- 147-
(^139) See Vol. 2 of this History.
(^140) This accommodation of the law to each stage of man's moral state, together with
the continuous moral advancement which the law as a schoolmaster was intended
to bring about, and which in turn was met by progressive revelation, renders it
impossible to judge of a Divine command by trying to put it as to our own times,
and as applicable to us. If we put forward the finger-hand on the dial of time, and
the clock still strikes the old hour, we must not infer that the clock is out of order,
but rather that we have unskillfully meddled with it. The principle for which we
have here contended is clearly laid down in the teaching of our blessed Lord about
divorce (Matthew 19:8), and also implied in what St. Paul saith about the law
(Galatians 3:24). The whole of this subject is most admirably and exhaustively
treated by Canon Mozley in his Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, and their Relation to
Old Testament Faith. See especially Lecture 8, on "The Law of Retaliation," and
Lecture 10, "The End the Test of a Progressive Revelation."
(^141) So we understand the figures (1 Samuel 15:4), which otherwise would be
disproportionately large.
(^142) Perhaps the same as Telem (Joshua 15:24). Rashi has it, that Saul numbered the
people by making each pick out a lamb, since it was unlawful to number the people
directly.
(^143) Another branch of that tribe was hostile to Israel: comp. Numbers 24:21, etc.
(^144) Of course, not literally all the Amalekites, but all who fell into their hands:
comp. 27:8; 30:1; 2 Samuel 8:12; 1 Chronicles 4:43.
(^145) Not a personal but an appellative name, like Pharaoh. Agag means "the fiery."
(^146) The word must be rendered either so, or else, according to some of the Rabbis,
"animals of the second birth" (animalia secundo partu edita), which are supposed to
be better than the first-born.
(^147) The modern Kurmul, three hours south of Hebron, the place of Nabal's
possessions (25:2, 5, 7, 40).
(^148) Ver. 12, erroneously rendered in our Authorised Version: "he set him up a
place." The word literally means "a hand," and is again used for "monument" in 2
Samuel 18:18. Phoenician monuments have been found with hands on them.
(^)