=3. In more recent times= there arose the class of writers called by the Hebrews “=Sopherim=” or “scribes,” who appear to have been high officers of the State or secretaries, recording edicts of the king besides the many important occurrences of history. =4. That writers= or scribes =existed= at so early a period as that when the Israelites were in the desert is certain from the statement in Num. 11:16, where Moses is commanded to assemble these writers with the seventy elders. It is plain from these instances that there were numbers in the camp who were expert writers, and it is highly probable that many of the people were instructed through their writings, not only then, but during all the residence of the Israelites in Canaan. =5. There were men= then, as now, =peculiarly fitted= to record current events, or interested in genealogy, or gifted with poetic talent, and their inclinations led them to make records which were interesting at those periods, or to make “books” which were known to be faithful and authentic; and hence in no less than fourteen instances there seem to be references to such books throughout the Old Testament writings: Num. 21:14; Josh. 10:13; 1 Sam. 10:25; 1 Kin. 4:32, 33; 11:41; 1 Chron. 27:24; 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29; 12:15; 13:22; 12:15; 20:34; 33:19; 35:25. =6. It is certain= therefore that in the times of the monarchy =public records= were =carefully= kept, and even long before that time the people were not without their historians, who wrote down all important events and preserved and copied writings for others then living and for those who should come after them. PERIOD V. THE PERIOD OF THE KINGS TO THE CAPTIVITY. FROM B. C. ABOUT 1095 TO B. C. 588, 507 YEARS. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE MONARCHY. REIGN OF SAUL. =1. One of= the most evident =results= of the intimate =associations= of the Israelites with the Canaanitish tribes was the desire to have a king. In the transition from the era of the Judges to that of the Kings =there arose a man= whose earliest days had been passed in the precincts of the Tabernacle at Shiloh under the care of Eli, the priest and judge of Israel. He seems to have been one whose evident piety and clear and manly judgment had impressed the people with a reverence for him from his earliest days. No other person in the times of the Judges seems to have been known so universally as uniting in one man divine authority and wisdom, and of no other had it been said that “all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that =Samuel= was established to be a prophet of the Lord,” 1 Sam. 3:20. =2. With Samuel=, as we have said, the line of the Judges closes. By divine direction he gratified the demands of the people by appointing Saul king over Israel, but not without a solemn warning as to the despotism with which the kings, in the future, would rule over them.