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We left Samuel and Saul walking together, probably some private way over the fields down from Ramah, perhaps in the paths of the vineyards, and Saul expecting to hear from Samuel the word of God. Now here we have, I. The anointing of Saul then and there (Sa1 10:1). The signs Samuel gave him (Sa1 10:2-6). And instructions (Sa1 10:7-8). II. The accomplishment of those signs to the satisfaction of Saul (Sa1 10:9-13). III. His return to his father's house (Sa1 10:14-16). IV. His public election by lot, and solemn inauguration (Sa1 10:17-25). V. His return to his own city (Sa1 10:26, Sa1 10:27). It is a great work that is here a doing, the setting up not only of a monarch, but of monarchy itself, in Israel; and therefore in all the advances towards it much of God is seen.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 10 In this chapter we read of Saul's being anointed king by Samuel, Sa1 10:1, and of certain signs given as confirming the same, which should come to pass, and did, before Saul got to his father's house, Sa1 10:2, of his arrival at his father's house, and of what passed between him and his uncle there, Sa1 10:14, of Samuel's calling all Israel together at Mizpeh, and of the election of Saul by lot to be king, and of his being declared such, Sa1 10:17, and of his return to his city, being respected by some, and despised by others, Sa1 10:26.

When thou art departed from me today,.... Not as soon as he was departed, for he had some few miles to go from Ramah to Rachel's grave near Bethlehem: thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre, in the border of Benjamin, at Zelzah; the Jews move a difficulty here, that Rachel's sepulchre should be said to be in the border of Benjamin, when it was by Bethlehemephrath, in the tribe of Judah, Gen 35:19 and which they solve by observing, that these men were now, at the time Samuel was speaking, by the grave of Rachel, but as they were coming on he would meet them at Zelzah, in the border of Benjamin (z); but there is no need of this, Rachel's grave was not at Bethlehem, but in, the way to it; and besides, as these two tribes were contiguous, and this city being on the borders of both, it might be said at one time to be in the border of Benjamin, and at another in the border of Judah, or in Judah, without any contradiction. Of Zelzah we nowhere else read, but it is plain it was near the sepulchre of Rachel, and perhaps nearer than Bethlehem. The Arabic geographer (a) speaks of Rachel's grave as in the midway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem; and says there were twelve stones upon it, and a stone arched vault over it; and the same is affirmed by Benjamin of Tudela (b), who makes it to be but half a mile from Bethlehem. Jarchi would have Zelzah to be the same with Jerusalem, which is not probable: and they will say unto thee, the asses which thou wentest to seek are found; as Samuel had before told Saul they were, Sa1 9:20. and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses; or had left all thoughts about them, and concern for them, not minding whether he heard of them or not, and this before they were found; or otherwise it would have been no strange thing to drop all thoughts about them, when they were found: and sorroweth for you; for Saul, and his servant; such was the anxiety and distress of his mind lest any evil should befall them, having been gone so long in quest of the asses, that he had as it were forgot them, and lost all care and concern about them, in comparison of his son and servant; but especially his sorrow rose high for his son, as follows: saying, what shall I do for my son? though he was concerned for his servant, yet most for his son; he might have another servant, and not another son, and Saul seems to be his only one, which made his grief for him the greater, see Ch1 8:33. Now as these were contingent events here foretold, as meeting with two men at a certain place described, the words related expressly they should say to him when he met them, and these exactly coming to pass, would most clearly prove Samuel to be a true prophet, and confirm Saul in the belief of what he had said and done to him concerning the kingdom. Another sign follows. (z) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 82. fol. 71. 4. R. Isaiah, Jarchi, Kimchi, Abarbinel, & Abendana in loc. (a) Chinat. 3. par. 5. (b) ltinerar. p. 47.

4. For it is as if He says to the humble shepherd, trembling at so great a ministry: You tremble for this reason, because you do not know whether what has been done concerning you is from God; but because you can know this, you ought not to tremble. Therefore this shall be a sign to you that not man, but God has anointed you as ruler: namely, those two men will say to you: The donkeys which you went to seek have been found. As if He were saying: If you find those two men, and they tell you this, know that God, not I, has appointed you as ruler. What then do these two men signify to us, except certain perfect preachers of holy Church? They are two, because they are perfect in both precepts of charity; men, because they are strong in holy conduct. They are said to be found near the tomb of Rachel, because through devotion to the contemplative life they are separated from worldly pursuits; and while they seek the gain of souls, they are not buried. For it is the undoubted opinion of the venerable fathers that Rachel signifies the beauty of the contemplative life. Therefore the men stand near the tomb of Rachel, because perfect teachers so devote themselves to heavenly contemplation that they also bear the care of holy Church. They stand near the tomb of Rachel, because they direct the course of good works through the power of contemplation, and because they do nothing in action except what they arrange through contemplation. And because in the very height of heavenly contemplation they strive to maintain not their own presumption but the rule of holy Church, the tomb of Rachel is described as being in the borders of Benjamin. As I have already said, in Benjamin, who is called the son of the right hand, the Redeemer of the human race is signified. The borders of Benjamin, therefore, are the rules of the Holy Scriptures, concerning which borders it is written: Do not transgress the boundaries which your fathers have set (Prov. 22:28). Because, therefore, the holy preachers, when they see the highest things through contemplation, do not depart from the rule of faith, the tomb near which they stand is rightly said to be in the borders of Benjamin. These men indeed leap over great pits at midday, because through the fervor of perfect charity, in which they have been taken up, they despise all the heights of the world that are seen. For whatever is perceived as lofty in this world is not true height, but a pit, which deposits into hell all whom it receives in its ambition. Therefore the heights of the world are to be avoided by spiritual men, not sought after, because they open up from a hidden place, and lead down to hell those whom they swallow up and receive. Spiritual men, therefore, leap over pits, because while they raise themselves up through heavenly desire, they despise earthly things. For they give a leap as if over pits they have seen, when in order to despise earthly things they raise themselves to desire eternal goods. They leap over pits at midday, therefore, because only those who possess the full light and ardor of heavenly charity can despise the world. Then let Saul understand that he has been anointed by the Lord as ruler, when these men say to him: The donkeys which you were seeking have been found. For they tell Saul that the donkeys have been found when they perceive him fit for gathering the gain of souls. As if He were saying otherwise: Do not believe from men that you have been chosen by God for the ministry of preaching, if those men declare this concerning you who, being full of the Spirit of God, are perceived to say things not human but divine. Because, therefore, concerning ourselves we must believe not ourselves but those better than us, fittingly Saul recognizes that he has been anointed by the Lord as ruler through men who leap over great pits at midday. But one is he by whom he is anointed, and others are those who attest that this anointing is from the Lord; because every affair of holy Church, just as it is more fully proved by the consultation of the holy fathers, so also is it more firmly established. 5. For blessed Paul sought this as a sign of his anointing when he came to Jerusalem to see Peter, and compared his Gospel with him and the other apostles. For he had received his apostleship not from man nor through man, but from heaven, at the call of the Lord Jesus (Gal. 1); and yet he proved the ministry of his anointing through the consultation of his fellow apostles. For he says of himself: "I compared my Gospel with them, lest I should run or had run in vain" (Gal. 2:2). The Precursor of the Redeemer had also anointed his disciples, but so that they might recognize the signs of his anointing, he sent them as if to leap over great ditches, saying: "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we expect another?" (Matt. 11:3). For John knew the one whom he had preached, whom he had baptized; but he sent his disciples so that, having seen the signs, they might believe more firmly and hold more securely the proofs of their election. Those, therefore, who are found suitable for the office of preaching recognize, as a sign of their election, that the souls of sinners which they seek have been found. And because almighty God rejoices not only in the preaching but also in the conduct of the chosen teacher, he adds and says: "And your father, having left the donkeys, is anxious about you, and says: What shall I do about my son?" We said that Kish, the father of Saul, who in our language is called "hard," designates those who teach by word and example to despise earthly things and to hasten to the heavenly homeland through a hard and rough manner of life. We have also recognized this hardness of the heavenly life both in the word and in the life of our Redeemer. If, therefore, we look to the summit of our instruction, we are children of the Redeemer. Our father, therefore, having dismissed the donkeys, is anxious about us; because our Redeemer wills that we seek the salvation of others in such a way that we do not neglect our own. He wills that sinners be called to repentance, but he does not will that those who call those very sinners should perish. He wills that the converted sinner should have the righteousness which he did not have; but he does not will that the righteous person should lose the palm of righteousness which he has. Having left the donkeys, therefore, he is anxious about his son, because he wills his preachers to rest for a time from the anxious attention to others, so that they may better provide for themselves through quiet. And because that very solicitude of the holy Church must be taken up again by a good ruler, our rest is interrupted; because a prior solicitude precedes it, and a later one follows. The chosen preacher, therefore, should devote himself to the benefit of his subjects and devote himself to his own; but let him so have care for his own that he immediately returns to the care of others which he left behind; because then our Creator loves us as sons, when we both love our subjects as brothers and love him as a father, since through the affection of solicitude we are joined to them, and through our rest, which he loves, we hasten to him as to a father. For this love of our rest is expressed in what is said: "What shall I do about my son?" This indeed a father says who loves his son tenderly. This therefore is not said about a present son, but an absent one. But because he seeks the lost donkeys of his father, he is greatly beloved by him; because whoever strives by preaching to convert the souls of sinners is already joined to our Redeemer in great love. He who through solicitude for others is, as it were, far from him, is near through the quiet of contemplation and the affection of prayer. Because, therefore, he desires that we be close to him both through contemplation and prayer, like a loving father he says: "What shall I do about my son?" As if to say: How shall I make that absent one present to me? But because the great men of holy Church praise the solicitude of our preaching but blame excessive solicitude, those who say the father's donkeys have been found assert that the father is anxious about his son. The elect, therefore, can recognize the sign of their anointing; because indeed they are then led by God to the summit of the holy Church, when through words and examples they are suitable for the salvation of others, and through quiet they are zealous for their own; and when they seek sinners for heaven, they do not abandon themselves to the world.

When you depart from me today, you will find two men, etc. When Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, departed from the Jordan from John, he found the people long lost by deceit, but now confirmed by faith and operation. He found them indeed, recalling them to the way of salvation; and this ceased gradually, and as the synagogue's carnal observance was to be dying and burying, from which he himself was willing to receive flesh. For Rachel was the mother of Benjamin, from the tribe from which Saul originated. He found those whom the Lord would save; and as if in the noonday of new love, in the fervor and light of knowledge shining from the heavenly realms, within the bounds of grace and truth, which in comparison to the law given through Moses is like the right hand to the left. Hence rightly Benjamin is interpreted as the son of the right hand. The believing people, found in this manner, mercifully confessed by Christ, giving thanks for his benefits, because their souls, once wandering like brute animals, were now redeemed by heavenly grace through him who came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke XIX). They also confessed the mysteries of faith which they had learned, that by the dullness of fools' sluggishness, the Almighty Father, being solicitous for his Son and those believing in him, did not allow them to be disturbed by his passion and to fall from faith until the completion of the dispensation of the same passion and the celebration of the glory of the resurrection, he more fittingly commanded that the unclean souls either of Jews or Gentiles, which he had temporarily neglected, be sought and saved; so that those already partially found might be perfectly gathered by their Lord to the manger.

Samuel anoints Saul captain of the Lord's inheritance, Sa1 10:1. Instructs him concerning his return home, whom he should meet, and what he should do, Sa1 10:2-8. Saul meets a company of prophets, the Spirit of the Lord comes on him, and he prophesies among them, Sa1 10:9-13. He meets his uncle, and converses with him, Sa1 10:14-16. Samuel calls the people together to Mizpeh, and upbraids them for having rejected the Lord as their king, Sa1 10:17-19. Lots are cast to find out the person proper to be appointed king; Saul is chosen, Sa1 10:20-24. Samuel shows the manner of the king, and writes it in a book, Sa1 10:25. Saul goes to Gibeah; and certain persons refuse to acknowledge him as king, Sa1 10:26, Sa1 10:27.

Rachel's sepulcher - This was nigh to Bethlehem. See Gen 35:19. At Zelzah - If this be the name of a place, nothing is known of it. The Hebrew בצלצח betseltsach is translated by the Septuagint ἁλλομενους μεγαλα, dancing greatly: now this may refer to the joy they felt and expressed on finding the asses, or it may refer to those religious exultations, or playing on instruments of music, mentioned in the succeeding verses.

SAMUEL ANOINTS SAUL, AND CONFIRMS HIM BY THE PREDICTION OF THREE SIGNS. (1Sa. 10:1-27) Then Samuel took a vial of oil--This was the ancient (Jdg 9:8) ceremony of investiture with the royal office among the Hebrews and other Eastern nations. But there were two unctions to the kingly office; the one in private, by a prophet (Sa1 16:13), which was meant to be only a prophetic intimation of the person attaining that high dignity--the more public and formal inauguration (Sa2 2:4; Sa2 5:3) was performed by the high priest, and perhaps with the holy oil, but that is not certain. The first of a dynasty was thus anointed, but not his heirs, unless the succession was disputed (Kg1 1:39; Kg2 11:12; Kg2 23:30; Ch2 23:11). kissed him--This salutation, as explained by the words that accompanied it, was an act of respectful homage, a token of congratulation to the new king (Psa 2:12).

When thou art departed from me to-day--The design of these specific predictions of what should be met with on the way, and the number and minuteness of which would arrest attention, was to confirm Saul's reliance on the prophetic character of Samuel, and lead him to give full credence to what had been revealed to him as the word of God. Rachel's sepulchre--near Beth-lehem (see on Gen 35:16). Zelzah--or Zelah, now Bet-jalah, in the neighborhood of that town.

To confirm the consecration of Saul as king over Israel, which had been effected through the anointing, Samuel gave him three more signs which would occur on his journey home, and would be a pledge to him that Jehovah would accompany his undertakings with His divine help, and practically accredit him as His anointed. These signs, therefore, stand in the closest relation to the calling conveyed to Saul through his anointing. Sa1 10:2 The first sign: "When thou goest away from me to-day (i.e., now), thou wilst meet two men at Rachel's sepulchre, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses of thy father, which thou wentest to seek, are found. Behold, they father hath given up העתנות את־דּברי, the words (i.e., talking) about the asses, and troubleth himself about you, saying, What shall I do about my son?" According to Gen 35:16., Rachel's sepulchre was on the way from Bethel to Bethlehem, only a short distance from the latter place, and therefore undoubtedly on the spot which tradition has assigned to it since the time of Jerome, viz., on the site of the Kubbet Rahil, half an hour to the north-west of Bethlehem, on the left of the road to Jerusalem, about an hour and a half from the city (see at Gen 35:20). This suits the passage before us very well, if we give up the groundless assumption that Saul came to Samuel at Ramah and was anointed by him there, and assume that the place of meeting, which is not more fully defined in 1 Samuel 9, was situated to the south-west of Bethlehem. (Note: As the account of Saul's meeting with Samuel, in 1 Samuel 9, when properly understood, is not at variance with the tradition concerning the situation of Rachel's tomb, and the passage before us neither requires us on the one had to understand the Ephratah of Gen 35:19 and Gen 48:7 as a different place from Bethlehem, and erase "that is Bethlehem" from both passages as a gloss that has crept into the text, and then invent an Ephratah in the neighbourhood of Bethel between Benjamin and Ephraim, as Thenius does, nor warrants us on the other hand in transferring Rachel's tomb to the neighbourhood of Bethel, in opposition to the ordinary tradition, as Kurtz proposes; so the words of Jer 31:15, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children," etc., furnish no evident that Rachel's tomb was at Ramah (i.e., er Rm). "For here (in the cycle of prophecy concerning the restoration of all Israel, Jer 30-33) Rachel's weeping is occasioned by the fact of the exiles of Benjamin having assembled together in Ramah (Jer 40:1), without there being any reason why Rachel's tomb should be sought for in the neighbourhood of this Ramah" (Delitzsch on Gen 35:20).) The expression "in the border of Benjamin" is not at variance with this. It is true that Kubbet Rahil is about an hour and a quarter from the southern boundary of Benjamin, which ran past the Rogel spring, through the valley of Ben-hinnom (Jos 18:16); but the expression קבוּרה עם must not be so pressed as to be restricted to the actual site of the grave, since otherwise the further definition "at Zelzah" would be superfluous, as Rachel's tomb was unquestionably a well-known locality at that time. If we suppose the place called Zelzah, the situation of which has not yet been discovered, (Note: Ewald (Gesch. iii. p. 29) supposes Zelzah to be unsuitable to the context, if taken as the name of a place, and therefore follows the ἁλλομένους μεγάλα of the lxx, and renders the word "in great haste;" but he has neither given any reason why the name of a place is unsuitable here, nor considered that the Septuagint rendering is merely conjectural, and has nothing further to support it than the fact that the translators rendered צלח ἐφήλατο, "he sprang upon him," in Sa1 10:6 and Sa1 11:6, and took צלצח to be an emphatic form of צלח.) to have been about mid-way between Rachel's tomb and the Rogel spring, Samuel could very well describe the spot where Saul would meet the two men in the way that he has done. This sign, by confirming the information which Samuel had given to Saul with reference to the asses, was to furnish him with a practical proof that what Samuel had said to him with regard to the monarchy would quite as certainly come to pass, and therefore not only to deliver him from all anxiety as to the lost animals of his father, but also to direct his thoughts to the higher destiny to which God had called him through Samuel's anointing. Sa1 10:3-4 The second sign (Sa1 10:3, Sa1 10:4): "Then thou shalt go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the terebinth of Tabor; and there shall meet thee there three men going up to God to Bethel, carrying one three kinds, one three loaves of bread, and one a bottle of wine. They will ask thee after thy welfare, and give thee two loaves; receive them at their hands." The terebinth of Tabor is not mentioned anywhere else, and nothing further can be determined concerning it, than that it stood by the road leading from Rachel's tomb to Gibeah. (Note: The opinion expressed by Ewald and Thenius, that Deborah's mourning oak (Gen 35:8) is intended, and that Tabor is either a different form of Deborah, or that Tabor should be altered into Deborah, has no foundation to rest upon; for the fact that the oak referred to stood below (i.e., to the south of) Bethel, and the three men whom Saul was to meet at the terebinth of Tabor were going to Bethel, by no means establishes the identity of the two, as their going up to Bethel does not prove that they were already in the neighbourhood of Bethel. Moreover, the Deborah oak was on the north of Gibeah, whereas Saul met the three men between Rachel's tomb and Gibeah, i.e., to the south of Gibeah.) The fact that the three men were going up to God at Bethel, shows that there was still a place of sacrifice consecrated to the Lord at Bethel, where Abraham and Jacob had erected altars to the Lord who had appeared to them there (Gen 12:8; Gen 13:3-4; Gen 28:18-19; Gen 35:7); for the kids and loaves and wine were sacrificial gifts which they were about to offer. לשׁלום שׁאל, to ask after one's welfare, i.e., to greet in a friendly manner (cf. Jdg 18:15; Gen 43:27). The meaning of this double sign consisted in the fact that these men gave Saul two loaves from their sacrificial offerings. In this he was to discern a homage paid to the anointed of the Lord; and he was therefore to accept the gift in this sense at their hand. Sa1 10:5-6 The third sign (Sa1 10:5, Sa1 10:6) Saul was to receive at Gibeah of God, where posts of the Philistines were stationed. Gibeath ha-Elohim is not an appellative, signifying a high place of God, i.e., a high place dedicated to God, but a proper name referring to Gibeah of Benjamin, the native place of Saul, which was called Gibeah of Saul from the time when Saul resided there as king (Sa1 10:16 : cf. Sa1 11:4; Sa1 15:34; Sa2 21:6; Isa 10:29). This is very apparent from the fact that, according to Sa1 10:10., all the people of Gibeah had known Saul of old, and therefore could not comprehend how he had all at once come to be among the prophets. The name Gibeah of God is here given to the town on account of a bamah or sacrificial height which rose within or near the town (Sa1 10:13), and which may possibly have been renowned above other such heights, as the seat of a society of prophets. פלשׁתּים נצבי are not bailiffs of the Philistines, still less columns erected as signs of their supremacy (Thenius), but military posts of the Philistines, as Sa1 13:3-4, and Sa2 8:6, Sa2 8:14, clearly show. The allusion here to the posts of the Philistines at Gibeah is connected with what was about to happen to Saul there. At the place where the Philistines, those severe oppressors of Israel, had set up military posts, the Spirit of God was to come upon Saul, and endow him with the divine power that was required for his regal office. "And it shall come to pass, when thou comest to the town there, thou wilt light upon a company of prophets coming down from the high place (bamah, the sacrificial height), before them lyre and tambourin, and flute, and harp, and they prophesying." חבל signifies a rope or cord, then a band or company of men. It does not follow that because this band of prophets was coming down from the high place, the high place at Gibeah must have been the seat of a school of the prophets. They might have been upon a pilgrimage to Gibeah. The fact that they were preceded by musicians playing, seems to indicate a festal procession. Nebel and Kinnor are stringed instruments which were used after David's time in connection with the psalmody of divine worship (Ch1 13:8; Ch1 15:20; Psa 33:2; Psa 43:4, etc.). The nebel was an instrument resembling a lyre, the kinnor was more like a guitar than a harp. Toph: the tambourin, which was played by Miriam at the Red Sea (Exo 15:20). Chalil: the flute; see my Bibl. Archaeology, ii. 137. By the prophesying of these prophets we are to understand an ecstatic utterance of religious feelings to the praise of God, as in the case of the seventy elders in the time of Moses (Num 11:25). Whether it took the form of a song or of an enthusiastic discourse, cannot be determined; in any case it was connected with a very energetic action indicative of the highest state of mental excitement. (For further remarks on these societies of prophets, see at Sa1 19:18.) Sa1 10:6 "And the Spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee, and thou wilt prophesy with them, and be changed into another man." "Ecstatic states," says Tholuck (die Propheten, p. 53), "have something infectious about them. The excitement spreads involuntarily, as in the American revivals and the preaching mania in Sweden, even to persons in whose state of mind there is no affinity with anything of the kind." But in the instance before us there was something more than psychical infection. The Spirit of Jehovah, which manifested itself in the prophesying of the prophets, was to pass over to Saul, so that he would prophesy along with them (התנבּית formed like a verb הל for התנבאת; so again in Sa1 10:13), and was entirely to transform him. This transformation is not to be regarded indeed as regeneration in the Christian sense, but as a change resembling regeneration, which affected the entire disposition of mind, and by which Saul was lifted out of his former modes of thought and feeling, which were confined within a narrow earthly sphere, into the far higher sphere of his new royal calling, was filled with kingly thoughts in relation to the service of God, and received "another heart" (Sa1 10:9). Heart is used in the ordinary scriptural sense, as the centre of the whole mental and psychical life of will, desire, thought, perception, and feeling (see Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychol. pp. 248ff., ed. 2). Through this sign his anointing as king was to be inwardly sealed. Sa1 10:7 "When these signs are come unto thee (the Kethibh תבאינה is to be read תּבאינה, as in Psa 45:16 and Est 4:4; and the Keri תּבאנה is a needless emendation), do to thee what thy hand findeth, i.e., act according to the circumstances (for this formula, see Jdg 9:33); for God will be with thee." The occurrence of the signs mentioned was to assure him of the certainty that God would assist him in all that he undertook as king. The first opportunity for action was afforded him by the Ammonite Nahash, who besieged Jabesh-gilead (Sa1 11:1-15).