1 Samuel 9:18

9:18-27 Samuel, that good prophet, was so far from envying Saul, or bearing him any ill-will, that he was the first and most forward to do him honour. Both that evening and early the next morning, Samuel communed with Saul upon the flat roof of the house. We may suppose Samuel now convinced Saul that he was the person God had fixed upon for the government, and of his own willingness to resign. How different are the purposes of the Lord for us, from our intentions for ourselves! Perhaps Saul was the only one who ever went out to seek asses, and literally found a kingdom; but many have set out and moved their dwellings to seek riches and pleasures, who have been guided to places where they found salvation for their souls. Thus they have met with those who addressed them as if aware of the secrets of their lives and hearts, and have been led seriously to regard the word of the Lord. If this has been our case, though our worldly plans have not prospered, let us not care for that; the Lord has given us, or has prepared us for, what is far better.

Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate,.... Either at the door of his own house, just as he was coming out of it, or within the gate of the city as Saul entered that, Samuel came to it, in order to go through it to the high place, which it is probable was without the city; wherefore it is very properly said that Samuel came out to meet them, 1 Samuel 9:14 . and said, tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is; one knows not which to wonder at most, the simplicity and humility of Samuel to be in so plain an habit, unattended by servants, and yet going to a public festival, so that he seemed to be no other than a common man, to be inquired of whereabout his house was; or the ignorance of Saul, who had lived so long in the world, and so near Samuel, and yet had never seen and knew not the chief magistrate in the nation, so famous both for his civil and religious character.

Verse 18. - In the gate. The same preposition is used here as that translated "into the city" in ver. 14. The contradiction which many commentators suppose that they find between the two verses arises from their not remembering that prepositions constantly lose their original meaning. Literally the preposition means in the middle , but its common meaning is simply within. So with us immediately has lost all reference to the middle, though derived from that word, and signifies directly, at once. Saul, then, and his servant were just going (it is a present participle) within the city when they meet Samuel coming out, and accost him in the very portal. 1 Samuel 9:18

That he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines, etc. - These words are not very easily reconcileable with 1 Samuel 7:13 . It is possible that the aggressive movements of the Philistines, after the long cessation indicated by 1 Samuel 7:13 , coupled with Samuel's old age and consequent inability to lead them to victory as before, were among the chief causes which led to the cry for a king. If this were so the Philistine oppression glanced at in this verse might in a general survey be rather connected with Saul's times than with Samuel's.

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 1 Samuel 9:11 , 1 Samuel 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.

In the gate; the gate, either, first, Of Samuel’s house. But he was come out thence before, 1 Samuel 9:14 . Or rather, secondly, Of the city; for the word gate being put by itself, according to reason and common use, must be understood of the most eminent in its kind, which the gate of the city is. And through this gate Samuel seems now to have been passing to go to the high place, which probably was without the city; and there he makes a stand, to hear what these persons now approaching to him were about to speak.

The thread of the narrative, which was broken off in 1 Samuel 9:15 , is resumed in 1 Samuel 9:18 . Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and asked him for the seer's house. The expression השּׁער בּתוך is used to define more precisely the general phrase in 1 Samuel 9:14 , העיר בּתוך בּאים; and there is no necessity to alter העיר in 1 Samuel 9:14 into השּׁער, as Thenius proposes, for העיר בּתוך כּוא does not mean to go (or be) in the middle of the town, as he imagines, but to go into, or enter, the town; and the entrance to the town was through the gate.

[Bible] 9:15. Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: 9:16. To morrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel: and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon my people, because their cry is come to me. 9:17. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: Behold the man, of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over my people. 9:18. And Saul came to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and said: Tell me, I pray thee, where is the house of the seer? 9:19. And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the seer; go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me to day, and I will let thee go in the morning: and tell thee all that is in thy heart. 9:20. And as for the asses, which were lost three days ago, be not solicitous, because they are found. And for whom shall be all the best things of Israel? Shall they not be for thee and for all thy father's house? 9:21. And Saul answering, said: Am not I a son of Jemini of the least tribe of Israel, and my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then hast thou spoken this word to me? 9:22. Then Samuel taking Saul, and his servant, brought them into the parlour, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited. For there were about thirty men. 9:23. And Samuel said to the cook: Bring the portion which I gave thee, and commanded thee to set it apart by thee. 9:24. And the cook took up the shoulder, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: Behold what is left, set it before thee, and eat; because it was kept of purpose for thee, when I invited the people. And Saul ate with Samuel that day. 9:25. And they went down from the high place into the town, and he spoke with Saul upon the top of the house: and he prepared a bed for Saul on the top of the house and he slept.