prophets, its conception of the ark as a sort of fetish whose
presence insures victory--all these things bespeak for the document
that relates them a high antiquity. The other document represents
Samuel as a great judge and virtual regent over all Israel, it has a
wide experience of the evils of monarchy, it idealizes David, and it
regards Saul as a "rejected" man. It is possible that these
documents, in their original form, were biographical--Saul being the
chief hero in the one and David in the other. A biography of Samuel,
which may or may not have included the story of the war with the
Philistines (I Sam. iv.-vii. 2), possibly existed separately, though
in its present form it is interwoven with the story of Saul.

It would be difficult to overpraise the literary and historical
genius of the writer who in 2 Samuel ix.-xx. traces the checkered
course of David's reign. He has an unusually intimate knowledge of
the period, a clear sense of the forces that mould history, a
delicate insight into the springs of character, and an estimable
candour in portraying the weakness as well as the strength of his
hero. The writer's knowledge is so intimate that one is tempted to
suppose that he must have been a contemporary; and yet such a phrase
as "to this day," 2 Sam. xviii. 18, unless it be redactional, almost
compels us to come lower down. Probably, however, it is not later
than the time of Solomon, whose reign appears to have been marked by
literary as well as commercial activity.[1]
[Footnote l: The Book of Jashar, whose latest known reference comes
from the reign of Solomon (cf. p.102), is supposed by some to have
been edited in that reign.]

The last four chapters, which interrupt the main narrative, contain
some ancient and some late material. The two tales, xxi. 1-14,