power in this manner; and He directed the kine towards the borders of Israel. The two kine, lowing after their young as they went, and never turning aside either to the right hand or to the left, went straight on to Bethsames, which was the first town in the Hebrew dominions.

Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley, and they rejoiced greatly when they saw that ark returning, the loss of which had been so grievous a blow to all Israel. And the chiefs of the Philistines who had come with the ark, filled with astonishment, stood and looked at the sacrifice which the Bethsamites offered at once to God on the return of His tabernacle, and then departed back to their own country. But a great crowd of people having come out from Bethsames, filled more with presumptuous curiosity than with holy reverence, and approaching the ark in this spirit, were struck dead by the hand of God to the number of fifty thousand. The survivors, seeing how they had displeased God by their presumption, did not dare any longer to touch the ark, but sent to the men of Cariathiarim, who came and with reverence bore it away to Gabaa, where it was placed in the house of Abinadab.

SAUL, THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL.

AND after Heli's death Samuel was appointed by God to judge and govern the nation. He was that faithful priest and prophet whom God had said He would raise up for Himself; and he preached to the Israelites to turn away from all their wickedness and idolatry, and to serve the Lord with their whole heart. And the people of Israel heard him, and re

pented, and put away the idols of Baal and Astaroth, gods whom they had been led to worship by their intercourse with the Philistines, and other idolatrous nations by whom they were surrounded. And then God mercifully forgave them, and became again their own God, fighting for them against their enemies, and conquering them. And as Samuel became old, he took his two sons to help him, and appointed them judges over Israel; but they were not such good and holy men as their father, and often did not give just judgment between those whom they judged. So the chief men amongst the Israelites, the ancients, and the men of Israel, came to Samuel, whose house was at Ramatha, where his father and mother had lived, as we may remember; and they represented to him that he was now old, and that his sons did not act towards them as he had done: "Therefore," said they, "make us a king to judge us, as all nations have." And this request was displeasing to Samuel, who prayed to the Lord about it. The request of the Israelites for a king did not wholly arise from their dissatisfaction at Samuel's sons or his own advanced age; for their vanity was pleased and flattered at the idea of the grandeur and pomp of a king and his court, and they were always wishing to be like the heathen nations who were their neighbours, and who gloried in being governed by a king. It is probable that Samuel saw that pride and vanity were at the root of their request; but feeling that they had rejected himself as their ruler, he asked God what he was to do. And God said to him, "Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee; for they have not rejected thee, but Me, that I should not reign over them." Not with the rule of Samuel, but with His own, God said, they were discontented. Just as they had forsaken God, who had brought them out of

Egypt, and had served strange gods, so also, He said, would they treat His servant. Therefore God ordered Samuel to forewarn them of all the evils they should bring upon themselves by having a king, -how he would make their sons and daughters his servants, and take their vineyards and cornfields, and supply himself and his servants at their expense, and many other such things: and because they had chosen an earthly king rather than a heavenly one, so God said He would leave them in his hands, and would not hear them Himself, if they cried to Him against their oppressor.

But the people hardly waited to hear the words of Samuel to an end before they cried out, "Nay, but there shall be a king over us; and we also will be like all nations, and our king shall judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles for us." And Samuel rehearsed these words to the Lord. And God said to Samuel, "Hearken to their voice, and make them a king.' And God revealed to Samuel that a man of the tribe of Benjamin should seek him, who, He said, was the person whom Samuel was to anoint King of Israel.

And a man of the name of Cis, who was a Benjamite, had lost his asses, and sent his son Saul in search of them. Saul was very tall and handsome, and very fit, by his personal appearance, to be a king; and this was he whom God had ordained should be the king the Israelites desired. He, and the servant his father sent with him, passed by Mount Ephraim, through Salisa, and several other countries of Juda, without finding the asses they sought, till at last they approached the city of Ramatha.

And now they had travelled so far from home that they knew not their way to return, and yet Saul felt they ought to hasten back, lest his father

should grow uneasy to think what had become of them. And the servant proposed to Saul that they should go to the seer or prophet Samuel to ask their road. 66 Behold," said he, "there is a man of God in this city; a famous man, all that he saith cometh certainly to pass. Now, therefore, let us go thither; perhaps he may tell us of our way, for which we are come." Saul, however, urged that they had nothing with them to carry as an offering or present to the man of God. But the servant said he had a small piece of silver money, which would serve for that purpose. So Saul then consented to go and seek Samuel, and they entered the city of Ramatha; and as they walked into the midst of the city, they met Samuel going to offer sacrifice to God. And as they approached him, God revealed to Samuel that Saul was to be the king of Israel. And Saul, going up to Samuel, said, "Tell me, I pray thee, where is the house of the seer?" And Samuel replied, "I am the seer;" and then he asked him to go up with him to the sacrifice, and to come afterwards and pass the rest of the day with him at his house, and he would tell him all that was in Saul's mind; "And as for the asses which were lost three days ago," said he, "be not solicitous, because they they are found." By this last speech Saul knew he must indeed be speaking to the prophet of whom he was in search, as Samuel could only have known his history by being such. Then Samuel went on to tell him that he and his family should be raised to great dignities, at which Saul expressed his wonder; "For," said he, "am not I and my kindred the least amongst the families of the tribe of Benjamin, the least tribe of Israel?" Samuel, however, kept Saul at his house till the morning, treating him with the greatest hospitality, and accompanied him through the city of Ramatha on his return; and Samuel asked Saul to

send his servant on a little, that he might speak freely to him of the designs of God in regard to him. And when he had done so, Samuel took a little vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and anointed him king of Israel, saying, "Behold the Lord hath anointed thee to be prince over His inheritance; and thou shalt deliver His people out of the hands of their enemies that are round about them." And this was to be a sign that God had anointed him to be king: When he passed by the sepulchre of Rachel, in the land of Benjamin, he should meet two men, who would tell him that the asses were found, and his father was only anxious about him. And further on he was to meet a company of prophets (or men whose office it was to sing hymns and praises to God, often called prophets in Scripture) coming down from the sacrifice, with their musical instruments; and the Spirit of the Lord would come upon Saul, Samuel said, and he would prophesy with them, and be changed into another man. There were in those days schools or colleges for training up these prophets; and it is probable that Saul was placed by Samuel at one of these colleges, to fit him more for the high office he was to fill. All these things came to pass just as Samuel had foretold; and the people were greatly surprised at the change in Saul, and said, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" Who (they meant to say) could bring about such a wonderful change as to make Saul a prophet?-which became a saying in Israel.

Then Samuel called together the people of Israel, and spoke to them from God, and said: "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kings who afflicted you. But you this day have