Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel (ver. 19). The invasion of the Philistines produced great fear and distress among the people. Many hid themselves in caves, and thickets, and cliffs, and vaults, and pits; others fled across the Jordan; those who followed Saul did so with trembling (vers. 6, 7); his army melted away - some deserted to the enemy, or were pressed into their service (1 Samuel 14:21); their homes and fields were plundered by marauding bands (ver. 17; 1 Samuel 14:22), which went forth from Michmash without fear of resistance, for the people had been disarmed and deprived of the means of making weapons of war, and even of sharpening their implements of husbandry (2 Kings 24:14) when they became blunt (literally, "there was bluntness of edges;" A.V., "they had a file), except at the pleasure of their oppressors (ver. 21). The result of the burdensome necessity of going to the Philistines was, that many tools became useless by dulness, so that even this poorer sort of arms did the Israelites not much service at the breaking out of the war (Bunsen). How long this state of things continued is not recorded; but it was sufficiently long for those who remained with Saul and Jonathan (ver. 22) to be left without "sword or spear," or any regular armament. Their condition was thus one of helplessness, dependence, and wretchedness, and affords a picture of that to which men are reduced by error and sin. In it we see -

I. THE MANIFEST FAILURE of a self chosen way. "Nay; but we will have a king over us" (1 Samuel 8:19). They have a king self-willed like themselves; but their way fails, as the way of those who prefer their own plans to the guidance of God must ever fail.

1. In delivering them from the evils of which they complain (1 Samuel 8:5), or which they fear (1 Samuel 9:16).

2. In preserving to them the advantages which they possess. "Ye dwelled safe" (1 Samuel 12:11). Where is their safety now?

3. In procuring for them the good which they desire - liberty, power, victory, prosperity, honour, and glory (John 11:47, 48; Romans 10:2, 3). How completely do the prospects that lure men onward in their self-chosen way vanish before them as they advance!

II. THE MISERABLE SUBJECTION of those who forsake God. "They have rejected me" (1 Samuel 8:7). With what result? They are "delivered unto the will of them that hate them" (Ezekiel 16:27; Deuteronomy 28:48), and endure -

1. Oppression that cannot be effectually resisted. "Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage" (2 Peter 2:19), and without the means of freeing himself.

2. Increased difficulty, toil, and trouble in the necessary pursuits of life. Life itself without the friendship of God is a burden too heavy to be borne.

3. Shame and contempt continually (ver. 4). "Is this the grandeur and power which they fondly expected under their king? Was it for this they rejected the Shield of their help and the Sword of their excellency?"

III. THE MERCIFUL PURPOSE to which trial is subservient. "The Lord will not forsake his people" (1 Samuel 12:22). Their distress has some alleviation, and it is designed (in his abounding goodness) -

1. To convince them of the evil of their way.

2. To teach them to put their trust in God, and serve him in truth (1 Samuel 14:6).

3. To prepare them for help and Salvation. Learn that -

1. The highest wisdom of man is to submit to the wisdom of God.

2. The service of God is the only true freedom; the way of honour and happiness. "To serve God is to reign."

3. They who refuse the free service of God fall into the forced service of their enemies.

4. In the greatest of earthly calamities there is no room for despair. "If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him" (Deuteronomy 4:29). - D.

Saul is reproved for his haste, his presumption, and his disobedience. Samuel then departs to Gibeah, and the nation are for a time, notwithstanding Saul's valour, reduced to great straits under the rule of the Philistines. "The spoilers," too, "came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies," spreading desolation over the whole country. At last, by the brilliant valour of Jonathan and his armour bearer, a portion of the Philistine host was slain, and a sudden panic spreading throughout their camp, their entire forces were routed. Thus the children of Israel regained once more their freedom.

I. THAT IT IS WHEN MEN ARE UNPREPARED THAT TEMPTATIONS COME. When "there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people," that was the time that the spoilers came out. Temptations assail us on our weakest side, and at the most unexpected moment. The sin that most easily besets us is the sin that comes upon us when we are in idleness and ease, in no way prepared for a spiritual conflict.

II. THAT TEMPTATIONS, THOUGH VERY DISTINCT, ARE OFTEN DIFFICULT TO SEPARATE FROM EACH OTHER, AND TO INDIVIDUALISE. These spoilers came out of the camp in three companies, and they are not named nor individualised. Sins glide so into each other that it is frequently difficult to analyse any particular offence amidst so confused a mass. Lavish benefactions, for instance, may be given from thoughtless generosity, from true charity, or from ostentation. Who can tell which of these is the actuating motive in any particular case? Not even, often, the doer himself. It is the same with our sins and vices. It is difficult to assign the true place, and therefore the real guilt, of any particular one amongst them.

III. THAT TEMPTATIONS COME FROM THREE MAIN CAUSES, THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL. The spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. "The world is too much with us;" its pleasures and its pains continually affect us. The lusts of the flesh unceasingly tend to drag us down. The temptations of Satan, too, are craftily devised to overwhelm us.

IV. THAT THESE TEMPTATIONS OFTEN ARISE FROM OUR SUPERABUNDANCE OF WORLDLY RICHES. These spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines, and this camp was situated at Michmash, which name means treasure. Money is useful if it be usefully employed. Wealth is a great trust, which, if a man employs rightly, he may be a benefactor to his fellow men, and may receive a blessing from God. But it is a great snare, more especially if it has been acquired without much personal merit or much personal exertion on the part of its possessor

V. THAT THESE TEMPTATIONS HAVE THEIR STARTING POINT FREQUENTLY FROM WILFUL AND CONCEITED IGNORANCE. The spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines. A modern author, Matt, hew Arnold, has taken the term Philistine as descriptive of self-satisfied and offensive want of culture. From the fields of ignorance and of thoughtlessness no harvest but a crop of tares can be expected. "Evil is wrought from want of thought, as well as want of heart."

VI. THAT OBEDIENCE IS THE GARRISON THAT KEEPS THESE COMPANIES OF EVIL PASSIONS IN CHECK. The spoilers did not come out of the camp of the Philistines to spread like devouring grasshoppers over the land of the children of Israel until Saul had disobeyed the Divine command given to him through Samuel. So, as long as we follow the plain line of duty, and act in obedience to the strict letter as well as to the real spirit of the law of God, we shall be little liable to the assaults of sin. It is when we palter with truth, equivocate with conscience, enter into dalliance with some evil passion, that we are ensnared by temptation. In the "Pilgrim's Progress," as long as Christian kept on the highway, he was safe; it was only when he strayed into the byways of error that he fell into the power of Giant Despair, and was immured in the dungeons of Doubting Castle.

(R. Young, M. A.)