–[continued from previous post] choose the first king of Israel. This is the unfortunate (as we’ll learn later) lad called Saul, the precursor to the book’s main protagonist.
The story of Saul becoming king is very well written, reminding me of the story of Samuel’s first prophesy. There is a very nice buildup of dramatic tension. First, we see a shepherd who has lost some donkeys. He sends his lad Saul to look for them along with a servant [ie. slave?]. Like all modern Hollywood action movies about those about to get into leadership positions, Saul is presented as completely naive and unready — essentially a boy. He looks for the donkeys for a few days and when they pass near a town where Samuel is meant ot be, Saul’s servant suggests they visit the prophet. So there they are asking about lost donkeys, whilst that same night YHWH spills the beans to Samuel that the boy who visits him is the one to be made king.
The story is very weird but child rulers probably weren’t unknown in the world of the ancient Near East. The difference is that the author is now [cleverly] turning the Israelites’ expectations of their king on their head. They wanted a testostoroney warriour just like “all the nations” so YHWH is giving them a child, thereby delivering Israel’s success through “humble” means.
Samuel declines to answer Saul’s question about the donkeys but wines and dines him and keeps him overnight. The shock comes to Saul hard and fast and Saul is accosted with a flood of information. The prophet is comically specific in his instructions:
Samuel took a flask of oil and poured some on Saul’s head and kissed him, and said “The LORD herewith annoints you ruler over His own people. When you leave me today, you will meet two men near the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will tell you that the asses you set out to look for have been found, and that your father has stopped being concerned about the asses and is worrying about you saying: ‘What shall I do about my son?’ You shall pass on from there until you come to the terebinth of Tabor. There you will be met by three men making a pilgrimage to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three kids, another will be carrying three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a jar of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread which you shall accept. After that, you are to go on to the Hill of God, where the Philistine prefects reside. There, as you enter the town, you will encounter a band of prophets coming down from the shrine, preceded by lyres, timbrels, flutes and harps, and they will be speaking in ecstasy. The spirit of the LORD will grip you, and you will speak in ecstasy along with them; you will become another man. And once these signs have happened to you, act when the occasion arises for God is with you. After that, you are to go down to Gilgal ahead of me, and I will come down to you to present burnt offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. Wait seven days until I come to you and instruct you what you are to do next.”(10:1-8)
I don’t know about you, but that reminds me of the movie Spy Game with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, or any similar spy thriller, where an old wise spy tests his protege by telling him: “See that building over there? I want to see you outside the third floor window in 2 minutes, picking up some chloroform. After that, there is a trapdoor in the floor that you should enter. Go through the corridor, knock thrice on your left. Drug the guard with the chloroform, then start crowing like a rooster for that disables the security system. Now, this is where it gets really weird…etc etc”
Anyhow, Saul is scared by this whole thing so comes back to his family and doesn’t tell. Samuel engages in the “proper” searching for a king by gathering the heads of all the tribes of Israel and casting lots thereby letting YHWH “choose” the tribe, then the clan etc. So, the lots point to Saul’s tribe of Benjamin, then his clan, then his family, then his self — the boy-king is revealed to Israel! Of course at the time, Saul has run off to hide, still scared shitless by the whole thing, and must be searched for and retrieved before the whole thing can continue. Again, good to see some actual skillful employment of drama: Saul is like Millhouse in the Simpsons when he ran away from not wanting to play Fallout Boy.
The fact that Saul is chosen twice makes me suspect Samuel might be doing something fishy here. If the boy was revealed to him by YHWH, why not just announce it straight to the people? Of course the possible answer is that the nation would have said something like “This boy? How do we know it’s not just you chosing him to rub our faces into it since we wanted a king contrary to your wishes?” So perhaps for the sake of the public, Samuel needed to show that there is something supernaturally special about Saul, such that it really is YHWH’s choice and not Saul’s. Which once again highlights that the Biblical people were more skeptical than you might think. Of course the lot itself could have been done with sleight of hand, but at least the expectation of some sort of public evidence is there.
Of course in all probability none of these events actually happened so it’s a bit of a moot point. The humble child-king is inaugurated in spite of the Israelites’ macho-fantasies of a marauding king. Which is just as well, since as soon as Saul’s made king–[to be continued].
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