14 Saul Chosen King – Part 2

The second half of 1 Samuel chapter 9 begins with Saul meeting with Samuel for the first time, although for Saul, he desired to inquire of Samuel, to see if the prophet could give him information as to the whereabouts of his father’s lost donkeys.

However, for Samuel, this first encounter would be with the man whom the Lord had declared to him was to become the first king of Israel.

While Saul didn’t see this activity as having any spiritual importance, Samuel understood both the national and spiritual significance.

1 Saul and Samuel Meet

The Lord had clearly told Samuel, that he would have an encounter with the man whom he was to anoint as king.

God’s personal communication with Samuel, pictured their close personal relationship, which was in contrast with Saul seemingly had no interest in spiritual matters.

1 Samuel 9:17-21

While Saul was only interested in finding the “seer” who might provide information on the missing animals, Samuel knew he had to follow through with God’s commands.

Even though Saul had been unable to initially locate the donkeys, he did show persistence, which is a picture of what we’ll see later in his life, and reign as king.

Once they met, Samuel stated that he was the “seer”. However, Samuel had two things he was to be occupied with:

• He had his meeting with Saul, after which he would eventually anoint him s king. Therefore, that meeting was his priority.
• But he also had a scheduled worship and offering event in his hometown of Ramah, which would be attended by the townspeople.

This is akin to those in teaching ministries, who while they might be involved in various activities, their priority must always be teaching the Bible, which we see exemplified in the following passage:

Acts 6:2-4

Samuel then invited Saul to attend the festival and to eat with him the following day. And he then told Saul not to be concerned, that his father’s donkeys had been found. But as we can seek, all this was the Lord using these circumstances to bring the two men together.

But Samuel would then amaze Saul when he began to speak of Saul’s destiny, in the second part of the following verse:

1 Samuel 9:20

Saul showed what on the surface appeared to be great humility:

1 Samuel 9:21

While it was no secret that the Israelites desired a man of flesh and blood to be their king, Saul didn’t envision himself to be that person.

He then, spoke of being from the smallest tribe (Benjamin) and then said that his family was the least in the tribe. That was untrue, since his father was a wealthy prominent citizen:

1 Samuel 9:1

So, while Saul wanted to appear humble, he was being deceptive

2 Saul the Honored Guest

Samuel didn’t only invite Saul to dinner, but he made him the guest of honor:

1 Samuel 9:22-24

In the culture of that time, the guest of honor at a dinner, would be someone of great importance, usually a religious or civil leader, neither of which was Saul.

In addition to that, Saul had never shown any spiritual inclination, living only five miles away from Samuel’s home at Ramah, but never attending any of the festivals.

3 Samuel and Saul Talk

After the feast, Samuel and Saul left together, and would have a one-on-one meeting:

1 Samuel 9:25-27

Samuel obviously had much to discuss with Saul, not only advising him about the Lord’s plans, but also to learn about Saul, who again, had never expressed and desire towards things of the Lord.

Samuel understood how that would be a problem for both Saul and the nation.

We can imagine that Samuel would have spoken to Saul about the need to surrender his heart to God, so that he might then be a good and faithful leader of Israel.