The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 266

BOlccted as the first-fruits for sacrifice. Saul spoil had been the people's doing. But was mar not have known that such· a sacrifice it not the king's duty to make the people wns forbidden (Deut. xiii. 15- I 7). The obedient to Jetovah's voice? As the theo- wor<ls, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God, cratic king, he was Jehovah's minister, imply that Samuel ought ta be pleased at and in preferring popularity to duty he the victorious army doing this public hom- showed himself unworthy of his position. age to the Deity whose prophet he was. Nor can we suppose that !iis confession of It was virtually a compliment to himself, sin arose from penitence. It was the result and is very much in accordance with the simply of vexation at having his victory notions of the generality of people now, who crossed by reproaches and disapproval from consider that attendance at a place of wor- the only power capable of holding him in ship, or sending their children to school, is check. It seems, too, a.~ if it were Samuel .a favour to the clergyman. whom he feared more than Jehovah: for he Yers. 22, 23.-The rebuke of Samuel con- speaks of thy words, and asks Samuel to tains one of those pregnant sayings which pardon his sin, and to grant him the favour mark the high moral tone of the teaching of of his public presence "l\ith him at the s.acri- the prophets, and soon became a fundamental ficc which was about to be celebrated in principle with them:: ·To obey is better than honour of their triumph. 11aotiflce is a dictum reproduced by Hosea Yers. 26, 27, 28.-At first the prophet re- (,eh, vi 6), the most aiicient of those pro- fuses the king's request. Saul had dishonoured •11hets of Israel whose lessons have been God, and, therefore, had no claim to public .. preserved in· writing ; it is refon·ed to in homage from God's minister. He turns, ;;till earlier psalms (see Ps. I. 8-14 ; Ii. 16, therefore, to go away, and Saul in his eager- 17) ; by other prophets (Isa. i. 11; Jer. vi. ness seizes hold of Samuel's mantle. The 20 ; M_icah vi. 6, 8) ; and finally received our A. V. is very careless about the exact render- Lord's special approbation (Matt. ix. 13; ing of words of this description, and seems xii. 7). It asserts in the clearest terms the guided in its choice of terms simply by the 'superiority of moral to 1·itual worship, and car. Now the mantle, addereth, though used that God can only be really served with the of the Shinar shawl stolen by Achan (.Tosh. l•lieert; • Witchcraft is in the Hebrew divin- vii. 21, 24), was the distinctive dress of the 'a#on, a sin always strongly condemned in prophets, but naturally was never worn by the Old Testament. -Iniquity literally means Samuel himself. Special dresses come into •nothi11,gness, and so is· coustantly used for use only gradually, and Elijah is the first , •'. i an •idol ; " and this mtist be its signification person described as being thus clad. Long ]1cre, as the word coupled with it, and ren- before his time the schools of the prophets <lered idolatry, .is. really terd:phim. These had grown into a national institution, and a were the Hebrew household gods, answering loose wrapper of coarse cloth made of camel's to the Roni.an Lar~, and were supposed to hair, fastened round the body nt the waist by bring good luck. Their worship, we see from a leathern girdle, had become the usual pro- this place, we.s sti;ictly forbidden. The verse, phetic dress, and continued so to be until therefore, means, " For rebellion is the sin of the arrival of Israel's last prophet, John the ,livination (i. e. is equal to it in wickedness), Baptist (l\Iatt. iii. 4). The garment here and obstinacy (i'.. e. intractablencss) is an idol spoken of is the meil, on which see eh. ii. 19, and teraphim." Samuel thus· accuses Saul where it was sho,rn to be the ordinary dress of resistance to J ehovah's will, and of the of people of various clnsses in easy circum- •:lctcrmination at all hazards to •be his own stances. Now the me-i"l was not a loosely- master. With this temper of mind he could flowing garment, lint fitted rather closely to he no fit representative of Jehovah, and there- the body, and, therefore, the tearing of K fore Samuel dethrones him. Henceforward implies a considerable amount of ,·iolence on he reigns only as a temporal, and no longer Saul's part. Skirt, moreover, gives a wrong as the theocratic; king. idea. '.Vhat Saul took hold of was the hem, SAUL'S PROFESSION. OF REPENTANCE AND the outer border of the garment, probably at FINAL REJECTION (vers. 24-35). Ver. 24.- Samuel's neck or shoulder, as he turned to The words of Samuel struck Saul with terror. go nwny. He seized him, ns we shou!J say, The snme authority which had first given by the collar, nnd endeavoured by main forco ,him the kingdom now withdraws it from him, to retain him, aml in the struggle the hem aml -prnnounces:his offence' as equal in God's rP,nt. And Samuel, using it as an omen, said. sight to orimes which Saul himself held in Jehonh hath rent the kingdom of Israel gi•eat abhorrence. ·He humbles himself, there- from thee this day, and hath given it to a fore, before Samuel, acknowledg~s his sin, and neighbour of thine, that is better than frankly confesses that the cause of it had thou. Neighboitr is used in Hebrew in I\ been his unwillingness to act in a manner very indefinite manner, and hero means coutrery to the wishes of the people ; and we generally "some one, whoever it may be," must fairly conclude that the sparing of the but 0110 who will discharge the duties of thy  268 THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [cH. X\'. 1-:Jb.