how she might bring it to pass. And one day she called Ruth and thus and so she said to her, and Ruth, who thought that everything that Naomi said was right, promised to do as she was told. And that night the wind was blowing and the moon was shining, and Boaz was working late, winnowing barley in the threshing-floor, he and his men, and after supper he lay down on the floor at the end of the heap of barley and went to sleep. And in the middle of the night he waked and turned over to sleep again, and there was Ruth.
And Boaz said, “Who is this?”
And she said, “I am Ruth. My husband’s father was your cousin.”
And he said, “You have done well, my daughter, to come to me. I will do whatever you wish. Only there is a kinsman nearer than I. We must first see him. Lie down now and sleep.” So she lay down and slept, and the next morning, before the day was light, she rose up and went home.
And that day Boaz sat by the city gate, and the kinsman passed. “Ho!” called Boaz, “turn aside and sit down here.” And Boaz called ten men to sit beside them. “Now,” said Boaz, “Naomi has some land to sell which belonged to our brother Elimelech. Will you buy it?”
“Yes,” the kinsman said, “I will.”
“But wait!” said Boaz. “Whoever buys the land must take Naomi with it, and Ruth her daughter.”
“That is too much for me,” said the kinsman, and he took off his shoe to show that he would not buy.
“Then the land is mine,” said Boaz. And the next day he married Ruth amidst the rejoicings of all the people of Bethlehem. And by and by there was a little boy named Obed, and he became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.
ONE time, in the hill country, among the mountains of Ephraim, there lived a farmer named Elkanah. He and Hannah his wife were comfortably rich. They had fields of wheat and vineyards of grapes, and flocks and herds, and plenty of hay in the barn; but in one way they were poor,—they had no children. Sometimes Hannah cried because the house was so empty and still, and there were no voices of children in it. Sometimes she was so sad and lonely that she could not eat, and though her husband tried to comfort her, and said, “Hannah, am I not better to you than ten sons?” still she was full of grief. For children are the best gift which God gives to man, and all the cornfields and vineyards and sheep and oxen in the world are not to be compared with them.
One day, Hannah went in to town, to Shiloh; and as she passed the church she stopped and knelt down on the steps and prayed with all her heart that God would give her a son. And Eli, the minister, was sitting on a bench by the church door. Eli was an old man, and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who had become ministers in his place, were not only bad ministers, but bad men, so that many people had stopped going to church. In those days, when people went to church, they carried sheep with them, or other animals, to offer to God. This they did that they might show God that they truly loved Him: they gave Him the best they had. But when they came with their sacrifices, and the meat was in the pot cooking over the church fire, Hophni and Phinehas would send their servants, each with a great three-pronged fork in his hand, and they would thrust their forks into the pot, and whatever they brought up they would carry away to their masters. “Give us meat,” they said, “for the priests.” And if anybody objected, the servants answered, “If you will not give it, we will take it from you by force.” Thus Hophni and Phinehas had plenty to eat, and grew rich, and became more wicked day by day, but the number of persons who came to church grew less and less. So when Eli saw Hannah praying at the church steps he was surprised. Nobody had been to church to pray for a long time. He could not believe, at first, that she was really praying; her lips moved, but she made no sound. And because he was old and his eyes were bad so that he could not see well, he thought that she was some drunken person.
“Come, come,” he said at last, “how long wilt thou be drunken?” But she said, “Sir, I am not drunken. I am praying my prayers.” And she told him what she was praying for. And Eli said, “My daughter, go in peace. May the God of Israel grant thy request.”
And the God of Israel did grant her request. God sent a little son to Hannah and Elkanah, and they named him Samuel. And when the child was two years old, they went one day to the church in Shiloh, and there was Eli sitting by the door. And they said, “Sir, do you remember the woman who was here praying for a son? Here she is, and here is her son with her. And we have promised that the lad shall belong to the Lord. Take him now and bring him up to be a minister of the church.” And they went away, leaving the child behind them. And Eli took care of the little boy, and because his own sons had turned out so badly, he took the greater pains with Samuel, and taught him to be obedient and honest and to tell the truth. And every year his mother came to see him and brought him a little coat which she had made with her own hands.
At last, one night when Eli was so old that he could hardly see, and Samuel had grown to be a sturdy lad, they were both asleep in the same room. There was a great box in the room called the Ark, and in it were the two tables of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written, and over it hung a lamp which was kept burning every night.
And Samuel heard a voice calling his name, “Samuel!” and he answered, “Here am I,” and ran to see what Eli wanted. But Eli said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”
So Samuel went and lay down, and again there was a voice, “Samuel! Samuel!” And again Samuel ran to Eli, saying, “Here am I,” and Eli said, “I did not call.” And this happened a third time.
Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and if you hear the voice again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’ ” And pretty soon he heard the voice again, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”
Then the Lord spoke and said, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. I will punish Eli and his sons for all the evil that is done, for they have behaved themselves wickedly and he did not stop them.” Then there was silence, and by and by the lamp burned out, and the sun rose and it was light, and Samuel got up and opened the doors and let the morning breeze blow in. And Eli said, “Samuel, what did the Lord say?” And Samuel did not like to tell, but Eli urged him, and he told. And Eli said, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.”
WELL, things went on from bad to worse. One day a stranger came to Eli and stood before him as he sat on the bench by the church door. And the stranger said, “Hear what the Lord God says to you, Eli. I chose your father to be my priest, to minister at my altar, to burn incense before me, and to offer the sacrifices of my people. And now you honor your sons more than you honor me, and they are making themselves rich by stealing the offerings which the people bring. Therefore it shall come to pass that your two sons shall die both of them in one day, and your grandchildren shall be so poor that they shall stand begging at the church steps, saying, ‘Give me a little money and a bit of bread, for I am hungry.’ ” But it was too late. The time to teach people to be good is when they are young, and Eli had let that time go by. He had allowed his sons to do whatever they pleased when they were small boys, and now he could not stop them.
Then the Philistines, the neighbors and old enemies of Israel, began to be troublesome again. The Philistines lived in the long plain by the sea, and the Israelites lived among the hills, and a river ran from the hills into the plain, making a deep valley. Up this valley climbed the Philistines, till they came to a town of the Israelites called Beth-shemesh. And in a field beside the town was a great rock called Ebenezer. And there they had a battle, the Philistines against the Israelites, and the Israelites ran away. And that night the Israelites held a council and said, “What can we do? for the Philistines are mightier than we.” And they said, “Let us go to the church in Shiloh and get the Ark of God. If we have that among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.” For they remembered how when their fathers crossed the Jordan, at the beginning, the Ark was carried at the head of the host; and how it was borne by the priests, with blowing of trumpets, at the siege of Jericho. So they took the Ark out of the Shiloh church, and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, carried it, one at one end and the other at the other. And when the Ark came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again with the echo of it. “Let God arise,” they cried, “and let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate Him flee before Him!” For that was the battle cry of Israel.
Now the Philistines in their camp heard the noise of the shout, and they said, “What is the meaning of the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?” And they sent men to find out, and the men came back and said, “God is come into the camp! The God of Israel who smote the Egyptians with plagues, and who has won the men of Israel so many victories over their enemies, is in the camp. Woe unto us! Such a thing has never happened since the Philistines became a nation. Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hands of this mighty God?” And they held a council to determine what to do. It was plain that they must make a choice between two things: either they must run away as soon as they could and as fast as they could, or else they must fight harder than they had ever fought. Of these they chose the second, like brave men. They said one to another, “Be strong, O ye Philistines, and quit yourselves like men, that ye be not servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men and fight.”
So the battle came on again, and the Philistines fought like heroes, and the Israelites were beaten worse than ever. They ran like sheep when the wolves are after them. And the Ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
Now Eli was almost a hundred years old, and blind. And that day, while the battle was raging afar off, he sat on his bench by the side of the road, at the church door, and waited for the news. And his heart trembled within him for fear. And by and by a man came running out of the army from the scene of battle. His clothes were torn, and there was dust upon his head; so that all who saw him knew at once that the army of Israel had been defeated. But Eli could not see him. And all who saw cried out with a great cry, “What is it? What has happened?” And the runner told them.
And Eli heard the noise of the crying, and he said, “What is the meaning of the noise of this tumult?” And the man from the battle hastened to Eli and said, “I am he that came out of the army, and I am fled to-day out of the army.”
And Eli said, “What is done there, my son?” And the messenger answered, “Israel is fled from before the Philistines; and there has been a great slaughter among the people; and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the Ark of God is taken!”
And it came to pass when the messenger made mention of the Ark of God that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. Thus the word of the Lord came true which He said to Samuel, that the wickedness of Eli’s sons should be punished in such a way that both the ears of all who heard of it should tingle.
THE Philistines had five strong cities, and the strongest of these was Ashdod, which means “the fort.” When they had defeated the Israelites at Beth-shemesh, beside the great rock Ebenezer, and had taken away the Ark of God, they made all haste to get to Ashdod. Down they came along the valley and across the plain till they drew near the sea. And they shut the gates of Ashdod behind them. And the Ark of God they carried to the temple of their own god, Dagon. For many people thought in those days that there were as many gods as there were countries, each having its own. Thus they believed that the Lord was the god of the land of Israel, but that Dagon was the god of the land of the Philistines. So in every city they had a temple of Dagon. Samson had pulled down the one which belonged to the city of Gaza, but they had built it up again.
They carried the Ark of God into Dagon’s temple at Ashdod, and set it down before Dagon’s image. For to this image the Philistines said their prayers, and cried “O Dagon, hear us!” And they thought that the image could hear them. They left the Ark before the Idol, and shut the temple doors that night, and went home. But the next morning, when the Philistines came to the temple at service time to thank Dagon for giving them victory over the Israelites, behold the image of Dagon had fallen down and lay upon the floor. That seemed very strange. But they set the image up again, and shut the temple doors when the sun went down, and left the Ark and the Idol together as before. And the next morning, when they came in, behold, the image of Dagon lay on the floor again before the Ark, and this time his head and both his hands were broken off.
And not only did this strange thing happen, but the people of Ashdod began to feel sick. The plague broke out among them. And at the same time, the mice began to eat the wheat and the vines. The mice came, nibbling and nibbling till they destroyed all that grew in the fields. And wherever the mice went, the plague went with them. And the people of Ashdod said one to another, “It is on account of the Ark of God.” And they took the Ark and sent it to the city of Gath. And at Gath the same thing happened. The mice came and the plague followed them, and everybody was sick. And from this city it was taken
to another and another. And everywhere the mice and the plague appeared.
At last the Ark was brought to Ekron. And there it came to pass that all the city cried out, saying, “They have brought about the Ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.” And that very day the mice came, and the plague. And the men of Ekron sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the Ark of the God of Israel, and let it go to its own place, that it slay us not and our people.” And the lords of the Philistines sent for the priests and the diviners, for all the wisest people of the land, and said, “What shall we do to the Ark of the Lord? how shall we send it to its place?” And the wise men said, “Make a new cart, and take two cows and tie them to the cart, and bring their calves home from them. And take the Ark of God and lay it on the cart, and in a box beside the Ark put five gold mice, one for each of your cities. And see what the kine will do. If they go back home to their calves, then we shall know that this is all an accident, it just happened so; but if they go straight towards the land of Israel, then we shall know that it is the Lord’s doing.”
So they made a new cart, and five gold mice, and they put the Ark upon the cart and the mice beside it, and they tied the two cows to the cart and took away their calves, and watched to see what they would do. And, behold, the kine went straight towards the land of Israel, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand nor to the left. Along the valley road they went towards Beth-shemesh, and the lords of the Philistines followed after them. And at Beth-shemesh, men were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the Ark and rejoiced to see it. And the cows came into the field of a man named Joshua, and there stood still. And it was the field in which the battle had been fought when the Ark had been taken. And the cart stopped beside the great stone, Ebenezer. And the men of Beth-shemesh took the Ark and put it on the top of the great stone, and the five gold mice beside it. And they took the cart and split it up and made a fire for a sacrifice, and there upon the fire they offered God the kine for a burnt offering. And then they rejoiced and gave thanks unto the Lord.
THE asses had run away. They had found a hole in the fence and had got out into the road, and nobody knew where they were. So Saul’s father said, “Saul, the asses are lost. Take one of the men with you and go and find them.” And they went in search, Saul and the hired man. And here they looked, and there they looked, down this way and down that, in the woods and in the fields, but they were nowhere to be found. They hunted for them for three days, in vain.
At last, Saul said to the servant, “Come, let us go home. My father will fear that we are lost, as well as the asses. He will be anxious.”
But the servant said, “In the next town there lives a seer. He is the wisest man in all the land. He can see through mountains and tell what is on the other side, and he knows what is going to happen to-morrow and next year. Let us go to him. Perhaps he can tell us where the asses are, and which way we ought to take to find them.”
“We ought not to go to the seer,” said Saul, “without a gift. We ought to take him some sort of present for his trouble. But our hands are as empty as our basket. What can we give him?”
And the servant answered, “I have a little silver money in my purse. That will I give to the man of God to tell us our way.”
“Well said,” replied Saul; “come let us go.” So they went to the next town to find the seer.
The city where the seer lived lay on the side of a hill, and there was a well by the gate, and as Saul and his servant drew near they found young maidens going out, with pitchers on their heads, to fetch water for supper. And they said to the maidens, “Is the seer here?” And they answered them and said, “He is: behold, he is before you. This is the day of a feast on the top of the hill, and of a sacrifice to the Lord. And already the people are waiting for the seer, for they will not sit down to the table until he comes to ask the blessing. He will be coming out of the gate directly. You are just in time to meet him.” And as they spoke there came an old man out of the gate, tall and wrapped in a cloak.
And Saul said, “Will you kindly tell me where the seer’s house is?”
And the old man said, “I am the seer. I am Samuel, the seer. I have been expecting you. You must dine with me to-day, and spend the night.”
And when Saul said that he must go home, because his father would be worried about him and about the asses, Samuel said, “The lost asses have been found. And you are found also; for I perceive that you are he on whom is the desire of all Israel.”
And Saul said, “Why do you speak so to me? My tribe is the least of the tribes, and my father’s family is the least of the families of my tribe. What do you mean?” But Samuel did not reply, and Saul followed him up to the top of the hill, greatly wondering.
Now there was a house at the top of the hill, and about thirty men who had been invited to dinner were waiting in the parlor. In came Samuel, bringing Saul and his servant, just as they were in their dusty clothes; and Samuel gave them the best seats at the table, Saul on his right and Saul’s servant on his left. And Samuel called the cook and said, “Bring me the portion of meat which I told you to set apart for me,” and the cook brought in a leg of lamb and set it before Samuel. And Samuel said to Saul, “I knew that you were coming, and when I sent the invitations I had a place and a portion kept for you.” So Saul ate with Samuel, and was more and more astonished.
At last the feast was over, and the guests went down from the top of the hill to their houses in the city, and Saul and his servant went home with Samuel. And as the sun went down, and the cool wind began to blow in the hot streets and the stars came out, Samuel took Saul upstairs to the flat roof, and there they sat and had a long talk together.
And Samuel said, “Saul, I had a dream about you yesterday afternoon. I heard in my dream the voice of God saying, ‘To-morrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him king over my people Israel.’ And to-day, when I came to the gate and saw you, the Lord said in my heart, ‘There is the man of whom I spoke.’ ”
The next morning they rose as the sun was coming up over the side of the hill. And Samuel went with Saul to show him the right road. And as they came out of the city into the open country, Samuel said, “Bid the servant to pass on before us, but you wait here a while that I may show you what is the will of God.” So the servant went on ahead, and they two were alone. And Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it on Saul’s head, and kissed him, and
said, “The Lord has anointed you to be the king of Israel.” Then Saul and his servant went towards home. And two men met them who said, “Saul, the asses are found, but your father is greatly worried about you. He is sorrowing for you, and saying, ‘What shall I do for my son?’ ”
WHEN Saul reached home after his adventure with the seer, he was very silent. Three men had met him by the way, one with three kids, another with three baskets of bread, and the third carrying a skin bottle of wine; and they had stopped and saluted him as some great person, and had given him two loaves. And down from the top of a hill had come a procession of prophets with the music of tambourines and flutes and harps and cymbals, singing and dancing as they came, and Saul had felt moved to join them, so that they who passed by and saw him were astonished, and said, “Is Saul among the prophets?” But of all this he said nothing. When his uncle Abner said, “Where have you been all this time?” he answered, “We went to seek the asses, and when we saw that they were nowhere, we came to Samuel.”
“And what did Samuel say?” asked Abner.
“Why, Uncle Abner,” said Saul, “he told us plainly that the asses were found.” But the words of Samuel concerning the kingdom of Israel, he told him not.
Presently, Samuel called the people of Israel together and said, “You have asked the Lord to give you a king, and the Lord has granted your request. This very day, even as I speak, the king stands among you. Come now, pass before me tribe by tribe.” So they passed before him tribe by tribe, and he chose the tribe of Benjamin. And he made the tribe of Benjamin to pass before him family by family, and he chose the family of Kish, Saul’s father. And he caused the family of Kish to pass before him man by man, but there was one man missing. Where was Saul? So they sent men to find him, for he had hidden himself. And they found him and brought him out, and there he stood before the people, the tallest and goodliest man in all the country round, head and shoulders above everybody. And Samuel said, “You see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people.” And they all shouted with a great shout, “God save the king!”
As for Saul, though he was now a king, he went back the next day to his own home and went to work again on the farm as if nothing had happened. Indeed, it seemed for a time as if the people, in spite of their shouting, would not take him for their king. Some of them said, “How shall this man save us?” And they despised him and sent him no presents. But he was silent as before, and attended to his own business in the field and in the barn, and held his peace.
At last, one day, news came of the Challenge of the Right Eyes. The king was plowing when the messengers arrived, and as he came home in the afternoon, driving the oxen before him, he heard a great commotion among the people. “What is the matter?” he asked. “What ails the people that they weep?” So they told Saul the news.
The men of Ammon, whom Jephthah had fought and chased away, had come back and laid siege to a town in Gilead called Jabesh. They had encamped around it, so that nobody could go out or come in, and the citizens could get no food. So the men of Jabesh said to Nahash the king of the men of Ammon, “We will surrender the city. Only make an agreement of peace with us, and we will be your servants.” But Nahash answered, “I will make peace with you on one condition: that I may thrust out all your right eyes.” Then the men of Jabesh were in a sad plight, and they said, “Give us seven days to find help. If at the end of the week, there is no one to save us, then we will come out, and you shall take our eyes.” Then they sent messengers across the Jordan, and it was their report which made Saul’s neighbors cry aloud.
And when Saul heard it, the Spirit of God came upon him. His anger was kindled into a fierce blaze at the cruel threats of the men of Ammon. Instantly he took a yoke of oxen and killed them and cut them into pieces. And he sent messengers each with a bleeding piece of flesh to all the towns of Israel; and the messengers cried, “Whoever comes not forth after Saul to fight against the men of Ammon, so shall it be done to his oxen.” And great fear fell on all the people, and they came out with one consent. And word was sent to the men of Jabesh, “To-morrow by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.”
So the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “To-morrow we will come out to you, and you shall do to us all that is in your heart.” But Nahash had no knowledge of the march of Saul. Saul marched his army all that night; and early in the morning he fell upon the Ammonites before they were awake, and attacked them on this side and on that, and beat them, and chased them back into the desert, till no two of them were left together. Then some said, “Where are the enemies of Saul, who would not have him for their king? Let us put them to death.” But Saul would not permit it. “There shall not a man be put to death this day,” he said. So they crowned Saul over again. “Come,” they said, “let us renew the kingdom.” And all the people promised to obey King Saul.
THE wife of King Saul was named Ahinoam. They had five children, three boys and two girls. And the name of their eldest son was Jonathan. Jonathan was like his father, tall and handsome, and he was as brave as he was modest. It was said that he could run as fast as an eagle could fly.
At that time, most of the men of Israel who could run were running away, in fear of the Philistines. The Philistines had taken possession of the land. The Israelites had neither swords nor spears; and, in order to keep them from making any, the Philistines had banished the blacksmiths. Every time a man wanted to get his axe or his plow sharpened he had to go to the country of the Philistines. There was little use, however, for plows or axes, for the Israelites were afraid to go to work either in the fields or in the woods. They hid themselves in caves and in thickets and among the rocks and on the tops of the mountains and in pits. Some of them left the country, and went over the Jordan to the land of Gilead. Saul, indeed, had six hundred soldiers, but they followed him trembling.
Now across the central mountains of the land, there was a pass, so that men might go across the country from the Jordan River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west. The valley of Michmash led up from the Jordan on one side and the valley of Ajalon led down to the sea-coast on the other. On the south side of this deep and narrow pass was a place called Geba; there Saul was encamped with his six hundred trembling men. On the north side was a place called Michmash; there the Philistines had so great an army that to count them was like counting the sand of the sea. There was a sharp rock on the north, called Bozez, the Shining; and a sharp rock on the south, called Seneh, the Strong; and the wood lay between them.
Then the young prince, Jonathan, spoke to his armor-bearer and said, “Come and let us go over to the Philistine garrison. It may be that the Lord will bless us, for it matters not to Him whether we be many or few.”
And the squire, his armor-bearer, said, “Do what you will; I will go with you.”
Now King Saul was sitting under a tree on the other side of the camp, so that he did not know what Jonathan was doing.
Jonathan said, “We will climb down to the bottom of the pass and show ourselves to the enemy. If they say, ‘Stay there, you Israelites, till we come down and get you,’ we will stand still in our place. But if they say, ‘Come up here, if you dare,’ then we will go up. That shall be a sign that the Lord is on our side.”
And pretty soon the watchmen of the Philistines saw two men in the wood at the bottom of the pass. And the Philistines said, “See, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they had hid themselves.” And they called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.”
And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come now, for the day is ours.”
And he climbed up the steep face of the pass on his hands and knees, and his squire climbed up after him. And suddenly, when nobody was looking, they fell upon the Philistines, shouting like a hundred men. And there was a panic in the Philistine camp. Nobody knew just what had happened. Some thought that a great army of Israelites, twice the size of theirs, and every soldier as big as a giant, had attacked them. And they began to tremble, and those who were next beyond them trembled, and even the earth trembled, so that it was a very great trembling. And they ran one against another.
And King Saul came out from under the tree where he had been sitting, and looked across the valley, he and his soldiers, and they said, “What is the matter? What is going on in the Philistine camp? Why do they run?” And Saul said, “See who is gone from us.” And it was found that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing. So they knew that these were the heroes who had scared the army of the Philistines. At first the men of Israel were uncertain what to do, whether to fight or to pray. Saul sent for the priest, and the priest gathered the people and began to pray that they might know what all this meant and what God would have them do. But while he prayed the noise in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased, and it was plain that the multitude was running like frightened sheep, and beating down one another as they ran. So Saul stopped the priest and called for the captain, and over they all went into the battle. And there were men of Israel in the camp of the Philistines, who had been taken prisoners, and they began to fight against their captors, and all the men who had hidden themselves in caves and pits and among the rocks came out to see what all this noise and tumult meant, and when they saw that the Philistines ran away, they ran after them. So there was a great defeat. And thus the day went until the sun began to set.
Then Saul took a great stone for an altar, and offered upon it the sacrifice of the people, and gave great thanks to God, and there was praise and rejoicing all that night. But the Philistines never stopped running till they had reached their own cities and had locked the gates behind them.
IN the midst of the Adventure of the Great Trembling, a strange thing happened.
King Saul, when he sent his soldiers to chase the Philistines, forbade them to taste food till the setting of the sun. And this he did in a very solemn manner, making a vow, like Jephthah. He said that if any man ate anything before the sun went down, that man must be put to death. But as the day went on, the soldiers grew very hungry. At last they came to a wood, where there were honeycombs lying on the ground; but no man put his hand to his mouth, for they remembered the king’s vow. Then came Jonathan and saw the honey, and before anybody could stop him he reached out a stick and took some honey on the end of it and put it in his mouth. For he knew nothing of the king’s commandment.
Then the sun went down, and after supper Saul said, “Let us go again in pursuit of the enemy.” But the priest forbade it. The priest said that there was sin in the camp. They must first find out the sinner and punish him as the king had vowed. And Saul said, “Come near now, all you chiefs, and let us see where the sin has been this day. For, as the Lord liveth, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But there was not a man among all the people that answered him. Then said the king, “Stand you all on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side, and we will cast lots.” And they cast lots, and Saul and Jonathan were taken; and they cast lots between Jonathan and Saul, and Jonathan was taken. And Saul said, “My son, what have you done?” And Jonathan answered, “I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand, and so I must die.” And Saul said, “God do so and more also: for thou shah surely die, Jonathan.” But up rose all the people, and cried, “Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? The hero of the battle, the king’s son, shall he die? God forbid: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground: for he hath wrought with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.
Somehow, King Saul was never the same man after that. It seemed as if the dreadful strain and distress of that night had affected his mind. Much of the time he was like himself; but again there were days when he would speak to nobody, but would sit apart thinking dreadful thoughts.
One day, Samuel came to Saul and said, “I have a message for you from the Lord. He wishes you to go to war with the men of Amalek.” Now the Amalekites were the oldest enemies of Israel. They lived down south in the deserts, and had been the first to attack the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. And ever since, they had been like the wild Indians in the days of our forefathers. They would dash up, with bows and arrows, and fire upon the villages of the Israelites and kill the people. “Now,” said Samuel, “you must go to war with these savages and destroy them utterly. You must not leave any of them alive, and you must destroy all that they have, that they may be no more a nation.”
So Saul marched against the Amalekites, and won a great victory. But he did not as Samuel had told him. He spared Agag, king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep and oxen. And back he came, and his victorious army, driving the cattle before them, and bringing Agag as a captive.
That night the word of the Lord came to Samuel, and the Lord said, “Saul has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night. And early in the morning Samuel went to meet Saul, and Saul greeted him and said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What, then, is the meaning of this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul said, “The people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice them to the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And Saul said, “Say on.” And Samuel said, “The Lord sent you on a journey, and said ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites.’ Why did you not obey?” And Saul said, “I have obeyed the Lord: except that the people brought Agag and the sheep and oxen to sacrifice them to the Lord.” And Samuel said, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath rejected thee from being king.”
And Saul fell down before Samuel and cried, “Forgive me, and the Lord forgive me; I have sinned.” But Samuel turned to go away. And Saul caught hold of Samuel’s cloak, and the cloak rent. And Samuel said, “Thus hath the Lord torn from you the kingdom of Israel this day.” And Saul cried, “Do not tell the people: honor me now, I pray thee, in the sight of the people.” And to this Samuel consented. He went with Saul, and with his own hands hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord. But from that day he sought another king to set over Israel in the place of Saul.
THE largest farm in Bethlehem belonged to a man named Jesse. Although he was now advanced in years, he had lived on the farm all of his long life, and his father had lived there before him. Indeed, it was still remembered in the neighborhood how Jesse’s grandfather, as he harvested the wheat and barley of his broad acres, had fallen in love with a poor girl named Ruth, who worked among the gleaners, and had married her, to the surprise and delight of the village.
The corn in the little valleys of the hill farm stood so thick that it seemed to laugh and sing as it danced with the wind. Apples grew in the orchard, and grapes in the vineyard. Morning and evening the cows came to be milked, and Jesse’s wife made the milk into cheese and butter. Sheep lay along the hillside, and she spun the wool into stout clothes for Jesse and their sons and daughters.
There were eight sons, most of them grown into tall men; and one of the older daughters had three boys, who were sturdy lads, Joab and Asahel and Abishai. About of an age with these three boys was Jesse’s youngest son, whose name was David.
There was a gleam of red in David’s hair and a glow of red in David’s cheeks, and he was as brave as he was handsome. His part of the farm-work was to tend the sheep. In the wild woods near by were lions and bears, who looked with hungry eyes upon the sheep, and David had to fight them. When he went out to the pasture he carried not only a bag which his mother had filled with things to eat, but a thick stick and a sling. Sometimes he fought the lions and bears with the stick, and sometimes with the sling; and if the boys of Bethlehem could throw as well as the left-handed sons of the Benjamin family near by, David could sling a stone at a hair and hit it. This was an accomplishment which he afterwards found useful.
Most of the time, however, the tending of the sheep was an occupation so easy and peaceful that David found leisure to gaze at the clouds, and at the stars, and to make songs and sing them, to the great satisfaction of the sheep, accompanying himself upon a harp. He had his music lessons, and practiced several hours a day.
One day, while David was out in the hill pasture, there came to the village an old man, driving a cow, and having in his hand a horn of precious oil. When the men of Bethlehem saw him they were as frightened as if the cow had been a red lion and the horn had been attached to a unicorn. For the old man was Samuel, the prophet, who, they thought, could call down thunder and lightning out of the clear sky. And they said, “Do you come peaceably?”
And Samuel said, “Peaceably. Come with me, all of you, while I offer a sacrifice to the Lord.”
So the men followed Samuel till they came to the village well. But David was minding the sheep. And after the sacrifice, Samuel held his horn of oil high above his head and looked about among the men. At first his eye lighted on Eliab, David’s oldest brother; for he looked like a king in the clothes of a farmer. But the Lord spoke in Samuel’s soul and said: “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” So it was also with David’s other brothers.
Then said Samuel to Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
And Jesse answered, “There is one more, the youngest. He is keeping the sheep.”
“Send,” said Samuel, “and fetch him.”
So David came, ruddy and of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look upon. And when Samuel saw him, immediately he poured the horn of precious oil upon him. Then Samuel went away, leaving the people perplexed and wondering. But David knew in his heart that he had been chosen to be the king of Israel.
Now King Saul was every day growing worse of his disease. Trouble and disappointment and a perplexed conscience and the stress of war were telling terribly upon him. He could not sleep. At times, he was beside himself, and acted like a crazy man. At last, the doctors told him that the best remedy for him was music. “Find a man,” they said, “who is a cunning player on the harp; and it shall come to pass that when the evil spirit is upon thee he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.”
And somebody said, “I know a young man in Bethlehem, a son of Jesse, who is cunning in playing. He is a mighty valiant youth, and good, and good-looking.”
And the king said, “Tell him that I want him.”
And the next day there was great excitement among Jesse’s neighbors. There was David at the farm gate, and his father and mother and his brothers and sisters telling him good-by, and the king’s messengers in waiting. On one side of David was an ass laden with loaves from his mother’s oven; on the other side was a little kid of the goats; and over his shoulders was a skin of wine made from the grapes which grew on the warm side of the hill. These were gifts for the king. And in his hand was his harp.
Thus the shepherd boy became the minstrel of the king. And when the evil spirit came upon Saul, David took his harp and played with his hand, and the music refreshed Saul, and he was eased of his distress. And the king loved the boy, and he made him his squire, to bear his armor.
THUS did David divide his time: part he spent in the court of King Saul, and part in the country on his father’s farm.
Then there came a war, and the king went out to battle. Instead of the music of the harp he listened to the music of the drums. But David was needed at home, for his older brothers were in the army, and he kept the sheep.
One day his father said to David, “David, I want you to take these ten loaves of bread and this basket of parched corn to your brothers in the army, and here are ten cheeses for their captain; and bring me word again about your brothers and about the war.”
And David made his way down a long valley till by and by he came to a level plain. There was a hill on one side of the plain to the east, and another hill on the other side to the west, and these hills were full of soldiers. On the western hill the Philistines had their camp, and on the eastern hill were the forces of the Israelites; and between them across the plain ran a little brook.
And as David drew near he heard a noise of shouting. The Philistines shouted with a great shout, and the Israelites answered. And then there came a voice, like the voices of ten stout men in one, and called out something which David was too far away to understand. And when he came nearer, there he saw in the middle of the plain, with his back to the Philistines and his face to the army of Israel, a mighty giant. The giant was ten feet high, and all his clothes were made of brass. He had a helmet of brass upon his head, and a breastplate of brass upon his breast, and a target of brass upon his back, and boots of brass upon his feet. In one hand he carried a huge spear, in the other hand a sword. Before him went his squire, bearing his shield.
And this is what the giant said, “Choose you a man for you,” he cried, “and let him come to me. If he be able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, ye shall be our servants, and serve us.” And not a man of all the hosts of Israel dared to go out and fight him.
Then the soul of David was stirred within him. He spoke to the first man whom he met. “Tell me,” he said, “what does this mean?”
And the man answered, “Yonder is Goliath, the giant of Gath. Every day he comes out at this hour and defies our army. King Saul has promised that whosoever shall face him and overcome him shall have a great reward in gold, and the hand of the princess, as well. But nobody is bold enough to try it.”
David said, “I will try it.”
So the word came to his brother Eliab that David had offered to fight Goliath; and Eliab did not like it. It seemed to him, as it often seems to older brothers, that the boy was still a child. As for King Saul, when they told him, he smiled and shook his head. “You are not able,” he said, “to fight with this Philistine, for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
But David said, “I have fought lions and bears since I was ten years old. I have seized them by the beard and killed them. I can do the same with this Philistine. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
Even so, it seemed like the proposal of a lamb to fight a wolf. But what else could be done? At last, the king took David into his own tent, and offered him his armor. But the king was the tallest man in the army, and the shepherd boy was short of stature. Saul’s helmet came down over David’s ears, and his coat of mail touched David’s heels. He put them off. “I can fight best,” he said, “in my own way.”
And David took his staff in his hand,—the stout stick with which he kept the sheep,—and he had his sling, and from the bank of the brook he chose him five smooth stones. And thus he went out into the plain between the armies, and faced the giant.
And the giant in all his armor came, and his squire carried his shield before him, and when he looked to see what champion the Israelites had found at last, there was but a boy,—a red-cheeked boy with a staff in one hand and a sling in the other.
The giant was very angry. “Am I a dog,” he cried, “that thou comest at me with a stick? I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field, and they shall pick thy bones.”
And David answered, “Thou comest to me with sword and spear and shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord God of hosts, whom thou hast defied.”
Thus the champions drew together, while the two armies watched in breathless silence. And David ran to meet the giant. And even as he ran, he put his hand into his shepherd’s bag, and took out a smooth stone and put it in his sling and slung it. Up went the sling, out went the stone, down went the giant. Straight as an arrow, the stone struck him in the forehead. And David ran, and with the giant’s sword cut off the giant’s head.
Then did the Philistines flee, and the men of Israel raised a great shout and chased them.
AFTER David killed the giant, he kept the sheep no longer. He lived at the court with the king, and became a soldier. Saul made him a general of the army, and everybody praised him. When the Philistines came again, David led the men of war to battle, and when they came back in victory the women came out to greet them at the gate of every city as they passed, dancing and playing on instruments of music, and singing,—