The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 424

~\'1,i]e ,~-c expose its ei_-rors, let n_s always acknow.edge whatever of the truth of God' 11 contams, and be patient. Ultnnately that system must perish. As the Philistines and not the follo"·ers of DaYid, made an end of Saul, so the democratic infidelity' not tl!e reformed Chn_rch, is likely t~ make an end of the Papacy, and all the religiou~ del?s10n_ and oppre~s10n of the Latm Church. Happy tl~ey who are in a fellowship which grves them dJrect access to the Lord Jesus, and has m him the living centre and· the joy of all. 0 Sa·dour, draw us to thyself, and be thou a Captain over us 1-F. Vers. _18-23.-Massacre and safeguara. . The tragic interest of this passage _c:Tot~ps itself a_bont four men: (1) the funous king; (2) the cruel officer; (3} the mnocent pnest ; ( 4) the self-reproaching hero . . I. ~A~ AND ~rs MAD TYRANNY. How much allowance may be made for actual msamty m the kmg God only knows. But it must not be foro·otten that the disorde1· of hi~ mi1:d was largely due to his own indulgence of fierce"' and arrogant passions, :md !us wilful refusal to obey the commands of the Lord and the guidance of hi& prophet. He had now become quite furious in his jealousy of David and in his ~uspicion of all around him as plotting his down!a_ll. Unable to capture David, he turned fierce)? _on those _whori:i he supposed to be aidmg and abetting him in rebellion; and the hmmc1dal mama winch he had already betrayed in hurling his javelin at na,:id, and_ even at Jonathan, 1;1ow broke _out against the innocent priests. When one- bcgms to mdulge a bad pass10n, how httle he can tell tJie length to which it may carry him I \Ve remember how Saul at the outset of his reign would not have a man, in Israel put to death on his account. But now he had no pity on the innocent. K othing can be more shocking than the hardness of heart which disreg·arded the noble defence of the priests against uujust accusation, and condemned them anc;l. their families to immediate death. By this Saul forfeits all claim to our sympathy. He is a bloodstained tyrant. Nero on his accession to the imperial .dignity at Rome- sliowed a similar reluctance to sign a legal sentence of death on a criminal, and yet broke forth into horrid cruelty at the age of seventeen. Saul was not so precocious in cruelty, and seems to have been free from other vices that made Nero infamous. But it should be considered, on the other band, that Saul had knowledge of Jehovah,. while Nero knew only the gods of Rome; and that though Nero had a great teacher in Seneca., Saul bad a still greater in Samuel. There is no palliation of his conduct admissible unless on the plea of disease of the brain-an excuse which may also be- advanced in behalf of such wretches as Antiochus Epiphanes and the Emperor Caligula. The lesson of admonition is that wickedness has honible abysses unseen at first. Stop short at the beginnings of evil. Check your peril, cairn your anger,. correct your suspicions, hold back your hasty javelin ; for if you lose self-control and a good conscience there is hardly ar.y depth of injustice and infatuation to which you may not fall. II. DoEG AND HIS RUTHLESS SWORD. - Cruel masters make cruel servants. Tyrants never lack convenient instruments. Caligula, Nero, and Domitian bad favourites and freed-men ready to stimulate their jealous passions and carry out their merciless commands. .At Saul's elbow stood such a wretch, Doeg the Edomite. The repeated mention of this officer's extraction seems to imply that he was actuated by the here- ditary jealousy of Israel which filled the descendants of Esau, and_ took a m~licious pleasure in widening the gulf between Saul and David and slayrng the_ pnests of Israel's God. With bis own hand be cut them down, when the Israelite officers. shrank from the bloody deed; and no doubt it was he who executed the inhuman sentence against the women and children at Nob, and smote the very "oxen, asses, and sheep with the edge of the sword." Doeg has had many followers in tho~e who have with fiendish relish tortured and slain the servants of our Lord and of his Christ. And indeed all who, without raising the hand of violence, take part with malicious purpose against servants of God, who misrepresent them and stab their reputations, are of one spirit with this Edornite whose memory is cnrsed. Ill. AHIMELECH IN HIS INTEGRITY. How fine the contrast between the calm bearing of the chief priest on the one hand, and the unreasoning fury of Saul and truculent temper of Doeg on the other I ~ow s!raightf~rwerd was the vindice.ti!)n of Abimelech I If Saul had not been blmd with passion he must have seen 1t:,. t!H. XXII. 1-23.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 43t