dishonolll' to his poverty. To set might court of law, and the whole verse kecpi,w more eorrectly be. trnnslate<l _to make th_em the administration of justice in view. It ~it , sitting, especmlly on a rmse<l seat, being proceeds, " Upon him he shall thunder in a ~nrk of honour among Orientals, who heaven;" i. e. Jehovah, seated on his throne generally squat on matR on the ground. In in heaven, shall, as the supreme Judge, utter the next clause the A. V. particularises what the sentence; and thunder was to the He- in the Heb. is quite general. "He will brew God's voice. He ahall judge the ends make them possess (or enjoy) a i:;lorious of the earth, i. e. the whole earth up to throne." Their seat among the prmces is its remotest quarters. The last distich is not inherited, but acquired ; and though remarkable. It is a distinct prophecy of promoted thus to a place among men of David's kingdom, and of the king as the hereditary rank, and given an honourable anointed one, but looking onwards to tlrn position among them, yet it was not neces- Messiah, David's greater Son. So distinct sarily " the throne of glory," the highest a reference to a king before a king existed has seat. Still even this was quite possible; for made Ewald and others regard the whole while the tribal chiefs and heads of fathers' - hymn as an interpolation of later times. houses obtained their rank by inheritance, But already Hannah's thoughts had risen to nevertheless, in early <lays the judges, and a higher level than the fortunes of the literal among them Eli and Samuel, acquired rank Israel. In claiming for Jehovah, her cove- and power for themselves. Subsequently, nant God, the righteous government of the under the kings, the great officers of state whole world, she prepares our minds for the took their place along with the hereditary corresponding thought' of Jehovah being the princes, but were dependent upon royal universal Saviour. Very probably the whole favour. In the last clause the word rendered national mind was set upon having a king to pillars is rare, being found only here and in enable them to make beau against the Philis- eh. xiv. 4. In both places the ancient ver- tines long before, under Samuel, the desire sions are uncertain as to its signification, but . became so strong as to be irresistible. The in the latter it can only mean a crag, or thought of a king was in no respect alien mass of rock. • If then the rock-masses of from the Je,vish commonwealth (Dent. xvii. the earth are J eliovah's, and .he can lift up 14). They had wished Gideon to hol<l this and poise upon them: the inhabited world office (Judges viii. 22); Jotham's parable in ·(Heb. tebel), how much more easily can he Judges ix. described the nation as eag,,r rnise up a man! to be thus governed, but the better minds Ver. 9. - The feet of his Hints. The as bent on declining so dangerous a pre- Heh. written text (ch'tib) has his saint, cmi.nence. There is very much to pro,·e sing. ; but the word really means not saint, that the nation ha<l come to regard the i. e. one sanctified and holy, but pious, i. e. appointment of a king as an eventual neces- one lovingly disposed towards God. The sity, however long delayed. But not here sense, therefore, is not affected by the num- only, but everywhere, th1> Jewish min<l was ber, but the sing. is more forcible. "He constantly brooding upon the future. Han- will guard the steps, the earthly course, of nah does no more than every patriarch and -each one that loveth him ; " while over saint and prophet of the old dispensation. against this watchful providence, ever exerte<l Prophecies such as that in Gen. xlix. 10 for the safe-keeping of all who love the light, filled the hearts of a.II alike. .And though stands God's punitive justice, whereby the the present longings of the n11tion for a king 1vicked are finally brought down to the dark make Ho.nnah's words not unnatural enn -silence of the grave. For they had only in their lower sense, yet the truer exposition human strength and prowess upon which to is that which acknowledges in Israel a peo- -depend, and no man can sustain himself in ple raised up for a special purpose, and the the manifold conflict of life without help bestowal by God upon its seers for the carry- from above. ing out of this purpose of the gift of pro- Ver. 10.-The adversaries. In the Heb. phecy. And it was this extraorclinnry gift ~he nouns a1:e ago.in sing., though the verb which bent and shaped the mind of the nation, 1s pl., showmg that they are to ha taken and filled it with future aspirations; and uot collectively. Lit. the translation is, "Je- a causeless st,i,te of the national mind which, ..hovah-they shall be broken in pieces, who- excited by vague hopes, made men from time ever it be that contendeth with him;" the to time give utterance to anticipations which wor<l having reference to contentions in a by some strange coiucidence always came true.
HOl\IILETICS. Vers. 1-10.-Salvation. The· facts implied and indicated in the· song nre-1. Ji nnnah'e deliverance from grief nncl re~lisation of desire are perfected. 2. God is 28 THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [en. n. 1-10.