1 Samuel 9:5

SAUL DECIDES TO CONSULT THE MAN OF GOD

"When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, "Come, let us go back, lest my father cease to care about the asses and become anxious about us." But he said to him, "Behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man that is held in honor; all that he says comes true. Let us go there; perhaps he can tell us about the journey on which we have set out." Then Saul said to his servant, "But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we"? The servant answered Saul again, "Here I have with me the fourth part of a shekel of silver, and I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way." (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer"; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer). And Saul said to his servant, "Well said; come, let us go." So they went to the city where the man of God was."

"When they came to the land of Zuph" (1 Samuel 9:5). "This was the territory in which Ramah was located."[7] It is assumed by most commentators that Samuel's home town of Ramah was the city to which Saul and his servant came on this journey; however, Keil denied this, pointing out that the text nowhere mentions `Ramah,' also writing that, "What town it really was cannot be determined."[8] Keil based his opinion upon the failure of the text specifically to mention the town's name; but Payne gives an adequate reason for that omission. He stressed the artistry of the narrator here and stated that, "The name `Ramah' was deliberately avoided, because the narrator did not wish to give it away too soon that a meeting with Samuel was about to take place."[9]

"All that he says comes true" (1 Samuel 9:6). "This was one of the two tests of a true prophet; the other was that the teaching of the prophet must be in keeping with the faith of Israel (Deuteronomy 18:21-22; 13:1-3)."[10]

"The fourth part of a shekel of silver" (1 Samuel 9:8). The silver shekels were sometimes cut into halves or quarters; and a quarter of this coin, much more valuable then than now, "Weighed approximately 2.5 grams, or one-tenth of an ounce,"[11] of pure silver.

"He who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer" (1 Samuel 9:9). This has nothing whatever to do with a late date for this narrative, because 1 Samuel 9:9 is freely admitted by all scholars to be a gloss, once a marginal comment that was accidentally included in the text. "The word `prophet' is the older and established word from the beginning of the O.T. to the end of it."[12]

Some writers have marveled that Saul's servant knew that a `man of God' was available in that city, whereas Saul seemed to be totally ignorant of it. This is easily explained. Saul and his servant were searching for lost animals, and there is no way that they would have remained side by side walking together in such a search. They would have separated in order to cover more area in their search.

Evidently, the servant had already encountered some of the citizens of that town (very probably Ramah), who had told him of Samuel's recent arrival in Ramah. He could hardly have known of `a man of God's' being there unless that had indeed happened. Of course, Saul did not know that, so his servant told him. It is amazing how often writers forget the abbreviated nature of such narratives as this.