101 Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on his head and gave him a kiss and said, Is not the Lord with the holy oil making you ruler over Israel, his people? and you will have authority over the people of the Lord, and you will make them safe from the hands of their attackers round about them, and this will be the sign for you: 2 When you have gone away from me today, you will see two men by the resting-place of Rachel's body, in the land of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The asses which you went in search of have come back, and now your father, caring no longer for the asses, is troubled about you, saying, What am I to do about my son? 3 Then you are to go on from there, and when you come to the oak-tree of Tabor, you will see three men going up to God to Beth-el, one having with him three young goats and another three cakes of bread and another a skin full of wine: 4 They will say, Peace be with you, and will give you two cakes of bread, which you are to take from them. 5 After that you will come to Gibeah, the hill of God, where an armed force of the Philistines is stationed: and when you come to the town, you will see a band of prophets coming down from the high place with instruments of music before them; and they will be acting like prophets: 6 And the spirit of the Lord will come on you with power, and you will be acting like a prophet with them, and will be changed into another man. 7 And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you. 8 Then you are to go down before me to Gilgal, where I will come to you, for the offering of burned offerings and peace-offerings: go on waiting there for seven days till I come to you and make clear to you what you have to do.
9 And it came about, that when he went away from Samuel, God gave him a changed heart: and all those signs took place that day. 10 And when they came to Gibeah, a band of prophets came face to face with him; and the spirit of God came on him with power and he took his place among them as a prophet. 11 Now when Saul's old friends saw him among the band of prophets, the people said to one another, What has come to Saul, the son of Kish? Is even Saul among the prophets? 12 And one of the people of that place said in answer, And who is their father? So it became a common saying, Is even Saul among the prophets? 13 Then going away from the prophets, he came to the house. 14 And Saul's father's brother said to him and his servant, Where have you been? And he said, Searching for the asses: and when we saw no sign of them, we came to Samuel. 15 Then he said, And what did Samuel say to you? 16 And Saul, answering him, said, He gave us word that the asses had come back. But he said nothing to him of Samuel's words about the kingdom.
17 Then Samuel sent for the people to come together before the Lord at Mizpah; 18 And he said to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, I took Israel out of Egypt, and made you free from the hands of the Egyptians and from all the kingdoms which kept you down: 19 But today you are turned away from your God, who himself has been your saviour from all your troubles and sorrows; and you have said to him, Put a king over us. So now, take your places before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands. 20 So Samuel made all the tribes of Israel come near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. 21 Then he made the tribe of Benjamin come near by families, and the family of the Matrites was taken: and from them, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken: but when they went in search of him he was nowhere to be seen. 22 So they put another question to the Lord, Is the man present here? And the answer of the Lord was, He is keeping himself from view among the goods. 23 So they went quickly and made him come out; and when he took his place among the people, he was taller by a head than any of the people. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see the man of the Lord's selection, how there is no other like him among all the people? And all the people with loud cries said, Long life to the king! 25 Then Samuel gave the people the laws of the kingdom, writing them in a book which he put in a safe place before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26 And Saul went to Gibeah, to his house; and with him went the men of war whose hearts had been touched by God. 27 But certain good-for-nothing persons said, How is this man to be our saviour? And having no respect for him, they gave him no offering.
111 Then about a month after this, Nahash the Ammonite came up and put his forces in position for attacking Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make an agreement with us and we will be your servants. 2 And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, I will make an agreement with you on this condition, that all your right eyes are put out; so that I may make it a cause of shame to all Israel. 3 Then the responsible men of Jabesh said to him, Give us seven days, so that we may send men to every part of Israel: and then, if no one comes to our help, we will come out to you. 4 So they sent representatives to Saul's town Gibeah, and these gave the news to the people: and all the people gave themselves to weeping.
5 Now Saul came from the field, driving the oxen before him; and he said, Why are the people weeping? And they gave him word of what the men of Jabesh had said. 6 And at their words, the spirit of God came on Saul with power, and he became very angry. 7 And he took two oxen and, cutting them up, sent them through all the land of Israel by the hand of runners, saying, If any man does not come out after Saul and Samuel, this will be done to his oxen. And the fear of the Lord came on the people and they came out like one man. 8 And he had them numbered in Bezek: the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9 Then he said to the representatives who had come, Say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is high, you will be made safe. And the representatives came and gave the news to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10 So the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you. 11 Now on the day after, Saul put the people into three bands, and in the morning watch they came to the tents of the Ammonites, and they went on attacking them till the heat of the day: and those who were not put to death were put to flight in every direction, so that no two of them were together.
12 And the people said to Samuel, Who was it who said, Is Saul to be our king? give the men up, so that we may put them to death. 13 And Saul said, Not a man is to be put to death today: for today the Lord has made Israel safe. 14 Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal and there make the kingdom strong in the hands of Saul. 15 So all the people went to Gilgal; and there in Gilgal they made Saul king before the Lord; and peace-offerings were offered before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel were glad with great joy.
121 And Samuel said to all Israel, You see that I have given ear to everything you said to me, and have made a king over you. 2 And now, see, the king is before you: and I am old and grey-headed, and my sons are with you: I have been living before your eyes from my early days till now. 3 Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you. 4 And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man. 5 Then he said, The Lord is witness against you, and the man on whom he has put the holy oil is witness this day that you have seen no wrong in me. And they said, He is witness.
6 And Samuel said to the people, The Lord is witness, who gave authority to Moses and Aaron, and who took your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Keep your places now, while I take up the argument with you before the Lord, and give you the story of the righteousness of the Lord, which he has made clear by his acts to you and to your fathers. 8 When Jacob and his sons had come into Egypt, and were crushed by the Egyptians, the prayers of your fathers came up to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who took your fathers out of Egypt, and he put them into this place. 9 But they were false to the Lord their God, and he gave them up into the hands of Sisera, captain of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the king of Moab, who made war against them. 10 Then crying out to the Lord, they said, We have done evil, because we have been turned away from the Lord, worshipping the Baals and the Astartes: but now, make us safe from those who are against us and we will be your servants. 11 So the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and took you out of the power of those who were fighting against you on every side, and made you safe. 12 And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was coming against you, you said to me, No more of this; we will have a king for our ruler: when the Lord your God was your king. 13 Here, then, is the king marked out by you: the Lord has put a king over you. 14 If in the fear of the Lord you are his servants, hearing his voice and not going against the orders of the Lord, but being true to the Lord your God, you and the king ruling over you, then all will be well: 15 But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord, but go against his orders, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and against your king for your destruction, as it was against your fathers.
16 Now keep where you are and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not now the time of the grain cutting? My cry will go up to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain: so that you may see and be conscious of your great sin which you have done in the eyes of the Lord in desiring a king for yourselves. 18 So Samuel made prayer to the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people were in fear of the Lord and of Samuel. 19 And all the people said to Samuel, Make prayer for us to the Lord your God so that death may not overtake us: for in addition to all our sins we have done this evil, in desiring a king. 20 Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart; 21 And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false. 22 For the Lord will not give his people up, because of the honour of his name; for it was the Lord's pleasure to make of you a people for himself. 23 And as for me, never will I go against the orders of the Lord by giving up my prayers for you: but I will go on teaching you the good and right way. 24 Only go in the fear of the Lord, and be his true servants with all your heart, keeping in mind what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do evil, destruction will overtake you and your king.
37 And on the day after, when they came down from the mountain, a great band of people came to him. 38 And a man from among them, crying out, said, Master, I make a request to you, give a thought to my son, for he is my only child: 39 And see, a spirit takes him, and suddenly he gives a cry, twisted in pain and streaming at the lips, and when it goes away from him at last, he is marked as from blows. 40 And I made a request to your disciples to send it out of him, but they were not able to do it. 41 And Jesus said, O generation without faith and false in heart, how long will I have to be with you and put up with you? let your son come here. 42 And while he was coming, he was pushed violently down and twisted by the evil spirit. But Jesus gave sharp orders to the unclean spirit, and made the boy well, and gave him back to his father.
43 And they were full of wonder at the great power of God. But while they were all wondering at all the things which he did, he said to his disciples,
44 Let these words go deep into your ears, for the Son of man will be given up into the hands of men. 45 But this saying was not clear to them and its sense was kept secret from them so that they were not able to see it: and they had fear of questioning him about it.
46 Now there was a discussion among them about which of them would be the greatest. 47 But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their hearts, he took a small child and put him by his side, 48 And said to them, Whoever gives honour to this child in my name, gives honour to me: and whoever gives honour to me, gives honour to him who sent me: for whoever is least among you all, that man is great.
49 And John, answering, said, Master, we saw a man driving out evil spirits in your name, and we did not let him do it, because he was not one of us. 50 But Jesus said to him, Let him do it, for he who is not against you is for you.
51 And it came about that when the days were near for him to be taken up, his face was turned to go to Jerusalem, 52 And he sent men before: and they came to a small town of Samaria to make ready for him. 53 But they would not have him there, because he was clearly going to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, may we send fire from heaven and put an end to them? 55 But turning round he said sharp words to them. 56 And they went to another small town.
57 And when they were on the way, a certain man said to him, I will come after you wherever you go. 58 And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head. 59 And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father. 60 But he said to him, Let the dead take care of their dead; it is for you to go and give news of the kingdom of God. 61 And another man said, I will come with you, Lord, but first let me say a last good-day to those who are at my house. 62 But Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is good enough for the kingdom of God.
(Read Luke 9:37-42)
How deplorable the case of this child! He was under the power of an evil spirit. Disease of that nature are more frightful than such as arise merely from natural causes. What mischief Satan does where he gets possession! But happy those that have access to Christ! He can do that for us which his disciples cannot. A word from Christ healed the child; and when our children recover from sickness, it is comfortable to receive them as healed by the hand of Christ.
(Read Luke 9:43-50)
This prediction of Christ's sufferings was plain enough, but the disciples would not understand it, because it agreed not with their notions. A little child is the emblem by which Christ teaches us simplicity and humility. What greater honour can any man attain to in this world, than to be received by men as a messenger of God and Christ; and to have God and Christ own themselves received and welcomed in him! If ever any society of Christians in this world, had reason to silence those not of their own communion, the twelve disciples at this time had; yet Christ warned them not to do the like again. Those may be found faithful followers of Christ, and may be accepted of him, who do not follow with us.
(Read Luke 9:51-56)
The disciples did not consider that the conduct of the Samaritans was rather the effect of national prejudices and bigotry, than of enmity to the word and worship of God; and through they refused to receive Christ and his disciples, they did not ill use or injure them, so that the case was widely different from that of Ahaziah and Elijah. Nor were they aware that the gospel dispensation was to be marked by miracles of mercy. But above all, they were ignorant of the prevailing motives of their own hearts, which were pride and carnal ambition. Of this our Lord warned them. It is easy for us to say, Come, see our zeal for the Lord! and to think we are very faithful in his cause, when we are seeking our own objects, and even doing harm instead of good to others.
(Read Luke 9:57-62)
Here is one that is forward to follow Christ, but seems to have been hasty and rash, and not to have counted the cost. If we mean to follow Christ, we must lay aside the thoughts of great things in the world. Let us not try to join the profession of Christianity, with seeking after worldly advantages. Here is another that seems resolved to follow Christ, but he begs a short delay. To this man Christ first gave the call; he said to him, Follow me. Religion teaches us to be kind and good, to show piety at home, and to requite our parents; but we must not make these an excuse for neglecting our duty to God. Here is another that is willing to follow Christ, but he must have a little time to talk with his friends about it, and to set in order his household affairs, and give directions concerning them. He seemed to have worldly concerns more upon his heart than he ought to have, and he was willing to enter into a temptation leading him from his purpose of following Christ. No one can do any business in a proper manner, if he is attending to other things. Those who begin with the work of God, must resolve to go on, or they will make nothing of it. Looking back, leads to drawing back, and drawing back is to perdition. He only that endures to the end shall be saved.
