1 Samuel 10:1-16--Saul Anointed King

1 Samuel 10:1-16
English Standard Version

Saul Anointed King
10 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ 3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 10 When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And when all who knew him previously 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?” 12 And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

14 Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 And Saul's uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

---

We now see Samuel anoint Saul as king.  He took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, "Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies."

Saul must have been wondering how he would know this to be true, because the LORD has already anticipated that and told Samuel to give Saul a sign.  "And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?.'"  Saul had been sent on a mission by his father to find some donkeys that had run away, but they found their way back home.  Now it is Saul that Kish, Saul's father, is worried about, since he has not returned home yet after many days.

​That was not enough for the LORD though, for he gave yet another sign--one that would show that Saul had been filled with the Spirit and would be changed and that would show all the people that he had been chosen by the LORD for this task at this time.  "Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man."

Saul will not always stay this changed man, for we'll read later in the book of 1 Samuel how another spirit, an evil spirit, was sent to torment Saul and made him insane with rage wanting to kill one of his closest advisors and even his own son with a javelin or spear.  At this time though, all the things that the LORD spoke to Saul came true just the way that the LORD had told them to Saul.

Lastly, Samuel gave Saul some instructions about what to do next after all these signs had taken place, "7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”  Saul is not good about waiting, he is a man of action, and we'll see that Samuel will be delayed getting to this meeting and Saul will desire to take matters into his own hands, saying that he himself will bless and offer the sacrifices (the role of Samuel the prophet and the only one it seems serving in the role of priest right now in all of Israel).  That is another passage for another day though.

As soon as Saul turned away from Samuel, the LORD changed the heart of Saul to fill him with the holy Spirit and to equip him for every good work that the LORD had prepared for Saul to do.  That doesn't mean that Saul was always going to make the right choice or do all of that work perfectly.  However, this was not just a sign to Saul, but to all the people who saw him and knew him that there was a change in him and that the LORD was doing something great both in him and through him.  The change was so apparent that men who knew him his entire life questioned if this could be the same man they knew and they asked who this man's father was to make sure it was not a case of mistaken identity, and when they found out that it was indeed Saul the son of Kish, they asked, "What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"  The answer to that is yes for this day, but the LORD had something even better in store for Saul as he would be king over his people and Samuel would be by Saul's side to speak the word of the LORD to him for much of his reign (it will be quite difficult for Saul to deal with the death of Samuel when that happens because Saul doesn't know of any other way to hear the LORD's voice and he will feel like this means that the LORD no longer wants to speak to Saul).

After all this, Saul come upon his uncle and his uncle asked where Saul had gone.  He answered that he had gone out to seek after the donkeys and when they could not be found, they went to the prophet Samuel.  Saul's uncle then wanted to know everything that Samuel had told Saul.  Saul seems to know not to trust his uncle with the entirety of the LORD's revelation and only told him that Samuel told them that the donkeys had been found, but he spoke nothing of the words of Samuel about Saul being made a prince over the people of Israel.