'The two Books of Samuel form but one in the Hebrew Canon. In the Septuagmt and Vulgate translations they are called the First and Second Books of Kings, and those which we call the First and Second Books of Kings are termed the Third and Fourth Books of Kings. This diversity is to be regretted; ancient histories should at far as is possible be kept in their original form. There seems to be no adequate reason for classifying these books, as they are classified in our Bibles; for they contain quite as much of the history of David as of Samuel. But the impression prevailed that Samuel was their author; and as Protestants in endeavouring to run counter to Roman Catholics, have magnified the importance of the Old Testament exactly in proportion as they have decried the use of reason, the translators have so arranged the Books as to produce the most striking effect; and thus an individual existence has been given to that which has none, but which really is only a part of the whole. Yet, notwithstanding first, the separation of Samuel from Kings, and then its division into two parts, the work bears on the face of it the strong fact that it could not have been written by Samuel: for the twenty-fifth chapter of the first book begins with the words:--'And Samuel died!' Thus more than half of the whole was obviously composed by a later writer. But we shall see by an examination of the book in order that the whole of it owes its origin to a date later than that of Samuel.' ( Vide 'Hebrew Records.')
*Chapter i., v. 5, says that Elkanah gave Hannah 'a worthy portion.' The Douay renders it 'But to Anna he gave one portion with sorrow.'
Verse 6. What 'adversary' is this? The phrase may possibly refer to the other wife, but of this there is not the slightest evidence in the wording of the text; sterility has been a subject of reproach amongst the Jews, as also amongst the Arabs, and some other nations.
Verses 6 to 19. It is probable that in the country district, where the family of Elkanah dwelt, that the barrenness of Hannah was a matter of notoriety. The vow also could not fail to be divulged, and its apparent success to create a great sensation. The superstitious people who traced the hand of God in everything, would of course say that Samuel was his special sift.
*Chapter ii., v. 5. 'The barren hath born seven.' If Hannah here referred to herself, she must have spoken in the spirit of prophecy, and even then must have erred in her prophetic dreamings, as by verse 21 she only appears to have had five children, and, excluding Samuel from amongst those, it would still leave one short of the number.
Verse 8. What are these pillars upon which the world is set? How many pillars are there, and upon what do they rest? Or is this an oriental figure of speech not capable of a literal interpretation?
Verses 1 to 10. It is scarcely probable that Hannah the wife of a country farmer composed this song--it is more likely to have been composed by a Levite, or perhaps by the writer of the story.
Verses 13 to 16. 'This narrative presents various subjects of instruction: at first it pictures the simplicity, or rather the grossness of the manners of the times very analogous to the age of Homer. This Hebrew people were mostly composed of rustics, living on their little properties, which they had cultivated with their own hands, as the Druzes do now. The only class, a little elevated, a little less ignorant, was the tribe of Levi--that is, the priests, who lived idle, supported by the voluntary, or forced offerings of the nation; this class had more time than means to employ the mind. This shows itself here in the tone and style of the narrator, who, by his knowledge of the duties of the priests, evinced himself a man of the craft. We might compare this Levite to the monks of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, writing: their holy histories under the auspices of superstition and credulity. In this relation we see the essential character of the priest, whose first and constant object of attention is the pot or kettle, on which his existence depends; and this reveals the motives of all that display of victims and sacrifices which play so great a part among the ancients.
'Until now I could not conceive the advantage of converting the courts and the porches of temples into slaughter-houses. [ Vide remarks on page 67.] I could not reconcile the idea of the hideous spectacle of the choking of sensitive animals, of the shedding of oceans of blood, of the filthiness of entrails, with the ideas which we were taught of the divine majesty, of the divine goodness that repels to a distance the gross necessities which these practices suppose. In reflecting on that which has just been noticed, I perceive the solution of the enigma. I see that in their primitive state the ancients were as one; as are yet the Tartars of Asia, and their brothers, the savages of America, ferocious men, contending constantly against dangers, and struggling with those necessities--the violence of which raises all the sensibilities; men accustomed to shed blood in the chase, on which their subsistence depended. In this state, the first ideas which they had--the only ones they entertained of the divinity--represented him as a being more powerful than themselves; but reasoning and perceiving like them, having their passions and their character. The whole history shows the truth of this.
'By this mode of reasoning, these savages thought that every unlucky accident, every misfortune which happened to them, was the consequence of the hate, the resentment, the envy of some concealed agent, of some irascible secret power, vindictive, like themselves, and consequently susceptible like them to be appeased by prayers and gifts. From this idea originated the spontaneous habits of religious offerings, the practice of which shows itself amongst all savages, both ancient and modern. But, as in all times and in all societies, there were men more subtle and more cunning than the multitude, there was soon found some old savage, who, not entertaining this belief, or being undeceived, conceived the idea of turning it to his profit. Supposed to possess secret means, particular recitations for calming the anger of the gods, genii, or spirits, and to render them propitious, the vulgar, ignorant, and always credulous, especially when bound by fear, or stimulated by desire, addressed itself to this favoured mortal. Hence a mediator constituted between man and the divinity: hence a seer, a juggler, a priest, as all the Tartars have, as have most savages and the negroes. These jugglers found it convenient to live at the expense of others, and perfected their art by causing delusions and deceptions. This it was which gave birth to the sacerdotal phantasmagoria. At present, as these physical means are understood, we perceive these artifices in the prodigies of the ancient oracles, and in the miracles of the ancient Magi.
'At the time when the trade became advantageous an association of adepts was formed, and the rules of the association became the basis of the priesthood; but as these associations of divines, of seers, of interpreters, and of ministers of the gods, employed all their time in their public functions, and in their secret practices, it was necessary that their daily and annual subsistence should be provided for by a regular system. The practice, until then casual, of offerings and voluntary sacrifices, was constituted an obligatory tribute; conscience was regulated by legislation; the people led to the altar and the porch of the temple the choice of their flocks, of their lambs, their beeves, and their calves; they brought corn, wine, and oil. The sacerdotal institution had the income, the nation had the ceremonies, the prayers, and everybody was content. The rest does not require explanation; I only remark that the division of animals into pure and impure appears to be derived from their goodness for eating, or the disadvantage as injurious or disagreeable when eaten. Hence the reason why the rank he-goat was rejected in the desert; why the old tough ram was entirely burned; why the measly and scabby hog was despised; but this is saying enough of the kitchen of the priests of Israel.' (Vide Volney.)
The priests of the Israelites are similar in some respects to the priests of the Christian Church. The Jew-priest took all that he could, if not by fair means then by force; our priests follow their example. They have seized a poor old woman's family Bible to pay tithes; they have pocketed tithes until unable to sign their names to the receipts for their income, and then when nearly at the point of death, they have bargained for a handsome retiring pension before they would resign their priesthood; yet these are the men who 'lay up for themselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor mot doth corrupt.' Voltaire says:--
'Priests in a state approach nearly to what preceptors are in private families: it is their province to teach, pray, and supply example. They ought to have no authority over the masters of the house; at least until it can be proved that he who gives the wages ought to obey him who receives them.
'Prayer is not dominion, nor exhortation despotism. A good priest ought to be a physician to the soul. If Hippocrates had ordered his patients to take hellebore under pain of being hanged, he would have been more insane and barbarous than Phalaris, and would have had little practice. When a priest says--Worship God, be just, indulgent, and compassionate, he is then a good physician: when he says--Believe me, or you shall be burnt, he is an assassin.
'The magistrate ought to support and restrain the priest in the same manner as the father of a family insures respect to the preceptor, and prevents him from abusing it. The agreement of Church and State is of all systems the 'most monstrous.' (Philosophical Dictionary) Verse 22. The nation must have improved rapidly in morals when its judges and priests were so extremely virtuous. It is instructive to a devout believer to observe that the Church has not degenerated, and that the priests appointed by God were as vicious as those since appointed by the State.
Verse 25. 'Because the Lord would slay them.' What terrible cruelty this seems to harden people's hearts in order to destroy them. But to whom did God make known his intentions? Was it to one man only; to the priest who repeated it? Have we not, then, good reason to attribute it rather to the bearer of the message, to the self-styled interpreter of God's will? It is clear that this could never come from a loving and just God, but rather from a Jewish mouth, from the heart of a fanatic and ferocious Hebrew, full of the passions and prejudices which he attributes to his idol.
Verses 30 to 36. When the immutable Deity decreed that the house of Aaron should be his priests for ever, did he foresee the offences of Eli and his children? If not, his attribute of foreknowledge is taken away; if he did, then the whole story is absurd.
'In this account we have first a conversation divulged. But by whom? Eli would not have boasted of it; it was the man of God who made it known. What interest had he to prepare the minds for a change desired by many, even by the greatest number? In his quality of prophet and preacher this man of God must have known the successor announced. Might he not act already in concert with him? His prediction is found to be in favour of Samuel. Might not Samuel play a part in this affair? The axiom rightly says:--He has done it, who had an interest to do it. Should it not have been Samuel in this case? Observe that Eli was blind, and that any one might have spoken to him, and he not have known the person. There is here the management of knavery. Samuel is not impeached; but he is arraigned. As to the prediction against the two sons of Eli on the same day, it is evident how easy it was to the writer or copyist to interpolate afterwards.' (Vide Volney.)
*Chapter iii., v. 1. 'And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.' What this means I do not profess to explain, but I take the opportunity of allowing Voltaire to deal with the subject generally:--
'When I speak of vision I do not mean the admirable manner in which our eyes perceive objects, and in which the pictures of all that we see are painted on the retina. This matter has been so learnedly treated by so many great geniuses that there is no further remnant to glean after their harvests.
'My subject is the innumerable multitude of visions, with which so many holy personages have been favoured or tormented; which so many idiots are believed to have seen; with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world, either to get the reputation of being favoured by heaven, which is very flattering, or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in general. 'Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections of these visions. The most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the greatest effects, since it has tended to reform three parts of the Swiss--that of the young Jacobin, Yetzer. This Yetzer saw the Holy Virgin and St. Barbara several times; who informed him of the marks of Jesus Christ. He received from a Jacobin confessor a host, powdered with arsenic, and the Bishop of Lausanne would have had him burnt for complaining that he was poisoned. These abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing to be Catholic, Apostolical, and Roman.
'I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence to tell you of. Yet you will confess that the vision of the reverend father Cor-delius, of Orleans, in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still very distant. The criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript in the library of the King of France, No. 1770.
'The illustrious house of St. Memin did great good to the convent of the Cordeliers, and had their vault in the Church. The wife of a Lord of St. Memin, provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband, believing that his ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the monks, gave the brothers a present, which did not appear to them considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived a plan for disinterring the deceased, to force the widower to have her buried again in holy ground, and to pay them better. The project was not clever, for the Lord of St. Memin would not have failed to have buried her elsewhere. But folly often mixes with knavery.
'At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared only to two brothers. She said to them--"I am damned, like Judas; because my husband has not given sufficient." The two knaves who related these words perceived not that they must do more harm to the convent than good. The aim of the convent was to extort money from the Lord of St. Memin, for the repose of his wife's soul. Now if Madame de St. Memin was damned, all the money in the world could not save her. They got no more; the Cordeliers lost their labour.
'At this time there was very little good sense in France: the nation had been brutalised by the invasion of the Franks, and afterwards by the invasion of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there were some persons who reasoned. If the Great Being permitted the soul of Madame de St. Memin to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural, they thought, for this soul to declare itself damned like Judas. This comparison appeared to them to be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord Jesus Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged; her intestines had not obtruded themselves; and there was not the slightest pretext for comparing her to Judas.
'This caused suspicion; and the rumour was still greater in Orleans, because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain visions, and who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always fail to draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers, therefore, changed their battery, and put the lady in purgatory.
'She therefore appeared again, and declared that purgatory was her lot; but she demanded to be disinterred. It was not the custom to disinter those in purgatory; but they hoped that Monsieur St. Memin would prevent this extraordinary affront by giving money. This demand of being thrown out of the Church augmented the suspicions. It was well known that souls often appeared; but they never demanded to be disinterred.
'From this time the soul spoke no more, but it haunted everybody in the convent and church. The brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter, of Arras, adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it--If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four knocks; and the four knocks were struck. If thou art damned, strike six knocks; and the six knocks were struck. If thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy-ground, knock six more times; and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly. If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God for thee, wilt thou be the less damned? Strike five knocks to certify it to us; and the soul certified it by five knocks. [Spirit-rapping is therefore more ancient than is generally supposed.} 'This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter, of Arras, was signed by twenty-two Cordeliers, at the head of which was the reverend father provincial. This father provincial the next day asked it the same questions, and received the same answers.
'It will be said that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory, the Cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell; but it is not my fault if theologians contradict one another.
'The Lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumee, master of requests.
'The Procureur-General of the commission required that the said Cordeliers should be burned; but the sentence only condemned them to make the "amende honorable," with a torch in their bosom, and to be banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18th, 1535.
'After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to medicine, the second to Bedlam.'
Verse 3. 'Before the lamp of God went out.' I presume this refers to some lamp kept burning in the tabernacle; but it is a strange mode of description.
Verses 4 to 21. 'Now to appreciate this narrative, I do not intend to reason on its leading features: God comes into a chamber, stands before a bed, speaks as a person of flesh and bones. What should I think of a person who would believe such a fable? I shall confine myself to the conduct and character of Samuel. And first, I demand who saw, who heard, all that was said; who related it, who made it public? It could not be Eli; it could be only Samuel, who was actor, witness, and narrator. He alone had an interest to invent and promulgate. Without him who could have specified the minute details of this adventure? It is evident that we have here a scene of phantasmagoria, resembling those which took place among the ancients in the sanctuaries of the temples, and for the responses of the oracles. The young adept was encouraged to it by the physical and moral feebleness of the high-priest Eli; perhaps by the instigation of some person concealed behind the curtain, and having interests and passions which we cannot now ascertain; though it is most probable that Samuel trusted to no one. What remains to be afterwards seen of his dissimulation, seems to fix the balance on this side. Divulging was not so difficult; he might have been satisfied with the confidence of a servant, a devoted friend, an old or a young priestess, that the apparition of God, the oracle of the holy ark might be rumoured, acquiring from mouth to mouth an intensity of certitude and belief.
'"But Samuel increased (says the text) and God was with him, and none of his words fell to the ground: and all Israel knew that he was become a prophet of God; and God continued to appear in Shiloh." As to the word prophet the historian tells us that, at this epoch, the Hebrew term [------] (nebiah) was unknown: that the word [--------] (raeh) was used, which signifies seer. Here, then, we have a posthumous writer, who connected at pleasure the memoirs which Samuel, or some other contemporary, had composed. It pleased him to set down, as a positive fact, the belief of all Israel in this fable, while he himself knew nothing of the matter. If we had memoirs of those times from several hands, we should have materials for reasonable judgment. It is said in the text, that for some time the word of the Lord had become scarce, and that there appeared no more visions. Why was this? because there were some incredulous; because there had happened bad examples, false oracles, divulging of sacerdotal knavery, which had awakened the good sense of the higher class among the people. The blind and fanatic credulity remained, as it always happens, among the multitude; it was on them that Samuel calculated, and we shall see on the installation of Saul, that he had always against him a party of unbelievers, powerful enough to compel him to use management, and even to oblige him to abdicate.' (Vide Volney.)
*Chapter iv., v. 4. 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts which dwelleth between the cherubims.' The Douay translates the same thus:--'The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts sitting upon the cherubims.' As to cherubim see page 21. The word translated ark is [------] (aroun). In Parkhurst, under the root [----], I find the following remarks which are worthy of consideration:--
'Thus Tacitus informs us that the inhabitants of the north of Germany, our Saxon ancestors, worshipped Herthum or Hertham, that is, the Mother Earth (Terrain Matrem), and believed her to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations; that to her, within a sacred grove in a certain island of the ocean, a vehicle, covered with a vestment, was consecrated, and allowed to be touched by the priest alone, who perceived when the goddess entered into this her secret place (penetrali), and with profound veneration attended her vehicle, which was drawn by cows. While the goddess was on her progress, days of rejoicing were kept in every place which she vouchsafed to visit. They engaged in no war, they meddled not with arms, they locked up their weapons; peace and quietness only were then known, these only relished, till the same priest reconducted the goddess, satiated with the conversation of mortals, to her temple. Then the vehicle and vestment, and, if you will believe it, the goddess herself was washed in a secret lake.
'Among the Mexicans, Vitziputzli, their supreme god was represented in a human shape sitting on a throne, supported by an azure globe, which they called heaven. Four poles or sticks came out from two sides of this globe, at the ends of which serpents' heads were carved, the whole making a litter, which the priests carried on their shoulders whenever the idol was shewed in public'--Picart's Ceremonies and Religious Customs, vol. 3, p. 146.
'In Lieutenant Cook's voyage round the world, published by Dr. Hawksworth, vol. 2, p. 252, we find that the inhabitants of Huaheine, one of the islands lately discovered in the South Sea, had "a kind of chest or ark, the lid of which was nicely sewed on, and thatched very neatly with palm-nut leaves; it was fixed upon two poles, and supported on little arches of wood, very neatly carved. The use of the poles seemed to be to remove it from place to place, in the manner of our sedan-chairs; in one end of it was a square hole, in the middle of which was a ring touching the sides, and leaving the angles open so as to form a round hole within, a square one without. The first time Mr. Banks saw this coffer, the aperture at the end was stopped with a piece of cloth which, lest he should give offence, he left untouched. Probably there was then something within; but now the cloth was taken away, and upon looking into it it was found empty. The general resemblance between this repository and the ark of the Lord among the Jews is remarkable; but it is still more remarkable, that upon inquiring of the (Indian) boy what it was called, he said Ewharre no Eatua, the House of God; he could, however, give no account of its signification or use." In the neighbouring island of Ulietea "were also four or five Ewharre no Eatua, or Houses of God, like that we had seen at Huaheine."' p. 257.
Verse 11. The presence of the ark seems rather to have increased the misfortunes of the Israelites in the previous battle; without the ark they lost 4,000 men, in this they lost 30,000 men, beside also losing possession of the ark.
*Chapter v., w. 3 and 4. 'The ark of the God of the Jews was in the profane hands of the Philistines. The people might have profited by the opportunity to destroy the talisman which had so often frightened them; but at this time superstition was universal, and among all nations the priests had a common interest to maintain it, lest contempt for a strange deity should lead their ferocious warriors to examine too closely their own idol. The ark is respected, the priests of the Philistines place it in the temple of their God Dagon, in the city of Azot (or Ashdod). The following day on rising, the people of Azot found the idol Dagon fallen upon its face (the posture of adoration), before the ark; but they raised it up and replaced it. The next day they found it fallen again, but this time the hands and the head were separated from the body, and placed on the threshold of the temple. Whence, I would ask, came this act of audacity and secret knavery? Did some Jew introduce himself into the city with that artifice, that pickpocket stratagem of which the Arabs and the peasants of Egypt and Palestine give, even in our days, astonishing examples? This might be possible; fanaticism might lead to it. The temple had no sentinels; it was even open, and decisive victory might have banished all vigilance. On the other hand, might it not have been the priests of Dagon, who resorted to this knavery from the motive already pointed out? Their subsequent conduct, altogether partial, renders this extremely probable.
'The people of Azot could not believe their God so powerless as to be treated so by human force; they would say, "it is Dagon himself who declares his will, who shows his respect for his brother, the God of the Jews; he did not wish to hold him captive." The alarm spreads, the priests announce some calamity, the effect of the celestial anger, and epidemic disease of the intestines takes place (in that country ruptures and dysenteries are common); then an eruption of rats and field mice was very destructive. The people are confounded, all is attributed to the captivity of the ark. They demand its release, The inhabitants of another town where they take it learn the motive and become alarmed; the disease spreads by contagion, and terror thus becomes general. Finally, after seven months' delay, the military chiefs of the Philistines call before them their priests and divines, and demand of them what they shall do with the ark? It was proposed to burn it, but mark the reply; they advise not only to send it back, but also to offer an expiatory offering for the sin of the warriors. These (as is commonly the case), not less credulous than brave, ask what offering should be given? The priests reply, "make five golden emerods and five mice of gold, according to the number of your principalities, to appease the God of the Hebrews. Why have you hardened your hearts like the King of Egypt? You have been smitten like him; send away also the ark of the God of the Hebrews." Here the spirit and system of the priests are evident; they nourish the public credulity in favour of their particular power, at the expense even of the interests of their own nation. Is there not reason to believe that the trick played by Dagon came from their hands?' (Vide Volney.)
Verse 5. '"Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day."
'Bishop Patrick has a note on the words "unto this day:"--
'"The day when Samuel wrote this book: when the events happened he was a youth: but the book was written when he was advanced in years." 'The space of time between this event and Samuel's death was about forty years--not long enough to justify the expression "unto this day." It must not be taken for granted that Samuel wrote this book; and the verse before us tells as plainly as words can express, that Samuel must have been dead many years, perhaps centuries, when it was written. But the commentators have not seen the natural force of the words, on account of the erroneous opinion that Samuel was the writer, with which they would make the narrative harmonise.' ( Vide 'Hebrew Records.')
Verse 9. The Douay adds--'And the Gethrites consulted together and made themselves seats of skins.'
*Chapter vi., v. 5. It is difficult to understand how the Deity could be propitiated by a direct violation of the second commandment.
Verse 19. Psalm 103, v. 8. 'The Lord is slow to anger,' yet 50,070 people slain in an instant for a mere act of indiscretion.
'Bethshemesh was a village belonging to God's people, situated, according to commentators, two miles north of Jerusalem.
'The Phoenicians having in Samuel's time beaten the Jews and taken from them their ark of allegiance in the battle in which they killed thirty thousand of their men, were severely punished for it by the Lord:
'"He struck them in the most secret part of the buttocks; and the fields and the farm houses were troubled.... and there sprung up mice; and there was a great confusion of death in the city."
'The prophets of the Phoenicians or Philistines having informed them that they could deliver themselves from the scourge only by-giving to the Lord five golden mice and five golden emerods, and sending him back the Jewish ark, they fulfilled this order, and according to the express command of their prophets, sent back the ark with the mice and emerods on a waggon drawn by two cows, with each a sucking calf, and without a driver.
'These two cows, of themselves, took the ark straight to Bethshemesh. The men of Bethshemesh approached the ark in order to look at it; which liberty was punished yet more severely than the profanation by the Phoenicians had been. The Lord struck with sudden death seventy men of the people and fifty thousand of the populace.
'The Reverend Doctor Kennicott, an Irishman, printed in 1768 a French commentary on this occurrence, and dedicated it to the Bishop of Oxford. At the head of this commentary he entitles himself Doctor of Divinity, Member, of the Royal Society of London, of the Palatine Academy, of the Academy of Gottingen, and of the Academy of Inscriptions at Paris. All that I know of the matter is, that he is not of the Academy of Inscriptions at Paris. Perhaps he is one of its correspondents. His vast erudition may have deceived him; but titles are distinct from things.
'In this pamphlet he pretends to prove that the Scripture text has been corrupted. Here we must be permitted to differ with him. Nearly all Bibles agree in these expressions: seventy men of the people, and fifty thousand of the populace. 'The Reverend Doctor Kennicott says to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Oxford, that formerly there were strong prejudices in favour of the Hebrew text; but that for seventeen years his lordship and himself have been freed from their prejudices, after the deliberate and attentive perusal of this chapter.
'In this we differ from Dr. Kennicott; and the more we read this chapter the more we reverence the ways of the Lord, which are not our ways. It is impossible (says Kennicott) for the candid reader not to feel astonished and affected at the contemplation of fifty thousand men destroyed in one village--men, too, employed in gathering the harvest.
'This does, it is true, suppose a hundred thousand persons at least in that village; but should the Doctor forget that the Lord had promised Abraham that his posterity should be as numerous as the sands of the sea?
'The Jews and the Christians (adds he) have not scrupled to express their repugnance to attach faith to this destruction of fifty thousand and seventy men.
'We answer that we are Christians, and have no repugnance to attach faith to whatever is in the Holy Scriptures. We answer with the Reverend Father Calmet, that "if we were to reject whatever is extraordinary and beyond the reach of our conception, we must reject the whole Bible." We are persuaded that the Jews being under the guidance of God himself, could experience no events but such as were stamped with the seal of the divinity, and quite different from what happened to other men. We will even venture to advance that the death of these fifty thousand and seventy men is one of the least surprising things in the Old Testament.
'We are struck with astonishment still more reverential when Eve's serpent and Balaam's ass talk; when the waters of the cataracts are swelled by rain fifteen cubits above all the mountains; when we behold the plagues of Egypt, and the six hundred and thirty thousand fighting Jews, flying on foot through the divided and suspended sea; when Joshua stops the sun and moon at noon-day; when Sampson slays a thousand Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass..... In those divine times all was miracle, without exception; and we have the profoundest reverence for all these miracles; for that ancient world which was not our world; for that nature which was not our nature; for a divine book, in which there can be nothing human.
'But we are astonished at the liberty which Dr. Kennicott takes of calling those Deists and Atheists, who, while they revere the Bible more than he does, differ from him in opinion. Never will it be believed that a man with such ideas is of the academy of medals and inscriptions. He is, perhaps, of the academy of Bedlam, the most ancient of all, and whose colonies extend throughout the earth.' (Philosophical Dictionary.)
Verse 19. The Douay renders this--'He slew of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the common people;'
*Chapter vii., v. 1. What were the men of Kirjathjearim, that they should enjoy complete immunity from the ills which attended the other unfortunates who came in contact with the ark, and what gave them the right to sanctify Eleazar? Kirjathjearim was a city of the Gibeonites. (Joshua, chap, ix., v. 17.)
Verse 6. 'Drew water, and poured it out before the Lord.' This is a mode of sacrifice, or rather of offering, to the Lord which I do not find mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Verse 13. It is not true that the Philistines came no more into the coast of Israel. (Vide chap, xvii., v. 1.)
Verse 15. 'And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.' Bishop Patrick's interpretation of this stubborn verse may be quoted, but to be as speedily rejected; because it perverts the plain meaning of words, for the purpose of making them support a preconceived theory:--
'"As Samuel was the author of this book, he could not speak literally of 'all the days of his life;' the sense probably is, that he was so diligent in the discharge of his office, that he gave himself no rest, but sat to judge causes every day."'
'It is almost a waste of words to reply to such a manifest perversion of the meaning. "All the days of his life" means "the whole of his life," not "every day:" and the use of these words shows that Samuel could not have been the author of the book. But the commentator, taking for granted that Samuel was the author of the book, has twisted the meaning of words to suit this preconceived notion.' (Dr. Giles.)
*Chapter viii., v. 3. The sons of Samuel seem to have been equally as vicious as the sons of Heli, yet Samuel escapes punishment.
Verses 6 to 9. 'The thing displeased Samuel,' doubtless it did, he disliked having to resign the supreme power. Volney says:--
'A conspiracy was evidently formed; for, according to the historian, a deputation from the sages of Israel came to find Samuel, at his residence at Ramatha, to demand from him a king--a royal government, constituted like that of the neighbouring people, to whose example generally his attention was directed. The answer which he gave to this deputation, and the details of his conduct in this affair, disclose the anger of disappointed ambition, of a pride deeply wounded. It was necessary for him to bend to force, to yield to necessity. But we shall see him in the execution exhibit a cunning intellect, even to perfidy, which, by its analogy to the adventures in the temple, his pretended visions and nocturnal revelations, discovers all his character.
'They forced Samuel to name a king. He might, he ought to have chosen, the man the most capable by his talents and by his resources, to fill this eminent post. But this he avoided. Such a man would reign by himself, and not obey him. A docile subject was necessary. He sought him in a family of low degree, without adherents; but having that exterior which would impose on the people. His choice was that of one who, having just enough sense necessary to transact ordinary business, was constantly under the necessity of recurring to a benefactor, who could preserve a strict hand over him. Samuel, in a word, selected a handsome man of war, who should possess the executive, and be his lieutenant, while he would continue to hold the legislative reigning power. Here is the secret of all the conduct which we shall see him pursue in the elevation of Saul, in the disgrace of this king, and in the substitution of David, another trait of sacerdotal Machiavelism.'
*Chapter ix., v. 1. The Douay substitutes for 'mighty man of power' the words 'valiant and strong.' By verse 21, according to Saul's own statement, his family was least amongst the families of Benjamin.
Verses 6 to 8. So that the fortune-tellers of the Jews, like those of the present day, were inaccessible, unless you had money. The servant knew that with the piece of silver he would be a welcome visitor to the man of God.
Verses 9 and 10. (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke:--'Come, and let us go to the seer;' for he that is now called a prophet, was beforetime called a seer.) Then said Saul to his servant, 'Well said; come, let us go.' So they went unto the city, they found young maidens going to draw water, and said to them, 'Is the seer here?'
In explaining this passage, the editors of the Family Bible try to make it appear that the words 'now' and 'beforetime' imply no greater interval of time than that which passed in Samuel's own life-time. They quote as follows from Bishop Patrick, Pyle, and Dr. Gray:--
'The word now refers to the time when this book was written, probably the latter part of Samuel's life. The verse explains that, at the time when Saul was appointed king, the Hebrew word Roeh, "a seer of secret things," was usually applied to inspired persons; but that afterwards the word Nabi, or "prophet" (which had been very anciently known, as appears from the books of Moses), came into common use. (Bishop Patrick, Pyle.) The word Nabi, 'prophet,' was in use in the time of Moses, or Abraham. (See Genesis, chap, xx., v. 7.) But then it only implied a man favoured of God; whereas in the time of Samuel it was appropriated to one who foresaw future events.
These remarks contain both what is true and what is false. It is evident that the word Roeh, seer, is the older term of the two, and we find that it is the word which Saul and his companions actually used--'Is the seer here?' The word seer, therefore, was used in Samuel's life-time, and there is no proof that the word Nabi, 'prophet,' superseded it during the life of Samuel. Indeed, there is a verse in the Second Book of Samuel which shows that the old word seer was still in use after the death of Samuel.
The king (i.e., David), said also unto Zadoc, the priest, 'Art not thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.' Chap, xv., v. 27.
The book of Samuel was, consequently, not written by Samuel. The words now and beforetime denote too long an interval to allow room for such a supposition. But yet the word Nabi, 'prophet,' not in use in the time of Samuel, actually occurs in the Pentateuch, and other books of the Old Testament; as for example, in Genesis, chap. xx., v. 7; Exodus, chap, vii., v. 1; chap, xv., v. 20; Numbers, chap. xi., v. 29; chap, xii., v. 6; Deuteronomy, chap, xiii., vv. 1,5; chap. xviii., v. 15; chap, xxxiv., v. 10; Judges, chap, iv., v. 4; chap, vi., v. 8; 1 Samuel, chap, iii., v. 20; chap. ix. v. 9; 2 Samuel, chap, vii., v. 2; 1 Kings, chap, xiii., v. 11. In the later of these passages it is not to be wondered that the word rendered 'prophet' should be found, because the writer of the First Book of Samuel tells us that it had come into use in his time, and therefore must have been a common word afterwards; but that it should occur in the Book of Genesis proves either that Genesis was written after the introduction of the word into the Hebrew language, or that the writer of the First Book of Samuel is wrong in describing the word as modern, or that the meaning of the word had changed. I believe that the word was actually a new word in the Hebrew language, introduced after the Babylonish captivity, and consequently that the First Book of Samuel, as well as the Pentateuch, were written after that captivity. ('Hebrew Records.')
Verse 15. In a note to Home's 'Deism Refuted,' Bishop Middle-ton is quoted, in favour of, the simplicity of the style of the Bible; the style here is undoubtedly simple enough: 'The Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came.'
Verse 24. According to the Hebrew it is not Samuel, but the cook, who speaks in this verse to Saul.
'What are we to think of all this? Can we believe that it was by accident that the asses of Kish disappeared, and that Saul was led to the house of Samuel? Let those believe this who have faith in seers, fortune-tellers, the gods of the heathen, and a particular Providence in finding lost asses; but to those who have not lost or abjured their senses, it is clear that all this is a crafty manoeuvre, secretly contrived to attain a particular object. We cannot doubt that Samuel, a man so acquainted throughout Israel, had already known the person of Saul. He thought his character suited to his end; but, to be assured precisely of it, it was necessary to talk with him. He could not decently go to see him; he must send for him. He says to a devotee (as men of that caste always had them), "God wishes to prove his servant Kish; go, take away his asses, and lead them to such a place." The man obeys. Behold Saul seeking them. He does not find them. In such a case, how many Swiss, Bavarian, Tyrolese, Breton, Vendean peasants would go to see the fortune-teller? But nothing was easier to this divine than to bribe people on the route which Saul was to take. It was foreseen by Samuel. He projected the sacrifice and the feast after this calculation. The portion set apart for an absent guest proves it. When he had Saul in his house he employed the evening to sound him in every way; he prepared him for his new part; finally he sends off the servant, and mysteriously, without witness, performs the grand, the important ceremony of pouring a little oil on his head [mark well the circumstance; he anoints him without witness in secret for a public effect]; he kisses him, says the text; he tells him that from this moment God has consecrated him unchangeable, irremovable king of Israel. 'At this stage of their intimacy, it is evident their confidence was complete. Saul knew and accepted the propositions and conditions of Samuel. He who had measured the mind of his pupil, in order to subjugate him more and more, uttered several predictions to be accomplished immediately. "In returning home (says he) you will meet at such a place two men, who will tell you that your father has found his asses; further on you will find three men going to Beitel (or Bethel), they will say to you such things; they will make you such a present. Again, at the hill of the Philistines, you will find a procession of prophets, descending from the high place, to the sound of the lyres, of drums, of pipes, and of guitars. The spirit of God will seize you; you will prophesy with them; you will be changed to another man. When these signs shall happen to you, you must do that which you wish. God will be with you; you must come and find me at Galgala to sacrifice: I shall go down there to offer pacificatory sacrifices; you must wait my arrival seven days, and I will let you know what you must do. Saul went, and all that Samuel had predicted came to pass!" Now, what was there miraculous here? It was easy for Samuel to organise all these meetings, and even to calculate the time and place of the procession of the prophets--a religious ceremony which had its fixed days and hours.
'Saul, dismissed by Samuel, met the procession of prophets, and at sight of the train, seized with the spirit of God, he set himself to prophesy with them. The people inquired if Saul had become a prophet. Those who knew it asked what had happened to the son of Kish to have also become a prophet? Others observed, what is their father to them? His father-in-law having questioned him on the details of his journey, Saul told him all except the affair of the royalty. Behold, then, a connivance between Saul and Samuel.
'There remained a public scene to play to gain the respect and credulity of the people. For this purpose, Samuel convoked at Maspha a general assembly. After some reproaches on the part of God (for nothing can be done without his name), you wish to have, says he, another king than your God; you shall have him. In the meantime he began to draw by lot the twelve tribes of Israel, to know from which tribe should issue their king. The lot fell upon the tribe of Benjamin: he drew them by lot, and the lot fell upon the family of Matri; and finally on the person of Saul. Assuredly if there is any juggling, it is that of drawing lot on a thing already determined. As to the trick of directing the lot, we know that it requires but very little address to play the sleight of hand: it has been seen everywhere; we yet see examples of it
'It is necessary that the Hebrew people should believe that God himself had made choice of Saul, in order that his choice might impose obedience upon all, and respect to the malcontents, which the opposition had not yet let be seen. By an addition to the jugglery, Saul was not present: it is clear that Samuel had concealed him; they seek him; they soon find him in the hiding-place which the seer had the merit of divining. The people were surprised to see so fine a man; and, according to the literal account, they cried 'God save the King.' Then Samuel read to the people the statutes of the kingdom, and he wrote them a book, which he deposited, without doubt, in the temple. Alter the ceremony the people were dismissed. Saul returned to his house at his farm; and to form an army he assembled around him men whose hearts God had touched; that is the sycophants and partisans of Samuel; but the evil one's exclaimed, What! is this he who is to save us? And they carried him no presents.
'These last expressions point out a party of malcontents. Their spirit and tone of disdain indicate the low rank and condition in which Saul was born, and perhaps also the mediocrity of his talents already known to his neighbours, without exposing a secret infirmity, which we shall soon see developed. We perceive, then, that these malcontents were of a class distinguished by birth and by wealth, who are in the text denominated "evil ones," because the writer was a believer, a devotee, imbued with the ideas of the priest, his hero, and that of the superstitious majority of the nation.
'The book of royal statutes, written by Samuel, is worthy of some attention. The Hebrew word mashfat [------] which it is designated, signifies sentence rendered--law imposed. What was this law, this constitution of royalty? The answer is not doubtful. It was the same mashfat mentioned in the 8th chapter and 11th verse, where Samuel being angry, says to the people--Here is the mashfat of the King; who will reign over you: he will take your children; he will employ them in the service of his chariots and his horses; they will run before him and before his chariots of war; he will make them captains over thousands and captains of fifties; he will employ them as labourers in his fields to gather his harvest, to make his instruments of war, and his chariots. He will take your daughters and make them perfumers (or washerwomen), his cooks, and his bakers. He will take your corn fields, your olive orchards, and your vineyards; he will give them to his servants; he will take the tenth of your grain and of your wine to give to his eunuchs and servants; he will take away your slaves, male and female, as well as your asses; and the best of your goods will be for his use; he will decimate your cattle, and of your own persons he will make slaves.
'Those will be deceived who take this for menaces only. It is simply the picture of what passed among the neighbouring people who had kings. It is an instructive sketch of the civil, political, and military state of those times when we see chariots, slaves, eunuchs, tithes, tillages of different kinds, companies and battalions of thousands and fifties, etc., as in later periods. Such were the evils resulting from the theocratic régime, or government of priests in the name of God, that the Hebrews preferred to it a military despotism, concentrated in a single person; who at home had the power of maintaining peace, and abroad to repel aggression and the intrusion of strangers.
'If Samuel had been a just man he would, in establishing the rights of the king, have also fixed the balance of his duties, what constituted the rights of the people: he would have imposed upon him, as is practised in Egypt, the duties of temperance in all things, of abstinence from luxury, of repressing his passions, of overseeing his agents, of discountenancing flatterers, of resolution to punish, and of impartiality to judge between his subjects. But the priest Samuel was irritated at having wrested from him the sceptre which his knavery had obtained. The most to be regretted in this affair is, that Saul was not endowed with sufficient means or sufficient spirit to counteract this perfidious protector. He could, by feigning to hold Samuel strictly to his order, by obliging him to explain it clearly, have thrown back upon him the checks which he imposed, and thus, in the eyes of the people, he would have had the merit of liberating them. David did not fail; but Saul, altogether a brave warrior, and not suspecting the policy of the temple, became the dupe and the victim of a consummate Machiavelism.
'According to Samuel, the royal statute was a pure and severe despotism, a genuine tyranny. According to Moses, it was quite another thing. To be convinced of this, it is sufficient to read the precept recorded in the 17th chapter of Deuteronomy, verse 14, etc. It says, literally, "When you shall have entered into the land which Jehovah your God has given you, and which you shall possess and inhabit, and you shall say I will establish over me a king like all the people that surround me, you shall establish him who shall choose Jehovah your God; you shall take him from among your brethren (Jews); you shall not take a stranger who is not your brother; and this king shall not possess many horses; he shall not make the people return to Egypt to have many horses; he shall not multiply wives, that his heart turn not away; he shall not amass treasures of gold and silver, and when he shall sit upon the throne he shall write for himself a copy of the law in a book before the priests and the Levites, and this copy shall be in his hands; he shall read it every day of his life to learn to fear Jehovah his God, and to practise all his precepts." What a difference between this statute of Moses and that of Samuel! Mark well the words: the king shall be one of your brethren, a man entirely as one of you; and he shall be submissive to the will of the nation. How happens it that Samuel was not intimate with, or did not mention, a single word of an ordinance of the legislator so precise and radical? How was it that no person made the least mention of it? Was this law of Moses unknown or forgotten? or was it by some chance not yet inserted? These are reasonable suspicions in this respect.' (Vide Volney.)
Dr. Giles observes that:--
'The description of a king (Deuteronomy xvii., 16--20), presents nothing offensive to the feelings or injurious to the happiness of the people: nor does it seem to imply that the Almighty would disapprove of the Israelites choosing for themselves a king when they should, be settled in the land of promise. On the contrary, it conveys an idea that the request would be a natural one, and it explains the mode in which the petition should be complied with. Is it, then, likely that Samuel had read this description, when he cautioned the people against choosing a king by giving that forcible picture of his tyranny and his rapacity?
'The words of Samuel will seem highly reasonable to those who know the nature of Oriental despotism, if we only suppose that Samuel had never read the 17th chapter of Deuteronomy, which deals so much more leniently with the same contingency.
'It is something, also, to our present point that neither does Samuel cause Saul to copy out the book of the law as before alluded to, and this seems to prove that there was no book of the Law besides the two tables of stone then in existence.'
*Chapter x., v. 5. 'The hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines.' So that, according to this, the God of the Israelites, who had brought the Jewish nation into the land promising to cast out all opposers, not only failed in the promise, but actually suffered the indignity of having the hill designated par excellence as the 'hill of God,' occupied by a hostile garrison.
The musical accompaniments to the prophesying, prove that a very different meaning must attach to the word than the one usually given; some allege that the word means poet. It is used in many places in a manner entirely unconnected with the foretelling of future events. In the epistle to Titus the word prophet is used in reference, probably to a heathen poet. By Chronicles, chap, xxv., v. 123, the word 'prophesying' clearly denotes musical performances 'under order of the king.' The Douay in a foot-note tells me that prophesying is singing praises to God by divine impulse.
I am inclined to consider the word prophet as synonymous with that of bard. Our ancient bards recited the events of the past, and in stirring poetical phraseology gave forth their hopes and conjectures of victories in the future.
Verse 12 has no connection with the rest of the chapter, and it is not consistent in itself. There is no connection between the question 'Who is their father?' and the following words, 'Therefore it became a proverb, is Saul also amongst the prophets?' Besides which, in chap, xix., v. 24, we get a totally different version of the origin of the proverb.
Verse 25. This book is lost, I presume. It is never referred to afterwards. Was it a revelation from God?
Verse 26. Why did not God touch the hearts of every man.
*Chapter xi., vv. 4 to 7. Although Saul was the anointed king of Israel, he seems to have been ploughing in a field, and to have killed the very oxen he had been using. The king at that time, therefore, was not so well off as the priest.
Verses 8 to 15. 'The Hebrew version says, thirty thousand men of Judea, and three hundred thousand of the eleven tribes. The Greek, on the contrary, says, seventy thousand of Judea, and six hundred thousand of the others. Such variations, which are often repeated, show the credit that is due to these books of morals. According to the Greek version, by supposing every six persons to furnish one man-of-war, there would be three millions of inhabitants on a territory of nine hundred square leagues; consequently more than three thousand persons to the square league; which is against all probability. The most reasonable number, perhaps, is twenty thousand picked men for a coup de main, which moreover demanded rapidity. Saul departs like an arrow; arrives at break of day, and pours on the camp of the Ammonites, who, accustomed to the sluggish manner of the Jews, expected no such movement. Saul surprises, destroys them, and delivers the town. The people, charmed with this beginning, come uncovered, and propose to Samuel to slay those who do not recognise and salute the king. Saul brave, and for this reason generous, opposes it. This once Samuel is satisfied, and gives orders that there snail be a general assembly at Gilgal to renew the installation, which was done. But why this second ceremony? Was it to give the opponents and malcontents an opportunity to rally with the majority of the people, and to stifle a schism which had more partisans than are indicated? for we see symptoms of it when in the approaching war with the Philistines there were found in their camp many Hebrew deserters, bearing arms against the party of Samuel and Saul. This was the first apparent motive, and it was quite ingenious. But we shall soon discover that Samuel, always, profound and full of deception, had another secret intimately connected with his interests and character. The text tells us, chap, xii., that the assembly being formed, Samuel standing before all the people, made a speech, the substance of which was that he had managed their affairs with perfect integrity; that he had taken no one's ox or ass; that he had oppressed or persecuted no one; that he had not taken bribes; and that nevertheless he had been forced to put a king in his place. He attributes this step as against God. But why God? It was himself. As, by the nature of the royal régime, such as he has pictured it, Saul could not fail to cause similar vexations, a contrast was created which even at this time tends to diminish the credit he had just, acquired, and shows the jealousy that actuated Samuel.
'The priest insisted that God had, until then, governed the nation by his special servants, such as Moses, Aaron, Gideon, Jephtha, etc.; and that the people, now rebellious, wished to govern themselves by men of their own choice. But as this new system took away the supreme and arbitrary power from the priests of whom Samuel was the head, we see whence came the deep hatred which he entertained for it; and his sacerdotal arrogance in setting himself up as the chief interpreter and representative on earth of the Divinity. Here the writer (a priest also) has joined a remarkable circumstance: "You see," says Samuel to the people, "that we are in the time of harvest [the end of June, or beginning of July.] Well, I will invoke God, and he will answer me in a voice of thunder and rain, and you shall know your sin of disobedience." So there came thunder and rain, and the people were seized with fear; they knew their sin and demanded pardon of Samuel, who (generously) answered that he would not cease always to pray for them.
'This recital is very well, but we have a right to ask for the evidence of its truth? Who has seen the occurrence? Who has told it to us? A narrator at second hand. Was he a witness of it? He is the only one; he is partial. Besides, a crowd of facts and similar accounts are found among the Greeks, the Romans, and all the ancient barbarians. Are we to believe that their seers, that their divines had also the gift of miracles? But admitting the recital and the fact, we have yet the right to say that Samuel, more knowing than a multitude of superstitious, ignorant peasants, had perceived the sign, or forerunner of a storm, which is not rare at that time of the year. I myself, while travelling, have seen it in the last days of December, when the case is still more singular. The result was, the people placed greater confidence in Samuel; and that was what this ecclesiastical king wanted, in order not to lose the tutelage of his royal lieutenant.' ( Vide Volney.)
*Chapter xii., v. 11. 'Bedan.' "It is remarkable," says Bishop Patrick, "that there is no such name as Bedan mentioned in the Book of Judges."
'Dr. Hales, with a singular boldness of criticism, observes on the same passage:--
'"Perhaps Barak may be meant."
'This supposition might pass if it were certain that the Book of Judges contained a full history of all that period of the Jewish national existence; but as it certainly is a very brief history, and occasionally changes with great abruptness from one subject to another, it is most probable that other writings once existed which perished before the present Book of Judges was compiled.' (Vide 'Hebrew Records.')
*Chapter xiii., v. 1. The Douay translates this--'Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign.'
'It was natural for this new king to be elated with his first and brilliant success, and with his sudden and high fortune. We find him also a little while after declare war against the Philistines. Several incidents mentioned give cause to suspect that this was contrary to the wish of Samuel, and that hence began the misunderstanding which we shall soon see break out. Samuel might with reason represent to Saul "that the Philistines were powerful, warlike, and formidable; that their maritime trade rivalled that of Sidon and Tyre, giving them the means of industry superior to those of the Hebrews; who, although left in peace under their own government, were not in a state fit for independence or resistance, since they had not even the liberty of having smiths to make their axes, their ploughshares, and still more their lances, and that it was, therefore, better to temporise." This is all very true and wise. But Saul went farther; full of confidence in the ardour of the people, he could answer that God would benevolently provide, as in the time of Gideon and Jephtha. He chose three thousand men to remain on duty with him, and sent away the rest. Of this light corps he gave one thousand to his son Jonathan. This young man soon attacked a post of the Philistines, who called to arms and gathered together. Saul, seeing them numerous, summoned the Hebrews. According to the historian the Philistines detached thirty thousand war chariots, six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of foot soldiers, as numerous as the sand of the sea shore. We ask, who counted these chariots and horsemen? There is, besides, a shocking contradiction, for the whole territory of the Philistines was not more than one hundred leagues square, which does not answer to more than two hundred thousand inhabitants. We must suppose, according to the narrative, there was more than one hundred thousand warriors. It is a very remarkable circumstance that in the books of the Jews the numbers are generally exaggerated beyond belief, and almost always in round numbers by decimals. Fear seized the Hebrews; the country people dispersed, and hid themselves in the mountains and caves. Saul found himself in a great straight; he called upon Samuel, who desired him to wait seven days (he wished to see how it would turn). During this time the people contrived to desert. Saul, believing that success depended upon a propitiatory sacrifice, ordered preparations, and seeing the enemy ready to attack him before Samuel's arrival, he determined to make the sacrifice himself, which was the duty of the priest. Finally Samuel arrived: "What have you done?" says he to Saul. The king explains his reasons. Samuel answers, "You have acted foolishly; you have not observed the orders which God gave you; he had established your kingdom for ever: now your kingdom shall not stand; God has chosen a man after his own heart (this phrase must be borne in mind when criticising David's life); he has made him chief over his people;" and Samuel went away.
'Such a sudden change of conduct could not take place without serious motives. We must suppose that some dissention had arisen between them; some serious dispute of the kind which I have pointed out. If, however, that should not suffice to explain a part so decided, or justify so much insolence, I can perceive another motive. The course of public and private actions of Saul, show that he was subject to a nervous disease, the symptoms of which are those of epilepsy. Might it not be that this distressing disease being ordinarily concealed, Samuel did not know of it when he made choice of Saul; but having discovered it, he perceived himself to blame in public opinion and before his enemies, and then sought occasion and means to disown him? It is no less true that in this his conduct is wicked and blameable, inasmuch as he destroys the confidence of the people in their chief, and encourages them to desert and lay open the country to the enemy.
'This priest thought all success impossible, and by immolating his vanquished pupil he wished to insure for himself a compromise with his enemies, both within and without. Chance defeated his calculations. Saul remained with six hundred men, courageous and determined like himself. He takes post before the enemy's camp, prohibiting all attack. Several days passed. His son, Jonathan, stealing under cover (of the night, probably), followed by one only squire, he presents himself before a Philistine post, situated on a high rock; he is taken for a refugee Hebrew, such as had arrived in great numbers for several days before; he climbs up with his squire and is received. In a moment they both attack the enemy with so much boldness and good fortune that they stretch twenty men dead upon half an acre of ground. Confusion and terror spread through the camp.' [In fact, Jonathan's exploit exercised such a wonderful effect that, we are told, the earth quaked and trembled with fear. The Douay says, that 'it was a miracle from God;' our authorised text does not notice the miracle, but it is quite certain that the last word of the Hebrew verse is [------] (Alehim or Elohim), for which I find no equivalent in our version. Why is this omitted?] The Philistines think themselves betrayed, either by one another or by the refugee Hebrews. One man strikes another: Saul, hearing the noise, advances with his men, and the rout became complete. Carried away by his excessive courage, the king imprudently forbids the eating of anything before the end of the day, and of the slaughter and pursuit. His son, ignorant of this, refreshes himself with a little honey; his father would have immolated him to his oath (like Jephtha), but the people oppose it, and save Jonathan. [I confess that I do not quite understand how the Israelites smote the Philistines without weapons; but God's ways are not as our ways. Nor do I understand how it was that the Lord allowed the people to escape, who ate the flesh with the blood thereof.} 'Here is a second victory of the new king; but this happened contrary to all expectations, and must have disconcerted Samuel, who does not appear upon the scene of action. The Philistines being vanquished, retire to their own country. It would appear that a truce must have been made, since the historian does not speak any more of war on this side. He mentions that Saul turned his arms against other nations; "that he attacked one after another: the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Idumeans, the Syrian kings of Sobah, to the north and beyond Damas; and that it was not until then that he turned again against the Philistines and Amalekites." Everywhere he was fortunate and conquered. It is evident these different wars must have taken several years; at least each of them one campaign. The narrator likewise seems to terminate here his history in numbering and naming the wives whom Saul married, the children he had, and the man whom he made commander of his guard and general of his troops. 'From the manner in which the fourteenth chapter is terminated!' a reader used to the style of these books would believe that the history of Samuel is really finished; for the ordinary form in closing the history of the other kings, is by recounting their wives, their children, and the prominent personages of their reign. The fifteenth chapter, however, which follows, seems to commence another portion of the reign of Saul, containing the details of the consecration and substitution of David, which may be dated from a scene of the final rupture, which took place between the king and Samuel. May it not have been that the last compiler, presumed to have been Esdras, in arranging the manuscripts originally written by Samuel, Nathan, and God, according to the testimony given in Chronicles i., 29, sewed the narratives together without much care, as was generally done among the ancients? We shall see the proof of this in the presentation of David to Saul.' ( Vide Volney.)
*Chapter xv., vv. 2 and 3. Christian, contrast these with Daniel, chap. ix, v. 9, and then consider well how your Deity has entitled himself to the attribute of a God of love, shewing mercy and forgiveness to all, even to those who have rebelled against him.
Verse 9. If only as a measure of policy, Saul's conduct is worthy of approval; he acted far more wisely than Samuel.
Verse 29 is contradicted by v. 35 of this chapter, and in Jeremiah, chap, xv., y. 6; and of all the parts of the Bible this is the most absurd, for the whole transaction arises from his having repented that he had set up Saul as king. (See V. 11.)
Verse 32. The Douay says that Agag was 'very fat;' if the Jews were cannibals this would doubtless be a sufficient reason for the sacrifice.
Volney thus comments on this chapter (the reader ought to bear in mind that Volney scarcely ever quotes from the Protestant version):--
'Several years, perhaps eight or ten, were passed in the wars of Saul without any mention of Samuel. Without doubt the successes and popularity of the king affected the prophet. At last he reappears on the scene; he seeks an occasion favourable to his views; he finds Saul; he opens by recalling to his mind that he consecrated him king. This was to induce obedience, through a sentiment of gratitude, to what he was going to say. "Behold," he observes, "what that God now ordains who formerly ordered me to consecrate you. I recollect what the people of Amalek did against my people at the coming up from Egypt. (It was 400 years before; Amalek had opposed the passage of the Hebrews, and had slain many.) Go now, strike Amalek; destroy all that belongs to them; spare nothing; you must slay men, women, children, oxen, sheep, goats," etc Who is not chilled at such a command? To make God order the extermination because of a quarrel 400 years before, in which the Hebrews were the aggressors, for they wished to force a passage through the territory of Amalek. But what was the object of Samuel? He had a design in view, and an occasion was wanted to execute it. Samuel saw a popular cause for war and seized it
'Saul formed an army. The Hebrew text says 10,000 men of Judah and 200,000 foot soldiers of the other tribes. The Greek says 400,000 men of one and 30,000 of the other. The Alexandrian manuscript says only 10,000 of each, which is the most probable. Why these contradictions? Why these absurdities? For it is absurd to collect 200,000 men to take by surprise a small tribe of Bedouins. Saul departs and surprises the Amalekites in the desert; he kills all those who fall into his hands; takes their king alive; guards him together with the beasts and other booty. Returning triumphant to Mount Carmel, he descends to the valley where there is an altar, and prepares, says the text, to offer a sacrifice to God of the best among the spoil, according to the rites of the Greeks and Romans. Samuel arrives; but, says the historian, God had spoken to the seer (during the night) and had said, "I repent of having made Saul king, for he has turned from me and does not obey my orders." This, it is said, frightened Samuel, who cried to the Lord all night. Here again is a vision, a conference, a repentance from God! Could our negroes and savages hear such fables without laughing? The Jews believe all; they do not ask any proof of Samuel; he however is the only evidence; he only could have written such details. He is here author, actor, judge, and party. Who would be a Jew to believe upon his word? Yet it is a proverb, "as unbelieving as a Jew."
'Samuel arrives and advances to Saul. "What means," says he, "this noise of cattle that I hear?" Saul answers, "The people have spared the best of the effects of Amalek to offer to the Lord our God; we have destroyed the rest." "Allow me (replies Samuel) to relate what God said to me last night." "Speak," says Saul. "When you was little in your own eyes (says the Lord) did not I make you king of Israel, and now have I not sent you against Amalek directing you to exterminate him; why have you not fulfilled my commandment? Why have you sinned and kept the spoils?" "I have obeyed (replied Saul); I marched, I destroyed Amalek, and brought away the king alive, but the people have kept back these spoils and these victims of beasts to offer on the altar of God at Galgala." Samuel answers, "Does God demand these offerings and victims rather than obedience to his orders? You endeavour to ascertain good fortune by a victim, by inspecting the fat of rams; but know that the sin of divination is rebellion, a falsehood, an idolatry; but since you reject the commands of God he rejects your kingdom."
'Saul, feeble and superstitious, confesses himself culpable; he supplicates the ambassador of God to pray for the removal of his sin; the priest rejects his prayer, reiterates his deposition, and turns to leave him. Saul seizes the skirt of his coat or cloak to retain him; the priest, implacable, makes an effort by which the part is torn. "God (he repeats) has torn from you the kingdom of Israel, and has delivered it to a better; he has so decreed; is he man to repent?" Saul insists, "I have sinned, do not dishonour me before my people and before their chiefs; return to me, and I will humble myself before thy God." (These words seem remarkable; there were, then, among the Hebrews, other acknowledged Gods who lived on an equality with Jehovah.) And Samuel returned, and Saul humbled himself before Jehovah. Samuel then said, "Bring me Agag, king of Amalek;" and Agag being come, Samuel said to him, "What you have done to the children of our mothers that shall be done to yours;" and Samuel cut him in pieces [it seems with an axe]. Having performed this exploit, Samuel returned to Ramatah, and during his life did not visit Saul.
'What a barbarous scene! horrible it must be confessed; but I know some more horrible still pass before eyes in our day. Suppose that Samuel had brought Agag to Ramatah; that there he had confined him in a dungeon at the bottom of a cistern; that he had come every day with an attendant to make him undergo various tortures, to burn his feet--his hands, to stretch him upon a wooden horse, to dislocate him, etc. etc.; all this with honied terms, saying that it was all for his good; would not the lot of the victim have been a thousand times more dreadful? Ah! much better the open cruelty of the Hebrew priest, compared with the charity of the priests and monks which bless Rome! Yet the European Governments authorise and suffer such abominations! But did Samuel commit such an act without motive--without a projected object? That would not be in conformity to his deep and calculating character. We will examine these motives.
'For ten or twelve years Saul, by his victories, did not cease to flourish and strengthen his credit in the minds of all the nation. Samuel, finding himself eclipsed, took occasion to flatter the vindictive passion of the Hebrews against the Amalekites. The victory of Saul, and taking king Agag in disobedience to the command of God, who had ordered the extermination of the Amalekites, furnished Samuel with a pretence for striking the audacious blow of anointing a substitute to rival Saul. He thought it necessary to strike terror into their minds by a preliminary imposing step, which would make Saul dread the falling upon him of some new celestial anathema. It is certain that this manoeuvre of Samuel succeeded, since Saul did not dare to use any act of violence against him.
'In considering the action of Samuel in a general point of view, political and moral, it presents an astonishing union of pride, audacity, cruelty, and hypocrisy; a little orphan upstart, to decree from his caprice the extermination of a whole nation, even to the last living being! to insult--to abuse a king covered with laurels, become legitimate by his victories, and by the assent of the nation grateful for the peace and respect which he had procured for them! a priest to trouble this whole nation by a change of the prince, by the intrusion of a new elect of his choice. Here is found the first germ of that political division of the Hebrews which, suppressed under David and Solomon, broke out under the imprudent Rheoboam, and prepared the fall of the nation by rending it into two kingdoms.
'We see here the fruits of that divine or visionary power imprudently allowed by a people, stupified by superstition, to a king, otherwise worthy of esteem, but feeble-minded. We see an impostor, who dared to call himself the sent of God, the representative of God, finally, God himself (for such is the transition of ideas which will not fail to occur when the first is tolerated), turning all this to his profit. The plain historian achieves, without knowing it, the tracing of the portrait and character of Samuel, in saying, "Samuel did not see Saul any more; but lamented his misfortune that God had rejected him."'
*Chapter xvi., v. 2. Here the Lord directs Samuel to tell a lie, yet in Proverbs, chap, xii., v. 22, we are told that lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord.
Verse 4. Our version says the elders 'trembled,' the Douay says they 'wondered,' and the Breeches Bible says they were 'astonished.'
Verse 7. The choice of Saul, whose height was so great (vide chap, x., v. 23), being an unfortunate one, this time the selection is made on totally different principles.
Verse 14. 'An evil spirit from the Lord.' If read literally, these words would occasion, in the minds of pious theists, grave doubts as to how an evil spirit could come from an infinitely pure and good God; but Hugh Farmer, in his essay on Demoniacs, says that Saul's disorder was a deep melancholy, and that this appears by the mode of cure--i.e., music, a proper method of exhilirating the animal spirits.
Verse 18. It is clear that this servant, if he spoke the words here alleged, spoke untruly. David was a young lad who kept his father's sheep, who was regarded as too young to go to battle, and who did not know how to wear armour.
*Chapter xvii., v. 4. Goliah must have been at least nine feet six inches high.
Verse 5. This coat of mail would weigh about one hundred and fifty-six pounds four ounces avoirdupois, allowing half an ounce to the shekel, which I believe is under the weight.
Verse 7. The spearhead at the same rate would weigh about eighteen pounds twelve ounces.
verse 12. David is here introduced as if he had never been mentioned before. 'The days of Saul;' these words indicate a writer subsequent to the death of Saul.
Verse 17. 'What can we think of this? Jesse hardly recalled his son from the honourable post of armour-bearer to the king! It is not likely that he was turned off, since we afterwards find him playing on the harp to the king as before; neither was it a proper employment for the King's armour-bearer to be feeding sheep when the army was in the field, and his majesty with them in person! Why, the most easy method is to take it as we find it, to suppose it to be right, and go quietly on with the story.'
Verse 34. Instead of 'a lion and a bear,' the Douay reads 'a lion or a bear.'
Verse 35, Instead of 'I caught him by his beard and smote him,' the Douay has 'I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them.'
Verse 49. The helmet which afforded no protection to Goliah's forehead must have been of a very curious pattern. The fact of David's going unharmed except with a sling and stones would induce one to suppose that he intended to keep a long distance between himself and Goliah. If so, he would incur no danger in the combat, as the heavily-armed Goliah could not run after him, and all that was necessary was for David to avoid coming within the reach of the giant's spear. When Goliah and David talked, they must have been a very long way from each other, for we find that David afterwards ran and hasted toward the Philistine before he got sufficiently near to sling a stone at him....
REMAINDER OF THE PAGES IN THE PRINTED BOOK ARE MISSING
