272; 
condition on which alone the special privileges of being a 
peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation 
could be enjoyed; yet, at the same time, He claimed the 
right to the whole earth. Thus from the mouth of the Lord 
Himself we learn our responsibility to Him and our obligation 
to do His will. 
This act of legislation was one, by it the nationality of the 
Israelites was secured, and only the details of social law and 
the administration of the law remained to be secured. These 
did not fail, and in them that full revelation of divine per- 
fection, which the name Jehovah promised, was accomplished. 
But this economy, which secured such abundant good to Israel, 
was brought about by the establishment of most perfect and 
direct responsibility to the Lord, who was not only their God, 
but their King. And, although by His permission they at length 
had a human monarch, that monarch was merely the divine 
vicegerent. They were, therefore, commanded, while yet in 
the wilderness, that at the time they should say, “I will set 
a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 
thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the Lord 
thy God shall choose.”” This was actually done in the case of 
Saul and Dayid, and these kings and their successors were 
simply intrusted with the administration of divine law. 
Their legislative authority extended only to proclamations of 
an individual and peculiar character, which adjusted the 
general provisions of the Mosaic Law to special cases. But 
not one clause of the original Law could they abrogate or 
amend. In accordance with this economy, the king was con- 
secrated to his office by an anointing, which was the outward 
symbol of the gift of the Spirit of God, as the qualification 
for the efficient fulfilment of the dunes of his office, and, 
when both king and people departed from the law, God 
Himself inflicted the punishment due to their transgression, 
as He was their deliverer and helper in all times of their ~ 
obedience. 
In this continued exercise of direct rule over Israel we 
have repeated proofs of the presence of the Creator and 
Upholder of all things. When they had grievously departed 
from the law, and had, contrary to express prohibition, intro- 
duced the idolatry of the Sidonians into Samaria, and wor- 
shipped Baal instead of the Lord, He withheld rain from them 
for three years and six months, so that famine was sorely 
felt in Samaria and the whole country; nor was the infliction 
removed until the people again declared the Lord to be God, 
and the 450 prophets of Baal were slain. “The means also by 
which this reformation was effected could only have been used 
