After this, he seems to have separated himself from Samuel, whom he found unwilling to become his instrument, and to have had recourse to the 5 priesthood instead. Ahijah or Ahimelech (as he is afterwards called), the high priest, followed his camp; and the ark, too, in spite of the warning conveyed by the disasters which attended the presumptuous use of it in the time of Eli. "And 10 Saul said unto Ahijah, Bring hither the ark of God;" while it was brought, a tumult which was heard in the camp of the Philistines increased. On this interruption Saul irreverently put the ark aside, and went out to the battle. 15 It will be observed, that there was no professed or intentional irreverence in Saul's conduct; he was still on the whole the same he had ever been. He outwardly respected the Mosaic ritual--about this time he built his first altar to the Lord,[9] 20 and in a certain sense seemed to acknowledge God's authority. But nothing shows he considered that there was any vast distinction between Israel and the nations around them. He was _indifferent_, and cared for none of these things. The chosen people 25 desired a king like the nations, and such a one they received. [9] 1 Sam. xiv. 35. After this he was commanded to "go and smite the sinners, the Amalekites, and utterly destroy them and their cattle." This was a judgment on 30 them which God had long decreed, though He had delayed it; and He now made Saul the minister of His vengeance. But Saul performed it so far only as fell in with his own inclination and purposes. He smote, indeed, the Amalekites, and 5 "destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword"--this exploit had its glory; the best of the flocks and herds he spared, and why? to sacrifice therewith to the Lord. But since God had expressly told him to destroy them, what 10 was this but to imply, that Divine intimations had nothing to do with such matters? what was it but to consider that the established religion was but a useful institution, or a splendid pageant suitable to the dignity of monarchy, but resting on no 15 unseen supernatural sanction? Certainly he in no sense acted in the fear of God, with the wish to please Him, and the conviction that he was in His sight. One might consider it mere pride and willfulness in him, acting in his own way because 20 it was his own (which doubtless it was in great measure), except that he appears to have had an eye to the feelings and opinions of men as to his conduct, though not to God's judgment. He "feared the people and obeyed their voice." 25 Again, he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Doubtless he considered Agag as "his