But something occurred which was perfectly human, and shows the character of the man. It happened to be one of those critical moments in a nation's existence. Nahash the Ammonite had made war against Israel, and encamped against Jabest-Gilead. Saul hearing of it, he did as follows (1 Sam. xi, 7): "And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coast of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out with one consent." Thus Saul collected an army of three hundred thousand men. That is what may be termed practical politics. He was victorious over the Ammonites. As to the prisoners of war, whether captured or having given themselves up, he caused their right eyes to be put out. He plucked their right eyes out, making them useless for war in the future. When he went to war against the Philistines, his army observed how numerous the enemy were. God's army was scared and hid in caves. So he sent to Samuel to consult the oracle, like any other respectable heathen. He also made a conquest of the Amalekites, whom he utterly destroyed. The Hebrews and these people had a grudge of several centuries' standing, because when the Jews went out of Egypt they requested permission to pass through the Amalekites' country, which was refused them (Ex. xvii, et seq.). But Saul offended God by saving Agag, the king of the Amalekites, so said Samuel (1 Sam. xv, 32, 33). "Then Samuel said, Bring ye hither to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is passed. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." Saul's tenderness and mercy towards Agag displeased the stern, cruel priest and soldier. His, Agag's, life had to pay the penalty of death, by the hand of the priest himself, for an offense his forefathers were presumed to have been guilty of, several centuries before. All barbarities, cruelties, and slaughter were done in Jehovah's, God's, the Lord's, name. The same pious crimes were repeated centuries later, under the pretext of doing some imaginary brutal God a great favor. For this transgression Saul is rejected by this priestly Warwick. For this human action this wily priest denounces him, and Saul's act of kindness is interpreted by this domineering priest as a crime against his God. To carry out his political scheme, Samuel went to Beth-lehem. "And the elders of the town trembled at his coming" (1 Sam. xvi, 4). The revengeful priest, with a nerve of iron and a will of steel, was not going to stand any nonsense. Saul had not obeyed him to the letter--it is, Off with your head!