1 Samuel 9:11 - Meaning and Application

Here, Saul is led to Samuel by an ordinary question and answer, (1 Samuel 9:11-14). Gibeah, Saul’s hometown, was not far from Ramah, where Samuel lived, and near Mizpeh, where Samuel often judged Israel. Yet Saul had lived so privately, and had paid so little attention to public matters, that he had never met Samuel before. When they did meet, he did not even recognize him (1 Samuel 9:18), so there was no reason to suspect any secret plan between them.

I do not think it was any credit to Saul that he was a stranger to Samuel. Still, the maidservants of Ramah, whom Saul and his servant met while drawing water, could give them useful directions about Samuel. They were very specific in what they told them (1 Samuel 9:12-13). We should always be ready to help those who are seeking God’s prophets, and to guide them in their search.

Even the maidservants could tell them that there was a sacrifice that day at the high place, either for a regular feast or for a special day of prayer and thanksgiving, when sacrifices were offered. Since the tabernacle had lost the ark, the altar there no longer had the same honor it once had, and worship was not limited to that one place as it later would be when God chose a place for his name. Samuel had built an altar at Ramah (1 Samuel 7:17), and he was using it here.

They also knew that Samuel had come into the city that day, either from his circuit of judging or from his country home. He was such a public man that his movements were well known. They told Saul that this was the very time of the feast before the Lord, and that he would find Samuel going up to the high place. They knew the hour of the sacred meal.

They said the people would not eat until Samuel came. This was partly because he was the most respected man there, and they should wait for him in good manners. It may also be because he had arranged the feast and provided the sacrifice. But the main reason was that, as a man of God, he had to bless the sacrifice, meaning the food from the sacrifice that they were about to eat.

This blessing may be seen in two ways. First, as a common meal, it shows the duty of asking God’s blessing on our food before we eat. We cannot expect food to do us good unless God blesses it, and we have no reason to expect that blessing if we do not ask for it. In this way, we give God the glory as our provider and admit our dependence on him.

Second, as a religious gathering, Samuel blessed the sacrifice by praying over it and joining spiritual worship to the outward ceremony. Then, after the holy duties were done, they ate. The soul should be served first. Since the feast on the sacrifice was a sacred act, it needed special blessing, just as the Christian Lord’s Supper is set apart. They feasted as a sign that they were at peace with God through the sacrifice and shared in its benefits. Samuel blessed the feast by praying that God would give the meeting his special presence and make it serve those great purposes.

Bishop Hall notes how detailed those maidservants were in describing the practice of sacred feasts. From this he draws a useful lesson, that where piety is practiced and seen among the better sort, it will show itself even among the lowest. Living in a religious place is a real advantage, for we are greatly at fault if all goodness passes by us.

Saul and his servant followed the directions they had been given, and just in time met Samuel going up to the high place, the city’s place of worship (1 Samuel 9:14). It seemed like chance, but God’s providence ordered it for this important meeting. The wise God carries out very large and sure purposes through small and ordinary events. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father.

Samuel, as a prophet, received an extraordinary revelation about Saul. Since he was a seer, he had to see this in a way that belonged to his office. God had told him the day before that, at that very time, he would send him the man who would serve as prince over Israel, since they had asked for a king like the nations around them (1 Samuel 9:15-16). God told him privately, as if whispering in his ear, perhaps while Samuel was praying in secret for guidance about this and other public matters.

Samuel had spoken in the ears of the Lord (1 Samuel 8:21), and now God spoke in his ear, showing friendship and close fellowship, for he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets, as secrets in the ear (Amos 3:7). God told him beforehand so that he would not be surprised. Perhaps this was why Samuel appointed the feast and the sacrifice, to seek God’s blessing on this great matter, though he kept the exact reason to himself. The Hebrew phrase says that God “uncovered the ear” of Samuel, which helps explain how God reveals himself to us. He does more than speak, he opens our ears to hear.

We naturally have a covering over our ears, so we do not perceive what God says (Job 33:14). But when God makes himself known to a soul, he uncovers the ear, saying, “Be opened,” and he takes the veil from the heart (2 Corinthians 3:16). Even though God, in displeasure, granted Israel’s request for a king, he still speaks here with tenderness. Even in anger, he remembers mercy.

First, he still calls them his people, again and again. They were a stubborn and provoking people, yet they remained his. Second, he sends them a man to be their leader, so they would not be a body without a head, and to save them from the Philistines. This may have been more than many of them had in mind when they asked for a king. Third, he does this with gracious regard for them and for their cry. “I have looked on my people, and their cry has come to me.” He gave them what they had asked for, like a tender mother yielding to a difficult child so it would not break its heart.

As Bishop Patrick observes, though God would not hear their cry to relieve them from the oppression of their own kings later on (1 Samuel 8:18), he was still gracious enough to make those kings instruments of deliverance from the oppression of their neighbors. That was more than they had any right to expect.

As Saul came up toward Samuel in the street, God again quietly spoke to Samuel’s heart, as we read in (1 Samuel 9:17): “Look, here is the man I told you about.” Saul was a man of unusual height, so it is natural to think Samuel looked at him from a distance. He may have watched him more closely because the time had come for God to send the man who would be king over Israel, and Samuel may have thought this was the one.

But God gave Samuel a clear answer so there would be no doubt. He told him plainly, “This is the man who will govern my people Israel.” A magistrate, or civil ruler, is meant to hold people in check and keep order among them.