In the great difference which separates these two narratives we recognise the mental interval between two different ages.  In the eyes of Israel before the exile the monarchy is the culminating point of the history, and the greatest blessing of Jehovah.  It was preceded by a period of unrest and affliction, when every man did what was right in his own eyes, and the enemies of Israel accordingly got everything their own way.  Under it the people dwell securely and respected by those round about; guarded by the shelter of civil order, the citizen can sit under his own vine and his own fig-tree.  That is the work of the first two kings, who saved Israel from his spoilers, and gave him power and rest.  No difference is made between them in this respect:  the one commenced the work which the other completed (1Samuel ix. 16, xiv. 48; 2Samuel iii. 18, xix. 9).  Before them there was no breathing space left in the hard work of fighting, but now there is time to think of other things.  Even Deuteronomy, which was written not long before the exile, regards the period before the monarchy as a time of preparation and transition, not to be counted complete in itself:  Israel must first acquire fixed seats and a settled way of living, and then Jehovah also will choose a seat for Himself and make known His desires with regard to the cultus.  David brought things so far that the people had room and struck firm roots into the ground, and ceased to tremble before their enemies, who had kept them on the strain from the beginning, and all the days of the judges; and under his successor the time came when the temple could be built and higher interests receive attention.  That Hebrew antiquity knew nothing of any hostility or incompatibility between the heavenly and the earthly ruler is plain from the title Anointed of Jehovah, and from the hope of the prophets, whose ideal future would be incomplete without a human king.  The ancient Israelites were as fully conscious as any other people of the gratitude they owed to the men and to the institutions by whose aid they had been lifted out of anarchy and oppression, and formed into an orderly community, capable of self-defence.  Of this the Books of Samuel afford the most eloquent testimony. 1

***************************************** l In Balaam’s view of the happy future of Israel (Numbers xxiii. seq.), the monarchy is spoken of as one of Israel’s chief blessings.  Generally (xxiii. 21):  “Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.”  With reference to Saul (xxiv. 7):  “And his king triumphs over Agag. and his kingdom shall be exalted.”  To David (xxiv. 17):  “I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not nigh:  there rises (ZRX) a star out of Jacob and a rod out of Israel, and smites in pieces the temples of Moab and the skull of all the sons of Seth:  and Edom also becomes a conquest.”  According to Deuteronomy xxxiii. 4, 5, the monarchy and the Torah are the two great gifts of God’s grace to Israel. ******************************************