Lesson 31 – Samuel Chooses a
King
1.
the
similarities
2.
the
differences
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take
the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers.
Bible
Background (taken from Journey
through the Bible, Christian Board of Publications, 1995, p. 99)
We have to pass by
the story of Israel's loss of the
ark to the Philistines, the harm the ark does while
in the Philistine cities, and the ark's return in solemn procession back to Israel (3:1—7:2), even though that story is very powerful and important.
The point there is clear: When the
Israelites ignore God's presence and
God's claim upon them, God may have
to teach them a lesson!
2Our story is about
Samuel's choosing a king for
3When the people
gather at Mizpah, Samuel demands that they remove all signs of their worship of the gods of
4This story of how
God alone wins victory for
5In chapter 8, the
people demand that Samuel designate a king for them. Samuel tells them what will happen: Kings
will tax them, send their sons off to war to die, take their daughters into
service at the palace, live a luxurious life at their expense, and bring the land to ruin. But the people
insist, and Samuel agrees to ask God for
guidance. Samuel prays, and God
agrees to the request of the people. They
want a king as their neighbor nations have kings? Very well; they shall have a king!
6Now our storytellers
shift the focus of the story. We are told about a certain man from the tribe of Benjamin, a man named
7They go into the
town, ask about the seer, and discover
that this whole journey to find the lost donkeys has been God's doing, for
Samuel has prepared a feast for Saul. Saul
joins the feast, is given the
special dish saved for the honored guest, eats, and spends the night. On
the next day, before he leaves, Samuel
takes him aside, tells him that he is designated
as
8Saul protests the idea that he can be
9Samuel tells Saul of certain events that will happen to Saul on the way back home. The events occur
as Samuel has predicted, but when Saul returns
home, he only tells the family that Samuel had told him that the donkeys
had already been found. Only later, when
Samuel calls an assembly of the people at Mizpah, is Saul formally designated
as king, and on this occasion too Saul is reluctant
to accept. But the selection has been made. Samuel and the priests have used the sacred stones. They could give a yes or a no answer, or they
could give no answer at all, depending, apparently, on how the markings on the flat stones turned up. By
lot, the tribe of Benjamin was
selected, then the clan to which Saul's family belonged, then Saul's family, and finally, Saul. Saul was not even
present: He had to be brought in, set before the people, and anointed. Samuel lays down guidelines for kingship in
1 Samuel 8:1-22
In readers theater format
N=narrator, S=Samuel,
E= Elders, G=God A=All
N: When Samuel became old, he made his sons
judges over
E: "You are old and your sons do not
follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other
nations."
N: But the thing displeased Samuel when
they said, "Give us a king to govern us." Samuel prayed to the LORD,
and the LORD said to Samuel,
G: "Listen to the voice of the people
in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have
rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the
day I brought them up out of
N: So Samuel reported all the words of the
LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said,
S: "These will be the ways of the king
who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his
chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will
appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some
to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war
and the equipment of his chariots. He
will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the
best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his
courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give
it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves,
and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take
one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will
cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD
will not answer you in that day."
N: But the people refused to listen to the
voice of Samuel; they said,
E: "No! but
we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other
nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our
battles."
N: When Samuel had heard all the words of
the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. The LORD said to Samuel,
G: "Listen to their voice and set a
king over them."
N: Samuel then said to the people of
S: "Each of you return
home."
N: Samuel summoned the people to the LORD
at Mizpah and said to them,
S: "Thus says the LORD, the God of
N: Then Samuel brought all the tribes of
He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot.
Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near
man by man, and Saul the son of
But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the
LORD,
E: "Did the man come here?"
N: and the LORD said,
G: "See, he has hidden himself among
the baggage."
N: Then they ran and brought him from
there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders
taller than any of them. Samuel said to all the people,
S: "Do you see the one whom the LORD
has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people."
N: And all the people shouted,
A: "Long live the king!"
N: Samuel told the people the rights and
duties of the kingship; and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the
LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people back to their homes.
Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went warriors whose hearts
God had touched.
But some worthless fellows said, "How can this man save us?" They
despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.
N=narrator,
S=Samuel, L=Saul, K=
N: There was a man of Benjamin whose name
was
K: "Take one of the boys with you; go
and look for the donkeys."
N: He passed through the hill country of
Ephraim and passed through the
When they came to the
L: "Let us turn back, or my father
will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us."
N: But the boy said to him,
B: "There is a man of God in this
town; he is a man held in honor. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go
there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set
out."
L: "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 have we?"
B: "Here, I have with me a quarter
shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way. "
N: (Formerly in
L: "Good; come, let us go."
N:
So they went to the town where the man of God was. As they went up the
hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and said to
them,
B: "Is the seer here?"
G: "Yes, there he is just ahead of
you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town, because the people have a
sacrifice today at the shrine. As soon as you enter the town, you will find
him, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until
he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those eat who are
invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately."
N: So they went up to the town. As they
were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to
the shrine. 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
When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, "Here is the man of whom I spoke
to you. He it is who shall rule over my people."
Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate, and said,
L: "Tell me, please, where is the
house of the seer?"
S: "I am the seer; go up before me to
the shrine, 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, give no further thought to them, for they have been found.
And on whom is all
L: "I am only a Benjaminite,
from the least of the tribes of
N: Then Samuel took Saul and his
servant-boy and brought them into the hall, and gave them a place at the head
of those who had been invited, of whom there were about thirty.
And Samuel said to the cook,
S: "Bring the portion I gave you, the
one I asked you to put aside."
N: The cook took up the thigh and what went
with it and set them before Saul.
S: "See, what was kept is set before
you. Eat; for
it is set before you at the appointed time, so that you might eat with the
guests."
N: So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
When they came down from the shrine into the town, a bed was spread for Saul on
the roof, and he lay down to sleep.
Then at the break of dawn Samuel called to Saul upon the roof,
S: "Get up, so that I may send you on
your way."
N: Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went
out into the street. As they were going down to the outskirts of the town,
Samuel said to Saul,
S: "Tell the boy to go 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."
N: Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it
on his head, and kissed him; he said,
S: "The LORD has anointed you ruler
over his people
When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the
territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to
you, 'The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has
stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: What shall I do
about my son?' Then you shall go on from
there further and come to the oak of Tabor; three men going up to God at
N: As he turned away to leave Samuel, God
gave him another heart; and all these signs were fulfilled that day.
When 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. When all who
knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one
another, "What has come over the son of
A man of the place answered, "And who is their father?" Therefore it
became a proverb, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
When his prophetic frenzy had ended, he went home.
Saul's uncle said to him and to the boy, "Where did you go?" And he
replied,
L: "To seek the donkeys; and when we
saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel."
N: Saul's uncle said, "Tell me what
Samuel said to you." Saul said to his uncle,
L: "He told us that the donkeys had
been found."
N: But about the matter of the kingship, of
which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.