Israel who were there gathered together, and said, "Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walketh before you; and I am old and greyheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you."

The elders of Israel had reproached Samuel with the sins of his sons, and therefore he now reminded the people that his sons were among them, and were as themselves, and might be accused before the king, and punished if they sinned again. Samuel had not, like Eli, made the sins of his sons to be his sins, by suffering them to go on unpunished in an evil way; for he had taken from them the power and authority of a judge, when he heard that they acted wrongly and dealt unjustly with the people.

And Samuel said, "Behold, here I am witness against me before the Lord, and before His anointed whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed?" Then the people answered, “Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us."

Then Samuel reminded the men of Israel of all the mighty works which the Lord had done for

them and for their fathers. He spoke to them of all the goodness of the Lord in bringing them forth from the land of Egypt and the power of Pharaoh, to give them that land in which they now dwelt. Then he showed them, that though the Lord had delivered them into the hand of their enemies when they had sinned against Him and worshipped idols, He had yet hearkened to their cry when they repented of their sin, and had saved them by the hand of His servants Gideon and Jephthah, and others, whom He had raised up from among them. And he told them that their wickedness had been great in asking for a king to reign over them, when the Lord their God was their king.

Then Samuel said that he would call unto the Lord to send thunder from heaven that day, that they might perceive how great their sin was in the sight of the Lord. So he called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And they said to Samuel, "Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we

die not for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king."

Then Samuel bade the people not despair, as if the Lord had now cast them off for ever, but serve the Lord with all their hearts. He told them that the Lord would not forsake His people for His great name's sake, because it had pleased Him to make them His people. And he said, "As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king."

Then the people departed every man to his own home.

1 Samuel xi. xii.

Salvation is safety or deliverance.

To witness, or to bear witness, is to show, to declare, to tell publicly.

To defraud, is to take, or to receive any thing from a person unjustly or dishonestly.

To reproach, is to blame a person, or find fault with him in an angry or unkind way.

Chapter CVI.

THE TRIAL OF SAUL.

SOME years after Saul had been made king of Israel, he chose three thousand of the bravest of the men of Israel, and divided them into two bands. He made Jonathan, his son, captain over one thousand, who were in Gibeah, the other band remained with himself in Michmash, and in Mount Bethel.

Now the Philistines had possession of a city on a hill in the land of the tribe of Benjamin, called Geba, near to Gibeah. And while Saul was at Bethel, Jonathan went forth with his men from Gibeah against these Philistines, and drove them from the hill-fort and destroyed them. Then Saul caused trumpets to be sounded throughout the land of Israel, to tell the people of the victory; and he commanded them to come to him to Gilgal.

When the Philistines heard what Saul and Jonathan had done, they came up against the

people of Israel with thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a great army, as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude. And they pitched their camp in the land of Israel at Michmash, which was not far from the place where Saul was with his army. And when the men of Israel saw the great army of the Philistines, they were afraid, and they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. But Saul remained in Gilgal, and the men of his army followed him trembling. Now before Saul went forth to battle, it was necessary that a burnt sacrifice should be offered to the Lord with prayer and supplication, that He might bless them in their warfare, and give them the victory. But Priests and Levites only, or those who were specially commanded by God to do so, might offer sacrifice. And Saul had no leave to offer sacrifice. Samuel had told Saul that he would come to Gilgal to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices unto the Lord for him, and he had said that Saul must wait for him seven days, until he should come and show him what he should do. There