Analysis of the book of Judges, by L. Hughes and T.B. Johnstone

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ANALYSIS

OFTHB

BOOK OF JUDGES

WITH NOTES

CRITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL ;

ALSO

MAP AND EXAMINATION QUESTIONS,

BY

LEWIS HUGHES, B.A.,

CORPUS 0HBI8TI COLLSQK, OAMBRIDOS
(FOBMEBL7 ONC OF THE PRINCIPALS OF THS BOLTON HIGH SCHOOL TOR BOYS),

AND

Rbv. T. boston JOHNSTONE,

st. andrews umivcrsitt,

Authors of Analyses of the Books of Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah,

Joshua, Ac.

CHIEFLY lATElTDBD FOR

CANDIDATES PREPARING FOR THE OXTORD AND CAMBRIDGE LOCAL,
AND THE COLLEGE OF PRECEPTORS' EXAMINATIONS.

JOHN HEYWOOD,

DeaNSGATE AND RiDOEFIRLD, MANCHESTER ;

AND 11, Paternoster Buildings,
LONDON.

1884.

1611

PREFACE.

In studying Scripture History, a great difficulty is often experienoed
by young students, in not being able to have a simple and con-
nected view of the whole narrative, before entering upon the minute
details. Being well aware of the existence of this difficulty, we
have endeavoured to give the student, in a simple manner, such a
view of the period of history contained in the Book of Judges, as
will make the study interesting.

The plan of study we recommend is to read the narrative por-
tion of this Analysis first, and after this is done to take the Bible
and study the book, chapter by chapter, with the aid of the Notes,
&c., as contained in the second portion of the Analysis. The student
will thus have clearer notions of the subject than he had before.
We also feel sure that it would be a good practice for the student
to answer on paper, as home or class work, the questions set at the
end of each chapter. He would thus get into the habit of thinking
for himself before coming to the class, and the lesson would also
be better prepared.

We hope that this little work will be useful, not only to those
preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations, but
also to Sunday School Teachers and Scholars, and to others inter-
ested in Scripture study.

We shall be obliged to Teachers and others for notifying to us
any errors they may discover.

L. H. AND T. B. J.

JUDGES.

General gharaotbr of the period. — Joshua had been
the instrument employed by God in defeating the Canaanites,
and in dividing their possessions among the victorious
Israelites. During the years that elapsed between the
division of the land and his death, — some seventeen, —
Joshua would doubtless be looked up tO by the tribes
of Israel as their guide and counsellor, perhaps even as
their divinely-appointed ruler and judge. At his death a
new state of matters was introduced ; a transition period
began, which only ended about 450 years afterwards with
the appointment of a king over Israel Joshua had no
immediate sucoesssor. During the eventful and critical
period when the nation was taking root in the land given to
it by God as an iuheritance, and was being taught to
familiarize itself with the theocratic government, — the direct
government by God himself, — under which it was placed,
''there was no king in Israel: every man did that which
was right in his own eyes.'' It was a time of freedom and
independene'e, and, as we find in the Book of Judges, which
gives us an account of about 350 years of the period, — ^a

time of anarchy and disorder No one was universally

acknowledged as leader or governor; there was no one round
whom gathered the loyalty and affection of the people ; and,
though Bethel or Shiloh might contain the Ark of God,
which was the symbol of national union and privilege, there
was no metropolis, no city which could be reckoned the

b JUDGES.

capital, or rallying point of the nation. The High Priest
was a kind of prime minister of Jehovah, who exercised a
general superintendence over the interests of the people,
and each tribe had its own chiefs or elders, but there was
no civil ruler, whom all acknowledged and obeyed. Tt was
in these circumstances, when pecidiar emergencies arose,
that Gk>d raised up the Judgfes, who were avenging
deliverers of Israel from the enemies who oppressed them,
and who formed a class of intermediate governors between
Joshua and the Kings of Israel. These judges, however,
did not all occupy the same position, for SOme of them

were directly called of Ood to their office, while others
were elected by the people; some continued to rule

for life, while others surrendered their authority when the
special purpose for which they had been raised up was

achieved ; some ruled over several of the tribes, while
others only ruled over one tribe.

During the period of the Judges, the state of Israel was
very fluctuating and unsettled. As long as the generation
lived " which had known all the works of the Lord that He
had done for Israel," the nation "served the Lord," con-
tinued faithful to covenant engagements, and maintained a
successful conflict with the Canaanites who still remained
in the land. But the generation that followed forgot God,
became weary in conflict, and gradually assumed the habits
and mingled in the idolatries of the old inhabitants. The
only foundation of safety and prosperity for Israel lay in a
course of persistent antagonism to the Canaanites, and of
united and resolute maintenance of the worship of God.
That was the only bond of union, the only guarantee of
order and prosperity. But the Israelites neglected the
worship of God. Instead of striving to fulfil the divine

JUDGES. 7

commission to extirpate the Canaanites, they entered into

alliance with them. The period, accordingly, was one
of apostasy and rebellion against Otod. It was a period

of discord and division among the tribes themselves, for
when once the bond which formed them into the one con-
gregation of Jehovah was broken, the different tribes began
to pursue their own separate interests, and eventually even
to oppose and make war upon one another. The period

is a history of sin, of the punishment that followed,
of repentance, and of deliverance. It is a constant

alternation of humiliation through hostile oppression, when
the nation fell away from God, and of deliverance and
blessing, when in penitence and faith it returned to Him.
While, therefore, there is much in the state of Israel at this
time by no means pleasing, perhaps in no part of Scripture
can there be found such a succession of romantic incident,
such a display of extraordinary events, and of miraculous
proofs of divine interposition as in the history of the fifteen
Judges who successively were raised up by Ood, as need
required, tO deliver and govern Israel And it is spe-
cially instructive, as showing the benefits which flow from
obedience to the commandments of God, and the terrible
miseries which follow disobedience and rebellion.

The Union op Judah and Simeon against the
Canaanitbs. — Before his death, Joshua had gathered the
heads of the people around him, and had set before them
the entire destruction of the Canaanites by the divine help,
as the reward of fidelity, as well as the dangers and con-
sequences of apostacy. It was, therefore, the duty of the

tribes to endeavour to root out the Oanaanites who

remained, that they might establish themselves in unre-

8 JUDGES.

stricted and undisputed possession and eDJoyment of the
land which God had promised to them, and that they might
not be exposed to temptation by the idolatry and immoral-
ity around them. After the death of Joshua, the tribes,
remembering his admonitions and warnings, proceeded to
arrange for the continuance of the contest. The will of the
Lord was asked — probably through the Urim and Thum-
mim of the High Priest — who should take the lead.
Perhaps each tribe was ambitious of the honour, or was
fearful of the danger to be encountered. Judah was
selected to open the campaign, and an account is given of
the victories gained, some of them by Judah singly, and
others of them by Judah and Simeon conjointly. The pos-
sessions of the tribe of Judah bordered upon those of
the tribe of Simeon, and therefore it was not imnatural
that the assistance of that tribe should be asked in
delivering their own allotments from the hand of the
enemy. They were well encouraged for the contest by
the assurance that God purposed to give them possession

of the whole land. The two tribes undertook the
siege of Bezek and of Jerusalem. In the neighbour-
hood of Bezek they obtained a complete victory over the
united forces of the Canaanites and Perizzites, amounting to
upwards of 10,000 men, and, finding in the city seventy
princes " ha ving'^ their thumbs and their great toes cut off,"
which would effectually incapacitate them for war, they
inflicted upon King Adonibezek, when they caught him in
flight, a similar punishment. '^ As I have done SO God
hath requited me," said that king, in acknowledgment
of the> justice of that procedure. Adonibezek was taken

to Jerusalem, then called Jebus, which seems to have

been, captured at the same time, though it did not come

JUDGES. 9

into the sole and permanent possession of the Israelites till
the time of David. The King of Jerusalem and his four
allies had been slain by Joshua after the battle at Gibeon,
but the capital had not been conquered. And even now,
when the conquerors advanced still farther against the
Canaanites in the mountains, the JebusitOS retook it and
rebuilt it, so that in the following age it was regarded by
the Israelites as still a foreign city (Judges xiz., 11, 12).

Jemsalem belonged by right to the tribe of

Bei^jamiUi but its members could no more drive out
the inhabitants than the members of the tribes of Judah
and Simeon, so- that theyr continued to- live there, and were

not dislodged until the time of King David. After

the capture of Jerusalem, the mountainous country around,
towards the south to the wilderness of Paran, was added
to the extensive possessions» of Judah, and the united
tribes then proceeded to attack in succession Hebron and
Debir upon the mountains, Zephath on. the southern
boundary of Canaan, Gaza, Askelon^ and Ekron along the
coast line. Some of these towns may have been con-
quered before and been retaken by the Canaanites, and even
after this they were, as is well known, among the cities
which belonged to the Philistines.. It i& evident that the
victories obtained were only temporary and partial, for the
old inhabitants gradually recovered, strength, expelled the
invaders, and were for ages an incessant source of annoy-
ance and vexation to the Israelites.

Caleb's Suoobssbs. — An interesting incident occurred at
Debir in connection with Oaleb, who was now the SOle

survivor of the previous generation. He promised
his daughter Achsah to the man who should smite Debir

10 JUDQBS.

(then called Eiljath-sepher), and his nephew, or, it may
be, his younger brother, Othniel — who became the first of

the judges — won the promised prize, the successful

champion receiving in addition a liberal dowry, " the upper
springs and the nether springs."

The Kenites. — It is interesting to notice, too, that the
Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law of
Moses, and who at his request had accompanied the Israelites
to Canaan (Num. x., 29), followed the children of Judah
from Jericho, the palm city, into the desert of Judah in the
south of Arad, and permanently settled there.

The Conduot op the other Tribes. — The other tribes
were aroused by the repeated successes of Judah and
Simeon to make some efforter to extend their respective
territories, and a short summary is given of their hostile
attacks upon the Canaaaites. By the aid of a citizen who

turned traitor, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh

took possession of Bethel — formerly called Luz — and the
same powerful tribes assisted the Danites in the further
subjugation of the Amorites. As a rule, however, the tribes,
instead of earnestly setting themselves to obey the divine
command to extirpate the old inhabitants of the land,
gradually adopted an opposite policy, and permitted them
to remain. They were strong enough to have extirpated
them, for divine help had been promised and the assurance
of success been given, but indiflFerence to the honour and
command of God, indolence, cowardice, and love of gain,
made them content with imposing tribute. They perhaps
found in the immediate possession of the skill and labours of
their captives, in the imposing character of their worship, in

JUDOES. 11

the silver and gold of their idols, and in the personal charms
of their females, those very seductions from obedience to
the true God, of which they had been so often warned, and
which constituted one of the principal reasons for the awful
order to destroy those nations utterly. The Canaanites, on
the other hand, would have every motive to submit for a
time to that yoke to which resistance seemed in vain, and to
contract alliances which enervated the conquerors more
than the conquered. It, therefore, now became the practice
of the fickle though highly-favoured tribes of Israel, to spare
the Canaanites who remained and to enter into alliances
with them. Judah and Simeon were unable to exterminate
the inhabitants of the plain, and the Benjaminites could not
drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem. Manasseh did not
root out the Canaanites from the towns which had been
allotted to it in the territories of Asher and Issachar, but
simply made them tributary. Ephraim did not root them
out in Gezer, nor Zebulon in Kitron and Nahalol, nor
Asher in Accho and Zidon, nor Napthali in Beth-shemesh and
Beth-anath; and while the "hand of the house of Joseph"
lay heavy upon the Amorites in the towns on the borders of
Ephraim, conquered them, and rendered them tributary,
the Amorites of other parts forced the Danites up into the
mountains, and ultimately compelled a large portion of
them to emigrate and seek an inheritance in the far north
of Palestine. As for the children of Asher, they seem to
have dwelt among the Canaanites without any attempt to
drive them out or make them tributary. Surely if Caleb
was able to drive out the three sons of Anak from Hebron,
the tribes might have been able to take their own share in
the complete conquest of the land. Evidently the Canaan-
ites endeavoured to defend with special determination the

12 JUDGES.

great commercial roads which ran from the coast of the
Mediterranean along the great plain of Jezreel to Damascas
and Central Asia, and their war chariots were of special
service in this part of the war. The Israelites, forgetting
that Joshua, in reliance on God's help, had already obtained
victories, even when these engines of war were employed,
suffered their fears to prevail over their faith, and just when
one bold stroke would have crowned their efforts with
success, withdrew their forces and gave up the contest on
payment of tribute, a kind of custom-house tax for permit-
ting uninterrupted communication to be kept up.

The disastrous result of disobedience on the part of the
Israelites to the commandments of God, was the existence
of a powerful and compact mass of heathenism in the very
heart of their possessions, which was the source of much
weakness and mischief. The tWO great facts in the
history of the period we are now studying, and the hinges
upon which the history turns are, in fact, the unfaithfill-

ness of the Israelites and the idolatrous practices
into which their heathen neighbours seduced them,
and the faithfulness of the Lord to His covenant
and His promises when they humbly recognised
Grod's hand in the punishments that befel them,

returned to Him in penitence, and implored His help.

God's Warning and Expostulation. — The writer of the
Book of Judges, having given a cursory survey of the
attitude of the Israelites to the Canaanites who were left in
the land, proceeds to narrate the natural and necessary
consequences of apostasy. The angel of the Lord an-
nounced to the people the punishment of God, for their
breach of the covenant of which they had been guilty,

JUDGES. 13

through their failure to exterminate their enemies. It
would now happen according to the resolution and warning
of God, that the Canaanites who had been spared, would
prove an enticement to entangle them in idolatry, and so
effect their ruin. The Israelites, by their intercourse with
the old inhabitants of the land, had transgressed the
covenant of the Lord, and the divine purpose in consequence
of their disobedience is now made known to them.

For a time, at least, the people were deeply aflfected with
a sense of their transgressions. They lifted up their voice
both in confession of sin and deprecation of punishment.

But, as the history proves, the repentance was only

temporary in its results, and neither the chastisements
inflicted by God upon His people by means of hostile
nations, nor the sending of judges to set them free from
hostile oppression availed to turn them from their idolatry.
They not only forsook the Grod of their fathers, to whom
they were indebted for the greatest blessings, but they
served the gods of the heathen nations that were round
about them. And when they continued in this idolatry
and sank deeper and deeper in sin —

" 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,
and have not hearkened unto my voice ; I also will not henceforth drive out any
from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died : that through
them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk
therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not"— Judges il, 20-22.

How great was Israel's sin ! " They forsook the Lord and
served Baal and Ashtaroth." "They went a whoring after
other gods, and bowed themselves unto them : they turned
quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in:
they corrupted themselves more than their fathers in follow-
ing other gods, to serve them, and to bow down imto them :

14 JUDGES.

they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their
stubborn ways." How severe the punishment that befel
Israel on account of sin ! " The anger of the Lord was 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. The hand of the Lord was
against them for evil, and they were greatly distressed."
But while the holiness and justice of God in the punish-
ment of transgression is clearly illustrated, how admirable
on the other hand is the display of His grace seeking to win
His people to penitence, by saving interpositions, notwith-
standiug their perversity ! " It repented the Lord because
of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them
and vexed them." **The Lord raised up judges which
delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them."

Idolatry of Micjlh and the Danites. — The account of

the idolatry of Micah and the Danites is narrated in

the 17th and 18th chapters of the Book of Judges, but it

evidently refers to events which occurred shortly

after the death of Joshua, and is added as an appendix
to the Book, in order to illustrate the tendency to image-
worship which existed even at an earlier period of Israelitish
history. It furnishes valuable materials for forming a
correct idea of the actual character of that time, and of the
disorder which prevailed during the wild unsettled period
of the judges, from the want of a central governing
authority.

A man of the mountains of Ephraim, named Micah»
erected a splendid private temple for idols, which were made
of silver belonging to his mother. This silver appears to
have been appropriated by Micah, who, alarmed by the

JUDGES. 15

imprecations pronounced upon the thief, had restored it to
his mother. His mother blessed him for his acknowledg-
ment of the theft. The silver, however, had been " wholly
dedicated to the Lord," and so mistaken now were the ideas
which prevailed in Israel regarding the worship of the true
God, that Micah and his mother thought the best way to
honour and serve Him with the 1,100 shekels of silver —
about £135 — ^they possessed, was to *^ make a graven image
and a molten image." A little religious establishment,
accordingly, was set up, similar to that at Shiloh, and in
the house of Micah there seems to have been a fully-
equipped service, modelled in general after the pattern of
the lawful sanctuary, yet with idolatrous peculiarities, to
suit his own taste. The account of the matter is given in
a very brief and condensed form, and we cannot be certain
as to details, but it would appear that 200 shekels were
employed in the construction of on image, and the remain-
ing 900 shekels in procuring an ephod, similar to the sacred
dress worn by the high priest, and teraphim, mysterious
little images connected with heathen consultation and
divining, which were worshipped as oracles and the givers
of earthly prosperity. To complete the delusion, or as
Micah would have said, to perfect his system of divine
worship, one of his sons was consecrated to fill the office of
priest. This was against the express words of the law
(Num. xviii., 7.), and Micah must have felt it to be the only
defect in his arrangements, that no Levitical, and therefore
rightful, priest countenanced his services. But what a
signal illustration is this of the ignorance, superstition, and
idolatry that prevailed when such gross enormities were
permitted, when there was no one to convince Micah of his
error and guilt, and punish hid offence.

16 JUDQBS.

If Micah realised the defect in his arrangements, an
opportunity soon occurred to supply his need. A young
Leyite from Bethlehem, in Judah, accidentally travelling in
the neighbourhood, came to his house, and was persuaded
by him to become the priest of his little temple. The
remuneration offered was certainly small — ten shekels of
silver, a suit of clothes, and his food — ^but the Levite was in
want of a situation, he was a man of no position or principle,
and was willing to be *' a father and a priest ** to Micah for
the terms offered. Micah ^' consecrated the Levite," an act
wholly unlawful and profane. He thought the service of
the Levite would render his worship pleasing to God, how-
ever idolatrous that worship might be, and he confidently
expected the divine blessing.

But Micah did not enjoy the peace and prosperity he
anticipated, and the Levite, upon whose idolatrous services
he so warmly congratulated himself, became the means of
his utter ruin.

A large portion of the tribe of Dan, forced by the Amorites
into the mountains and excluded from the plains, feeling
themselves too weak to force back the Canaanites and
exterminate them, resolved to seek an inheritance other
than that allotted to them in a distant part of the land.
Their want of faith in God, and culpable remissness in
expelling the old inhabitants, led them to fix upon the
expedient of emigration as the only feasible scheme of
relief. Five brave men were, therefore, selected to spy out
the land, and explore it, that a suitable location might be
secured. It so happened that the spies came to the moun-
tains of Ephraim, and to the house of Micah, where they
spent the night. There they recognised the voice of the

JUDGES, 17

Levite, who gave them an account of his history and
position. Instead, however, of being indignant to learn
that a rival sanctuary to that at Shiloh had been set up,
and that a renegade Levite had unlawfully assumed the
functions of a priest, they requested him to ask counsel of
God " that we may know whether our way which we go
shall be prosperous." An indefinite but apparently propitious
reply was returned, " Go in peace : before the Lord is your
way wherein ye go," and the spies, made sanguine and
confident by the Levite's prediction, set forward on their
journey. They penetrated to the northern extremity of
Canaan to Laish, and found there a population who dwelt
at ease in their rich and fertile valley, heedless of wars and
conquests aroimd, and living in a state of insulation and
fancied security. On their return to their brethren they
strongly recommended that an expedition should be des-
patched at once to secure this most eligible and inviting
possession. Accordingly six hundred warriors were sent
north by the tribe of Dan to seize Laish. Passing on their
way the house of Micah, the warriors were informed, by
those who had gone to spy out the country, of the ephod,
teraphim, and image, and of the priest who conducted the
services, and it was suggested that these would be a valuable
acquisition to them in their new settlement. Action was
forthwith taken to carry the suggestion into effect. While
the priest was detained in conversation, the sanctuary was
entered, and its contents seized. The priest, who was
wholly influenced by self interest, was then induced to

accompany the party, as ** it was better to be a priest
unto a tribe and a family in Israel than to be a
priest unto the house of one man." Micah called

together the people in his neighbourhood to pursue the

B

18 JUDGES.

emigrants, and, on overtaking them, he uttered the bitter
complaint, " Ye have taken away my gods which I made,
and the priest, and ye are gone away : and what have I
more 1 " But he was only warned to be silent, " lest angry
fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life with the lives
of thy household." Micah, seeing that the Danites were too
fetrong for him, had to return home a poorer, but, let us
hope, a wiser and a better man, having now had experi-
mental proof of the helplessness of the idols in whom he
trusted.

Thb Ill-gottbn Spoil was a Curse to the Danites. — They
i^aptured Laish, and on its ruins erected a city, which they
named "Dan," but "they set them up Micah*s graven
image, which he made, all the time that the house of God
was in Shiloh." The idolatry of a family had now extended
to a considerable portion of a tribe. It was probably
regarded by the Danites as a fortunate circumstance that

the Levite, who had been secured as priest, was no
other than the son of Gershom, and a grandson of
Moses, the great law-girer of Israel. It is sad to

learn that one who boasted such a noble ancestx^ acted so
scandalously. The whole incident evinces almost incredible
degeneracy on the part of God's chosen people.

The Infamous Crime op the Inhabitants op Gibbah. —
About the same time as the above incident another event
occurred which materially affected the fortunes of the tribe
of Benjamin. The last three chapters of the Book of Judges
are occupied with an account of this event. It also is a
disgraceful picture of the times, and shows the disasters to
which sin leads.

JUDGES. 19

At the time when there was no king in Israel, no dominant
authority to restrain and command, a Levite who sojourned
in the more remote parts of the mountains of Ephraim, took
to himself a concubine out of Bethlehem in Judah, .who
proved unfaithful to him, and then returned to her father's
house. After the expiration of four months he went to
request her to return, which she agreed to do. The
hospitality of his father-in-law detained them for some days,
but at length they proceeded on their journey, and arrived
at Gibeah of Benjamin, which city was preferred as a place
in which to lodge, to Jebus, i.e., Jerusalem, then inhabited
by strangers and enemies. Though the travellers sat down in
a street of the little town as an invitation to the inhabitants
to exercise hospitality towards them they met with a very cold
reception. At length an old man, himself a stranger from
Mount Ephraim, took notice of them, and urged them to
accept entertainment in his house. While they were refresh-
ing themselves after their journey the hospitable abode was
surrounded by some wicked, licentious men, " certain sons
of Belial," who demanded the stranger for the gratification
of their unholy desires. The old man, the host, endear
voured to defend his guests by an appeal to the sacred
rights of hospitality, and he even went the length, which
the extremest case could not justify, of offering his own
virgin daughter and the recovered concubine in lieu of the
man who had sought and obtained his protection. No
method of appeasing these worthless and wicked sons of
Belial could be found except that of delivering up the concu-
bine of his guest, who was so badly treated that she died
next morning from the cruelty she had received. The
Levite, determined upon vengeance, conveyed the corpse to
his home. On his arrival he divided it into twelve pieces,

20 JUDGES.

according to the number of the tribes of Israel, and sent one
to each of the tribes, accompanied, doubtless, with an
account of the outrage he had suflfered and an appeal for
vengeance. It was a shocking action, but as there was no
supreme magistrate to whom to appeal for redress, it was
probably the most effectual method of rousing the nation*
And it succeeded. The twelve tribes felt constrained to
avenge the horrible outrage; they solemnly bound them-
selves before the ark of the Lord not to return home till
they had punished the offenders ; they put to the sword all
that remained in Gibeah, both man and beast, and burned
all the cities and towns of Benjamin ; they solemnly swore
not to give their daughters in marriage to the sons of Benja-
min, and cursed him that should do so ; and, finally, they
engaged themselves by a terrible oath to kill every Israelite
who should not take arms against the Benjaminites. Thus
t^e outrage was sternly avenged. Let us note some of the
details. The tribes having been regularly convened, pro-
bably by Phinehas the high priest, no fewer than 400,000
men of war assembled at Mizpeh, the appointed meeting-
place. Though the children of Benjamin had also been sum-
moned, they took no steps towards healing the breach that
had occurred and preventing the consequences thrit ensued.
By their absence they connived at the sin that had been
committed, and became partakers of the guilt of the men of
Gibeah. When called upon to further the ends of justice
by delivering up " the children of Belial which were in
Gibeah," instead of doing so they gathered themselves
together to fight against their brethren. 26,000 of their
men of war went forth to battle. At the first conflict 22,000
Israelites were slain, and on the second day 18,000. The
united tribes, confounded by these repeated strokes of adverse

JUDGES. 21

providence, even after they thought they had obtained the
Lord's sanction and help, humbled themselves before God
and oflfered sacrifices. God now promised to deliver the
children of Benjamin into their hands. By a skilful strata-
gem the Benjamites were drawn away from the Gibeah,
which was the scene of the struggle, but Hers in wait came
forth out of their places and smote all who were left in the
city and set it on fire. When the Benjaminites saw the great
flames rising from the city they turned from the pursuit, but
now they found themselves surrounded in front and in rear.
No fewer than 25,000 men of Benjamin were slain, and only
600 of the entire army escaped.

After the war, which had issued so disastrously for
Benjamin, was over, a feeling of deep sympathy for Benjamin
and of regret, followed. It was felt that the purpose of the
war was just and right, but it was also felt that the spirit in
which it had been waged, and the extremity to which it had
been carried, were wholly indefensible. The tribes had
been rash in the vows they had made against their brother,
for they had sworn in Mizpeh to treat him as they would
treat the worst of the devoted Canaanites, with whom they
were utterly forbidden to intermarry. And they had car-
ried their revenge to an extent that was unnecessary and
sinful. They therefore found little cause for triumph in
their recent victory, and they celebrated the event, not by
the voice of joy and praise, but by that of lamentation and
woe. They humbled themselves before God, bitterly
reproached themselves for their unbrotherly conduct, and
took measures to repair the breaches which their own haste
and infatuation had occasioned. There was danger of

the extinction of one of the tribes of Israel, for all
had been slain save the 600 men who had escaped, and

22 JUDGES.

who for months abode in the rock Rimmon. The question
came to be, how, in accordance with their oath not to inter-
marry with Benjamin, wives should be provided for those
600 men. It was found that none of the inhabitants of
Jabesh-gilead, a city of the half-tribe of Manasseh east of
Jordan, bad come to the assembly, and the tribes resolve
upon summary vengeance, and then from among these
defaulters, to select wives for the remnant of Benjamin.

We fear a second crime was committed to repair

the consequences of the first, for the inhabitants of
Jabesh-gilead, with the women and the children, were slain
with the edge of the sword, but 400 young virgins were
secured, and by these, as a pledge of their repentance and
continued affection, they persuaded the surviving warriors
of the tribe of Benjamin to come forth from the place of
retreat and be reconciled. To supply the 200 not thus
provided with wives another contrivance was arranged. At
the annual feast in Shiloh, the women were accustomed to
indulge in dancing and other recreation, and the 200 were
invited to catch, on that occasion, every man his wife, of the
daughters of Shiloh. As the women were taken by force
and fraud, without the knowledge or consent of their fathers
and brethren, the oath which had been made, though evaded,
was not voluntarily and literally broken. The incident may
be extenuated by the circumstances, but it certainly is not
commendable.

Everything being thus happily adjusted, the tribes sepa-
rated, each to its inheritance. But this occurrence, like the
preceding, shows the anarchy that prevailed, and the enor-
mities which were committed " when there was no king in
Israel."

JUDGBS, 23

The Opprsssions and Dbliyeranobs of Israel. — Au

account is given in the Book of Judges of six
different oppressions and deliverances. 1. The op-

pressiou of the Mesopotamian king, Chushan-rishathaim,
which lasted for eight years, and the deliverance by Othniel,
which was followed by a rest of 40 years. 2. The oppression
by the Moabitiah king, Eglon, which lasted for 18 years,
and the deliverance of Ehud, which was followed by a rest of
80 years. 3. The oppression by the Canaanitish king, Jabin,
which lasted for 20 years, and the deliverance by Deborah
and Barak, which was followed by a rest of 40 years. 4.
The oppression by the Midianites, which lasted for seven
years, and the deliverance by Gideon, which was followed by
a rest of 88 years, this period including the reigns of Gideon,
Abimelech, Tola, and Jair. 5. The oppression of the Am-
monites, which lasted for 18 years, and the deliverance by
Jephthah, which was followed by a rest of 31 years, this
period including the reigns of Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and
Abdon. 6. The oppression by the Philistines, which lasted
40 years, and the deliverance by Samson, which probably
was followed by a long period of rest. Of the 16 judges,
whom successively God raised up, perhaps only eight were

deliverers from foreign oppression, viz., Othniel,
Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Oideon,

Jephthah, and Samson; the others, viz.. Tola, Jair,
Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Eli, and Samuel being only judges who
administered the laws and ordinances of the Lord. The
Israelites had grossly failed in their duty to exterminate the
inhabitants of CanaaQ, and succeeding generations were
appointed to reap the bitter fruits of their neglect. Five
lordships of the Philistines in the south-west, all the Sido-
nians and the Hivites, that dwelt about Mount Lebanon,

24 JUDGES.

besides scattered Canaanites in various regions throughout
the land, were left to prove and vex them. There seems
to have been very free and general intercommunion and
intermarriage, and God employed those very nations with
whom Israel entered into friendly alliance to be scourges and
instruments of wrath.

Thb Oppbbssion of Chushanbishathaih. — Israel's sin
brought on the people the judgment of a holy and righteous
God. The chosen people had failed to exterminate the
Canaanites in accordance with the divine command. This
entailed the compromise of living among them and main-
taining intercourse with them. Then followed intermar-
riages, a prolific source of degeneracy in all ages. Denial
of God and opposition to His worship^ serving the gods of
the heathen around, and prevailing immorality brought
down upon Israel the divine displeasure. God loves His
people, but He is jealous for His own holiness. His anger
is judicial righteousness, which will by no means clear the
guilty. He marks His retributive justice by making the
tempters to whom Israel yielded to become Israel's tor-
mentors. The instruments of their sin become the instru-
ments of their punishment. When they broke through the
hedge of their separation from other nations they deprived
themselves of the fence of God's protection, and were easily
enslaved.

The first oppressions of Israel came from the

region of Babylon, as their captivity ages after was in
Babylon. '' The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,
and He sold them into the hand of the King of Mesopo-
tamia," who held them captive for eight years. Their
servitude probably consisted in being obliged to pay tribute

JUDGES. 25

to the conqueror, and suffer other degrading and cruel
exactions. No details are given either of the servitude
or method of deliverance. It is simply stated that the
distresses of Israel constrained them to cry to Him whom
they had forsaken in their time of prosperity, that the
gracious compassion of God was moved by the groanings of

His people, and that He raised up Othniel to deliver

them. For forty years afterwards peace and prosperity
were enjoyed.

The Oppression op Eglon. — The death of Othniel led
to renewed corruption. God, therefore, permitted the
Moabites to become too powerful for the Israelites, and,
with the help of the children of Ammon and Amalek, who
were predisposed by ancient enmity to enter into such an
alliance, to take Jericho, which commanded the fords of the
Jordan, and to enforce submissiou. After enduring this
servitude for eighteen years the Israelites cried unto the
Lord, who raised up Ehud as a deliverer. Ehud was sent as
the head of a deputation which conveyed a present to
Eglon, the King of Moab. The present was offered, and
Ehud and the party were on the journey homewards when
Ehud returned to the palace, and by request obtained
private audience of the king. Ehud professed to have a
message from God unto the king, who, on hearing this,
rose to show due respect to a divine communication. He
then took the opportunity of the king's rising to stab him
with a dagger which he had secreted under his raiment.
The oppressor of his country being thus removed, he
induced the Israelites to secure the passes of the Jordan,
and to destroy every Moabite who attempted to cross.
Ten thousand Moabites were slain, and Moab was subdued.
** The land had rest four score years."

26 JUDOBSL

Of the deliyerance from the Philistines, which is said to
have been effected by Shamgar with an ox goad, nothing is
known. Probably during the period of rest, just mentioned,
the Philistines suddenly invaded the country for purposes of
plunder, and Shamgar, availing himself of the only weapon
he possessed — the ox goad, with which he was driving his
oxen — fell upon the invaders and routed them. The
incident may have resembled that of Samson, when, by
divine help, he killed thousands of the Philistines with the
jawbone of an ass. More probably, Shamgar placed himself
at the head of a hastily-gathered band of country people,
who, arming themselves with the implements of tillage with
which they were occupied, by an unexpected onslaught
drove out the enemy. But to Shamgar also the honour
belongs of having delivered IsraeL

The Oppression oe the Canaakitbs. — ^The history of
the Israelites is a painful and humiliating picture of the
corruption of our common nature. The whole Bible is a
continued history of human apostasy and of divine inter-
position. In the case of Israel, the chastisements and the
gracious deliverances vouchsafed by Grod, seemed alike to
fail in securing their reformation and constant fidelity.
After the death of Ehud, the services of the sanctuary were
neglected, and they again relapsed into idolatry. For this
God " sold them into the hand of Jabin," the king of one
of the Canaanitish tribes, which they ought to have
destroyed. This Jabin was perhaps a descendant as well as
successor of the king of the same name, who also reigned
in Hazor, and who was routed and slain, and his city
burned by Joshua (Joshua xi., 1-10). The city had been
rebuilt and its power regained, and now the King of Hazor

JUDOBS. 27

obtained an ascendancy over Israel and heavily oppressed
them. The Canaanites, provoked by their former defeat,
would naturally make the burdens of the Israelites as
grievous as possible, and these burdens would be made
heavier by the reflection that but for their own cowardice,
indolence, and unbelief, their present oppressors might have
been exterminated. For 20 years Jabin oppressed the chil-
dren of Israel, and then they ** cried unto the Lord." The
Lord showed His compassion and grace by qualifying
Deborah for the work of deliverance. This Deborah was
evidently a woman of great holiness and knowledge of
divine things. She was endowed with the gift Of
prophecy, the first case of the kind recorded since the
death of Moses probably 200 years before. Sitting under
the pleasant shade of her pafan tree she was accustomed to
give counsel and advice, to redress grievances and deter-
mine causes, especially in matters pertaining to the law
apd the worship of God. Being a woman, she was not so
likely to excite the jealousy and interference of Jabin. But
Deborah, by divine inspiration, commanded the assistance
from Barak, a native of Eedesh-naphtali in the far north
of Palestine, by whom 10,000 men, chiefly of Zebulun and
Naphtali were speedily enlisted to rid the country of the
oppressor. Deborah, at Barak's request, accompanied the
army, but she assured him that on account of his want of
courage and faith the glory of the victory should belong
chiefly to a woman. Sisera, the captain of Jabin's host,
being informed of these preparations to oppose his power,
gathered his forces at the river of Kishon. He collected a
mighty host, and had with him 900 chariots of iron. But
" the Lord had gone out " before Barak had put everything
in readiness for his achieving a great victory, ^'and the

28 JUDGES.

Lord discomfited Sisera." A supernatural panio seems to
have been produced in Sisera's army, caused probably by a
storm of wind, rain, and hail, and by this panic chariots
rushed against each other and were broken, and horses and
men were minified in wild confusion, making them an easy
prey to the swords of the Israelites. The entire army was
destroyed. " There was not a man left." When Sisera
saw that the battle was lost he alighted from his chariot and
fled on foot. He came to the tent of Jael, the wife of
Heber the Kenite, a descendant of Hobab, the father-in-
law of Moses, who had emigrated to the northern part of
the land. The Kenites were on a friendly footing with the
subjects of Jabin, and Jael invited Sisera into her tent to
ofifer him probably the ordinary hospitalities which the
Orientals have ever been accustomed to show to strangers
and travellers. But on discovering who her guest was,
while professing kindness to him in order to increase his
confidence and feeling of security, she was prompted to a
bold action. She heartily sympathised with the people of
God, and bravely resolved to destroy their oppressor.
Taking ^' a nail of the tent," one of the long spikes which
were driven into the ground, and to which the cords that
secured the tent were attached, and a hammer or mallet,
'^she went softly unto him and smote the nail into his
temples, and fastened it into the ground : for he was fast
asleep and weary." When Barak arrived in pursuit of
Sisera, Jael took him into her tent and showed him his
enemy lying dead with the nail in his temples. '* 8o Qod

subdued on that day Jabin, the King of Oanaan,
before the children of IsraeL" A beautiful triumphal

ode was composed by Deborah to celebrate this signal
victory over the armies Of Jabin, an ode in whose lofty and

JUDGES. 29

impassioned lines there is an expression of gratitude to God
for past manifestations of power and goodness ; a graphic
description of the oppression under which the nation had
groaned in consequence of their apostasy, and of the happy
state of security and peace now to be enjoyed ; an enumeration
and review of the tribes which had joined the standard of
Barak, and through whose patriotic bravery their country
had been redeemed ; a bitter and sarcastic reproof to those
tribes which remained at home ; a vivid accoimt of the crisis
of the battle and of the circumstances attending the death
of Sisera, and a fervent prayer that all the enemies of God
may perish in a similar way, while all who love Him
gloriously prevail. After this victory the land had rest forty
years.

The Oppression by the Midianites. — In the period of
peace and rest which succeeded the overthrow of Jabin, the
blessings of deliverance from oppression were again forgotten.
The time graciously given for improvement was, as formerly,
grievously neglected and abused. Regardless of past judg-
ments, ungrateful for past mercies, " the children of Israel
did evil in the sight of the Lord." The Lord had again
recourse to the rod of punishment, and " delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years." About 200 years before, a
great portion of this race had been cut oflF by Moses (Numb,
xxxi., 1-18), but they had recovered themselves, had rapidly
increased in power, and now they prevailed against the sin-
weakened Israelites. As Midian occupied a very low place
among the nations of that period, while Israel could boast of
a superior position, lineage, and promises, this servitude was
peculiarly galling. Evidently the Midianites took every
opportunity of heaping iASult and injury on the heads of

30 JUDGES.

their ancient conquerors^ so that the Israelites were obliged
to conceal themselves in retired holes and fastnesses. After
the Israelites ploughed and sowed their fields, the Amale*
kites and various mixed tribes fearlessly pitched their tents
in the very heart of the country, and secured all the crops
as they came to maturity. '' No sustenance was left for
Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass." Great hordes of
wandering Arabs possessed and ravaged the land. Need we
be surprised to learn " that Israel was greatly impoverished
because of the Midianites." Their intolerable condition led
them to " cry unto the Lord," and He, ever ready to hear
the cry of the miserable when salutary discipline has done
its work, was pleased to send a prophet to rebuke them for
their sins which had caused these sufiferings, and to intimate
that deliverance should follow repentance and reformation.

The deliverer whom Ood raised up at this time

was Gideon, the youngest son of Joash, who belonged to the
family of Abiezer, and resided at Ophrah, near the western
bank of the Jordan. While Gideon was threshing some
wheat, which he had contrived to save from the rapacity of
the Midianites, under the spreading branches of an oak, so as
to be sheltered from the scorching rays of the sun, and con-
cealed from the sight of the ever-watchful enemy, suddenly
a person appeared and accosted him with the words, ** The

Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." This

expression may have referred to some display of courage and
prowess already made by Gideon, or it may have been the
promise of strength for the work to which he was now to be
called. Gideon, who had evidently been pondering over the
humiliating condition to which his country for the seven pre-
vious years had been reduced, and was longing for an oppor-
tunity to strike a decisive blow, and so rid the land of

JUDGES. 31

those multitudes of insolent and rude oppressors who
had poured down upon the rich plains of Judea and
rifled every vineyard, barnyard, and fold — understood
the remark as referring to his country as a whole,
and not to himself individually. He therefore replied,
"If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen
usT* and he expressed surprise that the Lord if with
them did not deliver them from the Midianites as He
had delivered their fathers from the Egyptians. Gideon
was despondent, he thought God had forsaken them, and
he reckoned it mockery to assure him of the Lord's presence
and favour when the Midianites continued to insult, plunder,

and oppress. ** And the Lord looked upon him." The

person who had appeared was a divine being, " the Lord,"
and gave him a commission of service, and all the qualifi-
cations necessary to the execution of it. " Go in this thy
might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the
Midianites." Gideon humbly acknowledged his un worthiness
and unfitness for such a work, for he was poor, impoverished,
uninfiuential, and the youngest of his father's sons ; but the

Lord assured him of help and of final success. He

seems, however, to have still entertained some dOubt of
the reality of this appearance, and of the truth Of the
divine message, and he respectfully solicited the favour
of some sign from heaven of such a nature as to remove
every remaining misgiving from his mind. With a view of
fulfilling the demands of hospitality, and, at the same time,
of furnishing an occasion for the sign he wished, Gideon
entreated him not to depart until he should bring foi-th his
"present" — i,e,, his offering to God. On the proposal being
received with favour, " Gideon went in and made ready a
kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour : the flesh he

32 JUDGES.

put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought
it out unto him under the oak, and presented it." Gideon's
doubts were soon dispelled. No sooner had he as directed
laid out the provisions upon an adjoining rock than the
visitor " put forth the end of his staff that was in his hand,
and touched the flesh and unleavened cakes, than there rose
up fire out of the rock and consumed them.'* With what
intense interest must Gideon have watched this remarkable
phenomenon, and how thoroughly must all his doubts, as to
the messenger and the message have disappeared when,
rising with the smoke of the burnt offering, the celestial
visitor vanished from his sight. Gideon instinctively shook
with fear at the idea of having seen an angel of the Lord (or
the Lord-angel) face to face, but the Lord, if not now in
bodily form, at least with audible voice, reassured the
trembling man with the gracious words : " PeaCO be UntQ

thee ; fear not, thou shalt not die.'* Upon the top of

the rock on which the miracle had been wrought, Gideon
built an altar to the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom —
Jehovah, the self-existing one ; and shalom, peace.

With strangely mingled emotions Gideon must have laid
himself down that night to sleep. And as he was revolving
the details of the wonderful event, from out of the profound
darkness and silence that reigned around, the voice of the
Lord again broke upon his ear, commanding him to destroy
the image which his idolatrous father had erected to Baal,
to consecrate to the Lord what previously had been employed
in the worship of the heathen god, and with all due formali-
ties to offer in sacrifice his father's second bullock. It was
a dangerous enterprise to which Gideon was called, but he
did not shrink from engaging in it. With promptitude and
decision, and with the help of ten servants, the command

JUDGBS. 33

was obeyed. By night — ^because he feared he might be
opposed by his own relatives, and incur the anger of the
Midianites if done openly — the altar of Baal was cast down,
the grove that was by it cut down, and the bullock offered.
The work had been promptly and effectually performed, and
then Gideon and his men retired. Next morning there was
great commotion among the inhabitants of Ophrah, and
questionings who had been guilty of such sacrilege. The
new altar erected near the winepress and wide-spreaking oak
of Joash, the father of Gideon, and perhaps previous sus-
picions that Gideon was disaffected to the prevalent idolatry,
quickly assured them that he had done it, and nothing but
his blood could now satisfy the persecuting rage of his
idolatrous fellow townsmen. Joash, though an idolater,
does not seem to have been a bigoted votary of Baal, and he
refused to be a party to the death of his son, arguing with

them that if Baal be a god he will be quite able to
avenge his own cause, and, if not a god, he, unable to
defend himself, is unworthy of the defence of others.

From that time Gideon was called Jerubbaal — a standing
defiance to Baal, as the name implies.

The courage and patriotism of Gideon were soon put to
the test The Midianites and their allies crossed the Jordan,
and traversed the country as far as to the borders of
Manasseh and Issachar. Gideon, endued with supernatural
zeal and heroism, assembled his relatives, and through them
collected volunteers from the neighbouring tribes to oppose
the advance of their oppressors. His faith, however, was
still wavering ; the number and power of the enemy intimi-
dated him ; and it was only after God in his wonderful grace
and condescension vouchsafed to him new tokens of His

34 JUDGES.

divine compassion that he beg£»i the contest. The alter-
nate wetting by dew of some fleeces and of the whole
ground was incontestable evidence of the presence

and help of God, recollecting which, he was able to look
nnmoyed on the swarms of Midian; unmoved, to see his
army of more than 30,000 men reduced by coward flight to
one-third their number ; unmoved, to see the 10,000 who
remained, reduced by divine command, lest Israel should
boast that the victory had been secured by their own strength,
to only 300 men. At the head of this small band of chosen,
brisk, and enthusiastic men, and with no other instruments
of assault but a lamp, an empty pitcher, and trumpet, Gideon
was confident and ready to meet the host of Midian. But
God gave him still further encouragement, and this time by
another remarkable sign. Being commanded by God
to go down secretly and under the shelter of night into the
enemy's camp accompanied only by Phurah his servant,

Oideon overheard a man tell a dream to his compan-
ion about a cake of barley bread, which tumbled into

the host of Midian and overturned one of the tents. His
companion answered, " 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." Both the
dream and the interpretation were so manifestly of God, they
proved so clearly the terror-stricken state of the Midianites,
and promised so pointedly a decisive victory that Gideon,
after duly acknowledging his gratitude to God for such en-
couragement, immediately prepared his little army for the
encounter. Dividing the 300 men into three companies, and
giving each man a trumpet, with empty pitchers and lamps,
they went down to the camp, blew their trumpets, brake
their pitchers, and held aloft their lamps. And by this

JUDGES. 35

strange stratagem the battle was woa The Midianites in
the darkness formed an exaggerated idea of the numbers by
which they were beset. They were astounded by the noise
of the crashing pitchers, the shouts of assailants reverberat-
ing on every side of the camp, and the sudden glare of 300
torches, and they fled in panic and confusion. The battle
cry " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," struck terror
into their hearts. Unable in the darkness to distinguish
friend from foe, every man's sword was turned against his
fellow. When that portion of Gideon's army that had been
dismissed learned that the Midianites had fled, they joined
in the pursuit and helped their brethren to obtain a com-
plete victory. The men of Ephraim, too, by the request of
Gideon, occupied the fords of the Jordan, and took two
princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, whose heads, according to
almost universal custom in the East, were taken as trophies
to the victorious general.

It is pitiable to read, immediately after the account of
this signal victory, of the disaffection shown by the men of
Ephraim towards their brethren of Manasseh because they
had not been invited earlier to share in this battle of deliver-
ance. By wise and conciliatory words Gideon calmed their
unreasonable jealousy and anger, and then he and his 300
men, though fatigued with what they had already accom-
plished, hastened on in hot pursuit to capture the kings of
Midian. On the inhabitants of Succoth and Penuel refusing
bread to his famished men, Gideon promised them signal
punishment when he should return. These people doubtless
deemed it highly improbable that Gideon should succeed, and
dreaded the vengeance of the Midianites. But Gideon was
strong in faith, and assured of safety and triumph. The
kings of Midian had still 15,000 men with them at Karkor,

36 JDDGBS.

but, taking an unsuspected route along the territories of the
Arabs, who dwell in tents, he fell upon th^si and smote the
host. The two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, were taken, and
on their confession that they had slain his own brother,
Gideon put them to death ; he himself slaying them instead
of his young son Jether, who was afraid, " for * as the kings
well expressed it, "as the man is, so is his strength/'
Terrible retribution befel the men of Succoth and Penuel,
the flesh of the former being torn with thorns, a slow and
painful mode of putting them to death ; the latter was slain,
and their tower, in which they trusted, demolished.

Though Gideon narrowly escaped death from the citizens
of Abiezer, and had to encounter much prejudice and ill will,
he was now, with singular unanimity, offered the crown of
Israel as a reward of his decision and fortitude and the
success which had attended him. But Gideon perceived the
spiritual revolution involved in this proposal, for Jehovah
was their King, and with disinterested patriotism and
respect for the divine will, he piously declined the proposed
honour. He might serve them as a judge, but he wottld not
rule over them as a king. And yet the nobility of Gideon
in declining this proposal was rather marred by the request
he made, that " every man would give him the earrings of
his prey." The request was very readily complied with, but
it was very unfortunate in its results. Besides the fifty-three
pounds of gold thus obtained, Gideon had secured other
ornaments that belonged to the kings of Midian, and with
these spoils in his house at Ophrah he assumed much regal
authority and splendour. Nor did regal state satisfy him.
He assumed sacerdotal power as well. The command given
by the angel who appeared to him to build an altar and
sacrifice thereon to Jehovah, perhaps led him to think that

JUDGES. 37

he was fully authorised to ofl&ciate in this way. An ephod
being the usual appendage to the priestly office, he had one
formed and finished in sumptuous style, and in this rich
vestment he offered sacrifice at Ophrah. " All Israel went
thither a whoring after it ; " they resorted thither to enquire
the divine will instead of to Shiloh, the one seat of worship
appointed by Jehovah himself. Gideon had made one false
step, and it not only was a source of evil to himself person-
ally, but proved the occasion of sin and ruin to his family.
However, God had used him sa His instrument in delivering
Israel, and so thoroughly had the work been accomplished
that the Midianites never again dared to invade or annoy
the Israelites in their possessions. "And the country

was in quietness for forty years in the days of
Gideon."

The Kbign op Abimelbch. — There is much that is digni-
fied and heroic in the character of Gideon. He was not,
however, without his faults. Besides those already referred
to, he indulged in polygamy, though multiplying wives was
directly forbidden by God, and this sin was followed in the
case of Gideon with all the usual unhappy consequences.
He had seventy sons by his wives, and, besides these, a son
called Abimelech, whom " a concubine that was in Shechem
bare him." Abimelech, on account of his position by birth,
could not inherit, but he was very ambitious, and as soon as
his old father died he resolved to disinherit his brothers and
secure royal position and power. By this time the influence
of Gideon's character and work had been greatly lessened,
and the children of Israel felt no gratitude either to God,
who had delivered them out of the hands of all their
enemies on every side, or to Gideon, who had shown such a

38 JUDGES.

deep interest in Israel's welfare. " The children of Israel
turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made
Baal-berith their god." Abimelech took advantage of this
apostasy and of the desire which now prevailed for a settled
form of government under an earthly ruler, to forward his
sinister designs. Uis first step was to enlist his relations on
the mother's side in his interest, and to sow the seeds of
suspicion and jealousy among the tribes. He accused his
seventy half-brothers of exercising domination over their
countrymen, though there is no evidence that they had any
intention to assume despotic sway, and he induced the
people of Shechem on account of his relationship to support
his claims to royalty. With silver given to him by the men
of Shechem, and which they obtained from an idol's temple,
Abimelech hired some worthless and abandoned men to follow
him, and he then put an effectual end to the rivalry of his
brethren by slaying the whole seventy of them, at Ophrah,
with the single exception of Jotham, who contrived to escape.
It was a cruel transaction, and is a lamentable evidence
of the extent to which uncurbed and ruthless ambition will
lead those who are under its power. The men of Shechem
made Abimelech king, and to give the greater solemnity to
the proceeding, proclaimed him king at the oak tree in
Shechem, which had become surrounded with hallowed
associations, and endeared in the memory of all Israel by
Joshua's solemn covenant with the people there (Josh, xxiv ,
26, 27). As soon as Jotham was informed of this he
hastened to the top of Mount Gerezim, whence he over-
looked Shechem, and addressed the inhabitants in a
parable descriptive of the modesty of Gideon in
refusing the sovereignty as contrasted with the
vanity of the present aspirant to royal power. It is

JUDGES. 39

a parable of great beauty, and its simplicity, force, and
adaptation to the circumstances, impart to it the most touch-
ing pathos. The services rendered by his father to an un-
grateful people, the humility which his father had mani-
fested, the low birth, the cruel and ambitious character of
Abimelech, were forcibly presented, and Jotham closed his
address with the prediction that Abimelech would yet prove
a source of discord and ruin — a prediction which the sequel
shows was remarkably fulfilled. The remonstrance of Jotham
did not at the time produce any effect. For three years
Abimelech '^ reigned over Israel," his rule, which commenced
at Shechem, having been gradually extended over adjacent
towns and territories. But at tho end of three years the sin
of Abimelech began to find its punishment; his subjects
became dissatisfied ; and the men of Shechem, who had been
the first to support his claims, even formed a plan to assas-
sinate him. «rust at this crisis, when disaffection had become
open revolt, one Gaal, the son of Ebed, a bold and ambitious
man, contrived, with the assistance of a strong party of
relatives, to insinuate himself into the confidence of the men
of Shechem and to assume the leadership. Gaal protected
the people in their agricultural labours, promoted a spirit of
mirth and dissipation, and led them to heap reproaches
upon the name of Abimelech. Abimelech was absent from
Shechem, but Zebul, his officer, communicated to him the
threats of Gaal and his companions, and the measures which
had been adopted to exclude him from the sovereignty. By
forced marches all night Abimelech hastened to Shechem,
and invested the city in four companies. Gaal went out to
meet him, but was defeated. The next day the attack was
renewed, but with the same result Zebul therefore pro-
cured the expulsion of Gaal; Abimelech pressed into the

40 JUDGES.

gates, carried the place, and utterly destroyed it. A
thouBand of the inhabitants who had taken refuge in the
tower of Shechem were consumed in the burning of that
tower, and the inhabitants of the town were put to death
with merciless barbarity. Abimelech sowed the city with
salt, in token that he designed it to become a perpetual
desolation. But when A.bimelech attempted to fire the
tower of Thebez, whose inhabitants had also revolted, a
woman threw a piece of a millstone from the wall upon his
head, "and all to break his skull." His skull was fractured,
and he had only time to desire his armour-bearer to despatch
him^ that he might escape the dishonour of so ignominious a
death. Thus the fratricide Abimelech and the unprincipled
people of Shechem were punished for their crimes: upon
both' ''came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal."
When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead they dis-
persed, and the civil commotion subsided.

The Judgeships op Tola and Jair. — The Israelites were
now freed from the tyranny of Abimelech, but they were
still liable to ajinoyanjce and incursions from the neighbour-
ing powers. They needed one to deliver them from idolatry
and corruption, to repress internal discord, maintain union,
and guard against assaults from without. Tola, of the tribe
of Issachar, was appointed judge, and for twenty-three years
he controlled the fortimes of Israel. No details of his reign
are left, but his war against evil was not unsuccessful

The administration of Jair followed that of Tola, and
continued for twenty-two years. Jair seems to have been
intent upon the aggrandisement of his own family, and to
have aimed at much magnificence and outward display. " He
had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had

JUDGES. 41

thirty cities." But, on the vhole, the rule of these two
judges was probably characterised by much peace and
prosperity.

The Oppression by the Ammonites. — " The children of
Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord," and the
apostasy this time was very gross and aggravated. The
Israelites became almost universal idolaters, adopting the
gods of the surrounding nations, and scarcely acknowledging
Jehovah at all as one of the gods they worshipped. As was
to be expected in such circumstances, "the anger of the
Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the
hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children
of Ammon." They had two hostile nations on either side of
them, the Philistines ott the west and the Ammonites on the
east, so that the oppression would be specially severe. This
condition of things lasted eighteen years, '* bo that Israel
was sore distressed.'* PVmishment, as on former occasions, led
to conviction and contrition ; and, deeply humbled for their
sins, they cried unto the Lord, and confessed their great sin.
God upbraided them with the number of deliverances already
vouchsafed, and referred themi for help to the gods whom
they had chosen to serve; But the Israelites were now truly
penitent ; " they put away the strange gods from among
them, and served the Lord," and then God grieved for their
affliction. And when the children of Ammon were encamped
in Gilead and the children of Israel, now reinstated in
Jehovah's favour, were encamped opposite, in Mizpeh, it was
felt that only an earnest and resolute leader was required to
enable them to throw off the oppression under which they
groaned.

A deliverer soon appeared in the person of Jephthah, a
Gileadite; Jephthah was an illegitimate son, and, therefore,

42 JUDGES.

like Abimelech, could not share in the inheritance with the
legitimate children, who at their father's death expelled him
from their home and their society. Jephthah took up his
residence in the land of Tob, and gathered round him a
number of idle foolish men. When the Ammonites sought
an occasion of war, the Gileadites sent their chiefs to solicit
Jephthah, who had become noted for his prowess, to lead
their forces. Jephthah reminded them of their former
unkindness in turning him out of their city — ^but at length
agreed to accept the command on condition that the
government should be conferred upon him in case of success,
an arrangement which was solemnly ratified by the con-
gregation assembled at Mizpeh. His first measure was to
send an embassy to the King of Ammon to demand an
explanation of the cause of his hostility, to which an answer
was returned, intimating his title to the land of which he
had been unjustly deprived during the journey of the
Israelites from Egypt. Jephthah replied to this that the
Ammonites, who were the original proprietors of the country,
had been dispossessed by the successful arms of his ancestors,
in consequence of their refusal to allow the Israelites to pass
through it, and that the right to the continued possession of
what conquest had conferred upon them — a conquest, too,
obtained under the special direction of heaven — had never
been disputed until his unwarrantable invasion, for the
period of 300 years. But "the king of the children of
Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah," being
resolved to . prosecute the wax. Jephthah, therefore,
immediately made the necessary arrangements under divine
direction ; and, according to the religious custom of the

times, pledged himself in a vow to Gtod that if he
should be favoured with success whatever came

JUDGES. 43

forth of the doors of his house to meet him upon
his return should be devoted to the Lord as a

burnt offering. His most sanguine expectations were
accomplished in a complete victory over the enemy, whom
he smote "with a very great slaughter." "Thus the
children of Ammon were subdued before the children of
Israel."

Upon his return to his house at Mizpeh, Jephthah had
cause hitterly to lament his rash and improper vow. His
daughter, an only child, came out at the head of a choir of
maidens to offer him joyful congratulations on his success.
This changed his exultation into deepest grief. His daugh-
ter had innocently become a source of unspeakable distress.
He had solemnly vowed and could not recall the vow. With
generous self-devotion and heroism the youthful maiden
concurred in it, and after a season of retirement for two
months, during which she, with her companions, bewailed
her enforced virginity, " her father did with her according
to his vow." But whether she was actually offered up as a
burnt-offering in order literally to fulfil the vow, or was only
devoted to a life of celibacy and seclusion, it is scarcely
possible to decide with any degree of confidence.

After these transactions a disturbance of a different nature
unexpectedly arose, from the resentful feelings of the
Ephraimites. The tribe of Ephraim possessed a haughty
and turbulent disposition, and was exceedingly jealous of the
power and honour enjoyed by the tribe of Manasseh. It
now fancied itself neglected in the summons which had been
issued to unite against the late invaders of the country, and
it threatened to set the house of Jephthah on fire, in order
to revenge the insult. Jephthah's answer to the challenge

44 JUDGES.

sent by the men of Ephraim was at once firm and temperate,
pointing out that they had been called but had refused to
come. Finding his remonstrances vain and the Ephraimites
intent upon a quarrel, Jephthah resorted to arms, conquered
them in battle, and, at the fords of Jordan, where the
Ephraimites endeavoul*ed to cross over into their own
country, put immense numbers of them to death. No fewer
than 42,000 perished on that fatal day. The inability of

a fugitive to pronounce Shibboleth accurately, proved
him to be an Ephraimite, and ensured his immediate

destruction. With such signal revenge was the tribe of
Ephraim punished. After an honourable administration of
public affairs for six years, Jephthah died and was buried in
one of the cities of Gilead.

The Judgeships op Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. —
Jephthah's victory over the enemies of Israel was followed
by twenty-five years of comparative peace and comfort. Of
this period Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel seven years,
Elon of Zebulon ten years, and Abdon of Pirathon in the
land of Ephraim eight years.

The Oppression op the Philistines. — ^We enter on
another period of sin and recovery. It is the last occasion
of the kind recorded in the Book of Judges. Again the
Israelites apostatized from the pure worship of God and fell
into idolatry. In consequence of this defection they were
delivered up to the oppression of the Philistines, and this
oppression continued forty years. The Philistines were not
numerous — ^they had only five cities of any size — but they
were frequently a terrible scourge to the Israelites. Once
more a deliverer was raised up, and this time he was one of

JUDGES. 45

a singular character. The circumstances of his birth, the
course of his life, and the manner of his death are all
extraordinary. The name of SamSOn is one of the most
remarkable in Scripture history.

Samson was the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan.

His mother for a long time had no family, but was at length
visited by "the angel of the Lord," who assured her that
her barrenness should be removed. As the child, she was
to have, was to be a Nazarite from the womb, she received
directions respecting her own mode of living and the con-
secration of her future son. When this pleasing intelligence
was communicated to her husband he entreated the Lord
to permit a renewal of the angeFs visit, and his prayer was
graciously answered. While the woman was in the field
" the angel of God " again appeared to her. She went in
search of Manoah, and to him the same injunctions were
repeated as had been given previously to his wife. The
words of the promise and the true dignity of the angel were
discovered by his miraculous disappearance in the flame of
the meat oflferiug which Manoah prepared. When Manoah
was fully convinced of the real character of the stranger
with whom he had been conversing, he feared that both he
and his wife must die, " because we have seen God," but
this fear was dispelled by the very natural argument of his
wife, that God would not have conferred such singular
honour upon them in accepting their burnt oflfering and
giving them such gracious promises, if he intended to kill
them.

In due time the promised child was bom^ and was called
Samson. As he grew up, abundant evidence was furnished
that he was under the special protection of God, and was

46 JUDGBS.

designated to accomplish some great work. The Spirit of
the Lord had stirred him up to give astonishing proofs of
his valour and strength, and inspired him, in view of the
degraded bondage of his countrymen, with an ardent zeal to
do something for their deliverance. The spiritual character
of Samson was by no means high, but his exhibitions of phy-
sical strength are quite unique in Scriptural history. About
a dozen examples of his courage and strength are given.
When on a journey to Timnath, to visit a Philistine woman
with whom he had fallen in love, a young lion threatened
to attack him, but by heavenly help imparted to him,
'' he rent it as he would have rent a kid." Samson's parents
endeavoured to dissuade him from forming a connection
with the enemies of Israel, but in vain. Samson entertained
a genuine affection for this woman, and in what he did he
was guided by the Divine Spirit. Through his marriage with
her, an occasion of avenging the wrongs inflicted by the
Philistines would be obtained. When some time afterwards
Samson returned to Timnath to consummate the marriage,
which had been duly arranged for, he found a swarm of
bees and honey in the carcase of the lion he had slain. He
took the honey and shared it with his father and mother.
At the wedding feast the incident formed the theme of a

riddle, <' Out of the eater came forth meat, and out
of the strong came forth sweetness.'' For seven
days the young men who had been associated with
Samson endeavoured to solve his riddle, but did

not succeed. They, however, under severe threatening,
compelled his wife to try and obtain the secret from him.
Her urgent entreaties were successful, so that by the time
appointed the answer was returned. By treachery, and tha
assistance of his wife, the knowledge had been gained, so

JUDGES. 47

Samson replied, " If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye
had not fomid out my riddle." " Thirty sheets and thirty
change of garments " was the condition of success or failure
on either side, and as the riddle had been answered, Samson
went down to Ashkelon, another city of the Philistines, twenty
miles west of Timnath, slew thirty men, and, despoiling them,
duly paid his forfeit. But his wife had, by what she had
done, sacrificed all future claims on his regard, and she was
given in marriage to another, with whom Samson had been
upon intimate terms. The ill-assorted marriage was now at
an end, and Samson became the inveterate enemy of the
Philistines, taking signal vengeance upon them for the loss
of his wife. Sternly refasing the offer of his wife's sister,
he prepared to resent the injury done to him upon the
Philistines, whom he regarded as the secret contrivers of
that injury. Having procured 300 foxes, he fastened them
tail to tail, in couples, placed a lighted firebrand between
each couple, and then turned them into the cornfields, which,
with the vines and olive trees, were set on fire. As soon as
the Philistines discovered the author of this mischief, they
retaliated by burning his father-in-law and wife in their
house — an awfiil retribution, but remarkable from the fact
that, by her unprincipled conduct Samson's wife exposed
herself to the very doom which, at the sacrifice of fidelity to
her husband, she had tried to escape. This act provoked
Samson to fresh and eager resentment, and he inflicted
terrible slaughter upon them — " smote them hip and thigh
with a great slaughter." After this victory he retreated to
the rock Etam, in the tribe of Judah, and took up his resi-
dence on its summit ; but the Philistines, being determined
to avenge themselves, collected a considerable force, and
demanded of the people that they should deliver him up.

48 JUDGES.

The degraded Israelites, probably afraid of the consequences
of a refusal, sent 3,000 men, first to expostulate, and then
to seize upon him. Samson readily yielded himself up on
condition that they, his own countrymen, should not person-
ally interfere in the quarrel and fall upon him themselves.
He was accordingly bound with two new cords, and takeu
to the encampment of the Philistines. The Philistines
exulted with joy at the prospect of speedy riddance from so
formidable an enemy, but their triumph was turned into
discomfiture when Samson, by the sudden iuRpiration of the
Divine Spirit, snapped asunder the cords with which he had
been bound, and laying hold of " a new jawbone of an ass,'*
with no other weapon, " slew a liiousand men therewith."
The humour of the hero does not forsake him even in the
exultation or the weariness of victory, and he commemorates
the incident in the saying, << With the jawbone Of an

ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass
have I slain a thousand men." And the place where

the incident occurred received henceforth the name " Bamath-
lehi," i,€., the hill of the jawbone. Samson's strength was
exhausted by the violent and long-continued exertion, but he
was refi^shed by a miraculous supply of water, gained in
answer to prayer. The spring of water received the name
" En-hakkore," i.e., the well of him who prayed.

Some time after the above event Samson entered Gaza,
one of the cities of the Philistines, and lodged in a house of
public entertainment It soon transpired that he was there,
and the Philistines, in order to secure him, placed a guard
round the house and at the city gates to prevent his escape.
Deeming themselves certain of their prey, the inhabitants
deferred the execution of their intention till the following
morning, but Samson, rising at midnight, cleverly outwitted

JUDGES. 49

the Philistine watchmen by carrying off gates, posts, bars,
and chains, to the top of a hill near to Hebron — about twenty
miles off. Doubtless the watchmen were paralyzed with
astonishment at the display of such superhuman strength.

The next adventure exhibits Samson in a very unfavour-
able light, and was the indirect occasion of his death. He
fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the
vale of Sorek, near to Eschol. Her mercenary character
and heartless blandishments seem to justify the conclusion
that Delilah was a wicked profligate woman, and that
Samson had been caught by her snares. The five lords of
the Philistines were gratified to hear of the power she had
obtained over their powerful enemy, and did not deem it
beneath their dignity to bribe her to use that power in
promoting their designs. They offered her 5,500 shekels —
£1,100 each — upon condition of her ascertaining from him
the source of his extraordinary strength, and how it might
be overcoma Delilah undertook the service, and made
several attempts, plying all the arts of persuasion and
blandishment to extract the secret, but his foolish enemies
fell into trap after trap, as if only to give their conqueror
amusement. Samson was bound with seven green withs,
but they were broken " as a thread of tow is broken when it
toucheth the fire ; he was bound with new ropes, but he
brake them from off his arms like a thread," the seven locks
of his hair were plaited with a web, but on his awakening
from sleep to defend himself from his enemies, " he went
away with the pin of the beam and with the web " — i.e,, the
whole weaving apparatus to which he had been attached.
At length, however, by incessant importunity, Delilah
discovered the important secret. The strength of Samson
arose from his peculiar relation to God as a Nazarite, and

D

50 JUDGES.

his unshorn locks were an outward symbol of his vows and
a pledge on the part of God for the continuance of super-
human strength.

When Delilah " pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that hl&
soul was vexed unto death ; he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There
hath not come a razor upon mine head ; for I have been a Naearite imto God
from my mother's womb : if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and
I shall become weak and be like any other man."

Delilah perceived that the secret was at last obtained; she
sent a message in all haste to the lords of the Philistines^
who paid her the price of her treachery ; she cut off his hair
as he lay asleep upon her lap ; and, when she awoke him as
before with the words, ''The Philistines be upon thee, Sam-
son,'' he discovered his weakness and helplessness.

" He wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Fhilisttnes took
him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaea, and botmd him with
fetteffs of brass ; and he did grind in the inlson-hoaM.*'

Samson was now reduced to a position of the deepest
degradation and misery. He was a captive, without sight,
closely confined and heavily manacled, and compelled to do
the work of a slave.

In process of time, as Samson reflected on his folly and
wickedness, and was led sincerely to repent, he renewed his
Nazarite vows. He again allowed his hair to grow, and his
strength seemed to grow with the growth of his hair. We
are not informed how long he continued in his ignominious
condition. But at length the Philistines, having assembled
themselves in great numbers to offer sacrifice imto Dagon
their god, and to keep a feast of gratitude and triumph for
their victory over the Israelites and over Samson, the Hebrew
champion, bethought them in the midst of the festivity of
their illustrious captive, and, with the view of enhancing
the pleasure and glory of the occasion, sent for him that

JUDGES. 51

they might indulge the spirit of ridicule over their humbled
foe. The expected sport, however, soon terminated in a
terrible calamity. Samson requested the lad who led him
about, to allow him to obtain a little relief, by leaning against
the two pillars which supported the building. The lad
acceded to his request, and, after a fervent prayer " to be
avenged of the Philistines for his two eyes," Samson took
hold of the pillars, the one with the right hand and the other
with the left, and, putting forth the final effort of his gigantic
strength, he pulled them from their positions, and so brought
down the whole structure to the ground. Upon the roof of
the building "there were about three thousand men and
women," " the house was full of men and women, and all
the lords of the Philistines were there." All were now
buried in one mighty ruin. It was the last act of his ven-
geance ; Samson died for the cause of his country. Thus
ended the strange exploits of twenty years. The awful
catastrophe so paralysed the Philistines that they neither
attempted to prevent the removal of Samson's body by his
relatives nor to molest the Israelites for a long time after.
The number Samson had slain at his death was more than
the number he had slain in his life. His remains received
honourable interment in his father's sepulchre, and, on
account of the signal services which by his strength and
courage he had rendered to his country, his name lived on
as that of the greatest of its champions. In bis '^ Samson
Agonistes," the English poet Milton has finely pourtrayed
the grandeur of Samson's prowess and the ignominy of his
falL His subjection to the power of unholy desire prevents
U9 from respecting his character and duly appreciating the
importance of his work, but his faith in the presence and
power of God seems to have been firm and sincere (Heb.
xi., 32).

52 JUDGES. ,

Samson was the first conqueror of the Philistines — the
longest and deadliest enemies of Israel — whose hostilities,
commencing at the close of the period of the Judges, did not
terminate till the reign of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviiL, 8). In
him the Danites also had contributed to the defence of
Israel, and had in some measure seen the fulfilment of
Jacob's blessing upon the tribes (Gen. xlix., 16, 17).

A long blank in the sacred History succeeds to the crash
of the Philistine temple and the silent burial of Samson in
the sepulchre of his native hills,* *' between Zorah and
Eshtaol, in the burial-place of Manoah his father." Eli,
already far advanced in years, is at once Judge and High
Priest of Israel, when again in the Book of Samuel the
narrative is resumed.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.

WHY SO CALLED 1— It is so called from the account it
gives of the Israelites under the Government of thir-
teen Judges, after the death of Joshua, from 1426 B.C. to
the death of Samson, 1117 B.C., 'and the time of Eli, a
period of about 309 yeari

Who Wrote It ] — Samuel is generally considered as the
writer, and for the following reasons : —

1. "In those days there was no king in Israel."
(Judges xvii., 6j xxL, 25).

From which passage we must clearly infer that there
was a king when the account was written. This therefore

makes the writer live after the establishing of a
monarchy.

2. "The Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin
in Jerusalem untO this day" (Judges i., 21).

Jerusalem therefore had not as yet been captured when
the account was written. Now, from 2 Sam. v., 6-9, we
know that David, as soon as he was acknowledged king by
the twelve tribes, marched against Jerusalem and took it,
and made it the capital of his kingdom under the name of
the " Citv of David." Therefore the writer must have lived
during the reign of Samuel and first seven years of David^s
rule, and we know of no other person living than Samuel
as likely to have written such an account as that contained
in the Book of Judges.

Some have thought that it was not composed before the
Babylonian exile, or at all events before the fall of the

54 JUDGES.

kingdom of the ten tribes, and they base their arguments
on the passage "the captivity of the laJld," in chap,
xviii., 30. Others again suggest the prophets — Nathan
and Gad, or some one under their supervision, as the writer.

The Divisions op the Book. — The book may be divided
into three chief portions.

I. The state of the Israelites after the death of Joshua
until they began to turn aside from serving the Lord
(chap. i.-iii.).

II. The history of the oppressions of the Israelites, and
their deliverances by the Judges (chap, iv.-xvi.).

III. An account of the introduction of idolatry among
the Israelites, and the consequent corruption of religion and
manners among them, for which God gave them up into the
hands of their enemies (chap. xvii.-xxi.).

Propane History. — From the accounts in this book
probably originated such ingenious fictions as the story of

the Sabine rape ; of Nisus' hair, and the golden lock

given to Pterelaus by Neptune; that of Hercules and
Omphale, of the pillars of Hercules ; of the death of Cleo-
medes Astypaloeus ; and of Agamemnon and Iphigenia.

REFERENCES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Acts xiii., 20. Hebrews xi., 32, 40.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Whence does the Book derive its name ?

2. Who is generally supposed to ha\ e written the Book of Judges ?
Give your reasons. Mention others who have any claim to be con-
sidered as the Authors of this Book.

3. What inference would you draw from such expressions as

(i.) In those days there was no king in IsraeL
(ii.) Until the day of the captivity of the land.

JTTBGES. 55

CHAPTER I.

ANALYSIS.

The further proflecntion of the Conqnest of Canaan.
Adoni-bezek justly punished. Jerusalem taken. Hebron
taken. For the taking of Debir, Othniel hath Achsah for a
wife. The Kenites dwell in Judah. Hormah, Oaza, Askelon
and Ekron taken. The Acts of Bei^amin, of the house of
Joseph, who take Bethel— of Zebulun, of Asher, of Napbtali,
of Dan.

NOTES.

V 1. '' Now after the death of Joshua, it came to

pass.'' Literally, "and it came to pass," <kc. Compare
with this, the opening words of Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua,
1 and 2 Samuel, 2 Kings. They are the usual words in
Hebrew for tbe continuation of a narrative.

'' After the death of Joshua." These clearly show

the purpose of the writer, viz., to continue the history from
the point at which it had been left off in the " Book of
Joshua." Just before his death Joshua had set before the
tribes the task of completely destroying the Canaanites ; this
they were to do with the help of the Lord God of Israel ;
he also pointed out to them the danger of apostasy. There-
fore remembering his admonitions and warnings, it was
natural that they should inquire, who should lead them
against the Canaanites who still remained in the land.

"Asked the Lord,** i.e., asked Jehovah. The name

JehovaJi means, the self-existent, t.^., one whose exist-
ence can be predicated as an attribute.

66 JUDGES.

'' Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites ? "

In this passage two questions ought to be asked.

1. What does the relative pronoun " who " stand for ?

2. What is meant by the words "go up ?"

It is clear from the answer in the next verse, that the
" who " stands for a tribe and not a person.

" Oo up " means " tO fight against/' and is similarly
used in Josh, viii., 3. They are the ordinary words for an
aggressive military movement, and most probably have
originated from the fact that fortresses, in early days,
were usually situated on heights.

V. 2. " Jadah shall go up." Two reasons have been
suggested why Judah should have been chosen to commence
hostilities.

1. Because it was the most numerous of all the tribes.

2. He had been appointed by the blessing of Jacob to be the
champion of his brethren. (Gen. xlix., 18.)

The latter seems most probable.

'' I have delivered the land/' "The land" is not

merely the land allotted to the tribe of Judah (or Judah's
inheritance), but the land of Canaan generally, so far as
it was still in the possession of the Canaanites and was to
be conquered by Judah.

V. 3. " Canaanites." To the Gentile world these were
known as the PhoBnicians, the inventors of the letters, the
originators of commerce, and patrons of the arts. They
were doomed to destruction for their gross licentiousness.
(Levit. xviii., 24. ; Deut. ix., 4.)

V. 5. " Bezek " ( - lightning, in chains). The exact situ-
ation of this place is unknown. It is generally supposed to
be in the tribe of Judah. It is only mentioned once more,

JUDGES. 57

viz., in 1 Samuel, xL, 8, where it is placed between Gibeah
of Saul and Jabesh in Gilead. Now, Gibeah of Saul was
not far from Jerusalem, and to the north-east of it.

" Adoni-bezek "( = ^^ %A<mn^ of the Lord, the Lord
of Bezek.) His proper name is unknown. Compare with it
Adoni-zedek ( = justice of the Lord, the Lord of ZedeJc, Josh.
X., 1-27) and Melchizedek (^ = king of righteousness, Heb. vii.,
1-2). His probable headquarters was Jerusalem.

V. 6. " And he cut off his thumbs and great toes."

We must not infer from this, that the Israelites were accus-
tomed to thus mutilate their foes. It was doubtless done,
in this case, as an act of retribution on the cruel monarch
who had inflicted such cruelties on captives taken by himself.
Compare with this incident the Athenians cutting off the
thumbs of the captured Aeginetans, so that they might not
wield the spear. How far the Israelites were justified in
this cruel treatment we cannot telL

V. 7. " Gathered their meat under my table." This

is a figurative expression to denote the most cruel treatment
and humiliation. Compare it with Matthew xv., 27.

V. 8. " Fought against Jerusalem and had taken

it." When we compare with this passage that in 2 Sam. v.,
6, there seems to be a discrepancy. However, this is easily
removed, if we only carefully consider the following accounts
of Jerusalem. In Josh, x., 3, 18, 26, we find that Joshua
slew the king of Jerusalem and his four allies, after the

battle of Gibeon, but did not conquer Jerusalem, his

capital. This was not done till after Joshua's death, an
account of which we have in this chapter. Even now, it
did not come into the sole and permanent possession of the
Israelites. For in Judges xix., 11, 12, the city is evidently

58 JUDGES.

considered as foreign by the Israelites. Therefore the
Benjamites must have lived side by side with the Jebusites
till the city was wrested from them by David (2 Sam. v., 6).

V. 9. " And in the south, and in the valley." Two

words are used in Hebrew to designate " the south : " One
expressing direction ; the other (Negel) expressing the
physical characteristic of the land. The latter is used here,

" In the valley," i.e., in the " shephelah."

V. 10-15. With a few verbal changes, this is a repetition
of Josh. XV., 14-19.

V. 10. " Hebron " ( = society^ friendship^ enchantment).
This was a city of Judah (Josh, xv., 54), situated among
the mountains (Josh, xx., 27), about twenty Boman miles
south of Jerusalem, and about the same distance north of
Beersheba. It is one of the most ancient cities in the
world, still existing ; and in this respect, it is the rival of
Damascus.

" The name of Hebron before was Eiijath-arba,"

( = the city of Arba). It was so called from Arba, the father
of Anak and progenitor of the giant Anakim (Josh. xxL, 11 ;
XV., 13, 14).

The chief interest cf this city arises from its having been
the scene of some of the most striking events in the lives of
the Patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah were buried
near this place.

V. 11. "Debir." This was a town in the mountains of
Judah (Josh, xv., 49) ; one of a group of eleven cities to the
west of Hebron.

Its earlier name was Kirjath-sepher { = the city of the
hook), and Kirjath-sannah ( = city of palm).

JUDGES. 59

"Othniel, the son of Eenaz, Caleb's younger

brother.'' As this passage stands, it is impossible to say
whether Othniel or Kenaz was Caleb's brother. The former
is the usual interpretation. It is just possible that the
term " son of Eenaz " is equivalent to Kenezite in Josh,
xiv., 6, 14,

V. 16. ** Moses' father-in-law." Rather brotber-in-
law (i.e., Hobab), The term father-in-law here means any
near relation by marriage.

" The city of palm trees " (ie., Jericho). The modem
name is Riha. One of the first cities, on the west of Jordan,
taken by the Israelites during the Conquest of Canaan.

" Wilderness of Judah. " This lay between the Hebron
range of mountains and the Dead Sea. It was here that
John the Baptist preached (Matt, iii., 1).

" Arad." This was a mountain about twenty miles south
of Hebron.

V. 17. "Zephath" ( = wh{eh beholds). This place was
in the territory of Simeon, as may be seen from two
considerations —

1. It had been allotted to Simeon (see Joshua xiz., 4).

2. The meaning of the words, " Judah went with Slmeon Ms

brother," is that Judah went with Simeon into his territory to drive
out the Canaanites, who were still to be found there.

Hormah ( = utter destruction). It is derived from the
Hebrew word Cherem, which originally meant " tO shut
up" (whence our word Harem), From that it came to
mean " tO caUSe tO be shut up," thence " to consecrate,"

and " to devote to utter destruction," '^ to place under

a ban." Notice the case of Jericho.

60 JUDGES.

Compare also the following passages : — Num. xiv., 45 ;
XXL, 3. Josh, xii., 14; xix., 4. 1 Sam. xxx., 30. 2 Chronicles
xiv., 10.

Zephath is the older name of the two, and this is only
used here and in 2 Chron. xiy., 10.

V. 18. "Oaza" { = strong, a goat). This was the scene
of one of Samson's greatest, exploits (chap, xvi., 3). It was
also one of the five lordships of the Philistines (Joshua
xiii, 3). The Israelites could not have held it long, as it
was in the possession of the Philistines in the time of Samson
and Samuel (chap, xiv., 19 ; xvi., 1 ; 1 Sam. v., 10). This
place is also known as Azzah (Deut. ii., 23 ; 1 Kings iv., 14 ;
Jer. XXV., 20). Its modem name is Ghazzeh.

Askelon ( = weight, balance, fire of infamy), more properly
Ashkelon, known later as Ascalon, now Askalan, situated on
the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, south-west of Palestine.
It also was one of the Philistine lordships, and was famous
in the history of the Crusades as having been besieged and
taken by Richard I. of England.

Ekron ( = barrenness^ torn away). Another of the
Philistine lordships. It fell, by lot, to the tribe of Judah
(Josh. XV., 45), but it was afterwards given to the tribe of
Dan (Josh, xix., 43).

The two remaining lordships were Ashdod and Gath,
which do not appear to have been conquered at this time.
Even these which were conquered the Judaeans did not hold
long, for in the time of Samson they were all in the pos-
session of the Philistines (xiv. 19; xvi., 1).

V. 19. ''But COTlld not drive out." Some have raised
a difficulty with regard to the subject of the verb " COUld.'*

JUDGES. 61

However, by studying the context, it is clear that its subject
is Judah and not the " Lord." As long as Judah had faith
in the Lord he was successful, but immediately he lost faith,
his success was at an end.

" Chariots of iron." What these were is uncertain. They
were either composed chiefly of iron, or armed with iron
scythes, like those of the Britons. They certainly formed
an essential part in the mode of warfare in those times,
because even Joshua dreaded them (Josh. xL, 6).

V. 20. " The three sons of Anak." These were Sheshai,
Ahiman, Talmai.

V. 21. ^' Unto this day." This passage has been made
use of to fix the date of writing the Book of Judges.

V. 22. " The house of Joseph," t.e., the tribe of

Ephraim and Manasseh.

" Bethel" ( = hov^e of God). Its modern name is Beetin.
It lay on the borders of Ephraim and Benjamin and near
Ai. It is noted for the following circumstances : —

1. Abraham encamped here. (Gen. xii., 8.)

2. Jacob's Vision of the Ladder, when on his way to Padan-aram
(Gen. xxviii, 19 ; zxxv., 6 ; xlviii., 3).

3. Its inhabitants were engaged in the battle of Ai against Joshua
(Joshua viii., 17).

"Luz" { = separation^ departure), or "Bethel," was in

Benjamin's lot, though Ephraim and Manasseh seemed to

have helped the Benjamites in gaining possession of it.

V. 27. *' Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo," were in

Issachar but belonged to Manasseh. They had been assigned
to Manasseh on account of the smallness of its own territory
(Joshua xvii., 11).

"Dor" (now Dandora or Jantura) was in Asher, but
belonged to Manasseh.

62 JUDOBS.

n

Ibleam," was in Asher, or Issachar, but belonged to
Manasseh. The aSCent of Ghiry the spot at which Ahaziah
received his death wound from the soldiers of Jehu, was at
Ibleam (2 Kings ix., 27).

V. 29. "Gezer " (=dimdingj tmtenee). This formed one
of the landmarks on the south boundary of Ephraim between
the lower Beth-horon and the Mediterranean, the western
limit of the tribe. Its kmg, Horam, or Elam, coming to
the assistance of Lachishy was killed with all his people by
Joshua (Josh, x., 33 ; xii, 12).

V. 31. "Accho" (^ close, pressed together), ue,, Modem
Acre. Situated about ten miles north of Mount Carmel.
This city became very fisunous during the Crusades, and was
frequently besieged, as may be seen from the following

facts: —

1191 A.D. Taken after a two years' siege by Richard L of England.

1291 „ Re-taken by the Saracens when 60,000 Christians were
eitiier killed or sold as slaves^

1799 A.D. Unsaocessfally besieged by Napoleon Bonaparte.

1832 „ Captured for the Turks by the Egyptians.

1840 „ Retaken by an English fleet,

" ZidoxL" Called Great Zidon in Josh. xL, 8. Its Hebrew
name, "Tsidon," signifies "Fishmg" or ** Fishery." Its
modem name is Saida. It is situated in the narrow plain
between Lebanon and the sea. Tyre and Zidon were two
very influential cities in early times.

" Aphik." Most probably the same as Aphek in Josh,
xiii., 4 ; xix., 30. Its present name is Afkah.

V.32. ''But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaui-

ites." As seven out of the twenty-two towns of Asher
(Josh, xiz., 30) remained in the hands of the Canaanites,
including such important places as Zidon and Accho^ it is

JUDGBS. 63

not stated here as in verses 29, 30, "that the CaEaanites

dwelt among them " but that <' the Asherites dwelt

among the Canaanites/' thus showing that the Canaanites
held the upper hand. For this reason the words "they
became tributaries " (verses 30, 36) are also omitted.

V. 33. '' Beth-Shemesh'' ( ^ The house of the sun). The
place where the sun was worshipped. It was situated in the
tribe of NaphtalL (Josh, xix., 38.) It must not be con-
founded with the Beth-shemesh, the Levitioal city, in the
tribe of Judah. (Josh, xv., 10; xxi., 16. 1 Sam. vi., 13-20.)

V. 34. " Amorites " ( = Highlanders), These were the
descendants of Hamor, the fourth son of Canaan (Gen. x.,
16; xxxiii., 19), and they were one of the most powerful of
the Canaanitish tribes. From Josh, xix., 40, we find that
the territory allotted to the Danites was almost all in the
plain. If they were driven out of this, they were excluded
from their inheritance. This pressure, therefore, on the part
of the Amorites must have been the reason of the Danites
seeking an inheritance in the north. (See chap, xviii.)

V. 35. "Mount Heres" { = sun mountain). Some
have supposed this to be identical with Ir-shemesh ( =s city
of the sun) in Josh, xix., 41.

" Aqalon" ( = deer-ground). This was in Dan, and is the
same as Ajalon (Josh, x., 12). Memorable for the miracle
of Joshua in arresting the course of the sun and moon. It
was a Levitioal city (Josh. xxL, 24).

" The hand of the house of Joseph,'' i.e., Ephraim and

Manasseh, the most powerful of the tribes. They thus seem
to have the assistance of their Danish brethren.

V. 36^ ''The going up to Akrabbim." Called
Maaleh-acrabbim in Josh, xv., 3; and the "ascent of

Akrabbim " in Num. xxxiv., 4«

64 JUDGES.

" Akrabbim * ( = " scorpion height ") was one of the
sharply projecting line of cliffs south-west of the Dead Sea,
which formed the southern boundary of Canaan (Josh.
XV., 2, 3).

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Why was there no need of a successor to Joshaa ?

2. Which of the tribes was to take the lead in carrying on the work
of Conquest ?

8. What reason is there for supposing that Simeon and Judah would
naturally act together against a common enemy ?

4. Who was the commander in the war waged by Judah and Simeon ?
6. W^hat other names had Hebron and Debir ? Give their meaning.

6. What do the following words mean : Othniel, Caleb, Hormah,
Bethel, Zidon, Beth-shemesh ?

7. What may we say about the treatment of Adoni-bezek ?

8. Name the lordships of the Philistines which are mentioned in
this chapter.

9. Name the three sons of Anak. In what connection are they
mentioned in this chapter ?

10. Which tribes are meant by the " House of Joseph ? " How
did they act in the Conquest of Canaan ?

11. What caused the Danites to emigrate and seek another inheri-
tance ?

12. What do you know of the history of Accho in modem history ?

13. Which of the Patriarchs had a remarkable vision at Bethel ?

14. What do you know of Samson at Gaza ?

15. What peculiarity is there in the conduct of Asher and Naphtali ?

16. Explain the following psssages : —

(i.) Come up with me into my lot, and I likewise will go with

thee into thy lot.
(ii.) Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and

we will show thee mercy,
(iii) As I have done, so Grod hath requited me.
(iv.) But the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin

in Jerusalem unto this day.
(v.) But could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley,

because they had chariots of iron.

JUDGES. 65

CHAPTER II.

ANALYSIS.

An angel of the Lord rebukes the people at Bochim, for
their disobedience in not driving out completely the whole
of the Ganaanites. The condition of the people after
Joshua's death.

NOTES,
** An angel/' ought to be " The angel." Who is meant

by this angel is a question of dispute. Two answers have
been offered —

(i) That lie was the same one as had appeared to Joshua at
Gilgal, i.e.y ** Captain of the Lord's Host," viz., Christ
himself.

(ii) That he was some earthly messenger or prophet, such as
Phinehas or Joshua.

Both these answers have a good deal to be said in their

favour. However, the balance of probability, in our opinion,

certainly inclines towards the first. We therefore give a few

reasons in favour of the first. If he were a prophet he would

have been so called. (See chap, vi, 8.) No prophet ever

identifies himself so closely with God, as in the present case,

but introduces his message with the words, '^ Thus saith the

Lord." (Chap, vi., 8.)

V. 1. ''Game up firom Gilgal to Bochim."— Which

passage clearly establishes a connection between this
appearance and that in Josh, v., 13. The Israelites had
only just renewed the covenant of circumcision, when the
angel appeared to Joshua at Gilgal, They were also about
to attack the strong and fortified city of Jericho, by no
means an easy task. Thus the angel's appearance to

E

66 JUDGES.

announce success in their endeavours would be highly
greeted. When at Bochim, the Israelites had entered into
their inheritance and had disobeyed God's command with
regard to the extermination of the Canaanites, the angel
therefore appeared in order to reprove them. This reproval
was deeply felt by the Israelites.

" Gilgul " ( = heap). It is impossible to state exactly the
situation of this place. It must have been either
(i.) The modem Jiljulieh, near Jericho ; or,
(ii.) Jilgilia, near Bethel.

" Bochim " ( = weeping-place). Nothing is known of this
place except what is here mentioned. So called from the
circumstances narrated in this chapter. Some place it near
Jerusalem, others near Shiloh.

V. 2. "But ye have not obeyed my voice. Why

have ye done this ? " The Israelites had disobeyed God
in not having carried out His commands, as given in Deut.

vii., 2-4 : —

" Thou shalt make no covenant (league) with them. Te shall destroy
their altars.*'
These two are specified because they were the ones broken ;

the other, prohibition with regard to intermarriages

with the heathen nations around them, had not as yet
been broken, though in chapter iii., 6, we hear of this one
broken too.

V. 3. '' They shall be as thorns in yonr sides/'

literally, "they shall be to yon for sides." Reference
is here made to Num. xxxiii., 5 : —

** It shall come to pass that those which you let remain of them shall
be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides."

It was the announcement of the Lord to carry out this
threat that made the people weep.

JUDGES. 67

V. 6. " And they called the name of that place

Bochim (i «., weeping). So also the place where Deborah
died the " oak of weepingf," and the place where Egyptians
and Hebrews mourned for Jacob *^the mouming of

Egypt."
" And they sacrificed there." It does not follow from

this sacrifice that the tabernacle or the ark of the covenant
was to be found at Bochim. In any place where the Lord
appeared, sacrifices might be offered to Him. See 1 Sam.
xiii., 13-14, where Samuel does not blame Saul for offering
a sacrifice at that particular place, but for having taken
upon himself the priestly office.

V. 8. '* The servant of the Lord." This is a special

title given to Moses by the Lord himself (Num. xii, 7, 8).
It is very rarely applied to others. Joshua and David have
borne the title. Joshua was not so called till, after his
death. As regards David, see title to Psalms xviii., xxxvi.,
andlxxxix., 20.

V. 9. " Timnath-heres." In Joshua xix., 30, xxiv., 30, it
is called Timnath-serah, and was a place in the tribe of
Ephraim.

" Hill Gaash." Nothing is known of this hill except
what is mentioned in 2 Sam. xxiii., 30; 1 Chron. xi., 32.
It was in the tribe of Ephraim.

V. 11. ''And the children of Israel." Here begins

the narrative of what really did happen after Joshua's death,
but of which the first chapter gives no hint.

" iBrael sorved the Lord all the days of Joshua. . . But when Joshua
was dead . . . the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
and served Baalim, and forsook the Qod of their fathers.*'

After this, from verse 14 to the end, we get a summary
of the whole contents of the Book.

68 JUDGES.

"Did evil in the sight of the Lord." This is the

regular phrase fof falling into idolatry, throughout the
Historical Books ; the opposite phrase being " did that which
was right in the eyes of the Lord " (1 Kings xt., 5, 11, <fec.).
It occurs seven times in the Book of Judges, in connection
with the seven apostasies of Israel which drew down upon
them the seven servitudes under : 1, Chushan-Rishathaim ;
2, Eglon ; 3, Jabin ; 4, Midian ; 5, Abimelech ; 6, Ammon-
ites ; 7, Philistines.

"Baalim.^ This is the plural of Baal { = Lord <yr
Master)^ who was the supreme male divinity of the Phoeni-
cian and Canaanitish nations. We meet with this word
Baal as the component of many compound words in the
Bible, e.g.y Baal-berith {Lord of Covenants), Judges viii.,
33 ; ix., 4. Baal-peor (Lord of Mount Peor), Num. xxv.,
1-3. Baalzebub {God of flies), 2 Kings i., 2. Baal-zephon
{Lord of the North), Exod. xiv., 2-9. The plural form
Baalim is by some supposed to refer to the numerous images
of the god which were set up and worshipped. By others it
is said to denote not the statues but modifications of the
divinity itself.

V. 13. " Ashtaroth." The plural of Astarte, who was
their supreme female deity. Astarte is styled the goddess
or the abomination of the Zidonians, Zidon being the centre
of her worship. She was worshipped by the Israelites under
the title of '* Queen of Heaven." (Jer. viL, 18 ; xliv., 17.)

V. 15. "Whithersoever they went out, the hand of

the Lord was against them.'' This passage stands in
terrible contrast with that in Joshua i., 9.

"The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou
goest" " As the Lord had sworn nnto them.*'

JUDGES. ' 69

Though this account coincides exactly with the account
of the threateniags in Lev. xxvi. and Deut xxviii., still there
is no mention of an oath. The oath, therefore, is simply
implied in the words.

V. 16. " The Lord raised up judges." This verse is

remarkahle for the first introduction of the term judge. The
Hebrew for judge (ue.j Shophetim) is the name applied
to the ordinary magistrates. Therefore the term is natur-
ally given to those divinely-appointed rulers of whom this
book treats.

The Judges of Israel were extraordinary ofl&cers appointed
by God, or by the people, to assume the chief authority in
great emergencies. Their power only extended over portions
of the country, and some of them were even contemporaneous.
After they had completed the work for which they had been
appointed, they still continued to govern for the rest of their
lives. They therefore supplied the want of a regular govern-
ment. But they had not the power of making laws, or of
imposing taxes; they could declare war, and their settle-
ment of causes was final. The office was not hereditary,
but there was a tendency in that direction, for Samuel
appointed his sons as bis successor. Few of them only
were raised up for military exploits. Eli and Samuel were
not in any sense military men, and it is uncertain whether
Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon knew anything of military
matters. The only ones directly appointed by God were
Gideon and Samson.

The Hebrew word forjudge is the same as that of the
Oarthagenian suffetes, which we hear of in the time of the
Punic wars, and which Livy mentions as corresponding in
office to the Roman consuls.

70 JUDGES.

V. 18. "It repented the Lord," »>., the Lord was

moved with compassion, or was grieyed, because of their
groanings. For a poetical paraphrase of this whole passage
see Psalm oyi., 3445.

V. 22. " I may prove Israel,^ «.<?., to try their fidelity

(as God had done in Abraham's case).

Verses 22 and 23 are the historian's explanatory com-
ment on the last words of the Lord's speech in Terse 21.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Who is the angel mentioDed in Terse 1 ? What are the yarious
opinions held with regard to the interpretation of the passage ? Giye
reasons.

2. In what terms did the angel rebuke the children at ** "BoctdM 7 **
8. Explain the names " Baalim " and '* Ashtaroth."

4. Were the judges civil or military sayiours? How were thej
appointed, and how far did their authority extend ?

5. Where is ** Tlmiiath-heres ? ** By what other name is this
place known ?

6. Whom did Qod make the instruments of His righteous indignation
against His people Israel ?

7. Give another rendering for the following passages —

(i.) They shall he as thorns in your sides,
(ii.) It repented the Lord.

8. Point out passages that are common hoth to this chapter and
Psalm cvi.

9. What are the reasons given for allowing the Canaanites to remain
in the land ?

lP>ExpIain, with reference to the context —

(i.) They huried him in the horders of his inheritance.

(ii.) That through them I may prove Israel.

(iii) Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was

against them for evil,
(iv.) Ye have not obeyed my voice : why have ye done this ?

JUDGES. 71

CHAPTER HI.

ANALYSIS.

The names of the aations which were left to prove Israel,
and their influence over them. Othniel delivers Israel from
Ohushan-rishathaim, Ehud from Eglon, and Shamgar from
the Philistines.

NOTES,

V. 1. " Even as many of Israel as had not known all

the wars of Oanaan«" Who these were can be gathered
from chapter il, 10, where the writer mentions a generation
which knew not the Lord, nor yet the work He had done
for Israel. This generation must then have been that
one, which had arrived at manhood immediately after
the close of the wars with the Canaanites (Josh, xxiii.,
17). For they who were survivors of those wars would
not need such training, as they would certainly have
been well acquainted with the arts of war as carried on in
those times.

V. 2. The meaning of this verse is, that the children of
Israel might be taught war, at least those who before had
not known them — {Le., wars.)

V. 3. "Five lords of the Philistines/' In Hebrew

^' the lords" are called '^Seranim'' (framseren, a hinge),
which is a title applied exclusively to the Philistines.

" Philistines" ( = those that dwell in villages). This people
were of Egyptian origin (Gen. x., 14 ; Deut ii., 23 ; 1
Chron. L, 12), and were closely related to the Caphtorim,
who it is believed were Cretans. (Amos ix., 7 ; Jerem.
xlvii., 4.)

72 JUDGES.

" All the Oanaanites and the Sidonians." This may

mean either the Canaanite population who continued to
possess the sea-coast of the Mediterranean, or the various
tribes mentioned in chapter I, 21-36.

"The Hivites" (^^vnckedness). The descendants of
Canaan (Gen. x., 17) who were settled more inland, i.&, from
Mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

" Bdial-hernion '' {==the possessor of destruction or of a
thing devoted to God), This is only another name for Baal-
gad, the present Banjas, under Hermon (Josh, xiii, 5).

" The entering in of Hamath" ( = anger, heat, a wall).

This was the extreme northern boundary of Canaan (Num.
xiii., 21). It was the great approach to Canaan from
Babylon and the north (Jer. xxxix., 5). The meaning of the
phrase is, " Up to the mouth of the valley which opens out
upon Hamath."

V. 6. The list of tribes given here is the same as that in
Exodus xxxiiL, 2. In Josh, xxiv., 11, we have the addition
of the Girgashites. The word Oanaanites signifies low-
landers ; Amorites, highlanders; Peiizzites, dwellers in the
open country; Hivites, dwellers in villages; Jebusites»
threshers.

V. 6. As an example in later times of the influence of
these marriages we may mention the marriage of Ahab with
JezebeL (1 Kings xvL, 31-33.)

" There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness
in the sight of the Lord, whom Jesebel his wife stirred up." (1 Kings xxL, 25.)

V. 8. '' Chushan-rishathaim." Literally, "Cash of
double wickedness." All that we know of this king is
what is here recorded.

JUDGES. 73

"Mesopotamia" ( = hetween two rivers) is the district
between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Hebrew name is
Aram-naharaim.

"Served." The servitudes of the Israelites consisted,
generally speaking, in having to pay tribute.

V. 9. "Othniel" { = Lion of God). The same that
smote Debir, and married Caleb's daughter, Achsah.

V. 16. "Ehud the son of Oera, a Beiuamite."

Gera, was one of the sons (i.e., descendants) of Benjamin,
living at the time of Jacob's migration to Egypt. (Gen.
zlvi., 21.) He was the son of Bela. (1 Chron. viii., 3.)

" A man, left-handed," literally, shut as to his right

hand. Therefore it comes to mean that he had not the
free use of his right hand. At first sight, this phrase seems
to suggest a defect, but when we read of seven hundred
chosen men of Benjamin all left-handed, and skilful sliugers
(chap. XX., 16; 1 Chron. xii., 2), it is obvious that it was

no defect but an acquired art.
"Sent a present unto Eglon," i.e., paid tribute.
V. 19. "Quarries that were by OilgaL" Oilgal in

the immediate neighbourhood of Jericho. What these
" quarries ** were is uncertain. In the margin we have
"graven images." If so, they must have been well
known.

V. 25. " Therefore they took a key," literally, they

took an opener. Probably a wooden instrument with
which they either lifted up the latch within, or drew back
the wooden bar or bolt.

V. 26. *'Seirath" {=^ woody district). This was the
common name of a woody and mountainous country. It
was situated in the land of Moab, not far from Gilgal and
Bethel. With it compare Seir, the home of Esay.

74 JUDGES.

V. 27. '' Mountain of Eplffaim." This must have
meant the mountainous district within the tribe of
Ephraim. Shechem was situated in it.

V. 28. " The fords of Jordan by Moab." These were

all the fords that could have been used for escape by the
Moabites, who had been stationed within the land of Israel ;
but chiefly they would be those fords near Jericho, at which
Joshua would have led the people across.

V. 31. ''Shamgar" ( = named a stranger J he is here a
stranger). All that we know of this judge is what we have
here, and the notice of him in chap, v., 6. Taking the
two together, we find that he was contemporary with Jael,
and that he only partially delivered the Israelites from the
oppression of the Philistines. He was no doubt of the tribe
of Judah or Dan, and his exploits, like those of Samson,
must have been purely local. The duration of his judgeship
is not mentioned.

" Ox-goad.'' This was an instrument used by plough-
men in Syria. It was a pole about eight feet long, armed at
one end with a sharp spike, and at the other end an iron
scraper — the one to spur on the ox at the plough, and the
other to detach the earth from the ploughshare.

"He also delivered Israel" This clearly includes

Shamgar amongst the Judges of Israel.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Give a list of the nations left in Palestine, whereby God might
test the Israeliten.

2. Name the judges mentioned in this chapter, and the enemy
from whose hands they delivered IsraeL

3. What parts of Palestine were occupied by the Canaanites, Sidonians,
and Hivites f Give the meanings of these words.

4. What do you know of Mount Ephraim, Hamath, and Seirath ?

5. What is. recorded as specially qualifying Othniel for his work ?

JUDGES. 75

0. Are there any other cases of the same kind recorded ?

7. What are the opinions held with regard to Othniel's rule during
the forty years of rest I

8. Compare the agents in the second chastisement of Israel with
those of the first.

9. Who was the appointed deliverer in the second chastisement ? and
^^diat bodily peculiarity had he in common with many of his tribe ?

10. What stratagem did Ehud employ ? and what are we to say in
justification of his act ?

11. What things do we miss being said of Shamgar ? How do we
manage to supply this? Mention the passage your information is
obtained from.

12. Who were the Philistines, where did they dwell, and what were
their chief lordships f

13. Give the geographical position of Baal-hermon, Hamath, Meso-
potamia, Gilgal, Mount Ephraim, Jericho.

14. Explain with reference to context —

(i) The entering in of Hamath.

(il) Sent a present unto Eglon.

(iii) Quarries that were by Gilgal.

(iv.) And his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.

(v.) A Benjamite, a man left-handed.

CHAPTER IV.

ANALYSIS.

Deborah and Barak deliver the Israelites from Jabin
and Sisera. Jael killeth Sisera.

NOTES.
V. 2. ** Jabin " ( =« the wise). This seems to have been
a standing name or title among the kings of Hazor, in the
same manner as Pharaoh was among the kings of Egypt.
For Joshua had already conquered one £ing of Hazor, called
Jabin^ and had also taken his capital (Josh, xi., 1-10).

76 JUDGES.

" Hazor " ( =/ort or castle) was once the capital of the
kingdoms of northern Canaan, and was situated in the tribe
of Naphtali, to the north of the waters of Merom (now called
Lake Huleh) (Josh. xL, 1-5).

'' HaroshQth '' { = workmanship, cutting or carving). The
site of this place is unknown, but the addition of the Gentiles
marks it as ''in Galilee of the nations (Gen. xiv., 1 ;
Isaiah ix., 1). It is called " Harosheth of the Gentiles "

(or nations), because occupied by the unconquered Canaan-
ites. Some travellers identify it with the modern Haroshieth,
which is situated north-west of the plain of Esdraelon.

''Sisera" ( = that sees a horse). The name Sisera is
found in Ezra ii., 53; Neh. viL, 55, as the ancestor of a
family of the Nethiuim, who were foreign servants of the
Levites.

"Deborah'' { = hee). A female ruler in Israel was an
extraordinary circumstance, and we have only one other
instance of it, viz., the foreign usurper Athaliah. She
was also a prophetess like Miriam (Exod. xv., 20), Huldah

(2 Kings xxii., 14), Isaiah*s wife (Isaiah viii., 3), Noadiah
(Neh. vi., 14), Anna and Philip's daughters (Luke ii., 36).
In some respects Deborah resembled Miriam. Each was

a prophetess, and each sang a trimnphant song of victory,
but they differed, in that Deborah was a judge and the
inspired leader of the Israelites in war, but Miriam only
took the lead in thanksgivmg to Grod for His mercies towards
Israel in delivering them from the Egyptians. Deborah
delivering Israel cannot but remind us of Joan Of Arc
coming to the deliverance of France.

V. 4. ^'Lapidoth" { = fire brands, lamps, or flames).
This name only occurs here.

JUDGES. 7 i

V. 6. '* Ramah " ( = a hiU), now called er-R^m, was
situated about five miles from Jerusalem.

** Bethel." See note on chapter i., 22.

V. 6. ** Barak" (= lightning). An appropriate name
for a warrior, whose sword flashed as quickly as lightning.
This name afterwards reappears amongst the warriors of
Carthage. The surname of Hamilcar and Hannibal was
Barca or Barcas ( =^fulmen helli). With this compare also
the name '^Boanerges" (= sons of thunder) given to

James and John (Mark iii., 17).

'^ Kedesh-naphtali." It was situated about five miles
north-west of the Waters of Merom, and so called to dis-
tinguish it from Kedesh, to the south of Judah. Its modern
name is Kades, It was a city of refuge, and one of the cities
of the Levites, and also called in the Book of Joshua Kedesh
in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali (Josh, xx., 7).

V. 7. *' The river Eishon " ( = serpentine). Rather the
brook or stream. The Kishon was so called from its wind-
ing course. Its bed in many cases was dry in summer, but
a rushing stream in winter. Its source was near Mounts
Tabor and Gilboa, and it emptied itself into the Mediter-
ranean Sea at the foot of Mount Carmel.

V. 8. Barak like Gideon (vi., 15, 36-40), Abraham

(Gen. XV., 2, 3), MoseS (Exod. iv., 10), Peter (Matt, xiv.,
30, 31), exhibited some weakness of faith at first.

V. 11. This migration of Heber from the south of

Judah to the north of Naphtali must have recently taken
place, since Jael was Heber's wife.

" Hobab," father-in-law of Moses, i.e., brother-in-law.

78 JUDGES.

" Unto the plain of Zaanaim." Rather unto the oak

(or teberinth tree) in ZaanaiSl. Notice that single trees
in the Bible often serve as a sufficient landmark. Its
situation was somewhere near Kedeshnaphtali.

V. 15. ** The Lord discomfited Sisera." In chap, v.,
20-21, we read that "The Stars in their courses fought
against Sisera. The river Eishon^wept them away.**
The word " discomfit '' means " to part asunder " {i.e.^

destroy). Josephus (Ant. v., 5) states that a hailstorm
came on, which unstrung the bows and slings of the
Canaanites, and benumbed them with cold. Some of the
results of the swelling of the Eishon in Barak's time, were
reproduced in the battle of Mount Tabor, 1799, when many
of the fugitive Turks were drowned.

V. 17. " To the tent of Jael." From Gen. xxiv. we
learn women had separate tents from those of their hus-
bands. Why Sisera chose JaePs tent has been explained
thus : — According to £astem customs, strange men were
never allowed to enter a woman's tent. Hence, if Sisera
was permitted in his urgent need to enter Jael's tent he
would be perfectly safe. Though this was the custom, still,
Sisera did not feel secure. In a case like this he thought that
suspicion might arise and questions might be asked. So he
gives instructions to Jael with regard to her answers.

V. 20. " Ho." The pursuers would have been obliged to
accept her answer, as it would be contrary to usage to search
her tent.

V. 21. " A nail" Rather the tent pin or peg, i.e., the
nail or peg with which the tent was fastened. It may have
been of iron or of wood.

JTJDGBB. 79

Jael'S conduct. Many have supposed that Jael, in com-
mitting this act of violence, was only fulfilling Deborah's

words, " For the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand

of a woman" (chap, iv., 9). Therefore these conclude that
she (Jael) was actuated by some divine and hidden influence.
However, when the murder is examined and tested by
our present standard of morals, it will appear very hideous
indeed, and there isliot the slightest necessity for Christians
to defend it.

Here, we have a fugitive asking and receiving pro-
tection at a woman's hands, — he was miserable, defeated,
and weary, — he was the ally of her husband, — he was her
trusted and honoured guest, — he was in the woman's tent>
— above all, he was confiding, defenceless, and asleep ; — yet
Jael broke her pledge, violated her solemn hospitality, and
murdered an unprotected slumberer. Surely we require
more positive statements than we have in order to show
that Jael was instigated to such a murder by divine sug-
gestion. Deborah's statement that she (Jael) was blessed
above women (Judges v., 24) does not justify the act in
any way, as Deborah might not have looked at the moral
aspect of the question.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Who was the oppressor after Ehud ?

2. Of what earlier history are we reminded by the names of the
oppressor and his city f

3. What is there striking in Deborah's character, and give other
instances in Bible History of women exercising extraordinary influence
over their fellow countrymen ?

4. How far did Barak rely upon Deborah, and with what result ?

5. Who succeeded Shamgar ?

6. What do we know of Heber and his wife ?

80 JUDGES.

7. Can you assign any reason for Siaera seeking protection in the
house of Heber ?

8. Mention the precautions which Sisera desired Jael to take after
receiving him to her tent.

9. What suppositions have been made to explain or justify JaeFs
conduct in committing such a heinous crime ?

10. Give the geographical position of Hazor, Harosheth, Ramah,
Kishon, Zaanaim, Bethel, and give their meanings.

11. What is the meaning of the word Barak ? Mention other
instances of men being named after their character.

12. When, and by whom, were the following words spoken ?

(i.) I will deliver him into thine hand.

(ii.) If thou wilt go with me, then I will go.
(iii) The Lord shall sell Sisera into the hands of a woman,
(iv.) Thou shalt say, No.

(v.) Turn in my Lord, turn in to me.

CHAPTER V.

ANALYSIS.
The Song of Deborak

NOTES.
V. 1. " Then sang Deborah." This song of Deborah
may be diyided into three parts, of nine verses each, and
each of these parts may be again divided into three sub-
divisions, of three verses each.

I. (Verses 3-11). In this we have a description of the
victory, in which she notices —

(a) The glorious time when Israel was exalted as the nation

of the Lord (verses 3-5).
(6) The disgraceful decline in more recent times (verses 6-8).
(c) The joyful turn of affairs which followed Deborah's appear-
ance (verses 9-11).

JUDGES. 81

II. (Verses 13-21). Here we have a description of the
conflict and result, and notices —

(a) Of the mighty gathering of the brave to battle (verses

13-16).
(h) Of the cowardice of those who stayed away from the battle

and of the bravery of those who fought (verses 15-18).
(c) Of the result of the conflict.

III. (Verses 22-31). The glorious issue of the battle,
with notices —

(a) Of the flight and pursuit of the enemy (verses 22-24).
(h) Of the murder of Sisera by Jael (verses 24-27).
(c) Of the scornful disappointment of Sisera's mother (verses
28-80).

The song closes with an expression of hope that all the
enemies of the Lord might perish and Israel increase in
strength.

V. 2. A better rendering of this verse is ^'For the

leading of the leaders in Israel (or the princes), for
the willingness of the people (to follow them), bless
ye the Lord/'

V. 4. "Seir" (-^ hairy, shaggy), A mountain range
stretching from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic gulf. Abode
of the Edomites.

" When thou wentest out of Seir." Clearly referring
to the triumph of the Israelites — when they were on their
march to Canaan — over Sihon, Og, and the Midianites. The
march against those enemies started from Kedesh in the
neighbourhood of Seir.

V. 6. " Sinai " ( = hush of the Lord). A part of the Horeb
range of moimtains, in Arabia Petrsea, between the two
northern arms of the Red Sea.
p

82 JUDQES.

V. 6. '^Shamgar and JaeL" See note in chapters ill
and iv. Notice in this verse, Shamgar is spoken of as living
in the times of Jael. It has been suggested by some that
this Jael is some other person than Heber*s wife ; however for
this opinion there are no good reasons.

V. 7. "The inhabitants of the villages ceased." Two

views may be taken of this passage, according to the transla-
tion we adopt.

(i.) To take the translation as it stands. Hence the meaning
would be : That the towns and villages were as forsaken
and desolate as the public highways mentioned in the
previous verse.

(ii.) To adopt the modem translation, viz : The princes (or
magistrates) ceased in Israel. The meaning then would
be that there was no one to do justice in the gate or to
defend them from their oppressors.

V. 8. "Was there a shield." Some interpret this
passage — that the Israelites had been so reduced that they
were not in possession of arms, similar to their condition
under the Philistines as described in 1 Sam. xiii., 22.
However, this could hardly be the case, as they fought
afterwards the battle of Mount Tabor. The meaning is

that their condition was such that they dared not display

them in any way.

V. 12. " Lead thy captivity captive." The word

captivity here means " those led into captivity." See also
Ps. Ixviii.

V. 14. "Machir'' ( = A« that sells or Jcnows). Machir
was the son of Manasseh. Hence it here means out of the
tribe of Manasseh came down governors. This verse may be

rendered thus : '' Of Ephraim came down those whose

JUDGES. 83

root is in Mount Amalek; after thee (0 Ephraim)
came Benjamin amongst thy people ; of Manasseh
there came down the chie&, and of Zebulon they
that handle the staff of the of&cer."

" The pen of the writer." The Hebrew word here
rendered " writer " denotes the officer whose duty it was,
like that of the Roman Tribunes, to keep the muster roll
and superintend the recruiting of the army.

V. 17, " Oilead " ( = the mass of testimony). The land of
Gilead, on the east of Jordan, was divided between Gad and
half the tribe of Manasseh, who are both comprehended here.

''And abode in his breaches." Rather in his creeks,

t.^., places where the sea breaks in upon the land.

V. 18. "Jeoparded their lives," le., despised or put

little value upon their lives. It corresponds to our phrase

" contempt of life."
V. 19. "Taanach andMegiddo." See note chap, i., 27.

V. 21. "Eishon." See note, chap, iv., 7.

V. 23. " Meroz " ( = secret, leanness). The real position
of this place is not known, but it must have been near the
Kishon, and is generally represented as within the tribe of
Issachar. ^

V. 30. "A prey of divers colours." Compare with

this, the Babylonish garment taken by Achan at Jericho.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What is the general purport of Deborah's soDg ?

2. Into how many parts may it be divided !

8. What tribes are mentioned in this song as having taken part in
the war against Jabin ?

84 JUDGES.

4. What do you understand by Machir ?

5. What tribes are omitted by Deborah in this song ?

6. Why was Meroz cursed ?

7. What are the concluding words of this remarkable song ?

8. What parallels to Deborah's song are there found in Scripture ?

9. Of what person in modem history does the deliverance by
Deborah remind us ?

10. Explain the allusions : —

(L) Jeoparded their lives unto death in the high places of the

field,
(ii.) That I arose, a mother in IsraeL
(iii.) Lead thy captivity captive,
(iv.) They that handle the pen of the writer,
(v.) And abode in his breaches,
(vi) Why tarry the wheels of his chariots ?

CHAPTER VI.

ANALYSIS.

On account of their sins, the Israelites are oppressed
by the Midianites. A prophet rebnketh them. Gideon is
commissioned from God to deliver them. Gideon's present
is consumed with fire. The destruction of Baal's altar.
Joash defendeth his son and calleth him Jerubbaal. The
signs of Gideon.

NOTES.

V. 1. ''Into the hand of BKidian seven years." The

tribe of Midian were the descendants of Midian, a son of
Abraham by bis wife Keturah (Gen. xxv., 2). In chap,
yiii., 24, they are called Ishmaelites. Their territory ex-
tended from beyond Edom to the borders of Moab, on the
south of the Dead Sea. They were remarkable not only for
the vast number of their cattle (v, 5), but also for their
great wealth.

JUDGES. 85

V. 2. "Dens." These were mountain ravines hollowed
out by the torrents, and the Israelites made these into
hiding-places, not only for themselves, but for their goods
and necessary supplies; for the Midianites, like modem
Bedouins, thought far more of robbing, plundering, and
laying waste the land, than killing the people. Compare
with this what is said in Herodotus of the King Alyattes in
the war against the Milesians.

V. 4. "Till thou come unto Oaza." Gaza is the

extreme limit, towards the south, of the Israelitish territory
(1 Kings iv., 24). It appears from v. 33 that the Midian-
ites crossed the Jordan by the fords near Bethshean.

V. 6. " And they came as grasshoppers for multi-
tude." Literally, "according to the abundance of

locusts for multitude." The word grasshopper in this
passage does not convey the right meaning. The writer
wants to impress on us, not the number of the Midianites,
&c,y but the devastation that resulted from their invasion.
Locusts therefore would have been a better word.

V. 8. " Sent a prophet." The name of this prophet is
not mentioned. We have other instances in the Bible of
prophets being mentioned without giving their names, viz.,
1 Kings XX., 13, 35 ; 2 Kings ix., 1, 4. The message of this
prophet is very much the same as that of the angel in chap.

ii., 1-3. The word prophet means originally one who

speaks, by a divine impulse, in strong and vehement words.

V. 9. "Amorites** (^highlanders). Here the Canaan-
itish tribes generally, as the words "in whose land ye
dwell " clearly show.

86 JUDGES.

V. 10. " An angel of the Lord." Rather « The angel

of the Lord." This would be no other than Christ antici-
pating His incarnation. He is called Lord in verses 14, 16.

V. 11. "An oak," lit, "The oak," thus showing that
it was a well-known tree in the writer's time.

"Ophrah" ( =favm). This was a village or farm
belonging to Joash, the father of Gideon, and it was situated
probably in Manasseh, west of Jordan (v. 18), and not far
distant from Shechem (ix., 1, 6). Called " City of Gideon "
in viii., 27. There was another Ophrah in Benjamin.

'^ Abiezrite," ».«., of the family of Abiezer (or Jeezer in
Num. xxvi., 30). Abiezer ( = father of help) was one of the
SODS of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.

" Gideon " ( = destroyer, hewer). The call of Gideon to
take the lead in Israel, his diffidence, and the need for
pressure and promises from God, cannot but remind us of the

call of Moses in Ex. iii. and iv. Called also JerubbaaL
V. 12. "Thoumighty man of valour." Only known

as such to the Lord, to whom the future is as known as the
past.

V. 13. In this, notice particularly, Gideon's doubting.

V. 14. Notice here the change from " the angel " to the
" Lord himself.*'

V. 15. " My family is poor," ^i^., My thousand is the

meanest. Family or thousand corresponds to the ** hun-
dred" of our Saxon and English forefathers.

"My father's house." The father's house was a sub-
division of the family or thousand.

JUDGES. 87

With this verse compare the case of Moses (Exod. iii., 1),

'' Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh ? '' And

also that of Saul, the first King of Israel (1 Sam. ix., 21),

** And Saul answered and said> Am not I a Bei\jamite,
of the smallest of the tribes of Israel ? and my family
the least of all the families of the tribe of Beiyamin? "

V. 17. Notice the doubting of Gideon.
V. 18. " Present," t.e., meat-offering.

V. 19. " Ephah." In English dry measure this would
be equivalent to about a bushel It was the quantity of
flour used at one baking. An ephah = 3 seahs = 10 omers.
An omer was the daily quantity of manna allowed for each
person when in the wilderness.

y. 21. ^'The staff.'' His appearance was that of a
traveller. With this appearance to Gideon compare the
three angels appearing to Abraham (Gen. xviiL) at Mamre.
They are alike, insomuch that in each food is brought before
them. They differ, in that, the three angels who appeared
to Abraham partook of the food set before them; in this
case, the angel did not partake.

V. 22. '' I have seen an angel of the Lord.'' Com-
pare with this passage that in Gen. xxxii., 30 : " And

Jacob called the name of the place Peniel : for I have

seen God face to face." It was a common notion among
the Jews, that to see God in any form was fatal, arising no
doubt from the passage in Exod. xxxiii., 20 : " For there

shall no man see me and live." la addition to these

notice also the case of Manoah (chap, xiii., 12) : '^ We shall

surely die because we have seen Ood."

88 JUDGES.

V. 24 " Gideon built an altar," not to sacrifice upon,

but as a memorial of the words of peace spoken by the
angel. This may be inferred from the name Jehovah-
Shalom {== Jehovah in peace). Compare with this, Moses
naming an altar Jehovah-nissi { = the Lord is my banner)^ in
order to commemorate the defeat of the Amalekites (£Ixod.
xviL, 15).

V. 25. ''The grove" should be the Asherah— i.<;., the

wooden image of Astarte.

V. 26. "In the ordered place" — *.«., in conformity

with the injunctions of the law as given in Exod. xx., 24-26.

" Men of the city." By these are meant probably a
remnant of the Canaanitish population, who were the special
patrons of Baal-worship at Ophrah.

V. 31. " Will ye plead for Baal 7 WiU ye saye
him ? " Bather, Are ye striving for Baal ? Would ye

save him ? The stress must be put on the word '*ye."

V. 32. '^ Jerubbaal '' {^Baal's adversary)^ i.e., Gideon.
He is called also (2 Sam. xi., 21) Jerub-besheth {^Shame's
adversary)^ Baal being Israel's shame.

V. 33. " Valley of Jezreel " (or Esdraelon). This valley
runs from the foot of Mount Carmel to that of Mount Tabor,
where it divides into three parts, the first passing between
Mount Tabor and Little Hermon northwards, the second by
Mount Qilboa, and the third runs into the Jordan valley by
Beth-shean. The last would be the route of the Israelites.
This plain has been aptly described as the " battle-field of
Palestine."

V. 36. '^Issachar" is not mentioned here, because' they
could render no assistance, being already surrounded by the
Midianites.

JUD6B& 89

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. State the character of the destruction caused by the Midianites in
Palestine.

2. Who was appointed to deliver the Israelites from the Midianitish
oppression f

8. What encouraging sign was given to Qideon, when the angel
appeared the first time f

4. Where did Gideon build an altar ? What name did he give to it
Qive the meaning of the word.

6. What names had Gideon besides his ordinary one ? Give the
full meaning of each.

6. Relate the sign of the fleece of wool by which Gideon's faith was
strengthened.

7. What doubt existed in Gideon's mind as to the appearance of the
angel, and how was it removed !

8. To what extent did the tribes support Gideon f

9. Give the geographical position of Ophrah, Gaza, Valley of Jezreeli
and with what events are they connected.

10. Give the text of the verses in which Gideon has shown a want of
confidence. Mention other instances in the Bible of doubting the
message of an angel, and state the result thereof.

11. What is the origin of the idea that to see God must be fatal to
manf

12. State the occasion when the following words were uttered, and
give their meaning : —

(i.) They came as grasshoppers.

(ii.) But ye have not obeyed my voice.

(iii) The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

(iv.) Unto this day it is yet in Ophrah, of the AbieEerites.

(v.) And I will speak but this once.

90 JUDGES.

CHAPTER VII.

ANALYSIS.

The reduction of Gideon's army from 30,000 to 300. He
is encouraged by the dream and interpretation of the
barley cake. His stratagem of trumpets and lamps in
pitchers. The taking of Oreb and Zeeb by the Ephraimites.

NOTES.
V. 1. **The well of "Eaxod" ( = spring of tremhUng).
This was the *' Spring of Jezreel," whose name was now
changed to "The Spring of trembling," because from
hence returned 22,000 of Gideon's men who were afraid.
Mentioned again in 2 Samuel xxiii., 25. It is supposed to
have been a spacious pool at the foot of Mount Gilboa.

" The valley " ( = The plain of Jezreel).

" Hill of Moreh." Supposed to be the same as Little
Hermon.

V. 3. " Mount Qilead." As Gilead was beyond Jordan,
the mention of it here causes a diflBlculty. Some suggest
that it is the same as Mt. Gilboa, others that it was some
mountain in Western Manasseh. The Hebrew letters for
Gilead sad Gilboa are very similar, therefore there is some
ground for the former view.

V. 5. " As a dog lappeth." A dog drinks by shaping
the end of its tongue like a spoon : men cannot do this ; so
that we are not to suppose Gideon's 300 men lapping with
their tongue alone. Their manner of drinking is explained

in V. 6., they ''lapped, putting their hand to their

mouth." They formed their hand into a sort of cup, filled

JUDGES. 91

it, and jerked it into the raouth. This being done, the
rapidity looks very much like the quick lapping of a dog.
This method of drinking is customary in the East when
persons are in haste, since the time consumed in thus
quenching the thirst is far less than by bringing the mouth
in contact with the water. The fact, then, that 300
"lapped," showed that they were more eager for the fight
than the rest who drank at their leisure.

V. 9. '' Arise, get thee down unto the host,'' t.e..

Attack them at once with thy 300 men.

V. 10. "Go thou with Phurah thy servant."

Compare with this the appearance of Alfred the Great in
the Danish camp, and in the character of a harper.

The meaning of verses 9 and 10 seems to be this : Go
with thy 300 men into the camp of the enemy to smite
them, for I have given them into thy hand ; but if thou art
afraid to do this, go with Phurah thy servant to the camp,
and ascertain the feeling of the foe, and thou wilt hear
what they say — ^how they are discouraged, have lost all
hope of defeating you; and from that, thou wilt gather
courage and strength.

V. 12, ^'Grasshoppers," i.e., locusts.

V. 13. "Barley bread." This was only used by the
poorest. • This cake would therefore be typical of the mean
and insignificant agency by which the Midianites were to be
defeated.

V. 14. The cake doubtless appeared as rolling down the
hill upon which Gideon and his 300 men were stationed,
hence the reason for the dreamer's companion connecting
the interpretation with Gideon.

92 JUDGES.

V. 19. "And brake the pitchers." The pitchers

were used to conceal the lamps, until by the noise of their
breaking, and the sudden disappearance of the light, the
Midianites would be put to confusion.

V. 22. *' Beth-Shittah " {=^tke house of the acacia).
Was situated in the plain of JezreeL

''Zererath." This is probably the same as Zeredath,
and Zeredah which is in Ephraim, the birthplace of
Jeroboam (1 Kings xi., 26). Called also Zer^datha and
Zartanah.

" Abel-meholah " ( -Jleld of the dance). Situated about
10 miles south of Bethshean. It was the birthplace of
Elisha the prophet (1 Kings xix., 16).

V. 25. Oreb ( = raven) and Zeeb ( = toolf). The capture
of these two princes was celebrated in Psalm Ixxxiii.
many years after, and the scenes of their execution
is supposed to be near Jericho. North of ancient Jericho,
there is a high, rocky peak called "Ash el Ohorab''
( = nest of the raven\ and this therefore is identified as the
rock Oreb. Near this spot, on the north-west, is a
mound called " Tuweil el Dhib " ( = ascent of the wolf)^
and this is identified as the place of the execution

of Zeeb.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Where did Gideon and his followers first pitch their camp ?

2. Give the geographical position of the Well of Harod, Hill of
Moreh, Beth-shittah, Zererath, Abel-meholah, and with what events is
each connected ?

8. Did God state any reason for the reduction of Gideon's army
to 800 f If so, what was it ?
4. By what two methods was Gideon's army reduced f

JUDGBS. 93

5. Who was Phurah, and what mention have we of him here ?

6. Mention an event in modem history which is similar in character

to that of " Gideon visitinsr the Midianitish camp as a spy."

7. Give the dream of the Midianitish soldiers, and the interpretation
given to it by his friends.

8. Relate the stratagem by which Gideon obtained his victory over
the Midianites.

9. In what direction did the Midianites flee? and ^hich of the tribes
pursued them ?

10. Who were Oreb and Zeeb ?

11. Explain the allusions in the following passages: —

(i.) Mine own hand hath saved me.

(ii.) Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a

' dog lappeth.
(iiL) This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon,
(iv.) Look on me and do likewise,
(v.) The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

CHAPTER VIII.

ANALYSIS.

Gideon pacifies the Epluraimites. Pursues Zebah and
Zalmunna. Is refused food by the men of Succoth and
Penuel. Zebah and Zalmunna are captured and slain.
The men of Succoth and Penuel are punished. Gideon
refuses to be made king. Sets up a sanctuary. Dies.

NOTES.
V. 1. "The men of Ephraim." In chapter xil, 1, we

have the same haughty language used by this tribe toward
Jephthah. They seemed to have had an idea that they
were the most important tribe. They certainly were the
leading tribe in Central Palestine. However, ultimately the
supremacy completely passed over to the tribe of Judah.

94 JUDGES.

The importance of the Ephraimites would chiefly arise from

(1.) Ephraim being preferred to his brother Manasseh by

Jacob.
(2.) Their being descendants of Joshua, the great deliverer of

Israel.
(3.) Shiloh, the religious Capital of Israel, being within their

territory.
(4.) Their being at this time the most numerous.

V. 2. <^Is not the gleaning of the grapes of
Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer ? '' By

the " gleaning of Ephraim " we are to understand their
victory over the fleeing Midianites, and by the " vintage
of Abiezer," the part taken in the battle up to that time,
by Gideon and his 300 followers. Gideon therefore declares
that the victory gained by the Ephraimites was more
honourable than his victory, inasmuch as the Ephraimites
had slain the two princes Oreb and Zeeb. This victo|^ of
the Ephraimites is mentioned in Isaiah x., 26, as a great
blow of the Lord upon Midian.

V. 5. '^Succoth" { = booths). This was on the eastern
side of Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and not very far off the
river Jabbok. Here Jacob encamped on his return from
Padan-aram. (Gen. xxxiii., 17.)

''Zebah" {^sacrifice) and "Z alnrnnTi fl." ( = itnthout a
shadow). These would be superior in rank to Oreb and Zeeb.

V. 7. " Then I will tear yonr flesh." LiteraUy, " I will

thresh your flesh" (*.c., your body). Referring doubtless
to a mode of capital punishment* (Amos i., 3; 2 Sam.
xii., 31.)

V. 8. "Penuel" {=face of God), This is the same as
Peniel. It was situated on the east side of Jordan, near the
Jabbok and not very far from Succoth. It was here that
Jacob wrestled with the angel, and his name was changed
to Israel.

JUDGES. 95

V. 9. "When I come again in peace/' t.<?., "If I

return unhurt."

V. 10. "Karkor." In the desert, east of Jordan, and
not a day's journey from Succoth.

V. 11. "Nobah" {-that harks or yelps). This place
was in Manasseh east of the Jordan. (Num. xxxii., 40-42.)

" Jogbehah." A place in the tribe of Gad. (Num.
xxxii., 34, 35.)

V. 14. "He described unto him.'' Rather, "He wrote

down the names," as Gideon could scarcely remember the
names of 77 men.

V. 16. " He taught the men of Succoth." There are

two opinions with regard to the meaning of the word
"taught '* in this verse : —

(1 .) That it is equivalent to " made tO knoW)'* and

(2.) To "threshed."
The latter certainly is the most likely. He slew the

"men of Penuel," therefore he must have scourged to
death the "men of Succoth." "Men" in these verses is
a general expression for " elders " (*.«., representatives of
the city, including the princes).

V. 17. " Beat down the tower of Penuel." This was

rebuilt by Jeroboam. (1 Kings xii., 25.)

V. 20. " Up, and slay them." Gideon was bent on
making their death as ignominious as possible. For a king
to be slain by a youth would be very lowering.

V. 21. "As the man is, so is his strength." Doubt-
less Zebah and Zalmunna were afraid that the boy would not
be equal to the task of causing death at one blow, and that
they would thus die a lingering death. Therefore they said
to Gideon, " Rise thou, and fall upon us," for such strength
does not belong to a boy, but to a man.

96 JUDGES.

V. 22. ** Rule thou over ns." The immediate effect
of Gideon's victory oa the nation was greater than that of
any other. Not only had the Israelites quietness for forty
years, but for the first time they offered hereditary dignity
to the great conqueror. Gideon refused the honour. There
are no historical parallels to this incident of refusal.
Moses and Joshua might have easily made themselves kings,
but they were never invited to it. Csesar and Oliver Crom-
well refused the crown on the ground of policy, but Gideon
refused it on account of his fidelity to an unseen monarch,
" the Lord God of Israel/' who had just given them a
proof of His power to protect His people. '^ The Lord shall
role over you," says he, and no other.

V. 24. " Ishmaelites." This name is applied generally
to all the tribes whose habits were the same as those of the
Arabs. The connection of the Midianites and Ishmaelites
may be seen from the following account. The " Midianites"
were the descendants of Midian, Abraham's son by Keturah,
the " Ishmaelites," of Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar.
Hence the Midianites were not Ishmaelites. But from Gen.
xxxvii. we find that the tribes of Arabia are called indiffer-
ently Midianites and Ishmaelites.

V. 27 "An ephod." This was that particular part of
the High-priest's dress which he had to wear when he
inquired of God by Urim and Thummim. There is a
description of it in Exod. xxviii., 4-31.

V. 31. "Abimelech" {=^ my father a King, or, as some
would have it, " FctJtker of a King "). Whichever mean-
ing we attach to the word " Abimelech," it certainly shows
that in Gideon's old age, the idea of having been once
offered the kingship was not forgotten.

JUDGES. 97

Baal-berith (=the Covenant Baal). According to
chap, ix., 46, the worship of Baal-berith, as performed at
Shechem was an imitation of the worship of Jehovah, that
is, Baal was placed in the place of Jehovah.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What request did Gideon make of the " men of SucCOth and
Penuel ? " What reason had they for refusing ?

2. How did Gideon afterwards deal with the men of Succoth and
Penuel ? Why should he have been so severe ?

8. Explain the conduct of the Ephraimites in this war against the
Midianites. What answer was given to them by Gideon f

4t. In putting Zebah and Zalmunna to death, what special mark of
disgrace did Gideon wish to inflict upon them ?

5. What change with regard to the form of government did the people
wish after Gideon's victory over the Midianites ?

6. How did Gideon dispose of this question of government ?

7. Give the geographical position of Succoth, Penuel, Nobah, Jogbe-
hah ; and with what events are they connected ?

8. Trace the connection of the Ishmaelites with the Midianites.

9. What was the name of Gideon's eldest son ?

10. Who was Abimelech ? and give the meaning of the name.

11. Towards the end of his days into what serious mistakes did Gideon
fall?

12. What was the ephod ? Explain Gideon's conduct with regard
to the ephod in Ophrah.

18. For how longnlid the Israelites have peace in the days of Gideon ?

14. Where was Gideon buried ?

15. Where was the centre of the worship of Baal-berith ? and give
the meaning of the name.

16. Explain the allusions —

(i.) The gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim.
(ii.) As the man is, so is his strength,
(iii.) He taught the men of Succoth.

(iv.) What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor ?
(v.) Which thing became a snare unto Gideon and his house,
(vi.) For they be faint and I am pursuing.
G

98 JUDQBS.

CHAPTER IX.

ANALYSIS.

Abimelech is made king, through a conspiracy with the
Shechemites and the murder of his brethren. In a parable
Jotham foretells their destruction. Gaal and the Shechem-
ites conspire against Abimelech— the conspiracy is re-
vealed by Zebuly and he overcomes them and soweth the
city with salt He is slain at Thebez by a piece of mill-
stone. Jbtham's curse is fulfilled.

NOTES.
Y, 3. '' He is our brother/' Abimelech was the son of

a Shechemite woman (chap, riii., 31).

V. 4. " Baial-beritlL"^ See note, chap, viii., 31.

V- 6. " Millo" { = fullness, repletion). Most probably the
same as the " tower of Shechem " in verses 46, 47. It was
a fortified place close to Shechem, and it is evident from the
words "the house of Millo," that there was a distinct
population at MiMo, which, though small in numbers, yet of
great importance, as possessing this citadeL

" Made Abimelech King.'' Probably only of Shechem
and the Odeighbourhood.

V. 7. ^ Mount Qerizim" ( = cutters). Shechem lay at the
base of this mountain, which was situated in Central Palestine.
It was the moimt upon which the blessings, as commanded
by Moses, were to be recited (Deut. xi., 29). The curses were
to be recited from Mount Ebal. Travellers inform us that
the valley between the two mountains, in which Shechem
lay, possesses remarkable acoustic properties. Persons
speaking in Gerizim can be distinctly heard on Ebal, and
therefore in the valley between them {e.g., Shechem).

JUDGES. 99

Gerizim was afterwards made famous as the site of the
temple which the Samaritans built in rivalry to that at
Jerusalem (St. John iv., 20).

V. 8-16. In these verses we have Jotham's parable of
the trees electing a king. It is the first recorded in Bible
History. We have only one other of the same kind, viz.,
2 Kings xiv., 9.

The trees represent the Shechemites,— the olive, fig,
and vine, Jotham's noble and virtuous brethren, — the

bramble, the cruel Abimelech, — the cedars of Lebanon,
the elders of Shechem. Hence the meaning of the
parable is —

The people of Shechem were desirous of a king ; they had
asked Gideon and his sons to accept the office ; but they,
though worthy of it, had refused it. They then asked the
vile and base-bom Abimelech to accept the crown, and he
accepted it.

The speech of the bramble to the trees represents a warn-
ing to the Shechemites. Unless they completely place
themselves under Abimelech's rule, he will utterly destroy
even their chief men (or elders).

V. 16-20. These verses contain the interpretation of
the parable.

V. 21. " Beer " ( = well). It is hard to identify this:
place. The most probable situation is, on the road from
Jerusalem to Gaza, near Beth-shemesh.

V. 26. *' Oaal, the son of Ebed.'* Nothmg further

is known of this person.

V. 28. " Hamor" (=an ass, clay, wine). He was the King
of Shechem in Jacob's time, and from him Jacob bought a
piece of ground near the city, which was named after Hamor's
son " Shechem."

100 JUDGES.

" The men of Hamor/' These would therefore be the
patricians of the city, who derived their origin from the
noblest and most ancient stock of Hamor.

V. 37. "The plain of Meonenim." Bather, "The
oak of the soothsayers."

V. 41. ''Aromah" ( = high, exalted, cast away). Not
mentioned again, but it must have been just outside
Shechem.

V. 45. " Sowed it with salt," i.c., Sowed with salt,
the ground where the city had stood. All soils saturated
with salt are barren, hence the sowing salt over the ruins of
a city indicated a desire that it might be a desolation for
ever. But Shechem was rebuilt by Jeroboam.

V. 46. "The men of the tower of Shechem.'

These are the same as " The house of Millo." (Verses
6 and 20.)

V. 48. "Zalmon" { = shady). This was a mountain in
the neighbourhood of Shechem. It might probably be the
same as Ebal.

V. 49. This setting fire to the hold where the men of
Shechem were crowded together, was the literal fulfilment
of Jotham's curse, verse 20.

V. 50. ** Thebez " ( = brightness). A town 13 miles
north of Shechem, and whose inhabitants were implicated
in GaaFs rebellion. It is the modern Tubar.

V. 63. "And all to brake his skulL" Rather,

" Aud altogether break his skull." The old English " all
to " being equivalent to, ** altogether," "quite," "entirely."

JUDGES. 101

Compare —

As fruit that with the froet is taken

To-day ready ripe, to-morrow " all tO " shaken.

(Chaucer.)

In the various bustle of resort
Were " all to" ruffled and sometimes impaired.

(MUton, " Comus," p. 880.)

64. ''He called unto his armour-bearer/' <Sz;c. A

similar request was made by Saul, the first King of Israel,
when wounded at the battle of Mount Gilboa. (1 Samuel
xxxi., 4.)

"A woman slew hun.'' Compare with this Joab's
message to David. (2 Sam. xL, 18-21.)

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. How did Abimelech obtain the chief power in Israel I

2. Relate Jotham's parable, and explain the terms used.

3. What is the difference between a parable and a fable t Which of
these is the so-called " JothaXU'S parable t "

4. What curse did Jotham pronounce against the Shechemites ?

5. Give the geographical position of Mount Oeriom, Shechem,
Thebez, Beer.

6. Who were Gaal and Zebul ?

7. What became of Jotham and Abimelech f

8. Explain the allusions —

(L) I am your bone and your flesh.

(ii.) Is not he the son of Jerubbaal ?

(iiL) Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were
men.

(iv.) A woman slew him.

(v.) What ye have seen me do, make haste and do as I have
done.

102 JUDGES.

CHAPTER X.

ANALYSIS.

Tola Judges Israel in Shamir. Jair's judgeship. The
oppression of the Philistines and Ammonites. The
repentance of Israel.

NOTES.

V. 1. "Tola, the son of Puah." Tola (^little worm)
was of the tribe of Isacchar (1 Chr. viL, 1). He judged
Israel 23 years.

" Shamir " ( = thorns). Where this place was situated is
unknown. But it cannot be the Shamir mentioned in Josh.
XV., 48. It was probably within the territory of Issachar.

V. 3. " A Gileadite.'' Jair ( = enlightened) would there-
fore be of the tribe of Manasseh, east of Jordan.

V. 4. "Thirty cities which are called Havoth-

jair." Havoth-jair ( = the small towns of Jair) had been a
name given long ago to cities in Argob by their conqueror
Jair, under Moses (Deut. iii., 14). Hence we must under-^
stand that the name was only revived in the time of this
judge, and were so called at the time when the writer of the
book lived.

V. 5. " Oamon " { = his reswrection). This city is called
by Josephus " a city of Gilead," thus placing it across the
Jordan, but there is little reason for this. Others make it

the same as "Jokneam of Oarmer' (Josh. xiL, 22).

However nothing certain is known about it.

V. 11. "Prom the Egyptians." At the Exodus.

JUDGES. 103

''From the Amorites." In the victories over Sihon
and Og and the five kings of the Amorites (Josh, x., 5, 6, 12).

"From the Philistines." In the time of Shamgar
(chap, iii., 31).

V. 12. "The Zidonians/' In the time of Barak, when
they must have been confederates of Jabin (chap, iv., 2, 3).

"The Amalekites." In the time of Gideon (chap.
vL, 33).

"The Maonites." These were the same as the
Midianites ; therefore the deliverance took place ia the time
of Gideon.

V. 17. "llispeh" {^waJtch tower or look out). This
was a city of Gilead, in Manasseh, east of Jordan. It was
here that Laban and Jacob made their covenant (G^en.
zxxL, 49).

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What were the names of the two judges who succeeded Gideon ?

2. In what respect are we told more of Tola than of any other judge ?

8. The period of time between Jair and Jephthah was a specially
sinful period. Prove the statement from this chapter.

4. How were the Israelites punished for this aposta«y ?

6. The children of Jair had 80 cities. What name did they giv« to
these?

6. Where did the Israelites encamp in order te fight the Ammonites ?

7. Give the geographical position of Mizpeh, Camon, GHead, and
Shamir, and with what events are they connected I

8. Explain the allusions.

(L) Havoth-jair unto this day.
(ii) I will deliver you no more.

(iii) What man is he that will hefpxL to fight against the
children of Ammon?

104 JUDGES.

CHAPTER XI.

ANALYSIS.

Jephthah's origin. His agreement with the Gileadites.
vow. The Ammonites are defeated by him. He fulfils
his vow.

NOTES.
V. 1. ''Gilead hegSit Jepbthsh" ( = liberator). Three
views may be taken of the word Gilead in this verse : —

(i.) That It was the land of Gilead personified.

(ii.) That he is the same as the son of Machir and grandson of

Manasseh.
(iiL) That it is the proper name of Jephthah's father.

The last is certainly the most probable, and verse 2,
where we have mention of Gilead's wife, seems to confirm
this view.

V. 2. " Thou shalt not inherit." With this compare

the sending away by Abraham of Ishmael and the sons of
Keturah, in order that they might not inherit along with
Isaac. (Gen. xxl, 10.)

V. 3. " Land of Tob " ( = goodness). To the north of
Gilead towards Damascus.

V. 9. "Shall I be your head 7 " These words enable
us to compare the character of Jephthah with that of

Gideon. Gideon said, " The Lord shaJl rule over you,

not I." This clearly places Gideon on a higher platfonn
than Jephthah, as the latter sought his own self-promotion
as a reason for delivering his fellow countrymen. Still
Jephthah is recorded among the faithful in Heb. xL, 32.

V. 11. "Mizpeh.'' This is, as before, "Mizpeh in
Gilead." Some have thought it "Mizpeh in Benjamin," but

JUDGES. 105

this could hardly be the case, as the war was primarily
resolved upon by the Eastern tribes alone.

V. 13. " Arnon " ( = rushing stream). This river empties
itself into the Dead Sea, about midway down on the east side.

" Jabbok" {=p(mrer or emptier). This river rises in the
mountains of Gilead, and empties itself into the Jordan, near
Zaretan and the city Adam. (Josh, iil, 16.)

V. 13. " Israel took away my land." From Num.

zxi., 24, we learn that Israel took the land from Sihon,
King of the Amorites, and not from the Ammonites, as here
stated ; however, the Amorites had previously expelled the
Moabites and Ammonites from this territory; hence, in
one respect, the King of the Ammonites was right.

V. 17. " Israel sent messengers nnto the King of

Edom.'' For an account of this see Num. xx., 14-21.

^^Kadesh'' {-holy\ called also Kadesh-bamea (Josh.
X., 41). It was between the wilderness of Sin and that of
Paran. From here the twelve spies were sent to search
out the land, Joshua and Caleb alone bringing a good report.

V. 19. "Heshbon" { = device). This was the capital
city of Sihon, King of the Amorites.

V. 20. " Jahaz " ( = dispute^ going out of the Lord), The
site of this place must have been somewhere to the East of
of the Dead Sea. (Num. xxL, 23.)

V. 21. ''Land of the Amorites.'' Not of the

Ammonites and Moabites as verse 13.

V. 24. ''Ghemosh" ( = a« handling, as taking away).
This was the god of the Moabites.

106 JUDQBS.

V. 33. "Mixmith" {^countedf prepared). This was a
large corn-growing district in the table-land east of Jordan.
(Ezekiel xxvii., 17.)

Jephthah's Vow and its results. It was the universal

opinion for a long time that Jephthah did actually sacrifice his
daughter to Jehovah, as he had vowed ; however, as time
went on, another opinion sprang up, viz., that she was only
consecrated to the service of the Lord, in the sense that
Samuel was consecrated.

Before we can examine either of these opinions, it is
necessary that we should know what the vow was, the
prevailing opinion with regard to vows thus made, and
whether it was right to sacrifice human beings to the Jjord
under any circumstances.

According to the English version the words of the vow

ran thus : '< Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors
of my house to meet me . . . shall surely be the
Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering."

Those upholding the first opinion lay stress on the words
*^I will offer/' and take in conjunction with them those of

verse 39, "Who did with her according to his vow
which he had vowed."

Now, if we insist on the literal meaning of the words, we
cannot possibly but come to the conclusion that Jephthah
did actually sacrifice his daughter.

However, this opinion is hardly in keeping with the spirit of
the Bible, and there is a great tendency to adopt the second
view, and those who uphold it read the passage thus

" Whatsoever .... shall surely be the Lord's,
or I will offer it for a burnt-offering." The meaning

would thus be, if it were an animal fit for sacrifice, Jephthah
would sacrifice it, but if he were a human being, then he
would dedicate him to the service of the Lord.

JUDGES. 107

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What views are held with regard to the Gilead mentioned in v. 1 ?

2. Where did Jephthah go to when fleeing from his brethren ?

3. Quote Jephthah's reply to the elders of Qilead, when they asked
him to take the command of the army.

4. Compare Jephthah with Gideon.

5. What reason did the King of Ammon assign for making an attack
upon Israel f

6. What was the substance of Jephthah*s answer ?

7. Quote Jephthah*B vow, and give the opinions held on the fulfilling
of this vow.

8. Qive the geographical position of the "Land of Tob/' Arnon,
Jabbok, Heshbon, and Jahaz.

9. When, and by whom, were the following words spoken ? —

(i.) Thou art the son of a strange woman,
(ii.) Shall I be your head,
(iii.) Restore those lands again peaceably,
(iv.) Did he ever strive against IsraeL
(v.) Let this thing be done for me.

CHAPTER XIL

ANALYSIS.

Jephthah's quarrel with the Ephraimites, and its result.
He dies. Ibzan's judgeship^ and also Abdon's.

NOTES.

V. 1. "We will bmn thine house upon thee."

Compare this threat with that of the Philistines to
Samsou's wife (xiv., 15), and notice also the result.

108 JUDGES.

V. 2. " When I called you." They had therefore been
asked to join the expedition, but had refused. Hence
Ephraim's case grows w^rse.

V. 3. " I put my life in my hands." Jephthah was

thus aware of the dangerous task he had undertaken. A
similar phrase is used in 1 Samuel xix., 5; xxviiL, 21.

V. 4. "Ye Gileadites are fugitives," i.e., Ye are a

mob gathered together from Ephraimites who have run
away to escape justice.

V. 5. From this verse it is clear that the Ephraimites
had invaded Gilead.

" Ephraimites which were escaped." These would

be Ephraimites who had escaped from the battle, and were
now endeavouring to return home.

V. 6. ^^Shihholeth.'^ ( = a stream or flood). We casually
learn from this incident that distinct dialects had arisen in
different parts of the country. Even in these days of
frequent inter-communications we find various dialectic
variations both in England and Wales, the dialect of North
Wales being quite distinct from that of -South Wales.
Notice Peter betraying his Galilean origin by his speech.

V. 8. ^'Ibzan" { = labour). From the resemblance of
the name, some have fancied this judge to have been the
same as Boaz (Ruth ii., 1); but this is hardly probable.

" Bethlehem " ( = tke house of bread or of war). There
are two places of this name mentioned in the Bible — the
one in the territory of Judah, and the other in that of
Zebulon. Which of these is meant here is a matter of
doubt. However, the balance of opinion is in favour of
Zebulon.

JUDGES. 109

V. 11. "Elon" {^splendid oak). He seems to have
held a similar position to Ibzan.

"A Zebalonite.'' The tribe of Zebulon showed great
bravery in the time of Barak. * (Chap. iv. and v.)

V. 12. '^Aijalon." This is not to be confounded with
Ajalon, in the territory of Dan. (Josh, x., 12, &o.) It
should perhaps be Elon, so called from its owner.

"Abdon" ( = servile). Called in 1 Sam. xil, 11, "Bedan."

"A Pirathonite." Pirathon { = ki8 dissipation^ depriva-
tion), as we learn from verse 15, was in the territory of
Ephraim. Therefore Abdon was an Ephraimite. Its site is
about six miles south-west of Shechem. It was also the
home of the hero Benaiah. (2 Sam. xxiiL, 20, 30, &c.)

V. 16. "In the moimt of the Amalekites." So called

from some victory gained by the Ephraimites over the
Amalekites.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. How did the Ephraimites style Jephtbah's followers ?

2. Explain shibboleth, and give the occasion when it was employed
as a test.

8. What judges succeeded Jephthah, and of what tribes were they ?
How many years did each judge Israel ?

4. Where was Jephthah buried ?

5. Give the geographical position of Gilead, Bethlehem, Pirathon,
and state the events connected with each.

6. Explain the phrases : —

(i.) I put my life in my hands.

(ii) Ye Qileadites are fugitives.

(iil) In the land of Ephraim ; in the mount of the Amalekites.

(iv.) For he could not frame to pronounce it right.

110 JUDGES.

CHAPTER XIII.

ANALYSIS.
The birth of Samson is foretold by an angeL

NOTES.

V. 1. ** Philistines." This tribe has often been men-
tioned before, but this is the first detailed account we
have of their oppressing Israel. They continued to be promi-
nent enemies of Israel until the time of David. (See chap,
iii., 3.)

V. 2. " Zorah " ( = leprosy, scab). This city was situated
on the borders of Dan and Judah. Its modem name is
" Surah.'*

" Manoah " ( = rest) was of the tribe of Dan.

V. 4. "Not any unclean thing." The imclean thing

mentioned here would be one of the special things forbidden
to Nazarites, as mentioned in Nimi. vi., 3, 4.

V. 5. " Nazarite " ( = separated). This means one set

apart, by a peculiar vow, for the service of Grod. They were

so, either for life (like Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist),

or for a period of time (like St Paul). During the term of

his consecration the Nazarite was bound to abstain from

(i.) Wine, grapes, and anything made from the vine.

(iL) Cutting his hair.

(iii) Touching a dead body, even that of his nearest relation.

V. 12. Translate thus : '' What shall be the manner
(ordering) of the child; and what shall be his

work? (or exploit).'* The equivalent in modem English

would be, " How shall we manage the child, and what
shall be his exploits ? **

JUDGES. Ill

V. 14. These three prohibitions which the angel imposes
upon Samson's mother are simply the three things which
distinguish the Nazarite from mankind generally.

V. 18. "Secret," should be "Wonderful" Compare
the passage in Isaiah ix., 6, with regard to Christ; "His
name shall be called "Wonderful."

V. 24. '^ Samson." The derivation of the word is
doubtful. It is either from Shemesh = sun, or " Shamam"
= to lay waste.

" Oamp of Dan," should be " Mahaneh-Dan." It was
the name given to the district where the 600 Danites
encamped on their way to " Laish."

" Eshtaol " ( = stouty strong woman). On the borders of
Dan and Judah, and about two miles east of "Zorah."

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. Who was Samson's father, and to what tribe did he belong ?

2. State the meaning of the word Nazarite, and give the three prohi-
bitions contained in the vow.

3. Give instances in the New Testament of persons who took the vow
of a Nazarite, both for life and for a special period.

4. What request was refused Manoah by the angel ? How did the
angel admonish him ?

5. What answer was given by the angel to the question, " What is
thy name ? "

6. Mention points of resemblance between the appearance of the
** angel of Jehovah " to Samson's parents and to Gideon.

7. Give the geographical position of the Camp of Dan, Eshtaol,
Zorah ; and with what events is each connected ?

8. Explain the allusions —

(i.) He shall begin to deliver Israel.

(rL) Behold, the man hath appeared unto me.

(iii.) We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

(iv.) And the spirit of the Lord began to move him at times.

112 JUDGES.

CHAPTER XIV.

ANALYSIS.

Samson chooses a Philistine wife. Kills a lion. Marries,
riddle and its conseguences.

NOTES.
V. 1. "Timnath" {= image). Called also "Timnah"

and ^* Timmatha." Like Zorah and Eshtaol, it was
assigned first to Judab, then to Dan. It never was taken
from the Philistines, and it is now called Tibnah. It was
situated to the west of Bethshemesh.

V. 4. " For at that time." This passage fixes the date
of the composition of the Book of Judges. It was composed,
as may be clearly inferred from this passage, wheD the
Philistines had entirely ceased to rule in Israel, i.e., some
time in David's reign.

"It was of the Lord." The law of Moses forbade
Israelites to intermarry with heathen nations. But from this
expression, " It was of the Lord," we must understand
that God permitted Samson to marry the Philistine woman,
in order to accomplish His own purposes. God over-ruled
Samson's waywardness and sin, in order to make him a
scourge to the Philistines and bring about the deliverance
of Israel.

V. 6. ^'And he rent him." David, when a shepherd,
and the hero Benaiah also slew lions (1 Samuel xvii., 34; 2
Samuel xxiii., 20). Lions are not now found in Palestine,
hut there is abundant evidence that in ancient times they

JUDGES. 113

must have been numerous. Johannes Phocas, who travelled
in Palestine in the twelfth century, informs us that lions
were to be found there then.

V. 8. ^'To take her." The essence of the marriage
ceremony consisted in removing the bride from her father's
home to that of the bridegroom or of his father.

V. 12. ** A riddle." Riddles formed one of the amuse-
ments at the entertainments of ancient nations. It is said
that an Ethiopian monarch once staked many cities on the
guessing of a riddle.

V. 15. From this verse it seems that the guests believed
that they were purposely invited to the feast in order to be
impoverished m the manner indicated.

V. 19. " AshkelOBu" See chap, i., 18.

%

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. State the occasion and the circumstances under which Samson
showed great strength.

2. In what manner did Samson show that he respected his parents ?
8. What were the conditions settled upon with regard to the guessing

of the riddle ? Relate the riddle in the words of the Bible.

4. Why did not Samson at once tell the interpretation of the riddle
to his wife ?

5. What did Samson tell the men of the city when they answered his
riddle?

6. Did Samson fulfil his engagement T If so, how did he manage to
obtain the required number of changes of garments ?

7. What is to be said of Samson's marriage ? Was it lawful ?

8. Explain the allusions —

(I) For she pleaseth me welL
(ii.) For so used the young men to do.
(iii.) Have ye called us to take that we have f
(iv.) If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found
out my riddle.
H

114 JUDGES.

CHAPTER XV.

ANALYSIS.

Samson's wife is given to another. He bums the com
of the Philistines with foxes and firebrands. He is
betrayed by the men of Judah. Slays 1,000 Philistines
with a jawbone.

NOTES.

V. 3. ''Now shall I be more blameless than the

Philistines." Samson in this sentence seems to admit
that the Philistines had some ground of complaint against
him previously, i.e,, when he went down to Ashkelon and
slew thirty unoflfending men in revenge for a trick.

V. 4. Foxes, t.e., jackals. These are still to be found
in abundance in the Holy Land.

V. 6. " Burnt her." Two views may be taken of this
act of the Philistines.

(1.) They burnt bis wife and father-in4aw out of revenge

towards Samson, they bemg the nearest relatioos they

could find.
(2.) They did it as an act of justice towards Samson, In the

hope of pacifying his anger, seeing how destructive he

was.

The latter seems the more likely. We may here notice
that his wife met the very same treatment at the hands
of her countrymen, as she tried to avoid, by deceiving her
husband.

V. 8. "Hip and thigh.'' This is a proverbial expres-
sion for a cruel and unsparing slaughter.

"Etam" {^ eagles nest). Believed to be situated about
five miles S.E. of Zorah, which was situated on the borders
of Dan and Judah.

■^^

JUDGES." 115

V. 9. "Lehi^' {=juw). Not identified, and was not so
called till the incident of the jawbone.

V. 17. " Ramath-lehi/' literally, " the height or hill of
Lehi," or the hill of the jawbone.

V. 19. ''A hollow place that was in the jaw'

should be '*the hollow place which is in Lehi." In this
hollow a spring burst out in Samson's need. Notice how
misleading the word "jaw " is in our version.

''Enhakkore" (^"^^« foundation of him who callsy'^
i,f., upon God).

"Unto this day.'' These words denote that the spring
was in existence at the time when the book was written.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. How did Samson take vengeance upon the Philistines for the
final loss of his wife f

2. After avenging himself upon the Philistines, where did he retire
to?

3. Describe how it came to pass that the children of Judah so
willingly handed Samson over to the Philistines.

4. What happened after he was thus betrayed by his own
countrymen t

5. What epithet did he use with regard to the Philistines when he was
thirsting after the exploits at Ramath-lehi ?

6. What evidence have we in this chapter that the Philistines did
not hold any power in Israel, when this book was written f

7. Where is Etam ? and give the meaning of the word.

8. Explain the following phrases :

(L) He smote them hip and thigh.

(ii) Heap upon heap,

(iii) Gk>d dave an hollow place that was in the jaw.

116 JUDGES.

CHAPTER XVI.

ANALYSIS.

Samson escapes fzx>m the people of Gaza. Carries away
the city gates. He is betrayed by his wife Delilah. Loses
his sight and liberty. Pulls down the house upon the Philis-
tines and dies.

NOTES.
V. 1. "Gaza" { = the strong). See note^ chap, i., 18.

V. 3. " An hill that is before Hebron." Tbis may be

understood in one of two ways —

(L) FaciDg Hebron, which is abodt 40 miles from Oaza.
(ii) In the direction of Hebron.

The latter is the more likely. The exact situation of the hill
is not known ; some place it about a mile S.S.K of Gaza,
others 30 or 40 miles from Gaza. Milton, in his '' Samson
Agonistes," considers this hill as the "Hill of Hebron.''

" Then by main force pulled up, and on his shoulders bore
The gates of Azza, post and massy bar,
Up to the hill of Hebron, seats of giants old,
Ko journey of a Sabbath-day, and loaded so."

V. 4. "In the valley of Sorek." Sorek ( = torrent

bed) was a village somewhere in the neighbourhood of Zorah,
Samson's birthplace.

" Delilah " ( = Micate), Samson's second wife. This is a
common name for girls in Maltese poetry.

V. 6. "And the lords of the Philistines." These

were five in number, viz., Gaza, Gath, Ekron, Ashdod, and
Ashkelon.

JUDGES. 117

^* Eleven hundred pieces of silver." This laxge reward

shows the importance of the capture of Samson. In our own
money it was equivalent to about JB675. 1,100 shekels
being worth about £135, 1 shekel = 2s. 4(1.

V. 7. "Seven green withs" — *.«., " Seven new cords "
(or ropes). These were tough, pliant wood twisted in the
form of a cord or rope.

V. 13, 14. '' If thou weavest the seven locks of my
head with the web. And she fastened it with the

pin." The technical terms used, and the contraction of the
account, make the meaning of these verses rather obscure.
To make it clear we ought to add a line which is found in
the Greek version of the Old Testament The verses would

then read, '' If thou interweavest the seven locks of
my head with that web, and fasten them to the pin,
I shall become weak, and be as another man. So
while he was asleep she interwove the seven locks
of his head with the web, and she fastened them to
the pin."

The idea was suggested to Samson from his wife having
the loom in the room at the time.

From the account it would also seem that Samson wore
bis hair in seven plaits or curls. A kind of superstition being
attached to the number seven.

V. 23. ^^Dagon" (= fish). Dagon was the national
idol of the Philistines. His form was a fish, as the name
Dag signifies, but he had human hands, feet, and body
(1 Sam. v., 4). There was a temple for Dagon, both at
Ashdod and Gaza. This reminds us of the circumstance
when the Philistines, in the time of Eli captured the Ark ;
they placed it in the temple of Dagon, at Ashdod. The
result was that the idol fell down and was broken into pieces.

118 JUDGES.

V 26. In many of these passages the student would do
well to refer to Milton's *' Samson Agonistes/' where he will

find this and other passages well set forth, e.^. : —

The building was a spacious theatre,

Half round, on two main pillars, vaulted high, &c. — Line 1605.

V. 28. In this verse Samson uses three different titles of
the Almighty —

(i) Samson called unto the Lord {i.e., JellOVall)'

(ii) O Lord Ood (i.e., L(Xrd Jehovall)) remember me.

(iii.) I pray thee, only this once, O Qod {i.e., Elohim).

" That I may at once be avenged" Literally, '' And

I will be avenged with one vengeance." He seems to have
forgotten the words of the Lord, " Vengeance is Mine."
V. 31. '* Zorah and Eshtaol." See notes, chap. xiii.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. The Philistines offered Delilah, Samson's wife, a reward for the
discovery of the secret of her husband's strength. What was it ?

2. Relate the occasions on which Bamson was bound with cords or
otherwise, stating the results in each case.

3. Where, besides in the Bible, do you get a good description of the
matters related in this chapter ? Mention the lines which describe the

" falling of the house."

4. How did Samson bring about his own ruin ?

5. In what respect was Samson's judging Israel different from that of
all the other judges ?

6. Can his last act towards the Philistines be in any way justified ?

7. The geographical position of Hebron, Gaza, Sorek, Eshtaol, and
give events connected with each.

8. What, in English money, was the amount of the reward offered to
Delilah for discovering the source of Samson's strength ?

9. Explain the allusions —

(i.) Let me die with the Philistines.

(ii.) And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

(iii.) Behold, thou has mocked me and told me lies.

(iv.) See - - by what means we may prevail against him.

(v.) When it is day we shall kill him.

JUDGES. 119

or

CHAPTER XVIL

ANALYSia

The theft and image worship of Micah. A Levite is
appointed as Micah's priest.

NOTES,
The time in which the events recorded in this and the
following chapters is much earlier than that of those recorded
in the chapters immediately preceding. These must have
taken place immediately after Joshua's death. Hence this
chapter in point of time ought to follow chapter iiL The
only connection between it and chapter xvi. is that we are
still dealing with the tribe of Dan.

V. 1. ** Micah" { = who is like Jehovah), Scripture
does not mention the name of his father nor his mother.
Hence we are left ignorant of his parentage.

V. 2. *' Eteven hundred shekels." See note chapter

xvi.

V. 3. ^'To make a graven image and a molten

image." Micah's mother obviously had no knowledge of
the Ten Commandments. For there we have as a command-
ment " Thou shalt not make any graven image." That she
should have been ignorant of these matters is not to be
wondered at in those troubled and unsettled times.

V. 6. "Ephod." See note, chap, viii., 27.

"Teraphim" {= prosperity). These were small images
of worship, corresponding to the Latin Penates (or house-
hold gods). Sometimes they were the size of a man.
(I Sam. xix., 13, 16.)

120 JUDGES.

V. 6. This verse clearly proves the statement that the
Book of Judges was written after the establishment of a
kingly government.

V. 7. " Of the family " = " of the tribe."

V. 8. "Mount Ephraim/' i.e., the hill country of
Ephraim.

V. 13. "I have a Levite to my priest." In this

passage it is worthy of notice that an ordinary Levite could
not act as priest unless he were of the family of Aaron.
Korah was a Levite, but was consumed by fire when he dared
to ofifer incense before the tabernacle.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. To what period of time would you refer the events of this chapter ?
Give your reason.

2. Relate how Micah's house of Ood was set up and equipped.

3. What made him think that his arrangement would be satisfactory
to God, and that he would prosper ?

4. Which branch of the Levites had a right to the priesthood?
Relate an incident in which God showed his anger when this law of the
priesthood was broken.

5. What were the ephod and teraphim.

6. Which Commandment was broken by Micah's family ? Give it in
full

7. Three special sins of Micah are mentioned in this chapter. Name
them.

S. Explain the allusions —

(i.) I am a Levite of Bethlehem- Judah.

(ii) Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.

(iii). The silver is with me. I took it.

JUDGES. 121

CHAPTER XVIIL

ANALYSIS.

The emigration of the Danites to Laish which eventually
is called Dan. They rob Micah of his^ priest and idols.

NOTES.
V. 1. "All their inheritance." In chapter 1., 34, we

have a reason for their not occupying the territory allotted
to them among the tribe of Judah.

"And the Amorites forced the children of Dan
into the mountain ; for they would not suffer them
to come down to the valley."

V. 2. "Zorah and Eshtaol." See notes on chap, xl,
xvi.

" Mount Ephraim" See note, chap, xyii., 8.

V. 3. " By the house." Rather, " In the'^iouse."

"They know the voice" «.e., "Heard his voice," and
perceived from his dialect that he was not a native of the
hill country of Ephraim.

V. 7. "Laish" ( = a Hon). Called "Leshem" in Joshua
xix., 47, and Dan, after the conquest by the Danites. It was
situated in the extreme north of Israel, near the source of
the Jordan. Modem name is Tell el Kadi. Notice the
phrase, "Dan to Beersheba."

" Zidonians." The inhabitants of Zidon ( = fishing), an
ancient and wealthy city of Phcenicia, on the eastern coast
of the Mediterranean Sea, twenty miles north of Tyre. They
were a powerful people, yet more commercial than military,
hence the epithets " quiet and secure."

122 JUDOBS.

V. 12. " Kiljah-jearim " { = city of foresU). Called
also << Kiljah-Baal " (city of Baal), and '' Baalah." (Josh.
XV., 60 ; xviii., 14 ; 2 Sam. vL, 2.) Situated in the tribe of
Judah, near to Gibeon.

*' Hahaiiell-Dail " ( = camp of Dan). It was here that
Samson began to show his strength,

V. 14. " Now therefore consider what ye have to

do," t.e., do not let us lose this opportunity of providing for
our own worship, in our new settlement.

«* The carriage " — (rather " the valuables "). This word
which now signifies "that which carries" (e.g., a cart or
vehicle), in the times of the translation of the Ancient
Version of the Bible, signified " that which was carried "
(such as luggage, baggage, ko). See also the use of this
word in Acts xxi., 15, " We took up our carriages and went
up to Jerusalem."

V. 28. "Because it was far from Zidon." Zidon

even now was powerful This phrase shows that there was
some kinship between Laish and Zidon.

"Beth-rehob" {vohoh ^breadth). In Num. xii., 21,
Beth-rehob is described as the northern extremity of Pales-
tine, and its position is defined with reference to the
"entering in of Hamath."

V. 30. " The son of Manasseh " should be " The son

of Moses." The mistake has arisen from a mistaken view of
the Hebrew text, and the desire to avoid Moses, the great
lawgiver, in this idolatrous worship. Jonathan, therefore,
was thus Moses' grandson, and this Jonathan could hardly
be any other than the Levite whom the Danites had carried
with them, and to whom they had promised the priesthood.
Verses 19 and 21.

JUDGES. 123

" Until the day of the captivity of the land." This

has been taken to refer to the carrying away of the ten
tribes by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser (1 Chr. v., 22 ;
2 Kings XV., 29 ; xvii., 6). Hence it has been urged that
the book was written after that captivity, probably by Ezra.
For this supposition there is not much ground, even if it
does refer to the above captivity, as the passage may have,
like many others, been written by Ezra or some other
person. Another interpretation suggested, is that of
" captivity of the land," we are simply to imdertstand,

"until the time when the presence of Jehovah, as

their leader, was gone." Without His presence, the soil,
though physically the same, would be as a foreign land. It
was His presence that made Canaan "the glory of all
lands." (Ezekiel xx., 6.) Both views are well supported.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What connectioii had the Danites with Micah's priest ?

2. After leaving Micah's house, where did the five spies go ?

3. On the second visit of the five Danite spies to the house of Micah,
what took place ?

4. What was the threat that caused Micah to give up all hope of
recovering his idols ? Do you know of another instance in the Bible of
household gods being taken away ?

6. From what famous family did Jonathan, the priest of the Danites,
descend ?

6. What success attended the Danite expedition ?

7. How long did the priesthood at Dan last ?

8. Give the geographical position of Kirjath-jearim, Mahaneh-dan,
Laish, Zidon, and explain the phrase from ** Dan to Beeri^dba."

9. Explain the allusions.

(i.) Far from the Zidonians.

(ii.) Until the day of the captivity of the land.
(iiL) And they built a city, and dwelt therein,
(iv.) What aileth thee ?

(v.) Be to us a father and a priest.

124 JUDGES.

CHAPTEK XIX.

ANALYSIS.

The abominable outrage at Gibeah. The Levite divides
his wife into twelve pieces, and sends them to the twelve
tribes.

NOTES.

V. 10. *' Jebus." This is the ancient name of Jerusalem
( = secret foundation),

V. 12. ** City of a stranger." This phrase shows how
completely the Jebusites had driven out the tribe of Judah
and Benjamin from this city.

"Gibeah" { = hill town). This is the pame as "Gibeah
of Saul" (Josh. XV., 57), four miles east of Mizpeh, and
rather more than four miles north of Jerusalem. Supposed
also to be the same as the "Hill of God" mentioned in
1 Samuel x., 5.

V. 13. " Ramah" ( = kill). This was situated about five
miles from Jerusalem. We have several places of this name
mentioned in the Bible.

V. 18. " The house of the Lord," «>., ShUoh. The

Levite being one of those who ministered at the Tabernacle.

V. 22. " Sons of Belial." As Belial means worthless-
ness, therefore sons of Belial must mean " worthless men."

Notice what Hosea says of this crime : —

" Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah ; there they
stood ; the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not
overtake them. (Hosea x., 9.)

JUDGES. 125

CHAPTER XX.

ANALYSIS.

The war with Benjamin on the part of all the other
tribes. All the Benjamites being destroyed except six
hundred.

NOTES.

V. 1. "From Dan to Beersheba." A proverbial ex-
pression for " From one end of the land to the other."

"The land of Gilead." The two and a half tribes on
the east of Jordan.

"MLspeh." Not the one mentioned in chapter x., but
Mizpeh in Benjamin, situated four miles from Gibeah, on the
loftiest hill in the neighbourhood.

V. 18. This is the only passage in the book in which
express mention is made of the tabernacle, ark, priest, and
sacrifices.

"To the honse of God," le.. Bethel

V. 32. " Let us flee, and draw them from the city.''

The narrative of the ambush cannot but remind us of
Joshua's stratagem before Ai. The Israelites were anxious
to draw out the Benjamites from Gibeah along two roads,
one towards Bethel and the other towards Gibeah in the
field (an outlying dependency). In this attempt they were
successful.

V. 33. "Baal-tamar" {==mast€r of the palm tree). It
was probably a grove of palm trees near Gibeah where Baal
was worshipped.

126 JUDGES.

V. 40. Gibeah was again rebuilt, and became king
Saul's favourite abode, from which it had the name "Gibeah
of Saul."

V. 45. "The rock of Bimmon." A town, N.E. of

Gibeah, situated on a very lofty peak. Supposed to be the
site of "Ai."

CHAPTER XXI.

The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin. By the
destruction of Jabesh-gilead they provide them four
hundred wives.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What brought the Levite and his wife to Gibeah ?

2. What did the Levite do with his murdered wife, and what was
the result ?

3. What do you notice in the position of the Ark at this time ?

4. Mention points of resemblance between the attack of Gibeah by
the eleven tribes, and that of Joshua at Ai

5. What were the feelings of the united tribes after the overthrow of
Benjamin ?

6. Give the geographical position of Gibeah, Ramah, Jebus, Bethel,
and the Rock of Rimmon.

7. Explain allusions —

(L) Only lodge not in the street.

(ii) Up and let us .be going.

(iii.) They are smitten down before us as at the first.

(iv.) All these were men of valour.

(v.) Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

lab

of

JOHN NtYWOOO. klTNO.MANCHCSTIN * LONDON

JUDGES. 127

The student ought to make himself well acquainted with
the map of Palestine, by carefully filling up several outline
maps and marking the position of the following places, &c.,
mentioned in the " Book of Judges " : —

PLACES.

WEST OF JORDAN.

In the territory of Simeon — Beersheba, Hormah, Ramath-lehi.

„ „ Judah — Arad, Bethlehem, Debir, Hebron, Kirjath-

jearim.

,t „ Benjamin — Bethel, Beeroth, Gibeah, Gilgal, Jericho,

Jerusalem (Jebus), Mizpeh, Ramah.

„ „ Ephraim — Bethel, Gkser, Pirathon, Shechem, Shiloh.

„ „ Manasseh — ^Abel-meholah, Beeek, Ophrah, Thebez.

„ „ Issachar — Beth-shean, Megiddo, Meroz, Taanach.

„ „ Zebulon — ^Aijalon, Bethlehem, Elitron, NahaloL

„ „ Asher — Aocho, Aphek, Acludb, Dor, Beth-rehob.

„ „ Kaphtali — Beth>anath,Beth-8bemesh,Hazor,KedeBh.

„ ,, Dan (S.) — Aijalon, Eshtaol, Timnath, Zorah.

}) „ Dan (N.) — Laish (or Dan).

BAST OF JORDAN.

In the territory of Manaaseh — Mizpeh.

,1 „ Gad — Jabesh-Gilead, Penuel, Suocoth.

„ „ Reuben — Aroer, Heshbon, Jahaz.

THE LORDSHIPS OP THE PHILISTINES.
Ashdod (called Azotus in the New Testament), Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza,

and Gath.

MOUNTAINS.
Ephraim, Gerizim, Gilead, and Hermon.

RIVERa
Amon, Jabbok, Jordan, and Kiahon.

128

JUDGES.

SHORT SUMMARY.

Jnxts.

1. Otlmiel, son of Kenaz ;
nephew of Caleb, whose
daughter Achsah he
married as a reward
for his successful cap-
ture of KirjathHsepher
(or Debir).

2« Ehud, son of Oeni, a
left-handed Benjamite.

3. Sliamgar,8onof Anath.

4. Deborab and Barak.

The former, the wife of
Lapidoth, and a pro-
phetess of Mt. Ephrsdm ;
the latter, the son of
Abinoam.

6. Oideon(or Jerubbaal),
the son of Joash of
Abieser.

6. AbixneleCZi, the son of
Gideon; he conspired
with the Shechemites
and slew 70 of hia
brethren; he met his
own death at Thebez.

7. Tola, the son of Puah,
dwelt at Shamir in Mt.
Ephraim.

Opfkisbok.

Cn wh an - Bialiatli-
aim. king of Mes-
opotamia.

Eglon, king of the
Moabites, assassin-
ated by Ehud.

PlilliBtlnes.

Jablll,kingof Hazor.
Sisera, hiis captain,
was slain by Jael.

Mldlanltes, under
their chiefs Oreb,
Zeeb, Zebah, Zal-
munna.

23

IXPOBTAITT PABSAan.

And he did gird it under his
raiment upon his right thigh.
(Chap. iiL, 16.)

Slew of the Philistines six hun-
dred men with an ox goad.
(Chap, iil., 31.)

Song Of Deborah. (Chap. v. )
For ne was fast asleep and
weary. (Chap, iv., 21.)

Alas, O Lord I for because I
have seen an angel of the
Lord face to face. (Chap, vi.,
22.)

The sword of the Lord and of
Gideon. (Chap, vii., 18.)

Is not the gleaning of the
gfrapes of Ephraim better
than the vintage of Abiezer.
(Chap, viil., 2.)

For as the man is, so is his
strength. (Chap, viil, 21.)

As a dog lappeth. (Chap. viL , 6. )

Jotliam'8 parable. (Chap.

i3C.. 7.)

What ye have seen me do, make
haste and do as I have done.
(Chap, ix., 48.)

Draw the sword and save me
that men may not say of me,
A woman slew him. (Chap,
ix., 54.)

Thou seest the shadow of the
mountains as if they were
men. (Chap, ix , 86.)

JUDGES.

129

JPOOB.

US

i

8. Jalr, a QUeadite.

9. Jepbtliall, a Gileadite.

He was banished by his
oountryxnen, but re*
turned on condition
that, if he delivered
them from the hands
of the Ammonites, he
should become tneir
ruler. Defeated the
Ephxaimltes who had
been haughty in their
mamner towards him
and that without rea*
son.

10. Ibzaa, of Bethlehem.
IL Elon, of Zebulon.

12. AMon, son of Hillel,
a Pirathonite.

13. 8ainB0n.aDanite,the
son of Manooh, and
a Nasarite from his
birth.

22
6

7
10
8

20

OrPBnaox.

The Axmnonltes.

The FldliBtixLeB.

IXrOKTAVT PjiMAOia.

jephthah'B tow and its

nUfllxnent.
Did not ye hate me and expel

me out of my father's house ?

f^Chap. zL, 7.)
Say now Shibboleth. (Chap.

xU., 6.)

Art thou the man that spakest
unto the woman? And he
said, I am. (Chap, xiii., 12.)

We shall surely die, oecauae we
have seen God. (Chap, xiii.,
22.)

Out of the eater came forth
meat, and out of the strong
came forth sweetness. (Chap,
xiv., 14.)

What 1b sweeter than honey,
and what is stronger than a
lion. (Chap, xiy., 18.);

If ye had not plowed with my
heifer, ye had not found out
my riddle. (Chap, xiv., 18.)

Ahd he smote them hip and
thigh. (Chap. XV., 8.)

And now shall I die for thirst.
(Chap XV., 18.)

Let me die with the Philstines.
(Chap. xvL, SO.)

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