Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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1 Samuel
Book: 1 Samuel
Chapter: 10
Overview:
Samuel anoints
Saul.
(1-8) Saul prophesies.
(9-16) Saul Chosen
King.
(17-27)
1-8 The sacred anointing, then used, pointed at the great
Messiah, or Anointed One, the
King of the
Church, and High
Priest of our profession, who was anointed with the
Oil of the
Spirit, not
By Measure, but without
Measure, and above all the
priests and princes of the Jewish
Church. For
Saul's further
satisfaction,
Samuel gives him some signs which should come to
pass the same
Day. The first place he directs him to, was the
Sepulchre of one of his ancestors; there he must be reminded of
his own mortality, and now that he had a
Crown before him, must
think of his
Grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the
Dust. From the time of
Samuel there appears to have been
schools, or places where pious young men were brought up in the
knowledge of Divine things.
Saul should find himself strongly
moved to join with them, and should be turned into another
Man
from what he had been. The
Spirit of
God changes men,
wonderfully transforms them.
Saul,
By praising
God in the
Communion of saints, became another
Man, but it may be
questioned if he became a new
Man.
9-16 The signs
Samuel had given
Saul, came to pass punctually;
he found that
God had given him another
Heart, another
disposition of mind. Yet let not an outward show of devotion,
and a sudden change for the present, be too much relied
On;
Saul
among the prophets was
Saul still. His being anointed was kept
private. He leaves it to
God to carry
On his own work
By Samuel,
and sits still, to see how the matter will fall.
17-27 Samuel tells the people, Ye have this
Day rejected your
God.
So little fond was
Saul now of that power, which soon
after, when he possessed it, he could not think of parting with,
that he hid himself. It is good to be conscious of our
unworthiness and insufficiency for the services to which we are
called; but men should not go into the contrary extreme,
By
refusing the employments to which the
Lord and the
Church Call
them. The greater part of the people treated the matter with
indifference.
Saul modestly went home to his own
House, but was
attended
By a band of men whose hearts
God disposed to support
his authority. If the
Heart bend at any time the right way, it
is because He has touched it. One touch is enough when it is
Divine. Others despised him. Thus differently are men affected
to our exalted
Redeemer. There is a remnant who submit to him,
and follow him wherever he goes; they are those whose hearts
God
has touched, whom he has made willing. But there are others who
despise him, who ask, How shall this
Man save us? They are
offended in him, and they will be punished.