How does Saul’s search for his father’s lost asses lead him to Samuel?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

After an unsuccessful search, Saul suggests returning, but his servant proposes consulting a famous man of God and offers a fourth of a silver sicle as a gift. They go to the city, receive directions and meet Samuel, whom the Lord has already told to expect a man from Benjamin.

Chapter breakdown

Cis is a valiant, strong man of Benjamin, son of Abiel, son of Seror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphia, son of a man of Jemini. His son Saul is choice and goodly, with no goodlier person among Israel’s children; from his shoulders upward he stands above all the people. Cis’s asses are lost, and he sends Saul to seek them with one servant. They pass through Mount Ephraim and Salisa without finding them, then Salim and Jemini with the same result. In Suph Saul proposes returning lest his father forget the asses and become concerned for them. The servant says a famous man of God is in the city, whose words certainly come to pass, and suggests going to him: perhaps he can tell them their way. Saul agrees to go but asks what to bring, since their bread is gone and they have no present or anything else. The servant has a fourth part of a silver sicle and proposes giving it to learn their way. The account explains that in earlier Israel one consulting God spoke of going to the seer; the person now called prophet was formerly called seer. Challoner separately explains seer as one seeing hidden things and things to come by divine light. Saul approves the servant’s word, and they go into the man of God’s city.

On the ascent to the city they meet maids coming to draw water and ask whether the seer is there. The maids say he is before them and urge haste: he came that day for the people’s sacrifice in the high place. They will find him immediately on entering, before he goes up to eat. The people wait for him because he blesses the victim, after which the invited guests eat. They again urge going up to find him that day. Saul and his servant enter and, walking in the city, meet Samuel coming toward them to go up to the high place. Challoner separately says the law allowed sacrifices only at the tabernacle or temple holding the ark, but Samuel offered elsewhere by divine dispensation. He says a reason may be alleged: Silo’s house lost the ark and was cast off, as a figure of the Jews’ rejection, citing Psalm 77:60,67; Cariathiarim, where the ark was, had neither tabernacle nor altar. The same note explains excelsum and excelsa as worship places with sacrificial altars, sometimes serving the true God, as here, but more often idols. It says high places is a common, perhaps not fully accurate translation: they were not always hills, since Topheth or Geennom, the worst example, was a valley, citing Jeremias 19. The name refers instead to high altars and pillars or monuments carrying idols or deity images. The proposed reason and translation qualification remain the note’s own.

The day before Saul’s arrival the Lord tells Samuel that about the same hour next day he will send a man from Benjamin. Samuel must anoint him ruler over Israel to save the people from the Philistines, because the Lord has looked on his people and their cry has reached him. When Samuel sees Saul, the Lord identifies him as that man who will reign. Saul approaches Samuel in the gate and asks where the seer’s house is. Samuel identifies himself, tells Saul to go before him to the high place to eat together that day, promises to let him go in the morning and tell him all in his heart. The asses lost three days earlier are found, so Saul need not be concerned. Samuel asks whether all Israel’s best things will be for Saul and his father’s whole house. Saul asks why Samuel says this, since he is a son of Jemini of Israel’s least tribe and his kindred is last among Benjamin’s families.

Samuel brings Saul and his servant into the parlour and seats them at the head of about thirty invited men. He tells the cook to bring the portion he had given him and ordered set aside. The cook sets the shoulder before Saul. Samuel tells him to eat what was kept for him when the people were invited, and Saul eats with Samuel that day. They descend to the town, where Samuel speaks to Saul on the housetop, prepares him a bed there and Saul sleeps. In the morning, as light begins, Samuel calls him to rise so he may let him go. Saul rises and goes out with Samuel. As they descend at the city’s end, Samuel tells Saul to have the servant go before and pass on, while Saul stands a while to hear the Lord’s word.

The story inside

The search moves through named regions before Saul proposes returning for his father’s sake. The servant’s proposal and available silver change their course toward consultation. The maids supply timing tied to the blessing of the victim and meal, and the travelers meet Samuel. The account then gives the Lord’s earlier revelation and identification of Saul. Samuel’s answer resolves the lost-asses concern and raises a question about Israel’s best things, to which Saul replies with his family’s standing. The reserved meal portion and roof lodging follow. The chapter ends with the servant directed ahead and Saul told to stand and hear the Lord’s word, before narrating that next message.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The change of course follows an exchange. Saul first proposes returning; the servant suggests consultation, Saul asks about a gift and the servant names his quarter-sicle. Neither a required payment nor poverty is stated.
2
The Lord’s instruction includes a reason. A Benjaminite is to be anointed to save Israel from the Philistines because the people’s cry has reached the Lord. The day-before timing and later identification remain distinct.
3
The commentary keeps its qualifications. Challoner offers a possible reason for sacrifice elsewhere and questions the precision of high places as a translation. The long note’s names, references and valley example belong to his explanation, not the narrated meeting.

Test your recall

Why does Saul first propose returning, what allows consultation to go ahead, and how do the directions, earlier revelation and reserved portion lead to Samuel’s final instruction?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 28919–28965
1 Kings Chapter 9 Saul seeking his father’s asses, cometh to Samuel, by whom he is entertained. 9:1. Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Cis, the son of Abiel, the son of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a man of Jemini, valiant and strong. 9:2. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all the people. 9:3. And the asses of Cis, Saul’s father, were lost: and Cis said to his son Saul: Take one of the servants with thee, and arise, go, and seek the asses. And when they had passed through Mount Ephraim, 9:4. And through the land of Salisa, and had not found them, they passed also through the land of Salim, and they were not there: and through the land of Jemini, and found them not. 9:5. And when they were come to the land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: Come, let us return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses, and be concerned for us. 9:6. And he said to him: Behold there is a man of God in this city, a famous man: all that he saith, cometh certainly to pass. Now, therefore, let us go thither, perhaps he may tell us of our way, for which we are come. 9:7. And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go: but what shall we carry to the man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor any thing at all. 9:8. The servant answered Saul again, and said: Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a sicle of silver, let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way. 9:9. Now in time past in Israel, when a man went to consult God, he spoke thus: Come, let us go to the seer. For he that is now called a prophet, in time past was called a seer. Seer.... Because of his seeing by divine light hidden things and things to come. 9:10. And Saul said to his servant: Thy word is very good, come let us go. And they went into the city, where the man of God was.
Lines 28967–29000
9:11. And when they went up the ascent to the city, they found maids coming out to draw water, and they said to them: Is the seer here? 9:12. They answered and said to them: He is: behold he is before you, make haste now: for he came to day into the city, for there is a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place. A sacrifice.... The law did not allow of sacrifices in any other place, but at the tabernacle, or temple, in which the ark of the covenant was kept; but Samuel, by divine dispensation, offered sacrifices in other places. For which dispensation this reason may be alleged, that the house of God in Silo, having lost the ark, was now cast off; as a figure of the reprobation of the Jews, Ps. 77.60, 67. And in Cariathiarim where the ark was, there was neither tabernacle, nor altar.—Ibid. The high place.... Excelsum. The excelsa, or high places, so often mentioned in scripture, were places of worship, in which were altars for sacrifice. These were sometimes employed in the service of the true God, as in the present case: but more frequently in the service of idols; and were called excelsa, which is commonly (though perhaps not so accurately) rendered high places; not because they were always upon hills, for the very worst of all, which was that of Topheth, or Geennom, (Jer. 19.) was in a valley; but because of the high altars, and pillars, or monuments, erected there, on which were set up the idols, or images of their deities. 9:13. As soon as you come into the city, you shall immediately find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat till he come; because he blesseth the victim, and afterwards they eat that are invited. Now, therefore, go up, for to day you shall find him. 9:14. And they went up into the city. And when they were walking in the midst of the city, behold Samuel was coming out over against them, to go up to the high place.
Lines 29002–29027
9:15. Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: 9:16. To morrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel: and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon my people, because their cry is come to me. 9:17. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: Behold the man, of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over my people. 9:18. And Saul came to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and said: Tell me, I pray thee, where is the house of the seer? 9:19. And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the seer; go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me to day, and I will let thee go in the morning: and tell thee all that is in thy heart. 9:20. And as for the asses, which were lost three days ago, be not solicitous, because they are found. And for whom shall be all the best things of Israel? Shall they not be for thee and for all thy father’s house? 9:21. And Saul answering, said: Am not I a son of Jemini of the least tribe of Israel, and my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then hast thou spoken this word to me?
Lines 29029–29054
9:22. Then Samuel taking Saul, and his servant, brought them into the parlour, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited. For there were about thirty men. 9:23. And Samuel said to the cook: Bring the portion which I gave thee, and commanded thee to set it apart by thee. 9:24. And the cook took up the shoulder, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: Behold what is left, set it before thee, and eat; because it was kept of purpose for thee, when I invited the people. And Saul ate with Samuel that day. 9:25. And they went down from the high place into the town, and he spoke with Saul upon the top of the house: and he prepared a bed for Saul on the top of the house and he slept. 9:26. And when they were risen in the morning, and it began now to be light, Samuel called Saul on the top of the house, saying: Arise, that I may let thee go. And Saul arose: and they went out both of them: to wit, he and Samuel. 9:27. And as they were going down in the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul: Speak to the servant to go before us, and pass on: but stand thou still a while, that I may tell thee the word of the Lord.