1 Chronicles 9:22 All these which were chosen to be porters in the gates were two hundred and twelve… The assertion made in this verse, that Samuel was concerned in the organization of the tabernacle service, comes upon us with surprise. We are to suppose that he provided for the reformation of the ritual and ministrations in the tabernacle after the confusions in the days of the judges; though this statement is not found in any other place in the Old Testament. "Samuel the seer was zealous for the external ordinances of God's house, and the precursor of David in this respect." We have side hints given us in the Scriptures of work done by great and good men which is not detailed so as to become a part of history. We need not assume that the whole of any man's story is preserved; only such parts as are likely to prove permanently interesting and instructive. An instance may be found in the case of David. His public life of incident pushes back out of sight his valuable labours in connection with the sanctuary order and worship. So the worthy estimating of any human life is a difficult, nearly an impossible thing, seeing that we have not the whole before us, nor can we fairly judge the relative value of the parts. Full estimates of human lives must be left to God and the future. It is full of instructive significance that, as the generations pass, wholly different estimates are taken of historic characters, as other and fuller information concerning them comes to light. This may be illustrated in the cases of Lord Bacon, whose moral character recent writers are able to clear, and Protector Cromwell, whose portraiture Carlyle has at last succeeded in worthily drawing. Apply these thoughts to Samuel, and estimate - I. HIS KNOWS WORK AS A JUDGE. He belongs to the class so called, and was a deliverer and a magistrate, combining the offices which were characteristic of this order of men. In his deliverings grandly loyal to Jehovah. In his magistracy pure-handed and abidingly faithful to men. Everywhere and in everything making character, piety, and integrity tell for good. II. HIS UNKNOWN WORK AS A RELIGIOUS REFORMER. Explain the influences upon a national religion of such changes and troubles as marked the time of the judges. Such conditions do not imperil personal piety, they rather intensify it, as may be seen in the story of the persecuted Christians in Madagascar; but they do imperil the order and ceremonial of religion, and especially in such a case as that of Israel, in which the religion was centralized on one spot, and to it all the worshippers had to come at fixed intervals. Samuel would not only have to restore the tabernacle system and services, but also to revive the religious spirit of the people; and to this, doubtless, his earnest attention was directed in his regular circuits for the administration of justice. III. His ASSUMED WORK AS THE FOUNDER OF THE SCHOOLS OF THE PROPHETS. For on this part of his work we have no certain information. "In his time we first hear of what in modern phraseology are called the 'schools of the prophets.' Their immediate mission consisted in uttering religious hymns or songs, accompanied by musical instruments - psaltery, tabret, pipe and harp, and cymbals. In them the characteristic element was that the silent seer of visions found an articulate voice, gushing forth in a rhythmical flow, which at once riveted the attention of the hearer. These or such as these were the gifts which under Samuel were now organized, if one may so say, into a system. From them went forth an influence which awed and inspired even the wild and reckless soldiers of that lawless age. Amongst them we find the first authors distinctly named, in Hebrew literature, of actual books which descended to later generations. Thither, in that age of change and dissolution, Samuel gathered round him all that was generous and devout in the people of God." Learn to estimate aright men's secondary influence and work, for in this God may judge otherwise than we are wont to do, and put our last first. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: All these which were chosen to be porters in the gates were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by their genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their set office. |
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