A PRACTICAL ROYALTY. 1 Samuel xi. T this time Saul occupied a somewhat anomalous position. He had been anointed king of Israel, and all the people had shouted and said, "God save the king." It would appear from this as if Saul had really become king of Israel, and in a certain sense that was so; but in the disordered times in which the kingship was proclaimed Saul went home to Gibeah, and continued to discharge his agricultural and social duties. He was, therefore, little more than a king in name. There were certain sons of Belial indeed who despised him, and brought him no presents. They were probably princes and leading men of rival tribes, bitterly displeased because the first king of Israel had been chosen out of the insignificant tribe of Benjamin. Saul had made no great mark in history, so there was nothing so obviously great in his career as to command universal admiration and respect. In the language of modern times, he had yet his spurs to win. It is to his credit, however, that when the worthless men despised him, he had sufficient self-control to hold his peace. Such control is always associated with the highest royalty. The man who can rule his own spirit is better than he who can take a city. Sometimes silence is the last expression of power. In the eleventh chapter circumstances occur which bring Saul into the full exercise of his royal functions. Read:— "Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel" (vv. I, 2). Nahash was king of the children of Ammon, and was in some indirect way related to David. The men of Jabesh-gilead had VOL. VI. 20 always been kind to the tribe of Benjamin, indeed they had been the only friends of Benjamin at a critical period of the history of that tribe. Now that Nahash came up and encamped against Jabesh, the inhabitants of the invaded district proposed that Nahash should make a covenant with them, and that they should serve him. The inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead were cut off from communication with the larger districts and provinces of their country, and no doubt a sense of loneliness had considerably depressed them; they were willing, therefore, to mitigate their solitude by entering into a menial covenant with Nahash the Ammonite. It is often true in life that circumstances drive us to make approaches which are not congenial. Men are driven by stress of health or poverty, or some form of perplexity not easily to be named in words, to offer to put themselves into relations with people whom under other circumstances they would never treat with. Such facts in life we are bound to recognise. And it would betoken a poor quality of nature on our part to associate with such recognitions too severe a moral condemnation. Our common proverb is to the effect that "adversity has strange bed-fellows." The men of Jabesh-gilead, therefore, must be regarded as persons who are under oppressive circumstances, and who are willing to make the best of conditions which are very galling and humiliating. While such were the circumstances of the men of Jabesh-gilead, these circumstances developed the moral quality of the King of the Ammonites. We know what men are when we see how they treat those who are supposed to be in their power. Circumstances develop the nature of men on all sides of a controversy,--depressing some, they stimulate others to anger and revenge, or they develop cupidity and selfishness to a degree which brings infamy upon their name. It was so with Nahash the Ammonite. He was ready to make a covenant with the inhabitants of Jabesh, and this was his answer,- -"On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel." There we see the true nature of the man. There indeed we see a faithful exhibition of human depravity. This kind of cruelty must not be considered as confined to Nahash; it is the very mystery of iniquity which is found in every human heart, or if not found there, it is concealed, because circumstances constituting a sufficient temptation have not appealed to it. It is easy to fall into a mood of horror in relation to the iniquities of other men, and to suppose that when we shudder at their vices we exhibit virtues of our own. No language is too severe to condemn the barbarous cruelty of Nahash; in very deed he appears before us more like a child of hell; at the same time he only shows what we might be under circumstances of equal temptation and pressure. When we see how man can treat man, we are enabled to reason upwards, and to see how possible it is for man to treat God profanely and blasphemously. When man loves God he loves his neighbour also; but when man ceases to love his neighbour, and then passes from mere displeasure to positive and cruel hatred, it is easy for him to carry the spirit of hostility further and to include in its base action even all that is heavenly and divine. The moment we can treat a man unjustly and cruelly we have disqualified ourselves for true prayer and real communion with Heaven. Let there be no mistake about this matter. We cannot give up our philanthropy and retain our Christianity. We may be troubled in metaphysical thinking, and may sometimes depart from acknowledged lines in that high region of religious contemplation and worship, but there must not be the slightest shaking of our moral relations as between man and man, or if there is, we may justly infer that such violation of social sympathy and justice had a distinct bearing upon the reality of our religious character. The man who could issue the condition named by Nahash was simply incapable of sustaining any living relation of worship and trust to the true God. "And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand" (vv. 3-8). The spirit of Jabesh was not utterly quenched. The lingering fire that was in the breasts of the elders was blown into a blaze. A marvellous mystery is this, namely, how difficult it is utterly to quench and destroy the spirit of man. Even in the very midnight of despair there flames up unexpected energy. The elders of Jabesh asked for seven days in which to consider the condition which the King of Ammon had proposed. Such respite has been common in all wars claiming to be regulated at all by the spirit of civilisation. At that critical moment the messengers of Jabesh came to Gibeah of Saul. Ancient friendship urged its plea. We have seen that Jabesh and Benjamin were always on friendly terms, and now that Jabesh is in extremity it will be for Benjamin to show the reality of the historical friendship. Saul A very beautiful picture is presented in the fifth verse. was engaged in his usual pursuits. The King of Israel was actually discharging offices with the herd in the field, attending to the wants of his cattle, and otherwise going about his business soberly and quietly. No intimation of unusual circumstances seems to have reached him. How unconscious we sometimes are of the circumstances which are nearest to us,-unconscious, that is to say, of their real import and deepest meaning! When we think all is proceeding as usual we may be within touch of some occurrence that will determine all the remaining actions of our life. The commonplace and the marvellous often lie closely together. Why should there be any commonplace in life, in the sense of taking out of existence everything that can stimulate our best nature and build us up in the comfort of an enlarging and assured hope? He who does his plain and simple duty, in the field and in the market-place, is best prepared for any unusual occurrences that may break in upon the monotony of his life. He who is faithful in few things shall be made ruler over many things. There is but a step from the field where the herd gathers and the throne which unites and dignifies a whole nation. The picture, then, is that of a great man attending to simple daily duties, and it will be a sad day for any people who imagine that simple daily duties are not worthy of the dignity even of the greatest man. Saul observed that the people who came near to him were in great distress :-" All the people lifted up their voices, and wept." They were at their wits' end. We shall now see whether it is true that man's extremity is God's opportunity. It is certain that the men of Jabesh can do nothing for themselves, and it is very uncertain to them whether any other man can do much for them. But they went to the greatest man known to them. Society has a right to expect great things from great men. No greater tribute could be paid to Saul than that threatened and despairing men should appeal to him in the time of their agony. The men who shouted, "God save the king," did not pay Saul so fine a tribute as the men who came to him in their extremity and asked for his sympathy and assistance. Really to pray is really to adore. This doctrine is true also in human relations; really to cast oneself upon the resources of a great man is to pay that great man the highest compliment in our power. No sooner had Saul heard the condition proposed by the King of Ammon than he burned with anger. We can best describe a certain quality of anger by tracing it to the direct action of the Spirit of God. Truly, there is a holy indignation. We are conscious of no moral or mental shock when we read the simple terms that "the Spirit of God came upon Saul;" truly it could be no other Spirit, for depravity had reached its utmost degradation, and the terms proposed were so treasonable to everything human and right that they could only be answered justly and completely by fire directly sent from heaven. The sublime enthusiasm of Saul kindled the faith of the people. A common impression seized them that this was the man for the occasion; so "they came out with one consent." It has been pointed out that the circumstances here recorded suggested to the poet Asaph the splendid image presented in the seventy-eighth Psalm :-" Then the Lord awaked as one out of a sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine." The action of Saul seems to represent the action of the Divine Being. See how one earnest man becomes an army in himself! How true it is that great causes only need great |