After Samuel had anointed Saul, he announced to him that when Saul came to the hill of God where the garrison of the Philistines was, he would meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place.? In several passages in both the books of Samuel and Kings, we read of bands of prophets or sons of the prophets.? What is the meaning of these terms??
???? To properly understand this question, it is important to recall that in the time of Moses the seventy elders received of the Spirit which was upon Moses. ?The nation had complained, and Moses gave utterance to the thought that the office which had been placed upon his shoulders was too heavy for one man to bear. Numbers 11:14 ?The Lord knew of Moses? burden. ?He commanded seventy men, known as elders, to assist Moses, and sent the same Spirit on them as had been upon Moses.? When the Spirit was diffused among the seventy, they spoke in tongues to convince Moses and the nation that they were suitable for the work which lay before them.?
???? When the time of Judges had come to its close, Samuel stood forth almost alone as the messenger of God.? He was true to his office, 1 Samuel 3:19-21 and served in the ?transition from Judges to Kings.? As Moses had lesser power of the Spirit when it was diffused among the seventy, so the bands of prophets or sons of the prophets had lesser amounts of the Spirit than did Samuel. ?So when Saul met these bands of prophets, he was meeting a group that all together had about the same degree of control of the Spirit as Samuel.?
???? It was told Saul that when he come to the hill of God, he would encounter a band of prophets.? The prophets were a ?band? or ?company? and were altogether.? They were descending from the high place.? We are not told why they were descending, and there is no point in concluding that there was at the high place the seat of a school of the prophets.? Possibly they had been on a pilgrimage.? They were accompanied by musical instruments, and this may have been indicative of a festive occasion. ??It is not clear as to why they been to the high place, nor why they were at this time descending.? That these men were under the influence of the Spirit of God, there can be no doubt, for it is said to Saul that when he meets the prophets, the Spirit of Jehovah will rush upon him and he will prophesy with them. 1 Samuel 10:10?? The result of the rushing of the Spirit was typical of the prophet.? God?s Spirit came upon the prophet, and the result was that he prophesied.? The source of this information was Heaven.? Who could but think, then, that the message was anything but exhilarating and ecstatic.? Aided by the presence of music, the message was not self-imposed nor self-induced as with those who think themselves inspired, today.? It is without a doubt that when the Spirit of God thus came upon a man, that man was in an abnormal condition.? There was resting upon him a Divinely imposed compulsion so that he could not but speak forth and sing the wondrous works of God.
???? For the condition of Saul, it was told that he would turn into another man.? This phenomenon is further described in 1 Samuel 10:9.? It would was not regeneration, for that includes all the soul to change. This was a work on Saul without permanent results, like a passing fancy. ?It was not preceded by a passing away of old things.? The heart with its sinful, rebellious nature, would remain, and, did remain until his death.? Saul was to become a different man, in that he would now have the ability to act as a king should act.? He would have a wider vision of the duties that were required of a king, and he would receive the capacity to carry out those duties.? He would be a greater man that before.
