Commentaire sur Samuel 1 9:9
לְפָנִ֣ים ׀ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר הָאִישׁ֙ בְּלֶכְתּוֹ֙ לִדְר֣וֹשׁ אֱלֹהִ֔ים לְכ֥וּ וְנֵלְכָ֖ה עַד־הָרֹאֶ֑ה כִּ֤י לַנָּבִיא֙ הַיּ֔וֹם יִקָּרֵ֥א לְפָנִ֖ים הָרֹאֶֽה׃
(Autrefois, en Israël, celui qui se proposait d’aller consulter Dieu, disait: "Venez, allons trouver le Voyant"; car le prophète de nos jours s’appelait alors le voyant.)
Rashi on I Samuel
In former times in Yisroel. The author wrote this verse,6I.e., Shmuel. See Maseches Bava Basra 14b which states that Shmuel authored the Book of Shmuel. However, being that Shmuel died before Shaul who only reigned for two years, what is the meaning of “formerly” and “of today” as stated in the verse? Radak therefore suggests that “formerly” refers to an earlier period when prophets were known for their ability to predict the future and to display a knowledge of hidden things, therefore the term רוֹאֶה. However, in Shmuel’s time prophecy became widespread, but the type of prophecy was a Divine inspiration to bring to the people the word of ‘ה, therefore the term נָבִיא [from the root בוֹא]. In Shaul’s case he was looking for a רוֹאֶה to tell him where his donkeys were. Others however, maintain that the author of this verse may have been Ezra or Yirmiyahu. i.e., this is not part of the youth of Shaul's statement.
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Rashi on I Samuel
For the "prophet" of today. The one who is called 'prophet' today was formerly called 'seer.'
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