The Reserved Portion: Providence on a Plate
Introduction: The World of Lost Donkeys
We live in a world that worships at the altar of the accidental. Our age is convinced that reality is a long series of fortunate, or unfortunate, mishaps. The universe is a cosmic car crash, life is a biological lottery ticket, and your personal existence is the result of a thousand meaningless variables that just happened to line up. In this view, a man like Saul is simply a fellow who had a bad day looking for his father's donkeys and, through a stroke of blind luck, stumbled into a free meal and a promotion he didn't deserve. This is the thin gruel of materialism, and it cannot sustain a man's soul for a minute.
The Scriptures present us with a radically different reality. It is a world shot through with purpose, governed down to the last molecule by a sovereign and personal God. In this world, there are no coincidences, only providences. There are no accidents, only appointments. A man may think he is merely chasing after lost livestock, consumed with the mundane anxieties of his day, while God Almighty is preparing a table, reserving a kingdom, and setting in motion the history of redemption. The man is worried about the donkeys, but God is concerned with the throne.
This is the great clash of worldviews. Is history a story written by an intelligent author, or is it a series of typos generated by a cat walking across a keyboard? The Bible's answer is unequivocal. God is the author, and He does not waste a single word. What we are about to witness in this simple account of a meal is not just ancient hospitality. It is a profound demonstration of God's meticulous sovereignty. It is a lesson in how God works in the world, preparing and reserving His blessings for His people long before they even know they have a need. This is not just Saul's story; it is a paradigm for how God deals with all His people. He is always ahead of us, and the feast is already prepared.
The Text
Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the chamber and gave them a place at the head of those who were invited, who were about thirty men. And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion that I gave you, concerning which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’ ” Then the cook took up the leg with what was on it and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, “Here is what has been reserved! Set it before you and eat, because it has been kept for you until the appointed time, since I said I have invited the people.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
(1 Samuel 9:22-24 LSB)
The Place of Honor (v. 22)
We begin with the public seating arrangement.
"Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the chamber and gave them a place at the head of those who were invited, who were about thirty men." (1 Samuel 9:22)
Notice the deliberate action of the prophet. Samuel takes Saul and brings him into the main hall, the chamber where the sacrificial feast is being held. This is not a private affair. There are about thirty men present, the elders and leaders of the city. And where does Samuel seat this stranger who just wandered into town looking for his donkeys? He gives him the place of honor, at the head of the table. This is a deliberate and public act of elevation.
Imagine the scene. Thirty of the city's most respected men are gathered for a sacred meal, and Samuel, the great prophet and judge of all Israel, walks in with a tall, unknown young man from the smallest tribe and his servant, and places them in the chief seats. This would have been a shocking breach of protocol in any ordinary circumstance. But this is no ordinary circumstance. This is a divine ordinance unfolding in real time. God, through his prophet, is demonstrating a foundational principle of His kingdom: He is the one who raises up and casts down. He takes a man from the obscure tribe of Benjamin, a man who describes his own clan as "the least of all the families" (1 Sam. 9:21), and seats him above all the local dignitaries.
This is a picture of grace. Honor is being bestowed, not achieved. Saul did nothing to earn this seat. He did not campaign for it, scheme for it, or inherit it. He was simply brought into it by the sovereign will of God, mediated through God's prophet. This is how God always works. He does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. He gives the place of honor not to those who elbow their way to the front, but to those who are brought there by His hand. This is a rebuke to all our self-sufficient pride and a profound comfort to all who feel insignificant. Your station in life is not determined by your tribe or your resume, but by the God who sets the table of the world.
The Reserved Portion (v. 23)
The evidence for God's meticulous providence becomes undeniable in the next verse.
"And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion that I gave you, concerning which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’ ”" (1 Samuel 9:23 LSB)
Here, the curtain is pulled back, and we see the inner workings of God's plan. Before Saul ever arrived, before he even met the young women at the well, Samuel had already given instructions to the cook. A specific portion of the sacrificial animal was to be set aside. It was reserved. It was waiting.
This single detail demolishes any secular, materialistic reading of the event. This is not luck. This is orchestration. God, who told Samuel the day before that a man from Benjamin would arrive at this exact time (1 Sam. 9:16), also arranged for his dinner to be set apart. This is the God who not only numbers the hairs on our heads, but also plans our meals before we know we are hungry. He is a God of glorious details.
This act of setting something aside beforehand is a distinctly covenantal action. God is always setting things apart. He set apart a people for Himself. He set apart a day for rest. He set apart a sacrifice for sin. And here, He sets apart a piece of meat as a sign and a seal of His intention for Saul. The command to the cook is a testament to the fact that God's plans are not reactive. He does not improvise. History is not a series of ad-libbed scenes. It is a script, written from eternity, and God is bringing it to pass with perfect, unhurried precision. While Saul was running around in a state of mild panic over his father's animals, God had his portion waiting on the counter.
The Appointed Time (v. 24)
Finally, the purpose of this reservation is made explicit.
"Then the cook took up the leg with what was on it and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, “Here is what has been reserved! Set it before you and eat, because it has been kept for you until the appointed time, since I said I have invited the people.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day." (1 Samuel 9:24 LSB)
The cook brings out the specific portion, the leg or thigh, which was considered a choice cut, often given to the priests. Samuel's words to Saul are freighted with theological significance. "Here is what has been reserved!" This is not just any piece of meat; it is the portion with your name on it. And then the reason: "it has been kept for you until the appointed time."
There it is. The "appointed time." This is the language of divine sovereignty. God operates on a perfect timetable. There is an appointed time for kings to be chosen, for saviors to be born (Gal. 4:4), and for judgment to fall. Saul's arrival was not late, nor was it early. He arrived at the precise moment that God had ordained, the moment for which this meal was prepared. The meal itself, a covenant meal eaten in fellowship, serves to ratify the calling that is about to be formally declared. Eating together is an act of communion, of shared life. Saul is being brought into covenant fellowship with God's plan.
The secular man believes he is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul. He thinks his life is a product of his own choices, his own striving, and a healthy dose of luck. This passage shows that to be a profound delusion. We are not the captains of our souls; we are characters in a story, and the Author has already prepared the final banquet. Our part is not to seize control, but to recognize the appointed time and to eat what has been set before us with gratitude and faith.
The Gospel on the Table
This entire episode is a glorious foreshadowing of a much greater feast and a much greater King. It is a type, a pattern that finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Like Saul, we were lost. We were not looking for a kingdom; we were chasing after fleeting, worthless things. We were spiritually wandering, anxious, and far from God's house, dead in our trespasses and sins. We were, like Saul's tribe, the least of all, with no claim on God's favor.
But God, in His infinite and meticulous providence, had a "reserved portion" for us. Before the foundation of the world, He set apart a sacrifice. Not the leg of a bull or a goat, but His only begotten Son. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from eternity, the portion reserved for us, kept for the "appointed time." "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son" (Gal. 4:4). His coming was not an accident. His death was not a tragedy that caught God by surprise. It was the centerpiece of the eternal plan, the reserved portion set before us for our salvation.
And through faith in this sacrifice, God brings us into His chamber. He takes us, who were nobodies, and gives us the place of honor. He seats us at His table, not as strangers, but as sons. He sets before us the body and blood of His Son, the true reserved portion, and says, "Eat, for this has been kept for you." The Lord's Supper is our weekly reenactment of this glorious reality. We come to the table, not because we have earned our seat, but because we have been brought in by the grace of the Host. We eat, not a symbolic piece of meat, but the very bread of heaven, the choice portion that gives eternal life.
This is the comfort of the gospel. Your salvation is not a last-minute improvisation. It was planned. A place was set for you. A portion was reserved for you. An appointed time was designated for you. And God, in His sovereign grace, found you while you were still out looking for donkeys and brought you home to the feast.