SECT. LVIII. THE PEOPLE DESIRE A KING. SAUL IS ANOINTED.

VIII. 1-22.

The People desire a King. And it came to pass when 1 Kings Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Now the name of his first born son was Joel, and the name of the second was Abia: judges in Bersabce. And his sons walked not in his ways: but they turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

Then all the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel to Ramatha. And they said to him: Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have. And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

And the Lord said to Samuel: 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.* According to all their works, they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day: as they have forsaken Me, and served strange gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken to their voice but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king, that shall reign over them.

Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people that had desired a king of him, and said: This will be the rightf of the king, that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen, and his running footmen to run before his chariots, and he will appoint of them to be his tribunes, and centurions, and to plough his fields, and to reap his corn, and to make him arms and chariots. Your daughters also he will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best olive-yards, and give them to his servants. Moreover he will take the tenth of your corn, and of the revenues of your vineyards, to give to his officers and servants. Your servants also and handmaids, and your goodliest young men, and your asses he will take away, and put them to his work. Your flocks also he will tithe, and you shall be his servants. And you shall cry out in that day from the face of the king, whom you have chosen to yourselves:

*The government of Israel hitherto had been a Theocracy; in which God Himself immediately ruled, by laws which He had enacted, and by judges extraordinarily raised up by Himself: and therefore He complains that His people rejected Him in desiring a change of government.

† i.e. the rights he will claim, the manner of his rule.

1 Kings IX. 1-27.

and the Lord will not hear you in that day, because you desired unto yourselves a king.

:

But the people would not hear the voice of Samuel, and they said: 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 heard all the words of the people, and rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel: Let every man go to his city.

Saul's Meeting with Samuel.-Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Cis,* the son of Abiel, the son B.C. 1075. of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a man of Jemini, valiant and strong. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all the people.

And the asses of Cis Saul's father were lost: and Cis said to his son Saul: Take one of the servants with thee, and arise, go, and seek the asses. And when they had passed through mount Ephraim, and through the land of Salisa, and had not found them, they passed also through the land of Salim, and they were not there and through the land of Jemini, and found them not. And when they were come to the land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: Come let us return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses, and be concerned for us.

And he said to him: Behold 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. And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go but what shall we carry to the man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor anything at all. The servant answered Saul again, and said: Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver, let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way.

Now in time past in Israel when a man went to consult God, he spoke thus: Come, let us go to the seer. For he that is now called a prophet, in time past was called a seer. And Saul said to his servant: Thy word is very good, come let us go. And they went into the city, where the man of God was.

* Or Kish,

† A seer. Because of his seeing by divine light hidden things and things to

come.

And when they went up the ascent to the city, they found maids coming out to draw water, and they said to them: Is the seer here? They answered and said to them: He is: behold he is before you, make haste now: for he came to-day into the city, for there is a sacrifice of the people to-day in the high place.* As soon as you come into the city, you shall immediately find him, before he go up to the high place to eat for the people will not eat till he come: because he blesseth the victim, and afterwards they eat that are invited. Now therefore go up, for to-day you shall find him. And they went up into the city. And when they were walking in the midst of the city, behold Samuel was coming out over-against them, to go up to the high place.

Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: To-morrow about this same hour I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over My people Israel: and he shall save My people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked down upon My people, because their cry is come to Me. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: Behold the man, of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over My people.

And Saul came to Samuel in the midst of the gate and said: Tell me, I pray thee, where is the house of the seer? And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the seer; go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me to-day, and I will let thee go in the morning: and tell thee all that is in thy heart. And as for the asses, which were lost three days ago, be not solicitous, because they are found. And for whom shall be all the best things of Israel? Shall they not be for thee and for all thy father's house?

And Saul answering, said: Am not I a son of Jemini of the least tribe of Israel, and my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then hast thou spoken this word to me?

Then Samuel taking Saul and his servant, brought them into

*The excelsa, or high places, so often mentioned in Scripture, were places of worship, in which were altars for sacrifice. These were sometimes employed -in the service of the true God, as in the present case: but more frequently in the service of idols. The law did not allow of sacrifices in any other place but at the tabernacle, or temple, in which the ark of the covenant was kept; but Samuel, by divine dispensation, offered sacrifices in other places. For which dispensation this reason may be alleged, that the house of God in Silo, having lost the ark, was now cast off; and in Cariathiarim, where the ark was, there was neither tabernacle nor altar. DoUAY BIBLE.

the parlour, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited. For there were about thirty men. And Samuel said to the cook: Bring the portion, which I gave thee, and commanded thee to set it apart by thee. And the cook took up the shoulder, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: Behold what is left, set it before thee, and eat because it was kept of purpose for thee, when I invited the people. And Saul ate with Samuel that day.

And they went down from the high place into the town, and he spoke with Saul upon the top of the house: and he prepared a bed for Saul on the top of the house, and he slept. And when they were risen in the morning, and it began now to be light, Samuel called Saul on the top of the house, saying: Arise, that I may let thee go. And Saul arose and they went out both of them, to wit, he and Samuel. And as they were going down in the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul: Speak to the servant to go before us, and pass on, but stand thou still awhile, that I may tell thee the word of the Lord.

1 Kings x. Saul is made King.—And Samuel took a little vial of oil, 1-27. and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said: 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 shall be a sign unto thee, that God hath anointed thee to be prince. When thou shalt depart from me this day, thou shalt find two men by the sepulchre of Rachel in the borders of Benjamin to the south, and they shall say to thee: The asses are found which thou wentest to seek, and thy father thinking no more of the asses is concerned for you, and saith : What shall I do for my son? And when thou shalt depart from thence, and go farther on, and shalt come to the oak of Thabor, there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. And they will salute thee, and will give thee two loaves, and thou shalt take them at their hand. After that thou shalt come to the hill of God,† where the garrison of the Philistines is, and when thou shalt be come there into the city, thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp before them, and they shall be *Hence a king was called the Lord's anointed.

The hill of God. Gabaa, in which there was also at that time a high place or altar.-Prophets. These were men whose office it was to sing hymns and praises to God; for such in holy writ are called prophets, and their singing praises to God is called prophesying. DOUAY BIBLE.

prophesying. And the Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be changed into another man. When therefore these signs shall happen to thee, do whatsoever thy hand shall find, for the Lord is with thee. And thou shalt go down before me to Galgal (for I will come down to thee), that thou mayest offer an oblation, and sacrifice victims of peace: seven days shalt thou wait, till I come to thee, and I will show thee what thou art to do.

So when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave unto him another heart, and all these things came to pass that day. And they came to the hill, and behold a company of prophets met him and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he prophesied in the midst of them. And all that had known him yesterday and the day before, seeing that he was with the prophets, and prophesied, said to each other: What is this that hath happened to the son of Cis? is Saul also among the prophets? And one answered another, saying: And who is their father?* therefore it became a proverb: Is Saul also among the prophets?

And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place. And Saul's uncle said to him, and to his servant: Whither went you? They answered: To seek the asses: and not finding them we went to Samuel. And his uncle said to him: Tell me what Samuel said to thee. And Saul said to his uncle: He told us that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom of which Samuel had spoken to him, he told him not.

He is presented to the People.-And Samuel called together the people to the Lord in Maspha, and he said to the children of Israel: 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 rejected your God, who only hath saved. you out of all your evils and your tribulations, and you have said: Nay but set a king over us. Now therefore stand before the Lord by your tribes, and by your families.

And Samuel brought to him all the tribes of Israel, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. And he brought the tribe of Benjamin and the kindreds thereof, and the lot fell upon the kindred of Metri, and it came to Saul the son of Cis. They sought him therefore and he was not found. And after this

* Their father. That is, their teacher or superior. As much as to say, Who could bring about such a wonderful change as to make Saul a prophet? DOUAY BIBLE.