Year 7, Day 296: 1 Samuel 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Saul is anointed by Samuel.  Notice something rather interesting here, though.  Saul is anointed, but that anointing is private.  Samuel tells Saul to go home and he will come in a week to find Saul to make him king publicly before all of the Hebrew people.  I find this very interesting.  If Saul is not king until he goes before the people, then what is the purpose of the anointing?  If the anointing made him king, then what is the purpose of going before the people other than to reveal what was done in private?  But if this is the case, why sort through the tribes and not just announce Saul as king?

To be fair, I think we have two separate events happening here.  First, we have the anointing of Saul.  God’s Spirit comes upon Saul.  Saul prophesies.  He is given the keys to God’s kingdom.  A week later, Samuel comes to anoint Saul for work in arising Hebrew kingdom.  First and foremost, we see that we are talking about at least two entirely different kingdoms.

However, take a look at Saul’s reaction here.  In the first instance, Sul takes the Spirit of God and goes forth.  He prophesies.  However, he doesn’t fulfill the rest of what Samuel says.  He even goes home and tells nobody about what happened!  Saul receives a great gift from God, plays with it a little while it amuses him, and then stuffs it away without telling anyone about what happened.

Then, at his own inauguration as a human king, he hides among the luggage!  Saul doesn’t even come out to receive what God is offering to him.  I find that even more telling.  Saul incompletely receives the spiritual kingdom; Saul hides from the earthly kingdom.

I’m not trying to be overly hard at Saul.  Yes, we know that God ultimately rejects Saul asking because Saul rejects God’s ways and God’s authority.  We see evidence of that here at the very beginning.  At the same time, though, I cannot imagine how Saul must have felt going out to find donkeys and all of a sudden being able to prophesy and being told that you are going to be king.  That’s an amazing amount of newness thrust upon Saul.

What I learn in this passage is that we must be ready for God.  We don’t know what God is going to ask of us.   We also don’t know when He is going to ask it.  If we allow ourselves to become complacent, we can be overwhelmed when God comes among us and actually lose what He desires to give us.

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