Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 113
1S
| 8:17–9:13
S am u el – K I N G S
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demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will
demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day
comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then
the Lord will not help you.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still
want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our
king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
So Samue l repeated to the Lord what the people had said, and the
Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed
and sent the people home.
There was a wealthy, influential man named Kish from the tribe of Benja
min. He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah,
of the tribe of Benjamin. His son Saul was the most handsome man in Is
rael—head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land.
One day Kish’s donkeys strayed away, and he told Saul, “Take a servant
with you, and go look for the donkeys.” So Saul took one of the servants
and traveled through the hill country of Ephraim, the land of Shalishah,
the Shaalim area, and the entire land of Benjamin, but they couldn’t find
the donkeys anywhere.
Finally, they entered the region of Zuph, and Saul said to his servant,
“Let’s go home. By now my father will be more worried about us than
about the donkeys!”
But the servant said, “I’ve just thought of something! There is a man of
God who lives here in this town. He is held in high honor by all the people
because everything he says comes true. Let’s go find him. Perhaps he can
tell us which way to go.”
“But we don’t have anything to offer him,” Saul replied. “Even our food
is gone, and we don’t have a thing to give him.”
“Well,” the servant said, “I have one small silver piece. We can at least
offer it to the man of God and see what happens!” (In those days if people
wanted a message from God, they would say, “Let’s go and ask the seer,”
for prophets used to be called seers.)
“All right,” Saul agreed, “let’s try it!” So they started into the town where
the man of God lived.
As they were climbing the hill to the town, they met some young women
coming out to draw water. So Saul and his servant asked, “Is the seer here
today?”
“Yes,” they replied. “Stay right on this road. He is at the town gates. He
has just arrived to take part in a public sacrifice up at the place of worship.
Hurry and catch him before he goes up there to eat. The guests won’t
begin eating until he arrives to bless the food.”