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THE POPULAR EDUCATOR, 



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JOURNAL. 



(6) 



HISTORIC SKETCHES. XXXV. 



THE JEWS.-I. 



So intimately is the history of the Jews bound np with the 

 Holy Scripture narrative, that few persons accustom themselves 

 to regard the two as distinct. In one sense, of course they 

 are not distinct. The Jewish history, like the rest of the Old 

 Testament, was written for our learning, and ia profitable for 

 "instruction in righteousness." 



It is the very groundwork, so to speak, of the Bible. Tet 

 is it well sometimes to consider the remarkable history of this 

 remarkable people apart from its surroundings, to learn from 

 it the meaning of its intense individuality, and to see that 

 had no more been patent to the world than the marvellous 

 series of facts from the delivery out of Egypt to the establish- 

 ment of Saul upon the throne, men must have been led to the 

 conclusion that some special providence watched over the 

 national life of the Jews, and that the Jews were a chosen 

 people, specially favoured of the Divine Ruler of the universe. 

 Most of the earlier Jewish history is derived from the Bible, 

 but the later portions are drawn from many sources from the 

 histories of people who made a great figure in the world till 

 they bruised themselves against the rock of Jewish nationality 

 and were overthrown by it from the histories of peoples who 

 finally dispossessed the chosen people, and cast them forth as 

 wanderers upon the face of the earth till the time of their 

 redemption shall draw nigh. It is proposed in this and a suc- 

 ceeding sketch to portray the Jews as they appeared at distinct 

 epochs in their history, with a view to directing attention to 

 the special features of their case, and to induce our readers to 

 pursue more closely for themselves the study of the most 

 remarkable history known to the experience of the world. 



"And all the people shouted and said, God save the king." 

 It was a new cry in Israel. Up to that time the Jews had been 

 content to live under the political guidance of spiritual chiefs, 

 acting for and in behalf of that Divine Ruler who had brought 

 them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched-out 

 arm. Now they wearied of the unseen King who never held 

 courts, nor entertained, nor showed himself, save in a figurative 

 way, but who yet kept awful state in the midst of the people, 

 being made manifest sometimes in the storm, sometimes in 

 the whirlwind, and to those few who could understand Him in 

 that guise, in the still, small voice. So " Samuel took a vial 

 of oil, and poured it upon Saul's head, and kissed him, and 

 said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be 

 captain over his inheritance ?" and at Mizpeh Samuel collected 

 the people and announced what he had done, reproaching them 

 at the same time for having rejected the God " who himself 

 saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations," 

 and for having said, "Nay, but set a king over us." Saul 

 was anointed, the multitude shouted " God save the king," and 

 the first step was taken towards divorcing tho State, not from 

 the Church merely, but from the Head of the Church, from God 

 himself. 



Those who may have noticed it as a curious thing, when 

 reading the historical books of the Old Testament, that the 

 functions of the prophet should have been allowed to clash 

 with the functions of the king, and that what must often have 

 looked like insolence was tolerated, in appearance at least, 

 when it came from the mouth of a man of God, would do well 

 to call to mind the peculiar relationship in which prophet and 

 king stood to each other. Historically considered, the prophet 

 was the creator of the king, the ruler who had governed before 

 ever the idea of monarchical government had entered the 

 mind of the Jewish leaders ; the man who, having given, might 

 bo supposed to have some power also to take away. The 

 prophet was the avowed oracle of God ; the king was a con- 

 cession to the desire of the people a desire which was ex- 

 pressed in direct contravention of the will of the Almighty, 

 The Israelitish people could not remain satisfied with a system 

 of government which differed in so remarkable a manner from 

 that of the nations by whom they were surrounded, and, in 

 spite of Samuel's urgent advice, they persisted in asking for 

 a king. Still it must be borne in mind that, in spite of this 

 change, the principles of government which prevailed among 

 the Israelites from the time they came out of Egypt to the 

 period when they ceased to bo a collective nation, were those of 

 a pure theocracy that is, of a form of government in which 

 God is the central figure, the head from whom all orders emanate, 

 and to whom all accounts of orders executed are rendered. 

 As the representative of God, and the declarator of His word, 

 a prophet was to be obeyed implicitly whenever he spoke pro- 

 fessionally, his authority superseding even that of the king 

 where the two conflicted. It was natural enough that the 

 statesman on the throne should dislike, and vehemently dislike, 

 this sort of imperium in iinperio. So long as king and prophet 

 agreed, which they seldom did, upon the course of government, 

 all went smoothly, and the spiritual power came in with might 

 to the aid of the temporal ; but whenever there was a conflict, 

 it was war to the knife. Unfortunately for the people, they 

 were seldom on the prophet's side, inclining more frequently to 

 take the part of the prince of this world who, so long as they 

 paid taxes and gave racruits for the army, allowed them to do 

 pretty much a they pleased rather than the part of the servant 

 of Jehovah, who, for all that he had brought them out of 

 Egypt, and blessed them in many things beside, was too highly 

 exalted out of their reach for them to have sympathy with 

 Him, and who was also of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. 

 Instances of conflicts of this sort are many and flagrant in the 

 course of the Old Testament Scriptures, from which it will 

 also be seen that it was a natural tendency in the people to 

 " start aside like a broken bow " whenever the yoke of the 

 Divine -King was laid upon them for their good. It was in 

 consequence of this tendency that a temporal king became 

 necessary. 



