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Patriarchs and Prophets
prophet had already arrived, there was to be an offering upon “the high
place,” and after that a sacrificial feast. A great change had taken place
under Samuel’s administration. When the call of God first came to him
the services of the sanctuary were held in contempt. “Men abhorred
the offering of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 2:17
. But the worship of God
was now maintained throughout the land, and the people manifested
an interest in religious services. There being no ministration in the
tabernacle, sacrifices were for the time offered elsewhere; and the cities
of the priests and Levites, where the people resorted for instruction,
were chosen for this purpose. The highest points in these cities were
usually selected as the place of sacrifice, and hence were called “the
high places.”
At the gate of the city Saul was met by the prophet himself. God
had revealed to Samuel that at that time the chosen king of Israel would
present himself before him. As they now stood face to face, the Lord
said to Samuel, “Behold the man whom I spake to thee of! this same
shall reign over My people.”
To the request of Saul, “Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s house
is,” Samuel replied, “I am the seer.” Assuring him also that the lost
animals had been found, he urged him to tarry and attend the feast,
at the same time giving some intimation of the great destiny before
him: “On whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on
all thy father’s house?” The listener’s heart thrilled at the prophet’s
words. He could not but perceive something of their significance, for
the demand for a king had become a matter of absorbing interest to the
whole nation. Yet with modest self-depreciation Saul replied, “Am not
I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family
the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then
speakest thou so to me?”
Samuel conducted the stranger to the place of assembly, where the
principal men of the town were gathered. Among them, at the prophet’s
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direction, the place of honor was given to Saul, and at the feast the
choicest portion was set before him. The services over, Samuel took
his guest to his own home, and there upon the housetop he communed
with him, setting forth the great principles on which the government of
Israel had been established, and thus seeking to prepare him, in some
measure, for his high station.