1 Samuel 10:2 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 10:1-8

Samuel is here executing the office of a prophet, giving Saul full assurance from God that he should be king, as he was afterwards, according to these prophecies which went before of him. I. He anointed him and kissed him, 1 Sam. 10:1. This was not done in a solemn assembly, but it was done by divine appointment, which made up the want of all external solemnities, nor was it ever the less valid for its being done in private, under a hedge, or, as the Jews say, by a fountain. God's institutions... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 10:2

When thou art departed from me today ,.... Not as soon as he was departed, for he had some few miles to go from Ramah to Rachel's grave near Bethlehem: thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre, in the border of Benjamin, at Zelzah ; the Jews move a difficulty here, that Rachel's sepulchre should be said to be in the border of Benjamin, when it was by Bethlehemephrath, in the tribe of Judah, Genesis 35:19 and which they solve by observing, that these men were now, at the time... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 10:2

Rachel ' s sepulcher - This was nigh to Bethlehem. See Genesis 35:19 . At Zelzah - If this be the name of a place, nothing is known of it. The Hebrew בצלצח betseltsach is translated by the Septuagint ἁλλομενους μεγαλα , dancing greatly: now this may refer to the joy they felt and expressed on finding the asses, or it may refer to those religious exultations, or playing on instruments of music, mentioned in the succeeding verses. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 10:1-8

Supports to faith and duty. The facts are— 1 . Samuel privately anoints Saul as the chosen of God. 2 . He gives him four signs of the Divine sanction of the act of anointing. 3 . He instructs him on the completion of the signs to act on his own judgment, with the assurance that God is his helper. 4 . He finally directs him to wait at Gilgal for himself, there to receive further guidance. The course taken by Samuel was the natural completion of his protracted intercourse... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 10:2

The first sign— Thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre. In Jeremiah 31:15 (quoted in Matthew 2:18 ) Rachel's sepulchre is connected with Ramah, but in Genesis 35:19 it is placed near Bethlehem. The whole of the geography of Saul's wanderings is very obscure, but Wilson ('Lands of the Bible,' 1:401) places Zelzah at Beit-jala, to the west of Bethlehem, in the neighbourhood of the Kabhet Rahil, or Tomb of Rachel, Though both are now in the tribe of Judah, yet by a slight... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 10:2

How should Saul know that what Samuel said was the word of the Lord? Samuel gives him a sign, “Thou shalt find two men,” etc. (Compare Judges 6:36-40; Isaiah 7:11-14; John 6:30; Mark 11:2; Mark 14:13, etc.)Zelzah - A place absolutely unknown. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Samuel 10:2

1 Samuel 10:2. By Rachel’s sepulchre In the way to Beth-lehem, which city was in Judah; her sepulchre might be either in Judah, or in Benjamin; for the possessions of those two tribes were bordering one upon another. The first place he directs him to was a sepulchre, the sepulchre of one of his ancestors. There he must read a lecture of his own mortality, and, now he had a crown in his eye, must think of his grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the dust. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 10:1-16

Samuel’s prediction about Saul (9:1-10:16)Saul, who became Israel’s first king, originally had no desire for political power and little interest in the spiritual ministry of Samuel. As the son of a wealthy landowner, he was more concerned about the loss of his father’s donkeys, and the worry he might cause his father by being away so long in search of them (9:1-5). This concern led him to seek help from Samuel. He thought that Samuel, with his ability to see visions and make predictions, could... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 Samuel 10:2

thou shalt find . Three signs given (compare Mark 14:3 ) to indicate the coming change. men. Hebrew. 'enosh. App-14 . Rachel's sepulchre . Compare Genesis 35:20 . lo . Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6 . read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 10:2

2. When thou art departed from me to-day—The design of these specific predictions of what should be met with on the way, and the number and minuteness of which would arrest attention, was to confirm Saul's reliance on the prophetic character of Samuel, and lead him to give full credence to what had been revealed to him as the word of God. Rachel's sepulchre—near Beth-lehem (see on :-). Zelzah—or Zelah, now Bet-jalah, in the neighborhood of that town. read more