What 1 Samuel 10:1 really means: The Anointing of Saul

The Anointing of Israel’s First King

This moment marks the beginning of Israel’s monarchy, when God chose Saul to be the first king over His people, even though it came after the people had rejected God’s direct rule by asking for a human king like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5-7).

Samuel, acting as God’s prophet, poured oil on Saul’s head - a symbolic act showing that God was setting him apart for a special purpose. This anointing was not merely about ceremony. It meant God’s Spirit would empower Saul to lead and deliver Israel from their enemies. God later said through the prophet Samuel, 'The Lord does not look at the things people look at; people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart' (1 Samuel 16:7). In Saul’s case, outward appearance mattered to the people who wanted a king who looked the part.

The kiss Samuel gave Saul was a sign of respect and recognition, showing that this was no ordinary appointment - it was God’s chosen plan, even if it was a response to Israel’s misplaced desire for human leadership over divine.

The Weight of Being Chosen: Saul’s Anointing and What It Points To

This moment with Saul marks the start of Israel’s kings and serves as a divine signpost pointing far beyond him to the one perfect King God always intended to send.

The oil Samuel used wasn’t ordinary; in Israel’s culture, anointing was reserved for priests, prophets, and now, for the first time, a king - someone set apart by God for a sacred role. Pouring oil on Saul’s head was a visible act showing that God’s Spirit would come upon him to equip him for leadership, not because of Saul’s worthiness, but because of God’s purpose. The kiss Samuel gave was more than a greeting - it was a cultural gesture of honor, acknowledging Saul as the Lord’s chosen, a sign that this appointment carried divine authority. Yet this moment also carries tension: God was giving Israel a king not because it was His ideal, but because they insisted, much like how later He would send a Savior not because humanity deserved it, but because of His love.

The title 'anointed one' - or 'Messiah' in Hebrew, 'Christ' in Greek - takes on deeper meaning here. When Psalm 2:2 says, 'The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed,' it echoes this moment but points forward to Jesus, the true Anointed One. Acts 4:27 confirms this, quoting that verse and applying it to Jesus, showing how Saul’s anointing was a shadow of the greater King to come. When the Spirit came on Saul (1 Samuel 10:10), Peter also said of Jesus, 'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power' (Acts 10:38), revealing that Jesus fulfills what Saul only briefly represented.

Saul’s anointing, then, is both a beginning and a preview. It marks a shift in how God led His people, yet it also foreshadows the perfect reign of Christ - the one King who would truly save His people from their enemies, not with a sword, but by laying down His life.

This sets the stage for the rise of David, the man after God’s own heart, whose own anointing would point even more clearly to the coming Savior.

God’s Choice in Spite of Human Failure

Even though Israel asked for a king to be like the other nations - rejecting God’s direct rule - God still sovereignly chose Saul to lead, showing that He works through human failure without being limited by it.

Samuel’s words, 'Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel?' (1 Samuel 10:1), make clear that Saul’s authority came from God, not popular approval. This moment reflects God’s response to Israel’s mixed motives: He didn’t abandon them but redirected their desire for a king into His larger plan.

When God raised up a deliverer in an unexpected way, He later sent His true King - not in power and height like Saul, but in humility and love - fulfilling His promise to save His people from their enemies.

From Saul to Jesus: The Anointing That Points Forward

Though Saul was the first anointed king of Israel, his role was only a shadow of the true and final Anointed One to come.

The act of anointing with oil, seen again when David is chosen by God in 1 Samuel 16:13, established a pattern of divine selection - not based on outward appearance but on God’s purpose. Later, this pattern finds its full meaning in Jesus, who, as Luke 4:18 declares, said, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor,' quoting Isaiah 61:1 and showing He fulfills the anointing in perfect way.

Where Saul failed as a king, Jesus succeeded - not by ruling with human strength, but by serving, suffering, and saving, revealing that God’s true king reigns not from a throne of power, but from a cross of love.

Application