RUTH IV-DAVID'S GENEALOGY

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17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18¶ Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, 19 And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,

20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, 21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,

22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

Introduction to the First Book of Samuel

The two books of Samuel were originally one. The division between the two parts was made by Christian writers after the time of Christ, and was not accepted by Hebrew scholars until the sixteenth century. The early Christian fathers inclined also to drop the name of Samuel altogether, and to call these books, because of their subject, the first two books of Kings, as the Greek translators had done.

The theme of the first book of Samuel, as now divided from the second, is the abandonment of the old theocratic government of Israel and the founding of the kingship. It begins therefore with the story of Samuel, the last of the priestly "judges" over Israel, tells of his achievements, of the clamor of the people for a king, of Samuel's selection of Saul for the high office, and of Saul's brilliant but tragic career, closing with his death. Toward the end of the book, Saul's successor David becomes a more prominent figure than the king. Hence it has been pointed out, that the original book of Samuel might have been better divided into three. The first, telling of Samuel's struggle and Saul's success, would extend through chapter fourteen; the second, dealing with Saul's fall and David's rise, would stop with II. Samuel, chapter eight; and the third would tell of David's glory, his sin and his

sorrow.

The authorship of the books is unknown. The Hebrews say that Samuel himself wrote at least the earlier part of the first. A similar suggestion is found in the Bible in I. Chronicles, 29, 29, a verse which might be literally translated, “And the acts of David the king, behold, they are written upon the acts of Samuel the Roeh, and upon the acts of Nathan the Nabi, and upon the acts of Gad the Chozeh." This does not necessarily mean that our present book of Samuel is the work of these three men; though it gave rise to that surmise among the Hebrews. Probably there were several early works, including a life of Samuel, and a life of Saul. These were incorporated, about the time of King Josiah, into a single narrative including Judges, Samuel and Kings. This work was then divided into its three larger books after the downfall of Jerusalem.

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The Vow Fulfilled

BY CHARLES LE BRUN, THE FRENCH MASTER, DIED 1690.

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"And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed."-Jud., 11, 39.

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ND she knew no man. And it was a custom in

Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly

to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year."

Perhaps the Biblical conclusion of this pathetic tale is not entirely clear. Most students of the Holy Book have understood it, as has the artist of the present picture, that Jephthah slew his daughter upon an altar, even as Abraham planned to do with Isaac. There can be no question that the ordinary method of "sacrifice" meant the destruction of the thing sacrificed; with a sheep or bullock it meant death. Yet the insistence with which the Mosaic law always sets itself against those human sacrifices common in many pagan worships, this, combined with the horror of the deed itself, with the certainty that God could never have desired or countenanced such cruelty, and with the emphasis which the story lays on the heroine's virginity, all these facts have suggested to some that perhaps Jephthah's sacrifice consisted only in consecrating his daughter to the service of the Lord, debarring her from marriage, and compelling her to live out her life in solitude.