And when ye saw that
Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said
unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when Jehovah your God
is your king. Now therefore behold the king whom ye have desired;
behold, Jehovah has set a king over you. If ye will hear Jehovah
and serve Him and obey His voice, and not rebel
against the commandment of Jehovah, good: but if ye rebel against
the commandment of Jehovah, then shall the hand of Jehovah be
against you as it was against your fathers."
It is the familiar strain: rebellion, affliction, conversion,
peace, Jehovah the keynote, and the first word and the last.
The eye does not dwell on the details of the story; the gaps in
the tradition are turned to account as well as its contents, which
are concentrated at so few points. Details are regarded only as
they bear on the whole; the periods are passed in review in a broad
and general style, and the law enunciated which connects them with
one another. In doing this Samuel seems to presuppose in his
hearers a knowledge of the biblical history in a distinct form;
and he even speaks without hesitation of his own historical
significance.
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