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Ninth Study.—Civilization
in Israel in the Times from Eli
to David.
Reign of Saul.
[The material of this "study" is
furnished by Prof. Beecher. It
is edited by Prof. Harper.]
I.
INTRODUCTORY
NOTES.
1.
According to the statements of
fact made in the Bible, the
Israelitish nation suddenly blossomed out during the reign of
David. For some centuries
previously, during the times of
the judges and of Saul, the
tribes had existed east and west
of the Jordan,
(a) without
much national feeling,
(b) with
frequent civil wars,
(c) much of
the time the vassals of
the neighboring peoples.
2. This state of things was
unfavorable both to civilization
and to national greatness.
Under
Samuel, influences were set at
work which gradually changed all
this; with the completion of David's conquests, the
change became suddenly and
grandly apparent.
3. We have reached, therefore, a
crisis in the history, which
makes it desirable that we pause
and glance at a few of the
leading facts of the
civilization of the period. As
the Bible is
almost our only source of
information concerning these, it
is desirable that the student
draw his information directly
from the Bible. Of course, the
following treatment is not
exhaustive, but merely offers a
few representative facts, on a
few selected topics.
II.
BIBLICAL
LESSON.—REVIEW.
Review 1 and 2 Samuel and I
Chron. 10-29. Perhaps some such
plan as the following may be found helpful:
(1) Beginning with the account
of Samuel's birth (1 Sam. ch.
1), think through
the entire period of history
which has thus far been studied.
One ought
to be able to take in the
principal points of interest,
and indeed many of
the details, almost in a moment.
(2) Make from preceding "
studies" a list of the topics
cited under the "Biblical Lesson," and take them up
one at a time, endeavoring to
gather up all
the details which are included
under each.
(3) Select certain important
characters, e. g., Samuel, Saul,
and David, and
certain important objects or
events, e. g., the ark, wars
with Philistines,
necromancy, sins, and associate
with each all that can be
remembered.1
III.
GENERAL
TOPICS.
[The
student is expected in the case
of each topic (1) to verify
every reference given, and (2)
to
add others which, in his
opinion, bear upon the subject
in hand.]
1.
Political and Military
Organization.
(1)
Elders:
(a)
popular power in Israel
rested with the elders. These
are spoken of indifferently as
elders of
Israel, or as elders of some
particular tribe, or of some
particular locality, 1 Sam. 4:3;
30:26; 11:3; 16:4, etc.
(b) How
a man became an elder we are
not informed-whether
by age, or by inherited
nobility, or by some kind of
election, or simply by the fact
of being a prominent citizen;
the last supposition is perhaps most likely.
(c) The elders appear to have
had charge
of matters of local government,
and, in consultation with the
judge or
king, acted upon affairs of
national importance, 1 Sam.
11:3; 16:4; also
4:3; 15:30; 2 Sam. 17:4,15, etc.
Subject to divine interference,
the people
and the elders even made and
unmade the judges and kings, 1
Sam. 8:4;
10:17, and context; 2 Sam. 2:4;
3:17; 5:3; 19:9-11, etc.
(2)
Civil Divisions: That into
tribes and families is often
mentioned in the
history of this period, though
not much emphasized (see (5)
below).
The
different division into
thousands, hundreds, and fifties
is prominent from
the beginning of the monarchy
(see concordance); it is most
frequently
mentioned in connection with the
army, 2 Sam. 18:1,4; I Sam.
17:18, etc.;
but in part, at least, and
perhaps throughout, it seems
also to have been a
division of the people as
distinct from the army, 1 Sam.
10:19-21; 23:23.
(3)
The Officer:
(a) The officer
in charge of one of these
divisions, whether a fifty, a
hundred, a
thousand, or some larger body,
is called a captain, "săr"
(look up the word in a Hebrew
concordance, or, if you use an
English concordance, remember
that half the instances
are disguised by variant
translations).
(b) In a majority
of instances, the "sar" is a
military officer, I Sam. 12:9;
14:50; 17:18,55; 2 Sam. 2:8;
18:1,5,etc.; but the title is
also
applied to the men who had
charge of the music, and of
other matters connected with
the public worship, of business
affairs, and apparently of civil
affairs; see 1 Chron.15:5,6,
22, etc.; 24:5,6; 27:22,31;
21:2; 22:17; 23:2, and many
other places in Samuel and
Chronicles; in many of these the word
is translated "chief," "master,"
"governor," "prince,"
"ruler."
(c) Generally the
captains differed from the
elders in that they were either
chiefs of free companies, who
had been accepted by the king,
or else were under appointment from the king, 2 Sam.
4:2 (cf. 1 Sam. 22:2); 1
Chron.12:21,28,34; also 1Chron.
11:6,21; 2 Sam. 23:19; also 1
Sam. 8:12; 18:13; 22:7,etc.
(4)
Origin of the Divisions:
According to the previous books
of the Bible, the elders, and
the
division into tribes and
families, were already in
existence before Israel left
Egypt; the
division into thousands,
hundreds, fifties, and tens,
under "captains" ("sar," though
translated "rulers "), for the
purpose of enabling one chief
magistrate conveniently to
perform his functions, was made
by Moses, and apparently
continued in existence from
his time; Deut. 1:13-15;Ex.
18:21,25; "captains" of Issachar,
of Succoth, of Gilead, Jud.
5:15; 8:14; 10:18; "thousands,"
Num. 10:4,36; 31:14; Deut.
33:17;Josh. 22:14,21,30; Jud.
6:15; see also concordance.
(5)
National Assembly:
(a) In
the times before and after our
period, prominence
is given to the national
assembly (qahal) in which the
people-prominently
the elders and the "princes"
(n'siim) of the tribes-assembled
for especially important national
business, Num. 20:10; Josh.
8:35; Jud. 20:1,2; 21:5,
8; 1 Kgs. 8:14,22; 12:3, etc.
(b) This assembly is not
mentioned by name in
the Books of Samuel (strictly,
at least, the gatherings, 2 Sam.
20:14, 1 Sam.
17:47, were not proper national
assemblies); and the "princes"
are not
mentioned, by this title, in the
history of the period in either
Samuel or
1 Chronicles; but the men who
are called "chieftains " and
"captains"
(nagidh, săr) of the tribes, 1
Chron. 27:16,22, may have been
the tribal
"princes," and there is no
sufficient reason for disputing
the testimony of
the author of Chronicles, that
the qahal was in existence in
the times of
David, 1 Chron. 13:2,4; 28:8;
29:1,10,20.
(c) One cannot help noticing,
however, that the "captains"
were very prominent in these
assemblies;
David took care, apparently,
that the government should be
represented
there, as well as the people.
(6)
Priests and Prophets: These
have great though varying
influence in public
affairs, throughout the period.
2.
Details in Military Affairs.
(1)
Equipment of a Warrior:
From a
study of the story of David
and Goliath, and from a Bible
reading on such words as shield,
helmet, coat of mail,
sword, spear, bow, arrow, sling,
gather the best account you can
of the equipment of a
warrior, in the times from Eli
to David.
(2)
Special Topics:
(a) the raising of large armies,
1 Sam. 11:7,8, etc.;
(b) David's
national guard, 1 Chron.
27:1-15;
(c) David's roll of
"heroes," (in the versions "mighty
men "), 2 Sam. 23:8-39; 1 Chron.
11:10-47; by a concordance of proper names, trace the
biographies of such of these
"heroes " as are mentioned
elsewhere; make the best
conjecture you can as to the
qualifications that entitled a
warrior to be enrolled in this
list;
(d) how were these " heads
of the heroes " related to the "
heroes," 1 Chron. 19: 8; 2 Sam.
10: 7; 16:6; 17:8; 20: 7; 1 Kgs.
1: 8,10; 1 Chron.
12:1,4,8,21,25,28,
30; 26:6,31; 28:1; 29:24?
(e)
David's "Cherethites and
Pelethites," 2 Sam. 8:18; 15:18;
20:7,
23; 1 Kgs. 1:38,44; 1 Chron.
18:17; cf. 1 Sam. 30:14; Zeph.
2:5; Ezek. 25:16.
3.
Density of the Population.
(1)
Instances:
(a) the 300,000 and
the 30,000, 1 Sam. 11: 8;
(b)
the 30,000,
etc.,13: 5;
(c) the
210,000,15:4;
(d) the 800,000
and 500,000, with the 1,100,000
and 470,000,2 Sam.
24: 9; 1 Chron. 21:5. Are these
numbers incredibly large? Are
those in (d) incredible on
account of the discrepancy
between them?
(2)
Points to be
considered:
(a) these regions
then had a larger area of good
soil, and less of barren rock,
than now;
(b) the Philistine force mentioned in 1 (b)
may have been partly allies from
great distances;
(c)
though the census of David was "
from Dan to Beer-sheba," it may
yet have included the
arms-bearing population of the
entire empire, from the
Mediterranean to the Euphrates,
distributed in the enrollments
of the several tribes;
(d) it is
not absurd to suppose that
the thousands, in these cases,
may sometimes have been
"thousands" of organization
(see above), instead of being
strictly numerical, and that a
large proportion of the
"thousands" counted may not have
been full;
(e) this suggests the
possibility of accounting for some discrepancies as
the result of varying modes of
enumeration, rather than of
false numbers;
[(f) there are
probably some cases of error in
the transmission of numbers.—W.
R. H.]
4. Arts
of Common Life. Density of
population, in such a country as
Palestine,
implies good agriculture.
(1)
Good Living: As to what
constituted good
living among these people,
examine 1 Sam. 16:20; 17:17,18;
25:11,18; 2
Sam. 16:1,2; 17:27-29, etc.
(2)
Feasts: Doubtless the people
generally lived
on vegetable diet; but give some
account of the following three
classes of
flesh-eating feasts:
(a)
Apparently secular, 1 Sam.
25:11,36; 2 Sam. 13:23,
28;
(b) Local sacrificial
feasts, 1 Sam. 9:12,13, 22-24;
16:2,3, etc.; 20:6,
etc.;
(c) Jehovah's
peace-offering: 1 Sam. 1:9,
etc.; 2 Sam. 6:17-19; 1 Chron.
16:1-3; 29:21,22a.
(3)
Wine: For the use of wine
and strong drink during
this period, see concordance.
(4)
On the working of metals, 1
Sam. 13:1922; 2 Sam. 12:31; 23:7; 1 Chron.
22:3,14,16; 29:2,7, etc.
(5)
On
the accumulation of wealth, 1 Chron.
29:3-9, etc.
5.
Customs and Manners.
(1) 2 Sam.
13:1-22, the arrangements of the
royal household, employments of those belonging to the
royal family, the general
simplicity of the royal
establishment;
(2) 2 Sam. 13:23-29, the
character of the festivities of
the princes (cf. 1 Sam. 25: 7
seq.);
(3) 2 Sam. 14:1-24, the
possibility and manner of
approach to the king;
(4) 2 Sam.
15:
1-6, the simplicity and details
of the royal functions.
Add any other passages and
details
filling out the picture of the
day.
6.
Administration of Justice.
(1) Much formality of procedure,
in some civil
cases, Ruth 4:1-12;
(2) Very summary treatment of
offenders, sometimes,
1 Kgs. 2:25, 34,46, etc.;
(3)
The law of blood revenge in
force, 2 Sam. 3:
27; 14:6,7,11, etc.; these cases
show that even the king was
powerless
before certain fixed customs.
(4) That appeals were made to
the king
appears
from
2
Sam.
15:2-4.
(5)
Where these various cases are
covered by
the Pentateuchal
laws, there are decided points
both of agreement and
of disagreement with those laws.
7. Administration of the
Government.
(1) Study 2 Sam. 8:15-18 (cf.
20:23-26; see also 1 Kgs.
4:1-6) as it bears upon the
administration of the kingdom of
Israel under David;
(2) meaning
of host, recorder (cf. 2 Kgs.
18:18,37; 2 Chron. 34:8), scribe (cf. 2 Kgs.
12:10; 18:18 etc.), Cherethites
and Pelethites
(cf. 15:18; 20:7, 23, etc.),
tribute or levy (20:24) (cf. 1
Kgs. 12:4). Why a
double high priesthood, 8:17?
David's friend, 15:37 (cf. 1 Chron. 27:33; 1
Kgs. 4:5)?
(3) Supplement from 1 Chron. 27:25-34.
8.
Architecture and Commerce. Study
these in 2 Sam. 5:9-12; 7:1,2;
11:2, etc., and the accounts of
the preparations for building
the temple; cf. I Sam. 22:6,
illustrating the contrast, in
these respects, between Saul and
David.
9. Art
of Poetry.
What may be inferred as to the
existence and character of the
art of poetry in this period
from
(1) 1 Sam. 2:1-10; 27-36; 2
Sam. 1:17-27;
3:33,34; 22; 23:1-7;
(2) The
titles to the Psalms;
(3) The
passages that
mention music (see below);
(4) 1 Chron. 16:7-36; Luke 20:42-44;
Acts 1:
16,20; 2:25-31,34; 4:25,26;
13:35-36; Rom. 4:6-8; Heb. 4:7?
10.
Art of Music. What do you infer
concerning the condition of this
art from 1 Sam. 10:5; 18:68; 2 Sam. 23:1; 6:5; Amos 6:5; 1 Chron. 13:8; 15:16,19,22,24;
16:5,6,42, etc.; 23:5; 25:1-31;
2 Chron. 7:6; 29:27,30; Neh.
12:24,36,44-46,etc.?
11.
Historical Research. Were these
times, and especially the times
of David, times when men
studied history, and cited
historical precedents? 2
Sam.8;16,17, etc.; 11:20,21 (cf.
Jud. 9:53);
7:6,8-11; 1 Sam. 2:27, 28,
12:6-11: 4:8, etc.
12.
Public Worship and Religious
Teaching.
(1) See 1 Sam. 6,
compared with 2 Sam. 6:3, etc.;
also
2 Sam. 8:18 ("priests");
(2)
with these contrast 2 Sam.
6:12-23; 7; 1 Chron. 15; 16; 22;
28; 29,
etc.; also 2 Sam. 24:18-25; 1
Chron. 21:18-30. (3) As to the
prophetic teaching, see 2 Sam.
7; 12; 24, etc., and the sixth
of these " studies."
13. Art of Writing.
(1) Supposably, the poetic,
musical, architectural,
historical,
priestly and prophetic activity
of these times might have
existed without
the art of writing, and its
results have been orally handed
down; in view
of the details we have been
studying, is this supposition a
probable one?
(2) How does it agree with 1
Sam. 21:13; 2 Sam. 11:14,15; 2 Chron. 2:11;
1 Chron. 27:24; 23:27; 24:6;
29:29; 1 Sam. 10:25, etc., and
with the passages already cited in this
study?
14.
Critical Results.
(1) What bearing have these
facts on the question whether
the Psalms ascribed to David and
his contemporaries are genuine?
(2)
On the question whether the
accounts in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1
Chronicles
are based on documents
contemporaneous with the events
?
(3) On the
question of the date of the
writing of the books of Samuel?
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