10 Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?2 When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’
Samuel carries out God’s command. He anoints Saul with oil, which was the custom at the time of divine appointment for a ruler. Saul, at this point, still may not believe Samuel entirely, but Samuel gives his something to verify this is from God. He tells him of a future event that will happen once Saul reaches the next village. It is about his lost donkeys, the very thing that began his pilgrimage.
3 “Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. 4 They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.
As the first prophecy dealt with the care of his animals, the second is about his own physical care.
5 “After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. 7 Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”
The final vision Samuel gives Saul is one of his spiritual well-being. He will be changed when the spirit of God comes on him. He will prophecize. God will be with him. Then, after all this, he must wait for Samuel to some to him. He must listen. Saul is being taught to hope in, to obey and finally to listen to God. If he does all of these things, then he will be a good king, a godly king, and God’s will will be done through him.
9 As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 A man who lived there answered, “And who is their father?” So it became a saying: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 After Saul stopped prophesying, he went to the high place. 14 Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where have you been?” “Looking for the donkeys,” he said. “But when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.
God changes Saul’s heart. The signs are fulfilled. He is seen among the prophets and people begin to conjecture. They can’t figure out what is up with Saul. This is important because we get a little snippet from his uncle, who is told that they went to Samuel to find the donkeys, but does not reveal anything about his anointing. At this point, Samuel is listening to God but cautious.
17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.” 20 When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. 22 So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” 23 They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Samuel reminds the people of the wicked decision they have made. Of course, if they’re not considering God, the decision of Israel may seem prudent. But they have rejected God’s way and are operating with their own needs in mind.
So, God is allowing their decision. But how to pick a king? They bring the tribes out and decide to draw lots. The drawing lots is still a mysterious concept to us, but it is most likened to a lottery draw, or in this case a type of election. They understand that God has ordained this process, so whoever is chosen is the person God wants on the throne. They move through their process, first selecting the tribe of Benjamin, then the clan of Matri inside that tribe. Then finally Saul’s name arises as the one ordained by God. Long live the king! rises from the people of Israel. They have their king. They have subverted God.
But who really chose Saul? Yes, it was God. God worked behind the scenes to raise Saul to power. He knew it was Saul long before Israel “voted”. The people, heady with their choice, now have what they wanted. But God is still in control. God chose Saul.
This is an important concept to understand when we believe we vote in an official or believe we have the right to any sort of power. God appoints leaders for His purposes (Romans 13, 1 Peter 2:11-17). He raises them up according to His will. But what about bad rulers? Those too. What about Hitler? Yes, God allowed Hitler into a seat of power. But you’ll note that all leaders have the ability to either follow God or follow their own corrupt heart.
So does our vote count? It counts in much the same way the Israelites lot throwing counted. They wanted a king over them and God allowed it, but God already had the king in place. God is the one in authority who sanctions our authority as He sees fit. It is our job to submit to God’s authority. Otherwise we are in opposition to what God has appointed (Romans 13).
In Daniel 2 we have a long story about a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar has. To set the stage, Nebuchadnezzar has raided the temple in Jerusalem, then destroyed it, ruled over Jerusalem for a time before he deports the Jews with “talent” to Babylon. Here, he takes the Jews that he deems useful and goes to work stripping away their Jewish identity. Among these is a man named Daniel, who is an ardent follower of God and a man held in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace.
So the king has a troubling dream one night and calls on his league of paid astrologers to interpret it. But their phoniness comes to the forefront and they are unable to interpret the dream, let alone tell him what the dream was. He wants to kill them all, start over, when Daniel gets wind of the insanity. Instead of killing all these people, Daniel tells the king that he will interpret the dream. He returns to his fellow Jewish friends and prays with them before his big meeting with Nebuchadnezzar.
When Daniel relays the dream back to Nebuchadnezzar, it floors the king because no one else could do that much. Deciphering the dream is just as amazing. Nebuchadnezzar dread of a large statue that is broken up in different sections of fine metals.
The sections are appropriated to different ruling peoples. The gold (head) is Babylon, the silver (chest), is the empire of Persia, the bronze (waist) is attribute to Greece, the iron (legs) toRome and the clay and iron (feet) to a future ruling power during the end times. The dream also includes a rock from heaven that slams into the statue at the ankle and brings the statue down, once and for all.
God gave Nebuchadnezzar a rare glimpse into how God operates and who is truly authoritative. He gives the king of Babylon a sightline into the future where his mighty kingdom, the mightiest in the known world at this time, is overtaken by another that is more powerful. But the Persians succumb to the Greeks and the Greeks to the Romans. All of these empires, so strong and formidable in their own times, fall due to God’s mechanisms, not their own. God allows the empires to rise and fall, all due to His glorious plan.
And what is His glorious plan? It is seen in the last part of the dream, Daniel 2:44-45:
44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
Kingdoms will rise and fall until God determines when it is time for the end, the final judgment. Just as God decreed a judgment on Judah because they turned away, He will also render judgment on the world, because in the end times, the iron mixed with clay symbolizes a government that is not untied, people in search of answers, and a rock cut out of a mountain - Christ - who slams the world governments into pieces, destroying the world system forever, in favor of a new and united kingdom under Christ.
This is God’s plan, and although we may see all of these former governments, and perhaps our own, as infallible, the message of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream still rings true: God is the ultimate authority over all kingdoms in the world. In that, all human authority falls under the authority of God. God also has a plan and purpose for government.
This dream shows us that God is in charge of all. He appoints kingdoms and rulers as he sees fit. It is our duty to live as good citizens under them, no matter if the ruler is good or bad, benevolent or tyrannical.
25 Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes. 26 Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.
The finality of this passage speaks volumes of what is to come. Samuel sets up a contract, a constitution if you will, which outlines Saul’s duties to his people. Once done, the people are dismissed, the kingship is validated, and Saul himself returns to his home, now king appointed by God.