Choosing the First King

What’s worse than a nothing?

A tall nothing.

Saul grumbled as he plodded down the road. He looked around. Nope. Still no donkeys. They’d been traveling for weeks, he and his dad’s servant. Just another failure for Saul. He used to think that because he was so tall, he must be destined for greatness. After all, tall people were special. They were strong. They were mighty!

Well, they were supposed to be, anyway. Instead, he was just a son looking for his father’s lost donkeys, along with a servant. Looking, and finding nothing.

With a sigh, Saul stopped. “We’re not going to find them.”

The servant surveyed the hilly countryside. “Looks that way.”

“We’d better turn back. Otherwise dad’ll stop asking about the donkeys and start asking about us.” Saul would have to come back a failure.

The servant gestured to a nearby rise. “Look, there’s a seer that visits this town up here. Why not ask him where the donkeys went? Everything he says comes true. He’s highly respected, you know.”

Saul huffed a laugh. “Highly respected? Shouldn’t we bring him a gift of some kind, then? Look, we’re out of supplies. I can’t even offer him a loaf of bread.”

“Hey, I’ve got a quarter shekel of silver here.” The servant pulled a pebble of metal from his pouch.

Saul shook his head. Greatly respected? A quarter of a shekel was worth pretty much nothing. “Good enough,” he said. “Let’s go, then.”

As they went, they paused at a well. The servant hauled up a bucket of water, and they both drank deeply. As they did, some of the town’s men passed by.

“I hear he’s going to make a choice soon,” one said.

“About time,” another rumbled.

“Think he’ll choose here?”

“I hope so. I think I’d make a good king.”

The first man punched the other playfully on the shoulder. “You? You’d have us all planting vineyards and getting drunk all day!”

“See? I’d make a great king!”

---

They passed down the road. Saul and his servant turned away from the well and continued their journey to the city. Soon they approached some women heading down to the well. Saul stopped them. “Is the seer here?”

The woman he addressed took in his height. She blushed and looked away quickly. “He is,” she answered, batting her eyelashes. “He’s ahead of you. Hurry now. He’s just arrived, and there’s going to be a sacrifice and a feast. No one’s going to eat until he gets to the sacrifice, though.”

Saul and the servant glanced at each other as they hurried their pace. “Not interested in a sacrifice. You?” Saul asked.

“Nope.” The servant shook his head. “I think we got more important things to do.”

They double-timed it to the city gate where an old man with a great white beard was stepping out of the town.

“Excuse me,” Saul said to him. “Do you know where the seer’s house is?”

There was a twinkle in the old man’s eyes. “You’ve found him. But now go on ahead to the sacrifice. I’ll be with you shortly. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow I’ll tell you everything that’s on your heart. But don’t you worry any. The donkeys you’re looking for have been found and returned to your father.”

And the seer smiled. “And to whom is the desire of all Israel turned, if not to you and your father’s family?”

Saul blinked. What?

The desire of Israel? Him? But he was a nothing. A tall nothing, sure, but he’d learned long ago: he was a failure at best. “Why do you say such a thing to me?”

And the seer laughed. He put a hand on Saul’s shoulder. “Come with me to the sacrifice!”

And they went to a hall on a tall hill near the town. The seer pointed. “Two spots. One for you, one for your servant. Sit!”

And then the cook brought out a leg of meat. It sizzled with grease. The cook plunked the entire leg in front of Saul.

Well. Even if the seer was wrong – and he had to be wrong! – at least Saul was going to get an amazing meal out of it. He didn’t eat this well at home!

After the feast, the seer insisted that Saul come and stay at the home he used here in this town. The servant came with, of course. And all night, Saul asked questions of this seer. And this seer, this Samuel, answered them all.

“Our God is a God who rescues,” Samuel said. “He has reigned over Israel and taken good care of it. But now the people want a king. And God has told me who that king will be.”

Saul shook his head. “Well, good luck with that.”

---

The next morning, as Saul and the servant packed to set out back home, Samuel came to them. “I’ll walk you on your way.”

As the dawn broke over the hills, the three exited the recently opened city gates and down the path, past the well, past the high place where the sacrifice had been, out into the hilly country.

“Send your servant ahead,” Samuel nudged.

Once that was done, Samuel stopped Saul. “Kneel. I can’t reach your head. You’re a big one!”

And so Saul knelt.

And Samuel took a skin of oil and poured it over Saul’s head. “You’re the one,” he whispered. “The LORD has anointed you. A great king will need a great God, and there is none greater. A God who delivers.”

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Samuel stepped back. “Now. How do you know this is real? You’re going to start walking. And you’re going to encounter two men. They’ll tell you that your father’s donkeys were found. And then you’re going to find some people with food. You’re going to receive two loaves of bread from them. And then near Gibeah, you’ll encounter a band of prophets. And you? You’re going to prophesy with them.”

Saul laughed. Him? Prophesy?

“Yes, you!” Samuel laughed, too. “And God will change you. Once that’s done, do whatever your hand finds to do. Head down to Gilgal. I’ll meet you there for another sacrifice.” Samuel grinned. “I think God has made a good choice with you.”

“I’m nothing,” Saul siad.

“Ah, but you see, God has a habit of taking nothings and making them great. Just you wait. You’ll change history, Saul. Just you wait.”

This story is based on I Samuel 9:1-10:8.