There was Rosie, all demure and unassuming.
I know the name conjures up all kinds of attractive images and I do wish I could describe Rosie as a nice-looking girl, but Rosie was a donkey. Now with donkeys, it is difficult to tell whether they are nice-looking or otherwise, for they all look the same – at least they do, to my eyes.
Oh, I haven’t told you where Rosie was.
Rosie was generally found to be roaming around near one of the men’s hostels in the campus of the College of Engineering, Guindy in the 1970s but I don’t think the animal was registered for any particular course. Nor did Rosie have a room in the hostel.
I am sorry to disappoint some of you but I think it is time I disclosed that Rosie wasn’t female at all. Camping as Rosy was around the men’s hostels, the guys probably thought it would be wonderful to have a female name to call out. I don’t think Rosie minded. But, it would be the correct thing to refer to Rosy as he/ him/ it.
Like some of the beasts described in the Bible, Rosie appeared to have eyes all around, but they were not visible. Should you approach him with an intent to cause mischief, he had no qualms at all about exercising his hind legs in a mighty kick, while keeping a perfectly straight face. You’d better think again.
There was no time like Deepavali to have fun with Rosie. With a cluster of crackers tied to his tail, he would prance around in a state of high excitement with his insufferable hee-haws. While it brought a great deal of mirth to the humans, I personally though the animal preferred Gandhi Jayanthi!
OMG, that was one huge diversion even before we set out on the subject, for we are expected to be discussing a passage from the Bible.
And so we should.
Let us turn to the ninth chapter of the first book of Samuel. There it is right up in v.3: Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost. And the banner headlines in the news stands that morning in Benjamin ran
Kish’s donkeys lost!
Surely, stories such as this shouldn’t be making headlines! After all they were but
donkeys.
Any way it seemed to matter a great deal to Kish and he loses no time in despatching his son Saul along with a servant in search of the donkeys. They go up and down the country – Ephraim, Shalisha, Shaalim, all over Benjamin, district of Zuph . Ooh …umh
No sign of the donkeys.
Now how they can identify Kish’s donkeys among the thousands in the countryside is a mystery. Maybe they had names…. like Rosie!
But none answered to the name of Rosie or the other donkeys’ names. Saul despaired and suggested that they go back, lest his father starts worrying about them instead of the donkeys.
It is at this point that the servant says there is a man of God in a town close to Zuph of whom they might enquire. Saul is okay with this idea but laments that they have no gift for the Seer.
The servant, ever resourceful, produces a quarter of a Shekel. And so they set out.
To cut a long story short, this was God’s way of arranging an encounter for the future king with the prophet Samuel. It is quite fascinating to read how the duo go about asking for the Seer and how Samuel himself encounters them having been instructed by God the day before. The search party for the lost donkeys suddenly find themselves at the head of the table at a feast and from then on, things move pretty fast – Saul getting anointed despite his protestations, a series of signs getting fulfilled and so on.
Now looking aside for a moment, who was instrumental in setting it up this meeting with the Seer? Saul’s servant, that’s who! He was so resourceful that he even produced a gift for the prophet.
Listen to the lesser guys. Don’t despise them. They may know more than you! (and we don’t even know the guy’s name!)
In the meanwhile, the donkeys had been found and in a matter of days Saul becomes the first king of Israel. You can read this racy narrative in the 9th and 10th chapters of the first book of Samuel.
If the Lord made an elaborate preparation for the arrival of His great prophet Samuel in this world as we saw in Page 44 , the arrangements put in place and the initially random, unconnected dots in the story of the first king of Israel were no less gripping.
ஆம், இது சவுல் ராஜா ஆன கதை !
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Very interesting.From Rosie to Saul the King of Israel.
Thanks Sujatha