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CHAPTER 1 :Purport and Lessons of the Books of Samuel - Eli -
Hannah's Prayer and Vow - The Birth of Samuel - Dedication of the
Child -Hannah's Song. (2 SAMUEL 1-2:11)
ONCE more, after long and ominous silence, the interest of the sacred story turns
towards the Tabernacle which God had pitched among men, and the Priesthood
which He had instituted. The period of the Judges had run its full course, and
wrought no deliverance in Israel. In this direction, evidently, help or hope was not to
be looked for. More than that, in the case of Samson, it had appeared how even the
most direct aid on the part of God might be frustrated by the self-indulgence of man.
A new beginning had again to be made; but, as we have hitherto noticed in all
analogous cases in sacred history, not wholly new, but one long foreshadowed and
prepared.
Two great institutions were now to be prominently brought forward and established,
both marking a distinct advance in the history of Israel, and showing forth more
fully than before its typical character. These two institutions were the Prophetic
Order and the Monarchy. Both are connected with the history of Samuel. And this
explains alike why the books which record this part of sacred history bear the name
of Samuel, and why they close not with the death of David, as might have been
expected in a biography or in a history of his reign, but with the final establishment
of his kingdom (2 Samuel 20). At the close of 2 Samuel four chapters (21-24.) are
added as a sort of appendix, in which various events are ranged, not chronologically,
but in accordance with the general plan and scope of the work, which is: to present
Israel as the kingdom of God, and as under the guidance of the spirit of prophecy.
This also explains two other peculiarities. In a work compiled with such an object
constantly in view, we do not expect, nor do we find in it, a strictly chronological
arrangement of events. Again, we notice large gaps in the history of Samuel, Saul,
and David, long periods and important facts being omitted, with which the author
must have been acquainted - and to which, indeed, in some instances, he afterwards
expressly refers, - while other periods and events are detailed at great length. All
these peculiarities are not accidental, but designed, and in accordance with the
general plan of the work. For, we must bear in mind, that as in the case of other parts
of Holy Scripture, so in the Books of Samuel, we must not look for biographies, as
of Samuel, Saul, and David, nor yet expect merely an account of their
administration, but a history of the kingdom of God during a new period in its
development, and in a fresh stage of its onward movement towards the end. That end
was the establishment of the kingdom of God in Him to Whom alike the Aaronic
priesthood, the prophetic order, and Israel's royalty were intended to point. These
three institutions were prominently brought forward in the new period which opens
in the books of Samuel. First, we have in the history of Eli a revival of the interest
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