1 Samuel 10
Samuel pours oil on Saul's head and gives him signs. Then the lot falls on Saul — found hiding among the baggage.
Summary
Chapter 10 narrates the transition from private anointing to public acclamation, and the gap between them is telling. Early in the morning Samuel calls Saul to the road and performs the anointing: he takes a vial of oil and pours it on Saul's head and kisses him. He gives him three signs to confirm the call — encounters with men on the road that will happen in sequence, and finally an episode where the spirit of God will come upon Saul among a band of prophets. The signs all come to pass exactly as specified. The episode with the prophets is significant enough that it generates a saying — is Saul also among the prophets? — implying that Saul's prophetic ecstasy was unexpected enough to become a byword.
The public selection at Mizpah is done by lot, working downward from tribe to clan to individual. The lot falls on Saul son of Kish. He cannot be found. The Lord, consulted, says he has hidden himself among the baggage. They run and bring him out. He stands head and shoulders above all the people — the detail given at his introduction in chapter 9 is now his distinguishing mark in the assembly. Samuel presents him to the people: do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people. The people shout Long live the king. Samuel writes down the rights and duties of kingship and deposits the document before the Lord. He sends the people home. Saul also goes home to Gibeah, accompanied by the worthiest men whose hearts God has touched. But the chapter notes that some scoundrels say: how can this fellow save us? They despise him. The acclamation is already divided.
Samuel also explains the rights and duties of the king at this assembly and sends the people home.
- 1 Samuel 1Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship.
- 1 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven.
- 1 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 4Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward.
- 1 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy.
- 1 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence.
- 1 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc.
- 1 Samuel 8Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book.
- 1 Samuel 9Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony.
- 1 Samuel 10Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection.
- 1 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure.
- 1 Samuel 12Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter.
- 1 Samuel 13Chapter 13 begins the decline.
- 1 Samuel 14Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs.
- 1 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the final disqualification.
- 1 Samuel 16Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter.
- 1 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize.
- 1 Samuel 19Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent.
- 1 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature.
- 1 Samuel 21Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation.
- 1 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book.
- 1 Samuel 23Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting.
- 1 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it.
- 1 Samuel 25Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it.
- 1 Samuel 26Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible.
- 1 Samuel 27Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 28Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 29Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel.
- 1 Samuel 30Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 31Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story.