Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 10:12

"And one of the same place answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?" — 1 Samuel 10:12 (ASV)

Who is their father? —As an instance of the extreme surprise with which the inhabitants of Gibeah witnessed Saul's association with the sons of the prophets—an association apparently very foreign to his old habits and his family's way of life—a short dialogue between two citizens of Gibeah is related here.

This conversation is important because of the words uttered by the second citizen in reply to the amazed question, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? The reply gives us some insight into the deep conviction held by the ordinary Israelite in the days of Samuel: that the invisible God was ever present, working in the midst of His chosen people.

The reply of the second citizen has been well explained by Von Bunsen:—“Is the son of Kish, then, a prophet?” asks the first citizen, surprised, apparently, that one so undistinguished, and so unlikely to train up a “son of the prophets,” should have a son associated in this peculiar and sudden manner with a chosen band of scholars and teachers.

To this question the second citizen replied—no doubt, pointing to the honored group from the prophet schools of Gibeah—“Do you wonder that the son of so rough and uncultivated a man as Kish should receive the Divine gift which we all love so well and admire so greatly?”

“Who,” pointing to the group singing on the hill-side, “is their father?” They owe their power of persuasive speech, their gift of holy song, to no accident of birth. Surely Saul, like them, may have received the same power as a gift of the Eternal, not as a patrimony.

Owing to this obvious meaning not having occurred to them, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac Versions alter the original to, “Who is his (instead of their) father?” In other words, “Who is Saul? and who is his father, Kish?” But the Hebrew text and the English Version, as explained above, give an admirable sense and teach besides a great spiritual lesson.