1 Samuel 10

Saul’s private anointing by Samuel 9:26-10:8

Anointing with oil was a symbolic act in Israel that pictured consecration to service. The only things anointed with oil before this anointing were the priests and the tabernacle. The oil symbolized God’s Spirit, and anointing with oil represented endowment with that Spirit for enablement (cf. 1 John 2:27). In the ancient Near East, a representative of a nation’s god customarily anointed the king, whom the people viewed from then on as the representative of that god on earth. [Note: Roland de Vaux, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, pp. 152-66.] Thus Saul would have understood that Samuel was setting him apart as God’s vice-regent and endowing him with God’s power to serve effectively. Beginning with Saul, kings were similar to priests in Israel as far as representing God and experiencing divine enablement. Samuel’s kiss was a sign of affection and respect since now Saul was God’s special representative on the earth. Samuel reminded Saul that the Israelites were the Lord’s inheritance, another comment that Saul unfortunately did not take to heart (cf. 1 Samuel 9:13).

Samuel then gave Saul three signs that would verify to the king elect that Samuel had anointed him in harmony with God’s will. The first of these would have strengthened Saul’s confidence in God’s ability to control the people under his authority (1 Samuel 9:2). [Note: On the subject of the location of Rachel’s tomb, see Matitiahu Tsevat, "Studies in the Book of Samuel," Hebrew Union College Annual 33 (1962):107-18.] The second would have helped Saul realize that the people would accept him and make sacrifices for him (1 Samuel 9:3-4). The third would have assured him that he did indeed possess supernatural enablement from God (1 Samuel 9:5-6). The "hill of God" (lit. Gibeath-haelohim, 1 Samuel 9:5) was probably Gibeon. [Note: See Aaron Demsky, "Geba, Gibeah, and Gibeon-An Historico-Geographic Riddle," Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research 212 (December 1973):27.]

Since God chose and equipped Saul to rule His people, it seems most likely that he was a genuine believer in Yahweh, though Saul gave evidence of not having a strong commitment to Him. Samuel gave Saul his first orders as God’s vice-regent (1 Samuel 9:8). Unfortunately he disobeyed them (1 Samuel 13:8-14). Perhaps the tabernacle now stood at Gilgal since Samuel planned to offer burnt and peace offerings there. However, Samuel may have sacrificed at places other than the tabernacle (1 Samuel 7:17; cf. 1 Samuel 14:35). Again we can see that the tabernacle was not one of the writer’s main concerns.