I am here ready." So when he heard God speak again, he desired him to speak, and to deliver what oracles he pleased, for he would not fail to perform any ministration he should make use of him in. To which God replied, "Since thou art here ready, learn what miseries are coming upon the Israelites ; such indeed as words cannot declare, nor faith believe. For the sons of Eli shall die in one day; and the priesthood shall be transferred into the family of Eleazar; for Eli hath loved his sons more than my worship; and to such a degree, as is not for their advantage." This message Eli obliged the prophet by oath to tell him; for otherwise he had no inclination to afflict him by repeating it. And now Eli had a far more sure expectation of the perdition of his sons; but the glory of Samuel increased more and more; it being found by experience that whatsoever he prophesied came to pass accordingly.

agreeable illustration from the following extracts. "In Abyssinia there is an officer named KAL HATZE, who stands always upon steps at the side of the lattice window, where there is a hole covered in the inside with a curtain of green taffeta; behind this curtain the king sits." (Bruce's Trav. vol. iv. p. 76.) The king is described in another place as very much concealed from public view. He even "covers his face on audiences, or public occasions, and when in judgment. On cases of treason he sits within his balcony, and speaks through a hole in the side of it, to an officer called KAL HATZE, the voice or word of the king, by whom he sends his questions, or any thing else that occurs, to the judges, who are seated at the council table." (Bruce's Trav. vol. iii. p. 265.) If such a custom ever obtained among the Jews, the propriety of the expression, the word of the Lord, is obvious, as the idea must have been very familiar to them. This clearly appears to have been the case as to Joseph and his brethren, Gen. xlii. 23. Joseph spake by an interpreter not of languages, but of dignity and state. Other instances of the same nature may probably be traced in 2 Kings v. 10, Job xxxiii. 23. B.

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Although there had been a few occasional prophets before, yet was this Samuel the first of a constant succession of prophets in the Jewish nation; as it is implied in St. Peter's words, Acts iii. 24. "Yea and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." See also Acts xiii. 20. The others were rather sometimes called righteous men. See Matt. x. 41, xiii. 17. Constitut. VIII. 12.

CHAP. XI.

OF THE MISFORTUNES WHICH BEFEL THE SONS OF ELI, THE ARK, AND THE PEOPLE; AND OF THE DEATH OF ELI.

ABOUT this time the Philistines made war against the Israelites, and pitched their camp at the city Aphec. Now when the Israelites had expected them a little while, the very next day they joined battle; but the Philistines were conquerors, and slew about four thousand of the Hebrews; and pursued the rest of the multitude to their camp.

The Hebrews being now afraid of the worst, sent to the senate, and to the high-priest, and desired that they would bring the ark of God; that by putting themselves in array, when it was present with them, they might be too hard for their enemies; as not reflecting that he who had condemned them to endure these calamities was greater than the ark; and for whose sake it was that the ark came to be honoured. So the ark came, and the sons of the high-priest with it, having received an assurance from their father, that if they pretended to survive the taking of the ark, they should come no more into his presence. For Phineas officiated already as high-priest; his father having resigned his office to him, by reason of his great age. So the Hebrews were full of courage, as supposing they should be too hard for their enemies; the Philistines also were greatly afraid of the ark coming to the Israelites: however the event did not prove agreeable to the expectation of either side; but when the battle was joined, that victory which the Hebrews expected, was gained by the Philistines; and what defeat the Philistines were afraid of, fell to the lot of the Israelites; and thereby they found that they had put their trust in the ark in vain; for they were presently beaten, as soon as they came to a close fight with their enemies, and lost about thirty thousand men ; among whom were the sons of the highpriest. The ark also was carried away by their enemies.

An. 1143.

He was 98 years old. See 1 Sam. iv. 18.

When the news of this defeat came to Shiloh, with that of the capture of the ark, (for a certain young man, a Benjamite, who was in the action, came as a messenger thither,) the whole city was full of lamentations. And Eli the high-priest, who sat upon a high throne at one of the gates, heard their mournful cries; and supposed that some strange thing had befallen his family. So he sent for the young man, and when he understood what had happened in the battle, he was not much grieved as to his sons, or what was told him about the army; as having previously known by divine revelation that those things would happen, and having himself declared them beforehand. For what sad things come unexpectedly, they distress men the most; but as soon as he heard the ark was carried captive by their enemies, he was very much grieved at it, because it fell out quite differently from what he expected; so he fell down from his throne, and died; having lived minetyeight years, and retained the government forty.*

On the same day, the wife of his son Phineas died also; as not able to survive the misfortune of her husband. For they told her of her husband's death as she was in labour. However she bare a son at seven months, to whom they gave the name† Icabod; which name signifies disgrace; and this because the army received disgrace at this time.

Now Eli was the first of the family of Ithamar, the other son of Aaron, that had the government; for the family of Eleazar officiated as high-priest at first; the son still received that honour from the father, Eleazar bequeathed it to his son Phineas, after whom Abiezer his son took the honour, and delivered it to his son whose name was Bukki; his son next received it; after whom Eli, of whom we have been speaking, had the priest-hood; and so had his posterity until the time of Solomon's reign; but then it was resumed by the posterity of Ele

azar.

From an. 1188 to 1148, B. C. 1 Sam. iv. 21,

BOOK VI.

Containing an Interval of Thirty-Two Years.

FROM THE DEATH OF ELI TO THE DEATH OF SAUL.

CHAP. I.

OF THE DESTRUCTION THAT CAME UPON THE PHILISTINES BY

THE WRATH OF GOD, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR HAVING CARRIED AWAY THE ARK; AND OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY SENT IT BACK TO THE HEBREWS.

WHEN the Philistines had taken the ark of the Hebrews, they carried it to the city Ashdod, and put it by their own god, who was called* Dagon, as one of their spoils. But when they went into the temple the next morning, to worship their idol, they found him paying the same worship to the ark, for he lay prostrate, as having fallen down from the basis whereon he had stood. So they took him up, and set him on his basis again, and were much troubled at what had happened. And as they frequently came to Dagon, and found him still lying along in a posture of adoration to the ark, they were in very great distress and confusion. At length God sent a very destructive disease upon the city and country of Ashdod; for they died of the dysentery, a sore distemper, that brought death upon them very suddenly; for before they could, as usual in easy deaths, be well loosed from the body, they brought up

* Dagon, a famous god or idol, is generally supposed to have been like a man about the navel, and like a fish beneath it.

their entrails, and vomited up what they had eaten, and what was entirely corrupted by the disease. And as to the fruits of their country, a great multitude of mice arose out of the earth and hurt them; and spared neither the plants, nor the fruits. Now while the people of Ashdod were under these misfortunes, and were not able to support themselves under their calamities, they perceived that they suffered thus because of the ark; and that the victory they had gotten, and their having taken the ark captive, had not happened for their good. They therefore sent to the people of Ascalon, and desired that they would receive the ark among them. This desire was not disagreeable to those of Ascalon; so they readily granted it; but when they had gotten the ark, they were in the same miserable condition; for the ark carried along with it the disasters that the people of Ashdod had suffered, to those who received it from them. Those of Ascalon also sent it away to others; who, being pursued by the same disasters, again sent it to the neighbouring cities. So that the ark went round, after this manner, to the five cities of the Philistines; as though it exacted these disasters as a tribute for its coming among them.

When those that had experienced these miseries were tired out with them, and when those that heard of them were taught thereby not to admit the ark among them, since they paid so dear a tribute for it; at length they sought for some contrivance how they might get free from it. So the governors of the five cities, Gath, Ekron, Ascalon, Gaza, and Ashdod, met together, and considered what was fit to be done. And at the first they thought proper to send the ark back to its own people; as allowing that God had avenged its cause, that the miseries they had undergone came along with it, and that those were sent on their cities upon its account, and together with it. However there were those that said, they should not do so, nor suffer themselves to be deluded, as ascribing the cause of their miseries to it; because it could not have such power and force upon them. For had God had such a regard to it, it would not have been delivered into the hands of men. So they exhorted them to be quiet, and to bear what had befallen them, and to suppose there was no other cause of it but nature, which at certain revolutions of time produces such mutations in the bodies of men, in the earth, in plants, and in all things that grow out of the earth.