any other than to his old demoniacal spirit,
which on all accounts appears the most probable. Nor does the former
description of Saul's real inspiration by the Divine Spirit, 1 Samuel
10:9-12; Antiq. B. VI. ch. 4. sect. 2, which was before he was become
wicked, well agree with the descriptions before us.

[20] What is meant by Saul's lying down naked all that day, and all that
night, 1 Samuel 19:4, and whether any more than laying aside his royal
apparel, or upper garments, as Josephus seems to understand it, is by
no means certain. See the note on Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 14. sect. 2.
[21] This city Nob was not a city allotted to the priests, nor had the
prophets, that we know of, any particular cities allotted them. It seems
the tabernacle was now at Nob, and probably a school of the prophets
was here also. It was full two days' journey on foot from Jerusalem,
1 Samuel 21:5. The number of priests here slain in Josephus is three
hundred and eighty-five, and but eighty-five in our Hebrew copies; yet
are they three hundred and five in the Septuagint. I prefer Josephus's
number, the Hebrew having, I suppose, only dropped the hundreds, the
other the tens. This city Nob seems to have been the chief, or perhaps
the only seat of the family of Ithamar, which here perished, according
to God's former terrible threatenings to Eli, 1 Samuel 2:27-36; 3:11-18.
See ch. 14. sect. D, hereafter.

[22] This section contains an admirable reflection of Josephus
concerning the general wickedness of men in great authority, and the
danger they are in of rejecting that regard to justice and humanity, to
Divine Providence and the fear of God, which they either really had, or
pretended to have, while they were in a lower condition. It can never
be too often perused by kings and great men, nor by those who expect to
obtain such elevated dignities among mankind. See the like reflections
of our Josephus, Antiq. B. VII. ch. 1. sect. 5, at the end; and B. VIII.
ch. 10. sect. 2, at the beginning. They are to the like purport with one
branch of Agur's prayer: "One thing have I required of thee, deny it me
not before I die: Give me not riches, lest I be full, and deny thee, and
say, Who is the Lord?" Proverbs 30:7-9.

[23] The phrase in David's speech to Saul, as set down in Josephus, that
he had abstained from just revenge, puts me in mind of the like words
in the Apostolical Constitutions, B. VII. ch. 2., "That revenge is not
evil, but that patience is