1 Samuel 10:22

Therefore they inquired of the Lord further,.... Or again, by lot, by which they knew who the person was the was chosen king, but they did not know where he was, and therefore inquire further how

And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and

They inquired of the Lord; either by Urim or Thummim, which was the usual way of inquiry, 28:6; or by Samuel, who by his prayer procured an answer. Among the stuff; among the carriages or baggage of the people there assembled. This he might do, because he either had, or at least would be thought to have, a modest sense of his own unworthiness, which was a likely way to commend him to the people.

1 Samuel 10:22 Therefore they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.Ver. 22. Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.] This he did not out of hypocrisy; - as did Pope Paschalis II, who when he knew aforehand he should be chosen Pope, hid himself; and being drawn into the light, would not be enthroned, till the people of Rome had thrice cried out, Sanctus Petrus Reinerum virum optimum elegit; St Peter hath chosen Reyner, who is a very honest man; - or as that Popish Bishop did, who being asked, as the manner at their instalment is, Visne Episcopare? answered, Nolens volo, et volens nolo; - or else our Richard III, who seemed very unwilling to be made king, but out of humility and prudence: [but] as Augustine would not come at those churches that lacked bishops, lest they should choose him, and at length accepted of little Hippo, when leaden Aurelius got the golden bishopric of Carthage: and as the elector of Saxony, Frederick, seriously and upon mature deliberation, refused the empire of Germany when it was offered him. Funcc., Chronol.

(22) Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither.—Saul and Samuel alone, of all the host gathered that day at Mizpeh, knew on whom the lot would fall. So certain was Saul, after the strange signs had sealed the truth of the prophet’s revelation, that he would be designated by the sacred lot, that he shrank from waiting to hear the result, and concealed himself among the baggage and store-tents and waggons of the vast assembly. A second Divine announcement was needed to discover his hiding-place, and draw him forth before the people. (23–24) He was higher than any of the people.—“How shall this man save us?” was the impatient and angry murmur soon raised by some discontented spirits in Israel, not improbably princes of the leading houses of the great tribes of Judah and Ephraim, who were disgusted at the choice falling on an unknown man of the small and comparatively powerless tribe of Benjamin. But Samuel—whose place in the nation the unknown Benjamite was really to take—with rare nobility and singleness of purpose, had already singled out and called conspicuous attention to the one gift Saul undoubtedly, in an extraordinary degree, possessed—the one gift by which, in that primitive time, a man seemed to be worthy of rule. He was “goodly”: “there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he;” from his shoulders and upward he towered above all the people. When he stood among the people, Samuel could say of him, “See ye him? Look at him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people.” It is in the days of the Judges, as in the Homeric days of Greece; Agamemnon, like Saul, is head and shoulders taller than the people. Like Saul, too, he has that peculiar air and dignity expressed by the Hebrew word which we translate “good,” or “goodly.” This is the ground of the epithet which became fixed as part of his name, “Saul the chosen,” “the chosen of the Lord.” In the Mussulman traditions this is the only trait of Saul which is preserved. His name has there been almost lost; he is known only as Thalût, “the tall one.” In the Hebrew songs of his own time he was known by a more endearing, but not less expressive, indication of the same grace. His stately towering form, standing under the pomegranate-tree above the precipice of Migron, or on the pointed crags of Michmash, or the rocks of Engedi, claimed for him the title of “wild roe,” “the gazelle,” perched aloft, the pride and glory of Israel. Against the giant Philistines a giant king was needed. The time for the little stripling of the house of Jesse was close at hand, but was not yet come. Saul and Jonathan, swifter than eagles and stronger than lions, still seemed the fittest champions of Israel. When Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he took him unto him.

Verse 22. The Lord answered] What a continual access to God! and what condescension in his attention to all their requests! The stuff among which he had secreted himself may mean the carts, baggage, &c., brought by the people to Mizpeh.

22. they inquired of the Lord further] The technical phrase for ascertaining God’s will by means of the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate upon the High-priest’s Ephod (Exodus 28:30; Numbers 27:21). See on 1 Samuel 28:6, and cp. ch. 1 Samuel 14:3, 1 Samuel 22:10, 1 Samuel 23:9, 1 Samuel 30:7. the stuff] The baggage of the people who had come to Mizpah from a distance. Compare “Therefore away to get our stuff aboard.”Shakespeare, Com. of Errors, IV. 4.

Among the stuff - Rather, “the baggage.” The assembly was like a camp, and the baggage (impedimenta) of the whole congregation was probably collected in one place, where the wagons were arranged for protection.

22. They inquired of the Lord farther — Either by urim or by the prophet, for in both these ways Jehovah was wont to be inquired of. Compare 1 Samuel 28:6.