1 Samuel 9:19

19 Samuel answered Saul and said, "I [am] the seer. Go up {ahead of me} to the high place, and you will eat with me today; then I will send you away in the morning. I will tell you all that [is] {on your mind}.

1 Samuel 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 9:19

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 F12 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 75. G.

1 Samuel 9:19 In-Context

17 When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh answered him, "Here [is] the man about whom I told you! This [is the] one [who] will govern my people."
18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the middle of the gate and said, "Please tell me, where [is] the house of the seer?"
19 Samuel answered Saul and said, "I [am] the seer. Go up {ahead of me} to the high place, and you will eat with me today; then I will send you away in the morning. I will tell you all that [is] {on your mind}.
20 And as for your female donkeys that were lost {three days ago}, {do not be concerned about them}, because they have been found. For whom [is] all the desire of Israel? Is it not for you and for all the house of your father?"
21 Saul answered and said, "[Am] I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the humblest of all the families of the tribes of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me {in this way}?"

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Literally "before my face"
  • [b]. Literally "in your heart"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.