I Samuel
Chapter 8
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. The name of
his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at
Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after
dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israel gathered
together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your
sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the
other nations have.”
 But
when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he
prayed to YAHWEH. And YAHWEH told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying
to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their
king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this
day, forsaking me and serving other mighty ones, so they are doing to you. Now
listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will
reign over them will do.”
Samuel told all the words of YAHWEH to
the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who
will reign over you will do; He will take your sons and make them serve with his
chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will
assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to
plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war
and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and
cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive
groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and
of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants
and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his
own uses. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become
his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you
have chosen, and YAHWEH will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to
Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the
other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our
battles.”
When Samuel heard all that the people
said, he repeated it before YAHWEH. YAHWEH answered, “Listen to them and give
them a king.”
Then Samuel said to the men of Israel,
“Everyone go back to his town.”
Chapter 9
There was a Benjamite, a man of
standing, whose name was Kish, son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of
Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He had a son named Saul, an impressive
young man without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the
others.
Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his
son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.”
So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area around
Shalisha, but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim,
but the donkeys were not there. Then he passed through the territory of
Benjamin, but they did not find them.
When they reached the district of Zuph,
Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father
will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”
But the servant replied, “Look, in this
town there is a man of Elohim; he is highly respected, and everything he says
comes true. Let’s go there now. Perhaps he will tell us what way to take.”
Saul said to his servant, “If we go,
what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take
to the man of Elohim. What do we have?”
The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said, “I have a quarter of a shekel
of silver. I will give it to the man of Elohim so that he will tell us what way
to take.” (Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of Elohim, he would say,
“Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a
seer.)
“Good,” Saul said to his servant. “Come,
let’s go.” So they set out for the town where the man of Elohim was.
As they were going up the hill to the
town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the
seer here?”
“He is,” they answered. “He’s ahead of
you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a
sacrifice at the high place. As soon as you enter the town, you will find him
before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating
until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are
invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”
They went up to the town, and as they
were entering it, there was Samuel, coming toward them on his way up to the high
place.
Now the day before Saul came, YAHWEH had
revealed this to Samuel: “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from
the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver
my people from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked upon my people, for
their cry has reached me.”
When Samuel caught sight of Saul, YAHWEH
said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”
Saul approached Samuel in the gateway
and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is?”
“I am the seer,” Samuel replied, “Go up
ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the
morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart. As for
the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been
found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and all
your father’s family?”
Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite,
from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans
of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”
Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant
into the hall and seated them at the head of those who were invited—about thirty
in number. Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one
I told you to lay aside.”
So the cook took up the leg with what was on it and set it in front of Saul.
Samuel said, “Here is what has been kept for you. Eat, because it was set aside
for you for this occasion, from the time I said, ‘I have invited guests.’” And
Saul dined with Samuel that day.
After they came down from the high place
to the town, Samuel talked with Saul on the roof of his house. They rose about
daybreak and Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get ready, and I will send you
on your way.” When Saul got ready, he and Samuel went outside together. As they
were going down to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant
to go on ahead of us”—and the servant did so—“but you stay here awhile, so that
I may give you a message from Elohim.”
Chapter 10
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him,
saying, “Has not YAHWEH anointed you leader over his inheritance? When you leave
me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of
Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been
found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about
you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?’”
“Then you will go on from there until
you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to Elohim at Bethel will
meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of
bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves
of bread, which you will accept from them.
“After that you will go to Gibeah of Elohim, where there is a Philistine
outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming
down from the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played
before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of YAHWEH will come upon
you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a
different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to
do, for YAHWEH is with you.
“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will
surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings,
but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to
do.”
As Saul turned to leave Samuel, Elohim
changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When they
arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of Elohim came
upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had
formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other,
“What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the
prophets?”
A man who lived there answered, “And who
is their father?” So it became a saying: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
After Saul stopped prophesying, he went to the high place.
Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his
servant, “Where have you been?”
“Looking for the donkeys,” he said. “But
when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.”
Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel
said to you.”
Saul replied, “He assured us that the
donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said
about the kingship.
Samuel summoned the people of Israel to
YAHWEH at Mitzpah and said to them, “This is what YAHWEH, the Elohim of Israel,
says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of
Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ But you have now rejected your
Elohim, who saves you out of all your calamities and distresses. And you have
said, ‘No, set a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before YAHWEH by your
tribes and clans.”
When Samuel brought all the tribes of
Israel near, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. Then he brought forward the tribe
of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was chosen. Finally Saul son of Kish
was chosen. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they
inquired further of YAHWEH, “Has the man come here yet?”
And YAHWEH said, “Yes, he has hidden
himself among the baggage.”
They ran and brought him out, and as he
stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others.
Samuel said to all the people, “Do you
see the man YAHWEH has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”
Then the people shouted, “Long live the
king!”
Samuel explained to the people the
regulations of the kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it
before YAHWEH. Then Samuel dismissed the people, each to his own home.
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There must have been a lot of
regulations for the kingship for them to be written on a scroll. Do
you think Samuel was happy to read this to the people? Why or why
not? |
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Then the people shouted, "Long live the
king!" |
Saul also went to his home in Gibeah,
accompanied by valiant men whose hearts Elohim had touched. But some
troublemakers said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought
him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.
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HalleluYAH!
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