Study Desk

Then Saul said to his servant, "But look, if we go [to see him], what shall we bring to the man? For the bread from our sacks is gone and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have [to offer]?"

The servant replied again to Saul, "Here in my hand I have a quarter of a shekel of silver; I will give that to the man of God, and he will advise us as to [where we should go on] our journey [to find the donkeys]."

(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say, "Come, let us go to the seer"; for he who is called a prophet today was formerly called a seer.)

Saul said to his servant, "Well said; come, let us go." So they went to the city where the man of God was living.

As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead of us so that he may pass by but you stand still now so that I may proclaim the word of God to you."

"Then you will go on further from there, and you will come to the terebinth tree of Tabor, and three men going up to [sacrifice to] God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine.

"After that you will come to the hill of God where the garrison of the Philistines is; and when you come there to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place [of worship] with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, and they will be prophesying.

"When these signs come to you, do for yourself whatever the situation requires, for God is with you.

Then it happened when Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.

When they came to the hill [Gibeah], behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came on him mightily, and he prophesied [under divine guidance] among them.

and he said to Israel, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought Israel up from Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.'

"But today you have rejected your God, who Himself saves you from all your disasters and distresses; yet you have said, 'No! Set a king over us.' Now then, present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your families (clans)."

Saul also went home to Gibeah; and the brave men whose hearts God had touched went with him.

The Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became extremely angry.

"But when they forgot the LORD their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of Hazor's army, and into the hand of the Philistines and of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

"But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites had come against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us'—although the LORD your God was your King.

"If you will fear the LORD [with awe and profound reverence] and serve Him and listen to His voice and not rebel against His commandment, then both you and your king will follow the LORD your God [and it will be well].

Then all the people said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for your servants, so that we will not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil—to ask for a king for ourselves."

Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for [if you had obeyed] the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

And there was trembling in the [Philistine] camp, in the field, and among all the people; even the garrison and the raiding party trembled [in fear], and the earth quaked and it became a trembling and terror from God.