Saul, Chosen King

By Mary Vee
I Samuel 10

From Saul's Journal

I had waited the seven days in Gilgal as Samuel instructed. 


When he arrived he sent messengers to all the people in the area to meet at Mizpah. Everyone left their work to do what he said. Of course we'd do whatever Samuel said, he was a prophet.


He stood before all the people, his eyebrows pointed down, his angry wrinkles showed, Samuel was mad. This would not be good.


He said, "The Lord God of Israel says, 'I brought you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who hurt you and made you slaves.'" Samuel shook his head and sighed. "But today, you have rejected your God, the One who saved you from all your enemies and the terrible things that happen. You have said to Him, 'No, set a king over us!'


Samuel stood quiet for a minute. I figured we were in deep trouble. Yes, everyone asked for a king. All the countries around us had a king. Samuel's sons couldn't do his job. They disobeyed God's commands more than I did. Were we really suppose to live with his rotten sons as leaders over us?


Well, OK, I do remember Samuel had taken the place of Eli's sons as prophet and head priest. They were rotten and deserve the job as head priest. Which...means someone else could take the job for Samuel's sons, but--oh, I don't know--it sure would be fun to have a king like the other countries. And why not? We are a kingdom, too!
 
Samuel opened his eyes and said, "Gather together into your own tribal groups and come before me one by one."


It took a few minutes but all the tribes made groups. I belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Usually when the tribes gather, we went in a certain order. My tribe would be last. 


As each tribal group passed by Samuel he shook his head and said, "No your tribe is not the chosen one." But when my group, the Benjamite tribe, passed by him, Samuel said, "Your tribe is the chose one."


All the other tribes sat down. Samuel then told us to go passed him according to our families. We gathered into groups, I belonged to the Matri family, the last group, again. We walked passed Samuel. He shook his head and said no to each group until my family passed by him. "Yes, the Matri family is the chosen one."


All the other families sat down. Next, Samuel had every Matri family member go before him. When he asked each family member to walk before him something happened to me. My hands shook and my stomach felt queasy. I didn't want to go before Samuel. So, I ran and hid in a place I could see...but not be seen. 


Samuel shook his head no to each person who walked by then said, "Saul, where is he? The one who is not here is the chosen one." He raised his eyes to the sky and said, "Lord, where is Saul?"


The Lord answered, "There he is, hidden among the equipment."


A few men ran toward me, took me by the arms and pulled me to where Samuel stood. I hadn't noticed before, but next to me, Samuel and the other men seemed short.


He said, "Look at the man whom the Lord has chosen. See, there is no one like him among all the people. See how tall he is above all of us."


All the people shouted and cheered at me, "Long live the king!"


Samuel held his hands out to hush everyone. "This is what your king will do: he will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horsemen, some will have to run before the chariots. He will make them serve in his army and others to work as his farmers, and others to fix his equipment. He will take your daughters to work as his cooks, perfumers, and bakers. He will take your land for his own fields and vineyards, and groves. He will take a tenth of your food and give it to his workers. He will take your servants, donkeys and a tenth of your animals to use for himself. 


"But this is what you have chosen over the Lord."


Then he walked away. His face--had such sadness.
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1. What tribe did Samuel say God had chosen?
2. What family did Samuel say God had chosen?
3. Who did God choose to be king?
4. Why do you think Saul hid?
5. Did God want the people to have a king? why or why not?
6. What did Samuel say the king would do to the people?