saul also with the prophets

Israel clamored for a king, and Samuel anointed Saul. This was the first try in a long string of failures to set a consistently good king over God’s people, a string of failures which continues to this day. But in this special, sympathetic, like us imperfect first man, the Lord gives us hints of the King who will come.

The young Saul starts his journey to the throne on an errand from his father.

Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.”

He goes through Ephraim, through Shalisha, Shaalim, and Benjamin, and he does not find his father’s lost donkeys. He walks and seeks with his servant until they have no bread, until they are left with only the nameless servant’s quarter of a shekel of silver. They do not use this silver to feed themselves, but to offer as a gift to Samuel, the renowned seer of God, and to ask his help to find the lost beasts.

Samuel, as he approaches the place of sacrifice, sees Saul, and hears the Lord’s voice, that this is the one chosen. Samuel tells the young man that his donkeys, lost three days ago, have been found. Saul dines with Samuel in the place of honor, and sleeps on the roof under the stars.

In the morning, the seer tells him:

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.

When the servant (am I wrong to presume?) does not see, Saul is anointed with oil and told that he will conquer Israel’s enemies.

(I feel somewhat foolish summarizing the story for you, but I would feel more foolish wording out the riches I see in these events. I hope my emphases are enough to make the gold shimmer.)

And Saul learns from Samuel what will happen to him, so that he might know that Samuel’s anointing is true. And it happens.

And Samuel draws all the tribes together and miraculously, pulling lots for the kingship, pulls Saul’s from all of them, Saul who was not boasting about his anointing and rushing forward to be applauded, but hiding among the baggage. He, the tall donkey-seeker, would soon lead the people into battles, would, with a bit too much mercy for Samuel’s taste, crush those who opposed Israel.

Said Samuel there before the tribes:

There is none like him among all the people.

And Israel shouted:

Long live the king!

And some said:

“How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present.

And Saul held his peace. “There is none like him among all the people.” Was he thinking back a few days, to the time when, as Samuel had predicted, Saul met the group of prophets coming down from the high place and began to prophesy with them, when the people who knew Saul said:

“What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?”

Who is their father? The father of the prophets, of the prophesy which I spoke?

“There is none like him among all the people.” Was he thinking back a few days, to what had happened to him there, when the prediction of Samuel came true:

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

As he held his peace, was he wondering: who? Who was the other man? Who is their Father? There, in Gibeath-elohim, when I spoke the words that weren’t mine, who did I become?