Of Samuel one more glimpse is afforded before his life closes. After his separation from Saul he appears to have devoted himself to the training of a body of younger men to carry on his prophetic work. The flight of David to him shows that an intimate relationship had previously subsisted between them. He went to him for counsel and sanctuary, and the intercourse of the young hero with the old prophet is full of suggestion. Samuel might have advised him to make armed resistance against the godless tyranny of Saul; in which, with his great popularity, he might have succeeded, but only at the cost of a long and ruinous civil war. As at the rejection of Saul he avoided violent measures m support of the theocracy, so now he counselled the same course, and took David with him from his own house to Naioth (dwellings), or the common residence of "the company of the prophets" (1 Samuel 10:10), in the neighbourhood of Ramah. It was the chief home of order, light, and religion; the centre of spiritual influence. "He found there only temporary safety, indeed, from Saul's persecution, but abiding consolation and strength in the inspired prophetic word, in the blessings of the fraternal community, and in the consoling and elevating power of the holy poetic art, whereby he doubtless stood in peculiarly intimate connection with the community" (Erdmann). "God intended to make David not a warrior and a king only, but a prophet too. As the field fitted him for the first and the court for the second, so Naioth shall fit him for the third (Hall). How long he continued is not stated; but, on hearing of his refuge, Saul sent three times to take him by force, and ultimately went himself for the purpose. The messengers found an assembly (lahak, used here only, probably by a transposition of letters, i.q. kahal - Gesenius) of prophets engaged in religious exercises under the presidency of Samuel. It is not necessary to suppose that the service, which may have had a special character, was conducted in a large hall, though there may have been such; it was probably in the open air, and capable of being seen and heard from a distance (ver. 22). With respect more particularly to Samuel, notice -

I. HIS HONOURED POSITION - "standing as appointed over them," or as leader; not probably appointed by any official act of theirs, but generally recognised and honoured, and directing their holy exercises. The honour in which he was held was due to -

1. The pre-eminent authority he possessed as a prophet of the Lord (1 Samuel 3:19).

2. The high character he had so long sustained in that office, and the course of labour he had pursued.

3. The special work he had accomplished in gathering around him such young men as seemed to be qualified by their gifts and piety to act as prophets in Israel, and forming them into a school or college of prophets. He was the venerable founder of their order, and reaped the reward of his labours in their reverence and affection, and still more in their devotion to Jehovah and their zeal for his honour.

II. HIS PROPHETIC ASSOCIATES. They were '"prophets," not "sons" or disciples "of the prophets" (2 Kings 2:3), who seem to have occupied in later times a more dependent and inferior position. They were a union or free association of men "endowed with the Spirit of God for the purpose of carrying on their work, the feeble powers of junior members being directed and strengthened by those of a higher class" (Kitto, 'Cyc. of Bib. Lit.'). Among them probably were Gad (1 Samuel 22:5; 2 Samuel 24:11), Nathan (2 Samuel 7:2; 2 Samuel 12:1), and Heman, the grandson of Samuel (1 Chronicles 6:33; 1 Chronicles 25:5; "the king's seer," etc.).

1. They had been under his instruction in the knowledge of God and his law, and, as subservient to this, in reading and writing, poetry, music, and singing. "Education is not a panacea for all human ills, but it is an indispensable condition both of individual and of national progress" ('Expositor,' 3:344).

2. They were in sympathy with his purposes concerning the true welfare of the people of Israel, and strove to carry them into effect. They formed "a compact phalanx to stand against the corruption which had penetrated so deeply into the nation, and to bring back the rebellious to the law and the testimony" (Keil).

3. They were endowed, like Samuel himself, with a peculiar measure of the Divine Spirit for the accomplishment of their work. By his influence they were drawn together, variously gifted, and sometimes impelled to ecstatic utterances.

III. HIS DEVOUT OCCUPATION. He presided over the prophets, and took part with them in "prophesying," or uttering with a loud voice the praises of God. His last recorded act was one of worship, and under his influence David's intense love for public worship was probably acquired. The service was -

1. Accompanied with music (as in 1 Samuel 10:10). "A principal part of their occupation consisted - under the guidance of some prophet of superior authority, and more peculiarly under the Divine influence, as moderator and preceptor - in celebrating the praises of Almighty God, in hymns and poetry, with choral chaunts, accompanied by stringed instruments and pipes" (Lowth).

2. Edifying. Whilst their utterance expressed their inward feeling, it was also the means of teaching and exhorting one another, and of "awakening holy susceptibilities and emotions in the soul, and of lifting up the spirit to God, and so preparing it for the reception of Divine revelations."

3. United. which tends by the power of sympathy to intensify feeling, strengthen faith, enlarge desire, and perfect those dispositions in connection with which worship is acceptable to God.

IV. HIS POWERFUL INFLUENCE. "The Spirit of God came upon the messengers," etc. The immediate effect was to transform these men, to protect David from their power, and to afford a sign of the opposition of God to the designs of Saul. More generally, the influence of Samuel was put forth in and through the "company of prophets" for -

1. The maintenance of the principle of the theocracy, which was imperilled by the conduct of Saul. The prophets were its true representatives and upholders in every subsequent age.

2. The elevation of the people in wisdom and righteousness. Their work was to teach, reprove, and exhort those with whom they came into contact; and "through such a diffusion of prophetic training the higher truths of prophecy must have been most rapidly diffused among the people, and a new and higher life formed in the nation" (Ewald).

3. The preparation of men for a better time - the advent of Christ, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the proclamation of the gospel. The prophets, not the priests, were the true forerunners of the gospel ministry. - D.

The prophet of former days was, in all substantial point, identical with the preacher of these. The commission both of prophet and preacher is to set forth the Divine Oracles; to speak to their fellow sinners the word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. It is only an accidental, not an essential difference between the two, that in the case of the prophet this word is derived from immediate inspiration, while in that of the preacher it is gathered by prayerful study out of the pages of a written record. Nor, so long as the testimony borne by both is a testimony of God's Word, does it constitute an essential difference, that in the prophet's case the testimony should oftentimes be a warning of future and impending events, in the preacher's an admonition of present privileges and present duties.

I. A SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE EXERTED UPON CERTAIN PERSONS. Both the messengers of Saul and Saul himself were constrained by a strange and irresistible impulse to prophesy before Samuel. In this seizure and ecstasy of minds, previously bent on the prosecution of a hostile purpose, there was, no doubt, something miraculous, or rather, something that must not be confounded with the ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit. But yet there were circumstances in the former which may usefully remind us of the latter. Saul stripping off his royal apparel, and lying down in the very dust before Samuel — what a picture does this present to us of the sinner's self-abasement, when the convicting and converting influences of the Holy Spirit first pour in upon his heart! How does he prostrate himself, in deepest humiliation of spirit, at the foot of that cross which has now become his only hope? A blessed and happy influence this, which has been exerted upon his spirit; and one, haply, no less marvellous than the impression made upon Saul of old. Of the latter, men said, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" The spiritual character sat strangely and unwontedly upon this furious and worldly prince. So marvellous in men's eyes was the transformation, that "Saul among the prophets" passed into a proverb of marvellousness. And is not the result of the Holy Spirit's ordinary operations as much a marvel, in the strict and true sense of that word, as His bestowal of extraordinary gifts?

II. THE INSTRUMENTALITY EMPLOYED IN MAKING THIS IMPRESSION UPON SAUL HIMSELF AND HIS MESSENGERS. In the case of the latter, we are distinctly informed that it was not until they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as appointed over them, that they also prophesied. What sight is so infectious, if we may be allowed to use the term, as that of a congregation of persons solemnly assembled for Divine worship, and joining, as with one heart and one tongue, in the sacred exercises of prayer and praise? Can such a sight fail — even if it make no permanent impression upon the spectator — of absorbing his mind for a season into the current of devotion? Over and above the associations of the place (which of themselves lend wings to devotion) there is a sympathy abroad — a sympathy recognised by the spiritual faculty within us — which lifts up the soul, as by an instinct, into unison with the song of praise and thanksgiving. When we see the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God is upon us, and we also prophesy. Such is, we believe, the experience of every devout mind; such the Christian's realisation of the blessing annexed by charter to Public Worship, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."

(E. M. Goulburn, D. D.)