The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 264

with Telern (Josh. xv. 24), 11 place on the originally the name of the wall which ral\ southern border of Judah near the country from Pelu~ium past Migdol to Hero, and Jf the Amalekites. But as telaim means which gave to Egypt, as Ebers thinks, its "lambs," more probably beth, "house," is to name Mizraim, the enclosed or fortified. be underHtood; and so it was no town, but Shur b again mentioiied in eh. xxvii. 8 as the " place of lambs," i. e. some open spot indicating the direction towards Egypt ol ,where at the proper season the lambs were the region occupied by the Amalekites. collected from the pastures in the wilderness. Havilah, which means circle, must have Ten thousand men of Judah. A very small been some spot on the route to the isthmus number compared with the hosts of Israel, of Suez, lying on the edge of the wilderness • especially ns Judah was most exposed to the to the south or Judah, where Saul com- 4.lnalekite, raids (but' see on eh. xi. 8. A menced his foray. Beginning thus upon the arge army was necessary, because the Be- borders of Judrea, Saul continued his <levast- douin race, though offering little direct ations up to the limits of Egypt. resistance, would be very difficult to over- Ver. 8.-He took Agag. This was the take official name of the Amalekite kings (see Ver. 5.-A city of Amalek. More pro- Num. xxiv. 7), as Pharaoh was that of the bably b·-Amalelc, the name of their one kings of Egypt. For its meaning we must town. Laid wait. Many commentators wait till we know more about the language follow the Syriac in rendering this verb con- of this race. Agag, however, from ver. 32, tended, strove; others, like the A. V., with seems to have been able to speak Hebrew. the Septuagint and Vulgate, regard it as a He utterly destroyed - i. e. put under the contracted form of a verb signifying to lay ban-all the people. They appear, however, an ambuscade. It is not, however, a valley, again in eh. xxvii. 8, and with so nst a but a "torrent-bed," which was more fit for wilderness in which to take refuge, it would an ambush than for a strife or dispute. be impossible really to exterminate a people Rashi explains the verb as signifying " con- used to lead a wandering life. Moreover, as tended with himself," and quotes from the soon as Israel began to lay hands on the Talmud an opinion that when Saul reached spoil the pursuit would flag, as the cattle the torrent he called to mind the command would be killed by over-drtvin er. in Deut. xxi. 4, to slay n heifer at a torrent Ver. 9.-The failings. So the Syriac and in expiation of a murder, and had misgivings Chaldee render the word, but the Hebrew whether a slaughter so indiscriminate as that literally means "the second best." Kimchi on which he was engaged could be justified. and Tanchum give perhaps a preferaule ren- The law of the Herem was soon softened clering, "the second-born," such animals do,rn, but we find David in several of his being considered superior to the first- born, wars guilty of fearful cruelty. The transla- as the dams had by that time arrived at tion of the A. V. is the more probable. their full strength. Ver. 6.-Saul said uto the Xenitee. Not REJECTION OF SAUL AND HIS DYNASTY while he was lying in ambush in the torrent- (vers. 10-23). Ver. 11.-It repenteth me. bed, but after smiting Ir-Amalek. The Ke- By the law of man's free will his concurrence nites were always friendly to the Israelites, is necessary in carrying out the Divine pur- but seem, like the Amalekites, to have been a pose, and consequently every man called to- Bedouin nation, ever wandering about with- the execution of any such purpose undergoe, ~ut a settled home. In Abraham's time a probation. God's purpose nill be finn)l-, they were n powerful people (Gen. xv. 19), carried out, but each special instrument, n- but, for some reason or other, broke up into it prove unworthy, l'>ill be laid aside. Thir small tribes, some, as those l1ere spoken of, change of administration is ahmys described choosing the wilderness of Judah for their in Scriptural langnnge os God's repentance, home (Judges i. 16), others living for to the possibly because the phrase con ta ins also the north in Naphtali (ibid. iv. 11, 17), others iden of the Divine grief onr the rebellions among the rocks of Arabia Petrrea. Of these sinner. But thou~h Saul and his dynasty last we know but little, but the rest con- were thus put asicte, and no longer repre- tinued to be on friendly terms with David sented Jehovah, still Saul remained the {l Sam. xxx. 29). actunl king, because God works slowly by th~ Ver. 7.-From Havilah until thou eomest nnturnl sequence of cause and effect. Snul's- to Shur. Hebrew, "from Havilah as thou ill-governed temper, and his hatred ancl: goest towards Shur." It seems impossible malice towards Davi,!, were the means of that this Havilah can be the north-western bringing nbout his ruin. It grieved Samuel portion of Yemen, called Chawlan, and iden- Hebrew, "it burned to Samuel," i. e. he tified with the Havilah of Gen. x. 7, 29, as was angry nnd displeased. The same phrase this would make Saul smite them from south- occurs in Jonah iv. 1, where it is rendered east to north-west. Shur, which means wall, "he was very angry." But with whom w11.1 II, aa Wellhausen (Text Sam. 97) observes, Samuel vexell 1 Generally ut the whole coUJ'S&  :2(i(i THE FIHST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [•II.XL 1-36.