The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 151

wir,cl tl,at passcth away, and cometh not again" (Ps. lxxviii. 39). The same is seen t:till. .<\.s Christ once" endured the contradiction of sinners," so does God constantly ~uffer ml'n to raise their voice against his appointments. He is " slow to anger. 11 Calmly he nllows men even to deny his existence, to criticise his government to reject the light of his revelation, to invent ways of their own for securing fut~re blessedness, and to murmur at his means of subduing the curse of sin. In their folly men interpret this patience of God as evidence of the correctness of their position, forget.ting that "the day of the Lord II is corning, when men shall reap the fruit of their ways. To the sucwisors of the prophet there is still consolation in the asourance that their prayer i,s heard, and their honour covered by the honour of their God. Hence the calmness, " the patience of the saints." They often can do little more than "protest" against the unbelief and waywardness of the world. A whole nation on one side and a Samuel on the other does not convert error into truth and folly into wisdom. But none of these things shake the confidence of the few who, in critical seasons, are in deep sympathy with God ; for they know, by a varied experience, his vast patience, and are assured that some day feeble men will learn the lesson, perhaps bitterly, that his ways are best. General lessons :-1. The inconsistencies of men in office furnish occasion for developing the latent evils of their fellows (vers. 3, 4). 2. The deceitfulness of the heart is seen in the eagerness with which men endeavour to justify what dare not be plainly avowed (ver. 5). 3. Human history shows how utterly incompetent man is to form a correct estimate of the ways of God (vers. 5, 8). 4. It is possible for our theologies to be framed more after what we prefer than after what is actually the fact. 5. When the Church of God is distressed because of the aversion to what is revealed, patience and prayer should be combined. 6. The most sore trial to those in deep sympathy with what Christ has approved is to witness, on the part of his 11rofessed people, a desire to escape his appointments for something more congenial to unsancti.fied ambition. 7. Every heresy and departure from God's ways is plausible to many, and may seem to be unchecked, but God never vacates his stat of authority. Vere. 10-22.-Permitted, not apP.'!'oved. The facts are-1. Samuel points out to tbe people that their desired king will aggrandise himself at their expense, and that, once entering on their course, there will be no deliverance. 2. The people, noverthe- 1ess, decide to have a king, and assign the motive of their preference. 3. Samuel, on laying the matter before God, receives a command to make them a king. The question at issue was not whether this or that form of government was intrinsically best, nor whether at some time in the near future God might or might not cause judge- ship gradually to develop into kingship; but whether, at this juncture, it was God's will to introduce a monarchy. The references in Deut. xvii. 14-20 were probably a forecast of the events now brought to pass. At all events, God's time for monarchy in Israel was not yet come; the people's had come. The historian sets forth the bearings and result of the controversy. The instance is ?tnique, but the principle involved is of frequent exemplification in human affairs. I. THERE ARE SPHERES OF ACTION IN WHICH Goo ALLOWS MEN TO TAKE THEIR CHOICE OF THE METHODS BY WHICH HIS PURPOSES ARE TO DE WROUGHT OUT. Israel was a nation working out a spiritual issue. The day must come when in the II seed af Abraham" all nations shall be blessed. Thus far, politically, this issue was being reached by a peculiar arrangement with as much success as the perverse spirit of the people would allow to any system. When "Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king " (ver. 10), it was understood that, though they were not at liberty to set aside recognition of Jehovah, the institu- tions of worship, and the moral law, they were free, if they so willed, to adopt political methods of their own. Tl1ey would not cease to be Messianic in purpose, but they would work tuward the goal by a new method unusually characterised hy lrnman frailty. There is a marked dutinction in tlie accomplisliment of Divine pur- poses through irrational and rational agents. The one is a channel of necessity ; the other the free organ of controllable actions. Every stone falls because it must; every will acts because it wills. The marvel and mystery is that the eternal Will .11hould in the end get its own thro11gl1, or in spite of, the free action of other wills,  CH. VIII. 1--22.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL.