EXPOSITION. SAUL (CHS. vm.-xxxr.J. ation of our Lord, namely, [irophecy and the CHAPTER VIII. kingdom. The first seven chapters give us THE gre11t interest of the First Book of the history of Samuel's birth, and of the Se.muel lies in the fe.ct that wo have in it the gradual development in him of those spiritual orderly consolidation of two of the m11iu powers which finally mn,le him not merely factors in t11e preparation ior tne manifest- a prophet, but the founder or p1opnecy as a. HO THE FIRST BOOK OF SAi\l UEL. [en. nn. 1-22
perman-ent and rcgulnrly-organised institu- desperate struggle in which Isrnel ogain an,! ti0n of the Jewish Church. The whole of again is in danger of being utterly destroyed the rest of the book, while adding many from among the notions, nnd at the end of interesting particulars about Samuel, is occu- this period the Philistines are the dominant pied with the establishment of the kingdom power, and Isrnel is disarmed and virtually and with Saul. We ha,e in him, both in at their mercy. The cause of this wns that his uprise and his fall, one of the most rc- somehow or other the priests and Levites markabie personnges of the Old Testament. were unable to prevent the people from laps- But his 0haracter for good and for evil will ing into idolatry, and though upon their develop itself as we proceed. Before, how- repentance Jehovah, as their King, did on e,er, we can appreciate his history, it is every emergency raise men to be their necessary for us to understand something of saviours, yet the system was too cumbrous the nst issues that depended upon the and exceptional for ordinary times. It was ehange of go,ernmen t effected in his person. only in times of trouble that the nation With Samuel, then, and Saul we have come roused itself to the conviction that it was to the time when the prophet and the king Jehovah's realm, and fought with the hero- take their dne place in the development of ism which so grand a thought must give it ; Israel They were both essential to its pro- at other times it sank down each day to a gress, and the accomplishment of its Divine lower level, till all that the last judge, Sam- mission, and in Dent. xvii 14-20, and son, could do wa.s to arouse the national spirit egain ibid. =viii 36, the establishment of to a prolonged resistance and a last effort the monarchy is spoken of as a virtual neces• against the dangers and difficulties that were sity. It was not Israel's highest ideal, far threatening Israel with gradual extinction from it. Had religion been as far advanced (see on eh. i. 3). as in the days of Hezekiah and Isaiah, the This powerlessness in war was the in- theocracy might have existed in such a form evitable result of having no settled ordinary e.s would have insure<l the national safety. ruler, whose business it was to convoke the But such as the people were in the centuries national forces, and provide for the general which followed the conquest of Canaan, it safety ; but it was by no means the worst was rather a high and glorious idea than a evil attendant in practice upon the theocracy. fact eapable of being realised. It was one In the three last chapters of the Book of -0f those magnificent thoughts which raised Judges we have the history of a fearful the Israelites so high above the le"rel of crime, punished with equally fearful cruelty. -ordinary nations, and gave such grandeur What makes it the more remarkable is that and nobleness to the long struggle of their it took place in the days of Phinehas, the history; bnt it was a thought, the value of grandson of Aaron, at a time when the which lay in its giving them a fnture, to- public morality still stood high, and religion wards which their faces were ever turned, had great influence over the people. Now, and which, by the sublimity of its concer,- had there been a king he would han tion, ever drew them onwards and upwards punished the malefactors, as a matter of to all that was best and most Divine. course ; but when it had to be done by an To be then Jehovah's own subjects, ruled extraordinary gathering of the people in directly by him, a republic with Jehovah for arms, the Benjamites, always a high-spirited ibl chief, and its officers speaking at his com- tribe, imagined themselves bound in honour mand, and under his direct influence and to resist an invasion of their territory, and a control-this was Israel's grand ideal As a violent civil war was the result. So em• matter of fact, it did not give them peace at bittered did the feelings of the Israelites home nor security from foreign invasion. It become at the brave def, nee of the Benja- did not even enable them to advance in the mites, that when nt ln..t they had over- "P3-th of culture or morality, nor did it so powered them, they burned their cities with work as to bind the twelve tribes together fire, and put men, women, children, and into a harmonious whole. Throughout the cattle to an indiscriminate slaughter. Re- Book of Judges we find the record of a penting soon afterwards of their revolting en. v111. 1-22.] 'l'HE FIRST BOOK 01<' SAMUEL. 1-H