pair the most ordinary
agricultural implements was forced to address himself to the Philistine
blacksmiths.** The very extremity of the evil worked its own cure. The
fear of the Midian-ites had already been the occasion of the ephemeral
rule of Jerubbaal and Abimelech; the Philistine tyranny forced first the
tribes of Central and then those of Southern Canaan to unite under the
leadership of one man. In face of so redoubtable an enemy and so grave a
peril a greater effort was required, and the result was proportionate to
their increased activity.

* This manner of retaliating against the Philistines for the
disaster they had formerly inflicted on Israel, is supposed
by some critics to be an addition of a later date, either
belonging to the time of the prophets, or to the period when
the Jews, without any king or settled government, rallied at
Mizpah. According to these scholars, 1 Sam. vii. 2-14 forms
part of a biography, written at a time when the foundation
of the Benjamite monarchy had not as yet been attributed to
Saul.

** 1 Sam. xiii. 20, 21.

The Manassite rule extended at most over two or three clans, but that
of Saul and David embraced the Israelite nation.* Benjamin at that
time reckoned among its most powerful chiefs a man of ancient and
noble family--Saul, the son of Kish--who possessed extensive flocks and
considerable property, and was noted for his personal beauty, for "there
was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from
his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people."** He had
already reached mature manhood, and had several children, the eldest
of whom, Jonathan, was well known as a skilful and brave soldier, while
Saul's reputation was such that his kinsmen beyond Jordan had recourse
to his aid as to a hero whose presence would secure victory. The
Ammonites had laid siege to Jabesh-Gilead, and the town was on the point
of surrendering; Saul came to their help, forced the enemy to raise the
siege, and inflicted such a severe lesson upon them, that during the
whole of his lifetime they did not again attempt hostilities. He was
soon after proclaimed king by the Benjamites, as Jerubbaal had been
raised to authority by the Manassites on the morrow of his victory.***

* The beginning of Saul's reign, up to his meeting with
David, will be found in 1 Sam. viii.-xv. We can distinguish
the remains of at lea