1 Samuel 10:6

And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Samuel 10:6. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee — Hebrew, צלחה, tsalcha, irruet in te, (Buxtorf,) shall rush upon thee. This was the highest assurance of all the rest, that Samuel anointed him by God’s authority. Thou shalt prophesy with them — Shalt break forth into the praises of God, and utter divers truths and even predictions by the inspiration of his Spirit. Shalt be turned into another man — That is, thou shalt be suddenly endowed with another spirit, filled with skill in divine things, with courage, and wisdom, and magnanimity, and other qualifications befitting thy dignity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-8 The sacred anointing, then used, pointed at the great Messiah, or Anointed One, the King of the church, and High Priest of our profession, who was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, not by measure, but without measure, and above all the priests and princes of the Jewish church. For Saul's further satisfaction, Samuel gives him some signs which should come to pass the same day. The first place he directs him to, was the sepulchre of one of his ancestors; there he must be reminded of his own mortality, and now that he had a crown before him, must think of his grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the dust. From the time of Samuel there appears to have been schools, or places where pious young men were brought up in the knowledge of Divine things. Saul should find himself strongly moved to join with them, and should be turned into another man from what he had been. The Spirit of God changes men, wonderfully transforms them. Saul, by praising God in the communion of saints, became another man, but it may be questioned if he became a new man.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Will come upon thee - The word rendered "come," means to "come" or "pass upon," as fire does when it breaks out and spreads Amos 5:6; hence, it is frequently used of the Spirit of God passing upon anyone. (See Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14; below 1 Samuel 10:10; 1 Samuel 11:6; 1 Samuel 16:13.)

Shalt be turned into another man - This is a remarkable expression, and occurs nowhere else. It describes the change in point of mental power and energy which would result from the influx of the Spirit of the Lord 1 Samuel 10:9. In the case of Samson it was a supernatural bodily strength; in the case of Saul a capacity for ruling and leading the people of which before he was destitute, and which the Spirit worked in him. (Compare Acts 1:8; Isaiah 11:2-4.)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee—literally, "rush upon thee," suddenly endowing thee with a capacity and disposition to act in a manner far superior to thy previous character and habits; and instead of the simplicity, ignorance, and sheepishness of a peasant, thou wilt display an energy, wisdom, and magnanimity worthy of a prince.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Will come upon thee, Heb. will leap or rush on thee, to wit, for a season. So it may be opposed to the Spirit’s resting upon a man, as Numbers 11:25 Isaiah 11:2.

Shalt be turned into another man, i.e. thou shalt be suddenly endowed and acted with another spirit, filled with skill of Divine things, with courage, and wisdom, and magnanimity, and other qualifications befitting thy dignity.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee,.... As a spirit of prophecy, so the Targum; whereby he would be enabled at once to compose psalms and hymns of praise, and sing them in a proper manner, though he had not been trained up in this exercise in the school of the prophets; which made it more wonderful to those that knew him:

and thou shalt prophesy with them: or "praise" with them, as the same Targum; join with them in singing praises, and perform this service in an orderly manner, as if he had been instructed in it, and used to it:

and shall be turned into another man; for the Spirit of God would not only operate on him in that way, as to fit him for composing and singing psalms and hymns, but inspire him with wisdom, and prudence, and greatness of mind, and with every qualification necessary for a king; so that he would appear quite another man than he was before, in his outward behaviour, as well as in the endowments of his mind; and from a rustic, an husbandman, a farmer's son, would appear with the air of a prince, and in the majesty of a king; and, as Procopius Gazaeus, have a royal mind or heart given him.

Geneva Study Bible

And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. the spirit of the Lord will come upon thee] See Numbers 11:25-29; Jdg 14:6; Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14; 1 Samuel 11:6; 1 Samuel 16:13.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - The spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee. The Hebrew means, will come mightily upon thee, will come upon thee so as to overpower thee. And thou shalt prophesy. Shalt act as a prophet (see above). Albeit untrained, thou shalt be carried away by religious fervour, and join in their singing and psalmody. And be turned into another man. New thoughts, new emotions shall take possession of thee, and in addition to the bodily strength for which hitherto thou hast been famous, thou shalt be filled with mental power, making thee eager for action and capable of taking the lead among all men, and in all emergencies. We have an instance of this enlarged capacity in the vigour with which Saul acted against the Ammonites. 1 Samuel 10:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And the Spirit of Jehovah will come upon thee, and thou wilt prophesy with them, and be changed into another man." "Ecstatic states," says Tholuck (die Propheten, p. 53), "have something infectious about them. The excitement spreads involuntarily, as in the American revivals and the preaching mania in Sweden, even to persons in whose state of mind there is no affinity with anything of the kind." But in the instance before us there was something more than psychical infection. The Spirit of Jehovah, which manifested itself in the prophesying of the prophets, was to pass over to Saul, so that he would prophesy along with them (התנבּית formed like a verb הל for התנבאת; so again in 1 Samuel 10:13), and was entirely to transform him. This transformation is not to be regarded indeed as regeneration in the Christian sense, but as a change resembling regeneration, which affected the entire disposition of mind, and by which Saul was lifted out of his former modes of thought and feeling, which were confined within a narrow earthly sphere, into the far higher sphere of his new royal calling, was filled with kingly thoughts in relation to the service of God, and received "another heart" (1 Samuel 10:9). Heart is used in the ordinary scriptural sense, as the centre of the whole mental and psychical life of will, desire, thought, perception, and feeling (see Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychol. pp. 248ff., ed. 2). Through this sign his anointing as king was to be inwardly sealed.