1 Samuel 9:19 Kommentar

Samuel had promised Israel, from God, that they should have a king; it is strange that the next news is not of candidates setting up for the government, making an interest in the people, or recommending themselves to Samuel, and, by him, to God, to be put in nomination. Why does not the prince of the tribe of Judah, whoever he is, look about him now, remembering Jacob's entail of the sceptre on that tribe? Is there never a bold aspiring man in Israel, to say, "I will be king, if God will choose me?" No, none appears, whether it is owing to a culpable mean-spiritedness or a laudable humility I know not; but surely it is what can scarcely be paralleled in the history of any kingdom; a crown, such a crown, set up, and nobody bids for it. Most governments began in the ambition of the prince to rule, but Israel's in the ambition of the people to be ruled. Had any of those elders who petitioned for a king afterwards petitioned to be king, I should have suspected that person's ambition to have been at the bottom of the motion; but now (let them have the praise of what was good in them) it was not so. God having, in the law, undertaken to choose their king (Deu 17:15), they all sit still, till they hear from heaven, and that they do in this chapter, which begins the story of Saul, their first king, and, by strange steps of Providence, brings him to Samuel to be anointed privately, and so to be prepared for an election by lot, and a public commendation to the people, which follows in the next chapter. Here is, I. A short account of Saul's parentage and person (Sa1 9:1, Sa1 9:2). II. A large and particular account of the bringing of him to Samuel, to whom he had been before altogether a stranger. 1. God, by revelation, had told Samuel to expect him (Sa1 9:15, Sa1 9:16). 2. God, by providence, led him to Samuel. (1.) Being sent to seek his father's asses, he was at a loss (Sa1 9:3-5). (2.) By the advice of his servant, he determined to consult Samuel (Sa1 9:6-10). (3.) By the direction of the young maidens, he found him out (Sa1 9:11-14). (4.) Samuel, being informed of God concerning him (Sa1 9:17), treated him with respect in the gate (Sa1 9:18-21), in the dining-room (Sa1 9:22-24), and at length in private, where he prepared him to hear the surprising news that he must be king (Sa1 9:25-27). And these beginnings would have been very hopeful and promising if it had not been that the sin of the people was the spring of this great affair.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 9 This chapter gives an account of Saul, the person the Lord had appointed to be king of Israel; it relates his descent, and describes his person, Sa1 9:1 and how seeking his father's asses, which were lost, he providentially came to the place where Samuel dwelt, Sa1 9:3 and being advised by his servant, and approving of his advice, he concluded to go to him, and inquire the way he should go, Sa1 9:6 and being directed by some young maidens, they found him presently in the street going to a feast, Sa1 9:11 and Samuel having some previous notice from the Lord of such a person's coming to him that day, when he met him invited him to dine with him, and obliged him to stay with him that day, Sa1 9:15 satisfied him about his asses, and gave him a hint of the grandeur he was to be raised to, to which Saul made a modest reply, Sa1 9:20 and Samuel treated him at the feast in a very respectable manner, Sa1 9:22 and privately communed with him of things preparatory to what he was about to make known unto him, Sa1 9:25.

And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer,.... For he supposed, by inquiring for his house, that his business was with him; wherefore this he said, not as boasting of his character and office, or in the pride and vanity of his mind, but merely for information sake: go up before me unto the high place; instead of returning home with him, he invited him to go to the place of feasting, as the Targum, whither he was going to partake of the entertainment there; and he bids him go before him, either because he was an old man, and could not go his pace, or he had business to do by the way, or this was in honour to Saul, whom he knew was to be king of Israel: for ye shall eat with me today; he and his servant, at the public feast: he insisted upon his dining, or it may be rather supping with him: and tomorrow I will let thee go; for it being in the evening when this feast was, he could not depart that night, but must stay till morning, and then he promised to dismiss him: and will tell thee all that is in thine heart; answer all questions he had in his mind to ask him, for which he came into the city, and inquired for his house. The Jews (l) have a tradition that it was in the heart of Saul that he should be a king, having in a vision seen himself placed on the top of a palm tree, which was a sign of royalty, and this Samuel told him. (l) Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 75. G.

Therefore it is also added: "And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the Seer. But go up before me to the high place today, that you may eat with me, and I will send you away in the morning." What does it mean to say, "I am the Seer," except to show himself humble, as he appeared to their eyes? As if to say: In your estimation, the one you seek is great, but the one you see is small. For in this word, "Seer," it is not a title of praise, but "I am." As if to say: That Seer is I—not what you suppose, but what you behold. But he who knew how to humble himself knew how to give gifts not as one who is lowly, but as one who is exalted. For this reason he also commands him to go up before him to the high place, so that he might eat with him. He ascends to the high place who raises his mind to know higher things. Indeed, to ascend to the high place is to prepare the heart for understanding lofty matters. Hence Peter too is taken up on the mountain, so that he might deserve to see the glory of the transfigured Redeemer (Matt. 17:1). For in that ascent of the mountain, the lofty preparation of the mind is expressed: because he who does not fix his mind on high things through earnest attention will not be able to see exalted things. Since, therefore, we better understand sublime things when we are prepared, Saul is commanded to go up to the high place before Samuel. For we ascend, as it were, to the high place before the preacher when we first direct our mind to know lofty things, and they afterwards speak to us of those very things to which we have directed our attention. But what does it mean when he says, "That you may eat with me today"? When holy preachers speak of heavenly things, they refresh the hearts of their chosen hearers: for as the Truth attests, the food of the soul is the word of God: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). For bread is the nourishment of the body; the word is the nourishment of the mind. But those who refresh the body without the mind are dead in mind, alive in flesh. Hence Paul also says of the self-indulgent widow: "She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives" (1 Tim. 5:6). For the widow would not die through the delights of food if she satisfied her soul with the food of God's word, since Paul himself says: "Nothing is unclean that is received with thanksgiving" (1 Tim. 4:4). But the living widow dies when she nourishes the body with food and kills the soul with hunger. Therefore man does not live by bread alone: because since man consists of soul and body, just as he lives in one way through the body, so it is necessary that each part be nourished by different foods. Therefore we ascend with the prophet in order to eat, when we raise our mind to the heights of the divine word, so that we may be satisfied by its heavenly flavor through devotion. And because the preachers themselves greatly love the heavenly things of which they speak, we eat together, as it were, when they devoutly bring forth in speaking what we devoutly place in the belly of the soul by hearing. For we eat together, because we hear the Word of God equally. For Truth says to the preachers: "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:20). Which Paul also proves when he questions his hearers, saying: "Do you seek proof of Christ who dwells in me?" (2 Cor. 13:3). Since, therefore, Christ and His Spirit speak in the holy preachers, the preachers themselves hear the One speaking all the more clearly inasmuch as they are nearer to Him whose seat they deserve to be. Therefore they can be more fully refreshed by the nourishment of the word, inasmuch as they already have within themselves the chamber of refreshment. For they are friends of the bridegroom, and they stand and rejoice with joy because of the voice of the bridegroom. When, therefore, the holy preachers speak divine things, they hear; but because they know by certain experience when the Spirit speaks in them, they hear themselves, yet not in themselves, because they themselves also speak, but having spoken in themselves, they venerate another who speaks. In this, therefore—that they hear and speak—they both refresh and are refreshed. They refresh their hearers when they bring forth the word with their own voice; they themselves are refreshed when the word they bring forth is brought forth to them by divine revelation. Yet those are more devoutly satisfied who have experienced the delights of the mind in the speaking of the Spirit. Is not the experience of the speaking Spirit this: to perceive themselves unprepared and unpremeditated, and suddenly to be prepared and ready? To know what they had not known; to have what they had not had; to lose the torpor of the mind; to suddenly burn with wondrous devotion; to be wondrously filled at once and in a moment with fullness of knowledge; to bring forth with wondrous eloquence of speech the things they have understood? The elect preachers, therefore, have experience of the Spirit speaking in them in the sudden revelation of truth; they have the sudden ardor of charity; they have it in the fullness of knowledge; they have it in the most eloquent preaching of the word. For they are suddenly instructed, and at once they grow fervent, and in a moment they are filled, and they are enriched with a wondrous power of speech. For concerning that sudden experience the Lord says: "It will be given to you in that hour what you should speak" (Matt. 10:19). Concerning that sudden fervor of charity, Cleopas says: "Was not our heart burning within us on the way, while He spoke and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32). Concerning the experience of being filled and of eloquence, Luke also recalls, saying: "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty spirit, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2). For in that same Spirit they were both filled and spoke, so as to signify what we assert: that namely, by speaking they feed others, who are themselves fed by hearing what they say. And because they recognize the sound of the mighty Spirit as ardor, or as speech, or as filling, they feast all the more sweetly on spiritual gifts inasmuch as they have been more worthily taken up to His table. He says, therefore: "Come up, that you may eat with me today"; because the good teacher, when he sweetly receives in the devotion of his mind the things he speaks, feeds both himself and those who hear him at the same time. On the other hand, reprobate teachers, because they do not love what they say, fast while they feed others with their word. For since the Lord said that the word of God is the refreshment of the soul, and the word of God in a full mind is complete learning and complete devotion, those who do not devoutly hear what they speak are not fed by the word of God. Indeed the Apostle, as if already filled with that sweetness of the word, says: "Of his fullness we have all received" (John 1:16). The fullness of the word is one thing, the fullness of a book is another. From the fullness of the word, only the elect can receive; but from the fullness of Scripture, even the reprobate can receive. For the book of the blessed apostle John and the book of the blessed apostle Paul are indeed fullnesses, which are contained in them. Paul or John wrote their words, to be sure, but what each one wrote, the Word speaking in them inspired. Therefore, whoever receives the word of Scripture not in love but in knowledge receives from the fullness not of the word but of the book. And because he receives a dead thing, he himself does not live in its reception. But what am I saying—that Scripture is dead? It is not only dead but killing. For it is written: "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6). Indeed every divine letter does this. For the letter is the body, and the life of this body is the spirit. He who reads the letter and refreshes his mind in the love of understanding receives a body that has been vivified and is vivifying. Therefore the reprobate, who search the Scriptures they do not love, who boldly speak outwardly of that whose savor they do not inwardly understand—while others perceive with devout mind the refreshment of the Scriptures they expound, it is as though others are filled from what they themselves give, but not they themselves. Let Samuel therefore say: "Come up, that you may eat with me today," because from what the elect teachers bestow upon their subjects from the word, they both hear together and are filled together. For behold, this is demonstrated in the very word we are speaking. For who doubts that Samuel wrote this Scripture we are expounding? And yet he who wrote it says this: "Samuel answered"—so as to show clearly that what he himself was writing, another was imparting. Therefore, because the Holy Spirit, who speaks through him, says through him about him: "Samuel answered Saul: Go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me today." He says what he hears, and he simultaneously hears and says. Therefore, while the elect preacher hears and speaks with great veneration of love, and good hearers receive with great devotion what is said, Saul and Samuel are said to eat together at the high place. Likewise, because preachers are worthier and more fervent than their hearers in the refreshment of the same word, it is not Samuel who is said to be about to eat with Saul, but Saul with Samuel. But also because such splendid instruction of the mind exists in the great light of the spiritual life, he does not say: "That you may eat with me this night," but "today." He also dismisses him in the morning. "Morning" means the beginning of the following day. The following day is the serene light of holy conduct. He is indeed sent forth in the morning from the height, who, when he advances to the light of higher knowledge, proposes to dwell in the great light of good work. Or he is sent forth in the morning, who intends to preach to others the word of great knowledge which he learned from the mouth of a preacher. For when we propose good things, we are as it were in the morning at the beginning of the day, because we have already begun to behold the brightness of good which we may follow. But this morning grows into full day when he who has proposed to do great goods or to preach the lofty joys of eternity displays what he has proposed in the great light of virtue. In the morning, therefore, Saul is sent forth from the height, because the hearers of good preachers do not delay to practice sublimely what they hear as sublime from them. But the elect know both how to hide and how to manifest the goods they possess. They hide them indeed, lest they perish through pride; but they manifest them, lest they remain unfruitful. While they hide them, they guard them; but while they manifest them, they bring forth fruit.

And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the seer, etc. John responded, with the Lord bestowing heavenly gifts upon him, saying: I am the friend of the Bridegroom; I am your forerunner; I ought to be baptized by you, who, coming before me, have been made ahead of me. And indeed you will now receive baptism from me with the people of believers, together we will serve the feast of the word, and in turn, we are refreshed by the faith of the listeners. But when the splendor of your grace has shone upon all, with my role as forerunner completed, I will leave you to preach, and having joined the chorus of preceding prophets, I will take care to reveal all the mysteries of your temporal dispensation to the crowds of the faithful, indeed your members.

Saul's lineage and description; he is sent by his father to seek some lost asses, Sa1 9:1-5. Not finding them, he purposes to go and consult Samuel concerning the proper method of proceeding, Sa1 9:6-14. The Lord informs Samuel that he should anoint Saul king, Sa1 9:15, Sa1 9:16. Samuel invites Saul to dine with him, and informs him that the asses are found; and gives him an intimation that he is to be king, Sa1 9:17-21. Saul dines with Samuel, and afterwards he is taken to the house-top, where both commune together, Sa1 9:22-27.

I am the seer - This declaration would prepare Saul for the communications afterwards made.

SAUL, DESPAIRING TO FIND HIS FATHER'S ASSES, COMES TO SAMUEL. (Sa1 9:1-14) a mighty man of power--that is, of great wealth and substance. The family was of high consideration in the tribe of Benjamin, and therefore Saul's words must be set down among the common forms of affected humility, which Oriental people are wont to use.