1 Samuel 13:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 13:10
And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.
to end · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
offering
לְהַעֲל֣וֹתle.ha.'a.Lot
H5927
to ascend · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
offering
הָעֹלָ֔הha.'o.Lah
H5930
a step or (collectively · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Samuel
שְׁמוּאֵ֖לshe.mu.'El
H8050
Shemuel · proper noun, a man's name
came
בָּ֑אBa'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Saul
שָׁא֛וּלsha.'Ul
H7586
Shaul · proper noun, a man's name
out
וַיֵּצֵ֥אvai.ye.Tze'
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
meet
קִרְאָהqirʼâh
H7125
an encountering
salute
לְבָרֲכֽוֹle.va.ra.Kho
H1288
to kneel · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
Ruth 2:4 And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.
Psalms 129:8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 13:8-14
Here is, I. Saul's offence in offering sacrifice before Samuel came. Samuel, when he anointed him, had ordered him to tarry for him seven days in Gilgal, promising that, at the end of those days, he would be sure to come to him, and both offer sacrifices for him and direct him what he should do. This we had Sa1 10:8. Perhaps that order, though inserted there, was given him afterwards, or was given him as a general rule to be observed in every public congress at Gilgal, or, as is most probable, though not mentioned again, was lately repeated with reference to this particular occasion; for it is plain that Saul himself understood it as obliging him from God now to stay till Samuel came, else h…
SAUL, WEARY OF WAITING FOR SAMUEL, SACRIFICES. (Sa1 13:9-16)
Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings--Saul, though patriotic enough in his own way, was more ambitious of gaining the glory of a triumph to himself than ascribing it to God. He did not understand his proper position as king of Israel; and although aware of the restrictions under which he held the sovereignty, he wished to rule as an autocrat, who possessed absolute power both in civil and sacred things. This occasion was his first trial. Samuel waited till the last day of the seven, in order to put the constitutional character of the king to the test; and, as Saul, in his impatient and passionate has…
Behold, Samuel came - Samuel was punctual to his appointment; one hour longer of delay would have prevented every evil, and by it no good would have been lost. How often are the effects of precipitation fatal!
John Gill on 1 Samuel 13:10
And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burn offering,.... And before he could offer the peace offerings:
behold, Samuel came; and it was told Saul that he was come:
and Saul went out to meet him; left off sacrificing, and would proceed no further, leaving the rest for Samuel and out of respect to him, and to prevent a chiding of him, he went forth to meet him:
that he might salute him, or "bless him" (c); congratulate him on his coming, ask of his health and welfare, and wish him all peace and prosperity.
(c) "ad benedicendum ei", Montanus.
The Church Fathers
15. In this passage it must be considered with a trembling heart how, by neglecting to wait for the briefest time, he was rejected. "When he had completed the burnt offering," it says, "behold, Samuel was coming." If therefore he had waited for him only for the very briefest interval of time during which he offered the burnt offering, he could have securely obtained the strength of his kingdom. And so if the punishment is so great when a prophet is despised, what do we think is incurred from that ocean of divine judgment when the divine precepts themselves are disregarded? And because the delight of the flesh passes in a moment, and every commission of sins, and indeed the hour of transgression is brief, yet the punishment for the crime is not brief; because while we raise up the kingdom of sin in ourselves for a moment, we lose those kingdoms of all ages. For immediately after sin the prophetic word comes to rebuke — which would have been present, had we not sinned, to strengthen us in good. Indeed a polluted conscience now has the divine word against it; which, if it had avoided being polluted, aided by it and upheld, would have stood firm by its own strength. For what else does it spiritually signify to us when it is said: "And when he had completed offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel was coming"? Even if he had not offered the burnt offering, Samuel would have come nonetheless. So indeed when we are tempted, divine grace is near to help those who endure; near also is divine justice to condemn those who fail. Whence Sacred Scripture, exhorting us to wait, says: "If the spirit of one having power rises against you, do not quickly abandon your place" (Eccles. 10:4). Hence the prophet, testifying, says: "The Lord is my helper, and therefore I am not confounded" (Isa. 50:7). Hence the Psalmist, looking to those same nearby aids, says: "I set the Lord always in my sight, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be moved" (Ps. 15:8). But let us now hear what the prophet says to the one who did not wait, and what he who was unwilling to wait answers...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Samuel — Heard of God. The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly…
Saul — Asked for. (1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. (2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, “asked for”), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first…
Church And State · reproved — reproved
Gilgal · .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered — .An altar built at, and sacrifice offered
Presumption · .Saul, in sacrificing — .Saul, in sacrificing
Usurpation · .By King Saul, in assuming priestly functions — .By King Saul, in assuming priestly functions
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 13:8-15
Saul's untimely sacrifice. - Sa1 13:8, Sa1 13:9. Saul waited seven days for Samuel's coming, according to the time appointed by Samuel (see at Sa1 10:8), before proceeding to offer the sacrifices through which the help of the Lord was to be secured for the approaching campaign (see Sa1 13:12); and as Samuel did not come, the people began to disperse and leave him. The Kethib וייחל is either the Niphal ויּיּחל, as in Gen 8:12, or Piel וייחל; and the Keri ויּוחל (Hiphil) is unnecessary. The verb יעד may easily be supplied to שׁמוּאל אשׁר from the word למּועד (see Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 851).
Sa1 13:9
Saul then resolved, in his anxiety lest the people should lose all heart and forsake him altogether…
