^NW of PRlNCf^ ^i I305' a lie Intrniational Critiral (fommfntari) on tl]c i5olg Scrtptttves of tl)e ®[b qui) 'Ntm (ilcBtQinenta UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF The Rev. CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D. Edivard Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology, Union Theological Setninary, Neiu York ; The Rev. SAMUEL ROLLES DRIVER, D.D. Regius Professor of Hebretv, Oxford: The Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., D.D. Master of University College, Durham. ^t Inteiiational Critical Commnitars on tl)c ffjoiij Qcrlptuveg of tl)e (Dib anb EDITORS' PREFACE. There are now before the public many Commentaries, written by British and American divines, of a popular or homiletical character. T/ie Cambridge Bible for Schools^ the Handbooks for Bible Classes and Private Students, The Speaker s Commentary^ The Popular Commentary (Schaff), The Expositor s Bible, and other similar series, have their special place and importance. But they do not enter into the field of Critical Biblical scholarship occupied by such series of Commentaries as the Kurzgefasstes exegetisc/ies Ha?idbuch ztim A. T.; De Wette's Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum N. T.; Meyer's Kritisch-exegetischer Kotn- mentar; Keil and Delitzsch's Biblischer Commentar iiber das A. T.; Lange's Theologisch-homiletisches Bibelwerk ; Nowack's Handkommentar zum A. T. ; Holtzmann's Hafidkommentar zu?n N. T. Several of these have been translated, edited, and in some cases enlarged and adapted, for the English- speaking public ; others are in process of translation. But no corresponding series by British or American divines has hitherto been produced. The way has been prepared by special Commentaries by Cheyne, Ellicott, Kalisch, Lightfoot, Perowne, Westcott, and others ; and the time has come, in the judgment of the projectors of this enterprise, when it is practicable to combine British and American scholars in the production of a critical, comprehensive editors' preface Commentary that will be abreast of modern biblical scholar- ship, and in a measure lead its van. Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons of New York, and Messrs. T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, propose to publish such a series of Commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, under the editorship of Prof. C. A. Briggs, D.D., in America, and of Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D., for the Old Testament, and the Rev. Alfred Plummer, D.D., for the New Testament, in Great Britain. The Commentaries will be international and inter-con- fessional, and will be free from polemical and ecclesiastical bias. They will be based upon a thorough critical study of the original texts of the Bible, and upon critical methods of interpretation. They are designed chiefly for students and clergymen, and will be written in a compact style. Each book will be preceded by an Introduction, stating the results' of criticism upon it, and discussing impartially the questions still remaining open. The details of criticism will appear in their proper place in the body of the Commentary. Each section of the Text will be introduced with a paraphrase, or summary of contents. Technical details of textual and philological criticism will, as a rule, be kept distinct from matter of a more general character ; and in the Old Testa- ment the exegetical notes will be arranged, as far as possible, so as to be serviceable to students not acquainted with Hebrew. The History of Interpretation of the Books will be dealt with, when necessary, in the Introductions, with critical notices of the most important literature of the subject. Historical and Archaeological questions, as well as (juestions of Biblical Theology, are included in the plan of the Commentaries, but not Practical or Homiletical Exegesis. The Volumes will constitute a uniform series. THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL COMMENTARY. The following eminent Scholars are engaged upon the Volumes named below : — Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. Joshua Judges. Samuel. Kings. Chronicles. Ezra and Nehemiah. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Minor Prophets. Psalms. Proverbs. Daniel. THE OLD TESTAMENT. The Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D.D., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, Oxford. The Rev. A. R. S. Kennedy, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, University of Edinburgh. The Rev. H. A. White, M.A., Fellow of New College, Oxford. G. Buchanan Gray, B.A., Lecturer in Hebrew, Mans- field College, Oxford. The Rev. S. R. Driver, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew, Oxford. [^Now Ready. The Rev. George Adam Smith, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Free Church College, Glasgow. The Rev. George Moore, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Andover Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. \_iVow Ready. The Rev. H. P. Smith, D.D., late Professor of Hebrew, Lane Theologic Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Rev. Francis Brow^n, D.D., Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages, Union Theological Seminary, New York City. The Rev. Edward L. Curtis, D.D., Professor of He- brew, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. The Rev. L. W. Batten, Ph.D., Professor of Hebrew, P. E. Divinity School, Philadelphia. The Rev. A. B. Davidson, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Hebrew, Free Church College, Edinburgh. The Rev. A. F. Kirkpatrick, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. W. R. Harper, Ph.D., President of the University of Chicago, Illinois. The Rev. Charles A. Briggs, D.D., Edward Robinson Professor of Biblical Theology, Union Theological Seminary, New York. The Rev. C. H. Toy, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Har- vard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Rev John P. Peters, Ph.D., late Professor of Hebrew, P. E. Divinity School, Philadelphia, now Rec- tor of St. Michael's Church, New York City. THE INTERHATIONAL CRITICAL COMMENTARY— contlnnet Mark. Luke. Acts. Romans. Corinthians. Galatians. Ephesians. Philippians. Hebrews. The Pastoral Epistles. Revelation. THE NEW TESTAMENT. The Rev. E. P. Gould, D.D., Professor of New Testa- ment E.xegesis, P. E. Divinity School, Philadelphia. [/n the Press. The Rev. Alfred Plummer, D.D., Master of University College, Durham. The Rev. Frederick H. Chase, D.D., Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. The Rev. William Sanday, D.D., Dean Ireland's Pro- fessor of Exegesis, Oxford, and the Rev. A. C. Head- LAM, M.A. , Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford. \_Ready. The Rev. Arch. Robertson, D.D., Principal of Bishop Hatfield's Hall, Durham. The Rev. Ernest D. Burton, A. B., Professor of New Testament Literature, University of Chicago. The Rev. T. K. Abbott, B.D., D.Lit. , formerly Professor of Biblical Greek, Trinity College, Dublin. The Rev Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Professor of Bib- lical Literature, Union Theological Seminary, New York City. The Rev. T. C. Edwards, D.D., Principal of the Theo- logical College, Bala; late Principal of University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. The Rev. Walter Lock, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, and Tutor of Keble College, Oxford. The Rev. Robert H." Charles, M.A., Trinity College, Dublin, and Exeter College, Oxford. Other C7igageme7its will be announced shortly. JUDGES GEORGE FOOT MOORE THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL COMMENTARY CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY JUDGES BY ^ GEORGE FOOT MOORE PROFESSOR OF HEBREW IN ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY ANDOVER. MASS. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1895 COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Norfaijooti iPress J. 8. CushinK & Co. Berwick & Smith Norwood Muss. U.S.A. PREFACE The interest and importance of the Book of Judges lie chiefly in the knowledge which it gives us of the state of society and religion in Israel in the early centuries of its settlement in Pales- tine, for which Judges and Samuel are our only sources. In addition to this, parts of the book are of preeminent historical value : in particular, ch. i, which contains by far the oldest and most trustworthy account of the invasion of Canaan ; and ch. 5, the Song of Deborah, the only contemporary monument of Isra- elitish history before the Kingdom. In the following commentary matters of history, antiquities, and especially the social and relig- ious hfe of the people in this period, are properly given the largest place ; not only for their intrinsic interest, but because the knowledge of these things is indispensable to any right under- standing of the history of Israel and of its religion. The work of the prophets can only be comprehended in its relation to the national religion of Israel. But before there was a national religion, there was a common religion of the Israelite tribes which was one of the most potent forces in the making of the nation. What this religion was, which they brought with them into Canaan, and what changes it underwent in contact with Canaanite civilization and the rehgions of the land, we learn in no small part from the Book of Judges ; while here and there, as in the Song of Deborah, we have glimpses of a remoter past, the adoption of the religion of Yahweh by the tribes at Horeb, the work of Moses. To make such a use of the book, it is necessary to distinguish carefully between the work of the principal author, who wrote in vi PREFACE the 6th century B.C., separated from the times of the judges by as many centuries as He between us and the crusades, and the much older sources from which the stories of the judges them- selves are derived. We must also, as far as possible, define the age and character of these sources, which are not all of the same antiquity or historical value. Nor is it solely on historical grounds that this is required. The difficulties which the inter- preter finds in the book are in considerable part of a kind for which exegesis and textual criticism have no solution. They have arisen from the changes and additions which the author made in transcribing his sources, or from the attempt to combine and harmonize two parallel but slightly different versions of the same story, and can be cleared up only by ascertaining how this was done. Criticism is thus not only obligatory upon the histo- rian, it is an essential part of the work of the exegete. That the task is dehcate and difficult, and in the nature of the case largely conjectural, cannot exempt the commentator from trying to solve these knotty questions. At the worst, the uncertainties of criticism are infinitely preferable to the exegetical violence which is the only alternative. In the commentary, especially in the introductions to the several stories, I have discussed the particu- lar problerns of criticism with such fulness as they seemed to demand ; in the Introduction (§ 3-6) the reader will find set forth the general results to which these investigations lead. The Hebrew text of Judges, with the exception of part of ch. 5, is comparatively well preserved; but in very many places the ancient versions have a better reading, or a variant which may not be neglected. The Greek translations of this book are of peculiar interest, and perhaps nowhere in the Old Testament can the difficult problems which this version presents be approached with more hope of illuminating results. I trust that the some- what full registration of the readings of (3 in this commentary PREFACE vii may not be unwelcome to students of the Greek as well as of the Hebrew Bible. An edition of the Hebrew text, with critical appa- ratus, is in preparation, and will shortly appear in "The Sacred Books of the Old Testament," edited by Professor Paul Haupt. In the philological notes, I have been mindful of the fact that it is the commentator's duty, not to follow the lexicographer and the grammarian, but to precede them ; and have investigated afresh, and as far as possible exhaustively, all questions of ety- mology, usage, and construction which seemed to require it.j If, in many cases, I cannot flatter myself that these investiga- tions have added much light, they have often performed at least the negative service of showing that commonly accepted inter- pretations are unsound. In the hope that the commentary may be used to some extent by students, for whose reading the Book of Judges is peculiarly well suited, some notes of a more ele- mentary character on the forms of words and on grammatical points have been added. In conformity with the general plan of the series, all matters of textual criticism and Hebrew philology, together with more detailed and technical discussions of points of criticism, antiq- uities, and topography, have been kept apart from the body of the commentary, and will be found in smaller type at the end of the paragraphs. It is one of the evils of this arrangement that the grounds of an interpretation must often be sought in another place from the interpretation itself, while in other instances some repetition is unavoidable. It is believed, however, that the separation will prove convenient to many who may use the commentary; and I have endeavoured to diminish its dis- advantages by cross-references and full indexes. I have tried to make good use of all that has been done hitherto for the criticism and interpretation of the book. The commentators whom I have chiefly consulted are named in the Vlll PREFACE Introduction, § 9, the critics at the end of § 6 ; other works are referred to in the foot-notes of the commentary. It is not improbable that, in this extensive and scattered Hterature, I may have overlooked some things of importance ; I have not inten- tionally ignored any. Several books of great value have appeared during the printing of this volume, so that I have, to my regret and loss, been able to use them only in the later chapters; among these I may name particularly Benzinger, Hebrdische Aj-chdologie, 1894; Nowack, Lehrbuch der Hebrdischen Archd- ologie, 1 894 ; G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 1894; and the 12th edition of Gesenius' Handworterbuch^ thoroughly revised by Buhl, 1895. A list of the principal abbreviations employed will be found on p. 474. They conform, by the editors* desire, to those used in the new Hebrew Lexicon, in course of publication under the edi- torship of Professors Brown, Driver, and Briggs. The references in the commentary have been carefully verified, and will, I trust, be found accurate. In the few instances in which I have not been able to consult a book which is cited, the fact is indi- cated by a C") affixed to the title. The citations of Scripture in the body of the commentary follow the chapter and verse numer- ation of the Authorized Version as given in the Queen's Print- er's Bible ; in the critical notes the verses are those of the Hebrew Bible (Van der Hooght's ed., 1705). It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge the assistance which I have received in the preparation of this volume from my colleague and friend. Dr. Charles C. Torrey, Instructor in the Semitic Languages in Andover Theological Seminary, who has read nearly all the proofs, and to whom I am indebted for some valuable suggestions and corrections. G. F. M. July, 1895- CONTENTS PAGE Preface v-viii Introduction xi-1 § I. Title. Place of the Book in the Canon xi § 2. Contents . . ■ xiii § 3. The History of the "Judges, ii. 6-xvi. ji. Character and Age XV § 4. The Sources of Judges ii. 6-xvi. ji xix § 5. The Sources of Judges xvii.-xxi. and of i.-ii. j* . . xxix § 6. The Composition of the Book of Judges xxxiii § 7. Chronology of the Book of Judges xxxvii § 8. Hebrew Text and Ancient Versions xliii § 9. Interpreters of the Book of Judges . xlvii Commentary i-454 Index 455-476 I. Matters. II. Hebrew Words and Forms. III. Grammatical Observations. IV. Passages Incidentally Discussed. Abbreviations. ix ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA p. 7 n. X. Sacred Books of the Old Testament, ed. by P. Haupt, 1894. P, 42, 1. 33. The conjecture is Giesebrecht's, Z^ 7"^. i. p. 234. P. 63 f. See Introduction, p. xxvii f. P. 70 f. On Astarte see now also G. A. Barton, *' The Semitic Istar Cult," Hebraica, ix. p. 131-165; x. p. 1-74. P. 86, 1. 21 ff. and n. f . Perhaps asratum is not nityx but nnntry; see G. Hoffmann, Ueber einige Ph'on. Inschriften, p. 26 f. In a tablet in the Brit. Museum (No. 33 obv, 1. 3) the name is actually written with an ideogram for Ishtar. P. 100, 102. On Seirah see v. Kasteren, Mitth. u. Nachrichten d. Deutschen Palaestiua-Vereins, 1895, P* 26-30. P. 138, 1. 25 f. See W. R. Smith, in Smaller Cambridge Bible for Schools, Judges, p. 39. P. 175, 367. C. Niebuhr, Studien u, Bemerkungen zur Gesch. d. alien Orients, 1894,° has analyzed Jud. 6-8, 17-21, and parts of eh. i. See Theol Jahresbericht, xiv. p. 54. P. 195, 1. 5. The note on 7^ has been accidentally omitted. P. 206, i. 29 f. and n.*. ZATW. ii. p. 175. P. 242, n.*. For 14^ read p. 329, 340. P. 243, 1. 27. For 132 read p. 316. P. 297, 1. I ff. Compare Introduction, § 7. P- 3i5> 1- 3 from below. For 181 read p. 371 f. P. 380. With Micah's son as his priest, cf. Wellhausen, Reste arah. Heiden- ttimes^ p. 13. P. 417, 419. On Belial see Cheyne, Expositor, June, 1895, P* 435~439- P. 426. With 2oi^^ cf. 78. INTRODUCTION, § I. Title. Place of the Book in the Cation. The title, Judges, or. The Book of Judges, which the book bears in the Jewish and Christian Bibles,* is given to it because it relates the exploits of a succession of Israelite leaders and champions who, in the book itself as well as. in other parts of the Old Testament, are called Judges.! The signification of the Hebrew word is, however, much wider than that of the Greek KptTTJ?, the \^2i\\rv judex, or the English 'judge.' The verb shaphat is not only judicafe, X but vindicare, both in the sense of * defend, deliver,' and in that of 'avenge, punish.' § The participle shophet is not only judex, but vi?idex, and is not infrequently synonymous with ' deliverer.' || Again, as the administration of justice was, in times of peace, the most important function of the chieftain or kin^, the noun is sometimes equivalent to ' ruler,' ^ and the verb signifies, ' rule, govern.' In this sense it is most natural to take it in the lists of Minor Judges, where we read, for example of Tola : He judged Israel twenty-three years. . . . And after him arose J^r, the Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty-t\^«o years.** It is clear that the writer regarded these judges as a succession of * See note at the end of this §. t Jud. 2I6. 17. 18, 2 S. 77 (corrected by i Chr. 176) 7II (= i Chr. 17IO) 2 K. 2322 Ruth ii Ecclus. 46II; cf. Fl. Jos., antt. vi. 5, 4 ^^ 85. X The only place in Jud. where it has this sense is ^^- ^ ; but this is perhaps not the original meaning of v.^. ij See below, p. 88, 89, and in addition to the authors cited there, Kohler, Biblische Geschichte, ii. i. p. 24. II Jud. 2I6 39. 10 loi. 2 Neh. 92? Is. 1920 ; Bachmann, Richter, p. 31 n. 11 Am. 23 (cf. ii5) Hos. 77 Mi. 5I Ps. 210 &c. So also in Phoenician ; see note at the end of this §. ** Jud. Io2- 3 cf. 127. 8. 11. 14 1520 I S. 41s 7I6 cf. 820. xi xii INTRODUCTION chiefs, who arose in different parts of the land, ruhng with an authority which was personal and not hereditary.* The same conception is probably to be recognized in 2^\ the Israelites would not obey their judges. The word 'judge' is not used of Ehud, Barak, or Gideon, and seems not to have been found in the oldest of the author's sources.! The title. Book of Judges, was in all probability meant by those who prefixed it to the book to corre- spond to that of the Book of Kings; the judges were the succes- sion of rulers and defenders of Israel before the hereditary monarchy, as the kings were afterwards. | In the Hebrew Bible the Book of Judges stands in the first division of the Prophets, the Prophetic Histories (Jos., Jud., Sam., Kings), § which narrate continuously the history of Israel from the invasion of Canaan to the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.). In the Greek Bible, Ruth is appended to it, sometimes under one title (K/atrat), sometimes under its own name ; and in manuscripts, the Pentateuch, together with Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, frequently forms a codex (Octateuch). || In the history of Israel before the exile. Judges covers the time from the close of the period of con- quest and occupation with the death of Joshua to the beginning of the struggle with the Philistines in the days of Eh.lf A better division, from our point of view, would have been the estabhsh- ment of the kingdom of Saul, and there is some evidence that, in one at least of the older histories which our author had before him, Eli and Samuel were reckoned among the judges ; ** but as Samuel is the central figure in the story of the founding of the * Others of them besides Jephthah (118-11) and Gideon may have obtained this power by successful leadership in war. tCf. 315 614 &c.( deliver). X Whether this title was first given to the canonical Judges, or to one of its predecessors, is not certain. — In the sense indicated above the word Judge is understood by Fl. Jos. (ploH) . another, and perhaps older title is, Paroqe dabnai Israil, The Deliverers of the Israelites (^^) ; cf. Ephrem, i. p. 308. The book was also known by its Hebrew title, Shaphte or Shaphefe (5^^^, BO. iii. I. p. 5, 62, 71, &c.), which was early corrupted to Shabhie, as if from :o;3i^, tribe; f so in ^\ see Ephrem, /. s. c. — Szifetes, qui summus Poenis est magistratus (Liv., xxviii. 37) ; quod velut consulare imperium apud eos erat (?<5. XXX. 7, of Carthage; cf. xxxiv. 61), In Latin inscriptions from Africa we learn of the sufetes of a number of cities (^CIL. viii. No. 7, 765, 10525); sometimes two are named {ib. No. 797, 5306). toot:' occurs frequently in inscriptions, J but it is in most cases uncertain whether ordinary judges or chief magistrates are meant. In Spain and Sardinia (Cagliari), the governors and petty kings were in the Middle Ages called judices (Ducange, 5.z/.), § in which we may be disposed to see a survival from the times of the Phoenician rule. The sufetes of Carthage and the Punic colonies were a regular magis- tracy, and belong to a much more highly organized political society than the shophetim of the O.T. We might rather compare the diKaa-rai who held the supreme power at Tyre for brief periods during an interregnum in the 6th cent. B.C. (Fl. Jos., c. Ap. i. 21 § 157). || § 2. Contents. The Book of Judges consists of three parts : 1^-2*, 2^-16'^', 1 7-2 1. IF * On the cognate pragmatism of parts of i S. 1-12, see below, p. xxxiv n. t The same confusion of :Di3i:', 103::', occurs in various places in the O.T., e.g. 2 S. ^^ P?, Dt ii5 ©. X See Bloch, Phoenicisches Glossar, s.v. ^ Cf. a\so Judex = praeses provinciae, CIL. viii. No. 949. II On the Assyrian shiptu shapitu, see Jensen, ZA. v. 278-280. II So most recent scholars; Kue., Schrad., We., Sta., Be., Reuss, Bu., Dr., Co., K6., Kitt., al. For other opinions, especially about the division of ii-3*^, see Ba., p. 77-80, xiv INTRODUCTION (1) 1^-2-1 A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE CONQUESTS AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE Israelite tribes in Canaan. 1I--I. The southern tribes; Judah, Caleb, the Kenites, Simeon, Benjamin. ,22-29^ The central tribes ; Joseph (Manasseh, Ephraim). i30-33^ The northern tribes ; Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali. i34-35_ Dan's settlements in the west. i*». The southern border. 2i-°. The Angel of Yahweh reproves the Israelites for sparing the inhabitants of the land, and foretells the consequences. (2) 2*^-i6"^ The history of Israel in the days of the Judges. 26_3f>. Introduction : The religious interpretation and judgement of the whole period as a recurring cycle of defection from Yahweh, subjugation, and deliverance. — The nations which Yahweh left in Palestine. 36- 1 6^^ The stories of the Judges and their heroic deeds. 3'-!^ Othniel delivers Israel from Cushan-rishathaim, King of Aram-naharaim. 312-31. Ehud kills Eglon, King of Moab, and liberates Israel. 3^'. Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines. 4. Deborah and Barak deliver Israel from the Canaanites ; the defeat and death of Sisera. 5. Triumphal ode, celebrating this victory. 6-8. Gideon rids Israel of the Midianites. 9. Abimelech, the son of Gideon, King of Shechem. 10I-5. Tola; Jair. 106-I8. xhe moral of the history repeated and enforced ; preface to a new period of oppression. 1 1I-12'. Jephthah delivers Gilead from the Ammonites; he punishes the Ephrainiites. I28'-15, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon. 13-16. The adventures of Samson, and the mischief he does the Philistines. ( 3 ) 17-21. Two additional stories of the times of the Judges. 17, 18. Micah's idols; the migration of the Danites, and founda- tion of the sanctuary at Dan. 19-21. The outrage comrriitted by the inhabitants of Gibeah upon the Levitc's concubine. The vengeance of the Israelites, ending in the almost complete extermination of the tribe of Benjamin. Chapters 2^-16'^' constitute the body of the work, to wliich alone the title, Book of Judges, in strictness applies. Ch. 17-21 CONTENTS XV is an appendix, relating two important events of the period pre- ceding the establishment of the kingdom.* As we find in these chapters no trace of the distinctive historical theories, or the strongly marked style, of the author of 2''-i6^^, we may confidently infer that these two stories were not appended to his book by himself, but by some later hand.f Ch. i, as interpreted by 2^'^, forms a fitting introduction to the present book, showing how the old inhabitants were left in possession of the chief cities of Canaan. Their religion became a snare to the invaders ; and thus the culpable failure to extirpate people and gods together was the prime cause of all the evils that befell Israel in the follow- ing generations. But although, in this light, 1^-2^ is a very good beginning for the book, it cannot have been prefixed by the author of 2^-3'^^ whose own extended introduction (2^-3'') not only takes no notice of 1^-2^, but by its connexion with Jos. formally excludes it. J Like the appendix, 17-21, therefore, 1^-2^ must have been introduced by a compiler or editor later than the author of 2^-16^^. § 3. TTie Hisk)ry of the Judges, ii. 6-xvi. 31. Character and age. § In the Introduction (2^-3^), the author gives a comprehensive survey of the history of the entire period. The generation which had seen all the great work of Yahweh, in Egypt, in the desert, and in the conquest of Canaan (2^), remained true to him; but after the death of Joshua and his contemporaries, Israel fell away from Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and worshipped the Baals and Astartes, the gods of the nations about them. Indignant at this unfaithfulness, Yahweh gave them into the power of their enemies, who subjugated and oppressed them. Moved by their distress, Yahweh repeatedly raised up leaders (judges) who de- * The references to the grandsons of Moses (iS^") and of Aaron (20-s) show that, in the view of the writer at least, these events took place at the beginning of this period, within a generation after the invasion, not at its end. t See below, § 5, 6. X See below, \ 5, 6, and p. 3 flf. § For the titles of the principal works on the subject of this and the following sections, see note at the end of \ 6. xvi INTRODUCTION livered them from their foes.* But they persisted in the worship of other gods, or relapsed into it when the judge was dead ; each generation was worse than those before it. Neither punishment nor deUverance wrought any lasting amendment. The history of each of the judges begins with a few sentences telling us how the Israelites offended Yahweh ; how he gave them into the power of this or that hostile people for a number of years ; and how he at last raised up a deliverer.f The introductions to the stories of Gideon (6^-^") and Jephthah (lo^'"^*') are longer, and the moral is enforced in the words~bT'a prophet, or of Yahweh himself, up- braiding the Israelites for their disobedience and ingratitude. The history of all these successive oppressions and deliverances thus exemplifies and confirms the representation of the whole, period which is given in the introduction. | Temporibus . . . judicum, sicut se habebant et peccata populi et misericordia Dei, alternaverunt prospera et adversa bellorum. § It is clear that in all this the author's purpose is not merely to interpret the history, and explain upon religious principles why such evils befell Israel in the days of the judges, but to impress upon his readers the lesson that unfaithfulness to Yahweh is always punished; that whenever Israel falls away from him, he withdraws his protection and leaves it defenceless before its foes. By historical examples he would warn his contemporaries against a like apostasy. His motive and aim are thus not historical, but religious. || In a different, but not less effective way, he inculcates the same truth which all the prophets preached ; Yahweh is Israel's God, and the rehgion of Israel is to keep itself to him alone.^ The author's motive, the lesson he enforces, and the way in which he makes the history teach it, are almost the only data at our command to ascertain the age in which he lived. Indefinite * Cf. 3^- 15 43^- cj lo^OflF. ; of the repentance of the people we read only in lo^^f.. t See 3I2-15 37-u 4iff. 13I ; cf. p. 62 f. X For the evidence that the introductions to the stories of the judges are by the same author as 2^-36, see esp. Kuenen, HCO^. i. p. 340 f. ^ Aug., de civ. Dei, xvi. 43 ; cf. xviii. 13. II It is inaccurate to speak of his " philosophy of history " ; nothing is further from his mind than a philosophical analysis of the causes of events. H See Reuss, GA T. \ 275 ; Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 6f. JUDGES II. 6— XVI. 31 : AUTHORSHIP xvii as such criteria may seem, they are, when the character of the work is sufficiently marked, among the most conclusive ; and in this case they enable us to determine, beyond reasonable doubt, the period and circle in which the book was written. That the history of Israel is a divine discipline, righteous, wise, and good, is the great idea of the prophets. In old Israel, as among other nations, defeat in battle, foreign invasion and con- quest, were indeed ascribed to the anger of the national god, whom his people, or members of it, had in some way offended. But that Yahweh's anger as well as his favour is moral, and that therefore his dealing with his people is to be understood upon moral premises, was first distinctly taught by the prophets of the 8th century. This principle was naturally applied by them in the first place to the present and the immediate future. But the evils of the present have their roots in the past; and Hosea, looking back over the history of Israel from the time of the settle- ment in Canaan, sees in it one long, dark chapter of defection from Yahweh, of heathenish worship and heathenish wickedness. It is Hosea, also, who represents unfaithfulness to Yahweh as the one great sin from which all others spring, and who, with a figure drawn from his own unhappy home, brands this unfaithfulness with the name ' prostitution,' by which later writers so often char- acterize it.* The prophets of the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 6th century judge Judah in the same way in which Hosea, in the last years of the Northern Kingdom, had judged Israel. In the long reign of Manasseh, foreign gods and foreign cults were intro- duced in Judah on a scale never before witnessed ; the principle of exclusiveness which was native in the religion of Yahweh, and which the prophets had proclaimed with ever increasing absolute- ness, was recklessly trampled under foot. This was, as Jeremiah constantly declared, the unpardonable sin which nothing short of the destruction of the nation could expiate. t Ezekiel represents the exile as the punishment of the sins of Israel in its whole past : in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Canaan, it had always been a * Jud. 2i^ 827. 33 ; see below, p. 72. — With the following cf. Stade, G VI. ii. p. 15 ff. t See e,g. Jer. 15 ; cf. also 2 K. 22}^-'-^. xviii INTRODUCTION rebellious people, ever falling away from Yahweh into heathenism and idolatry.* The signal fulfilment of the prophets' predictions in the fall of Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the deportation of its inhabitants, set the seal of God's truth not only on their religious teaching, but upon their judgement of the past of Israel. In the light of this judgement, disciples of the prophets wrote the history of the two kingdoms, using and adapting the old records to illus- trate and enforce the great lessons which prophecy had taught. The same ruling ideas, the same practical motives, permeate the Book of Deuteronomy, especially the opening and closing chap- ters,! and are indeed so prominent in it that the historical prag- matism of which we have been speaking is frequently, and not. inappropriately, called Deuteronomic, and the writers whose work it characterizes, the Deuteronomic school. To this school the author of Jud. 2^-16^^ manifestly belongs. What others had done for the history of the Kingdom, he does for the centuries between the invasion and the days of Samuel. | From the very first generation after the settlement in Canaan, Israel had left Yahweh, to run after other gods and prostitute itself to them ; and in this course it persisted through the whole period, in spite of all warnings and chastisements. The part of the book which we are now considering can, therefore, hardly have been written before the beginning of the 6th century. § Other considerations might incline us to put it some decades later. It is antecedently probable that the new school of histo- rians applied themselves first to the history of the Kingdom, where the prophets had gone before them, and in which the moral was more impressive because nearer at hand. From that they would naturally go back to the earlier period. The same inference may perhaps be drawn from the fact that the judgement of Israel's past in our book is more severe than in the Kings. In the latter, the sin of the people is in no small part the worship on the high places, a heathenish form of worship, forbidden by the law, but * See asp. Ez. 16 20 23. f Ch. i-ii 27-33 '< see e.^. 4I5-40 28 29IO-28 X There is no sufficient ground for identifying him with any one of the Deu- teronomic writers in Dt. or Jos., or with the Deut. author of Kings. § Schrader, We., Kuc, Sta., Bu., Dr., Co., Kitt., al. JUDGES II. 6— XVI. 31: AGE . xix still a worship of Yahweh. In Judges the apostasy is complete ; the people abandons Yahweh for the Baals and Astartes.* The conclusions to which an examination of the contents of the book leads are confirmed by the evidence of its vocabulary and style, in which the affinity to the literature of the end of the 7th century is unmistakable. In the commentary these parallels are noted, and they need not be repeated here.f § 4. The Sources of Judges ii. 6-xvi. 31. The characteristics which have been discussed in the last section appear chiefly in the introduction (2^-3^) and at the beginning of the histories of the several judges. The stories themselves, with the exception of that of Othniel (3^""), show few traces of the author's distinctive conceptions or expressions. % Some of them — for instance, Samson's adventures among the Philistines — have little or no relation to the purpose of the book ; others relate of the judges things which must have been offensive to the author, such as Gideon's setting up the ephod and the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter; in all, the rehgious ideas, the language, and style, are entirely unlike his own.§ It is plain therefore, that the author of Jud. 2*^-16^^ did not write these stories himself, but took them from older sources. These sources cannot have been oral tradition, or unwritten popular legends, || for, apart from the difficulty of supposing that oral tradition had transmitted to so late a time such lifelike and truthful pictures of a state of society that had passed away cen- * See Stade, G VI. ii. p. 21. It is to be observed, however, that in the theory of the Deuteronomic writers, the local cults on the high places were not prohibited till after the building of the temple. t See especially on 26-36 37-II and the introductions to the several stories ; cf. also Kue., HCCft-. i. p. 339; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 91 f., 128; Ko., Eiul., p. 254. X Kitt. thinks it very probable that the author of 37-11 also wrote 625-32 72-8 8-'2f. ; but these passages appear to me to be derived from one of the chief sources of the book. \ Compare the story of Ehud (3I2-30) with that of Othniel (s'-H). The latter shows us, better than anything else, what these histories would be like if the author had written them himself. We may also compare the chapters of ancient history with which the author of Chronicles supplements Kings, — all, oi. course, in his own peculiar manner. || Stahelin, al. XX INTRODUCTION turies before, in reducing oral tradition to writing, the author would inevitably have left the impress of his own style upon the stories far more deeply than is the case ; the Deuteronomic pecuUarities we have noted above would not be confined to the beginning and end of the tales. The greater or less unevenness of which we are always aware in passing from the introduction to the story which follows, is clearly the joint by which an older written source is united to the Deuteronomic preface. If the author employed written sources, our next inquiry is, whether he made his choice among single tales or different collec- tions of tales, or whether he took them all from some one older book, lliis question cannot be answered with entire certainty ; it is quite conceivable that the cycle of stories about Samson, for. instance, may have existed separately ; but it is demonstrable, I think, that the author had before him an older work in which the exploits of a considerable number of the Israelite heroes were narrated ; * and if this is true, it may very well be that this col- lection was his only source. It is easier to understand how a story like that of Samson should have been included in the Deu- teronomic Book of Judges, if the author found it in the earlier work on which he based his own, than to imagine that he intro- duced it for himself from some other source. A more minute examination of the introduction to the book (2^-3*), and of the setting of the several stories, especially those of Gideon (6^-^°) and Jephthah (10^-^^), brings out the fact that these parts of the work are not entirely homogeneous. The numerous repetitions and dupUcations, and the differences in point of view and phraseology, which, though slight, are unmistakable, show that more than one writer has had a hand in the com- position.! Of this fact, which is recognized by most recent critics, two explanations may be given. One is, that the author or editor of the present Book of Judges, in incorporating 2'''-i6'^^ in his own work, dwelt upon and emphasized the moral lessons of the history which his predecessor had enforced ; the lack of unity and 275 f • See next §. t See the commentary on the passages indicated, and esp. p. 63 f., 175 f., 181 f., r f PRE-DEUTERONOMIC BOOK OF JUDGES xxi consistency which the critics have observed would thus be due to interpolation.* The alternative hypothesis is, that the author of 2^-16'^^ used as the basis of his work an older collection of tales of the Israelite heroes, in which the varying fortunes of Israel in those troublous times were already made to point the moral that unfaithfulness to Yahweh was the prime cause of all the evils that befell the people, — a pre-Deuteronomic Book of the Histories of the Judges.t The considerations which incline the balance of probability to the second of these hypotheses are the following : {a) The ele- ments which are admitted by all not to belong to the principal Deuteronomic stratum in the book do not seem to be superim- posed upon it, but embedded in it ; and they are more intimately united with their context than the additions by which later editors often try to heighten the effect of their text are wont to be. {d) If the author or editor of the present Book of Judges made all these additions in 2"-! 6^^, we should expect to find his mark upon ch. 17, 18, 19-21 also, which certainly invited a moral comment and application quite as much as some of the stories in the body of the work ; but no trace of such an improvement is to be discov- ered in those chapters, {c) The language of the parts of the book in question is distinguished from that of the Deuteronomic writers and editors generally by a more marked affinity to one of the older sources of the Hexateuch (E) . j {d) Some of the tales, e.g. that of Gideon (ch. 6-2>), are composite; two somewhat dif- ferent versions of the story have been united by a third hand, which does not appear to be that of the author of the book, but of an earlier redactor. It is not a remote conjecture that this redactor is also the author of the non-Deuteronomic element in the introduction (2*^-3'^) and other parts of the book. ( as a gloss, on what seem to me insufficient grounds. t On these verses see below, p. 113. % Of- Jud. 320 8'28 ii33. \ Cf. Jud. 2I8. II Some critics connect this with Jud. 135, where the Angel foretells that Samson shall begin to deliver Israel ; see p. 317. H Cf. also 2 K. i7"-23 (Schrad., Kue.) ; Wildeboer is, however, certainly mistaken in supposing that Jud. 26-3S is dependent upon 2 K. 17 {Letterku?ide, p. 273)- ** Graf, Gesch. Bilcher, p. 97 f. ; so Bu. Kue., Wildeboer, al., think that this was true of the Deuteronomic Judges. tt Excluding Deuteronomic additions. Xi Bu. ; see below, p. 276. xxiv INTRODUCTION by a more extended introduction than those which he prefixed to the other "oppressions." The pragmatism of this work was similar to that of the Deutero- nomic Judges ; in it also, as may be seen in the non-Deutero- nomic parts of 2^-t,^, and lo^"^^, in 6^~^° and in i S. 12, the history is interpreted and judged from the prophetic point of view ; that the people forsook Yahweh and worshipped the gods of Canaan is here also the fo?is et origo malorum ; in it the con- flicts of particular tribes and groups of tribes with their neighbours had already become oppressions and deliverances of all Israel, the heroes of these local struggles, the judges of Israel.* But, close as the resemblance is, the distinctive Deuteronomic note is absent ; the standpoint is that of Hosea and the prophetic historians who wrote in his spirit, rather than that of Jeremiah and the Deuteronomic school. The age of this older Book of Judges is fixed within these limits ; it may with considerable confidence be ascribed to the 7th century, perhaps to the times of Manasseh. The hand of the author of the older Judges, like that of the Deuteronomic writer, is recognized in the introduction and the setting of the tales rather than in the tales themselves. The ques- tion from what sources the latter are derived is only pushed back one step by the discovery of a pre-Deuteronomic collection. The existence of composite narratives, like the histories of Gideon (ch. 6-8), and Deborah and Barak (ch. 4), shows that there must have been more than one such source. The more or less strongly marked diversity in language and style between the several stories also points to diversity of origin. That these sources were old and good collections of the national traditions, the character of the stories sufficiently attests. On closer inspec- tion, one of them appears to be more ancient and of greater historical worth than the rest. In some instances, as for example in that of Samson (ch. 13-16), the author seems to have known but one version of the story, which he has given entire from one of * The chronology of this book was different from that of its successor ; see ^S 7. The use of shophet, and some other words and phrases of common occurrence such as V'-Jon, yj^j. ' subdue, be subdued,' probably also come from it. SOURCES OF THE TALES OF THE JUDGES xxv his sources ; in other cases, as in that of Gideon- Jerubbaal, he united as best he could two somewhat discrepant accounts ; in still other cases it is difficult to decide whether the lack of unity and directness in the narrative is to be ascribed to the attempt to com- bine different versions, or to editorial amplification, or to subse- quent interpolations and glosses. These phenomena are so much like those with which we are familiar in parts of the Hexateuch where the Yahwistic and Elo- histic narratives (J and E) have been united by a later writer (Rje) into one composite history, that we can hardly fail to ask the ques- tion whether the similarity is not really identity ; that is, whether the pre-Deuteronomic Judges was not a part of the great prophetic history which critics designate by the symbol JE, and its sources J and E. That this is the case was affirmed by Schrader, who attempted to separate the two chief sources from each other and from the Deuteronomic elements.* More recently Bohme f and Stade I have demonstrated the affinity of parts of the book to J and E respectively ; while Budde has taken up the problem which Schrader first attacked, and with great acuteness has worked out an analysis of the entire book. § On the other hand, Kuenen maintains a sceptical attitude toward all attempts to identify the sources of Judges with J and E in the Hexateuch, || and Kittel combats the hypothesis, arguing that such resemblances as exist are less decisive than the countervailing differences.^ Budde's hypothesis is not intrinsically improbable. There is the best reason to believe that neither J nor E ended with the conquest of Canaan, but that both brought the history down to a much later time, if not to their own day. The parting speech of Joshua, Jos. 24 (substantially E), looks not only backward but for- ward ; it is the end of a book, not of the historical work of which it formed a part; and Jud. 2^"^" (Jos. 24^"^^), from the same hand, is unmistakably the transition to the subsequent history. * De Wette, Einl^., p. 327-332. For earlier critics who have entertained this opinion, see Wildeboer, Letter kunde, p. 168 f. t ZA TW. V. 1885, p. 251-274. t 2.^ TW. i. p. 339-343- § Richt. u. Sam., 1890. Bu.'s results are accepted by Co., Einl., ^ 16. ||//C02.i.p.3S5f. % Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 44 ff . ; GdH. i. 2. p. 15-18. So also Ko., Einl., p. 252-254, Wildeboer, al. xxvi INTRODUCTION Jud. I, J's account of the conquest and settlement of Canaan, is certainly not the end of his work ; 2^^- ^^ here also lead over to the following period.* It is antecedently more probable that these books furnished the author of Judges with his material than that they altogether disappear at the beginning of this period, their place being taken by two unrelated sources having a certain resemblance to J and E respectively.t It must be acknowledged that the resemblances are less marked than might be expected, and are accompanied by noticeable differences. But it should be observed, first, that the ultimate sources, the popular traditions from which the tales of the judges are drawn, naturally had a different origin and character from the legends of the patriarchs in Genesis or the narratives of the Mosaic age ; and, second, that the symbols J and E represent, not individual authors, but a suc- cession of writers, the historiography of a certain period and school. I The differences upon which Kittel and Konig have laid stress are, it appears to me, critically of less significance than the admitted resemblances. Moreover, the problem of the sources in Judges cannot be separated from the same question in Samuel, and in the latter the indicia point to J and E more clearly, per- haps, than in Judges. § For these reasons I have used the symbols J and E in the com- mentary, to distinguish the two chief sources from which the narratives appear to be derived, though I am fully aware that the question of their identity is by no means beyond controversy.. Those of my readers who are not convinced of this identity may regard the letters J and E as equivalent to X and Y, two other- wise unknown sources, of which X (J) is almost everywhere mani- festly the older and historically the more valuable. The author who united them and composed the pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges was probably one of that school of prophetic historians * Cf. also J's part in 228-36, t It is methodologically an unreasonable demand that it should first be proved that J and E included the history of the times of the judges, before we endeavour to identify them in the Book of Judges. What other proof can we have than that we can trace them in its narratives ? X In E, for example, there is a well-defined secondary stratum (E2). § We have seen ncason to believe that a considerable part of i Sam. was con- tained in the pre-Deuteronomic Judges. J AND E IN JUDGES xxvii who are commonly represented by the signature Rje.* His hand may be most distinctly recognized in 2-'-3'', whe?e the conflicting representations of J and E are worked into one another with free additions by the redactor in a way with which we are familiar in JE in the Hexateuch. Tke age of the two chief sources in Judges 2^-16^^ cannot be very definitely fixed. There are, in this part of the book, no allu- sions to historical events of later times which might serve us as a clew.t Almost the only criterion which we possess is their relation to the religious development. In those parts of the book which are attributed to J, the standpoint of the narrator is that of the old national religion of Israel ; there is no trace of prophetic influ- ence, and we can have no hesitation in ascribing this source to a time before the great prophetic movement of the 8th century. Other indications point to a considerably higher antiquity. The stories are manifestly drawn from a living tradition, not from anti- quarian lore ; they reproduce the state of society and religion in the early days of the settlement in Palestine with a convincing reality which is of nature, not of art, and exhibit a knowledge of the conditions of the time which can hardly have been possessed by an author of the 8th century, after the changes which two centuries of the kingdom and of rapidly advancing civilization had wrought. On such grounds we should be inclined to assign this source to the first half of the 9th century, a date which is entirely compatible with our identification of it with J. The second main source from which the tales of the Judges are derived (E) appears, wherever direct comparison is possible, as in the histories of Gideon and Abimelech, to be younger than J. It is, however, not all of the same age. The older stratum does not differ very greatly from J, and is also, in all probabihty, pre- prophetic ; the later stratum is strongly tinged with prophetic ideas, and in its judgement of the religious offences of the people prepares the way for the pragmatism of the Jehovistic (JE) and Deuteronomic History of the Judges. So closely, indeed, does * This symbol is, however, not very satisfactory, since the method of these writers was much more that of the historian who largely excepts his sources, than of the redactor who merely combines and harmonizes them. t On 1 830. 31 see below, § 5, p. xxx f. xxviii INTRODUCTION this element (Eo) approach the standpoint of the latter authors that it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide whether certain passages or verses should be attributed to the one or the other.* Fortunately, the similarity which makes the analysis uncertain makes it also, of less importance. The author of the later element in E (Eo) may have lived toward the end of the 8th century or in the first half of the 7th. f The Triumphal Ode, ch. 5, is much older than the correspond- ing prose narrative, or than any other of the stories in the book. | Whether it was included in J, or in E, or in both of them, cannot be certainly determined. The closing formula, 5^^^, may have been added or transposed by an editor. The Ode was in all prob- ability preserved in one of the collections of old Hebrew poetry, such as the Book of Jashar, or the Book of the Wars of Yahweh ; § but, like other poems from those collections, may early have been incorporated into the prose histories. The brief notices of the so-called Minor Judges (10^"^ 12^-^^) begin and close with formulas which, while they have a certain likeness to those which introduce and conclude the stories of the other judges, have also a distinctive difference. || Of each of the five we read that he "judged Israel " so many years, but of the oppressions and deliverances which in the rest of the book alternate with such regularity nothing is said ; of their exploits there is no record ; indeed, beyond the places where they were buried and perhaps the number of their posterity, nothing what- ever is narrated of them. Most, if not all, the names of these "judges " appear to be those of clans rather than individuals ; and the years of their rule seem to be independent of the chronological scheme of the book and to disturb its symmetry. It has been con- jectured that the names were introduced by an editor to make up the number of twelve judges ; % and Wellhausen has strengthened this hypothesis by the observation that the sum of the years of the * It is not impossible, for example, that in the introduction (26-36) a part of what, with Budde, I have ascribed to E, is in reality the work of Rje. t It is worthy of notice that the " commandments of Yahweh " are mentioned only in 2!" 34 ; " the covenant of Yahweh," only in 2^- 20 (Ko., £inl., p. 257). X See p. 127-132. § Compare 5I with Ex. 15I. II See p. 270 f. % Noldeke and many recent scholars. SONG OF DEBORAH. MINOR JUDGES xxix Minor Judges is almost exactly that of the interregna in the general chronology of the period.* The mention of these judges should then be compared with similar antiquarian and genealogical notices in Chronicles. On the other hand, Kuenen, remarking that the characteristic formulas of the Minor Judges stand also at the close of the story of Jephthah (12', cf. also 15^ i S. 4'^ 7^^), and rejecting, partly on this ground, Wellhausen's combination of the numbers, is of the opinion that these five judges were included not only in the Deuteronomic Judges, but in its predecessor, and are thus ultimately derived from one of the sources of the latter work. I A third hypothesis is that the Minor Judges stood in the pre-Deuteronomic book, were omitted by the Deuteronomic author, like the story of Abimelech and perhaps ch. 17-21, and restored by the editor of the present Book of Judges. Beyond such conjectures we can hardly go. § 5. The Sources of Judges^ xvii-xxi. and of i.-ti. j. The two stories with which our Book of Judges ends, that of Micah's idols and the migration of the Danites (ch. 17, 18), and that of the assault on the Levite and his concubine at Gibeah, with its disastrous consequences to the tribe of Benjamin (ch. 19- 21), were not included in the Deuteronomic Judges. They relate, not the deliverance of Israel from the foes that oppressed it, by the hand of divinely commissioned champions, but the fortunes of ,t:^a,tribe.VQne of which was compelled to leave its earliest seats to find a new home in the remote north, while the second was almost exterminated by the righteous indignation of the other Israelites. If the Deuteronomic author had employed these stories, as perhaps he might have done, to illustrate the moral and religious corruption of the times, the natural place for them in * See below, ^ 7. This theory is adopted by Budde, who thinks that the sherter formulas in which the names of the Minor Judges are set are patterned after those of the Deuteronomic author {Richt. u. Sam., p. 93 f.) ; cf. also Cornill, Einl^., p. 97 fif. t HCO^. i. p. 351 f . ; cf. p. 342, 354. A similar view is maintained by Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 10 ff., except that, in conformity with his general theory, which recog- nizes no pre-Deuteronomic editor, he supposes that the smaller Book of Judges (ri.) was one of the immediate sources of D. XXX INTRODUCTION his book would have been immediately after the introduction ; a place which chronological considerations also indicated. There is no evidence, however, in the introductions to these stories, of any intention to use them in this way. The familiar formulas of D are absent,, nor is their place taken by others which might be attributed to the same hand. In the narratives themselves there is no trace of a Deuteronomic redaction. Whether these stories were contained in the older work which the Deuteronomic author used as the basis of his own, we cannot be so sure. There is certainly no mark of the editor's hand upon them, and it is conceivable that they were preserved independently in one of the sources of that collection. This would account both for the resemblance of the stories to those in 2®-i6^^ and for the absence of all traces either of Rje or of D in them.* But in ch. 17, 18, two narratives appear to have been combined in much the same way as in ch. 6-8, and we should be inclined to attribute this fusion to the same redactor (Rje).t It is quite possible that, as this author's work was considerably more extensive than the Deuteronomic Judges, he may have found place in it for these chapters. That the two versions of the story of Micah and the Danites (ch. 17, 18) are derived from J and E is a natural conjecture. Budde has noted several words and phrases in one of them which seem to point to E. The whole impression which this strand of the narrative makes would incline me rather to ascribe it to J ; decisive evidence is lacking. However that may be, there can be no doubt that the primary version of the story is among the oldest in the book, as it is in many ways one of the most instructive. The second, version is apparently younger, but, if I interpret it correctly, there seems to be no reason why it may not come from E. I In i8^"~^^ are two references to historical events : the depopu- lation of the land (v.^), and the cessation of the temple at Shiloh (v.'^'). By the former we are probably to understand the depor- * That J, at least, survived separately till a late date is probably to be inferred from the preservation of ch. i. t Many critics, however, think that the appearance of duplication is due to interpolations,' rather than to the union of two sources ; see p. 366-369. Ch. 19 is also perhaps composite. + See p. 370. JUDGES XVI [.-XXI: SOURCES xxxi tation of the inhabitants of northern Galilee in 734 ; the date of the latter is unknown. The older narrative in ch. 17, 18, to which iS'^" seems to belong, can scarcely be brought down to as late a time as the reign of Tiglathpileser ; the words may have been added by an editor.* The problem which is presented to criticism by the narrative of the outrage at Gibeah and the sanguinary vengeance which almost annihilated the tribe of Benjamin is of a. different kind from any other in the Book of Judges. At first sight, the narrative seems to be not only entirely unhistorical, but without even a leg- endary ground — one huge theocratic fiction of very late origin.! Closer examination, however, shows that this is a mistake. The basis of the narrative, which can be discovered not only in ch. 19 and 21^^*^-, but in ch. 20, is a very old story, having an obvious affinity to the primary stratum in ch. 17, 18, and in tone and lan- guage resembling the most ancient parts of the Hexateuch and the Books of Samuel. This is overlaid, especially in ch. 20, 2i^~^^, by a stratum akin to the latest additions to the priestly history in the Hexateuch and to the Chronicles. This post-exilic rifacimento is clearly dependent upon the former version ; the only question is, whether it once existed separately and was united with the old story by a third hand, | or whether it was from the beginning merely a kind of midrash upon the original text, in part exaggerat- ing it, in part substituting an account of the events in accordance with the author's theocratic conception of the ancient history. § The latter appears to me the more probable hypothesis ; but the other is certainly possible. || The primitive story is hardly inferior in age to any in the book, and may be derived from J. The secondary version bears, in conception and expression, all the marks of the extreme decadence of Hebrew literature, and is a product of the 4th century B.C. more probably than of the 5th. If it was interpolated by its author in the earlier narrative, as we find it, it may be the work of the editor who appended chapters 1 7-2 1 to the Deuteronomic Judges ; on the alternative hypothesis, the same editor may have combined the two versions ; but other explanations are also conceivable. * See p. 399-401. t We. % Bu., Co. \ Kue., Kitt., Wildeboer. || See p. 405, 407 f. xxxii INTRODUCTION The Book of Ruth relates things which happened "in the days when the judges ruled " ; in the Greek Bible it immediately fol- lows Judges, and in many early enumerations and catalogues is counted as a part of Judges * Some recent scholars have thought that this was the original place of the book : it was, like ch. 1 7, 18, and 19-21, an appendix to the Book of Judges proper, ch. i-i6.t Ruth is, however, in subject, language, and style, unlike any of the stories in Jud. 1-16, or in 17-21 ; it is a product of a much later age, and belongs to a wholly different species of liter- ature. As the events narrated in it are supposed to have taken place some half century before the estabhshment of the kingdom, its natural place in the series of historical books was between Judges and Samuel ; or, as falHng in the days of the judges, it might be appended to the former book ; but this connexion was probably never universal, and may, indeed, have been peculiar to the Greek Bible. Chapter 1^-2^ contains an account of the invasion of Western Palestine by the Israelite tribes, and their settlements, particularly enumerating the cities that they did not succeed in conquering, most of which long remained in the possession of the native Canaanite population. | This account, which in historical value far surpasses any other source that we possess for this period, is manifestly extracted from an older work, and Schrader, Meyer, and others rightly recognize in it J.'s history of the conquest. § The narrative has been considerably abridged by the editor who prefixed it to the pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges, || for the pur- pose, as we see from his own words in 2^^-^'', of showing how Israel sinned in making terms with the people of the land and leaving them to be a constant snare and peril ; it has also suffered to some extent from derangement and interpolation, whether by the edi- tor's own hand or that of scribes. Fortunately, the motive of the * So probably by Fl. Jos., contra Apion., c. 8; and expressly by many Christian Fathers. t So Stiihelin, Auberlen, al.; see esp. Bertheau, p. 290 ff. ; cf. also Schrader in De Wette, Einl^. p. 395 f. + See p. 3 fif. \ See below, p. 6 f. II It is more probable that 2>\i-r>o. is by an editor of the school of Rje than that it is from the hand of the post-exilic redactor. RUTH. JUDGES I. -II. 5 XXxiii recension gives us confidence that he left intact those features of his original which are of chief interest and importance for us, proving that in the invasion the tribes acted singly, or as they were allied by older ties or common interest ; and that Israelite supremacy in Canaan was not achieved by one irresistible wave of conquest, but only after an obstinate struggle lasting for genera- tions. Fragments of the same source, some of which are a wel- come supplement to the narrative in Judges i, are preserved in the Book of Joshua.* On the Minor Judges, see above, p. xxviii f. § 6. The Composition of the Book of Judges. If the results of the critical analysis outlined in § 4 and 5 are substantially correct, the genesis of the book may be conceived in some such way as the following : t Early in the 9th century, the traditions of the invasion and settlement of Western Palestine, of the subsequent conflicts in various parts of the land with the native population or with new invaders, and of the heroic deeds of Israel's leaders and cham- pions in these struggles, were collected and fixed in writing, prob- ably as part of a historical work which included the patriarchal age, the migration from Egypt, and the history of Israel under the kingdom down to the author's own time (J) . Perhaps a century later, another book of similar character and scope was written, containing in part the same stories, but in a form adhering less closely to historical reahty (E). A second recension of this work (Eo) bears very distinctly the impress of the prophetic movement of the 8th century, and specifically of Hosea's teaching, and may be assigned to the end of the 8th or the beginning of the 7th century. The author's religious * See p. 5 f, t It must be borne in mind that any hypothesis we may frame is much simpler than the Hterary history of which it attempts to give account. J, E, JE, D, R, &c. represent, not individual authors whose share in the work can be exactly assigned by the analysis, but stages of the process, in which more than one — perhaps many — successive hands participated, every transcription being to some extent a recension. xxxiv INTRODUCTION interpretation and judgement of the history in the spirit of proph- ecy is the beginning of the treatment so generally adopted by later writers ; history with a moral soon becoming history for the moral. As in the Hexateuch and in Samuel, J and E (Eo) were the chief sources of the great prophetic historical work, JE. Where the author of this work found in his sources variants of the same story, he combined them, sometimes interweaving them so closely as to make the strands almost inextricable, sometimes doing Httle more than transcribe paragraphs of J and E alternately ; adapt- ing his method to the material before him. In many cases he found it necessary, in order to bring his sources into harmony or to preserve the connexion, to insert something of his own ; in some places he added with a freer hand. The Book of Judges in JE * seems to have begun with the death of Joshua, and to have closed with the great discourse of Samuel, i S. 1 2, a division which certainly existed in E, It probably contained all the stories in our Judges except that of Othniel ; and in view of the character of the succeeding redactions, Rje may, with greater justice than D, be regarded as the true author of the book. JE is a work of the 7th century, but antedates the reforms of Josiah (621 B.C.) and the dominant influence of Jeremiah and the Deuteronomy. Early in the 6th century, an author belonging to the Deutero- nomic school took this work as the basis of his own. As the traces of his hand do not extend to i S. 1-12 f nor to Jud. 1^-2^ 17-21, we infer that D's book included only Jud. 2*^-16^^ (or per- haps 15^). Eli and Samuel not unnaturally presented themselves to his mind in the character of priest and prophet rather than of judges ; and, if historical considerations weighed with him, he may very well have thought that the life of Samuel, from which that of Eli is inseparable, belonged to the history of the founding of the kingdom, rather than to the preceding period. Besides Jud. 17-21, it is certain that D excluded the story of Abimelech, which did not readily lend itself to his moral purpose ; 8"^''^' is his brief substitute for the omitted narrative. He may also have * It is not of course implied that its author gave it this title, t The Deuteronomic elements in i S; 1-12 have not the distinctive signature of D in Judges. COMPOSITION OF JUDGES XXXV omitted the Minor Judges,* possibly also ch. i6, the tragic end of Samson ; this would account for the premature closing formula, i5^^t On the other hand, he added the deliverance of Israel from Cushan-rishathaim by Othniel (3^'"), as a typical exemplification of the theory set forth in the introduction (2^-3'^), and perhaps with the additional motive of giving a judge to Judah, which in the older book was almost the only tribe that furnished none. The system of chronology is Deuteronomic, as appears from its relation to the system of the Books of Kings, but whether in its present form it is the work of D is less certain ; see § 7. Upon the general introduction, 2^-3'', as well as upon the intro- ductions to the stories of the several judges, D impressed the un- mistakable Deuteronomic stamp. In his judgement of the history he had been anticipated by Eg and JE, but his more rigorous pragmatism and his distinctive style can in most cases be distin- guished with sufficient certainty from the work of his predecessors. In 2^-3'', especially in 2^'^^, the Deuteronomic element is very closely combined with the older text. Budde, whose opinion I have followed in the commentary, I thinks that D did not, in this somewhat awkward way, intrude his own point of view into the introduction of JE, but substituted a new introduction for JE's ; the two were united, to their mutual detriment, by the final, post- exilic redactor. The other hypothesis has, however, the advan- tage of simpHcity, and the considerations which weigh against it are perhaps overestimated. § The Deuteronomic Judges did not supplant the older work upon which it was founded; JE's history was in existence long after the exile. In the 5th or 4th century B.C., an editor united the two books, and produced the present Book of Judges. In doing so, he naturally included those parts of JE which D had omitted, Jud. 1^-2^ 9 17 18 19-21; possibly also the Minor Judges, io^~^ 12'^"^'^. II The secondary version of the war with Benjamin in ch. 19-21 is perhaps his work; and in other parts of the book traces of his hand may be discerned in minor glosses ; some of these may, however, be of still later date. * This depends in part upon the decision of the difficult questions of the chro- nology ; see ^^ 7. f Budde. X P- 63 f., ^ See Kuenen, HCO-. i. p. 339 f, |) See above. xxxvi INTRODUCTION On the critical problems discussed in §§ 3-6, see in general Studer, Richter, 1835, p. 425 ff. ; Schrader in DeWette, Einleitung^, 1869, p. 327-333; Well- hausen in Bleek, Einl.^, 1878, p. 181-203 = Composition d. Hexateuchs, u. s.w., 1889, p. 213-238, cf. 353-357; V. Doorninck, Bijdrage tot de tekstkritiek van Richteren i.-xvi., 1879, p. 123-128; Berth eau, 7?eV/^/(?r und RutJfi, 1883; Kue- Xi&Xi^ Historisch-critisch (9«^- 3 4 JUDGES the whole land at once is not due to the strength of its walled towns, or the superiority of their inhabitants in the art and enginery of war, but to Israel's slackness in carrying out the root and branch policy enjoined in Ex. 34"'^^ 23-'^^''-^^ Dt. 7^-^ &c. As a punishment, Yahweh leaves the Canaanites whom they have guiltily spared to be the cause of all the ills denounced in those passages. Their religion is the snare into which Israel is ever afresh falling. The repeated apostasies and ensuing judgements which are the subject of the Book of Judges have their origin in the primal act of disobedience, that Israel did not exterminate the inhabitants of the land. From this point of view, ch. i, with its long list of cities remaining in the hands of the Canaanites, including many of the most important places in Central and Northern Palestine, forms a fitting introduction to the present Book of Judges. It had, however, no place in the original plan of the book, but has been introduced by a later editor. For, a, the Introduction gives, in the proper place (3^''^), an enumeration of the native races remaining in Canaan, or on its borders, which* makes no reference to ch. i and is not entirely consonant with it. b, Jud. 2*^"^'^ is the immediate continuation, in sense and structure, of Jos. 24^.* The intrusion of Jud. i'''-2^ between two consecu- tive sentences of the narrative led later, perhaps in connexion with the division into books, to the creation of a new close for Jos. 24, v.-'^'"^ being restored from Jud. 2^"^,t while v.'*^-- ^^ are frag- mentary notices from another source which came in appropriately at the end of the history of that generation. The whole character of Jud. 1^-2^ gives evidence that it was not composed for the place, but is an extract from an older history of the Israelite occupation of Canaan. It has not, how- ever, been preserved just as it was in the original source. The editor, to whom its value lay, not in what it told of the conquests * The translations of Jud. 26 in AV. and RV., which conceal this fact, are grammatically false. t A careful comparison of the two passages will show clearly, I think, that this is their true relation, and not, as is still commonly assumed, that Jud. 26-10 -was borrowed by the Deuteronomic author of Judges from Jos. 242S-31. Comp. the somewhat similar case, Ezra i^-Sa = 2 Chr. 36^^*-. L i-IT. 5 of Israel, but in the evidence it gave of the incompleteness of the conquest, that is, of the unfaithfulness of Israel, has apparently abridged and adapted it to his purpose ; and the trace of still later hands is probably to be recognized in certain additions and changes. On the critical restoration of the chapter, see Wellhausen, Einlciiung^, p. \%\-\%i— Composition d. Hexat., p. 213-215; E. Meyer, ZATJV. i. p. 135 ff.; Budde, ZATW. vii. p, 94 ^. = Richter u. Sa77iuel^ p. 2 ff. (cf. 84-89); Kuenen, Historisch-critisch Onderzoek, i. p. 356-358; Kittel, Ge- schichte der Hebrder, i. i. p. 239-245. Ch. i^"' is an editorial title corresponding to Jos. i^; v.*, superfluous and disturbing by the side of v.^^ is probably secondary; v.^, an interpolation induced by v.^\ directly contradicting v.^i Jos. 15^3 cf. Jud. 19IO-12 2 S. 5^^-; V.9 makes the impression of a general summary by a later hand; v.^"-^° are severed parts of the original, which may be restored by the help of Jos. I5^^'; V.I8 flatly contradicts v.^^, and is, like v.^, ifi conflict with the facts ; v.^i = Jos. 15^3^ -vvith the change of the original Judah to Benjamin, in conformity with later representations of the partition of the land; v.^^--^, or perhaps -^-^^ originally stood after v.'^. The story of the conquests of Joseph is dispropor- tionately meagre, and has very likely been abridged by the editor; Budde, with considerable probability, conjectures that Jos. 17^-18 Nu. 3239- 4i. 42 Jqs. 13I3 originally stood in this connexion. The account of the settlement of the northern tribes may be similarly curtailed. With y?^^- Jos. \(f^ may once have been joined. In oS'^, only v.^**- ^'^, " The Angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bethel, . . . and they sacrificed there to Yahweh," can belong to the older narrative; v.^^-^'^' are in the characteristic manner of the redaction of Judges. On all this, see more fully below in the commentary. Although thus by no means intact, the passage presents, after the manifest interpolations have been removed, a sufficiently orderly and intelligible con- nexion. Recent criticism has thus set aside the hypothesis of compilation (Stud.; cf Preiss, ZWTh. 1892, p. 496), and must qualify the strong terms in which the confusion and fragmentariness of the chapter has often been spoken of, e.g. by Kuenen. Fragments of this narrative are also preserved in different places in the Book of Joshua: Jos. 1513-1^ = Jud. iio-i-i;o. ^^^ j^os = Jud. i^i; Jos. i6i° = Jud. i-^ Jos. i7"-i3^Jud. i^^^ As these passages, which in Judges stand in good connexion, are in Joshua broken up and scattered, fitting so loosely in the con- text that it would frequently gain by their removal, and strikingly at variance with the prevaihng tenor of the book, the explanation which first suggests itself is that they have been inserted in Joshua 6 JUDGES directly from Judges by a relatively late hand.* Against this must be set, however, the fact, properly emphasized by Budde, that in more than one of these parallels, Jos. has preserved the original text, while in Jud. it has been intentionally altered ; see especially 10. 20. 19. 21 This is better explained by supposing that the extracts in Joshua were made, not from Jud. i, but from the history from which the latter chapter was taken.t The hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that, as Dillmann | and Budde § have shown, there are other passages in Joshua, to which there is no parallel in Jud. i, which are almost certainly derived from the same source, viz. Jos. 13^=^ (cf. Jud. I2--29.21') 1^47 ^^ ^^^^ espccially ly^-^^H This source was not improbably J's history of the conquest.^ The author of the Book of Joshua uses J pretty freely in the beginning of his history of the invasion down to the taking of Ai and the treaty with the Gibeonites (8. 9) ; but in the following chapters, which narrate the great victories of Joshua (10-12), and the division of the land (13 ff.), he abandons this source, assum- ably because its account of the gradual and imperfect subjugation of Canaan by the tribes severally was irreconcilable with his own unhistorical representation of the complete conquest of the land by Joshua at the head of all Israel, the extermination of all its inhabitants, and partition of the conquered territory. Jud. 1^-2^, with the cognate fragments in Jos. 13 ff., accords very well with the undoubted excerpts from J in Jos. 1-9 ; the whole tenor and style of the narrative resembles that of J in the Pentateuch ; as *So Havernick, Bl., Be., Mey., Kue., BCO^, Reuss, «/. — On the relation between these passages in Jos. and Jud., there are other special investigations by Welte, 1842; Keil, Z. LuiA. Th. 1846, p. i ff. The hypothesis that Jud. i is a compilation from the Book of Jos. (Stahelin, Krit. Untersuchiwgen, p. 102 ff. ; Preiss, Z WTh. 1892, p. 496) is sufficiently refuted by the facts stated above in the text. Further, Jud. i contains other matter of the same sort {e.g. v. —-27) which has no parallel in Jos. That this also once stood in Jos., and was omitted, perhaps by R<1, an alternative proposed by Di. {NDJ. p. 442) , is not probable. t So Ke., Orelli, Kue., HKOK, Bu., Matthes, Kitt., K6. + NDJ. p. 442. \ Richter und Samuel, p. 25 ff. Cf. also Wellh.-Bleek^, p. 182 = Composition d. Hex., p. 214. II This meets the argument of Kue. {HCOf^. i. p. 358) that it is improbable that the editor of Jos. should have independently excerpted from his source exclu- sively matters which are found in Jud. i. H Schrader-De Wette, Einleitung^, p. 327, Mey., Di., Sta., Bu., Kitt., Co. I. i-li. 5 7 particular indications may be noted the precedence of Judah, the name Canaanites, the resort to the oracle, the Angel of Yahweh. The only positive argument of considerable weight on the other side is the meagreness of the relation in Jud. i, the almost statisti- cal character of much of it, in contrast to the free and vivid nar- ration of J.* If, however, as there is independent reason for believing, the editor of Jud. i has greatly abridged the older history, this loses much of its force. The age of the original of Jud. i cannot be certainly determined from anything in the chapter itself. It is inferred from v.^^ (the Benjamites live with the Jebusites in Jerusalem "unto this day") that it was written before the conquest of Zion by David, 2 S. 5 ; t but 2 S. 24^'^^- shows that the Jebusites were not expelled by David ; cf. also I K. 9-°^-. I On the other hand, v.^^- ^ describe a state of things which can hardly have existed before the reign of David or Solomon; v.-^ (cf. (3 and Jos. i6^°) is probably to be read in the light of I K. 9^^, which would bring us down at least to the time of Solomon. There are no historical references in the chapter which conflict with our ascription of it to J. Whether this be its origin or not, Jud. i is, beyond dispute, one of the most precious monuments of early Hebrew history. It contains an account of the invasion and settlement of Western Palestine entirely different from that given in the Book of Joshua, and of vastly greater historical value. In Joshua, the united armies of Israel, under the command of Joshua, in two campaigns (10. 11) conquer all Palestine from the Lebanon to the southern desert, and ruthlessly exterminate its entire population. The land is partitioned among the tribes (13 ff.), who have only to enter and take possession of the territory allotted to them. In Jud. i, on the contrary, the tribes invade the land singly, or as they are united by common interest ; they light for their own hand with varying success, or settle peaceably among the older population. * Konig, E'mleitiwg, p. 252 f. Konig exaggerates, however, when he speaks of Jud. I as an " ungeschmiickte, wortarme Zusammenstellung von Thatsachen." Against the ascription of the chapter to J, see also Be,, p. xviii., a/id Kue., II CO^. ^- P- 357- t Ba., Ke., Cass., Ko., with Jewish (Ki.) and older Christian scholars. t Budde (" Critical Notes on the Hebrew Text of Samuel ") understands 2 S. 58 itself as forbidding the slaughter of the Jebusites. 8 JUDGES The larger cities with few exceptions, the fertile valleys, and the seaboard plain remain in the hands of the Canaanites. For long, the Israelites were really masters only in the mountains of Central and Southern Canaan, and the two strongest tribes, Joseph and Judah, were completely separated from each other by a line of Canaanite strongholds having Jerusalem as its salient.* On the other side, the Great Plain and the fortified cities along its south- ern margin separated Joseph from the tribes which settled farther north. Which of these two conflicting representations of the Israelite invasion is the truer, cannot be for a moment in question. All that we know of the history of Israel in Canaan in the succeeding centuries confirms the representation of Jud. that the subjugation of the land by the tribes was gradual and partial ; that not only were the Canaanites not extirpated, but that many cities and whole regions remained in their possession ; that the conquest of these was first achieved by the kings David and Solomon. On the other hand, the whole political and religious history of these centuries would be unintelligible if we were to imagine it as beginning with such a conquest of Canaan as is narrated in the Book of Joshua. The song of Deborah alone is sufficient to prove this representation altogether false. From the place in which it stands, and the fact that several of the most important things related in it, such as the taking of Hebron, are also narrated in Jos. in connexion with the conquests of Joshua, Jud. i has sometimes been explained as, in the main, a recapitulation of events which happened in the lifetime of Joshua. So Thdt,, quaest, 7 (cf. i), Ki., Abarb., Cler., Schm., Ziegler, Hgstb., Bohl, But, as has been observed above, the parallel passages in Joshua are not an organic part of that book, with whose entire conception of the character of the conquest they but ill accord, and therefore their position does not prove that the events they relate occurred at the time to which they are ascribed by their present context. Others, following the title, \M, put the events related in Jud. i " after the death of Joshua." f So among * The cities named in Jud. i35, and those of the Gibeonite confederation, Jos. 9I7 ; see Stade, ZA TW. i. p. 147 ; Budde, Richter mid Samuel, p. 17. t The parallels in Jos. are then explained as anticipatory; that is, the author of that book, in narrating the conquests of Israel, for the sake of completeness, introduced, out of their chronological order, certain things which were not accom- plished till a later time; Aug., quaest., 3 (but cf. 6), Glossa ord., Ra; RLbG., Brenz, Ba., al. Others, while putting the greater part of the chapter after the death of I. i-II. 5 9 modern scholars, Ke., Ba., Be, Cass. This title of the canonical editor (see comm.) is, however, of no authority. In point of fact, the situation pre- supposed in Jud. I and the invasion there described, is, in its character and results, inconceivable if the land in all its length and breadth had already been conquered and its inhabitants exterminated by Joshua. We require, at least, some reference to the revolution by which all the results of Joshua's wars were lost; we must know who sowed the land with dragon's teeth, that in the place of the population which Joshua destroyed, — man, woman, and child, — another generation better able to defend its own sprang up in a night. In default of this, the commentators and historians who treat Jud. I as a con- tinuation of the history of the conquest after the death of Joshua are con- strained to reduce to the uttermost the extent and importance of Joshua's victories. These victories, it is said, broke the power of the Canaanite confederacies in the north and south, so that they no longer presented a formidable front in the field, but by no means resulted in the subjugation of all Canaan. The fortified towns defied the invaders, or were speedily recov- ered by them. All over the. land, as soon as the first wave of conquest passed, the Canaanites raised their heads again. The reduction of the strongholds, and the occupation of the territory allotted to each, was left to the tribes severally. In this task, some were more persistent and successful than others; some soon came to terms with the people of the land. It is this phase of the struggle that is described in Jud. i. The harmony thus estab- lished between Jos. and Jud. is only attained by substituting for the story of the conquest in Jos. 10-12 a rationalistic version which is as irreconcilable with the text of Jos. as Jud. i itself. Of such fruitless victories as left all the work to be done over, of strongholds unsubdued, or Canaanites left to garrison them, the Book of Joshua knows nothing. The register of Joshua's conquests, the cities which he gave to the tribes of Israel for a possession (ch. 12), contains not only the names of the cities which in Jud. I are taken by the several tribes (Hebron, Debir, Bethel), but of the far more numerous cities which, as we know both from Jud. I and the later history, remained Canaanite for generations, — Jerusalem, Gezer, Taanach, Megiddo, etc. Jud. I can therefore only be understood as a history of the first conquests and settlements of the Israelite tribes in Western Palestine, a counterpart to the Book of Joshua, whose representation it contravenes at all essential points. So Stud., We., Mey., Sta., GVI. I. p. 66 i.; Kue., Bu., Kitt., Dr., Co. In spite of the fundamental contradiction, there are striking agreements between the story of the conquest in Jos. and Jud. I. The struggle begins in the south (Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, and Adoni-bezek, who dies at Jerusalem) ; the settlement of Judah and its affined clans is followed by that of Joseph (Jos. 146-15 \^-^-- ^^-^^ i6iff- I'j^^-^^') ; the other tribes are provided for Joshua, have referred certain of the events narrated in it to tlie last years of his life ; so Chytraeus (v.8-iG)^ Eichh. (v.i0-i5), Schnurrer (v.Wff- '^^) ; or without attempt- ing to discriminate, v. Lengerke, Wahl. lO JUDGES later, and their standing is different from that of the great southern and central tribes (Jos. iS^^-). Jos. ii is unquestionably related to Jud. 4 (Jabin of Hazor), as Jos. 10 is to Jud. i^-^. The account of the conquest in Joshua is the product of successive theological reconstructions of the history. Its basis seems to have been a relation closely akin to the original of Jud. i, if not identical with it; but this historical basis is completely transformed by the ascription of the doings of the several tribes to all Israel, and of the events of succeeding generations to the first period of the invasion, and by the substitution of the theological ideal of a conquest by the people of Yahweh for the sober reality. I la. "miQ. — After the death of Joshica] cf. Jos. i\ From the hand of the canonical editor to divide the books of Jos. and Jud.* The death of Joshua marked the close of the period of conquest, as that of Moses (Dt. 34'^^) the end of the Exodus and wandering. The division is therefore a natural one, and the title stands in a suitable place after Jos. 24-^-^.1 What immediately follows, however (i^^-2'^), does not relate things which took place after the death of Joshua, but is an account of the invasion of Canaan and its results, running parallel to Jos., but giving a wholly different representation ; see above, p. 7-9. I. 1^-8. The Israelites inquire of the oracle what tribe shall first attack the Canaanites. Judah is designated, and, making common cause with Simeon, invades the land. They defeat and capture Adoni-bezek. The original connexion of i^^ is lost. It must have been pre- ceded at least by an account of the passage of the Jordan and the taking of Jericho, the remains of which are probably still to be recognized in the composite narrative in Jos. ; perhaps also by a preliminary division of the land to be conquered (v.^). Whether we should also include an account of the operations against Ai (Jos. 8) and the oldest version of the ruse of the Gibeonites (Jos. 9) is more doubtful. $ * See Doom. p. 17, and esp. Paine, Bibliotheca Sacra, 1891, p. 652 ff. A some- what similar suggestion is made by Ziegler, Theol. Abhandlungen, i. (1791), p. 282. t This ending of Jos. 24 is, however, itself probably restored by the editor from Jud. a'^-io ; see above, p. 4. The natural place for the title in the original context would be before Jud. 211. X See on these questions, Mey., ZATW. i. p. 136; Bu., Richtcr und Samuel, p. 50 ff.; Kitt., GdJJ. i. i. p. 245 ff. I.I. II 1. The Israelites inquii-ed of Ya/nueli] consulted the oracle of Y. ; cf. i8^. The phrase does not occur m the Hexateuch, in which the only reference to the consultation of the oracle (Nu. 27-' Po) is differently expressed. It is used not only of the oracle of Yahweh, but of a * stock ' (Hos. 4^") ; teraphim (Ez. 21-'^) ; manes (i Chr. 10^^). It is natural here to think of the priestly oracle (18^ I S. 22^^"^^-^'^), by the ephod (i S. 23^ 30^) j or urim and thummim (i S. 14'*^ (Jp). As in the Pentateuch the latter is in the hands of the High Priest only, Jewish and many Christian interpreters have inferred that the response on this occasion was given by Phineas, son of Eleazar,* but it is unsafe to ascribe this intention to the author, who more probably has in mind the oracle at Gilgal (2^), long one of the most frequented holy places. The Israelites are, of course, the tribes which settled west of the Jordan, t The story supposes them encamped together in the plain near Jericho (i^^) and Gilgal (2^), from which point they separate, Judah and Simeon to invade the south, Joseph to occupy the central highlands. That the tribes, which before the death of Joshua had taken possession of their partially subjugated allotments, now held a council at Shiloh (Procop., a Lap., Ba.) to plan measures against the Canaanites who were left in their several territories; that from the council they returned home and opened a series of campaigns in different parts of the land, Judah making the first attack (Ba.), is a figment without the slightest warrant in the text. Their question is not. Who shall lead us in a joint expedition? $ or, What tribe shall have the hegemony ?§ but, What tribe shall first invade its own region ? II as the response and the following narrative clearly show, and as, indeed, the language requires. — The Canaanites'\ collective name for the inhabitants of the land ; see on f. Those who find in Jud. i a continuation of the history in Jos. are compelled to explain the words of the Canaanites who remained unsubdued in the territory of the several tribes,^ an * Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, i § 120 ; cf. Jud. 20^f-. The death of Eleazar is recorded in Jos. 2433 (cf. ©) in close connexion with that of Joshua. t That they were accompanied and aided in the conquest of the land by the contingent of the tribes east of the Jordan is the representation of E and D. + ©!LS, Aug., other Ff. \ Fl. Jos., Euseb., Ephr. Syr., Schm., Ew. II Rabb., a Lyra, Masius, Drus., Cler., most moderns. ^ Procop., Rabb,, Brenz, and many. 12 JUDGES interpretation which is neither warranted by the text here, nor consonant with the representation of Jos. (cf. ii^^'^).* — 2. The oracle designates Judah. In Jos. also the first victories of Israel are gained in the south (ch. lo), and Judah is the first of the tribes west of the Jordan to receive its allotment (ch. 14. 15). It has been suggested above that the author of Joshua had before him an account of the invasion of Canaan strongly resembling Jud. i. Whether this precedence of Judah, hke the part assigned to Judah in J's story of Joseph and his brethren, is to be attributed to the Judahite origin of the narrative, or whether it may preserve a reminiscence of the foct that Judah was the first of the tribes to establish itself in Canaan, cannot well be decided. f — 3. Judah said to Simeon his brother] utique tribus ad tribum (Aug) . Simeon was the " brother " of Judah, not only as all the tribes of Israel were brethren, but in the closer kindre4 of the Leah tribes (Gen. 29^'"^). The seats of Simeon were in the south of Judah ; its towns (Jos. 19^'^) were all within the limits of Judah, and in Jos. i^-'c-^--*- are included in the list of the latter tribe (cf. also I Chr. 4^"''^). On Simeon see further below, on v.^^. Judah proposes that they unite their forces for the invasion, first of the territory of Judah, and then of the more southern district which fell to Simeon. The words imply that the invasion had not yet begim ; the two tribes are encamped, with the others, at a point outside of the territory which they subsequently occupied, at Gil- gal, X as we are to infer not only from 2^ but probably also from Jos. 14-16; see below. — Into 77iy allotted ter7-itory\ The tribes go up, not to conquer for themselves a lot, § but each to conquer its own lot. It is clearly presupposed that there was an under- standing among them before the beginning of the invasion in what quarter each was to seek its fortune, a preliminary division • See above, the last note, and p. 8 f. t It is thought by some scholars that Judah entered the land, not from the east, as is assumed in the passage before us, in agreement with all the other sources, but from the south (Graf, Simeon, p. 15 f., Kuen., Land, Tiele, Doom. ; cf. Bud., Richter u. Samuel, p. 41). I am inclined to think that this is true of Caleb, but not of Judah ; see below on v.io- '^K X Not at Shechem (Be.), or at Shiloh (Ba.) ; the conquest of this region by Joseph falls, according to the representation of our chapter, after the invasion of the South by Judah. § Wcllhauscn. I. 2-4 13 of the land to be conquered.* It is probable that in its original connexion, v.^'' was preceded by an account of this partition, and possible that traces of this account may be found in Jos. I4''""- 15^"- (Judah) and i6^^- (Joseph). It is noteworthy that in Jos. 14-16 these tribes only have their territory assigned to them at Gilgal. In what manner the author of Jud. i conceived this division to have been made, we cannot certainly make out ; the reference to the oracle (v.^^) and the term " allotment " suggest the sacred lot ; cf. Jos. 1 8^'^*^. Whether such a partition of the land actually took place is a question for historical criticism ; | the language of these verses leaves no doubt that the author so represented it. 1. nin>3 VxiJ', D^nSxiJ Snjj'] iS^ 2o18-23.27. freq. (II t.) in Sam. The :i is originally local; cf. 2 ti'm, ha ti^i^, &c. — Sk nS>*] march up to, against. The hostile sense, oftener expressed by Sjr, is sufficiently indicated in the context; cf. 3 rh'}, invade (a region, country), v. ^ Nu. 13^^ Is. 7^. — ijS] expressing the common interest; cf. Dt. ^f^'- We should more likely say, who d jiDj; "ijia ryrhrh Sn>, who will first attack the Ammonites, it — 2. i>-\Nn riN "Tinj no] / deliver . . . into his power, give up to him, v.* a^'^ 31*^ ^ and often, especially in the introductions to the stories of the judges, Ex. 23^1 Jos. 21^2 &c. The pf. represents the future as, in the thought and purpose of the speaker, already an accomplished fact, an unalterable certainty; Dr.^ § 13, Ges.2o § 106, 3 a. — 3. ""SlJ^] in sortejn meam (Aug., IL'^s), not in sorte mea (|{^codd. piur. edd.^ Ba.). h^-\y is allotment, allotted portion of territory, Jos. 1 7!^- ^", eventually, like KX^pos, portion, estate. — in^'^ni . . . ncn':'ji . . . nSy] go tip with 7ne . . . and let tis fight . . . and I will go with thee. Bidding and promise, cf. v."^. When the bidding or asking clause is felt to be logically dependent, such sentences pass over into the class of conditionals. If you go with me, I will go with you (Paul, Principien der Sprachgeschichte^ , p. 1 24) . 4. The verse is superfluous ; except the ten thousand slain — a round number for which we need hardly seek an historical source — it tells us nothing which we do not read in the context. By the side of v.^''' it occasions serious difficulty. As an anticipative * But that Jud. i presupposes the great cadaster, Jos. 15-21, and would be unin- telligible without it (Be,), cannot be admitted. For the necessary knowledge of the seats and bounds of the tribes, the author's contemporaries did not need to consult the domesday book. t See Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 246 f. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 41 f. X On Jud. 20I8, see note there. 14 JUDGES general statement of the result of the campaign which is related in detail in v.^-',* it is very clumsy ; nor are the interpretations more satisfactory which refer v."* and ^ to successive moments in the invasion, whether, with Bertheau, we suppose that after a first defeat near Bezek, in which he lost 10,000 men, Adoni-bezek threw himself into the town, where he was again attacked and put to flight ; or, with Cassel, that in the first battle Adoni-bezek was not engaged. In either case, we should expect the narrator to explain in some way the relation between the two defeats of the same people at the same place. Probably the redactor, having abridged his source by omitting the beginning of the story of Adoni-bezek, filled its place with these general phrases borrowed from the context. E. Meyer {ZATIV. i. p. 135) regards v.'^ (except nnsn and perh. the number 10,000) as derived from J, and rejects v.^ as repetition; he finds other grounds for suspicion in w.''^ compared with v.^i, and in the use of D-i.-iSn, vJ^, though he does not deny that the story of Adoni-bezek may have an historical basis. Kue. doubts the whole of v.^-^ on historical grounds; Matthes ascribes v.^-'' to the last hand (canonical editor). See against Mey. and Kue., Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 3 f. Kitt. {GdH. i. i. p. 241) thinks that in V.4 the words, And Y. gave the Canaanites into their power, may be genuine, which is certainly not impossible. Judah alone is named (cf. v.^-^-^° — prob. all secondary). — Their hand . . . they smo/e^ the men of Judah; the common distributive plural with a collective noun. On the Canaanites and Perizzites, and on Bezek, see on v.^ — Ten thousand 7nen'\ '^ (they slew of Moab ten thousand men) 4^ f 20^^ 2 K. 14^ &c. ; a common round number. — 5. They came upon Adoni-bezek at Bezek'] if v. 4 (Judah went up) is from the hand of an editor, the plural probably referred originally to the allies, Judah and Simeon, v.^. There is good reason to suspect that the beginning of the story of Adoni-bezek, which would have told us who he was, and perhaps something of the circumstances under which the alHes encountered him, has been omitted by the editor. — Bezek] the name occurs in the O.T. only in i S. ii^ where Saul musters at Bezek the force he has raised for the relief of Jabesh Cxilead. The Bezek of i S. 11 is, without doubt, the modern Khirbet Ibziq, 14 * Abarb.. Schm.. Kc. Ba. I. 4-5 15 Engl, miles SSW. of Beisan, and a somewhat less distance from the mouth of Wady Yabis, of which it lies directly west. Many scholars identify the place in our text with this Bezek.* The situation, however, does not meet the requirements of the narra- tive at all. At the beginning of the story, Judah and Simeon set out from the neighbourhood of Gilgal to invade the region in which they were afterward settled ; its end (v. 7) brings us to Jerusalem, and we should naturally infer that the battle took place at no great distance from that city.f Ibzlq lies wholly outside of this sphere of action, and in an opposite direction. Others have therefore supposed that there was another, hitherto unidentified, Bezek in Judah, | and if the text be sound, this seems necessary. § Budde thinks that the name Bezek was introduced by an editor, who derived it merely from the name of the king Adoni-bezek ; but after the words " they came upon A.," an indication of the scene of the encounter is certainly expected, |1 and this gap would not be filled by the words "king of Jerusalem," which Budde con- ceives originally to have stood in this place. A more serious diffi- culty is the name Adoni-bezek. This is generally explained, Lord of Bezek ; but such a formation is altogether anomalous. No com- pound names of persons in Hebrew are made in this way from the name of a town, nor — if we should evade this objection by taking the words appellatively ^ — is adon used like melek of the sover- eign of a city or country. In names compounded with adon, the second part is uniformly the name of a god,** Adoni-zedek (Adoni- Sedeq), Adoniram (Adoni-Ram), Adonijah (Adoni-Yahu).tt If * Euseb., Ki., Ew., Hitz., Di., Stud., Be., Ke., MV., SS., al. t This is confirmed by Jos. lo, according to which the Israelites, coming up from Gilgal, encounter the enemy at Gibeon. X Cler., Rosenm., v. Raum., Ba., Grove, al. § Sandys (1610) notes a Bezek 2 m. from Bethzur (Reland, p. 663), which does not seem to have been heard of by more recent travellers. Conder would identify Bezek with Bezkah, 6 m. SE. of Lydda {SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 36). Schotanus suggested Bozkath (npx:3), Jos. 1530. Cass, takes the noun appellatively, the ' stony desert ' W. of the Dead Sea, without support in Heb. or intrinsic probability. II The words Iv rfj Be^e/c are lacking, however, in ffi^e. 59. 108. e^ perhaps by accident. If So S. ** The same is true of compounds of melek. tt Similarly in Phoen. : p'^iNSjix, SyjJix, a'Dtr'JiN. The one apparent exception in the O.T., Adonikam, Ezr. 2I3, is differently formed, and, moreover, probably corrupt; Neh. loi^ gives him the name Adonijah. See Renan, Hist, d' Israel, i. p. 241 ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 64. 1 6 JUDGES the name Adoni-bezek is sound, Bezek must be an otherwise unknown god, whose name, we might then suppose, the town also bore. The question is further compUcated by Jos. lo, where, in an account which, notwithstanding its radical divergences, is par- allel to Jud. i^'", and based on the same or a closely similar source, the head of the Canaanite confederacy which first makes front against the Israelite invaders is Adoni-zedek, king of Jeru- salem. The latter is a normal formation which has a striking par- allel in Melchi-zedek (Malki-Sedeq),* king of Jerusalem (Gen. 14). It seems probable, therefore, that in the place of the problematical Adoni-bezek, king (v.^) of some nameless city,t the original of Jud. I (J) had Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem. J Bezek (pr^)] Euseb. ( OS'^. lyj^.^ notes two neighbouring villages of the name, 17 R. m. from Neapolis, on the road to Scythopolis (Beth-shean). This is the Khirbet Ibziq of the Engl. Survey {Gj'eat Map, sh. 12; Memoirs, ii. p. 231, 237), 14 E. m. from Nabulus, with which Eshtori Parchi (a.d. 1322; ed. Venet. fol. 66^^) had already identified it. — Adoni-bezek'] Jerome ((95^. 313 cf. 2317) interprets domi?iiis fulminis, or dominus meus fulgurans. The former might seem to be a possible Hebrew name; cf. Barak (ch. 4. 5); Boave/)7es (Mar. 3^"); Scipiades, belli fulmina, &c. But |nN is not used like ^"3 of the possessor of a quality or attribute, and pT3 fubyien rests solely on the probably corrupt text of Ez. i^*. The identity of Adoni-bezek, Jud. i, and xA.doni-zedek, Jos. 10, which was discussed by older Catholic commentators (see e.g. a Lapide), is accepted by many recent critics. § Against the hypothesis adopted above in the text, Bu. and We. contend that the original form of the name was Adoni- bezek, as in Jud.; Adoni-zedek in Jos. being an intentional differentiation in some way connected with Melchi-zedek, Gen. 14. In support of this view the fact is adduced that in Jos. the MSS. of CEr, with singular unanimity, exhibit AdcovtjSe^eK (cf. also OS^. 26513; 1323 2317); unintentional confor- mation of fflr in Jos. to Jud. is less probable, it is argued, than differentiation in 1^ for harmonistic reasons, which also led to the omission in Jud. of the title, king of Jerusalem. But since Adoni-zedek is regularly formed and supported by analogy, while Adoni-bezek is quite anomalous, it seems more * p-y-i, 2vSv(c (Philo Bybl.), is the name of a Canaanite deity; cf, •]':'apnx (name of a king) on coins (Bloch, Phoen. Glossar, p. 55). Cf. Sxpii", "\Dnpn:s, in S. Arabia (Praetorius, in 7.DMG. xxvi. p. 426). t It is to be particularly observed that he is not called king of Bezek. On the other hand, the end of his history, v.7, shows that he was in some way connected with Jerusalem. + The last words would naturally stand, not here (Bu.), but at the first intro- duction of his name, now omitted. \ The opposite opinion is defended by Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 277 f. I. 5-6 17 probable that if there was any intentional change it was in the latter, not in the former.* The motive for such a change need not have been purely harmonistic ; this may be one of the not infrequent perversions of proper names by a contemptuous and silly wit, such as perhaps turned Din njr;n 2^ into n"\D 'n Jos. 243'^.t A third variation of this name is exhibited by Fl. Jos., anit. v. 2, 2 § 121 (on Jud. i), Steph. Byz., Procop. Gaz. (on Jud. 1), Oi8-i34 in Jos. 10^, viz., ASwj/i^e/Se/c (Ze/Sc/c, ZejS^KTj). Whether this is a corruption in Greek, or represents an (intermediate?) variation in Heb., can hardly be determined. The CcDiaanites and the Perizzites\ the Perizzites coupled with the Canaanites, v."* Gen. 13' 34'^'^ (J), and frequently in the cata- logue of the peoples of Palestine, the " seven nations " of Dt. 7^ % We know nothing more about them. " The land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim (giants)," Jos. i7^^§ is probably a gloss or a corruption, and it is extremely precarious to infer from this collo- cation, taken with the absence of the name in Gen. 10, that the Perizzites belonged to a still older population which the Canaan- ites had supplanted and reduced to villeinage. || It may rather be questioned whether they were in reality a ' people ' (tribe, clan) at all, or only a class of the Canaanite population, the inhabitants of peasant villages, as the name suggests. nnsn] •«i'io Dt. 3^ i S. d^^ are the inhabitants of umvalled villages, mriD Ez. 38^1 ; cf. MH., Meg. 19". It is possible that these Canaanite peasants were later imagined to have been a distinct people, and that the pronunciation "•no is an artificial discrimination from the appellative use. fflr apparently knew nothing of this distinction; for it has ^epe-^oXoi in Dt. and Sam. also, where the later Greek translators render areix'-o^Toi. 6. They cut off his thumbs and great toes'] the mutilation doubly disabled him for fighting, and probably also disquaHfied him for reigning. Clericus quotes from Aelian, var. htst.j ii. 9, the story that the Athenians voted to cut off the right thumb of every Aegine- tan they captured, Tva hopv jxev jSaard^av fJirj SvviovTaL, Kwirrjv Sk iXav- * That in Jos. the corruption has infected &, but not |§, is of no great signifi- cance ; cf, the variations of © in Jud. 2^ Jos. 2480 cited below. t Such wit would be capable of giving a contemptuous twist to pr3. X On these lists, see below, on 3^. § Wanting in <5. II Dillm., BL. iv. p. 462, cf. ND^. p. 546 ; Kautzsch, HWB.^ ii. p. 1193. c 1 8 JUDGES vciv SvvoiVTaL* Hannibal, according to Valer. Max., ix. 2, ext. 2, mutilated prisoners of war, prima pedum parte succisa. After the surrender of Uxellodunum, Caesar cut off the hands of all who had borne arms {M/. gall., viii. 44). — 7. Seventy kings, 6^r.] This sounds more like a savage boast than the note of contrition, though he recognizes a retribution in his fate. The obvious exaggeration is no reason for questioning the genuineness of the verse,t nor for the conjecture that the number has been raised from seven, \ nor for supplying in thought, '' at different times." § The table was a small, low stand, around which those who partook of the meal sat on the ground, or which was placed before them as they sat upon chairs or couches. 1| We are not, therefore, to imagine the kings actually under the table, but as gathering up from the ground, like dogs (Matt. 15-'', Odyss. xvii. 309), the frag- ments which fell as their master ate ; and we may perhaps best represent this if we think of him as sitting, like Saul (1 S. 20 ^^), upon a divan by the wall with the table before him.^ — They bi'ought him to Jerusalem, and he died there'] the common, and indubitably the most natural interpretation of these words, viz. that the Israelites, as they now marched to attack Jerusalem (v. 8), carried their captive with them, is beset by great difficulty. The author of this story of the conquest tells us plainly that the invaders were unable to dislodge the Jebusites from Jerusalem (Jos. 15*^ Jud. i-^) ; — v.'^, which says the opposite, is for that reason by another and a later hand. To relieve this difficulty, several recent scholars ** give the verb in v.''^ an indefinite subject, men brought him, he was brought, sc. by his own people, to * The story is repeated or referred to by Xen., hlst.gr., ii. i, 31 ; Plut., vit. Lys., 9; Cic, de off., iii. 11; Valer. Max., ix. 2, ext. 8. Whether it is true, or only a Peloponnesian slander (K. O. Miiller), it shows that such atrocities were not inconceivable even in Greek warfare. Examples among the Persians, Quint. Curt., iii. 20, V. 17 ; Diod, Sic, xvii. 69 ; Arabs, Ew., G VI. ii. p. 494 n. t Kue. + Kitt. \ Ba. II Seemingly the oldest custom among the Egyptians and the Homeric Greeks also ; cf. Erman, Aegypten u. aeg. Leben, p. 262 f. ; Buchholz, Homerische Realien, ii. 2, p. 161 ff. ; Baumeister, Denkmaler, p. 1817 f. ; Lane, Modern Egyptians^, p. 142 fF, ; Thomson, Land and Book'^, iii. p. 75 f. ; Benzinger, Hebr. Archdologie, p. 113, 123. Reclining at meals was a new foreign fashion in Israel in the 8th century ; see Am. 3I2 64. ^ See the cut in Thomson, I.e., p. 76. *♦ Cass., Reuss, Bu., Kitt. I. 6-7 19 Jerusalem ; * a notice which becomes at once more intelligible and more significant if, as has been supposed, he was king of Jerusalem, and that city was not attempted by Judah at this time. 6. isxp">] Pi. cut off, praecidere : 2 S. 4^2 (hands and feet) ; cf. Qal Dt. 2512. — \hy\\ m"" nun^J pi. only here and v."; sg. jnj Ex. 29''^' &c. The plural in fH is formed as from a sg. pna which f^sam. j^as throughout in place of p^J"'^- jna. Arab, has by the side of (•V-^l the vulgar forms r»L^ and (vi^U. The noun is prob. fern., like other names of members of the body (Ges.'-^*^ § 122. 3 c; Stade, §310 <:); Gesen. made it masc. through miscon- struction of v."; in Arab, it has both genders, the fem. prevailing. — The annexion of two genitives to one noun occurs in Heb. only when the genitives naturally go together, or form a standing phrase, as in 71x1 D">Da' mpn, Jer. 33^^; ti'jni iSn n^T ^nx, Dt. ii^ Jer. 11^ &c.; see also Nu. 20^ Is. 22^; a striking example is Jud. 'f-^ axn yy) v^-\. In Arabic the constr. is more freely used. (gABN ha.s here koX to, &Kpa tQu ttoSQv avrou, and it is possible that their Heb. conformed to the common construction, Ex. 29^'^ : (^^^'^^ S Z support p?. — 7. a-'XXipD dhiSjii onn"' nijn3 □••dSd D''J?3'.:'] the ptcp, is to be taken with d-'dSc (circumstantial) ; mjn^ is adv. accus. of determination (Stud., Be., Ges.^s § 121. 2, n. I; see Wright, Arab. Gram., ii. § 44 e; Howell, Arab. Gram., I. § 83 ff.); cf 2 S. 15^2 Neh. 4I2. For a different construction of these cases see Ew., § 288 b (De Sacy, Gram. Arabe, ii. § 320 f.; Fleischer, Kl. Schriften, i. p. 644). — D^top'^i: vn] Dr.3 § 135, 5; Ges.^j § 116. 5 n., 2. — in'?'?'] in older texts only of the king's table (i S. 2o''^9 ^nd freq.). To be connected not with Heb. rbxj f =^*Xwj 'send' (not 'spread out,' MV.), but with Aram. Syr. nStt' ( = ;^*Xm;) ' strip off' (skin of an animal, clothing, &c.) ; xnSc' rhv (MH. nSr) ;^— Lw 'skin, hide.' Like the Arab. HwLw (from ySUn 'sweep off, strip off'), it was originally a round mat of leather with a drawing-string in the edge, such as is still in use among the Bedawin, which, spread out on the ground, served for a table, drawn up, as a receptacle for food; and was subse- quently applied to the wooden or metal tray set upon a stand, which in town life superseded this primitive arrangement. See Lane, Arab.- Engl. Lex., p. 1371 B; Niebuhr, Arabien, 1772, p. 52; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, 1888, i. p. 148. Whether the name \rbv was given it in Heb. because it was originally of leather (Levy, NHWb. iv. p. 560), or because it was removed, stripped off, after using, can hardly be decided. The form of the noun is anomalous; Lagarde {Bildung d. Nomina, p. 204 f ) rightly regards it as of foreign type, and (with p->i7 \yyp, P"^"!) borrowed from an Aramaic dialect. Barth (^Nomi- nalbildung, p. xxix n) explains the a (instead of the normal 0) as the result * Ges.25 ^ 144, 3 b.\ Green, \ 245, 2. 20 JUDGES of dissimilation, to avoid the sequence of rounded vowels u (o) o. This is not satisfactory, because: i, such dissimilation would more probably have affected the first vowel (giving siUwn) , as in the examples Earth himself has collected in the text; 2, the object of the dissimilation is not attained by substituting 7(a = o) for) (o). 07-'] requite; of divine retribution for evil deeds, Dt. 7!'^ Jer. 251-* &c. — a\-i^vs] in the intercourse between men of different tribes, worshippers of different gods, the common name is naturally used; it is no reason for doubting the genuineness of the verse (Mey.), 8. Of the capture and destruction of Jerusalem as here nar- rated, there is no trace in the history. Even the Book of Joshua, which relates at large the overthrow of its king Adoni-zedek and the destruction of all the other cities of his confederacy, is signifi- cantly silent about Jerusalem (Jos. 10; cf. 12). In Jud. 19^^^- it is a city of the Jebusites, "where there are no Israehtes," and where, therefore, a belated wayfarer hesitates to seek hospitality. The taking of Jerusalem, with its stronghold Zion, is, in fact, one of the great achievements of David (2 S. ^''^)* the memory of which is perpetuated in the name City of David. But we are not left to inferences ; the author of the history from which Jud. i is derived tells us explicitly that the invaders did not — could not — gain possession of Jerusalem. We are fortunate enough to have this statement in two places which it is instructive to place side by side. Jos. it^'^ The Jebusites inhabiting Jeru- Jud. i"^ The Jebusites inhabiting Jeru- salem, the yudahites could not dis- salem, the Benjamites did not dis- possess ; and the Jebusites dwelt possess; and the Jebusites dwelt with the yudahites in Jerusalem, to with the Benjaviites in Jerusalem, this day. to this day. These passages are identical even to the inverted order of the sentence; the only differences are indicated by the italic type. In this variation it can hardly be doubted that Jos. has preserved the original; the editor of Jud. has, as in other places in the chapter, Ranged could not to did not in conformity to his theory of the responsibility for this failure, and substituted Benjamin for Jiidah in harmony with the partition which allotted Jerusalem to the former tribe (Jos. 15^ i8^^-28). For the converse changes (Stud., Be.), no reason can be assigned. The verse probably stood in the original immediately after v.", or perhaps vJ- 1^- 21. * I S. 1754, implying that Jerusalem was already a great holy place of Yahweh, is a gross anachronism. I. 8-9 21 That this statement, in its original form as it stands in Jos., proceeds from J there is no reason to doubt ; it exactly corre- sponds in substance and form to Jud. i-''**^-. It follows that v.^, which flatly contradicts v.-\ cannot be genuine ; it was probably inserted by an editor, who perhaps interpreted v/, as most com- mentators have done, to mean that Judah carried Adoni-bezek to Jerusalem, and supplied an express statement of what seemed to him to be necessarily inferred from vJ^. Whether this be its origin or not, the verse has no historical value.* To harmonize v.^ with v.^^ (Jos. 15^^) and with the known facts, two principal hypotheses have been proposed: i. They took and destroyed the lower city, but were unable to conquer the citadel (Fl. Jos., an^L v. 2, 2 § 124, cf. Procop. on v.'^i). Later the lower city was rebuilt, and inhabited by Judahites and Benjamites as well as Jebusites; but the latter, holding the castle, were the real masters of the city till the time of David (Cler,, Schm., a Lapid., Abarb.). 2. Judah took the city and burned it as related in v.^, but, as they did not occupy it, the Jebusites soon rebuilt and fortified it so strongly that neither Benjamin, in whose territory it lay, nor Judah, whose border it threatened, was able to reconquer it. After a time, during which it was wholly Jebusite (Jud. I9^^^-)j Judahites and Benjamites settled as metics beside the citizens of the place, and this relation continued till David's time, when, the power passing into Israelite hands, it was reversed (cf. Aug., quaest. 7, Thdt., Ew., Ke., Be., Reuss, Ba.). By the first of these hypotheses v.^ and v.^i are made to refer to different things, — the lower city, the citadel; by the second, to different periods, — at the beginning of the invasion, in later times; neither is consistent with the text ; if such had been the author's meaning he would have made it plain. — 'y\ innSii] the verbs cannot be taken as pluperf., they had fought against J. and taken it, ^c. (Ki., Drus., al.), an interpretation which the syntax of Heb. tenses does not allow. — On Jerusalem and the Jebusites, see on 1910. — 2-in ifjS] see below, on v.^s. — tyx3 rhv n^j,n nxi] 20*8 2 K. 8^2 Ps. 74^^; cf in;;3 C'X ^nnVty'i Hos. S^* Am. i^- 7. 10 &c. The older comm. explained the first of these constructions as an hypallage for the second (see esp. Drus.) ; but such an artificial figure is not natural in prose. * Cast into the fire ' will hardly do, for in all cases in O.T. the obj. is a city or building; 'set on fire' is scarcely a parallel idiom; perhaps the origin of the phrase may be 'send off, get rid of, by fire.' 9-15. Judah wages the war in all parts of its territory; the taking of Hebron and Debir; the dowry of Caleb's daughter Achsah. — 9. The verse gives us nothing more than * Hitz., G VI. i. p. I02 ; Stade, G VI. i. p. i6i n. 22 JUDGES the familiar names of the three regions into which the territory of Judah was divided by nature, and on account of this general character is suspected.* — The Highlands and the South and the Lowlands^ for the whole land of Judah, resembles Jos. lo''*' (D) 9^ (Rd) Dt. I' cf Jer. 17-'' &c. Instead of Lowland {shephetah), the author of our history uses Plain i^emeq, v.^^- ^^) . Budde conjec- tures with considerable probability that the verse was inserted here by the editor in place of v.^^- -^, when the latter verses were removed to their present position. Of the three regions named, the Highlands (RV. hill country) are the mountainous backbone of Southern Palestine, attaining its greatest elevation near Hebron ; the South is the steppe region which forms the transition to the true desert ; the Lowland is the coast plain including the Judaean foot-hills. As the Dead Sea is far below the level of the Mediterranean, while the height of land is much nearer the former than the latter, the mountains of Judah fall off toward the east almost precipitously in three terraces; this is the Wilderness ("»3nr;) of Judah, a waterless, treeless waste, which only in spring shows a thin film of vegetation. — 3Jj] from a root not living in Heb., but in Aram, and Syr. meaning ' dry, dry up '; the name, therefore, is probably pre-Israelite. As the Negeb was the southernmost of the natural divisions of Palestine, the name acquired the sense 'south,' just as D"! sea came to mean ' west.' — n'?iD'.yn] sc. fiNn, the low-lying land. There was a shephelah of Israel (Jos. 11^*^), but the name is generally used without further definition for the southern part of the maritime plain, from Joppa to Gaza. It appears to be of Israelite origin. 10. In J the conquest of Hebron is ascribed to Caleb (Jos. 15^^^). In the passage before us Judah gains the victory (v.^°) and afterwards cedes the city to Caleb (v.^°). Closer examination of the text shows, however, that this is the work of the editor, and that the older history from which he extracts his material agreed with Jos. 15^^^-, and was, in fact, identical with the source of the latter passage. As the story now runs in Jud. i, Judah first de- feats the three giants (v.^"), and then Caleb drives them out (v.^*') ; the subject of v." can in its present connexion only be Judah, but * We., Comp., p. 214; Mey,, ZATW. i. p. 136 n. ; Bu., Richt ?/. Sam., p. 6; cf. Di., NDJ. p. 480: "One of those general observations which Rd is fond of intro- ducing, often, perhaps, as a substitute for matter which he omitted." I. 9-IO 23 the context imperatively requires that it should be Caleb. The text of the older narrative may be reconstructed by the aid of the parallel in Jos. : Jos. 1513 And to Caleb the son of Jud. i^o And they gave to Caleb He- Jephunneh he gave a portion in bron, as Moses had bidden, and he the midst of the Judahites, accord- expelled from it the three sons of ing to the commandment of Yah- Anak. weh to Joshua,* Kiriath (i.e. the v.^o [And Judah went against the Ca- city of) Arba the father of (the) naanites who lived in Hebron — the Anak (giants), that is Hebron. ancient name of Hebron was Kir- 1* And Caleb expelled from it the iath Arba — ; and they smote] She- three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahi- shai, Ahiman, and Talmai. ^^ And man, and Talmai, the children of he went thence against the inhab- Anak. i^ And he went up thence itants of Debir, &c. ^^ ^^d Caleb against the inhabitants of Debir, said, &c. &c. 16 And Caleb said, &c. The editor ascribes Caleb's conquest to Judah,t and makes it a victory over the Canaanites, where the older narrative spoke only of Anakim. To accom- plish this, he removed v."-^*^ from the beginning of this story to the end of the account of the conquests of Judah and inserted the words enclosed in brackets (Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 4 ff.). Hebron, 22 Rom. miles S. of Jerusalem, j in the highest part of the mountains of Judah, lies in a valley running from NW. to SE. The modern city is built partly in the bottom, partly on the slope of the eastern hill. § With the region south of it Hebron be- longed to Caleb ; on this clan see note below on v.^^. — The name of Hebron in earlier times was Kirjath-arba'\ Jos. 14^^, cf. "Kir- jath-arba, that is Hebron " Gen. 23^ 35^'' Jos. 15^* 20^, see also 15^'^ 2i^\ The original meaning of the name is probably Teira- polis ; the peculiar construction of the numeral, which later scribes did not recognize, is evidence of its alien origin, if not of its remote antiquity. Hebron has not been discovered in the lists * See Jos. 14G-15, t The next step in this progress was to attribute the conquest of Hebron and the extermination of the giants to Joshua and all Israel, Jos. lo^ef- n-'if.. X 0S\ 209C9. § If it occupies exactly the ancient site, it was one of the very few cities in Pal- estine which did not stand on a hill. On Hebron see Rob., BRP-. i. p. 213 f., ii. p. 72 ff. ; Rosen, ZDMG. xii. p. 477 ff. ; Sepp, Jerusalem, i. p. 486-502 ; Guerin, Judee, iii. p. 214-256; Lortet, Syrie, p. 317-333 ; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p, 305-309, 333-346; Bad3., p. 139 ff. ; Wilson in DB"^., s.v. 24 JUDGES of places in Palestine conquered by Egyptian kings of the i8th and 19th dynasties,* nor in the Amarna letters, although the au- thority of the governor of Jerusalem extended to places further south. In Nu. 13" we are told that Hebron was built "seven years before. Zoan in Egypt," by which we should probably under- stand the restoration of the latter city at the beginning of the 19th dynasty. — They smote Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai~\ Jos. 15^* Nu. 13"; the three giants ("sons of Anak ") whom Caleb drove out (v.^). The editor has widely separated words which in J stood in immediate connexion ; " he {i.e. Caleb) drove out the three giants, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai " ; cf. Jos. 15^^ The names are of distinctively Aramaic type ; Talmai is the name of an Aramaean king of Geshur, whose daughter was wife of David and mother of Absalom (2 S. 3^ i3^")> ^^^ inscriptions recently found at El-Ola near Teima mention two kings of Lihhyan named Talmi;t Ahiman i Chr. 9^', Sheshai (Shashai) Ezr. lo^^ 10. 'Jl p"i3n Dt:>i] parenthetic nominal sentence; perhaps an archaeological gloss of the editor. — D^joS] formerly, previously ; v.^i- ^ 3"^ &c. — ynnx nnp] the numeral y^wr is recognized by Jerome {de situ, etc., OS^. 8410) : Arbe, id est quattuor, eo quod ibi tres patriarchae, Abraham, Isaac et Jacob, sepulti sunt, et Adam magnus, ut in Jesu libro scriptum est (Jos. 14^^). J The same Midrash, Ber. rab. § 58 (on Gen. 23'-). Kirjath-arba is interpreted Tetra- polis by Luc. Osiander (1578), E\v., Furrer, Cass., Di., De., al.; with the anomalous (not Hebrew) construction of the numeral cf. ^iv 1X3 Seven Wells. Such a name might be given to a town in which four kindred or confederate clans were settled in as many separate quarters; § compare the Phoenician Tripolis — the native name has not been recovered — founded by Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus. \ Later readers, however, took Arba as the name * The identification of " Khibur " in inscriptions of Ramses IIL with Hebron (Sayce, RP. n. s. vi. p. 32, 39; Higher Criticis^n, p. 333, cf. 336 f.) is devoid of all plausibility. Whether the name Hebron has anything to do with i\\Q Habiri so . often mentioned in the Amarna letters (Sayce, al.) is not yet clear. t D. H. Miiller, Epigraphische Denkindler aus Arabieti, p. 5 ; cited by Sayce, Higher Criticism, p. 189. J See also ep. 108, 11 {0pp. ed. Vail., i. 694), where he adds: Hcet plerique Caleb quartum putent, cujus ex latere memoria monstratur. ^ It is conceivable that Hebron (? ' confederation') is of similar origin. — It is worthy of note, though probably only an accidental coincidence, that the modern city is divided into four quarters (Rosen, ZDMG. xii. 1858, p. 487) ; though its recent growth makes the division less clearly marked than it was a few years ago. II Strabo, xvi. 2, 15, p. 754 ; Diod. Sic, xvi. 41 ; Scylax, p. 42. I. lo-ii 25 of a man, the ancestor of the giants of Hebron. So "^ in Jos. 1512 21II n>-ip py;n ■>2i< >'3nx, 14!^ 0'py;2 '?njn aiNn ;;2nN nnp, " the city of Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim." In all these places <3 has preserved the original reading, ttoXls A. fjLrjr p jiroXii EuaK (tQv EvaK, tlov EvaKifx), i.e. CN jj^tn nn|5 pjy.-t.* A later editor or scribe, who did not catch the sense, and took join for a tnasc. pr. n., altered dn to ">3Nj SinJin dinh is another miscorrection. A kindred misapprehension of pjyn "-jd (giants; see on v.2*) made py; also, in spite of the article, a man's name, and so provided the giants of Hebron with a genealogy reaching back two generations: Arba — Anak — Sheshai, Ahi- man, Talmai (Ges., Stud., al.) — TDinx] so, as the noun type demands, Bomb^, Mich. ; the receptus |p^nx is due to popular etymology, ]D •'PN, frater mens quis? (Philo, Jerome, al.); cf. Nu. 13-^ and Norzi in loc, 11-15. Jos. 15^^-^^. — 11. He lucnt thence\ in the present con- text the subject must be Judah, but v.^- and Jos. 15^^ show that it was origmally Caleb ; see on vy^.—Debif-] evidently a place of some importance in the Negeb (v.^^), or on the edge of the hill country, to which it is also reckoned (Jos. ii"^ 15''^). It is prob- ably ed-Doheriyeh, or Dahariyehjt four or five hours SW. of He- bron. This village, which stands in a conspicuous position on a flat ridge, is the meeting point of the routes from Gaza, Beer- sheba, and other places south and east, and is counted the end of the desert journey for travellers coming from those quarters, the frontier settlement of Syria. The situation relatively to the places named in Jos. 15-^^-^'^ is also suitable ; note that Debir is named in immediate connexion with Anab (Jos. ii'^ 15^"), which hes very near paharlyeh.j — Kirjafh-sephej''] the name is commonly ex- plained from the Hebrew sepher ' writing, book ' ; so ■^, ^ ttoXi? ypaixfjidTO)v, 31 civitas litterarum, (IE "^n^ nnp i.e. Archive-town. * Suggested by Schleusner, T/ies. s.v. juT^rpoTroAt?. For DX in this sense cf. 2 S. 2oi9 and Phoen. coins, |yjD3 DX xonxS'?, Gesen., Mo/t. Phoen., p. 270 f., tab. 35 ; Schroeder, Phoniz. Sprache, p. 275 and pi. 18, 5 ; Djns DX nsS, Gesen., Mon. Phoen., p. 262 f., tab. 34 ; Schroeder, op. cit., p. 275, pi. 18, 2. t In the former way (io^-^iiJI) it is written and explained by EU Smith ; the second (x*^ gal \n\\ Guerin, SWP. Name Lists) is more probably right. t See Rob., BR'^. i. p. 209, 211 ; Wilson, Lands of the Bible (1847), i. p. 349 ff-J Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 394 f. ; Trumbull, Kadesh Barnea, p. 102 ff. ; S WP. Memoirs, iii. p. 402. The identification was proposed by Knobel (on Jos. 1$^^- ^^ \ 1861). Conder, in apparent ignorance of his predecessor, speaks of it as one of the most valuable identifications due to the survey ( Tent Work, 1879, ii. p. 93)- . 26 JUDGES So tempting a name could not fail to give rise to a multitude of speculations ; the town was so called because it was the depository of the earliest records of post-diluvian history (Masius), or of the public archives of the Canaanites or Anakim (Neubauer), or as the seat of a famous Ubrary (Arias Montanus), "like those of the great cities of Babylonia and Assyria" (Sayce).* Some recent critics, like the writer last named, are inclined to draw large inferences about the civilization of Canaan from this library,! whose existence, it must be remembered, depends solely on a possible Hebrew etymology of a proper name not of Hebrew origin. Da'n iSm] Jos. 151^ Sy^i, ©bno j Ju^. ^al 6,v^^t]'n here; "iSii |^ @a.lm g ^yas occasioned by '^>^ v.i'^. Rosen {ZDMG. xi. 1857, p. 50 ff.) would find the name Debir in Debirwan or Idbirwan, a high and abrupt hill an hour and a quarter W. of Hebron, and the springs of v.^^ in * Ain Nunkur,' two miles or more WS W. of the city; so Ew. (earlier), Roed., v. Raum., Cass. The site is, however, much too near Hebron; Achsah could not complain in going thither that she was being sent off into the Negeb country (v.i^). Van de Velde suggested Khirbet ed-Dilbeh, two hours SW. of Hebron in a valley abounding with springs; but this again does not fit the story; Achsah begs for the springs just because they do not abound about Debir. Ewald ( G VI. ii. p. 403) thought of el-Burg (Rob., BR^, ii. 2i6 f.), a mile or more W. of ed-Dahariyeh. See further on v.^^. The etymology of Debir is altogether obscure. % As appella- tive, 1131 is in Heb. the adytum of the temple (i K. 65-19 8^), commonly explained as the rear, i.e. wcBtern part of the building. Sayce, reverting to Jerome's oraculum, place where the god speaks to his priests, infers that Debir was famous for its oracle as well as its library, — the two being probably closely connected (^Higher Criticism, p. 55). — "isD nnp] (S^N fj (Kapiacro-w- 0ap) 5 a § pronounce "^QD, Scribe-town. There are two names in the O.T. with which this is naturally compared, IDD (fH ace. n^^p % Sephar © 2a>07jpa) in Southern Arabia (Gen. lo^o) and d.'1"}0D Sepharvaim (2 K. 17-^ &c.), com- monly, but falsely, identified with the Babylonian Sippar (Abu Habba). |1 In both of these also Jerome discovers the Heb. sepher, ' book ' {OS^. 1021 4717). An etymological myth of the same kind which modern critics spin out of the * Others have imagined that it was so named because alphabetic writing was there invented (Hitz., Kneucker) ; or because it was famous for the preparation of writing materials — skins or papyrus — (Schm.) ; or as the seat of the oldest uni- versity (a Lyra, Serar., a Lap., al.). f Sayce, Higher Criticism, &c., p. 54 ff. X n3T as the name of a city occurs in Sabaean inscriptions (MV.). \ SO, however, Ij-Op. Comp. the Egyptian name below. II See Fr. Delitzscli in Calwer Bibellexikotfl, p. 827. I. II-I4 27 name Kirjatli-sepher seems early to have attached itself to that of Sippar {liLTTcpapa, Ptol., V. 18, 7), where Bcrossus tells us that the records of the antediluvian world were buried by Xisuthrus, the Babylonian Noah, and pre- served from the waters of the flood (Muller, fr. hist, gr., ii. p. 501, Euseb,, chron., ed. Schoene, i. p. 21, 22). The etymology is adopted by Bochart (Sippara= Nnop), and recently by Menant, who interprets "la ville des livres" {Babylone et la Chaldee, 1875, P- 9^)- See, against this derivation, Fr. Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 210, Sayce, Hibbert Lect.., p. 168 n. — To connect ■^30 in lijD 'p with Aram, and MH. "loD, * border, frontier,' as I formerly sug- gested (^PAOS. Oct. 1890, p. Ixx.), gives a suitable sense, Frontier-town, but the phonetic difficulties now seem to me decisive against this explanation. Another name of Debir-Kirjath-sepher, ace. to Jos. 15*^, was njD nnp; see comm. on Jos. I.e. — Kirjath-sepher is recognized by W. M. Muller {Asien u. Etiropa, p. 174), in Ba}-ti t_u-pa-\rq (determinative " Writing"), i.e. "House of the Scribe " ("i^^b, as in ^'^ %), in Papyrus iVnastasi I. 12. Whoever smites Kirjath-sepher, &^c.^ cf. i S. 17^; from the sequel it appears that the captured city also fell to the victor. — 13. Othniel the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb'] 3^ Jos. 15^^ The last words may grammatically be referred either to Kenaz or to Othniel, and interpreters have always been divided upon the question whether Othniel was Caleb's nephew * or his brother.f The words who was youfiger than he favour the latter construction. The age of Kenaz is irrelevant ; the notice is per- tinent only as indicating that the disparity in age between uncle and niece was not as great as might be thought, or (in 3^) as explaining how Othniel so long outlived Caleb. % — 14. When she came] We are perhaps to imagine that she had been sent for from a place of safety, such as Hebron, where she had been left during the campaign against Debir. The order of the narrative is not against this ; the fulfilment of Caleb's promise is properly related in v.^^^- ; an important incident connected with the marriage is added in v.^^-. Others, with a less natural interpretation of the verb, explain, as she was going from her father's house, where the marriage had taken place, to her husband's new home, escorted * ©BN t;l6s Keve^ dSeAc^ou XaAe/S ; so Calv., Schm., Cler., Pfeiffer, J H Mich., Ew., Ba., Reuss. j- ©Aal. ii, fiiius Cenez frater Caleb; so Orig., Thdt., Procop., Temurah i6a, Ra., Ki., Abarb,, and most moderns, Ke., Cass., Be., Di., Bu., Kitt., al. X It seems to me not improbable that the words, which are not found in Jos., were first introduced in 3^, and thence at second hand into ii3. 28 JUDGES on the way by her father. — She instigated him to ask of her father a piece of land'] as Achsah herself makes the request, we should rather expect, he instigated her to ask, ^c.* If we adhere to the canon, proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua, the best explanation is doubtless, she persuaded him that they should ask ; t it was her suggestion, and the execution of the plan naturally devolved upon her, but it was with his full knowledge and consent. We hardly see, however, why the author should take the pains to tell us that. — She slipped off her ass] i S. 25-^ Gen. 2^ 2 K. 5-^ ; a mark of rever- ence, here and in i S. 25-^ the posture of a respectful suppliant. % — What is it?] What wouldest thou? (RV.) is aomewhat too definite. — 15. Give me a present] lit. a (real, tangible) blessing; Gen. T^f^ I S. 25^ 30-<5 2 K. 5^^ ^o..— Thou hast put me in the Negeb j-egioti.] § Others, thou hast given me the Negeb region, \ which is grammatically hard to justify, and yields an inferior sense. The district of Debir to which Achsah was going had not been given to her, but belonged to Othniel by conquest. On the Negeb see on v.^ ; as the root is not in use in Biblical Hebrew, it is inadmissi- ble to render it here appellatively, a dry land ; ^ nor is it necessary to emphasize the contrast in this way, the scarcity of water in the Negeb was well enough known. — Give me Gullath-maim] the words, usually translated springs or wells of water, are, like the following Gullath-illith and Gullath-tahtith (" the upper springs and the nether springs," RV.), a proper name of alien origin and — so far as the first element is concerned — of uncertain mean- ing. If Debir is rightly identified above (on v.-^"), the waters so named are doubtless those of Seil ed-Dilbeh, about two-fifths of the way from Hebron to ed-Daharlyeh. This is one of the best watered valleys in southern Palestine, counting no less than four- teen springs and having even at the end of the dry season a run- ning stream three or four miles long. The springs are in three groups : the first, six in number, at the head of the valley ; the * ffiH cf. S, Doom., Bu. t Abarb., Schm., Ba. X Illustrations from the modern East, Niebuhr, Arabie?i, p. 44, 50, Relsebeschrei- bung, i. p. 139, 239 f. ; Seetzen, Re.isen, iii, p. 190 (Ba.). \ G&Z, RV., Stud., Ke., Be., Cass., Reuss, al. II IL, AV., Ra., Ki., Schm., Cler., Ba., al. ^ IL terram arcntcm, Ke., Cass., cf. Stud. I. 14-15 29 second, five springs, of which Ain ed-Dilbeh is the largest, a mile or more further down along the road from Hebron, in an open valley ; the third, smaller springs near the lower end of the Seil.* The first two of these groups may very well be the Gullath-illith and Gullath-tahtith of our verse. The possession of these springs must always have been a matter of great importance ; and the story before us — which is not an irrelevant scrap of family his- tory — is told to explain or establish the claim of Achsah, a branch of the Kenizzite clan Othniel of Debir, to waters which by their situation seemed naturally to belong to the older hne, the Caleb- ites of Hebron. 12. -Iw'n] without explicit antecedent; Ges.^s § 138, 2. — m^Si] pf. consec. after ns'' -wa; Dr.^ § 115 (p. 130 f.). — innji] apodosis of a virtual conditional sentence; cf. Gen. 44^ Ex. 2ii3, Qes.^o § 112. 5, a, 5; Friedrich, Die hebr. Conditionals'dtze, p. 66. — 13. ^Sd irn TJp p Snijpj;] examples of apposition to the genitive, i S. 14^ 2 S. 13^; to the governing noun, i S. 9^^- i S. 26^ I K. 16'^ Is. 37^ &c. — 14. nxnD] cannot be, at the moment of departure from her father's house (Drus., Ba., cf. (gBai. Jqs^ ^^ 7.^ eKiropevea-dai, ©^^ Jud. id.), and would hardly be used if the meaning were, as they were on the way to her husband's house {% Jos., cum pergerent simul; Jud., quam pergentem in itinere monuit vir suus, &c.). — inrr'D.ni] s/ie itistigated him : the verb usually in a bad sense, i K. li^^ 2 K. iS^^ 2 S. 24I i S. 26^^. The difficulty occasioned by the gender of the verb and its suffix is evaded by all the versions (exc. ®) in different ways, but a comparison of their variations in Jos. and Jud. is not favourable to the supposition that they read i^r'"'?.'!? ^'•^ instigated her (Doom., Bu.) ; nor is it explained how this easy and natural reading was supplanted in both Jos. and Jud. by the much more difficult inr^Dni of |^. Many com- mentators harmonize. She urged him to ask for the field, but, finding him unwilling, undertook the business herself (Ki., LOsiander, Cler., Be., Ke., Cass.) . — HTi'n] the field; Jos. \^^ better mc* a field ((gBMNai. jud. dyp6v); the article probably dittography of the preceding n (Stud., Doom., Hollenb.). — njxm] ms only here (=Jos. 15I8) and 4^^ (see note there). It is not found in MH., and, indeed, a root r\yi appears only in Eth. (' await, wait for, lie in wait'), after which J. D. Mich, interprets here, When she reached the end of her journey she waited upon her ass, i.e. did not dismount. It is safer to be guided by the context, illustrated by the passages cited above; so W^^, Rabb. and most. <3 e^orjaev or dve^orjaev (Jos.), iydyyv^ev [/cat e/cpa^ei/] (Jud.), 2L siispiravit, probably do not represent a different text, but are attempts at the unknown word guided by the analogy of nis (Is. 421^^ MH.) or njN; the same interpretation in the Haggada, Temurah i6«. — 15. i'? r\^r\'] Jos. 151^ * See -5" WP. Memoirs, iii. p. 301 f. 30 JUDGES substitutes the more common r\}r\ under the influence of the following pM. — ^jnnj 3Jjn y-\i< -"d] the suff. cannot be indirect obj. (for ^S) or second obj.; for if such a construction of this very common verb had been possible in Heb. we should have had other examples of it in the O.T. or MH. In the sense, ^kou hast put me into the Negeb region, we might desiderate the prep., ^'in Sn 3Jjn (cf. 2 S. 11^^), or 'jn I'nx^; but the ace. of place is perhaps sufficient, especially if we may suppose that the original text had :iJjn nx-\N (Gen. 20I),* which would exclude all ambiguity; the loss of n local before the article (haplography) is not infrequent. — D^r) nVj] is a proper name like niijnti'D D>D (niJitt'o) Jos. 11^ 13^; so rightly ^ Jos. 151^ TcoXad/xaL/x, Euseb., OS^. 24534 cf. 12727, Schm. This appears more clearly in riTinn nSj, n'''?;? nSj] fH gtdloth (pi.) ; the discord of number thus needlessly created has led in Jos. to mis- correction of the adjj. (ni^nnn^ ri'i"'?;; Th\) ; the older and correct tradition in (5 Jos. 15^^ rT\v TcoXaO ttjv dvca Kal Tr]v TcoXad rrjv kcltcj, 'A Jud. I^^ ttjv ToXkad K.T.i. Golath (or Gullath) is a fern. sg. with the old ending at which is preserved in many Canaanite names of places, e.g. Zephath v.^'^, Baalath I Ki. 9!^, Sarephath 17^ (Bo. i. p. 413). That the name is of Canaanite (not Israelite) origin is manifest from the adjj. ri^?^, n^nnn, for which we have in Hebrew only njvS;?, njinnn; e.g. n:vh';r\ n^nan Is. 7^. It is idle, therefore, to seek for it a meaning and etymology in Hebrew; nSj, i K. y^^- ^ Zech. 4^- ^ gives no light. The word was unknown to the ancient translators; (3 renders (in Jud.) XirpoxTiu vdaros, associating it with dSnj; 11,^® merely guess from the context, 'watering-place, well-watered spot'; the common interpretation, * springs ' (Ra., Ki., al. mu.) has no other origin.f On Caleb and the kindred clans see Noldeke, Die Amalekiter, 1864, p. 20; Untersuchiingen zur Kritik des A. T., 1869, p. 176-179; Graf, Der Stamm Simeon, 1866, p. 16-18; Kuenen, Godsdienst van Israel, i. p. 139 ff., 177 ff.. Religion of Israel, i. p. 135 ff., 1768".; esp. Wellhausen, De gentibits et fa- miliis yiidaeis, etc., 1870; Compositioji des Hexateuchs, p. 337 f. Caleb and Othniel are branches of the Bene Kenaz, an Edomite tribe (Gen. 3611- 1^-^-), closely related to Jerachmeel. :^ These clans, separating from the main stock of their people, found new homes, Jerachmeel in the eastern Negeb, Caleb in the hill country north of it as far as Hebron. The latter, the more settled branch of the Kenizzites, eventually coalesced with their northern neighbours of Judah, and came to be reckoned one of the chief clans of that tribe (cf. Nu. 136 34I9 i Chr. 29- is^- 42ff). § In David's time, however, Caleb was still distinct from Judah (i S. 30!^), and Jos. i^^ cl. 14*5^- * In the Hexat. ajjn }»nN is characteristic of E; Di., NDJ. p. 618. t M. A. Levy {Phoniz. Stud., i. p. 26) thought that the words D?;n rhh were to be read in a Punic inscription (Num. 8, Ges., Mon. Phoen., tab. 47), but the deci- pherment is probably false. X Compare also the names in the genealogies of Caleb and Jerachmeel, i Chr. 2. 4, with the Edomite genealogies, i Chr. i ; We., De gentibus, p. 38 f. \ The Chronicles hardly know any other Judahites. I. 15-16 51 explains how Caleb came to be settled in the midst of Judah. The Calebites, as has been intimated, probably made their way into their new seats from the south; their old homes lay near the passes from that quarter, and a reminis- cence of the fact seems to be preserved in the story of the spies, in which — in its original form — Caleb alone maintains the possibility of a successful inva- sion from that side, and receives Hebron as the reward of his faith (Nu. 13 Jos. i^^'^-).* From the emphasis of the exception it is to be inferred that Caleb alone, not Judah, entered from this direction. 16. A branch of the Kenites accompany Judah to the vicinity of Arad ; then, going on to the south, join their kinsmen (Ama- lek). — The text has suffered badly, and the restoration is at more than one point doubtful ; the general sense, however, is sufficiently certain. The Hebrew has, an{/ the sons of . . . Kenite,^ Moses'' father-in-law, went tip, &c. The apparent lacuna is filled in (3 by supplying the name, Jethro (Ex. 3^), or, better, Hobab (Nu. 10^^ Jud. 4^^), and inserting the article, the Kenite. E. Meyer would substitute the clan name, as in all other cases in the chap- ter, reading, Kain, % the brother-in-law of Moses, went np, &c. In view of 4" it seems to me preferable to restore, and Hobab the Kenite, Moses' father-i?t-law, went up ; see critical note. — From the Palm City'] 3^^ Jericho, the Palm City, Dt. 34^ 2 Chr. 28^^ The situation of Jericho suits 3^^ and the verse before us. The Palm City is named, not as the old home of the Kenites, § which Hobab had long before left to cast in his lot with Israel, || but as the point from which he set out with Judah on this campaign. The narrative represents the invaders as coming down from the north (Jerusalem, Hebron, Debir, Arad, Zephath) ; and v.^"^ cl. v." sup- pose that Judah and Joseph set out from the same place, proba- bly the Jordan valley near Gilgal (2^; see also on i--). Jericho is, therefore, entirely suitable here, and there is no reason to look for another palm city in the south. — To the wilderness of Judah which is in the Negeb of Arad~\ belonging to, or in the neighbour- hood of, that city. So, rather than /;/ the south of Arad*^ He- brew usage seems to require us to translate; cf. i S. 27^" 30^'*. * We., Co7np., p. 337 f. t RV., "The children of the Kenite," tacitly emends by supplying the article. X Jud. 4II. § Bertheau. II Nu. io32 (J) with its original sequel. ^ English version and most scholars. 32 JUDGES Arad (Nu. 21^ SS'^^Jos. 12^^*) is generally identified with Tell Arad, a round detached hill about 16 Eng. miles S. of Hebron.^ The language of the text appears self-contradictory ; the Wilderness of Judah, the barren steeps in which the mountains break down to the Dead Sea,t and the Negeb are distinct regions (see above on v.'-^),and it hardly seems possible that a part of the Wilderness could be described as lying in the Negeb of Arad. The suspicion is strengthened by the variation of (g, which has at the pass (de- scent) of Arad (cf. Jos. 10^^). It is very doubtful, however, whether this represents the original reading of J^, as Doorninck and Budde assume. — And he went and dwelt ivith the Amalekites'\ leaving Judah, he continued southward into the desert and made his home with the nomadic Amalekites. So one of the principal recensions of (§ ; ^ has with the people, which would also be ■ possible if we might, with a sHght emendation, read his people; i.e., the main body of the Kenites. The sense would be substan- tially the same, for the Kenites were neighbours and kinsmen of the Amalekites (i S. 15*^) ; see below. nti'D jnn irp •'J^i] when the gentile adj. is used of an individual, as is sup- posed by RV. here, the article is indispensable; it can only be dropped where the gent. adj. has become by appropriation a personal name, or where it is personified and takes the place of the eponymic ancestor, as in Gen. 36^2 (■'"^n), &c, I The only grammatical translation of the text as it stands is the sons of Keni (n. pr.) ; so the Midrash, Mechilta, Jithro I, fol. 65* Weiss, &c. (g supplies the missing name; @bn \oQop = nn^ Ex. 3I; ^^'^ % t Iw/3aj3, ^fe Iwa^ = nnn Jud. 4I1 Nu. 10^9. Stud, and Mey. infer that neither name stood in the Heb. copies before these translators; but Jethro may be the substitu- tion of the more frequent name of Moses' father-in-law for the unfamiliar Hobab (cf \oBop for PaYouT^X Ex. 2^8 in many codd.). In view of the sg. verbs in v.^ § it is probable that the original reading was Hobab the Kenite, rather than the sons of Hobab (see Bu., Richt. u. Sa?n., p. 9 n., 86). Mey.'s at- tractive conj. rh'; n^'D |nn |>pi is approved by Kue, {HCO-. i. p. 367) and Bu. * On Tell Arad see Schubert, Reise, ii. p. 457 f. ; Rob., BR'^. ii. p. loi, 201 ; Van de Velde, Narrative, ii. p. 83 f. ; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 402 ; Guerin Judce, iii. p. 182 f.; SWP. Me}?toirs, iii. p. 403, 415. t Especially, it would seem, in the northern part ; En-gedi is the most southern in the list of towns in this region, Jos. 1$^^^-. X The apparent exceptions are all, for one reason or another, suspicious ; see Roorda, Gram. Hebr., \ OfTzfin. \ The plur. in the first verb, iS>\ is natural conformation to the newsubj. "i^p "iji. !• »6 33 (p. 9, but see p. 86); but 4^1 obstinately stands in the way. Even if the words H'^'D ynn 22n '•J2D there are a gloss (Mey., Bu.), or the whole verse a late interpolation (Matthes, Kuc), the knowledge that Moses' father-in-law was a Kenite, of which there is no other intimation in the O.T., must have been derived from i^^. — inh] — //^^ o-ir/'s father, 19*, njnn wife's mother, Dt. 27-^ cl. Lev. 20I*; cf. Ex, 1 81- 2 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. So here ^^, Mechilta, Ra., Ki., al. Many scholars render ir)n when used of Hobab (Jud. 4^^ ji*^; some also Nu. lo"^'-^, where, however, a different construction is possi- ble), brothe7'-in-lazu (Thdt., Luth., Cler., Be., Ba,, Ke., Cass., Reuss, Bu., Kitt., AV., RV., al. mu.). Others more indefinitely, relative (it cognatus), relative by marriage {ajjinis, Schm.). It is not impossible that I^n, like Ar. ^^JCi*., may have been used in the wider sense of a man's wife's near kinsmen, such as her father, or brother (Abulw., Ibn Ezra) ; but there is no certain instance in the O.T. of any other meaning than father-in-law, with which also the participial form better accords (cf. Stade, ZATW. vi. p. 143 n.). The pas- sages in the Pent, which refer to Moses' marriage are conflicting and baffle analysis; cf. Ex. 2I6-22; 3I.4I8 igiff.; Nu. lo'^^ Jud. 4II (ii^). According to E his wife was a daughter of Jethro, a Midianite ; J seems to have represented him as marrying the daughter of Hobab ben Reuel,* a Kenite, but the redac- tion has introduced great confusion. — onDnn -113?] on the palms of Jericho see Theophrast., hist, plant., ii. 6, 8; Strabo, xvi. p. 763; Fl, Jos., h.j. iv. 8, 3; i. 6, 6; Plin., n. h., v. 70; xiii. 44, &c.; Arab authors (Muqaddasi, Yaqut) in Le Strange, Palestine tinder the Moslems, p. 396 f. They have now en- tirely disappeared. Of Jericho the name Palm City is here understood by Sifre on Num. io29-32^ § 78, 81 (fol. 20* 21^ ed. Friedm.), Ra., Thdt., Procop., and most commentators. Cler, suggested the (poiviKibv described by Diod. Sic, iii. 42, Strabo, xvi, p. 776, on the Arabian shore of the Red Sea (cf, Ptol., vi. 7, 3); see Bochart, Phaleg, ii. c. 22 (i. p, 118 ed. Villemandy). Others have thought of Tamar, Ez. 471^ 48^8 (^ Jericho) perhaps also I K. 9I8, at the SE, hmit of the Holy Land; probably Qafxapco, Ptol., v. 16 8, Qafxapa, Euseb., OS.- 21034, on the road from Jerusalem to Aila, which Rob. (BP.'^ ii. p., 202) would locate at Kurnub. — "i-\;;] seems to be named in the Egypt, king Shishak's (Shoshenq) lists of conquests in Palestine; see W. M. Muller, Asien und Europa, u, s. w,, p, 168. The Onomastica put it down at 20 R. m. from Hebron, 4 m. from Malatha, which corresponds suffi- ciently closely with the situation of Tell Arad, From Nu. 21 1, where the Israelites on their first advance from the south suffer a repulse at the hands of the king of Arad, we should rather look for Arad in the southern Negeb, near the border of the desert; but it is unsafe to lay great stress upon this.f Mey. {ZATW. i. p. 132, 137 n.) regards -rr) in Jud. i^'' as a misplaced mar- ginal correction of r\Q'i, v.i", and accordingly restores nny in \P (in conformity with Nu. 21I-3) and cancels it in v.^^; see contra, Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p, 10 f, * Reuel is an Edomite clan ; Gen, 364- 10. f See below, on v.i?. D 34 JUDGES — in;; 3JJ3 itrx min> n^nn] o» Z/^.? south of A. would be not niy 3JJ3, but 3jjn Ti;"S; cf. py pS DTp:: Gen. 32*, ^p jiDi-D Jos. 8", >;;S D^a Jos. 8^, &c. The va- rious recensions of ® all have kirl Kara^daeoos ApaS = Tiy T\ir:a ; in other respects they differ considerably. Doom, and Bu., following (g^L g j ^/y ^^^ epTj/xov 'lovSa T^j' odcrav ev T(f p6t({3 eirl /cara^do-ews Apad, and rejecting ev t^J y6ry as false doublet (in Heb. 3JJ3, niiD3) to iirl /carajScitrea;?, restore n^iD nnV nniD3 t^n min>. But 'Ioj55a does not belong to the original text of @; it is lacking in (3^^, asterisked in g, and stands in (3^ in a different place; presumably it was not in the Hebrew from which they translated. I propose a different solution; viz., that n-naj (^tti /cara/Sdo-ews) is an old error for -imD:3, as in Jos. 8^*; 2i:2 y^a is a gloss to ti;j from Nu. 21I introduced into the text in the wrong place; n-nni a natural complement to nji?:3 * thus left without a genitive. It may be added in confirmation that, if Arad be rightly identified with Tell Arad, there is no steep pass (t^to) in the neighbourhood of it (see Guerin, Judee, iii. p. 182). — D>^"^ nx ^a^M "[S^i] /^erd rov Xaov AfiaXrjK (B^ j[t.t Tov Xaov is doublet, corrected after |§ D^jn; the translator read pSnj; nx (Hollenberg, ZATW. i. p. 102; Mey., Kue.), or, in view of D;;n in 1^, better, ^pScyn nx (Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 9 f., Kitt., Dr., TBS. p. 93). As this is not suggested by the context and cannot well have arisen by accident, while it admirably agrees with the facts (i S. 15^ &c.), it may be confidently adopted. Otherwise we might emend id;; nx. We reconstruct accordingly, .^p^'r:';ry nx 2-z^>^ iSm ni;; naiD n-nn> ^12 nx onDon -\^^'o rhy ni:'D ]T\n ^i^prs 33ni On the Kenites see Andr. Murray, Comm. de Kinaeis, Hamburg, 1718°; Noldeke, Die A?nalekiter, p. 19 ff. ; Wellhausen, De gentibus, etc., p. 30 ff.; Kuenen, Godsdienst, i. p. 179 ff. = Religion of Israel, i. p. 179 ff.; Stade, *' Das Kainszeichen," ZA TW. xiv. p. 250 ff. The Kenites are frequently associated with the Amalekites (i S. 15*^ Nu. 2420-22^ cf. also Gen. 3610-12)^ ^nd were in all probability a branch of that people. % But while Amalek was hostile and treacherous (Dt. 25!^^- Ex. 178-16)^ the Kenites were friendly to Israel, and according to J allied by marriage to Moses. The original sequel of Nu. io29-32 Q^ no doubt narrated that Hobab, yielding to Moses' importunity, accompanied Israel in its further migration. In the invasion Hobab con- sorted with Judah (Jud. i^^) and followed that tribe into the south, § but, true to his Bedawin instincts, soon roamed beyond the border into the pastures of his kinsmen of Amalek. The old relations between the Kenites and Judah were maintained, however, in the time of David (i S. 27^0 cf. 3o29). Later * In ®B to 3JJ3. t (KB_ which belongs to this family, has here, as in a good many other places been revised. X The Kenites belong to the same group with the Kennizzites (Gen. 36, cf. 151^). The common opinion that they were closely related to the Midianites is at variance with all that we know about the two peoples, and rests only on the harmony which editors and commentators have forced upon the divergent traditions of J and E. The connexion of the Rechabites (Jer, 35) with the Kenites (i Chr. a^S) is also very doubtful. § Note the towns pp Jos. 15^7^ nj>p 1522, I. 16-17 35 the feeling of the Israelites was less friendly (Nu. 24-"^ ). In Jud. 4 we find a sept of the Kenites, Heber, pitching their tents far in the North; see comm. on 4^1. 17. Judah helps Simeon to destroy Zephath-Hormah. — Ac- cording to the agreement (v;"^), the aUies next invade the territory of Simeon in the south of Judah. — Zephatli^ the name only here ; see below on Hormah. — They devoted it\ to destruction, razing the town and exterminating its inhabitants, to the glory of Yah- weh; cf. 21^1 Nu. 31 Dt. i'' 3^ &c., Jos. S^^""- io-«'^- ii"fl^-, &c., esp. I S. iS'"'^'. According to Dt. f- 20^''^- the wars with the Ca- naanites were always to be such holy wars of extermination. Simi- larly the Moabite king Mesha records in his inscription how at the bidding of Kemosh he took Nebo from Israel and put to death the whole population, " men and boys, wives and maidens, and slave girls; for to Ashtar-Kemosh I devoted it" (1. i6 f.) ; and again of Ataroth, " I killed all the people of the city, a fine sight ( ?) for Kemosh and Moab ! " (1. n f.) ; cf. also 2 K. 8'-.* — 6"^ the city came to be called Horma]i\ because it had been visited with the herem ; " Devoted City." The same explanation of the name Nu. 21^ The etymology is scarcely historical; Hormah more probably signified " inviolable, sacred " ; cf. Hermon. Hormah was a city of southern Judah (i S. 30'*) t towards the frontier of Edom (Jos. 15^° cl. v.^^), \ occupied by Simeonites (Jos. 19* i Chr. 4^). In the catalogues it regularly precedes Ziklag ; cf. also Nu. 14^ Dt. I**. The data are insufficient to fix the locahty, and no trace of the name has been discovered. According to our verse the native name of the place was Zephath, which Robinson would connect with the pass Naqb es-Safa, SE. of Kurnub, § while Row- lands and many recent writers would identify with Sebata or Sebaita, two and a half hours S. of Khalaseh. || It is, however, highly * On the herem see Ew., Alterthilmer^ , p. loi ff., = Antiquities, p. 75 ff. ; Merx. BL., Ri., HWD., Riietschi, PRE^. s. v. " Bann " ; W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, Lect, iv. and esp. Add. note, p. 427-435 ; Stade, G VI. i. p. 490 f. t Named, as here, immediately after the Kenites of the Negeb. X Jos. 15 represents Idumaea as contiguous to Judaea along its whole southern frontier, as it was in fact after the exile. § BR^. ii. p. 181. II Rowlands in Williams, Holy City^, i. p. 464 ; Tuch, ZDMG. i. p. 185 ; Wilton, The Negeb, p. 198-206; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 371 ff. The place had been previously visited by Seetzen, Reisen, iii. p. 44. 36 JUDGES improbable that the old Canaanite name Zephath should have sur- vived to our time, while Hormah, the name by which alone the place is known in the O.T. history, has entirely perished. 17. nniN iDnnn] the Hiph. is denom. fr. D-in. The primary meaning of the latter is not very remote from r^p; both denote inviolabihty, and, in a rehgious sense, withdrawal from common use or contact. But in the further development of this idea in Heb, they go in opposite directions: ,Z'-\p apphes to things which God appropriates to himself because he chooses them for his pleasure or service; Din to things which he prohibits to men because he hates them with peculiar hatred. Both are inviolable : the first are holy, and it is sacrilege to pervert them to profane uses; the second are also. sacrosanct, and whatever touches them contracts the same character and is doomed to the same fate. They thus represent opposite sides of the common idea of ^adoo (on which see Fraser, £nc. Brit^. xxiii. p. 15 ff.). The root vyp is found, only in the North Semitic languages; Din in them all, cf. Ar. f»v^»-, (•'V^»-» iV:)^.^; Nabat. Din, 'inviolable,' Euting 28f. and p. 28; Palmyr., de Vogiie, 35; Himyar., Halevy, 50, 1762, &c.* — nain T'j^n oa* nx xipn] the use of the 3 sg. m. with inherent indef. subj. (miscalled 'impersonal') is not infrequent in this verb; 2 S. 2I6 Gen. ii^ 161* 1922, Ges.25 § 144, 3 a. — From Nu. 2ii-3 it would appear that the older native name of Hormah was Arad, and that, with the neighbouring Canaanite cities, it was destroyed by Israel during their earlier wanderings in revenge for hostile acts of its king; whence its name Hormah. Critics who do not, Hke Cass., Ba., assume that the city was twice destroyed and renamed, explain Nu. 21^ as narrating by anticipation the destruction of the place by Judah and Simeon, Jud. i^'^ (Stud., Kn., Ew., Be., We., Mey., Di.). On this hypothesis it must be assumed, further, that Zephath and Arad (both equivalent to Hormah) designate the same place, which creates a fresh difficulty.! A more probable solution is, that the words n-\;7 "^Sd in Nu. 21I are an interpolation; % they disturb the structure of the verse and make serious difficulty with v.^. If the words are omitted, DipD (v. 3) is the region in which the destroyed cities stood, which also better suits Nu. 14'*^ Dt. I** (from Seir to Hormah). It is then not necessary to connect Nu. 21I-3 with Jud. li'^ in any way; they contain two explanations of the name Hormah. — The identifications proposed by Rob. and Rowlands are founded upon Nu. 2li-3, both assuming that the attack on the Canaanites proceeded from Kadesh; es-Safa is a pass leading into the mountains from 'Ain el-Weibeh (Robinson's Kadesh); Sebaita lies north of 'Ain Qudes (Rowlands' Kadesh); neither is anywhere near Tell Arad. — On Simeon, * Noldeke in Euting, /. c. t Mey. removes this by writing inj? for nox in Jud. ii7 ; see above on v.i6. X The name may have come, by association with Hormah, from Jos. lai^. I. 17-19 37 see Dozy, Die Israeliten zti Mekka, 1864; Graf, Der Stamm Simeon^ 1866; Wellhausen, Cotnp'?, Nachtrage, p. 353-355; Stade, GVI. i. p. 152 ff. 18, 19. The Coast Plain. — The two verses flatly contradict each other ; v.^^ tells us that Judah captured the three principal cities of the plain, Gaza in the south, Ashkelon in the middle, and Ekron in the north, with their territory. That is in effect the whole region occupied in latter times by the Philistine confed- eracy ; v.^'^ says that Judah, with the help of Yahweh, got posses- sion of the mountainous interior, but was unable to conquer the lowlands, where the formidable war-chariots of the natives could operate. This agrees with 3^ Jos. 13'^, where Philistia, like Phoe- nicia and Coele-Syria, is represented as being a part of Canaan which Israel did not conquer.* The hypothesis that Judah took these cities in the first onset, but was unable to maintain its hold on the plain,t does not relieve the difficulty in our verses ; a writer who meant that must have expressed himself quite otherwise in v.^^. The phraseology of v.^^ is also strikingly different from that of the rest of the chapter. Nothing remains but to pronounce v.^^ an editorial addition of the same stamp as v.^ and of equally unhistorical character. I — 19. Yahwehwaswith Judah'\ \p-. The Highlafids'] see above, on v. 9. The position of the verse sug- gests the question whether the Judaean Negeb is tacitly included, so that Highlands as a desigfiatio a potiori has here a wider ex- tension ; § or whether the Negeb, occupied by Caleb, Othniel, Kain, and Simeon, is distinguished from the possessions of Judah proper. || Meyer, however, with good reason, restores v.^^- -^ to their natural place after v.''.^ — They were unable to expel, 6^^.] see critical note. — The Plaiii\ is here as in v.^'*, the coast plain west of Judah, in which the cities named in v.^^ stood.** Others ft take the word i^emeq) collectively for the wide valleys in the mountains of Judah, such as the Emeq Rephaim near Jerusalem * Jos. 1545-47 (R; Di.) includes the Philistine cities in the list of towns belong- ing to Judah, in conformity with v.12 which makes the (ideal) boundary of the tribe the Mediterranean Sea. t Ki. and Abarb. on 33; a Lyra, Schm. {qu. 14), Ew., Be., Ke., Ba. X Mey., Bu., Kitt., Renan, Hist., \. p. 246; cf. Stud. § Bertheau. . || Bachmann. H So also Bu., Kitt. ** Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, 4, Thdt., qu. 6, Stud., Ke., Be., and most. -ft Ba. 38 JUDGES (2 S. ^^^), Emeq ha-Elah (i S. if), &c. ; but these would be un- tenable, even with chariots, after Judah had taken the hill cities. — Iron chariots\ 4^ Jos. \f-'^-^^\ Probably of wood, strengthened or studded with iron ; * cu7'rus falcati (iL) seems to be an archae- ological anachronism. Chariots were, as the Egyptian monuments prove, a strong arm in the military establishment of the Palestin- ian and Hittite kingdoms, whence they were introduced into Egypt. 18. rnin-" noSii] ^\% t harmonizing, ovk iKXrjpovSfnja-eVy-f which Ziegler (cf. Cler.) and Doom, accept, explaining ^D^>^ ^ as transcriptional error for n^V nb\ But if v.i^ had originally been prefaced by such a statement, it would probably have been differently introduced {e.g. 'Ji n-nn> hn n>n nin> o); observe also i^^ (v.^-i^i^), and esp. nSnj) (as i S. 7I* and often) instead of n\-iij3, elsewhere throughout the chapter. J Bu. (^Richt. u. Sain., p. 6 n.) supposes that v.i^, except the first two words, was originally a gloss to pD;7n v. 19; the contradictory beginnings of the verse in ||^ and (g proceed from two different scribes who independently introduced the gloss into the text. The statements of Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, 4 § 128 and v. 3, i § 177, are manifestly de- rived from our text, but agree neither with it nor with each other. — On the cities named in v.is see DB^; on Gaza also below on 16I, on Ashkelon, on 14I9. — 19. tynin'? nS] that this mode of expression is abstractly possible must perhaps be admitted, though there is no complete parallel ; cf. Am. 6I'', Dr.3 § 202, 2; Ges.25 § 114 n. 2. But in the context the impersonal, it was i??ipossible to expel, is less suitable than he (Judah) was tmable to expel. Jos. 150^ 1712 make it most probable that the author wrote tt^mnS hy> nS; cf. also ©IL^; § the verb So^ was cancelled by R or a scribe on dogmatic grounds. ^ relieves the difficulty by premising " after they had sinned " (cf. 27. lOff.-) . 2^jj anonymous commentator in Cat. Niceph. writes, o^k Tjdvvridrjcrav, OVK iirl d5vva/xia etprjTai, dXX' iirl pa6vfxiq..\\ — B'mn cannot be always trans- lated by the same English word, but is to be rendered according to the context, ' conquer, occupy, expel,' &c. — pDj;] is etymologically a deep depres- * See the description of Egyptian war-chariots in Wilkinson, Ancient Egyp- tians^, i. p. 222 ff . ; Erman, Aegypten, u. s. w., p. 649 ff., 720 f.; W. M. Muller, Asien u. Europa, p. 301 (Syrian), 329 (Hittite). t See further, Lagarde, Septuaginta Studien, i. p. 20, 22. t The rendering of -13S by e/cArjpoi'o/u.Tja-ev points to a different hand from the translator of the rest of the chapter (cf. v.l2. 13), and perhaps justifies the inference that v.18 (which from its contents cannot have been inserted by the editor of Jud. I) was interpolated after the Greek version was made. ^ These versions could, however, scarcely render otherwise, and !L and CT, at least, probably had our text ; S translates, did not destroy. (] Similarly R. Moses es-Sheikh supplies ii'mnS nxn nS. I. 19-21 39 sion; in usage the name is not given to a narrow valley or ravine, but to a broader and more open valley or low plain, such as the Plain of Jezreel, Jos. 17!^ &c. That it belongs to the definition of an 'emeq to lie between or be shut in by hills (Rob., Fhys. Geog.y 70), so that the coast plain could not be so called (Ba., Graf, on Jer, 47"), is not warranted. See further, M. Shebiith, ix. 2, esp. Tos. Shebiith, vii. lo f. — P'or the last words of the verse @ has hri 'PrjxO'P 8iei2 * warriors,' and signifies * men of great stature,' lit. *of (long) neck'; cf. Jerome, de situ, etc. {OS'^. 11 27), Enacim, quos gigantes et potentes intellegere debemus; Schultens, /ob, p. 383. The article categorically prohibits taking pr; as a proper noun. The genealogy Arba {i.e. Four), the father of Anak {Long-neck), the father of Sheshai, &c. (Jos. 1513 2 1 11) is the result of a series of blunders; see on v.i^. 21. Jerusalem. — See above on v.^ and cf. Jos. 15^"^. The au- thor doubtless wrote Judah (Jos. 15^), which was changed by a later hand to Benjat?iin in accordance with Jos. 18-* cf. v.^^ 15^ The probable order of the narrative in J was v.^' ^^- ^^, or v.^- ^^- ■'^. \ Did not expel] Jos. 15^, could not expel ; doubtless the original reading of J, which has been changed as in v.^'', for similar rea- son. § — The Jebusites dwelt with the Be7ijamites'\ Jos. 15^ with the Judahites. * The Hittites at Hebron, Gen. 23 (P), are subject of controversy. There is no reason to suppose that the name is used with greater ethnographical exactness than Canaanite in J or Amorite in E, t See Dt. 2IO-12. 20f. 23. + Mey., Bu.. Kitt. § Budde. 40 JUDGES 22-29. Joseph invades Mt. Ephraim and takes Bethel. Cities which Manasseh and Ephraim did not conquer. — The oldest history of the conquest represented the invasion of Central Pales- tine as independent of that of the south and subsequent to it, a representation which also underhes the narrative in Jos. What is here related of Joseph is apparently an abridged but otherwise unaltered extract from the older history (J), corresponding to the account of the conquests of Judah. — The house of Joseph also went up] as Judah had done ; the sentence is the formal counterpart of v.^ Bouse of Joseph v.^-^^ Jos. if (J) 2 S. iq^^ i K. ii^^ Am. 5^, &c. Here it tacitly includes Benjamin, as well as Ephraim and Manasseh; cf. 2. S. 19-^ where the Benjamite Shimei says, " I am come to-day, the first of all the house of Joseph." * — And Yah- weh was with them] as he was with Judah (v.^^). Budde's con- jecture, a7id Joshtca with the?n,'\ is extremely ingenious, but equally hazardous ; see critical note. In connexion with this conjecture Budde surmises that in the original context of J a short account of the operations against Ai (Jos. 8) preceded v.^. — 23. Reconnoitred at Bethel] caused an examination to be made in order to find out the best way to surprise or attack the town. — The attcient na??ie of B. was Luz] Gen. 28^''' 35^ 48^ Jos. 18^^ (all P or R). In Jos. 16^ the two seem to be distinguished ("from Bethel to Luz"), and it has been inferred from the pas- sages in Gen. a'lso that the Israelite sanctuary. Bethel, was at a little distance from the old Canaanite city, Luz ; \ the conclusion is, however, in both cases precarious. In JE (Gen. 28) the origin of the name Bethel is connected with the vision which Jacob had there in his flight from the wrath of Esau, and the sacred stone (^atVvXos) which he set up on the spot (v.^^) ; in P (Gen. 35^^^) with a theophany on the same spot as he returned from Paddan Aram. In the times of the kingdom it was the most famous holy place in Central Palestine, i K. 12^^^- 13 2 K. 10-^ 17-^ Am. f^ 3" 4'' 5^ Hos. 10^ Jer. 48^^ &c. It is the modern Beitin, about twelve miles north of Jerusalem on the way to Nabulus (She- * On Benjamin, see Stade, G VI. i. p. 160 f. t Richt. u. Sam., p. 58 f. ; accepted by Kitt., GdH. i. 1. 243, t So a Lap., Gcs. {T/ies. p. 194), Ew. (GVI. i. 435 f.), Di. on Gen. aSi^, Gu6rin, al. mu. I. 22-26 41 chem).* — 24. The men on the watch'\ the Israelite scouts or pickets; cf. i S. 19^^ 2 S. ii^^ — Show us the way to enter the city\ not the entrance into the city^ /.}2 ol viol Icoarjcp, which Kitt. adopts. But as p|Dii '<:2 is in the Octateuch by far the commoner phrase, the variant has no significance, espe- cially after the plural verb, where the correction of the constrtictio ad senswn (Gfis.25 § 145, 2; Roorda, § 595) to grammatical concord is very natural. — The name Joseph has recently been recognized in the name Y-'^a-p- a-rq, i.e., Joseph- el, II in the catalogue of the Syrian conquests of Thothmes III. in the i6th cent. B.C. ; though for the present the discovery creates new and perplexing prob- lems rather than solves any. See E. Meyer, ZATW. vi. p. i ff.; Groff, Rev. Agyptologique, iv. p, 95 ff,°; Sayce, Higher Criticism, &'c., p. 337-339; most recently, W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 162 fF., who regards them as names of places (not of tribes) in Central Palestine. See below on Asher, V.31, p. 52. — any ninii] 0^J^m,^ Euseb., koI 'louSas /xer' avrQiv. Bu. {Richt. *On Beitin see Rob., BR^. i. p. 447 ff. ; Gu6rin, Judee, iii. p. 14-27; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p, 295 f., 305 ; Bad^., p. 215. t Vatabl., Cler., Schm., Stud., Ke., Ba., Kitt.; less probably, a secret entrance, Abarb., Be. % On the usage see Be., on 18, p. 15 f. \ Outside of Canaan, Ki., Schm., Cler., al. II Cf. Y--k-b-a-ra, i.e. Jacob-el in the same list. II The secondary versions fail us ; I s ft are lacking ; c omits by omoeoteleut. from BaitJijX v.22-Ban?r)A V.23 ; -^ is supported by ©BNP. 42 JUDGES u. Sam., p. 58 f.) conj. that the author wrote ];y^n^^•, as Joshua seemed impos- sible in this context, the name was altered to min^ (®)> but this, too, conflicted with the foregoing narrative and was changed to nin\ But instead of these clumsy alterations the simple and only natural remedy was to drop the words altogether.* The origin of the variant in <3 is much more probably to be explained by the accidental corruption of nin"* to min> in the copy from which the translation was made. In the story of the taking of Bethel as narrated in y 23-2() there is no reference to a leader such as Joshua, and hardly room for such a one. — 23. In Jos. 162 nn'? is perh. merely a gloss to Sxr^o, "from Bethel-Luz " (Di. in loc.') ; f it is hardly likely that in defining a long boundary by four or five points two places would be named which are so near to each other as to be ordinarily identified. The inference from Gen. 28^^ (Jacob did not pass the night in the Canaanite town) is only really cogent upon the assumption of the strictly historical character of the narrative. In the partition of the land Bethel is allotted to Benjamin (Jos. 18^2 cf. Neh. ii^i), but the course of the boundary (Jos. 18^^ cf. iG^*") seems to leave it in the territory of Ephraim; see comm. on Jos. 18. The Onomastica (^OS'^. 20955 2309 8330 lOOg) locate Bethel on the left of the Roman road from Jerusalem to Neapolis (Shechem), 12 R. m. from the former; so also the Bordeaux Pilgrim (Reland, p. 416; Palestine Pilgrims' Text Soc, p. 19). Later Christian travellers looked for it much farther north (reff. in Rob., i, p. 449 n.) ; but the true site was still pointed out to Jewish pilgrims (Carmoly, Itineraires, p. 130, 249; Eshtori Parchi, fol. 68" ed. Venet.). It was identified with Beittn by the missionary Nicolayson in 1836, and by Rob., BPP-. i. 447 ff.; the soundness of the identification is defended (against Thenius) by Graf in an exhaustive discussion, Stud. u. Krit., 1854, p. 851-858. — n^n^i] nin (c. c. ace.) 'explore, reconnoitre,' Nu. 13. 14, passim. The Hiph. is better taken as 'direct causa- tive ' (K6. i. p. 205 f.) ' institute an exploration, reconnaisance,' rather than 'send out scouts' (onn), 'have scouts reconnoitre' (Ra., Ki. after C Stud., R6., Ba.), or as equivalent to Qal (Tanch., R. Jes., Schm. (dub.), MV., al.) ; in the former case ^;7 would perhaps be expected (Be.), in the latter the ace. The text is perhaps at fault; @ irapev^^oKou % cum obsiderent suggest '2 ljn">i 9^'^; Sta. {SS. s.v.) proposes mx»i, which would be construed with '?;■' rather than 2. (gIL may, however, be merely attempts at the sense; the former led Fl. Jos. to imagine a long siege of Bethel {antt. v. 2, 6 § 130 f.). — r\ov no] oIkos lapa-qK ©avlo ^IqI la-parfK^- 75 : (gBN vacat. The subject is superfluous, and the variants perhaps indicate that it is not original in '^. — 24. onDtrn] "ycv in a hostile sense, * have a place in observation,' almost equivalent to •invest'; 2 S. Iii« I S. 19I1 Job 132^ Ps. 56" 71IO. — nxv 1;.,^^-] (gBN ^^j i^oi, i.vT}p i^eiropevero = NXi »'•>{< njni, Doom. — ij'»B';;i . . . iJN-\n] construction as in • All the more, that the story of Ai, to which they are supposed to have formed the introduction, has been dropped. t ©O h c have Aov^a not here but after Baii>>}A v.i, but this may be accidental ; ©N supports IQ. ■ I. 22-25, 27 43 V.'; see note there. — 25. 3"in •'oV] lit. ' according to a sword's mouth,' i.e. as fiercely as a sword is wont to devour, unsparingly; so De., Di. (on Gen. 34''^'^), Ba., al. Perhaps, .however, t\q had in this phrase lost its literal meaning, ' mouth,' as it usually does in "'dS, so that it only conveyed the notion, ' accord- ing to, in the manner or measure of.' The prep, should not be taken instru- mentally, wilh the edge of the sword, which would, besides, require the article; see Giesebrecht, Pr&posit. Lamed, p. 95, 98 f. — D^inn ^'\'i(\ the ambiguity of Greek transcription sometimes confuses D>nn Hittites with D\-i:) Cyprians, both of which may be represented by ^eTxiuii-y * cf. Fl. Jos. antt. i. 6, i § 128, ix. 4, 5 § 77. Misled by this confusion Euseb. (^OS'^. 30259) writes, Xerrtet/i • 7^ ^^TTL^Lfx 7) KuTrpos, %vda ■Kb\i.v €KTi(r€v Aov^a; f cf. Procop. on Jud. 1^ al. Some modern scholars also have connected D^nD with DTin; so Stud, on Jud. i26, Ges., Jlfon. Fhoen., p. 152 f., cf. p. 122, Thes. p. 726; Movers, Phonizier, ii. 2. p. 203 ff. ; Fiirst, WB^. p. 453. But the inscriptions of Citium which Ges. cited in support of this identity prove to have been mis- copied or misread; see E. Meyer, ZDMG. xxxi. p. 719 f. — In the Talmud {Sotah, 46*) Luz is a place famous for its blue dyes (cf. also Sanhedr. 12°), which points, perhaps, to a site not very remote from the Phoen. coast. See Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 156. — Proposed identifications of Luz in our verse are Luweizeh (Rob., BK^. iii. p. 389), four or five miles from Tell el-Qidt (Dan),t and Kamid el Lauz (Rob., I.e. p. 425) § on the western side of the Bika above Hasbeiya, once a place of considerable importance (Abu-1 Fida, Tab. Syr. ed. Koehler, p. 93; Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 347, cf. p. 39). 27. Cf. Jos. 17^^"^^. As on the south Joseph was separated from Judah by a Une of Canaanite towns, || so on the north it was con- fined to the mountains and cut off from the fertile plain and the tribes which struggled for a foothold beyond it in GaHlee by a chain of fortified cities guarding all the passes. At the eastern end of this cordon was Beth-shean, on the main road to Damas- cus ; at the western extremity, Megiddo, on the road up from the coast, commanding thus the great commercial and military road between Egypt and the east. — Beth-shean~\ Jos. 1 7^^ a stronghold of the Canaanites, whose iron chariots deterred the tribe of Joseph from the attempt to extend their border in that direction. It was in possession of the Philistines at the end of Saul's Hfe ( i S. * a\n3 = X€TTiei/uL Jer. 2I0 Ez. 27C ; of. Nu. 2424 (ffiM i Chr. i7 ©L i Mace. ii. t But cf. OS-^. 27S.y;i. X Conder {SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 96) lias revived this suggestion. \ Perhaps the Kumidi of the Amarna tablets; a principality of S. Phoenicia. II See above, p. 8 ; and below on v.35. 44 JUDGES 31^° 2 S. 21^^), having perhaps recently been wrested by them from the Canaanites ; but was conquered by Israel, probably under David, and was subject to Solomon (i K. 4^^; see also on v.^^). It is the modern Beisan, situated at the point where the narrow eastern extension of the Great Plain begins to fall off rapidly to the Jordan valley, and by its position completely com- manding this pass.* — A fid its dependencies\ lit. * daughters, daugh- ter towns ' ; places to which Beth-shean Stood in the relation of a /xT^rpoVoAts ; t Nu. 2^-'^ 32^^ Jos. 15^^ Jer. 49^ Ez. i6^ &c. — TaciJiacJi] in the O.T. generally coupled with Megiddo (5^^ i K. 4^^ Jos. 17^^ 12^^) ; now Ta'annuk on the edge of the. Great Plain about six miles NW. of Genin, and about four SE. of Leggun (Megiddo). $ — i^^r] Jos. ii^ 12^3 17I1 i K. ^^ i Chr. 7^^ cf. Jud. i^^ (^ ; on the sea coast south of Carmel, nine Roman miles N. of Caesarea. § Its ruins lie near the modern village of Tantura. || The name of Dor in this place interrupts the orderly progress of the enumeration of the cities along the margin of the Great Plain from East to West ; we should expect it to stand in the last place as it does in i Chr. 7^^, which appears to be derived from Jud. 1% and are tempted to conjecture that it has been accidentally trans- posed.—//Vm;;/] Jos. if^ (not in iB) i Chr. 6^^ (Eng. vers. 6"'^) cf. (!l. From 2 K. (f^ it appears to have been near En-gannim, the modern Genln, and the name has probably survived in (Wady and Bir) Bel'ameh, half an hour S. of Genin.^ Others, vWth less probabiHty, would identify Ibleam with Gelameh, a little village on a knoll three miles and a half S. by W. from Zer 'In (Jezreel) on the road to Genin.*"* — Megiddo'] see the passages cited above under Taanach; also i K. 9^^ 2 K. 9^ 23^^^-. The whole plain is called * Descriptions of the site in Seetzen (who visited it in 1806), Reisen, ii. p. 161 ff. ; Rob., BR^. iii. p. 326 ff. ; Van de Velde, Narrative, ii. p. 356 ff.; Guerin, Samarle, i. p. 284-29S; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 83, 101-114 (with plans). t See above on v. 10^ note. J See Schubert, Reise, iii. p. 164; Rob., BR^. ii. p. 316, iii. p. 117; Gu6rin, Samarie, ii. p. 226 ff. ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 68. ^ Aojpa I Mace. 15II; Fi. Jos., c. Ap., ii. 10 ^ 116; OS'^. 2833. II Gu6rin, Samarie, ii. p. 305-315 ; SWP. Meinoirs, ii. p. 3, 7 ff. ; Bdd^., p. 238. H Ke., Di. {NDJ. p. 545) ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. 47 f., 51 f. ; BildS., p. 228. See also Schultz, y.MDG. iii. p. 49; Gu6rin, Samarie, i. p. 339 ff. ** Knob., Cass., Grove, Wilson (Z>5i-2). I. 27-28 45 from it the Plain of Megiddo (Zech. 12^^ 2 Chr. 35^'), as the Kishon is called the River of Megiddo (Jud. 5'^). Megiddo was evidendy a place of capital strategic importance, and is named in both Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions. In later times the name com- pletely disappears ; neither Josephus nor Eusebius and Jerome are acquainted with it. Robinson * established, to a high degree of probability, that Megiddo occupied the site of the Legio of the Onomastica, the modern Leggiin, at the point where the main road from the coast, having crossed the range of hills which ex- tending to the SE. connects Carmel with Samaria, emerges into the Great Plain. Its position must always have made it the key to the western end of the plain as Beth-shean was to its eastern end.f — The Canaaiiites resolved to re?nain in that region~\ stubbornly maintained their hold upon it. — 28. When Israel became strong enoiigJi^ the subjugation of these cities appears to have been the work of David ; their power had doubtless been greatly weakened by the struggle with the Philistines, who, at the beginning of Saul's reign, or shortly after, had probably conquered the rest of them as we know they did Beth-shean. Tliey were all subject to Solo- mon, I K. 4^^^-. — They impressed the Canaanites in the worki7ig gangs^^ employed on public works ( i K. 9-*^) . From the earliest times to the days of the Suez canal, the corvee has been in the East the means by which great pubhc works have been executed. According to their traditions, the Israelites had been set to such labour in Egypt ; Solomon employed it on a large scale in his build- ings and fortifications, and, in spite of i K. 9-^, it bore heavily not only upon ahens but on Israelites (i K. 5^^^- i2^-^"--^). Megiddo and Gezer (v.-^) were fortified by him by impressed labour, doubt- less largely of their own Canaanite inhabitants ( i K. 9^^) . — But by no means expelled them'\ the population of these cities con- tinued to be largely Canaanite ; Beth-shean, in particular, was, even to the latest times, more foreign than Israelite. 27. Beth-sheanl Baidcrau, tj iariv ZkvOQv irdXis ©, 2 Mace. 12^9 Judith 3^^^; l^iKvddiroXis, Fl. Jos., ajiU. xii. 8, 5 § 348, &c.; Euseb. OS^. 23755. According * BR^. ii. p. 328 ff., iii. p. 116 ff. t See Van de Velde, Narrative, i. p. 350 ff. ; Guerin, Samarie, ii. p. 232 ff. ; Bad^. p. 229 f. 46 JUDGES to Georgius Syncellus {chronog., i. p. 405 ed. Bonn.) ♦ it had this name from a body of Scythians who were left behind in the reflux of the great Scythian invasion (Hdt., i. 105 f.); cf. Aug., qii. 8. It is not improbable that this is merely a learned combination. Other ancient references to the place, see Reland, Palaestina, p. 992 ff.; Schurer, Gesch. d. jud. Volkes^ u. s. w., ii. p. 97 ff.; Jewish authors, Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 174 f., Zunz in Asher's Benjamin of Tudela, ii. p. 425, cf. p. 400 f. ; Arab geographers, Le Strange, Palestine tmder the Moslems, p. 410 f. The name is not to be read in the Egyptian inscriptions as many have done; Miiller, Asien u. Europa^ p. 193. — Taanach'\ is found in the lists of Palestinian cities subdued by Thothmes III. (i6th cent. B.C.) and Shishak (loth cent.), in the former in immediate juxtaposition to Ibleam; see W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 170, 195. Euseb. {OS'^. 26242) locates it 3 R. m. from Legio; Eshtori Parchi (fol. 67* ed. Venet.) found it, with unchanged name, i hr. S. of Megiddo (Leggun). — Dor'] Reland, p. 738 ff. (where, with other ancient notices, an extract from the larger work of Steph. Byz.); Schiirer, GjV.n. p. 77-79. According to the Papyrus Golinischeff, the maritime town D-ira (Dor) was, in the time of Hri-hor (before 1050 B.C.), in the hands of the Takara, one of the tribes which invaded Canaan with the Purusati (Philis- tines); see W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa^ p. 388. The irregular order of the present enumeration, which springs to and fro — Taanach, Dor, Ib- leam, Megiddo — may have given rise to the conj. En-dor, which in Jos. 17^^ 1^ stands as a doublet to Dor and in S» has displaced it; but En-dor does not belong in this company at all. The name is properly written not "in,t as here, but int Jos. \f-^ i K. 4II, ini p;? Ps. 83II, -ini nnn Jos. 2i32; see Massora on Jos. 17II and Norzi. That this is the original form of the name appears from the Assyrian text cited by Schrader, KAT^. p. 168, and is put beyond question by the inscription of Eshmunazar {CIS., Pars i., i. no. 3, 1. 19). — Ibleam~\ in 2 K. 9^^ we should not translate to the garden house (EF.), but to Beth-haggan (Sta., Klo.), i.e. En-gannim Jos. 1921 Tiva-fi Fl. Jos. antt. XX. 6, i § 118, on the edge of the Great Plain, the border town between Samaria and Galilee (&. j. iii. 3, 4), now Genin (Rob., PP^. ii. p. 315 f.; Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 327-332; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 44). "The pass (as- cent) of Gur, which is near Ibleam," must have been in the edge of the hills. The situation of Bel'ameh suits all these indications. J Gelameh (Rob., BP^. ii. p. 319; Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 326 f.; SWP. Mernoirs, ii. p. 84), in the open plain an hour N. of Genin, suits neither in name nor in situation; it can never have been a place of great strength, and there is no pass in the neigh- bourhood. Eshtori Parchi (fol. 67^) and Conder (SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 98) identify Ibleam with Yebla, NW. of Beisan. — Megiddo] Egyptian references, * Cf. Pliny, n. h., v. 74, Scythopolim.antea Nysam, a Libero Patre sepulta nutrice ibi Scythis reductis. t Numerous codd. (De Rossi) have iNl. X Bel'ameh may also be the iitAa/xu>»' of Judith, S3 (BeAMe" 4^ yScodd.^ % Belma). I. 27-29 47 Miiller, op. cit. p. 195 f.; Amarna tablets, Sayce, Acad. Feb. 7, 1891, p. 138; Assyrian, Schrader, KAT'^. p. 168 = COT. i. p. 156. The identification with Leggun is due to Eshtori Parchi (1322;. fol. 67^, Zunz, in Asher's Benj. of Tudeluy ii. p. 433) ; in modern times it seems to have been first suggested in an anonymous review of Raumer's Palaestina in the Munch, gelehrt. Anzeigen, Dec. 1836, p. 920 (Rob.). Legio {Xe-yewv) isfreq. mentioned in the Onomastica; as the intersection of several roads it is used as the base from which the distance of a number of places is reckoned; under the name Leggiin it is often named in the Arab geographers (Le Strange, Palestine, ^'c, p. 492 f.). Tell el-Mutesellim (Thomson, Land and Book-, ii. p. 214; Gue- rin, Samarie, ii. p. 237) may have been the citadel of Megiddo, as Tell el-Hi?n w^as of Beth-shean. Conder {PEF. Statements, 1877, P- ^3 ff-> of. 190-192; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 90 fF.) would put Megiddo at Khurbet el-Mugedda', in the valley 3 m. SW. of Beth-shean; the situation is impos- sible. Others (so Spruner-Sieglin, Atlas') identify it with el-Mugeidil, an hour and a quarter SW. of Nazareth. — '^nin n*?!] Jos. 1712 jrmnS . . .hy^ N^i; see above, on \P. — 'X\ '•jyjDn Sxvi] not began (6*31 as usually), nor consented, agreed (Ba., Cass., after older scholars). The verb means 'make up one's mind, resolve, decide,' either of one's own motion. Gen. 18'-^'^ Dt. i^ i S. 12^2 &c., or at the instance or request of another, Jud. 19^ 17^1 2 K. 6^ and often. But w^e are not warranted in putting so much into it as, ' they had to submit to reside in that (limited) region on conditions fixed by the Israelites,' of which villeinage (v.^^) ^v^ag the ultimate, if not the immediate, import (Ba.) ; cf. Ex. 2^1 Jud. 17II, further v.35 cl. Jos. 19^'^. — 28. ddS •'j;;jDn nx Da>ii] Jos. 171^ ijnii. The etymology of Da is obscure; possibly it is a loan-word. It is a body of men impressed to labour on public works, frequently defined "^^i? DD, working gang. Ex. i^^ the Egyptians set over the Israelites d^dd n'^:', i.e., not iirco-TaTaL tCjv epycjv ((&%), but gang-foremen. The word can be used of a whole population which is subject to the corvee; fig. (Prov. 12^4 1) of an individual who is induced to this status. It nowhere in the O.T. has the meaning * tribute, tributary,' which the exegetical tradition attaches to it. A distinction between Do and nnj? Do, such as Ba. tries to establish, does not exist. — itfnin nS cnini] did not drive them out at all. The absol. object., Ges.25 § 113, 3 a; Ew. § 312 a. — For a comparison of the parallel passage, Jos. 17II-13, and discussion of its relation to Jud., see Be., p. 37 f.; Di., NDJ. p. 544 fF.; esp. Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 13 ff.; Kitt., GdH. i. 1. p. 244. 29. Jos. i6^^ Ephraim did not conquer Gezer, which formed a Canaanite enclave in the territory of that tribe. — Gezer] on the SW. border of Ephraim (Jos. 16^). In David's time still indepen- dent (i S. 27^ 2 S. 5^ I Chr. 20*),"* it was conquered in the following ♦ In Jos. 132 also we should probably read '^'s^iry for niB'jn ; We., TBS. p. 139 ; Dr., TBS., p. 163; Mey., ZATW. i. p. 126 n.; cf. also Ew., GVJ. ii. 467. On the other side, Di., ad loc. 48 JUDGES reign by the Pharaoh and given to his daughter, Solomon's queen ; Solomon rebuilt it as a frontier fortress against the PhiHstines (i K. 9^^'^0- I^ ^s ^^^ modern Tell Gezer, discovered in 1870 by Clermont Ganneau, between 'Amwas-Nicopolis and 'Aqir-Ekron. — The Canaanites dwelt in the midst of them at Gezer'] Jos. j^iob.^ "The C. dwelt in the midst of Ephraim unto this day, and were subjected to compulsory labour," which is not a free ex- pansion of Jud.,* but represents the original reading of J (cf. ^28.30.33.35^ . ^^q ^g^t In Jud. has been abbreviated. t The words "unto this day" do not necessarily imply a time prior to the destruction of the city by the Egyptians (i K. 9^^) ; | the extermi- nation of the Canaanite population need not be taken so literally. Gezer^ is named in the lists of Thothmes III. (Miiller, Asien ti. Etiropa, p. 160), and in Amarna tablets (Sayce, Acad., Feb. 1891, p. 138). According to I K. 9I6 (cf. I S. 27S; 2 S. 5^5 is indecisive, I Chr. 20* can hardly prove the contrary) it was in Solomon's time a Canaanite (not Philistine) city, though it may earlier have been subject to the Philistines. Gezer (Fd^apa, Fd^T/pa) was an important place in the Maccabaean wars; i Mace. 4^^ 7*^ 9^2 (Fl. Jos., antt. xiii. I, 3 § 15) 13^^ 14^^ (Fl. Jos., b. j. i. 2, 2) 1528.35 ^\^ j^g^^ ^j^/^^ ^iii. 9, 2 § 261). Euseb. (6)6"2. 24414) puts it 4 R. m. N. of Nicopolis. The Arab geographers mention Tell Gezer as a fortress in the Province Filastin (Le Strange, Palest, under the Moslems, p. 543). For Ganneau's discovery of the place, see PEF. Statemejtts, 1873, p. 78 f.; 1874, p. 276 ff.; 1875, p. 74 ff. A boundary stone was found with the inscription nrj nnn; Acad, des Inscript., Co7nptes rendus, 1874, p. 106 ff., 201, 213 f., 273 ff.; see also SIVP. Memoirs^ ii. 428-439 (with plan). 30-33. The northern tribes settle among the older population ; the principal cities remain in the possession of the Canaanites. — The entrance of these tribes into western Palestine was indepen- dent of the invasion of Judah (v.^^) and Joseph (v."^), and if the author's representation — which also underhes Jos. 1 8^^- — be correct, later in time. Its results were also much less considera- ble ; even in the mountains of Galilee they did not gain the mas- tery as their brethren had done in the mountains of Ephraim and Judah. The newcomers were fain to settle among the Canaan- ites where they could find place ; the mass of the population in * Be., of. Ew., G VI. ii. p. 464. t Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 15; Kitt,, GdH. i. i. p. 244. + Bleek, EinlK p. 151 f., Ba., al. I. 29-31 49 this "heathen distwct " (Gahlee of the Gentiles) was probably for many centuries not Israehte. The tribes of Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali are named. The omission of Issachar is not easily accounted for, since the Song of Deborah (ch. 5) shows that in early times it was a prominent tribe and had much to suffer from the Canaanites (cf. also Gen. 49^^^). It is hardly likely that it is included under Joseph,* more probably it has been omitted, through accident or design, in the abridgment of the chapter. 30. Zebidun'\ settled in the western part of Lower Galilee, in the hills north of the Great Plain; see Jos. 19^°"^*'. — Kitron and Nahalol~\ Nahalol appears among the cities of Zebulon, Jos. 19^^ 21^; Kitron only here. Neither has been identified. — Were subjected to compulsory labour'\ see on v.-^ and note on v.^^. — 31. Ashe7'\ north of Zebulun and west of Naphtali, in the moun- tainous country behind the Phoenician coast. — Acco'\ only here in the Hebrew Old Testament.f It was renamed Ptolemais (Act. 21^), probably in honour of Ptolemy II., but the new name did not supplant the old one. It is the St. Jean d'Acre of the crusaders the modern 'Akka, on the coast north of the headland of Carmel. % — Sidon'] the famous Phoenician city, the modern Saida. § Ahlaby Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, Rehob'] of these places only Achzib can be identified with any confidence. It is the Ecdippa of the Greek and Roman geographers, on the coast nine Roman miles north of Ptolemais, || the modern ez-Zib, between 'Akka and Tyre.^ Of the others, a highly probable emendation of Jos. 19^ * We., Comp., p. 215; cf. Mey., ZATW. i. p. 142 f. ; against this view, Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 44 ff. t \y) is to be restored (for iDy) in Jos. 19^0 with ffiN cf. M (Reland, Hollenb.), and according to a widely accepted conj, of Reland, in Mi. ii" (for 13:2) ; see Ryssel, Micha, p. 23 ff. X On Acco see Fl. Jos., b. j. ii. 10, i f. ; Reland, p. 534 flf. ; Rob., DR^. iii. p. 89 fF.; Guerin, Galilee, i. p. 502-525; Lortet, Syrie, p. 159-168; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 160 ff.; Schiirer, GjV. ii. p. 79 ff. ; Neubauer, Giog. du Talmud, p. 231 f . ; Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 328-334. \ On Sidon, Reland, p. loio ff. ; Pietschmann, Phonizier, p. 53 flf.; Rob,, BR\ ii. p. 476-485; Ritter2, xvii. p. 380 ff.; Renan, Mission de Phenicie, p. 361 ff. ; Gue- rin, Galilee, ii. p. 485-506; Lortet, Syrie, p. 91-116; Bad^. p. 279-283. II Jerome, OS'^. 9512. H Ritter, xvi. p, 811 f. ; Gu6rin, Galilee, ii. 164 f. E 50 JUDGES would restore Ahlab, or Helbah, which is perhaps a variant of the same name, before Achzib ; it was probably on the coast between Achzib and Sarepta. Aphik and Rehob are found together in the catalogue of cities of Asher, Jos. 19"^*^; they were apparently fur- ther inland. — 32. The Ashe rites settled among the inhabitants of the land~\ the words clearly express the difference between the situation in this part of the land and that south of the Great Plain. In the latter region the conquest was incomplete, but the Israelites were, at least in the mountains, the predominant ele- ment in the population ; in the north there was no conquest at all, and Asher and Naphtali settled among the native inhabitants as best they could. — For they did not drive them out] we may with confidence assume that the author of the older history wrote, as elsewhere, could not, — 33. Naphtali] settled in the eastern half- of Upper Galilee, having Zebulon and Issachar on the south and Asher on the west. — Beth-shemesh] Jos. 19^; not identified. — Beth-anath] coupled with Beth-shemesh (Jos. /. c.) in the list of fortified cities in Naphtali, is perhaps the modern village 'Ainitha, six miles WNW. from Qades (Kedesh of Naphtali).* The name shows that it was an old seat of the worship of the goddess Anath,t as Beth-shemesh of the worship of the Sun. — They settled^ 6^<;.] see above on v.^l — Became subject to impress- ment] Y?^ ; see on v.^- ^. — Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were not the only cities in Naphtali which maintained their indepen- dence ; in 4^^- a Canaanite king of Hazor has subjugated all the northern tribes. From the predominance of the alien element in this region it was called the Foreign District {Gelil ha-goftm, Galilee of the Gentiles, Is. 8"^^ = AV. 9^), or shortly, the District {Gelil, Galilee; i K. 9^^ 2 K. 15^). It was subject to Solomon, who fortified Hazor (i K. 9^^), and ceded twenty towns in it (the Cabul) to Hiram, king of Tyre (i K. 9"-i3). 30. We may safely disregard the combinations VSnj = SiVnn {Jer. Megillah, i. i)= Ma'lul, i\ ni- W. of Nazareth (Schwarz), or 'Ain Mahil (Conder); as well as the identification — by an etymological Midrash — of Kitron with * So Van de Velde, Narrative, i. p. 170 ; Gu6rin, Galilee, ii. p. 374 ; Miihlau, in Ri. HWB. ; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 200. t Cf. Beth-anoth in Judah, Anathoth in Benjamin ; E. Meyer. ZDMG. xxxi. (1877) p. 718. See below on 38I. T- 32-33 51 Sepphoris {Meg. 6«). The tradition of the names is not such as to inspire unqualified confidence. In Jos. ig^^ we find SSnji nop (©^ KaravaO), in 21^* nnnp is prob. another variant of the same name; Jer. Meg. i. i identifies ntap with n^irop (see Neubauer, Geog. du Talm., p. 189). — For SSnj here ©^^ has Aoj/iara, i.e. njm Jos. 2i35. — p'?nr] see Frensdorff, J/aj-j, W'orterb., p. 281 f. — 31. :i'?nN] The same place is no doubt meant in Jos. 192^, where the emenda- tion navDN* a'?nD (? aSnNi:, na^nc) for the unintelligible 'n "^iryn (Stud., Hollenb.; cf. ©^ a-wh AejS,^* d7r6 AXe)3) seems imperative. The order of enumeration (restoring ijy v.^'^) is from N. to S. An inscription of Sennacherib,* which recites his successes in Phoenicia, names in order, Sidon, Bit-Zi-it-ti (nn no), Sarepta, Mahalliba, Usu-u,\ Achzib, Acco. Fr. Delitzsch {Paradies, p. 283 f.) and Schrader {KAT'^. p. 173) compared Mahalliba with Ahlab, Helbah, and W. M. Miiller {Asien u. Europa, p. 194, n.) conj. that ^Vnn was the original name in the O.T. also. This does not commend itself; but it is altogether probable that Ahlab, Helbah, and Mahalliba are variations of the sarrle name, J the meaning remaining the same. If this be so, we may venture to conjecture that it was the old name of the Promontoriiim album of Pliny, the modern Ras el-Abyad, midway between Tyre and Achzib; cf. Plin., n. h., v. 75, Ptole- mais, quae quondam Acce . . . Ecdippa, promunturium Album, Tyros. — Many identify Ahlab with the Gush Halab of the Talmuds, the PtcrxaXa of Josephus {b. j., ii. 20, 6; iv. 2, i ff.; vii., 10, &c.), now el-Gish, NW. of Safed; but this, although in the Talmud ascribed to Asher {Menachoth, 85b, cf. Sifre, Dt. § 355, fol. 148* ed. Friedm.), is much too far inland for our context, and, indeed, for the boundaries of Asher. § Still more remote is a^n (Aleppo), or n^Vn, prob. Hisn Halba (Le Strange, p. 352) in the district of Tripoli (Eshtori Parchi, fol. 6o« ed. Venet., Asher, BeitJ. of Tudela, ii. 415). — nno.x] in the Talmud 31TD, N. of Acco; Tos. Ohaloth, xviii. 13, and often (Neubauer, p. 231-233); 'E/c5t7r7ra, Ptol., v. 15, 5; cf. Fl. Jos., antt. v. I, 22 § 85, b. j. i. 13, 4; Ecdippa, Plin., n.h.,\. 75. The identification with ez-Zib is as old as Maundrell (1697). — p"»i3N] not''A0a/ca in the Lebanon, N. of Beirut, at the sources of the Adonis (Nahr Ibrahim), famous for its worship of the Syrian Aphrodite, the modern Afqa (older scholars in Reland, p. 572, Ges. 7'hes., Rosenm., v. Raum., Ba., Ke., Cass., al.), which is much too far north for the present context and that of Jos. 19^''. |[ The name is not uncommon. — 3ni] also a common name. * Taylor Cylinder, col. ii. I. 38-40; Schrader. KAT^. p. 288. t Query = nDn Jos. ig^^ ? The name 'osti also in Egyptian inscriptions, Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 194. \ Cf. Ahmed and Mohammed. \ On Gush Halab see Neubauer, Gcog. du Talmud, p. 230 f. ; el-Gish, Rob., BR^. ii. p. 445 f. ; Guerin, Galilee, ii. p. 94-100 ; ^S WP. Memoirs, i. p. 198, 224-226. It is freq. mentioned by Arab. Geographers (Le Strange, p. 463). Eshtori Parchi ob- serves that Gush Halab is almost a day's journey from Acco ; he can explain its belonging to Asher only by the fact that the boundaries of the tribes overlapped (fol. 67"). II Aphaka in the Lebanon is probably intended in Jos. 13^ ; see J. D. Mich., Suppl., p. 114; cf. Budde, Urgesckichte, p. 350. 52 JUDGES The Rehob of our text (and Jos. iq^'^) cannot be the same as Beth-rehob near Dan (Jud i8^^). It is very likely Rehob in Asher that is meant in the Egyptian lists cited by Miiller, Asien u. Europa^ p. 153; see his note there. It seems probable from the order in Jos. ip^^-^o^ and from the fact that in other cata- logues of the towns on the Phoenician seaboard the names nowhere occur, that Aphik and Rehob were not on the coast, but in the interior. The omis- sion of Tyre from this list is significant. — The name Asher appears in the Egyptian inscriptions of Seti and Ramses II.* among the peoples with whom those kings waged war in northwestern Palestine, in the same region where the Israelite tribe Asher is located by the O.T.; see W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Etiropa, p. 236 ff.f Like the names Joseph-el and Jacob-el (above, p. 41), this fact opens large questions about the settlement of the Israelites in Pales- tine, upon which we cannot enter here. — njy no] occurs amon^ the conquests of Seti and Ramses II. (Miiller, op. cit., p. 195, 220), with divine determina- tive, as was observed by De Rouge in 1852 {^Mem. de VAcad. des Inscr., xx. 2, i86i,p. 181). There is another Ainata on the eastern slope of the Lebanon not far from theBisherreh cedars (Jixxxion, Unexplored Syria, ii. 138 f.; Thom- son, Land and Book-, Lebanon, &c., p. 272, 313; Bad^. p. 350). For other attempts to identify Beth-anath, in accordance with the indications of Euseb., OS'^, 23645 cl. 22470, see Ba. 34, 35. Dan is forced back into the mountains. — The verses differ strikingly from the rest of the chapter in the use of the name Amorite instead of Canaanite. In the Hexateuch the former is characteristic of E (and D), the latter of J. $ Verse ^, which shares this peculiarity, is clearly fragmentary and mis- placed. For these reasons, which he fortifies by other peculiari- ties of expression in the verse, Meyer separates v.^'^ as the work of another hand. § Budde has shown, however, || that, whatever explanation we may give of the substitution of Amorites for Ca- naanites, v.^- are probably derived from the same source and context as the rest of the chapter. — Dan] first tried to get a foothold on the southwest of Ephraim. The language of the text perhaps implies that in the beginning they pushed further toward the Lowlands, but were soon checked and pressed back by the * Before the date now generally accepted for the Exodus, therefore. t M. Jastrow, Jr., in JBL. xi. p. 120, points out that the Habiri and Milkil {mare Milkil) of the Amarna tablets correspond to two of the clans of Asher, Heber and Malchiel (Nu. 2645). X We., Camp., p. 341 ; Mey., 7. A TW. i. p. 121 ff. ; Bu., Urgeschichte, p. 345 f. \ ZA TW. i. p. 126, 135 ; so also Stade, G VI. i. p. 138 n. II Richt. u. Sam., p. 15 ff, ; see also Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 244, and note below. I- 34-35 53 natives, who crowded them into a small district about Zorah and Eshtaol, where we find them in Jud. 13-16. The main body of the tribe, finding these limits too narrow, migrated to the head- waters of the Jordan, where they established themselves about Laish, renamed Dan (Jud. 18 f. Jos. 19*'*). — The Amorites\ in E and D comprehensive name for the pre-Israelite peoples of Pales- tine. The author (J) from whom this notice is derived probably wrote Canaanites,'^ as throughout the chapter. — The contrast between the mountains and the plain, as in v.^^ cf. also Jos. i ^j^^'. The broad valleys which extend inland, like that of Aijalon (Jos. 10^^) t are doubtless included, but not exclusively meant. — 35. Cf. v.^'' — Har-heres\ only here. Generally, and with great proba- biHty, regarded as the same with Beth-shemesh (i K. 4^ 2 Chr. 28^^), t or Ir-Shemesh (Jos. ip''^), which stand in immediate con- nexion with Aijalon and Shaalbim, and then to be identified with the modern 'Ain Shems, on the south side of Wady Surar, opposite Surah (Zorah). § — Aijaloii] Jos. 19'^ 10^^, on the Philistine border (i S. 14^^) ; subject to Solomon (i K. 4^) ; fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr. ii^°) ; according to the same authority, conquered by the Philistines under Ahaz (2 Chr. 28^^). Conclusively identified by Robinson with the modern Yalo, || about two miles E. of 'Amwas (Nicopolis), on the southern side of the valley. Aijalon commanded the descent to the plain by W. Selman, as Beth- shemesh did that by W. Surar (Sorek) ; cf. i S! 6^. — ShaalMm'] I K. 4^ Jos. i9'*l Knobel, Conder, and others would find it at Selbit, on the north side of the valley, two miles N. of 'Amwas, and about three miles NW. of Yalo. The site is not unsuitable, but the similarity of the names is extremely slight, and all other data are wanting. — The hand of the house of Joseph rested heav- * Hardly Philistines, as Bu. (p. i8 n.) is tempted to conjecture, — a reading which editors or scribes would be much less likely to change. Nor does the name Amorites include the Philistines, as Mey. erroneously gathers from i S. 7I* {ZATW. i. 123). The date of the Philistine invasion is uncertain; but their occupation of the lowland may have crowded the Canaanites back upon Dan. t Merg ibn 'Omeir; Rob., DR"^. iii. p. 144; Pkys. Geog., p. 113. X So Cler., Hiller {Ono?n. sacra, 1706, p. 560). § Rob., BR'^. ii. p. 224 f.; Guerin, Jndee, ii. p. 18-22. II BR'^.\\. p. 253 f., iii. p. 144 f. ; see also Gu6rin, Judee, i. p. 290 ff . ; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 19. 54 JUDGES ily upon the??t~\ lit. gre7v heavy ; cf. i S. 5*^. The language does not strictly refer to conquest. The places seem to have come under Israelite dominion before the division of the kingdom ; they are all included in one of Solomon's prefectures (i K. 4^). Beth- shemesh was Israelite still earUer (i S. 6). 34. As V.3S, in any case, is not the original sequel of v.^**-, it is unsafe to infer much from their present juxtaposition. Moreover, in v.^^ the text is corrupt precisely in the critical words; for Aniorites we must read Edomites (Hollenb., Bu., Kitt.). The form of v.^^- corresponds as closely to the rest of the chapter as the different situation admits, and the coincidences in phraseology become more significant against the other differences; observe pD;? in contrast to in v.^i (v.i^), n:ia''7 Sxvi v.^^ {yP Jos. 17I2), r|DT> r\>i v.^s (V.22.23), DO"' Vn^1 V.35 (v.30. 33 Jqs. i610); cf. v.^^b with V.28a, y.^^b with V.19b (Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. i6). The contents of the verse fully agree with what we know of the fortunes of Dan, There remains only the name Amorite, which can hardly be allowed to outweigh these evidences of unity of origin. The change may have been made by an editor; or the corruption in v.^s may have worked back into the preceding verses, with which that was thought to be closely connected. — "ishV""-!] i^nV lit. * squeeze, crowd,' Nu. 22^5, trop. Am. 61* Jud. ioi2; freq, in ptcp. csniS, 'oppressors,' Jud. 2^^ 6^ &c. i S. iqI^. — unj nS ^r] better aun: nSi Jos. ig^'^ 0, Bu., Kitt. — 35. Dnn in] D;in, 'the sun,' Job 9"^; cf. Din njDn Jud. 2^, Dinn nSyD^o 8^^ Dinn niy Is. 19I8 (Helio- polis in Egypt = •i'Dtt' T\^2 Jer. 43^^).* Beth-shemesh, a border town of the Israelites (i S. 6^-'^^-), on the boundary of Judah (Jos. i^^^), to which tribe it is reckoned to belong (Jos. 21I6) ; cf OS'^. 237^9. — Aijalon] Jerome (OS^. 8928)* correcting on Jewish authority an error of Euseb., puts it 2 R. m. from Nicopolis on the way to Jerusalem; cf. ep. 108, 8 (^Opp. ed. Vallarsi, i. 690). — Shaalbivi] The name Selbit (JajuJLv) cannot represent noS>';:'; see the thorough investigations of Kampffmeyer in ZDPV. xv. xvi. (^ translates dXc67re/ces, from which it may be inferred that Hebrew had a noun n'?;;^' ^ s corresponding to <^>AjtJ', as well as S^'iU', (JjtlJ, xJUt-J. Aq. Symm. Theod. SaXaiSeti', which, corrupted to Qa\a0€iv, has found its way as a doublet into (5^. The other variations of (^ in this verse are particularly interesting. — "C n^Dni] (3 adds irri rbv 'Kfioppaiov. Cf. *?;? H"" T;7ni 31*^ 62. ^ Doom, (p. 1 1 f ) regards 33b 35b as patriotic interpolations (cf. (5 v.so- 3i) ; the Israelites cannot have thus subjected the more numerous and stronger native population. These notices, however, describe the situation at a later time, after the consolidation of the Israelite power in Canaan. 36. The Edomite frontier. — The verse has no connexion with the preceding. The Pass of Akrabbim was on the southern or * See on 2'^. The te.xt of Jud. 14I8 (nonnn) is corrupt. I. 34-36 55 southeastern frontier of Judah, toward Edom (Nu. 34^^- Jos. 15^"*) ; Sela, an Edomite stronghold (2 K. 14'') which lay still further east. The Hebrew text has the boundary of the Amorites, which could only be understood of the old southern boundary of their land, which thus became the limit of the IsraeHte conquests. This would, however, be a singularly roundabout way of making a plain statement. It is therefore in the highest degree probable that, following certain recensions of ^, we should restore, the boimdary of the Edomites was, 6^^.* This description of the southern boundary has no connexion with the seats of Dan in the West ; it would stand appropriately after v.^^ (the Kenites) or v.^^ (Sim- eon), but from the form of v.^*^ it may be doubted whether this was its original place. I am inclined to conjecture that the source from which the material of Jud. i was derived contained a brief description of the frontier between Israel and its neigh- bours on different sides, of which only this fragment has been pre- served. — The Edomites'] the nearest kinsmen of the Israelites and their neighbours on the SE. — The Akrabbim Pass] Scorpion Pass. Doubtless one of the principal passes leading up from the Arabah ; probably the Naqb es-Safa, by which the main road from Petra to Hebron ascends.f — To Sela and beyond] Hebrew text and ver- sions, from Sela, which gives us two points of departure remote from each other and no further limit. Sela (The Cliff) is com- monly identified with the later capital of the Nabataeans, Petra ; but this identification, in itself dubious, \ is here impossible. The boundary between Judah and Edom can never have run from Naqb es-Safa to Wady Musa. We require a point near the south- ern end of the Dead Sea, which equally well suits 2 K. 14^^ Is. i6\ The emendation is easy and seems necessary. It is doubtful whether the end of the verse is complete. (5^^ exactly represent |^, with which ?L®S> also agree; but ©alm j g (gub ohel.) have rh opiop toO 'Afxoppatov 6 'Idov/xaios. 'Idovfxaios prob. represents * Budde, I^ic/if. u. Sam., p. i8 f.; Kitt,GdN. i. i. p. 243. Hollenberg (ZA TIV. i. p. 102-104), i"^ closer agreement with dH, proposed " the border of the Amorites were the Edomites," &c. t Knob., Grove (DBK), Ri. {HWB. s. v.), Di. {ND^. p. 209), Be., al. Descrip- tions of the Naqb es-Safa, Rob., B/?^. ii. i8o f. ; Schubert, /deise, ii. p. 443, 447 ff. X See Buhl, Gescu. der Edom. iter, p. 34 f. 56 JUDGES a sound correction in Hebrew. — ;7'?Dn:D] <3'^^ t e-n-l rrjs T^rpas, probably cor- rection of diro. A terminus ad quern is indispensable; d in v^dhd may easily have originated in dittography. We should accordingly restore the text as follows : nSyni ySon Donpp nVyDD >DiNn Suji. On the Edomites, see K Buhl, Geschichte der Edomiter, 1893. The name occurs in a passage of the Papyrus Anastasi, where permission is asked for Bedawin of 'A-dii-ma (Edom) to pass the frontier fortress at T'^-ku (Succoth) to pasture their flocks in the fields of the Pharaoh; Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 135. In the Assyrian inscriptions frequently; Schrader, KAT'^, p. 149 f. DO-^py n^;'^:] ^piov tovto ttjs 'Idovfxaiai (Lat., Judaeae) dvaroXiKov, Pro- cop.; cf. also I Mace. 5^. Rob. (BJ^'^. ii. p. 120) proposed the line of cliffs, fifty to a hundred and fifty feet high, which cross the Ghor in an irregular curve from NW. to SE., seven or eight miles S. of the Dead Sea, the point at which the Arabah breaks down to the lower level of the Ghor. But apart from the fact that this is no pass, it falls with Rob.'s false identification of Kadesh ('Ain el-Weibeh). The description of the boundary (Nu. 343^- Jos. 15^-^) requires a pass on a line between the southern end of the Dead Sea and Kadesh ('Ain Qudeis) . The conditions are best fulfilled by Naqb es- Safa; Naqb ibn Mar (Wilson, DB^. s. v.) is also possible. W. az-Zuweireh (De Saulcy) is much too far north. — ySon] is understood as the name of the Edomite capital, Petra, by Procop., Vatab., Cler., Rosenm., Ew. (GVI. i. p. 338) ; Stud., Be., Cass., Oett., al. The equivalence of the names is seduc- tive, but the identification has no more substantial basis. The passages in which Sela occurs (Jud. i^^ 2 K. 14' Is. 16I)* all seem to point to a cliff near the southern end of the Dead Sea; we may perhaps conjecture that it was the modern es-Safieh, a bare and dazzlingly white sandstone promontory a thou- sand feet high-t II. 1-5. The Angel of Yahweh goes up from Gilgal ; he up- braids the Israelites for sparing the people of the land, and foretells the consequences. Origin of the name Bochim. — That 2^"' is to be joined to i is now generally recognized ; 2^'''^'' is the fitting close of the account of the conquest and settlement in ch. I ; 2**^'^* connects ch. i with the Book of Judges (2^^), and ex- plains to us in what sense and with what intention ch. i was prefixed. — Verse ^'^ is the counterpart of Jos. 18^ (^)'t Israel being now firmly established in Canaan, the religious centre is transferred from the plains of Jericho, where they first gained a * Is. 42II is too indefinite to be taken into account. t Buhl, op. cit., p. 20. X Wc., Comp.,\). 'zic^; Mey., Kue., Sta., Bu. — In P, 18^ must originally have stood before i^^-^ (We., Di.). I. 3&-II. I 57 foothold in Western Palestine, to a sanctuary in the heart of the land. This change is signalized by the removal of the Angel of Yahvveh,* his presence manifested in oracle and theophany, from Gilgal to the new holy place, which, upon his appearance there, is consecrated by sacrifice (v.^''). The transfer of the religious centre to Bethel marks the end of the period of invasion, as the preceding period of migration ended with the encampment at Gilgal (Jos. 5^"'^^). What stands between (v.^*^'^*^) is in substance and form strikingly different from ch. i, and bears the stamp of the school of Hebrew historiography which, for lack of a more suitable general name, we call Deuteronomicf It does not exacdy agree with 2"^-, however, still less with 2^ 3^"^, and on external grounds also cannot be ascribed to the author of that Introduc- tion to the Book of Judges. It doubtless comes from the hand of the editor who introduced ch. i in this place, t 1. T/ie Messenger of YahweJi] not a prophet, § but, as always in Jud., Yahweh himself as he appears to men in human form or otherwise sensibly manifests his presence; cf. Ex. 3^ 32^"* 23^^- Nu. 20^ Jos. 5^^-^^ ; see comm. on 6^\ The appearance of the maVak (theophany) at Bethel is the sign that Yahweh will hence- forth there receive the worship of his people and make himself known to them (Ex. 20"-^) .\ — From Gilgall Jos. d^'^'^'^ 5^" 2 S. J ^15. 40^ Between the fords of the Jordan and Jericho, where the Israelites first encamped after crossing the river, and where, ac- cording to Jos. (f lo*"'^-^^-^^ 14^, they long maintained a standing camp.^ The name, which occurs elsewhere in Palestine, seems to be derived from ancient stone circles (cromlechs) ; ** cf. Jos. 4^. Gilgal was, in the eighth century, a frequented sanctuary ; Amos (4^^- 5^^) and Hosea (4^^ 9'^ 12") name it with Bethel and * Cf. Ex. 2320. t We., Mey., Sta., Kue., Bu., Kitt., Dr. X Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 20. ^ ^ (ffiS vid.) Rabb., Drus., Stud.; specifically, Phineas, Midr. Tanch., 2Dcr. RLbG., Cass. — An angel, Thdt,, Aug., a Lap. ; in human form, Ephrem. II Examples of the establishment of an altar at the scene of a theophany, Gen. I27f. 262tf- 35iff- ; or of the appearance of the Messenger of Yahweh, Jud. 624 12I5-20 2 S. 24i5ff.. — See further, W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, Pt. i. p. 108 f. H Representation of E ? It is probable, though not certain, that the same place is meant in i S. 7I6 iqS iii4f- &c. ** The etymology proposed in Jos. 5'^ is more ingenious than plausible. 58 JUDGES Beersheba as one of the chief seats of Yahweh worship. Modern explorers have found traces of the ancient name in Tell Gelgiil and Birket Gilguliyeh. — T^ Bethel (?)] the Hebrew text, which is confirmed by all the versions, to Bochim, i.e., to the place subsequently so named from the weeping there on this occasion (v.^").* In v.^ we expect, however, the older name of the place, and a name of greater note. This is perhaps preserved in the con- flate text of ({^, which beside litX tov KXavOfjiwva (Bochim) has an^ to Bethel and to the house of Is7'ael.\ Bochim ("Weepers") may then be connected with Allon Bacuth (" Weeping Tree ") below Bethel (Gen. 35^; see on v.^). Since, according to Jos. 18^ 19^^, the tabernacle was at Shiloh, others think that Bochim must have been near that sanctuary. \ The original sequel of v.^" was *, "and they sacrificed there to Yahweh"; see below, ad loc. — I''. I brought you up from Egypt'] so the context and the follow- ing tenses require ; J^ / will bring you up. The false tense sug- gests that some words have fallen out at the beginning of the sentence, and various attempts have been made, beginning with the ancient versions, to fill the lacuna. The most satisfactory of these is, / visited you aiid brought you up, dr'c. ; but it is not im- possible that this improves on the author. — The land ivhich I sware to your fathers] this reference to the oath made to the forefathers is very common in Dt. (i«@ 1^ 510. is. 23 ^13 §1 ii9-2i 19^ 2(i^-^^ 28^^ 30^^ 2j2o.2i.23^ ^(,_^ ^j^(^ ij^ editorial additions to other books of the Pentateuch (Rje. Rd. ; cf. Gen. 50-"^ Ex. 13^-^^ 32^3 33I Nu. T4i«-23 32II) ; § the promise. Gen. 17^ (J) 13^^ 15^" 26^ 28^^*^^ ; also 1 7* 35^ (P) . — / will never annul my agreeinent with you] in the light of v.^, not the covenant with the forefathers just spoken of, but that of Ex. 34^^^-, to which the reference in the following is unmistakable. -^ 2. You shall make no terfns] Ex. 34^^ ; the command that accompanied his promise and constitutes the obligation of the other part. — Full down their altars] Ex. 34^^, " pull down their altars and shatter their stone pillars {massebahs) and hew down their wooden posts" {asherahs) — the sacred sym- • The use of the name in v.i is explained as an anticipation ; Rabb., Aug., Drus., Cler., Stud. t The emendation liethcl is adopted by We,, Comp., p. 215 ; Mey., Kuc., Bu., Kitt. \ Cass., lia., ai. § Di. on Dt. i8. n. 1-5 59 bols which stood beside the altars ; cf. Dt. f 12^; further Ex. 23^- Nu. 2>'^'^' J*^s- 23^-'^-. — You have not heeded my injunction\ cf. Ex. 23^"-. The words contain the author's judgment on the failure to exterminate the Canaanites, ch. i. — What have you done .?] 8^ Gen. ^'■^ ; What is this you have done ? not, Why have you done this ? * — 3. A?id I also said~\ many understand this as a declaration of present purpose, setting it over against / said, w} : I said I^wiH^noFlDreak my word with you, I will drive out these nations (Ex. 34^°^) ; but you have disobeyed my command to make no terms with them ; therefore I have now also said, I will not drive them out.f But if this antithesis had been designed, v."^ would hardly begin as it does, and I also said, but rather, thej-e- fo7'e I say, or, so I now say. It is preferable, therefore, to regard v.^ as referring to a previous warning such as Jos. 23^^ Nu. Ty-^"^, \ fronTwhich the peculiar expression in v.'^'' is perhaps derived. That this threat was now to be carried out, did not need, after v.^^, to be expressly declared. — They will be tho7-ns in your sides (?)] so the text is usually filled out from Nu. 33'^, cf. Jos. 23^^ ~(a scotu'ge [?] on your flanks). The text, which can be literally translated only, they will be sides to you, may be ex- plained as an unintelligent abridgment of one of these passages. Others would translate, in parallelism with the next clause, they will be traps for you ; § cf. Jos. 23^^^'. — And their gods will be a snare to you'\ Ex. 34^^ 23*^ Dt. 7^^. Not an occasion of sin only, but a cause of sudden and unexpected ruin ; cf. Is. 8^*- ^^, Yahweh is *'a springe and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Au- gustine, however, goes too deep when he infers from the verse, "nonnulla etiam de ira Dei venire peccata." || — 4. The people broke Old into loud weeping'] 21^ i S. ii'*, &c. — 5. They gave the place the 7iame Bochim'\ i.e., Weepers. The subject may be in- definite,—^^^ the place got the na?ne B. ((g"^*^). A place Bochim is not otherwise known. It is perhaps a far-fetched etymological * ILS«, Lth., Cler., Schm., AV., RV. al. mu. t So !L, Thdt., Ra., Schm., Trem. — Jun., Cler., Stud., Ba., Reuss, Kitt.— Ap- plication of the principle, " Frangenti fidem fides frangatur eidem," Schm. + Abarb.. Ke. § Abulw., Cler. {retia), Lth., Fr. Delitzsch, II See Schm., qu. 2. 6o JUDGES explanation of a name Beka'im (2 S. 5-^^) ; * cf. also the valley of Baca (Ps. 84'), and Allon Bacuth (Gen. t,^^) . — They sacri- ficed there to Vahiaeh'] original sequel of v.^^-. It is not improba- ble that the older history related the building of the altar at Bethel, and perhaps other things, which have been supplanted by v.^^"^" ; but there seems to be no reason to regard the context as so fragmentary that the original connexion and intention cannot be made out.f Older scholars regarded 2^-^ as a fragment having no connexion with either what precedes or what follows (Ziegler, T/ieo/. Abhandl., i. 1 791, p. 295); or, misled by the similarity in tone between a^^-^^ and 2^-36, as a piece taken from some other context and set here as a prelude, or text, to the following (Stud.). Another point which was much discussed by earlier commentators is whether the events here related occurred before or after the death of Joshua; see Cler., Schm., qu. 3, Stud. — 1. Gilgal'\ according to Fl. Jos., antt. V. I, 4 § 20, in the plain E. of Jericho, 10 stadia from that city and 50 from the Jordan; Euseb. (^OS'^. 24394 cf. 23355) describes it as a deserted site 2 R. m. E. of Jericho, still holy to the people of the neighbourhood; cf. Jerome, ep. 108, 12 (^Opp. i. 696, ed. Vail.). A Gilgal, with a church in whioji the twelve stones set up by Joshua were shown, was visited by pilgrims down to the 7th or 8th cent. % Zschokke in 1865 found a mound covered with large stones which the Arabs called Tell GelgSl (^Beitrd^e zur Topographie der tvestl. Jordansau, p. 28); cf. Guerin, Safjiarie, i. p. 117 ff., who discovered the mosaic floor of a church. Conder identifies Gilgal with Birket Gilguliyeh {Gt. Map^ sh. 18 Ps), nearer to Eriha (Jericho); see PER Statements, 1874, p. 36-38; SJVP. Memoirs, iii. p. 173, 191. — D"iD3n Vn] v. 5 □"'33; the art. is perhaps an addi- tional ground of suspicion. (§, with substantial unanimity, etrl rbv KXavd/xibva Kal irrl Baidi]\ Kal iirl rbv oIkov laparfK. § The first words (cf. the pi. KXai^^/itD- j'es, v.^) may. reasonably be suspected of being a later conformation to |^ (We.) ; Bu. {Richt. u. Sam., p. 21) regards the rest of © as genuine, and restores ^>A-\v^ n-'j Sni Sx no Sn SjSjd mn-' ^nSd Sj;m, or tior no;. so also Kitt. I suspect that Sn-ic''' no is merely an accidental doublet of Sn no. |1 A critical significance has sometimes been attached to the space (NpDD) in the middle of the verse, as indicating a lacuna or break in the text; but it is more * Appellatively a kind of tree. . 0 . 34 is introduced by R to recover connexion. The original, doubtless very brief, form of 222-38 (in substance J), can hardly be recovered. Kitt. regards a^s 3I-3 (prob. J) as the only old part of this passage ; E is not represented. Kue. also thinks 31-3 an extract from an older source; 2^3 34 form the setting given it by the author of Judges. II. 6-8 65 sion of the account of the great assembly at Shechem and the parting exhortations of Joshua (Jos. 24^--' ; substantially E). It was followed by the death and burial of Joshua (v.^*"- Jos. 24^"^'), to which E's description of the subsequent apostasy of Israel and its consequences ( v.^'^- ^- ^"^ ^*^^- ^^■) immediately attached itself. The insertion of Jud. i^^-2% and the division of the books, left the story in Jos. without a suitable close, and accordingly Jud. 2^-^-® were restored in their original connexion in Jos. (24^^-^"), carrying over with them Jud. 2^ (= Jos. 24^^), an addition of D."* — 7. = Jos. 24'^^ ((3 24^-^). The verse is not by the same hand as v.^^, to which it is parallel ; v.^^ is the sequel of v.^ in E, v.^, in expression and representation Deuteronomic, is its counterpart in D. — T/ie elders who survived Joshua] the sheikhs, the head men of the clans and families, who were the natural guardians of Israelitish custom, law, and religion.t It is not used with primary reference to age, X though the elders here meant were doubtless the coevals of Joshua. — Who su7'vived Joshua] lit. prolofiged days after J; a very common phrase in Dt. {e.g. 4^*^ 5^ 11^ 17^ 22'' 30^^ 32'^^) and Deuteronomic passages in other books {e.g. i K. 3^^ ; cf. also Ex. 20^2) ; otherwise infrequent (Is. 53^'' Prov. 28^^ Eccl. 8^^). — Who had seen all the great work of Yahweh] v.^° Jos. 24"^ had know7t, experieftced. The "great work of Yahweh" is not to be limited to the conquest of Canaan, but comprehends his whole great deliverance, the exodus, the wandering, and the invasion, of all of which Joshua's generation had been witnesses ; cf. Dt. 11^"'^, where Moses recalls to the Israelites, as they are about to cross the Jordan, how their eyes had seen " all the great work of Yah- weh which he wrought" (v.''), specifying the Egyptian plagues, the dehverance of Israel and destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, &c. (v.-"'^ cf. f^''^). The author of Jud. 2', like the author of Dt. 1 1^"^ 5-*^ 7^^^^-, represents the exodus and the con- quest as falling within the lifetime of a single generation. In the memory of these signal manifestations of Yahweh's power and grace, that generation remained faithful to him even after their great leader passed away; cf. v.^°. — 8.= Jos. 24^. The begin- ning of the verse in Jos., afid afer these things, i.e., after Joshua * Cf. Stud., Havernick, Einl., ii. i. p. 79. f Be. % Ba. F 66 JUDGES had delivered his farewell address and the people had entered upon the possession of their allotments, may be part of the origi- nal text, but is not indispensable. — T/te servant of Yahweh~\ of Joshua, perhaps the addition of an editor;* Dt. 34^ Jos. i^ and often of Moses, see Dillmann on Dt. /. c. — A hutidred and ten years o/d^ the age of his ancestor Joseph, Gen, 50"-^ (E). — 9. = Jos. 24^". — They buried him within the boimds of his estate'] on the lands which were allotted to him (Jos. 19^^^) ; not." on the boundary," &c. — Timnath-heres] Jos. 2/^^ \(f^ Timnath-serah, probably a metathesis to get rid of a name of heathenish sound ; see note. Timnath is the modern Tibneh, NW. of Gifna (Gophna) on the road to the coast. On the northern side of the hill which lies over against the town to the south are remarkable tombs, in one of which Gu^rin would recognize the burial place of Joshua.t Samaritan, Jewish, and Moslem tradition in the Mid- dle Ages fixed on a site nearer Nabulus (Shechem), at Kefr Harith or at 'Awerteh. $ — The Highlands of Ephraini\ see on 3-'. — North of Mt. Gaash] cf. " the Wadies of Gaash," 2 S. 23'*' = I Chr. 1 1'*^" ; there is no other clue by which to fix the location. — 10. All that generation] the contemporaries of Joshua ; see above on V.''. — Were gathered to their fathers] 2 K. 22-^; com- pare the equivalent expressions, be gathered to his people, go to his fathers, sleep with his fathers. The original reference is to the family sepulchre, in which, as in a common abode, the mem- bers of the family dwell together, and perpetuate in that shadowy existence the relations of the former life. By a natural extension the phrases are applied also to the nether world, in which, by their clans, and tribes, and nations, all the dead dwell. In later times they are only a euphemistic circumlocution for death. § — Another generatioji] Joel, i'^ ; the defection began with the next * S> in Jud. ii also. t On Tibneh see Eli Smith in Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, p. 483 ff. ; De Saulcy, Voyage en Terre Sainte, ii. p. 238 ff., Gu6rin, Samarie, ii. p. 89-104; PEF. State- ments, 1873, p. 145, 1878, p. 22 f.; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 299 f., 374-378. t Kefr Harith, about 9 m. SW. of Nabulus, is accepted by Conder {SWP. Me- moirs, ii. p. 284 f. ; PEF. Statements, 1878, p. 22 f.) and G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr. of the Holy Land, 1894, p. 351, n. 3. § See Bottcher, De {nferis, p. 54 ff. ; Schwally, Leben nach dem Tode, p. 54 ff. ; Moore, in Andover Review, ii. 1884, p. 433 ff., 516-518 (literature). II. 8-IO 6/ generation after the invasion. — Who did not hiow Yahweh and the woi'k which he wi-oiight for Israel~\ see on v.' Jos. 24*^. Not wouhi not acknowledge Yahweh (Ex. 5^ i S. 2^"), but, did not, by personal experience, know him as DeHverer, Leader, Conqueror (cf. Dt. 11^^ 13^, &c.) ; they had not shared those wonderful ex- periences which had been to their fathers tihe proof of Yahweh's power and his jealous love for Israel, and made it inconceivable that they should turn from him to other gods ; cf. Ex. i^* 6. This seems more probable than the alternative hypothesis, that, after the insertion of Jud. 1^-2^, the close of Jos. 24 was repeated in Jud. 2^^- to resume connexion. That the text in Jos. appears in some points more origi- nal (nSsn an^in nnx >n>T V.29; the position of v.3i=:Jud. 2'^t) is not con- clusive. — That the events narrated in 2^-10 cannot be posterior in time to v.i-^ was recognized by older commentators, who tried to get over the difficulty by exegetical artifices. Schm. connects : Caeterum quomodo, quae Angelus Jehovae praedixit, impleta fuerint, ex his sequentibus apparebit : Postquam dimisit Josua, etc. The structure of the following verses is suspended; the apodosis begins in v.^^, Tum vero fecerunt filii Israelis malum, etc. Similarly Ba. : What is narrated in v.^-i^a is to be regarded as virtually in the pluper- fect; v.iob. 11 connects with and continues v.^. Cf also Ra., Ki., Abarb. — 9. Din njDn] probably Portion (sacred territory) of the Sun; cf. Har-heres (i^; see note there), Beth-shemesh, &c. In Jos. (24^'^ 19^'^) nno njnn, and so IL^ here. This is not the true name of the place (Stud., Ges. Thes., X Be., al.), for which Din njDn Jud. 2^ is transcriptional error; neither are Din and nno from the same root by metathesis, like tr'JD, ^i:*:) (Ki., Abarb., Schm.), or from different roots of the same meaning (Ba.) ; but Din 'n is the original, and 'n niD is prob. not accidental error but intentional mutilation of a name which savoured of idolatry (Juynboll, Chron. Samar., p. 295). § There are numerous examples of similar procedure; cf. esp. Is. ig^^, where for the same reason Din has been altered to Din, or, in a few manuscripts, to Din. The latter reading is found in some codd. and ed. Soncino in Jud. 2^. Possibly dafjLvaaa- Xap (3 Jos. 24^0 (21*'' Jud. 2^'^°^^) represents another transposition, Cf. also Bada bathra \'2i^'^, Ra, on Jos. 24^*^ Jud. 2^. — At the beginning of our era Thamna was the chief town of a toparchy which lay to the NE. of Lydda (Diospolis) in the old territory of Ephraim (Fl. Jos., b. j. iii, 3, 5; Plin., n. h.y V. 70; Euseb., OS"^. 21934 cf. 2603 23993 21191 1|). Here in the 4th cent. * Noting the similarities of phraseology. t In C5 this verse stands in Jos. in the same position as in Jud., immediately after v.28 = Jud, 26. J Etymologizing, without warrant in usage, portio abundans v. redundans. \ Havernick {Einl. ii. i, p. 79) considered Din 'n the old Canaanite, niD 'n the Israelite name. || See also Schiirer, GjV. ii. p, 138 f. 68 JUDGES the tomb of Joshua {eiriar]p.ov . . . i^vrnia) was shown {OS'^. 26133 24603; Jerome, ep. loS, 13). It was identified with the modern Tibneh by Eli Smith in 1843 {Bibl. Sacr., p. 483 f.). Guerin, in 1863, was convinced that he had discovered the tomb of Joshua in the most western of the rock tombs over against the town. Many niches for lamps in the forechamber prove that it was once a frequented shrine; and it is not improbable that it is the same that was shown to Christian pilgrims as the sepulchre of Joshua in the 4th century. For confirmation, the Abbe Richard in 1870 found in and before the tomb flint knives, which he combined with Jos. 2^^ 21*0 (g. — There are a number of other places bearing the name Timnath : one in the hill country of Judah (Jos. 15^^ prob. also Gen. 38^-^-) J another the scene of Samson's exploits (Jud. 14. 15; Jos. 15^'^ I9*^)- The name Tibneh is also found east of the Jordan in "Aglun (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 458 ff.)-* — 10. Vn^ N^ nw'N] >n^ in this sense freq. in Dt., e.g. 1 12 92 1 128 133. 7. 14 2833- 36. 64. cf. Jer. 9I6, &c. (Di., NDJ. p. 588). 11-19. The defection of Israel ; neither punishment nor de- liverance works amendment. — A summary of the whole history. — 11-13. The defection. Verse "is not the original sequel of v}^ (E), which is rather to be found in v.^^, neither is it in place before v.^^ (D), which it anticipates; probably, therefore, inserted by the editor (R), employing motives of both E and D. — The Is- raelites did what displeased Yahweh'] lit. that which was evil in his eyes. Standing formula in the introduction to the stories of the several judges (3''^^ 4^ 6^ 10^ 13^; cf. Dt. 4-^ 9^^ \f 31"^), and especially in the judgements passed on the character of the kings of Israel and Judah (i K. is^^-^^ 16-^=^° 22^2 ^ ^ ^2^ ^^^ . seldom in Samuel (i S. 15*'"' 2 S. 12^ cf. i S. 12^*^), which was never sub- jected to thorough Deuteronomic redaction. The evil is gener- ally, though not always, an offence against religion, the worship of other gods, or of idols of Yahweh ; see the exarhples above. — Served the Baals~\ the gods of the Canaanites among whom they lived (3''''), then, in general, fell into heathenism; see further on v.''\ — 12. The verse shows in every clause its filiation with the Deuteronomic literature. — Forsook Yahweh'] lo*'-^*^-^^, and often throughout the O.T. — God of their fathers'] only here in Jud. ; frequent in Dt. (i^-^i 4^ 6'^ 12^ 26^ 2f 29^^ cf. Ex. 3^-16^5 j^g^ 1 81). — Who brought the f?i out of the land of Egypt] the great de- ♦ The genitive, very likely in these cases also originally the name of a god, has been dropped. II. II-I4 6g liverance gave him a right to their allegiance. It stands thus as the first of the Ten Words (Ex. 20^ Dt. 5^'), the ground of obligation and motive of obedience. Unfaithfulness has the base- ness of ingratitvide (Dt. 8^^^- 13^", &c.). — Followed other go ds\ 2^9 Dt. 8^9 1 1^8 132 28^^ Jer. 7^ ii^o 13^ and freq. — (9/ the gods of the surrounding nations^ Dt. 6" 13^^-. — Exasperated Yahweh'] the verb nowhere else in Jud. ; Dt. 4-^ 9^^ 31^ 32^^; freq. in Deutero- nomic strata of Kings and in Jer. It connotes defiant provocation : superbe peccaverunt, nee curaverunt, si maxime Deus indignaretur (Schm.). — 13, 14. Verse ^^^ is a doublet to v}''J^ As v.^- clearly belongs to D, v.^'^ may be ascribed to E and connected immedi- ately with v.^". — Forsook Yahweh~\ see on v.^-* ; cf also in E, Jos. 24-*^ Dt. 3i^'^*-. — And saciificed to Baal and Asta7'te~\ on the text see critical note. The Baals and Astartes, i.e. the heathen gods and goddesses, are coupled in the same way in Jud. 10*^ i S. 7^ 1 2^*^ ; t cf. Baals and Asheras, Jud. 3^. Baal signifies * proprietor, possessor ' of something, and requires a complement, expressed or implied, thus : Baal-Sor, the Lord of Tyre ; Baal-Sidon, Baal- Leba- non, Baal-Hermon, also Baal-Shamen, the Lord of the Heavens ;$ or Baal-zebub, Baal-berith, &c. It is not a proper name ; the name of the Baal of Tyre, e.g., was Melqart ; in Israel the Baal (Propri- etor) was Yahweh (Hos. 2^^, Heb. 2^^).§ There were thus innu- merable Baals, some of them having proper names of their own, others distinguished only by the place where they were wor- shipped, or by some attribute. In any religious community the god to which it belonged would ordinarily be spoken of merely as the Baal, the Lord, further definition being unnecessary ; but there was among the Canaanites and Phoenicians no one god named Baal. In the Old Testament the plural is sometimes used of this multitude of local deities ; sometimes, as here, the singular, for the whole genus false god in contrast to Yahweh. || — Astarte'] * An elaborate exegetical explanation of this doublet in Abarb. t Both probably E (e). X That Baal was a solar diety is, however, an inveterate error. It is not certain even that Baal-hamman was such ; see E. Meyer, in Roscher, i. 2870. ^ Cf. also names such as Eshbaal (son of Saul), Baaljada (son of David = Eljada), and even Baaljah, i.e. Yahweh is Baal. I) Cf. Hos. 13I Jer. 28, esp. iii3 Zeph. i*. See Sta., ZA TW. vi. p. 303 f 70 JUDGES Phoen. 'Ashtart; Heb. 'Ashtoreth* One of the most widely worshipped of the Semitic divinities ; in Babylonia and Assyria as Ishtar, in southern Arabia as 'Athtar, in Syria as 'Athar. From I K. 11^-^ 2 K. 23^'"^ it might appear that the worship of Astarte was specifically Phoenician, but this would be an erroneous infer- ence ; it was evidently common through all Palestine, east and west of the Jordan. She had a temple among the Philistines (i S. 31^°), gave her name to a city in Bashan, Ashtaroth- karnaim (Dt. i"* Gen. 14^), and appears in the Moabite stele of King Mesha ('Ashtar-Kemosh, 1. 17). Numerous inscriptions from Phoenicia and its colonies attest the wide diffusion and im- portance of her cult, which was early introduced into Egypt also. As the principal female deity of the Canaanites, the name of Astarte is used in the O.T. in conjunction with Baal as a quasi- appellative for goddess, for which the Hebrew language possesses no proper word.f 11. D"'':'>on] the plural here and in nnntj'y v.i^ does not refer to the many- images of the gods (Aug., quaest. 16, Ki., Ges., Stud., al.), nor to the manifold local forms of one god (Renan, comparing the many Virgins of Catholic lands, X Baethgen, al.) ; but to different gods, — 13. nnnty];Si h^i'i n3)?M] the incongruity of number is most probably to be removed by reading ninB';;S sg., though the plural is supported by fH and verss. It would make no difference in the sense if we made both plur. The construction of the verb presents a more serious difficulty; S nop for n^;? with accus. is unexampled; § in Jer. 44^ i^yS (> ©S>) is doublet or gloss to "ijapS. This corruption suggests the correction for our verse; I conjecture that the author wrote ■nDi'^M burtit sacrifices (Jer. 7^ nis. 17 and often, Hos. ii^, &c.). which was altered, by accidental conformation to v.", or intentionally, for emphasis, to nai'ii. On Baal see Baudissin, PRE^. ii. p. 27-38, where the older literature is pretty fully given (p. 37 f); Pietschmann, Gesch. d. Phonizier, p. 183 f.; Baethgen, Beiirdge zur Se7nit. Religionsgeschichte, p. 17 ff.; W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, Pt. i. p. 92 ff., and art. " Baal " in Neiv Diet, of the Bible ; E. Meyer, art. " Ba'al " in Roscher, Lexikon der Griechischen und R'dmischen Mythologie, i. 2867-2880, On Astarte, Baudissin, PRE^. i. p. 719-725 (older lit., p. * With malicious substitution of the vowels of bosheth. t Similarly in Assyrian (in the plural), Hani ti-ishtarati, gods and goddesses; Schrader, KA 'f^. p. i8o ; Tiele, Babylonisch-Assyr. Geschichte, p. 538. In the treaty of Ramses II. with the Hittites we read of the " 'Astart of the Hittite country," just as of the Suth of Heta ; W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 330. X As Aug. had the many Junos. ^ In I S. 4" the meaning, ' be subject to,' is different. IT. 14-16 71 725); Pietschmann, op. cit.; Baethgen, Beitrdge, p. 31 ff.; Barton, ** Ashto- reth and her Influence in the O.T.," JBL. x. p. 73 ff.; E. Meyer, art, "As- tarte," in Roscher, i. 645-655. A satisfactory etymology and explanation of the name mntr;; has not yet been given ; see Lexx. The fern, ending seems to be distinctly Canaanite (Phoenician, Hittite). 14, 15. The punishment. — 14. The two halves of the verse are obviously doublets ; v.*^ is probably the continuation of v.^\E), v.^ its counterpart in D. — Yahweh was incensed against Israel^ yP 3^ lo^ cf. d^ ; a common phrase. — He gave them into the power of pillage rs'\ a somewhat unusual word; v.'*' i S. 14'**^ 2 K. 1 7-" Is. 10^^ ; see note. — He sold them into the power of the ene- mies who stirrounded the??i^ parallel to the preceding (v.*^), in dif- ferent terms ; 3^ 4^ 10'' cf. 4^ Dt. 32'^*^ i S. 12^ Ez. 30^^ Is. 50^ ; for the last clause see S'^l The punishment is inflicted by the hand of the same surrounding nations for whose religion they had for- saken their own (v.^) . The words may have originally followed immediately after v.^, "they exasperated Yahweh." — They were no more able to stand before their ene?nies~\ Jos. 7^^ cf. Lev. 26'^*'* Nu. 14*-"^^. — 15. In evejj campaign'^ lit. wherever they went out (to war) ; see note. Others, in every undertaking, in omni nego- tio, propter quod exiverunt.* — The hand of Yahweh, 6^|-)n 131 tDDcn oy ^"''] pf. . . . pf. consec; recurring event in past time, Job i^ Jud. 6^ Gen. 38^ (on); 13 8^ Hos. ii^. — 2ri|'^5pmi Dn>:^n'?] yrh i^i 48 6^ '1012 Ex. 3^ i S. lo^s 2 K. 134-22 Am. 61* &c. pm Joel 2^^; common in Aram.; in lEM the usual equivalent of Heb. yrh. — 19. intntrni ia^'^] impf. frequentative; Hiphil of conduct, behave badly. — onS mnnt^'nSi onn^'S . . . 'Ji hd^S] the first gerundial inf. (see on v.22) specifies the particular in which they behaved worse than their fathers; the following inff. ('J1 D"\3>'S) are a species of explicative apposition to T\i-h, showing wherein the following of other gods consisted (Schm. well, serviendo illis, et incurvando se illis), not the motive of the Israelites (Jo serve thevi). — nS on^SS^jDD iSisn] p of partitive object; cf. i S. 31^ Est. 6I''. Others render, did not desist from their practices, &c., giving the Hiph. an internally transi- tive force for which there seems to be no example or necessity. uhh^^'Q in bad sense. Is. 3^ Jer. ii^^ &c. 20, 21. The penalty of Israel's persistent defection ; Yahweh will not drive out any more of the nations which remained un- conquered at the death of Joshua. — Cf. v.-*"-. The verses are with much probability ascribed by Budde to E ; * but in con- formity with our analysis of the preceding we should connect them with v.-^^^-, rather than with v.^^ as he does. — 20. Inasmuch * Richt. u. Sam., p. 158 f. 74 JUDGES as this people have transgressed the injunction I laid upon their fathers'^ Jos. 7^^ (E). RV. lit., my covenant which I commanded their fathers. The verbs (transgress, enjoin) show that berith, rendered in our versions with mechanical uniformity covetiant, is not here conceived of as a mutual compact or agreement, but as an ordinance of Yahweh, a rule prescribed by him. In general, in the older literature,* berith, in its religious use, is a formal act by which the relations between Yahweh and his people are regu- lated, or the relation thus regulated. Its author is God alone; man's part is only to accept it. In speaking of it, according to circumstances, the thought may rest chiefly, or even . exclusively, on one or the other of its two sides ; on the solemn promise and pledge of his favour which Yahweh has freely given, or on the character and conduct which he requires, which are in effect the terms of friendly intercourse with him and the enjoyment of his blessings. In the former case it becomes, as in v.^, almost equiv- alent to promise ; in the latter, to commandment, injunction^ as here, so that it may stand in paralleUsm to law {torah), as in Hos. 8\t The commandment given to the fathers was, that they should worship Yahweh alone; cf. Ex. 7,^-'^^ 23-^^- ^^•. — 21. /, on my part, will not drive out, cr'c.'] ; by their violation of his injunc- tion they have forfeited the promise that accompanied it and was virtually conditional upon their fidelity (Ex. 34^^ 23-^-''-^^). — A single man of the stations that Joshua left when he died~\ cf. Jos. 23^-'f- Jud. 22f- 10I3. 20. r\\7\ >ijn] MJ seldom of Israel; Ex. 19^ 33!^ Jos. 3^'^ 4^ Zeph. 2^ (parallel to d;', which is the usual word) Is. i*. Possibly the word is chosen for this reason; nr itself sometimes has a tone of alienation like iste ; cf. Is. 6^ S^^. — T\^'y:i\ apparently only in Hebrew. The older etymological theory is well represented by Simonis : % foedus ... sic dicitur a dissectione animalium, in pangendis foederibus usitata; similarly J. D. Mich., Ges. Thes., and many; most recently Konig, Ilauptprobleiiie der altisraelit. Religionsgeschichte, p. 85 = Religious Hist, of Israel, p. 152. Others suppose a development like that in decider e, decisio ; scheiden, entscheiden, &c.; so E. Meier, Wurzelwb., 1845, • J E and D in the Hexateuch, and the cognate strata in the historical books. t Sec J. J. P. Valcton, Jr., " Das Wort nna in den jehovistischen und deutero- nomistischen Stiicken dcs Hexateuchs," ZATW. xii. p. 224-260; cf. ib. p. 1-22 (in the Priestly Law) ; Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, p. 294 ff. X Cf. Castell, Lex. Heptaglott., s. v. II. 20-22 75 p. 514, MV., al. The assumed primary meaning, however (nn^ * cut '), is facti- tious. Fr. Delitzsch, Hebrew and Assyrian, compares Assyr, baru, ' decide.' See Brown, Hebrew Lexicon, s. v. — In O.T. usage the notion of agreement is manifestly prior to that of either command or promise, and probably this reflects the older history of the word. For the free nomadic Semite, all right which did not exist by nature in the bond of blood originated in compact; We., Proleg.;^ p. 443 f., Engl, transl. p. 418 f.; H. Schultz, Alttest. 7'heol.,^ 401 ff. = Old Test. TheoL, ii. p. 2 ff. — r>-i2 la;;] Dt. 172 Jos. 7I1 23I6 2 K. iS^^; of. -ion v.i Dt. 3ii6- 20^ r\y:; Dt. 4^3, ary Dt. 2924, dnd 2 K. if= (Valeton, ZA TW. xii. p. 235). — ms] with nna Jos. 7" 23I6 i K. iiii. — 21. j7irin> 3tj; ncN] unusual use of 3T>'; cf. 2 S. 151^. — ^\'D>^\ which Joshua left and died. <5 has instead, /cat d ^s^\'^ (masc, plur.), from which the present text arose by accident. The plur. D2 in ilH is explained of the many command- ments, statutes, and ordinances which constitute the xvay of Y. — ddSS] gerun- dial, v.1'19 I S. 1217 1433 2 S. 3I0 Jer. 447-8; Ges.^s § 114, n. 4; Dr.3 § 205. 23. Verse ^% with 3^, clearly belongs to a different circle of ideas from 2^'- or 2^ 3'*. In 2^^ 3- Yahweh does not drive out the peo- ple of Canaan at once, in order that the succeeding generatipns of Israelites also may have experience of war. This explanation ac- cords well with J's point of view, and to that writer the verses are with considerable probability ascribed by E. Meyer.^ Verse "^^ may perhaps be an editorial addition, connecting the statement of v.^'' with the time before Joshua's death (v.^^) ; it is possible, how- ever, that the editor has only substituted the name Joshua for an original Israel. — Yahweh left these nations^ thd reference is obvi- ously to nations of which the writer had already spoken, not to the list below in 3^. If our analysis be substantially correct, we shall most naturally think of ch. 1, in the fuller form in which it once existed, in which, as appears from v.^*^, not only the cities within their own borders which Israel did not conquer were named, but the boundaries of the surrounding nations. — Not expelli7ig them at once'] cf. Ex. 23^- Dt. f'^-, which differ materially, however, in conception and expression. The reason for the gradual expulsion is given in 3^. — Did not give them into the poiuer of Joshua] the commentators have found it very hard to explain how this could be a punishment for the defection of Israel after the death of Joshua, as in the present connexion it must be ; quas nimirum non dederat in manum Josuae,t is what the connexion impera- tively requires, but this cannot be extorted from the Hebrew text. — III. 1. Verse ^'^ is the introduction to the catalogue v.^; v.^^ is * See above, p. 64 and n. ^ Schm., cf. Abarb. n. 22-in. 2 77 a doublet to v.^''. — To try Isi'ael by them~\ it was a disciplinary judgement; cf. Dt. 8--^". This sense would be possible in the assumed context of E (2-°-^ 3^^-^) ; perhaps, however, the words were added by the redactor ; cf. 2" 3'*. — Namely all those who had no expeiience of all the wars of Canaan'] the generation fol- lowing the invasion ; corresponding to those who knew not Yah- weh and the great things he did for Israel (2^° cf. 2'). The words are difficult and inappropriate in their present connexion; they may be either an editorial addition derived from v.-^, or, more probably, a gloss to v.-'' intruded into the text in the wrong place.* — 2. The original sequel of 2-^'.t The text is clearly corrupt; the restoration is somewhat uncertain. The most conservative course is to follow (3 ; merely for the sake of the successive generations of Israelites, to familiarize thetn ivith war. A bolder reconstruc- tion would be, merely in order that the Israelites might have expe- rience of war. The sense is not materially different. IL well, ut postea discerent filii eorum certare cum hostibus, et habere con- suetudinem praeliandi. The incompleteness of the conquest is not attributed to the sinful slackness of Israel (2^'^), nor is it designed as a trial of Israel's fidehty to its religion (2" 3^), nor a punishment for its persistent infidehty (2^"^-); it is a wise appointment of Yahweh, that his people, from generation to generation, may have occasion to cultivate the virtues which only war develops, and learn by experience the superiority of their god to those of the heathen. — Only those who had not known them before] the generation of the invasion had had this training and experience; it is their descendants who are meant in v.''. The half verse is superfluous and may be secondary; v.^'' is a doublet to it. 23. □iJ'mn TiSnS] the proper negative of the inf. (8^) ; here in gerundial use (see on v. 22 above), as in Jos. 23*^ -Ji "^ID vnSjS^ not turning. — III. 1. n-'S mn'* n>jn] ©^vlm g'l-^^roOs; conformation to 2^1. — Sni^'"' TvS d2 mojS] S. a.'i ]yii±' -ji in^i- Cler. compares Livy, xxxix. i. — uy;-\'^ n'? □"'jrj'? n^^N] the pi. masc. suff. referring to ncn'^D is intolerable; the writer or scribe very likely had in mind the y;iD mcnSn of v.^*'; the discord in gender is not so unusual. The half verse is not improbably an editorial restriction like v?^; observe the over emphatic use of pn as well as the false concord just noted. — pn] restrictive particle, with nouns (i S. i^^ Am. 3^), verbs (Jud. 14^''), and particles (2 K. 21^). It does not always limit the next following word, but often stands at the beginning of the sentence, limiting the emphatic word in it, which has not, however, as in Arab, after M^^> a fixed position in the sentence. 3, 4. The peoples which Yahweh left within the bounds of Palestine to try the faith and obedience of Israel. — The intro- duction to these verses seems to be 3'% these are the ?iafio?is which Yahweh left. The verses accord better with the representation of E (or D) than of J j to which source v.^ is attributed by Meyer and Budde ; see above, p. 64. With the catalogue compare Jos. 132-6. — The five tyrants of the Philistines'] Jos. 13^ i S. 6'^-^l The five are Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, Ekron. The word ren- dered tyrant {seren) is used only of the Philistines, and is evi- dently the native name. That these cities were not conquered by Israel agrees with the statement in i^ and contradicts i~^ ; see there. — And all the Canaa^iites] in J, as we have observed in ch. I above, Canaanite is the comprehensive name for the popula- tions west of the Jordan which the Israelites in part subjected and among whom they settled. § It is hardly possible to reconcile all * The verb in the relative sentence must, as Ba. urges, have the same subj, as the inf. ; to teach them war is another end, not easily harmonized with getting knowledge of Israel. t Ew. {GVI. ii. p. 382) would pronounce a'jn^'^ (Qal), that they might learn. \ Yor Xirh with a noun, see Gen. i824 Dt. 326 2 K. 8i'' Is. 45-1 Ike. \ E. Meyer, ZATW. i. p. 121 ff.; iii. p. 306-309; Budde, Urgeschichie, p. 345 ff. ni. 3-4 79 the Caiiaanites here with the usage of J ; ^'^ in the context, as Schmid has justly observed, the words cannot refer to the un- subjugated Canaanites in IsraeUte territory (ch. i), but to a com- pact population on its borders. f In E (and consequently in D), however, the name Canaanite seems to be employed in a more restricted sense for the inhabitants of the lowlands of western, and especially southwestern Palestine;! Nu. \f'^ (E) Dt. i'' (cf. 11^") Jos. 5^; further, Jos. i3'^'* 2 S. 24' Zeph. 2^ This corre- sponds, as far as I can judge, with the use of the name in Egyp- tian sources, and would be altogether suitable in the text before us, as well as in Jos. 13"^-, "the Philistines, and the Avvim in the south — all the territory of the Canaanites." For this reason also it is better to ascribe the verse to E. § — The Sidonians\ Jos. 13'*. Here, as often, the collective name for the Phoenicians. || Sidon, the ancient metropoHs, gave its name to the entire people, and the denomination persisted after the political and commercial he- gemony had long passed to Tyre ; see 10^ iS'' i K. 5^ (Heb. 5^). — The Hittites inhabiting Mount Lebanon'] conjectural emendation ; J^ and the versions have Hivvites, by a transcriptional error which occurs in |^ in Jos. 11^ also. The Hivvites were a petty people of Central Palestine (Gen. 34^ cf. ^ 36^ Jos. 9'') ; ^ the seats of the Hittites, on the contrary, were in Coele Syria and the Lebanon (i K. 10^9 2 K. 7^ cf. Jud. i2« 2 S. 24« (g),** where the Egyptian inscriptions also place them. The emendation is therefore neces- sary, — From Mt. Baal Hermon as far as the Gateway of Ha- math~\ Jos. 13^ defines their southern boundary somewhat more precisely as " Baal-gad at the foot of Mt. Hermon." Baal-gad, according to Jos. 11^^ (cf. 12^) the northern limit of Israelite * That it is left to the reader to understand, " all those, namely, who were men- tioned above in ch. i " (Bu.) , is much too loose writing to impute to the author. t Schm., p. 297 ; so also Ba. X Also, apparently, of the lower Jordan valley and its southern extension, the "Arabah. See Masius on Jos. 134. § It is, of course, possible that the words " and all the C." are interpolated ; the difference of form gives some ground for the suspicion. II So also in Homer, Od. iv. 84, &c. H Compare also the catalogue of the " seven nations," in which the normal order is, Perizzites, Hivvites, Jebusites; Ex. 33'^ &c. (13 times). ** See, however, Klostermann on the last passage. 8o JUDGES conquest under Joshua, was in the valley of the Lebanon, the Biqa\ and must therefore have been on the western side of Mt. Hermon, perhaps at the modern Hasbeiya.* — Hamatli] frequently mentioned in Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions as well as in the O.T., is the modern Hama, a city of 60,000 inhabitants, on the Orontes (el'AsI),t — ^/^^ Gateway of Hamath, often named as the northern Hmit of Palestine (Am. 6'^ 2 K. 14^5 i K. 8^ Ez. \f 48^ Nu. 34^ cf. i3"0> is probably the plain Homs, some 30 miles south of Hama, at the intersection of four passes, and of main roads from the coast, the Syrian desert, and north and south through Coele Syria. The verse implies that the boundaries of Palestine are the desert on the south, and the northern end of the Lebanon range on the north, and from the Antilebanon and the Jordan valley to the sea. \ The whole of this territory Israel regarded as included in the gift of Yahweh. Its actual possessions, however, were of much more modest dimensions. The entire seaboard, the Philis- tine lowlands and the plain of Sharon, as well as the Phoenician coast north of Carmel and the whole region of the Lebanon § remained in the hands of its old inhabitants or were conquered by other invaders like the Philistines. This difference between the ideal and the actual boundaries of the land of Israel is frequently noted. On the Philistines see New Bible Dictionary (A. & C. Black), s. v., where the older literature will be found; Hitzig, Urgeschichte u. Mythologie der Philisider, 1845; Stark, Gaza und die philist'dische Kiiste, 1 85 2; Pietsch- mann, Phonizier, p. 261 ff.; Schwally, "Die Rasse der Philister," ZWTh. xxxiv. p. 103-108; W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 387 ff. — The Philistines, so far as our present knowledge goes, did not make their appearance in Pales- tine until the age of Ramses III. Shortly before the time of Saul they subjugated not only Judah (Jud. 15II) and Joseph (i S. 4), but the Canaanites in the Great Plain (i S. 31^*^), and it is natural to surmise that these successes were gained in the first impetus of the invasion. Under David Israel freed itself from them, and they were thenceforward confined to the southern part * Kneucker, DL. i. p. 331 ; Ba., Di., NDJ. p. 499 f. ; Bad3, p. 297. t On Hamath see Pococke, Description of the East, ii. i. p. 143 f.; Burckhardt, Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, 1822, p. 145 ff. ; Rob., BR^. iii. p. 551 ; BiidS. p. 398 f. ; Arab geographers, Le Strange, p. 357-360. + Cf. I K. SOS 2 K. 1425 Am. 6^4. h The northernmost settlement of Israel was at Dan. III. 3-4 8 1 of the seaboard plain with its five cities. — The Canaanites\ in Egyptian texts Canaan {Ka-n-'-nq) appears to be a district of southwestern Palestine not very remote from Egypt.* In the Amarna correspondence the land Ki-na- ah-hi is mentioned a number of times, in connexions which point to the vicinity of the Phoenician cities (Acco, Berl. 8; Tyre, Land. 30). f The Phoe- nicians called themselves Canaanites, their land Canaan. % Before the advent of the Philistines the plain south of Carmel was no doubt occupied by the same race as the coast north of it, and Canaanites seem, at least in Southern Palestine, to have occupied also the hill country back from the coast. § The current etymological explanation of the name, * Lowland, Lowlanders ' (Ro- senmiiller, Bibl. Alterthnmsk., 1826, ii. I. p. 75 f., Ges., al. mu.)', in contrast either to Aram, or to the Amorites (' Highlanders'), is false both in language and fact; see my note, PA OS. 1890, p, Ixvii-lxx. The texts cited above for the more restricted use of the name Canaanite in E and D are too summarily disposed of by Mey. and Bu., who, because they conflict with the representa- tion of J, regard them all as late and erroneous theory. But the theory itself has its origin in the usage of E. — The Sidonians'] in Gen. lo^^ Sidon (Phoe- nicia) is the oldest son, i.e. the most important people, of Canaan; but Bu. is perhaps right in his contention that in the O.T. the name Canaanites is never specifically employed for the Phoenicians. 1| See further, Smend, HWB^. s.v." Sidon"; Pietschmann, /%b'«m>r, p. 106 f. — On the Hittites, see the literature, DB^. s. v. (i. p. 1379); and add Jensen, review of Peiser, ZA. vii. 357-366; also "Grundlagen fiir eine Entzifferung," u.s.w., ZDMG. xlviii. p. 235 ff. — In Jos. 1 1^ the departure from the usual order of the catalogue suggests that Hivvites and Hittites have accidentally exchanged places, and this suspicion is confirmed by ^BMai. j^_ ^q. (^TBS. p. 218) emends accord- ingly, the Hittites at the foot of Hermoti. The same correction is made in Jud. f by Mey. {ZATW. i. p. 126) and Bu.; the objections of Di. {NDJ. p. 497) are of no great force. The Hittite empire in Syria, with which the Egyptian kings of the 19th dynasty waged long and obstinate war for the possession of the land of Amor (Northern Palestine, Coele Syria), had disap- peared before the advent of the Israelite tribes in Palestine. The Hittites of * E. Meyer, ZA TW. iii. p. 308 f. ; Wiedemann in Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 346 n. ; Pietschmann, Phonizter, p. 97 ; Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 205 ff. Miiller thinks that it does not include Phoenicia, for which a special name {Da-hi) exists ; but the inference is perhaps unwarranted. t Communication from Prof. D. G. Lyon ; see also Halevy, REJ. xx. p. 204 ff. ; Delattre, PSBA. 1891, p. 234. X Canaan (IVJD) on a coin of Laodicea, above, p. 25 n. ; Xj-a = >'JD, Hecataeus [? Abder.] , Miiller, fr. hist, gr., i. p. 17 ; Choeroboscus, Bekker, anecd. gr., iii. p. 1181; Euseb., praep. ev., i. 10 § 26; Steph. Byz., s. v. With fliis shorter form Kinahhi in the Amarna tablets must be connected. § This must be inferred from the usage of J. II Urgeschichte, p. 348 ff., against Ba., Di., BL., art. " Kenaan " ; Kautzsch, H WB., art. " Canaaniter," al. G 82 JUDGES the Lebanon in the O.T. are, so far as we can judge, Semites, of the Palestin- ian, rather than the Aramaean, branch of the race. Heth is a son of Canaan (Gen. iqI^), and the inclusion of their country in the ideal limits of the promised land shows that it was regarded as part of Canaan. — Baal Hermon\ i.e. the Baal of Mt. Hermon; cf. Baal Lebanon in Phoen. inscription. Many scholars identify Baal-gad, Baal-hermon, with the modern Banias (Paneas, Caesarea Philippi), on the southern end of Mt. Hermon; so Schwarz, Ges. Thes.; Rob., BR^. iii. p. 409 f.; v. Raum., Sepp, Ke., Be., MV., SS., al. The only positive argument for this view is derived from i Chr. 5"^; but this late, and in |5 corrupt, verse cannot stand against the exphcit statement that Baal- gad was in the Biq'ah, with which the site of Banias cannot be reconciled. Still less can Baal- gad be Ba'albek (Heliopolis),* which by no stretch of imagination could be said to be at the foot of Hermon. On Hermon as a sacred mountain see Euseb., OS'^. 21737; Jerome, ib. 9019; Hilary on Ps. 132; DEP'. i. p. 1340. — Hamat/i] the name is found in Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions; under the Seleucidae it was renamed Epiphaneia (Ptol.,v. 15, 16; Plin., n. h., v. 23 § 82; OS^. 25713; Jerome, on Ez. 47^^); but the old name remained in local use (Fl. Jos., antt. i. 6, 2 § 138). — PDn ni^*? -i;?] this use of the inf. is almost confined to this phrase. Am. 6^^ Jos. 13^ &c.; besides, I Chr. 5^ Ez. 4715 (on wh. see Co.) . It is therefore not strange that @ should take it as n. pr. On the situation see Post in DB^. (Amer. ed.) ii. p. 987 f.; cf. Rob., BR^. iii. 568 f.; Van de Velde, Narr., ii. 469-471; Ba.; on the routes also E. Meyer, GdA. i. p. 222 f. 4. They served to try Israel by'] cf. 2^ 3^''. Continuation of v.^ by the same hand (E). The conception is a frequent one in E (Gen. 22^ Ex. 20^) as well as D. — To know, &'c.'] Theodoret {qu.S) will not allow that God tries men for the sake of knowing what is in them ; it is only to let them develop and reveal their true character; similarly Aug. {qu. 17, 3): non ut sciret Deus omnium cognitor, etiam futurorum, sed ut scirent ipsi, et sua con- scientia vel gloriarentur, vel convincerentur. The author's the- ology was not so profound. 5, 6. The Israelites dwell among the natives of the land, intermarry with them, and worship their gods. — Meyer and Budde, in accordance with their analysis of the foregoing, ascribe these verses to E ; but they contain nothing characteristic of E ; the catalogue of nations suggests rather Rje (cf. Ex. 34") or a Deuteronomic hand (cf. Dt. 7^-'* Jos. 23^^). It seems to me more probable that the verses are substantially from J, amplified by an * Iken, J. P. Mich., Ritter. TIL 4-C 83 editor, as the cognate passage in Ex. 34 has been. Such a notice might very well close J's account of the settlement in Canaan; his narrative was not devoid of religious judgement, though it was not so dogmatic as in E and D. — The Canaanites, 6^^.] to the six peoples here recited the complete catalogue of the " seven nations " of Palestine (Dt. 7^) adds the Girgashites (Jos. 3^" 24") ; but usually only these six are named (Ex. 3*^-^^ 23^ 33^ 34" Dt. 20^^ &c.). On the Canaanites, see on 3^; Hittites, 3^; Perizzites, i^ ; Hivvites, 3"^ and note below ; Jebusites, 19^*^-. — The Amorites~\ in E and D the comprehensive name for the peoples whom Israel conquered and succeeded on both sides of the Jordan.* In Egyptian texts the land of Amar, or Amor, is Northern Palestine, with the region of the Lebanon in whole or in part.t It is at least a noteworthy coincidence that in the historical tradition of the northern tribes we find the name Amorites, in that of the southern tribes (J), Canaanites. % That the Amorites were of a different race from the Canaanites, there is no conclusive proof. — 6. The Israelites intermarried with the native inhabitants; cf. Ex. 34^^ Dt. 7^^' Jos. 23^^. — And worshipped their gods~\ the con- nubium in itself involved the recognition of one another's religion, and was naturally followed by participation in the cultus ; cf. I K. ii^"*-^ &c. Religious exclusiveness in the ancient world was possible only upon terms of complete non-intercourse. 5. The Nations of Palestine. On the lists see Ochla we-Ochla, No. 274. The catalogue seems to be nowhere original either in J or E, but to be filled in by Rje or Rd.; see Mey., ZATW. i. p. 124 f.; Bu., Urgesch., p. 344 fF.; Di., NDJ. p. 272. § Here it is to be suspected that only the first name, the Canaanites, is original; observe the ensuing asyndeton. — •'•inn] like mD (1°), is supposed by many to have been originally descriptive of a mode of life, people who lived in nin, Bedawin encampments; cf. 11 x> nin Nu. 32^^ and * Steinthal, Zeitschr. f. Volkerpsychologie, xii. p. 267 ; We., Comp. d. Hexat., p. 135, 341 f. ; Mey., ZA TW. i. 121 ff. ; Bu., Urgeschichte, p. 344 ff. t See E. Meyer, ZA TW. iii. p. 306 ff. ; Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 213 flf., who restricts the term to the Lebanon region. Cf. also the use of the name in Amarna correspondence (letters of Aziru), and oi rndt amurri in Assyrian inscriptions; Delattre, PSBA. 1891, p. 215-234. X Cf. also Amos. Miiller {op. cit. p. 231) is unreasonably skeptical about the existence of Amorites in Central Palestine, or even in Galilee. \ Bacon {JBL. x. p. 115 n.) asserts that this list is never interpolated in E; but qiiery. 84 JUDGES Arab. ,t-^* So Ges. T^es. (^pagamis), Furst, MV., Di. on Gen. iqI^, Sayce, al.; cf. Ew., GVI. i. p. 341 = ///. i- p- 237. But the Hiwites of Shechem and Gibeon (Gen. 34 Jos. 9) were surely not Bedawin; nor is it probable that a descriptive name of the sort would have clung to them in spite of their change of life. Perhaps the older interpreters in the Onomastica were more nearly right in connecting it with n^n f (drjpidjdeLs, uiairep 60ets) ; it is conceiv- able that it is an animal name, the Snake clan. — Aviorites] the etymological interpretation, ' Highlanders ' (Simonis, and many), is purely fictitious, like the corresponding explanation of Canaanite (above, on 38) ; though in E and D the Amorites are represented as the inhabitants of the mountainous interior of Western Palestine, the land conquered by Israel (Nu. 1329 Dt. i"). The Amor- ites are represented in Gen. lo^*^ as a Canaanite people, like the Phoenicians and Hittites. Sayce has attempted to prove that they belonged, ethnologically to a distinct race; % in language, rehgion, and civiHsation, however, they are not in any way distinguished in the O.T. from the other peoples of Palestine. III. 7-11. Othniel delivers Israel from Cushan-rishathaim. — The Israelites displease Yahweh by neglecting him for the worship of the gods of Canaan (v.''). In anger he gives them up to Cushan-rishathaim, king of Syria on the Euphrates, to whom they are subject eight years (v.^). At last, moved by their cries, he raises up a deliverer in the person of Othniel ben Kenaz, who goes to war with Cushan, and by God's help prevails over him (v.^-^^). The land enjoys security for forty years, until the death of Othniel (v.") . The pragmatic introductory and closing formulas in which each of the stories of the judges is set, § are here, where they are employed for the first time, appropriately expanded to their com- plete typical form. This amplitude of the setting, however, only makes more conspicuous its emptiness. || It contains nothing but the names of Othniel and Cushan, the former of which is derived from i^'^, the other is an enigma; no single detail of the struggle is recorded, — it is evident that the author knew none. Nor does * On the original meaning of '^ (tent) see De Goeje in W. R. Smith, Relig- ion of Semites, Ft. i. p. 256 n. t A connexion of "•in with mn (Eve) may also be suspected; Cass., We., Comp., P- 343. X See his article, " The White Race of Ancient Palestine," Expositor, July, 1888, p. 48-57; Races of the O.T., 1891, p. 112 ff. § See Introduction, ^ 3. II The lack of substance in the story was felt by Fl. Jos., who fills in incidents apparently suggested by events of the Maccabaean struggle {antt. v. 3, 2 ^ 179-184). III. 7-^1 85 the bare fact pass unchallenged. The subjugation of Canaan at this time by an enemy from so remote a quarter is highly improba- ble,* if not beyond the bounds of possibiHty; its liberation by Othniel, a Kenizzite clan in the extreme south, scarcely less improbable. It can hardly be regarded as evidence of inordinate skepticism that many recent scholars have doubted whether this typical oppression and deliverance has any basis of fact, or even of tradition, and have surmised that the author filled the blanks in his scheme with the first chance names at hand.! That of Othniel would naturally suggest itself, and had the advantage of giving a judge to Judah ; whence that of Cushan came it is idle to guess. The method by which Sayce (^Higher Criticism, p. 297 ff.) procures the " verdict of the monuments " against the critics on this point is eminently characteristic. We are told that the people of Mitanni (according to Sayce the native name of Aram-naharaim) were among the foes — "Libyans, Sicilians, Sardinians, Greeks, Cypriots, Hittites, and Philistines" — who com- bined against Egypt in the reign of Ramses III. (p. 298) ; and from the fact that the King of Mitanni does not figure at Medinet Habu among the con- quered foe, Sayce concludes that he probably remained behind in Syria or Palestine (p. 300); the eight years that Cushan oppressed Israel would exactly correspond with the eight years between the beginning of the Libyan attack on Egypt and the campaign of the Pharaoh in Syria (303 f.). Prof. Sayce gives no references. The land of Mitanni (Miten) is mentioned, so far as I can ascertain, but twice in the inscriptions of Ramses III,, % and that, not in any connexion with the incursion of the northern barbarians, but in those catalogues of remote and strange countries which were compiled in order that the Pharaoh might seem as great a conqueror as Thothmes III., from whose inscriptions many of the names are derived. § That " we know from the Egyptian records that Mitanni or Aram-naharaim took part in the invasion of Egypt" is an assertion for which Prof. Sayce owes it to us to produce the evidence. Without this proof, the whole combination is as base- less as it is ingenious. || * It involves, it must be remembered, not only the conquest of the Israelite tribes, but of the Canaanites, with their strong cities (ch. i). t We., Comp., p. 219 ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 94 f. ; Sta., G VI^. i. p. 69. X See Sayce himself, p. 300. § On the character of these lists, v. E, Meyer, Gesch. Aegypt., p. 319; Miiller, Asie7i u. Europa, p. 284, who affirms that the name of Miten never occurs in a his- torical text after the i8th dynasty. II Kitt., who does not admit that Othniel is an unhistorical figure, imagines that the story is a dim reminiscence of the wars of Ramses III. and Tiglath Pileser I. in Palestine {GdH. i. 2. p. 70). S6 JUDGES 7. See on 7>^. — Forgot Yahwch, &'c.'] Dt. 6^^ g"- i^. 19 32I8 I S. 1 2^ Hos. 2^3 Jer. 3^^ &c. ; cf. also Jud. 8^*. — Served the Baals'] see on 2". — And asherahs'] in by far the greater number of instances in the O.T. the asherah is a wooden post or mast, which stood at the place of worship ; see on 6^^-. In this verse, how- ever, as in I K. 18^^ 2 K. 23'',* it is evidently intended for the name of a divinity ; and as in these passages Asherah stands by the side of Baal precisely as Astarte does elsewhere (2^^ 10*^1 S. f 12^^), it was a natural inference that Asherah was only another name (title or epithet) of Astarte. t The wooden asherah was then supposed to be the symbol or image of this goddess. Others distinguish Asherah from Astarte in different ways. % On the other hand, the existence of a goddess Asherah is denied by some conservative scholars, § and by many recent critics ; || the passages which seem to prove the contrary are to be explained either as metonymy (the name of the symbol being put for that of the goddess), or as the confusion by late writers of the symbol ashe- rah with the goddess Astarte. So far as the O.T. is concerned these scholars are right; it gives no sufficient evidence that a goddess Asherah was worshipped by Canaanites or Israelites. The name, Ebed-asherah,^ in letters found at el-Amarna, may signify no more than that the asherah post itself was esteemed divine, a fetish, or a cultus-god, as no one doubts that it was in O.T. times. See on the whole question, my article, "Asherah" in the new Bible Dictionary. In I K. 18^^ the 400 prophets of Asherah are interpolated (We., Sta., Klo.) ; 2 K. 21'^ mc'NH '?D3, Voij is gloss, in the same sense in which 2 Chr. 33"^ substitutes S::D; i K. 1513 = 2 Chr. 15IS r\-\vnh mSsD is not, "a horrible thing (traditionally, Priapus, phallus) to Asherah," but, as an asherah; 2 K. 23'' n"\2'N^ DTia is obscure and prob. corrupt; if the traditional vestments be right, * Cf. also 2 K. 2i7 I K. 15I3. t This is doubtless the cause of the frequent confusion in the versions ; see also Thdt., gu. 55 in 4 Reg. The identification is accepted by Selden, Spencer, Ges., Vatke, Stud., Be., Renan, Schrader, al. mu. ; more doubtfully Baudissin. X E.g., Movers, Phonizier, i. p. 560 ff. ; Sayce, Cont. Rev., xliv. p. 391 f. ; Higher Criticism, p. 80 f. § Hgstbg., Ba., Baethgen. II We., Sta., G. Hoffmann, W. R. Smith, Bu., al. 11 Ahad-As-ra-tum, &c., sometimes written with the divine determinative ; Schrader, ZA. iii. p. 363 f. III. 7-IO sy it would not prove the existence of a goddess or an idol, but only that the sacred post was draped. 2 K. 23* remains, the only passage beside our text in which there can be no doubt that a divinity is meant; but even here it may only be one of the common cases in which part of the apparatus of worship has become an object of worship — a cultus god. That later writers took the asherahs for heathen deities, or idols, is perhaps to be inferred from the appearance of a new fem. plur. nnti'X, 2 Chr. 19^ 33^ Jud. 3^^; in Old Hebrew the name of the class is anii'X, from which the nom. unitatis is formed in the usual way, ht^'X, which owes its fem. gender, not to its being or representing a female divinity, but to grammatical formation. 8. Cf. 2}^. — Cushan-rishathaim\ the second name suggested to Hebrew ears risJiah, wickedness, and the traditional pronun- ciation probably intends " Cushan ( ? the Nubian) of double-dyed villainy " ; * compare similar displays of wit in the names of the kings Bera and Birsha Gen. i4^,t Tabal Is. 7" &c. — Aram- naharawi] Gen. 24^^ Dt. 23^^ Ps. 60 (title) ^ RV. Mesopotamia, % that is, the whole immense region between the Euphrates and the Tigris, from the mountains of Armenia and the continuation of the Taurus in the north to the latitude of Babylon, or even to the Per- sian Gulf. § The Aram-naharaim of the O.T. probably did not extend farther east than the Chaboras (Habur) ; 1| it may, like the Egyptian Naharin, have included also a more or less extensive tract west of the Euphrates.^ — 9. The Israelites cried to YahweJi] standing formula; y}^ ^^ 6^-'^ io^« i S. i2«-io cf. Ex. 2^^ 14I0 Jos. 24^ — Yahweh raised up a deliverer, 6^^.] v.^^. Delivei-er is synony- mous v^\\ki judge ; cf. 2^^-^^. — Othnielj d^c.'\ see on i^^ — 10. The spirit of Yahweh ca^ne upon hiin'\ koI iyevero lir avrov (3, not fuitque in eo 2L. Cf. 11^ Nu. 24^ i S. 19-°-^ and, with expressions which give more prominence to the suddenness or violence of the seizure, Jud. 6^'* 13-^ 14*^-^^ 15^* i S. 11^ i6^^ To the energy of the spirit of God is attributed whatever seems to transcend the limits of man's own sagacity or strength ; the heroic valour of the judges, the wisdom of the ruler (Nu. ii^^^- i S. 16^^), the genius * Sanhedr., 105a; Yalgut ; Ki., Abarb. in loc. t STJer. I. ; Beresh. rab. \ 42 (ed. Sulzb., f. 37a). J So (E in all other places and many codd. here, %, Vat., Schm., Cler., Ba., Be., Ke., al. mu. \ Strabo, xvi. p. 746; Ptol., v. i8, i; Plin., «. h., v. 66. II Kiepert, Nold., Di., Mey. H See E. Meyer, Gesch, Aeg., p. 227 ; W. M. Miiller, Asien u, Europa, p. 249 ff. 88 JUDGES of the artist (Ex. 31^ 36^), the inspiration of the poet (2 S. 23-), the divine frenzy of the Nebiim (i S. 10^^), the revelations of the prophet (Ez. 3-^ &c.), extraordinary feats of any kind (Jud. 14^ cf. I K. iS^*^) ; see in general, Is. 11^ 28^. In many of its mani- festations, especially in older times, it was thought of as a physical force (Jud. 14^ 15" i K. 18^-'^'' 2 K. 2^^ &c.). Extraordinary evil as well as good is caused by it; for example, Saul's madness (i S. 16" 19^), false prophecy (i K. 22^-).* — He vindicated Israel'^ RV. and most, judged Isi-ael ; but the verb means not so much * pronounce a judgement ' as * establish a right,' and in the present context it is parallel to delivery?, as in 2^'^-^^ lo^-^; cf. " He . . . that vindicates his country from a tyrant " (Massinger). Others, became judge, began to exercise the office of judge ; f without warrant in usage. The following clauses explain how he vindicated Israel. — He went to war'] 2^^ cf. i S. 8"°. — He got the upper hand of Cushan] prevailed over him, 6^ Ps. 89^^ cf. Jud. i'^. The language imports that he not only liberated Israel, but subju- gated the oppressor ; cf. 6'. — 11. The land enjoyed secimty forty years'] it was exempt from further attacks for a whole genera- tion. This formula of the editor also y.^ f^ 8-^ cf. Jos. 11-^ 14^^ The forty years run from the victory of Othniel to his death ; cf 2^®, " Yahweh was with the judge and delivered them from their enemies as long as the judge lived." On the chronology, see Introduction, § 7. Othniel's death was the end of the period of security, the beginning of a new period of apostasy and disas- ter ; cf. 2^\ — 8. D\'^>'a'n po] Cushan is the name of a Bedawin tribe connected with Midian (Hab. 3'^), perhaps a subtribe of that people (Nu. 12^; Moses' Midianite wife is a Cushite, i.e. of Cushan). An incursion of these Bedawin, and their defeat and expulsion by the Kenizzites of Debir (Othniel), is con- ceivable enough; and if the names are taken from any historical connexion, we might conjecture that it was from some such stojy. pn is related to tr'iD as j-Ji"? to -JiV, pip to |>p, |;'JD to ;7J3 Xj/a, '\-\t\'^ to -in"" &c.; observe the frequency of clan names in an in the Midianite genealogy, Gen. 25^, in comparison with the Ishmaelites, 2^'^-. The pronunciation ^tyiD prob. intends a st. cons., after * Maimonides, More Nebochi7n, Pt. ii. c. 45 ; Oehler, Alttest. TheoL, \ 65 ; Schultz, Alttest. TheoL, '^ p. 586 f. = Old Test. TheoL, ii. p. 202 f. ; Konig, Offenbarungsbegriff d. A. T., i. p. 171 ff. ; Smend, Alttest. Religiotisgeschtchte, p. 460 ff. t Lth., Schm., Cler., Rosenm. III. lo-ii 89 the analogy of Aram-naharaim, to which also the dual D]n]}\:^-\ is probably conformed. — ^1":}^^ D-\n] apparently "Aram of two rivers"; the ancients thought of the Euphrates and Tigris, many moderns of the Euphrates and Chaboras, or Belias * (Belih) ; others of the Euphrates and Orontes,t or Euphrates and Chrysorrhoas (Barada).| It may fairly be questioned, how- ever, whether the pronunciation which makes the noun dual is not factitious. As a geographical term onnj probably corresponds to the Egyptian Naharin § (there is no trace of a dual form), which lay on both sides of the upper Euphrates; see Meyer and Miiller cited above, p. 87 n. The name would then signify merely " River-Syria." The only cities in Aram-naharaim which are named in the O.T. are Harran (Gen. 24IO) and Pethor (Dt. 23^ cf. Nu. 22^) ; the latter was on the west side of the Euphrates (Schrader, KAT'^. p. 156). — 10. S^-W'y nx tOD'i£'''i] an exhaustive examination of the usage of the verb ^^'i? by Prof. H. Ferguson is to be found in JBL, viii. p. 130-136; see also Bachmann, p. 25 ff. That tan-^ often means 'give judgement,' tOQC'O 'judicial decision,' needs no illustration; cf. only i K. 3"28. But it is often 'do justice, or get justice done,' ' give one his rights or his dues.' It is thus equivalent on the one hand to ' defend, deliver,' on the other to ' condemn, punish.' i K. 8^^ illustrates both; cf. the Latin vindicare in both senses. See Is. i^" (|| nn) Jet. 528 Ps. 10I8 72* 26I (vindicate me, O Yahweh). It is parallel to cdVj Ps. 43I; pnxn, S''sn, ca'?^, 823-4; yv^m 72*. In Judges it is synonymous with the last-mentioned verb, '2y°-'^^ ■^- lo^f- &c.; cf. Neh. ^"^^ where j;'«a'iD stands for 1031!:'; and so well established is this signification that t3i3*.r is construed, like other verbs of delivering, rescuing, with jd or n""?:, i S. 24^^ 2 S. iS^^-^i. This is probably the sense in i S. 8'^*^; the Israelites demand a king, " that our king may vindicate (judge) us, and march out at our head and fight our battles" (^, Drus., al.), closely parallel to the present passage. III. 12-30. Ehud kills Eglon, king of Moab, and liberates Israel. — The Israelites again offend Yahweh, who enables the king of Moab to defeat them, occupy Jericho, and hold Israel in subjection for eighteen years (v.^^"^''). From this tyranny they are delivered by Ehud ben Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, who by a ruse secures from Eglon a private audience (v.^^'^), assassi- nates him (v.-^^), escapes (v.-^"-^), and at the head of his tribes- men from Mt. Ephraim cuts oft* the Moabites west of the Jordan (v.^"^). The land enjoys a long period of security (v.^*^). The author of the Book of Judges has furnished this story with * BiArjxa, BaAto-cro?. f Howorth, Acad,, Jan. 17, 1891, p. 65. J Hal6vy, Melanges d'epigraph., p. 81. ^ In the Amarna correspondence Nahrhna, with Canaanite, instead of Ara- maic, plural ending. 90 JUDGES the usual pragmatic setting, employing in both the introduction ^y 12-15-^ and conclusion (v.-*^'^") material derived from the older narrative. As in other cases, he converts the story of a local struggle into a chapter of the religious and political history of all Israel. The unity and integrity of the story itself (v.^^^'-') has until recently been unquestioned; only the beginning has been supplanted by the phrases of D, and the sequel of v.^ is not completely preserved in v.^^'^. Winckler, however, has lately endeavoured to prove that the narrative is composite, and to sepa- rate it into its elements, J and E.* Neither his analysis nor his exegesis is likely to be accepted, but he has shown that the story is not as homogeneous as has been generally beUeved. Verse ^", in particular, is not the sequel to v.^'Vbut a variant parallel to it; and in the following verses to the end traces of dupKcation may be discovered (see esp. v.-^^-). It is natural to suppose that the memory of Ehud's exploit was kept alive among his tribesmen of Benjamin ; his story retold on holidays at Gilgal. It has the quality of the best Hebrew folk- stories, and is beyond doubt one of the oldest in the book. From what source it was extracted by the author of Judges, it is difficult to decide with confidence. Stade ascribes it to E,| chiefly on the ground of resemblances between 3^^ and lo^*^-^^; but the expres- sions in 3^^ are probably from the hand of D (cf. 3^) . Schrader, on the contrary, attributes it to J, t and as between the two the impression which the whole tenor of the narrative makes is favour- able to the latter hypothesis. § The events related are in nowise improbable. It would indeed be strange if the success of the Israelites in establishing themselves west of the Jordan had not tempted others to follow their example. The Moabites, whose territory, except in the times of the greatest expansion of Israelite power east of the Jordan, extended to the * AlttestamentL Untersiichungen, 1892, p. 55-59. Winckler's analysis is : J. 3I4. 15ap, b. 17. 18. 19a;3, b. 20b|3. 21. 22. 24aa, b. 25aa. 26bj3. 27aa. 28a. 28ba. 29 ; E. 13b 16 I'Jaa. 20 23. 24aj3, b. 25a^, b. 2Ca, ba. 27. 28b|3. ??, tz^irpr.i.p.343. X De Wette, liinlfi, p. 327. \ So also Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 100. Bu. notes that nnriDnn v.26 is found be- sides only in J (Gen. 19IO 43I0 Ex. 12'iya) ; this is perhaps true also of the Hiph. h''r\r\ v.'-is (Gen. 8^'' J), Winckler also attributes the principal narrative to J. Ill, 12-13 91 northern end of the Dead Sea or beyond, may very well have brought under their power the plain of Jericho and the adjacent parts of Mt. Ephraim (Benjamin). The well-designed and boldly executed ruse by which the tyrant is slain, and in the ensuing confusion his retainers cut off, has altogether the note of reality. Noldeke,* while recognizing this, thinks that the name of the deliverer cannot be historical : Gera is a son (Gen. 46-^) or grandson (i Chr. 8^) of Benjamin, i.e. a Benjamite clan, Ehud himself a great-grandson ( i Chr. 7^^ cf. 8^) ; the concurrence of the names of two clans of the same tribe is conclusive. There is no difficulty, however, in supposing that a clan of Benjamin in later times bore the name of the hero Ehud ; or even that, without this, the name was introduced into the genealogies of the chron- icler directly from our text.t 12-14. The Israelites again offend Yahweh ; with his sup- port Eglon attacks them and occupies Jericho ; they are subject to Moab eighteen years. — The usual introduction; only the name of Eglon and his conquest of Jericho, the Palm City, are derived from the old story ; the rest is made up of the set formu- las of D. — 12a 4I io« 13I cf. 3^ 6^ 2^1 (comm. there).— Yah- weh eiiabled Eglon to prevail over Israel~\ it was Yahweh who, to punish the sin of his people, gave him this power ; cf. Ez. 30-^ Jer. 27^'^ 43^°^- Is. 45^^'. Somewhat similarly Mesha, king of Moab, in his inscription : '' Omri was king of Israel ; and he oppressed Moab a long time, because Chemosh was angry with his land." — 13. Eglon allied to himself the Ammonites and Amalekites ; very likely an exaggeration of D. % The Ammonites were the neigh- bours of Moab on the NE. and their nearest kindred. The Israelite settlements in Gilead interposed between them and the Jordan. § Moab and Ammon appear as allies against Israel in 2 Chr. 20^ also. The Amalekites were Bedawin, chiefly of the southern desert, against whom the Israelites cherished an impla- cable hatred ; see on i^^ and especially on 6^. — He went and beat Israel and occupied the Palm City\ of the war itself we learn * Untersuchungen zur Kritik des A. T., p. 179 f. ; so also Sta., ZA TW. i. p. 343, G V/^. i. p. 68. t So also Budde, Ric/ii. u. Sam., p. 100. J Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 99. § See further on ii*. 92 JUDGES nothing from these general phrases, and are tempted to surmise that the author of Judges has here curtailed the story. The Palm City is Jericho; see on i^*'. The mention of Jericho here has been found difficult. According to Jos. 6"^"-^ Joshua totally de- stroyed the city and laid the site under a ban; i K. i6"* records the rebuilding of the city in the reign of Ahab and the fulfillment of Joshua's curse. In the intervening centuries the place is named only here and in 2 S. 10^, These passages are commonly harmonized with i K. 16^ by the supposition that down to the time of Ahab Jericho had been an unwalled town, and that Hiel drew upon himself the curse by attempting to fortify it ;* but the passage before us would rather lead us to infer that Jericho was a strong place, the possession of which secured Eglon's hold on his conquests west of the Jordan ; and it is not very probable that David left this important position, one of the two great eastern gateways of his kingdom (cf. 2 S. 10^), unfortified. — 14, IS^-. of. v.^^'-l 12, JiSj;'] as the name of a man only in this chapter. As a topographical name it occurs repeatedly east of the Jordan in the modern form 'Aglun; cf Eglon in Judah (Jos. lo^-^^), modern 'Aglan. Roman names such as Juvencus, Vitellius, Vitulus have been compared; see Ba. — Moab'\ the land of Moab lay east of the Dead Sea, stretching eastward to the confines of the desert. On the southwest it bordered on Edom; on the northeast it had the Ammonites for neighbours; and on the north, Israelite tribes, Reuben and Gad, the former of which early disappears (see on Jud. 5^^). — Ji ^z^'-; ""O S;;] in this use ""D is much less frequent than nifN; the instances are Dt. 31I''' Jer. 4^^ Mai. 2I* Ps. 139^*. Cf. T^N p> and ^j ty, "ib'X ^py and ^o :3p>% and see Ew., § 336 c; Roorda, § 506. — 13. v^'T^m] the plur. refers to the allies, but the change of subject is harsh; (Q% give a sing. 15-18. Ehud, chosen to convey the tribute to Eglon, secretly arms himself; he presents the tribute and dismisses the bearers. 15^'^. Ehud ben Gera~\ the author passes over to the older nar- rative which he incorporates. Gera is a Benjamite clan (Gen. 46"' 2 S. 16' &c. — Shimei ben Gera— i Chr. 8 ^•^•') ; that Ehud is also a clan name is less certain, and if true would not prove the name of our hero unhistorical.f The deliverer comes from the tribe on whose soil the Moabite invaders had planted themselves. * Ew., G VL iii. p. 490, Ke., Ba,, Be., Di., al. f See above, p. 91. III. 13-18 93 — A left-handed man'] the literal and original meaning seems to have been, a man with his right hand drawn up, contracted by accident or disease ; but in usage it has come to signify no more than one who has not the natural use of his right hand, /e//- handed. He took advantage of this defect, in consequence of which his movements excited no suspicion until he struck the fatal blow ; see on v.^*^- -^•. — TJie Israelites sent by him tribute] lit. a present; 2 S. 8-« i K. 5^ (EV. 4-^) 2 K. 17^-^ Hos. lo^ Ps. 72^^ &c.* — On the question whether Eglon's residence was at Jericho or east of the Jordan, see on v.-". — 16. Ehud provided himself with a weapon peculiarly suited to his purpose. — A two- edged dirk a gomed long] the name of the measure does not occur elsewhere in the O.T. ; it appears to correspond to the Greek TTvyix-Tj, the distance from the elbow to the knuckles of the clenched fist, about thirteen or thirteen and a half inches. The old translators and most modern commentators think of a shorter dagger, a span long ; but the description of Eglon's corpulence (v.^'') is pertinent only in relation to the fact that a long dirk was buried, hilt and all, in his belly.t — He hung it under his clothes on his right thigh] the opposite side from that on which the sword was usually worn, so that if the guards of the king felt for con- cealed weapons it would not be likely to be discovered ; while at the same time, if it was more than a mere stiletto, it was in the most convenient place for a left-handed man to draw. — 17. Now Eglon was a very fat man] a circumstance of impor- tance in the sequel of the story is parenthetically introduced by anticipation at the first meeting of Ehud and Eglon, instead of in v.^ or ^^. — 18. Comparing small things with great, we may illus- trate this presentation of tribute by the famous reliefs on the black obelisk of Salmanassar, depicting the payment of tribute by Jehu, with their long procession of Israelites bearing the treas- ures of their land to present to the king. $ — He dismissed the * So in other languages; e.^. S^pa, Died, Sic, i, 58; cf. Hdt., iii. 89, &c. t Stud. i Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, 1849, fol. Ser. i. no. 53; Nineveh, 1849 (8vo), p, 347 ; cf. also the payment of tribute to Sennacherib at Lachish ; Egyptian scenes, Lepsius, Denkmdler, Abth. iii. pi. 115-118 ; E, Meyer, Gesch. d. alt. Aegyptens, p. 242, 244. 94 JUDGES people who carried the tribute'] the payment was, of course, made in kind, so that a considerable number of porters would be neces- sary, but in the East under such circumstances it is customary to employ a much larger number than is necessary ; the size of the retinue is a mark of honour. From the following verse * (cf. v.^^) we must infer that Ehud accompanied them part way on their return, and when he had seen them safe beyond the reach of subsequent pursuit, returned alone to the king's residence. 15. irn-" i"" n^as ti'vs] -\;2X 20^^ ^ ^IL ambidextrous : ^5» more correctly, draivn up, drawn out of shape. The vb. "itox (cognate with DiOn) Ps. 69^^ \ 'contract, close'; Ar. vi^!, 'bend into a hoop.' The adj. ijon, of the regular type for defects and deformities, would accordingly mean, maimed by having the hand bent double, drawn shut, so distorted as to be useless (Abulw., Ki. Lex.., Ra., Tanch., al.). In 20^6, however, the writer cannot mean that the 700 Benjamite slingers, this corps d^elite, were all maimed or deformedjt and in MH. the meaning left-handed is well established; cf. Shabb.y 103*, Mejiach., 2>T mid., Bechor., 45*^ (see Ra. on the last two passages), Tos. Bechor., v. 8 (ed. Zuckerm., p. 5403). So Fl. Jos. here, rOiv xetpcDi' ttjv dpKrTepav d/xeivoju /cctTr' eKclvrjs Trjp diracrav iax^v ex^v; Abarb., Stud., Ke., Be., Ba., Cass. — 16. nNvo ^j^'] plur. of hd, Ki., 01., Sta. It was dia-ro/xov ^icpos, Eurip., He/. 983, cf. Ecclus. 2i3 Hebr. 4!"^ Apoc. i^^, gladius anceps, Prud., Cathem., vi. 85; a two-edged dirk, not as Jerome glosses in his transla- tion, " habens in medio capulum," a double-ended dagger, which is incom- patible with V.-2 — n^-is nr':i] the Jewish interpreters explain ^^iw^f^/ as a cubit, more exactly, a short cubit, cubit minus the fingers; see Ra. in loc, Rashbam on Baba bathra, 100", Aruch, s.v. lOJ^; cf. Jer. Yoma, iv. 4 (4I<=). J So it is translated here by ^ a. It would thus correspond exactly to the Greek irvy^jL-fi rPoll., ii. 147, 158). See my note in JBL. xii. p. 104. 19-22. Ehud contrives a private interview with the king and kills him. — 19. Ehud returns alone. — From the sculptured stones near Gilgal] probably rude stone images ; § the translation quarries 1| is an unnecessary and unwarranted departure from the well-known meaning of the word; graven images^ perhaps too * If it be the original sequel of v. 18. t This holds even if the words are a gloss, as Bu. conjectures. X .See also Weiss on Mechilta, fol. 59" ; Jastrow, Dictionary, s. v. \ GIL, Lth., Schm., Stud., al. II CTS", Jewish and many Christian commentators, AV., RV. ^ AV"'o- RV"'g-, and elsewhere uniformly in the text. III. 18-20 95 specifically suggests statues. Gilgal itself probably had its name from an old stone circle (cromlech),* whose stones, according to a popular tradition, were set up by Joshua to commemorate the passage of the Jordan (Jos. 4-") ; and it has frequently been sur- mised that the sculptured stones or images of our text are in some way connected with the stones erected by Joshua.t Others, gathering from v.^''- -'^ that when a man had passed this point he was safe on Israelite soil, suppose that they were boundary stones (images) set up by Eglon. | — I have a p7'ivate coi7i7nunication for thee'] a natural pretext, and all the more likely to be admitted without suspicion because Ehud had just brought the tribute of his tribesmen; cf. v.^. — He commanded, Silence /~\ the command is addressed not to Ehud, § but to the attendants, || who are to leave him in privacy. — 20. The verse seems to be parallel to v.^^, rather than a sequel to it. In v.^^ Ehud appears before the king in his public audience room and announces that he has a secret communication to make to him ; the king has the room cleared, leaving Ehud alone with him. In v.^ Ehud goes in to him as he is sitting in his roof-chamber alone and announces that he has a divine communication for him. The difficulty was early felt, and various exegetical expedients have been proposed to relieve it. The favourite explanation is that the words of Ehud in v.^^, " I have a private communication to make to thee, O King," were not spoken by him in person in the public audience, but were conveyed to the king by an attendant ; upon receiving this message Eglon dismissed his court and received Ehud alone in his private apartments.^ Another hypothesis is, that after hearing the words of Ehud, spoken in public, Eglon dismissed the by- standers and retired to his private roof-chamber, whither Ehud was presently conducted.** Either of these suppositions is easy * See on 2I. t Fr. Junius, Ew., Knob., Vaihinger, Stud,, al,,with very various — and equally groundless — hypotheses about the nature of the connexion. J RLbG. (alt.), a Lap., Schm., Hgstbg., Ke., Ba., Cass. § ©BN, Ki., Abarb., Schm., a Lap., Cass., Doom, al. II (5ALai.iLSi!r, Fl. Jos., Ra., RLbG., Stud., Ke., Be., Ba., al. 11 Lth., Stud., Ke., Be., Ba. ; cf. RLbG., Schm. ** To take the verb in v, 20 as pluperf., Now Ehud had entered, &^c. (Doom.), only aggravates the difficulty. 96 JUDGES enough in matter of fact; but neither of them is exegetically plausible. If the author had meant the first, he would have given Ehud's words in a different form ; * if the second, he would not have left it to the imagination of the reader. — JV/iere he was sit- ting in his cool upper story alone'] not in the public divan. The dipper stoiy (al'iyah, still called in Arabic by the same name) is an additional, ordinarily third, story raised above the flat roof of the house at one corner, or upon a tower-like annex to the build- ing. It generally contains but a single apartment, of larger or smaller dimensions, through which latticed windows on all sides give free circulation of air, making it the most comfortable part of the house. — / have a divine communication for thee] cf. v,-'^. The words naturally suggest a communication from the God of Israel which had come to Ehud, whether by dream,-)- oracle, or otherwise, and which it concerned Eglon to hear. \ Others sup- pose that Ehud meant by the intentionally ambiguous phrase, I have God's business with you, a divine commission to execute upon you. § It does not appear that the author had this ingenious equivocation in mind ; or that he would have thought it worth while to protect, by so slender a pretext, Ehud's reputation for veracity. He tells of it as a clever and successful ruse, with no more reflexion on its morality than on that of the assassination itself. — He arose from his chair] presumably as a sign of reve- rence for the oracle. || The movement, which Ehud may have reckoned upon, gave him an opportunity to get within striking * I have a private communication for the king. t Fl. Jos. X They are so understood by ffi'S, Ra., and most interpreters, ancient and modern. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that Ehud assumed the char- acter of a prophet (Cler., al.). § Schm., Stud., Be., Ba. ; Schm. even imagines that Eglon so understood the words. Cf. Aug., qu. 20: Potest non esse mendacium, quandoquidem verbi nomine solet etiam factum appellare Scriptura, et re vera ita erat. On the whole question see further Schm., qu. 7. 8 ; Ba., p. 234 f. II Sanhedr., 60*, Rabb., Cler., Stud,, Ke., al. According to the Midrash the mar- riage of Ruth (the daughter or granddaughter of Eglon) was the reward of this piety; Ruth rab. on i* (fol. 29^, ed. Sulzb.), Yalqut. Other explanations, such as, he arose in joy at the announcement (Fl. Jos.), or in alarm at Ehud's menacing words and gestures (Be.), to call his guards, or to defend himself or fiy (Schm.), are in varying degrees improbable. Schnurrer suggested that he wished to draw nearer to Ehud for greater secrecy ; cf. perhaps ©. III. 20-22 97 distance without exciting suspicion, which he could hardly have done if Eglon had remained seated, and for this reason it is related. — 21. Ehud, still without arousing suspicion, reaches with his kft hand for his dirk (v.^*^), quickly draws, and plunges it into the king's belly. — 22. The force of the blow was such that, in spite of the length of the weapon, the hilt followed the blade in ; the dirk was doubtless without either guard or cross-piece. — Ehud left the knife sticking in the wound. — And the fat closed after the blade'\ the fat which covered the intestines ; cf. v.^^ It is not necessary to infer from the preceding clause that the whole hilt, pommel and all, disappeared; so that there is no conflict between the two statements.* The last words of the verse are very difficult, and almost certainly corrupt. The most probable interpretation is, and the dirt came out~\ the feces ; not from the wound,t but through the anus, the usual consequence of such a wouixi in the abdomen. J This somewhat drastic touch is alto- gether in the vein of the narrator ; cf. v.^^- ^''' ^^^. The emendation of the Hebrew text which it necessitates is not difficult. The translation preferred in RV., afid it {sc. the sword) came out behind, § gives a mere guess at the meaning of the word, and is grammatically unsound. The rendering of RV"--, he (Ehud) wejit out into the antechamber, || is only possible if, with Winckler, we ascribe the words to a different author from the first clause of v.^. For other hypotheses see note. 19. yv Nim] the nominal sentence emphasizing the contrast; he dis- missed the bearers, but himself turned back, &c. — □"'^Ti:] plur. to the sg. 'r'Ds; images of gods Dt. 7"^^ 128 is. 21^ cf. Hos. ii^ Mi. i'^, in human or animal forms Dt. 4I6-I8 cf. v.23. 25. So here ffi^^BL s (= 0) -^XvirrOiv, ':j] cf. v.-^, cool upper-story. So in sense (!51t, while ^ thinks of the upper story of a summer palace (Am. 3^^). Such 'a/zy^/^.r are frequently mentioned in the O.T.; in private * Though it would be possible to ascribe them to two different sources. t Vatabl, cf. RLbG. X So H, statimque per secreta naturae alvi stercora proruperunt, C, Deresh. rab,, § 99, Rabb., Lth., AV., al. § So, wUth various modifications, Schm. (aversa pars corporis') , Cler. {postica pars corporis, supra climes), Tv.-]un., Rosenm., Simonis {podex) ,Ges. Thes. {interstitium pedum), IMaurer {stercoreus) , &c. \\ (G. H (GGN ii,Spi;iv • ? transcriptional error for ivSpidvTiav. II 98 JUDGES houses (guest chambers) i K. i;^^. 23 2 K. 410- ", as well as in palaces, 2 K. i^ (latticed windows), Jer. 22i3- 14 (spacious). A similar structure was sometimes erected over a city gate, 2 S. 19^ (EV. iS^^), or at an angle of the city wall (?) (Neh. S^i-^); often in Talm. Cf. virep^ov Acts i^^ 937.39 20^. In the modern East, see Shaw, Travels, 214-216 (N. Africa); Niebuhr, Reisen, i. pi. 68 (Sana'), Thomson, Latid and Book'^, ii. p. 634, 636 (fig.). — n^S iS ik'n] n^S is rightly connected by most scholars with the verb, sitting . . . alone ; not in his private 'aliyah (Vatabl.). — a^nSx "I3"i] not aliquid adinirandum et sttipendiwi (Brenz) ; phrases like □"'hSn rnn (Gen. 35^) describe the terror as caused by a god (panic). — D^nSx is naturally used in speaking to a foreigner; but in the mouth of Ehud means Yahweh, and would be so understood. — NDr] chair. Chairs were found in private houses (2 K. 4!"^), but are more frequently mentioned as the seat of persons of rank, for instance, of Eli (i S. i^ 413), the queen mother (i K. 2^9), esp. the king (i K. i^^ r\:i'hr:ir\ ndd &c.). The latter stood so high as to require a foot stool (ain), or was raised on a platform and approached by steps (i K. lo^^). See representations of Egyptian chairs and thrones, Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, ed. Birch, i. p. 408 ff. ; cf. also Buchholz, Ho7nerische Realien^ ii. 2. § 85 ; Baumeister, Denk77ialer, p. 1650 ff. — 21. iri32a n;;pn^i] the vb. 4^1 (driving a peg) 2 S. iS^* &c. — 22, 'Ji Nb^l 0 reads as a causative, and Bu. would emend X3>i, he T--" "T- (Ehud) caused the hilt to enter, which is less natural than ^ — ^^^l"^] '^^^A haft, Arab, nisab. — irh'\ blade ; \\t. flame. — njnij'-iDn n^jm] the subject cannot be the sword, for 3-\n is fem.; it might grammatically be the blade, irh, but it is hardly in accordance with the natural logic of speech to go back to this noun. Moreover, the meanings attributed to pc'na by those who construe thus are fictitious, the product of most improbable etymological combinations, that with Ar. ' with inf. cf. Ez. 33^"^ Jon. 4^. The original meaning of i;', 'duration,' distinctly appears in these phrases; cf. 2 K. 9-2, Ew. § 217 ; Fl. Jos., b.j. ii. 8, 9 ; Burckhardt, Travels, &c., p. 445, 518 f. 6 If the text be sound. I02 JUDGES the only possible construction. The accus, is commonly interpreted, he passed the hnages ; cf. I S. 142=^.* Bu. proposes, he crossed (the Jordan) jiear the images^ comparing Gen. 32^2, which is, however, usually explained like the preceding example. A third possibility is, he passed over to the images, cf. 1 129 and note there. Winckler's conj. '^•r\ nx n::;', he sacrificed to the images, is a particularly unhappy conceit. — nnn>>'-.:'n] n. pr., ace. of limit of motion after d'?oj (Gen. iqI"^ Is. 37^^). The article is evidence only that the meaning of the name was kept in mind, not that it should be translated as appellative (Ra., thicket, Inish). -'•'>*::' Jos. 1$^^ on the boundary of Judah is much too far away. Winckler would seek Seirah east of the Jordan. 27-29. Ehud raises the Israelites ; they seize the fords and cut off all the Moabites on that side of the Jordan. — The narrative is not free from derangement and repetition, which are generally attributed to the interference of the editor, but may- arise from the combination of two accounts. — 27. When he came'] in the context, we must suppose, to Seirah, though we should in that case expect the particle thithei-. Some recensions of (§ have, to the land of Israel, which may be only an addition of the translator, but shows that the incompleteness of v.^* was felt, and is entirely suitable to the context. — Sounded the alarm] lit. blew the war horn; a summons to arms, 6'^^ i S. 13'^. — The Highlafids of Ephi^aim] 2^ 4^ 7^ Jos. 1 7^^ i K. 4^ &c. ; the moun- tainous interior of Central Palestine, from the Great Plain south to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; see note. The Israehtes from the neighbouring parts of this region rose at Ehud's call and has- tened down, under his lead, to the plain of Jericho. — 28. The first half verse comes rather late after v.^'** ; the second, they followed him down, is parallel to v.^'*'. This interruption of the natural progress of the story is commonly ascribed to the editor who added v.^^*^ ; t it is possible, however, that v.^ is the original sequel of v.-^, and v.-'-^ of v.-^, which would give us two complete and parallel accounts. — Follow me dozun] %^ erroneously, I>u7'sue me. — They seized the fords of the Jordaji against Jhe Moabites] thus cutting off the retreat of those who were on tfee Israelite side of the river ; cf. f^ 1 2". % The fords here meant are the lowest * That this requires '3 12>' (Winckler) is a rash assertion. fBu. X Fl. Jos., Ra., RLbG., Schm. ; not in order to prevent help from coming from the Moabite side (Ki.). Cler. combines the two explanations. III. 27-29 103 fords of the Jordan, near Gilgal (Jos. 2' 2 S. 19^'').* Others inter- pret, tlie fords leading to Moab, the Moahite fords ; but this is not distinctive, for all the lower fords of the Jordan led to Moab, and 12^, where the construction is the same, cannot well be explained in this way. — 29. The verse, as a whole, is ascribed by Budde to the author of the Deuteronomic book of Judges ; but see above on v.-^. — l^en thousand men'] see on i'*. — All stout and valiant me?i'] there were no others among them ; t not, every stout and valiant man, % as though they let others go, in conflict with the following, not one escaped. The Moabites are represented as an army of occupation, rather than as settlers. 27. 1X133 \T'i] (gBPNOai. ^ _^ ^^'5 ^^^ IcparfK, a natural addition if the resi- dence of Eglon was supposed to be east of the Jordan (cf. Ra.). It is conceiv- able, on the other hand, that the words were dropped from |^, as conflicting with the supposition that the scene of Ehud's deed was Jericho. If Seirah had been meant, the author would probably have written nca' 1XU3; if Mt. Ephraim, the sentence would have been differently arranged. — novi'D yiT.M] the horn (KeparivT], buccina §) as a signal calling men to arms, Jud. 6^^ I S. 13^ 2 S. 20^; warning of approach of the enemy, Am. 3^ Ez. t^-^ Jer. 4^ 6^ &c.; in battle, Am. 2^; sounding the recall, 2 S. 2^8 igi^ 20^2. On the form and fabrication of the sJwphar, and its religious uses, see C. Adler, PAOS., Oct. 1889, p. clxxi.; The Shophar — its Use and Oi-igin, 1894 (Rep. of U. S. Natl. Museum for 1892, p. 437-450). — The Highlands of Ephraim'\ the mountains which form the backbone of Central and Southern Palestine extend from the Great Plain southward, gradually increasing in elevation to the vicinity of Hebron, south of which they fall off, the hills terminating about Tell 'Arad and Beersheba. || The northern half of this region is the mountain country of Ephraim, occupied by West Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin; the southern, the mountain country of Judah. There is no natural boundary between the two; the limit shifted with the southward expansion of Joseph. At the time of our story the territory of Joseph was separated from Judah by a Canaanite belt of which Jeru- salem was the central stronghold; see above, p. 8. — 28. nns iDin] read m (g and v.b; 2 K. 5^1 (Ba.) is not parallel to this use of f|Tn. — 3X1?:'^] equiva- lent to a tiativus inconnnodi ; cf. ^ 3Xio *?;', Ba., Reuss. Not vada Jordatiis quae iransjnittunt in Moab %, Schm., Cler., Be., al. ('n Sx) ; or periphrasis for a second genitive, ras 5ia/3d(rets tov 'lopddvov ttjs Mwa/S ©S, the Moabite fords of the Jordan. — 29. V^n t^x S31 ]T2ty So] |r;r originally *fat,' then * SWP. Memoirs, ill. p. 170. There are now two fords, one at the pilgrims' bathing place (Mahadet IJagleh) ; the other, at present overgrown, a mile or more south of it. The former must always have been the main crossing. t AV. + RV. § Jerome on Hos. 58. II Robinson, P/i^yj. G^i?^., p. 32-36. I04 JUDGES 'robust, vigorous.' Others interpret, 'rich, great' (Ki. 2°, RLbG., Cler., al.), a familiar metaphor, but an inapposite sense in this place. 30. Moab was subdued^ 8^^ ir^ (cf. 4-^) i S. 7^=^, in the closing formulas with which the stories of the several judges are brought to a conclusion. In the present instance the results of Ehud's deed seem to be exaggerated. The story itself tells only of the assassination of the king and the slaughter of the Moabites west of the Jordan, clearing the land of Israel of these intruders ; of a subjugation of Moab it gives no hint. — The land enjoyed security eighty years'] two generations ; cf. v." above, and see Introduction, §7- 'ji 2NO ;'j3ni] Moab was subdued; S^s ii23 i s. f^ i Chr. 20^ 2 Chr. 13I8 Ps. 106^2. tiie Niph. is passive to Hiph. (2 S. 8^ = i Chr. 18I). Not to be confounded with the trop. sense, * be subdued in spirit, submit ' to the judge- ments or reproof of God (Lev, 26'*^ i K. 22^^ &c.). The phrase belongs apparently to the *' pre-Deuteronomic " Book of Judges; s&e We., Co?np., p. 219; controverted by Kitt., Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 50. On the moral aspects of Ehud's deed — on which the narrator in Jud. 3 certainly wasted no reflections — and on the difficulties which the story made for the older biblical apologetics, see Schmid, qtmestiones 7-10: Num Ehud Egloni mentitus est? Num Eglonem Ehud decepit? Licuitne Ehudi Eglonem ty- rannum occidere? Quomodo cum impulsu at instinctu divino conciliandum est, quod Ehud adeo solicite ad caedem Eglonis se praeparavit, tempus atque alia circumspexit atque observavit? — In more modern fashion, Bachmann, p. 231 if. III. 31. Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines with an ox- goad. — Shamgar is often reckoned as the first of the six " Minor Judges.'"^ The verse which tells his brief story exhibits, how- ever, none of the distinctive formulas of the list 10^'^ •i2^-^^;t and, what is more conclusive, Shamgar is not embraced with them in the final chronological scheme of the book ; neither the period in which he wrought deliverance for Israel nor its duration is given. % Chapter 4^ (D) ignores Shamgar, connecting immedi- * See Introduction, ^7. f See on loi. X The Jewish explanation is that he died in the first year of his office ; FI. Jos., Juchasin, Abarb., a Lap., al. in. 3(^31 105 ately with 3^*^ ("when Ehud was dead"). It is to be inferred from these facts that the story of Shamgar's exploit was inserted here by a hand not only later than the Deuteronomic author of 3''" 4\ but than the editor who introduced the " Minor Judges " and made them a place in the chronology.* After him came Shamgar ben AnatJf^ Shamgar is named in Jud. 5^, where, with Jael, he represents the hour of Israel's deepest humiliation under the hand of its foes, just before the appearance of Deborah, and there is no reason to doubt that he is a historical figure. The story of the slaughter of the six hundred Philistines reminds us of Samson, but, in its form, still more of the exploits of David's heroes, 2 S. 21^^-" 23^^,1 and is very likely extracted from the same or a similar source. The name Shamgar is foreign ; perhaps Hittite. Anath is a goddess of whose worship there are many evidences in Palestine in names of places which were seats of her cult, \ and whose name appears on Egyptian monuments from the i8th dynasty. — He smote the Philistines^ all the evi- dence we have goes to show that the Phihstines did not seriously trouble the central tribes until shortly before the time of Saul ; see above on 3^ (p. 80). The Song of Deborah celebrates the vic- torious issue of the struggle of the central and northern tribes against the Canaanites, who in the days of Shamgar (5'') had brought Israel to such straits. It knows nothing of a contempo- raneous oppression by the Philistines. As a champion of Israel against the Philistines, therefore, Shamgar appears too early. § — With an ox-goad'] || the Syrian ploughman's goad is a formidable weapon, sometimes eight feet long, armed at one end with a spike, at the other with a chisel-shaped blade for cleaning the plough ; and on occasion would make a very good substitute for a spear. But the six hundred men have always taxed the credulity of the commentators, who have had recourse to various rationalizing sub- terfuges. Clericus, for example, explains that Shamgar did not kill * See Ewald, G VI. ii, p. 514 (cf. 449) = HI. ii. p. 317; No., Untersuch., p. i8o; cf. also We., Comp., p. 217 f. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 166 (meant to replace Abime- lech, the latest addition to the book). f We,, Comp., p, 218 n. :j: Beth-anath in Galilee, Jud. i33 ; Beth-anoth in Judah, Jos. 1559 ; Anathoth near Jerusalem ; the modern 'Ainata on the Lebanon (see above, p. 52). \ We. II Bochart adduces in illustration, //. vi. 132-135, and Nonnus, Dionys., xx. 315 ff. ; cf. Eustath. on //., U. 106 JUDGES six hundred men with his own hand, but headed a peasants' revolt in which so many PhiHstines fell* — And he too delivered Israel^ see on 2^^. The form of the expression of itself would arouse the suspicion that the introduction of Shamgar was an affeerthought.f Whether Shamgar is the original hero of this story may be doubted; Jud. 5*^ certainly suggests no such deliverance. The similarity of the exploit to those of David's Gibborim has been often observed {e.g. by Schm.). The resemblance to the slaughter of the Philistines at Lehi by Shammah ben Age (2 S. 23^1^) is particularly striking; and the conjecture may not seem too hazardous that the feat of David's comrade has been ascribed, perhaps partly in consequence of the similarity of the names, to the Shamgar of 5''', of whom nothing was known. Cf. also Jud. 15^^^- (Samson at Lehi). With the name Shamgar we may perhaps compare Sangar, king of Gargamis (then the chief city of the Hittite country) in the days of Asurnasirpal and Salmanassar II. (9th cent. B.C.) ; % cf. also Samgar-nebo Jer. 39^. There was a kingdom San- gara on the upper Tigris; § a river Sangarius in Asia Minor (//. iii. 187, xvi. 719; Strabo, xii. p. 543; Ptol., v. i, 6). The similarity of the names may be purely accidental; on the other hand it may be evidence of the movements of population in these regions. — Anath'\ is represented in an Egyptian stele in the British Museum, sitting, holding shield and javelin in the right hand, while with the left she brandishes a battle axe;l| in other places she appears on horseback similarly armed,^ or sitting upon a lion.** That she was espe- cially worshipped by the Hittites (E. Meyer) is not indisputable. In what relation this goddess stands to the Babylonian Antu is not certain; see Schrader, ZDMG, xxvii. p. 404, and, against him, E. Meyer, ib. xxxi. p. 716 ff. The evidence given by the Amarna tablets of long and profound Babylonian influence in Palestine at an early period makes it probable that they are not independent.ft — The form of the name njj? p -ijaii' is unusual; the conjecture that it is abbreviated for nj>' n^y p (Baethgen, p. 141) is inadmissible (No., ZDMG. xlii. 479); cf. rather -yyry p. — np^n iioSDn] the abs. probably nc^r, a common form oinom. instrum., Sta. § 272 a, cf. Barth, Nominalbildung, p. 262. Descriptions in M. Kelitn, xxv. 2; Wayyiqra rab., § 29; Abulw., quoting R. Sherira; Maundrell (1697) i^ Early Travels in Pal.., ed. Wright, 1848, p. 475 f.; Rob., BR"^. iii. 62; esp. Schumacher, " Der arab. Pflug," ZDPV. xii. p. 160 f.; Post, PEF. Qu. St. 1891, p. 112-114. * Similarly a Lyra, al. f Bertheau. X Tide, Babyl.-Assyr. Gesch., p. 175, 189 f., 197 f., 200 f. § Frequently mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions; W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 279; Erman, Aegypten, p. 682; also in an Amarna letter, PSD A., June 1888, p. 569. II Wilkinson, And. Egypt., ed. Birch, iii. p. 236. 11 Lepsius, Denkmaler, Abth. iii. pi. 138. ** De Vogiid", Melanges d'archcol. orient., p. 47. ft On Anath see further, De Vogu6, Jour. Asiat., 1867, p. 125 ff. = Melanges d'archeol. orient., 41 ff. ; Baethgen, Beitrage, 52 f. in. 31-1V. 107 IV. Deborah and Barak deliver Israel from the Canaanites ; the defeat and death of Sisera. Literature, — G. A, Cooke, The History and Song of Deborah, 1892. The Israelites again offend Yahvveh, who gives them into the power of Jabin, the Canaanite king of Hazor, and Sisera, his gen- eral, for twenty years (4^"'). Deborah, a prophetess, instigates Barak to take the field against Sisera (v."*-^). He raises Zebulun and Naphtali and occupies Mt. Tabor. Sisera, advancing against him through the plain, is attacked and routed, and his army cut to pieces (v.^*^-^*^) . Sisera escapes on foot to the tent of Jael, who conceals him in the tent and kills him while he sleeps (v.^'"^^). Jabin is subdued (v.-^^-). The Song of Deborah, ch. 5--^^ is a triumphal ode, celebrating the victory of the Israelites under the lead of Deborah and Barak over Sisera and the kings of Canaan, and the death of Sisera by the hand of Jael. The poem is in places obscure or unintelhgible, in consequence chiefly of corruption of the text ; but its general tenor is clear. By the vividness of every touch, and especially by the elevation and intensity of feeling which pervades it, it makes the impression of having been written by one who had wit- nessed the great events which it commemorates.* The prose narrative, 4^'-^, also gives an account of a rising of Israelite tribes instigated by Deborah and led by Barak, and of the defeat and death of Sisera. The relation of this narrative to the Song must be our first inquiry. The chief points of difference between the two are these: i. In the poem the kings of Canaan assemble to batde (v.^'^). Sisera is evidently at their head, the greatest king among them (v.-'^). In his palace the queen-mother, whose ladies-in-waiting are princesses (v.^^), sits expecting his return (v.-^'^*^).t In the prose narrative, ch. 4, Sisera js only the general of Jabin king of Hazor (v.''-^^), who in v.^-^-^ (D) is even called king of Canaan. 2. In ch. 5 all the tribes around the Great Plain — Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir (Manasseh), Issachar, Zebulun, NaphtaH — join in the struggle, while the more remote tribes, Dan, Asher, * See Introduction to ch. 5, below. t In V.30 some find mention of the queen ; see comm. there. I08 JUDGES and even Reuben and Gilead beyond the Jordan, are bitterly reproached for selfishly standing aloof from the cause of all Israel. It is the uprising of a whole people. In ch. 4, on the other hand, Barak collects a force of ten thousand men out of Zebulun and Naphtali only.* 3. The most striking difference is in the descrip- tion of Sisera's death. In 4-^, as he lies fast asleep on the ground in the tent, Jael with a hammer drives a tent-pin through his temples into the earth. In 5-'--", on the contrary, as he is. stand- ing at the door of the tent drinking milk from a bowl, Jael strikes him a crushing blow on the head, and he sinks dead at her feet.t Closer examination shoAvs that the account in ch. 4 is not entirely self-consistent. Jabin king of Hazor, or of Canaan, has really nothing to do with the story ; he takes no part in the strug- gle, and only reappears in v.^'' and the editor's words at the end. Sisera is here, too, the real protagonist ; and that in this version of his story also he was originally represented as a king is clear from the fact that he has a residence city of his own, remote from Hazor. The topographical data of the chapter are conflicting, and make it impossible to form a consistent conception of the battle and the flight. The Israelites assemble at Kedesh in Naphtali, as if for an attack upon Hazor ; but march, peaceable and unmolested, by the gates of the enemy's capital to Mt. Tabor. Sisera advances against them from Harosheth (v.^^) , and the battle takes place in the plain at the foot of the mountain. The routed Canaanites flee toward-»Harosheth, closely followed by the Israel- ites (v.^^'). Sisera escapes alone on foot to the encampment of Heber the Kenite near Kedesh (v.^^'cl."), many hours distant to the north, with Barak in hot pursuit. His flight took him straight through the territory of the tribes which were in arms, and past the very doors of his master's city. Why did he not take refuge within its walls rather than in the tent of a nomad ? * In 5I5 it seems that both Deborah and Barak belong to Issachar; while in ch. 4 Deborah's home is in the heart of Mt. Ephraim, and Barak's at Kedesh in Naphtali. The text of 5I5, however, is too insecure to permit us to lay great stress upon this. t See in general, We., Hist, of Israel, p. 240-242 ; Cotnp., p. 220-223 ; Sta., G F/2. i. p. 178 ; Kue., HCO^. i. p. 345 f. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 104-106 ; Co., Einl\ P- 93-95; W. R. Smith, OTJC^., p. 132; Wildeboer, Letterkunde des Ouden Ver- bonds, p. 35-3^. IV. 109 These inconcinnities probably result, at least in part, from the combination of two narratives ; one an account of a war waged by Zebulun and Naphtali against Jabin of Hazor, the other of the war with Sisera king of Harosheth and his alhes which is the subject of the Song of Deborah. The t^vo have been superficially harmo- nized at the most essential point by making Sisera the general of Jabin. An analysis of the chapter is scarcely possible ; nor can we say what common feature led to the incongruous union. The analysis is attempted by Bruston, « Les deux Jehovistes," Revue de Thhl et Philos., 1886, p. 35 f. (quoted by Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 70 n.) as follows: to the first Jehovist he ascribes . . . 42b/3. 3ba. 4-9 (with minor traces of redaction in \J- ») ^^""^^ ^- 1--^^*^- ^^ S^'^^^J to the second, 4!- 2a, ba- 3b^. Sa [words corresponding to f- 1^] lo^a. n [defeat of Canaanites at Kedesh] i^b. 17-24 ^3ib. — If v.i'b is not an editorial addition, Heber must belong to the story of Jabin (Bu., Co.), and as Jael unquestionably belongs to that of Sisera, it might be conjectured that in making her Heber's wife the writer who combined the two stories had attempted to harmonize them by an artifice similar to that by which Sisera was made Jabin's general; and it might be further surmised that in the original story Jabin met at the tents of Heber a fate like that which overtook Sisera at the hand of Jael. But all this is mere conjecture. The war of Zebulun and Naphtali against Jabin, king of Hazor, and his alhes is recounted in Jos. 11^"^ where it is magnified into the conquest of all the northern Canaanites by Joshua and all Israel, in the same way in which the victory of Judah and Simeon over Adoni-zedek (Adoni-bezek) of Jerusalem (Jud. i"^') is elabo- rated in Jos. 10 into the account of Joshua's conquest of all Southern Canaan. We may surmise that the story of Jabin, of which we have the fragmentary remains in Jud. 4 Jos. 11, came from the same source from which Jud. i and the kindred frag- ments in Jos. were derived (J).* Too little is left of it to make a reconstruction possible ; but it is a not improbable conjecture that in its original connexion this story formed a chapter in the account of the conquest of Northern Canaan, corresponding to the taking of Hebron by Caleb and of Bethel by Joseph, the positive com- plement of Jud. 1=^-^. The story of Sisera in ch. 4, after the elimination of the elements derived from that of Jabin, gives us a number of details which are not found in ch. 5 ; viz., the name of * Bu., Richt. u. ^ain., p. 66 ff. I lO JUDGES Deborah's husband, Lapidoth; her home, between Bethel and Ramah;* Barak's father's name, Abinoam, and his residence, Kedesh in Naphtali ; t Sisera's city, Harosheth ha-goyim ; his chariotry ; the position of the Israehtes before the action, at Tabor. In the description of Sisera's end there is both a close resemblance and a striking difference between the two versions. Wellhausen, $ W. R. Smith, § and others think that 4-^ originated in a prosaic misunderstanding of 5-*^ (see comm. on the w.). It would not follow, however, that ch. 4 is merely a bald prose ver- sion of ch. 5.11 Dependence on the poem, in this and other particulars, does not exclude the use of other sources of tradition, from which the details mentioned above may have been derived ; and there is no substantial reason to doubt that the basis of ch. 4 is an old prose story of Sisera, which, though not rivalling the Song of Deborah in antiquity, is not conspicuously inferior to the other stories in the book. It is an interesting question, and one the solution of which, if it could be reached, would be of considerable importance, whether the prose narrative was originally prefixed to the Ode as an introduction, perhaps in such a collection as the Sepher ha-yashar, in the manner familiar to us in the great Arab col- lections. There are no very decisive considerations on either side ; on the whole, the impression which ch. 4 makes upon me is unfavourable to this hypothesis. From what source the story of Sisera in ch. 4 is derived can hardly be determined.^F It is intro- duced in the usual way (4^-^) ; the close is found in 4^^- ; the chronological note, naturally, in 5^"^-. 1-3. The Israelites again offend Yahweh; he gives them into the power of Jabin, king of Canaan, who cruelly oppresses them for twenty years. — The regular introduction ; the stories of * This trait is, however, probably introduced by a later hand ; see on v.5. t Perhaps this, too, is an error. X Comp., p. 222. ^ OTJC^., p. 132; Sta., GF/2. i. p. 178 n. II " Eine Reproduction, die die speziellen Ziige verwischt und verfalscht ; " We., Prol"^., p. 251. — The converse opinion of Vernes and others, that the poem is derived from the prose narrative, see below, Introduction to ch. 5. H For E we might point to ns^3j ni-'N v.^ (cf. Holzinger, Einl. in den Hexatcuch, p. 209 f.), and "«''-. DHii v.16 (i S. 7I0 &c.) \ IV. 1-3 ITI Jabin and Sisera are combined and harmonized by making Sisera the general of Jabin. — 1. Cf. 2" 3'- 'I — Ehud being dead^ post- poned circumstantial clause, introducing a fact essential to the understanding of the situation.* The author's theory is that the judges restrained the people from displeasing Yahweh as long as they lived; cf. 3" and 2^^ (in contrast to 2^^). Observe that Shamgar is ignored ; the verse connects immediately with ^^, just as 3'^ does with 3^^ — 2. Yahweh sold them'] 2^^. — Jabin, the king of Canaafi, who reigned in Hazo?-] the tendency to turn the history of the Israelite tribes into the history of the Israelitish nation, which is conspicuous in the editing of the book,t shows itself in the transformation of Jabin king of Hazor (v.^'' Jos. 11^) into the king of Canaan (v.^^"^) ; here the two are harmonized, Jabin the king of Ca7iaan, who 7'eigned, i.e., had his capital (Jos. 13^2.21^^ 1^ j^^zo?'. — Hazor] has not been certainly identified; it must be looked for not far from Kedesh. % Robinson fixed on Tell Khureibeh, about an hour south of Kedesh ; § Wilson || and Gu^rin^ prefer Khirbet Harreh, the ruins of a fortified place about the same distance SE. of Kedesh, overlooking the Hiileh ; Conder and others would recognize the name in its Arabic equiva- lent, Gebel Hadireh, three miles SSW. of Kedesh, a little vv^est of the modern village of Deishiin.** — His general was Sisera] in this way the story of Sisera is harmonized with that of Jabin; see above, p. 108 f. Sisera did not reside in his master's capital, Hazor, but had a city of his own like an independent king.-f-j- — Harosheth ha-goyim] v.^^-^^ Now generally identified with el-Harithiyeh, in the narrows of the Kishon valley at the western end of the Great Plain; see on v.^l — 3. v.% see f. — Ni?ie hundr-ed iron chariots] v}^ i^^; by means of them he kept com- mand of the plain; Jos. 17"^^-^^ (J). Thothmes III. counts nine * Dr3. § 159; Ges.25 § 141. 2, n. 2; \ 156. i. 2. f See above, p. 90. X Cf. 2 K. 1529 Jos. I935ff- I Mace. ii67 ; Masius on Jos. iii, \ BR^. iii. p. 364-366. II Jour. Sacred Lit., 1866, p. 245 ; see SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 237 f. H Galilee, iii. p. 363 ff. ; so also Di. ** See DB'^. s. v. ; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 204; Schiirer, GjV. i. p. 185 n. ; BadS. p. 264. ft The text cannot mean that Jabin lived at Harosheth (Thdt., Ki., al. ; v. Drus.). 112 JUDGES hundred and twenty-four chariots among the spoils of his victory in the battle of Megiddo.* — He oppressed Israel c-ruelly for iwejity years'] half a generation. 2. The name Hazor appears in the list of Thothmes III. (No. 32) and in the Papyrus Anastasi (Miiller, Asiejt u. Etcropa, p. 173); also in the Amarna despatches. It was fortified by Solomon (i K. 91^), as a place of command- ing importance in Upper Galilee, and captured by Tiglath Pileser (734 B.C.; '2 K. IS''^-')- The most definite clue for the determination of the site, is given by I Mace, ii^^a, of. Fl. Jos., antt. xiii. 5, 6 f. § 154-162; v. 5, i § 199. Extensive ruins at Tell Harreh show that it was once a place of considerable size and strength; those at Tell el-Khureibeh are less important; at Gebel Hadireh none have been discovered. The last-named site perhaps best agrees with the indications in i Mace. No great stress can be laid on the similarity of the name; for hadireh is a common Arabic appellative (' sheepfold, pen'). — The relation of the Jabin of our text to the one in Jos. 1 1, and the question how Hazor, which was totally destroyed by Joshua, is here again the centre of the Canaanite power in the north, are much discussed by older commenta- tors beginning with Thdt. (^qzi. 10). The common solution is, that Hazor had been rebuilt (Thdt., a Lyra, a Lap., Masius, Schm., Cler., al. mu.), and that the Jabin here named was a successor, and probably descendant, of the Jabin of Jos. II. The title kijig of Canaan gives a good deal of trouble to the conscientious old commentator Schmid, who justly observes that Canaan was not a political unity, under one king; cf. also Cler. — niD'D] the form of the name is not Canaanite, and probably not Semitic; we may perhaps compare the numerous Hittite names ending in -sij'a {IJiasiray Maurasira, &c., Miiller, Asien u. Etiropa, p. 332). It is found also in the list of Nethinim (native temple-slaves) Ezra 2°^ Neh. 7^^. — nprns] 8^ i S. 216 Ez. 34*. 4, 5. Deborah. — 4. The verse belongs to the old story of Sisera. Deborah was the moving spirit in the Israelite rising which overthrew Sisera (^7.12.15 ^6.9f. 14^^ — ^ prophetess] in the older sense of the word, an inspired woman; cf. Ex. 15^*^. Impelled by the spirit of Yahweh, she roused her countrymen to fight (4^'*^^ 5^-), and in his name promised them victory. We may compare the German Veleda, who instigated and supported Civilis in the attempt to throw off the Roman yoke,t and, in * Brugsch, Gesch. Aegyptens, 1877, p. 303. t Ea virgo nationis Bructerae late imperitabat, vetere apud Germanos more, quo plerasque feminarum fatidicas, et, augescente superstitione, arbitrantur deas. Tuncque Veledae auctoritas adolevit ; nam prospcras Gerrnanis res et excidium legionum praedixerat. Tac., hist., iv. 61, cf. Germ. 8. IV. 3-5 113 more modem times, Joan of Arc* — Wife of Lapidoth'] cf. 2 K. 22" Ex. 15-*^ Lu. 2^'^'. The name has given occasion to all manner of conceits, among which we need only mention that which finds in Lapidoth (' torches, flashes ' f) another name of Barak (* light- ning ').X—lVas fudging Israel^ so the verb is interpreted in v.^ ; the latter verse is, however, secondary. In the connexion of the original narrative (v.''- '"') we should render, in accordance with the constant usage of the book, she delivered Israel, vindicated it ; j see on 3^". — 5. A circumstantial addition by a latter editor, who j took the verb in v.'* in the sense of 'judge, give judicial decisions,'/ describing the way in which she exercised her judicial functions :* she did not, like Samuel (i S. 7'^'§)»go on a circuit, but the Israelites from all quarters resorted to her at her home. — She used to sit under the Deborah Palm'] as arbitress, to settle dis- putes (v.'^ cf. I S. 2 2*^). II Others, she dwelt under it (cf. 2 K. 22^*) ;«[[ but it is unlikely that the author represented even the prophetess-judge as having her house or tent beneath the holy tree. There was a Tomb of Deborah below Bethel (Gen. 35^ E), where, according to the ancestral legend, Deborah the nurse of Rebekah was buried. The name of the Mourning Tree (Allon- bacuth) under which it stood was explained of the mourning for Deborah. This tree is in all probability the same with the Deborah Palm,** the origin of whose name the writer evidently connects with Deborah, the prophetess and judge. This associa- tion of names is probably responsible for the idea that Deborah's home was in the heart of the mountains of Ephraim. From 5^^ it would appear that she was of the tribe of Issachar ; and both ch. 4 and 5. naturally lead us to think that her home was in or near the plain of Jezreel. The conjecture is then not remote that it was at Daberath (Aa/?apw(9, Aa/3eipa) Jos. 19^- 2i-«, the modern * Paulus, Reville, Cass. t Of lightning, Ex. 20I8. + The identification is ancient midrash ; see Yalqut, Ki., RLbG., old Cath. comm. ; recently Hilliger, cf. We., Bu., Cooke. § These verses seem to stand in the same relation to v.is in which Jud. 48 does to V 4. II So RLbG.. Abarb., Cler., Reuss, al. •nKi.. Schm., a Lap., Stud., Ba.; Ke., Be. confusedly combine the two inter- pretations. ** Abarb., Tuch, Ew., De., Di. Ew. plausibly combines it also with the Tabor Tree of i S. io3 ( G VI. iii. p. 31). IT4 JUDGES Deburiyeh at the western foot of Tabor. The similarity of the names is at least striking.* — Between Ramah and Bethel'] in the same region in which Samuel afterwards judged Israel (i S. 7^^^). The Benjamite Ramah is meant ; the modern er-Ram, two hours north of Jerusalem.! On Bethel see on i^^. — The Israelites went up to her for justice] to have their causes decided in accordance with the common law of Israel. 4. Deborah'] in Heb. means ' Bee '; cf. the Greek name M^Xtcro-a. % Animal names of women are not uncommon in the O.T.; Ba. collects the following: Zipporah (little bird), Hoglah (grouse), Hulclah (weasel), Eglah (heifer), Rachel (ewe), Jael (wild-goat). — hnuj ntrvs] cf. xoj tr'iN 6^, >h v^'H 19I 20"^, p3 c^N Lev. 21^ njn n^'N Jud. iii 16I, ^xh^St nt^N 19I, hjdSn nt:'N.2 S. 14^ &c. (cf. Engl, colloq., * widow woman '), nSina n-i;?j, &c. Apposition of genus and species, Ges.-^ § 131. 2 «. The other prophetesses named in the O.T. are Miriam (Ex. 15'-^^), Huldah (2 K. 22!^), Noadiah (Neh. 61*); cf. Anna, Luke 2^"^. Megillah, \^ enumerates seven. — nnisS na'N] the only natural interpretation is that which takes "? as the name of Deborah's husband (cf. 2 K. 22I*) . Men's names with fem. endings are not uncommon in the O.T. ; cf. Naboth, i K. 211^-. The translation, ein Weib von Feuej-geist (Cass.; similarly Ar. Montanus, Fr. Bo., al.) is pure midrash ; cf Megillah, i^, Yalqtit, in loc, and the Rabb. commentators. — ntopc' ^'^■^] ilH and apparently all verss., judicabat ; and this interpretation is presupposed by v.^. If, how- ever, the verb is synonymous with y"'!:'in as in 2}^-^^ -^^ lo^f- (see on 3I0), which was no doubt the meaning in the original connexion, we require not the ptcp., but the histor. pf , 'Ji ntOQu* n-'H. — x-'n resuming the subject after the two appositive phrases; cf Gen. 312 Jud. 7* &c. — 5. nad"' x^ni] the words admit either interpretation, sat or dwelt ; for the first cf 6II I S. 14^ i K. 13I* 1 9"*; for the second, Jud. ^ iqI i K. 5^ 2 K. 22" &c. (Ba.). Doubtless the author meant that her home was in the neighbourhood of the holy tree. — nnm idh nnn] Verss., tmder Deborah's palm, r\-\'\y^ ncn : § iJH •y^t\ (Jer. lo^ ^). The intention of this pronunciation and accentuation H is not manifest. There is no evidence that "i!2h is a collective, * palm grove ' (Bo., i. p. 458 f.). % has some other curious information about Deborah; she lived in 'Ataroth of Deborah,^ had palm trees at Jericho, gardens at Ramah, &c.; cf. also Megillah, 14a. — Ramah] lay on the road north from Jerusalem beyond Gibeah (19^^^-), and is elsewhere named in connexion with Gibeon and Becrotli * On Deburiyeh see SWP. Memoirs, i. 363, Cf. Niebuhr, Reconstellation des Deboraliedes, p. ii f. t Rob., Dli^. i. 576; Gu6rin, Samarie, i. p. 199-204; SWP. Memoirs, ill. p. 13. X Freq. title name of priestesses of Demeter, Rhea, Artemis. \ The constr. of ir;n does not occur in the O.T, II With the disjunctive cf. Gen. 14I3 ; Wickes, Prose Accents, p. 50 f. H Modern 'Atara, midway betweep er-Ram an4 eJvJ3ireh. ,,. <■ IV. 5-7 115 (Jos. 1 825), Mizpeh and Geba (i K. isSW- Is. io29). See also Fl. Jos., antt. viii. 12, 3 § 303; OS'^. 2871; Jerome, Comm. in Hos. 58; in Sophon. i^^f-. It was rightly identified with er-Ram by Brocardus (ca. 1283), Descriptio, etc., c. 7; Eshtori Parchi (fol. 68'^), and other mediDeval Jewish travellers. — tOD'^'oS] on the various senses of this word see Batten, JBL. xi. p. 206-210. 6-9. Deborah calls on Barak to take the field against Sisera. — 6. The original sequel of v.''. — Barak ben Abt?ioa?n'] the name Barak (Lightning) occurs in Palmyrene and Sabaean inscriptions, as well as among the Carthaginians (Barcas) . — From Kedesh in Naphtali^^ Jos. 19^''; "in GaHlee, in the Highlands of Naphtali " (20^) ; the modern Qades, west of the Hiileh.* This is, as has been remarked above, a natural rendezvous for a rising against Jabin of Hazor, but hardly for a campaign against the Canaanites in the Great Plain ; and makes insuperable difficulties in the account of Sisera's flight. — Doth not Yahweh, the God of Israel, co?nmand thee ?~\ now, by me, his prophet. The question which compels the hearer himself to make the affirmation is more forcible than the affirmation of the speaker ; cf. v.^^ 6^'^ Jos. i^ i S. 10^ &c. — Yahweh the God of Israel'] 5^-^ 6^ jj2i.23 ^^z ^^^ ^^ 5^ 34"'^ Jos. 24^-^ Is. 17^ 21^'', frequent in Jer.f — Ma?rh on Mt. Tabor] Tabor (8^^), now Gebel et-Tor, is at the head of the northern arm of the Great Plain, the southern end of a low range of hills. It is a symmetrical, pounded mountain (A.o<^o9 fxaaroebS-qq, Polyb., V. 70), presenting from the south the aspect of a segment of a sphere, from the north that of a truncated cone. The summit is an oblong platform nearly three thousand feet from east to west, and about thirteen hundred in its greatest trans- verse diameter. Its situation and natural strength made it a most advantageous position for the Israelites in a war with the Canaanites of the Plain. | — Ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebuliin] that the levy is made from these tribes rather than from those nearer to the plain, and from these only, in contrast with ch. 5, would agree better with the story of Jabin than with that of Sisera. — 7. And I will draw out to thee] Yahweh, by his * Rob., DR^. iii. p. 366-369; Gu6rin, Galilee, ii. p. 355-362; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 226-230 ; Bad3. p, 264. t Not in Amos or Hosea. X See Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, 1822, p, 332-335 ; Rob., DR"^. ii. p. 351-360; Gu6rin, Galilee, i. p. 143-163; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 388-391. 1 16 JUDGES prophet, promises to lead the enemy on to his ruin; cf. Ex. 14^ Sisera's march from Harosheth against the Israelites at Tabor would bring him into the valley of the Kishon (v.^^), whose streams, swollen perhaps by a sudden flood, turned defeat into disaster (5^^). On the field of battle, see on 4^^ and 5-^ — Jalmi's ge?ie?'al~\ the words, and the corresponding clause, v.^'*', are not an interpolation by D or a still later hand ; * but were introduced by the older editor who combined the stories of Jabin and Sisera.| See above, p. 109. The title here used is given in the history of the Israelite kingdoms to an officer who was at the head of what we should call the national militia. He was charged with the enumeration and enrollment of the men Uable to military service (2 S. 24-), raised the levies when war broke out, and commanded them in the absence of the king (^e.g. 2 S. 11). The same sys- tem doubtless existed in the neighbouring states, for example, in Aram-zobah (2 S. 10^^), Aram (2 K. 5^), J &c. — His chariot corps and his troops'] the common mass of footmen in distinction from the chariot corps, which was composed of men of rank and wealth who were trained in arms. — 8. Barak accepts the commission only on condition that Deborah accompany him into the field. The presence of the prophetess will not only ensure to him divine guidance (v.^^), but give confidence to him and his followers. — 9. Deborah answers that she will, of course, go with him ; but forewarns him that the chief glory of the victory will not fall to him, but to a woman. — Howbeit thou wilt not gain the glory in the expedition on which thou ai't going] the rendering of our version, the journey . . . shall not be for thine honour, suggests, if it does not distinctly express, a sense quite foreign to the text ; Deborah was not dissuading him from going. — Into the power of a wonian] not Deborah, as numerous scholars understand, § influ- enced partly by an erroneous interpretation of this verse, partly by ch. 5, in which the fame of Deborah does indeed eclipse that of Barak ; but Jael, || as is quite clear in the sequel of the story, * Be., Di. t Kue., Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 67, 107. t Cf. also Gen. 2122. 32 2626 (Philistines of Gerar). See Sta., GVI. i. p. 276. ^ Jerome {ep. 65, i), Ki., Abendana, Cler., Hitz., Reuss. II Orig., Ambros., Ephrem, Tanch., Schm., Ba., Be., Ke. Unsatisfactory fusion or confusion of the two interpretations, Fl. Jos., antt. v. 5, 3 ^ 203 cl. § 209 ; RLbG., Abarb., Cass.. Oettli. IV. 7-9 117 4'^^-. The words of Deborah are generally understood to be a reproof of Barak's lack of faith and courage. Instead of accept- ing with alacrity the divine mandate, he insisted that she, a woman, should take the field with him ; as a penalty, the glory which he should have gained by the death of Sisera is taken from him and given to a woman.* This interpretation is not, however required by the text or suggested by the context, in which there is no sign of disapproval. That Sisera did not fall on the field, but was killed in his flight by Jael, was a well-established feature of the story ; it is natural that the author should make the prophetess foretell this at the outset, and unnecessary to construe the pre- diction as even an impKcit condemnation. It is not at all clear that the writer regarded Barak's urgent desire to have the proph- etess with him as blameworthy. — She went with Barak to Kedesh~\ where he mustered his clans. As the story now stands, she accompanied him from the vicinity of Bethel to Kedesh in Naphtah, a journey of four or five days. There is no great intrinsic improbabiUty in this; but it is very likely, on other grounds, that in the original form of the narrative the homes of the two leaders were not so far apart. 6. Kedesh of Naphtali f] also called Kedesh of Galilee, to distinguish it from other places of the same name (Kadesh or Kedesh, i.e. Holy Place). Kadesh on the Orontes has already been mentioned (see on 3^). i Chr. 6^'^ (EV. 6' 2), in a list of Levitical cities, names a Kedesh in Issachar, in con- junction with Daberath (Deburiyeh); and We. (^Comp., p. 221) and others have conjectured that in the redaction of our story this has been confused with the more famous place of the name in Naphtali; but the corresponding list in Jos. 21^8 (cf. 19-'') gives the name Kishion. There is a Tell Abii Qudeis on the southern side of the Great Plain, midway between Ta'annuk and Leggiin, about a mile north of the road between them, which is perhaps the Kedesh of Issachar, and a Khirbet Qadish near the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, in the territory of Naphtali. — mi- n*?,-)] Jos. i^ Ru. 2^. For this use of N'^n introducing in the form of a question a statement which commands assent, cf. Dt. ii^"^ I S.. 2o3" Mi. 3I, Ges.25 § 150. 2, n. i. The verss. freq. render it by iho-O, ecce, &c. The pf. refers not to an injunction given by Moses (Dt. 20^"; Ra., after Mechiltd), or to an earlier communication from Deborah (Ki.), but * Fl. Jos., Jerome, Ki,, Schm., Stud., Ba., Be., Ke., al. t On Kedesh in Naphtali see further 2 K. 1520 i Mace. ii<53-74, Fl. Jos., b.j. iv, 2, 3 ; cf. ii. 18, 1 ; antt. xiii. 5, 6 § 154 ; OS"^. 27153. See Eli Smith, Bibl. Sacra, 1843, p. II ; 1849, p. 374-376. 1 1 8 JUDGES to the command which follows; cf. 6" (Abarb., Cler.). — hdii'CI i"-] 5" 2o37; transitively, \J In describing military operations the vb. seems to be nearly equivalent to \2VD (see on 2o3') and to be construed in a similar way; cf. 3 -cyD (Chr. — in the older books Ss or hy), 2 onVj, &c.; cf. de Dieu on Jer. 5^; Stud, on Jud. 4''; Ges. T/ies. s. v. — 7. TiTi'Oi] transitively, draw; with ace. pers. Ps. 28^ Job 402^, — ijidh] 'mass, multitude'; equivalent to d; v.13, the common soldiers; Ez. 312 3220. — 9. >o Ddn] limiting a preced- ing statement or correcting an erroneous inference which might be drawn from it; cf. Am. 9^ Nu. 13^8 Dt. 15* i S. i^ ^. It may here be merely a check to extravagant expectations; it is not necessary to supply in thought, "in consequence of my going" (Ki., al.). — "imNsn n>nn nS] lit. thy glory — that which is naturally anticipated from success in such an enterprise — will not come, be achieved (Schm., Ba.). The interpretation, the fame will not be thine {victoria non reputabitur tibi 3L; Lth., Stud., Reuss, Kitt., al. mu.), is too free, and accentuates too strongly the antithesis between this and the following clause. 10-16. The battle ; rout of the Canaanites. — 10. In accord- ance with Deborah's direction (v.^), Barak assembled the tribes of Zebulun and NaphtaU at Kedesh. — The7'e went up at his back ten ihoitsand me?i'] of these tribes. Lit. at his feet; cf. 8^ Ex. 11^ I K. 20^*^ &c. — And Deboi^ah went with him'] to Mt, Tabor (v.^-). The words probably belong to the old story of Sisera; see on v.^ — 11. The narrator pauses here, before going on to describe the battle, to say what was necessary about the scene of Sisera's death ; where Heber's tent was pitched, and how these Kenite nomads came to be so far in the north, in order that the story might not be interrupted in its midcourse by these explana- tions. The verse is therefore in a suitable place,* and not super- fluous by the side of v.-^'' ; there is no reason for regarding it as an addition of the last editor.-f It seems, however, to have come from the story of Jabin ; see below. The words, the sons of Hobab, Moses'' father-in-law J may be a gloss borrowed from i'^ or the source of ch. I ; but the Kenite is original here. % — Heber the Ke7iite had sepaj-ated from Kain] from the body of his tribe, which roamed in the region south of Judah ; see on i^^. § Heber occurs also as * See Schm., Cler., Be., Bu. t Matthes, Th. T. xv. p. 609, Kue., HCO^. i. p. 367. X See Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 68, against Mey., ZA TW. i. p. 137 n, 3. \ On the wandering branches of Arab clans {tawaif), see W. R. Smith, Kin- ship and Marriage, p. 37. IV. IO-I3 TIQ the name of a clan of Asher (Gen. 46^^ Nu. 26^^), as well as in Judah (i Chr. 4^^).* — A?id pitched his tent as far as the Tree of Basaaniniy which was by Kedesh'] cf. Gen. 13^^. This was the northern limit of his wanderings, and the site of his encampment at the time of our story. The place is named in Jos. 19'^ on the boundary of Naphtali, but in a connexion which does not enable us to determine its situation.! Heber the Kenite appears, there- fore, to belong originally to the story of Jabin ; see below on v.^^ and 5"^ — 12 f . Sisera, being informed of Barak's movements, assembles his forces, including nine hundred iron chariots (v.^-^ i^^), and marches from Harosheth to the Kishon. — Harosheth ha-go}~i?n~\ commonly explained, " the Harosheth of the (foreign) nations " ; cf. Gelll ha-gofim, Is. 8-^ 9^ ; possibly in distinction from a neighbouring IsraeHte Harosheth. \ The place is mentioned only in this chapter (v.-- ^^- ^^) . It must be sought, not in the vicinity of Hazor, § or elsewhere in Upper Galilee, || but in or near the Plain, where alone the chariots would be an effective arm ; cf. Jos. 1 7^^^^ Jud. i^^ Thomson ^ identified it with the modern Tell Harothleh (Harithiyeh), in the narrows of the Kishon valley commanding the entrance to the Great Plain from the Plain of Acre. The similarity of the names is more striking than conclusive ; but the situation is not unsuitable, though somewhat remote.** — The Kishon valleyl vJ 5^1 i K. 18^ Ps. Sf\ The Kishon, after the Jordan the most considerable stream in the land of Israel, drains the Great Plain, flowing in the main parallel to the range * M. Jastrow, Jr., suggests that this clan name may be in some way connected with the Habiri of the Amarna correspondence ; see ^BL. xi. p. 120. Miiller (Asien u. Europa, p. 174) thinks that the name Kenite here (cf. 52^) has nothing to do with the nomadic Kenites of the South, but is derived from a town Kin, which according to the Eg)'ptian inscriptions lay in the Great Plain (cf. p. 153). t Conder ( Tent Work, ii. p. 132) suggests Khirbet Bessilm, on the plateau west of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Qadlsh (Kedesh) ; see below on v. 22, p. 125 f. Cf. G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 395 f. X Ba. ; more probably ^'/ot originally a particular tribe or people (Duhm). 5 Cler. II Van de Velde, Kiepert, Kneucker, al. H Land and Book, 1863, ii. p. 143 f. ; 2 ed. ii. p. 215 ff. ** The conjecture has been accepted, with more or less confidence, by most recent writers ; Be., Ba., Conder, Socin, G. A, Smith, al. It is only possible, how- ever, if the story of Sisera be separated from that of Jabin ; if the chapter is treated as a unit, Harosheth must be sought, as Van de Velde and others rightly argue, in Upper Galilee. I20 JUDGES of Carmel, and emptying into the sea at Haifa. Its most remote southern affluents come from the neighbourhood of Genin ; the northern branch rises near el-Mezra ah, west of Mt. Tabor,* It is the latter that is meant here. — 14. Deborah gives the signal for the attack, and the assurance of victory.! Budde, comparing 3^ (Jos. lo^-^ S^^""), suspects that 14'' is an addition of D, which in turn has become the occasion of secondary additions in © in v.l The verse is, however, in entire accord with the relations between the prophetess and the chieftain in v.^% and in form corresponds closely to v.^. — Hath not Yahweh gone out before thee?~\ the question, as in v.^ a more forcible assertion. Gone out; to battle, as often, see note on 2^^ (p. 73). Yahweh is a mighty warrior (Ex. 15^ Ps. 24^) ; his name is Yahweh of hosts, the god of the embattled ranks of Israel (i S. 17^^) ; in the sacred chest (ark) he accom- panies them to the field ( i S. 4) ; he marches out for them, or with them, to battle (Hab. 3^^ Zech. 14^ cf Ps. 44^) ; or comes storming from his ancient seats in tempestuous fury, discomfiting the foe and delivering his people (5"^'; see comm. there). — Barak, with his ten thousand men, rushed down to the plain, by his sudden onset apparently surprising Sisera upon ground unfa- vourable to the manoeuvring of his chariots, which thus became a source of disorder and disaster. During Vespasian's campaign in Galilee (a.d. 67) the Jews, who had fortified the summit of Tabor, attempted to surprise the Roman cavalry in the plain under Placidus, but through his ruse the enterprise miscarried. % — 15. Yahweh routed Sisera'] struck the foe with panic, threw them into confusion and flight ; Ex. 14^'* Jos. 10^^ i S. 7^°. § Josephus supposes that their discomfiture was caused by a great storm (cf. 5^^-) . — All the army] v?^ Ex. 14-"^ &c. ; cf other expressions v.''- ^^ ; the mass of footmen in distinction from the chariot corps. — At the point of the sword] see note on i^^ The phrase appears in- congruous with the verb and superfluous in the context ; it has * Rob,, Z?y?2. ii. p. 363-366; SWP. Memoirs, i. p, 265 flf, t On women in battle among the Arabs see Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. p, 61 ; cf. 'Aycsha at the Battle of the Camel, Muir, Caliphate, p. 361 ff,, &c, X Fl, Jos,, b.j. iv. I, 8, \ Chytraeus quotes Pindar {Nem. ix, 63), kv ykp Aai^aoi'ioiui eu-yov(ri ku IV. I3-I6 121 perhaps been introduced here accidentally or unadvisedly from v.^'"'. — Siscra dismounted from his war-chariot~\ being hard pressed by his pursuers and unable to extricate his chariot from the rout, perhaps entangled in the morasses of the Kishon or cut off by its streams (see on 5-^), he abandoned it, and escaped from the field on foot, alone. — 16. The routed Canaanites, horse and foot, fled toward Harosheth; Barak, pursuing them to the very gates of the city, made an utter end of them. — There was not as much as one left~\ Ex. 14-^; not a single fugitive hved to reach safety within the walls. It is not intimated that the city itself was taken ; it may safely be inferred that it was not. 10. hy>^] is not Hiph. (Ki., Schm.), but Qal; the subj. is not Barak (H, Lth., al.), but "ten thousand men" (©QTcS). The sg, with plur. numeral subj. is unusual ; Ex. 32"^^ Jud. 7^ 12^1 S. 4^'^ 2 S. 24!^ are not precisely similar. See Roorda, ii. p. 361 f. — vSjia] following at his heels; 8^ Ex. ii^ i S. 25^7 2 S. 1517-18 &c.; equivalent to mnx v.i*. — ty">N "idSn n-iu*;*] regularly we should have CflSs as in v.'^; the other instances of this anomaly, according to the Massora, are Ex. 32^8 Job i^ (twice), cf. n^^i tfiSx Gen. 24'^'^. It is perhaps only accidental; an abbreviation not properly resolved. — 11. nisj Gen. 139-11. i-i cf. io5-32. — o-'JiJXJj pSs] Baer J^n, as also in I2ii-i2. In ^>y;^2y 2 is not the preposition ((g^ Jos. 19^3^ OS^. 29452, % Jos. Jud., S>, Mas., Drus., Schm., Cler., AV., RV., and most moderns), in Sdamm ; for in that case p^N would require the article, as in nDi3 Stt'Nn i S. 22^ 31^^; cf. also Jud. 6II n-iD;7a ntrx nSxn, 96 Gen. 35* Jos. 2426 &c. We must, therefore, take ^>y;'i2 (n radical) as genitive; cf. v.^ Gen. 12^ 13I8 146 ^58 £)t^ nso i g^ jqS and esp. Jud. 9^7 □^jji;;d pSx. In Jos. 1983 the name is written D^jjj:x3, to which the Qere in Jud. 4II conforms. It is more probable, however, that the true form of the name is preserved in the text of Jud. (Kethib); cf. D''JVJD; and on nouns with n suffix in general. Earth, Noniinalbildmtg, p. 343 f.; Suyuti, Muzhir,\\.^. 136. — ^Sn] the punctuation discriminates V-'N, nSs, fiSx from nSx, pW; but in unpointed texts these could not be distinguished, nor can we put much confidence in the constancy of the traditional pronunciation in face of the bewildering inconsistency of the versions. Celsus (^Hierobotanicon, i. p. 34 ff.) thought that the Massorites consistently distinguish * terebinth ' (-^N, pSx, nSx, nSvS') from 'oak' (pSx), and this theory has been generally accepted, though with no agreement in the distribution of the names; see J. D. Michaelis, Supple fnenta, p. 72 ff.; Rosenmiiller, Bibl. Alterthiunsk., iv. p. 229 ff.; Ges. Thes. p. 50 f.* There is no real foundation for the discrimi- nation; the words signify in Aramaic 'tree' simply; in Hebrew usually, if not exclusively, * holy tree,' as the place, and primitively the object of worship, * Against the whole theoiy, Lowth on Is. i-9. 122 JUDGES without regard to the species. The Deborah Tree (|iVn Gen. 358) is a palm (Jud. 4^), &c. See We., Prolegomena^, p. 248 n. = History of Israel, p. 238; Sta., G VI. i. 455. On holy trees in Palestine, Baudissin, Stiidien zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, ii. 143 ff,, esp. 223 ff. — v\p pn ni:'N] 319 i K. 9-^ of. d;? 2 S. 24!^. — 12. n-'j-'i] indef. subj., Ges.'^^ § 144. 3 b. — nS>'] c. ace, Is. 7I. — 13. P/Tm] v.iO; call out and assemble by the war cry; cf. the passive (Ni.) 634f- i822t- I S. 1420 &c. — 3;] soldiery, q^S-S? and often; here equivalent to pen v'^., njHD v.i^. — Harosheth'] at Sheikh Abrek the Galilean foot-hills project in a sort of bastion towards Carmel, forming a narrow pass through which the Kishon flows, the hills here rising some 350 feet above the bed of the stream.* About a mile and a half northwest of Sheikh Abrek, in the narrowest part of the pass, el-Harithiyeh lies on the side of the hill, which above it is covered with a fine oak forest. The Kishon at this point flows close to the rocky base of Carmel, on the opposite side of the pass, and here the main Road must always have crossed the river. A stronghold at Harithiyeh would thus command the entrance to the Great Plain from the Plain of Acre, and the commercial highways which led through it. The situation of el-Hari- thiyeh is not incompatible with the conditions of the narrative in ch. 4, or with ch. 5; but the arguments by which Thomson supported the identification are far from decisive, and the similarity of the names may easily be accidental. — 14. Dip] Up I Summons to action; 512 f 320.21 Ex. 32I I K. 21^ and often. — 'Ji TiTN Dvn nr] the pronominal complement of the relative particle ncx is omitted, as commonly after antecedents denoting time at or during which; Dr., TBS. p. 149 n.; Ew. § 331 c 3. — yifh nx*'] on the verb see note on 2^^. The phrase is used of the leader, general, king, at the head of his forces, 9^9 I S. 820 &c.; of Yahweh as the leader of Israel in war, 2 S. 52* cf. Dt. 9^ ("•JcV n^j?) &c. — 15. NiD^D nx rwrv dhm] qdh (subject always God) ' inspire with panic terrors,' drive men beside themselves, so that they accomplish their own ruin. See, besides the examples cited in the text, Ex. 23^^ 2 S. 22^^ Ps. 144^. The object is generally the enemy in war; see, however, Dt. 2}^. — Before Barak'] Jos. lo^o cf. i S. 7I0. — •y-\x\ ""qS] the words cannot be joined to on-'i in any sense which the usage of the phrase warrants; they are either miswritten for the following pn2 '':^^ or borrowed from v.^^. — n:3D-\cn] chariot, wagon, 528 2 K. 521-26 gii ^c. (331 is usually collective, 'chariot-corps'). The name, with the thing, passed from the people of Palestine to the Egyptians {>7iarakabuti, MUUer, p. 301 ; above p. 38 n.). — 16. 3nn •'SiS . . . Sfj^i] Jos. 82*. — nnx ny ns-^j n*?] stronger than not one (inN inc'j nS Ex. 827 iqIS); cf. Ex. 9'^ 2 S. 1722. The prepositional phrase is the logical subject of the verb, Ew. § 305 a. 17-22. The death of Sisera. — 17. Sisera escapes on foot to the tent of Jael. From v.^'% especially when taken with v.", it is obvious that the narrator represented the tent of Jael as not * .S WP. Memoirs, i. p. 263. IV. 17-19 123 very remote from the battle field. Verse ^"'', on the other hand, taken with v.'', carries us to the vicinity of Hazor and Kedesh (in Naphtali, v.^), forty or fifty miles away. The most probable solu- tion of the difficulty appears to be the supposition that Heber the Kenite originally belonged to the story of Jabin ; Jael, to that of Sisera. In that case v.^"'*'' is derived from the latter source, v.^^'' from the former. The words, the wife of the Heber of Kenite, are possibly from the same source as v.^^^, and the conjecture may be hazarded that in the story of Jabin the wife of Heber played a part similar to that of Jael in the story of Sisera; see above, p. 109.* The alternative is to regard v.^^ and v.^'^ as editorial additions ; but we should then still have to ask whence the editor had the names and why he introduced them here ; moreover, the editor (R) calls Jabin king of Canaan, not king of Hazor. — There were friendly relations bet^ueen Jabin king of Hazor and Heber the Kenite^ the nomads had not been victims of the op- pression from which the Israelite peasants had suffered, and had not taken part in the rising of Naphtali. In the present con- nexion the words explain why Sisera fled to the tent of Jael. — 18. Jael came out to meet him, as she saw him approaching. — Walk in, my lord ; walk in to my tent; have no fear'] cf. Gen. 19^^-. Unlike v.^^^ the natural inference from these words is, not that Sisera directed his steps to these tents to seek refuge in them, but that he came upon them in his flight and was induced by Jael to turn aside and conceal himself there. The illustra- tions which the commentators have collected of the ceremonies with which a fugitive now claims protection at an Arab tent are in either case irrelevant.! — She covej-ed hiin up with the rug] or perhaps, tent curtain. The exact meaning of the word is un- known ; the renderings proposed can only claim to be suitable to the context. — 19. Give me a little dri?ik of water] Gen. 2^^^ (J). — She opened the inilk-skin] the lamb or goat skin in which * In 5-4 the words "the wife of Heber the Kenite" are regarded by many critics, on formal grounds, as a gloss. The same explanation would have to be given of the words " the wife of Heber " in 4''2i. t Wetzstein, Reisebericht, p. 148 ; Quatremfere, " Les asiles chez les Arabes," Mem. de L' Acad, des Inscriptions, xv. 2, 1842, p. 307-348. If Heber and Jael origi- nally belonged to different stories, we may dismiss another mooted question ; viz., Why did Sisera seek refuge in the tent of Jael rather than in that of Heber ? 124 JUDGES milk was kept, and poured him a drink into a bowl (cf. 5-^).* Her hospitality exceeded his modest request (cf. 5-^) . His confi- dence was naturally confirmed by this token of friendliness. — Afid covered him~\ again. We miss the adverb in Hebrew as much as in English. — 20. He bids her stand at the door of the tent to put the pursuit off the track, if it should come that way. Then, overcome by weariness, he gives himself up to the sense of security and falls asleep. It is quite needless to ascribe to the draught an intoxicating or stupefying quality.! — 21. When -he was sound asleep, Jael took one of the pins with which the tent ropes are fastened to the ground (Is. 33^"), and a hammer, and stealthily crept to his side where he lay in the inner part of the tent. The tent pin was not of metal % — the bronze pins of the tabernacle belong to the luxury of that structure — but, as still in the tents of the Bedawin, of wood. § The hammer was probably the mallet with which the tent pins were driven. Among the Bedawin pitching the tent is woman's business, and so no doubt it was in ancient times ; the mallet and pin were accustomed imple- ments, and ready at hand. || — And drove the pin into his tetnple so that it went down into the ground'] transfixing his head. — He being sound asleep a?id exhausted] circumstantial clause, explain- ing how it was possible for her to kill him in this way ; see note. It was certainly an unusual way, and more ingenious than sure ; a blow of the mallet upon the temple was a much simpler and safer plan than to try to drive the blunt wooden pin through his head. Wellhausen ingeniously conjectures that this description of Sise- ra's death originated in a prosaic misunderstanding of the poetic parallelism in 5-^.^ This is not improbable, though the obscurity of the terms in 5-^ forbids too confident assertion; but we should not be warranted in inferring that the author of ch. 4 is also the author of this misunderstanding.** — 22. Lo, there was Barak] he came up at that instant ; the particle calls attention to the striking * See Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 221, 382, 430, &c. t Fl. Jos., Rabb., a Lyra, Drus., a Lap., al. J Fl. Jos., RLbG., Cler., Ba. \ Orig., Aug., R, Moses esh-Sheikh ; see Shaw, Travels, 1757, p. 221; Burck- hardt. Bedouins and Wahdbys, i. p. 39. || Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 221, &c. 11 Comp., p. 222 ; W. R. Smith, O TJC^. p. 132. ** We., Sta.; contra, Kue., Bu., Co., Cooke. See above, p. no. iv. 19-23 125 coincidence; cf. Gen. 29^ Jud. ii"^ i S. 9**. In the narrative as it now runs, Sisera flees from the field in a northerly direction to the vicinity of Kedesh in Naphtali ; Barak first follows the rout of the Canaanites to Harosheth at the western extremity of the Great Plain,* then strikes off to pursue Sisera fifty or sixty miles through Galilee, and comes up just as Jael has killed him ; which is obviously impossible. The hypothesis that Barak did not accompany the main pursuit westward to Harosheth, but followed Sisera in his flight in the opposite direction, does violence to v.^^.f See note below. 17. hv;] on animal names see on v. 4, and 7^5, — 18. nniD] twice oxytone, as frequently before a following x (including r])n'<); J see Ew. § 228 d; Ol. § 228 c; Ko. i. p. 443. — HDiDiyj inDjm] ®^^lmo j g ^^ ^^ S^ppec, which in most cases stands for Heb. n';'''\\; cf. Hesych., and Schleusner, s. v. We should then perhaps think of one of the goat's-hair curtains which are used to divide the tent. § The exegetical tradition in general, however, is for a rug or wrap of coarse stuff, such as is used to sleep in, and worn as a mantle in cold and stormy weather (0^^^T_ 1Vj;l °^";iJ ^'1^%|| he being fast asleep — so he swooned and died. The first makes the circumstantial clause consist of two verbs, which stand in a most unnatural order; the second gives a highly superfluous analysis of the act of dying, especially as the swoon could * Supposing it to be rightly identified with Harithlyeh. t G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 396 n., adopting Conder's view that Kedesh was near the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. + Once before y, 3 times before 1. 5 Or as a kind of fly or awning. On the Arab tent see Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wahdbys, i. p. 37 ft ; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 224 ff. II Wickes, Prose Accents, p. 140 ; cf. Norzi. 126 JUDGES form no distinguishable physical moment in the passage from deep sleep to instant death. I prefer therefore to pronounce f|yM anij xim, he being sound asleep and completely exhausted (^^'i^ adj.) ; ^^^ fH is to be connected with £i"i;? (med. "i). — 22. If, with Conder and Smith, we look for Kedesh and Heber's encampment by the Sea of Galilee at Qadish and Bessiim, the identification of Harosheth with el-Harithiyeh will have to be given up, not only as incom- patible with v.i'^, but as altogether too remote from the scene of action. Tell Abu Qudeis (? Kedesh of Issachar; cf. above, p. 1 17), between Ta'annuk and Leggiin, lies in the direction of Harithiyeh, and (again assuming. that H. is Harosheth) would suit v.^"*- isflf. well enough; but it cannot be the Kedesh of v.i'b cf. 11 (Heber the friend of Jabin of Hazor). On the whole, therefore, we do not gain much by trying to substitute another place of the name for Kedesh in Naphtali. 23, 24. The subjugation of Jabin. — The regular close of the story ; cf. 3'^. — 23. God subdued Jabin'] in the story itself we have uniformly Yahweh ; the use of Elohi7n here falls in well with the hypothesis that the subjugation of the oppressors, which is a standing feature in the close of the stories of the judges, belonged originally to the pragmatism of E; i.e, is pre- Deuteronomic. The variations of the versions here, however, make it somewhat doubtful whether Yahweh or Elohim was the original reading. For the verb in active construction cf. Dt. 9^ Neh. 9^4 I Chr. \f\ — Kingof Canaan] y?-^ (D) ; in the story itself he is called ktJig of Hazor {yy^ ; see on v.-) . — 24. The hand of Israel bore harder and hai'der on Jabin] cf. 3^*^ (D) . The relation in v.^^ was completely reversed. — Till they finally destroyed Jabin. king of Canaan altogether]. — The chronological note corresponding to 3^^-^ &c. stands naturally at the end of ch. 5. — 23. a^nSs >'jp^_i] (^bgn 5 ^g^y^ alm g ^^^tos 6 0e6s, o Kvpio%, ?L Deus, ^"% Nnc. — 24. H'^i^i -^i^n . . .-^t\-\'\ double absolute object, the second being an adjective; i S. 14^^ 2 S. iS'^s. See Stud., p. 489; Ges.-^ § 113. 3 n. 2. The morality of Jael's deed, even more than that of Ehud, has been the subject of great searchings of heart among the apologists who have felt it necessary to judge it by the standard of absolute ethics, and to justify it in that forum. That the inspired prophet- ess should extol Jael for what, in all the circumstances, bears the aj)pearance of a treacherous murder (5^* cf 23.31^^ jg^ ^f course, the greatest difficulty of all. We need not follow these mter- IV. 23-V. 127 preters into the morasses of casuistry into which an unhistorical idea of reHgion and revelation leads them. To justify the deed by the standards of Christian morality, it is necessary to lower those standards to the level of the deed. See Abarb., a Lap., Schm. {qu. 16), and esp. Bachmann, p. 288-297, where additional literature will be found. V. The Triumphal Ode. Literature.* — C. F. Schnurrer (1775), in Dissertationes philologico-criticae, 1790, p. 36-96; cf. J. B. Kohler in Eichhorn's KepertoriujUy vi. 1780, p. 163-172, xii. 1783, p. 235-241; Herder, Briefe das Studium der The- ologie betreffend, 1780, Geist der hehr. Poesie, 1783 (^Werke, ed. Suphan, x. p. 77 if.; xii. p. 172 fF.); K. W. Justi, National- Gesdnge der Hebi'der, ii. 1816, p. 210-312; G. H. Hollmann, Commentarius philologico-criticus in Carmen Deborae, 1818; R. D. C. Robbins, "The Song of Deborah," Bibl. Sacra, 1855, p. 597-642; J. W. Donaldson, Jashar, 1854, p. 237 ff., 261 ff.; E. Meier, Ubersetzung und Erkl'drung des Debora-Liedes, 1859°; f G. Hilliger, Das Deborah-Lied ilbersetzt und erkldrt, 1867; G. Bickell, Car- mina V. Ti. metrice, 1882; Dichtungen der Hebrder, 1882; A. Miiller, Das Lied der Deborah, 1887 (" Konigsberger Studien," i. p. 1-21); M. Vernes, "Le cantique de Debora," R^J. xxiv. 1892, p. 52-67, 225-255; G. A. Cooke, The LListory and Song of Deborah, 1892; C. Niebuhr, Versuch einer Reconstellation des Deboraliedes, 1894. The Song of Deborah is an epinikian ode celebrating the victory of the Israelites over the Canaanites near Taanach. After an opening strain of praise to Yahweh for the great deliverance (v.^-^) the poet describes the state of things which preceded and provoked the war (v.^"^). Verse ^-, with its- invocation of Deborah and Barak, leads over to the Israelite rising; the tribes which took part in the glorious struggle receive their meed of praise ^^14. 15a. 18^ ^ while reproaches and taunts are heaped upon those which held aloof (v.^^"'^^) . Then follows the battle itself and the rout of the foe (v.^^-^^), and the death of the flying king by the hand of Jael (v.-^""'). The anxiety of Sisera's mother as his return is delayed, the expectation of triumph and spoil, which is raised * The older literature, to the beginning of this century, in Justi, National- Gesange der Hebrder, ii. 1816, p. 217-225; see also Bachmann, Richter, p. 298- 301 ; Reuss, Gesch. d. A.T., § loi. Only the most important titles are given above. t See also his Gesch. der poet. National-Literatur der Hebrder, 1856, p. 79 ff. 128 JUDGES again only to be more cruelly disappointed, form the tragic climax of the poem (v.^-^), which ends with the strain : " So perish all thine enemies, O Yahvveh ! " The movement of the poem is throughout straightforward and natural. It sets before us, first, the situation before the revolt ; second, the rising of the tribes ; tliird, the victory and its sequel, the death of Sisera. Notwithstanding many obscurities in particu- lars, especially in v.^""^^, the main tenor of the narrative from v.^- on is sufficiently clear. The same is true of y}'\ but in the interven- ing verses (^"^0 the difficulties are so accumulated that it is hardly possible to be sure even of the general sense and connexion of the passage. Verse ^ seems to resume the theme of v.-, and the distinctly marked new beginning in v.^^ shows at least that v.^^- ^^ must be joined to the preceding. We have then, as the natural divisions, a. v.-"^\ b. v}-'^^, c. v.^^'^\ The connexion between b. and c. is, from the nature of the matter, closer than between a. and b., but this is not a sufficient reason for dividing the poem into two, a Hymn of Thanksgiving (v.-"^^) ; and the Triumphal Ode (v,^'^^).* On the contrary, v.^'^^ form the natural and indis- pensable introduction to the Ode. The obscurity of the middle of the ode was remarked by Lowth.f It is of quite a different nature from the difficulties which we encounter in the opening verses and in the latter half of the chapter. These are due to our defective knowledge of its very ancient poetical language, and affect particular words or phrases without preventing our understanding the general meaning of the passage. In v.^'^^, on the other hand, while clauses here and there are plain enough, the whole is unintelligible ; as is superabundantly proved by the translations which are given by the commentators. We cannot lay this obscurity to the charge of the author, who in the other parts of the poem writes clearly and directly, but must infer that by some accident of transmission ♦ Ewald, Dlchter d. A. B^., i. p. i86 ff. Ewald supposes that tlie Ode was com- posed for a different occasion from the Hymn ; viz., for the triumphal procession " perhaps on the evening of the same day." t De sacra poesi Hebraeoru77i, p. 274 : " Media, ut verum fateamur, obsederunt haud exiguae obscuritates, multum officientes Carminis pulchritudini, nee facile dissipandae, nisi uberior historiae lux accederet," V. 129 these verses have suffered peculiarly. It would seem that, in a manuscript through which our text is descended, this place had become in good part illegible. The scribe who copied it made out as much as he could, but was not always successful in recover- ing the vanished letters. The obscurity of the text thus estabUshed would naturally become a fresh source of corruption. This cor- ruption is in the main older than the Greek translators, who in the worst places read substantially as we do and therefore give us little help toward a restoration of the text.* Critics have been almost unanimous in attributing the Ode to a contemporary, and a participant in the glorious struggle which it celebrates. So, to make but a single quotation, Kuenen writes, " Form and contents alike prove that it is rightly ascribed by all competent judges to a contemporary." f This consensus has re- cently been challenged by Seinecke J and especially by Maurice Vernes, § but neither the methods nor the conclusions of these critics have commended themselves to other scholars. Seinecke, whose work in general is marred by a perverse fondness for paradoxes, gathers from v.^^ that the ode was not written to celebrate the victory over Sisera at all; but, like Ex. 15, to encourage the author's contem- poraries by reminding them of the great deeds of Yahweh in long by-gone days, when the enemies of Israel were so fearfully punished that not one of them was left. The idea of Yahweh's coming from Edom (v.*) is inconceiva- ble in ancient times, it is parallel to Is. 63 and refers to a future parousia; the colossal exaggeration of yP, " They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," corresponds to the notions of later times, and is to be compared with Jos. 10^2-14. y.e (Jael a judge) and v.i-^ (" Ephraim, whose root is in Amalek," cf. I2i5) contain mistakes which a contemporary * Probably few scholars would now agree with Evvald {Dichter, i. p. 178 n.) and E. Meier {Natlonal-Literatur der Hebraer, p. 89) that the text of the poem has been transmitted to us substantially intact — not to mention the more extravagant notions of its impeccability entertained, e.g. by Bachmann (p. 517 ff.). August Miiller {Das Lied der Deborah, 1887, i. ff.) has proved, on the contrary, that the corruption is extensive and deep-seated. Whether it also is beyond all remedy, is a question about which opinions will differ; see, on the other side, Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 102-104. t HCO^. i. p. 346 ; so also Vatke ; We., Comp., p. 222 f. ; Reuss, GA T. § loi ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 178. Sporadic doubts of older scholars (De Wette in 1817, — after- wards retracted, — Hartmann, Rodiger; see Ba., p. 510) were without influence. X Gesch. d. Volkes Israel, i. 1876, p. 243-245. § RHR. vii. 1883, p. 332-338, and often subsequently ; see below. I30 JUDGES could not make. The language exhibits Aramaisms and other marks of late date, especially the relative r; the style is artificial; v.i^, for example, is "a frigid conceit of post-exilic times," reminding us of the beginning of Ps. i. Finally, the names of Barak, Lapidoth, and perhaps Deborah ha'v'e an unhistorical ring. " We are forced to conclude, therefore, that the story of the conflict of Barak and Jael against Jabin and Sisera is a bit of old Hebrew mythology, in which the cleansing and purifying powers of nature, thunder, lightning, and flame, are arrayed against the mist and clouds." * Vernes f contests the common opinion that the poem, compared with the prose narra- tive (ch. 4), has preserved a number of historical details and bears the fresh impress of the events. On the contrary, though the prose story is late and exhibits numerous inconsistencies, it is drawn from older sources, and is infinitely superior to the poem. In the former, only two tribes take part in the struggle; in the latter this is exaggerated to a national movement, all Israel is oppressed, almost all Israel unites against the foe. Vague and inaccurate phrases such as "new gods" (v.^), "the kings of Canaan" (v.^^), "the times of Jael" (v.^), point to a date remote from the events. Moreover, besides ch. 4, the author has made use of other writings which are themselves late. The names of Taanach and Megiddo (v.i^) are taken from Jud. i^^ or Jos. 12^1, that of Meroz J perhaps from the same passage in Jos.; the repre- sentation of Dan as settled on the seaboard (v.i") can only come from the unhistorical partition of Palestine in Jos. The poem must, therefore, be later than the latest stratum of Jos, " If the prose narrative is not older than the 5th cent. B.C., the song put into the mouth of the prophetess-judge may with- out hesitation be dated a century or a century and a half later." M. Vernes' final estimate shall be given in his own words : " Nous disons done du chant du Debora que c'est une oeuvre eminement artificielle, dont quelques tirades eloquentes ou brillantes ne peuvent pas dissimuler le vide." In his later articles in the Revue des etudes juives, M. Vernes reiterates this criticism at length, in connexion with an exposition of the chapter, and adds an elaborate argument from the language of the poem, which, so far from being archaic, is paralleled throughout by that of the Ketubim^ and often only there; so that the linguistic evidence also brings the Song of Deborah into the company of the latest books of the O.T. § It is impossible here to examine this argument in detail; so far as it seems worth while, we shall take notice of his observa- * A mythical interpretation was earlier given to the poem by Steinthal (" Die Sage von Simson," Zeitschrift fur Volkerpsychologie, u.s.w., ii. 1862, p. 164), who finds in Deborah and Jael the beneficent rain-clouds, in Barak the lightning. This explanation was adopted also by Goldziher {Der Mythos bel den Hebrdern, 1876, p. 162 = Mythology among- the Hebrews, 1877, p. 256). t I^//R. vii. 1883, p. 332-338; Precis d'histoire Juive, 1889. p. no n. ; RHR. xix. 1889, p. 65 f. = Essais bibliqties, 1891, p. 163-165 ; finally, REJ. xxiv. 1892, p. S^-^7> 225-255. + Piol^ably Meron, Jos. 122^ cf. 12^. ^ See the summary, I.e., xxiv. p. 249 f. V. 131 tions on the usage in the critical notes below. Here it can only be said in general that, so far as M. Vernes accurately states the facts, they do not justify his conclusions. But philological d/cp//3eta is not M. Vernes' strong point, and his statements are frequently most deceptive half-truths. For example, " garaph (v.^i) s'explique par I'arameen," suggests that f\-\x in this sense is a distinctively Aramaic word, whereas the use of the word in the Song has much closer parallels in Arabic. The representations of the Song agree entirely with the histori- cal situation, so far as we are able from our very scanty materials to reconstruct it. We detect in it none of the anachronisms by which a later writer so easily betrays his own age ; * nor does the atmospheric perspective of the narrative indicate that the writer stood at a distance from the events which he relates. It exhibits neither the vagueness which is the first result of the blurring of details in tradition, nor the artificial circumstantiality which marks the subsequent attempt to recover them.j The impression of reality which we receive from the Ode is hardly to be paralleled in another poem in the Old Testament ; and a comparison with others, especially with the Song of Moses (Ex. 15), the subject of which has the greatest resemblance to the Song of Deborah, strengthens this impression. J These considerations have of course no weight with those to whom the poem is " an eminently artificial work," the rhetoric of which is sometimes ingenious and eloquent, sometimes strained and affected. § Against such aesthetic judgements there is no arguing. The priority of the Ode to the prose narrative in ch. 4, and its superiority in point of historical truth, appear from the compari- * As when, for example, in the " Song of Moses " (Ex, 15) Israel is already established in Canaan (v.isff.)^ and — unless v.i^b. be rejected as an interpolation — the temple in Jerusalem already built. t The indefiniteness of which Vernes complains is chiefly obscurity arising from corruption of the text or context. He appears never to suspect the Massoretic text nor the translation which he finds in the popular commentaries. X The inference from the impression of reality to the contemporary origin or the historical truth of a narrative is not stringent. It is the pre-eminent gift of the poet to create this impression even when his story conflicts with our knowledge ; — think of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, But the objective character of the art which is capable of producing such an illusion is not easily exemplified among Semitic poets. It is a simpler and more probable' explanation in the present case, that the poem was made by one under the immediate inspiration of the events, than that it is a supreme work of the creative imagination. $ Vernes. 132 JUDGES son instituted above in the Introduction to ch. 4 (p. 107 f.). It is especially clear in the accounts of Sisera's death, 4^^-^^ 5^-^. See further the commentary on the last named verses. In the opinion of the great majority of scholars, Deborah her- self is the author of the Ode.* It is attributed to her in the title (v.^), which, however, since we do not know how ancient this superscription is, and since in other cases the titles are frequently in error,! cannot by itself be regarded as decisive. Here. the title seems to be distinctly confirmed by v.', " until I, Deborah, arose ; till I arose, a matron in Israel." Unfortunately, this evidence is not as conclusive as it seems ; (3 and % t have the verbs in the third person, "until Deborah arose," and even in J^ the form of the verbs is ambiguous, and may equally well be rendered, " until thou didst arise, Deborah." § The latter interpretation accords with v.^, " Awake, awake, Deborah ; awake, awake, deliver a song," which the parallel half verse, "Arise, arise, Barak," &c., forbids us to take as the self-invocation of the poet. In v.^^, again, Deborah is spoken of in the third person. The natural and almost necessary inference from these verses is that Deborah her- self is not the author of the Ode. || The other indications of her authorship which commentators have found in the words of the song are indecisive ; in some of them the text is insecure, in others the interpretation. Much has sometimes been made of the so-called psychological evidence ; the recital of Jael's deed ^y 24-27^ and the description of the scene in Sisera's palace (v.^'^), it is said, could only have been written by a woman.^ This is a matter which hardly admits of argument, but it is certainly a false note when Bertheau finds in the reference to Sisera's mother a touch of woman's sympathy.** The historical value of the Song of Deborah can hardly be exaggerated. It is the oldest extant monument of Hebrew litera- ture, and the only contemporaneous monument of Hebrew history * So, e.£r., Ew., Dichter d. A.B., i. p. 186 f. ; Hitz., G VI. i. 112 ; Renan, Hist, du peuple d' Israel, i. p. 316. t E.g., in the ascription of many of the Psalms to David, and in attributing Ex. 15 to Moses. J Both without variation. \ See below, iri loc. II We., Geschichte, 1878, p. 252 ; Reuss, Graetz,. JCue., A. Miiller, Kitt., Cooke, al. H Herder, R6ville, Ba., Be., Cass., al. ** See also Ba.; and, for a contrast, Herder {Briefe, u.s.w., Brief 7, end). V. 133 before the foundation of the kingdom. When we compare the situation of the tribes, as it appears in the poem, with the frag- mentary traditions of the invasion and settlement in ch. i, we see that Israel had in the meantime established itself more securely in the land. The Highlands of Ephraim seem to be completely in the possession of Joseph, and we may infer from the part taken in the struggle by Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtah, that the latter tribes, too, had gained a firmer footing in Galilee, while Issachar had probably already planted itself on both sides of the narrow valley which at the eastern end of the Plain separates the hills on the north and south. The Canaanites, however, were still masters of the Plain ; their fortified cities commanded the passes which entered, and the roads which traversed it; their formidable chariotry kept the Highland footmen on either hand in awe (cf. Jos. if^-^^). With increasing numbers and strength, it was inevitable that the Israelites should turn their eyes to the fertile fields and rich traffic of the Plain. After a period probably of peaceful expansion, the Canaanite city-kings, alarmed perhaps at the steady encroachments of Israel, took the aggressive. They blockaded the main roads and cut off communication ; from their cities they sent out bands and harried the countiry, so that the unwalled villages were deserted.* Incited by Deborah, most of the Israelite tribes concertedly took up arms to put an end to this intolerable state of things. From the south of the Plain came the three branches of Joseph, Ephraim, Benjamin and Machir ; from the north Zebulun, Issachar and Naphtali. Each tribe and clan was led by its own chiefs, who are repeatedly mentioned with especial honour. The united forces were commanded by Barak, a chief of Issachar, or perhaps of Naphtali.t The Israelites east of the Jordan, Reuben and Gilead (Gad), were also summoned by Deborah's emissaries, but either did not respond at all or dallied irresolute till the time for action was over ; nor did the more remote northern tribes, Dan and Asher, join in the rising. In the Ode these tribes are bitterly reproached for their selfish indifference to the cause of Israel, and * If this is the meaning of v.7a. It does not appear from the poem that ne and was so completely overrun and subdued as it was by the Philistines in the days of Saul. t See v.i«. 134 JUDGES their conduct is contrasted with the alacrity with which Zebulun and Naphtali braved the dangers of the field. When Israel is arrayed in arms against Canaan, every tribe and clan is bound to come to the support of Yahweh among the valiant warriors.* We see from this that the Israelite tribes, although separated and to some extent broken up in the invasion and settlement of Palestine and the tran- sition from nomadic to agricultural life with all its profound changes, felt themselves to be one people. This consciousness must have come down from a time when the tribes were more closely united than they were in the first centuries of their settlement in Canaan. But it does not spring solely from the fact that they were, or believed themselves to be, of one race, or from the memory of the days in which they had wandered and fought side by side; it has a deeper root in their religion. Israel is the people of Yahweh (v.^i- ^3) ; its enemies are his enemies (v.^i) ; its victories, his victories (v.ii).t To him the enthusiasm with which chiefs and people offered themselves for the holy war is gratefully ascribed (v.^- 9) ; f the oracle pronounces his curse on the vil- lagers of Meroz for not coming bravely to his aid. The whole Ode is a triumphal Te Deum to Yahweh, Israel's God. Yahweh was not a god of Canaan, whose worship Israel, in settling in the land and learning to till the soil, had adopted from the natives, but the god of the invaders, by whose help they conquered Canaan. His seats were in the distant south, whence he comes to succour his people and discomfit their foes, "going forth to war from Seir, marching from the region of Edom." Thither, long after the time of Deborah, Elijah journeyed through the desert to the old holy mountain, where he found Yahweh (i Ki. 19). It is the old and constant tradition, that at this holy mountain Israel solemnly adopted the religion of Yahweh. This coincides with the implications of the poem noted above, and explains, as hardly anything else could, the strength of the religious feeling and the consciousness of religious unity which express themselves in the Ode. The indirect confirmation which is thus given to the tradition that connects the beginnings of the religion of Israel, the great work of Moses, with the holy mountain (Horeb, Sinai) is of no slight weight. The battle was fought near Taanach and Megiddo (v.^^) , on the southern side of the Plain. The Canaanita city-kings of these * For this reason it is very significant that Judah is not named at all. It is diffi- cult to avoid the inference that the poet did not count it among the tribes of Israel. It was originally a small tribe, which grew into importance by union with clans of different stock (Caleb, &c.), and it was separated from Joseph by a Canaanite belt (see above, p. 8) ; but these things hardly account for its absence from the song. Simeon and Levi are also wanting ; Reuben is the only one of the older, southern group of Leah-tribes that is named. t So, at least, these verses are generally understood. V- 135 and neighbouring cities, relying on their chariots and their superi- ority in arms, gave battle in the open field. Their leader, Siscra, was doubtless the king of one of these cities ; and the glimpse of his court and harem which is given us in v.^'^*^ shows that he was a powerful and opulent prince. The Israehtes were able to raise forty thousand men.* They were peasants from the hills, and were armed only with peasants' weapons ; a regular mihtary equipment was hardly to be found among them (v.^). The Canaanites were routed ; the treacherous Kishon, perhaps swollen by a sudden flood, with its marshes and holes, completed their ruin. Sisera, in his flight, passed by the viflage of Meroz (?), whose Israelite inhabitants suffered him to escape.f At the door of Jael's tent he halts to beg a drink of water ; she gives him a great bowl of milk, and, as he buries his face in it in his thirst and haste, fells him with a blow that crushes in his skuH. The results of the war are unknown to us. It is hardly probable that Israel took from the Canaanites any of their strong cities, but the power and prestige of the Canaanites and their terrible chariots received a severe blow. X The union of Yahweh's people at the call of Deborah in a holy war must have done much to strengthen the feeling of oneness in race and religion, and their success have deepened their faith in Yahweh of armies, the god of the embattled ranks of Israel. Thus the victory in the plain of Megiddo foreshadowed and prepared the way for the kingdom of Saul and David. The Song of Deborah is unsurpassed in Hebrew literature in all the great qualities of poetry, and holds a high place among Triumphal Odes in the literature of the world. It is a work of genius, and therefore a work of that highest art which is not studied and artificial, but spontaneous and inevitable. It shows a development and command of the resources of the language for ends of poetical expression which prove that poetry had long been cultivated among the Hebrews. Few fragments of this earlier * This is a round number, and naturally not below the mark. Whether the total fighting strength of Israel is meant, or that of the tribes engaged, is a question which can hardly be answered. t This seems to be the point of the contrast with the blessing of Jael. X Such as the English yeomen at Agincourt dealt to the prestige of chivalry. 136 JUDGES poetry have come down to us ; probably few survived to the cen- turies with which our Hebrew Hterature begins, but we cannot doubt that the nomadic forefathers of Israel took the same keen delight in lyric poetry which is so strongly marked a trait of the Arabs.* The form of the Ode has received much attention from students of Hebrew poetry, and many attempts have been made to reduce it to metre and divide it into regular strophes.f Some of these schemes are very ingenious ; but those of them which adhere more closely to the Massoretic text are so irregular that the terms metre and strophe seem to be misappHed, while those which achieve greater regularity do so by more or less violent opera- tions upon the text. They help us very little to a better under- standing of the poem, and can only with great caution be used as a canon for the emendation of its obscure and corrupt places. All that can safely be said is that the principal pauses in the poem are after v." and v.^^, and that the prevailing rhythm of the poem has four beats to the line. 1. And Deborah sang, and Barak'] cf. Ex. 15^ The title was probably prefixed by the editor who incorporated the poem in his Book of Judges, and expresses his opinion that the Ode was com- posed by Deborah, and sung in celebration of the victory. The grammatical construction makes it not impossible that the words a?id Barak are an addition by a later hand, suggested by the apos- trophe in v.^^**-, X — On that day] the day of victory ; there is no reason to think that the writer meant the words in the looser sense, at that time (cf. Jer. f^ 34^^ &c.), nor can they be understood of * It is an erroneous inference, however, that there must have been an extensive poetical literature before Deborah. Early poetry was not preserved in books, but in the breasts of men. It is quite possible that the Song of Deborah itself was thus perpetuated for generations ; though we do not need to invoke the aid of this hypothesis to explain the state of the te.xt, and cannot admit it as a warrant for a radical reconstruction of the poem, such as is attempted by Niebuhr. t See Fr. Koster, Stud. u. Krit., 1831, p. 72 ff . ; Ewald, Dichter des A. B., i. I. p. 178 ff. ; E. Meier, Poet. National- Liter atur der Hebriier, p. 79 ff. ; J. Ley, GrundzUge des Rhythmus, u.s.w,, p. 214 ff. ; Bertheau; G. Bickell, Carmina V. T. metrice, p. 195 ff. ; C. A. Briggs, Pres. Review, vi. 1885, p. 501 ff. ; A. Miiller, Konigsberger Studien, i, p. lo ff. ; &c. On other schemes, see Ba., p. 521 ff. X Be., al. For various conjectures about the part that Barak had in the Song, beginning with Ephrem, see Ba. V. 1-3 137 a subsequent celebration of the triumph or commemoration of the victory. But, as we have seen above (p. 132), Deborah was prob- ably not the author of the poem, and it certainly bears none of the marks of improvisation. Nor is there any evidence in the Song itself that it was sung by Deborah, alone or with Barak.* 2, 3. Exordmm.t — The poet announces his theme. — 2. The meaning of the two essential words in the first half-verse is obscure. Most recent interpreters adopt the rendering of some of the Greek translators : For the leading of the leaders in Israel^ for the volunteering of the people^ praise ye Yahweh. \ The poet, according to this interpretation, calls upon his hearers to praise God that chieftains were found to head the rising of the clans, and that the people nobly responded to their call. This gives a good paralleHsm between the two members, and the whole corresponds in sense to v.^ (the marshals of Israel, the volunteers among the people) . The meaning ascribed to the words bipheroa^ peraoth^ however, rests only on very insecure etymological conjecture, and is exposed to grave, if not insuperable, grammatical difficulties. The translation of the second clause shares the uncertainty which attaches to the parallel first clause, though all the words are familiar; cf. 2 Chr. 17^^ Ps. iio^ — Bless ye Yahweh'] render him grateful homage, magnify him. — 3. The rulers of the nations are summoned to hearken to the praises of Yahweh. The poet would make the world a witness of Yahweh's mighty acts and compel it to own his greatness ; cf. Dt. 32^ ^. — Hear, ye kings ; give ear, ye potentates'] the two verbs are often coupled in poetical parallelism ; cf. Gen. 4^ Ex. 15^ Nu. 23^^ &c. ; the two nouns also occur together, Ps. 2^ Hab. i^". The words are addressed to the rulers of the nations of the world, so far as they were within the horizon of the poet's contemporaries ; they shall learn the great might of Yahweh and his jealousy for his people Israel. — /, to Yahweh I * The attempts to distribute the parts of the Song between the two singers, with or without the addition of a Chorus, are very artificial. See, e.£: Fr. Bottcher, Die dltesten Duhnendichtungen, u.s.w., 1850 ; Donaldson, Jashar, p. 237 ff. Older schemes may be seen in Ba. t A translation of the Ode will be found below, p. 171 fT. J So Schnurrer (1775), Herderi, HoUm., Ges., and with minor modifications, most commentators in this century. 138 JUDGES will sing\ for my part; not /, even /, will sing unto the Lord (EV.), which is doubly unjust to the emphasis of the Hne. Observe the repetition of the pronoun, which has a weight in Hebrew that we cannot give it in translation. The note of tri- umph rings in this exaltation of the subject. Most interpreters find in this dominant / the self-consciousness of Deborah, heroine and poet, but for reasons already set forth this is improbable. Wellhausen thinks that the / of this verse, as of Ex. 15, is Israel.* 1. pn3i nni^i ncm] Deborah has the leading part; Barak is in an alto- gether secondary position; cf. Nu. 12^ Ex. 15I. RLbG. and Abarb. (cf. Ephr.) think that by this construction the writer meant to imply that Barak had no part in the composition of the Ode, of which Deborah alone was the author. iB'm, from n^c^ med. i; K6., i. p. 510 f. — 2. 'Ji nipns V?pi\ (g^^^o G I S C kv ri^ Ap^aadai apxiTYO^^ ^v laparjX, cf. @ Dt. 32^2^ The intention of the translators is no doubt correctly expressed by Procop., 8r)\oT ij pija-is ■ iv tQ Apxovras iv tQ laparfK dva(palve(r6aij Kal rhv \abv aurots ifirelKeiv cKbina. pi£3 is compared with Arab. Cyi 'eminent man* (lit. 'top' cacumen)^ and the fern, is explained as the so-called intensive fem. (Wright, Arab. Gram.^ i. p. 157), used esp. in names of callings, titles of respect, and the like; e.g. nassabat, 'consummate genealogist,' 'allamat, 'perfect scholar,' &c.; in Heb., perhaps, nSnp, rr^ob, &c. (Ges.^s § 122, 4 ^); or as one of the words which are fem. in tropical significations (Bo. §645 cf. 630). @bgn direKa- \v(p9-n aTTOKdXvfXfJLa iv I. (S, more clearly, iv t^ avaKoKv^acdai K€(pa\ds') connect the words with >ns Nu. 5^8 Lev. 13*^, ynp 'head of long hair' Nu. 6^ Ez. 4420. Cass, and Vemes, also, interpret of the wild streaming locks of the warriors who have consecrated themselves to the holy war. t 5 and K (combined with other interpretations) give the root the sense which it ordinarily has in Syr., Aram., and MH. (but not in BH.), for the retribution, the avenging., of Israel's wrongs; similarly Ki., Abarb., Schm., Kohler, Herder^, al. Some modern scholars, starting from the assumed primary meaning ' loose,' render the verb, ' set free, liberate ' ; so Lth. {das Israel wider frey ist -warden), Cler., J. D. Mich., Justi, Stud. Neither of these interpretations is justified by usage, and neither makes a passable parallel to v.^. — "j-ia] nowhere else takes d in the sense 'for, on account of; we should expect Sj? (Dt. Si*^). This difficulty exists equally for all the interpretations recorded above. The more natural rendering of the prep, is with; and we might perhaps translate, with long streaming locks in Israel, with free gifts of the people, praise ye Yahweh, thinking of vows and offerings of gratitude for the victory achieved; or we ♦ Comp., p. 223 ; see on the other side, Be., ad loc. t The second clause is then rendered in a corresponding way of the taking of a warrior's vow. V. 3-4 139 might give d with inf. its temporal sense. — 3. uvNn . . . i^jdc] cf. also Dt. 32^ Is. i2io 32^; with a third synonym, 5''a'pn, Hos. 5I Is. 2823 — D'-jm] a word of the higher style, parallel to D"'d'?d Ps. 2^ Hab. i^^ Pr. gis 31*, to ynx ^aa'^- Is. 40^3. — -J) nin'>S i5jn] the accents rightly set off the first pronoun; cf. Ps. 76^, Dr. § 198, Obs. 2. — nsiN] /«a-^^ melody^ inusic^ canere vel voce vel fidibtis (Cic, divinat., ii. 59, 122; cf. nr^^Q'y Nior, Njoi Nns?, Gittin, 7*); often coupled with -\"'i;> (Ps. 2ii'i &c.). The root is prob. onomatopoetic; see Hupfeld, Zeitschr. f. d. Kunde d. MorgenlandeSy iii. p. 394 ff., iv. p. 139 ff, Psalmen^, i. p. 38 f. 4, 5. The awful coining of Yahweh. — After the exordium (v.^) the poet hurries us in medias res and describes the coming of Yahweh "from his ancient seats in the South to succour his people. The cause of his coming is exposed in the following verses (v.^^). This is the only natural explanation of v.""" ; the mention of Sinai in v.^ which seems to require a different inter- pretation, is a gloss. With the description of Yahweh's advent compare Dt. 33^ Hab. a^^- Ps. 68^^ also 2 S. 22^^- (Ps. 18^^) Mi. i^"* Ps. 97^; cf //. xiii. 17-19. — 4. Yahweh^ when thou wentest forth from Seir^ when thou marchedst from the region of Edonf\ the words do not refer to the descent of Yahweh upon Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19^^^) or Horeb (Dt. ^^-^^ 522*) at the institution of the religion of Israel,* The imagery bears a certain resemblance to the passages last cited, though only in features common to all such manifestations ; but the sublime phenomena which attended the giving of the law have no obvious connexion with the subject of the poem, nor is any suggested by the author. If a contrast had been intended between the great deeds of God for Israel in former days and the recent humiliation, f or a comparison of his intervention in the destruction of Sisera with the prodigies at Sinai, J it must have been intimated in some way. After the announcement of the theme in v.^- we expect praises of Yahweh for the great deliverance he has just wrought, not an irrelevant historical reminiscence. Finally, Yahweh did not come to Sinai from Seir, from the plateau of Edom (v."**) , to give the law ; and no plausible or even possible explanation of these words has been proposed by the commentators who interpret v."**"- of the ♦ 3r, Ra., a Lyra, Schnurrer, Rosenm., Ke., Be., Hilliger, Ba., Robertson, Cooke, al. mu. t Schnur., Ew., Be., Vernes, al. \ Rosenm. I40 JUDGES theophany at Sinai. Others, comparing Dt. ^f Hab. 3^^; refer the verses to earher wars, such as those against Sihon and Og, in which Yahweh led his people to victory,* or to the whole progress through the desert to Canaan with Yahweh at their head.t But this again is aot in the text, and the same objections from the context which were urged against the former interpretation are valid against this. J Text and context constrain us, therefore, to interpret the verses of the coming of Yahweh to the help of his people in the war with Sisera.§ The ancient seats of Yahweh were not in Canaan, but in the South, at Sinai (J, Ex. 19" ^^^o, F passim) or Horeb (E, Ex. 3^ 18^ 33^ Nu. 10^ &c., D passim) ; the latter is the tra- dition of the northern tribes (i K. 19^), and is probably to be assumed here. Horeb was in the land of Midian, i.e. in Arabia, east of the eastern prong of the Red Sea, the gulf of 'Aqabah, || among mountains which form the southern continuation of the range east of the 'Arabah. From Horeb, Yahweh would come into Canaan from Seir, from the plateau of Edom, as in our verse. Cf. especially Dt. 33^ Hab. 3^. — IV/ien thou wentest fortJi\ to battle; see on 2^^ 4^^ — Marchedst~\ the two verbs are similarly coupled in Hab. 3^^-^ Ps. 68^; cf the corresponding noun 2 S. 5-'*. — Seir] is the home of Esau, the land which was given him by Yahweh, as Canaan was given to Jacob (Jos. 24^ Dt. 2^ cf. Gen. 32^ 33^0- I^ is the mountain range east of the 'Arabah, from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of 'Aqabah, now called in its northern part el-Gibal, in the southern esh- Sherah.f — The 7'egiofi of Edom'\ identical with Seir ; see Gen. 32'^ and cf also 36^. — The earth quaked, the heaveiis dripped'^ * Ibn Ezra (on Dt. 33 Ps. 68) , RLbG., cf. Ki. t Ephr., Procop. (including the deliverance from Egypt), Cler., Lette, Justi, Ew., Cass., Vernes, X See Schm., p. 463 f., whose statement of the matter can hardly be bettered, though he is finally constrained by the mention of Sinai to adopt an interpretation which he has himself shown to be untenable. \ Kohler (1780), Hollmann, Stud., Reuss, We., Sta., W. R. Smith, al. (1 Aelaniticus sinus. Horeb was a distance of eleven days' journey, by the Mt. Seir road, from Kadesh Bamea (Dt. i2). These are really the only clues that we possess. H See Buhl, Geschichtc der Edomiter, p. 2 flf. ; cf. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 13s i' V. 4-5 141 cf. 2 S. 228«^ (=Ps. i8^<^) Mi. r^f- Vs. ()f-' I44«^ For dripped, which might have been taken up accidentally from the next hemistich, several recensions of & have, were in commotion; Budde conjectures that this represents the original reading, the heavens swayed. — The clouds dripped water, 5. the mountains strea??ted'] in the derivative passage, Ps. 6?>^y these lines are lack- ing. The second verb is generally translated trembled (cf. Is. 64^), but streamed is a more natural rendering of the Hebrew word and gives a better parallel, especially if we adopt the read- ing of (© in the previous member. — Before Yahweh {that is, Sinai) y before Yahweh, the God of Israel'] the words that is, Si7iai are a gloss to the mountains in the preceding clause ; * originally, as its form shows, a marginal note, made by some one to whom the language of v.^^- suggested Ex. 19. Subsequently it intruded into the text in the wrong place. The rhythm of the passage also gains by the removal of the words. 4. Ti;7X:3] with dagesh, distinguishing the inf. from the noun (Pr. 4^2); Evf. § 255 d ; 01. § 160 b. The primary meaning seems to be, 'walk with great steps, stride, stalk ' ; of the stately march of a religious pomp, 2 S. 6^* cf. 2 S. 22»7 Pr. 412 Job i8^ also Jer. lo^ Pr. f. — m-iN r\-\v'\ Gen. 32*, parallel to -y^yv Y-\H'y n-yv is used of Moab (Gen. 36^ Nu. 21^0 &c.), Aram (Hos. I2i3), Ephraim (Obad. i^^ cf. Jud. 20^), Philistines (i S. 6I 2f- H), Amalekites (Gen. 14'^). It is not specifically the plateau in distinction from the moun- tains, but is simply the region of Edotn. — ii3*jj D-'C"^ sj] the particle is not cUmacteric, but cumulative; each clause adds a trait to the completeness of the description. ^^1 is ' drop, drip,' in distinction from * pour, flow,' in a continu- ous stream; usually with ace. as in the next clause. ^PVLNO g iTapdxOv ^ i^earddr] M i^^arir] \ I turbatum est (Verecundus), i.e. iJ^?:j (Bu,, Richt. u. Sam., p. 104). JiD is not 'melt away,' as commonly affirmed, but 'move in waves, be violently agitated,' like the Arab, g^^ (Abulw., Vollers, SS.)- — 5. -iStj nnn] in Is. 63!^ (accidentally repeated 64^) the vb. is pronounced 'hh, by which the Ni. of SSt is prob. intended (cf. iVJJ Is. 34*) ; 0 VLS} interpret shake. So here (§ iaaKevOr^aav I commoti sunt (Verecundus) '^%, followed by most recent comm. and lexx. (Ges., MV., SS., BDB., Hollm., E. Meier, Stud., Ke., Be., Ba., Bi., al.). The pronunciation of iI5l is then explained as due to false analogy to the 3 sg. pf. of the normal verb. The parallelism, however, csp. if we read uidj in v.^% is better satisfied if -we derive the word from Srj • stream.* In the first two members we see the earth quaking, the heavens Precisely so in Ps. 688, -j- ©G ^Vra^ei', ^ 0 so-Ta^ei/ fipdaou? = IE}. 142 JUDGES swaving; * in the last two, the clouds dropping rain, the torrents streaming down the sides of the mountains. For the vb. cf. Job 3628 Is. 458 Jer. g^"^ and the poet, use of D-^hui 'streams' Ex. 15^ Ps. 78^^ &c. The suppression of the ace, which is expressed in the preceding clause, occasions no difficulty. So It monies Jlitxerunt.^ — ""J^D n?] Ps. 68^. Commonly taken deictically, yon Sinai, Sinai there ; others, Sinai, I say. The first would only be natural if Sinai were in sight, and for neither is there sufficient grammatical warrant. Examples superficially similar are collected in the grammars, e.g. Green, § 252, 2 a; Ges.25 § 126, 5 n. 2, § 136 n. 3, and esp. Driver in BDB, Lex.,s. v. n?; but they need to be carefully sifted. In some the pron. is pred. ; in a good many others (esp. in the Pss.) we may recognize the influence of Aramaic syntax; Ex. 32^ (ntt'D ht) I K. 14^'* (see Klost.) Is. 231^ (see Duhm) are glosses, in which nr is used just as we use " i.e." The suspicion that in Jud. 5^ also the words are a gloss receives some confirmation from the variations of the Greek versions; see my edition of the Hebrew text in The Sacred Books of the Old Testament, &c. S alone renders quite grammatically tovt^o-ti rb Stj/a; cf. also Ps. 68^. 6-8. The state of things before the war. — Travel on the highways was stopped, and travellers were constrained to take roundabout byways ; the country was harried by armed bands of Canaanites, so that the Israelite peasants were compelled to abandon their villages. This is not a mere instance and illus- tration of the insecurity of the land under Canaanite misrule ; it is the grievance which was the cause of war. — 6. In the days of Shatngar ben Anath, in the days of Jael'\ the period immediately preceding the appearance of Deborah as leader and deliverer (v.^^). The asyndeton would imply that Shamgar and Jael were contemporaries. The latter can be no other than the heroine celebrated in v.^^- ; X not an otherwise unknown judge of the same name,§ in which case the author must have distinguished them in some way, e.g. by adding the name of his father. The difficulty, however, which this hypothesis is created to relieve is a real one. It is singular that the name of this Bedawi woman should be coupled with that of Shamgar. And how can the period before the rise of Deborah be called the days of Jael, when the deed which made her famous was only the last act in * To the ancients the firmament was as solid as the earth, t Rabb., Schm., Cler., Ew., al. X Ff., Rabb., Schm., Cler., Rosenm., Ke., Ba., and most. {Teller (1766), Kohler, Hollmann, Ges., Stud., Be., Oettii; a female judge, Green (1753), Justi. Ew. conjectures that Jair (io3) is meant. V. 6-7 143 the deliverance which Deborah had already achieved ? The best that can be said is, that, although Shamgar and Jael, both of whom in different ways wrought deliverance for their people, were living, they did nothing to free Israel from the tyranny of the Canaanites until Deborah appeared. But it must be confessed that this is not very natural ; and it would perhaps be better to regard in the days of Jael as a gloss.* If this be so, the question will arise whether Shamgar was originally an Israelite hero at all. In the comm. on f^ it has been shown that as a deliverer of Israel he belongs to the latest redaction, and that the slaughter of the Philistines is premature. If 5^ is interpreted independently of this unhistorical exploit, it would be quite as natural to see in him the oppressor of Israel as its champion.f The name is strangely foreign and heathenish. % The obvious objection to this interpre- tation is, that Shamgar plays no part in the struggle ; the chief of the enemy is Sisera. § — Caravans ceased, and those who travelled the roads went by roufidabout paths'] the first words are usually interpreted, as in JH, the highways were disused ; cf. Is. 2,:^^. It is doubtful, however, whether the verb will bear this meaning, and the parallelism is impaired. Commerce between different parts of the land was cut off, and those who were compelled to jour- ney by themselves took circuitous and unfrequented bypaths. — 7. The first half-verse evidently continues the description of the wrongs which Israel suffered in the days of Shamgar. The mean- ing of the words, however, is uncertain. The noun {perazon) occurs again in v.", but no rendering which suits one of these places seems to be possible in the other. In v.^ we might per- haps give it the sense, village population, or better, by a slight emendation, read, hamlets ceased; the peasants deserted their villages for the protection of the walled towns. This is appro- priate enough in the context, and may be right. || If so, the word * Geddes, Bi., Cooke. f Cf. " in the days of the Philistines," 1520. X See above, p. io6. It would be the sohtary instance in the O.T. in which an Israelite bears openly the name of a heathen god (Baethgen, Deitrdge, p. 140 f.). \ We should have to supplement the hypothesis by another, that Shamgar had died before the war and been succeeded by Sisera. The names are alike in l)eing neither Canaanite nor Hebrew. II It is so interpreted by ES', Abulw., Ra., Ki., Schm., Cler., Kohl., Ke., Cass., Ba.. Bu., al. Cf. ffifLOP g I (Aug., aL) T44 JUDGES in V." must be given up, a step which, in the unintelligible and indubitably corrupt text there, we need not hesitate to take. The rendering viighty me7i,''^ or counsel, leadership, rule, judges,-\ is recommended by the fact that it would be possible in v.^^ also ; but has no support in usage or etymology, and in v.^ is less appro- priate to the context and parallelism. The repetition of the verb ceased without a subject may be accidental, or a subject synonymous with perazon may have fallen out of the text. % — Till thou didst arisCy DeboraJi] the verbs may be either the first person or the second person feminine with the old ending ; v.^^ (cf. v.^^) makes it probable that the latter is intended. § Budde thinks v.^^ a gloss ; see note. — A matrofi in Israel~\ the phrase occurs in the Old Testament only in 2 S. 20^^, a city and a mother in Israel {^ correctly, /xTyrpoVoAt?) , || from which Niebuhr infers that Deborah also was not a woman, but a town, Daberath-Deburiyeh.^ mmx iSin] Snn ♦ leave off'; intrans., * stop, cease ' Ex. 9^* Dt. 15I1 &c.; that it may also mean 'lie idle ' is not established by i S. 2^ Job 14^. It is on all accounts preferable to pronounce the noun mn-iN, * companies of wayfarers ' ; the same correction of the punctuation is demanded in Job 6^^-^^ (caravans). — ni:3">nj oS,-i] nainj is a poet, synonym of -["n, cf. Jer. iS^^. — niS"'Sp>'] Ps. 125^* cf. vrhpv Is. 27I; in MH. both words are used tropically of tortuous conduct. mmN^ js erroneously repeated from the preceding line, to the detriment of both the poetical expression and the rhythm.** — 7. pTna iSin SN-ii'o] v.ii^ nM"»£) Ez. 38" Zech. 2^ are unwalled hamlets, ""nsn i S. 6^? Dt. 3^ the peasant population of such hamlets; cf. also Esth. 9^^ and MH. rr\Q. It is barely possible that the abstract jitid might mean * peasantry,' and be construed as collective with a plural verb; but as in this collective use we find elsewhere nnon, it would be preferable to emend here mtiQ, which is actually found in a few codd.; so Stud. — nion "TiDpo' i>] the rel. ^ with this pointing twice in the verse, also Cant, i^^; cf. Jud. (P 7^^ 8^*^, Ges.^s § 36; SS., s. V. The rel. v is frequent in late BH. (Cant., Eccl., &c.), and in MH. supplants T.T'N altogether; but it is unsafe to infer that it was of late origin, and hence that the half-verse is a gloss (Bu.), or the whole poem of late date (Seinccke, Vernes).tt We have equally little ground for pronouncing c a * IL fortes; similarly ©BGMN l (Verecundus) ; cf. Hab. 3I4. t Teller, Schnurrer, Gas., Hollmann, Be., Reuss, Vernes. X Bu. § See above, p. 132. [| See above, p. 25 and n. 11 Reconstellation, p. ii. ** Briggs. tt Observe ntt'N3, v.^?. V. 7-8 145 peculiarity of a northern dialect (Nachtigall, Bo., al.).* The relatives ^•••» and ^ are probably of different origin, and may have existed side by side in all periods of the language. For vnnp 6 I e H have the third person, until Deborah arose; f^ would then be a later change to the first person, dictated by the theory that Deborah was the author of the Ode (v.i).t It is simpler to take the form >nDp as 2 s.f. with the old ending i (Ges.25 § 44. 2 n. 4) ; Rodiger (1839), Bo., Graetz, We., A. Miiller, Reuss, Kitt. 8. Continues the portrayal of the situation in Israel at the out- break of the war, as is evident from the second half-verse. X—A shield was not to be seen, nor a spear, among for ty^ thousafid men'] the hyperbole is not to be pressed ; nor does the language imply that the Israelites had been disarmed, as, according to a late and exaggerated story (i S. 13^^-''), they were by the Philistines in the days of Saul. But, compared with the well- equipped soldiers of the Canaanite kings, they were a motley concourse, armed with such rude weapons as each man could lay his hands on, or hur- riedly fashion from the implements of his peaceful calling. § Verse ^^ is unintelligible. The English version, following E and Jewish commentators, || connects the verse with the following, and understands it to refer to Israel's sin in worshipping strange gods and its consequence, a hostile invasion : " They chose new gods ; then was war in the gates." f This translation of the last hemi- stich is impossible ; that of the first, for grammatical reasons, very improbable. Moreover, if the poet had meant to speak of the apostasy of Israel as the cause of the evils that had befallen it, the natural place to do so was before v.^ where the description of those evils begins. But that he construed the history of his times as the author of the introduction to the Book of Judges does (2^^) is nowhere intimated in the Ode, and is in itself most improbable. Other attempts to extract a meaning from the * Neubauer and Sayce thought that they found the letters "^z^ on a stone weight, prob. of the 8th cent. B.C., which was found on the site of Samaria ; but the read- ing is disputed. See Acad., Aug. 2, 1890, p. 94; Athenaeum, Aug. 2. 1890, p. 164. The controversy in the Academy, 1894. is reprinted in PEF. Qu. St., July. 1894, p. 22c^23i ; 284-287. t See We., Comp., p. 223 n., cf. p. 356 ; Bi. + E. Meier would put v.8 after v.9 ; cf. A. Muller, Cooke. &Such seems, at least, to be the meaning; the mutilated context warns us against too confident an interpretation. || Ra.. Ki.. Tanch.. RLbG.. Abarb. H Cf. Dt. 32I7 jud. 2II-15. So Drus.. Cler.. Schm.. Schnurrer. Hollm,. Stud., Ba.. Cass., Reuss, Oettli, al. mu. The first clause is rendered in the same way by ©. L 146 JUDGES clauses are not more successful. Jerome translates : Nova bella elegit Dominus,* et portas hostium ipse subvertit; clypeus et hasta si apparuerint in quadraginta millibus Israel. Ewald and others, "They chose new judges {elohwi) ,'' ■\ namely, Deborah and Barak. In the last hemistich ^ and some recensions of (@ find " barley bread " (cf. 7^^) . % See critical note. 9-11. The text of these verses has suffered so badly that there is no reasonable hope that any art or skill by the critic will ever be able to restore it. The ancient versions found the text in substantially the same state in which it has been transmitted to us, and had no tradition to guide them in interpreting it. The disjointed words and phrases to which we can attach a probable sense do not afford a sufficient basis for conjecture; the con- nexion is impenetrably obscure. We are here, as more than once in the following verses, in very much the same case as the epi- graphist who has before him a badly defaced or mutilated inscrip- tion, the difficulty of deciphering which, he has reason to suspect, is increased by partial and unskilful attempts at restoration. What can, with more or less confidence, be made out is this : § ^ My heart (goes out) to the rulers (?) of Israel — those who offer themselves freely among the people — bless ye Yahweh — ^^ men that ride reddish asses — that sit on . . . — and that walk on the road . . . — " from (?) a sound of . . . between watering-places — there they rehearse the righteous acts of Yahweh — the right- eous acts of ... in Israel — then went down to the gates the people of Yahweh. || Verse ^ seems to repeat the motive of v.^ but unfortunately the one is as obscure as the other ; v.^" is generally explained as calling * S, God chose a new thing, Ephrem, Lth., al. ; generally understood of the deliv- erance of Israel by a woman. Cf. also RLbG., alt. t Meier, Be., Briggs, al.; cf. Ex. 216 227- 8 (Ew.). X It is obviously impossible, as it would be unprofitable, in the obscure and cor- rupt places of this poem, to discuss or even record all the guesses of commen- tators. I shall pass over in silence such as seem to me to have no claim to serious consideration. The curious reader may consult Bachmann. ^ I abstain from any interpretative punctuation. II Cf. A. Miiller, p. 16 f. Perhaps it may not be superfluous to give a warning against the inference that because so many words can be recognized, therefore so much of the text is sound. V. 8-1 1 'A7 upon the persons there described, perhaps representing different classes of society or men of different pursuits, to join in singing Yahweh's praises for the security which they now enjoy, in con- trast to v.^-^*. The archers (??) among the watering-places are also supposed to have something to do with celebrating Yahweh's righteous acts. The first part of the poem would thus end, as it began, with a summons to laud and magnify Yahweh's great name. Verse "^ is, upon this supposition, entirely unsuitable after v."" and before v.^^; it has been conjectured that it is accidentally mis- placed from v.^^''.* This interpretation of v.^"" makes the verses interrupt and delay the swift movement of the poem in a way that is quite unlike the author. f After the appearance of Deborah (v/''), we expect to hear of the preparations for the war, and this is confirmed by v."'', — then marched down to the gates the people of Yahweh ; cf. also v.*^ With v.^^ the war itself begins. 8. D-'K'nn d-ihSn inn-'] against the interpretations which make God subject, it is decisive that throughout the poem the name nmi is used; D-'iyin new things (mtt'-\n Is. 48^) or new men is in this collocation fatally ambiguous. The same objection holds against // (Israel) chooses (or, 7vhen it chooses) J new gods ; an author who meant to be understood would hardly write thus. Moreover, the idea is foreign to the poem, and is introduced in an inappro- priate place. Perhaps a scribe may have tried to restore the partly illegible words of his copy by the help of Dt. 32I''; cf. Jud. iqI*. New judges ascribes to D-in^N a fictitious sense and adds a new element of ambiguity. — anS rN Dn;;^'] § it is difficult to imagine what is intended by this anomalous pronun- ciation; see Ges. Thes., and Ba. After tn we expect a finite verb, as in V 11. 13. 19 ('jT innSj tn) 22^ and onyt:' is apparently accus. ; but an^ (Ps. 35I 552. 3t) would be very suspicious here, and then he assaulted the gates would hardly admit any interpretation but that of Jerome. @apvlmo \ % z ^ ^ ^-^pinS o*^] S, Schm., E\v., al. supply -iDN says ; better, simply, belongs to, goes out to, in gratitude and affection (H diligit, Ra., Ki., Cl«r., most moderns), ppin (Is. lo^) seems to be the same as p|"|np v.^* (see there) Dt. 33^^; the form is best explained as ptcp. Qal. — 'Ji D373 DOnjriDn] closely resembles v.-, and is equally obscure; the ptcp. is hardly appositive to D^ppin (Stud.), but its counterpart in loose construction (Schm., Schnur.). — 10. I see no way to do anything with •in-'t', on which, unfortunately, the understanding of the whole verse depends. It is commonly translated, tell forth, proclaim, laud (^IL, most comm.; cf. Ps. 1052 145^); others render consider, meditate, muse (Cler., Schm., Schnur., Herd., Ba., al.), which the usage would rather admit, but which is even less suitable in *.he context. — nnnx mjnN] on the colour (gray, or tawny, inclining to red) see A. Miiller, p. 4-6. On riding asses, see on 10*. — p"ip S;? i3i:>>] the noun is unknown. The older interpreters, by an impossible etymology, explain it, Judgement, or place of judgement; most moderns derive it from np (plur. CiD 3^^),* with Aramaic plural ending. As the sense garments is obviously unsuitable, it is assumed that the word had the wider sense, cloths; hence either, saddle-cloths, housings, or (rich) carpets (so the most). The phrases are supposed by many to designate different social classes, with great diversity of opinion as to what classes or how many; others, laying the emphasis on the verbs, imagine the call to be addressed to every Israelite, whatever he may be about; cf. Dt. 6^ Ps. 139^ Is. 37'^^ pg. ji &c. (so Stud., Reuss, al.).— 11. D-'^NU'O ^3 D^^fna '?Vp] ^''Xi'nD t is formally possible as denom. Piel from fn * arrow,' ' men that shoot arrows' (Ki., RLbG., Kuypers, Lette, Ges., al. mu.) ; others, * cast lots with arrows ' (Schultens), for the division of the booty (Schnur., al.); while others still derive it directly from v^'n, to which they give the meaning * divide ' sc. the spoil (pSn ; Hollm., Stud., Ba.) . J But the difficulty lies not more in this word than in the preposition p and the noun diijn'.T'D (lit. * places where water is drawn '). There is no clue to the meaning of the line. — ian^ du'] the obscurity of the preceding prevents our seeing to what place oa' refers, or what is the subject of the verb, njn 1 1^^ is frequently compared with Arab. ^^i3 iv., * eulogize ' (or ' defame '), But as equivalent of Heb. ■r\y:? the word is not conceivable in old Hebrew. — nin> mpni*] seem- ingly manifestations of his justice in defending and delivering his people; cf. I S. 12'^ Mi. 6^ &c. — SxnB'O ijino npnx] see on v.'^. In the context uins must be gen. subj. ; country people (Ba.) will not do here; rulership, rule (Be.) or leadership, leaders (Stud., Reuss, al.) are unsupported, and do not * Hiller, Schnur., Ges., al. plur. t Every conceivable Heb. etymology of this word was discussed by Jewish scholars in the Middle Ages ; see Tanch., quoted in Ges. Tkes, p. 511. X Bu. conjectures cpn^D Sip, Hark, how joyful they are! V. 12 149 suit V J, — 'Ji nn>^ tn] many commentators, taking un'* as jussive continuing the imv. in^5i', feel constrained to make a jussive also of i"n% either emending n~\; (Schnur.) or forcing this sense upon the pf. (Hollm., al.). The gates (metonomy for cities; cf. ©) are thought by some to be those of the Israelites, to which they now return in peace and security, cf. v.^ (so, with various modifications. Stud., Ke., Ba., al.); others, with greater probability, interpret of the gates of the enemy's cities, against which Israel now marched (It, Ew., Be., Reuss, al.). 12-22. Israel marches into battle ; defeat and flight of the Canaanites. — The second part of the Ode. After an opening apostrophe to Deborah and Barak, we see the tribes march down to the fray and hear the reproachful questions which the absence of others evokes. Then we are in the midst of the combat ; the heavens themselves fight against Sisera, the torrents of Kishon sweep his proud host to ruin. The text of v.^^'^ is so corrupt that we can hardly read , more than the names of the tribes ; but their general purport is manifest. From v.^^ the text is better pre- served.— 12. Rouse thee, rouse thee, Deborah; rouse thee, rouse thee, strike up the song] interpreters who assume that in these words Deborah calls upon herself to sing the Ode of Victory find it hard to explain why this invocation stands thus in the middle of the Ode, instead of beginning it.* The explanation of Studer and others, that this is the real beginning of the Ode, to which v.^ " is merely a prooemium, hardly relieves the difficulty ; we should have to go a step farther, and with Ewald, regard v.-"^^ as a distinct poem. The complete parallel between the call to Deborah in v.^* and that to Barak in v.^^ makes it improbable, however, that in the former Deborah addresses herself; and we have seen other reasons for believing that the heroine is not the author of the Ode. In view of the following context, verse ^^^ is best understood as a summons to Barak, not to participate in the celebration of the triumph, but to attack the enemy ; and, accord- ingly, v.^-% which cannot be separated from v.^-^ and referred to in earher time,t is to be explained, not as a call to Deborah to sing a song of victory, but to strike up the song of battle. % The * On this difficulty see, e.g. Schnur., who would supply, / said. Niebuhr in his Reconstellation actually puts v.i2 in the place of v.2. f Stud., Ba., al. X Schnur., Kohl., We., Reuss, cf. Bi., Cass. (Reminiscenz an das Schlachtlied selbst). 1 50 JUDGES verse is then in a suitable place. The poet sees the people of Yahweh marching to attack the foe (v.^^'') and breaks in with an apostrophe to the two leaders ; to Deborah, to fire the hearts of her countrymen by song ; to Barak, to make prisoners the proud foemen.* The obscurity of the preceding verses, however, makes it impossible to say with confidence that this is the transition intended by the poet. — Up, Barak; lead captive thy captive train, son of Abinoa77i\ a bold prolepsis ; but not an unnatural one for a poet after the event. With an equally admissible pro- nunciation of the Hebrew word we might translate, lead captive thy captors, and surmise that Barak, like Gideon (8^^-^^), had his own wrongs to avenge as well as those of his people, a touch of personal interest which we should welcome. f 13-1 5 a The tribes are in motion against the enemy. — The verses are so mutilated that we can make out Uttle more than the bare names of the tribes. — 13. The second member may be read. The people of Yahweh marched down for him % as heroes (cf. v.^^) ; something of the same kind seems to have stood in the preceding line, of which there remains, then marched down . . . nobles. In view of the parallel it might be conjectured that the name Israel was originally found in this line. — 14. In the first two Hues nothing is certain but the names, Ephraim and Benja- min. "From Ephraim their root (is) in Amalek — after thee Benjamin among thy peoples " § — is nonsense which must give the most courageous translator pause. — From Machir marched down truncheon-bearers, and from Zebulun those who carry the muster-master's stajf] Machir is here Manasseh, of which tribe it was the principal branch. || In later times the seats of Machir were in Gilead ; but there is good ground for the opinion that the conquest of this region was made, not in the first invasion of the lands east of the Jordan by Israel, but subsequently, by a reflux ♦ This is preferable to the explanation which makes the words a shout of the Israelite host as they go into battle (Stud, alt., al.). t We., Sta., Bu., Kitt. + (ffiB al. ; ^ for me. $ That is, after thee came Benjamin, &c. (Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., Stud., al.), or, after thee, O Benjamin! (Schm., alt., E\v., Mei., Ba.) II Machir the first-born son of Manasseh (Jos. 17I) ; or his only son (Gen. 5023 Num. 262aff-). See Kue., Th. T. xi. 463 ff. V. 12-15 I 51 movement from Western Palestine.* On Zebulun, see on i^. The jnuster-master (lit. writer') in the later military organization (2 K. 25^^) was an officer who had charge of the enumeration and enrolment of the troops; a kind of adjutant general.f In our text it is probably the chieftains themselves who muster the quotas of their own clans ; the poet evidently seeks changing expressions for the often recurring idea, chiefs. — 15*. Issachar, which is not named at all in ch. i, } is here mentioned with special honour as the tribe of Deborah, and apparently of Barak also. Unfortunately the text is here again in such disorder that the latter point at least is extremely doubtful. The first line may per- haps be made to read. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, or, were the people of Deborah ; the rest defies transla- tion. The second Hne connects Barak also in some way with Issa- char ; but, in accordance with the uniform structure of the preceding verses, we should rather expect the name of another tribe ; and, on the other hand, the omission of Naphtali from this list is strange, especially in view of v.^^. In the third Hne the words, into the plain . . . at his feet, suffice to show that the verse, like those before it, describes the tribes pouring down from their hills into the plain to give battle to the Canaanites. The original seats of Issachar seem to have been south of Naphtali and southeast of Zebulun, probably in the hills between the two valleys which descend from the eastern end of the Great Plain to the Jordan (Wady el-Bireh, Nahr Galud) ; it may comparatively early have occupied a part of the range of Gilboa, south of the latter valley. Toward the northwest it reached to the foot of Tabor, where it met both Zebulun and Naphtali. § The territory occupied by Issachar was one in which it was peculiarly difficult to maintain its independence, and in Gen. 49^^ the tribe is taunted for the ignoble spirit in which it preferred peace to freedom. || 12. m>'] the accent is shifted for rhythmical variety, the first two being milra, the last two mil' el; cf. Is. 51^ Ges."-^^ § 72 Anm. 3; Bo. § 1134; Ba., * Smend, HVVB'^. p. 936; Sta., GVI. i. p. 149; Bu., Richt. «. Sam., p. 34 ff. t JDMich., Schnur., Ba., al. Cf. also i Mace. 5^2, + See above, p. 49. § All this is merely conjectural ; the tribe is not named in Jud. i, and the boundaries and towns assigned to it in Jos. 19I7-23 represent a much later time. U See Sta.. G VI. i. p. 170 f. 152 JUDGES p. 367. — The alliteration nai . . . n-^ij-i is very likely designed; * with -)3T TIC cf. 2 S. 22^ Dt. 31^'^. — qo'^ n^a'i] '<2Tff collective; cf. Ps. 681^ ob' noB? (Yahweh) ; so (B%K and most comm. It is possible to pronounce ^oc* ihy captors, cf. Is. 14^; so S a, Lth., JDMich., We., Sta., Bu. — 13. in^ bis\ the context requires in both instances the perf. -in^ ((g^^N^E, JDMich., Schnur., Stud., Ew., Be., and most recent scholars) ; cf. nn; v.^- 1*. ^ -,-,> undoubtedly intends an apocop. impf. Pi. from mi (Ra., Ki.; cf. Stud.; Ges.25 § 69, i c). — onnsS nniJ'] nnt* is the survivor of a battle or calamity, often parallel to tD>SD; collectively Is. i^. There is nothing in the usage of the word to warrant the rendering a little band (Kohl., Stud., Cass., Reuss, and most) f; nor can nnns':', in view of the parallel onuj^ (cf. v. 23), J refer to the enemy (^, Rabb., JDMich., Schnur., Herd., Stud., al.).— iiH (cf. IL^) joins d;; to the first member of the verse, § to carry out its misinterpretation of ni"'; it is rightly connected with the following (mni d;?) by (g^^^, Xa6s ^vpiov Kari^-f] avT(f iv TOiS KparaioTs, \\ in which avr^ (i>) is also to be preferred to fE ^'?.l In the light of the parallehsm, it may be conjectured that the unintelligible S intt' in v."' is a corruption of '7>s-\:i'\ — In onujj the 2 is perhaps in the character of, as (Ges.^^ § 119, 3 b. i), rather than among ; certainly not against. — 14. Dn£3N ""Jd] "ij:3 twice in this verse (cf. jSuirj v.^) Is. 46^ Mi. 'j^'^ Pss. Job. — pSny^ Diyn;:'] is commonly translated, their root is in Amalek (or, whose rooty &c.), and explained, they are firmly established in that part of the territory of Ephraim called the Amalekites' Mountain, that is, in the region of Pirathon (is^^ see comm. ad loc.) ; ** so Hiller (1707), Schnur., Kohl,, Hollm., and almost all comm. in the present century. But, apart from the enigmatical form of the expression, the author cannot mean that only those clans of Ephraim which were settled in that district came to the war (Ew., Be.) ; and that that region was the centre and stronghold of the tribe is neither in accord with the evidence of history nor relevant in this context. The words stand in the place where we should have the predicate of the sentence; it is equally awkward to have to borrow a verb from ini v.i^ (Schnur., Stud.) or from nn"> y}^ (Ba.). uvw is probably the corruption of a verb, and for pSnj;3 we may conjecture that the original reading was pDj?3, which is given by ©A.PLMO else; cf. v.^^ 'Ji nStt* pnj,'^ (see there). — yoi^y^ pD''j2 innN] ♦ See on the whole subject, Casanowicz, " Paronomasia in the O.T.," JBL. xii. 1893, p. 105 ff. ; also separately, Boston, 1894. t A remnant, that is, in comparison with the enemy ; a little band of Israelites who have escaped from former defeats. Ba. quotes Verg., reliquiae Danaum atque immitis Achillei. X Remnant of the nobles (Hollm., Ew., Mei., Be., al.) is difficult to justify gram- matically. ^ So among modern interpreters, Hollm., Ew., Ke., Be., Ba. II Some Heb. codd. connect in the same way (De Rossi) ; so W. Green, JDMich., Schnur., Kohl., Mei., Donalds., Bi., Cass., Reuss, Briggs, al. mu. t Kohl. ♦* The older commentators explained the words of wars against Amalek ; so i!r, Rabb., Ephr., a Lyra, Cler., al. V. 15 153 the same Greek texts give us ynn, which may with reason be preferred (iky brother Benjamiii) ; but Tir^^v is suspicious on account not only of the Ara- maic form of the plural (cf. Neh. 922.24^, but even more of the plural itself; a^nong thy kinsmen (popular es) is less natural here than in thy ranks, ipy^. It vi^ould be rash, however, to emend in this desperate context. — D"'|"i(7.np] ppnn Nu. 2 1 18 syn. of njyc'^, Gen. 4910 parallel to mt, is a staff, carried by men of rank and authority; here it is the man who carries such a staff as the emblem of his authority (see the parallel clause); cf. Is. 33^2 (|| -^q^^ -jSd) Ps. 60^ Dt. 3321 (?). The interpretation, law-giver, law-giver'' s staff, is merely an etymological deduction, and is not sustained by usage. — idd C33tt'3 d-'DIJ'd] J "jtrD cf. I K. 22^*, the usual construction in Arab.; we might also render, those who march luith the i03'^, &c.; cf. on 4^. With idd in this use cf. -r^v (from a root of similar meaning; often coupled with tasb'), cf. 2 Chr. 26^^ . In 2 K. 2519 Y-\ii7\ d;? nx N''axDn njxh na' lijon, N:3xn nc' may reasonably be suspected of being a gloss; in Jer. 522^ the words have been rendered gram- matically correct by dropping the article before isD. Klost. takes -ii3D (or jdd) as n. pr. Bu. conjecturally joins nfjD in Jud. 5I* to the following verse: nnuT o;? natt>!yo >nb* nsD; cf. W. Green (1753), 'J1 onty •n£3p. — 15a. ncfi nm3T Dj; '^•2i:fVi2'] my princes is obviously impossible; the correction ^"y^ (constr. before preposition), princes in Issachar (Schnur., Stud., Be., al.),* though grammatically admissible, is otherwise not much better; ^yw^ nc the princes of Issachar gives a satisfactory sense, but we cannot be confident that this restores the original text. For Dj; we might also read ny (Bu.). — isti'tyn pi3 p] Stud, conjectures that instead of this second Issachar, which neither © nor It seem to have read, the original reading was Naphtali ; cf. 4^ 5I8. The insertion of 3 before the first member of the comparison removes the grammatical harshness; but it is difficult to imagine a worse anticlimax than, and as was Issachar so was Barak. — vVj"i3 rhy pDV^] the passive is certainly wrong (Miiller) ; the unintelligibility of the preceding clause forbids us to say more than this. Perhaps the same verb which in v.^^ has been corrupted to Dtt'ic originally stood here also. 15^-18. The encomium of the tribes which under their gallant chieftains marched down to the fray (v.-^"^^'^) is followed by reproaches of those who were missing from the ranks of Israel ; their conduct is contrasted with the shining example of Zebulun and Naphtali (v.^^). Natural as the transition is, the text can scarcely be intact; a stichos corresponding to v.^^ seems to be lacking.f — 15^. Modern interpreters nearly all translate, By the * Other explanations of the form give us grammatical anomalies ; see Ba. It will probably not occur to any one to fortify the hypothesis of a plural absolute in > by the plurals of this form in the Senjerli inscriptions (see D. H. Miiller, WZKM. vii. 1893, p. 119 f.). t A. Muller. 154 JUDGES watercourses of Reuben (RV.) ; cf. Job 20*^* The old versions all, in one sense or another, render, divisions j\ which is probably to be preferred ; the fractions of the tribe were divided in counsel, and squandered in dissensions the time for deeds. — Great dis- cussions'] lit. investigations of mind ; to find out one another's feeling and purpose. The text is to be corrected by v.^^^, % where in the repetition of the line the important word has been better preserved. For the meaning, cf. i S. 20^^. — 16. The reproaches cast upon the recreant tribes are couched in the form of taunting questions. — Why satest thou between the . . . ?] the last word, which occurs besides in Gen. 49"^ in a similar figure for base inertness (cf. also Ps. dZ^^, is translated by most recent inter- preters, folds, enclosures surrounded by a paling or hedge for the protection of the flocks. § The rendering, ash-heaps, or heaps of refuse, by the villages or encampments of the tribe, adheres more closely to the concrete meaning of the cognate Hebrew words, which is here our only clue. In the next clause the trans- lation of Jerome, after some of the Greek versions, is generally adopted, ut audias sibilos gregum ; which recent scholars rightly interpret, not of the bleating of the flocks, || but of the piping of shepherds among their flocks;^ better, perhaps, of the calls of the shepherds to their flocks. The rest of the verse is repeated by mistake from the end of v.^^.** The seats of Reuben were east of the Dead Sea in northern Moab (Num. 32^'^), where its relation to the native population was probably not unlike that of Asher and Naphtali among the Canaanites in Galilee (i^^^-^). Like Simeon, it seems never to have settled down to agri- culture. In ancient times, according to the patriarchal legend, one of the leading tribes of Israel, the first of the Leah group, it early in the historical period dwindled into insignificance. In the Moabite inscription of Mesha it is not mentioned ; Gad has taken * JDMich., Schnur., Herd., Kohl., Hollm., Ew., Be., Ba., al. t So also Schm., Stud., Fiirst, Delitzsch (on Job 20I"), MV., al. {districts). X Houbig., Kohl.; cf. the ancient versions. § Pagninus, Lth., AV., Ludolf, Teller, Kohl., Ges., Hollm., Ew., al. mu. II S, Lth., Bochart, Schm., Cler., Schnur., Herd., al. H Gcs., Hollm.. Stud.. Ew., Be., Ba., al. mu. ; the pastoria sibila, Ovid, Met., xiii, 785. *♦ Teller, kcuss, A. Miiller. Cooke. Bi. conj. that a line (v.^Gc) has been lost. V. 15-17 155 its place ; and in Dt. 33'"' the prayer for Reuben is, May Reuben live and not die. The fate of the tribe was ascribed to an ances- tral curse, Gen. 49^''-, the cause and meaning of which are not clear.* — 17. Gilead remained on the other side of the Jordan^ Gilead is the region east of the Jordan, north and south of the Jabbok (Nahr ez-Zerqa) , with shifting limits in either direction.f The name is sometimes used for the whole of the Israelite pos- sessions east of the Jordan, of which it was indeed the chief part. It was occupied by the tribe of Gad, which is doubtless meant in our verse. % The disposition of Reuben and Gad to pursue their own interests and let their brethren on the other side of the Jor- dan fight their own battles is reflected in Nu. 32^^-. The more distant northern tribes also stood apart and were not represented in the ranks of Israelite warriors. — And Dan, why does he live neighbour to the ships .?] the words are difficult ; but there seems no sufficient reason for suspecting the text, § which is supported by the parallel Une about Asher. This parallel also shows that the northern settlements of Dan (18^'^) are meant, || not the earlier seats of the tribe in the southwest (i^*-; see there) .^ In neither place did Dan actually come down to the seaboard.** The words would be quite inexplicable if we had to translate, why did he remain in the ships (RV.) . The rendering adopted above, which gives the meaning of the verb more exactly, removes the difficulty, if we may interpret. Why does he live as a dependent, under the protection of the Phoenician sea-farers ? ft This was probably the situation of the Danites, as it had been of the inhabitants of Laish before them (iS''-^*^). The only objection to this explanation is, that ships is a somewhat remote metonymy for a seagoing people ; compare, however, ' ship coast ' for sea coast. Gen. 49^^. — Asher abode toward the coast of the Great Sea'] cf. Gen. 49^^, of Zebulun. — And remains by its landings'] * See Sta., G VI. i. p. 151 f. f See on 116. t Cf. Ps. 6o7. Sb here reads Gad. The conquests of Manasseh in northern Gilead are probably later than the time of Deborah ; see above, on v.i4. § Bu., Richi. u. Sam., p. i6 n. ; cf. Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 65 n. II Procop., Ki., Cler., Stud., Cass. H Kohl., HoUm., Be., Ba., al. ** Even in Jos. 19*6 Joppa lies outside his border (Ki., Stud.), ft Cf. Snj .-iNDm t^3n. D>jS3, usually in the phrase □''S ijSd, are primarily canals and ditches distributing water for irrigation; cf Prov. 21^ Ps. 46^ and the vb. Job 38^*^, also Arab, falag* We can hardly imagine, however, that Reuben was at this time so far advanced in agriculture; v.^'' shows that it was chiefly a pastoral tribe. For this reason it seems better to understand the word here of the divisions of the tribe; cf nuSs, nuSiJD, 2 Chr. 35-'- ^2, and cognate words in Aram, and Syr.f — 3*7 ''i~!i7n] -"ppn Is. lo^^ 'decrees, edicts'; the form is scarcely to be derived from ph (01., p. 628; Ges.^^, p. 261), but from a parallel form heq ; cf Sx cstr. pi. ^SSx Jer, 6*. But no meaning that can legitimately be given to pn is suitable here. J The true reading is preserved in the misplaced repetition of this line, v.^^^^, ;dS npn; see there. — 16. Dinsrnn jo] Gen. 49"^ cf D^-iD-.r JO judzti dn Ps. 681*. The ancient versions for the most part render between the territories, boundaries, § or between the ranks of the two armies (S) ; [| (gSGN j^ ju(j_ ^^^ fx^aov ttjs diyofiias, cf. Gr. Venet. Gen, 49^* ivh. tA i]iJ.L(f>6pTia; so Ki. on Gen, /.c. and Lex. s.v.; Schm. The interpreta- tion enclosure is found in Abulw. Lex. s.v., Ki. on Jud. 5^" {sheep-pens'), Abarb., Pagninus, Ludolf {Lex. Aethiop., 1661, p, 66; 1699, p, 76), Teller, and NWSchroeder, and is adopted by most modern commentators.^ The etymological arguments by which this explanation is supported may be seen in Ges. Thes. p. 1471 f. (Roed.) ; they are, as Stud, justly remarks, far-fetched and very dubious. We should perhaps rather compare nsK'N (also MH.), nsa^ 2 K. 4^8 Ez. 24^, and Ar. ,^>^, &c. (Schultens); the stones on which the pot is supported over the fire, fireplace.** — om;; n''p-}tJ'] cf Is. 5^6 7I8 Zech, 108 (11 pp); the verb is not used in the O.T. or MH. of playing on a * JDMich., Supplementa, p, 2013 (irrigation ditches) ; Schnur. t Cf. IL dlvlso contra se Ruben. Of divided mind, perfidy, Ra. ; aloof on the other side of Jordan, Ki. ; &c. X The contrast between great resolves at first and great vacillation afterwards (Schnur., Stud., Ew,, Be.) does not lie in the words, and if intended must have been in some way indicated, § So Stud. 11 So Ra., Ba, ; Reuben tried to be neutral in the struggle. H Canales unde pecora bibunt {cl. Arab, safita ; JDMich., Schnur,) is phoneti- cally impossible. ** Cf, Lette, and W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, p, 357. 158 JUDGES pipe, — 3*7 npn] jS is obj. gen. (cf. Jer. 1710 Prov. 25^ &c.), and the phrase can hardly mean self-questionings, hesitating between pro and contra* Jew- ish interpreters understand the words of the questionings which the absence of Reuben causes among the other Israelites. — 17. m^jx -nj)> noV pi] niJ c. c. ace. Is. 33^* Ps. 5^ 120^; not, why does he fear the ships (Schm., JDMich.; recently, Niebuhr). Bu. {Richt. u. Sam., p. 16 n.) conj. vnNj; cf. Cooke. — D>D> ninV] the plur. Gen. 491^ Dt. 33!^ (of Zebulun) &c. — vxisd] only here; the suff. prob. refers to fy\n. Cf. Arab. X-Oyi, place where boats or ships are drawn up, or where they lie to unload. The translation bays^ harbours, is scarcely warranted. 19-22. The battle ; rout of the Canaanites. — The kings came, they foitght~\ obsen^e the effect of the asyndeton. — The kings of Canaan'] united against Israel under the lead of Sisera. — At Taanach, on the waters of Megiddo~\ on Taanach and Megiddo see on i^'' (p. 44 ff.).t The waters of Megiddo are the Kishon and its branches in the neighbourhood of that city. The field of battle was therefore on the southern side of the Great Plain, not, as in ch. 4, at the foot of Mt. Tabor at the head of its northern arm. Taanach is separated from Tabor by the greatest breadth of the plain, about fifteen miles. — They made no gain of mo7iey~\ it was a most unprofitable campaign for them ; a sarcastic meiosis. The gains of war were in the ancient world one of the principal causes of war; cf. Ex. 15^ — 20. From heaven fought the stars] this division X preserves the rhythmical balance of the distich, which is needlessly destroyed by the massoretic punctuation. The words are a poetical description of the intervention of Yah- weh to discomfit the enemy and give victory to Israel ; the powers of heaven themselves were arrayed against Sisera § and the victory was not won by the prowess of Israel alone. || It is not necessary to suppose that the poet represented the stars as animated beings, the host of Yahweh,^ which in some unseen way • Schultens, Animadvers., p. 100, notes that in Arabic other verbs of inquiring, investigating, are tropically used of altercation. t On Megiddo see also G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 386 ff., and Conder, Crit. Review of Theol. and Phil. Lit., iv. 1894, p. 290 f. The attempt to find the name Megiddo in Nahr Muqatta' (Smith) ought to be given up once for all. X Procop., Cler., Trendelenburg, Kohl^., Herd., Mei., Bi., Briggs, A. MuUer, al. \ Procop., Ew., Be., Ba., al. || RLbG. H Hollm. ; cf. Ges., Jesaia, ii. p. 329. V. 19-21 T59 gave aid to Israel ; * or that the figurative language is to be inter- preted of a furious storm which threw the Canaanites into con- fusion.f See on v.^^ — From their paths they fought with Sisera\ lit. highways ; their established and \inchanging track through the sky. The preposition is not to be explained, leavifig their paths, \ to descend and take part in the battle, but maiientes in ordine et cursu suo adversus Sisaram pugnaverunt (H) ; we should avoid the ambiguity by translating, i7i their paths. — 21. The stream of Kishon swept them a7uay'\ not merely the bodies of the slain, § but the living. The Kishon is not in this part of its course a permanent stream, much less at ordinary times a dangerous torrent. || The battle must have been fought in the winter or spring, more probably the latter ; and it is possible that a heavy spring shower suddenly swelled the stream, though it is not neces- sary to infer this from either v.^ or v.^^^ — The next words are obscure ; one of the Greek translations ** and the Targum inter- pret, stream of the ancients, stream where great deeds were done in ancient times; ft but even if this presented no formal diffi- culties, it is a strange title to give to the river ; ancient mountains (Dt. ^:^^^) is not parallel. Another interpretation, suggested by Abulwalid is, stream of encounters, | j where the two armies met; or stream of champions. §§ The former lacks analogy in Hebrew ; the latter is a distinctively Arabic turn of the word. — The next line * Stud. Many older commentators thought that the angels were meant ; so Ephrem, Schm., Cler., al. mu. t Fl. Jos., anti. v. 5, 4 § 205 f., gives a highly embellished description of this storm; see also Schnur., Hollm., Ke,, Reuss, Cf. the Midrash, Pesachim, n8b. Cass, thinks of a night attack. % Ew., Be., al. § H. II On the Kishon, and the hydrography of the Great Plain in general, see Rob., BR^. ii. p. 363 if. ; S WP. Memoirs, i. p. 265-267 ; ii. p. 39. See also Shaw, Travels, 1757, p. 274 f. ; and Ba., ad loc. % It is said that in the battle of Mt. Tabor, Apr. 16, 1799, a number of Arabs were drowned in the stream coming from DebiirTyeh, which then inundated a part of the plain (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 339). Napoleon himself speaks only of the drowning of great numbers in the Jordan, which the rains had swollen making the ford dangerous (Bertrand, Campagncs d'Egypte et de Syrie, ii, p. 88). ** ©BGN, Xhe other recensions of <5, with US', take the word as a proper noun ; so Cler. ft Or, ancient stream, Ba. ; cf. RLbG., Abarb. XX Trem.-Jun., Piscat., Lette (alt.), Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., Briggs, al. \\ Brave stream, Ew. ; der alte Siegesbach, Reuss. l6o JUDGES is quite unintelligible ; concidca anima mea robiistos, * or, concul- cabit fortite?', is simple bathos, and, aside from that, most inappro- priate as the conclusion of v.^- ^^, which tell how heaven and earth conspired to destroy Sisera. Probably what originally stood here formed the end (predicate) of the second stichos of v.^^, the repetition of the words stream of Kishon being a gloss to the subject.f The line would in that case correspond in sense to the preceding. — 22. The verse describes, not the charge of the Canaanite chariot corps, but its precipitate flight. We hear in the Hebrew words the wild rush of the frantic steeds. — The^i the horses' hoofs pounded'^ sc. the earth ; % but see critical note. — With the gallop gallopifig of his steeds'] cf. the description of the charge in Nah. 3^^- : " The swish of the whip, and the thunder of wheels, horses galloping, chariots bounding, horsemen mounting, a flash of swords, a gleam of lances," &c. 19. ^iDo j's:3] many interpreters render, a piece, bit, of silver (Tanch., Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., Ew., Be., Reuss, al.); but there is no reason to prefer this supposed etymological explanation to the sense which alone is supported by Hebrew usage. — 20. icn^j didc> ]o] the erroneous division of the lines in fH has led some commentators to construe i?;n'?j impersonally (Lth., Schnur.), or to supply d^hSn as subject (Schm.). — DmSoDD] on the form of the suff. see Bo. § 887; cf. Is. 59"^. — n-id^d □;?] dj? dhSj i S. 13^ 1733 I K. 1221 and freq. — 21. Donj] p|"ij MH. 'shovel, scoop, scrape' up, or out (Levy, NHWb. i. p. 364) ; in S equivalent of Heb. ^^v {e.g. Is. 8^) ; cf. Arab, garafa, used of a torrent; gurufox gurf, a bluff scooped out and under- mined by a torrent; guraf, a torrent that sweeps everything away, &c. (Lette, Hollm.). — Dioni"? Snj] (J^bgn -^eifiappovs apy^alwv, those who were in old times, predecessors. § Some modern scholars regard it as an abstract noun denoting ' antiquity,' connected with onp as Dni;;j with -\v j, 3"'jipT with pf, D-'i^iSv with ::h';, &c, (see Dietrich, Abhandl. zur hebr. Gram.,^. 35 f.; Barth, Nominalbildimg, p. 85) ; so Ba. If we were to go to the Arabic dictionary for the word, it would be the simplest thing to connect it with (•^tVi* {TA. ix. p. 19 end), one who is always in the front of the fray, a bold, daring man; comparing for the form, Lagarde, Bildung der N'omina, p. 59 f. The words ptr-'p Snj at the end of the line are omitted by Bi, as " repetitio prorsus inu- tilis." — •'3mr] cannot legitimately be turned into a past tense (Ki., RLbG., * ILJT, Ra., JDMich., Stud., Ba. t An alternative hypothesis is that a line has been lost ; see A. Miiller. X Schnur., Hollm., Reuss, al. § For other variations see my edition of the Hebrew text. V. 21-23 l6l Schnur., Kohl., HoUm., al.); it is now generally rendered as a jussive (Stud.), but the second pers. of the jussive is rare, except after Sn, and no reason is apparent why the imperative should not have been used here as usual. — ly] is construed by many, especially older scholars, as direct object {rodurmetonymy for robustos); by others as accus. of manner (Herd., Ew., Hitz., Be., Cass., Reuss, al.). In accordance with the suggestion made above (p. i6o), we might conjecture something like rj? ■'E'sj "j-n D^ionp Snj (trample under foot, cf. Is. 63^) ; but we can have no confidence in any such restora- tion.— 22. 'Ji loSn tn] the vb. v.2<5b Is, 16^ Ps. 74*^ &c., 'give a heavy blow, pound.' The construction generally adopted by modern interpreters labours under two difficulties; the suppression of the object (the earth), and the preposition |D in the next line. The old versions all took the verb as passive, or at least neuter, as do also Ki., RLbG., Abulw., Tanch,, Schm., Cler.; and it must be admitted that the construction is much simplified by the rendering, then the heels of the horses were battered by the gallop galloping of his steeds. It would then be preferable to pronounce -iDSn (Pual). — moN nnm nnmn] the repetition probably imitative of the sound of galloping hoofs, as well as intensive in sense; cf. the exx. in Ew. § 313 «. Observe the suspended stat. constr. in the first word. The root only Nah. 3^ nrin did; not in MH. Etymological connexion with in (JDMich., Supplem.; Ges. Thes., al.) is very improbable; more likely the word is onomatopoetic. — . iiion] his steeds ; Jer. 8^^ 47^ 50I1. The suff. refers loosely to the enemy. Others translate, under the zvild driving of their mighty men (HoUm., Stud., Be., Ba., Reuss, al.) ; but this gives a less perfect parallelism and assumes that im could be used not only of the horse, as in Nah., but of the charioteer. The only reason for this somewhat forced interpretation vanishes if we make inSn passive. 23-31. Death of Sisera. — The third division of the Ode con- sists of two parts ; the flight and death of Sisera (v.^;-'') , and the scene in his palace, where his mother and her women await his return (v.^^"^^). — 23. The curse is obviously a foil to the following blessing (v.-^) ; the conduct of the people of Meroz is contrasted with that of Jael. From this fact, as well as from the position of the verse, we may probably infer that the enemy in his flight passed this Israelite village, whose inhabitants, instead of cutting him off", like cowards allowed him to escape.* — Curse Aferoz'] the place is unknown, and we have no clue to its situation. Assuming that it must have been a town of considerable note, some scholars have surmised that the name Meroz is miswritten, by accident or design, for Merom (Jos. ii^),t or Meron (Jos. 12-* * Hollm., Stud., Ew., Don., Be., Ke., Ba.. Reuss, MuUer. al. t Pagninus, Cler., Fr. Bo., Fiirst. I 62 JUDGES cf. 11^ 0)* or Meroth (Fl. Jos., d.j. ii. 20, 6) ; t but the premise is insecure, and the places suggested are all too far from the field of battle. It is more probable that Meroz was a mere hamlet which lay in the line of Sisera's flight. The various identifications that have been proposed by modern travellers may safely be dismissed. I — T/ie Messenger of Yahweh'] not the human messen- ger who bears the word of Yahweh, his prophet, § but God him- self as he reveals himself to men, cf. on 2^ 6^^ ; we should think here more naturally of the Yahweh who goes before his people into battle (4^^* cf. 5^^), and with the use of Messenger compare Ex. 23^-^ and Jos. 5^^'^^ || But it must be conceded that the phrase has here some difficulty. — Because they came not to the help of Yahweh'] the position of the verse, in the midst of the description of the Canaanites' wild flight, shows that the words refer, not like v.^^^'^^ to their failure to join the rising of the tribes, but to their failure to help destroy the vanquished foe ; cf. y-"* 35-9. 15-17 _ j-^ ///^ help of Yahweh as brave men] cf. v.^^ Ps. 55^^ &c. Or, amo7ig the brave ; ^ not, against the valia?it foe. ** — 24. In contrast with the cowardice or perfidy of the men of Meroz, the fearless devotion of Jael appears doubly glorious. — Blessed above women shall Jael be] the Hebrew superlative ; the most blessed of them all. — Above Bedawin women shall she be blessed] lit. wofnen in the tent, tenting women; cf. 8^^ Gen. 4^ Jer. 35^, Arabic ^ahlu-lwabar, the people of the hair-cloth tents, Bedawin. tt The words, the wife of Heber the Keftite, are a gloss derived from 4^^, which entirely destroys the balance of the verse. J J — 25. The poet sets us before the door of Jael's tent, where Sisera has paused a moment in his flight to beg a drink of water. — Water he asked, milk she gave] the pronouns are very effec- tive ; no need to name the actors in this tragedy. — In a bowl fit for lords she handed him sour 7?iilk] a large milk bowl ; cf. 6^. The milk is artificially soured by being shaken for a few moments * Kruse, Ew., Don., Vernes. f Justi, Krochmal, Boettger. X See Ba., p. 452. § Deborah (4*) Kohl., Cass. ; Barak ST (but the word is apparently a gloss), Ra, II Stud. ; cf. Ke. f So most. ♦* Justi, Stud., Cass., Niebuhr. ft Schnur., Stud., al. XX Bi., A. Muller, Bu., Oettli. Professed metricians like Ley may find it suflScient to call the unhappy verse a " decameter (catalectic ?) " I V. 23-26 163 in the skin kept for the purpose, in which the portion adhering to the inner surface of the skin from former occasions serves as the ferment to sour the new milk. It is a most grateful and refreshing drink, the best the Bedawin have to give.* — 26. As he was hastily draining the bowl, Jael seized some heavy object that lay close at hand and felled him to the earth with a blow. — She reaches her hand to the piti] the word ordinarily means a pin or peg, frequently, as in 4-^ a tent pin ; or an implement shaped like a peg (Dt. 23^^ Jud. 16^^).— The words in the next line which name or describe the weapon are very obscure. They are generally translated, workme?i's hammer,\ comparing 4-^ ; but it is extremely doubtful whether the Hebrew will bear this sense, and the expression is certainly a strange one. The following verbs make it clear that it was a heavy, blunt implement which crushed Sisera's skull ; a mallet or hammer would be entirely suitable in the context, but no light is thrown on the difficult words. It is a question of more importance, whether in the two lines two different weapons are meant, a pin and a mallet (?), as in 4'^; or whether, as in the poetical parallelism is intrinsi- cally not less probable, one weapon under two names or descrip- tive epithets. In answering this question we cannot be governed by the prose story (4-^), which is later than the Ode, and may have followed a different tradition or even have originated in a misunderstanding of 5-*^''. % The verbs in v.-*^'' speak of pounding, smashing, rather than piercing ; and vr^ seems to be decisive. It describes the collapse of a man who, standing, receives a mortal blow on the head ; not the writhing death agony of one who is pinned to the ground ; see comm. there. Wellhausen thinks that the pin is the handle of the mallet ; A. Miiller and others doubt this. The uncertainty as to the precise nature of the implement renders it doubtful what is meant by the pin ; but the main point is not affected by this doubt. Jael used one weapon, not two. § — And strikes Sisera a bloWy destroys his head~\ puts it out of exist- ence. The second verb not elsewhere in O.T. — Smashes and * Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. p. 263, cf. ii. 304; so Schnur., al. The opinion that the milk was intoxicating, see above, p. 125. t Ki. ; smiths' hammer, Ew., al. after IL ; see crit. note. X See above, p. no. \ See against this view, Be. and Reuss. 1 64 JUDGES demolishes his temple'] lit. makes it vanish. The two lines are symmetrical ; the first verb in each describes the act, the second the result. In view of this symmetry we might be tempted to conjecture that the name Sisera is a later addition; she smote^ destroyed his head, &c. — 27. At her very feet he sank down, fell, lay still] observe the effect of the asyndeton in the swift succession of verbs. The interpreters who, in harmony with 4^^ assume that Sisera was lying asleep, are compelled to do great violence to these words. Bachmann candidly says that in accord- ance with the usage of the three verbs elsewhere, singly or in con- junction, they would be understood as they are translated above, he went down on his knees, fell prostrate, and lay there dead ; * but he feels constrained, in defiance of usage, to render instead, he writhed, fell {i.e. died), lay there dead.f Others, to explain his fall, imagine that Sisera was lying on a raised bed ! | — The words, at her very feet he sank down, fell, are accidentally repeated. § — On the spot where he sank down, there he fell, killed] lit. a victim of violence. 23. rnn mx] the 2 pi. is addressed to the people. For Meroz ©amo ai. Mafw/); otherwise the tradition of the name is constant. — nnx nx] the inf. abs. gives a strong emphasis, curse with all your might, nix means, not ' revile, utter curses,' but * blast with an efficacious curse.' Many have inferred that the indignant Israehtes destroyed the town (Be., Cass., Reuss; cf. ^). — Dni3J2 nin> nnrj;'?] it is perhaps better to pronounce ani3Ji3, in the character, quality, of heroes; cf. ii^^ Ges.^^ p. 366. — 24. DityjD "i^bn] opp. of -\-in Gen. 12* &c., is also not a benevolent wish, but an effective invocation. The imperf. is stronger than the usual ptcp. n^ni. As the verb with its pers. subj. is necessarily definite, p has not merely comparative force (more blessed than other women), but superlative (the most blessed). — 25. annx SflD^] Sqd 6''^^ not infrequent in MH., a bowl or basin, here probably of wood. |1 Beside MH., the word xScD is found in Palestinian Aramaic, both Jewish (JE)^^- Nu. \^) and Christian {Evang. Ilierosol.^ John i^^ = vlttttjp); in Assyr. saplu (Schrader, KAT"^. p. 20818). On Arab, sifl see Fleischer, A'/^m(?r^ Schriften, ii. p. 556 f.; Frankel, Aram. Lehnworier im Arab., p. 67. M. Vernes, ^^ cephel, coupe, appartient au chaldeen et au syriaque," makes the reader rub his eyes, onnx (v.^^ Nah. 3^^ Jer. 14* &c.), 'mighty men.' With the notion of extraordinary strength that of extraordinary stature is naturally • See also Stud. f Similarly many others ; see crit. note. X Hollm., Rosenm., al. ; against this very absurd theory see Stud. § Reuss, A. Miiller, Bu. || See Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wahdbys, i. p. 46. V. 26-27 1 65 connected, as e.g. in the case of Saul; and as a bowl for giants would be of corresponding proportions, we should probably be not far from the mind of the author if we rendered, in a huge bowl ; cf. Sn n-in, Vn niN, &c. The genitive is, however, not a mere circumscription of the adjective. — DNcn] parallel to ^Vn Dt. 321^ Is. 72a. it is not butter (versions and many), nor cream (Stud., Ba., Be., Cass., al. mu.), neither of which is in accordance with the usage of the word or the habits of Bedawin, but soured milk, the meat and drink of the nomads (Schnur.). See Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wahd- bys, i. p. 239 f.; Doxxghty, Arabia Deserta, i. p. 263, 325, 382. — 26. nn^S m> njnSari] m> is parallel to nj>D>, as in Is. 4812 Ps. 21^ 2610 &c. (Ba., We.); not in distinction from it, her left hand ^©2L, J. Kimchi, RLbG., Cler., Kohl., Hollm., Be., Ke., Oettli, al. mu.). njn^ii'n is pointed as 3 pi. fem.* How the punctuators construed this it is difficult to imagine; fortunately it is also unnecessary. Most recent grammarians pronounce as 3 s. f. with suff. njnSari (De Dieu, Cler., Schnur., Be., 01., Sta., Ges.25, K6., Bi., al.), taking r\^>\s a casus pendens ; her hand — to the pin she reaches it. The versions show no trace of this ending or suff. — D"'';'!?^ mnSriS] the ancient translators found these words perplexing : (SAMO g (cf.^) exhibit eh dTroro/iaj KaraKdircju, apparently meaning, " for the decapitation of exhausted men "; cf. VL pDjvSi i"';;itt'n -^nninV; (gPV al. (-0 al. as doublet) I tou els reXos (d^dS^S) axpeiQ(rai. The commonly received translation is that of Aquila, els acpOpav Kowubprcop {(B^^^), IL ad fabrortim 7?ialleos, ^K to the carpenter's hammer ; that the weapon must be a hammer or mallet seemed certain from 421 (n^ipon). But although a deriva- tive of oSn might, for all we know, be the name of a mallet, the form niDSn does not tolerate such an explanation. The afformative ut is, to say the least, very rare in Old Hebrew, and is specifically the ending of secondary abstract nounSjt much like tas in Latin, and never makes nomina instrumettti. Prob- ably the punctuation intends a secondary development of the infinitive after the Aramaic fashion, as ^OP^^i. understand it; X but this is quite impossible. We do not gain much by pronouncing rnn"?.-! (3L), for, assuming that noSn might mean * mallet,' how many hammers are we to suppose that Jael used on her guest's head? Finally, diSd;; does not mean artisans (smiths, carpenters), but men who are worn out, or wear themselves out, with toil and hardships; ' hammer of hard-working (or weary) men ' § is a singular metonymy for a heavy hammer! — itt'Ni npnn] the verb, only here in O.T., is freq. in MH. in the sense, * scrape off, efface, erase ' ; in Arab, mahaqa is * destroy utterly,' so that no trace of the thing remains, * annihilate.' Most interpreters, assum- ing that the word must be synonymous with the preceding ncSn, translate, sfuote, shattered^ or the like, frequently supporting the rendering by hazardous etymologies; but the context does not require us to depart from the sense * Other explanations may be found in the older grammars ; cf. Ges. Lgb., p. 800; Bo. \ 929 5. The reading of ffl is defended by Hollm., Stud., Ba. t See Earth, Nominalbildung, p. 413 f. + So Ra. ; D-iSoy means Sisera. § Cf. Ki., RLbG., JDMich., Herd., Stud., Ke., al 1 66 JUDGES which MH. and Arab, suggest and which the parallel clause confirms. — nxno mpn noSni] it seems preferable, with many codd., to omit the conjunction before the first verb, ym ' smash, shatter ' by a heavy blow, as with a club or mace, Ps. iio« 6822 (the head) Dt. 33^^ (loins) Ps. iS^s. The second verb, ns^n, is usually translated fierced, transfixed, sc. with the pin (Versions, Ra., Ki., Cler., Schm., Hollm., Ew., and almost all recent scholars). Job 202* is alleged in support of this rendering; but the cases are not at all parallel. The image of the swift arrow pursuing and overtaking the fleeing man is easily connected with the ordinary usage of r|Sn; that the shaft pierced his vitals is implied by the following rather than said in inG^nn. In Jud. 5^6 there is no such connexion ; it is impossible to associate making a hole in a man's head with any sense in which we know the verb ^Sn in O.T. or the cognate languages. Here again the meaning transfix has been invented, to suit the situation described in 421. If 52^ had been interpreted for itself, no one would ever have thought of such a rendering. I take ncSn to correspond to npn:2 in the foregoing line, 'cause to pass away, vanish'; cf. the intrans. use Is. 2I8; trans. Is. 24^ (|| "(3j;, ncn).— 27. rsh^-s jo] the preposition need not be taken Hterally; * it is more emphatic than Vn or S;?. Schnur. and others compare the Arab, idiom, 20jo ^^, in his presence, &c.; but it may be doubted whether the expressions are really parallel. — 3Dty Sdj yiD] the first two verbs together Ps. 20^ cf. Is. 10*; ;?-\d and asc Nu. 24®. y-io is prop. ' bend the knees,' kneel, or crouch, squat on the heels; cf. Jud. f-^ i S. 4!^ 2 K. i^^ &c. ; said of a mortally wounded man whose knees fail under him 2 K. 92*. That it could be used of the spasmodic drawing up the legs, as of a man who while lying received a death wound,! is not inconceivable; it is the sequence Sdj >nD which makes this impossible. Vqj is indeed not infrequently used (esp. in the ptcp.) of one who is prostrate on the ground (32^ 1927 i s. 318 &c.), but only of one who has fallen (A. Miiller) . — niT^] a victim of violence. The vb. of persons Jer. 5*^ Ps. 17^, cf. Pual (of nations) Jer. 413 &c. 28-30. In Sisera's palace. — With the vision of the king lying dead at the feet of his slayer still before our eyes, the poet transports us to Sisera's palace, where the queen-mother is anxiously watching for her son's return. The presentiment of evil which she herself stifles; the sanguine confidence of the ladies of her court, who see in imagination the division of the booty, an Israelite maiden or two for each man, and abundance * Stud., Reuss, al., e.g. imagine that she held his head between her knees while she drove the pin into his temple ; cf. Donaldson. The Haggada {Jebam., 103*) gives the words an obscene sense. t Cler., Ba., al. mu. ; Schm., incurvavit se, quasi se de terra erccturus ; sed erectus aliquousque, rursus concidit et jacuit. Similarly Schnur., Cass., Oettli, al. V. 28-29 167 of the richly dyed and embroidered stuffs which they themselves prize so highly — all this is depicted with inimitable skill. Their light-hearted anticipations form a striking contrast to the ill-sup- pressed forebodings of the mother's heart, and the whole scene pro- duces on the reader, who knows the ghastly reality, an incomparable effect. Lowth* justly says that there is nothing in literature more perfect in its kind than these verses. It is only modern senti- mentality that can discover in this passage the note of a woman's pity for the mother of the fallen king. It is the pitilessness of triumph; we need not say, the exultation of gratified revenge.f — 28. Through the window she peered"] the effect of the tran- sition is heightened by this postponement of the expUcit subject to the second clause; the reader must himself feel who this anxious woman is (cf. v.^). The verb rendered peer is used of one who, leaning forward, looks down on something below him ; cf. 2 S. 6^^ Nu. 23^^ &c. The meaning of the next verb (EV. cried) % is doubtful ; the root is not found elsewhere in the O.T. In Aramaic it means, sound the trumpet, raise a clamour, in war or jubilee ; in one instance in MH. it seems to be used of the clamorous cry of the mourning women ; § but neither of these senses is appropriate here, || and for the sake of the parallelism, especially in these interlocked Hnes, we desiderate a synonym of the preceding peer^ as (^^^^- ^T render ; see crit. note. — Th'ough the iattice-wi?idow~\ the translation is conventional ; we know the word, which occurs here and in Prov. 7^, only as a synonym for 7vindow. — Why does his chariot corps fail to co?ne ? Why tarry the hoof-beats of his chariots ?] the first sign of the return of the warriors would be the distant sound of horses feet; cf. v.^. — 29. The sagest of her princesses answer] there is a fine irony in the allusion to the wisdom of these ladies, whose prognostications were so wide of the truth. The next line is very variously inter- preted. Many recent commentators make it parenthetic, but * De sacra poesi Hehraeorum, p. 118-120 ; cf, also Herder, Briefe, das Studium der Theologie betreffend, yter Brief. f See Herder. X Cler. {exclamavii) , HoUm., Be., Ke., Reuss, al. ; others interpret more defi- nitely, ululavit (IL), heulet (Lth.), similarly RLbG., Ew., al. mu. \ If the text be sound; see crit. note. II In the first it is taken by Schultens, Lette, al. (joyous anticipation of victory). l68 JUDGES she {sc. the mother) kept repeat'mg her words to herself,* con- stantly reverting to her forebodmg questionings. I prefer, with older scholars, to translate, Yea, she herself replies to herself; j she tries to silence her presentiment by the same kind of answer which her sage companions give her. — 30. No doubt they are fifidi7ig, dividing booty'] lit. are they not; the tenses depict the scene. Cf. Is. 9^. — A wench or a couple of the??i for each man] a coarse word seems to be intentionally employed. Women captives were the slaves of the captors; cf. Dt. 21^°"^^. In the remainder of the verse some awkward repetitions mar both the rhythm and the sense. It is clear only that richly dyed and embroidered stuffs are meant, in the distribution of which the women of Sisera's harem had a keen interest. J Reuss, by omit- ting the intrusive words, restores the verses : § Booty of dyed stuffs for Sisera ; A piece of embroidered work or two for the neck of the booty. || The last words cannot be right ; it is absurd to imagine that the victors used these rich stuffs to deck out for the triumphal procession the beasts they had taken ;^ and if the meaning were that they adorned with them the shoulders of their fair captives,** these would hardly be called simply the booty, nor would this word be used in one line for the dyed stuffs themselves, and in the next for the prisoners who are arrayed in them. If The parallehsm would lead us to expect here a designation of the person or persons for whom these costly prizes were destined, corresponding to the words, for Sisera, in the first half of the verse. Ewald very ingeniously conjectured, for the neck of the queen, \\ changing but one letter of the text. Reuss, supposing the queen mother to be speaking, emends, /^r my shoulders. In the general disorder of the text in this verse, it is impossible to * Lth., Kw., Be., Ke., Oettli. t Ra., Cler., Schm., JDMich., Kohl., Stud., Cass. Others, she replied to the one of the ladies who spoke (HoUm.) ; or took back her words of doubt (Schnur., Justi). X Lowth quotes Aen. xi. 782, Femineo praedae et spoliorum ardebat amore. $ So A. Mliller. Bickell reconstructs differently ; see crit. note, II Reuss, for my neck ; see below. \ JHMich., Schnur., Rosenm., al. ; cf. i S. 1519. *« Schm. (alt.), Justi, Rod., Ba., Cass., Ke. tt Embroidered ornaments for the neck of the dyed garments ; Schm., Cler. XX Be., Oettli, Renan, Kautzsch. V. 29-31 169 feel much confidence in any restoration. — 31. With consummate art the poet breaks off, leaving to the imagination of the reader, who knows all, the terrible revelation of the truth. — So shall perish all thine eiie??iies, Yahwe/i] cf. Ps. 6^'^-^ 92^. The one word so brings it all before our eyes again ; how proudly they marched out under the admiring eyes of their ladies ; how gaily they rode into the fray ; the repulse, the defeat, the panic ; the wild flight — sauve qui pent; the king's death by a woman's hand, disgrace worse than death ; the anguish and dismay of those who loved him. So perish all thine enemies ! — But his friefids * shall be as when the sun rises in his mighty splendid, invincible; vanquishing, annihilating the darkness of the night, the mists of dawn. No more fitting or impressive figure could be conceived ; cf. Ps. 19^*"-. — And the land enjoyed security for forty years'^ the chronological note of the editor of the book ; cf. 3". 28. pSnn nj;^] Gen. 26^ Jos. 2>^ i S. 1912 Joel 2^. — :32"'m] 3J^ is in all the Targums the usual equivalent of Heb. T'\t\^ the noun N^a"" of n;;nn; f but in the places where '^>-sr\ means * cry out in terror or anguish' (Is. 15* Mi. 4^) it is not rendered by a^"", nor is such a sense demonstrable in Syriac. Under these circumstances it is unsafe to base an interpretation on Jerus. Jebamoth, xv. 5 (fol. \^^; ed. Sitomir fol. 78*) cnDn pj in:i3"'0 njjipnn '?ip; Tos. Jebam.y xiv. 7 (ed. Zuckerm. p. 25913), reads iniDTD. (Q^^ S (sub aster.) % have here Karefiavdavev (elsewhere used for verbs of seeing, gazing), K NpnD § 'looked attentively'; which might lead to the conjecture that they read i03m. More probably they were guided only by the context, Menahem and Ra. seek an etymological connexion with n33 'pupil of the eye.' The tense of 22'>r\i conforms to the regular sequence of tenses in prose; but has no parallel in the Ode (cf. Ex. 15), and makes a most prosaic impression. |1 — jjcn] we know the word only as a synonym of pSn. The rendering lattice comes from ^ALMO ai. e I g 5t^ ^^5 diKTViOTTJs. The etymology which has done duty since Lette (Roed. in Ges. T^es., MV., al.), connecting the word with Arab. lianiba ' it (the day) was cool,' is phonetically impossible.^ Other interpreters think of a narrow window, loop-hole in the wall; so (gSGN ^^Tbs toO to^lkov. ♦ %S> thy friends. t Not quite as constantly in the prophets proper as in other books. \ This reading has been displaced in many other codd. by a doublet. ©BGN vac. § So edd. Venet.i-2 and codd. Br. Mus. ; Np^no (Buxt., al.) is mispointed. Ki. cites Np>iiNi as the reading of 5C ; the sense would be the same. II Cf. Dr3. ^ 132 n. H It is almost a pity these, etymologists did not think of the modern Arabic meaning of sanab, ' moustaches.' 170 JUDGES — rc3 P"id] >'nD is stronger than n::':', 'why in the world', tt-iio cf. Ex. 32^, disappoint the expectation of his coming, fail to come (cf. note on 3-^) ; here parallel to -ins 'put off, delay'. — '^'^n^'] on the form of the Pi. see Ges.^^ p. 170 n. 3 ; K6. i. p. 397. — rni:3DiD "'D>'i3] Bi. makes the prosaic observation, currus non facit gressus, and cancels ^?3>'D ! — 29. rin;;T\ n^niic niDDn] * with the superlative cf. Dt. z^^^ Is. 19II &c., Ges.25 § 133, 3 n. i. The verb is pro- nounced as 3 s. f. with suff, 3. s. f. But this discord of number is intolerable; we should pronounce nrjyn 3 pi. f., and suppose that the object pronoun was omitted, being easily supplied from n*^ in the next line. An alternative would be to pronounce the noun moDn,t /"//^ wisdom of her princesses answers her. The abstract noun may be followed by the singular verb as in Prov. 9I, and we should be able to retain the suff. in r\iy;r\. On the whole, however, the former construction is probably the safer one here. — nS nnoN 2^vr\ N>n «]«] C'->DN 3'';:*n 'answer', like -i3"\ 3>'^'n; cf. Prov. 22^1 rinVc*'? onDN 3>a'nS. The suffix is unusual, but not against the logic of speech; % on the contrary, it seems altogether suitable to the emphasis on the reflexiveness of the action; she returns her answer to herself. It is unnecessary, with Bi., to substitute for the last pronoun n!;'3jS. This is the only interpretation of the words that preserves the parallelism, which is rudely disturbed by making them a par- enthetic circumstantial clause; and it is also much more like the poet to make the anxious mother catch at the straw of hope that shall so cruelly disappoint, rather than with too true foresight reject the reasonable answer of her ladies. — 30. in:; O"' nSh] the question carries the affirmation into the mind of the hearer; cf. 4^-^* &c. Note the force of the tense, they are ever finding fresh booty. — D''P?Dnn oni cf. 15^6 Is. 176 Am. i^ff- and similar colloca- tions of consecutive numbers to indicate that th'e numeral is to be taken loosely. Here it gives the effect of a certain lordly disregard, a wench ~or two, what matter, more or less? onn, only here in Heb., is used by Mesha of Moab (I. 1 7) in recounting the captives he had taken from Israel. § It is probable that this is a tropical use of the word Dnn ' womb ' ; cf. the con- temptuous cmmus for woman in Latin. || — naj tt'N-^S] per capita. In this sense rhhi is common in later Heb. (P and Chr.); idj (Mesha I. 16) is rare in old Heb. prose except in the distributive phrase anqjS (Jos. 71*- 1"- ^^ I S. io2i 6); cf. Ex. lo" 1237 (?) Dt. 22^ &c. — d^v^x SSr] booty of dyes, for dyed stuffs; cf. MH. D'-Jiy^x nj3 Jer. Kethub., vii. 7 (fol. 31^, ed. Sitomir fol. 41*). Bi. omits D^DX SSir n"\D>dS; Reuss and Miiller om. d-i^ox SSk' and * Norzi prefers nj^jyn as the reading of oJd and correct codd. ; so ed. Venet. 1547 al. The Massora {Ochla we-Ochla, No. 369) treats it as a plnr. ; cf. Dikduke § 55 ; K6. i. p. 547, 559 f. As sg. it is rendered by iLuna sapientior ceteris uxori- bus; cf. Ki., each one. t The same change is rightly made by Hitz., De., al. in Prov. 14I, cf, 9I. JBa. \ Of the versions only IL has come near the true sense ; the words are rightly interpreted by Ra., Ki., Lth., Schm., Cler., al. * || Hon, Sat. i. 3,107. V. 28-31 I/I y3x two words further on. — nDpn] Ez. i6^^ Ps. 45^^ &c.; embroidery, in which patterns were worked with a needle in various colours.* The name, which apparently signifies * variegated,' may also include stuffs woven in patterns of different colours, f How such things were prized is to be seen from 2 S. i^, where also spoils of war are perhaps meant. The dual a\'^Dpn does not mean ' embroidered on both sides,' but ' a couple of pieces of embroidery,' precisely as in cncni above. — SS::' nsi^jS] Ew. conj. '?jc', gueen (Ps. 45^0 jsje}^^ 2^). The pi. nsix is not conclusive against this (A. Miiller) ; cf. Gen. 27^^ 4629 451* &c. \V. Green suggested h^t' nsisS, for the neck of him that takes the spoil, sc. Sisera; cf. S, RLbG., Buxt., Tremell., Hollm., al. Teller, Don., conj. nNisS ; Reuss, Briggs, al. h^Z' "rnNisS, for my neck, as a spoil; E. Meier msixS SStt' (De Sacy nsisS), cf. ©ABai.. '^ ad ornanda colla. Bu. reconstructs nNisS DTiDpn nripi SStr niD"'D^ □"•yns j?2iJ SSiy. — 31. E. Meier regarded this verse as a later addition to the Ode, on account of its contents and because it has no place in the system of strophes, i.e. of Meier's strophes. Winter also {ZATW. ix. 1889, p. 223 ff.) strongly doubts its genuineness. To him the idea expressed in vanx is a stumbling block. — Observe the paronomasia in "I"'3"'1N and iohn. Translation of the Ode. \ 2. While .... in Israel, While the people offer freely, bless ye Yahweh. 3. Hear, ye kings; give ear, ye rulers : I, to Yahweh I will sing. Will hymn to Yahweh, Israel's God. 4. Yahweh, when thou wentest forth from Seir, Marchedst from the region of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens swayed ( ? ) ; The clouds dripped water, 5. The mountains streamed before Yahweh, Before Yahweh, the God of Israel. 6. In the days of Shamgar ben Anath, caravans ceased, And wayfarers travelled by roundabout paths. 7. Hamlets (?) ceased in Israel, ceased, Till thou didst arise, Deborah, Till thou didst arise, a matron in Israel. * Joma, 72b, sub fin.; Ki. Comm.; Schroeder, de vestitu mulierum, p. 221 f.; Braun, de vestitu sacerdotum, ed, za., p. 301 ff. t Ki. Lex. s.v. Many scholars think that woven stuffs are exclusively meant ; see Hartmann, Hebrderin, i. p. 401 ff. ; iii. p. 138 ff. X This translation is ancillary to the preceding interpretation, and is as literal as possible. No attempt has been made to produce a literary version of the poem, or to imitate its rhythm. 172 JUDGES lO. Shield was not to be seen, nor spear, Among forty thousand in Israel. My heart turns to the marshals (?) in Israel, Those who freely offer among the people, bless ye Yahweh. Then marched down to the gates the people of Yahweh. 12. Rouse thee, rouse thee, Deborah, strike up the song; • Up, Barak, and take thy captives, son of Abinoam. 13 ' ' • The people of Yahweh marched down for him as heroes. 14. . . Ephraim Benjamin From Machir marched down truncheon-bearers, And from Zebulun those who lead with the muster-master's staff. 15. And . . . Issachar with Deborah; And .... Barak Among the divisions of Reuben were great discussions. 16. Why didst thou sit still among the dung-heaps. Listening to the calling of the flocks? 17. Gilead remained beyond the Jordan; And Dan, why does he seek the protection of the ships? Asher sat still on the shore of the Great Sea, And remained by its landing-places. 18. Zebulun is a tribe that recklessly exposed itself to death, And Naphtali, on the heights of the open field. 19. The kings came, they fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan, At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; Gain of silver they did not make ! 20. From heaven fought the stars, From their paths they fought with Sisera. 21. The stream of Kishon swept them away, * The stream of . . . 22. Then were battered the heels of the horses, From the gallop galloping of his steeds. 23. Curse ye Meroz, saith the Messenger of Yahweh, Curse ye bitterly its inhabitants, VI.-VIIT, 173 Because they came not to the help of Yahweh, To the help of Yahweh, like brave men. 24. Blessed above all women shall Jael be, Above all nomad women shall she be blessed. 25. Water he asked, milk she gave; In a bowl for lords she brought him sour milk. 26. Her hand to the pin she reaches, And her right hand to the And hammers, destroys his head, Smashes and demolishes his temple. 27. At her very feet he sank down, fell at full length, lay still; On the spot where he sank down, there he fell, killed. 28. Through the window peered The mother of Sisera through the lattice : Why does his chariotry fail to come? Why tarry the footfalls of his chariots? 29. The sagest of her princesses reply, Yea, she answers her own question : 30. No doubt they are finding, dividing booty; A wench or two for each man, Booty of dyed stuffs for Sisera, A piece of embroidery or two for the neck of . 31. So shall perish all thine enemies, Yahweh ! But his friends shall be as when the sun rises in his power. Vl.-Vni. Gideon delivers Israel from the Midianites. — The IsraeHtes again offend Yahweh, who allows the Midianites to harry them for seven years. At every harvest time the Bedawin hordes come down upon them and strip the land bare (6^'^). The cause of this punishment is explained by a prophet (v.^'^^'). The Messenger of Yahweh appears to Gideon and summons him to free Israel from the incursions of Midian (v.""'''). At the bidding of Yahweh, Gideon destroys the altar of the Baal of the place and cuts down and burns the sacred post {asherah) ; he is saved from the vengeance of his towns-folk by the shrewd speech of his father (v.^-^^) . The Midianites again invade the land, and encamp in the Plain of Jezreel. Gideon raises his clansmen of Abiezer, also the rest of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali ; he is assured by a miracle that Yahweh will save Israel by his hand (v.^-'^). At the command of Yahweh his force is reduced to ten thousand, and then, by a singular test, to three hundred men 174 JUDGES (7^"^). Encouraged by an ominous dream which he heard a Midianite telUng to his tent-mate (v.^"^^), he furnishes his three hundred men with torches, earthen jars, and horns, and surrounds and alarms the camp of Midian, which breaks up in wild flight (v.^^'^^). While he follows them up, the Ephraimites head them off in the valley of the Jordan and slay the two chiefs (v.^'^). Having appeased the jealousy of the Ephraimites (8^'^), he pur- sues the Midianites across the Jordan. The people of Succoth and Penuel refuse him food and are threatened with dire ven- geance (v."*-^). He surprises the foe where they thought them- selves secure and captures the two kings (v.^*^'^). Returning in triumph, he visits exemplary punishment on Succoth and Penuel ^^13-17^ , and puts to death his prisoners to avenge his slain kinsmen ^Y- 18-21^ . He refuses the kingdom which his grateful countrymen offer him (v.^^-), but takes the golden ornaments they have stripped from the slain and from their camels to make an idol (ep/iot/) , which he sets up at Ophrah (v.-^-^''). The Midianites are quelled and dare not lift their heads again ; the land is secure for forty years (v.^). The story closes with a brief notice of Gideon's family (v.^'^^) and of the relapse of Israel after his death (v.^^^), which forms the connexion with the story of Abimelech, ch. 9. Studer (1835) called attention to the fact that 8^^- is not the sequel of the foregoing narrative. In 7^- the Midianites are intercepted in their flight by the Ephraimites, and the two chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb, killed. When Gideon, who is in pursuit of them, comes up, the Ephraimites inveigh violently against him because they were not summoned at the beginning, and are only appeased by his flattering comparison of their achievement with his own : Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God has given into your hands the two chiefs of Midian ; what have I been able to do to compare with you? -The quarrel itself, and especially Gideon's reply, show that the pursuit was over ; vintage and gleaning were both complete. In 8'*"^\ on the contrary, we find Gideon and his three hundred men following the retreating marauders across the Jordan, with such uncertain prospect of success that the townsmen of Succoth and Penuel scofifingly refuse to furnish the food he needs for his hungry men. VI.-VIII. 175 He pushes on, surprises the camp of the Bedawin, and makes pris- oners the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. Nothing can be clearer than that 8*'^^ is not from the same source as 8^-^ with its premises in the preceding narrative. Closer examination shows that ch. 6, 7 are not of one piece throughout ; 6^^-, e.g., is not the continuation of 6^^"-'* ; the second sign, 6"^^-'*'', is strange after the miracle 6'^ ; compare also 6^ with 6^ f-^, and on the other hand 6^ with 7^^ 8^.* The question thus arises whether those parts of ch. 6^-8^ which obviously do not belong to the principal narrative are additions made to the old story by the author of the Book of Judges or later editors ; f or whether two stories have been united by a redactor, j In the latter case we have further to inquire whether the antecedents of 8*"-^ are to be found in either of these sources, or whether we have to recognize in 8^^- the end of a third story, whose beginning has been entirely supplanted. § Finally, it is to be asked whether any one, or all, of the sources of these chapters can be identified with the old books of Israelite history which are used in the composition of the Hexateuch. || These questions are as yet far from a definitive solution ; the attempt which is made below can claim only the character and value of a critical experiment. On the critical problems of ch. 6-8, see Studer, p. 212-215; Wellhausen, Comp., p. 223-228; Prol^., p. 250 ff.; Bertheau, p. xxii. f., 129 ff.; Stade, GVI. i. p. 181-192; Bohme, ZATW. v. p. 251 fF.; Kuenen, HCO^. i. p. 343 f., 346 ff.; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 107-125; Cornill, Einl'^., p. 95 f. ; Kittel, Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 55-60; GdH. i. 2. p. 71-74; Winckler, Altorienta- lische Forschungen, p. 42 ff. — In regard to the main narrative in 6^-8^, the differences among the critics named above are not very great. Wellhausen leaves to it 6^-2i- \ 33f. yi. 9-25 gi-3^ ^nd the original account of the making of the ephod in 8"^-. Stade defines it somewhat more precisely, assigning to it the basis of Rd's introduction in 6I-6, 6ii-22a. 33f. 7I. 9-25 gi-s.** Kitt. : 62-6a. 11-24. 33f. 36-40 yi. 9-11. 13-25 gi-s. 24-27a|| fhc remainder of the chapters consists, according to all these critics, of additions by different hands and of different dates; 8^--^ is * See We., Comp., p. 223-226; Sta., GVI. i. p. 181 ff. t We., Sta., Kue., Kitt. + Be., Bu., Co. § So all the critics cited. || Bohme, Bu., Co. ^ Of course excepting the traces of the editor's hand in the introduction. ** 722 is not all from one hand ; v.25b a harmonistic addition, ft Except the last words of 6^ (the Amalekites and Bene Qedem) ; 7i6-5!2 has been retouched. 176 JUDGES from a second source, from which ch. 9 also is derived.* Bu., whose analysis is adopted by Cornill, finds in ch. 6^-8^ two sources united by a redactor; viz., T 62b-Ga. 11-24 j. yl. 9-11. 13.* 14.* 15-22.* 23-25 gl-S. 29 . £ e^-lO- 25-32. 36-40. To the first editor (Rje) he ascribes extensive additions in 6^-6, interpolations in 6^^-^, 5:55 y2-8. 12^ the introduction of the horns in 71^-22^ perhaps the latter part of 8^'; to Rd the characteristic phrases in 6^- 2a g^s, perhaps the end of S^^. Ch. 8'*-2i is the end of an independent story, which is not, however, an irreconcilably divergent account of the events narrated in 61-8^, but relates to an entirely different occurrence. Bu. rightly declares against the exaggerated contrast drawn by previous critics between 8'*-2i and 6^-8^, which makes the latter historically worthless. X It is assumed by all these critics, beginning with Wellhausen, that the antecedents of the story 8'*-2i cannot be found in 61-8^. The postulates of the former are, it is said, of a wholly different kind. Instead of following a divine call to deliver Israel, Gideon has, like Barak (5^2)^ a personal wrong to avenge; the Midianites in a foray have killed his brothers ^8i8f.)_ To avenge their blood he raises his kinsmen of Abiezer, pursues the Bedawin across the Jordan, overtakes and surprises them on the border of the desert, and makes them pay the penalty. The motive, the actors, the scene of the action, are different. But, on the other hand, the resemblances between the two stories are not less striking; the Abiezrites (6^^), the three hundred men (7^), the two chiefs or kings of Midian whose names sound so suspi- ciously alike, are the real actors in both. The pursuit across the Jordan and surprise in their own desert does not exclude a previous night alarm and flight like that narrated in 7i5ff-. § That Gideon had a wrong of his own to avenge, is not incompatible with the representation that he was called of God to deliver Israel from the scourge; the sharp severing of natural and religious motives is more in the manner of the modern critic than of the ancient story- teller. On the other hand, especially if 6i-8^ are regarded as composite (Bu., Co.), it is very inconvenient to have 84-21 igfj- over; such a remainder may not unfairly be deemed a failure of the solution. The attempt may therefore be made to discover the beginnings of the narrative 8*-2i in the preceding chapters. 1| They are, of course, not to be found in that strand of the story which ends with 72^-8^, with which 829 appears to connect imme- diately. The account of the night attack on the camp of Midian, 715-22^ jg composite; the horns are not introduced by the redactor (from Jericho; Bu.), but belong to a different version of the story .^ In one account the panic is caused by the shattering of earthen jars, the sudden flashing out of hundreds of torches, the war-cry. For Yahweh and Gideon ! The Midianites flee in * On the latter point Kitt. expresses himself guardedly ; cf. also Kue. t After the removal of some editorial interpolations ; see below. t Cf. also Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 73 n. § Cf. 85 ; Kue. II Compare Winckler, who regards 61-83 as composite (JE) ; 84-22 as a homo- geneous extract from J added by a later hand. As in 3I2-30 (Ehud), I am unable to follow his analysis, If Be. ; see below on /K*. vi. I 177 wild disorder (v.^i). In the other the camp is alarmed by horns on every side sounding the attack; the Midianites, in the darkness thinking that the Israelites are upon them, lay wildly about them and kill one another (v.-22).* The antecedents of these two accounts are easily discoverable in f-'^^; f-^ belongs to the trumpet version of the story; Gideon's reconnoissance, f-^\ to the other. In ch. 6, Budde's analysis may in the main be followed. Accord- ingly we have: J, part of the older material incorporated in 62-6, 611-24-34 ^1.9-11.13-15^1 the version of the stratagem in v.16-20 in which the jars and torches appear, v.21, part of v.22b describing the direction of the flight, 8^-21, v24-27a substantially, v.^of- : for E, 62-6 in part, 67-10-25 32.33, [the call of Gideon to deliver Israel], v.36-40, v.35a (Manasseh), 72-8, that version of v.16-20 in which the horns play the chief part, v.22a.22b (in part), v.23(?) 24f. 8I-3.29. In ascribing this part of the story to E, I do not affirm that it is all by one hand; 6^-10, e.g., seems to be one of those secondary pieces which we so often find in E contexts, both in the Hexateuch and the Books of Samuel. The editorial additions in ch. 6-8 (9) are not very extensive or important. 1-6. The Israelites offend Yahweh ; he allows the Midian- ites to overrun and plunder them for seven years. — In this introduction the famiUar phrases of D appear in v.^^^; his hand is also probably to be recognized in certain notes of exaggeration in Y?-\ The substance of v.^-^-^ must be derived from the old story which runs through the following chapters. The verses are, however, much overloaded, and it is probable that more than one source has been put under contribution. 1 Introductory formulas of the editor ; see on i"^- '\ — MidiarCl the most important of a group of tribes in N.W. Arabia which the Israelite historians reckoned to their own race (Abraham), though not of the full blood (the concubine Keturah, Gen. 25^-^ J), and a step farther removed than the Ishmaelites. The land of Midian, ie the district occupied by the settled part of the tribe, was m the northern Higaz, east of the Gulf of 'Aqabah, where a town of the name lay. The nomad branches of the tribe wandered northward along the margin of the desert, making forays mto the pastures and cultivated tracts of Edom, Moab, % and Gilead, and even pouring across the Jordan into Western Palestme.§ — * See also Winckler, p. 50 f. + r^f r<.r, ofi35 t Disregarding minor traces of the editor s hand. t Cf. Gen 36 • ; On the wanderings or migrations of modern Arab tnbes to the nor h s e Doughty. Arabia Deserta, i. 271 f • ; especially the wide range of the Anez>. .3. p. 33off. . . > N 178 JUDGES Seven years\ on the chronology see Introduction § 7. — 2. The power of Midian prevailed over Israel'^ 3^^ cf, f- ; words of the editor who transforms the annual forays of the Bedawin into a subjugation and seven years' oppression.* To the same hand belongs v.^**, and, in part at least, the ampHfication of v.-"^ — For safety from Midian they ??iade the . . . which are in the hills, and the caves y a?id the fastnesses'] cf. i. Sam. 13^. The word which is omitted in the translation must in the context mean a place of concealment or security; its precise signification is unknown. The meaning ravines, gorges, ascribed to it in the lexicons rests solely on an absurd etymology. The author thus accounts for the abandoned hill-forts and rock dwellings scattered over the land, which perhaps were really the work of a more primitive popula- tion. Many remains of this sort are still found east of the Jordan. — 3-5. The yearly inroads of the Bedawin robbed the Israelitish peasants of the fruit of their toil and greatly impoverished them.f The verses are not a unit, as appears not only from the awk- ward surplusage, but from the false sequence of tenses. This redundancy is not altogether due to editorial ampHfication ; both the sources from which the following chapters are derived must have had such an introduction, and probably both have been drawn upon here. — 3. The disorder of the text is sufficiently shown by a literal translation : Whenever Israel had sown, Midian used to come up, and Amalek and the Bene Qedem, and (they) used to come up against it (Israel). 4. And they encamped against them (Israel) and destroyed, &c. The confusion of tenses, which in English is only awkward, is in Hebrew ungrammatical. The Amalekites are Bedawin whom we generally meet in the deserts south of Palestine ; the Bene Qedem, as their name imports, come from the east, the great Syrian desert. The intro- duction of the names here is very likely an exaggeration of the editor ; cf. on 3^^. It is possible, however, that the exaggeration already existed in E ; cf. v."^ f^. Of the rest, we may surmise that the frequentative tenses come from one source (?E), the narrative aorists from the other. Following this clue it is possible * See Introduction § 6, and above on 3I2-30 (p. go). t Similar incursions of tribes east of the Delta into Egypt, Burckhardt, Syria, p. 558 i. VI. 2-6 79 to construct out of the verses two tolerably complete parallel accounts ; but the combination can be made in more than one way, and we cannot feel any confidence that our analysis thus recovers the sources. Cf. also 7'-. — As far as the vicinity of Gaza'] in the extreme south-west. — And they would not leave any thing to live on in Israel] frequentative tenses, as in v.''''. And sheep and ox and ass] Jos. 6^^ i S. 22^^; sc. they would not leave. The words may be a gloss to the preceding subsistence. 5. The dupHcation of clauses and confusion of tenses continues. — Locusts afford an effective figure for the swarming, hungry hordes of invaders ; Quid enim locustis innumerabilius et fortius, quibus humana industria resistere non potest.* — 6. Israel was greatly reduced by reason of Midiaji] cf. 2 S. 3^ — The second half of the verse is editorial ; cf. on 3^. Observe Bene Israel (as in v.^) in contrast to. Israel v.*. 1. The name Midian appears in the towns Moblava or MoSoOm, Ptol, vi. 7, 2, and MaStd^ua (further inland) vi. 7, 27; cf. Euseb., OS^. 27652. f According to the Arab geographers, it lay five days south of Ailah on the eastern side of the Red Sea. | In the Hexateuch, E brings Moses before the Exodus into intimate relations with Jethro, the priest of Midian (Ex. 2^^^- iS^ff). The Mountain of God (Horeb) § was in the land of Midian (Ex. 3I) ; thither Moses led the people from Egypt. Though it is not expressly stated, the narrative of E hardly leaves room for doubt that the Midianites wor- shipped Yahweh at Horeb before Moses ; and the name nin-, till then unknown to the Israelites and having no natural etymology in their lan- guage, is perhaps of Midianite origin. Close relations between Israel and Midian are also indicated by the recurrence of Midianite clan names in Judah, Reuben, and East Manasseh. 1| The Midianites appear as caravan traders (Gen. 3728. 3G is_ 5o6); nomads dwelling in tents (Hab. 3"). The latest stratum of the narrative of the Exodus (p) brings Israel into conflict with the Midianites in the plains of Moab shortly before the crossing of the * Jerome, on Joel i^. t See also i K. iiis. X Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 497 f. On modern Midian, see Burton, Gold Mines of Midian, 1878 ; Land of Midian, 1879. ^ In P Sinai. According to Yaqiit, Tur Sina is the name, 'in the language of the Nabataeans,' of a mountain near Madyan, which is an extension of the range above Ailah. See Le Strange, I.e. p. 73. II Noldeke, BL. iv. p. 218. Epha, Gen. 25*, is in i Chr. 2*6 a concubine of Caleb ; 247 a son of Jahdai (in Judaean clan list) ; Epher. i Chr. 4!!' (Judah) ^^ (East Manasseh) ; Hanoch, Gen. 46^ (Reuben). I80 JUDGES Jordan (Nu. 25^-1^ 31 Jos, IS^^)- Nu. 25^-^^ is a substitute for the fragment- ary story of the offence at Baal Peor, Nu. 25I-5 (JE) ; and, with its sequel ch. 31, has no historical worth; the introduction of the sheikhs of Midian in Nu. 22^- ''^ is probably harmonistic. To judge from the echoes in the later literature, the defeat of the Midianites narrated in Jud. ch. 6-8 must have been most disastrous. "The day of Midian" is for Isaiah (9^, cf. lo'^S; also Ps. Ss^^- ^-) synonymous with a signal and irretrievable catastrophe. It has often been surmised, though without any very good grounds, that the defeat inflicted upon them by Hadad of Edom (Gen. 36^5) fell about the same time. After the time of the Judges the Midianites scarcely reappear in the his- tory. See further, Noldeke, BL. iv. p. 217 f.; Die Amalekiter, u. s. w., 1864, p. 7 ff . — 2. piD ^jdd] best taken literally, from before^ as with verbs meaning 'withdraw, flee, conceal,' and the like; cf. v.^i^ 921 ij3 &c. — nnnjc] O^^n rpvfjiaXids, gPVLOM q g /xdvdpas, Orig. se^ia, pens, kraals, ef. i S. 136. The etymological explanation of Jewish comm., subterranean chambers or caves with a small opening for light ("inj),* is not more improbable than that adopted from Schultens (Job, p. 49) f by Ges. and many modern scholars, which connects it with Arab, manhar (on which see Lane, p. 2858<=) ; see Stud. RLbG., * beacons,' perhaps towers for fire signals from hill-top to hill-top, to give warning of the approach of the enemy; cf. Abulw. — nn;?Dn nNi] Bu. suspects that the words are a gloss to the preceding. — nnsDn] i S. t.'^'^- ^^ 24^, with nnj?D Ez. 33^"; cf. the fortress MacrdSa Fl. Jos., antt. xiv. ii, 7 § 296; b.j. vii. 8, 3 ff. On Amalek see Noldeke, Die Amalekiter, 1864; Bertheau, BL. s. v. The historical notices of Amalek all locate them in steppes or desert south of Palestine; see i S. 15 (Saul) i S. 30 (David), cf. also Nu. 1443-45. In the traditions of the Exodus, Israel was attacked by the Amalekites before reaching the sacred mountain, probably in traversing the deserts north of the Sinaitic peninsula (Ex. 178^- E) ; cf. Dt. 25I7-19 i S. 152. The relentless wars waged upon them by Saul and David seem to have broken them up; they are scarcely mentioned in the later history. The oracle of Balaam (Nu. 24^0) foresees their complete disappearance. A fragmentary notice in i Chr. ^'^• tells us that a band of Simeonites exterminated the last remnant of the race in their refuge in Mt. Seir. — The Bene Qedem (Easterns) are mentioned in Jer. 49^8 (in conjunction with the Kedarenes), and Ez. 254- ^o, where they are evidently inhabitants of the deserts east of Ammon and Moab; cf. also Is. 1 1^*. — 4. omSj? ijnii] the impf, cons, after the frequentatives is not in itself without analogy (negligent lapse into simple narration; cf. 12^^-, and see Dr^. § 114; TBS. p. 24), but the vibration between the two constructions in this and the following verses is hardly to be so explained, — n^PD] subsistence, 17I'"' (MH.); cf. victus from vivere. — S131] Dt. 3222 n^ Lev. 264- 2SnNi iNa"'] Qere in2i conforming to the preceding iS>'\ (gALMO J g 9 wapicpepov = iN3\ — nnnVS] Piel Gen. 1310 1913.29 &c.; cf. Hiph. v.*. ♦ Ra., Ki., Abarb. ; cf. Wetzstein, Hauran, p. 46. t Cf. Schm. VI. 7-8 l8l 7-10. Yahweh sends a prophet to upbraid the Israelites for their defection. — When the Israelites in their distress cry to Yahweh, he sends a prophet, who calls to mind the great deeds of their god in saving them from Egypt and giving them the land of Canaan, and recites the fundamental law, which here, as in Ex. 20^-, has its ground in the great deliverance God has wrought : You shall not adopt the religions of Canaan. This prohibition they have disregarded. Cf. 2^^-^'^ lo"-^^ i S. f- lo'^"^^ 12^-25^ The speech breaks off abruptly with this introduction. We miss in the words of the prophet the positive accusation and the denunciation of Yahweh's anger, and in the narrative, the result of his reproof, which not only the whole drift and purpose of the speech, but the analogy of similar discourses in Judges and Samuel, leads us to expect; cf. 2^"^ and especially lo"'^^. It is not likely that the author, left the speech thus without the point which is its reason for being ; more probably the conclusion was dropped by the compiler who subjoined v."^- from the parallel narrative. The incompleteness of the speech, as well as the evidence of langu^e and style, which in this case is unusually decisive, shows that yJ'^^ are not to be ascribed to the compiler,* but to an Elohistic hand.t — 7. On account of Midian'] the Hebrew phrase is not very common and is all but confined to E. | — 8. A prophef~\ lit. a prophet-man ; cf. 4^. § — Yahweh the God of Israel'^ 4^ ; corresponding phrases are, I am Yahweh thy God (Ex. 20^), and, Yahweh our God (Jos. 24^^). — / led you up from Egypt and drought you out of the slave house'] the place where you were slaves. This deliverance is the origin of the peculiar relation between Yahweh and Israel and the ground of its obliga- tion to keep itself to him only. It is therefore constantly recalled as the prime motive to faith in Yahweh and faithfulness to him alone, or to aggravate the guilt of unfaithfulness by exposing its folly and baseness and justify the extreme severity of judgement ; * D ; so Be., We., Sta., Dr., Kitt. f Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 107 f. X See Holzinger Einl. in den Hexateuch, p. 182 f. \ Cf. I S. 227'. On these anonymous prophets, who play the chorus to the story, see Sta., GVI. i. p. 182 n. The motive here is obvious ; reformation must precede deliverance. According to Jewish authorities {Seder Olam c. 20), the prophet of our text was Phineas. 1 82 JUDGES cf. Am. 3^^ Hos. 13^ Jud. 2^ i S. 10^^ &c. — 9. I rescued you from the power of Egypf] Ex. 3« iS^-^ cf. Jud. 8^* i S. i2io-", also Jud. 10" (a different vQih). — And from the power of all your oppressor s\ 2^^ esp. i S. lo^l* — And expelled tlmn before you and gave you their land'\ the pronouns grammatically refer to the oppressors, but the writer is thinking of the populations of Canaan jt cf. Jos. 24^2f.i8 g^. 34^1 23=^.-10. I am Yahweh your God~\ Ex. 2ol — Yots shall not revere the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell~\ with the form of the expression cf. 2 K. J ^35-40^ in substance Ex. 20^ (Dt. 5O Ex. 34'' Dt. 6^^-^^ 1229^-. On the Amorites, see above on 3^ 8. DnifDD DDPN in-'S^jn] common in E, but not characteristic of that work (Di.) ; see Holzinger, p. 186. — on^;; no] ergastulum ; Ex. 133- 14 202 Jos. 24!^ Dt. 5^ 6^2 &c. (E, Rje, D). — 9. DD"'5JnS] see on i^ 2I8, — *^'"?.^.5'n), \\}^x\ to D'-ton (conclusion to ^nr), v.12. i3a. Ha -^^^xm to Sn"i!:'\ v.i7a. 18a to TiSx, v.i8b. 19a to nrii2 (19b) v.21-24. (The parts about which he is less confident in parenthesis.) X Richt. u. Sam., p. 108 f. ; cf. Co., Einl'^. p. 95 f. Budde (p. 109) ascribes to J, v,ii-i3a. 13b from nn;?i on, v.i^a from -iidnm on, v.^- ^6 (read nini "'3) v.i'a. i8a to TS^fini (the original object has been supplanted), v.JSb. I3a to mi'::, v.i'Jb to nSsn, v.2i-24. 1 84 JUDGES with men : in E this anthropomorphism is shunned ; the Messenger speaks from heaven, or in a dream, or is revealed in the flames of the burning bush (Ex. y).* — And sat dowfi\ hke a wayfarer seeking rest in its shade. — Under the holy tree that is in Ophrah~\ on holy trees see on 4^^ (p. 121 f.).t Ophrah, v.^'' (cf. 8^-) Ophrah of the Abiezrites, the Abiezrite Ophrah, probably to distinguish it from a Benjamite town of the same name (Jos. 18^ i S. i3^0- The site is unknown ; from ch. 9 it may be probably inferred that it was not very far from Shechem. Fer'ata six miles WSW. of Nabulus has been suggested, X but this is more probably Pirathon (12^^). § — Which (tree) belonged to Joash the Abiezrite^ the holy tree was in the possession of Gideon's family, just as in the other narrative (v.^) the village altar of Baal belonged to Jerubaal's father. The Abiezrites were a clan of Manasseh (v.^^ Nu. 26^ || Jos. 1 7-) . — Beating out wheat in the wine-press'] threshing in the ordinary way was not to be risked; the threshing-floors were especially exposed places.^ The wine-press, on the contrary, a square or oblong vat excavated in the sloping surface rock, afforded some concealment.** Hither Gideon had brought a few sheaves of wheat and was whipping them out with a stick on the floor of the press. — 12. The Messenger shows himself and salutes Gideon. — Yahweh is with thee] the answer shows that in Hebrew (in which the copula is not expressed) the sentence is felt to be an assertion,tt rather than a wish. — Stalwart hero] in Jud. only iii (Jephthah) ; i K. ii^s 2 K. 5^ &c. ; cf. Jud. 182.— 13. The salutation sounds to Gideon almost ironical ; the present distress is plain proof that Yahweh is not with them. — Where are all his wo7ide?'/ul intervefitions] Ex. 3^ 34^° Jos. 3^ Mi. 7^^ — *See Kosters, " De Mal'ach Jahwe," Th. T. ix. 1875, p. 369-415 ; Schultz, Alttest. Theol^. p. 600 ff. = Old Test. TheoL, ii. p. 218 ff . ; Smend, Alttest. Religionsge- schichte, p. 42 ff. Older literature and theories, see Oehler, Alttest. Theol. \ 59. 60 ; cf. Schm., quacst. 3. t On holy trees and tree worship in general, see the literature in Chantepie de la Saussaye, Religionsgeschichte, i. p. 61 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture^, ii. p. 214 ff. ; Frazer, Golden Bough, 1890, i. p. 56-108. X S WP. Memoirs, ii. p. 162. ^ Rob., Z)'A'2. iii. p. 134; Gu6rin, Samarie, ii. 179 f. II The name is mutilated, perhaps not by accident; cf. ®. f See on v.3'?. ** For a description of the wine-press, sec Rob., DR'^. iii. p. 137; cf. Nonnus, Dionys., xii. 331 ff. ff Fl. Jos., Aug., al. VI. II-I4 i85 Which our fathers recounted to us\ phrase parallels, Ps. 44^ 78^; cf. Ex. 12^^^- 13^- "^•. — But now Yahweh has cast us off and given us into the grasp of Midian'] cf. Jer. 12^ i S. 12^^ i K. 8" 2 K. 21".* 11. InSd] is found in Heb. only in a concrete, personal sense, 'messenger'; or, as we might perhaps translate, * agent,' thus making the relation of the word to hdxSd more obvious. There is no warrant in usage for an explanation of the phrase nini -^nSd which goes back to an assumed abstract sense, 'the sending of Yahweh ' (Vatke, Ew., Reuss, al.). — Vi^vh t^'n] the tree . . . which belonged to Joash (©IL, Cler., Reuss, Kitt.), not Ophrah which belonged to J. (5 a, Ki., Drus., Schm., Stud., Be., Oettli). — 'J) £D3n ij3 p;7"iJi] as Gideon was, &c,; circumstantial clause. J03n Is. 28^'^ Ru. 2^'^ cf. Dt. 24^0. — pj is properly the upper trough, in which the grapes are trodden; ip^ (7^5) the lower one, in which the must is collected. — D-'jn'?] Ex. 9'^°^ — 13, ,j-,{< ,jj y_i5 13^; a deprecatory formula, if I may speak without offence, begging your pardon; cf. Gen. 4320 44I8 Ex. 410- ^3 (^^\\ j)^ Nu. 12II i S. i'^ &c. — mn^ s'^i] if he really is, as you say. Instead of a conditional sentence with subordinated protasis (on)' ^^ have simple parataxis; cf. 13^2 2 K. lo^^. So very often in older English; e.g. And it please your grace, you did once promise me (Shakespeare). See New English Dictionary, i. p. 317^. — n;N] skeptical; * what has become of; cf. the ironical use of the particle 9^^ Jer. 2^^ Dt. 32^'^ (in) &c. — itiinSsj] things extraordinary, surpassing men's power or compre- hension (cf. ■'nSd 13^^); especially of the wonderful interventions of God in the history of his people, and (later) the wonders of his works in nature. f References to Yahweh's wonderful deliverances are frequent in the Psalms, but it does not follow that all references to them are so late. The exx. cited above (Ex. 3-'^ 34^'^ Jos. 3^) all occur in Yahwist contexts. In the passage before us the words, if not original (J, cf. the Hiphil 13^^^), must be ascribed to Rje, not to Rd, in whom the word seems not to occur. — mn^ ij'j'toj n.-i;7i] can hardly be separated from the foregoing (Bu.), but stands or falls with it. Cf. Jer. 2333-39 esp. 12}, which Bohme, without sufficient reason, regards as the source of the phrase in our text; see also Is. 2^. — piD ^id^J for the more common i>3, v.^* i S. 4^ 2 S. 19^*^ &c. 14. Yahweh turned to hifn'] % with the following (v.""^^) cf. Ex. 3^""^. The Messenger is Yahweh himself; see above on v.". * From these parallels, chiefly in writings of the age of Jeremiah or later, Bohme infers that v.i3b is an editorial enlargement on the original question, v.i3a, Budde agrees as to the beginning of v.i3b (as far as from Egypt), but attributes the rest (but now. See.) to the first narrator, connecting it with v.i3a. t Cf. the verb 2 S. 132 Dt. 178 30" ; of God., Gen. 18^4 Jer. 21^ 321"- ^. X Bohme, Bu., ascribe the words to an editorial hand, but I sec no sufficient reason for this. 1 86 JUDGES @ 6 ayycAo? Kvpiov to conform to v.". — Go in this might of thine'] visible in his powerful frame and the vigorous strokes of his staff, which drew from the visitor the admiring address, stal- wart hero, v.^; not, the might which is now given thee.* — Do not I send thee /] f the question as in 4^. Since the visitor does not reveal himself in his true character till v.^^, we should expect rather, doth not Yahweh send thee? cf. 4^ We may suppose either that Gideon took his visitor for a man of God (cf. 13^), or, more probably, that the author lapsed from strict dramatic pro- priety ; see also on v.-'^. — 15. Gideon remonstrates that he is not equal to the task. — How (by what means) should I deliver Israel? My sept is the poorest in Manasseh, and I the most insignificant man in ?ny fajnily] cf. i S. 9^\ The protestation is, no more than that of Saul, to be taken too literally. Both the following nar- ratives assume that the hero's family was one of rank and influ- ence in the clan. — 16. Yahweh said to himy Surely I will be with thee] (fi^'"'-, the Angel of the Lord said to him, the Lord will be with thee. If it be thought too violent a supposition that the author here, as in v.^*, used the first person in conformity with the knowledge of his readers that the speaker was Yahweh, rather than with Gideon's supposed ignorance of that fact, we may conjecture that the original text was simply, and he said, Yahweh will be with thee, % and that in supplying the explicit sub- ject and recasting the sentence to correspond with it, the editor of 5^ had Ex. 3^^ in mind. — As one man] Nu. 14'^. — 17. Gideon asks the stranger to wait till he can set food before him, and pre- pares him a meal ; cf. Gen. 18^'^ Jud. 13^^'^^. — If I find favour in thy sight] Gen. 18^ ; a favourite phrase of the Yahwist in the Penta- teuch. § — Make me a sign that thou art speaking with me] Gideon recognizes his supernatural visitant, but for assurance desires a sign such as is given in the sequel. The half-verse thus antici- pates v.^^^- in a way that the author of the latter verses cannot have done ; v."^* connects immediately with v.^'% just as Gen. iS^"^ does with v.^**- "*, and has no ulterior purpose. Verse ^^^ is therefore an editorial addition, probably by the same hand which inserted \P * Ki., Be., al. This strength of faith, Thdt. t liOhme regards this clause also as secondary. + ©PV al. ; Bu. 5 Di,, NDy. p. 625 ; Holzinger, Einleitung in den Hexat,, p. 97 f. vi. 14-19 187 under the impression that the meal Gideon prepared was intended from the first as a sacrifice, contrary to Gen. 18^^ and esp. Jud. 13^^^-.* That the words are not part of the original narrative, is in some degree confirmed by the unusual relative particle tt^.f — 18. Originally followed immediately upon v.^*^*; see above. — My offering^ Gen. 2^:^^ 43" i S. 10^ ; a present to the guest. It is not impossible that the word has been substituted for the original expression, in conformity with the theory that Gideon from the beginning intended a religious offering; see note. — 19. Gideon prepai-ed a kid~\ i^^^-^^ -^ in Gen. 18' the rich sheikh Abraham kills a calf. — An ephah of flour] The quantity (more than a bushel) is altogether disproportionate, especially in the circum- stances ; cf. I Sam. i'"*, where an ephah of flour is enough to go with a three year old bullock (({| ,S ; J^ three bullocks !), Gen. i8^ — The 77ieat he put in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the tree aftd presented it~\ cf. Gen. i8^ Bohme and Budde ascribe the half verse (Bu. excepts, and bj'ought it out to him under the tree) to the redaction. It seems improbable, however, that these concrete details, which are not essential to the conception of an offering, or, indeed, consonant with ritual customs, were introduced by an editor. 15. "iJlN '•3] the pronunciation, in distinction from ••jin v.^^, means to intimate that Gideon now recognizes his visitor as divine. — Sin ■•oSx] ^Sn is, like nnflt^D, a branch of a tribe (iDJc) larger than the family (3N no); see I S. 10I9-21. — n^yxn] I S. 921 ; often in the sense minor natu. Gen. 25^3 4333 48^'* &c. — 16. ia;r n^nx 13] verbatim Ex. 3I2. It has been conjectured above that the author wrote, hd); n>n^ r\\r\> (i S. 1737); cf. 0. — 17. mx h n>B'p] perhaps the sign also was suggested by Ex. 3^2. The words must be construed as apodosis; cf. Gen. 3310. nix n^'j? Ex. 4I7.21 Nu. 14"- 22 Jos. 24!^ Dt. ii3; nowhere in precisely this sense, in which we should expect nix \tm (Jos. 2^2) . — ■'d;? 1310 nnxr] we expect -\an?:n (Gen. 45^-), that it is thou that speakest; the article may have been accidentally omitted. The relative fv in Jud. 5" 6" >jyi 8'26. .^.i only here in O.T., elsewhere before gutturals r. — 18. Bohme ascribes v.^Sa^ (^and bring out my offering and set it before thee) to an editor; Bu. thinks that the editor has changed the original object of the verb (food; cf. Gen. 18'' Jud. 131^) into a religious offering. But it is not clear that nnjD need be taken in this specific sense; J the verb (n-'jn) certainly does not suggest such an intention. The noun may possibly have been chosen on * Sta., G VI. i. p. 183 n. f Giesebrecht, ZA TW. i. p. 280 n. ; cf, 7I2 8^6. X In 13I9 nnjDn nxi is an interpolation. 1 88 JUDGES account of its ambiguity, as a hint, not a bald anticipation, of the disposition of what Gideon set before the stranger.* — ^nNsini . . . nsD r;'j see on i62; Dr^. § 115 (p- 134)- — 19. nii'O nnp pdinJ he prepared it as unleavened cakes, made it up into cakes; cf. i S. 28^*, Gen. 18^ Nu. ii^ (n^^v), Ex. 1239. The ephah was according to the smallest computation over a bushel. — P";Dn] (so Ki., Norzi, Baer) v.-^ Is. 65^ (Qere) ; ^i,ii}.b%, jus ; cf. Arab, maraq; others understand the pot liquor in which the meat had been boiled (Ki.; cf. Schm.). — Sd] a closely woven shallow basket or tray, Gen. 40!^ &c. — -ins] Nu. 11^ I S. 2^^* a cooking vessel, of what kind we have no means of ascer- taining. Bohme {I.e. p. 254) rejects v.^^'^ with v.^O; the broth was introduced by some one who thought a libation indispensable; the whole representation presumes that a religious offering is intended. So Bu. also. But if the object was to convert Gideon's hospitality into a sacrifice, it would have been done unmistakably. In no ritual that we know was meat presented in a basket (as unleave*ied cakes were) or a libation made of broth. It is conceivable that such rites existed in this early time; t but not that such a description proceeds from a late editor. I find in the words, however, no certain evidence of a sacrificial intention; even rri is properly used of bringing food to one, putting it within his reach (Gen. 272^). 20, 21. The food which Gideon brings out is converted into an offering. Fire from the rock consumes it; the Messenger van- ishes.— 20. Messenger of God, instead of Messe?7ger of Yahweh, is striking, and with some other pecuHarities of expression arouses the suspicion that the verse is by a different hand. This sus- picion is strengthened by the contents of the verse ; and Bohme and Budde are probably right in regarding it as a later addition to the story. Verse ^^ connects equally well with v.^'"*. See further in crit. note. — 21. The Messenger touches the food with the tip of his walking-stick, at which fire springs up from the rock and con- sumes it; cf. I K. 1 8-^^ 2 Chr. 7^ 2 Mace. 2^0-13 l^^^ ^^\_The Messenger of Yahweh passed from his sighf~\ this is in conflict with v.^"- ^, in which Gideon addresses his visitor and is answered by him as though still present. That the reassuring voice (v.^) came back from heaven \ is in no way intimated in the text. Probably the words are an addition suggested by 13"^ ;§ the * Stud. On the other hand, the wxird may have been the occasion of the editor's misunderstanding and led to the other changes in the verses. t We., who is inclined to see here a very old custom. X Ki., RLbG., Schm., and many, § Observe how completely the two stories are fused by FI. Jos., unit. v. 8, 3 § 283 f., and cf. the unconscious conformation in the interpretation of Ki., al. VI. 20-24 1 89 unsuitable position of the clause is explained by a comparison of 622f- with 132^-. — 22. Oh, my lord Yahweh /] cry of consternation T^o ^7 T^r F7 • cf Tud. 11^'. — Because I have seen or distress ; Jos. 7 , Jer., ii.z. , ci. juu. 1 1 //,^ J/m.;/<^^r ^/ Kz/^^^/^/^ >^^ ^o face^ and therefore must die. The behef that such a sight forebodes the death of him whose profane eyes have thus violated Hhe mystery of godhead, Jud. 13- Gen 16^^ 32«« Ex. 20^^^^^) 33^" I^. 6\-23. Yahweh reassures him -7%^// art safe^ lit. it is well with thee; cf. Gen. 43 Tud ig'« —24 Gideon builds an altar which in the author's day was'still'standmg in Ophrah, the name of which, YalMialom (Yahweh is well-disposed), perpetuates the words of God m v. . Examples of altars with commemorative names, Gen. 33 35 Ex 17^^ That v.^^^-^^ are an integral part of the original narra- tive is rightly maintained by Bohme t and Budde, \ against Well- hausen. § 20. o^nSxn i«Sd] as in ^ (?•-) ^e tradition ^^ -"f ''"g; o"''' ®7 supports m; all other versions have Angel of the Lord. The text w.ll hardly : tata Ihri'nference that the original narrator of ^'"^^-^^ °" „■; Yahweh II D^ni^xn in 1 may be due only to transcriptional ace dent, so far as appea both Rje arui Rd write n,n. i«Sd. Compare the dwme names m NuTa Tud .3.^ -Other differences, v« .^o, v.^i .«; v.» the rare demon- ^ratfve.sn(, 1.4^ ,7-&c.).-21. n*'.-D] etymologieally, someth.ng on r:Vmaileans\or^ort.E...;;Zee.^P«^^^^^ 't^:r;sr:^^^"^:Tb:t"atiiare\;^^^^^^^^^ 1 Ue thaTf ther li^ilatio'n in such details was almost inevitable. Kosters seems to go too far in thinking that 6--^ has been worked over throughou n seems to go ,,_22. ,,1,5,3-1 in the Hexateuch chiefly m J.- n'l= conformity with ch. 13. '■'■ V ■} =J ^ ,^l,„l„s 0,.= Sx] Gen. 3.» Ex. 33" Dt. 34 cf S'--^*^ ^ ^jJ^^,J^_ ^, ,,„ take the second noun as S-'''^' ff f ^ ° ^"'^Jlgainst analogy; cf. rather myasitt but this is unnecessary (see i b. 2^ j ana ai,a ^^ other names of a similar sort are ns.^ nin. Gen. 22 , ^?V 4 "t;:;;;;;":;^^ (.assebah). t ^^^^^•;-P3f ^'• t i?..^/. u. Sam., p. X09. § Comp., P' ^^ •' ^^^ ^^"' ^ '^'- ^^ ^^ '''' II We.. Comp., p. 226 (" P^^f^J. 7-^^.^^^^,,^, i. p. 7,,_7i6. whose caution on H See Klostermann, Neuc kirchl. ZeUscnrift,^. v J J this point deserves attention, in spite of exaggeration. Th T ix. p. 397 • tt So I^th.. Drus.. Cler. (alt.). Ges. (supposing an mscnption =^^ n,nv . of. Schm.), Stud., Sta., al. IQO JUDGES §449. — We. {CoTup., p. 226) finds that the altar and sacrifice (?) of v.22-24 zom^ post festiun ; the original altar was the stone itself. Stade {GVI. i. p. 183 f.) thinks the verses possibly the close of a lost account of the origin of the holy place at Ophrah. But when the changes made by editorial hands in the preceding verses are recognized, v.22-24 is seen to be the natural and ahnost indispensable close of the narrative before us in v.^^^- 25-32. Call of Gideon. — Second account. Yahweh calls Gideon first of all to destroy the altar of Baal which belongs to his father and the sacred post {asheraJi) that stands beside it ; to build on a designated spot an altar of Yahweh, and offer upon it a certain bullock as a dedicatory sacrifice. He does so by night. When the sacrilege is discovered and its perpetrator detected, the townspeople demand that he be put to death. His father Joash persuades them to leave it to Baal to avenge the outrage done him, " If he is a god let him take his own part." The oracular words of Joash, who as the custodian of the holy place was natu- rally the priest of Baal, explain the name Jerubbaal. These verses are loosely joined to the foregoing by the words, in that night (cf. 7^), but so far from being the continuation of v."'-"*, v.^^'^^ belong to a second and altogether different account of the call of Gideon. The writer who narrates in v.^'* the build- ing of the altar, Yahweh-shalom, cannot have gone on to relate the building of another altar of Yahweh in v.^^-, nor did the author of the latter verses have before him v.^^'^. In v.^^ the holy tree at Ophrah, on the land of Joash, is the sacred spot where Yahweh appears, and there is no intimation that Israel is addicted to heathenish cults, or that its calamities are the punishment of defection ; in v.^^- Joash is the proprietary custodian of the vil- lage altar of Baal with its sacred post {asherah), and these must be destroyed before Yahweh will deliver his people. The premises of v.^-^^ are to be found rather in v.^"^*^. The latter verses break off abruptly (see p. i8i). We may infer from the analogous passages (2^''-^'' lo"'^^ i S. 7^^- 10"-^^ 12^^) that in the original con- nexion the prophet went on to upbraid them more specifically for their lapse into heathenism (worship of Baal), and to declare that it was for this that Yahweh had given them over to their foes. As a scfiuel to this, Gideon is called to begin the reformation by destroying the village altar of Baal and restoring the abandoned VI. 25 IQX worship of Yahweh. Budde appears to me to be right in seeing in v.^'^^, not a free amphfication of the story by a later author,* but part of a parallel narrative, which may with considerable probabiHty be ascribed to E. 25. That night'] cf. 2 S. 7'' 2 K. 19"'^. In the present con- nexion, the night after the appearance of the Messenger of Yahweh to Gideon ; originally, if our analysis is correct, the night after the prophet delivered his reproof (v/'^") . — Verse ^^"^ speaks apparently of two bullocks, and in the sequel we read of the sacrifice of the second bullock (v.^^-^) ; but what is to be done with the other does not appear. The text is unintelligible, and no satisfactory emendation has been suggested. Kuenenf pro- posed to restore, with the aid of v.-*^, Take ten men of thy servants and a bullock, of seven years, but it is difficult to imagine how this could have been so corrupted. See critical note. — Pull down the altar of Baal which thy father has, and cut down the sacred post which is by it] the altar was the holy place of the town (v.^*^) ; Joash was its custodian by proprietary right, as the family of Micah would have become of his temple in Mt. Ephraim (17^*^), or as Gideon's descendants would have been of the image of Yahweh in Ophrah (S^^). + — On Baal see above on 2^^ (p. 69 f). — The sacred post which is by it] the sacred post (asherah) was of wood, and, if we may argue from v.-^, of considerable size. Such posts seem to have belonged to every Canaanite place of worship (Ex. 34^^, altars, steles, asherahs, Dt. 12^ i K. 14-^ 2 K. 17^*^ Is. 17^), and in old times stood not only beside the altars of the Baals, but by those of Yahweh (Dt. 16^^), even in the temple at Jerusalem (2 K. 21^ 23^). According to Jewish tradition the asherah might be a living tree, and many modern scholars infer as much from Dt. 16^^ ; but usually, beyond question, it was a post or mast. The shape of the asherah is not certainly known ; but it is not improbable that asherahs are represented by the posts of varying forms, often with a conical top, which occur so frequently in sacrificial scenes on Assyrian marbles, and on Assyrian, Phoeni- * We., Sta., Kue., Kitt. ; see above, p. 175 f. t In Doom., p. 70 n. ; adopted by Kautzsch. X On such rights in holy places see We., Reste arabischen Heidentumes, p. 128 f. ; cf. Ibn Hisham, ed. Wustenfeld, p. 54 f. 192 JUDGES cian, and Cypriote seals and gems.* The origin and meaning of the asherah are also involved in obscurity. — 26. Gideon is directed to build an altar to Yahweh on a different site. — On the highest point of this stro7ighold~\ the word which follows is not intelligible in this context ; either it is a technical term the mean- ing of which is lost, or, as seems more Hkely, the text is at fault. It is to be presumed that, as in the parallel narrative (v.^^), the writer has in mind an altar standing in his day, and that the words describe its site. He is to dedicate the altar by the sacrifice of a bullock, using for fuel the wood of the sacred post which he has cut down. The whole burnt offering is the proper dedicatory sacrifice. — The second bullock'] v.^^. The words are grammatically unimpeachable, but the disorder of v.^^ makes it doubtful whether they are correct; not improbably the second is interpolated in both verses, to conform to the (corrupt) text of v.^. 25. That the text is corrupt should need no demonstration; iv^'n id and Qijt:' v^'^y ^jtrn ID are meaningless and grammatically impossible collocations of words. The second bidlock of seven years old (EV., following (^iLS) t would be cjt:' ;73i:' 13. As nothing is said in the sequel about any other bullock, many interpreters infer that only one is spoken of here, and translate, Take the bullock which belongs to thy father, even the second bullock, &c.; so Trem.-Jun., Pise, AV., RV., Ke., al.; the conjunction is explained in the same way {et quidem) by Ew., Stud. (cf. RJes.); it is omitted by (g^^M, Ingenious, but improbable explanations of the second bullock (second calf of its dam) are given by Abulw., Tanch. (on i S. 15^); cf. Ki., Roed. (Ges. Thes. p. 1451), Bo., al. RJes. and Stud, interpret y^://^^; Ew, connects ''TZ^ with r\yi'' in the sense, annosus. The word is omitted by ^*inp7 5^]-, ^st. S; appar- ently -\r^'n -ID and "•Jtt'n id are doublets, and both corrupt. © suggests the conjecture ^ce'n non (cf. i S. 15^, We., Dr.), but the corruption is probably deeper. With the seven years it seems impossible to do anything at all; cf. ^, Tej/iurah, 28^, Ra., RJes., al.; Hitzig conjectured that they were accidentally introduced from 6^. — mDH xhy ib'X nitt'Nni] not upon the altar, but beside it. nn'^N almost uniformly © BXco^ % lucus AV. grove ; KV. Asherah, explained (Ex. 34^ nig.), the wooden symbols of a goddess Asherah. The asherah is named in conjunction with high places, altars, steles, carved stones, images. The verbs which are used in describing the making and erection and the destruction of an asherah show that it was an upright * See numbers of them in Lajard, Culie de Mithra, 1857 ; Ohnefalsch-Richter Kypros. See further, art. "Asherah" in New Bible Dictionary (A. & C. Black) ; W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 171 ff. On the goddess Asherah, see above on 3^ (p. 86 f.). f Or, a second bullock. VI. 25-30 193 wooden post or mast.* From Dt. iG^i It has been inferred that it was originally a living tree,t for which the post is then supposed to be a conven- tional substitute; see e.g. Di. on Dt. I.e. But in this passage we should not translate, an asherah of any kind of tree (RV.), but, an asherah, — any wooden object. % For }>p 'pale,' cf. Dt. 2i22, As yet the Phoenician inscrip- tions, in which the word has been found once or twice, throw no light on the subject. The etymology of the word is also obscure. G. Hoffmann would connect it with Arab, athar ; perhaps only the mark of a place of worship. The Assyr. asm, anrtu, pi. asrdti, also esreti, which Fr. Delitzsch and others interpret * holy place, sanctuary, temple,' § have also been compared. See New Bible Dictionary^ s. v. — 26. ri;JD] perhaps a natural stronghold rather than a fortification; cf. n;?D "iix Is. 17I0. The word does not occur elsewhere in the historical books; cf. miXD in the story of David. — nD-i;?D3] nD-i;;D is a row or rank; in hist, books, of soldiers in line of battle, but hardly, place where the ranks are formed (^place d^armes). |1 Jerome interprets of the wood regularly laid upon the altar, similarly Ke. (MH. usage) ; Stud., Be^,, of the courses of stone of which the altar was to be built (cf. the verb, Nu. 23*) ; Cler., Be^., al., of a rampart or bastion built of courses of masonry. — -"xyij mirsn] D>xy fire wood Gen. 2'1'- ^ Is. 3o33 and often. 27-32. Gideon destroys the altar of Baal. He is saved from the wrath of his townsmen by Joash. — 27. Gideon with ten of his men carries out the divine command. In this narrative Joash is supposed to be a man of much importance in the community, with a numerous household of servants, a representation quite different from that of v.^^'^'*.^ For fear of his fellow townsmen, and of his own family, who as the custodians of the holy place would be most incensed by its destruction, Gideon did his work at night. — 28. The townspeople awoke in the morning to find the altar of the Baal pulled to pieces and the sacred post cut down. The second half- verse is somewhat clumsily phrased and is not improbably the addition of a scribe, who missed an explicit men- tion of the fulfilment of the direction in v.-'*^^ — 29. Upon inves- tigation they ascertain that Gideon is the perpetrator of the sacrilege. — 30. They demand that Joash surrender his son to them, that he may expiate his offence by death. To take him by * So Saad. and Abulw. translate. t Cf. Sifre on Dt. 128 (§ 61) ; Abodah zarah, 45a- b ; Ra., Ki., X Cf. Sifre § 145 ; Tamid, 28^. Not impossibly the words }'j' So are a gloss. ^ Assyr. Handworterbuch, p. 148. See against Delitzsch, Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 200. 11 Cf. Schm., JHMjch. H Note especially v."- is. Q 194 JUDGES force might embroil them with the kindred of Joash and be the beginning of a blood feud whose end no man could foresee. So the Qoreish at Mecca tried to persuade Mohammed's uncle, Abu Talib, to withdraw from him his protection, that they might kill the pestilent agitator without incurring the vengeance of his family.* — 31. Joash, who as the proprietary custodian of the holy place may be supposed to speak also for the god, rebukes their presumption ; will they intervene to prevent Baal from vin- dicating himself? — To all who were arrayed against Mm] lit. stood; others, who stood near himy in which sense the words are superfluous. — Will you take up BaaVs quarrel? Or will you vindicate him?] save him from his adversary; cf. Job 13^ — If he is a god, let him take his own part] deorum injuriae dis curae.f In the thought of the writer, which, however, we must beware of attributing to Joash, the words have an ironical point; Baal's inability to defend himself is a proof that he is no god; cf. I K. 18"^"^. The conditional sentence would naturally follow immediately upon the question in v.^ : Will you take Baal's part ? will you defend him? If he is a god, let him take his own part. This obvious connexion is broken by the sentence which is inter- posed : Whoever takes up his (Baal's) quarrel shall be put to death by morning] in these words, the difficulty of which cannot be evaded by a diff"erent translation, Joash appears to threaten with death any one who rashly puts himself forward as the champion of Baal ; he will defend his son by force if need be. J This would be in itself a conceivable sequel to his question ; but a very tame one compared with v.^, If he is a god, &c. ; both cannot be original. Probably, therefore, the intruding words were added here by an editor or scribe ; perhaps originally a gloss intended for a different place or in a different sense. At the end of the verse the words, because he pulled down his altar, seem to have been repeated from v.^^*' with superfluous explicitness. — 32. Explanation of the name Jerubbaal. — He (Joash) gave hi?n that day the name Jerubbaal] better, pronouncing the verb as passive, He (Gideon) was called, he got the 7iame. — That is to * Ibn Hisham, ed. Wustenfeld, p. 167-169. t Tiberius ; Tac, annal., i. 73, + RLbG., Schm., Cler. VI. 30-32 195 say, Let Baal contend with him, bechuse he pulled down his altar] Jerubbaal is another name of Gideon (7* 8^^ •"'^ 9 passim) ; in the present shape of the narrative the relation between the two is not clear. For a hypothesis about the use of the names in the older stories of J and E, see on f. For several centuries after the occupation of Canaan the word bdal (proprietor) was used by the Israehtes as innocently as el {tiumen) or adon (lord), and men whose loyalty to Yahweh is above suspicion gave baal-names to their children. Saul had a son Ishbaal ; Jonathan, a son Meribaal ; David, a son Baaljada. As in similar compounds of el and adon, the unnamed deity is no other than Yahweh. So, doubtless, it was with Jerubbaal. In later times, through the operation of causes which we cannot develop here, the baals of Canaan are set over against Yahweh the God of Israel, and the name baal becomes the very signature of heathenism. The old proper names compounded with baal then became a stumbling block, and in our texts are generally mutilated. Jerubbaal becomes Jerubbesheth (2 S. 11-^), as Ishbaal is perverted into Ishbosheth.* In our text also it is assumed that the Canaanite Baal (v.^^) is meant, but by an ingenious etymology the name is made to signify, Adversary of Baal. 27. Ji ma'i?^ . . . von n^3 nx k-;!" -ics::] combination of two common constructions of st, with the ace. of the person feared, and with p and the int., fear to do something; cf. Ex. 348'^. — 28. ^;-•;^^ ^js^n -\q7\ pni] passive with direct obj. in ace; Ges.^^ § 121, I ; on the frequency of this construction in late Hebrew, see Giesebrecht, ZA TIV. i. p. 263 f. — 'uan] Neh. 7* Cant. 4* Ps. I223+. — 31. v'^y noj? nrx ^:h'] ':'> ""DV in the sense 'stand up against one' C^y D>p) is found only in late Hebrew (Ges., Stud.), but we may take nD>* in its usual meaning and stiJl give to the preposition a hostile force.— ddnh '^';2'^ p3np] + the emphatic pronoun in contrast to the last clause, If he is a god let him contend for himself. Cf. Job 13^ rn>->.-i ^vh dn.— ;7>t:Mn] vindi- cate, avenge ; i S. 2^- "^i- ^. Observe how the old imperfect endings roll out in the energy of speech. — i'^ 3''">'' "^'i'S'] © (with various turns) and H {qui adversarius est ejus) take ^ 3n in the sense of Sn a^n contend against, Jud. 2122 Jer. 12I Job 33^*^; but in this connexion the author cannot have employed the preposition with a force exactly the opposite of that which it has in the pre- ceding and following clauses, especially as he had the choice of three or four * Seie We., TBS^ p. 30 f; ; Baudissin, Siudieh zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, i. p. 108 n. ; Driver, TBS. p. 195 f^ f ©B puts the words into the mouth of Gideon. 196 JUDGES usual and unambiguous expressions. — np^n t; ncv] the Hophal would hardly be used if the meaning was that Baal would slay him.* -\p2n t; by morning; usually the morning of the following day; of. Jud. i62 i S. 2522 2 S. if^ &c. (Stud.). Others interpret here of the same day, during the morning (Schm., Cler., JHMich., Be.t). — 1':' :3n^] Job 13^; for reflexive force of suff., cf. Gen. 22^^ Ex. 3213 cS:c. — 32. i*? NnpM] perhaps better Nn[3M. — ':'P5"J'J the author explains the name as if it were made from h-;2 3V hi Baal contend. Such a compound would not be strange (cf. ^n^mO^ and this etymology is accepted, by many modern scholars ('?;'3 3n^ Baal contends; Kue., Dr., Baethgen). This seems to be excluded, however, by the fact that the impf. of n-> is yarib (twice in this verse), and that no trace of an alternative yarub exists. We. {TBS. p. 31), with greater probability, thinks that the name is formed fike "'Nn-, X in meaning equivalent to in^;2-i^, ' Yahweh founds.' § 33-35. The Midianites invade the land ; Gideon summons his countrymen to resist them. — The hordes of Midian and its aUies cross the Jordan and encamp in the Great Plain. The spirit of Yahweh fills Gideon ; he raises his clan, Abiezer ; then his tribe Manasseh ; finally, he calls out the tribes north of the plain, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtah. Verse ^^ belongs to the first narra- tive (v."'-^ J) and may originally have followed immediately upon v.^''; in this narrative the description of the invasion preceded the appearance of the Messenger of Yahweh to Gideon (v."*"). Verse •"'^ may then be from the hand of E, who, if our surmise be correct, || described at the beginning in general terms the annifel forays of Midian, and might therefore appropriately relate here particulars of their last invasion. The author of 7-^^ must have narrated how Gideon called out at least his own tribe, Manasseh, and, if we may argue from the numbers, probably others ; but this account would naturally stand after 6^*^"^, in which Gideon, who seems to be at home, seeks the assurance of a sign that he is truly called of God to deliver Israel. Verse ^ may, therefore, be derived in part from E, but has been attracted from its original position by the parallel v.^*; the number of tribes called out is * In Ez. 18I8 the influence of the common legal formula for the death-penalty explains the unusual expression ; cf. ©^ al. 1L5«. t Be. misstates the usage; -\p3 i]; is found chiefly in P. t Cf. also oStt'n"'. ^ So also Baudissin, Studien, u. s. w., i. p. 108 n. ; cf. Sta., G VI. i. p. 181I n. (I Above, p. 178 ; the Amalekites and Bene-Qedem are probably added by R, as in other cases. VI. 33-35 197 probably exaggernterl by the redactor. Certainly, in its present form, 6^ is in conflict with i^ ; but we cannot be confident that the latter verse is original. On the other hand, v.^' must have been preceded in E by an account of the calling of Gideon to deHver Israel, which has been omitted by Rje as superfluous after 6^'-'\ 33. Cf. v.^-^ 7^. — T/ie Plain of Jezreel'\ so called from the city Jezreel, the modern Zerin, on a spur projecting from the Gilboa range. The Valley of Jezreel (Jos. \f^ Hos. i*^) is in the vicinity of that city, the eastern end of the great depression which divides the highlands of Central Palestine from Galilee ; there is no evidence that the name was in Old Testament times extended to the whole plain.* Until quite recent times such inroads of Bedawin into the Great Plain have been of frequent occurrence.! — 34. The spirit of Yahweh took possession of Gideon'] lit. put him on, as a garment, clothed itself with him ; i Chr. 1 7}^ 2 Chr. 24-'*^ On the spirit of Yahweh, see comm. on 3^^ — He sounded the war horn] ^\ — Abiezer was called out] v.^ 7^--^ i S. 14^ and often; cf. the active, 4^'^-^^. He raised his own clan; and it is not improbable that in J the three hundred men with whom he puts the Bedawin to flight and pursues them over the Jordan were merely these clansmen. — 35. The critical questions which this verse raises have been discussed above. — Through all Manasseh] his own tribe. West Manasseh only can be meant. — Asher, Zedulun, and Naphtali] see on i^'^ (p. 49 f.) ; here, as in ch. i and 4, Issachar is passed over. The two halves of the verse are constructed on the same model ; % the second is perhaps an exag- gerating addition. In 7^ Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh are called out after the success of Gideon's stratagem, to pursue the fleeing foe. It is hardly possible that both verses are original. — They went up to meet them] may be from E's narrative : He sent messengers through all Manasseh, and they went up to meet the Midianites. — Went up, in the miUtary sense; marched against them. In the present connexion the words form an awkward parallel to the end of v.*. * See Furrer, BL. iii. p. 302; Bad.3, p. 229; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 385. t Thomson, Land and BooJfi, ii. 179 f. % Cf. also 724a. 1 98 JUDGES 33. The plain is caUed the plain of Megiddo (Zech. 12" 2 Chr. 3522 Esdr. i27); the Great Plain (i Mace. 12*9, Fl. Jos., antt. viii. 2, 3 § 36; b.j. iv. I, 8 § 54); the great plain of Legio (Euseb., OS"^. 24654) ; the great plain of Esdraelon (Judith i^) ; see also above on i^^^- (p. 43 ff.). It is the histori- cal battlefield of Palestine; see esp. G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 391-410. — 34. 'J11 r\^y> nin'« nm] the same tropical use in % here and i Chr. la^^, % here; in Syriac freq. of demoniac possession (J^S. 1887). — P>;j^i] Niph. as pass, to Hiph.; 1822. 23; cf. pyxj 723- 24. 36-40. The sign of the fleece. — Gideon asks a sign that God will deliver Israel by his hand. A fleece exposed at night on the threshing floor is drenched with dew, while the ground around is dry. In a second test the fleece alone is dry, while the ground is wet with dew. It is scarcely to be supposed that after the won- derful manifestation of the Messenger of Yahweh, v.-^'^, Gideon ventured to require another sign ; the premises of v.^^*^ are not to be sought in v."--^ but in the missing parallel account of the call of Gideon, in which the summons to be the champion of Israel probably came, not through the Messenger of Yahweh, but, as commonly in E, in a dream or night vision.* A revelation of this kind may well require the attestation of a tangible sign such as Gideon here proposes. This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that in v.^"^, in contrast with v.""^^ we have without excep- tion EloJiim {y.^ and ha-EloJiim {y^- ^) instead of Yahweh and MaVak Yahweh. We may, therefore, with much probability attribute v.^^-^ to E. 36. As thou sayest'^ v.^^ ; the words now refer to v.^*-^^ — 37. The hard, bare surface of the threshing floor and its exposure to the wind made it the most suitable place for such an experi- ment.! — 38. The test resulted as he had proposed ; in the morn- ing he squeezed the fleece and drained out of it dew enough to fill a bowl with water. — 39, 40. To make sure that this was not due to some natural cause, he proposes to invert the experiment ; this time the fleece alone shall be dry, while all the ground is covered with dew. On the following morning he finds it so. * Bu., Richt. n. Sam., p. 110 f» t On Syrian threshing floors, see Wetzstcin, in Zeitsckrift fur Ethnolo^ie, 1873; Rob., //A"^. ii. p. 8j ; /J/A 1. p. 65 f. VI. 36-VIT. I 199 36. p^ciD itt^ Dn] Gen. 24*2- ^o^^* i S. 2328; corresponding constr. of ^n Ex. 817 , s. 19"; mj; Ex. 92. See Dr^. § 137 (a). — 37. n.J] some modern Arab, dialects gum (Mohit, p. 243), or guran (Bar Bahlul, ed. Duval, 41); Ethiopic, see Di. Lex. (perhaps loan-word). — 38. -\t>]] generally derived from "\ir; Ko. (i. p. 328) would make it from mr, an (imaginary) softer form of "nx. There is better ground for thinking that the root is "in. — Scon] t^^. — 39. 1DN nm Sn] Gen. 44!^ Ex. 32^2. — ayisn ^n nn^nNi] on ovan see on 15^ 1 628. The clause has very likely been borrowed from the intercession of Abraham, Gen. 18^2^ jt jg superfluous before the following, let me try it only this time with the fleece^ and the sentence gains much by its removal (Bu.). VII. 1-8. Gideon's numbers are reduced to three hundred men. — Gideon, with thirty-two thousand men, encamps near the enemy, at Ain Harod. At the command of Yahweh, who will not have the victory attributed to human might and prowess, Gideon dismisses all who fear the encounter. Of the ten thou- sand that remain, three hundred are picked out by a singular test ; these are furnished with the provisions and the horns of the rest, who are dismissed to their homes. The great numbers presup- pose the raising of more than one tribe (6^), and, hke that verse, conflict with 7^*-, where the tribes are called out after the success of Gideon's attack, to pursue the fleeing enemy and intercept their retreat. The aim of the whole story (v.^'^) seems to be to enforce the lesson that it is as easy for Yahweh to deliver by few as by many (i S. 14^), and that to rebuke man's vaingloriousness he chooses the weak things of the world to put to shame the 1 strong ( I Cor, i^'^ ; Studer) . The verses seem to be from E, and belong perhaps to a secondary stratum of that work.* Verse ^ on the other hand, seems to be the continuation of 6^, and to be continued in f^\ — 1. While the camp of Midian was north of Gibeath ha-Moreh'] the text has, north of him, frojn Gibeath ha- Morehy in the plain, which cannot be right. The cause of the disorder is perhaps contamination from v.'*. In our ignorance of the topography, the restoration is merely conjectural. As 6^ locates the camp of the Midianites in the Plain of Jezreel, Ain Harod and Gibeath ha-Moreh have naturally been looked for there. Stanley would find the former in 'Ain Galiid, a very copious spring at the foot of Gilboa, about half an hour east of * Bu, ascribes them to Rje; see above, p. 176. 200 JUDGES Jezreel (Zer'in).* Gibeath ha-Moreh is then supposed to be the hill now called Nebi Dahi, on the northern side of the valley, above Solem (Shunem). The positions would thus be very much the same which were occupied by Saul and the Philistines before the battle of Mt. Gilboa (i S. 28^ cf 29^). Theee conjectures rest, however, on a most insecure foundation. Ch. 6^ is not from the same source as f, and it is not certain that the author of the latter (J) laid the scene of action in the Plain of Jezreel. The name Moreh occurs elsewhere only in the neighbourhood of Shechem (Gen. 12^ Dt. 11^), and, in the absence of any other clue, it is the least hazardous supposition that the same place is meant here. The other indications in J agree very well with this hypothesis. In this narrative Gideon has behind him his clan, Abiezer, whose seats are about Ophrah, probably not very far from Shechem.f In his pursuit of the Midianites he crosses the Jordan not far from Succoth, by the fords ordinarily taken between Shechem and Gilead (Gen. 33^^-^^^; see below on 8^), as he would do if he had come down by Wady Far'ah ; the com- posite verse 7^ shows that the direction of the flight and pursuit was differently described in the two sources. I 1. pynj Nin S^jjii] if Gideon had been original here and Jerubbaal been introduced by a subsequent hand (Kitt.), we should have had, And Gideon, that is, Jerubbaal. — ^'\n p;;] cf. the gentile, nin 2 S. 232^ (i Chr. ii^^). Graetz conj. for inn pp, n^T W Ps. 83I1. — miDn n;;2JD ]idxd -b n>n ]nD njnDi pDyj] Bu. emends, after v.^b, 'ji r^-wr^n ny^jS poxD nnriD iS r\>r\. It seems to me more probable that combination with v.^ is responsible for the disorder of the text, and I should prefer to restore niiDn ny^jS jiiDXC 7\>7\, omitting iS and pcpa. Another possibility 7\-\^-on ny3J3 paXD h n>n. — 'Ain Galiid was early sup- posed to be the scene of David's fight with Goliath {Bin. Hierosol.').^ Eshtori Parchi (fol. 67*^) calls this a Moslem blunder. It is more likely that the similarity of the name was the occasion of the error, than that a mislocation of the conflict with the Philistines (under the influence of i S. 28*) gave rise to the name. 'Ain Galiid is often identified with the Tubania of the Talmud and the crusading historians; Eshtori Parchi rightly distinguishes them, and 'Ain Tuba'iin is in fact about a mile NE. of 'Ain Galud {SWP. Memoirs^ ii. * Sinai and Palestine, 1856, p. 338. So Furrer, BL. iv. p, 239 ; Be., G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 397 f. ; al. Descriptions of 'Ain Galud in Rob., BR2. ii. p. 323 f. ; Gu6rin, Samarie, i. p. 308 f. ; SWF. Memoirs, ii. p. 79. Cf. also 03"^. i. p. 1288. t See above, on 6II, + On Tabor, 8I8, see there. $ See Rob., BR^. ii. p. 324 ; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., 397 f. n. VIT. 1-4 20I p. 79). Conder {SJVP. Memoirs, ii. p. 81) wouM find Ain Ilarod in 'Ain el-Gema in, much nearer Bcisan, imagining that a reminiscence of the " two troops " of Israel and Midian survives in the name. Ncbi Dahi is now often called Little Hermon. — n-\iDn nyjj] cf. nniD \hn Gen. 12*^, n-\iD --jiSn Dt. 12^; cf. D-'jjiV'^ p'^N Jud. (f'^ (see there). 2-8. Gideon dismisses all but three hundred picked men. — 2. Yahweh will not give the enemy into the power of (iideon's army. — Lest Israel vaunt itself against me, sayi?ig, My ow7i hand wrought deliverance for ffie~\ cf. Is. 10^^'^^ Dt. 8""'^ ()'^^-, and with the last phrase i S. 25^*^- ^^■^. — Gideon shall first dismiss all who are lacking in courage. — 3. Proclaim to the people : Whoever isfear- (j^ ful a?id in ierror'\ cf. Dt. 20^ ; a similar measure with a different motive. The second verb {harad) perhaps plays upon the name Harod, though it is not intimated that the name is derived from this terror.^ The following words, translated in RV., afid depart '\ from Mt. Gilead, present great difficulty. The meaning of the verb, which is found only here, is unknown, and the mention of Mt. Gilead (east of the Jordan, 5^^) is quite irreconcilable with the topography of the story. The emendation of Clericus, Gilboa, would bring the situation into accord with 6'" ; but if Gideon was, as is supposed, encamped on Mt. Gilboa, the direction to return home frofn Mt. Gilboa is entirely superfluous. \ Ewald surmises that the words are an old proverbial saying in East Manasseh, in the present context meaning no more than " slink from the field of battle." § But the use of such an expression by the writer, without explanation, would simply invite misunderstanding. — Twenty-two thousand men availed themselves of this permission; ten thou- sand remained with Gideon. — 4. The numbers are still too great; Yahweh prescribes a new test. — Take them down to the waters J afid let 7?ie separate them fo^ thee there~\ remove the infe- rior elements which "are not fit for the high enterprise ; the figure is taken from the refining of the precious metals by smelting out the baser'admixture'of the ore; Is. i^ Mai. 3^^ What waters are meant, we cannot determine. The common opinion that they are the Nahr Galud, the stream which rises in 'Ain Galild (see * Ew., al. - t Margin : go round about. X Dathe, Stud. § GVI. ii. p. 543; so Sta,, GVI. i. p. 150; Bu., Ric/d. u. Sam., p. 112 n. 202 JUDGES on v^), and, fed by other springs, flows past Beisan to the Jordan, labours under all the uncertainties and difficulties which beset Stanley's hypothesis. Yahweh will there tell him who shall go with him and who not. — 5. Those who throw themselves flat on the ground, wilih their faces to the water, and lap it up with their tongues hke dogs, are to be set by themselves, and those who kneel down to drink (from their hands), by themselves. — 6. Tlie number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths amounted to three hundred men^ the words, with their ha?ids to their mouths, are as (§ shows, a glojs, and in this place an erro- neous gloss ; to lap wjth the tongue, and to raise water to the mouth with the hand, are precisely the two different ways of drinking which are here distinguished. Perhaps the words were meant to stand at the end of v.'^, where they would be a correct explanation ; see note. The contradiction at this point between v.^ and v.^ has, involved the whole interpretation in obscurity. Clericys imagines the three hundred drinking standing : * intelli- guntur qui manu aquam hauserant, eamque e manu stantes bibe- bant, nequaquam inflexis genibus ; they were the hardy warriors who did not yield to their thirst,! or were too eager to be at the enemy to stop even to drink. Josephus, on the contrary, thinks that they were the greatest cowards in the army, who in the presence of the foe were afraid to drink in the usual manner. \ The miraculous character of the deliverance is thus heightened. The interpretations are equally far-fetched ; if any significance is to be attached to the way in which the three hundred drink, we should find it in the comparison to dogs (v.^) ; they were the rude, fierce men ; corripare the liame Caleb. § It is doubtful, however, whether the character of the three hundred is in the writer's mind at all. — 7. Yahweh will deliver Israel by means of the three hundred ; all the rest of the people shall go to their homes. — 8. Those who are sent home leave their provisions and their horns with Gideon, who is thus enabled to furnish each of • Cf. Be., Ke., Cass. ; against this impossible tjieory see Stud. t Or who disregarded convenience ; cf. Aug. X Antt. V. 6, 3 § 217 ; Thdt. ; cf. Procop. \ In the number 300 (Greek t) the Fathers saw an allegory of the cross; see Aug., quaest. 37. VII. 4-8 203 his three hundred men with a horn. The verse is clearly written with reference to v.^*^"", to explain how Gideon came to have so many horns at his disposal. The repeated change in the subjecr" of the verbs is harsh and the text is in at least one place at fault. Perhaps v.'' in its present form is the work of a redactor, who is preparing for v.^^"-^ ; see note. — The camp of Midian was below hi7?i in the valley'] corresponds to v.\ and is E's introduction to the surprise of the Midianite camp in v.^*^". 2. TiPD . . . 3i] p comparative with infinitive, Gen. 4I8 27I 29^'* Dt. 28^^ I K. 864, Roorda, §485. — ^y nxonn] Is. lo^^, glory over. — "h ny>a'in ^t'] I S. 2526-33 cf. Is. 59I6 635 Ps. 44* 98I; S y^irin iqI*. — 3. nySjn nna •>£ix>i] in rendering depart, set forth quickly^ &c., the versions ((S3L5) seem to have been guided only by the context and the preposition; depart early (AV.), sc. in the morning, follows Ra., Ki., RLbG., Drus., al. in connecting the word with Aram, n^ds 'morning'; make a circuit (Abulw., Tanch., Ges., Stud., Be., Cass,, al.; cf. Ki. Lex.), connects it with Heb. nniDX 'fillet'* {encircling the head), cf. Ez. f- ^o. Others compare Arab. Jl>o in the sense ' run quickly,' or ' spring, bound '; so SS. The context would make the general meaning of the verb sufficiently clear if the following words n^jVjn inD were intelligible in this place. JDMich. conj. "Srvq^ flee quickly to Mt. Gilead; but this is both intrinsically improbable and in direct conflict with v.^- 8, Cler. proposed nno jji^jn, from Mt. Gilboa, which is adopted by Hitz., Be., Graetz, Ke., Doom., Reuss, al. ; but Dathe and Stud, rightly observe that the words are then mean- ingless. Ewald's old Manassite saying, in which Gilead is used proverbially for tha battlefield^ is without the slightest foundation or plausibility. Cass, elabo- rates a somewhat similar theory. Stud.'s explanation is, that, as the Midianites in the Plain of Jezreel lay between the men of the northern tribes (63^) and their homes, they are bidden to cross the Jordan, and by a circuit through Mt. Gilead go around the enemy. But if this was the author's meaning he could not have expressed himself more obscurely. If a conjecture may be ventured in this state of the text, I would suggest, jynj Donx^i Gideon put them to the test; for the verb cf. v.^.f — 5. d^dh p uitt'Vj pS^ itt'N Sd] the vb. ppS (onomatopoetic) l K. 211^ {bis) 2238; ^f. inS Nu. 22* &c.; (5^^ airh rod v5aTos, better than ^k (O^^lm)^ — -^^h iniN j^xn] j>xn of persons, Gen. 33!^ 43* 472 ; cf. of things Jud. 6^^ 8'-^"; see note on the latter verse, n^*? without suffix, Ex. 26^ 361*5 Zech. I2i^'- 13. 14. _'j}> ;;-,3> -h^n Soi] the vb. see on 52^. At the end ^ALMN (^cf. s) adds /ierao'T'iJo'ets avrbv Kad' avrbv, ^'^ fxerao'T'ifiaeis avrbv. The words may have been accidentally omitted in J§; the nature of the * Originally ' braid, plait.' t Cf. RJes., who regards laxM as equivalent to rj-^SM by metathesis. Graetz conj. }nD'i 'break through.' 204 JUDGES attestation makes it less likely that they were added by ©, cf. il,S. — 6. dtij Dn>D Sj<] similarly (gBNVO (cf. Fl. Jos., antt. v. 6, 3 § 217), probably 6; see Grabe, Ep. ad Millium^ p. 14; Field, ad loc. An explanation of \>\h which is in contradiction to MwSi v.^; obviously an erroneous gjoss. In its place (gALM \ p have the correct gloss ev t^ y\;u'] see on 617; cf. Giesebrecht, ZATW. i. p. 280 n. — 13. ^i''X t] Qere S>Ss, perhaps meaning to hint a connexion with n'^s, cf. 'A. From the context, a round (disk-shaped) cake or loaf; (J5 ^aT'S 2 KoWvpa 'A ijKpvcpias IL subcinericius panis. cn^ is possibly a gloss to the rare word. The conjecture of G. Hoff- mann is ingenious, but improbable : a clash of fighting about the gates went circling about the camp (□"'-^vc' DnS S^Sx, cf. 58).* Barley was a grain of inferior value; if 2 K. 7I may be taken as an average estimate, worth about half as much as wheat. It was used for bread, as in the massot of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, cf. further 2 K. 4^2 Ez. 4I2 John 69- 13, also Ru. 2I' &c.; and as provender for (the king's) horses, i K. 58 (EV. 428), cf. Pesach., 3*> inf. In early times its use for food was well-nigh universal; then as a cheaper and coarser diet it was chiefly consumed by the poorer classes; finally it became almost exclusively provender for animals. See PHn., n. h., xviii. 72, antiquissimum in cihis hordeum. — 74, panem ex hordeo antiquis usitatum vita *QPB. VII. 14-15 20/ damnavit, quadripedumque fere cibus est. FI. Jos., antt. v. 6, 4 § 219 (on the present passage), /xafaz/ ihbKti Kpidivrjv vw evreXeia^ dvOpibirois A^piorov. There is no reason to think that in old Israel the use of barley bread was as restricted as it became in later, not to say in modern, times. — iDnnD njnDa] cf. Gen. 3'^*, the flaming sword that turned in every direction; it seemed to be everywhere. Others, simply turning over and over, or rolling like a wheel, which seems less in accordance with the usage of the verb. Shnh n>'] many Greek MSS. add, of Midian. — Sc^i] > ©I'vlmo gub aster, s. — SriNH Sfjji] the false tense betrays the gloss; the words are wanting in N 20^1, min*' b'-'N 15W I S. 154 2 S. 1917.42.43.44 2o4 2 K. 232 &c. The apparent exceptions are a'^N nrtytt'^ Jud. iqI, pn^ja ty^N i S. 4I2; * cf. Nu. 258. With the name of Gideon falls also the word 3->n; cf. v.2'?. — 15. -ijsDd] in this sense only here, though n£3D * recount, relate,' is common; cf. Engl. ' tale ' = ' number ' and ' narrative.' — n^r riNi] interpretation (so only here; syn. pi.-is and — late — ~^t't)\ lit. the breaking of it, a trope similar to the * solution ' of an enigma, &c. 16-22. Gideon's stratagem ; panic and flight of the Midian- ites. — The narration is redundant and confused. To carry a lighted torch concealed in an earthen jar would give full occu- pation to both hands; how Gideon's men managed the horns besides does not appear.! Kuenen thinks that the torches and jars may have been added by the editor. | Budde recognizes in them an original and characteristic feature of the story; in his opinion it is rather the horns, " which come from Jericho," that the editor has brought in. The following narrative, however, gives plain evidence, not of editorial amplification, but of the attempt to combine two accounts. This is particularly clear at the beginning and end of the passage (v.'^ v.-^---). The doubling is such as the mere introduction of the horns would not produce ; and further, as Kuenen rightly saw, the blowing of the horns now constitutes the principal strand of the narrative. We have found * See We., Klost., ad loc. The exx. in Ew. ^ 290 a 3, to which Dr., TBS. p. 38, refers, are inconclusive^ t Studer's explanation is not satisfactory. + Hco^. i. p. 347. 208 JUDGES above two accounts of the call of Gideon and of the raising of his countrymen against Midian. In the sequel of the story, not only 7^^' but S^^- represents the enemy as in full flight.* The source from which the latter is derived also presumably told how they were put to flight ;' and as from 8"*^- it does not appear that they had previously sustained an actual attack, it may be inferred that they had been alarmed by a stratagem such as is described in 7^^^^ These facts seem to commend the hypothesis that the trumpets are derived from one source, the jars and torches from the other. The former may with considerable probability be ascribed to E ; the latter will then come from J. If. the latter, as there is some reason to believe,t laid the scene of action, not in the Plain of Jezreel, but in the vicinity of Ophrah, the execu- tion of this original manoeuvre is more easily conceivable; the jars could be fetched by Gideon's clansmen from their homes for this purpose. The redactor has united the two diverse accounts as best he could, binding them together with clauses borrowed from one or the other of his sources. That in which the trumpets play the leading part, being the more detailed, furnished the warp of his fabric. To E may be ascribed : v.i^a, ha [and said to them] i^- I8a, ha. I9a, ha. 20aa. 22a (from nini □ij'ii) 22b (^j^ part) ^Sflf-. J's narrative, which is less completely preserved, probably ran somewhat as follows : [He gave them, or, they took] empty jars, and torches in the jars (v.^^^^) ; and he said to them, See from me what to do, and do likewise (v.^''*). [They surrounded the camp; Gideon gave the signal by breaking his jar (? v.i^b^)] ; % and they broke the jars and grasped the torches (? in their left hands, and in their right their swords.^) and cried. For Yahweh and Gideon ! (v.^oa^- ^*). And they stood as they were around the camp, and all the camp ran away. And they fled (v.^i) to . . . (v.2- in part) . § 16. Gideon divided his three hundred men into three bodies'] the object of this division was to make a simultaneous demonstra- tion from different sides of the encampment ; the disposition is not further detailed. — And furnished them all with horns, and empty jars, and torches inside the jars] the horns probably belong * Note Pini, V.4- 5 ; Kue. t See above, p. 200. J Recast by Rje. \ With this attempt at an analysis, cf. Be., p. xxii, and Winckler, Altorientalische J-orschuni^en, p. 50 f. VII. 16-20 209 to one version of the story (E), the jars and torches to the other (J) ; see above. The horns, and perhaps the jars also, are pro- vided for in v.®** (R) ; see comm. there and note (p. 203 f.). The jars were used to conceal the light of the torches till the Israelites had got into position around the camp ; * these were broken with a startling crash which would sound to the terrified Midianites like the clash of arms. — 17, 18. Gideon instructs his men. — You shall see from me and do likewise^ an unusual breviloquence ; cf. 9"*^. In v.*' the same thing is repeated in common phrase, and as I do, so shall you do. These words are not improbably edito- rial; beside the detailed instructions in the following verse they are superfluous, and v.^^^ would connect much better with the preceding if they wea-e away : When I reach the outskirts of the ca?np, 18 and blow a blast on the horn, . . . then you also shall bloiv, d^c7\ the Midianites, hearing the charge sounded on different sides of the camp, would be bewildered by the expectation of a simultaneous attack from several quarters. — And say, For Yah- weh and Gideo7i\ introduced by the editor from the other nar- rative (v.^") ; observe the colourless, say, for shout. 19. The beginning of the middle watcJi] the night was divided into three watches ; the first watch, the middle watch, and the morning watch (i S. 11^^). The division into four watches (Matt. 14^ Mk. 6''^) was adopted from the Romans; see note. — They had but Just posted the guards'] Jer. 51^^ cf. 6^\ More precise note of time; it was immediately after the turn of the watch, not far from eleven o'clock. It is not intimated that this was a rehef guard ; the Midianites may not have thought it neces- sary to keep guard during the evening. In v.^^- Gideon was able unobserved to approach near enough to the camp to hear their talk.f — And blew the trumpets, and smashed the jars which they had in their hands'] the juxtaposition of the two clauses corre- sponds- to v.^ ; the second is probably derived in substance from J (Gideon smashed the jar he held ; cf. v.^^"^) ; but it has been thoroughly recast by the redactor ; observe the construction, on which see note. — 20. The three companies] as soon as the signal * See Lane, Modern Egyptians^ , i860, p. 120. t These verses, however, are probably not from the §aTOe source as v.l9. P 2IO JUDGES was given, the other two divisions joined their blasts to those of Gideon's own command. — And shattered the jars'] the other strand of the narrative (J). — And held on to the torches] the text adds, with their left hands, and with their right, the horns to blow. This is obviously harmonistic ; it is a question, however, whether the editor added it all of his own conception, or whether he only altered an older text. If, for the horns to blow, we should substitute their swords, the words might be thought to be an original part of the narrative.* But the swords play no part in the rout of the Midianites, as the author explicitly tells us (v.-\ J) ; the words are therefore better attributed wholly to the redactor. — And cried. For Yahweh and Gideon /~\ this seems to be the original form of the war cry (cf. v.^^).t The word Sword/ is probably a gloss ; cf. v.^''. The cause of IsraeHtes against foreign foes is Yahweh's cause ; and he who smites for Gideon, smites for Yahweh (see introduction to ch. 5; esp. p. 134). It is a his- torical misapprehension, however, to describe the conflict with the Canaanites (ch. 4. 5) or Midianites (ch. 6-8) as a religious war ; and especially to compare it with the wars of Islam. % 16. D'^tt'sn nti'Sti'] technical term for divisions of a military force; esp. columns or parties formed to execute a concerted attack or stratagem; g^^- I S. iii^ I'i^''^- Job i". It is a second accusative after ^H""!; cf. i S. ii^i (Dtt'"'i), Ges.25 § 117, 5 c. — nnoit:'] see on 32^. — o^pn d-iid] no is a vessel used to dxa.vf and carry water, Gen. 24^*^- I K. 18^* Eccl, 12^; to keep meal in, I K. 17I2-I6. So in MH., for honey, oil, barley, dates; see Levy, NHWb. ii. p. 293 f. In all cases where we can form a judgment, a vessel of some size. D-'pn 2 K.43 (o'''^^)- — D'-naS] torches, not lamps (nj), cf. 15^-; see the descrip- tion in Aruch, s.v.; Levy, ii. p. 517. Thomson's illustration (^Land and Book^, ii. p. 182): "I have often seen the small oil lamps of the natives carried in a pitcher or earthen vessel at night," is not at all in point. — 17. iti'^n pi iNnn ijdd] learn your part from me by observing what I do. p refers to the unexpressed object of iNnn; cf. 9*^. — 'Ji S3 idjn nir^] cf. g^^ Gen. 50*^ Jos. 2I8 2 S. 17^ &c. — 18. njnDD Vd ni3'«jD] ni30D adverbial accu- sative; cf. S 2"«aD v.21. Of the instances of the plur. a considerable part are in passages generally ascribed to E; see Gen. 35'' 41*^ Ex. 7-^ Nu. ii24. 31.32 22* Jud. 2^2. — pynjSi nin""^] (gPVMNo praem. pofKpala; so also S*^ and some codd. of |t? (De Rossi): Conformation to v.^O; see note there. — 19. r\s hndi] read tt-'Nn nn^o^', the article accidentally dropped after the final n. — t'H-\ njio^nn niotyNn] cf. Lam. 2^^ nnntt'N tniS Kx. 14^3 j S. ii^^ ipbn n-i:Dtt'N_ ♦ Bu., Winckler. f Bu. | Baethgen. Beitriige, p. 200 f. VII. 20-22 2 I I The middle ivatch implies that the night was divided into three, not four, parts. On this subject see Berachoth, 3^. — i^^pn apn -[n] -[n restrictive; there had been no time for anj-thing moVe ; cf. Gen. 27^'^ 3|->3;> nv nx"- tx, Jacob had barely gon« out; see also Jud. 3^. The words are understood by not a few oilier interpreters to refer to Gideon and his men : they had barely roused the guards {i.e. had reached the furthest outposts of the camp), when they sounded; so (J^i^ai- It^, Lfh., Cler. (D>pn in this sense, Gen. 49^ Nu. 24^), — 'ji Dn>n visji] rcj Kal, Jer. 2228 1 (>(g); Pi. Jer. 48^2 Ps. 2^ &c. The inf. absol. continuing a finite tens*, i S. 2^8 Gen. 41*^, Roorda, § 385; Ew. § 351 r; Ges.25 § 113, 4 <7. The construction is more common and freer in the later Hterature. — 20. Dni)'?^ . . . ipiTn'>i] in the original context probably, held on to, kept, as in V.8; in the sense of the editor who added the following clause, grasped. Notice further the change of construction; in the first clause 3, in the second the ace; >"ipr'^ also comes in tardily after all the blowing already done (v.^9- 20ay — pynjSi ntni"^ D-\n] not equivalent to a genitive, gladius Domini et Gedeonis (IL, Lth., EV., Drus., Cler., Cass., Kitt., al.). 3-in is rather an exclamatory sentence of one member (Paul, Principien, p. 104), probably psychological . predicate (observe the indetermination) ; cf. Ges.^^ § I47» 3- 21. And they stood where they were"] lit. each ?nati in his place; cf. I S. 14^. They did not rush in, sword in hand, but remained as they were, waving their flaring torches and shouting their war- cry. The rest of the verse presfents considerable difficulty, though the meaning is plain enough. The first verb, a/l the ca?np ran, is not usual in sense ' run away, flee,' and if so interpreted is an unnecessary anticipation of the following, they fled. The render- ings, took to their heels, or ran together, are not sustained by usage. Perhaps, by a slight change in the Hebrew, the text should be emended, all the camp awoke, and they set up a wild cjy and fled. The verb then adds an effective touch to the description of the night alarm. — 22. And they bleiv the three hundred horns'] repeated by R, to give the following description of the panic in the camp the same connexion which it originally had in E (after the first words of v.^).' — Imagining that the IsraeHtes had taken the camp by surprise, and in the madness of fear each thinking his comrade a foeman, they turned their swords against each other, and the panic became complete. — Yahiueh set each j?ian's sword against his comrade] cf. i S. 14'"'^ 2 K. 3^ 2 Chr. 20^. — The direction of the flight is not made clearer by the mul- tiplication of names in v.-'^, in which the fusion of two sources 212 JUDGES is to be recognized. The sites of the places named are not certainly known. From v.^^ it appears that E represented the Midianites as turning southward through the Jordan valley, in which they are intercepted by the Ephraimites. In J, if our sur- mise about the scene of the action be correct, they would naturally flee eastward by the main route from Shechem to the other side of the Jordan, which descends into the great Wady Farah. From the difference of construction in Hebrew, it is probable that Sererah is not derived from the same source as Beth-shiitah. 21. 1D1J11 ij;n"'i njncn Sd V"*^"*] the verbs must all have the same subject; viz., the Midianites (63L, AV., Cler., ah). The Kethib 1D">J">1 represents an inter- pretation which made Gideon's men the subject of both the last verbs : the> shouted the war-cry and put (them) to flight (RV.); not, they (Miciianites) tried to save their goods (Jud. 6"; Be.) — For y-\^i I would emend ypyy, all the camp awoke ; see above. — i;;nM] shouted in alarm, raised a great cry, Mi. 4^ Is. 15* cf. Hos.,58 (31, Ki., Schm., Cler., Be., al.) ; (^ earifiavav /cat ecpvyop, prob. sounded the retreat (Ra., Stud., al.) — 22. nnsitJ'n niXD ^h^ wn^i] these words are hard to construe : they blew the three hundred horns, gives undue prominence to the instruments. The three hundred horns sounded ((g^^LMO^^ is against the usage of the verb. Very likely the editor wrote niNcn C'Sc rnDr,:'n, the three hundred blew their hortis (ypn c. c. ace. as in Jer. 4^ &c.); this construction might easily give rise to misunderstanding, since throughout the passage the verb is construed with 3. — njnDn ^3:31] 1 accidentally repeated from in;?-ia. Such cases are often explained as instances of 1 explicative, et quidem ; Ew. § 340 b\ BDB. s.v. — ■ Of the places here named, Abel-meholah, the birthplace of Elisha (i K. 19^'^), was, in the system introduced by Solo- mon, included in a prefecture which extended from Taanach and Megiddo in the Great Plain, by Jezreel and Beth-shean, into the Jordan valley. Euseb. (O52. 22735 cf 9711) suggests a village, BrjOfiaeXa, lo m. S. of Scythopolis; doubtless in the modern Wady Malih. This name, however, is given by the warm salt spring in the Wady,* and has nothing to do with Meholah. There is even less ground for Conder's identification of Abel-meholah with the neighbouring 'Ain Helweh (Sweet Spring).! Sererah is commonly supposed to be miswritten for Seredah (i K. 11-^), J and the latter to be the same as Sarthan (i K. 4^2 ^46^^ y^m^ which it seems to be identified by the chronicler (2 Qir. 4^'^). Sarthan is to be looked for, not in vicinity of Beth-shean, but near Adam (Jos. 3^6), i.e. probably the modern ed-Damieh, where the main road has doubtless always crossed the Jordan. This is confirmed by i K. 7*6. the bronze castings for the temple were made in the Jordan district, at the crossing (ford) of Adamah between Succoth and Sarthan (read nin^JDn ♦ Rob., BR^. iii. p. 306 f. ; S.WP. Memoirs, ii. p. 226. t SWP. Memoirs, ii. p, 231 ; G» A. Smith, Ilist. Geogr., p. 581. X ® Sapeipa. VII. 22-24 213 nmN[n] for the meaningless '"i3>;n3). The Succoth of i K. 7**5 is then not 'Ain es-Saqut, about g m. from Beisan (Rob., B/\!'^. iii. 309-312; and many), but is the same place named in Gen. and Jos., east of the Jordan. With this Jud. S'* ^ admirably agrees; and we shall probably not err in ascribing nnT^x Jud. 7"^- to the author of 8^^- (J). As Abel-meholah is named with vSarthan in i K. 4}^, it also may come from J here.* The identification of Sarthan (^nnx) with Qarn Sartabeh (Talm. X3"Jid), the great landmark of the Jordan valley (Van de Velde, Knob., Kc, al.), is not possible (Di.). — Beth-shittah, only here; Shatta, 5.^ E. m. NW. of Beisan and about 6 m. E. of Zer'in (Rob., BR^. ii. p. 356) is much too near the supposed scene of the surprise. Tabbath also is unknown. The narrative in v.^^, however, supposes that the places were in the valley of the Jordan, toward the middle of its course. 23-25. The pursuit ; death of the chiefs. — Gideon summons other tribes to pursue the retreating foe. At his bidding the Ephraimites pour down from their highlands and intercept the Midianites in their flight down the Jordan valley. The two chiefs are captured and slain. — Verse ^Ms an editorial addition; v.^-^ with 8^"^ form the close of the narrative of E. — 23. The men of Israel~\ all the men capable of bearing arms. — Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh'] the men of these tribes, with Zebulun, had ac- cx)rding to 6^ been raised at the beginning of hostilities, only to be summarily dismissed (7^*^). Now, before they could have reached their homes, they are called out again. Even if we set 6^^ aside as an exaggeration of the redactor, the difficulty in 7^ is only in part removed. Naphtali and Asher were too remote to be of any use in such a pursuit. All Manasseh was called out and pursued Midian (cf. 3^^), would not be exposed to this objection; but cannot be part of the original text ; for, first, it conflicts with 6'^* "f- ^ ; second, in 8\ where Gideon is berated in such a menacing tone by the Ephraimites, it is plain that he has not the whole tribe of Manasseh at his back. The entire verse is therefore the addition of a redactor. The form of the verse, with the ante- position of the object, And messengers he sent, is exactly the same as in 6^. — 24. Gideon sends messengers through the Highlands of Ephraim, bidding the tribesmen hasten down into the Jordan valley and cut ofl" the retreat of the Midianites by holding against * The text of i K. 4I2 is in disorder, " all Beth-shean which is beside Sarthan below Jezreel " is obviously corrupt. No O.T. author could have felt it necessary to describe in such a way the situation of Beth-shean. 214 JUDGES them some of the streams which they must pass. — Seize the water- courses against them, as far as Beth-barah'] cf. 3^^- 12^^-. The watercourses (Ht. waters; cf. waters of Megiddo, 5^^) are not the fords of the Jordan (3^^ 12^), but a stream emptying into the Jordan. The site of Beth-barah is unknown ; in an attempt to fix the position of the stream we have to be guided by general con- siderations : first, it must have been large enough, when held by an enemy, effectively to stop the Midianites in their flight ; second, it must be far enough south to give the Ephraimites time to get there before the Midianites. These conditions are best met by the Wady Far'ah, a perennial stream, which in the spring is impassable at its mouth,* as are also the adjacent fords of the Jordan (Damieh). In the tongue of land between W. Far ah and the Jordan the Midianites would be in a cut de sac, where, in their disorder, destruction was inevitable. Finally, the road leading down this Wady from the highlands in a SE. direction would be the most advantageous Hne for the Ephraimites in their movement to intercept the foe. We may, therefore, with some confidence locate the scene of v.^- near the mouth of the stream which comes from Wady Far ah.f — As far as Beth-barah'] the site is unknown. J — And the Jordan] that is, hold the Jordan also against them. It may perhaps be suspected that the words have been added here and in v.*', from 3^^ i2^§ — 25. The leaders are taken and slain. — They killed Oreb at Oreb's Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb's Press] the names of these places commemorated the fate of the chiefs. It has been thought that Is. 10-^ {the slaughter of Midian at Oreb's Rock) follows a different tradition, in which Oreb's Rock, which in Jud. 7^ is only mentioned incidentally, was the scene of the principal encounter and the overthrow of Midian. 1| But, in so far as the representation of Is. ,10^^ differs from that of Jud., it may be explained as the result of a very natural interpretation of the latter. The victory over Midian is * SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 385; "a narrow trench full of water ... 5 yards to lo yards across." t This reasoning does not necessarily assume the historical accuracy of the nar- rative, but only adequate topographical knowledge on the part of the narrator. X It can, of course, not be Mahadet 'Abareh, north of the mouth of Nahr (jalud {SWP. Great Map, sh. ix. Qk ; Memoirs, ii. p. 79). § Bu. II Stud., p. 215 ; We. VIl. 24-25 2 I 5 alluded to also in Is. 9^ Ps. 8j^-'^'. It is worthy of notice that Oreb and Zeeb are both animal names, Raven and Wolf.* — And pursued Midiafi\ on the text, see crit. note. This pursuit comes too late after the capture and death of the chiefs ; the clause also interrupts the connexion between the account of the death of Oreb and Zeeb and the bringing of their heads to Gideon. The words are no doubt part of the attempt to har- monize f^-8^ with S'**^-. The redactor's representation is that the main body of the Midianites escaped across the Jordan ; the Ephraimites, bearing their trophies, followed them over, and there fell in with Gideon. — On the other side of the Jordafi] harmo- nistic addition of the redactor.! The author of 7^-, on the contrary, represented Gideon as following the Midianites in hot pursuit down the valley, driving them into the arms of the Ephraimites, who bring the heads of the chiefs to him as he approaches the scene of the slaughter. 23. pj;x^i] v.24; pyni 634-35cf. 4io.i3.__c,x-ity>B'^N] seeon V.14. — 24. d>d] running water, stream, Nu. 24^ &c. — ma no] is often explained as equivalent to r\-\2'; no, V being sloughed in the common speech (Cler,, Reland, Ges., ^'"V., al. mu.) ; but no such tendency appears in Heb. The premise of Reland's conjecture, viz., that the place is identical with Brjda^apa (east of the Jordan), in the Receptus, John 1-^, is untenable; and with it the chief motive for the theory falls. (3 BuLd^rjpa (BaiOrjpa ABai. jg transcriptional error) iL5» would rather suggest n-iN3; cf. Jerome, OS'^. 10612, quod interpre- tatur domus aquae, sive putei. — 25. 2nt api] 3p'' see on 6^^; like nj it is sometimes used for the whole; Dt. 15^* &c. — piD hn iqti>i] the prep, is quite anomalous; we should probably emend nx (cf. ffilLE). — 3xn 2"^;? cni] two genitives after one noun; see on i*^. The singular, C'vS-i, is in accordance with Heb. idiom. — fTTiS i^vD] on the other side (east) of the J., where Gideon was (US', Ra., Ke., Be., Reuss.), Nu. 22^ 34!^; cf. S jidxd 2^, and note on i^^ (p. 34). ^Qt, frojti the other side of J. (Cler., Stud., Ew. GVI. ii. p. 546, cf. 541, Cass., al.). The view of Ges. (on Is. io-°), Cass., al., that Oreb's Rock and Zeeb's Press were east of the Jordan, is mistaken. VIII. 1-3. The Ephraimites quarrel with Gideon; their anger is appeased. — The beginning strongly resembles 12^-'. * On animal names among Semites, cf. W. R. Smith, Journ. of Philology, ix. p. 75 ff. ; Kinship and Marriage, p. 190 ff., 218 ff. ; Noldeke, ZDMG. xl. 1886, p. 156 ff. ; J. Jacobs, " Are there Totem-Clans in the Old Testament," Archcsol. Review, iii. 1889, p. 145 ff. t We., Co7np., p. 225 ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 187 n. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 115 ; al. 2l6 JUDGES Wellhausen regards the latter as a purely secondary development of a motive borrowed from 8^"^ ; * Kittel is of the opposite opinion, viz., that 8^'^ is an imitation of i2^"''.t The identity between the two stories does not, however, extend beyond the beginning ; the sequel is as different as can be imagined, and in each is in entire conformity with the situation. That the Ephraimites, in the pride of their pre-eminence as members of the leading tribe in Israel, should resent being left out and so deprived of their share of glory and of spoil, and should vehemently assail a leader who had dared to succeed without their counsel and aid, seems so natural a thing that we can without difficulty believe that it happened more than once, or was the subject of more than one tale. — 1. W7iat trick is this thou hast played us, not to call us'\ cf. i2\ The great tribe is jealous of its natural hegemony, and angry that it should seem to be ignored ; see above. — They qtiarrelled with him violently^ very likely with such threats as are uttered in 1 2^ — 2. Gideon placates their anger by magnifying their achieve- ment, and speaking of his own part as an insignificant one. The skill with which his answer is turned reminds us strongly of 6"^\ which our analysis would assign to the same author. — What have I done now to compare with you .?] now ; after all. — Is not the gleaning of Eph?'ai?n better than the vintage of Abiezer'] an apt and striking figure. The Ephraimites had indeed not been called into action until after Gideon and his followers had gained the first success over the enemy, but a far greater success had been reserved for them in the slaughter of the invaders and the capture of their chiefs. In contrast with the tribe of Ephraim, and in congruity with the metaphor, Gideon does not name himself, but his clan, Abiezer. — 3. The meaning of the figure. — God has given'] the name may perhaps be some indication of authorship ; but, as in many instances, the tradition is not consentaneous. — IVhat have I been able to do, to co??ipare with you .?] the pride of the great tribe ought to be fully satisfied by the event ; God has thrown into their hands the chiefs of Midian. He himself had only beaten up the game which they had killed. — Their anger * Comp., p. 229 ; cf. Doom,, p. loi. t GdH. i. 2. p. 72 n. ; cf. p. 80 f. VIIT. 1-3 217 against him 7uas softened by this speech. — It is conjectured that S--* was the original sequel of 8^ ; see above, p. 1 76.* 1. anns tr'-'S rSvS ncNM] plur. with following collective subject. — nam no u'? n^a^ nrn] Ges.-^ p. 472; Paul, Principien, p. 114 f. — pN-^p ^nSaS] Baer; the common edd. have niNip. The normal inf is N"i|">; grammarians explain the form in the text as due to the analogy of n-^ (Sta. § 619 >('; K6., i. p. 61 1). Possibly we should rather attribute TN-ip ^nSn"' to the analogy of the common HNnp^. — no'-n oj when (©!LEn'7:)^ no] inf. in direct regimen; Gen. 37* Ex. 2^ 18^3 Nu. 2238 &c.; cf Jud. 1 1^5. — Dmi nnoi TvV] nn, excited feeling, passion; the specific definition is given by the context; cf. Job 15I3 Eccl. 10* (ndic). — vSiJD] cf. uoD ri-\>i Ex. 426, also Jud. 1 1^^. 4-27. The pursuit beyond the Jordan. — Gideon, with his three hundred men, follows the Midianites across the Jordan. The men of Succoth and Penuel refuse him food for his hungry band ; with threats of vengeance, he presses on (v.**"^) . He sur- prises the camp and takes prisoners the two kings (v.^°-^-). Returning in triumph, he inflicts condign punishment on Succoth and Penuel (v.^^"^''), and slays the captive kings to avenge the death of his brothers (v.^^"^^). He decHnes the offer of the king- dom (v.^-*"). Of a part of the gold taken among the spoils he makes an image {ephod) which he sets up at Ophrah (v.^^--*^). The unity of this part of the story is obvious and unquestioned. The only exception is v.^^', in which the ' men of Israel ' offer Gideon the kingdom and he declines from theocratic motives. These verses certainly do not belong to the narrative of J ; see comm. in loc. In the enumeration of the spoils (v.-*^) some exag- geration by later editors or scribes may be suspected. On the rela- tion of 8^"' to 6^-8^, see above, p. 1 76 f . ; and on the connexion with ch. 9, see introduction to that chapter. — 4. Gideon eame to * See, however, on 8-'-'-. 21 8 JUDGES the Jordan'] if our analysis be correct, this is a continuation of J's narrative. In 7" he has told us that the Midianites fled to Seredah, probably near the principal crossing of the Jordan between the vicinity of Shechem and the opposite region of Gilead. The Bedawin on their camels (S-'-^*^ cf. 6') easily out- stripped the pursuit and made their escape across the river. The answer of the men of Succoth shows that they beHeved the raiders to be already far out of reach ; the surprise of the camp shows that the Midianites imagined themselves to be so. — Cross- ing over, he and the three hundred men] the participial con- struction is an unusual one ; the ordinary expression would be, and crossed over. Perhaps the word is a gloss ; see note. — The three hundred men are evidently a constant feature in the dif- ferent versions of the story ; cf. f'^. — Exhausted and pursuing] cf. 4"^ The ancient translators found the order of the words unnatural, and tried various shifts with them. — 5. Succoth] evi- dently lay east of the Jordan, not very far from the ford ; Jos. 13^ (cf. Ps. 60*^) locates it in the valley ; Gen. t^-^'^ (cf. 32^-^^) brings it into connexion with Penuel, as in our passage ; both are in the vicinity of the Jabbok (Nahr ez-Zerqa).* The sites have riot been recovered. In the Jerusalem Talmud, Succoth is identified with Dar'ala, the modern Tell Deir 'Alia just north of the Zerqa ; but it is very doubtful whether this is any more than an inference of Jewish scholars from the passages in the Old Testament which are cited above.! A place north of the Jabbok would be out of the line of Gideon's pursuit, if the other topographical notices of our story have been rightly interpreted. The connexion in Gen. also favours a site south of the Jabbok. % — Loaves of bread] round flat cakes ; i S. lo'^ — To the men who are at my feet] 4^^. — Zebah and Zaimutina, the kings of Midian] cf. Oreb and Zeeb, the chiefs of Midian, in ch. 7. The pronunciation of the names has very likely been perverted by malicious wit ; see note. — 6. The authorities of the town refuse Gideon's request. The translation, pri^ices of Succoth (EV.), is not quite accurate, the * On Succoth see Reland, Palaestina, p. 308 ; Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 248 f. ; S. Merrill, East of the Jordan, p. 385 ff. t See Merrill, " Identification of Succoth and PcnuelJ" Dibl. Sacra, ?(xxiv. 1877^ p. 742-754 ; on the other side, Paine, ib. xxxv. p. 481-498. X Kohl., Di., Del., al. VIII. 4-7 219 word means rather officials ; here, the men who stood at the head of the council of elders; see on v.^^ The disposition of the tribes east of the Jordan to pursue their separate interests, uncon- cerned by what befell their kinsmen across the river, is made a reproach to them in the Ode of Deborah ; see on 5^^ It is not improbable, moreover, that in Succoth and Penuel, as in Shechem (ch. 9), the native population predominated. It is hardly neces- sary to seek a motive for the refusal in the fear of reprisals by the Midianites* They add to denial, derision. — Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in thy power, that we should give thy soldiers bread ?~\ Gideon was on a bootless errand; the Midianites were already far away, and if he and his little company should come up with them, it would only be the worse for him. Why should they help him on in this wild expedition? — 7. He answers their jeer with a threat... When he returns victorious, he will requite their conduct as it deserves; cf. v}\—I will thresh your flesh with thorns of the desert and thistles'] cf. v.^^ With, not of instrument, but of accompaniment, together with. He will throw them naked into a bed of thorns and trample them together, like grain on the threshing-floor.t This is the only natural interpre- tation of the words, but it does not seem to agree with v.'^ and the text is perhaps glossed; see note. Palestine has a great variety of thorny plants and shrubs, many of which are formi- dably armed. The meaning threshing-sledges, frequently attributed in modern dictionaries and commentaries to the word translated above, thistles, is a figment of bad etymology. 4, n^V] this use of the circumstantial ptcp, is anomalous (though cf. Nu. 1 62"). I We expect -\2TV, and the text is either to be so emended (cf. (5?LSE) ; or, more probably, in;' (^abar) was originally a marginal gloss, which, when transferred to the text, was forced into construction by pronounc- ing "ober. — 5. m:;D] Jer. Shebiith, ix. 2 (fol. sS^) identifies the places named in Jos. 1327 in order from south to north: Beth-nimrah, r'^'^J ^'^ (now Tell Nimrin); Snccoth, n^y^n (later edd. nSynn; modern Deir 'Alia); Zaphon,§ inn>' CA/xa^oOs Fl. Jos., antt. xiii. 13, 3 § 356, cf. 0S-\ 21975; now Amateh, near the Jordan, north of Wady er-Rugeib).— >'2r^';'?i n^r] (5 Ze/3€e Kal i:a\fxava. M, as so often in similar cases, by an inept witticism makes * Arias. Cler., Stud., Reuss. al. t So r, riglitly interpreted by Ki. + Cf. Ew. § 341 ^. 3- ^ Cf. Jud. 12I. ' 220 JUDGES the names mean Victim and Protection refused. What the former really was can hardly be made out; * the latter is probably a compound of dSs, cf. 3?!i'oSi' in an inscription from Teima.f With the second element, cf. yjo"" i Chr. 7^^, >jcn Gen. 36*° (Edom). In all probability we have here a genuine Midianite name. — 6. moD n-^' -^DvSii] probably to be emended nssM; the uninflected predicate of the verbal sentence with a human subject is not in Hebrew used with the same freedom as in Arabic; Ges.^^ § 145, 7; cf. Roorda, § 589. Com- pare 4I0 7^ I2'5. — 7. "Ti^ni . . . mn> nna] consec. pf. after temporal clause, Dr3. § 123 /3; Ges.25 § 112, 5 <:. — i^tnn ^sip tn] cum spinis (IL, cf. ®;'3 JD njn, in which Halevy and E. Meyer are very probably right in seeing, not a mystical epithet, "Tnt, face of Baal," but the name of a place; cf, promunturium quod Saturni vocatur, Plin., n. h., iii. 19. — 10. ipip3] a similar name (Qarqaru) is found in inscriptions of Sal- manassar and Sargon; apparently a place in the vicinity of Hamath (Schrader, KAT^. p. 180). In v.ii ^'" puts the camp at 'Aro'er (see on ii33).*_ ^iSn -w^ na'DHD] with the irregular construction of the numeral cf. 2 S. 19I8 Jud. 2o25, Ges.25 § 97, 2 n. — D-ip >j3] in a wider sense than in 63-33^ to include all the Bedawin. — D^^Qjn] the slain ; 20*^ Jos. S^s Jer. 6^^ S^^ &c. — inn n'^tt'] excludes non-combatants; the phrase 2o2-i5. 17.35. 4C 2 S. 24^ &c. The resem- blances in this part of the verse to ch. 20 are to be noted. — 11. a^SnN3 \ji3i;*n] commonly rendered, those who are lodged in tents, i.e., the Bedawin, and explained, the road which they ordinarily took in crossing the country, per- haps a trail which avoided the larger towns. This interpretation is more ingenious than convincing. The construct state before a preposition is not infrequent (Philippi, Status constructus, p. 57; Ew. § 289 b-, Ges.^^ § 130, i); but the article before the construct is foreign to the whole genius of the Semitic languages, and is not rendered less objectionable by reference to other instances of the same error (Ps. w^-^ 123^; cf. Philippi, p. 40 f.; 01. on Ps. 1 1 3*')- The pass. ptcp. is also a stumbling-block, not so much in itself (see Ko., i. p. 176 f.), as because the act. ptcp. of this verb is usual in this sense and construction. Finally, l"n with a gen. is elsewhere always the way to, or by, a place; not that used by such and such persons; f the road leading to the Bedawin camps, would be suitable here, but cannot be extracted from the text. — nnij''] ^ nhdi; by etymological combination. — ni33 rfn njn::ni] n:D3 is predicate, not adv. accus. of state (Be.). — 12. nnnn] so versions (exc. ®^. Scharfenberg conj. Dnnn; % Schleusner nn^n. If an emendation is necessary, ninDn (Ex. 232^ Ps. 83^) would perhaps be preferable to either; cf. (gA e^irpixpev. Cf. however, Ez. 30^ Zech. 2^ 2 S. 172. 13-17. Gideon returns with his prisoners and punishes Suc- coth and Penuel. — 13. The end of the verse is obscure. The words are now commonly understood to designate the point at which Gideon turned back, from the pass of Heres ; § and the significance of this notice is supposed to be, that from this place * Stud, suggested that np-ip may be a harder pronunciation of i>n;' ; cf. Aram. Npnx for NinN. t Nu. 2ii is not an exception ; way of the spies is inadmissible (Di. ad loc). X Cf. FI. Jos., 5te<|.0eipe. ^ ffi^ ■»!• 5. Be., Ke., al. 224 JUDGES he returned to Succoth by a different road from that which he had taken in the pursuit, and so took the town by surprise.* In our ignorance of the topography, we may hesitate to pronounce decidedly against this explanation; but we cannot have much confidence in it. The text is not intact, and it is doubtful whether the slight emendation which this interpretation requires is suf- ficient to restore it. — 14. He caught a boy from Succoth and by questioning got from him a list of the principal men of the place. — He wrote down for him the officials of Succoth a?id its elders~\ in v.^ only the oflicials {sarim) are mentioned; in v.^^ only the elders {zeqen'im). The latter are the heads of the famiHes or septg which were settled in the town ; all the functions of govern- ment, so far as they existed in such a state of society, were in the hands of the council of elders.t The word sar, on the other hand, designates an officer, official, especially one appointed by the government ; cf. 9^, the commandant of the city, &c. Here also it may perhaps mean military officers, the leaders of the men of Succoth in war ; cf. the chiefs {sarun) of Midian, 7^ 8^. — Seventy- seven 7ne7i\ one of those round numbers that are hardly meant to be taken arithmetically. In early times the number of elders in a city was naturally determined by the number of families that were able to establish their right to be represented in the council. — 15. With this description of the men who were to be held responsible for the affront he had received, Gideon came to Suc- coth. The place does not seem to have offered any resistance ; it was probably not walled. — Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, with who7n you taunted me'] v.^. He had kept his prisoners alive in order to show them thus to the citizens of Succoth and Penuel. — To thine exhausted men] the adjective which Gideon himself uses in v.^ is effectively put in the month of the men of Succoth to aggravate their churhshness. — 16. He carries out his threat (v.^). — He took the elders of the town and thorns of the desert and thistles, and threshed with them the men of Succoth] for threshed J^ has, taught; cf. i S. 14^^ None of the versions, however, seem to have read so, and the correspondence to v.^ is otherwise so close that we should expect the same verb which is used there. * Ew. t See also 1 1^. VIII. 13-17 225 The form of torture intended is probably one to which there are numerous references in Greek authors, and which has survived to modern times under the name of carding. Thus Croesus is said to have put to death a partisan of his brother : I-kX Kva(J3ov €Xko)v SucfiOcLpe ; * and in Plato's Inferno the very worst offenders, such as the tyrant Ardioeus, are tortured in this way ; f see note. — Budde suspects that the words, ^/te elders of the town and, are a gloss. — 17. Gideon carries out. his threat by destroying the tower of Penuel, and slays the inhabitants of the place. — It would be hazardous to infer, from the fact that the chastisement of Succoth precedes that of Penuel, that the author represented Gideon as returning by a different road from that which he followed in the pursuit ; it would be not unnatural for him to relate the fulfilment of Gideon's threats in the order in which they were made (v.''-**), without reflecting that on his way back he would come to Penuel first. 13. Dnnn nV];D'?n] ©avlmo g ^t^^^ dva^daem Apes; % so also S. Cf. Jerome (^OS^. 963), adscensus Ares, pro quo Aquila interpretatur saltmim, Symmachus montium. The former renders ij'-inn (cf. i S. 23I8 'A ets rhv dpvfxdv), which reminds us of the Moabite names cnn -i-'p, nunn n"«p. S represents cnnn; e also is said to have had 6povs; the word Din was evidently a stumbhng- block, as in i^^ (^^qq Field ad loc.^. rh'^r^ pass i^^ Jos. lO^o 15', ©^^ dTrd kird- vioOev Apes (rrjs irapard^ews 2° in ^ is an accidental repetition), i.e. r\^';r2hT2; § but this would require Din'?. Others take Dinn appellatively; so IL an^e so/is ortuni ; || ^, Ra., before the sun set; Ki. gives us the choice of these two renderings. Neither is admissible ; rh^'O is not the act of rising, but the place where or by which one goes up, pass, steps, &c. (Schm.) ; the translation of 1^ confounds the word with Aram. Syc, from a different root (cf. Dan. 6^^). If we interpret, from the pass of Ileres, it will be necessary to emend nS;;D!2; the composite preposition is consistent only with the interpretation of ©^ dirb iirdvwdev; see Stud. — 14. V^N ^HDm] 2 S. Ill* ^c.; cf. 'S 3PD Dt. 24I &c. There is as httle reason: to depart from the usual meaning of the verb as there is to infer from it that the Israelites of Gideon's time could all read and write. — 15, D"ii3V"'!^] v.^ Dio^jrn. — 16. niDD ^'Cia nx dh^ ';yi\ the Iliph. of j,n^ without 1 is anomalous.^ (5 has the same verbs as in v." (-^Xdrjaev ^^, Kari- * Hdt., i. ge; Plut., de malign. Herod., p. 858. f Rep., x. p. 616 A. X ©^l eni ; cf. I in ascensione Hares. ^ Cf. Stud., Ew. II Similarly, RLbG., Abarb. (he turned back at sunrise), Vatabl., Tremell., Drus., Cler. If In Nu. i65 the spelling may intentionally leave the choice between Kal (tS) and Hiph. 9 225 JUDGES iavev -^^O g) J * so also % contrivit (with the doublet, et comminuii). i2 nsn^ inx] most modern interpreters take nns distributively, each one resembled the children of a king; AV., RV., with Lth., Cler., Schm. {tmusquisque sicutfilii regis). Be., Ke., al. mu. But nns is nowhere used in this way, J and this interpretation did not suggest itself to any of the ancient translators or commentators. (Q^%'E render unus ex eis ; (gBNAPVO g 0 ^ do not represent nnN at all. Ra. (alt.), Ki., Stud., connect it with the preceding as adverbial accusative, lit., thy likeness was their likeness^ all one ; but for this again there is no analogy. The text can hardly be sound; the simplest emendation is probably nnx So. — nsn * figure, stature, bodily presence.' — At Tabor'] niDn pSx i S. lo-^, not far from Bethel, § is as much too far to the south as Mt. Tabor to the north. It may perhaps be suspected that the true name of the place where Gideon's brothers were killed is preserved in 9^'^ (v>xn m3tp), and that it has been changed here to nnn in conformity with the representation of 6^^^ — 19^ ,|-, nini] a common form of oath; lit. Yahweh is living; Ges.^^ § 149. — oninn h "TJ-in nS . . .] cf. 1323, iS with pf. in hypothesis contrary to reality; Dr*. §139; Ges.25 p. 482. Obs. the pf. in apodosis also; they are already as good as dead, n^nn ' spare, let live,' Nu. 22^^ 2 S. 8^ &c. — 20. ini] = nn> Ex. 4^^. — 21. 1P-I12J c-iND 13] in the s»nse in which we have translated the words {quia juxta aetatem robur est hominis 3L), innuj p would be expected; but the ellipsis may be possible. (^^^ 8ti ws dvdpbs rj dvpafxls (tov. — D-'J^nr] \.^^ Is. 3^8 1_ 'pi^g word is connected with Aram. Syr. Nnno * moon,' and both name and thing appear to be of foreign origin. • See Schroeder, De vestitu mulieriim^ p. 33-44 ; Hartmann, Die Hebrderin, ii. P- 26s ff. t Cf. Gen. 354, X The examples alleged, such as i K. 5^ 2 K. 1520, are essentially different; they all have the distributive '7. ^ See above on ^\ p. 113. VIII. 21-22 229 22, 23. Gideon declines the kingdom. — The Israelites offer to make Gideon and his descendants hereditary rulers ; he refuses out of religious scruple. This does not agree with the represen- tation of J in the preceding narrative, in which Gideon and his clansmen of Abiezer act for themselves and by themselves : the men of Israel appear on the scene quite unexpectedly ; * we must imagine them convoked for the express purpose.! The refusal, v.^\ is at variance also with ch. 9, from which we see that Jerubbaal had, at least in the vicinity of Shechem, an authority which would in natural course devolve to his sons. | IT v.^- '^ belong to either of the two sources which we have tried to sepa- rate in ch. 6-9, it must be to E, in which the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, and perhaps others, take part in the campaign. For this origin of the verses we may also adduce i S. 8^ 10^''' 12^^ (E),in which the same condemnation of the kingdom, as con- flicting with the sovereignty of Yahweh, is expressed in very similar terms. § A later writer (D) || would have no visible motive for introducing the offer and rejection of the kingdom in this place. If E is the author of the verses, they must have stood in his narrative after 8^"^ ; the editor who combined y-'^-S^ with 8*"^^ (Rje) would be constrained to transpose them to their present place. To this hypothesis it may be objected, that the author who represented the Ephraimites as meeting the victor in such a truculent mood (8^'^) can hardly have conceived of their turning around and offering to make him king. If 8^""^ are genuine, as I have tried to show, the only answer would be that 8"^- ^ belong to a secondary stratum in E (Eo), to which we might then perhaps ascribe 7^ also. This, again, would have the support of the cor- responding passages in Samuel, which are commonly attributed to Eg. — 22. The men of Israel~\ the body of freemen who formed the army ; cf. y^'* (f^. What tribes the author meant to represent as taking part in this assembly can hardly be determined ; Manasseh and Ephraim pretty certainly, possibly also the others named in 7^. — Rtile over us\ 9^; cf. reign in Jotham's fable (^^loi^. m^^ * In 7I4 in the mouth of the Midianite the phrase has a different connotation, t Contrast i S. iii2ff. + We. $ See Vatke, Alttest. Theol., p. 263 f. ; We.. Comp., p. 227 ; Co., Einl^. p. 95 f. II Kitt. 230 JUDGES We should hardly attribute any significance to the fact that the latter word is not used here;* what they offer him and his descendants is in fact a kingdom, differing by the hereditary prin- ciple from the purely personal authority of the Judge {shophet). — Because thou hast delivered its'] cf. lo^^ ii^ ^ To deliver his people in war is the very caUing of a king ; i S. 9^^ Is. 2,f^ &c. — 23. / wi/l not rule over you, 7ior shall my son rule over you ; Yahweh shall rule over you^^ cf. i S. 12^-17.19 §7 j^u) j^os. 13'*^^ 9^ lo^ The condemnation of the kingdom as in principle irrecon- cilable with the sovereignty of Yahweh, the divine king, appears to date from the last age of the kingdom of Israel, those terrible years of despotism, revolution, and anarchy which intervened between the death of Jeroboam II. and the fall of Samaria, when history seemed to write large the words of Yahweh by a prophet of the time : Thou saidst give me a king and princes ; I give thee a king in my anger and take him away in my fury.f It first appears in Hosea and in the Ephraimite historians of his time or a little later (Eg).! On v.22f- see Wellhausen, Comp., p. 226 f.; Stade, GVI. i. p. 190 f.; Kuenen, HCC^. i. p. 348; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 115-117; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 73 f. (cf. p. 5); Cornill, Einl^. p. 95 f.; Wildeboer, Letterktmde, p. 99. — We. and Sta. (cf. also Kue., Kitt.) surmise that in the original narrative the kingdom was not only offered, but accepted; a later editor corrected this in a theocratic spirit (v. 23). — 23. On the gods as kings in Semitic religions, see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 66 ff. The sovereignty of Yahvi^eh was, of course, universally recognized in old Israel (cf. e.g. Jud. 5) ; the whole development of the religion presupposes this principle. But it is one thing to acknowledge Yahweh as the divine king, as Isaiah, for example, does, § and quite a different thing to conclude that he cannot endure the existence of a human king in Israel. This is by no means a necessary theological inference; it must have had a definite historical reason such as the experience of Israel in the 8th century afforded. 24-27. The origin of the idol at Ophrah. — At Gideon's recjuest the warriors give him the rings which they have taken from the fallen Midianites. Of this gold he makes an idol • Observe that rule is employed in v.2S also, of Yahweh's sovereignty, and in 922 of Abimelech. f Hos. \^^^- X Vatke, Alttest. TheoL, p. 478 n. ; We., Sta., Co., Bu., Smend, Alttest. Reli- gionsgesch., p. 193 f. § Is. 6^; see Smend, p. 205. VTTT 22-26 231 {ephod) which he sets up at Ophrah. The Israehtcs worship it ; and it becomes a cause of evil to Gideon and his family. — The making of the ephod which stood in the holy place at Ophrah may very well have been narrated in J ; it was a famous trophy of the great victory over Midian. The latter part of v.-*^, which makes it a cause of apostasy to Israel and of ruin to the house of Gideon, expresses a very different feeling toward it; both the thought and the language betray a later writer (cf. 2'', 2''). Verse -^-^'^ are ascribed by Kuenen, Budde, and others to the older narrative, which spoke of the ephod without a suspicion of dis- approval.* The verses are, however, closely connected with v.--* , and in this connexion, as well as in the additions to v.^*"', the hand of the editor must be recognized. — 24. Let me make a request of you'] the words coimect very naturally with v.''^^- ; he declines the kingdom which in their gratitude for deliverance they offer him, but asks of them the golden ornaments they have stripped from the slain. If v.^^- are rightly ascribed to a different author from v.-^-^%t the beginning of v.^"* must have been harmonized by the editor who combined them (Rje). In J the request could only be addressed to Gideon's followers, the Abiezrites. — £7'ery man give 7ne the ring of his spoil] ear-rings are probably meant ; nose-rings appear in the O.T. only as women's adornments. — They wore gold rings, for they were Ishmaelites] Ishmaelite seems to be used here not of the race, but of the mode of life, Bedawin. In the genealogical systems, the Midianites belong to a different branch of the Abrahamidae from the Ishmaelites ; see on 6\ We are to infer that such ornaments were not worn by the settled tribes. J The half-verse is perhaps a gloss. — 25. They willingly accede to his request ; a mantle is spread on the ground, and the rings they had stripped from the slain are thro^vn into it. The mantle {si?nlah) was a wide outer garment or wrapper. It could readily be converted into a sack by bringing the corners together and tying them ; cf. Ex. 1 2^^ Prov. 30''. — 26. The weight of the * Cf. Kitt. In V.26 the list of spoils has been lengthened by other hands (Bu.). We. and Sta. consider the whole passage, v.22-27^ a later addition. See the authors cited above on v.22f., p. 230. f Kue., Co., Kitt. ; cf. Bu. X The caravan-traders, whose connexions extended to the gold lands of Arabia, were far richer in such things than the peasants. 232 JUDGES gold rings amounted to seventeen hundred shekels, not far from seventy pounds. The figures are not excessively large, even if they represent the spoil of Gideon's three hundred men ; a single ring might often weigh half a shekel (cf Gen. 24'"). — Not including the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kifigs of Midian'] cf. v.-^ The half-verse is an edi- torial exaggeration such as we have noted in a number of other places. This catalogue of things which were not used in making the ephod is quite superfluous, and only interrupts the narrative.* — Crescents and pefidatits'] coupled in the same way in Is. 3^^*, the only other place where the latter word occurs. The transla- tion/(?;/^/(?;z/j' (? ^^r-drops) is suggested by the etymology; just what kind of jewelry is meant cannot be certainly known ; on the crescents, see on v.-\ — The purple garments worn by the ki7igs of Midian~\ the spoils of the kings naturally fell to the leader of the expedition (v.-^). Purple robes are the badge of royalty; but would J imagine the Bedawin chiefs riding to a foray in their robes of state ? — The necklaces that were on the necks of their camels'] \?^. Budde sees in these words the only genuine part of V.-''''', and regards v.^^^^ as a gloss, explaining in an unnecessary way how Gideon got these crescents.! Wellhausen and Stade, on the contrary, rightly hold v."^ to be genuine, and the whole of v.^''' secondary ; observe the substitution of the general necklaces for the rare and characteristic cresce^its. The author of v.-^'' wished to enumerate all that fell to Gideon in the distribution, as well as what was given him at his request by the people, regardless of the inappropriateness of the inventory in this place. — 27. Gideon ?nade it into an ephod] the ephod was made of the gold rings of the Midianites (v.^"' -'^"') ; % v?^'^ is obviously a gloss ; see above. Ephod is the specific name of a kind of idol; cf. if 18^* &c. Hos. 3*. § This appears here from the material, and the quantity of it employed, as well as from the verb, place. That it was so understood by the editor is evident from his comment, all Israel went whoring after it, his standing expression for heathenish or idolatrous worship. The ephod seems to have been peculiarly ♦ Especially the purple robes. f Richt. u. Sam., p, 116. J The rings were amulets (Gen. 354; cf. the Aram. N-'ip) ; the gold was already holy. ^ Procop., fxavrtlov ^ eifiwAoi/. VIII. 26-29 233 an oracular idol; see more fully on if. — And placed ii in his native city, Ophrah'] where it remained to later times. On the verb see note. — All Israel went astray after it~\ 2''; it became the object of an idolatrous cult, in which Israelites from all parts of the land participated. — And it became a snare to Gideon and his family~\ 2^ ; the cause of the ruin that overtook his house. The clauses are an editorial addition, expressing the judgement of a later time, and have possibly supplanted the original close of the sentence. — 28. Closing formulas of the editor; see on 3'^^ — And did not lift its head again"] Zech. i-^ ; their power and spirit were completely broken by their defeat. — 29. And Jerublmal ben Joash went and dwelt at his home] the verse stands singu- larly out of place. That the making and setting up of the idol at Ophrah is related before his return home, might perhaps be explained by supposing that the writer wished to finish at once telling what was done with the spoils of the Midianites ; but v.^ brings the story of Gideon to a formal close, v.^ cannot stand after it. Budde conjectures that v.^ originally stood after S"*, being the conclusion of the first of the two stories of the rout of Midian ; from this place it was necessarily removed when Z^^ was combined with 7^^-8^. If 8-^*"- be from the same source, place must be made for them between 8^ and 8^.* 24. nSxty] cognate object. — uni] imv. corresponding to the preceding impf. energ.; and do you give. — dtj] nose-xva^ is ordinarily ^Nn ctj (H'"* ^> 'S£3, tiN3), Gen. 2422 (Sam.) ^7 is. 321 Ez. 1612 Prov. 1122. Cf. Jerome on Ez. I.e. {_Opp. ed. Vallarsi, v. 155); Hartmann, Hebrderin, iii, p. 205. — 25. pj pnj] certainly, we will give them ; emphasizing the willingness with which they accede to his request; cf. 4^^. — nSnu'n] the particular one taken for the purpose, and made definite in the mind of the writer by that fact; cf. on 7!^ Ges.25 § 126, 4; Davidson, Syntax, § 21 e. — 26. The omission of the unit of measure {shekel) is common; cf. 9* 172-3.4 &c. — a^nncn] see on v.21. — mi3''!0jni] the ancient versions took the word as the name of some kind of necklace or coUar.f Some Jewish interpreters connected it with q-Jj Ex. 30** (o-Ta/cTiy), and explain, capsules in which this sweet-smelling gum was worn (older scholars quoted by Ki., RLbG., al.) ; so Schm., Buxtorf. Abulwalid suggests that it may be equivalent to the Arab. natafat'"\ a small, clear pearl (from its resemblance to a drop of water), or a bead of gold or silver (origi- nally of spherical or elongated form) fastened to the lobe of the ear, ear-drop ; * For an alternative hypothesis, sec note below, t Only ST N"''?^'?d, diadems, chaplcts. 234 JUDGES cf. (TTaXdyfJLiov. This interpretation is adopted by Schroeder, JDMich. (pearls), Ges. 7yies., Stud.; others simply, ear-drops (Be., Reuss, al.)". See esp. Schroe- der, De vestitu mulicrum, p. 45-56. — tDJ-iNn njj] the colour is a red pur- ple, not violet: see PUn., n. h. ix. 133-135; Delitzsch, PREP', iv. p. 490 ff". The name is foreign; cf. Assyr. argamannu, Fr. Del., Assyr. Hwb., p. 129.* The dye was extremely costly (Plin., n. h. ix. 124). — T^'] see on 6^^ observe -irN immediately after. — 27. ni3x] on the etymology and meaning of this word, see note on 17^.— r:«n] 63^ Gen. 3088 i S. 52 2 S. 6I".— 28. ^D^D p>'ij] Bu. would emend 'J ^d> Sd, after 2I8. — 29. Jerubbaal^ if the verses came originally from E, we should probably have to assume that Jerubbaal had been substituted for Gideon by an editor. An alternative would be to suppose that the account of the making of the ephod comes from Ei (instead of J, as in our analysis above); v.^^ -would then be the conclusion of J's story, following immediately upon \P-. This hypothesis would also better explain the intimate connexion which now exists between v.'^^f- ^nd v.2*-3''. 30-35. t Verses ^■■'^ belong to the Deuteronomic framework of the book ; thought and expression correspond to those of D in 2i2fl. ^r ^ggg below). What these verses contain in addition to the author's pragmatic formulas ; viz., that the Israehtes adopted the worship of the Shechemite Baal-berith (v.*^''), and their ungrate- ful treatment of Jerubbaal's family (v.'^), is derived from ch. 9. These notices are inserted not as an introduction to ch. 9, X but as a substitute for it. § Ch. 9, as will appear below, was not included by D in his Book of Judges. The story of Abimelech and the Shechemites did not naturally fall into his scheme of apostasy, oppression, and deliverance ; its moral was of a different kind. He therefore omitted it, only taking the worship of Baal-berith as an instance of the chronic lapse into heathenism, and summing up the rest in v.""^, as a proof of Israel's ingratitude to their defender, matching their forgetfulness of the divine deliverer. Verses ■'^^"'^-, on the contrary, form an introduction to the story of Abimelech ; some such preparation is presupposed in 9^, where Abimelech first appears upon the scene. In their present form, however, these verses can hardly be attributed to the author of • We should naturally expect the name of this colour to be of Phoenician origin, and to have come to the Assyrians from the West, rather than from the Assyrians to the Hebrews; and though we cannot at present prove this, it is the safer assumption. So also G. Hoffmann, Z. A. 1894, p. 337 f. t On these verses see especially Buddc, Richt. u. Sam., p. 119-122. \ So most recent critics. ^S Bu. VTTT. 30-33 235 ch. 9 ; more than one phrase in them suggests rather a writer famil- iar with the Priestly narrative in Genesis.* There is no trace of a Deuteronomic hand. In view of these facts, the hypothesis of Budde is the most acceptable which has been proposed. It is that the final editor (Rp) restored ch. 9, which Rd had omitted, prefixing to it this introduction (v.^^-^^^, the substance of which he derived from the pre-deuteronomic source in which he found the story of Abimelech. To this source probably belonged also the notice of the burial of Jerubbaal ; cf. 2'-*. — 30. Now GUcon had seventy sons'\ the number, 92- «• i«- -'4. se . ^^^ Abdon's seventy sons and grandsons (12"), Jair's thirty sons (10^), &c. — Who issued from his loins'] lit. thigh; Gen. 46^'^ Ex. i^ cf. Gen. 35^^ {Vy . — For he had many wives'] the numerous hareem is an evidence of his wealth and power; see below on 9^. — 31. His concubine who lived in Shecheni] 9^- ^ ^^ The woman was evidently a Canaanite, and a free woman (see 9^-^), notwithstanding Jotham's fling (9^*). The relation of Jerubbaal to her was probably like that of Samson to his Philistine wife at Timnath, a sadtqa marriage ; see on I4'^t — He gave him the name Abimelech] the name is not to be inter- preted, ' My father (Jerubbaal) is king ' : as in all similar cases, Melek is a divine title or name ; cf. Abimelech, Elimelech, Nathanmelech ; also Malchishua, &c. It is doubtful, however, whether we should explain the name, ' Melek (the god-king) is (my) father,' or ' Father of Melek * ; the latter, impossible as it sounds to our ears, is not without analogy in Semitic proper names ; see note. For the worshipper of Yahweh, he is the King ; for the Canaanites of Shechem, their Baal-berith. — 32. At a good old age] the phrase occurs only in Gen. 15^^ (K-p) 25^^ (P) I Chr. 29-^ — A7id was buried in the tomb of Joash his father] cf. 2^ = Jos. 24^". — In Ophrah] see crit. note. — 33. On v.^"^ see above, p. 234. — As soon as Gideon died] cor- responding to the general theory of D (2^^); the death of the judge was always the signal for a lapse into heathenism ; cf. x^- ''"^^ 3"-^', 4^ — The Israelites again apostatized to heathenism] lit. returned and we7it whorifig after the baals. Cf. v.^'' 2'^; Ex. 34"^- * Observe, issuing from his loins (v.^o) ; a fine old age (v.*^) ; see comm. on the w, t Bu., p. 121 ; cf. W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, ch. 3; asp. p. 76. 236 JUDGES Dt. 3I^^ The phrase is not that used by D in the Hexateuch {other gods, 2^^-^'** &c.) ; it may have been chosen here with refer- ence to the worship of Baal-berith, v,''. On the baals, see on 2"- 13^ — And made Baal-berith their god^ specification to the general charge. Baal-berith, in 9^*^ called El-berith, was the god of Shechem, where he had a temple g*'^^* The author of 8*^ evidently assumes that the people of Shechem were Israelites, and generahzes the local worship of Baal-berith into a defection of Israel as a whole. Nothing is clearer, however, in ch. 9 than that the population of Shechem was Canaanite ; the insurrection fomented by Gaal is a rising of the native inhabitants against the rule of the half- Israelite Abimelech ; see esp. v.^. — 34. Did not remember Yahweh their go d'\ cf. 3^ — Who resetted them from the power of all their enemies on all sides'] cf. i S. 12" 10^^ ; with the last phrase, Jud. 2^^ Dt. 12^*^ 25^^ Jos. 23^ i Chr. 22^ — 35. And were not good to the fainily of Jerubbaal] the substance of Jotham's accusation (9^^-^^) ; as in the foregoing verses (v.^**), what the Shechemites did is laid to the charge of all Israel. Deal well with one, requite good with good, Gen. 21^ Jos. 2^- Jud. i^^ — Jeriibbaal Gideon] the name Jerubbaal alone is used in ch. 9 ; Gideon alone in ch. 8 (except v.^) ; on the margin between the two, one name is glossed by the other. As the author draws directly from 9^^, he may have written Jerubbaal here, though in v.*'^ he writes Gideon ; comp. on f-. 30. vn \\;-\hy\ cf. iS vn niai d^U'j >d; it is all in the past. —31. iifjS^Di] 19 passim, 20*- ^-6; in 9^^ Jotham says innx. Di. (on Gen. 25*^) has observed that in Gen. tyjS^Q is more than once introduced by R. — N^n aj] Gen. 422.26 ig38 222'^ — iDty PN Dt'M] cf. 2 K. 1*]^ Nch. 9'' Dan. i" 5I2 (late; Bu.).— I^don] Gen. 20 21 26; cf. iSn^nN (i S. 21 2 S. 8i^),t and the Phoenician names I'^cn, and especially "iSdhpn ("iSonn). In the last the grammatical relation is unambiguous; the name is, Sister of Milk (Melek). Ahimelech is accordingly, Brother of Melek, not, My brother is Melek, and Abimelech, Father of Melek. J 32. njio n:!^!^^] Gen. 15I6 258 i Chr. 2928. — on n-ic>o "'"^^>'''] grammatically incorrect. Doom, would emend moj'a (62*) ; Kautzsch (Ges.2i p. 401) suggests that ."no>'3 should stand either after lap^i or at the end of the verse. Another possibility is that njyn ^dn is a gloss from 6^4, to * See comm. on 9*. t Other compounds of Melek, sec Baethgen, Beitrdge p. 146, X Noldeke, ZDMG. xlii. 1888, p. 480; cf. Phoen. mna'yDN, Mother of Astarte. VIII. 33-35- IX. 237 which the preceding word was not brought into grammatical accord. — 33. pp-\J '^>'3"i"'] even as a gloss we should require |i;nj Nin; cf. @«N' ni- ^. IX. Abimelech and the men of Shechem. — Abimelech, the half-Canaanite son of Jerubbaal, persuades the people of Shechem to have him for their ruler in preference to the other sons of his father. Abetted by them, he kills his brothers, — Jotham, the youngest, alone escaping the slaughter, — and is made king in She- chem (v.^"''). Jotham in a fable vents his contemptuous opinion of their new lord, upbraids them for their base ingratitude to Jerub- baal their defender, pronounces a curse upon them and their king, and flees (v.'^"-^) . After three years the Shechemites fall out with Abimelech ; an insurrection is fomented by one Gaal, a new- comer (v.^--^). Abimelech, apprised of the situation by the governor of the city, comes with his soldiers ; Gaal goes out to fight with him ; is beaten and driven back into the city, only to be cast out by the governor (v.^°-^^). In a second day's fighting, Abimelech takes the place by stratagem, puts the inhabitants to the sword, and destroys the city (v.'^"'^). The people of the neighbouring Tower of Shechem take refuge in the temple of El-berith ; Abimelech burns it over their heads (v.'*^"''^) . While besieging Thebez, Abimelech is fatally hurt by a millstone which a woman threw from the wall, and dies by the sword of his armour- bearer. So Jotham's curse is fulfilled (v.^^-^^. The character of the narrative as a whole displays a striking affinity to 8^-^^ ; of the pragmatism which pervades large parts of ch. 6. 7 there is no trace.* We should be inchned, therefore, in conformity to our analysis of the preceding chapters, to ascribe it to J-t Budde, on the contrary, derives it from E, who, in retelling the old folk-story, introduced of his own invention the fable of Jotham (v.^-^O- 1 The unity of the chapter has hitherto been almost unquestioned. It is, however, not unquestionable. There are clearly two accounts of the origin of hostilities between Abimelech and the Shechem- ites. In v.^-^ an evil spirit sent by God stirs up the Shechemites ; * Stud., We., Co. t Schrader-De Wette, Einl^. § 209. + To Ethe chapter is attributed by Bruston also (Bu., p. ii8 n.). On Jotham's fable, Kue., HCCf^. i. p. 349. See further in crit. note below. 238 JUDGES their armed bands rob all who pass through their territory : in v.^® a family of new-comers, headed by Gaal, incite a revolt by appeals to race- pride and hatred. The sequel of the first of these accounts is found in v.*-"''^ ; Abimelech lays an ambush against the city, takes and destroys it : that of the second is v.^-''^ We obtain thus two complete narratives, and the confused repetitions of the story as it now stands disappear. The fable of Jotham (v.^'-^) is cognate to the first of these two narratives, and carries with it its premises in v.^"^ ; from this source v.^^- also is derived. If our observation is correct, the version of the story in which Gaal plays the leading part may be ascribed to J ; the other to E. No traces of D's hand are discoverable in the chapter. The story of Gideon is concluded in the usual way in 8^ ; the intro- duction to the story of Jephthah, lo*^^-, follows. We must infer from the absence of D's characteristic setting that the history of Abimelech and the Shechemites was not included in the Deutero- nomic Book of Judges, into whose pragmatism it could not easily be coerced.* It was found, however, in the older Jehovistic book which D worked over ; the same sources run through it which we have discovered in ch. 6-8 ; and that it lay before D appears from 8^*"'^, which is his brief substitute for it. It must have been restored by a still later editor, who wrote 8^"^^ to introduce it.f An analysis of ch. 9 is attempted by Winckler {Altorientalische Forschungen, p. 59 ff.), as follows: J 9I-5. 21. 26-29.41. 42. 43. 46-49. E 96 [7-20] 21 # 23-25. 30-33. 34-35 [v.36-;58 i3 Nu. i^ ike. (never \'i3 m3N); x\o\., the house of his mother's father, but his mother's father' s-house, family. — 2. 'So •'J?N3 121] speak in the hearing of before; for one's self (Gen. 50*) or in behalf of another (Gen. 44^^) ; sometimes, address one in the presence of another (Gen. 2^^^- ^3 I6). it does not appear that the phrase, which is a common one,l has any peculiar emphasis, urge the question (Kitt.). — tPN tt»>N 032 Stt'D ON . . . tt'iN Chats' DD3 Sirpn] the alternative with cs . . . r, 20^8 2 S. 24I8 I K. 226- 15 &c.; cf. Jud. 22a. ■ The subject of the inf. is here * Cf. Dt, 12I6 24. f Somewhat similarly, Hitzig. G VI. i. p. 115. + Serar., Schm., Stud., Be., Sta., al. ^ Winckler propounds as a novelty the old conjecture that Millo was the name of Abimelech's mother's family. || On holy trees, sec on 4II 6II. H Cf. also, 'Vfl >j?K3 1DN 172; sip Ex. 24'. 244 JUDGES sciiaratcd from it by the complementary prep, and its object. In such cases the subj. is to be regarded as a nominative; see Ges.^^ § 115, 2. — 4. D^pn] Ii3 (Jephthah's band) 2 S. 6'^'^ 2 Chr. 13^ (|| S>'>^3 ^J3). Prop. * empty' (f^); idle (Prov. 12II 281^); wanton (2 S. 6-'^). Others, porHonless (% inopes), like Jephthah himself (cf. Neh. 518), men without a stake in society; or good for nothing, like the empty ears of grain, Gen. 4127, homines nullius frugis (Stud.). Cf. ^a/cd Matt. 5^2; Kautzsch, Aram. Gram., p. 10. — Dvns] Zeph. 3** cf. Jer. 23^2 (mino) Gen. 49*. In Arab, the verb means 'act arro- gantly, insolently, swagger'; in Aram, and Syr. it is used more particularly of the impudent boldness of men heated by wine, or of reckless licentiousness. The notion of perfidy which Abulw. finds in the Heb. word is not confirmed by the usage, ^ven. 1 reuchi. m. Aruch |,-,p3 (^cf. Ki.). — 6. niSd no] compare the Millo (Ni'?:2n, always with the article) in Jerusalem, 2 S. 5^ i K. 9I5. 24 ii27 2 Chr. 32^; an important part of the defences of the city (© usually 17 &Kpa). At a Beth-millo (query, in Jerusalem?) Joash was murdered (2 K. 1221). Following ® Nn"''70 (= Heb. nbbo Is. 37^^, cf. Ra.) and the context in I K. 1 12"^, the word is commonly interpreted 'fill' (of earth), earth- work (Ges. Thes.), more specifically, an outwork covering the entrance to a city or fortress (SS., cf. Sta., GVI. i. p. 343). These etymological explanations are uncertain ; the word is apparently Canaanite. We have no clue to the site ; the place must have been near Shechem. — 2X?D |iSn d;*] fJl points ^'ip as ptcp. Hoph. (Gen. 28^2)^ ^ /^^^ ^et up (cf. S IL), which is perilously near nonsense. Context and construction require the designation of a particular tree; in place of 3x0 we should have a genitive with the article. ^ALPVai. g ♦ 7rp6s T^ /SaXdi'v t^s o-rdcrews pronounced 3:sc[n] (Jos. 4^ cf. I S. 13'"^); cf. 'A iirl irediov crT-qXibfxaTos ^ NfiDp 1!:'">D d;?. In the light of Jos. 2426f- we need have no hesitation in emending nnxan pSs. That ::xp is a noun of the same meaning as njXD (Stud., SS., al.) is a much more hazardous conjecture; the article is indispensable, and the noun-type 3:£p inexplicable. In other places the na^n has been rendered harmless by substituiion of n:3rD (Gen. 332*^) ; cf. Gen. 3i-*9 (hdxc, cf. v.^^) and S a here masp^ya. 7-21. Jotham's apologue. — Jotham is apprised of the pro- ceedings, and, from a safe position on Mt. Gerizim, shouts in the ears of the assembly his fable of the trees who made them a king, giving it a pointed application to the Shechemites and their new lord. The application is not on all fours with the fable. The proper lesson of the fable is, that the good and useful members of the community have too much to do in their own station and calling to leave it for the onerous responsibilities of the kingdom ; it is only the idle and worthless who can be persuaded to take the ♦ Also ©BN with the doublet rp evperp (XXDjn) ; cf. M, IX. 7-21 245 ofifice. It is natural to see in the former part of the fable a refer- ence to Jerubbaal, who declined the kingdom which the unworthy Abimelech had just assumed ; * but if this contrast was in the writer's mind, he does not bring it out more distinctly in the sequel, which is exclusively occupied with Abimelech. The most striking incongruity is in the very point of the application. In v.^^ the question is, whether the trees are acting in good faith toward the box-thorn in making him king; in v.""', whether in making Abimelech king the Shechemites have acted in faith and honour toward Jerubbaal and his house.f From this discrepancy it has been inferred that the fable (v,^-'"') was not original with the author of v.'"^\ but was borrowed by him, perhaps from a collection of popular apologues, and put to a use quite foreign to its native purport. I It is somewhat hazard- ous, however, to draw this conclusion from the premises. Faith and honour are indeed used with a different reference in v.^'' from that which they implicitly have in v.^^ ; the application is logically defective. But such looseness of connexion is not altogether uncommon in the moral of apologues ; the parables of the New Testament would furnish more than one example. § While we concede the possibiHty, therefore, that the author has here drawn upon the stores of folk-wisdom, rather than on his own inven- tion, this supposition is by no means necessary ; and it remains the simpler and more natural hypothesis that the fable is of the same conception with the rest of the speech. If this be the case, it is very doubtful whether we should see in the fable a judgment upon the kingdom as a form of government, such as a number of recent critics are disposed to find in it. || The author had in mind a concrete instance, beyond which he had no occasion to travel. The attempt to determine the * Ch. 822f-. So the older interpreters generally ; see comm. on v.i*. The reason for refusing the kingdom in gSff- is totally different from that given in S"-23. t This is true, even if, with Doom., we regard v.icb-iita as a gloss ; for these verses are at least a correct exposition of the author's meaning (Smend). X See Reuss, CrAT. § 104; Wildeboer, Letterkunde d. (). V., p. 39-41 ; of. Smend, Alttest. Religlonsgesch. p. 66 n. (J Cf. e.g. the parable of the Unjust Steward. Lu. i6>-''. Stud, refers to the con- fusion of figures in John lo^ff . II So, in different ways, Reuss, Wildeboer, bu., Smend, al. 246 JUDGES age of the fable by its attitude to the kingdom is therefore very precarious.* Jotham's speech is hardly to be deemed historical ; f it is the way in which the author sets forth, at the appropriate moment, the true nature of the new kingdom, and foretells what will come of it (cf. v.^') . It is noteworthy, however, that these words are uttered, not, as in so many similar cases, by a nameless prophet, or by an angel, but by the man from whose lips they come with the most dramatic fitness. In this also we may perhaps see evidence of the antiquity of the whole story. \ — With the apo- logue, cf. especially 2 K. 14^. 7. Feop/e told JothaTn] that the citizens of Shechem were making Abimelech king. The author apparently represents Jotham as addressing the multitudes assembled at the holy tree to acclaim the king (v.^) . The words lose much of their point if we imagine that, after Abimelech had again left Shechem, Jotham himself called the people of the town together on Mt. Gerizim and delivered to them his speech. § — He stood on the top of Mt. Gerizim\ Mt. Gerizim is on the southern side of the valley in which Shechem lies, Mt. Ebal on the northern; see above, on y}. II From the summit of Gerizim, more than nine hundred feet high, a man could hardly make himself heard by people in the valley below ; ^ but the writer's language need not be pressed to this absurdity. Modern travellers have remarked a projecting crag on the side of the mountain, which forms a triangular plat- form overlooking the town and the whole valley, a natural pulpit admirably suited to the requirements of the story.** — Listen to me^ ye freemen of Shechem, and may God listen to you /] may God give ear to your prayers as you give ear to me. 8-15. The Fable. — 8. Once upon a time the trees went about to anoint a king over them'] they offer the kingdom first to the * Sec, e.g., Reuss, Wildeboer. t See, on the opposite side, Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 76. t We. ^ Kitt. II On Gerizim see Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 424 flF. ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 148 f., 187-193. ^ Kue. ** Furrer. Wandcrungen durch Paldslina, 1865, p. 244 f.o ; BL. ii. p. 330; Biid^., p. 222. IX. 7-13 247 olive, which in the zone in which it flourishes is the most valuable of trees to man ; olea . . . prima omnium arborum est (Columella).* In the fertile vale of Shechem (Nabulus) there are still extensive and beautiful groves of olive trees. f — 9. The olive declines the proffered honour. — Shall I stop my fatness, with which gods and ?ne?i are honoured'] ^ has, which God and men honour i7i jne ; X but this is probably an alteration from motives of reverence. § We expect something corresponding to v.^^, 7?iy wine that rejoices gods and men; and so the versions generally interpret, though the same motive which prompted the correction in iJH is apparent in their renderings. || As men anointed themselves on feast days, and as the head of a guest was anointed as a sign of honour, so oil was poured or smeared on the sacred stones which stood for the god, and in which, at least In older times, he was believed to dwell; cf. Gen. 28^^ 35^^5[ And as oil is in Pdestine an impor- tant article of food, taking the place of butter with us, it is offered to the gods with their bread.** — And come to rule over the trees] lit. sway ; the characteristic movement of a tree (Is. 7-), repre- sented as a gesture of authority ; his subjects must obey his beck and nod. — 10. They next invite the fig to be their king, but he also declines. — 11. Shall I stop my sweetness and my prolific crop] the fig tree bears at two or even three seasons of the year,tt and its fruit, fresh or dried, is not only a delicious luxury but one of the food staples of the country. %% — 12. Then they turn to the vine, only to meet the same refusal. — 13. Shall I stop my juice that gladdens gods and men] exhilarates them. Wine was used in hbations wherever the grape was known. Among the Greeks and Romans it was poured over the sacrificial flesh ; in Israel, at least * De re rustica, v. 8 ; other ancient testimonies are collected by Celsius, Hicro- botanicon, ii. p. 334 ff. On the olive in Palestine, sec Anderlind, ZDPV. xi. 1888, p. 69-77 ; Thomson, Land and Book^, iii. p. 33 ff. t Van de Velde, Narrative, i. p. 386; Rosen, ZDMG. xiv. p. 638 ; Pctermann, Reiseri^, p. 266. X So also most recensions of © ; sec crit. note. ^ Geiger, Urschrift, p, 327. (| Compare the translations of v.is, H The custom prevailed very widely ; see references in Di. on Gen. 281^", and W, R, Smith, cited in the next note. ** See W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 214 f. On the various uses of oil for food see DB. s.v. ft Pliny, n. A., xvi. 113, 114; Shaw, Travels'^, 1757, p. 342; DB^. s.v. XX Fig trees at Nabulus, see Rosen, l.s.c.\ Anderlind, I.e. p. 80. 248 JUDGES in later times, it was poured on the ground by the altar ; * prob- ably in the primitive practise it was poured out before or at the foot of the standing stone. The wine which the god thus par- takes of with his worshippers has the same eifect on him as on them. The teaching of this part of the fable is that men whose char- acter and abiUty fit them to rule are unwilling to sacrifice tl^ir usefulness and the honour they enjoy in a private station, for the sake of power. By the repetition of the offer and refusal, the author generalizes ; no man of standing in the community would want to be king.f The general assertion may, however, be made for a particular application, and does not necessarily convey a judgement upon the kingdom in principle. Whether we find in it such a judgement will depend on our opinion about the origin of the fable ; see above, p. 245. However that may be, the older interpreters were doubtless right in seeing in the fable in its present connexion a contrast between Gideon's refusal (8^^) and Abimelech's ready acceptance of regal name and power. | — 14. Their proffer of the kingdom being rejected by all the better sort, the trees come down to the common box-thorn, a plant of very opposite character from those which they had previously addressed ; bearing no fruit, giving no shade, yielding no timber ; a useless and noxious cumberer of the ground. — 15. Here at last they found one who was ready to be their king. — If you are anointing me king over you in good faith'] if it be not jest and mockery, but serious earnest. — Come, take refuge- in my shadoiv\ put yourselves under my protection and confide in me. The irony of the fable has its climax in the seriousness of this pledge of protection : the image of the trees of forest and field seeking shelter in the shadow of the thorn-bush has in it the whole absurdity of the situation. Men wanted a king to defend them from their enemies (8^"^- i S. 9^^) ; of what use was a king who * Ecclus. S0I6 ; Fl. Jos., antt. iii. 9, 4 \ 234 ; see Di. on Nu. 15" 28" ; W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 213 f. t The Midrash gives an allegorical interpretation : the olive represents Othnicl ; the fig, Deborah ; the vine, Gideon. See Yalqut, ii. ^^ 65 ; Ra. ad loc. Jos. Kimchi explained the three trees of Gideon, his son, and grandson (823). X See Cler. and Schm. on v.i6. IX. 13-15 249 could not do that ? — But if tiot, fire shall go forth from the box- thorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon'] it was doubtless not an uncommon thing for a fire, starting among thorns, to spread to field and orchard (Ex. 22*^), or forest (Is. 9'^), so that the lowly thorn became the destruction of the stateliest trees. The cedars of Leba?ion represent the opposite extreme of creation from the thorn; see 2 K. 14^, Jehoash's insulting answer to Amaziah of Judah. Where there is no power to help, there may be infinite possibilities of harm. Those who made the thorn king over them put themselves in this dilemma : if they were true to him, they enjoyed his protection, which was a mockery ; if they were false to him, he would be their ruin.* 8. idSh "|iSn] the inf. abs. at the beginning of the sentence in cases like this has very little emphasis; cf. Gen. 2628 43^. — 7\yh:2'] Qere hd't; similarly ^ji'?D V.1012 Qeri oSd; cf. Ps. 262 i S. 28^, Ges.2« § 48, 5; K5., up. 163-166; Praetorius, ZA TW. iii. p. 55. — 9. "•n^tinn] v.^^- 1^. The punctuation is entirely anomalous, and has given rise to much discussion; see Stud., and Ko., i. p. 240- 242.t The most probable explanation is that the punctuation intends a Hoph. with n interrogative, assuming the elision of the n preformative ; shall I he compelled to give up, &c. (01. § 89; Sta. § 175 a; K6., i. p. 242). What the author intended is another question. It seems at first sight simplest to take the verb as Kal with n interrogative ("'n^'^nn) ; J but ^^n is never construed with ace. (poetical instances where the object is an inf., such as Job 3I'', are not in point). I prefer, therefore, to regard it as lliph. ("'Jp'^^nn), 'cause to leave off, stop.' § That the Hiph. does not elsewhere occur is of no great weight. The absence of the interrogative particle is no objection; see the following note. The idiomatic use of the perfect in these exclamatory ques- tions is to be noted; cf. Gen. 18^2 j g. 25^^ (^'^npSi), Dr^. § 19. It seems to be akin to the use of the perfect in hypotheses contrary to reality. || The interrogative particle is not usual in such cases. — '•JiJ'''], pingids oliva, Verg., g9org. ii. 424; Hor., epod. ii. 54 f. ; cf. Rom. ii^'^. — D"'Cjni dv-i'?n na^"- o -^fx] so (gAX.MNOPV g [ 0. (fJB ^^ ^ So^dcroutrij' Thv debv ApSpes; IL gun et dii utiintur et homines ; % with which they honour Y., and in which men luxuriate ; * Stud. t Of the Jewish grammarians, Do Balmis regards the form as Kal (fol. gibend); Abulwalid, as Hiph. {Luma', p. 325) ; Kimclii, as Hoph. {Michlol, fol. 63»> f., ed. Lyck). + Stud., Be., Ka., al.; cf. Ges.25 p. 167. \ 01., Sta.; cf. Ew. This reading is found in the mrrgin ot the first two Bom- berg edd., and in an Erfurt cod. (JHMich.). II There is a special reason for tlic impf. in Jud. 11^. 250 JUDGES S because by ffie God and men are honoured* How far these versions had a different text from i!H is not clear. They have at least interpreted with a correct perception of what the context requires. For o we must then emend o {luith which), and should prefer to pronounce the verb as Niph. (n:33;), though the Pi. with indefinite subject is not impossible. — 10. oiSc] see on v.*^. — 11. pnn^] cf. the adj. pirc 141*- 1^. The primary sense seems to be, something which one sucks; cf. Syr. methaq (L6w, Pfianzennamen, p. 333). — \->3ijr] Ez. 36^0 Dt. 32I3. — 13, s'n\-] the juice of the grape, must, Mi, 61^; frequently named with corn (iJ-<) and fresh oil (inxi) as one of the chief products of agriculture, e.g. Jer. 311^^; as such it is subject to the tithe (Dt. 12^"), &c. The corresponding Syriac word |ii^9po is defined in the native lexicons as 'must, fresh grape juice as it comes from the press'; see PS. 1635. In the O.T. cnv^i is used not only of sweet must (d^D>'), but of grape juice which has undergone fermentation {y^) ; cf. e.g. Hos. 4^1 ; so here. The etymology still maintained by Ges. Thes., 633 f., Fleischer, al. (^quia inebriat, cerebrum occupat) is at variance with both the form and meaning of the word. — 14. noxn] rhamnus, (§11. So in Punic; Dioscorides, i. 119 (ed. Sprengel, i. p. 114), pd/jLvos • 'Acppoi dradiv (Boch., Gels., L6w, Pflanzennamen, p. 404); Arab., Syr. dial.; see Low, p. 44. The common species in Palestine is Lycium Europaeum Linn., spread over the whole country (JDB^. i. p. 451). 16-20. The application. — 16. And now'] to come to the moral. — If you have acted in good faith and honour in making Abimelech king as you have done] the words correspond to v.^ {in good faith), but are used with a different reference, as imme- diately appears. In v.^^ the question is of their good faith to the new king ; in v.^^^ of good faith to Jerubbaal and his family. If it is thought too improbable a hypothesis that the author invented an apologue that does not in strict logic tally with the appHcation he intended to make of it, the alternative is to suppose that he borrowed and adapted an older fable, the lesson of which was not quite the same that he wished to inculcate.! This explanation, however, creates other difficulties ; for v.^^'' is obviously not a natural ending for an independent fable of the purport generally attributed to v.*^"^^ ; it is appropriate, and we might almost say intelligible, only as foreshadowing the ruin which Abimelech brought upon the Shechemites. Moreover, in the following nar- rative itself it is the unfaithfulness of the men of Shechem to ^ • Several' older commentators whose exegetical tact was stronger than their grammar, translate ffl in the same way ; so Vatabl., Drus., Celsius, al. t See above, p. 245, IX. i6-i8 251 Abimelech that is the cause of their undoing, however justly this may be regarded as a retribution for their unfaithfulness to Jerubbaal. The simplest and most natural explanation seems to be that in pointing his moral the author's logic is not strictly consequent. — And if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal'\ the triple protasis in v.^^ is separated from its apodosis (v.''"') by a parenthetic review of Jerubbaal's deserts and the sins of the Shechemites (v.^^*') ; v.^^ repeats the substance of v.^*' to resume the interrupted construction. In the nature of the case, v.'''"- are not organically related to the context, and could be omitted with- out leaving a gap. I see no sufficient reason, however, for regard- ing them as an interpolation ; they have a vigour and an individu- ality of expression which are not usually found in glosses.* — If you have done to him as he deserved^ lit. accordi?ig to the desert of his hands; cf. Is. 3". — 17. To give emphasis to the last words, he reminds them of Jerubbaal's services, and of the way in which they have been requited. — In that 7ny father fought for you'\ with deepening feeling, my father ^ instead of Jerubbaal as before. — And hazarded his life~\ lit. cast his life straight away, as a thing of which he recked not ; cf. s^^.f — And rescued you~\ it is to be noted that the writer thinks of the people of Shechem as Israelites, at variance with v.^^. — 18. Whereas you have risen against my father's house and have slain his sons'\ this was their return for the dangers he had incurred and the deliverance he had wrought for them. The Shechemites had with full cognizance furnished Abimelech the means to kill his brothers (v.'"*), and shared his guilt in the crime by which they jointly profited (cf. v"). — Severity men on one stone~\ the words are here somewhat super- fluous, and may be borrowed from v.^. — The son of his ?naid- servant~\ slave-concubine. In 8^^ Abimelech's mother is Gideon's 'concubine, apparently a free woman ; see comm. there. The difference of representation probably existed in the sources. — Because he is your brother'] kinsman, fellow-countryman; v. u. ."? * Doom, thinks that v.ifib-i^a is all a gloss. Smend, who adopts this opinion, recognizes that the verses are at least a correct exposition of the author's meaning ' {Alttest. Religionsgesch., p. 66 n.). t The phrase, cant behind one, is commoner (i K. 14'-' -Sec). Cler. cites Lucan, iv. 516 : Projeci vitam, comiies, &c. 252 JUDGES 19. If, I say, you have acted in good faith'] resuming the protasis (v.'^) after the digression, v.^'*-. — Rejoice in Abimelech and may he rejoice in you] I wish you all joy in one another in your new relation. The words have an ironical ring ; much happiness may you have in this bramble-king of yours. — 20. But if not, fire shall go forth fro?n Abimelech] the figure of the fable, v.^^^. — And fire shall go forth fro?n the freetnen of Shechem, (Sr'r.] here he goes beyond the fable ; not only shall their unworthy king be fatal to them, but they to him. With this parting curse he left them ; its fulfilment is declared in v.'^S cf. v.^"*^- ^-^. — 21. Jotham made his escape to Beer, beyond the reach of Abimelech's ven- geance. The site of Beer is unknown. S. Schmid and Studer are of the opinion that Beersheba, in the remote south, is meant. Others think that it is the same as Beeroth (Jos. 9^^ 2 S. 4-), now el-Bireh, three hours north of Jerusalem.* The name (Well) is too common to make this identification anything more than a possibiUty. 21. ^"»«3] Euseb. (6>52. 23873) identifies Beer with a village of the name (B77/)a) 8 m. N. of Eleutheropolis; probably the modern Khirbet el-Bireh, W. of 'Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh) ; so Ke.f Maundrell (1697) and Reland (^Palaestina, p. 617 f.) regarded el-Bireh north of Jerusalem as the Beer of our text. Eshtori Parchi (fol. 68^) identified this Bireh with Beeroth, and since Rot^nson {BK^. i. p. 452) this has been the prevailing opinion. % Many, as has been said above, believe Beer and Beeroth to be the same place, and put them both at el-Bireh. Beeroth belonged to the Gibeonite confederacy, and was doubtless at this time a Canaanite town (2 S. 21I, cf. 4^). 22-25. The Shechemites and Abimelech fall out. — God sends a spirit of discord between Abimelech and the people of Shechem, in just retribution for their common crime. The Shechemites lie in wait in the mountains and rob passers by. — The verses form the introduction to one of the two accounts of Abimelech's attack on Shechem (v.'*^-*'), and are parallel to v.-*'-^. This version may with considerable confidence be ascribed to E ; observe eloKim, * On el-Rireh, sec Rob.,Z?^. i. p. 451-454; Tobler, Topographic von Jerusalem, ii. p. 495-501 ; Gu6rin, Judee/m.-^ii. 7-13; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 8 f. ; DIP-, s.v. " Hcerolh." t The distance is, liovvcver, considerably greater than EuseBius gives. X Sandrt'czki and Kc. dissent, on the ground that cl-BIreh is too remote from Gibeon. IX. 19-25 253 v.^, and compare the reflections of v>'* with Jotham's speech, v.^'^-^^, and v.^*'-. — 22. Abimelech ruled over Israel three years\ in the foregoing narrative we have heard only how Abimelech was made king of Shechem and Ikth-millo (v/'-'^-^O- I^^ what follows it appears that he did not reside at Shechem, and he lost his life in trying to put down the revolt of Thebez. It is evident, therefore, that his power extended over other cities in Central Palestine ; that it included Israelites as well as Canaanites appears from v."' ; but the statement that he ruled over Israel is not borne out by the rest of the chapter, and is strikingly at variance with v.^-^*, which speaks only of Shechem.* There is therefore good reason to suspect that this chronological note is not an original part of the story, but an editorial addition. — 23. God se?it an evil spirif] a mischief-making spirit; compare the madness of Saul, i S. i6'* iS**^ (the evil spirit of God) 19^ and the delusion of Ahab's prophets, i K. 2 2^^-''l God is the author of the fatal mistakes and misdeeds of men, which they commit to their own undoing ; he sends a spirit of infatuation into them to impel them blindly to their ruin. This belief corresponds very closely to the Greek idea of 5x77, even in the personification of this spirit (i K. 2 2-^-^).t -^The men of Shechem were false to Abimelech'] cf. v.i''- 1«». — 24. God sent this spirit to foment mischief between them, in order that, in fitting retribution, these partners in crime might inflict upon each other the just punishment of their deed ; cf. ^5Cf.^ y_4.i8^ gojne disorder has been introduced into the text, apparently in the attempt to render it more explicit, or more emphatic; see critical note. — 25. Pict men in ambush on the kill top to his damage, afid robbed all who passed by them on the road] the position of Shechem, on two of the main arteries of trade and travel through Mt. Ephraim, % made this particularly serious ; cf. Hos. 6^ In what way Abimelech was a sufferer by this above others, we are not told. He may himself have levied toll on those who passed through his district, in which case his rev- enues would fall off in the insecurity of the roads ; and doubtless those who were about his business, or who were bearing tribute to * Cf. also V.21. t See Sta.. G VI . i. p. 435 : ^^' above on f\ p. 87 f. + See above, p. 240. 254 JUDGES him (cf. 3"*), would be especially welcome objects of plunder to the Shechemites. — // was told to Abimekch'] the words have no connexion with the following story of Gaal's intrigue (v.^^"^^), but are parallel to v.^"^, and would naturally be followed by the state- ment that Abimelech with his soldiers marched against Shechem. We probably have the continuation of this narrative in v."^^- ; see there. 22. -^b'M] pointed by f^ as if derived from -\^z> (like "^dm &c.), cf. n^tf'n IIos. 8'*; in Is. 32^ nu"' as from int:'. The latter is preferable; see K6., i. P- 328, 352; and note above on "ir^i 6^8. — 24. hy u^zh Dmi . . . Don nijS I^don] the change of subject between the two inff. {that the murder . . . f/iight come, and that he j/iight put the guilt of their blood on Abimelech^ is intolerably harsh. ® straightens out the construction by rendering rov ivayayecv, but there is no reason to think that they read N-'^n':'. Probably urz'h was intro- duced by an ancient scribe who missed the government of Dm. The resulting awkwardness of structure reminds us of 3^. — h^^n-^^ ■'J3 w^y^'^i^ Dcn] objective genitive, as usual with this noun; the crime committed against them, cf Obad. iio Hab. 2«- 1^ Gen. i65. — 25. doisd] ptcp. Pi., 2 Chr. 2o22t._S?j] rod, c. ace. pers., cf Dt. 28'^^; carry off by force (rapere) Jud. 21^3. — hy n^;;] I K. 98 2 K. 4^. 26-41. Gaal incites the people of Shechem to revolt; they are defeated by Abimelech. — Gaal, a new-comer in the place, persuades the Shechemites to throw off Abimelech's yoke, and puts himself at their head (v.^"^) . He is disconcerted by Abime- lech's sudden appearance before the town, but goes out to battle against him (v."'^'^^). The Shechemites are badly beaten, and driven within their walls; Gaal and his clansmen are thrust out (v.*^*). The narrative has the realism and the humour which belong to the best Hebrew folk-stories, and in many respects reminds us of the story of Samson. As the other strand in this chapter has in general the features of E, we may at least pro- visionally ascribe this part of the narrative to J. 26. Gaal ben Ebed and his kinsmen'] son of a slave is evi- dently a perversion of the name, which was probably Obed ; see crit. note. Whether these new-comers were Israelites or Canaan- ites is not clear; see on v.^^. — And moved into Shechem'] so the words should probably be translated. The expression is an unusual one, and hardly says what we should have expected in the context ; but the Hebrew text is supported by all the versions. — IX. 25-28 255 The citizens of Shcchein put confidence in hi??t~\ by what arts he insinuated himself into their confidence we may learn from the following verses, in which Gaal appears as a shrewd demagogue. — 27. They celebrated the completion of the vintage, according to custom, by a feast at the temple of their god ; see note. Such an occasion could hardly fail to quicken local patriotism, and bring to the surface whatever latent dissatisfaction there was with the rule of their half-Israehte and evidently non-resident king. — They ate and dj-ank^ and reviled Abimelech. — 28. Gaal took advantage of this temper to instigate a revolt and offer himself as a leader. Unfortunately, v.^^ is obscure, and the text perhaps not intact. In the connexion the following points seem to be certain: . i. Gaal does not foment an insurrection of Israelite denizens against the rule of the Shechemite Abimelech, but of the native Shechemites against the half-Israelite Abimelech. 2. Of whatever race Gaal may have been, he identifies himself with the men of Shechem and speaks as one of them.* 3. He appeals to their national pride in the people of Hamor father of Shechem, the old blue blood of Canaan against this usurping half- breed. In this sense the verse is understood by Rashi, who gives, upon the whole, the most satisfactory interpretation of fH : " Who is Abimelech, that he should be ruler of Shechem, and who are the Shechemites, that they should be subject to Abimelech? Is not Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal, who was from the Abiezrite Ophrah ; f and is not Zebul merely his lieutenant ? The master has no rightful authority in the city, and his lieutenant is of no account at all. If you are bent on getting yourselves masters, come and be subject to the men of Hamor, who was anciently the prince of the land ; why should we be subject to Abimelech? " The structure of the latter part of the verse is much simplified, however, if instead of the imperative, Serve the ?nen of Hamor, we pronounce the verb as a perfect : Were not the son of Jerub- baal and Zebul his lieutenant (formerly) subjects of the people of Hamor abi-Shechem ? Why\ then, should we (now) be subject to him ? In the first half of the verse the antithesis in the clauses, • It is by no means clear that he was an IsraeHte, as We., Kue., al. think, t I.e. an Israelitish stranger. 256 JUDGES IV/io is Abimelech ? and who is Shechem, that we should serve him ? seems to many scholars to be unsatisfactory ; they think that we should have a synonymous expression, as in i S. 25^", " Who is David, and who the son of Jesse? " But in the light of the following, as I understand it, the antithesis is not only toler- able but effective. Is Abimelech king in his own right? Is Shechem naturally his empire, that we should be subject to him? So far from it, he himself was formerly a subject of the old Haraorite nobility of Shechem. I see no necessity, therefore, for any radical change in the text ; see critical note. — Hamor abi-Shechem\ Gen. 33^^ 34 ; the old Canaanite aristocracy. — 29. Would that I had the direction of this people ; I would get rid of Abimelech !'\ like a consummate demagogue he first arouses the passions of his hearers, then adroitly puts himself forward as the man for the crilws. — / would say to Abimelech, Enlarge your army and come out /] I would defy him to maintain his authority over Shechem by arms. So (!i : |^ has, he said to Abimelech. In view of v.^-, the latter reading cannot be interpreted, he sent this challenge to Abimelech ; we could only understand the words as a swaggering apostrophe in his speech to the Shechemites.* 26. 13;; p ^vj] 6^^* yi^^ lojprjX (avlmo g ^ A/3c6). Ew., GVI. ii. p. 485, thought h^v (an old Canaanite name) the more probable reading; similarly Kue., Doom., Sta., Kautzsch, Bu., Kitt.,t supposing that h\,^2v (Yahweh is Baal) was offensive to later scribes, and was intentionally altered to iny. Iw/37?X (for IwjStjS^s by ^ common uncial error) is simply nai;?; cf. i Chr. ii^^ (B) I Chr. 23" (Aai.) I Chr. 267 (Aai.) 3 Chr. 23I (^'ii). So here codd. of ^ (ii^-qd^" fijSiS^^ [S]w^7;5fi3 (dittogr.), and 3L Obed.J — The matter is of some importance, for if the name really were h';2V, we should be certain that Gaal was an Israelite, independently of the difficult v.28. — dd^'D nay^i] '3 -i:3y, pass through, traverse ; I S. 9* and very often. Dt. 29", which is cited by Be., al. in illustration of our verse, is not parallel; nn33 I3y is probably to be explained from rites like those referred to in Jer. 34^^^-. — 27. □"•'piSn] Lev. k/'* *; the fruit of trees in the fourth year of their bearing is niniS o^SiSn tt'ip. § The word was evidently the name of a festive celebration, accompanied proba- bly by noisy hilarity, and obligatory shouting in honour of the god. See Sprenger, Ijeben Mohammad^ iii. p. 527; Lagarde, Orientalia, ii. p. 13-20; * So Ki., Stud. ; cf. Be. t Cf. also We.. TBS. p. xii. f. X So also Hollenberg, TLZ. 1891, col. 371. ^ On the reading tj-^'^i'^n and the rabbinical interpretation of this passage, see Geiger, Urschrift, p. i8i ff.; Malbiin on Sifra in loc. (D'^l^np \ 67). IX. 28-29 257 Mittheilungen, i. p. 227; We., Prol'^. iii. p. 114, and esp. Resle arab. Ifci- dentumes, p. 107-109. A similar feast at Shiloh, Jud. 21 '■'«"■. — 28. On this verse see Oort, Godgelecrde Bijdragen, 1866, p. 991 ;'^ Kuenen, Th.T. i. p. 703 f.; GvL i. p. 299 f.; Wellhausen, TBS. p. xiii.; Comp., Nachtrage, p. 353 f. n. ; Stade, GVL i. p. 194 f.; W. R. Smith, Th. T. xx. 1886, p. 195-198; Kautzsch, ZA TIV. x. 1890, p. 299 f.; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 77 f. — The versions agree substantially with |^. © has in the second clause Kal tU ianv vlb^ ^vxefi, which is adopted by Oort, Kue., Be., al.; also by We. (transposing son of Jerubbaal and son of Shechem)* But, as W. R. Smith rightly urges, 03^ n does not mean a Shechemite ; "the expression would not be idiomatic even if the Shechemites as a whole were called DDii' "ija instead of dx' ^'^yj." Sta. and Bu. therefore return in this particular to ilH. Further n3;r was read by OIL n^j; hoxi\o'n is Israel, and Gaal closes with an open challenge to Abimelech to come forth (evidently from Sheehem his capital) to meet the Israelites in the field." These assumptions conflict not only with the implications of the narrative, but with its plain words. Gaal gains the confidence of the DD'i' "h^^ (v.-*^), i.e. of the very people who made Abimelech king (y.^-^); it is at their vintage festival, at the temple of their god, that he makes his incendiary speech. W. R. Smith is constrained, therefore, to sever the verses from their context and remove them to a different place. If, however, we follow the guidance of the context, we shall see that Gaal instigates the native Shechemites, with * So also Oort, Bible for Learners, i. p. 395 ; Kitt. t They are thereby constrained to take PN as prep., '3'-i> p; This son of Jerubbaal and his lieutenant Zebul were subjects of the Hamor- ites; why should we, freemen of Shechem, be subjects of his? — 29. jni ^D] Nu. ii29 Jer. 8"^* Dt. 28^^ 2 S. 19I Is. 27* Dt. 520 Job 238 illustrate different constructions of this phrase. See also SS. p. 449 f. — ni>pNi] that I might get rid of Abimelech; voluntative, Dr^. §62. — I^donS -idnh] (g koX ipG), npni; cf. Sb, whose ambiguous form is understood by a as first person. Doom., Reuss, Kitt., Kautzsch, emend accordingly. Cler. would give the vb. an indefinite subject, so}?ie one told Abimelech; but in the context this is highly improbable. — n^i] The origin of this anomalous _ is not clear; 01. §247 suggests that it may be instead of the _ of the lengthened imv. (obs. the foil, nsx). This view is adopted by K6. i. p. 534, but as there is no other instance of this imv. in n"S, the explanation is doubtful. Some codd. and edd. have _; see JHMich. 30-34. Zebul warns Abimelech that treason is hatching. — Zebul informs Abimelech of Gaal's intrigues, and suggests a plan by which he and his followers may be drawn into an engagement in the open field. — 30. Zebul^ the governor of the city\ an official (i-^r) set over the place by Abimelech to represent him, not the burgomaster of the town. X Wellhausen regards the words of Gaal in v.^, Zebul^ his lieutenant, as mere abuse and insult ; § Zebul was not really an officer of Abimelech, but the head of the Shechemites; he had so far sympathized with the movement against Abimelech ; Gaal, in order to supplant him, throws sus- picion on his loyalty to the Shechemite cause ; Zebul avenges him- self by betraying Gaal to Abimelech. || This ingenious hypothesis * See above, p. 255. t Winckler conjectures imN n^y, which he translates : If the Hamorites serve him, &c. X There were sar'im at Succoth (86), but we have no reason to believe that at the liead of the local government of Canaanite or Israelite cities there was a burgo- master or mayor. § Camp., p. 353 f. n.; followed by Kautzsch, ZA TW. x. p. 299. II Only so, We. argues, can we comprehend AbimeJech's course after Gaal had been expelled (v.^i). He did not allow himself to be deceived by Zebul's pretence of loyalty ; the latter was the real leader of the revolt, and perished in the fall of the city. So also Kautzsch and Kitt. But if v.4-'rt- is not the sequel of v.26-4l^ but another account of the fate of Shechem from a different source, this argument ceases to have any cogency. See further, on v.^i. IX. 30-54 2 59 seems to me to conflict with the language of our verse, and with the following narrative ; see on v."^""' *\ Zebul had no force at his command in Shechem ; it was not garrisoned Hke a concjuered city ; it is difficult to see how a loyal official could have acted differently in the circumstances, or what ground there is for imag- ining that he was implicated in the treason. Whether he was a Canaanite or an Israelite does not appear. — 31. //e sent mes- sengers to Abimclech . . . saying\ the word omitted in translation is anomalous and probably corrupt ; the versions generally render, secretly, or, deceitfully, perfidiously. It would be more to the pur- pose to have the name of the place where Abimelech made his residence ; cf. v.^\ at Arumah ; see note. — Gaal arid his kins- men are coming to Shechem, and are plotting to take the city from thee'] the translation of the last words is based on the context ; they are rendered by the ancient versions, invest, besiege the city against thee,* which cannot be right. Stir up the city to hostility \ would suit the context, but is unsupported. — 32, 33. Zebul counsels Abimelech to come by night and concei\l his forces in the fields near the city. At sunrise he shall discover himself and advance to the attack. Gaal and his followers will be drawn out of the city to give battle in the open field, and Abimelech will have them in his power. — Thou shall do to him as the occasion serves] i S. lo^. — 34. Abimelech adopts Zebul's plan ; and dis- poses his men under cover in four divisions ; cf. 7^^ and below, v.*^. 31. HDins] ©APVLMO g ^cT-d hibpuiv (nonn) ; bn ^„ KpxxpTj, IL^T clam, 5 per dotum ; all connecting it with n"«Dnn, 'deceit, fraud,' •i::-^':, id. So Ra., Cler., Schm., Rosenm., Be., Cass., Kitt., Reuss. But, i. n^-;n is an unexampled and really inconceivable type of noun (Jos. Kimchi). 2. If r\-2-\T\ were a synonym of nnnc, the text would not say that Zebul sent secretly to Abimelech (inp2), but that he sent deceitfully or fraudulently, i.e. with intent to deceive him (Stud.). Jos. Kimchi regarded it as the name of a place, identical with nonN v.^i (see Ki., comm. in loc.)\ so RLbG., Abarb., Tremell., Piscator; cf. Reland, p. 585. Some modern scholars think that the same name, probably Arumah, should be read in both places; so Stud., Doom. The construction with 2 would then be explained, he sent messengers to A., who was at Arumah (Stud.). — l^Sy -\^^r\ ns D>nx Djm] ©bn xepiKd^^vroi, APVLMO TroXiopKoucri, iL oppugnat, % p-cx, % obsident ; all taking |Q correctly *This is probably the intention of ffl. t Lth., Cler., Schm., Stud., Ke., Kitt., al. mu. 260 JUDGES as ptcp. of ->ri. The construction, however, is irregular; besiege is not "MS c. ace, but S;^ nix. The forms of iis and nnx l- ^- are much confused in the punctuation (see SS. p. 621), but it is impossible to make D>is a transitive derivative of >'T» nor, if we should emend Dnns, would the only sense sup- ported by usage, ' they treat the city in a hostile manner, attack it,' be satis- factory; 'make hostile, incite to hostiUty,' is wholly fictitious. Stade (SS. •p. 621"^) conj. in this sense D^n>-:: D^n (Hiph. of ins "•), "falls nicht grossere Verderbnis vorhegt." Possibly the author wrote anx, ' lay snares for, plot to take'; y"-^'; would then be, to thy detriment. — 33. Sy £}-^'d] v.** 2o37 (Sn) Job ii"; of a body of men suddenly emerging from a covered position, and rushing to storm a place or attack an enemy. — 34. D^trNi nyjnx] see on 7I6. 35-38. Abimelech's forces appear on all sides ; Zebul taunts the braggart. — 35. In the morning Gaal goes out to the gate of the city.* As he stands there, Abimelech and his troops discover themselves. — 36. Gaal descries them and exclaims to Zebul, See, there is a body of 7?ien coming down from the tops of the hills /~\ Zebul replies, Yoit see the shadow of the hills as men'] his fears make him imagine enemies where there are none ; an insinuation of cowardice which is succeeded by downright insult. — 37. The enemy comes into clearer view; Gaal makes out the divisions advancing from different directions. — There is a body cofnifig down frofn near the Navel of the Land, and one division is advancing frotn the way to the Diviner'' s Tree~\ these localities are unknown : the former would seem to be a sacred hill ; the latter is a sacred tree, whose name {ineonenini) indicates that it was, or had been, the seat of a certain species of diviners ; cf. the Moreh Tree,t also in the vicinity of Shechem (Gen. 12^, cf. Jud. 7^), and the Massebah Tree, above v.^. The latter is not identical with the Meonenim Tree of our verse ; apart from the difference of names, the Massebah Tree was in all probability close to the town, which the other, as our verse shows, was not. Whether the Meonenim Tree here is the same as the Moreh Tree of Gen. 1 2^, is uncertain ; the names are of somewhat similar, but not the same meaning, and there is no reason why there may not have been three, or a half dozen, well-known sacred trees in the vicinity of Shechem. — 38. Zebul's irony now turns to open taunt. — What has become of * Not, marched out (Kitt.) ; he did not suspect the presence of the enemy, t Perhaps an oracle-tree. IX. 35-41 26 1 thy bragging] lit. thy (big) mouth; thy boastful words. — /r/^^// //^r;// ^^/V/j-/, ^/^^ /> Abimelcch] w!^. — Are not these the ?nen for whom thou didst express such contempt? March out, now, and fight with them /] Zebul, by reminding Gaal, doubtless in the presence of many bystanders in that public place, of his former boasts, goads him into fighting. He had indeed no choice ; if he declined the challenge, his prestige and influence in Shechem were gone. 39-41. The battle; defeat of the Shechemites. — 39. Gaal put himself at the head of the citizens of Shechem and went forth to battle.* — 40. The Shechemites seem to have made no stand against Abimelech, who chased them to the very gate of the city, with heavy losses. He did not, however, storm the place. — 41. Abimelech abode in Arumah] if this name is to be restored in v.'^' (see comm. there),. he returned to his residence, satisfied with the chastisement he had inflicted upon the Shechemites for hstening to the seductions of Gaal. Arumah is not otherwise known ; on the sole ground of the similarity of the names some scholars identify it with El-'Ormeh, two hours SE. of Shechem. f It has been conjectured that Arumah is the same as Rumah (2 K. 23'^'^), but this also is uncertain. \ — And Zebul expelled Gaal and his kinsmen, so that they should not live in Shechem] \\i. frojn living. We can well imagine that in the smart of defeat the feelings of the Shechemites toward Gaal underwent a sudden revulsion, and that they were not unwilling to see him made a scapegoat ; per- haps also thinking that this would suffice to placate Abimelech. The verse manifestly brings the story to an end. Abimelech resides at Arumah ; Gaal and his clan are banished from Shechem. As the original close of the account of Gaal's insurrection (J) it is perfectly intelligible and appropriate. But it is just the opposite in its present position. After the withdrawal of Abimelech and the expulsion of Gaal, the fresh attack on Shechem, the discom- fiture of its inhabitants by the same stratagem which had been * Not, spectante Sickimorum poptilo E, Be. t Van de Velde, Narrative, ii. p. 303, 307; ^^w^x'vcv, Samarie, ii. 2 f . ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 387, 402. For the identification, Raumer, Miihlau, Tristram, al. X The Ruma of Euseb. {OS'^. 2881,,), in the vicinity of Diospolis, cannot be the place in our text. There was another Ruma in Galilee (Fl. Jos., b.j. iii. 7. 21 § 233). <5 has in our verse Api^a. 262 JUDGES employed the day before, and the destruction of the city, in which his authority had already been re-established, are inex- plicable. 35. n^pn -\j?c nno] v.'** Jos. 8^^ 20* and often; the entrance of the gate. The -y^v extends the whole depth of the wall, often many feet; nna is the outer opening. — 36. d;;] soldiery, esp. foot soldiers; 4^^ — 37. TINH 113^] © dfx(pa\6s, IL uynbilicus ; ?r5> interpret stronghold. The meaning of the noun is hardly to be questioned (Mishna, Talm.); the sense in which it is applied here is uncertain. In Ez. 3812, t^g only other place where it occurs in O.T., it is apphed to Judaea as the centre of the earth. Comp. the d^i0aX6s at Delphi; twibilicus Siciliae (Cic. contra Verr. iv. 106, c. 48), umbilicus Grae- ciae (Liv,, xxxv. 18; Stud.). So it is understood here by Ki., RJes,; an elevation in the middle of the district, at the intersection of several roads. We should have in any case to suppose that it had become a proper name;* but should hardly compare Mt. 'Ara^^piov in Rhodes (Stud.).t See above on 818 (p. 228). — D>jji;a pSn] Dt. 1 810- 14 Mi. 5"; cf. pij7, d^jjij;, Is. 2^ Jer. 27^ 2 K. 21^; the verb. Lev. ig^. See W. R. Smith, Journal of Philology, xiv. p. 118; We., Reste arab. Heidenttmies, p. 148 n.; Sta., GVI. i. p. 505. What particular kind of divination these D"'jJiyD practised is not clear. The root is probably ^y (We., I.e.). — 38. «idn h-^n] where, then; Job 171^ Is. ig^^. On the enclitic ni£3N, see BDB. s.v. — ^O. D^S^'n] i6"^*. — 41. 2V^i\ ©^^"^ Kal iiri<7Tp€\pev A. /cai eKdOiaev ip Apet/xa = HDnNJ D^'^i ^Sdon 3^m. This is proba- bly only a Greek doublet; but it suggests what may have been the original reading in |Q. 42-45. Capture and destruction of Shechem. — The next day, when the Shechemites came out of the city, Abimelech was in waiting for them. While two divisions attacked them In front, Abimelech himself, with the troops under his personal command, got between them and the city and cut off their retreat. After a day's fighting, Abimelech carried the place by assault, put the inhabitants to the sword, destroyed the city, and sowed the ruins with salt. This is not the continuation of the account in v.^^""*", which has its formal conclusion in v.'*^ We cannot imagine why, after their disastrous defeat of the day before (v."'^^) and the ex- pulsion of Gaal (v.''^), the Shechemites took the field again (v.*^), .especially as Abimelech had withdrawn, and there was no enemy • Navel of the lattd, appellatively, for highest point (Ges.), is hardly possible in the plain prosu of this story. t Tl)c Greek name corresponds rather to Tabor. IX. 42-45 263 in sight.* On the other hand, all becomes plain, if we see in v.'*2 the original sequel of v.^ : Abimelech learns that bands of Shechemites are infesting the neighbourhood, robbing and plunder- ing on the highways, and takes measures to punish them. The next day, when they set out on such a predatory excursion, he is informed by his scouts, and lays an ambush for them. They, not suspecting the proximity of the enemy, foil into the snare and are cut to pieces. The city, weakened by the absence of a large part of its defenders, falls. Verses ^-'"^ are therefore to be ascribed to the same source with v.^"-^ (E). — 42. On the followiui:; day\ in the present connexion, the day after their defeat and the expulsion of Gaal ; in the original context (E), the day after Abim- elech was apprised that they had begun their guerrilla warfare ; see above. — The people went out into the country'] on an expedition like that described in v.^^. — 43. He concealed his forces in three divisions (7^^ 9^), in the neighbourhood of the city. When the Shechemites came out of the city, and had got to some distance from it, he rose from his ambush and attacked them. — 44. More particular account of the execution of his stratagem. — Abiviekch a7id the body which was with hini'] under his immediate command ; cum cuneo suo 3L. |^, by mistake, the bodies. — Made a dash and took their stand at the gate'] cutting off the retreat of those who had gone on the expedition, and preventing a sally from the town to relieve them. — While the other two divisions rushed upon all who were in the fields and killed them~\ the stratagem has some resemblance to that employed at the taking ofAi (Jos. 8).t — 45. After a whole day's fighting, Abimelech took the city, put the inhabitants to the sword, pulled down the city, and sowed the site with salt. Sowing with salt seems to be a symbol of perpetual desolation ; nothing should henceforward thrive there ; cf. Dt. 29-* Jer. 17^ Ps. 107**. There is no other trace in the O.T. of such a custom. J If Shechem was really destroyed at this time, it is not to be supposed that it long lay in ruins ; its position was too * Fl. Jos. imagines that they went out to work in the vineyards (v.2'') ; so Ra.. Schm., Stud., Be., Ke., Reuss, al. mu. Of the older interpreters, Junius and Piscator controvert this opinion ; see Schm. t In both accounts, J and E. + See Thdt., quacst. i8 ; Bochart, Hicrozoicon, ii. p. 223 f., ed. Rosenmullcr. Salt ground is in Hebrew equivalent to desert. 264 JUDGES advantageous, its vicinity too fertile for that. It was an important place in the early days of the kingdom (i K. 12^), and was rebuilt and fortified by Jeroboam (i K. 12^^). A stratagem similar to that employed by Abimelech against Shechem is said to have been practised by Himilco against Agrigentum, and by Hannibal against Segesta.* 44. my "\CN □"'tt'X-ini] (3^^ v dpxv V t^^'''' clvtov, It cum cuneo stio, as the sense requires; f ©'^^-"^ apxo-l" ^^ ol apx'n'^ol, an attempt to get around the text which is repeated by Ki., RLbG. Other ingenious exegetical conjectures, the common feature of which is that the interpreter supplies what, if he were right, the writer must have said expressly, may be seen in Abarb., Schm., Cler., Be., al. Emend, CNin (JDMich., Reuss, Kautzsch, al.) ; o^tyjNn (Stud.) would remove the difficulty, but is on critical grounds not so probable. — 45. nyn?">) nVn] cf. nnSn, nnVa y-\n Jer. 176 Job 39^ Ps. 1078*. 46-49. Destruction of the Tower of Shechem. — The people of the Tower of Shechem, hearing of the fate of the city, take refuge in the temple of El-berith. Abimelech burns their asylum over their heads, and they perish in the flames. — The verses are apparently a continuation of the preceding narrative of the de- struction of Shechem. — 46. When the inhabitants of the Tower of Shechem heard it'\ what Abimelech had done to the city. The Tower of Shechem (Migdal-Shechem) was not a citadel within the city, like that at Thebez (v;^^), in which the people took refuge when the city was captured, but an unwalled town in the neighbourhood of Shechem, though not immediately adjacent to it. It owed its name to a tower which stood there, % and was the site of the temple of El-berith. Its inhabitants were Shechemites, who had joined in the insurrection against Abimelech, and now, with good reason, feared his vengeance. As in v.^-*^ the people of Beth-millo join with those of Shechem in making Abimelech king, it has often been thought that the same place is meant here ; § but there is no obvious grotand for this, while the difference of names is decidedly against it. The situation of the Tower of Shechem is not known ; from v."*^* it may perhaps be inferred that * Frontinus, Strategem., iii. lo, 4, 5 (Cass,); see also Polyaenus, v. 10, 4. t So also Fl. Jos., antt. v. 7, 4 ^ 247. + Cf. the tower of Penuel, 88-17. \ So, after Scrarius and other older scholars, Stud., Be., Ke., Reuss, al. Millo also is supposed to be the name of some kind of fortification : see on v.6. IX. 45-49 265 it was, like Shechem itself, in the valley, or on the lower slopes of one of its sides. — Tliey went i?ito the . . . of the temple of El-berit]i\ the meaning of the word passed over in the translation is entirely unknown. Some of the ancient versions render, strong- hold,* and many modern scholars think that they find etymologi- cal support for the interpretation, tower, citadel. In i S. 13", however, the only other passage in which the word occurs, it clearly denotes a hiding-pkice, not a fort. Others think, therefore, of an artificial cave, or underground chamber; but this also is based on a somewhat remote etymology, and does not altogether suit the requirements of v."*^. — For El-berith some Greek texts have Baal-berith, as in v.''. It is not certain that the same temple is meant. The temple of El-berith at the Tower of Shechem was apparently not immediately adjacent to the city; on the other hand, it is not very probable that there were two temples in the same vicinity dedicated to the same divinity.t The difference of the names signifies little. In early times, they were substantially equivalent, the el {iiumen) which was worshipped at a place was naturally its bdal (the divinity of the place) . It is also possible that El is here a later substitution for Baal. % — 47. Abimelech learns that the people of the Tower of Shechem are all gathered in one place. — 48. He leads his men to a hill hard by, to get wood to set their asylum on fire. — Mt. Zalmon'] the situation of this hill is not known. § To identify it, on the strength of the name, with the southern peak of Gerizim, on which stands the tomb of a Moslem saint, Sheikh Selman el-FarsI, is an absurdity. — With his axe, Abimelech cut branches of trees, put them upon his shoulder, and bade his men with all speed follow his example. — 49. Every man with his load of brush on his shoulder, they return with Abimelech, pile the wood against the place in which the * ©, E (v.49) ; so Lth., EV., al. mu. t Temples, that is, houses for the god, can hardly have been very numerous in those days. At most places of worship there was probably only an altar under the open sky, with its accessories, the sacred stones and posts, which required no housing. The temple, in Canaan as in Greece, originally existed only where there was an idol to keep in it. See E. Meyer, Gesch. d. Altcrthtims, ii. p. 429 f. X Cf. Eljada, the son of David, for Baaljada ; cf. above, p. 195. ^ Mt. Salmon, Ps. 68i-», is more probably east of the Jordan ; see Wetzstein, quoted by Guthe, ZDPV. xii. 1890, p. 230 t 266 JUDGES Shechemites had taken refuge, and set it on fire. About a thou- sand men and women perish in the flames. 46. ma *?« no nnx Sn] nns v.^abis^ plur. Din-^x i S. i^^K The ancient versions apparently render from the context, stronghold ((5 oxu/ow/xa* 3L praesidiuvi). Many modern lexx. and comm. interpret, tower, citadel (Ki,, RLbG,, Cler., Simon., Ges., MV., al.), following Abulwalid, who compares Arab. ^ w«0,t a large, high building, standing apart ( TA.^. De Dieu referred to the Eth. in the sense of tipper story or roo77i ; JDMich. in that of te?nple, thinking of an open court in the interior of the temple, while Stud, under- stands the vab^ itself. Both these explanations are far-fetched; neither really gives us what is wanted here (cf. v.^^), and neither is conceivable in i S. 13^, where the cms are places of concealment (named with caves, holes, cliffs, pits), as all the versions rightly understand. J Ra. refers to older Jewish inter- preters who take the word in the sense, underground chambers (voutes') ; he himself explains it in both places as a stockade {palissades). Modern scholars have compared the Arab. ^^ wO * grave, narrow excavation for the body at the bottom of the grave.' § The word occurs also in the Nabataean inscrip- tions from Teima, Nnn]f, where it appears to be a grave or sepulchral chamber excavated in the rock (Doughty, Documents epigraphiques, 83. 4 = Euting, Nabat'dische Inschriften, 153.4; cf. Noldeke, ib. p. 55). || From this it has been inferred that the Heb. n>-is meant an excavation in the earth or rock, perhaps made as a place of refuge. But although this would suit the context in Samuel well enough, it is hardly possible in our passage (cf. v.^^), and the whole etymological construction is very dubious. — nna Sn no] (S^^ BaaX diadifiK7]$, P BaaX Bepeid, ^ HX diadriKrjs, % fanum del sui Berith. — 48, nn * Another, atcpa ; 0 (ffiBN o-uve'Aevo-ig. o ^ t Synonym of -,«ai*. Cf. Qoran, 2888 4088 (tower reaching to heaven) 27^4. So in Sabaean, nns, nm s ( CIS. Pt. iv. I4 ; Hal6vy 3533, in Hommel, Sudarabische Chrestomathie, p. 96), and Eth., in which the word means a conspicuous building (temple, palace), also the upper story or chamber of a house (like Heb. ni'?;;, e.g. Jud. 320-2.'5). In none of these languages does the signification ' citadel, tower for defence' seem to be demonstrable. (Of a watch-tower, in Arab. Polyglott, 2K. i8«). t © ^60po^ H mitra © caverns in the rock & chasms. In Jud. 9^6 also an anony- mous translator renders dcTpovT ^ In distinction from an excavation at the side {lahd) ; see Ibn Hisham, p. 1019. Illustrations of these two modes of burial, from Cyprus, see Perrot et Chipiez, La Grccc primitive, p. 649. II The Nnnx is distinguished from the N^nu, niches. See also G. Hoffmann, 7.A. 1S94, p. 329 ff. S. Rau {De aedibus Hebraeorum, 1764, p. 4, c. JDMich., Sup- plcmenta, p. 2151) conjectured that for nn"'ns Ps. 687, which OILS render grave, nnni- should be- read ; cf. also SS. p. 623. IX. 50-5I 26; PdSx] ©■'^BLN Ep/tAWJ/ "* Aepfiuv (Hermon); an old error; Eusch. OS^. 29573 SeVcji/. — nimnpn] Jer. 46'--^ Ps. 74^. The plur. is difficult. There is no evidence or probability that the plur. was used of a single axe (Be.; originally bipefinis. Stud.), and the explanation of Schm., al., that Abimelech took a number of axes to distribute to his followers, is an ingenious but improbable exegetical maJceshift. We expect imnp i S. 13-'^; cf. ©apvlmo u,. — n^v^:' D^x;] r\yv v.-^'J*, MIL njiD (Aram., Syr.). It is generally rendered branch (©BN li^)^ but in view of a>x; it should perhaps be taken as collective, brush ; cf. (jgAai. 'VV on^N-i nn] object clause without conjunction, Ges.'-^ § 1 57 « J Roorda, § 523. In English also it is possible to say, What you saw I did, &c.; cf. the brachylogy, 7^^. — itry •r\T\T:i'\ do quickly. In this verbal apposition, the first verb is of secondary (adverbial) importance in the sentence.— 49. naa*] ilH pronounces r^yc, his branch. Ki. explains this as contracted for '^T^yv, or as made from a corresponding masc. ir-.f If the suffix were indispensable in this distributive phrase, as Be. contends, it would be necessary either to accept the latter explanation, or to emend inDity; cf., however, Ex. I23 Job 42I1. Doom, pronounces ry^\z>, a branch. — u-Ni n-^-^-^r^ hn dh^S]; ih^xm] n^sn is con- strued, like its English equivalent, in two ways: set something on fire (w'N3), or set fire to (2, rarely Sy) something. The suff. in on^V; cannot refer to n^v^', but to the people. 50-55. Abimelech attacks Thebez. — While assaulting its cita- del he is mortally hurt, and dies by the hand of his armour-bearer. His followers disperse. — 50. Abimelech ivent to Thebez'] from the connexion we should infer that the attack upon Thebez followed immediately the destruction of the Tower of Shechem ; and probably, further, that Thebez had previously been subject to him, and had joined in the revolt set on foot by Shechem. Thebez, which is mentioned only here and in the reference to this story 2 S. 1 1^\ is put by Eusebius thirteen miles from Neapolis on the road to Scythopolis. J Robinson identified it with the modem lubas, a large village in a very beautiful situation. § —51. There was a castle within the city] lit. a tower of stronghold; cf. the figurative use of the phrase, Ps. 61^ Prov. i?>'\ — All the men and women, all the inhabitants of the town] Heb. and all the inhab- itants (freemen) ; 1| commonly explained as an explicative use of * Cf Cler., Stud. t A masc. is found in MH. \ OS'^. 26244. & BJ^ ii p 317 iii- P- 3o5- On the place see also Gu6rin, Samani^, i. 357-359: SIVP Memoirs, ii. p. 229. 'Ihc place had been identified long before Robinson, by Eshtori Parchi (fol. 66b end). U See above, on 9'^. 268 JUDGES the particle {even) ; see note. — And went up on the roof of the tower] no doubt it had a flat earthen roof, with a parapet, from which they could defend it. — 52. Abimelech led the attack on the tower. — He ca?ne close up to the door to burti it] it was too strong to be forced. Cf. v.'*^. — 53. A certain woman threw an upper mills tone] the upper, movable stone of a hand mill, a foot or upwards in diameter and perhaps two inches thick, made of the hardest kind of stone.* It was a woman's implement and a woman's weapon, but its weight made it a formidable missile when hurled from the height of the tower. — Sfnashed his skull] so Pyrrhus of Epirus is said to have been killed at Argos. He had forced his way into the city, and, in the street fighting which fol- lowed, his head was broken by a tile thrown by a woman from the roof of a house. t — 54. To perish by the hand of a woman was an ignominy worse than death ; in all haste he calls on a man to despatch him. — His attendant armour-bearer] all warriors of dis- tinction had such a squire; cf. 7^ i S. 14*^^- 16^^ 3i'''^. — Lest men say of mcj A woman killed him] the older commentators com- pare the words of the tortured Hercules in the Trachiniae of Sophocles, 1. 1062 f . : '^vvT) 8^, 67j\vs (pvcra kovk dvdpb^ i:n >Sy2 Sdi] cf. iqIo 2o2«. The examples of this 7vaw explicativum (Ew. § 340 b\ Ges.25 § 154 n. b), at least in the older writers in the O.T., are most of them, for one reason or another, dubious. In the present instance it is possible that the conjunction was inserted by a scribe who understood •''^;'3 -\^';r\ as ©^^ ^^- IL did, ol TjyoviJLevoi ttj$ irdXem, instead of citizens. The author may have written, " All the men and women, — all the citizens of the town " (comprehensive apposition). A more radical conjecture would be that the last words, which are lacking in (Q^, are an addition by a later hand; it is likely, however, that the omission in (g^ is accidental; cf. N. — 53, ^nN nrNJ see note on 13^. — 3pi nVs] 2 S. ii'-^i, the upper stone, also called simply 33-1, 'the rider,' Dt. 24^; opp. rrrinn nSo Job 411*^. The mill is D>ni; the two stones are perh. called nSa because the mill is clefi between them. — V"^rii] a wholly anomalous form; Ew., Bo., K6., regard the punctuation as an attempt to discriminate from inni (from ]'n), comparing Dn-i Ex. 16-'^ (2:21); but, if this were really the motive, we should expect more frequent instances of such discrimination. Moreover, the device in this case would be peculiarly ill-chosen, since i is properly the vowel of Hiph. r;?; it has in fact misled Ki., who derives the form from Y^•\. — nVjSj] skull, 2 K. 98^ i c^r, iqW (prob. textual error); elsewhere only in reckoning per capita (P and Chr.). — 54. nnnn] adverbial accus. ; on the position of the word see SS. s.v. — "'p"'] I S. 31-* = I Chr. 10* Nu. 258 &c. (MH.) ; the specific word for ' run through, transfix.' 56, 57. The moral of the history. — The destruction of She- chem and the death of Abimelech was a divine retribution for their crime against Jerubbaal's house, the fulfilment of Jotham's curse (v.^). There is no trace of the characteristic pragmatism of D ; the verses may with probability be ascribed to E.* 56. God requited the crime of Abifnclech, ivhich he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers'] lit. made it come * Budde. 2/0 JUDGES back on Abimelech^ the complement, tcpon his he Ad (i S. 25^), is expressed only in the following sentence, but psychologically belongs to both. — 57. And all the wickedness of the Shechemites God requited upon their heads ^ and the curse of Jot ha fn the son of Jerubbaal came true to them'] was fulfilled ; with the verb cf. I S. 9« Dt. 13^ Is. s^^&c. X. 1-5. The Minor Judges: Tola and Jair.*— Tola (v.^^) and Jair (v.^-^), with Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12^-^^), form a group of five judges (with whom Shamgar, 3^^ is often reckoned as the sixth), of whose exploits nothing is related. These judges are introduced in standing formulas entirely different from those which form the setting of the stories of [Othniel], Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, and exhibit no trace of D's distinctive pragmatism. The character of the scheme of the Minor Judges is best exempHfied by the notice of Elon ( 1 2""^-) ,t which contains absolutely nothing else : " And there judged Israel after him, Elon the Zebulonite ; and he judged Israel ten years. And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun." The notices of Tola and Jair differ from this pattern only in the opening words, " There arose after him." Besides the name and origin of the judge, the years of his rule, and the place of his burial, we have in the case of three of them (Jair, Ibzan, and Abdon) the number of their sons, sons and daughters, sons and grandsons ; evidence that they were persons of raiik and consequence. The names of Tola, Jair, and Elon occur elsewhere in the genealogical systems. Tola is a son of Issachar (Gen. 46^^ Nu. 26^), that is, a clan (Nu. Ic), and, as may be inferred from i Chr. 7^**-, the leading clan, of that tribe ; Puah, here his father, appears in the lists as his brother, that is, another clan of Issachar. Elon is a son (clan) of Zebulun (Gen. 46'* Nu. 26-'^) ; and the name of his burial place, though differ- ently pronounced by iJJl, is doubtless the same, the chief seat of * On the so-called " Minor Judges " see Noldeke, Untcrsuchungen zur Kritik des A. T., 1869, p. 181-184; Wellhausen, Prolegomena^, p. 238, Comp., p. 217 f. 356; Stade, GVI. i. p. 69; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 96-98; Cornill, Einl'K, p. 99 f. ; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 9-14. See also Introduction, ^ 7. t As that of the other judges by Othniel; above, p. 84, and Introduction, ^ 4. IX. 56. X 271 the clan. Jair is a son of Manasseh (Nu. 32''^ Dt. 3'' i K. 4''') ; in another place (i Chr. 2-'-"''), a great grandson of Judah on his father's side, and of Machir ben Manasseh on his mother's. The identity of the Jair named in all these places with the judge in our text is proved by the constant association with the Havoth- jair (villages of Jair) in Gilead ; see on v.". The names of Ibzan and Abdon do not occur elsewhere, but the mention of their numerous posterity has naturally the same significance as in the case of Jair; they are extensive clans with numerous branches and alliances. Their prosperity and dignity are symbolized by the fact that their sons and grandsons rode upon asses. In the case of all five of these Minor Judges, therefore, we probably have, not the names of individuals, but of clans.* The chronological scheme of the Minor Judges also differs from that of the others. Elsewhere we find uniformly, first, the duration of the oppression ; second, the duration of the period of security under the judge ; there is an interregnum between each judge and the next. In the case of the Minor Judges, on the contrary, we have only the number of years each judged Israel, and there is no intimation of an interval between them ; the formula, And after him, implies, rather, that the writer meant to represent their rule as consecutive. The first of these ways of reckoning corresponds to D's whole construction of the history as a rhythmical succession of apostasy, with consequent oppression and deliverance, and the chronolog- ical data appear imbedded in his formulas ; the second does not accord with this theory. Moreover, the seventy years assigned to the Minor Judges appear to be independent of the systematic chro- nology of the book, and to disturb its symmetry. It has been inferred from this that the Minor Judges were introduced into the book by a hand later than the Deuteronomic author (D).! The question is one of considerable difficulty ; it can be advan- tageously discussed only in connexion with the problems of the chronology and composition of the book in general ; see Intro- duction, §§ 4, 6, 7. * This does not exclude the possibility that individuals may have borne these names (cf. above on s^^ff., p. 91) ; but for the author of the notices in the Book of Judges the individual is clearly lost in the clan. t So We.. Sta., Bu., Co. Against this inference sec Kue., II CO^. p. 342; Kitt. 272 JUDGES Of the source from which these notices are derived we can affirm nothing. 1. Tola. — There arose after Abinielech to deliver Israet~\ ac- cording to Budde's not improbable hypothesis, the same hand (the last editor) restored ch. 9, which D had omitted,* and intro- duced the Minor Judges. — To deliver Israel was the mission of the judge ; see on 2^^ f^. From what foes, or by what deeds, he delivered Israel, is not narrated. — Tola the son of FuaJi] both are names of clans of Issachar ; see above, p. 270. — Son of Dodo'] the name Dodo (var., Dodai) occurs twice in the list of David's heroes, 2 S. 23^ i Chr. 11^- 27^ and 2 S. 23^^ It has lately been found in the form Dudu on the Amarna tablets.f The versions, with the exception of ^T, take the word as appellative, son of his (Abimelech's) iincle (father's brother). — A man of Issachar] on the text see note. — He resided at Shamir in Mt. Ephraim] there was also a Shamir in the Highlands of Judah (Jos. 15^^). The Shamir of our text, the seat of a clan of Issachar, probably lay in the north-eastern part of the Highlands of Ephraim, not far from the plain of Jezreel. See on 5^^ (p. 151). The branches of Issachar which established themselves south of that valley, had their settlements among those of the great tribe of Joseph, and, like Benjamin on the south, seem frequently to be included when it is spoken of. \ Shamir has not been identified. Schwarz sug- gested Sanur, a ruined stronghold on a detached rocky hill about midway between Nabulus and Genin ; § but this seems to be too far south and west for a settlement of Issachar, and there is no other argument for the identification than the very dubious one of similarity of sound. — 2. He judged Israel twenty-thj-ee years] * See above, p. 235. t In the inscription of Mesha king of Moab (1. 12), r\1^'^ seems to be the name of a divinity. The Diidu of the Amarna letters (Winckler, Thontafelfund von El Amarna, No. 38, 1. i, &c.) is apparently a Canaanite official at the Egyptian court. See also Sayce, Higher Criticism, p. 215. X This may account, on the other hand, for the fact that Issachar is not named in places where we should expect it, as in ch. 4 and 6-8. § Das heilige Land, 1852, p. 119. On Sanur see Rob., ^7i?2. ji.p. 312 f. ; Gu6rin, Samarie, i. p. 344-350 ; 5 WP. Memoirs^ ii. p. 157 f. ; Bad^., p. 228. Raumer, Van de Velde, Gu6rin, al., would identify Sanur with the Bethulia of Judith ; see DB^. i. p. 420 f. X. 1-4 273 the same formula is used of each of the Minor Jutlges, also of Jephthah (12^) and Samson (15"'"), but not of any of the other heroes of the book. On the chronology, see Introduction, § 7. He died and was buried in Shamir] from this notice, which, mutatis mutandis, is repeated in the case of the other Minor Judges, we are probably to infer that the tomb of the epony- mous ancestor of the clan was in later times shown at Shamir.* Cf. 2\ 1. nxiD p yVin] the latter name is tvritten in the same way i Chr. 7I; in Gen. 4613 Nu. 26^^, hid. See Ochia we- Ochia, No. 201, and Norzi on Gen. I.e. As appellative, ^$'^^T^ is the 'crimson worm, cochineal' {Coccus ilicis); n.xir, a plant from which a red dye was obtained {Rubia tinctorum, Linn.; Low, Pflanzennatnen, p. 251); f the coincidence is noteworthy. On animal names see on 72^^ — ^i^-, pj ^ yj^j irarpad^Xcpov airov (iraTpbs dSeX^oC PVN j g) . similarly 5>. IL patrui Abinielech. Ki. notes that some codd. of % had nn -13 («. pr. ; so Ra.); others, %-inN nx 13, i.e. Abimelech's uncle, ©-"^i has Kal dv^aTr)v^] "»V is generally a riding ass, Gen. 49^1 Jud. 10* 12^* Zech. 9''; a beast of burden, Is. 30*5- 24. in Arabic, specifically the 7vi/(/ ass; sec Hommel, Namen der Saugethiere, p. 1 21-123. — 3"'"^"'>^] the substitution of this form for the regular plur. of n-'y, any, is generally explained as an inten- tional play on the word, to connect it more closely with an'^j? 'asses' (Ki., Schm., Stud., al. mu.).^ Perhaps it originated in an accidental repetition of the preceding. — mn] (S^ iiravXeis. The word is connected by Abulw. with Arab, /layy, 'tents of a clan, clan, kindred' (see above, p. 83 f); similarly Cler. (on Nu. 32*1), comparing Arab. hi%ua\ 'group of tents, camp.' This is better than Ges. {Thes. p. 451), direct derivation from mn = T\''n, 'place where men live, habitation,' comparing German names like Aschersleben, &c. X. 6-16. The moral of the history repeated and enforced. Preface to a new period of oppression. — The religious prag- matism of the history, with its recurring cycle of apostasy, sub- jugation, and deliverance, is set forth with all explicitness in the Introduction, 2 ^^-3^. In tihe framework of the book, in which the stories of the judges are set, the leading motives of this ouverture are generally repeated in a sentence or two of set phrases, but in one or two cases they are more fully developed (3'"^^ 6'"-'°), while in the passage before us they are expanded to almost as great * Di., NDJ. p. 201 ; Kue., Th. T. xi. p. 479 ff. t Klosterm. It is lacking in ©. X Fl. Jos. ^'i Polyb., V. 70, 12 ; Reland, Palacstina, p. 679. II 052. 2726,. On Tell Qaimun see Rob., BR^. iii. p. 114 f.; Gu^rin. Samarie, ii. p. 241 ff.; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 48, 69 f. Eii Smith (1844) and Robinson sug- gested that Tell Qaimun— Kammona— Kuamon (Judith 7-'^) is the Jokneam of the O.T. (Jos. i2'-22 &c.), and this identification is in all probability right. ^ Cf. ® TTuiAous, TToAeis, 276 JUDGES length as in 2"^-. We have learned that 2"^- is not entirely the work of the author of our Book of Judges (D), but contains the substance of an older introduction, conceived in a similar spirit, which we saw reason to attribute to an elohistic source (E).* The same phenomena meet us again in lo*'"^^ : with the charac- teristic phrases of D is intermingled another strain, which toward the end predominates ; and the affinity of this element with E is here even more evident than in the former case. Why this ex- tended introduction should stand thus in the middle of the book is not apparent. It may have its explanation in a different order of the pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges. Stade surmises that in E it immediately followed the story of Ehud (3^^'^°), and that its sequel has not been preserved.! Budde conjectures that it was E's introduction to the account of the Phihstine oppression. | As it does not appear that E contained a story of Samson, it would then be supposed, further, that in its original connexion it was followed by the history of the Philistine aggressions in the time of Samuel and Saul. On io6-i« see Stade, ZATW. i. p. 341-343, GVI. i. p. 70; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 128 f.; Kuenen, HCCP'. i. p. 340 f.; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 8. — Stade urges the resemblance of the non-Deuteronomic elements in the passage to Jos. 24 (E2). To that source he ascribes v.^^- ^ (except the Israelites \^ and the 18 years) 10*. ]3f.*i4f.. gyen v.^f- appears to have an elohistic basis. § Budde's analysis is very similar. Kue. and Kitt., on the contrary, discover no traces of E. The former ascribes the passage as a whole to D : the latter attributes v.6f. 8b. loa (?) II to Ri. (redactor of the older Book of Stories of the Judges), the rest to R^ (redactor of the present Book of Judges) ; the suggestions of E in the latter are due to a peculiar predilection of the last redactor for the style of E. 6. The verse begins with the standing formulas of D ; cf. 2""^^ 3" &c., I S. 7* 12^". The catalogue of foreign religions, which includes those of all the neighbouring nations (cf. 2^^ Dt. 6" 13^'), Syria, Phoenicia, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, is not improb- * See above, p. 63 f., 68 fT. t y.A TW. i. p. 342. That it was not originally the introduction to the story of Jephthah, he infers from ii^, and from the fact that the theological pragmatism of io«-"i is entirely foreign to that story. X Richt. u. Sam., p. 128. Cf. v.', and observe Judah and Benjamin in v.9. } Cf. altogether Jos. 24i»--'\ || V.»a belongs to Ri.'s source. X. 6-IO 277 ably a secondary amplification. — Forsook Yahwch'\ v.'°- ''' 2'-'^ Jos. 24=^" (E). — 7. Cf. 2i^-« f 4- I S. i2\ — The Philistines and the Ainmonites'\ the author of these words intended lo*'"" to stand as an introduction not only to the Ammonite oppression (io'"-i2'^), but to the Philistine supremacy. Of the latter, however, there is no further mention in the following context ; it is the Ammonites who, after crushing Israel east of the Jordan, invade Judah, Ben- jamin, and Ephraim. The PhiHstine domination begins with 13' (Samson), and continues to the time of Samuel (i S. 7, K). In their present connexion, the words, into the powe?- of the Phitisti?ies, are manifestly out of place. They may have been inserted by the latest editor for the purpose of extending the scope of the intro- duction to include ch. 13-16. The alternative is to suppose, with Budde, that in E 10®"^^ originally prefaced the account of the Philistine oppression.* This is perhaps the more probable hypo- thesis.— On the Ammonites cf. 3^^, and see on ii"*. — 8. And they broke a?id crushed the Israelites in that year eighteen years'\ from what follows the subject appears to be the Ammonites only. The impossible collocation, in that year eighteen years, must be attrib- uted to editorial interpolation or composition. The eighteen years probably belong to D's chronology (cf. 6^ 13^) ; in that year is more suitable to the verbs at the beginning of the verse, which suggest a signal catastrophe rather than long-continued subjuga- tion and oppression, and may, as Kittel thinks, be from the source from which ch. ii*^- is derived.f D's text may then have run: And he sold them into the power of the Ammonites eighteen years. — The rest of the verse, with v.^" appears to be an expansion of the Israelites, y.®* ; the oppression was universal, both east and west of the Jordan. — The land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead'\ cf. 11^^^-; the relation to the latter passage is additional evidence of the late date of v.^^. — 9. The Ammonites even crossed the Jordan and invaded Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim; see on v.''^ Judah is mentioned only in 15^-" iS^'.— Israel loas in great straits'] 2'^ I S. 30^ — 10. Cf. 3^-^^ 4^ 6"'. — We have sinned against thee] v}^ I S. 12^" 7*^ Nu. 14^ 21^ Dt. i^^ The formula of confession is peculiarly frequent in E (Eg). — Forsaken Wihzueh] v.'' '•' 2^'^\ * See above, p. 276. f Cf. that year, with, after a year (o>d>d) ii*. 278 JUDGES 8. N^in njao] naturally, the year in which Yahweh gave Israel into their power. The year of the death of Jair (Ra., Rjes. i^) is far-fetched. The difficulty which these words make in connexion with the following eighteen years has constrained the interpreters to various ungrammatical shifts. JH endeavours to soften the collision by carrying the second number over to the next half-verse; cf., Schm., Ke., al. (5^^ IL omit the troublesome words.* — "ivSjj n^'N] the Gileadite Amorites. In the writer's view the Israelite settle- ments east of the Jordan were on territory conquered from the Amorites, not taken from Moab and Ammon. The same theory is expounded at length in 1 1 15-27. see there. Gilead here, as often, is the whole region of Israelite occupation east of the Jordan. — 10. 'J1 \v^rh\< ij:jr;y] read irnSx nini. So 7 codd. (De Rossi) ^-^ ^ STIL'^ ; t sporadic correction attesting the sound feeling that the name is indispensable. 11-16. Yahweh reproaches the Israelites with their apos- tasy.— They have learned neither wisdom nor gratitude by their past experience. He will deliver them no more ; they may appeal to the gods they have chosen. They confess their sin and put away the foreign gods. Yahweh cannot bear their distress. — Compare 2^^-'' (the angel at Bochim), 6^-^*^ (prophet), i S. 7^^ lo^^-i^ 12^^- Jos. 2/^^'-^. Verses ^^-^^ have the distinctive marks of E's style ; in the preceding verses the text of E appears to have been altered and expanded by R, to whom the catalogue of oppressors, in its present form, must be attributed. — 11, 12. The Hebrew text presents an anacoluthon which can hardly be imitated in English : Nonne ab ^gyptiis et ab Amoritis et ab Ammonitis et a Philistaeis — et Sidonii et Amalec et Maon oppresserunt vos, et clamastis ad me, et liberavi vos e potestate eorum ? The con- struction is changed in the middle, and v." thus left without its predicate (liberavi vos). % Such an anacoluthon is, however, awk- ward in this simple sentence, and the disorder is perhaps due to transcriptional error. The versions render : § Did not the Egyptians and the Amorites . . . oppress you, and you cried unto me, and I delivered you from their power? See note. The catalogue of the seven nations, the counterpart of the seven * It is perhaps not without significance that in ii26 (the 300 years) these 18 years seem not to be reckoned. t Dominum, which seems to have no Latin attestation, was introduced by the Clementine editors ; see Vercellone, X See De Wctte, Stud. u. Krit. 1831, p. 305 ; Stud. ; Ges.25 ^ 167, 2. ^ Except ©UN. X. II-I2 2/9 varieties of heathenism in v.*',* corresponds to 2'*'* (he sold them into the power of their enemies on all sides), as v.^"^ to 2'^ The text of E, as is frequently the case with such hsts, has been ampli- fied by a later editor ; originally it must have contained the names of the peoples whose oppressions had been related in E's Book of Judges, and probably in the order of his narrative. If it had been preserved intact, it would have given us a valuable criterion for the reconstruction of his work. The editor, on the contrary, has accumulated the names of neighbouring nations without any discoverable principle of selection or order. We read in it the names of some which nowhere else appear as oppressors, while we miss others, notably Moab and Midian, which we should cer- tainly expect to find. — TJie Amontcs'\ this is referred by the com- mentators to Sihon king of Heshbon (Nu. 21-^"') ;t but how the invasion and conquest of the Amorites by Israel, which is there narrated, can be converted into an oppression of Israel by the Amorites, I and put in conjunction with the tyranny of the Egyptians, they do not explain. The name is omitted by S. — The Ammonites^ the only Ammonite oppression recorded in the book is that in the following chapter, from which they were deliv- ered by Jephthah ; we should not expect to find it referred to in this introduction as a thing of the past. In 3^^ the Ammonites are named as allies of Moab under Eglon, but since Moab itself is not named in our catalogue the supposition that the writer was here thinking of Eglon's time is excluded. The omission of Moab was felt by the versions to be unaccountable, and the name is introduced by (@ after the Ammonites, § by 'a'in . . . Dnx::s x^n (Ges.-^ § 167, 2). But neither J7>tj'in nor "-^^-ir^, ' deliver, rescue ' from an enemy or oppressor, is in Judges construed thus with p; they always take n>D (>'>t:Mn 2'«- 1'^ 6» (hd":) 8-- 10I2 ,36. L,,^^ 59 §34 9I7), There is no discernible reason why the author * Mizpah (v.!?) is derived from iiH in its present form ; hence loi"*"- is later tluin the great interpolation, iii-^- t lic\, al. 2J?2 JUDGES should not have written, 'ji DnxD n>D ddhn \-i;'t:'in nSh, or "Ti^jtrin onifD "t-d nSh 'Ji T'Ci DjnN, IQ with its supposed anacoluthon is thus suspicious on gram- matical grounds. (gAPVLMO g ^ * ^^^ make the nouns in v.^ as v/ell as in v.^^ subjects of the vb. nn'^, and the text should probably be emended accordingly. — 12. Ii;::i] MaSiafi (gABLM j^ Xamay ^^0 ai. g s, Canaan % (thinking doubt- less of 4^ &c.). ]';}j is a not impossible corruption of p>'D in old Hebr. or transitional alphabets. — 14. dd*? ypiyv^ 'hoh ;?"«a'in Jos. lo^ 2 S. lo^ Jer. ii^^ Ez. 34^2; in a different idiom, Jud. 72, see note there. — 16. v.:'£3j nxpni] lit. Ais soul xvas shortened ; his patience was exhausted. We speak of a short temper, impatient and hasty. In Hebrew the phrase is used for complete discouragement, when endurance itself is exhausted, Ex. 6^ Nu. 21^ Job 21"*; but also of a man who is tired out by importunity, Jud. 161'^. The application of these words to God was a stumbling-block to some of the Jewish interpre- ters; but cf. Mi. 2^ Zech. ii^. — Sd;?] rare in old prose. Gen. 41^1 (E) Nu. 23^1 Dt. 26'. XI. 1-XII. 7. — (Jephthah delivers Gilead from the Ammon- ites.— Jephthah the Gileadite has been driven from his home to the adjacent Syrian district of Tob, where, with a band of wild fellows, he leads the life of a freebooter (11^"^). When the Am- monites make war on Gilead, the elders persuade him to come and take command against the enemy, promising to make him the head chief of all Gilead. He returns with them, and is made chief by the people (v.'^'^^). He sends messengers to the king of Ammon, contesting his claim to the lands between the Jabbok and the Arnon : Israel conquered this territory from the Amorites and has held it undisputed for three hundred years. The Ammonites refusing to recognize Israel's title, hostilities commence (v.^---^). Jephthah vows that if Yahweh gives him victory, he will sacrifice the first who comes out of his house to meet him on his return (v.'^). He subdues the Ammonites, taking from them twenty cities (v.^^). Returning in triumph to Mizpah, his only daughter comes out to meet him, heading the chorus of women. The father's heart is rent, but he can not take back his word ; after a respite of two months, he performs his vow. The fate of Jeph- thah's daughter is commemorated by the women of Israel in an annual four days' festival (v."^*"''") . The Ephraimites are jealous because they were not called out for the war, and cross the Jordan to avenge the slight, but are * ffilJN V agree with 1^. XI. i-XTI. 7 283 beaten by Jephthah. In their flight many are cut off by tlie Gileadites at the fords of the Jordan, being betrayed by their pronunciation (12^-^). After judging Israel for six years, Jephthah dies and is buried in Gilead (v/) . The long diplomatic communication, defending Israel's title to Gilead (n^-'"^), is manifestly foreign to the original story.* The historical argument is derived chiefly, and in part verbally, from Nu. 20, 21 (see comm. below) ; and, though purporting to be an answer to the claim of the Ammonites (v.^=^), in reality deals exclusively with Israel's relation to the Moabites (v.^^- '').t I'^en in the appeal to the king (v.-^), the name of Chemosh, the national god of Moab, stands, instead of Milcom, the god of Amnion ; and the conduct of the present king is contrasted with that of Balak king of Moab, who waged no war with Israel. The cities named in v.-« are well known Moabite cities. % There is general agreement among critics that ii'-"^ is a late interpolation, the motive of which is to establish the title of Israel to its possessions between the Arnon and the Jabbok.§ The insertion of this long speech has done some injury to the margins of the original narra- tive. Verses ^- ^^ are violently severed from v.'^ of which they are the original sequel ; v.^^^ seems to belong after v.«^ ; vP is further a very awkward redactional doublet to v.'^^^ necessitated by the intru- sion of v.^2-^ before v.^'^^ See comm. on the verses. At the begin- ning of ch. II, the editor seems to have endeavoured with indiffer- ent success to make out something more definite about the hero's origin, taking the hint from v.^ Chapter 1 2^-« is regarded by Well- hausen as a later appendix to the story. The difficulties in the connexion of these verses with ch. 11 are, however, exaggerated ; the story does not bear the marks of a late fabrication ; and there seems to be no sufficient reason why it may not be from the same hand with ii4-"»>-« See more fully below, and cf. on 8^"^. *See Stud.; Noldeke, Untersuchungen, p. 195 "•; ^e., Comp., p. 228; Bu.. Richt. u. Sam., p. 125 ; al. t Even in v.i5, where alone they are named, the Ammonites come only m the secon^jilace. ^^ treats the whole kingdom of Sihon. from the Jabbok to the Arnon. as having been originally Moabite. r.u^Ammon- ^ The occasion of the interpolation may have been the mtrus.on of the Ammon ites into the old territory of Israel at the beginning of the 6th century, cf. jer. 49 • 284 JUDGES Wellhausen and Stade find in the story of Jephthah no histori- cal elements at all. Jephthah himself is a shadowy figure, whose origin and end are equally obscure ; of his great victory over the Ammonites, we are told nothing definite. The whole point lies in the sacrifice of his daughter, which serves to explain the Gileadite women's festival.* Stade infers from ii^that Jephthah was the hcros eponymiis of a despised Gileadite clan, or one not of full blood. Goldziher treats Jephthah and his offering as mythicaLf The objections to the historical character of the hero and of the main features of the story do not seem to be sufficiently well founded. That the circumstances of his victories over the Am- monites were not remembered, or are not more fully narrated here, does not prove that nothing of the sort happened ; the mythical features which may be recognized in the annual cele- bration of the women of Gilead may have attached themselves to an historical event such as is here related. % 1-3. Jephthah's antecedents, — The bastard son of Gilead, he is driven from home by his brothers, and with a band of free companions lives the life of a marauder in the district of Tob. The facts in this introductioji are drawn from the story, which must have begun by telling who Jephthah was, and probably how he came to be in Tob (cf. v.^). The genealogical notise which makes him a son of Gilead (v.^^) is clearly not original ; with it naturally falls the story of his expulsion by the legitimate sons of Gilead (v.-) . From v.^ we should rather infer that he had been banished by the authorities, the elders of Gilead. A not unnatural misunderstanding of the latter verse may have given rise to v.^^- ^. § 1. Jephthah the Gileadite was a great warrior] 6^^ i S. 9^ — He was the son of a harlot] cf. Abimelech, 8^^ 9^^. The trait may very well belong to the original story. || The following words, on the contrary, and Gilead begot Jephthah, appear to be a misinter- pretation of the patrial adjective, the Gileadite, in the sense and form of the later genealogical systems ; Gilead is the name of a * We., Comp., p. 228 f. ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 68. t Der Mythos bei deji Hcbrdern, p. 113 ff. = Mythology among the Hebrews, 1877, p. 0 ff., 104. + Cf. Kue., liu., Kitt. ^S Cf. Bii.. p. 125 f. II liu., I.e. p. 125, is of thp opinion that this also is secondary. XI. 1-3 . 285 region or of its population (5^"^), not of a man. Having made this beginning, the editor understands Jephthah's words to the elders of Gilead in v.^ You have hated me and driven me out of my father's house, and his bretJireji (clansmen) v.", literally, and combining it with v.^'^ (Jephthah a bastard), interprets the whole situation in v.": the legitimate sons drove out their illegitimate half-brother.* — 2. Besides Jephthah, Gilead had sons by his lawful wife. When they grew up, they drove Jephthah away. — Thou slialt Jiavc no inheritance in our father' s house, for thou art the son of another woman'\ if v.^*^- - were an integral part of the old story, and therefore to be interpreted historically, we might, with Stade, regard Jeph- thah as the name of a Gileadite clan which did not stand on an equal footing with the others of its kin. But as the name nowhere occurs in this character,! and nothing in the subsequent story suggests anything of the kind, the solution adopted above seems preferable. — 3. Jephthah fled from his brethren'] cf. v.^ ; expelled from his father's house. — The district of Tob] v:\ The men of Tob appear in 2 S. lo"-^ among the Syrian allies of the Ammonites in their war with David, in immediate connexion with Maachah ; the same district is perhaps meant in i Mace. 5^"^ 2 Mace. 12'". We have no other clue to the situation of Tob ; it was apparendy not very remote from Gilead, probably to the NE. — There col- lected to Jephthah worthless fellows, and went out (on forays) 7vith him] lit. wei'e raked together. The outlawed man naturally took to the life of a freebooter on the outskirts of the settled land. So David did when compelled to flee from Saul (i S. 22^*"- 23^"^ 25 27'^- &c.). His companions were of the same class; wild and reckless fellows, 9^ Such a life was not esteemed dishonourable. \ 1. nrifj-'] probably a decurtate theophoric name; cf. ninns, Sxnrc^ — nrs njir] 16I Jos. 2I and often, cf. ti'jS-'O rw^ 19I; see note on 4^. As in the case of Rahab, early Jewish interpreters try to soften the word; see below on v.^. — i^ri] the Hiph. is common in P and Chr., also Dt. 4^^ 28^^ (Di., Gen., p. 106; Dr., Introd., p. 127; Giesebrecht, ZATVV. i. p. 235 f.); older writers use * So substantially, Bu. t Cf. Jos. I5''3, a town in the Lowlands of Judah; Jiphtliah-cl in Zebulun, Jos. igi-^. + Cf. of the Greeks, Thuc, i. 5; Germans, Caes., b.i:. vi. 23, Latrocinia nullam habent infamiani, quae extra fines cujusque civitatis fiunt. The sentiments of the Arabs on this subject are well known. 286 JUDGES the Kal both in the sense * beget ' and * bear.' The clause attaches very awkwardly to the preceding: ffir makes a better connexion, ^ eyivprjaep rep TaXaad (^N), or Kal ercKep ry T. (APVLMO^ . but we should hardly take this for the original reading (Gies.). — '^njn nS] Nu. i8'-^o (a) Jos. 19^ (lina) Nu. 32^^ C*^**)- — niHN ntJ'N] I Chr, 2^^. The word does not mean peregrina (JHMich., cl. Dt. 292' Jer. 22"^^), still less, of another tribe (rabbinical inter- pretation in Ki.) ; nor does it necessarily connote inferiority. — 3. ^ra vi^^] in 2 S. lO^-s the versions take jvj tr'vs as a proper name; cf. Klosterm. (king of Maachah).* In Jer. Shebiith, vi. I, fol. 36^ the region of Tob to which Jeph- thah fled is said to have been NniDiD; Neubauer {Geog. du Talnnui, p. 239) identifies this with the Hippos of Josephus {yita^ 65 § 349), in the Decapolis.f S. Merrill adopts this combination; but it rests, so far as the Talmud is concerned, on a very insecure basis. (See also Miihlau in Ri. HWB.f s.v.) 4-11. When war breaks out with the Ammonites, the sheikhs of Gilead go after Jephthah, and beg him to take command in the war. He expresses his surprise that in their straits they should seek the aid of the man whom they have driven into exile. They promise that he shall retain his power and be head of all the inhabitants of Gilead. Upon these terms he returns with them and is proclaimed commander and chief. — 4. This verse seems superfluous beside v.^% and is omitted by some Greek manu- scripts ; Studer questions its genuineness. Of the two, however, it is perhaps more likely that v.^* was inserted by the editor. — After a iiine\ perhaps we should interpret, after a year; cf. that year, lo^ They overran the Israelites unresisted the first year, but the next season, when they again invaded the country, the elders summoned Jephthah. — The Ammonites'^ a people closely akin to the Moabites, to whom they seem to have stood in a relation somewhat similar to that of Edom to Israel. They lay to the northeast of Moab, and east of the Israelite settlements, on the border of the desert. Their principal city was Rabbah of the Ammonites ('Amman), on the upper Jabbok. In the fertile region adjacent to this city they probably early settled down to agriculture, but the great body of the tribe seems to have always remained at least semi-nomadic. That they periodically harried their Israelite neighbours and lifted their cattle, is only what the * In the parallel i Chr. 19I6 the name is omitted. t On the site of Hippos sec Schumacher, ZDPV. ix. 1886, p. 324 f. 349 f . ; Clerrnont-Ganneau, PEF. Qu. St.. 1887, ?• 36-38- XI. 4-9 287 Bedawin along the margin of the Syrian desert have always done. Not seldom their invasions had a more serious character. An Ammonite attack on Jabesh-gilead was the occasion which made Saul king ( I S. 1 1^"") ; David waged an embittered war against them (2 S. 10-12). — 5. See above on v.^ — The ciders of Gi/ead'] ^8.9.io.n cf^ gic. ^i^g j^g^^g Qf ^j^g families and clans; with a modern word, the sheikhs. Gilead is often used for the whole territory occupied by Israel east of the Jordan, as Canaan for their possessions on the west of the river. This territory, whose natural boundaries are the Yarmuk on the north and Wady Mogib (Arnon) on the south, is divided by the Zerqa (Jabbok) into two parts, the northern of which is now called Gebel 'Aglun, the southern, the Belqa. It is the latter which is the scene of our story.* — 6. Come with us and be oitr co7nmander\ an extraor- dinary authority, a kind of dictatorship, is meant ; see note. — 7. Jephthah expresses his surprise that, after the way they had treated him, they should come to him for help in their straits. — Are not you the men that hated me, and expelled me from my father's house .?] not only from the house, but from the family ; making him a tribeless man, without rights or protection. In such a state of society, expulsion from the clan is far more than banishment ; it makes a man an outcast and an outlaw. The justice or injustice of his banishment is not mooted ; t they have, in any case, no reason to expect help from him. — 8. The?efore we have now returned to thee'] the particle refers, not to the last words of Jephthah (because we are in straits), but to his first question : Because we did banish thee, we have now sought thee out to bring thee back. — So go with us and fight 7vith the Ammonites, and thou shall be our chief, even of all the inhab- itants of Gilead] 10^^. Such a sentence may also be conceived as conditional : If thou wilt go . . . thou shalt be, cvic. ; but it is a mistake to regard this as a form of the Hebrew conditional sen- tence.— 9. He repeats their proposition, that there may be no misunderstanding. — If you take me back to fight with the Ammon- *On Gilead, see Burckhardt, Syria, p. 347-372; Tristram, Land of Israel, ch. 22, 23; Merrill, East of the Jordan, 1881; Condcr, Heth and Moab, 1883; SEP. Memoirs, i. 1889; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr., p. 517-590; DH^^. s.v. t Cler. 288 JUDGES ites, and Yahweh gives tliem ovei' before me, I shall be your chiefs it is unnecessary to give the words an interrogatory inflection. — 10. Yahweh shall be a witness between us'\ shall hear and take note of the words which have passed between us; cf. Gen. 31*^, Yahweh shall keep watch between us, when we are out of each other's sight. — That we will do just as thou sayest'] lit. if we do not do ; the usual form of affirmative oath or asseveration. — 11. Jephthah goes with them, and the people acclaim him chief and dictator ; cf. 9^. So Saul is acclaimed king by all the people at Gilgal (i S. n^^); Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be made king by all Israel (i K. 12^) ; Jeroboam is made king there by the northern tribes (i K. 12-'"); cf. also i K. i^*^- (Adonijah), ^ 33fiF. (Solomon). It has been generally inferred from v."^, in con- nexion with 10^^, that Jephthah was acclaimed at Mizpah. This is in itself highly probable ; the Gileadites would naturally assemble for the purpose at their principal holy-place (cf. 9*^ i S. 11^^ 1 K. i^-^ 12^ &c.). But 10^'' is part of the editor's introduction, and 11"'' is misplaced ; it originally stood in close connexion with v.^*^-, from which it has been separated by the interpolation of v.^^-^, and closer examination shows that its proper place is after v.^^, not before v.^" ; see below. — Jephthah uttered all his words before Yahweh at Mizpah'] at the holy place, before the stele, altar, or idol, in which the deity was beheved to dwell, or which symbolized his presence; cf. i S. i^ ((g) ^'-^^ f lo^^^-'^ ii^^ 15^3 2 S. 5=^ 21^ 6'" 2 K. 19". In the present context the words can only mean, he repeated before Yahweh what he had said to the elders of Gilead when they came to soHcit his aid (v.^).* The only object in such a repetition would be to bind them by a religious sanction to keep their promise ; but in that case he must have made them solemnly repeat their pledge (v.^-^°), his words would not hold them; and, furthermore, the promise of the elders had already been fulfilled by the people (v."'') . On the other hand, the statement is perti- nent, if indeed it is not indispensable, in the account of Jeph- thah's vow, v.=*^*"- cf. v.-^-^'; see further on v.^^ — Mizpah is not Mizpah in Benjamin (Jos. iS^^ Jud. 20 21 i S. 7 lo^^ Neh. 3' * Stud. It is hardly permissible to stretch the words to cover all that had passed between him and the elders (Ra.). XI. 289 &c.),* but Mizpah in (lilcad (v.'* cf. v.'-"-' Hos. 5'). The site has not been recovered ; in our story we might think of (lebel Osha'; an hour north of es-Salt, from whose summit the view takes in a large part of Palestine.! 4. The verse is lacking in ©'*^^ : it is found in all other recensions of © and in all the other versions. J The omission may he due to honnL-otelcuton; or, less likely, to the same feeling of the redundancy of the verse which has led Jerome to condense in translation. — did'»d] after a time ; 14** 15I Jos. 23^ DUi D^DiD, after a long time; or, after a year; see l>elow v.'*''. — On the Ammonites see wStade, GVI. i. p. 120; Ri. IIIVB., DB^., s.v. — 5. lyVj ^jpr] cf. Nu. 22* (Midian) 22^ (Moah) i S. 4^ (Israel) &c. Elders of a city, Jud. S^o 1 S. 11^; cf. i^iyn ijpr freq. in Dt. — 6. psp] v.^; synonym of tt\s-i Mi. 3^-3; joined with n^b* and Sc'd Prov. 6'^; commander of troops Jos. lo^^; dictator Is. 3^''; cf. also Is. i^"^ 22* Da. ii^^. — 8. ]p^'\ there is no occasion for depart- ing from the ordinary meaning of the particle. In Jer. 5''^, sometimes adduced for the sense * nevertheless, notwithstanding,' the St. Petersburg codex reads |DN; the other exx. cited in Noldius do not support the meaning alleged. — noSni] perf. in an urgent entreaty; Dr^. § 119 5; followed by two other consec. perff. — 9. The protasis with a ptcp., 9^^ cf. 6^^*^ and note there; Friedrich, Conditionalsdtze, p. 16. The apodosis begins, not with j.-^ji (Dr^. § 137 a) : 'if you are going to bring me back . . . Yahweh will deliver them up,' but with n^nx ojn, — 11. Mizpah. From Jos. 1326, npscn pci Ramath- mizpeh, it is frequently inferred that Mizpah of Gilead is the same with Ramoth-gilead (i K. 41^), which was the seat of an ancient sanctuary (Jos. 20^ Dt. 4'^^), and a strong place of great importance in the Syrian wars (i K. 22^*^- 2 K. 828 9iff-). According to Euseb. {OS'^. 28791), Ramoth was a village 15 m. W. of Philadelphia ('Amman), perhaps the modern es-Salt. But Ramah and Mizpah (Mizpeh) are both common names, and the Ramoth of the Kings must have been much further north. § The form nDXc[n] Jos. ii** 13"^'', cstr. Jud. ii29bis I s. 223. What may be the reason of this variation in pronuncia- tion is not clear. The fem. cstr. does not occur, but we have the locative 12-28. The title of Israel in Gilead. —Jephthah demands the reason of the Ammonite invasion ; the king replies that he makes war to recover the territory between the Jabbok and the Arnon, which Israel, when it came up from Egypt, took from Ammon, and concludes with a demand for its surrender (v.^**^). * Roland. Grove, al., transport the Mizpah of Jud. 20, 21 to Gilead ; see there. t See Burckhardt, Syria, p. 353 f. ; Bad3., p. 180. X GLa»- omit v.-^a. ^ We should naturally look for the Mizpah of Gen. si^'J on the Aramaean frontier, in northern Gilead. U 290 JUDGES Jephthah denies the claim of the Ammonites to this region : Israel took no land from Moab or Ammon ; on the contrary, it scrupu- lously respected the rights of Edom and Moab ; when denied a passage through those countries, it made a long circuit to the east, avoiding them altogether, and never crossed the Arnon, the border of Moab (v.""^^). But when Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, refused them transit, they invaded and conquered his kingdom, which extended from the Jabbok to the Arnon, and from the eastern desert to the Jordan. What Chemosh has given to his people they possess by right ; Israel has the same title to the lands which Yahweh has given them by conquest (v.^^^^^). The claim now set up is a new one : Balak, who was king of Moab when Israel occupied this region, did not assert his title to it by going to war with them ; for three hundred years Israel has dwelt unmolested in Heshbon and the other cities which Ammon now claims. The wrong is wholly on the side of the invader. Yahweh shall decide between them (v.^^'^^). The representations of Jephthah's ambassadors are unheeded, the spirit of Yahweh (battle fury) comes upon him, and he passes over to fight with the Ammonites (v.^) . — On the interpolation, see above, p. 283. 12. Jephthah demands of the king what right the Ammonites have to invade the territory of Israel. — What have I to do with thee'] 2 K. 3^^ &c. ; what is there between us to justify this war ? The question is asked only to give occasion to the following histor- ical disquisition. / is really Israel, as in yF, not Jephthah. — 13. The king answers that Israel had taken possession of lands belonging to Ammon. — From the Arnon to the Jabbok, and to the Joi'dan] the territory in dispute was bounded by the Arnon on the south and the Jabbok on the north, and extended westward to the Jordan. The eastern Hmit was the Syrian desert (v.^^). The Arnon, now Wady Mogib, flows from the east into the Dead Sea, about midway between its northern and southern ends. The valley of the Mogib is a deep ravine with precipitous walls.* — The Jabbok, now Nahr ez-Zerqa (Blue River), is the principal * See Rurckhardt, Syria, p. 372-375 ; Seetzen, Reisen, ii, p. 347; Tristram, La}id 0/ Moab, p. 140-143. XI. 12-17 291 eastern affluent of the Jordan, into which it falls about two-fifths of the way from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee. It also flows through a deep ravine, which divides the high lands into two regions of very different character, the Belqa and Gcbel 'Aglun. The sources of the stream are near 'Amman (Rabbah of the Am- monites) , whence it flows, first in an easterly, then in a north- westerly course, then almost due west till it emerges from the mountains. — So now restore them peaceably'] the plural pronoun (fem.) must be understood of the cities in this region ; cf. v.*".* — 14, 15. Jephthah's answer is a general denial : Israel did not take territory from either Moab or Ammon ; cf Dt. 2^- '^. Thus far, the controversy has been with Ammon only ; now Moab is introduced by the side of Ammon ; what follows 4ias reference exckisively to Israel's relations to Moab, and the argument has no bearing at all on the point which is supposed to be in dispute ; see above, p. 283. As a matter of fact, the cities north of the Arnon were Moabite, as we know both from the Moabite inscrip- tion of King Mesha and from the prophets (Is. 15 16 Jer. 48 &c.).t The only Ammonite city named in the O.T. is Rabbah (Philadelphia, 'Amman). The Ammonites profited by the disas- ters of Israel, and occupied a considerable part of the old territory of Gad (Jer. 49^ Ez. 25^^ ; cf. i Mace. 5^^). — 16. Israel went in the desei't as far as the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh'] the first words are generally thought to refer to the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 13^^ 14), but apart from the strangeness both of the expression itself and of the juxtaposition with the following, the mention of the fact has no relevancy in this connexion. It is rather, perhaps, a not altogether distinct reminiscence of Nu. 14^^ (E), connected with 20^^^- (E). — Kadesh'] now generally identified with 'Ain Qudeis. | — 17. Israel sent ?nessengers to the king of Edoni\ from Kadesh. The verse is plainly dependent, even in expression, upon Nu. 20^'*--^ (E). In Dt. i 2*"- no mention is made of these negotiations with Edom. — He (Israel) sent to the king of Moab also, but he would not cojisent] no account of * Be. (cf. Nu. 2i25) ; not, the lands of Moab and Ammon (Stud.), t Cf. also Jud. 3i2ff- ; above, p. 90 f. X Rowlands, in Williams, Holy City'^ i. p. 467 f. ; Trumbull Kadesh liamea, p. 237 ff. 2Q2 JUDGES this embassy is now found in the Pentateuch, and as there is no apparent reason why an editor should have omitted it, if it existed in his sources, it may fairly be doubted whether the author of our passage had any authority for the statement. He might naturally reason that, if Israel proposed to pass around the southern end of the Dead Sea, the consent of Moab was as necessary as that of Edom.— ^^ Israel remained at KadesJi] Nu. 20^ Dt. i^^— 18. The Israelites made a long circuit around Edom and Moab, going south along the western frontier of Edom to the head of the Gulf of 'Aqabah (Red Sea), and then through the desert to the east of Edom and Moab (Nu. 20" 21*) ; * cf. the somewhat different repre- sentation in Dt. 2. — They came up on the east of the land of Moab, and encainped beyo7id the Arnon\ Nu. "^ i"- ^^. — They did not enter the territory of Moab ; for the Anion is the boundary of Moab'] Nu. 21^^ 22^*^. It is not necessary to suppose that the author means the eastern boundary ; t he may have represented the Israelites as keeping beyond the limit of settlement on the east of Moab till they crossed the wadies which ran into the Arnon from the east, and then turning westward along the northern side of the Arnon; this is apparently the representation of Nu. 21^^. 12. iSi iV na] cf. further 2 S. 1610 1923 Jos. 222* 2 K. 9I8 &c. The idiom occurs not only in Hellenistic Greek, but in the classics j see Valckenaer on Hdt., V. 33, Eurip., Hippol. 224, cited by Stud.; Ges. Thes,., p. 769. So also in Syr. and Arab, (concomitant object; Caspari, § 402). — 13. |nnN] not the lands {pxi-s^^oS.. v.i^) which belonged jointly to Moab and Ammon (Stud.), but the cities. | (gVMO "^ ^am. — 16. N2ii . . . i'?"'i . . . DniS;;3] '^>> apodosis to the temporal protasis (Dr^. § 127 /3) ; not to be included in the protasis (Kitt.), mak- ing the apodosis begin with rb^^\ — ^xo □•• n;;] possibly the words have been misplaced. In v.i^ (ijiDa iSii) they would be much more pertinent. — nSi h^n] 19IO; synon. of ^Dtt' nS v.% cf. Is. i^^ Dn;?Dt:>i i3Nn dn. The verb is found almost exclusively with the negation (the exceptions are Is. /.<:., and Job 39^ in a rhetorical question equivalent to negation); 'refuse assent or consent; decline, refuse.' The meanings *be desirous, be willing' frequently attributed to the verb are fictitious. — 18. B'Dtt' m?DD] 20*^ Dt. 4^' Is. 4125 &c. (prevail- * The description of the route in Nu. 21 is made up of heterogeneous elements. t In which case the name Arnon must be applied (as it very well may have been) to the long southeastern branch of the Mogib, the Seil es-Sa'Ideh, the head of which is near Katraneh on the Hagg road. See DB'^. i. p. 247 n. X Stud, gathers from the word that the king of the Ammonites had accused Israel of occupying territory which belonged to Moab, as well as that of Ammon. XI. 17-22 293 ing in later books); rcii'n nita Nu. 21I1 Jos. i^'' 13'' 2 K. lo"'-^ &c. TIil' omission of the article is probably explained by the fact that the phrase is a unit in sense, like sunrise, sunset, &c., and construed like words designating direction (tii3i', &c.), which do not admit the article. The next step is to drop the genitive, Am. 2>^'^ &c. — pj-\N "i^y^] Nu. 2ii3 "123:?:, on the other side of the Arnon; that is, from Moab. Not south of the Arnon (Di. on Nu. I.e.), or east of its upper course, but Jiorth of it, having crossed its head wadies in the desert, east of the Moabite settlements, Nu. I.e.; cf. Dt. 2^*. 19. Israel asks of Sihon permission to cross his country, through which they must needs pass to reach the Jordan and invade Canaan. — King of the Aniorites\ of the new Amorite kingdom which had been estabUshed north of the Arnon, in lands wrested from Moab (Nu. 21^""^).* — Heshbon\ one of the chief cities of Moab (Is. 15* Jer. 48^ &c.) ; for a time in the possession of Israel (cf. v.'*^). Its ruins, which still bear the old name, Hesban, lie about sixteen miles east of the mouth of the Jordan.! — Let me pass tJu'ougJi thy country'] Nu. 21-- Dt. 2^. — To my place] cf Nu. lo^-*. — 20. But Sihon refused Israel passage through his territory] so the text is to be emended on the authority of ©'^ "' ; %] has, Sihon did not trust Israel to pass, but the use and construction of the verb trust are anomalous ; see note. — Sihon collected all his forces and encamped at Jahaz] Nu. 21-'^ Dt. 2^-. Jahaz is a Moabite city, named in conjunction with Heshbon and Elealeh. \ It was shown in Eusebius' time between Medeba and Debus. § — 21. Vahweh gave the Amorites into the power of the Israelites, who conquered them and occupied all their territory; Nu. 21^* Dt. 2^-^\ — 22. The boundaries of this territory more exactly defined; it was precisely the district now claimed by Ammon (v.^^) ; cf Nu. 2i-'*-2^ Dt. 2^^\ In both the latter passages it is carefully explained that Israel took no territory from the Am- * Whether this representation is historical or not, is a question into which we need not enter here; see E. Meyer, ZATW. i. p. 128 ff . ; Sta., GVI. i. p. 117 f.; on the other side, Di., NDJ. p. 133 ; Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 207 flF. t On Heshbon see Reland, Palaestina, p. 719 f. ; Le Strange, p. 456 ; Burckhardt, SyHa, 365; Tristram, Latid of Israel^, p. 528 f.; SEP. Memoirs, i. p. 104 flF.; DirK i. p. 1348. X See Mesha's inscription, 1. 19, Is. is"* Jer. 4821- 34. § 052. 26494. Atj^oOs is probably Dibon. Reland {Palaestina, p. 825) conj. •E nx nn>D i^osn n^i] pro tuto non habebat Sihhon, Israelcm transire, Ges. Thes.; cf. Ew. § 336 b. The construction is anomalous (Job 15-"'', irn >JD 3v^ pDN^ x'^, is not parallel), and the comparison of the accus. with inf. is misleading, ©avlmo g j has koI ovk -rjOiXvcre St^wj; t6p lapa-qX duXdely, which probably represents 'Ji pn^D ^ndm; cf. Nu. 20^1 Snt^*" dn ]'n: a-nx is::m iSdj3 -\bv; t ]HT2^ was corrupted to pN% which necessitated the introduction of the negative, giving the text of |^, followed by ©^n ^^. — n-in>2 un'i] in Is. 1$-^ Jer. 48=^^ Mesha, 1. 19, the name is yn\ The locative a, Nu. 2i23 Dt. 2^^^ seems to be mistaken for fern, ending, as in Jer. 48-1 Jos. 13''* i Chr. 6''^; Sta. § 342 d. ** — 24. 'J1 tt'iOD iir'nv iir'N nx] the double accusative would com- pel us to take the verb in a different sense {cause thee to possess, 2 Chr. 20II), thus destroying the symmetry of the sentence. The final 3 has arisen by dittography from the following. 25, 26. The right of adverse possession. — The king of Moab at the time of the conquest did not try to recover this territory ; for three hundred years Israel has been in unchallenged possession of it. — 25. Now, art thou any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab ? Did he have any contention with Israel, or did he ever go to war with them ?~\ the story of E (Nu. 22-*^), on which the author is probably here as in the foregoing dependent, * Mispronounced in ffl. f Cler., Schm. ; against this explanation, Stud. X Be. ^ Baethgen. || Sayce. H Cf, also Nu. 21'^ \~i N*^, Dt. 2«" n^s n\ ** Hitz. ijes., p. 187 f.) and Kneucker (BL.s. v.) think that there were two cities, Jahaz and Jahazah. 296 JUDGES gives the answer : Balak did not contest with Israel the possession of the lands north of the Arnon. Is the present king of Amnion, then, a greater man than Balak, that he would vindicate his claim to this territory? The question is not whether he has a better claim than Balak, from one of whose recent predecessors the country had been taken by the Amorites,* but whether he thinks himself superior to Balak, able to do what Balak did not dare, namely, to try to take this territory from Israel ; cf. i S. 9^ Am. 6^ Nah. 3^ — 26. Why had they not recovered these cities in the three hundred years during which Israel had inhabited them unmolested? — hi Heshbon and its dependencies^ Nu. 21-^; the towns and villages which belonged to it (i^ &c.). — A7'oer\ is not named in Nu. 21 ; Dt. 2^^ 3^ Jos. 12^ 2 K. 10^ locate it on the banks of the Arnon, the southernmost city of Israel east of the Jordan ; cf. Mesha, 1. 26, Jer, 48^^. Eusebius gives a good description of its situation.f The ruins, still bearing the name *Ara ir. He on the edge of the precipitous north bank of Wady Mogib, where the Roman road crosses the gorge. % — And in all the towns which are adjacent to the Arno7i\ along its northern side ; the southern border of Israel. Instead of these places in the extreme south, (§ has : in Heshbon and its dependencies, a7id in Jaazer and its dependencies, and in all the cities along the Jordan.^ Jaazer (Nu. 21^- 2 S. 24^ &c.) was eight or ten miles west of Philadelphia ('Amman), || and is described as a frontier town of Ammon (Nu. 21^^ #). The reading of (^ in our verse is obviously original ; Aroer and the Arnon in J^ were suggested by v.^*^ (cf. Nu. 21^^^), and represent the tendency of late editors and scribes to enlarge the borders of Israel at the expense of all its neighbours. — For three hundred years'] the addition of the numbers given in the preceding chapters for the duration of the several '' oppressions " and the rule of the successive judges gives the sum of three hundred and nineteen years, or, if the eighteen years of the Ammonite oppression (10^) be omitted, three hun- * Lth., Pise. t OS^. 21209. X Sec Reland, Palaestina, p. 582 f. ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 372 ; Tristram, Latid of Moab, p. 144 f. ^ See crit. note. II O.S2. 264.„. cf. 2122.5. XI. 25-27 297 dred and one years.* The coincidence is so close as to suggest that the computation was made upon the basis of the ijresent chronology of the book. If this be the case, the figures must have been inserted by the last editor, or a still later hand.t The connexion of v.-*^ with the preceding would be much more intimate if the number were omitted : Did Balak make any opposition when Israel setUed in Heshbon . . . Why didst thou (Moab) not reclaim them at that time. — 27. Israel has in no way offended against Ammon ; the latter is altogether in the wrong in the present invasion. — / have committed no faidt'\ the / is Israel, not Jephthah ; see above on v.^l — Let Yahwch, who is arbiter to-day^ decide between Israelites and Anunonites'] the order of the words seems to favour this construction, % rather than that which connects to-day with the principal verb. Let Yahweh the Judge decide to-day..^ Compare in general, i S. 24"'-^^ Gen. 31" 16^11 25. nnx 2^a 3W] the words are regarded by many as standing in the same relation to each other as the following nnSj anSj dn 3-j 3nn, the first 2\o being inf. absol., the second, participle.t So Schm.'; Roorda, § 565; Ew. § 312 a; SS. There is no similar case (Roorda); and we should perhaps have to suppose that the bold and unusual construction was suggested by the analogy of the following clauses. Others take both words as adjectives, the reiteration being emphatic, art thou so much better (Ges.'^s § 133, i n.; Green, § 296, 3 a). The analogy of the following clauses may be recognized also in this explana- tion. It is not to be assumed that the writer was conscious of the grammatical difference which we make between adj., ptcp., and inf. abs.; for him 2Vj was 3113. _ (gBN ^^ iv d^a^v dTtt^cirepos av virkp \la\aK (= |i?): ©^VLMO g C O /xi? KpeLa(TO}v el aii k.t.L It is possible that the repetition of 3rj is due to a scribe, rather than to the author. — 2n 2>-in] 2>-i is a controversy about rights; cf. ii~. — DnSj DhSj as] the inf. abs. formed from the perf. stem, Sta. § 626 c\ used * Cushan-rishathaim (38), 8; Othniel {3^^),AO\ Eglon (3"), 18; Ehud (38"). 80; Jabin (48), 20; Deborah (s^i), 40; Midianites (6I), 7; Gideon {?:^*), 40; Abimelech {^^),3\ Tola (io2),23; Jair (lo^), 22 = 301; Ammonites (io«). 18; total, 319. The years of Joshua and the survivors of the generation of the con- quest (2^) are not taken into the account. t The alternative is to suppose that 300 is a round number, the coincidence of which with the sum of the years in the present chronology is purely accidental,— a very improbable hypothesis. t ^^T, Stud.. Be. § m (accents) &, Schm., Ke., Kitt., al. ; cf. Cler. II On Yahweh as judge, sec Smend, Alttest. Re/ixioiisx^cschicht,:, p. 99 ^■. -P- 298 JUDGES \vith"^hc pcrf. on account of the assonance; Bo. § 985, i; 988, 2 b. — 26. -\x;-y; *] elsewhere -\;;i;; (Mesha, 1. 26, Nu. 2^6 and uniformly in the Penta- teuch), or nyn>' {e.g. Jos. 13"''); see Frensdorff, Massoret. Worierb., p. 314; Norzi, ad loc. The^ name seems to be an internal plural. On the etymology, see Lagarde, Semitica, i. p. 30. — pjiN ni Sf\ more commonly T« S;% Ex. 2^ Nu. 1329 Jer. 466 Dan. lo* (streams, cf. Dt. 237), Jqs. 154c Ez. 48^ (Sx, cities); adjacent to. Not, on both sides of the Arnon (Kitt.), which contradicts the whole theory of the author, and is without support in usage; cf. Nu. 34^. — (5^^ t iv Eae^uiv . . . Kal iv la^r/p /cat ev rais dvyarpdcnv avrrjs Kal iv TrdcraiS rais wdXeaiv raXs irapa ttjv 'lopddvrjv. Other recensions have iv Aporjp or iv 7^ Aporjp (B) ; L omits the clause altogether. Juxta Jordanem also 11. — ynm □nSsn n':'] (5^^ 5id rl ouk ippvaw avrovs.* The sing, thou has been used throughout, and is intrinsically preferable here; we should therefore probably pronounce Dr^rxn (Stud.); the masc. suffix for the fern, is not infrequent; here, if necessary, it might be explained as ad sensuin for the people of the cities. — i^''r\r\ n>o] at that time ; 3^9 4^ 12^ 14* 2\^^- 2*, and frequently. There is no instance in the O.T. in which the phrase approaches the sense, during all that time. This gives considerable support to the hypothesis advanced above on other grounds, that three hundred years is an interpolation. — 27. Di'^n DDi^'n nin> dd!:'^] the accents indicate that ZiVr\ is to be taken with the principal verb (against Be.). 28, 29. The king of Ammon pays no heed to Jephthah's repre- sentations. The spirit of Yahweh comes upon the champion, and he leads against the foe. In v.^^ the redactor endeavours to recover the thread of the narrative, which is broken by the long interpolation, v.^^'-^. — 29. The spirit of Yah^weli] see on 3^", and cf. i4''-^''* I S. 11^. — He went over to Gilead and Manasseh, and went over to Mizpeh of Gilead ; f and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went over to the Amino7iites\ it is not possible to form any satis- factory notion of these movements or of their object. In v.^^ Jephthah was already in Gilead, and probably at Mizpah, where he apparently still is in v.-^"*' ; his setting out against the Ammon- ites is related in due course in v.^-. In itself it is conceivable enough that these journeys to and fro in Gilead and Manasseh were for the purpose of raising the tribes for the war, % though we should expect some indication of the fact (cf. 6^^ f^ «8z:c.) ; but this cannot be the intention of the author of the chaptd^r, accord- ing to whom the Israelites were already assembled (v."" cf. 10^^). * The other recensions of © have t-ppuoaj/To {^ e$ei\avTo). I On the form Mizpeh see on v.H, p. 289. X Be. XT. 28-33 290 In short, v.^ is a somewhat unskilful attempt to fasten the new- cloth, v.^-"-*^, into the old garment. 30, 31. Jephthah's vow. — These verses should stand immedi- ately after v.^^'' ; having been acclaimed chieftain by the i)eople, Jephthah vows that if Yahweh will give him victory over the Ammonites, he will offer him a human sacrifice, v.'*' •" ; these fate- ful words were uttered before YaJnveh at Mizpah, v."'' cf. v.'*-' •'^. He then puts himself at the head of the people and marches against the Ammonites, v."^-. The order has been deranged by the introduction of v.^--"'*, and perhaps still further by the acci- dental consequences of the interpolation; see above on v.". — 30. Jephthah made a vow to Yah%vch'\ cf. Gen. 28'-"'-=^-' i S. i" 2 S. 15^^-. — 31. Whoever it may be that comes out of the door of my house to meet me, when I return successful from the A?H?non- ites shall be Yahweh' s^ a7id I will offer him up as a burnt offer- ing'] the original sequel of this verse is v."*' : Afid Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh at Mizpah. — Quemlibet in hoc loco cogitaverit Jephte secundum cogitationem humanam, non videtur unicam filiam cogitasse ; alioquin non diceret, cum illam cerneret occurrisse, Heu me, filia mea, impedisti me ; in offendiculum facta es in oculis meis. . . . Sed quem potuit cogitare primitus occurrentem, qui filios alios non habebat? An conjugem cogita- verit ? * — That a human victim is intended is, in fact, as i)lain as words can make it ; the language is inapplicable to an animal, and a vow to offer the first sheep or goat that he comes across — not to mention the possibihty of an unclean animal — is trivial to absurdity. It is not, therefore, a rash vow to sacrifice whatever first meets him,t for which he is punished, \ but a deliberate one. See further on v.^'"^, and note at the end of the chapter. 32, 33. The war ; defeat and subjugation of the Ammonites. — Jephthah went over to the Ammonites to fight with them] he took the aggressive, and, as appears both from the language here and from the next Verse, invaded their territory. § — 33. Be beat them from Aroer till you come to AIi?mith, tiventy cities, and as * Aug., quaest. 49. t Fl. Jos., atltt. V. 7, 10 \ 263, \>-no(TXO^^vo\\ -\iv with ace. 'go over, pass, to a place,' iS^^ cf. 12^ Am. 5^ 62 Is. 23^ &c. (SS.). * Pass through, traverse,' a region is ':3 13;, i S. 9* and often. — pDj? ij2 n3>'] an anomalous expression. Like other verbs of motion, when the goal is personal, -\i') is construed with Sn (S>'), v.^'^ 12^ &c. See Ges.'^^ § 118, 2. The instances where the ace. is found (poet, and late; cf. I S. 13^'^), only make it more probable that in our verse we have the language of a comparatively late redactor. — 31. NS'' itrx vSS'ini] the cognate subject appears to emphasize the indefiniteness (universality) of the promise, Who- ever it may be. — 'So PNnpS NX"" is used only of persons; "'n"'^ TiViD would not be said of domestic animals. — n'^j; inTi"i'7;;m mniS nim] the last words explain the first, which by themselves might be understood in the sense of i S. i^^. Moses Kimchi interpreted the second clause as an alternative. Shall be qonse- crated to Yahweh (if unfit for sacrifice), or (if suitable) I will offer it as a burnt offering. See below, note on v.*". — 33. The Ammonite Aroer is named only here and in Jos. 1325, np -"Jd Sy nB'x "i;?nj; ny. The phrase ■'JD Sy in topographical notices generally means 'east of (see on 16^). In 2 S. 24^ Aroer on the Arnon is meant; see We., TBS. p. 217, 221 ; Dr., TBS. p. 285 f.; Di., NDJ. p. 514; so also Nu. 328* (against DB"^. i. p. 248). Nu. 2i-«b (S>, they took all his [Sihon's] country, a-Kh Kpoiqp ^a»s Apvuv, is probably, like ♦ Stud. t In this verse (P) it is allotted to Gaf, which gets "half the country of the Ammonites, as far as Aroer," &c. It was therefore an Ammonite town. X OS'i. 28O44 ; cf. Fl. Jos. U., UavidOri. § Kus/JLT) dMffeA64.opos A^eA, OS'-^. 21255. XI. 33-35 30I n>n in f^, an error for p3>D. — r>::o] in Ez. 27^^, 7^//m/ a/ Minnith, the text is corrupt; see Co. Buckingham's Menjah, 6 or 7 ni. NE. of Hesban on the road to 'Amman, with which Kneucker (i9Z. s.v.) and others would identify Minnith, seems not to exist; see Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 155; SEP. Memoirs^ and Map. Minyeh (Conder, Heth and Moab, p. 252) is much too far south. — □'•DnD S^n] Euseb. notes two other Abels, one 12 m. E. of Gadara (modern Abil), the other between Damascus and Paneas. Tristram {Land of Moab, p. 154 f.), supposing the battle to have been fought at the Moabitc Aroer, on the Arnon, would recognize our Abel-keramim in the Kurm Dhihan, a mile or two east of Dhiban. 34-40. Jephthah's return; his meeting with his daughter; the fulfilment of his vow. — Jephthah returns in triumph. Among the women who celebrate the victory with choral dances his only daughter comes joyfully to meet him. The father is in despair, but he must keep his fatal vow. The maiden receives her doom in a heroic spirit ; she is ready to die, since Yahweh has avenged her father of his foes ; she only asks two months' respite to mourn her maidenhood. When they are over she returns, and Jephthah fulfils his vow. In her memory the women keep a feur- days' festival every year. — 34. Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah'] from Mizpah he set out to the war, v."**-^-. That he had a home there, we learn first from this verse ; from v.'^""" we should not have suspected it. The two representations are not necessarily irreconcilable. — There was his daughter, coming out to 77ieet him'] the author depicts the scene with great vividness ; of 4^^ 5^*^-. — With tambourines and choral dances] as the women met David, i S. i8^*- (cf. 21" 29^), or as Miriam celebrated the overthrow of Egypt at the Red Sea, Ex. i5"'^^^-. — She was abso- lutely an only child ; besides this one he had neither son nor daughter] expressions are accumulated to emphasize the total bereavement which thus confronted him. — 35. He rent his gaj'ments] a gesture of violent grief or mourning. Gen. i,']--' 2 S. i^^'^-'^^ Job I-" and often. — Oh, my daughter, thou hast ruined me] ht. felled me, as by a deadly blow; 2 S. 22*' cf. Jud. 5-'^. — Thou art become the author of my calamity] with tragic emphasis. Thou ! The translation of the English version, Thou art one of thefn that trouble me, is, at least for the modern reader, both feeble and misleading ; the verb is one of the strongest in the language; cf. Gen. 34''" Jos. 6^"" 7"^ i S. 14-- i K. iB>'^'-^\ — Inas- 302 JUDGES much as I have spokeii a solemn word to Yahweh, and cannot go back'] lit. have opened my mouth wide, uttered a great and dread- ful vow ; cf. Job 35^'^' Ps. 66^^^-. With the last words compare Am. i^ &c. — 36. She feels her doom in her father's passionate, though vague words, and answers with tragic heroism, So let it be ! Since it appears in v.^^ that she is fully aware of her fate, although it has not been named, Budde conceives that, by accident or design, part of the dialogue has been omitted between v.^ and v.^ ; the daughter must have asked the meaning of her father's enigmatic speech, v.^, and he must have given the exphcit answer.* To me it seems, on the contrary, much more in accord with the native art of the story-teller that he lets the situation and a woman's quick presentiment suffice, without this prosaic expla- nation.— My father] all the pathos of the situation is in the word. With a woman's tenderness and a woman's courage, she strengthens him for what is before them both : Thou hast uttered thy vow to Yahweh ; do to me what thou hast vowed. Lit. as it hath proceeded from thy 7nouth ; Nu. 30^. The spoken word is conceived as a real thing; cf. Is. 55^°^'. — Since Yahweh hath wrotight for thee ve?igeance of thine e?iemies] for such a victory she is content to die. — 37. She asks only .a brief respite. — Spare me two months] cf. i S. 11^. — That I may go dow?t upon the mountains and weep because of my 7naidenhood] mourn that my young life is cut off in its flower. — 38. Jephthah grants her request, and sends her away for two months, which she spends with her companions in mourning, among the mountains. — 39. When the time was up, she returned to her father. — And he did to her what he had vowed to do] vF°. The reserve of the writer, who draws the veil over the last act of the tragedy, has been abused by the rationalistic interpreters who choose to imagine that he did something altogether different from what he had vowed ; see note below. — She not having known a inan] circumstantial clause ; she died a virgin. Gen. 24^*^ &c. To con- nect and translate, He did to her what he had vowed, and she did not knoiu a ma7i, that is, remained unmarried for the rest of her life,t is ungrammatical ; \ if the writer had meant this he must • Richt, «. Sam., p. 126. f DKi., Cler., K6., al. mu. + Be., Bu. XI. 35-40 303 have written the last clause differently. On the history of inter- pretation see note below, p. 304 f. — 40. It became the custom for the Israelite women to observe annually a four days' mourning for Jephthah's daughter. — To lament^ this interpretation, which is that of the ancient versions,* suits the construction and context better than, commemorate, celebrate, which most modern commen- tators adopt. 34. iPNipS nNX> mj njm] cf. i S. 9I* Ex. 4" Gen. 2415- « &c. njn of unex- pected coincidence; see on 42''^. — niSn;::3i z^^or^^'] qr is a tambourine, used as an accompaniment of women's choral dances, Ex. 1520 i s. 18'^ (cf. Ps. 68'* 150'*), and on other festal occasions, Is. s^-^ 248 &c. See Niebuhr, A'eisebe- schreibung, i. p. 180 f.; Lane, Modern Egyptian^, p. 366; DB. s.v. "Tim- brel." On the dances see Spencer, De legibus ritualibus, K iv. c. 4; Leyrer, PRE^. XV. p. 206-208; DB^. i. p. 703-705; Wetzstein, Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie, 1873, p. 285 fF.; cf. Delitzsch, Hoheslied, p. 170 fT. — m^n"' N>n p-n] ac tantum ilia unigenita fuit. Cf. Job i^^, "'-13'? "-JN p-^ nr^oNi. — r^i p i:c:: i':' ps] the masc. suff. is perhaps to be explained as attraction to the following p, and is more probably from the hand of a scribe than of the author, ©avlmo TrXr^v avT^s. The Massora notes six passages in which udd is read where njr:?: would be expected (in-'jD) ; see Norzi ad loc, and Frensdorff, Massoret. IV'orterb., p. 255. — 35. ijn>'nDn yiDn] Hiph. is here causative to Kal in the sense, ' sink down, collapse ' (the knees giving way) under a blow or wound, 5-^ 2 K. 9-*; hence, strike down, prostrate, lay low, not bring low, i.e. humble (EV.). The identity of the consonants with those of the following -\y;, in which we may recognize an intentional paronomasia, has led to considerable confusion in the versions. — >'\y}l niTi] not, one of those who, but, as, in the character of, one who brings disaster on me ; cf. Ps. 118" 54*^ Ex. 1 8'*, Ges."-^ p. 366; Roorda, ii. p. 204 f. It may be questioned whether the punctuation, which makes the ptcp. plural, is correct; cf. Ex. i8-* with Ps. 118^. — ia vn^xij] Ez. 2^ Nu. 16*^ Dt. n6 Gen. 4I1. — 37. '^0 p n£3nn] Dt. 9", 'V r\r:r\r\ 2 K. 42? i S. ii^.— >n^>"\] corrected by the Qere to \ni;n as in v.^^. The Kethib would be pro- nounced ^n'^'V"), cf. ip^p Cant, i^ &c. (n>;;-|0); Sta. § 192 <^. — 38. 2>u-in >jr] cf. D'la'in CJir yP. — 39. t:'\s' n>n'' nS N>ni] the pronoun shows that this is not the consequence of the preceding : He did to her as he had vowcd^ and (consequently) she did not know a man,^ for which we should have simply n':'1 tt'ns r\';-\\ but an additional circumstance. — 'J1 pn ^nni] should be joined to the following verse. The false division may be due to an interpretation such as that appended in some copies of ^. — 40. nc»:D> cct] from year to year ; 21^^ I S. i^ 2^9 Ex. 13!^ cf. above on 11*. — nijn'^] © dprji-eTy; similarly all the ancient versions, Ra., al. D. Kimchi, in conformity with his theory of solitary confinement, interpreted, to talk 7vith, and console her ; similarly * So also Lth., AV., a). t Cler., al. ; recently, K6. 304 JUDGES RLbG., A^barb., Drus., Cler., al. Tanch. explained, after Arab,, celebrate, praise (see note above on 5II); so Stud., Be,, Ke,, Cass,, Oettli, RV., al. mu. The construction with S is not favourable to this, and there is also a phonetic difficulty in the equation. It is better to abide by the exegetical tradition, supported by the construction and the indications of the context, than to follow the guidance of a very dubious etymology. JephthaK's vow. — On the history of interpretation see especially Reinke, JBeiirdge zur Erkldrung des Alten Testamentes, i. p. 419 ff.; Kohler, Bibl. Geschichte, ii. I. p. 100 f.; the older literature also in Pfeiffer, Dubia vexata, cent. ii. locus 60; Exercitaiiones biblicae, exerc. 7; Dresde, Votum Jephtae, 1 767 ; o cf. a Lapide ad loc. — The older Jewish and Christian interpreters, without exception, understood the words in their plain and natural sense; Jephthah fulfilled his vow by offering his daughter as a burnt-offering. See for the former, Fl, Jos,, atitt. v. 7, 10 § 263-266; Taanith, 4.^; K in loc; Beresh. rab. § 60, and parallels; Yalqut, ii. § 68; Ra, So of the Fathers, Orig., Chrysost^ Greg. Naz., Thdt., Procop., Ambros., August., Hieron., Epiph., Ephrem Syr., al.;* followed by Beda, Hugo Victor, Th. Aquinas, and the scholastic exegesis generally; see a Lap., ad loc. The notion that she was not offered in sacrifice, but shut up in a house by herself, where she lived and died unmarried, appears first, so far as I am aware, in the Kimchis (end of 1 2th cent. A.D.), D, Kimchi's explanation was adopted by RLbG., Abarb., Sol. ben Melech; a Lyra, Arias, Vatabl., Jun., Drus., Cler., de Dieu, al. mu., many of whom suppose that she was dedicated to the service of the sanctuary in menial offices, and prohibited to marry; see esp, Cler. The sound exegetical sense of Luther rejected these rationalistic subterfuges; in the margthal note on ii^^ he writes: Man will, er habe sie nicht geopfert, aber der Text steht War da (Be.), The literal interpretation is maintained by the Jesuit commentator Serarius, as well as by Seb. Schmid, Pfeiffer, al.; while L. Cappel modified it by the hypothesis that the necessary impHcation of the vow was, that if the first living thing which met him on his return was not sacrificable, it should be put to death as nnn, and that this was the fate of his daughter.! The interpretation which resolves the sacrifice into a " spiritual burnt offering" has found expositors in modern times in Hengstenberg, Reinke, Auberlen, Cass., Kohler, Konig {Hauptproblerne, p. 74 f.), al.; see Be. ad loc. On the other side are Vatke, Stud., Ew., Hitz., Oehler, Diestel, H. Schultz, Reuss, Nold., Kue., We,, Sta., Baudissin, Kitt., WRSmith, al.— A parallel from classical legend is the story of Idomeneus told by Servius on Aeneid, xi. 264: J Idomeneus rex Cretensium fuit; qui, cum tempestate labo- raret, vovit se saerificaturum Neptuno de re, quae ei primo occurrisset, si reversus fuisset; sed casu cum ei filius primus occurrisset, quem cum, ut alii * The texts of the Fathers are collected and commented on by Reinke, op. cit. t T)e veto Jephtac, 1683; reprinted in Crit. sacri, on Jud. ii^'-*. X Repeated with slight variations on Aen., iii. 121. XII. 1-7 305 dicunt, immolasset, ut alii, immolarc voluisset, oh crudelitatem regno a civibus pulsus est. The story of Iphigeneia suggests itself to every one.* The annual lamentation of the women of Gilead for Jephthah's daughter appears to belong to a class of ceremonies, the original significance of which, often disguised by the myth, is mourning for the death of a god.f and in many of which evidence of primitive connexion with human sacrifices survives. In the last respect the parallel with Iphigeneia is instructive; for Iphigeneia was originally a name of Artemis Tauropolos, at whose festival at Brauron, and afterwards at Athens, a human sacrifice was enacted, even to the point of causing the blood to spirt from the victim's throat under the sacrificial knife. % At Laodicea on the Phoenician coast, the annual sacrifice of a stag was regarded as a substitute for the more ancient sacrifice of a maiden. § The native goddess to whom the offering was made is identified by Pausanias (iii. 1 6, 8), doubtless on this account, with the Brauronian Artemis. There seems no good reason why we should not include the mourning for Jephthah's daughter in this class. As in the case of Iphigeneia, the original significance of the myth has been entirely lost in its translation into heroic legend. The presence of this primitive mythical element in the story of Jephthah's daughter does not strictly exclude the possibihty that Jephthah himself and his victory over the Ammonites, and even the sacrifice of his daughter, may be historical. The latter, indeed, would give the simplest explanation of the way in which the myth was translated into legend, XII. 1-7. Jephthah is assailed by the Ephraimites ; he defeats them in battle and cuts off their retreat. — The Ephraimites cross the Jordan, threatening dire v^engeance upon Jephthah because they were not called to join in the war against the Ammonites (v.^). Jephthah rephes that the Gileadites in their contest with Ammon had sought the aid of Ephraim in vain ; seeing that there was no help to be got from them, they had hazarded unsupported an invasion of Ammon; why should the Ephraimites now attack them? (v.-'^). He assembles his tribes- men and defeats Ephraim. The fugitives are intercq^tcd in their flight at the fords of the Jordan, and, being betrayed by a peculi- arity of their speech, are slaughtered on the spot (v/"''). Jephthah, * Especially in that form of the legend in which Artemis demands Iphigeneia as a victim in fulfilment of her father's vow, made in the year of her birth, to sac- rifice the fairest tiling that the year should bring forth (Eurip., //>A{^. Taur. i8 fT.), t Or for the abduction of the deity (Kore). X Eurip., Iphig. Taur. 1449 fT., esp, 1458-1461 ; see Robert- Preller, Griechische Mytholc^ic^, p. 312 f. ; Stoll, in Roscher, ii, p. 304 f, ^ Porphyry, de abstin., ii. 56; see W, R. Smith, Religion 0/ the Semites, p. 447 f. X 306 JUDGES after judging Israel six years, dies and is buried somewhere in Gilead. Wellhausen regards 12^'*' as secondary:* it comes too late, since in 1 1'^ Jephthah is already at home, and according to 1 1^^ at least two months have elapsed; the answer, 12-, affirming that the help of Ephraim had been sought and refused, does not accord with ch. 11; the whole conduct of the Ephraimites, who had no business on that side of the Jordan, and were not, as in S^-% inflated by victory, is here without motive. The story is a mere copy of S^'^, " originating with some one who did not comprehend Gideon's conciliatory course, and wanted to give the arrogant tribe a slap." That Jephthah had returned and dismissed his forces is assumed by 12"* also. The two months (ii'^'^) make no real difficulty : even if the Ephraimite invasion fell in that period, the writer would finish the story of Jephthah's vow before relating it. The resemblance to S^'^ is obvious ; but it is not evident that 1 2^"^ is a mere copy of 8^'^, with a variation animated by dislike of Ephraim. t The genuineness and historical character of the verses are rightly defended by Kuenen, Budde, Cornill, and Kittel. The shibboleth scene is too original to be attributed to a ** tendency " fiction, especially as it has nothing to do with the supposed tendency. The exaggerated number of the slain is of itself no reason for rejecting the whole story. 1. — The Ephraimites were called out and crossed to Zapho7i\ Zaphon lay in the Jordan valley, on the eastern bank of the river, near Succoth (Jos. 13^) ; according to a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud, it was the later 'Amatho, Amathiis, the modern Amateh, a little north of the Zerqa (Jabbok), at the mouth of Wady er- Rugeib ; see on 8^ % Others, passed northward, § which is unin- telligible. — Without calling us to go with thee'] 8\ — We will burn thy house over thee] i K. 16^* cf. Jud. (f^ \^^ 15^. — 2. / and my people were engaged in a contest, and the Anii7ionites oppressed us * Comp., p. 229; so also Sta., G VI. i. p. 68. t Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 72 n., on the contrar)', thinks 8i-3 an imitation of 12I-6 ; see above, p. 216. X So Stud., Ew., Ke., Cass., al. On Amathus see Euseb., OS"^. 21975; Reland, Palaestina, p. 308, 559 f. ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 346. V So the ancient versiyns ; older con:>n)efttators ; Be., al. mu. XII. 1-4 30/ sorely^ so (S ; in |i] the second verb has been acci(lcnl:illy dropped ; see crit. note. — I called upon yoji, but you did not deliver me Jrotn them~\ Jephthah speaks, not in his own name, but in that of his people, Gilead, to which the pronouns refer; cf. ii'*-^-''. No such request is narrated in ch. ii, but the narrative there certainly does not exclude it. An unsuccessful attempt to get help from their stronger neighbours across the Jordan may very well be sup- posed to have preceded the mission of the elders of Gilead to recall Jephthah, with whif^h the story of Jephthah begins. There was no occasion for mentioning such an attempt in that connexion. — 3. And when I saw that thou wouldst not deliver, I took tny life in my hand~\ i S. 19"' 28-'; cf. Jud. 9^'. — 4. So Jephthah collected all the men of Gilead'] they had returned to their homes after the defeat of the Ammonites ; the threatening move of Ephraim, therefore, did not follow at once upon Jephthah's victory. It is otherwise in 8\ where the whole situation is different. — And the men of Gilead beat Ephraim] the rest of the verse is wholly unintelligible. The current interpretation is fairly rep- resented by RV. : " Because they (the Ephraimites) said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, and in the midst of Manasseh." * They were not a tribe, but a crew of runagate Ephraimites ; they had no tribal lands of their own, but lived by sufferance in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh. This insult so exasperated the Gileadites that they followed up their victory with signal vindictiveness.f Neither the language nor the facts, however, allow this interpretation. The word TtnAtxQ^ fugitive does not mean runagate, but survivor, one who escapes from a disastrous battle or the like peril, as in v."' ; nor had the extraction or the situation of Jephthah's countrymen any resemblance to that with which they are supposed to be taunted. The origin of the corruption" Was the accidental repetition of a clause from v.^. % 1. njioi- -(3>*m] ace. of place to which, after -^2;; cf. ii^^. Cf. |vdx Gen.46'^ jiDi- Nu. 26IS, son (clan) of Gad. Oapvlmo g j. take njicx as a proper name (Se^eim, &c.). ©^^ 'ASe ds ^oppav. — 2. \n^^n an C'>n] party to a contro- versy, quarrel; whether the one assailed (Jer. i$^^) or the assailant (Is. 41" * So, virtually, TL, al. mu. t So, e^., Ew., G VI. ii. p. 455 ; Be, Kc, Cass., Octtli ; cf. Ki. I Wc. 308 JUDGES Job 31^^). — "iND ]^'D'; ^J3i] might perhaps he explained as concomitant object. (i^Ai'VLMNO g p Kul oi viol AfMfxojv iTairelvovv fie a* ^:2^; the verb might easily be omitted by a scribe after |id;'. So Semler, Doom,, Bu. — a^PN p"TNi] pyr c. ace, 'call one,' Neh. g^^; the construction is however so unusual that it is probably better, with & (except ^), to read DD"'^n; or to pronounce piVvSi (Hiph.), / iried to call you out. — 3. nnitCNi] Ven^., Norzi, Baer; cf. JHMich. The form nDt:>"iNi in the received text (Ven^.) is probably a mere blunder. — 4. 'Ji ans ansx it3'»'?i3 nON "id] in 0 the second half-verse is asterisked, as a hexaplar addition to the LXX,* and the entire half-verse is lacking in (g-^sot'o^ 'p^g other codd. of the same recension (M, codd.^^^^^^ioe J08128134') omit from nnx ^d to the end of the verse. The words ■'lO'-Sd iidn •'3 □nsN were copied out of place from v.^; nnx was necessarily added to com- plete the structure of the clause. The origin of the rest of v.'*^ is not so obvious : the asyndeton ni"'ja lino ancx 1"in3 suggests that the "latter is a correction of the unintelligible, in the midst of Ephraim, 5. The Gileadites seize the fords of the Jordan to cut off the flight of the routed foe ; 3^ f^. — And when the fugitives of Eph-aim would say, Let me cross^ those who escaped from the field of battle tried singly to shp across the fords, but found them occupied by the enemy. To their challenge, Art thou an Ephraimite? they answered. No; but fell unsuspectingly into the trap which the Gileadites set for them. — 6. Then say shib- boleth, and he said sibboletJi] the meaning of the word ('ear of grain,' Gen. 41^^- &c. ; or, perhaps more probably, * flood' in a stream, Ps. 6(f Is. 27^- 1) is of no moment; any other word beginning with sh would have served as well. % So in the Sicilian Vespers, March 31, 1282, the French were made to betray them- selves by their pronunciation of ceci e ciceri ; those who pro- nounced c as in French (^sesi e siseri^ were hewed down on the spot. § When the revolt against the French in Flanders broke out, May 25, 1302, the gates were seized, and no one allowed to pass who could not utter the — to a French tongue unpronounce- able— scilt ende friend? |j — And did not p7'onounce it exactly right~\ Wi.fix. He did not succeed in getting it right. Others explain, did not take heed, pay attention, comparing the idiom, ' fix * In the only copy of g which is known, the asterisk is wrongly placed before Ephraim i''; the necessary correction is made by Roerdam and Lagardc. Probably it originally stood after the Ephraim 2P\ cf. cod.54 &c. f Ra., Ki., al. X Ki. supposes that they actually used other words ; this is but a typical instance. ^ Be. Jj Cass. XII. 5-7 309 the mind 'on something. — Those whose tongues thus bewrayed them were cut down at the fords. — There fell of Ephrai)n at that time forty- two thousand meii\ of. 3-""*. In the battle and tlie Ihglit ; the numbers are doubdess much exaggerated, cf. 8'". 6. The LXX understood r'^ii'.y to be a password or countersign (avvOrjfia, see Schleusner, s.v.) ; this interpretation is most fully expressed in (5^', xal (\cyov avToh FJirare drj aOvd-q/xa Kal X^yovres crvvOr^fia ov KarrjOOvvav rod \a\rj, in a city of Gilead. Studer conj., /// Mizpah of Gilead (11^), Jephthah's city (ii"^). 7. n>''^J nyn "*3p"'l] (S iv ry trdXei avTov TdXaad (^ iv ir6\ei avrov iv Takaad) 3L in civitate sua Galaad. Cf. 8^^ n->D>'3 n^>3. Gilead, however, is not a city, but a country. Stud. conj. nySj hdxd^ il^S; this may perh. find * See J. Marquart, 7.A TW. viii. 1888. p. I5i-i55- t See Nold., Untersuchutigcn, p. 190 ff., who reckons his 6 years with the Minor Judges; Kue., HCO^. i. \ 18, n. 7; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 135; Kitt.. (IdH. i. 2. p_ 12 f. X K'-. I-^rus., EV., al. mu. 3IO JUDGES some support in ©^ iv ttj irdXcL avrov iv 2e0e (al. 2e0) Ta\aa5 * (repre- senting a Hebrew text in which the D of noSD was already lost, not mutilation in Greek of Ma''?jn (of. v.i^), or nijXD from ii^^; cf. also I S. 28^. A literal translation of |§, in the cities of Gilead, has given rise to the Midrash that Jephthah died by inches, by the sloughing off of his limbs (as in elephantiasis, Axzh. gud am), which were buried where they fell; Bereshith rab., § 60. 8-15. The Minor Judges; Ibzan, Elon, Abdon. — See intro- duction to IO^"'\ 8-10. Ibzan. — 8. And fhef-e Judged Israel after htm^ cf. io-\ "There arose after him and judged Israel." Through this verse the following series of Minor Judges is annexed to the story of Jephthah, as in lo' the former series to that of Abimelech. This is doubtless the work of the late editor who inserted the Minor Judges in the book; see Introduction, § 6. — /dza?i of Beihlehem'\ probably not Bethlehem in Judah,t but Bethlehem in Zebulun (Jos. 19^^), now Beit Lahm, about seven miles WNW. of Naza- reth, and a somewhat less distance west of Saffiirieh. % The other judges of this group, as well as all those whose stories are told in the preceding chapters, belong to Israel ; apart from the story of Othniel, Judah first appears incidentally in the story of Samson. The name Ibzan occurs nowhere else. — 9. He had thirty sons, and he sent out thirty daughters'\ married them into other famihes. — And brought in from outside thirty daughters (as wives) for his sons'] this is most naturally interpreted, as in the case of Jair (10''"*), of a clan with numerous branches and offshoots and many connexions with other clans. — He fudged Israel for seven years'] 10^; cf. 12' 15^°. 11, 12. Elon. — The standing form in which the notices of the Minor Judges are cast appears here in its simplest terms ; it con- tains nothing besides the name of the judge, his origin, burial place, and the length of his rule. See above, p. 270. — EI071 the * Fl. Jos., V. 7, 12 ^S 270, QaiTTeTOii iv rfj auroO narptSL Se/Se'yj (Lat. Sebctki), t Jewish tradition; Baba bathra, 91a; Yalqut on Jud. 3 (ii. \ 42) ; Ra. (Ibzan is the same as Boaz). + Seetzen, Reisen, ii. p. 139; Rob., BK"^. iii. p. 113; Gu^-rin, Galilee, i. p. 393 f.; S WP. Memoirs, i, p. 270. XTT. .S-14 31 1 Zebulonite died, and ivas hurled at Elon, in the land of Zelmlun'] Elon is a son of Zebulun, Gen. 46'^ i.e. a Zcbulonite clan, Nu. 26-'". The distinction made in f-tt between the name of the hero and that of his burial place (seat of the clan) is artificial ; cf. (5.* The place is otherwise unknown. 13-15. Abdon. — The last of the Minor Judges is Abdon ben Hillel, of Pirathon in Ephraim. Pirathon was the home of one of David's heroes, Penaiah the Pirathonite ; 2 S. 23''" i Chr. i r'" 27^^; the name occurs also i Mace. 9'''', Fl. Jos. xiii. i, 3 § 15, in a list of places fortified by Bacchides. It is generally identified with Ferata, six miles WSW. of Nabulus (Shechem),t which Conder and others take for Ophrah ; see on 6'^ — According to v.^^, Pirathon was in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Ainalekltes. This is frequently combined with 5^* (Ephraim, whose root is in Amalek), and the presence of the name in this part of Mt. Ephraim explained by supposing, either that the region was an older seat of the Amalekites, from which they had been expelled by the growing power of the Canaanites, or that in the early part of the period of the judges Amalekites from the south had intruded into this part of the highlands, and occupied it long enough to fasten their name upon it, but had been driven out again before the time of Saul. % Text and context in 5^^ are, however, much too obscure to shed any light upon this verse. The name Abdon is found in the genealogical tables of the Chronicles, in Benjamin, i Chr. 8^, 83o = 9^.§ If Pirathon be Ferata, this coincidence must be regarded as accidental. || P>ut Ferata seems to be too far north for the Pharathon of i Mace, and Josephus; and perhaps we should rather be guided by Chr. to look for Pirathon in Benjamin. Ewald conjectured that for Bedan, i S. 12", Abdon should be restored ;1[ but the more probable correction is Barak** — 14. He had forty sons and * See Noldeke, Untersuchungen, p. 184. t Eshtori Parchi, fol. 67a ; Rob., BI^. iii. p. 134; Gu6rin, Samarie, ii. p. 179 f. + See Ew., GVI. i. p. 359; Noldeke, Amalekiter, p. 12; BL. i. p. 112. N.Hd. inclines to the latter hypothesis. \ It is also the name of a tovvn in Asher, Jos. 2i3" i Chr. 6"-« ; read so also in Jos. 1928. II Nold. ^1 Crl'I. ii. p. 514; N'ilJ-. Untersuchungen, p. 184. ** ©S, Then., We., Dr., Klost., al. 312 JUDGES thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy saddle asses'^ an evidence of wealth and rank; cf. 5^^ lo^ 2 S. 16^ 13^^; see on lo^ The numerous posterity is to be interpreted as in the case of Ibzan and Jair ; cf. also 8^. 8. 1X3 n] compare r^N, a town in Issachar, Jos. 192O; the tradition of the name is however insecure; see (g. — 10. |i'?nv] so also in v.^-; with both •« and I (same consonants as in pS^xa). So MSS. and edd., and so 0 already read ('AiXw/a, &c.).* Baer emends twice f^x on the authority of Massora finalis ''ii'^^; but on this Massora see Yxtns&ox^, Massoretisches W'drterbuch, 265, n. 6. — 12. jiS'-x] cf. pSs and r^S"'X side by side, Jos. ip^S-^s (jn Dan; see on Jud. i^^). In the present case there is good reason to believe that the names of the judge and of the town were originally pronounced^ as they are written, alike; prob. E15n, Gen. 46^^ (Nold., Uniersuchmtgen, 184). XIII.-XVI. The adventures of Samson. LiTERATURE.f — A. V. Doominck, " De Simsonsagen. Kritische studien over Richteren 14-16," Th. T. xxviii. 1894, p. 14-32. 1. Samson's birth, ch. 13. — The Messenger of Yahweh appears to the wife of Manoah and promises her a son. During her pregnancy she shall observe a strict regimen, for her son shall be a devotee from birth (i3^"0- ^^ Manoah's prayer, the Messenger reappears and repeats his injunctions (v.^-^^). He ascends to heaven in the flames of the sacrifice (v."'^^) . The child is born, grows up, and begins to be possessed by the spirit of Yahweh 2. Samson'' s marriage to the Tininathite, and what came of it ; ch. 14, 15. — Samson resolves to marry the daughter of a Philistine of Timnath (iV"*). On one of his visits to Timnath he encoun- ters a lion in the way, and kills him with his bare hands. Some time after, passing that way, he finds the carcass occupied by a swarm of bees, and takes the honey (v.^"^) . At his wedding he propounds a riddle suggested by this adventure (v.^"'^^) ; by the aid of his wife the answer is discovered (v.^^"^^). In a rage he pays the forfeit, and rushes away without consummating the mar- riage (v.^^'^). When his anger has cooled off he returns, to find ♦ Cf. IL Ahialon. t For the older literature, sec Reuss, GA T. ^ io6. On the mythical interpreta- tion see below, note at the end of ch. i6. Xlll.-XVI. 3,3 that his bride has been given to another (15'''). He avenges himself by letting loose foxes with fire brands tied to their tails among the grain fields of Timnath. The Philistines burn the woman and her father as the authors of the mischief (v.'*-'''). Samson retaliates, and takes refuge in a rocky fastness of Judah. The men of Judah deliver him bound to the Philistines, but he breaks the ropes and, with an ass's jaw-bone, slays a thousand PhiUstines (v/"^"). The spring in Lehi (v.'"^-'"). 3. Samson carries off the gates of Gaza ; 16'"'. — Samson visits a harlot at Gaza. The PhiHstines lie in wait for him, but m the middle of the night he arises, pulls up the posts of one of the city gates, and, putting gate, posts, and bar on his head, carries thern off to a hill near Hebron. 4. Samson and Delilah; id^^^. — Samson loves a woman of Sorek, named Delilah. She is bribed by the Philistines to find out the secret of his marvellous strength (v.^*^). Thrice he deceives her ; but at last, weary of her importunity, he tells her the truth (v.^"^^). The Philistines secure and blind him, and put him to grinding at a hand-mill in prison (v.^^--^). At a great feast of Dagon he is brought into the temple to gratify the multitude. With a return of his old strength, he overthrows the principal pillars which support the roof, and brings the whole temple down in ruins, perishing with the Philistines (v.^^^) . The adventures of Samson differ markedly from the exploits of the judges in the preceding chapters of the book. Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, and Jephthah were leaders, who, at the head of their tribesmen, "turned to flight the armies of the aliens," and delivered their countrymen. Samson is a solitary hero, endowed with prodigious strength, who in his own quarrel, single-hantled, makes havoc among the Philistines, but in no way appears as the champion or deliverer of Israel. It is easy to see why he should have been a favourite figure of Israelite folk-story, the drastic humour of which is strongly impressed upon the narrative of his adventures ; but not so easy to see what place he has in the religious pragmatism of the Deuteronomic Book of Judges, or, indeed, in what sense he can be called a judge at all. Even the external connexion with the book is of the slightest character ; 314 JUDGE j; the familiar formulas with which the histories of the judges are introduced and concluded are here at their lowest terms (13^ 15-^^ 16^^^). In the narrative itself no trace of D's hand is detected.* The three principal stories, ch. 13, 14 f., 16, are connected by more than one link, and probably belonged to a cycle of folk-tales long before they assumed a literary form. Ch. 14 presupposes ch. 13, and the catastrophe in ch. 16 turns upon the loss of his sacred locks ; cf. esp. 16^^ with 13^ The stories of the cycle need not all be of equal age ; it is not improbable, for instance, that the tale of his birth in ch. 13 is of later origin than the rest ; t but, as we have them, they are in substance and form so similar that we must attribute them to the same writer. J In ch. 13 and 14 a later hand has made some additions and alterations, by which, in ch. 14 particularly, the narrative is somewhat confused, nor is the text in other parts quite intact ; § but there is no evidence that the redactor had more than one original source. In 15^' ^^^, where this might be suspected, the doublet may with greater probabiHty be referred to the folk-story itself. || Bohme demonstrated that the language and style of ch. 13 have a strong resemblance to J in the Hexateuch ; ^ and to this source the whole group of stories of Samson is with considerable prob- ability ascribed by Budde.** The reasons for thinking that this is the case lie not so much in particular expressions, as in the tone and spirit of the whole narration.ft Whether from J or not, the chapters undoubtedly belong to the oldest stratum of the book. The taies themselves, which are, of course, much older than the * From the position of the closing formula, 1520^ Budde and Cornill surmise that D omitted ch, 16, which was afterwards restored by another hand, just as was done in the case of Abimelech, ch. 9. See above, p. 234 f. t Bu., Richt. ti. Sam., p. 131 ; cf. We., Prol^., p. 256 = History of Israel, 1885, p. 245 ; Doom., Th. T. 1894, p. 17. t We., Kue., Bu. § On the text, see Doom. ; Sta., ZA TW. iv. 1884, p. 250 ff. ; Bu. ; Doom., Th T. 1894, p. 14 ff. II So also Bu. On the attempts to analyze the story see Bu., p. 132 f. U ZA TW. V. 1885, p. 261 ff. ♦* Richt. u. Sam., p. 132 f. Against this opinion see Kue., HCO^. i. p. 355 f. ; Kitt., .Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 57 f. ; GdH. i. 2. p. 16 f. ; see above on 6Uff., p. 183 n. and Introduction, \ 6. ft Bruston thinks that in ch. 13 the narrative of the first Jehovist has been worked into that of the second Elohist, to whom all the rest of 13-16 belong. (Bu., p. 134 n.) XTTI. 3T5 book, are almost the only specimens of their kind that have been preserved; and they give us a glimpse of a side of old Israelite life and character which is rarely represented in the Old Testa- ment. The scrapes into which Samson's weakness for women brought him, the way in which he turned the tables on those v/ho thought they had got the best of him, the hard knocks he dealt the uncircumcised, and the practical jokes he played on them, must have made these stories great favourites with a story-loving race, such as all the Semites are ; and the rude humour which plays through them all, no less than the entire absence of moral, proves them genuine tales of the people. What basis of fact the stories may have, is not easy to tell. The name of the hero and various traits of the story seem to invite a mythical explanation, and many attempts have been made to resolve the whole into a solar myth. Other parts of the story, however, are refractory, and can only be translated as myth by the most ingenious arbitrariness. On this question see note at the end of ch. i6. XIII. Samson's birth. — 1. The usual introduction by the Deuteronomic author ; see on 3^-. — 2. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the clan of the DaniteSy whose name was Alan oak'] from Zorah and Eshtaol, which is almost always named with it, came the Danites who, migrating to the north, established them- selves at the sources of the Jordan (Laish-Dan), 18- '^ ". In Jos. iq"*^ it is assigned to Dan (on its border), but in i^-^'^ to Judah ; it was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr, 11 ^°). It is the modern village of Sur'ah, on the northern side of Wady es-Surar, opposite 'Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh) on the southern ; see on i"".* — The clan of the Danites~\ i8"-^^, cf 17", the clan of Judah. On the original settlements of Dan, see on i** 2,5 . ^^^ ^^ ^.^^ history of the tribe, and the relation between the story of Samson and that of the migration of the Danites (ch. 18), see on I8^ Afanoah, only in this and the following chapter. The more picturesque details with which Josephus embellishes his story are supplied by * Euseb. {OS'^. 29329) locates it ten miles from Eleutheropolis on the road to Nicopolis. It was recognized by Eshtori Parchi (fol, 69*) ; Rob., BK^. iii. p. 153, cf. ii. p. 12, 17 ; Guerin, Judi-e, ii. p. 15-17; SVVl^. Metnoirs, iii. p. 158 ; Had-'., p. 163 ; see map of the territory of Dan, DlJf^. i. p. 701, and cf. above, p. 53 f. 3l6 JUDGES his imagination.* — His wife was bar?'en ami had not home children^ cf. Gen. ii'^'^. So the mother of Samuel (i S. i^), and of John the Baptist (Luke i') ; in the patriarchal story, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel. The child of a long unfruitful marriage is in a peculiar sense the gift of God, and his birth portends some greater purpose of God for him. 2. Zorah was resettled by the Golah after the return from the exile, Neh. ii^^; the Manoahites of Zorah (observe the preservation of the name) traced their origin, in part through Shobal, in part through Salma, to Calebite clans; I Chr. 252-54,f_nnx a^N %-i>i] i S. i^ 2 S. 1810 Jud. 9^3; see We., TBS. p. 26, 34; Dr., TBS. p. I; and especially Roorda, § 480 n., who rightly discriminates the case before us from others with which it is frequently confounded. — •'Jin nnstt'o] igs. u. 19 Q^y the side of t33iy iS^-^^; see there); cf mini nnacD 17'' (in Jos. y^"^ n-nn> -o is error for 10:31^), mV no nnDi;'D Zech. 12I3. nnxja'D is properly the clan, a number of which make the tribe; it is itself composed of a number of families (ns no), i S. lo'^i Jos. 7^*. 3-7. The Messengper of Yahweh announces Samson's birth. — The Messenger of Yahweh appears to Manoah's wife and announces the birth of a son. During pregnancy she shall abstain from wine and things unclean ; for the child is to be a devotee from the womb, no razor shall ever touch his head. He shall be the first to deliver Israel from the Phihstines (v.^"^). She relates the occurrence and the words of the Messenger to her husband (v.^^), — The whole scene strikingly resembles in conception and expression the visit of the Messenger of Yahweh to Gideon (6"^"), and is naturally attributed to the same author. | The story has been slightly retouched in places by a later hand, but not so much changed as ch. 14. § 3. The Messenger of Yahweh^ see on 2^ 6^\ — Behold, thou art barren and hast ?iot borne'] v.^. The following words, and thou shalt conceive and bear a son, by their awkward anticipation of v.'^% and by the different grammatical structure, betray themselves as an interpolation. || — 4. Be careful, and do 7iot drink wine and * Antt. V. 8, 1-3 § 275 ff. t We,, Comp., p. 231 ; cf. also Be. ad loc. We. remarks the occurrence of Manahath ben Shobal in the Edomite lists also, Gen. 36'-3. X Stud., Buhme, Bu., al. \ On the text see Bohmc, 'AA TVV. v. 1885, p. 261 ff. ; cf. Bu., RUht. u. Sarn., p. 130- II Be., Bohme. XITI. 2-6 317 intoxicating drin/z] Heb. shekar : Sicera \^shckar\ Ilebraeo ser- mone omnis potio nuncupatur, quae inebriare potest ; sive ilia quae frumento conficitur ; sive pomorum succo ; aut quum favi deco- quuntur in dulcem et barbaram potionem, aut palmarum fructus exprimuntur in liquorem, coctisque frugibus, aqua pinguior cola- tur.* When named with wine, as it often is, it includes all other varieties of intoxicating drink ; v.'-^"* i S. i^'""' Luke i'"' ; cf. the laws Lev. 10^ (priests), Nu. 6^ (Nazirites). See DBK i. p. 812. — And .not to eat anything imckan'] v/". The flesh of tabooed animal kinds, carrion, and the hke, is probably meant. The consecrated child must be kept in utero from defilement. The rules for the Nazirite, Nu. 6^^-, contain no special prescription on this head, which was covered by the general law (Dt. 14 Lev. 11). The Jewish doctors, observing this, make unclean here equivalent to prohibited to the Nazirite ; that is, the other products of the vine, Nu. 6^^-.t — Bohme thinks that these words (and the correspond- ing clauses in v.'^- ") are the addition of a later hand, which exag- gerates the strictness of the regimen. As this is, however, not suggested by the law in Nu. 6, nor by any other example, their genuineness may with good reason be maintained. — 5. Thoii art with child, and wilt bear a son'\ Gen. 16'^ (J) cf. Is. 7'^ The present is taken by many as an immediate future, thou art about to conceive, % but this is unnecessary, and, in view of Gen. 16", less probable. — A razor shall not be used on his hcad^,^ 16'^ I S. i" Nu. 6^ (different expressions). — For the boy shall be a devotee from the wo?Jib'] vJ 16^^ cf. i S. i^\ — JIe will be the first to deliver'] begin to deliver ; the verb is used as in i o^** : Who is the man who will be first to fight with the Ammonites. The words have been taken to imply that Samson should only begin, but not complete, the work of deliverance, § and Wellhausen would recog- nize an allusion to Saul ; || but it is doubtful whether the writer put so much reflexion into the word begin; cf. 13^'' 16". — 6. ./ man of God came to me] v.'* i S. 2"^ mrh ''n;Nv-nJ of. 2 K. 10^2 Jud. \f^ i6''''-si. — 6. ovn^wn z^^\C\ the particular one who came; idiomatic use of the article, Ges.'-'' § 126, 4; see above on y^^ S^*^. — D'-nSNn yA^r<\ v.'*; but nin-« -jn'^d v.-^- ^^- ^>- J"- 17. :»). 21. ^f. G'-''*. In v.'5 we might fmd a motive for the variation (cf. 2 S. I4''^'') ; but this expla- nation would not extend to v.^. More probably the substitution is accidental, due to the influence of the adjacent Din^Nn tt'>N. 8-23. The second visit of the Messenger. — The Messcnj^'cr returns at Manoah's request ; the woman calls her husband, and to him the Messenger repeats his former prescriptions (v.**-"). Manoah invites him to stay and eat with them, but he declines, nor will he disclose his name (v. '''■'**). Manoah offers a kid upon the rock ; as the flame rises, the Messenger ascends in it to the sky (v.^''"-^). Manoah fears death, for they have seen a god, but his wife reassures him ; if Yahweh had meant to destroy them, he would not have accepted their sacrifice nor shown them such a portent (v.-^). — 8. Manoah prays that the Messenger may come again and show them what they shall do about the boy that is to be born, how they shall treat him. — Manoah be- sought Yahweh'] the somewhat unusual verb occurs in the Hex- ateuch only in J. — 9. And God hearkened to the words of Manoah] God twice (as in v.*'), instead of Yahweh as constantly in what follows ; perhaps occasioned in all cases by the preceding, man of God. There is no reason to suspect that the variation has any critical significance ; see note on v.*'. — 10. The woman calls her husband. — The man who came to me the other day has appeared to vie] lit. on the day (on which he came). The Hebrew phrase is unusual ; the versions generally render, on that day ; see note. — 11. Manoah follows her to the field, and accosts the stranger, asking whether it was he who before spoke to his wife. — 12. Now, ifivhat thou sayest comes true, how shall the boy be brought up, and what shall he do] what is the rule or regimen prescribed for him, and what shall his calling be ; or, perhaps, his mode of hfe? — 13, 14. The Messenger does not answer Manoah's question further than to repeat his injunctions ; the mother sliall do exactly as she has been told ; she shall not eat any product of the vine, drink wine or intoxicating drink, or eat anything unclean. 320 JUDGES Bohme leaves to the author only the words, wine and intoxicati::g drink she shall not drink ; the rest he regards as editorial amplifi- cation. In regard to the last clause (tabooed foods), see above on V.'*. The other products of the vine are expHcitly forbidden, Nu. 6'^*"- ; they are not mentioned above in v.'* or v/. The extension of the prohibition to everything that comes from the vine is no evidence of later date ; the taboo doubtless from the beginning included the vine itself, as did that observed by the Rechabites,* or that imposed upon the Roman Flamen Dialis, who was not allowed even to walk under a trelHsed vine.f Nor is it conclusive against the genuineness of the words that they do not occur in v."*'. It is not the author's manner to repeat himself with such notarial exactness ; cf. the last clause of yJ with v.'*. — 15. Let me press thee to stay, and pi-epa^-e before thee a kid~\ pregnant expres- sion, prepare and set before thee. Compare Gen. i8^^-, and espe- cially the story of Gideon, 6^'^- — 16. If thou press me, I will not rat of thy meat; and if thou wilt make a burnt offering, offer it to Vahweh'] the Messenger keeps up the character of a man of God (v.^) . In the story of Gideon the Messenger lets him bring the food, and then converts it into an offering. In the patriarchal story. Gen. i8, Yahweh eats the meal which Abraham prepares. Compared with this, the behaviour of the Messenger of Yahweh in the stories of Gideon and Manoah seems to represent a more advanced stage of theological reflexion. We must, however, bear in mind that in Israel, as elsewhere, the intercourse of God with men was believed to have been more intimate and natural in the remote past ; and need not, therefore, infer that Gen. 1 8 is older than Jud. 6 13. — J^or Manoah did not know that he was the Messenger of Yahweh~\ cf Mark 9^^-. This cannot be the rea- son for the Messenger's reply, | but for Manoah's invitation v.^^**. § The words would then naturally stand before v.^^% || and Bohme accordii^ly transposes v.^"* and v.^^** : Let us detain thee and pre- pare before thee a kid ; for Manoah did not know, &c. And the Messenger of Yahweh said to Manoah, &c. The words are, how- *Jer.35fif.. t Plut., Quaest. Rom., 112; Aulus Gellius, x. 15, 13. For the explanation of this prohibition see W, R. Smith, Religion of the Seinites, p. 465 f, ; Frazer, Golden Bough, i. p. 183 ff. + Schm. ^ Ki. j| Cf. Cler., Stud. XIIT. 14-18 321 ever, even more apposite as an explanation of Manoah's request to know the name of his visitor, vJ' : What is thy name, that when thy word comes true we may honour thee ; for Manoah (Hd not know that he was the Messenger of Yahweh. And the Messenger of Yahweh repHed, &c. In any case the clause is misplaced, and this dislocation suggests that it is a comment, perhaps originally a marginal gloss, rather than part of the original narrative.* — 17. What is thy nauie, that when thy word comes true we may honour thee'] cf. v.^^ and i S. 9'"' : The man is held in honour ; every- thing that he says surely comes true. Manoah would know tlie name of the man of God (as he sui)poses him to be), that he may in the event render his due of grateful honour. — 18. IVhy doest thou inquire about my name^ seeing it is itieffatdc'] cf. Gen. 32--*. The name is incomprehensible ; beyond your capacity to hear and understand ; cf. Ps. 139^', Knowledge is beyond my capacity; it is high above my reach. Not that the name itself is mysterious or miraculous. Bohme regards the last clause as a gloss ; but in a gloss we should doubtless have a more commonplace phraseology. 8. nin^ Sn nuo nnyM] in the Hexateuch this verb occurs only in J (Gen, 2521 &c.); cf. 2 S. 21I* 2425. — ^jns o] sec note on 6^^. — ij^m] adTise us; give us a tor a to go by. — iSi-'h] ptcp. Piml; generally explained as rejection of D prefornjative (Ges.^^ §52 end); more properly an alternative form of the ptcp. without m; cf. Arab, qatul and tnaqtid (01. § 250 c\ Sta. § 617 b\ Lagarde, Bildung der Nomina, p. 63 f.). See in general, Ku. i. " p. 433 f. The indication of w by 1 to avoid ambiguity; cf. Jud. 18-^ Job 5". — 9. noy ]\s na'iN num mt:^ njtt'V nvii] two circumstantial clauses, she being in the field, and her husband not with her. — 10. ]nni ntt'xn inrinij the first verb is a modifier of the second; the collocation may also be asyndetic; cf. 9*** &c. — □'''B] if the text is sound, we may compare the idiomatic uses of cio and Di>n3, We., TBS. p. 36 n. — 12. T'nm N3^ nny] cf. i S. (f'. Fur nnan (plur.) very many codd. and edd. of fH (De Rossi) with (SILS have the sing. "I"<2T; in v.^' this correction is made in the margin of i,H. The discord in number between the verb and its subject is not impossible in Hebrew, see Ges.-'' § 145, 7; but it is more probable that the plural is to be attrib- uted to a scribe; see further on v.^'^. On the massoretic authority for the plur. see Norzi. — 14. |"n pj] only Nu. 6*. — 15. ^n1N nj n-^xyj] the word * Stud, ingeniously justifies the position of the clause by assuming an inten- tional ambiguity in Manoah's invitation : We will set before thee a kill, or, wc will offer in thy presence a kid ; and finds u reference to this alternative sense in the disjunctive reply of the Messenger. V 322 JUDGES generally implies forcible restraint, and here elegantly expresses the urgency of the invitation to stay. — 'Ji y:D^ nc'^ui] nc;', dress and cook an animal, 6^^ I S. 25I8 Gen. i8"-8 &c. Possibly, as Stud, thinks, there is an inten- tional ambiguity in the phrase here, as in nnjD 6^^, the writer meaning to hint at the sacrificial sense. — 16. -[cnSa Son nS] Prov. 9^. More usual would be partitive p. — The comment of Thdt. on the response of the Messenger is: Tpo(p7]S, (f>7] d^ofxaf dvcrlav 01) Sixof^^f- rovro ixhv yhp 6eov, iKeivo d^ TTjs avOpwirlvr)^ (pijaews tdiov. iyw d^ ovre cos dvOpcoiros XPVt^ Tpocprjs, ovre rrjv deiav dpird^o} ti/xtjv. — 17'. "IDS' "'D] as the question is really about a person, who he is, the personal interrogative i?o is used ad sensum ; elsewhere "ya^ nn Gen. 32''^^, iD'^y HD Ex. 3^^, grammatically regular; see Ew. §3250;. — "f'^^n] Qere (with ©3L5) 'y\T\ sing., which many codd. and edd. have in the text; see De Rossi. The same correction is made in i K. 8^6 iS^^ 22^3 Jer. 15I6 Ps. 119I47. 161 Ezra lo^^. Qchla we-Ochla,'No. 131. — 18. "-nSd Nim] regularly formed adj. from ii^^-, pronounce piVi: the margin directs that it be read with suppression of n, pelt. Cf. the fem. nssSa Ps. 139*^, unnecessarily altered by the Qere. nSd is what surpasses human power or comprehension, and therefore excites wonder and admiration, Is. 29^'^ 9^ 25I Ex. 15II Pss.; see note on pnScj 61^. % renders here, cnaa Nini, which is of importance for the interpretation of E'lflDn Dir in the Talmud, &c. 19. Manoah took the kid and the cei-eal oblation, and offered it up on the rock to Yahweh'] the cereal oblatio7i {minhah) is probably added here and in v.^^ by a later hand, for the sake of liturgical correctness.* Cf. Gideon's cakes {massoth), 6^^'^\ — The rock~\ 6^ (different word)/^ The article probably indicates that it was a rock customarily used for the purpose, a natural monoHthic altar; in v.^*^ it is twice called the altar ; see there. — The rest of the verse presents serious difficulties. The words, while Manoah and his wife wei^e looking on, which recur in v.^ and are beyond doubt original there, have probably been introduced in v.^^ by an accident of transcription.! The two words which remain defy every attempt to construe them grammatically. By a very slight emendation we obtain, he offered it up on the rock to Yahweh, who worketh wonderfully ; % cf. Ex. 15^^ Ps. 77^*. The words would then refer, not to the portent which is described in v.^", but to the predicted birth of a son. Such a special ascription to the "wonder-working Yahweh," by which the sacrifice bore the title of the occasion, would be in entire accord with ancient religion. The words have none of the marks of a gloss ; the expression is far too * Bohme. f Be. % ®^ ''^' ^ XTTT. 19-2T 927 characteristic and too difficult.* — 20. As the flame lucended from the altar to the sky\ the scene so closely resembles that in the story of Gideon (6'-') that there was a strong temptation to sup- plement the one narrative from the other,t as is done in all detail by Josephus here. % Kimchi, for example, represents the fire as coming out of the rock and devouring the offering. § Some modern critics have suspected that something of this purport originally stood in the place of the corrupt v.'-*^. || But the stories, similar as they are, are nowhere exactly alike ; they are variations of the same theme, such as popular story-tellers delight in, not a pedantic repetition of it. In ch. 6 Gideon brings out food to his visitor, who bids him lay it on the rock, and then himself converts it into a burnt offering : here the Messenger declines the offered food, but suggests a sacrifice, which Manoah accordingly prepares and offers on the rock (the technical word implies not merely the placing of the victim on the rock, but the burning it) ; there is really no room in the story for a parallel to the bringing of the fire out of the rock in ch. 6. We have no reason, therefore, to think that the text is here abridged. — The altar~\ twice in the verse. Studer finds in the substitution of the altar for the rock (v.^^) confirmation of the suspicion which, on other grounds, he enter- tains of the whole verse ; Bohme supposes that the altar was intro- duced by a later hand in the interest of liturgical correctness, and would restore in both instances, the rock. The possibility that the text has been thus altered is to be admitted (cf. i S. 14'"'" ■'■'') ; but the necessity of Bohme's emendation is not obvious. The kid was offered as a burnt offering on the rock, which therefore, whether usually or on this occasion only, served as an altar .f Why the author may not in the sequel have spoken of it under the latter name, I do not see. Indeed, one might perhaps discover in the very identification evidence of a primitive time. — The Mes- senger ofYahweh ascended in the fla7ne of the altar'] cf. the colour- less interpolation in 6^\ end. — 21. And the Messenger of Yahweh * Against Be., Bohme. t We have seen reason to think that 62ii> is an interpolation of this kind from 1320. X Antt. V. 8, 3 ^ 283 f. It is to be noted that Josephus does not narrate Gideon's sacrifice at all. ^ So also Schm., al. 1| Stud., Be. % Be. 324 JUDGES did 7iof appear again to Manoah and his wife"] not, was no longer visible to them. — Tlien Manoah knew'] when he saw him ascend in the altar flame ; cf. 6^^, Gideon saw that he was the Messenger of Yahweh when he brought the fire out of the rock. Bohme regards the first sentence of this verse as an editorial addition ; v.-^'' should follow immediately upon v.^'' . There is, however, no manifest motive for the interpolation, while the author may have thought it worth while to say that the Messenger, who had visited them twice, did not return again. Probably, if we had been writing the story, we should have put this sentence after v.^; but the author preferred to finish what he had to say about the Mes- senger at this point. The old Hebrew writers did not always have the same notions about good style that are entertained by modern critics. — 22. Manoah is greatly alarmed. — We shall surely die^ for we have seen a god] (P ; see comm. there. The word, a god^ conveys too much to us, but we have no other to translate it by. The Hebrew elohini is used for any superhuman being ; cf. i S. 28^^, where the witch of Endor at the sight of Samuel's ghost exclaims, " I see a god {elohim) rising from the earth." — 23. His wife reassures him. — Jf it had been Yahweh^ s pleasure to kill us, he would not have taken a burnt offering from us] the words and a meal offering are, as in v.^^, probably of later insertion. By what signs the acceptance of a sacrifice was recognized, we do not know. — And would not have showed us all these things ^ and would not now have a7inounced to us such a thi?ig] the first clause refers to the appearance of the Messenger and his wonderful departure ; the second to the promise ef a son and the injunctions connected with it. The order may be explained by the fact that the most striking sight, the ascent of the Messenger in flame, connected itself with the sacrifice. Bohme attributes both clauses to editorial expansion. This appears to me possible as regards the first (he would not have showed us all these things) ; but I see no reason to doubt the genuineness of the last clause. 19. mxn S]?] 621; cf. ySon 620 and note there. — niB';?'? ^J*???"!] cannot by any ingenuity be construed.* The conj. nVvy;;S n-'Sad Nim (Maur.) gives us, as Stud, rightly observes, a second circumstantial clause, which will not fit into * Ewald's, und es regt sich wunderbar, is wholly inadmissible. XIII. 21-25 325 the context, ©apvlmno ^ g ^^ ^^pi^ ^^ Oavfiaffrii ttolovpti, \ Domino mira- bilia facienti, followed l)y !L Domino, qui facit mirahilia. The (Jreck translators therefore read, mtr'^V N^Sopn nirr''?, which gives a satisfactory struc- ture and sense. (5'^ (alone) koX dvriveyKev . . . rep Kvplif}, Kal 5tcxw/)i(T6j' voiijcrai, which represents the text of |Q, and agrees literally with ST, which here and else- where renders n-'Sdh by en::, Pael and Aphel. We may with some plausibility conj. that Stexwptcej' is the translation of Aquila. |i^ is an attempt to construe the words with the following clause, after the words d-'NI ipu'ni nijoi were accidentally transferred to this place from the next verse. With the construc- tion mtt'pS niSdh cf. Is. 29I* N*?Di n'^'Qn nrn oyn pn N">V£3nS qor >jjn p*^, 2 Chr. 26** ijpnS NiSsn >D, Joel 2^0 (God) N^'?DnS dodj; ntt'ip. It is a "direct causative Hiphil " (Konig's term), and may take an accusative (nxy Is. 28-'-^, non Ps. ^i-'^, riDV Dt. 28^9 &c.), or a gerund in definition. — 20. nDTon V^jd] S interpreting as Fl. Jos. and many others, from the rock. — 21. 'j> r|D> nSi] the interpreta- tion, was no more seen by them, i.e. disappeared from their sight (Ki. 2"), is against the usage of this idiomatic phrase, which expresses not continuity, but repetition; cf. Ex. io28-29 i S. IS^^; Gen. 812 Jud. S^s 2 K. 6'» &c.— nxnnS] i S. 321 ; cf. nip Prov. 16IG, nsi Gen. 48",* &c. See Ko., i. p. 534 f. — 23. n'^S nS . . . I'pn iS] cf. 8'^ and note there. — 'Ji iJN->n nSi] (5 t fai oyjc di* i(})d}TL(Tev 17/ias, cf. v.^ /cat (pwTLffdTio ijfxds (|Q ''JT'l) 5 t presumably reading "in^n and translating (as in the other places cited) by pseudo-etymological connection with -\in. The reading is tempting; we might conjecture that the corruption which made ijNin of it led to the further amplification of the verse by the addition of what now seemed lacking, a mention of the words spoken to them. — np] noza, Just now. Kadws [6] Kaip6s ©abl . lacking in (gi'VMNo I 3L; sub ast. S. The word is difficult, because it seems to oppose the hearing, as recent, to the seeing and the sacrifice. We might conj. nny -.3 (cf. 2i*'^), but should then have to regard this as the original beginning of the apodosis of ^h, and all that intervenes from nph xS as an editorial interpolation. 24, 25. Samson's birth and childhood. — She gave him the name Sa77ison'\ no etymology or explanation of the name is suggested, nor is there any hint of its significance elsewhere in the story. It is derived from shemesh, ' sun,' and if we remember that Beth- shemesh, just across the valley from Manoah's home, was sacred to the sun-god, such a name will hardly appear unnatural among these Danites. On the form of the name see note, and on the mythical interpretation, see note at the end of ch. 1 6. — 25. The spirit of Yahweh first stirred him up at Mahaneh Dan (Dan's Camp) betwee7i Zorah and Eshtaol^ as the text now stands, we * Perhaps in the two last examples we should pronounce as inf. abs. (Sta.), t Except BN. X Cf. also 4 Reg. iz''^ ij'-f?- as. 326 JUDGES must suppose that there he first had one of those fits of demonic rage which were so terrible to his enemies. The occasion and results of this outbreak are not related. The verse cannot be the introduction to ch. 14 ; we should rather have to regard it as originally the introduction to a lost story of Samson's first exploit. The topographical notices, however, excite suspicion. The home, or at least the family burial-place, of Manoah was between Zorah and Eshtaol (16^^); Dan's Ca?np, on the other hand, was at Kirjath-jearim in Judah, on the western side of that town (18^^). The latter statement, which there is no reason to question, is indi- rectly confirmed by the name itself: whatever its origin, *Camp of Dan ' is a much more natural name for a place in Judah than for one in the midst of the Danite settlements about Zorah. This consideration weighs against the hypothesis, for which there is no support, that there were two Camps of Dan, one at Kirjath- jearim, and one between Zorah and Eshtaol.* It is possible that neither of the conflicting topographical notices in our verse is original, and that the author wrote simply. The boy gi-ew up, and Yahweh blessed him ; and the spirit of Yahweh began to stir hi?n up, disquiet him. Upon this, ch. 14 might very well follow ; cf. 14*. — On Zorah see above, on v.^; on Eshtaol, see on i6^^ 24. p'^yctt'] Fl. Jos., l(rxvpbv 5' diroarifxaivei rb 6vofji.a, deriving it from jDty (see on 3^^) ; similarly E. Meier, f Others explain it as an intensive formation from DDty {]WD^ for DC'Dsy), * devastator,' or (giving a fictitious " primary " sense to the root) * mighty '; so Be^., Diestel, Ke., Kohler, al. Ew. ( G VI. ii. p. 559) thought it possible to connect the name with tt'Ot:' ' serve,' ' the servant ' sc. of God, i.e. the Nazirite. These are all efforts of misdirected ingenuity to evade the palpable derivation from z^-ov *sun'; J cf. "'C'lpc' Ezra 4^^-, mi"' Jericho, from n-\> 'moon,' and the Palmyrene n, pr. "'Hi"' (Baethgen, Beitr'dge, p. 162), &c. — iDyaS nin^ nn Snni] a;;i5 KaP; Niph., Gen. 41^ Dan. 2^ Ps. 77^^ Hithp. Dan. 2^^; cf. ays. The sense in all these passages is, * disquiet, perturb '; the primary meaning is uncertain. XIV., XV. Samson's marriage and its consequences. § — The story is of one fabric throughout, and is probably derived from J, * Be. See also Schick, ZDPV. x. p. 137, with Guthe's note, t Poet. National-Literatur d. Hebr., p. 105 ; Roskoff, al. Against this view see Niildeke, 'ADMG. xv. p. 806 f. % OS'^. 1844a 3323. Nold., Cass., We., MV., al. mu. ^ See above, p. 312 f. XTTT. -5-XIV. 3 327 but a good many additions and changes have been made by later editors or scribes, which disturb the simple and natural progress of the narrative. One of the most misleading of these alterations is that which lets Manoah and his wife accompany Samson to Timnath (14^-^''), with the insertion of the words, to marry her, in v.^'' ; the journeyings to and fro thus become an insoluble puzzle. Confusion has also been introduced by (or iti) the dates in v.'^'' ''", and toward the close of ch. 14 an accidental corruption of the text has made the sequel unintelligible.* Xry. 1-4. Samson announces his purpose to marry a Philis- tine woman of Timnath. — 6'^;//^^y^;; went dimn to Timfiat/r\ from his father's home at Zorah ( 13-). Timnath f is in Jos. 19^'' allotted to Dan ; in Jos. 15^" it is set down as a frontier town of Judah. According to Jud. i**, the Danites had been thrust back from this region by the Amorites. In the Philistine invasion, Timnath fell into their possession. X Early in the history of the kingdom, no doubt, it was incorporated in Judah ; but, according to 2 Chr. 28'', was reconquered by the Philistines in the time of Ahaz (736- 728 B.C.). It still bears the name Tibnch, and lies about an hour west of 'Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh, Har-heres, 1*''), and somewhat farther southwest of Surah (Zorah). § — 2. On his return he asks his father to get her for his wife. The negotiations for a bride were the business of the bridegroom's father; cf. Gen. 34^*^- — 3. His parents object to his marrying a Philistine ; he should take a wife of his own people. Samson, however, persists. — His father and his mo the?-'] the last words arc probably an addition to the orig- inal text (conformation to v.^) ; the verb in Heb. is in the singu- lar ; observe also ?ny people, and the sing, in Samson's reply, Get (thou) her for me ; it is naturally the father who answers. — Are there no women among his own kinsmen or of his own race, that he must needs go take a Philistine wife? Cf Gen. 24""'- 26'"'^- 28"^^'^'", — The uncircumcised Fhilistifies~\ uncircumcised is an opprobri- ous word which is applied almost exclusively to the Philistines •See Stade, ZATW. iv. 1884, p. 250 fiF.; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 130 f. Doorninck, " De Simsonsagen," Th. T. xxviii. 1894, p. 14-32. t Not to be confounded with Timnath-heres, 2-'. X ^*"<'* •'^bove, p. 80 f. § Rob., BR'^. ii. p. 17 ; Guerin, Judce, ii. p. 30 f. ; 6WR. Memoirs, ii. p. 417. 328 JUDGES among the neighbours of Israel ; cf. 1 5'» i S. 14^ i f''- '"' 3 1^ 2 S. i^" ; see Jer. 9^^- ^. Circumcision seems to have been generally prac- tised by the other peoples of Palestine.* On the Philistines, see on f. — For she suits me\ vJ ; lit. is right in my eyes. — 4. In this seeming perversity there was a divine purpose of which his parents were not aware ; cf. Gen. 24^. — For he (Yahweh) was seeking an opportunity of the Philistines'] an opportunity for Samson to do them a mischief; cf. 2 K. 5^ which suggests that the rare word may have the by-sense, ' opportunity, occasion for a fight.' — The second half- verse is superfluous here, and is very probably an editorial addition derived from i5";t observe the generalization, over Israel (cf. 13^). Doorninck regards the whole verse as a gloss, introduced by some one who felt the need of some such explanation of the marriage of an inspired man and judge of Israel with a heathen woman. The words seem to me, however, to be perfectly natural in the context, and not to involve any such reflexion. The refusal of Samson's father to get the woman for him as a wife in the usual way, explains how he came to contract an exogamous marriage. This was the origin of a succession of complications, in each of which Samson has an injury to requite, so that the mischief which he does the Philis- tines is always legitimate retaliation (cf. esp. 15^) ; he always has a just occasion. And it is in entire accord with the religious character of the folk-story that this is ascribed to the purpose of Yahweh. 1. nnjDna] v.^; cf. nnjnn ••DnD v.^, Jos. 19*^ The name of the place was doubtless njDn, with the Canaanite fern, ending which we find in numerous names of places. | In Hebrew it appeared to be construct, and there was therefore a special tendency to replace it by the accus. nroon. — 3. iV "\cx"''i IDN1 v3n] observe the sg. verb (cf. v.^*). The constr. is possible; but the discord in number is more prob. due to the interpolation of iDN. — ... nuaa S331] among; cf. nij3D v.^-^; a good illustration of the way in which 2 comes to its so-called partitive sense (13^^), and of the difference between it and p partitive, 3 representing the part in the unity of the whole, p as separated from it. — Thn] 16^1 (^-^-^^^ thy kinsmen. — "iD^' '^D^i] kv iravrl rcj; Xay aov ©i-M ^. conformation to preceding. — 4. ^J5a, as foreign to the original text. + As a matter of fact, to dismember a living animal in this way, even a kid. is not very easy ; for which reason Cler. supposes that a boiled kid is meant. \ Pausanias, vi. 5, 5. II Sec Baumeister, Denkmalcr des klass. Aitcrthmns, i. p. 655 ; Furtwangler m Roscher's Lexikon, 2195 ff. H See above, p. 329. *« © harmonizes : they went down and spoke to the woman. Speak for the woman would be '1 -i3-\ (i S. 253^')- ft All just like a properly conducted German courtship 1 332 JUDGES interpreter. — 8. And he went back after a while'] from Timnath to his father's house at Zorah. So the context imperatively requires. In v/ he visits Timnath and arranges the preUminaries of his marriage ; having done so, in the interval before his wedding, he returns to his home ; by the way he finds the honey in the caacase of the Hon he had slain as he went down to Timnath ; goes along eating it on his way to his parents' home (v.^^). The order of events is plain and natural. This order is completely deranged by the addition in our text of the words, to marry her. We have to suppose that after his visit to Timnath (v.^), Samson went home, leaving his parents at Timnath, where th'ey are (v.^) when after a while he himself returns thither (v.^). But in v.^° his father conies down, and we have therefore to assume that, after Samson's return to Timnath, Manoah went to Zorah and returned again. This succession of purposeless journeyings to and fro is not intimated i« any way in the narrative itself; it is simply a complicated and improbable hypothesis Hccessitated by the words, to marry her, in v.^ ; and the clumsiness of the hypothesis is the strongest evidence that these words do not belong to the original story,* — And he turned aside to see the remains of the lion] which lay off the pathway, in the vineyards (v.^) . — There was a swarm of bees in the carcase, and honey] we are to imagine the body dried up, the skin and shrivelled flesh adhering to the ribs, the belly hollow. t In a hot and dry climate this change would not take a great while ; \ a longer time would be necessary for bees to take possession of the mummied carcase, and deposit honey. The story, however, does not represent Samson's discovery as an every-day occurrence ; it is part of a wonderful history, and to be judged not by the prosaie probabilities of fact, but by the veri- similitade of the marvellous. Bochart adduces from Herodotus the story of the bees that made a hive of the scull of Onesilus, which the people of Amathus had fastened up over the city gate. § It is not unlikely that the story of the bees in the carcase of the lion is further to be connected with the wide-spread belief of the ancients in the spontaneous generation of these insects in decaying * Doom., Sta. f Not merely the osseous skeleton ; Si, Cler., al. X Ocdmann, Sammlungen aus d. Naturkunde, u. s. w., vi. p. 135 f. ^ Hdt., V. 114 ; Bochart, Hierozoicon, iii. p. 358, ed. Rosenm. XIV. 8-^ 333 bodies of animals, familiar to us through Vergil.* — 9. He scraped it out into his palms, and ivent alom^ eating it. And he came to his father and his mother'] at his home ; see on v.^ — lie did not tell them] n}^"^. 5. ptTDty in^i] omit icni v3ni for the reasons sot forth al)ovc.t — in3mJ read N3^i with (S^^ ^^j ^\Q^v. ©alm ^^^ k^^Kkiv^v els dfiireXQva J ( = ^^D>^ v.«) is perhaps an early attempt to explain how his parents, who accordinK to v.» accompanied him to Timnath, knew nothing of his adventure, ©I'vo ^^^^\t. vav. — nvM< -\^3d] cf. Ez. i9"5-6. The n>DD is a full-grown young lion, in the wantonness of his superabounding strength. Sec Bochart, Ilicrozoicon, ii. p. 3 ff.; Tristram, Natural Hist, of the Biblfi, P- "5 ff- — inNnpS jn;:'] the specific word for the roaring of the lion. The construction is pregnant; cf. I S. i6't 2i2 Jud. 151-* 193. — 6. njn i^Diro ini'DC^i] Lev. i^^ kS vcjaa v^n vofi Sna>; trop. i S. 248 (ananj). The procedure directed in Lev. i^^ is described as a rending of the victim by hand, without actual severance of the parts; see Ra. ad loc; Sifra, Wayyikra, Parasha 7 (§9) with the comm.; Zebachim, 65a. b 66^. — 'Ji -i^jn N^i] interpolation; see above. § — 8. nnnpS d^cd 3C'>i] Bochart, following RLbG., interprets, after a year (ii**^), cf. Selden, Uxor Hebr., ii. c. 8; but this is here in the highest degree improbable. — nScc] from Sflj, as irrtD/xa from TrlTrreiv, cadaver a cadendo (Ges. Tkes.) — 7y>-\i<] on the anomalous form see 01. § 216 d.; \\ cf. nmN (nN) v.^. — 9. vsd Sn im-iM] m-i, in this sense not elsewhere in O.T., is freq. in MH.; scrape, e.g. the thin sheets of bread from the sides of the oven (nuri), or honeycomb from the sifles of the hive (miiD) ; Levy, NHWb. iv. p. 427 f. For the latter, cf. M. Shebiith, X. 7; Baba bathra, 66^'; Baba mezia, 64* (see Ra. on the last passage); cf. also the no7n. instruvi. m-\n, Taanith, 25"*, &c. This specific sense is abun- dantly established. That it does not occur again in O.T. is not strange; it is precisely these household words of the old Hebrew which are not found in it unless by fortunate exception.l" There is no reason to suspect the text (SS.). The etymologizing interpretations, * break, break out ' (Mich. Suppl., Ges. Thes., al.), " sich bemachtigen des Honigs " (Be. al.), arc worthless. — ViJ^ Sn] in pregnant coristr., 'into his hands'; naturally, with a stick or something of the kind. The considerable variations of © are apparently derived from a Hebrew copy in which vsd had become corrupted to vs. — Sbxi "ii'^n I'^-'i] I'^n with two inff. abss., Jos. 6«- ^3 i S. 6^2 2 S. 3!^ 2 K. 2" &c. — l^n 2°] prob. through the influence of the preceding verbs; n3m would be more natural. * Georg., iv. 299 fF. Many other authors are quoted by Bochart, iii. 353 f., among them Philo, de sacrificantibus, Opp. ed. Mangey, ii. p. 255. Other lit. is cited by Rosenm. in his notes on Bochart, and Stud. Merx, " Der Honig im Cadaver dcs Lowen," Frot. Klrchenzeitung, 1887, 17. col. 389-392, I have not seen. t Doom., Sta. J ©M i^TreAii'as. \ Doom., St.-i. II For other explanations see the authors cited by Buhl, Ges. HWb'^. s.v. H Abulw., Ki. Lex., al. refer to this sense Jer. ^'^ ; so Buhl. 334 JUDGES 10-18. The wedding' ; Samson's riddle. — 10. He went down to the woman and made a feast there'] * J^ and the versions : His father went down to the wo??tan (/), and Samson made a feast. This introduction of the father here has a pecuHarly absurd effect ; especially after the other gloss, to marry her (v.^) ; see on v.^ and v.*^. — For so bridegrooms used to do] on such occasions. The note is manifestly added because the custom of the narrator's time was different. The difference lies not in the length of the festivities,! but in the fact that it was given by the bridegroom at the home of the bride's parents, instead of his own, which was altogether exceptional. On wedding customs see note on v.^*^.— 11. And he took thirty comrades, and they were with him] these comrades were Philistines (v.-^^), and took the place of the kins- men and friends of the bridegroom, who in an ordinary marriage would have attended him to the bride's home, and thence con- ducted the couple in festive procession to his house. So the story originally ran, as we see especially from v.^^^, where it is clear that they were invited guests, not special constables. Through misun- derstanding, or possibly to remove offence, this has been so changed that the Philistines themselves select these comrades ; and a motive for this unusual course is discovered in their appre- hension that Samson might be up to some mischief. Thus has arisen the present text, which runs in ^ : And when they saw hifn, they took thirty coiJirades ; saw what a dangerous-looking fellow he was. Many Greek manuscripts, representing a slightly different pronunciation of the Hebrew word, si^ice they fea^-ed hi??t ; see crit. note. — 12. As everywhere in the world, the wedding festivities were enlivened by various pleasantries and plays of wit. % Samson gives out a riddle, with a wager that the guests cannot answer it before the week is out. — If you can tell me what it is, during the seven days of the feast, § and find it out, / will give you, 6^r.] the words, and find it out (yourselves), which are lacking in several recensions of (§, are a gloss taken from v^^ as the inappropriate position of the words in J§ also * Or, And Samson went down (Sta., Doom.). t Stud. X On riddles at feasts, see Bochart, Hierozoicon, iii. p. 382 f., ed. Rosenm. $ The seven days, ef. Gen. 29-'' Tob. lil^; Wellhausen, GgN. 1893, p. 442. XTV. 10-14 335 shows.* The author of the gloss desired an express proviso against such unfair means as the PhiHstines took to learn the secret. — TJm'ty fine linen wrappers and thirty gala dresses'] one for each of the comrades. The linen wrappers (Is. 3-* Prov. 2t^'^^ ) were not undergarments,! but rectangular pieces of fine, thin, and therefore costly, linen stuff, which might be worn as an outer garment over the other dress, or as a night- wrapper upon the naked body ; % see note. — Gala dresses] apparel which was worn on festival or ceremonial occasions, instead of the cvery-day raiment (v.^^-^^Gen. 45^2 2 K. S*^). — 13. If they are unable to guess the riddle, they shall pay the same wager. They accept the conditions : Propound thy riddle, and let us hear it ! — 14. Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet] the adjectives in the second member are descriptive epithets, respectively, of the substantives in the first, which they replace in poetic parallelism. It is unnecessary, therefore, to try to make out a perfect antithesis between the adjectives independently ; § there is in reality but one antithesis, not two. — They could not tell the riddle] it was, in truth, a very bad riddle, and quite insoluble without a knowledge of the accidental circumstance which suggested it. The following dates are evi- dently not in order. According to J^, they could not make out the riddle for three days, and on the seventh day appealed to Samson's bride to learn the answer for them. || (S IT and % have in v.-'^, the fourth day, instead of the seventh, which agrees better with V.".** It does not appear, however, why they should give up in the middle of the week. It is more probable that the error lies in the other number, and that in v.'^ we should restore, for six days.-\-\ The story would then run naturally : They cudgel their brains in vain for six days ; on the seventh and last day, in despair of the solution, they try Samson's wife. Their vehemence in v.^^ is better motived if the time is rapidly drawing to a close than if they addressed themselves to her several days sooner. A * Sta., Doom. t Lth., Cler., Schroeder, Ges., MV., SS., al, t Talmud, Abulw., Tanch., Ki., al. § Bochart, al. II Ra., Ki., a Lyra, Vatabl., al. understand the seventh day of the week (Sab- bath), which was the fourth day of the feast. II ©i> agrees with ». " So IJe. ft The Hebrew words for iAree and six differ only in one consonant. 336 JUDGES new difficulty meets us, however, in v.", where we read that the woman wept upon him the whole seven days that they had the feast ; and on the seventh day, tired of her incessant badgering, he gave in, and told her the answer. If the companions first appealed to her on the seve^ith day (v.^^ J^), or even on the fourth day ((§S), her weeping seems to begin prematurely on the first day.* Some commentators explain that she had teased him for the first six days merely out of her own curiosity, and that on the seventh her importunity was redoubled by the threats of her countrymen.! If this had been the meaning of the writer, the order of the narrative or the construction of v.^*^*^ would in all probability have been different ; as it is, nothing of the kind is intimated in the text. The dates in v.^'^-^^ are therefore, even after their internal contradiction is removed by the emendation six, irreconcilable with those in v.^^ ; one or the other must be interpolated. The words in v.^'' do not read like a gloss, and the removal of them leaves a rather awkward sentence ; the omission of the numbers in v." and v.^^, on the contrary, makes no break, and Stade rightly rejects them. According to the original story, then, the Philistines gave up the riddle right away, thinking it an easier and surer way to win the wager, to learn the answer from Samson himself through their countrywoman. For six days he is obdurate to her persuasions and tears, but at last can bear it no longer and discloses the secret. The interpolation in v.^'*- ^^ may have been due to the feeling that the PhiHstines would not give up so easily. — 15. The PhiHstines set Samson's bride to discover his secret. — Beguile thy husband~\ i6^. — And make him tell us the riddle'] make him betray himself through thee to us. — Lest we burn thee, &'c.'\ 15^, cf. 12^ i K. 16^^. — Did you invite us hither to impoverish us ?] see crit. note. 10. The original text read: Ji nncD 00 tr;?^! ncxn Sn pa'Dtt' "!"\>i. — 11. ■•n^) iniN dpin^d] when they saw him, sc. the Timnathite wedding guests (cum ergo cives loci illius vidissent eum, IL) ; the subject is, however, not at hand in the context. With |!? agree ©^ 3tS^, while (gAPVMNO j g have iv ry (popeTcrdai avToiis (sub obel. s) aurii' = anN-ii^; J cf. Fl. Jos., 5ia 84os ttjs icrx«5os rod peaviaKov. The editor who introduced these words probably wrote DniNno; * Rashi's explanation is, that she wept the remainder of seven days, viz., from the fourth on. t Schm., Ke., Be. J Cf. also ®L. XIV. 14 i8 9on DHNio,* which is hardly a natural cxprcssi^m in this connexion, is meant to be more explicit. — inp>i] the text is to be cmentled, not I)y supplying the sub- ject D^na'So (Doorn2.), but by reading np>\ He (Samson) took, cVc — 12. 2>r'>tt' O^jno] the |nD was a fine stuff, of domestic manufacture (Prov. 312*), an article of luxury (Is. 323). The Talmud mentions various uses to which it was put; as a curtain (^/. Yovia, iii. 4, Jer. Soia, fol. 24c), wrapper {Alenach., 37b), shroud {Jer. Kilaim, ix. fol. 32^). M. Kilaim, xxiv. 13, enumerates three vari- eties; see Levy, NHWb. iii. p. 480. All these uses suppose that it was a sheet of considerable size. So it is interpreted by Abulw., Tanch., Ki., Saad. on Is. 3"23, JDMich., al. See Schroeder, De vestitu fnulicrum, p. 339-361 ; Hartmann, IJebrlicrin, ii. p. 346 f. — 14, 15. The original text and the first form of the gloss seem to have been : Dva Tin : d^d> p'^'c) m^nn n^jnS 1^3^ n^) x\ ptt'Dtt' ntr'sS ncx-'i (^yo;:'.-!. — ir^N ns ^nc] beguile, 2 S. 32^ i K. 222"-2i. 'ju &c. — iJB^^;'?n] inf. Kal (Ki., Ko. i. p. 412). The usual inf. is •rz^-\. Perhaps the inf. V'\\ was used for distinction in the sense * reduce to poverty,' cf, Niph. vyxi ' be reduced to poverty.' Contamination of signification through confusion with -i^-j • poor ' may be suspected. Some copies have ija'->>'?n (JDMich., cf. Ki. Comm., and Lex. s.v.) ; others, to exclude this, ij'>in>'?n (see Norzi).t — nSd] the alternative, or not, is nS dn, not xSn, and would, even if correctly expressed, be out of place here. Read dSn hither, % which is found in some Hebr. manuscripts and is supported by %. See Bruns, in Eichhorn's Repertorium, xiii. p. 70; De Rossi, Baer. 16. She teases him day by day to tell her the riddle. — Sam- son's wife annoyed him by weeping] was burdensome to him ; Nu. 1 1^^ cf. Gen. 45^^. — Thott only hatest tne, and dost not love me at all] his professions of love are belied by his conduct, which proves the opposite. Co-ordination of affirmative and negative for emphasis. He replies to her reproaches that he has not even told his own parents ; that he does not disclose the riddle to her is therefore no proof of lack of love or confidence. — 17. She gave him no, rest from her tears and importunities all the seven days that they kept the feast (v.^-^), until on the last day he gave in, and told her.§ — Because she besieged him] 16'^ ; pressed him harder and harder. She at once communicated the secret to her countrymen. — 18. The Timnathites waited till the last moment, to heighten their triumph and his discomfiture. — On the seventh day, before he went into the bride-chamber] at night. So Stade * Be. would read criN"^":^, cf, 2 S. 3". t Baer has _^- in his text, _ in the apparatus. + Stud., Sta,! al. ' \ See on v.i^f . 338 JUDGES with much probability conjectures; cf. 15^* The text, generally interpreted, before the sun set,-\ is unintelligible. See on v.^^'' and crit. note. He sees how he has been duped. — If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle] used illegitimate means. The rhyme of the original cannot well be imitated in English. — 19. In a fury, which is not merely anger at the deception that has been practised on him, but an access of the possession to which he is subject (13-^ 14^), he rushes away from the feast and his bride. — To Ashkelon] the city of Ashkelon was on the seacoast between Gaza and Ashdod ; % a two days' journey from Timnath across the whole breadth of Philistia. So remote a place, and a large fortified city besides, hardly agrees with the general impression we receive from the context, that Samson rushed off from the feast in a rage, surprised some neighbouring Philistine village and slew the inhabitants, returned to Timnath with the spoil, paid his wager, and was away to his father's home before the fit was over. Now, there is a Khirbet 'Asqaliln little more than an hour south of Timnath, § and if the half- verse were genuine, we should be strongly inclined to think that in the original story this, and not Askelon on the coast, was the scene of Samson's exploit. We need not, in such a narrative, nicely weigh the probabilities of his finding among the spoil precisely the articles he had wagered. || Stade has given good reason, however, for regarding the entire half-verse as an addition to the narrative, made by an editor who thought it unworthy of Samson to run away without paying the wager which he had lost, even though the Philistines had won unfairly. In the original story, v.^^'' followed immediately upon v.^^ ; Samson, in a passion, returned to his father's house. That v.^'^^ is secondary is evident from the fact that the slaughter of the Philistines at Ashkelon has no consequences in the story, in which e\J&rything else is so closely knit in the nexus of cause and effect.'^ These considerations, * Z.A TW. iv. 1884, p. 253 f. ; the conjecture is accepted by Bu., Kautzsch, Doorn2. f (GILa:. + See DB^. s.v. ^ SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 107. II The explanation which would evade this difficulty by supposing that Samson made the raid on Ashkelon to reimburse himself for the expense he had been at in buying all these clothes (Be.) is more ingenious than plausible. II ZA TW. iv. 1884, p. 254 f. ; cf. Doom. Th. T., 1894, P- ^5 ^' XTV. 18-20 339 especially the last, seem to me decisive. — He ions an^r\, ami went up to his father's Iiouse'] angry at the way in which he had been treated by his companions, and especially at the perfidy of his wife, which he resents by deserting her. Stade infers from v.^^, before he entered the l?ride-chatnber, that the marriage had not been consummated.* They held -back, as has been said, to the last moment, and just as he was on the point of entering the chamber, they give their answer : What is sweeter than honey, and what is fiercer than a lion ? Instantly seeing through the plot and upbraiding them for it, he rushes out of the house, and away to Zorah. In thus mocking her he inflicted on her the keen- est disgrace, and made her and her family a laughing-stock. To repair this disgrace, her father at once gave her into the arms of the 7rapdvvfjio^, and the interrupted wedding was completed. — 20. To his comrade who had been his best vian'\ to the one of the thirty " comrades " who had borne the part of the <^tAo9 rov wfiLov (John 3^) . 16. ""jPNTw' p-i] all you do is hate me; see notes on 3^ ii84. — -,^Jx -^s^^ exclamatory question of surprise and reproach, cf. 9^ 1 1-^. — 17. p'^^] usually with S pers.; lit. 'make it strait for some one,' reduce him to straits, extremi- ties. Of invasion and siege, Dt. 28^2. 55. 57 is_ 292- 7 Jer. 19^. With ace, Job 1,2^^ (of inner constraint). — 18. noinn N31 dtj::] (Sll^ bt;/ore the sun set,^ fol- lowed by substantially all the comm. The form noin is explained as locative accus.; the significance of the case is supposed to be forgotten (cf. npjsn v.*'). But Din 'sun' is a rare word (Job g^ Is. 19I8, gpe on Jud. i^), which we should not expect to find in old prose instead of B'Ct:', and the assumption that the locative is used as a nominative is no less improbable. The case of nnjDP v.^ is entirely different (see there), and the instances in late poetry where the ending B. is due to the striving after more sonorous forms, or blundering archaism, do not make the occurrer|ce of the form here any easier to explain. Stade's emendation, n-nnn (15^), is one of those comparatively rare conjectures which are self-evident when once they have been hit upon. — "•nSjya D;i;:nn nSiV] © et (xt) KaTeSafida-are tt}v ddfioXiu nov, J probably for the sake of the paronomasia. § — 20. iS nyn iir'N injn?;^] the verb (only here) is apparently denominative from >n. — On marriage and wedding customs see WRSmith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 1885; Wellhausen, Die * Does Fl. Jos. intimate this by his rov 6e ya\i.ov iKtlvov napairt'irai ? (Cler. on 15I). t ©B (alone) be/ore the sun rose ; cf. 818. + (ffiB id ripoTpidn>|-^j] '^d jo npj, Nu. 32'''- cf. 2 S. 3''^*' (oyc), be free, (juit of all claims, so that they have no right to redress or satisfaction. — Z';d^\ 0^^ j518. 28. in the Hcxateuch only in J. — 4. |dm] Iliph.; see Norzi ad /oc, and the grammarians there cited. The rule laid down for these forms in e is that Kal has _ (e.g. ^0^]), Iliph. _ as here; Hayyug ed. Nutt, p. 62, 1. 30 fl'.; Ki., Michlol, fol. Ii6'i, ed. Lyck. — Two foxes or jackals tied tail to tail in this fashion would certainly not run far in the same direction; "they would most assuredly pull counter to each other, and ultimately fight most liercely " (Col. H. Smith in Kitto's Cyclopaedia, art. " Shual"). Houghton (/;/>'. s.v. " Fox ") * would relieve the difficulty by supposing that they were tied together by a cord two or three yards long; but this is against the plain sense of the text. — 5. O"'? 0^3 -i;;i] in the Talmud {Berach.^ 35"*) pm is con- strued as a genitive, olive plantation ; so Ki. 2*^, RLbG., Ke., RV. This is without warrant in usage; if the words are genuine they must be emended, nn 1^1, or at least, t\''\\\ cf. 91. — 6. •'jDnn] patrial adj. from a fern, noun (njDP), formed like >>'-»]« i Chr. 2^* from ny^x; see 01. § 218 r; Mufassal, §295; Wright, Arab. Gram.,\. §251. Compare z^rr; 16- from nr;\ — pni n>as] many codd. of f^ (De Rossi), with ©S,t read noN no pni, which is probably the original text (Lilienthal, 1770). — 7. '»pC|"'j cn o] 3n o after an oath, 2 K. 5''^'^ Jer. 5114, 2 S. 1521 Ruth 3I2 (Kethib) ; without preceding particle of swearing, i S. 21'^. — The variations of & seem to have no critical value. — 8. i-c "r;^ pry'] ^ interprets, //(7rj^ and foot (so Ra., Ki. 1°, Tanch., RLbG.), without support in usage, or probabiHty. Ki. 2^ explains that in their headlong flight they fell, leg over thigh, as we say, ' heels over head.' Castell and Cler. conjectured that it was a wrestler's term (cf. v-rroaKeXl^eiv, supplantare), he tripped them up. Other guesses may be seen in Schm. and Rosenm. J The Arab, idioms sometimes adduced in illustration (see Lane, Arab.-Engl. Lex., p. 1471) are not parallel. — n"'>'^] is rendered hole, cave, or the like by (53L, Ra., and most modern scholars. \\\ Is. \f 27!'^ 3>c';d are twigs or branches of trees, cf. nD;'D Ez. 31^ ^ and the vb. denom. ivp Is. \o^\ Abulw., Tanch., Ki., regard the application of the word to rocks as tropical in the sense of extremities, hence, peaks, crags. § So Cler., Vatabl., Drus., CBMich., in Velthusen and Kuinoel, Commentt. theoL, v. p, 470. Cf., however, the Arab, siibeh, cleft in a mountain, and forked branch of a tree; JDMich., Supplementa, No. 1763; BSZ. j.z/. — t^m] cf. imSy^i v.i3. It is hazardous to urge these verbs in endeavouring to fix the site of Etam; cf. ii''" and esp. 2 S. 5I". — D:3^y] another Etam is mentioned in I Chr. d^- among the villages of Simeon, in conjunction with 'Ain-rimmon (Um er-rumamim, three or four * Cf. DBK p. 1087a. t Not ©BN. X The expression greatly puzzled Aug. ; sec qttaest. 55, ^ Cf. Aquila, Is. 57^, and IL ibid. 344 JUDGES hours N. of Beersheba), and here Van de Velde, Ke., Miihlau, al. would seek Samson's refuge (Ri. HWB^., MV., s.v.). This is, however, far remote from the scene of all his other adventures; it was not in Judah; and, finally, in the original of the list, Jos. 19', the name is not Dta^y but in;'. Conder formerly proposed Beit 'Atab {SIVF. Memoirs, iii. p. 22 f.; Tent Work, i. p. 275-277), against which see Schick, ZDPV. x. p. 144 f.; Wilson, DB-. i. 1004. For Conder's opinions see also PEF. Qu. St., 1876, p. 176, 1883, P- 182. 9-13. The Philistines seek Samson ; the men of Judah take him to give him up. — 9. The Philistines invade Judah to make Samson prisoner and revenge themselves upon him. — Made a raid upon Lehi~\ 2 S. 5^^"'". — Lehi, only in this chapter (^y.^- "• ^'- ^®) and 2 S. 23".* From the following verses it appears that it was nearer the Philistine border than Etam. The site is unknown ; Schick would identify it with Khirbet es-Siyyagh,' which he sup- poses to represent Siagon, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Lehi, ' jawbone.' t — 10. They announce their purpose to take Samson, and to do to him as he has done to them ; cf. v.'^^ i^. — 11. To deliver themselves from the invaders, the men of Judah resolve to capture Samson and deliver him to the Philistines. In Judah the Danite Samson was a stranger, who had no claim to the protection of the tribe. The conduct of Judah appears to us pusillanimous, but there is no sign that the author of the chapter, who was probably himself a Judaean, took such a view of it. He probably thought only of the opportunity which was thus given Samson to make havoc among the uncircumcised. — TJu^ee thou- sand mefi] a flattering estimate of Samson's prowess. — They upbraid him for having given this provocation to their Philistine masters; What did he mean by doing such a thing? He rephes that it was only fair retaliation (cf v.^°). — 12. They explain what they have come to do. He stipulates that they shall not themselves do him any harm. — 13. They pledge themselves not to put him to death ; they will only bind him and deliver him to the Philistines. On this assurance he surrenders himself to them. They bind him with two new ropes (16"*), and bring him from his refuge. • On 2 S. 2311 see note. t Cf. Fl. Jos., antt. v. 8, 8 § 300, ^wp'ov 5 l,iayiiv KaXelTai. See above, p. 342 ; and cf. ZDPV. x. p. 154 f. n. ; so also Conder, PEF. Qu. St. 1883, p. 182. XV. 9-17 345 14-17. Samson breaks his bonds, and kills a thousand Phil- istines with an ass's jawbone. — 14. His captors bring liiin to Lehi, where the Philistines are waiting for him. As they come to meet him with premature shouts of triumph, the spirit of Yahweh comes mightily upon him (i4"''''; see on 3^"). — The ropes which were on his arms beca?ne like flax that has caui^ht fire'] 1 6'-' ; they disappeared in a flash. — His hands rnelted off his hands. — 15. He snatches the first weapon that came to hand. — A green jawbone of a?i ass] heavy and tough ; an old weathered bone would be too light and brittle to serve such a purpose.* — And killed a thousand men] compare the slaughter of the IMiilistincs by Sham- gar (3^^^, and by Shammali (2 S. 23"). It is noteworthy that the latter was also at Lehi.f — 16. Samson celebrates his victory in a couplet, punning on the name of his singular weapon in a way which we cannot imitate : With the jawbone of an ass I have piled them in heaps ; With the jawbone of an ass I have killed a thousand men. im pronounces the verbs in the first line as nouns, a heap, two heaps, i.e. heaps upon heaps; cf. Ex, 8^* (8^"). Many recent scholars, following an etymological conjecture of Doorninck's, translate, / have flayed them clean ; \ see note. — 17. IVhen he had finished sayi?ig this, he threw the jawbone away, and so the place got the nafne Ra?nath-lehi] the author interprets this name, by a false etymology, *' the throwing of the jawbone " ; in reality, Ramah, as in Ramoth-gilead and many other names of places, means * height' ; § see below, p. 346. 9. In 2 S. 23^1 for n^n"^ fSi Qrjpla &, read, with ©Lai- iirl (nay6t'a, and Fl. Jos., n^n^; Bochart, Kennicott, Ew., Then., Bo., We., Ke., Kamph., Dr., al. mu. — 12. ppsn ]d >h lyau-n] cf. 21" (\n^3^ with inf.), Is. 54'-' {]•: with inf.). * See Bochart, Hierozouon, i, p. 171 ff., ed. Rosenm., with the writers cited by Rosenm., p. 171, n. Accordinj^ to Moslem tradition the first blood in the cause of Islam was drawn with the same weapon. A party of Meccan idolaters havinq come upon the believers at prayer in a retired place, words led to blows, and Sa"d ibn Abi Waqqas broke the head of one of the heathen with the jawbone {lahy = Heb. lehi) of a camel ('I'abari, i. p. 1169; Ibn Hisham, p. 166). t Note also the similarity of the names ; see above on s^i, p. 106. + Or, shaved them ; Doom., Matthes, Bu., Kautzseli, Buhl. § So ffl correctly pronounces it. 346 JUDGES — 14. \nS n>' N3 Nin] circumstantial clause preceding the principal sentence; cf. 1 83 19I1 I S. 9II, with pf. Gen. 44* Jud. 324 18^2, Dr^. § 169; Davidson, Syntax^ p. 188-190. — invSipS x;>-\r\ OTitt'Ssi] continuation of the oiacumstan- tial clause; with the pregnant constr. cf. 14^ 19^. J?nn, hurrah in triumph, Jer. 50I5. — 15. ■'nV] Dt./i8^; here the under jaw. — nnto] Is. i^^ of a recent wound; cf. Arab, tariy, ' fresh, moist, juicy.' * © ippi/xfi^prjp, 3L, follow the common Aram, sense of n'^o. — 16. D-rnDn lion nicnn ■•n'?^] fH took the last two words as nouns ("\"'wn paronomastic by-form of ich Ex. 8^"^; cf. i S. 16'^^), the sg. and dual being joined as in ^^^. (3 rightly read them as inf.-abs. and finite verb. It is most natural to connect this verb with "ipn ' heap,' Ex. S^*^ (J) ; DTiisn n^cn, / heaped them all up ; cf. %%. (§ translates, i^aXeicptov i^Tq\ei\f/a ai/Tovs (% delevi). Doom, would combine this with Arab, hamara, 'pare, skin, shave'; f 'as a razor takes the hair off the face, so Samson had cleared the Philistines off the earth'; Buhl (BSZ. s.v.), better, Ich habe sie griindlich geschunden. There is, however, no trace of this meaning or any- thing like it in Hebrew. — ''nS nnn] Height of Lehi ; cf. :djj nci, i;?'?^ nnn. J So fH pronounces (nD">); (^ and IL also connect with on. The author ety- mologizes, "the throwing of the jawbone " (nm). 18, 19. Origin of the spring En ha-Qore at Lehi. — 18. After his hot work he was very thirsty, and finding no water cried to Yahweh. — Thou hast given thy servant this great victory'] cf. I S. 19^ 2 S. 23^°-^-. — And now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised ?] exclamatory question. — 19. And God clave the Mortar which is in Lehi] Heb. Maktesh ; probably a round and somewhat deep basin, called from its form " the Mortar," perhaps with a cleft in one of its sides from which the water flowed. There was a Maktesh in Jerusalem also (Zeph. i^^), doubtless so called from its configuration. He drank of the water thus miraculously given, and his strength revived. The name of the spring perpetuated the memory of his cry and God's answer. — En ha-qore] interpreted by the author. Spring of the Caller, i.e. the man who called to God in his need. In reality, *the caller' {gore) is the Hebrew name of the partridge (i S. 26^° Jer. 17^^), and the original significance of the name was doubt- less, Partridge Spring. § — Which is at Lehi to this day] a witness to the fact ; cf. i S. 6^^ : the great stone on which they set down the ark is a witness to this day, in the field of Joshua the Beth- * So 3r here. See Bochart, i. p. 171, ed. Rosenm. t JDMich. had long before combined (DIL with the Arabic word. X © I'a^aO, I'f,x,xa9. § Stud., We., Reuss. XV. I8-20 347 shemite.* The words arc wrongly divided in ffl, the Spring of the Caller which is in Lchi, unto this day. — 20. J le judi^cd Israel tiventy years ^ in the days of the Philistines'^ see on 12^, and Intro- duction, § 7. 19. pp::] cleave a rock, to bring forth water. Is. 48-1 (referring to Ex. i/' or Nu. 20"). — D^■^SN] elsewhere in the context nin>. — :;ti3::,-i] Zeph. i^* Prov. 2722*, MH. (more freq. fem. ntt'HDD, Levy, MHWb. iii. p. 117; see Jerome on Zeph. i", 0pp. ed. Vallarsi, vi. 686); the vb. Prov. I.e., MIL freq. Of an excavation in the earth shaped like a mortar, Tos. Nidda, viii. 6 (p. 6502 ed. Zuckerm.) ; as the proper name of a place, in an inscription published by de Vogiie, see SS. p. 347.! Very many interpreters, ancient and modern, understand by ""nS here, not the place so called (v.^ cf. v.^^), but the ass's jaw- bone (v.i5). tynDDH is then explained of a hollow in the bone, probal^ly the socket of a large tooth; cf. 6'X/ios 'mortar,' oX/xla-Kos (Poll., ii. 93) 'socket of a tooth,' tnoj-tariohim. So numerous Fathers, some of the Rabbis who discuss the question in Beresh. rabba, § 98; Ra., Bochart, Grot. Others interpret, molar toodi ; so ^rcuchi. m. ven. 1 (^s-^^-j s H. J Accordingly Bochart, Grotius, and others suppose that after having once thrown the jaw away he picked it up again and drank from it. But that this is not the author's mean- ing is clear from the fact that he says that the spring was to be seen at Lehi to this day. See esp. Clericus, who refutes Bochart at length, and quotes on his side Ussher, Arias Mont., Castell, Schm., al. Lehi was probably so called from some real or fancied resemblance to the jaw of an animal; comp. the peninsula "Qvov yvddos in Laconia, just within Malea, Strabo, viii. 5, 2, p. 363 (Steinthal, We.).§ What the point of resemblance was it is idle for us to imagine. In the hillside or at its base was a round depression, called from its shape Maktesh, Mortar, and in this was En ha-qore, the Partridge Spring. In these verses we htwe, therefore, a very good example of the variety of aetiological legend which grows out of the explanation of names of places by popular etymology. 1| Ramath-lehi is the place where Samson threw away the jawbone; Maktesh, a hollow which God made to reach water to quench Samson's thirst; while En ha-qore is the spring which burst forth in response to his call. We may safely go a step further, and apply the same explanation to the whole story of the slaughter of the Philistines; ■'n'^3 in Hebrew may be understood either at Lehi or with a jawbone. The story has * We., Dr. t Maktesh a rock in the place called Lehi, (Tven.'.' al. (sec Ki.), RLbG., cf. Fl. Jos. + 2i;ven. 2. ant. al. n3"'3 ; see Ki., Comtn. arwl L.cx. Ki. explains vNDd as socket of the tooth; but see Aruch, s.v. NJD'-; and Bochart, i. p. 176. ^ Beer-lahai-roi (Gen. yG-^) is probably a name of the same kind ; ^n"i 'n\ wild goat's jawbone. We. Prol'^. p. 339. We. refers also to WakidI, p. 298, n. 2, Yaqut iv. p. 3539ff. : Arab names of places ; Lahy, or Lahya, tj^amai, camel's jaw, II See Bernheim, Lehrbuch der hist. Methode^., p. 263 f. 348 JUDGES no mythical features. — Samson's fomitain was shown in Jerome's time and later in the vicinity of Eleutheropolis; see Rob., BR'^. ii. 64 f.; Guerin, Jiidee, ii. p. 318 f. Modern attempts to identify Lehi have thus far led to nothing. Van de Velde's Tell el-Lekiyeh, 4 m. N. of Beersheba, is far too remote (see on v.^) ; Guerin's Khirbet 'Ain el-Lehi, NW. of Bethlehem {Judee, ii. p. 396 ff.), is unverified, and is also too far away; on Khirbet es-Siyyagh see above, p. 344. Conder finds an 'Ayiin Qara, NW. of Zorah ( Tent Work, i. p. 277); the name does not appear in the Name Lists of the Survey. See DBK i. p. 939; Ri. HWB"^. p. 898. XVI. 1-3. Samson carries off the gates of Gaza. — Samson visits Gaza and lodges with a harlot. The Philistines learn of his presence, and lay their plans to kill him in the morning. He rises in the middle of the night, pulls up the gate-posts, and carries off the city-gates to a hill near Hebron. — The story is of the same character with the rest of the cycle, and doubtless of the same ori- gin. In v.^ a later hand appears to have exaggerated the precau- tions taken by the PhiHstines, from which some confusion results. 1. Gaza] the most southern city of Palestine on the coast and on the land route to Egypt through the desert. Its position made it, from the earliest times, a place of great commercial and military importance ; its name is found in the Egyptian hsts from the time of Thothmes III.,* long before the Philistine invasion, as well as in the Amarna tablets; and it is still a thriving city of 16,000 inhabitants.t — A harlot] Jos. 2^ Gen. t,^^-' &c. — 2. // was told the Gazaites, Samson is come hither] the first verb has accidentally dropped out of ?i|. The rest of the verse is hard to understand. If the Philistines were lying in wait for him at the gate of the city, it is not easy to conceive how Samson could pull up and carry off the gates unmolested ; if the author imagined that the guards were asleep, % he could hardly have failed to give us some intimation, — and what sound sleepers they must have been ! Studer would omit the words all night in v.% § and suppose that they lay in wait ♦ Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 159. t On Gaza see Reland, Palaestma, p. 787-800 ; Neubauer, Grog, du Talmud, p. 67 f.; Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 441 f. ; Stark, Gaza und die fkilist. Kuste, 1852; Rob., BR"^. ii. p. 36-43; Guerin, Judee, ii. p. 178-21 1 ; SVVP. Memoirs, iii. 234 f., 248 ff. ; Gatt, ZDPV. vii. p. 1-14, viii. p. 69-79; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 181-189; Bad3., p. 157 ff. % Cler., al. \ So also Doom. XVT. 1-3 349 for him at the gates all day, but when tlie gates were closed at night, feehng sure that he could not escape, withdrew until morn- ing. But if this had been the author's meaning, he would have written all day, or, until the gales were closed, or, until sunset (when every one would understand that the gates were shut, cf. Jos. 2^) . I suspect that the whole of w.''^ is a later addition, intended to make Samson's escape the more wonderful by exag- gerating the precautions which the Philistines took to prevent it. A less radical, but at the same time less probable, conjecture would be that the author wrote, They surrounded the house, and lay 171 wait for him all night long; supposing that in the darkness Samson slipped through their lines. — They kept quiet all nighty saying, When 7norning dawfis we will kill hini\ they had no reason to think that he would try to leave the place by night, or that he could get out, after the gates were closed, even if he attempted it ; so they did nothing, confident that in the morning they would be able to find and kill him. The half-verse seems to me to exclude v.""^, with its contradictory representation that they lay in wait for him all night at the gate. — 3. In the middle of the night he arose, and made his way through the deserted streets to the city gate. — A7id laid hold of the doors of the city gate and the two gate-posts, and pulled them up, together with the bar'\ the two leaves of the gate were not hinged to the gate-posts, but turned on pins moving in sockets in the sill and lintel. The bar was let into the two posts, and secured by some kind of a lock.* Samson pulled the posts out of the ground, and carried off in one piece the doors and the whole framework. — And put them on his shoulders, and carried thetn up to the top of the hill that faces Hebron'] the distance from Gaza to Hebron cannot be far from forty miles. A late Latin tradition, of which the inhabitants of the city are said to know nothing,! fixes the place where Samson deposited the gates of Gaza at El-Muntar, J a hill SE. of Gaza, and only a quarter of an hour outside the walls, § and this site is adopted, against the plain text, by some recent commentators, who are * See nm. i. p. 1129. t Rob,. BlyT^ ii. p. 39 n. + Sandys (1611), Quarcsmius (1616-25) ; see Rob. l.r. So also liertrand, Gu6rin. § On El-Muntar sec Rob., Z>Vv'-. ii. p. 39; Ciuerin, Judcc, ii. p. x83 f.; SV\P. Memoirs, iii. p. 237; BaJa.. p. 159; Gait, ZDPV. vii. p. it 350 JUDGES inclined to reduce as much as possible the wonderful character of Samson's feats.* It is possible, as Bertheau suggests, that some natural formation on a hill near Hebron may have been called the " Gates of Gaza," and that the story thus had an origin similar to those in the preceding chapter (Lehi) ; but it is clear that the narrator was not aware of any such local connexion in this case, and the hypothesis is neither necessary nor probable. 1. nnry pU'C'i' iSm] ©-^^lm g j. f^^t iiropevdr] S. eKCidev (sub obel. S) et's Td^av. This connects the story with the close of the preceding (15^^); from the scene of his exploit at Lehi he went to Gaza. No one would be likely to make such a connexion across 15^'^, while after that verse the somewhat awk- ward particle would easily be dropped. The eKeWev (d!:'d) is therefore probably original. — 2. □•'ni>7^] patrial adjective from fem. n. pr. preserving the fern, end- ing t; contrast •'JDnn 156^ f^e verb is lacking : (B dvrjyyiXrj, dinjyy^Xr] = nj>]. The other versions supplied the verb in translation. — luhnnM] Hithpa.^; Hiph. is usual; Like ns'nn (18^) and ddt (i S. 14^), u'nnn means ' keep still ' in both senses of the Engl, words, silent, and motionless, inactive; in the latter sense 2 S. 19II Ex. 14I4. — injj-ini -ip^n ms -\y idnS] ^apslmo ^^^j 0wt6s Trpuif fieipca- fj.ev (sub obel. ^ s) Kal aTroKTeipcofxev avrbv. ij.€ivu)/j.€v is probably inserted to smooth the construction in Greek. In '^ the principal verb is left to be understood from the preceding; with the aposiopesis cf. esp. i S. i^^. The question may be raised whether the cons. pf. "injj-ini is to be taken as belong- ing to the clause of t; (till the morning dawns and we kill him), or as the apodosis of that clause (wait till the morning dawns, and ^/len we will kill him). Cf Jos. lis 610 Gen. 298 i S. 122 2 S. lo^; Dr^., p. 135 Obs., thinks that in these instances the general structure of the sentence favours the former alternative, and that if the latter were true we might expect rather -\nxi with impf (Jos. 2i6).t It must be borne in mind, however, that the consec. pf. in these cases is not gratnmatically subordinate, but co-ordinate. The structure is precisely the same in Jud. 61^ i S. lo^ 14^^ Gen. 27^^^ where the pf. psycho- logically belongs to the time clause, as in Ex. 3322f- Jos. 6i"^, where it psychologi- cally belongs to the main sentence. The Hebrew only says: Expectabis donee veniam ad te et ostendam tibi quid facias (i S. lo^); et protegam dextera mea donee transeam et tollam manum meam et videbis posteriora mea (Ex. 33~f). This indifference of construction represents a certain loose- ness of conception; the question which our more logical apparatus of particles and tenses compels us in translating to answer in one way or the other can hardly have occurred to the writer and his readers at all. Only in cases where some emphasis was thrown on the temporal relation of the following verb do we find it introduced by tx or ins. — 3. Ji mnSiD toxm] this verb is pronounced l^y |5l as primae gutturalis also I K. 61° Eccl. f^^\ elsewhere E.g. by Kti. t Or rx with impf.; Jos. 2o<>. XVI. 3-5 351 always n'd; so I2« i62i 20^ Ko., i. p. 393._dvdm] i6'^ pull up, .mt of the ground, Is. 3320. Transitive only in these places. — nnan oy] the bar of the gate, freq. named with the doors, i S. 23" Dt. 3^ 2 Chr. 8^ sometimes of metal, i K. 4}^; oftener, no doubt, of wood, Am. i^ Nah. y^. >jd "^y -sz^h pn3n] in front of; in topographical use frequently equivalent to ms/ (cf. SncIt left-hand = north; pr;> right-hand = south; >inN west, Jud. iS'^), i K. ii'^ 2 K. 23I3 Zech. 144; Dt. 32^^ 34!; I S. 157 Jos. 13=^; i K. 6^ f Ez. 42«; expressly, Nu. 21II (south, Jos. iS^^; west, Jos. 15**). Elsewhere, overlooking, Nu. 21-^0 23-^8 Gen. i^ 192s. In no sense could a hill 250 feet above the sea- level, and less than a mile from Gaza, be said to be jn^n >ja *r;*; El-Muntar is, moreover, not on the road to Hebron, or in the direction of that city. 4-22. Samson and Delilah. — Samson again falls in love with a Philistine woman, in the valley of Sorek. She is bribed by the rulers to discover the secret of his perilous might. Three times he deceives her, but at last, tired of her incessant importunity, reveals the truth. While he sleeps in her lap, his locks are shaved off; when he awakes his strength has left him. His enemies bind him and put out his eyes ; he is led off to Gaza, and set to grind at the mill in prison. — 4. Aftcrwards'\ loose connexion; 2 S. 2' 8^ &c. — The valley of Sorek"] Jerome notes a village, Cafarsorec, in the region of Eleutheropolis, near Saraa (Zorah), Samson's home.* The English survey found ruins of Sunk, three-quarters of an hour west of Surah (Zorah), on the north side of Wady Surar.f The valley of Sorek was probably this great Wady, whose fertility is remarked by modern travellers. J Sorek is in Hebrew the specific name of a choice variety of grape (Is. 5- Jer. 2*' Gen. 49"), from which the valley may well have received its name ; cf. the valley of Eshcol (grape cluster) near Hebron (Nu. 12,'^^-).^ Whose name was Delilah'] the current etymo- logical interpretations of the name, la?igiashi>ii::, love-lorn, or deli- cate, § are ludicrously inapt. — 5. The tyrants of the Philistines] see on 3^. — Beguile him] 14^^ — And find out by what means his strength is great, and by what means we may be able to cope with * OS^. issc, ; cf. 29S7C. Saraa is ten miles north of Eleutheropolis. OS^. 29329 I5ijg. t SH'P. Memoirs, iii. p. 53. + Gu6rin, Jiidcc, ii. p. 31 f. ; -^ WP. Memoirs, iii. p. 3 ; cf. G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 218-222. \ Ges., MV., Be., al. For older jeiix d'esprlt of the same kind see Sota, 9b. Mythological explanations, Stcinthal, /.17'sych., ii. p. 140 f.; Wietzke, Der biblische Simson, p. 44 f. ; see note below, at the end of ch. i6. 352 JUDGES hun, that we may secure him to tor7?teiit him'] not, wherein his great strength lies* which destroys the correspondence between the two clauses, and is grammatically inexact. f They imagine that this strength depends upon some secret means which he employs, some charm or amulet. % And we will each give thee eleven hundred shekels of silver] probably each of the five Philis- tine rulers ^f). The number eleven hundred is a somewhat singular one (cf. 1 7-) ; Reuss suggests that it may mean, over a thousand. The intrinsic value of the shekel is about sixty cents ; the sum offered is meant to seem enormous. 6-9. The first trial; the seven bowstrings. — 6. Delilah sets about the task, and asks Samson what makes him so strong, and with what he could be bound to torment him. — ^t- If they should bind me with seven green bowstrings which have not been dried, my strength would fail, and I should be like any other man] seven, the charmed number. Bowstrings, cords made from the intestines of animals are probably meant. They were to be green, in which state they were less likely to fray or break than when they had been dried, while at the same time the knots would set much more firmly. — 8. The Phihstine princes furnish her with such cords, which she would not have at hand in the house, and she binds him with them. We may imagine that this was done as if in sport, or while he slept, as in v.^"*- ^^. — 9. And she had the Hers in wait ready in the inner room] to seize Samson if the experiment succeeded. As it is presumed in the following trials that Samson was not aware of the presence of these men, we have to suppose that they did not rush out of their concealment at Delilah's signal, but waited to see whether the cords held or not. — The Philistines are upon thee, Samson / And he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of tow snaps when it comes near the fire] ht. sce7its the fire ; without actual contact; cf. Job 14®, the dried-up tree revives at the scent of water. Compare also 15^^. — So the secret of his strength was not disclosed. 10-12. The second trial ; the new ropes. — 10. Thou hast cheated me a?id told me falsehoods] y}^'^^. — 11. If they should • (BU, Cler., EV., al. mu. f Stud., Be. + Cler. XVI. <^-i; .^53 Imid mc fast 7vifh neiv ropes, luitli which no work has been (/one'] which have never been strained or chafed ; cf. 15''. For the rest, cf. v/. — 12. Cf. v.^ — Be snapped them off his arms like a thread] v.^ 15" ; thready in contrast to rope. Observe how the expression is varied in the three places. 4. pnc'] Baer, or pnic' Ven2., Norzi, Mich.; not pmr Ven>., Jahlonski, Van der Hooght. — 5. Snj ihd no3] Snj is predicate, the attributive adjective would have the article; so in the following instances, v.6- »•''. — iS Sou nc3)] Gen. 3225 I S. 179 Nu. 1380 cf. Jer. 20^ 3822 Obad.'; be a match for him, able to overcome him. — -^ jnj] the only instance of Kal impf. i pi. of this vb. with a. — 7. D^nS onn^] in> Ps. ii2 cf. in>D Ps. 21^=*; Arab, luatar, * string of a bow, chord of a lute '; Syr. ithar, id. (made from the intestines of sheep, &c., Karmes. in PS. 1652). ^abPSLNO \ g ^^ kiTTb. vevpais vypais, similarly IL, Abulw., Ra., JDMich., Stud., Be. <3^^ KK-qixaaiv vypois (or /cXtj/zo- rlaiv vypa7s), cf. Fl. Jos. K\-qfxaniSm] v.n. 13 (^^) jg. ^^lo^ — onNn] human kind; the genus in con- trast to the exceptional individual; hence sometimes equivalent to the rest of mankind, other men ; Jer. 322^^ Ps. 73^. — 8. iSyi] Hiph. — 9. 3iNn] collec- tive; cf. DOiND 925. — n-\j7jn] Is. i3it MH. — nnn] Hiph. of sense-perception; cf. riNH &c. — 10. nSnn] 'sSn, Gen. 31'^ Ex» 82^. 13, 14. The third trial ; weaving his locks in the loom. — She again upbraids him for the deception he has practised on her ; he tells her that if his hair were woven into the web his strength would leave him. — In J^ there is a lacuna between v.^'' and v.", as may be clearly seen in RV. : "And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. '^ And she fastened it with the pin, and said," &c. The end of what Samson said and the beginning of what Delilah did are lacking ; cf. v.'-'- uf. 17-19^ n^]^^ Greek versions enable us to restore the original text. The difficulties which remain are due to our imperfect acquaintance with the structure of the loom and the process of weaving. In particular, an error about the nature and use of the pin early led to misinterpretation, and that to glosses in both "^ and the ver- sions. It was not a nail or peg, driven into the wall (Cf)) or the * Vitigenea vincula, Floras, iii. 20, 4, cited by Schleusner. 2A 354 JUDGES ground (3L), or stuck in the cloth-beam of the loom to keep it from unrolling,* but a pointed piece of wood corresponding to the airdOrj of the Greek weaver, which was used to " beat up " the woof in the chain, in order to make its threads lie close together and form a firm texture. f We restore and translate, accordingly : 13. . . . If thoic weave the seven braids of r?iy head along with the web, and beat up with the pi?i, my strength will fail and J shall be like afiy other 7nan. 14. So while he was asleep Delilah took the seven bi-aids of his head, and wove them into the web, and beat np with the pin, &c. % We are to imagine the simplest kind of an upright loom, § in which an unfinished piece of stuff was standing. While Samson sleeps on the ground with his head close to the loom, II Delilah weaves his long hair into the warp with her fingers, and beats it up tight and hard. He was thus most securely fastened, in a prostrate position, to the frame of the loom, the posts of which were firmly planted in the earth. — And she said, The Philistines a7'e upon thee, Samson I And he awoke fjvm his sleep, and pulled up the loom and the web'] as he sprang up, he pulled the posts of the loom out of the ground by the hair of his head, which was fast in the web. The same misunderstanding which has given rise to glosses in (3 and 3L in the first half-verse has here led to the insertion in |^ of the words, the pin, before the loom, which betrays that it is a gloss by its ungrammatical construction. 'i 13. "'tt'N-1 niDSnn joc ns] the braids in which his long unruly locks were plaited to keep them out of the way; cf. v.i^. Stud, remarks that vrXo/ca/xos is frequently employed of consecrated locks, e.g. Aesch., Choeph. 6; Eurip., Bacch. 494; cf. also Pollux, ii. § 30. See Spencer, De legibus rit., iii. diss. i. c. 6, § I. — Of the words which have accidentally fallen out of |§ we have two Greek versions. One of these is represented by ^ : ^ khv v(pdpris rds * Ki., AV., al. t Braun, De vestitu sacerdotum, 1698, p. 253. Stud, feels constrained by n.n>in jiN.n V.14 to interpret -ir\ not of the a-nidr) which was used in the upright loom, but of the "lay" ((crei?, pecten) of a horizontal loom; similarly Ke., Cass. But this is on all accounts impossible. \ See crit. note. \ Such looms are described by Robinson, BE^. i. p. 169 ; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, 1871, i. p. 125; see also Nowack, Hebr. Archdologie, \. p. 240 f. II Different representations of how she got Samson there, PA OS., Oct, 1889, p. 178 ; Doorn2., p. 28. 11 So, with slight variations, N. XVI. .3-18 355 eirrd. cretpAs * r^s KecpaXijs fxov ai^u ry ScdapiaTi \ Kal iyKpoCar,, r(? naaaaXi^ els rbv toTxov, Kat faofiaL ij eh tCjv avOpibiriav acrOevriu Kal iyivcTo iv T

toO kuI v^ni >n>^ni nno P^'pm | n-Dcn d;? ^^'n-i no^no yar pn ^j-^np '1J1 PDD02 jnsni 1CN-I PiD't'nD yjz' pn p^^Vt nppi ^2yz'2. The words were dropped by a scribe who skipped from npo in v.is to the same word in v.i*. Similarly Houbigant, Be., Doom.; Moore, PA OS. Oct. 1889, p. 176-180, where the technical terms are explained, and 7^/ie Book of Judges in Hebrnv, in the Sacred Books of the O.T., edited by P. Ilaupt. — jp.sp ip-'p] no grammatical explanation of the article in -\->p is possible; the word is a gloss, probably originally written in the margin by one who understood the pin in v.'-'^''- '^« as is done by ^ and IL, and missed here an explicit mention of the pulling out of the pin. 15-22. Samson discloses his secret, and is shorn of his strength. — 15. How canst thou say, I love thee, 7cxn] the usual construction of this verli; cf. 14^"' (accus.). — CDTi Vd] perpetually, constantly ; Gen, 43^ I S. 18-^ 23^'' Jos. 4-'», frcti. in Dt. and Jer. — ini'fNni ^] Pi. The vb. is common in Syr.; 'straiten, press, dis- tress'; synonym of 'a^'tq (=Heb. \>-'^'r\). — mcV] to the point of death. — 17. 'y\ \"inSj cn] on the form of the cond. sent, see Dr'^., p. 177 f.; cf. v.^- "• '3 (imperf. in protasis). — 18. n'? n^jn ij] Qere -i^, with all the versions and many codd. and edd. of |i] (De Rossi). The Kethib is mechanical repetition of the preceding rh T'jn o. — ni'?x iS;;!] the perf. consec. is impossible (against Be.) ; read i'?yi, which a number of codd. have; Stud., Ke. — 19. i^rf >?]] Pi-* — n-ian^ Sj?] (^apslmo g ^ ^^,^ /xiaov, i.e. ^■•3, which Doom, adopts. — N"«i"'.~i c-inS] idiomatic determination, the man called for the purpose; see on 8^. — ® S £ rbv Kovpia (^ alone &v5pa), IL'n pn invv nir^'M] play on the word. The doubling of the vi in ma;? is inorganic, and merely preserves the preceding a; cf. Arab, 'amiid. 26-30. Samson pulls down the house upon their heads. — 26. Samson asked the attendant who held his hand, to guide him in his blindness, to place him so that he could rest himself by leaning against the columns. The attendant was hardly a lad (EV.) ; we naturally think of a servant attached to the prison. — Let me touch the columns on which the house is suppo7'ted, that I may lean against them'] the two middle columns, v.-^. — 27. No7v the building was full of the 7tien and wome7t, and all the tyrants of the Philistines were there ; and on the roof were about three thousand meii and women, looking on at Samson'' s playing] the text seems to require us to imagine that the exhibition of Samson took place in the open court of the temple of Dagon. The house may then be supposed to have been a hall of columns, open toward the court, or the prostyle of the temple itself. Spectators of rank crowd the house ; multitudes of others throng upon the roof, from which they overlook the court. When Samson has sufficiently amused them, he is placed near the columns in front of the house, XVI. 26-27 3^1 or is led into the interior, i)crha})s in order that the magnates gathered in it may have a nearer view of him. He grasj)s the two middle columns, and by dislodging them brings down the whole edifice in ruins. No little ingenuity has been expended in the effort to conceive a method of architectural construction by which this might be made to seem possible.* There is some reason in the text itself to suspect that the three thousand men and women on the roof are an addition to the original narrative, exaggerating the catastrophe. If that be the case, the author may have repre- sented the Philistine aris'tocracy assembled in the banqueting hall of the temple,t the roof of which can very well be imagined to have been supported on a pair of central pillars. Such a con- struction was suggested by J. B. Wideburg : J potuerunt . . . quatuor trabes primariae, quibus reliquae minores insertae binis columnis in medio erectis imponi, quo facto, subtractisque de- inceps columnis, necesse fuit trabes quoque impositas labi, quarum lapsum mox totius aedificii ruina consequi debuit. 26. n>'j] 'servant'; 19II i S. 9^ and often. — ^pin nn^jn] n':n with ace. is prop, 'put down, leave' in a place; sometimes implying previous removal thither, 'bring and leave'; Gen. 2^5 Ez. 37^* Is. 14I; so here (Cler., Reuss). Suffer me that I may feel (EV., with iLS, al. mu.) would be ^"^ nn'jn, and would be naturally construed with the inf. or with the cohort, i sing, (.••h-::'' or rrrNi. Others, let vie go, release my hand; so C Ke., Cass., Kittel; cf. Schm'. Let me rest (©apslm g {., Be.) would also be >^ 'jn. — ^jrc'ni] Qere "•j'^icm as from t:'i-, § by the not infrequent confusion of r7 with r;*; cf. ^Vk^•>c> Ps. 115'. The sense requires ^;rc:^;. (•-•::'::); see Ko., i. p. 360. The Qere may intend to hint at a double sense, let me remove the columns (Mi. 2"); cf. Ki. — 27. c^i'jm avj-j^n nh-a r^^m] the article may perhaps be explained, those whom the occasion brought together; but this does not seem quite natural. Graver objection lies against the article in S'N'in below, which hardly admits of a grammatical explanation. || These difficulties appear to have been created by the intrusion of the intermediate clauses, the removal of which leaves a complete and faultless sentence : D^Nin D>a'jni o^cjNn n'?d noni *See Schm., Cler., Stud., Cass,; Sir Christopher Wren, Parentalia, p. 359 (quoted in Rosenmiiller, Das alte und ticue Morgenland, iii. p. 56 f.) ; Faber. Arckdologie, p. 444 ; Stark. Gaza, p. 332-334. t So Fl. Jos., antt. v. 8, 12 § 314-316. Such a room was found at much smaller sanctuaries ; see i S. 9--. XMathesis biblica, Jena. 1730; quoted by Rosenm., Scholia, ad he: cf. also Wren, cited above, note *. ^^ 111^; common vb. in Syr. II If this stood alone, it would be properly regarded as dittograpliy ; cf. ©AI'SLMO. 362 JUDGES ]'Z'i2' ; Ra., Ki., Schm., Bottch., Stud., Ges. Thes., p. 911, Be., Ke. ^S ©IL, Cler., Reuss, Kittel, al. 11 AV.. RV., after older scholars. Cass. H Be. xvT. 28-31 ^r)^ them with him ; others still, he lifted* or pulled.^ unth all his might; but none of these seems to accord as well with the mean- ing of the verb, and with v."-^-*, as the interpretation adopted above. — The house fell on the rulers and all the people that were in //] nothing is said about the flite of the multitude on the roof; see on V.-'. — So in his death he killed more of the Philistines than he had in his life ; it was the climax of his achievement. Clericus quotes Tacitus's account of the collapse of the wooden amphithea- tre at Fidenae, in the reign of Tiberius, in which fifty thousand persons are said to have been buried in the ruins. X 28. n-n nyiDn in] Gen. iS'^^ jud. 6^^ cf. 15-'^ 16^". oyo is elsewhere uni- formly fern. (2 S. 23S is corrected in the margin) ; nrn may he a later inser- tion.— ■•rj? '•nc'D nns-Ci-ij nppjvxi] with the construction cf. Lev. 26^ Ps. 79'*^ Jer. 50'^^ 51^1. (B iKdiKifia-u) iKdlK-rja-iv fiiav (^^ dvTawddoaiu filav), it /ro amis- sione duorum lunnnu>n .unam tdtionetn recipiavi ; but if we should adojit this interpretation and emend, inN Dpj or phn nripj, we should involve our- selves in difficulty with the preposition in \itt'?:, for which in this sense we should expect S>' (Stud.). Doom, omits the numeral. § — v^U'r) (.~) is regular (Ki.); the / is affected by the preceding reduced vowel; cf. Kci. ii. p. 208. — 29. no'^-'i ^] Niph. Ru. 3^ Job 6^8 1_ ^hg exegetical tradition, * lay hold of, embrace,' is probably founded on the context. In Arab, lafata means ' twist, ■wring,' e.g. a man's neck; ^alfatti is a man with a powerful grasp, who hoists, or wrings, him who grapples with him (Lane). The verb here may have the sense, ' seize with a firm grasp.' — ani^>' "i^D^i] the subject is Samson ((5-^ "'• T.% Schm., Cler., Ke., Cass., Be., SS., al. mu.), he braced himself against the col- nmns^ for the supreme effort. The construction which makes .10 subject is defended by De Wette, Stud. u. Krit., iv. 1831, p. 306; Stud. 31. Samson's kinsmen recover his body and bury him in the ancestral tomb. — His kinsmen and all his family~\ lit. brethren ^.\-\(\ father's house; see on 9^ — Between Zorah and Eshtaol~\ on Zorah see on 13- ; Eshtaol, usually named with Zorah (Jos. 15"' 19"*^ Jiitl. 13^ 1 8--^^), according to Eusebius ten miles north of Eleutheropolis, || is identified with the small modern village EshiYa, thirteen English miles N. of Beit Gibrin, and near Surah (Zorah ).^ Here Samson's burial place was shown in later times, in the family tomb of the Manoahites ; cf. 8^^ 12' 10^-' i2^^\ — IIe had judged Israel twe7ity years'] see on the chronology, Introduction, § 7. * (pB. f (r=.. + Anttal. iv. 62. \ It is lacking in S. II OS"^. 255s7. H See Guerin, Judee, ii. p. 12 fT.; SWP. Memoirs, ill. p. 25. 364 JUDGES Mythical interpretations of the story of Samson. — The similarity, in several particulars, between the story of Samson and that of Herakles was early noticed; see Euseb., chron. canon, ed. Schoene, ii. p. 54 (some compare his deeds with those of Herakles); Philastr., de haeres., c. 8; Qeorg. Syncellus, chronogr., ed. Dindorf, i. p. 309 (Kara ron'?N Jud. iS^-^^^ It would then be natural to ascribe the other version of the story to J, but for this Budde has no positive grounds, while Jos. 19'^" ((S) might argue against it.f Kitt., whose analysis agrees substantially with Budde's (see above, p. 367), doubts whether the second version ever existed by itself; the obvious tendency to put all the actors in * Or, perhaps, the body of the emigrants halted at the gate while the armed men went to Micah's house. f Richt. u. Sam., p. 144 f. XVTT -XVTIT. 369 an odious li^lit su<,'gcsts that it may be wholly the work of an c.litor. This hypothesis, which is virtually that of Oort and WcUhauscn (above, p. 366 f.), hardly does justice to the facts which point to composition rather than inter- polation. The evidence which Budde has adduced is perhaps not conclusive. So far as the general impression which the narrative makes may he trusted, 1 should be strongly inclined to ascribe the iirst version to tlie same hand from which we have the stories of Samson, the first version of tlie history of (lideon, and other parts of the Book of Judges which Budde, I think rightly, attributes to J. The note, " In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did as he pleased " (17'^ 18'" cf. 19' 21"'), is probably the com- ment of an editor, who felt it necessary to explain how such law- less doings went unrestrained and unpunished. That the writer of these words must have Hved before the exile is perhaps too j)osi- tively affirmed by Kuenen. Chapter i8'^-^^ throws some light on the age of the stories. Verse ^^ tells us that the image which Micah had made stood in Dan as long as the house of (iod was at Shiloh. Unfortunately, we do not know when this temple was destroyed. In the historical books there is no mention of it after the time of Eli ; in the next generation the priests of his house were at Nob, and it is commonly believed that Shiloh was de- stroyed during the Philistine wars. But Jeremiah (7'-") points to Shiloh as a conspicuous example of a holy place which Yahweh had destroyed for the wickedness of Israel, in a manner which hardly suggests that he is drawing his lesson from such ancient history, and others therefore think of the Assyrian wars. Accord- ing to v.^, the priesthood of the line of Jonathan presided at Dan down to the deportation, by which is probably meant the deporta- tion of the inhabitants of that region by Tiglath-pileser in 734 B.C. (2 K. 15^).* There seems to be no decisive reason why v.*** should not be ascribed to the sources from which the two versions of the story are derived,! though this has been doubted, \ and in the nature of the case cannot be proved. The first version of the story, at least, seems to be very old ; it speaks of Micah's e/>/il?d with as little prejudice as the older nar- rative in ch. 8 of Gideon's. The origin of the image in the * See on this captivity, Schrader. A'./ r^. p. 254-257 = COT. i. p. 246 ff.; Tielc, Babylouhch-assyr. Gesch., p. 220 f., 332 ff. t He, Bu., Kitt. : We., Lamp., p. 232, cf. 357 i Kue., HCQi. i. p. 359 1 2B 370 JUDGES famous sanctuary at Dan is an interesting matter of history; the way in which the Danites got possession of it makes a very good story. The author's sympathies, so far as he shows them, are on the side of the spoilers ; he makes them not only rob Micah, but mock him. - — -x In the second version, especially irki 7^""*, many scholars think that the whole motive js to cast reproach upon the sanctuary at Danj* its venerated image was made of silver which a son had stolen from his own mother ; when the money was recovered and dedicated to Yahweh, the greater part of it was kept back by fraud ; the idol itself was stolen from its owner by the Danites. It is by _no_means^lear, however, that the author had anything of the sort in mind, ^y^such had been his prime motive, he would surely have begun by telling the story of the theft ; but this is not done, nor is there any trace of contempt or even condemnation in the fallowing narrative. Chapter 1 7-"'' merely explains how so costly and splendid an idol came to be in the possession of a private person ; it was an ex voio for the recovery of the money. If this interpretation be correct, there is no necessity for regarding the second version as much younger than the first. The historical value of these chapters is hardly inferior to that of any in the book. The picture of the social and religious state of the times which they contain is full of life, and bears every mark of truthfulness. The tribe, or clan, of the Danites, unable permanently to establish itself in the south (i^'^ cf. Jos. \(f ^ and <3), sends its spies to seek a new location. They find an isolated and unguarded Phoenician town in the far north, and six hundred fighting men, apparently the greater part of the tribe, migrate thither, sack the town, and occupy it. In this narrative, apart from its own importance for the history of this tribe, we have doubtless a type of many similar enterprises in the period of conquest ; cf. esp. Jos. 1 7^^'^^. Images of Yahweh, sometimes of considerable cost and splendour, are found in the possession not only of a judge, like Gideon (8^), but of private persons, who may even have a shrine or small temple {beth-dohwi) for them. Where there was such an image, a priest was needed. If no better •Op^^ WevK¥e.,Kitt. XVII.-XVIII. 371 was at hand, a man might consecrate one of his sons; but a Levilc ^sjoreferred (17''), that is, a_rnember_of the hereditary guild who possessed the traditional religious lore and, especially, technical skill in consulting and interpreting the oracle. The Levites were not all of one tribe ; it is to be noted that the Levites in ch. i 7 f. and in ch. 19 are all in some way connected with Ijethlehciu.oT Judah, and the young Levite whom Micah installs as i)riest in the second version of our story is expressly said to have been " of the clan of Judah." The famous sanctuary at Dan contained an image which the Danites had carried off from Mt. Ephraim in their migration. Its priesthood, to the end, claimed descent from Moses, as was perhaps the case with the priests of other northern sanctuaries. The period in which the action of these chapters falls is not determined by their position in the book. In the I'ook of Judges proper they were evidently not included at all. The later editor who, to our good fortune, preserved them could hardly have intro- duced them into the body of the book, with its strongly marked plan and purpose ; and the migration of Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol might seem to find its fittest place immediately after the story of Samson, the scene of which is the Danite settlements in and around those towns. But we cannot safely draw from the story of Samson, in which Danites are settled at Zorah and Eshtaol, the converse inference that the migration of ch. 18 occurred after the time of Samson, i.e. after the beginning of the Philistine aggres- sions, and therefore toward the end of the period of the judges ; for the narrative does not imply that all the Danites joined in the expedition to Laish, wholly abandoning their old seats, and it is on other grounds improbable that this was the case.* There is no intimation either in the story of Samson or in ch. iS of such a pressure from the side of the Philistines as might force the Danites out of their settlements ; iS^ agrees perfectly with i'*^, and we shall do better, therefore, to explain their failure to establish themselves there by the stubborn resistance of the native population of the Lowland, the Amorites (i*^, cf. Jos. iq*^*"). The removal of a con- * Danites in the south are presupposed by the allotment in Joshua, Note also the tomb of Samson (i6'^i), and the survival uf the name Manoah in this region after the exile (see above, p. 316). 372 JUDGES siderable part of the tribe may have left room enough for those who remained behind. Chapter 5^" shows that in the time of Deborah the tribe was already in its northern seats. The migra- tion related in ch. 1 8 may therefore, with considerable probability, be assigned to a time not very long after the Israelite invasion of Canaan. Chapter iS^*^ would fix it in the next generation after the invasion, if we could be confident that no links in the geneal- ogy are omitted.* XVII. 1-6. Micah's idols. — A man of Mt. Ephraim, Micah by name, confesses that he has in his possession the silver which has been stolen from his mother, and restores it. Of part of it she has an idol made, which is in Micah's house. Micah has a shrine, makes an ephod and teraphun, and consecrates one of his sons as priest. — 1. Thej-e was a man of the Highlands of Ephi-aim^ whose name was Micdyehii\ on the Highlands of Ephraim, see on 3^'. The name and residence of the man seems to have been the same in both narratives. Micdyehu, v."* ; elsewhere in the chapters the common shorter form of the mxnQ, Micah (v.^-^'"^ &c.) ; cf. Micayehu ben Imlah, i K. 22^, and Micah the Morasthite, Mic i\ — 2-4. Micah, dreading his mother's curse, confesses the theft, and makes restitution ; she dedicates the silver to Yahweh, and has two hundred shekels of it made into an idol, which is in Micah's house. The verses belong to the second account. The text is not in order ; the money passes back and forth in an unaccountable way : in v.^"^ he returns it to his mother ; in v.^^ she declares her purpose to give it back to him ; in v."*"" he again returns it to her. Budde conjectures that the last words of v.^, afid now I will return it to thee, and the beginning of v."*, have been accidentally displaced from their original position after v.-'^; v.-'^'' is then a restoration of v.'*^ not exactly in the right place. For another hypothesis, see below. — 2. The eleven hundred shekels of silver'] compare the eleven hundred shekels which the Philistine rulers promise Delilah (i6^).t — Which were taken from thee] by * In this period it is put by Fl. Jos., antt. v. 3, i § 175-178, and the Jewish chronologists generally;' see Seder Olavi, c. 12, ed. Meyer, p. 33 (in the days of Cushan-rishathaim) ; Ra., Ki., Ke., Auberlen, al. mu. t Some Jewish scholars inferred from this coincidence that Micah's mother was Delilah, an opinion which Ra. rejects as incompatible with the chronology. XVIT. i-a 373 theft, as appears from the following ; the neutral expression, taken, is perhaps employed with intention.* —/7;/./ thou cursiuht, luui furthei' saidst in my Jicaring] cursed the unknown thief. What she said is not found in the text ; interpreters supply from the context, didst utter the curse /;/ my hcai-ing,-\ but it is doubtful whether the Hebrew will admit this, and the force of the i)article {also, even, furtJici) is lost. Budde surmises that the words of the curse itself have been suppressed, through a scruj^le which has in other instances led to alterations in the text ; see, e.\^., i S. 25". \ In view of the derangement which unquestionably exists in these verses, the conjecture may be hazarded, that the words which are missing here have been preserved in v."', and that we should reconstruct : And thou cursedst, and also saidst to me, ' 1 sacredly consecrate the silver to Yahweh ... to make an idol,' — the silver is in my possession, I took it ; and now I will return it to thee. § And his mother said, Blessed is my son of Yahweh. So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels, &c. (v.**) . — Upon this hypothesis, he was moved to make restoration, not merely by fear of his mother's curse, but by the fact that the silver itself was thus rendered sacrosanct, or put under a taboo, || so that to keep or use it would be a sacrilege which Yahweh was sure to avenge.^ The transposition of v.''** may have been made by a scribe who, misunderstanding the con- nexion, thought that the consecration (v."^'') should stand closer to the execution of the vow (v.^). — And his mother said, Blessed of Yahweh is my son'\ the curse cannot be unsaid, but may be neutralized by a blessing ; therefore, after restitution or expiation made, the offending party seeks the blessing of the injured, to avert further evil (2 S. 21^ Ex. 12^^). Curses and blessings, we must remember, are not, in the conception of men in this stage of culture, mere wishes, but real potencies of good and evil. The word has a magical power. A blessing once uttered, even if obtained by fraud, cannot be revoked (Gen. 27, esp. v.""^-'') ; a * But cf. i824. t See, e.^., Cler. t On this verse see We., TBS. ; Dr., TBS. ad loc. § That this is the necessary order is seen by Tancimm, who, assuming a hysteron proteron, rearranges in precisely this way. II See W. R. Smith, RcU^uon of the Semites, p. 434. *ii So Ziegler, 1791. 374 JUDGES -urse, once launched, pursues its object like an Erinys.* The -urse, therefore, inspires rehgious terror ; and a parent's curse is the most terrible of all. The working of such beliefs upon the guilty conscience can be readily imagined. In such a case as this, the curse involved not only the criminal, but all who, being cognizant of the wrong, made themselves accessory to it by con- cealing their knowledge (Lev. 5^ Prov. 29-^) ; it was therefore an effective means of extorting testimony. In a more advanced stage of religion, it is Yahweh who executes the curse in righteous- ness, and it is harmless to the innocent.f Here, if our restoration of the verses is right, the fear which the curse inspires is reinforced by the perils of the taboo ; see above, p. 373. — 3. So he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mothe?''] these words stand in their proper place in v."**", following the promise to restore them, v."'^^; see above, p. 373. — / saci-edly consecrate the silver to Yahweh'] in the present order of the context, this dedication must be regarded, not as her original intention (/ had consecrated it) , but as a purpose formed upon the recovery of the money, to avert the consequences of the curse, which, contrary to her expec- tation, had lighted on the head of her own son ; for their probable original position and significance, see above on v.-. — Ff'om my hand to my son] the words are variously interpreted : ut de manu mea suscipiat filius meus, et faciat sculptile ; | or, for the benefit of my son, i.e. to expiate his guilt ; § or, to furnish and adorn his shrine. || As it is not the son, but the mother, who has the image made, the second of these explanations is the most satisfactory in the present context. If the original order of the verses was as has been conjectured above, the son would be named merely as the beneficiary. But ^ has, f7'om my hand alone ;^ no one else can fulfil the vow of consecration, and, by having an image made, lift the taboo from the rest of the silver. This is almost certainly the original reading; and it strongly confirms the conjectural * Cf. the ordeal, Nu. 5"-28; Zech. s^ff-. t Cf. Dt. 2714-!^ I K. 831, and see, in general, Selden, De synedriis, I. ii, c. ii ; 0pp. i. 1448 flf. ; Ew., Alterthiimer, p. 20 f. = Antiquities, p. 19 f. ; Stade, G VI. i. p. 491 f. ; W. R. Smitli, Religion of the Semites, p. 434; Smend, Alttest. ReUgions- gesch. p. 109, 114. A striking modern instance is to be found in Besant, Life of E. //. Palmer, p. 328 f. + H ; so substantially Ra., Ki., Stud. { Schm. II Be. ^ Except BN. XVII. 2-3 375 restoration which is proposed above. — To make an idol^ lit. a graven image and a molten image ; Heb. pcscl and massekah. Pesel is properly a carving, sculpture, carved figure in wood or stone ; in the O.T. always the image of a god.* As such images were the oldest, and probably always the most common, pad is also used generically for '■ idol,' including such as were cast in metal (Is. 30-- 40''-' 44'"* Jer. 10'^ ; cf. Jud. 17^). The proper name of the latter was massekah, or ncsek (Is. 41^) ; they were, as the name imports, cast in a mould, and generally, it seems, of gold or silver. The name is applied particularly to the little golden bulls (images of Yahweh) which were worshipped in the Northern Kingdom (2 K. \f^ cf. i K. 12-'^), and to the similar image which Aaron made at Horeb (Ex. 32^-^ Dt. 9^--^*^ Neh. 9'''). Pesel and massekah are coupled in Dt. 27^^ to comprehend every kind of idol (cf. also Nah. i" Is. 48^), and similarly in the parallelism of prophetic discourse {e.g. Jer. 10" = 51^^ Hab. 2^** Is. 42'^). In the passage before us the conjunction of the two terms cannot be explained in this way, and creates serious difficulty. The natural interpretation of the words in the context is, that two idols of different kinds are meant, one carved in wood or stone, the other cast in silver ; and this appears to be confirmed by v.'"', and by the subsequent narrative, in which the two names constantly recur side by side as if they stood for two distinct things. On the other hand, the idol is an image of Yahweh (v."'), and we see no motive for making, besides the costly silver idol, a cheaper wooden one f to stand in the same shrine. Further, both pesel and massekah are made by the silversmith : he made a pesel and a fnassekah, and // stood, in Micah's house (v."*) . Observe also the singular verb, which can refer to but one image. Finally, in i S""^- we read only of the pesel which the Danites set up ; but it is surely in the highest degree improbable that they carried off both a wooden and a silver idol, and set up in their own sanctuary only the less valuable of the two. We are warranted, therefore, in seriously questioning the text, and a closer scrutiny of the composite text of iS'^-^'-^^-'^ confirms our suspicion. Only in the first of these verses is the order natural, ephod, teraphim, pesel, massekah ; in * Sec on 3I9, p. 94 f., 97 + Cf. Is, 40*. 376 JUDGES v.^''-^^ on the contrary, we find pesel^ ephod^ teraphim, massekah, suggesting that the last name was added in the process of compo- sition or subsequently ; and to support this inference, in v."" masse- kah does not occur at all,* while in v.^^-, as already noticed, pesel stands alone. It is reasonably certain, therefore, that the author of this second narrative wrote throughout only pesei, and that an editor or scribe, observing that the idol {pesei) was of silver, added the more exact term massekah:\ This hypothesis relieves the difficulties which have so much exercised interpreters. — And now I will retm-n it to tiiee~\ the words of Micah, which should immediately follow v.-'^, tlie silver is in my possession ; J took it. — 4. So he returned the silver to his mother'\ in the original context this clause was preceded by v.-*'. Blessed by Yahweh is my son ; cf. v.^"". The interpreters who follow the present order of the text are not able to give any reasonable explanation of the words. % — His mother took two hund^-ed shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith'] what became of the other nine hundred is not said. Kimchi explains that the two hundred shekels were the wages of the artist, the remainder of the silver was made into the image ; a Lyra and others, that the rest of the money was used for furnishing and adorning the shrine ; § Auberlen, that the woman through avarice broke her vow, and gave to Yahweh only a small part of the consecrated treasure ; || Kuenen, adopting this expla- nation, finds here additional evidence of the author's desire to cast contempt on the worship at Dan.^ All these interpretations are far-fetchecl, and they are really superfluous. The intention of the dedication (v.'^) was not to devote the whole of the treasure to the making of an image, but to compel the thief to restore it by putting the whole under a taboo until she herself had made, from this silver, an image of Yahweh. If the author had understood that the woman vowed to make the whole weight of metal into an image, he would have given his own explanation of the discre- pancy. The silvers77iith appears in the Old Testament chiefly as * It is added in (5, however. t Possibly also he was thinking of the molten image at Dan ; i K. 12-8 2 K. 17I6, t See Auberlen, Stud. zi. Krit., i860, p. 548 ; Be., Ke., al. ^ Stud., Be. II So also Oort, Cass., al. H Sec above, p. 366 f., 370, XVI T. 3-4 377 a maker of idols (Is. 40'^ 41' 46" Jer. \6''')*~Andhetnadgit into an ii/ol~\ Heb. />cst'/ i\m\ massckah ; see on \:\ — And it luas in AlicalCs house\ the bingular verb shows tliat tlic writer was speaking of one idol, not of two. 1. in^3^?p i-'^i] 'Who is like Vahwch'; the two other nai.ics in the book which are compounded with Yahweh are Joash, the father of Gideon (ch. 6), and Jotham, his son (ch. 9). Names thus formed become common in the next age, that of Saul and Daviil. See v. Bohlen, Genesis, p. civ."; Nestle, Die hraelitischen Eigennamen, p. 68 ff.; Koiiig, Jlauptprohlcmc, u. s. w., p. 26 f. On names compounded with nn-, see also M. Jastrow, Jr., J HI.. xiii. 1894, p. loi ff. — 2. 1^ n,-;^^ irx] the interest of the possessor in the loss of the money is uppermost in the writer's mind, rather than the fact that the money is taken away (l^ix^) ; qui surrepti iibi fuerant (Cler.). So ©-VI'sl.m g Toi)s \7](pd^vTas J3^ n>::] so ©^^EST; -'); stone (Babylonian), Is. 21^ (">3'"); nietal, Jer. 10*^ (work of the q-^is) Is. 40^^ 44^0 (""D;)- — '"^^Tj] Ex. 34^" (J's decalogue), vt'^N ']h n*^>'n nS h^d:;. Lev. 19*; bull image (of Yahweh), Ex. 32*- 8 Dt. 912. i« Neh. 9^^ 2 K. 17I6 (of gold; cf. also Is. 30--) IIos. 13- (silver); images of Canaanite gods, Nu. S3^'^ (a^:DO 'cS'), cf. i K. 14''. nro-: is apparently a loan-word. To cast, found, metal is in Hebrew not iDi (Is. 40*^441'^'), but pi> (i K. 7 &c.), while in Phoenician (as in Syr.) iDi is used; see Bloch, * Eight times ; the exceptions are Prov. as"* Neh. 3"- 32. See also Acts 19^^'. t For n'7N2 read n^Ni (Klosterm.). J See on 9^. p. 243. 3/5 JUDGES Phocnicischcs Glossar, p. 45, cf. s.v. ^D : ib. p. 42. The Israelites first became acquainted with this kind of images, as with the art of the founder altogether, in Canaan.* This may account for the fact that the oldest prohibition of idols (Ex. 34^") names only the n:D,^; it was a new and conspicuously foreign thing. Some scholars who, with sound exegetical discernment, have felt that the narrative admits but one idol, have endeavoured to reconcile the text with this interpretation by the hypothesis that pesel means the wooden core of the image, massekah a silver covering with which it was overlaid; pesel and viassekah are the composite name of such an idol. That this was not the understanding of the author (or editor) is manifest from i8i''-i8, where the two words, which on this theory should be inseparable, are separated from each other by two other nouns. There is no warrant elsewhere in the O.T. for this opinion, against which the etymological meaning of massekah is in itself con- clusive; plating a wooden image with gold or silver is not casting. Others understand by pesel the image, by massekah the metal base or pedestal on which it stood; so Schm., Hengstenb., Ke., al. This is wholly at variance with the usage of the latter word. — The restoration of v.^-s proposed in the text would read as follows : dji niSs ns'i "i'? nj?'? "liT'X piddh hndi pjSn idnV ncvSii 1CN npni icnS fiD^n nx iv-'^ '.nini'? "ij:j -|n3' i):n icNm ."[S ijaitJ'N nn;?i vnnpS 5. Micah has a shrine and oracle ; he installs his son as priest, — Verse ^ is not the continuation of v.'*, but its counterpart in the other version of the story ; the ephod and teraph'im which he makes for his shrine correspond to the pesel and massekah which Micah's mother has made, and which are in his house ; see above, p. 366 f. — The man Micah had a shj'me'] f the words must origi- nally have followed v.^ ; the form of the sentence suggests that the man Micah has been repeated here by the editor, to recover con- nexion with v.^ after the introduction of v.^"^ Shi'ine ; ht. god- house, a small temple which sheltered the idol or other object of worship, as the house of God at Shiloh (18^^) held the ark. There was need of such a house only where there was an image or an oracle ; % the older and commoner representatives of the deity, the sacred post {asherah) or stone pillar {i7iasse/mh) , stood beside the altar on the high place under the open sky, or beneath the * Solomon's founders were Phoenicians; i K. 7i4ff.. t H. Pierson, Bactylicndienst, 1866, p. 65,0 interprets the words of a beth-el or sacred stone ; see Oort, Th. T. i. 1867, p. 286 f. t Stade, G VI. i. p. 465 ; Nowack, Hebr. Archdologie, ii. p. 16 f. ; cf,, for Greece, E. Meyer, CdA. ii. p. 429 f. xviT. , 37^ sacred tree.* The temple in our text belonged to a rich private citizen of iMt. ]q)hraim, who was its proprietor, as (iideon was of that at Ophrah in which he set up his ephod.\—And ituuic an ephod and teraj)h'im~\ Gideon's ephod, made of seventeen hundred shekels of gold and * set up ' in the sanctuary at Ophrah, an object of worship (8-^), was clearly an idol of some kind. J Micah's ephod is constantly associated with tcraph'im, which were certainly idols ; when the Danites carry off his ephod and teraph'im, he cries after them, You have taken the gods (or, god) which I matlc (i8-^).§ In 1 S. 2 1^ we read that Goliath's sword was preserved at Nob as a trophy, wrapped in a mantle behind the ephod, which we must imagine, therefore, as standing free from the wall. In the history of Saul and David the ephod is employed in consulting the oracle of Yahweh (i S. 14'^ (5 cf. v.''; 23*^- '-^ 30'). || In all these passages the ephod may be an idol ; but it must be admitted that, with the exception of Jud. 8-', none of them imperatively requires this interpretation. All that can with certainty be gath- ered from them is that it was a portable object which was employed or manipulated by the priest in consulting the oracle. In the Priest's Law-book, the ephod is a part of the ceremonial dress of the High Priest, to which the oracle-pouch containing the Urim and Thummim is attached ; ^ but, while it is probable that the oracle of the High Priest is a survival of the ancient priestly oracle by the ephod, it is impossible to explain the references to the ephod in Judges and Samuel by the descriptions in P. See further in crit. note. — The ierapli'im were idols (Gen. 31''"* cf. v.™, my gods; z^'^'^'i ^v^ fi^d them not only in the possession of the Aramaean Laban, in the patriarchal story, but in the house of * The lishkah, i S. 9^-, was a hall for sacrificial feasts, not a temple. t It was a common thing in the ancient world for a family or clan to be the proprietary custodians of a holy place; see E. Meyer, GdA. ii. p. 431 ; W'ellhausen, Reste arab. Hcidentumes, p. 128 f. ; cf. Ibn Hisliam, p. 303. X It would be more exact to say, an agalrna; in using the word idol here and below, I do not wish to be understood to assume that it was iconic. § We cannot argue here from the material used ; the two hundred shekels of silver (v.^) belong to a different strand of the narrative. II It is perhaps not without significance that in ail these cases the oracle is con- sulted, not at a holy place, but by a commander in the field, or by David in the Philistine country. David's ephod came from Nob (i S. 23*'). H See Nowack, Hebr. Archaologie, ii. p. 118 ff. 38o JUDGES David (i S. 19^""^^); from the last passage it appears that they were sometimes of considerable size. In Hos. 3^ teraph'im are named in close connexion with the eplwd, as in the chapters before us, and, Hke the ephod, were employed in divination (2 K. 23-^ Ez. 21-^* Zech. 10-). It has been inferred from Gen. 31 I S. 19 Jud. 17^, that the teraphlm were household gods ; t a^d recently the theory has been advanced that they were the images of the ancestors of the family, so that the consul- tation of the teraphJm was a species of Manes oracle. | Of this there is no evidence ; even that the terapJwn were specifically household gods is scarcely borne out by the usage (cf. esp. Ez. 21-^). See crit. note. — Having a shrine, Micah now needed a priest, to take charge of the house and to consult and interpret the oracle (18^^'). — He installed one of his sons, and he became his priesl~\ lit. filled the hand of one of his sons, the technical term for the investiture of a priest (v.^^ i K. 13^^ Lev. S^&c). The original meaning of the phrase is not certainly known. § Some scholars take it to mean that Micah placed in his son's hands the parts of his first sacrifice (cf. Ex. 29"'-^ Lev. 8^'^^ 2 Chr. 13^); II others think that it signifies that Micah gave him his wages or an earnest of them in hand, to bind the bargain ; ^ others still interpret, he bestowed on him the office of priest.** With the installation of Micah 's son compare i S. 7M when the ark was brought to Kirjath-jearim, to the house of Abinadab, he consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark. 5. niDs] that the ephod in Jud. S'^'^ was an idol is not entirely a new theory. ,S has in this place |j.°io.!^ {sic ; ^^^, Ephr., BB.), which may be a scribal * Heb. 2i26. t See, e.g., a Lapide, who compares the Roman Lares and Penates; Schm., Pfeiffer, E\v., Oehler, al. X Stade, G VI. \. p. 467 ; much more confidently, Schwally, Leben nach dem Tode, p. 35 ff, ; cf. Nowack, Hebr. Archdologie, ii. p. 23. \ See Nowack, Hebr. Archdologle, ii. p. 120 f. II So, most recently, Baudissin, Gesch. d. alttest. Priesterthums, p. 183 f. ; simi- larly Di. H Vatke, Alttest. T/ieol., p. 273 f. ; We., Prol^. p, 130. This would do very well in V.12 cf. i8^iJ, but is hardly natural in the case of Micah's son (v.5) ; nor have we any explanation of the fact that the phrase is used only of priests. ** Ges. ; Hal6vy, REJ. xxi. 1890, p. 209 ; BSZ., al. ; see crit. note. XVTI. 5 381 error, but is understood by Ephrcm (i. p. 320) and all subsequent iRterprcters as an image (see esp. Bar IJahlul, s.v.). Procopius Gaz. explains i/povS, 8-', by fxavrelov ^ etduiXov. Jerome controverts the opinion of some in his time who thought that Micah's ephod was made of silver {ep. K), ad Marcellam').* Of an idol the word is understood in Jud. 8-^ 17 by JDMich., SttppUmenta, p. 109 (1792); Eichhorn, Ges., De Wctte, Grambcrg, Vatkc, Stud., Keuss, Kue.,t We., Sta., WRSmith, Kautzsch, Bu., Smend, Kitt., Nowack, al. mu. ; of. also Ew., filter thUmer, p. 29S n. ; IlSchult/, Alltcst. 77u-ol*. p. 135; FWSchultz, PRE^. s.v., al. J To carry the ephod before Vahwch is the pre- rogative of the priesthood (i S. 2^8); § according to i S. 22^^ all the priests at Nob exercised this right; || cf. also i S. 14^ 14"^ ©. In i S. 2^** the boy Samuel ministered before Yahweh, girt with a linen epliod (-13 iidn), and David appeared in the same dress in the procession which brought the arft to Jerusalem (2 S. 6^^ cf. v.-'^ and i Chr. 15-'). What connexion there is between this linen ephod and the gorgeous ephod of the High Priest in P is again not clear. Older commentators, almost without exception,^ and many modern scholars think that the ephod is in all places, including Jud. 8'-' 17 18, a piece of the priest's dress: so Di. {Exod. ti. Lev., p. 299); Ri. II WB. s.v.; Be., Ke., Cass., Kohl., Konig {Plauptprobleme, p. ^g ff. = A'e/igious History of Israel, p. 107 ff.) ; Robertson (^Early Religion of Israel, p. 229 ff.) ; al. mu. — From the etymology of the word little is to be learned. JUMich. inferred from Is. 3o"-^^, rinnr rDcr) moN, compared with the parallel clause, that Gideon's nii5N was a wooden image covered with metal, and his opinion has obtained general acceptance among those who think that the ephod was an idol ; but this is extremely doubtful. The verb "idn in Heb. (Ex. 29^ Lev. 8^') is denominative; as is also moN Ex. 28^ 398. Lagarde, with great probability, connects the word with the root nsi, which appears in Arab, -cafada, 'come as an envoy ' to a ruler, or great man, &c. ; ** and in Syr. ]^t-9, a long robe (used in 5» to translate "iidn; in S often for Xbytov). Sec Lagarde, Bildtotg der Nomina, p. 178; Mittheihingen, iv. p. 17. This etymology does not, how- ever, help us much toward explaining the meaning of the word iidn in the O.T. ; that nissn jrn is the garment of approach to God (Lag.) is more ingenious than plausible. —2>Dn.^] the etymology is obscure, ft Some older * See also a Lap. on 827. t Hibbert Led., p. 82; against his earlier opinion, Godsdienst v. Isruil, i. p. 99- 102 = Religion of Israel, i. p. 96-100. + That the ephod was in the form of a bull (De Wcttc, Vatkc) is a groundless conjecture which is properly rejected on all hands. § The verb Nrj does not mean ' wear' (a garment). II ?? has 13 ilDN Nir-J •^;*''N, but the last word is not found in (D. f See esp. Jerome, ep. 29. ** The pilgrims to Mecca are envoys of God. tt See esp. Roediger, in Ges. Thes., p. 1519 f.. where a full, but by no means exhaustive, conspectus of opinions is given. 382 JUDGES writers derived the word from nzji or nd-i; * and recently Neubauer, Sayce,t and Schwally have queried whether it should not be connected with DiNsn. % A less remote etymology connects D^Din with MH. ^in^n, ninnn, &c. (also Aram.), * foulness, obscenity'; spec, ^pudendum. See Tanchuma, Wayyese^ near the end: ^'y\T\ niyyo p-' ^aV D-'ijnn ixnpj nr;'^; § cf. Jer. Abodah zarah, ii. 3, fol. 41''; Zohar (Buxt., 2664). So Tanchum on Jud. 17^; Gusset, Lex, s.v. If this is its origin, we should have to explain the word as an opprobrious perversion or substitution, like nira, fipc', D"'';'"i'7J, and others. H (5 renders most frequently, efSwXa; 'A fxop(pd)iJ.aTa. Observe (3, 1 Reg. 19^^ K€voTd(pLa. The diverse opinions of the Jewish commentators concerning the nature and form of the teraph'im are collected by Buxtorf, Lex. Talmud. ^ 2660 ff.; cf. Beyer, Additamenta, p. 194 ff. The most remarkable is, that it was a mummied human head; Jer. Targ., Gen. 311^; Pirqe de R. Eliezer (8th cent. A.D.), c. 36; see Buxtorf, I.e. "With this compare the description of this kind of divination among the Harranians, Chwolsohn, Ssabier, ii. p. 19 ff., 388 f.; and Chwolsohn's notes, p. 150 ff. As teraph'im first appear in the O.T. in the possession of the Aramaean Laban, it is very probable that these stories about the Harranians are the source of the Jewish descriptions of the ieraphu7i head cited above. — On the Teraphim see Spencer, De legibus ritii- alibus, I. iii. diss. 7, who argues with considerable force that the Urim and Thummim were of the same nature with the Teraphim, and took their place; Selden, De Dis Syris, synt. i. c. 2, with Beyer's Additamenta ; Pfeiffer, Exerci- tationes biblicae, exerc. iv. ; cf. also Jerome, ep. 29, De Ephod et Theraphim. 6. In those days there was no king in Israel ; eveiy 7nan did as he pkased~\ 21^ cf. 18^ 19^; a note by the editor, who thought it necessary to explain how such doings were possible. It has been argued that such a comment would be natural only for one who lived in a flourishing period of the monarchy, and that the editing of ch. 17, 18, must therefore have taken place before the fall of the kingdom of Judah.^ This is perhaps not strictly cogent; an editor who lived in the Babylonian exile might have made the same remark. But, as there are no traces in the chapters of the exilic point of view, it is probable that the verses cited were written before that time. — 7. The verse belongs to the second version of the story, in which it followed v.'* : the young Judaean * The former in Zohar ; see Beyer, Additamenta to Selden, De D'ls Syr is, p. 188 (1672) ; Pfeiffer, Exercitationes biblicae, iv. «J 2 f. ; Hoffmann, PRE^. i. p. 59. t ZA. ii. p. 95. \ Schwally, Leben nach dem Tode, p. 36 n. ; cf. Nowack, Hebr. Archdologie, ii. p. 23. ^ Levy, NHWb. iv. p. 674; Kohut, Aruch cojnpletiun, viii. p. 285. II Tanchum surmises that it was formed by metathesis from nr a. K So, eg., Kue., Bu. XVII. 6-7 3«3 Levite, wlio is living in Micah's ncighl)ourhoo(l, is as one of his own sons (v."^'), and is installed by him as his priest (v.'=^). Verse ^-"^ is the counterpart of this in the other narrative : the Levite man wanders forth from Bethlehem to find a place for himself; he comes to Micah's home, and is hired by him to be his father and priest in the room of his son. The words, from Bethlehem of Jiidah^ in v.", which occasion an awkward redun- dancy, were probably introduced by the editor from what went before v.^ in the first narrative. — There was a youtii^ man (from Bethlehem of Judah) of the elan of Judah^ and he was a Levite'] how a Levite could be of the elan of Judah has greatly perplexed interpreters. Theodoret discusses the difficulty at length, and offers two explanations:* i. The words are an epexegesis of those which immediately precede : Bethlehem of Judah, that is, belonging to the clan of Judah ; f but, taken in this way, they are entirely superfluous. 2. The Levite's mother was of the tribe of Judah ; j but that would not make him a member of that tribe, still less could he be of both his father's and his mother's tribes, as this theory really assumes. A like objection lies against the opinion of many modern scholars, that he is said to be of the clan of Judah because his parents' home was at Bethlehem. § Kuenen would reject the words as a gloss ; || but the last thing a scribe would think of would be to represent a Levite as a member of another tribe.^ The true explanation probably is that Levite here desig- nates his calling, not his race. He was a regularly trained priest, who possessed the traditional religious lore, and especially the art of using and interpreting the oracle. The calling was doubtless, like all others, ordinarily, though not exclusively, hereditary ; and in later times all Levites were supposed to be descended from an eponymous ancestor, Levi. This genealogical fiction was made * Quacst. 25. t So Ki., RLbG.. Schm., Cler., JHMich. + So also Ra.; Ki. rightly replies that there is no instance in which a man is said to be of his mother's tribe. ^ Stud., Ke., Be., Cass, II Oort, Th. T. i. p. 289; Godsdienst van Israel, i. p. 258; Th. T. vi. p. 651; HCC^. i. p. 358, 360; Th. T. xxiv. p. 11. So, earlier, JDMich., Dafhe, al. The words are lacking in (D^N s. U Smend. Studer's hypothesis, suggested by the Talmud, that the gloss is inspired by the same motive which in iB^o changed Moses to Manasst-h, is too fine-drawn. 384 JUDGES the easier by the fact that there was an old tribe, Levi, of the same stock with Judah and Simeon, which had been broken up, and whose scattered members may in considerable numbers have followed the calling of priests, which their relation to Moses natu- rally opened to them.* But in early times it was not the pedigree, but the art, that was the essential thing ; and there was no more difficulty in the statement that this Levite was of Judaean blood than in the fact that Samuel, who was of Ephraimite descent, was brought up as a priest at Shiloh. — And he was residing there'] i()^-^^ ; as the Hebrew word impHes, living as a client among a tribe of which he was not a member. There, is not at Bethlehem, as commentators have felt constrained by v.^ to interpret, but in the neighbourhood of Micah's home in the Highlands of Ephraim ; cf. I8^^^t 7. ''i^ Nim] ^h has the usual form of a gentile adjective, and it has been conjectured that the name of the tribe Levi is merely the gentile adj. from HN*? (Leah), the name of the stock of which Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah are branches ; % and this explanation, though not entirely free from difficulty, is certainly possible. The tribe of Levi was associated with Simeon in the treacherous attack on Shechem (Gen. 34^"^^), which was repudiated by Israel (Gen. 34^'') ; the two tribes never recovered from the vengeance which the Canaanites took upon them, but were completely broken; their scattered members attached themselves as clients to other tribes (Gen. 49^-7). § On the tribe of Levi see Nowack, Hebr. Archaologie^ ii. p. 87 ff., and the literature cited there, p. 87. — Still more obscure is the origin of the name ii'? in the sense of priest (Ex. 4!* &c.). If a Hebrew etymology is to be sought for it, the primary meaning would be, one who is attached to, or associates himself with, a person or thing; cf. Nu. iS^-* Is. 14I 56^; see Lagarde, Orientalia, ii. p. 20 f. ; Mittheilungen, i. p. 229; Baudissin, Pr tester tJmm, p. 50, 74 n. We should then most naturally explain "•^ as one who is attached to God, or to the holy place; but this is purely conjectural. In the inscriptions from Southern Arabia, ni'? occurs in the sense of * priest,' hni'?, * priestess ' (Hommel, SUdarabische Owestomathie, p. 127). We might be tempted to combine this * This combination is, of course, purely conjectural ; the relation between the old tribe Levi and the Levite priests is involved in the densest obscurity. See We., Frol^.,^. 146 f. t Ch. 178 comes from a different source. There is no reason to question the genuineness of the words D'r nj Nini in v.'^, as Smend is inclined to do. \ We., Sta., WRSmith, Nold. Leah is perhaps "the wild cow tribe"; Nold., al. For another hypothesis, see Jastrow, JBL. xi. p, 121. ^^ Levi appears to have been more completely destroyed than Simeon; cf. Jud. i3. 17. XVII. 7-IO •^,Sc with the Arab, ia-vlya, a portion of food set aside for an honoured guest (cf. I S. 9'-3), which We. had noted {Kesie nrab. I/eiiientumes, y. 114 n.) ; the laiulya would be originally the priest's portion. — du' ->i sim] the verb -^j is used of one who resides among men of another elan, tribe, or people, where, as he is without the protection of his own kin, he must depend for protection on some individual or family of the community, whose client he becomes; sec Nowack, I/ebr. Archliologie, i. p. 336 fi".; W. R. Smith, Kdif^on of Ihc Semiles, p. 75 ff. The sentence does not allow us to interpret the words, he resided there, as referring to his former residence at Ucthlehcm; there can only be, in the vicinity of Micah's home. 8. From the first narrative ; see above on v.^ It must have been preceded by a sentence or two, introducing this Invite ; perhaps simply, "Now there was a Levite from i^ethlehem of Judah." This was omitted by the editor, as a doublet to v.' ; only the last words, from Bethlehem of Judah ^ were inserted by him from this source in v7 and v.^, in both of which they are out of place. It is noteworthy that the Levites of ch. 17, 18, and of 19-21 all come from Judah, and two of them, at least, from Bethlehem. It is a not improbable surmise that the fragments of the broken tribe of Levi attached themselves to Judah, as Simeon did. A close connexion with Judah is indicated also by the names of Levite families such as Libni, Hebron!, Qorhi ; Korah (Qorah) was originally a clan of Judah.* — And the man went from the city (from Bethlehem of Judah) to live where he should find a place'] not necessarily seeking employment as a priest. In the course of his wanderings, he came to the part of the Highlands of Ephraim in which Micah lived. The words, as he journeyed (EV).,| lit. i?i making, or, to make his journey, represent an unusual phrase in Hebrew, and may perhaps better be translated, to accojnplish the object of his jou7'ney ; see crit. note. — 9. Micah learns who and what the stranger is. — 10. He hires him as his priest. — Stay with me and be my fatJicr and priest] iS''"* ; father is a title of respect given to prophets (2 K. 6*' &c.) and priests, as also to the king's chief minister or vizier (Gen. 45"). The con- necting notion is probably that of a revered adviser, counsellor ; the use of the word father in our text does not necessarily imply * We., Israelitisc-he u. jiidischc Gcschichte, p. 151 n. t So most interpreters ; he had no intention of staying there ; Ki., Schm., Clcr.,al. 2C 386 JUDGES that this Levite was a man of mature years, in contrast to the ^ youth ' of vJ* — / wi// give thee ten shekels of silver a yeai\ and a eomplele suit of apparel, and thy living] the man lived in Micah's house (i8^^). The offer was evidently regarded as an advanta- geous one for the Levite. — 11. The Levite agreed to stay with the 7Jia7i] these words should follow immediately upon Micah's offer, v.^"* ; the last words of v.^", and the Levite went, which now inter- pose, have either arisen by transcriptional accident or are a frag- ment of the other source, t — A7id the youth was to him as one of his sons'] this half-verse belongs to the second narrative (v.-'"'''); the young Judaean Levite, who resided there, and was perhaps a client of Micah, becomes like a son to him. — 12. And Mieah installed the Levite, and the youth becanie his priest] \^. I am inclined to ascribe the whole of this half-verse to the second narrator, continuing v."^ ; though the first clause would fit equally well in the other version, after v."*. The second half- verse : And he was in Micah's house, belongs to the first account (after v.""") ; the young Levite of the other has a house of his own (i8^^). The ■ union of the two sources has led to a multiphcation of explicit subjects. — 13. Micah is greatly elated by his good fortune. — Now I know that Yahweh will prosper i7ie, because / have got the Levite as priest] the close of the first narrative. Micah's son, who had temporarily filled the place, was, after all, only a layman in such things ; he confides more in the knowledge and skill of the trained priest, and is assured that under the guidance of such an interpreter of the mind of Yahweh he will prosper in every- thing. 8. iDm nirj;'?] 'tti rw-^ does not, I believe, occur in the O.T., natural as the phrase 'make a journey' appears to us; ^m is often 'errand, mission, ol)jcct of a journey'; cf. iS^-^ — 10. z^^rii-b'] annually ; 2 S. 1420. — 3nj3 r^iy] Ex. 40-3 ; the pieces of raiment laid out in order. — '^^'.'''791] 6'*; victtis. — iSm ''i'?n] cannot stand thus before nSn Sxn. % Possibly a scribe wrote by mistake, 'J1 riv"^ ii'?n "iSi-i, which was afterwards corrected by himself, or a later hand, by the insertion of the correct mSh Snim. The alternative is to suppose that the former words are a stray fragment of the other version of the story; but it is not easy to see where they could be brought in. ♦ Joseph was a father to the Pharaoh (Gen. 458). though but a young man. t Corruption of the text is recognized by Stud,, Be., al, \ Note the attempt of ©M to relieve this difficulty by transposition. XVll. lo-XVIII. 387 XVIII. 1-7. The Danites send out an exploring party, who halt at Micah's village and consult his oracle. — /// those days, &'c.'] see on 17*^; editorial comment on the irregularities related in the preceding verses. Jerome erroneously joined the words to the following : In diebus illis no7i erat rex in Israely et iribiis Dan quaerebat possessionem sibi, &:c., and was naturally followed in the division of the chapters which was introduced in the Latin J'ible in the 13th century, and from it into the printed Hebrew IJiblc.* — And in those days t/ie tribe of the Danites ivas seeking for itself a territory to settie~\ and is inserted by the editor to regain his con- nexion after the introduction of v.^*". Territofy : properly estate, hereditary possession in land. The following sentence, as it stands, must be translated : For there had not fallen to it, up to that time, among the tribes of Israel [anything] as a possession. The verb has no subject, the construction is harsh, the phraseology suggests a later hand, and possibly the whole clause is a correct gloss to the preceding. See crit. note. 1. "ijin tD3*J'] cf. Dt. 10^ 29''. In the genealogical system, Dan and Naphtali form a subordinate group (Bilhah) of the Rachel tribes, and are thus connected, though not on an equal footing, with Joseph and Benjamin. The Danites first attempted to establish themselves on the SW. of Joseph, but were prevented by the native Amorite population from gaining or maintaining a hold in the maritime plain, and were pushed back into the hills in the angle between Ephraim and Judah (Jud. r^^). As narrated in the chapter before us, and more briefly in Jos. 19*' (cf. 6), the greater part of the tril)e migrated to the extreme north, where they settled at the sources of the Jordan. Notwith- standing the census, Nu. i^^ 26^^ which gives Dan over 60,000 fighting men, the tribe was apparently always a small one. But one son (clan) of Dan is named in the genealogies (c-fn Gen. 46^3, cmu' Nu. 26-»2). In Jud. Dan itself is called a clan (nn3i:'c, v.-'- "■ ^^ cf. 132), perhaps more accurately than a tribe (pz-'i^) ; t the six hundred fighting men who migrated seem to have been the major part of the tribe. In the Song of Deborah Dan is reproached for standing aloof from the national cause (5^'). The reputation of the Danites for boldness, doubtless displayed in forays and attacks on caravans rather than in war, is celebrated in Gen. 49IG-18 Dt. 3f-. In the later history of Israel Dan plays no part. It appears in the rolls, i Chr. I2=»^ 27--, but is missing in the genealogies, i Chr. 2-12, and in the N.T. Apocalypse, 75-7. — iV n'?£3j nS '3 * See "The Vulgate Chapters and Numbered Verses in the Hebrew Bible, yBL. xii. 1893, p. 73-78. f See R. Jesaia on wM. 388 JUDGES . . . n^nj3] cf. Ez. 47^^ Nu. 54- 26^^^. transitively Ez. 47^2 45I esp. Jos. 136 23*.* The subject or object in all these cases is the land of Canaan or its inhabitants; Stud, would supply here v-ixn. 2. The redundancies of the verse are due to the union of two closely parallel accounts. One of these seems to have told the story somewhat as follows : The Danites sent five men of their clan from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land. And they came to the Highlands of Ephraim and halted there for the night. The other may be reconstructed : They sent able men, represent- ing the whole tribe, and said to them, Go explore the land. — Of their clan'] v." cf. 13^ with the note there, ly''. The word may, however, be pronounced as a plural, of their several clans ; see critical note. The parallel in the second source is, of their vari- ous branches (lit. extremities'), out of all parts of the tribe; cf. 1 K. 12^^ 13^^ 2 K. 17^-'. — Men of ability] the word is sometimes used of personal qualities, courage, prowess, skill, virtue, some- times of property; cf. i S. 9^ 14^^ &c. ; see crit. note. — Zorah and Eshtaol] the seats of the Danites in the story of Samson ; see on 13- i6'''\ and above, p. 372. — To spy out the la^id] v.^''-^^, the verb. Gen. 42^- ^^- ^^- ^^ Nu. 2 1^- Jos. 6"«"- f &c. — And to explore it] see the next clause ; the two verbs are similarly coupled in 2 S. io\ — And they came to the Highlands of Ephrai^n, to Mic all's home, afid halted there for the night] this has a complete parallel in the following verse. — 3. As they ivere in the neighbour- hood of Mic ah' s home, they recognized the voice of the young Levite, and turned aside thither] the young Levite belongs to the second version of the story in ch. 17 ; see above, p. 367 f. In what way they recognized his voice (i S. 26^'') we are not told ; most inter- preters think of some peculiarities of dialect such as betrayed the Ephraimites (12*^), which showed that he was a southerner and not a native of Mt. Ephraim.f Others imagine that they heard him reciting prayers or hymns, from which they knew that he was a Levite ; % we should then have to understand their question. What art thou doing in this place ? to be merely the expression of their surprise that a Levite was practising his calling at a place * For other examples see Drus., in loc. fa Lyra, Drus., J H Mich., Stud., al. X Abarb., Bfc. XVIII. 2-7 389 where there was no public temple or frequented holy place. The most natural explanation of the words is, that the Danites had formerly known the young man ; and it is by no means impos- sible that the author of this version of the story meant to be so understood. He does not tell us where the young Judaean Levite's former home was;* and may have imagined him as living near the Danite settlements (of. i5''«-).f _ /( y,^, brought thee hither, and 7vhat art thou doing here, and what ix thy business here .?] the multiplication of questions, of which the last two arc almost exactly parallel, is best explained as the result of the union of two sources. The first two clauses must be taken together, and may with some probability be ascribed to the second of the two accounts. % — 4. Gives the priest's answer from both sources. — Thus and so Micah has done to me'] as has been related above (ly"^'^'^)- — -^^ hired vie and I became his priest] ly'""". — 5, 6. They bid the priest consult the oracle for them, to know whether their expedition will be successful. The consultation of the oracle may have had a place in both narratives ; v.-'^*', however, seem to be homogeneous, and to belong to the first version of the story (the priest, y^'').%— Inquire of God] i', cf. i S. 23-- "••'•'-'=' 2Q7f. j^isf. ^ Y^ 2 2^^- &c. Upon such a question the will of (Jod was probably ascertained by the use of the lot in some form ; see especially i S. 14^^^- (^. || — 6. The response is favourable; the expedition is under the eye of Yahweh ; he sees and takes cogni- zance of it. There is no ground for regarding the phrase as an example of oracular ambiguity.^ — 7. The party proceeds on its way, and finds in Laish a place whose broad and fertile fields excite their cupidity, while its isolated situation and tjie unsus- pecting security of its inhabitants promise to make it an easy conquest. — Laish] ox Leshem (Jos. iq"*^), under the later name, Dan (v.^), often mentioned in the O.T. as the most northern * See on 17". t From Bethlehem of Judah, 17^, is derived from the parallel narrative, and may possibly have supplanted a conflicting statement about the young I^cvite's home. X Assuming that the first half-verse is correctly interpreted above. § Bu. ascribes vp- 6a to the first source; v.Cb to the other. II Urim and Thummim : We., TDS., p. 93 f. ; Dr., TBS., p. 89; see also above on 175. T Schm., JHMich. ; against this view, Stud. 390 JUDGES settlement of Israel,* was not far from the Lebanon and the sources of the Jordan, f According to Eusebius it was four miles distant from Paneas (Banias) on the road to Tyre. X The name is preserved in the modern Tell el-Qadi, § a large mound at less than an hour's distance from Banias, at the foot of which are two great springs which feed the most copious of the sources of the Jordan. || Several ancient writers confuse Dan with the neigh- bouring Paneas,^ and this identification has recently found a defender in G. A. Smith.** — In the following clauses the union of the two narratives has occasioned not only repetition but gram- matical discord. One of the accounts seems to have read : They found the people who were in it undisturbed and secure ; the other : They found the dty dwelling in security, after the manner of the Phoenicians (an unwarlike trading folk) . The continuation of the former is probably : An^ they were remote frojn the Phoe- nicians^ and had nothing to do with any one e/se'] many Greek manuscripts read here,tt nothing to do with Syria, which is pre- ferred by Budde. Laish lay in the valley belonging to Beth-rehob (v.-^), which was in David's time a petty Aramaean kingdom (2 S. 10^) ; the Aramaeans of Maachah (il>., i Chr. iq*^) were probably also neighbours, cf. Abel (meadow of) Beth-maachah. || The reading Syria {arani) is therefore not intrinsically improba- ble ; but the Hebrew text gives a perfectly good sense, and the external attestation of aram is too slight to weigh against it. The intervening clauses are unintelligible. The translation in RV., " For there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything," §§ cannot be extorted from the * " From Dan to Beersheba " (20I) is a standing phrase for the whole length of Palestine. f Fl. Jos., aiitt. v. 3, i ^ 178, cf. viii. 8, 4 § 226. X OS'^. 27 24900, cf. Jerome, z3. 13611. § The Arabic Qddl, like the Hebrew Da?t, means judge. II See Thomson, Bibl. Sacra, 1846, p. 196 ff. ; Rob., BR^., ii. p. 439, iii. p. 390- 393 ; Gu6rin, Galilee, ii. p. 338 ff. ; ^ WP. Mei?toirs, \. p. 139 ff. ; Bad^., p. 265 f. See also Le Strange, Palestine u?ider the Moslems, p. 418 f. II So, e.g. Thdt. ; see Reland, Palaestina, p. 918 f.; Thomson, I.e. ** Hist. Geogr., p. 473, 480 f. Smith argues that Paneas was a place of much greater strength than Tell cl-Qadl, commanding the entrance to the valley ; and that without the possession of Paneas it would be impossible to hold Tell el-Qadi. -ti" But not in the corresponding passage, v.28; see crit, note. ]:t 2 S. 20I4. 15. 18. ^^ Similarly Ki., Schm., Cler., Cass., al. mu. XVTTI. 7 3C)i Hebrew text with a rack, and is nonsense when clone. Bertheau would emend, in conformity with v.'", there is no lack of a n\ thing in the land* and strike out the two following words, which he renders, possessing wealth, as a gloss. For a different conjecture, see crit. note. 2. □rin£3C'co] ilHlLSSE sing.; better perhaps orns^i-c::, pliir. (5. — 3.-iS|-ic] elsewhere, in a similar use, only in the phrase, oyn nvipc; f sec the passages cited in the text, and of. Ez. 33'-^ Gen. 47'-. — '?"'n >j3] 2 S. 2^ 13-8 Dt. 3'"; 1 S. 1 817 2 S. 1710 &c.; h>n ti'ns Jud. 3-^ plur. 20«-'»«; ^^n no.i G^'^ ni. — ^j^S V-iN.-i px] see also Dt. i^4 Jqs. 2^ i S. 26* 2 S. 151*^; Bu. {Kic/it. u. Sam., p. 145) notes that the word is found most frequently in E, to which source he is dis- posed to attribute this version of our story. — 3. n^-^ ro c;* n::nj on the construction see on 15^*. — 4. nni nrr] 2 S. 1 1^5 i K. 14'' ♦; cf. rsoi PNro 2 S. 1 5^5. nr is not here fern, (apocopation of pnt as in MIL); % were the two genders put side by side, the feminine would not stand first; it is pri^bably only a case of dissimilation (Ew. § 105 b). — 5. u^m n^s — >] /H pronounces transitively (Hiph.), but if fn is subject, we require the Kal, r^^j -i (Jet. 12') ; we must either pronounce thus (that we may know whether our expedition will succeed; so (gBXALSM g) q^ emend, n''^s>n (whether he will give success to our expedition; (J5P^'Oii-,§ cf. Gen. 2^^'^'). The former alternative is the more probable (SS.). — 6. Di'^'^S idS] Ex. 4^8 i S. i^^ 20^2 2 K. 5^^ &c.— nin^ HDj] cf. Prov. 521 Ez. 14^. —7. nr^J;] locative of r;^: v."- ""■ ^. In Jos. 19" the name twice occurs in the form or^ iJH; \^Q.{De gentibus tt fatn. jud,, p. 37) would pronounce lesham, DJT^, after the analogy of oa^y from O'?. Another vh or r\vh in Benjamin, Is. lo^''; cf. Palti ben Laish, i S. 25^*. — ntD^'^ PDirii] the ptcp. cannot agree with d;;? (cf. njin ^z^^z' immediately below) ; || neither can it agree with the suff. in n^npa (videruntque populum, qui in medio ejus, habitantis juxta morem Zidoniorum secure, quietum et conlidentem; Schm.), JHMich., Be., Roorda, § 458; and even if we could accept this explanation of the construction, the tautology would remain (Stud.). The fem. nna'P refers, to the city ; and in its original context was probably pre- ceded by some such words as, n>>n nx in-;c^i, or, t:'>^ rx; cf. Jer. n^^ Is. 47** Zeph. 2i^. Cler. would emend 3"'V to restore the concord. With the phrase n-^^S PStt'i"' cf. Is. 478 Zeph. 2^5; living confidently, without apprehension; here of false security, fearing no foe, taking no precautions, as in 8''. — 2"'n"'X tODtr'CD] not Dij^xn; in Phoenician fashion. — rabi ::i"2i;'] v.^'; for the * So also Ru. ; Ra. endeavours to extract this sense from ffl. t Not, of the lowest of tlie people, but of all sorts of people ; see Ki. on i K. l-^^. X So, e.g., Be., Driver in BDIL, Buhl, and most. ^ These codd. represent, not a different reading, but a diflrerent construction of the Greek verb. II Ki. cites Ex. s^c Jer. 8^ as instances in which c; is construed as fern., but m both the text is clearly at fault. 392 JUDGES former verb see 3^1. — ins^ 131 D"''^d:d |''Ni] thei'e was no one to put them to shame (or, insult them) in anything, is wholly irrelevant. The versions give no help. The conjecture, fiNj 1319 vsVpn pxi, there is no one to restrain (us) fro7}i ajiything in the land, involves the least change in the consonant text, but is entirely unsupported.* — "\.x>J '^y"''\ these words are even more difficult than those which precede; is;? ^ is taken by most to mean atithority (lit. ' restraint, coercion '), cf. the vb. I S. 9^' 2 Chr. 14^°; so Abulw., Ki., al. mu.; by others it is rendered, wealth, treasure ((©It), in support of which the Arab. w^L&, a man became rich, came to have the comforts of life in abun- dance, is cited (Ges. Thes., Stud., Be., al.). It is more probable, however, that the verb led the ancient translators to guess that li'y was equivalent to isiN.f The text appears to be incurably corrupt; the words are hardly a gloss (Be., Bu.). — 2nN c>' nnS r^ "'J^i] ^ <^^^ 21^: ^^pslmo g ^ ^^l \6yos ovK fjv avToh ^era llvplas (ois) ; so also in the long addition which these manuscripts have in v.^, but in v.^^ they also read /xera avdpdnrov. In both the old Hebrew alphabet and the square character i is so often mistaken for n, and vice versa, that such variations have little authority. The words have been differently understood: they had no alliance (Ra., Ki., Schm., Stud.), or, they had no controversy, quarrel (Cler.). 8-10. The report of the exploring party. — The spies return, and urge their tribesmen to set out at once against Laish, whose wide and fertile lands they praise in glowing language, while from its isolated location and the false security of its people they augur an easy conquest. — The narrative is redundant and confused, and the text not wholly in order. In v.^ ^ has a long addition, which, in part at least, may be genuine. — 8. And their clansmen said to them, What do you ....?] the verb seems to be lacking ; if the text is sound, we might restore, report ; what word do you bring back ? \ One of the Greek versions puts the words into the mouth of the spies : The five men came to their clansmen, to Zorah and Eshtaol, and said to their clansmen. Why are you sitting idle ? § Budde emends accordingly, and his reconstruction is commended by the fact that it also disposes satisfactorily of the first words of v.^'', which in Jif form an abrupt and awkward exclamation. In the other recensions of ({f we read : Up ! let us march against them; for, we entered and went about in the land as far as Laish, and we saw the people that inhabit it in security, * See The Book ofjudges in Hebrew, in loo. ; and Scharfenberg, Animadversiones, ii. p. 79 f. t Cler. + Cf. Ra., Ki., al. mu. But see crit. note. ^S ©BN. XVITI. 8-12 393 &c. We may be inclined to see at least in the words, we entered and went about in t/ie land as far as Lais/i, a part of the original text ; in %} the place to which ihey propose to lead their clansmen is not named at all. A satisfactory reconstruction of the sources is hardly possible.* — 9. [//>, and let us ,<,v at^ainst theni'\ cf. i'-\ — We have seen the land, and it is very fertile^ the words would seem to imply that the party had Laish in view when they set out ; this would also explain the suffix, against them, just before, which leads Budde to suspect the text. — And you are sitting idle /] when you have such an opportunity. The exclamation is some- what harsh ; Why are you sitting idle ? would be better.f — Do not delay to go to occupy the land~\ this seems to have been fol- lowed in the original context by the words, for God has given it into your power, v.^°"^. — 10. The region is of wide extent^ the territory which will fall into your hands by the capture of the city ; cf. Gen. 3T-^ Is. 22^^ Neh. 'f. Compare particularly the account of the raid of the Simeonites, i Chr. 4^*^- 8. DHN no an^ns an'^ ncsM] the context of |^ requires us to supply some- thing like -^31 DO^-f-p (Ra.); cf. 2 S. 241^ Nu. 13-''. t (3 ri vfieTs K6.dri rom] stretching wide to right and left. 11-13. The Danites set out on their migration. — Six hundred armed men, with their women and children, their flocks, and all their movable property (v.-^), migrate from Zorah and Eshtaol. They encamp in the vicinity of Kirjath-jearim, whence they pass to the Highlands of Ephraim. The verses belong chiefly, if not entirely, to the first version of the story. § — 11. Six hundred men girt with weapons of war'\ in fighting order. — 12. They mcaniped at KirjatJi-jearini in Judali] Eusebius puts Kirjath- * For an attempt, see Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 141. f Budde; see above on v.8. + Cf., however, Ru. 31°, ^T\Z T\^~^'- ; Davidson, Syntax, p. 7. 6 Only in the words, thence . . . /rom Zorah and Eshtaol, is Ihcrc an appearance of duplication. 394 JUDGES jearim nine or ten miles from Jerusalem on the road to Diospolis (Lydda, Ludd) ; * it is identified by Robinson with' Qaryet el- 'Ineb, better known as Abii Ghosh ; f but this is by no means certain. J Kirjath-jearim was one of the cities of the Gibeonite confederacy, Jos. 9^'. From i S. 6~^ 7^- it appears that in the time of Samuel it was inhabited, at least chiefly, by Judahites. In Judah, in the verse before us, is merely topographical, and does not certainly warrant the inference that the Judaean occupation goes back to as remote a time as that in which the action of this chapter falls. — On this account the people gave the place the name Mahaneh Dan (Dan's Camp), which it bears to the p?'esent day. It lies west of Kirjath-jearini\ lit. behind it; see note on i6^§ Whether this explanation of the origin of the name is historical may be questioned. The persistence of such a name would sug- gest a permanent encampment rather than a transient halting place in the migration of the tribe; see also on 13"^. || Kirjath-jearim was but two or three hours distant from Zorah and Eshtaol, and a close connexion between the places is assumed in the genealogies in I Chr. 2^°- ^-"^^, which may perhaps be interpreted as indicating that Zorah and Eshtaol were in post-exilic times colonized from Kirjath-jearim (observe also the Manoahites, v.'^--^^) ; the popula- tion was then Calebite. — 13. Thence they moved on to the High- lands of Ephraim, and came to Micah's home. 14-21. The Danites take possession of Micah's idols. — The members of the exploring party inform their clansmen that there is an idol and oracle in the village, and they at once resolve to carry them off. — The account of the way in which they got possession of the images is badly confused by interpolations and glosses, and baffles emendation or analysis. It seems that in the first narrative the six hundred armed men halted at the entrance of the village, while the five spies, who knew, from their former visit, where the sacred things were, went to get them. They were * 0S\ Qrj\^ cf. 23494. t Z?A'2. ii. p. II f.; Tobler, Topographic, ii. p. 742 ff. ; Guerin, Judee, i. p. 62 ff. tBadS., p. 19. Henderson and Conder propose Khirljet 'Erma; see SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 43-52; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr., p. 225 f. ^ The last sentence is a note or gloss of later date, il See Schick, ZDPV. x. p. 137 ; Guthe, ib. n. Cf. Time, iv. 42, 2. XVTTT. 12-16 395 challenged by the priest, who demaiuled what they were about. They bade him hold his peace and come with them to be the tribe's priest. He took the ephod and terapkim^ and went with them. The second account related how, when they were in the neighbourhood of Micah's home, they turned aside thither and came to the house of the young Levite and saluted him (v.'').* What followed is not preserved, or is not certainly recognizable in the present context ; the author must have narrated how they went to the house of Micah and carried off the idol {pesei and viassekaJi) .^ Probably in this version also the Levite was per- suaded to accompany them ; it is hardly to be supi:)osed that the author would have said so much about him in ch. 17 unless he played a part in the subsequent story. — 14. From the first account. — The word Laish, which is wanting in many copies of (J^, is obviously a gloss. — Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod and teraphvm .?] Micah evidently lived in a small open village. The words, and a graven image and a molten image {pesel and massekah)^ are added by the editor ; see above, p. 366. — A?id now tnake up your minds what you will do~\ cf. i S. 25''. No more than the hint was needed. — 15. *Afid they turned aside thither, and caine to the house of the young Levite {to Micah's house) and gave him a friendly greeting'] the words in parenthesis are a harmonistic note. The verse comes from the second narra- tive (the young Levite). — 16. A?id the six hundred men with all their armour on were standing at the entrance of the gate, who were of the Danites'] the main body halted without the village. The last words are superfluous, and may be a gloss meant to pre- clude the misunderstanding that they were the defenders of the place. That the six hundred men were standing at the gate, is repeated in v.^'^^ ; we are also twice told how the spies went to Micah's house and took the idols ( v. ^'''- '•'"). Some critics there- fore regard the whole of v.^*^ as a doublet to v.^'''^ introduced by * For other attempts to separate the threads of the narrative, see Be., Hu. ; cf. above, p. 367 f. t Wellhausen (in Bleek, Einl^. p. 198 f.) formerly surmised that while the spies engaged the young Levite in conversation, the rest of the party stole the gods; but this opinion, still maintained by Bu. {Richi. u. Sam., p. 143), We. has given up (Cow/., p. 356 f.}. 396 JUDGES an unskillful editor or scribe.* If this opinion is sound, we should include v.^'* in the same judgment. — 17. And the five vie7i who iveiit to spy out the land went np\ the superfluous explicitness with which these men are described, as in the corresponding case of the " six hundred men girt with their weapons of war," is more in the manner of an editor or scribe than of the author of the narra- tive, who, when he is allowed, tells a straight story in a clear and vigorous style ; see above on v.^^. — Came thither, took the p^^2 and the ephod and the teraphim and the inassekah~\ the asyndeton, which in English would make no great difficulty, is very unusual in old Hebrew, and in such a connexion almost unparalleled. This grammatical difliculty is an additional reason for thinking that v.^'"'' is not from the hand of the author of the narrative ; see above. — And the priest was standing at the entrance of the gate'\ of the village (cf. v.^^). From v.^^-^^, however, it is clear that the meeting with the priest took place at the sanctuary, not at the gate. If the clause belonged to the original story, we should have to suppose that the author wrote, at the door of the house, or simply, at the door, and that the mistake arose from confusion with the armed men" at the entrance of the village. But it is equally possible that the whole clause is a gloss. — And the six hundred men girt with weapons of war'\ the predicate has to be supplied from the preceding, were standing at the entrance of the gate; but this can hardly be the author's construction. It is possible, though hardly probable, that the words were originally the subject of the verbs in v.'^.f — 18. And these went to Micah^s house, and took the ephod and the teraphwi] these seems to refer to the five men who had visited the place before, in distinction from the six hundred armed men who halted at the entrance of the village. J^ has, the graven ifnage of the ephod : the graven image {pesel) is probably a gloss ; the words, and the molten image {massekah), at the end are also added to complete the inventory. — The priest said to them. What are you doing /] the priest was at Micah's house, in or near which was his shrine (17^), not at the gate of the village (v.^^). — 19. From this point on * We. (Bleek-i, p. 199; cf. Comp., p, 356) ; Bu. t Be. thinks them a gloss from v.H- 16. XVTTI. 17-21 397 the narrative mns smoothly and without evidence of duphcation. Verse ^■'"■- continue v.'"' and belong to the first narrative. — Keep quiet! Clap thy hand on thy mouth and oro luith //.»•] the gesture of one who forces himself to keep silence, or suppresses an excla- mation of surprise, &c., Job 29'-^ 40''. — Father and pnest'\ 17'". — Is it to your advantage to he priest to a single household, or to be priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel'] the order of the last words, tribe and clan, is singular. — 20. The priest was elated (16-^ jgO.9^ l3y ^}^g brilliant prospect, and taking the ephod and teraplfun put himself in the midst of the Danites. Jfcf adds, and the graven image ; #, the g?'aven image and the molten image ; see above on v."-^'l — 21. The Danites turned and went off, putting their children, cattle, and other wealth in front, while the armed men marched behind to protect the column from pursuit. 11. ncnSo -h-:^ mm] cf. v.^"- '''; the complement of the ptcp. is the second accus, after a verbum induendi, which is retained in the passive; Ges.--' § 1 21, 2 n. — 12. iNnp p ^'f\ men gave it the name which it still bears. — 14. '^j->'^ CiS \-\^7\ hn] Laishy which is asterisked in (^S g^ and wanting in 0i'VMo^ jg obviously a gloss. Bu., however, retains Laish, and cancels ]nNn rs '^n^. — n'^xn Dv-i^a] cf. V.22; Micah's home was a cluster of houses, a small hamlet. — 15. n^^:: no n^n -lyjn ro ^n] the last words, identifying the house of the Levite with that of Micah, are apparently a gloss derived from 17'-'*, in the other version of the story. — 'Ji ::'\s mso ti'^'i] we should expect "•■'Nn; cf. v.^''. — -\;"j'n nro] v.^^ g^^ 2 S. lo^ ii^s &c.; nyc is never used of the entrance of a dwelling-house. — 17. Sddh nx '\r\'r'^ nDir 1x2] the asyndeton is without paral- lel in simple narrative; the examples from impassioned speech which arc adduced by Stud., Be., al. are not in point. We. formerly proposed to make the verbs imperative, and connect them with the end of v.i* : Now know what you must do; Go thither, take the idol, &c.* This reconstruction is adopted by Bu. (^Richi. ti: Sa7?i., p. 141); more likely the clauses were inserted by a late hand from v.^^. — In v.^^- ^^ the Gre^k versions represent substantially the text of 1^1; in (§^ y.^^''- ^^ are omitted by homoeoteleuton (xw»'ci't"6i^x"''*''- t6v), and the omission in ip.. p. 232. 356 f. — Be. (p. 249) is mistaken in saying that some codd. of © take the verbs as imperatives. 39^ JUDGES 21. m-i2?n] wealth, cf. ni3D Gen. 31^ Is. lo^ &c.; not specifically valuables (IL). Others, connecting the word with the primary sense of "\:33, interpret, * the heavy baggage,' ivipedimenta ; Ra., Stud., al., cf. (§^. 22-26. The pursuit. — Micah and his neighbours pursue and overtake the Danites, but are rudely repulsed and return empty- handed. — Compare in general Laban's pursuit of Jacob, Gen. 3 1"*''"- : from the similarity of the two narratives, Budde surmises that they are derived from the same source (E). — 22. When they had already gone some distance, Micah, who had hastily summoned his neighbours, overtook them. — 23. They called to the Danites to halt. — They turned their heads\ lit. their faces ; cf. I K. 8^^ 2 Chr. 2(f. Without arresting their march, they shout back, What has brought you out ? — 24. You take my gods that I made, and the piiest, and go off, and what have I left? What a question to ask me. What is the matter with thee I'\ Micah's feel- ings, his despair at his loss, and his amazement at the impudence of the robbers, are admirably brought out. My gods, or iny god ; cf. Gen. 3i30-32^ — 25. Observe the grim humour of the reply. — Don'' t let thy voice be heard in our company ; some fierce fellows might fall upon thee, and so thou cast away thine own life and that of thy household^ fierce fellows ; lit. men of acrid temper; cf. 2 S. 1 7^, where David and his old comrades are said to be as savage as a she-bear robbed of her whelps. It is suicidal folly to provoke such men. — 26. Paying no more attention to the few peasants whom Micah had collected, the Danites continue their march. He also recognizes the disparity of force, and sadly turns back. 27-31. The conquest of Laish. — The Danites find the place undefended, as their spies had reported ; they capture and burn it, and build a city of their own on the site, which they name Dan. They put the idol which they took from Micah in the holy place and install the priest. — Some slight redundancies in v.^'^ may be attributed to the hand of the editor; v.^°-^^ probably come from the two chief sources of the story. — 27. They took what Micah had made^ his whole apparatus ; perhaps the name of the object {ephod and teraphtm) has been omitted in order to make the statement more general. — They came to Laish, 6^^.] see v.'. XVIIT. 22-29 399 — Put the bjJiab Hants to the sivord and hu rued the city] cf. 1" and I-'. — 28. Cf. v/, and v.'-^ (S. — // is in the valley which beloni^s to Bcth-rehob] this note on the situation of Laish-Dan may be by a later hand. Beth-rehob is otherwise unknown. It cannot be the place named in i^' among the cities which Ashcr was unable to conquer (see also Jos. iq^^-^).* More probably it is the Rehob of Nu. 13-^ (P), the northern Hmit of the exploration of Moses' spies. In the verse just cited the name of Rehob stands by the side of the Gateway of Hamath,t but there is no grammatical con- nexion between the two, and it is not impossible that the latter is a gloss to Rehob. Beth-rehob is mentioned also in i S. 14^' (S, in the list of Saul's conquests, in connexion with Zobah. J It was in the loth century B.C. an Aramaean state (2 S. lo*^- **) . § Robinson would put Beth-rehob at Gebel Hunin, where there are ruins of a fortress, in a commanding position. || Others have thought of Qal'at Busra, about an hour north of Dan. If we were disposed to add one more to these guesses, we might with greater proba- bility conjecture that Beth-rehob was the ancient name of Paneas. — 29. They called the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who was born to Is?'ael~\ Gen. 30^*"- ; the last words, unne- cessarily emphasizing the genealogical relation, may be a gloss. — Whereas Laish was the name of the city originall\\ cf. i'""-23^ and for the expression. Gen. 28^^ (R) ; the notice is superfluous here, after v.^^-, and may be an editorial note. This is the only case in the O.T. in which a city bears the name of a tribe ; prob- ably the population of the city substantially made up the tribe. — 30, 31. IF The two verses are plainly parallel ; each tells how the Danites set up Micah's idol in their new sanctuary, and how long the cultus thus established lasted. Verse ^ probably belongs to the first version of the story in ch. 1 7, v.'^' to the second. The author of the former must have given at the outset some account of the priest from Bethlehem who is now abruptly introduced in 1 7** as the man, and it is not a violent supposition that Jonathan's name and pedigree originally stood there. The editor who united this with the other version, in which the young Levite lived in * Cler. t See on 38. + See ©L 82 ai. ; Klostermann. § See above, p. 390. || Z/A"-. iii. p. 370-372. ^ On these verses see C. H. Graf, De templo Silonemi, 1855. 400 JUDGES Micah's neighbourhood, omitted the antecedents of 17^ and inserted the pedigree in i8^°, where probably only the name Jonathan originally stood. The hand of an editor may perhaps also be recognized in the last words of v.^", //// the depopulation of the land; the author of the narrative probably lived before 734 or 722 B.C.* — 30. The Danites set up for themselves the idol~\ v."^*. If our hypothesis about the source of the verse be correct, idol {pesel) may have been substituted by an editor for an. original ephod. — Jonathan the sou of Ger shorn the son of Moses and his descendafits were priests to the tribe of Dan\ Gershom, the eldest son of Moses, Ex. 2" iS". In P| an n is inserted above the line, to indicate that this priest of an idolatrous cult was rather a son of the idolatrous king Manasseh (2 K. 21) f than of Moses ; see critical note. That the priests of Dan claimed a Mosaic lineage is a fact of very great interest. \ It was not the only Mosaic priest- hood in Israel, as is clear from Dt. 33^, and from the patronymic Mushi among the Levites (Nu. 3^ i Chr. 6^^ (6^) &c.). — Down to the time of the depopulation of the land~\ probably the deporta- tion of the people of Northern Gahlee by Tiglath-pileser in 734 (2 K. 15^) is meant. § If the clause is from the hand of an editor, however, it is possible that it refers to a still later time. — 31. As long as the house of God was at Shiloh'] on Shiloh see below on 21^^. The house of God: cf i S. i''-^'* 3^^ ; the passages in Samuel make it quite clear that a temple, not a tent, is meant. || How long this temple stood is not known.^ Bertheau thinks that there must be some closer connexion between the cessation of this cul- tus at Dan and that at Shiloh, and finds it in the reHgious changes introduced by Jeroboam I. His new temple at Bethel, with its image of Yahweh in the form of a bull, so overshadowed the older * On other hypotheses see critical note. t Not of the tribe of Manasseh (Ew.). X It is natural to connect this with the fact that Abel and Dan were proverbially places in which the old customs of Israel were most tenaciously preserved (2 S. 20I8 ©; see We., Dr., Klost.). \ Cler., Nold., Kohler, Stud., Be., al. mu. Older scholars referred the words to the Philistine wars (cf. i S. 421^-), so that the terminus would coincide with that in V.31 ; so the Jewish author of the Quaestioiies hebr. in libros Paralipom., printed in the works of Jerome, Ki., Grot., Hengstenb., Ke., al. Houbigant conjectures pnNn, till the carrying away of the ark; so Bleek, Cass., Riehm {Einl., i. p. 396) ; cf. Konig, Einl., p. 257. |) See Graf., De templo Silonensi. H See above, p. 369. xviii. 30-31 401 sanctuary at Shiloh, which had lost its holy ark, that it fell into decay; the splendid image which he set up at 1 )au (1 K. i2-"-') took the place of the old idol stolen from Micah. W'c cannot see, however, why, if the author meant, to the time of Jcrolwain ben Nebat, he should have expressed himself so oblicjucly. Jero- boam's image of the bull at Dan need not have supplanted the older idol.* 22. ip'^nnn ncn] asyndetic circumstantial clause; v.'^ 15'^. Notice the use of the causative stem, interpose a distance; cf. 3'ipn, get near; Wright, Arab. Grant., i, p. 36; Ges.-** p. 145. — ipoiMJ 20*^ i S. 31^ 2 S. i" Gen. 3128. — 25. qc'Dj ■inoDNi] cf. Ps. 26^ I S. 15*' and the use of Niph. Jud. 2'" &c.— 29. -i^i> i-.:'n] cf. 138 Job 5" Ruth 4!'. The form is regarded by Bd. (§ 906 r), Earth, Buhl, al., as passive Kal.— 30, 31. Kue. {IICO-. i. p. 359 f.) thinks that the two verses are by different hands, but neither of them the original close of the story, of which at most only fragmentary remains may be pre- served in v.31. We. formerly (following Stud.) regarded v.-''' as genuine, v.*' as an interpolation (Bleek*, p. 199) ;t this opinion he subsequently modi- fied : the two verses prob. do not belong together, but there is no reason to think that v.^^ is older than v.^o (^Co7np., p. 357). Bu. ascribes v.'*^ to the first narrative, v.^o to the second : Jonathan ben Gershom is not the priest whom the Danites carried off, for in that case his name would have been given at his first appearance (17^); he must therefore belong to the other version of the story, according to which the young Levite did not accompany the Dan- ites; Jonathan is the priest whom they got in his place, — whence and how, we are not told, — when they set up their sanctuary. But, as has been said above, it is not likely that the author of the second account would have said so much about this young Levite in the beginning of the story, if he played no part in the sequel (see p. 395); nor is it probable that, if Jonathan was not Micah's priest at all, but was procured by the Danites from elsewhere, the author would have failed to say something more about him. — 30. p irjii^ n^'J:: p cunj] many codd. and old edd. have na'jn; see De Rossi ad loc. and Appendix, vol. iv. p. 227. X ®^ has Moses, which also stands, by the side of Manasseh, in the conflate text of (5^ Thdt., S, Bar Ilebr.; ©aulo have Manasseh; !L Moysi ; % Manasseh, but Ephr. Syr. (i. p. 327) Moses. The J suspensum is explained in Jer. Berachoth, x. 2 (fol. I2'i) : p nrr 2S ^i^r. pi niJ'jD p i>sS CN1 r\vr:; more fully Bab. Baba bathra, fol. log**: Gershom, it ♦According to Klostermann {Samuelis u. Kdntge, p. 348 f.), the opinion that Jeroboam put one of his new idols at Dan rests only on a corruption of the text in I K. \2-^-^^ ; the verses originally spoke only of the ephod at Dan. Sec also 1- arrar, "Was there a Golden Calf at Dan ? " Expositor, Oct. 1893, p. 254-265. t Similarly Ew. ( G VI. ii. p. 492) ; Schrader, al. See esp. Stud., p. 384-387. + On letters above the line (Ps. 80^ Job 38>''- >•'). see Ochlu we-Ochla, No. 160; Buxtorf, Tiberias, c, 16; Geiger, Urschri/i, p. 258 f.; Harris, JQR. \. p. 137. 402 JUDGES is admitted, was the son of Moses, but because he (Jonathan) acted like Manasseh the text connects him with Manasseh; a similar explanation may be given of 17'', which connects him with Judah, Manasseh's tribe.* This interpretation is repeated by the Jewish commentators; e.g. Ra. : for the sake of Moses' fair fame n is inserted to change the name; and it is written above the line to show that it is not really Manasseh but Moses; see also Ki. on 17", Rashbam on Baba bathra, I.e., Norzi ad loc, al. Glosses to the same effect are found in a number of codd. of |^; Kennicott, Dissert, generalise ed. Bruns, p. 41, 497, 522. Tanchum offers a different hypothesis: the name is written thus to hold the balance between discrepant traditions. It was left for Protestant theologians (Schm., Cler., Hottinger, al.) to be more scrupu- lous than the Jews, and defend the reading Manasseh. f In the genealogical system Gershon or Gershom :j: is the first-born son of Levi; in P the Gershon- ites are one of the three branches of the tribe of Levi, though altogether over- shadowed by the Kohathites to whom Aaron belonged. In the allotment of Levitical cities (Jos. 2i2"-33 j Chr. G'^-'^'°) the Gershonites have all the northern cities (in East Manasseh, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali). The interpretation of these facts, in the light of our verse, seems to be that the priests at Dan and other northern sanctuaries like Kedesh, and Golan beyond Jordan, formed a group (Gershonites) which traced its lineage to Moses. The importance of these priesthoods declined as the northern sanctuaries were more and more eclipsed by those of the central, and eventually the southern tribes (Kohath, Jos. 2i20-26. 9ff.^, Gershonite Levites were, in the genealogical apprehension, descendants of a Gershon ben Levi, who takes the place of the Gershom ben Mosheh of our text; cf. Eleazar ben Aharon and Eliezer ben Mosheh. § — 31. Sddh riN onV iD-'tt'^] Ci:' of setting up idols, i K. 1229 2 K. 21'^ Jer. 7^0 32^* (Stud.). XIX.-XXI. The tribe of Benjamin is nearly exterminated by the other Israelites. || The second of the supplementary narratives gives the story of the war with Benjamin, its cause and consequences. — The concu- bine of a Levite residing in the Highlands of Ephraim deserts him and returns to her father's home in Bethlehem of Judah (i9^*^'). He follows her to bring her back. After tarrying for several days, * See also Shir ha-Shirlm rab. on 25. It is at least a curious coincidence that in Josephus the first High Priest of the Samaritan temple on Ml. Gerizim is named Manasseh {antt. xi. 8, 2 ff.). t See, further, Blau, Masoret. Untersuchtingen, p. 48,0 and JQR. Jan. 1895, p. 333. X On the orthography see Frensdorff, Massoret. Worterbuch, p. 277. ^^ There was also a branch of the Merarite Levites which bore the name '>B'1D, i.e., Mosaites. |) §ee Auberlen, Siud. u. Krit, i860, p. 549 ff. XTX.-XXI. 403 they set out on their return late in the afternoon, and are c(jn- strained to halt for the night at Gibeah, where they find entertain- ment in the house of an old man who is not a native oi the place (v;^--'). The men of the town set upon them as the Sodomites upon Lot's guests ; the Levite surrenders his .concubia£_to_t]iL'm, andjn the morning finds herdead on the..threshQld (v.'"--'^). He proceeds to his home, cuts the woman's body in pieces, and sends messengers through the land, calling on Israel to avenge the out- rage (v.-^-^*^). — The Israelites assemble, four hundred thousand strong, hear the cause, and resolve to punish the men of (iibeah as they deserve (20^-"). They demand of the Henjamites the surrender of the guilty men ; but the Benjamites refuse and pre- pare for war (v.^--^'). After consulting the oracle, the Israelites join battle, but are worsted (v.^^--^). The second day they have no better success (v.--^) ; but on the third day, by a stratagem, capture Gibeah and cut the Benjamite army to pieces ; a remnant of six hundred men escapes to the wilderness (v.-"^-*"). The towns of Benjamin are burned, and all their inhabitants, men, women, and children, put to the sword (v.'*^). — From the slaughter the Israelites return to Bethel, in great distress that .ajribejsjackjog jn Israel. For though six hundred men survive the battle, all the Israelites have sworn not to give their daughters in marriage to men of Benjamin (21^"^). They send an expedition against Jabesh in Gilead, which alone of all the cities of Israel failed to send its contingent to the great levy, with orders to slay all its people, only saving alive the virgin girls. In this way they procure wives for four hundred of the Benjamites (v.^'**). Two hundred being still lacking, they counsel the Benjamites to conceal them- selves in the vicinity of Shiloh at the time of the annual feast of Yahweh, and when the maidens of the place come out to dance in the vineyards to carry them off by force ; promising to appease the girls' fathers and brothers. This plan being successfully car- ried out, the Israelites disperse to their homes (v.'^-^). The narrative of the war with Benjamin is altogether^iifferent from any of the other stories in the book.* The numbers arp- Qxaggej;ated to. absurdity : th^_kYy o^ T^rael i«; four hundred * See We., Comp., p. 233 ff. 404 JUDGES thousand men ; the Benjamites muster twenty-six thousand.* In the first two days' fighting the Israehte loss is forty thousand men, while the Benjamites do not lose a man ; on the third day the tables are turned, and the Benjamites are almost annihilated, with an apparent loss of only thirty men on the other side. The spon- taneous and united action of all Israel is even more surprising than the prodigious numbers. It is perfectly clear from the stories of the judges that there was in this period no union of any. kind among the Israelite tribes. Leaders like Ehud, Gideon, and Jephthah have at their back only their immediate clansmen, or at most a group of neighbouring tribes ; and their success some- times excites the fierce jealousy of others (8^^- 12^^). Even in the great struggle with the Canaanites under Sisera, in which all that Israel had gained in Central Palestine was imperilled, Debo- rah was unable to unite all the tribes in 'the common cause; not only Judah and Simeon, who are not even named, but Reuben, Gad, Dan, and Asher stood aloof. But in ch. 20 21 kll the twelve- tribes are gathered together as one man, " from Dan to Beersheba, and the land of Gilead," and, without a leader, consult and act as if by a common instinct. This singular unity, it is to be observed further, is not political, but religious \ it is not as a nation or a people that Israel acts, but as a general assembly of the church ; the only officers who are named are the " elders of the congrega- tioiiJ' This is in glaring contrast to the pictures of the religion of old Israel which the Book of Judges gives us ; the conception of Israel as a church instead of a people or a nation is characteristic of the post-exilic stratum in the Hexateuch and of the Book of Chronicles-t ^'The language of Jud. 20, also, puts it in the same company. These evidences of very late date are, in the main, confined to ch. 20 21^"^^; ch. 19 and the end of ch. 21, on the contrary, are of the same general character as the other stories in the book; ch. 19 has an obvious affinity with ch. 17 18; 21^^- has eminently the note of antiquity. * In the Song of Deborah the fighting strength of the tribes is put down at forty thousand. The only numbers in the Book of Judges which are comparable to those in ch. 20 are those given for the losses of Midian (S^''). t Such a conception could only arise at a time when the national life of Israd was a thing of the remote past. XIX-XXI. ^05 The most probable explanation of these facts is, that a contem- Porarypf the Chronicler took the old story in hand, and put in ^Lace of the original account of the way in which the other Israel- ites punished the outrage at Gibeah his own representation of the jvaysuch a thing should be done by the congregation. In this composition, which is of the nature of Midrash, the author prob- ably followed the order of the older narrative and in considerable part preserved its language. Traces of the later hand may per- haps be recognized in ch. 19 also. It is possible that the older text was itself composite; in 19^-'^ the story is redundant and confused, and more than one attempt has been made to solve the difficulties by analysis, but without conspicuous success.* The oldest form of the story may perhaps be derived from J. The historical character of ch. 20 2i'-^Svill scarcely be seriously maintained ; in the whole description of the war there is hardly a semblance of reality. But the old story must also have related how the report of the crime at Gibeah excited the horror and indignation of the Israelites, and how, when Benjamin refused to surrender the guilty parties, they not only vowed to interdict the connubium with that tribe, but visited them with savage retribu- tion w^hich even threatened the existence of the tribe (see esp. 2 jisff.^^ That this narrative has an historical basis, I see no reason to deny. It is, of course, incredible that the tribe of Benjamin was almost exterminated only a generation or two before the time of Saul ; but the events related in these chapters probably fall in a much earlier period,, and the cjitastrophe, serious as it evidently was, cannot ^ave had anything like the proportions given to it by the later writer in ch. 20. Nor does it appear to me at all probable that the whole story is a fiction inspired by Jewish hatred of Saul and all the places which were associated with his memory.! In Hos. 9^ the prophet declares that Israel in his day has sounded the depths of depravity, " as it did in the ilays of Gibeah" ; in 10^ we read, " From the days of Gibeah thou hast sinned, O Israel." The older commentators generally understood * See below, p. 407. •J-Giidemann, Graetz, We., Kue. ; sec below, p. 408. 405 JUDGES these verses to refer to Jud. 19-21.* ^T, however, interprets 10^ of the choice of Saul as king,t and this interpretation has recently been revived by Wellhausen and others. I The outrage at Gibeah, Jud. 19, is not to be laid at the door of Israel, which so promptly and severely punished the perpetrators ; and the crime, atrocious as it was, did not make an epoch in Israel's career of wickedness. On the other hand, Hosea regards the making of other kings beside Yahweh as apostasy, just as truly as the worship of other gods beside him. § The context of Hos. 10^ is very difficult, and v.''^, which we should expect to throw hght on the meaning of v.^% is itself hopelessly obscure. Wellhausen's argument, however, does not seem to me convincing. The crime of the Benjamites of Gibeah, in the ancient way of thinking, brought guilt upon all Israel ; it defiled Yahweh's land and people. That Israel expi- ated it in the blood of the offenders did not undo the deed, which might well serve the prophet as a type of abominable depravity, the first plunge into that depth to which all Israel had now sunk. On the other hand, if Hosea had meant, " From the days when Saul of Gibeah was made king at Gilgal " (i S. n^^), he would hardly have expressed himself in the enigmatical phrase, " From the days of Gibeah." || It does not necessarily follow that Hosea had read Jud. 19-21 even in its original form; though if the oldest version of the story comes from J, it is not impossible that he may have done so. On the critical problems in ch. 19-21 see Wellhausen, Comp., p. 233-238; Prol^., p. 243-245; Giidemann, Alonatschrift fur Gesch. u. fVissensc/i. d. yudetil/m7ns, 1869, p. 357 ff. ; « Graetz, Gesch. d, Jicdeti, i. p. 351-355; Kue- nen, HCO'^. i. p. 360 ff. ; Bohme, ZA TW. v. p. 30-36; Budde, Kicht. u. Sam., p. 146 ff.; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 21 f. — Wellhausen regards the story as of the same character and age throughout : the greater vividness and appearance of reality in ch. 19, which Stud, had observed, are due entirely to the author's art; the chapters are full of reminiscences of passages in the older literature; it may * So Jerome, Cyrill. Alex., Ra., Ki., Abarb. ; Drus., Grot., Eichh., Rosenm., Nowack, Reuss, al. plur. Some of the older interpreters go back to ch. 17 18, to show how all Israel had sinned in tolerating idolatry, and explain in this way their defeat in the first two days' battle. t Jerome (on Hos. 9^) offers this as an alternative ; see also Ra. on Hos. 9^. t Wc, Comp., p. 237; Kleine Propheteji, in loc. ; Sta., GVI. i. p. 580; Smend, Alttest. Kcligionsgesch., p. 194 ; cf. also Kue., HCG^. i. p. 361 f. § We., l.c. II Against We., see also Bu., Kicht. u. Sam., p. 147 ; Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 21 n. XTX-XXI. 407 well be doubted whether the narrative has any basis of historic fact; that the author is animated by hatred of the Bcnjaniitc kingdom is manifest. Most other scholars recognize that an older story underlies the work of the post- exilic author or is combined with it. liertheau thinks that two strands arc to be found in ch. 19, and in ch. 20 21 offers the following analysis: y\, 20' *-'»»- >o. 14. (18). 19. 24-28. 29-36a. 47 2i5-14. 13^ 2d^- "-l^. 15-17. 20-2:!. .Tfib-41. «. ^fi. « 21M. l.'-a But the formal criteria upon which Be. mainly relies, such as the use of '?K">r' 'ja in A, SvXitt'^ rw in B, are insufficient, and his results by no means satisfactory. Budde finds in iq^-is clear evidence of double narration, which cannot be explained as mere redundancy or by assuming interpolations. Comj)arc, e.g. the parallel clauses (different number) in v.'"', v.'"<* with v."", v.'"'- '^ with v.»«, the change of number in v.i», the multiplication of terms for the close of day inv.8-9". To separate the two strands seems impossible; Be.'s attempt is rejected. From v.ic on the narrative runs smoothly and straightforward. Both sources are old; throughout there is the closest affinity not only to Gen. 19, but to other old portions of the Pentateuch and .Samuel;* one of them is probably J. In ch. 20 the surest criterion is the place where the Israelites assemble: in the older source Mizpah, in the later Bethel. Bu. accordingly analyzes the chapter as follows: A (Mizpah), 2o'"a''-^'>- '"•-»• '<• •'•>• 29. 3Cb-38. 40-42a^ p^rt of the vcry confused conclusion; B (Bethel), 2o'»/3- 2- »-'•■«• 15. 17. 20-28. 30-33a. 34a. 35-3Ca^ part of the closing verscs. Verse ^^ is introduced in A in conformity with B; v.''^b.34b jn like manner are intruded in B after A; v."^ '« are glosses derived from 3!^ and i^-^; so are also v.-''''* and w.-'^ to cnn. In ch. 21 Bu. ascribes to A, 21I (?)• 15. 17a. is. 19*. 20b-22. 23. to B, V.2-5. 9. 10. . . . 12». 13. 14a. 24. v.i6.i7b.i9*.20a are editorial interpolations in A; v.«-«-ii»2* in B.f In ch. 20 21 B is certainly post-exilic and entirely unhistorical; the union of A and B may be the work of the editor who added ch. 17-21 to the Deuteronomic Book of Judges; in any case the fusion of A and B must have taken place at a very late time. Kuenen's explanation is, that a Judaean story, which originated in the days of the kingdom, was thoroughly worked over in, or more probably after, the exile, in the spirit of Judaism. The chapters give plain evidence, not of the fusion of two sources, but of successive amplilication and correction:' 20-''^-28a are inserted to remove a perplexity which v,*-^» might create; 2o3Gb-4G jg an expansion (after Jos. 8) of v.2>-36a; 2 !''-'•• an attempt to remove, at least in part, the offi^nce of v.^-23. — The hypothesis proposed in the text (ai)ove, p. 405), that an author of the age and school of the Chronicler substituted for the middle of the original story a Miilrash of his own, appears on the whole the most acceptable. It is simpler than to suppose, with Bu., that this Midrash existed separately and was united with the older story by a still later redactor. If I am not mistaken, the Miilrash of the Book of Kings, upon which the Chronicler drew so largely, presents an analogous case. I should freely admit, however, that the analogy of the Book * See Bu., p. 149 f., where a number of tlicse parallels are collected, t In ch. 21 Bohme, ZA TIV. v. p. 30-36, distinguishes three sources. 408 JUDGES of Chronicles itself may be urged in support of Budde's theory. But Budde's analysis, like Be.'s, seems to me in many particulars unsatisfactory; and the extreme difficulty of the analysis, in a case where we should expect it to be peculiarly easy, is itself a reason for doubting the correctness of the assumption that two sources have been united by an editor. — The towns which are pilloried in this story are Gibeah, Saul's home, and Jabesh in Gilead, by the relief of which Saul became king, and whose grateful inhabitants held so loyally to him; while the Levite, who is so outrageously treated, comes from Bethlehem, David's birthplace. The coincidence is certainly striking. Giide- mann inferred that the motive of the whole story was Judaean animosity against Saul : * the places and people that were most intimately associated with his history were held up to infamy; the inhabitants of Gibeah were guilty of an unspeakable crime; his tribe of Benjamin upheld them; the people of Jabesh were the only men in Israel who took no part in the holy war. Similarly Graetz (^Gesch. d. yuden, i. p. 351-354) ; see also We. (^Cotnp., p. 237); Kue. (^HCO^. i. 363 f.). Graetz concludes, further, that the story, with which ch. 17 18 are closely connected, originated in the time of Solo- mon; and, unquestionably, such an animus would be more easily explained in the early years of the Judaean kingdom than after the exile, when We. sup- poses that the chapters were written. The analysis leads us to make a dis- tinction, however, which these critics do not observe. The crime at Gibeah is narrated in the old story; Jabesh in Gilead appears only in the post-exilic supplement. It is by no means impossible that the history of Saul may have furnished the association which led the later writer to fix on Jabesh as the place which, at least by neutrality, showed its sympathy with Benjamin; but the connexion is entirely secondary, and the coincidence on which GUde- mann's theory rests is not original. XIX. 1-9. The Levite and his concubine. — She leaves him ; he follows her to her father's house and stays there some days, repeatedly postponing his departure. — 1. I71 those days'] edito- rial ; loosely dating the following story in the period of the Danite migration, which is further defined as before the establishment of the monarchy. — And there was no king in Israel] that is, when there was no king, 17^ 18^ 2i-^t — There was a Levite residing in the re77iote parts of Mt. Ephrai??i~\ cf i f. Probably the northern part of the Central Highlands is meant; it is noteworthy that neither here nor in ch. 17 18 is a town named. — Resided: see on 17^. — A concubine from Bethlehem in Judah] it has been observed above that all the Levites mentioned in ch. 17 18, 19-21 are in some way connected with Judah, and two of them with In the article cited above, p. 406. f Sec above, p. 369. ^^^ 1-3 409 Bethlehem.* — 2. Jlis concubine committed fornication at^ainsi him~\ so %\Si. The text is suspicious ; tlie older Greek version reads, was angry with him ; see critical note. — She luent from him to her father's house, to Bethlehem of Judo h, and icas there some time, four months^ the last words arc in loose ai)i)osition, and may perhaps be a gloss (cf. 20'"). — 3. The man followed her to her home. — To speak affectiotiatcly to her, to brin\^ her back'] cf. Gen. 34'' and especially Hos. 2^^ On the text see critical note. — He had with him his servant and a pair of asses'] v.'" '' ; to carry the necessary provisions for the journey, and for the woman to ride. — And she brought him into her father^ s house^ if the text be sound we must imagine that he first apprised the woman of his coming, and that she met him and took him home. But the oldest Greek version has simply, he went to her father's home, and it is not improbable that here, as in the first half-verse, J^ has been altered in consequence of the feeling that, as the man was the injured party, it should be the woman who tried to win him back. — Whoi the girVs father saw him, he came gladly to meet him] 3L renders well, occurrit ei lactus. The sc])aration was a disgrace which the restoration of the man's favour removed. 1. vh>f^ rr^'x] see on 4*, p. 114. — 2. v^'jS"'D vSy njim] there is no exact parallel to the construction; njr is elsewhere construed with Syc, nnss, rnrr, once with nnn; observe also hjtpi, instead of the normal jt.'^i. Of the vcrsiDns (gBN jj^ represent njTPi, which they interpret, with Jewish commentators, she deserted him ; see Ra., RLbG., Abarb., cf. Ki.; E ^-|^y nnD3i, she despised him, spurned him.\ (gAPVLMO \zt koX wpyiadrj avrip, following which Dathe conj. HT^ni (cf. Neh. 21°) ; Bo. proposed ']';^r\); Schleusner, Stud., Ew., We., al. prefer njTni, which, however, is regularly transitive. Another hypothesis is that the original text, represented by ©^^'^'•, was vSy r\}Hr\X which was cor- rupted to n^'J^i (she committed adultery), and that the reflection that she was not a wedded wife led to the substitution of nj?n (she committed whoredom). The Jewish interpreters found the text very difficult: How could a concubine, who was neither wife nor slave, commit adultery against her lover? If she * Page 371. It may be added that the only other places in the pre-exilic histori- cal books in which Levites are mentioned are i S. 6i5 2 S. 152^ i K. 8< ia«i ; all of which seem to be secondary or Dcuteronomic. Sec now Nowack, /Mr. Archiolo- gie, ii. p. 91 n. t Cf. FI. Jos., antt. v. 2, 8 \ 136 f., where the grounds of the separation are explained at length in this sense. + Usually 3 HJN. An example of the confusion of the two verbs is found in Chullin, 63a ; see Levy, NHWb. i. p. 112'' ; Jastrow, Dictionary, p. 86. 410 JUDGES did so, how could the Levite (lawfully) go after her and take her back? (RLbG.). See Cittin, &, and Tosaphoth in loc — 3. naS S;; ^^nS] Gen. 34^ 5021 2 S. 198 Hos. 2I0 Is. 4o'-2 Ruth 2^^. — la^ir'n*?] Qere, with all the versions, n3'':;'nS undoubtedly restoring the original reading; the Kethib probably intended O'-'n'^, that she might zoin him back, reflecting that he was the offended party. Maurer and Ke. refer the suff. of the Kethib to n^S, to restore it (sc, her hearty. — Dncn i^d:^] 2 S. 16I cf. 2 K. ^"^ Is. 2\*-'^. — no inxoni n>:3s] ^APVLMO s I Kal iiropeijer] = njm, which agrees much better with the following. The same motive which occasioned the Kethib U'^'i'nS in v.* seems to have led to the corresponding change of subject in f^ here. — inxipS nDt'M] cf. 145 1514. 4. Hi's /af/ier-m-Zaw, the girPs father, detained hint] concu- binage with a free woman is a species of marriage, and brings the man into the same kind of relation to the woman's family as ordinary marriage; cf. v.^ 15^ 8^^; see also comm. on i^l Per- haps the synonymous phrases, his father-in- law, and the girl's father, come from different sources; cf. also v.°-^. In v.*'^ the Levite is several times on the point of setting out, but is over and over again persuaded to postpone his departure. The lingering of the narrative, the multiplication of identical or equivalent phrases, the alternation of singular and plural verbs, and espe- cially the doublets in v.^,* give ground for the surmise that two versions of the story have been united ; but the attempts to ana- lyze the verses have not been successful. The solution which appears to me most plausible is, that in the first account the Levite remains three days with his father-in-law ; on the fourth day, as he is preparing to depart, his host persuades him to fortify himself for the journey by a meal ; they linger over the table till afternoon, when, declining an urgent invitation to spend another night, the Levite with his companions sets out on his return (v.^"*^*- 8a^.b.9*-j^ In the other version they feast together on the day of the Levite's arrival (v.^"") ; the girl's father invites his guest to pass the night there ; in the morning he urges him to stay another night ; on the third day detains him for a feast, as in the other account, and reluctantly allows him to depart, late in the day (v6.7.8aa.9*) I — ^ q^ ^^^ /7/^r//^ day they rose in the morning * In v.9, however, textual criticism has a word to say. t Re. ascribes to the first source v.'*--''. 6. 9 (as far as NJ M'h) ; to the other v.7-8 and the rest of v.'J. This analysis is criticized by Kue., Bu. XTX. 4-9 411 and prepared to .c^] Ji] and he stood up to f^o. If the words belong to the original narrative, the verb should probably be put in the plural, as in the translation above. —.S'A/v thy stomach'^ lit. heart, v.« Gen. i8'.* — ^ hit of brcad^ (ien. iS' i K. 17" ; it is becoming in the host to depreciate the meal which he offers to his guests. — 6. So the two men sat, and ate and drank'] the woman, of course, did not eat with them ; compare again Gen. 18. The verse is perhaps the original sequel of v.l — And the twirl's father said to the man, Consent now, and spend the night] for the verb see on i"",^ cf. 1 7". — And enjoy thyself] 1 6^ ; here, as often, of the hilarity of the table. — 7. When the man arose to go] we are probably to understand that he accepted the invitation of v.* ; the next morning, when he was making ready to go, his host insisted on his staying another day. — His fither-in-taio urged him, and he passed the night there again] urged him, Cien. 19"' ^^^\ — 8. He arose on the morning of the fifth day] the lubion of the two narratives seems to have added one to the number of days. — And tarry till the day decline] an invitation to tarry till afternoon before beginning a long journey is in itself strange, and appears still more strange beside v.*, where the advanced hour of the day is urged as a reason why they should not set out till the following morning. Perhaps the author wrote, so they tarried (a change of but one letter in Hebrew) . On the variations of the Greek trans- lators see note. — 9. The repetitions in this verse are rendered the more striking by the abrupt changes of number. The invita- tion to stay over night is given twice, and in both cases the late- ness of the hour is urged as a reason for doing so. The language in both instances is extraordinary, and there are other reasons for thinking that the Hebrew text is not intact. It seems necessary to adopt the emendation suggested by &''^^- : See, the day has declined toward evening; spend the night here to-day also, and enjoy thyself which gives a perfectly good sense and construction. See critical note. — And you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and thou shall go to thy home] lit. thy tent. The last clause may come from the parallel narrative ; in view of the unusual expression it is, however, more probably a gloss. * The metaphor is frequent in Latin. Comp. also the gloss. Is. 3U>, ■)■ P. 47. 412 JUDGES 5. -|3S nj?D] V.8 -[iaV nj— lyo. The punctuation is anomalous; in v.^ _ must be 2, and in^> (with conjunct, accent) can hardly be meant otherwise, though Ki. and Norzi take it as ^; see Ko., i. p. 261 f., cf. 95 f. The verb, however, has elsewhere a in impf. and imv., and t;d is therefore probably to be treated as a case of false analogy to forms like xm^r from verl:)S imperf. o. — ^rh no] second accusative, support some one with something, after the analogy of 'satisfy one with something' (y^i:') &c.; cf. IDD Gen. 2f' Ps. 51!^ Ges.25 § 117, 5(5)3.— 7. n nson] Gen. iq^-S (literal sense), 33I1 2 K. q>' 51^; see also SS. p. 600^. — iSm 3t:'M] returned and spent the night, that is, spent the night again; I S. i^^ &c. — 8. avn niio: ny inrnanm] for the verb see 326. 'A vo}epev0r}Ti, S ^LdrpL'^ov. ^^^- 1^- 64. 85 mg a-rpayeijdrjTL [jzV] ' loiter ' ; hence, by a frequent uncial error, (g^PVLO aTparevdriTL; for which aTpdrevaov (B) is a grammatical correction. For (rTpa7[7]eyecr0at = nrncnn see Hexapla on Gen. 191*^ Hab. 2^.* A different reading is represented by (gM (^9. 75. 85) n SteTrXdya avrbv, or (52. 77, cf. 16. 131) SteTrXdri^ve ayro;/; the verbs TrXai'dw and ir\aTiv k^k\lk€v i] -rj/xepa els eairipav KaraXvaov 8t] (28e in (TTjixepov, Kal fieivaTe cJSe, koI a-yadwO-qaeraL i] Kapoia aov. \\ Omitting the doublet, Kal fieivare J5e,t this represents: Drn m;; njn pV jn^S d >n n^j n:n "I33S 2\g^]y, cf. also ^. 10-21. The journey to Gibeah. — Refusing to delay longer, the Levite sets out on his journey. He passes by Jerusalem, where he is unwiUing to lodge, and when overtaken by nightfall, he stops at Gibeah. The men of the town leave him sitting in the * The active arpayyev^a in the sense of the middle is alleged by Schol. Arist. Lys. 17; I£tyfn. magn., p. 330 (Liddell and Scott; see also Schleusner, s.v.). t Scharfenberg's conj. that they read in;*n,-i or my.-iyn is in no way probable. X For the latter, we may, under stress, compare Is. 24II. § The explanation of E\v. § 299 a, is not satisfiictory ; the exx. in Di". p. 176 n. are scarcely parallel. II Similarly, with variations which may be disregarded here, ©^^^ s. If In s sud ast., in ^i omitted. XIX. IO-I3 4^3 marketplace, but he finds entertainment in the house of a stranger. — Through v."'-'^ the repetitions and redundancies continue; cf. y io:n. lib. 12:13 _ ^Q. He decHncs to spend another night ; and sets out, some three hours before sunset. — Arrived at a point opposite Jebiis, that is, /erusa/e;/i] from Bethlehem to Jerusalem is a walk of about an hour and a quarter ; * the Eastern traveller would probably be rather longer on the way. Following the main road from Bethlehem to Nabulus (Shechem), they would pass to the west of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called here, with reference to its non-Israelite population {y}-)jjedus; the same name in i Chr. 1 1**"- is an intentional archaism. The common opinion, that Jebus was the native name of the city which in later times was called Jerusa- lem,t rests on these passages and Jos. 15*^ i8^*'-^. % It has no real ground in the O.T. ; against the usage of P and Clir. we may safely put Jud. i'-' Jos: 15'''^ 2 S. 5^ The question has l)een set at rest by the Amarna tablets, § in which the name Urusalim repeatedly occurs, while there is no trace of a name corresponding to Jebus. Probably Jebus is merely a learned derivative from the name of the Jebusites, in whose hands Jerusalem remained down to the time of David. || — He had with him a pair of saddled asses~\ N?. — Aiid his concubine was with hini\ some Oreek manu- scripts, for completeness, add, and his servant (v.^). — 11. .As they were near Jerusalem the day was already far spent, and the servant proposed to his master that they should seek shelter in the Jebusite town for the night. — 12. His master will not con- sent to spend the night in a foreign city, whose inhabitants are not Israehtes ; they will keep on to Gibeah. By this contrast the author makes the conduct of the Gibeathites appear doubly base. — 13. And he said to his servant'] apparently parallel to v."*"- ^'K — In Gibeah or in Ramah'] the order in which the places are named seems to indicate that Ramah was the more remote from Jerusalem. It is the modern er-Ram, two hours north of that * Bad3., p. 121. t See, e.g., Thdt., quaest. 2; Hitz., <7/7. i. p. 102; Grill, ZATW. iv. p. 138; cf. Di., NDJ. p. 485 ; al. mu. + Observe the use oi Jebusite for inhabitants of Jerusalem. § About 1400 B.C., before the Israelite invasion ; see ZA. vi. p. II See on 18. 414 JUDGES city^* — 14. The sun went down on theni] the day was well advanced when they set out from Bethlehem (v.^) ; it had far declined when they passed Jerusalem ; the sun set as they were by Gibeah (v.") . The sudden nightfall, which in Palestine follows sunset almost without twilight, compelled them to seek shelter at once. — Gibeah zvhich belongs to Benjamin'\ 20"* ; elsewhere called Gibeah of Benjamin (i S. 13"-^^ 14^^), or of the Benjamites (2 S. 23^), is probably the same which, as the home of Saul (i S. io-«), is called Gibeah of Saul (i S. 11^ Is. 10-^ &c.), and dis- tinct from Geba (Is. I.e., i S. 14^). The latter is undoubtedly the modern Geba', opposite Makhmas (Michmash) ; Gibeah cannot be so certainly identified. The similarity of the two names has led to much confusion in our texts, which greatly complicates the ques- tion.! From the present passage it appears that Gibeah was on or near the road from Jerusalem north by Ramah. Robinson, % following a suggestion of Gross, § locates it at Tell (or Tuleil) el- Ful, about half way between Jerusalem and er-Ram, and a quarter of a mile east of the main road, || and this site has been accepted by many scholars.^ Tell el-Ful suits the requirements of our story sufficiently well, though if we were guided by it alone we should probably prefer a site nearer to Ramah, such as Khirbet Ras et-TawIl, a mile further north.** — 15. They turned off there'\ 1 8^-^; the village lay on one side of the road. — He came and sat down in the public square of the town'] just within the gate ; Gen. 19^ Dt. 13^^ Neh. 8^ 2 Chr. 32^ — No one took tJmn into his house to spend the night] v}^ \ contrast Gen. 2^-^-^'^ 19^"". — 16. While they were waiting in the public place, an old man came in from his work in the field. — Noiv the man was from Mt. Ephraim, and was residing in Gibeah; but the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites] shelter was at last offered them, not by a native of Gibeah, but by a stranger in the place (cf. * Rob., DR". i. p. 576. It was identified by Eshtori Parchi, fol. 68b. t See, e.g., 20IO. Gibeah is only the feminine form of Geba ; in meaning (' hill ') they are identical. + Dl^. i. p. 577-579- ^ Stud. u. Krit., 1843, p. 1082; Valcntiner, ZDMG. xii. p. 161 ff . ; Bibl. Sacra, 1844, p. 598. II Bad3., p. 214. H Gu6rin {Samarie, \. p. 188-197), Tristram, Miihlau, Socin, Di., al. ** See Wilson, Db"^. s.v. " Gibeah." XIX. 14-21 415 Gen. 19 •). It is not improbable, however, that this trait, perhaps suggested by Gen. 19, was introduced by a later hand to exagger- ate the inhospitality of the Gibeathites; the one honest man in the city was a stranger.* That the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites is much more like an editor's note than part of tlic old narrative; the author's contemporaries can hardly have recjuired such information.! — 17, 18. The old man sees the traveller in the square and inquires of his journey. The Levite answers that they are on their way from Bethlehem, where he has been visiting, to his home in the more distant part of the Highlands of Kphraim. The words which follow in the Hebrew text are full of difficulty : and to{?) the house of Yahwch I am goitij^. By the house of Yahweh we must understand Shiloh,t or perhaps rather Bethel ^2o'8-2Gf.^ Everywhere else in the story, however, and even in the immediately preceding context, we are given to understand that the Levite is returning to his own home, which is not at Shiloh or Bethel, but at some nameless (that is, to the writer unknown) place in the interior of Mt. Ephraim. This difficulty would remain in full force even if we could interpret with Schmid, near the house of Yalnveh I live ; § but the language does not admit this rendering. (!5, without variation, gives, and I am i^oifit^ (returning) to my home, which is in entire harmony with the con- text, and can hardly have arisen by correction of our Hebrew text ; the latter may possibly have its origin in the erroneous resolution of an abbreviation. — 19. They ask only a shelter ; they are abundantly provided for all their needs beside. — M'c have chopped sti-aw and provender for our asses, and bread and wine for myself and thy maidservant and the boy with thy ser- vants^ cf. Gen. 24^- •'^-. — TJicre is no hick of anything\ 18'". — 20. The old man hospitably takes upon himself all their enter- tainment.— All that thou needest shall be my iJiar\::^e ; only do not spend the 7iight in the square'] cf. Gen. 19-''". — 21. Cf. Gen. 24"" * Bu, We. adduces these clauses as evidence of the late origin of the story. t Cf. the topographical glosses, 2ii'J. X Ra., Ki., Abarb,, Drus,, Clcr., Rosenm., Be., al. ^ So also Cocccius, Stud., Cnss., Kc, al. II Compare the example of Arab hospitality. Doughty. Arabia Deserta. li. p. 136. 41 6 JUDGES 10. nDJ nv] 20*3 Ez. 47-''^; cf. njj n>', Neh. 3i6.26_ — ix. ixd "in ovni] ^BN xpo/Se/SiJ/cet ; APVLMO Ke/cXtKi^ia. The context requires a perfect; we must emend "n\ The view of K6., i. p. 399, that the shortened form belonged to the living language is most improbable. — 12. njj -\>fj oppidum gentis alienae (2L (g^al. ^)^ not, ci's -koKiv dWorpiav, (g^N _g,_Sf<-,.^, ,j3q jm] that the adversative after a negative sentence (we will not do so, but so) should be expressed by simple consec. perf., instead of by ^D or dn "»d is striking; the examples of adversative 1 after a negative cited by Ew. § 354 a, are not exactly similar; cf., however, Gen. 17^. The words read very much like a gloss suggested by the following (v.^^-)- — 13. nnnpji q*?] imv.; so, instead of the normal orthography noS, Nu. 231^ 2 Chr. 25^^^; see Massora on 2 Chr. /.^. — mcpcn nnx^] some good codd. have nnN2 (De Rossi); on the gender of DipD see the lexicons. — 14. S;^] beside; with names of places Dt. 1 1^*^ I K. i^ 4^2. — Gibeah zuhich belongs to Benjamin. The most impor- tant argument for Tell el-Ful is derived by Robinson from Fl. Jos., b.j. v. 2. i § 51, where he locates Va^ad 'LaovX on the road from Gophna (Gifna) to Jerusalem, 30 stadia from the latter, and apparently near the junction of the road from Emmaus (Nicopolis, Amwas), which comes into the north road just above Tell el-Fiil. Cf. also Jerome, ep. 108, 8 (0pp. ed. Vallarsi, i. 690). See further j^Z'^. s.v. " Gibeah-of-Benjamin." — 15. aniN ^iDNTp C'in ^ini] v.^^; lit. gather in. The word, esp. the intensive stem, suggests the polite urgency which a host would display, as in Gen. 19^. — 16. ^T\'^^^;^o p] his occtipation ; cf. I S. 252. — mu*,"i p] the open country, in distinction from the enclosed town. — 17. n^yn r^sn] 2 S. 12* Jer. 14^. — 18. iSn ijx nin> no pni] this is explained by Noldius (p. 126), Ew. (p. 691), Be., al., as limit of motion; but nx before this accusative is anomalous, and is not explained by the inversion (Be.), else we should have it more frequently. The interpretation of Schmid makes rx prep., and takes "[Sn in the sense of versari (like ^Snnn), / walk (live) near (at) the house of Yahweh ; equivalent to saying, I am a Levite. Schm. connects the words closely with the following. But why should any one take such a roundabout and obscure way of saying, I a^n a levite, or I minis- ter at the house of Yahzueh ? (§ koX eis rbv oIkSp fMOV iyw iropeiofjLai (dirorp^x^) = ^i>n "«jx ipo Vxi. In |§ nin"> no may have been produced by a scribe who mistook "-no for an abbreviation of mn"» n>3. — 19. |3n] Arab, tibn, is the broken straw from the threshing-floor which takes the place of hay; Jer. 23-^ Gen. 2425-32 I K. 58. — x^sD^] always with 1, Gen. 2432 4227 4324. * j^ all these * The verb occurs only in the Talmud. XIX. 22 417 places grain is obviously meant. — i^j; =--J a numl)cr «.f Ik-h. codd. (L)c Rossi) have i^a;, which some of them point as sing. As sing, it is rendered by %%%; 6 takes it as plur. — 20. p->] the first pn is in effect equivalent to entirely ; the second to only.~\'-j\ ^s] in pause for j^n ^n 2 S. \f''>; (Jcs."-^ § 29, 4^, n. — 21. ^a>i] Qere S^m like chm from am cK:c. (Ki., /J//.///,,/, I28^ ed. Lyck). The reading ^;m in some codd. and edd. (among them jablonski; see JIIMich.) is to be ascribed, as Norzi shows, to the accidental dislocation of a sentence in Ki.'s comm. ad loc, by which the note on i^n "^n, " first radical with pathah,'' was made to refer to ^3m, cf. IJomberg's first ed. of the comm. (15 18). The verl) is regarded by Ki. and most moderns as denominative from ^^^2 Is. 30"^* Job (y> 240*, he prepared mixed food for thi asses; cf. Jer. Kosh ha-shanah, i. 2, fol. 56«i. The verb properly means 'stir, mix by stirring'; in P esp., mix the r\r\iri (n'-o, msc, pi^n) with oil. See further, BSZ., s.v. 22-28. The Levite's concubine is ravished and maltreated so that she dies. — Verses-'--'' have a striking reseinbhmcc to Gen. 19^"^; it is not improbable that the similarity of the situa- tion has led to more or less extensive conformation of the nar- rative in Judges to the story of Lot; see below. Wellhausen argues from the resemblance that the story is a late imitation of Gen. 19. — 22. As they are enjoying themselves at supper, the men of Gibeah surround the house, and demand that the Levite be given up to them to gratify their unnatural lust. — Vile scoun- drels'] IL and the modern versions, so?is of Belial. The phrase is an opprobrious term for base and wicked men (i S. 2'- 2 S. 16^ I K. 21^"-^^ &c.) ; the etymology and proper sense of the word are obscure; see crit. note. — Pounding on the door] cf. Gen. 19^, and for the verb Cant. 5-. — Bring out the man who has come to thy house, that 7ve may knoio him carnally] cf. Cien. 19* Rom. i-^"-'^. In 20'"^ the Levite speaks of the intention of the Gibeathites to kill him. Doorninck is of the opinion that our verse has been conformed to Gen. 19"'; the author of the story wrote, Bring out the womafi . . . that we may know her* Ikit the Levite might very well represent their purpose as an attempt upon his life ; while if Doorninck's restoration be accepted, there is nothing in ch. 19 to intimate that the man was in any way molested or threatened, and 20'' is left without any foundation. — * P. 131 ; so also Bu. In the same way the story is softened by Fl. Jos., aittt. v. 2, 8 § 143 ff. Verse -4 must then be legardcd as an interpolation from Gen. 19* (Be. Bu.) ; see below. 2E 41 8 JUDGES 23, 24. The owner of the house remonstrates with them. He has received the strangers under his roof and protection ; to violate this right is itself an infamous crime. — 23. Nay my brethren, do 7wt do a 7orong (Gen. 19'), ^ince this man has come into my house (Gen. 19'"') ; do not commit this wanton deed'] the last word (v.-^ 20*^ ; EV. /o//y) is frequently used of offences against the laws governing the relations of the sexes (Gen. 34" 2 S. 13^^ Dt. 22^^) ; it does not occur in the story of Lot, Gen. 19. — 24. He offers to expose to them his own daughter and the Levite's concubine. Bertheau thinks that the whole verse has been interpolated from Gen. 19^ with which it is almost verbally identical: there is no allusion to this offer in the sequel ; the connexion and movement of the narrative would be better if v.-^ immediately followed v.^'^ ; some grammatical irregularities are also pointed out.* Such an addition, bringing the story into still closer agreement with Gen. 19, would be entirely natural; the resemblance between the two verses is too mechanical to be the result of mere reminiscence. — 25. They refuse to hsten to him; cf. Gen. 19^ — So the man seized his concubine and put her forth to them out of doors] the Levite gives up the woman to save himself.f To us this seems quite as bad as the conduct of the mob in the street ; but nothing indicates that the author felt that it merited condemnation or con- tempt. And not only the proffer of Lot (Gen. 19^), but the favour- ite episode of the patriarchal story, in which a wife is surrendered by her husband out of fear of harm to himself, % shows that the ancient Hebrews were far from possessing the chivalrous feeling wliich we find among the old Arabs. § — They let her go at the approach of daiuff] the first signs of day (Jos. 6^^ i S. 9-*^) ; com- pare the expressions in the next verse. — 26. As the morning appeared] Ex. 14^ Ps. 46^. — She came, and lay prostrate at the door of the man's house where her master was, till daylight] mas- * So also Bu. Doom. (p. 131) proposes to emend by omitting all mention of the concubine. t V\. Jos., writing for Roman readers, narrates that the men of Gibeah took her by force. X Told twice of Abraham and once of Isaac ; Gen. i2iOft- 20 26. This story is the more offensive to us on account of its religious flavour. ^ This repulsive feature of the narrative in Jud. is no reason, therefore, for ascribing it to a Uito date (We., Comp., p. 235, cf. p. 357). XIX. 23--28 419 ter (v.^) ; not the usual expression for husband, cf., iioweven. Gen. 18^-. — 27. In the morning the Levite opened the door and went out to pursue his journey. — There was the 7uo?nan, his concubine, lying at the house door, with her hands on the sil/~\ overtaken by death in the last effort to gain a place of safety. — 28. The verse contrasts rudely with the pathos of v.^^ The man's speech makes the impression of indescribable brutality, but the author had no such intention. — Get up ; let us go'\ Josephus puts the best face on the matter ; the Levite supposed that she was only fast asleep. — Finding that she was dead, he put the body upon the ass and went to his home. 22. Sy^S^ •'jn •'t;.js<] explained as substitution of a genitive (annexation) for apposition (Philippi, Status Constrzuius, p. 63; Ges.-^*^ § 130, 5); better, sus- pended annexation (Dr., TBS. p. 166); cf. irs ri3 nSin3, 3in r^;;3 pb'n, &c. In the present instance the text may be a conflation of the readings SySa >z'in and h'^'h^ >i2; or we may restore ^';'^^2 >i:i D-'tyjN 20^'^ Dt. 131'* i K. 21^*^. '^'P'h^ 1J3 is variously rendered in @, oftenest, as here, viol irapavbixwv; * 'A here and usually, viol air o(tt aulas, 0 here BeXtaX.f As a proper name in the form BeXta/3 the word occurs in Orac, sibylL, iii. 63, 73 (in a passage of Jewish origin), ii. 167; frequently in the Testamenta XII . Patr. ; in the Ascensio Jesaiae, &c. ; see Baudissin, PRE^. s.v. The oldest etymology of the word is found in Sanhedrin, iii^, nnnNiiSD D^Da' Siy ipic^' D^ja '?>'>':'3 ^J3, 'men who have thrown off the yoke of Heaven from their necks' (^i>' + "''^2). J So also Jerome in a gloss in his translation of Jud. 19-"^: filii Belial, id est, absque jugo. Modern lexicographers derive it from "-"T (only in Hiph. >'';'in, cf. Is. 44^'^ Jer. 7^), in the sense of * good-for-nothing, worthless' (Cocceius, Ges., MV., and most); or from nSy (Ki,, n-iSs^ S31 n*?;?-! '■^i, ne'er-do-well; similarly, Hupfeld), in the sense, 'low, base ' (Fiirst, cf. JDMich.). These etymologies are extremely dubious; the word is without analogy in the language. — ODJ ni^n nx] Niph., Gen. 19* Jos. 7^ c, c. '^>; made themselves a ring around the house, — Dipijtpc] the precise force of the reflexive is not clear; perhaps certatim pulsantes (Ges. Thes.). — 23. nj i>nn Sn •'HN 'tn] Gen. icf> ^nx nj Vn r;-\-'. — 24. •in-^'jS^Di] the correct form icj-'io v.2-25; cf. v-ijv: Gen. i^^ and often (P); for other instances of this monstrous form see Bo. § 872 B.; Sta. §345^. — aniN (twice), an^] masc. suff. referring to the two women! This accumulation of grammatical blunders in a single sentence strengthens the suspicion that the verse is a late addition. — 2riN ^y(\ force, ravish, Gen. 34^ * In I S. viol Aot/otoi ; other translations are avun-draKTo?, dwTrdcT-TaTO? (2), ai^piav, wibs a.4>poavvy\';, anaiSevTOi C®)- t For the Latin renderings see Vercellone on Dt. 13I3 (i. p. 520). X So Ra. on Dt. 13I4. This agrees with the renderings of 'A and 2 (above, n.*). 420 JUDGES 2 S. 131--'^ Dt. 2224-29. — -srn n'i'jjn 15-1] cf. r^n^n no^^bn -i^t Jer. 44*- — 25'. -Ji ^^^'^N Ni"'^^] Norzi, Baer; many e'dd. have nxm (Ven.i-2, Buxt., Plant., Jabl., Opit., Van-der Hooght., Mich.), agst. the Massora; see Norzi ad A^^./Massora on Nu. i;'-^^ and on Dt. 4^0 ; Frensdorff, Massoret. Worterbuch, p. 89. — nj i^'-^.n^i] maltreated her, made cruel sport, cf. i S. 31^ Jer. 381^; the primary sense seems to be 'play a trick upon one,' Nu. 22^9 Ex. lo^ I S^ 6';. _ inrn ■^\^';i'\ Qere nS^r, which a number of codd. have received into the text (De Rossi). The Massora ( (9r/^/^ we-Ochla, No. 149; Massora finalis, sub 1^^\ cf. Norzi ad loc.) enumerates six other instances in which 3 with inf. is corrected to d; the printed edd. exhibit numerous variations. The Qere conforms the text to Jos. 6^'^ i S. cf^^; in Jon. 4^ the Massora preserves -,n-.n r\-";-2. — In this use D signifies, 'simultaneously with' the action of the inf verb; 3, * in (at) the time of, in the course of, on the occasion of,' that action. Obviously there are many cases in which either might be used, with a scarcely perceptible difference of conception. See further, Cappell, Critica sacra (ed. Vogel), i. p. 238 f.; Buxtorf, Anticritica, p. 483; Elias Levita, Massoreth ha-Massoreth (ed. Ginsburg), p. 188. — 26. -\\>'-2r\ nusS] the corre- sponding phrase, 3n; .nij3^, Gen. 246^ Dt. 2312; cf. also Di>n nj£) Jer. 6* Ps. 90^; as the morning (evening) turns its face toward us, approaches; S 'toward.' — ':'£3ri] ^£;:, fall and lie; cf. v.^'? r^p:, and see p. loi. — v^^r\ n-'a nns] this adv. accusative (instead of the usual 3) is almost confined to the nouns nnfj and r>3 ; it is not improbable that the difficulty of articulating the labial combina- tions nPD3, rio^, may explain the preference for the accus. ; so Ges.^s § 118, 2.b. — n^jnN] pi. of superiority, Ges.^s p. 386. — 28. r\y; pxi] no one ansivered; much more forcible than (g's, she did not answer, for she was dead. 29, 30. The Levite publishes through all Israel the infamous crime of the Gibeathites. — 29. When he reached home, he took the knife, and laid hold of his concubine, and cut her up, limb by limb, into twelve pieces^ the words employed are the proper terms for cutting up the carcase of an animal (i S. 11'' i K. i8^^-*^) ; in the ritual, for the cutting up of the victim for sacrifice (Lev. i^-^^ 8'* &c.).* — And sent her through all the territory of Israel~\ just so Saul cut up a yoke of oxen at Gibeah, and sent the pieces by messengers throtigh all the territory of Israel {\ S. ii'^), to raise the Israelites for the rehef of Jabesh Gilead. In Saul's case, the significance of the act is explained : so it shall be done to the cattle ♦ If the twelve pieces are meant to correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel (Ra.), we should be inclined to regard the words as a later addition to the story; there is no trace in the Book of Judges of the system of twelve tribes. Perhaps, however, they are merely the twelve joints of the Umbs, the head and trunk not being included. XIX. 29-30 421 of every man who does not join Saul for the war ; here the object can only be to excite the horror and indignation of all beholders. It has been suspected that the verse before us is modelled after I S. 11^* — 30. The Hebrew tenses at the beginning of this verse can only be taken as frequentative : f And it would cone to pass that every one that saw it would say, Such a thifii^ has not happened, dr'c. The oldest Greek version, however, had a different introduction to the verse : A?id he charged the ?nen whom he sent out, saying, Thus shall ye say to all the men of Israel, Did ever a thing like this happen, from the day when the Israelites came up fro7n Egypt to this day ? Take counsel about it and speak out. The last clause is much more natural in the mouth of the Levite or his messengers than of those to whom his message came, X and the text represented by # is on every ground to be preferred ; see critical note. 29. nSjNTDn] Gen. 22G- lo, Prov. 301-* parallel to 3in. — n>?:i7'^ nnnj^i] limb by limb; cf. Gmllin, 28^ (top), "ijn n^N nnr^jCT (ncn:j); the verb ^of'. — 30. -IDN1 nsn.-i So n^m] Rosenm., Ke., al. supply icnS : the Levite imagines the effect on the beholders, saying to himself, Every one that sees it will say, Such a thing tvas never seen. But this is quite unwarranted, and does not touch the difficulty at the end of the verse. @apmo j (^gul) obelo ©'-i g) § have, as a doublet : koX ipereiXaTo toTs dpdpdaiv ols i^aTriaretXev X^ywp TdSe epeire irpbs irdpTa dpdpa l'i JJID*?, &c. — noi'cn] on the forms njps:: and hdxd see on ii^^, p. 289. — 2. oyn Sd n^Js] the metaphor is probably the same as in the Arab, rukn, 'corner, main stay, noble' (Lane, p. 1149a'); Ges., Jesaia, i. p. 624; cf. Ephes. 2^0 I Pet. 2'^ (Is. 28^^). — D^nVxH dj? Snp:^] cf. 2\^'-^\ on the usage of h7\x^ see Holzinger, ZATW. ix. p. 105 f. — 3in ^y:'\ v.i5. 17. 25. 35. 46 cf. 8i'> I Chr. 21^ &c. ; We., Comp., p. 236.-3. rxrn r\'}'\r\ ^n^-lJ njns n^-t] is nut in Hebrew an indirect question (Dr. in BDB. p. 32b). nD>N Dt. ii- 7I" Jer. 8^ &c. nn^nj 19*^ — 4. M^n r^xn] 19I; see on 4*, p. 114. — T^-v'!'3jn •>Sv2] cf. ao:y •«'?;'2 92 and comm. there. pr'241. — Jinn'? ID"! ^niN] the verb Is. lo"^ (H^'^'n) Is. 14^* (llnO. Nu. 33^, 'conceive a plan in imagination.' — ij>'] 192-*.- 6. Snt>:'> n^nj ms' '?02] © ^i* Travri o/a/y KXTjpovo/jLia^ k.t.L is probably only free translation under the influ- ence of 1929; cf. HE. nnu', 'territory, land' {ager), see on 5*. VNnr^ r^nj is Palestine, cf. Ez. 35I5 Is'. 58^^ Dt. ^'^ &c. — njr] Ez. i627-43.58 229-" 23 passim; cf. Jer. 132" Job 31II cf. v.^ Hos. 69 cf. v.i^ The word is a late gloss which was not in the copy from which the oldest Greek translation was made (>(gAPVLMO. (gs sub ast. fe^ujiia, cf. S; ^ f^/xa).* The reading fcMMo. a mere transliteration of ncr, is doubtless from 9 (cf. Hexapla Lev. iS*" Ez. 1 62" 22^); f^^a is perhaps the attempt of a scribe to make Greek of it (Scharfenberg). — 7. Ssnii'^ "-ja 03*^3 njn] ':'N1^'"' "JJ is not predicate, you are all Israelites, which is meaningless, but vocative. cd'^d r\:i-y is a complete ©N has a double translation of n'?3j. 426 JUDGES proposition; cf. ^Jjn in response to a call, Gen. 22^ i S. 3^ 22I'-; it adestis omnes filit Israel'; so Lth., Schm. — ns; . . . ijn] 2 S. 16^0; :3n«, only in in\v. — oSn] hither, i8^ to this case, not, 'on the spot, at this time' (Be., SS.).— 8. ^ShnS fiN ^SJ nV] the plural v^itin'? is much more common in this phrase; in the two other instances in which the sing, is found (2 S. iS^" 2 K. 14I-) it is corrected to the plur. by the Qere. 9, 10. The Israelites adopt a plan. — They will detail one- tenth of the force to collect provisions for the rest ; then they will requite the crime of the Gibeathites as it deserves. — In this form the verses can hardly be ascribed to the original narrator ; what part of them, if any, is derived from his story, it is scarcely possible to decide. The difficulty is increased by the faultiness of the text. — 9. Before the last words of v.^, against it by lot, the verb is lacking : (^ has. We will go up against it, c^c, which may. represent the original text.* In the sequel nothing is said of casting lots ; most commentators suppose that one man in ten was drafted by lot to serve in the commissariat, the remainder being thus virtually chosen for active service ; f but this is not altogether natural. If the missing verb is rightly suppHed by (3, we should be inclined to connect the words, zae will go up against it by lot, with v.^'*, in which they inquire of the oracle what tribe shall first go up ; and as v.^^ unquestionably belongs to the second- ary, if not to a tertiary, stratum in the chapter, v.^'' would fall with it. — 10. And we will take ten men from a hundred, of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thotisand, and a thousand from a myriad, to p7'ocure provisions for the people'\ we are to imagine three hundred and sixty thousand men sitting down within an hour's march of Gibeah, while forty thousand foragers scour the country for provisions. % These absurdities would be lessened if, with Budde, we could ascribe v.^° to a different source from v.^''-^^, and regard the last clauses, a hundred from a thou- sand, Q^c, as editorial exaggeration ; but this appears very haz- • It may, however, merely be supplied from the context; 1LS>2r have filled the lacuna differently. Bu. conjectures, We will cast lots over it (cf. S), which suits the following verse better, but requires a greater change in the text ; see further in crit. note. f Ki., Stud., al. t Like P in the narratives of the Exodus, the author seems to have no difficulty in conceiving all these thousands as concentrated at a single point ; in his imagina- tion thc-y do not occupy space. XX. 9-1 1 427 ardous ; it is really only for the vast " congregation " of v.-'" that such an organization of the commissariat is necessary. — In v.'"^ the text is again fliulty, as may be seen with sufficient clearness in AV., " that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of lienjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel," though the difficulty of the Hebrew text is here in good part glossed over. lVhe?i they come is generally explained, when the foraging parties return ; * others interpret, that the people, when they come to Gibeah, may do as the folly they have wrought in Israel deserves.f On either interpretation, the position and construction of the words are in the highest degree unnatural, if not grammatically impossible. The omission of them leaves an unimpeachable sen- tence and sense : to do to Gibeah of Benjamin as all the wanton- ness which it has wrought in Israel deserves. See crit. note. — 11. All the Israelite, forces gathered together to the city like one 7nan, as confederates^ so the Hebrew text must be translated. The verse presents considerable difficulty, both in itself and in its relation to the narrative in which it stands. The city must be Gibeah, but this is not easy to reconcile either with the preceding, where the Israelites are already assembled at Mizpah in the imme- diate neighbourhood, and v.^^ where the Benjamites concentrate at Gibeah, or with v.^''*^-, in which Bethel appears to be the head- quarters of the united Israelites (see on v.^^). The verse is doubt- less one of the later additions to the narrative. The last words, as confedei'ates, are generally thought to refer to the unanimity with which they acted, eadem niente, unoque consilio. % 9. '^-iiJ3 n^S;-] (5 dva^'ncofjieea iw' avr^v iv KX-^pcp as if reading n^Sy r\^';i SiiJ3; in this collocation of words the verb might easily be dropped; Ki., RJes., al. mu., supply n^yj to complete the sense. tlT N3n>'3 n^; ^jcnj, we 7vill be told off against it by lot, evidently connecting it with v.iO; S) we will cast lots upon it, in which way Cler. would complete the sense ('J3 n>S>' ':''3^).§ Bu. would emend Sn^ja n^^sj and make the words the beginning of v.^O; the phrase S-\U3 S^sn does not, however, occur in O.T. (always "^lu S^on), and is dubious Hebrew. On the whole, therefore, it seems safest to follow (5, though it must be allowed that its dva^vaofieda may be only an easy conjec- * Abarb., Schm., JHMich., Stud. t Ke. J IL; so probably STS ; Ra,, Ki., Schm. § Cf. also Be., Ke., who assume an aposiopcsis. aifainst it by lot! treat it like a heathen city ; cf. Nu. 33^-*- 362 &c. 428 JUDGES ture. — 10. 'Ji >'3jS 0X2*? ma^S D>S ms rnp'^] that the text is corrupt is evi- dent at a glance. First of all, for }:2)h we must read ny^jS; they had nothing to do with Geba. Further, in the logic of speech, the three infinitives should have the same subject, viz., the foragers. If the author had meant to say, as the interpreters suppose : We will take ten men out of every hundred ... to procure provisions for the army, that, when they return, we (or the army) may do to Gibeah as they deserve, — he would have expressed himself very differ- ently. (g-VPVSLO g Xa^eiP eiri*-in; the indispensable article has been lost by haplography. Cf. the Deuteronomic VNna'^D ;;in my^i, Dt. 1712 2222. — n^i p-'ja 13n] Qere inserts "'JJ before p''J2; the correction belongs to the class technically called 3\no xSi >'y^, in which a word not found in the consonant text is inserted; there are, according to the Massora, ten instances in the O.T.; see Ochla we-Ochla, No. 97. The correction here is no doubt right (Stud., cf. (5), though pij3 ON nS presents no grammatical difficulty. — 15. p>j2 1J3 Tip3.'^;i] cf. iipanri v.i^-i^, Ii^stim 2i9t; npsjnn Nu. i*^ 2^3 i^P'^ I K, icr* ^ The forms are anomalous and have been variously explained : {a) as Hithpael (Ki., Ges., Ew., 01., K6., al.); or {b) as t reflexive of Kal, corresponding to Aram. Ithpe'el, Arab. Ifta'ala (Nold., Kautzsch, Sta.). The correctness of the tradition may be questioned ; the latter is the more accept- able explanation of the forms. See on the one side K6., i. p. 198 f.; on the other, Ges. 25 p. 150. — tt'"«N ^iSn rwvy Dnc'j;] (gAPVLMNO g j elKoai koX irhTe XiXiiScs (Sal. TT^vTe Kal etKOCL) : ^ etKoai rpeTs xiXidSes is apparently quite isolated. § Fl. Jos. gives the total 25,600, prob. by simple addition of \.'^^- ^^. — p naS] V.17 82o._np£3Pn] with the construction Stud, compares Dt. 3^ I K. 58^; see also 2 Chr. 9'4__i6^ ^^^,2 'J-^n nivso ';Ti' nrn nyn 'r'j?:] in (gs g these words are asterisked; they are wanting in (gALai.. cf. also ^.\\ It appears therefore that the pre-hexaplar Greek version, as well as US, recog- nized only the seven hundred Gibeathites; K alone agrees with % It is ♦ This emendation is supported by the versions; see crit. note. t Some of them of Saul's clan ; v.2- 3. t This may, however, be ascribing to the author too much reflection. 5 Perhaps » represents an erroneous B'Z^hy for n::'-' of ffl. II See TAe Book of Judges in Hebrew. XX. I6-I7 431 possible that the words in v.^'"' were lost by homoeoteleuton in the Hebrew manuscript from which (S was translated; but more probable that the corrup- tion is in 1^. — irD> n^ -mdh] see on 3^^ The words seem to have been borrowed from the description of the Benjamite Ehud (3'^), perhaps by some one who took the word in the sense, d/xcpoTepod^^io^ ((SIL) ; it is scarcely likely that he meant to represent the whole corps as left-handed. — y'^p nr ^3] of. v.17^, nr:nSo •^'''N nr Sd. The sing, n; is explained by the sing, antecedents and the sing, predicate.* y'^p i S. 17*^ 2529, — pso] a instrumenti. — nn^'rri] Norzi, Baer; cf. Ki., Alichlol, 147a, ed. Lyck. Locative of -\';jy Is. 7*'; Ges.^s p. 244. The common text, n-\j;c*n, is fem. {itomen unitatis) of nyt" or -»>if . — ^^Dl *<^i] ^nake a miss ; the verb might also be pronounced as Kal. 18-28. The first two battles ; the Israelites are defeated with heavy losses. — After inquiring of the oracle at Bethel what tribe shall first deliver the attack, the Israelites march upon Gib- eah and take position before it (v.^^"^). The Benjamites sally from the town and attack them with such fury that twenty-two thousand Israelites are left on the field, while the assailants sustain no loss (v.-^). Undaunted by their repulse, the Israelites offer battle the next day on the same ground (v.--) . They go up to Bethel and weep before Yahweh till evening; they consult the oracle to learn whether they shall renew the fight, and receive an affirmative response (v.^). In the second day's engagement, the Benjamites inflict on them a loss of eighteen thousand men (v.-^*^-). The Israelites withdraw to Bethel, and weep, fast, and offer sacri- fices to Yahweh ; they inquire of Phinehas the priest whether they shall continue the war, or desist ; Yahweh bids them fight again, and promises them success the next day (v.-*'"^). — Verse ^^ prob- ably belongs to the original narrative ; all the rest is secondary ; w?^, which is absurd after v.^-, seems to be a later interpolation borrowed from v.-^'^^, and v.^* may have been inserted by the same hand to restore the connexion. This way of making war, in which the operations are immediately directed by Yahweh through his oracle, and the fighting interspersed with religious exercises, is altogether different from the wars of the judges in the former part of the book. It is not history, it is not legend, but the theocratic ideal of a scribe who had never handled a more dangerous weapon than an imaginative pen. * Cf. Lev. ii4- 'J Dt. 14' ; Driver, Deuteronomy, p. 161. 432 JUDGES 18. They arose and went up to Bethel~\ see on i'^ (p. 40, 42) and 20"-'^. As the narrative now runs, the Israehtes assemble at Mizpah {y}), then collect at Gibeah itself (v."), where they are confronted by the Benjamites (v.^^) . Now they turn about and march away to Bethel, three or four hours distant to the north, to consult the oracle. The later writer was much more concerned that the ''congregation" should act in accordance with correct theocratic principles than that the verisimilitude of the story should be preserved. — And the Israelites inquired of God, Who of us shall first go up to battle against the Benjamites ? A7id Yahweh answered, Judah first'\ substance and phrase are obvi- ously borrowed from i^^.* In the following verses nothing is to be discovered of such a precedence of Judah. Bertheau suspects that the verse is an interpolation in the later narrative ; t but it is quite as likely that both the borrowing and the resulting inconsist- ency should be attributed to the author of that narrative himself. — 19. Perhaps part of the original story. — From Mizpah, where they assembled (v.^), the Israelites marched against Gibeah to punish its inlmbitants as they had resolved (v.^ with its original sequel). Verse ^'-^ was probably followed by v.^. — 20. The Israehtes move out for battle and form their lines in the vicinity of Gibeah. Cf. v.^^-^ Gen. 14^. + — 21. The Benjamites march out against them from Gibeah, and slaughter twenty-two thousand men. Lit. de- stroyed of Israel twenty- two thousand men to the earth ; left them slain on the field; cf. v.-'^, the verb also v.^-^ 2 S. 11^ Dan, 8^^ — 22. The people, the Isixielites, took courage, and again arrayed t/icir battle on the same ground^ it is possible that the old story also told of a repulse of the Israelites in their first assault, and that this is the basis of the verse before us ; the first words are not altogether in the manner of the post-exilic writer, and the contradiction between v.^^ and v.^ would thus be explained. If this is not the case, v.^'^ must be an interpolation by a still later hand, derived from v.^--^ — 23. The Israelites go up (to Bethel, v."-^') and weep before Yahweh until evening (v.^® 21^ cf. Jos. f Joel 2^2- ") ; they inquire of Yahweh whether they shall again • The words of ii are perhaps incorrectly understood ; see crit. note. t So also Bu. X The parallels to Gen. 14 in these verses are to be especially noted. XX. 18-27 433 engage in battle with their brethren of Benjamin, and arc bidden to do so (v.-'*'). On the origin of this verse see above on v.^. The day of humihation before Yahweh cannot possibly follow the formation for battle on the second day (v."), nor can we construe v.-^ as a parenthesis in the pluperfect.* — 24, 25. On the second day the Israelites again advanced against the Benjamites ; the lat- ter, as before, marched out to meet them, and inflicted upon them a loss of eighteen thousand warriors; cf. v.-'.f — 26. The Israel- ites withdraw to Bethel. — And wept, and sat there before Yahweh, and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh'] cf. v.^ 21-'*. They made the most strenuous efforts to propitiate Yahweh ; cf. Dt. i"''^ Ezra 10^ Joel 2" (weeping), i S. f Joel i" 2^^ (fasting). Burnt offeri?igs and peace offerings are frequently named together (21'* i S. 10'* 11'^ 13^ 2 S. 6^^ 24^ &c.).. The former were wholly consumed by fire upon the altar (6-^ 11^^ j^ie.^s^ ; while in the latter, after the fat was burned and the priest had received his perquisites, the rest of the flesh furnished a feast for those who brought the offering. The translation peace offering is conventional ; \ the original sig- nificance of the term is unknown. Others render ' thank-offer- ings,' § or o-coTTJ/oia. II — 27, 28. They consult the oracle again ; cf. ^18. 23_ Verse -"'' and ^^'"*, which interrupt the connexion, are no doubt late glosses,^ meant to explain why the sacrifices were offered and the oracle consulted at Bethel instead of Shiloh, where the ark is commonly supposed to have remained from the days of Joshua (Jos. 1 8^°) to those of Eli. The same reflection led many interpreters to take the words beth el in this chapter appellatively, the house of God, that is, Shiloh.** There is no other mention of the ark in the Book of Judges. The phrase ark of the covenant of God, in 5^ i S. 4-* 2 S. 15-"' i Chr. 16''; cf. the more frequent, ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Neither is found in old and * IL, Vatabl., AV., RV., al. Stud. conj. that the verses are accidentally trans- posed. t On the question whether the oracle (v.—) was deceptive or false, see Stud. ; cf. also Ki., Schm., Cler., Ke. + © in Reg., 'A20, IL, AV., al. mu. k Fl. Jos, II Philo, See Nowack, Hebr. Archdologie, ii. p. 211 ff. 11 Be. ** So !L in V.I8 : venerunt in domum Dei, hoc est, in Silo ; Ra. (on 191^), Ki. (on 2o26), RLbG. 10, Vatabl., Drus., Cler., AV., al. mu. 2F 434 JUDGES sound texts.* — 28. A?id Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron stood before him in those days'] the mention of Phinehas would fix the time of the action in the first generation after the occupation of Western Palestine,t to which period it is assigned by Josephus and the Jewish chronology ; | but this is probably no more than the guess of a very late editor or scribe. § It is pos- sible that v.-^""^ is an older gloss than v.^" : in any case we must render, in accordance with the usage elsewhere (Dt. lo^), || Phine- has .. . stood before him, that is Yahweh (v.^^), rather than, before // (the ark, v.-'''). The question why Yahweh allowed the Israelites, whose conduct in the whole affair was beyond reproach, to be so severely pun- ished in the first two battles, was early raised by the interpreters. The answer most frequently given is, that it was because they had tolerated the idolatry of Micah and the Danites (ch. 17 18).^ 18. Vn ro] two words; Ven.i-^, Buxt., Jablonski, Opit., Van der Hooght, JHMich., Mant., al. plur. Baer Ssn^^, in conformity to the general rule laid down in his Lider Genesis, p. 76. See on the other side, Norzi on Gen. 12^ and /i. I. The Jewish interpretation here (IL, in domum Dei, hoc est in Silo ; see on v.^") shows that the name was read as two words; and Norzi here remarks that wherever Sx no has appellative sense it is written divisim. — c^n^s2 i'i^nc'm] see on i^; cf. 18^ 2o23. 27, — nSnno min^] so 2L.SE also read. The ellipsis of the significant verb is not frequent in Hebrew; the text would be construed, Judas sit in principio (cf. 11, Schm.). ® repeats dva^rjaerai, which also stands in i'^. In the present passage the words can only mean, Who shall be first in the attack; not, who shall first attack, as in i^; but it is doubtful whether the Hebrew will bear this sense; see on i^ (p. 13). — 20. SN-^a'^ bmn] v. II- 17- 20 bis 22. alternating with ha-wi^^ ^12 v.i- 3- ''• i4. 19 &c. B'-'N '^NiS''' appears chiefly in the secondary stratum; but the use is not constant enough to serve as a criterion for the analysis, as Be. would use it. — 21. nx-^N . . . iri-n'i'n] ns-\N must be taken with the verb. (3^^ adds a-iru- * See We., TBS. p. 55; Seyring, ZATW. xi. 1891, p. 1 14-125; Couard, ib. xii. 1892, p. 60 ff., 68. t See Ex. 625 Nu. 2$'^- Jos. 22I3 2488 ; cf. Jud. iB^o. X Seder Olam, c. 12. According to the Jewish interpreters Phinehas consulted the oracle for the Israelites in Jud. ii ; see comm. there. ^ " In the whole period of the judges we read nothing of the ark, or of the High Priest" (Stud.). II I K. sii* is not parallel, not to raise the question of the text there (cf. ©). H Sanhedrin, 103b; Pirqe de-R. Eliezer {Yalqut, ^ 86) ; Ra., Ki., Abarb. Sub- stantially the same explanation is given by Cyrill. Alex, on Hos. 9^. The more general answer, it was a punishment for their sins, is given by Orig., Thdt., Isidor. Pelus., Procop. Gaz. ; see also u Ljra, Schm. {qu.^), a Lap. XX. 28 435 lj.iv(jjv pofxcpaAav, as in v. 25. — 22. '-NT.:"' v>'M d^dSc'i] 21* (the only other instance in Jud.). On the ccStt' see PI. Jos., antt. iii. 9, 2 § 228 f. (dvaiai x^P'-^'^'^P^oi-) '■> Philo, de victimis, p. 243, 245 f. Qa-UTT^pLOP, trepl a-uTTjplov) ; Si/ra, Wayyiqra, Par. 13, § 16; t Di. on Lev. 3'; see comm. on Lev. I.e. — 27. O'-nSNn rmj ]nN] (g'^LM g Kvpiov; so also STS; cf. I S. 4'*. BPVN Kvpiov ToO deov, % area foederis Dei. — 28. vjoV "icy] not, stood before it (EV.), hvX before him ; in priestly service, Dt. lO^ 18'' Ez. 44^^ &c. 29-44. The third battle ; rout and slaughter of the Benja- mites. — The description of the battle is badly confused : in v.'^ the battle is over, the Benjamites have been defeated and twenty- five thousand one hundred of them slain ; in v.^^ we are back again at the beginning of the fight ; the stratagem and the discom- fiture of the Benjamites is narrated again, with all detail ; on the field and in the flight twenty-five thousand are killed (v.'*^-"**'). The second account is clearly the older ; we may perhaps ascribe to •^ . y_29..%b.,3-a.38.3^. ** We cannot, therefore, accept Bu.'s opinion, that v.'^'!'> is derived from the older narrative. ft So Houbigant. \\ With the phraseology cf. v.-'- -'. 438 JUDGES the numbers, see above on v.^^ — 36^. And the Benjamites saw that they were beaten'\ the few hundred survivors. The words make a ludicrous impression after v5. 29. cons] the plur. Jos. 8^ Jer. 5112*; cf. doind Jud. 925 2 Chr. 2022. The collective sing, anis is more usual. — n;7aj)n *?«] cf. Jos. 82 n^j;!"'. — 30. d>'3D c;"52] v.'^^ 16-'' (p. 357). — 31. -c^'n jd -iprun] Hophal; the unassimilated n suggests Aramaic influence (Kautzsch, Gram. d. Biblisch-Aramaischen, § 42) ; the asyndetic perf. is hardly susceptible of a grammatical explanation, — that of Roorda (§ 524) will not pass. If the words were on other accounts to be deemed genuine, it would be best to emend, ipnJM Jos. 8^^ (cf. Sta. § 126 r) ; but they are obviously premature. — i'^hm] SSn Hiph. ; cf. below v. 39. — 2^'?':'n] v.^^ a proleptic figure; smite slain men, smite them dead. — nn^oj •r\\vi'\ Gibeah in the field is not the intention of the accents, which rightly take riT^o as in construction parallel to ni':'D?:3, on the roads . . . in the open field. — Z% nr^'Nnao] Jos. 85-6 (tj'Nd), cf.v.39 below.* — mui^nji] Kal; on p see Ges.2i' § 20, 2 b; K6., i. p. 309 f. — 33. iDipDD "iDp Sxt^'i C'\x Vdi] the coll. subject is construed first with a plural and then with a singular, which is certainly not elegant. Be.'s translation, they arose, each from his place, is not admissible. — n-ijc] the vb. in O.T. only of the bursting forth of water (Ez. 322 Job 38*^ 4o23t; "tHJ Mi. 4!*^ is very questionable); cf. the n. pr. pnij I K. i33. In WE^, on the other hand, the Aphel of this verb is a very common word for, ' attack, make war upon,' oftenest in phrase Nonp njx, but also without N3"ip, e.g. Dt. 20^0 Jos. 23^ Jud. h. L, &c. — ;?3J '^!?>''^'^] (S^^'^slmo S I airh dva-ixCov TTJs FajSaa, i.e. n]:2i'^ 3ivDD; so also IL ab occidentali urbis parte.\ 6^ Ma/)aa7ai3e, N codd. Maa/aa [r^s] Va^aa. 3s saw in the first word nnj,'?:, ' cave,' rendering, from the cave which is in Gibeah ; 'ST "ic'-'DD N"-;'3J, probably connecting with the root m>% * bare, treeless stretch of coun- try' (not the most eligible place for an ambush! J), cf. Ra.; Ki., comparing Is. \<^ ('''■i"»>)>§ Ps. 37^'', thinks the word may signify a place covered viath verdure. — 34. r\'^ih iJ?.)?] numerous codd. of |^ (Kenn., De Rossi) :ijpr, which is found in the margin of the Bomberg Bibles of 1518,^; so Houbi- gant would emend. For S ijj:: cf. Dt. 28'56 ^^d, in another sense, Prov. 14'^. — n;-\n cn">S>' n>*jj o] v.^' ; the dependence of v.^* on v.*i is apparent in the unusual complementary preposition; cf. Jer. 51^ i K. 627 (Sn). 36^-44. Another account of the battle. — The verses contain, not the scfiuel to the description of the battle in v.^^-^^% but a complete parallel to it. I| As far as v.^-" this narrative appears to be intact, and bears every mark of being derived from a much * On D before prepositions see BDB., s. v., Note. t 3i;'?: in prose only in Chr. (Stud.). J Be. ^ According to the Jewish interpretation. II See the ingenious artificial connexion in IL. XX. 36-40 439 In what follows v/- we may probably ascribe to the same som-ce, v/'"- '^ ; the rest appears to be entirely the work of a later hand. — SG*^. The men of Israel gave gf'ound to Benjamin, for they relied on Ihe ambush which they had laid against Gibeah'\ yP, which belongs to this source, must have been followed by an account of the beginning of the engagement, which has been superseded by v.'^'"- or buried in those verses.* — 37. And the ambnsh made haste and rushed upon Gibeah ; and the ambush moved out, and smote all the city without quarter'] the repetition, together with a change in the grammatical construction, make it probable that the second half- verse is a gloss. — 38. The time had been agreed upon by the men of Israel with the party in ambusJi,^ for them to send up the signal smoke from the city, 39. and that the men of Israel should turn about in the battle] that upon this signal the Israel- ites, who were retreating in feigned discomfiture, should turn upon their pursuers ; cf. the description of the execution of this strata- gem in v.^""^\ This is the only construction which makes v.^*'* tolerable in the context. Its verb is generally translated as an historical tense, And the men of Israel turned about, which leaves v.^^ without any proper conclusion ; anticipates v.^\ where this movement is narrated in due order; and thus constrains the interpreters to take the verb tm-n in v.^^ in the opposite sense from that which it has in v.'*^ % or to treat v.^'-""- ^ as a parenthesis in the pluperfect. Now Beftjamin had begun, to kill, a^c. / § — in a word, throws the whole context into confusion. — The Benjamites began killing the Israelites, and slew some thirty men. — For they thought. They are completely beaten before us, as in the former battle] cf. v.^^- ^-''. Budde thinks that v.'^'-* is an interpolation derived from v.^^ |1 It seems to me, on the contrary, that v."-*", at least, is indispensable here, and that v.^^ is copied from it ; but the phraseology has either been retouched by the author of the additions, or conformed to v."^^ by a scribe. The last words, as in the former battle, are probably not original. —40. The fire signal * See above on v.s^a. t It is unnecessary to depart from the usual meaning of i;'!:: and render, the agreement (Be., al.) . t Ki., a), mu. ^*i RV.">g-, al. !L makes v.30 a parenthesis. || Richt. u. Sam., p. 152. 440 JUDGES began to rise from the city, and when the Benjamites looked behind them, the holocaust of the city was rising to heaven ; cf. Jos. 8^, and for the phrase, Dt. 13^^ — 41. According to the preconcerted plan (v.^-^^"), the Israelites turned upon their foes, who were thrown into a panic, for they saw the disaster which had overtaken them; cf. v.^*". — 42. They turned to retreat in the direction of the wilderness, hard pushed by the Israelites. Lit. the fighting clung to thetn. The wilderness lay to the east of Gibeah, the steep uncultivated hill-sides and ravines in which the Highlands of Ephraim break down to the Jordan valley; see below on v."*' . — The rest of the verse is obscure, and has given rise to a great variety of diverse explanations. A literal transla- tion is : " And those who were (or came) from the cities were destroying him (Benjamin) in the midst of it (or him)." The last pronoun seems to refer to tJie way (to the wilderness) in the first clause : the people of the towns along the line of their flight fell upon them and slaughtered the fugitives on the way.* This interpretation, which is the only one that the words appear to admit, labours under great difficulties when we try to harmonize it with the representation of the rest of the chapter. The towns between Gibeah and the wilderness were all, in the times respect- ing which we have more definite information, Benjamite ; but even if we assume that at this early time they were inhabited by Ephraimites, it is to be supposed that the men of these towns were in the Israelite army.f The half-verse, with v."^^, is undoubt- edly an addition by the later writer; and in all probability he meant to say that the division which had taken Gibeah now issued from the town and intercepted the retreating Benjamites, | who were thus caught between two bodies of the enemy, just as the men of Ai were in Jos. 8", which passage seems to have suggested our verses. If this conjecture be correct, v.^-^ originally ran : And those from the city were slaughtering them (the Benjamites) in the midst, ix. between them and the main body of the Israel- ites. The plural, the cities, may have arisen by accident, or ♦ So substantially Cler., Be., Cass, (with different explanations of the pronoun ; on which point cf. also Ra., Ki.). For a very ingenious but impossible explanation of this and the following verse, see Stud. f Schm. ! S.. TL. cf. T. XX. 40-44 441 through the propensity of scribes to exaggeration.* — 43. r'roni the same hand as v.'*-^ The text is corrupt, probably in con- sequence of successive glosses. — Tlicy encircled Benjamin~\ cf. Ps. 2 2^-. The oldest Greek translators read, they cut Benjamin to pieces^ and this is probably the original text ; see crit. note. — There follow two clauses whose grammatical structure stamps them as glosses. The verb in the first occurs nowhere else in the O.T. or later Hebrew, and the whole clause is not improbably a corrupt variant of the following words ; see crit. note. — The last clause of the verse, as far as a point opposite GibeaJi on the east, must be connected with the first verb {^tJiey cut Benjamin to pieces), and marks the limit of the pursuit and slaughter ; but the text cannot be sound. The Israelites certainly did not desist from the pursuit in the immediate vicinity of Gibeah, that is, at the very start. In view of the frequent confusion of the two names, it may be conjectured that the author wrote Geba ; and if Rimmon (v.^'*') be rightly identified with Rammoh, the emenda- tion receives considerable support from the topography, f Geba (Geba) lies in the line of flight from Gibeah (Tell el-Ful) toward Rammon, and the great Wady es-Suweinit, with its difficult pas- sage between Geba' and Makhmas, would naturally check the pursuit. — 44. The loss of Benjamin was eighteen thousand men, all valiant men. The last clause betrays its late date by its gram- matical form ; but v.'*^'' seems to be derived from the old story. Its phraseology is different from that of the later writer in v.-'-^-^, and the number of the slain is not the same. Verse '^, which adds to the number first five thousand and then two thousand, thus bringing the total up to twenty-five thousand, as in v.*', has the appearance of a harmonistic artifice, and is much more naturally explained if the eighteen thousand of v.'*^ belonged to the original data. 36. 3nsn Sn intaa] Jer. 7* Ps. 4^ 31'^; more frequently construed with 3. — 37. Vw'^nn] 'direct causative Hiphil,' Ko., i., p. 507. Cf. Kal Is. S^-^; Iliph. Is. 5I9 (2816 is doubtful). — Sn i£2'>:'dm] ^^- ^ (*-;•). — ^isn i^-c^i] 4'' (p. 1 18). — :y-\r\ ^f)*?] without quarter; see on i^s. — 38. 3-\n] some codd. (De Rossi) ann; so ©apslo g (^^xatpa, cf. also i)\ probably t^s m^X^s C^^') has the same origin : vm omit the word, as do 3L,S. a:^:^ would be imv. Hiph. of nai; * See crit. note. t See on v.^?. 442 JUDGES to construe this with the following inf. it would be necessary to strike out the suffix of ap^;n (Stud.); r^i^>n'- 2-^n, lit. multiply to send tip (cf. i S. i^^ &c.), mi« light perhaps be understood, send up a great deal of smoke; so %, Ra., Vatab., Schm., Cler., JHMich., Ke. 2", Stud, i^. — Cassel defends the text by the analogy of ^jd^d n^nn Ps. 51* (Qere nnn), but the construction there is different. Apart from the grammatical difficulty, the introduction of this imv. in the midst of the narration is highly unnatural. Hitzig on Ps. 51^ gives to 2nn here the (Arabic) sense ' ffight'; so Ew., GVI. ii. p. 498 n. But Flight! is as unsuitable as Sword I It is probable that ^-^n is an accidental mutilated repetition of :3-\Nnj * ann a correction meant to make at least the word intelli- gible. r">^ DNiT'o] Bu. emends, p7; but if the verse is construed as I propose, this is not necessary. — 39. Vnt^^ tr^N ion>i] the finite verb con- tinues the infinitive construction in v.^^. cf. (with change of subject, as here) Gen. 18-^ Ex. if^ 2 S. I3-^ Dr^. § 118. These examples show that we should emend io^^ consec. perf. The imperf. consec. is due to misinterpretation under the ^influence of v.^ia. This compelled the interpreters to take ^sn here in the sense, turned their backs ; in v.^i in the sense, turned their faces, con- fronted (Ki., al. mu.). — o^V'^n nonS] the D'''?'?n prob. came from v.^i; in old prose we should have simply '?Ni!i'"'3 niDnS. — rjijj] inf. abs. Niph. before a perf.; see on ii-^ p. 297 f. — nrj'N-\n nnnScD] Ges.^^ § 118, db. — 40. nN'fp] v.^"^ Jer. 61; cf. nNii'^ Is. 302", and MH. nxirr, nxDc, Levy, NHWb. iii. p. 266, ' fire signal, torch '; the construction and use of which is described in M. Rosh ha-shanah, 1'2)^. (gSLMal. -^ell irvpab^; f cf. Hdt. vii. 182. — |-J7 tidv] explan- atory apposition to nxtr'cn. — n'-^'n S-'So] Dt. 131^ (the city which seduces to apostasy is to be burned nin>S S^Sd); cf. i S. f Ps. 5121, and '^Vd in Phoeni- cian (C/5.i. 1653.5.7.9.11 1675).!— 41. "iD.-i] turned on their pursuers, Jos. 820. — '^n^MJ -were in consternation, dismay ; Ex. i^"^^ I S. 2821 2 S. 4I Jer. 51^2^ — 42. 13173 iniN D'«n"«na'D Dn>'nD iu'Ni] Jerome, with sound exegetical tact, gives what the context requires : sed et hi qui urbem succenderant, occurre- runt eis. (@P^ ol kv ry irdXeL (diro ttjs TroXecos). ® also understands the division which had been placed in ambush; so Ra., Ki. No explanation of the text is possible; we must emend: "iina i.iix Dv-r-nm n^vnc icxi. For the last word compare Jos. 8^2; n>-\j,' may have arisen by dittography. — 43. Tiri^] in Ps. 22^3 the verb is parallel to 3DD; § for the figure cf. also i S. 23^6, o^-^pj: (ya), where Klosterm. would read 2^"J?. In the sense surround the word is understood here by Ra., Ki., and most. Abulw., Tanch., give it the meaning, gave no respite, as in Job 36^, and in Aram, and Syr., but their interpreta- tion is not acceptable. || (S Kar^KowTov, Kar^Koxf/av, cKoxpav, read irno or inir, from which |Q could easily arise. The last clause of the verse, which could hardly be connected with iinr, supports the reading of ©. — nnuD -inDn-^n] * Be., Bu. t ®-^ by transcriptional error Trvpyos. X See, however, Bloch, Phoen. Glossar, p. 35. 1} Hiph. Hab. i^ is questionable. II Sec the long explanation of Abulw., Lex. 336. XX. 45 443 the causative stem of q-n is found nowhere else either in the O.T., MIL or Aram., nor is it easy to imagine what force it could have; * the difficulty is increased by the noun, on which see below. — inr-nn] in O.T. y^^^n is usually 'cause one to tread a path, guide him in a way'; in the sense 'trample' (grapes, Am. 9^^ j^]^ ^jt. olives, Mi. 6^^; trop., enemies, Is. 6f) we find only Kal. In Jer. 51=^2 t^g Hiph. is prob. like Aphel in Targums, • let (cattle) tread, thresh'; Job 28^ generally rendered /rt'at/, is perhaps reach, attain, as in the Talmud {Abodah zarah, \^ = KetJmbim, 60''), Syr., Arab. In the last sense the verb is taken here by Ra., Ges. Thes.^ MV.; they overtook them. The asyndetic perfects show that neither insnnn nor ina-'n-in is part of the original text. It is not a remote conjecture that the former is merely a corruption of the latter (obs. the close resemblance of the letters, and the spelling of both). — nmjo] 'resting place' (Nu. lo-^'^), peaceful, unmolested abode (Dt. 12^ &c.) seems quite out of place in this context, whether we interpret at, to, or from (their) resting place; and the construction is as hard, or rather as impossible, in the one case as in the other. If the word is correctly transmitted, it must be a proper noun; it would then be better to take it, not as accus. of limit (to Menuah, Lth., Merc, Stud.), but as terminus a quo (nmjo), with (gBNai. (£7^6 Noua. In I Chr. 8^ nn^j f appears as a son of Benjamin (Benj. clan), and it is thus possible that nn'^js may be sound. Others would take nnuo adverbially, quietly, or easily ; so S, Tremell., Pise, Winer, al., without warrant in usage. J In view of the state in which the middle of the verse is, it is impossible to have any confidence in the text. — On the confusion of .1^22 and ygj, see v.'^^ and above, p. 414. — 44. ^d tn ^■•n •'"J'JN n^x] so also in v.'*'^. The use of .■^n before a nominative belongs to the later language, in which it is employed to give prominence to a noun, without regard to its syntax; Ges.-^ p. 351 f. 45-48. A remnant of the Benjamite warriors escape ; their towns are burned and the inhabitants slaughtered. — Verses ^'' *' seem to be harmonistic additions, to bring the eighteen thousand of v.^ up to the round twenty-five thousand of the later writer ; v."*^ is from the old story, which may have gone on to narrate the destruction of the Benjamite towns and massacre of their popula- tion. Something of this sort seems to be presupposed in 2i'*'^-, but v.^^ in its present form is undoubtedly late. — 45. The Benja- mites turned and fled to the wilderness, to the rock Rimmon. The beginning of the verse is verbally identical with that of v.^'. — And they made a gleaning of thon on the roads, five thousand men~\ with the figure cf 8". — And they pursued them closely as * Call to one another to pursue (Ra., Ki.), will not do. t ©^ Itoa. X See against this theory, Stud. 444 JUDGES far as Gidom{?), and killed tiuo thousand of theni\ of Gidom nothing else is known ; one recension of ^ has Gibeah (or Geba).* — 46. The whole number of Benjamites who fell on that day was twenty-five thousand fighting men: 18,000 (v.**) + 5000+2000 (v."*"') = 25,000; cf. v.^> and see on v.^^. — On that day ; all these were valiant warriors'] the words on that day stand in a very awkward place, and, with the following clause, may be a scribe's gloss.f — 47. From the older narrative. — They turned a?id fled to the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, six hundred mefi'] all who escaped from the signal disaster that had overtaken the tribe. In its original connexion the verse probably followed closely upon v.''-% perhaps only v.'"'', or the substance of it, intervening. Rinwwn was in the time of Eusebius a village fifteen Roman miles from Jerusalem, in a northerly direction. % It was discovered by Robinson in Rammon, § somewhat over three miles east of Beitin (Bethel), and a less distance (forty minutes) south of et-Taiyibeh, on a high and rocky hill. This would lie in a corner of the territory of Benjamin, in the wilder- ness of Beth-aven (Jos. 18^-). || — 48. The IsraeHtes returned from the pursuit and destroyed the Benjamite towns with all that was in them. — To the Benjamites] those who had not taken the field, se7ies impuberes mulieres atque iinbelles.% They massacred them all. — Man and beast and eve fy thing that was there] as in the case of a city devoted to destruction (the herein), Dt. 2"^ 3*^ Jos. 6'^^- Dt. 13^^*^'. — All the towns that thej-e were, they committed to the flames] i^; see note there (p. 21). 45. i^'l'^^V'^i] cf. Jer. 6^; the use of the trope in simple narration is striking. — D>";j ny] (gN Ta/Saa Va^o. (236) ; APVSLM j PaXaaS. ^ Gibeon, which is not in the direction of this retreat. — 48. dpd -|ij?p] so the Massora (on Ps. 38"^); cf. Norzi. In Dt. 2** -f Job 24I2, however, we find dhd •T'>', town of men, male population, as many codd. and some old edd. read here (De Rossi). This is doulitlcss the writer's meaning; ** Dnr, entire, gives no sense. ff The phrase is borrowed from Dt.; the conj. mxD (Buhl) is unnecessary. ♦ The word may perhaps be read as an infinitive, till they cut them off; cf. 216. t A literal translation of the verse is : And all who fell of Benjamin were ttuenty- fve thousand men drawing sword, on that day ; all these were men of valour. t OS-i. 287i«. § BI^. i. p. 440 ; iii. p. 290. II Sec Rob,, I.e. ; Gu6rin, Samarie, i. p. 215 ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 292 f. ; Riid^., p.121. H jIIMicli. **Stud.; cf.JHMich. "H- Cf. S Dt. 234 3G ; cf. JH^a'"- ib. XX. 45-XXT- 1 445 XXI. 1-14. To provide the surviving Benjamites with wives, Jabesh in Gilead is destroyed. — As soon as the Ismclitcs have leisure from their bloody work to contemplate its results, they are greatly afflicted by the prospect that Benjamin will disappear alto- gether from among the tribes of Israel (v.-**""). All the women of the tribe have been slaughtered, and the rest of the Israelites have sworn a great oath not to give their daughters in marriage to Benjamites (v.^-^); the six hundred survivors must therefore die childless and the tribe become extinct. In this perplexity they hit upon a plan which promises to accomplish a double purpose. Of all Israel, Jabesh in Gilead alone had not sent its contingent to the war. Twelve thousand men are therefore sent thither, with orders to exterminate the whole population of Jabesh, sparing only the virgin girls. In this way four hundred of the Benjamites are furnished with wives (v.^"^"*, cf. v.^). The story shows in every trait the hand of the post-exilic author, and is plainly patterned after Nu. 31, in a tertiary stratum of P. The numerous repetitions may be due in part to the bungling of the author, in part to glosses by still later hands.* — 1. Now the Israelites had sworn at Mizpah, No one of us will give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin'] vJ- ^^ cf. ". This oath, upon which the story of the rape of the Shilonites as well as the expedition to Jabesh of Gilead turns, had a place in the older narrative, and not impossibly v.^ is derived from this source.f — 2. The people came to Bethel] whither in the later form of the story the Israelites resort to humble themselves before God and consult the oracle ^2oi8-i^3.26^^ — j^ji^ ^^f fji(,j^^ until evening before God, and lifted up their voice and wept immoderately] lit. a great iveeping, 2 S. \i^ Is. 38^ cf. Jud. 2o2''-«, also 2^ Nu. 25^' Joel i'^^ — 3. They com- plain of Yahweh's mysterious providence — Why, O Yahzveh, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that one tribe is missing to-day from Israel] cf. v.^^ in the older story, from which v.'' also is derived. — 4. On the following day they built an altar and offered sacrifices. The building of an altar at Bethel, an ancient * Bohme {ZA TW. v. p. 30-36) would distinguish three sources : A v.6-i<, B v.i-5, C v.15-23. Of these B is an amplification of A ; C a contradictory representation, which none the less is later than A and dependent upon it. Budde regards v.6-8. n. 12* as editorial glosses in the younger narrative ; scr ahovr, p. 407. t Bu. 446 JUDGES holy place, is singular ; all the more since in 20^''' they have already offered sacrifices there. The verse, as well as v.^, is perhaps a gloss, introduced by a scribe or editor whose mind was filled with reminiscences of the old literature; cf., e.g., 2 S. 24^. — 5. They inquire who from among all the tribes had failed to respond to the summons ; for they had sworn that any who did not appear at the rendezvous at Mizpah should be put to death. The first half-verse anticipates v.^" ; v.''- ^ interrupt the natural connexion of v.^ with v.^ ; the style of v.^ is unusually awkward and incorrect. It is not unlikely that both verses were inserted by an editor. — Who is there that did not co7ne up in the asseinbly\ 20^ ; cf. 2 1^. — For the great curse had been pronounced upon every one who did not go up'] cf. I S. 14^'*- -^•^. Not, they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up, 6r^<:.,* which would be quite differently expressed- in Hebrew. — Na??iely, that he should unfailingly be put to death] cf. I S. i4'^''^-". — 6. They were sorry for Benjamin; v.^^, on which v.^ as well as v.^ is dependent. — Their brother] 20^-^. — And they said, One tribe is cut off from Israel] cf. v.^- ^^. The figure is taken from a tree which is mutilated by lopping ofi" one of its branches ; cf. Is. 10^^ i^l — 7. What shall we do for the?n, for the survivors, for wives ?] for the survivors has probably been introduced, for greater expUcitness, from v.^^ — Seeing that we have sworn by Yahweh not to give them any of our daughters in marriage] v}- ^^, cf. v."^. — 8. They inquire who, of all the tribes of Israel, had not come up to the gathering of the clans at Mizpah ; cf. v.''. — Now not a man had come to the ca^np front Jabesh in Gilead, to the assembly] the last words (v.^ 20-) may have been added by a scribe to whom camp did not sound sufficiently eccle- siastical. The entire half-verse is, strictly speaking, superfluous beside v.^, but such circumstantiahty is the delight of late writers. — 9. A muster of the tribes disclosed the fact that there was no one present from Jabesh. —Jabesh in Gilead] the only historical mention of the place in the O.T. is in the history of Saul (i S. 11 31"-^^ 2 S. 2^^- 2i^-'*"-). From these passages we learn only that it was within a day's journey of Beth-shean. The notices in Jose- phus do not fix the site more exactly.f Eusebius tells us that in • AV., RV., al. t AnU. v. 2, 11 § 164 ; vi. 5, i § 71 ; 14, 8 ^ 375. XXI. 4-12 447 his time it was a village on high ground, six miles from Pella on the way to Gerasa.* The name survives in Wady Yabis,t which opens into the Jordan valley about ten miles SSE. of Beisan, and nearly opposite Ibzlq (Bezek), where Saul mustered the tribesmen for the rehef of Jabesh ( i S. 1 1^) . + Robinson suggested the ruins, ed-Deir, on the south side of the Wady about three hours from the Jordan, § and has been followed by most recent writers. Merrill proposes Miryamin, on the road from Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) to Gerash, an hour and forty minutes from the former place. II 10-14. The expedition against Jabesh. — 10. The congrega- tion (20^) sends thither twelve thousand men, with orders to mas- sacre the whole population of the city, men, women, and children.^ — 11. More explicit instructions. — Every male, afid every wofnan that has lain with a male, shall ye exter7ninate~\ Nu. 31^^ ; the unu- sual phrases prove that the author took Nu. 31 as his pattern ; ** see note. It is evidence of the bungling character of his imitation, that the writer omits the very necessary injunction to preserve alive the virgins (v.^^ Nu. 31^^). ft — 12. They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh, four hundred virgin girls, who had not known a man carnally (Nu. 31^ +j), and brought them to the camp. — To Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan'] just so in Jos. 21^ 22^; in the latter passage, as here, perhaps in contrast to Israelite territory east of the Jordan. It is none the less remark- able that the writer should deem it necessary to define in this way the situation of the famous sanctuary ; see v.^^, where we find a minute topographical note. It is hard to say whether this explic- itness is merely the archaeological style of a late author, §§ or an indication that he wrote for readers in foreign lands, perhaps him- * C52. 26881. t It is not improbable that the name Jabesh also (' dry ') belonged originally to the Wady, and was afterwards given to the town on its banks. J See on i^, p. i6. § BJ^. iii. p. 319 f. On the site see also Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 556. II Amer. Palest. Explor. Soc., Fourth Statement (1877), p. 80-82. U Cf. Nu. 3i4f-. ** See above, p. 445. ft It is found, however, in most copies of ©. XX Thirty-two thousand Midianite maidens! How they were able to recognize the virgins, see Jebamoth, 60^ ; Pfeiffer, Dubia vexata, p. 358 f. ^ We. 448 JUDGES self lived in exile.* Why the expedition against Jabesh finds the main army at Shiloh instead of Bethel (v.-), we do not learn ; most likely the writer is already shifting the scene to prepare for the story of the seizure of the maidens of Shiloh (v.^^^), though that story is in reality quite incompatible with the presence of the Israelite encampment at Shiloh. — 13. The congregation sends friendly overtures to the surviving Benjamites in their fastness at Rimmon. — 14. The latter return, and are presented with the women who were saved alive from the sack of Jabesh. — And they did not suffice for them j^] there were still two hundred lacking. Thus the way is prepared for the introduction of the old story of the rape of the Shilonite maidens as supplementary to the capture of maidens at Jabesh. 2. Vnj -"D^ 133^1] absolute object qualified by an adjective; Ges.^^ § 117, 2 n. a; A. Miiller, Gram., §410. — 3. '?Nni:'"i \n^N mn>] see on 4^, p. 115. — 4. cdSitm m*?;'] see on 20^6. — 5. nSnjn n>'i3cn] they had made a great oath ( AV.) would be in Hebrew : anS nptn rh^M n3;iJB' '>a. For n;n3ti' equivalent to nSs 'curse,' see Neh. lo^o Nu. 5^1. — nm> ma] frequent formula for the death penalty in the laws, e.g. Ex. 19I2 2ii2.i5; in P, Ex. 31I4.15 Nu. 15^5 35IO &c., Lev. 2o2 24^6- 17. — 8. nnx ic] zvhat single one. — 10. Sinn >j3d] cf. Dt. 3^^ 2 S. 2' 1328 &c. — lioni D^tt'jni] Dt. 2^^ f Jos. S^s. — 11. id; 3D!2'D nyni ncx] midier experta concubitum maris, y}^; the phrase is found only in Nu. '^i^'^- 18-35. cf. Lev. i822 2oi3 Ez. 23i".t — ir^nnn] see on ii", p. 35, 36. — 12. nW] cf. 'iSra v.i^, iS"'E' v.^ibis. besides these variations we find n^iir Gen. 49^^^ See Norzi on Gen. 49IO Jud. 2\^'^; Frensdorff, Massoret. Worierbuch, p. 322 f. (n. 4). — 14. p D.-iS iNi-:: nSi] nxd 'suffice,' Nu. ii^^, Jos. 17I6 Zech. \q>^ (Niph.). We might also render here: They (the Israelites) did not find enough for them. 15-25. The rape of the Shilonites. — The IsraeHtes are at a loss to know how to provide wives for the remaining Benjamites. They advise them to conceal themselves in the vineyards around Shiloh at the time of the annual feast of Yahweh, and surprise and carry off the girls who come out to take part in the dances ; and promise to pacify the kinsmen of the maidens, if they are minded to avenge the rape. The plan is carried out ; the Benjamites seize a wife apiece, go back to their own district, and rebuild their ♦ Stud. t In Nu. 31I7 Jud. 21I2 in the still more circumstantial form, puellae virgines quae virutn nan cognoverant in concubitu maris. XXI. 12-17 449 towns. The Israelites return to their homes. — The story comes from the older source, but has been somewhat extensively glossed by the later writer; v."', the topographical notes in v.^", v.-'' (at least in part), are of this origin. The text has suffered consider- ably in v.^"'' and v.-l — 15. The people was so7'ry for Benjiwiin^ because Yahiveh had brought a catastrophe tipon the tribes of Israel~\ v.^-^'; with the last clause (lit. jnade a breach in), cf 2 S. 6^ 5"^ Ex. 1922-24. The destruction of a tribe was not an issue to be contemplated with indifference. If the extinction of a fiimily or a clan was a matter of serious concern, to prevent which every precaution was taken, much more that of a tribe. And for the same reason : it involved the cessation of the cults which were its bond of union, and that might well be fraught with malign consequences. The feeling and action of the Israelites here are entirely in the spirit of a primitive time, and by no means indi- cate that the story was invented at a late period.* — 16. The first half-verse, at least, is the work of the younger author, who thus attaches the old story of the rape of the Shilonite maidens to his account of the destruction of Jabesh.f — The ehiers of the congregatioii] Lev. 4^^ — What shall ive do for those that are left, for wives ?~\ the two hundred who did not get wives of the girls brought from Jabesh. — For women had been exterminated from Benjamin'] cf. 20^*^ Budde thinks that this half of the verse also is by the later hand. It seems to me to have its proper place in the original narrative between v.^^ and v.^'^-. The cause of the Israehtes' regret in this version also was the apprehension that the survivors would have no posterity, and the tribe thus die out ; it must therefore have contained a statement substantially equivalent to v.^'^''. On the other hand, in the younger context the statement is, to say the least, superfluous after 20'*^ 2i'-^-". — 17. The first clause is generally explained : The survivors of Benjamin must remain in possession of the hereditary lands of the tribe ; the * This natural motive is no longer understood by the author of v.3, to whom the cause of grief appears to be that one tribe is lacking of the sacred number twelve. t It would be possible to regard the verse, with the exception of the words, the elders of the coiigregation , as part of the original narrative ; those that were left would then be the survivors of the battle. But this is superfluous before v.!?, and the language is not favourable to the supposition. 2G 450 JUDGES victors renounce their right to divide the conquered territory among themselves.* But this, although in itself a sufficiently good sense, is wide of the text, and not in accord with the con- text, in which the question is, not what shall be done with the lands of the Benjamites, but how they shall be supplied with wives-t The text is palpably corrupt; from the structure of y_i7b.i8a^ the premises in v.^^•^^^ and the sequel v.^^ we may conjec- ture that the verse originally contained a question : Hoxv shall a remnant be saved for Be?jja?}iin, and not a tribe be wiped out of Israel? % This would connect well with \}\ and with v.^% Seeing that we cannot give thejn wives of our daughters. — Wiped outj made to disappear utterly ; 2 K. 21^^ Gen. 6^ f^ &c. — 18. Seeijig that we cannot give them wives of our daughters'^ circumstantial, closely connected with the preceding. — For the Israelites had . sworn, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin'] y}. This interdict of the connubium with Benjamin is the point on which the story in ch. 2 1 turns, equally in the original and the secondary version. It was natural enough that fathers who heard the tale of the Gibeathites' brutality should refuse to give their daughters to men of their tribe. If v.^ is derived from the older source, we should probably regard v.^^'' as an editorial repetition, made the more necessary that, in consequence of the insertion of v.-"^^, v.^ was now somewhat remote. 19-22. A way discovered to evade their oath. — 19. They cannot recall their oath and dare not break it, but there is a way in which it may be evaded ; the Benjamites must take their wives by force. — The feast of Yahweh is held at Shiloh annually^ this feast, with its dances among the vineyards, was doubtless, like that at Shechem (9^), a local vintage festival. Budde takes these words as addressed to the Benjamites, and supposes that they were immedi- ately followed by v.^''. This is probably the original intention of the author. — Shiloh is the modern Seilun, whose situation is mi- •SoKi.,Lfh., AV., RV. t That, in order to maintain their possession of the lands, they had to have wives and children (Ra., al.), is true enough, but too remote a reflexion here. X So the verse is understood by the authors of one recension of -\nijS] the remainder ; Jos. 17-- ^ 21^4 &c.; in the sense (indicated by the context), those who remained alive, Lev. lo^^. — n;rN p^j^a mo'kj'j >d] cf. Gen. i'^^ 2 S. 21^ Am. 2^ freq. in Dt. — 17. p-'ju'^ na^So ncn-' ncx'-i] cannot be translated, there must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Benjamin (EV.), which would require at least, jcj^ PiO-'SoS nu'-!>. Bu. conjectures, -t^nx'j ntD">So; but the context and the structure of the following clauses seem to require something like, niSB'n 'T'N, or r\'^t^v\ "tin; cf. ©^^ -n-Qs ea-rai KXrjpoi dia Lev. 2389; jn Am. 521 810 &c. — hd^c^ □''D^d] annually, ii^O; see note there. — 20. ixm] the correction of the Qere, "ium, is necessary. — 21. ni'^n?:^ Sin'^] Kal in this sense only here; cf. SSn (Polel) \?^. — ansam] Ps. lo^bist (MH., Aram., Syr., Arab.).* — 22. □n>nx in Dm^x] masc. suffixes, referring to the captured women. This negligence is not uncommon. — ij-i^n jnS] Jer. 12^ Job 33^^; for having allowed this thing to be done, or for letting it pass unpunished. — DniN "iji:n] pn with two accus., Gen. 33^ Ps. i \(p. ^ is supported only by ©^ f and ST. t @PVO have iXeT^crare a^roiJs, 8ti oiK eXa^ev dvrjp yvuatKa avroO iv ry iroX^ficp, i.e. .-idhSd^ ini^N v>n inp'? nS ""D aniN un; the same text is represented also in a somewhat different translation by N, and by g e, 5, and is very probably the original reading. § <&^^^ omit the negative, 'x^ incN it'in inpS o oms un, kindly forgive them that they each took his wife in war, i.e. by forcible means. This seems to me, not the original text (Bu.), but an erroneous interpretation. || — i::*^'Nn nj?^ ^rh nnnj onx nS >3] f§ is here supported by all the versions. It is impossible, however, to construe or explain the last clause. Stud.'s con- jecture, h (or nS) for n*^, is highly probable; the two particles are not infre- quently confounded in fH and the versions; cf. 2 S. 19' 2 S. 1312 Gen. 23II * On the gender of INS"' see Ges.25 p. 451, f Alone, against N. X Ed. ven.i, reuchl., cod. Br. Mus. ; the current text is corrupt. § Stud. ; or perhaps, DniN fi:n, grant the77i (the maidens) to them, II Against a reading sustained by (5LM^ g weighs heavily ; the concurrence of ^'^ is also noteworthy. 454 JUDGES I S. 20i5bis. See Hitzig, Begriff der Kritik, p. 141 ; We., TBS., Dr., TBS. on //. cc* If this emendation be adopted, we should also read nn;? ""D, the usual introduction of the apodosis after i*^ {e.g. Nu. 2229), instead of n;;D : For had you given them to them, you would now be guilty, f The only objection to this is the tense of the verb in the apodosis (usually the perf.) ; but, you would be guilty, may perhaps stand for, you would have incurred guilt. — icc^'Nn] Norzi: Baer i?:rxn. On the dagesh see K6., i. p. 64. — 23. D^rj iNtf^l] in the sense of 'take a wife, marry' (ncx npS, so Stud.), Ntt'j is late (We.); here, however, the meaning is rather tollere (Bu.). — niSynDn p] Polel ptcp.; cf. Kal above, v.21. — 24. O'^'D I3'7nnii] Hithpa. seems to be used with the force, *go in different directions.' — db'd] i° from Shiloh; 2P from the central point of each clan. * See also Cappell, Critica sacra, i. p. 264 ff., 311 (ed. Vogel). 1 1 have proposed the same emendation in 1323. INDEX I. MATTERS. Abdon, judge, 1213-15 clan of Benjamin, 311 f. Abel-keramim, 300, 301 Abel-meholah, 212 Abiezer, 184 Abimelech, king in Shechem, ch. 9 meaning of the name, 235, 236 Abinoam, 4*^ Acclaiming a king or chief at the holy place, 9^ 11 11, 288 Acco, 49 Achsah, 1 12-15^ 29 Achzib, 49, 51 Adon, proper names comp. with, 15 Adoni-bezek, I5» 16 Adoni-zedek, 16 Afqa, 51 Ahlab, 49 f., 51 Aijalon, 53, 54 in Zebulun (Elon), 311, 312 'Ainata, 50, 52 'Ain Galud, 199, 200 'Ain el-Gema in, 201 Ain Harod, 199, 200 'Ain Helweh, 212 'Ain es-Saqut, not Succoth, 213 'Ain Shems, 53, 315 Akrabbim, Pass of, 55 » 5^ Altar, natural, 6'^i 13^'^ commemorative names, 189 of Baal, 191 Amalek, 5I* cf. 1 2^5, 152 Amalekites, 32, 178, 180, 280 Amalekites, Mountain of the, 31 1 Amathus, 306 'Amman, 291 Ammonites, 279, 286 f., 289 Amorites, 52, 53, S^, 84, 278 f. Anak, sons of, 24 f., 39 Anath, 50, 105, 106 Angel of Yahweh, of God, 57, 162, 183 f., 185, 316,317 f. (see Messenger) Animal names in O.T., 215 of women, 114 Aphaca, 51 Aphik, 5 1 Arad, 32, 33, 36 'Arair, 296 Aram-naharaim, 87, 89 Arba, 25 Ark of the covenant, 433 f. Armour-bearer, 204, 268 Arnon, 290 Aroer, 223, 296 " Aroer in front of Rabbah," 300 Arumah, 261 Asher, 49, 50, 52, 155 f. Asherah, sacred pole, 86, 191 f., 192 f. goddess, X, 86 f. Ashkelon, i^^, 338 Ashtoreth, 70 'Asqalun, Khirbet, 338 Assembly, 423 Asses, riding, 273 f. Astarte, 69 f., 70 f. 455 456 INDEX B Beth-millo, 243, 244 BaAl, 69,70 Beth-rehob, 399 appellatively, * proprietor,' 69 Beth-shean, 43 f-, 45 r- the plural, 70 Beth-shittah, 213 used in Israel of Yahweh, 195 Bezek, 14 f., 16 proper names comp. with, 195 Bireh, 252 Baal-berith, meaning of the name, 242 Blessing, 373 f. Baal-gad, 79 f., 82 Blinding captives. 356 Baal-hermon, 79,82 Blood superstitions, 242 f. Baal-tamar, 437 Blood vengeance. 227 Baalbek, not Baal-gad, 82 Bochim, 58, 59 f- Balak, King of Moab, 295 f. Booty, 168 Banias, 82, 390, 399 Bowl, 162, 164 Barak, ch. 4, 5 Bowstrings, 352, 353 the name, ii5> 130 Braids of hair. 354 his tribe? 151. 153 Bread, loaves of, 218 Barley bread, 205 f., 206 f. barley, 205 f., 206 f. Bedan (i S. 12"), error for Barak, 311 Burnt offerings. 433 Beer, 252 Beeroth, 252 c Bees, in the carcase of the lion, 332 f. Caleb, 110-15. 20 " Before Yahweh," 288 Kenizzite clan. 30 f. Beisan, 44,45 Camels, 55712 Beitin, 40 Camon, 275 Bel'ameh, 44,46 Canaanites, II, 81 " Belial," sons of, 417, 419 the name in E and D, 78,79 Belial as a proper name, X, 419 in Egyptian texts, 81 Belma (Judith S^), 46 Captive women, 168, 2 1 10-14 BelqS, 287 Carding, a torture. 225, 226 Bene Qedem, Eastern Bedawin, Cereal oblation, 322 178, 180 Chair, 98 Benjamin, tribe. 40, 428 Chariots, 38, iii f., 122 famous slingers, 430 Chemosh, god of Moab, 294 almost exterminated, ch. 20, 21 Chronology, Introd. § 7, 296 f. hist, character of this war. Circumcision, 327 f- 404-406 City of Palms, Jericho, 31,33 Besaanim Tree, 119, 121 f., 126 Clan of Danites, 2 15, 316, 388 Bcssum, 119 Commentaries on Judges, Introd. Best man, at a wedding, 339 §9, xlvii ff. Beth-anath, 5o»52 Concubinage, family relations in, 410 Beth-barah, 214 Concubine, 235, 408 f. Bcth-dagon, 359 Connubium, interdicted. 445 f-, 450 Bethel, 40 f., 42 Conquest of Canaan, ch. ii-25 Bethlehem in Judah, 409 hist, character of the account, 7-10 in Zcbulun, 310 Corvee 45 INDEX 457 Covenant, 74 f. with the fathers, 58, 74 Ark of the, 433 f. " Cover the feet," euphemism, loi Crescents, ornaments, 228, 232 Criticism of Judges, literature, xxxvi Cromlechs, stone circles, 57 Curse, 373 f., 446, 450 Cushan-rishathaim, 87, 88 f. Cushite, of the tribe Cushan, 88 Custodians of holy places, 191, 379 Daberath, "3 Dagan, Babylonian god. 360 Dagon, Philistine god, 358, 359 f- Dahariyeh, 25 Dan, the tribe, 52 f., 155, 387 migration of, ch. 18 the city, formerly Laish, 389 f. golden calf at, 401 Dan to Beersheba, 423 Dan's Camp, 326, 394 Dances, 301,303,451 Death of a god, 305 Debir, 25, 26 Deborah, with Barak delivers Israel, ch. 4, 5 prophetess and judge, 112 f. her tribe, 113 the name, 1 14 Song of, see Song. Deborah's Palm, 113,114 Deburiyeh, 114 Dedication, a taboo, 373, 376 Deir, supposed site of Jabesh, 447 Delilah, ch. i64-2« the name, 351 Deliverance from Egypt, 181, 182 Derceto, 359 Deuteronomic author of Judges, Introd. §3, p. XV ff.; § 6, p. xxxiv f. ; 64 " Devote," to destruction {Jie- rem), 35, 444 Devotee, Nazirite, 317,318 Dilbeh, Khirbet, Sell, 26, 28 f. Dodo, Dodai, 272 Dor, 44, 46 E in Judges, Introd. § 4, p. xxv ff. ; § 6, p. xxxiii f. ; 63 f., 90, I75-I79» 237 f., 276, 367-369 Ecdippa, 49, 51 Edom, Edomites 55, 56, 140 Eglon, King of Moab, 2>^^-^ his residence, 100 f. Ehud, kills Eglon and delivers Israel, f^-^ morality of his deed, 104 name of a clan, 91, 92 Ekron, 1I8 El, nuvien^ 242 El-berith (cf. Baal-berith), 236, 265 Elders, 65, 224, 287 of the congregation, 449 Elohim, superhuman being, 324 to see, forbodes death, 324 Elon, judge, \2>^^- clan of Zebulun, 270, 311 En ha-Qore, 346, 347 Eph5d, idol, 232, 379, 380 f. linen, 381 in P, 379, 381 Ephraim, tribe, i'^^ relation to Amalek, 152 Ephraimites, attack on Gideon, 215-217 on Jephthah, 306 f. pronunciation, 309 Eshtaol, 363 Eshu'a, 363 Etam, Rock of Etam, 342 f., 343 f. Evil, in the eyes of Yahweh, 68 Evil spirit, 253 Expiation, by death of the guilty, 428 Expulsion from the clan, 287 Extinction of a tribe, 449 " Extirpate the evil," Deut. phrase, 428 458 INDEX Fable, Jotham's, 97-21, 244 ff. its moral, 248 Far'ah, Wady, 214 " Father," of a priest, 385 Fer'ata, 184, 311 Festival, vintage, at Shechem, 255 at Shiloh, 450 Fig, 247 " Fill the hand," install a priest, 380 Fire signal, 439 f., 442 " Folly " (EV.), of sexual offenses, 418 Fords of Jordan, 102 f., 214, 308 " Fornication," worship of other gods, 72, 233, 235 Foxes, Samson's, 340 f., 343 analogous ceremonies, 341 n. P^eemen of a town, 241 Gaal, insurgent leader, 926-11, 254 f., 257 Gaash, Mt., 66 Gad, 155 Galilee of the Gentiles, 50 Galud, Nahr, 201 Gates of a city, 349 Gaza, ii^,'348 Geba, Geba', 441 confusion with Gibeah, 414, 428, 441 Gebel 'Aglun, 287 Gebel Osha', 289 Gelameh, 44, 46 General, Genin, Gera, Benjamite clan, Gerizim, Gershom, (^ershon, Gershonites, Gezer, Giants (Anakim), Gibeah of Benjamin, 414 of Saul, and Geba cunfuscd, 414, 428, 441 Gibcath ha-murch, kjcj f. 116 44 92 246 402 47 f- 39 416 414 Gideon, delivers Israel from Mid- ianites, ch. 6-8 Gidom (?), 444 Gilboa, 201 Gilead, 155, 287 conquest of, 274 father of Jephthah, 284 Gilgal, 57, 60 Gischala, 5 1 Gleaning, figurative use, 216, 443 God {eloJiun'), in converse with foreigners, 206 Gods of other nations, reality and power, 294 God, names of, inconstancy of tradition, see Names. Gomed, measure, irvyixi], 93, 94 Goyim, 1 1 9 " Graven image " {pesel), 94f-, 97, 375>377f- Groomsmen, 334 "Grove" (aj/z^raA), 192 Gubeihat, Khirbet, 222 Gullath-maim, illith, tahtith, Ca- naanite names of places, 28 H Hair, consecration of, 318 Halba, Hisn, 51 Hamath, 80, 82 Hammer, 124, 163 Hamor, Shechemite noble, 256 Har-heres, 53, 54 Harithiyeh, iii, 119, 122, 126 Harod, fountain, 199, 200 Harosheth, in, 119, 122, 126 Harosheth ha-goyim, 119 Hasbeiya, , 80 Havoth-jair, in Gilead, 274 f. Ilazor, III, 112 Heart, the inner man, 355 Heber, the Kenite, ii8f. in 52*, a gloss, 162 Hebron, IT, f., 349 f. Hclbah, 50, 51 INDEX 459 Hercules, 364 Heretn, a thing devoted to de- struction, 35, 36 Hermon, 82 Heshbon, Hesban, 293 Highlands of Ephraim, 102, 103 of Judah, 22 « Hip and thigh," 342, 343 Hippos, 286 Hittites, 43, 79, 81 f. Hivvites, 79, 81 the name, 83 f. Hobab, Moses' father-in-law, 32, 33^ "8 Holocaust, of a city, 440 Holy trees, 122, 260 at Ophrah, 184 at Shechem, 243 Homoeoteleuton, 397 Horeb, Mtn. in Midian, 140 Hormah, 35 f. Horn {shophar), 103, 197, 208 f. Horus-Ra, " Egyptian Hercules," 365 Hosea, reference to Jud. 19-21, 405 f. Human sacrifice, 304 f. Hvinin, 399 IBLEAM, 44,46 Ibzan, judge. 128 10 Ibziq (Bezek), I4f., 16 Idol, 378 ff. Installation of a priest, 380 Intoxicating drink. 317 Iphigeneia, 305 Ishbosheth, 195 Ishmaelites, 231 Israel, people of Yahweh, 134 Issachar, 49. 151 J in Judges, Introd. § 4, p. xxv ff. ; § 5, p, XXX f. ; § 6, p. xxxiii ; 6f., 64,90, 109, 175-177, 237 f., 314 f., 367-369, 407 Jaazer, 296 Jalibok, 290 f., 294 Jabesh in Gilead, 446 f. Jabin, King of Hazor, 109, 112 Jackals, 341 Jael, 4I8-22 , 5^^-^^ 123 5^» not a judge, 142 moralit y of her deed. 126 1 1 1-127 284, 285 Jahaz, 293 Jair, judge, iqS-s, 273 branch of Manasseh, 271 Jars, 208 Jaw bone of an ass, 345 JE, in Judges, Introd. § 4, p. xxv ff. ; § 6, p. xxxiv f. Jebus, not anct. name of Jeru- salem, 413 Jebusites, i^i, 3^ Jephthah, judge, a clan? hist, character of the story, 284 his vow, 299 history of interpretation, 304 burial place, 309 Jericho, 3i> 92 Jerubbaal, origin of the name, 194 f. Jerubbesheth, 195 Jerusalem, i^'^-^i; 20 f., 413 Jether, son of Gideon, 227 Jethro, Moses ' father-in-law, 32, t^t, Jezreel, Plain of, 197, 198 Joash, 6", 194 f. Jogbehah, 221 f. Jokneam, 275 Jonathan, grandson of Moses, 400, 402 Joseph, the name in Egypt, texts, 41 Joshua, tomb of, 66, 67 f. Judah, 1 1-10. 16. 17. 18f. 1^9-13 not reckoned among the Israel- ite tribes, 134 n. regions of its territory, 22 Levite of, 383, 402 Judge, meaning of the word, xi f., 88, 89 Judges, Book of, xi ff. 460 INDEX Judges, title, xi f., xiii place in canon, xii f. contents and divisions, xiii-xv Deuteronomic Book of (2''- i63i), xv-xix, xxxiv f. character and aim, xv f. relation to prophets, xvii f. age, xvi f., xviii f. based on an older work, xx-xxii Pre-deuteronomic Book of, xx-xxiv contents and extent, xxii-xxiv pragmatism, xxiv age, xxiv composite character, xxiv f. part of JE's history? xxv-xxvii Sources, two principal written, xxiv f. J and E in Judges ? xxv-xxvii Song of Deborah, ch. 5, xxviii the Minor Judges, xxviii f. Sources of 17, 18, xxix-xxxi 19-21, xxxi 1^-2^, xxxii f. Composition of the book, In- trod. § 6, xxxiii ff. Chronology, Introd. § 7, xxxvii ff. Text, state of, Introd. § 8, xliii Versions, ancient, ib., xliv-xlvii Commentaries, Introd. § 9, xlvii ff. Judges, Minor, 270-275, 310-312 source of the notices, xxviii f. chronology, xli f., xliii K Kadesh ('Ain Qudeis), Kain, Kenites, 34 f., Kareah, Karkor, Kedesh in Issachar, in Naphtali, Kcnath, conquest of, Kcnaz, Kenites, Kcnizzites, Key, see Lock. 18. 56, 119, 291 123 273 223 117 126 222 274 1 13 34 f., 118, 119, 123 30 f. 15. "7, Kingdom, Abimelech's, Gideon's, Gideon refuses, judgement of, Kirjath-arba, Kirjath-jearim, Kirjath-sepher, Kishon, Kitron, 239 239 C22f. 229 f., 245, 248 23, 24 f. 393 f- 25 f., 27 119 f., 159 . 49, 50 f- Laish, 389 f. Lapidoth, 113, 114, 130 Lattice window, 167 Lebanon, 3^ Lebonah, 451 Leggun, Legio (Megiddo), 45, 47 Lehi, 344, 347, 348 Levites, priests, 383 f. etymology of the word, 384 f. Judaean, 383, 385 connected with Judah, 408 f. Mosaite, 400, 402 Lion, 330 f. Lock, 99 f. Loom, 354 Love to God, 169, 171 Lowlands {shephelaJi) ^ 22 Lubban, el, 451 Luz, old name of Bethel, 40, 42 in Hittite country, 41, 43 M Ma AN, 280 " Maareh-geba" (RV.), 437 Machir, 150 Mahalliba (Ahlab, Helbah?), 51 Mahaneh Dan, 326, 394 Maktesh, 346 Malih, Wady, Man of God, prophet, Manasseh, tribe, Manasseh, 18^'', substituted for Moses, 400, 401 f. Manoah, 3^5 f- 212 317 T27f. INDEX 461 Mantle, 231 Maonites, 280 Marriage, exogamous, 328 sadiqa, 235. 329 customs, 334, 339 f- Massebah, 243 Master, husband, 418 f. "Meadows of Gibeah " (AV.), 437 Megiddo, Leggun, 44 f., 46 f., 158 Melek, the king god, 235 in Israel, Yahweh, 235 Meroz, 161 Mesha, inscription of, 35, 91, 291 Mesopotamia, 87 Messenger of Yahweh, 57, 162, 183 f., 185, 316 appearance of, 3^7 f- to see, bodes death, 189 of God, 188 Micah, eh. 17, 18 Midian, Midianites, 177, 179 f. Midianite clan names in Israel, 1 79 Midrash, 405, 407 Milcom, god of Ammon, 294 f. Milk, sour, 162 f. intoxicating properties ascribed to, 124 Milk-skin, 123, 163 Mill, grinding as a punishment, 357 Millstone, 268 Minaeans, 280 Minnith, 300, 301 Minor Judges, see Judges. Miryamin, Jabesh, 447 Mizpah, in Benjamin, 422 f. in Gilead, 288 f. Moab, 90 f., 294 ff. Mogib, Wady, 290 " Molten image " {massekah), 37S» 377» 378 Moreh, hill of, 200 Morning gift, 340 Mortar, 34^, 347 Moses, work of, 134 in Midian, 179 Moses, ancestor of priests of Dan, 400 Levites claim descent from, 402 Mourning for the death of a god, 305 Mugedda', Khirl)et, not Megiddo, 47 Muntar, el, hill near Gaza, 349 Muqatta, not Megiddo, 158 Mutilation of captives, 17, 356 N Nabulus, Shechem, 240, 241 n. Nahalol, 49, 50 f. Naharin, in Egyptian texts, 89 Name, ineffable, 321 Names, of God, inconstancy of tradition, 126, 189, 217, 435 consisting of subj. and pred., 189 compounded with Yahweh, 377 with ad Oily 15 f. with baal, 195 with meleky 235, 236 Naphtali, 50, 115, 156 Nations of Canaan, 3^- ^- ^ ; the seven, 83 Nazirite, 317. 3^8 Nebi Dahi, 200 Nebi Samwil, 423 Necklaces, on camels, 227 f., 232 Negeb, 22 "New gods," 145, 147 Nobah, 222, 274 Numbers, in ch. 20, 424, 426 Oath, form of, evaded. Offering, 21I.7. 18.22 228 45O' cf. 373 f. 187, 433 Oil, in religious rites, 247 Olive, 246 f. Ophrah, 184 Oracle, consultation of, II, 389, cf. als0 20l8-23.27f. Oreb, 214 f. Oreb's Rock, 214 Othniel, 1^3-15 37-11^ 27, 29, 30, Sj i. Ox-goad, 1 05, 106 462 INDEX p QaimSn, 275 Page, 204 Qanawat, not Kenath, 222 Palestine, boundaries. 80 Qudeis, Tell Abu, 117, 126 Palms, City of, Jericho, 3h33 Qudeis, *Ain, Kadesh, 56, 291 Paneas, 390, 399 Queen, 168 Panic, 120 222, 440 Partridge Spring, 346, 347 R Patriarchs, promise to, 58,74 Ram, er. 114, 413 f. " Peace offerings," 433, 435 Ramah in Benjamin, 1 14 f., 413 f. Pendants, 232 Rammon, 444 Penuel, 220, 223 Ramoth in Gilead, 289 Perizzites, 17 Ras et-Tawil, Khirbet, 414 Petra, 55,56 Rehob, 51 f. Philistines, 80 f. 105, 279 Rehob (Nu. 1321), 399 " uncircumcised," 327 Reuben, 154 f. tyrants of. 78 Rhyme, 359 Phinehas, 434 Riddle, Samson's, 334 f. Phoenicians, 79, 81, 279, 390 Rimmon, 444 Pin, tent. 124, 163 Rings, golden, of Bedawin, 231 used in weaving, 354 Ruth, relation to Judges, xxxii Pirathon, 3" S Plain, the coast, 37 the great, names of, 198 Sacred pole {asherah), of Jezreel, 197, 198 86, 191 f., 192 f. Points of the compass, 351 Sacred stone {f?iassebah). 243 Polygamy, 235 Sacred trees, 122, i8<: , 243, 260 Pragmatism, 62 f., 275 f. Sacrifices, 433, 435 of Deut. author, xv ff., xxxv, 62 f. human, 299, 304 f. of JE, xxiv Saaaq, sadiqa, 340 of E2, xxvii f., xxxiii f.. 62, 275 f. Safa, Naqb, 35, 36, 55, 56 Priests, Levites (see Levites), 383 Salt, sowing with. 263 Mosaite, 400, 402 Salt, town, 289 at Dan, 400 Samson, ch. 13-16 not Levites, 380, 386 the name, 325 , 326, 365 installation of, 380 his marriage, 327 ff. Princesses, 167 character of his adventures, 313 f. Prophet, Prophetess, 1 12 181,317 mythical interpretations, 364 f. Prophetesses in O.T., 114 Samuel, among the judges. xxii f. Proprietors of holy places, 191,379 Sanur, 272 Puah, clan of Issachar, 270 Sarthan, 212, 213 Purple garments, 232, 234 n. Saul, animosity toward, in ch. Q 19-21? 408 Sayce, on Jud. 3^-11, 85 Qades, Kedesh in Naphtali, 1 15, 116 Sculptured stones. 94 U 97 Qadish, Khirbet, 117, 126 Scythopulis, 45 f- INDEX 463 Sebata, Sebaita, Seilun, Shiloh, Seinecke, on Jud. 5, Seir, Seirah, . Sela, Selbit, Sepher ha-yashar, Sererah, Seven Nations of Canaan, Shaalbim, Shamgar, 35»36 450 f. 129 f. 140 X, 100, 102 55»56 53,54 no 212 83 53,54 331, 105 f,, 142 was he an Israelite? Shamir, Shatta, Shechem, population Canaanite, Shibboleth, 143 272 213 240 243, 255 308, 309 Shiloh, 447, 450 f. house of God (temple) at, 369, 400 Shrine, Micah's private, 378 f. Sidon, Sidonians, 79, 81, 279, 390 Sign, 186, 198 Sihon, King of Amorites, 293 Silversmith, maker of idols, 376 f. Simeon, tribe, jSf. 17. 12,35-37 Sinai, 140 5^ (that is, Sinai), gloss, 141 Sisera, ch. 4, 5; 108, in, 112 mode of his death, 108, 163-166 Slingers, 429 f. Song of Deborah, ch. 5 translation, 1 71-173 literature of interpretation, 127, 136 age and authorship, xxviii, 129-132 historical value, 132 ff. religion of Israel in, 134 mythical interpretation, 1 29- 131 state of the text, 128 f., 146 poetic form, 135 f,, 137 n. « Sons of Belial," 417 Sorek, 351 Soul, 362 South, The {Negeb), 22 Spirit of Yahweh, 87 f., 197, 298, 331 Spirit, evil, sent by God, 253 Squire, 268 Stars, their paths, 158, 159 Stone circles (cromlechs), 57 Stratagems, 208 ff., 259 f., 263 f., 435 f. Succoth, 213, 218, 219 Sur'ah, Zorah, 315 Surar, Wady, 351 Syria, 390 River (Aram-naharaim), 87, 89 Taanach, Ta'annuk, Table, Taboos, Tabor, Mt., Tambourine, Tantura, " Tearing of a kid," Tell el-Ful, Gibeah, Tell el-Qadi, Dan, 44,46 18 318, 320, 373 226, 228 "5 301, 3^3 44 331, 3ZZ 414, 416 390 Temples, not numerous, 265, 378 of Baal-berith, Shechem, 242 of El-berith, near Shechem, 265 of Dagon, Gaza, 1523-30 its construction, 360 f. of Yahweh, at Ophrah, 232 f. Dan, 400 f. Shiloh, 400 private, Micah's, 378 f. Tent pin, 124 Teraphim, 379 f., 381 f. Text of Judges, Introd. § 8, xliii ff. Thebez, 267 Theocratic principle, "Yahweh shall rule," 230 Theophany, 183 f. ; see Messen- ger of Yahweh. Thorns, 219 Thorn, Box, 248 Threshing as a torture, 224 f. Threshing floor, 198 Threshing sledges, 220 Tibneh, 66, 327 464 INDEX Timnath, 68, 327 Timnath-heres, 66, 67 Timnath-serah (Jos. 24^^ ip^o), 66, 67 10^ Tob, District of, Tola, judge, clan of Issachar, Tomb of Jephthah, Joshua, Minor Judges, Samson, Torches, Torture, Tower, of Shechem, at Thebez, Treasure, in temples. Trees, sacred, see Holy trees. Tribute, " Tribute " (i28 &c), see Corvee Tubania, Tubas, 285, 286 272 270 66, 67 f. I02.5 12IO. 12. 15 208 f., 210 225, 226 264 267 242 93 f- 200 267 U Upper story, 96, 97 f. Urim and Thummim, 382 Vernes, M., on Jud. 5, 130 f. Versions, anct., of Judges, Introd. § 8, xliv ff. Vintage festival, at Shechem, 92' Shiloh, 2ii9 Vow, Jephthah's, 299, 301 f, 304 W Watches of the night, 209 Way of Yahweh, 75 f. Weaving, 354 Weeping, before Yahweh, 432, 445 Wilderness, of Benjamin, 440, 444 of Judah, 32 Wine, 247, 316 f. libations, 247 f. Wine press, 184 "Withes," 35^ Yahweh, the God of Israel, 134 proprietor {bdal')^ king (nielek)^ god of war, his ancient seats, adoption of the religion at Horeb, 134 proper names comp. with, Yalo, Aijalon, Yebla, 210, 294 195 230, 235 120 134, 139 f- 179 377 53 46 " Zaanaim," plain of, Zalmon, Mt., Zalmunna, Zaphon, Zebah, Zebul, Zebulun, Zeeb, Zeeb's Press, Zephath, Zer'in, Zerqa, Nahr, Zib, Achzib, Zorah, 49. 121 265 218, 219 f. 306 218, 219 f. 258 115. 156 214 f. 35 f. 197 290 f. 49,51 315,316 II. HEBREW WORDS AND FORMS. n3K with negative, refuse. PAGE 292 236 DIN human kind, other men, 1N in disjunctive question, "iPN a certain. PAGE 353 397 316 INDEX 465 iT^bipN watch of the night, 210 f. nwii 5^8, 169 n-i-^'N X, 86 f., 192 f. nntt'x late plur., 87 nx before a nominative, 443 nx prep., not instrumental, 220 2 in the character of, 152, 164, 303 partitive, 328 2 and D before infinitive in ex- pressions of time, 420 |ri3 plural of, 19 1^12, 'Z'}2 -\a 243 ryh^H 818, where, 228 Sx no, '7x110 434 Sn-iC'"' ^>h never indefinite, 207 Xi'7D n>3 244 :3>i t»n 307 D>n3y no 182 "IN restrictive, loi, 211 SpJ^a etymology, 419 nSx, nSvV, pSx, &c.. 121 f. SSa.VSa 417 D-icnn D-'n'^N 5^, 147 S^Sa "ija Greek renderings, 419 f|SN branch of a tribe, 187 p:yr\ >:2 39 rSx 357 -iV? lOI DN in an oath. 147 D^Sya meaning of the plur. 70 DN fMTJTpSiroXlS, 25, of. 144 i<''T]r\ np 298 IIDX, TiDX 358 p|DD JJX2 51^, gain. 160 T ■ ■: 381 D>j;?x3 4I1, D''jjj;x:3 121 TifiX 380 f. nna bar, 351 •"O DflN 118 nna etymology, 74 f. PJ-|N 234 nn2 niD 61 mn-)x caravans, 144 2 1^3 52, 138 Dnnj_ nnx 89 D'^:p-\n 8'', Arab, berqan^ a Cen- mx 164 taurea, 220 tytra 170 n ■\2ii man, 170 Mj of Israel, 74 S"\u 13 nSjSj 70, 269 rhx TuXad, ToWady 30 D-iD nSj, niSy 'J, n-innn 'j, Ca- naanite proper names of places, 30 DJ cumulative use, 141 inj 3^^, a measure less than a cubit, 94 pj 199 n^j 160 466 INDEX 'S«3 \JTN3 nan '^D 2^ ^y nan nn. 522, pm nS"'S-\ the name, "TIT with a genitive, PAGE 243 410 161 73 365 425 223 243 295 438 443 47 285 f. n ON ... n in disjunct, question, pCNH anomalous construction, n-'jn Hebr. and Aram, usage, ^m^ 20*3, ytfin deliver /r<7;«, construction, 281 f. ^nSnnn 249 cnnn, ty-innn 350 '•rzf'D^r], •>jty"«Dn i626, 361 r?n, 2"? ran 309 Vn^n 303 nSh question importing emphatic affirmation, 117, 170 256 f., cf. 360 189 256 f., 360 337> 426 161 165 rSn SSn dSn D'r'n -T cSdv ninSn 528, Dcn cause a panic (God), 122 njn of unexpected coincidence, 124 f., 303 n^:n 361 ippjri 20^1, unassimilated n, 438 oycn 343 PAGE nrn oj'fDn gender of D;;i3 363 jvsn 203, 234 3nn 20^^, transcriptional error, 441 f. tinnn 20*^, 442 f. j^nn shout in alarm, 212 onDN 2^vn 170 "[Sinn go their several ways(?), 454 nnnDnn loi, 412 'Voa h^ynn 420 li^isnn and cognate forms, 430 1 1 adversative after a negative clause, 416 " explicative," 212, 267 f., 269, 435 nr)tt'''X"i 12^, error in many edd., 308 '^^^] 357 h21^ 1921, error of some edd., .1 417 Tl (■>"'0 ^99 nc'n 254 l>nm 9^3^ 269 nr ? jn 453 Sin 144 INDEX 46; S-in Kd, PAGE 453 ppin 148 nin 275 nan 453 iSn 166 T : v 165 Don with obj. gen., 254 DTinDH linn [5I6, 346 Dwm 206 Di>n nun 19^ 412 aS '>p_pn 157 D^n 35.36 D^n 54. 225, 339 □"•nn confused in Greek with D>n3, 43 tnh (cf. inn 156), 33 to aito inf., inf. abs.j ptcp., 262 360 297 297 aito adj., as pred. often uninflected, 217 NDta of prohibited animal kinds, 318 >lt3 346 hn> Hiph., 32> 528, DiStt' nint T 0>D'' the sea, nns\ SxnnD'' T : • N-i"" two constructions combined, nn. 513, '\:vy^ 14I5, infin., 47 169 189 321 158 125 285 195 196 152 337 IT"" with suffix, participial pred., 199 in> pin, for beating up in weav- ing. 353 f- nn"> bowstring, 353 D before inf. in expressions of time, 420 ■i^ jar, 210 r^^^ 88 HTDi nb dissimilation, 391 DN ij after an oath, &c., 343 P ^]} O 189 nn;? 13 apodosis of ^h, 454, cf. 325 h>h2 442 Dn-iDa r^'iDs 228 PJ3 104 ?yj3 81 ND3 98 ny^ (see nny o) 325, 454 j^:! d;!? 15^ 343 yn3 166, cf. 303 nna n-\D 61 a no 225 nnp 20'^8^ 442 S with the passive, 377 nS erroneously, for nS, i'?, 453 f. naS without suffix, 203 ncn N13S 82 T-: z>2h of seizure by a spirit, 198 •i'? 228, 325, 453 NiS 'priest,' in S. Arabic inscript., 384 ■•iS etymology and usage, 384 f. nV-iS 339 an'- 5^ 147 468 INDEX PAGE PAGE Din^^ annually, 386 Dp corvee, 47 TjS imperat. of ^'?^ 416 noDD 375» 377 f- T?'; i»'. 289 N10DD 416 f. nj? . . . pS 425 nsiDD recounting, narration, 207 IpcS ^vith inf^ 78 T'i;?D 193 3in >oS 3 43 D-'jjiyD 262 T-isS torch, 210 nSyp ascent, pass, 225 noS 363 nnyp 20^3, prob. error, 438 PP^ 203 nD-\;;D 6^6, 193 CNiS per capita, 170 nw;?'? N^SflD 324 f. Dvh ('ki*^'^) pronunciation, 391 NXD suffice, 158 448 D a-xp 244 np 5^^ 148 n>:«p substitutions for, 244 DHN nn aposiopesis(?), 393 n-nxD 180 -["'I >h HD 292 nsxp, nsxp 289 J1D 141 naDiD 122 nniD 318 p-\D 188 PDi"! ma 448 PNC'p fire signal, irvpaSs, 442 ym 166 liTD military use, 118 cxxno 5I1, 148 IDT aotyn 448 pns 165 f. njyB>D 189 D\7|-'no 5IS 153 nnott'D 316 |n> ">D different constructions of, 258 D^nott'D 5!^ 157 'av : • 322 ohp, ono 444 D"'D''D 289 pnn 250 n::>D> d^d^d 303 3 rriDD mortar, n. pr., 347 I?*^? 185 \:^M of hostile approach, 435 n^Sd 244 onmj remainder. 453 HDiSc, •'DiS?:, imperative. 24s > 250 ■i^n^ 5^ •"'''JJ 141 idSd ox goad, 106 ajj ring. 233 IJ09 masc. suff. for fem., 303 Dvn nitoj 412 nnnjo 6''^, 180 niD^taj 233 nmj2 20<8, n. pr., 443 ntoj 141 nnjp 187 nyjj 357 f- "jp for ]p, 152 VdJ, Sp3 lOI, 1 66, 206, 223 INDEX 469 mxVfij PAGE 185 y)]} give counsel, PAGE 421 ^£3: Kal. 211 ^'v 269 3XJ hilt of a dirk, 98 n^]) unusual sense, 75 'Sd p n,?: 343 n^y, '\P 125, 225 ncN Ntrj 454 "^y. 275 y2\i^i swear not to do something, n"" "?;; 298 how expressed, 345 o^V 92 latt'j 453 ^:si h]} topographical, 300, 351 nnj cut up a carcase, 421 ^M 97 |nj anomalous form, 353 m^V;; 217 Dy soldiery, esp. footmen. 262 D "•JijS nnv of priestly ministry hy nny 435 195 1330 Niph. with accus.. 419 hny 282 ni3'>aD adv. accus., 210 D^Scy 165 D^jnD 337 dmjd;; 152 f. nmo imperat.: accent. 125 Pd; 37 f-, 38 f. NiD^D the name. 112 njj? ravish, 419 f. ho 188 pjy 39 "i;?D 195-8, 412 •^?? 18', 392 I^S "i;;d 412 "^i?t 298 I^PD 343 mx r\vy 187 SflD 164 •^•^'i HB'y 386 ifib 26f., 153, cf • 151 1^ HNID 273 ^ D'tma 244 h "i3y prob. error, 70 mh^D 236 I3j; with accus.. 300 in!i'jS"i£3 abnormal suffix. 419 :3 -i3y 256, Sx 300, V;? 254 ^^^? 322 nn3 "13); and equivalents. 75 nuVo, d^jSd 157 pSj;j 92 337 njps 269 np with infin.. lOI hy2)Q in Phoen. inscript., 223 clauses after, 350 njD 420 iriN "ly 122 Snud 223 ipan njj 196 nu3 principal men, 425 HDJ 1J7 416 -DD 375. 377 nng 425 plur. D-'S-'DD 97 470 INDEX PAGE PAGE d;*d verb, 326 niDTi|? 267 U';t, c>fln 199 343 ,363 npnp 223 357 412 n prno 144 ,148 vn-\ military sense, 210 M"!?' 'I"?? 17 ^nnn . . . ai sompar. with infin. , 203 yic, niyiD 138 n3i 258 1*?? 453 -n not colloquial perf. of I'^N 416 toK'D (^N, S;;) 260, 441 n-in 333 nPD adv. accus preferred to m-\ 217 nnfij, ^ 420 nin> nn 198 139 170 i'3X, D"iy3X 170 3>n 297 °'1? 61 f. Sx 3n 195 453; '' an 195 pix SuSu/c, god, 16 D^pn 244 nipix 148 ■"nS HDT 346 pnx 360 ^v: 339 nnns colour adj. i 148 ■^r\>y\ 303 ':>^'?s 206 HOT 217 d'^x in inscript. from Teima, 220 Dvn nai 412 jTip'^i Midianite name, 220 P"^ 78, 303» 339 ,417 nyi 29 125 HDi-^n 171 i"'j;s minor natu, 187 pD'i 307 ^ -\STi 203 VT 141 nn;c 266 □^jini^ 228 on:( 259 f. HDIU' 267 m>v 148 P D^v set up an idol, 402 D"'pnp 160 uv^ D^iy 236 tf-ip 36 nbE' 267 Snp 425 HD^nc' 125 D^XIp 220 nnyi^, nnjffer 431 rv 289 ^i:' 218 f. 258 ^xp with VDi 282 Ti-iiy 152 rx-^? infin., 217 pits' 353 INDEX 471 \u PAGE \qy^ 103 f. tt' sound of, 309 ptt'DtJ' 326, 365 tt' relative, 5" 61"^ 712 826, 144. 187 D^Diy 73 nino Sxa' &c., 13 434 ;'D!y III rv^yyi? 448 nSytyo 54 toity 153 lyti' 262 p>ja ito^u' 430 too::' xi f., 88, 89 -»3C' 152 Dinoo' 157 n^tt' interpretation, 207 n W?^ 171 T-: 328 f. nV'i'i' 166 ?i? 416 SyiB* 54 ySin cochineal. 273 IflW 103 nin 42 •>?.>? 317 ,318 t:'n'»n 250 Stt* (?) on a stone weight, 145 Din njDn, n-iD njDn 67 nSu' various spelling, 448 nnjDn 328 t^Ni rhv 21 inn 114 19 n:n 148 cnSty 435 njn lament. 303 f- a-in 'iSa' 223 t]n tambourine, 303 tt'lDDH DB' 322 T :t 259 nj;? p ■UDtt' 106 DiQnn 380, 381 f. III. GRAMMATICAL OBSERVATIONS. PAGE PAGE Abbreviations in Hebrew, Apposition, of genus and species. 114 121,415 416 to dependent genitive. 29 Accent, varied for rhythm, 151 to governing noun. 29 Accus., absol. object, double, 126 ,333 of verbs, 267 qualified by adj., 448 Article, before constr. state, 223 adv., of specification, 19 idiomatic use of, 205, ^-iZ 319 double, after vb. of dividing. 210 Asyndeton, 164, 397 after vb. ' satisfy, support,' 412 Affirmative and neg. coordinated Casus pendnis, 16s for emphasis. 337 Circumstantial clause, Alliteration, 152 124, 125 f., 185, 302, 321 Annexation, suspended. 419 postponed, III 472 INDEX Circumstantial clause, anteposed, 346 Cognate subject, ptcp., 300 Cognate object, 233 Concord, of subj. and pred., 220 Conditional sentences, 289, 357 (see also Tenses.) Construct state, suspended, 161, 419 before prep, and genit., 223 Contamination of signification, 337 Correlative clauses, bidding and promise, 13 Discord of gender, masc. suff. for fem., 303, 419, 451 n., 453 of number, 121, 321, 328 Disjunctive question, 243, 337, 397 Distributive suffix, 267 Doubling of a mute lost, 217 Energetic mood (" voluntative "), 258 Exclamatory sentence of one member, 211 Feminine in names of callings, titles, &c., 138 Finite verb, continuing inf. with change of subj., 442 Genitive, after proper nouns, 189 two gen. dependent on one noun, 19, 215 (see also Annexation.) Gentile adj., use of art. with, 32 Hiphil of sense-perception, 353 Ilypotheticals, tenses in, see Tenses. i, okl ending of 2 sg. fem. perf., 145 pron. 2 sg. fem., 145, 377 Imperfect, energ., in consec. tense, 182 frecjuentative, 1 70 Infin. abs., Niph., from perf. stem, 297 f., 442 PAGE Infin. abs., continuing finite vb., 211 at the beginning of a sentence without emphasis, 249 Infinitive, subj. in nominative, 244 in direct regimen, 217 gerundial, 73, 76 with negative, 77 Jussive, second pers.. 161 Letters above the line, 400, 401 f. Locative ending, mistaken for fem., 295 Meiosis, Mixed forms. 158 318 Nominal sentence, parenthetic, 24 Nouns formed with affixed n, 121 Numerals, irreg. construction, 223 Object, absolute, see Accusative, cognate, 233 concomitant, 308 double, see Accusative. Object clause without conjunction, 267 Parataxis, 185 Participle, circumstantial. 219 Passive, direct obj. in accus., 195 Patrial adj., from fem. nouns. 343 Perfect, of fixed resolve. 377 in exclamatory questions, 249 in urgent entreaty. 289 consec, not gram, subordinate > 350 after temporal clause. 220 Piska, 60 f. Plural, internal. 298 in Senjerli inscript., 153 n. Pregnant construction, 333 Protasis, triple, 251 Relative clause, without rel. pron., 430 pronominal complement omitted, 122 INDEX 473 PAGE Subject, cognate (ptcp.), 300 Suffix, reflexive, 170, 196, 203 Superlative, 164 Tenses, in hypothesis contrary to reality, 228 in continued hypothesis, 125 PAGE Tenses, sequence of, 73, 357 (see also Perf., Imperf.) utty old ending of impf. pre- served, 195 uty ending of abstract nouns, 165 IV. PASSAGES INCIDENTALLY DISCUSSED. PAGE PAGE Exod. 32I 142 I Sam. 921 430 Num. 12^ 88 13^ 1321 399 1754 20 21I 36 2 Sam. 23U 345 2i26b(5 300 f. 245 300 31 44S>447 I Kings 4I2 213 n. 3234 300 746 212 f. 32-39. 41. 42 5 141^- 142 Josh. 10 15I8 86 Il3 81 i8i9 86 III-9 109 2 Kings 927 46 ,32 47 n. 21? 86 13* 51 n. 23^ 86 I3I3 6 25I9 153 1313-19 5»23 I Chron. 528 82 1563 5,20 2 Chron. I5I6 86 1 610 5 Isaiah I026 214 1711 46 I9i« 54 1711-13 5» 43» 47 23I3 142 1714-18 5 Jeremiah 52^5 153 1929 49 U 51 Hosea 9« io9 405 f. 1930 49 Psalm 687 266 n. 1947 6 689 142 2428-30 4, lo, 65, 67 Job 618. 19 144 474 INDEX ABBREVIATIONS.' AV, Authorized English Ver- DB.^DB'^. , Dictionary of the Bible, sion, i6ii. edited by W. Smith, ist Ba., Johannes Bachmann. ed. 1863, 3 vols.; vol. i. Bad^v Badeker (Socin-Benzin- 2d ed. 1893. ger), Palastina und Sy- De., Franz Dehtzsch. rien, 3d ed. 1891. Di., August Dillmann. BB., Bar Bahlul. Doom., A. van Doorninck. BDB., Hebrew and English Lexi- Dr., S. R. Driver; Dr^., He- con of the Old Testa- brew Tenses, 3d ed. ment, &c. ; edited by 1892. F. Brown, S. R. Driver, EV., English Versions (AV. and andC. A.Briggs, i89iff. RV.). Be., Ernst Bertheau. Ew., Heinrich Ewald. Bi., Gustav Bickell. Ff., Church Fathers. Bl., Friedrich Bleek. Fl. Jos., Flavius Josephus, ed. BL., Bibel-Lexikon, ed. by D. Niese, 1887-1895. Schenkel, 5 vols., 1869- GAT., E. Reuss, Geschichte des 1875. Alten Testaments, 1881; BSZ., Gesenius' Handworterbuch 2d ed. 1890. fiber das Alte Testa- Ges.26, Gesenius' Hebraische ment; 12 ed. by Buhl, Grammatik, 25th ed., by with the assistance of So- E. Kautzsch, 1889. cin and Zimmern, 1895. Ges. Thes. , Gesenius, Thesaurus lin- Bo., Fried. Botticher, Ausfiihr- guae Hebraeae et Chal- liches Lehrbuch der daeae V. T., 1829-1858. hebraischen Sprache, 2 GdH., K. Kittel, Geschichte dec vols., 1866, 1868. Hebraer, i. i, 2, 1888, Bu, Karl Budde. 1892. Cass., Paulus Cassel. GjV., E. Schurer, Geschichte des CIL., Corpus Inscriptionum La- judischen Volkes im tinarum. Zeitalter Jesu Christi, 2 CIS., Corpus Inscriptionum Se- vols., 1 886- 1 890. miticarum. GVL, Geschichte des Volkes Co., C. H. CornUl. Israel (Ewald, 2d and COT., E. Schrader, The Cunei- 3d ed., 1 864- 1 868, 8 form Inscriptions and the vols. ; Hitzig, 1 869 ; Old Testament, 1888. Stade, 1887 f., 2 vols.). * See Preface, p. viii. Abbreviations which are in common use, such as the names of classic authors and Church Fathers and the titles of theiif works, are not included. INDEX 475 IICO'.^ Kuenen, Ilistoiisch-cri- tiscli Onderzoek, enz., vol. i. 2d ed. 1885, 1887. (//A'6>i. 1861-1865.) HI., Ewald, History of Israel. (Translation of GVI. ) IIIVB. , I landworterbuch des Bibli- schen Altertunis, ed. by E. Riehni, 1st ed. 1884; 2d ed. 1 893-1 894 (cited throughout from the lirst edition). JBL., Journal of Biblical Litera- ture. KAT\, E. Schrader, Die Keilin- schriften und das Alte Testament, 2d ed. 1883. Ke., C. F. Keil. Ki., David Kimchi. Kitt., K. Kittel. Klo., or Klost., August Klostermann. Kn., August Knobel. Ko., F. E. Konig, Lehrgebaude der hebraischen Sprache, i. 1 88 1; ii. 1895; Einlei- tung in das A. T., 1893. Kue., A. Kuenen. a Lap., Cornelius a Lapide. Lth., or Luth., Luther. Mas., Andreas Masius. Mei., Ernst Meier. Mey., Eduard Meyer. MH., Mishnic Hebrew; the language of the Mishna, Tosephta, Midrashim, and considerable parts of the Talmud; often called, not very felici- tously, "New Hebrew." MV., Gesenius' Handworter- buch, 8th-iith eds. by Muhlau and Volck. NDJ. , Dillmann, Numeri, Deu- teronomium, und Josua, 1886. No., Thcodor Ncildeke. 01., Justus ( Mshauscn, Lehr- buch der hebraischen Sprache, 1 86 1. osK Onomastica Sacra, ed. Lagarde; 2d ed. 1887. PA OS., Proceedings of the Ameri- can Oriental Society. PER Qu St., Palestine Exploration Fund, (Quarterly State- ments. PRE^., Real-Encyclopaedie fiir protestantische Theolo- gie und Kirche, 2(1 ed. 1877-1888. PSBA., Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeol- ogy. Ra., Rashi. KEJ., Revue des etudes juives. RLbG., Rabl)i Levi ben Gerson. Rob., BR'~ ., Edward Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, &c., 2d.ed. Boston, i860. 3 vols. Ro., or Roed., E. Roediger. RP., Records of the Past. RV., Revised English Version, 1885. Schm., Sebastian Schmid. SS., Hebraisches Worterbuch zum Alten Testamente, by C. Siegfried and B. Stade, 1893. Sta., Bernhard Stade, Lehrbuch der hebraischen Gram- matik, 1879. SWP., Survey of Western Pales- tine. TBS., Wellhausen, Der Text der Biicher Samuelis, 1 87 1. Driver, Notes on the He- brew Text of the Books of Samuel, i8yo. Thdt., Theodoret. 476 INDEX Thl.Z., Th T. Tr.-Jun., Vat., We., Theologische Literatur- zeitung. Theologisch Tijdschrift, Trein el li us- Junius. "^'atablus (the annotations printed by Robert Ste- phens and included in Critici Sacri under the name of Vatablus). Julius Wellhausen; We., Conip. , Die Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Biicher, 1889. ZATW., Zeitschrift fiir die alttesta- mentliche Wissenschaft. ZDMG., Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Ge- sellschaft. ZDPV., Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins. ZIV Th., Zeitschri ft fiir wissenschaft- liche Theologie. SIGNATURES FOR THE HEBREW TEXT AND VERSIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Hebrew consonant text. |^J"*^" |j|s:im. Jewish and Samaritan re- censions of the Pentateuch. ftl Massoretic text, with vowels and accents. (5 Greek versions : (!5-^^ &c,, see § 8. 'A Aquila; S Symmachus; 9 Theo- dotion. I 01(1 Latin (pre-Hieronymian) ; \ Coptic-Sahidic ; e Ethiopic ; n S Hexaplar Syriac; made from the Greek (see § 8). Latin version of St. Jerome. Syriac version (Peshitto) : ^•''^^ &c., see § 8. Arabic version, made from the Syriac. Targum: ®ven. 1 ^^c., see §8. SP*^""- Jerusalem Targums. gbe Unternational ZTbeoIoQical Xibrar^ ^dited by Professor Charles A. Briggs, D.D., and Professor Stewart D. F. Salmond, D.D. EDITORS' PREFACE Theology has made great and rapid advances in recent years. New lines of investigation have been opened up, fresh light has been cast upon many subjects of the deepest interest, and the historical method has been applied with important results. This has prepared the way for a Library of Theological Science, and has created the demand for it. It has also made it at once opportune and practicable now to secure the services of special- ists in the different departments of Theology, and to associate them in an enterprise which will furnish a record of Theo- logical inquiry up to date. This Library is designed to cover the whole field of Chris- tian Theology. Each volume is to be complete in itself, while, at the same time, it will form part of a carefully planned whole. One of the Editors is to prepare a volume of Theo- logical Encyclopaedia which will give the history and literature of each department, as well as of Theology as a whole. The Library is intended to form a series of Text-Books for Students of Theology. The Authors, therefore, aim at conciseness and compactness of statement. At the same time, they have in view that large and increasing class of students, in other departments of inquiry, who desire to have a systematic and thorough ex- position of Theological Science. Technical matters will there- fore be thrown into the form of notes, and the text will be made as readable and attractive as possible. The Library is international and interconfessional. It will be conducted in a catholic spirit, and in the interests of Theo- logy as a science. Its aim will be to give full and impartial statements both of Zbc Unternational ZhcolOQical Xibrar^ the results of Theological Science and of the questions which are still at issue in the different departments. The Authors will be scholars of recognized reputation in the several branches of study assigned to them. They will be associated with each other and with the Editors in the effort to provide a series of volumes which may adequately represent the present condition of investigation, and indicate the way for further progress. CHARLES A. BRIGGS. STEWART D. F. SALMOND. NOW R^ADY An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. By Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. Crown 8vo, 558 pages, 82.50 nei. Christian Ethics. By Newman Smyth, D.D. Crown 8vo, 508 pages, $2.50 7/^/. Apologetics. By A. B. Bruce, D.D., Professor of New Testament Exegesis, Free Church College, Glasgow, Crown Svo, 528 pages, 82.50 nei. The prices of these books being ut^ are not subject to the usual clergy- man's discount. T^e following Volumes are in preparation: THEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. By A. B. Davidson, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Hebrew, New College, Edinburgh. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE OP THE NEW TESTA- MENT. By S. D. F. Salmond, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology and New Testa- ment Exegesis, Free Church College, Aberdeen. CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. By Francis Brown, D.D. , Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages, Union Theological Semi- nary, New York. HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. By G. P. Fisher, D.D., LL.D., Pro- fessor of Ecclesiastical History, Yale University. COMPARATIVE RELIGION. By A. M. Fairbairn, D.D., Principal of Mansfield College. Oxford. SYMBOLICS. By Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Church History, Union Theological Seminary, New York. PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. By Robert Flint, D.D., LL.D.. Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. By A. V. G. Allbtj, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiasti- cal History, Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass. THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. By Arthur C. McGiffekt, Ph.D., Professor of Church History, Lauo Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. gbe TInternational g:beological Xibrar^ A NEW VOLUME JUST READY APOLOGETICS Or, Christianity Defensively Stated By ALEXANDER BALHAIN BRUCE, D.D. Professor of Apologetics and New Testament Exegesis, Free Church C'.ileRf, Glasgow Author of " The Training of the Twelve." " The Humiliation of Christ" " The Kingdom of God," etc. I volume, 528 pages, crown 8vo, $2,50 net This price being nci is not subject to the usual clergyman's discount Charles Scribners Sons, Publishers pROFESSOR BRUCE'S work is not an abstract treatise •'■ on Apologetics, but an apologetic presentation of the Christian faith, with reference to whatever in our iutellectual environment makes faith difficult at the present time. It addresses itself to men whose sympathies are with Chris- tianity and discusses the topics of pressing concern, the burning questions of the time, and is offered as an aid to faith rather than a buttress of received belief and an armory of weapons for the orthodox defender of the faith. CONTENTS Introduction. I. Historical Sketch. II. The Functions and Method of Apologetic. Book I. Theories of the Universe, Christian and Anti-Christian. I. The Christian Facts. II. The Christian Theory of the Universe. III. The Pantheistic Theory. IV. The Materialistic Theory. V. The Deistic Theory. VI. Modern Speculative Theism. VII. Agnosticism. Book II. The Historical Preparation for Christianity. I. The Sources. XL The Religion of the Prophets. III. The Prophetic Idea of Israel's Vocation and History. IV. Mosaism. V. Prophetism VI. Prophetic Optimism. VII. Judaism. VIII. The Night of Legalism. IX. The Old Testament Literature. X. The Defects of the Old Testament Religion and its Literature. Book III. The Christian Origins. I. Jesus. II. Jesus as the Christ. III. Jesus as Founder of the Kingdom of God. IV. Jesus Risen. V. Jesus Lord. VI. Paul. VII. Primitive Christianity VIII, The Synoptical Gospels IX. The Fourth Gospel. X. The Light of the World. {Tbc llnternational ^beological library AN INTRODUCTION TO The Literature of the Old Testament By Prof. 5. R. DRIVER, D.D. Canon of Christ Church, Oxford Crown 8vo, 558 pages, $2,50 net Dr. Driver's volume is not in the sphere of history or of theology, but is a critical account of the contents and structure of the several books of the Old Testament, considered as Heorew literature, pre-sup- posing their inspiration, but seeking to determine the precise import and scope of the several writings by the means of critical research and inductive evidence and in this way to reach definite conclusions as far as possible, with regard to the structure and relations of the differ- ent parts of the Old Testament. The character of this discussion is in accord with the general nature of scientific critical research in its more modern aspects, but Prof. Driver's treatise is in every regard reverent and in harmony with the spiritual, but at the same time soundly philosophical, views of the best Christian scholars of our day. " It is the most scholarly and critical work in the English language on the literature of the Old Testament, and fully up to the present state of research in Germany."— Prof. Philip Schaff, D.D. "Canon Driver has arranged his material excellently, is succinct without being hurried or unclear, and treats the various critical problems involved with admirable fairness and good judgment." — Prof. C. H. Toy. " His judgment is singularly fair, calm, unbiassed, and independent. It is also thoroughly reverential. . . . The service, which his book will render in the present confusion of mind on this great subject, can scarcely be overestimated " — TAe London Times. " As a whole, there is probably no book in the English language equal to this ' Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament ' for the student who desires to understand what the modern criticism ihi?iks about the Bible." —Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the Christian Union. " The book is one worthy of its subject, thorough in its treatment, reverent in its tone, sympathetic in its estimate, frank in its recognition of difficulties, conserv- ative (in the best sense of the word) in its statement of results." —Prof. Henry P. Smith, in the Magazine of Christian Literature. " In working out his method our author takes up each book in order and goes through it with marvelous and microscopic care. Every verse, every clause, word by word, is sifted and weighed, and its place in the literary organism decided upon." — The Presbyterian Quarterly. ZTbe llnternational ^beological library " It contains just that presentation of the results of Old Testament criticism for which English readers in this department have been waiting. . . . The whole book is excellent ; it will be found helpful, characterized as it is all through by that scholarly poise of mind which, when it does not know is not ashamerl to present degrees of probability." — New World. " While my opinions differ widely from his, I am delighted with the book. It is a full and compact presentation of the views now held by many able scholars. Alike for them and for their opponents it is desirable to have just such a clear pres- entation of the matter placed within reach." — Prof. Willis J Beecher, Auburn Theological Seminary. " . . . Canon Driver's book is characterized throughout by thorough Chris- tian scholarship, faithful research, caution in the expression of mere opinions, candor in the statement of facts and of the necessary inferences from them, and the devout recognition of the divine inworking m the religious life of the Hebrews, and of the tokens of divine inspiration in the literature which records and embodies it." — Dr. A P. Peabody, in the Cambridge Tribune. " To faith m divine revelation and profound reverence for the Bible as the record of that revelation he joins a broad, general scholarship, a thorough knowl- edge of the Hebrew language, an intimate familiarity with every part of the ('Id Testament, a well balanced judgment that knows how to discriminate between the certain and the merely probable, a strong love of truth, and a calm courage in getting it forth." — Reformed Quarterly Review. CHRISTIAN ETHICS By NEWMAN SMYTH, D.D., New Haven Crown 8vo, 508 pages, $2.50 net Dr. Smyth's volume fills a gap in English ethical literature, as it aims to give a scientific and complete account of the ethics of the Chris- tian consciousness and life. The application of ethics to the individual duties and social problems of modern life and the authority of the Bible are among the specially interesting aspects of the discussion. The volume is a worthy successor of Prof. Driver's " Literature of the Old Testament," the remarkably successful initial volume in this new Library. "It is by no means a dry disquisition on ethics in general, presenting those views of life and duty which the heathen might share with the Christian, Imi it recognizes Christianity as a power in the world, having its own standard of right, and using means for the realization of its ideal in human souls and- in human conduct." — The Journal and Messenger. ZTbe llntcrnational ZhcolOQXcnl Xibrarig "As this book is the latest so it is the fullest and most attractive treat- ment of the subject that we are familiar with. Patient and exhaustive in its method of inquiry, and stimulating and suggestive in the topic it handles, we are confident that it will be a help to the task of the moral understanding and interpretation of human life." — T/ie Living Church. " This work of Dr. Smyth is worthy of careful perusal, while it is com- prehensive, it is developed from a central idea. It is also thoroughly, often practically, finished in the details. Part Second is a very able discussion of practical Christian duties, furnishing, at the same time, many pages adapted to devotional Sunday reading." — Extract fro?n a letter of Rev. George N. Boardman^ D.D. " This book of Dr. Newman Smyth is of extraordinary interest and value. It is an honor to American scholarship and American Christian thinking. It is a work which has been wrought out with remarkable grasp of conception, and power of just analysis, fullness of information, richness of thought, and" affluence of apt and luminous illustration. Its style is singularly clear, simple, facile, and strong. Too much gratification can hardly be expressed at the way the author lifts the whole subject of ethics up out of the slough of mere naturalism into its own place, where it is seen to be illumined by the Christian revelation and vision," — The Advance. ' ' Far from narrowing the subject by the apparant limitation of the title. Christian Ethics, Dr. Smyth has broadened it as one broadens his landscape by ascending to the highest possible point of view. The subjects treated cover the whole field of moral and spiritual relations, theoretical and practical, natur- al and revealed, individual and social, civil and ecclesiastical. To enthrone the personal Christ as the true content of the ethical ideal, to show how this ideal is realized in Christian consciousness and how applied in the varied de* partments of practical life — these are the main objects of the book and no objects could be loftier." — The Congregationalist. " It is a noble book. So far as I know Ethics have hitherto been treated exclusively from a philosophical point of view, as though there were no prophet of the Moral Law whose interpretation of it we accept as final and authorita- tive. In treating Ethics from the Christian point of view Professor Smyth has made a notable contribution both philosophically and practically. His well-balanced statement of the Christian sociological principles, his moderate and well-balanced statement of the relations of the Church to sociological evolution, and his exposition of the duties of an agnostic toward the God who is unknown to him, and yet whose existence is not denied, strike me as among the most admirable features of a book admirable throughout, which I hope may find its way into our Christian schools and seminaries as a text-book." — Extract frotn a letter of Dr. Lytnan Abbott. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. Publishers 743-745 Broadway, New York DATE DUE Demco, Inc. 38-293