Anointing - 1st Samuel 10:1-10

Now that Samuel had discovered Saul, by the hand of God, and had him at the special feast, and they have walked and talked about God’s word, “Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured in upon his head, and kissed him, and said is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?” Both the IM and TB note that anointing with oil was significant in that it was done to priests to set them apart and also represented the Spirit of God. The IM says, “Anointing with oil in priesthood service is as old as Adam. And, since the Lord set up the kingdom of Israel and revealed the laws that were to govern their kings, it was altogether fitting that these kings be anointed with oil.” The IM has a large paragraph about the significance of anointing with oil for the kings as well as the symbolism between the anointing of priests to their duties and the anointing of a king for his job. The IM also notes that the use of the word “captain” here is significant, saying, “But Samuel anointed Saul to be ‘captain’ even though he was later called king. This title should have served as a reminder that the Lord was still king.” Additionally, the word “inheritance” here, TB notes that the Torah set forth that the Israelite people did not own the land of Israel, God did and the people only worked the land kind of like a lease. So this whole statement was a reminder that this is God’s land and God’s people and Saul is just being put in a leadership position to steward that land and people righteously and he was still subservient to God.

After the anointing, Samuel tells Saul to “depart from me” and gives him three things to look for on his way home, and these three things are meant to be “signs” for Saul to use as confirmation that all this is real. The first was that he would encounter two men “be Rachael’s sepulcher” and they’ll tell him that his father’s donkeys had been found but that his father was worried about him. Second, he would meet three young men in the plain of Tabor who are going to Beth-el, and they’ll be carrying “three kids,” three loaves of bread, and a bottle of wine. They’ll give Saul two loaves of bread that he is supposed to take. Third, Saul is to go to the hill of God and he’ll meet a company of prophets “coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabrey, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.” These tasks were specific enough that they couldn’t be coincidences, but not so grandiose that others would look at them as proof of Saul’s calling either. All this was done for Saul’s benefit alone.

And it’s probably because we have the benefit of hindsight and know how this story plays out that we just take everything at face value, but at the time surely Saul was confused. What’s interesting about Saul’s call to be the king of Israel is that, as much as everyone believed that Samuel was a seer and prophet, all Saul had to go on was the words of an old man. I mean 3 days previously, he was thinking about donkeys and now he’s king of Israel, like that’s a lot. TB notes, “He has supposedly been chosen and set-apart by Go, and given great authority, position, and responsibility, but thus far the only reason for him to even belive that this is so is because a very old man poured from police oil on him and told him this was the case. Remember this whole scenario was a total surprise to Sha’ul who wasn’t looking to be a king; he was only out searching for this father’s lost donkeys when suddenly, in a matter of hours, his world was turned upside down. Would you take some stranger’s word for such an enormous transformation in your life? Would you believe it if someone who said they were God’s spokesman told you that the Lord had placed you in a position of authority over God’s people? Especially if you didn’t feel any difference, or see any difference, or experience anything supernatural? Sha’ul needed some kind of proof to believe that this was real and these 3 predictions were intended to be that proof.” Saul sets out on his way, and “God gave him another hearts: and all those signs came to pass that day.” When Saul met the prophets “the Spirit of God came upon him, and prophesied among them.”