The Story Of Saul

Hi! and happy weekend to all of us, GUYS.  For our "food for  the soul" this Saturday:

"There was a man from the tribe of Benjamin whose name was Kish.  He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a valiant Benjaminite.

Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on Saul's head.  And kissing Saul, Samuel said, 'YAHWEH has anointed you to rule over and to lead HIS people Israel.  And this will be YAHWEH's sign to you that HE has anointed you." - 1 Samuel 9:1-10:1 

(Here the story of Saul's vocation begins.  Saul sets out to look for his father's mules and, on the way, encounters something he did not expect.

The young Saul, just like many other Israelites, goes to Samuel.  For them the prophet is a seer, a diviner, and they go to him for a solution to their economic problems.  We should not find this strange.  For centuries, those who were addicted to the science of the stars also attended consultations concerning the future.  Reading horoscopes was their way of earning a living.  Science later departed from those practices.

In the same way in the early history  of Israel, the prophet hardly seems different from a soothsayer, an astrologist and others who claim to know what ordinary folk cannot know; people come to consult them as does Saul for any trouble they have.  But soon prophetism  in Israel will find its own way; the prophet will be the one who calls people to conversion.  When this chapter was written, the passage was already made and the verse makes it clear that if before, people spoke of "seer", they now speak of "prophet".

Samuel anoints Saul with anointing oil.)

King Saul