1 Samuel 9:25 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 when they came down from the high place into the city,.... After the feast was ended; and though Ramah itself was situated on an eminence, yet it seems this high place was higher than that, being without the city upon an hill, and therefore they are said to come down from the one to the other; or they came down from the high place, and then ascended the hill to the city: Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house: of Samuel's house; when they were come thither, Samuel took Saul up to the roof of his house, which was flat, as the roofs of houses in this country were; see Deu 22:8 on which they could walk to and fro, and converse together; hence you read of preaching and praying on housetops, Mat 10:27 what they communed about is not said, but may be guessed at, that it was about Saul's being made king; of the certainty of it, by divine designation; of the manner of executing that office wisely and justly; about the objections Saul had made of the smallness of his tribe and family; and of Samuel's willingness to resign the government to him, with other things of the like kind.

There follows: "And they went down from the high place into the town, and Samuel spoke with Saul on the rooftop. And Saul made his bed on the rooftop, and slept." Whoever is raised to the height of pastoral care must have in that very sublimity of his office both loftiness in his own life and compassion for the weakness of others. Therefore let Saul ascend with Samuel, and let him descend into the town. Let the ruler know how to conduct lofty matters; let him know how to arrange common ones. Let him say with Paul: "Our conversation is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20); let him say with us: "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? I see another law contradicting the law of my mind and leading me captive under the law of sin" (Rom. 7:24). The ruler is on the height when he speaks wisdom among the perfect. When he arranges carnal matters, he descends into the town, saying: "On account of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and each woman her own husband; let the husband render to his wife what is owed, and the wife likewise to her husband" (1 Cor. 7:2). He is on the height when he says: "No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ" (Rom. 8:39). But he descends into the town, for speaking, he says: "I became weak to the weak, that I might gain the weak; I became all things to all men, that I might save all" (1 Cor. 9:22). Samuel therefore brought Saul up to the high place and set him down in the town, because great men, when they appoint someone to the summit of holy Church, teach those whom they place on that summit to live sublimely, to preach plainly, to be strict with themselves but temperate with their subjects — to attend so to their own salvation that they can yet be weak with the weak. I say "be weak" through the affection of the mind, not through the languor of inner sickness. For if the teacher lies prostrate through languor of mind, he cannot heal the sick or raise up those who are fallen. It is well, therefore, that Saul is reported to have descended with Samuel into the town and to have spoken with him on the rooftop. For the town is on the plain, but the rooftop is on high. Compared to the high place, the rooftop is on the plain; compared to the town, it is not on the plain but elevated. So indeed, when chosen preachers show compassion to lesser members, they seem to leave the height behind; but descending into the town, they are on the rooftop, because they come down from the height, yet they take on the weakness of their subjects by pitying and counseling them, not by acting out and sharing in that weakness. For though they show compassion to the weak and command them to take wives, they themselves do not take wives by becoming weak. Therefore, descending into the town, they are on the rooftop, because even though they command plain things, they do not retain what is weak in themselves. And since Samuel is said not merely to be on the rooftop but to speak with Saul there, this surely signifies that the future teacher must be taught to show compassion to his weak subjects in such a way that he himself nevertheless maintains the height of his way of life. And because the new preacher needs much consideration for carrying out these things, Saul is said to have made a bed for himself and to have slept. For the new preacher to sleep on the rooftop is to arrange in his lofty contemplation how he ought to bear the burdens of those subject to him. For if he stays awake for worldly pursuits, he assuredly brings it about that he does not seek so great a good of discernment in his inmost depths. He ought therefore to sleep, so that he thinks of no worldly things, because one who is weighed down by secular concerns can never order spiritual matters. But neither can he sleep who does not make a bed for himself, because indeed if he does not reflect on the examples or sayings of good men, it is impossible for him to find rest from outward things. We lay soft things beneath ourselves, as it were, when we reflect on the teaching or life of the elect. We also sleep upon those same coverings, because we can then rest well in contemplation when we are occupied with spiritual matters. Let him therefore say, "Because Saul made a bed for himself and slept," to suggest to the chosen soul that if she carelessly occupies herself with outward things, she will not acquire the grace of inward rest. But he who wishes to arrange spiritual matters well through contemplation, until he has perfectly ordered them within, ought not to awake to those things which are outside.

And he spoke with Saul in the upper room, etc. John spoke with the Lord in the light of His known divinity. For certainly the upper room (which takes its name from the fact that by its height it first receives the rays of the rising sun before the lower buildings) signifies the hearts of those who, suspended from earthly desires by divine fear, the Sun of Righteousness rises more familiarly. For when both, namely the Lord and John, had begun the commencement of their mission for which they were sent, and the grace of the new light had just begun to shine in the world, the same John confessed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, while he himself was sent before Him, desiring Him with his whole intent of mind to rise to the works of the divine in the flesh, and to rest at the appropriate time from the duty of forerunning.

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.

Upon the top of the house - All the houses in the East were flat-roofed; on these people walked, talked, and frequently slept, for the sake of fresh and cooling air.

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.

Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house--Saul was taken to lodge with the prophet for that night. Before retiring to rest, they communed on the flat roof of the house, the couch being laid there (Jos 2:6), when, doubtless, Samuel revealed the secret and described the peculiar duties of a monarch in a nation so related to the Divine King as Israel. Next morning early, Samuel roused his guest, and conveying him on his way towards the skirts of the city, sought, before parting, a private interview--the object of which is narrated in the next chapter. Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 10

When the sacrificial meal was over, Samuel and Saul went down from the high place into the town, and he (Samuel) talked with him upon the roof (of the house into which Samuel had entered). The flat roofs of the East were used as placed of retirement for private conversation (see at Deu 22:8). This conversation did not refer of course to the call of Samuel to the royal dignity, for that was not made known to him as a word of Jehovah till the following day (Sa1 9:27); but it was intended to prepare him for that announcement: so that O. v. Gerlach's conjecture is probably the correct one, viz., that Samuel "talked with Saul concerning the deep religious and political degradation of the people of God, the oppression of the heathen, the causes of the inability of the Israelites to stand against these foes, the necessity for a conversion of the people, and the want of a leader who was entirely devoted to the Lord." (Note: For הגּג על עם־שׁאוּל וידבּר the lxx have καὶ διέστρωσαν τῷ Σαοὺλ ἐπι τῷ δώματι καὶ ἐκοιμήθη, "they prepared Saul a bed upon the house, and he slept," from which Clericus conjectured that these translators had read לשאול וירבדו (וירבּדוּ or ויּרבּדוּ); and Ewald and Thenius propose to alter the Hebrew text in this way. But although וגו ויּשׁכּימוּ (Sa1 9:26) no doubt presupposes that Saul had slept in Samuel's house, and in fact upon the roof, the remark of Thenius, "that the private conversation upon the roof (Sa1 9:25) comes too early, as Saul did not yet know, and was not to learn till the following day, what was about to take place," does not supply any valid objection to the correctness of the Masoretic text, or any argument in favour of the Septuagint rendering or interpretation, since it rests upon an altogether unfounded and erroneous assumption, viz., that Samuel had talked with Saul about his call to the throne. Moreover, "the strangeness" of the statement in Sa1 9:26, "they rose up early," and then "when the morning dawned, Samuel called," etc., cannot possibly throw any suspicion upon the integrity of the Hebrew text, as this "strangeness" vanishes when we take וגו כּעלות ויהי as a more precise definition of ויּשׁכּימוּ. The Septuagint translators evidently held the same opinion as their modern defenders. They took offence at Samuel's private conversation with Saul, because he did not make known to him the word of God concerning his call to the throne till the next morning; and, on the other hand, as their rising the next morning is mentioned in Sa1 9:26, they felt the absence of any allusion to their sleeping, and consequently not only interpreted ידבר by a conjectural emendation as standing for ירבד rof, because מרבדּים רבד is used in Pro 7:16 to signify the spreading of mats or carpets for a bed, but also identified וישׁכמו with ישׁכבו, and rendered it ἐκοιμήθη. At the same time, they did not reflect that the preparation of the bed and their sleeping during the night were both of them matters of course, and there was consequently no necessity to mention them; whereas Samuel's talking with Saul upon the roof was a matter of importance in relation to the whole affair, and one which could not be passed over in silence. Moreover, the correctness of the Hebrew text is confirmed by all the other ancient versions. Not only do the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic follow the Masoretic text, but Jerome does the same in the rendering adopted by him, "Et locutus est cum Saule in solario. Cumque mane surrexissent;" though the words "stravitque Saul in solario et dormivit" have been interpolated probably from the Itala into the text of the Vulgate which has come down to us.) Sa1 9:26-27 "And they rose up early in the morning: namely, when the morning dawn arose, Samuel called to Saul upon the roof (i.e., he called from below within the house up to the roof, where Saul was probably sleeping upon the balcony; cf. Kg2 4:10), Get up, I will conduct thee." As soon as Saul had risen, "they both (both Samuel and Saul) went out (into the street)." And when they had gone down to the extremity of the town, Samuel said to Saul, "Let the servant pass on before us (and he did so), and do thou remain here for the present; I will show thee a word of God."