The book of Samuel was, consequently, not written by Samuel. The words now and beforetime denote too long an interval to allow room for such a supposition. But yet the word Nabi, 'prophet,' not in use in the time of Samuel, actually occurs in the Pentateuch, and other books of the Old Testament; as for example, in Genesis, chap. {132} xx., v. 7; Exodus, chap, vii., v. 1; chap, xv., v. 20; Numbers, chap. xi., v. 29; chap, xii., v. 6; Deuteronomy, chap, xiii., vv. 1,5; chap. xviii., v. 15; chap, xxxiv., v. 10; Judges, chap, iv., v. 4; chap, vi., v. 8; 1 Samuel, chap, iii., v. 20; chap. ix. v. 9; 2 Samuel, chap, vii., v. 2; 1 Kings, chap, xiii., v. 11. In the later of these passages it is not to be wondered that the word rendered 'prophet' should be found, because the writer of the First Book of Samuel tells us that it had come into use in his time, and therefore must have been a common word afterwards; but that it should occur in the Book of Genesis proves either that Genesis was written after the introduction of the word into the Hebrew language, or that the writer of the First Book of Samuel is wrong in describing the word as modern, or that the meaning of the word had changed. I believe that the word was actually a new word in the Hebrew language, introduced after the Babylonish captivity, and consequently that the First Book of Samuel, as well as the Pentateuch, were written after that captivity. ('Hebrew Records.') Verse 15. In a note to Home's 'Deism Refuted,' Bishop Middle-ton is quoted, in favour of, the simplicity of the style of the Bible; the style here is undoubtedly simple enough: 'The Lord had _told Samuel in his ear_ a day before Saul came.' Verse 24. According to the Hebrew it is not Samuel, but the cook, who speaks in this verse to Saul.