2<\/strong>. Take an heifer with thee<\/em>, &c.] For David’s safety no less than his own it was necessary that the purpose of Samuel’s errand should not be known. “Concealment of a good purpose for a good purpose is clearly justifiable.” It was perfectly legitimate for Samuel to conceal the primary intention and mention only the secondary object of his visit.<\/p>\n It may be inferred from the command, that Samuel was in the habit of holding religious gatherings in different provincial towns from time to time.<\/p>\n It was the purpose of God that David should be anointed at this time as Sauls successor, and as the ancestor and the type of His Christ. It was not the purpose of God that Samuel should stir up a civil war, by setting up David as Sauls rival. Secrecy, therefore, was a necessary part of the transaction. But secrecy and concealment are not the same as duplicity and falsehood. Concealment of a good purpose, for a good purpose, is clearly justifiable. There is therefore nothing in the least inconsistent with truth in the occurrence here related. Compare Exo 7:16<\/span>; Exo 8:1<\/span>; Exo 9:13<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 2<\/span>. Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to<\/B><\/I> <\/B>sacrifice<\/B><\/I>] This was strictly true<\/I>; Samuel did offer a sacrifice<\/I>; and it does not appear that he could have done the work which God designed, unless he had offered this sacrifice, and called the elders of the people together, and thus collected Jesse’s sons. But he did not tell the principal design of his coming; had he done so, it would have produced evil<\/I> and no good<\/I>: and though no man, in any circumstances, should ever tell a lie<\/I>, yet in all circumstances he is not obliged to tell the whole<\/I> truth, though in every circumstance he must tell nothing but the truth<\/I>, and in every case so tell the truth that the hearer shall not believe a lie by it.<\/P> <\/p>\n How can I go, <\/B>to wit, safely? a question which seems to savour of human frailty; for he should have strongly believed that God, who had set him upon the work, would carry him through it. <\/P> I am come to sacrifice to the Lord; <\/B>which he used oft to do, sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another, that so he might encourage and keep up the worship of God in all of them. This was one cause, though not the only cause, of his coming; nor was he obliged to declare all the causes of it. <\/P><\/p>\n 2. How can I go?<\/B>This isanother instance of human infirmity in Samuel. Since God had sent himon this mission, He would protect him in the execution. <\/P> I am come to sacrifice<\/B>Itseems to have been customary with Samuel to do this in the differentcircuits to which he went, that he might encourage the worship ofGod.<\/P><\/p>\n And Samuel said, how can I go<\/strong>?…. Which argues weakness of faith in Samuel, and fear of man, and a diffidence in and distrust of divine power; for otherwise he that sent him on such an errand could protect him:<\/p>\n if Saul hear it, he will kill me<\/strong>; should hear that Samuel went and anointed another king, it would so enrage him, that he would either immediately lay hands on him, and put him to death, or order him to be put to death; and indeed were it not that this was done by the command of God, he would deserve to die; it being an overt act of treason to anoint another king:<\/p>\n and the Lord said, take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord<\/strong>; a peace offering, which might be done any where in those unsettled times, the ark being at one place, and the tabernacle at another; and might be offered upon a private altar, and by a private person; and as it seems Samuel used to sacrifice at different places; see 1Sa 7:9<\/span>. Ben Gersom relates it as the sense of one of their Rabbins in his age, that there was a person slain in those parts, not known by whom he was slain; and so Samuel is ordered to take an heifer to fulfil the law in De 21:1<\/span> and therefore Saul would make no inquiry into his reason of going thither with an heifer, and this is commended both by him and Abarbinel.<\/p>\n (2) He will kill me.<\/strong>The unhappy mental malady of Saul must have made rapid progress. The jealous king was indeed changed from the Saul who even, in his self-willed rebellion against the Lord, was careful to pay honour to Samuel. But now the aged prophet felt that if he crossed the kings path in any way, even in carrying out the commands of the invisible King of Israel, his life would be forfeited to the fierce anger of Saul.<\/p>\n Take an heifer with thee.<\/strong>And the Divine voice instructed Samuel how he should proceed. There was to be as yet no public anointing of the successor to Saul, only the future king must be sought out, and quietly, but solemnly, set apart for service before the Lord, and then watched over and carefully trained for his high office.<\/p>\n 2<\/strong>. <\/strong> If Saul hear it, he will kill me <\/strong> The prophet seems to have known that Saul was now given over to the power of an evil spirit, (1Sa 16:14<\/span>,) and, urged on by Satanic impulse, he might be as quick to imbrue his hands in the blood of his spiritual father as he was at a later period to slay the priests of Nob. 1Sa 22:18<\/span>. <\/p>\n Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice <\/strong> Samuel was under no obligation to publish the whole object of his mission to Beth-lehem, and therefore, by the counsel of the Lord himself, he prudently conceals his chief design. In this there was no falsehood, no deception.<\/p>\n 1Sa 16:2<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>And Samuel said, How can I go, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> Though the principal design of Samuel’s journey to Bethlehem was, to anoint the son of Jesse; yet was there no falsehood in saying, according to the instruction given him by the Lord, that he came to sacrifice. God, who is truth itself, can never enjoin a lie. As to Samuel’s pretending a sacrifice, says Dr. Waterland, it was a just pretence, and a true one: for he did offer sacrifice, as God had commanded him (1Sa 16:5<\/span>.). And what if he had a farther intention? was he bound to declare all he knew, or to disclose to every man the whole of his errand? Secresy is of great use in all important business; and the concealing one design by going upon another, to prevent giving offence, or other worse mischief, is as righteous and as laudable a practice, as the drawing a curtain to keep off spies. The making one good design the cover for a better is doing two good things at once, and both in a proper way; and though men have been blamed, and very justly, for using acts of religion as a cloak for iniquity, yet I have never heard, that there could be any thing amiss in performing one act of obedience towards God, in order to facilitate the performance of another, see Scrip. Vind. p. 95. <\/p>\n (2) And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. (3) And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n This expression of fear on the part of Samuel, and the encouragement given on the part of the Lord, serves to throw a light upon the history, and to show us that affairs were become very desperate with Saul. Probably his anger and hatred against Samuel was grown to great height. Alas! the progress of iniquity must be so.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n 1Sa 16:2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Ver. 2. And Samuel said, How can I go?<\/strong> ] This he might ask, not so much out of diffidence – for he was old and experienced; and if Solon could say, I fear not to oppose Pisistratus the tyrant, because I am old and must shortly die howsoever, much better might Samuel – as out of a desire to be directed, as Luk 1:34<\/span> . <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And say, I am come to sacrifice.<\/strong> ] This a prophet might do at any time, and in any place. “In everything give thanks.” But when a king was to be anointed, there was a kind of necessity in this service. Neither was Samuel bound to tell all that he came about. Some part of a truth may lawfully be concealed out of civil prudence. See the like done, Jer 38:27<\/span> .<\/p>\n with thee = in thine hand. <\/p>\n How can I go: Exo 3:11, 1Ki 18:9-14, Mat 10:16, Luk 1:34 <\/p>\n Take an heifer: For the prudent management of the affair, and to avoid suspicion, Samuel was directed to go to Bethlehem to sacrifice, as he probably did from time to time in many different places; and the answer which he was instructed to return was strictly true though he did not tell the principal design of his coming; for though no man in any circumstances should tell a lie, yet, in all circumstances, he is not bound to tell the whole truth, though he must tell nothing but the truth, and so tell that truth that the hearer shall not believe a lie by it. <\/p>\n with thee: Heb. in thine hand, 1Sa 9:12 <\/p>\n I am come: 1Sa 9:12, 1Sa 20:29, Jer 38:26, Jer 38:27 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 34:30 – and I shall Lev 17:8 – that offereth 1Sa 7:9 – a sucking 1Sa 20:6 – sacrifice 2Sa 15:7 – pay 2Sa 15:8 – thy servant 2Ki 9:3 – and flee Mat 2:22 – he was Act 9:13 – Lord<\/p>\n 1Sa 16:2. How can I go? That is, with safety. Say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord Which he, being a prophet, might do anywhere, all the ritual laws being subject to the prophets. What the Lord commanded him to say was a truth, though not the whole truth.<\/p>\n 16:2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come {b} to sacrifice to the LORD.<\/p>\n (b) That is, to make a peace offering, which may be done even though the ark was not there.<\/p>\n And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. 2. Take an heifer with thee, &c.] For David’s safety no less than his own it was necessary that the purpose … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 16:2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"