Hereupon "the kingdom is renewed" for Saul at Gilgal, and
only now does Samuel abdicate his government, in the long speech
(chap. xii.) a considerable portion of which was given above.
That chap. xi. is now an integral part of this version of the
history is clear from xii. 12, and also from xi. 12-14. But it
was not originally designed for this connection. For we hear
nothing of the warriors who according to x. 26 were in company
with Saul; it is not on his account that the messengers of Jabesh
came to Gibeah. When the supposed king comes home from ploughing,
nothing is done to indicate that the news concerns him specially:
no one tells him what has happened, he has to ask the reason of
the general weeping. He summons the levy of Israel not in virtue
of his office as king, but in the authority of the Spirit, and it
is owing to the Spirit acting on the people that he is obeyed.
Only after he has showed his power and defeated the Ammonites do
the people make him king (xi. 15); the "renewal" of the kingdom
(xi. 14), after a month's interval, is a transparent artifice of
the author of viii. 10, 1) seq.
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