And it was so, that when he had turned his
back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to
pass that day. And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of
prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among
them. And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold,
he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is
this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? (I
Sam. 10:9-11).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
This passage is appealed to in support of
common grace, in that it was allegedly a grace of God that caused unregenerate
Saul to prophesy. But this begs the question: are the “common operations of the
Spirit” really a “grace” of God?
ARMINIAN ARGUMENT:
That the passage says “God gave him [i.e.,
Saul] a new heart” (v. 9) is appealed to by some to suggest that Saul was actually regenerated,
though he later perished.
(I)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
The
general context of this passage is Samuel’s designation of Saul the son of Kish
to be the first king of Israel. Saul was given three signs that would take
place on his way home which would show him that he was indeed to be king.
The
third sign was this: Saul would meet a company of prophets who would begin to
prophesy. The Spirit of the Lord would come on Saul at that moment, and Saul
would prophesy with them. It is to this third sign that [we outline the
following].
To
understand the significance of this, we must say a word in general about the
idea of office. This is necessary because this sign was a sign to Saul
that he had been appointed and anointed to the office of king.
When Adam was created in Paradise, he was
created as God’s office bearer. That is, Adam represented God in God’s world.
That office involved three aspects to it: prophet, priest and king. As prophet,
Adam was to speak the Word of God in the creation; as priest, he was to
consecrate the creation to God in humble service; and as king, he was to rule
over the creation in God’s name.
When Adam fell, he lost
the office to which God had appointed him, for he now is Satan’s representative
in the world.
However, God appointed
Christ to be the real Office bearer in God’s world, an office which is Christ’s
from eternity. Christ is God’s representative in the whole creation—heaven and
earth—and is superior, therefore, to Adam. Christ is God’s office bearer in the
redeemed creation because redemption is accomplished through Christ. Christ is
God’s true Prophet, Priest and King.
In the Old Testament,
Christ had not yet come. Hence, God gave pictures of that office of Christ to
Israel who were chosen to be God’s people. But no one was given the right to
hold every aspect of that office. Some were prophets, some priests, and some kings.
There is marvellous
wisdom here. The office of prophet is the general office, or perhaps we may
say, the most important office. And so God gave Israel men who were prophets;
but also the priests were prophets, and the kings were prophets. Not every prophet
was a priest or king, but every priest and king was a prophet.
The offices of priest
and king could never be held by the same person, except for Melchizedek who was
a special type of Christ; and Christ is priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.
When
Saul later tries to do the work of a priest, the kingdom was taken away from
him (I Sam. 13:8-14). Uzzah also tried it and was smitten with leprosy (II
Chron. 26:16-21).
But
kings prophesied (as, e.g., David and Solomon), and priests prophesied—even
wicked ones (John 11:47-53).
The
wicked priests and kings which prophesied, did so by virtue of the office they
held in the nation. That is, God used even wicked office bearers at times to
bring His Word to His people—just as He sometimes does today when an
unregenerate man may, while preaching, bring the Word of God. (Of course, the
people then do not know that he is a wicked man, or they would not keep him as
their preacher.)
Balaam,
a terribly wicked prophet, spoke beautiful words of blessing upon the nation,
not because he wanted to bless, but because God made him bless. That is also
why God caused his ass to speak: Balaam spoke just as his ass.
So
with Saul: as a sign of his office, he prophesied. This is also, by the way,
the meaning of the expression, “God gave him another heart.” That does not mean
that Saul was regenerated, and later lost the life of regeneration; it means
that he was so anointed by God and so possessed the Spirit, that he could be
king in Israel. And as king, he also prophesied.
The
great wonder, a wonder for which we ought to be daily grateful, is that God has
given the Spirit of Christ to His church in the New Testament, and now all
God’s people are prophets, priests and kings.
---------------------------------------------------
(II)
More
to come! (DV)
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