Saul's hunt for lost donkeys
The good donkey herder Saul goes looking for his lost donkeys
1 SAMUEL 9
SAUL HUNTS DONKEY, FINDS PROPHET
Kish had some donkeys that strayed one day. So he told Saul, “Take a servant with you and round up the strays.”
They searched up and down Ephraim’s hills, and in the territories of Shalishah and Shaalim, and all over Benjamin’s tribal land. No luck. By the time they reached the territory of Zuph, Saul told the young man traveling with him, “We’d better get home. Before long, my dad’s going to start worrying about us instead of the donkeys.”
But the young man said, “Before we go home, there’s a man in the nearby town you might want to see. He serves God. People respect him. Whenever he says something will happen, it happens. Let’s go see him. Maybe he’ll help us finish what we started.”
That man was the prophet Samuel. And he was looking for the man God has selected to become the first king of Israel. Saul was that man.
Saul never found the lost donkeys. They got home some other way. By the time Saul got home, he had become the king of Israel...a job he didn't seem to want.
Saul hunts for lost donkeys
Map of Samuel’s route as a traveling judge
Map of Samuel's route as a traveling judge
Map Samuel's circuitous court route
Judge of Israel
Mapping the story of Samuel: “Samuel led Israel and settled legal disputes throughout his life. He judged cases in year-long cycles, traveling from Bethel, to Gilgal, to Mizpah. The fourth stop of the year was his hometown, Ramah.” (1 Samuel 7:15-17). The Bible's book of Judges reports the stories of heroic leaders of Israel rising up to meet a challenge, usually raiders. They include Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. It's surprising to many that Samuel is considered the last of Israel's "judges," even though he's not mentioned in the book of Judges. But he was one of the few leaders of Israel who was actually a court judge who adjudicated legal cases. He traveled a three-town circuit in central Israel before retreating to his nearby hometown. Philistines stopped invading Israel and attacking them. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, God kept the Philistines in check. Israel recaptured two Philistine cities and the surrounding land that the Philistines had taken from them: Ekron and Gath. Israelites lived peacefully alongside their Amorite neighbors in the land. The story continues with the Israelites asking Samuel to give them a king like other nations, 1 Samuel 8. For other Bible versions, see Bible Gateway.Samuel's circuitous court route
Map Philistines capture Israel’s Ark of Covenant
Map Philistines capture Israel's Ark of Covenant
Philistines crush Israel’s army at the city of Ebenezer then steal the chest that holds the 10 Commandments, Israel’s most sacred object...the Ark of the Covenant. Philistines pass it around from city to city because people get sick wherever it goes. No one wants it. In the end, they give it back. By the time it reaches Jerusalem, it traveled 100 miles (160 km). The story appears in 1 Samuel 4-5.
Philistines capture Ark of the Covenant