Study Desk

So the man picked up the leg with what was on it and set it in front of Saul. And Samuel said, "Here is what has been saved for you. Eat. It has been kept for you until the right time, ever since I asked the people to come." So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

They got up early the next day. Samuel called to Saul on the roof, saying, "Get up, that I may send you on your way." So Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

When they came to the hill, a group of men who speak for God met him. The Spirit of God came upon him with power, so that he spoke God's Word with them.

One of the men there answered, "Now, who is their father?" So it became a saying: "Is Saul one of the men who speak God's Word?"

But today you have turned away from your God, Who saves you from all your troubles. You have said, ‘No! Have a king rule over us!' So now come before the Lord, by your family groups and by your thousands."

So they asked the Lord, "Has the man come here yet?" The Lord said, "See, he is hiding among the bags."

Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? For sure there is no one like him among all the people." So all the people called out and said, "Long live the king!"

The leaders of Jabesh said to him, "Let us alone for seven days, so we may send men with news through the land of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you."

Now Saul was coming from the field behind the cattle, and he said, "What troubles the people? Why are they crying?" So they told him the news the men had brought from Jabesh.

They said to the men who had brought the news, "Tell the men of Jabesh-gilead that tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have help." So the men went and told the news to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad.

The next morning, Saul put the people in three groups. They came among the tents early in the morning and killed the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who were left alive were divided, so that no two of them stayed together.

So all the people went to Gilgal. There they made Saul king before the Lord, in Gilgal. There they gave peace gifts to the Lord. And there Saul and all the men of Israel were filled with much joy.

But they forgot the Lord their God. So He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.

The Lord sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah and Samuel, and saved you from the power of those all around who hated you. So you were safe.

But then you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you. So you said to me, ‘No! A king must rule over us,' when the Lord your God was your King.

So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people were very much afraid of the Lord and Samuel.

Then all the people said to Samuel, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so we will not die. For we have added to all our sins this bad thing, to ask for a king."

The men of Israel saw that they were in trouble. The people were in a place of danger. So the people hid themselves in caves, bushes, hill-sides, graves and wells.

So Saul said, "Bring me the burnt gift and the peace gifts." And he gave the burnt gift to the Lord.

So I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not asked for the Lord's favor.' So I made myself give the burnt gift."