Although Saul had been privately anointed and publicly chosen king, he did not immediately assume royal state. Guided, doubtless, by the counsel of Samuel, and perceiving from the disaffection of certain men (1 Samuel 10:27) that the nation was not yet quite prepared for the change, he did not deem it prudent to do so. Returning to his former mode of life at Gibeah (ver. 5), he awaited some further indication of his call to be "captain over the Lord's inheritance." "Nothing but true, royal action for the welfare of the state, alike bravely undertaken and firmly carried out at the right moment, could win for him that real deference, that joyful, voluntary cooperation for state purposes from all his subjects, without which his sovereignty must ever remain most feeble and equivocal" (Ewald). It was not long ("a month," LXX.) before the opportunity for such action occurred. He proved himself equal to the occasion, and his patience was justified and rewarded. His position as a military leader was fully vindicated by the result, and his sovereignty was heartily recognised by all the people. This is the chief historical significance of his warlike enterprise or campaign against the Ammonites for the relief of Jabesh-Gilead. Observe that it was -

I. UNDERTAKEN IN A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE (vers. 1-4). If ever war is justifiable (and it seems impossible that it should be altogether avoided), it is when undertaken, as in this case -

1. To repel hostile aggression. The Ammonites were old enemies (Deuteronomy 2:19; Deuteronomy 23:3, 4; Judges 3:13; Judges 10:7; Judges 11:5). They were a nomadic, predatory, cruel, and idolatrous people. For some time Nahash, animated by the desire of war and conquest, "the malady of princes," had assumed a threatening attitude (1 Samuel 12:12), and now laid siege to the capital of Gilead, a part of the Israelitish territory belonging to the half-tribe of Manasseh, beyond the Jordan. His aggression was -

(1) Without adequate ground. He probably revived a claim previously asserted and refuted (Judges 11:12-15). But men readily find pretexts for a course to which they are disposed. "From whence come wars?" (James 4:1).

(2) Revengeful. He wished to avenge the defeat long before inflicted by Jephthah. Hatred between nations tends to perpetuate itself, and to become intensified; and successes in war often sow "dragon's teeth" that produce a subsequent harvest of strife and misery.

(3) Proud, boastful, and cruel (ver. 2).

2. To aid imperilled brethren. Between the people of Jabesh and the Benjamites, especially, there was an intimate connection (Judges 21:12-14). Their condition was now degraded, fearful, wretched; and although it was due to their want of patriotism, faith, and courage, yet it did not deprive them of a claim upon the sympathy of their brethren, but was a powerful appeal to their compassion. The appeal of the poor, the oppressed, the slave cannot be unheeded without sin (Proverbs 24:11, 12).

3. To avert a common danger. The siege of Jabesh was evidently intended as the first step in an attack upon all Israel. The distress of the people of Gibeah arose not merely from sympathy with their brethren, but also from fear for themselves, and a sense of helplessness against so powerful an adversary. Saul's enterprise was thus one of self-defence.

4. To maintain the Divine hour. The Ammonites worshipped Moloch (Molech, or Milcom), "the abomination of the children of Ammon" (1 Kings 11:7), and sought his honour in opposition to that of Jehovah. It was a part of the calling of Israel to extirpate idolatry, and it was commanded them concerning the Ammonites, "Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever" (Deuteronomy 23:6). In their wars with the heathen they acted under a Divine commission. The religious wars which have been waged under the Christian dispensation have sometimes been undertaken from lofty motives, but they have not had the same justification, and the honour of God ought to be sought by other and more effectual means.

II. WAGED WITH HOLY ENTHUSIASM (vers. 5-11). Enthusiasm - God in us. It was -

1. Inspired by the Divine Spirit. On returning from the field, and learning the cause of the people's distress, "the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and.his anger was kindled greatly." There is an anger which is not sinful (Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:26). The feeling of resentment is a weapon put into our hands by God against injury, injustice, and cruelty of every kind.

(1) The anger of Saul was incited by the same spirit as previously constrained him to utter Divine praises.

(2) It was a feeling of wrath and burning zeal against wrong.

(3) It was directed towards the welfare of his people and the honour of God.

(4) It qualified him for a great enterprise; led him to assume the leadership of the nation to which he had been appointed, and to summon the tribes to rally around him. The gifts of the Spirit of God are various, and adapted to the requirements of the age.

2. Shared in by all the people.

(1) "The fear of Jehovah fell on the people," i.e. a fear inspired by him. "In Saul's energetic appeal the people discerned the power of Jehovah, which inspired them with fear and impelled them to immediate obedience" (Keil). That power is able to fill a whole nation, as well as an individual, with new emotions and impulses.

(2) Under its influence "they came out as one man" (with one consent).

(3) Mustered under the leadership of Saul in Bezek, near to Bethshan. A common danger often draws men into closer union and cooperation than peace and prosperity.

3. Expressed in a confident assurance of help. "Tomorrow, by the time the sun be hot, ye shall have help" (ver. 9). Faith looks upon that which is believed as if it were already an accomplished fact.

4. Manifested in energetic action. His promise was not in words merely, but was followed up by deeds (ver. 11). "It was night when Saul and the armed multitude which followed him broke up from Bezek. Little did he know how well the brave men of Jabesh would requite the service (1 Samuel 31:8-13). Strange that Saul's first march should have been by night from Bethshan to Jabesh, the same route by which at the last they carried his dead body at night" (Edersheim).

III. ATTENDED WITH EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS.

1. The defeat of the enemy - sudden, unexpected, and complete. "Two of them were not left together," and their king, Nahash, was slain (Josephus). "Those that walk in pride he is able to abase" (Daniel 4:37).

2. The deliverance of the oppressed, who were not afterwards wanting in gratitude or courage.

3. The cessation of disaffection (vers. 12, 13).

4. The united and joyful devotion of all Israel (vers. 14, 15). Observe -

1. We have other enemies to encounter than those of flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

2. We must contend against them not simply for our own safety, but for the good of our fellow men.

3. It is only by the help of the Lord that we can prevail. - D.

! — "Gilgal!" The word means a wheel, a revolution. And is not the great circumference of the year, measured as it is by a few hundred days in the poor chronicle of our lives, but by hundreds of millions of miles in the celestial spaces — is it not just rounding up into longer light, and beginning its benevolent motion for us afresh? We hear, too, of "the renewing of a kingdom"; and those words impress us at once with some idea, though it may be an indistinct one, of a renewal nearer home, that we are to solemnize; more important to us than the sweep of an unconscious planet, than the changes of empire past or to come, or any of the outward distinctions of the world. The shadows of the future gathered over Samuel's serene brow and his religious spirit; and he replied in the words that I have read: "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there." That had been a hallowed place from the time that the Hebrew tribes entered the land. It had been consecrated by religion and good success. There was the proper spot to repeat their vows, to remember their obligations. It was aloof from public clamour and the highways of ordinary life. There, where the Almighty bad "rolled away the reproach" of His people, in the time when He alone was acknowledged as their sovereign, should they repeat their allegiance to the new monarch whom they had chosen. There, in the face of that dread majesty, soberly and apart, and not in the stir of a sudden triumph, and not among the scenes of everyday passions, they should "renew the kingdom." Let the engagements that are made with a man's self be now established. Let the hopes of a Christian soul receive an increasing lustre. Let the pledges you owe to the powers of heaven be cheerfully brought.

I. We may observe, in the first place, THAT WE ARE NOW "RENEWING THE KINGDOM" OF OUR EARTHLY DAYS. The year is renewed for us. The light is a little earlier in the eastern sky, and lingers a little upon its farewell in the west. as if nature was unwilling to bring two of its greatest dreads upon man at once — at least in their fullest degree — the darkness gives way as the cold increases. A new account is opening with Time, that rigorous master. But bow, you may ask, can we make any compact with him? He calls all seasons and places and lives his own. His dominion is absolute. He accepts no conditions from us. Without asking whether or not we are ready to confirm his authority, he will lead us through his inevitable changes, he will bring us down to his universal level of dust. And yet, when we confront him, with God to help, and in the holy places of our nature, we feel that we are possessed of a dominion more enduring than his own; that we have thoughts which are independent of him, and hopes beyond his reach. We can oblige him to serve our best interests, which we are apparently but the subjects of his despotic rule. We are apt to consider him as a tyrant, the enemy of human liberty and enjoyment, inaccessible to pity, and producing but what he means to desolate. His symbol is the falling sands of an hourglass. His crown is an eternal baldness. His sceptre is a scythe for all the green growths of mortality. But we are thus paralysing our proper strength, and undervaluing our real importance in the comparison with him. What has Time to do with any of the conclusions of the reason, or any of the fruits of the Spirit; with the very thought of duty, or the recompenses of its award? The soul, in its purest exercises, soars far above him; and in its farthest abstractions cannot see that he exists. But call him a real king; and invest him with all the majesty that timid fancies have conceived. Even then we may meet him upon grounds of mutual respect. We may call a convention with him at Gilgal. We may stipulate concerning some of the powers of his government. We may say to him with firmness, and so that he shall be influenced by what we say — Sire, we are your children, in truth; we are your subjects, beyond the subjection that any earthly monarch receives or claims. Our limbs are at your disposal, and our furrowing cheeks, and the locks of our heads. Our treasure is yours, to consume or to divide. Our blood is yours, to chill in the veins of our age, or to shed by calamitous appointments. We offer you no resistance. But for all this you must perform something on your part. You must bestow upon us opportunity. You must yield to us supplies. The means of knowledge and improvement you must not, only leave unviolated, but increased. You must observe the just limits of your sway. The rights of conscience and of the whole mind you must scrupulously respect. You must lay no tyranny upon our honest wills. You shall not blight our hearts, through fear of you, with any of the strokes of that despotism to which we have surrendered our persons. So will we, on this new year's day, stand in our Gilgal, and "renew the kingdom" with you there.

II. I now ask you to turn away from Time, and from every dominion of an outward sort, AND CONSIDER THE EMPIRE THAT IS WITHIN US. Here we have to deal, indeed, with ourselves only. But that does not exclude the danger of being deceived, and oppressed, and defrauded. Evil temptations will arise, and unwise counsellors. Despotism will be attempted. Anarchy will be afoot. There will be rebellion. Licentious principles will spurn at the wholesome restraints of law. Ignorance will mistake, and presumption will be daring. Let us, in this respect above all others, "renew the kingdom" today. If the same prophet whom I have imagined speaking before, should again take up his parable, he would say: —

1. Now "renew" your good resolutions. What an uncertain kingdom is that of our purposes! We determine and fall short. We attempt in a feeble way, and fail, as every thing that is feeble must. Some tell us that we can do nothing if we try; and others tell us that we can gain nothing if we succeed. Fablers! We depend as much at least on the struggles that we make as on the destiny that is ordained. To aspire is better than the contented fool's best portion. To work towards an approved end is infinitely richer than any counted and measured success.

2. "Renew" your affections. Balance them, and let none of them act the absolute king. Purify them from their soils. Brush away the rust and the dust that have gathered upon them from vulgar uses or a base inaction. Send them forth with a clearer light and a more blessed efficacy. Bring into a beautiful order the dispositions that bind you to your kindred, to your house, to your friendships, to your country, and to your kind.

3. "Renew" the course of your meditations upon the subjects that concern your most intimate welfare. You may find something faltering and unsettled in them. Establish the principles of your judgment. Bring your conclusions into a harmony. Set up within you a Divine and submissive order, that shall be after the pattern of that eternal one, in the circles of which you dwell.

4. "Renew" your faith. Is not that a kingdom of itself? Is there any thing to be compared to its undecaying dominion? It stands nobly apart from the world's turmoil, the world's command, the world's destruction. You can receive no such strength as flows from that. It is all unsettled in your thoughts. You have allowed momentary interests to intercept its everlasting light. You bays allowed a shallow and sluggish scepticism to affront its all-embracing principles. Renew the kingdom of the immortal in the breasts that will soon cease to beat. Renew it, though in the absence of what you desire. Renew it, though in the face of discouragements. Renew it, in its simplicity, in its sovereign beauty, in its reasonableness, in its might. He who came to confirm the best truth with which such a faith is connected, when he ate "the last supper" with His disciples, said, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom," We perceive that He was speaking, not of a kingdom that was subject to time; not of one that was to be established in His own heart, for nothing there needed confirming; but of that state of peace and glory which is preparing beyond this world's troubles, by the faithful deeds of man, and the abundant love of his Maker. Let every believer anticipate it. Let him labour towards it. Let him make himself a believer indeed.

(N. E. Frothingham.)