CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1 Samuel 19:20. “Prophets.” “It is to be noted that we have here prophets who in inspired discourse give forth their inner life, filled with the Holy Ghost, not sons of the prophets as in 2 Kings 4:38, etc., who as scholars and learners sit at the feet of their master and teacher. The prophetic community here, therefore, under Samuel as head, is not yet a prophetic school to educate young men for the prophetic calling, but is a prophetic seminary in which, under Samuel’s guidance, in an externally strictly ordered, yet internally free association, the prophetic powers are practised and strengthened, mutually incite, nourish, and further one another, and the prophetic charisma finds ever new nourishment and new growth by this common holy discipline.” (Erdmann.) See also notes on Chap. 10 “They also prophesied.” “The condition of Saul’s messengers is that of ecstatic ravishment, into which they were brought by the overpowering might of the inspired song, or word of the prophets.” (Erdmann.)
1 Samuel 19:22. “A great well,” etc. Rather, “The great cistern,” some well-known spot in a locality now unknown.
1 Samuel 19:23. “Prophesied until he came,” etc. “The difference between Saul and his messengers was simply that the inspiration came on him as he was approaching the residence of the prophet, and that it attained a higher grade, and lasted longer, completely suppressing his self-consciousness.” (Erdmann.)
1 Samuel 19:24. “Lay naked,” i.e., divested of his robe or upper garment. “The throwing off of the clothing was the effect of the heat of the body produced by internal excitement.” (Erdmann.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 19:20-24
SAUL AMONG THE PROPHETS
I. Institutions for the study of the oracles of God are the outcome of human need. Each individual man is a creature of manifold needs. Being a compound of matter and mind, possessing a material and a spiritual nature, he has many wants—bodily wants, intellectual wants, and moral wants. There is a wide field open, therefore, to those who devote their lives to ministering to his wants. They may make it their business to feed or clothe his body, and in doing so their special object is to supply that material which shall be best adapted for the purpose; or they may make bodily health the object of their aim, and spend their lives in studying how to promote or restore it. Others study man’s intellectual needs, and endeavour to find out how best to develop his mental powers, or to satisfy his mental appetites. But man is more than body and intellect, he is also conscience, and unless he finds satisfaction for this moral part of his being, he goes through life with his deepest need unsatisfied. It is only natural therefore that some men should feel called upon to devote their lives and energies to endeavouring to show their fellow creatures how this deepest and most pressing of all their many needs can be met. And as there are institutions whose object it is to fit men to be useful to others in respect of their bodily and intellectual wants, it seems fit and proper that there should be similar institutions calculated to render men more fit to deal with the moral wants of their fellows. If there are schools for the training of bodily healers, and for those who are to educate the intellectual part of man, there ought surely to be schools for those who desire to be instrumental in healing and in training his moral nature. Such institutions seem to be the natural outcome of human need. The one object of study in such communities is, of course, the only book which can meet man’s spiritual wants—that book which contains a revelation of the Divine will and purpose concerning him. Other things are studied, but all tending to the one end, that of throwing light upon the Divine oracles. As the schools of the prophets found in Israel were born of the human needs of that earlier day, so our modern religious training institutions are the outcome of a felt present need. And although they differ greatly in many respects they agree in having for their aim the study of the Word of God, and the diffusion of its truths among mankind, so that the needs of each soul may be met.
II. Such institutions ought to be places in which the operation of the Spirit of God is very manifest. Men who have to deal with this greatest need of fallen humanity have to encounter obstacles which are not met with by those who seek to supply the needs of man’s lower nature. Men are willing and eager to satisfy their bodily appetites, and to be healed of their bodily diseases, and many are glad to obtain food and training for their minds, but the majority of men are indifferent as to their spiritual needs and turn with aversion from any effort made to heal their moral diseases. Hence those who essay to labour for this end must be aided by a power which is more than human, even by that power of the spirit of God which is mighty in convincing of sin and in healing the sinner. Every prophet of God, in whatever age he lives, must be able, in some degree, to adopt the words of the greatest and the Divine Prophet when He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). Without this mighty reinforcement he will not prevail against the natural opposition of the human heart to God and goodness. This mighty spirit evidently rested in a special and remarkable manner upon the school of the prophets over which Samuel presided, it worked in and through the first New Testament prophets in a similar manner, and without the influence of that same Divine Person no man, however richly he may be endowed in other respects, can be instrumental in communicating spiritual life to others. While, therefore, all godly men in all ages need and possess the help of the spirit of God, the sons of the prophets need His help in a special manner, and there is every reason for them to expect to receive it if the conditions for its reception be fulfilled.
III. Men may be wrought upon by the Spirit of God without becoming morally better. This was not the first time that Saul had been found among the prophets, and had been the subject of that supernatural influence which was present with them. On the first occasion it seems likely that he was a willing subject of this Divine influence, and that he gladly yielded himself to its power. That first endowment was probably an earnest of what might have been bestowed on him had he continued willing to be guided by the Holy Ghost. He would then have been from time to time favoured with these special manifestations of the Divine presence in such a way as would have enlightened his spiritual understanding, and altogether exalted his moral nature and made him more and more fit to be the representative of God to the people of Israel. But such had not been the case, and this last exercise of the Spirit of God upon him seems to have been at least without the consent of his will and possibly against it. It has rather the aspect of a visitation of Divine judgment than of Divine favour, and is a solemn illustration of the truth that even this great gift of the Father of Lights may be bestowed in a certain form and degree, without its receiver becoming a renewed man. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 19:20-21. By these “prophesyings” we are not to understand, as we are already aware, a foretelling of future things, but a pouring forth of the heart under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, in lively songs of praise of God, and of His wonderful works. With anointed lips, and with an animated oratory, they praised the mighty deeds through which Jehovah had from of old made Himself glorious to His people. In responsive chorus they sang—with the harmonious accompaniment of harps, flutes, cymbals, and trumpets—sacred songs to the honour of God, and called down in earnest prayers upon themselves and all the people the blessings of the Almighty, and the fire-streams of His Spirit. From time to time it pleased God, in the days of the Old Covenant, to bring into prominence the exalted life of His own children in contrast with the children of this world, abandoned by the Spirit, and unable to rise above the earth, in so unmistakable and overpowering a manner, that in view of it even the most blinded among the people might gain some apprehension of the depth to which they had fallen from the elevated height of their former calling. At the same time, from these inspired ones there went forth among the people a light to show in what sense the Lord, by the coming of the Messiah—for whom they were then waiting—would create a “new thing in the earth,” and what was meant by the regeneration and purifying of the world, which would be brought about by the advent of the Messiah.… Even among the roughest and wildest spirits in Israel, the religious feeling was in only a few instances so completely dead that it could not be kindled up out of its ashes, although only temporarily, when touched by the right spark. There are even at the present day, in our own fatherland, districts of the Church where almost a similar thing may be said of those who belong to it. In times of great spiritual awakening, or even of only solemn Church festivals, one sees persons who, on account of their spiritual dulness and their thorough worldliness of character, were believed to be incapable of being lifted up into the kingdom of God, suddenly glow with devotion and with zeal for the service of God when brought into fellowship with believers. This sudden religious elevation to which they are thus drawn along with them, shows itself, as a rule, to be by no means steadfast and enduring. But they also “prophesy” a while with the congregation of the saints, and perhaps even rise higher than many of them, in the heat and enthusiasm of their religious profession. It not seldom happens even that they who are only passing travellers, when they breathe the air of such a district, feel themselves, before they are aware of it, deeply interested in religious and ecclesiastical matters. Moreover, the religious elevation of mind on the part of the royal messengers at Naioth may be attributed partly to the appearance of the aged Samuel, the man of God, known and highly venerated throughout the whole land. It is enough that at that time they could not venture on any account to rush with violence into the midst of of the solemn scenes to which they had come. How could they by any possibility lay hands on him whom Saul hated in so unrighteous a manner, and who was so visibly under the protecting care of God,—the young hero by the side of Samuel?—Krummacher.
1 Samuel 19:24. Mark here, how men who are themselves godless observe and criticise the characters of those who join themselves with the people of God. “Is Saul also among the prophets?” said the wits of Israel, when they heard of what occurred at Naioth. Now this might have been as honourable to Saul, as it came to be dishonourable to him, if only he had in his after history proved himself sincerely resolved to do the will of God. Thus, when we say of another Saul, “Is Paul also among the apostles?” we mean no reproach to the man of Tarsus, but only desire thereby to magnify the riches of divine grace, which transformed him from a persecutor of the Church into a preacher of the Gospel; and had this occasion been the turning-point in the history of the King of Israel, as the prostration at Damascus was the crisis in the life of the Christian apostle, the proverb before us would have been one of honour, and not of disgrace. Unhappily, however, by his after conduct Saul gave occasion to men to speak of his insincerity and wickedness, and so, “Saul among the prophets” is, even yet, jeeringly said by us, when we mean to indicate that a godless, Christless man has found his way into the membership or ministry of the Church. Now this proverb, thus understood, is two-edged. It speaks to those who are as yet outside of the Church, and says to them, “If you are not really and truly Christ’s; if you do not love the Lord and desire to serve him, then do not seek to enter the Church.” But it speaks also to those who are within, and says to them, “If in your hearts you are conscious that you are none of Christ’s, and if in your conduct you are dishonouring his name, then go out from the Church. It is not for such as you; and your continuance in it will only make men say, ‘Is Saul among the prophets?’ They who have named the name of Christ should depart from iniquity.”—Dr. W. M. Taylor.
In reviewing the narrative over which we have come, we are impressed with the proof, which is here furnished, of the diversified resources which Jehovah has at command for the protection of His people. Again and again Saul attempts to take David’s life, but always without success; and each time the means by which David was delivered are different. At first he is defended by God’s blessing on his own valour against the Philistines; then he is indebted for his safety to the mediation of Jonathan; then to the agency of Michal; and finally to the miraculous work of God’s own Holy Spirit. In the subsequent portion of the history, we shall find that the same principle holds, and that in each new peril he is preserved by some new instrumentality. When God purposes to protect a man, He is at no loss for the means of carrying out His design. He may find them in what seems to us mortals the most unexpected places, and they may work in what appears to us to be a very strange—it may be, also, a very sinful manner; yet the purpose is accomplished, while yet the liberty of the different agents is not infringed.—Dr. W. M. Taylor.
1 Samuel 19:24. In connection with chap 1 Samuel 10:11. There has been some moment, some one fleeting moment, in the life of every man, even the most thoughtless, when he has had dreams of better things, when he has heard the voices of the prophets coming with their harp and their tabret down the hill, when he has joined their company and caught their strains. There may have been a time when it has been said of him, “What! is he too among the prophets?” Has he found that life is real.… That hour, that moment, was the hour, the moment of thy life, friend and brother. To that God would raise, assimilate the whole of it. Oh! do not let the sluggish turbid current of your ordinary days seem to you that which truly represent to you what you are, what you are able to be.… but if you should have succeeded in quenching that voice of love which you once heard speaking in your heart, and now can hear nothing but hoarse and dissonant voices of evil omen,—oh yet be sure that the spirit of God does not desert the work of His own hands, that He is still hovering about the habitation in which He desires to dwell. And if, when you meet with old friends from whom you have been long estranged, there should come back something of the youthful impulse, some of those heart yearnings and songs of hope you poured forth then, though mixed with turbulence and confusion, and hardly to be distinguished from madness, yet the question may be asked again, “Is he too among the prophets?” and it is a God will answer the question as it was not answered before, if you desire not the power of the prophets, but their obedience, not that you may speak inspired words, but that you may have the humble and contrite heart which He does not despise.—Maurice.