1 Samuel 9:1

EXPOSITION

SELECTION OF SAUL AS KING BY THE VOICE OF PROPHECY . GENEALOGY OF SAUL ( 1 Samuel 9:1-27 ).

A man … whose name was Kish. The genealogy of Saul is rendered obscure by the Hebrew custom of abbreviating such records by the omission of names. The family documents were no doubt kept in full, but when transcribed, as here and in the First Book of Chronicles, only a summary is given, and as the omitted links are not always the same, great difficulty is necessarily the result. The most satisfactory genealogy is that given by Schaff from a comparison of Genesis 46:21 ; 1 Samuel 9:1 ; 1 Samuel 14:51 ; 1 Chronicles 7:6-8 ; 1 Chronicles 8:29-33 ; 1 Chronicles 9:35-39 , and is as follows:

1 . Benjamin;

2 . Becher;

3 . Aphish, perhaps same as Abiah;

4 . Bechorath;

5 . Zeror, or Zur;

6 . Abiel;

7 . Ner;

8 . Kish;

9 . Saul.

Very many links, however, are omitted, among whom must be placed Matri, mentioned in 1 Samuel 10:21 ; and Jehiel, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 9:35 (and see ibid. 1 Chronicles 8:29 ). He is described as the first settler and coloniser of Gibeon, and as husband of Maachah, a daughter or granddaughter of Caleb. The spelling of his name with an 'ain forbids our confounding him with Abiel, as is done by Schaff and most commentators, and whom, apparently, he preceded by many generations. In the two places referred to above a large family of sons is ascribed to him; but as, first of all, the lists do not agree, as, moreover, they are said to dwell with their brethren in Jerusalem ( 1 Chronicles 8:32 ), and as Ner, the father of Kish, is mentioned in the second list, it is pretty certain that we are not to regard, them as his actual children, but as the leading names among his posterity. The fearful cruelty recorded in 20:48 may well account for the hopeless entanglement of Benjamite genealogies. An ancestor of Saul must, of course, have been among the 600 who escaped to the rock Rimmon, but he could have saved only his own life. A mighty man of power . Really, "of wealth." Saul, like David afterwards, was sprung from an affluent family, whose landed property was situated at Gibeah, about four miles north of Jerusalem, afterwards known as Gibeah of Saul.