xvi, 1. From which, and the command
he received to anoint _David_ in his stead, and that even while the
civil society did acknowledge, and was subject unto _Saul_, it appears,
that the throne of _Israel_ was then regarded, both by the Lord and his
prophet, as vacant, until _David_ was annointed; from which time, in the
eye of the divine law, he was the rightful king, and ought, in
consequence of the public intimation made by the prophet of _Saul's_
rejection, to have been acknowledged as the Lord's Anointed by the whole
kingdom of _Israel_. In agreeableness whereto, the scripture informs,
that not only _David_ in expectation of the Lord's promise, resisted
_Saul_ as an unjust usurper, but many among the tribes of _Israel_, whom
the Spirit of God honorably mentions, rejected the government of _Saul_,
and joined themselves to him that was really anointed of the Lord; 1
Chron. xii, 1-23. Now, if the Lord did command, under pain of damnation,
to give loyal obedience to all in the place of supreme authority,
however wicked, while acknowledged by the body politic, he would not
reject such, nor command to set up others in their room, nor approve of
those who disowned and resisted them.
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