AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N
S,
OF THE FIRST BOOK OF
S A M U E L
This
book, and that which follows it, bear the name of Samuel in the title,
not because he was the penman of them (except of so much of them as fell
within his own time, to the twenty-fifth chapter of the first book, in which
we have an account of his death), but because the first book begins with a
large account of him, his birth and childhood, his life and government; and
the rest of these two volumes that are denominated from him contains the
history of the reigns of Saul and David, who were both anointed
by him. And, because the history of these two kings takes up the greatest part
of these books, the Vulgar Latin calls them the First and Second
Books of the Kings, and the two that follow the Third and Fourth,
which the titles in our English Bibles take notice of with an alias:
otherwise called the First Book of the Kings, &c. The LXX. calls them
the first and second Book of the Kingdoms. It is needless to contend
about it, but there is no occasion to vary from the Hebrew verity. These two
books contain the history of the last two of the judges, Eli and Samuel,
who were not, as the rest, men of war, but priests (and so much of them is an
appendix to the book of Judges), and of the first two of the kings, Saul
and David, and so much of them is an entrance upon the history of the
kings. They contain a considerable part of the sacred history, are sometimes
referred to in the New Testament, and often in the titles of David's Psalms,
which, if placed in their order, would fall in these books. It is uncertain
who was the penman of them; it is probable that Samuel wrote the history of
his own time, and that, after him, some of the prophets that were with David
(Nathan as likely as any) continued it. This first book gives us a full
account of Eli's fall and Samuel's rise and good government, ch. i.-viii.
Of Samuel's resignation of the government and Saul's advancement and
mal-administration, ch. ix.-xv. The choice of David, his struggles with
Saul, Saul's ruin at last, and the opening of the way for David to the throne,
ch. xvi.-xxxi. And these things are written for our learning.
Contents
|
Next
Section
