1 Samuel 9:7

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5 When they had come to the land of ^aZuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let ^bus return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.”

6 And he said to him, “Look now, there is in this city ^aa man of God, and he is an honorable man; ^ball that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”

7 Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go, ^awhat shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

8 And the servant answered Saul again and said, “Look, I have here at hand one-fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.”

9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man ^awent to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called ^ba seer.)

10 Then Saul said to his servant,¹ “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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1 Samuel 9:7

There is not a present to bring to the man of God - We are not to suppose from this that the prophets took money to predict future events: Saul only refers to an invariable custom, that no man approached a superior without a present of some kind or other. We have often seen this before; even God, who needs nothing, would not that his people should approach him with empty hands. "It is very common in Bengal for a person, who is desirous of asking a favor from a superior, to take a present of fruits or sweetmeats in his hand. If not accepted, the feelings of the offerer are greatly wounded. The making of presents to appease a superior is also very common in Bengal." - Ward' s Customs.

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing 1 Samuel 9:7:**

Isaiah 57:9

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1 Samuel 9:8 >>

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