20 As to the asses which are lost to thee this day three days, set not thy heart to them, for they have been found; and to whom `is' all the desire of Israel?' is it not to thee and to all thy father's house?'
and say unto him, `Lo, thou hast become aged, and thy sons have not walked in thy ways; now, appoint to us a king, to judge us, like all the nations.'
And, now, lo, the king whom ye have chosen -- whom ye have asked! and lo, Jehovah hath placed over you a king.
And at the time of her death, when the women who are standing by her say, `Fear not, for a son thou hast borne,' she hath not answered, nor set her heart `to it';
And the people refuse to hearken to the voice of Samuel, and say, `Nay, but a king is over us,
`And again, because of my delighting in the house of my God, the substance I have -- a peculiar treasure of gold and silver -- I have given for the house of my God, even over and above all I have prepared for the house of the sanctuary:
Trust not in oppression, And in robbery become not vain, Wealth -- when it increaseth -- set not the heart.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Samuel 9
Commentary on 1 Samuel 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
Samuel had promised Israel, from God, that they should have a king; it is strange that the next news is not of candidates setting up for the government, making an interest in the people, or recommending themselves to Samuel, and, by him, to God, to be put in nomination. Why does not the prince of the tribe of Judah, whoever he is, look about him now, remembering Jacob's entail of the sceptre on that tribe? Is there never a bold aspiring man in Israel, to say, "I will be king, if God will choose me?' No, none appears, whether it is owing to a culpable mean-spiritedness or a laudable humility I know not; but surely it is what can scarcely be paralleled in the history of any kingdom; a crown, such a crown, set up, and nobody bids for it. Most governments began in the ambition of the prince to rule, but Israel's in the ambition of the people to be ruled. Had any of those elders who petitioned for a king afterwards petitioned to be king, I should have suspected that person's ambition to have been at the bottom of the motion; but now (let them have the praise of what was good in them) it was not so. God having, in the law, undertaken to choose their king (Deu. 17:15), they all sit still, till they hear from heaven, and that they do in this chapter, which begins the story of Saul, their first king, and, by strange steps of Providence, brings him to Samuel to be anointed privately, and so to be prepared for an election by lot, and a public commendation to the people, which follows in the next chapter. Here is,
1Sa 9:1-2
We are here told,
1Sa 9:3-10
Here is,
1Sa 9:11-17
Here,
1Sa 9:18-27
Providence having at length brought Samuel and Saul together, we have here an account of what passed between them in the gate, at the feast, and in private.