Saul's Coronation and Presentation as King

Saul, the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, was chosen by God to be the first king of Israel ^{[3, 4, 10]}. His selection occurred during a period when the Israelites desired a king, and Samuel, acting on God's command, installed Saul ^{[12, 13]}.

Saul's anointing as king happened in stages. Initially, Samuel secretly anointed Saul with oil, an act that served as a prophetic indication of his future high office ^{[15, 17]}. This private anointing was followed by a public confirmation. Samuel gathered the people at Mizpeh, where Saul was chosen by lot to be king ^{[14, 17]}. The use of lots was considered a divine decision, intended to affirm Saul's appointment in the eyes of the nation and to reassure Saul himself of his divine calling ^[14]. However, Saul was initially hesitant and hid among the baggage when he was to be presented to the people ^[11].

The final step in Saul's installation as king, and his public coronation, took place at Gilgal ^{[1, 5, 6, 18]}. After Saul's victory over the Ammonites, which earned him widespread commendation and respect ^[2], the people went to Gilgal and "confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD" ^[1]. At Gilgal, peace offerings were sacrificed before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly ^{[1, 5, 6]}. Some traditions suggest that Samuel may have publicly anointed Saul with holy oil at Gilgal as well ^[16]. This event at Gilgal marked the full establishment and vigorous development of Saul's regal supremacy ^[12].

Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years ^[7]. His reign, however, was marked by a struggle between old and new systems, and his character was described as fierce and wayward, with periods of violent frenzy ^[3]. Josephus notes that Saul eventually made God his enemy due to his transgressions, leading to Samuel privately anointing David as the next king ^{[8, 9]}.

Sources

I Samuel “I Samuel 11:15 (BSB) — So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 5, section 3: by Saul, and was related with great commendation of him to all the Hebrews; and he thence gained a wonderful reputation for his valor: for although there were some of them that contemned him before, they now changed their minds, and honored him, and esteemed him as the best of men: for he did not content himself with having saved the inhabitants of Jabesh only, but he made an expedition into the country of the Ammonites, and laid it all waste, and took a large prey, and so returned to his own country most gloriously. So the peopl”
Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Saul — (desired), more accurately Shaul. + One of the early kings of Edom, and successor of Samlah. (Genesis 36:37,38; 1 Chronicles 1:48) (B.C. after 1450.) + The first king of Israel, the son of Kish, and of the tribe of Benjamin. (B.C, 1095-1055.) His character is in part illustrated by the fierce, wayward, fitful nature of the tribe and in part accounted for by the struggle between the old and new systems in which he found himself involved. To this we must add a taint of madness. which broke out in violent frenzy at times leaving him with long lucid intervals. He w”
Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Saul — Asked for. (1.) A king of Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48. (2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of prayer, "asked for"), of the tribe of Benjamin, the first king of the Jewish nation. The singular providential circumstances connected with his election as king are recorded in 1 Sam. 8-10. His father's she-asses had strayed, and Saul was sent with a servant to seek for them. Leaving his home at Gibeah (10:5, "the hill of God," A.V.; lit., as in R.V. marg., "Gibeah of God"), Saul and his servant went toward the north-west ov”
1 Samuel “1 Samuel 11:15 (NASB) — So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.”
King James Version “[KJV] 1 Kings 11:15 — And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.”
I Samuel “I Samuel 13:1 (BSB) — Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 1: . How, Upon Saul's Transgression Of The Prophet's Commands, Samuel Ordained Another Person To Be King Privately, Whose Name Was David, As God Commanded Him. 1. Now Saul being sensible of the miserable condition he had brought himself into, and that he had made God to be his enemy, he went up to his royal palace at Gibeah, which name denotes a hill, and after that day he came no more into the presence of the prophet. And when Samuel mourned for him, God bid him leave off his concern for him, and to take the holy oil, and go to Bet”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 1: . How, Upon Saul's Transgression Of The Prophet's Commands, Samuel Ordained Another Person To Be King Privately, Whose Name Was David, As God Commanded Him.”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 4, section 1: . The Appointment Of A King Over The Israelites, Whose Name Was Saul; And This By The Command Of God.”
Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 4, section 5: So when the people were at a loss, and solicitous, because Saul disappeared, the prophet besought God to show where the young man was, and to produce him before them. So when they had learned of God the place where Saul was hidden, they sent men to bring him; and when he was come, they set him in the midst of the multitude. Now he was taller than any of them, and his stature was very majestic. 6. Then said the prophet, "God gives you this man to be your king: see how he is higher than any of the people, and worthy of this dominio”
1 Samuel (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 8 (introduction): II. The Monarchy of Saul from His Election Till His Ultimate Rejection - 1 Samuel 8-15 The earthly monarchy in Israel was established in the time of Samuel, and through his mediation. At the pressing desire of the people, Samuel installed the Benjaminite Saul as king, according to the command of God. The reign of Saul may be divided into two essentially different periods: viz., (1) the establishment and vigorous development of his regal supremacy (1 Samuel 8-15); (2) the decline and gradual overthrow of his monarchy (1 Samuel 16-31). The establish”
1 Samuel (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 9:1: When the Lord had instructed Samuel to appoint a king over the nation, in accordance with its own desire, He very speedily proceeded to show him the man whom He had chosen. Saul the Benjaminite came to Samuel, to consult him as a seer about his father's she-asses, which had been lost, and for which he had been seeking in all directions in vain (Sa1 9:1-14). And the Lord had already revealed to the prophet the day before, that He would send him the man who had been set apart by Him as the king of Israel; and when Samuel met with Saul, He pointed him out as the ”
1 Samuel (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 10:17: Saul's Election by Lot. - After Samuel had secretly anointed Saul king by the command of God, it was his duty to make provision for a recognition of the man whom God had chosen on the part of the people also. To this end he summoned the people to Mizpeh, and there instructed the tribes to choose a king by lot. As the result of the lot was regarded as a divine decision, not only was Saul to be accredited by this act in the sight of the whole nation as the king appointed by the Lord, but he himself was also to be more fully assured of the certainty of his own ”
1 Samuel (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Samuel 10 (introduction): SAMUEL ANOINTS SAUL, AND CONFIRMS HIM BY THE PREDICTION OF THREE SIGNS. (1Sa. 10:1-27) Then Samuel took a vial of oil--This was the ancient (Jdg 9:8) ceremony of investiture with the royal office among the Hebrews and other Eastern nations. But there were two unctions to the kingly office; the one in private, by a prophet (Sa1 16:13), which was meant to be only a prophetic intimation of the person attaining that high dignity--the more public and formal inauguration (Sa2 2:4; Sa2 5:3) was performed by the high priest, and perhaps with th”
1 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Samuel 11:14: And all the people went to Gilgal,.... Agreed to the motion, and marched along with Saul and Samuel thither: and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal; that is, they declared him to be king there; he was inaugurated into, and invested with his office, otherwise it was God only that made him king, who only had the power of making one, see Act 2:36. Josephus says (e) that Samuel anointed him with the holy oil; and so the Septuagint version here renders it,"and Samuel anointed Saul there to be king;''and it is not improbable, that as he privately anoin”
1 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Samuel 10 (introduction): INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 10 In this chapter we read of Saul's being anointed king by Samuel, Sa1 10:1, and of certain signs given as confirming the same, which should come to pass, and did, before Saul got to his father's house, Sa1 10:2, of his arrival at his father's house, and of what passed between him and his uncle there, Sa1 10:14, of Samuel's calling all Israel together at Mizpeh, and of the election of Saul by lot to be king, and of his being declared such, Sa1 10:17, and of his return to his city, being respected by some, and despised by ”
1 Samuel (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Samuel 12:1: 12:1-25 The reaffirmation of Saul’s kingship at Gilgal (11:12-15) was the final step in his installation as king. The event was a fitting occasion for Samuel’s farewell address as leader of Israel.”

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