THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL. 163

about putting to death all those who had ventured to
speak slightingly of the new king. This came to Saul’s
ears, and he spoke nobly. These were his words:
“There shall not a man be put to death this day, for
to-day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel.” This
teaches us that the mercy of the Lord towards ourselves
should incline us to shew mercy to others.

Marianne. I think Saul was a very good king, grand-
father. I always thought that he had been a bad man.

Grandfather. He commenced his reign well, but it
was not long before he fell off sadly. As long as he
followed the directions of God, by his prophet Samuel,
he did what was right; but when he attempted to ma-
nage for himself, he mismanaged grievously. In the
second year of his reign he chose three thousand men to
be with him and his son; the rest of the people he dis-
missed,—an act of partiality which affronted the great
body of the people. Then he excited the Philistines to
make war upon him, by attacking one of their garrisons.
That warlike nation gathered in great force to revenge
themselves upon the Israelites. They had thirty thou-
sand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as
numerous as the sand on the seashore. The number of
chariots seems rather incredible. Some make it only
three thousand ; others account for the thirty thousand
by supposing that the greater number were carriages
for conveying baggage, and only a small part of them
chariots of war. Instead of uniting and meeting the
danger bravely, the men of Israel hid themselves in