The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Samuel 10
1 Then Samuel took the vial of oil and
poured it on his head, then kissed him and
said, “Hasn’t Yahweh anointed you to be
prince over his inheritance?
2 When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s
tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah.
They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you
went to look for have been found; and behold, your father has stopped caring about
the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying,
“What shall I do for my son?” ’
3 “Then you will go on forward from
there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going
up to God to Bethel: one carrying three
young goats, and another carrying three
loaves of bread, and another carrying a
container of wine.
4 They will greet you and give you two
loaves of bread, which you shall receive
from their hand.
5 “After that you will come to the hill of
God, where the garrison of the Philistines
is; and it will happen, when you have come
there to the city, that you will meet a band
of prophets coming down from the high
place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe,
and a harp before them; and they will be
prophesying.
6 Then Yahweh’s Spirit will come mightily on you, then you will prophesy with
them and will be turned into another man.
7 Let it be, when these signs have come
to you, that you do what is appropriate for
the occasion; for God is with you.
8 “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and
behold, I will come down to you to offer
burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices
of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until
I come to you and show you what you are
to do.”
9 It was so, that when he had turned his
back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs happened
that day.
10 When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the
Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he
prophesied among them.
11 When all who knew him before saw
that, behold, he prophesied with the
prophets, then the people said to one
another, “What is this that has come to
the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the
prophets?”
12 One from the same place answered,
“Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the
prophets?”
13 Whenhe hadfinished prophesying, he
came to the high place.
14 Saul’s uncle said to him and to his
servant, “Where did you go?”
He said, “To seek the donkeys. When we
saw that they were not found, we came to
Samuel.”
15 Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what
Samuel said to you.”
16 Saul said to his uncle, “He told us
plainly that the donkeys were found.” But
concerning the matter of the kingdom, of
which Samuel spoke, he didn’t tell him.
17 Samuel called the people together to
Yahweh to Mizpah;
18 and he said to the children of Israel,
“Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘I brought
Israel up out of Egypt and I delivered you
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out
of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’
19 But you have today rejected your God,
who himself saves you out of all your
calamities and your distresses; and you
have said to him, ‘No! Set a king over us!’
Now therefore present yourselves before
Yahweh by your tribes and by your thousands.”
20 So Samuel brought all the tribes of
Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was
chosen.
21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near
by their families and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Then Saul the son of
Kish was chosen; but when they looked for
him, he could not be found.
22 Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, “Is there yet a man to come here?”
Yahweh answered, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
23 They ran and got him there. When
he stood among the people, he was higher
than any of the people from his shoulders
and upward.
24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you
see him whom Yahweh has chosen, that
there is no one like him among all the
people?” All the people shouted and said, “Long
live the king!”
25 Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a
book and laid it up before Yahweh. Samuel
sent all the people away, every man to his
house.
26 Saul also went to his house in Gibeah;
and the army went with him, whose hearts
God had touched.
27 But certain worthless fellows said,
“How could this man save us?” They despised him, and brought him no tribute.
But he held his peace.