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.