But Saul offended God by saving Agag, the king of the Amalekites, so said Samuel ([1 Sam. xv, 32, 33]). “Then Samuel said, Bring ye hither to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is passed. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.”
Saul’s tenderness and mercy towards Agag displeased the stern, cruel priest and soldier. His, Agag’s, life had to pay the penalty of death, by the hand of the priest himself, for an offense his forefathers were presumed to have been guilty of, several centuries before. All barbarities, cruelties, and slaughter were done in Jehovah’s, God’s, the Lord’s, name. The same pious crimes were repeated centuries later, under the pretext of doing some imaginary brutal God a great favor.
For this transgression Saul is rejected by this priestly Warwick. For this human action this wily priest denounces him, and Saul’s act of kindness is interpreted by this domineering priest as a crime against his God. To carry out his political scheme, Samuel went to Beth-lehem. “And the elders of the town trembled at his coming” ([1 Sam. xvi, 4]). The revengeful priest, with a nerve of iron and a will of steel, was not going to stand any nonsense. Saul had not obeyed him to the letter—it is, Off with your head!
Samuel with all the church palaver, priest discipline, and pious hypocrisy, selects a successor, without compunction, without ceremony, and David is anointed to reign instead of Saul. From this time forth to the end of his life Saul is constantly in hot water. He slinks to his home at Gibeah ([1 Sam. xv, 34]) like a whipped cur, rejected and excommunicated by the priest. Full of apprehension and fear, he blunders at every step he takes. The priestly influence is gone, and God has departed from him and is now with David. The crafty Samuel uses the expression, when others question the propriety of his action: “Men do not see as God seeth.” No! Men must have no will except the priest’s will. Harassed and maddened by priestly cunning, jealous and angered at David’s success in acts of heroism, Saul loses courage, as well as prestige with the people, to such an extent that David finds it not a difficult task to organize a small army of his own, carrying on a sort of desultory war on his own account.
Samuel dies, having governed his people twelve years himself, and jointly with Saul eighteen years. He was the greatest man, priest, and general since the times of Moses, a man of singular sagacity and courage, no doubt right royal and honest in his intentions and to his nation. Samuel did more to solidify the nation, and terrify neighboring nations, to infuse courage in his people and inspire them to acts of heroism, than any other of the judges, or any other man, during this period.
A curious incident is related of the manner in which Samuel came into the world. It is the first one of its kind in the Bible. Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, had no children, or as the Bible phrase has it, “The Lord had shut up her womb” ([1 Sam. i, 5, 6]). So she continued praying before the Lord, and Eli the priest marked her mouth (verse [12]). She conceived and bore a son, and she named him Samuel. And Eli the priest adopted Samuel. “And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest” ([ii, 12]). What the relations were between Hannah and Eli is not known, but that his own sons were not very righteous is testified to by the following passage ([1 Sam. ii, 20]): “Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”
It was not an unusual thing, in the temples of the heathens, for women to accommodate the gods whenever they felt piously inclined; and also the priests lost no opportunity to gratify their saintly passions, or permit others to gratify theirs so long as it was to benefit the church.
Samuel’s father, or rather reputed father, did not belong to the priestly tribe. He was an Ephrathite. Eli his adopted father belonged to the priestly caste. I simply cite this story to show how completely human these holy Jehovaists were. Many crimes and disreputable acts were committed under the very shadow of the Lord. Yet Jehova was pleased with anything these priests delighted in.
Eli was a heavy man ([iv, 18]). Fat, which I suppose they meant, shows he was a good liver. He broke his neck by falling off his seat on hearing the ark was taken by the Philistines and Israel beaten.
When Samuel took the reins of government he was still young. He subdued the Philistines, regained the ark, and reorganized and consolidated the nation. He made Saul king and general, and a stream of prosperity followed; the choice was a good one, and Saul served his nation well so long as he was obedient to Samuel’s commands. Saul’s humanity got the better of him, he offended this stern, dictatorial priest, and lost his favor. David, his rival, was already chosen and in the field, on whom all Samuel’s influence and priestly glory was shed. Now God deserted Saul and his cause. Henceforth the Lord was with David.