request. With all the memories and traditions of their slavery in the
land of Egypt, and the grinding despotism incident to an absolute
monarchy of which their ancestors bore witness, they preferred despotism
with its evils to the independence they had enjoyed under the Judges;
for nationality, to which the Jewish people were casting longing eyes,
demands law and order as the first condition of society. In obedience to
this same principle the grinding monarchy of Louis XIV. seemed
preferable to the turbulence and anarchy of the Middle Ages, since
unarmed and obscure citizens felt safe in their humble avocations. In
like manner, after the license of the French Revolution the people said,
"Give us a king once more!" and seated Napoleon on the throne of the
Bourbons,--a ruler who took one man out of every five adults to recruit
his armies and consolidate his power, which he called the glory of
France. Thus kings have reigned by the will of the people,--or, as they
call it, by the grace of God,--from Saul and David to our own times,
except in those few countries where liberty is preferred to material
power and military laurels.

The peculiar situation of the Israelites in a narrow strip of territory
which was the highway between Syria and Egypt, likely to be overrun by
Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, to say nothing of the
hostile nations which surrounded them, such as Moabites and Philistines,
necessarily made them a warlike people (like the inhabitants of the
Swiss Cantons five or six hundred years ago), and they were hence led to
put a high estimate on military qualities, especially on the general who
led them to battle. They accordingly desired a greater centralized power
than the Judges wielded, which could be exercised only by a king,
intrenched in a strong capital. Their desire for a king was natural, and
almost excusable if they were willing to pay the inevitable price. They
simply wished to surrender liberty for protection and political safety.