1868.]       Jewish Wars as Precedents for Modern Wars.       117

which is morally wrong, then all his decisions upon the question
of war must be regarded as infallibly right. We have seen that
he could not sanction war for a wrong or insufficient cause; and
we now conclude, that, if our argument is valid, whatever causes
God regarded as insufficient to justify war must really be insuffi-
cient. But, upon examination, we find that causes which all ad-
vocates of defensive war now declare to be entirely sufficient for
taking up arms, were entirely insufficient then. In the days of
King Saul, Judaea was invaded, without provocation, by the Philis-
tines. Saul, instead of attacking them at once, which he was not
at liberty to do, waited so long for the prophet Samuel to give
him God's permission to fight, that his men became alarmed and
deserted him, until his army was reduced to six hundred men.
Some unauthorized skirmishing undertaken by Jonathan, resulted
in the rout of the Philistines, and the rallying of Israel; but when
Saul again applied for divine permission to lead forward his army,
it was again withheld, and he was constrained to disband his
forces. (I Sam. xiii. and xiv.)
   Later In the reign of Saul, the Philistines once more invaded
his kingdom with no wrong to redress, and when he applied for
divine permission to repel them, "The Lord answered him not,
neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." But so anx-
ious was he to fight, that he induced the witch of Endor to call
up the dead prophet Samuel, that he might ask permissiom through
him. When the spirit of Samuel appeared, Saul said to him: "I
am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and
God has departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by
prophets nor by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you
may make known to me what I shall do." The prophet replied:
"Why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and
become your enemy?" He gave him no permission to fight, but
Saul did fight, and his army was totally routed, himself and his
three sons faIling in the battle. (I Sam. xxviii., 3-20 ; xxxi., 1-6.)
   Again: in a still later period of Jewish history, the armies of
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea, and laid siege to Jerusalem
itself; yet Zedekiah, the king, was forbidden to resist them,
though told by the prophet that he himself was about to be taken

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