1 Samuel 16:2

1Sa 16:2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear [it], he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.

Ver. 2. And Samuel said, How can I go?] This he might ask, not so much out of diffidence - for he was old and experienced; and if Solon could say, I fear not to oppose Pisistratus the tyrant, because I am old and must shortly die howsoever, much better might Samuel - as out of a desire to be directed, as Luk 1:34.

And say, I am come to sacrifice.] This a prophet might do at any time, and in any place. "In everything give thanks." But when a king was to be anointed, there was a kind of necessity in this service. Neither was Samuel bound to tell all that he came about. Some part of a truth may lawfully be concealed out of civil prudence. See the like done, Jer 38:27.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 16:2. How can I go? — That is, with safety. Say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord — Which he, being a prophet, might do anywhere, all the ritual laws being subject to the prophets. What the Lord commanded him to say was a truth, though not the whole truth.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:2 say that you have come to make a sacrifice: God sometimes leads his servants into dangerous situations. He protects his own—sometimes by miracle, sometimes by strategy (cp. Exod 3:18-22). In Samuel’s role as a priestly judge, he would not have raised any suspicions by offering a sacrifice (see 1 Sam 10:8).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, in thine hand.

That is, to make a peace offering, which might be done though the Ark was not there.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

How can I go?--This is another instance of human infirmity in Samuel. Since God had sent him on this mission, He would protect him in the execution.

I am come to sacrifice--It seems to have been customary with Samuel to do this in the different circuits to which he went, that he might encourage the worship of God.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice] This was strictly true; Samuel did offer a sacrifice; and it does not appear that he could have done the work which God designed, unless he had offered this sacrifice, and called the elders of the people together, and thus collected Jesse's sons. But he did not tell the principal design of his coming; had he done so, it would have produced evil and no good: and though no man, in any circumstances, should ever tell a lie, yet in all circumstances he is not obliged to tell the whole truth, though in every circumstance he must tell nothing but the truth, and in every case so tell the truth that the hearer shall not believe a lie by it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) He will kill me.—The unhappy mental malady of Saul must have made rapid progress. The jealous king was indeed changed from the Saul who even, in his self-willed rebellion against the Lord, was careful to pay honour to Samuel. But now the aged prophet felt that if he crossed the king’s path in any way, even in carrying out the commands of the invisible King of Israel, his life would be forfeited to the fierce anger of Saul.

Take an heifer with thee.—And the Divine voice instructed Samuel how he should proceed. There was to be as yet no public anointing of the successor to Saul, only the future king must be sought out, and quietly, but solemnly, set apart for service before the Lord, and then watched over and carefully trained for his high office.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. Take an heifer with thee, &c.] For David’s safety no less than his own it was necessary that the purpose of Samuel’s errand should not be known. “Concealment of a good purpose for a good purpose is clearly justifiable.” It was perfectly legitimate for Samuel to conceal the primary intention and mention only the secondary object of his visit.

It may be inferred from the command, that Samuel was in the habit of holding religious gatherings in different provincial towns from time to time.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Samuel said, how can I go?.... Which argues weakness of faith in Samuel, and fear of man, and a diffidence in and distrust of divine power; for otherwise he that sent him on such an errand could protect him:

if Saul hear it, he will kill me; should hear that Samuel went and anointed another king, it would so enrage him, that he would either immediately lay hands on him, and put him to death, or order him to be put to death; and indeed were it not that this was done by the command of God, he would deserve to die; it being an overt act of treason to anoint another king:

and the Lord said, take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord; a peace offering, which might be done any where in those unsettled times, the ark being at one place, and the tabernacle at another; and might be offered upon a private altar, and by a private person; and as it seems Samuel used to sacrifice at different places; see Sa1 7:9. Ben Gersom relates it as the sense of one of their Rabbins in his age, that there was a person slain in those parts, not known by whom he was slain; and so Samuel is ordered to take an heifer to fulfil the law in Deu 21:1 and therefore Saul would make no inquiry into his reason of going thither with an heifer, and this is commended both by him and Abarbinel.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

It was the purpose of God that David should be anointed at this time as Saul’s successor, and as the ancestor and the type of His Christ. It was not the purpose of God that Samuel should stir up a civil war, by setting up David as Saul’s rival. Secrecy, therefore, was a necessary part of the transaction. But secrecy and concealment are not the same as duplicity and falsehood. Concealment of a good purpose, for a good purpose, is clearly justifiable. There is therefore nothing in the least inconsistent with truth in the occurrence here related. Compare Exo 7:16; Exo 8:1; Exo 9:13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of the herd. Hebrew, "a heifer in thy hand." (Haydock) --- Females might be employed as peace-offerings, Leviticus iii. 1. --- Lord. This was one, though not the principal reason. No one doubted but that he might lawfully offer sacrifice, at a distance from the tabernacle, as he was guided by God. The Jews allow that prophets have this privilege, and may dispense with the ceremonial law, (Grotius) when they act by God’s authority, as we ought to believe they do, as long as there is no proof to the contrary. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

How can I go, to wit, safely? a question which seems to savour of human frailty; for he should have strongly believed that God, who had set him upon the work, would carry him through it.

I am come to sacrifice to the Lord; which he used oft to do, sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another, that so he might encourage and keep up the worship of God in all of them. This was one cause, though not the only cause, of his coming; nor was he obliged to declare all the causes of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. If Saul hear it, he will kill me — The prophet seems to have known that Saul was now given over to the power of an evil spirit, (1Sa_16:14,) and, urged on by Satanic impulse, he might be as quick to imbrue his hands in the blood of his spiritual father as he was at a later period to slay the priests of Nob. 1Sa_22:18.

Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice — Samuel was under no obligation to publish the whole object of his mission to Beth-lehem, and therefore, by the counsel of the Lord himself, he prudently conceals his chief design. In this there was no falsehood, no deception.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. Saul was actually king, and the anointing of another in his stead would be regarded as an act of open treason, and the stirring up of civil war. This was not indeed intended. The anointing of David was a prophetic indication of the man whom God, in his own way and at his own time, would place upon Saul"s throne, without either scheming or action thereto on the part either of Samuel or of David. Its value would chiefly lie in the careful training he would receive from Samuel; but when David was king, it would also greatly strengthen his position; for it would be known that from his boyhood he had been marked out for his high office. Never did man mount a throne with purer hands than David; and if Saul would have permitted it, he would have been a faithful and loyal servant to the last. It was Saul really who thrust the kingdom upon David. As regards Samuel"s fears, headstrong as Saul was, he owed too much to the prophet to have put]aim to death; but he would have visited the act upon Jesse and his family with revengeful violence, and Samuel would henceforward have lost all freedom of action, even if he were not cast into prison, or banished from the land. God therefore commands him to take a heifer with him, and say, I am come to sacrifice to Jehovah. The question has been asked, Was there in this any duplicity? In answer we may ask another question: Is it always necessary, or even right, to tell in all cases the whole truth? If so, quarrels and ill-feeling would be multiplied to such an extent that social life would be unendurable. All charitable, well disposed persons suppress much, and keep a guard over their lips, lest they should stir up strife and hatred. Now here there was to be no treason, no inciting to civil war. David, still a child, was to be set apart for a high destiny, possibly without at the time fully knowing what the anointing meant, and certainly with the obligation to take no step whatsoever towards winning the crown that was to descend upon his head. This was his probation, and he bore the trial nobly. And what right would Samuel have had, not merely to compel David to be a traitor, but to place Jesse and his family in a position of danger and difficulty? To have anointed David publicly would have forced Jesse to an open rupture with the king, and he must have sought safety either by fighting for his life, or by breaking up his home, and fleeing into a foreign land. David in course of time had thus to seek an asylum for his parents, (1Sa_22:3, 1Sa_22:4) but it was through no fault of his own, for he always remained true to his allegiance. Even when David was being hunted for his life, he made no appeal to Samuel"s anointing, but it remained, what it was ever intended to be, a secret sign and declaration to him of God"s preordained purpose, but of one as to which he was to take no step to bring about its fulfilment. It was a pledge to David, and nothing but misery would have resulted from its being prematurely made known to those who had no right to know it. God wraps up the flower, which is in due time to open and bear fruit, within many a covering; and to rend these open prematurely is to destroy the flower and the fruit that is to spring from it. And so to have anointed David openly, and to have made him understand the meaning of the act, would have been to destroy David and frustrate the Divine purpose.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How can I go?

Samuel uses a question to emphasize that he is worried about going to Bethlehem. AT: "I cannot go!" or "I am afraid to go." (See: Rhetorical Question)

with you and say

You can state the understood information. AT: "with you to Bethlehem and say to the people there" (See: Ellipsis)

say, 'I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.'

This has a quotation within a quotation. The direct quotation can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "say to the people there that you have come to sacrifice to Yahweh." (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

translationWords

Samuel

Saul (OT)

Yahweh

cow

sacrifice

call

Jesse

anoint

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.