Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 9:25
And when they were come down from the high place into the city, [Samuel] communed with Saul upon the top of the house.
25 10:8. Saul anointed by Samuel and promised three signs in confirmation of his call
25, 26. Samuel communed with Saul ] Preparing him for the announcement which he was going to make next morning. On the housetop they would be open to the public view so that all could see the honour Samuel shewed his guest, while they would have opportunity for undisturbed conversation. The Sept. however reads, “And he came down from the high place into the city: and they prepared a bed for Saul on the housetop and he slept. And it came to pass, &c.” This may perhaps represent the original text, for it seems strange to say first “they arose early,” and then proceed to describe Samuel’s calling Saul. The flat roof of an oriental house is still “resorted to for business, relaxation, or for sleeping During a large part of he year it is the most agreeable place about the establishment, especially in the morning and evening.” See Thomson’s Land and the Book, p. 39 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 25. Upon the top of the house.] All the houses in the East were flat-roofed; on these people walked, talked, and frequently slept, for the sake of fresh and cooling air.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Samuel communed with Saul, concerning the kingdom designed to him by God, and his duty to expect it patiently, till God actually called him to it; and to administer it piously, and justly, and valiantly.
The top of the house was flat, after the manner, Deu 22:8; and so fit for walking, and for secret prayers, Dan 6:10; Act 10:9, or any private and familiar discourses among friends.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25-27. Samuel communed with Saulupon the top of the houseSaul was taken to lodge with theprophet for that night. Before retiring to rest, they communed on theflat roof of the house, the couch being laid there (Jos2:6), when, doubtless, Samuel revealed the secret and describedthe peculiar duties of a monarch in a nation so related to the DivineKing as Israel. Next morning early, Samuel roused his guest, andconveying him on his way towards the skirts of the city, sought,before parting, a private interviewthe object of which isnarrated in the next chapter.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when they came down from the high place into the city,…. After the feast was ended; and though Ramah itself was situated on an eminence, yet it seems this high place was higher than that, being without the city upon an hill, and therefore they are said to come down from the one to the other; or they came down from the high place, and then ascended the hill to the city:
Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house: of Samuel’s house; when they were come thither, Samuel took Saul up to the roof of his house, which was flat, as the roofs of houses in this country were; see
De 22:8 on which they could walk to and fro, and converse together; hence you read of preaching and praying on housetops, Mt 10:27 what they communed about is not said, but may be guessed at, that it was about Saul’s being made king; of the certainty of it, by divine designation; of the manner of executing that office wisely and justly; about the objections Saul had made of the smallness of his tribe and family; and of Samuel’s willingness to resign the government to him, with other things of the like kind.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When the sacrificial meal was over, Samuel and Saul went down from the high place into the town, and he (Samuel) talked with him upon the roof (of the house into which Samuel had entered). The flat roofs of the East were used as placed of retirement for private conversation (see at Deu 22:8). This conversation did not refer of course to the call of Samuel to the royal dignity, for that was not made known to him as a word of Jehovah till the following day (1Sa 9:27); but it was intended to prepare him for that announcement: so that O. v. Gerlach ‘s conjecture is probably the correct one, viz., that Samuel “talked with Saul concerning the deep religious and political degradation of the people of God, the oppression of the heathen, the causes of the inability of the Israelites to stand against these foes, the necessity for a conversion of the people, and the want of a leader who was entirely devoted to the Lord.”
(Note: For the lxx have , “they prepared Saul a bed upon the house, and he slept,” from which Clericus conjectured that these translators had read ( or ); and Ewald and Thenius propose to alter the Hebrew text in this way. But although (1Sa 9:26) no doubt presupposes that Saul had slept in Samuel’s house, and in fact upon the roof, the remark of Thenius, “that the private conversation upon the roof (1Sa 9:25) comes too early, as Saul did not yet know, and was not to learn till the following day, what was about to take place,” does not supply any valid objection to the correctness of the Masoretic text, or any argument in favour of the Septuagint rendering or interpretation, since it rests upon an altogether unfounded and erroneous assumption, viz., that Samuel had talked with Saul about his call to the throne. Moreover, “the strangeness” of the statement in 1Sa 9:26, “they rose up early,” and then “when the morning dawned, Samuel called,” etc., cannot possibly throw any suspicion upon the integrity of the Hebrew text, as this “strangeness” vanishes when we take as a more precise definition of . The Septuagint translators evidently held the same opinion as their modern defenders. They took offence at Samuel’s private conversation with Saul, because he did not make known to him the word of God concerning his call to the throne till the next morning; and, on the other hand, as their rising the next morning is mentioned in 1Sa 9:26, they felt the absence of any allusion to their sleeping, and consequently not only interpreted by a conjectural emendation as standing for rof , because is used in Pro 7:16 to signify the spreading of mats or carpets for a bed, but also identified with , and rendered it . At the same time, they did not reflect that the preparation of the bed and their sleeping during the night were both of them matters of course, and there was consequently no necessity to mention them; whereas Samuel’s talking with Saul upon the roof was a matter of importance in relation to the whole affair, and one which could not be passed over in silence. Moreover, the correctness of the Hebrew text is confirmed by all the other ancient versions. Not only do the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic follow the Masoretic text, but Jerome does the same in the rendering adopted by him, “ Et locutus est cum Saule in solario. Cumque mane surrexissent; ” though the words “ stravitque Saul in solario et dormivit ” have been interpolated probably from the Itala into the text of the Vulgate which has come down to us.)
1Sa 9:26-27 “ And they rose up early in the morning: namely, when the morning dawn arose, Samuel called to Saul upon the roof (i.e., he called from below within the house up to the roof, where Saul was probably sleeping upon the balcony; cf. 2Ki 4:10), Get up, I will conduct thee.” As soon as Saul had risen, “ they both ( both Samuel and Saul) went out (into the street).” And when they had gone down to the extremity of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “ Let the servant pass on before us ( and he did so), and do thou remain here for the present; I will show thee a word of God.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(25) And when they were come down.After the public sacrificial meal at which such signal honours had been shown to the Benjamite stranger and his servant, the prophet-judge detained Saul from continuing his journey homewards, and persuaded him to remain as his guest that night at Ramah. He conducted him to the flat roof of his house, often the favourite locality in the East for quiet conversation or rest, and where frequently the honoured guest was lodged for the night: there the prophet had a long interview with his young guest, The conversation that evening probably did not turn upon the royal dignity, so soon to be conferred on Saul; of that Samuel spoke at length, we know, on the following morning. The solemn words of the old man that evening on the house-top in Ramah of the Watchers referred, no doubt, to the sad religious and political decline of the people of God, from which he (Samuel) had laboured, not unsuccessfully, to rescue them, to the opposition of the heathen nations, the causes of the impotency of Israel to oppose their enemies, the necessity of a religious change in the people, and of a leader thoroughly obedient to the Lord.Otto von Gerlach, quoted in Lange. It has been suggested that this conversation was the connecting link between that on the height (1Sa. 9:19-20) and the communication which Samuel made to Saul the following morning. The LXX. reads here, instead of communed with Saul on the top of the house, they strewed a couch for Saul on the top of the house, and he lay down. But the Chaldee and Syriac Versions agree with the Hebrew text. The strange LXX. variation is apparently a correction. These Greek translators could not understand a conversation of the prophet and Saul taking place in the evening, when the announcement of the crown was made so formally on the following morning. Why did Samuel not tell Saul of Gods intention during that evening spent together?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. From the high place into the city So the place of this sacrifice was outside of the city, and apparently on a hill overhanging it. Communed with Saul upon the top of the house The flat roofs of oriental houses were places of evening recreation as well as sleeping places. Otto Von Gerlach supposes that the topics of this conversation upon the roof were “the deep religious and political degradation of the people of God, the oppression by the heathen, the causes of the inability of the Israelites to stand before their foes, the necessity for a conversion of the people, and the want of a leader who was entirely devoted to God.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 9:25. When they were come down from the high place, &c. The Vulgate adds at the close of this verse, and Saul prepared him a bed on the top of the house and slept; which Houbigant approves. We refer to his note. He renders the whole thus: Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house, and Saul prepared him a bed there and slept; 1Sa 9:26. Then about the spring of the day, Samuel called Saul at the top of the house, saying, Arise, &c. Houbigant’s criticism is justified by the following remark: At Aleppo, says the author of the Observations, they sleep in the summer on the tops of houses, and they do the same in Judea. Thus Egmont and Heyman inform us, that at Caipha, at the foot of mount Carmel, the houses are small and have flat roofs, where, during the summer, the inhabitants sleep in arbours made of the boughs of trees. They also mention tents of rushes on the terraces of the houses at Tiberias, which are doubtless for the same purpose, though they do not say so. Dr. Pococke in like manner tells us, that when he was at Tiberias in Galilee, he was entertained by the sheik’s steward, the sheik himself having much company with him, but sending him provisions from his own kitchen; and that they supped on the top of the house for coolness, according to their custom, and lodged there likewise, in a sort of closet about eight feet square, of wicker-work, plaistered round towards the bottom, but without any door, each person having his cell. In Galilee then, we find, they lodged a stranger whom they treated with respect on the top of the house, and even caused him to sup there. This may, perhaps, lead us to the true explanation of the present passage; which tells us, that Samuel conversed with Saul on the house-top, and that at the spring of the day Samuel called Saul to the house-top, or, as it may be equally well translated, on the house-top (see Noldius); that is, Samuel conversed with him for coolness on the house-top in the evening, and in the morning called Saul, who lodged there all night, and was not stirring; saying, Up, that I may send thee away. The LXX seem to have understood it very much in this light; for they thus translate the passage: and they spread a bed for Saul on the housetop, and he slept; which shews how agreeable this explanation is to those who are acquainted with eastern customs. See Observations, p. 92.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(25) And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. (26) And they arose early: and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. (27) And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.
What passed at this interview is not recorded, but no doubt the conversation was preparatory to the great event about to follow in Saul’s life. Probably the man of God opened to his view the Lord’s designs in the thing itself, and showed him that it was of the Lord. How astonished must have been the son of Kish! And what a train of thoughts must have occupied his mind.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 9:25 And when they were come down from the high place into the city, [Samuel] communed with Saul upon the top of the house.
Ver. 25. Samuel communed with Saul. ] Gave him good counsel, better than any is to be found in Lipsius’s “Beehive,” Macchiavel’s “Spider’s Web,” or Castalio’s “Curialis,” the book that Charles V so much delighted in.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
And when: 1Sa 9:13
the top: Deu 22:8, 2Sa 11:2, Neh 8:16, Jer 19:13, Mat 10:27, Act 10:9
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 9:25. Samuel communed with Saul Concerning the kingdom designed for him by God, and his administration of the government; upon the top of the house For coolness in the evening, and privacy. The Vulgate adds here, Saul prepared him a bed on the top of the house, and slept, an addition which Houbigant approves, accounting very plausibly for the deficiency of the Hebrew. The Seventy also understood the passage in a similar way, translating it, And they spread a bed for Saul on the top of the house, and he slept.