field. Like Promethens, he defied the Almighty, in deeds if not in words, but the heroism was gone, e.nd in that le.at snd scene, when, in mental o.nd more.I degradation, the despairing monarch sought the witch's cave, stubbornness alone remained. And, meanwhile, the other purpose of God was growing in strength, and, throngh strange scenes of heroism and feebleness, the shepherd-boy becomes the nation's champion, the king's son-in-law, an ontlaw and a deserter, before finally he becomes a king. In the two Books of Samuel, David's uprising and reign, his sins and hie terrible punishment, are given us in great detail, not merely beca.nse of their-intrinsic interest and the clearness with which they teach the great lesson that sin is ever punished-not merely this, but even more because he was e. most important factor in the development of Israel as the Mes- sianic nation. There is in this respect e. parallel between the Book of Genesis and the Books of Samuel. The great business of the one is the selection of the man from whom was to spring the nation predestinated to be the depository of God's revealed truth. In the Books of Samuel we have the choice of the man who, next to Moses, was to form that nation for its high office, and to be the ancestor of Christ. In David the great purpose of Israel's existence was to advance a great step onwards. Eight hundred years had passed since the choice of Abraham, and four hundred since Moses gave laws e.nd political unity to those sprung from him; and it had often seemed e.s if the folk were too tiny to be of any real service to mankind, and e.s if it must be crushed ont of existence by the more powerful kingdoms that surrounded it. It was e. territory so small, Wa.'I placed in so dangerous e. position on the very battle-ground of Egypt and Assyria, and the constitution of the realm was so little adapted to pnrposes of war, that it seemed impossible for it to have more than a short-lived endurance. Bnt small 38 was Israel, God had chosen it to light a torch that should illuminate the whole world, and God's Word, which is the light of men, received through David e. most precious addition to its contents. As a preparation for the selection of David, the work of both Saul and Samuel was necessary. ·Saul had given Israel a sense of unity and, at least, a taste of the blessings of independence. The wish for a united Israel was as strong an influence in the uprise of David's empire as it has proved in modern times in the endowment of Europe with a united Italy. This right feeling had begun in Samuel's time, brought about probably by • the tyranny of the Philistines ; and Samuel, who saw in it a tacit reproach to himself, who had done so much, for not having done more, withstood it in vain. Saul's victory over the Ammonite Ne.hash, won by united Israel, made this feeling so strong, that David's election to the crown came as an inevitable necessity, though long delayed by his relations with the Philis- tines; and, when elected, he had not to build up the kingdom from the foundations-Saul had done that, but to retrieve the evil resnlts of one terrible disaster. Bat the moral and mental development wrought by Samuel was a condition even more indispensable to David's kingdom than INTRODUCTION TO
Saul's restoration of the nation to politice,l life. David's empire we.s 11, matter of vast importance to Israel e,s the Messi&nic ne.tion, and Se.ul pre- pe.red the way for it. But it was a matter, after a,ll, of only secondary importance, and Samuel's reforms had kindled again into brightness the nation's inner life: He purified Israel's morals, fanned its decaying faith into heroic confidence in Jehovah, and enriched it with a high civiliza.tion. The learning which had always he,d a home in the sanctuary, and whioh was for a time trampled out when Shiloh was destroyed, found a. new dwelling in the N aioth at Ra.mah. Reading, writing, music, history, not merely eristed there, but were taught to an ever-increasing number of the ohoioest spirits of Israel. Ra.mah we.s the centre of an active propaganda., and the sons of the prophets went back to their homes as missionaries, bound to teach and to elevate and to indoctrinate with Samuel's views all the inho.bit&nts of their villages or towns. And these views h'ltd a strong practiC11.l bearing both upon the political and the spiritual life of the nation. The eighth psalm, composed by David to be sung to a melody learnt by him when in the service of Achish, King of Gath, is testimony enough to the refinement both of thought and of language that followed upon. Se.muel's reforms. For David, the youngest of e. large family of sons of a yeoman at Bethlehem, oould have gained only in Samuel's schools that acquaintance with literary a.rts, e.nd that knowledge of the history of his country, which undoubtedly he had acquired somewhere. To suppose· that he could have obtained them elsewhere is to .suppose, what probably became true in course of time, the.t Samuel's scholars had already set themselves to teach in all pa.rt& of the country. Among a race of farmers learning would not advance with such extreme rapidity; but the Israelites were no common people, and their progress was sure and steady. It is probable that Gad, David's friend throughout his life, joined him at the very beginning of his wander- ings as a.n outcast, from a personal affection which began when they were school-friends together at Re.mah. For Gad, who is expressly said to have been a, prophet (1 Sam. xrii. 5 ), is by the name certified to have been one of Samuel's scholars. He chose a very hard life when he went to be chaplain to a band of men composed of such dangerous elements as David's freebooters; but he loved David, was confident in his power of governing them, and deep in his heart was the conviction that Samuel's prophecy would surely be fulfilled. And this captain of a, band of wild outlaws was destined in course of time to remodel the temple service, to teach men to "prophesy," i.e. to testify to Divine truth, on harp and cymbal and psaltery (1 Chron. x:x:v. 1), a.nd to give to the national worship its most spiritual element. Not only did David write psalms himself, but his temple service gave them a use, made them the common property of all, and caused others also to give expression to their devotion in the same way, as occasion called their feelings forth. The psalms were not mere lyric compositions, the result of poetic genius o.nd fervour; no doubt man:y psalms at first were simply so; but they soon THE SJWOND BOOK or SAMUET,. vii