Samuel Indicates Certain Signs That Saul Will Receive That Will Demonstrate That It Is As He Has Said (1 Samuel 10:2-8).
Matters were not just to be left there. A deliberately private anointing having taken place it was now necessary for Saul to be assured that God was with him and that Samuel's assurances could be accepted as being from Him. Samuel was aware of how huge a step this was for the young man Saul. It was one thing to have come of military stock. It was another to be appointed commander-in-chief over all the hosts of Israel, especially at so early an age, and to be able to call on them at need.
Thus prior to his appointment being confirmed before all Israel, it was necessary that Saul himself have his confidence boosted. And even then he would be overwhelmed at the thought of what was to happen to him (1 Samuel 10:22). He was still only a young man.
The assurances given to him are briefly as follows:
1). He will learn that Samuel's supernatural knowledge about the finding of the lost asses was true (1 Samuel 9:20), and this is backed up by a further supernatural revelation of where he will meet his informants (1 Samuel 10:2).
2). He will be met by men who are going to a high place who will provide him and his servant with necessary provisions, demonstrating that God is able to meet his needs at all times, and to feed His people, and that he must therefore look always to YHWH's provision (1 Samuel 10:3-4).
3). He will meet up with the band of prophets and will at that stage become another man because the Spirit of YHWH will come mightily on him. And he will himself prophesy revealing to all that the Spirit of YHWH is with him, thereby demonstrating to the spiritual in Israel that he is truly God's man (1 Samuel 10:5-6).
“ When you have departed from me today, then you will come across two men by Rachel's sepulchre, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The asses which you went to look for are found, and, lo, your father has ceased caring for the asses, and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do for my son?” '
The first sign that is given to Saul in order to confirm what Samuel has told him, will be that he will learn about the recovery of the lost asses, (a recovery which Samuel has already miraculously told him about - 1 Samuel 9:20), from two men whom he will find by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. The site of Zelzah is unknown. Rachel's sepulchre was somewhere on the road from Bethel to Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19) which passed through Benjamin's territory. They will also inform him that his father has now become worried about him. ‘Two men' represent a true witness.
The reference to Rachel's sepulchre may have in mind a tradition that Rachel wept for her people when they were in trouble (see Jeremiah 31:15). They were certainly in trouble now with a Philistine invasion in progress (1 Samuel 9:16). To learn near Rachel's sepulchre that the lost asses had been found would be an encouragement concerning the greater problem.
(If the city they had visited was Ramah, and if the sepulchre of Rachel was the one pointed out by us to today, this would have involved Saul and his servant in going a long way out of their way. However neither of the above facts are certain. There is in fact no indication that the city was Ramah).
“ Then shall you go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor, and there will meet you there three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine, and they will salute you, and give you two loaves of bread, which you will receive from their hand.”
The second sign will be that at the oak of Tabor he will be met by three men going up to God to Beth-el (or ‘to the house of God'), one carrying three kids (presumably for sacrifice), and another carrying three loaves of bread. The third will be carrying wine. These men will greet Saul and his servant and will give them two loaves of bread, presumably after chatting with them and discovering that they are short of food, which they are to accept. To ‘salute' a man on the way meant to stop and talk together, and often share food together. Compare how Jesus told his disciples to salute no one on the way because they were in a hurry (Luke 10:4). He was not saying in that case do not even acknowledge them.
This reception of necessary provisions in this way would be an indication for Saul in the future that God could provide all that he needed, and that his eyes must therefore be continually on YHWH.
‘ After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is, and it will come about that when you are come there, to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them, and they will be prophesying,”
After that they would come to the hill (gib‘eah) of God ‘where the garrison of the Philistines is'. This need not mean that the Philistine soldiers were still there. It may simply have been a local landmark called ‘the garrison of the Philistines' because they had once had a garrison there. But see 1 Chronicles 11:16 where the Philistines did have an actual garrison in that vicinity. That could, however, simply indicate that they had by then reoccupied it. On the other hand we do in fact know from 1 Samuel 9:16 that there had recently been a Philistine incursion so that it is possible that there was an actual occupied garrison there. The point to bear in mind is that a peaceful gathering of Israel at Mizpah (1 Samuel 10:17) would have been very unlikely if the Philistines had been in the vicinity in any force. In that situation Gilgal would have been a better choice. Thus the question is an open one.
On arrival at the neighbouring city (possibly the Gibeah of Benjamin (Judges 19; Judges 20; 1 Samuel 13:2) which was Saul's home and headquarters - 1 Samuel 10:26; 1 Samuel 11:4) they will be met by a band of prophets coming down from the high place, playing music, singing and prophesying (praising God under inspiration, compare 1 Chronicles 11:16). This would suggest that they had been taking part in festal activities.
The psaltery and harp were stringed instruments, the pipes a kind of flute, and the timbrel possibly a hand drum or tambourine.
“ And the Spirit of YHWH will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be turned into another man.”
And then the Spirit of YHWH would come mightily on Saul, and he too would prophesy and would be turned into another man. The purpose of the Spirit of YHWH coming mightily on a man has been especially brought out in the book of Judges 15:14; compare Judges 3:10; Judges 6:34; Judges 11:29. It was in order that he might ‘judge' and deliver God's people. Thus this indicates that Saul was to become the instrument of the Spirit of YHWH in deliverance, and had he remained faithful to God, or had he learned to repent like David did, he would have been wholly successful.
“And will be turned into another man.” That is one who is given the power to accomplish the purpose that YHWH has for him, an inspired leader of men.
“ And let it be, when these signs are come to you, that you do as occasion shall serve you, for God is with you.”
Then once all these signs have come to him he has to hold himself in readiness for doing whatever God requires of him. ‘Do as occasion shall serve you' (literally ‘do what your hand shall find') signifies seizing the opportunities that God offers when they come.
“ And you shall go down before me to Gilgal, and, behold, I will come down unto you, to offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings. Seven days shall you tarry, till I come to you, and show you what you will do.”
Once the signs had been fulfilled Saul was to go down before Samuel to Gilgal. Gilgal was one of Samuel's three main venues (1 Samuel 7:16) and furthest from the Philistine menace, being in the Jordan rift valley (the Arabah). Samuel seems regularly to have offered sacrifices there. Saul was to go down to the Sanctuary there and wait before God for seven days, possibly partaking in a seven day festival of worship and praise following the pattern of the regular feasts (compare 1 Samuel 9:13). This suggests that Gilgal was seen as the equivalent in those times of the old Tabernacle, as the place where Israel were to meet for their regular feasts. Then at the end Samuel would come to him and show him what he had to do.
There is nothing here to suggest that Samuel sees this as something to be delayed. It is totally out of place if it is seen as directly referring to 1 Samuel 13:18 for too much intervenes. The impression that we are given here was that Saul was to do it fairly promptly. It is not unusual in Scripture for a command to be given and the assumption then made that it has been fulfilled without mentioning it in detail. Thus when we learn that ‘he came to the high place' in 1 Samuel 10:13 that may be intended to indicate his immediate fulfilment of this command. Note how this is then followed by the casting of lots at Mizpah, which is followed by the deliverance from the Ammonites, which is followed by a visit to Gilgal for the renewal of the kingship. It would therefore appear strange if this clear command had not been fulfilled before then.
It seems very probable therefore that the writer, knowing what he is going to say in 13:18, introduces this statement knowing that it was fulfilled earlier, while wanting readers also to connect it with 1 Samuel 13:18, and to recognise that this was to be Saul's regular approach when seeking the mind of YHWH about his planned actions. It may well be therefore that 1 Samuel 10:13 is to be intended as indicating that that was when it was initially fulfilled without over-emphasising the fact.
It would seem from this verse that Samuel regularly required Saul to experience a similar seven days of waiting on God before he gave him God's instructions, having the aim in mind of keeping Saul's heart set firmly on YHWH. The point is that Saul is not to see himself as his own master but very much as the appointed servant of YHWH. Thus 1 Samuel 13:18 gives us one instance of when he does this. In other words Samuel wanted Saul continually to recognise that he must wait before God prior to the coming to him of the prophetic word which would give him final instructions. In order to receive that word his heart must be in readiness to receive it. Samuel was doing his best to keep Saul on the right track. Israel had two annual seven day feasts, the feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles. But no mention is made of those feasts in connection with this command to Saul, and Samuel would have been present at those from the beginning. Thus Samuel's point may have been that whenever the tribes were assembled for battle the same procedures had to be followed as at the feasts, seven days of sacrificing and waiting on God, after which he would always come to them to reveal the mind of YHWH. That is why when Saul did not wait it was so unforgivable. He had over-ridden YHWH.
We may certainly see that the regular feasts did provide Saul with a pattern as to what he should do during the seven days of waiting. But this seven day wait was to be a time of preparation of heart. Naturally to a war-leader such waiting could be a bit of a trial. But to Samuel it was important, because it ensured that the war-leader recognised his responsibility to look in faith to YHWH and that in the end the glory was to go to YHWH.