Prince over the People

1 Samuel 9:22-10:16

²² Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons.

²³ And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’ ”

 ²⁴ So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.”

So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

 ²⁵And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.

²⁶ Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

²⁷ As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”

^10:1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.

² When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’

 ³ Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.

⁴ And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.

⁵ After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying.

⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

⁷ Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

⁸ Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

⁹ When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.

¹⁰ When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

¹¹ And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹² And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

As God relents and grants what the people want, even though it breaks His heart to experience their rejection of Him as their King, He makes a path for them that will still fall in line with His desires for a kingdom that belongs to Him first. He appoints Saul as their first king and Samuel obediently accomplishes the task of announcing His choice. As Saul is anointed, Samuel declares him to be their Prince. The use of this word is important, as it more accurately describes what God has in mind for the new “king” in terms of his role. (The same word, prince, is used on other occasions as well and means the same thing. See 1 Samuel 9:15; 13:14; 25:30; 1 Kings 1:351.)  This word literally means “prince, ruler, or leader”. Nowhere in its definition is there an implication for “king.” God still desires to be the King. This nation is meant to be a theocracy. A people ruled by God, not another man. God’s hope is that Saul will rule as a man who follows God first and leads his people by the will and ways of God. Even in the midst of our wrong and stubborn choices, God seeks to find a way for us to live according to His plan.

Sadly, in a few short chapters we will find that Saul would rather operate as king as he puts aside the role of “prince” and acts more like a despot than a godly ruler. But for now, we find that he is still humble and willing. The humility can be seen by the fact that he still does not even tell his family that he has been anointed as the new king. He keeps that news to himself. Most people would shout that news aloud. But Saul keeps quiet and is still a man who can be used by God; would that this attitude had continued.

Our take home point for today (at least one of them) would be to remain accountable to the tasks that God lays out before us rather than constructing a platform of our own to stand upon and thus circumvent the path He creates for us. Had Saul followed the course set before him by God his life would have served God and the people. This will not be how the story turns out, but it could have been so. For most of us, the temptation to be the king rather than serve as prince is great. We can all be guilty of grasping beyond the place that God gives us, thus making a ruin of situation. Our role model is always Christ, who can not to be served by to serve. In Him we find the perfect obedience to God’s will that blessed the entire world. Had Christ said “no” to death on a cross because it was outside of His plan or beneath Him, we would be in a terrible place, bound for destruction. But His perfect obedience instead brings life and restoration with the Father of us all.