Nor slack'd the messenger his pace— Left clamour and surprise behind.” Cheering news was sent to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and with a might and strength that warranted the hope of greater things to come, Saul and his hastily-collected recruits fell on the Ammonites like a thunderbolt, and there was a very great destruction. This great victory achieved by Saul established him as king in Israel, and confirmed the people in their desire to have a king to rule over them. Here, indeed, was a man, uniting in himself all the qualities they sought in a ruler; of colossal stature, of handsome person, of prompt decision, of steady determination and unflinching courage; this was the king they sought. And now that he had exhibited his prowess by the defeat of the Ammonites, an outcry was raised against those who had shown disaffection to the king-who had disdainfully asked, "Shall the son of Kish rule over us?" So angry were the people, indeed, with these malcontents that they demanded their lives; but Saul promptly interfered, and would not allow of a single man being put to death that day. Samuel then invited the whole of the army (which comprehended, in fact, the whole effective body of the Hebrew people) to accompany him to Gilgal, and there confirm Saul in his kingdom. The ceremony was performed with great solemnity, and amid the rejoicings of the people; and at its close Samuel addressed the people, reproving them for ingratitude, but comforting them with a promise of God's mercy, and testifying his own integrity. Josephus says: "Then Samuel the prophet said to them: 'I solemnly adjure you, by God Almighty, who brought those excellent brethren, I mean Moses and Aaron, into the world, and delivered our fathers from the Egyptians, and from the slavery they endured under them, that you will not speak what you say to gratify me, nor suppress anything out of fear of me, nor be overborne by any other passion, but say, what have I ever done that was cruel or unjust? or what have I done out of lucre or covetousness, or to gratify others? Bear witness against me, if I have taken an ox or a sheep, or any such thing -which yet when they are taken to support men, it is esteemed blamelessor have I taken an ass for mine own use of any one to his grief?—lay some one such crime to my charge, now we are in your king's presence.' But they cried out, that no such thing had been done by him, but that he had presided over the nation after a holy and righteous manner. "Hereupon, Samuel, when such a testimony had been given him by them all, said: 'Since you grant that you are not able to lay any ill thing to my charge hitherto, come on now, and do you hearken while I speak with great freedom to you. You have been guilty of great impiety against God, in asking for a king. It behoves you to remember that our grandfather Jacob came down into Egypt, by reason of a famine, with seventy souls only of our family, and that their posterity multiplied there to many ten-thousands, whom the Egyptians brought into slavery and hard oppression; that God Himself, upon the prayers of our fathers, sent Moses and Aaron, who were brethren, and gave them power to deliver the multitude out of their distress; and this without a king. These brought us into this very land which you now possess ; and when you enjoyed these advantages from God, you betrayed His worship and religion; nay, moreover, when you were brought under the hands of your enemies, He delivered you,-first by rendering you superior to the Assyrians and their forces; He then made you to overcome the Ammonites and the Moabites, and last of all the Philistines; and these things have been achieved under the conduct of Jephthah and Gideon. What madness, therefore, possessed you to fly from God, and to desire to be under a king ?—yet have I ordained him for king whom He chose for you. However, that I may make it plain to you that God is angry and displeased at your choice of kingly government, I will so dispose Him that He shall declare this very plainly to you by strange signals; for what none of you ever saw here before--I mean a winter storm in the midst of harvest-I will entreat of God, and will make it visible to you.'" Now as soon as he had said this, God gave such signals by thunder and lightning, and the descent of hail, as attested the truth of all that the prophet had said; insomuch that they were amazed and terrified, and confessed they had sinned, and had fallen into that sin through ignorance; and besought the prophet, as one that was a tender and gentle father to them, to render God so merciful as to forgive this their sin, which they had added to their other offences, whereby they had affronted Him and transgressed against Him. So he promised them that he would beseech God, and persuade Him to forgive them these their sins. However, he advised them to be righteous, and to be good, and ever to remember the miseries that had befallen them on account of their departure from virtue; as also to remember the strange signs God had shown them, and the body of laws that Moses had given them, if they had any desire of being preserved and made happy with their king; but he said that if they should grow careless of these things, great judgments would come from God upon them, and upon their king. And when Samuel had thus prophesied to the Hebrews, he dismissed them to their own homes, having confirmed the kingdom to Saul the second time. A grand day for Saul; a grand day for the people, but a bitter and a sad day for Samuel. Think of the old man in his quiet home at Ramah. Ichabod! the glory has departed. A human king stands in the place of God, and the people, who have turned away from their true Sovereign Lord, are rejoicing as their fathers did when Moses was too long absent from their company, and they danced round the golden calf which Aaron had made for them. The old man, Samuel, would naturally foresee evil: a long list of kings to come, "some good, some bad, of bad the longer scroll;" and he would remember with shame that the behaviour of his own children had precipitated the setting up of this disastrous monarchy. CHAPTER VII. SAUL, THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. Saul's Body Guard-Saul, impatient of Samuel's delay, offereth Sacrifice.-The Reproof-Jonathan's Enterprise-Defeat of the Philistines-Samuel sends Saul to Destroy Amalekites-He spareth Agag, their king-Samuel, on account of this, announces Saul's rejection-David anointed King-The Duel between David and Goliath of Gath-The Strong Affection between David and Jonathan-After showing friendliness to David, Saul's enmity exhibits itself against him—David a Fugitive-The Cave of Adullam-Saul's repeated attempts to seize on DavidNabal and Abigail-Saul, threatened by the Philistines, resorts for counsel to the Witch of Endor-The Raising of Samuel-The Death of Saul and of his Sons. SAUL being thus accepted of all the people, felt himself confirmed in his government, and began to assume the prerogatives of a king. It has been asserted that Saul was then about thirty years of age, but he must have been older, as his son Jonathan, in the second year of his reign, held a separate command, and smote the garrison at Geba. Saul chose out of the multitude three thousand men : two thousand of these he took for his own body guard, and the remaining thousand he placed under the command of his son Jonathan; and the first use the young man made of his troop was to attack and destroy the Philistine garrison at Geba. How it came to pass that there were Philistine garrisons in the land is not very clear, but it would appear that the Philistines lodged themselves in mountain fastnesses where it was most difficult to follow them, and from which they could descend and ravage the plains. But it furthermore appears that they had so far mastered the Hebrews as entirely to disarm them. In accordance with their jealous policy, they had even removed all the smiths of Israel, lest they should beat pruninghooks into spears, and ploughshares into swords; in consequence of which, the Hebrews were obliged to resort to the Philistine garrisons whenever their agricultural instruments needed repairing, or more sharpening than that which could be given by an ordinary grindstone; indeed, it is asserted that the distaste of the people to acknowledge the supremacy of the Philistines induced them rather to let their tools become almost useless than wait upon their haughty lords. It seems, however, most probable that they must have had arms concealed; otherwise, how can we account for the victory of Jabesh-Gilead? When the Philistines found what had been done to their garrison by Jonathan, they were loud in their indignation, and resolved on straightway so punishing these turbulent Israelites as to make an example of them that should strike terror to all rebels. They assembled a large army, "thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people, as the sand which is on the sea-shore, innumerable." The number of chariots in comparison with the amount of cavalry is unusually large. Pharaoh pursued the Israelites with only six hundred chariots; Jabin, king of Canaan, possessed but nine hundred; David captured one thousand from Hadaddezer; Zerah, the Ethiopian, had but three hundred in an army of a million men; it is doubtful, indeed, whether all Asia could have furnished thirty thousand; and it is most probable that the number either refers to the charioteers, or to the whole of the carriages, for conveyance of baggage and so forth, employed in the expedition. However this may be, it is certain that the Philistine army mustered against the Hebrews was very great, and that all Israel was filled with consternation at the prospect of the evil which was to come upon them. Saul summoned the people, who came with fear and trembling. It is written, they hid themselves "in caves, in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits "-anywhere to escape the vengeance of the vengeful Philistines. As men in the days of Charlemagne shrank from his "men of iron," so the Israelites seem to have shrunk from their foes: there was no heart in them for the fight; they had, doubtless, serious misgivings as to what was to be the result of their choice of a king, what penalty might fall on them for their desertion of the King of Heaven; the words of the discarded prophet rang in their ears, and they found that even their chosen king was still himself in fear of the prophet. Samuel had promised that he would come and offer burnt sacrifice and peace-offerings; and the king and his army, in jeopardy of the Philistines every hour, waited for him day after day, and grew impatient. Why should they be thus exposed to |