The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 21

THE MONARCHY. THE FIRST KING. SAUL. It w11s by a Divine revelation that Se.u1, the son of Kish, a benjamite, was pointecl out to Samuel as the future captain over Israel, to save the people out of tile ltancl of tlte Philistines ; but we may reverently notice tile wisclom of the choice. The danger being from the Philistines ancl the Ammonites, the king must be from one of the southern tribes. A king from the northern groups would, perhaps, have been negligent of pressure and danger in the south, or at least would have known less well how to deal with it. Of the southern tribes Simec:,n or Benjamin would be preferable to Judah or Ephraim; for had the first king been taken from either of the two great rival tribes, only too probably the other tribe would have yieldecl a very imperfect allegiance. As between Simeon and Benjamin, there was not much to recommend the first and a great deal in favour of the second. Of the southern tribes Benjamin was the most central. It contained Bethel, perhaps of all the sanctuaries of Palestine the. most ancient ; Mizpeh, where the great assemblies of all Israel took place (J udg. x. 17; xi. 11; xx. 1 ; 1 Sam. vii. 5) ; and Gibeon, "the great high place." It had had ·the honour of sheltering the ark at Kirjath-jearim, perhaps also of being the home of Samuel; but the situation of Re.mah is uncertain. It was warlike and powerful, quite out of proportion to its members or the size of its territory. The dying patriarch foretold that "Benjamin should ravin as a wolf;" and the way in which it defended itself age.inst the rest of Israel, in vindication of the horrible deed of the men of Gibeah, is one of the most extraordinary things in the military history of the J ewa. Among this tribe of warriors Kish, Saul's father, was a powerful chief; and Sau1 himself was in stature almost gigantic, with strength and activity equal to his frame (2 Sam. 1. 23). All· these details are very significant, and help us to understand the meaning of God's dealing with His people in yielding to their importunity, and granting a king. The gift was at once a judgment and a blessing. It punished the people for the wrong spirit in which they had demanded a king, and 11t the same time disciplined them for the future, so that when a worthy king was found, e. people worthy of him was ready. In some sense Saul was the chosen cif God, in the fullest sense he was not. God pointed )rim out to Samuel as the future king; not, however, as being His own choice (1 Sam. xv.11, 85), but as being such as the people wou1d desire. David was the "man after God's own heart;" Sau1 was rather the man after Israel's own heart. The Almighty was giving them a king such as they had longed for, the goodliest man in all the land; perhaps to show them that, although when such men have His blessing they succeed, yet without it they are powerless oo the smallest child, whether against His friends or His enemies. Sau1 might be " swifter than an eagle, and stronger than a lion;" but when the Lord was no longer with him, "the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." "And it was so, that when he had turned his shoulder (that greatshou1der by which he was afterwards so conspicuous) to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart" (eh. x. 9). In other words, like his far grea~r namesake in the New Testament, Sau1 was an instance of what we are accustomed to call "sudden conversion." From this, as well as from the expression of astonishment, which has since become a. proverb, " Saul also among the prophets I" we gather that in his earlier life he had been by no means a. very religious man. In this, as in so much else, Saul was n grent contrast to the ruler whom he superseded. From his childhood upwards Samuel had" ministered unto the Lo1·d," and " the ·Lord had been with ·him••· :txiv INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL l3O0ICS: