6, "With any of the judges of Israel,"--a parallel passage which very well explains the main text. The tribes come into consideration through their judges, who, in the Book of Judges, always appear as judges in Israel, and procured a temporary [Pg 137] superiority to the tribe from which they proceeded.[3] The שבטי, which has been doubted, is rendered certain by 1 Kings viii. 16. (Compare, moreover, Ps. lxxviii. 67, 68.)--The reason why no such word came to any one of these tribes is, that the superiority of none of them was permanent; the election of all of them was merely temporary. The continuance of the tent-temple was intended to indicate that the state of things was, in general, provisional only, and that a new order of things was at hand. The creation of a settled sanctuary was to be coincident with the establishment of an abiding kingdom, to which the grace of God was vouchsafed. It was an evil omen for Saul that the erection of a fixed sanctuary was not even mooted under him. The close of Ps. lxxviii. likewise points out the intimate connection of the kingdom and the sanctuary. Ver. 8. "_And now, thus shalt thou say unto David My servant: Thus saith the Lord, of hosts, I took thee from the sheep-cote,_[4] _from behind the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel._ Ver. 9. _And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a great name like unto the name of the great men that are upon the earth._ Ver. 10. _And I gave room unto My people Israel, and planted them, and they dwell in their place, and they shall no more be frightened, and the sons of wickedness shall afflict them no more as heretofore._" Seven divine benefits are here enumerated,--one in ver. 8, which forms the foundation of all the others, and three in each of the two following verses,--in ver. 9, what the Lord has given to David,--in ver. 10, what, through him, He has given to Israel. These benefits are so many symptoms that a _definitive_ order of things has now taken the place of the _provisional_ one, and that, hence, the moveable sanctuary will now be soon followed by the settled one. In the first member of ver. 10, there is an enumeration of the benefits which the [Pg 138] people have already received through David; in the second and third members, an enumeration of the benefits to be constantly bestowed upon them through him. A commentary upon it is formed by Ps. lxxxix. 22-24, in which it is said of David: "With whom My hand shall be continually. Mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I crush his enemies before him, and will smite those who hate him." Ver. 11. "_And since the day that I commanded judges over My people Israel, I have given thee rest from all thine enemies. And the Lord telleth thee, that the Lord will make thee an house._"