was a Supernatural
Being, but that He was dealing very closely with him. It is always a
solemn thing to feel in the presence of God, and to remember that He
is searching us and knowing us, knowing our sitting down and our
rising up, and comprehending all our thoughts afar off. At such
times the sense of our guilt, feebleness, dependence, usually comes
on us, full and strong. Must it not have been so with Saul? If the
prospect of kingly power was fitted to puff him up, the sense of
God's nearness to him was fitted to cast him down. What was he
before God? An insignificant worm, a guilty sinner, unworthy to be
called God's son.
The whole susceptibilities of Saul were in a state of high
excitement; the sense of the Divine presence was on him, and for the
moment a desire to render to God some acknowledgment of all the
mercy which had come upon him. When the company of prophets met him
coming down the hill, “the Spirit of God came upon him, and he
prophesied with them." When in the Old Testament the Spirit of God
is said to come on one, the meaning is not always that He comes in
regenerating and sanctifying grace. The Spirit of God in Bezaleel,
the son of Uri, made him cunning in all manner of workmanship, to
work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. The Spirit of God, when
He came upon Samson, magnified his physical strength, and fitted him
for the most wonderful feats. So the Spirit of God, when He came on
Saul, did not necessarily regenerate his being; alas 1 in Saul's
future life, there is only too much evidence of an unchanged heart!
Still it might be said of Saul that he was changed into another man.
Elevated by the prospect before him, but awed at the same time by a
sense of God's nearness, he had no heart for the pursuits in which
he would have engaged on his return home had no such change
occurred. In the mood of mind in which he was now, he could not look
at anything frivolous: his mind soared to higher things. When
therefore he met the company of prophets coming down the hill, he
was impelled by the surge of his feelings to join their company and
take part in their song. They were returning from the high place
where they had been engaged in worship, and now they seem to have
been continuing the service, sounding out the high praises of God,
and thankfully remembering His mercies. It was the same God who had
so wonderfully drawn near to Saul, and conferred on him privileges
which were as exalted as they were undeserved. No wonder the heart
of Saul caught the infection, and threw itself for the time into the
service of praise! No young man could well have resisted the
impulse. Had he not been chosen out of all the ten thousands of
Israel for an honour and a function higher than any Israelite had
ever yet enjoyed? Ought he not, must he not, in all the enthusiasm
of profoundest wonder, extol the name of Him from whom so suddenly,
so unexpectedly, yet so assuredly, this marvelous favour had come?
But it was an employment very different from what had hitherto been
his custom. That utter worldliness of mind which we have referred to
as his natural disposition would have made him scorn any such
employment in his ordinary mood as utterly alien to his feelings.
Too often we see that worldly-minded men not only have no relish for
spiritual exercises, but feel bitterly and scornfully toward those
who affect them. The reason is not far to seek. They know that
religious men count them guilty of sin, of great sin, in so
neglecting the service of God. To be condemned, whether openly or
not, galls their pride, and sets them to disparage those who have so
low an opinion of them. It is not said that Saul had felt bitterly
toward religious men previous to this time. But whether he did so or
not, he appears to have kept aloof from them quite as much as if he
had. And now in his own city he appears among the prophets, as if
sharing their inspiration, and joining with them openly in the
praises of God. It is so strange a sight that everyone is
astonished. "Saul among the prophets!" people exclaim. "Shall
wonders ever cease?" And yet Saul was not in his right place among
the prophets. Saul was like the stony ground seed in the parable of
the sower. He had no depth of root. His enthusiasm on this occasion
was the result of forces that did not work at the heart of his
nature. It was the result of the new and most remarkable situation
in which he found himself, not of any new principle of life, any
principle that would involve a radical change. It is a solemn fact
that men may be worked on by outer forces so as to do many things
that seem to be acts of Divine service, but are not so really. A man
suddenly raised to a high and influential position feels the
influence of the change, - feels himself sobered and solemnized by
it, and for a time appears to live and act under higher
considerations than he used to acknowledge before. But when he gets
used to his new position, when the surprise has abated, and
everything around him has become normal to him, his old principles
of action return. A young man called suddenly to take the place of a
most worthy and honoured father feels the responsibility of wearing
such a mantle, and struggles for a time to fulfill his father's
ideal. But ere long the novelty of his position wears away, the
thought of his father recurs less frequently, and his old views and
feelings resume their sway. Admission to the fellowship of a Church
which sustains a high repute may have at first not only a
restraining, but a stimulating and elevating effect, until, the
position becoming familiar to one, the emotions it first excited die
away. This risk is peculiarly incident to those who bear office in
the Church. Ordination to the ministry, or to any other spiritual
office, solemnizes one at first, even though one may not be truly
converted, and nerves one with strength and resolution to throw off
many an evil habit. But the solemn impression wanes with time, and
the carnal nature asserts its claims. How earnest and how particular
men ought ever to be in examining themselves whether their serious
impressions are the effect of a true change of nature, or whether
they are not mere temporary experiences, the casual result of
external circumstances.
But how is this to be ascertained? Let us recall the test with which
our Lord has furnished us. "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the
will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto Me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name
have cast out devils, and in Thy name have done many wonderful
works? Then will I say unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me,
ye that work iniquity." The real test is a changed will; a will no
longer demanding that self be pleased, but that God be pleased; a
will yielding up everything to the will of God; a will continually
asking what is right and what is true, not what will please me, or
what will be a gain to me; a will over-powered by the sense of what
is due in nature to the Lord and Judge of all, and of what is due in
grace to Him that loved us and washed us from our sirs in His own
blood. Have you thus surrendered yourselves to God? At the heart and
root of your nature is there the profound desire to do what is
well-pleasing in His sight? If so, then, even amid abounding
infirmities, you may hold that you are the child of God. But if
still the principle-silent, perhaps, and unavowed, but real - that
moves you and regulates your life be that of self-pleasing, any
change that may have occurred otherwise must have sprung only from
outward conditions, and the prayer needs to go out from you on the
wings of irrepressible desire, "Create in me a clean heart, O Lord,
and renew a right spirit within me."
Two things in this part of the chapter have yet to be adverted to.
The first is that somewhat mysterious question (1Sa 10:12) which
someone asked on seeing Saul among the prophets - "But who is their
father?" Various explanations have been given of this question; but
the most :natural seems to be, that it was designed to meet a reason
for the surprise felt at Saul being among the prophets - viz. that
his father Kish was a godless man. That consideration is irrelevant;
for who, asks this person, is the father of the prophets? The
prophetic gift does not depend on fatherhood. It is not by
connection with their fathers that the prophetic band enjoy their
privileges. Why should not Saul be among the prophets as well as any
of them? Such men are born not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor
of the will of the flesh, but of God.
The other point remaining to be noticed is Saul's concealment from
his uncle of all that Samuel had said about the kingdom. It appears
from this both that Saul was yet of a modest, humble spirit, and
perhaps that his uncle would have made an unwise use of the
information if he had got it. It would be time enough for that to be
known when God's way of bringing it to pass should come. There is a
time to speak and a time to keep silence. Saul told enough to the
uncle to establish belief in the supernatural power of Samuel, but
nothing to gratify mere curiosity. Thus in many ways Saul commends
himself to us in this chapter, and in no way does he provoke our
blame. He was like the young man in the Gospel in whom our Lord
found so much that was favourable. Alas, he was like the young man
also in the particular that made all the rest of little effect -
"One thing thou lackest."
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