thy son, and thy son's son also, said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you. And though they judged the people, they exercised no other authority over them but what the laws gave them, and no further concerned themselves in the management of public affairs than by delivering them from their enemies, and administering justice between man and man, without enriching themselves, or in the least oppressing the people. They levied no taxes to support their grandeur, amassed no estates for their families, pressed none by force into their service; every man was his own master; his children, his servants, his property, unmolested; all followed their own employments without hinderance or fear, and enjoyed the fruit of their labours without prohibition or interruption. Of this people well might it have been said, Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people whose God is Jehovah. Their rejecting the theocracy introduced despotism and slavery.

It was therefore with the highest reason that Samuel was greatly displeased with this demand of the people to have a king over them. He looked upon it as a very wrong and 1 Sam. viii. criminal conduct; or, as the Scripture expresses it, it was evil. in his eyes1; because, as he himself once and again declares to them, of the dishonour done to God by their rejecting him, and their thus sacrificing all their liberties at once, and subjecting themselves and all their posterity for ever to all the miseries of an arbitrary and despotic government. As to any other reasons for this displeasure of Samuel at the people's demanding a king, there is no mention made of them in the

,וירע הדבר בעיני שמואל 1

The expression undoubtedly signifies the disapprobation of any thing as wrong and criminal in its nature, and the displeasure arising in consequence of it. Thus in the case of Er, the firstborn of Judah, it is said, he was

evil or wicked in the sight of the Lord; therefore the Lord slew him, Gen. xxxviii. 7. Thus Is. lix. 15: Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey, or, is accounted a madman, vɔɔ 9: and it was evil in the Lord's eyes.

history. It is said nowhere that he was displeased, not for that his sons had tyrannized over the people, but that his chagrin was owing to the violent resumption of the supreme magistracy out of the hands of his family; or that this was the circumstance for which he expressed the bitterest resentment.

It is true, that in the short account which we have left us of this transaction, Samuel is nowhere expressly said to have taken notice of the corrupt practices of his sons; and there was no need of it, as they were too well known to the people already, without their being any further informed of them. And yet there is one circumstance that looks very much like such an acknowledgment, and which shews that he would not have screened his own sons from public justice had the people demanded it. For after Saul had been inaugurated a second 1 Sam. xii. time at Gilgal, Samuel publicly said, Behold, the king walketh before you and I am old and grey-headed, and resign the administration of public affairs to him; and, behold, my sons are with you: i. e. you know their crimes; I leave them to your justice, and here publicly give them up into your hands: they are now reduced to the state of private persons, and accountable to the king for their past maladministration ; though as to himself he boldly defies them to bring any charge of corruption, oppression, and violence against him.

6.

2.

When the people first presented their demand of a king to the prophet, he seems to have been so struck with surprise at the folly and wickedness of it, as that, instead of expressing any resentment against those who made it, or reproaching them for their ingratitude and sin, he gave them no answer at all, but immediately, as became his prophetic character, applied himself to God, and prayed to him for direction in this 1 Sam. viii. critical situation. The thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel, and he prayed unto the Lord. But in the representation he made to them of what would be the nature of that kingly government to which they were determined to subject them1 Sam. x. selves, in his speech to them at Mizpeh, when they met together for the election of a king, and in that noble appeal to them at Gilgal upon Saul's confirmation in his kingdom, not one reproach did he give them for their ingratitude to himself; nor did one single expression fall from him that discovered his chagrin or resentment upon account of the violent

17, &c.

resumption of the supreme magistracy out of his family's hands. And indeed any resentment on this account would have been unreasonable, because the supreme magistracy was never in their hands, and could by no manner of right be claimed by them.

18.

The supreme magistracy was vested in Samuel himself, and he made his two sons judges under him in Beersheba; which was indeed an honourable employment, but not peculiar to them, there being many of them in all the gates throughout Deut. xvi. all the tribes of Israel. To invest them with the supreme magistracy was not in Samuel's power, nor was it ever hereditary in the families of any of the judges whatsoever; and Samuel's chagrin was so far from being owing to the violent resumption of the supreme magistracy out of the hands of his family, that, on the contrary, his neither exculpating his sons, nor promising the people redress, is one of the strongest proofs that his chagrin arose from more generous and public-spirited motives. Had it not been so, Samuel would certainly have tried some softening methods to appease the people, by making some apology for the conduct of his sons, and promising that he would take care of their better behaviour for the future. But of this he says not a word; and his silence in this respect, especially his offering his sons to the disposal of public justice, shews that his displeasure towards the elders was not the effect of despairing ambition, and the disappointed desire of rendering the government hereditary in his family.

In reality, the demand of the people was insolent and treasonable; as it was a demand of the utter subversion of that constitution which God himself had established; as it was throwing off the immediate government of God; and as it expressed a desire of being like other nations, which of all things in the world they should have avoided, and which was the cause of their final ruin. Thus the Lord himself expresses it: They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, 1 Sam. viii. that I should not reign over them. And this the prophet 7. plainly tells them: Ye have this day rejected your God, who 1 Sam. x. 19. himself saved you out of all your adversities; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. And again: Ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when 1 Sam. xii. the Lord your God was your king. And again: Perceive

C

I

I

12.

Ver. 17.

and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. And as this demand was censured as wrong by God, and appeared so to the prophet, it seemed wrong also soon after to the people 1 Sam. xii. themselves; for they said to the prophet, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

19.

14.

I do not indeed doubt but that Samuel was displeased with their rejecting him in the manner they did, for the faults of his sons; which probably he had not been informed of, and would have been careful to redress; and it was in fact an ungrateful return for the long prosperity and peace they had enjoyed under his government, and the eminent services he had done them. But, however, such was the prophet's moderation and piety, that he doth not so much as make a single complaint on his own or family's account; but after faithfully telling them what the evil consequences of complying with their demands would be, and giving them an opportunity to change their minds before it was too late, yields to their desire, and, according to the order of God, promises them a king, as they were not to be prevailed on to retract their choice by any regard either to their duty or interest.

And when he had made him king, and confirmed him in his kingdom, he immediately, like a man of God, exhorts them: 1 Sam. xii. If ye will fear the Lord, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both you, and also the king that reigns over you after the Lord your God, be established; adding, with a calm, dispassionate, truly benevolent and public spirit, As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way. What cruel resentment, reader, do these words betray! O how bitter the vengeance that he imprecates on the people for their choice of a king in his stead to govern them, by teaching them their duty, and promising to pray for their prosperity!

Ver. 13.

CHAP. II.

The election and consecration of Saul, the first king of
the Jews.

AFTER Samuel had received his orders from God to make the Israelites a king, he dismissed the people till he should be further directed by him as to the proper method and opportunity of creating him. Moses had himself provided for the management of this great event, by ordering that when hereafter they should demand a king they should in any wise set Deut. xvii. him king over them whom Jehovah their God should choose. The right of electing therefore their first king was, by the constitution, in God himself. He made use of this right, fixed upon his man, and ordered the prophet to anoint him.

After this, Samuel called the people together to Mizpeh, and bid them present themselves before the Lord, by their tribes and by their thousands, for the election of their king by lot. When the tribes came near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken; when their families came up, that of Matri was taken; and of that family, Saul the son of Kish. When he appeared, Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him amongst all the people; for he was higher than any of them from his shoulders and upwards. Ipse inter primos præstanti corpore Turnus

Vertitur arma tenens, et toto vertice supra est.
VIRG. Æn. vii. 784.

On this, the people expressed their joy, gave a general shout,
and said, God save the king!

It appears from this account that the election of Saul by lot was carried on in the most public manner, and in the face of the whole congregation, to prevent all manner of collusion and fraud, and with an impartiality that it was not possible for them to find any fault with. It had certainly all the appearance of the most impartial method of electing a king; and it was in reality so, for there could be no room for a foul and fraudulent management in this transaction. For as there must have been twelve lots for the twelve tribes, and as many lots as there were families in those tribes, and then as many more as there were persons in those families; so the management of all these lots, in the midst of so numerous an assembly, and where there were probably thousands of persons as cunning as

14, 15.