1 Samuel 10:5 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Samuel 10:5

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Then sign number three: each one of these signs authenticated Samuel, but also imparted a message. ‘After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy.’ This is mysterious. Suddenly we have got a company prophets, and it is no doubt the result of Samuel’s work. We may assume that one of the things Samuel had done over these years was to set aside people who were godly, and to found schools of the prophets. That is an assumption which has been made by commentators down the years, and I think it's a very correct one, because we know that the word of God was precious. Revelation and God working through prophets had become almost extinct by the time Samuel was a young man. We are told – in connection with the first occasion that God spoke to him – that revelation, the word of God, was very rare in those days. So he must have stirred these things up, and inspired these people to gather, and they would lead the people in praise. Samuel tells Saul, ‘And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.’ Prophecy has two meanings in the Old Testament: it can refer either foretelling or forthtelling, and we would imagine these prophets are forthtelling. They have simple instruments: two stringed instruments, a simple pipe which was a flute in those times. Later on, when regulations were made to worship, by inspiration of God, to David, the pipe was set aside. It is used in two psalms when we look through the Psalter, very plaintive psalms of repentance. So you can see the way that instrument was used: when they were on the march, pilgrim psalms going to Jerusalem. There were two psalms that were very plaintive cries of repentance, and they, and they alone, in the superscription over the psalm are to be led by a pipe, a flute. So we mustn’t run away with the idea that this was a kind of band, because this is the only time we see these instruments apply – and the tabret was not allowed in the temple for worship or in the synagogue either. But in the open air, this little handheld thing, which made quite a small sound, held together the singing of the psalms, which most of the evidence suggests would have been done at a much slower pace than we do today. It was a very solemn sound. Many times Hebrew words to that effect are used. We should get in these modern times a wrong picture of this small band coming down the hill and worshipping. But that Saul should be turned into another man: that is very remarkable. The Spirit came upon him, but very much in an external way, Saul developed a tremendous passion for the land, for the people, for their well-being, for their protection. Possibly he had been indifferent to that before. He probably had courage and boldness poured into him, and initiative such as a king would need. He was given some of the character traits that he lacked for the task ahead for him. He had lived his wealthy life with his father; he had not gone up to pray annually as pious Israelites should have done. They had been very much a law unto themselves, and now by the Spirit – because there is evidence of this as the narrative unfolds – he is given a great passion and sense of vehement indignation when the people of God come under threat. He is turned into another man. A person who has been careless and spoilt suddenly becomes zealous for the people of God. He is by no means perfect – we will see the faults showing up soon enough – and he is given courage too. He doesn't seem to have a great deal of courage or stickability naturally. When he goes to seek his father's asses, as we have seen, he soon gives up, and it is the servant who keeps him at it or suggests that they go to discuss this with Samuel, the man of God. When he is ultimately anointed we will see him hiding away among the military baggage, his heart failing him. Nevertheless for the purposes of state and the conduct of his work God changes him into another man and gives him great zeal and courage. Maybe he is a Hebrews 6 man. He is without excuse. He has a sure sense of the being and the power of God; he is blessed in many ways, and yet in many ways he remains disobedient to God and unbelieving. The work of the Spirit in him leaves him with little excuse. He has greater understanding.

Application

When people are seeking the Lord, they are very often concerned lest they haven't really found him, they think they are not really experiencing the work of God and they are unhappy and ill at ease. ‘Supposing I should be one of these people who will get so far and then fall away. Supposing I should be like a Saul.’ Look at his zeal; look at his passion. We will see it as it goes on in the account, and yet he became utterly disobedient and carnal, and lost his kingdom and came under the judgement of God. ‘Will that happen to me?’ some people think. How can we tell if conversion is shallow or genuine. In these days the churches might deliberately be rather slow to baptise people who make a profession of faith. They want to give them just some opportunity to prove that there really has been a Holy Ghost conversion, that God has taken hold of their lives and changed them. We don't want to be among those who baptise people who then immediately fall away. To baptize too quickly could lead to trouble, because sometimes there are false conversions and false professions. So how do we know that someone is not a Saul or a Hebrews 6 person? There are two things that were significantly absent from the spiritual experience of Saul. The first and the most significant is repentance. Very quickly we find him doing something significantly wrong, something which shows an ongoing inability to truly and sincerely repent before the Lord. God gave him a portion of the Holy Spirit so that he was capable of functioning as a king with great concern for the people, a capacity for indignation when they were under attack, a capacity to organise he had probably never had before, a certain amount of knowledge and insight. But at the end of the day all this does is to leave him without excuse. There is no repentance. Furthermore there is very little obedience. There is some obedience, but not very much. Every act of Saul is only partial obedience. When as the time goes on he is challenged by Samuel, he is not humbled; he is not concerned; he is always full of excuses. How can you be sure if there is a work of God in your life? Did you repent? Do you know what it is to come under conviction? Did you have a longing to have your sins forgiven, a true repentance and turning away from the world?

We have to mention this more frequently these days, because of the New Calvinism that is about, where people get a very heady knowledge of the doctrines of grace and much Reformed doctrine, but there is little sign of repentance or departing from the world, and they want to keep all the trappings of the world, and they want all the worldly music and the worldly ways still in their lives. There is not much sign of change, not much sign of repentance. That is a very bad sign. There is even less evidence as time goes on of true obedience. It’s all in the head; it’s all theoretical. It was rather like that with Saul. There will soon be a great test and he will fall.

‘Do as occasion serve thee’, do whatever is necessary. Be a person who sees what needs to be done. That third sign is something that needs to happen to us all, and does happen in true conversion, when we are given sensitivities for other people, and a concern for the glory of Christ, and a new unselfishness that we never had before.

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1 Samuel 10:5 Commentary and Bible Study