Scripture Daily

Context No. 83 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

Context · Reflection

1 Samuel 10:1-7: in context

1Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head, then kissed him and said, “Hasn’t the LORD anointed you to be prince over his inheritance? 2When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found; and behold, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do for my son?”’ 3“Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God to Bethel: one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a container of wine. 4They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand. 5“After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. 6Then the LORD’s Spirit will come mightily on you, then you will prophesy with them and will be turned into another man. 7Let it be, when these signs have come to you, that you do what is appropriate for the occasion; for God is with you.

Israel has demanded a king, and Samuel has warned them what a king will cost. Saul, a young man from Benjamin, has come looking for his father's lost donkeys and been sent to the seer. This passage is what happens in private before anything is announced: Samuel pours a vial of oil on his head, kisses him, and tells him God has anointed him prince over his people.

Then Samuel gives him a sequence of signs, and they are oddly domestic. You will meet two men by Rachel's tomb who will tell you the donkeys are found and your father is now worried about you instead. Then three men going up to Bethel, one with three young goats, one with three loaves, one with a skin of wine, and they will give you two loaves. Then a band of prophets coming down from the high place with harp and drum, and the Spirit will rush on you and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

The confirmations start with a father's worry and a gift of bread on a road, and only then reach the Spirit. Small ordinary things, named in advance, so that Saul would recognize them when they came. What would I need to have named beforehand to recognize it as an answer instead of a coincidence?

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