“When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming toward you who are on their way to worship God at Bethel. One will be bringing three young goats, another will have three loaves of bread, and the third will be carrying a wineskin full of wine.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine.
- KJV Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine:
- BSB Then you will go on from there until you come to the Oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.
- NKJV Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.
- NASB Then you will go on farther from there, and you will come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In a second sign, Saul will meet three men at the oak of Tabor going up to worship God at Bethel, carrying goats, bread, and wine.
Overview
This further sign continues God's gracious confirmation of Saul's appointment. The men's offerings for worship at Bethel show ongoing devotion in Israel. Each fulfilled detail builds Saul's assurance that the LORD is guiding his steps.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Gen 28:22then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”
- Gen 35:3Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went.”
- Gen 35:1God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
- Gen 28:19He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
- Judg 8:18Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “They were like you. Each one resembled the children of a king.”
- Gen 35:6–8So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
- Lev 7:13With cakes of leavened bread he shall offer his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving.
- Lev 1:10“‘If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without defect.
- Ps 89:12The north and the south, you have created them. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
- Judg 4:6She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
- Josh 19:12It turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrise to the border of Chisloth Tabor. It went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia.
- Judg 4:12They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor.
- Lev 23:13The meal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.
- Lev 3:6“‘If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh is from the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without defect.
- Lev 3:12“‘If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before Yahweh:
- Num 15:5–12You shall prepare wine for the drink offering, the fourth part of a hin, with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.
- Josh 19:22The border reached to Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth Shemesh. Their border ended at the Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages.
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 10:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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