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.
XXVIII
FIVE GOLD MICE
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
[Illustration: THEY PUT THE ARK UPON A CART, AND THE MICE BESIDE IT]
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.
XXIX
SAUL AND THE SEER
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
[Illustration: SAMUEL AND SAUL HAVE A LONG TALK TOGETHER]
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?’”
XXX
THE BATTLE OF THE RIGHT EYES
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.
XXXI
THE ADVENTURE OF THE GREAT TREMBLING
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.
XXXII
THE BLEATING OF THE SHEEP
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.