THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 161

first acts of whose reign promised well for future great-
ness. The Ammonites, as I told you, had besieged
Jabesh-Gilead, a city in the tribe of Gad, east from the
Jordan. The people of the place wished to make a cove-
nant with Nahash, the leader of the Ammonites. They
offered to submit upon terms. The terms proposed by
Nahash were so very harsh that they hesitated about
agreeing to them. “On this condition will I make a
covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right
eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.” Such
was the proposition of the haughty Ammonite. The men
of Jabesh-Gilead asked for seven days’ respite, that they
might send messengers through the land of Israel to see
if their brethren would come to their assistance. If at
the end of seven days succour did not arrive, they would
submit to the conditions that Nahash imposed.

Johnnie. Why did Nahash wish to put out their eyes ?
What good could that do him ?

Grandfather. It rendered them unfit for war.

Marianne. But it was only their right eyes that he
threatened to put out, that would not make them blind
—why did he not put out both their eyes ?

Grandfather. The right eye only was used in fighting,
as the shield was held over the left, and putting out of
both eyes would have made the people unable to work,
and then they could not have paid any tribute to Nabash.
Through the land the messengers from Jabesh-Gilead
travelled, and, among other places, they went to Gibeah,
a city in the tribe of Benjamin, where lived Saul, the

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