arrived, (for he was the youngeft) GOD immediately ordered the prophet to arise and anoint him; for this was he.

ACCORDINGLY Samuel arofe and anointed him; but whether in the midst of his brethren, i. e. in their prefence; or whether from the midft of his brethren, i. e. apart, and in the prefence only of Jeffe, is not fo clear from the text. Tho' the rudeness, with which they afterwards treated him, makes it more probable, that it was apart: unless we fuppofe that rudeness to have arisen from jealoufy, as very poffibly it might.

FROM this account it appears, 1ft, That Samuel very unwillingly anointed another king in the life of Saul. 2dly, That, if he had been swayed by his own judgment, Eliab would have been the man. And 3dly, That if Jeffe's judgment had prevailed, his seven other fons had been preferred to David. From all which it is evident, that the election of David to the throne of Ifrael was an immediate act of Providence, without the least intervention of human wisdom or contrivance.

How David came to be fo little accounted of in the eye of a parent, as not to be thought worthy fo much as to be called to the feaft with his brethren, is not eafy to fay; unless it be, that as elder children take earlier and fuller poffeffion of their parents affections; fo, unless they forfeit them by fome course of ill conduct, they seldom fail to retain fome preference in them to the last. HOWEVER, that David wanted no recommendation of perfonal advantages, is evident; for he was beautiful, and (what implies a great

deal

deal more) amiable. The text tells us, he was ruddy, and fair of eyes, and goodly to look to. But, very probably, these advantages gave him little diftinction, in a family where beauty feems to have been familiar and hereditary.

CHAP. II.

A Digreffion concerning Samuel, the Prophets, and their Schools.

TH

HE unfcriptural reader may poffibly have fome curiofity to know who this extraordinary perfon might be, who was thus appointed to pull down, and to set up kings; and readers of another character will, I hope, indulge this fhort digreffion on that account.

SAMUEL was of the tribe of Levi, and of a very diftinguished family among that tribe, that of the Koathites, defcended from Korah the gainfayer, whofe defcendants were eminent for their mufical skill in the fervice of the temple; and are by fome commentators (probably for that reafon) accounted prophets. His father Elkanah is believed by some men of learning to have been a prophet, and the fon of a prophet (and his mother is numbered among the propheteffes); perhaps for no better reason than his having been of the city of Ramathaim Zophim, which is interpreted Ramah of the prophets; tho' in ftrict

*Suppofed to be the Arimathea of the New Teftament.

nefs,

nefs, it is Ramah of the watchmen, prophets being fometimes fo ftyled in Scripture.

His father is believed to have been first marry'd to Hannah the mother of Samuel, whom he tenderly loved; but finding her barren, he (through that eager defire of iffue which fwayed the Jews) took also another woman to wife, named Peninnah; who, finding herself sufficiently prolific, could not forbear upbraiding Hannah with her barrennefs: and as Elkanah went up year by year to Shiloh, where the ark then refided, to offer facrifice, Peninnah took the opportunity of the feaft which enfued, to vex her with more than ordinary reproaches upon that head, in the face of her family and friends; and this she did one day to fuch a degree, that Hannah, rifing from the feaft, in which fhe could not fhare, poured out her complaints to GOD, and prayed and wept before him in extremity of anguifh, befeeching him to bestow a fon upon her, and vowing to dedicate him in a very distinguished manner to his fervice during his whole life *.

GOD heard her petition, and fhe fulfilled her vow; for, waiting only till the child Samuel was weaned (that is, 'till he was three years old) and furmounting all the ties of tenderness, and foregoing all her female fears and fondnefs, fhe immediately conveyed him to the temple, and dedicated him in a moft folemn manner, and with

*The Levites in their ordinary courfe, were obliged only to attend the service of the temple in their turns from the age of twenty-five to fifty; after which they became judges, and preachers of righteousness.

a noble hymn of humiliation and thanksgiving, to the service of God.

ELI the high-prieft received him as became his piety; and the little Samuel miniftered before him from that day forward, and was early and fignally distinguished by the divine favour and influence, to the great and full fatisfaction of all the people of Ifrael; infomuch that when Eli and his wicked fons perifhed, he fucceeded to the fupreme civil power over the whole nation, where he sustained the character of a moft equitable and righteous ruler, and just judge; which laft character he still fustained (even when GOD, for the fins of the Ifraelites, gave them a king) to his dying day.

THE particulars of Saul's election to the fupreme power, and Samuel's divesting himself of it, are to be found at large in the first book of Samuel, and are, I think, not unworthy the curious reader's regard.

SAMUEL, now difpoffeffing himself of the fupreme power, was however no way dimi nifhed in dignity, or in the defire of doing good; but continued revered alike both by prince and people. Part of his time he gave to the adminiftration of public juftice; and the rest he dedicated to the more immediate fervice of GOD, in a learned and religious retirement in one of the prophetic schools at Ramah, over which he prefided. Of thefe men, and their schools, take this thort account:

THE Jewish nation had no fuch schools or feminaries for the education of their children, as are now in ufe among us: with them, parents were

in the place of tutors; and as they had no regard, or, to speak more properly, as they had great contempt for heathen literature, they contented themselves with teaching their children their own language and laws; upon full affurance, that a proper proficiency and skill in thefe would gain them all the credit and efteem they defired: and as their law-giver had taken fufficient care to inculcate this duty, nothing was more juftly reputable amongst them, than a confcientious difcharge of it. However, forafmuch as parents are not always the best qualified to the discharge of this duty, and a careful study and thorough knowledge of the scriptures was of such vast importance, at once to inform and inlarge their minds, and to preserve them in the purity of their religion, and keep them a distinct people, it pleased GOD to inftitute feveral orders of men for this purpose; of which the principal were the priests, Levites, and prophets.

THE business of the priests was, to minister in holy things, to teach the law in all its parts, to judge and to decide all controverfies, and the Levites were their fubalterns in all thefe offices. But as a great part of their time was taken up in their attendance upon the altar, and other rituals of the Mofaic law; and as it is natural for men to lay a great, perhaps too great a stress upon those things in which they themselves are greatly concerned and interested; it pleased GOD to raise up another order of men, to be a check upon the priests, and to be the guardians of the spiritual part of the law of Mofes, as the priests were of the ceremonial ;

and