Exploring the Meaning of 1 Samuel 10
Napsal(a) Garry Walsh
Samuel took a flask of oil and anointed Saul’s head -- a sign of kingship. He told Saul that the donkeys he'd been searching for had been found, so there was no need to continue the hunt.
Instead, Samuel sent Saul to Bethel, the hill of God. It was a holy place, and the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. Bethel represented a knowledge of celestial things. (See Arcana Coelestia 1453[2].)
Samuel told Saul that he would meet a group of prophets at Bethel. When Saul arrived there, he met them, and he immediately felt the Spirit of the Lord and prophesied with them. When Saul returned home, the people who knew him realized that something about him had changed. Had he become a prophet?
Then Samuel called the people together at Mizpah again as he had when they first asked for a king. He reminded them about how they had rejected the Lord. Then he began a selection process, drawing lots to determine who would be their first king. The tribe of Benjamin was chosen, then the family of Matri, and ultimately Saul. However, Saul was reluctant, and was hiding. They searched for him, found him, and brought him before the people. The people saw his outstanding appearance and height, and accepted him as someone suitable. Samuel explained how the kingdom would work, and also wrote it in a book. Then he sent the people to their own homes.
Right away, there were hints of future trouble. Some people, referred to as children of Belial, doubted that Saul was the man to lead them, and they did not bring him gifts.
The children of Belial symbolize false ideas that are derived from evil, hellish loves. They are associated with the worship of other gods.
In the Word, gifts symbolize an introduction, to “initiate goodwill and favour.” These people did not trust Saul, and didn’t try to create a good relationship with him. (See Arcana Coelestia 4262[2-3].)
It was important that the kings of Israel were anointed with oil. It was a mark of the representative role that they were to take. As mentioned in the previous chapter, they could not represent the Lord in the loving way that priests could. Instead, they could represent His truth. They could be examples of what it means to live by and enforce the law and to provide order.
The oil that Samuel used to anoint Saul also has a symbolic meaning. It represents the Lord as the good of love. (See Arcana Coelestia 9954[1, 10].) Swedenborg writes that the reason priests kings were anointed is that through this they represented the {w219}, in His Divine humanity. (See Apocalypse Revealed 779[2].)
In a number of places in Scripture it is said that each of us has been made “kings and priests to God.” (See especially Revelation 1:5 and 5:10.) This means that our lives can evolve, with the Lord’s guidance, so that everything about us can be an expression of both His love and His teachings, as they exist as a unity. This is what is means to become the “image and likeness of God” as described in Genesis 1:26.
1 Kings 13
1
Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of Yahweh to Beth El: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2
He cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh, and said, "altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men's bones on you.'"
3
He gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."
4
It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.
5
The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh.
6
The king answered the man of God, "Now entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again." The man of God entreated Yahweh, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
7
The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
8
The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;
9
for so was it commanded me by the word of Yahweh, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came.'"
10
So he went another way, and didn't return by the way that he came to Bethel.
11
Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
12
Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah.
13
He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.
14
He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."
15
Then he said to him, "Come home with me, and eat bread."
16
He said, "I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.
17
For it was said to me by the word of Yahweh, 'You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.'"
18
He said to him, "I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" He lied to him.
19
So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20
It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back;
21
and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you,
22
but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, "Eat no bread, and drink no water;" your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'"
23
It happened, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24
When he had gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.
25
Behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26
When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the mouth of Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke to him."
27
He spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." They saddled it.
28
He went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey.
29
The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him.
30
He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"
31
It happened, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
32
For the saying which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen."
33
After this thing Jeroboam didn't return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
34
This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
