The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 22

(eh. iii. 1, 19). There has been no sudden change, but a steetdy growth in holiness. Hence the cahn stee,dfastness, the " sweet reasonableness" of all his conduct, even under the grayest proYocation. He can be tender, and he can be severe, but he is never fanatical. With Saul it is otherwise. A novice in religion, his spiritual experiences are a Reries of surprises to him and throw him off his balance. There is excitement and fanaticism in his religion almost from the first; and as he takes litt.le pains to deepen and make sure the change of heart which had been granted to him, wha.t is left of religion in him becomes for the most part superstition mixed with a strong kind of frenzy, which may have been something akin to religious mania. \Ye see the want of judgment and of reasonableness in his "forcing him- self" to offer sacrifice, in his ill-advised adjuration, in his sparing the best of the Ama.lekite spoil for sacrifice, in his fierce extermination of wizards, and in his himself inquiring of the Lord through a witch. His career is a standing warning to those who presume upon great spiritual blessings which they take no pains· to appropriate and secure ; from such an one "shall be taken away even that which he bath.'' So it was with Saul. The modest, retiring conduct which charms us so much at the outset is quite wanting in his later life ; instead of it we have his ostentatious triumph over the Amalekites (Agag was spared to grace the procession) and his envy of Da,id's praises. The clemency which he shows at the outset to the men of Belie.I, who scoffed at his election,is forgotten in his slaughter of the Gibeonites (2 Sam. xxi. 1), and the savage massacre of the priests with all their families (1 Sam. nii. 17-19). In this he reminds ns of our own King Henry IV. The sullen stern- ness at the close of life is so unlike the bright generosity at the beginning of it. The explanation in both cases is perhaps the same : disease, both of body and mind, coupled v.ith the reproaches of an ill-informed conscience. But, nemo repente turpisaimus : almost to the last Saul has his better moments, and in these nothing is more conspicuous than his tenderness for David, whom at other times he had come to regard with frantic hatred. In the whole of the Old Testament there is no biography more tragic: the nearest to it, perhaps, is that of Samson. In both we see the utter wreck of great powers through the indulgence of an unbridled will. It is a relief to tnrn from the lurid lights and deepening gloom of Saul's last years to the last years of the man with whom we have contrasted him. In spite of the bitter trial which the establishment of regal power was to him, and the bitter disappointment which the first king's recklessness caused him, Samuel remains calm and steadfast to the last ; stee,dfast alike in his loyalty to God, to the heedless king, and to suffering Israel. For a time he shared the supreme power with Saul (eh. xi. 7). After the confirmation of the regal power, in the enthusiasm caused by Saul's Yictory over the Ammonites (eh. xi. 14), he made his great testimony before the people (eh. xii.), and then seems to have retired somewhat from the conduct of affairs, retaining, but perhaps without being often called upon to exercise, his office as judge (eh. vii 15), and appearing chiefly in his character as prophet. It is in his character as prophet and as the anointer of David that his importance in the history of the kingdom of God chiefly consists. The first point might have btien noticed earlier in the section specially devoted to Samuel; but the second must have remained over until now in order to avoid confusion. To consider the two points together adds to the significance and impressiveness of each ; and with them we may bring this section to a close. As prophet, Samuel has mainly two aspects: (1) he is the founder of the schools of the prophets ; (2) he is the inspired exponent of the will of God.  .'JOSHUA TO NEHEMIA!t. :nv