the invader, and even the useless-ness of the monarchy itself:  why, they might have asked, burthen ourselves with a master, and patiently bear with his exactions, if, when put to the test, he fails to discharge the duties for the performance of which he was chosen?  And yet the advantages of a stable form of government had been so manifest during the reign of Saul, that it never for a moment occurred to his former subjects to revert to patriarchal institutions:  the question which troubled them was not whether they were to have a king, but rather who was to fill the post.  Saul had left a considerable number of descendants behind him.* From these, Abner, the ablest of his captains, chose Ishbaal, and set him on the throne to reign under his guidance.**

* We know that he had three sons by his wife Ahinoam—­ Jonathan, Ishbaal, and Malchi-shua; and two daughters, Merab and Michal (1 Sam. xiv. 49, 50, where “Ishvi” should be read “Ishbaal").  Jonathan left at least one son, Meribbaal (1 Chron. viii. 34, ix. 40, called Mephibosheth in 2 Sam. xxi. 7), and Merab had five sons by Adriel (2 Sam. xxi. 8).  One of Saul’s concubines, Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had borne him two sons, Armoni and Meribbaal (2 Sam. xxi. 8, where the name Meribbaal is changed into Mephibosheth); Abinadab, who fell with him in the fight at Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi. 2), whose mother’s name is not mentioned, was another son.

** Ishbaal was still a child when his father died:  had he been old enough to bear arms, he would have taken a part in the battle of Gilboa with his brothers..  The expressions used in the account of his elevation to the throne prove that he was a minor (2 Sam. ii. 8, 9); the statement that he was forty years old when he began to reign would seem, therefore, to be an error (ii. 10).

Gibeah was too close to the frontier to be a safe residence for a sovereign whose position was still insecure; Abner therefore installed Ishbaal at Mahanaim, in the heart of the country of Gilead.  The house of Jacob, including the tribe of Benjamin, acknowledged him as king, but Judah held aloof.  It had adopted the same policy at the beginning of the previous reign, yet its earlier isolation had not prevented it from afterwards throwing in its lot with the rest of the nation.  But at that time no leader had come forward from its own ranks who was worthy to be reckoned among the mighty men of Israel; now, on the contrary, it had on its frontier a bold and resolute leader of its own race.  David lost no time in stepping into the place of those whose loss he had bewailed.  Their sudden removal, while it left him without a peer among his own people, exposed him to the suspicion and underground machinations of his foreign protectors; he therefore quitted them and withdrew to Hebron, where his fellow-countrymen hastened to proclaim him king.* From that time onwards the tendency of the Hebrew race was to drift apart into two distinct bodies;