HOMELINESS OF THE NARRATIVE.

23

We proceed, directed by the course of the passage now under remark, to a new class of incidents, which bring before us the selected king of Israel, which describe him to us, and which put us in possession of his personal circumstances at the time of being called to the throne. And, probably, it is but a fair announcement of the general feeling which arises in the mind of readers of this narrative, when we say that we can hardly peruse the opening verses of the 9th chapter of 1 Samuel without. experiencing some sensation of surprise at the extreme homeliness of the history, both in its manner and matter. "And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not." Now, the homeliness of these details may affect us in several ways. It may appear to stand strangely in contrast with what we know of the more stirring character of subsequent portions of the same narrative. We may deem. it singular, too, that for occurrences in themselves so positively trivial, so absolutely com

24

MINUTE DETAILS AN ARGUMENT

mon-place, there should have been reserved a place in the sacred volume. And we may

be disposed to think that a more dignified form of introducing Saul might have been selected-which greater dignity would have been attained by an entire omission of the mention of such trifles as Saul's father losing his asses, and sending his son to seek them.

I. The study of this feature of Saul's history demands that a thought or two should be expended upon the subject of the introduction into Scripture of these trivial incidents, these homely Occurrences for the recollection of every reader of the Bible will immediately suggest that this is not the only instance in which the same feature meets us in its manifold narratives. It is not always, indeed, that the impression produced by this aspect of the Scripture record is confined to mere surprise; it has been allowed to extend further, and many have professed to find here the grounds of a serious objection against the claims of the Volume itself to be considered of divine origin. It has been broadly affirmed, that writers who were under a divine influence would never have been required to descend to details of so unimportant a character. We find, however, anything but a source of discomfort in that which has thus been made a matter of objection. We affirm, generally, that it is this very circumstan

FOR THE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE.

25

tial character of the writings which goes far, in the first instance, to convince us of their being genuine, and having a claim to be received as true. A writer who, merely to answer some private end, makes up a tale, purposely avoids minute incidents. He deals in generalities; because he feels, that if he should descend into particulars, he will but multiply the chances of detection; whereas, a writer who is conscious that he is telling the truth, and only the truth, can afford to state as many minute facts as he pleases; and, indeed, the more of these he is able to introduce the better for his own credibility; because each one, if scrutinized, will only furnish an additional evidence of his veracity. The minutely circumstantial character, therefore, of many of the narratives in the Bible is so far most favourable to our reception of the Scriptures as written under divine influence, that it guarantees their truthfulness-a characteristic, the absence of which would at once constrain us to deny their inspiration.

Still further-it must be acknowledged that matters which, in themselves and separately considered, appear trivial, turn out often, in their connexion and consequences, to be most momentous. It is the habit with God to associate the most important results with that which, in its origin, appears most insignificant. To this

26 THE BIBLE A FAITHFUL PICTURE OF LIFE.

we shall have presently to return; because the history itself furnishes us with an illustration of the remark. But since God is wont thus to act, it follows that the occurrence of minute detail in Scripture narratives, instead of being opposed to their divine origin, is altogether in favour of it, because altogether in harmony with the ordinary plan of divine procedure.

Nor only so the purpose of a divine revelation could only be answered consistently with the dictates of the highest wisdom, as the leading features of such a revelation were conformed to the facts and features of our own every-day history. In order to accomplish its professed purpose of being a guide and directory to man, it must be a faithful picture of human life. Were the aspects under which it presented human life materially different from those under which we ourselves view it, and even participate in it, we should be tempted to say, This is not the

book for us. Now-considering what human beings really are, and of what elements human affairs are really made up-if from the histories and delineations of the Bible there were a systematic exclusion of all those things which in themselves might be considered as small and unimportant, that Book would fail of being conformed to fact; and we should be taking up ground from which it would be vain to attempt

ACCIDENTAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

27

to dislodge us, when we judged that, whoever was the author of the Bible, it certainly could not be the production of a being who had pretensions to infinite wisdom, and that, therefore, it could not have come from God. Great, however, beyond all calculation is the mercy of feeling that the very points which are urged with speciousness and with dogmatism against the claims of the Bible, are the very sources which, when fairly examined, will contribute most to a comfortable conviction of the reality of its divine origin.

II. The incidents connected with Saul's appointment as king were not only trivial, but they possessed in combination with this characteristic another feature-they were of a class to which, in the ordinary way of speaking, we should give the name of accidental. And in this respect, the history appears framed so as to teach us the simple but emphatic lesson, that there is a God of providence, and that where, to the human eye, there may appear nothing but an accidental connexion between two or more circumstances, there exists, in the mind of God, the most clearly-intentioned, complete, and beautiful arrangement and harmony. Never was there, surely, a series of occurrences which appeared more purely fortuitous, and which would less give rise to the idea of a premeditated con