Now the Lord told Samuel, Tomorrow around this time, I will bring you a man from the Israel’s family of Benjamin. Pour the oil of My Spirit on him and make him king over the children of Israel.

 

It happened like God said, The next day Saul came to ask Samuel to tell him where his fathers donkeys had gone.

Samuel made a feast and set Saul beside him. The people ate the feast and then Saul went home with Samuel.

The next day Samuel poured the special oil on Saul and told him what God had said, The Lord has made you king over all His people. And your father’s donkeys have been found. Now your father is worrying about you.

Samuel told Saul signs that would show that God was going to make Saul the king. When Saul turned around and left talking to Samuel, God gave Saul another heart.

God did all the signs that showed Saul that he would be king: some men told him the donkeys were found and Saul’s father was worrying about him.

 

 

 

 

And some other men saluted Saul and gave him some bread and wine.

 

 

 

 

Then God’s Spirit came on him and he spoke God’s words.

Samuel gathered all the people together to the Lord at Mizpeh and said to them, This is what the Lord says: I brought you up out of Israel and saved you from being slaves to the Egyptians and from all the kingdoms that did bad to you.

 

 

 

But today you have despised you God who saved you from all your troubles and have said to Him, No, give us a king to rule over us.

So now, present yourselves before the Lord by Israel’s families. So one by one, each of the families of Israel came before the Lord. When it was the family of Benjamin’s turn the Lord chose that family.

 

 

 

 

 

From that family the Lord chose Saul’s father’s family and then Saul. This showed the whole nation who the Lord Himself chose to be the king over the nation.

 

But they couldn’t find Saul. The Lord told them, He’s hiding among the supplies. So they ran to get him and brought him before the people. From his shoulders upward Saul was taller than any of them.

 

 

 

Samuel said, See the one the Lord has chosen. Is there any like him in all the nation?

The people shouted, God save the king. Then Samuel told them the duties and rights of the king and how the kingdom was to do things. He wrote it in a book and put it before the Lord in the Lord’s house.

 

 

Then Saul went home to his house and God touched some of the people’s hearts to go with Saul.

But some people listening to the bad one said, How can this man save us? And they despised them and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept quiet about it.

 

An enemy from the bad one came to fight against some men in Israel. The men in Israel said, Let’s not fight. Just tell us how we can serve you.

 

The enemies said, We will do this if you let us poke out your right eyes to put shame on you.

 

The leaders of Israel said, Give us 7 days to see if someone will come to help us fight you. So the enemy agreed.

Messengers came to Saul’s city to tell him about the enemy. They told the people there, and the people there started crying.

When Saul followed his herd in from the field, He saw the people weeping and said, Why are the people crying? So the messengers told Saul about the enemy coming to fight and wanting to poke out the peoples right eyes.

 

When he heard this, the Spirit of God came on Saul and he gathered all Israel’s warriors to fight against the enemy. They fought and won a great victory over the enemy.

After the battle, some men wanted to kill the men who didn’t want Saul to be their king. But Saul said, No! The Lord has given us a great victory today. No one will be killed.

Then Samuel took the people back to God’s house and make Saul king again there and they had a big party before God because they were very happy about what God had done.