1 Samuel 10:17

SAMUEL ASSEMBLES THE PEOPLE AT MIZPAH

"Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah; and he said to the people of Israel, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, `I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.' But this day you have rejected your God, who saves you from your calamities, and your distresses; and you have said, `No! but set a king over us.' Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands."

This general assembly of the people was the occasion chosen by Samuel upon which God would indicate to all the people his choice of the one who would be their king. This procedure was absolutely necessary. God had already made known His choice to Samuel and to Saul, but the people of Israel had no knowledge of it.

"To the Lord at Mizpah" (1 Samuel 10:17). These words indicate that some special presence of God was then manifested at Mizpah. "Possibly the High Priest had been summonsed by Samuel to appear there with the Urim and Thummim."[13]

The purpose of this gathering was to confirm in the presence of all Israel the man whom God had selected to be their king.

This event simply runs the critical community wild. "Thenius and DeWette declare this account to be `incompatible' with the previous chapter, and find here `two different accounts' of Saul's selection."[14] Some have even accused Samuel of engineering a fraudulent casting of lots in the incident recorded here.

C. F. Keil explains why such charges are made. "Such arguments could only be used by critics who deny not only the inspiration of the prophets, but all influence of the living God upon the free actions of men."[15]

"Now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes" (1 Samuel 10:19). This was the procedure for the casting of lots, recalling what Israel did upon another occasion following the battle of Ai when Achan was discovered by lot (Joshua 7:16). Other examples of casting lot are in the Book of Jonah in which the mariners found the guilty Jonah and the example in the Book of Acts, in which the apostles selected a successor to Judas (Acts 1:26).