often be held in their neighborhood, especially at the time of the great feasts, questions of varied interest would be raised, and divine responses often asked. In that time of confusion, when as yet there was no king in Israel, the priests at Shiloh were doubtless looked upon by many Israelites as their natural guides and rulers. But in the course of time all this was changed. Shiloh was thrown into the shade by Jerusalem, and Eli's house by Zadok and his sons. How did this come to pass? The writer of the prophecy and of the whole legend to which it belongs answers: Through the sins of Eli's sons and the weakness of their father. History gives other reasons. The loss of the ark, the rise of David the Judæan to the throne, the erection of the temple at Zion, - these are so many causes of the fall of the priests of Shiloh, which have nothing to do with their virtue or vice. If they had done their part, let another take up the task! This is how the work of the world is done, and we can reconcile ourselves to it easily enough if only all is done to the glory of God. But alas! the family of Eli fell ingloriously, and to some extent at least by its own fault. Wealth and honor had made it overweening. Its long hold of power had made it careless and reckless. It ceased to honor the god whose altar it served. It had long been the salt of Israel, but now the salt had lost its savor and must be thrown aside.

What a striking type of many a community and many an institution for philanthropical objects or the spread of the kingdom of God! They, too, grow old in the course of time. Their machinery grows stiff. The spirit has gone out of them. At last they are superseded by others. Let them go!

But from the midst of these mournful relics of what was once a spiritual power, new life springs up. Eli's race becomes degenerate; but Samuel grows up in the midst of it and brings new life with him, while Eli's place is taken by another. The corruption of this or that family, people, community, or Church may delay the coming of God's kingdom, but cannot prevent it.

WE

CHAPTER XXIII.

SAMUEL'S WORK.

1 SAMUEL VII. 2-17.

E shall presently see what became of the ark, and how, after all kinds of adventures, it rested for a time at Kirjath-jearim. Meanwhile we must try to discover the special characteristics of Samuel's work. The task is far from easy, and if our object were simply to reproduce the substance of the Bible stories, we might almost entirely save ourselves the trouble of dealing with the character of Samuel's work at all. But since we are attempting to sketch the history of Israel and its religion in connection with these stories, we must not omit to describe the special movements due to Samuel.

When the ark had been twenty years at Kirjath-jearim the complaints of the Israelites under the heavy yoke of the Philistines began to grow louder and louder. They could bear it no longer. The time was therefore come when Samuel's words might find a hearing. He directed his people to the only true means of deliverance; he urged them to repent. "Turn with all your soul to Yahweh, and put away the strange gods and Astartes! Give your whole heart to Yahweh, and serve him alone! The Israelites, in their dire necessity, gave ear to his reproof, and forsook the worship of their Baals and Astartes. Thus deliverance became possible, and accordingly Samuel summoned the whole people to Mizpeh to join with him in prayer for Israel.

The sons of Israel drew together in great numbers. The solemn day arrived. A universal fast was observed. The priests poured out water by Yahweh's altar, and crying "Lord! we are lost, even as water that is poured out!" besought him for deliverance. The people lay down in sack-cloth and ashes, and smote their breasts, sighing, “We have sinned!" and Samuel sat in judgment over them. Woe to him who was charged with any offence to which the people's misery might in some measure be assigned! Woe to him who had " committed folly in Israel!” He had small mercy to expect from either judge or people, and the stern sentence was ruthlessly carried out. Thus was Israel purified at Mizpeh.

But the Philistines had heard that there was to be an assembly of the people, and fearing that the Israelites would rebel, they had determined to be beforehand with them. Their princes, accordingly, had called their troops together, and at that very moment they were all marching upon Mizpeh. Consternation seizes the Israelites. They are undone ! Samuel is besieged with supplications: "Oh, pray to Yahweh for us, and cease not! Our god must rescue us! Withdraw not your help from us!" With unshaken faith in Yahweh's mighty help Samuel girds himself to battle with the foe; but it is not with spear and bow that he enters on the fight. All his hopes are fixed on Yahweh. He draws up the Israelites in battle array, and raises an altar on the hill. The Philistines draw near. The sons of Israel can see the glitter of their spear-heads, they can hear the arrows rattling in the quivers, and the deafening war-cries that foretell the fall of Israel. .. But meanwhile Samuel has sacrificed a sucking lamb; the smoke curls upwards, and the prophet lifts up his hands to heaven. "O Yahweh, rescue Israel! Give not thy people into the hands of the uncircumcised!" So he prays, and behold! Yahweh answers. A fearful peal of

thunder rolls overhead. It is the voice of Yahweh. The Philistines stand riveted to the ground. Another and another peal! See! a panic of God has come upon them, and they dash against each other in confused and hurried flight, while the men of Israel pursue them.

Well might Samuel raise a great stone near Mizpeh when the victory was won, and call it Eben-ezer (or stone of help): for had not Yahweh thus far helped the people? Yes, and with no grudging hand; for the Philistines were so humbled that they surrendered all the cities they had previously taken from the Israelites, and even gave them Gath and Ekron. It need hardly be said, therefore, that as long as Samuel lived they did not show themselves upon Israel's territory again, for Yahweh's hand was heavy on them all this time. And since there was peace between Israel and the Canaanites also, it was a time of general prosperity.

Samuel was the recognized judge of all the tribes. He lived in Ramah, where he had built an altar; and many pilgrims came there to submit their difficulties to his decision. But, with the view of maintaining order and justice as effectually as possible, he now and then made a journey through the surrounding districts and visited Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh every year.

We have already seen, from more than one example, that the people reverenced certain sacred stones, and treated them with superstitious regard long after their original significance had been forgotten. In such cases the advocates of the exclusive worship of Yahweh often declared that the stones were monuments of some event which would bring them into harmless connection with the service of Yahweh.1 It is natural to suppose therefore that this was the case with the "Eben-ezer" near Mizpeh; but it is also quite possible that the inhabitants of the neighborhood did really associate with this piece of rock the memory of a victory won by Samuel at the spot. In any case, however, the story of this judge's warlike fame is not only highly colored but monstrously exaggerated by the legend; for we shall presently see that in his days the Israelites were so completely in the power of the Philistines that they were compelled to give up their weapons, while all the smiths were carried away out of the land, and there were only two Israelite warriors who possessed weapons forged of steel. Nay! if a man's ploughshare, or any other metal implement, wanted sharpening, he was actually obliged to take it to the country of the Philistines, and have it seen to there.2 It was David who first completely conquered the Philistines and made them powerless against Israel. Our writer took for granted that Samuel had secured his people prosperity and success, and had triumphed over their enemies; for he could not imagine that Yahweh would have refused to hear and accept the prayer of such a pious man. His supposition is, however, contradicted by the sequel of the history. For if Samuel had really overcome the Philistines, Israel would never have chosen a king. His attempts to deliver his people, so far from being successful, completely failed. Nor is it true as we shall presently see- that there was peace in his days

between the Israelites and the Canaanites.

Samuel's great services did not consist in military successes, but in what he accomplished for the religious life of his people; and to form a true estimate of his work we must have a clear idea of what was going on in the heads and hearts of the best Israelites of his age.

It was a time of general spiritual awakening. The precise occasion of the movement is no longer known to us, but it is evident that just at this period the most zealous worshippers 1 Compare pp. 105, 175 ff., 196; pp. 341, 354.

2 1 Samuel xiii. 19-22, after an amended version.

of Yahweh and champions of his people gathered strength, and made themselves felt as they had not been before. The sanctuary at Shiloh was diligently sought, and Eli, the chief priest there, acquired so much influence that he is even called a judge.1 This enthusiasm was constantly stimulated by the special circumstances of the people at the time, for we must not forget that zeal for Yahweh and zeal for Israel always went hand in hand, and indeed, as a rule, were almost identical. It was becoming clearer and clearer to the thoughtful Israelites that the great question they had to decide was this: "Are we to melt away and disappear amongst the Canaanites,. or are we to maintain our special Israelitish character based on the worship of Yahweh, cost what it may?" There was no other choice. If the sons of Israel went on in the path they had trodden hitherto, and were not prepared to make any extraordinary effort, then the customs, the religious practices, and the modes of thought of Canaan would gain the mastery, and Israel would never attain a distinct national existence. Yahweh would gradually give place to some Baal, or perhaps be superseded by a Philistine deity, until at last his worship would only survive in a few private families. If the people of Yahweh was ever to master the land of Canaan, it must be now — now or never!

This conviction was gaining ground more and more rapidly when Samuel succeeded to Eli's position and made his influence deeply felt. To enable us to understand his work it will be well to consider three subjects in succession: The exercise of his office as judge, the foundation of the schools of the prophets, and the order of the Nazarites.

We are obliged to have recourse to conjecture in attempting to form an idea of the "judging" of the men who gave the period between Joshua and Saul its name. Indeed the name

itself is very misleading, for the heroes who rescued Israel from its foes had, as a rule, very little of the character of judges, and should rather receive some such title as rulers, princes, or chieftains.2 Samuel is the first whose activity as a judge is in any degree known to us, and it is but very little we know even in this case. We are told of three places which he visited every year in his capacity as judge. These places - Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh- were none of them very far from his dwelling-place at Ramah; and though he is said in general terms to have judged "Israel," we may be sure that a comparatively small area was the principal scene 1 1 Samuel iv. 18. 2 See pp. 364, 365.