THIS IS THE MAN I SPOKE TO YOU ABOUT

1 Samuel 9:1-27 (Key Verse: 9:17)

“When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, ‘This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.’”

Thank God for continuing of our 1 Samuel study! From Msn. Gideon’s message last week, we saw how quickly the people of Israel forgot about God’s help and kindled their desire to be like others by having their own king. We also saw how heartbroken Samuel was because he felt rejected by their ungrateful and shameless request of a king. God must have felt the same! However, God was like a patient and merciful father to a prodigal son, granting what they wanted after giving them a stern warning about having a king. Today is the sequel to the season one of the drama of kings (like Game of Thrones (GOT)). As such, God prepared a wonderful young man fit for their king! What stood out and what qualities did he have to be selected as king? May God make us obedient, responsible, and humble people so that we might be preciously used for His work! May God help us to see his orchestration and appreciate deep 1:1 relationships!

1. A Head Taller Than Anyone Else (1-13)

The previous chapter ended with the tense conversation between Samuel and the elders and his dismissal of them all to their own hometown. Ever since then, it seemed nothing was moving on in terms of their having a king. However, God was quietly working behind the scenes, preparing someone for that. Look at verse 1. Here, we see God’s choice was upon the tribe of Benjamin. Who was Benjamin? He was the youngest son of Jacob whose mother tragically died while giving birth to him. His only baby-brother Josheph was thought be lost to a wild beast for a long time. He possibly grew up lonely and insecure. Even at the time of reunion, Benjamin was an object of love and care by his brother Joseph. Hundreds of years later, at the end of the time of the Judges, there was a civil war beteen the Benjamites and everyone else, and as a result, the Benjamite men were almost annihilated. Historically, the Benjamites went through a lot and no prominent figure ever appeared among them. They were a forgotten figure. Then, God raised a man of standing (or a man of wealth), Kish, a direct descendant of Benjamin. From him, He also set apart a young man, namely, Saul. How is Saul described in verse 2? He was the most handsome man in Israel and was a head taller than anyone else. In the Bible, only five men were described as handsome: Joseph, Saul, David, Adonijah and Absalom. So, Saul must have been very impressive in terms of his appearance. 

Why did God select Saul with his handsome appearance? Perhaps, it has something to do with God’s own character. He is perfect in nature and magnificient in all things. He even accepts sacrifices that are without defect or blemish. Hence, by appointing this handsome young man Saul as his representative and king over Israel, he would set the tone of what kind a nation Israel would be: a glorious and majestic one like Him. What about “being a head taller”? God previously promised to Israel through Moses that if His people would obey Him they would be the head and always be the top, not the tail or the bottom. So, Saul would be a good headfigure to this type of nation that God had promised. 

Look at verses 3-5. Not only did Saul have a good look but he also had internal qualities. Those qualities were well-shown through one incident. Saul’s father, Kish, somehow lost donkeys and asked him to find them. Maybe donkeys in those days were like SUVs and pickup trucks that were very useful and valuable for everyday use. So, Saul along with one servant ventured out to find those donkeys. Finding donkeys possibly represent Saul’s future role as a king to serve obstinate, wayward and lost people so that they might be found and be moved to a safer place. Anyway, finding donkeys was a daunting task. In those days, where there was no RFID chips or GPS, how could they locate the lost donkeys and bring them back to Kish? Still, Saul and his company never gave up on searching. They thoroughly searched out all possible places and even beyond their territory. After exhausting all those places, they reached the district of Zuph where Saul suggested to his servant to return to their home lest his father Kish start worrying about them instead of donkeys. 

Look at verse 6. Somehow, by God’s divine guidance, the servant came up with a brilliant idea. He shared with Saul about a man of God nearby, a highly respected and trustworthy person. The servant suggested to go to him with the possibility of being led by him regarding whereabout of the donkeys. Saul was initially reluctant to go to him because he had nothing to give to him as gift even if he wanted to. At that moment, the servant showed some money he secretly stashed away for the occasion like that. Saul then agreed to go to meet him, the seer, which was the original title for a prophet in those days. 

Look at verses 11-13. They met some young girls coming out to draw water and asked them about the seer. The women kindly answered him with all the details about when, where and how to meet him. They knew his agenda thoroughly. Surely, it was the perfect place and time for them to meet the seer because he would be at the high place for the sacrifice offering and that he would bless the meal with the invited guests. Those guests would be initial witnesses to the future king and that they would honor him as an initial dose of inaugulation festivity. 

Looking back at the lost donkeys and Saul’s subsequent journey to Samuel’s place, what can we learn from these? For one, we learn Saul’s obedience, responsibility, and humbleness. Being born as a rich parent’s son and with his handsomeness, he could have been easily spoiled and proud. Yet, he was obedient, ready to take the task however difficult it was. He was responsible so much so that the went beyond his own territory to try to complete his task. He was humble enough to listen to his servant’s suggestion and trusted with young girls at a unfamiliar place. May God bless our young men and women to be obedient, responsible and humble so that they might be preciously used!

2. This is the Man! (14-27)

Look at verse 14. Saul and his servant finally met Samuel on their way to the town while Samuel on his way up to the high place. In the next two verses, we see how God prepared Samuel to meet a future king. A day before that day, He revealed that a man from the land of Benjamin would be sent to him. Samuel was urged to anoint him ruler over the people of Israel because he would deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. Listen to what God told Samuel lastly in verse 16c. “I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.” Isn’t this a similar expression God used when He sent Moses to the people of Israel to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh and the Egyptians? From this, we learn that God listens to our cries and answers them. This gives us the hope and the reason why we need to pray all the more when things do not go the way we want them to go.

Look at verse 17. At the right time, God helped Samuel to recognize Saul. Recognizing Saul was only the first step. Following through on the meeting was Samuel’s job to do. Fortunately, Saul approached and asked him first with the question where the seer’s house was. Samuel casually answered him that he was the seer and that instead of his house Saul would need to to go up ahead of him to the high place to eat with him and the next morning he would be on his way. The next two verses would make Saul very puzzled and make the moment unforgettable. It is because the words of Samuel were very prophetic: “… will tell you all that is in your heart. … And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?” Samuel would reveal what’s in Saul’s heart and let him know that all the desire of Israel would be turned to him and his whole family line. This is what a genuine man of God could do and what he said literally meant his kingship. 

Look at the priceless response of Saul to Samuel’s words in verse 21. He called his tribe and his clan the smallest and the least and asked why Samuel said such things. He basically claimed he is nothing. He was such a humble and modest young man. Regardless of his response, however, Samuel took him and his servant into the hall and seated them at the head of the dinner table where about thirty guests were seated. This was a great honor. And he had the cook bring the special portion of the meat which had been set apart for this specific occasion, namely, the thigh, so that he would be the guest of honor. 

Look at verses 25-27. After the dinner fellowship at the high place, Samuel invited Saul to his house and on the roof they had an overnight talk. In our Friday meeting, one man of God pointed out that it was for them to get to know each other that they spent the whole night together in talking. Surely, this kind of long-talking is common in UBF communities, such as Msn. Hannah Saluk of Ukraine visiting Msn. Anastasia and their talking to the late night or Msn. Paul Jin of GMU visiting Msn. Mary and I and our nonstop 7 hour-long talking. The next morning, Samuel made Saul and his servant get ready to be on their way home. Yet he held Saul a little longer so as to convey God’s message to him.

What can we learn from this part? First, God orchestrated all things so that Saul could be prepared and selected as king. He works for the good of those who are called. We see how one thing led to another. It was like a mission impossible movie script where everything was on its precise timing. Kish’s losing valuable donkeys and his order to Saul to find them led to his journey. Saul’s over-eagerness to find them led him and his servant to Samuel’s place. His servant’s knowledge about Samuel and stashing away of money led to the town of Samuel. Meeting with girls who had detailed information about Samuel’s agenda led to meeting Samuel. And the high place’s scheduled dinner with the special thigh treatment was waiting. It was God who’ve covered them all. Second, meeting with a person in deep talks can change one’s life. I was told that in America loneliness is spreading like a disease and everyone in different age-groups is trying to do something to cure it. In South Korea, it gets even worse and there is a term, Pet-Loss-Syndrome (PLS), where a pet owner who loses his/her pet cannot do anything for a significant of time. In our UBF, we have 1:1s where one Bible teacher builds a trust and love relationship with one Bible student so that both of them are mutually edified. Bible teachers agonize over what to say and how to say regarding not just Bible knowledge but about life and spirituality in general often from their personal experience with God. Then, Bible students learn not just knowledge but life style and wisdom from them gradually becoming matured and independent. In this way, we pass along the precious spiritual heritage of the current to the next generation and somehow even contribute to the society general. We cure loneliness and move things forward. When I attended the ESBC, I happened to be aquainted with Frank and Wendy Lin of Canada along with their two boys who came to the ESBC following their shepherds Msns. Charles and Ana Kim. What stood out to me was that in our talking Frank Lin personally told me how he remained in Toronto UBF was that he was impressed by Msn. Charles’ life style who even with little disability and broken English kept serving campus students moved his heart. 

In conclusion, we learned how God selected Saul as Israel’s king with his handsome outappearce that possibly represented His perfect character and his internal qualities such as obedience, responsibility and humbleness. We also learned that God hears our cries and answers them in his time and through his method. God orchestrates all things for the good of those who are called according to his purpose. Deep 1:1 relationships make us matured and make the world better and greater!