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unto thee, do for thyself as thine hand shall find, for Elohim is with thee. And when
thou goest down before me to Gilgal, - and behold I am going down to thee,^126 - to
offer burnt-offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings, seven days shalt
thou tarry till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do."
The first part of Samuel's injunction - to do as his hand should find - Saul had
followed when making war against Nahash. It is the second part which sounds so
mysterious. It will be remembered that, immediately after the defeat of Nahash, Saul
and the people had, on the suggestion of Samuel, gone to Gilgal, there to "renew the
kingdom." Manifestly that visit to Gilgal could not have been meant, since, so far
from having to wait seven days for the arrival of Samuel, the prophet had
accompanied Saul thither. It can, therefore, only have been intended to apply to this
retreat of Saul upon Gilgal in preparation for his first great campaign against the
Philistines.^127
And what to us sounds so mysterious in the language of Samuel may not have been
so at the time to Saul. During that communing on the roof of Samuel's house, or
afterwards, the two may have spoken of a great war against the Philistines, and of
the necessity of gathering all Israel in preparation for it to Gilgal, not only for
obvious military reasons, but as the place where the "reproach of Israel had first been
rolled away (Joshua 5:9), and whence appropriately the re-conquest of the land
should commence by sacrifices and seeking the direction of the Lord.
But even if at the time when first uttered by Samuel it had seemed mysterious to
Saul, there could be no doubt that the injunction applied to the circumstances in
which the king and his followers now found themselves. What should he do? Day by
day passed without tidings of Samuel, and still his followers decreased, and the
hearts of those who remained waxed more feeble. Yet Saul did wait the full seven
days which Samuel had appointed. But when the seventh day was drawing to a
close^128 he forbore no longer; and although, as he said, most reluctantly, he had the
sacrifices offered, no doubt by the regular priesthood (comp. 2 Samuel 24:,5; 1
Kings 3:4; 8:63).
No sooner had the sacrifices been offered, than on a sudden Samuel himself
appeared - as we understand it, before the full term which he had set for his arrival
had actually been passed. Whether simply to brave it, or, as seems to us more likely,
from real ignorance of the import of what he had done, Saul went to meet and salute
Samuel. But the prophet came as God's messenger. He denounced the folly of Saul,
and his sin in disobeying the express command of the Lord, and intimated that, had
he stood the test, his kingdom, or royal line, would have been established, whereas
now his throne would pass to a worthier successor. Not, therefore, his personal
rejection, nor even that of his title to the throne, but only that of his "kingdom," or
(^)