(1) Although there hacl been prophets, ancl at least one great one before Samuel -Moses, Miriam, Balaam, Deborah, ancl others (Num. xi. 25; Judg. vi. 8)-yet he was the first of the regular succession of prophets, which extends throughout the whole period of monarchy. St. Peter seems to express this fact in his address to the people in Solomon's Porch, " All the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after" (Acts. iii. 24). Henceforth we begin to read of those societies called the " company of the prophets," and the "sons of the prophets" (1 8am. x. 5, 10, &c.), over which Samuel presided (eh. xix. 20). These schools, in which sacred dance and mnsic, both vocal and instrumental, were studied, together with the law and prophetic utterances, have been compared with medireval universities. Theii; appearance precisely at this time, and their having their first seat in Ramah, Samuel's own dwelling-place, leaves little doubt that he was the founder of them. No one more fitted to found them could have a.risen, for he had been a prophet from childhood; and this, so far as we know, wa.s true of no other prophet until the time of Isaiah. (2) The law, in spite of the number of its enactments, could not possibly cover all cases in the infinite complexity and. variety of life. Moreover, the law was but imperfectly known, and when known it was often neglected. Hence there was abundant of room, side by side with the law, for an authoritative statement of the Divine will; and indeed, in the numerous crises through which the Chosen People had to pass, there was a crying need from time to time for such a statement. To make it, to interpret God's dealings to man, to declare His counsels, to exhort and warn in His name, were the functions of the prophet. The law might instruct them about sacrifices, and purifications, and the elements of justice and charity; but it required the trumpet-voice of the prophet to remind king and people alike that an obedient spirit is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. xv. 22), and that what the Lord requires is not a self-satisfied conformity with written enactments, "but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk hwmbly with thy God'' (Micah ,i. 8). The eternal principles of right and wrong, the unwritten law of God, these are th_e subjects of the prophet's utterance from Samuel to Malachi. The Christian poet Keble (' Christian Yea1·,' Second Sunday after Easter) longs for " a sculptor's hand" to set forth in stone the wild figure of Balaam uttering his compulsory bles~ing o_ver Israel, A subject that might make one yearn for a painter's skill is that of the aged Samuel uttering his so1Towful denunciation of the king that he had himself anointed. The long, flowing locks, a.cross which no razor ha.cl passecl, now snow-white with age, the spare, austere figure, the judge's bear- ing, the prophet's eye, the long, flowing mantle, by which Saul tried to stay him, and by which he recognisecl his apparition on the eve of his own death; all these fo1m a picture, the majesty of which, if we cannot see it for ourselves, we gather from the exclamation of the woman of Endor, "I see a god ascending out of the earth" (1 Sam. xxviii. 13). To her the form seems superhuman and Divine. It remains to notice Samuel as the anointer of his still greater successor, David. This is his importance in the long prelude to the kingdom of the Messiah ; he is the " spiritual father" of the greatest of the Messiah's progenitors. He not only inaugurated the monarchy which typified Christ's kingdom, but he livecl to super- sede the first unworthy king ancl to elect the man after God's own heart, the lion of the tribe of J uciah, the sweet Psalmist of Israel. Both the people's king anJ the Lord's king receive their consecration from his hand; and, therefore, whether We trace the kingdom of Ismel to the begiuning of the monarchy, or the royal nvi INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL BOOKS:
line of Christ to the beginning of its royalty, we c Jllle to Se.muel as the ,icegercnt of Jehovah iu instituting it. But this shows that, great as Se.muel is iu himself (and he is one of the g1:andest figw·es iu the Old Testament), yet in his chief aspect his greatness is relative. He is great chiefly because he pre- pe.res the wny for Desid, just as the Be.ptist is great chiefly because he prepares the way for Christ. Thus we see that the aiTangement anil division of the Books of Samuel are fully justified. Eli and Se.muel are too closely connected to be severed, and as Sa.muel's place in the history is that of the iue.ugurator of the kingdom and the anointer of David as king, it follows that the notieils of Eli and Sa.muel must come as _a prelude to the history of the Kings rather than as a conclusion to the history of the Judges. This fact will o,lso explain the omission of nearly the whole of Saul's reign except the beginning and end of it. It is immaterial to the history of the kingdom of God. "And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, e.nd le.mented him, and buried him in his house at Re.mah" (1 Se.m. xxv. 1). Such is the simple but pregnant account of the end of the grandest figw·e in Jewish history from the conquest to the captivity. '' All the Israelites were gathered together," .a fact to which the nan-ator a second time dn-ects ow· attention. "Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ra.mah, even in his own city " (eh. xxviii. 3). With one voice they had responded to his challenge respecting his integrity" (eh. xii 5); with one voice they had all entreated him to pray for them, when he brought home to them their sins in demanding a king (eh. xii. 19) ; and now with one voice they lamented him, _and sent representatives from all parts of the land to pay the last tribute of respect to him. Ramllh, his birthplace and his dwelling-place, bees.me his tomb; but inasmuch as the site of Ram.ah remains unknown, it may be said of him, as was said of Moses, " No man knoweth of his-sepulchre unto this day.''