1 Samuel 9:19

And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) Go up before me unto the high place.—The desiring the young stranger to precede him to the public place of sacrifice was a sign of distinguished honour from one of Samuel’s rank to a young unknown wayfarer like Saul. These words of courteous respect were addressed to Saul alone: “Go thou up before me.” The prophet-judge then speaks to the two, Saul and his servant: “ye shall eat.” The verb here is in the plural, and invites both to the sacrificial banquet; and then again Samuel confines his words to Saul: “I will tell thee all”—“all that is in thine heart.” The seer informs him that on the morrow he proposes to make strange disclosures to this young man, who, all un knowing what lay before him, had just come up and accosted him, the aged judge and seer. Yes, he would on the morrow show this young Benjamite that he, Samuel, was indeed a seer; he would tell him all his secret thoughts and aspirations; as for those asses for whose fate he was so anxious, let him dismiss these from his thoughts altogether. They were already found. Far graver thoughts than the everyday weal and woe of a farm on Mount Ephraim had to be discussed on the morrow.

All the desire of Israel.—“All the desire of Israel,” or, as the Vulg. renders it, “optima quæque Israel,” “the best in Israel” (Luther). The words do not signify the desire of Israel—all that it desires—but all that it possesses of what is precious or worth desiring. The obscure dark words of the seer on this, the occasion of his first meeting with Saul, were intended to draw him away from thinking about the asses and the little matters which hitherto had filled his life, and to lift him up to higher thoughts and aspirations. The old seer’s words were vague and indefinite, certainly, but coming as they did from the lips of one so high in dignity, known to be the possessor of many a strange secret of futurity hid from the knowledge of mortal men, and holding out a prospect of undreamed of future glory for Saul, amazed the young man; and he, full of wonderment and awe, replied, “Speakest thou of such glories to me, a member of an unimportant family of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:18-27 Samuel, that good prophet, was so far from envying Saul, or bearing him any ill-will, that he was the first and most forward to do him honour. Both that evening and early the next morning, Samuel communed with Saul upon the flat roof of the house. We may suppose Samuel now convinced Saul that he was the person God had fixed upon for the government, and of his own willingness to resign. How different are the purposes of the Lord for us, from our intentions for ourselves! Perhaps Saul was the only one who ever went out to seek asses, and literally found a kingdom; but many have set out and moved their dwellings to seek riches and pleasures, who have been guided to places where they found salvation for their souls. Thus they have met with those who addressed them as if aware of the secrets of their lives and hearts, and have been led seriously to regard the word of the Lord. If this has been our case, though our worldly plans have not prospered, let us not care for that; the Lord has given us, or has prepared us for, what is far better.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines, etc. - These words are not very easily reconcileable with 1 Samuel 7:13. It is possible that the aggressive movements of the Philistines, after the long cessation indicated by 1 Samuel 7:13, coupled with Samuel's old age and consequent inability to lead them to victory as before, were among the chief causes which led to the cry for a king. If this were so the Philistine oppression glanced at in this verse might in a general survey be rather connected with Saul's times than with Samuel's.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18-20. Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is—Satisfying the stranger's inquiry, Samuel invited him to the feast, as well as to sojourn till the morrow; and, in order to reconcile him to the delay, he assured him that the strayed asses had been recovered.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Either all that thou desirest to know, as concerning the asses; or rather, the secret thoughts of thy heart, or such actions as none know but God and thy own heart; that so thou mayst be assured of the truth and certainty of that which I am to acquaint thee with. And this might be done, though it be not here particularly related.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer,.... For he supposed, by inquiring for his house, that his business was with him; wherefore this he said, not as boasting of his character and office, or in the pride and vanity of his mind, but merely for information sake:

go up before me unto the high place; instead of returning home with him, he invited him to go to the place of feasting, as the Targum, whither he was going to partake of the entertainment there; and he bids him go before him, either because he was an old man, and could not go his pace, or he had business to do by the way, or this was in honour to Saul, whom he knew was to be king of Israel:

for ye shall eat with me today; he and his servant, at the public feast: he insisted upon his dining, or it may be rather supping with him:

and tomorrow I will let thee go; for it being in the evening when this feast was, he could not depart that night, but must stay till morning, and then he promised to dismiss him:

and will tell thee all that is in thine heart; answer all questions he had in his mind to ask him, for which he came into the city, and inquired for his house. The Jews (l) have a tradition that it was in the heart of Saul that he should be a king, having in a vision seen himself placed on the top of a palm tree, which was a sign of royalty, and this Samuel told him.

(l) Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 75. G.

Geneva Study Bible

And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine {k} heart.

(k) Meaning, all that you desire to know.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. go up before me] Addressed to Saul only. The verb is in the singular. Saul is to precede Samuel as a mark of honour.

all that is in thine heart] Thine inmost thoughts and aspirations; not merely about the asses, which Samuel tells him at once. May we not suppose that Saul at his plough like Joan of Arc with her flock had been brooding over the oppression of his country, and cherishing a vague desire to liberate it?

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 19, 20. - Go up before me. Addressed in the singular to Saul, to whom, as the future king, Samuel pays every mark of honour. The next words, Ye shall eat, include Soul's servant. I will tell thee all, etc. Intended not merely to set Soul's mind at rest, but also to prepare him for the great news he was to hear. So, too, the information that the asses were found, given to him before he had even hinted at the object of his visit, would convince him of the reality of Samuel's prophetic powers. On whom is all the desire of Israel? Rather, "To whom belongs all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for thee, and for thy father's house?" The words were intended to indicate to Saul, though in an obscure manner, that the supreme power in Israel would be his. Why trouble about she-asses? They might be beautiful, and a valuable property for a husbandman;but he was about to become a king, to whom would belong everything that was best and most precious. 1 Samuel 9:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Samuel replied, "I am the seer: go up before me to the high place, and eat with me to-day; and to-morrow I will send thee away, and make known to thee all that is in thy heart." Letting a person go in front was a sign of great esteem. The change from the singular עלה to the plural אכלתּם may be explained on the ground that, whilst Samuel only spoke to Saul, he intended expressly to invite his servant to the meal as well as himself. "All that is in thine heart" does not mean "all that thou hast upon thy heart," i.e., all that troubles thee, for Samuel relieved him of all anxiety about the asses at once by telling him that they were found; but simply the thoughts of thy heart generally. Samuel would make these known to him, to prove to him that he was a prophet. He then first of all satisfied him respecting the asses (1 Samuel 9:20): "As for the asses that were lost to thee to-day three days (three days ago), do not set thy heart upon them (i.e., do not trouble thyself about them), for they are found." After this quieting announcement, by which he had convinced Saul of his seer's gift, Samuel directed Saul's thoughts to that higher thing which Jehovah had appointed for him: "And to whom does all that is worth desiring of Israel belong? Is it not to thee, and to all thy father's house?" "The desire of Israel" (optima quaeque Israel, Vulg.; "the best in Israel," Luther) is not all that Israel desires, but all that Israel possesses of what is precious or worth desiring (see Haggai 2:7). "The antithesis here is between the asses and every desirable thing" (Seb. Schmidt). Notwithstanding the indefinite character of the words, they held up such glorious things as in prospect for Saul, that he replied in amazement (1 Samuel 9:21), "Am not I a Benjaminite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family is the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin (בן שׁבטי is unquestionably a copyist's error for בן שׁבת); and how speakest thou such a word to me?" Samuel made no reply to this, as he simply wanted first of all to awaken the expectation in Saul's mind of things that he had never dreamt of before.