“How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
Parallel translations
- WEB Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.
- KJV And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.
- NKJV And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
- NASB But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’
- NLT But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” “Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord.
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
Samuel fears Saul will kill him, and God provides a sacrifice as the occasion for the journey. It shows God accommodating Samuel's fear with a true and prudent plan.
Overview
Samuel's fear is realistic given Saul's jealousy, and God gives him a genuine sacrifice to perform that also provides cover for the anointing. This is not deception but wisdom, since the sacrifice really takes place. The verse shows God meeting his servant's weakness with practical guidance rather than rebuke.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Sam 9:12“Yes, he is ahead of you,” they answered. “Hurry now, for today he has come to the city because the people have a sacrifice on the high place.
- 1 Sam 20:29saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he did not come to the king’s table.”
- Matt 10:16Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
- 1 Kgs 18:9–14But Obadiah replied, “How have I sinned, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to put me to death?
- Exod 3:11But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
- Jer 38:26–27then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
- Luke 1:34“How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:2 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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