1 Samuel 9:2

And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) A choice young man, and a goodly.—The Hebrew word which is rendered in English by “a choice young man” cannot signify both these epithets. The translators were probably influenced by the Vulg. (Latin) Version, which translates the Hebrew word by electus, “chosen, or choice,” the more common signification of the Hebrew word being avoided, owing to the fact that at this time Saul appears to have had a son (Jonathan) who must have well-nigh reached his maturity. But the term young was not inappropriate to Saul, who was still in the full vigour of manhood as contrasted with the old age of Samuel, being about forty to forty-five years old. Translate then simply, “a young man,” &c. In the childhood of nations heroic proportions were highly valued, and the gigantic stature and the remarkable beauty of the king, no doubt contributed to the ready acceptance on the part of the still semi-barbarous Israel of the young man Saul. (Comp. Herodotus, 3:20, 7:187; Aristotle, Polit., 4:29; and Virgil’s description of Turnus, Æneid, 7:650, 783; and Homer’s words about Ajax, Iliad, iii. 226.)

The asses.—Literally, And the she-asses. At this period of Jewish history asses were much used by the people. The horse was forbidden by the Law. Asses were used not only for purposes of agriculture, but also for riding; so in the song of Deborah we find, “Speak, ye that ride on white asses” (Judges 5:10); and again we read of the thirty sons of Jair, the Gileadite judge, each one ruler of a city, who rode on thirty ass colts (Judges 10:4). These belonging to the farm of Kish, being probably kept for breeding purposes, were untethered, and so strayed from the immediate neighbourhood, and were lost.

The whole of this chapter and part of the following is full of picturesque details of the pastoral life of the people. In many of the little pictures we see how strongly at this early period the religion of the Eternal coloured almost all parts of the every-day life of Israel.

One of the servants.—The “servant,” not “slave;” the Hebrew word for the latter would be different. The servant was evidently a trusty dependant of the house of Saul’s father, and was on familiar terms with his young master. We hear of his giving wise advice in the course of the search (1Samuel 9:6); he was the one in charge of the money (1Samuel 9:8); and this servant, we are especially told, was treated by Samuel the judge as an honoured guest at the sacrificial feast at Ramah. He was traditionally believed to have been Doeg the Edomite, afterwards so famous as one of the most ruthless of the great captains of King Saul. (See 1Samuel 22:18.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-10 Saul readily went to seek his father's asses. His obedience to his father was praise-worthy. His servant proposed, that since they were now at Ramah, they should call on Samuel, and take his advice. Wherever we are, we should use our opportunities of acquainting ourselves with those who are wise and good. Many will consult a man of God, if he comes in their way, that would not go a step out of their way to get wisdom. We sensibly feel worldly losses, and bestow much pains to make them up; but how little do we attempt, and how soon are we weary, in seeking the salvation of our souls! If ministers could tell men how to secure their property, or to get wealth, they would be more consulted and honoured than they now are, though employed in teaching them how to escape eternal misery, and to obtain eternal life. Most people would rather be told their fortune than their duty. Samuel needed not their money, nor would he have denied his advice, if they had not brought it; but they gave it to him as a token of respect, and of the value they put upon his office, and according to the general usage of those times, always to bring a present to those in authority.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The genealogy of Saul is here given as far as Aphiah ("Abiah," 1 Chronicles 7:8), who was of the house of Becher the son of Benjamin Genesis 46:21. "Kish" 1 Chronicles 9:35-39 was the son of "Ner" the son of "Jehiel," (or, "Abiel" here and 1 Samuel 14:51), the first settler ("father," 1 Chronicles 9:35) at Gibeon, or Gibeah of Saul, and who married "Maachah," a daughter or granddaughter of Caleb. If so, it is obvious that the names of several generations are omitted between Kish and Abiel, and among them that from which the family of Matri 1 Samuel 10:21 was called.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly—He had a fine appearance; for it is evident that he must have been only a little under seven feet tall. A gigantic stature and an athletic frame must have been a popular recommendation at that time in that country.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And a goodly, Heb. good, i.e. comely and personable, as that word is used, Genesis 6:2; as evil is put for deformed, Genesis 41:19.

He was higher than any of the people: a tall stature was much valued in a king in ancient times, and in the eastern countries.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he had a son whose name was Saul,.... Of this name was the great apostle of the Gentiles before his conversion, and was of the same tribe also; but very different in stature; he was a little man, this a large tall man, like his father perhaps:

a choice young man, and a goodly; 1 Samuel 2:1 of a goodly aspect, a comely man, tall and well shaped, in the prime of his age, a very agreeable person, one among a thousand:

and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he; meaning not for the endowments of his mind, or his moral character and behaviour. There might be as good, or better men than he, on such accounts, but for his outward appearance, his bodily shape, and the dignity of his person:

from his shoulders and upwards he was higher than any of the people; this description of him is enlarged upon and explained, to show that he was just such a person the people were desirous of having king over them, such an one as the nations about them had; and it was usual with the eastern people, and so with the Greeks and Romans, to choose persons to the highest offices of magistracy that made a personable appearance superior to others, and is what they often take notice of, as a recommendation of them as princes. Herodotus (l) reports of the Ethiopians, that they judged the largest of the people, and him who had strength according to his size, most worthy to be king. And the same writer observes (m), that among the many thousands of men of the army of Xerxes, there was not one who for comeliness and largeness was so worthy of the empire as Xerxes himself; so Ulysses, because of his height, was the more acceptable to the people of Corfu (n); so Alexander's captains, it is said (o), might be thought to be kings for their beautiful form, height of body, and greatness of strength and wisdom. Julius Caesar is said to be of high stature; and so Domitian (p); Virgil (q) represents Turnus as in body more excellent than others, and by the entire head above them; and Anchises as walking statelier and higher than the rest (r); among the many encomiums Pliny (s) gives of Trajan, as to his outward form and appearance, this is one, "proceritas corporis", height of body, being higher than others; the Gentiles had a notion that such men came nearer to the deities, and looked more like them; so Diana is described as taller than any of the nymphs and goddesses (t). Solomon, according to Josephus (u), chose such young men to ride horses, and attend his person, when he himself rode, who were conspicuous for their height, and greatly above others.

(l) Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 20. (m) Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 187. (n) Homer. Odyss. 8. ver. 20, 21. (o) Justin. e Trogo, l. 13. c. 1.((p) Sueton. Vit. Caesar. c. 45. Domitian. c. 18. (q) Aeneid. l. 7. ver. 783, 784. & 9. ver. 29. (r) Ib. l. 8. ver. 162. (s) Panegyr. c. 4, 22. (t) "Tamen altior illis ipsa dea est". Ovid. Metam. l. 3. fab. 2. ver. 180, 181. (u) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a {b} choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

(b) So that it might seem that God approved their request in appointing such a person.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. whose name was Saul] Heb. Shâûl = “asked.” It occurs as the name (a) of an Edomite prince (Genesis 36:37-38); (b) of a son of Simeon (Genesis 46:10); (c) of a Kohathite in the genealogy of Samuel (1 Chronicles 6:24); (d) of Saul of Tarsus, “who is also called Paul” (Acts 7:58, &c.); and thus it became “the most distinguished name in the genealogies of the tribe of Benjamin,” in the N.T. as well as in the O.T. (Php 3:5).

a choice young man, and a goodly] Choice and goodly. Cp. 1 Samuel 10:24. Physical qualifications of stature, strength and beauty are a natural commendation for the dignity of a king, especially in warlike ages. Euripides speaks of εῖδος ἄξιον τυραννίδος, ‘form worthy to rule.’

Ajax appears in Homer (Il. III. 227) as

“Towering o’er all with head and shoulders broads;”

and Turnus, in Virgil (Aen. VII. 784),

“Out-tops the foremost chieftains by a head.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - He had a son, whose name was Saul. I.e. asked, a name usually given to a firstborn son. A choice young man. This is a double translation of the Hebrew word, and consequently one half or other must be wrong. It may either be a participle, elect or choice, and is so rendered by the Syriac and Vulgate; or an adjective, young, the rendering of the Chaldee, and virtually of the Septuagint, which gives well grown. This is the preferable translation; for the word constantly occurs coupled with virgin (Deuteronomy 32:25; Isaiah 62:5, etc.), for one in the full flower of manhood. Saul could not, therefore, have been the runner of 1 Samuel 5:12, though, as we read that Jonathan his son was a grown man two or three years afterwards (1 Samuel 13:2), he must have been at least thirty-five years of age, after making allowance for the early period at which the Jews married. His noble appearance and gigantic stature were well fitted to impress and overawe a semi-barbarous people, who were better able to form an estimate of his physical qualities than of the high mental and moral gifts possessed by Samuel. 1 Samuel 9:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Saul searches for his father's asses. - 1 Samuel 9:1, 1 Samuel 9:2. The elaborate genealogy of the Benjaminite Kish, and the minute description of the figure of his son Saul, are intended to indicate at the very outset the importance to which Saul attained in relation to the people of Israel, Kish was the son of Abiel: this is in harmony with 1 Samuel 14:51. But when, on the other hand, it is stated in 1 Chronicles 8:33; 1 Chronicles 9:39, that Ner begat Kish, the difference may be reconciled in the simplest manner, on the assumption that the Ner mentioned there is not the father, but the grandfather, or a still more remote ancestor of Kish, as the intervening members are frequently passed over in the genealogies. The other ancestors of Kish are never mentioned again. חיל גּבּור refers to Kish, and signifies not a brave man, but a man of property, as in Ruth 2:1. This son Saul (i.e., "prayed for:" for this meaning of the word, comp. 1 Samuel 1:17, 1 Samuel 1:27) was "young and beautiful." It is true that even at that time Saul had a son grown up (viz., Jonathan), according to 1 Samuel 13:2; but still, in contrast with his father, he was "a young man," i.e., in the full vigour of youth, probably about forty or forty-five years old. There is no necessity, therefore, to follow the Vulgate rendering electus. No one equalled him in beauty. "From his shoulder upwards he was higher than any of the people." Such a figure as this was well adapted to commend him to the people as their king (cf. 1 Samuel 10:24), since size and beauty were highly valued in rulers, as signs of manly strength (see Herod. iii. 20, vii. 187; Aristot. Polit. iv. c. 24).