LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for 10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us. Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 And the cities which the Philistines peace between Israel and the Amorites. 16 And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. 17 And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the LORD. 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of 6 Or, answered. 7 That is, the stone of help. 8 Heb. and he circuited. 6. "Drew water, and poured it out before the Lord."-It is confessedly difficult to ascertain the precise meaning of this act, since there is no mention of it among the ceremonies directed by the law. In ancient times, indeed, almost every solemn act was accompanied by libations, or the outpouring of some fluid, generally wine; and we know that water was employed in the earlier times for this purpose; but in the law nothing but wine and blood are directed to be poured out before the Lord. We think that there may be some reference to the compact into which the people now entered, and in which Samuel acted on their behalf; and the idea may be, that their words had gone forth not to be recalled, and may be illustrated under this view by reference to the beautiful text, 2 Sam. xiv. 14: "We are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again." Oaths were certainly, under some such idea, confirmed anciently by libations. Thus Ulysses says of Phidon: "To me the monarch swore, in his own hall and Mr. Roberts, to whom we owe the idea of this illustration, says, that pouring water on the ground is a very ancient way of confirming an oath in India. 12. "Eben-ezer."-This, it will be recollected, is the name of a stone, not of a town. Of its site we, of course, know nothing precisely; but it is useful to notice what assistance we derive from fixing carefully the sites of a few important places. It is with this view we have endeavoured, in a former note, to obtain a distinct idea concerning the site of Beth-shemesh. Wells perceived this, but overlooked the statement of Jerome as to its distance on the road from Eleutheropolis to Emmaus, as there given. Yet, as he observes: "This stone (Eben-ezer) lay near Beth-shemesh, as Eusebius and Jerome inform us; and it being plain from Scripture that Beth-shemesh lay on the north border of Judah, it will follow that this Eben-ezer did so likewise; and therefore that Mizpeh also was situated thereabouts, as not being far from Eben-ezer: and the like inference is to be made as to the situation of Beth-car and Shen; namely, that as Mizpeh was situated not far from Eben-ezer on one (probably on the east or north-east) side; so Shen was situated not far from it on the opposite side or to the west and south-west; and that Beth-car was so likewise." 16. "He went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh.”—Some think that the practice of having judges going in circuit every year, or oftener, to administer justice, as among ourselves, was derived from this practice of Samuel. There is, however, not much resemblance; since Samuel did not itinerate through the country, but only within a very limited district. All the towns named were within a short distance from each other, and all within the limits of one tribe. that of Benjamin. 1 CHAPTER VIII. By occasion of the ill government of Samuel's sons, the Israelites ask a king. 6 Samuel praying in grief, is comforted by God: 10 He telleth the manner of a king. 19 God willeth Samuel to yield unto the importunity of the people. AND it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and 'took bribes and perverted judgment. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now 'make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing 'displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 3 Heb. was evil in the eyes of Samuel. 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: 'howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his ser vants. 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city. • Heb. eunuchs. 'Or, obey. Or, notwithstanding when thou hast solemnly protested against them, then thou shalt shew, &c. Verse 5. "Make us a king to judge us like all the nations."-This demand, and the general subject involved, has been already somewhat fully illustrated in the notes to Deut. xvii., to which the reader is referred. 11. “This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you."-The description which Samuel gives is doubtless a picture of such kingly governments as were then established in the neighbouring nations, and such as that of the Hebrews ultimately became. It is therefore very instructive, and presents some striking analogies to the present condition of kingly power in the East. Some of these will hereafter come under our notice historically with more advantage than in this place, which will therefore limit our remarks on the present chapter. - He shall take your sons, and appoint them for himself.”—This, and other passages of a similar import, which follow, we understand to refer to such a right as that which is still claimed by some Oriental monarchs, of appropriating the services of any of their subjects according to their pleasure: that is to say, the king is considered so far entitled to the services of his people, that they cannot refuse to serve him, when called upon to do so. The remuneration depends on circumstances; but more will not often be obtained than the wages of a slave-food and clothing. In Persia, for instance, the king exercises the right of calling, to work for him, any artisan distinguished for his skill; in consequence of which, reputation for skill in any branch of art is deprecated as the worst of evils. The ultimate operation of this feeling is to prevent all improvement in the useful arts; for even a man who has completed an improvement, is afraid to give it effect, in the knowledge that, by so doing, his prospects in life will not be bettered, but wholly ruined. The folLowing anecdote, related by Mr. Fraser, will put this in a striking point of view. A native of Fars, some time ago, made a considerable improvement in the manufacture of porcelain. His fame quickly spread until it reached the court, when the king immediately dispatched an order, commanding him to repair to Teheran to make china for the Shah. Now the poor fellow knew that, once there, he should have to make china not only for the Shah, but for all his officers and courtiers-and that, too, without the hope of any payment, unless it might be an occasional good beating. Seized with consternation, he collected as large a sum as possible, and presenting it by way of bribe to the minister, besought him to report that he was not the man that made the china, but that the real potter had run away. The business was managed according to his wish, and he returned pennyless to his own country, vowing never again to make a bit of china, nor to attempt an improvement of any sort as long as he lived." However oppressive this may seem, it is certain that, according to Oriental ideas, the king exercised no more than one of his legal rights, as is evinced by the fact that those whose services are not required pay a tax in lieu of such services, or in acknowledgment of their exemption from the obligation. "Some shall run before his chariots.”—Chariots are not now used; but in Persia it is, to this day, a piece of state for the king and other great personages to have several men run on foot before and beside them as they ride on horseback. This they do even when the rider puts his horse to a gallop. The men are trained to their business from boyhood; and the feats they are able to perform would scarcely be considered credible in this country. They are called shatirs Chardin mentions a candidate for the place of shatir to the king, who accomplished about 120 miles by fourteen hours VOL. II. D 17 unintermitted running, and who was rather censured for not having done it in twelve hours. Chardin himself follow him on horseback in his seventh course, when the heat of the day had obliged him somewhat to relax his pace, and traveller could only follow him by keeping his horse on the gallop. No instance equal to this came to our on knowledge in the same country; but what we did see and learn, rendered the statement of Chardin far from incredib It is astonishing to observe the extreme ease with which the men appear to attend their master's horse in all its pace even the most rapid; and, as a general rule, it is understood that an accomplished footman ought to remain untired long, or longer, than the horse ridden by his master. 12. "He will appoint him captains."-Does this refer to a power, exercised by the king, of obliging persons whom thinks proper to nominate, to accept offices of honour whether they desire it or not? It is very possible. In the Ea a man must accept any office to which the king nominates him, however disagreeable or ruinous to himself. Nor h this been confined to the East; for no very long period has elapsed since our own sovereigns exercised the same powe and possessed also that claim upon the services of artisans and others, to which we have adverted in a preceding note 13." He will take your daughters to be confectionaries...cooks...and bakers."—We have, on several occasions, mention that these are the offices of females in Oriental households, and how great a number must have been employed providing for the vast royal establishments of the East, may easily be imagined. It is not too much to say, th thousands derive their daily food from the royal kitchens. Perhaps the picture drawn by Samuel was most complete realised in the time of Solomon, the daily provision of whose household amounted to "thirty measures of fine flour, at threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides hart and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl." (1 Kings iv. 22, 23.) To prepare all this for the table must ha occupied no small number of "confectionaries, cooks, and bakers." The Rev. W. Jowett calculates that not fewer th two thousand persons were employed about the palace of that petty prince, the emir of the Druses. He says, "We sa many professions and trades going on in it-soldiers, horse-breakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, scribes, cooks, tobacc nists, &c. There was, in the air of this mingled assemblage, something which forcibly brought to my mind the d scription of an eastern royal household, as given to the Israelites by Samuel." (Christian Researches in Syria,' p. 8The other topics of this remarkable chapter admit of being reserved for consideration in connection with future h torical circumstances. CHAPTER IX. 1 Saul despairing to find his father's asses, 6 by the counsel of his servant, 11 and direction of young maidens, 15 according to God's revelation, 18 cometh to Samuel. 19 Samuel entertaineth Saul at the feast. 25 Samuel, after secret communication, bringeth Saul on his way. Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was 'Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. 2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. 3 And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. 4 And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not. 5 And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us. 1 Chap. 14. 51. 1 Chron. 8. 33. my | 6 And he said unto him, Behold no there is in this city a man of God, and he an honourable man; all that he saith come surely to pass: now let us go thither: pe adventure he can shew us our way that w should go. 7 Then said Saul to his servant, But, b hold, if we go, what shall we bring the ma for the bread is spent in our vessels, a there is not a present to bring to the man God: what 'have we? 8 And the servant answered Saul agai and said, Behold, "I have here at hand t fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will give to the man of God, to tell us our way 9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man we to enquire of God, thus he spake, Com and let us go to the seer: for he that is n called a Prophet was beforetime called Seer.) 10 Then said Saul to his servant, "W said; come, let us go. So they went un the city where the man of God was. 11 And as they went up the hill to t city, they found young maidens going to draw water, and said unto them, Is seer here? 12 And they answered them, and sa He is; behold, he is before you make ha now, for he came to day to the city; for th is a 'sacrifice of the people to day in the h place: 13 As soon as ye be come into the c 2 Or, the son of a man of Jemini. Or, substance. 4 Heb. is gone out of, &c. 5 Ieb. is with u 9 Or, feast. ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not cat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they cat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him. 14 And they went up into the city: and when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place. 15 "Now the LORD had told Samuel in his car a day before Saul came, saying, 16 To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. 17 And when Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of! this same shall 13reign over my people. 18 Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. 19 And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. 20 And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house? 21 And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me? 22 And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons. 23 And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee. 24 And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which is left! set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. 25 ¶ And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samue communed with Saul upon the top of the house. 26 And they arose early and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. 27 And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still "a while, that I may shew thee the word of God. 12 Heb. revealed the ear of Samuel. 15 Heb. according to this word. 16 Or, reserved. 13 Heb. restrain in. 14 Heb. to-day three days. 17 Heb. to-day. Verse 4. "Mount Ephraim."-Ephraim adjoined Benjamin on the north, which indicates the direction of Saul's journey. Mount Ephraim" is rather extensively used in Scripture, and does not denote any particular mountain, at appears to be applied to all that part of the central range which passes through this tribe, including its ramifications and inferior heights. “Land of Shalisha.”-Shalisha is probably the same place called Baal-shalisha in 2 Kings iv. 42. We have no better indication of its situation than is afforded by Eusebius and Jerome, who mention a Beth-shalisha, situated in the Thamnitic canton, about fifteen miles to the north of Diospolis (Lydda). This is the position usually given in maps. The land of Shalim.”—Some make this Jerusalem, which is sometimes called Shalem or Salem; and others think it the same mentioned in Gen. xxxiii. 18; as "Shalem, a city of Shechem." But in fact the names have very considerable difference. Jerusalem and the "city of Shechem" are called D, Shalem; whereas the present is Dy, Shaalim. In is present form the name does not elsewhere occur; but it may possibly be the same as the Shaalbim (byw) of Judges i. 35; and 1 Kings iv. 9; and the Shaalabbin of Josh. xix. 42, which lay in the tribe of Dan, and which usually ceur in connection with Aijalon and Beth-shemesh. This agrees very well with what Jerome says, as to the existence of a village called Shalim, in his time, about seven miles west of Eleutheropolis, and which was therefore in the tribe of Dan, and not far from the places which the Scripture associates with Shaalbim. Under this view, Shalisha becomes the northern limit of Saul's search, and Shalim the southern. The analogy of name seems in favour of this conclusion; and it is useless to speculate from probabilities of route in a random journey in search of strayed asses. 5. “Land of Zuph.”—Compare chap. i. 1, from which, and from what follows, it is clear that this Land of Zuph was a canton or district of Mount Ephraim, in which was situated Ramah, the native place and usual residence of Saael. It derived its name from Zuph, the great-great-grandfather of Elkanah, the father of Samuel. This Zuph was the head of the Levitical family of Zuphim; and it is interesting to discover from 1 Chron. vi., that he, and consequently Samuel, was descended from Korah, the ambitious Levite, whose awful doom is recorded in Num. xvi. 7. "There is not a present to bring to the man of God."-In this passage the points that claim attention are:-that Saul and his servant thought it necessary to offer Samuel a present; that they would have given some victuals if any had been left; but that, having none, they determined to offer him about sevenpence in money. All this would be unintelligible, if merely compared with any usages current among ourselves. We should, by this standard, either regard Saul and his servant as very silly, or else infer that Samuel was very rapacious. This one text alone would, therefore, render manifest the importance of illustrating many of the usages described in Scripture, by a reference to analogous usages still prevalent in the East. Such a reference shows that the proceeding of Saul, in offering, and of Samuel, in receiving, a present, is perfectly regular and common. The usages concerning presents which here, and else where, come under our notice, are among the most diffused customs of the East. It is everywhere the common practice for an inferior to offer a present, of some kind or other, to a superior with whom he desires an interview, or of whom he seeks a favour. Maundrell has well discriminated the character of this usage. After mentioning that, before visiting the pasha of Tripoli, he sent his present to procure a propitious reception, he says: "It is counted uncivil to visit in this country without an offering in hand. All great men expect it as a kind of tribute due to their character and aus thority, and look upon themselves as affronted, and even defrauded, when this compliment is omitted. Even in familiar visits among inferior people, you shall seldom have them come without bringing a flower, an orange, or some other such token of their respect to the person visited." Being therefore received and offered as a token of respect, the humblest present which the poorest labourer can bring, is never refused by the most exalted personages; on the contrary, they account such presents highly honourable to themselves, and therefore like them to be offered when com pany is present. To refuse the humblest offering is no less an incivility and insult to the person by whom it is offered, than it is to approach the presence of a superior without any offering. Neither is there any thing extraordinary in Saul's first intention to present Samuel with a piece of bread. Articles of provision are the most usual presents which the rural population offer to their patrons and superiors, as such are the things which they can the most readily furnish from the produce of their field or orchard, or from their stock of poultry, or their goats or sheep. Fruits, flowers, a fowl, a kid, a lamb, suffices to testify his respect, and to introduce him to him whose favour he desires. On the same principle a merchant offers something from that in which he deals, and an artisan from the products of his skill. Nothing more is expected from him, under the fair operation of this usage, than that which his circumstances or temporary emergencies enable him to furnish. Plutarch relates an anecdote, which is in exact conformity with Oriental ideas. He says, that when Artaxerxes Longimanus was on a journey, he fell in with a peasant, who being at a distance from his cottage, and therefore unprovided with any thing which he could offer to his sovereign, in testimony of his homage and respect, ran to the river and filled both his hands with water, which he presented to the king, who received it with most gracious complacency. This handful of water offered to "the great king," matches very well with the piece of bread which Saul wished to offer to Samuel. Bread was among the presents of eatables which Jesse sent, by the hand of his son David, to Saul, when the latter reigned as king (chap. xvi. 20). As to money, there is not in all the East any of that peculiar feeling about money which prevails among ourselves. To receive money is there considered quite as good and graceful as to receive money's worth. Indeed, money is rather preferred; and it is usually offered by those who have no particular profession or pursuit from which a suitable offering might be derived: and a poor person who finds it more convenient to offer sixpence in money, finds it quite as accept able as the basket of fruit which sixpence would purchase. European travellers in the East, unprovided with what they consider a suitable present to a great man, are often led, by their home ideas, to hesitate about offering money, lest the offer should be regarded as an insult. But they are soon instructed in the difference between the customs of the East and West, by receiving very intelligible hints that money is expected or will be accepted; and they are often astonished to find how small a sum a very great man is satisfied to receive. 9. " Beforetime in Israel," &c.—This parenthetical verse interrupts the narrative here, and has no connection with what precedes it. Houbigant puts it after the 11th verse, which is obviously its proper place. 24. "The cook took up the shoulder, and.... set it before Saul."—It was an ancient, and is a still existing, eastern custom to distinguish at table the person whom the host intends to honour, by the quantity or choice of the victuals set before him. As to the quantity, see the note on Gen. xliii. 34. From the present text it seems that the shoulder was considered the choice and distinguishing portion. Josephus calls it the royal portion; and some symbolical association with the idea of royalty does indeed seem to be indicated in Isaiah ix. 6:-"The government shall be upon his shoulder." Harmer, in his valuable Observations,' quotes from Ockley's History of the Saracens,' an anecdote which shows the high estimation in which the shoulder of a lamb was (and, we may add, still is) regarded in the East. "Abdalme lick, the Caliph, upon his entering into Cufah, made a splendid entertainment. When he was sat down, Amrou, the son of Hareth, an ancient Mechmuzian, came in; he called him to him, and placing him by him upon his sofa, asked him what meat he liked best of all that he had ever eaten. The old Mechmuzian answered, an ass's neck, well seasoned and well roasted. You do nothing, said Abdalmelick; what do you say to a leg or shoulder of a sucking lamb, wel roasted, and covered over with butter and milk?" The history adds, that while he was at supper he said, "How sweetly we live, if a shadow would last!" Perhaps "that which was upon the shoulder," in the text, may have been the butter and milk with which the caliph recommended a shoulder of lamb to be covered. It seems to have been an ancient practice to consider some portion of meat as particularly appropriated to do honou to a distinguished guest. The chine is made to serve this purpose in Homer. Thus, at an entertainment given by Agamemnon: "They feasted, and no want Of his due portion any guest sustain❜d. But Ajax most was favour'd, whom the king, Here we see that, as among the Hebrews, the host assigned to the guests their several portions. So also, in th Odyssey (xiv. 436), Eumæus, celebrated for his skill in all the duties of a host, is described as dividing and distributin to the guests their respective shares; and intending to do most honour to his new guest and disguised master, Ulysse On him the long unsever'd chine bestow'd. By that distinction just, his master's heart He gratified." |