Saul is made Kind

At daybreak next morning Samuel arose and called Saul where he still lay slumbering on the roof of the house, and awoke him.

‘Up now,’ he said, ‘and I will send thee on thy way; and I myself will go with thee for I have a thing of great moment to say to thee.’

So, presently after, they left Samuel’s house, and went out into the empty street, the three of them together, the prophet and Saul and Saul’s servant. And when they were come down from out of the city gates into the valley and were concealed from the eyes of any who like themselves had risen early and might now be looking down from the house-tops above, Samuel bade Saul tell the lad who was with him to pass on in front of them.

‘But do thou,’ he said, ‘stay here with me, that I may reveal to thee the will of God.’

The air was fresh in the cool of the morning and sweet with the growth of summer.

They waited until Saul’s servant had vanished out of sight. Then Samuel took a horn or vial of holy oil and poured it upon Saul’s head, and anointed him with the oil.

‘I do this,’ he said, ‘as a sign and token that the Lord of hosts hath chosen and anointed thee to be king over his people Israel. Thou shalt reign over them and shalt command and lead them in war; and if in all things thou follow his will as it is declared to thee, thou shalt save them in times of peril out of the hands of their enemies. Know then by this that the Eternal hath himself anointed thee prince of his inheritance.’

Samuel looked earnestly at Saul as he stood with bowed head before him. He had never seen a face so fair with promise. He laid his hands upon Saul’s shoulders, drew his head down and kissed him; for stranger though Saul had been until yesterday, the old man’s heart had gone out to him in loving affection.

The beams of the newly risen sun gleamed on the locks of Saul’s hair burnished by the holy oil. He was moved to the soul by what Samuel had said to him, and he turned falteringly not knowing how to answer him, marvelling and afraid. And Samuel seeing this, and having in their talk and converse together the evening before watched the expressions of his face as they revealed the moods of his impulsive nature, strove to reassure him. For token and proof that he had spoken truly, he foretold what would happen to Saul on his way home to his father at Gibeah.

‘When,’ he said, ‘we are departed one from another this day, and thou hast begun thy journey home, thou shalt meet two men near the rock-hewn sepulchre of Rachel. They will greet thee and will tell thee that the asses you have been seeking these three days past have been found, and that thy father has no longer any thought of them but only of thee, and is troubled for thee, fearing that some evil chance has overtaken thee, and knowing not what to do.

‘When these men have gone their way and thou shalt have left them and come to the sacred oak that is at Tabor, thou shalt meet with three other men on their way to the sanctuary at Bethel, there to sacrifice to the Lord. One of them will be carrying his offering of three young kids, another three loaves of white bread, and the third a skin of wine. They will salute thee, and will give thee two of their loaves of bread, one for thyself and one for thy servant, which thou shalt accept at their hands.

‘And at length, when thou shalt come to the hill of God at Geba where the officer in command of the garrison of the Philistines is stationed, and thou art nearing home, thou shalt meet a band of prophets coming down from the sanctuary above, chanting their prophecies to the music of psaltery and tabret and pipe and harp. And the spirit of the Lord shall enter into thee and fill thee with exaltation, and thou thyself shalt utter prophecies. Thou shalt be a changed man.