If you were God, how would you respond to a people who refused your leadership and instead asked for a king to be given to them? You might expect that God would give them a hard time. Samuel certainly did! Or he might have given them someone they’d regret having as king just to teach them a lesson. He might even have let the Philistines come and attack them as they were discussing their ambit claim with Samuel. But in fact none of those things happen. Instead God gives them just what they’re looking for. Well, almost.
Look at how this section begins. "There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, ... a man of wealth. 2He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else." Now if you were looking for someone to lead the army against the Philistines who better to choose? He’s young. He’s good looking. He stands head and shoulders above the rest. Here’s someone the whole army will look up to, literally. It’s almost as if God is saying, "If you want a king, I’ll give you one. And he’ll be just the sort of king you’d choose if you were doing the choosing" There’s nothing half-hearted in the way God selects a King for them. This is as good a king as you’d hope for. Sadly though, as we’ll see in the next couple of weeks, his performance wouldn’t match his image, but that’s another story.
God has chosen Saul, but how is he to bring his choice into operation? As it turns out, in a fairly mundane, prosaic way. At first at least. Kish’s donkeys have gone for a wander so Saul is sent out with one of the hired servants to look for them. They travel a fair distance looking without any success, until at last Saul suggests they turn back before his Father sends a search party out to look for them. At that point the boy brings his local knowledge to bear. He tells Saul about a man of God who lives nearby. This man has a reputation for being a seer whose word can be trusted.
Notice though, the way the boy puts it. He says "Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out." Now the boy probably means perhaps he’ll show us the way to go. That’s how the NIV translates it. But in fact as we’ll discover in a moment Samuel will tell them much more than which way to go. He’ll tell them about the journey that Saul is just beginning, a journey that will end with him being made king of Israel.
So off they go. But first Saul realises that he needs to take with him a gift to give the seer. This was the custom of the time. But Saul has nothing to offer so the boy offers to use the quarter shekel silver coin he has on him, and off they go. Now this is a small detail but because it’s here in the text it’s worth asking why? Why does the author tell us about this small gift of a little silver coin? ??
- shows the extent of his insignificance - along with other details - search for donkeys, asking directions from some girls (v11). Although Kish is described as a man of wealth, the picture we get of Saul is someone who’s fairly ordinary. The sort of person who gets sent off to look for donkeys! Who doesn’t have even a small silver coin in his pocket! Yet this is the man whom God has chosen to be king over Israel!
Well let’s read on to see how such a thing could be. Saul goes up the hill to the town and just as he enters it he finds Samuel, just as the girls had told him. Samuel is on his way to the sanctuary at the top of the hill where he’s to offer a sacrifice.
Then we discover an interesting thing. There’s no coincidence about what’s happened so far. You might wonder why Saul has been wandering all over the hills looking for his donkeys. But the answer is here. God has brought him here for a reason. Saul thinks he’s here looking for donkeys, but he’s actually here because God is looking for him! In fact God has told Samuel about it the day before. ’15Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16"Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel."’ The people had asked for a King and here was the man that God had chosen. And notice what comes next: "He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people, because their outcry has come to me." What does that remind you of? Well, it probably should remind you of the call of Moses or the raising up of judges to save the people when they cried out to the Lord. In fact the word King isn’t used here at all. The word ruler that’s used here has much less of the status of a king about it. It’s much closer to the idea of a judge. Saul is initially just another in the mould of the judges or Moses as a leader among leaders.
Well, Samuel greets him with these enigmatic words: "on whom is all Israel’s desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?" Saul understands exactly what he means. But it’s the furthest thing from his mind. He’s out looking for donkeys, and here’s Samuel telling him that he’s the one that all of Israel has been looking for. And he understands where he fits in the hierarchy. He comes form the least of the tribes of Israel. How could he become king over the whole nation?
Yet isn’t it true that God is the one who brings down the powerful from their thrones, and lifts up the lowly? Isn’t he the one who said to Zerubbabel about the rebuilding of the Temple "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit." In fact this is one of the themes of Samuel, that God takes the weak and lowly and uses them to do great things for him.
Samuel knows that of course. He has first hand experience of the way God can use even him and the words he speaks to do amazing things. So he brings Saul into the feast, sits him in the place of honour and serves him what is clearly meant to be a symbolic serving of the thigh of the animal that’s just been sacrificed. This is a king’s portion. And it’s been kept just for him, because Samuel has had a word from the Lord that his appointed king is coming. There’s a contrast here between Saul, who’s been blindly wandering the desert looking for his donkeys, not knowing where he was going, and Samuel who calmly waits for the one God has sent.
When the meal is over Saul is again given a great honour; this time of Samuel’s hospitality in the coolest room in the house. Then in the morning as he’s about to depart, Samuel anoints him as king in a private ceremony.
So Saul has been made king, but he has some growing to do yet before the time comes for God’s choice to be revealed to the people.
You see, Saul is still the humble young man, the country bumpkin, who’s more comfortable wandering round looking for donkeys than sitting in the seat of honour at a sacrificial feast. He’s still just an ordinary man. What he needs is to be changed. To be clothed with majesty. In fact he needs a new heart. And that’s just what God does. Look at 10:9: "As he turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10When they were going from there to Gibeah, a band of prophets met him; and the spirit of God possessed him, and he fell into a prophetic frenzy along with them." In order to be king, you see, Samuel needed the Spirit of the Lord to be guiding him, to fill him. And that’s exactly what happens. Saul begins to prophesy along with this band of prophets he comes across. He falls into a prophetic frenzy for a period of time and prophesies, then when it’s over he goes home.
The people have asked for a king just like the other nations, but the king they’re about to be given is nothing like the other kings. His authority doesn’t come from the externals of lineage or wealth or power. It comes from within. It comes from the presence of God’s Spirit dwelling within him. Notice how up until this moment Saul is an unknown, unnoticed wanderer. But now he comes to public notice in the company of a band of prophets, in the company of those who are most closely associated with the worship of God and the speaking of God’s word. So much so that this association becomes proverbial: "Is Saul also among the Prophets?" they ask. This king that God has chosen is closer to Samuel in nature than he is to the kings of the other nations.
And yet although they see Saul prophesying, no-one but Samuel and Saul know what all this means!
Isn’t it amazing. Here is one of the most critical moments in the history of Israel, and it all happens in secret.
I think that’s an important thing for us to realise with our 21st century perception of what matters, what’s important. We sometimes think that if we see it on the 6 o’clock news or read it in the paper it must be important. If it isn’t newsworthy then it mustn’t be important. And so our lives become defined by the 30 second bite, arbitrated by news editors who are heavily influenced by sponsors. And it’s so easy to miss the truly significant things that happen unnoticed except by a few of us insignificant people, or even noticed only by God who watches over our affairs even when no-one else is watching.
I went to see the movie, ’One Hour Photo’ the other day and one of the things that come out of that movie is the way we tend to photograph only the things we want to remember; mainly the good things. But you rarely see photos of the little things that make up our lives, the used band aid, the pegs on the clothes line, the dirty dishes in the sink, the food wrappers discarded after eating. Yet these are actually the things that make up the bulk of our lives, not the big things, not the celebrations or the big events. And when we think about the way God works in our lives it’s the same. He works, so often, through a series of small events, often unnoticed, to bring about his will in our lives. And unless we’re looking out for those little things we’ll miss them. And then of course we miss out on the joy of discovering that God is real and active in our lives. Saul discovered in this series of events that nothing happens by accident. There’s no such thing as a coincidence where God is involved. The search for those donkeys was merely the setting for something much more marvellous happening to Saul. He’s God’s chosen King. No-one knows about it yet. Saul has yet to be recognised, but in the meantime he’s been anointed by God’s servant, Samuel. He is the king in truth, if not yet in practice. He’s ready for what will come next.
And what is it that’s made him ready for this new role? It’s this: God has chosen him and has changed him by the indwelling of his Holy Spirit. That’s all.
This is something that was unusual in Saul’s day, but no longer. We’re privileged to enjoy exactly the same blessing that Saul enjoyed. Peter describes Christians as those "who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ." Again, the indwelling of God’s Spirit may not be obvious to others looking on, but nevertheless it’s a reality that every Christian can lay claim to. We’ve been sanctified, that is, set apart, by the Spirit. The only question then is, what is it that God has chosen me, set me apart, to do for him? It’s unlikely to be becoming King of Israel, but it will be something that brings glory to him and that he will equip us to do. It may not be something that we expect or that others see in us, but it will be something that God will enable us to do if we’ll give him the chance and if we’ll continue to follow him faithfully.
We’ll discover as we continue with the history of Saul that this is an area that in the end, he fails in. But that’s another story for a couple of weeks time. For now let’s remember that Saul has been made king, and that then he’s been empowered for the job by the indwelling of God’s own Spirit, just as we received God’s Spirit when we first believed. And let’s pray that we might be able to see the way God is working in our lives, even when it isn’t so obvious to others watching on.
For more sermons from this source go to
