Outline of Chapter 10:

Introduction

       vv.    1–8        Samuel’s Prophecy Concerning Saul

       vv.    9–13      Samuel’s Prophecy is Fulfilled

       vv.   14–16      Saul and his Uncle

       vv.   17–25      Samuel Assembles Israel and Chooses a King by Lot

       vv.   26–27      Addendum: Saul Returns Home/Reaction of the Worthless

Addendum

Charts and Maps:

       v.      1           The Manuscript Time Line

       v.      3           The Movement of the Ark and the Tent of God Part 1

       v.      3           The Movement of the Ark and the Tent of God Part 2

       v.      3           Israel’s Religious Practices

       v.      5           The Absolute State and the Construct State

       v.      5           The Musical Instruments of 1Sam. 10:5

       v.      5           C. L. Seow on the Hithpael

       v.      6           The Bias of Various English Translations

       v.      7           Whatever Your Hand Finds...

       v.      8           The Pattern of Saul’s Calling

       v.     10           1Samuel 10:10b as Influenced by the Charismatics

       v.     10           1Samuel 10:10b as Influenced by the Hebrew

       v.     19           Three Possible Translations of 1Sam. 10:19a

       v.     20           Does Lâkad Really Mean to Take or to Choose by Lot?

       v.     24           Why Did God Choose Saul?

Addendum: What were the alternatives?

Application

What was the result of God allowing the will of the Israelites to supercede His own?

       v.     27           What Can we Take Away from 1Samuel 10?

——————————

An Introduction to 1Samuel 10

I ntroduction: “And they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.” (Acts 13:21). 1Sam. 9 seemed to end abruptly. Samuel was about to speak to Saul the Word of God, and then the chapter stopped. However, the key to the division of the chapter here is Saul’s private and public coronation, which make up the two parts of 1Sam. 10. We begin this chapter with Samuel private anointing Saul as God’s chosen one, the king over Israel (vv. 1–8). Later, Saul will be publically proclaimed king in a ceremony which separates him from all Israel (vv. 9–27). Actually, this chapter is more complex than that, so let me break it down even more:

Samuel privately anoints Saul before God (v. 1). Samuel takes Saul's mind off these donkeys by telling him that they have been found and are safe and sound now (v. 2). God knows and Samuel probably knows that Saul is still somewhat nonplussed by all of this, so Samuel describes what will happen to Saul in the next few hours (vv. 3–7). Then, interestingly enough, it appears as though Samuel tells Saul what would happen to him in Gilgal, which will actually come to pass several years hence (v. 8). All that Samuel tells Saul comes to pass (v. 10) and Saul even prophesies (v. 11). All of this indicates that Saul is regenerated (v. 9). Now, interestingly enough, after all of this occurs, when Saul returns home, he speaks to his uncle rather than to his father about what had happened (vv. 14–16).

What now follows is the public coronation of Saul (vv. 17–27). Saul gathers the people at Mizpah and tells them by desiring a king, they have rejected God, the God Who delivered them from Egypt (vv. 17–19). Then Samuel goes through an elaborate ceremony of choosing a man out of a family out from the tribe of Benjamin (vv. 20–21). Although this is not completely clear, it appears as though this was done by lots, meaning that the outcome is by chance, yet determined by God. When they come to the name of Saul, he is not to be found, but he has hidden himself among the personal items which were stored in the back (vv. 21–22). Some men run to get Saul and bring him forth (v. 23a). Saul looks like a king, despite the fact that this entire event made him want to hide, and the people cheer at his selection (vv. 23b–24).

Samuel then sends everyone home and records in a book the ordinances of a king, and places this book before God (v. 25). Saul returns home as well, but this time he is accompanied by a small army of men who are apparently inspired to join up with him (v. 26). There is also a small contingent of those who think that Saul just cannot be the one to deliver them, and they refuse to bring him any tribute (v. 27).

Now, as I have mentioned many times, the separation of the chapters was added long after Scripture was first written. Even though we have some specific subject matter in this chapter, the separation of the two chapters still seems arbitrary and breaks up the flow of the narrative. The verse separation was also added after the fact, which has been a blessing and a cursing. When we need to find a particular passage, the separation into verses and chapters has made this much easier for us and has afforded us such excellent tools as the concordance. However, there are times when such a separation is disconcerting, as it is here. For whatever reason, those who separated the Bible into chapters and verses forget to check with me first. Chapter 10 picks up where 1Sam. 9 left off. Saul and Samuel are standing on the tell just outside the city’s gates and Samuel is about to reveal the Word of God to Saul. And then chapter 9 ended.

In 1Sam. 10, Samuel will reveal to Saul what will happen in his near future and then will reveal that the Spirit of prophesy will fall upon Saul. Saul will prophesy and this will amaze those of his hometown. Now, Samuel will call together a convocation of the people of Israel and present Saul as king. Saul, scared to death, shows up to his ordination, but then hides behind some things when he is called forward to lead Israel.

What will be nice in this chapter is, there will be very few differences between the Greek and the Hebrew. This continues a section where the Greek and Hebrew are generally in harmony, making the translation fairly easy for us.

Samuel’s Prophecy Concerning Saul

I want you to recall what Samuel has already told Saul—before he went to sleep, Samuel told Saul, “And for whom is all that is desired in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s household?” (1Sam. 9:20). What Samuel said, recall, was rather abstruse. Essentially, all that is desired in Israel is a king, a ruler, one man to stand for Israel. Samuel does not use that language—maybe he flat out has a tough time using the k-word. So, in the previous chapter, he couches the idea of kingship. Saul seems to understand what Samuel is talking about, and replies, “Am I not the least in my family, which is the least significant tribe in Benjamin, which is the smallest tribe in Israel?” And that is where they leave it. Saul goes to sleep in the guest bedroom, which is the roof; Samuel retires to his room. And Saul, as he begins to fall asleep, ponders what Samuel said. Did he understand Samuel correctly? All of Israel desires Saul and his family. That simply can’t mean what it seems to. By the time that Saul wakes up, he surely thinks that he either misunderstood what Samuel was saying, or that he dreamed part of it. However, on the next morning, Samuel becomes even more specific, although he still does not use the k-word. Despite not using the k-word, there will be no confusion as to what Samuel is saying in this verse.

First, let’s see what others have done here:

Ancient texts:

Vulgate (as per NKJV)           Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance? And you shall deliver His people from the hands of their enemies all around them. And this shall be a sign to you that God has anointed you to be a prince.

Masoretic Text                       And so takes Samuel a vial of the oil and so he pours [it] upon his head and so he kisses him and so he says, “Is not because Yehowah anointed you over His inheritance for a prince?

Septuagint                             And Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured [it] on his head, and kissed him, and said to him, “Has not the Lord anointed you for a ruler over His people, over Israel? And you will rule among the people of the Lord and you will deliver them out of the hand of their enemies; and this will be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you for a ruler over his inheritance:...

Significant differences:          The Peshitta essentially agrees with the Masoretic text. The Vulgate and the Septuagint add the fact that Saul would deliver the people of Israel and that Samuel is about to give Saul a sign that what he is telling him is the truth. This verse is missing from the Dead Sea Scrolls altogether (it was not left out; the manuscripts are simply incomplete or partially destroyed).

You will notice that the translations below are rather divided on whether this final sentence found in the LXX belongs in the actual text. This might also tell you about the translation that you use—if you find this additional sentence in your Bible, that means that your translation will often make use of the Greek Septuagint. If your Bible does not list this sentence, that means that it primarily follows the Hebrew text. The best Bible will include this sentence and indicate that is found in the Greek but not the Hebrew.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

NJB                                        Samuel took a phial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head; he then kissed him and said, ‘Has not Yahweh anointed you as leader of his people Israel? You are the man who is to govern Yahweh’s people and save them from the power of the enemies surrounding them. The sign for you that Yahweh has anointed you as prince of his heritage is this:...

REB                                       Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over Saul’s head; he kissed him and said, ‘The Lord anoints you prince over his people Israel. You are to rule the people of the Lord and deliver them from the enemies round about. You will receive a sign that the Lord has anointed you prince to govern his possession:...

TEV                                       Then Samuel took a jar of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “The Lord anoints you as ruler of his people Israel. You will rule his people and protect them from all their enemies. And this is the proof to you that the Lord has chosen you to be the ruler of his people:...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Complete Jewish Bible          Then Sh̓mu̓el took a flask of oil he had prepared and poured it on Sha̓ul’s head. He kissed him and said, “Adonai has anointed you to be a prince over his inheritance.

God’s Word™                         Samuel took a flask of olive oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “The has anointed you to be ruler of his people Israel. You will rule his people and save them from all their enemies. This will be the sign that the has anointed you to be ruler of his people.

JPS (Tanakh)                        Samuel took a flask of oil and poured some on Saul’s [Hebrew, his] head and kissed him, and said, “The Lord herewith anoints you ruler over His own people. [The Septuagint and Vulgate read: “...anoints you ruler of His people Israel, and you will govern the people of the Lord and deliver them from the hands of their foes roundabout. And this is the sign for you that the Lord anoints you.”]

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you a ruler over His inheritance?

NRSV                                    Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler over his heritage:...

Young's Updated LT              And Samuel takes the vial of the oil and pours on his head, and kisses him, and says, ‘Is it not because Jehovah has anointed you over His inheritance for leader?

What is the gist of this verse? Samuel anoints Saul by pouring oil upon his head, kisses him, and then indicates that God has made Saul ruler over Israel. The LXX and Vulgate add that Saul would deliver Israel from her enemies and that the verses which follow will be a sign to Saul that Samuel is a prophet and that all of this is true.

You will note that the Septuagint and the Vulgate are much longer than the Hebrew and you will further note that I followed the Hebrew for my slavishly literal translation (as is generally my habit) and my moderately literal rendering follows the Greek. Now, it is unlikely that both the Septuagint and the Vulgate became overly and almost identically creative at this point. I would reasonably guess that the latter half of the Hebrew fell off from this verse, probably due to wear and tear on the Hebrew manuscript itself. Recall that the Hebrew manuscripts were not that durable. It would not be unusual for a portion of Scripture to become unreadable, and this could have occurred as late as 600–700 a.d. The Greek and Latin also do a better job of tying v. 1 to v. 2. Young tends to lean toward the Hebrew and does not really engage in much textual criticism. The NASB also leans toward the Hebrew reading, although they often will include alternate readings from the Septuagint in the margins (and often they will neglect to mention the differences). It might be worth it to see on a chart when these things were produced:

Translation: Then Samuel took a vial of oil... The word for vial is only found three times in Scripture (1Sam. 10:1 2Kings 9:1, 3). According to Edersheim, this word indicates a narrow-necked vessel from which the oil would come by drops. Its verbal cognate means to trickle. As we have said, it is unclear as to how much Saul thought about these things, about being proclaimed king. My personal guess is, he thought little about this, although was no doubt taken by Samuel, having not met the prophet before. That Samuel picks up an anointing vial of oil is no doubt giving Saul pause.

Translation: ...and he poured [it] upon his [Saul’s] head... This should have been a shock to Saul. This prophet (whom Saul knew little about, but who is apparently the great prophet of Israel at this time) is suddenly anointing him with oil. There is no reason to think that this is some sort of hospitable gesture. My guess would be that Saul is kneeling before Samuel, as perhaps he was asked to do (since Saul is so tall, I don't imagine that both men did this while Saul was standing). We probably have the ceremonial vial which allows a drop at a time to come out. My guess is, we are talking about a few drops of oil, not unlike putting product in your hair (although this obviously has a spiritual meaning). The pouring upon the head is greatly significant, being associated with the commissioning of a great work of some sort; furthermore, anointing is generally associated with God and more specifically with God the Holy Spirit. That’s the short version. Before we go on, this would be a good place to examine the Doctrine of Religious and Ceremonial Anointing. That’s the long version.

Keil and Delitzsch comment: When Saul, therefore, was consecrated as king by anointing, the monarchy was inaugurated as a divine institution, standing on a par with the priesthood; through which henceforth the Lord would also bestow upon His people the gifts of His Spirit for the building up of His kingdom. As the priests were consecrated by anointing to be the media of the ethical blessings of divine grace for Israel, so the king was consecrated by anointing to be the vehicle and medium of all the blessings of grace which the Lord, as the God-king, would confer upon His people through the institution of a civil government. Through this anointing, which was performed by Samuel under the direction of God, the king was set apart from the rest of the nation as “anointed of the Lord” and sanctified as...its captain, its leader and commander.

You will recall that Samuel does not like any of this. He is opposed to appointing a king over Israel. He couldn’t quite say it the previous evening and even though Saul could infer the correct meaning from what Samuel had told him, it was still uncertain. However, suddenly, prior to Saul’s departure, Samuel anoints him with a king’s anointing. As we have seen, this sort of anointing had been used elsewhere for kings in the ancient world. The fact that the most notable prophet in all of Israel was doing the anointing was also very significant. Saul is not simply receiving some political endorsement to the end that he might run for a political office. He is receiving a king’s anointing.

Translation: ...and then he kissed him... This, of course, is another custom of the ancient world, one which I personally am glad has gone by the wayside. I don’t know whether this kiss is to be taken as significant or not; my impression was that one often received guests with a kiss and gave them a kiss at their departure. In any case, Samuel did not have a crush on Saul.

Translation: ...and said, “[Is it] not even Y^ehowah [Who] anoints you as crown-prince over His possession... In this portion of v. 1, we have the conjunction kîy (י̣) [pronounced kee], which means when, that, for, because. However, kîy also has an intensifying force and is rendered so that, so even, even. At first, I was nonplussed by the use of the word kîy here, but this indicates that Saul is not simply being anointed by Samuel, but it is God who has anointed Saul as king over Israel. Little by little, these events compound. First Samuel, the prophet of Israel, anoints Saul; then he tells Saul that it is Jehovah God Who is anointing him.

The inheritance here is Israel. Actually, it is better understood in this context as God's possession. Israel belonged to God, so Saul was merely being temporarily entrusted with Israel.

What Samuel did was in the name of God—he anointed Saul as ruler over Israel in obedience to God’s wishes. You might want to note that, Samuel does not insert his own opinion at this point. "Look, Saul, I have to do this, but let me give you a piece of my mind: I think anointing a king is the stupidest thing these elders have ever suggested, and let me tell you why..." Samuel does not do that. He is obedient to God and his opinion, at this point, is irrelevant. On the other hand, you will note, Samuel still has not used the k-word. The most common word for king in the Old Testament is melek^e ( ∵ל ∵מ) [pronounced MEH-lek], which refers to the ultimate ruler of the land, or one who is in line for that position. Strong’s #4428 BDB #572. Samuel instead uses nâgîyd, which means crown-prince.

At this point, there is additional verbiage from the Septuagint, which seems to be appropriate to this passage:

Translation: ...[and] over His people? The Septuagint adds over His people, giving us: ...as ruler over His possession [or, inheritance], over His people? The Septuagint, which may be the most accurate at this point, makes it clear that God's possession is His people Israel.

Translation: You will govern the people of Y^ehowah... Samuel begins to outline Saul's responsibilities. As king, again, a term not used by Samuel yet, Saul would govern over the people of Israel, called the people of Jehovah here.

Translation: ...and you will deliver them from the hands of their enemies round about. Saul's second responsibility, one which the elders saw as being the most important is, he would provide a standing military to protect them from their enemies from without. This is not an unreasonable request, at least from the standpoint of human thinking. Israel then, as today, was surrounded by enemies. Obviously, not every single Gentile was looking to hurt Israel, but there were enough of them in all of the surrounding nations to make Israel's existence perilous. In the time of the judges, God used these Satan-inspired Gentiles to discipline Israel for going off course. Then, when Israel cried out to God, God would provide for them a Savior to lead them out of the hands of their enemies. Well, human viewpoint simply says, "Hey, we need a king and a standing army all the time. We cannot just sit around and wait to be persecuted by our enemies." Divine viewpoint tells us that, persecution came when God allowed it; God allowed persecution when the Jews got out of line—that is, began to worship other gods.

In any case, one of Saul's functions was to keep a standing army which would be used against Israel's longstanding enemies.

Translation: And this [will be] a sign to you that Y^ehowah has anointed you leader over His inheritance:... Now, you will note that I added to this most of what we find in the Septuagint: “[Is it] not even Y^ehowah [Who] anoints you as crown-prince over His possession as ruler over His possession, over His people? You will govern the people of Y^ehowah and deliver them from the hands of their enemies round about. And this will be a sign to you that Jehovah has anointed you leader over His inheritance:..." The Hebrew seems to jump from v. 1 to v. 2. Suddenly, Samuel is giving Saul a sign that God has anointed him king over Israel, so that Saul does not think Samuel to be some old crackpot prophet. In the Septuagint, this is a more natural flow, with Samuel telling Saul: “...these are your responsibilities as king and this is the sign to prove to you that God has anointing you king over Israel.” You will, of course, note that I used Y^ehowah or Jehovah in this portion of the verse from the Septuagint. There is no such usage in the Greek; however, the word used in the Greek (κύριος) typically translates the Hebrew word Y^ehowah.

I should point out that it is more likely that the Masorites were dealing with a poor manuscript than the Greek translators simply adding in some filler to make things come out smoothly. This makes the Greek the more likely text.

In the following six verses, Samuel will give Saul three signs, which will show that Samuel is guided by God and that his consecration of Saul is valid. This first sign is that Saul would encounter two men who would tell him that his donkeys have been found (v. 2).

In this verse, we have a quote within a quote within a quote. Here’s what others have done:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       In your departing the day from with me and you have come upon a pair of men with a tomb of Rachel in a territory of Benjamin in Zelzah and they have said unto you, ‘Have been found the donkeys which you had gone to seek and behold, has forsaken your father words of the donkeys and has been anxious for you [all] to say, “What will I do for my son?” ’

The Septuagint                      As you have departed this day from me, you will find two men by the burial place of Rachel on the mount of Benjamin, exulting greatly; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys are found which you went to seek; and, behold, your father has given up the matter of the donkeys, and he is anxious for you, saying, “What will I do for my son?” ’

Significant differences:          No significant differences, apart from Zelzah, which is simply a difference of translating and transliterating.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

NJB                                        ...after leaving me today, you will meet two men near the tomb of Rachel, on the frontier of Benjamin...and they will say to you, The donkeys which you went looking for have been found, and your father has lost interest in the matter of the donkeys and is worrying about you and wondering, What am I to do about my son?”

TEV                                       When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah in the territory of Benjamin. They will tell you that the donkeys you were looking for have been found, so that your father isn’t worried any more about them but about you, and he keeps asking, ‘What shall I do about my son?’

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Complete Jewish Bible          After you leave me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s Tomb, in the territory of Binyamin at Tzeltzah. They will tell you that the donkeys you were searching for have been found, and that your father has stopped thinking about the donkeys and is anxious over you and asking, ‘What am I to do about my son?’ ”

God’s Word™                         When you leave me today, two men will be at Rachel’s grave on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They’ll tell you, ‘We’ve found the donkeys you went looking for. You father no longer cares about them. Instead, he’s worried about you. He keeps asking, “What can I do [to find] my son?’ ”

JPS (Tanakh)                        When you leave me today, you will meet two men near the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin, at Zelzah, and they will tell you that the asses you set out to look for have been found, and that your father has stopped being concerned about the asses and is worrying about you, saying: ‘What shall I do about my son?’

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     “When you go from me today, then you will find two men close to Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. Now behold, your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’

Young's Updated LT              In your going today from me, then you have found two men by the grave of Rachel, in the border of Benjamin, at Zelzah, and they have said unto you, The asses have been found which you have gone to seek; and lo, your father has left the matter of the asses, and has sorrowed for you, saying, What do I do for my son?

What is the gist of this verse? First, after Saul leaves, he will meet two men by the grave of Rachel and they will tell him that the donkeys have been found and that now his father is worried about him.

Translation: ...after your departure today from me, you will come upon two men near the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah [which possibly is equivalent to Zelah]... The first obvious difference between the Greek and the Hebrew is Zelzah, which is obviously a transliteration from the Hebrew. The JPS footnotes that the meaning is uncertain and the Septuagint gives it a meaning. More when we get to that portion of the verse.

The Tomb of Rachel is mentioned. You may recall that Rachel was the wife of Jacob that he loved, for whom he worked 14 years. She bore him two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, and she died while giving birth to Benjamin. She was buried on the way to Ephrath-Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19 48:7), which places her in the territory of Benjamin ( I am certain that had some effect on the assignment of that piece of land to the tribe of Benjamin). She was not buried in Ephrath-Bethlehem. We have already covered The Location of Rachel’s Tomb back in 1Sam. 9:12.

Now, apart from this passage, Zelzah is nowhere else found in Scripture. However, the NKJV points us back to Joshua18:28 in a footnote, suggesting that Zelzah may be equivalent to tsêla (ע-ל̤צ) [pronounced TZAY-lahģ], which is transliterated Zelah, which is found in Joshua 18:28 and 2Sam. 21:14. One could be an abbreviated form of the other; there could have been the confounding of the Hebrew letters ע (which is ׳ayin [pronounced ĢAH-yin]) and צ, (tsâdêy [pronounced tsaw-DAY]). Both cities are in the territory of Benjamin with some proximity to Ramah. The fact that Zelzah is found only here and not in the book of Joshua would also suggest that these are the same cities. The only problem with this theory is, in Joshua 18:25–28, Zelah and Ramah are separated by 7 cities. We would anticipate, by Samuel’s prophecy of 1Sam. 10:1–8 that they would have been closer together. In any case, Zelzah is a village near Ramah. This gives us: ...and you have come upon two men by the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah [which possibly is equivalent to Zelah]...

You will note that the Septuagint leaves out at Zelzah altogether and has these two men rejoicing greatly instead. According to Keil and Delitzsch, this phrase in the Septuagint means in great haste. Similar verbs mean to decline, to deviate (no Strong's # BDB #854) and to limp, to stumble (Strong's #6760 BDB #854). However, these verbs are similar to Zelah, but not very similar to the word we have here (Zelzah). Furthermore, the only verb form that this could be even close to is a 2^nd person feminine plural (and, I mean close to; it is not the same). Although others follow the lead of the LXX, e.g. Ewald, he has neither given any reason why the name of a place is unsuitable here, nor considered that the Septuagint rendering is merely conjectural. In other words, a proper name is what is the most likely reading, given the Hebrew text which we have. Anything else would be too much of a stretch—not only do we have no words which are similar enough, but there are no verb forms which this word matches. Therefore, in this instance, we follow the Hebrew's lead.

Now, you may be concerned that all of the names don’t come together as you think they should and you imagine, in part, because the line of Benjamin is such a mess that Scripture is not inspired. Not so. With regards to Zelah and Zelzah, there is no contradiction whether they are the same city or not. With regards to one city popping up out of nowhere and not being in Joshua’s list of cities, that is not a problem either. Joshua distributed these cities over 300 years ago. The suburb or the city that you live in wasn’t there 300 years ago. So, the fact that some cities died out and others grew up in their place—that is not a big deal over a period of 300 years. Furthermore, recall how the Philistines encroached so much on Benjamin’s neighbor, the tribe of Dan, that Dan was forced out of that area and they went far north. Benjamin was reduced to a size of 600 males in the book of the Judges, so we should expect that some cities died out and others emerged in the land of Benjamin. We should expect the line of Benjamin to be messed up as well because of the decimation of their tribe. My point is, I am not trying to solve some alleged contradiction here, as there is none. I am simply trying to zero in on what the text reads. The likely choice is, this is the name of a city or a hill or a particular location, which may or may not be equivalent to Zelah.

Translation: ...and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went out to seek have been found... Now, note what Samuel did: he used the same verb twice in two consecutive sentences. I think the idea is that this will make an even greater impression upon Saul—people recall repetition more than they recall a thing being said once.

That Saul and his servant went out to find the donkeys was simply a ruse by God to get them to the city where Samuel was in order for Saul to be anointed the king over all Israel. Such a thing was completely unexpected by Saul and God had to warm him up to this idea. By the behavior which Saul will later exhibit, we can rest assured that if God had told Saul in the beginning why he was going to the city where Samuel was, Saul would have headed in the opposite direction (not uncommon behavior for a man chosen by God).

Application: The plans that we make for ourselves and God's plans may be entirely different. For instance, when I was teaching, I felt that I should be teaching primarily Pre-Calculus and Calculus courses. I had the proper background for it, which was equivalent to one person in my department and far superior to all others in my department. However, God chose for me not to teach those classes primarily; even though I was most qualified to teach them (and many of the teachers chosen to teach those classes were unqualified to teach those courses). It was simply what God chose, for a variety of reasons, not all of which I am aware of. In life, we sometimes end up doing one thing, which we see as a means to get to another; however, that is God's primary purpose. Or, we end up doing one thing, but God has something else for us to do, which is why he places us where he does. Saul and his servants were out looking for donkeys which they were not going to find. However, God wanted them out there so that He could lead them to Samuel. That was where Saul needed to go. After graduating, I had a specific city and school district in mind where I would teach; God instead put me 2500 miles away.

Application: I have harped on this before, and I will again. Believers are constantly wondering, what is God's will for my life; should I turn left at the stop sign? Go straight ahead? This is the simplest thing in the world. Be filled with the Holy Spirit; learn God's Word, and God will take care of putting you where He wants you. In my life, I cannot think of even a half dozen times where I was really concerned about what God's will was for my life; God made that clear time after time. After the fact, I know that I ended up in the right place at the right time.

Translation: ...and your father has therefore [lit., behold] forsaken the matter of the donkeys... Or, ‘...furthermore, listen, your father has forsaken the matter of the donkeys...’ Obviously, if the donkeys have been found then there is no reason for Saul’s father to be concerned about them.

You see, Saul's mind has been on these donkeys and he believed that to be the purpose of his journey. Samuel the night before told him not to worry about the donkeys, and again, in prophecy, Samuel tells him not to worry. Then, when Saul runs into these two men, they will tell him that the donkeys have been found. Again and again, Saul's mind is taken off the donkeys. God did not send him on this journey to find a herd of donkeys. God sent him on this journey to be anointed king of Israel.

Now, also, bear in mind, that these are signs to Saul, to let him know that Samuel is not this crazy prophet with a beard spouting religious nonsense, but that what he says has purpose and is real.

Translation: ...and has become concerned about you two [lit., you all],... Although Israel was relatively civilized, there were a lot of people who lived in Israel’s borders who were antagonistic toward the Israelites. Therefore, it was reasonable for Saul’s father to be concerned. There were also wild animals. So, Saul being gone for a few days caused his father some concern.

Translation: ...saying, “What will I do about my son?” ’ Saul’s father, Kish, is now concerned, and this is what he said about Saul: "What should I do about my son?"

Now, bear in mind that some of this prophecy is fairly simple—obviously, if Saul has been gone for some time now and the donkeys have been found already, then his father would be concerned. However, here is the kicker, Samuel has no way of knowing that Saul will meet up with these two men or where he will meet up with them, nor could he quote what they would say. The prophet of old gave near and far prophecies. The near prophecies validated his position as a prophet of God. That very day, Saul would realize that Samuel was truly a prophet; this was necessary because Saul, at that point in time, was not too interested in becoming the ruler of Israel. However, Samuel does not quit there. He possibly has eyes and ears throughout that area and may have come upon some of this information apart from his gift. He did not, but even after hearing this portion of the prophecy and having it fulfilled, Saul may still have doubts. So Samuel’s prophecy continues.

The second sign is that Saul will encounter three men who are going up to Bethel to commune with God. They will offer Saul some of what they are carrying (vv. 3–4). First, what others have done:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And you have gone from there and beyond and you have come as far as the oak of Tabor [or, an oak of a plain] and have come upon you there three men going up unto the Elohim Bethel, one carrying three kids [i.e., young goats] and one carrying a trio of rounds of bread and one carrying a skin of wine.

Septuagint                             And you will depart from there and you will go beyond that as far as the oak of Thabor , and you will find there three men going up to God, to Bæthel, one bearing three kids, and another bearing three vessels of bread, and another bearing a container of wine.

Significant differences:          No significant differences.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

TEV                                       You will go on from there until you come to the sacred tree at Tabor, where you will meet three men on their way to offer a sacrifice to God at Bethel. One of them will be leading three young goats, another one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and the third one will have a leather bag full of wine.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Complete Jewish Bible          Go on from there, and you will come to the Oak of Tavor. Three men will meet you there on their way up to God at Beit-El. One of them will be carrying three kids, another three loaves of bread and a third a skin of wine.

JPS (Tanakh)                        You shall pass on from there until you come to the terebinth of Tabor. There you will be met by three men making a pilgrimage to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three kids, another will be carrying three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a jar of wine.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     “Then you will go on further from there, and you will come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a dug of wine.

Young's Updated LT              ‘And you have passed on from there, and beyond, and you have come in unto the oak of Tabor, and found you there have three men going up unto God to Beth-El, one bearing three kids, and one bearing three cakes of bread, and one bearing a container of wine,...

What is the gist of this verse? After meeting the two men, Saul will run into three men going up to Bethel. One is carrying 3 baby goats, another 3 cakes of bread and another a container of wine.

Translation: And you will go from there... Samuel's prophecy continues. There is going to be so much information, that Saul will have to recognize that Samuel is a prophet.

Translation: ...and beyond until you come to an oak on a mound [or, in the plains]... Here, we find the proper noun Tabor, which place is mentioned only here. Now, there is a Mount Tabor, found in several places in Scripture (Joshua 19:22 Judges 4:6, 12, 14 8:18 1Chron. 6:77 Psalm 89:12 Jer. 46:18 Hos. 5:1); however, Saul will not be anywhere near Mount Tabor. Tabor means the mound or, possibly, the plain, and this may simply refer to not a specific place that Saul knows about, but will recognize when he meets the three men. That is, he will meet the three men, and it will be at this oak which is out on a mount or a plain. This place is specifically known to God, but not necessarily to Saul or Samuel or even to the three men. However, once Saul gets to this place and runs into these three men, it will be obvious that this was the place to which Samuel was referring. Samuel hears this directly from God and Saul directly from Samuel. This gives us: “And you will pass through from there and beyond and you will come to an oak on the mound [or, plain]...” There are those who make a big deal out of just exactly which oak this is and whether or not it is the oak of Deborah (this would be Deborah, the personal nurse to Rachel in Gen. 35:8). Without going into any detail, let’s simply say that it is highly unlikely.

Anyway, the idea is, when Saul comes to this place, he will look around and recognize that this is where Samuel was talking about. We will probably never be able to go to a particular place and say, "Here is the place which Samuel told Saul about." The only thing which is important is, Saul would recognize it. The pieces of the puzzle would continue to come together. Let's see if I can offer you an analogous situation. I recall praying for something on several occasions and then forgetting about it. I got rather busy with my life. Then, one day, I looked around me, and my prayer had been answered. In fact, I was surprised as to how well my prayer was answered ever today, years later.

Translation:...[where] three men, [who] are going up to Bethel to [be with] God, will come upon you there. These three men are not looking for Saul and his servant; nor is Saul necessarily looking for them. They will just come upon one another there by an oak on a mound (or a plain). When Saul arrives there, it will all click. By the way, when you are in the plan of God, this will probably occur now and again—things will just click or fall into place. It will seem obvious. This will not happen all of the time. That is, in your life, there will be adversity; however, there will also be these times where it is clear that, God is guiding our steps and everything is falling into place.

I should also add, these three men are going in the direction of Bethel with Bethel as their final destination.

Translation: One is carrying three young goats,... Or, One is carrying a three kids [or, young goats]... We have here 3 men who are going to worship God. They are going from where Saul meets them, at the oak of the mound, to Bethel. It is interesting that this one man is not leading 3 kids, but he is carrying them. That seems a little unusual to me. However, where they meet up, it might be best that these three kids are carried. These young goats would be sacrificed and they would be without spot or blemish.

Translation: ...another is carrying three loaves of bread... This one probably has 3 rounds of bread, which are prepared without leaven (I am assuming here, as we really don't know). This gives us an animal sacrifice the represent Jesus Christ; and the bread represents His body which is given for us.

Translation: ...and one is carrying a skin-container of wine. According to Gesenius, this container refers to a vessel of any sort used for liquids. What is in the skin-container is wine. This is clearly a word associated with alcohol, as this is the word used when Noah got drunk after the flood (Gen. 9), as well as what was drunk when Lot got drunk with his daughters (Gen. 39). This is what is forbidden to the Nazarite (Num. 6). If the wine is fermented, then it is possible that the bread has leaven as well. In any case, this gives us: One is carrying three young goats, another is carrying three loaves of bread and one is carrying a container of wine.

We do not expect to find wine associated with the worship, but unfermented grape juice; however, there is no indication that the worship of God followed any of the proper procedures. Furthermore, there were a few isolated situations where fermented wine (the word found here) was associated with an offering (Ex. 29:40 Num. 15:5–10 28:14).

Now, essentially, what is going to happen is that Saul will leave Ramah (Samuel’s hometown, where they were) and head towards Gibeah (his hometown). At the same time, there are some prophets traveling towards Bethel, which is one of the holy cities, so to speak, of that time period. Their paths will intersect near Rachel’s tomb at the Oak of Tabor.

Let’s first see what others have done with this:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And they have asked to you to peace and they have given to you a pair of breads and you have taken from their hand.

Septuagint                             And they will ask you how you are doing, and they will give you two presents of bread and you shall receive them of their hand.

Significant differences:          No significant differences.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

The Message                         They'll say, 'Hello, how are you?' and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     ...and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.

NKJV                                     “And they will greet you [ask about your welfare] and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands.

Young's Updated LT              ...and they have asked of you of welfare, and given to you two loaves, and you have received from their hand.

What is the gist of this verse? These three men would greet Saul and his servant and give them two pieces (possibly loaves) of their bread.

Translation: And they will ask you concerning your welfare... One of the words we find here is the masculine singular noun shâlôwm (םל ָש) [pronounced shaw-LOHM], which means completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safe, secure, tranquil, undisturbed, unagitated. The Septuagint and Young both get gold stars for rendering this correctly: And they will ask you concerning your welfare... The perfect tense is a prophetic perfect which assumes the occurrence or the completion of an event which has not yet come to pass. This is a the verbiage used when one person asks another, “How are you doing?” These guys will speak first and asked how Saul is doing.

Translation: ...and they will give to you two [pieces or loaves] of bread... Now, recall that Saul and his servant have run out of bread (1Sam. 9:7). Even though Saul and his servant ate well the previous day, by the time they meet up with these men, they will be hungry again. It is unclear whether they would be given two pieces of bread or whether two entire loaves (rounds) will be given to them.

Translation: ...and you will take from their hand. This is all pretty minor, non-earth-shattering stuff. There are no lightening bolts which will strike Saul, no explosions; the bread won’t turn into snakes. Samuel is giving a very simple prophecy of some very simple things which will occur, which will indicate to Saul that Samuel is truly a prophet of God. The idea is that, if Samuel is accurate about the small stuff, he will also be accurate about the big stuff. You will note that what Samuel is predicting, although it is rather mundane, that it is also very specific. The next time you consult your palm reader or astrologist, ask them what events will take place 30 minutes from your leaving their place of business and see how well they do. This was what a prophet of God did. He prophesied of what would occur in the very near future, so that he could easily be checked out for veracity; then what he prophesied for farther off would be taken seriously. Saul will know by the end of that day that Samuel is unquestionably a prophet of God.

This fifth verse of 1Sam. 10 introduces the third sign and final sign delineated by Samuel: Saul would meet a group of prophets coming down from Gibeath (or, possibly from a high place) and Saul will become filled with the Spirit and he will converse with them on matters theological (vv. 5–6). With this verse, we become even more descriptive and precise. If what was described before seemed moderately generic, Samuel will continue his prophesy so that there is no doubt in Saul’s mind that Samuel is a prophet, a man of God.

But first, let’s see what others have done:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       After so, you will come [to] Gibeath of the Elohim [or, the hill of the God] where there [are] garrisons of Philistines and it [lit., he] is as you come there [into] the city and you have met a band of prophets coming down from the high place and to faces of them, harp and tambourine and flute and lyre and they are prophesying.

Septuagint                             And afterward you will go to the hill of God, where is the encampment of the Philistines; there [is] Namib the Philistine; and it will come to pass when you will have entered into the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the Bama; and before them will be lutes, and a drum, and a pipe, and a harp, and they will prophesy.

Significant differences:          No significant differences. In a couple places, the Greek transliterated rather than translated.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

NJB                                        After this, you will come to Gibeah of God (where the Philistine garrison is) and, when you are just outside the town, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, headed by lyre, tambourine, pipe and harp; they will be in a state of ecstasy.

REB                                       Then when you reach the hill of God, where the Philistine governor resides, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the shrine, led by lute, drum, fife, and lyre, and filled with prophetic rapture.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        After that, you are to go on to the Hill [or Gibeah] of God, where the Philistine prefects reside. There, as you enter the town, you will encounter a band of prophets coming down from the shrine, preceded by lyres, timbrels, flutes, and harps, and they will be speaking in ecstasy.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     “Afterward you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying.

NRSV                                    After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy.

Young's Updated LT              ‘Afterwards you have come unto the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is, and it comes to pass, at your coming in there to the city, that you have met a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them psaltery, and tabret, and pipe, and harp, and they are prophesying;...

What is the gist of this verse? Saul and his servant come to the hill of God, where there is also a garrison of Philistines soldiers established, and they will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place carrying musical instruments.

Translation: Afterwards, you will come to Gibeath of God... If you will notice in the various translations which I have presented, we have a distinctive charismatic influence in some of the translations. These men are not simply prophesying (which means to speak the Word of God), but they are in this full-on state of ecstasy, in some sort of prophetic rapture—at least, according to some of the translations, one of which, you might be using. There are several translations which follow this view, which I will go into more detail on when we get to v. 10. However, to prepare you for the exegesis, there is nothing special in the verbiage found in this verse which indicates anything more than these prophets speaking divine viewpoint. If one wanted to insert that slant that these men are in some sort of ecstatic state of being, saying who knows what, then one would have to assume that the same thing occurred every time Isaiah prophesied to King Ahab, as the same Hebrew verbiage is used there.

Here we have the third geographical location which Saul and his servant come to. Here, it is called the Gibeath the Elohim, or the hill of God. Given that many of the ancient cities were built upon tells (essentially upon the ruins of previous occupations), this could be a proper noun as well as a common description given to a hill whereupon there was worship. What is likely is that Saul knows of where Samuel speaks; what is less likely is that Saul does not know of this place, but, when he comes to it, it will become clear to him that he is there. This particular designation is found only here, although some scholars identify this with Gibeah of Saul, which is the Gibeah of Judges 19:14 20:4, 10 1Sam. 11:4 13:2, 15 14:16 15:34 Isa. 10:29 (variously referred to as Gibeah of Benjamin, Gibeah of Saul, Gibeah of the Benjamites, or, simply, Gibeah). There is no reason to assume otherwise in this passage. No more traveling is alluded to; Gibeah is Saul’s home, where he would obviously stop. Gibeah is the next city south of Ramah, which is where Saul is right now. The previous two places mentioned, the tomb of Rachel and the oak of the plain, are not cities but landmarks which Saul and his servant would pass by to get to Gibeah. There is no reason to assume that there is some hill of God between Ramah and Gibeah where we find religious types descending and a garrison of Philistines. If we had that much going on, then it would simply be another city between Ramah and Gibeah (and no such city is alluded to here or anywhere else). Furthermore, given the short trip that Saul will be on (as seems to be testified to by this passage), the city of Gibeah is near where he and Samuel are standing right now. Furthermore, Saul will immediately meet his uncle (v. 14) and people who know Saul will comment to others who know Saul concerning his prophetic activity (vv. 10–12). All of this point to Saul's home town rather than to some essentially unpopulated hill in between the two cities.

Now, as for the designation Gibeah of Elohim vs. hill of God: personally, I would again lean toward this being essentially a proper noun, even if it began as a simple designation. The NIV Study Bible suggests that Samuel calling this city Gibeah of God is reminding Saul that this city, along with the rest of the land, belonged to God, and not to the Philistines, who had apparently made deep inroads into Israel. Even though the Philistines did not rule over what had been traditionally Israelite cities (1Sam. 7:14), they still had a strong military presence in Israel. They are said to have a military presence here and in Geba (1Sam. 13:3). This is not anything out of the ordinary or unusual. The United States, because we have a strong military force, has military bases and military air strips all over the world. We have embassies in hundreds and hundreds of cities throughout the world. The Philistines, at that time, were one of the greatest military forces in the ancient world. That they should have several military installations in Israel should not strike us as anything out of the ordinary.

Now, as to the spelling—you may astutely notice that I have transliterated this as Gibeath of Elohim whereas I continue to make reference to the city of Gibeah. The difference between the spellings is simple: Gibeah is in the absolute state and Gibeath is in the construct state. The construct state means, it is closely associated with the noun which follows (hence, the word of). You see, there is no word for of in the Hebrew language. So, when we want to show a relationship between two nouns (e.g., the son of Benjamin) we put the first noun in the construct state. Two examples are given below:

Translation: ...where there [is] the garrison [or, guards, officers] of Philistines... Then Samuel makes it clear where this place is. The noun found here is n^etsîyb (בי.צנ) [pronounced n^eTZEE^BV], which means pillar, prefect, garrison, post. Interestingly enough, this is the word used for pillar when Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt. In the MT, garrison is in the plural. It is singular in the Aramaic, Septuagint and Syriac. Strong’s #5333 BDB #662. Affixed to this is the plural gentilic adjective Philistines. This gives us: ...where there are garrisons [or, guards, officers] of Philistines... The REB suggests that this refers to a governor of the Philistines. Given the other accepted meanings (primarily the meaning of pillar), this is reasonable. It is possible that we have an ancient consulate here. Not far outside the city of Ramah, to the east, is the city of Geba, wherein there was a garrison of Philistines, as per 1Sam. 13:3. Whether this is the same detachment of soldiers or not is unclear. From my maps, it does not appear to be, as Gibeah is due south from Ramah, and Geba is due east. Therefore, it would have been less likely for Saul to head east and then south to go home. Furthermore, it is Gibeah where there was a garrison of Philistines. What is likely is that there were several garrisons of Philistines in this area.

At this time, it might be beneficial to examine this particular word in Doctrine of N^etsîyb.

Now, I realize that for most of you, making a determination of just where exactly some ancient city is, is seemingly irrelevant to anything in your life. However, recall that one of the recent topics was the destruction of Shiloh and the determination of when it occurred. Recall that the people of Israel were whining to God about the Philistines. Here we are, in the territory of Benjamin, and we have a Philistine troops stationed right at the Hill of God. What the Philistines did was drive a wedge between northern and southern Israel. First they forced out the Danites (who took an area in the far north), and now the Philistines occupied an area further inland, in Benjamin. Shiloh would have been north of them and it is reasonable that they had already burned Shiloh to the ground. More to the point, Israel was occupied by her enemies. They did not just coexist, the Philistines had some sort of a presence, possibly even a military presence.

Let’s examine this and also go back to 1Sam. 7:13–14a: So the Philistines were subdued and they did not continue any more to enter into the territory of Israel; furthermore, the hand of Y^ehowah was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And so the towns, which the Philistines had taken from Israel, were restored to Israel—from Ekron even as far as Gath—and Israel had rescued her territory from the hand of the Philistines. Recall that at that time, the Philistines not only occupied their territory on the southwestern shores of the Mediterranean, but they apparently had expanded their borders considerably, and they had driven a wedge between northern and southern Israel, burning down Shiloh, the holy city of Israel. The idea is that you attack the heart of a nation; just as the Arabic terrorists attacked the heart of the United States, New York City; so the Philistines had attacked and destroyed Shiloh. Israel suffered 20 years of Philistine aggression and gathered in 1Sam. 7 to renew their relationship with God. When the Philistines sought to curb this assembly, God pushed the Philistines back. Now, only for that period of time (say, 10–20 years), were the Philistines held to their traditional borders. Throughout most of Israel’s history (and all of her early history), there was enmity between Israel and Philistia. When Samuel was the undisputed spiritual leader of Israel, the Philistines were held back by God. However, Samuel, had relinquished some of his responsibilities to his integrity-challenged sons. He was about to hand over the primary authority over Israel to Saul. So, although Samuel has a place and function still within Israel, he is no longer Israel’s primary leader. The spiritual temperature of a people goes hand-in-hand with God’s blessing which goes hand-in-hand with their leadership. These people went from a spiritual high of 1Sam. 7:3–8, to demanding from Samuel that he appoint a king over them, which indicates that the nation as a whole lost this spiritual growth. What we should expect is that with Israel’s spiritual slide downward should come pressures from without along with substandard leadership. We don’t know if this pillar of Philistines had been long-established and dormant or whether it was a recently established presence. At the time of the writing of 1Sam. 7, when Samuel was the foremost spiritual and political leader, there was an established peace and the Philistines did not acquire additional footholds in Israel and they lost the territory which they had taken. This does not necessarily mean that they had no presence whatsoever in Israel nor does the passage in 1Sam. 7 mean that Israel never had any trouble with the Philistines again. We are simply looking at this from the perspective of the writer of that time. Also, what may be helpful to you is to look upon these Philistine guards (or pillar) as a consulate or an embassy. There was a military presence there; but we have a similar small military presence at some of our embassies. Despite the fact that the Philistines had been pushed back to their borders does not mean that there were no Philistines elsewhere in Israel nor does it mean that they did not make later inroads into Israel. What 1Sam. 7:13–14a tells us is, at the time that Samuel recorded this, the Philistines had been soundly defeated and they were no longer sending military expeditions into Israel to burn down cities or to take more territory. That situation did not last forever.

Let me suggest a scenario which is going to put a much different slant on this passage and especially on 1Sam. 13:1–4: it is possible that this pillar of Philistine simply refers to a group of Philistines who lived in this area. The Philistines obviously made great inroads into the Palestine area; and, although their military was soundly defeated and pushed back, this does not necessarily mean that every pocket of Philistines moved back to Philistia. In our country, particularly in the early and mid-20^th century, we had pockets of racial groups who lived together in the same town. Most major cities had a little Italy or a Chinatown. Given the animosity between the Jews and the Philistines, we would expect those Philistines who lived outside of their particular coastal area would have gathered together in groups, particularly after their military had been defeated. This would seem reasonable, except that we have studied the Doctrine of N^etsîyb, which would make this usage unlikely. That is, we do not simply have occupants or foreign workers or a little Philistia here; we have guards or soldiers or officers.

Now, the analogies which I see drawn by various teachers of the Word (and I mean that in the loosest form of the word), are often lame and distract from the meaning of the passage; therefore, I am often loathe to offer one of my own; however, here the Israelites are occupied to some degree by their enemies, the Philistines. It is important to recognize that, in this world, we are going to be in close proximity with our mortal enemies. We will have those who are inspired by Satan attacking us from close range. If you do not have this in your life, then you are lacking. We rarely go through this life without a great many obstacles and attacks; and, some of the greatest attacks will come from within—i.e., from other believers.