SEV Biblia, Chapter 10:5
De allí vendrás al collado de Dios donde está la guarnición de los filisteos; y cuando entrares allá en la ciudad encontrarás una compañía de profetas que descienden del alto, y delante de ellos salterio, y adufe, y flauta, y arpa, y ellos profetizando.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 10:5
Verse 5. The hill of God] The Targum says, "The hill on which the ark of the Lord was. Calmet supposes it to be a height near Gibeah. The garrison of the Philistines] Probably they kept a watch on the top of this hill, with a company of soldiers to keep the country in check.
A company of prophets] A company of scribes, says the Targum.
Probably the scholars of the prophets; for the prophets seem to have been the only accredited teachers, at particular times, in Israel; and at this time there does not appear to have been any other prophet besides Sam. in this quarter. Probably the teacher of this school was not an inspired man, but one acting under the direction of Samuel. Mr. Harmer thinks that the following custom among the Mohammedans greatly illustrates this obscure place: "When the children have gone through the Koran, their relations borrow a fine horse and furniture, and carry them about the town in procession, with the book in their hand, the rest of their companions following, and all sorts of music of the country going before. Dr. Shaw, in p. 195, mentions the same custom; adding the acclamations of their school-fellows, but taking no notice of the music. We have no reason, however, to doubt the fact on account of the doctor's silence; especially as it relates to another part of Barbary, and is given us by those who resided some years in that country. The doctor makes no use of this circumstance relating to the education of youth in Barbary; but the account of the procession above given seems to be a lively comment on that ancient Jewish custom mentioned in these verses. That the word prophet often signifies sons or scholars of the prophets, and that prophesying often implies singing, has been already remarked; but no author that I know of has given any account of the nature of this procession, or its design. We are sometimes told that high places were used for sacrifices; and in one case music, it is certain, played before them when they went up to worship, Isaiah xxx. 29. But did they not also return from sacrifice with it? We are told that music was used by the prophets to calm and compose them, and to invite the Divine influences; which is indeed very true. But is it to the purpose? Did they go forth in this manner from their college into the noise and interruptions of the world, to call down the prophetic impulse? But if we consider them as a company of the sons of the prophets, going in procession with songs of praise and music playing before them, and recollect that it is usual in this day for young scholars to go in procession with acclamations and music, the whole mystery seems to be unravelled. To which may be added, that Saul was to meet them, and find himself turned into another man; into a man, perhaps, who is instantaneously made as knowing in the law of God as the youth to whom they were doing the above honours, or any of his convoy; which acquaintance with the law of God was very necessary for one who was to judge among his brethren as their king. For this reason the Jewish kings were to write out a copy of the law of God, and read it continually, that they might be perfect masters of it, Deut. xvii. 18, 20, which accomplishment some youth had gained whom Saul met with, and who was honoured with the solemnity the sacred historian speaks of, if the customs of South Barbary may be supposed to be explanatory of those of Judea." On the word prophet, and the general account given here, I shall introduce the following illustrations from another work:- "The word prophet generally conveys the idea of a person so far acquainted with futurity as to discern some purpose of the Divine Being relative to his government of the natural and moral world, but which is not sufficiently matured by the economy of Providence to make, as yet, its public appearance among men, and to prophesy is usually understood to imply the foretelling such an event, the time of its appearance, and the place of its operation, with some preceding and subsequent circumstances.
But that this was the original and only meaning of the word prophet or prophesy, is very far from being clear. The first place the word occurs in is Gen. xx. 7, where the Lord says of Abraham to Abimelech, He is a prophet, ( awh aybn nabi hu,) and will pray ( llptyw veyith-pallel, will make earnest intercession) for thee. In the common acceptation of the word it is certain Abraham was no prophet; but here it seems to signify a man well acquainted with the Supreme Being, capable of teaching others in Divine things, and especially a man of prayer-one who had great influence with the God he worshipped, and whose intercessions were available in the behalf of others. And in this sense the original word aybn nabi is used in several places in the Old Testament.
"It was through inattention to this meaning of the word, which appears to me to be the true, original, and ideal one, that all the commentators and critics that I have met with have been so sadly puzzled with that part of the history of Saul which is related 1 Sam. x. 9-13; xix. 20-24. In these passages the sacred historian represents Saul, who was neither a prophet nor the son of one, associating with the prophets, and prophesying among them, to which he was led by the Spirit of the Lord which came upon him.
"That this can mean no more here than prayer and supplication to God, accompanied probably with edifying hymns of praise and thanksgiving, (for they had instruments of music, ver. 5,) needs, in my opinion, little proof. If Saul had prophesied in the common acceptation of the word, it is not likely that we should have been kept absolutely in the dark concerning the subject and design of his predictions, of which, by the way, not one syllable is spoken in the oracles of God. The simple fact seems to have been this: God, who had chosen this man to govern Israel, designed to teach him that the Most High alone is the fountain of power, and that by him only kings could reign so as to execute justice properly, and be his ministers for good to the people. To accomplish this gracious purpose, he gave him another heart (1 Sam. x. 9)-a disposition totally different from what he had ever before possessed, and taught him to pray.
"Coming among the sons of the prophets, on whom the Spirit of the Lord rested, and who were under the instruction of Samuel, (1 Sam. xix. 20,) while they worshipped God with music and supplication, Saul also was made a partaker of the same Divine influence, and prophesied, i.e., made prayer and supplication among them. To see one who did not belong to the prophetic school thus incorporated with the prophets, pouring out his soul in prayer and supplication, was an unusual sight, which could not pass unnoticed, especially by those of Saul's acquaintance who probably knew him in times past to have been as careless and ungodly as themselves, (for it was only now he got that other good Spirit from God, a sufficient proof that he had it not before.) These companions of his, being unacquainted with that grace which can in a moment influence and change the heart, would, according to an invariable custom, express their astonishment with a sneer: Is SAUL also among the prophets? That is, in modern language, 'Can this man pray or preach? He whose education has been the same as our own, employed in the same secular offices, and formerly companion with us in what he now affects to call folly and sin? Can such a person be among the prophets?' Yes, for God may have given him a new heart; and the Spirit of God, whose inspiration alone can give sound understanding in sacred things, may have come upon him for this very purpose, that he might announce unto you the righteousness of the Lord, and speak unto your ruined souls to edification, and to exhortation, and to comfort.
"The history of Elijah and the priests of Baal, mentioned in 1 Kings xviii. 17-40, throws farther light on this subject. In 1 Kings xviii. 26; it is said, 'They (the priests of Baal) took a bullock and dressed it, and called on the name of Baal, from morning to noon, saying, O Baal, hear us! And they leaped upon the altar, and cried aloud, and cut themselves with knives, till the blood gushed out; and they prophesied ( wabntyw vaiyithnabbeu, and they made supplication) until the time of the evening sacrifice.' From the whole context it is plain that earnest, importunate prayer, is alone what is meant by prophesying in this text. See also 1 Corinthians xiv. 3.
"And as all the prophets of God, whose principal business it was to instruct the people in the way of righteousness, were men of prayer, who were continually interceding with God in behalf of those to whom they ministered, the term aybn nabi became their proper appellative; and thus a part of their office, intercessors for the people, might have given rise to that name by which the Spirit of God thought proper in after times to distinguish those whom he sent, not only to pray for and instruct the people, but also to predict those future events which concerned the punishment of the incorrigible and the comfort and exaltation of his own servants." See a sermon which I have printed on 1 Cor. xiv. 3, entitled, "The Christian Prophet and his Work; " and see the note on Gen. xx. 7.
A psaltery] lbn nebel. As the word signifies in other places a bottle or flagon, it was probably something like the utricularia tibia or BAG-PIPE. It often occurs both with the Greeks and Romans, and was evidently borrowed from the Hebrews.
A tabret] Pt toph; a sort of drum or cymbal.
A pipe] lylj chalil, from lj chal, to make a hole or opening; a sort of pipe, flute, hautboy, clarionet, or the like.
A harp] rwnk kinnor; a stringed instrument similar to our harp, or that on the model of which a harp was formed. On these different instruments I shall have occasion to speak more at large when I come to the Psalms.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. After that thou shall come to the hill of God , etc.] The Targum is, the hill in which was the ark of the Lord, and that was in the house of Abinadab, on a hill in the city of Kirjathjearim, ( 1 Samuel 7:1) and so the Jewish commentators generally interpret this hill of God of Kirjathjearim; but rather it was Geba, a city of Benjamin, partly because by this time he must have got out of the tribe of Judah into the tribe of Benjamin, and even almost to the end of his journey, and among those that were his relations, ( 1 Samuel 10:11,14) and partly because it is certain there was a garrison of the Philistines at Geba, ( 1 Samuel 13:3) as there was at this place, as follows: where is the garrison of the Philistines ; which they were allowed by the terms of peace made between Israel and them; or which through their growing power over them in the latter days of Samuel they placed there, and which yet they kept, without giving the people any molestation in their worship and service: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city ; to the city Geba, or near it: that thou shall meet a company of prophets ; of Scribes, as the Targum; which were, as Kimchi observes, disciples; for the disciples of the wise men were called Scribes, and these were the disciples of prophets, the same with the sons of the prophets; and the prophets that were at this time, as he says, from Eli to David, were Elkanah, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun; here was a school or college of young prophets, where they were trained up, under the care and tuition of one or other of the above prophets, in the knowledge of the word of God, in psalmody, and other religious exercises; for though the word of the Lord was scarce and precious in the beginning of Samuel’s time, yet through his industry, influence, and encouragement, divine knowledge was greatly promoted, and many were trained up and qualified to instruct the people; who, though they had not the gift of foretelling future events, or of the vision of prophecy, yet had gifts qualifying for the edification of the people; and out of these schools and colleges God sometimes raised up prophets in the highest sense, who foretold things to come, and to whom the Lord appeared in dreams and visions. And this company Saul would meet coming down from the high place ; where they had been to worship, to sacrifice, or to pray, for here was an high place for such service, as well as at Ramah: with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them ; which were several instruments of “music” used in singing praises to God in those times: and they shall prophesy ; or praise, as the Targum, sing praises at the same time they played on their instruments of music; and singing praises is one sort of prophesying, (see 1 Chronicles 25:1-3), and in which sense it seems to be used in ( 1 Corinthians 11:4,5).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - The sacred anointing, then used, pointed at the great Messiah, or Anointed One, the King of the church, and High Priest of ou profession, who was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, not be measure, but without measure, and above all the priests and princes of the Jewish church. For Saul's further satisfaction, Samuel gives his some signs which should come to pass the same day. The first place he directs him to, was the sepulchre of one of his ancestors; there he must be reminded of his own mortality, and now that he had a crow before him, must think of his grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the dust. From the time of Samuel there appears to have bee schools, or places where pious young men were brought up in the knowledge of Divine things. Saul should find himself strongly moved to join with them, and should be turned into another man from what he ha been. The Spirit of God changes men, wonderfully transforms them. Saul by praising God in the communion of saints, became another man, but it may be questioned if he became a new man.
Original Hebrew
אחר 310 כן 3651 תבוא 935 גבעת 1389 האלהים 430 אשׁר 834 שׁם 8033 נצבי 5333 פלשׁתים 6430 ויהי 1961 כבאך 935 שׁם 8033 העיר 5892 ופגעת 6293 חבל 2256 נביאים 5030 ירדים 3381 מהבמה 1116 ולפניהם 6440 נבל 5035 ותף 8596 וחליל 2485 וכנור 3658 והמה 1992 מתנבאים׃ 5012
