Jesus: From Genesis to Revelation

Day 1: Saul Chosen -- Tall, Handsome, Anointed, and the Spirit Rushes Upon Him

Reading

Historical Context

The narrative of Saul’s selection begins with a genealogy that signals prestige. Kish is described as a gibbor chayil – a “mighty man of wealth” or “man of standing” – a phrase the Old Testament reserves for men of military and economic significance (1 Samuel 9:1). His son Saul is introduced with the Hebrew adjective gavoah, tall, standing literally “from his shoulders upward above all the people” (1 Samuel 9:2). The narrator lingers on this detail with an emphasis that borders on irony. Israel has asked for a king “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5), and God gives them exactly what the nations would choose: the tallest man in the room. In the ancient Near East, physical stature was considered a sign of divine favor and fitness for rule. Egyptian pharaohs were depicted as towering over their subjects. Mesopotamian kings were described in similar terms. Israel is getting the king every nation would want.

The anointing ritual Samuel performs is deeply significant. The Hebrew verb mashach – “to anoint” – gives us the noun mashiach, “anointed one,” from which the English “Messiah” derives. In the ancient Near East, anointing with oil was a consecration ritual that set apart kings, priests, and prophets for divine service. The oil symbolized the Spirit of God being poured out on the individual for a specific task. When Samuel pours the flask of oil on Saul’s head and kisses him (1 Samuel 10:1), he is performing the first royal anointing in Israel’s history – an act that will create a typological chain running all the way to Jesus of Nazareth, whom Peter will declare “both Lord and Christ [Messiah]” (Acts 2:36).

The Spirit of God – ruach elohim – then “rushes upon” Saul (1 Samuel 10:10). The Hebrew verb tsalach conveys a sudden, overwhelming surge of divine power. The same verb is used of the Spirit’s empowerment of Samson (Judges 14:6, 19; 15:14). Saul prophesies among the prophets, a transformation so startling that bystanders coin a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1 Samuel 10:11). The question carries an undertone of disbelief. The Spirit’s presence is unmistakable, but as Saul’s story will demonstrate, the Spirit’s empowerment does not guarantee the recipient’s faithfulness. Gifting and character are not the same category.

The selection at Mizpah unfolds by lot – the urim – a method Israel understood as God’s direct choice. Yet when the lot falls on Saul, he is nowhere to be found. He is hiding among the baggage (1 Samuel 10:22). The Hebrew word kelim (“vessels, equipment, baggage”) is almost comically mundane. The king God has chosen is crouching behind the luggage. Some interpreters read this as humility; others see the first sign of a man who will consistently fail to step into the role God has assigned him. The text does not resolve the ambiguity. It simply presents the image and lets the reader decide – and then remember later, when this same king will be unable to face a giant, while a shepherd boy runs toward him.

The chapter closes with a divided response. Most of the people shout “Long live the king!” but some “worthless fellows” – bene beliyya’al, literally “sons of worthlessness” – despise Saul and refuse to bring tribute (1 Samuel 10:27). The kingdom begins with a fracture already present.

Christ in This Day

Saul is Israel’s first mashiach – anointed one – and as such he establishes a typological pattern that every subsequent king will either fulfill or fail. The anointing, the Spirit’s empowerment, the public presentation before the people: these are the marks of the Lord’s chosen ruler. But Saul’s story will demonstrate that the first anointed king is a shadow that points to its own inadequacy. He receives the Spirit, but the Spirit will depart from him (1 Samuel 16:14). He is presented before the people, but he is hiding among the baggage. He is chosen by lot, but he was never chosen by heart. The entire narrative functions as a negative preparation for the true Anointed One – the Messiah who will receive the Spirit “without measure” (John 3:34) and from whom the Spirit will never depart.

The contrast between Saul’s selection and Christ’s appearance is theologically deliberate. Israel chose Saul because he looked like a king – tall, handsome, imposing. Paul will later write to the Corinthians about God’s counter-principle: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). Isaiah’s portrait of the Suffering Servant inverts every criterion that made Saul attractive: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). The king Israel wanted was tall. The King God sent was a carpenter from Nazareth who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Furthermore, where Saul hides among the baggage when called, Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Where Saul receives the anointing of kingship but will grasp at the priest’s office, Christ is “designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:10) – holding both offices legitimately because both were given, not seized. The author of Hebrews is careful to note that “Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son’” (Hebrews 5:5). Saul’s story begins with anointing and ends with rejection. Christ’s anointing – by the Spirit descending like a dove at the Jordan – inaugurates a kingdom that will never end.

Key Themes

Connections

Old Testament Roots

The anointing of Saul echoes the consecration of Aaron and his sons for priestly service (Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12), but it introduces a new category: the anointed king. Moses had predicted this moment: “When you come to the land… and you say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me’” (Deuteronomy 17:14). The Deuteronomic law of the king specified what such a ruler must and must not do – conditions Saul will violate almost immediately. The Spirit “rushing upon” Saul recalls the charismatic empowerment of the judges (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 14:6), suggesting that at this stage the king functions as another judge – raised up for deliverance, empowered by the Spirit for a specific task.

New Testament Echoes

Acts 13:21-22 summarizes Saul’s reign in a single sentence: “God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David as their king.” The brevity is the verdict – Saul’s reign is a parenthesis between the request and the answer. Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan (Matthew 3:16-17), where the Spirit descends and the Father speaks, is the ultimate royal anointing – the mashach that Saul’s oil prefigured but could not accomplish.

Parallel Passages

Judges 21:25 (“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”) provides the narrative context for Israel’s demand. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 provides the legal framework for kingship. Psalm 2:2 speaks of the LORD and “his Anointed” (meshicho) in terms that transcend any single historical king and find their fulfillment in Christ.

Reflection Questions

  1. Israel chose Saul because he looked like a king. Where in your own life do you evaluate people – leaders, pastors, friends – by external criteria rather than by the orientation of their hearts? What would it look like to adopt God’s counter-principle from 1 Samuel 16:7?

  2. The Spirit rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied among the prophets. Yet this same Spirit-empowered man will fail catastrophically. What does Saul’s story teach about the difference between spiritual gifting and spiritual maturity? How do you guard against confusing the two?

  3. Saul hides among the baggage when he is called. Where are you hiding from a calling or responsibility God has placed before you? What would it mean to step out from behind the luggage?

Prayer

Father, you chose Saul and anointed him, and for a moment the Spirit’s power made everything look right. But we know where this story leads – to a king who hides when he should stand, who grasps when he should wait, who performs when he should obey. Teach us not to trust appearances, not to confuse gifting with faithfulness, not to mistake height for heart. We thank you that in the fullness of time you sent your true Anointed One – not tall by the world’s measure, not impressive by the world’s standards, but the one on whom your Spirit rested without measure and from whom it would never depart. Shape us into people who do not hide from your calling but walk toward it, even when the cost is high, because we follow a King who set his face toward Jerusalem and did not turn back. In the name of Jesus, your Messiah. Amen.