Study Desk

When they entered the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, "Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the female donkeys and worry about us!"

So Saul said to his servant, "Look, we may go, but what should we bring to the man? For the bread is gone from our bags, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have with us?"

So Saul said to his servant, "Your suggestion is a good one. Come, let us go." And they went to the town where the man of God was.

So Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them to a room in the building and gave them a place at the head of the invited guests. There were about thirty men.

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, "Has not Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance?

Just as he turned his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God changed his heart. And all these signs were fulfilled on that day.

Then Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, "Where did you go?" And he said, "To search for the female donkeys; and when we saw none, we went to Samuel."

Then Saul said to his uncle, "He told us for certain that the female donkeys had been found." But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingship of which Samuel had spoken.

So they ran and took him from there, and when he took his stand among the people, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders and up.

Then Samuel told the people the custom of the kingship, and he wrote the rules down on a scroll and laid it before Yahweh. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house.

And Saul also went to his house at Gibeah, and the troops whose hearts God had touched went with him.

So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them into pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, "Whoever is not going out after Saul and after Samuel, so will it be done to his oxen." Then the fear of Yahweh fell on the people and they went out as one man.

Here I am! Testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed one! Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe, that I may shut my eyes regarding him?–then I will restore it to you."

So he said to them, "Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed one is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." Then they said, "He is witness."

If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not be rebellious against what Yahweh says, and both you and the king who rules over you will follow after Yahweh your God, all will be well.

For Yahweh will not forsake his people for the sake of his great name, because Yahweh has decided to make you his own people.

Saul was thirty years old at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned forty-two years over Israel.

He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand of these were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent.

But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you."

Saul and Jonathan his son and the army that remained with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines encamped at Micmash.