“Long live the king!” That’s something you don’t have to worry about if your king is the Lord.
Mizpah means “watchtower” or “lookout,” and there seem to be many such places in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Mizpah in our story in 1 Samuel 10 was on the western border of Benjamin’s tribal territory; Samuel’s other two towns where he judged Israel were Bethel on Benjamin’s northern border, and Gilgal in the east, near the Jordan River. Bethel, meaning “the house of God,” reminds us of Jacob’s exclamation, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” (Gen 28:16). Gilgal means “rolling away” and was the place where the reproach of Egypt was removed from Israel. Mizpah was the site of Israel’s victory over the Philistines and the memorial marker called Ebenezer, the Stone of Help, for, said Samuel, “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Sam 7:12). What a great place for the tribes to gather to recognize their new king! It was certainly bittersweet, for as the Lord reminded them, “I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you. But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you…and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’” (10:18-19). Nevertheless, the Lord was giving them what they wanted. Selecting Benjamin’s tribe from the 12, Samuel narrowed it further to the clan of Matri, then the family of Kish and Saul. But where was Saul? At the big moment of his investiture, he was hiding! “There he is,” said the Lord (v 22). When he finally appeared, “taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward” (v 23), the people shouted, “Long live the king!” (v 24). But some doubters wondered aloud, “How can this man save us?” (v 27). It wouldn’t be long until they would find out.