prefer, and to provide for. Then Saul faid unto his fervants, that food about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites: Will the son of Jefe give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds? That is, Will he do for I have, and mean to do?

you as

His captains, we here fee, were of his own kindred; and whom can we presume him fo folicitous to exalt to these stations, as his own fons and grandfons? or whom elfe can we prefume him fo folicitous to fupply with fields and vineyards?

Now I defire to know how Saul could do this? He could not fo much as purchase the poffeffions of one tribe, and transfer them to another, much lefs could he transfer their lands by force. We know of no territories wrefted from his enemies, to accommodate his Benjamites. It is true he fmote the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, (1 Sam. xv. 7.) but it is no-where faid, that he took poffeffion of their country, or that he took fo much as one city from them; or if he did, the country or city fo taken, muft immediately become the property of that tribe, in whose lot that part of the Amalekite land

lay;

lay; which most certainly was not Benjamin. But although it should be allowed, that he took fome cities from the Amalekites, there is good reason to believe, that he lost more to the Philiftines *, and poffibly fome of them belonging to Benjamin.

UPON the whole, it is evident to a demonstration, that Saul had no poffible way of enriching his Benjamites, with fields and vineyards, but by destroying and difpoffefing the Gibeonites. When therefore we are told from the mouth of GOD, that the plague fent upon the people was for Saul and his bloody houfe, because he flew the Gibeonites, is it not evident, that it was fent for their guilt, as well as his? And can we imagine, that this guilt of theirs could be any thing lefs, than that of being the inftruments of his executions? It is plain, that they were his captains of hundreds, and captains of thousands; and it is as plain,

I

* 1 Sam. xxxi. 7. And when the men of Ifrael, that were on the other fide of the valley, and they that were on the other fide Jordan, faw that the men of Ifrael fled, and that Saul and his fons were dead, they for fook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

+ The words which we render, he flew, might as properly be rendered, they flew.

that

that as fuch, they must be the instruments of his cruelty and if they were not, why are they called bloody? They refufed, indeed, to flaughter the priests, at his command; bad as the Benjamites were, they had not yet forgotten to fear God, and to reverence bis priefts. But is there the leaft colour of reason to believe, that they were so scrupulous with regard to the Gibeonites? And if they were not, is there less equity in God's destroying their fons, for the fins of their fathers, which they adopted and shared in, than there was in his destroying Jeboram, the son of Ahab, for that vineyard, which the father had cruelly and unjustly acquired, and the fon as unjustly detained? And indeed there seems to be no imaginable reason why Saul, when he had deftroyed the priests of Nob, fhould, after that, deftroy the inhabitants of that whole city, but because they were moft, if not all of them, Gibe onites, (who were obliged to attend there upon the altar) whofe fpoils might become a prey.

To this

may be added, that three of the Gibeonite cities lay (as I now observed) within

the

the lot of Benjamin*; and how could Saul so conveniently enrich his tribe, and his family, as by dividing these poffeffions amongst them?

AND now, as I humbly apprehend, was fulfilled, more clearly, more naturally, and more circumftantially than in any or all other events, throughout the whole history of the fcriptures, that prophecy of their father Jacob concerning them, Gen. xlix. 27. Benjamin fhall ravin as a wolf: in the morning, he shall devour the prey, and in the evening he fhall divide the spoil. And indeed what can be a stronger or a clearer emblem of a wolf tearing and ravaging an innocent flock of sheep, than Saul destroying a quiet, fubmitting, unoffending race of Gibeonites, and, when he had done fo, dividing their fpoils among his partners in the prey ? It must be owned, that the pretext for doing fo was not unplaufible, inafmuch as these men were fpared, contrary to the express

* See Job. ix. 17. compared with chap. xviii. ver. 25, 26. chap. ix. ver. 17. And the children of Ifrael journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day: now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. Chap. xviii. ver. 25. Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth. Ver. 26. And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah.

VOL. III.

а

com

command of GOD. And for whom, do we think, Saul was more folicitous to provide, out of these spoils, than his own fons by Rizpah his concubine, and the children of his daughter? And this reafoning is strengthened by reflecting, that Nob was in the tribe of Benjamin; and when both the priests and Gibeonites were deftroyed out of this city, who then could take poffeffion of it but Benjamin?

WHEN the Gibeonites were taken into league, they were left in poffeffion of their cities: this fufficiently appears from their fending to Joshua (Joh. x.) to deliver them from the Amorite kings, who befieged their capital, and had combined to destroy them: and he did as they defired. Their complaint against Saul now is, that he devised to deftroy them from remaining in any of the coafts of Ifrael (2 Sam. xxi. 5.). Can this complaint mean lefs, than that Saul had taken measures to strip them of all their poffeffions? That he stripp'd them of one city, hath fully been fhewn in the preceding part of this history and their complaint now is, that he devised to ftrip them of all: and why he did fo is, I believe, no longer a queftion. How