1 Samuele 9:22 Commento

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 took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour,.... The dining room of the house, which belonged to the high place: and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden; and who very probably were the principal persons in the city; and yet Saul was placed at the head of them by Samuel, to convince him that what he had said to him was in earnest, and to do him honour before all the people; and for the sake of him, and to show his respect to him, he placed his servant; his minister, also in the chief place with him; what was reckoned the highest and most honourable places at table; see Gill on Mat 23:6. The guests were placed by the master of the feast according to their rank; and the dignity of the person, as Jarchi observes, was known by his manners and place of sitting: which were about thirty persons; more or less; Josephus (n) says seventy, disagreeing with the text, the Targum, Syriac and Arabic versions, but agreeing with the Septuagint. (n) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 1.

There follows: So Samuel, taking Saul and his servant, brought them into the dining hall, and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. For there were about thirty men. Samuel takes up Saul when the preacher of holy Church opens the heights of his preaching to a chosen hearer. For a subject is taken up when he is elevated to the knowledge of heavenly things through the word of a teacher. And because he desires to know spiritual things not with carnal intention, he took up not only Saul himself but also his servant. For it was as though he had remained below without a servant, he who said: "My heart has forsaken me" (Ps. 37:11). For our heart forsakes us when we are so overcome by carnal desires that we place the intention of our heart on earthly, carnal, and bodily things, and not on heavenly and spiritual ones. He had found this lost servant, who said: "Your servant has found his heart" (2 Kings 7:27). For we find our heart when we seek spiritual things through the intention of the heart; when we tear it away from earthly things so that we may direct it toward heavenly ones. The chosen preacher, therefore, to those who are still carnal, neither commands difficult things nor reveals spiritual ones. For Paul also says to the Corinthians: "I could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal ones, as to little ones in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not solid food" (1 Cor. 3:1). As if by these words he were saying: I therefore did not lead you to the heights, because you did not have a spiritual sense with you, as Saul did not have his servant. Wherefore, also indicating the reason, he says: "For you are still carnal." Rightly, therefore, Samuel is said to have taken up Saul and his servant, because the teachers of holy Church command difficult things and reveal lofty ones to those whom they consider to be spiritual. They are also led into a dining hall, because the breadth of charity is shown to them. For one is placed as it were in a dining hall who, through what he has learned on high, dwells in the breadth of charity. Or certainly our entrance into the dining hall is love; the dining hall is the beauty of the spiritual life. Whence John says: "He who does not love remains in death" (1 John 3:14). For if he who does not love remains in death, then he who loves remains in life. We are therefore led into the dining hall when we rise to the affection of heavenly conversation through the affection of charity. In this breadth of dwelling, holy preachers indeed hold the higher place, because blessed John the Evangelist says: "And around the throne were twenty-four seats, and upon the seats twenty-four elders" (Rev. 4:4). For the elders are holy preachers, mature in understanding, grave in character, who surround the throne of God with seats placed nearby, because those who love the Creator above all others rest closer to him through the loftiest manner of life. Rightly therefore Saul with his servant receives a place at the head of those who had been invited, because in them the type of pastors to be chosen is shown. The ruler is indeed placed at the head when, through the force of great love, he receives the singular resolve of the heavenly life; while he holds the catholic faith in common with the rest, he possesses a sublime virtue above the rest. Three times ten makes thirty. The number three suggests faith in the holy and undivided Trinity. The number ten, through the ten commandments of the law, signifies the perfection of good works. The number thirty, therefore, designates those who hold that faith which works through love. Saul is placed at the head of these, because through divine grace he who is to be the future shepherd of the Church is made more exalted in merit than those over whom he ought to be superior in dignity. Samuel bestows this exalted place upon him, because he who deserves such greatness of life advances to it through the instruction of his elders.

Therefore, taking Samuel, Saul, and his servant, he brought them into the dining hall, etc. The dining hall in Greek is called the coenaculum. It is called the dining hall from the three couches of those reclining thus named. For in Greek, they call a couch or bed klini. Indeed, among the ancients, in the place where the banquet was prepared, three couches were spread, on which those reclining feasted. Therefore, John, by preaching, called many to the feasts of virtues, preferring to all these Christ and His apostles, even those coming later; and rightly, because only through His baptism, which began to be given by their ministry, could the hall of the heavenly kingdom be opened. For those whom he taught would fulfill the Decalogue of the law through the recognition of the Holy Trinity with a strong and tireless mind.

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.

Brought them into the parlour - It might as well be called kitchen; it was the place where they sat down to feast.

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 took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour--The toil-worn but noble-looking traveller found himself suddenly seated among the principal men of the place and treated as the most distinguished guest.