The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 91

haYing began as frel,]e immigrnnts, had was no other than San!, but the rhronoloi:iy endc,l in_ obtaining possession of the land, is at rnriance with this supposition. The :rnd nustrng the rightful inha hitants. importance in old time, when even roads di<l Yer. 8.-These mighty Gods. In Hebrew n?t exist, of men capabl~ of nn!ning long Eloliiin, though plural, is used oft he one true d1scanccs to cnrry news 111 war 1s evident God, but in this sense has always the verb or and many instances a.re recorded showing adjectin he longing to it in the 'singular. In the high appreciation in which their services ver. 7 the Philistines conform to this rule, and were hchl Thus the rnnning of the Cushite sa.v, Elohim is come ; but here the verb, pro- and of Ahimaaz forms nu interesting episode noun, and adjectii-e are all plural, i e. they in the pathetic history of Absalom's denth speak as heathen, to whom polytheism was (2 Sam. xviii. 19-31). So Herndotus men- natural (comp. l Kings xii. 28). With all tions that Pheidippides, when sent to urge ~he pl8:guea. Rath_er, ""ith every plague," the people of Sparta to come to the help of i. e. with every kmd of pla,,ue. In the the Athenians against the Persians, arrived • wilderneBB. God did not reJly smite the there on the second day after his departure Egyptians in the wilderness. The plagues, from Athens (Herod., vi. 105, 106). Shiloh, including the destruction of Pharaoh and apparently, was but a comparatively short his host in tbe Red Sea, had all happened distance from Eben-ezer, as the runner an-ived before the Israelites had entered it. But there on the evening of the very day on probably the Philistines confused together which the battle was fought. The rent the plagues of Egypt and the miracles in the clothes and the earth upon the head were wilderness, and even the conquest of Canaan the usual signs in token that some great in one grand but ,ague whole, and so wer; calamity had taken place (2 Sam. i. 2). ready to gi"<'e way to despair, as they called to Ver. 13.-Upon. a seat-literally, "the mind the traditions they had heard of these throne" -by the wayside, whither his official mighty interpositions of God for his people. chair had been removed to some spot near the \"er. 9.-Be strong. But, as is often the gate of the city (see ver. 18), _and probably · case, despair served only to nerve them to commanding a view of the pathway by which • hitter determination. The greatness of the a messenger would arrive. There probably for . danger-for as heathen the Philistines fully hours he had sat, anxiously awaiting tidings heliend that the ark would act as a charm- of the ark, which, we may feel sure, he had and the fearful alternative of being servants, very unwillingly allowed fo be carried away 1·. e. slaves to those who not so very long ago into the camp. When the man came in.to lrnd been slams to them, made them resolve the city. Literally the words are, "And the to do their vcrv utmost. The result was a man came to tell it in the city, and all the <'<>mplete nctory. city cried out." We are not to suppose with Yer. 10. -Israel ded every ma.n. into- some that Eli, being old and now blind, let iietter to---his tent. Their camp stood them the messenger slip by unobserved. A man this time in no stead. It was stormed by of his high rank would not be alone, and the Philistines, and the whole army fled in the mention of his throne suggests that ha confusion. In those days the Israelites dwelt was seated there in somewhat of ,official ;in tents, and to flee "every man to his tent" dignity. And so, as the runner drew near, rneans that they fled a,'rny in every direction, with the symbols of disaster upon his person, each to his own home. It is in this indis- the priests and Levites in attendance upon c-riminate flight that an army suffers most. Eli would begin the cry of sorrow, and soon c\.s long as men keep together the loss is it would spread throughout all Shiloh. ,·omparatively slight. But now, thus utterly Ver. 14.-A.nd when Eli heard the n.oiaa. 1,roken, there fell of Israel thirty thonsand of the crying, he asked the meaning of this. footmen-a terrible slaughter. They are tumult. The word signifies any confused noise, ,-,died footmen because the Israelites had as the splushing of rain (1 Kings xviii. 41),- ,,,,icher cavalry nor chariots. but especially the din made by a multitude of \"er. 11.-Moreover, the ark of God was people (Job xxxix. 7). It exactly expresses tc.ken, and the two ion■ of Eli, Hophni and here the Babel of voices, all asking news at .Phinehaa, were 1lain, according to the pre- once, which at the coming of the messenger d i,·tion of the man of God. Probably the last surged around the high priesfs throne. He J·;;sistance was made round the ark, and the demands the reason, and the uproar is quelled, su11s of Eli at least died "as men" (eh. ii. 33). while "the man hasted, and came and told THE OVERTHROW OF ELI's HOUSE (vers. Eli" Not came in, for Eli was without on J 1--22). Ver. 12.-There ran a man of the· wayside, but simply came to Eli,_ bei~g Benjamin. The whole story is told with so summoned thither by one of the Levites m 1uud.i vividness, anJ is so full of exact par- attendance. Eli, as the chief ruler, was, of -ciculars, that it must have come from an cow·se, the person whom he sought, and "ye-witness, prob,bly from Samuel himself. immediately that he knew where he was, he According to Jewi~h tradition, this Benjamite hasted to him.  CH, IV. 1-22.] THE FIH8T BU<1K OF SA~IUEL. BT