16 "Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked on my people, because their cry has come to me."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
That he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines, etc. - These words are not very easily reconcileable with 1-Samuel 7:13. It is possible that the aggressive movements of the Philistines, after the long cessation indicated by 1-Samuel 7:13, coupled with Samuel's old age and consequent inability to lead them to victory as before, were among the chief causes which led to the cry for a king. If this were so the Philistine oppression glanced at in this verse might in a general survey be rather connected with Saul's times than with Samuel's.
Thou shalt anoint him to be captain - Not to be king, but to be נגיד nagid or captain of the Lord's host. But in ancient times no king was esteemed who was not an able warrior. Plutarch informs us that Alexander the Great esteemed the following verse the most correct, as to its sentiment, of any in the whole Iliad of Homer: -
Ουτος γ' Ατρειδης ευρυκρειων Αγαμεμνων,
Αμφοτερον βασιλευς τ' αγαθος, κρατερος τ' αιχμητης.
"The king of kings, Atrides, you survey;
Great in the war, and great in acts of sway."
Pope.
To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him [to be] captain over my people Israel, that he may (i) save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me.
(i) Despite their wickedness, yet God was ever mindful of his inheritance.
Tomorrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin,.... Who without any thought or design of his own, but merely directed by the providence of God, should come to him, not expecting a kingdom; at most only to hear of his father's asses, and which way he should take to find them; missing the finding of which would and did bring him thither:
and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel; the leader, ruler, and governor of them; to which high office he was to be appointed by pouring oil upon him, and was the first king on whom this ceremony was performed, and from whence he was called the Lord's anointed:
that he may save my people out of the hands of the Philistines; who, since Samuel was grown old, made encroachments upon them, built garrisons on their borders, and made, it is very probable, incursions upon them, and ravages and oppressions of them:
for I have looked upon my people; with an eye of pity and compassion:
because their cry is come unto me; by reason of the oppressions of the Philistines, and the war they were threatened with by the Ammonites; though Abarbinel thinks this refers to their importunate cry, supplication, and request to have a king set over them.
Philistines - For though they were now most pressed with the Ammonites, yet they looked upon these as a land - flood, soon up, and soon down again: but the Philistines, their constant and nearest enemies, they most dreaded. And from these did Saul in some measure save them, and would have saved them much more, if his and the people's sins had not hindered.
*More commentary available at chapter level.