Saul Anointed and Tested

1 Samuel 10:1-27

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, “Has not Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance? As you go from with me today, you will find two men near the burial site of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, ‘The female donkeys that you went to search for have been found.’ Now look, your father is no longer concerned about the female donkeys and has begun worrying about you, saying, ‘What should I do about my son?’ Then you will go on from there and further you will come to the oak of Tabor. There three men will meet you, who are going up to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three male kid goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a skin of wine. They will ask how you are doing and will give you two loaves, which you will take from their hand. After this, you will come to the Gibeah of God, where there are sentries of the Philistines. Just as you enter the town there, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place, with harp, tambourine, flute, and zither before them, and they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit of Yahweh will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will turn into a different person. When these signs come to you, do for yourself what your hand finds to do , for God will be with you. Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. Look, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to make fellowship offerings. You must wait seven days until I come to you. Then I will let you know what you should do.” Just as he turned his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God changed his heart. And all these signs were fulfilled on that day. When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him formerly saw that he prophesied with prophets, the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” And a man from there responded and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “ Is Saul also among the prophets?” When he finished prophesying, he went to the high place. Then Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To search for the female donkeys; and when we saw none, we went to Samuel.” So Saul’s uncle said to him, “Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” Then Saul said to his uncle, “He told us for certain that the female donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingship of which Samuel had spoken. Then Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah, and he said to the Israelites, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But you today have rejected your God who always delivers you from all of your calamities and your distresses. You have said to him, ‘No, but you must appoint a king over us!’ So then present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans.” So Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot. Then he brought near the tribe of Benjamin according to its families, and the family of Matri was selected by lot. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen, and they sought him, but he could not be found. So they inquired again of Yahweh, “Did the man come here?” And Yahweh said, “Look, he is hiding himself among the baggage.” So they ran and took him from there, and when he took his stand among the people, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders and up. Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen? For there is no one like him among all the people!” And all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!” Then Samuel told the people the custom of the kingship, and he wrote the rules down on a scroll and laid it before Yahweh. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house. And Saul also went to his house at Gibeah, and the troops whose hearts God had touched went with him. However, some worthless men said, “How can this man deliver us?” So they despised him and brought no gift to him, but he kept silent.

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1 Samuel 13:1-14

Saul was thirty years old at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned forty- two years over Israel. He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand of these were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it . Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” And all Israel did hear, saying, “Saul has defeated the garrison of the Philistines; and also, Israel has become a stench among the Philistines!” So the people were called out after Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and an army as numerous as sand which is on the seashore. And they came up and encamped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. When the men of Israel saw that it was too difficult for them, because the army was hard pressed, the people hid themselves in the caves, in the thorn bushes, in the cliffs, in the vaults and in the wells. Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the army followed him trembling. He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army started to slip away from him. So Saul said, “Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” Then he offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him and to bless him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “Because I saw that the army was scattering from me and you did not come at the appointed time and that the Philistines had gathered at Micmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you.”

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