1 Samuel 10:5-225After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: 6And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. 7And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee. 8And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and show thee what thou shalt do. 9And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. 10And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? 12And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? 13And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place. 14And Saul's uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses: and when we saw that they were no where, we came to Samuel. 15And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. 16And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not. 17And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh; 18And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you: 19And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands. 20And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. 21When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could not be found. 22Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. (1 Samuel 10:5‑22)
The next place Saul came to was the hill of God, where was the garrison of the Philistines, and there at the city, a company of prophets met him with musical instruments. The Spirit of the Lord then came upon him and he prophesied with them. Samuel said, “And let it be, when these signs are come to thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.” To see the hill of God in the hands of the Philistines, the enemies of God’s people in the land, ought to have spoken to the heart of Saul. He was now chosen to be king over Israel to deliver God’s people from their enemies, and God was with him. Would he lay hold of this, or be carried away with the music and excitement? Alas, we find poor Saul, often victorious over other enemies, was utterly unable to overcome the Philistines. Indeed in the end he was overcome by them himself, and slain on the mountains of Gilboa. Is this not a lesson for us? We may be able to overcome enemies from without, but it requires a walk with God, self-judgment, and much patience, to overcome the enemy’s power within the assembly. These things were lacking with Saul, as we shall soon see. How often we fail in the same way; and act as natural men.
After prophesying with the others, Saul was to go to Gilgal and wait there for Samuel to come. There he was to offer sacrifices and Samuel would tell him what to do. Samuel was the link between God and the people, and in this he typifies to us the Lord, for whom we ought to wait in every circumstance. Gilgal, as we have noticed before, was the place of self-judgment, a painful work for the flesh, from which we naturally draw back. To wait there for seven days, (perfect patience, James 1:44But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (James 1:4)) was too much for Saul as, alas, it often is for us, but the whole course of blessing to him depended on it. We cannot walk in communion with God apart from self-judgment.
Samuel then called all the people tether unto the Lord to Mizpeh. He reminded them of God’s faithfulness in bringing them up from the land of Egypt, and delivering them over and over again from the oppression of their enemies. He had never failed them when they had turned to Him, but now they had rejected Him and wanted a king to be like the nations about them. One fears we have often done this too. We do not like to be different for the Lord’s sake, and so we reject His Word, speaking plainly to us, to be like others about us. What a warning this ought to be to us! It is a solemn thing to notice here that when the people were stubborn and refused God’s warnings, He allowed them to have their own way. If we refuse His voice speaking to us, He may allow us to reap the fruit of our own ways and be filled with our own devices (Prov. 1:3131Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:31)). Many dear children of God have done this, as Israel did, and are still reaping today for their folly. Let us seek grace to always bring our wills into subjection to the Word of God. We cannot be wiser than He.
When all the tribes of Israel came to Samuel, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. Then all the families of Benjamin came, and Saul was chosen, but he had hidden himself among the stuff. He had been marked out before, but here he displayed a false humility, pretending he did not want the place of king. This sort of thing is usually seen in those who are most proud, but how empty it is before God. True humility will not make us unwilling to serve when the Lord calls.
ML 06/27/1954