them afterwards in righteousness and prosperity; why then should they desire a change in the form of government?  They have just as much and as little reason for desiring this as for the falling away from Jehovah, which also is a periodical craving on their part, whenever they have had some years’ rest:  it is the expression of the deep-seated heathenism of their nature.  That is the account of chapter viii. with what belongs to it.  Chapter ix. seq., however, gives quite a different account.  Here, at the end of the period of the judges, Israel is not at the summit of power and prosperity, but in a state of the deepest humiliation and the means of saving the people from this state is seen in the monarchy alone.  And this difference is closely connected with another as to the view taken of the authority of Samuel.  In chap. viii. as in chap. vii. he is the vicegerent of Jehovah, with unlimited authority.  He feels the institution of the monarchy to be his own deposition, yet the children of Israel by no means rebel against him; they come to him to ask him for a king.  He might have refused the request; he might also have given them a ruler according to his own good pleasure, but as a correct theocrat he leaves the decision to Jehovah.  At the end he solemnly lays down the government he has hitherto carried on, and hands it over to his successor.  The latter is superior to him in point of title, but not in point of power:  indeed in the latter respect he is rather inferior to Samuel, being a mere earthly prince (xii. 23 seq.).  But how do matters stand in chap. ix. seq.?  Here Samuel is quite a stranger to Saul, who knows neither his name nor his residence.  Only his servant has heard of Samuel, who enjoys a high reputation as a seer in his own neighbourhood.  What we are to think of when we read of a seer of that period, we are clearly and circumstantially informed:  for Samuel is consulted as to the whereabouts of strayed she-asses, and a fee of a quarter of a silver shekel is tendered to him for his advice.  This seer stands, it is clear, above the average of those who practiced the same calling; yet his action on the history is quite within the limits of what was possible, say to Calchas:  it exhibits not a trace of the legislative and executive power of a regent of the theocracy.  He does not bring help; he only descries help and the helper.  The very event which, according to chap. viii. seq., involved the removal of Samuel from his place and his withdrawal to the background of the history, is here the sole basis of his reputation:  the monarchy of Saul, if not his work, is his idea.  He announces to the Benjamite his high calling, interpreting in this the thoughts of the man’s own heart (ix. 19).  With this his work is done; he has no commission and no power to nominate his successor in the government.  Everything else he leaves to the course of events and to the Spirit of Jehovah which will place Saul on his own feet.