1 Samuel 10:9–13

So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” Then a man from there answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

What happens at the beginning of this passage is important. What does “God gave him another heart” mean?

The Hebrew idiom is tricky. The word translated as “gave” (הֲפָךְ, ha-pakh) literally means “turned” or “overturned.” The word translated as “another” (אַחֵ֑ר, ah-khair) means another in the sense of one coming behind. The ESV translates this idiom the same, but the NIV translates it as, “God changed Saul’s heart.”

In any case, Saul’s heart was not the same after God did this. And, most importantly, this clearly precedes Saul being turned into another man when the Holy Spirit comes upon him. But what is the significance of this change in Saul’s heart?

This is clearer in Hebrew. While almost no Hebrew words make it into English, the colloquialisms do. One of the most common is “Set your heart on.” In Hebrew, just as in English, it means the opposite of ignore—almost like “obsess on.” This illustrates the Hebrew view of the role of the heart with respect to desire, knowledge, and faith. The mind is important, but the heart is in charge.

So, when God transforms Saul’s heart, it’s the ultimate attitude change. We can’t be sure which parts of his attitude needed changing, so we don’t know exactly what the changes were.

But Saul is now much more ready to be made into a new man.

So, the transformation of Saul turns out to be a two-step process. This leads to a ton of questions. Why did God do it this way? What are we to learn from this?

All we can be sure of is that it did happen in steps. That seems reasonable. Our experience with change is that while there are milestones, big changes are typically the sum of many smaller ones. Thus, Saul’s two-step transformation has a “natural” feel to it. This is analogous to preparing the soil in evangelism.

There’s a great lesson in this. The author of nature likes His creation. God works through natural processes, even when miracles are involved. Here, Saul was made ready for his transformation into a new man through the transformation of his heart. That seems more reasonable that some instant, bang, highly unnatural process.

It's still quite a shock to his system, but the blow is softened by the preparation of his heart.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.