The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 147

Yer. 11.-Thie will be the manner of the which Orientals arc excessively fond. It is king. On the menning of this word sec eh. remarkable that Snmuel does not mention ii. 13. Here nlso it signifies not so much the far wo1·se use to which Solomon put their the le~al right itself, as the way in which daughters (1 Kings xi. 3), and to n less ex- tlM1t right was exercised. Hie chariots. The tent David and some other kings. "·ord is singular, both here and at the end of Ver. 14.-Your flelds. The history of tho the verse, and though it may be taken, as seizure of Nnboth's vineyard shows that the in the A. Y., for a collective noun, "his kings were not able to exercise this arbitrarT chnriotry," yet the singular is better, because po,vcr. Jezebel had to use great art and this verse does not refer to war, but to the falsehood before she could get possession of personal magnificence and grandeur of the the coveted plot of ground. But throu~h- king. Instead of the old simplicity in out Snmuel describes a despot ruling alter which the judges had lived, he would have a the fashion of heathen kings such as the stat-0 chariot (see 2 Kings ix. 21), and go people had desired. forth escorted by horsemen and runners on Ver. 16.-The tenth. J. e. the king will foot. To be his horsemen. Rather, "upon cost you as much as all the ordinances or his horses." The whole clause should be religion. Still national security would be translated, "And he will set them for him cheaply purchased at this, or even a greater (i. e. for his service) upon his chariot and cost, if the money were well spent ; but on his horses ; and they will run before his Samuel says that the king would lavish it chariot." not on his officers, but on his eunuchs, those· Yer. 12.-Captaine over thousands, and miserable creatures, so cruelly wronged, and captains over fifties. The largest and small- generally so hateful, who ministered to the- est divisions respectively of an Israelite army. pleasures of Oriental kings. However objectionable the king's personal Ver. 16.-He will . . . put them to hi& state might be, this would fall in with the work. Again the hateful forced service, but people's "':ishes, for it would give them the here not, as in ver. 12, of themselves, but of promise of a well-organised army. Not so their households. Instead of your goodliest the next clause, to ear-i. e. to plough-his yo1lllg men the Septuagint reads, "your best ground. Forced labour was one of the most oxen," which requires only the change o! unjust, oppressive, and wasteful exactions of one letter, and is in agreement with the rest absolute governments, and was the chief of the verse. Samuel would scarcely place cause of the revolt of the ten tribes from their choicest young men between the female Reholioam (comp. 1 Kings v. 13-16; xii. slaves and the as&es. But while the ass was- 4). And yet it was the universal rule in used chiefly for riding, the ox was, as he ancient times, and in some countries it has still continues to be upon the Continent, continued even to the present day to be the man's most faithful and valued friend and: law that the peasants must at certain seasons fellow-labounr. gi,e their labour unpaid either to the pro- Ver. 17.-His servants. Literally, "his prietors or to the state. Naturally, for a slaves." Under an absolute monarchy no. nation of agriculturists to have to leave their one is free. own fields just when their presence at home Ver. 18.-Ye shall cry. In despair at this was most needed to plough the king's ground cruel oppression ye shall appeal to Jehovah, and reap his harvest would be a bitter annoy- but in vain. The king was given them at ance, because to the loss would be added a their own request, persisted in even after sense of wrong. How determinately a high- warning, and they must abide by their spirited nation like the J cws did res~t t~is choice. It is worth noting that in the injustice we gather not merely from the md1g- northern kingdom a majority of the kings nation felt against Solomon's levies, but also more or less fulfilled Samuel's evil fore- from the reproach cast in J ehoiakim's teeth bodings, and there they were much more by Jeremiah, that "he used his neig~bour's completely the product of the temper con- service without wages, and gave him not demned by the prophet than they were in for his work" (Jer. xxii. 13). To make his J ndah. The ten tribes rou~hly snapped t~e instrumlltlts of war. Such work must be tic which bound them to Jenovnh ; they dis- done ; but in well-orga~sed states it is paid carded the ark and all the services of the· for by means of taxes, 1,. e. by a mon_ey com- sanctuary, and were content ~th so i:ioor an pensation in place of personal serYl:ce. In imitation of them that aH piously-disposed s1:mi-barbarous states forced labour 1s used, men were compelled to abandon thei~ lnnds and the national arsenals furnished at the and migrate i!1to Judrea (2 qhron. x1. l!i); greatest possible expense and vexation to and so the maJority of their kmgs, not berng those compelled to labour, and loss to the held in check by religious influences, were natia nal resources. tyrants. At Jerusalem, on the contrary, Ve; 13.-Confectionaries. Rather, "per- most of them were content to remain within fumen ·, makers of ointments and scents, fJf the limits of the llfosaie law, and were upon <CH. VIII. 1-22.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 145