om they feared and
admired as no prophet had been revered in the whole history of the
nation since Moses.

Samuel communicated his own burning spirit wherever he went, and the
burden of his eloquence was zeal and loyalty for Jehovah. Before his
time the prophets had been known as seers; but Samuel superadded the
duties of a religious teacher,--the spokesman of the Almighty. The
number of his disciples, whom he doubtless commissioned as evangelists,
must have been very large. They lived in communities and ate in common,
like the primitive monks. They probably resembled the early Dominican
and Franciscan friars of the Middle Ages, who were kindled to enthusiasm
by such teachers as Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura. Like them they were
ascetics in their habits and dress, wearing sheepskins, and living on
locusts and wild honey,--on the fruits which grew spontaneously in the
rich valleys of their well-watered country. It did not require much
learning to arouse the common people to new duties and a higher
religious life. The Bible does not inform us as to the details by which
Samuel made his influence felt, but there can be no doubt that by some
means he kindled a religious life before unknown among his countrymen.
He infused courage and hope into their despairing hearts, and laid the
foundation of military enthusiasm by combining with it religious ardor;
so that by the discipline of forty years,--the same period employed by
Moses in transmuting a horde of slaves into a national host of warriors;
a period long enough to drop out the corrupted elements and replace
them with the better trained rising generation,--the nation was prepared
for accomplishing the victories of Saul and David. But for Samuel no
great captains would have arisen to lead the scattered and dispirited
hosts of Israel against the Philistines and other enemies. He was thus a
political leader as well as a religious teacher, combining the offices
of judge and prophet. Everybody felt that he was directly commissioned
by God, and his words had the force of inspiration. He reigned with as
much power as a king over all the tribes, though clad in the garments of
humility. Who in all Israel was greater than he, even after he had
anointed Saul to the kingly office?

The great outward event in the life of Samuel was the transition of the
Israelites from a theocratic to a monarchical government. It was a
political revolution, and like all revolutions was fraught with bo