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spiritually trained in that "time of ignorance," which "God overlooked." To come to
the particular question in hand. Nothing could be more clear in the Old Testament
than the Divine insistence on truthfulness. He Himself condescends to be His
people's example in this. The command not to lie one to another (Leviticus 19:11) is
enforced by the consideration, "I am Jehovah," and springs as a necessary sequence
from the principle: "Be ye holy, for I Jehovah your God am holy." It is scarcely
requisite to add, that in no other part of Holy Scripture is this more fully or
frequently enforced than in the Book of Psalms. And yet, when occasion arose,
David himself seems not to have scrupled to seek safety through falsehood, though
with what little success appears in his history. It appears as if to his mind untruth had
seemed only that which was false in the intention or in its object, not that which was
simply untrue in itself, however good the intention might be, or however desirable
the object thereby sought.^184 And in this connection it deserves notice, how among
the few express moral precepts which the New Testament gives - for it deals in
principles rather than in details; it gives life, not law, -this about lying recurs with
emphatic distinctness and frequency.^185
As might almost have been anticipated, David's destination in his flight was Ramah.
To tell Samuel, who had anointed him, all that had happened; to ask his guidance,
and seek refreshment in his company, would obviously suggest itself first to his
mind. For greater safety, the two withdrew from the city, to "Naioth," "the
dwellings," which seems to have been a block of dwellings within a compound,
occupied by an order of prophets, of which Samuel was the "president,"^186 and, we
may add, the founder. Not that "prophetism" (if the term may be used) commenced
with Samuel.
In the sense of being the bearers of God's message, the patriarchs are called
"prophets" (Genesis 20:7; Psalm 105:15). But in its strict sense the term first applied
to Moses (Numbers 11:25; Deuteronomy 34:10; Hosea 12:13). Miriam was a
prophetess (Exodus 15:20; comp. Numbers 12:2). In the days of the Judges there
were prophets (Judges 4:4; 6:8). At the time of Eli, prophetic warning came through
a "man of God" (1 Samuel 2:27); and although "the word of God" (or prophecy)
"was rare" in those days (1 Samuel 3:1), yet it came not upon the people as a strange
and unknown manifestation (comp. also 1 Samuel 9:9). Here, however, we must
make distinction between the prophetic gift and the prophetic office. The latter, so
far as appears, began with Samuel. A further stage is marked in the days of Elijah
and Elisha. Then they were no longer designated "prophets," as at the time of
Samuel, but "sons of the prophets," or "disciples" (1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 4:38;
6:1). Lastly, whereas we read of only one prophetic community, Naioth, in the time
of Samuel, and that close to his residence at Ramah, there were several such in the
days of Elisha, in different parts of the country - as at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho.
Whether there was a continuous succession in this from Samuel to Elijah can
(^)