After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where are the outposts of the Philistines; and it shall come to pass, when thou comest thither, into the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with lute and tambour and pipe and harp before them; and they themselves prophesying.
Samuel's third sign sent Saul to Gibeath-elohim, the hill of God. Philistine troops held the place, and a band of prophets came down from it with music. The sign showed the new king two things at once: Israel's shameful weakness, and God's power still at work despite it.
The location itself was the message. Philistine troops sat on the very ground where God's power should have ruled.
The hill of God is the seat of the sovereignty and power of God in grace, where the Philistines (Satan's power) were. Yet we see a company of prophets — the Spirit acts in power despite the Philistines — a small remnant who praised the God of Bethel. So if there had been even a little faith, Saul could have known the thoughts of God. He was God's anointed, the one chosen to lead and deliver the people (1 Samuel 9:16). He might well have driven away the Philistines who were in the land of God. The Philistines are always the enemies in the land; the others are outside; these are in the land of God. The worst enemies of the church are those who are within.
The scene did not hide Israel's condition from Saul, and it was not meant to. Faith looks at the real state of things and still praises.
No doubt the state of Israel was dreadful. The people were terrified by their Philistine masters. But what of that, if faith was at work? Circumstances should never frighten the believer... To faith, the worst of times only calls us the more to make melody to Him. These prophets did not lack the testimony of joy and praise. Yet God would still have His people confess their real circumstances. It is always right, wise, and lowly to own the truth.
Saul was becoming king to fight Israel's enemies. But this sign put music and prophecy first.
The remedy for the state of things in Israel is not, in the first place, power. It is returning to God and submitting to Him. He must be lifted high in the very place where men have dishonoured Him, and this is what the spirit of prophecy does. So Saul meets a company of prophets here. Their many instruments of music show the joy and boldness that come when the heart returns to God. How small a thing is the enemy in the presence of God! And this joy in Him is the sure sign of the overthrow of all that sets itself against Him. Jehoshaphat's singers and trumpeters march at the front of the army. The Lord listens to them and gives the victory (2 Chron. 20:22). What a lesson for the Benjamite warrior, Saul!
The four instruments are not decoration around the prophesying.
These prophets did more than speak under the power of God. They came with lyre and harp. That is, there was the spirit of praise as well as of prophecy. In God's presence there is fullness of joy, and He dwells among the praises of His people. So worship should always go along with prophecy. When others called on Elisha to ask counsel of God, he called for a musician, so that his spirit might come fully into tune with the praise of God... This would remind Saul that knowledge alone, even divine knowledge, must never stand apart from priestly worship and joy. No one can fake such worship. It flows from a heart that knows the grace of God well, and that grace alone gives power for true service and testimony.
As to who these men were, one reference work identifies them with a group known elsewhere in Israel's history:
The "company of prophets" with lyre, tambourine, flute and harp, whom Saul met, were probably sons of the prophets. 1 Sam. 10:5.
Saul joined this company and prophesied with them. Later chapters show what that did and did not prove.
The richest and most abundant gifts cannot fill the emptiness that sin has made in the soul. Only Christ, and believing in Him from the heart, can fill it. A man may be enlightened. He may taste the heavenly gift, share in the Holy Spirit, and taste the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. And he may still fall away. He may preach with the gift of Paul, but if that is all, his gift and his use of it will not save him (1 Cor. 9:27). As Rutherford said, "Preaching is not Christ," though it may be about Him. And as Matthew Henry said, "Saul prophesying among the prophets is Saul still."
Everything in the sign was legible — to faith:
But neither of the signs did Saul understand, though they were clear and instructive to the eye of faith.
- The place. Enemy troops held the hill of God, the very ground where His power should have ruled. The worst enemies, then and in the church now, are the ones inside.
- The honesty. Faith does not pretend the ruin away. It faces the real condition and makes melody to God anyway.
- The order. Music and prophecy come before the battle. God is honoured again where men dishonoured Him, and victory follows.
- The pairing. The instruments beside the prophesying show that knowledge of God belongs with worship and joy no one can fake.
- The test. Saul shared in the gift, prophesied, and stayed Saul. Signs and power do not fill the emptiness sin makes. Only Christ and faith in Him do.
And the Spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
This is the third and greatest of the signs Samuel gave Saul, and it comes at the very place where the Philistine garrison sat. It raises a hard question: can God's Spirit change a man in plain sight and still leave him unsaved?
The place matters. Saul receives this power in front of the enemy he was made king to defeat.
He is brought to the hill of God, and there — a remarkable spot — he finds the Philistines dug in and secure. So he stands face to face with the difficulties before him. The people had wanted a king to fight their battles, and the Lord had given him to be their captain, to rescue them above all from the Philistines, their most bitter and their strongest enemies. He could have done it, had he proved obedient. For here, in full sight of the enemy, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and at once he is seen prophesying with the prophets, with all the marks of joy and triumph. The battle was the Lord's, so he could well rejoice, for then the victory was sure.
Faith could have read these signs. One writer sets Saul beside the king who came after him:
The spirit of prophecy was also given to him (v. 6). But Saul understood none of the signs, though they were clear and full of instruction to the eye of faith. David was the opposite of this, and pictured Christ as King.
What changed in Saul, and what did not?
He was "turned into another man" — that is, he changed from a clumsy country youth into a king-like man who could fill the throne with dignity — and he was made to speak in prophecy. It was a wonderful "sign" (verse 7)... yet Saul was never born again. He went further and further from God, and died under the sentence of His anger. Having "sign gifts," then, is no proof of holiness or real devotion.
There is a line between the Spirit using a man and the Spirit saving a man. It runs through the conscience.
When the conscience stands in the presence of God and bows to His judgment, the Spirit of God acts in saving grace. He does not use the man as a mere instrument; He blesses his soul. In a word, it is salvation. But even where there is no work in the conscience, and so no salvation, the power of the Spirit may be so great that for the time the man under it becomes another man.
Saul is not the only case. Others had great light and stayed unchanged inside:
God gave the same gift to Balaam. The Spirit of God came on him, his eyes were opened, he had the knowledge of the Most High and saw the vision of the Almighty (Num. 24), yet all this light never reached the darkness of his soul... Nothing can fill the emptiness that sin has made in the soul — not the richest and most abundant gifts — short of Christ and heart-belief in Him... As Rutherford said, "Preaching is not Christ," though it may be about Him; and Matthew Henry, "Saul prophesying among the prophets is Saul still."
Saul was to meet the prophets while music played. That detail carries a lesson:
The prophets were not only speaking by the power of God. Lute and harp played with them. That is, there was the spirit of praise as well as of prophecy... This would remind Saul that knowledge alone, even knowledge that comes from God, was never to be cut off from the worship and joy of a priestly heart. Such worship cannot be faked. It flows from a heart that knows the grace of God well.
The Spirit's power came as an offer for a whole reign, not for one day only. But it came with a condition:
By this God was showing that He was willing to lead Saul by the power of His Spirit as Saul took the kingdom. But Saul had to see for himself that he could expect this guidance only if he submitted to the Spirit of God... Sadly, Saul ignored this spirit of submission to God in his ruling of Israel.
- Place — The Spirit came on Saul at the hill of God, where the Philistines were dug in. God gave the power in full view of the enemy Saul was to defeat.
- Power — The change was real. A country youth became a man who could fill a throne, and he prophesied. But it changed what he could do, not what he was.
- Conscience — The Spirit can use a man as an instrument and never touch his conscience. Where the conscience bows to God, the Spirit acts in saving grace.
- Proof — Gifts prove nothing about holiness. Balaam saw visions of the Almighty and stayed dark inside. "Saul prophesying among the prophets is Saul still."
- Response — God was willing to lead Saul by His Spirit through the whole reign. Only submission would keep that guidance. Saul ignored it.
And it shall be, when these signs shall come to thee, thou shalt do as thy hand shall find; for God is with thee.
Samuel's final word to Saul comes after three predicted signs, and it gives the new king both a freedom and a promise. Everything turns on two things: could Saul read those signs, and would he act under the God who gave them?
Samuel told Saul in advance whom he would meet at each stop. The journey was worth only what Saul could take in.
Samuel anointed Saul, and gave him the first kiss of allegiance. He then sent him on a journey as instructive in its way as that of Elijah on the day he was taken up. He was to meet "signs"; but was he able to read them, and profit by them? The Lord once said to His disciples, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." The crowd around them were dull of heart, hard of hearing, and their eyes were closed.
The reason given for acting is not Saul's ability but God's presence with him. Writers tie that presence to the Spirit coming on Saul a verse earlier. That power rested on him from outside. It never lived inside him.
The lesson for Saul was "God is with you." What king ever had so favourable a start to his career? The Holy Spirit did not live within him. The Spirit came upon him instead, as with the soothsayer Balaam. That help was always there for him, if only he could have valued it. Sadly, the flesh is hopeless! Every provision God gives is in vain. "You must be born again."
The command sounds open-ended, as though Saul could now do whatever he judged best. One writer reads the phrase as God's offer to lead him, an offer that depended on Saul's submission.
God was in this way showing His own willingness to lead Saul by the power of His Spirit as Saul took the kingdom. Saul still had to realize, however, that he could expect this guidance only by submitting to the Spirit of God. Samuel implied as much when he told him to do what his hand found to do once these things happened. Sadly, Saul ignored this spirit of submission when he came to rule Israel.
Saul was standing at the hill of God, and Philistine troops held the place. Driving them out was the obvious thing his hand could have found to do.
Saul had been anointed to deliver Israel; but he showed from the start how short-sighted man's choice is. He was supplied with enough power, and told to "do what your hand finds to do" when he reached the hill of God. Yet he did not drive out the Philistine garrison stationed there. He may not even have seen how out of place they were. He also met the company of prophets there, just as Samuel had said. It did him no good, except that it brought glory to himself. He could become a vessel for God to speak through, while ignoring God's word to him.
The very next verse sends Saul to Gilgal to wait seven days for Samuel. The two instructions belong together — released to act, and held to a place.
The prophet then leaves him, as it were, to God. When all these signs came to pass, he could act under God's guidance, for God was with him. At the same time, Samuel warns him to go on down to Gilgal and wait there for his coming... So we see Saul set free to act as God guided. We also see him checked, and reminded that his place is at Gilgal. Gilgal is the place of self-judgment, where a man refuses all the excellence and glory of nature.
Saul received real power and used it. Yet the gift never made him a new man.
A man may be enlightened. He may have tasted the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. And he may still fall away. He may preach with the gift of Paul, but if that is all, his gift will not save him. As Matthew Henry said, "Saul prophesying among the prophets is Saul still."... The showers that fall on both do not change; they only make plain the true nature of the soil. In David, on whom the Spirit of the Lord came, we have an example of fruitful ground; in Saul, of a barren waste.
- Signs given. God went ahead of Saul with signs meant to teach him; the question was whether his eyes and ears were open to read them.
- Power given. The Spirit came upon Saul from outside, not from within. God gave him every provision, and he valued none of it.
- Freedom given. "Do what your hand finds to do" is not a licence for self-will; The guidance comes only to the man who submits to the Spirit.
- Limit given. The same word that released him to act sent him to Gilgal to wait — liberty paired with self-judgment.
- Result. Saul stood at the enemy's garrison with power in hand and did nothing. The same rain that made David fruitful left Saul a barren waste.
And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to thee, to offer up burnt-offerings, [and] to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings seven days shalt thou wait, until I come to thee and inform thee what thou shalt do.
Samuel has just anointed Saul and given him signs to confirm the call. In the same breath he sets a place, a deadline, and a person Saul must wait for. Saul is free to act, yet still bound to one appointment. Two years later that appointment undid him.
Commentators note that the order matters.
With the signs completed, Saul receives a new direction for action, because signs are not everything; the Word is also needed. He is directed to go down to Gilgal and to wait seven days until Samuel should come to him to show him what he is to do. Later on we shall see the result of this order, when after two years the king decides to go down to Gilgal (1 Sam. 13:1).
Gilgal carried its own message for any Israelite who heard the name.
Samuel warns him to go down to Gilgal and there wait for his coming, where burnt offerings and peace offerings were to be offered up to God. He was to wait there seven days, everything held in suspense, waiting for the coming of the prophet. So we see Saul set free on the one hand to act as God guided. On the other hand he is checked, and reminded that his place is at Gilgal. To an Israelite that place spoke of self-judgment, and of refusing all the excellence and glory of nature.
The seven days are not idle time. They fix where blessing comes from, and through whom.
But Samuel is still the only one whom God recognises as the link between Himself and the people. It is when Saul has had to do with Samuel that he is another man. He must wait for Samuel, so that he may know what to do, and that blessing may rest on him. In this way he must acknowledge that blessing is tied to the prophet, and not act without him. He must wait for him with perfect patience — seven days. Such patience bows to God's testimony, and will not look for blessing apart from His ways.
This verse is not describing something Saul did that week. Writers connect it to the crisis two years later, in 1 Samuel 13. They also show why the earlier gathering at Gilgal does not fit.
This is surely the time Samuel meant when he said to Saul at his anointing, "Then go down before me to Gilgal … and show you what you shall do." He cannot have meant the day Saul was made king at Gilgal. The record mentions no burnt offerings there; only peace offerings were sacrificed. As a prophet of the Lord, he could foresee this time of distress with Saul, and had promised to come to his relief. Saul understood it that way too; but he thinks he cannot wait, and so goes ahead without the prophet.
The days of waiting were themselves a test.
Saul was still to depend on Samuel. So Samuel told him to wait at Gilgal seven days, until the man of God arrived. Then burnt offerings and peace offerings would be offered as they should be. Waiting times are a hard test for restless flesh. Two years later, a similar waiting time was Saul's undoing. Patience! Patience! Patience! The New Testament presses it everywhere. It is the lesson most needed by souls who would walk with God, and serve Him here below.
Commentators trace the failure to how Saul rated the instruction itself.
Did he say in his heart something like this? "After all, that seven-day appointment was only an arrangement Samuel made. He may have forgotten it, or he may have been mistaken." But wait! Samuel's arrangement was not everything… Samuel was, without a doubt, the judge God raised up for his days. And the Word of God required full obedience to his instructions. Saul disobeyed. What looked practical to him swayed him, and he treated the Word of God, spoken through Samuel, as only Samuel's opinion.
Coming close to the end of the wait was not the same as obeying.
God would test him to see whether he would wait. He had not almost held out. He had only shown the state of his soul. There is no such thing as almost obeying the Lord.
- Word — signs confirmed Saul's call, but a word from God directed him. Guidance comes by God's Word, not by signs alone.
- Place — at Gilgal he was to stand still. That place spoke of self-judgment, and of refusing all that nature could boast in.
- Person — the seven days bound Saul to Samuel, and taught him not to look for blessing apart from God's ways.
- Delay — the appointment reached two years ahead, to a moment of real pressure. A crisis tests what we hear in calm days.
- Test — waiting is a hard test for restless flesh. Saul failed it, treating God's word as one man's opinion. There is no such thing as almost obeying.
And it was [so] that when he turned his back to go away from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.
As Saul turns to leave Samuel, God changes him — and every sign the prophet had promised arrives the same day. The question the whole chapter forces is simple: was Saul made a new man inside, or only fitted for a throne?
Something real happened to Saul. His aim and his thoughts changed. Yet one writer draws a careful line between that change and salvation.
Saul was not a converted man. Yet after Samuel anointed him, God gave him another heart. The aim of his life changed, and his thoughts ran so far in another direction. (1 Sam. 10:9.) David was a saint of God, a man after His own heart. (1 Sam. 13:14.)
Another writer traces the change to the Spirit Himself, at work through a company of prophets even where Israel's enemies, the Philistines, held the ground.
Divine resources were not lacking and, despite the Philistines, the Spirit could act in power and in grace… It was due to the Spirit of God that Saul, joining the prophets, became His instrument for Israel, and that "God gave him another heart" (vv. 6-9).
Some take this verse as proof of a conversion Saul later lost. One writer answers that the Spirit coming on a man for a task differs from the Spirit's work in a man.
The Spirit came upon him as a prophet; but this in no way proves that he was converted. At conversion a man is born of the Spirit, and then indwelt by the Spirit. But God may use a wicked man like Balaam as His mouthpiece (Num. 24:2); and Saul was used in this way, not only at the beginning of his career, but even after God had rejected him as king (1 Sam. 19:23).
The same distinction is drawn from Saul's later life, where the Spirit's power produced action but never obedience.
Although the Spirit of God had come upon him, we do not find his heart changed. The Spirit empowers him, and he defeats enemy armies. But to be turned into another man proved to be merely an outward thing with Saul… But true obedience to God and His word was simply not a part of his character. This was his ruin.
The signs of that day were not a mere detail. Everything that met Saul pressed on him at the deepest level, and still left his own will free.
Samuel had even told him that as he prophesied he would receive another heart. That is, there would be a change that looked lasting. At the same time it left things open to Saul's own will. Everything that was to happen to him that day… would work with power on his heart, mind and conscience. If there was real life toward God in him, he would find here a complete overturning of his whole past.
This new heart belongs to a list of gifts. Before any test came, God had already done everything short of saving Saul.
With Saul, the first king between the Lord and His people, it is important to see that three great things were reached for him personally. He was turned into another man. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And God was with him. Short of the saving call, perhaps, God had then done for Saul all He could do — and what a remarkable list it is!… Responsibility only begins after grace and goodness have done their utmost, whether we look at the kingdom or at this king.
The change reached Saul's whole character. That is what makes his story a warning.
And so we read that at once after his anointing, when he left Samuel to return home, he "was turned into another man." He was gifted to rule and made brave in war, as fitted a king. More than that, his whole character took on a religious tone… A mere change of character counts for nothing with God, even when religious forms go with it, so long as the heart has not received the gospel of His grace by faith.
Set beside this, the renewal the prophet Ezekiel promised is of another order altogether.
The moral renewal that Ezekiel predicts goes down to the deepest foundation. It gives a man a new heart and a new spirit, so that by instinct he desires what is good and walks in obedience… it is not the altering of a nature that already exists, but the giving of a nature that is entirely new. The new heart is "given." The new spirit is "put within you." It is to start anew from the very first.
- Given — the new heart was God's gift, not Saul's achievement. His aim and his thoughts ran in a new direction.
- Empowered — the Spirit came upon him as a prophet. That is not the same as being born of the Spirit and indwelt by Him.
- Grace first — another man, the Spirit upon him, God with him. Grace did all it could before any test came. Only then did responsibility begin.
- Signs — every sign arrived that same day and pressed on heart, mind and conscience. Real life toward God would have overturned his whole past.
- Warning — a religious tone counts for nothing without faith in the gospel. The heart God gives in new birth is a wholly new nature, not an improved old one.
And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
Saul is on his way home after Samuel privately anointed him, and at the hill of God he meets the band of prophets Samuel had described. The Spirit rushes on him and he prophesies with them — which raises the question the rest of his life answers: what exactly does such power prove about the man who receives it?
This third sign met Saul at Gibeah — the hill of God, held by the enemy. One writer notes how the signs grow, and what the prophets were doing there.
The enemy was camped on "the hill of God" — what a state of things! We too must expect to meet the enemy's power, at work not only outside, but also among those who "profess and call themselves Christians." But Saul would meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place (note the growth: two men at Zelzah, three at Tabor, a whole company now), with instruments of music — a harp, a tambourine, a flute and a lyre. Remarkable! Music and song in front of the enemy. Why not? The enemy's power is serious, but it need not frighten us. When Saul met the prophets, the Spirit of the LORD came on him, and he prophesied too. So, set against the devil's work, there is the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same scene should have taught Saul something about the nation he was to lead.
Finally Saul would come to the hill of God, the seat of His power — and in fact it was in Philistine hands, invaded and ruled by the enemy. He had just met those in Israel who stayed faithful to God at Bethel. Here he should have faced the true state of the people, and it should have spoken to his conscience. But in this very place God was entering into relationship with Israel through the prophets. God's resources were not lacking. Despite the Philistines, the Spirit could act in power and in grace.
Victory over the Philistines was within reach, on one condition.
He could well have done it, had he proved obedient. Here, in sight of the enemy, the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and at once he is prophesying with the prophets, with all the marks of joy and triumph. The battle was the Lord's, so he might well rejoice, for then the victory was sure.
One writer sets this moment beside the day the Spirit came on David.
The historian uses the same words of Saul and of David. But the Spirit coming on a man in that way does not have to mean a lasting supply of spiritual power. With Saul, the Spirit came on him this way in chapter 10:10 and chapter 11:6. With David, the Spirit came on him from that day forward. Was Saul, then, less well supplied than David? Not at all. As long as he was on probation, God gave him the Spirit in power whenever he needed it.
Saul really did become "another man." That is not the same as a new heart.
Even where there is no work in the conscience, and so no salvation, the power of the Spirit may be so great that for a time the man under it becomes another man. After Samuel anointed Saul, the Spirit of the LORD came on him, and he became another man. Later the Spirit of God came on him again, and he prophesied as he had before. But neither time was there any work in his conscience, or change of heart.
So what can a gift not do? One writer answers with two short sayings.
Sin leaves a void in the soul that no gift, however rich, can fill — nothing can, short of Christ and heart-belief in Him… A man may preach with the gift of Paul, but if that is all, his gift and his use of it will not save him. As Rutherford said, "Preaching is not Christ," though it may be about Him; and Matthew Henry, "Saul prophesying among the prophets is Saul still."
The change was real. The people who had known Saul all his life were still not convinced.
Through him God could have taken up His relationship with Israel again, but faith was not active, and those watching the scene are not fooled. Saul is changed into another man and prophesies, yet the people who knew him before have no confidence in him. "Is Saul also among the prophets?" And a man from the same place answers, "And who is their father?" Does Saul have the same father as God's servants?
- Place — The Spirit came on Saul at the hill of God while the enemy held it. The prophets made music there anyway. The Spirit's power is God's answer to the enemy's presence.
- Power — Saul received the power his new task needed, in sight of the very enemy he was sent to beat.
- Probation — On Saul the Spirit came whenever the need arose; on David, "from that day forward." Same words, different men.
- Proof? — The gift changed Saul into another man without touching his conscience. Power is not conversion, and the neighbours' question showed they knew it.
- Point — Nothing but Christ fills the void sin makes. A man may prophesy and preach with great gift, and still be, as one writer quotes, "Saul still."