1 Samuel 9 · a question people ask
Is Saul's height and good looks praise, or a warning?
The chapter says it plainly: "there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people" (9:2). It doesn't comment on it. Christians read it in two main ways, each resting on verses. Both agree that in this chapter the LORD sends Saul (9:16) and points him out to Samuel (9:17), and that later, in Bethlehem (16:4), when Samuel looks at Eliab (16:6), the LORD tells him, "man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (16:7).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A gift, plainly told
Those who read it this way point out that the LORD himself chose Saul: "I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him" (9:16). When Saul stands among the people, Samuel says, "Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?" (10:24). The book speaks of David's looks in the same plain way: "he was ruddy, with a handsome face and good appearance" (16:12).
1 Samuel 9:16 · 1 Samuel 10:23-24 · 1 Samuel 16:12
A caution the book comes back to
Those who read it this way point to what the LORD says in Bethlehem when Samuel looks at Eliab (16:6): "Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees" (16:7). In Hebrew, height there is the word for taller in 9:2. And the people had asked for a king "that we also may be like all the nations" (8:20).
1 Samuel 16:6-7 · 1 Samuel 9:2 · 1 Samuel 8:20
The verses
“He had a son whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people.”
““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. He will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me.” When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! He will have authority over my people.””
“Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?””
“When they had come, he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.””