13 Saul Chosen King

In chapter 9, the author introduces us to Saul, the man who would become the first king of Israel.

He provides his physical description, which shows him to be a striking individual, tall, good-looking, and powerful. In other words, exactly the sort of person the people wanted to be their king.

However, we also see, that even though he lived only 5 miles from the prophet Samuel, they’d never crossed paths, showing that Saul had never attended any of the feats over which Samuel would have presided.

Therefore, we have the first glimpse of how Saul did not have a spiritual connection with the Lord.

1 Saul Fits the Bill

1 Samuel 9:1-2

While outwardly, Saul was everything Israel desire in a strong leader, inwardly he lacked any spiritual substance.

He was the son of a wealthy Israelite named Kish and was from the small tribe of Benjamin.

Ironically, the name Saul means “asked of God” which shows how the people had desired a “flesh and blood” king but had failed to include any spiritual requirements in their request. Therefore, the Lord gave them exactly what they asked for.

As someone who was worldly himself, Saul’s appeal would be to those who themselves were simply worldly.

2 Saul’s First Mission

When first see Saul, his father requests that his son go to look for missing donkeys:

1 Samuel 9:3-14

While it was a seemingly innocent-enough activity, it was under God’s direction. Because Saul would never go to Ramah, to observe any of the festivals, the Lord orchestrated everything, for Saul to encounter Samuel.

The Lord used a “non-spiritual” activity to bring about His desires for Saul. And, He’ll often do the same thing in the lives certainly of believers:

Romans 8:28

But He will also use and arrange circumstances to reach unbelievers as well.

Now, there’s no evidence in scripture that Saul was a believer, in reality, all evidence points to him as being a pretender in all things.

• While we should be open to the Lord moving and working in circumstances, we shouldn’t look for signs.
• We shouldn’t see every “open door” as being from the Lord.

Believers should begin each day asking the Lord for His direction, and then be open to whatever His will is.

In verses 4 and 5 Saul and his servant had a fruitless attempt searching for the lost donkeys. Saul suggested they return home, as his father would be more concerned about him than the donkeys.

However, in verse 6, we see how the Lord told him about the “man of God” (Saul) who would be able to give them guidance.

In this we see how the servant was far more spiritually aware than was Saul.

The servant referred to Samuel as being “honorable” again, showing he didn’t only know about Samuel, but about his character.

Because Saul was from a wealthy family, he assumed used to a life where there would always be payment for services rendered. Therefore, he wondered what payment should be made to the prophet Samuel.

Saul’s servant had a small amount of silver which he suggested could be offered to the prophet as payment.

Scripture points to giving gifts to seers as being a common practice, as seen in the following passage:

2 Kings 8:8-9

In verse 9, Samuel is referred to as both a s “seer” and a “prophet”:

1 Samuel 9:9

The word translated “seer” is the Hebrew word “roeh” which means a person who sees but was most often used when speaking of someone who sees supernatural things.

But then Samuel was referred to as a prophet. Individuals would often function as both, with seers often involved in receiving divine revelation, at times, regarding normal everyday matters, whereas prophets proclaimed God’s revelations.

Prophets also operated as seers as well.

3 Samuel and Saul Meet

As seen throughout the book, we see God was at work behind the scenes, to bring about His plan, and that was the case here as well:

1 Samuel 9:15-17

The Lord in effect “whispered” directions in Samuel’s ear, showing the Lord was providing information to Samuel alone.

The Lord told him he would meet a man from the tribe of Benjamin the next day, who would be the king to “save the people form the Philistines”.

This wouldn’t literally be the case, but the phrase was used, because the people were expecting a man to save them from their enemies. However, even though Saul would not completely defeat the Philistines, Israel did have more victories than defeats during Saul’s reign.

This was what theologians refer to as God’s “permissive will” in which, because of our insistence He will allow for things in our lives, even when they aren’t His best for us.