might see that he would accompany him in
worshipping God. So Samuel granted him that favor, and went with him and
worshipped God. Agag also, the king of the Amalekites, was brought to
him; and when the king asked, How bitter death was? Samuel said, "As
thou hast made many of the Hebrew mothers to lament and bewail the loss
of their children, so shalt thou, by thy death, cause thy mother to
lament thee also." Accordingly, he gave order to slay him immediately at
Gilgal, and then went away to the city Ramah.

CHAPTER 8. How, Upon Saul's Transgression Of The Prophet's Commands,
Samuel Ordained Another Person To Be King Privately, Whose Name Was
David, As God Commanded Him.

1. Now Saul being sensible of the miserable condition he had brought
himself into, and that he had made God to be his enemy, he went up to
his royal palace at Gibeah, which name denotes a hill, and after that
day he came no more into the presence of the prophet. And when Samuel
mourned for him, God bid him leave off his concern for him, and to take
the holy oil, and go to Bethlehem, to Jesse the son of Obed, and to
anoint such of his sons as he should show him for their future king. But
Samuel said, he was afraid lest Saul, when he came to know of it, should
kill him, either by some private method or even openly. But upon
God's suggesting to him a safe way of going thither, he came to the
forementioned city; and when they all saluted him, and asked what was
the occasion of his coming, he told them he came to sacrifice to God.
When, therefore, he had gotten the sacrifice ready, he called Jesse and
his sons to partake of those sacrifices; and when he saw his eldest son
to be a tall and handsome man, he guessed by his comeliness that he
was the person who was to be their future king. But he was mistaken in
judging about God's providence; for when Samuel inquired of God whether
he should anoint this youth, whom he so admired, and esteemed worthy of
the kingdom, God said, "Men do not see as God seeth. Thou indeed hast
respect to the fine appearance of this youth, and thence esteemest him
worthy of the kingdom, while I propose the kingdom as a reward, not of
the beauty of bodies, but of the virtue of souls, and I inquire
after one that is perfectly comely in that respect; I mean one who is
beautiful in piety, and righteousness, and fortitude, and obedience, for
in them consists the comeliness of the soul." When God had said this,
Samuel bade Jesse to