Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 10:8

"And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come unto thee, and show thee what thou shalt do." — 1 Samuel 10:8 (ASV)

And show you what you shall do. —Considerable doubt exists among commentators as to the exact meaning and reference of these words of Samuel. In 1 Samuel 13, and 1 Samuel 10:8 and following, a well-known and most important event in Saul’s life and reign is related, in which the circumstances strangely fit with the words of Samuel's warning.

However, between this first meeting of the seer and the future king, and the Gilgal meeting described in 1 Samuel 13, two years—perhaps even a much longer period—elapsed (the dates of this era are most uncertain). Moreover, that famous meeting at Gilgal was by no means the first meeting of Samuel and Saul at that place. Yet, despite these difficulties, it seems best to refer to this meeting between the prophet and king at Gilgal, related in 1 Samuel 13, as the trial of faith Samuel especially anticipated here. The solemn warning given here was undoubtedly repeated in a much more detailed form by the prophet sometime before the appointed Gilgal meeting.

So much for the reference; the significance of the warning is best explained in the following way: Samuel had instructed the future king to advance along the paths of glory and difficulty that lay before him with all confidence and trust, acting in each emergency according to the dictates of his own heart—only in one thing he must always be on his guard.

In his future great work for the regeneration and advancement of Israel, he must, for the sake of Israel's faith, be on guard against infringing upon the sacred privileges of the religion of the Eternal.

In the fullness of his kingly power, the day would come when the temptation would assail him to disregard the ancient sanctity of the sacrifice. He would be tempted to assume, as king, functions that belonged exclusively to men like Samuel, set apart for the sacred office. By doing so, he would publicly dishonour the commandments of God and, by his reckless example of unbelief in revelation, weaken the faith of the people.

Such a temptation, we believe, presented itself to Saul some two or more years from this time. This occurred when, as related in 1 Samuel 13, a solemn assembly of the people was summoned to Gilgal before the beginning of the war of independence.

This great enterprise for the people of the Lord necessarily had to begin with solemn religious rites and sacrifices. The king was forbidden to officiate at these without the presence of the divinely appointed seer.

We will see how King Saul acted under the temptation to set himself and his royal power above the prophet of the Lord and the direct command of God. Whether or not King Saul offered the Gilgal sacrifice with his own hand is uncertain; in any case, the great sin he appears to have committed was refusing to wait for the presence of the prophet of the Lord, although he was publicly required by the word of the Lord to do so (See Notes on 1 Samuel 13).

The “heart” is mentioned as changed by God because, according to the conception of the Divine writings, the heart is represented as the centre of the whole mental and physical life—of will, desire, thought, perception, and feeling. It was one thing for Samuel the seer to present to the young Benjamite the brilliant destiny that lay before him, but it was another and different thing to transform someone like Saul, raised in purely agricultural pursuits, into a fit and worthy recipient of such honours and powers.

We know how utterly incapable wealth, rank, and power are in themselves of inspiring the heart with any noble patriotic aspirations, high religious longings, or lofty patriotic aims; a higher influence is needed to awaken the heart or to rouse it from merely earthly and sordid contemplations.

This is the work that God performed in the heart of the young Saul as, in the early morning, he left “Ramah of the Watchers,” his ears tingling with the great seer's burning words all through that day and many succeeding days. In quiet humility and, no doubt, with many a silent prayer, he watched and waited; when he returned home, there was no visible sign of exultation in the man, no mark of impatience.

His lips were sealed; he seems to have whispered to no one what the prophet had told him. He made no sign even when events came crowding thickly around him—such as the popular assembly for the choice of a king, presided over by the prophet-judge (whose mind Saul alone in Israel knew), the drawing of the lots, the narrowing of the fateful circle, and the designation of his tribe, his family, then himself.

We see, indeed, God had changed his heart. Was there not in these early days a promise of a noble king—a man after God’s own heart?

And all those signs came to pass that day. —Of the first two signs that he was to encounter, no further details are given; we are simply told that Saul came across them in the order Samuel predicted. Only the third warrants special mention, because it had a great effect on the life of the future king.