10:1-8 The sacred anointing, then used, pointed at the great Messiah, or Anointed One, the King of the church, and High Priest of our profession, who was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, not by measure, but without measure, and above all the priests and princes of the Jewish church. For Saul's further satisfaction, Samuel gives him some signs which should come to pass the same day. The first place he directs him to, was the sepulchre of one of his ancestors; there he must be reminded of his own mortality, and now that he had a crown before him, must think of his grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the dust. From the time of Samuel there appears to have been schools, or places where pious young men were brought up in the knowledge of Divine things. Saul should find himself strongly moved to join with them, and should be turned into another man from what he had been. The Spirit of God changes men, wonderfully transforms them. Saul, by praising God in the communion of saints, became another man, but it may be questioned if he became a new man.

Verse 8. - Thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal. We find in 1 Samuel 13:8-13 a meeting at Gilgal so exactly parallel to what is arranged here that we cannot help looking upon this, again, as a sort of sign to be fulfilled at a later period. It is no argument against it that Gilgal was the place where in the mean while Saul was solemnly inaugurated king; for he was appointed in order that he might deliver Israel from the Philistines (1 Samuel 9:16), and we may feel sure that this grand purpose would form the subject of conversation between the prophet and the soldier, either on the house-top or the next morning. In this conversation Gilgal would be selected as the place where Saul would assemble Israel for the war of independence (so Rashi and other Jewish interpreters); and so great an enterprise must necessarily be begun with religious rites, and Saul was to wait a full week for the prophet's coming, both to try his faith, which ought to have been confirmed by the fulfilment of the three appointed signs, and in order that the war might be undertaken under the same holy auspices as his own election to the kingdom. The two years' interval, were it really so long, would give time for Saul's character to develop under the forcing influences of royalty, and it would then be proved, when he felt himself every inch a king, whether he was still as amenable to the Divine authority as when he was first summoned from obscurity to mount a kingly throne. But, really, the words in 1 Samuel 13:1 do not justify this conclusion, and most probably the occurrences mentioned in that chapter followed immediately upon Saul's confirmation as king.

And thou shall go down before me to Gilgal,.... Not immediately; for the first summons of the people, and of Saul, and the first meeting of them by Samuel, were at Mizpeh, where Saul was chosen by lot; nor the first time of Saul's being at Gilgal, when the kingdom was renewed; for Saul had no need to wait seven days there, since he and Samuel went together, 1 Samuel 11:14 rather at the second time of his being there, where not staying the time quite up, was reproved for it, which was two years after this, 1 Samuel 13:1, though it may be this was a general rule to be observed by Saul, that whenever anything turned up of importance to the children of Israel, and was a difficulty with him, he should go to Gilgal, and there wait seven days for Samuel, from the time he gave him notice of it, who would come at the appointed time, and would give him what advice and instructions were necessary; and this place was the rather appointed, because it was the place where the Israelites first pitched their camp when they came over Jordan, and where the tabernacle first was; and where prayer and sacrifices were wont to be made; and where the kingdom of Saul was renewed; and which lay convenient for all the tribes, both on the one and the other side of Jordan:

and, behold, I will come down to thee to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings; so he did when the kingdom was renewed, and Saul was confirmed in it, 1 Samuel 11:15 but two years after, Saul not staying the full time, he offered them himself by another, for which he was reproved, 1 Samuel 13:9.

seven days shalt thou tarry till I come to thee; either from the time of the notice he should give to Samuel of his going thither, or from the time of his arrival there; for it can by no means be understood as from the time of his present departure from him, for the reasons before given:

and show thee what thou shalt do; in the then present emergency or difficulty on his hands; and this he said to encourage him under the weight and burden of government laid upon him.

8. thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal—This, according to Josephus, was to be a standing rule for the observance of Saul while the prophet and he lived; that in every great crisis, such as a hostile incursion on the country, he should repair to Gilgal, where he was to remain seven days, to afford time for the tribes on both sides Jordan to assemble, and Samuel to reach it.

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