94
The locality cannot be identified. The suggestion of Thenius and Ewald, who regard Tabor as equivalent
for Deborah, is scarcely tenable.
95
Thenius and Bottcher render it, "a pillar;" Ewald, "a tax-collector." But the rendering in the text seems the
correct one (comp. 13:3, 4).
96
The difference between the navel and the chinnor is explained in my volume on The Temple, etc., p. 55.
The chinnor differed from our harp in that it was carried in the hand (comp., Samuel 6:5).
97
In the original the clauses - "which there a garrison of the Philistines", - reads like an emphatic
parenthesis, altogether meaningless except for the purpose indicated in the text.
98
This is the view of Bunsen, and especially of Oehler, and seems to afford the only correct interpretation of
the saying.
99
Samuel speaks of "the Spirit of Jehovah," while in the actual narrative we read of the "Spirit of Elohim."
Can the change of term have been intentional?
100
See Vol. 3 of this History.
101
If I may express it by a play upon two Latin words: In the one case it is affectus ab effectu; in the other, if
there effectus, it is effectus ab affectu.
102
Thus, for example, in the case of Balaam, and even of Pharaoh.
103
Thenius and other writers regard this account of the election of Saul as incompatible with that of the
previous interview between him and Samuel. They accordingly speak of two different accounts here
incorporated into one narrative. But the thoughtful reader will agree with Ewald that closer consideration will
convince us that Saul's appointment would have been incomplete without the public selection at Mizpeh.
104
We note that the lot was, in this instance, not cast but drawn, evidently out of an urn. This is implied in
the expression "taken," or rather "taken out," vers, 20, 21 (comp. Leviticus 16:8; Numbers 33:54; Joshua
7:14). The election was evidently first of tribes, then of clans, (here that of Matri), then of families, and lastly
of individuals in the family selected. As the name of Matri does not otherwise occur, Ewald suggests that it
is a copyist's error for Bichri, 2 Samuel 20:1.
105
So Keil.
106
This is the suggestion of Nagelsbach.
107
This is Ewald's view.
108
The reluctance of Moses and of Jeremiah in similar circumstances afford no parallel, although that of the
former, at least, was the result of weakness in faith. But their hesitation was before God, not before men.
109
Our Authorised Version translates, both here and 1 Samuel 8:9, 11, "the manner;" but the word can only
mean "right," in the sense of right belonging to, or claimed by, any one. Thenius speaks of this as the
establishment of a constitutional monarchy. But if "constitution" there was, it was God-given, not man-
made.
110
Most critics seem to imagine that they had first gone all round Is rael, and only ultimately arrived at
Gibeah, where they addressed themselves to the people, and not to Saul. But this account is in no way