MORNING LESSONS. strong cord: the asses are lost; Saul and his servant start to seek them; they travel just long enough and far enough to reach the city on the day of the sacrifice, when Samuel would be there; the servant happens to have the little coin; the maids are drawing water as the travellers come near the town, so that they may be hastened to meet Samuel as he leaves his house; the sacrifice is fixed for the very day they arrive at the city by persons who had no thought of their coming, and would have ascribed no importance to it if 39 they had known. How many circumstances are there? Count. At least six. And think of the multiplicity of little thoughts and actions that went to bring about each circumstance. God must be Omniscient and Omnipotent, or He could not arrange and carry out such a scheme. Thus He guides our lives: no moment, no deed, no event, is beyond His Providence. Another lesson for us: Be courteous to strangers: imitate the maidens at the gate. APRIL 19..——SAUL PRIVATELY ANOINTED.-1 Samuel ix. 15-27; x. 1-8. For repetition, 1 Samuel ix. 6, 7. SAMUEL SEES SAUL.-Ch. ix. 15-17. As yet the prophet did not know whom God had chosen to be Israel's king. The day before the Lord had told him privately (in his ear) that he should meet the future king on the morrow. I have looked upon My people.-Compare Exod. ii. 25; iii. 7-9. A promise is thus given that God will make the king a blessing to Israel, if they and he are obedient and submissive to Himself, even though the nation had demanded the monarch in a wrong spirit. That morning Samuel would be all expectation; as the stranger approached, he would wonder if he were the man spoken of; perhaps he would ask God, "Is this he?" Ver. 17 is God's answer. THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT.-V. 18 -21. It was not accidental that Saul inquired of Samuel himself the way to the seer's house; it was part of the chain of providential circumstances noted in our last Lesson. Remember, Saul had not the smallest inkling of the Divine intention regarding him. He would not be able to account for the great respect the prophet paid him, nor to understand his words. To cause another to walk first, was a sign of high honour. Whatever could Samuel mean by paying it to Saul, and by telling him the desire of all Israel was upon him? Saul answers modestly, Am not I, etc.? How could the desire of all Israel be on so humble an individual? THE FEAST. - V. 22-24. Here mark two things: the honour shown Saul, and the foresight of Samuel. The latter had ordered a special joint to be reserved for Saul at the time he gave directions to the cook about the meal. The shoulder was called the royal portion. On the gift itself, see Gen. xliii. 34, and note. The shoulder would be a large piece for one person. The treatment he received, and the supernatural knowledge of his coming manifested by Samuel, would astonish Saul more than ever. THE PRIVATE ANOINTING.-V. 25ch. x. 1. When the feast was over, the prophet and the king-designate communed privately. Samuel said nothing about the kingdom, but he would hint the destiny in store for Saul, the service he might render to God, the state of Israel, the hope of a successful war with the Philistines, etc. To the top of the house,-for the sake of privacy. The three (Samuel, Saul, and the servant) began the journey together. The servant was sent on, that Saul might learn the word of God, the message Samuel had for him. How eagerly he would listen! How solemn he would feel when the oil was poured over him! Hitherto only the priest and the tabernacle had been anointed, (Exod. Xxx. 23, etc.; Lev. viii. 10, etc.,) now he was similarly distinguished. Besides, the anointing signified the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. Samuel's words could not be misunderstood, Is it not, etc. ?-the question being the strongest form of assertion. The kiss was the sign of respectful homage: as persons presented to the Queen kiss her hand. THREE SIGNS.-V. 2-8. The signs were given to confirm to Saul's own mind all that Samuel had said to him. The first proved that the seer had told him the truth about the asses; hence the truth about the kingdom. The second might be taken as emblematic of the tribute he should receive from the people; of the support and sustenance God would afford him, for the three loaves were part of an intended sacrifice to Jehovah. Rachel's tomb was about half-anhour's journey from Bethlehem; Zelzah has not been positively identified. The third sign was the most important and striking: it denoted the gift of the Holy Spirit, a change in Saul himself. The hill of God,-i.e., Gibeah of God, the same place afterwards generally called Gibeah of Saul, -Saul's own residence. The suffix, "of God," was added probably because there was there a school of the prophets, situated on a high place consecrated to Jehovah. A garrison of the Philistines was stationed at Gibeah, for the Philistines ruled over a great portion of the land of Israel. In the very spot where were the oppressors, the Spirit should descend upon the future king-a token that God by him would deliver Israel. A psaltery, etc., a lyre, guitar, tambourine, flute. occasion serve thee,-God Himself should be Saul's Guide. Further notes on this Do as event must be left for the next Lesson. The eighth verse sounds mysterious, perhaps Saul himself hardly knew what the direction meant. He could not possibly forget it, however. By and by we shall see what it meant. REFLECTIONS.-1. Note Saul's modesty and humility. "Before honour is humility." 2. Note Samuel's ready obedience to God, and his unselfishness.-He showed no jealousy of the man who was to supersede him in the government. 3. Israel is called God's " inheritance," (ch. x. 1;) God's property, Deut. iv. 20; ix. 26. The ground of God's claim was His redemption of Israel from Egypt. He has redeemed us from a worse slavery; promises us a better Canaan. If we are God's, God is ours. Compare Deut. xxxii. 9, with Lam. iii. 24. 4. "All that is in thine heart."-How shamed and shocked and humiliated most of us would be, if a man of God were to tell us bluntly all that is in our hearts! Facts are none the better because they are not spoken. Remember, a day is surely coming when the secrets of all hearts will be revealed. 5. Repeat the verses for repetition. Is God with us? with each of us? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" John Wesley used to say, "The best of all is God is with us." God is the best Guide: see Wesley's Hymns, No. 326, ver. 2. APRIL 26.- --SAUL PUBLICLY APPOINTED KING.-1 Samuel x. 9—27. SAUL AMONG THE PROPHETS.-V. 913. What were the three signs given to Saul? All were fulfilled. The third is recorded particularly. To prophesy here is to sing hymns of praise to Jehovah, hymns composed extempore, under the influence of the Holy Ghost. The people who had known Saul before, were surprised to see him in such company; it was utterly unlike the society he had been used to frequent. They ask, Is Saul also among the prophets ?-as though such an event were well-nigh impossible, scarcely to be believed even when seen. A wiser man than he who had asked the question of astonishment, answered it by putting another, But who is their father? It was God Who made prophets; He could make a prophet even of Saul. The question, Is Saul, etc.?-passed into a proverb, expressive of wonder when a man was found discharging a duty hitherto deemed unsuitable for him. The last speaker was right; it was God Who had given Saul the spirit of prophesy. But even he did not know how to account for it. Can you? see ver. 9. God gave him another heart. Can you find a better phrase to describe a conversion? Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27; 2 Cor. v. 17. Has God given you a new heart? How may you obtain one? Saul's neighbours were startled at the change in him, but nothing is too hard for the MORNING LESSONS. Lord; He can convert the very vilest sinners. Never distrust the reality of a conversion, because the subject of it has been notoriously wicked. All SAUL'S SILENCE.-V. 14-16. that need be noted in these verses is Saul's silence about the kingdom. It showed (1) his humility: many a man would have blazed abroad the honour done him; (2) his prudence: till God's choice was announced publicly, it would have been very unwise to talk of it; (3) his dependence upon God: he would wait for Divine direction before he spoke; he remembered the servant was sent on before, that Samuel might deliver his message privately. Who says there is "a time to keep silence" as well as "a time to speak"? CHOSEN BY LOT.-V. 17-26. What do you know of Mizpeh? There the Israelites assembled to receive their king. Samuel's address repeats what he had said before about Israel's sin in desiring a monarch. The king was chosen by lot, because he was appointed by God, as His deputy, not elected by the people. Upon the "lot," see Morning Lesson, August 31st, 1873. When the lot fell upon Saul, he could not be found. They inquired of God what should be done; God informs them where the chosen king is, ver. 22. The stuff,-the baggage of the people who had come to Mizpeh. Saul felt overwhelmed by a sense of the responsibility The THE SIEGE OF JABESH-GILEAD.-V. 1, 2. Jabesh was the capital city of the district of Gilead in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. whole country had once belonged to the Ammonites; they were dispossessed when Israel came out of Egypt. About a century before the time of Saul, they had made a desperate, and for a while successful, effort to regain their lost land, Judges x. 8, 9; xi. 13; but were defeated by Jephthah, Judges xi. 32, 33. The Ammonites had never forgotten the disaster, and had nursed the desire for vengeance ever since. Seizing a favourable opportunity, Nahash had laid siege to Jabesh suddenly, perhaps a little before Saul's election. The Gileadites saw that they could not long resist, and proposed to the 41 about to be laid upon him; he well knew upon whom the lot would fall. When he appeared head and shoulders taller than any other Israelite, the people accepted Jehovah's choice. He was just such a king as they desired. Consult previous Lessons. Then Samuel proclaimed the constitution; the manner of the kingdom, is not the same as "the manner of the king," ch. viii. 11-18. His announcement would be an expansion of Deut. xvii. 14-20. Laid it up before the Lord,-most likely in the Holy of Holies. Saul went home, the chosen sovereign of Israel, but waiting for a signal from God to assume the government. Moved by the Spirit, some men voluntarily became Saul's body-guard: moved by Satan, others rejected him contemptuously, neglecting to bring him presents expressive of homage. Wisely and generously, Saul took no notice of their discontent. Let us learn not to resent injuries and affronts. We have a motive for this the Hebrew king could not have. What is it? Can you see it in the Lord's Prayer? Coloss. iii. 13. Mark; God had touched the hearts of the men that followed Saul. That is the real reason of every good action we perform; God has touched our hearts. Are we following King Jesus? Are we despising Him, as the sons of Belial despised the first king of Israel? VICTORY.-1 Samuel xi. King of Ammon, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee,-i.e., Give us favourable terms, and we will surrender, and become thy subjects. The only condition Nahash would grant was, that after the right eye of every fighting-man was put out, he would refrain from sacking the city. Hi avowed object was to disgrace Israel, who would then be evidently unable to deliver one of their own cities out of the hand of the Ammonites, whom once they had conquered. The right eye was demanded in order to make the sufferers useless as soldiers; the shield, held on the left arm, would cover the left eye, the javelin could not then be aimed without the right. THE RESPITE AND THE MESSAGE.-V. 3, 4. In their distress, the Gileadites thought of one chance of escape. Perhaps the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan would help them. They asked seven days' respite to enable them to obtain succour. It seems strange that Nahash consented. May be he was influenced by the loss it would cause him to take the town by storm. But much more he thought of the terrible disgrace he believed he could bring upon Israel. Josephus says the men of Jabesh had already begged assistance in vain of the two and a-half tribes on their own side of the river. The Israelites further off (he thought) would never attempt a rescue. If they did, he doubted not his ability to win a decisive victory. Accordingly the truce was arranged, and the messengers left the city. They had travelled to Gibeah of Saul, sixty miles as the crow flies; no one had volunteered to undertake their deliverance. They told their story to the people in the absence of the monarch. The hearers wept for pity, but offered no help. THE GATHERING OF THE HOST.-V. 5-8. Saul came after the herd out of the field. See last paragraph of the last Lesson. He followed his usual avocations till the expected signal should come. When he heard the story of the men of Jabesh, he took it as the call of God to assert his captaincy of Israel. Inspired by the Holy Ghost, he summoned all who were able to bear arms to meet him. The meaning of the hewing of the oxen is indicated by the words of the proclamation: Whosoever..so shall it be done unto his oxen. After Saul and after Samuel.-Samuel had not yet formally abdicated his office of judge. The nation obeyed Saul's command. Doubtless beacon-fires had gathered each tribe into some appointed place, so that the runners could easily and rapidly inform all concerned where the general meeting-place was, and why the call was made. Three hundred and thirty thousand men assembled at Bezek, a town near the Jordan, about twenty miles north of Shechem. Of course the men were not regular soldiers; then the Israelites had no standing army. Every able-bodied man possessed a weapon, and knew how to use it; Saul's force was a general levy of the whole fighting population. THE GUILE OF THE GILEADITES.-V. 9, 10. Doubtless the morrow was the last day of the respite. The messengers from Jabesh hastened home with the joyful tidings that all Israel was coming to the rescue. Then the men of Jabesh professed that their effort to obtain aid was unsuccessful, and promised to surrender the city next day. Thus Nahash was lulled into security. THE VICTORY.-V. 11. Dividing his troops into three divisions, which travelled by different routes, Saul attacked the Ammonites in the early morning, and routed them utterly. Josephus adds that he invaded their country in return, and took much spoil. Whether this is true or not, the defeat of the Ammonites was so complete, that they ceased to trouble Israel till long after Saul was dead. SAUL'S GENEROSITY, - V. 12, 13. From ch. ix. 26, 27, we gather that some clave to Saul, some rejected him; but the majority of the nation were indifferent. Success had converted all the half-hearted into his devoted adherents. They show their newlyfound loyalty by desiring to put to death those who had despised him. Saul acts most nobly. He will have none suffer on a day of public rejoicing. Had not God manifested mercy to Israel in granting them so signal a victory? Ver. 14, 15, inform us of a solemn recognition of Saul's right to the throne. 2. The danger of rash confidence.— Satan chooses the moment of his attacks upon us, when we trust ourselves or are unwatchful. 3. The certainty of victory to those who fight God's battles in God's name. 4. All our successes should be ascribed to the Lord. 5. Mark again Saul's clemency,―he was deaf to the words of his insulters at the first; he took no vengeance, when the occasion urged him to it. 6. From this Lesson show the better side of Saul's character-his faith, obedience, humility and wisdom in coupling Samuel's name with his own, etc., etc. AFTERNOON LESSONS. BY THE REV. W. O. SIMPSON. APRIL 5. DORCAS. -Acts ix. 32-43. For repetition, INTRODUCTION.-The first section of these Notes is designed to revive the feeling of the active dissemination of the truth by the dispersion of the disciples. Particular attention should be directed to the difference between Jesus and His Apostle in working miracles; as well as to the analogy between death and life in their physical and spiritual relations. The character of Dorcas forms a loveable subject of study for the young. THE PLACES MENTIONED. - How many ? Lydda; Saron, or Sharon; and Joppa. If a person were travelling by the highway from Jerusalem in a north-westerly direction, after travelling about thirty miles he would arrive at Lydda, a small town: some ten miles further on, he would come to the coast of the Mediterranean, and enter Joppa, now Jaffa, the "beautiful city," as the name signifies. Thence pursuing the great northern way along which Philip had journeyed for thirty miles, he would reach Cæsarea. country between Joppa and Lydda on the south, and Cæsarea on the north, bore the name of Sharon, a district celebrated for its beauty and fertility. Recall the illustration of the broken box of ointment, John xii. 3. The One stream of odour passes to Sychar, ch. viii. 5; another to Damascus, ix. 10; another to Phenice, xi. 19, centre: north-east and north-west have caught the fragrance of Christian life; and it still clings to and round the Holy City. The district now referred to had two advantages for the scattered Christians, it lay near home; its shipping facilities afforded easy escape in case of further danger. So in its towns and villages Christian families settled for a while. Would no one seek and pasture the scattered sheep? Peter has not forgotten his Master's last words, John xxi. 17. THE SHADOW OF THE FIRST ADAM. -Rom. v. 12. Who was that "one man"? In this Lesson we read how death approached one disciple, and had already overtaken another. What a blessing health is! Children do not verses 40, 41. like being "poorly" even for a day; but how distressing to have a terrible sickness which destroys the power of the limbs, distorts the countenance, and confuses the speech! Peter found a disciple in this state of suffering. Where? What was his name? From what disease did he suffer? He had lain helpless in bed for eight years! The grim conqueror was indeed approaching. Just ten miles away, he had claimed a victim: who? ver. 36, 37. Death does not spare beauty. She had been a lovely babe, so her parents had called her Tabitha, "gazelle." may suppose that she had kept the soft eyes and gentle face to womanhood. Death does not spare usefulness. Dorcas had been benevolent: her benevolence had been practical: the garments were of her own making, and apparently she had worked alone. If death could have passed over any, it would have passed over Dorcas: but death has passed "upon all men," so Dorcas died. We THE POWER OF JESUS CHRIST.Read Rom. v. 21. Death by Adam; life by Jesus. Jesus had life in Himself: see how Jesus healed a man in the same sickness, Mark ii. 2-12. "I say unto thee, Arise." But what did Peter say? Acts ix. 34. Peter got his power from Christ. So the man rolled up his mat and pillow, (bed,) and went forth whole. Now let us go to the chamber of death: read ver. 39-41; compare 1 Kings xvii. 19-22; 2 Kings iv. 32-37. Did Jesus act in this way? See Luke viii. 51-55; John xi. 43. When the people saw these miracles, they turned to the Lord, and_many believed in the Lord. A greater Power than death had entered into the world: life from Jesus: for the soul and body too. For these miracles were only prophecies of the great resurrection, (1 Cor. xv. 22;) as a handful of ripe heads of corn are samples of the whole harvest field. REFLECTIONS.--1. Religion is life.— Sick Eneas and dead Dorcas were |