In this chapter we are introduced to Saul, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin. He's an "impressive young man," but he's not important, yet....

As the story opens, Saul and one of his father's servants are searching for some of his father's donkeys that had wandered off. They hunt far and wide, but have no success. Saul is beginning to lose hope when his servant tells him that there's a man of God (Samuel) staying in a village nearby who might be able to help them. Saul makes sure that he has a suitable offering to bring to Samuel, and sets out to find him.

On that day, Samuel was on his way to preside over a sacrifice. The Lord had told him that he would encounter the man who would be anointed commander of the people and save them from the Philistines. When Samuel saw Saul, he knew that this was the man the Lord had told him about. He invited Saul to the sacrifice, and told him that the lost donkeys were safe. They ate together, and Samuel gave Saul the best of the meat offering. The next day Samuel asked Saul to wait a moment before leaving, and then Samuel told him the Lord’s message.

This is a story about kingship. Throughout the story, high places are mentioned. Samuel invites Saul to accompany him to a high place, and later to a rooftop. Swedenborg writes that this is representative of a king. (See Spiritual Experiences 2472.)

Another interesting aspect of the story is its mention of Saul’s attractive appearance. He's unusually tall and strong. We as humans are often drawn to things which seem attractive to us. In each of us there are two parts: one part is external or sensual, and the other is internal or spiritual. We cannot fully understand the Lord when we are only thinking from the external part of ourselves. When this part of ourselves dominates, the Lord can seem distant. We need the spiritual part of us to be awake to develop a new relationship with God. (See Heaven and Hell 85.)

The idea of having a king seemed attractive to the Israelites. But it may not have been the best idea for their relationship with God. In the previous chapter we learned that by transitioning from having a prophet to having a king, the Israelites prioritized one aspect of their relationship with God over another: faith over charity, or truth over goodness. In reality, we need both, together, conjoined and in balance.

2472. About the Lord's Word, that the very least things there are vessels into which life is poured by the Lord

When I was reading 1 Sam. 9 to the end, verses 1 Sam. 9:25 and 26, I saw by a spiritual mental image how inward regions are expressed there as high, as that Saul was invited to the high place [v. 19], that he was placed before the elite who were called [v. 22], that he went up to the top of the house with Samuel and spoke with him there [v. 25], that he rose up when the dawn arose [v. 26]. Mention is made there only of heights, which are also symbolic, such as "high place," "top of the house", "spring of the day," and other expressions, which linked together in the inward meaning make up the idea of a king, representing the head. But the connection is seen inwardly by the Angels from the Lord, because the expressions are joined to things that are not expressed, yet are contained in the ideas of the same words. For every word is like a vessel having an infinity of elements within that cannot be presented except in a deeper level of meaning, being connected by virtue of the mental images the words convey, which are not patent to the human mind except only as a literal meaning containing hardly anything.

Thus interiors, as said before [2445-2446], reflect the human as to its inward parts, for the inward parts of the body are all interacting with, as well as portraying, the inward regions of the heavens. 1748, 1 July.