1 Samuelchapter 9
27 verses · Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition · 10th century BC · History
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
Introduction
Samuel, Nathan and Gad, by tradition, History, 1 Samuel Overview.
This chapter moves slowly on purpose. It was told to Israelites who knew what donkeys were worth, what it cost to consult a seer, and what a seat at a sacrificial feast meant. After the argument of chapter 8, the story of the first king begins with an errand in the hills of Benjamin. It reads as a country tale with a hidden hand behind it. Listen for how many small turns bring a young man to the right town on the right day. Notice what the reader learns before Saul does.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who knew what it cost to consult a seer and what a shared meal implied
- What
- Saul, searching for his father's lost donkeys, is led to Samuel, who has been told by the LORD to expect him and honours him at a feast.
- Where
- The hill country of Benjamin and Ephraim, ending at a town in the land of Zuph with a high place and a feast prepared.
- When
- About 1050 BC, in the last days before the monarchy.
- Why
- To show that the LORD chose Israel's first king and brought him to the prophet through ordinary events.
Historical context
Samuel stands in this chapter as the last judge of Israel and the prophet the whole country knew, presiding over a sacrifice at a hilltop town in the land of Zuph. Saul is the son of a Benjamite of standing and property, and he holds no office when the chapter opens.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The time is the last years before the monarchy, about 1050 BC. The ground is the hill country north of Jerusalem, and the search crosses Ephraim, Shalishah, Shaalim, Benjamin and Zuph before it ends. The occasion is an errand, since the donkeys of Saul's father Kish wander off and Saul is sent with a servant to look for them.
A first hearer knew what those animals were worth: a donkey was a household's transport, plough animal and pack animal at once, so a search across three districts was ordinary. He also knew that a man of God was consulted for practical guidance, lost property included, and that a gift was brought as courtesy rather than as payment.
Silver in this period was weighed rather than coined, and the quarter shekel in the servant's pouch was a real and small amount of it. A high place was a hilltop site with an altar and a hall for the sacrificial meal, and worship there was still going on while no central sanctuary stood. Being seated at the head of about thirty guests and served a portion set aside in advance was a public honour nobody at that table could explain.
Significance
God's answer to a nation's rebellious demand arrives as a young man out looking for livestock, steered by a servant's suggestion and a shortage of bread. He reaches the town on the exact day a prophet had been told to expect him.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The description of Saul carries its own warning. He is handsome and a head taller than anyone else, which is precisely how the people had asked to be led.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi is carried here in the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., under CC-BY, and Malbim at one verse in the Sefaria Community Translation, CC0. Malbim reads the loss of the asses as arranged rather than accidental. He notes that the verb for losing takes one letter here and another elsewhere, and takes that to teach that the animals "weren't truly lost" (Malbim on I Samuel 9:3:1). They disappeared at that hour, he says, so that Saul would go out after them (same ref). Rashi follows Targum Yonoson on the land of Zuph and reads it as "into the land wherein there was a prophet" (Rashi on I Samuel 9:5:1). On the servant's words he takes the road they ask about as the matter of the donkeys, and what has become of them (Rashi on I Samuel 9:6:1). On the question of a gift he gives the reading of the Targum, that Saul asked what to bring if the man accepted money (Rashi on I Samuel 9:7:1). Saul was unfamiliar with Samuel's habits, Rashi says, and thought he would ask for payment (same ref). On the quarter shekel he gives the coin as one zuz of silver (Rashi on I Samuel 9:8:1). On the note about the older word for a prophet he says the author wrote that verse, rather than the servant (Rashi on I Samuel 9:9:1). He records Radak's answer to the difficulty, that the older word belonged to a time when prophets were known for telling what was hidden (same ref). On the long answer the girls gave he hands on the reading of Maseches Berachos 48b, that they drew the talk out to look at Saul (Rashi on I Samuel 9:13:1). On the word for ruling he reads it as restraining, and says this is what a ruler does (Rashi on I Samuel 9:17:1). In war he holds the people together so they do not scatter, and in peace he restrains each one from doing evil (same ref). On Samuel's question about what all Israel desires he says the prophet "hints to him the matter of the kingship" (Rashi on I Samuel 9:20:1). On the seat at the head of the guests he says the order of the seating made the chief place plain (Rashi on I Samuel 9:22:1). On the portion set aside he says Samuel knew Saul would come and ordered it kept for him (Rashi on I Samuel 9:23:1). On the portion itself he reads it as the thigh and the hip above it (Rashi on I Samuel 9:24:1). Radak, Malbim and Metzudat David comment at eleven verses, and the corpus holds no English version of any of them, so they stand as citations. They are Radak on I Samuel 9:1:1, 9:2:1, 9:4:1, 9:12:1, 9:14:1, 9:16:1 and 9:19:1, Malbim on I Samuel 9:10:1 and 9:15:1, and Metzudat David on I Samuel 9:11:1 and 9:21:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-four of them Midrash and six Talmud, each a locator without text. Kish of Benjamin draws Esther Rabbah 5:4, Esther Rabbah 6:2 and Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 3:7:4. Saul's appearance draws Bamidbar Rabbah 9:24, Berakhot 48b:9 and Ein Yaakov, Yevamot 8:4. The search for the donkeys draws Bereshit Rabbah 82:9 and Midrash Shmuel 13:8, and the land of Zuph draws Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 17:9:1 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 17:9:1. The man of God in the city draws Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 33:1:2, Sifrei Devarim 342:6 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 951:10. The gift they thought to bring draws Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:8:2. The girls they met draw Midrash Tehillim 7:16 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 36:4. The high place draws Bamidbar Rabbah 18:10, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Chukat 22:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Korach 19:1. The long answer the girls gave draws Berakhot 48b:8, Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 7:12 and Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 7:1:6. The word given to Samuel the day before draws Midrash Shmuel 14:1, Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 6:8 and Midrash Tehillim 119:8. The charge to anoint him ruler draws Midrash Shmuel 14:2 and Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 5:1. Saul meeting Samuel in the gate draws Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 1:17:9 and Sifrei Devarim 17:7. Going up before him to the high place draws Aggadat Bereshit 70:3 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 6:1. The question about the desire of all Israel draws Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Gadol u'Gedolah 10. Saul's answer about his own tribe draws Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayetze 65 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 1:17:1. The head of the guests draws Midrash Tehillim 14:8 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 807:5, and the portion set aside draws Midrash Tehillim 7:2. The thigh he was given draws Avodah Zarah 25a:16 and Ein Yaakov, Avodah Zarah 2:4, and verse 26 draws Tractate Soferim 7:2. The rabbis teach in these places, and this site reports them as their teaching rather than as a rule of the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on I Samuel 9:5:1, 9:6:1, 9:7:1, 9:8:1, 9:9:1, 9:13:1, 9:17:1, 9:20:1, 9:22:1, 9:23:1 and 9:24:1, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J., CC-BY; Malbim, Malbim on I Samuel 9:3:1, the Sefaria Community Translation, CC0; Radak, Radak on I Samuel 9:1:1, 9:2:1, 9:4:1, 9:12:1, 9:14:1, 9:16:1 and 9:19:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus; Malbim, Malbim on I Samuel 9:10:1 and 9:15:1, cited only; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on I Samuel 9:11:1 and 9:21:1, cited only.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Lost donkeys and a young man head and shoulders taller
Saul's introduction opens with his father's five-generation pedigree, a mighty man of power, meaning a man of standing and property in Benjamin rather than a warrior's title. The genealogy roots the coming king's line before naming him, the same convention Judges used for Gideon and Samson. Samuel's own book began with Elkanah's line at 1:1 in the same way, weight given to family before the man himself appears.
1 Samuel 9:1
“The genealogy of Saul is here given as far as Aphiah (“Abiah,” 1Ch 7:8), who was of the house of Becher the son of Benjamin Gen 46:21. “Kish” 1Ch 9:35-39 was the son of “Ner” the son of “Jehiel,” (or, “Abiel” here and 1Sa 14:51), the first settler (“father,” 1Ch 9:35) at Gibeon, or Gibeah of Saul, and who married “Maachah,” a daughter or granddaughter of Caleb. If so, it is obvious that the names of several generations are omitted between Kish and Abiel, and among them that from which the family of Matri 1Sa 10:21 was called.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Samuel 9:1
“The name Benjamin is a combination, then, of two words, son and right hand: ben means "son" and jamin means "right hand."Let us remember once for all that the tribe of Benjamin was called Jemini.”
Jerome · written before 420 · HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 3 (PS 7)patristic
1 Samuel 9:1
“He was of the tribe of Benjamin; so was the New-Testament Saul, who also was called Paul, and he mentions it as his honour, for Benjamin was a favourite, Rom. xi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Saul is chosen by the measure a crowd would use, “choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites”. The same height is noted again when he is presented to the nation at 10:23. At 16:7 the LORD answers this standard as Samuel looks at David's brothers, so the two kings of this book are measured by opposite yardsticks.
1 Samuel 9:2
“Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly--He had a fine appearance; for it is evident that he must have been only a little under seven feet tall. A gigantic stature and an athletic frame must have been a popular recommendation at that time in that country.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:2
“From his shoulders and upwards - It was probably from this very circumstance that he was chosen for king; for, where kings were elective, in all ancient times great respect was paid to personal appearance.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 9:3-5
The straying donkeys send Saul through Ephraim, Shalishah, Shaalim and Benjamin, and the search finds nothing until he is ready to go home. The errand is as unplanned as David's trip with food to his brothers' camp at 17:17-20, and in both an ordinary errand brings a future king into the story. Saul's words, “Come, let us go back”, make the servant's suggestion the hinge of the chapter.
1 Samuel 9:3
“But his obedience to his father in it was very commendable. Seest thou a man diligent in his business, and dutiful to his superiors, willing to stoop and willing to take pains? he does as Saul stand fair for preferment. The servant of Kish would be faithful only as a servant, but Saul as a son, in his own business, and therefore he was sent with him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 9:3
“The asses of Kish - were lost - What a wonderful train of occurrences were connected in order to bring Saul to the throne of Israel! Every thing seems to go on according to the common course of events, and yet all conspired to favor the election of a man to the kingdom who certainly did not come there by the approbation of God. Asses grow to great perfection in the East; and at this time, as there were no horses in Judea, they were very useful; and on them kings and princes rode.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 9:3
“Kish, who is called harsh, signifies not only his elect, but also the Redeemer himself. For no one was harsher toward himself than he. For the prophet, indicating the severity of this harshness, says: "Truly he himself bore our infirmities, and he himself carried our sorrows" (Isa. 53:4). For to die is not to suffer for mortals, who are subject to the suffering of a condemned nature.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4patristic
The search crosses the hill country of Ephraim and then turns back through Benjamin. Albert Barnes places Shalishah near Gilgal and connects Shaalim with the land of Shual named at 13:17, about nine miles from Gibeah. Each region yields nothing.
1 Samuel 9:4
“The land of Shalisha was somewhere near Gilgal, i. e., Jiljulieh. It is thought to derive its name from “three” (Shalosh) wadys which unite in the wady of Karawa. The situation of Shalim is not known: its etymology connects it more probably with the land of Shual 1Sa 13:17, apparently round Taiyibeh, which was about nine miles from Gibeah. Zuph - 1Sa 9:5, see 1Sa 1:1 note.”
The land of Zuph carries the name of Samuel's forebear at 1:1, and Adam Clarke places Samuel's home within it. Calmet, as Clarke reports him, reckons the whole search at about three days, and verse 20 speaks of donkeys lost three days ago. Saul thinks first of his father.
1 Samuel 9:5
“Were come to the land of Zuph - Calmet supposes that Saul and his servant went from Gibeah to Shalisha, in the tribe of Dan; from thence to Shalim, near to Jerusalem; and thence, traversing the tribe of Benjamin, they purposed to return to Gibeah; but passing through the land of Zuph, in which Ramatha, the country of Samuel, was situated, they determined to call on this prophet to gain some directions from him; the whole of this circuit he supposes to have amounted to no more than about twenty-five leagues, or three days’ journey.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:5
“Children should take care that they do nothing to grieve or frighten their parents, but be tender of their tenderness. His servant proposed (for, it should seem, he had more religion in him than his master) that, since they were now at Ramah, they should call on Samuel, and take his advice in this important affair.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Samuel 9:6-8
The servant knows the town has a man of God, and “everything he says surely comes to pass”. Saul's objection is practical, since “there is no gift to take to the man of God”, and the servant's “quarter shekel of silver” becomes the gift. The custom of bringing a present to a man of God recurs at First Kings 14:3, when Jeroboam's wife carries bread to Ahijah.
1 Samuel 9:6
“And he said unto him,.... That is, the servant of Saul: behold, now, there is in this city a man of God; a prophet of the Lord, as the Targum; such were called men of God, because not only partakers of the grace of God, but of extraordinary gifts, which qualified them for the office of prophets.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:6
“But it is probable that at the introduction of the prophetic office, the seers had discovered things lost or stolen, and thus their power for higher revelations was gradually established.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Adam Clarke reads Saul's worry as a settled custom, by which no one approached a superior without a present. Albert Barnes notes that gifts of bread were as common as gifts of money. Their bread is gone.
1 Samuel 9:7
“There is not a present to bring to the man of God - We are not to suppose from this that the prophets took money to predict future events: Saul only refers to an invariable custom, that no man approached a superior without a present of some kind or other.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A quarter shekel of silver was a small sum, which Albert Barnes puts at about sixpence. Adam Clarke reads it as a token of respect toward the man of God, offered once the bread had run out. The gift comes from the servant.
1 Samuel 9:8
“The fourth part of a shekel of silver - We find from the preceding verse, that the bread or provisions which they had brought with them for their journey was expended, else a part of that would have been thought a suitable present; and here the fourth part of a shekel of silver, about ninepence of our money, was deemed sufficient: therefore the present was intended more as a token of respect than as an emolument.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 9:9-10
The narrator pauses to explain an older word, and the seer appears here for the first time in Scripture: “the prophet of today was formerly called the seer”. The aside was written after the vocabulary had shifted, and it comes as the word of the LORD, rare through chapter 3, is about to speak again. The servant leads Saul straight to the man the town still calls the seer.
1 Samuel 9:9
“In him [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He also who was hidden in a mystery is the same that was foreordained before the world. Now it was in the law and in the prophets that he was foreordained and prefigured. For this reason too the prophets were called seers, because they saw him whom others did not see.”
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 53.4patristic
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 9:9
“Prophet--The recognized distinction in latter times was, that a seer was one who was favored with visions of God--a view of things invisible to mortal sight; and a prophet foretold future events.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Samuel 9:9
“This is manifestly a gloss inserted in the older narrative by the later editor of the sacred text, to explain the use of the term in 1Sa 9:11, 1Sa 9:18-19. It is one among many instances which prove how the very letter of the contemporary narratives was preserved by those who in later times compiled the histories. We cannot say exactly when the term “seer” became obsolete. See the marginal references.”
said Saul to his servant: John Gill renders Saul's answer as good is your word, praise for the servant's plan and his generosity. Matthew Henry notes that Samuel would have given his counsel freely. The gift honoured his office.
1 Samuel 9:10
“Samuel needed not their money, nor would he have denied them his advice if they had not brought it (it is probable, when he had it, he gave it to the poor); but they brought it to him as a token of their respect and the value they put upon his office; nor did he refuse it, for they were able to give it, and, though it was but little, it was the widow's mite.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Samuel 9:11-13
The young women answer with more detail than the question needed: the sacrifice today, the order of eating and the hour to find him. Their precision reads like a town that knows its prophet's schedule. Saul cannot know that the LORD told Samuel the day before whom to expect, so what looks like local knowledge is the edge of a plan already in motion.
1 Samuel 9:11
“And as they went up the hill to the city,.... For the city was built upon an hill, from whence it had the name of Ramah, which signifies high and lifted up: they found young maidens going out to draw water: going out of the city, to a fountain which was at the bottom of the hill; and this was the usual business of maidens in those countries to fetch water for the service of the family; see Gill on Gen 24:11; see Gill on Gen 24:15; see Gill on Gen 24:16. R.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:11
“Young maidens going out to draw water - So far is it from being true, that young women were always kept closely shut up at home, that we find them often in the field, drawing and carrying water, as here.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The sacrifice on the high place was a shared meal. Adam Clarke explains that the animals were first offered to the LORD and the people then ate the flesh, and he takes the high place for Samuel's own altar on raised ground. Matthew Henry places the scene at Ramah, where Samuel had built an altar in 7:17.
1 Samuel 9:12
“He came to - day to the city - Though Samuel lived chiefly in Ramah, yet he had a dwelling in the country, at a place called Naioth, where it is probable there was a school of the prophets. See 1Sa 19:18-24. A sacrifice of the people - A great feast. The animals used were first sacrificed to the Lord; that is, their blood was poured out before him; and then all the people fed on the flesh. By high place probably Samuel’s altar is alone meant; which no doubt was raised on an eminence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Wesley reads the blessing as thanksgiving joined to prayer that God would accept the offering. Albert Barnes places the high place at the top of the town, with a hall large enough for the thirty guests of verse 22. The guests wait for Samuel.
1 Samuel 9:13
“Find him - At home and at leisure. To eat - The relicks of the sacrifices. Doth bless - The blessing of this sacrifice seems to have consisted both of thanksgiving, this being a thank-offering, and of prayer to God for its acceptance.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:13
“Before he go up - By this phrase we see that the high place was in the highest part of the city. Like the “house of the god Berith” Jdg 9:46, it was probably the citadel of Ramah. There was connected with the altar a room large enough for thirty people to dine in 1Sa 9:22.”
1 Samuel 9:14-17
Samuel meets Saul because the LORD told him the day before, “At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin”. God gives the reason, “he will save them from the hand of the Philistines”, before Saul has said a word. The words “Here is the man of whom I spoke” set God's choice beside the crowd's choice at 10:24.
1 Samuel 9:14
“A sparrow falls not to the ground without our Father. Samuel, by an extraordinary revelation, is informed concerning Saul. He was a seer, and therefore must see this in a way peculiar to himself.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jehovah had told Samuel in his ear the day before
The LORD revealed this to Samuel in private, and Matthew Henry notes that the Hebrew reads he uncovered the ear of Samuel. John Gill adds that the day's warning let Samuel prepare for Saul's arrival and know him on sight. Adam Clarke leaves the manner unknown.
1 Samuel 9:15
“Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear,.... In a private manner, whispering in his ear, telling him in a free, familiar, friendly way, as a secret: a day before Saul came; that he might prepare for the entertainment of him, and not be surprised at his coming, as well as hereby be assured he was the person designed to be king of Israel, when he should come: saying; as follows.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:15
“The Hebrew phrase is, He uncovered the ear of Samuel, to which some allude for the explication of the way of God's revealing himself to us; he not only speaks, but uncovers our ear.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The LORD sends Samuel to anoint a leader, the Hebrew nagid, which Adam Clarke glosses as captain of the LORD's host. Albert Barnes sets the Philistines of this verse beside 7:13 and suggests their renewed pressure helped drive the people's cry for a king. Saul would save them only in part.
1 Samuel 9:16
“He is also described as a man coming from the land of Benjamin. He is called a man on account of the strength of his works; from the land of Benjamin, on account of his right confession of faith. Benjamin indeed means "son of the right hand." Who then is called this son of the right hand, if not he of whom it is written: "He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father" (Mark 16:19)?”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4patristic
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 9:16
“Thou shalt anoint him to be captain - Not to be king, but to be נגיד nagid or captain of the Lord’s host. But in ancient times no king was esteemed who was not an able warrior. Plutarch informs us that Alexander the Great esteemed the following verse the most correct, as to its sentiment, of any in the whole Iliad of Homer: - Ουτος γ’ Ατρειδης ευρυκρειων Αγαμεμνων, Αμφοτερον βασιλευς τ’ αγαθος, κρατερος τ’ αιχμητης. “The king of kings, Atrides, you survey; Great in the war, and great in acts of sway.” Pope.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 9:16
“Philistines - For though they were now most pressed with the Ammonites, yet they looked upon these as a land-flood, soon up, and soon down again: but the Philistines, their constant and nearest enemies, they most dreaded. And from these did Saul in some measure save them, and would have saved them much more, if his and the people's sins had not hindered.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
when Samuel saw Saul: The LORD names Saul at the moment Samuel first sees him. Adam Clarke reads the exchange as the mark of a constant familiarity between Samuel and God. The promise of verse 16 is kept to the hour.
1 Samuel 9:17
“23 And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee. 24 And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left! set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 9:17
“Behold the man whom I spake to thee of - What an intimate communion must Samuel have held with his God! A constant familiarity seems to have existed between them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 9:17
“In this passage it must be noted that when a pastor is chosen in the holy Church, sometimes he is ordained for himself and for the people; sometimes neither for the people nor for himself; sometimes for himself, not for the people; and sometimes indeed for the people, not for himself. For himself and the people, when a chosen preacher is given to chosen subjects: because from the very thing by which the multitude of subjects is led to the eternal homeland, gifts of merits are heaped upon the good pastor.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4patristic
1 Samuel 9:18-19
Saul does not recognize Samuel and asks him, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is”. Samuel answers, “I am the seer”, and offers more than Saul asked: a meal at his table and word of “all that is in your heart”. The man seeking directions to a house is handed a place at a table and news he did not request.
I am the seer: Samuel answers a question about a house with a statement about himself. Matthew Henry observes that Samuel knew Saul before Saul knew Samuel. The promise to tell Saul all that is in his heart reaches past the lost donkeys.
1 Samuel 9:19
“Samuel knew him before he knew Samuel; thus, though all that are called to the kingdom of glory are brought to know God, yet first they were known of him, Gal. iv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Samuel 9:20-21
Samuel settles the donkeys before Saul can ask, then turns to a larger question: “upon whom is all the desire of Israel”. Saul answers by tribal arithmetic, “the smallest tribe of Israel”, and his humility sounds genuine here. At 15:17 Samuel reminds him that he was once small in his own eyes, so these words become the standard he is measured against.
1 Samuel 9:20
“On whom - Who is he that shall be that, which all Israel desire to have, namely, a king. Father's house - That honour is designed for thee, and, after thy death, for thy family or posterity, is by thy sin thou dost not cut off the entail.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:20
“As for thine asses - Thus he shows him that he knew what was in his heart, God having previously revealed these things to Samuel. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? - Saul understood this as implying that he was chosen to be king.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Albert Barnes recalls that Benjamin had been nearly destroyed in the civil war of Judges 20 and was then the smallest tribe in Israel. A ruler from Benjamin over Joseph and Judah looked unlikely. John Chrysostom reads Saul's reply as genuine reluctance.
1 Samuel 9:21
“The tribe of Benjamin, originally the smallest of all the tribes Num 1:36, if Ephraim and Manasseh are reckoned as one tribe, had been nearly annihilated by the civil war recorded in Judg. 20. It had of course not recovered from that terrible calamity in the time of Saul, and was doubtless literally much the smallest tribe at that time. Nothing could be more improbable, humanly speaking, than that this weak tribe should give a ruler to the mighty tribes of Joseph and Judah.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:21
“Saul sprang as a root out of a dry ground. That tribe, though fewest in number, was first in dignity, God giving more abundant honour to that part which lacked, 1 Cor. xii. His father was Kish, a mighty man of power, or, as the margin reads it, in substance; in spirit bold, in body strong, in estate wealthy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The portion set aside, and a word on the housetop
1 Samuel 9:22-24
Samuel seats Saul “in the place of honor among those who were invited” and has the cook bring the leg set aside. Samuel's words, “It was set apart for you”, show the meal was arranged before Saul set out after the donkeys, matching the word of verse 16. A stranger off the road is served the reserved portion at a feast prepared for him.
1 Samuel 9:22
“The parlour - The “hall” or “cell” attached to the chapel on the high place, in which the sacrificial feast was accustomed to be held. (Compare 1Ch 9:26.)”
Adam Clarke notes that the word for cook comes from a root meaning to slaughter, and he takes this man for the butcher of the feast. The same word in the feminine names the cooks of 8:13. Samuel had planned the portion ahead.
1 Samuel 9:23
“And Samuel said unto the cook,.... That dressed and prepared the food for the entertainment of the guests: bring the portion which I gave thee; to dress; for part of the provisions of the feast was Samuel's, and the other part the people's that brought the peace offerings: of which I said unto thee, set it by thee; do not bring it in with the rest, but keep it in the kitchen till called for.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:23
“Said unto the cook - טבח tabbach, here rendered cook; the singular of טבחות tabbachoth, female cooks, 1Sa 8:13, from the root tabach, to slay or butcher. Probably the butcher is here meant.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Albert Barnes notes that the right shoulder was the priest's portion in the Levitical sacrifices. He takes this cut for Samuel's own portion, set before Saul as the highest honour. Matthew Henry reads it as Samuel yielding his place.
1 Samuel 9:24
“The shoulder, and that which was upon it - Probably the shoulder was covered with a part of the caul, that it might be the better roasted. The Targum has it the shoulder and its thigh; not only the shoulder merely, but the fore-leg bone to the knee; perhaps the whole fore-quarter. Why was the shoulder set before Saul? Not because it was the best part, but because it was an emblem of the government to which he was now called. See Isa 9:6: And the government shall be upon his Shoulder.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Samuel 9:25-26
The night's conversation happens on the housetop, the cool open-air gathering place of an ordinary house, and Samuel uses the whole night to prepare Saul for what the morning will bring. They rise early and walk out together, an unremarkable start to a day that will end with a private anointing the town never sees. Nothing marks this scene as unusual yet, which is exactly how the chapter wants a coronation to arrive, on an ordinary errand's last ordinary morning.
1 Samuel 9:25
“Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house--Saul was taken to lodge with the prophet for that night. Before retiring to rest, they communed on the flat roof of the house, the couch being laid there (Jos 2:6), when, doubtless, Samuel revealed the secret and described the peculiar duties of a monarch in a nation so related to the Divine King as Israel.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:25
“Upon the top of the house - All the houses in the East were flat-roofed; on these people walked, talked, and frequently slept, for the sake of fresh and cooling air.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Saul had slept on the roof, where Albert Barnes notes that Eastern houses often gave guests extra room under a tent or awning. Samuel wakes him there before dawn. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown compare the flat roof at Jericho in Joshua 2:6.
1 Samuel 9:26
“Called Saul to the top of the house - Saul had no doubt slept there all night; and now, it being the break of day, “Samuel called to Saul on the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away.” There was no calling him to the house-top a second time he was sleeping there, and Samuel called him up.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Samuel 9:26
“Fittingly, therefore, there is added: "And when they had risen in the morning, and it was now growing light, Samuel called to Saul on the rooftop, saying: Arise, and I will send you on your way." Indeed, morning dawns when the splendor of truth opens itself to the quiet mind. For the human mind becomes dark through ignorance and bright through the illumination of truth. Therefore, one who is ignorant is in night; when illuminated, in day.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4patristic
1 Samuel 9:26
“To the top of the house - “On the top.” The bed on which Saul slept was on the top of the house. It is very common in the East to provide extra sleeping accommodation by placing a tent or awning on the house-top.”
Samuel sends the servant ahead so the word reaches Saul alone, the same privacy the chapter has kept since verse 15, when the LORD spoke to Samuel a day before Saul came. The anointing follows in chapter 10, and a king chosen in secret is told so in secret before Israel acclaims him at 10:24. The errand for lost donkeys ends with “the word of God” for one man.
1 Samuel 9:27
“Pass on - That thou and I may speak privately of the matter or the kingdom. Which Samuel hitherto endeavoured to conceal, lest he should be thought now to impose a king upon them, as before he denied one to them; and that it might appear by the lot mentioned in the next chapter, that the kingdom was given to Saul by God's destination, and not by Samuel's contrivance.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Samuel 9:27
“THIS was Samuel's third interview with this goodly young man. He had spoken with him and entertained him in his parlor, giving him the place of honor. He had afterwards spent the evening with him in quiet on the housetop and now, that they were about to part, he took a fresh opportunity of speaking to him. This time he spoke to him with great closeness of personal application, sending Saul's servant away that he might say things to Saul which nobody else might hear. He tried to speak to the young man's inmost soul.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Narrative prose over one errand of several days, carrying a narrator's aside on an older word and closing on a private word spoken outside the city, as Keil and Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The measure taken by the eye | Verse 2 measures Saul by height and looks, a head taller than any of the people. Israel repeats the same measure at his coronation in 10:23, and 16:7 answers it directly when Samuel is drawn to Eliab. The book states the eye's standard here and overturns it seven chapters later.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on 1 Samuel 9:2. | 1 Samuel 9:2, 1 Samuel 10:23, 1 Samuel 16:7 |
| The districts walked one after another | Verses 4 and 5 name the ground covered in order, the hill country of Ephraim, the land of Shalishah, the region of Shaalim, the land of Benjamin and the land of Zuph. Each name is followed by the same result, that the donkeys were not there. The list measures the length of the search and brings Saul to the one town where Samuel was.W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel, Expositor's Bible, 1887, on 1 Samuel 9:4. | 1 Samuel 9:4, 1 Samuel 9:5 |
| The one word the narrator stops to explain | Verse 9 breaks the account to gloss its own vocabulary, saying that the prophet of today was formerly called the seer. This is the first place in Scripture the word seer stands. Saul then uses the older word at verses 11 and 18 without knowing what it will come to mean, and Samuel answers with it at verse 19.John Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 1748 to 1763, on 1 Samuel 9:9. | 1 Samuel 9:9, 1 Samuel 9:11, 1 Samuel 9:18, 1 Samuel 9:19 |
| The errand raised and then set aside | The chapter opens at verse 3 on donkeys that wandered off and closes the matter at verse 20, where Samuel tells Saul they are found before Saul can ask. The question Saul came with is answered and dismissed in one clause, and the question Samuel asks in its place is the one the rest of the book turns on.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on 1 Samuel 9:20. | 1 Samuel 9:3, 1 Samuel 9:20 |
The structure
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
Five units. The house of Kish and the son described, verses 1 and 2. The search and its failure, verses 3 to 5. The servant's proposal and the walk to the town, verses 6 to 14. The LORD's word to Samuel and the meal, verses 15 to 24. The night on the roof and the parting outside the city, verses 25 to 27.
The narrator's aside at verse 9 sits inside the third unit and stops the account for one sentence. It is the only place in the chapter where a voice from the time of writing speaks to the reader directly.
The historical value
The chapter has Samuel presiding at a high place with a hall and a cook, and a town that keeps his schedule. The book's own dossier carries Shiloh at Khirbet Seilun, excavated by Danish teams from 1926 and by Israel Finkelstein from 1981 to 1984. The settlement ends in a destruction layer dated to the middle of the eleventh century BC. That is the ruin 1 Samuel 4 records, and it is why the sanctuary Samuel serves at in this chapter is a hilltop rather than Shiloh.
The New Testament's use
Paul opens his account of Israel's kings at Antioch with the data of this chapter's first two verses. Acts 13:21 names Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and gives the reign a length of forty years that 1 Samuel never states on its own page. The genealogy of verse 1 and the tribe of verse 21 are what the apostle carries forward.
What the chapter hands to the next
Verse 27 closes on the threshold of the anointing rather than on the anointing itself. Samuel sends the servant ahead so the word reaches Saul alone, and 10:1 pours the oil in the same privacy. The two chapters are one scene divided at the city's edge.
Saul answers at verse 21 that he is a Benjamite of the smallest tribe and the least clan in it. Samuel returns that answer to him at 15:17, when thou wast little in thine own sight. His own words at this table become the measure he is judged by six chapters later.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel, 1864, on 1 Samuel 9:1 to 27; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on 1 Samuel 9:3 to 5 and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel, Expositor's Bible, 1887, on 1 Samuel 9.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, ON THE PRIESTHOOD 4.1; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The First Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).