1 Samuel 9:21 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 9:21
And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?
a family · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
least
הַצְּעִרָ֔הha.tze.'i.Rah
H6810
little · definite article + adjective, feminine singular absolute
families
מִשְׁפְּח֖וֹתmish.pe.Chot
H4940
a family · noun, common feminine plural construct
tribe
שִׁבְטֵ֣יshiv.Tei
H7626
a scion · noun, common masculine plural construct
Benjamin
בִנְיָמִ֑ןvin.ya.Min
H1144
Binjamin · proper noun, a man's name
speakest
דִּבַּ֣רְתָּdi.Bar.ta
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
so
כַּדָּבָ֖רka.da.Var
H1697
a word · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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 15:17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee k…
Judges 20:46-48 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.
Psalms 68:27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
Luke 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of C…
Judges 6:14-15 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent th…
1 Samuel 10:27 But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.
1 Samuel 18:18 And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 9:18–end
Providence having at length brought Samuel and Saul together, we have here an account of what passed between them in the gate, at the feast, and in private.
I. In the gate of the city; passing through that, Saul found him (Sa1 9:18), and, little thinking that he was Samuel himself, asked him the way to Samuel's house: Tell me where the seer's house is; for there he expected to find him. See how mean a figure Samuel made, though so great a man: he took not any state, had no attendants, no ensigns of honour carried before him, nor any distinguishing habit, no, not when he went to church, but appeared, in all respects, so much a common person that Saul, though he was told he should meet him, ne…
And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, &c.--By selecting a king from this least and nearly extinct tribe (Jdg 20:46-48), divine wisdom designed to remove all grounds of jealousy among the other tribes.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 9:21
Am not I a Benjamite - This speech of Saul is exceedingly modest; he was now becomingly humble; but who can bear elevation and prosperity? The tribe of Benjamin had not yet recovered its strength, after the ruinous war it had with the other tribes, Judges 20:29-46.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 9:21
And Saul answered and said, am not I a Benjamite,.... Or the son of Jemini, the name of one of his ancestors, see 1 Samuel 9:1 or rather, as the Targum, a son of the tribe of Benjamin:
of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? having been greatly reduced, even to the number of six hundred men, by the fatal war between that tribe and the rest, on account of the Levite's concubine, and is called little Benjamin, Psalm 68:27.
and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? the smallest in number, had the least share of authority in the tribe, and of land and cattle, wealth and substance:
wherefore then speakest thou so to me? Saul presently understood Samuel's meaning, t…
The Church Fathers
But every elect person, when he hears great things about himself, brings his own weaknesses to mind, so that he may guard himself against pride, lest he lose the good things he has. Hence it is added: Saul answered and said: "Am I not a son of Gemini, of the least tribe of Israel, and is not my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken this word to me?" As if he were saying: Why do you ascribe such great things to me, when I am nothing? For he is a son of Gemini who imitates the negligent in the care of himself and in the example of his neighbor. He is indeed a twin, because while he neglects the care of himself, he does not bestow examples of good work upon others. Therefore whoever imitates such people is called a son of Gemini. He is said to be from the smallest tribe of Israel, because the last order of the holy Church is that of converted sinners. Rightly therefore, he who confesses himself to be a sinner is said to be from the smallest tribe of Israel. His family is also reported to be the last among the others, because according to the voice of Truth: "Whoever breaks the least commandment shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19). For Benjamin means "son of the right hand." By this name indeed the people of the holy Church are designated, who, while being born in the faith of the Redeemer, are prepared through good works for the goods of the heavenly fatherland. The right hand of God is indeed that strength of eternal life. The families of the tribe of Benjamin are the diverse ways of life of the elect. For just as diverse families come from one principle of generation, so from the one origin of orthodox faith, many ways of life of the faithful arise. Therefore holy men, when they cast themselves down through humility, because they confess themselves to be sinners, and yet rightly believe in God, assert themselves to be, as it were, both sons of Gemini and of the last family of Israel. But because the more they humble themselves, according to the voice of Truth, the more they are exalted (Luke 14:10–11).
I will give you a proof of what I maintain, from the case of a kingdom, which does not weigh as heavily with God as the priesthood. Saul, that son of Kish, was not himself at all ambitious of becoming a king but was going in quest of his asses and came to ask the prophet about them. The prophet, however, proceeded to speak to him of the kingdom, but not even then did he run greedily after it, though he heard about it from a prophet, but drew back and deprecated it, saying, "Who am I, and what is my father's house?" What then? When he made a bad use of the honor which had been given him by God, were those words of his able to rescue him from the wrath of him who had made him king? And was he able to say to Samuel, when rebuked by him: "Did I greedily run and rush after the kingdom and sovereign power? I wished to lead the undisturbed and peaceful life of ordinary men, but you dragged me to this post of honor. Had I remained in my low estate, I should easily have escaped all these stumbling blocks, for if I were one of the obscure multitude, I should never have been set forth on this expedition, nor would God have committed to my hands the war against the Amalekites, and if I had not had it committed to me, I should not have sinned this sin." But all such arguments are weak as excuses, and not only weak but perilous, inasmuch as they rather kindle the wrath of God. For he who has been promoted to great honor by God must not advance the greatness of his honor as an excuse for his errors but should make God's special favor toward him the motive for further improvement; whereas he who thinks himself at liberty to sin because he has obtained some uncommon dignity, what does he but study to show that the lovingkindness of God is the cause of his personal transgression, which is always the argument of those who lead godless and careless lives. But we ought to be on no account thus minded, nor to fall away into the insane folly of such people, but be ambitious at all times to make the most of such powers as we have, and to be reverent both in speech and thought.
Dictionary and topics
Herdsman — In Egypt herdsmen were probably of the lowest caste. Some of Joseph’s brethren were made rulers over Pharaoh’s cattle (Gen. 47:6, 17). The Israelites were known in Egypt as “keepers of cattle;” and…
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…
Benjamin · .Its rank during the time of Samuel — .Its rank during the time of Samuel
Modesty · .Saul — .Saul
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).
The thread of the narrative, which was broken off in Sa1 9:15, is resumed in Sa1 9:18. Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and asked him for the seer's house. The expression השּׁער בּתוך is used to define more precisely the general phrase in Sa1 9:14, העיר בּתוך בּאים; and there is no necessity to alter העיר in Sa1 9:14 into השּׁער, as Thenius proposes, for העיר בּתוך כּוא does not mean to go (or be) in the middle of the town, as he imagines, but to go into, or enter, the town; and the entrance to the town was through the gate.
Sa1 9:19-21
Samuel replied, "I am the seer: go up before me to the high place, and eat with me to-day; and to-morrow I will send thee away, and make known to thee a…
the smallest tribe: Saul tried to downplay Benjamin’s prominence, but they were powerful warriors (Judg 20:14-31; cp. study note on 1 Sam 10:17). What better tribe to lead in battle? • least important of all the families: Cp. 9:1.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 9:20
But for whom does all of Yisroel desire? Here he [Shmuel] hints to him the matter of the kingship.