(2) It was a period of transition. The old and the new were meeting, and Saul was not equal to the emergency. Probably few men would have been. But above the tall figure of the king towers evermore Samuel, the prophet of the Lord. His work is no mere political revolution. It was far more a religious reformation. From his home in Ramah he went or. visits, almost pastoral in their character, to places of ancestral sacredness, like Gilgal, Mizpeh, Bethlehem and Bethel, where sac rificial feasts were held and the sanctions of the true faith laid upon the hearts of the people 0 Sam. vii:5, 9; x:8; xvi:4, 5). No use was made of the ark in this time. It remained quietly at Kirjath Jearim. The members of the tribe of Levi found livings wherever they might, some as pri-tate or tribal priests, as in the case of the grandson of Moses (Judg. xviii :3o, R. V.). In connection with the work of Samuel we first learn of the Schools of the Prophets. These companies of men present little that is attractive at first. They seem to have been dervish-like groups of men devoted to the national God, but closely re sembling the similar order of men in the service of Baal, of whom we catch a glimpse at a later time 0 Kings xvii:22-29). In Israel the bands of prophets in the early days of Samuel were of this character, made up of enthusiasts who went about the country rousing themselves to a high pitch of ecstasy by means of the. wild music of the time, and no doubt preaching the religion of fah veh in the fierce spirit of the age. In the circle of such "prophesying" the bystander might be seized with the same enthusiasm, utter similar words, and fall unconscious on the ground; and these manifestations were believed to be divinely in duced (i Sam. x:5-13; xix:18-24). Nothing speaks more eloquently for the wisdom of Sam uel than the fact that with all his loftiness of purpose he did not despise the good these bands of men might accomplish, repulsive as might be their practices. He even identified himself with them in a measure, and by assuming their leader ship 0 Sam. xix:zo) he gradually made of them organizations effective in the propagation of the saner and loftier conceptions of Jahveh and his religion, which appeared in his own work and that of his successors. Such prophets as Elijah and Elisha in later days made large use of the Schools of the Prophets. There was, to be sure, an element of fanaticism and fierce zeal in Sam uel's character, as is shown by his command to Saul to exterminate the Amalekites (i Sam. xv: 1-3), and his killing of Agag, their king, with his own, hands (I Sam. xv :32, 33), in both of which acts Ile believed himself fulfilling the divine will. But these are rare blemishes in a splendid career of many years. in one of the most critical periods of the history. No loftier prophetic note was ever struck than that uttered in his famous words, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (I Sam. xv :22).
Under divine direction he raised up Saul. and then rejected him from the kingship, and the dark close of the gig-antic king's career only makes the character of the great prophet more impres sive by contrast. His reforms underlay the throne of David. New disclosures of divine truth had come through him, and the vision of God and righteousness was enlarged.
(3) David's contribution to the religious thought of his times is somewhat problematical, and the solution of the problem depends upon the amount of Psalm material we may assign him, Depending alone on the records of his life, how ever embellished by later writers, we discover him to have been a man marked by strikingly variant qualities. His unfavorable traits are in ample evidence.. Among .them are found duplic ity (I Sam. xxi :2), a spirit of revenge and cru elty in war 0 Sam. xxx:17; 2 Sam. viii :2; xii: 29-30, and his sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam. xi), which wrought such havoc in his family. These were the faults of his age, and he must be judged by its standards, not those of our own day. Yet he was brave, generous 0 Sam. xxiv:1-16; xxvi: 5-9), and intent upon the establishment of re ligion in his capital. He brought up the ark,
which had lain in obscurity through the reign of Saul, and established it in Jerusalem (2 Sam. vi). Moreover, he honored Nathan the prophet, and made instant confession of his sin upon that prophet's rebuke (2 Sam. xii:t-to). If the fifty first Psalm may be considered Davidic, we have in that beautiful utterance, which has become the world's confessional, another proof of his repent ance.
(4) There is abundant proof of superstition and imperfect religious ideas in this time. Saul gave to his children names compoundeo with Baal. A teraph was owned by Michal, his daugh ter, David's wife 0 Sam. xix:13). Saul, though he had rigorously enforced the law againct witch craft, consulted a necromancer in his last distress 0 Sam. xxviii). An accident on the journey of the ark to Jerusalem was interpreted as a sign of divine wrath (2 Sam. vi :6, 7). In a time of continued drought David was informed that the reason lay in an injustice done the city of Gibeon by Saul, and the king, in response to a demand made by the citizens of that place, hung seven of Saul's descendants (2 Sam. xxi:t-14). The be lief that the divine sanction could be given to such an atrocity marks a degree of superstition above which even David did not rise.
(5) David was a devoted follower of Jahveh. There could be no suspicion of idolatry in his na ture. The reverence paid to the prophet Nathan shows that his office was held in higher honor than even the kingship. Levitical priests were established by the king at the sanctuary in Jeru salem, though he performed their functions at times and made his sons priests (2 Sam. vi :12-4; 2 Sam. viii :18, R. V.) David's sincere love for God and desire to promote religious ideals cannot be questioned. If he as a prophet misjudged in some degree the divine character, it is cnly an added proof of the gradual disclosure of God's nature through the centuries. The fiercer and darker elements inherited from the past were slow to disappear. But little by little the larger vision came. David's ambition to build a costly temple to Jahrell was not gratified. Approved at first by Nathan, it was later discouraged with reasons that must have satisfied the king. but back of which there could hardly fail to lie the fear in the prophet's mind that the inauguration of the more costly ritual of such a building as David had in mind would work disaster to the siinpler faith of which Samuel had been the ex ponent.
(6) Solomon had no such scruples. The work committed to him by his father was pushed with vigor, and soon the temple was complete in all its beauty, and its ritual inaugurated upon a most elaborate scale. One need not question the sin cerity of the king. A most favorable view is given us of his early years and the happy choice he made (1 Kings iii :4, 14). Yet it is easy to see that the result of the temple cult was the seculari zation of religion. The building and its surround ings became one of the sights of the kingdom. The enormous sacrifices (1 Kings viii:5) empha sized the external elements of the religion, but the essentials were too largely disregarded. Very soon thc same spirit of ostentation led him to erect shrines to other gods in his capital, under the in fluence of his foreign wives, and the prophets who saw deepest into the situation perceived that drastic measures alone could remedy the evil case. The prophets were neglected and the priests were elevated in Solomon's reign. There must be a change or the true faith would suffer beyond remedy. The older sanctuaries were being for gotten. The tendency was to substitute an ex pensive iritual in 'one place for righteousness everywhere. Samuel's words were being forgot ten: "To obey is better than sacrifice." If noth ing else could avail, the pride of king and people must be humbled, and the secularization of the nation by commerce and conquest must cease. The only question was when the decisive blow should be struck. The death of Solomon and the elevation of his son Rehoboam furnished the oc casion.