The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 500

He seems as one whose footsteps halt, Toiling in immeasurable sand, And o'er a weary, sultry land, Far beneath a blazing vault, Sown in a wrinkle of the monstrous hill, The city sparkles like a grain of salt" (Tennyson). D. Ver. 21. (THE HILL 011' HACHILAH.)-Playing the fool. "Behold, I have played foe fool, and have erred exceedingly." At his first wrong step it was said to Saul i by Samuel, "Thou hast done foolishly" (eh. xiii. 13); and now (a man of about sixty years of age), looking back upon a long course of disobedience and self-will, and more especially upon his recent persecution of David, he himself said, "I have -sinned . . . Behold, I have done foolishly, and have erred exceedingly." "There is no sinner so hardened but that God gives him now and then a ray of illumination to -show him all his error." And under its influence many a man, in reviewing the past, has been constrained to make a similar confession. \Vith reference to the case of 'Saul, a man plays the fool-I. When he suffers illusive thoughts and sinful pa.~sioiu .to.find a place within him. This was the root of Saul's wasted and miserable life. How different would it have been if he had adopted proper means to expel such thoughts and passions from his breast, and prevent their return 1 "How long sha!l thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" (Jer. iv. 14). 2. When he l-istens to tlte false representations of wicked men, insinuating, it may be, suspicions of his best friend, and urging him to regard him as his worst enemy (eh. xxiv. 9). 3. When he acts in opposition to what lie knows to be right. Saul had done so continually, following the impulses of" an evil heart of unbelief," instead of the dictates of reason and con- science. ''Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James iv. 17). 4. When he rests in feelings merely, and does not translate them into deeds ( eh. xxiv. 17). They are " dead without works." Every delay to act in accordance with them weakens their power, renders it less likely that they will ever be acted upon, and prepares the way fur the return of the " evil spirit." 5. W!ten he makes good resolutions and immediately breaks them (ver. 21), thereby destroying his moral power, and hardening himself in sin. 6. When he contends against t!u J)ivine purposes in the vain hope of succeeding (ver. 25). Sooner or later he must be crushed. "Who bath hardened' himself against him and prospered?" (Job ix. 4). 7. When he expects to find happiness except in connection with holiness. The illusion is dispelled, if not before, at the hour of death and the dawn of eternity, a,nd he has to confess his folly when it is too late to repair it.-D. Ver. 21.-.A fool returns to his folly. I. THE BIBLE IS FULL OF REDUPLICATION. It teaches by line upon line, precept upon precept, and narrative upon narrative. There are repetitions of the same story or song. There are also separate and inde- pendent narratives which go over similar ground, and teach the same lessons, the second confirming the first. Joseph is described as having had duplicate dreams with one and the same meaning. So also Pharaoh. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of empires is followed by Daniel's dream of the same. And there are duplicate parables of Jesus Christ. Then a'ctual events described are followed by other events so closely resembling them that they might almost be taken for the same-e. g. Abraham•~ weakness, Sarah's danger, and Pharaoh's respect for the sanctity of marriage (Gen. xii.) seem to be all repeated (Gen. xx. ), with the Abimelech of Gernr substituted for the Pharaoh of Egypt. And then all the incidents are told again of haac and Rebekah, and the Abimelech of their time (Gen. xxvi.). We have Moses fetching water from the rock in Horeb, and the same prophet fetching water from a rock at Kadesh Barnea; Jesus Christ anointed by a woman in the house of Simo,'. the Pharisee, and the same Divine Master anointed by a woman in the honsc of S11non the leper. Again we have Jesus feeding 5000 men, besides women aurl children, from a small sto'ck of bread and fish, and then the same Lord feerling 4000, besides women and children from a similar inadequate supply. The similar- ity of the story in· this chapt~r to ~hat which ~ve have r~a~ in the twenty-f~urth chapter of this book need not surprise us, or raise a susp1c1on that they are mde- pendent reports of the same adventure admitted into the pages of the history by a 510 TRE FIHST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [CH. XXVI, 1-25,