CHAPTER V.
SAUL AND THE AMALEKITES. DAVID AND GOLIATH.
1 Sam. xv.–xvii. B.C. 1079–1063.
THIS signal victory materially confirmed Saul’s supremacy. Acting no longer merely on the defensive, he now directed expeditions against Moab, Ammon, Edom, and even the king of Zobah, a region east of Cœle-Syria and extending towards the Euphrates. While in the full tide of his success he received a visit from Samuel, who on the strength of a Divine command, entrusted him with a commission, which he was to execute to the very letter. The treacherous hostility of the powerful tribe of Amalek, when they fell upon the exhausted rear of the Israelites at their departure from Egypt, had not been forgotten by God (Ex. xvii. 8, 14; Num. xxiv. 20). Since then they had on more than one occasion evinced the same hostility[243]. They were now devoted to utter destruction. Go and smite Amalek, ran the Divine commission; utterly destroy all that they have; spare them not; slay bothman and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass (1 Sam. xv. 2, 3).
Thereupon Saul mustered a force of 210,000 at Telaim in southern Judah, and after warning the Kenites to betake themselves to a place of safety, he attacked the Amalekites and smote them from Havilah to Shur. All the people he utterly destroyed, but, in direct violation of the express instructions he had received, spared all the best of the spoil and Agag the Amalekite king. Returning from this expedition he set up a place, or, probably, a monument of his victory, at Carmel in the mountainous country of Judah, and thence repaired to Gilgal. A Divine intimation had already made known to Samuel how imperfectly the king had executed his commission, and with a heavy heart he went forth to meet him. With a haste which betrayed the misgivings of his conscience, Saul no sooner saw the Prophet than he boasted of his execution of the Divine mandate. But Samuel was not thus to be deceived. The bleating of the sheep and the lowing of oxen on all sides revealed but too clearly the lax interpretation which Saul had chosen to put upon his instructions, and he only increased his condemnation by trying to throw the blame of his own shortcomings upon the people, who, he declared, had spared the best of the spoil to sacrifice to Jehovah. The Prophet sternly reminded him that Jehovah had far more delight in obedience to His commands than in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and for the second time intimated that the continuance of his dynasty was forfeited; he had rejected the Word of the Lord, and the Lord had rejected him from being king (1 Sam. xv. 12–23).
With much contrition Saul then confessed his error, and as the Prophet turned to depart, grasped the skirt of his mantle to induce him to stay. The mantle rent, and Samuel interpreted the omen; the Lord had rentthe kingdom from its unworthy head, and designed it for a neighbour of his, who was better than he. Without denying the justice of the sentence, Saul entreated the granting of one concession, imploring Samuel to honour him before the elders of his people, and turn with him and worship Jehovah. The prophet yielded, and for the last time the two offered sacrifice together. But if Saul had neglected his duty, Samuel could not forget the captive king, whom the Divine decree had devoted to death. He ordered Agag to be brought before him. The king came forward delicately, remarking, as if to disarm hostility, surely the bitterness of death is past. As thy sword, rejoined the Prophet, hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women; and he hewed him in pieces before the Lord. The commission of Jehovah thus vindicated, Saul returned to Gibeah, and Samuel to Ramah, there to mourn for one, whose career, once so hopeful, was now obscured with such dark forebodings of coming doom (1 Sam. xv. 24–35).
The sorrow of Samuel for Saul’s shortcomings was real. But he was before long roused from his grief by a Divine commission to take a horn of oil and go to Bethlehem, there to anoint another king. Fear lest the purport of his errand should reach Saul’s ears would have deterred him from venturing on the journey, but he was bidden to take a heifer and invite the elders of the town to a sacrificial feast. In obedience to this command he left Ramah, and proceeded on his way. As he ascended the long gray hill leading to the village, his approach was discerned by the elders, who trembled when they saw the venerable Prophet. Comest thou peaceably? they enquired anxiously. Peaceably, was the reply, and they were bidden to prepare to accompany him to the feast.
Amongst those invited on this occasion was Jesse,sprung from one of the oldest families[244] in the place, the son of Obed, and grandson of the Moabitess Ruth. He was an aged man at this time, and the father of eight sons, of whom seven now accompanied him to the feast (1 Sam. xvii. 12). When they were all assembled, and waiting to commence, the Prophet looked upon the eldest, the tall Eliab, and thought that of a surety he beheld the Lord’s anointed. But the Divine Voice bade him not look upon his countenance, or the height of his stature, for the Lord, who looketh not upon the outward appearance but upon the heart, had refused him. Then the old man’s second son Abinadab passed before him, and his third son Shammah, and after them four other sons, but the Lord had chosen none of them. Are here all thy children? enquired Samuel. There remaineth yet the youngest, said Jesse, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. Send and fetch him, rejoined the Prophet; till he come hither, we cannot sit round (1 Sam. xvi. 11, margin).
Accordingly a messenger was sent to the sheepfolds, and brought in the youngest, David (the beloved, the darling), the Benjamin of Jesse’s house. With his shepherd’s staff in his hand, his scrip or wallet roundhis neck (1 Sam. xvii. 40), a mere stripling beside the tall Eliab, ruddy or auburn-haired, with fair bright eyes[245], comely and goodly to look to (1 Sam. xvi. 12, 18), he stood before the Prophet. Arise, anoint him, for this is he, whispered the Divine Voice, and there in the midst of his brethren and the assembled elders, Samuel poured upon him the consecrated oil, on which the feast so long delayed was celebrated, and Samuel rose up and returned to Ramah. (See Ps. lxxviii. 70–72.)
Meanwhile the Spirit of God, which came upon David from that day forward, departed from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him (1 Sam. xvi. 14). He became moody and liable to fits of sudden phrensy. To rouse him from this distressing state, his servants advised that a clever player on the harp should be sent for, that by the charms of his music he might soothe his spirit. When enquiry was made for such a minstrel, one of the royal servants mentioned the name of the son of Jesse as not only cunning in playing, but of tried valour, prudent in speech, comely in person, and prospered with the blessing of the Lord (1 Sam. xvi. 18). Saul thereupon sent for him, and Jesse dispatched him with a humble offering. Even the troubled spirit of the king was soothed by the music of the future Psalmist of Israel; he loved him, and made him not only his minstrel but his armour-bearer, and retained him about his person (1 Sam. xvi. 21).
When the paroxysms of Saul’s malady abated, David would seem to have returned to his old occupations on the bleak downs of Bethlehem, where his faithfulness in a few things fitted him to become a ruler over many things. His shepherd life called into action some of the best qualities in human nature. Firmness, nerve, energy and constancy were all required of him, who would intrue devotion to this calling, endure the heat by day and the frost by night (Gen. xxxi. 40), climb narrow ledges and scale lofty precipices in quest of pasture for his flocks, and defend them against wild beasts, such as lions and wolves, bears and panthers, or robbers of the desert. All these tests David had stood. His strength and courage were well known beyond the boundaries of his native village. Once during his solitary shepherd life a lion, and at another time a bear attacked his father’s flock. He fled not like a “hireling shepherd,” but put his life in his hand, and went after them and slew them (1 Sam. xvii. 34–37).