1st Samuel Chapter 9 verse 19 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 19, 20. - Go up before me. Addressed in the singular to Saul, to whom, as the future king, Samuel pays every mark of honour. The next words, Ye shall eat, include Soul's servant. I will tell thee all, etc. Intended not merely to set Soul's mind at rest, but also to prepare him for the great news he was to hear. So, too, the information that the asses were found, given to him before he had even hinted at the object of his visit, would convince him of the reality of Samuel's prophetic powers. On whom is all the desire of Israel? Rather, "To whom belongs all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for thee, and for thy father's house?" The words were intended to indicate to Saul, though in an obscure manner, that the supreme power in Israel would be his. Why trouble about she-asses? They might be beautiful, and a valuable property for a husbandman;but he was about to become a king, to whom would belong everything that was best and most precious.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) Go up before me unto the high place.--The desiring the young stranger to precede him to the public place of sacrifice was a sign of distinguished honour from one of Samuel's rank to a young unknown wayfarer like Saul. These words of courteous respect were addressed to Saul alone: "Go thou up before me." The prophet-judge then speaks to the two, Saul and his servant: "ye shall eat." The verb here is in the plural, and invites both to the sacrificial banquet; and then again Samuel confines his words to Saul: "I will tell thee all"--"all that is in thine heart." The seer informs him that on the morrow he proposes to make strange disclosures to this young man, who, all un knowing what lay before him, had just come up and accosted him, the aged judge and seer. Yes, he would on the morrow show this young Benjamite that he, Samuel, was indeed a seer; he would tell him all his secret thoughts and aspirations; as for those asses for whose fate he was so anxious, let him dismiss these from his thoughts altogether. They were already found. Far graver thoughts than the everyday weal and woe of a farm on Mount Ephraim had to be discussed on the morrow.All the desire of Israel.--"All the desire of Israel," or, as the Vulg. renders it, "optima quaeque Israel," "the best in Israel" (Luther). The words do not signify the desire of Israel--all that it desires--but all that it possesses of what is precious or worth desiring. The obscure dark words of the seer on this, the occasion of his first meeting with Saul, were intended to draw him away from thinking about the asses and the little matters which hitherto had filled his life, and to lift him up to higher thoughts and aspirations. The old seer's words were vague and indefinite, certainly, but coming as they did from the lips of one so high in dignity, known to be the possessor of many a strange secret of futurity hid from the knowledge of mortal men, and holding out a prospect of undreamed of future glory for Saul, amazed the young man; and he, full of wonderment and awe, replied, "Speakest thou of such glories to me, a member of an unimportant family of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?"