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conferred on him, but of the thoughts which had been called up in Saul that day: of
Israel's need, of Israel's sin, of Israel's help, and of Israel's God. After such
"communing," neither of them could have found much sleep that night. It was gray
dawn when they rose; and as the morning broke, Samuel called up to Saul on the
roof that it was time to depart. He himself convoyed him through the town; then,
sending forward the servant, he stopped to deliver the message of God. Taking a vial
of oil,^92 he "anointed" Saul, thus placing the institution of royalty on the same
footing as that of the sanctuary and the priesthood (Exodus 30:23, etc., Leviticus
8:10, etc.), as appointed and consecrated by God and for God, and intended to be the
medium for receiving and transmitting blessing to His people. And with this, a kiss,
in token of homage (Psalm 2:12), and the perhaps not quite unexpected message: "Is
it not that Jehovah hath anointed thee to be prince over His inheritance?" Saul was
appointed the first king in Israel.
In order to assure Saul of the Divine agency in all this, Samuel gave him three signs.
Each was stranger than the other, and all were significant of what would mark the
path of Israel's king. After leaving Samuel, coming from Ephraim, he would cross
the northern boundary of Benjamin by the grave of Rachel.^93 There he would meet
two men who would inform him of the finding of the she-asses and of his father's
anxiety on his account.
This, as confirming Samuel's words, would be a pledge that it was likewise by God's
appointment he had been anointed king. Thus the first sign would convey that his
royalty was of God. Then as he passed southwards, and reached "the terebinth
Tabor,"^94 three men would meet him, coming from an opposite direction, and "going
up to God, to Bethel," bearing sacrificial gifts.
These would salute him, and, unasked, give him a portion of their sacrificial
offerings - two loaves, probably one for himself, another for his servant. If, as seems
likely, these three men belonged to "the sons of the prophets," the act was even more
significant. It meant homage on the part of the godly in Israel, yet such as did not
supersede nor swallow up the higher homage due to God - only two loaves out of all
the sacrificial gifts being presented to Saul. To Saul this, then, would indicate
royalty in subordination to God. The last was the strangest, but, rightly understood,
also the most significant sign of all. Arrived at Gibeah Elohim, his own city, or else
the hill close by, where the Philistines kept a garrison,^95 he would, on entering the
city, meet "a band of prophets" coming down from the Bamah, or sacrificial height,
in festive procession, preceded by the sound of the nevel, lute or guitar, the thof, or
tambourine (Exodus 15:20), the flute, and the chinnor^96 or hand-harp, themselves
the while "prophesying."
(^)