And Saul drew near to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is.
Saul stops a stranger in the gateway and asks the way to the seer's house. The stranger is the seer. God had told him about Saul the day before. The moment is almost funny, but it shows something serious: Israel's future king does not know Israel's best-known man of God.
What does it say about Saul that he has to ask at all? One writer answers bluntly:
This is all the more remarkable when you remember that Gibeah of Saul was not more than twenty miles from Samuel's headquarters at Ramah. It shows how little interest Saul took at that time in public affairs, or in the welfare of Israel. Every godly Hebrew cared deeply about that. Saul seems to have no love for his country, and without that no man is fit to govern. But most serious of all, Saul had no devotion to God. You can see it from the fact that he did not know the prophet. Had he cared about spiritual things, he would surely have known something about the man of God. Samuel traveled from place to place, and even the servants knew who he was.
Samuel does not rush at him. He lets Saul ask his question first, and then answers it:
Samuel did not, however, make the first move. He waited for Saul to come to him and ask where the seer's house was. Samuel tells him, "I am the seer," but waits for no other question from Saul.
How could Saul miss a man like that? One writer traces it to something deeper than bad luck:
Saul seemed unaware that Samuel even existed, and unaware of the wonderful ways of God connected with him... The fact is, flesh is never interested in what God is doing, nor in the instruments He is using. Flesh may hear of them in a half-hearted way, but it makes no impression on the heart. In reality, at that moment the Lord was more interested in Samuel than in anyone else in the world. Samuel was the man who stood before Him continually on behalf of His erring people. Yet Saul seems not to have known him at all! In his trouble, Saul apparently had no thought of asking God.
Why does Saul ask for the "seer" and not the prophet? One writer finds a whole spiritual climate in that one word:
A note is added here to tell us that the "prophet" and the "seer" are the same man. The word "seer" only pointed to the knowledge the prophet had, not to the source of it. The prophet was the mouthpiece of God, whose word filled him and bubbled out of him. The people of that time spoke only of the "seer." It was a day of decline. Worldly men thought far more about the effect than about the cause, and looked for the one while ignoring the other. God had long ago spoken of the "prophet." The people cared only for the "seer." Saul, on this low ground, goes along with what he could never have begun himself. He too looks for "the seer," while the prophet, taught by God, is looking for this blind man on God's behalf — a man brought by a way he does not know.
Saul thinks he is the one who set this meeting up. God had arranged it before he arrived:
Saul now enters Samuel's home city, asking where the seer is. The Lord has already prepared His servant for his coming. Later, God prepared Peter in the same way for the arrival of Cornelius' messengers (Acts 10:19-20). The Lord had even told Samuel the hour Saul might be expected.
Why arrange a meeting for a man with no appetite for the things of God? One writer answers that the throne was not the only thing on offer:
God is speaking in His love, seeking to win this fine creature of His hand for Himself. He reveals to Samuel, the day before Saul comes, that He is sending him, and that He means to meet His people's need through him. The prince was to be the saviour. And so that he may fully be that, God would first bring him to have dealings with Himself, before he comes to stand in front of the people.
- Asking. Saul lived twenty miles from Samuel and still had to ask where he lived. That gap shows a lack of interest in God, not a lack of information.
- Ignoring. Human nature takes no interest in what God is doing. The Lord valued Samuel above anyone alive, yet Saul had never heard of him, and in his own trouble he never thought of asking God.
- Wanting. The word "seer" marks a day of decline. People wanted the results of the prophet's gift, not the God who was its source.
- Sought. While Saul was searching, God had already named the day and the hour to Samuel. The man hunting for the seer was the man God was looking for.
- Wanted. Before Saul stood in front of the nation, God meant to deal with him personally. God offered him the crown, and He offered him Himself.
And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer go up before me to the high place, and ye shall eat with me to-day; and to-morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart.
Saul walks up to a stranger in the gate and asks where the seer lives, and the stranger turns out to be the seer himself. Samuel's answer reaches far past the lost donkeys: a shared meal, and a promise to tell this young man everything on his mind.
The chapter itself pauses to explain the word Saul had used. One writer draws out the difference between the two titles.
An explanation is next introduced showing the use of the terms "seer" and "prophet." In former times it was the custom to speak of the man of God as a "seer" — one who sees the future, or what the natural eye cannot see. In other words, the people were more occupied with the result of the prophet's ministry than with its Source. The later word "prophet" suggests the Source from which he received all his inspiration, which then flowed out from him. This explanation fits all the circumstances we have reached. It fits Saul himself. He was surely not troubled about his relation with God, or about how the man of God would get his information. What he wanted was the benefit he might receive from this divine insight. It fits the nation at large too, of which he was the fitting representative.
Samuel's gift points away from himself. His table was ready before Saul arrived.
Samuel is conscious of his gift (v. 19), but its purpose is to communicate the mind of God to Saul. Before Saul met him, Samuel had already set aside his portion (v. 23). There was no jealousy in him. He might have resented the elders setting him aside, but God's will is enough for him, and he rejoices in it. Setting up a king according to the flesh is an evil. But Samuel had learned, in communion with the Lord, not to oppose an evil that God Himself did not oppose. That is certainly a hard lesson to learn.
Nothing in the chain that brought these two men together looks planned.
Notice again in this chapter how even the smallest events work together to establish God's designs, the goal He has in mind. Think of the loss of the donkeys, Saul's useless search through the land of Israel, the thought that came to his servant, the maidens at the well, Samuel's presence in the city on that day, the peace offering. Indeed, every step, every decision, every word of the prophet acting in communion with His God.
Saul had left home to look for stray animals.
No one could have expected where the search for his father's lost donkeys would lead Saul. It brought him into contact not only with the prophet Samuel, but with the throne of Israel. Yet so it was.
Samuel did not wait for Saul to ask.
Samuel at once told Saul two things: (1) that the donkeys were found, and (2) that he was the destined king over Israel. These words came from a complete stranger, and Saul had not yet asked him anything. They were a testimony to Saul that he was dealing with God, from whom nothing could be hidden. Donkeys and kingdom were both of interest to Him. What a help it would have been to him in later years if he had remembered this! Do we remember it?
One writer reads Samuel's promise as a sign that the kingdom was already on Saul's mind.
There is a hint that Saul was not without some knowledge of this, and that the first stirrings of ambition were already in his heart; for Samuel says to him, "I will tell you all that is on your mind." Was it longing for the crown and kingdom? It was God's own choice that set Saul apart, for He could read Saul's and the nation's thoughts. Yet He gave them a "king in His anger," whom He afterwards "took away in His wrath."
Another writer points to what Saul later forgot.
When Saul rose to the prominence and authority of king, it was not long before he forgot his own littleness. He thought himself great enough to ignore God's express commands, and of course suffered the consequences. Faith, on the other hand, always keeps a humble place, however great the honour.
- Heart known. Samuel offers to tell Saul what is inside him — proof that he was dealing with a God from whom nothing can be hidden.
- Heart guided. Lost animals, a servant's suggestion, girls at the well, a prophet in town that day. Small things carried Saul to a throne he never looked for.
- Heart served. Samuel knew his gift, but used it to pass on God's mind to another, with the guest's portion already set aside.
- Heart stirred. One writer hears in Samuel's promise the first reachings of ambition — a crown already on Saul's mind.
- Heart forgotten. Power made Saul forget his own littleness. Faith does the opposite: it keeps the low place, however high the honour.