Study Desk

Saul went to look for the donkeys. He walked through the hills of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha. But Saul and the servant could not find Kish's donkeys. So they went to the area around Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there either. Then Saul traveled through the land of Benjamin, but he and the servant still could not find the donkeys.

But the servant answered, "A man of God is in this town. People respect him. Everything he says comes true, so let's go into town. Maybe the man of God will tell us where we should go next."

Saul said to his servant, "That is a good idea. Let's go." So they went to the town where the man of God was. Saul and the servant were walking up the hill toward town when they met some young women on the road. The young women were coming out to get water. Saul and the servant asked the young women, "Is the seer here?" (In the past, people in Israel called a prophet a "seer." So if they wanted to ask something from God, they would say, "Let's go to the seer.")

So go into town and you will find him. If you hurry, you can catch him before he goes up to eat at the place for worship. The seer blesses the sacrifice, so the people won't begin eating until he gets there. If you hurry, you can find him."

The cook brought out the thigh and put it on the table in front of Saul. Samuel said, "Eat the meat that was put in front of you. It was saved for you for this special time when I called the people together." So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

Saul, his servant, and Samuel were walking together near the edge of town. Samuel said to Saul, "Tell your servant to go on ahead of us. I have a message for you from God." So the servant walked ahead of them.

Some of the people who had known Saul before saw him prophesying with the prophets. So they asked each other, "What has happened to Kish's son? Is Saul also one of the prophets?"

"Jacob went to Egypt. Later, the Egyptians made life hard for his descendants. So they cried to the Lord for help. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they took your ancestors out of Egypt and led them to live in this place.

"But your ancestors forgot the Lord their God. So he let them become the slaves of Sisera, the commander of the army at Hazor. Then the Lord let them become the slaves of the Philistines and the king of Moab. They all fought against your ancestors.

"So the Lord sent Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel. He saved you from your enemies around you, and you lived in safety.

So Samuel prayed to the Lord . That same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. And the people became very afraid of the Lord and Samuel.

Idols are only statues—they can't help you. So don't worship them. Idols can't help you or save you. They are nothing!

"But the Lord won't leave his people. No, the Lord was pleased to make you his own people. So for his own good name, he won't leave you.

Jonathan defeated the Philistines at their camp in Geba. The Philistines heard about this. They said, "The Hebrews have rebelled." Saul said, "Let the Hebrew people hear what happened." So Saul told the men to blow trumpets through all the land of Israel.

The Philistines gathered to fight Israel. The Philistines camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. They had 3000 chariots and 6000 horse soldiers. There were so many Philistines that they were like sand on the seashore.

So Saul said, "Bring me the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings." Then Saul offered the burnt offering.

I thought to myself, ‘The Philistines will come here and attack me at Gilgal, and I haven't asked the Lord to help us yet.' So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering."

So their best soldiers began the attack. The Philistine army split into three groups. One group went north on the road to Ophrah, near Shual.

Only the Philistines could sharpen iron tools. So if the Israelites needed to sharpen their plows, hoes, axes, or sickles, they had to go to the Philistines.

So on the day of battle, none of the Israelite soldiers with Saul had iron swords or spears. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had such weapons.