Prolegomena to the History of IsraelChapter VIII · THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH. (continued 3)Reading editionChapter navigation35 reading sectionsGo to chapterChoose a chapter…Front matterP R E F A C E.Introductory materialChapter I · THE PLACE OF WORSHIP—Chapter II · SACRIFICE—Chapter III · THE SACRED FEASTS—Chapter V · THE ENDOWMENT OF THE CLERGY—Chapter VI · CHRONICLES—Chapter VII · JUDGES, SAMUEL, AND KINGS—Chapter VIII · THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH—Chapter IX · CONCLUSION OF THE CRITICISM OF THE LAW—Chapter X · THE ORAL AND THE WRITTEN TORAH—Chapter XI · THE THEOCRACY AS IDEA AND AS INSTITUTION—Chapter I · THE PLACE OF WORSHIP.Chapter I · THE PLACE OF WORSHIP. (continued 2)Chapter II · SACRIFICE.Chapter III · THE SACRED FEASTS.Chapter III · THE SACRED FEASTS. (continued 2)Chapter IV · THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.Chapter V · THE ENDOWMENT OF THE CLERGY.Chapter VI · CHRONICLESChapter VI · CHRONICLES (continued 2)Chapter VII · JUDGES, SAMUEL, AND KINGS.Chapter xi · stood originally in connection with the other narrative of the elevation of Saul (ix. 1-X. 16). Hero Saul first appears engaged in searching for strayed she-asses. After a vain search of several days he arrives in the neighbourhood of Ramah, and at the suggestion of his servant applies for information as to the asses to a seer there, to Samuel. His approach has been announced to the seer by Jehovah the day before: "To-morrow I will send to thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over My people Israel; he shall save them from the Philistines." He was accordingly expecting him, and had instituted a sacrificial feast on the bamah for him even before he arrived. At this moment Samuel has gone down to the town between the sacrificial act and the meal which followed it, and just as he is going back to his guests he meets in the gate Saul, who is asking for him, and at a whisper from Jehovah he recognises in him his man. He takes him up with him to the bamah, reassures him about the asses, and then at once tells him to what high things he is called, and gives him convincing proofs that he had reckoned on his presence at the feast as the guest of the occasion. He then gives him lodgings for the night, and accompanies him on his way next morning. The servant is sent on a little way before, Samuel stands still and anoints Saul, for a sign that he is chosen by Jehovah to be the king and deliverer of Israel, and in conclusion instructs him that, when the opportunity for action comes, he is to use it, in the consciousness that God is with him. On his way home three signs come to pass which the seer had announced to him. He is thus assured that all that was said to him was true; his heart is changed by degrees till he cannot contain himself; on his arrival at Gibeah his acquaintances are struck with his strange demeanour, but he does not disclose even to his most intimate friend at home what Samuel had said to him, but waits for the things that shall come to pass.Chapter xviii · 6 seq. manifests tendency in a bad sense, even apart from the additions of the Masoretic text. Here Saul's enmity against David is carried back to the very beginning of their relations together, and even his friendship is represented as dissembled hatred. All the honours with which the king covers his armour-bearer are interpreted as practices to get rid of him. He makes him his son-in-law in order to expose him to deadly danger in his efforts to procure the hundred foreskins of the Philistines which were the price of the daughter. The connection cannot dispense with xviii. 6 seq, but at the same time it is beyond doubt that the venomous way of interpreting the facts is a mark of later revision. For Saul here practices his perfidies with the cognisance of his servants, who must therefore have been well aware of his disposition towards David; but the old narrator proceeds on the opposite assumption, that his hatred appeared all at once, and that David had been held by all up to that time to be one of the king's favourite servants: cf. xxi. 2-xxii. 14 seq., not to speak of chapter xx. And this alone agrees with the nature of Saul as it is everywhere described to us.Chapter VIII · THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH.Chapter VIII · THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH. (continued 2)Chapter VIII · THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH. (continued 3)Chapter IX · CONCLUSION OF THE CRITICISM OF THE LAW.Chapter X · THE ORAL AND THE WRITTEN TORAH.Chapter XI · THE THEOCRACY AS IDEA AND AS INSTITUTION.ISRAELISRAEL (continued 2)ISRAEL (continued 3)ISRAEL (continued 4)Previous chapter ←Chapter VIII · THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH. (continued 2)Next chapter →Chapter IX · CONCLUSION OF THE CRITICISM OF THE LAW.All chapters and sections (35)Opening pagesFront matterOther sectionsP R E F A C E.Opening pagesIntroductory materialChapters1235678910111123345667111888891011Other sectionsISRAELISRAEL (continued 2)ISRAEL (continued 3)ISRAEL (continued 4)C. ISRAEL AND JUDAISM."The Law came in between."—VATKE, p. 183.◇← CHAPTER VIII. THE NARRATIVE OF THE HEXATEUCH. (continued 2)CHAPTER IX. CONCLUSION OF THE CRITICISM OF THE LAW. →