Commentary: On 1 Samuel 9

Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus, “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer. (1 Samuel 9:9)

When it says he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer—that is, what this generation calls “a prophet” was called “a seer” in previous generations—you learn that by the time this book was written, they had already returned to calling a seer a prophet, implying that this book was not written in Samuel’s time, since if you go through the entire Bible, you will find a prophet being called a seer nowhere but here, where it says: Tell me, please, which is the house of the seer? (1 Samuel 9:18). You therefore learn that the generation of Samuel is referred to as formerly in Israel, and the generation after Samuel is meant when it says: the prophet of today was formerly called a seer. Our sages said that Samuel wrote his book. May the One who brings light to the earth turn darkness into light and straighten the twisted.