{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"1SA","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"1 Samuel","commonName":"1 Samuel","introduction":"THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF SAMUEL. The two were, by the ancient Jews, conjoined so as to make one book, and in that form could be called the Book of Samuel with more propriety than now, the second being wholly occupied with the relation of transactions that did not take place till after the death of that eminent judge. Accordingly, in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it is called the First and Second Books of Kings. The early portion of the First Book, down to the end of the twenty-fourth chapter, was probably written by Samuel; while the rest of it and the whole of the Second, are commonly ascribed to Nathan and Gad, founding the opinion on Ch1 29:29. Commentators, however, are divided about this, some supposing that the statements in Sa1 2:26; Sa1 3:1, indicate the hand of the judge himself, or a contemporary; while some think, from Sa1 6:18; Sa1 12:5; Sa1 27:6, that its composition must be referred to a later age. It is probable, however, that these supposed marks of an after-period were interpolations of Ezra. This uncertainty, however, as to the authorship does not affect the inspired authority of the book, which is indisputable, being quoted in the New Testament (Sa1 13:14 in Act 13:22, and Sa2 7:14 in Heb 1:5), as well as in many of the Psalms. \n\n\n\nNext: 1 Samuel Chapter 1\n\n","order":9,"numberOfChapters":31,"sha256":"1975a4e2a6bdaa5be4dcf999c79b20d8910671818d67532ae00697e811d891c8","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1SA/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1SA","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":31,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1SA/31.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1SA","chapter":31},"totalNumberOfVerses":294},"chapter":{"number":8,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us--Personal and family feelings might affect his views of this public movement. But his dissatisfaction arose principally from the proposed change being revolutionary in its character. Though it would not entirely subvert their theocratic government, the appointment of a visible monarch would necessarily tend to throw out of view their unseen King and Head. God intimated, through Samuel, that their request would, in anger, be granted, while at the same time he apprised them of some of the evils that would result from their choice.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["This will be the manner of the king--The following is a very just and graphic picture of the despotic governments which anciently and still are found in the East, and into conformity with which the Hebrew monarchy, notwithstanding the restrictions prescribed by the law, gradually slid. \n\nHe will take your sons, and appoint them for himself--Oriental sovereigns claim a right to the services of any of their subjects at pleasure. \n\nsome shall run before his chariots--The royal equipages were, generally throughout the East (as in Persia they still are), preceded and accompanied by a number of attendants who ran on foot.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["he will appoint him captains--In the East, a person must accept any office to which he may be nominated by the king, however irksome it may be to his taste or ruinous to his interests.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["he will take your daughters to be confectionaries--Cookery, baking, and the kindred works are, in Eastern countries, female employment, and thousands of young women are occupied with these offices in the palaces even of petty princes.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["he will take your fields, &c.--The circumstances mentioned here might be illustrated by exact analogies in the conduct of many Oriental monarchs in the present day.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel--They sneered at Samuel's description as a bugbear to frighten them. Determined, at all hazards, to gain their object, they insisted on being made like all the other nations, though it was their glory and happiness to be unlike other nations in having the Lord for their King and Lawgiver (Num 23:9; Deu 33:28). Their demand was conceded, for the government of a king had been provided for in the law; and they were dismissed to wait the appointment, which God had reserved to Himself (Deu 17:14-20).\n\n\n\n\nNext: 1 Samuel Chapter 9\n\n"]}],"introduction":"OCCASIONED BY THE ILL-GOVERNMENT OF SAMUEL'S SONS, THE ISRAELITES ASK A KING. (1Sa. 8:1-18)\n\nwhen Samuel was old--He was now about fifty-four years of age, having discharged the office of sole judge for twelve years. Unable, from growing infirmities, to prosecute his circuit journeys through the country, he at length confined his magisterial duties to Ramah and its neighborhood (Sa1 7:15), delegating to his sons as his deputies the administration of justice in the southern districts of Palestine, their provincial court being held at Beer-sheba. The young men, however, did not inherit the high qualities of their father. Having corrupted the fountains of justice for their own private aggrandizement, a deputation of the leading men in the country lodged a complaint against them in headquarters, accompanied with a formal demand for a change in the government. The limited and occasional authority of the judges, the disunion and jealousy of the tribes under the administration of those rulers, had been creating a desire for a united and permanent form of government; while the advanced age of Samuel, together with the risk of his death happening in the then unsettled state of the people, was the occasion of calling forth an expression of this desire now.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1SA/8.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1SA","chapter":8},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1SA/9.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1SA","chapter":9},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1SA/7.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1SA","chapter":7},"numberOfVerses":6}