I Samuel 9:6
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
“Look,” said the servant, “in this city there is a man of God who is highly respected; everything he says surely comes to pass. Let us go there now. Perhaps he will tell us which way to go.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Samuel had promised Israel, from God, that they should have a king; it is strange that the next news is not of candidates setting up for the government, making an interest in the people, or recommending themselves to Samuel, and, by him, to God, to be put in nomination. Why does not the prince of the tribe of Judah, whoever he is, look about him now, remembering Jacob's entail of the sceptre on that tribe? Is there never a bold aspiring man in Israel, to say, "I will be king, if God will choose me?" No, none appears, whether it is owing to a culpable mean-spiritedness or a laudable humility I know not; but surely it is what can scarcely be paralleled in the history of any kingdom; a crown, such a crown, set up, and nobody bids for it. Most governments began in the ambition of the prince to rule, but Israel's in the ambition of the people to be ruled. Had any of those elders who petitioned for a king afterwards petitioned to be king, I should have suspected that person's ambition to have been at the bottom of the motion; but now (let them have the praise of what was good in them) it was not so. God having, in the law, undertaken to choose their king (Deu 17:15), they all sit still, till they hear from heaven, and that they do in this chapter, which begins the story of Saul, their first king, and, by strange steps of Providence, brings him to Samuel to be anointed privately, and so to be prepared for an election by lot, and a public commendation to the people, which follows in the next chapter. Here is, I. A short account of Saul's parentage and person (Sa1 9:1, Sa1 9:2). II. A large and particular account of the bringing of him to Samuel, to whom he had been before altogether a stranger. 1. God, by revelation, had told Samuel to expect him (Sa1 9:15, Sa1 9:16). 2. God, b…
Open source ↗9:6 The phrase man of God was used to describe a prophet (2:27; also Deut 33:1; Josh 14:6; 1 Kgs 13:1-32).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.
This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.
But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless our conduct was among you who believed.
Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house?
“Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.
who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another.