Josh Benner

Tag: Saul

  • The height of the reign of Saul. Studying 1 Samuel 11:8-15

    The height of the reign of Saul. Studying 1 Samuel 11:8-15

    Israel defeats the Ammonites

    In 1 Samuel 11, the Israelites face their first major military test under their new king, Saul. He has found out that the Ammonites have besieged the city of Jabesh-Gilead and so Saul assembles an Israelite force. 

    Verse 8: 

     8 When he mustered them at Bezek, the people of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

    Numbers can always be a little bit difficult in the Bible. Especially in the Old Testament. In English, our word for thousand always refers to a numerical value. The Hebrew word translated thousand can mean more than one thing. So it’s possible that it’s 300 thousand. It’s also possible it’s 300 military units, but not necessarily 300 thousand men. 

    It’s a large group in any event. 

    It’s also noteworthy that you have a split between Israel and Judah – north and south – just two generations later and even here, it’s listing the military numbers for these primary regions of the kingdom separately. The news of this army is shared with the besieged city of Jabesh-Gilead. 

    Verse 9: 

     9 And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation.’ ” When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, they were glad.

    And so they give their response to the Ammonite king: 

     10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.”

    In the Hebrew, their wording is actually a little bit cryptic. 

    The ESV translates it as we will give ourselves up to you. 

    The ESV commentary on 1 Samuel says that more literally, what they’re saying is we will come out to you.

    Which has a double meaning where the Ammonites could think they were coming out to surrender, but in reality they would be coming out to do battle. 

    In verse 11, the battle is recorded. 

     11 And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 

    Again, it’s a passage where a battle happens but it’s not really a passage about the battle itself. It gets summarized in one verse. Saul divided his men and they surrounded the Ammonites and so we see some skill in planning on the part of Saul. 

    The Israelites have a decisive victory. No two of them were left together. 

    The Ammonites are decimated. More attention is actually given to the aftermath of the victory than to the battle itself. 

    To explain the end of this chapter, we need to understand the end of chapter 10.

    Team of rivals

    In chapter 10, after Saul becomes king, he returns to his home and chapter 10 ends by mentioning that there were some who were enthusiastic about the new king, and there were some who were not. 

    Chapter 10, verses 26-27: 

    26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace. 

    After the victory, people wanted to round up those detractors who had been less enthusiastic about Saul and see them executed. 

    Back in chapter 11, verse 12: 

    12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 

    The high point of a doomed kingdom

    Verse 13:

    13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel.”

    As I said in the beginning of our time, this is the high point of the reign of Saul. 

    For a brief moment, Israel has the king they wanted. 

    Saul could have been vengeful to his detractors but chose grace instead. He could have hogged the glory but he gives the credit where it’s due when he says that it was the Lord who has worked salvation in Israel. 

    All is well in Israel. 

    There is a celebration. 

    It’s like when a team brings in a new coach or a new general manager and it takes them a few years to built up and then it culminates in a championship. The Cubs winning the World Series in 2016 comes to mind. All that time without winning a World Series and then they get the right people on staff and on the roster and they get there. 

    14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. 

    So we’ve had this great victory. The Israelites are carrying Saul around on their shoulders. The Prophet Samuel suggests that they go to Gilgal to renew the kingdom. 

    Why would they need to renew the kingdom when they literally just installed a new king? 

    I think that John L Mackay argues convincingly that the renewal of the kingdom in light of this great victory is not about Saul. That Samuel is seeking to renew the covenant to the kingdom that they have with the Lord who gave them this victory. 

    Gilgal was mentioned in chapter 10. It’s the place where Saul became king. It was also the place where Joshua built the first altar to the Lord within the Promised Land after they had crossed the Jordan River. In renewing the kingdom at Gilgal, it is also tying the future of Israel to God’s past faithfulness.

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  • Studying 1 Samuel 11:1-7

    Studying 1 Samuel 11:1-7

    In 1 Samuel 11, Israel is on the verge of war against the Ammonites, a surrounding enemy.

    At the beginning of the passage, the Ammonite king – Nahash – has the Israelite city of Jabesh-Gilead surrounded. The Israelites seek out a treaty with the Ammonites. 1 Samuel 11:1 says: Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

    In verse 2, the Ammonite king makes an audacious request:
    But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.”

    An immodest proposal

    There are two reasons why Nahash would make such a demand. From the text, it says that it would bring disgrace upon them. I think that’s pretty obvious. A way to shame and humiliate the people by half-blinding the nation and also the pain which that would involve. 

    A second reason is also likely for such a request. If they just gouged out one eye, they could still farm and therefore serve the Ammonite conquers. But it would make it much harder for them to have any type of military resistance. It would affect depth perception. 

    Most people are right handed and so to have to carry a sword in your right hand when you couldn’t see in your right eye would also cause problems. Carrying a shield with the left hand could also potentially obstruct the view in the left eye, especially when marching in formations as was common in ancient warfare. 

    So there is strategy behind this, but given that Nahash wanted to bring disgrace upon Israel, we also see hatred and vengeance as motivations for why he wanted to defeat them. 

    Back in our passage. Verse 3, we see a request from the Israelites in Jabesh: 

    3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.”

    They ask for a reprieve of seven days. They want to see if they have any options.

    It’s obvious from the context of the passage that the Ammonite king agrees because messengers get sent out in the following verse. 

    Perhaps he’s overconfident or assumes that the Israelites couldn’t possibly mobilize a force in seven days.

    We’ve seen Israel’s situation as they come under threat. 

    And we will see in this passage that it is ultimately a story about the Lord protecting his people. 

    The king and the battle

    So the Israelites asked for a seven day reprieve. They send out messengers. 

    Verse 4: 

    4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, and all the people wept aloud. 

    We don’t know how many messengers are sent or how wide ranging these messengers were sent throughout Israel. But some messengers had made their way to Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, Israel’s new king. 

    There is one point worth making that helps us understand the connection between Saul’s hometown of Gibeah within the Benjaminite territory and Jabesh-Gilead which was the city under Ammonite siege. 

    A tale of two cities

    As I keep mentioning, Saul was a Benjaminite and so he lived in the Benjaminite territory. 

    The Benjaminites had fought a war against other Israelite tribes. One area that did not participate in this war were the soldiers from Jabesh-Gilead. So Jabesh-Gilead is under attack in today’s passage. They go to a place that they had previously spared and ask for help.

    So you have some good historical relations between these two cities. And that place just “happens to be” the home of the new king. 

    I say “happens to be” in quotes because it wasn’t just some random coincidence. Once again in this passage, we continue to see this theme in Samuel of the providence of God. And I want to reiterate the point I keep making. That this passage is about God’s faithfulness. Here, we see it through his providential actions. 

    Verse 5: 
    Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh. 

    So it just happens to be these two cities who had this warm relationship with each other, and it just happens to be the hometown of Saul, and now Saul just happens to pass by. 

    People are weeping. We’re not sure if the messengers even know that there’s a king, or know that they’re in his hometown. 

    He’s just coming by with his livestock. 

    We continue to see God’s divine initiative in verse 6. 

     6 And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.

    So we’ve seen the providence of God, now we see the equipping from God. 

    The Spirit rushed upon Saul. 

    This is something that we also see in the Book of Judges where the judges are endowed by the divine Spirit in times of crisis and then act. 

    The same thing happens to Saul and he goes to work. 

    Verse 7: 

     7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man. 

    If nothing else, Saul is a showman. Pretty gruesome. 

    Cutting up the oxen alludes back to events in Judges but it is also giving a stern warning to his people that they’re being called upon by their king to serve. 

    The verse ends with they came out as one man. 

    Saul’s action had its intended effect. And for one of the few times in the history of Ancient Israel, the people are united. 

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  • Israel under siege. Studying 1 Samuel 11:1

    Israel under siege. Studying 1 Samuel 11:1

    A perilous beginning

    No president in American history inherited as perilous a situation as Abraham Lincoln. 

    In response to his election to the presidency, and his opposition to expanding slavery to new territories, six states had secceded from the union prior to Lincoln taking the oath of office. Once he became president in March of1861, it took less than six weeks for the Battle of Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War. 

    When we read about Israel and the Promised Land in the Bible, I think we have a tendency to imagine Israel as one unified state. 

    But Israel was composed of 12 tribes who had their own territories within the Promised Land.

    Kind of like a United States of Israel. 

    The tribes did not always get along with each other. For instance, the territory of Benjamin fought a civil war of their own at the end of the Book of Judges. In that war, the rest of Israel went to war with Benjamin. Thousands of Israelites died. 

    Later in Israel’s history, that same Benjaminite territory would be the birthplace of King Saul. 

    We’ll have more on that later. 

    Similar to America, there were also divisions in Israel among the northern and southern tribes. Saul was the first king, followed by David, followed by Solomon. By the end of Solomon’s reign, Israel was a divided kingdom between the north and south and never reunited. 

    But in First Samuel, the even bigger threat to the flourishing of Israel were the surrounding nations. The most prominent foe of the Israelites were the Philistines. In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites had lost to them in battle and the Philistines actually confiscated the Ark of the Covenant from the Tabernacle. 

    Eventually the Ark was given back but the Israelites but the Philistines remained hated enemies. One of the reasons why the Israelites had wanted a king was to have someone to lead them to victory over the Philistines. 

    Now at the end of chapter 10, Saul became king of Israel. And it was a fairly underwhelming begin to his reign. We don’t see any royal action or speech. 

    Chapter 10 ends. 

    Going to battle

    And then Chapter 11 abruptly changes to a new scene. 

    Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you” (1 Samuel 11:1). 

    So instead of the Philistines, the Israelites come under threat from another surrounding nation. The Ammonites. It’s another reminder of how weak Israel was at the beginning of Saul’s reign. They have foes on multiple borders. 

    And so in this passage, we see Saul’s first test as king of Israel. And it’s also the high point of his reign. But it’s not primarily a passage about Saul or a battle. It’s a passage about God’s faithfulness. 

    Israel under threat

    Let’s look at verse 1 again: 

    Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” 

    The name Nahash in Hebrew actually means serpent. It’s the same word that’s used in Genesis for the serpent in Eden. 

    And he’s an Ammonite. 

    The Ammonites were cousins to the Israelites. Their genealogy is traced back to Abraham’s nephew Lot having an incestuous relationship with his daughter. 

    Genesis 19:36-38:

    36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. 

    And the Ammonites lay siege on a city called Jabesh-Gilead which was in eastern Israel. 

    And the citizens beg for mercy when they say: “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” 

    In exchange for their lives to be spared, they’d rather make a treaty which would effectively make them vassals to the Ammonites. 

    Now, on the one hand, their response is understandable. If you were facing overwhelming might, wouldn’t you be tempted to do whatever you could do to preserve life and limb? To protect your family? To keep your home? 

    I think most people want to take the path of least resistance and avoid pain for themselves and their families. 

    It’s a very challenging situation. 

    But the problem is that the Israelites are overlooking their covenant with God. They are a chosen people who are set apart. It is the Lord who has given them this Promised Land. They have a covenant with God. And it is the Lord who is meant to be the protector of Israel. 

    Israel doesn’t need to cut a deal. What they need to do is to trust the Lord. 

    To look at a couple of Old Testament passages where this idea is expressed. 

    Exodus 23:22 says: 

    ​​ if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 

    We also see this in Deuteronomy 20:1-4: 

    When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3 and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4 for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory

    Gospel

    Where are the places in our lives where we forget about God’s promises? 

    I’ll start with the most significant. I think for a lot of Christians, we forget that we’re forgiven because of the gospel. 

    Sometimes we mess up. Sometimes we have an area where we’re really struggling and feel like we’re constantly going two steps forward, and one step back. And we sin, and there can be this shame. And if it’s something really bad, we can feel so down about ourselves.

    Sometimes when we sin, we can try to atone for our own sin or resort to works or other actions we’re doing to try to make ourselves feel like we’re right with God. 

    You can’t do it. 

    Yes we should repent and turn from our sins. 

    But we can’t atone for our sins. We can’t do something good to cancel out our sin. 

    But the good news is the gospel. 

    Ephesians 2:8-9 says: 

    8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

    We don’t have to wallow in shame and despair. We don’t have to go through life feeling like God doesn’t love us every time we don’t get it right. 

    I think we can forget that sometimes. We are not our own saviors. Jesus is and he did it perfectly. 

    And the promise we so often forget is that God is gracious. Not only is God gracious but the only way to be forgiven by God is through his grace. 

    We aren’t given two options. It’s not that we can try to earn God or we can take the option of grace. The first option is not an option because we can’t earn God because we can’t be good enough if we try. 

    Again, I’m not saying our sin doesn’t matter. We should be working to kill sin in our lives. But it’s not so that God can love you. But so you can live a life to God’s glory, so you can serve him and love him more fully, so you can experience joy without being encumbered by sin, and so that you can live a more fulfilled life in living in accordance with the wisdom of God. 

    The people in Jabesh-Gilead either forgot or didn’t fully trust God’s faithfulness to them as his people. And I think we can also be guilty of that sometimes. 

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  • A bad king and the idea of a good king. Studying 1 Samuel 10

    A bad king and the idea of a good king. Studying 1 Samuel 10

    Saul failed to honor God, but Jesus never fails. In the Bible, we see the stories of the various failures of humanity. Man was given the law but we see that we were unable to follow the law. Because of sin. 

    God gives Israel the king that they wanted and we’ll see that he will lead them imperfectly. Because no human king can adequately serve in the role that God serves in. 

    We cannot earn God, we cannot be our own saviors, and Saul couldn’t be the true king because that wasn’t something that a sinful man could accomplish. 

    Yes, we saw that he was chosen and anointed but it didn’t matter who God had picked. A human king was going to bring problems. 

    The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. 

    The good news is that there would be a future king who would usher in God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. There would be a future king who would talk of a kingdom that was not of this world. There would be a future king who would lay down his life for his subjects. There would be a king who would rule and reign and who would show his authority, not only over life and death but over sicknesses and diseases, over nature and storms. 

    In his commentary, Richard Phillips points out that Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the final time on Palm Sunday

    Five days later, he would be crucified in that same city. 

    But on Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem as crowds threw their cloaks on the ground. They waved palm branches and shouted “Hoanna,” the Aramaic word for “save us.” They welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as a conquering king. They gave Jesus the royal treatment that he deserved. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Saul’s story begins with a man who couldn’t find his donkeys! 

    And that is a powerful metaphor for how Jesus was everything that Saul was not. 

    Israel wanted a king to replace God and so God gave them Saul. But as fallen men inevitably fall, God also gave them Jesus. 

    The idea of a good king

    It’s interesting that we live in a nation that fought a war to escape the tyranny of a king. King George III of England. 

    And yet we have the idea of a good king. 

    We have the idea of a king who is just and loves his nation, and rules for the good of the people. A king who is wise and virtuous. He brings safety and security to the empire. 

    Even though many of the actual human kings throughout time have been incompetent, despotic, and led poorly. 

    Many kings today are actually just figureheads who have little to no real power. 

    But the Lord is the absolute monarch over creation who does rule with perfect wisdom, justice, and goodness. 

    Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven during his ministry. 

    And for the people of God, Philippians 3:20 says that our citizenship is in heaven. 

    Jesus invites us to live as part of that kingdom. 

    There are so many other kingdoms we want to try to live in. There’s the kingdom of self, the kingdom of politics, the kingdom of money, the kingdom of work. 

    But in Christ, we’re meant to have a heavenly citizenship and to live the rest of our lives on earth as it is in heaven. 

    We want to be the kings and queens over our own lives and say my kingdom come my will be done. But here’s the problem. We’re not good at that. 

    But we have a king who leads well. We have a king who points us to righteousness and holiness. We have a king who laid down his life so that we could be part of his kingdom. 

    And so we live as his kingdom people by knowing God, by communing with him, by serving him, by loving him, and by loving others. 

    Even though the world is fallen, we have the opportunity to live as citizens of God’s kingdom.  

    In the Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis said: “the Blessed will say “We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, “We were always in Hell.” And both will speak truly.”

    Who is your king? And where is your kingdom? 

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  • Chosen to be king. Studying 1 Samuel 10:1-10

    Chosen to be king. Studying 1 Samuel 10:1-10

    In 1 Samuel 9, we are introduced to a man from relative obscurity named Saul. But we quickly learn that he was set aside for a very special task. He would be the First King of Israel. That’s a pretty incredible piece of news for a person to be told and so chapter 10 begins with the Prophet Saul anointing Samuel and then giving him further instructions to prepare him to become king. 

    Saul anointed as king

    Verse 1: 

    Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.

    Samuel anoints Saul in a private ceremony. 

    As always, anointing in the Old Testament is something done at the beginning of the ministry of a prophet or a priest, and now of a future king. It is meant to set someone aside for a divine task. 

    Saul is not yet king. And interestingly, just as we saw in chapter 9, this verse does not use the word king. It uses the word prince. This is another reminder that even though Israel will have a human ruler, God is still the king. 

    Saul will rule as God’s emissary in the land. 

    The people’s demand for a king

    As a reminder, though this will come up at the end of the chapter, the reason why Israel is getting a king is because they had asked for one. In 1 Samuel 8[], the Israelites had been in various struggles and wars. Samuel’s sons were not as godly as he was and the people did not want them to be in power and so the people demanded a king. 

    In that same chapter, the Lord warned the Israelites about how badly it would go for them. 

    More men will have to serve in the army, more taxes, more of their goods will have to be given up in service of the king.

    But the people still want a king anyway. 

    1 Samuel 8:19-20:

    No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

    They want a king because they think it’ll make life easier, even though they’re told it will actually make their lives much, much harder. 

    It’s especially interesting that one of the reasons why they want a king is so that they can be like all of the other nations, when God had chosen Israel and redeemed them from slavery in Egypt preciseisly so that they would not be like all the other nations. 

    Leviticus 20:26: 

    You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

    So you have a sinful nation who were trying to usurp God and who were graciously warned and yet still wanted a king anyway.

    Sometimes God gives us what we want. But in the process, we learn that what we wanted really wasn’t good. 

    Sometimes God’s “yes” is a judgment. Is that because God is unloving? No. But man is sinful and some of us seem to only learn lessons the hard way! 

    Romans 1:28 says: 

    since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

    God is the king Israel needs but he’ll give them Saul, the king they deserve. 

    Saul prepared to be king

    Now let’s take a step back and look at this all from Saul’s perspective. 

    That is quite the series of events. In chapter 9, he’d simply gone out looking for some lost donkeys and now he finds out that he’s going to be king! 

    What would you think if you were Saul? 

    I’ll just speak for myself. I’m a pretty skeptical person. There are lots of things I hear that I question. I think I’d have a hard time believing that a prophet picked me out from obscurity and that it was my destiny to be the king of a nation that’s never even had a king. 

    Three signs

    So to prove that it’s all true, the Prophet Samuel gives Saul three signs or prophecies which will happen which are meant to validate that he really has been anointed to be the king. 

    First, his lost donkeys will be found. 

    Verse 2:

    2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” 

    Part of what this sign is also doing is tying up loose ends from Saul’s prior life. It is showing a completion of his former life as a farmer and things that will not be his responsibility when he is king.

    We see the second sign. People will give Saul bread. 

    Verses 3-4: 

    3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand.

    The New Bible Commentary is helpful on this verse. 

    There was a shrine at Bethel and the bread was meant to be given to the priests. So these aren’t just ordinary loaves of bread. They’re for a special purpose but when the people give the bread to Saul, it’s a reminder that he too has been set aside for a special purpose. 

    We see the third sign. 

    Verses 5-7:

    5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

    This sign points to Saul having the necessary skills to govern. 

    Borrowing again from the New Bible Dictionary, “Once these signs had been fulfilled, Saul could have full confidence to act as king, because God would clearly be with him.”

    At this point, Samuel is still telling Saul what will happen.

    Next, he tells Saul what to do after these things happen. 

    Verses 8:

     8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.” 

    So after the signs Saul will then spend seven days in the city of Gilgal and wait for Samuel. Gilgal was a city in the Benjaminite territory. Saul was a Benjaminte. 

    Gilgal was also the place where Joshua built the first monument to the Lord after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and entered into the Promised Land in Joshua 4:20. 

    Verse 9:

    9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 

    This is probably the most hotly debated verse in this entire chapter. What does it mean that Saul was given another heart? Is that a metaphor for conversion or being born again? 

    Given that this event happens prior to the New Covenant, I don’t assume that it refers to regeneration. And given the way Saul’s life plays out, we don’t see much in the way of fruit or a life dedicated to God. 

    But in being given another heart, it points to Saul being equipped with what was needed to where he could have been a good king. 

    It’s also important that these verse mention that all of the signs that Samuel had mentioned came to pass. 

    Continuing in our passage. 

    Verse 10: 

    10 When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

    The signs come to pass because Saul truly has been chosen by God to be the King of Israel. He’s chosen, he’s anointed, he’s been given the signs as confirmation. And at the end of chapter 10, he will officially become the first king of Israel. 

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