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THE BOOK OF JUDGES WITH 21 AP INTRODUCTION AND, NOTES BY y JOHN SUTHERLAND BLACK, M.A. EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. AT THE UNIVERSITY PEESS. LONDON : C. J. CLAY and SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE. 1892 [All liif/Jits rei>erved.\ CTaittbritjge : PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. . CONTENTS. Introduction : page I Title and Subject ^ 5 II Analysis 5 III Date 9 IV Israel under the Judges 9 Text and Notes 13 Index lH *^* The Text adopted in this edition is that of Dr Scrivener's Cambridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the ordinary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the use of italics, will be noticed. In the notes, the renderings of the Kevised Version of 1885 are printed in Clarendon type. ABBREVIATIONS. A.V. Authorised Version of 1611. R.V. Revised Version of 1885. Heb. The original Hebrew. LXX. The Septuagint : (A) Alexandrian text ; (B) Vati- can text ; (LuCi) Lucian's text. Syr. Syriac Version. Vulg. The Vulgate. Lit. Literally. Arabic Geographical Terms : W. or Wady, watercourse, especially of a non- perennial stream. N. or Nahr, perennial stream. .T. or Jebel, mountain. To my friend Professor W. Robertson Smith I am indebted for much advice and assistance generously given at every stage in the preparation of this little work, and very specially in connection with the' notes on chaps, v. and ix. His initials have been appended to some hitherto unpublished emendations of the text which have been suggested by him. J. S. B. 1st Oct., 1892. 1—2 INTRODUCTION. 1. Title and Subject.— The Book of Judges (Heb. shophetim), so called because it has the exploits of the Twelve Judges (see below) for its main subject, comprises along with the first chapters of 1 Samuel the history of Israel from the settlement in Canaan to the establishment of the monarchy under Saul. In its present form it reads as a direct continuation of the Book of Joshua (i. 1: "it came to pass after the death of Joshua"), but has no such direct link of connection either with_the Book of Samuel which follows it in the Hebrew canon or with that of Kuth which succeeds it in the Greek, Latin and English Bibles. We shall see, however, when we proceed to analyse it, that the greater part of the book must once have existed in the form of one or more independent narratives, which were afterwards worked into the continuous series of "the Former Prophets" (Joshua, Judges, Samuel 1 and 2, Kings 1 and 2) by an editorial hand. 2. Analysis.— The main division of the book, viz. the history of the Twelve Judges (from which the whole has its name), ex- tends from ii. 6 to xvi. 31. It is preceded by a short account of the settlement of the Hebrews in Canaan (i. 1— ii. 5) and followed by two Appendices (xvii. 1— xxi. 22). Each of these sections may be considered separately. (rt) The first section (i. 1— ii. 5) gives a summary account of the settlement of Israel in Canaan with a survey of the parts of the land occupied by the Hebrews and those in which the Canaanites continued to hold their own. The siu-vey is not quite complete : i. 1—21 treats of Judah, and incidentally of Simeon and Benjamin; i. 22—29 of Joseph; the following verses (30—36) deal very briefly with Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali and Dan ; and the section closes with a notice of the transference of the ark from Gilgal to Bethel, to which is added, probably by a later hand, an account of a revelation admonishing the people of the evil they have brought on themselves by mingling with the Canaanites: see notes on ii. 1—5. It is important 6 INTRODUCTION. to note that, in spite of ver. 1, ch. i. covers the same ground with the Book of Joshua. "It is impossible to regard the warlike expeditions described in this chapter as supplementary campaigns undertaken after Joshua's death; they are plainly represented as the first efforts of the Israelites to gain a firm footing in the centre of the land (at Hebron, Debir, Bethel), in the very cities which Joshua, in the book that bears his name, is related to have subdued (Josh. x. 39). And this is confirmed by the circumstance that in Judg. ii. 1 the 'angel of Jehovah,' who, according to Ex. xiv. 24, xxiii. 20, xxxii. 34, xxxiii. 2, 7 seq. , must be viewed as having his local manifestation at the headquarters of the host of Israel, is still found at Gilgal and not at Shiloh (Josh, xviii. 1). Here then we have an account of the first settlement of Israel west of the Jordan which is parallel to the book of Joshua, but makes no mention of Joshua himself, and places the tribe of Judah in the front. The author of the chapter cannot have had Joshua or his history in his eye at all, and the passage. Josh. xv. 13 — 19, which corresponds to Judg. i. 10 — 15, 20, is either derived from our chapter, or from an earlier source common to both. It follows from these considerations that the words, ' Now after the death of Joshua' in Judg. i. 1 are from the hand of the editor, who desired to make the whole book of Judges, in- cluding chap, i., read continuously with that which precedes it in the canon of the earlier prophets." It also follows that Judg. i, is drawn from documents of great antiquity and corre- sponding value. From it we learn that the conquest was very partial at first, and that the ultimate subjugation and absorp- tion (rather than extermination) of the Canaanites was not the result of two or three campaigns but the gradual work of centuries (see below, sect. 4). {h) The Tivelre Judges (ii. 6 — xvi. 31). This section may be looked on as a book by itself. It has a plan of its own and a separate Introduction : ii. 6 — iii. 6 (see Connn.). Note how this introduction begins by resuming (ii. 6 — 10) what had been said in Josh, xxiv, 28—31, thus connecting the story of the judges directly with the Book of Joshua, and not with Judges i. 1 — ii. 5 (cp. the similar resumption which connects Ezra with Chronicles; 2 Chr. xxxvi. 22 sq,, Ezra i. 1 — 3). As regards the plan of the section, its most obvious feature — already fore- shadowed in the introduction — is that it represents the history as falling into a succession of periods of foreign oppression (the punishment of tlie people's sin) and of deliverance and pro- sperity under a judge or divinely appointed leader raised up in answer to the people's penitent prayer. Thus : iii. 8, God is angry with Israel, and sells them into the hand of Chushan- Rishathaim ; ver. 9 — 11, they cry to the Lord, who sends INTRODUCTION. 7 Othniel to deliver them, and the land has rest 40 years; ver. 12—14, Israel again does evil and is made to serve the king of Moab 18 years; ver, 15—30, the children of Israel cry unto the Lord, who sends Ehud to deliver them, and the land has rest 80 years. This plan however is strictly carried out only for six oppressions and six judges, according to the follow- ing scheme : OppreKnion Diirfttion Deliverer Period of rest Chushan-Rishathaim 8yrs. Othniel 40 yrs. Moabites 18 „ Ehud 80 ' „ Canaanites 20 „ Deborah and Barak 40 „ Midianites 7 „ Gideon 40 ,, Ammonites 18 „ Jephthah 6 „ Philistines 40 „ Samson [20] ^ „ 111 206 The judges named in this table are commonly called the six greater judges. The names of the other six (the minor judges) are not connected with any vicissitudes of sin, oppression and repentance. They are as follows : Shamsar' Tola 23 Jair 22 Ibzan 7 Elon 10 Abdon 8 70 As the history now reads one would conclude that the whole narrative is consecutive, each new incident being introduced by such words as "and after him" (iii. 31), "and again" (iv. 1), &c. But here the difficulty arises that, according to 1 Kings vi. 1, the entire period, from the exodus to the founda- tion of the temple in Solomon's fourth year, is but 480 years, or 12 generations of 40 years each. But the wilderness wander- ings and the reign of David are two forties ; while the period of Joshua and the elders, and that of Samuel and Saul, though not precisely dated in our texts, cannot be much less than two full generations, thus leaving for the judges but 320 years, minus the four years of Solomon, i.e. 316. This is precisely the sum of the years of the oppressions and the six greater judges, but leaves no room for the minor judges, who thus seem to lie outside the chronological scheme as they also lie 1 Tlie years of Samson are included in "tlie days of tlie Pliilistines:" Judg. XV. 20. 2 Shamgar is not formally called a judge and no period of rule is assigned to liinj. 8 INTRODUCTION. outside the cycle of oppressions and deliverances. From all this it appears that the continuity of the history and chrono- logical data of the book is only apparent. Indeed a careful study of the individual narratives soon shows us that many of the judges had only a limited sphere of influence, so that two or more of them may very well have been contemporaneous. In like manner several of the oppressions touched only a part of the land (see Comm.). It is evident that the compiler of the book had access to a number of traditions, written or unwritten, referring to individual heroes, which had been handed down from generation to generation in the families of the judges, or among their tribesmen, and were doubtless rehearsed from time to time in popular gatherings at the local sanctuaries and else- where. Some of these traditions were told in explanation of ancient poems (Deborah) or of local usages (Jephthah's daughter) ; others were associated with the graves of heroes (x. 2, 5, xii. 7, 10, 12, 15) ; others, like that of Samson, have more the character of popular winter tales. For the most part the compiler set down these stories as he found them ; his own hand shows itself mainly in the " framework," which gives the narrative its apparent unity partly by means of short connect- ing links and partly by larger additions enforcing the religious view of the history as a series of judgments and acts of grace pro- portioned to the people's sin and repentance. Many critics are of opinion that the work of compilation here indicated was not effected by a single hand, but by at least two successive editors, one pre-Deuteronomic, the other Deuteronomistic, i.e. writing after Josiah's reformation (2 K. xxiii.) and under the influence of the Book of Deuteronomy, which then for the first time became the public law of Israel. This however is a question of little importance for the practical understanding of the book ; it is enough for the student to distinguish between the ancient separate narratives and the editorial additions, and to note that the latter are akin in tone and spirit to the exposition of the religious meaning of Israel's history given in Deuteronomy i. (c) Appendices : (1) Micah's sanctuary and the migration of the Danites (xvii., xmi.) ; (2) the crime of Gibeali and its punishment (xix. — xxi.). These narratives are independent of one another and of the ^ According to Prof. Driver "the parts of ii. (5— xvi. 31 wliicli eitlier beloiijc wholly to tlie Deuteronouiic compiler or consist of cleiuents which have been expanded or larjjely recast by him, are -ii. 11—23; iii. 4 --(J; 7-11 (almost entirely: there are no di'lails of Otliniel's judgeship such as constitute the narratives resjiecting Eliud, Harak. etc.) ; 12 15 a ; 30 b ; iv. 1 -3 ; v. 31 b ; vi. 1, 7—10; vii. T> b (probably), 28 b, 33 34, 35 (based on ch. ix.) ; x. 6 -U. 17, IS (based on cii. xi.) ; xiii. 1; xv. 20; xvi. 31. All tliese parts are connected together by a similarity of ione and pliraseology, wliich stamjis tiiem as the work of a different hand from that of tlie author (or authors) of the histories of the Judges themselves" (Iiitroil. to Lit, of Old Test. p. 158). INTEODUCTION. 9 main stock of the book with which they are not brought into chronological connection. They interrupt the history of the Phihstine oppression, which is resumed in the Book of Samuel. "The first narrative, that of Micah and the Danites, belongs to the most primitive strata of the Old Testament history, and is of the highest interest both as a record of the state of religion and for the accurate picture it gives of the way in which one tribe passed from the condition of an invading band into settled possession of land and city. The history of the Levite and the Benjamites is of quite another character, and presupposes a degree of unity of feeling and action among the tribes of Israel which it is not easy to reconcile with the rest of the book. In its present form this episode appears to be not very ancient ; it resembles the Book of Kuth in giving a good deal of curious archaeological detail (the feast of Shiloh) in a form which suggests that the usages referred to were already obsolete when the narrative was composed." 3. Bate. — From what has been said it ajDpears that the Book of Judges contains elements of very various date. The song of Deborah is contemporary with the events to which it refers, and the prose narratives contain many lively traits which must have been derived from eyewitnesses ; while on the other hand the double accounts of such matters as the war with Midian (see Comm.) are most naturally explained as due to fluctuations of oral tradition in the course of generations. To the compiler of the history of the Twelve Judges "the days when there was no king in Israel" belong to the remote past ; and the distance between his point of view and that of the con- stituent narratives is so great as to carry us far down into the period of the Kings. It has been already observed that the re- ligious philosophy of the editorial " framework" resembles that of the Book of Deuteronomy, which points to the period after Josiah's great reformation. The appendix (xviii. 30) refers to the captivity of northern Israel. In its final form in the Canon the Book of Judges is part of a continuous history extending from Joshua to the Babylonian Exile, so that the last editor must have lived after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebu- chadnezzar. 4. Israel under the Judges. (a) Contact with the Canaanites. The conquest of Western Palestine was begun from the east, where after traversing the wilderness the Israelites formed their first settlements. These lay on the pastoral and agricultural table-land between the deep valley of the Jordan on the west and the Syro-arabian desert on the east, and extended as it would seem, in those early days, from the Arnon on the south to the Jabbok on the north (for, according to Judg. x. 4, the permanent settlement of 10 INTRODUCTION. the Manassite clan of Machir to the north of the Jabbok took place after the time of Joshua). Western Palestine was entered by the fords opposite Jericho, and a secure footing soon afterwards established on the hill- country of Joseph, Benjamin and Judah. Here the Israelites occupied an almost insular position, having the Philistines and Canaanites on the maritime plain to the west, the Canaanites in the plain of Esdraelon and valley of the Jordan on the north and east, and the Amalekites or other nomadic peoples on the south. But even this isolated "hill-country" of theirs was almost bisected by a chain of Canaauite possessions (Gezer, Jebus, Ac), and was further broken up by such cities as the Canaanite Shechem in its very heart. On the north of the plain of Esdraelon the Israelites also established an insulated position, having the Canaanites on the south, the Phoenicians on the west, and the Hittites and Syrians (Aramaeans) on the north and east. But here again they had not all their island to themselves ; there were Canaanites every- where among them, and in the territories of Asher and Naphtali these were the numerically predominant element : the Israelites there only "dwelt among the Canaanites" (Judg. i. 32, 33). The Israelite population was most compact in the country of Joseph, But even here we must try not to miss the full force of the expression that "the Canaanites dwelt among them." For the close contiguity meant a continual mutual influence, tending to ever closer assimilation and to the ultimate absorption of the one in the other, — especially after the failure of the last attempt of the Canaanites under Sisera to establish their sovereignty in the land. The final issue was that the Canaanites disappeared in the people of Jehovah ; but this was not fully effected till the days of the kingship, and in the meantime the conquered race had made a deep and ineffaceable mark on its conquerors. In passing from nomadic to settled life the Israelites necessarily learned agriculture, architecture and other arts of a stable society from the earlier inhabitants ; and this could not take place without their being exposed to many subtle influences in the sphere of religion. In all ancient societies that have advanced beyond the nomadic stage husbandry and worship are very closely bound up together, the chief religious occasions being those in which the blessing of heaven is invoked on harvest, vintage, and other seasons of the agricultural year. So it was with the Canaanites, and among the Hebrews in like manner the feasts of the passover and pentecost were in great measure harvest feasts and that of tabernacles associated with the vintage (see note on ix. 27). One sees how readily this circumstance would lead to the adoption of Canaanite INTEODUCTION. 11 religious observances. The ' framework ' of the Book of Judges is full of references to the corrupting influence of Canaanite religion, which it habitually^ expresses by saying that the Israelites forsook Jehovah for the Baalim and Ash- taroth. But we must not suppose that the men of the age of the judges were generally conscious of any deliberate apostasy from the national God. Wholly to abstain from adopting Canaanite forms of worship while accepting the Canaanite system of agriculture, of which certain religious observances formed an integral part, would have required a clearer reli- gious insight than the mass of the people possessed ; and hence a dangerous confusion between the attributes of Jehovah and the Baalim might ensue without any conscious act of apostasy. (b) Belations with surrounding natiojis. Though the record of foreign wars and oppressions fills a considerable space in the Book of Judges, the period between the close of the Canaanite wars and the beginning of the Philistine oppression must in the main have been one of peaceful development. The wars with Amnion and Moab touched but a small part of the country ; and the inroads of the Midiauites were soon checked. Of the Mesopotamian suzerainty we have no details, but only eight years are assigned to it. With the Phoenicians, whose ports formed an outlet for the agricultural produce of Canaan, the Hebrews were habitually in peaceful relations ; and the Syrians on the north-east were not yet formidable neighbours. Of the conditions on the southern frontier we know but little ; it may be presumed that Judah had many struggles with the Amalekites and other southern nomads, but except in chap. i. our book scarcely touches on the history of that tribe, which is not even named in the song of Deborah. (c) Internal Development : social and religious condition. When the Hebrews entered Canaan they were rather a federa- tion of tribes than a compact nation. The tribes were united by the recognition of their common descent, and still more by their common worship of Jehovah ; but, except when the approach of a formidable enemy compelled them to act together, their unity seldom found practical expression and was often overborne by local jealousies. The tribes them- selves were subdivided into clans and local communities, each of which was practically an independent society. This is the true meaning of the so-called anarchy of the period of the judges. We are not to understand that there was no law and order ; for each family had its head, and each community its elders, whose authority, backed by the force of custom, and if necessary by an appeal to the sanctuary, was generally 12 INTRODUCTION. respected. We know from the example of other Semitic societies that a simple pastoral or agricultural community may get on very well in time of peace without a formal executive ; no man can afford to defy the decisions of the elders based on customary law and supported by public opinion. In extreme cases the community claims the right of banishing a member, and acts of gross violence are dealt with by the law of talio or of blood revenge. It is only in time of war that a single leader becomes indispensable and ia invested by general consent with something of kingly autho- rity which a man of wisdom and courage may often retain throughout the whole course of his life. Such leaders were Ehud and Barak, Gideon and Jephthah ; while several of the minor judges were perhaps rather heads of great families, deriving their authority from the distinction of their birth and the number of their relations and dependants. At the beginning of the period of the judges the ark seems to have been at Bethel (see ii. 1, note), while at the close of the same period it was at Shiloh (1 Sam. iv. 3), but it is not expressly mentioned in the Book of Judges save in xx. 27. The worship of Jehovah by altar and sacrifice was in no way restricted to the precincts of the sanctuary of the ark. The worship at various local high-places which continued to be the practice of Israel throughout the monarchy was in free use from the first occupation of Canaan at numerous sanc- tuaries consecrated either by some divine manifestation or by the presence of some sacred object. These sanctuaries were sometimes in private hands (Micah), but in other cases they were common to a whole family or community (Ophrah). Their furniture, we gather, included a mav^eba or sacred pillar (see ix. 6, note) and an ephod or some kind of sacred image (see viii. 27, notes) ; and much importance was attached to the presence of a duly qualified priest, conversant with the traditions of the priestly order. For this kind of service Levites were preferred, but these did not require to be Levitea of the family of Aaron. THE BOOK OF JUDGES. NOW after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the 1 children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them ? And the Loed said, Judah shall go up : behold, I have de- 2 liyered the land into his hand. And Judah said unto Simeon 3 his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. And Judah went up ; 4 and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into Part I. Chap. I, 1— 11. 5. Introductory. The Conquest of Western Canaan. On the relation of this division of the Book of Judges to the narrative of Joshua's conquest in the Book of Joshua, see Introd. 1. asled the Lord] presumably by the priestly oracle or lot of Unm and Thummim (Numb, xxvii. 21) ; cp. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6, where other means of learning the Divine will are mentioned. go up] I.e. from Gilgal in the deep Jordan valley; see note on ii. 1. Canaanites] the people of Western Canaan. On the name Canaanite, see, fm-ther, notes on iii. 3, 5. 2. Judah] The precedence and prominence here and ui xx. 18 assigned to Judah do not appear elsewhere in the Book of Judges; see especially chap. V. the land] not all Canaan, but the land of Judah— his * lot ; see ver. 3, and cp. ver; 27 (" that laud "). 3. wty lot... '■{.!} ■^^^^ "lot" is not a conquered territory assigned to a tribe, but a territory assigned to it to conquer. Contrast Josh. xix. 1. 4—21. Conquest of Southern Canaan by Judah and allies. 4. Perizzites] These were Canaanites, apparently the rural population— those who were scattered up and down the country in villages (perazoth) as distinguished from those who were massed together m towns or "cities." Cp. Hivites, the inhabitants of harroth or [tent] "hamlets" (x. 4). Bezek] As the expedi- tion started from Gilgal this Bezek must have lain between Gilgal and Jenisalem (if it was not Jerusalem itself), and must be care- fully distmguished from the Bezek of 1 Sam. xi. 8, which may per- haps be the modern Ibzik (between Shechem and Beth-shean). It has been thought by some that the words "in Bezek " here and in ver. 5 may have come in by an error, the proper name Adoni-bezek 14 JUDGES, I. 5—9. their hand : and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand r, men. And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. (i But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and 7 caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited me. And 8 they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. y And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in being wrongly taken to mean "lord of Bezek," and this leading to the further assumption that he fought beside his own city. 5. Adoni-hezeh] This is the reading of LXX. also in Josh. x. 1, 3, where the present Hebrew text has " Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem.'" The name Adoni-zedek is similar to Melchizedek, and means "lord of righteousness." It is impossible to say whether Adoni-zedek or Adoni-bezek was the original form of the name of the king who was known to tradition as the first enemy of the Hebrews in that quarter of Palestme. Yer. 7 (see note) perhai>s impUes that Jerusalem was the capital of Adoni-bezek. and they sletc] "We are not to understand a second battle, distinct from that in ver. 4. 6. cut of his thumbs, Sec] So as to make him unfit for war. A similar mutilation, incapacitating a man for auning an an-ow, is mentioned in 1 Sam. xi. 2. In like manner the Athenians are alleged to have cut off the thumbs of their prisoners after their victory over the Aeginetans, so as to unfit them for rowing, 7. Threescore and ten] A round number. But the title 'king' [inelel) was given even to very petty chieftauis. gathered] Comp. Ps. civ. 28; Mt. xv. 27. under mi/ table] A byperbolical expression. Like dogs they fed on his broken meat. they broufjht him] i.e. presumably, his own people, who still held Jerusalem (see next verse). The Israelites therefore seem to have let him go. 8. had f ought... taken. ..smitten] or, rather, fought, took, smote, (RV.) i.e. after tbe death of Adoni-bezek. The uiigramnuitical translation of A.V. is due to its inteiin'etation of ver. 7, according to which it is the victors who bring Adoni-bezek to Jerusalem. From xix. 12, and esi)ecially from 2 Sam. v. 6 — 9, we learn that Jerusalem did not fall into Israelite hands until David's time, and our verse seems to be an anticipatory notice of this victory. See also ver. 21 below. 9. vent doi'-n] The Hebrews, like the Arabs, speak of "going down" into battle with- out necessarily implying descent to lower ground (1 Sam. xxvi. 10; Judg. V. 11). mountain... south. ..rallei/] 1\.\. hill-country... South... lowland. The territory of Judah is in Josh. xv. and elsewhere regarded as divided into four disthict regions : the Negeb JUDGES, I. 10. 15 the south, aucl in the valley. And Judah went against the nt Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron : (now the name of Hebron or South, the Lowland or Shephelah, the Hill-country (Har), and the Wilderness (Midbar). Of these the most extensive and at the same time the least valuable is the Negeb (lit. "Dryness"), con- sisting of all the Judaean territory to the south of (say) 31° 16' N., or "the mountain ridge which commences not far from (the Judaeau) Cannel, and runs W.S.W. to the latitude of Beer-sheba" (Robinson). As the name imphes, it is comparatively waterless, and such vegetation as it has is chiefly seen during the short spring season ; on the south it imperceptibly merges into the stony desert. In ancient tunes it seems to have been more fertile than at present, and at several places there are traces of sedentary populations ; but these can never have been large, and most of the inhabitants were, as all now are, essentially nomadic. The Shephelah or Lowland, the most valuable part of the Judaean territory, remained almost continuously for the greater part of its extent in the hands of the Phihstines. The word is sometimes translated Plain, but not quite correctly ; in point of fact the region is for the most part of a gently undulating character (cp. "the shoulder of the Philistines " : Isa. xi. 14, E.V.). It is very rich in pasture meadows, cornfields, oliveyards, vineyards and gardens, and has a large luunber of towns and villages, ahnost invariably pei-ched on comparatively elevated sites. About l(i or 20 miles from the sea-coast begin the " slopes " (Josh. X. 40, E.V.) which mark the transition from the Shephelah to the Hill-countiy of Judah. The backbone of the Hill-country consists of a limestone ridge, separating the waters flowing to the Mediter- ranean from those which drain eastwards to the Dead Sea; it attains a maximum elevation of over 3,000 feet about Hebron. The hills are sometimes bare, but more often covered with herbage and shrubbery; the lower slopes are admirably adapted for the culture of the vine, and the valleys are often very fertile. The Wilderness of Judah consists of the eastern versant of the central ridge. The descent is very steep, and, except along the crest of the ridge and at a few oases where there are springs near the edge of the Dead Sea, almost absolutely bare and barren. To tliis region belong the wildernesses of Tekoa ('2 Chron. xx. '20), Ziph (1 Sam. xxiii. 14 sq., xxvi. 2), Maon (1 Sam. xxiii. 24 sq.), and En-gedi (1 Sam. xxiv. 1). Of the towns mentioned below, Hebron lay in the hill-counti*y ; Debir is here (ver. 15) reckoned to the south, or Negeb, but in Josh. xv. 49 it is reckoned to the hill-country ; prob- ably it may be taken as approximately marking the border. Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron (ver. 18) were of course in the "lowland." 10. Judah] or, as in Josh. xv. 14, " Caleb," i.e. the Calibbites, a branch of the Kenizzites (see ver. 12). Li ver. 20 Judah gives Hebron to Caleb. Hebron, formerly Kirjath-arba (" city of Arba,'' or perhaps " Fourfold town," comp. Tripolis), now Karyat el-Khalil, i.e. " city of [Abraham] the friend "of God] ," one" of the most famous towns of the Bible, lies in the "hill-country of Judah, 3,000 feet above sea-level, about 18 m. S. bv W. from Jenisalem. 16 JUDGES, I. 11—15. before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sbeshai, and Ahiman, 11 and Talmai. And from thence he went agamst the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before 7cas Kirjath-sepher. 12 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, 13 to him will I give Aclisah my daughter to wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he 14 gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field : and she lighted from off her ass ; and Caleb 15 said unto her, Wliat wilt thou ? And she said unto him, Give According to Nu. xiii. 22 it was founded seven years before Zoaii in Egypt. It is frequently mentioned in the patriarchal history, and was one of the places visited by Caleb and Joshua in their survey of Canaan as spies (Nu. xiii. 22). It is enumerated among the cities of refuge in Josh. xx. 7, and among the priestly cities in Josh. xxi. 11 — 13. As the burial-place of Abraham, it is still sacred both with Jews and with Mohammedans. Comp. with the present passage Josh. xv. 13, 14. A different account of the capture of Hebron is given in Josh, x, 36, 37, where Joshua and all Israel with him are said to have smitten it with the edge of the sword, "its king and all the souls that were therein." Bheshai, etc.] LXX. adds "the sons of Anak." See ver. 20; also Nu. xiii. 22, and Josh. xv. 14. 11. Debir, formerly Kirjath- sepher and Kirjath-saimah (Josh. xv. 49), lay in the hill-country (Josh. XV. 49), or (ver. 15; Josh. xv. 19) in the south, of Judah; its site has not been identified. 12. Caleb] the son of Jephunneh, the prince of the tribe of Judah, whose name occurs so often in the Book of Numbers. Thougli by adoption or naturaliza- tion a memlier of the tribe of Judah, he was by birth a son of Kenaz, i.e. a Kenizzite (Josh. xiv. 6). The Kenizzites are men- tioned m Gen. xv. 19, 20 among the ten alien nationalities whose territory was given to the children of Abraham. They were them- selves descendants of Abraham (through Eliphaz the Edomite; Gen. xxxvi. 11). They ulthnately settled in the Negeb of Palestine, and thougli of Edomite descent became merged in the tribe of Judah. 13. Othniel, son of Kenaz and younger brother of Caleb, was the uncle of Achsah if these tenns of relationship be taken literally. But "son" and "brother" are both used in Hebrew scmiewliat widely; thus, in Gen. xiv. 6, Lot, Abraham's nephew, is sjioken of as his brother. Othniel reappears in iii. 9 as the first of the "judges." He survived all the other elders that outlived Joshua by 48 years. In Josh. x. 38, 39 the capture and destruction of Debir are attributed to all Israel. 14. cowif] i.e. was conducted to her husband in the wedding pro- cession, ahe moved him] A very slight change in tlie Hebrew text gives the LXX, rendering: "he moved [i.e. instigated] her." a field] a tract of land (as a dowry). liifhted] in token of reverence ; cp. Gen. xxiv. (U. a.s.s] cp. v. 10. Horses were fii-st used by the Israelites hi the days of Solomon, and then oiUy JUDGES, I. 10—18. 17 me a blessing : for thou hast given me a south land ; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave lier the upper springs and the nether springs. And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went u; up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad ; and they went and dwelt among the people. And Judah went 17 with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it : and the name of the city was called Horniah. Also Judah took Gaza with the ih coast thei'eof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron for purposes of war. 15. a blessing] i.e. a (parting) present ; op. Gen. xxxiii. 11 ; 2 Kings v. 15. hast f/iven me, etc.] hast set me in the land of the South (R.V.) i.e. in the waterless Negeb. sjjrixgs'] or reservoirs — of course along with the ad- jacent land which they rendered tillable. 16. The Kenites, the branch of the Midianites to which Zipporah the wife of Moses belonged. In part at least they accompanied the Israelites in their journeyings (Nu. x. 29 sq.) and, as we are here told, ultimately settled within the borders of Judah and became merged in that tribe. According to Judg. iv. 11 (cp. note) at a later date there was a branch of the Kenites also near Kedesh within the borders of Naphtali. citi/ of palm trees] i.e. Jericho (Dt. xxxiv. 3). For the capture of Jericho, see Josh. vi. wilderness of Judah] see note on ver. 9. the south of Arad] " the Negeb of [i.e. around] Arad." Arad is the mod. Tell Ai-ad, 18 m. S. from Hebron. among the people] On the evidence of some MSS. of LXX. (cp. 1 Sam. XV. 6) some critics are inclined to read here " among the Amalekites." The Hebrew word for " people " {Uim) is the first two letters of the name Amalek. 17. Zephath, or Hormali (see also Nu. xxi. 3 ; Josh. xv. 30 ; xix. 4), is placed by many modern scholars at the mod. Esb&ta or Sebaita (lat. 30° 52' N., long. 31° 41' E.), 24 m. N.N.E. from 'Ain Kudais (Kadesh). Zephath was "utterly destroj-ed " (lit. "devoted" or "accursed"), whence according to this writer its new name, meanuig "Anathema," "Devotion," "Destruction." The root is the Heb. iirm, the word appUed so often in Josh. vi. to denote persons or thmgs devoted to destruction in honour of Jehovah. In Arabic the same root is used of consecrated things and persons generally — of sanctuaries like the Haram at Jerusalem, or of pilgiims under a vow which temporarily withdraws them from common life (cp. harem). 18. Judah tooh] LXX. has "Judah took not," a reading more in accordance with the facts as stated in ver. 19, and also in Josh, xiii. 2, where the whole country of the Philistines is included in the " very much land " that remained to be possessed after Joshua had finished his conques's. Gaza, the mod. Ghazzah, 2^ m. from the sea-coast, "the last inhabited place on the way from Phoenicia to Egjqjt, at the beginning of the desert " (Arrian), is never otherA\ ise than Philistine in any of the historical books. The same remark JUDGES 2 18 JUDGES, I. 19—22. \9 with the coast thereof. And the Lokd was with Judah ; and he drave out Die inhabitayits 0/ the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had 20 chariots of iron. And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses 21 said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem ; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: applies to AsJcelon or rather Ashkelon, the mod. Askalan, on the sea-coast, 12 m. N. from Gaza, and to Ehron, the mod. 'Akir, the most northerly of the Philistine towns, in 31° 51' '5 N. lat., 5 m. E. from Jabneli (Yebnah) and 9 m. from the sea-coast. The LXX. adds the name of Ashdod to this list. coasC] E.V. border, i.e. territory. 19. mountaiii] R.V. hill-country. See ver. 9, note. valley] or valley land, Heb. ^emek, must here be practically synonymous with Shephelah in ver. 9. chariots of iro)i] not necessarily Avholly of iron, but as contrasted with the rude agricul- tural waggons, such as may still be seen in some parts of modern Europe, of which even the wheels and axles were entirely of wood. They may perhaps have been derived by the Canaanites from the Egyptians (1 K. x. 28, 29). In ancient warfare their function was somewhat comparable to that of artillery ui modern times. Chariots were first used by the Israelites under Solomon. In the language of the prophets to trust in chariots is to trust m man's resources rather than in God's help (Isa. xxxi. 1 ; Ps. xx. 7, &c.). 20. as Moses said] E.V. had spoken. See Nu. xiv. 24; Dt. i. 36. In Nu. xiii. 22 it is stated that the spies went up by the South and came to Hebron. Anak] The children of Anak at Hebron and in Philistia (cp. Josh. xi. 21, 22; xiv. 12; xv. 13; xxi. 11), like the Rephaim and Avviia who were found by the Israelites in Western Palestine, were not held to be Canaanite ; they appear to have be- longed to an earlier stock which by the time of the Israehte invasion had already been almost entirely expelled or absorbed by the more recent Canaanites and Philistines. 21. This verse is almost identical with Josh. xv. 63, except that here Benjamin is substituted for Judah. In Josh. xv. 8 and xviii. 28 also Jerusalem is reckoned as belonging to Benjamin. It was immediately to the north (i.e. on the Benjamite side) of the frontier line as laid dowu in the Book of Joshua. That the Jebusites were not exterminated by Da\id but continued to form an element in the population of Jerusalem appears from 2 Sam. xxiv. 18, and especially from Zech. ix. 7. The words unto this day imply that the verse was written after the time of David and before the Babylonian Captivity. 22—36. Conquest of Northern Canaan by the house of Joseph and other tribes. The capture of Bethel (vv. 22 — 26) by the house of Joseph — an event not exjn-essly mentioi.ed in the Book of Joshua, though perliaps implied in Josh. viii. 17 — is the only inci- dent in the conquest that is particularised; no further exploits of Joseph (Ephraini and Mauasseh) or of the other tribes are given, JUDGES, I. 28—27. 19 and the Lord wcik with them. And the house of Joseph sent 23 to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before teas Luz.) And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they 24 said unto him, Sliew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. And when he shewed 2o them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword ; but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a 21, city, and called the name thereof Luz : which is the name thereof unto this day. Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth- 27 shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the the iucompleteness of the ultimate result being all that the historian here seeks to impress upon us. A few additional fragmentary details from a very ancient source are given in Josh. xvii. Benjamin and Issachar as well as Levi are omitted from the present brief account of the conquest. 22. Beth -el] mod. Beit in, 2890 feet above sea-level, 10 miles N. from Jerusalem. It is reckoned to Benjamin in Josh, xviii. 13, 22, but here, and perhaps also hi Josh. xvi. 2, to Joseph (Ephraim). In the other historical books it always belongs to the northern kingdom, except for a short time under Abijah (2 Clu*. xiii. 19). 23. descri/] R.V. spy out. Luz] t.e. "almond." See Gen. xxviii. 19. 24. the entrance] the point where its defences were weakest, or where it could be most easily surprised. sJien- thee men-;/] R.V. deal kindly with thee. 26. Luz] Of this second Luz in the land of the Hittites, i.e. the Canaanite districts of Coelesyria which were never occupied by Israel, nothing is known. 27. Jlfanasseh] Of the territory of Western Manasseh even as defined with some detail in the Book of Joshua (xvii. 7 sqq.) we can say little more than that it was bounded on the north, east, and south, by Asher, Issachar and Ephraim respectively, and that after deduction of the towns and adjacent territories (comp. Josh. xvii. 11) which are emmierated in this verse, it cannot have been very extensive. Beth-shean or Beth-shau, mod. Beisau, 320 feet below sea-level, lay in a well-watered and fertile part of the Jordan valley at the base of the mountains of Gilboa and at the mouth of the Wady Jalud, which leads gently up from the Jordan to Zerhi ( Jezreel). It is about 3 miles from the Jordan, and was an important stage on the road from Damascus to Egji)t, and also from Damascus by Shechem to Jerusalem and Hebron. It is men- tioned under the reigns of Saul (1 Sam. xxxi. 10 sqq.), David (2 Sam. xxi. 12), and Solomon (1 Kings iv. 12). The Greek name Scytho- polis by which it was known from the Macedonian period (2 Mace, xii. 29 — 31 &c.) probably records the fact (or belief) that some of the Scythian invaders of the 7th century b.c. had settled there. In the time of our Lord it was one of the most important cities of the so-called Decapolis. towns] lit. "daughters," /.^. dependencies. Taanach] mod. Ta'annk, on the southern side of the Kisbon 2-2 20 JUDGES, I. 28—80. inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Mep;iddo and her towns : but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 2;{ And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 2!> Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer ; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor valley, 607 feet above sea-level, 4^ m. S.E. from Lejjiln (Megiddo). Comp. Josh. xii. *21; xvii. 11; xxi. 25. The distance from the Kishon is about 3 miles. Like Megiddo, Taanach is mentioned on the Egyptian monuments. JJor] mod. Tenturah, one of the maritime cities of the plain of Sharon, about 37 miles north from Joppa, in a very fertile country. The Phoenician inscription of Eshmunazar speaks of "Dor and Joppa, the rich cornlands in the plaui of Sharon." Ibleam] called Bileam m 1 Chr. vi. 70, the mod. Bh' Bel'ameh, about a mile to the south of Jenm (En-ganuim). It was here that Ahaziah was wounded in his flight from Jezreel (2 K. ix. 27), and Ibleam was also the scene of the mm*der of Zecha- riah the son of Jeroboam II. by Shallum ; see 2 K. xv. 10, where LXX. (Luc.) establishes the reading "in n)leam" (bbl'm) instead of "before the people" (kbl'm). Megiddo] The Roman Legio, mod. Lejjiln, 11 m. N.W. from En-gannini, and 4i m. N.W. from Taanach, on two little hills (552 feet) on the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, commanding one of the most important passes south- ward, was an important station on the route from Damascus to Egypt, and is mentioned on the Egyptian monuments in a waj' that shows it must have been fortified from very early times. Solomon made it one of his strongholds (1 K. ix. 15). Here king Ahaziah died (2 K. ix. 27) after his flight from Jezreel. It was in the plain ])elow Taanach and Megiddo that Sisera was defeated by Barak (Judg. V. 19), and in the same neiglil)ourhood Josiah was defeated and slain by Pharaoh-necoh (2 K. xxiii. 29, 30). would direlf] i.e. were determined to dwell. 28. vas waxen strong] Perhaps not till the time of Solomon; comp. 1 K. ix. 20 sciq. trihiite] E.V. taskwork, i.e. forced labour, or tribute of personal service such as was exacted of the Israelites themselves in Egypt (Ex. i. 11 ; comp. Mt. V. 41). 29. Ephraim] For the territory of Ephraim see Josh. xvi. .5 — 10. Gezer] mod. Tell el-Jezer, on a liill 750 feet above sea-level, 6 m. E. from Ekron and 14 m. from the sea. The utter destruction of its king and people is mentioned in Josh. x. 33, and according to Josh. xxi. 21, it was assigned to the Levites. In 1 Chr. vi. 67 it is enumerated along with other "cities of refuge." It is mentioned in the Philistine wars of David (2 Sam. v. 25; 1 Chr. xiv. 16), and after having been taken by the king of Egj'pt (1 K. ix. 15) it was given for a portion to his daughter, the wife of Solomon. Solomon fortified it (1 K. ix. 17), and as Cfazara it is fre- quently mentioned in the Maccabean wars (1 Mace. iv. 15 Arc). 30. Zehuhm] The territory of Zebulun, as defined in the Book JUDGES, I. 31, 32. 21 the Inhabitants of Nahalol ; but the Canaanitcs dwelt among them, and became tributaries. Neither did Asher drive out 3i the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob : but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the 32 of Joshua (xix. 10 — 16), lay to the north of the Kishon valley, and included Nazareth, Chisloth-tabor, Daberath, Gath-bepher, and Reminou. Momit Tabor was at the junction of the territories of Issachar, Zebidun and Naphtali. KitroJi] Unknown; comp. Kattatli (Josh. xix. 15). Xahalol] Unknown; comp. Nahallal (Josh. xix. 15). trihutanes] E.V. tributary ; marg. "subject to taskwork." 31. Asher] See v. 17. Accho] R.V. Acco, mod. St Jean d'Acre, is clearly mentioned in the Old Testament only here, but perhaps also once stood in Josh. xix. 30 where we now read Ummah; see LXX. and Syr. Also in Mic. i. 10 "weep not at all" should perhaps be: "weep not in Acco;" so most scholars since Reland, after LXX. It stands on a small promontory at the northern extremity of the Bay of Acre, 26 m. S. from Tyre. It was called Ptolemais by one of the Egyj^tian Ptolemies, and by this name it is mentioned in Acts xxi. 7. Zidon {i.e. "fisher's town "), called "Great Zidon" in Josh. xi. 8, xix. 28, was hi ancient tunes the most important city of Phoenicia (hence "Sidonian" equivalent to "Phoenician:" Dt. iii. 9; 1 K. xvi. 31; comp. Iliad vi. 289 seq. &c.). It is the modern Saida, midway between Tyre and Berytus (Beynlt). Ahlab] ' UnknouTi. Achzib] mod. ez-Zib, on the sea-shore, 9 m. N.from Acco. Helbah'] Unknown. Aphik, or Aphek (Josh. xix. 30), is probably the same as the Aphek mentioned m Josh. xii. 18, where recent critics emend the verse so as to read: "the king of Aphek in the [plain of] Sharon, one." This Aphek in Sharon is doubtless the city at which the Philistines assembled their forces for war with Israel before the battles of Eben-ezer (1 Sam. iv. 1), and Gilboa (1 Sam. xxix. 1), and from which, at a later date, the Syrians of Damascus made repeated attacks on Samaria (1 K. xx. 26, 30; 2 K. xiii. 17). That it lay in a lowland plain is clear from 1 K. xx. 23, and that the plain m wliicli it lay Avas that of Sharon appears from the LXX. (Luc.) reading of 2 K. xiii. 22 : "and Hazael took the Philistme from his [Jehoahaz's] hand from the Western Sea to Aphek." It lay on the verge of Philistia, i.e. in Sharon, and it would seem that both in Benhadad's and in Hazael's time the Sjaians avoided the difficulties of a direct attack on the central mountain-land of Canaan by striking into the maritime plain south of Carmel, and so securuig the mastery of the fertile coast-land without having to besiege Samaria. Their route would ni fact be the present great road from Damascus to Eamleh through Megiddo. At Aphek, somewhere in the north of the Sharon plain, they had a great military post, from which they coidd direct tlieir armies either against Samaria or against the Philistines (2 K. xii. 17). Behob] UnknoAvai. Comp. Nu. xiii. 21; 2 Sam. x. 6, 8. It is not the Beth-rehob of xviii. 28, which lay far outside the limits of Asher. 32. dicelt aiaony the Canaanites the in- 22 JUDGES, 1. 33—36. inhabitants of tbe land : for they did not drive them out. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth- shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath ; but he dwelt among the Cauaanites, the inhabitants of the land : never- theless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath 34 became tributaries unto them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain : for they would not 35 suffer them to come down to the valley : but the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim : yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they Si) became tributaries. And the coast of the Amorites icas from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward. habitants] This expression shows very clearly how incomplete was Israel's hold on that part of the country. 33. Xaj)htali\ The territory of this tribe (Josh. xix. 32 — 39) included Eamah, Iron, Hazor, and Kadesh. Beth-shemesh] \5iik.\\ovn\. It is to be distinguished from the Beth-shemesh ('Ain Shems) of 1 Sam. vi. 9, which is jierhaps alluded to in ver. 35 {q. v.). Beth-anath] Pos- sibly the mod. 'Ainitha, 12 m. S. from the Litaui river. Beth- shemesh and Beth-anath are named respectively from the local worship of the sun-god (Shemesh) and the goddess Anath, a Phoe- nician deity afterwards identified with the Greek Athena. direlt among &c.] See ver. 32, note. tributaries] See ver. 30, note. 34. forced &c.] Even in the mountain, where they had taken temporary hold, the children of Dan were not mnuolestcd (comp. Josh. xix. 47 LXX.); and, as we shall see (xviii. 1 sqq.), the mass of the tribe migrated northwards during the days of the judges. Amorites] See iii. 5. 35. would dwell] See above, ver. 28, note. in motmt Heres in Aijalon, &c.] E.V. in mount Heres, in Aijalon, itc. Heres] Unknown. But as heres is a synonym of shemesh ('smi'), "the mountain of the sun" was perhaps adjacent to the Judaean Beth-shemesh ("temple of the sun"). If Beth- shemesh be really the place intended, it is easy to understand how the Amorites were unwdluig to part with it, and (having chariots) were able to hold it. It lies at a height of 917 feet al)ove sea-level on the south side of the W. Surar, and within the limits of the hill- country of Judah; "a noble site for a city — a low plateau at the junction of two fine plains " (Bohinson). Aijalon is spoken of as Danite in Josh. xix. 42. It is the mod. Yalo, situated on a ridge on the south side of the l)road level valley now known as the Merj Ibn 'Omer. It is alluded to in connection with the famous battle of Beth-horon (Josh. x. 12) and is mentioned in the Philistine wars of David. It was fortified by Relioboaui (2 Chr. xi. 10) and taken from king Ahaz by the Philistines (2 Chr. xxviii. 18). The context here seems to imply that it was reckoned as belonging to the north- ern kingdom. Shaalbim] Unknown. See Josh. xix. 42, wliere it is called Shaalabbin. It is mentioned along with Beth-shemesh "in the hill-country of Ephraim" in 1 K. iv. 9. tributaries] See ver. 30, note. 36. Aynorites] The context would lead us JUDGES, II. 1. 23 Aud an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bocliim, 2 and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought to expect "Edomites" rather than "Aniorites" here, and some trace of this liaving been the original reading is found in LXX. Very little change in the Hebrew is involved. Akrahlnm] " The ascent of Akrabbim" ("Scorpion-pass"), or Maaleh-acrabbim (see Josh. XV. 2) is not known; it must have been one of the passes out of the Southern Ai-abah (the southward contmuation of the trough or hoUow of the Dead Sea) into the waste mountain country to the west. the rock] Heb. Sel'a. Probably the word is here used as a proper name, and Sela or Petra, the capital of Edom (2 K. xiv. 7; Isa. xvi. 1), is intended. vjncard] i.e. "fm'ther." II. 1 — 5. From Gilgal to Bocliim. 1. an anyeJ] R.V. the angel. In accordance with Ex. xxiii. 20 sq., xxxh. 34 sq., xxxih. 2; Nu. xx. 16, where "the angel of Jehovah" goes before the host of Israel and is symbohsed by the ark (Nu. x. 35, 36), this clause probably refers to the removal of the ark from Gilgal, where it had stood during the earher stages of the conquest, to a point further up in the interior of the country. Many old interpreters, particularly the Rabbins, took the word "augel" here to mean "prophet" ; cp. below, vi. 8 ; also Hagg. i. 13. Gih/al] mod. Jiljul or Jiljuheh, 3 m. S.E. from TeU es-Sultan (ancient Jericho) was the headquarters of Israel and first station of the ark after crossing the Jordan (Josh, iv., v.), and frequently appears as a place of sacrifice or high place in the subsequent history (see 1 Sam. xi. 14, 15, xiii. 7 sqq., xv. 21). Perhaps, like most of the high places whose worship is condeimied by the prophets as corrupted by idolatrous practices borrowed from the Canaainte worship of the Baalim, it had been a Canaanite sanctuaiy before it became a Hebi-ew laoly place. Comp. Hos. iv. 15 and Am. iv. 4, 5, where the worship of Gilgal is condemned, and see below (iii. 19), where mention is made of the stone idols (A.V. "quarries") at Gilgal. Bochim] i.e. "weepers." LXX. has "to the weeping place and to Bethel." The place seems to have been near Bethel; perhaps the same as Allon-bachuth ("oak of weeping") which was "below Bethel;" see Gen. xxxv. 8 and cp. below, xx. 23. As Bethel was a pati-iarchal sanctuary, its vicinity was an appropriate station for the ark. aiid mid] Before these words the Hebrew text showed a lacuna, which the ancient copyists have scrupulously noted, markhig it in the Hebrew text by a circle, which ui modern printing would be represented as follows: "And the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim And he said," &c. Most critics consider that the words from "And he said," in ver. 1, down to the middle of verse 5, are later than the rest of the passage, and that what originally stood in the more ancient -^Titer was simply tlie short statement that the angel of Jehovah went up (before the children of Israel) from Gilgal to Bochim, and that they sacrificed there unto Jehovah. The inserted passage (1 h—b a) is not, like its parallel (Ex. xxxiv. 12 sqq.), a warning against sins the people were likely to fall hito, but an indictment for sins actually coumiitted,— 24 JUDGES, II. 2—8. you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers ; and I 2 said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land ; you shall throw down their altars : but ye have not obeyed my voice : 3 why have ye done this ? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you ; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. 4 And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the peojjle 5 lift up their voice, and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim : and they sacrificed there unto the Lord. 6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the 7 land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel. « And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, an indictment which would have been appropriate at any subsequent stage ill the story of our book, but at this point appears to be pre- matm*e (contrast ver. 7), and at any rate is not explained by anything mentioned in chap. i. / made you to go uji] The granunatical form of this verb in Hebrew shows that the begimiing of the sen- tence has been lost. 2. mahe no league] R.V. covenant. Cp. Ex. xxxiv. 12 sqq. The only recorded instance of a covenant with the inhabitants of the land is that made Avith the Gibeonites (Josh, ix.), but the occuiTence was doubtless conniion enough. have not obeyed] The Manassite altar of Baal at Oiilirah (vi. '1'^) and the Canaanite temple of Baal-berith at Shechem (ix. 4) are faraihar after-examples of this disobedience. 3. I said] Better, "I have said" or "I say"; cp. Josh, xxiii. 13. as thorns] These words in the E.V. are supplied, doubtless con-ectly, from Nu. xxxiii. 55, Josh, xxiii. 13, the figure employed being that of a man forcing his way through a thorny jmigle. But some ancient versions (e.g. LXX.) have: "shall be adversaries unto you." This involves the change of a letter in the Hebrew text. a snare] Comp. Ex. xxiii. 33, xxxiv. 12 ; Josh, xxiii. 13 ; Judg. viii. 27. Part II. Chap. II. 6— XVI. 31. The Twelve Judges. Section i. Ch. II. 6 — III. 6. Introductory. General survey of the coiirse of the history after the conquest. (1) Closing years of Joshua, ii. (i — 10; (2) General account of the causes and conso- quences of the subsequent troubles of Israel from " enemies round about," ii. 11 — 19; (3) Another general account of the causes of Israel's troubles through the nations which had been left in Canaan by Joshua (ii. 20 — iii. 6). 6 — 10. Comp. Josh. xxiv. 28 — '^\, nm\ see Introd. 6. let go] R.V. sent away. 7. served the Loith] Contrast ii! 2. JUDGES, II. 9—14. 26 hchuf an huncli-ed and ten years old. And they buried him in 9 tlie border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their lo fathers : and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lokd, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the ii Lord, and served Baalim : and they forsook the Lord God of 12 their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and 13 served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was 14 great works] E.V., more literally, great work. 9. Timnath- heres] called, by inversion of the Hebrew consonants, Timnath- serah m Josh. xix. 50, xxiv. 30. Its site m the hill-country of Ephraim has not been identified, unless it be the Thamua of Jose- phus and Plmy, which is represented by the mod. Tibneh, 10 m N.W. from Bethel. 11— 19» lu these verses the editor of the Book of Judges points out, m a spu-it closely akm to the Book of Deuteronomy, the moral and rehgious meanmg of the old stories of the heroes of Israel, oee Introd. 11. Baalim] E.V. the Baalim, i.e. the Baals or gods of par- ticular localities worshipped by the Canaanites. The word Baal [ha at) means "lord" or "owner," and the various tribes and com- munes of Northern Semites apphed it each to its o\v\\ chief di\inity. At one time the Israelites bestowed it as a title of honom- on their own national God, Jehovah, whence such proper names as Eshbaal and Menbaal, both meaning "man of Baal" or, vu-tually, "man of God." It was not till Hosea's time that any danger or impropriety was seen in the use of this ambiguous word; that prophet, in speaking of the days when Israel's religion shall have been purified, says that the people shaU no longer caU Jehovah their Baal (Hos. ii. 16, 17). A literal interpretation of the precept to "make no mention ot the name of other gods" (Ex. xxiii. 13) afterwards led to the substitution of Bosheth ("shameful thing") for Baal in the case of historical names; hence arose the forms Ishbosheth, Mephiboshetb, Jerubbesheth, &c. The golden calves at Bethel and Dan were originaUy called Baahm, though held to represent Jehovah. In the present passage the various local gods of the Canaanites as opposed to Jehovah are meant. 12. people] E.V. peoples. For an emmieration of these see x. 6. 13. This verse is now usually regarded as a later insertion. Note that the author, while sub- stantially repeating what precedes, speaks not of many local Baalun ^]-^^ ^}-^ ^^*^' Pei'iiaps the Tyrian Baal (Melcarth), against whom i^hjah did battle. Ashtaroth] E.V. the Ashtaroth ; comp. X. 6, "the Baalim and the Ashtaroth." Ashtaroth is the plural of Ashtoreth (Astarte, Assyr. Ishtar), the name of the gi-eat Semitic 26 JUDGES, II. 15—20. hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any 15 longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them : and Hi they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that 17 spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them : they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments 18 of the Lord ; but they did not so. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge : for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed 19 them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them ; they ceased not from their own doings, nor 2(1 from their stubborn way. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel ; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, goddess whose worship travelled from Assyria and Babylon to Syria and Phoenicia, and thence to the Israelites (1 Sani. vii. 3; 1 K. xi. 5, 33; 2 K. xxiii. 13) and the Phihsthies (1 Sam. xxxi. 10). In many Canaanite cults she was worshipped along with the local Baal as his wife, and the plural refers to the multiplicity either of her local forms, or of her images. 14. sold] See Dt. xxxii. 30. The figure recurs frequently in Judges (iii. 8, iv. 2, x. 7); see also 1 Sam. xii. 9. enemies round ahouf] Comp. ver. 12, note. 16. jud;/es] The Heb. word is shophet and reappears in the Punic sufet, the title borne by the chief magistrates of Carthage (in Latin writers, sxfes). Onlinarily it implies magisterial and judicial functions (Dt. xvi. 18; Ex. xviii. 1.3—26; comp. 1 Sam. viii. 5, "a king to judge us") ; but here it is used in a connection which sug- gests the meaning rinde.r rather than judex, being practically synonymous with "deliverer" or "saviour;" see also iii. 9, 10, 15, and Neb. ix. 27. This is the primary sense of the word in the expression, "The Lord is our Judge." 17. This verse, like ver. 13, is now usually regarded as a later insertion. II. 20 — III. 6. Tbis explanation of the history differs from that given in ii. 11 — 19 in several important respects. (1) The provo- cation is represented as having been given, once for all, before the completion of the conquest of Palestine. (2) The instruments of Divine punishment are not the nations round about Canaan, but the nations that remain within Canaan itself; they are not called in by JUDGES, II. 21— m. a. 27 and have not hearkened unto my voice ; I also will not hence- 21 forth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died : that through them I may prove 22 Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the 23 Loud left those nations, without driving them out hastily ; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. Now 3 these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan ; only that the generations of the children of Israel 2 might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof: naviehj, five lords of the Philistines, 3 and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites a special providence, but it is soon resolved to suffer them to con- tinue as a permanent means of discipline. (3) Tlie purpose for which they are intended is not wholly punitive. Their continued presence is represented either as being a means of moral discipline ("that by them I may prove Israel whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein," ii. 22, cp. iii. 4) or as furnishing each new generation with the means of pi-actising the art of war (" to prove Israel by them... only that the generations of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as beforetime knew nothing thereof," iii. 1, 2). These two different senses of the word "prove" have been thought by some to show tbat even this section is of composite origui. The different enumerations of the "nations which were left," as given in iii. 3 and iii. 5, point to a similar inference. 3. lords ^ 'H.eh. .senimm, the official title uniformly given in the Old Testament to the princes of the Philistine pentarchy. The same word is translated "axle"' in 1 K. vii. 30. Comj). cardinal honi cardo, "a hinge." Philistines] These were an alien people who had migi*ated from Caphtor (Am. ix. 7), perhaps Cyprus or Caria, and seem to have arrived in Canaan not long before the Israelite invasion from the East. They are perhaps the same as the Pulosata who appear as enemies of the Egyptians in Canaan in the time of Eameses HI. all the Canaanites] Fi'om the order of the eiuimeration, which seems to be geographical, we are probably to understand here those Canaanites who held the low country between the territoiy of the Philistines and that of the Zidonians (plain of Sharon, plain of Esdraelou). But perhaps vv. 1 — 3 may originally have fonned the sequel to Ch. i., in which case the expression "all the Canaanites" would naturally become limited to the Canaanites mentioned in that chapter. Sidonians] or Zidonians. These were also Canaanites. Indeed all those whom the Greeks called Phoenicians called themselves Canaan- ites. Ilirites] Cp. i. 4, note. The Hivites are met with at Shechem (Gen. xxxiv, 2), in the region of Gibeon (Josh. ix. 7), and on the slopes of Hermon, ui Josh. xi. 3. These Northern Hivites (or Hittites as tbey are called in Josh. xi. 3, LXX. ; comp. 28 JUDGES, III. 4— G. that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto 4 the entering in of Hamath. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the com- mandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and 6 Jebusites : and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. i. 26, note) are here meant, and their seats are more precisely defined as occupying the eastern slope of Lebanon and the upland valley of Coelesyria which separates Lebanon from Hermon and Antilibanus, as far north as the frontier of Hamath. Mount Baal-hervi07i] i.e. Mount Hermon, lit. the mountain of the local god of Hermon, perhaps the same deity who gave his name to Baal-gad, the later Paneas (see Josh. xi. 17). entering in'] or frontier. Hamath] afterwards Epiphaneia, the mod. Hama, on the Orontes, seat of a Canaanite kingdom which became tributary to Israel in David's time (2 Sam. viii. 9, 10). The frontier of Hamath is com- monly spoken of as the northern limit of the land of Israel (Nu. xiii. 21 ; IK. viii. 65 ; cp. Am. vi. 2). Compare below, xviii. 28, note. 5. E.y. punctuates the Canaanites ; the Hittite, and the Amorite, &c., the five nations enumerated being regarded as branches of the Canaanites. Comp. Gen. x. 15, 16, where no fewer than eleven "sons," i.e. branches, of Canaan, are enimierated. Of these, five are Phoenician trading communities—rZidou, Ai-ca, Sin, Aradus, Simyra — which never became subject to Israel. The Hamathites also (see above) retained their independence, except in the time of David, till they became subjects of the Assj'rian Empire. Of the widespread Hittites (see i. 26, note) we kudw from other sources than the Bible that they touched the Euphrates at Carchemish. The four other Canaanite names in the classical passage in Genesis are those of the Jebusites (see i. 21, note, and below), the Amorites (see below), the Hivites (see above, ver. 3) and the Girgashites, of whom nothing definite is known, excei)t that they must have been completely obliterated at an early date. The Perizzites (see i. 4) are not mentioned in Gen. x. 15, 16. Amorites] an ancient synonym for Canaanites, commonly applied by Hebrew writers to the branches of the Canaanite stock on both sides of the Jordan tbat were completely contpun-ed and had wbolly disappeared. In the Tell el-Amarna tablets, older than tlie Exodus, Aniurri appears to be the common name for Palestine. Jehnsites] For the Jebu- sites of Jerusalem see i. 21. Northern Jebusites seem to be alluded to in Josh. xi. 3, but of these notliing is known. took their datigh- ters itc] Intermarriage with tlie Canaanites was a chief cause of the introduction of new and foreign elements into the religion of Jehovah. Tbe tendency to such intermarriages was not finally jnit down till the time of Nehemiah, and tliough the practice is here by imphcation condemned (cp. Josh, xxiii. 12) the earlier history shows JUDGES, III. 7—11. 29 And the children of Israel did evil iu the sight of the Lokd, 7 and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against H Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia : and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. And when the children of 9 Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the spirit of the i<» Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand ; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. And the land had rest forty years, n And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. that unions of this kind were entered into by many excellent persons. Part II. Sect. ii. Chap. HI. 7— XVI. 31. The Tireire Judges. 7 — 11. Othniel, the first of the Judges. This narrative exemplifies from point to point the general re- mai-ks in ii. 11 — 19, with which passage it should be carefully compared; it is largely from the hand of the editor; see In trod. p. 8, footnote. 7. the grores] 11. V. the Asheroth, pi. of Asherah. In the worship of the local sanctuaries of Cana;in (which it was the achievement of the prophets, first to restrain and after- wards to repress), every altar had an asherah beside it. The mean- ing of this word has been much disputed ; but from Dt. x\i. 21 C'thou shalt not plant an asherah of any kind of wood [or, 'an asherah, any kind of tree'] beside the altar of Jehovah") we see tliat it must have been either a living tree or a tree-like i)ost ; probably either fonn was at first admissible. It is not properly the name of a goddess, like Ashtoreth (Astartej ; see ii. 13. 8. Chushan-rishathaim] K.V. Cushan-rishathaim. Of this king nothmg further is known, either from the Bible or the monuments, and the narrative here is singularly lacking in detail. Mesopotamia is the country between the Eupln-ates and the Tigris, nortli of the alluvial plain of Babylonia. The Hebrew expression is Ai-am- naharaim, i.e. " Syrm of the two rivers." Perhaps it does not uiclude all Mesopotamia, but only the district between the rivers Euphrates and Chaboras, the country of Laban and Bethuel. The recently discovered tablets of Tell el-Amarna show that there were frequent political relations between Mesopotamia and Canaan, even at a date much earlier than this. 9. deliverer] R.V. saviour; cp. ver. 10 and see above, ii. 16, note. Othniel] See 1. 13, note. 10. the spirit of the Lord] Not the spirit of prophecy, but the spirit of heroism ("counsel and might:" Isa. xi. 2), which in the Old Testament view is not man's own, but proceeds from God. 30 JUDGES, III. 12—17. 12 And the cbildren of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LoKD : and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the 13 Lord. And he gathered nnto him the children of Amnion and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the 14 city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon the 15 king of Moab eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded : and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the i(i king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length ; and he did gird it under his raiment 17 upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon 12 — 30. Khud, the second of the Jiidges. 12. Fglon] The Moabites had kings long before the Israelites. At the time of the Israelite conquest the country north of the Arnon, which was once theirs but had been taken from them by the Amorites, was assigned to Eeuben and Gad ; but the Moabites did not relinquish their earlier claim and soon pressed northwards again. For centuries they were in ahiiost uninterrupted possession of most of this territory. Here we find them, with the help of their allies, extending their conquests into Western Palestine, over the territory of Benjamin at least, their western stronghold being Jericho. 13. Amvion] Moab's closely related neighbour on the N.E. Auiaiek] one of the nomadic peoples on the border of Judah. The Israelites regarded Amalek as a very ancient nation (Nu. xxiv. 20), indeed as aboriginal (1 Sam. xxvii. 8), and as their hereditary enemy (Ex. xvii. 14). Nothing is known of its origin, for the Edomite Amalekites (Gen. xxxvi. 12, 16) can onlj' 1)6 a detached branch of the nation which had joined itself to the children of Esau. ritj/ of palm trees] i.e. Jericho (i. 16). (Con- trast Josh. vi. 26. 15. deJirerer] E.V. saviour; see ver. 9. Ehud is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. Gera was one of the ten " sons," or clans, of the tribe of Benjamin, according to Gen. xlvi. 21; hi 1 Chr. viii. 3 — 5, Gera is "son" of Bela the sou of Benjamin. lefthanded] Lefthandedness was a speciality of the Benjamites ; cp. xx. 16. a j) re sent] Heb. minhah, a word specially used [a) of gifts of homage or tribute presented to sovereigns; (/>) of offerings of sacred homage presented at the altar. As the Israehte did homage to his God of the fruits of the earth, which he owed to the Divine blessing (Dt. xxvi. 1 sqq.), minhah came to be the technical name for a cereal oblation (A.V. " meat offering.") Ver. 18 shows that Ehud's minhah was of some bulk, and was probably paid in kind. The place to which it was brought is not mentioned; there is no I'eason for assuming that it was Jericho. 16. dai/(/er] Heb. hereb, the usual word for the short Hebrew sword, and so it is translated in R.V. cuhit] Heb. (jomed. The word occurs only here, and interi)reters differ as to its meaning. LXX. takes it to be a span or half a JUDGES, III. 18—25. Bl king of Moab : and Eglon u'o.s a very fat man. And when 18 he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. But he himself turned again U) from the quarries that icere by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud 2(i came unto him ; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of Jiis seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from 2i his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly : and the haft also 2-2 went in after the blade ; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly ; and the dirt came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch, 2.3 and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came ; and when they 24 saw that behold, the doors of the parlour 'were locked, the}' said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till theij were ashamed : and behold, he 2.5 cubit ; the other ancient versions render as in A.V. 18. sevt a7i-ai/] so as to secure their safety in case his desperate enteiimse should fail. 19. quarries] R.V. marg. " graven images," or stone idols. Gilgal] See ii. 1, note. Here, near one of the important fords of the Jordan, we know there were memorial stones (Josh. iv. 20) ; and we have reason to believe that the place had been an ancient seat of Canaanite worship. Some interpreters however think that here we ought to understand not the Gilgal of Josh. iv. 19, but that of Josh. xv. 7 : "the Gilgal [i.e. stone circle or menhir] , which is opposite the ascent of Adummini " — the sharp rise near the middle of the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, in the wild country where the parable of the Good Samaritan is localised. This view we must necessarily take if we assume Jericho as the scene of Eglon's assassination ; for of course Ehud's retreat must have been westward. that stood hy] his personal attendants, not the court, for we learn from next verse that he was in his private chamber. 20. summer parlour] R.V. marg. " uppiT chamber of cooling." Light airy cabins on the house-roof, for uso by the imnates in siunmer, are still to be seen in some parts of Syria. his seat] Heb. " the chair" or throne ; cp. note on v. 10. 22. fat] Heb. heleb ; more exactly, the midriff, or the fat of the midrifif. so that he could not, &c.] Heb. "For he did not draw forth the sword out of his belly ; and he [Ehud] went out into the parshedon " (see next note). 23. through the porch] Heb. "went out into the misderun." The last clause of ver. 22 and the first of ver. 23 say the same thing, and it would seem either that parshedon was meant to be explanatory of viisdervn or vice versa. To us unfortunately both words are equally obscure, but from the context they probably mean something hke " porch." 24. When 32 JUDGES, m. 20—31. opened not the doors of the parlour ; therefore they took a key, and opened them : and behold, their lord was fallen down 26 dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. 27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before 28 them. And he said unto them, Follow after me : for the LoKD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour ; and there escaped not a man. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. 31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew Ehud was gone out, Eglon's servants came. 25. a l-etj] Xl.V. the key. "Every door is furnished with a wooden lock... A number of small iron pins (four, five, or more) drop into corre- sponding holes in the sliding bolt, as soon as the latter is pushed into the hole or staple of the door-post. The key also has small pins, made to correspond with the holes, into which they are intro- duced to open the lock : the former pins being thus pushed uj), the bolt may be drawn back. The wooden lock of a street-door is com- moidy about fourteen inches long ; those of the doors of apart- ments, cupboards, ttc, are about seven or eight or nine niches" (Lane, jMod. K;/i/j>liavs). 26. passed hei/ond] This perhaps might be translated " crossed [the river] at" ; so also in Gen. xxxii. 31 [Heb. 32] : "crossed [the river] atPenuel." the quarries] see ver. 19. Seirath'] rather " the Seh-ah." Unknown. The name indicates " rough" or "shaggy" country, and would apply to almost any part of the eastern slope of Benjamui or even of Ephraim. From iv. 5 we see that the expression "hill-country of Ephraim" can mclude the territory of Benjamin. Perhaps the Avord Seirah is not a proper name at all, and ought to be translated simply "the bush," "the jungle." Cp. Josh. xv. 10. 27. 'mountain... mount] R.Y. hill-country. went dovn] See i. 1; ii. 1. 28. ton-ard j\foat>] R.V. against the Moabites; obviously, at any rate, so as to prevent the return to Moab of those Moabites who held Jericho and other parts of Western Palestine. 29. all lusti/, and all, &5c.] E.Y. every lusty man and every man of valour. It was a complete extermination of the Moabite garrison. 30. was subdued] so far, that is, as its occupation of Western Palestine was concerned. 31. S7iamf/ar, the third of the Jndj»] Jabiu king of Hazor is mentioned in Josh. xi. as having headed a power- ful confederation of the kings of Northern Canaan against the Israelites under Joshua. He was defeated and slain and his power utterly broken at Hazor. The Jabin here mentioned is spoken of as " king of Canaan" (vv. 2, 23, 24) who also ruled at Hazor ; but it is not to be inferred from this that he was the sole Canaanite king in the country. All the evidence we possess goes to show that the Canaanite population continued long after the conquest to be divided mto a large number of petty states, eveiy considerable city indeed having an independent ruler or " king." Hazor lay near the waters of Merom and there is some probability in the suggested identification with Tell Kureibeh (1680 feet above sea- level), 1\ m. S. from Kedesh. The word Hazor probably means, l)runarily, " a sheepfold," an enclosure of thorny branches, or of stone. This Hazor is mentioned as having been burnt by Joshua (Josh. xi. 11). It was fortified by Solomon, and its inhabitants were carried captive by Tiglath-Pileser (2 K. xv. 29). Hisera] See note on v. 20. Harosheth of the Gentiles [or ' nations,'] where Sisera "dwelt" and no doubt exercised the authority of a " king," has been somewhat doubtfully identified with the mod. TeU Harothieh, "an enormous double mound... situated just below the point where the Kishon in one of its turns beats against the rocky base of Carmel, leaving no room even for a footpath, A castle there effectually commands the pass up the vale of the Kishon into JUDGES 3 34 JUDGES, IV. 3-G. 3 of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord : for he had nine hundred chariots of iron ; and twenty 4 years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel 3 at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Eamah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim : and the « children of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, Esdraelon...The immense double tell is still covered with the remains of old walls and buildings" (Thomson). The site thus described lay in territory that the Israelites had never been able to subdue (see above, i. 27). With the expression Harosheth of the Gentiles, or nations, compare "the nations of Gilgal" or " Goiim in Gilgal" of Josh. xii. 23. Gilgal in this expression seems but a fonn of the word Galilee; cp. "Galilee {Oelil) of the nations" in Isa. ix. 1. 3. chariots of iron'] See i. 19, note. 4. 'Deborah {i.e. "bee") was the name also of Kebekah's nurse, who was buried below Bethel under the " oak of weeping." The phrase- ology of V. 1.5 seems to suggest that Deborah the prophetess be- longed to the tribe of Issachar. Laindoth] or rather Lappi- doth: cp. lapindirn, "lightnmgs;" Ex. xx. 18. juch/ed] As a prophetess she made Israel to " know the statutes of God and His laws" (see Ex. xviii. l(i). In this instance the magisterial or judicial implications of the word are more prominent than those indicated in ii. 10. 5. chrelt] E.V. sat. 7;a//« iree] Suui- larly Saul holds his court at Gibeah under a tree (1 Sam. xxii. 6). Judges and seers, as was natural, usually had then" seats at places of public resort such as sanctuaries and asj-lums; and these, again, usually were associated with sacred trees (cp. iii. 7, note). In Palestine the sacred tree was most commonly an oak or terelimth ; cp. the memorial oak of Deborah, Kebekah's nurse, below Bethel (Gen. XXXV. 8), and the "oak of Tabor" (1 Sam. x. 8, E.Y.). The date palm, however, also flourishes well in Palestine, not only in the sub-tropical climate of the Jordan valley, where its fruit comes to full maturity, but also in the more elevated parts of the comitry (see Neh. viii. 15; cp. Baal-tamar, near Gibeah, below, xx. 33). Rainah, mod. er-Eam, 2,600 feet above sea-level, 5 m. N. from Jerusalem, the birth-place of Samuel (1 Sam. i. 1), afterwards known as Puuuathaim (1 Mace. xi. 34), in Greek Arimathaea (Mk. XV. 43 ; Job. xix. 38). It was a Benjamite town (Josh, xviii. 2.5 ; cp. below, xix. 13). Bethel (see i. 23, note), 5 m. N. from Ramali, was also Benjamite (Josh, xviii. 25). Both Eamah and Bethel are here reckoned to the "hill-country of Ephraim; ' cp. iii. 26. 6. Barak] lit. "lightning." The word occurs as a proper muue also in Palmyrene and South Arabian inscriptions. Compare the well-known Carthaginian surname Barcas. Abinoam] lit. "father of graciousness: ' ci). Naomi and Naaman. Kedesh- naphtali, also known as Kedesh in (ialilee, the mod. Kedcs, 1,587 feet above sea-level, about 3 :n. to the west of the marshy tract at the north end of the waters of Merom and 2^ m. N. of Tell JUDGES, IV. 7, 8. 35 and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel com- manded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take witli thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun ? And I will draw unto thee to 7 the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with 8 me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I Khureibeh (Hazor?). The name impUes that it was a sanctuary and so a suitable rendezvous; for the ancient Hebrews always opened a campaign with sacrifice, which in Hebrew idiom is called " consecrating the war." The close proximity of Kedesh to Hazor reminds of Altdorf and Zwhig Uri in the legend of Tell. the Loud God of hraelP\ lit. "Jehovah, God of Israel." She appeals to his national religion. draw toward] rather, "occupy" Mount Tahor] on the borders of Issachar and Zebulim, an isolated hill, 1,843 feet above sea-level, near the north-eastern extremity of the valley of Jezreel, from which it is shut off by Little Hermoii (see vn. 1, note). ten thousand vien'] In v. 8, the entire levy of Israel is estunated at 40,000 men ; whence we may uifer that Barak could command the full force of the northern tribes Naphtali... Zchulwi] Kedesh, the city of Barak, was in the terri- tory of Naphtah ; that of Zel)iilun adjoined Naphtali on the south and south-west. In the song of Deborah and Barak (see below) several other tribes are represented as taking part in this A\ar of liberation. 7. / will dram ..I will deliver] It is Jehovah who speaks through His prophetess. river] Heb. nahal, usually rendered "brook" or torrent (Job vi. 15). Kishon] ie "crooked" or "meandermg;" the stream (mod. Mnkatta') which drains the Esdraelon basin and falls into the Bay of Acre near Haifa. It can hardly be called perennial, except for the last two or three miles of its coiu-se, after it has received the waters of the fountains of the Sa'adiyeh, which flow from the base of Mount Carmel within three miles from Haifa. But during winter and epring and after sudden stonns of rain it often has a considerable volume of water. In its upper part it has two main branches which unite at a point about half-way between Leijun (Me'dddo) and Iksra (Chisloth-tabor). The larger of these rises at Jen in and IS fed by a series of springs along the base of the mountains of Manasseh, especiaUy near Lejjiln (Megiddo), while the other (mod W. el MuwOli), usually regarded as the more important, comes down from the hills to the west of Chisloth-tabor (the watershed here is represented by a hne from Chisloth-tabor to Endor) It does not appear whether either of these bore the name of Kishon in ancient tunes ; the modern name Mukatta- seems to apply only to the united stream. In the Old Testament the Kishon is not men- tioned except in comiection with the present occurrence (ver 13 V. 21 ; Ps. Ixxxiii. 9) and with Elijah's slaughter of the prophets of Baal (1 K xvhi. 40). 8. LXX. adds: ''for I know not the day m which the Lord will send his angel with me witb good 3—2 36 JUDGES, IV. 9—15. 9 will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee : not- withstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour ; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to 10 Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh ; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet : and 11 Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite, ichich was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto 12 the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh. And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount 13 Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of 14 Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand : is not the Lord gone out before thee ? So Barak went down 15 from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak ; so that Sisera success"; cp. ver. 11. 9. not be for thine honour] or, " the glory of the expedition shall not be thine.'' 10. called] The Hebrew form used is specially applied to the caUiiig out of the national militia. Zehuhin and Xaphtali] cp. ver. 6, note. vent vj)] to Mount Tabor, a natm-ally strong post, commanding the upper valley of the Kishon. It is known to have been fortified in the time of Antiochus the Great, and also during the Jewish wars of the first century, and the Crusades. 11. Xoic Heher, &c.] Heb. "Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from Kain [i.e. the Kenites] , to wit from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses." From Nu. x. 29, compared with Ex. ii. 18, we should rather conclude that Hobab, the eponym of this branch of the Kenites, was Moses's brother-in-law; but the "sons of Hobab" are here spoken of as a clan, in which connection it is obviously mi- important whether they be called the children of Moses's father-in- law, or of his brother-in-law. We have already seen (i. 13) that in ethnological lists names of relationship are used somewhat vaguely. vnfo the plain, &c.] Heb. "As far as the oak in Zaanannim." That is, in the course of their wanderings this family of the Kenites (who were, by birth and habit, nomads) had come, pitching their tents now here, now there, as far north as to the neighbourhood of Kedesh-naphtali, at a well-known oak or terebmth which stood in Zaanamiim. For Zaanannim (Josh. xix. 33) the text here has Zaanaim, but the longer and probably more correct form of the name is given in the margin. 13. unto the river of Kishon] Barak (ver. 14) marched down from Tabor to dispute the passage of the river ; cp. v. 19 sqq. 15. .so that Sisera, ttc.J K.V. and Sisera, iSrc. Presumably Barak had manoeuvred so as to JUDGES, IV. 16—22. 37 lighted down off liis chariot, and fled away on his feet. But IH Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles : and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword ; and there, was not a man left. Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the 17 wife of Heber the Kenite: for there icas peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And ih Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, nay lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And if» he said unto her. Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink ; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. Again he said unto 20 her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say. Is there any man here ? that thou shalt say, No. Then Jael Heber's wife 21 took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground : for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, 22 Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I bring the hostile chariots into gi-ound where they could not move freely. On foot Sisera was less conspicuous and could strike uito some path off the main Une of pursuit. In what du-ection he fled is uncertaiu, for we are not told where Heber's tent at this time stood. 16. unto Harosheth] i.e. down the valley of the Kishou. 17. the tent of Jael] Many centuries later, among the northern Arabs, the tent belonged to the wife and not to the husband. x'^ace] No blood-feud such as might subsist even between a gi-eat king and the most insignificant nomad sept. _ That Jael, as the sequel shows, did not consider this "peace" as binding on her, is consistent ^ith what we know otherwise of the inde- pendence of the wife in early nomadic society. From ch. v. H we may conclude that, on the contrary, her father's house was at feud with Sisera. 18. ?»fl«/Ze] rug, blanket, or coverlet; Heb. semicah (here only). 19. a hotfle of mill] Heb. "the skin of milk," which stood in every nomad tent, and was both meat and di-ink to the inmates. In the East A\ine, water, oil, milk, and the like, are usually (and especially among nomads) carried in skins that have been tanned whole. The legs are sewn up, and the neck tightly closed with a cord. In Ps. cxix. 83, Mt. ix. 17, &c., the reference, as here, is to a vessel of this description, and not to "the bottle of potters" (Isa. xxx. 14, marg.). 21. a nail of the tent] Heb. "the tent peg," i.e. one of the pegs used for fixing the tent ropes. a hammer] Heb. " the hammer," viz., the wooden mallet used for (h'iving the tent pegs into the ground. for he 7'-rt.s' fast asleep, etc.] K.V. for he was in a deep sleep ; so he swooned and died. 22. as Barak jjurdued] Heb. "and so 38 JUDGES, IV. 22— V. 1. will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail icas 23 in his temples. So God subdued on that day Jabin the king 24 of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. 5 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera."" 24. x^rospered, andprc- taihd] more exactly, "continued to be bard [heavy] upon Jabin," i.e. after the defeat of Sisera the power of the northern Canaanites continued to decline until they were entirely reduced before Israel. Ch. V. The song of Deborah and Barak (or rather, of Deborah ; see ver. 1). This remarkable poem, which, it is evident, must have been composed under the immediate influence of the events to which it relates, constitutes the oldest part of the Book of Judges. In places its meaning is doubtful, or obscure, partly owing to the somewhat imperfect state of the text ; but we have no difficulty ui understanding it sufficiently to be able to appreciate its gi-eat lyric and (h-amatic qualities — its impetuous rapidity, its vivid and pic- turesque suggestiveness, the brevity and compression, yet com- pleteness, with Avhich it developes its theme. Apart from its literary distinction, it has a high historical value from the light it inci- dentally throws on the social condition of Israel at the time of its composition. As regards its authorship there seems to be no con- clusive reason for rejecting the very ancient tradition accc^rding to which it was composed by Deborah, even though we should fail to detect the peculiarly femniine traits that have been seen by some in the allusions to Jael, Sisera's mother, and the like, and even though we should be constrained to admit that probably Deborah nowhere speaks in it in the first person as the composer (see notes on vv. 3, 7, 12). In its mechanical structure the main feature to be observed is the parallelism which it shows in conunon with all Hebrew poetry, and more particularly the progressive i)arallelism which is seen in such clauses as : From heaven fought the stars; From their courses fought [they] with Sisera; or: Through the window she looked forth and cried ; The mother of Sisera through the lattice. The elaborate schemes of strophe and antistrophe, and the exact subdivisions of the song as a whole into accurately balanced mTitually corresponding verses which have l)een suggested (but with no sort of agreement) by various critics are prol)ai)ly imaginary. 1. Til is verse is of course not an integral part of the original song, but is due to the editor. The poem itself he had probably found in one or other of those ancient collections of poetry which JUDGES, V. 2—4. 39 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, When the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, ye kings ; give ear, O ye princes ; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord ; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, are cited in the Old Testament under such titles as "the Book of Jashar," "the Book of the Wars of Jehovah." samj] 3rd sing. fern, not 3rd. pi. Deborah, not Barak, is the chief singer. 2. for the avenging of Israel] This vague and paraphrastic ren- dering is due to the Targum. The words literally mean "for that flowing locks (jjenVoth) were worn in Israel" ; and the leading word is the same as in Nu. vi. 5 where it is said of the Nazarite that "he shall not let the locks {pera') of his head grow long," and in Ezek. xliv. 20 where the priests are forbidden to " suffer their locks (pera^) to grow long." The expression in all three cases refers to the ancient and wide-sju-ead practice of vowing to keep the head unshoni until certain conditions had been fulfilled (cp. Acts xviii. 18). The priests were prohibited from makuig such vows because they might interfere with the regular discharge of the priestly functions ; but with warriors in jirimitive tunes the unshorn head was a usual mark of their consecration to the work they had undertaken, and their locks remained untouched till they had acliieved their enter- prise or had perished in the attempt (cp. Ps. lxA*iii. 21). War amongst most jirimitive peoples is a sacred function, and this was specially the case in Israel where Jehovah was the God of Hosts. The clause before us, then, is most probably to be interpreted in the light of the parallel expression: "when [or rather, "for that"] l^he people willingly oifered themselves," and the entire verse to be taken as an expression of thanks to Jehovah that the people had been inspired with patriotic and martial zeal. The E.V. rendering (" for that the leaders took the lead in Israel ") is supported by LXX. (A) and assixmes a secondary sense of the root 7>era' as implying the idea of prominence; cp. Dt. xxxii. 42, Avhere the expression "from the hairy (pera') head of the enemy" is rendered in A.V. "from tlie beginning of revenges upon the enemy," and in R.V. "from the head of the leaders of the enemy." 3. hings...priuees] A challenge to all the non-Israelite world within heai-ing (cp. Ps. ii. 10). /, even I] It is Israel who speaks (as in Ex. xv.) ; Jehovah has proved his title to supremacy. sing praise] The word implies the ac- companiment of a stringed instrument, and is equivalent to the Greek xf/dWeiv, whence "psalm." the Lord God of Israel] Rather: "Jehovah, the God of Israel," who is addressed, not by a title but by his proper name. 4, 5. The coming of Jehovah for the deliverance of his people. The imagery is that of a thunderstorm, in which he is described as descenduig upon Sinai his earthly seat, and thence advancing north- ward by way of Seir or Edom to the fi«ld of battle. The later pro- phets thought of Zion as God's dwelling-place (Am. i. 2; Isa. ii. 3; 40 JUDGES, V. 5—7. The earth trembled, and the heavens dropjied, The clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before the Lord, Even that Sinai from before the Lokd God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. And the travellers walked through byways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, Ezek. xliii. 7); but with the old Israelites it was Sinai that was *^the niouut of Jehovah" (Nu. x. 33), "the mountain of God" (Ex. iii. 1, iv. 27, xviii. 5), out of which his help came. This view still survives in such passages as Dt. xxxii. 2 and Hab. iii. 3, as well as here. Seir.,.Edom] The expressions are synonymous. Edom corresponds to " Temau " (' south '), the southern horizon of Palestine, in Hab. iii. 3. Behind it lay Sinai. earth tremhled etc.] Cp. Ps. Ixviii. 8. 5. melted] or, as E.V., flowed down [with water] ; soVulg. (from root nzl); better, as LXX. and K.Y. marg., quahed (from root zll). This interpretation is also to be preferred in Isa. Ixiv. 1, 3. 6 — 8. Tliese verses paint m a few vigorous strokes the helpless distress of Israel under the Canaanite oppression. The condition described is much the same as mider the Phihstine oppression in the days of Saul. The Hebrews are disarmed (ver. 8; cp. 1 Sam. xiii. 19 — 22) and helpless before the anued bands which phmdered the villages and highAvays, destroying all industry and traffic. The Canaanites, we see, had not estabhshed a regular sovereignty over Israel: for that they were too weak even in Deborah's days. While the general picture is intelligible and vivid, several details in these verses are obscure, and the text seems to have suffered some cor- ruption. 6. The complete prostration of Israel here described presupposes a long struggle in which, it would seem, Shamgar and Jael had played a leading part against the Canaanites. In iii. 31 an exploit of Shamgar against the Phihstines is recorded; and we may sup- pose that the Philistines at this period were suborduiate allies of the Canaanites. The mention of Jael is very interesting; for it appears to show that there was an ancient feud between Jael and Sisera, and that the heroine had already won distinction by her patriotism. the highways were unoccupied] Perhaps rather "the caravans [or 'travelling companies'; Isa. xxi. 13] ceased" (pts). The Canaanites connuanded and pillaged the main roads and all traffic was forced into by-paths. 7. 7'he inhabitants of the villages] The Hebrew word penrSm, wliich occurs again in ver. 11 but nowhere else in the Old Testament, and has puzzled all interi)reters ancient and modern, is taken by A.V. to be a collective noun, "villages," "villagers," akin to the name Perizzites (see i. 4). This suits well here, but not in ver. 11, where tlie Hebrew will not bear the sense "towards the inhabitants" itc. E.V. takes the word to be properly an abstract noun, "rule," passing hei*e into the con- crete sense "rulers," a very precarious rendering. Perhaps A.V. is JUDGES, V. 8—10. 41 Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods ; 8 Then ivas war in the gates : Was there a shield or spear seen Among forty thousand in Israel ? My heart is toward the governors of Israel, 9 That offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lokd. Speak, ye that ride on white asses, lu Ye that sit in judgment, substantially right here, but in that case the text of ver, 11 is con*upt. / Deborah arose] Perhaps the verb is really an archaic form of the 2nd pers. feni. "thou Deborah didst arise." Elsewhere in the song Deborah is spoken of in the '2nd or 3rd person. 8. Thei/ cho.-ie &c.] The Hebrew of this and the following clause does not yield any good sense. Professor llobert- son Smith suggests an emendation which would give tbe rendering : " The joyful noise of the new moons ceased ; the defenders of the gates were no more." sj^ear] or lance {romaft), a woi-d which in the older Hebrew literature occurs only in poetry, but in the later books takes the place of hanith ("spear ") in prose also. The full equipment of the wai'rior is sword {Jiereb; iii. 21), spear [romah or hanith), and shield; see 1 Sam. xiii. 22; Isa. ii. 4 &c. It is pro- bable that the bulk of Barak's troops were armed chiefly with short swords, bows, slings, or even ruder and more primitive weapons. forty thousand] This figure, mentioned, it is clear, as reiiresenting the entire fighting strength of the nation, is quite in harmony with 2 Sam. vi. 1, where the whole levy of Israel in the time of David is put at 30,000 men, but accords hardly so well with Ex. xii. 37, 38 ; Nu. i. 45 — 47, or xx. 2 below, where the figures respectively are 600,000, 603,550 (exclusive of Levites) and 400,000 (exclusive of Benjamin and probably also of Levi). 9 — 11. A tribute of admiration and gratitude to the brave volun- teers who by their appeal to arms had won back the freedom of their country. 9. Cp. ver. 2. 10. Speah] i.e. of the revival of patriotism and martial courage in Israel. The three classes here addressed are representative of all sorts and conditions of people in the coni- mmiity — the patrician and plebeian orders, so to speak. irhite] The colour meant seems to be not pure white but a hght dust colom- with a tinge of red. In the cities of the Ai-abian East " the ass is a riding beast for grave and considerable persons" (Doughty, ii. 482) and white asses are most highly esteemed. In Alej^po the white donkey "is reserved for Pashas, Imams and tbe richest of rich merchants" (Blunt, Z.V J. Tribes i. 20S)). in judgment] This rendering follows an ancient tradition, but departs from the Hebrew. Nor is K.V. "on rich carpets" supported by satisfactory proof, "on garments" would be a more defensible rendering, and gives a 42 JUDGES, V. 11, 12. And walk by the way. 11 They that ore delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, Even the righteous acts towards the inhabitants of his villages in Israel : Then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. 12 Awake, awake, Deborah : Awake, awake, utter a song : Arise, Barak, And lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. tolerable sense; for in the East well-to-do people have more clothes than they need for wear, and so can sit on part of their wardrobe ; cp. 2 K. ix. 13, for the use of mantles to sit on. 11. Thfij that are delivered ttc] The general sense aimed at by this free para- phrase is given with closer adherence to the HelT. by E.V. Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, i.e. "far from scenes of battle and bloodshed, in the morning and evening talk by the peaceful village fomitains, shall the heroic deeds of the brave patriots continue to be mentioned and praised." But the rendering "archers" is not certain. Some would render, connecting the words with the preceding verse: "speak [God's praises] for the noise [glad shouts] of them that diA'ide the prey in the places ttc." rehearse] Celebrate, or praise ; a somewhat rare word, used also in xi. 40. righteous acts of the Lord] Cp. 1 Sam. xii. 7; Mic. \i. 5. The righteous acts of Jehovah are the victories l)y which he shews his loyalty to his covenant with Israel. toicards the inhahitaiits &:c.] 1\.\. of his rule in Israel. Tliis is perhai>s best, if the text is sound ; see note on ver. 7. The present text is as old as LXX. but a very slight change in the letters as written at that tune would give the sense " in the redemption of Israel." shall the peoj^le of the Lojtn] or, "the people of Je- hovah went down." to the r/ates] i.e. to the outposts or frontier cities of the land held by the Hebrews. This clause anti- cipates in brief what is said hi detail in vv. 12 — 18. 12 — 18. The musteruig of the tribes. Among the tribes sum- moned response was made by Ephraim. Benjamin, Macliir (Manas- seh), Zebulun, and Issachar; wliile Keuben, Gilead (Gad). Dan and Aslier kept aloof. Judah and Simeon are not named at all; those two tribes were quite apart from the others, as indeed they continued to be down to the time of David. 12. This verse, or at least the first clause, is usually taken as parenthetic, and the expression understood as used by the propbetess to .stimulate her own lyric ardour in the middle of her song. But the words are more probably a sumuions to the fight, and are liere dramatically introduced to indicate tlie share Deborah had at the time in rousing the fighting ardour of the people by her prophetic songs. For the musical accompaniments of ancient prophecy, com- jiare 1 Sam. x. 5. had thy captiriti/ ca2>(ive] or rather, with a JUDGES, V. 13—15. 43 Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the 13 nobles among the people : The Lord made me have dominion ovei* the mighty. Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek ; 14 After thee, Benjamin, among thy people ; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. And the princes of Issachar loere with Deborah ; 15 slight change in the Hebrew vowels: "lead captive thy captors" (cp. Isa. xiv. 2). Apart from the hardship and humiliation he shared with the whole nation, Barak in-obably had some special personal grievance to avenge. (Compare the case of Gideon, below, viii, 18.) The meaning of the expression on the E.V. rendering is, of course, " take thy prisoners " ["captivity " being equivalent to " captives"] . 13. Then he made &c.] Better, as in E.V., neglecting the tra- ditional pointing: "Then came down a remnant of the nobles [and of] the people. Jehovah came down for me against the mighty." Some scholars also propose to change the traditional accentuation, and so avoid the difficult ellipsis " of the nobles [and of] the people," rendering thus: "Then came down a remnant of the nobles; the people of Jehovah came do^\^l" &c. — For this use of the word "came down" see i. 9. 14. (was there) a roof of them af/aiust A maJeTc] , or rather, as E.V. [came dowai] they whose root is in Amalek. An obscure expression: possibly the text is in some dis- order. We have no direct CAadence of any connection between Ephraim and Amalek ; but perhaps the verse may be taken along with xii. 15 as shewing that the hill-country of Ephraim had once wholly or partially belonged to Amalek. After thee] i.e. after Ephrami [came] Benjamin. amonij th>/ peoj'le] lit. "among thy peoples," i.e. "clans." Apparently Benjamin, the younger brother of Joseph, served lander the banner of Ephraim. Jifachir] the first-born of Manasseh (Gen, 1. 2;^; Josh. xvii. 1). According to Josh. xvii. 1, Machir and his descendants received (northern) Gilead and Bashan ; but in Nu. xxvi. '29 sqq. Abiezer, Helek, Azriel, Shechem, Hepher (afterwards represented by the five daughters of Zelophehad) and Shemida are all descendants of Machir, and these, according to Josh. xvii. 5. 6, had ten lots in Western Palestine. There can be no doubt tliat by Machir here Western Manasseh is meant. It would seem indeed as if Machir did not actually l)egi]i to occupy its territory to the east of Jordan until the time of Jair (x. 4). f/ovenwrs] i.e. military leaders, each of course with his own contingent of followers. Zehxdun'\ See i. 30. the pen of the vrifer] So Targ. and Syr. But all modern interpreters agi-ee in rendering: "the marshal's staff." The word denoting a writer or scribe {sAjtlier) also denotes a kind of military ofticer. as in 2 K. xxv. 19, Jer. lii. 25, wbere we read of "the principal scribe of the host," or, rather, of tbe "scribe, the cai)tain of the host," who mustered the people. 15. This verse is full of difficulty. In the first clause A.V. gives a good sense, but departs from the Heb., which has the strange expression "my 44 JUDGES, V. 16, 17. Even Issachar, and also Barak : He was sent on foot into the valley. Fox' the divisions of Eeiiben there were great thoughts of heart. i(i Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds. To hear the bleatings of the flocks ? For the divisions of Reuben there ivere great searchings of heart. 1/ Gilead abode beyond Jordan : And why did Dan remain in ships ? Asher continued on the sea shore. princes in Issachar" (K.V. marg.). In the second clause neither A.V. nor R.V. ("as was Issachar so was Barak") is satisfactory, but nothing better can be got from the text as it stands. The last clause may bear the sense: "He was hm-ried [lit. 'flung'] mto the valley by his feet"; i.e. he rushed headlong into the fray as if his feet carried hmi away; cp. Job xviii. 8. Or, since the distinction of sing, and plm*. is not always marked in old Hebrew writmg, we may render Avith R.V. : "Into the valley they rushed forth at liis feet" (cp. iv. 10 ; viii. 5, Heb.; '2 Sam. xv. 16, Heb.). In either case the valley is the battlefield in the plain of Esdraelon. The last clause of the verse goes Avith what follows in vv. 16, 17, where the tribes that took no part in the conflict are taunted for their inactivity. For the cUrisions of Eeuhen] Rather, as in R.V.", By the water- courses of Reuben (though some would render : " in the divisions," taking the word in its topographical sense as equivalent to shires or districts). The Reubenite territory was well supj)Ued with water, and was "a place for cattle": see Nu. xxxii. 1; 2 K. iii. 4. thouf/hts] R.V. resolves, the same word which in Isa. x. 1 is rendered "decrees." Reuben's great resolves are here spoken of sarcastically. They came to nothing (see ver. 16); the "native hue of resolution" was "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." The whole clause is repeated in ver. 16 with a trifling change which gives "searchings of heart" (hqry) for (hqqy). The same ex- pression should doubtless stand in both clauses, or more probably the clause in ver. 16 was originally a various readuig to our verse. 16. ahoclest] Translate: "satest." hlratingsof} R.V. and all modern interpreters give pipings for. A pastoral idyll. searchings of heart] This is commonly taken of consultations ending in nothing. But, in Hebrew, "to search a man' is to sound him and see what is in his heart (1 Sam. xx. 12, marg.; Prov. xxviii. 11), and so we may here understand that there was much sounding of one another's courage but no man was found to make a brave resolve. 17. dUcad] Here used as equivalent to tlie Gadite territory. Dan'] The northern Dan is plainly meant. The allusion however to this tribe as "reniaining [lit. 'sojourning'] in ships" is very obscure; for, like the men of Lai.sli whom they dis- possessed, the Danites were by the necessities of their situation remote from maritime pursuits whether as shipowners or as hired sailors. Perhaps the text is corrupt. Asher continued] or sat JUDGES, V. 18, 19. 45 And abode in his breaches. Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their 18 lives unto the death In the high places of the field. The kings came and fought, 19 Then fought the kings of Canaan still, on the shore (or, at the haven) of the sea. and abode in Ms breaches] or, "by his creeks." The territory of Aslier (Josh. xix. 24 — 31) extended from the neighbourhood of Mount Carmel north- ward to Tyre and Sidon. The principal harbours or inlets along this sea-board are Acco, Achzib, Tyre, Sarepta, Sidon, and none of these were held by Israelites (i. 31), so that Asher's command of the coast can have been but partial. 18. Xaphtali] See i. 33. in the high places of the field'] The allusion is not to the field of battle, but smiply to the territory held by these two tribes. Its highland character, differing from that of Issachar, gave them com- parative unmimity from Canaanite attack. All the more disinter- ested and praiseworthy was their conduct. E.V. gives the verse in its Hebrew order as follows: Zebulun was a people... And Naphtali upon the high places c^-e. The sense is: "Zebulun and Naphtali, upon the high places of the land, were a people that jeoparded," &c. 19 — 23. The battle, victory, and pursuit. The battle took place at " Taanach" (see i. 27), or, rather, at a point on the north side of the Kishou opposite Taanach, but more than 3 miles distant from it. The Israelites had come down from Moimt Tabor, and we may suppose Sisera and his army to have advanced up the vaUey from the west to meet them. No details of the actual encounter are given, but it would seem as if bad weather had favom-ed the Israelites (cp. the battle of Beth-boron: Josh. x. 11), and, in par- ticular, that violent rains had raised the rivulets and streams so as to make the Canaanite chariots unmanageable. A portion of the Canaanite army sought to gain Taanach or some other stronghold on the southern edge of the vaUey by struggling through the unusually swollen Kishon, and many perished in the attempt^. Others rushed in wild confusion straight westward along the plain, and the Israelites, having no cavalry, were not able to give effective pursuit. If the inhabitants of Meroz (which must have lain at a point from which by a prompt movement it might have been possible to cut off" the fugitives: see below) had "come to the help of Jehovah" by uiterceptuig the enemy's flight, the destruction of the Canaanites would have been much more complete. 1 A similar disaster happened iu the ueighboiirliood to numbers of tlie Turkish troops after tlieir defeat by the French in the so-called " battle of Mount Tabor" (10 April, 1799) "Kleber was posted at Fftleh [about 1 ni. N.W. from Shunem : see .Map], and with his corps of about 1500 men kept in check the whole Syrian army of at least 25,000 men. The French, formed in a square, fought from sunrise till noon, when Napoleon hastened to their aid with 600 men. The Turks, thinking: that a large army was approaching, took to flight ; many were killed, and others were drowned, there being an inundation at the time caused by the overflow of a small brook here." (Baedeker-Socin.) 40 JUDGES, V. 20—23. In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo ; They took no gain of money. 20 They fought from heaven ; The stars in their courses fought against Siseru. 21 The river of Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. 22 Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pran sings, The pransings of their mighty ones, 23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lokd, Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof ; Because they came not to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the mighty. 19. v-aters of Megiddo'] i.e. the Kishon. In like manner the plain was called "the valley of Megiddo" (Zech. xii. 11; 2 Chi\ XXXV. 22), after one of the principal strongholds by which it was commanded; see i. 27. thei/ tooL no gain in momi/] Their expedition brought them no profit. A meiosis. 20. Theg fought] i.e. the stars. in their courses] lit. "from their paths" (xx. 31, 32). It is not necessary to find here a hint of the belief, Avidely spread among the ancient Senates, and most highly de- veloped among the Babylonians, that the stars were living sentient things. Among the ancients everywhere the changes of the season and of weather (which in Palestine follows the season much more steadily than with us) were marked by the movements of the stars. The sense therefore is that season and weather lent their aid to discomfit Sisera, viz., by swelling the streams. J^isera'] The song of Deborah knows nothing of Jabiu. To the singer, Sisera is the real head of the Canaanites ; not merely a local kinglet but a chief over princes, for in ver. 29 his mother's attendants are "princesses" and in v. 30 (note) she herself is "the queen." 21. Kishon] see iv. 7. ancient] cp. Dt. xxxiii. 15: "ancient mountains." nu/ soid itc] better, as E.V., O my soul, march on with strength. The cry with which the victor c-alls upon himself and his troops, though faint, still to pursue. Cp. ver. 12. 22. A fine onomatopoetic description of the galloping flight of the enemy's cavalry {m/ddaharoth dahanUh abbiran. Translate: "then did the liorsehoofs beat, as the strong ones galloped away." 23. Curse. ..curse bitterlg] contrast ver. 24. Mero:-] Unknown. A site corresponding to that of tlie modern El-Mezra'a, between Sluniem and Nazareth, would perhaps meet the conditions, but the names have nothing in connnon. angel of the Lord] The individual leader, tbought of as going before the armies of Israel; see iv. 11, and cp. ii. 1. the hefj> of the JjOrd] The cause was Jeliovab's (see especially ver. 13), and the enemies of Israel are also Lis enemies (ver. 31). against] Some would render "among." JUDGES, V. 24—28. 47 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the 24 Kenite be, Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He asked water, aud she gave him milk ; 25 She brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail, 2(> And her right hand to the workmen's hammer ; And with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, When she had pierced and stricken through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down : 07 At her feet he bowed, he fell : Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. The mother of Sisera looked out at a windoAv, 24—27. The deed of Jael. The defeated general, separated from his troops, arrives on foot, unattended, at Jael's door, and asks for water. She brings hmi a large bowl of milk instead, and as he stands and (b-inks strikes him dead with a hammer. The less accurate accoxmt of her deed hi ch. iv. seems to have arisen from misunderstandmg of the poem. The moraUty of the action has been greatly discussed, but too much by modern standards, and on the assumption that Sisera had a right to reckon on friendly treatment at Jael's hands. It is plam that her Israelite contemporaries, who knew all the circimistances saw in her conduct nothing but what was perfectly regiUar and honom-able. They gave her their hearty admiration and gratitude (Cp. note on v. 6). 24. Heber the Kenite] See iv. 11. amone(/] lit. " fomul." The form of the question implies that an affirmative answer is expected. The choicer spoils only ai'e mentioned. The special i)resent of the chief (cp. below, viii. 24) is to consist of pieces of richly dyed and embroidered apparel, obtained, we may conjectm-e, from Babylonia or Phoenicia. a in-cij of divers colours] or rather, " a spoil of dyed garments." Dor, a few miles off, on the other side of Carmel, was, it is to be remembered, a principal seat of the production of the costly murex dye. dirers colours of nee die wo rl] dyed gar- ments embroidered. needlework on both sides] embroidered on l)otli sides. for the necls &c.] lit. "for the neck of the spoil." Various explanations of this obscure expression have been offered. Perhaps it is best ^\ith Ewald to read nhe(/al ("queen"; same word as in Ps. xlv. 9 ; Neb. ii. 6) instead of shelal (" spoil "). This reading, if adopted, further confirms what has been remarked above, on ver. 20. VI. 1— ^^:II. 35. Gideon, the fifth of the Judges. The story of Gideon as it now lies before us seems to have been drawn from at least two sources. The oldest of these is represented by the fragment (vui. 4 — 21) describing the pursuit of Zebali and Zahnunna. It jiresupposes the occasion of Gideon's pursuit to have been a raid of these Midianite princes upon the territory to the west of Jordan, in the course of which they had put to death certain brothers of Gideon (sons of his mother). In his pursuit he is accompanied by three hundred of his own clansmen (Abiezrites). He comes up with the Midianites on the fruige of the Syrian desert, JUDGES, VI. 2. 49 and the LoitD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel : and 2 because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong avenges his brethren 1)y putting the two princes to death, and re- ceives as his portion of the spoil the earrings taken from the enemy. A fuller account of Gideon is contauied in vi. '2 — viii. .3. It tells how Gideon was divinely called to deliver Israel from the Midiauite scourge, how apin-oaching from the heights of Manasseh he sur- prised the camp of the enemy in the plain and put them to flight, and how the Ephraimites being afterwards summoned seized the fords of Jordan and captured and slew Oreb and Zeeb. But this fuller account is not itself all of one piece, having probably received occasional additions from the hand of the editor and perhaps other sources. VI. 1 — 32. Gideon's preparation for his work. 1. Midian'] From Gen. xxv. 2, 4, 6 we see that the Israelites regarded the Midianites as near relations, — as near as the Ishmael- ites at least. Indeed in ch. viii. 24 they are actually called Ishmael- ites. Their seat is vaguely indicated m Gen. xxv. 6 as being in " the east country," by which we are to understand Northern Arabia and the Syro-arabian desert. They were nomads, and figm-e sometimes as plundering hordes, sometimes as carrying on a i)eaceful caravan- traffic by means of their camels in which their wealth chiefly con- sisted (Gen. xxxvii. 28, 36 ; Isa. Ix. 6). In Ex. ii. and xviii. we meet with them in the neighbourhood of Sinai ; the name Madian is still attached to a district on the Arabian shore of the Red Sea, south of the gulf of Akaba. 2. In all ages, when the govern- ment has been weak, Palestme has been exposed to the annual raids of Bedouins, who usually make no attempt to conquer or settle the country. Thomson, writing about the year 1856, says: "Their system of desolation is worked out after this fashion : They pitch their tents in the viciiiitj' of a village, and m such numbers as to bid defiance to the inhabitants. Of course their camels and flocks roam over the unfenced plain and devour a large part of the grain while growing; and when it is ripe they either steal it or com- pel the fanners io j)resent them a heavy per centage as the price of their j'l'otection. From the village itself chickens, eggs, sheep, cows and even horses disappear, and can never be recovered. Many of the inhabitants soon move oflf to escape from these annoyances, and, the village being thereby weakened, the Arabs provoke a quarrel ; some one is wounded or killed, and then the place is sacked and burned. The end aimed at is now reached, and the land belongs henceforth to the lawless Ishmaelites." The "dens" (ver. 2) which the Israelites "made them ' are i)robably rock-hewn excavations such as are still used by the Syrian peasantry to conceal their grain from the tax-gatherer or enemy (Jer. xli. 8) ; the cattle would be diiven into the " strougholds " or mountaui fastnesses. Open villages are helj^less against the Bedouin nomads, JUDGES 4 50 JUDGES, VI. 3—11. 3 holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midian- ites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, 4 even they came up against them ; and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheei), 5 nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude ; for both they and their camels were without number : and they entered fi into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites ; and the children of Israel cried 7 unto the Lord. And it came to pass, when the children of 8 Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saitli the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egyi^t, and brought you forth out of the house of 9 bondage ; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them 10 out from before you, and gave you their land ; and I said unto you, I am the Lord your God ; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but ye have not obeyed my voice. 11 And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which icas in Ophrah, that j^crtaincd unto Joasli the Abi-ezrite: but the simplest fortification checks them. 3. and so it a-as, when &c.] The Hebrew exjjresses that this took place re- peatedly through a series of years. Amalekitety] see iii. 13. children of the eatif] a general expression for all tlie in- habitants of the Syi'o-arabian desert, who were regarded by the Israehtes as near relations, descended from Abraham by Hagar, Keturah, and other concubines (Gen. xxv. 6). The Midianites themselves were "children of the east." The present verse, as also ver. 3H and vii. 12, represents the invaders as consisting of one of those confederations of Arab tribes which are freipxently formed for purposes of war and plunder ; but the mam body of the narra- tive in both sources speaks only of Midianites. , 4. till thou come unto iiaza] As tlie Midianites made their incursions from the east and north-east, this is a most graphic expression, Gaza being the most south-westerly i>oint of Canaan; see i. 18, note. 5. rirasshopperii] K.V. locusts. Cp. vii. 12, whei'e their camels ai'e said to be as the sand in }muiber. 7 — 10. These verses are commonly assigned to the Deuterouo- niistic editor. 8. ajn-ojdiet] His message is similar to that of the angel of the Lord in ii. 1, 2. 10. Aiiioritrs\ See iii. 5. note. 11. And there came Arc] R.V. And the angel of the Lord came. an oak] K.Y. the oak, the well-known sacred tree whieh was doubt- less pointed out by suljsetpient tradition as the seat of the revela- tion, beside the local altar (ver. 24). Ophrah^ An unidentified JUDGES, VI. 12—18. 51 and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared u unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, my 13 lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us ? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying. Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt ? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, 14 Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said 15 unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel ? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be i« with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, I7 then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not IH locality in Western Manasseh, spoken of in ver. 15 as insignificant ; but at one period in the history of Israel it must have been a well- known sanctuary and considerable place of pilgrunage (viii. 27). All trace of it seems to have disappeared ; for the identification with Fer'ata, 5 m. S.W. from Nabulus (see xii. 13, note) is im- possible, that pertained 7i)ifo Joanh] Joash therefore was the hereditary chieftain of the vUlage. the Abieznte] Abiezer being a clan of Western Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 2). threshed] 11. \. was beating out. In ordinary times the corn would have been threshed out by the treading of cattle on the open floor on the top of some neighbouring hUL It was only poor people who beat out their scanty store of grain with a stick (cp. Kuth ii. 17). bi/ the vine-2)ress] R.V. in the wine-press, i.e. concealed in the rock-cut tank on the hill-side, in which the grapes were trodden. 12. iiii(/hfi/ man of valour] The salutation of Gideon as a "stout warrior" foreshadows tlie substance of the message. 13. miracles] E.V. wondrous works. The A.V. translation "miracle" is not amiss if it be understood that in the Biblical sense every display of God's power and grace may be so named, whether it breaks through a law of nature or not. 14. the LonT)] i.e. the angel of the Lord. The variation is not uncommon; see Gen. xvi. 7, 18; xxii. 11, 12; Ex. iii. 2, 7; Judg. xiii. 18, 22. thin thy mif/ht] The angel recognises Gideon's natural valour; but it is the Divine mission that secures his success. 15. III If Lord] The Hebrew word as pointed {Jdo)iat, not Adoni] im- plies that Gideon knew himself to be adch-essing the Divine Lord. wherewith] or, "by what means" (cp. xvi. 5).. nn/ famih/ is yoor &c.] lit. "my clan [or, 'thousand'] is the Aveakest in Man- asseh." father's hovse] not household, Imt sub-clan ; see Josh, vii. 17. Though Gideon belonged to the chiefly family, he was not the natural leader of his clan while his father, and perhaps elder brothers, were alive. 17. thou] emphatic : E.V. that it is 4—2 52 JUDGES, VI. 19-25. lience, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again, ly And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour : the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the 20 oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay tJiem upon this 21 rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the LoKD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes: and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out 22 of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that he ivas an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I 23 have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom : unto this day it is yet in Ophi'ah of the Abi- ezrites. 25 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto thou that talkest. 18. }>resent'\ or "offering'' (Heb. minhah ;) see iii. 15, note. The translators seem to have avoided the usual technical word here, though not in xiii. 19, because the "present" included, it would appear, a kid, which would of course constitute a burnt- offering i'oJah), not a " meat-oflfering." 19. imleavened cakes'] See Ex. xxiii. 18. ejihah] The estimates of the Hebrew ephah, aU based on somewhat uncertam data, vary from over eight to luider three English gallons : the tentli part of an ephah of flour was the meat-offering that accompanied the daily burnt-offering (Nu. xxviii. 5). broth] Li old times, as in Ai'abia stiU, boiling was the usual method of cooking flesh (1 Sam. ii. l.S; Mic. iii. 3). 20. this rock] Heb. " j'onder rock," pohit- ing to it as he spoke. })onr out the broth] as a drink-offering. The drink-offering of the later ritual is always wine (Nu. xv. 5). Drink-offerings of water are mentioned in 1 Sam. vii. 6, and 2 Sam. xxiii. 16; cp. the connuentators on John vii. 87. 21. sta_f] The angels in the older Hebrew literature always ajipear in the guise of men ; hence the staff, which the Hebrew traveller, like the modern Bedouin, was never Avithout (Mark vi. 8). departed] presumably in the flame; see xiii. 20. 22. an aiujel] E.Y. the angel. " for becai(se I have seen] E.V. forasmuch as I have seen. Cp. xiii. 23; Gen. xvi. 13; xxxii. 30; Ex. xx. 19; xxxiii. 20; Isa. vi. .5. 23. peace &:(:.] Hence (ver. 21) the name "Jehovah-shalom,"' i.e. " the Lord is peace." 24. inito this daif] In Northern Israel the local sanctuaries continued down to the captivity (722 B.C.). 25 — 32. A fuller but independent account of Gideons altar, pre- smnably from a different source. JUDGES, VI. 26—33. 53 him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it : and build an 2« altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the 27 Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. And when the men of -jh the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut do^vn that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? 2!» And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said 3«i unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die : because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood 3i against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morn- ing: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerub- 32 baal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children 33 25. even the second huUoc^ There seems here to be some dis- order in the text, but no satisfactory restoration has as yet been suggested. If the reading " second" bullock is correct, the word must be used m some technical sense to the meaning of Avhich we have not the key. LXX. has " fatted bullock." altar of Baal] Ut. " altar of the [local] Baal." The narrative distinguishes the local god from Jehovah in the manner of Hosea and the prophets ; but this distinction was not clearly present to the mass of un- enlightened Israelites in ancient times. (irore'] Heb. asherah ; See iii. 7, note. 26. this rock] R.V. this stronghold (Heb. mdoz). In ver. 20 the word is sela' ("rock"). ?'» the ordered jilace] an obsciu-e expression. R.V. has in the orderly manner ; R.V. marg. " with that pertaiuuig to it." 27. took ten men of his servants] Perhaps this formed part of the directions in Ver. 25, which have now become confused. his fathers household] Heb. "father's house": see ver. 15. 31. Will ye plead &c.] The pronoun is here emphatic. Joash means to say: "It is not your business, but the Baals; it would be irreverent to a degree worthy of death to interfere in a matter which is entirely the god's affair." VI. 33— VIII. 3. The Midianite invasion ; Gideon's campaign. 33. Amalekites &c.] See ver. 3, note. vjent over] viz. the 54 JUDGES, VI. 34— Til. 1. of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched ."'.4 in the valley of Jezreel. But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet ; and Abi-ezer was gathered after 35 him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him : and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. 3<; And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine 37 hand, as thou hast said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it he dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save 38 Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. S9 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but tJiis once : let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece ; let it now be dry only upon the 40 fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night : for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. 7 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Jordan. valley'] Heb. ^emeh ; see i. 19, note. Jezreel] mod. Zei-'iu, lies at a height of 402 feet above sea-level, hi lat. 32° 83' N., ahuost upon the watershed between the valley of the Kishon, which drains to the Mediterranean, and the valley of the Jalud, which descends by Beth-shean to the Jordan. Modern geographers are not agreed which of these valleys is here meant by the valley of Jezreel, but the better opinion (see Josh. xvii. 16) is that the vaUey of Jezreel is that to the west, either the whole Merj ibn ' Amir, west of Gilboa, or the south-eastern part of it. 34. came npon Gideon] lit. "clothed itself with Gideon," i.e. entered into him. The ex- pression is quite different from that applied to Samson ui xiv. 6 ifcc. blew a tnimjiet] Cp. iii. 27. vas (fathered] lit. "followed the call." 35. Manasseh] Gideon's own tribe. and he sent vtessenffers &c.] Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali lay on the other side of the valley in which the enemy was encamped. Then" levies therefore could not, and did not, immediately join Gideon's people, but advancing towards them menaced the enemy from behind. 36 — 40. The deposition of dew depends on the cooling of the earth's surface, and objects on that surface, relatively to the atmo.sphere. In certain circumstances tliere is a natural jiossibility of a fleece on a threshing area becoming saturated with dew while the rest of the floor remains dry ; tliere is none whatever of the fleece remaining thy while the surrounding threshing area is wetted with dew. VII. 1. rose uj) earhj] i.e. simply, besthred themselves; cji. Zeph. iii. 7; Jer. vii. 13; xi. 7. Gideon was posted (cp. ver. 8) at some point in the mountains of Manasseh which border the plain •JUDGES, VII. 2—5. 55 Harod : so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. And the 2 Lord said unto Gideon, The people that' are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the 3 people, saying. Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are 4 yet too many ; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, tliat of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto 5 the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him of Jezreel on the south, and, naturally, beside a fountain. The precise localities are unknown ; for the hill of Moreh (" the hill of the revealer") is not mentioned again, and Harod reappears only in the adjective "Harodite" (2 Sani. xxiii. 25; also 1 Chr. xi. 27, cor- rected). Some recent writers wotild identify the well of Harod with the great fountain near Jezreel, now 'Ain Jalud, which is the source of the stream descending from Jezreel to the Jordan past Beth-shean, and sujjpose the hill of Moreh to be one of the si)urs of Little Hermon. But the camp of the Midianites lay further to the west (see vi. 33, note), and, as Gideon's object was to surprise them, he cannot have posted himself m the very midst of the plains over which the vast herds of the enemy roved (see vi. 5). host] E.V. camp. The Heb. mahaneh (cp. Mahanaim, i.e. "two hosts," or "two camps "j has both senses, and the word is translated sometimes "host" and sometimes "camp" in the com'se of the present narrative. 2 — 8. The process of elimination here described reduces Gideon's host to a small band, consisting, as we may infer from viii. 2, mainly of his own clansmen of Abiezer. 3. fearful and afraid] Cp. the law in Dt. xx. 8. depart early] E.V. depart; marg. "go round about." The verb so translated occurs only here. Gilead] Probably this difficult expression is a ijroverbial one; tbe key to its meaning has been lost. 4. //•//] lit. "smelt," as silver is "tried" or "smelted." The word is the same as that used in Ps. xii. 6 ; Isa. i. 25. The cowardly having been eliminated from Gideon's host, a further selection is made of those men who are least liable to be attacked by violent thirst, — an important requisite in a hot wilderness pursuit. 5. irith his toii(/i(e, as a dog lappeth] The readmg has been sug- gested: "that lappeth of the water [with his hand: see ver. 6] as a dog lappeth with his tongue" ; this at least gives the sense. The idea plainly is of one who is accustomed to slake his thirst as 56 JUDGES, VII. 6—15. shalt thou set by himself ; likewise everj' one that boweth down 6 upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their 7 knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand : and let all the other people go 8 every man unto his place. So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets : and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men : and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. !» And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host ; for I have delivered 10 it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with 11 Phurah thy servant down to the host: and thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the 12 host. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude ; and their camels were without number, as the 13 sand by the sea side for multitude. And when Gideon was come, behold, there ivas a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said. Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay 14 along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. 15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, opportunity offers, without loss of time. 8. S'o the people took victuals] The Heb. cannot bear this sense. Translate with LXX. and other ancient authorities, changing one letter of the text: "so they [the three lunidred] took the \ictuals of the people [who had been sent home] , and their trumpets." loito his tent] a common expression, not to be taken literally, for going home; see 1 K. xii. 16; and cp. below, xix.9, xx. 8, beneath hiui] See note on ver. 1. 9. f/et thee iloini unto] or rather, perhaps, as in E.V. margin, "against." The prei)osition {he) here and in ver. 11 is different from that in ver. 10 (.'«/). In the present verse Gideon is actually com- manded and encouraged to make the decisive attack at once (see ver. 11). It is only when he hesitates that he is allowed to begin by making a reconnaissance along with Phurah. 10. loito the host] See preceding note. outside] ll.V. outermost part, i.e. as far as the outposts. 12. Cp. vi. 5. 13. a cake of barley bread] emblematic of the Israelite peasantry, barley being JUDGES, Vn. IG— 19. 57 and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Loud hath deUvered into your hand the host of Midian. And he divided 16" the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them. Look on me, and 17 do likewise : and behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a ik trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, llie sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. So Gideon, and the hundred men that i!> irere with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the the bread-stuff of the poorer class (cp. 2 K. vii, 1). 14. This would imply that the prowess of Gideon was ah'eady known to some of the Midiauites. 15. vwrHhipped] thi-ew himself on the gi-omid in adoration. 16. pitchevfi] The oi'dinary earthen- ware vessel for can-ying water (Gen. xxiv. 14 Szc.) or keeping meal (1 K. xvii. 12 — 16: E.V. "barrel"). lamps] R.V. torches; same word as is rendered "firebrand " in xv. 4. " The zjlbit, or ^glul of the police, used frequently to go about the metropolis by night, often accompanied by the executioner and the shealegee or bearer of a kind of torch called shealeh, which is still in use. This torch burns, soon after it is lighted, without a flame, except when it is waved through the air, when it suddenly blazes forth : it therefore answers the same purpose as our dark lantern. The burning end is some- times concealed in a small pot or jar, or covered with somethuig else, when not required to give light; but it is said that thieves often smell it in time to escape meeting the bearer" (Lane, Mod. Egyptians). 17. Zoo/.; on 7??ej ».e. "Observe what I do." His chief reliance nmst however have been on the trimipet signal (ver. 18). The attack was to be made by night by three distinct companies, separated by considerable space and an intervening army. Success depended on the darkness. outside] See ver. 11. 18. «// that are vith me] one of the companies of a hundi*ed (ver. 19). The sword] supplied from ver. 20. But R.V. takes the words as they stand, and renders: For the Lord and for Gideon. The battle-cry of the heathen Arab.s in like manner is taken sometimes from the name of the tribal god, sometimes from that of the tribe itself or its leader. 19. middle vatch] The Jews, like the Babylonians and the Greeks, had only three night watches (comp. Lam. ii. 19: "at the begimmig of the watches;" Exod. xiv. 24; 1 Sam. xi. 11: "in the morning watch"). The Romans had four, and it is their practice that is presupposed in the expressions employed in Mk. xiii. 35; Lu. xii. 38; Mt. xiv. 25; Mk. vi. 48. The beginning of the middle watch here would be about 10 p.m. thei/ had but neichj Szc] The enemy would thus be somewhat more on the alert than at the end of a watch. But the slight bustle within the camp connected with the change of 58 JUDGES, YII. 20—23. watch : and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers 20 that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow 7cithal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp : 22 and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hun- dred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel- 23 meholah, unto Tabbath. And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites. watch would be itself a signal to Gideon's two detached parties to prepare for the sileuce after the watch had been set — a silence to be broken by the blast of his trmnpets and the shout of his men. 20. 2'he sioord of] or rather, as in R.Y. marg., "A sword for." 21. and cried, and /led] So the margin of the Hebrew text. The text itseh has (E.V.) and they [Gideon's men] shouted and put them to flight. 22. E.V. and they blew the three hundred trumpets. eren tJuvnghont all the host] E.V. and against all the host. The Midianite swords, in Midianite liands, were for the Lord and for Gideon. to Beth-sldttah in Zererath &c.] E.V., more exactly, as far as Beth-shittah towards Ze- rerah, as far as the border (Heb. "lip " or "bank") of Abel- meholah, by Tabbath. The repeated expression "as far as" perhaps indicates the fii'st points where a rally was attempted. Ahcl- meholah] {i.e. "meadow of dancing"), a spot in the chstrict of Beth-sheau (1 K. iv. 12), was the home of Elislia the prophet (1 K. xix. 16) and probably also of Adi-iel the son of Barzillai "the Meholatliite" (1 Sam. xviii. 19; 2 Sam. xxi. 8). According to Jerome it lay in the valley of the Jordan 10 Eoman miles to the south of Beth-shean. This points to a locality at or near the place (" lip ") where the W. Malih, coming down from the 'Ain Malih, joins the Jordan valley "under a low ridge, like a windrow" (Eobinson). The eastward flight of the Midianites would neces- sarily take place down the Beth-shean valley ; and in it, or in the lower parts of the Jordan valley, the other places mentioned in the present verse must be sougJit. Of Tabbath nothing is known. Zererah is not again mentioned: but probably' we ought to read Zeredah, Avhich accorduig to 2 Chr. iv. 17, compared with 1 K. vii. 46, is identical with or adjacent to Zarcthan, a i)oint in the Jordan valley in the region of Beth-shean (1 K. iv. 12).' Zeredah, the birth- place of Jeroboam, is piobably a different place, for it lay Avithiu the tribe of Ephraim (1 K. xi. 26). JUth-shittah, the first rallying place of the Midianites, may conceivably (as Eobinson suggests) be the modern Shutta, on the north side of the valley, halfway between Jezreel and Beth-shean. But we cannot lay much weight on the similarity of names derived from so connuon a plant as the acacia {ahittali). 23. gathered themselves] i.e. followed the summons JUDGES, VII. 24— VIII. 5. 59 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, 24 saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. And they took two prin- 25 ces of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb ; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the otlier side Jordan. And the men of Ephraim 8 said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou call- edst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites ? And they did chide with him sharply. And he said unto them, 2 What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the glean- ing of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi- ezer? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Mi- 3 diau, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that. And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the 4 three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, 5 to battle ; comp. vi. 35, note. 24. all the hill country of Ephraim. The northern txnbes, which were aheady in movement (vi. 35), would occupy the northern passages of the Jordan; thus Gideon foresaw that the fugitives must turn southwards, and could be mtercepted by a rapid movement on the part of the Ephraimites. the loaters] the fords of the Jordan. as far as Beth- barah, even Jordan. Beth-barah is unknown. From the context it must have been one of the most southern fords of the river, 25. tiro princes] Heb. " the two prmces." Oreb (i.e. "raven") was killed at "Kaven's Kock" (Isa. x. 26), Zeeb (i.e. "wolf") at "Wolf's Lair." Neither locality is known. winepress] or "wine vat," the vessel or rock-cut excavation under the press, which receives the must. brought the heads] So David cuts off Goliath's head as a trophy (1 Sam. xvii. 51 ; cp. also 2 Sam. xx. 22; 2 K. X. 7). to Gideon heyond Jordan] our first inti- mation tliat Gideon hunself had crossed. VIII. 1 — 3. A similar incident, but with a different issue, is related in xii. 1 — 6. In both cases the Ephraimites probably had a share in the booty in then* mind, but they were also jealous of the preeminence over Manasseh which they had held since the time of Joshua; cp. Gen. xlviii. 13, 14. 2. [/leaning] cp. xx. 45. 4 — 21. The pmsuit and captm-e of Zebah and Zalmunna : from another somx-e, — probably older, to judge from its more primitive colour. 4. passed over] Heb. "passing over" or "in his passage." 5. Succoth] i.e. "thickets" or "booths." According to Josh. xiii. 27 there was a Succoth eastward of Jordan, in the fonner terri- 60 JUDGES, VIII. G— 8. loaves of bread unto the people that follow me ; for they he faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. (> And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto 7 thine army? And Gideon said, Therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 8 And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them like- wise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of tory of Sihon king of Heslibon; and 1 K. vii. 46; 2 Chr. iv. 7, which speak of Solomon's foundries in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan, certainly suggest that there was one also on the Canaan side of the river. Neither here nor in Gen. xxxiii. 17 is there anything to compel the inference that the Succoth east of Jordan is intended. There is much to be said for the view that here we have to do Avith the western Succoth, which has been with very great probability identified by Kobinsou with the ruin called Sakut, close to the presmued site of Abel-meholah (see above). " The eastern bank of the lower Jordan valley opposite to us was precipitous, apparently nearly 150 or 200 feet high, and the river was running close under it, about half a mile distant from us. The water of the river was not in sight because of the bushes and trees. ...Quite a number of places were visible from Sakut... Tabor and Duliy (Little Hermon) we could see as we looked up through the great valley of Zerin. In the eastern mountauis W. Yiibis was over against us ; and the great break of W. Zerka or the Jabbok was also in view. ...Near the foot of the bluff of Siikiit, towards the east, there breaks out a beautiful fountain of pure and sparkling Avater, under the shade of a thicket of fig-trees" (Robinson). the peojjJe that folhno vie] lit. "the people at my feet'; cp. iv. 10. 6. in thine' ha lul] i.e. in thy grasp. The motive of the refusal was fear of the Midianites and distrust of Gideon's power to protect agahist them. 7. tear] lit. " thresh " ; see Am. i. 3. thorns] I)escribing the route to the N.W. of Sakiit, Eobinsou speaks of "a region... full of grass, wild oats and thistles, with an occasional thornbush. The soil was like that of an Ohio bottom. The grass intermingled with tall daisies, and the wild oats reached to the horses' backs, while the thistles sometimes overtopped the riders' heads... In some places it was difficult to make our way through this exuberant gi'owth." briers] Heb. harhinini, only here and in ver. 16. A word of uncertain meanuig which is left untranslated in most LXX. texts, Imt in that of Lucian is ren- dered Tpi(io\oi, which can mean either thorns or threshing instni- ments (comp. Lat. tribulum, whence "tribulation"). On this latter interpretation, cp. 2 Sam. xii. HI. 8. Penuel] or Peniel (Gen. xxxii. 81) i.e. "face of God," on the north bank of the Jabbok (W. Zerka), the scene of Jacob's wrestling, — whence the name, according to Gen. xxxii. HO ("I have seen God face to face"). It is here spoken of as a fortified place with a tower ; according to 1 K. JUDGES, VIII. 9—16. 61 Succoth had answered him. And he spake also unto the men of !» Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. Now Zebah and Zahnunna were in Karkor, and m their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east : for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents ii on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure. And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he 12 pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the 13 sun was up, and caught a young man of the men of Succoth, 14 and inquired of him : and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said. Be- lo hold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zahnunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness I'j xii. 25 it was refortified by Jeroboam I., a^iparently with the in- tention that it should become the chief town of his kingdom beyond Jordan. The site has not been identified; biat, considering what Jeroboam thought of it, it ought not to be beyond the reach of con- jecture Avere we once better acquainted with the topography of the district. 10. Karkor, where Zebah and Zalmunna with their shattered host at last drew breath with some feeling of security, is unidentified. It lay eastward or south-eastward of Penuel, and in the wilderness, for Gideon reached it "by the Avay [or caravan route] of them that dwelt in tents [i.e. the nomads] on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah.'" 11. Nobah luust have been near Jog- behah. Nu. xxxii. 42 suggests that there were two Nobahs, the second of which was also known as Kenath. This is the mod. Kanawat, on the W. slope of the Jebel Hauran, 4068 feet above sea- level, in m" 34' E. long., 32" 48' N. lat. Jogbehah, near the Nobah of our text, was oiie of the Gadite towns (Nu. xxxii. 35), and is usually identified with the mod. Jubehiit, 3468 feet above sea-level, about 6 ra. N.N.E. from 'Amman (Eabbath-amnion), on the road to es-Salt (Ramoth-gilead). was seciire^ i.e. kept no guard. 13. before the sun was iq:>] Eather, "turned back from the battle [i.e. ceased his jiursuit] at the ascent of Heres." Heres is an unidentified point. 14. and caught] Here we must begin a new sentence: "And he caught," viz., on liis way back. (f escribed] lit. "wrote down." We are probably to understand a written list rather than a detailed verbal descrii^tion of each of the seventy-seven men referred to. princes. ..elders] What distinction, if any, there is here between princes and elders is not clear. The latter are the sheikhs or leading men of families. 62 JUDGES, VIII. 17—23. 17 and briers, and with them he tau.^ht the men of Succoth. And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city. 18 Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men toere they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered. As thou art, so icere they; each one resembled the children of a 1!) king. And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother : as the Lokd liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I 20 would not slay you. And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he 21 feared, because he teas yet a youth. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Fase thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmun- na, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks. 22 Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, llule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also : for thou hast 23 delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over 16. taught'] Some ancient authorities have " threshed," the readmg of ver. 7. 17. heat down] He would reach Penuel before Succoth, but might prefer to chastise the open town of Succoth before laying siege to the fortress of Penuel. 18. ]Vhat manner of men &c.] The slaying of Gideon's brethren is not men- tioned in chaps, vi. and \\\., and from them we should not have giaessed that Gideon's resort to anus and i^ersistent jjursuit of the flying enemy were stimulated by the potent motive of blood revenge (ver. 19). Tahor] The slaiaghter at Tabor was probably an incident m the advance of the Midianites into the plain of Esdraelon. chi/dren of a Icing] This is hardly a mere compliment. Among the nomads, where the common people are often badly fed in child- hood, superior physique is one of the accepted marks of nobler birth. 20. As late as the fourth Christian century, as we learn from Nilus, the Arabs of the Sinaitic desert charged youths with the slaughter of prisoners, to accustom them to deeds of blood (W. P. S.). 21. as the man strength (or "valour")] i.e. courage for such an act camiot be expected of one who is not yet a man. The Midianites await with manly composure the inevitable f)peration of the law of blood. ornaments] "little moons" or crescent-shajied amulets, such as the Bedouins still attach to their riding cattle. Compare the modern horseshoe on the stable-door. In Isa. iii. 18 the same name ("round tires like the moon") is applied to an orna- ment or amulet worn by women. 22 — 35. Gideon's closing j'ears. 22. men of Israel] This expression need not be taken as in- cluding Jndah or any of the other tribes liitberto unnamed in this story. liiile thou. ..and thy son il'c] The dawning of the idea of a hereditary monarchy. 23. 1 n-ill not rule... the Loan shall rule] The story of Abimelech (see below), however, shows that JUDGES, VIII. 2i— 26. 63 you: the Lokd shall rule over you. And Gideon said unto 24 them, I would desire a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden ear- rings, because they icere Ishmaelites.) And they answered, 25 We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the 2(i weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold ; beside ornaments, and col- lars, and purple raiment that ivas on the kings of Midian, and certam rights of sovereignty actually were exercised by Gideon and bis family (see note on ix. 2), about the transmission of which there was a question after bis death. At any rate neither in Gideon's time nor in the succeeding generations was there anything approaching to what could be called a theocracy. The view that the kingship is an mfringement of the Di\ine sovereignty (cp. 1 Sam. viii. 6 sqq; x. 18 sqq.) appears only in a few passages in the old history. More commonly the anarchy of the period of the judges is represented as disastrous, and the kingship, especially that of the bouse of David, as a good gift of God. 24. give vie] "In ancient Ai-abia the chief took the fourth part of the spoils of war, and bad also certain other perc^uisites, j)articularly the right to select for himself, before the divisi(m, some special gift {safaya), such as a damsel or sword. Among the Hebrews, in like manner, the chief received a liberal share of the booty (1 Sam. xxx. 20), including some choice gift corresponding to the safaya (Judg. V. 30; viii. 24)." W. K. Smith, iie/. q/>SVm7e.s% p. 440. ear- rings] K.V. marg. "noserings." The Hebrew, nezem, may mean either. It is "nosering," esi)eciaUy, in Gen. xxiv. 47, Isa. iii. *21, Ezek. xvi. 12, Prov. xi. 22; "earring" in Gen. xxxv. 4, Ex. xxxii. 2, Prov. XXV. 12. Here it clearly means " earring," as noserings are seldom worn by men, and never by men of Semitic race. preg'] E.V. spoil, stripped from the slain. Ishmaelites] nomadic "Arabs;" a wider word than "Midianites"; cp. vi. 1, note. Earrings were also worn by the Assyrians (see the monu- ments), but not by the Hebrews. The point however lies partly in the word "golden," Arabia being then celebrated for the abundance of its gold. Auriferous rocks have been found by recent travellers in Madian, but the alluvial gold seems now to be exhausted. 25. garment] Heb. simhrh, the blanket-shaped piece of woollen cloth which was worn as a mantle over the tunic (kuttoneth) or waistcloth {eztjr). 26. a thousand and seven hundred of gold] i.e. shekels. Accoi'duig to the latest investigations (Ridgeway) the oldest Hebrew shekel was prol)ably a weight of 130 gi-ains. Thus the gold shekel would be equivalent to the Homeric talent, the con- ventional value of an ox. The English sovereign contains 113 gi-ains of pure gold. For the Hebrew silver shekel see below on ix. 4. ornaments] see ver. 21. collars] R.V. pendants (Heb. netiphOth, lit. "di-ops"); see Isa. iii. 19 ("chains"; II. V. "pen- dants"), picriile] Heb. argaman, red purple, as distinguished 64 JUDGES, Vm. 27—33. 27 beside the chains that icerc about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah : and all Israel went thither a whoring after it : which 28 thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house. Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. 2<> And Jenabbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own 3(1 house. And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body 31 begotten: for he had many wives. And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he 32 called Abimelech. And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, 33 in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites. And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and from violet or blue puri)le [teheleth), both made with the costly murex dye. chains] Heb. "neck chains,'' for ornament. In Cant. iv. 9 the word is used of a woman's neck chain. 27. ephod^ The most familiar use of this wox*d is as denoting a part of the priestly dress which was made of linen. But the present ephod was made of gold, or plated with that metal, and the word "a whoring" implies that it was a kind of idol. Cp. Isa. xxx. 22, where the word "ornament" (R.V. "plathig") is in the Hebrew aphuddah, the word ephod with a feminine termination. aU Israel] see vi. 11 ; also above, ver. 22. a snare] See ii. 3. AVe are not to suppose that Gideon himself saw in this worship anything incon- sistent with his perfect loyalty to Jehovah, whom he acknowledged in the name he gave to his youngest son (Jotliam, t'.r. "Jehovah is perfect "). That all images were inconsistent with Jehovah-worship was a truth that daAvned on the Israelites but slowly. The prophets Hosea, Isaiah and Micali all l)ear witness to the fact that down to the Assyrian period images formed a regular part of the furniture of "houses of God" in the kingdom of Judah as well as in that of Israel. 28. lifted vp their heads no nwre\ It was probably about the same time that the Mi(hanites received another crushing blow "hi the field of Moab' at the hand of theEdomites; Gen. xxxvi. 35. 29. direlt in his on-n house i.e. was not again called into the field. 30. mani/ n-ires] (rideon, like David, after he had ])ecome a man of wealth and consideration, sought to establish and extend his influence by inmierous matrimonial alli- ances. 31. his concubine] called his slave-girl in ix. 18. Apparently she was a Canaanite; see ix. 1, 2, 28, and notes. Jhinielech] i.e. "father of a king." By naming him Gideon ac- knowledged him as his son, and the contrast l)etween l»is name ("father of a king") and his estate ("son of a handmaid') is hardly accidental. 33 — 35. Not part of the main narrative, but the editor's antici- patory simnnary and appreciation of the events of chap, ix. JUDGES, VIII. 34— IX. 3. G5 went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. And the cliildren of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, 34 who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side: neither shewed they kindness to the house of 35 Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel. And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto 9 his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, Speak, I 2 pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, 2chich are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of 3 all the men of Shechem all these words : and their hearts in- 33. Baali/ti] the Baalim; see ii. 11. Baal-herith] or El-berith, the local god of the Cauaauites of Shechem (ix. 4, 46). To what extent the Israehtes became involved in his worship may be learned from the following chapter. IX. King Abimelech. 1. iSJiechem] mod. Ntibulus, 1870 feet above sea-level, occupies a central jiosition in the hill-country of Ephraim, where the road from Hebron and Jerusalem to the north (see below, xxi. 19), is crossed by one of the trade routes from Gaza to Damascus. The valley of Shechem between Ebal and Gerizim has been spoken of by travellers as the paradise of the Holy Land. It is frequently mentioned in the patriarchal histories (Gen. xii. 0; xxxiii. 18 s(jq.; xxxiv. 2 &c.) in such a way as shows that it must have been a sanctuaiy from ancient times, and in tlie Book of Joshua it is spoken of as a city of refuge, a Levitical city, and the resting-place of the bones of Joseph (xxi. 21 ; xxiv. 32). It was the scene of the meetmg of the ten tribes at which Jeroboam was chosen king (1 K. xii. 1 sqq.), and was for some time his capital. After the exile it became the prmcipal city of the Samaritan community, and the seat of their schismatic worship on Mount Gerizim. honae of ?ns mother's father] lit. "his mother's father-house," i.e. his mother's clan. 2. men of Shechem] Heb. ba'alim (lit. "owners," or landholders), an expression used also by the Phoenicians to denote free citizens ; so throughout this chapter. In \'iii. 5 &c. ("men of Succoth"), the word is different. From ver. 28 {([.v.) it seems almost certain that these " men' of Shechem were of Canaanite descent (Haraorites), and that it was only after the total destruc- tion of the city by Abimelech (ver. 45) that an Israelite town was formed on the spot. Ml/ether is better &c.] The question shows that Gideon had wielded some kind of sovereignty which would naturally be transmitted to his sons collectively; many examples in Semitic history show that in the absence of a formal sovereignty the influence of a numerous and wealthy family tends JUDGES 5 66 JUDGES, IX. 4-6. clined to follow Abimelech ; for tbey said, He is our brother. 4 And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and 5 light persons, which followed him. And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, heinci threescore and ten persons, upon one stone : notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was 6 left ; for he hid himself. And all the men of Shechem gather- ed together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. to become little less than kingly. 4. threescore and ten [pieces, i.e. shekels] of silvei-] At this period, and indeed down to the Exile, the shekel was a Aveight, not a coin (cp. Gen. xxiii. 16). When the Jews began to coin money of their own imder Simon Mac- cabaens (b.c. 141) the silver shekel was struck on the Phoenician standard and weighed about 220 gi-ains, a little more than the English half-crown of 218 grains. The weight of the silver shekel in earlier times has been much disputed, the main question being whether the unit was about 130 grains (so Eidgeway : see note on viii. 26), or twice as great (258 grains, according to Petrie). The small sum mentioned in the passage before us can hardly have done more than furnish earnest monej' to Abimelech's mercenaries (cp. xvii. 10, below, where examples of the purchasing power of the shekel are cited). house of Baal-berith'] In antiquity there was no sharp line between public treasux-e and temple treasure. Conse- crated treasures were protected (so far) from private peculation, but remained available for occasions of public need (1 K. xv. 18; 2 K. xviii. 15; 2 Sam. viii. 11). So at Athens the public treasure lay in the inner chamber of the Parthenon. Iiyht persons] " restless" or "hot-headed" ("unstable": Gen. xlix. 4). 5. npon one stone] a deliberate and cold-blooded massacre, — perhaps with some of the forms of a public execution. Jotham] See viii. 27, note. 6. aU the house of Millo] Heb. "all Beth-millo." The Millo at Jerusalem was a fortress (2 Sam. v. 9; 1 K. xi. 27). Here also we must understand a fortified quarter of Shechem, or a fortified village near it. hi'if/] This was an attempt to estabhsh a semi-Canaanite domination in central Palestine, and was necessarily foredoomed to failure, since the Hebrews were by far the stronger element in this part of the country. From data subsequently sup- plied by this chapter (see especially vv. 22, 25, note, and 55, where Abimelech's followers are called the "men of Israel") we may infer that Abimelech soon perceived that he had more to giin by reign- ing as an Israelite in virtue of his father's blood, than l)y favouring the Canaanites, the peojile of his mother. jflain] Heb. " oak," i.e. tbe sacred tree mentioned in Gen. xii. 6, 7, Dt. xi. 30, Josb. xxiv. 26. In Gen. xii. 6 this " secular tree " of Shechem is called "the oak of the revealer." pillar] R.V. marg. has "garrison" (Heb. viurrah), but A.V. is doubtless right; ci). Josh. xxiv. 26, where the great stone under the oak of the sanctuary at Shechem JUDGES, IX. 7—15. 67 And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the 7 top of mount Gerizim, and lift up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to 8 anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Keign thou over us. But the ohve tree said unto them, Should 9 I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to lo the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree ii said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees ? Then said the 12 trees unto the vine. Come thou, and reign over us. And the 13 vine said unto them. Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then 14 said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint 15 me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow : and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the is expressly mentioned. The usual name of such a stone is maqgeha. Hosea (iii. 4) speaks of the maggeha as an invariable feature of the northern sanctuaries of his time. Such stones were at once rude altars to which the sacrificial blood was apphed, and memorials or symbols of the presence of the deity. 7 — 20. Jotham's parable and curse. Fables or parables from trees were familiar to the Hebrews. Another is given in 2 K. xiv. 9 ; compare also 1 K. iv. 33, where proverbs or parables derived from trees are probably meant. 7. Genzim, the hill to the south of Shechem, rises about 1000 feet above tbe to'mi. " Several lofty precipices of Gerizim literally overhang the city, any one of which would answer Jotham's pur- pose. Nor would it be difficult to be heard, as everybody knows who has hstened to the public crier of villages in Lebanon. In the stilhiess of evening, after the people have returned home from their distant fields he ascends the mountain side above the place, or to the roof of some prominent house, and there ' hf ts up his voice and cries' as Jotham did " (Thomson). 9. wherewith h\i me &c.] "even I by whom," or, perhaps, "which God [or, rather, gods] and man honour in me." For the sacrificial use of oil, see Nu. xv. 4, Lev. ii. 1, 6, 7; and for its use as an unguent, Ps. xxiii. 5. to he promoted] to wave to and fro; so w. 11, 13. 13. wine] lit. "must," or new wine. cheereth God\ or, rather, "gods." This conception of one of the functions of sacrifice is not confined to the rudest peoples ; it appears often in the Old Testament, and had to be combated by psalmists and prophets; see for example Ps. 1. 14. all] There is a touch of sarcasm here. hramhle] Heb. 'atad, some kind of rhamnus, of which there are many species in Palestme. 15. imt your trust] i.e. shelter yourselves. let Jire come out] The thorny underwood can give no shade to the 68 JUDGES, IX. 10—25. i« cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto 17 him according to the deserving of his hands; (for my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you 18 out of the hand of Midian: and ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because 19 he /s your brother;) if ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in 20 Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you : but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo ; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. 21 And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. '22, 23 When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem ; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with 24 Abimelech : that the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them ; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren. 25 And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that lofty cedars, but a fire beginnmg in it may devour the whole forest; cp. Isa. ix. 18. The application to Abimelech is obvious, and in- cludes an allusion to his base birth (cp. ver. 18). The modern Eastern view, which takes no account of the condition of a man's mother, is due to Mohammedanism, and had no place among the ancient Semites. 16. sinceref;/] i.e. dealt loyally towards the house of Gideon; see ver. 19. 17. adrent ii red hi my hand ; then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine army, and come out. And 3o when Zebul the ruler of the city heai-d the words of Gaal the lech by interfering with the through traffic implies that the latter was aiming at a kingship over the whole country ; and it may be presumed that in the pursuit of this larger object he had offended the Shechemites by iudiffei*ence to their special mterests, perhaps by prohibiting them from le\'ying dues (octroi) on through traffic. it v-as fold] Abimelech therefore was absent from Shechem, pre- sumably in pursuit of some scheme of aggi'andisement. Shechem was still nominally subject to hmi, and the machinations of the Shechemites were not meant to reach his ears. 26. hrefhren] probably in the sense of "partisans." Gaal, of whom nothing is known except from our chapter, was the leader of an armed band like that with which Abimelech (above, ver. 4), Jephthali (below, xi. 3), and David himself (1 Sam. xxAai. 8 sqq.) laid the foundations of their power. their confidence'] i.e. were encouraged by the presence of this force to adopt a more openly hostile attitude to- wards Abimelech. 27. made viernj\ K.V. held festival. (Heb. hilh'illni). Etymologically the word is connected with the "hallelujah" of the Psalms, and with the Arabic tahlil, " religious shouthig" (at the sanctuary). We are therefore to understand a festival of thanks for the vintage, accompanied with shouts of praise. 28. An extremely difficult verse. The text is prob- ably not quite sound, and perhaps Ave should read (with the aid of LXX.): "Who is Abimelech, and who is [the ruler of] Shechem, that we should serve him ? Have not the son of Jerubbaal, and Zel)ul his officer, enslaved the men of Hamor the father of Shechem ? but why should we serve him ?"' In any case the "we " is empliatic, and appears to denote Gaal and his men in contradistinction to the Hamorites. 29. and he said &c.] According to the following verses the notice of the revolt at Shechem was conveyed to Abune- lech by Zebul Avithout Gaals knowledge. We can hardly therefore suppose that our verse speaks of an open challenge to Abimelech by Gaal. The omission of a single jot from the text gives the folloAving: "then would I remove [i.e. depose] Abimelech, and would say to Abimelech, Inci-ease thine army and come out " [i.e. meet me in battle]. So LXX. 30. the niler of the city] 70 JUDGES, IX. 31—30. 31 son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying. Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem ; and behold, they 32 fortify the city against thee. Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field : 33 and it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon the city ; and behold, tchen he and the people that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion. 34 And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem iji four 35 companies. And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood i7i the entering of the gate of the city : and Abimelech rose up, and the people that wei'e with him, from lying in wait. 36 Arid when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains 37 as if they were men. And Gaal spake again and said. See there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim. 38 Then said Zebul unto him. Where is now thy mouth, where- with thou saidst. Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him ? IS not this the people that thou hast despised ? go out, 33 I pray now, and fight with them. And Gaal went out before Doubtless the head of a leading Sliechemite family, who in Abime- lech's absence guided the affairs of the town. In ver. 28 Gaal calls him Abimelech's "officer;" but we can hardly doubt that he was involved in the secret machinations of the Shecheniites against the king, and that his resolution to warn the latter against Gaal was due less to loyalty than to jealousy of the open bid for the sovereignty of Shechem made by Gaal in ver. 2S. In the sequel Abhnelech takes the hint as regards Gaal, but evidently he had no confidence in Zebul, who seems to have perisbed in the destruction of the town. 31. jn-irily] R.V. craftily. He was playing a double game. foi'tify] R.V. constrain the city [to take part] against thee. Both renderings are somewhat precarious. 33. as thou .shalf Jind occafiioii] lit. "as thine hand shall find," i.e. as thou art able. he and the i>eoj)If] i.e. Gaal and his parti- sans. Here Zebul seems to promise that he will holdback the mass of the Shecheniites from following Gaal. 35. Ii/iii(/ in irait} R.V. the ambushinent. 37. hi/ the middle] lit. "from beside the navel of the land.'' A definite locality so named must be meant. The same designation [yi]^ o/unfiuXu^) was api)lic(l by tlie Cireeks to Delphi. plain of Mcoiifnim] t)r rather "augurs' oak," the same as the "oak of the revealer" (A.V. "plain of Moreh "); see ver. 6, note. 39. hr/ore^ The natural meanuig of this is, "at the head of." But the subsequent context scarcely admits any stronger sense than " in the sight of" (see notes on vv. JUDGES, IX. 40—48. 71 the men of Shechem, and fought witli Abimelech. And 40 Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even unto the entering of tlie gate. And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah : and Zebul thrust 41 out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the 42 people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. And he took the people, and divided them into three com- 45 panies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and behold, the people were come forth out of the city ; and he rose up against them, and smote them. And Abimelech, and the 44 company that ivas with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city : and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them. And Abimelech fought against the city all that day ; and 45 he took the city, and slew the people that ivas therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. And when all the 4(; men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into a hold of the house of the god Berith. And it was told Abime- 47 lech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he 48 41, 42). 41. Arumali] Unknown. Perhaps it is represented by the mod. el-'Onna, 6 m. S.S.E. from Shechem, where there are ruins. Possibly it may be the same as the Ru7iiah of 2 K. xxiii. 36. An easy emendation would give "Abimelech returned to his am- bushment " (W. E. S.) Zehnl thrust out G'aal] after his defeat. The expulsion of Gaal implies that Zebul had reestabUshed his ascendency in the city, and designed to make peace with Abimelech, Had the Shechemites meant war, they would not have parted with a useful band of auxiliaries. Abimelech on the other hand was resolved to treat the Shechemites as deadly enemies. 42. the l)eople went out into the Jield] Hardly for battle (see the preceding verse); perhaps to complete the vintage. They seem to have thought tliat Abimelech and his forces had drawn oflf. the\i ?oW] i.e. Abimelech's scouts told. 44. companif] Ht. "com- panies," as in R.V., but A.V. gives the right sense. " ^eUs\ R.V. field, as in ver. 33. 45. soared it tcitk salt] A figurative action, symbolizing complete and final devastation. A salt land "is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein" (Dt. xxix. 23). Cp. Zeph. ii. 9; Job xxxix. 6 (E.V. "salt land"); Ps. cvii. 34 (R.V. " a fruitful land into a salt desert"); Jer. xvii. 6 ("a salt land and not inhabited"). Shecliem however speedily re- covered. 4€. the tower of Shechem] Heb. Mujdal Shechem, a dependency of Shechem, prol)al)ly so called from the fortified temple of El-berith. a hold] R.V. the hold. the god Berith] Heb. El-berith, the same as Baal-berith; see above. 48. Zalmon] i.e. "shady." A wooded hill near Shechem nuist be intended. It is by a mere coincidence that a bill to the south of 72 JUDGES, IX. I'J— 57. and all the people that were with him ; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that loere with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, 49 and do as I have done. And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them ; so that all the men of the tower of Shechera died also, about a thousand men and women. 50 Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against 51 Thebez, and took it. But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them, and gat them up to the top of 52 the tower. And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn 53 it with fire. And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone 54 upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull. Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him. Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him 55 through, and he died. And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place. 5« Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he 57 did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren : and all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads : and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal. Shechem is at present known by the name of a Mohammedan samt, Selmaii (Suleiman or Solomon) el Farsi. 50. Then iccnf &c.] lit. "And Abimelech went." It is not necessarily implied that the siege of Thebez was connected with the revolt of the Shechemites. Thebez] Abimelech's siege of Thebez. is referred to in 2 Sam. xi. 21. The town still existed mider the same name in the days of Eusebius and Jerome, who define its position as less tlian IB K. m. from Shechem on the road to Beth-shean. It is rejiresented by the mod. Tfibas, a large village 10 ni. in a straight line N.E. from Nabulus and about 2 m. S.W. from Tahlsa (Tirzah). 51. top] R.V. roof. 52. hard inito] i.e. close up to; cp. "hard after," "hard by." to burn if] repeating his (•xi)loit at Shechem. 53. a piece of a millstone] E.V. an upper millstone; lit. "the riding piece" of a handmill or quorn. oil to brake] an obsolete Enjjjlisli expression. The to here represents the Saxon particle te-, equivalent to the Germ, cf/--, meaning "asunder" "in pieces." all] i.e. completely. 54. aruiourhearcr] cp. 1 Sam. xxxi. 1. slai/ jne] more exactly, " slay me outright." The Hebrew word is that used for despatching a wounded man (1 Sam. xiv. 18; xvii. 51). So the caliph Abd al-l\Ialik was dissuaded from punishing hi.s father's murderess lest people should know that a woman had killed him (W. E. S.). 57. the curse of Jotham.} See ver. 20. JUDGES, X. 1—6. 73 And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the 10 son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. And he judged Israel 2 twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel 3 twenty and two years. And he had thirty sons that rode on 4 thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. 5 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the « X. 1, 2. Tola, the sixth of the Judges. 1, defend] the word usually rendered "deliver" or "save." The EugUsh translators seem to have preferred the less aggressive word as the narrative mentions no war in Tola's day. Tola] Both Tola and Puah or Puvvah occur also as tiie names of "sous" of Issachar, i.e. clans within that tribe (Gen. xlvi. 13; Nu.xxvi.23; 1 Ch. vii. 1). Dodo] This might be rendered: "his [i.e. Abimelech's] uncle." If this is the true meaning, "uncle" must be taken in a loose sense ("father's kinsman ") and the connection will be through Gideon's uterine brothers (viii. IS, compared vnth Josh. xix. 22, where we see that Tabor was hicluded in the territory of Issachar). tSha)nir] in the hill country of Ephraim. The site is unknown, unless perhaps the name be an archaic form of Shomron (Samaria). 3 — 5. Jair, the seventh of the Jtidrfes. 3. Jair (cp. Jairus ; Mk. v. 22) was a Gileadite, of the tribe of Manasseh (Nu. xxxii. 41 ; Dt. iii. 14; IK. iv. 13). 4. as.s- coltn] Cp. i. 14, V. 10. Havoth-jair] or rather Havvoth-jair, i.e. "hamlets of Jair," probably scattered over the pastoral comitry in the N.W. of Peraea. in the land of Gilead] not in the narrower sense of the word, according to Avhich Gilead was bounded on the north by the Yarmiik, but (see Dt. iii. 14; Josh. xiii. 30) in what was properly Bashan, north of that river, bordering on the Ai-amaeau settlements of Geshur and Maacah. From Nu. xxxii. 41 ; Dt. iii. 14 we learn that this district was granted to Manassites by Moses, but here we see that the actual occupation was effected much later (comp. V. 14, note). From 1 Chr. ii. 21, 22 it appears that the Jairite braucla of Manasseh was mixed with a strain of Hezronites, i.e. half-settled nomads. The number of the hamlets varied ; here they are 30 ; in Josh. xiii. 60 there are 60, and in 1 Cbr. ii. 22 there are 23. 5. Camon] one of the Havvoth-jair. The site is uu- known. A place named Ka/xous or Kafxovv is mentioned by Polybius (v. 70) in conjunction with Pella, as having been taken by Antiochus the Great. X. 6 — XII. 7. Jephthah, the eighth of the Jicdf/ea. The story of Jephthah itself is comparatively brief and admits of being told in few words. The apparent length of the naiTative is due : (1) to the introduction (x. 6 — 18), by the Deuteronomistic re- dactor, which is a very characteristic example of his manner (see 74 JUDGES, X. 7-lG. Lord, aud served Baalim, aud Ashtaroth, and the god^ of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the 7 Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of 8 the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that ivere on the other side Jordan in the 9 land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of 10 Ephraim ; so that Israel was sore distressed. And the chil- dren of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and ]i also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the 12 Philistines ? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did opi^ress you ; and ye cried to me, and I 13 delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods : wherefore I will deliver you no more. 14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen ; let them 15 deliver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned : do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee ; deliver us only, wo ui pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and seryed the Lord : and his soul was Introd.), and (2) to the account of the historical and legal argimient between Jephthah and the Amorites as to the rightful ownership of the territory between the Arnon and the Jabbok (xi. 1*2 — 29). 6. Baalim, and Ashtaroth] the Baalim and Ashtaroth; see ii. 11, note, and ii. 13, note. Tlie general sense of this verso is that they worshipped tlie gods of all tlieir lieathen neighbours. 7. hands of the L hilistines] See also ver. 11, and comp. iii. 3, 31. The Philistines and the Anunonites were still the most dangerous enemies of Israel in the time of Saul and David. 8. in that t/ear...ei(/hteen i/ears] It is difficult to resist the impression that these two incongruous clauses originally belonged to different nar- ratives. 9. passed orer Jordan] Of this attack of the Ammon- ites on the western tribes nothing is heard in the sequel. Jephthah is the hero of eastern Israel. 11. rhilisfines] See ver. 7. 12. Zidonians] No record has come down to ns of wars between the Heltrews and the Phoenicians of Zidon. Amalekites] See iii- 13, vi. 3. Maonites] a nomad people, mentioned in association with Amalek in 1 Cbr. iv. U (K.V.; cp. iv. 13); they have been con- jectuvally identified with the Ma'in, whose inscriptions have been found in N. Arabia, though the centre of then* power lay m the South. JUDGES, X. 17— XI. 3. 75 grieved for the misery of Israel. Then the children of Amnion 17 were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. And the people and princes of Gilead said one to i« another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon ? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. _ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, 11 and he was the son of a harlot : and Gilead begat Jephthah. And Gilead's wife bare him sons ; and his wife's sons grew up, 2 and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house ; for thou art the son of a strange woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and 3 dwelt in the land of Tob : and there were gathered vain men 17. ]\ri:q)€lL] E.V. Mizpah, i.e. "watch-tower," or Mizpeh of Gilead, also called Eamath-niizpeh (Josh. xiii. 26), Ramotli-gilead (Dt. iv. 43; Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 38, &c.), Ramah, or rather "the Eamah " {'2 K. viii. 29), and Gilead (Hos. vi. 8, xii. 11 ; comp. below, xii. 7, note) or Galeed (Gen. xxxi. 48), stood, as the name implies, on a commanding site on the GileacUte plateau. It was from early times a noted sanctuary (Gen. xxxi. 45 — 49 ; Hos. v. 1), and always an important strategical position. Kamoth in Gilead is mentioned in Deuteronomy and Joshua as a city of refuge (Dt. iv. 43 ; Josh. xx. 8j and m Joshua (xxi. 38) as a Levitical city. It was the capital of one of Solomon's twelve provmces (1 K. iv. 13). It figures largely m the history of the wars of the kings of Israel with the Aramaeans of Damascus (1 K. xxii.; 2 K. viii. 28— ix. 1), and as Maspha is mentioned in 1 Mace. v. 35 as having been taken by Judas Macca- baeus from the Ammonites. It is of course to be distinguished from the Mizpeh (mod. Neby Samwil) of xx. 1. According to Euse- bius Kamoth-gilead lay 15 Roman miles to the west of Rabbath- ammon ('Amman). The site has not been quite satisfactorily iden- tified, but may be taken as represented more or less exactly by the mod. es-Salt, 2900 feet above sea-level, " on the slope of a bill which is crowned with a castle," 10 m. S. from the Jabbok, and 11 m. E. from the Jordan, the capital of the Belka, and a seat of commerce. 18. ihe peoiile and princes] R.V. the people, the princes. The princes representmg the people. They are called " elders " in ch. xi. Cp. viii. 14, note. XL 1. Noio Jephthah] Here begins the older nan-ative, to which the preceding verses are an editorial introduction. Gilead 1>e(/at] Gilead is not the name of an individual, but of a district, or tlie population of that district, taken collectively. The general sense of vv. 1, 2 accordingly must be that Jephthah was a true-born (iileadite only on the father's side, and that therefore his "brethren," i.e. the Gileadites of pure race, called hi ver. 7 the " elders" of Gilead, did not acknowledge him as one of themselves; cp. note on ix. 15. a harlot] a foreigner; cp. ver. 2. Harlots of Hebrew blood were not tolerated. 3. Tob] If, with E.V., 70 JUDGES, XI. 4—13. 4 to Jepbthah, and went out with him. And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Amnion made war 5 against Israel. And it was so, that when the children of Amnion made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to 82 JUDGES, XII. 12— XIII. 1. 12 judged Israel ten years. And Elon the Zebulouite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun. J 3 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged 14 Israel. And he had forty sons and tliirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts : and he judged Israel eight 15 years. And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraira, in the mount of the Amalekites. 13 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the 12. Aijalon'] The Zebulunite Aijalon is not mentioned elsewhere. The consonants are the same as those of the judge's name, and the word might eqnallj' well be pronounced Elon, in which case the judge is the eponymus of his city ; cp. Gen. iv. 17. 13 — 15. Ahdon, the clerenfh of the Judges. 14. nej)heii\s] in the now obsolete sense of "grandchildren" (ne- potes); Heb. " sons' sons." ass colts] see x. 4; also v. 10. In other words, he was head of a large and wealthy family. 15. Pirathon] This place is mentioned in 1 Mace. ix. 50 as Phara- thoni or Pharathon, "a strong city in Jiidiea" — the Judjx^a of that period had an extended frontier — which was fortified by Bacchides. Robinson identifies it with the mod. Fer'ata, about 5 m. S.W. from Nabulus (Shechem). Amalelifes] see v. 14, note. Xin, 1— XVI. 31. Samson, the ticel/th of the Judges. This popular story of a popular hero, occupying nearly a fifth of the whole space of the Book of Judges, is not only the longest but also the simplest of all its narratives. It bears no traces of beuig derived from a variety of written som'ces, and, if we except xiii. 1, XV. 20, and xvi. 31, is ahnost free from editorial additions. The two last-cited verses are, along Avith xiii. 5, the oidy passages in which he is spoken of as a "judge " or " deliverer " of Israel. So far as appears, his talents were not in the least magisterial or judicial, or even, strictly speaking, military. He never so far as we know made the least attempt at an organised resistance against the forces of the Philistines. His story, which comes before us probably in nearly the same form as that in which it had long been orally current, tells the i)ersonal exploits of a local hero, i)hysically powerful but in intellectual and moral character weak and almost half-witted, whose strongest motives were neither religion nor patriotism but the purely self-regarding passions of love and revenge. Some exjiositors have sought to give the narrative a systematic character, and have fancied they detected in it a series of twelve adventures or labours, somewhat comparable to those of Hercules, with whom it was at one time usual to liken Samson. But it is certain that neither the first narrator nor the last editor had any idea of giving the story any such synnnetry. It is worthy of notice that the localities connected with the name of Samson, which are nuich more clearly and definitely given than in the case of any of the other narratives in tlie Book of Judges, are all con- tained within an area of which Gaza, Ashkelon, Timnath, Eshtaol JUDGES, XIII. 2-10. 83 Lord ; and the Lokd delivered them into the hand of the Phihstines forty years. And there was ^ certain man of 2 Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah ; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the 3 Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt con- ceive, and bear a sou. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, 4 and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.- for lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son"; 5 and no rasor shall come on his head : for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb : and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the c woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible : but I asked him not whence he 2vas, neither told he me his name : but he said unto me, / Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son ; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thinq : for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah intreated the Lord, and said, my Lord, let fi the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah ; and the '•> angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. And the i" and Etam (near Bethlehem?) mark the extreme limits, and most of them are placed in the little valley of Sorek (W. Surar), at and above Tunuath. 1. did evil af/ain] cp. iii. 7, 12; iv. l;.vi. 1; xi. 6, and see Infrod. 2 — 25. Samson's birth and early years, 2. ZoraJi] or Zoreah, mod. Sar'a, on a commanding site, 117(» feet above sea-level, on the north side of the -valley of Sorek (W. Sm-ar). Cp. notes on ver. 25 and xviii. 12. fa mill/] here synonymous witli "tribe" (cp. xviii. 11, 19); for, acco'rdhig'to Gen. xlvi. 2;}, the tribe of Dan liad no more than one family. 3. the aw/el of the Loan] see ii. 1. In hmnan form, see ver. 6. - 4. sfroiuf drink] Heb. .s//tt'«/-,— whence the English "cider" through Lat. sicera,— the fermented juice of any otlier fruit than the grape. vnclean] Food by eating which slie would con- tract ceremonial impurity. 5. Na-Mnte] see Nu. vi. and compare note on v. 2 above. The peculiarity of tlie Nazarite vow in the case of Samson (compare those of Samuel and John the Baptist) is that it is a lifelong vow, and undertaken not by himself but by his parents on his behalf. hcjin to deliver] The work begun by Samson was can-ied on by Saul and completed by David. 6. very terrible] or awe-inspiring. 12. wto let &c.] G— 2 84 JUDGES, XIII. 11—19. woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, 11 that came unto me the other day. And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he 12 said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do 13 unto him? And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of 14 all that I said unto the woman let her beware. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing : all that I 15 commanded her let her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we i« shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread : and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that 17 he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings 18 come to pass we may do thee honour? And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, II* seeing it is secret? So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord : and the R.V. marg. "now when thy words come to pass" &:c. How shall (fee] i.e. what niles shall we observe or enforce ui couueetiou Avith him. 14. ana thing that cometh of the vine^ Cp. Nu. \'i. 4 ; " nothing that is made of the grape vine, from the kernels even to the husk." This prohibition included the "dibs" or boiled grape juice, often called "honey" in Scripture, which was, and is, a com- mon condiment eaten with bread by the Syrian peasantry. 15. make ready a kid] an expression of hospitality, on a humbler scale than that of Abrabam, who made ready a calf ; Gen. xviii. 7. In this as in other points the narrative is closely parallel to that of Ch. vi. 16. bread} or rather "food; ' the flesh of the kid is meant. viKst of er] raihev: "mayest offer. ' The angel, still keeping bis incognito, says in substance : " I will not eat with thee ; but if thou art minded to offer a burnt offering to Jehovah, thou mayest do so." 17. do thee honour] perhaps by naming the child after him ; or more probably by sending a present. 18. secret] K.V. wonderful, in the sense of supernatural and beyond man's comprehension; see Ps. cxxxix. 6, where the same word is used. For the refusal of tlie angel to give his name, compare Gen. xxxii. 29. In the Old Testament names of angels (Michael and Gabriel) are found only in the late Book of Daniel. 19. vith a meat offering] i.e. with its accompaniment of unleavened cakes ; cp. vi. I'i sqq. a rod] Heb. " tbe rock," known to local tradi- tion, called in ver. 20 "the altar," and probably used as such by sul>sequent generations, being consecrated by this theopbany. For JUDGES, XTTI. 20- XIV. 1. 85 a7igel did wondrously ; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven 20 from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the 2J Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he n-as an angel of the Lord. And 22 Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord 2:1 were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us sucJi, th 171(18 as these. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson : 24 and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit 25 of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in 14 the use of a rude block of stone as an altar compare Ex. xx. 2.5 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 33 sqq. unto the Loud; and the angel did irondrouslt/] The Hebrew scarcely admits of this sense; LXX. (A), with the change of one letter, gives: "to the Lord who doeth wonth-ous things." 21. The first sentence of this verse is a parenthesis. 22. Cp. vi. 2'2. 23. as at this time] R.V. at this time. 24. >Samson] z.e. " solar," or, perhaps, " little sun," from scheme sh or shamsh ('sun'); cp. Shimshai (Ezr. iv. 8, 17). The pronunciation Samson (Shamshon) which we have from the LXX, and Vulg. is more primitive than the ShimsliOn of the jn-esent Hebrew text. 25. to more him at times] K.V. to move him. A.V. is somewhat paraphrastic, but the Hebrew verb seems to imply intermittency. carnp 0/ Dan] "We learn from x\iii. 12 (cp. i. 8-1) that the Danites had not acquired any secure settlement in this quarter ; the camp of Dan was probably their standing rendezvous in their frequent struggles with Canaanites and Philisthies. Eshtaol] mod. Eshii'a, 878 feet above sea- level, 2| m. N.E. from Zorah. XIV. Samson's marriage-feast; his riddle and wager. How the riddle was found out and the wager paid. 1. vent doirn to Timnath] Timnath or Timnah, mod. Tibneh, stands at a height of 800 feet above sea-level, on the south side of the W. Surar (valley of Sorek), 3 m. W. from Beth-shemesh and about 3^ m. S.W. from Zorah, which is higher up ("went down," "came up"). It is mentioned in Josh. xv. 10 as marking the northern frontier of Judah; but in Josh. xix. 43 it is reckoned to Dan. The population, as we see, was (partly at least) Philistine. According to 2 Chr. xxviii. 18 it was seized and occupied by Philis- tines in the reign of Ahaz; and Josephus {Ant. v. 8, 5) calls it a city of the Philistmes. It seems to have been a place of some 86 JUDGES, XIV. 2—7. 2 Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. Aud lie came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now 3 therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines ? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me ; for she pleaseth 4 me well. But his father and* his mother knew not that it vms of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines : for at that time the Philistines had dominion 5 over Israel. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of 6 Timnath : and behold, a young lion roared against him. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand : but he told not his father or his mother what he had 7 done. And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. strategic importance, being mentioned by Sennacherib as Ta-am- na-a, and as taken and destroyed by bini after the battle of Eltekeh, immediately before bis siege of Ekron. 2. (let her for me'] Cp. Gen. xxiv. 4; xxxiv. 4, (fee. 3. the daiu/hters of thij brethren] "agnates." Among the ancient Israelites, as now among the modern Arabs, marriages between kinsfolk were preferred. Thus Laban says to Jacob (of Rachel) (Gen. xxix. 19) : "It is better that I give her to thee than that I should give her to another man." 4. that he souyht an occasion] i.e. that what he desired would prove an occasion of quarrel with the Philistines. 5. ■rineijards] Cp. oliveyards, xv. 5 (R.V.). " Thnuath still exists on the' plain, and to reacli it from Zorah you must descend through wild rocky gorges, — just where one would expect to find a lion in those days when wild beasts were far moi-e conunon than at present. Nor is it more remarkable that lions should be met with in such places than that fierce leopards should now mahitain their position in the thickly settled parts of Lebanon, and even in these very mountains, within a few hundred rods of large villages. Yet such I know is the fact... There were then vineyards belonging to Tinmath, as there now are in all these hamlets along the base of the bills and upon the mountain sides. These vineyards are very often far out from the villages, climbing up rough wadies and wild cliffs, in one of which Samson encountered the young lion" (Thomson). 6. came mifihtibj] a conunon expression for a sudden access of inspira- tion or divine enthusiasm. A.V. renders indifferently "came " and I' came mightily " (see 1 Sam. x. 10; xi. G). There is nothing religious in tliis inspiration ; tbougli ascribed to Jehovali as the soin-ce of all might it is not spiritual in the New Testament sense of that word. In 1 Sam. xviii. 10 an evil spirit from God "came mightily" (R.V.) JUDGES, XIV. 8-15. 87 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned » aside to see the carcase of the lion : and behold, there tvas a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And he !> took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat : but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. So his father went down unto the io woman : and Samson made there a feast ; for so used the young men to do. And it came to pass, when they saw him, ii that they brought thirty companions to be with him. And i^ Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if you can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments : but if ye cannot declare it 13 me, then shall 3^e give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto then: , h Out of the eater came forth meat. And out of the strong came forth swe« tness. And they could not in three da3^s exj )und the riddle. And is it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife. Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto upon Saul. 8. retnj-iied] went down to Timnah again, accom- panied by his parents, to celebrate his marriage. a swann of bees] We may suppose that the bones of the lion had been picked bare, and the hide baked and ahnost tanned m the sun. 10. a feast ; for so used &c.] In all parts of the East marriage-feasts are unportant, and protracted so far as the means of the parties pennit. The statement that in those days the bridegroom used to provide the feast seems to imply that in the writer's own time this was (lone by the friends of the bride. 11. v-hf.n they saw him] When the bride's people saw what a dangerous fellow he would be in his cups they thought it well to invite under the name of groomsmen a considerable troop of their own nation. We are told that in the Lebanon to this day the sports at a marriage-feast fre- quently end in quarrels and bloodshed. 12. riddle] cp. 1 K. X. 1; 2 Chr. ix. 1. The word is sometimes used as equivalent to "parable" or "proverb," the idea of obscurity and mystery bemg prominent (Prov. i. 6; Ezek. xvii. 2; Ps. xlix. 4; Ixxviii. 2). The propounding and solving of riddles was, and still is, one of the standing anmsements of marriage-feasts in the East. certainly] This word is superfluous and rightly omitted in K.V. sheets] or linen wrappers, probably used as waist-cloths; cp. Isa. iii. 23 ("fine linen"); Prov. xxxi. 24 ("she maketh linen garments"); and Mark xiv. 51. ffarmeuts] See viii. 25, note. 15. serenth] LXX. and Syr. have: "on the fourth day, " — certainly with great probability (see ver. 14 : "they could not in three days"), and with 88 JUDGES, XIV. IG— XY. 1. us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire : liave ye called us to take that we have ? is it not so ? }(> And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not : thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said imto her. Behold, I have not told it my father nor my 17 mother, and shall I tell it thee? And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted : and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him : and she told the riddle to the children of her 18 people. And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down. What is sweeter than honey ? And what is stronger than a lion ? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, Ye had not found out my riddle. 19 And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their s^Doil, and gave change of garments unto them which ex- pounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went 20 up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend. 15 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of the change of only one letter in the Hebrew. bum thee] This seems to have been a favourite threat in those rude times ; cp. xii. G; XV. 6. It is characteristic that a menace of the kind (it was seriously meant) did not seem disproportionate to the annoyance of having to contribute each a second-hand (ver. 19) plaid and a second-hand waist-cloth to the wardrobe of the bridegi'ooni. 16. ^hall I tell it thee?] That tlie relation of Imsband and wife is less intimate tlian relations of blood is the common feeling of the Semite East to this day; but a different view of the marriage state is held forth in Gen. ii. 24. 17. the seeen daijs] an inexact expression for "the rest of the seven days." lai/ sore upon htvi] i.e. pressed him sore, as R.V. 18. he/ore the sun vent doini] It is doubtful whether the words can bear this sense. A sliglit change in the Hebrew would give : " before he went into the chamber" (cp. xv. 1). The Eastern husband is not introduced to the bridal chamber till the close of the last day of the marriage- feast. _ 19. came] See ver. 6. Ashkelon] See i. 18. spoil] in the sense of the Latin exuviae — the clothes they wore. Cp. 2 Sam. ii. 21, Avhere it is translated "armour." change] Heb. "the cliange", i.e. the promised change. XV. Samson s revenge upon the Philistines, first for the loss of his Avife and afterwards for her murder. His cajjtivity and deliver- ance. Slaughter of the Philistines at Lebi. The springing of En-hakkore. JUDGES, XY. 2-8. 89 wheat harvest, that Samson visited his mfe with a kid ; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. And her father said, 2 I veiily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her ; therefore I gave her to thy companion : is not her younger sister fairer than she ? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. And Samson 3 said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. And Samson 4 went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, 5 he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. Then the Philistines said, Who G hath done this ? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. And Samson said unto them, 7 Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. And he smote them hip and thigh « with a great slaughter : and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. 1. vheat harvest'] In Canaan the "weeks of harvest" (Jer. v. 24) are the seven between Passover and Pentecost, or, as we should say, between Easter and Whitsuntide. The barley harvest comes first ; wheat harvest follows. vith a lid] to make a feast ; cp. Gen. xxvii. 9, 14, xxxviii. 17; 1 Sam. xvi. 20; Liike xv. 29; also vi. 19, xiii. If), above. 3. Xon- shall I &e.j R.Y. This time shall I be blame- less in regard of the Philistines when I do them a mis- chief; or, perhaps: "I will clear accounts with the Philisthies." 4. foxes] No one who knows the habits of the fox will underrate the difficulty of capturing three hun(h-ed of them, even in a district where they abound. Jireh rands] or "torches;" same word as in vii. 16. Amongst the practices observed in celebrating the Konian Cerealia was that of sending off foxes with flaming torches attached. The legendary origui of the custom (an accidental conflagi-ation arising oiat of a boy's frolic with a fox) is related l)y Ovid {Fasti iv. 681 sqq.). hetireeu fico tails] ll.V. between every two tails. The object of the tying seems to have been to prevent each fox from making straight for its own den. vith] Heb. " and even." 6. her father] Many Hebrew MSS. and also LXX. (A) have: "her father's house," as in xiv. 15. 7. Thou;/h ye ] See ver. 11. 14. came miyhtihj'] See xiv. 6, 19. /oo.se?«cf /7/a^ (was) in the jair\ R.V. The hollow place [Heb. "mortar"] that is in Lehi, i.e. the mortar-sbaped depression containing the spring of En-bakkore. So the Phoenician quarter of Jerusalem, perhaps occupying the liead of the Tyropoeon valley, is called "the mortar " (Maktesb) ; Zepb. i. 11. he called] or "men call." En-hakkore] lit. "the foimtain of the caller." One might also render "Partridge spring," for the partridge, which abounds on these biUs, is named in Hel)re\v "the caller." In like manner it has been suggested tbat "the jawbone height " was originally so designated from its conflgiu-ation, like the promontory on tbe coast of Laconia in Greece called Onugnatbus, i.e. "jawbone of an ass." If this be so, tbe names were adapted to the story in popular tradition. XVI. Samson at Gaza; in tbe valley of Sorek; and agani at Gaza. His death. 1. Gaza] See i. 18. Samson's repeated intrigues of this de- scription are very inconsistent with tbe spirit of Biblical religion; but they form one of tbe many points of contact between tbe rude times of the Judges and tbe heroic i)eriod of Arabian beatbenisni. 2. And it traa told] These nec»>ssary words are found in LXX. though not in tbe present Hebrew text. laid vait for him all ni man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head ; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, 20 Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines 21 work hath been done. 13. the veh] or, more precisely, the " warj)," Samson's long hair fonuing the woof. 14. fastened (it) irith the pill] or, i)erhaps, "tapped with the pin" (as a signal). What the "pin " here means is not clearly made out. A sort of pin or wooden spatula was used by the ancients instead of the modem lay-cap to push the woof home and make the web firai ; and the first clause of the verse has been supposed to refer to this operation- On the other hand the "pm of the beam" in the second clause seems to be some fixed portion of the loom which Samson tore away ; but here the translation and even the reacUng are question- able. 16. pressed hint] Cp. xiv. 17 (same word). 17. if I he shai-e)i] The inviolate hair, "the head of his separation" (or, " consecration '), Nu. vi. 7, 1>, 18, was the most essential featiu-e in tlie NazarHe's vow. It was to be shaved only when the days of his consecration were at an end (Nu. vi. l.S). 18. vioueij] Heb. " the (promised) money." 19. caufted hun to share of] Heb. "she shaved off;" perhaps we should read, with a change of one letter : " and he shaved off." began to afflict him] i.e. " hiunbled " 94 JUDGES, XVI. 22—29. took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind 22 in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23 Then the lords of the Phihstines gathered them together for to offer a gi-eat sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice : for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our 24 enemy into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their god : for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroj-er of our country, which 25 slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house ; and he made them sport : and they set him between 2« the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon 27 the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women ; and all the lords of the Philistines were there ; and there xoere upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson 28 made sport. And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, Lord GoiJ, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, God, that I may be at once 2y avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house (see ver. 5) him for the first time. 21. j>«/ out his eifes] a very common mutilation both in ancient and mediaeval times. Cp. 1 Sam. xi. 2; '2 K. xxv. 7. did f/rind] Grinding with a hand- mill was menial work (Isa. xlvii. 2), usuaUy assigned to women (Ex. xi. 5; Mt. xxiv. 41). It is possible tliat Samson may have been employed at one of the larger description of mills (" ass mills: " cp. Mt. xviii. 6; Luke xvii. 2; Kev. xviii. 21, 22) for which greater strength was required. 23. Jhir/on] the chief god of the Phi- listine confederation ; comp. 1 Sam. v. 2 sqq. ; 1 Chr. xx. 10 ; 1 Mace. x. 83 sqq., xi. 4). It is coimnonly infen-ed from 1 Sam. v. 4 that he was figured with the body of a fish but the hands and face of a man. His worship was not peculiar to the Philistines; it has been con- jectured to be identical with that of the Babylonian god Dakan. 25. .y)ort\ Apparently he was called upon to make some exhi- bition of his agility or strength. 25, 26. the pillars. ..the house] "The house"' is presumably not the temple itself but a banqueting house (li.'ihJcah) attached to it, such as was also fouiid at the sanctuary of Ramah (1 Sam. ix. 22: A.V. "parlour' ; K.V. "guest-cliaml)er"). It was so large tlmt the roof was suppoi'ted by a row of pillars. 27. three tl/ousand] LXX. (B) "seven Inindred." Variations in numbers of this kind are frctinent in the text of the Old Testament, and the conunouer tendency of copyists was to exaggerate. JUDGES, XVI. 30— XVII. I. 96 stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said. Let 3o me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might ; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that ivere therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were moe than they which he slew in his life. Then 3i his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years. And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was 17 Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred 2 shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me ; I took it. And his mother said. Blessed he thou of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored the eleven 3 hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lokd from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image : now therefore I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the -t money unto his mother ; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image : and they were in Pakt hi. Chap. XYII. 1— XXI. 25. Two appendices: (A) Micah and the Sanctuary of Dan ; (B) Gibeah and the tribe OF Benjamin. Appendix A. Ch. XVII., XVIII. Micah's sanctuary in the hill- country of Ephraim, and how it was transferred against his will to Dan. Apart from a few editorial notes and comments (such as xvii. 6, xviii. 12/;, xviii. 30, 31), and perhaps one longer passage (xvii. 2 — i), the whole forms one contmuous narrative. 1. mount] i.e. "hill-country of." Micah] or, more fully (here and in ver. 4), Micayahii, i.e. " who is like Jeliovali," essentially the same word as the name Michael (" who is like God ? "). A third form of the name is Micaiah (1 K. xxii. 8, and elsewhere). This Micah was a Jehovah-worshipper, as his nanxe shows, though his sanctuaiy contained images; cp. above, viii. 27. 2. about v-hich cfec] R.V. about which thou didst utter a curse [maig. " an adjuration"] and didst also speak it in mine ears. The ancient belief was that such curses came home to the guilty party. / took it] Add here, from end of ver. 3, the displaced clause : " now therefore I will restore it unto thee." Blessed he thou etc.] removing the curse. 3. I had vTiolly dedicated] Heb. "I do dedicate." from my hand] i.e. "from my possession." noii"^ therefore Sze.] This clause should be traiisferr£d to ver. 2. 4. Yethe Szc] E.V. And when he... his mother took. In substance a repetition of ver. 3. and they vere^ Heb., as K.V., "and it was." This seems to suggest that we are to under- 96 JUDGES, XVII. 5—10. 5 the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one G of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there luas no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 7 And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who ivas a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place : and he came to mount 9 Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou ? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where 10 I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee stand not two images but a single figure of carved wood adorned with metal work. Yet m xviii. 17, 18, the graven and molten images seem to be distinct. The narrative does not enable us to form a precise notion of the furniture of Micali's shrine. 5. In point of form this verse seems to attach itself to ver. 1 rather than to ver. 4, and many critics regard verses 2 — -l as an insertion in the original text. a house of