6 SAMUEL FINDS AND INSTRUCTS SAUL

Saul and his servant are looking for lost donkeys when, by an ordinary enquiry, they are directed to Samuel. Gibeah of Saul was not twenty miles from Ramah where Samuel lived, and was near to Mizpeh where Samuel often judged Israel, and yet, it seems, Saul had lived so very privately, and had taken so little notice of public affairs, that he had never seen Samuel. When he met him he did not know him. There is, obviously, no cause to suspect any secret compact or collusion between Samuel and Saul in this matter. Likewise when John the Baptist met Jesus, he said, “I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel” (John1:31).

The maid-servants of Ramah, whom Saul and the servant met at the place of drawing water, could give them information concerning Samuel and were equipped to give them very particular directions. In this they are good examples because we each should be willing to quickly and thoroughly give information that will help others find God or some godly person who can help them find God. Even the maid-servants could tell them some details. For example, that there was a sacrifice that day in the high place, it being either an ordinary festival or an extraordinary day of prayer and thanksgiving, with which sacrifices were made. The ark was not at the tabernacle then and the altar there was somewhat in disrepute anyway. More importantly, Samuel had built an altar here at Ramah and we see him making use of it. They also knew that Samuel came that day to the city, either from his regular circuit or from his country seat of justice since he was the judge in Israel at the time.

Samuel was a public person and his movements were generally known. They also knew that this was just the time of their meeting to feast before the Lord at a sacrifice so they said, “As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat . . . .  Go up now; you should find him about this time” (13). They knew the hour of the solemn feast. They knew that the people would not eat until Samuel came. He was, after all, the prophet recognized also as the judge. If it was a mere common meal, Samuel was the worthiest person, and they ought in good manners to wait for him. It is also likely that he was the host for this feast, the sacrifice being offered at his instruction. And at the feast he later said, “I have invited guests.” As a man of God, whoever made the feast, he must bless the sacrifice.

Today anyone who is a believer has the rights and privileges of praying in Jesus’ name, but in those days some rights belonged to holy men or those called prophets. We cannot expect benefit from our food without God’s blessing, and we have no reason to expect that blessing if we do not pray for it. So we must give glory to God as our provider, and acknowledge our dependence on and obligations to Him. If this event was a religious assembly, then, when the ceremonial sacrifice was offered, Samuel would be the one who blessed it. That is, he would have prayed over it, and offered up spiritual sacrifices in addition to the animal sacrificed. Afterwards, when the holy duties were finished they would eat.

Notice the sequence. First, let the soul be served. The sacrifice was to be a spiritual experience comparable to the serving of bread and wine or grape juice at communion for Christians today. Next and only after that, they feasted to celebrate their reconciliation and union with God by virtue of the sacrifice which always pointed to the substitution of an animal to symbolically bear away their sins. So Samuel blessed the feast, that is, he prayed to God to show favor with His special presence, that the ceremony might fulfill the meaning just now described. Even the servant girls out on the road knew of this event. It is an advantage to live at or be near the place where godly people do godly things. You. as a Christian leader, have the power to create that kind of place and that kind of atmosphere. Samuel did and so you can.

Saul and his servant followed the directions given them, and just as the girls on the road had suggested they soon met Samuel going to the high place as verse 14 says, “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.” This may have seemed purely accidental, but the divine plan arranged it for the forwarding of the important event that was to take place. A wise God sometimes serves very great and certain purposes by very small and seemingly casual occurrences. A sparrow does not fall to the ground without our Father noticing it.

Samuel, by an extraordinary revelation, is informed concerning Saul. He was a seer, and therefore must see this in a way special to himself. God had told him, the day before, that he would, at this time, send him the man that should serve the people of Israel as king. Privately, by a secret whisper to his mind, or perhaps by a still small voice, some soft and gentle sounds conveyed it to his inner spiritual ear. You have experienced it too. Samuel had sent the people home and he himself went home. He needed time to pray and wait for God’s answer. We see that he was not disappointed. We are trying in these leadership lessons from the lives of the prophets to learn how God works with His chosen leaders. Samuel’s example fits perfectly with what Amos wrote in Amos 3:7. Samuel’s example and Amos’ Word both affirm that God will inform His prophets. Expect it. Wait for it. Don’t go without it. “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” God told him before, that it might not be a surprise to him; and perhaps it even was in expectation of it that he prepared for this feast and the sacrifice, so that he could invite God’s blessing on this great and important matter of a decision regarding a king and who that person might be.

God only told it to him in his ear. There is here, however, a Hebrew phrase which means, He uncovered the ear of Samuel. This seems to hint at the way God reveals Himself to us; He not only speaks, but uncovers our ear. We have naturally a hindering covering on our ears, so that we do not perceive what God says. Job 33:14 refers to it like this: “For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it.” But, when God wills to make His message clear to a soul, He uncovers or opens the ear, and removes a covering from our hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:16 says, “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

Though God had, in displeasure, reluctantly granted their request for a king, yet here He speaks tenderly of Israel. He calls them again and again His people; though a stubborn and provoking people, yet mine still. Verse 16 says that God told Samuel, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.” He sends them a man to be captain over them, that they might not be a body without a head, and to save them out of the hand of the Philistines. This might have been more than many of them aimed at in desiring a king. God does it with a gracious attention to them and to their cry: I have looked upon my people, and their cry has come to me. He gratified them with what they cried for. Samuel had told them that later, God would not hear their cry to relieve them from the oppression of their kings, yet here He was so gracious as to say He would make those kings instruments of their deliverance from the oppression of their neighbors. This was better treatment than they had reason to expect.

2. When Saul came up toward him on the road, God again whispered in Samuel’s ear, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people” as verse 17 says. Saul being unusually tall, it is natural to think that Samuel may have fixed his eye on him even at a distance, and perhaps looked the more intentionally towards him because the hour had come when God would send him the man that would be king of Israel, and Samuel guessed this might be he. While Samuel was thinking like this, for his complete satisfaction, God told him expressly, “This is the man.”

God’s plan having brought Samuel and Saul together, we learn next of what passed between them in the gate, at the feast, and in private. In the gate of the city; passing through that, Saul found Samuel and, little thinking that he was Samuel himself, asked Samuel the way to Samuel’s house. Notice how common a figure Samuel was. Though he was so great a man yet he took with him no officials, attendants, no badges of honor or any distinguishing robe or special garment. Even on his way to a ceremony of a sacrifice, he so much appeared to be simply a common person that Saul, though he was told he should meet him, never suspected that it was he. Samuel looked more like a servant than a prophet so he asked him the way to the seer’s house.

I see here symbolically that great worth, value and spiritual wisdom can be hidden under a very normal appearance. Samuel knew that it was not the house of Samuel that Saul wanted, but the man, Samuel, that Saul wanted, so he said, “I am the seer.” Samuel knew him before he knew Samuel. This is a beautiful picture. Though all that are called to the kingdom of glory are brought to know God, yet first they were known of him. Jesus knew Nathaniel before he met Nathaniel. He knew you before you knew Him. My friend, think on this. This is wonderful. Samuel obligates Saul to stay with him until the next day. The greatest part of this day had been spent in sacrificing, and the rest of it was to be spent in holy feasting. Samuel was saying, let us pray and then talk together. Saul had nothing in his mind but to find his donkeys, but Samuel diverted him from that care, and guided him to something spiritual. Samuel satisfies him about his donkeys as though to indicate that God also cares about practical matters, but directs Saul to more important matters. We too are called to be responsible for things like donkeys, but to give our fuller and more complete focus and attention to more important matters. Saul could now see that Samuel was a prophet, that he could give him an answer to the question he had not yet asked. I see here a spiritual lesson that could be important for you and me. If a man of God can know our situation like this, how much more could God Himself understand our thoughts afar off?

Next, Samuel surprises Saul with a bold statement of preferment: “. . . to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?” It does not appear that the country had as yet selected anyone for the government, because they had left it wholly to God to choose for them. But whoever that person would be, his advancement would also be the advancement of his family and relations, as Abner, Saul’s cousin for example, and others.

At this, Saul responds with a very modest answer. Samuel, Saul thought, was just teasing him because he was tall, but a very unlikely man to be a king. Even though 1 Samuel 9:1 says that Kish, Saul’s father, was “a man of standing” yet he himself speaks humbly of his tribe and family. In verse 21 he says, “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?” The tribe of Benjamin had been reduced in size by the war of Gibeah. Gideon too, years before, had responded to the angel with humility by saying, “Pardon me, my lord, . . . .  but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family,” as is recorded in Judges 6:15. We are learning in this story describing leaders of humility both from the clothes of Samuel and the attitude of Saul. A humble disposition is a good preparation and condition of preferment.

Samuel took Saul and his servant to the public feast. Notice with me that the advancement of Saul to become king and deliverer of Israel would automatically decrease the importance of Samuel’s role as prophet and deliverer of Israel, yet that good prophet was so far from envying Saul, or harboring any ill-will, that he was the first and most forthright man to do Saul honor, in compliance with the will of God. If this man that I have just now met is the man whom God has chosen, though he is none of my particular friends or confidants, yet he is heartily welcome to this table and my circle of friends. We may suppose it was a great kindness to Saul to give him a a plentiful portion of meat at this meal, for it seems, by what Saul had said to his servant just moments before that all their food supply and money were spent.

But this was not all. Samuel treats him not as a common person, but a person of quality and distinction. Was Samuel preparing Saul and the people for what was to follow? Samuel gives two indications of honor to Saul. He set him in the best place, as more honorable than any other of the guests. Though we may suppose the Jewish officials or elders who in their own city would claim honorable seats, yet the master of the feast made Saul and his servant too (who, if Saul was a king, might be respected as his prime minister of state) sit in the chief place. Civil respects must be paid to those who in civil things have a public leadership role given them by the divine plan.

Samuel also presented Saul with the best dish. Having received word from God the day before of Saul’s coming, Samuel, when he gave orders for inviting the guests and making preparation for them, had designed for Saul and ordered the cook to reserve for him a special provision. And what should this dish be which was so very carefully secured for the king-elect? One would expect it should be something very nice and delicate. No, it was a plain shoulder of mutton. Verses 23, 24 say, “Samuel said to the cook, ‘Bring the piece of meat I gave you, the one I told you to lay aside.’ 24 So the cook took up the thigh 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.

The right shoulder of the peace-offerings was to be given to the priests, who were God’s chosen receivers according to Leviticus 7:32, “You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution.” The next to that in honor was the left shoulder, which probably was allotted to those who sat at the upper end of the table with Samuel, the host. It would probably have been Samuel’s portion at other times, but was Saul’s this time. Samuel giving it to Saul now was an implied resignation of his own place to Saul. The shoulder suggests strength, and the breast, suggests affection. (The breast may be the “what was on it” of verse 24 which some think went with the shoulder.) If this is true, it may symbolize that whoever was king had the government on his shoulder, for he must bear the weight of it; and the people in his bosom, for they must be dear to him. King Jesus certainly completely fulfills this meaning.

From a practical perspective, what happened next was most valuable. That evening and early the next morning Samuel spoke with Saul on the flat roof of the house. We may guess that Samuel now told him the whole story of the people’s desire of a king, the grounds of their desire, and God’s granting of it. To all this, Saul, living very privately, would have been a complete stranger. Samuel, we may suppose, gave him assurance and encouragement. Early in the morning he sent him toward home, brought him part of the way, told him to send his servant ahead so that they might be private and prepared to anoint him king as is described in the first verse of the next chapter. Samuel the prophet was a king maker. Others of God’s prophets in those day did this too. Who knows how God will use you? In any and all cases, listen to God and act accordingly.