1 Samuel 9-10, Epochal Changes, Dr. John B. Carpenter

1 Samuel chapter 9 and 10, hear the word of the Lord. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was

Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, son of Bekaroth, son of Athia, a

Benjamite, a man of wealth. And he 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. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. And so Kish said to Saul, his son, take one of the young men with you and arise and go and look for the donkeys.

And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed to the land of Shelisha. And they did not find them.

And then they passed through the land of Shalem, but they were not there. And they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

And when they came to the land of Zuth, Saul said to his servant, who was with him, come let us go back, lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.

But he said to him, behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor.

All that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.

Then Saul said to his servant, but if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God.

What should we do? The servant answered Saul again. Here I have with me a quarter of a shekel of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.

Formerly in Israel when a man went to the choir of God, he said, come let us go to the seer. For today's prophet was formerly called a seer.

And Saul said to his servant, well said, come let us go. And so they went to the city where the man of God was.

As they went up the hill to the city, they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, is the seer here?

They answered, he is. Behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place.

As soon as you enter the city, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice.

Afterward, those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.

And so they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel, tomorrow about this time,

I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the

Philistines, for I have seen my people because their cry has come to me. When Samuel saw

Saul, the Lord told him, here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall restrain my people.

And then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, tell me, where is the house of the seer?

Samuel answered, Saul, I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me.

And in the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all that is on your mind. As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found.

And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for your father's house?

Saul answered, am I not a Benjamite from the least of the tribes of Israel, and is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?

Why then have you spoken to me in this way? Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought him into the hall and gave them a place at the head of the table, at the head of those who had been invited, who were about 30 persons.

And Samuel said to the cook, bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, put it aside. So the cook took up the leg and what was on it and set it before Saul.

And Samuel said, see what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guest.

So Saul ate with Samuel that day, and when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.

And then at the break of dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, up, that I may send you on your way.

And so Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went up out into the street. As they were going down to the outskirts of the city,

Samuel said to Saul, tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.

And Samuel took the 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 all, from the hand of all their surrounding enemies.

And this shall be the sign to you, that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. When you depart from me today, you will meet two young men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelza, 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? 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.

And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, and you shall accept them from their hand.

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 a harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying that the

Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

Now, when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. Then go down before me to Gilgal, and behold,

I am coming 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.

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

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.

And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another,

What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

And a man of the place answered, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb,

Is Saul also among the prophets? When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. Saul's uncle said to him and his servant,

Where did you go? And he said, To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.

And Saul's uncle said, Please tell me what Samuel said to you. And Saul said to his uncle,

He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found. But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.

Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah, and he said to the people of Israel, Thus says the

Lord, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of the Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of the kingdoms that were oppressing you.

But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses.

And you have said to him, Set a king over us. Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.

Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot. And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the

Matrites was taken by Lot. And Saul, the son of Kish, was taken by Lot. And when they sought him, he could not be found.

And so they inquired again of the Lord, Is there a man still to come? And the Lord said, Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.

Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from the shoulders upward.

And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.

And the people shouted, Long live the king. Then Samuel told the people the rights and the duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the

Lord. And then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own home. Saul also went to his home at Gibeah.

And with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellow said,

How can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

May the Lord add his blessings for the reading of his holy word. July 4th marks an epochal change in American history when the country went from a collection of British colonies to an independent

United States in 1776, although it took about five years of war to make it effective.

But that wasn't the last big change for the United States. The United States' first government, besides the kind of ad hoc

Continental Congress, was formed by the Articles of Confederation. That was the original constitution of the

USA ratified in 1781, even before the Revolutionary War had been decided. It was widely seen to be ineffective, a failure, and only lasted seven years when it was replaced by the current constitution in 1789.

The USA then has gone from kind of one extreme to another with forms of government or regimes from a very short -lived seven years to now having the oldest constitution of any major country in the world.

The only country in the world with an older constitution is San Marino, which is a tiny country surrounded by Italy, which ratified its constitution in 1600.

But the USA's constitution has now lasted 234 years. And so we haven't had a regime change since 1789.

That means that no American here has ever been through a regime change, ever experienced the epochal change of one's government being replaced.

Now, Mary here, just in her youth, experienced two regime changes, living under three different governments.

She was born as a British subject in Singapore, then for about two years was a Malaysian citizen, and then a citizen of an independent

Singapore, all without having to move anywhere. But with that exception, those kinds of big changes don't happen very often.

There are new epochs, new orders of the ages, like in Latin on our dollar bill. And new epochs are a big deal.

You mark them with a big celebration or their anniversaries with a big celebration, like July 4th, fireworks and food.

When Mary and I were in Ethiopia, we were invited to a party at the embassy of China, which was then marking just the 40th year of the

People's Republic of China. A new government is an epochal change, usually marked with big events.

And here we see it happening in Israel. Here Israel has a regime change.

Like America after the Revolutionary War, they've reached the opinion that their current government isn't working.

They've been stuck in these cycles of sin and apostasy and oppression by foreigners, which is

God's judgment for their sin. They sin, and so God judges them by sending off some foreign power to oppress them.

And then they get desperate, and they cry out to the Lord for relief. And the Lord raises up a deliverer, a judge, who leads them to victory.

And they have freedom, and he judges them. And then he dies, and they fall back into the same cycle of sin all over again.

Now, rather than conclude, as you would think they should, that what they should do is stop the sin, stop this idolatry, stop lapsing into following the practices of the nations around them.

And so if they do that, the Lord would not send foreigners to oppress them anymore. But rather than conclude that, they conclude that what they need is a king who will lead a standing army to keep them safe.

They've decided that being a confederation of tribes united by faith in the Lord, this doesn't work.

Our articles of confederation, I guess they didn't really have any articles, but our confederation doesn't work, they think. They need a monarchy, like all the other nations have.

They need an epochal change, a new regime. And God, through Samuel, tells them both that you're wrong, and he gives it to them.

We see that big change here in four parts. First the providence, second the appointment, then the anointing, and finally the confirmation.

First we're introduced to a new character from Benjamin. Remember, Benjamin was the tribe that was almost wiped out at the end of Judges, because they decided to be tribal, to take the side of one of their towns,

Gibeah, which happens to also be the same town this new character is from, interestingly enough.

But instead of taking the Lord's side, they took Gibeah's side. They were almost wiped out for it, but they were salvaged, saved.

His father is Kish. He was a notable ancestry, and he is a man of wealth. Or the term in verse 1 could be that he was a mighty warrior, a mighty man of valor.

It could be translated that way. Let's say both. He was a mighty warrior, was also rich.

He had a son named Saul. He was handsome. He was so handsome, it's repeated twice in verse 2, there was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he.

So he's Mr. Israel, okay? He was also tall, so he benefits from what we call the halo effect.

It's when your positive impression about something about you that's positive, maybe your looks, you look good.

It leads to having positive feelings in other areas. Studies have shown that people who look good, people tend to think they must be good at other things, you know, whatever else they do.

Often that's not the case. It's because someone looks good doesn't mean they'll be a good brain surgeon or something like that. But that's the way people tend to think.

They look good, he must be good at other things, like political leadership. He might make a good president. And so it's why our political leaders try to look good and try to have a full head of hair, even if they got to have techniques to make it look that way.

Nice teeth. They got to look really good and young and vigorous. And so they all do that.

So we'll think, man, if he can bound up the stairs like that, he can lead the country. Remember, Israel has chosen to walk by sight, not by faith.

They've had a king already, the Lord, but he was invisible. And so now they want one they can see.

There's a lot about seeing here. What can you see? And you look at Saul, what you see looks good.

And so the Lord gives them a king straight out of central casting.

You're making a movie of a king and this is the guy you would want. He looks the part. And we'll see later what's in his heart.

What leads to the appointment is a mundane matter of some runaway donkeys. One commentator says that ownership of donkeys, particularly multiple donkeys is a sign of demonstration of wealth, shows how high status

Kish is. And then what follows is a long story with a lot of details all the way to verse 14 about them looking for these donkeys.

Now, do you ever wonder why the Bible dwells in some things like that? They're looking for donkeys and only gives hints and clues about some other things that we might kind of be interested in, or we might wonder about.

We might like more about the Trinity or how predestination and human responsibility fit together, or spiritual gifts, or who should be baptized, or the role of women in ministry.

People debating all these kinds of things all the time. Can we have more about that? How do you fit together that women are praying and prophesying, at least with the head covering on, in 1

Corinthians 11, but then they're told not to teach men, but are to remain quiet in 1

Timothy 2? How do those fit together? Would you like a paragraph about that, kind of filling it out more?

Well, there's all kinds of theological debates that people are having today, which we would love to have more about, elaborate, explain.

And we don't, and yet we have here more than a dozen verses about a search for donkeys and ancient

Israel. You might wonder, why these priorities? God's Word is inspired. Why did He inspire this, and not some other things?

We kind of sometimes wonder, we wish He had inspired. Now, I think there's at least four reasons for that.

First here, this story advances the main theme of the Bible. Anytime you're writing something, you want to advance the main theme.

I go off in all kinds of different directions. The main theme of the Bible is the kingdom of God. Jesus came preaching, the kingdom of God is come, and this story is leading up to that.

Second, this is just good storytelling. It gives flavor. It gives a feel of Saul's life, what he's like, and a sense of suspense about where we're going, that this is developing.

It's a better storytelling device. It's a better way to tell a story than just saying, well, Saul was looking for some lost donkeys when he came upon Samuel.

You could have summarized it all that way, but you lose the feel of what's going on. Third, it shows the providence of God.

Providence refers to God's ordering of all things, His sovereignty over every detail of life, that everything is as it is because of God's decree.

And by everything, I mean everything. Ephesians 1, verse 11 says God works all things, not just the big things, not just the epochal changes, but even the details, small things.

God works them all according to the counsel of His will. Perhaps the strongest verse on God's providence is in James 4, verse 15, which says we shouldn't confidently declare something coming up in the future, like later today

I'm going to go shopping, or tomorrow I'm going to do whatever. We shouldn't do that.

He says what we should say is if it's the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.

So every, think about that. If it's the Lord's will, we will do this or that.

So every little this or that is determined by the Lord's will. And here we see the

Lord orchestrating all the thises and that's of Saul's life.

Saul is introduced doing a mundane chore. Go look for the donkeys. And through that chore,

God brings him to Samuel and so changes the history of Israel, which is our history.

Now what if the donkeys don't get lost? Saul's not king. What if Saul and his servant find the donkeys right away?

Saul's not king. What if the servant doesn't know about Samuel, that all that he says comes true in verse 6?

Saul's not king. You notice the way Kish puts it, go get, take one of the young men, in other words, the servants that God have around.

And what if Saul had picked another young man who didn't know about Saul? Saul's not king. What if Saul's servant doesn't have a gift to give to Samuel?

You notice they say, we can't go to him empty -handed. And so what if Saul's servant doesn't have anything to give to the king and they figure they can't go to Samuel?

Saul's not king. What if Samuel is away at another place on his circuit while they're looking?

Well, Saul's not king. What if they don't run into the women telling them where to find Samuel? Saul's not king.

But with God there are, this is the point, there are no what -ifs. All of those little details were under God's control.

So God wisely orchestrates even the smallest details to achieve his purposes. Charles Spurgeon said, on how small an incident the greatest results may hinge, the pivots of history are microscopic.

I like that quote. American history pivots on a few microscopic decisions. What if King George III had decided to levy how much is due from his colony, in other words, just told like,

North Carolina, you owe this much, and allowed the colony to decide how to raise the money instead of imposing taxes directly on the people?

What if he had decided to allow each colony to have a member of parliament? That way they couldn't say, no taxation without representation.

What if instead of being so heavy -handed he had been more collaborative? What if the French hadn't decided to help us in the war?

We could still be British subjects to this day. But there are no what -ifs with God.

Fourth reason for all these details is that some of them are deeply meaningful.

Here in verse 9 we're given background information on what Israel used to call seers, because this little thing, what we now call prophets, they called seers.

And what's seers? Seers are people who see. Seers see. Israel wants to walk by sight.

Remember that's what's going on there, walking by sight, not by faith. And so Saul is here looking for a seer. Gotta walk by sight, you gotta have a seer.

We're told God sees them later. Seers speak for the

God who sees. And seeing is a major theme here.

So the history about seers is more than just a bit of trivia just kind of thrown in. Also for verses 11 to 14 they come across the women at the well.

Meeting women at wells happens at several strategic points in Scripture when epochal changes are happening.

It seems people come across women at wells. Abraham's servant met Rebekah at a well, finding a wife for Isaac.

Therefore the promise to Abraham is able to be fulfilled and keep going. Jacob met

Rachel at his well, finding a wife for himself. They actually end up finding two wives for himself but he didn't expect that. Moses met his wife at a well.

Big changes happen when meeting women at wells. The Lord Jesus met a woman at the well and announced an epochal change.

He said the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the

Father in spirit and truth. In John chapter 4 verse 23. Here they're in a regime change.

It's really a step backward in one way of looking at things into walking by sight but by God's providence it's a step forward toward the kingdom of God.

So there's just got to be women at wells to announce the change, to mark the change.

You've got to come across women at wells. So the women emphasize urgency in verse 12. He's just ahead of you.

Hurry. He has just now come to the city. What do you think the chances are that Saul and his assistant, after all this wandering around central

Israel looking for donkeys, would come upon the town at exactly the moment

Samuel has arrived? But there are no coincidences with God. In verse 13, the women at the well now go up for you will meet him immediately.

And so what happens and that leads finally on the way to this high place, which is where they had worship before they had the temple, to the appointment.

Second, the appointment, starting in verse 15. The day before this divine appointment the

Lord revealed or literally uncovered to Samuel, he uncovered

Samuel's ear and told him, tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin and you shall anoint him to be prince.

It's interesting he didn't call him king yet. So far it's just prince or leader, a word to be translated leader, over my people

Israel. And so Samuel is notified beforehand of this appointment with Saul. He'll anoint the one who

God brings. Anoint here is a verb, in Hebrew is mashiah or mashiach, something like that, where we get the word messiah from, where it is translated into Greek is

Christ. Samuel will make the man from Benjamin, God brings to him this appointment now he knows is coming tomorrow.

He will make him an anointed one, a small m, messiah.

And the anointed one, messiah, God says shall save my people.

God says in verse 16, from the hand of the Philistines, the messiah saves God's people from their enemies.

That's what he's anointed to do, to save God's people from their enemies. God's anointing, God's appointing an anointed one because he says

I have seen, there's this seeing again. Here God says he sees,

I've seen my people and they need saving from their enemies.

He's seen their needs and so he tells the seer about the appointment because their cry has come to me.

It sounds like Exodus 2, where God also there heard the cry of the people in slavery.

He saw their need and sent a deliverer. He's the God who hears and sees and sends.

So when he saw Saul, in verse 17, the Lord told him, here is the man of whom

I spoke to you. He's going to be a messiah. The day before God had told

Samuel that he'll save them from enemies outside. He'll save them from their enemies outside.

Here he says he'll save them when he actually meets, Samuel actually meets Saul. God tells him that this small in messiah will save them from enemies inside.

He it is who shall restrain my people. Now people in democracies like us, we tend to think the government exists to give us what we want.

We vote for them and we kind of like they have to do what we say. But the purpose of government is to restrain them.

Now hopefully it doesn't have to restrain you, but it is to restrain some people. Romans 13 says the government restrains wicked people so that they don't do what they would normally do if they were left to themselves.

Here is the king. Saul will do that. Saul is being anointed to restrain the wicked people.

Now remember their history. They've been getting oppressed by enemies like the Philistines because they wouldn't restrain themselves.

There was no king in Israel so everyone did what was right in their own eyes. They were unrestrained and so God would send an enemy over them to oppress them and they'd repent and cry out to God.

God would see their need. Just God who sees. He raised up a deliverer, an anointed one, to rescue them. And then the anointed one dies and they go back in the same cycle again.

Now God's ideal was that all of them would stay repentant and restrain themselves, stay worshipers of the

Lord, practicing self -restraint, and he would never have to punish them and they wouldn't have to be oppressed.

But it wouldn't happen and so they asked for a king to restrain the wicked people, those wicked people who would rather be sinning, who would rather be worshiping

Baal or Mammon or sensuality or ego. If they're not going to be saved and changed so that they restrain themselves, if they're not going to be that way, then they're going to need a king, a government, to restrain them.

So the Messiah today saves God's people by freeing them, freeing us, from enemies without, like sin, death, the wrath of God, the world, the devil, the enemies within, like the flesh, within the mind and the heart, so that we are not just restrained people, kind of going motions of worship, but so that now because of the

Messiah, the capital M, Messiah, we're real worshipers of God in spirit and truth. And this is an epochal change.

But so far here, Israel needs someone without to restrain them. Samuel knows about the appointment.

Saul doesn't. And so Saul approaches Samuel at the gate, not just like they approach the women at the well, and he didn't know who this old man is, and he's asked him, in verse 18, tell me, where's the house of the seer?

Samuel says, I am the seer. Samuel tells him to go with him to worship, that they have an appointment for dinner, that he has big news for him.

What would it be like to meet someone? You have an appointment. I have an appointment with you. I've been expecting you. I just now met you.

How is that possible? But that's what happens. And as for that, it's some big news,

Samuel tells him for you. But as for that small matter, that trivial matter about the donkeys, and apparently

Samuel's never informed what they're looking for. God told him.

But he tells him, don't worry about the donkeys. They've already been found. Then he says something big and mysterious at the end of verse 20, and for whom, what person, is all that is desirable in Israel?

Is it not for you and for all your father's house? Saul's stunned by that, baffled by that.

I'm from Benjamin. I'm from the least of the tribes. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?

Samuel didn't answer that. Samuel just takes him and his assistant into their meeting place. He gives Saul the seat of honor, and there's a special piece of meat set aside.

Samuel has arranged already because he knows his appointment's coming, but it's set aside usually for Samuel, for the priest.

According to Exodus chapter 29, verse 27, the thigh meat was specifically for the priest.

It's an interesting little, you know, if you know the law, it's an interesting little detail, the thigh meat, especially for the priest. Now, of course, he, the priest, can then choose to hand it off, give it to whoever he wants, and here in verse 24,

Samuel gives it to Saul. Samuel tells Saul that this priest piece has been kept for you until the hour appointed.

There's been an hour appointed until his appointment, and Saul gets the priest's portion, and Saul is treated and honored as if he's a priest.

And Saul spends the night. The next morning at dawn, Samuel calls out to him, waking him up, you know, up, then

I may send you on your way. Samuel's an early riser. Then Samuel escorts him out of the town and asks him to send his servant ahead because he has some secret news that I may known to you, the word of God.

The appointment is turning into the anointing. It's the third, the anointing. At the beginning of chapter 10,

Samuel took a flask of oil, you know, the oil, which kind of leaves you with a glow, and it's refreshing, especially in an arid environment like that.

It makes you feel fresh, kind of represents the spirit. And he poured it on Saul's head, and he kisses

Saul. You know, he's not bitter that the Lord has taken the judgeship away from his own sons, but Samuel begins as enthusiastically in support of Saul.

Notice that he kisses him. He didn't have to do that, but he's now, he's fully supporting Saul. Has not the

Lord anointed you to be prince? Again, there's that word, means leader.

Again, interesting, not yet king over his people Israel. That word king is not yet used.

Now, Saul is told directly, you shall reign. In other words, you will have the kingdom, you will have the authority over the people of the

Lord, and you shall save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. The Lord's people in this world are surrounded by enemies, but the world, the flesh, and the devil, the

Messiah saves them from those enemies. And then Samuel tells him that there are signs to prove what he just said.

You've been anointed to reign over the Lord's people. There's this long sequence of specific events.

Now, try to keep them all in mind and listen to how specific they are. Samuel says, first on your way back, if you come to Rachel's tomb, specific place, you'll be met by two men, exactly two, who will tell you what

I already did, that the donkeys are found and your father is worried about you. And then you'll go a little further to the oak of Tabor.

You know that oak there by Tabor's area? That oak, yeah, that oak, that big oak, right there, where three men will meet you.

Three, not two, not four, but three. One carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, another carrying a flask of, or skin, it says, of wine, and they'll greet you and will give to you two of the loaves of bread.

If they give you one, I'm wrong. If they give you all three of them, I'm wrong, but they will give you two. And then you'll come to Gibeath Elohim, which just means hill of God, come to the hill of God, where there's a garrison of the

Philistines, reminding us that the Philistines are still oppressing them. Well, you'll meet a group of prophets with a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre.

Now, if they're missing any of those musical instruments, Samuel is completely wrong, and he just made this up. But a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre, and you'll prophesy with them.

Now, that's the prediction, incredibly detailed. This isn't just like some guy on TV says he has a word.

I have a word from the Lord. There's someone out there has back pain. Okay, you know, it's not something so vague and general like that.

This is something that if it comes true to the letter, it's proof that it's from God. And so, so is

Samuel's anointing of him to be king. And it did, exactly.

And so, Saul knew a big change had just happened. And so,

Saul knew or should know that he had better do what Samuel said. Do what your hand finds to do for God is with you.

So, he knew or should know that he has been made prince or leader, given authority over Israel.

He should have faith in this word from God. And then Samuel gives him instructions, meet him down in Gilgal.

It's by the Jordan River for a burnt offering and a peace offering. Wait for me for seven days until I come to you and show you what you shall do.

The last sign of that sequence of events that Samuel told about, the prophets is especially important.

It's a group of these, we call it the prophets. And Saul met them in verse 10, it says, the spirit of God rushed upon him.

And the same term, spirit of God rushed on him is used of both Samson in the book of Judges.

It's used later in first Samuel of David. Now, I believe it's like believers that acts being filled with the

Holy Spirit and then being able to, you know, do things like preach the gospel to people in other languages or what we're told in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 to be filled with the

Holy Spirit. It doesn't necessarily mean that Paul is regenerate, that he's born again, that he's born of the spirit.

It means that he's empowered by the spirit to do a certain task. Here, to free the

Lord's people from their enemies. Now, we can be empowered by the spirit like Saul. True believers in the

Old Testament had the spirit, just as we do. That's how they're true believers. I don't believe that the Old Testament tells us whether Saul was really born of the spirit, regenerate.

Verse 9 does say that God gave him another heart, although interestingly doesn't say a new heart.

This is another one. That is, he's changed in some way, but that still doesn't necessarily mean that he was regenerate.

His later life, and even we get hints at it by the rest of chapter 10, suggests that he wasn't.

That's not what he's talking about. It's not what Samuel's, or here the passage is talking about, what Samuel's talking about when it says he'll be empowered by the spirit, which is different.

In other words, being empowered by the spirit, the spirit rushing on you, and being born of the spirit are two different things.

We can have one without the other. We should seek both. But either way, this is an epochal change for Saul and Israel.

Spirit of God rushing on him causes him to prophesy, to be caught up in this ecstasy along with the other prophets.

And these people were probably, these so -called prophets, were probably looked down on. They're probably seen as the lower classes, uncouth, desperate people.

Probably a lot like some today look down on some Pentecostal types who get carried away in their emotions and dancing and out of control.

Now, we usually think of that kind of thing as for people who've had, often they've had hard lives.

They're desperate, they're probably poor, and they may be sincere about their faith, but they're unsophisticated, and often they're using

God like a drug to escape from their hard life. That's the stereotype, and all of which is often true.

And so, people see this Saul caught up with these kind of people, and they're amazed.

The spectators in verse 11 declare, is Saul also among the prophets? The son of Kish?

You know, Kish, that wealthy, powerful, esteemed, aristocratic man, a mighty man of valor?

High -class man, Kish, the kind of man you'd expect a king to come from. But now his son is singing, and swaying, and whirling, and praising, and shouting, and prophesying with those desperate, kind of uncouth, what they think is kind of lower -class people.

And some man even scoffs in verse 12. And who is their father? Saul's father, we know.

He's a mighty man of valor. He's high -class. But who's the father of all these riffraff? Where do they come from?

Not from the top, like Saul. But now Saul, privately anointed, is with them, at least for a while.

And he's been recognized as a priest, and now he's prophesied with the prophets.

What's next? Next, finally, starting in verse 17, is the confirmation.

Samuel apparently doesn't want to make it seem like he's foisting

Saul onto Israel, that it's just his choice. He wants

Saul's call to be king to be confirmed so that all Israel can see it.

And so he calls all the people together, and first he prophesies to them, reminding them that the

Lord brought them out of Egypt without a king, and he delivered them from their oppressors without a king. But now they're rejecting your

God who saves you from all your calamities and distresses. He repeats that over and over, even while he then helps them get the king.

Seems strange. In other words, the immediate cause of this change of epoch, this regime change, is unbelief.

It's not like the Articles of the Confederation, which apparently legitimately really were not working as a good government for the

United States. Here, this had been working. What was lacking with Israel was their own repentance and their godliness, and they're restraining themselves.

The regime change here is caused by unbelief. Of course, it's also true that the ultimate cause is

God's will. It's like with the selling of...when you think of that, how can both be true?

Because this is one that seems so confusing, this whole part. They're accused both of...you're doing this on unbelief, and yet Saul and the

Lord go along with it. How is that possible? Are they enabling the people to sin?

How is both working at the same time? Well, it's like Joseph being sold into slavery. One event can have multiple layers of causes.

You intended evil. Remember what Joseph said to his brothers at the very end of Genesis?

You intended evil when you sold me into slavery, but God intended good. It was one event selling

Joseph into slavery. Joseph's brothers intended evil, but God intended good, the saving of many lives.

Here, they, or Israel, intended rebellion against God, but God intends to use this new era of monarchy to bring a

Messiah who will reign forever. But now the confirmation.

The tribes come forward, and Samuel cast lots, so everyone can see the tribe is chosen. The tribe of Benjamin is chosen.

A good political choice, by the way. Right in the border of the north and the south in the

USA. Then they choose the clans and the families, and they get to Saul himself, who, to their surprise, is missing.

So in verse 20, they double -check with the Lord. I thought you said it's Saul where he's not here. And is there still a man to come?

And he said, no, he's hiding in the baggage. So someone runs out there to him, and they get him, and sure enough, he's there.

And this might sound...all this, he's hiding. You think of hiding somewhere behind some package or some luggage.

Now, this might sound kind of cute or even funny, self -deprecating. They sound like he's humble, maybe even charming, and that he's trying to avoid the limelight.

But he's already been anointed and had that anointing confirmed by that amazing chain of events that Samuel foretold to the detail.

He's experienced the Spirit rushing on him, and he's been told, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

So his hiding here, trying to avoid this, is not so much humility as unbelief.

False humility looks at your limits instead of God's ability. False humility concludes that God is restricted by our restrictions.

And Saul should know, with the anointing, the confirmation, the rushing of the Spirit on him, that God is not limited by him.

So this cute picture of him hiding out in the baggage is really the first red flag that something is wrong with this new king.

So they bring him back to the assembly. Everyone sees that he's head and shoulders taller than everyone else. He looks the part of a king.

We're walking by sight, and boy, does he look good. They wanted a king who looked like the other nations, and he looks perfect.

It's all about looks. Samuel the seer declares in verse 24, do you see him whom the

Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people. This is the big change they've been waiting for.

This is their glorious new beginning, the new order of the ages. And so they shout, long live the king.

Ah, but sometimes getting what you want is judgment. And Samuel tells the people in verse 25, the rights and the duties of the kingship.

Notice the rights and the duties of the kingship. For most of the other kingdoms around Israel, the rights of the king were total.

He had a right to everything he wanted, and he had no duties. He just could do whatever he wanted. In Israel, the king, though, was not absolute.

He couldn't take or do whatever he wanted. He was what we would now call a constitutional monarch, restrained, at least theoretically, by God's law.

And Samuel wrote these rights and duties in a book, kind of a charter, a kind of constitution, and laid it before the

Lord, hoping future kings would abide by it. Like Benjamin Franklin said to a lady who asked him, just as the constitutional convention had closed, someone lady asked him,

Dr. Franklin, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy? And Franklin responded, a republic, if you can keep it.

What have we got, Samuel, an absolute despotism or a lawful constitutional king?

A kingship with duties, if you can keep it. Men of valor, those are noble men who have the ability to respect, he says, because God has touched their hearts, so he's made them respectful.

They followed Saul. Others, though, scoffers, they mocked, saying, how can this man save us?

And they gave him no gift because they were worthless. You can never earn the respect of a disrespectful person.

So Saul wisely doesn't even try. But now, notice, Saul has been declared not just the leader, like before, now the king.

Long live the king. He's been given the rights and duties of the kingship.

He was anointed a messiah. He was given priest food, treated like a priest. He prophesied with the prophets, and now he is the king.

The anointed one is a prophet, priest, and king.

He reigns over his people, over you, if you are one of them. He delivers his people from all their enemies, from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and restrains us with his spirit from the inside out so that we can walk by the spirit.

Do you see him, the prophet, priest, and king?

Do you see him? Unlike Saul, the model of a king, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

But still, do you see him as worthy of respect?

Has God touched your heart so that the one that others mock and reject, you follow?

He is the king who brings in a whole new epoch, a new order of the ages, the kingdom of God, and not just to a nation, but into your life.

Has he done that big change in your life, started a new regime, that change of government in your life that revolutionizes you?

Has he touched your heart so that you respect him, you worship him in spirit, in truth?