Why does Saul have three ritual coronations?
As soon as dawn rose, Samuel sent Saul’s servant away, took out a small vessel containing oil, presumably olive oil, mixed with several extracts. Samuel poured a few drops over Saul’s head, in secret, with no witnesses.
This is the first official anointment of a king in Israel’s history and is the origin of the term ‘Messiah’ - meaning - the leader who is anointed by the holy oil.
Why was this ritual done in secret? What’s the meaning of this first of three ritual moments in which Saul is crowned as King? And why the oil?
Anointment is already a known ritual in Israel’s history and in the Near East by the time Samuel uses it. Sacred Oil was used by Moses to consecrate the Tabernacle, smearing each plank and piece of furniture with it, and used to initiate Aaron and his sons as the first priestly family of the nation. Not just their heads were anointed with the oil but also their right thumbs, toes, and earlobes. In ancient Egypt, oil was used to consecrate officials into office, and possibly used in the coronation of the Pharaoh as well.
Saul is the first Israelite king, and the first to be initiated this way. A closer reading reveals that it may have been more than just a dramatic gesture - but actually a way to shift and elevate his consciousness, and psychic-spiritual sense of self. And although Saul is not an active participant in this ritual, on some level what is happening here is an echo and a mythic repetition of a deliberate anointment ritual conducted by one of Saul’s ancestors at a similarly auspicious moment.
Back in the Book of Genesis, young Jacob, running away from home, sleeps alone in the field, his head on a stone, not very far from where Samuel and Saul would be walking centuries later, and dreams a powerful dream, with a stairway to heaven, and a divine promise of safety.
Early in the morning he rises, wide awake, aware of the revelation he had just been privileged to dream. He pours oil on the stone that he had placed his head on and marks the spot a sacred altar - Bethel.
Saul of Benjamin, descendant of Jacob/Israel, becomes that anointed stone, early in the morning, in a private ceremony. Jacob’s head resting on the stone, the head of the stairway leading to heaven, and the stone itself consecrated and anointed become one symbolic image, a perfect union of micro and macro cosmic connection. As Jacob anoints the stone, Samuel anoints Saul - a marking of a new threshold crossing in time/space, as the new “head” of the nation of Israel.
Why was this ritual secret? Some scholars speculate that since the Philistines are in charge, it was to ensure Saul’s safety. It would take some time to verify his ability and risk a public coronation - which would happen later in this dense chapter.
And what’s in the oil that matters? Well, this too is a subject of speculation.
Right after the anointing Samuel instructs Saul to look for three signs that will prove he is the king, chosen by the Divine. The second of the three signs is his meeting of a band of ecstatic prophets, playing music and going into trance. Saul joins them, as instructed by Saul, and ‘becomes another man’. Whatever transformation took place, people who knew him were surprised enough to utter - “Is Saul also among the Prophets??” (This idiom is still popular in Hebrew today, often used with scorn - look who thinks he’s so religious!) It may have been the music that compelled him to dance and rise like the other prophets, and it may have been the oil. The Sacred Oil of Anointment, written about in detail in the Talmud, contained olive oil, along with ingredients such as cinnamon - and cannabis. Was it a psycho-active substance that induced Saul into a spiritual state of being as a way to elevate him from layman to king, open to the powers of prophecy? (For more on Cannabis in Jewish tradition and world history, check out my friend Larry Smith’s new book, The Joy of Cannabis, published this week.)
Whatever was in the oil, Saul still keeps it all a secret, per Samuel’s command. What happens next is a strange public scene, a coronation, in which the people of Israel, summoned by Samuel, finally get a king. But first they are subject to a ‘choosing ceremony’ in which, using some kind of oracle, the king will be chosen. The lot first falls on the tribe of Benjamin, then on Saul’s family, and finally on Saul himself, although he is hiding with the gear, reluctant to be publicly displayed. They drag him out of hiding and finally get to exclaim the words that they’ve been waiting for:
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֜ל אֶל־כׇּל־הָעָ֗ם הַרְּאִיתֶם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּחַר־בּ֣וֹ יְהֹוָ֔ה כִּ֛י אֵ֥ין כָּמֹ֖הוּ בְּכׇל־הָעָ֑ם וַיָּרִ֧עוּ כׇל־הָעָ֛ם וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ יְחִ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃
And Samuel said to the people, “Do you see the one whom YHWH has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.”
And all the people acclaimed him, shouting, “Long live the king!”
But not everybody is convinced. Some people are questioning the choice, while Saul remains silent. It will take one more coronation - this one following the battlefield, to secure Saul’s crown on his head. At least for a while, and until the new king - not his son and heir - is also anointed by Samuel, using the mystery oil.
And as for Jacob’s stone, it is no longer in Bethel. According to an elaborate myth this holy rock was brought to Ireland in the 7th century CE, eventually became known as The Stone of Destiny, Stone of Scone, or the Coronation Stone, used to crown the kings and queens of Scotland and England for hundreds of years. Until 1996 it was housed within the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, where it will reside again in a few months, when Charles III is crowned, oil poured on his head, while sitting on the stone his ancestors have sat on for ages. Who knows what will be used for the anointing oil and would the aged new king be encouraged to get stoned?
Beyond the pomp and symbols, speculation and doubts — Saul’s role as savior of his people will truly be activated, in the next chapter, not with oil, but with blood.
Image: Marc Chagall, Samuel is pouring anointing oil to Saul's head, 1956
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Unfortunately I now have a conflict with today’s zoom. Will it be recorded? The question I’d bring on ch 10 is about speaking in ecstasy. Is that where Christians who speak in tongues get that inspiration? I am appreciating this journey through Tanach with you. Audrey