besides these there are one or two other facts not so genera.Uy referred to, o.nd which may be worth noting. Thus, then, we ho.ve seen that the compiler places six narratives at the end' of the second Book because, excepting David's "last words," there was nothing in them to show to what period of his reign they belonged. Evidently o. con- siderable interval must have elapsed before tradition had so completely died out as to leave no trace behind for the historian's guidance. The same conclusion follows from his uncertainty as to the chronology of Saul's reign. The compiler uses the formula common iu the Books of Kings, but he cannot fill it up. Literally he says, " Saul was one year old when he began to reign, o.nd he reigned two years over Israel." Evidently the numbers one and two answer to our formula Mand N. The compiler plainly knew neither Saul's age nor the length of his reign. St. Paul (Acts xiii. 21) says that Saul reigned forty years; but not only is forty with Hebrew writers a most indefinite number, signifying a "good long time," but it is very uncertain when these forty years begin and end. They certainly include the seven and o. half years during which the house of Saul maint.a.ined a show of ruling, and possibly also several years during which Samuel was judge. Some think that as Saul is described as a "young man" (eh. ix. 2) when Samuel anointed him, but had a grown-up son when he was made king, there was a long abeyance, either before he was chosen by lot as king, or possibly between that and his defeat of the Ammonites. But ·vhat was hard for the compiler is still harder for us, and the chronology of Saul's reign is beset with difficulti~s. On the other hand, the style of the Hebrew is more pure and free from Ara.ma.isms than that of the Books of Kings. Local worship, moreover, and sacrifices are spoken of without any doubt of their propriety, whereas in the Books of Kings they are condemned. . It is a further note of antiquity that the compiler never refers to his authorities, nor are there any hints or allusions to late Jewish history. While then we can at best only give a conjectural date, yet we may feel eure that the compiler must have lived at some period between the reign of Rehoboam and the upgrowth of the strong disapproval of worship anywhere except at Jerusalem. The reign of Jehoshaphat is~ not improbable era, for "the high places were not ta.ken away" (2 Chron. xx. 33), though idolatry was sternly repressed. Had the compiler lived nearer to David's reign, he would probably have been able to give us more definite information as to Saul's age and the duration of his kingdom.
§ 5. BOOKS OP SAMUEL CLASSED AMONG THE "EARLY PROPHETS." The Books of Samuel are classed by the J ewe among the " Early Prophets" for the reason given above, that history wae their especial study, and the com- piler we may feel sure belonged to their order as well as did the writers of the various "books of acts" used by him. The "Early Prophets'' comprise the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, a.nrl Kings, and all these works were most; THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL. xiii
probably written for the use of the prophetic schools, and certainly were the result of the mental activity awakened in Israel by Samuel, and maintt1,ined by tlwse who after his decease presided over the colleges which he had called into existence. § 6. ARRANGEMENT. The Books of Samuel naturally arrange themselves into four parts according to the chief o.ctors. In Part I., consisting of chs. i.-vii., we have the history of Samuel as the restorer of Israel. This again divides itself into two portions, of which the former, consisting of chs. i.-iii., gives us the details of Samuel's birth and early life up to the time when he was acknowledged by all Israel as a prophet; while the latter, chs. iv.-vii., gives us Samuel as judge. With thfa the period of the Judges closes, and in Part II., ohs. viii.-xv., we have the history of the first king, Saul, including the preparation for his appointment, his establishment as king, and his final rejection. In Part III., chs. xvi.-xxxi., David is the chief actor, but side by side with .Saul, and we see the one daily de5)lining in moral worth and external pros- peritJ, while the other is ripening into the full stature of a theocratic king. During most of this period Samuel lived on no unconcerned spectator of the development of J ehovah's purpose, though devoting his own time to the training -0f the young men who came to his schools. Finally Saul falls so low as to be- eome the dupe of a wicked charlatan, and dies by his own hand in battle. In Part IV., 2 Sam. i.-xxiv., David is the sole hero of the narrative. In the first section, chs. i.-x., we see him made king, and reigning in glory. In the second, chs. xi.-xvii., his glory is tarnished by personal vices, imitated too readily by his sons; upon these follow bloodshed in his family, rebellion, and the loss of the royal power. In the third section, chs. xi..i:., xx., we see him restored to his throne. In the last, chs. xxi-xxiv., we have an appendix, the contents of which have been already described. Naturally we long to know how David reigned after so severe a punishment, and would gladly have seen how he retrieved in his later years the crimes of his passion-fraught; manhood. But the ways of God are not as the ways of man. A veil is thrown over this portion of David's reign, but we may gather from his last words, and from his psalm of thanksgiving, that he returned to Jerusalem a changed man, and that his last years rivalled in piety his early promise. 7. LITERATURE. The most important modern works upon the Books of Samuel a.re, in German, the commentaries of 0. Thenius, 'Kurzgef. Handbuch z A. Test.,• 2te Aufl.age, Leipzig, 1864; C. F. Keil, 'Bihl. Com. ii. das A. Test.,' Leipzig, 1864; C. F. D. Erdmann, in Lange's 'Theol. Hom. Bibelwerk,' Bielefeld, 1873; and Bunsen, 'Bibelwerk, die Propheten.' On the text of the Books of Samuel there is a useful treatise by L. J. Wellhausen, Gottingen, 1871. l:IV INTRODUCTION TO THE llOOKS OF SAMUEL.
In English the most important commentaries •are that in the 'Speaker's Commentary' by the Bishop of Bath and Wells; Bishop Wordsworth's; and the translations of Keil and Erdmann, the latter in Dr. Schaff's edition of Lange Clark, Edinburgh, 1877. Other illustrative works are Ewald's 'History of Israel;' Stanley's 'Lectures on the Jewish Church ; ' Robinson's ' Biblical Researches ; ' Wilson's ' Lands of the Bible;' Thomson's 'The Land and the Book ; ' and Condor's 'Tent Work in Palestine,' a most valuable addition to our knowledge of the Holy Land. THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. THE FIRST
BOOK OF SAMUEL. --- THE EARLY LIFE OF SAMUEL.