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There  are  now  issued  of 

Caugc's  Commcntavy 

Seven  volumes  on  the  Old  Testament  and  ten  on  the  New  Testament,  as 

follows. 

OLD  TESTAMENT  VOLUMES: 
I.  Genesis.  1       V.  Proverbs,  Song  of  Solomon, 

II.  Joshua,  Judges,  and  Ruth.       |  and  Ecclesl-vstes. 

III.  First  and  Second  Kings.  VI.  Jeremiah  and  Lament.\tions. 

IV.  Psalms.  |   VII.  The  Minor  Prophets. 

In  Preparation  :    Job  (i  vol.),  ExODUS,  Levitici'S,  Numbers,  and  Deutekono.mv  (i  n-oI.), 
Isaiah  (i  vol.),  Daniel  and  Ezekiel  (i  vol.). 

NEW  TESTAMENT   VOLUMES: 


I.  ISIatthew. 
II.  Mark  and  Luke. 

III.  John. 

IV.  Acts. 
V.  Ro.mans. 

VI.  Corinthians. 
VII.  Galatians,   Ephesians,  Phil- 

IPPIANS,    and    COLOSSIANS. 


VIII.  Thessalonians,   Timothy, 
Titus,   Philemon,  and 
Hebrews. 
IX.  James,    Peter,   John,    and 

Juue. 
X.  Revelation.     With  an  Index 
to  the  New  Testament. 


.    Each  one  vol.  Svo.    Price  per  vol.,  in  half  calf,  $7.50 ;  in  sheep,  $6.50 ;  in  cloth,  §5.00. 

Any  or  all  of  the  volumes  of  Lange's  Commentary  sent,  post  or  express 
charges  paid,  on  receipt  of  the  price  by  the  publishers. 


A 

COMMENTARY 


ON  THE 


HOLY    SCEIPTFEES: 

CRITICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND  HOMILETICAL, 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  MINISTERS  AND   STUDENTS. 

BY 

JOHN   PETER  LAjSTGE,  D.  D. 

IN    CONNECTION   WITH   A  NUMBER  OP  EMINENT   EUBOPEAN   DIVINB8. 

TRANSLATED,  ENLARGED,   AND   EDITED 


PHILIP   SOHAFF,  D.  D. 

m   CONNECTION   WITH   AMERICAN    SCHOLARS   OF   VARIOUS    EYANGBLICAL    DENOMINATIONS. 


VOLUME  IV.  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT:  CONTAININQ  JOSHUA,  JUDGES, 

AND  RUTH. 


NEW   YORK: 

SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,  AND  COMPANY, 

1875. 


THE 


BOOK    OF    JOSHUA. 


F.  R  FAY, 

PA.8TOR  IN  CREFELD,   PRUSSIA. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN,  WITH  ADDITIONS, 


GEORGE  R  BLISS,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR  IN   THE   UNITERSITT   OF   LEWISBURG,   LBWI8BURO,   FENS. 


NEW   YORK: 

SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,  AND  COMPANY, 

1875. 


'  *>  ^  "^1 


Entered  aiconling  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

ClIAKLES    SCKIBNEK  AND    COMPANY, 

SE  the  Ofllce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


RIVERSIDE,     CAMBRIDGE: 

8TERKOTYPED    AND    PRINTED    BT 

H.    O.    HOUGHTON    AXD   COMPAKT. 


PREFACE  BY  THE  GENERAL  EDITOR. 


The  Book  of  Joshua  relates  the  history  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan  under  the  leai  of 
Joshua,  the  successor  of  Moses,  the  division  of  the  conquered  land  among  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
and  the  provision  for  the  settlement  of  the  theocracy  in  that  country.  The  Book  of 
Judges  continues  the  history  of  the  theocracy  from  the  death  of  Joshua  to  the  time  of  Eli, 
under  the  administration  of  thirteen  Judges,  whom  God  raised  up  in  special  emergencies  for 
the  restoration  of  social  order  and  deliverance  from  foreign  oppression.  It  covers  the  trans- 
ition period  of  about  three  hundred  years  from  the  theocratic  republic  to  the  theocratic 
monarchy.  The  Book  of  Ruth  is  a  charming  episode  of  domestic  virtue  and  happiness, 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  prevailing  character  of  this  period,  when  might  was  right,  and 
"  every  one  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes."  It  teaches  the  sure  reward  of  filial 
devotion  and  trust  in  God,  the  proper  use  of  the  calamities  of  life,  the  overruling  providence 
of  God  in  the  private  affairs  of  an  humble  family  as  well  as  in  the  palaces  of  princes  and 
the  public  events  of  nations.  It  also  shows  how  God  had  children  outside  of  Canaan  and 
the  Jewish  theocracy.  The  incorporation  of  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  into  the  Church  of  the 
Old  Testament,  may  be  regarded  as  an  intimation  of  the  future  call  of  the  Gentiles  to  the 
gospel  salvation.  The  story  of  Ruth  is  told  with  touching  simplicity.  Gbthe  (  WestostUcher 
Divan,  p.  8)  says  :  "  It  is  the  loveliest  thing,  in  the  shape  of  an  epic  or  idyl,  which  has  come 
to  us."  Humboldt  {Kosmos,  ii.  46,  Germ,  ed.)  calls  it  "  a  most  artless  and  inexpressibly 
charming  picture  of  nature." 

These  three  books  are  here  brought  together  in  one  volume. 

The  Commentary  on  Joshua  was  prepared  in  German,  1870,  by  the  Rev.  F.  R.  Fay 
(Dr.  Lange's  son-in-law),  Pastor  in  Crefeld,  Prussia,  and  in  English  by  the  Rev.  George  R. 
Bliss,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  Lewisburg  University,  Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Bliss  writes:  "My 
own  impression  concerning  the  author  (JVIr.  Fay),  derived  from  a  close  and  protracted  famil- 
iarity with  his  book,  is  highly  favorable  to  his  learning,  his  piety,  his  Christian  catholicity 
and  amiableness  of  spirit."  He  has  made  a  cai-eful.  use  of  the  most  recent  helps  even  in  the 
English  language  touching  the  questions  of  geography  and  topography  of  the  holy  land, 
whicli  occupy  a  very  prominent  position  in  a  Commentary  on  Joshua.  The  Textual  and 
Grammatical  Notes  are  added  by  the  American  translator,  who  has  also  materially  en- 
riched the  other  departments,  in  accordance  with  the  general  plan  of  the  American  edition. 

The  Commentary  on  Judges  and  Ruth  is  by  Professor  Paulus  Cassel,  of  Berlin,  and 
appeared  several  years  earlier  (1865).  The  English  edition  was  prepared  by  the  Rev.  P. 
H.  Steexstra,  Professor  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Divinity  School  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Professor  Cassel  is  a  converted  Rabbi,  one  of  the  best  Talmudic  scholars  of  Germany,  a 
man  of  genius  and  ardent  Christian  spirit.  His  commentary  is  very  original,  fresh,  sugges- 
tive, abounding  in  historical  examples  and  parallels,  but  sometimes  very  fanciful,  especially 
in  his  philological  efforts.  Here  the  translator  has  very  properly  expressed  his  dissent  from 
many  ot*his  views.  Professor  Steenstra  has  paid  special  attention  to  the  textual  department, 
and  supplemented  his  author  where  he  takes  too  much  for  granted.  The  grammatical  notes 
on  the  Book  of  Ruth  are  quite  full,  because  it  is  often  read  by  students  of  Hebrew  in  Sem- 
inaries, owing  to  its  simplicity  and  literary  merit. 

I  conclude  these  introductory  remarks  with  the  closing  sentences  of  Professor  Cassel's 
Preface  :  — 

"  It  will  not  be  considered  my  greatest  fault  that,  as  far  as  possible,  I  have  avoided  polem- 
ics, and  have  contented  myself  with  positive  exposition  of  the  meaning  as  I  understood  it. 
I  cannot  help  feeling  that  in  many  expositions  there  is  less  eagerness  to  explain  the  sacred 


iv  PREFACE  BY  THE  GENERAL  EDITOR. 

text  than  to  give  battle  to  the  views  of  other  writers.  The  same  principle  has  guided  me  in 
the  Introduction,  which  on  that  account  I  could  confine  to  brief  outlines.  A  departure  from 
this  principle  was  deemed  necessary  in  only  a  few  passages. 

"  What  shall  I  say  more  !  Scripture  says  everywhere  Tolle,  lege  !  and  such  especially  is 
the  language  of  the  Book  of  Judges  and  of  Judgment  now  before  us. 

"  Verily,  the  sacred  canon  here  presents  us  with  a  book  of  history  and  historical  art,  such 
as  our  generation,  prolific  in  writings  on  history,  but  nevertheless  poor  in  historical  feeling 
and  perception,  stands  in  pressing  need  of.     Sic  invenietur,  sic  aperietur  !  " 

PHILIP  SCHAFF. 

BiBLK  House,  New  Tobk,  October,  1871. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.  Name  of  the  Book.     Place  in  the  Canon.     Contents  and  Character  in  general. 

Named  not  from  its  author  but  from  the  distinguished  hero  whose  history  it  relates,  the 
Book  of  Joshua  stands  first  in  the  canonical  list  of  D'^pitTS']  D'^S'^23,  the  prophctce  priorex, 
of  the  Old  Testament.  To  these  belong  also  the  Book  of  Judges  (□''lD~iti7),  the  two  Books 
of  Samuel  (bs^^tt?),  and  the  two  Books  of  Kings  (D'pbp).  These  writings  are  collectively 
so  designated,  primarily  because,  according  to  old  Jewish  tradition,  they  were  coooposed  by 
prophets,  and  in  the  second  place,  also,  doubtless  because  they  dwell  largely,  the  Books  of 
Samuel  and  of  the  Kings  in  particular,  on  the  deeds  of  certain  prophets.  Still,  both  these 
reasons  together  do  not  of  themselves  explain  the  name.  The  Masoretes,  rather,  from  whom 
all  these  designations  and  titles  are  derived,  certainly  had  a  feeling  that  the  same  spirit  which 
swppt  through  the  prophets,  strictly  such,  the  D'*pi"inSi  CS"*!!?)  and  tlnuv  writings,  was  trace- 
able in  these  historical  books  also ;  that,  accordingly,  the  history  of  the  people  of  God  had 
been  written  in  this  spirit,  not  as  a  profane  but  a  sacred  history.  The  guidance  of  that  people 
by  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  as  he  is  called  in  this  book  (xxiv.  2,  23),  their  relation  and 
that  of  their  leaders  to  their  God,  their  fidelity  or  unfaithfulness,  their  conformity  to  his  com- 
mandments or  transgression  of  them,  their  worship  of  Jehovah  or  apostasy  to  idol-worship, 
are  the  proper  themes  of  this  holy  historiography.  These  books  of  the  first  or  prior  prophets 
are  not  merely  historical  books,  but,  as  De  Wette  in  his  Introduction  to  the  O.  T.  has  aptly 
styled  them,  theocratico-hislorical  books,  pervaded  and  filled  with  the  same  spirit  of  pro- 
found piety,  noble  moral  courage,  and  holy  reverence  for  the  commands  of  Jehovah,  which 
breathes  through  the  "  theocratically-inspired  books  "  of  the  prophets  properly  so-called. ^ 

This  character  shows  also  in  the  Book  of  Joshua,  which,  as  on  the  one  hand  it  introduces 
the  □'•ait::?''")  d^S'^n:,  follows  on  the  other  the  min,  the  Pentateuch.  While  in  former 
times,  under  the  supposition  that  "  the  law  "  constituted  an  absolute  literary  whole,  scarcely 
any  attention  was  given  to  the  all-pervading  relationship  between  the  Book  of  Joshua  and 

1  [Vi6  append  to  this  the  following  interesting  remarks  of  Keil,  on  the  prophetical  character  of  the  historical  books. 
"  These  books  thus  present  no  general  history  of  the  nation  of  Israel  in  its  merely  political  and  civil  development,  but  the 
history  of  the  people  of  God,  that  is  of  Israel,  in  its  theocratic  development  as  the  covenant  people  and  bearer  of  the  sal- 
vation which  from  the  seed  of  Abraham  was  to  be  revealed,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  to  all  peoples.  Their  authors  have 
accordingly  selected  and  delivered  through  pi'ophetic  illumination,  out  of  the  rich  and  various  multiplicity  of  family, 
tribe  and  national  history  furnished  by  written  and  oral  tradition,  only  those  facts  and  occurrences,  which  were  of  mo- 
ment toward  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  trOd.  These  were,  besides  the  revelations  of  God  in  word  and  deed,  and  he- 
sides  his  wonderful  works  and  the  prophetic  attestations  of  the  divine  counsel  and  will,  above  all,  the  moments  in  the  life, 
the  action  or  inaction  of  the  people  which  had  operated  to  further  or  obstruct  the  progress  of  the  divine  common- 
wealth. Whate^r  did  not  stand  in  intimate  connection  with  this  higher  aim  and  peculiar  calling  of  Israel  is,  generally 
(ioeaking,  entirely  omitted,  or  at  most  only  so  far  touched  upon  as  it  served  to  make  clear  the  position  of  the  entire  people 
or  of  its  leaders  and  governors  toward  the  Lord  and  his  kingdom.  Hence  we  readily  understand  the  apparent  iri- 
euuality  in  the  treatment  of  the  history,  that  here  and  there  long  periods  are  characterized  only  by  some  general  remarks, 
wiiile  the  fortunes  and  acts  of  certain  persons  are  portraye  I  with  almost  biographical  completeness;  that  the  natural 
c  luses  of  the  events  and  the  subjective  motives  which  determined  the  conduct  of  the  historical  personages,  remain  for  the 
I'lOst  part  unnamed,  or  are  only  incidentally  and  briefly  iutimited.  Tlie  divine  agency  and  influence  therein  are  mean- 
wiiile  constantly  made  prominent  and,  so  far  as  they  were  manifested  in  extraordinary  ways,  carefully  and  circumstan- 
tially related The  prophetical  character,  however,  by  which  these  historical  works  are  distinguished  from 

the  other  sacred  historical  writings  of  the  Israelites,  consists  in  this  :  that  they  describe  the  theocratic  history  not  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  individual  author,  but  in  its  actual  course  answering  to  the  progressive  unfolding  of  the  divine 
plan,  as  could  be  done  only  by  prophets  to  whom  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  had  4isplosed  thp  Tisjoa  of  God's  economy  of  b»1- 
ration."  —  Bib.  Comment w  iiber  d.  A.  T.   ii.  Ibeil,  1  UU.  p.  x.  f.  —  Ta.] 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


tlio  PenUteuch,  modern  criticism  has  the  unquestionable  merit,  both  of  recognizing  this  po- 
sition of  our  book  in  the  O.  T.  Canon,  and  of  instituting  profound  and  highly  instructive  in- 
vestigations concerning  it.  These  Knobel,  in  particular,  has  in  part  thoroughly  explained, 
and  in  part  independently  carried  still  further,  in  his  Criticism  of  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua 
(Kurzge/assles  exeget.  llanilbuch  zum  Alien  Testament,  xiii.  pp.  489-G06).  The  results  of  the 
investitrations  concerning  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Book  of  Joshua  may  be  found  in  shorter 
compass  in  Bleek's  Introduction  (o  the  0.  T.  [translated  into  EngUshby  Venables,  Lond.  1869], 
§§  137,  138,  where  they  are  summed  up  as  the  issue  of  minute  and  conscientious  researches  in 
§§  59-136.  Indeed,  so  many  and  so  various  are  tlie  points  of  mutual  approach  between  Joshua 
and  the  Pentateuch,  in  respect  both  to  language  and  to  facts,  as  obviously  to  raise  the  sus- 
picion that  the  two  together  originally  formed  one  great  work,  from  which  our  book  was,  only 
at  a  later  period,  perhaps  in  the  time  of  Ezra  (Bleek,  §  140),  separated.  To  set  one's  self 
against  this  discovery  because  the  "  neological  "  or  "  modern  "  criticism  has  first  brought  it  to 
light,  is  unworthy  of  believing  Scriptural  research. 

In  the  closest  connection  with  the  last  verse  of  Deuteronomy  (xxxiv.  5-12),  our  book  re- 
lates first,  how  Jehovah  commanded  Joshua  to  arise  and  cross  over  the  Jordan  to  take 
possession  of  the  land  which  He  had  given  to  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  then  declares 
further  how  Joshua  communicated  this  order  to  the  leaders  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same 
time  required  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  of  the  lieubenites,  Gadites,  and  half  of  Manasseh, 
who  had  already  received  of  Moses  (Deut.  xxxii. ;  Josh,  xiii.)  their  possession  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Jordan,  that  they  should,  according  to  the  conditions  fixed  by  Moses  (Deut. 
xxxii.  20),  take  part  in  the  coming  conquest  of  the  land  (ch.  i.).  Next  follows  the  account 
of  the  mission  of  the  spies  to  Jericho,  their  reception  by  Rahab,  their  danger,  deliverance, 
and  flight  (ch.  ii).  After  the  return  of  the  messengers  the  people  pass  over  the  Jordan, 
not  without  experiencing  a  proof  of  the  divine  assistance  in  that  the  passage  of  the  river  was 
accomplished  dryshod,  although  the  stream  at  that  season,  in  the  days  of  harvest,  was  un- 
usually swollen  with  the  water  (chaps,  iii.,  iv.).  In  the  fifth  chapter  we  are  informed  of  the 
circumcision  at  Gilgal  'and  of  the  first  passover-festival  on  the  soil  of  Canaan,  with  which 
closes  the  First  Section  of  the  First  Part  of  the  book.  The  preparation  for  the  holy  war,  of 
which  the  author  furnishes  us  a  report  in  that  Part,  is  now  finished.  And  Joshua  himself, 
the  leader  of  the  people,  has  been  strengthened  and  encouraged  by  a  special  manifestation 
from  above  (ch.  v.). 

Now  begins  the  narrative  of  the  struggles  between  Israel  and  the  Canaanites  (vi.  1-xi. 
23).  In  a  flowing  and  vivid  relation  the  author  depicts,  successively,  the  capture  of  Jericho, 
whose  walls  fall  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpets,  the  destruction  of  the  city,  the  rescue  of 
Rahab,  the  imprecation  on  the  foundation  and  site  (ch.  vi.)  ;  then  Achan's  crime,  the  unfor- 
tunate expedition  to  Ai,  Joshua's  humble  supplication  before  Jehovah,  the  discovery  and 
punishment  of  the  criminal  (ch.  vii.).  Upon  this  follows  the  truly  brilliant  description, 
characterized  by  the  greatest  vividness  of  representation,  of  the  conquest  and  destruction  of 
Ai  (ch.  viii.  1-29).  After  this,  however,  the  course  of  the  hitherto  well-ordered  narrative  of 
martial  exploits,  is  interrupted  by  an  account  (ch.  viii.  30-35)  of  the  altar  of  blessing  and 
curse  on  Mount  Ebal,  which  appears,  as  we  will  show  hereafter,  to  belong  properly  not  to 
this  place  but  rather  after  ch.  xi.  23.  For  the  conquest  of  the  land  is  not  yet  finished  ;  we 
hear,  on  the  contrary  (ch.  ix.  1,  2),  that  five  Canaanitish  kings  unite  themselves  in  a  formal 
league  against  the  triumphantly  invading  Israelites.  The  burghers  of  Gibeon,  having  heard 
what  Joshua  has  done  to  Jericho  and  Ai,  take  another  course,  that  of  cunning  and  stratagem, 
and  completely  attain  their  end.  Supposing  from  their  old  garments,  their  ruptured  wine- 
skins, their  tattered  shoes,  and  their  musty  bread,  that  they  had  come  from  a  distant  land, 
Joshua,  without  inquiring  of  Jehovah  (ch.  ix.  14),  concludes  a  treaty  with  them  by  which 
their  preservation  is  assured.  The  deception  is  afterwards  discovered,  but  the  promise  nev- 
ertheless maintained,  because  it  had  been  confirmed  (ch.  ix.  15)  by  a  solemn  oath  which  the 
princes  of  Israel  felt  themselves  bound  in  conscience  to  keep.  The  Gibeonites  are  not  de- 
stroyed, but  as  a  punishment  for  their  falsehood  they  are  made  wood-choppers  and  drawers 
of  water  for  the  congregation,  and  for  the  altar  of  Jehovah  (ch.  ix.  3-27). 

But  now  the  wrath  of  Adoni-zedek  and  his  allies  turns  against  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon, 
as  apostates  from  the  common  cause  who  must  be  punished  for  their  treachery  (ch.  x.  1—5). 
In  this  strait  the  latter  appeal  to  Joshua  for  help,  which  is  promptly  and  heartily  afforded. 
Specially  cheered  b^  Jehovah  he  advances,  smites  the  five  kings  in  the  great  battle  of  Gibeon, 


§  1.     CONTENTS.  7 


poetically  celebrated  (ch.  x.  12,  13)  by  an  after-age,  pursues  them  with  their  hosts  over  the 
pass  of  Beth-horon,  down  to  Azekah  and  Makkedah,  hangs  them,  when  the  pursuit  is  over, 
on  five  trees,  but  at  sundown  causes  their  corpses  to  be  taken  down  and  cast  into  the  cave  at 
Makkedah,  where  they  liad  been  found  concealed.  This  victory  over  the  five  kings  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  conquest  of  the  whole  southern  portion  of  the  land,  west  of  the  Jordan,  and 
Joshua  now  returns  to  the  camp  at  Gilgal  on  the  Jordan.  This  seems  to  have  remained  the 
head-quarters  of  all  these  operations  (ch.  x.).  Thus  the  south  of  the  country  west  of  the 
Jordan  —  of  Canaan  proper  (see  on  this  designation  §  6) — was  subjugated.  To  the  same 
fate  must  the  north  also  submit.  In  vain,  as  before  Adoni-zedek  gathered  the  kings  of  the 
south,  does  Jabin  king  of  Hazor  now  collect  about  him  those  of  the  north  in  a  second  com- 
.  pact  against  Joshua,  for  continuing  the  war  of  defense.  Like  sand  by  the  sea  for  multitude, 
is  the  host  which  they  bring  into  the  field  (ch.  xi.  4)  ;  but  with  surprising  rapidity  they  are 
reached  by  the  able  leader  of  Israel,  at  the  water  of  Merom,  where  they  are  encamped,  — 
reached,  surprised,  smitten,  annihilated.  For  after  this  defeat  also,  Joshua  fails  not  to  pur- 
sue and  to  so  strike  the  enemy,  that  he  "left  them  not  one  remaining"  (ch.  xi.  8).  Their 
horses  were  hamstrung,  their  chariots  burnt  with  fire.  The  history  of  these  events  is  more 
meagrely  given  than  that  of  the  capture  of  Jericho  and  Ai,  and  of  the  slaughter  at  Gibeon, 
but  not  less  plainly  and  vividly  (ch.  xi.  1-9).  After  now  reporting  further  (ch.  xi.  10-15) 
how  Joshua  took  the  cities  of  the  north,  except  those  which  stood  upon  hills,  and  slew  their 
kings  and  people,  while  he  gave  their  spoil  as  booty  to  his  army,  which  had  not  been  allowed 
at  the  taking  of  Jericho  (ch.  vi.  17  ;  vii.  1  fF),  the  author  closes  the  chapter  with  a  general 
review  of  the  conquest  of  the  whole  land  west  of  the  Jordan.  Here  he  recalls  particularly 
the  destruction  of  the  Anakim  in  the  mountain  of  Judah,  as  accomplished  by  Joshua  (ch.  xi. 
16-23).  With  this  closes  the  Second  Section  of  the  First  Part,  since  ch.  xii.  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  special  section.  It  contains  a  complete  list  of  the  kings  subdued  under  the  leadership 
of  Moses  and  Joshua,  on  both  sides  of  the  Jordan,  thirty-one  in  number.  Here  the  First  Part 
of  the  book  (chaps,  i.-xii.)  is  brought  to  a  conclusion. 

The  Second  Part  (chaps,  xiii.-xxiv.)  describes  the  division  of  the  conquered  .territory 
among  the  Israelites. 

A  considerable  time,  as  would  appear,  has  passed  since  the  conquest  of  the  land  (xiii. 
1).  Joshua  has  become  old ;  there  remains  also,  very  much  to  be  occupied,  partly  in  the 
southwest  "  where  the  territory  of  the  Philistine  kingdoms  was,"  and  partly  in  the  north, 
"  the  country  on  Lebanon  ;  "  yet  must  Joshua  now  undertake  the  distribution  of  the  land  (ch. 
xiii.  1-7)  among  the  nine  and  a  half  tribes.  The  mention  made  of  the  one  half  of  the  tribe 
of  Manasseh  leads  the  author  to  look  back  over  the  district  already  allotted  to  the  two  and 
a  half  tribes  east  of  the  Jordan  (ch.  xiii.  8-33),  where  the  remark  is  repeatedly  brought  in 
that  Joshua  gave  no  possession  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  because  the  sacrifices  of  Jehovah,  nay, 
Jehovah  himself  was  their  possession  (ch.  xiii.  14,  33).  In  the  following  chapter  (ch.  xiv.)  the 
writer  begins  his  account  of  the  division  of  the  land  (ch.  xiv.  1-5).  This  is  not  resumed 
.until  ch.  XV.  1  ff.,  so  that  the  narrative  concerning  Caleb's  demand  for  a  possession,  which  is 
repeated  in  another  form  ch.  xv.  13-19  (comp.  Judg.  i.  12-15),  shows  itself  plainly  an  intru- 
sive fragment.  For  clearness  of  arrangement,  we  may,  with  Bunsen,  conveniently  make 
these  two  chapters  the  First  Section  of  the  Second  Part,  and  then  group  ch.  xv.-xxi.  as  the 
second. 

These  seven  chapters  contain  —  with  the  exception  of  ch.  xv.  13-19,  xvii.  13-18,  xviii.  1-20, 
XX.  1-6  —  very  dry,  but,  for  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  land,  extremely  valuable,  notices,  which 
are  often  surprisingly  accurate.  In  a  few  places  only,  particularly  xvi.  5  ff.  and  xix.  34,  is 
the  sense  obscure  and  hard  to  determine,  as  will  appear  in  the  discussion  of  those  passages. 
A  degree  of  difficulty  characterizes  ch.  xvi.  1,  also,  as  has  been  noticed  particularly  by  Hauff 
(Offenharungsglaube  und  Kritik,  p.  139  ff.),  and  especially  ch.  xvii.  1,  where  "a  mass  of  ex- 
planatory phrases  "  is  found,  while  the  intervening  narratives  (ch.  xv.  13-19,  xvii.  14-18)  are 
distinguished  by  the  same  beauty  of  delineation  which  we  have  already  often  met  in  the  first 
part  of  the  book.  How  vividly  is  the  transaction  between  Caleb  and  his  daughter  given, 
how  freshly  and  succinctly  that  between  Joshua  and  the  exacting  sons  of  Joseph,  his  fellow 
tribesmen  ! 

The  thii-d  and  last  section  comprises  chaps,  xxii.-xxiv.  Here  the  release  of  the  two  and  a 
half  tribes  from  beyond  the  Jordan,  who  could  now  be  sent  home,  after  the  conquest  and 
allotment  o,f  the  country,  is  announced,  and  then  reported  in  detail ;  and  how  they  raised  an 


S  THE  BOOK  Oi  JOSHUA. 


altar  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Jordan,  the  building  of  which  excited  the  ill-humor  of  tire 
other  Israelites.  This  was  allayed,  liowever,  when  the  commission  sent  out  under  Phinehaa 
brought  back  a  satisfactory  explanation  (ch.  xxii.).  Next  follow  the  farewell  discourses  of 
Joshua,  the  first  delivered  probably  at  Shiloh,  the  second  at  Shechem  (ch.  xxiv.  1).  Old 
and  full  of  days  (ch.  xxiii.  1),  feeling  that  he  too  must  go  the  way  of  all  the  earth,  the  brave, 
disinterested,  pious  follower  of  Moses,  takes  leave  of  his  people,  admonishes  them  to  fidelity 
towards  Jehovah,  warns  them  against  apostasy  and  idolatry,  and  finally  lays  them  under  the 
obligation  of  a  solemn  renewal  of  the  covenant  (ch,  xxiv.  25).  To  commemorate  this  a 
monument  of  stones  is  erected  (ch.  xxiv.  26,  27).  One  hundred  and  ten  years  old,  the  pre- 
cise age  of  his  ancestor  Joseph  (Gen.  1.  22),  Joshua  dies  and  is  buried  at  Timnath-serah,  in 
his  own  city  (ch.  xxiv.  29,  30).  Wliile  he  and  the  elders  live,  Israel  serves  Jehovah  (ch. 
xxiv.  31).  But  Eleazar,  also  the  faithful  helper  of  Joshua,  the  son  of  Aaron,  the  high-priest 
of  Israel,  dies  and  is  buried  at  Gibeah-phinehas,  in  the  city  of  his  son,  who  as  being  distin- 
guished by  a  holy  zeal  for  the  true  worship  of  God,  was  exceptionally  provided  with  a  pos- 
session of  his  own  (ch.  xxiv.  33).  A  notice  concerning  the  bones  of  Joseph  is  inserted 
between  these  reports  of  the  decease  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar. 

If  now  we  look  back  and  bring  up  to  ourselves  once  more  the  total  impression  which  the 
Book  of  Joshua  makes,  it  may  be  said  with  reason  that  the  account  of  the  historical  events 
is  given  on  the  whole,  in  a  well-ordered  succession,  and  the  connection  but  seldom  broken ; 
and  further,  that  the  notices  concerning  the  division  of  the  land  are  characterized  in  general 
by  remarkable  clearness  and  accuracy.  This  is  especially  evident  when  one  compares  the 
corresponding  section  of  Josephus  (Ant.  v.  1,  22).  At  the  same  time  it  need  not  be  over- 
looked that,  as  manifest  interpolations  attest  (ch.  viii.  30-35,  x.  12-15,  xiv.  6-15,  xv.  13- 
19,  xvii.  13-18),  we  have  before  us  here,  as  little  as  in  the  Pentateuch,  an  original  work  em- 
anating from  one  author ;  but  rather  a  literarj^  product,  which,  although  finally  revised  with 
a.  view  to  unity  of  representation,  bears  plainly  on  its  face  the  marks  of  its  origin.  The 
book  itself  cites  (ch.  x.  13)  one  of  its  documentary  sources;  and  if  one  why  may  not  a  num- 
ber of  them  have  existed,  although  they  are  not  directly  quoted  ? 

Observation'.  The  Samaritan  Book  of  Joshua,  called  also,  Chronicon  Samaritanum,  of 
which  an  Arabic  translation  in  Samaritan  characters  exists  in  the  Leyden  Library  (printed 
under  the  title  :  Clironicon  Samaritanum,  Ed.  Joh.  Juynboll,  Lugd.  Bat.  1848),  is  pronounced 
by  De  Wette,  Ilengstenberg,  and  Ewald,  all  agreeing  on  this  point,  a  revision  of  our  Book  of 
Joshua,  with  an  addition  of  Samaritan  fables,  and  dating  from  late  in  the  Middle  Ages.  See 
De  Wette,  Intrnd.  to  the  0.  T.  §171.  Hengstenberg,  Authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch,  i.  5. 
Ewald,  Geschichte  d.  Volks  Israel,  ii.  p.  349,  350  ;  iv.  p.  247,  249.  ["  A  splendid  legend  "  from 
this  work  is  communicated  by  Stanley,  Hist,  of  Jew.  Ch.  i.  p.  245.  f.  —  Tit.]. 

§  2.  Origin. 

I.  Memorandum  of  Views  held  hy  leading  Authorities. 

According  to  the  Talmud  (Tr.  Bahabathra,  fol.  14,  2,  '^  Joshua  scripsit  librum  suum  et  octo 
versus  in  lege  "),  Joshua  was  the  author  of  the  book  which  bears  his  name,  Eleazar,  the  son  of 
Aaron,  the  high-priest,  then  added  the  conclusion  (ch.  xxiv.  29-32),  but  the  last  verse  of  all 
(ch.  xxiv.  33)  was  appended  by  Phinehas  (Baba  bathra,  15  a,  15  b ;  in  FUrst,  Kanon  des  Alten 
Testaments  nach  den  Ueberlieferungen  in  Talmud  und  Midrasch,  Leipzig,  1868,  p.  10).  Various 
older  theologians,  among  them  Starke,  appealing  to  ch.  xxiv.  26,  shared  this  view.  "  If,"  says 
Starke,  "  he  himself  wrote  the  covenant  made  with  the  people,  why  not  also  the  preliminary, 
and  in  part  very  important  and  necessary,  records  ?  "  The  same  argument  is  employed  also 
by  L.  Kbnig  (Alltest.  Studien,  i.  Heft:  Authentie  des  Buches  Josua,  1836,  p.  127),  as  well  as 
Baumgarten  (Herzog's  7i(?a/-^«c/yc/o/>.  vii.  40,  42),  to  sustain  Joshua's  authorship;  against 
which  Keil  (Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Joshua,  p.  xl.  [Martin's  Transl.  p.  39]),  remarks  how 
precisely  the  fact  that  the  writing  in  the  law-book  is  limited  to  the  renewal  of  the  covenant 
at  Shechem  proves  that  the  remaining  contents  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  were  not  recorded 
therein.  Iliivernick  (Einlcitung  in  d.  A.  T.  ii.  1,  pp.  26,  62),  resting  on  the  Kethib  in  ch.  v.  1,  6 
(JtS^?^),  combined  with  the  notice  in  ch.  xxiv.  26,  ascribes  the  entire  first  part  and  the  two 
last  chapters  to  Joshua,  while  he  refers  chs.  xiii.-xxii.,  after  the  example  of  Bertholdt  (p.  857), 
to  the  chorographical  descriptions  spoken  of  in  ch.  xviii.  1-10.  Gerlach  (Bibelwevk,  ii.  p. 
vi.)  supposes  it  probable  that,  after  the  example  of  Moses,  Joshua  himself  or  one  of  his  im 


§  2.    ORIGIN.  9 

mediate  attendants,  under  his  direction,  wrote  down  the  history  of  the  conquest,  and  there- 
upon of  the  division  of  the  land,  so  important  in  its  future  bearings,  and  exhibiting  traces  of 
very  hio-h  antiquity.  These  he  thinks  were  composed  in  separate  sections  whicli  then  some  edi- 
tor finished  out  with  tlie  account  of  the  renewed  covenant.  Keil  (ut  sup.  p.  xlvi.  [Eng.  Transl. 
p.  4G]  ;  Biblisch.  Com.  iiber  d.  A.  T.,  ii.  1,  pp.  5,  6)  denies  the  autliorship  of  Josliua  altogether, 
not  io  much  on  account  of  the  oft-recurring  phrase  (previously  urged  by  Spinoza  and  others), 
"n-^T}  Ci*n  "Xa  (chaps,  iv.  9 ;  v.  9  ;  vi.  25  ;  vii.  26  (bis)  ;  viii.  28,  29  ;  Lx.  27  ;  xiii.  13  ;  xiv.  14 ;  xv. 
63;  xvi.  10),  as  because  the  book  gives  account  of  occurrences  belonging  to  the  period  after 
Joshua's  death.  That  phrase  he  thinks  by  no  means  supposes  the  lapse  of  centuries,  but  is  em- 
ployed rather,  according  to  its  quite  relative  signification,  of  things  only  a  few  years  past, 
-although  he  fails  to  furnish  any  proof  of  this.^  Of  the  class  of  later  occurrences  he  reckons, 
above  all,  the  narrative  of  the  capture  of  Hebron  by  Caleb,  of  Debir  by  Othniel  (ch.  xv.  13-19), 
and  of  Leshem  by  the  Danites  (ch.  xix.  47),  as  well  as  the  statement  in  ch.  xv.  63  resting  on 
Judges  i.  8.  But  since  these  wars  and  conquests  might  have  occurred  not  long  after  Joshua's 
death  ;  since  moreover  the  book  contains  definite  proofs  that  it  was  composed  not  after  but  prob- 
ably hefore  the  estabhshment  of  monarchy  in  Israel  (ch.  xvi.  10  :  the  Canaanites  in  Gezer,  comp, 
1  K.  ix.  16  ;  the  Jebusites  yet  in  Jerusalem,  ch.  xv.  63,  comp.  2  Sam.  v.  3,  6-9  ;  a  place  for  the 
temple  not  yet  determined,  ix.  27,  comp.  2  Sam.  xxiv.  18  ff. ;  1  Chron.  xxi.  26  fF. ;  the  Gibeon- 
ites  still  wood-choppers  and  water-carriers,  ix.  27,  comp.  2  Sam.  xxi.  1  fF.)  ;  since,  finally, 
the  book  nowhere  shows  traces  either  in  its  style  or  contents,  of  later  times  and  relations, 
but  in  language  as  well  as  in  views  of  things  connects  itself  closely  with  the  Pentateuch  (of 
which  ch.  xiii.  4-6  ;  xi.  8  ;  xix.  28,  are  cited  as  examples  ^),  it  becomes  highly  probable  that 
it  was  composed  not  more  than  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  perhaps 
by  one  of  the  elders  who  had  crossed  the  Jordan  with  Joshua,  taken  part  in  the  conquest  of 
Canaan  (ch.  v.  1,  6),  and  lived  some  time  after  Joshua  (ch.  xxiv.  31 ;  Judg.  ii.  7).  Com.  on 
Joshua,  p.  xlvii.,  [47];  Bib.  Com.  ii.  1,  p.  7. 

So  Keil,-  who,  as  is  obvious,  has  given  up  the  old,  traditional  view  of  the  authorship  of 
Joshua,  while  yet  he  maintains  the  unity  of  the  book  and  its  high  antiquity.  This  latter  point 
was  disputed  already  by  Andreas  Masius,  by  Spinoza  and  Clericus,  who  placed  the  compo- 
sition of  the  book  in  the  time  after  the  exile,  in  which  they  have  been  followed  by  Hasse, 
Maurer,  and  De  Wette.  And  in  proportion  as  the  Pentateuch,  since  the  middle  of  the  pre- 
ceding century,  has  been  subjected  to  sharper  scrutiny  touching  its  unity,  our  book  has 
shared  the  same  treatment.  The  different  hypotheses  of  modern  criticism  enumerated  by 
Lange  (^Com.  on  Holy  Script.  Introd.  to  Genesis,  §§  3,  7),  the  Documentary  as  well  as  the 
Fragmentary,  the  Supplementary,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  theory  of  Ewald,  called  by  Delitzsch 
the  Crystallization  hypothesis,  to  which  quite  recently  Fiirst  inclines  (Gesch.  d.  Bib.  Lit.,  u. 
des  Judisch-hellenist.  Schriftthum,  i.  pp.  362,  404  ff.,  442  ff.  ;  to  be  compared  with  Diestel's 
Eeview,  in  the  Jahrbiichern  fur  Deutschen  Theologie,  xiv.  2,  pp.  338-342),  have  all  been  at- 
tempted with  reference  to  the  book  of  Joshua  as  well  as  to  the  Pentateuch.  Not  unsuccess- 
fully the  Supplementary  hypothesis,  in  reference  to  Joshua  in  particular,  has  found  defenders 
in  Bleek,  Knobel,  and  very  recently  in  Noldeke. 

According  to  Bleek  (^Inlrod.  to  the  0.  J".  §  137)  there  were  for  a  considerable  time  writings 
extant  concerning  the  events  of  the  period  between  the  death  of  Moses  and  that  of  Joshua, 
as  in  particular  concerning  the  division  of  the  land  among  the  several  tribes ;  precisely  as  in 
the  time  of  Moses  himself,  and  in  part  from  his  own  hand,  there  were  written  laws,  songs, 
census-rolls,  and  the  catalogue  of  the  nations.  But  a  connected  history  of  the  fortunes  of  the 
people,  either  in  the  Mosaic  period  or  in  that  of  Joshua,  had  not  then  been  composed.  Both 
were  produced  simultaneously  at  a  later  time,  and  in  all  probability,  in  the  age  of  Saul,  at 
which  time  the  work  of  the  so-called  Elohist  arose.  This  work  treated  only  of  the  main  epochs 
in  the  history,  those  of  special  importance  to  a  knowledge  of  the  relation  between  God  and 
man,  and  of  God's  providences.  Such  were  the  creation,  the  deluge,  the  choice  of  Abraham  and 
God's  convenant  with  him,  the  history  of  Jacob  and  Joseph,  then  that  of  Moses  and  Joshua, 
while  the  intervening  periods  were  only  summarily  touched  upon,  in  short  genealogical  lists 
which  served  to  join  together  two  Epochs  and  the  representative  personages  belonging  to  them. 

1  [Keil  does  adduce  {Bib.  Com.  p.  5),  as  an  instance  of  this,  the  statement  (ch.  vi.  25)  that  Rahab  is  liring  in  Israel 
«  unto  this  day."  —  Tr.] 

2  [In  these  passages  respectively,  "  the  Sidonians  alone  are  called  Phoenicians,  and  these  are  reckoned  among  the  Canaan. 
Ites  to  be  extirpated  by  Israel  (ch.  xiii.  4-6),  altogether  differently  from  the  view  of  David's  time  (2  Sam.  v.  11  ;  1  K. 
»h.  T.  ;  1  Ohr.  xiv.  1) ;  moreover,  Sidon  by  the  epithet  "  the  great  "  is  designated  as  the  capital  of  Phoenicia  (xi.  8,  xix. 
«)     while  as  early  as  David's  day  Tyre  had  taken  the  lead  of  Sidon.  "  —  Keil,  Bib.  Com.,  p.  7.  —  Tb.> 


10  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


The  greater  part  of  our  Book  of  Joshua  was  contained  in  this  oldest  history.  Probably  in  the 
age  of  David,  and  not  in  the  very  last  part  of  his  reign,  this  work  was  enlarged  and  rewronght 
by  a  later  hand.  The  older  writing  remains  the  foundation  ;  but  it  was  in  part  increased  by 
many  new  additions,  wliich  the  writer  either  found  already  extant  like  the  former,  or  himself 
first  wrote  down  from  previous  oral  traditions  ;  and  in  part  the  earlier  written  relations  were 
modified  by  additions  and  changes,  by  abbreviations  also  and  omissions  where  this  Jehovisl 
availed  himself  of  a  different  source  of  information,  concerning  the  same  circumstances  and 
events.  It  differed  from  the  previous  work  conspicuously  in  this,  that  the  author  names  God 
Jehovah,  from  the  very  beginning,  whereas  the  Elohist  had  refrained  from  that  designation 
before  the  time  of  Moses.  By  this  revision  the  earlier  work  gained  some  not  unessential 
additions,  but  lost  not  a  little  in  Hterary  unity.  It  embraced  (a)  the  first  four  books  of  the 
Pentateuch,  essentially  of  the  entire  compass  in  which  we  have  them,  but  with  trifling  ex- 
ceptions, particularly  Lev.  xxvi.  3-45  ;  {b)  the  report  of  the  death  of  Moses  (Deut.  xxxiv.  1- 
8),  taken  from  the  Elohistic  writing  ;  (c)  our  Book  of  Joshua  in  the  form  in  which  the  author  of 
Deuteronomy  found  it.  For  the  last  revision  of  the  work  was  effected  by  the  author  of  Deuteron- 
omy, at  whose  hand  the  whole  received  the  form  and  compass  in  which  it  lies  before  us  in  our 
Pentateuch  and  Book  of  Joshua.  The  author  of  this  revision  probably  took  the  above  work 
(that  of  the  Jehovist)  entire,  as  he  found  it,  allowing  himself  only  here  and  there  particular 
changes  and  additions,  especially  in  the  history  of  the  time  of  Joshua.  The  principal  alteration 
however,  consisted  in  the  expansion  of  the  writing  by  the  reception  of  Deuteronomy  itself  (chaps. 
i.-xxxiii.  It  is  possible  that  he  had  other  written  authorities  besides  the  Book  of  the  Jehovist, 
but  nothing  definite  can  be  made  out  on  this  point.  As  the  date  of  the  composition  of 
Deuteronomy  and  the  last  revision  of  the  whole  work,  the  reign  of  Manasseh,  King  of  Judah, 
in  the  first  half  of  the  seventh  century  before  Christ,  may  most  probably  be  assumed,  and  at 
all  events  a  time  not  later  than  the  eighteenth  year  of  Josiah  (624  B.  c).  Comp.  2  K.  xxiii. 
21,  w.  Deut.  xvi. 

According  to  Knobel  (Kritik  des  Pentateuch  und  Josua,  p.  496  ff.),  there  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua,  an  old  work  (Elohim  document,  Elohist,  Ground-text),  which 
relates  the  history  from  the  creation  to  the  division  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  is  distin- 
guished by  definiteness  of  plan  and  by  consecutiveness,  and  may  be  easily  followed  from 
Gen.  i.  to  Joshua  xxii.  The  composition  of  this  work  falls  in  the  time  of  Saul  (p.  523). 
The  author  was  beyond  question  an  Aaronide  or  priest.  This  we  learn  from  the  deep  inter- 
est which  he  takes  in  sacred  persons  and  usages,  and  his  accurate  acquaintance  with  those 
matters,  the  tabernacle,  for  instance,  and  its  furniture,  which  a  layman  would  ijot  have  known 
80  well  about.  He  lived  thei'efore  in  the  southern  part  of  the  country,  where  the  Aaronides 
had  their  residence  (p.  523).  From  this  ground-text  (as  Knobel  almost  everywhere  calls  it) 
the  other  parts  of  the  Pentateuch  deviate  widely  in  matter  and  style,  the  proof  of  which  is 
given  with  great  care  and  to  the  minutest  detail  (pp.  524-532),  but  they  altogether  lack  unity. 
There  are  indeed  non-Elohistic  sections,  as  in  our  book  chaps,  ii  -iv.  which,  overlooking  minor 
points,  have  been  plainly  made  up  of  two  different  elements.  The  same  two  elements  may 
then  each  for  itself  be  further  clearly  recognized  in  particular  sections,  the  one  e.  g.  in  Josh.  ch. 
xxiv.,  the  other  in  chaps,  vi.-xii.  They  appear  again  blended  with  i^lohistic  sections,  either 
one  or  the  other  or  both  together,  as  in  Josh,  xv.,  xvii.,  xviii.  The  old  ground-text  has  there- 
fore received  additions  from  two  other  documents.  These  two  documents  are  mentioned  by 
name  Num.  xxi.  14 ;  Josh  x.  13.  The  one  is  the  Law-book,  the  other  the  War-book.  Ac- 
cording to  its  name  (-itt?*n  "150,  book  of  the  right,  i.  e.  right-book,  law-book,  to  be  inter- 
preted after  nin"*.  ^3^2?3  ""tj"*-!  71WV,  "  to  do  what  is  right  in  Jehovah's  eyes,"  i.  e.  to  fol- 
low the  divine  law,  —  a  phrase  common  in  the  historical  books  to  designate  conformity  with 
the  law,  1  K.  xi.  3i',  38;  xiv.  8  ;  xv.  5,  11,  etc.  (?)),  the  former  contained  laws,  according  to 
Josh.  X.  histori(;al  reports  also,  and  according  to  2  ^am.  i.  18,  poems,  which  all  suits  with  th« 
first  document  of  the  Jehovist. 

In  this  book,  however,  which  originated  in  the  Northern  kingdom  (p.  544),  in  the  Assyrian 
period  (p.  54G),  there  was  an  older  "IK?*;!  "IpD  inwrought  which  is  designated,  Joshua  xxiv. 
26,  C^ribi^  rrnin  "12D.  This  older  Sepher  Jaschar  contained  already  most  of  the  laws  of 
the  law-book  employed  by  the  Jehovist,  especially  the  Mosaic  Decalogue  (Ex.  xx.),  probably 
also  the  blessing  of  Moses  (Deut.  xxxiii.),  of  the  time  of  Saul,  David's  lament  over  Saul  (2 
Sam.  i.)  and  the  hymn  of  triumph-  (Ex.  xv.),  which  dates  only  from  the  time  of  Solomon. 
Lower  than   Solomon  we  need  not  bring  it.     In  Jeroboam's  time  it  seems  to  have  been 


§  2.    ORIGIN.  IX 

already  known  (p.  547).     Where  this  older  law-book  was  composed  Knobel  does  not  say; 
probably  also  in  the  northern  kingdom. 

The  second  document  of  the  Jehovist,  the  War-book  (^>  nilJSnb^  'd  Num.  xxi.  14, 
"book  of  the  wars  of  Jehovah,"  i.  e.  the  wars  of  Israel  with  the  heathen,  p.  559),  contained 
a  great  number  of  warUke  narratives,  more  in  fact  than  all  the  others  together  (p.  559),  and 
appears  to  have  originated  in  the  southern  country  (p.  560),  as  it  agrees  very  nearly  in  mat- 
ter and  style  with  the  ground-text,  and  in  the  time  of  Jehoshaphat  (f  889).  The  author, 
from  his  interest  in  religious  legislation,  was  probably  a  Levite  (p.  560). 

The  Jehovist's  course  of  procedure  now  was  the  following.  He  laid  his  foundation  in  the 
Elohim-text,  which  is,  accordingly,  preserved  tolerably  complete ;  then  took  his  supplemen- 
tary matter  chiefly  from  his  two  documents,  more  out  of  the  law-book,  less  out  of  the  war- 
book,  since  the  former  offered  more  that  was  pecuUar,  the  latter  only  that,  in  many  places, 
which  lay  already  in  the  ground  text.  To  all  the  three  documents  he  adheres,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, word  for  word,  whether  he  extracts  from  them  great  or  small.  The  texts  have  for  him 
a  certain  inviolability,  and  he  is  guided  in  this  by  the  consciousness  that  he  has  before  him 
and  is  editing  venerable  works  of  Mosaic  authority.  He  is  concerned  to  harmonize  the  vari 
ous  reports,  and  effects  this  often  in  a  truly  ingenious  manner ;  witness  Gen.  xxi.  25  ff.,  xxvi. 
19  ff.  comp.  w.  xxvi.  15,  18  ;  Gen.  xxxv.  3,  7,  xxxv.  4  ff.,  14  ff. ;  xxxiii.  1-8  comp.  w.  xxxii.  21  ; 
xxxiii.  13,  etc.  In  many  cases,  however,  he  saw  the  irreconcilableness  of  his  authorities  and 
proceeded  mechanically  to  combine  the  different  and  contradictory  materials,  leaving  it  for 
the  reader  himself  to  bring  them  into  connection  and  harmony.  His  primary  endeavor  was 
to  preserve  the  contents  of  the  older  writer,  when  they  appeared  to  him  important,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  just  as  he  found  them.  Hence  even  what  was  divergent  also  might,  as  beinw 
something  independent,  seem  to  him  worthy  of  preservation ;  in  proof  of  which  Knobel  ad- 
duces Josh.  viii.  12,  13.  The  mechanical  nature  of  his  process  appears  from  the  retention  of 
remarks  which  in  the  originals  stood  quite  correctly,  but  in  the  combination  of  sources  should 
have  been  omitted,  as  in  Josh.  x.  15.  Frequently,  however,  in  his  supplementary  additions, 
he  allowed  himself  considerable  freedom,  transposing  particulars,  retrenching  incompatible 
designations  of  time,  but  especially  interweaving  little  additions  into  the  reports  of  his  pre- 
decessors, where  they  appeared  to  him  appropriate,  and  especially  where  necessary  to  har- 
monize differences.  The  introduction  of  a  historical  sentence  into  the  discourse  of  God, 
Josh.  xiii.  1,  likewise  exhibits  this  freedom.  On  the  whole,  the  author  shows  great  tact,  since 
he  often  applies  with  real  aptness  his  additions  to  the  statements  of  his  predecessors  (e.  g. 
Gen.  xii.,  xiii.,  xvi.,  xxxii.,  xxxix.).  On  the  other  hand,  the  signs  of  the  compilatory  process  are 
indeed  plain  and  numerous  enough  (pp.  573-578).  He  cannot  have  hved  before  the  Assyrian 
period,  because  he  has  the  law-book  and  war-book  before  him  (p.  570).  Since,  moreover, 
the  law-book,  especially,  comes  down  (p.  546)  to  Hezekiah,  the  last  years  of  this  king  are 
about  the  earliest  date  to  which  the  Jehovist  can  be  assigned.  He  probably  sprang  from  the 
kingdom  of  Israel.  For  he  has  a  fondness  for  the  law-book,  and  cleaves  very  closely  to  that 
in  the  contents  and  mode  of  expression ;  is  not  offended  by  the  plurality  of  sacred  places ; 
gives  the  account  (Gen.  xxxii.  24  ff.)  of  God's  WrestUng  with  Jacob,  which  no  one  else  but 
Hosea  (xii.  4  f )  mentions  ;  and  finally  he  uses  many  expressions  which  occur  elsewhere  only 
in  writings  of  the  northern  kingdom,  and  separately  in  those  of  later  date,  e.  g.  the  W  praef. 
Gen.  vi.  3  ^ ;  TVW,  "  to  wrestle,"  Gen.  xxxii.  29  [Eng.  28]  as  also  in  Hosea  xii.  4  ;  "l^l"^, 
"thistle,"  Gen.  iii.  18,  as  also  in  Hos.  x.  8;  pirf  "pregnancy,"  as  also  Hos.  ix.  11,  etc.  (p. 
579).  As  modijied  now  by  this  Jehovist  the  Elohistic-Jehovistic  Work  is  preserved  from  Gen. 
i.  to  Num.  xxxvi.  (p.  497). 

Into  that  work  still  another  writer  (pp.  589,  590),  the  Deuteronomist,  has  at  a  later  period 
inserted  his  discourses,  repetitions,  and  laws,  and  among  them  wrought  in  a  number  of  explana- 
tions, also  several  accounts  of  events  which  the  Jehovist  had  taken  from  the  law-book  and  ap- 
pended to  Num.  xxxvi.  He  did  not  meddle  with  the  first  four  books,  but  rewrought  that 
merely  which  followed  Num.  xxxvi.  by  giving  to  it  its  present  great  expansion,  and  furnishing 
it  besides  with  special  additions.  He  is  the  last  elaborator  of  the  law.  His  statement  Deut. 
xxxi.  9,  belongs  to  the  imprudent  expressions  which  we  often  meet  with  in  him  [!] 

His  hand,  however,  is  to  be  traced  after  Deut.  xxxiv.  also,  in  places,  as  far  as  to  Josh,  xxiv., 
but  not  at  all,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  later  books  of  Judges,  Ruth,  and  Samuel  (pp.  487,  579). 
His  language  affords  the  chief  proof  of  the  age  to  which  he  belonged  (p.  591).     It  is  closely 
1  [But  cOmp.  Lan£«,  Gen.  in  tbc.  (cobt.  Taylor  Lewis)  s  Comnt,  HA.  Cknst.  p.  48.  —  Tb.] 


12 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


related  to  that  of  Jeremiah,  and  other  late  writers ;  for  which  evidence  is  adduced  (p.  591). 
But  we  have  no  sufficient  reasons  for  bringing  the  author  down  into  the  age  following  the  exile. 
At  that  time  certainly  they  no  longer  allowed  themselves  to  deal  so  freely  with  the  law-book, 
and  increase  it  with  new  laws,  as  this  author  does.  He  must  have  lived  in  the  last  days  of  the 
kingdom  ofJudah,  perhaps  under  Josiah,  and  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  importance,  or  he 
would  not  have  made  so  bold  as  to  take  considerable  liberties  with  the  book  of  the  law  (p.  591). 

At  the  close  of  Knobel's  critique  upon  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua  he  has  given  in  tabular 
form  a  synopsis,  in  accordance  with  the  foregoing  view,  of  the  several  ingredients  of  the 
Pentateuch  and  Joshua  (pp.  600-606),  which  we  here  append,  for  the  better  comprehension 
of  his  theory  :  — 


Ground-text. 

Law-book.                           War-book. 

JelioTist. 

Deuteronomist. 

ii. 

i.  1,  2, 10-16. 

i.  3-9, 17, 18. 

iii.  1,  7-17. 

iii.  2-6. 

It.  15-17, 19. 

iT.  la,    4-7,14,18,  20- 

24. 
V.  1-9, 13-15. 

iT.  1  b-8,  8-13. 

▼.  10-12. 

vi.  l-17a,  18-21,24,26, 

27. 
Tii.  except  Ter.  25  in  pt. 

vi.  17  b,  22,  23, 25. 

Tii.  25  in  part. 

Tiii.  12, 13,  30,  31  in  pt. 

Tiii.  1-11, 14-29. 

Tiii.  31  in  pt.,  32,  33 

33inpt.,34inpt.,35. 

ix.  exc.  Ter.  27  in  pt.  x. 

34  in  part, 
ix.  27  in  part. 

X.  12-15,  exc.  ver.  13  in 

1-11, 16-43. 

X.  13  in  part. 

part. 

xi.,xii. 

xJii.  15-33. 

xiii.  2-5,  6  in  pt.  9-14. 

xiii.  1, 7, 8. 

xiii.  6  in  part. 

xir.  1-5. 

xiv.  6-15. 

XT.  1-13,  20-44, 48-62. 

XT.  14-19. 

XT.  45-47,  63. 

xvi.  1-9. 

xTi.  10. 

xvii.  1-10. 

xTii.  14-18. 

XTii.  11-13. 

xriii.  1,  2, 11-28. 

XTiii.  3-10. 

xix.  exc.  ver.  47. 

xix.47. 

XX.  1,2,  3  in  part,  4,  5a. 

XX.  3  in  pt.,  5  b,  6  in 

6  in  part  7-9. 

part. 

xxi.  1-40. 

xxi.  41-43. 

xxii.  5. 

xxii.  9-11, 13-15,  21,30- 

xxii.  7,  8. 

xxii.  1^,  6,  12,  16-20, 

[16. 

33a. 

22-29,  33b,  34. 

xxiii.  1  b.  2  b. 

xxiii.  2  in  pt.  4-8  11, 

xxiT.  exc.  ver.  1,  in  part. 

xxiii.  1  a,  2  in  pt.  3,  9, 
10, 12-15. 

XXIT.  1  in  part. 

Noldeke  (Alttest.  Literatur,  p.  25  ff.)  pronounces  the  separation  of  two  chief  sources  in 
Genesis  and  the  following  books,  among  which  he  also  includes  the  Book  of  Joshua,  as  the 
first  result  of  critical  investigation.  Ode  of  these  sources  is  a  single  and  homogeneous  writ- 
ing (p.  26),  showing  throughout  the  same  systematic  proportion,  and  regularity  (!)  as  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis.  It  gives  for  the  most  part  only  short,  outline  statements,  with  little 
of  pictorial  filling  up,  but  shows  a  certain  heaviness  and  verbosity  of  style,  and  a  special  fond- 
ness for  reciting  names  and  for  numbers.  Very  recently,  in  his  Researches  toward  the  Criti- 
cism of  the  0.  T.  (  Untersuchungen  zur  Kritik  d.  A.  T.,  Kiel,  1869),  Noldeke  has  still  more  closely 
examined  this  ground-text  and,  like  Knobel,  traced  it  also  in  the  Book  of  Joshua.  The 
other  source  is  not  so  homogeneous.  In  it  again  two  main  writings  are  distinguishable  (0.  T. 
Lit.  p.  26),  one  of  which  is  the  work  of  the  second  Elohist,  first  clearly  brought  to  view, 
throughout  Genesis  at  least,  by  Hupfeld,  while  the  other  has  the  Jehovist  for  its  author  (0. 
T.  Lit.  p.  26,  Researches,  p.  3).  This  Jehovist,  the  most  talented  of  all  the  writers  of  the 
Pentateuch  {Res.  p.  3),  has  used  the  work  of  the  second  Elohist  as  a  main  authority,  and 
taken  from  it  large  portions  in  so  independent  a  way  that  what  is  due  to  the  Jehovist  him- 
self is  not  always  clearly  to  be  separated  (as  Hupfeld  and  also  Knobel  assume)  from  what 
he  has  borrowed  of  the  Elohist  {Res.  p.  3).  A  redactor,  difierent  in  Noldeke's  view  from  the 
Jehovist  {Res.  p.  3),  combined  now  this  work  of  the  Jehovist  with  the  ground-text.  But  the 
Deuteronomist,  who  is  to  be  distinguished  again  from  the  Jehovist,  thrust  into  the  work  of  the 
redactor  almost  the  whole  of  the  present  book  of  Deuteronomy,  and  completely  rewrought  the  por- 
tions relating  to  Joshua  {Res.  p.  5,  0.  T.  Lit.,  27,  30).  The  time  of  writing,  Noldeke  defines  in 
the  works  quoted  {0.  T.  Lit.  p.  31  fi".,  Researches  p.  138  ff.),  so  as  to  place  Deuteronomy  in  the 
reign  of  Josiah,  the  redactor  about  the  year  800  or  soon  after,  the  ground-text,  —  whose  author 
was  a  priest  at  Jerusalem,  —  in  the  10th  or  rather  the  9th  century  before  Christ.  About 
this  last  period  also  originated,  he  thinks,  the  older  materials  of  the  Pentateuch  generally  {0. 
T.  Lit.  p.  32,  Res.  p.  140).  Among  these  older  materials  Noldeke  counts  the  two  ground- 
texts  which  were  combined  in  the  work  of  the  Jehovist.  But  there  are  besides  in  the  Pen- 
tateuch still  older  sources,  which  also  must  be  borne  in  mind,  because  all  these  writings  refer 
to  them  and  occasionally  make  use  of  their  words  {0.  T.  Lit.  p.  32).  Thus  we  have  'ome  fi  ag- 


§  2.    ORIGIN.  13 

meats  of  ancient  songs,  for  one  of  which  "  the  book  of  the  wars  of  Jehovah  "  is  cited  as  a 
source  (Num.  xxi.  14).  In  Josh.  x.  13  likewise  "  the  hook  of  the  upright"  is  quoted,  in  Miich, 
according  to  2  Sam.  i.  18,  stood  a  song  of  David,  which^  therefore  could  not  have  been  written, 
at  the  earliest,  before  the  time  of  this  monarch. 

The  traces  of  tlie  ground-text  have  been  followed  by  Noldeke,  in  his  investigations,  both 
in  the  Pentateuch  and  in  the  Book  of  Joshua,  with  much  acuteness.  In  our  book  their  dis- 
covery is,  in  his  view,  rendered  specially  difficult  by  the  subsequent  modifications  eifected  by 
the  Deuteronomist  (Researches,  pp.  94,  95).  He  finds  that  text  in  the  folloAving  passa^-es  : 
ch.  iii.  1,  iv.  19,  v.  10-12,  vi.  20,  24  (?),  ix.  15  b,  17-22,  27,  x.  28-43  essentially  ;  ch.  11  (only 
accordances  with  the  ground-text)  ;  ch.  xii.  originally  belonging  to  it  but  interpolated  ;  xiii. 
15-xxi.  40,  substantially  throughout ;  ch.  xxii.  (has  a  report  from  the  ground-text  for  its 
basis)  ;  xxiv.  33.  (Researches,  pp.  94-106,  where  the  details  which  we  cannot  here  repeat 
may  be  found.) 

n.     Estimate  of  these  Views, 

Our  former  assertion  that  the  supplement-hypothesis  had  not  unsuccessfully  tested  itself 
on  the  Pentateuch  and  Book  of  Joshua,  is  sufficiently  sustained  by  this  representation  of  the 
researches  of  the  critics  we  have  named.  For  they  agree  among  themselves  and  with  still 
others,  as  e.  g.  Hupfeld,  (1)  in  the  assumption  of  a  common  ground  writing  (Elohim-text) 
for  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua,  whose  date  is  fixed  in  the  earliest  period  of  the  Hebrew 
monarchy,  the  author  of  which  is  designated  as  a  priest,  dwelling  in  the  southern  part  of 
Palestine  ;  (2)  in  the  further  assumption  that  the  last  redaction  of  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua 
took  place  in  the  time  of  Josiah,  or,  at  the  earliest,  under  Manasseh  (Bleek),  by  the  hand 
of  the  Deuteronomist,  who  at  the  same  time  incorporated  into  it  his  own  work  (Deut.  i.- 
xxxiii.),  itself  also  resting  in  part  on  old  reports,  and  that  he  worked  over  the  Book  of  Joshua 
more  than  either  of  the  others,  which  he  left  comparatively  untouched ;  (3)  in  the  assump- 
tion in  general  of  a  great  Jehovistic  element,  on  the  composition  of  which,  however,  in  par- 
ticulars, their  opinions  differ.  Bleek  is  the  most  cautious,  avoiding  definite  discriminations 
and  rejections.  Knobel  and  Noldeke,  after  the  example  of  Hupfeld,  and  in  part  that  of 
Ewald,  are  bolder,  and  suppose  they  recognize  within  this  Jehovistic  composition  the  two 
main  writings,  which  Knobel  (very  unfortunately  imitating  Ewald's  passion  for  giving  names 
to  the  particular  documents)  designates  as  Law-book  and  War-book.  We  may  freely  allow- 
that,  as  the  first  part  of  Joshua  at  once  shows,  such  different  portions  of  the  great  Jehovis- 
tic element  may  be  pointed  out;  but  that  the  "lE7»n  1DD  cited  Josh.  x.  13, 1  Sam.  i.  18,  was 
one  of  the  authorities  of  the  Jehovist,  and  the  '»"'  niisnbsi  D,  Num.  xxi.  14,  was  the  other,  is 
certainly  a  mistake.  The  two  books  are  to  be  regarded  rather,  with  De  Wette,  Bleek,  Fiirst, 
Noldeke,  Hitzig  (Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel,  p.  102),  [Keil,]  and  many  others,  as  lyrical 
books,  and  nm^  like  the  plural  form  □"^"127."'  (Num.  xxiii.  10,  Ps.  cxi.  1),  as  a  poetical  des- 
ignation of  Israel,  properly  "  the  pious  congregation,"  and  so  precisely  like  the  poetical  ]5ntt;> 
which  comes  from  a  ground-form  "litt?^  =  -ICJ^ :  comp.  ]bp  and  Itip.  (See  Fiirst,  Ge- 
schichte der  Bibl.  Literal,  p.  457,  Anmerk.  3.)  They  were  ancient  sources  to  which  Noldeke, 
among  many  others,  quite  distinctly  points,  poetical  sources,  and  neither  law  nor  war  books. 
Although  Knobel,  therefore,  may  be  perhaps  essentially  right  in  distinguishing  two  chief 
writings  or  documents  of  the  Jehovist,  the  designation  which  he  gives  them,  and  the  result- 
ing identification  of  them  with  the  poetical  productions  mentioned,  we  must  oppose.  And 
so  far  as  we  know,  he  has  in  this  found  no  followers  hitherto.  How  these  two  chief  writ- 
ings were  related  to  each  other,  whether  each  existed  independently  by  the  side  of  the 
other  (Hupfeld,  Knobel),  or  whether  the  Jehovist,  as  Noldeke  supposes,  directly  compounded 
his  work  and  that  of  the  second  Elohist  (the  law-book  of  Knobel)  ;  whether  this  Jehovist 
was  the  same  as  the  redactor  (Bleek,  Knobel),  or  the  redactor  was  different  from  the  Jeho- 
vist (Noldeke),  those  are  mere  questions  which  yet  await  a  conclusive  answer,  and  will  perhap 
never  find  one  completely  satisfactory.^ 

1  [I.  t.  the  song  could  not ;  of  the  book  it  would  only  be  true  that  it  could  not  have  heen  Jinished  earlier.  —  Tr.] 

2  [To  most  English-speaking  Christians  the  freedom  with  which  these  critics,  especially  Knobel,  discuss  the  sacred 
books  will  give  pain  as  being  irreverent  and  apparently  incompatible  with  sincere  Christianity.  Such  Christians  gener- 
ally hold  that  the  Church  of  Christ  does  rest  "  on  the  authenticity  of  the  New  Te.'Jtanient  Books,"  and  they  on  tha 
0.  T.  theocracy,  and  that  on  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament  (see  Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis  in  this  Bible-work, 
p.  99,  Obs.).  And  there  is  evidently  danger  that  the  too  extensive  analysis,  composition,  and  recomposition  of  these 
books  should  impair  confidence  in  their  divine  authority.  Yet  Knobels  labors  on  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua  have 
deem  not  only  of  prodigious  toil,  but  in  various  respects  of  great  value.     The  same  is  true  in  their  several  proportion* 


14  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


As  for  our  own  view,  we  cannot,  especially  after  the  example  of  Bleek,  avoid  giving  in 
our  adherence  to  the  supplement-hypothesis.  Yet  it  seems  to  us  too  rash,  to  undertake  as 
Knobel  does,  to  point  out  even  to  minutiae,  now  this  and  now  that  author's  hand.  Noldeke's 
procedure  is  already  much  more  cautious,  most  moderate  that  of  Bleek,  who  contents  him- 
self with  intimations.  Neither  do  we  venture  more,  when  we  express  the  opinion  that  in 
the  first  part  of  the  Book  of  Joshua,  as  also  again  in  the  last  three  chapters,  the  Jehovistic 
character  prevails  ;  that  within  this  Jehovistic  portion  different  elements  may  be  distinguished, 
as  was  aheady  indicated  in  §  1,  and  as  the  exegesis  will  show  in  the  particular  cases;  that 
in  the  second  part,  on  the  contrary,  as  specially  in  the  description  of  the  division'  of  the  land, 
the  ground-text  prevails,  itself  resting  again  on  other  records,  perhaps  even  of  Joshua's  time ; 
that  finally,  and  particularly  in  ch.  i.  and  xxiii.,  perhaps  also  elsewhere  (ch.  vii.  25,  viii.  31, 
etc.),  the  hand  of  the  Deuteronomist  is  plainly  to  be  recognized.  That  this  Deuteronomist 
was  author  of  Deut.  i.-xxxiii.,  appears  to  us  to  be  a  fact  which  cannot  longer  be  success- 
fully denied.  It  may  doubtless  be  questioned,  however,  whether  admonitions,  warnings,  and 
particularly  also  prophecies  of  Moses  did  not  survive  in  oral  traditions,  or  in  separate  records, 
which  in  the  time  of  Manasseh  and  Josiah,  were  revised  and  edited,  as  we  might  say,  in  a 
free,  very  beautiful,  and  edifying  manner,  and  that  too  without  any,  the  slightest  pious  fraud, 
but  in  good  faith,  and  the  fullest  persuasion  of  the  perfect  justifiableness  of  such  a  literary 
attempt.  In  reference  to  Moses  himself,  we  hold  firmly  with  Bleek  against  Knobel  (Kritik, 
p.  592),  that  written  records  from  his  hand  are  very  probably  to  be  recognized.  We  main- 
tain the  same  in  regard  to  Joshua,  and  cannot  therefore  allow  that  ch.  xxiv.  26  is  a  fic- 
tion.^ 

§  3.  Credibility. 

The  history  of  the  conquest  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  as  related  in  our  book,  has  given  great 
offense  to  the  heathen  opponents  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  at  first,  to  the  Manichseans, 
afterwards,  and,  in  njore  recent  times,  to  the  English  deists,  and  the  rationalists  of  Germany ; 
see  the  proofs  in  Lilienthal :  Die  gute  Sache  der  goltlicKen  Offenharung,  Th.  iv.  p.  891  ff. 
Eichhorn,  among  many  others,  in  his  Introduction,  p.  403  (in  Keil's  Commentary  on  Joshua,  p. 
liii.  [Eng.  Trans,  p.  52])  speaks  very  strongly,  exclaiming  with  high  moral  indignation  : 
"  How  impious  is  the  narrative  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  I  It  makes  God  not  only  give  away 
to  the  Israelites,  against  all  right,  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  the  Canaanites  as  the  first  oc- 
cupants most  justly  held,  but  also  sketch  out  a  horrid  plan  for  its  conquest,  and  directly  order 
the  most  dreadful  bloodshed  and  the  total  extinction  of  the  Canaanites.  Who  can  reconcile 
this  with  even  a  partially  correct  view  of  the  Godhead  ?  "  Eichhorn  objected  not  only  to 
this  procedure  against  the  Canaanites,  as  recorded  in  our  book,  but  particularly  also  to  the 

of  the  other  men  to  whom  we  refer  ;  and  in  estimating  their  religious  character  we  are  doubtless  bound  to  consider  care- 
fully what  Lange,  in  the  passage  just  referred  to,  has  intimated  concerning  the  distinction  between  Rerelation  and  the 
written  record  of  it  as  the  ground  of  the  Kingdom  of  Qod.  Charity  will  often  be  constrained  to  hope  that  the  distinc- 
tion is  soundly  drawn. 

But  apart  from  this,  and  conceding  that  scientific  research  is  equally  allowable  touching  the  Word  and  the  works  of  God, 
the  fancifulness  and  "  subjectivity  "  of  such  elaborate  and  minute  specifications  as  some  of  those  above  summarized,  and 
the  tenuity  of  many  of  the  reasons  assigned,  provoke  laughter  rather  than  argumentative  confutation.  That  one  should 
gravely  split  a  verse  in  numerous  passages  so  as  to  refer  the  various  fragments  to  their  respective  authors,  and  should 
be  obliged  to  do  it  to  save  his  theory,  is,  to  most  minds,  slaughtering  the  theory  at  its  birth.  Our  curiosity  is  nat- 
urally raised  by  such  attempts  to  imagine  what  the  next  speculator  in  Biblical  criticism  will  propose  for  our  wonderment ; 
nay,  we  inquire  what  even  the  same  mind,  after  having  dropped  for  a  time  and  forgotten  the  particulars  of  his  previous 
fabrication,  would  invent,  if  he  were  to  take  up  the  whole  subject  anew.  We  believe  Knobel  has  never  been  outdone  in 
Ingenuity  of  fiction  ia  this  province  of  literature,  except  by  Ewald,  whose  theory  (briefly  outlined  in  Smith's  Dictionary 
of  Ihf.  Bible,  vol.  iii.  p.  2411,  Am.  ed.)  must  probably  yet  bear  the  palm.  It  would  seem  that  the  climax  is  admitted  to 
have  been  reached,  and  subsequent  writers,  of  whatever  theological  school,  —  even  Nbldeke,  —  while  maintaining  gener- 
ally the  composite  character  of  these  books,  are  much  more  modest  in  attempting  to  partition  the  authorship.  —  Tr.] 

1  [The  reader  interested  in  the  question  concerning  the  origin  of  our  book  (connecting  itself  so  closely  with  that  of 
the  Pentateuch)  will  do  well  to  consult  again  the  '  General  Introduction  to  the  0.  T.  "  by  Lange  in  vol.  i.  of  his  Commen- 
tary on  the  O.  T.  and  Prof  Lewis'  "  Special  Introduction  to  the  Book  of  Genesis  "  there.  Add  Dr.  Oonant's  brief  but  com- 
prehensive Introduction  to  the  Book  of  Gemsis  in  his  revised  version,  the  articles  on  Genesis,  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  in 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  with  particular  reference  to  the  additions  of  the  American  edition.  The  translator 
would  only  say  further  that  ia  his  judgment  there  seems  to  be  no  good  ground  for  the  reluctance  with  which  many  ot 
even  the  most  reverent  of  recent  German  scholars  admit  the  possibility  that  Moses  and  Joshua  should  have  written 
considerable  parts  of  the  works  that  bear  their  names.  In  the  darkness  which  covers  the  details  of  the  subject  it  is 
a  priori  probable  that  those  leaders  should  have  written,  or  caused  to  be  written,  very  much  of  such  history  and 
Buch  statutes  as  their  reputed  books  contain.  And  certainly  no  other  names  present  themselves,  during  the  period 
within  which  all  agree  that  the  main  body  of  this  literature  must  have  been  composed,  as  nearly  so  likely  to  have  ef- 
fected the  authorship.  If  this  bo  conceded  the  modifications  and  additions  of  subsequent  redactions  need  have  been 
much  less  thorough  am  tranaformiug  than  is  generally  supposed.  See  Milman's  interesting  Note,  Uist.  of  Jewi,  L 
160. —Ta.] 


§   3.    CREDIBILITY.  15 

miracles,  whose  reality  he,  like  Paulus,  disputed,  and  which  he  then  attempted  to  explain  in 
the  well-known  ways.  The  substance  of  the  book,  it  is  true,  he  thought  could  not  have  been 
fabricated ;  the  events  were  stamped  with  the  unmistakable  seal  of  antiquity  (iii.  399  fF.  in 
Havernick,  Einl.  in  d,  A.  T.  ii.  1,  p.  3),  but  we  must  carefully  distinguish  between  the  view  of 
the  author  Avhich  is  conceived  as  narrowly  as  possible,  and  the  history  contained  in  the  book. 
De  Wette  went  still  further  when  he  declared  that,  "  as  in  the  Pentateuch,  the  narrative  is, 
in  its  prevailing  character,  mythical"  (Inti'od.  to  O.  T.  §  16G).  Afterward  he  added,  fol- 
lowing Maurer,  "but  there  are  also  individual  instances  of  real  history,  as  ch.  i.  11,  comp.  y. 
12;  iii.  4,  comp.  v.  15  ff."  {Introd.  to  0.  T.  p.  214,  4  [Germ.]  ed.). 

Applying  a  sharper  criticism,  yet  from  a  position  of  belief  in  revelation,  G.  A.  HauiF 
has  discussed  the  question  of  credibility,  or  histoi'ical  truth,  in  the  Treatise  :  "  Offenharungs- 
fjlaube  und  Krltik  der  hiUlschen  Geschichtshucher  am  Beisplele  des  Buches  Josua  in  Hirer  noth- 
wendigen  Einheit  darr/ethan  (Belief  in  Revelation  and  Criticism  of  the  Historical  Books  of  the 
Bible  exhibited  in  their  necessary  Unity,  in  the  Case  of  the  Book  of  Joshua"),  Stuttgart,  1843." 
Having  in  the  first  part  of  his  work  sharply  defined  the  process  of  Biblical  criticism,  as  such 
that  the  style  and  mode  of  representation,  the  person  of  the  writer,  the  use  of  authorities, 
the  time  of  the  composition,  plan,  and  design,  and  especially  also  the  credibility  of  the  his- 
torian must  lie  open  to  free  investigation,  in  which  however  the  religious  element  of  this  his- 
tory is  to  be  constantly  kept  in  mind  (p.  65  IF.),  he  proceeds  to  apply  these  principles  to  the 
Book  of  Joshua,  and  finds  memorable  contradictions  in  its  statements  :  (a)  to  the  statements 
of  other  books ;  (b)  among  themselves.  The  former  class  relate  to  the  unity  of  the  people, 
the  conquest  and  division  of  the  land,  the  religious  institutions,  the  religious  character  of  the 
people,  the  mode  of  divine  worship ;  the  latter  principally  to  the  conquest  of  the  land,  the 
conquering  personages,  the  division  of  the  land,  the  genius  and  character  of  Joshua  and  of 
the  people,  the  divine  worship.  While,  for  instance,  as  HaufF  proceeds,  p.  70  if.,  the  Book 
of  Joshua  reports  to  us  that  the  ivhole  people,  without  exception,  stood  under  the  command 
of  Joshua  (ch.  i.  2;  iii.  1),  that  the  whole  land,  excepting  the  coast-strip  and  Geshur  on  Her- 
mon  (xiii.  1-3),  was  captured  by  Joshua,  and  distributed,  this  account  of  the  leadership  of 
Joshua  over  the  whole  people  cannot  easily  be  reconciled  with  the  question  raised  in  the  very 
first  verse  of  the  Book  of  Judges  (p.  76).  The  situation  in  which  they  there  stand  indicates 
that  the  whole  land  has  by  no  means  yet  been  taken ;  and,  in  reference  to  the  division  of 
the  whole  land,  the  notice  in  Judg.  xviii,  1  squarely  contradicts  the  data  of  our  book.  Now 
as  regards  this  notice  compai'ed  with  Josh.  xix.  40-46,  the  explanation  will  be  found  in  the 
commentary  on  that  passage  ;  but  in  reference  to  the  other  two  supposed  contradictions  be- 
tween Judges  and  Joshua,  we  think  that  question,  who  should  lead  the  war  against  the  Ca- 
naanites,  after  the  death  of  an  all-controlling  personage,  like  Joshua,  is  easily  explainable, 
the  more  so,  as  he  had  died  without  designating  a  successor  in  the  office,  as  Moses  had  once 
done.  It  not  only  proves  nothing  against  his  single  leadership,  but  shows  on  the  contrary, 
how  greatly  they  needed  such  a  "  duke  "  as  Joshua  had  been. 

No  more  can  we  allow  any  formal  contradiction  between  Joshua  and  Judges  in  respect  to 
their  views  of  the  conquest  of  the  land.  According  to  HaufF  (and  in  tliis  others,  e.  g.  Noldeke, 
have  followed  him),  this  discrepancy  exists  also  within  the  Book  of  Joshua  itself  (p.  Ill  fF.),if 
the  accounts  of  the  first  part  are  compared  with  those  of  the  second.  Here,  however,  Ewald 
appears  to  us  to  have  hit  the  truth  (Hist,  of  the  People  of  Israel,  ii.  p.  342,  2d  ed.)  when  he 
assumes  that  Joshua  incontestably,  in  the  first  years  of  his  invasion  of  Canaan,  subjugated  the 
land  on  all  sides  and  received  the  submission  of  the  entii-e  body  of  the  Canaanites,  as  many  as 
were  spared  :  when  he  declares  further  that  on  closer  consideration  no  doubt  is  left  that  even 
then,  after  the  first  victory  over  Canaan,  much  of  really  permanent  importance  had  been  accom- 
plished (of  Avhich  character  he  reckons  the  division  of  the  land,  the  establishment  of  the  tab- 
ernacle in  Shiloh,  the  institution  of  different  religious  usages  and  ordinances  pertaining  to  the 
cultus,  particularly  the  appointment  of  the  Levitical  cities,  pp.  337,  341)  ;  when  he  shows 
finally  —  and  this  is  of  principal  moment  hei'e,  —  how,  out  of  this  new  condition  of  things  itself, 
there  must  directly  arise  new  dangers  (p.  342).  For,  although  the  conquest  had  been  effected 
with  great  rapidity  (p.  336),  the  first  expeditions  of  the  Hebrews  could  be  little  more  than 
what  the  Arabs  in  all  the  three  quarters  of  the  globe  called  Algharen,  or  rather  (since  the 
Hebrews  had  no  cavalry,)  razzias,  swift  forays,  that  is,  for  momentary  conquest  rather  than 
for  the  permanent  subjugation  of  the  land;  and  when  the  camp,  whether  of  many  united  or 
of  single  tribes,  was  at  a  distance,  then  certainly  after  the  raids  had  passed  by,  the  dense 
columns  of  the  inhabitants  would  soon  gather  again,  having  promised  submission,  indeed,  but 


1(5  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


for  the  most  part  without  any  thought  of  rendering  it  (p.  342).  With  great  propriety 
Ewald  then  reuiinds  us  fm-tlicr  how  long  it  was  before  the  Saxons  in  Enghmd,  the  JNIohamine- 
dan  Arabs  in  Egypt,  were  entirely  established.  In  this  view  of  the  case  we  cannot,  although 
fully  recognizing  the  dillcrcnt  documents  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  om*  book,  in  this  respect 
either,  affirm  any  proper  contradiction  between  it  and  the  Book  of  Judges,  or,  within  the  Book 
of  Joshua,  between  its  first  and  second  parts. 

In  reo'ard  to  the  religious  institutions,  Hauff  considers  the  difliculties  to  be  still  more  im- 
portant (p.  84).  Shechem,  made  a  free  and  Levitical  city  (Josh.  xx.  7;  xxxi.  21),  appears 
in  Judges  ch.  Lx,  as  a  common  city  provided  with  idolatrous  worship  (ver.  4,  4G),  in  which, 
therefore,  a  Levite  in  the  sense  of  the  Mosaic  law  cannot  possibly  be  imagined.  But  could 
not  idolatry,  in  an  age  of  disorder  like  that  of  the  Judges,  when  idolatry  broke  in  every 
where,  iuvade  Shechem  also  ?  Again,  is  it  anything  contrary  to  the  historical  accuracy  of 
the  account  given  in  Josh.  xxi.  of  the  assignment  of  the  Levitical  cities,  and  to  the  high 
legal  respect  which,  as  we  learn  from  Josh.  viii.  and  xxii.  priests  and  Levites  enjoyed,  that 
at  the  same  period,  according  to  Judg.  xvii.  7,  xix.  1,  "  a  Levite  from  Bethlehem-Judah  wan-' 
ders  about  homeless  ?  "  We  need  only  consider  that  the  excellent  system  established  must 
be  gradually  carried  into  effect,  and  that  for  this  the  time  following  Joshua  was  not  especially 
suited. 

When  in  regard  to  the  religious  condition  of  the  people  in  general,  we  are  told  that  it  was 
excellent  under  Joshua,  but  afterwards  (Judg.  iii.  7)  was  such  that  idolatry  had  universalbj 
crowded  out  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  we  may  certainly  concede  that  Joshua  xxiv.  31  (corap. 
also  Judg.  ii.  7)  favors  this  view ;  but  the  word  of  Phinehas  to  the  Gileadites  (xxii.  1 7)  as  Avell 
as  the  whole  transaction  of  Joshua  with  the  people  at  Shechem  (xxiv.  1  ff.),  and  in  particu- 
lar his  demand  that  they  should  put  away  their  false  gods  (xxiv.  23),  proves  how  untrust- 
worthy the  rehgious  disposition  of  Israel  was,  how  strongly  the  people  inclined  to  idolatry, 
how  easily  they  might  fall  back  into  it. 

Of  the  contradiction  between  statements  made  in  different  parts  of  the  book  itself  (of 
which  Hauff  treats,  p.  102  ff.)  one,  and  perhaps  the  most  notable,  we  have  already  explained. 
For  the  most  pai't  the  matters  enumerated  are  properly  the  same  as  in  comparing  this  book 
with  the  Book  of  Judges.  We  select  one  more  point  only,  which  Hauff  himself  brings  up, 
when  he  writes,  p.  128:  "In  general  it  is  statements  in  relation  to  ivorslnp  —  the  place  where 
it  should  be  offered,  as  well  as  the  persons  on  whom  its  duties  devolved  —  in  which  we  find 
discrepancies  hard  to  be  reconciled.  At  first  the  main  camp  is  at  Gilgal  (v.  9  ff.),  even  after 
the  altar  was  built  (viii.  30-33,  xiv.  6)  on  the  mountains  Ebal  and  Gerizim  (?)  ;  finally,  the 
tabernacle  is  reared  in  Shiloh  (xvii.  1),  and  there  is  also  the  abode  of  the  heads  of  the  people 
(xxi.  1  f.)  ;  there  the  people  come  together  to  consult  about  the  attempt  of  the  two  and  a 
half  tribes  to  build  an  altar  beyond  the  Jordan ;  there,  also,  perhaps  the  heads  of  the  people 
(xxiii.  2)  were  collected  with  Joshua.  But  how  comes  it  that  in  ch.  xxiv.  1,  Shechem  is  the 
place  of  meeting,  since  here,  a  solemn  covenant  is  adopted  and  a  written  document  concern- 
ing it  de])osited  with  the  law-book  (ver.  26)  ?  Still  further ;  the  holy  ark  is  in  many  places 
the  symbol  of  the  jjresence  of  Jehovah;  in  ch.  iii.  it  is  borne  in  front  in  the  passage  of  the 
Jordan  ;  so  ch.  vi.  at  the  destruction  of  Jericho  ;  in  neither  of  these  chapters  is  a  word  said  of 
the  tabernacle,  not  even  in  connection  with  the  residence  in  Gilgal ;  ch.  xviii.  first  tells  of  its 
erection  in  Shiloh,  ch.  xxii.  19  names  a  '^'^  ]2tZJ^  there ;  while  ch.  xxiv.  1,  on  the  contrary, 
speaks  of  an  assembly  of  the  peojile  DTibSH  \3Db  in  Shechem;  and  ver.  26  of  a  "'"^  li^'iTi7*? 
there,  beside  a  great  terebinth-tree.  Those  are  certainly  not  harmonious  intimations,  but 
they  involve  no  essential  contradiction.  For  if  the  tabernacle  is  not  mentioned  in  the  ac- 
count of  the  capture  of  Jericho  (ch.  vi.),  but  its  erection  is  first  reported  after  the  entire 
land  was  conquered  (ch.  xviii.  1),  we  find  the  one  fact  as  natural  and  appropriate  to  circum 
stances  as  the  other.  What  could  the  tabernacle  have  to  do  with  the  storming  of  a  town  ? 
Quite  otherwise  was  it  with  the  chief  possession  of  the  tabernacle,  its  most  remarkable  piece 
of  furniture  symbolizing  the  presence  of  Jehovah  —  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  —  which  could 
be,  as  it  was,  carried  before  the  people.  And  in  reference  to  Shiloh  and  Shechem,  to  the 
"»"'  "ISti'P  in  Shiloh  and  the  "^"^  tI7"l|7!2  in  Shechem,  we  easily  understand  them  both  side  by 
side.  There  are  already  nascent,  self-developing  relations  in  which  Shiloh  represents  the 
unity  of  the  cuUus  at  which  Moses  aimed,  whidi  Joshua  also,  and  Eleazar  and  Phinehas 
strove  after,  Avhile  the  "^"^  li^UP^  at  Shechem  looks  back  yet  to  the  patriarchal  time  as  well  as 
to  the  transaction  recorded  in  ch.  viii.  30  ff. 


§  4.     CHRONOLOGY.  17 


So  much  ia  reference  to  some  of  the  principal  objections  of  HaufF.  These,  even  if  we  add 
what  the  author  says,  p.  191  ff.,  concerning  the  scope  and  date  of  the  book  of  Joshua,  are  not 
strong  enough,  in  our  judgment,  to  bring  down  th§.  historical  value  of  the  book,  as  HaufF, 
evidently  iniluenced  very  strongly  by  De  Wette  (p.  204),  would  do.  He  comes  to  the  result, 
in  regard  to  chaps,  i.-xi.  at  least,  that  the  author  "  aimed  not  to  give  any  history  of  Joshua,  in 
our  sense  of  the  word  ^  history  '  but  a  history  of  the  taking  of  the  land  of  Canaan  by  the  Israelites 
under  the  mighty  poiver  of  God;  that  the  person  Joshua  is  indeed  gathered  out  of  the  history, 
and  the  events  as  such  for  the  most  part  belong  to  the  real  history,  but  that  the  plan  and  arrange- 
ment serve  a  higher  end."  This  higher  end  indeed  he  understands  to  be  essentially  of  a  re- 
ligious and  moral  kind,  —  to  enliven  zeal  for  Jehovah  and  his  service  by  a  representation  of 
God's  dealings  with  his  people,  only,  according  to  Hauff's  conception,  the  end  so  influences  the 
narrative  that  the  facts  are  shaped  to  correspond  to  it  fp.  237).  The  consequence  of  this 
theory  is  the  mythical  conception  of  the  Biblical  history.  This  meets  us  in  Nijldeke  quite  un- 
qualifiedly, wliile  Ewald  flivors  it,  but  only  in  part.  Now  we  will  grant  that  the  Book  of  Joshua 
"  aims  to  give  no  history  of  Joshua  in  our  sense  of  the  word,"  for  that  would  have  required 
our  time  with  its  rich  scientific  helps,  and  its  advanced  scientific  culture.  But  that  the  book 
would  give  the  facts,  as  they  survived  partly  in  written  records,  partly  in  oral  tradition,  with- 
out enslaving  them  to  any  higher  aim,  even  though  that  were  the  highest  of  which  a  Hebrew 
writer  could  conceive  —  the  interest  of  Jehovah's  worship,  —  that  we  cannot  give  up.  "  A 
higher  aim,"  in  itself  we  would  not  deny,  as  may  be  seen  from  §  1,  only  we  would  and  must 
dispute  that  this  affected  the  writing  of  the  history  in  such  a  way  that  out  of  the  history  there 
comes  at  last  a  fiction,  and  that  one  proceeding  on  these  principles  feels  obliged  to  concede, 
in  regard  to  Moses,  e.  g.,  that  "  on  the  whole  it  results  from  the  criticism  of  the  Pentateuch, 
alas  !  that  the  noble,  living  image  of  Moses,  as  we  find  it,  especially  in  Exodus  and  Numbers, 
wears  no  historical  features,  but  is  mainly  a  grand  creation  of  later  hands.  Of  the  histori- 
cal Moses  there  remain  to  us  only  a  very  few  certain  traces ;  at  the  bottom  we  know  surely 
concerning  him  only  that  he  was  Israel's  leader  out  of  Egypt,  and  gave  a  mighty  impulse  to 
the  religious  development  of  his  people  "  (Noldeke,  0.  T.  Lit.  p.  26).  That  truly  would  be 
little  enough,  and  strongly  reminds  us  of  similar  assertions  of  Strauss,  according  to  which 
Christ  is  likewise  a  grand  creation  of  a  later  hand,  an  imagination  of  the  apostohc  congre- 
gation. 

The  primary  stumbling-block  for  most  of  the  critics  is,  when  wereach  the  bottom,  miracles, 
which  ai'e  assumed  beforehand  to  be  something  impossible,  and  incongruous  with  rational  con- 
ceptions, whether  we  find  them  on  Old  or  New  Testament  ground.  Hauif  does  not  deny  this  ; 
he  explains  rather  :  "  the  interpreter  of  the  Bible  must  not  bring  to  his  work  the  assumption 
beforehand  that  miracles  are  impossible.  With  all  his  effort,  and  all  his  force,  it  cannot  be 
got  rid  of  sometimes  that  the  Biblical  historians  intended  to  relate  miracles  "  (p.  211;.  On  these 
principles  he  proceeds,  although  disavowing  the  purpose  of  Rationalism,  to  fish  up  in  the  ac- 
counts of  miracles  some  expressions  out  of  wliich  the  original,  natural  occurrence  might  possibly 
be  discovered  (p.  211).  On  the  other  hand,  however,  HaufF  objects  to  om*  author  that  he  is 
accustomed,  in  order-  to  suit  his  design,  to  treat  of  miracles  with  intentional  exaggeration  of 
the  supernatural  (p.  215)  ;  and,  with  reference  to  this  his  design,  in  a  given  case  would 
attempt  an  enhancement  of  the  miracle  (p.  223)  ;  in  view  of  which  the  miraciUous  narratives 
in  him  "  must  be  apprehended  quite  otherwise  than  elsewhere."  How  far  this  assertion  is 
correct  or  otherwise,  will  be  shown  by  the  particular  examination  of  the  five  miraculous 
accounts,  in  eh.  ill.  and  iv. ;  v.  13-15;  vi. ;  vii. ;  x.  12-15.  On  our  own  general  position 
as  to  this  matter,  toe  may  be  permitted  here  to  remark  merely,  that  we  most  certainly  hold  to 
the  possibility  of  miracles,  because  God  is  a  living  God  (iii.  10),  and  can  find,  therefore,  in  mirac- 
idous  narratives  no  objection  to  the  credibility  of  a  Biblical  Bool;  while  yet  we  would  not,  on  thi» 
account,  avoid  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  reports  existing  in  regard  to  them. 

§  4.     Chronology. 

The  chronological  data  afforded  by  our  book  are  very  few,  but  enough  at  least  to  guaran- 
tee some  standards  for  fixing  the  reckoning  of  time.  Chap.  iv.  19  we  are  told  that  on  the 
tenth  day  of  the  first  month  (Abib)  the  people  "  came  up  out  of  the  Jordan,"  but,  unfor- 
tunately, not  as  in  1  Kings  vi.  1  is  the  year  after  the  Exodus  given.  We  learn  nothing 
further  than  that  the  passage  of  the  river  took  place  in  the  spring  of  the  year.  If  now  we 
place  the  Exodus,  according  to  the  common  view,  about  1500  b.  c.  (1496  b.  c,  Fiirst,  Gesch. 


18  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


d.  Bill.  Lit.  p.  351),  we  reach  the  time  about  14G0  as  the  date  of  the  passage  of  the  Jordan 
But  here  arises  the  second  question,  How  many  years  were  required  for  the  conquest  of 
Canaan  ?  upon  which  follows  the  third,.  How  long  Joshua  held  the  government  altogether, 
or,  Wliat  space  of  time  does  our  book  embrace  ?  For  answer,  we  have  the  passages  ch.  xi. 
18  •  xiv.  7  10  11  •  xxiii.  1  ;  xxiv.  29.  In  ch.  xi.  18  it  is  only  reported  in  general  that  Joshua 
wafted  war  a  long  time  W'Z''}  C^"^  with  the  Canaanite  kings.  Ch.  xiv.  7,  10, 11,  leads  to  a 
more  accurate  determination  of  this  period,  since  Caleb  says  he  was  forty  years  old  when 
Moses  sent  him  out  to  explore  the  land  of  Canaan  (ver.  7),  and  Moses  swore  to  him  that  he 
would  give  him  as  an  inheritance  the  land  to  be  conquered  by  him  (ver.  9),  that  now  forty-fvfi^ 
years  have  past  since  Jehovah  spoke  this  word  to  Moses,  which  (=  during  which)  Israel  loan- 
dered  in  the  wilderness.  Here  evidently  "  the  years  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan  during  which 
Israel  had  not  yet  come  into  the  peaceful  possession  of  the  land,  are  in  a  loose  expression 
added  to  those  of  the  wandering  in  the  wilderness,"  as  all  interpreters  without  differenctt 
admit ;  because,  when  Caleb  offered  this  petition,  the  conquest  of  the  land,  as  ch.  xiv.  5, 
ao-reeing  Avith  ch.  xi.  23,  declares,  was  abeady  completed.  How  long  then  did  the  con 
quest  require  ?  Since  the  mission  of  the  spies  under  Moses,  with  which  coincides  in  time 
the  promise  of  God  to  Caleb  which  the  latter  here  recalls  (see  the  Comm.),  took  place  in  the 
second  year  of  the  Exodus  (Num.  xiii.  14  ;  Deut.  ii.  14),  and  the  wandering  in  the  wilderness 
lasted  from  that  time  exactly  thirty- eight  years,  as  Deut.  ii.  14  states,  Jewish  tradition  had 
already  quite  accurately  determined  the  time  required  for  the  conquest  to  be  45-38  =  7  years 
(Joses  Seder  Olam,  ch.  xi.  in  Fiirst,  ubi  sup.  p.  408).  This  was  adopted  by  Theodoret,  whom 
Keil,  Gerlach,  Bunsen,  of  modern  commentators,  and  Fiirst  (but  with  peculiarities  and  various 
emendations  of  the  text)  have  followed.  Josephus  on  the  contrary  {Ant.  v.  1,  19)  gives  the 
duration  of  the  conquest  as  only  five  years.  He  says,  I.  c.  "Etos  Se  -Keix-KTov  j^Srj  wape\7]\veei  Kal 
Xavauaioiv  ouicer  obSeh  uTroAeAeiTrro,  ttAV  «'  P-'h  '''"'f^  ^^^  oxvpoTarov  rei^os  Si^<pvyov.  Ewald  supposes 
the  author  of  ch.  xiv.  10  also  thought  only  of  five  years,  which  certainly  seems  very  probable 
when  Ave  consider  the  fondness  of  the  Hebrews  for  reckoning  in  round  numbers.  Knobel  is 
of  the  same  opinion,  remarking  on  ch.  xiv.  15,  "  the  wars  of  Joshua  therefore  had,  according  to 
our  author,  lasted  about  five  years."  To  pronounce  a  definite  judgment  is  difficult,  and  is 
quite  unnecessary,  as  the  difference  between  five  and  seven  years  is  of  no  consequence.  But 
when  Fiirst  (ubi  sup.)  assumes  that  the  conquest  occupied  seven  years  in  all,  five  of  which 
were  spent  in  the  south  and  two  in  northern  Palestine,  the  text  gives  no  clear  and  definite 
support  for  his  opinion. 

There  still  remains  the  third  chronological  question,  How  long  in  all  did  Joshua  hold 
the  government  ?  which  is  the  same  as,  What  space  is  covered  by  our  book  ?  Chap,  xxiii. 
1  speaks  just  as  vaguely  as  xi.  18  of  G'^S'1  Q"*^^,  after  which  Joshua,  who  was  already  old 
and  advanced  in  years,  C^JS"*!!!  S2l  )pT,  held  the  hational  assembly.  Inch. xxiv.  29  it  is  said 
that  he  Avas  one  hundred  ai^d  ten  years  old  when  he  died.  These  are  all  the  notices  which  the 
Book  of  Jashua,  and  even  the  whole  Bible  gives.  We  find  more  in  Josephus,  who  reports,  Arit. 
V.  1,  29  :  Kal  6  ju«c  (so.  'Irjo-oDs)  roaavra  irphs  tovs  wapSvTas  StaXexdels  reAfvra,  fiiovs  kKarhv  err)  Ka]  Ssku, 
Sif  Mouaet  /jLfv,  err]  otSa(TKa\ia  -rSiv  xP'n<^'^l^<^''i  ffvvdi4rpi\pe  TeaaapaKovra,  arparriyhs  Se  fxera  tV  fKelfov 
Te\fvTT]vylveranrii'Te  koL  iiKoai.  Here  the  life  of  Joshua  is  defined,  in  agreement  with  ch.  xxiv. 
29,  as  having  covered  one  hundred  and  ten  years,  of  which  forty  belonged  to  the  period  in 
Avhich  Joshua  was  yet  with  Moses,  and  tAventy-five  to  that  of  his  sole  leadership.  There  are 
then  forty-five  years  left  for  the  time  before  the  Exodus.  EAvald  (ubi  sup.  pp.  330,  331)  and 
Fiirst  (p.  351)  maintain  that  Josephus  took  this,  in  their  opinion  trustworthy,  notice  out  of 
"  an  old  document  Avliich  did  not  show  the  gaps  of  the  » book  of  Origins,'  as  Ewald  calls  the 
ground-text"  (p.  330).  At  the  same  time  EAvald  Q.  c.  Rem.  3)  and  Fiirst  (p.  351,  Rem.  4) 
call  to  mind  that  other  writers  of  these  later  centuries  give  always  twenty-seven  (Theoph.  Ad 
Autol.  3,  24;  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  i.  21 ;  Euseb.  Chron.  I.  pp.  160,  170  of  the  Armen.  trans- 
lation, and  G.  Syncellus,  Chronogr.  p.  284,  ed.  Bonn),  and  Eupolemos  (ap.  Euseb.  Prce.p. 
Evanfj.  9,  30;  10,  14)  names  even  thirty  years.  Nay,  the  Chron.  Sam.  Arab.  ch.  39,  gives 
him  forty-five  years  dominion,  but  in  other  places  (ch.  xxi.,  xxv.)  onlytAventy-one.  Of 
these  higher  figures  the  number  tAventy-seven  is  explained  by  supposing  that  the  conquest 
was  reckoned  as  occupying  seven  years ;,  the  others  appear  to  be  taken  quite  arbitrarily. 
Starke  also  sjjcaks  of  twenty-seven  years,  referring  to  this  reckoning  among  the  Christian 
Fathers,  as  folloAvs  (Pre/,  to  Joshua.  §  10,  p.  5)  :     "  The  clironology  of  this  book  is  variously 


§  4.    CHRONOLOGY. 


19 


given ;  some  assume  twenty-seven  years  "  ;  but  he  then  immediately  adds  :  "  others,  however, 
with  more  probability,  only  seventeen,  from  the  beginning  of  Joshua's  rule  to  his  death.  The 
latter  rest  on  1  Kings  vi.  1,  since  from  the  Exodus  to  the  temple  of  Solomon  there  are  reckoned 
four  hundred  and  eighty  years.  For  the  government  of  Joshua  there  are  actually  left 
seventeen  years,  if  we  reckon  before  and  after  that  government  as  follows  :  — 

(a.)   From  the  Exodus  to  the  government  of  Joshua  are          ...  40  years. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  government  of  Joshua  to  the  division  of 

the  land 7  " 

From  the  beginning  of  the  division  to  the  death  of  Joshua        .          .  10  " 

From  Joshua  to  Eli                299  " 

"  (e.).  From  EU  to  Samuel  (1  Sam.  iv.  18) 40  " 

"(/')  From  Samuel  to  David  (Acts  xiii.  21) 40  « 

"  (g.)  From  David  to  Solomon  (1  K.  ii.  11) 40  " 

"  (Ji.)  From  the  accession  of  Solomon  to  the  beginning  of  the  building  of 

the  Temple       ..........  4  " 


(c.) 


480" 

Instead  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  years,  we  read  in  Acts  xiii.  20  of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  years  only;  in  Josephus,  on  the  contrary  (Ant.  viii.  3,  1),  of  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
two,  and  in  two  other  places  (Ant.  xx.  10,  1,  Cont.  Apion,  2,  2),  of  even  six  hundred  and 
twelve  years.  In  the  passage  in  Acts  (xiii.  20)  the  number  four  hundred  and  fifty  is  given 
not  as  chronologically  exact,  but  approximate  only  (^^)>  and  can  therefore  decide  nothing 
against  1  K.  vi.  1  (Biihr,  Bibelwerk,  A.  T.  vii.  p.  41).  But  Josephus  contradicts  himself; 
four  hundred  and  eighty  years  must  therefore,  with  Ewald,  Winer,  Thenius,  Rosch,  Bahr, 
and  very  recently  also,  Hitzig  (Gesch.d.  Voltes  Israel,  i.  pp.  13,  14),  be  held  as  correct.  This 
being  done,  then,  if  we  take  the  twenty-five  years  of  Josephus  for  the  rule  of  Joshua,  the 
period  of  the  Judges  must  be  shortened,  against  the  reckoning  of  Starke,  by  eight  years, 
tlius :  — 

(a.)  ...........      40  years. 


(b.  and  c.) 
(d.)  . 

(..) 

(/•)  . 

iff-)  ■ 

(h.)  . 


25 
291 
40 
40 
40 
4 

480 


Since,  however,  Josephus  generally,  as  Ewald  himself  concedes,  is  not  "a  good  chronolo- 
gist "  (p.  484),  we  ought  not  to  lay  too  much  stress  on  his  twenty-five  years  in  and  of  them- 
selves (comp.  also  the  explanation  of  ch.  xviii.  4  AT.  in  reference  to  the  date  eV  e^SS/xca  yttrjvi  in 
Ant.  V.  1,  21,  ad  Jin.).  It  is  possible  that  Joshua's  command  lasted  so  long,  and  so  Des  Vignoles 
and  Winer  also  assume,  and  that  our  book  embraces  thus  a  space  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  but  it 
is  possible  also  that  this  space  luas  shorter.  The  results  of  our  investigation  woidd  accordingly 
be  these:  (1)  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  by  the  people  of  Israel  took  place  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  about  1460  B.  c. ;  (2)  the  conquest  was  effected  in  not  less  than  five,  at  the  most  in  seven, 
years  (14G0-1455  or  1453  b.  c.)  ;  (3)  the  leadership  of  Joshua,  embraced  a  period  of  at  least 
fifteen  years,  at  the  most  twenty-seven  (1460-1445  or  1433  B.  c.)  ;  (4)  the  same  number  of  years 
is  included  also  in  our  book. 

Observation  1.  The  time  of  the  elders  mentioned  in  ch.  xxiv.  51,  and  again  in  Judg.  ii.  17,  we  agree  with 
Ewald  in  ascribing  to  the  "ll"^  of  Joshua.  He  assumes  that  to  the  time  of  Solomon  from  the  Exodus  (that  be- 
ing regarded  as  the  iermimisa  quo  of  the  Hebrew  time-reckoning,  p.  479)  such  n"i"li"^,  twelve  of  forty  years 
each,  are  to  be  recognized  (pp.  481,  482).     So  also  Fiiret,  pp.  351,  352,  409. 

Observatiox  2.  Departing  altogether  from  all  other  inquirers,  Bunsen,  in  his  Biblischen  Jahrbiicliern,  incor- 
(Wrated  into  his  Bibelwerk,  vol.  i. ,  places  the  crossing  of  the  .Jordan  in  the  year  1280  n.  o.  on  the  authority  of  Egyp- 
tian and  Assyrian  chronology.  He  further  assumes  that  Jloses  died  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  the  Exodus  (1299 
B.  c);  thai  Joshua,  who  at  that  time  took  upon  him  the  command,  completed  the  conquest  and  division  of  the 
land  in  seven  years,  and  immediately  thereupon,  in  the  forty-seventh  year  of  the  Exodus  (1274  b.  c),  closed  his 
life.     Acwrding  to  this  reckoning  also  Joshua  was  leader  of  the  people  for  twenty-five  years  (pp.  cxxviii.,  cxxx.). 


20  THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

not  all,  however,  in  Canaan  proper,  but  cigliteen  years  in  tlie  land  east  of  the  Jordan,  and  seven  on  this  side.  Tht 
accuracy  of  the  ehronoloi;ical  notice  contained  in  1  K.  vi.  1,  Bunsen  likewise  disputes,  since,  accordin;?  to  hia 
calculation,  the  Exodus  took  place  in  the  year  1;J20  n.  C.  during  the  nineteentli  Kgyptian  dynasty,  and  the  build- 
ing of  the  Temple  in  1004  «.  c.  during  the  twenty-first  dynasty,  not  four  hundred  and  eighty  years,  therefore, 
but  only  three  hundred  aud  sixteen  after  the  Exodus. 

§  5.   Character  of  Joshua. 

As  at  the  time  of  tlie  Exodus,  wliicli  as  an  event  of  the  very  highest  significance  was  ever 
after  retained  in  the  mind  of  the  people  so  vividly  as  to  become  their  epoch  for  the  reckon- 
ing of  time,  as  then  Moses,  the  chosen  instrument  of  God's  providence,  led  his  nation  and 
imp-essed  upon  it  the  stamp  of  his  own  mighty  soul ;  so  Joshua,  in  the  period  immediately 
subsequent,  carried  forward  the  work  already  begun,  and  by  the  establishment  of  a  regulated 
theocratic  commonwealth,  brought  it  to  a  definite  conclusion.  His  period  is,  as  we  at  least 
cannot  but  view  it,  sometliing  more  than  "  a  beautiful  twilight  after  the  descending  sun  of 
the  Mosaic  day"  (Ewald,  ubl  sup.  p.  311).  It  has  an  original,  fresh,  youthful  aspect  of  its 
own,  is  a  true  image  of  the  spirit  Avhich  lived  in  Hosea  the  son  of  Nun,  as  he  was  called  at 
first  (Num.  xiii.  sf  until  Moses  named  him  .Toshua  (Num.  xiii.  16).  He  was  a  man  in  whom 
there  was  spirit  (Num.  xxvii.  18),  and  that  a  spirit  of  wisdom  (Deut.  xxxiv.  9)  such  as  must 
fill  the  real  man  of  God  in  the  O.  T.  Joshua  was  not  indeed  a  prophet,  as  Jesus  Sirach 
makes  him  out  (ch.  xlvi.  l),  and  Josejihus  also  (Ant.  iv.  7,  2 :  Muivffyjs  Se  yepaths  ijSr]  rvyxdvoiv, 
StdSoxov  iavTOv  'lri(rovtf  KadiffTrifftv  iiri  re  ra7s  irpocprirelais,  Kal  arparriyhy  elf  nov  Seriaeie  yevrtaSfievov), 
since  he  was  directed,  Num.  xxvii.  21,  to  seek  the  divine  will  through  Eleazar  the  high-priest : 
but  he  was  a  divinely  inspired  General  and  Regent,  greater  than  any  of  the  heroes  who  fol- 
lowed him  through  the  time  of  the  Judges,  a  real  Joshua  (^^t27in^  or  ^rZ7in^  contracted  Neb 
viii.  19,  5?^ir'^;  LXX.  'Iijo-Sus,  "whose  help  is  Jehovah,"  like  V-1ti^'"^^^  2  Sam.  v.  15  ;  1  Chron, 
xiv.  5).  a  warrior  of  God,  whose  help  was  Jehovah.  On  this  very  account  also  could  he  be- 
come a  savior  of  his  people.  Ti-uly  did  Moses  "  at  the  right  moment  perceive  the  real 
oreatness  of  this  hero,  and  give  him  the  right  name  ;  instead  of  Hosea  (27''.nn),  i.  e.  help, 
which  he  was  already  called  as  the  delegate  of  his  tribe,  Moses  named  him  thereafter,  with 
little  change  of  the  sound  but  with  an  important  addition  to  the  sense,  Jehoshua,  i.  e.  God 
help  "  (Ewald,  p.  30G). 

Born  in  Eaypt,  Joshua  had,  in  common  with  all  other  Israelites,  deeply  felt  the  load  of 
oppression  which  weighed  the  people  down,  and  joyfully  hailed  the  hour  of  freedom  from  the 
house  of  bondage,  of  deliverance  from  the  iron  furnace  (Deut.  iv.  20  ;  1  K.  viii.  51  ;  Jer.  xi. 
4).  He  was  early  allowed  an  opportunity,  as  one  of  the  chief  men  of  Ephraim  (Num.  xiii. 
8),  to  show  his  bravery,  when  at  Moses'  command,  he  opposed  the  swarms  of  wild  Amale- 
kites  in  Rephidim  (now  Erraha,  or  Raha,  see  Knobel  on  Ex.  xvii.  6),  and,  supported  by  the 
prayer  of  Moses,  triumphantly  overcame  them.  For  Joshua  discomfited  (tcbn^l)  Amalek 
and  his  people  Avith  the  edge  of  the  sword  (Ex.  xvii.  8-13).  By  this  exploit  Joshua  rose  in 
the  estimation  of  Moses,  accompanied  him  (Ex.  xxiv.  13)  on  the  Mount  of  God,  was  at  other 
times  constantly  about  him  (Ex.  xxxiii.  11)  as  his  minister  (see  on  ch.  i.  1),  and,  being  then 
in  the  strength  of  his  life  (Ex.  xxxiii.  11,  "ll'S),  laid  the  foundation  in  this  intercourse  with 
Moses  of  his  knowledge  of  God  and  confidence  in  Jehovah  who  had  for  the  first  time  revealed 
himself  (Ex.  vi.  2,  3)  as  such  to  Moses.  Through  such  confidence  in  God,  which  was  never 
afterward  more  gloriously  manifested  than  in  the  victory  at  Gibeon  (Josh.  x.  12-15),  his 
native  bravery  gained  a  mighty  support,  so  tliat  he  trembled  not,  whether  the  enemy  met 
him  in  open  fight,  or  the  excited  people,  believing  rather  the  extravagant  reports  of  the  other 
spies  than  the  plain  and  truthful  words  of  Caleb  and  himself,  cried  out  that  he  should  be 
stoned  (Num.  xiii.  31-34,  xiv.  6-9,  10). 

With  this  boldness,  invigorated  by  filial  trust  in  the  Lord,  there  was  joined  in  him  a  gift 
of  keenest  observation,  which  enabled  him  to  perceive  that  their  defense  had  departed  from 
the  Canaanites  (Num.  xiv.  9),  so  that  it  might  be  foreseen  that  they  must  become  a  prey  to 
the  Israelites,  "bread"  for  them,  as  he  expresses  it  in  that  popular  style  which  we  elsewhere 
recognize  in  him  (e.g.  Josh.  xvii.  14-18;  xxiii.  10;  xxiv.  12). 

These  qualities  fitted  him  in  a  high  degree  for  the  position  which  INIoses,  before  his  death, 
by  the  command  of  God,  assigned  to  him  (Num.  xxvii.  16-23,  comp.  with  xxxij,  28  ;  Deut.  iii. 
28  ;  xxxi.  23).     He  Avas  appointed,  as  Moses  had  desu'cd  of  Jehovah,  to  go  in  ai).4  Wt  before 


§  5.     CHARACTER  OF  JOSHUA.  21 


ihe  congregation,  and  lead  them  out  and  in,  that  the  congregation  of  Jehovah  might  not  be  aft 
a  flock  without  a  shepherd  (Num.  xxvii.  17).  Being  now,  probably,  of  about  the  same  age  as 
liis  trusty  companion  Caleb,  of  the  house  of  Judah,  the  latter  being  then,  as  would  seem,  about 
eighty  years  old  (s.  §  4),  and  the  sole  survivor  besides  himself  of  all  the  Hebrew  men  who 
came  out  of  Egypt  (Num.  xiv.  30,  38),  he  inherited  the  leadership  of  his  people.  From  this 
time  onward  how  eminently  did  he  prove  himself  ever  a  God-fearing  commander  (ch.  iii.  5, 
9,  10  ;  iv.  6,  7,  21-24  ;  v.  1-9  ;  vii.  6-9),  trusting  confidently  in  the  help  of  God  (ch.  iii.  5  ; 
vi.  6  ff. ;  viii.  3  ff. ;  x.  12-15,  19,  25),  often  strengthened  and  conseci-ated  to  the  strife  by 
God  himself  (ch.  i.  1-9;  vi.  2,  3;  viii.  1,  2  ;  x.  8 ;  xi.  6,  especially  v.  10-15),  circumspect 
and  prudent  (ch.  i.  11  ;  ii.  1  ;  viii.  4-8),  quick  and  bold  (ch.  x.  9  ;  xi.  7  ;  x.  28-43  ;  xi.  10- 
23),  always  taking  full  advantage  of  victories  gained,  of  imexceptionable  energy  (ch.  viii.  2G  ; 
"X.  10,  19,  28-42;  xi.  8,  9).  A  commander,  nevertheless,  who  humbly  and  modestly  asked  for 
himself  (ch.  xix.  49,  50)  only  a  small  possession,  and  in  his  farewell  discourse  (ch.  xxiii. 
1-16  ;*xsiv.  1-15),  desjiising  self-laudation,  gave  all  the  honor  to  Jehovah,  of  whom  it  is  said 
that  he  was  with  Joshua  so  that  they  spoke  of  the  latter  in  all  lands  (ch.  vi,  27).  If  he  at 
times  dealt  fearfully  according  to  our  conceptions  with  some,  as  against  the  King  of  Ai  (ch. 
viii.  29),  and  against  those  other  five  kings  (ch.  x.  1,  16,  23-27)  Avhom  he  shamefully  hum- 
bled and  pitifully  hanged,  let  us  not  forget  the  vast  difference  between  our  time  and  his.  If 
he  —  to  touch  yet  on  one  chief  complaint  brought  against  him  by  Eichhorn  and  Paulus  (nor, 
however,  by  Herder,  as  Keil  assumes,  p.  liii.  (53)),  —  if  he  proceeded  not  only  against  individ- 
uals, but  against  the  Canaanites  generally  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  (3~in  "^sb)  burning- 
their  cities  with  fire,  and  casting  them  down  unsparingly  (ch.  vi.  24  ;  viii.  24 ;  x.  28-43  ;  xi. 
10-19),  and  this  all,  as  is  repeatedly  stated  (viii.  2;  x.  25,  40  ;  xi.  15),  by  divine  command, 
with  the  cooperation  of  Jehovah,  by  whom  the  heart  of  the  Canaanites  had  been  hardened  to 
meet  the  children  of  Israel  in  battle  (xi.  20),  we  may  with  Ewald  reply  to  all  such  attacks 
upon  Joshua,  nay,  even  upon  God  himself,  "  that  a  people,  sinking  ever  more  deeply  into 
divisions  and  moral  perverseness,  as  the  Canaanites,  in  great  part  at  least,  then  wei-e  (comp. 
vol.  i.  p.  324  if.  ;  Wisd.  Sol.  xii.  2-6),  should  fall  before  another  peojile  in  whom  there  arises 
the  harmonious  strength  of  a  life  trusting  in  divine  powers,  and  so  striving  upward,  is  an 
eternal  necessity."  ^  Thus  it  happened  also  in  the  storms  of  the  popular  migrations,  in  which 
old  but  corrupted  states  of  much  cultivation  crumbled  before  the  pressure  of  might}'  natural 
races.  Not  less  do  the  conquering  expeditions  of  the  Arabs  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  cen- 
turies after  Christ  furnish  an  analogy.  So  much  on  tliis  topic  here.  We  shall  have  frequent 
occasion  in  the  interpretation  of  the  book  to  touch  upon  it  again.  We  here  sim2)ly  remark 
that  there  was  no  lack  of  mildness  in  the  hero  of  Ephraim.  He  spared  Kahab,  faithful  to 
the  promise  which  the  spies  had  given,  and  with  her  her  father's  house  (ch.  vi.  25),  saved  the 
Gibconites  from  the  hand  of  the  children  of  Israel  (ch.  ix.  26),  although  they  had  deserved 
for  their  cunning  fiilsehood  a  far  difierent  punishment  from  that  which  was  inflicted  on  them, 
namely,  to  perform  menial  service  in  the  sanctuary  (ch.  Lx.  2  7)  ;  and  appointed  the  cities  of 
refuge  for  the  manslayers  (ch.  xx.  1-9). 

1  ["  It  is  better"'  —  so  spoke  ii  theologian  of  no  fanatical  tendenoy,  in  a  strain,  it  may  be,  of  excessive  [?]  but  still  of 
noble  indignation,  —  "it  is  better  that  the  wicked  should  be  destroyed  a  hundred  times  over  than  that  they  should 
tempt  those  who  are  yet  innocent  to  join  their  company.  Let  us  but  think  what  might  have  been  our  fate,  and  the  fate 
of  every  other  nation  under  heaven  at  this  hour,  had  the  sword  of  the  Israelites  done  its  work  more  sparingly.  Kven  as 
it  was,  the  small  portion  of  the  Canaanites  who  were  left,  and  the  nations  around  them,  so  tempted  the  Israelites  by  their 
idolatrous  practices,  that  we  read  continually  of  the  whole  people  of  God  turning  away  from  his  service.  But  had  the 
heathen  lived  in  the  land  in  equal  numbers,  and,  still  more,  had  they  intermarried  largely  with  the  Israelites,  how  was  it 
possible,  humanly  speaking,  that  any  sparks  of  GoJ"s  truth  should  have  survived  to  the  coming  of  Christ  ?  Would  not 
the  Israelites  have  lost  all  their  peculiar  character?  and  if  they  had  retained  the  name  of  .Tehovah  as  of  their  God,  would 
they  not  have  formed  as  unworthy  notions  of  his  attributes,  and  worshipped  him  with  a  worship  as  abominable  as  that 
which  the  Moabities  paid  to  Cheniosh,  or  the  Philistines  to  Dagon  ? 

But  this  was  not  to  be,  and  therefore  the  nations  of  Canaan  were  to  be  cut  off  utterly.  The  Israelite's  sword,  in  its 
bloodiest  executions,  wrought  a  work  of  mercy  for  all  the  countries  of  the  earth  to  the  very  end  of  the  world.  They 
eeem  of  very  small  importance  to  us  now,  those  perpetual  contests  with  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Midianites,  and  the 
Ammonites,  and  the  Philistines,  with  which  the  books  of  Joshua  and  Judges  and  Samuel  are  almost  fille.l.  We  may 
half  wonder  that  God  should  have  interfered  in  sucli  quarrels,  or  have  changed  the  course  of  nature,  in  order  t(  give 
one  of  the  nations  of  Palestine  the  victory  over  another.  But  in  these  contests,  on  the  fate  of  one  of  these  nations  of 
Palestine,  the  happiness  of  the  human  race  depended.  The  Israelites  fought  not  for  themselves  only,  but  for  us.  It 
might  follow  that  they  should  thus  be  accounted  the  enemies  of  all  mankind  —  it  might  be  tliat  they  were  tempted  by 
their  very  distinctness  to  despise  other  nations  ;  still  they  did  God's  work,  —  still  they  preserved  unhurt  the  seed  of  eter- 
nal life,  and  were  the  ministers  of  blessing  to  other  nations,  even  though  they  themselves  failed  to  enjoy  it."'  Arnold's 
(Dr.  Thos.)  Sermons,  vi.  35-37,  as  found  in  Stanley's  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,  lect.  xi.  p.  283  ff.  And  sea 
Stanley's  whole  treatment  in  that  Lecture  of  the  moral  difficulty  connected  with  the  extermination  of  the  Canaanites.  — 


22  THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Joshua,  moreover,  was  not  only  as  a  general  an  illustrious,  highly  endowed  leader  of  his 
people,  and  one  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God,  but,  conspicuous  equally  in  the  deeds  of  peace 
as  in  the  deeds  of  Avar,  he  was  not  less  capable  as  a  regent  than  as  a  soldier.  In  this  relation 
also  he  acts  always  from  the  higher,  theocratic  motive.  He  will  establish  a  commonwealth 
for  his  people  ;  but  this  commonwealth  must  correspond  to  the  description  given  in  grand  out- 
lines by  God,  through  ISIoses,  in  the  wilderness.  It  should  be  a  commonwealth  consecrated  to 
Jehovah,  in  the  midst  of  which  should  staud  the  sanctuary,  whose  people  should  be  holy  to 
Jehovah.  For  Israel  was  to  be  a  holy  people  (Ex.  xix.  6).  Accordingly,  as  soon  as  the  Jor- 
dan is  crossed,  by  God's  marvelous  help,  and  they  tread  the  soil  of  Canaan,  the  land  of  the 
fathers,  Joshua  causes  the  long-neglected  circumcision  to  be  performed  at  Gilgal  (ch.  v.  1-9)  ; 
and  then  immediately,  on  the  same  ground,  the  Passover  to  be  celebrated  for  the  first  time 
(v.  10-12).  He  divides  the  land  not  according  to  his  own  preference,  but  by  the  lot,  that 
God  himself  might,  as  it  were,  give  the  decision  (chaps,  xiii.-xix.),  raises  the  hohj  tent  in 
Shiloh  (xviii.  1),  arranges  not  only  the  cities  of  refuge  which  have  been  mentioned,  but  also 
the  Lcvitical  cities  (ch.  xxi.),  acts  in  harmony  with  the  high-priest  Eleazar  (xvii.  4 ;  xxi.  1), 
maintains  the  unity  of  the  cultus  when  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  build  the  altar  on  the  bank 
of  the  Jordan  (xxii.  12-34),  in  his  farewell  address  admonishes  to  fidelity  towards  Jehovah, 
warns  against  apostasy  (ch.  xxiii.  1-16;  xxiv.  1-15),  and,  having  already  earlier  —  perhaps 
directly  after  the  conquest  of  the  country  west  of  the  Jordan  —  caused  blessing  and  curse  to 
be  proclaimed  from  Gerizim  and  Ebal  (viii.  30-35),  solemnly  renews  the  covenant  between 
Israel  and  Jehovah  at  Shechem  (ch.  xxiv.  25)  with  an  earnest  demand  that  all  other  god& 
which  might  possibly  still  be  cherished,  should  be  put  away.  Conscious  as  he  was,  thereibre, 
as  a  general,  of  his  commission  fi-om  God,  he  was  not  less  so  as  a  ruler,  who  constantly  kept 
in  view,  and  followed  with  all  tenacity  and  perseverance,  his  great,  heaven-appointed  aim, 
namely,  to  found  a  theocratic  commonwealth.  If  he  was  adoi-ned,  as  a  general,  with  a  bravery 
supported  by  fear  of  God  and  confidence  in  him,  so  as  a  regetit  he  wore  the  most  beautiful 
ornament  of  civil  rule :  an  unselfish,  noble  spirit  of  justice  coupled  with  gentleness  and  wis- 
dom. It  was  a  spirit  which  gave  to  every  man  his  own  (xiv.  6-15  ;  xxi.  1),  but  claimed  for 
itself  only  what  was  reasonable  and  moderate  (xix.  49,  50),  and  which  could  sharply  rejjel 
unjustifiable  demands  (xvii.  13-18),  although -not  Avilh  "humiliating  sarcasm"  or  with 
"pointed  scorn,"  as  Ewald  represents  {uh.  sup.  317,  316).  Of  this  charge,  however,  we  shall 
have  to  take  fuller  notice  in  our  explanation  of  the  passage. 

Thus  Joshua  stands  before  us  distinguished  equally  as  general  and  as  ruler  of  his  people,  a 
worthy  follower  of  Moses ;  not  a  prophet  like  the  latter,  and  no  lawgiver,  as  was  the  son  of 
Amram,  but  filled  with  the  same  spirit  of  fidelity  towards  Jehovah,  and  of  zeal  for  the  newly 
incipient  commouAvealth  of  God  ;  a  man  of  God  in  all  that  he  does  and  in  all  that  he  omits. 
"  In  the  kingdom  of  God,"  says  Kurtz  {Manual  of  Sacred  History,  p.  102),  "  he  is  great 
who  knows  that  of  himself  he  is  nothing.  This  greatness  had  Joshua.  Among  the  heroes 
of  the  sacred  history  he  stands  forth  as  the  one,  above  almost  all  others,  free  from  self- 
will.  The  most  conscientious  fidelity  toAvards  the  law,  and  a  disposition  the  most  impertur- 
bably  theocratic,  distinguish  him.  He  is  prudent,  circumspect,  where  he  has  to  act  of  him 
felf,  for  he  conducts  the  wars  of  the  Lord ;  but  unhesitating,  quick,  and  decided  where  the 
Lord  sends  him.  Ilis  courage  is  humility,  his  strength  is  faith,  his  wisdom  is  obedience  and 
fear  of  the  Lord.  A  gentle  disposition,  but  the  furthest  jTOssible  from  feebleness,  as  is  proved 
by  his  sternly  solemn  sentence  upon  Achan,  and  the  strictness  Avith  Avhich  he  executes  the 
curse  upon  the  Canaanites.  Such  a  union  of  mildness  Avith  strength,  of  simplicity  Avith  pru- 
dence, of  humility  Avith  magnanimity,  has  in  it  something  evangelical.  This  peculiarity  of 
his  character,  together  Avith  the  peculiarity  of  the  period  in  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Avhich  he 
lived,  and  of  the  position  which  he  took,  makes  him  and  his  Avork  a  rich  type  of  Him. that 
was  to  come.  He  leads  the  people  into  the  land  of  promise  and  of  rest,  but  there  is  yet  a 
better  rest  to  be  enjoyed,  to  Avhich  his  antitype  and  namesake  must  introduce  us  (Heb.  iv. 
9)."  "With  (his  glance  at  that  unique,  gloi'ious  antitype,  at  Christ  the  true  Joshua,  Ave  close 
the  attempt  at  a  d(;scription  of  the  hero  of  our  book.-^ 

1  [BaunifjartiMi's  cliaracterizafion  of  .Toshua  in  Hcrzog's  Renl-Eiicyc,  s.  v.  .Tosua,  is  in  much  the  same  tone  us  the  above. 
From  Stjinlev's  Lrrtitres  on  the  Jeiri.i/i  Clnirr/i,  vol.  i.  lect.  10,  we  extract  the  IbUowing  vivid  am]  iinpre.ssive  sketch  of  the 
pacred  leader  of  Israel,  breathing  a  somewhat  different  sentiment,  and  hardly  giving  (as  many  will  think)  that  regard  to 
his  sacredness  which  it  deserves :  — 

"  The  difference,  indeed,  between  Moses  and  Joshua,  was  marked  as  strongly  as  possible  Joshua  was  the  soldier,  — 
the  first  soldier  consecrated  by  the  sacred  history.  He  was  not  a  teacher,  not  a  prophet.  He,  one  may  say,  hated  the 
intension  of  prophecy  (?)  with  ^  feeling  which  recalls  a  well-known  saying  of  the  great  warrior  of  our  ovyp  ago     He  could 


§  6.     THE   HOLY  LAND.  2§ 


Observation  1.  In  the  N.  T.  Joshua  is  mentioned  only  twice  :  (1)  in  the  speech  of  Ste- 
phen before  the  chief  council,  Acts  vii.  45,  where  it  is  said  that  the  fathers  brought  in  the 
tabernacle  with  Joshua  into  the  possession  of  the  Gentiles,  whom  God  drove  out  before  their 
fiice  (^i^Haev  6  diSs")  •  (2)  Heb.  iv.  8  (see  on  ch.  i.  Doctrinal  and  Ethical,  No.  4).  From  this 
passage  Starke  gives  some  intimations  concerning  the  typical  relation  of  Joshua  to  Christ. 
He  says :  "  Joshua  was  in  name  and  action  a  beautiful  type  of  the  Messiah.  As  he  led  the 
children  of  Israel  through  the  Jordan  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  so  the  latter  leads  his  believ- 
ing followers  finally  through  death  into  the  heavenly  Canaan.  He  carried  out  what  Moses 
could  not  eifect ;  the  law  of  Moses  could  insvn-e  to  men  no  peace  and  no  blessedness,  which 
Jesus  and  his  gosjjel  can,  Rom.  viii.  3  ;  Heb.  vii.  25.  Jesus  and  Joshua  begin  after  Moses 
leaves  off.  Joshua  was  the  leader  of  the  bodily  Israel,  overcame  their  enemies,  distributed 
to  them  their  land  ;  all  which  Jesus,  the  Captain  of  Salvation,  does  for  the  spiritual  Israel, 
Heb.  ii.  10  "  (Starke  on  ch.  i.  1). 

0ns.  2.  "  We  find  in  the  East  historical  traces  of  Joshua's  heroic  deeds,  outside  of  the 
Hebrew  writers.  Thus  Procopius,  Vandal,  ii.  20,  mentions  a  Phoenician  inscription  near  the 
city  Zingis  in  Mauritania,  which  had  originated  with  the  Phoenicians  who  had  fled  from 
Canaan,  and  ran  thus  :  'Ufiets  ecrfiev  ol  (pevyovres  a.Trh  wpoffdnrov  IrjtroO  rod  Ar)tTTOv  vlov  fiavrj  (SuidaS 
S.  V.  Xauadv  ;  'H/xeis  ifffiev  Xavavaloi  ovs  iBicD^ev  Iriffovs  6  Xria-T-qs)  •  and  a  letter  of  the  Persian 
king  Shaubec  in  Chron.  Sam.  c.  26,  names  Joshua  likewise  "  lupus  percussor,"  but  according 
to  another  recension,  "lupus  vespertinus,"  n"l3~)27  ^ST  (comp.  Hab.  i.  8).  Winer,  Realw.  s.  v. 
Josua.  Ewald  regards  the  inscription  as  a  fabi'ication  (p.  298)  ;  and  in  the  Chron. 
Sam.,  from  its  character  before  described  (§  1  obs.),  no  confidence  can  be  placed.  "  Other 
accounts  similar  to  that  in  Eutropius  are  more  simple,  such  as  the  brief  statement  that  Trip- 
olis  in  Africa  was  founded  by  the  Canaanites  fleeing  before  Joshua  (apud  Euseb.  Chron.  Gr. 
ed.  Scaliger,  p.  11)  ;  but  present  too  little  that  is  definite,  and  may  have  arisen  out  of  vague 
conjectures  in  which  later  writers  so  richly  abound"  (Ewald,  p.  290). 

§  6.      The  Holy  Land. 

The  land  captured  by  the  Israelites  under  the  brave  leadership  of  Joshua,  we  call  com- 
monly Palestine,  or  the  holy  land,  sometimes  also,  after  Hebrews  xi.  9  (cf.  Gen.  xv.  18;  1. 
24  ;  Num.  xxxii.  11,  etc.),  the  promised  land.  It  was  called  a  holy  land  (ttjif^n  H^IS) 
by  Zechariah  (ii.  12),  by  the  author  of  the  Second  Book  of  Maccabees  (i.  7),  and  in  later  ages 
with  preference  by  the  Catholics ;  against  which  Bachiene  (in  von  Raumer,  Palastina,  p.  23, 
Anm.  3),  without  reason  remarks,  that  "  this  designation  rests  merely  on  superstition."  It  is 
rather,  as  Zech.  ii.  12  shows,  more  Biblical  than  the  name  Palestine,  ntt?bs,  which  originally 
referred  only  to  the  southwestern  jiart  of  the  land,  the  country  of  the  Pliilistines.     So  Jerome 

not  restrain  his  indignation  when  he  heard  that  there  were  two  unauthorized  prophesiers  within  the  camp.  '  My  lord 
Moses  forbid  them.'  He  was  a  simple,  straightforward,  undaunted  soldier.  His  first  appearance  is  in  battle.  '  Choose 
out  men,  go  out,  fight  with  Amalek.'  He  is  always  known  by  his  spear  or  javelin  slung  between  his  shoulders  or 
stretched  out  in  his  hand.  The  one  quality  which  is  required  of  him,  and  described  in  him,  is  that  he  was  '  very  cour- 
ageous.' '  He  was  strong  and  of  a  good  courage.'  '  He  was  not  afraid  nor  dismayed.'  He  turned  not  to  tlie  right  hand 
nor  to  the  left ;  but  at  the  head  of  the  hosts  of  Israel  he  went  right  forward  from  Jordan  to  .Jericho,  from  .lerielio  to 
Ai,  from  Ai  to  Gibeou,  to  Beth-horon,  to  Merom.  He  wavered  not  for  a  moment  ;  he  was  here,  he  was  there  ;  he  was 
everywhere,  a?  the  emergency  called  for  him.  He  had  no  words  of  wisdom,  except  those  which  shrewd  common  sense 
and  public  spirit  dictated.  To  him  the  divine  revelation  was  made  not  in  the  burning  bush  nor  in  the  still  small  voice  (?), 
but  a5  the  Captain  of  tlie  Lord's  host,  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand  ;  and  that  drawn  and  glittering  sword  was  the 
vision  that  went  before  liim  through  the  land,  till  all  the  kings  of  Canaan  were  subdued  beneath  his  feet. 

"  It  is  not  often,  either  in  sacred  or  in  common  history,  that  we  are  justified  in  pausing  on  anything  so  outward  and 
(usually)  so  accidental  as  a  name.  But  if  ever  there  be  an  exception,  it  is  in  the  case  of  Joshua.  In  him  it  first  appears 
■with  an  appropriateness  which  the  narrative  describes  as  intentional.  His  original  name,  Hoshea,  '  salvation,'  is  trans- 
formed into  Je/ioshiia,  or  Jos/iiin,  '  God's  salvation  ; '  and  this,  according  to  the  modification  which  Hebrew  names  under-  . 
went  in  tlieir  passage  through  the  Greek  language,  took,  in  the  later  ages  of  the  Jewish  Church,  sometimes  the  form 
of  Jason,  but  more  frequently  that  which  has  now  become  indelibly  impressed  upon  history  as  the  greatest  of  all  names, 
—  Jesus. 

"  Slight  as  may  be  the  connection  between  the  first  and  the  last  to  whom  this  name  was  given  with  any  religious  signif- 
icance, it  demands  our  consideration  for  the  sake  of  two  points  which  are  often  overlooked,  and  which  may  in  this  rela- 
tion so  catch  the  attention  of  those  who  might  else  overlook  them  altogether.  One  is  the  prominence  into  which  it 
brings  the  true  meaning  of  the  sacred  Name,  as  a  deliverance,  not  from  '  imputed '  or  '  future  '  or  '  unknown  '  dangers, 
but  from  enemies  as  real  as  the  Canaanitish  host.  The  first  Josliua  was  to  save  his  people  from  their  actual  foes.  The 
second  was  to  'save  His  people  from  their  sins.'  Again,  the  career  of  .Joshua  gives  a  note  of  preparation  for  the  singu- 
larly martial,  soldier-like  aspect  — also  often  forgotten — ■  under  which  his  Namesake  is  at  times  .set  forth.  The  courage, 
the  cheerfulness,  the  sense  of  victory  and  of  success,  which  runs  both  through  the  actual  history  of  the  Gospels,  and 
through  the  idealization  of  it  in  'the  Conqueror'  of  the  writings  of  St.  John,  finds  its  best  illustration  from  the  oldet 
^urch  in  the  character  and  career  of  Joshua. 


24  TIIE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


on  Is.  xiv.  2D  says,  '■'■  PliUlstcvos  Palceslinos  slgnijicat ;  "  am-  Willermus  Tyr.,  "  Palcestina 
'luasi  Philistina  a  Philistiim  dicitur  "  (in  von  Raumer,  jj.  24).  In  our  book  we  find  none  of 
these  names.  As  a  general  designation  appears  rather  (ch.  i.  4)  "  the  land  of  the  Hittites," 
whose  bounds,  according  to  the  old  promise.  Gen.  xv.  18-21,  are  very  widely  extended. 
Further  we  meet  principally  with  two  names  for  the  two  main  divisions  of  Palestine,  for  the 
country  west  of  the  Jordan  and  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan.  The  former  is  Canaan 
(]P23  =  lowland,  as  opposed  to  C~lS  =  highland),  the  latter  is  Gilead  (11772  see  on  the  ctym. 
on  ch.  xii.  5),  as  may  be  seen  from  ch.  xxii.  9,  10,  11,  15,  32,  where  Baslian  (^t£'3,  from 
^li72,  "  l*i"\'el,  soft  soil"),  elsewhere  standing  separate  from  Gilead,  as  in  ch.  xiii.  11,  is 
included  with  it.  Between  the  east  and  west  country  lies  the  Joi-dan  valley,  now  Ghor, 
then  called  in  one  part  of  it  ]1~i*n"~l33  (Gen.  xiii.  10,  11),  "circuit  of  the  Jordan,"  as  in 
Matt.  iii.  5,  ';  nepix^opos  rod  'lopSdvov,  or  briefly  "ISSH  (Gen.  xiii.  12  ;  xix.  17),  and  in  our  book 
synonymously  ]1~l*n  niVbs  (ch.  xviii.  17;  xxii.  10,  11),  but  in  its  whole  extent  called 
n3~l57n  "  low  ground,  plain,  field"  [rather,  "  arid,  sterile,  desert  tract,"  Gesen.,  Fiirst.  —  Te.1, 
(ch.  xi.  IG;  xii.  1,  3).  Instead  of  this  in  ch.  xiii.  27  we  have  also  p'QV  (see  Eobinson, 
Phys.  Geog.  of  the  Hohj  Land,  p.  81).  The  west  side  of  the  Ghor  belonged  to  Canaan,  the 
east  side  to  Gilead ;  the  Jordan,  as  we  learn  partly  from  the  boundaries  (ch.  xiii.  27  ;  xvi. 
I,  7  ;  xviii.  12,  19  ;  xix..  22,  34,  etc.),  partly  from  the  notices  in  ch.  xxii.  (vers.  10,  11, 
19,  csp.  2.5),  formed  the  border  between  those  two  great  provinces  of  West  and  East  Palestine. 

Palestine  as  a  whole  lies  nearly  between  34i°  and  36j"  east  longitude,  and  between  Z\\° 
and  33|"  of  north  latitude,  almost  equally  distant  from  the  equator  and  the  Arctic  circle. 
The  greatest  extent  from  north  to  south  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  miles,  and  from 
east  to  west  about  eighty-five  miles.  Reckoning  the  average  width  at  seventy  miles  we  have 
a  surface  of  8,5G0  square  miles.  It  is  therefore  about  half  as  large  as  Switzerland,  one  third 
as  large  as  Bavaria  (von  Raumer.  p.  25),  about  the  size  of  the  Prussian  Rhine  province.^ 
"  Pudet  dicere,"  writes  Jerome,  "  latitudlnem  terras,  repromissionis,  ne  ethnicis  occasionem 
hlas^pliemandi  dedisse  videamur."  The  boundaries  of  the  land,  both  for  its  western  and  its 
eastern  divisions,  are  given  in  our  book  with  accuracy,  and  will  be  noticed  in  the  commentary 
on  the  passages  pertaining  thereto,  ch.  xi.  16,  17  ;  xii.  1-6,  7,  8  ;  xiii.  1  if.  In  general,  they 
give  us  to  understand  that  at  that  time  Palestine  was  already  bounded  on  the  south  by 
Arabia  Petra;a  (ch.  xv.  2,  3)  and  the  brook  of  Egypt  (xv.  4)  ;  on  the  west  by  the  Sea  (xv. 
4),  sometimes  called  also  (Num.  xxxiv.  6)  the  Great  Sea,  that  is,  the  Mediterranean  Sea  ;  on 
the  north  by  the  mighty  heights  of  Lebanon  and  Hcrmon  (ch.  xi.  17)  ;  on  the  east  by  the 
wilderness  of  Syria  and  Arabia,  toward  which  Salcha  is  mentioned  as  a  border  town,  ch. 
xii.  5.  To  denote  the  extension  of  the  land  from  north  to  south  we  frequently  meet  with  the 
expression  "  from  Dan  to  Bcersheba  "  (e.  g.  2  Sam.  ch.  xvii.  1 1  ;  Judg.  ch.  xx.  1  ;  1  Chron. 
ch.  xxi.  2),  but  not  in  the  Book  of  Joshua.  A  similar  designation  of  the  breadth  appears  not 
to  have  been  used. 

In  this  its  secluded  position  the  land  was  eminently  adapted  to  the  purpose  which  the  peo- 
ple of  Israel,  according  to  their  historical  vocation,  had  to  fulfill.  On  the  south  and  east,  far- 
stretcliing  deserts  separated  it  from  contact  with  all  other  nations.  On  the  west  was  spread 
out  the  sea,  which  in  those  ancient  times  was  little  ti'aversed,  and  even  to  that  extent  only 
by  methods  of  a  very  imperfect  description.  On  the  north  rose  the  protecting  mountain 
walls  of  Lebanon  and  Anti-lebanon.  Here  might  the  O.  T.  commonwealth  of  God  develop 
itself  in  admirable  separateness  from  the  world,  the  more  so  as  Palestine,  in  the  quality  of  its 
soil,  its  climate,  its  fertility,  answered  all  the  conditions  which  are  requisite  for  the  pros- 
perous develoj)ment  of  a  community,  and  for  awakening  love  and  attachment  to  the  coun- 
try, the  possession  of  Jehovah,  where  the  dwelling  of  Jehovah  was  erected  (ch.  xxii.  1 9  ; 
comp.  Lev.  xxv.  23;  Ps.  Ixxxv.  1).  Truly,  Israel  should,  as  God  had  said  to  Moses  (Ex. 
iii.  8;  comp.  w.  xiii.  5;  Lev.  xx.  24;  Ezck.  xx.  6),  be  led  into  a  good  and  wide  land 
(naini^  nsitO  y^Vi),  into  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  (ttb"?^  nbpi  n3T  V"?.^), 
the  fruitfulness  of  which  is  praised  (Deut.  viii.  7-9)  in  these  words  :  The  Loixl  thy  God  leads 
thee  into  a  good  land,  a  land  in  Avhich  are  brooks  and   fountains  and  seas,  that  flow  (a*S!J^ 

1  [Roliiiison  Fays  (PJii/.t.  Geog.  p.  18):  <'The  whole  area  of  the  land  of  Palestine  does  not  vary  greatly  from  twelve 
thousand  geographical  square  miles,  —  about  equal  to  the  area  of  the  two  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Co  inticticut 
together."     See  also  Smith's  Vict,  of  the  Bible,  Am.  ed.  2286  ff.  —  Tr.] 


§  6.     THE   HOLY  LAND.  2t 


De  Wette  :  "  spring  out  ")  on  the  Wlls  and  in  the  meadows  (n!yp3!3,  prop,  valley  between 
mountains),  a  land  of  wheat  and  barley  and  vines  and  fig-trees  and  i3oraegranates,  a  land  of 
olive-trees  and  honey,  a  land  in  which  thou  shalt  eat  bread  without  scarceness,  in  which 
nothing  is  wanting,  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron  and  out  of  whose  mountains  thou  mayest 
dig  brass."  (Comp.  Dent.  xi.  10-12  ;  2  K.  xviii.  32;  Neh.  ix.  25,  35  ;  Is.  xxxvi.  17,  etc.) 
AA'ith  these  descriptions  of  the  Bible  agree  Josej^hus  (Ant.  v.  1,  21),  who  praises  the  fertility 
and  beauty  of  Pa,lestine ;  Tacitus,  who  says,  after  his  manner,  with  pregnant  brevity :  "  Uier 
solum.  Exuberant  fruges  nostruvi  ad  morevi  pro'terque  eas  balsamum  et  pabnce  "  (Histor.  v. 
26)  ;  Justinus  (xxxvi.  2)  ;  Ammianus  Marcellinus  (xiv.  8).  And  these  all  sjDeak  of  the 
later  times  when  many  desolating  wars  on  the  soil  of  the  "land  of  the  Hebrews"  (Gen.  xl.  15, 
and  in  Joseph.)  had  robbed  it  of  its  excellence.  Only  one  voice,  that  of  Strabo  (xvi.  2,  3,  6), 
appears  to  contradict  these  reports.  He  relates  (quoted  by  von  Raumer,  p.  92)  that  Moses 
led  the  Jews  to  the  place  where  Jerusalem  stands,  and  easily  took  possession  of  it,  because, 
being  rocky  and  unfruitful  round  about,  no  man  had  claimed  it.  To  this  Reland  has  already 
replied  that  this  report  of  Strabo  itself,  like  others,  shows  Strabo's  ignoi'ance  in  respect  to 
Palestine,  and  that  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem  is  not  Palestine.  True,  the  soil  was  not,  if  Ave 
bring  before  our  minds  the  topography  of  the  land,  everywhere  equally  fruitful ;  but  even  in 
the  south  of  West  Palestine,  in  the  Judsea  of  a  later  day,  where  the  rough  lime-stone  hills 
show  in  many  places  only  a  few  traces  of  vegetation,  and,  towards  the  Dead  Sea,  except  in 
the  neighborhood  of  En-gedi,  almost  none  at  all,  —  even  here  there  were  more  favored  dis- 
tricts like  that  about  (iibeon,  the  plain  of  Rephaim  near  Jerusalem,  the  low-lands  (n^?:^^) 
on  the  sea-coast,  which  have  maintained  their  productiveness  till  the  present  day.  The 
mountain  of  Judah  which  rises  northwardly  from  Beer-sheba  like  a  higher  story  of  the  land, 
to  an  average  height  of  2,400  feet  (von  Ravuncr,  p.  87),  gives  that  region  in  many  places 
a  gloomy  aspect ;  but  so  much  the  more  beautiful  appears  the  green  of  the  deeply-cleft 
■wadies  whose  waters  flow  pai'tly  towards  the  Mediterranean,  and  partly  towai'ds  the  Dead 
Sea.  Much  moi-e  fertile  was  and  is  the  northward  extension  of  the  mountain  of  Judah, 
called  the  mountain  of  Ephraim,  "Mount  Ephraim,"  also  ch.  xi,  16  the  mountain  of  Israel, 
whose  summits,  at  the  time  when  Joshua  divided  the  land,  were  still  densely  covei'ed  with 
forest  (ch.  xvii.  15).  On  account  of  this  richer  vegetation,  the  patriarchs  also  found  hei'e  in 
the  early  days  pastui'e  for  their  herds  about  Beth-el  and  Shechem  (Gen.  xii.  8  ;  xiii.  3  ;  xxviii. 
19;  xxxvii.  13).  It  is  most  luxuriantly  produced,  either  where  the  Shephelah^  extends  itself 
through  the  plain  of  Sharon  even  up  to  the  woody  and  far  outstretching  promontory  of  Car- 
mel,  or,  north  of  Carmel,  in  the  plain  of  Jezreel,  on  the  heights  of  the  moiuitain  of  Naphthali, 
named  only  once  in  the  Bible  and  that  in  our  book  (ch.  xx.  7),  and  in  the  plain  by  the  sea 
of  Gennesaret.  Tliis,  now  el-Ghuweir,  is  "  described  by  Josephus  (Bell.  Jnd.  iii.  10,  8)  in 
glowing  terms  for  its  fertility  and  productiveness  "  (Robinson,  Phys.  Geog.  of  the  Holy  Land, 
p.  77.) 

While  thus  Canaan  proper,  especially  in  its  middle  and  northern  portions,  was  eminently 
adapted  to  agriculture,  the  land  east  of  the  Jordan  offered  the  most  excellent  pasturage  for 
cattle.  Hence  the  Reubenites  and  Gadites,  abounding  in  herds,  to  whom  also  half  of  the 
tribe  of  Manasseh  joined  themselves,  had  early  requested  of  Moses  to  be  allowed  to  settle  on 
that  side  of  the  stream  (Num.  xxxii.  Iff.  33;  Deut.  iii.  12  ;  xxix.  8  ;  Josh.  xiii.  7,  8),  on 
those  high  table-lands  which  stretch  eastward  to  the  mountains  of  Hauran,  and  to  the  Arnou 
on  the  south.  These,  now  called  en  Rukrah  and  Belka,  were  then  Bashan  and  Gilead,  or 
merely  Gilead.  The  former  is  even  to  this  day  of  extraordinary  fruitfulness,  and  everywhere 
tillable.  The  latter,  cleft  by  the  deep  valleys  of  the  Jarmuk  and  Jabbok,  and  other  smaller 
torrents,  is  famous  as  a  grazing-land,  its  soil  being  adorned  with  a  luxuriant  gi'owth  of  grass, 
out  of  which  rise  majestically  the  evergreen  oaks,  the  oaks  of  Bashan  (Is.  ii.  13  ;  Ez.  xxvii. 
6  ;  comp.  Robinson  uhi  sup.  p.  57  ff.  139  ff.).  Here  on  these  high  grounds  (3,000  feet  above 
the  Mediterranean,  4,300  feet- above  the  Dead  Sea),  breathes  a  fi-esh  and  invigorating  air, 
doubly  invigorating  to  the  traveller  who  emerges  from  the  deep  Jordan  valley.  This  lies  far 
below  the  surface  of  the  Mediterranean,  —  625  feet  below  it  where  the  Jordan  leaves  the  Sea 
of  Gennesaret,  and  1,231  where  it  empties  into  the  Dead  Sea.  In  it  there  is  no  tillable  soil 
except  at  Bethshan  in  the  north  and  about  Jericho  at  the  south  end  of  the  Ghor  ;  between 
these  two  places  the  river  is  shut  in  on  both  sides  by  two  ranges  of  chalky  hills  (von  Raumer, 
p.  58).  The  region  about  Jericho  in  particular  was  celebrated  for  its  fertility  (von  Raumer,  p. 
1  [The  Philistine  lowlands.     See  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  "  Sephelah."  —  Tr.i 


26  THE  BOOK  OF  oOSHUA. 


58,  Anm.  118  a).  Further  south  all  vegetation  is  dried  up.  Tlierc  the  Dead  Sea,  as  we 
commonly  call  it,  after  Galenus  and  Jerome,  but  which  appears  in  the  historical  books  of  the 
O.  T.  under  the  name  of  the  Sea  of  the  Plain  (n2ni7n  D;,  Deut.  iv.  49  ;  2  K.  xiv.  25), 
or  the  Salt  Sea  (nbl^rt  D^,  Gen.  xiv.  3  ;  Num.  xxxiv.  3,  12  ;  Josh.  xv.  2,  5  ;  xviii.  19),  or 
under  both  names  at  once  (Deut.  iii.  17;  Josh.  iii.  16;  xiii.  3),  spreads  out  its  desolate  sur- 
face, forty-seven  miles  long  and  more  than  ten  miles  wide,  between  bare,  high,  steep  cliffs 
of  limestone  and  chalk,  inhospitably  silent,  aptly  called  by  the  son  of  the  desert  "  a  curst 
sea"  (von  Raunier,  p.  Gl).  From  its  southern  point  the  southern  border  of  Canaan  ran  across 
to  Beer-slieba,  according  to  ch.  xv.  2,  and  to  the  river  of  Egypt,  that  is,  to  the  point  ft-om 
which  we  began  this  survey  of  the  land. 

We  have  before  remarked  incidentally  how  very  different  is  the  temperature  in  the  Jordan 
valley  from  that  on  the  heights  to  the  east  of  the  Ghor.  Other  such  contrasts  appear  in 
the  holy  land,  embracing  as  it  does  very  lofty  heights  and  profoundest  depths  ;  so  that  on 
its  climate  no  general  judgment  can  be  pronounced,  as  can  usually  be  done  in  the  case  of  so 
small  a  country,  with  moi'e  uniform  quality  of  soil,  and  a  different  situation.  Of  Lebanon, 
whose  magnificent  mountain  scenery  has  been  described  in  the  liveliest  colors  by  Furrer,  in 
his  Wanderungen  durch  Paldstina  (p.-  356  ff.),  a  work  which  we  shall  often  have  to  quote, 
the  Arabic  poets  say,  "  that  he  bears  the  Aviiiter  on  his  head,  the  spring  on  his  shoulders,  in 
his  bosom  the  autumn;  and  that  summer  slumbers  at  his  feet"  (von  Raumer,  p.  89,  after 
Volney,  i.  243).  Consistently  Avith  this  writes  Burckhardt  as  he  comes,  on  the  5th  of  May, 
1812,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mandhur  (Jarmuk,  Hieromax),  where  it  empties  into  the  Jordan  : 
"  Northward  rose  the  snow-covered  Jebel  el-Scheick  (Hermon)  ;  on  the  east  the  fruitful 
plains  of  Jaulan  lay  bedecked  with  the  flowers  of  spring ;  while  in  the  south  the  drooping 
vegetation  appeared  to  show  the  effects  of  a  tropical  heat."  The  temperature  of  Jerusalem 
(and  the  same  is  true  in  general  of  the  Avhole  hill-country  west  of  the  Jordan,  Robinson,  uhi 
sup.  p.  297  f)  is  for  the  most  part  cool  and  pleasant,  and  never  oppressively  hot  except  Avhile 
a  sirocco  or  south  wind  lasts  (p.  293).  On  the  western  plain,  which  rises  only  a  little  above 
the  Mediterranean,  it  is  of  course  warmer,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  harvest  rijoens  there 
about  two  weeks  earlier  than  on  the  mountain  (p.  298  f.).  Disregarding  the  rough,  high 
mountain  regions  of  Lebanon  and  Anti-lebanon,  and  on  the  other  side  the  tropical  heat  of 
the  Ghor  (where  Van  de  Velde  found  it  more  trying  than  in  South  Africa,  von  Raumer,  p. 
89),  the  great  part  of  Palestine  has  a  pleasant,  generally  healthy  climate,  excellently  suited 
to  agriculture  and  grazing  ;  for  there  are  but  few  swamps  or  other  causes  to  operate  against 
the  salubrity  of  the  atmosphere  (Rob.  p.  308).  Yet  Palestine,  as  in  ancient  times  so  now, 
is  not  without  contagious  diseases,  and  "  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,"  Ps.  xci.  6 
(Rob.  I.  c). 

Of  the  natural  productions  of  the  country,  wheat,  barley,  vines,  fig  trees,  pomegranates, 
olive  trees,  and  honey  are  mentioned  in  the  j^assage  (Deut.  viii.  7-9)  before  quoted,  and  it  is 
there  said  also,  that  the  stones  of  the  land  are  iron,  and  brass  is  dug  out  of  its  mountains. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  many  iron  mines  are  still  found  on  Lebanon,  and,  from  the  communi- 
cations of  Rusegger,  who  has  accurately  explored  Palestine  in  respect  to  its  geology,  they  use 
the  brown  iron-stone  and  spathic  iron-stone  for  building  near  Merjibah  (Ruseg.  i.  690,  iii. 
284,  ap.  von  Raumer,  p.  96).  "  L'on  and  brass  shall  be  on  thy  shoes,"  Avas  promised  to  Asher 
in  the  blessing  of  Moses  (Deut.  xxxiii.  25).  And  according  to  our  book  Asher  must,  with 
great  probability,  have  received  a  place  precisely  on  Lebanon  (ch.  xix.  24-31).  So  that  the 
occurrence  of  iron  and  brass  in  Palestine  is  a  fixed  fact,  although  it  is  a  question  whether  by 
the  stones  of  the  land  which  "are  iron,"  we  are  not  to  understand  rather  (as  von  Raumer 
supposes,  p.  96),  the  widespread  basalt  formation  of  Hauran,  Leja,  and  Jaulan.  The  jylants 
mentioned  in  Deut.  viii.  7-9,  wheat,  harleij,  vines,  fig  and  olive  trees,  as  well  as  pomegranates, 
ura  still  met  with,  and  are  often  mentioned  in  the  books  of  travel.  The  olive  trees  grow  to 
the,  height  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet ;  the  fruit  begins  to  ripen  in  October,  and  is  pressed 
after  lying  in  hot  Avater.  Early  figs  Avere  the  first  fruit  of  the  year  to  ripen  ;  a  second 
sort,  the  summer  figs,  came  on  in  August,  and  a  third,  the  winter  figs,  remained  till  January 
on  the  tree.  The  vines  bear  very  heavy  clusters,  groAV  to  be  even  thirty  feet  high  (Stephan 
Schultz,  in  von  Raumer,  p.  101  [Tristram,  Land  of  Israel,i>p.  610,  622]),  and  yield  excellent 
wine.  Pomegranates  grow  about  Gaza,  Hebron,  and  elsewhere  in  the  land.  Of  the  other 
tall-groAving  plants  of  Palestine,  we  ought  specially  to  indicate  the  oaks  (Is.  ii.  13  ;  Ezek.  xxvii. 
6 ;  Zech.  xi.  2)  which  are  found  not  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan  alone  (Robinson,  Bibl. 


§  7.     THE   ORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  PALESTINE.  27 

Res.  in  Pal.,  etc.  ii.  443  [Tristram,  uU  sup.  p.  120,  etc])  ;  the  palm  trees,  near  Jericho  and 
En-gedi  formerly  (Judg.  i.  16  ;  iii.  13),  at  the  present  day  near  Gaza  (Rob.  ii.  276),  and  in 
Jerusalem  (Tobler,  DenkhUUler,  p.  109  [at  Jaffa,  Tiberias,  and  elsewhere,  Tristram,  pp.  413, 
429,  etc.])  ;  and  finally  the  cedars,  the  glory  of  Lebanon  (von  Raumer,  p.  31  [Tristram,  p.  630 
fF.]).  The  richness  of  the  land  in  honey  (Ex.  iii.  8,  17  ;  xiii.  5  ;  Deut.  viii.  8  ;  Jud.  xiv.  8  ; 
1  Sam.  xiv.  25-45)  presupposes  the  multitude  of  flowers ;  hyacinths,  anemones,  jonquils,  on 
Carmel ;  on  the  plain  of  Sharon,  tulips,  white  and  red  roses,  white  and  yellow  lilies,  narcis- 
suses and  stockgillies  (von  Raumer,  p.  98). 

The  mention  of  honey  leads  naturally  to  some  remarks  on  the  animals  of  Palestine. 
While  the  bees  are  a  blessing  to  the  country  [comp.  Tristram,  p.  87  f.]  the  locusts  bring  upon 
it  the  horrors  of  desolation,  such  as  Joel  has  pictuied  with  a  master's  hand  (ch.  i.  3  ff.).  To 
the  locust  which  rises  out  of  the  abyss  (Rev.  ix.  3,  5,  10)  was  power  given,  as  the  scorpions 
have  power  on  earth.  These  latter  are  found  in  extraordinary  numbers  in  the  Jordan  valley 
below  Jericho  (von  Raumer,  p.  103),  and  the  mountain  of  Akrabbim  is  named  from  them 
(ch.  XV.  5,  from  2~i|717,  "  a  scorpion  ").  Serpents  which,  like  them,  are  created  for  ven 
geance  on  the  wicked  (Sirach,  xxxix.  36),  are  in  modern  Palestine  but  few  (von  Raumer,  p. 
106).  Their  place,  however,  is  well  supplied  by  numerous  birds,  especially  singing  birds,  not 
merely  in  Samaria  and  Galilee,  but  also  along  the  Jordan,  where  Robinson  {Lat.  Bill.  Res. 
p.  316)  heard  the  nightingale  wai-ble  [comp.  Tristram,  pp.  513,  523,  585].  Even  the  Dead 
Sea  is  not  uncheered  by  these  songsters.  "  We  ourselves,"  writes  Robinson  (Pliys.  Geog. 
p.  219),  "and  many  other  travellers,  saw  birds  flying  in  all  directions  over  the  sea.  That 
no  water-fowl  are  here  to  be  met  with  is  simply  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  sea  shows  no  trace 
of  fish  or  plant  on  which  those  birds  subsist.  But  the  region  is  full  of  birds ;  and  at  Ain 
Jidy  we  were  surprised  and  delighted  to  hear  their  morning  song  in  the  midst  of  the  solitude 
antl  grandeur  of  these  desolations.  The  trees,  and  rocks,  and  air  around  were  full  of  the 
carol  of  the  lark,  the  cheerful  whistle  of  the  quail,  the  call  of  the  partridge,  and  the  warbling 
of  many  other  feathered  songsters ;  Avhile  birds  of  j)rey  were  soa,ring  and  screaming  in  front 
of  the  chffs  and  over  the  waters  of  the  sea." 

Of  predaceous  quadrupeds,  the  lions  (Judg.  xiv.  5,  6  ;  1  Sam.  xvii.  34-36  ;  2  Sam.  xxiii. 
20;  1  K.  xiii.  24,  26;  Jer.  xlLx.  19)  Avhich,  in  the  days  of  Samson  and  David  showed 
themselves  in  cultivated  distri(!ts  of  Judtea,  and  when  Jeremiah  lived  still  haunted  the  Ghor, 
have  now  disappeared  from  Palestine.  Bears,  on  the  contrary,  are  yet  found  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  North  (von  Raumer,  p.  106),  but  especially  are  ybxes  unA  jackals  numerous  in  all 
the  land,  and  not  less  so  the  hares  (p.  107).  Of  domestic  animals,  the  country  had  dogs, 
camels,  asses,  horses  (mentioned  in  our  book  ch.  xi.  4  as  belonging  to  the  Canaanites), 
mules,  oxen,  buffaloes,  numerous  flocks  of  goats  and  sheep  in  which  the  patriarchs,  Jacob 
in  particular,  were  already  rich  (Gen.  xxx.  43). 

§  7.      The  Original  Inhabitants  of  Palestine. 

"Wlien  the  Israelites  forced  their  way  into  this  highly  favored  land  where  once  their  fathers 
had  dwelt  as  nomads,  they  found,  east  of  the  Jordan,  the  kingdoms  of  Sihon  and  Og  (ch.  xii, 
1  ff".)  and,  in  Canaan  proper,  thirty-one  smaller  kingdoms  besides,  as  would  appear,  one  free 
state,  Gibeon  with  its  dependent  towns  Chephira,  Beeroth,  and  Kirjath-jearim  (ix.  3,  17).  The 
land  was  already  cultivated,  and  owed  this  cultivation  to  its  inhabitants.  These  lived  in 
cities,  tilled  the  ground,  and  had  planted  olive-yards  (ch.  xxiv.  13),  were  acquainted  with 
writing,  as  the  previous  name  of  Debir,  Kirjath-sepher  (ch.  xv.  15),  proves,  owned  horses  and 
uhariots  (ch.  xi.  4  ;  xvii.  18)  ;  but  in  a  moral  and  religious  respect  were  very  degraded  (Gen. 
XV.  16  ;  xix.  5;  Deut.  xii.  29-31  ;  xviii.  9-12;  Ex.  xxiii.  31-33;  xxxiv.  11-14;  Josh,  xxiii. 
12, 13  ;  xxiv.  15).      Of  them  are  separately  named  in  our  book,  — 

1.  Canaanite  tribes  (ch.  iii.  10;  ix.  1  ;  xi.  3,  where  their  places  of  habitation  are  given, 
xii.  8  ;  xxiv.  11)  :  ^ 

A.  Tiie  Hiltites,  "^i^inn  (Xerraiot),  living  on  the  mountain  of  Judah  (Num.  xiii.  29 ;  Josh, 
xi.  3,  and  in  general  "uIIl)  near  Hebron  Avhere  Moses  bought  of  Ephron  the  Hittite,  a  cave 
for  a  burial-place  (Gen.  xxiii.  3-20;  xxv.  9,  10  fF.).  The  race  appears  to  have  been  very 
powerful,  since  ch.  i.  4  the  whole  land  promised  to  the  Isi-aelites  is  called   the  land  of  the 

1  [Oa  the  different  races  of  the  Canaanites  compare  the  brief  but  comprehensive  sketch  by  Stanley,  Hist,  of  Jewish 
Vh.  lect.  ix.,  and  the  articles  under  the  respective  titles  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible.  —  Tb.] 


28  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


Hittites.  According  to  Ewald  (Gesch.  des  Volkes  Isr.,  i.  p.  279  fF.)  the  Hittites  were  dwellers 
in  the  vallei/.t,  which,  however,  does  not  agree  witli  ch.  xi.  3,  -where  they,  together  with  the 
Ainorite?,  Perizzites,  and  Jebusites,  are  reckoned  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  mountain. 
[This  name  is  used  in  the  Hebrew  always  in  the  singuhir,  "  the  Hittite,"  M'ith  five  excep- 
tions.] 

B.  Thii  Ainorites,  ^"iTl^n  ('A/io^^aTof,  according  to  Ewald,  "mountaineers"-^).  Sometimes 
a  name  for  all  the  i)eople"s  of  Canaan  (ch.  xxiv.  18  ;  Gen.  xv.  16  ;  Judg.  vi.  10  ;  2  Sam.  xxi.  2, 
and  often),  according  to  ch.  xi.  3,  dwelling  on  the  mountain  also,  either  on  the  mountain  of 
Judah,  in  piirticular  (Gen.  xiv.  7,  13),  or  on  the  mountain  west  of  the  Dead  Sea,  thence 
called  mountain  of  the  Amorites  (Deut.  i.  7,  19,  20,  comp.  w.  Num.  xiii.  30),  and  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  southerly  continuation  of  the  mount  of  Judah  ;  or,  northwardly,  on  the  mount  of 
Ephraim,  about  Shecheni  (Gen.  xlviii.  22,  comp.  w.  John  iv.  5)  :  also  on  the  east  of  the 
Jorilan  where  the  kingdoms  of  Sihon  and  Og  in  Gilead  and  Bashan  are  designated  as  Am- 
oritish  kingdoms  (ch.  ix.  10,  comp.  av.  xii.  2,  4  ;  Num.  xxxii.  33,  39  ;  Deut.  iv.  47-49).  [He- 
brew always  singular.] 

C.  The  Canaanites,  "^I^DSn  {Xavava7oi,  according  to  Ewald  [and  Gesen.]  "loAvlanders  "), 
a  designation  in  a  wide  sense  for  all  the  people  of  Canaan  (Gen.  x.  18  ;  xii.  6  ;  xxiv.  3 ; 
Ex.  xiii.  11,  and  often),  more  strictly  for  a  race  along  the  sea  and  along  the  Jordan  (ch.  v.  1 ; 
xi.  3  ;  Num.  xiii.  29  ;  Deut.  xi.  30).  That  they  dwelt  in  Gezer,  is  expressly  mentioned  ch. 
xvi.  10,  comp.  the  Comm.  in  loc.  In  ch.  xiii.  4  the  land  of  the  Canaanites  is  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Sidonians  (ch.  xiii.  5),  that  is,  the  Phcenicians.     [Almost  always  plural.] 

D.  The  Gin/asJiites,  •'irsiiin  (mentioned  in  ch.  iii.  10  ;  xxiv.  11 ;  Deut.  vii.  1  ;  Neh.  ix. 
8,  while  they  are  wanting  in  the  lists,  ch.  ix.  1  ;  xi.  3  ;  xii.  8  :  Ex.  iii.  8  ;  xxiii.  23  ;  xxxiii. 
2  ;  xxxiv.  11),  according  to  Gesenius  "  those  dwelling  on  clayey  or  loamy  soil "  (^3^2).  They 
had  probably  (ch.  xxiv.  11),  as  von  Raumer  suspects,  settled  as  colonists  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Jordan.  In  Matt.  viii.  28  the  Cod.  Sinait.  reads  not  Tepyfa-nvS>v,  which  is  probably  no 
more  than  a  conjecture  of  Origen  (von  Raumer,  Gesen.),  but  raCapTjvwv.  [Plural  with  two 
exceptions.] 

E.  The  Illvites,  "^^inn  (Ebaloi,  according  to  Ewald,  "  townsmen,  midlanders "  [Gesen. : 
pagani,  villagers];  in  the  cities  Shechem  (Gen.  xxxiv.  2)  and  Gibeon  (Josh.  ix.  7;  xi.  19), 
but  also  on  mount  Hermon  in  the  land  Mizpeh,  ch.  xi.  3,  cf.  Judg.  iii.  3).  [In  the  Hebrew 
always  singular.] 

F.  The  Perizzites,  *'-T-'f  n  {^tpeCaToi ;  according  to  Gesenius  connected  with  niT^S,  "  open 
country,"  whence  ''pB  Est.  ix.  16;  Deut.  iii.  5;  1  Sam.  vi.  18,  and  then  also  ''•nQ  = 
"  countryman,  rustic,"  wuth  which  also  j)aga7ius  may  be  compared),  according  to  ch.  xi.  3  ; 
Judg.  i.  4,  5,  like-sA'ise  living  on  the  mountains,  probably  with  Canaanites,  between  Beth-el  and 
Ai  in  Abraham's  time  (Gen.  xiii.  3,  7).  It  may  be  questioned,  with  von  Raumer  (p.  362), 
whether  also  near  Shechem"?  which  is,  I  think,  from  the  connection  of  Gen.  xxxiv.  30  not 
improbable.     [Always  singular  in  the  Hebrew.] 

G.  The  Jebusites,  "^D^Q'^n  (from  "  D^3^  a  place  trodden  down,  threshing-floor,  r.  p^3 " 
Gesenius),  at  Jerusalem  (Jebus),  and  in  the  region  around  Jerusalem  (ch.  xv.  8,  63  ;  xviii. 
28;  Judg.  xix.  11),  according  to  ch.  xi.  3  on  the  mountain  also  (cf.  besides  Num.  xiii.  20), 
like  the  Amorites,  Hittites,  and  Perizzites ;  invariably,  except  ch.  xi.  3,  named  in  the  lists  (ch. 
ix.  1  ;  xii.  8 ;  xxiv.  11  ;  Gen.  xv.  21  ;  Ex.  iii.  8  ;  xxiii.  23;  xxxiii.  2  ;  xxxiv.  11  ;  Deut.  vii. 
1).      [Always  singular.] 

"  As  i-egards  the  origin  of  the  .Canaanites,"  says  Winer  (Bibl.  RealworterbucJi,  s.  v.  "  Cana- 
aniter  "),  "  they  are  reckoned  in  Gen.  x.  15,  comp.  vers.  6,  18  ;  ix.  22  —  as  descendants  of  a 
certain  Canaan  who  was  a  son  of  Ilani,  and  so  grajidson  of  Noah,  —  among  the  Hamites.  But 
this  ethnogi-aplucal  conception,  which  rests,  perhaps  (Tuch,  p.  245),  on  the  tratUtion  concern- 
ing the  original  abodes  of  the  Canaanites,  is  contradicted  by  the  language  of  this  race,  which 
was  no  other  tli;m  the  Hebrew  (Is.  xix.  18,  see  Gesenius,  Hist,  of  the  Heb.  Lang.  16  f.).  The 
prevailing  view  of  antiquity  reganled  them  (the  Phoenicians,  Sidonians)  as  immigrants  in 
westei-n  Asia,  comp.  also  Justin,  xviii.  3,  2 ;  and  according  to  Herod,  i.  1 ;  vii.  89,  they  must 
have  dwelt  originally  on  the  Red  Sea  (that  is,  on  the  ocean  south  of  Asia),  especially,  per- 

1  [Tliis  intorpretJition  is  said  by  GroTC,  Smith's  Diet,  of  Ihi  Bible, art.  "  Amorite,"  "to  be  due  to  Simonif  though  com 
monly  ascribed  to  Ewald."  —  Ttt] 


§  7.     THE   ORIGIN.VL  INHABITANTS   OF  PALESTINE.  29 

haps,  on  tlic  Persian  Gulf  (comp.  Strabo,  i.  42  ;  xvi.  784),  where  at  a  later  period,  two  islands, 

Tyrus  and  Arados,  were  pointed  out  as  the  home  of  the  Phoenicians  (Strabo,  xvi.  76G) 

That,  finally,  the  immigrant  Canaanites  first  occupied  the  northern  (Phu3n.)  coast,  and  tlien, 
crowding  back  the  primitive  inhabitants,  spread  themselves  south  and  east  throughout  Pales- 
tine, is  probable  under  all  the  circumstances."  Knobel  has,  as  Lange  remarks  [Comm.  on 
Gen.,  p.  347),  "solved  the  problem  by  the  sujjposition  that  the  Canaanites  who  migrated  to 
that  country  might  have  received  the  Shemitic  language  from  Shemites  who  had  previously 
settled  there.  Add  to  this  that  the  affinity  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Canaanites  with  the 
Hamitic  nations  of  the  south  seems  to  be  established  (Kurtz,  p.  90,  Kaulen,  p.  235)."  J. 
George  Miiller,  on  the  contrary,  had  still  earlier  maintained  (^Schweitzerlsches  Museum,  1837, 
p.  275  tf.  esp.  282),  and  again  repeats  (Herzog's  Realenojlc.,  vii.  241),  in  agreement  with  Gro- 
.  tins,  Clericus,  and  Gesenius,  that  the  Hebi'ews  had,  as  early  as  the  patriarchal  age,  received 
their  language  from  the  Canaanites  who  migrated  from  the  Egyptian  sea. 

On  a  more  cai'eful  consideration  of  these  several  views,  the  question  at  once  arises, 
Whether  the  ethnological  table  in  Gen.  x.  shall  maintain  its  historical  character  or  not. 
This  is  denied  to  it  by  the  majority  of  recent  critics.  An  error  in  the  Table  is  assumed 
and  then  ascribed  to  national  hatred,  which  is  supposed  to  have  shrunk  from  the  idea  of  a 
common  derivation  [liealencyk.,  ubi  sup.  240).  Knobel,  Bertheau,  and  J.  G.  Mlillei-,  on  the 
contraiy,  defend  the  table,  and  assume  that  the  Hebrews  and  Canaanites  were  of  ditlerent 
families,  the  former  belonging  to  that  of  Shem,  the  latter  to  that  of  Ham.  On  this  suj32:)osi- 
tion  arises  the  second  question  :  How  we  are  to  explain  the  undeniable  agreement  in  lan- 
guage, as  it  appears  e.  g.  in  the  inscription  of  Eschmunazar,  king  of  the  Sidonians  (cf. 
Schlottmann's  carel'ul  exjjl^nation  of  it  in  the  treatise.  Die  Inschrift  Eschmunazar' s  Kunigs  der 
Sidonier,  geschichtlich  und  sprachlicli  erkldrt,  Halle,  1868).  Knobel  supposes  that  the  Canaan- 
ites had,  upon  their  settlement  in  the  country,  received  the  language  of  the  Shemites,  whom 
he  conceives  to  have  been  resident  there  already.  Among  them  he  reckons  the  Rejahaites 
[Rephaim],  Emites  [EmimsJ,  Susites  [Zuzim],  Samsumites  [Zamzummim],  Enakites  [Anakim], 
Avites,  Hivites ;  and  he  supposes  that  the  Terahites  then  followed  at  a  later  period.  MilUer, 
as  we  have  seen,  gives  the  opposite  explanation.  He  maintains  that  "  the  Hebrews,  who  as 
a  rule,  throughout  their  history,  have  with  great  facility  appropriated  to  themselves  the  lan- 
guages of  the  peoples  among  whom  they  dwelt "  (better,  jaerhaps,  "  appropriate,"  for  whether 
it  was  always  so  we  know  not,  can  only  conjecture),  "  without  in  the  least  sacrificing  their 
nationality,  had  substituted  the  language  of  the  Canaanites  for  their  own,  as  they  also  bor- 
rowed of  them  other  elements  of  civilization,  especially  alphabetic  writing,  republican  institu- 
tions (Suifetes),  architecture,  etc."  (p.  242). 

This  is  the  j^i'esent  state  of  the  discussion.  One  class  of  investigators  give  up  the  ethno- 
graphical table,  and  arrive  at  a  not  unsatisfactory  result  ;  the  others  have  striven  to  support 
the  historical  authority  of  the  table,  but  are  then  compelled  to  propose  hypotheses  of  which 
that  of  Knobel,  supposing  the  Rephaim,  etc.,  to  have  been  Shemites,  is  against  all  previous 
views  (see  below),  while  that  of  Midler  raises  against  it  the  consideration.  Whether  indeed  a 
people  so  originally  endowed  as  the  Hebrews  could  so  easily  have  given  up  their  "  primi- 
tively Indogermanic,"  more  specifically  their  "  Aryan  or  Iranian  language  (!),"  and  adopted 
that  of  the  Canaanites  ?  Under  these  circumstances  we  hold  that  the  whole  question  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  the  Canaanites  is  as  yet  by  no  means  satisfactorily  answered. 

2.  The  Philistines  (Crnti^b?,  more  rarely  D'^^iyiti^bs,  LXX.  in  Pent,  and  Josh. :  (pv^iaTieiju.^ 
elsewhere  commonly:  ol  a\A6(pu\\oi,na\aiaT'iuoi  Joseph.  An(.  v.  1,  18.  According  to  Gesenius: 
'•wanderers,  strangers,"  which  is  the  meaning  of  a,\\6(pv\\oi^  from  the  ^thiop.  ya/a^'a,  "travel, 
wander,"  Heb.  tS772),  mentioned  in  our  book,  ch.  xiii.  2,  3.-^  Their  cities,  according  to  ch. 
XV.  45-47,  were  allotted  to  the  tribe  of  Judali,  but  Eki'on  later  to  Dan,  ch.  xix.  43.  They 
were,  as  appears  from  Gen.  x.  13,  14,  descendants  of  Mizraim,  the  son  of  Ham,  and  hence, 
like  the  Canaanites,  were  Hamites.  From  [Dent.  ii.  23;]  Jer.  xlvii.  4  ;  Am. 'ix.  7,  we 
learn  that  they  came  from  the  island  Caphtor,  probably  Crete.  With  that  agrees,  as 
von  Raumer  observes,  Deut.  ii.  23,  where  it  is  said  that  the  Caphtorim  who  came  out  of 
Caphtor  destroyed  the  Avim,  who  dwelt  in  villages  unto  Gaza  (later  the  city  of  the  Philis- 
tines), and  then  dwelt  there,  in  their  stead.  From  this,  through  confusion  of  names,  may 
have  arisen  the  story  handed  down  by  Tacitus  :  "  Judceos  Creta  profugos  novissima  Libi/(e 
insedisse"  (^Hisi.  v.  2).     Hitzig,  particularly,  in  his  UrgeschicUte  der  Philisler  (p.  17  fi".),  has 

I  [The  almost  entire  absence  of  the  article  with  this  uamo  throughout  the  historical  books  is  noticeable.  —  Tr.] 


30  THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

proved  that  the  designation  of  David's  body-guard  ^ribsn")  '^Pi'^^'STl  (2  Sam.  xv.  18;  xx.  7; 
1  Kgs,  i.  38,  44  ;  2  Sam.  viii.  18;  xx.  23)  lends  support  to  the  Cretan  origin  of  the  Philis- 
tines. That  the  name  of  Crete  is  preserved  in  "*ri~13rT  is  elear  at  a  glance,  and  in  reference 
to  "^n^?,  Hitzig  (p.  21)  has  shown  the  possibility  of  its  arising  from  "^nti^bp.  Whether  the 
former  of  these  words  is  api^licable  to  the  southern,  the  latter  to  the  northern  portion,  or 
whether  '^rQ'?  is  the  more  general,  "'rib?  a  more  particular  term,  the  Philistines  being  Cre- 
tans, is  (juestionable.  Vailiinger  (Ilerzog's  Realencyl:  xi.  557)  decides  for  the  former  vieAv, 
and  would  make  the  immigration  of  the  Cretes  or  Caphtorini  (Deut.  ii.  23  ;  Am.  ix.  7)  to 
have  taken  place  not  till  after  Joshua's  time,  and  at  first  into  the  district  south  of  Gaza, 
which  thus  included  the  233  (Josh.  xv.  21-32),  but  not  the  nbctt?  embracing  the  five  Phil- 
istine cities  (Josh.  xiii.  3  ;  comp.  w.  xv.  45-47).  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the 
whole  people  of  the  Philistines  inhabited  the  "  southern  sea-jilain,"  as  von  Raumer  descrip- 
tively calls  it  (p.  365),  and  that  this  plain  was  preeminently  Palestine  (see  above,  §  6). 
Even  in  the  time  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  they  dwelt  about  Beer-sheba  and  Gerar  (Gen.  xxi.  34  ; 
XX vi.  1).  Already  at  an  early  day  they  appear  as  a  joeople  practiced  in  war,  whose  country 
Moses  on  that  account  avoids  (Ex.  xiii.  17,  18).  Joshua  seems,  if  we  consider  ch.  xiii.  3, 
not  to  have  come  into  conflict  with  them,  and  the  division  of  the  Philistine  territory  amono- 
the  tribes  of  Israel  (ch.  xv.  45-47  ;  xix.  43)  was  and  remained,  as  Winer  expresses  it,  "  a 
project."  But  under  the  Judges  begins  the  strife  with  them,  thenceforth  prolonged  throuo-h 
centuries  (Judg.  iii.  31  ;  x.  7  ;  xiii.  1,  5),  most  victoriously  maintained  by  David  (2  Sam.  v. 
17-25  ;  viii.  l),  after  he  had  already  under  Saul  distinguished  himself  as  a  youthful  hero,  by 
the  overthrow  of  Goliath  especially  (l  Sam.  17),  but  still  leaving  it  necessary  for  Hezekiah 
at  a  much  later  period  to  "  smite  the  Philistines "  ^  (2  K.  xviii.  8).  It  is  historically 
remarkable  that  precisely  this,  the  people  most  hostile  to  the  Israelites,  should  have  given  to  the 
country  of  the  latter  the  name  by  which  it  must  probably  be  forever  most  familiarly  known  to  us 
of  the  West,  —  Palestine. 

3.   Other  Peoples. 

Among  these  belong,  above  all,  the  giant  peoples  (D'^SD'l),  of  whom  repeated  mention  is 
made  in  our  book  as  well  as  elsewhere,  e.  g.  ch.  xii.  4;  xiii.  12;  xv.  8;  xviii.  16. 
They  were  divided  into  various  tribes,  of  which,  in  ch.  xi.  21,  22 ;  xiv.  15 ;  xv.  13 ; 
p2V  "^33,  D''p33?  are  specified.  Although  they  are  noted,  Judg.  i.  10,  as  Canaanites,  this 
statement  does  not  agree  with  the  other  places  in  which  they  are  spoken  of.  Von  Raumer 
therefore  regards  them  as  aborigines.  He  says  :  "  Before  the  time  of  the  Canaanitish  races, 
and  among  them,  dwelt  giants  (D'^MD"))  in  Palestine  "  (p.  364).  To  these  aborigines  be- 
longed also,  probably,  the  Horites  (Gen.  xiv.  6,  36  ;  20  fF. ;  Deut.  ii.  12,  22),  —  cave-dwellers, 
troglodytes  (comp.  Job  xvii.  6  ;  xxiv.  5  fF. ;  xxx.  1  fF.),  but  not  mentioned  in  our  book ;  and 
besides  these  the  Avites  (D'^-l^)  subdued  by  the  Phihstines  ch.  xiii.  3  ;  Deut.  ii.  23  ;  also  the 
GeshurUes  at  the  foot  of  Hermon  not  far  from  Maacha  (ch.  xii.  5  ;  xiii.  13),  and  the  Geshurites 
(D'^~1^K75  perhaps  connected  with  'WJ'^  a  bridge)  in  the  south  of  Palestine,  near  Philistia 
(ch.  xiii.  2 ;  1  Sam.  xxvii.  8),  and  finally  the  Giblites  (ch.  xiii.  5,  "^bnan  from  ^23,  Arab, 
jebel  =  mountain)  in  the  region  of  Lebanon. 

§  8.     Division. 
Part  First. 

the    conquest    op   the    land    op    canaan  ;    or,  "  the    exploits    op  the  war  " 

(F.   Burmann).      Chaps,  i.-xii. 
Section  First.  The  preparation.      Chaps,  i.-v. 
1.  The  summons  to  the  war,  ch.  i. 

a.  The  command  of  God  to  Joshua,  i.  1-9. 

1  [Sec  further  on  the  Philistines  partieularly  the  very  valuable  article  s.  Ii.  v.  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  Bible.  On  the  whole 
subject  of  the  aborigines  of  Palestine,  the  account  given  by  Ritter  in  vol.  ii.  of  \X.  L.  Gage's  abridgment  of  his  great  work 
may  also  be  strongly  recommemlcd.  — Ta.] 


§  8.    DIVISION.  31 


b.  The  command  of  Joshua  to  the  leaders  of  the  people,  and  to  the  Eeubenites,  Gad- 
ites,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  i.  10-18. 
2.   The  mission  of  the  spies  to  Jericho,  ch.  ii. 

a.  Sending  of  the  spies  and  their  reception  by  Rahab,  ii.  1-7. 

b.  Preservation  of  the  spies  by  Rahab  on  their  promise  to  her  that  they  would  spare 

her  and  her  father's  house  in  the  capture  of  the  land,  ii.  8-21. 

c.  Return  of  the  spies  to  Joshua,  ii.  22-24. 

S.  The  passage  of  the  Israelites  through  the  Jordan,  chaps,  iii.,  iv. 

a.  Regulations  of  Joshua  in  regard  to  the  passage  through  the  Jordan,  iii.  1-13. 

b.  The  passage  itself  of  the  people  through  the  Jordan,  iii.  14  -  iv.  18. 

c.  The  erection  of  the  memorial  at  Gilgal,  iv.  19-24. 
4.  The  consecration  to  the  holy  war,  ch.  v. 

a.  The  effect  of  the  entrance  into  Canaan  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  v.  1. 

b.  The  circumcision  of  the  people,  v.  2-9. 

c.  The  Passover.    Bi-ead  of  the  land,  v.  10-12. 

d.  The  war-prince  of  God,  v.  13-15. 

Section  Second.  The  contests  of  Israel  with  the  Canaanites.    Chaps,  vi.-xi. 
A.    Contest  against  particular  cities.     Chaps,  vi.-viii. 

1.  The  capture  of  Jericho,  ch.  vi. 

a.  Preparation  for  it,  vi.  1-14. 

h.  Capture  and  destruction  of  Jericho,  vi.  15-27. 

2.  Achan's  theft,  ch.  vii. 

a.  The  crime,  vii.  1. 

b.  The  evil  consequences  in  the  unfortunate  expedition  against  Ai,  vii.  2-5. 

c.  Joshua's  humble  prayer  and  God's  answer  thereto,  vii.  6-15. 

d.  Detection  and  punishment  of  the  culprit  Achan,  vii.  lG-26. 

3.  Conquest  and  destruction  of  the  city  of  Ai,  ch.  viii.  1-29. 

a.  Joshua's  stratagem  against  Ai,  viii.  1-13. 

b.  Apparent  flight  of  the  IsraeUtes.     Theu-  victory,  captm-e  of  the  city,   and  ita 

destruction,  viii.  14-29. 
*.  The  altar  of  the  blessing  and  curse  on  Ebal,  ch.  viii.  30-35. 

B.    Contest  against  the  allied  kings  of  the  Canaanites.      Chaps,  ix.-xi. 

1.  The  first  league  of  Canaanitish  kings  against  Israel,  Lx.  1,  2. 

2.  The  fraud  of  the  Gibeonites,  Lx.  3-27. 

a.  Coming  of  the  Gibeonites  to  Joshua  and  league  with  them,  ix.  3-15. 

b.  Discovery  and  punishment  of  their  fraud,  ix.  lG-27. 

3.  The  great  victory  at  Gibeon  over  the  five  allied  Canaanite  kings,  x.  1-27. 

a.  Investment  of  Gibeon  by  the  five  allied  kings,  x.  1-5. 

b.  Battle  at  Gibeon,  x.  6-15. 

c.  Flight  and  destruction  of  the  five  kings,  x.  16-27. 

4.  Conquest  of  South  Canaan,  x.  28-43. 

5.  Vanquishment  of  the  northern  Canaanites.-     Capture  of  their  land.      General  review 

of  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  ch.  xi. 

a.  The  second  league  of  Canaanitish  kings,  xi.  1-6. 

b.  The  great  victory  at  the  water  of  Merom,  xi.  7-9. 

c.  Subjugation  of  the  rest  of  northern  Palestine,  xi.  10-15. 

d.  General  review  of  the  conquest  of  West  Palestine,  xi.  16-23. 

Section  Third.    Catalogue  of  all  the  kings  conquered  under  the  leadership  of  Moses   and 
Joshua,  in  East  and  West  Palestine. 

1.  Catalogue  of  the  kings  conquered  in  East  Palestine,  xii.  1-6. 

2.  Catalogue  of  the  kings  conquered  in  West  Palestine,  xii.  7-24. 

Part  Second. 

the  division  of  the    land  of  canaan ;    or,  "  deeds  of  the  peace  " 
(F.  Burmann).       Chaps,  xiii.-xxiv. 

Section  First.    God's  command  to  Joshua  to  distribute  the  land  in  West  Palestine.     Retro- 


32  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


spective  glance  at  the  territory  already  assigned  to  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  east  of  the 
Jordan.      Buguining  of  the  division.      Caleb's  portion.     Chaps,  xiii.,  xiv. 

1.  God's  oonimand  to  Joshua  to  distribute  the  land,  xiii.  1-7. 

2.  The  tenitory  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  east  of  the  Jordan,  as  already  granted   to 

them  by  Moses,  xiii.  8-33. 
a.  Its  boundaries.     The  tribe  of  Levi,  xiii.  8-14. 
h.  The  possession  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben,  xiii.  15-23. 
c.  The  possession  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  xiii.  24-28. 

(/.  The  possession  of  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh.     More  concerning   the  tribe  of 
Levi,  xiii.  29-32. 

3.  Beginning  of  the  distribution,  xiv.  1-5. 

4.  The  jiossession  of  Caleb,  xiv.  6-15. 

Section  Second.    Division   of  West  Palestine  among  the  nine  and  a  half  tribes  remaining. 
Appointment  of  the  cities  of  refuge,  and  the  cities  of  the  Levites.     Chaps,  xv.-xxi. 

1.  Territory  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  ch.  xv. 

a.  Its  boundaries,  xv.  1-12. 

b.  Caleb's  possession.      His  daughter  Achsa.      Conclusion  to  vers.  1-12,  xv.  13-20. 

c.  Catalogue  of  the  cities  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  xv.  21-63. 

a-   Cities  in  the  south,  xv.  21-32. 
)3.  Cities  in  the  lowland,  xv.  33-47. 
7.  Cities  on  the  mountain,  xv.  48-60. 
5.   Cities  in  the  wilderness,  xv.  61-63. 

2.  Territory  of  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  chaps,  xvi.,  xvii. 

a.  Its  boundaries,  xvi.  1-4. 

b.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  xvi.  5-10. 

c.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  xvii.  1-13. 

d.  Complaint  of  the  children    of  Joseph  on   account  of   an  insufficient  possession, 

xvii.  14-18.. 

3.  Territories  of  the  seven  remaining  tribes  :  Benjamin,  Simeon,  Zebulon,  Issachar,  Asher, 

Naphtali,  Dan,  and  the  possession  of  Joshua,  chaps,  xviii.,  xix. 

a.  Setting  up  of  the  Tabernacle  at   Shiloh.     Description  of  the  land  yet  to  be  di- 

vided. 

b.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  xviii.  11-28. 

a.  Its  boundaries,  xviii.  11-20. 

/3.  Cities  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  xviii.  21-28.  , 

c.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  xix.  1-9. 

d.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  xix.  10-16. 

e.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  xix.  17-23. 
/.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Asher  xix.  24-31. 

g.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  xix.  32-39. 
h.  Portion  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  xix.  40-48. 
i.  Joshua's  possession,  xix.  49,  50. 
j.  Conclusion,  xix.  51. 

4.  Appointment  of  the  cities  of  refuge,  ch.  xx. 

a.   God's  command  to  Joshua,  xx.  1-6. 
h.   Fulfdlment  of  this  command,  xx.  7-9. 

5.  Appointment  of  the  cities  for  the  priests  and  Levites,  ch.  xxi. 

a.  Demand  of  the  Levites  that  cities  should  be  given  them,  xxi.  1-8. 

h.  General  account  of  the  Levite  cities,  xxi.  4-8. 

c.  Cities  of  the  children  of  Aaron,  xxi.  9-19. 

d.  Cities  of  the  other  Kohathites,  xxi.  20-26. 

e.  Cities  of  the  Gershonites,  xxi.  27-33. 

f.  Cities  of  the  Merarites,  xxi.  34-42. 

g.  Conclusion,  xxi.  43-45. 

Section  Third.  Release  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  belonging  across  the  Jordan.     Joshua's 
farewell  discourse.     His  own  and  Eleazar's  death.     Chaps,  xxii.-xxiv. 
1.  Release  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes,  ch.  xxii. 


§  9.    LITERATURE.  33 


a.  Joshua's  parting  discourse,  xxii.  1-8. 

b.  Return   of  these  tribes   to  their   home.       Erection   of    an   altar  on  the  Jordan, 

xxii.  9,  10. 

c.  Embassy  of  Israel  to  these  tribes  on  account  of  the  altar,  xix.  11-20. 

il.  Apology  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  for  building  the  altar,  xxii.  21-31. 
e.   Return  of  the  embassy.     Naming  of  the  altar,  xxii.  32-34. 
2.  Joshua's  parting  with  the  people.     His  death   and  that  of  Eleazar.      The  bones  of 
Joseph,  chaps,  xxiii.,  xxiv. 

a.  The  first  parting  address,  eh.  xxiii. 

a.  Promise  that  Jehovah  will  still  further  contend  for  his  peoi^le  and  help  them 

to  the  complete  possession  of  the  land,  xxiii.  1-11. 
/3.  Warning  againsi  apostasy  from  God,  xxiii.  12-16. 

b.  The  second  parting  address.     Renewal  of  the  covenant.      Conclusion,  ch.  xxiv. 

a.  The  second  parting  address,  xxiv.  1-15. 

j3.  Renewal  of  the  covenant,  xxiv.  16-28. 

y.  Death  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar.     Josejjh's  bones,  xxiv.  29-33. 

§  9.     Literature. 

I.  Isagogical.  —  Besides  the  Introductions  to  the  O.  T.  of  De  Wette  [translated  into  English 
by  Theo.  Parker],  Bleek  [translated  by  Venables,  2  vols.  London,  1869],  Haveripck  [trans- 
lated, Edinb.  1852],  [Home  (Davidson)],  and  Keil  [translated  by  C.  Douglass,  2  vols.  Glasgow, 
1870],  the  following  treatises  are  worthy  of  special  mention:  C.  H.  Van  Herwerdeu,  Dispu- 
latio  (le  Libro  Josuce  sive  de  Diversis,  ex  quibus  constat,  Josuce  Liber  Monumentis  deque  ALtate, 
qua  eorum  vixerunt  Auctores,  Groning.  1826.  G.  A.  Hauff,  Einige  Bemerkungen  iiber  das 
Buck  Josua  in  Klaiber's  Studien  der  wiirtemb.  GeistUchkeit,  ii.  1,  105-126;  and  by  the  same 
author :  Ojfenbarungsglaube  und  Kritik  der  biblisclien  Geschichtsbiicher  am  Beispiele  des 
Buches  Josua  in-  ihrer  nothwendigen  Einlieit  dargethan,  Stuttgart,  1843.  Konig,  Alttest. 
Studien,  Heft.  1.  Authentie  des  Buches  Josua.  Meurs,  1836.  See  Theol.  Studien  und  Kriiiken, 
xi.  260  ff.  Baumgarten,  on  Josua,  also  on  das  Buck  Josua  in  Herzog's  Theol.  Realencykld- 
pddie,  vii.  38-43.  Winer,  in  his  Bibl.  Realworterbuch,  art.  Josua.  Knobel,  Kritik  des  Pen- 
tateuch und  Josua  in  the  Exeget.  Handbuch,  1861,  part  xiii.  pp.  489-606.  Noldeke,  Die 
alttestamenlliche  Literatur,  Leipz.  1868,  pp.  13-42.  Noldeke,  Uiitersuchungen  zur  Kritik  des 
Alten  Testamentes,  Kiel,  18tt9,  pp.  1-144.  Fiirst,  Geschichte  der  hiblisch.  Literatur,  Leipz. 
1867,  vol.  i.  Fiirst,  Der  Kanon  des  Alten  Testamentes,  Leipzig,  1868.  Schlottmann,  Die 
Inschrift  Eschmunazars,  Konigs  der  Sidonier,  Halle,  1868,  pp.  9-34. 

II.    Commentaries. 

"  Ephraem  Syri,  Explanatio  in  Libr.  Josuce  in  vol.  i.  of  his  Opera  Syriace.  Theodoretl, 
Qucestiones  in  Josuam,  in  vol.  i.  of  his  Opera,  ed.  Schulze.  Aurel.  Augustini,  QucBstiones  in 
Libr.  Josuce,  in  vol.  iii.  of  his  Opera,  Antwerp,  1700,  fol.  R.  Sal.  Jarchi  (Raschi),  Comment. 
Heb.  in  Libr.  Josuce,  etc.,  Lat.  vers,  a  Jo.  Fr.  Breithaupto,  Goth.  1714,  4to. 

"Jo.  Calvini,  Commentarii  in  Libras  Mosis  necnon  in  Librum  Josuce,  Amstelodami,  1667, 
fol.  Nic.  Serarius,  Comment,  in  Libr.  Josuce,  etc.,  Mog.  1609,  vol.  i.  fol.  Andreas  Masius, 
Josuce  Imperatoris  Historia  illustrata,  Antwer]},  1574,  fol.  Dav.  Chytrjei  in  Historiam  Josua;, 
etc.,  Explicationes  Utilissimce,  Lips.  1592,  fol.  J.  A.  Osiander,  Comrnentarius  in  Josuam, 
Tub.  1681,  fol.  J.  Christ.  Ysing,  Exercitationes  Historicce  in  Pentateuchum  et  Librum  Josuce, 
Regiom,  1683,  4to.  Seb.  Schmidt,  Annotationes  in  Libr.  Josuce,  appended  to  his  Comment, 
in  Jesaiam,  ed.  2,  Francof.  1692,  4to.  Critici  Sacri,  containing  Annotata  in  Libr.  Josuce  by 
Seb.  Munster,  Fr.  Vatablus,  Isid.  Clarius,  A.  Masius,  Jo.  Drusius,  and  Hugo  Grotius,  vol.  i. 
ed.  2,  Francof.  1696,  fol.  Sijnopis  Criticorum,  etc.,  adorn,  a  Matth.  Polo,  Francof.  1694, 
vol.  i.  4to.  Corn,  a  Lapide,  Comment,  in  Josuam,  etc.,  Antwerp,  1718,  foL  Jo.  Clerici,  Vete- 
ris  Test.  Libri  Historici,  etc.,  ed.  nov.  Tiib.  1783,  fol. 

"  Aug.  Calmet,  Commentcure  Literal  stir  le  Vet.  Test.,  Josue,  le  Juges,  etc.,  Paris,  1711,  4to. 
J.  D.Michaclis,  AmKerkungen  fiir  Ungelehrte,  with  his  Germ,  translation  of  the  0.  T.,  part  v.  i. 
Giitting.  1774,  4to.  Jo.  Christ.  Frid.  Schulzii,  Scholia  in  Vet.  Test.,  vol.  ii.,  Norimb.  1784, 
8to.  Exegetisches  Handbuch  des  Alten  Test.,  part  i.  Avith  appendices  in  thi'ee  j^arts.,  Leipz., 
1797,  8vo  Thadd.  Ant.  Dereser,  Anmerkungen  zu  der  heiligen  Schrift  des  Alten  Test,  (as 
3 


34  '  TIIE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


edited  byliim  and  Dum.  v.  Breutano)  part  ii.  vol.  i.,  Frankf.  1801,  8vo.  F.  J.  V.  1).  Maurer, 
Commentar  iibcr  das  Buck  Josua,  Stuttg.  1831,  8vo.  Ern.  Fr.  Car.  Eosenmiiller,  Scholia  in 
Vet.  Test.,  part  xi.  \o\.  i.  Josuam  coutincns.  Lips.  1833,  8vo." 

To  this  list  of  Comnieutarios  given  by  Koil,  and  very  carefully  prepared,  we  may  add 
still :  Waloli,  Bihl.  llieol.  iv.  46G  stjq.,  980.  Das  Buck  Josua  nach  dem  Masoretischem  Texte 
neu  uhersetzt  (by  Edward  Kley),  edited  by  Frankel,  Leipz.  1817.  F.  J.  V.  D.  Maurer,  Com- 
mentarius  grammaticus  criticus  in  V.  T.  in  Uswn  maxime  Gijnasiorum  et  Academiarum  adornatus, 
vol.  i.  97-12G,  Lips.  1835,  8vo.  K.  F.  Keil.  Kommentar  uher  das  Buck  Josua,  Erlangen, 
1847,  8 vo.  [translated  into  English,  Edinb.  1857^].  Kurzgefasstes  Exegetisches  Handbuch 
zum  Alien  Test.,  part  xiii. ;  Nunieris,  Deuteronomium  und  Josua,  erkliirt  von  Dr.  A.  Knobel, 
Nehst  einer  Kritik  des  Pentateuch  und  Josua,  Leipz.  1861,  8vo.  Biblischer  Kommentar  iiber 
das  Alte  Test.,  edited  by  K.  F.  Keil  and  F.  Delitzsch,  Zweiter  Theil.  Die  prophetischen 
Geschichtsbiicher,  Erster  Band:  Josua,  Richter  und  Ruth,  von.  K.  F.  Keil,  Leipz.  18G3.- 
(An  abridged  edition  of  his  former  work,  revised  with  reference  to  the  commentary  of  Knobel, 
which  had  appeared  in  the  interval  [translated  into  English,  Edinb.,  1865]). 

[]\Liny  of  the  general  Commentaries  on  the  O.  T.  and  special  Treatises  on  pertinent  topics 
mentioned  in  the  first  volume  of  this  Commentary  on  the  N.  T.,  p.  19,  and  in  the  first  on  the 
O.  T.  pji.  62,  63,  might  here  be  recalled.  In  particular,  our  old  popular  commentators 
should  not  be  altogether  overlooked  :  Mat.  Henry,  Scott,  Gill,  Ad.  Clarke,  etc.  Though  they 
may  be  often  less  than  satisfactory  on  the  "  hard  places,"  and  sometimes  unduly  swayed  by 
their  theological  systems  respectively,  their  insight  into  the  religious  significance  and  uses  of 
the  divine  word  at  times  shows  itself  very  instructively. 
We  may  mention  especially  on  the  Book  of  Joshua  :  — 

Bush,  Notes  Critical  and  Practical  on  the  Boots  of  Joshua  and  Judges,  1838. 
Chr.  Wordsworth,  Holg  Bible  with  Notes,  ii.  part  i.  pp.  1-74,  Lond.  1865.  —  Tr.] 
Of  the  numerous  monographs  which  have  been  published  on  particular  passages  of  our 
book,  especially  on  ch.  x.  9  S.,  we  specify  the  following :  A.  Calmet,  Concerning  the  Com- 
mand of  Joshua  that  the  Sun  and  the  Moon  should  stand  still,  and  the  Rain  of  Stones  which  fell 
on  the  Canaanites,  Josh.  x.  11  ff;'va.  his  Biblical  Researches,  iii.  1,  53  if.  An  Attempt  to  prove 
from  the  Scripture  that  the  Sun  did  not  stand  still  in  Joshua's  Time :  in  the  Theological  Re- 
pository, vol.  i.  See  Allgem.  Deutsche  Bibliothek,  iii.  29  ff.  Biblisch-astron.  Abhandlung  von 
der  Kopernischen  Meinung  der  Welthan,  als  der  heil.  Schrift  nicht  entgegen,  Leipz.  1774. 
Sturm,  1st  Jos.  x.  1 2  der  Stillstand  des  Sonnes  oder  des  liagelwetters  zu  verstehen  ?  Schleitz, 
1778.  J.  D.  Ilgen,  De  Imbre  Lapideo  et  Solis  et  Luncc  Mora  inter  Pugnam  Israelitarum  suh 
Josucc  Auspiciis  cum  Amorrhceis,  Lips.  1793,  4to.  J.  Chr.  F.  Steudel,  Was  sagt  der  Stillstand  der 
Sonne  auf  Josua  Geheiss?  in  the  Tubing.  Zeitschrift,  1813,  i.  126-152.  N.  A.  Chr.  Weigle, 
Ueber  Josua  x.  7-15,  ibid.  1834,  iv.  107-165.  Hengstenberg,  in  the  Evangelische-Kirchen- 
zeitung,  1832,  No.  88,  and  ibid.  1868,  Nos.  47  and  49.  Das  Wunder  des  Herrn  in  der  Schlact 
wider  die  Amoriler :  A  Reply  to  the  Essay  in  the  Evang.  Church  Gazette  (Nov.  1832)  on  the 
standing  still  of  the  Sun,  Josh,  x.,  Barmen  und  Schwelm,  1833.  G.  F.  Goltz,  Die  Stillste- 
hende  Sonne  zu  Giheon,  nach  Grundsdtzen  des  Koperkanischen  Systems  erlautert  und  vertheidigt. 
Dr.  G.  Barzilai,  Un  Errore  di  Trente  Secoli,  1868,  translated  into  German  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Triest, 
under  the  title  :  Josua  und  die  Sonne :  Explanation  of  the  passage  Josh.  ch.  x.  9-14  by 
Dr.  G.  Barzilai,  Printing-House  of  the  Austrian  Lloyds,  1868.  Zockler,  Kopernikus  order 
Ptoloma:us?  Betrachtung  iiber  Josua  x.  12,  13,  in  the  Beweis  des  Glaubens,  iv.  (July  and 
August  1868),  p.  248  fF.  G.  Jahn,  Der  gesunde  Menschenver stand  und  die  stillstehende 
Sonne  zu  Gibeon,  Ducherow,  1868.  A.  Hengstenberg  (in  Bochum),  on  Josh.  x.  12-14,  in 
the  Beweis  des  Glaubens,  v.  (June  1869),  pp.  287,  288. 

HI.   Historical  Writings. 

J.  J.  Hess,  Geschichte  der  Israeliten  vor  den  Zeiten  Jesu,  ZUrich,  1776-1778,  12  Bde. ;  in  pai- 
ticular  Bd.  1,  History  of  the  Commanders.  Bertheau,  Israelii.  Geschichte,  p.  271  ff.  H.  Ewald, 
Geschichte  des  volkcs  Israel  bis  Christus,  Bd.  2,  p.  296  fF.  (2  Ausg.)  Gottingen,  1853  [trans- 
lated into  English  by  Russell  Martineau,  Lond.  1868.  The  references  in  this  work  are  to  the  2d 
Germ,  edition,  but  the  natiu-e  of  the  topics  will  easily  lead  in  all  cases  to  the  place  intended.  — 
Tr.]     J.  IL   Kurz,  Lehrbuch  der  heiligen  Geschichte,  6  Aufl.,  Konigsberg,  1853,  pp.  97-103. 

1  [lleferenccs  to  this  earlier  work  of  Keil  ill  the  present  commentary  will  be  adapted  to  the  English  translation. — Th.) 
J  [llefeiences  to  this  work  in  these  pages  will  apply  to  the  German  Edition. —  Tr.] 


§  9.    LITERATURE.  35 


[Translated  into  English,  Edinb.  1859.]  L.  Noach,  Von  Eden  und  Golgotha,  BibUsch-gescMchtl. 
Forschungen,  Leipz.  O.  Wigand,  1868.  (Hitherto  two  Yolimies  have  appeared  full  of  the 
strangest  hypotheses  suited  to  confound  all  previous  researches.  See  the  critique  in  the 
Literar.  CenlralUntt,  1869,  No.  25).  F.  Hitzig,  Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel  vom  Anheginn  his 
zur  Eroberung  Masada's  im  Jaltre  72  nach  Christus.  In  two  parts,  Part  I.  To  the  end  of 
the  Persian  Rule.  Leipz.  1869,  p.  95  ff.  [Oehler,  Das  Volk  Gotles,  in  Herzog,  Realencyk. 
vol.  xvii.  p.  259  f.  Dean  Milman,  HiMory  of  the  Jeivs,  N.  Y.  1867,  book  v.  Dean  Stanley, 
Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  1st  Series,  lects.  ix.-xii.  "The  Conquest  of  Pal- 
estine."    Rawlinson's  Historical  Evidences,  Boston,  1860,  lect.  iii.  —  Tr.] 

IV.   Geographical  Writings. 

1.  Books  of  Travel.  As  important  towards  the  geographical  explanation  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua,  we  must  mention  particularly :  Travels  in  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land,  by  Burckhardt, 
Lond.  1822.  In  German  :  J.  L.  Burckhardt's  Reisen  in  Syrien,  Paldstina  und  der  Gegend  des 
Berges  Sinai,  edited  by  Gesenius,  Weimar,  1823,  2  Bde,  8vo.  Seetzen's  Reisen  durch  Syrien, 
Paldstina,  Phonizier,  die  Transjordanldnder,  Arabia,  Petrcea  und  Unteregypten,  edited  by  Kruse, 
Berlin,  1854,  3  Theile.  G.  H.  v.  Schubert,  Reise  in  das  Morgenland  in  den  Jahren  1836  u, 
1837,  Erlangen,  1838-40,  3  Bde.  Biblical  Researches  in  Palestine,  Mount  Sinai,  and  Arabia 
Petrona  ;  A  Journal  of  Travels  in  the  Year  1838,  by  E.  Robinson  and  E.  Smith,  edited  by 
Edw.  Robinson,  D.  D. ;  3  vols.  Boston,  1841.^  [2d  ed.  1856,  2  vols.  8vo.]  Later  Biblical 
Researches  in  Palestine,  by  the  same,  1856,  8vo.^  [Next  in  importance  to  Dr.  Robinson's  inval- 
uable writings,  for  the  American  student,  and  almost  indispensable  to  interpret  even  them  to 
our  imagination  and  heart,  must  now  be  reckoned  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine  (Am.  ed.  N.  Y. 
1868).  The  praise  bestowed  on  this  by  Grove  in  the  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  is  not  exaggerated. 
Singularly  valuable  towards  a  revision  of  the  English  version  of  the  O.  T.  is  the  Vocabulary 
of  Topographical  Terms,  with  which,  as  an  appendix,  this  work  is  enriched.  —  Tr.] 
Strauss,  Sinai  und  Golgotha,  7  Aufl.  Berlin,  1859.  J.  Rusegger,  Reisen  in  Europa,  Asien 
und  Africa,  Stuttg.  1841-50,  7  Bde.  Philip  Wolf,  Reise  in  das  Gelobte  Land,  with  a 
new  plan  of  Jerusalem,  Stuttg.  1849.  E.  W.  Schultz,  Reise  in  das  Gelobte  Land,  Miilheim 
a.  d.  M.  1853.  Titus  Tobler,  Dritte  Wanderung  nach  Paldstina,  im  Jahr  1857  ;  A  ride 
through  Philistia,  travels  on  foot  in  the  mountain  of  Judaea,  and  gleaning  in  Jerusalem ; 
Gotha,  1859,  with  a  map.  Titus  Tobler,  Nazareth  in  Paldstina.  Nebst  Anhang  der  vierten 
Wande7-ung, -with  a.  supplement  of  Illustrations-,  Berlin,  1868.  Konrad  Furrer,  Wanderun- 
gen  durch  Paldstina,  with  a  view  and  plan  of  Jerusalem  and  a  map  of  Palestine  (by  Henry 
Lange),  Zurich,  1865.  Fr.  Valentiner,  Das  heilige  Land,  "  ivie  es  ivar"  und  "ivieesist." 
Keil,  1868.  Van  de  Velde,  Memoir,  in  explanation  of  his  Map  of  tlie  Holy  Land,  mentioned 
below.  See  on  the  whole  subject,  Titus  Tobler,  Bibliographia  Geographica  Pakcstince,  Leijjz. 
1867. 

[This  work  is  said  by  Dr.  Hackett  (Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  Palestine,  p.  2319)  to 
present  the  names  of  1066  writers  on  subjects  connected  with  the  geography  of  Palestine. 
The  appendix  to  Dr.  Robinson's  Biblical  Researches  gives  a  chronological  list  of  such  authors, 
embracing  almost  all  of  much  importance  up  to  that  time,  and  the  catalogue  published  in 
Gage's  Translation  of  Ritter  (vol.  ii.),  with  that  at  the  close  of  the  article,  Palestine,  in  the 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Amer.  edition,  will  supply  all  that  is  needed  to  fill  out  this  department 
of  bibliography  to  the  present  date.  And  here  we  take  occasion  to  say  that  in  that  Die 
tionary  almost  every  geographical  topic,  mentioned  in  the  present  work,  and  scarcely  less 
topics  of  biography,  antiquities,  ethnology,  will  be  found  treated  with  a  satisfactory  fullness 
of  learning  and  admu-able  succinctness.  The  corrections  and  additions  of  the  American 
edition  are  valuable  throughout,  and  within  the  sphere  of  sacred  geography  are  quite  essential 
to  the  due  presentation  of  a  few  important  questions.  It  may  almost  replace  for  the  English 
student,  and  is  in  some  respects  superior,  in  point  of  geographical  information,  to  the  great  Ger- 
man Theological  Dictionary,  Herzog's  Theologische  Realencyklopddie  fur  Protestantische  Theol- 
ogie  und  Kirche,  Stuttg.  &  Hamb.  1844-1866. 

Much  of  the  same  praise  is  believed  to  be  due  to  the  geographical  articles  in  the  last  edition 

1  [The  references  to  this  work  in  the  present  volume  are  adapted  to  the  edition  of  1841.  The  copious  indices  will  ic 
ilmost  all  cases  readily  direct  to  the  desired  portion  of  either  edition.  —  Tr.] 

2  [The  references  to  Later  Bibl.  Hes.  in  this  work  are  conformed:  to  the  2(3,  ?d.,  Boston,  1857-1 


36  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


of  Kitto's  Cyclopcedin  of  Biblical  Literature,  and  Fairbairn's  Imperial  Bible  Dictionary,  illus* 
trated  ;  with  -whifli,  liowever,  the  present  -writer  is  less  well  acquainted. 

We  repeat  the  titles  of  two  or  three  books  of  travel,  besides  those  named  above,  which 
seem  most  likely  to  be  accessible  and  of  service  to  Biblical  students  generally,  in  this  country, 
so  far  as  the  Book  of  Joshua  is  concerned. 

H.  B.  Tristram,  The  Land  of  Israel,  a  Journal  of  Travels  in  Palestine,  undertaken  with 
Special  Beference  to  its  Physical  Character.  Lond.  1866.  Worthy  to  stand  on  the  same  shelf 
with  Robinson  and  Stanley. 

Wm.  M.  Thomson,  Tlie  Land  and  the  Book  ;  or  Biblical  Illustrations  drawn  from  the  Man- 
ners and  Customs,  the  Scenes  and  the  Scenery  of  the  Holy  Land ;  with  maps,  engravings,  etc.  2 
vols.  N.  y.  1865.  Full  of  general  information  on  the  country,  the  fruit  of  twenty-five 
years'  experience  as  a  missionary  there,  and  rendered  more  useful  by  a  large  number  of  really 
illustrative  pictorial  representations. 

A  multitude  of  American  and  English  travellers  in  Palestine  have  published  books  within 
a  few  vears,  all  contributing  something  towards  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  land,  its  present 
aspect  and  condition,  its  productions,  its  ancient  monuments,  and  its  history.  We  name  the 
(ul lowing  without  pausing  to  give  full  titles,  because  their  works  are,  for  the  most  part,  famil- 
iar and  easily  procurable  :  Bausman,  Miss  Beaufort,  Drew,  Durbin,  Fiske,  Hackett,  Herschell, 
Lieut.  Lynch,  McGregor  (Bob  Boy  on  the  Jordan),  Miss  Martineau,  Olin,  Osborne,  Miss 
Rogers,  Stephens,  Wilson.  —  Tr.] 

2  Geographies  of  Palestine.  Adriani  Relandi,  Palccstina  ex  Monumentis  Veteribus  illustrata, 
•Trajecti  Batavorum,  1714,  4to.  K.  Ritter,  Erdkunde,  2  Ausg.,  Berlin,  1850-1852  (Bd.  15  u. 
16).  [Of  these  remarkable  volumes,  which  must  long  remain  the  great  storehouse  of  all  that 
had  been  communicated  concerning  the  Bible-lands,  the  portions  most  essential  to  the  Bibli- 
cal student  have  been  translated  by  Wm.  L..Gage,  and  published  in  four  octavo  volumes. 
The  Comparative  Geor/rnphy  of  Palestine  and  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula,  N.  Y.  1866. — Tr.]  By 
the  same  author  :  Der  Jordan  und  die  Beschiffung  des  todten  Meeres,  Berlin,  1850  ;  and,  Ein 
Blick  auf  Paldstina  und  seine  christliche  Bevollcerung,  Berlin,  1852.  K.  v.  Raumer,  Palastina  ; 
with  a  map  of  Palestine,  4  Aufl.,  Leipz.  1860.  L.  Volter,  Das  heilige  Land  und  das  Land  der 
Israelitischen  Wanderung,  with  a  map  of  Palestine  and  a  number  of  engravings,  2  Aufl.,  Stuttg. 
1864.  Edw.  Robinson,  Physical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land,  Boston,  1865  (excellent). 
G.  Arnoud,  La  Palestine  Ancienne  et  J\Ioderne  ou  Geographic  Historique  et  Physique  de  la 
Palestine,  avec  3  cartes  chromo-lithographiees,  Paris,  1868  (leaves  much  to  be  desired,  and  in 
the  accompanying  maps  also.  Comjj.  the  Review  in  the  Jalirbiichern  filr  Deutsche  Theologie, 
xiv.  2). 

[On  the  Geography  of  Palestine  we  may  add,  as  perhaps  more  appropriately  belonging  under 
this  head,  — 

N.  C.  Burt,  The  Land  and  its  Story :  or  the  Sacred  Historical  Geography  of  Palestine,  N. 
Y.  1869. 

H.  S.  Osborne,  Palestine,  Past  and  Present,  with  Biblical,  Literary,  and  Scientific  Notices, 
Phil.  1859. 

Very  full  and  valuable  on  the  Geography  of  Palestine  are  the  articles,  "  Palestina,"  by 
Arnold,  in  Herzog's  Realencyk.,  vol;  xi.,  and  "  Stiidten  imd  Ortschaften,"  vol.  xiv.  by  the 
same. 

"The  Bihliotheca  Sacra  (vols.  1-26,  1864-1869)  is  particularly  rich  in  articles  on  Biblical 
Geography  from  Dr.  Robinson  and  various  American  missionaries  in  Palestine  and  other 
parts  of  the  East."  —  (Hackett). 

The  following  are  Avorthy  of  notice  more  particularly  in  reference  to  the  Natural  History 
of  the  Holy  Land  :  — 

The  Natural  History  of  the  Bible,  by  W.  H.  Tristram,  published  by  the  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Christian  Knowledge.  The  sketch  by  the  same  author  in  the  article  Palestine  in  the 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  p.  2307  ff.  is  a  real  multum  in  parvo. 

H.  S.  Osborne,  Plants  of  the  Holy  Land  with  their  Fruits  and  Flowers.  Illustrated.  Phil. 
1860. 

W.  S.  Gage,  Studies  in  Bible  Lands,  with  72  Illustrations,  N.  Y. 

H.  B.  Hackett,  Illustrations  of  Scripture  suggested  by  a  2'our  through  the  Holy  Land, 
Boston,  186G. 


§   9.     LITERATUKE.  37 


J.  G.  Wood,  Bible  Animals:  being  a  Description  of  eve?'?/  Living  Creature  mentioned  in  Ihf 
Scriptures,  from  the  Ape  to  the  Coral.     N.  Y.  1870. 

Finally  we  must  notice  the  publication  of  a  work  whicli,  from  the  proved  ability  bf  its  authors 
and  the  peculiar  advantages  which  they  have  enjoyed,  is  sure  to  add  much  to  the  accm-acv 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Land  :  — 

The  Recover;/  of  Jerusalem ;  a  Narrative  of  Exploration  and  Discover)!  in  the  City  and  in 
the  Holij  Land.  By  Capt.  Wilson,  R.  E.,  Capt.  Warren,  R.  E.,  etc.,  etc.  With  an  Introduction 
by  Arthm*  Penrhyn  Stanley,  D.  D.,  Dean  of  Westminster.  Edited  by  Walter  Morison,  M. 
P.,  Honorary  Treasurer  to  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  London,  1871.  —  Tr.] 

3.  Maps.  Besides  those  given  in  the  different  travels  and  geograjihical  works  on  Palestine 
we  will  mention  :  Karte  von  Paliistina,  jjrincipally  after  the  itineraries  and  measurements  of 
-Robinson  and  Smith,  constructed  and  engraved  by  H.  Kiepert,  Berlin,  1840.  Karte  von  Pal- 
iistina nach  den  neuesten  Quellen  bearbeitet  und  gezeichnet  von  H.  Kiepert,  edited  by  C.  Ritter, 
Berlin,  1842.  H.  Kiepert,  Wandkarte  von  Paldstina  in  acht  Bldttern,  3  Aufl.  1866.  Karte  von 
Paldstina,  by  C.  W.  M.  Van  de  Velde.  Eight  sheets  printed  in  colors,  Gotha,  Justus  Perthes, 
1866.  A  Gei-man  edition  of  the  2d  English  edition  of  the  map  of  the  Holy  Land,  first  pub- 
lished in  Gotha  by  Justus  Perthes,  1858.  The  scale  is  1-315000.  (Extremely  valuable  for  the 
study  of  the  second  part  of  our  book,  and  in  general  quite  excellent).  —  From  the  same  pub- 
lisher appeared  in  1868  :  Der  Bibelatlas  in  acht  Bldttern,  von  Dr.  Theodor  Menke,  which  has 
rightly  met  with  high  appreciation  in  all  the  criticisms  ujion  it,  and  has  rendered  us  the  most 
essential  aid  in  the  jjrejiaration  of  our  commentary,  by  its  clear  chartographic  representation 
of  the  territory  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  before  the  exile.  It  even  distinguishes  by  the 
appropriate  numbers  (Map  iii.),  the  groups  of  cities  (Jos.  xv.,  xviii.)  in  Judah  and  Ben- 
jamin. 

[Preeminently  valuable  is  the  Bible  Atlas  of  Maps  and  Plans  by  Samuel  Clark,  M.  A. 
(Lond.  1868),  published  by  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge.  Except 
for  the  expense,  this  might  satisfy  all  wants  until  further  discoveries,  especially  of  the  Pales- 
tine Exjjloration  Fund  shall,  as  they  must,  supersede  the  best  representations  heretofore  pos- 
sible. 

Only  less  complete  and  accurate  than  this  is  Menke's  Bible-Atlas,  deservedly  praised 
above,  and  which,  although  the  names  are  given  in  German,  will  still  be  quite  intelligible  to 
any  English  scholar,  —  at  less  than  one  third  the  cost. 

What  the  foregoing  collections  of  Maps  are  for  hand  tise,  in  the  study,  that  is  the  large  Wall 
Map  of  Palestine  and  other  parts  of  Syria,  by  H.  S.  Osborne,  LL.D.,  and  Lyman  Coleman, 
D.  D.,  Philadelphia,  for  public  exhibition  in  the  Sunday-school,  or  lecture  room.  It  is  6  feet 
by  9  in  size,  with  a  side  map  of  Jerusalem  and  its  immediate  vicinity,  on  a  scale  much  larger 
still.  Its  delineation  of  the  boundaries  of  the  tribes  west  of  the  Jordan  differs,  however, 
considerably  from  that  on  Menke's  Maps,  and  needs  to  be  carefully  tested  by  the  record  in 
our  book. 

About  two  thirds  the  size  of  the  former  is  Kiepert's  Wall  Map  of  Palestine,  very  highly 
recommended  and  costing  about  half  as  much. 

Raaz's  New  Wall  Map  of  Palestine,  photo-lithographed  from  a  very  excellent  relief,  so 
that  "  all  the  effects  of  the  relief  in  light  and  shadow,  mountains,  valleys,  lakes,  streams,  etc., 
are  j^roduced  on  a  plane  surface  without  destroying  the  illusion  of  a  raised  surface,"  has  been 
reproduced  in  this  country  with  the  names  and  descriptions  in  English,  and  at  a  very  mod- 
erate price.     N.  Y.  1870.      Size  52  inches  by  32. 

There  is  also  an  excellent  Relief  Map  of  Palestine,  after  "Van  de  Velde,  easily  obtainable 
through  the  German  bookstores.      Size  22  by  17  inches. 

Less  ambitious  and  costly  than  most  of  these  are  several  good  atlases  and  maps  (but  varying 
in  excellence),  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society,  the  American  Sunday  School  Union, 
iind  by  private  publishers,  such  as  Colton,  New  York  ;  Garigues  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  etc.,  etc. 

A  small  relief  map,  pi'epared  by  W.  L.  Gage,  is  worth  far  more  than  its  cost  ;  and  quite 
marvelous  for  its  combination  of  accuracy,  fullness,  and  cheapness  is  the  little  Atlas  designed 
to  accompany  the  New  Hand-Book  of  Bible  Geography,  Carleton  &  Lanahan,  New  York,  1870. 
—  Tr.] 

V.  Homlletical  Literature. 

Besides  the  well-known  Commentaries  of  Starke,  von  Gerlach,  Lisco,  Dachsel,  the  Ber- 
leburger,  Herschberger  and  Calwer  Bibles,  we  cite  also :  Ft'anciskus  Burmannus,  Die  Richter 


S8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Israels  oder  Auslegung  unci  Betrachtung  der  Bilcher  Josua,  der  Richter  und  Ruth,  Frankfort 
bei  Jost  Hinricli  Drecker,  Ao.  1695,  4to.  Handel  has  musically  wrought  Joshua  into  his 
glorious  Oratorio. 

[J.  N.  Darby,  Synopsis  of  the  Books  of  the  Bible,  in  5  vols.  Vol.  i.  pp.  299-345.  2(1  ed. 
Lond. 

ISIatthew  Henry  deserves  to  be  specially  mentioned  under  this  head.  Many  of  his  quaint 
remarks  equal  both  in  piety,  aptness,  and  point,  the  rich  comments  of  the  German  writers 
given  in  the  following  pages. 

The  Gospel  in  the  Book  of  Joshua  (Anon.  N.  Y.  1870)  may  suggest  some  profitable  Chris- 
tian applications  of  the  language  of  the  O.  T.,  although,  like  Darby  above,  but  in  a  greater 
degree,  too  much  inclined  to  make  gospel  where  the  revealing  spirit  had  only  seen  fit  to  put 
Bomething  else,  perhaps  equally  good  in  its  place.  —  Tr.] 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


PART  FIRST. 


The  Conquest  of  the  Land  of  Canaan, 
Chapters  I.-XII. 


SECTION  FIRST. 

The  Preparation. 
Chapter  I.   1-V.  15. 


1.      The  Summons  to  the  War, 
Chapter  I. 

a.  The  Command  of  God  to  Joshua. 
Chapter  I.  1-9. 

1.  Now  [And  ^]  after  the  death  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  it 
came  to  pass,  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  spake  unto  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  Moses' 

2  minister,  saying,  Moses  my  servant  is  dead  ;  now  therefore  [and  now  ^]  arise,  go  over 
this  Jordan,  thou  and  all  this  people,  unto  [into]  the  land  which  I  do  [omit :  do]  give 

3  to  them,  even  [omit :  even]  to  the  children  [sons  '^]  of  Israel.  Every  place  that  the  sole 
of  your  foot  shall  tread  upon,  that  have  I  given  unto  you,  as  I  said  [  "^ri'12'^  properly : 

4  spoke]  unto  Moses.  From  the  wilderness  and  this  Lebanon  even  [and]  unto  the 
great  river,  the  river  Euphrates,  all  the  land  of  the  Hittites,  and  unto  the  great  sea 

5  toward  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  sha,ll  be  your  coast  [border  *].  There  shall  not 
any  man  be  able  to  [Not  a  man  shall]  stand  before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy  life  :    as 

6  I  was  with  Moses,  so  [omit :  so]  will  I  be  with  thee :  I  will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake 
thee.^  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage  [strong  and  firm  ^]  :  for  unto  this  people  shalt 
thou  divide  for  an  inheritance  [for  a  possession  '']  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  their 

7  fathers  to  give  them.  Only  be  thou  strong  and  very  courageous  [firm],  that  thou  mayest 
observe  to  do  according  to  all  the  law  which  Moses  my  servant  commanded  thee ; 
turn  not  from  it  to  the  right  hand  or  [Heb.  and  *]  to  the  left,  that  thou  mayest  pros- 

8  per  whithersoever  thou  goest.  This  book  of  the  Law  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth  ; 
but  [and]  thou  shalt  meditate  therein  day  and  night,  that  thou  mayest  observe  to  do 
according  to  all  that  is  written  therein  :  for  then  shalt  thou  make  thy  way  prosperous 

9  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good  success.^  Have  not  I  commanded  thee  ?  [,]  Be 
strong  and  of  a  good  courage  [firm]  ;  [?]  be  not  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dismayed :  for 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  thy  God  is  with  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Vcr.  1.     The  obvious  and  exact  rendering  of  the  conjunction  here  by  "  and  "  seems  required  to  inlicate  the  true 
grammatical  relation  of  this  to  the  preceding  books.     It  is  a  circumstance  of  some,  although  perhaps  not  great,  signifi- 


40  THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


cance,  in  respect  to  the  composition  of  the  historical  books  of  the  0.  T.  that,  as  the  first  four  books  of  the  Pentateuch  are 
closely  joined  together  by  the  copulative  conjunction  at  the  beginning  of  each  after  the  first,  so  the  historical  books,  with- 
out exception  as  far  as  to  First  Chronicles,  are  thus  linked  to  each  other,  and  all  to  the  Pentateuch  as  parts  of  one  great 
whole.  The  Chronicles  appear  to  make  a  new  beginning ;  and  various  reasons  might  be  assigned  why  Deuteronomy 
should  in  this  point  differ  from  the  three  preceding  books  of  .Moses.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  2.  —  nm'\  In  rare  inst:inces  the  conj.  in  this  compound  needs  to  bo  understood  in  an  illative  sense  ;  but 
generally  it  marks  the'  simple  succession  of  thoughts,  and  what  there  is  of  inference  is  cquivalently  expressed  by  our 
"  and  now."  So,  invariably,  De  Wette  and  Fay  ;  but  the  English  Version  almost  always  renders  as  in  this  passage. 
—  Tb.] 

[8  Ver.  2.  —  jf^  "*  ^3.  J^ay  also  translates  :  "  children  of  Is.,"  Do  Wettc,  always,  "  sons."  This  is  exact  and  much 
more  faithful  to  the  spirit  of  the  Kist  which  now,  precisely  as  in  ancient  times,  names  a  people  with  reference  to  its  males, 
"  the  Beni  Hassan,"  "  Beni  Sakkar,'  etc.  So  the  Hebrew  nation  were  the  Beni  Israel,  even  when,  in  many  instances,  prob- 
ably the  women  and  children  were  distinctly  thought  of;  but  generally  the  men  were  considered  in  a  political  respect  as 
instnr  omnium.  — Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  4.  —  The  word  "  coast  "  is  in  this  book  synonymous  with  border  (boundary  line),  except  in  the  three  places,  ch. 
ix.  1 ;  xii.  23  ;  six.  29,  wliere  it  was  intended  to  denote  "  coast  "  in  our  present  sense,  but  incorrectly,  as  would  appear,  in 
the  last  two  passages.  "  Border  "  is  what  we  should  now  say,  and  that,  especially  in  the  plural,  signifies  figuratively, 
like  the  Hebrew,  "  territory,"  "  tract,"  "  country."  —  Tr.] 

[5  A'^er.  5.  —  Gesen.  s.  v  HC") :  I  will  not  cast  thee  q/f  and  not  forsake  thee.  So  substantially  Fay  ;  De  Wette,  on  the 
contrary :  I  will  not  withdraw  myself  from  thee,  etc.  "  Fail  thee,"  etc.,  in  our  familiar  expression,  is,  perhaps,  as  near 
the  Hebrew  as  anything  proposed.  —  Ta.J 

[6  Ver.  6.  —  t^DST  pTn.  "  'Verbum  pTH  proprie  notat  vires  quae  sunt  in  manibus  ad  prehendendum  retinendum 
que  viriliter ;  sicut  contra  ^^S  firmitwiiiiem,  quae  in  genihiis  est,  ad  consistendum,  ne  ab  alio  quis  evertatur,'  Michaelis  ; 

(conf.   yi2i«5n  Job  iv.  4,  ^''^Sriil,  IK.  xii.  18,    ybS,  equus  alacer,  Zech.  vi.  3."  Maurer.  —  Te.] 

[7  Ver.  ".—  Fay  here  renders  "divide  for  an   inheritance  "  with  the  English  Aversion,  but  De  Wette  gives  simply  "  to 

partition,"  and  Gesenius  appears  to  be  abundantly  warranted  in  saying,  s.  v.    ^PO,  that  "  the  specific  idea  of  inheritance 

in  this  verb  is  rare."  —  Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  8. The  expression  is  stronger  with  "and,"  and  "  that  vav  is  put  as  a  disjunctive  between  words,!,  q.  or,  is 

hardly  supported  by  a  single  probable  example."  Gesen.  Lex.  p.  266,  Robinson's  Trans.   Fay  after  this  "  and  "  supplies 

[not].  —  Tr.] 

[9  Ver.  9 7"^2ti)Fl  should  in  consistency  with  ver.  7  be  translated  "  shalt  thou  prosper,"  and  the  whole  clause 

might  then  perhaps  be  rendered  "  for  then  shalt  thou  have  success  in  thy  way,  and  then  shalt  thou  prosper."  —  Tk.] 


6.  Joshua's  Command  to  the  Leaders  of  the  People,  and  to  the  Reubenites,  and  to  the  Gadites,  and  to 

tlie  Half  Tribe  of  Manasseh. 

Chapter  I.  10-18. 

10,  11  Then  Joshua  commanded  the  officers  [overseers^]  of  the  people,  saying,  Pass 
through  the  host  [camp]  and  command  the  people,  saying.  Prepare  you  victuals  ; 
for  w^ithin  three  days  ye  shall  pass  over  this  Joi'dan,  to  go  in  to  possess  the  land 
v?hich  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  giveth  you  to  possess  it. 

12  And  to  the  Reubenites  [Reubenite],  and  to  the  Gadites  [Gadite],  and  to  half  the 

13  tribe  of  Manasseh,  spake  Joshua,  saying.  Remember  the  word  which  Moses  the  ser- 
-   vant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  you,  saying.  The  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God 

14  hath  given  [giveth]  you  rest,  and  liath  given  you  this  land.  Your  wives,  your  little 
ones,  and  your  cattle  shall  remain  in  the  land  which  Moses  gave  you  on  this  [the 
other  '']  side  [of  the]  Jordan  ;  but  ye  shall  pass  [pass  over]  before  your  brethren 

15  armed  [eager  for  war,  or,  in  ranks  ^],  all  the  mighty  men  of  valour  [strong  heroes  *], 
and  help  them  ;  until  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  have  given  [shall  give]  your  bretliren  rest, 
as  he  hath  given  you,  and  they  also  have  possessed  [shall  possess]  the  land  which  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  giveth  them  ;  then  ye  shall  return  unto  the  land  of  your 
possession,  and  enjoy  [possess]  it,  which  Moses  the  Lord's  [Jehovah's]  servant  gave 
you  on  this  [the  other]  side  [of  the]  Jordan  toAvard  the  sun-rising.  And  they  ansAvered 

]  6  Joshua  saying.  All  that  thou  commandest  us,  Ave  Avill  do,  and  Avhithersoever  thou 

17  sendestus,  we  Avill  go.     According  as  we  hearkened  unto  Moses  in  all  things,"^  so  Avill 

18  Ave  hearken  unto  thee:  only  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  thy  God  be  with  thee,  as  he  was 
with  Moses.  Whosoever  he  he  [Every  man]  that  doth  rebel  against  thy  command- 
ment [literally,  mouth],  and  Avill  not  hearken  unto  thy  word,  in  all  that  thou  com- 
mandest him  [or,  us]  he  shall  be  put  to  death :  only  be  strong  and  of  a  go.od  .courage 
[firm] 


CHAPTER  I. 


41 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL 

[1  Ver.  10.  — To  iutlicate  distiactlj'  the  office  of  the   C^niiCi'',  is  desirable,  but  perhaps  (with  our  scanty  data)  scarcely 

possible.  AVhilo  etymologically  (r.  II^^')  scribe  or  clerk,  would  suit  very  well,  yet  from  the  passages  cited  in  the 
exegetical  notes  ou  tliis  verse,  and  from  many  others,  it  appears  that  the  name  designates  a  kind  of  overseer  of  a  section 
of  the  people,  in  some  way  ordering  them,  and  on  the  other  hand  representing  his  charge  to  the  judge,  governor,  or  com- 
mander to  whom  ho  was  subordinate.  Tlius  in  Egypt  they  stood  between  the  people  and  the  task-masters.  Accordiu"  to 
Num.  xvi.  18,  the  shoteriin  appear  tlien  to  have  been  chosen  from  the  elders  of  the  people,  and  to  have  constituted  some- 
times a  council  of  advisers,  with  Moses,  and  sometimes  (Deut.  i.  16  ;  xvi.  18)  a  sub-magistracy  who,  in  connection  with 
the  "Judges"  dispensed  justice  to  the  people.  Superintendent,  overseer,  or  director  (Fay:  Vorsteher,  Ordner),  probably 
gives  substantially  the  sense,  but  is  not  so  clearly  specific  as  we  could  wish.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  14.  —  ''^n   ^5^2.    This  phrase  constantly  denotes  the  region  beyond  the  Jordap  where  the  speaker  then  was : 
«  Scnptor  ex  eo,  in  quo  ipse  constitutus  erat,  loco,  i.  e.  'X  Palestina  rem  metitur.^'    Maurer.  —  Tr.] 
[3  Ver.  14.  — Fay,  in  Hckaareii.     See  the  authorities  in  e.xegetical  note.  —  Tr.] 
[4  Ver.  14.  —  Do  Wette,  Fay  :  atle  streitbaren  Maimer.     But  while  the  English  phrase  "  mighty  men  of  valor,"  uu 

plies  something  too  marveloa^,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  ^^H'T'  ''"liSS  does  not  often  convey  the  idea  of 
special  abiUty  in  the  military  service,  from  natural  endowments  or  extraordinary  experience  of  war,  something  like 
"  heroes,'-  or  "  veterans  in  war.'-  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  17.  —  A  little  more  exactly  for  the  sense  :    In  all  respects  as  we  hearkened  unto  Moses,  etc.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND    CRITICAL. 

a.  Vers.  1-9.  The  Command  of  God  fo  Joshua. 
The  history  of  the  conquest  of  the  land  of  Canaan, 
commencmg  here  and  constituting  the  fir.st  part  of 
the  Book  of  Joshua,  connects  itself  closely  with' 
Deuteronomy.  There,  at  the  end,  cli.  xxxiv.,  the 
death  of  Moses  is  reported,  Israel's  mourning  for 
him  described,  and  mention  made  of  Joshua  (ver. 
9)  his  successor,  while  yet  Moses  himself  is  once 
more  celebrated  in  words  of  highest  jiraise  as  a 
prophet  and  leader  of  the  people  without  parallel  in 
all  the  subsequent  times.  Only  Samtiel  afterward 
in  some  sense  reached  the  same  level  (Jer.  xv.  1). 
Here  in  ver.  1,  Moses,  after  notice  of  his  death, 

is  honorably  entitled  "* '  "T???  as  in  ver.  7,  as  in 
Dent,  xxxiv.  5 ;  Nxtm.  xii.  7,  8,  in  a  long  series  of 
places  in  our  book  (i.  7, 13,  1.5  ;  viii.  31,  33  ;  ix.  24  ; 
xi.  15  ;  xii.  6  ;  xiii.  8 ;  xiv.  7  ;  xviii.  7  ;  xxii.  2,  4,  5), 
1  K.  viii.  56;  2  K.  xviii.  12;  xxi.  8;  2  Chr.  i.  3 ; 
xxiv.  6  ;  Ps.  cv.  26.     Sometimes  also  he  is  called 

a'^nib.^  -r^^.  Ps.  xc.  l ;  l  Chr.  vl.  49  ;  2  Chr. 
xxiv.  9 ;  Dan.  ix.  11  ;  Neh.  x.  29.  Besides  Moses 
there  are  so  designated  or  so  addressed  by  God-: 
the  Patriarchs,  Deut.  ix.  27,  especially  Abraham, 
Gen.  xxvi.  24  ;  Ps.  cv.  6,  42 ;  Job  i.  8 ;  ii.  3 ;  xlii. 
7,  8  ;  Kings,  as  David  (Ps.  xviii.  I  ;  ^  xxxvi.  1  ; 
Ixxviii.  70;  1  K.  viii.  66;  2  K.  viii.  19;  Ezr. 
xxxvii.  24),  and  Hezekiah,  2  Chr.  xxxi.  16,  as  a 
theocratical  leader,  but  Nebuchadnezzar  also  as  one 
who  executed  God's  designs  (Jer.  xxv.  9  ;  xxvii.  6  ; 
xliii.  10) ;  Prophets,  as  Isaiah  xx.  3,  whom  God 
himself  so  names  (Is.  xliii.  10;  xliv.  26;  Jer.  vii. 
25;  xxvi.  5;  Am.  iii.  7;  Dan.  ix.  6,  and  often). 
Properly  all  the  Israelites  also  are  servants  of  God 
(Ex.  yiix.  5  ;  Lev.  xxv.  42-55)  and  recognize  them- 
selves as  such,  the  authors  of  the  Psalms  most 
freely  exjiressing  this  consciousness  in  their  distinct 
individuality  (Ps.  xix.  12,  14;  xxxiv.  23;  xxxv. 
27  ;  Lxix.  37  ;  xc.  16;  cxix.  17,  65,  84,  122,  176; 
exxxv.  14;  cxliii.  2).  Hence  in  the  secontl  part 
of  Isaiah,  the  whole  people  is  so  named  (Is.  iv.  8,  9  ; 
xlii.  19  ;  xliv.  1,  2,  21  ;  xlv.  4;  xlviii.  20),  and 
then  again  He  who  is  the  Israelite  /tar'  e|oxi?i',  the 

1  [It  will  he  noticed  by  the  reader  of  the  English  Bible 
that,  ii;  references  to  the  Psalms,  the  title  sometimes  counts 
as  one  verse.  —  Tr.] 

2  [The  article  on  the  Jordan  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible., 
w;Ul  tie  foiincl  quite  fuU  and  satisfactory.    See  also  the  art. 


Messiah,  (Zech.  iii.  8;  Is.  xlii.  1-7;  xlix.  3,5,  8; 
Iii.  13-15,53).  On  the  seu.se  of  this  designation, 
see  below  under  Doctrinal  and  Ethical.  —  Concern- 
ing Joshua  see  Introduction. 

Moses'  Minister.     Observe  that  Joshua  is  not 

spoken  of  as  Moses'  servant,  but  as  n^tt^Zp, 
minister ;  "  adjutant,"  we  should  now  say,  in  so  far 
as  Moses  was  not  law-giver  but  commander-in- 
chief.  The  formal  installation  of  Joshua  in  this 
position  is  reported  to  us  in  Num.  xxvii.  1 5  tf. 

Jordan.     l?l"?*rjj  almost  everywhere  in  the  0. 

T.  with  the  art.,  from  the  r.  IT^  "  to  go  down," 
or,  when  a  stream  is  spoken  of,  "  to  flow."  "  The 
Jordan  therefore  means,  the  'flowing'  ["the  De- 
scender," Stanley],  perhaps  with  allusion  to  its  ex- 
tremely abrupt  fall  and  rapid  course.  At  the 
present  day  it  is  called  by  the  Arabs  eshScheriali, 
'  the  drinking-place,'  occasionally  with  the  addition 
el-Kebir,  '  the  great."  The  name  el-Jurdun  (Jor- 
dan), is  however  not  unknown  to  the  Arabic  writers 
....  The  length  of  the  Jordan  from  where 
it  leaves  the  sea  of  Gennesaret  to  the  Dead  Sea  is 
about  sixty  miles,"  measured  in  a  straight  line 
[but  following  the  suiuosities  of  the  stream  two 
hundred  miles].  Furrer,  Wanderungen,  p.  155. 
Eobinson,  Phijs.  Geog.  p.  144  ff.  Von  Raumer,  Pal- 
dstina,  p.  54  ff.^ 

Ver.  4.  Here  the  boundaries  of  Canaan  are  laid 
down  very  much  as  they  are  given  in  Deut.  xi. 
24.  In  the  other  passage,  however,  the  wilderness, 
Lebanon,  and  the  Euphrates  are  taken  together 
as  opposed  to  the  great  sea,  while  here,  ( 1 . )  the 
wilderness  and  Lebanon  (south  and  north),  and 
then  again  (2.)  the  Euphrates  and  the  great  sea 
(east  and  west)  are  brought  together.  Substan- 
tially they  amount  to  the  same.  The  land  should 
be  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Arabian  desert,  on 
the  north  by  Mount  Le'janon,  on  the  east  by  the 
Euphrates,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  as  was  already  promised  to  Abraham  (Gen.  xv. 
18-21 ).  Still  more  vaguely  is  it  expressed  /Ex.  xxiii 
31)  "from  the  Red  Sea  even  unto  the  sea  of  the 
Philistines,"  and  "  from  the  desert  unto  the  river  " 
(Euphrates),   while  in  Num.  xxxiv.  1-12;   Josh. 

"Palestine"  in  the  same  work;  Bibl.  Sacra,  Aug.  1848, 
p.  396  ff.,  Nov.  1848,  p.  764  ff.,  Apr.  1850,  p.  393  ff.  Lynch's 
Expedition  to  the  Dead  Sea ;  Cruise  of  the  Hob  Roy  on  the 
Jordan,  N.  Y.  1870.  —Tr.] 


42 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


xiii.-xix.,  the  boundaries,  stated  only  in  a  general 
way  in  our  passage,  arc  quite  accurately  fixed. 

The  territory  to  be  occupied  by  the  peoi)le  of  Is- 
rael is  further  aud  mure  exactly  ascertained  froiu 
th^-  di  tinitiiui,  "  all  the  laud  of  the  Hittites." 

This  Lebanon,  as  in  ver.  2  this- Jordan,  because 
the  river  was  visible  close  at  hand,  and  tiie  moun- 
tain could  be  seen  although  at  a  great  distance. 

PD^yH  (ill  prose  always  with  the  art.)  is,  from 

']'ir>  "  to  be  whitel"  the  white  mountain.   Further 

}»articulars  see  in  the  Introduction,  and  in  von 
iaumer  p.  29  ff.  Concerniug  the  Ilittites  as  well 
as  the  other  Cauaanitish  i^eoples,  comp.  the  Intro- 
duction, §  7. 

Ver.  6.  Be  strong  and  firm.  Luther  translates 
finely  but  not  accurately  :  "  Be  comforted  and  un- 
dismayed." De  Wette :  "  Be  firm  and  strong." 
Schroeder  :  "Be  strong  and  firm,"  Dent.  xxxi.  G  ; 

vii.  23.  We  prefer  this  rendering  of  V^KlST  pTPI, 
since  the  words,  as  J.  H.  Miehaelis  has  noted,  sig- 
nify not  firmness  and  strength  in  genei-al,  but  the 

strength  in  the  hands  (p^H)  and  the  firmness  in 

the  knees  (V^^.  Is-  xxxv.  3,  cf.  Heb.  xii.  12,  13). 
Joshua  must  lay  hold  boldly  and  with  a  strong 
hand,  aud  then  when  he  has  done  so,  allow  noth- 
ing to  drive  him  from  his  position.  It  will  be  no- 
ticed that  in  ver.  6  we  find  simply  repeated,  in  al- 
most the  same  Avords,  what  has  been  said  to  Joshua 
in  Deut.  xxxi.  7,  23,  jn-ecisely  as  the  promise  ver. 
5  is  a  repetition  of  Deut.  xxxi.  0,  8. 

Vers.  7,  8,  admonish  Joshua  to  a  careful  observ- 
ance of  the  law,  in  order  that  the  great  work  laid  on 
him  liy  tlie  Lord  may  be  successfully  accomplished. 
Not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  is  the  same  as  "to 
be  continually  in  the  mouth."  Joshua  must,  on  the 
one  hand,  speak  to  the  people  in  the  words  of  the 
law,  in  order  rightly  to  impress  on  them  its  sacred 
design,  and  on  the  other,  must  also  ground  himself 
always  more  deeply  therein.    Hence  it  is  added  :  — 

Thou  Shalt  meditate  therein  day  and  night. 
We  arc  not  to  tliink  of  this  meditation  as  a  learned 
study,  but  rather  as  a  mature  reficction  u])on  the 
law  l)y  wliich  Josliua  penetrates  more  deeply  into  its 
meaning,  and  tlius  becomes  qualified  to  speak  more 
clearly,  pointedly,  and  powerfully  to  the  people. 
For  to  that  particularly,  and  not  to  the  "  reading 
aloud,"  as  Bunsen  explains  it,  is  the  reference  in 
the  command,  that  the  law  should  not  depart  out 
of  his  mouth.     Comp.  Deut.  vi.  7  ;  xi.  19  ;  xvii.  19. 

Comp.  further,  Ps.  i.  2,  and  on  rT^vSri,  ver.  3  es- 
pecially. 

Ver.  9  :  "  The  assurance  gains  in  strength  when 

to  the  positive  V^'^^  P^'^  there  is  added  also 
the  negative  nnri'bWT  -"11:^1  bw,  as  in  Deut. 
xxxi.  6,  8."  Keil. 

J  low  did  God  speak  to  Joshua  ?  By  the  Urim 
and  Thummim,  as  Iless  {Gisch.  Jos.  i.  p.  29)  sup- 
poses, ap])ealing  to  Num.  xxvii.  21,  or,  as  most 
interpreters  assume,  immediately,  by  an  inward 
revelation  1  Brobably  the  latter,  because,  altliough 
we  must  admit  that  Joshua  liad  been  directed  by 
God  himself  to  employ  the  other  means,  and  there- 
with the  mediation  of  the  high-priest,  yet  the  Lord 
himself  by  whom  —  observe  that — the  initiative  is 
here  taken,  was  not  lx)uiul  to  this  means,  as  ap- 
pears very  clearly  from  the  manifestation  of  the 
angel,  eh.  v.  13-1.').  The  Lord  sj)oke  to  Joshua  as 
he  had  spoken   to   Moses,  and  as  he  ai'terwards 


spoke  to  the  prophets.  Together  with  the  divinely 
regulated  office  there  went  on  this  free  communi- 
cation of  God's  ])ur])oscs  without  disturbance  to  the 
functions  of  that  ofiicc  when  tiiey  were  in  proper 
exercise,  but  sometimes  also  to  awaken  them  to 
life  when  light  and  right  was  extinguished  in 
Israel,  1  Sam.  iii. ;  Joel  i.  13. 

b.  Vers.  10-18.  The  Command  of  Joshua  to  the 
Magistrates  of  the  People  as  well  as  to  the  Reuben- 
beitites,  Gadites,  and  the  Half  Tribe   of  Manasseh. 

After  Joshua  has  received  the  command  from 
God  to  cross  the  Jordan  with  the  people,  he 
adopts  his  plans  aud  immediately   enjoins   upon 

the    □"'"lt2tZ7    (comp.   Ex.   v.  10;   Num.   xi.  16; 

Deut.  xvi.  18 ;  Josh.  viii.  33 ;  xxiii.  2 ;  xxiv.  1)  to 
go  through  the  camp,  and  call  on  the  people  to 
provide  themselves  with  -victuals  (the  need  of 
which  is  explained  by  the  cessation  of  the  manna, 
ch.  V.  12),  since  -withiii  three  days  the  march 
would  begin.  This  statement  of  time  is  not  exact, 
since  rather,  as  Keil  also  assumes,  seven  days  in 
all  inteiTcne,  namely,  one  day  for  the  journey  of 
the  spies  to  Jericho,  three  days  for  their  stay  in  the 
mountain,  three  days  for  the  march  from  Shittim 
to  the  Jordan,  and  the  delay  there,  after  all  which 
the  crossing  of  the  river  took  place.  Keil  says 
concerning  this :  "  We  give  np  the  attempt  to 
identify  the  three  days  in  ch.  iii.  2  with  those  men- 
tioned in  ch.  i.  11,  since  the  text  in  ch.  iii.  2  con- 
tains not  the  slightest  hint  of  such  a  combination. 

The  article  is  not  found  with  D'^^'^  (ch.  iii.  2)  by 

which  the  D'^13"'  nii77ti7  might  be  referred  to  ch. 
i.  11 ;  and  we  stand  by  the  simple  statements  of  the 
text,  assuming  that  the  spies  were  sent  out  imme- 
diately after  the  command  in  ch.  i.  11,  probably  on 
the  same  day,  i.  e.  on  the  third  of  Nisan,  that  they 
returned  after  three  full  days,  i.  e.  on  the  6th  of 
Nisan,  at  evening  (ch.  ii.  22),  and  that  on  the 
next  morning,  i.  e.  on  the  7th  of  Nisan,  Joshua 
broke  up  from  Shittim,  came  on  to  the  bank  of  the 
Jordan  (ch.  iii.  1),  where  he  rested  three  days, 
•and  on  the  tenth  effected  the  passage."  Not  so 
Gerlach,  who  says  rather  :  "  As  regards  the  chro- 
nological succession  of  these  events,  we  see  from 
ch.  iv.  19  that  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  was 
effected  on  the  tenth  of  the  first  month.  That 
command  of  Joshua  (ch.  i.  11)  was  given  there- 
fore on  the  7th.  Early  the  same  day  he  sent 
out  tlie  spies,  and  they  so  quickly  accomplished 
the  journey  of  perhaps  scarcely  a  dozen  miles  that 
they  left  Jericlw)  before  the  approach  of  that  night ;  " 
(but  how  does  this  agree  with  ch.  ii.  2,  5  AT.  ?)  "  the 
three  days  which  they  spent  in  the  mountain  were 
not  full  days"  (where  are  we  told  that?)  "being 
the  remainder  of  the  7th"  (which  must  thus 
have  been  an  uncommonly  long  day),  "  the  8th, 
and  part  of  the  9th.  On  this  last  they  returned 
to  Joshua,  and  thus  he  was  able,  in  accordance 
with  his  orders  received  early  on  the  7th,  to  cross 
over  on  the  10th.  Thus  we  have  a  very  sat- 
isfactory correspondence  between  the  series  of 
events  and  the  successive  dates."  The  perplexity 
in  which  these  two  interpreters  find  themselves 
may  be  very  simply  cleared  up  if,  with  Knobel,  wo 
assume  that  the  three  days  mentioned  in  ch.  iii.  2 
are  identical  with  the  three  days  here  in  ver.  11, 
but  that  ch.  ii.  was  a  separate  rcjwrt  here  worked 
in  by  the  author,  and  ia  the  insertion  of  which, 
attention  was  not  paid  to  the  exact  determination 
of  the  dates. 1 


1  [In  hia  later  work  (Bib.  Com.  in  loc.)  Keil  still  denying   that  the  "  three  days  "  here,  ver.  11,  a^  ,tlje  same  as  in  th 


CHAPTEE  I. 


43 


There  follows  now,  vers.  12-18,  a  special  demand 
of  Joshua  upon  the  Reubenites,  Gadites,  and  the 
half  tribe  of  Mauasseh.  These  had,  according  to 
Num.  xxxii.  on  account  of  their  wealth  in  flocks 
and  herds,  received  their  possession  in  the  land  of 
the  conquered  Amorite  kings,  Sihon  and  Og,  east 
of  the  Jordan.  This  was  on  the  condition,  how- 
ever, that  they  should  help  the  other  tribes  to  con- 
quer West  Palestine  ;  and  Joshua  now  calls  upon 
them  to  fultill  that  condition  and  carry  out  the 
promise  they  had  made.  This  they  declare  them- 
selves ready  to  do. 

Ver.  13.  Remember  the  word  which  Moses 
commanded  you,  etc.  Num.  xxxii.  20-24  is 
([110  ted  not  literally  but  freely  according  to  the 
sense,  for  D37  rT^DT^  does  not  occur  in  the  pas- 
sage cited,  —  a  very  beautiful  expression  :  to  afford 
rest,  to  cause  to  rest.  It  is  the  same  as  giving  a 
dwelling-place  secure  and  undisturbed  by  enemies 
(Deut.  XXV.  19), after  the  long,  restless  wanderings 
through  the  wilderness.  The  disobedient  (Num. 
xiv.  26  ff.)  come  not  into  this  rest  (Ps.  xcv.  11)  ; 
but  not  even  this  is  the  true  rest,  the  fuli  Kard- 
iravais,  the  true  ffa^liaTi<xix6s  of  the  people  of  God, 
Heb.  iii.  11,  18 ;  iv.  1,  3,  8,  9. 

This  land  (Deut.  iii.  18)  as  in  ver.  2,  this  Jor- 
dan, ver.  4,  this  Lebanon  :  the  land  in  which  then 
the  whole  people  as  yet  and  the  speaker  also  were, 

the  land  east  of  the  Jordan,  —  while  ~13^2,  trans- 
lated by  Luther,  De  Wette,  and  Eng.  Vers.  "  on 
this  side,"  means  on  that  side,  or  beyond,  and  is 
employed  from  the  writer's  point  of  view. 

Ver.  14.  C^ti^QH  is  vai'iously  derived;  either 
(Gesen.i  Furst,  [with  whonr  agree  Masius,  De 
Wette,  Keil]),  from  tC^H,  lumbus,  venter,  tanquam, 
sedes,  roboris  =  lumhis  accincti,  with  which  corap. 
Num.  xxxii.  27,  32  (D^^-lbq,  or  S31*  V^^Q) ' 
also  Job  xxxviii.  3;  Lu.  xii.  35;  Eph.  vi.  14;  1 
Pet.  i.  13,  — or,  (Ewald)  from  ti^nfl,  five  =  ar- 
ranged in  fives,  »'.  e.,  in  companies.  With  this 
Knobel  sides,  in  so  far  that  in  Ex.  xiii.  18,  he 
defines  the  word,  which  is  met  with  only  here  and 
inch.  iv.  12  ;  Ex.  xiii.  18  ;  Judg.  vii.  11  (ef  also  the 

iii.  2,  seeks  to  reconcile  the  present  date  with  the  actual 
time  of  the  crossing,  by  assuming  first  that  it  is  not  meant 
that  they  should  pass  over  within  three  days,  biit  only  begin 
to  move  towards  it ;  and  secondly,  that  although  Joshua  did 
design  to  reach  the  Jordan  and  cross  it  within  three  days, 
his  intention  was  frustrated  by  the  delay  which  his  spies  un- 
expectedly experienced.  He  says  :  "The  designation  '  in  three 
days  '  (/.  €•■,  as  appears  from  a  comparison  of  Gen.  xl.  13  and 
19  with  ver.  20,  i-ecliouing  from  the  day  of  giving  this  com- 
mand, on  the  third  day  following)  '  shall  ye  pass  over  the 
Jordan,'  is  not  to  be  taken  as  an  announcement  of  the  time 
within  which  the  crossing  should  actually  t;ike  place,  but, 
with  Vatabl,  and  J.  J.  Hess,  as  the  term  against  which  the 
people  should  be  prepared  for  the  crossing  :  as  if  he  had 
said  :  Prepare  you  victuals  in  order  to  go  over  the  Jordan 
within  three  days,  i.e., in  order  then  to  break  up  from 
Shittim,  to  cross  the  Jordan  and  be  able  to  commence  the 
conquest  of  Canaan.  Thus  apprehended  this  statement 
agrees  with  chapters  ii.  and  iii.  For  according  to  ch.  ii. 
Josliua  sent  from  Shittim  spies  to  Jericho,  who  after  their 
escape  from  that  city  had  to  hide  themselves  three  days  in 
the  mountain,  before  they  could  come  to  the  camp  of  Israel. 
They  were  absent  therefore  certainly  three  or  four  days, 
and  returned  at  the  earliest  on  the  evening  or  in  the  night  of 
the  fourth  day  from  that  on  which  they  were  sent  out.  Not 
until  then  did  the  IsraeUtes  break  up  from  Shittim  in  the 
morning,  and  moved  to  the  Jordan,  wliere  they  still  tarried, 
*iid  then  after  three  days  mor3,  crossed  over  the  stream. 
iVt  the  least,  therefore,  eight  full  lays,  4  -}- 1  -(-3,  must  have 


D''li?n,  Num.  xxxii.  17,  which  should  be  amended 
to  this  form),  as  meaning,  drawn  together,  collected, 
i.  e.,  in  separate  divisions  or  fixed  companies,  as 
opposed  to  individual  separateness  and  irregular 
dispersion.     Knobel   seeks  the  proper  etymon  in 

the  Arabic  with  a  comparison  of  the  Heb.  V^i!Jj 
to  compress.  We  translate  with  Ewald,  Knobel, 
and  Buusen,  "arranged  in  companies."^ 

But  ye  shall  pass  before,  etc.  So  had  they 
promised  Num.  xxxii.  17,  27,  32. 

All,  not  to  be  taken  strictly,  since  according  to 
ch.  iv.  13,  only  forty  thousand  men  went  over,  while 
the  two  and  a  half  tribes  had,  according  to  Num. 
xxvi.  7,  18,  34,  110,580  men. 

Vers.  16-18  contain  the  jo\^ul  answer  pervaded 
by  the  spirit  of  obedience  and  fraternal  love,  closing 
with  the  same  call  from  the  two  and  a  half  tribes,  to 
be  strong  and  firm,  which  God  had  addressed  to 
Joshua.  So  David  also  addresses  himself  when  he 
sings  :  Be  of  good  courage  and  he  shall  strengthen 

thy  heart,  '^?^  V^^-1  PIQ,  Ps.  xxvii.  15. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  If  we  would  accurately  determine  the  mean- 
ing of  the  distinguishing  title  "  servant  of  Jehovah," 
ascribed  to  Moses  in  ch.  i.  1,  we  cannot  be  content 
to  say  merely  that  it  signifies  a  "  worshipper  of 
Jehovah"  wlio  may  be  also  a  messenger,  an  am- 
bassador of  Jehovah.  We  are  concerned  rather  to 
know  how  it  comes  to  pass  at  all  that  the  pious 
worshippers  and  messengers  of  God  are  called  his 
servants.  The  answer  might  be  given  in  the  fol- 
lowing hints.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  not  for- 
get that  we  are  here  on  oriental  ground,  where  kings 
and  subjects  stand  related  to  each  other  as  lords 
and  slaves,  where  the  inferior  towards  the  superior 
studies  the  most  humble  submission  and  uncondi- 
tional obedience,  and  expresses  himself  also  in  a 
proportionately  huml)le  manner  (Gen.  xliv.  27,  32  ; 
Dan.  X.  17).  And  tluis  God  himself  appears  only 
as  under  the  figure  of  the  Most  High,  the  Ruler  of 
all  worlds,  the  Loril  of  Hosts,  before  whom  all 
theworldkecps  silence  (Hab.  iii.  20;  Zach.  ii.  13), 

passed  between  the  first  mission  of  the  spies  and  the  passage 
of  the  Jordan  by  the  people.  Without  doubt  Joshua  de- 
signed to  march  to  the  Jordan  within  three  days  from  the 
sending  of  the  spies,  and  to  go  over  the  river ;  and  simulta- 
neously with  his  command  to  the  people  to  prepare  to  cross 
over  within  three  days,  he  had  sent  the  spies,  so  that  he 
was  warranted  in  hoping  that  they  would  have  accomplished 
their  errand  and  returned  within  two  or  three  days.  But 
since  they,  through  the  unforeseen  discovery  of  their  arrival 
in  Jericho,  and  the  chase  of  the  pursuers,  were  obliged  to 
hide  themselves  three  days  in  the  mountain,  Joshua  could 
not  until  the  day  after  their  return  break  up  from  Shittim, 
and  proceed  to  the  Jordan.  Neither  then  could  he  imme 
diately  cross  the  river,  but  must  tarry  yet  three  days  after 
his  arrival  at  the  brink." 

As  this  provides  for  the  loss  of  only  three  days  of  the 
eight,  it  would  appear  that  Joshua's  "  design  "  must  have 
been  still  a  miscalculation  by  at  least  two  days.  In  other 
respects  the  explanation  is  not  as  successful  as  could  be 
desired. — Tr.] 

1  [Qesenius  derives  the  word  not  from  ti^^H  but  ftom 
an  assumed  root  tt7^n,  acrem,  strenuum  esse;  and   the 

V  T   ' 

sense  in  which  he  understands  the  partic.  is  strenuus,  alacer. 
Vies.  p.  494.  _  Tr.] 

•2  [After  all  is  said,  the  derivation  remains  very  obscure 
and  the  considerations  in  favor  of  the  two  principal  render- 
ings very  evenly  balanced.  For  the  meaning  "  armed  "  the 
lexicographers  give  little  authority.  —  Tr.] 


44 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


before  whom  also  on  his  throne,  the  seraphim  veil 
their  faces  (Is.  vi.).  He  is,  therefore,  the  master, 
men  the   sen-ants.     Tliose,  however,  among  men 

(more  particularly  in  Israel,  the  '*"'  ^*^  i^P,  Ex.  xix. 
5  ;  Dent.  vii.  6  ;  xiv.  2;  xxvi.  18)  who  serve  him 
witli  sjieeial  ohedienee,  and,  with  extraordinary 
talent,  like  the  angels  in  heaven  (Jol)_  iv.  18),  per- 
form his  will,  are  called  his  servants  in  a  preemi- 
nent sense.  So  Moses  ;  before  him  Abraham ;  af- 
ter him  David,  Ilezekiah,  the  prophets ;  all  Israel, 
moreover,  in  so  far  as  they  are,  according  to  Dent. 
xxxii.  1.5,  xxxiii.  5,  26  ;  Is.  xliv.  2,  the  Jeshurun, 

the  beloved,  pious  people,  who  rightly  (P"'^^^  from 

"IK.'^)  walk  before  Jehovah ;  and  lastly  the  Messiah, 
since  in  Him  all  the  excellences  of  his  people  are 
combined.  In  the  second  place,  it  is  carefully  to  be 
considered  that  in  the  rcononuj  of  redemption  we  are 
still  on  the  ciroiind  of  the  old  covenant,  therefore  on 
the  ground  of  the  Law,  where  God  commands,  and 
man  has  unconditionally  to  perform  his  dictates 
exactly  to  the  letter,  without  any  freedom  what- 
ever, hence  as  a  slave,  not  as  a  child  (Rom.  viii. 
13).  Not  even  the  most  pious,  therefore,  can  claim 
any  higher  distinction  than  this.  A  relation  of 
freedom  between  God  and  man  does  not  yet  exist. 
Man  stands  yet  nnder  the  law,  not  yet  under  grace 
(John  i.  17)  ;  but  precisely  this  absolute  obedience 
leads  to  freedom.  Moses  is  the  instrument  of  ef- 
fecting the  deliverance  of  his  people  out  of  the  slav- 
ery of  Egypt,  where  they  pined  in  the  house  of 
bondage  (Ex.  xx.  2),  the  iron  furnace  (Dent.  iv. 
20) ;  but  the  Messiah  makes  many  righteous  (Is. 
liii.  11)  and  is  a  Servant,  the  Branch  (Zeeh.  iii.  9). 
In  his  time  God  gives  holy  increase,  takes  away  the 
sins  of  the  land  in  one  day  (Zeeh.  iii.  9),  and  makes 
peace,  so  that  one  invites  his  neighbor  under  the 
vine  and  fig-tree  (Zach.  iii.  10).  He  is  the  true 
iTa7s  Bfov  (Matt.  xii.  18  ;  Acrs.  iii.  13,  26,  iv.  27,  30), 
whom,  on  account  of  his  oljedience,  God  acknowl- 
edges as  his  Son  ;  on  which  cf.  Nitzscli,  Treatise 
on  the  ■jrais  deov  in  the  Acts  (Studien  u.  Kritiken, 
1828,  2). 

2.  The  declaration  in  ver.  4,  that  God  has 
assigned  to  the  people  of  Israel  its  portion  of  the 
earth,  is  in  accordance  with  Dcut.  xxxii.  8  and 
Acts  xvii.  26,  in  which  passages  he  marks  off  to  the 
nations  their  bounds.  This  is  involved  in  God's 
government  of  the  world,  which  embraces  every- 
thing, the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest,  so  that 
all  accident  is  excluded.  As  He  determines  for 
each  ])articular  man  his  place  on  earth,  by  birth, 
education,  external  circumstances,  so  He  deter- 
mines for  each  people  its  habitation  in  eongruity 
with  tlu^  disposition  and  character  which  He  has 
lent  to  them,  and  the  design  Avhieh  He  entertains 
concerning  them.  That  was  peculiarly  the  case 
with  Israel,  wlum  He  actually  gave  to  them  the  land 
promised  to  the  fathers,  where  they  might  in  beau- 
tiful seclusion  serve  the  Lord  their  God.  True,  the 
previous  inhabitants  must  giVe  way,  but  jure  di- 
vino,  because  through  their  enervating  idolatry 
they  had  forfeited  the  right  to  a  historical  existence. 
It  is  not  just,  therefore,  in  the  manner  of  the 
Wolfenbiittler  fragmentist,  to  charge  God  and  his 
agents  with  cruelty  and  injustice,  but  rather  to 
heed  the  fundamental  laws  of  divine  Providence, 
according  to  which  also  his  judgments  arc  executed. 
An  analogy  may  be  seen  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Boman  empire  amid  the  storms  of  the  northern  in- 
vasions.   Sec  lutrod.  §  3. 

3.  The  silent  collection  of  one's  thoughts,  holy 
meditation,  is,  in  the  over-busy  activities  of  our 


time,  an  aid  to  all  religious  and  moral  life,  which 
cannot  be  too  earnestly  recommended.  It  is  en- 
joined upon  Joshua  in  ver.  8,  in  simple  but  very 
suitable  words,  and  is  necessary,  in  order  that  the 
soul  may  constantly  remember  its  origin,  that  the 
heart  may  lose  itself  in  God  and  his  word,  that 
from  this  inward  concentration  of  the  living  facul- 
ties, woi'd  and  deed  may  come  forth  in  noble  per- 
fection. "  Oratio,  meditatio  tentatio,"  make  not 
only  the  theologian,  but  in  general  every  religious, 
pious,  and,  in  his  piety,  morally  capable,  man. 

4.  The  rest  which  God  gives  (ver.  15)  is,  first, 
the  secure  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan  which 
had  been  promised  to  the  people  of  Israel.     This 

nm3X3  however  is  not,  according  to  the  view  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (i  v.  8),  the  true  rest, 
i-athcr,  since  God  long  after  Joshua  offered  through 
David  (Heb.  iv.  7)  an  entrance  into  rest,  must  there 
still  be  another  rest;  "for  if  Joshua  had  brought 
them  to  the  rest.  He  (God)  would  not  speak  of 
another  day  after  this  time  "  (ver.  8).  "  Thei'efore," 
the  conclusion  is  from  these  arguments,  "  there  yet 
remains  {airoTieiireTat)  a  Sabbath  rest  (aa^0aTiafj.6s) 
for  the  people  of  God.  For  he  who  has  entered 
into  his  (God's)  rest,  has  given  himself  also  rest 
from  his  works  "  {i.  e.  the  works  of  the  labor-weekj. 
It  is  still  to  be  carefully  noted  that  to  express  this 
rest  of  God,  not  KaraTraucris  but,  in  allusion  to  ver. 
4,  or  to  Gen.  ii.  2,  the  word  ca^^aTiafj.6s,  oc- 
curring nowhere  else  in  the  N.  T.,  is  employed. 
The  aal30aTi(TiJ.6s  is  the  completed  KaTairavcrts,  the 
holy  and  blessed  Sabbath  rest  in  eternity  for  the 
people  of  God,  the  la-pa-fi?.  roZ  diov,  after  the  pil- 
grimage of  life  is  finished  with  the  toils  of  the  hard 
week  of  our  earthly  existence.      Of  this  rest  the 

nrriDtt  in  the  earthly  Canaan  is  a  type.  So  speak 

the  Rabbins  also  of  the  bilSH  n^t^  (Tr.  Thamid. 
f.  33,  2;  Jabk.  Rvxb.  f.  95,  4).  Compare  also  the 
beautiful,  profoundly  tender  hymn  by  Jno.  Sig- 
mund  Kunth  (t  1779),  "A rest  there  is  which  yet 
awaits  us." 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

God's  command  to  Joshua  that  he  should  cross 
the  Jordan,  indicates  (1)  the  task  proposed  to  him; 
contains  (2)  the  promise  of  his  assistance  in  its  ac- 
complishment;  but  requires  also  (3)  the  conscien- 
tious observance  of  his  law,  in  order  to  success ; 
and  closes  (4)  with  another  enlivening  exhortation 
to  the  new  leader  of  Israel. — As  Moses  was  a 
servant  of  the  Lord,  so  should  we  also  be  his  serv- 
ants, that  we  may  be  found  faithful  like  him. 
(Num.  xii.  7;  Heb.  iii.  2)  —  Moses  the  servant 
of  the  Lord.  Joshua  as  a  type  of  a  good  servitor 
(not  slave).  —  The  earthly  Canaan  a  type  of  the 
heavenly — God  is  faithful  (ver.  5).  I  will  not  fail 
thee  nor  forsake  thee,  —  a  promise;  (1)  its  rich 
import;  (2)  under  what  conditions  to  be  appro- 
priated by  a  Christian  to  himself.  — Be  strong  and 
firm,  comforted  and  undismayed,  a  text  in  connec- 
tion with  Ps.  xxvii.,  xlvi.  of  inexhaustible  use  for  the 
field-worship  of  God. —  Of  fidelity  to  the  commands 
of  God.  —^  How  should  a  tnie  general  be  character- 
ized ?  (1)  He  should  be  strong  and  firm,  but  (2) 
also  pious  and  conscientious,  that  all  may  go  well 
with  him.  — Fear  not,  neither  be  dismayed,  for  the 
Lord  thy  God  is  with  thee  in  all  which  thou  shalt 
do  ;  to  be  well  considered  before  the  outbreak  of  a 
war,  as  well  as  before  a  battle.  —  Joshua  and  the 
Gileadite  tribes;  (1)  his  powerful  appeal  to  them 
for  fraternal  assistance;  (2)  their  cheerful  answer 


CHAPTER  n. 


45 


(ver.  12-18).  — The  Rest  of  the  people  of  God  :  (1) 
Who  gives' if?  (2)  In  what  does  it  consist?  (3) 
How  do  we  attain  to  it?  (ver.  13).  How  beauti- 
ful when  the  call  of  a  commander,  or  a  governor 
of  the  people,  meets  with  a  joyful  readiness  on  their 
part !  yiiould  we  not  so  meet  the  claims  which 
God  liimself  by  his  Word  makes  on  us,  and  espe- 
cially those  which  call  for  brotherly  help,  even 
though  sacrifices  also  be  required  ? 

Starke  :  O  soul,  remember  here  first  of  all  the 
true  Joshua,  thy  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  Avho  has 
for  thy  good  acquired  the  heavenly  Canaan,  to  pre- 
pare for  thee  a  place  there,  that  thou  also  mayest 
dwell  there  and  remain ;  fight,  therefoi-e,  and  sub- 
due thy  foes  under  the  lead  of  thy  Jesus,  that  thou 
mayest  also  one  day  take  it.  Whom  God  sends, 
him  He  also  qualifies  and  pi'ocures  for  him  author- 
ity and  respect.  The  Bible  and  the  sword  with 
Christian  rulers  go  very  well  together.  O  that 
these  would  also  avail  themselves  rightly  of  both ! 
One  Christian  should  take  upon  him  the  necessity 
of  another  —  and  bear  his  burden.  In  the  strife  of 
Christianity  also  one  should  not  be  pusillanimous, 
but  strong  and  firm  (2  Tim.  ii.  3).  A  spirit  that 
would  all  goods  and  blood  fain  for  thy  mere  pleas- 
ure protfer,  and  the  heart's  -desires  all  oft'er,  give 
me,  Supreme  Good,  through  thy  precious  blood. 

Cramer  :  As  the  eyes  of  the  servants  ai"e  to  the 
hands  of  their  masters,  and  the  eyes  of  a  maiden 
unto  the  hand  of  her  mistress,  so  should  our  eyes 
also  look  constant!}'  to  the  Lord,  Ps.  cxxiii.  2.  If 
God  is  for  us  who  can  be  against  iis  1  (Rom.  A'iii. 
31).  Christian  rulers  also  are  bound  to  submit 
themselves  to  God's  commands  ;  it  should  not  be 
with  them,  quod  libet  licet,  i.  e.  what  I  please  I  do, 
1  K.  xxi.  7. 

Marginal  note  (of  Luther)  :  He  who  walks 
according  to  God's  words  acts  wisely  and  happily, 
but  he  who  goes  according  to  his  own  head  acts  un- 
wisely and  to  no  profit. 

BiBL.  Wirt.;  In  dangerous  duties  and  circum- 
stances there  is  no  better  comfort  than  when  one 
has  a  regular  call  to  the  position,  and  God  for  his 
patron  and  protector.  God's  command  should  be 
promptly  performed  without  any  long  discussion 
as  to  whether  we  will  do  it  or  not ;  for  God  re- 
quires obedience. 

BiBL.  Tub  :  Consoling  promise !  O  soul  mark  it 
well,  for  what  God  says  to  Joshua  He  says  also  to 
thee.  Therefore  be  of  good  courage  in  the  struggle 
with  sin  and  Satan ;  God  wiU  stand  by  thee. 


OsiANDER :  We  should  (in  n^  any  cases)  firs 
care  for  our  neighboi's,  for  love  seeks  not  her  own, 
1  Cor.  xiii.  5. 

Gerlach  :  The  first  revelation  of  God  after 
the  death  of  Moses  installs  Joshua  formally  in  his 
otfice,  gives  him  the  double  commission  to  lead 
the  people  into  the  promised  land  and  to  dis- 
tribute this  among  them,  renews  the  assurance  of 
divine  aid,  and  admonishes  to  steadfast  fidelity 
towards  God's  law  and  imperturbable  confidence 
in  Him  (ver.  1-9). 

[Darby  :  "  Every  place  that  the  sole  of  your  feet 
shall  tread  upon,  that  have  I  given  you. "  They 
must  go  there,  overcome  the  obstacles  with  the  help 
and  by  the  power  of  God,  and  take  actual  posses- 
sion  They  never  took  possession  of 

all  the  land  which  God  had  given.  Nevertheless 
to  faith  the  promise  was  sure,  ver.  3.  Spiritual 
strength  and  energy,  the  courage  of  faith,  are 
necessary  in  order  that  the  heart  may  be  free  from 
the  influences,  the  fears,  and  the  motives  which  act 
upon  the  natural  man,  and  that  he  may  take  heed 
to  the  Word  of  God. 

Matthew  Henry  :  The  removal  of  useful 
men  should  quicken  survivors  to  be  so  much  the 
more  diligent  in  doing  good.  Such  and  such  are 
dead,  and  we  must  die  shortly,  therefore  let  us 
work  while  it  is  yet  day.  It  is  a  great  mercy  if, 
when  useful  men  are  taken  away  in  the  midst  of 
their  usefulness  others  are  raised  up  in  their  stead  to 
go  on  where  they  broke  ofi^",  ver.  2.  _  It  is  a  great  com 
fort  to  the  rising  genei'ation  of  ministers  and  Chris- 
tians that  the  same  grace  which  was  sufficient  for 
those  that  went  before  them  shall  not  be  wanting 
to  them  if  they  be  not  wanting  to  themselves  in  the 
improvement  of  it  (ver.  .5). — When  God  has  given 
us  rest  we  ought  to  consider  how  we  may  honor  Him 
with  the  advantages  of  it,  and  what  services  we  may 
do  to  our  brethren  who  are  unsettled,  or  not  so  well 
settled  as  we  are  (ver. 1.5).  — We  must  not  so  mag- 
nify them  that  are  gone,  how  eminent  so  ever  they 
were,  either  in  the  magistracy  or  in  the  ministi'y  as 
to  be  wanting  in  the  honor  and  duty  we  owe  to 
those  that  survive  and  succeed  them. 

G.  R.  B.  :  As  Joshua  received  and  doubtless 
profited  by  the  admonition  of  his  Gileadite  breth- 
ren, so  may  the  leaders  in  Israel  at  all  times  gain 
benefit  from  the  pious  and  well  intended,  even 
though  superfluous,  counsels  of  God's  "  plain  peo- 
ple."—Tr.] 


2.   The  sending  out  of  the  spies  to  Jericho. 
Chapter  II. 

a.  Sending  of  the  Spies,  and  their  Reception  by  Rahab. 
Chapter  II.  1-7. 


1  And  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  sent  out  of  Shittim  two  men  to  spy  [as  spies]  secretly, 
saying :  Go,  view  the  land,  even  [and]  Jericho.  And  they  went,  and  came  into  an  har- 

2  lot's  house,  named  Rahab,  and  lodged  [lay  down]  there.     And  it  was  told  the  king 
of  Jericho,  saying,  Behold,  there  came  men  in  hither  to-night  of  the  children  [sons]  of 

3  Israel,  to  search  out  the  country  [V"'^)  land].     And  the  king  of  Jericho  sent  imto 
Rahab,  saying,  Bring  forth  the  men  that  are  come  to  thee,  which  [who]  are  entered 


16  .  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


4  into  thine  house,  for  they  be  come  to  search  out  all  the  country  [land].  And  the 
woman  took  the  two  men,  and  hid  them,  and  said  thus,  There  came  men  unto  me 

5  [and  said :  True,^  the  men,  came  to  me]  but  I  wist  [knew]  not  whence  they  loere  ; 
and  it  came  to  jiass  about  the  time  of  shutting  of  the  gate,  when  it  was  dark,  that  the 
men  went  out ;  whither  the  men  went,  I  wot  [know]  not :  pursue  after  them  quickly 

6  for  ye  shall  overtake  them,  liut  she  had  brought  them  up  to  the  roof  of  the  house 
[omit :  of  the  house  -],  and  hid  them  with  the  stalks  of  flax,  which  she  had  laid   in 

7  order  [spread  out,  or  stacked  up  for  herself  ]  upon  the  roof.  And  the  men  pursued 
after  them  the  Avay  to  [the]  Jordan  unto  [to]  the  fords :  and  as  soon  as  they  which 
pursued  after  them  were  gone  out,  they  shut  the  gate. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAJIMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.4.  —  So  the  lexicographers  and  interpreters  with  one  consent  understand  IS.  —  Ta.] 

[2  Ver.  6.  —  "  Of  her  house  "  is  purely  superfluous.     The  LXX.  had  substituted  Sw/ia  for  23,    and  the  Vulgate  com- 
Dined  both  notions,  and  was  followed  by  the  English  Version.  —  Tr.] 

b.  Eescue  of  the  Spies  by  Kahab  on  tlieir  Promise  to  her  that,  in  the  taking  of  the  Land, 
they  woukl  spare  her  and  hers. 

Chaptek  II.  8-21. 

8  And  before  they  were  laid  down,  she  came  up  unto  them  upon  the  roof;  and  she 

9  said  unto  the  men,  I  know  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  given  you  the  land,  and 
that  your  terror  is  fallen  upon  us,  and  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  faint 

10  [-l^bs,  melt]  because  of  you.  For  we  have  heard  how  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  dried 
vq)  the  water  of  the  Red  Sea  for  [before]  you,  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt ;  and  what 
ye  did  unto  the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites  that  loere  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jor- 

11  dan,  Sihon  and  Og,  whom  ye  utterly  destroyed  [ye  devoted^].  And  as  soon  as  we 
had  heard  these  things,  our  hearts  [heart]  did  melt  [D^'^_,  flow  down],  neither  did 
[does]  there  remain  any  more  courage  in  any  man,  because  of  you  [ch.  v.  1] :  for 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  He  is  God  in  heaven  above,  and  in  earth  beneath. 

12  Now  therefore  [And  now],  I  pray  you,  swear  unto  me  by  the  Lord  [Jehovah], 
since "  I  have  showed  you  kindness,  that  ye  will  also  show  kindness  unto  my  father's 

13  house,  and  give  me  a  true  token  [a  token  of  truth]  ;  and  that  ye  will  save  alive  my 
father,  and  my  mother,  and  my  brethren,  and  my  sisters,  and  all  that  they  have 

14  [ch.  vi.  23,  25],  and  deliver  our  lives  from  death.  And  the  men  answered  her, 
Our  life  for  yours,  if  ye  utter  not  this  our  business.    And  it  shall  be,^  when  the  Lord 

15  [Jehovah]  hath  given  us  the  land,  that  we  will  deal  kindly  and  truly  with  thee.  Then 
she  let  them  down  by  a  [the]  cord  through  the  window :  for  her  house  ivas  upon 

16  the  town-wall  [in  the  "wall-side,"  Gesen.],  and  she  dwelt  upon  the  wall.  And  she 
said  unto  them  :  Get  you  to  the  mountain,  lest  the  pursuers  meet  you,  and  hide  your- 
selves there  three  days,  until  the  jDursuers  be  returned ;  and  afterward  may  ye  go 

17  [go  ye]  your  way.     And  the  men  said  unto  her.  We  will  be  [are]  blameless  of 

tllis    thine    oath  which  thou    hast   made    us  swear,  [unless  thou  doest  what  we  now  say  to  thee]. 

1 8  Behold,  tuhe^i  we  come  into  the  land,  thou  shalt  bind  this  line  of  scarlet  [crimson] 
thread  in  the  window  which  thou  didst  let  us  down  by :  and  thou  shalt  bring 
[gather]  thy  father,  and  thy  mother,  and  thy  brethren,  and  all  thy  fother's  house- 

19  hold  home  unto  thee.  And  it  shall  be,  that  whosoever  shall  go  out  of  the  doors  of 
thy  house  into  the  street,  his  blood  shall  be  upon  his  head,  and  we  will  be  guiltless 
[blameless,  as  ver.  17]:  and  whosoever  shall  be  with  thee  in  the  house,  his  blood 

20  shall  be  on  our  head,  if  any  hand  be  upon  him.  And  if  thou  utter  this  our  busi- 
ness, then  we  will  be  [are]  quit  [blameless]  of  thine  oath  which  thou  hast  made  us 

21  to  [omit:  to,  as  ver.  17]  swear.  And  she  said,  According  unto  your  words,  so  be  it. 
And  .she  sent  them  away,  and  they  departed :  and  she  bound  the  scarlet  [crimson] 
line  in  the  window. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver  10.—  nrHP^nn.     The  meaning  of  this  verb  is  well  indicated  in  the  Exegetical  Note  on  the  verse.    It  seemi 
rery  desirable  to  express  it  more  speciQcally  than  is  done  by  the  vague  phrase  "  utterly  destroyed."  In  employing  for  thi» 


CHAPTER   II. 


47 


purpose,  throughout,  the  word  "  devofe,"  which  is  used  Lev.  xxvil.  28,  29,  Num.  xviii.  14,  etc.,  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
we  have  not  a  cognate  noun  to  denote  the  devoted  object.  Still  we  may  come  near  to  the  Hebrew  directness  by  adhering 
to  ''devote,"  "devoted  thing,  "  etc.  —  Tr.] 

[i  Ver.  12. —  "^3  lit  alius  sispissime  signifirat  quod  on.  Maur.  To  imitate  exactly  the  Hebrew  construction  is  not 
possible  in  idiomatic  Engli-h.  A  nearer  approach  to  it  would  be  :  Swear  ....  that  I  have  shown  you  kindne.'JS  and  ye 
wi.l  also  show  kindness  to  my  fither's  house,  and  give  me  a  token  of  truth  (ver.  13),  and  save  alive,  etc.  Fay  explains  by 
iusei-ling  after  "  that  "  [asj,  De  W'ette,  "  because,"  and  both  omit,  of  course,  the  "  and  "  before  "■  give  me,"  or  rather  substi- 
tute "also.'    Either  way  gives  us  substantially  the  proper  .'^ense  so  far,  but  whethet  the  verbs  DJJ]n3  and  pi'H'^rin  and 

Dn  7vJrT  are  to  be  translated  as  coordinate  with  DrT^Ci?!?  and  subordinate  to  JliyS^"^  (which  they  grammatically 
are),  or  as  coordinate  with  the  latter,  the  practice  of  interpreters  differs.  We  incline  to  side  with  Masius,  who  translate* 
the  verbs  in  question  as  all  depending  alike  on  ^3  :  jurate  ....  Vos  usuros  esse  ....  pietate  ;  et  daturas  .... 
.conservatiirosque   ....  crepturosqic<', — Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  14.  —  Modify,  and  connect  the  two  sentences  thus  :  Our  Ufe  for  yours  !  If  ye  utter  not  this  our  business,  then 
it  shall  be  that  when,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

c.  Return  of  the  Spies  to  Joshua. 
Chapter  U.  22-24. 

22  And  they  went,  and  came  to  the  mbuntaiu,  and  abode  there  three  days,  until  the 
pursuers  were  returned :  and  the  pursuers  sought  them  throughout  all  the  way,  but 

23  found  them  not.  So  the  two  men  returned,  and  descended  from  the  mountain,  and 
passed  over,  and  came  to  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  and  told  him  all  things  that  befel 

24  them.  And  they  said  unto  Joshua,  Truly  [omit :  Truly  ^]  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
hath  delivered  into  our  hands  all  the  land ;  for  even  [and  also]  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  [land]  do  faint  [melt]  because  of  us. 

TEXTUAL    AND  GRAJIMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  24.  —  "^3  simply  introduces  the  following  clause  as  quoted.     See  Gesen.  Lex.  B.  1,  b.  —  Tb.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

a.  Vers.  1-7.  Sending  out  of  the  Spies  and  their 
Reception  hi/  Rahah.  Probably  still  the  same  day 
on  which  Joshua  had  received  the  divine  command 
to  cross  the  Jordan,  he  sends  forth  secretly  two 
spies  to  go  over  to  Jericho,  which  was  somewhere 
about  fourteen  miles  distant. 

Ver.  1.     Shittim,  Num.  xxxiii.  49,  Abel-shittim, 

t.  e.  Meadow  of  the  Acacias,  from  H^ti),  acacia, 
probably  lying  northward  from  Beth-jeshimoth  in 
the  land  of  Moab,  the  last  camping-place  of  the 
Israelites  east  of  the  Jordan,  at  the  outlet  of  the 
Wady  Heshban,  known  from  the  history  of  Balaam 
(Num.  XXV.  1  ;  Micah  vi.  5),  not  fiir  from  the  Jor- 
dan, 60  stadia  =  3  hours  from  the  place  of  crossing 
according  to  Josephus  {Ant.  iv.  8,  1  ;  v.  1,  1 ;  Bell. 
Jud.  iv.  7,  6).  Near  to  tliis  evidently  well  chosen 
camp-ground  (Num.  xxiv.  5,  6)  lay  the  city  of 
Beth-peor,  where  Moses  delivered  his  last  discourse 
and  was  buried  (Dent.  iv.  46;  xxxiv.  6).  Com- 
pare, further,  Knobel  on  Num.  xxii.  I,  [and  Stan- 
ley, S.  Sr  P.  p.  291  f     Am.  ed.  —  Tr.] 

Spies.  According  to  the  LXX.  two  young 
men,  nothing  like  which  is  said  in  the  Heb.  here, 
but  in  vi.  23  we  learn  that  the  spies  ivere  young 
men.  At  all  events  Joshua  would  choose  brave 
and  prudent  men  for  this  mission,  because,  having 
"limself  been  one  of  the  twelve  spies  (Num.  xiii.  9) 

1  [The  accent  connects  ti'"in  with  "I^S^,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  secrecy  is  to  be  understood  as  referring 
equally  to  the  Israelites  and  to  the  Canaanites.  Maurer 
would  seem  to  confine  it  to  the  former.  He  quotes  Schultz 
a-s  follows  :  "  Cum  Josua  tristi  experientia  edoctus  (Num. 
xiii.  14)  sciret,  quantum  periculi  habere  posset  exploratorum 
»t  multitudo  et  missiopublica,  duns  tantum  eosdemque  c/ani 
*tque  inscio  populo  emisit,  ne,  si  tristia  referrent,  in  vxil- 


he  knew  from  experience  the  dangers  to  which  they 
would  be  exposed.     He  takes  only  two  and  sends 

them  secretly  (ti^TJOi  prop. :  Silence,  here  used  ad- 
verbially) that  the  enemy  might  get  no  intimation 
of  it.i  Should  he  have  done  this  ?  the  question 
has  been  asked. ^  Toward  the  answer  it  may  be 
said,  That  the  use  of  human  prudence,  with  all  trust 
in  divine  providence,  is  not  only  allowable,  but 
often  also  a  binding  duty.  Joshua  ought  not,  in 
his  position  as  a  general,  to  enter  into  a  strange 
and  hostile  land  without  having  exjjlored  it  first. 
He  yiroceeded  in  full  conformity  with  the  example 
of  Moses,  Num.  xiii. 
Jericho.     Written  here  "  and  everywhere  in  our 

book  "inn*;,  but  in  the  Pent,  only  inn%  "  Keil ; 

1  K.  xvi.  34,  nn"^"1^ ;  a  very  strong  city  (ch. 
vi.  1 ),  the  key  to  all  the  land  west  of  the  Jordan, 
the  city  of  palm-trees  (D''"!73rin  "T^r,  Dent, 
xxxiv.  3;  Judg.  i.  16;  2  Ch.  xxviii.  1.5) ;  in  the 
LXX.,  in  the  N.  T.  (Matt.  xx.  29  ;  Mark  x.  46; 
Luke  xviii.  35,  xix.  1,  x.  30,  Heb.  xi.30),  and  in 
Josephus  (Bell.  Jud.  iv.  8, 3),  'lepix^  ;  iu  Strabo  xvi. 
2,  §47,  'Jeptxou's;  the  city  of  odors  and  fragrance 

(from    0^"^,  n^"]rT,  fragrant  place;  the  ending 

"i  n  being  for  )\  comp.  nb'^tt?,  HS^,  Gesen.s) ; 
just  as  far  west  of  the  Jordan  as  Shittim  was  east 

gus  dinaanaret  narratio,  tjmidoque  ac  fracto  animo  fierent 
Israelitse  laeto  cseteroquin  duorum  aeque  ac  plurium  nuntio 
facile  alacriores  futuri."  — Tr] 

2  [E.  g.  by  Masius  in  lac,  who  formally  discusses  the 
question  and  decides  it  in  favor  of  Joshua's  course.  —  Tr.] 

S  [For  other  derivations  and  other  forms  of  the  word,  see 
art.  "  Jericho."  in  Smith's  Bibl.  Diet,  where  also  a  full  topo- 
gi-aphical  and  historical  account  of  the  city  may  be  found. 
See  Stanley,  S.  §•  P.  pp.  299-304.  —  Tb.] 


48 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


of  it.  The  immedinte  vicinity  of  Jericho  is  very  I 
fertile.  As  the  climate  approximates  to  that  of  ' 
E<ryj)t  tlie  harvest  is  rijjc  here  by  the  end  of  Marcli. 
Toward  tlie  Jordan,  however,  the  surface  is  arid, 
and  the  rey:ion  between  Jericho  and  Jerusalem  was 
a  rocky  wilderness,  —  the  Quarantania,  not  even 
to  this  day  entirely  safe  for  travellers  (Lukex.  30). 
C'omp.  Eurrer,  pp.  149,  151-1.54.. 

The  spies  successfully  reach  Jericho,  towards 
evening  (ver.  2)  ;  "at  a  tilne,  therefore,  when  the 
courtezans  traversed  the  streets  (Prov.  vii.  Off'.; 
Is.  xxiii.  16) ;  they  met  with  Kahab  and  followed  her 

to  herliouse"  (Knobel).  She  was  a  HST,  irSpvf) 
(Heb.  xi.  31;  Ja.  ii.  23),  and  not  an  innkeeper 
Sn"')"pi.3i2,  TTavBoKivrpia  (Joscphus,  Ant.  V.  1,  2, 
Chald.,'iiabb.,  A'atub.,  lless.  Hist,  of  Josh.  i.  p.  37). 
Her  name  is  liientioned  also  in  the  Genealogy  of 
Jesus  (Matt.  i.  5)  where  she  appears  as  wife  of 
Salma  or  Salmon,  and  mother  of  Boaz.  "  The  Rab- 
bins derive  from  her  eight  prophets  and  priests  " 
{ Knobel).  The  Epistle  fo  the  Hebrews,  and  that  of 
James  celebrate  her  memory  and  glorify  her  faith 
and  her  works  (Heb.  xi.  31  ;  James  ii.  25).  See 
on  this  the  Doctrinal  and  Practical  below.  In  our 
narrative  she  is  seen  as  a  very  prudent  person  (ver. 
4),  of  great  presence  of  mind,  degraded  indeed,  but 
by  no  means  sunk  in  vice,  and  who  therefore  has 
intimations  of  the  power  of  Jehovah  the  Ahnighty 
God  (vers.  10,11). 

To-night  (nb^ bn  as  in  Gen.  xix.  5,  34,  here 
more  precisely  defined  ver.  5).  The  king  of  Jericho 
receives  word  that  in  the  evening  twilight  two 
strange  men  have  arrived  in  Jericho  and  been  re- 
ceived into  Kahab's  house.  Perhaps  there  were, 
as  Calvin  conjectures,  men  standing  at  the  gates,  to 
notice  suspicious  people,  especially  as  they  were 
aware,  no  doubt,  in  Jericho,  of  the  intentions  of  the 
Hebrews  beyond  the  Jordan.  The  king  sends  to  Ra- 
hab,  therefore  (ver.  3),  and  demands  that  she  shall 
give  up  the  men.  At  the  same  moment  (not  ear- 
lier, as  Keil  supposes)  she  hides  the  spies,  as  the 
demand  of  the  king's  servants  was  probably  made 
from  the  outside,  with  which  the  "bring  forth" 
(ver.  3)  plainly  agrees.  She  boldly  lies  to  the  king's 
messengers  (ver.  4,  5)  who  go  away,  frustrated,  in 
order  to  pursiie  as  soon  as  possible  Joshua's  sjties, 
whom  they  suppose  to  have  escaped  and  fled  toward 
the  Jordan  (ver.  7). 

Ver.  3.  Notice  the  full  circumstantiality  of  the 
king's  command. 

Ver.  4.    In  "135^^1  the  suff.  sing,  is  not  to  be 

changed  into  Q^,  but  is  an  instance  rather  of  "  the 
free  discourse  in  which  one  passes  from  the  plural 
to  the  singular"  (comp.  Ewald,  Gramm.  §  309  a.}.^ 

I  knew  not Spoken  with  the  air 

of  simplicity. 

Ver.  5.  And  it  came  to  pass  about  the 
time  of  shutting  of  the  gate.  Heb.  "l^ti^H  '^n'^.T 
"liapb  as  Gen.  xv.  12,S3b  tTttt^n  '>r\':'],  and 
it  came  to  pass  about  the  time  of  the  going  down 
of  the  sun  (cf.  Gesen.  §  132,  Kem.  1). 

1  [SpcciilatioTis  of  the  Rabbis  on  this,  given  by  Masius, 
are  curious.  "  Tliia  use  of  the  sing.  R.  Solomon  thinks  to 
indicate  both  the  delay  of  the  woman  in  hiding  them,  and 
the  narrowness  of  the  place  in  which  they  were  stowed 
away.  RR.  Kimchi  and  Ijcvi.  however,  suppose  them  to 
have  been  liid  not  in  one  and  the  same  place,  but  each  one 
•eparately,  either  that  the  tlax  piled  on  them  both  might 
aot  rise  too  high  and  become  thus  an  object  of  suspicion,  or 


When  it  was  dark,  Tft^n?,  De  Wette  :  as  it 
grew  dusk.  It  may,  however,  well  be  translated, 
"  when  it  was  dark,"  since  in  the  East,  night  comes 
on  soon  after  sundown,  and  the  evening  twilight 

(^^\5»  Job  xxiv.  15 ;  Prov.  vii.  9)  is  of  very  short 

duration,  so  that  sometimes  ^^.5  signifies  simply 
night  (Is.  V.  11 ;  xxi.  4  ;  lix.  10)'. 

Ver.  6,  relates  further  where  and  how  Rahab 
had  hidden  the  spies  (ver.  4)  on  the  roof,  under 
the  stems  of  flax.  The  roof  was  flat  (Mark  ii.  4). 
According  to  the  Jewish  law  it  must  be  provided 
with  a  "battlement"  (Deut.  xxii.  8),  that  blood 
should  not  come  upon  the  house  by  any  one  fall 
ing  therefi-om.  "  Here  many  men,"  as  Starke  ob- 
serves, "might  stay  together,  Judg.  xvi.  27  (comp. 
also  Acts  ii.  1) ;  they  could  walk  about  there  within 
the  battlement  securely  (2  Sam.  xi.  2) ;  could 
speak  from  thence  to  others  (Matt.  x.  27),  and 
there  they  used  to  pray  (Acts  x.  9).  The  Romans 
also,  but  not  all,  bad  such  roofs,  and  not  over  the 
whole  house ;  but  parts  of  some  of  their  houses 
were  furnished  with  such  flat  roofs  which  were 
called  solaria,  because  they  lay  exposed  on  all  sides 
to  tlie  sun,  and  also  inaniana,  as  the  Italians  now 

also  call  them  altana.  ^^"7  ''^^'?5)  LXX.  cor- 
rectly iv  Tj?  XivoKaTiafiri,  Vulg.  stipula  linl,  therefore 
flax-stalks,  not  cotton,  as  De  Wette  (cf.  also  Fui-rer, 
p.   151,  obs.   2),  following  the  Arab,   translation, 

will  have  it,  "  since  HritTQ  and  ritt'Q  or  nritt'2 
are  everywhere  else  used  only  of  flax  "  (Knobel). 
Unbroken  flax  is  meant,  the  stalks  of  which,  about 
Jericho  as  in  Egypt,  reach  a  height  of  more  than 
three  feet  and  the  thickness  of  a  reed  (comp.  Winer, 
Reahv.,  s.  v.  "  Flachs  "  [and  Smith's  Diet.]) 

Ver.  7.  To  the  fords  —  A  more  exact  deter- 
mination of  "  the  Avay,"  and  not  to  be  referred  to 
"  they  pursued  after."  The  fords  themselves  can- 
not be  identified ;  one  may  consult  the  maps,  espe- 
cially Van  de  Veldc,  who  gives  a  road  from  Jericho 
southeastwardly  to  a  ford. 

c.  Vers.  8-21.  Rescue  of  the  Spies  by  Rnhab, 
on  their  Promise  to  her  that  in  the  taking  of  the  land 
thefi  tvill  spare  her  and  hers.  After  the  departure 
of  the  royal  messengers  Rahab  goes  up  on  the  ro.of 
to  the  spies,  describes  to  them  the  faint-heartedness 
of  the  people,  desires  an  oath  from  them  as  security 
that  they  will  show  kindness  to  her  and  her  family 
in  return  for  her  kindness  to  them,  and  after  receiv 
ing  this  lets  the  men  down  by  a  rope  through  the 
window  (vers.  8-15). 

Ver.  9.  Jehovah.  The  word  is  remarkable  as 
used  by  Rahab,  but  she  might  easily,  as  even  Kno- 
bel grants,  be  acquainted  with  the  name  of  the  God 
of  Israel,  as  the  people  had  already  camped  long 
in  the  neighborhood. 

Terror  is  fallen  tipon  us  [C^np'^S,  suflp. 
having  the  force  of  obj.  Gen.],  Deut.  ii.  25;  xi.  25, 
cf.  particularly  Ex.  xv.  13-16.  The  vision  which 
was  there  expressed  in  Moses'  song  of  triumph 
(ver.  15)  has  now  been  fulfilled.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  land  melt  away  for  fear ;  for  they  have  heard 
how  God  (ver.  10)  has  dried  up  the  Red  Sea  (Ps. 

lest  they  should  both  be  discovered  at  once 

What  is  lianded  down  in  the  Commentary  which  we  have 
said  to  be  called  Tanliuma,  is  a  Jewish  dream,  to  wit,  that 
when  the  woman  had  hidden  Caleb,  the  other,  Phinehas, 
said  to  lier  :  I  am  a  priest.  Now  the  priests,  being  like  the 
angels,  are  visible  when  they  please  to  be,  when  not  they 
are  not  perceived  ;  therefore  the  other  one  alone,  not  he, 
was  hidden  by  the  woman.''    Com.  in  Josuat?!,  in  toe.  —  Te.] 


CHAPTER  IL 


49 


cvi.  7,  9,  22 ;  cxxxvi.  13,  Heb.  reed-sea,  sea  of 
reeds,  and  in  Egypt,  Schari-sea  (schari=:reed)  i.  e. 
the  Arabian  Gulf;  and  liave  heard  also  how  ill  it 
has  gone  with  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites  (Num. 
xxi.  21-31;  Deut.  ii.  30-37),  who  refused  the 
Israelites  a  passage  through  his  land  (Num.  x.\i. 
23;  Ueut.  ii.  30)rand  after  him  with  Og  king  of 
Bashan  (Num.  xxi.  3.3-35  ;  Deut.  iii.  1-7).  Both 
have  lost  land  and  people  by  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
and  the  recollection  of  this  victory  lived  yet  in  the 
memory  of  after  ages,  as  may  be  seen  from  Ps. 

cxxxvi.   19,  20.      Gcsenius   derives    TlfT^D   from 

XyO  =  nnO,  from  which  also  ^HD,  sweepings, 
filth  {Tr€piK(idapiJ.a,  wei)i\l/r]fj.a,  1  Cor.  iv.  13),  comes. 
Granting  the  correctness  of  this  etymology,  the 
name  Silion  might  perhaps  be  rather  a  nickname 
which  the  Hebrews  had  applied  to  the  Amorite 
chief  than  his  real  name ;  but  this  we  will  not 

assume  to  decide.  The  name  3127,  from  3^2?,  ac- 
cording to  the  Arab.,  to  bend,  med.  E.  to  be  bent, 
crooked  =  the  crooked  one,  would  suit  well  with 
thiit  supposition. 

Ye  devoted  (CiTip^Hrj,  Hiph.  of  D"in).  The 
ground  signification  of  the  unused  Kal  is  "  to  cut 
off,"  1  in  support  of  which  we  may  compare  partly 

ti^QID,  a  sickle,  and  partly  the  related  words 
r-in,  trJ-in,  nnn.  Accordingly  nnn  is  that 
which  is  cut  off,  separated,  and  especially,  sepa- 
rated for  God,  devoted  to  Mm  (Lev.  xxvii.  21,  28, 
29  ;  Num.  xviii.  14;  Deut.  vii.  26;  xiii.  18;  Josh, 
vi.  17,  18;  vii.  1  ff. ;  1  Sam.  xv.  21  ;  Ezek.  xliv. 
29),  and  that  too  "  without  a  possibility  of  re- 
demption," avddefj.a  (Rom.  ix.  3;  1  Cor.  xii.  3; 
Gal.  i.  8,  9;  1  Cor.  xvi.  22),-  Kardpa  (Gal.  iii.  13). 
^Jltjects  of  such  a  doom  might  be  persons,  as  here 
Sihon  and  Og  (comp.  further  1  K.  xx.  42 ;  Is. 
xxxiv.  5)  or  things   (Josh.  vi.  17,  18;  vii.  1  If.). 

Therefore  □''']nn  is  to  put  something  under  the 
ban,  to  doom,  i.  e.  to  consecrate  or  devote  it  exclu- 
sively to  Jeliovah  without  a  possibility  of  redemp- 
tion, whereby  the  consecrated  object  perishes,  being- 
destroyed.  Thus  the  word  is  to  be  understood  here 
as  often  in  our  book,  viii.  26  ;  x.  28,  37  ;  xi.  21  ;  ^ 
found  in  xi.  12,  as  in  1  Sam.  xv.  8,  having  "  with 
the  edge  of  the  sword  "  appended.  [See  further  on 
this  subject  the  exeget.  note  on  ch.  vi.  17,  and  the 
doctrinal  and  ethical  there.  No.  1.] 

Ver.  1 1 .  Neither  did  there  remain  any  more 
courage,  that  is,  on  account  of  fear.  Differently 
in  1  K.  X.  5,  where  "  there  was  no  more  spirit  in 
her"  expresses  the  result  of  astonishment,  —  Ra- 
hab  recognizes  God  as  the  Almighty  and  Omni- 
present, a  knowledge  which  is  possible  to  the  hea- 
then (Rom.  i.  19-21). 

Ver.  12.  A  token  of  truth,  Heb.  HIS,  a  sign, 
(TTifieiov,  tessai-a,  as  in  Ex.  iii.  12  ;  1  Sam.  ii.  34  ; 
X.  7,  9  ;  2  K.  xix.  29  ;  xx.  8,  9  ;  Is.  vii.  'll,  14  ; 
xxxviii.  7,  22;  Lu.  ii.  12;  2  Cor.  xii.  12;  2 
Thess.  iii.   17.      ["Sign  of  truth,  i.  e.  a  sign  by 

1  [So  Winer  (Simonis  Lex.) ;  Gesen.  and  Fiirst  take  sep- 
arate views  of  the  etymology  of  the  verb,  but  all  agree  as  to 
the  meaning  of  this  form.  —  Ta] 

•2  [See  Smith'.*  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  Anathema Tr.] 

3  [Whatever  unholy  object  was  devoted  to  Jeliovali.  being, 
"f  course,  incapable  of  u?e,  for  him  and  for  his  cause,  and 
an  abomination  in  his  sight,  must  needs  be  destroyed.  — 
Ta.] 

4  [Keil  also  supposes  that  "  this  sign  consisted  in  nothing 
else  than  the  solemn  oath  which  they  were  called  upon  to 

4 


which  they  guarantee  to  her  the  truth,  or  reality, 
of  the  exhibition  of  the  TDH  desired  by  her," 
Keil.]  Knobel  interprets  :  "a  proof,  an  evidence 
(Job  xxi.  29),  that  you  are  honest  and  true  men." 
and  supposes  further  that  "  Rahab  points  tliem  to 
the  moral  law,  which  for  a  favor  shown  prescribes 
a  thankful  and  true  return,"  and  he  rejects  the 
common  supposition  of  an  outward  sign,  with  the 
remark  that  "  this  would  have  been  demanded  by 
lier  not  till  after  the  request  in  ver.  13,  and  would 
have  been  given  by  the  spies  now  befoi'e  they  were 
letdown."*  But  (1.)  such  a  sign  might  be  required 
just  as  well  before  as  after  the  request  in  ver.  13  ; 
(2.)  all  the  passages  quoted  above,  especially  2 
K.  XX.  8,  9;  Is.  vii.  11,  14;  xxxviii.  7,  22 ;  Lu. 
ii.  12  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  17,  favor  the  common  explana- 
tion which  is  supported  by  an  actual  instance  in  1 
Sam.  xviii.  3,  4;  (3.)  in  ver.  18  the  crimson  line 
is  in  fact  given  as  such  a  "token;"  (4.)  Rahab 
might  provisionally  content  herself  with  the  oath 
given  in  ver.  14,  although  the  sign  was  not  yet 
given  her,  but  she  received  it  afterwards. 

Ver.  14.  Our  life  for  yours,  [lit.  "  our  soul 
instead  of  yours  for  death,"  anima  nostra  pro  vohis 
moriatnr,  Maur,]  i  e.  "  You  with  the  population 
of  Jericho  are  thi-eatened  with  death,  but  it  shall 
not  strike  you  but  us,  if  we  prove  false ;  God 
shall  in  this  case  destroy  us  instead  of  you " 
(Knobel). 

Ver.  15.  Her  house  was,  etc.  The  house  was 
built  against  the  city  wall,  but  she  dwelt  on  the 
city  wall,  that  is,  her  chamber  was  in  the  upper 
story  of  the  liouse,  which  rose  above  the  wall. 
Many  such  houses  still  stand  in  old  cities,  as  along 
the  Rhine,  for  instance.^  As  the  spies  were  res- 
cued here  so  was  Paul  (Acts  ix.  25)  at  Damascus. 
Starke  makes  here  the  following  honest  obser- 
vation :  "  It  was  generally  held,  particularly  in 
ancient  times,  punishable  to  leap  or  climb  over  a 
wall ;  but  we  readily  see  that  this  was  so  consid- 
ered proiDCi'ly  on  account  of  the  wanton  contempt 
that  was  shown,  comp.  Neh.  iv.  2.  But  hei'e  the 
thing  was  done  to  save  the  lives  of  innocent  people 
and  servants  of  God ;  besides,  as  has  already  been 
seen,  Rahab  was  no  longer  bound  to  seek  the  inter- 
est and  honor  of  her  town,  accursed  and  doomed 
by  God." 

The  men  have  reached  the  ground  and  stand 
below.  Rahali,  from  above,  advises  them  to  turn 
to  the  mountain,  while  they  point  out  to  her  the 
special  conditions  on  which  they  will  keep  the 
oath;  and  then  go  their  way  (vers.  16-21). 

Ver.  16.  Get  you  to  the  mountain.  Proba- 
bly the  cavernous  mountain  to  the  north  of  Jeri- 
cho, which  the  Arabs  now  call  Kuruntul  (see  Rob- 
inson, ii.  303  [Quarantania,  see  Stanley,  S.  S^  P. 
301  f]).  On  the  road  to  the  Jordan  the  king's 
messengers  would  undoubtedly  have  met  them,  as 
Rahab  implies  in  the  beginning  of  her  counsel, 
"  lest  the  pursuers  meet  you." 

Ver.  17.  "We  are  blameless,  etc.  To  under- 
stand these  words  we  must  supply  :  Unless  you  do 
what  we  shall  now  say  to  you,  Gen.  xxiv.  41. 

render  and  did  render,  ver  14."  This  view,  however,  it  may 
be  remarked,  is  entirely  precluded  by  the  translation  of  vers. 
12  and  13,  advocated  above  in  the  textual  note  on  the  pas- 
sage ;  for  what  the  men  are  called  upon  to  swear  that  they 
will  do,  the}'  cannot  in  the  very  act  be  doing.  ^Tr.] 

5  [Knobel  supposes  the  house  may  have  been  partly  em- 
braced within  the  wall,  and  Rahab's  chamber  strictly  on 
top  of  the  wall  "which  must  therefore  have  been  tolerably 
thick."  —  Te.] 


60 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


Vers.    18-20.     This  line   of  crimson  thread 

nipri  =  "1p  is  line,  not  rope,  ^50*     This  line  was 

spun  out  of  "  crimson   thread "    (^^tJ^H    Ti:^n). 

■•Iltt?  is  the  crimson  color  produced  by  Hl^v'^^ 

''Iltt?,  Coccus  ilicis,  Linn,  a  cochineal  insect  living 
on  the  holm-oak,  the  larviE  of  which  yield  the 
crimson  dye  ("crimson,"  from  the  Arabic  name 
of  the  insect,  Keriiies).  This  line  is  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  cord  (ver.  15),  and  not  identified 
with  it  as  is  done  by  Luther,  who  even  connects 

the  relative  clause    i3       "^^""^  ungrammatically 

with  n  l^^n  instead  of  X^'Hi  as  Knobel  also 
approves.  This  is  the  "  token  "  given  by  the  spies 
to  Rahab,  and  by  her  (ver.  21 )  fastened  to  the  win- 
dow.i  A  thick  "red  cord  would  hardly  have  been 
proper  for  this,  as  Scliulz  perceived  when  he  re- 
marked :  "  Keciue  etiam  ])robabile  est,  eundem  ilium 
funem,  quo  Eaehab  in  demittendis  exploratoribus 
usa  sit  (ver.  15),  fenestrai  alligatum  fuisse,  uti 
Lutheri  versio  vernacula  statuit  multis  sequacibus ; 
funis  enim  iste  facilem  suspicionem  movisset,  ex- 
ploratores  in  Eachabis  a;dibus  quaisitos  ejus  restis 
ope  demissos  esse,  cum  contra  tenue  ac  leve  fih;m 
coccineum  nihil  suspecti  haberet."  This  view  is 
held  also  l)y  Maurer  and  Keil,  and  before  Schulz, 
by  J.  1).  Michaelis.  From  its  bright  red  color  the 
line  was  visible  at  a  distance.  But  how  did  Kahab 
reach  the  line  when  the  men  were  below  and  she 
above  at  the  window  ?  They  probably  fastened  it 
to  the  cord  which  she  then  drew  up.  To  this  first 
condition  the  spies  add  a  second,  namely,  they 
would  be  clear  of  their  oath  also  if  she  did  not 
gather  all  her  relatives  into  her  house,  which  they 
were  not  to  leave  (vers.  18,  19).  The  third  and 
last  condition  is  that  llahab  shall  betray  nothing 
(ver.  2()). 

His  blood  be  upon  us.  Blood  =  blood-guilti- 
no6s,  responsiliility  for  blood,  Gen.  xxxvii.  26  ; 
Lev.  xvii.  4.     In  this   signification  we  have  the 

plural  also  D'^^'^.  Hence  D''»'^  "1''?',  n'2, 
house,  city  of  blood,  2  Sam.  xxi.  1 ;  Ezek.  xxii.  2 ; 
"  man  of  blood,"  Ps.  v.  7  ;  xxvi.  9  ;  Iv.  24.  Com- 
pare besides  Matt,  xxvii.  19,  24,  25. 

Ver.  21.  She  fastened  the  line  in  the  window, 
not  the  cord. 

c.  Vers.  22-24.  Return  of  the  Spies  to  Joshua. 
The  last  verses  of  the  chapter  relate  the  return 
of  the  spies  who,  after  tarrying  three  days  in  the 
mountain,  reci'ossed  the  Jorchvn  [probably  by  swim- 
ming, as  the  water  at  this  season  was  too  high  to 
ford. —  Tr.]  and  came  with  joyful  tidings  to  Joshua 
(vers.  22-2.'}). 

All  that  befel  them.  "  The  riiW^/72n-b3 
tSniM  is  synonymous  with  DHiS  mj^n'vS 
Gen.  xlii.  29  "  (Keil)  "  On  S^?2,  to  overtake,  be- 
fall, comp.  Ex.  xviii.  8;  Num.  xx.  14.  Similarly 
ri*"li7,  Gen.  xlii.  29."  (Knobel) 

Ver.  24  contains  the  most  important  part  of 
their  report,  tliat  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  were 

very  much  dispirited  and  fearful  (^3^2,  as  in 
ver.  9). 

1  [Knobel  dnnyiug  the  reference  to  any  material  sign  in 
»er.  12,  is  obliged  by  tiio  art.  in  T^•'^T^  to  identify  Hlpn 
Sine)  with    75nn  (rope)  ver.  15.  —  Tr.J 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1 .  Besides  that  Rahab  has  received  an  honorable 
position  in  the  genealogical  record  of  Jesus  (Matt, 
i.  5),  she  is  mentioned  with  praise  by  the  author  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (xi.  31)  as  -well  as  by 
James  (ii.  25),  as  a  woman  of  vigorous  faith.  "The 
former  of  these, "  as  Riietschi  observes  (Real' 
Enajlduj).  xii.  514),  is  followed  by  Clemens  Rom. 
who  not  only  makes  Rahab  a  pattern  of  TriVris 
and  <pi\o^6via,  but  praises  in  her  a  certain  ■irpo(p- 
7jT6ia,  since  he  finds  in  the  red  line  a  sign  of  the 
redemption  through  Christ's  blood  of  all  who  be- 
lieve and  Jiope  in  the  Lord."  This  red  line  is  applied 
allegorically  by  Starke  also,  "  This  red,  scarlet 
precious  line,"  he  says,  "  leads  us  to  the  blood  of 
the  paschal  lamb  of  the  0.  T  ....  but  still 
more  plainly  jjoints  us  to  the  precious,  crimson 
blood  of  Jesus,  shed  for  us,  etc.,  by  which  we  are 
upheld  and  kept  unto  salvation,  as  Rahab  and  her 
family  were  kept  alive  and  safe  by  that  red  line." 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  Scripture  itself 
knows  nothing  of  this  signification  of  the  red  line, 
and  yet  it  may  be  well  worth  while  to  subject  the 
two  passages,  Heb.  xi.  31  and  Jas.  ii.  25,  to  a  brief 
examination.  In  Heb.  xi.  it  had  just  been  said 
that  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down  through  faith 
after  they  had  been  compassed  about  by  the  Israel- 
ites seven  days.  Then  we  read  :  "  by  faith  the, 
harlot  Rahab  perished  not  {ov  awaTccoKeTo)  with 
them  that  believed  not  {roTs  aTreiOrta-aai,)  since  she 
received  the  spies  with  peace  (fier  elprivr]?,  Luth. : 
with  friendship).  Faith  is  thus  ascribed  to  her  as 
to  the  Israelites,  that  foith,  namely,  which  is  the 
"substance"  a  confident  expectation  (inrSa-racns) 
of  that  for  which  one  hopes,  and  the  "  evidence," 
or  conviction  of  the  reality  of  things  not  seen  (Heb. 
xi.  1 ).  She  is  also  called,  honestly,  TrSpvrt,  while  the 
Rabbins  (see  above,  after  the  example  of  Josephus, 
Ant.  v.  12,  7),  uniformly  makeof  her  an  inn-keeper, 
or  also  a  concubine  (Kimchi).  On  the  same  track 
Christian  interpreters  followed  later,  proposing  to 

translate  the  HSIT  "  stranger "  or  "  heathen  wo- 
man." But  in  this  matter  we  must  abide  by  the 
historical  truth  of  the  Ejaistle  to  the  Hebrews,  as 
Matthew  also,  in  bringing  in  Tamar,  Rahab  and 
Bathsheba  into  the  genealogical  register,  "  without 
doubt  aimed  to  show  the  Jewish-Pharisaic  spirit 
that  there  was  a  higher  righteousness  than  that  of 
outward  Jewish  holiness"  (Lange,  Comm.  on  Matt, 
i.  5).  By  her  faith  Rahab  was  led  to  this  higher 
righteousness,  "  and  rose  above  the  fact  that  she  had 
until  then  been  a  heathen  and  a  harlot"  (Lange, 
/.  c).  Therefore  she  perished  not  with  the  unbe- 
lievers Avhen  she  had  received  the  spies  with  peace. 
Her  faith  in  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth  (Josh.  ii. 
1 1 )  had  so  sharjjened  her  sight  that  she  distinctly 
foresaw  the  conquest  of  the  land  (ch.  ii.  9)  and 
clearly  perceived  the  disheartened  mind  of  the 
Canaanites.  It  was  a  strong  faith,  which  showed 
its  fruits  in  works  of  love  (Gal.  v.  (J).  Henco 
James  places  her  beside  Abraham  (ch.  ii.  24)  and 
says  of  her  that  by  (e'l)  works  she  was  justified; 
"  likewise  also  was  not  Rahab  the  harlot  justified 
(eSiKaicoOrj)  by  works  since  she  received  tlie  mes 
sengers  [ayy f\ovs  not  KaraaKUTTovs,  as  in  Heb.  xi 
31)  and  sent  them  out  another  way."  We  firsi 
notice  here  that,  as  in  Heb.  xi.,  Rahab  is  called 
ir6pvri,  then  that  her  practical  faith  exhibited  in  the 
rece])tion  of  the  spies  is  jiraised,  as  Abraham's  prac- 
tical faith  manifested  in  the  offering  of  Isaac  is  in 
ver.  21.  But  yet  it  is  in  James  also  ex])ressly  /a/M 
(ver.  22)  which  constitutes  the  principle  of  all  oui- 


CHAPTER   II. 


51 


ward  conduct.  Therefore,  since  we  must  deny  all 
fundamental  difference  between  Paul  and  James,  we 
cannot  agree  witli  Kiietschi  in  saying  {ubi  sup.)  : 
"  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  brings 
forward  Rahab  as  an  example  of  faith,  and  James 
(ii.  25)  consistently  with  his  position,  as  anexani])le 
of  righteousness  through  works."  For,  in  reference 
to  iiiKaiwdi),  Lange  lias  hit  the  truth  when  he  says 
on  this  passage,  "  The  terra  SiKaiow  means  witli 
James,  according  to  the  (>.  T.  way  of  speaking  but 
with  a  N.  T.  depth,  that  God  declares  righteous  in 
the  theocratic  forum  before  the  theocratic  congre- 
gation regarded  as  permanent.  It  is  the  divine 
dccbu-ation  of  the  proof  [proved  reality  1]  of  faith 
in  God's  kingdom  and  tor  it,  wliile  the  XoyiCfeo-fiai 
eh  StKcuoa-wriv  of  James,  or  the  SiKalow  of  Paul 
is  an  act  which  passes  simply  between  God  and 
the  sinner  in  the  forum  of  his  consciousness."  In 
this  theocratic  sense  now  Rahab  was  justified, 
"not  merely  in  that  her  life  was  granted  (Josh.  ii. ; 
vi.  22  tfl),  but  in  that,  still  furtlier,  she  became 
a  highly  honored  mother  in  Israel"  Lange,  Comm. 
on  James  in  /.  c).  Her  faith  was  not  a  dead 
faith  but  living  and  eifectually  active.  But  faith  re- 
mains ever,  even  according  to  the  view  of  James,  the 
principle  of  her  action,  tor  he  adds  in  confirma- 
tion of  this  ( ver.  26)  :  "  Eor  as  the  body  witiiout  the 
spirit  is  dead,  so  is  faith  also  without  works  dead." 
Faith  must  jjerfect  itself  through  works  (ver.  22) 
that  it  may  suthce  for  justification  not  only  before 
God  but  also  before  the  congregation.  So  was  it 
with  Abraham's  and  also  with  Rahab's  faith.  Both 
stand  justified  liefore  God  and  before  men  ;  be- 
fore God  immediately  through  faith,  before  men 
through  faith,  evincing,  certifying,  displaying  itself 
in  works. 

[If  God  acts  He  goes  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
existing  dispensation,  and  oversteps  his  established 
relationsliips  with  man.  It  is  thus  that  the  divine 
nature-of  Jesus,  and  the  divme  rights  of  his  person, 
manifested  themselves.  He  was  sent  only  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.  That  was  the  limit 
of  his  formal  relationship  with  men.  But  if  faith 
lays  hold  of  the  goodness  of  God,  can  that  good- 
ness deny  itself,  or  limit  itself,  to  those  who  for 
the  time  l>eing  were  alone  the  subjects  of  his  dis- 
pensatioii "?  Ko,  Christ  could  not  say,  God  is  not 
good,  I  am  not  good,  to  the  degree  you  have  im- 
agined. How  could  God  deny  himself?  The  Sy- 
rophenician  woman  obtains  what  she  asks  for. 
Precious  prerogative  of  iiiith,  which  knows  and 
owns  God  through  everything  ;  which  honors  Him 
as  He  is,  and  ever  finds  Him  what  He  is  ! " 

"  Wherein  was  manifested  that  faith  in  Rahab 
which  the  Apostle  cites  as  a  pattern "?  Admirable 
proof  that  the  way  in  which  God  acts  in  grace  is 
before  and  above  law,  that  grace  overleaps  the 
boundary  which  law  asci;ibes  to  man,  even  while 
maintaining  its  authority, —  an  authority,  however, 
which  can  only  manifest  itself  in  condemnation. 
What  then  was  Rahab's  faith  ?  It  was  the  faith 
which  recognizes  that  God  is  with  his  people,  all 
weak  and  few  as  they  may  be,  unpossessed  of  their 
inheritance,  wandering  on  the  earth  without  a 
country,  but  belaced  of  God.  If  Abraham  believed 
God  when  there  was  not  a  people,  Rahab  identified 
herself  with  this  people  when  they  had  nothing  but 
God."    Darby,  p.  3U9.— Tr.] 

But  Rahab  lied  to  the  messengers  of  her  king. 
Did  this  falsehood  also  come  through  faith  ?     Cer- 

1  [On  the  propriety  in  itself  of  the  appeal  to  God  by  a 
sincere  worshipper  in  confirmation  of  his  veracity  (which  is 
essentiaj.^)-  the  oath),  see  Tholuck"s  Com.  on  the  Sermon  on 


tainlynot;  rather  in  it  she  showed  her  naturis 
disposition,  precisely  as  it  was  with  the  Hebrew 
midwives  (Ex.  i.  19)  who,  although  they  feared 
God  (Ex.  i,  17),  nevertheless  deceived  Pharaoh; 
or  with  that  woman  at  Bahvtrim  (2  Sam.  xvii. 
18-20),  who  denied  that  Ahimaaz  and  Jonathan, 
David's  spies,  were  with  her  when  Absalom's  ser- 
vant sought  them.  Abraham  on  the  other  hand, 
when  Isaac's  perplexing  question  (Gen.  xxii.  7) 
tempted  to  a  so-called  "  white"  lie,  answered  from 
taith  (Gen.  xxii.  8)  and  gave  in  so  doing  an  ex- 
ample for  every  one  in  such  cases. 

[Added  fro.^i  Keil  by  the  translator  : 
The  falsehood  with  which  Rahab  was  slnewd 
enough  not  only  to  turn  off  all  suspicion  of  lier 
being  in  collusion  with  the  men  of  Israel  who  hud 
come  into  her  house,  but  also  to  lead  the  further 
pursuit  of  them  away  from  lier  house,  and  to  frus- 
trate the  attempts  to  capture  them,  can  be  excused 
neither  as  a  lie  of  necessity  to  accomplish  a  good 
end,  nor  mth  Grotius  on  the  unfounded  plea,  that 
"  ante  Evangelium  mendacium  viris  bonis  salutare 
culpie  non  ducebatur."  Nor  can  it  be  explained  as 
either  "  allowed  "  or  "  even  praiseworthy,"  because 
the  author  simply  reports  the  fact  without  judgment 
of  his  own,  nor  yet  because  Rahab,  as  appears 
from  what  follows  (ver.  9  ft"),  being  persuaded  of 
Jehovah's,  omnipotence  and  of  the  reality  of  the 
miracles  wrought  by  God  for  his  people,  acted  in 
pious  faith  that  tlie  trtie  God  would  give  the  land  of 
Canaan  to  the  Israelites,  and  that  all  opposition  to 
them  was  vain  and  a  resistance  to  Almighty  God 
himself  For  a  lie  is  and  always  must  be  a  sin. 
Although,  therefore,  Rahab  in  this  was  moved  by 
no  thottght  of  protecting  herself  and  her  family 
from  destruction,  and  the  disposition  from  which 
she  acted  was  rooted  simply  in  faith  in  the  living 
God  [TTicTTii,  Heb.  xi.  31),  so  that  what  she  did  in 
this  disposition  for  the  spies,  and  so  for  God's 
cause,  is  reckoned  to  her  for  righteousness  (e'l 
^pyoov  eSiKauidt},  James  ii.  25),  still  the  course  which 
she  adopted  was  a  sin  of  weakness,  which  for  her 
faith's  sake  was  graciously  forgiven  her,  —  an  "  in- 
firmitas,  quae  ipsi  ob  tidem  gratiose  condonata  est." 
Calov.  — Tr.] 

2.  That  the  spies  gave  their  oath  was  quite  proper, 
since  "  necessity  required  it."  Generally  in  an- 
tiquity, and  so  also  among  the  Israelites,  the  taking 
of  oaths  was  much  more  common  than  with  us 
(Gen.  xxiv.  37  ;  1.  5  ;  Judg.  xxi.  5 ;  1  Sam.  xiv. 
24  etc..  Matt.  xiv.  7),  and  this  was  especially  the 
case  in  private  intercourse.  To  avoid,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  use  of  God's  name  in  this,  they  in  later 
times  availed  themselves  of  other  objects  by  which 
to  swear,  as  clearly  appears  from  Matt.  v.  33-37  ; 
xxiii.  16  if. ;  James  v.  12.  Against  such  frivolous 
swearing  both  Christ  and  the  Apostle  James  speak, 
while  both  alike  indicate  the  ideal  of  Christian 
truthfulness  in  that  yea  should  be  yea,  and  nay, 
nay.  The  more  our  life  and  the  life  of  others  ap- 
proaches to  perfection,  the  less  need  will  there  be 
of  oaths  and  confirmation  of  the  nature  of  oaths. 
In  the  private  intercourse  of  Chi'istians  with  each 
other,  this  is  indeed  the  case  now  wherever  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  is  in  any  considerable  degree 
active  in  their  hearts.  The  state  also  will  have  to 
strive  after  this,  but  as  things  in  general  now  are, 
and  representing  as  it  does  the  law  and  not  the 
gospel,  it  cannot  yet  forego  the  oath  as  a  means  ol 
justice.!     Therefore   the   Christian   also,  out  of 

the  Mount,  at  Matt.  v.  33-37.  But  this  being  fully  granted, 
it  seems  to  the  present  writer  extremely  questionable  whether 
the  entire  disuse  of  such  appeals  before  our  courts,  custom 


52 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


obedience  to  "  tlie  powers  tliat  be  "  (Rom.  xiii.  1) 
will  have  to  submit  to  the  takiii}!  of  the  oath.  The 
rejection  of  the  oath  by  Aiial)aptists,  Meiiiionites, 
and  (Quakers,  was  closely  connected  with  that  of 
military  service,  and  with  the  refusal  to  assume 
public  olKccs,  and  rested  on  antinomianism.  —  That 
to  pledge  the  soul,  therefore  the  life,  as  is  done 
here,  ver.  14,  and  elsewhere  in  the  O.  T.,  is  not 
allowable  for  us  Christians,  needs  no  argument. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  carefully  to  be  observed, 
and  has  with  right  been  specially  pointed  out  by 
interjjreters  of  this  jjassage,  what  care  the  spies  take 
with  the  conditions,  under  which  they  should  be 
clear  of  their  oath  ;  how  precisely  they  put  them 
in  form,  how  clearly  and  plainly  they  express 
them,  that  they  might  not  afterwards  be  charged 
with  perjury  (vers.  14,  17  ff.)  Another  example 
of  great  conscientiousness  in  reference  to  an  oath, 
see  in  eh.  ix.  19,  20. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  sending  of  the  spies  to  Jericho.  (1.)  Send- 
ing forth  and  reception  by  Rahab  (ver.  1-7)  ;  (2.) 
their  rescue  (ver.  8-21 ) ;  (,3. )  their  return  to  .Joshua 
(ver.  22-24). — The  heathen  woman  Rahab  as  a 
heathen  of  true  faith,  with  reference  to  Heb.  xi. 
31  ;  James  ii.  25.  —  Base  things  before  the  world 
and   things   which   are  despised   has  God  chosen 

—  proved  by  the  example  of  Rahab  especially  as 
presented  by  Matt.  i.  5.  Comp.  1  Cor.  i.  28.  — 
How  faith  sharpens  discernment  concerning  the 
condition  of  an  individual  or  of  a  whole  people. 

—  Despondency  as  a  result  of  heathen  sentiment 
and  life.  —  Even  yet  we  may  hear  what  the  Lord 
does  if  only  we  will  hear. —  The  glory  of  God  as 
(1.)  above  in  heaven,  and  (2.)  below,  on  the  earth. 

—  One  should  care  not  only  for  himself  but  for  all 
those  belonging  to  him.  —  Rahab  as  a  faithful 
daughter  and  sister.  —  Kindness  and  truth  a  beauti- 
ful ornament  of  God,  not  less  also  of  men.  —  The 
rescue  of  the  spies  out  of  Jericho  and  that  of  Raul 
out  of  Damascus  compared  v/ith  each  other  (ver. 
15;  Acts.  ix.  25).  Good  advice  ought  always  to 
be  received.  Proceed  carefully  when  you  have  to 
take  an  oath,  that  no  one  afterwards  may  charge 
you  with  its  violation.  —  Of  an  oath  ;  (1.)  when 
is  it  allowable  (  (2.)  what  is  it?  (.3.)  what  results 
from  it?  —  Let  it  be  as  you  say  —  much  spoken 
in  few  words.  —  The  joyful  return  of  the  spies 
to  Joshua  with  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  the 
Lord. 

Starke  :  Christian  !  To  us  also  heaven  is  prom- 
ised, Luke  xiii.  24;  Col.  iii.  1,  2  [Heb.  iv.  1,  11]. 
Truth  and  frieiulship  are  never  better  sought  than 
in  extreme  danger.  —  Woman's  craft  exceeds  all 
craft,  therefore  beware  of  it.     By  God's  name  only 

hou.'ie  officials,  revenue  assessors,  etc.  etc,  would  not  rather 
promote  the  ends  of  justice,  while  it  would  certainly  do 
away  with  a  shocking  scandal  to  religion.  This  is  of  course, 
on  the  supposition  that  something  like  the  "  aflRrmation  " 
now  allowed  should  !«?  regularly  substituted,  and  the  civil 
penalties  for  falsehood  here  be  righteously  assigned  .and  rig- 
orously exacted.  It  is  one  thing  to  conjecture  of  what  use 
the  oath  might  be  in  the.se  civil  transactions  if  reverently 
administered  and  intelligently  taken  ;  it  is  quite  another 
thing  which  we  actually  witness,  and  are  likely  to  witness, 
when  men  by  myriads  throughout  the  land  daily  mumble 
over  the  most  solemn  form  of  words,  without  a  thought  of 
their  significance,  and  se.il  tlie  mockery  for  the  most  part 
by  an  act  of  superstitious  nonsense.  When  we  consider  that 


.should  one  swear,  Deut.  vi.  13,  Zepli.  i.  5.  —  How 
sacred  and  inviolate  must  the  oath  have  been  at  all 
times  among  the  Israelites,  when  even  a  heathen 
woman  would  trust  her  life  to  it.  O,  that  Chris- 
tians  would  observe  this,  and  keep  their  oaths  alM) 
sacred  and  inviolate!  Ecc.  v.  4. — In  making  con- 
tracts men  should  explain  themselves  clearly  to 
each  other,  and  use  no  ambiguous  language. — 
Christians  should  be  silent,  for  a  loquacious  tongue 
brings  many  into  sorrow,  Prov.  xiii.  3,  16,  26; 
[James  ii.  2  if.].  In  time  of  persecution  to  conceal 
one's  self  is  quite  projier  for  the  ministers  and  ser- 
vants of  God  also.  God  can  soon  take  courage 
away  from  enemies. 

Hedinger  :  While  one  has  ordinary  means 
one  should  use  them  ;  but  if  these  fail  one  may  be- 
take one's  self  to  God's  immediate  help.  We  enter 
not  by  the  little  side  door  except  when  the  great 
portal  is  shut.  Even  the  greatest  sinners  when 
they  truly  repent,  are  agreeable  to  God  (Jer.  v.  3). 
One  discreet  and  faithful  person  in  a  house  is  wont 
to  cause  much  good ;  where,  on  the  contrary,  all 
are  careless  and  secure,  then  it  often  happens  that 
they  all  perish  together  (Gen.  x.xxix.  2-5). 

Cramer  :  For  the  best  good  of  his  country 
every  jiatriot  should  give  himself  up  even  to  the 
hazard  of  body  and  life  (1  Sam.  xvii.  41).  Those 
who  are  on  their  journeys  God  can  wonderfully 
keep  from  dangers,  Ps.  xxxi.  21,  xci.  1. 

O.'^iANDER :  Right  fiiith  breaks  forth  thus  in 
free  confession  of  the  truth,  magnifying  and  prais- 
ing God,  and  streaming  out  in  love  towards  fellow 
men. 

[Matthew  Henry  :  There  are  many  who  be- 
fore their  conversion  were  very  wicked  and  vile, 
and  yet  afterward  come  to  great  eminence  in  faith 

and  lioliness They  who  truly  believe  the  divine 

revelation  concerning  the  ruin  of  sinners,  and  the 
grant  of  the  heavenly  land  to  God's  Israel,  will 
give  diligence  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and 
to  lay  hold  on  eternal  life,  by  joining  themselves  to 
God  and  to  his  people.  — They  that  will  be  conscien- 
tious in  keeping  their  ])roniises  will  be  cautious  in 
making  them,  and  perhaps  may  insert  conditions 
which  others  may  think  frivolous. —  Sinners'  frights 
are  sometimes  sure  presages  of  their  fall. 

Thos.  Scott  (on  ver.  12,  13)  :  When  we 
really  discover  the  danger  to  which  our  souls  are 
exposed,  from  the  wrath  of  an  offended  God,  and 
are  earnestly  seeking  salvation,  Ave  shall  begin  to 
feel  for  those  who  are  not  sensible  of  their  own 
lost  condition.  This  will  induce  us  to  attempt 
what  we  can  to  forward  the  salvation  of  our  beloved 
friends  and  relations ;  and  thus  they  who  have 
been  the  grief  and  disgrace  of  their  families,  mi\y, 
by  the  gritce  of  God,  become  their  protection  as 
well  as  ornament.  —  Tk.] 

an  oath  thus  carelessly  employed,  is  in  the  most  aggravated 
sense,  taking  the  name  of  (jod  in  vain,  and  that  our  laws 
almost  necessitate  this  in  cases  so  numerous  that  their 
united  sound  may  be  imagined  rising  as  a  constant  murmur 
to  heaven  amidst  the  voice  of  our  public  life,  we  may  well 
dread  the  condemnation  due  to  a  profane  people.  Is  there 
really  any  counterbalancing  gain  in  the  ascerUiinment  of 
the  truth  ? 

Is  not  the  evidence  now  got  by  affirmations  as  satisfactory 
as  that  by  oaths  ?  The  word  of  the  man  who  actually 
regards  God  needs  not  the  sanction  of  an  oath  ;  for  him 
who  does  not  the  penitentiary  alone  has  any  terror,  and  U 
that  he  might  as  well  appeal.  —  Tb,] 


CHAPTERS  m.-iv.  53 


3.   The  Passage  of  the  Israelites  through  the  Jordan. 
Chapters  IIL-IV. 

a.  Joshua's  Regulations  concerning  the  Passage  through  the  Jordan. 
Chapter  III.  1-13. 

1  And  Joshvia  rose  ecarly  in  the  morning  ;  and  they  removed  [broke  up  -^j  from  Shit* 
tim  and  came  to  [the]  Jordan,  he  and  all  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  and  lodged 

2  there  before  they  passed  over.     And  it  came  to  pass  after  three  days,  that  the  officers 

3  [overseers]  went  through  the  host  [camp]  ;  and  they  commanded  the  people,  saying, 
Wlien  ye  see  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  and  the 
priests  the  Levites  bearing  it,  then  ye  shall  remove  [break  up]  from  your  place, 

4  and  go  after  it.  Yet  there  shall  be  a  space  between  you  and  it,  about  two  thousand 
cubits  by  measure :  come  not  near  unto  it,  that  ye  may  know  the  way  by  which  ye 
must  go  ;  for  ye  have  not  passed  this  way  heretofore. 

5  And  Joshua  said  unto  the  people,  Sanctify  yourselves ;  for  to-morrow  the  Lord 

6  [Jehovah]  will  do  wonders  among  you.  And  Joshua  spake  ^  unto  the  priests,  say- 
ing, Take  up  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  pass  over  before  the  people.  And  they 
took  up  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  went  before  the  people. 

7  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua,  This  day  will  I  begin  to  magnify  thee 
in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  that  they  may  know  that  as  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I  will 

8  be  with  thee.  And  thou  "^  shalt  command  the  priests  that  bear  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant, saying.  When  ye  are  come  to  the  brink  of  the  water  of  [the]  Jordan,  ye  shall 
stand  still  in  [or,  at  the]  Jordan. 

9  And  Joshua  said  unto    the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,    Come  hither,  and  hear 

10  the  words  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God.  And  Joshua  said.  Hereby  ye  shall 
know  that  the  [a]  living  God  is  among  you,  and  that  he  will  without  fail  ■*  drive  out 
from  before  you  the  Canaanites  [Canaanite],  and  the  Hittites  [Hittite],  and  the  Hiv- 
ites  [Ilivite],  and  the  Perizzites  [Perizzite],  and  the  Girgashites  [Girgashite],  and 

11  the  Amorites  [Amorite],  and  the  Jebftsites  [Jebusite].^  Behold  the  ark  of  the  cov- 
enant of  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth  passeth  over  before  you  into   [through  the] 

12  Jordan.     Now  therefore  [And  now]  take  you  twelve  men  out  of  the  tribes  of  Israel, 

13  out  of  every  tribe  a  man.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  as  soon  as  the  soles  of  the  feet 
of  the  priests  that  bear  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth, 
shall  rest  in  the  waters  ^  of  [the]  Jordan,  that  the  waters  of  [the]  Jordan  shall  be 
cut  off  from  [omit ;  from],  the  waters  that  come  down  from  above  ;  [,]  and  they 
[omit ;  they]  shall  stand  upon  a  heap  [in,  or,  as  a  heap.] 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  [Ver.  1.  —  27DD,   see  Gesen.  s.  v.  —  Ta.] 

-  t'  . 

2  [Ver.6.  —  Prop. :  said,  HtSM,  but  since,  when  this  verb  is  (very  rarely)  repeated  as  here,  our  language  would  not 
now  bear  "  he  said  ....  saying,"  there  is  no  way  but  either  to  render  the  first  verb  "  spake  "  with  English  Vera, 
or  omit  the  participle  altogether.  —  Tr.] 

3  [Ver.  8.  —  Fay  translates,  "  and  now,"  as  though  he  read   riFll?'!  instead  of    Hj^SX  —  Tr.] 

4  [Yer.  10. —  ti7''"nl"'  tO'Tlln.  The  emphatic  force  of  the  infin.  absolute  in  connection  with  the  finite  verb  is  habit- 
ually neglected  in  translation  by  De  Wotte  and  Fay.  Herein  we  think  our  version  certainly  is  to  be  preferred,  aithough 
it  doubtless  sometimes  makes  too  much  of  this  peculiar  Hebrew  combination.  To  give  as  nearly  as  possible  the  shade  of 
meaning  intended  is  often  a  matter  of  much  nicety  of  expression.     Cf.  Gesen.  Gram.  §  133,  3  a.  —  Tr.] 

5  [Ver.  10.  —  The  Gentile  names  here  are  all  in  the  sing.,  and  although  the  Hebrew  usage  in  this  respect  does  not 
always  coincide  with  the  English,  in  the  present  case  at  least  our  version  would  gain  as  much  in  force  as  in  fidelity  by  an 
exact  imitation  of  the  original.  —  Tr.] 

6  [Ver.  13.  —  The  Hebrew  noun  for  water  is  always  plural,  but  construed  with  verbs  of  either  number.  The  English 
Vers,  varies  capriciously  between  the  two.  In  some  connections  the  plural  is  doubtless  more  adequate  in  the  English,  bu*' 
generally  "  water  "  would  be  the  right  expression.  — Tu.J 

b.  The  Pgissage  of  the  Jordan. 
Chapter  III.  14-IV.  17. 

14  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  people  removed  [broke  up]  from  their  tents  to 
pass  over  [the]  Jordan,  and  the  priests  bearing  the  ark  of  the  covenant  before  the 


54  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


15  people ;  and  as  ^  they  that  bare  the  ark  were  come  unto  [the]  Jordan,  and  the  feet 
of  the  priests  that  bare  the  ark  were  dipped  in  the  brim  of  tlie  water,  (for  [the] 

10  Jordan  overfloweth  all  his  [its]  banks  all  the  time  of  harvest,)-  that  the  waters  which 
came  down  from  above  stood  and  rose  up  upon  an  heap,  very  far  from  [by  ■^]  the 
city  Adam,  that  is  beside  Zaretan ;  and  those  that  came  down  toward  the  sea  of  the 
plain  [tlie  Arabali  *]  even   [omit :  even]  the  salt  sea,  failed,  and  were  cut  off"  [were 

17  entirely  cut  off']  :  and  the  people  passed  over  right  against  Jericho.  And  the 
priests  that  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  stood  firm  on  [the] 
di-y  ground  in  the  midst  of  [the]  Jordan,  and  all  the  Israelites  passed  over  on  [the]  dry 
ground,  until  all  the  people  [nation,    ^ian]   were  passed  clean  over  [the]  Jordan. 

1  IV.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  people  were  clean  passed  over  [the]  Jordan, 

2  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying.   Take  you   twelve  men  out  of 

3  the  people,  out  of  every  tribe  a  man,  and  command  ye  them,  saying.  Take  you 
hence  out  of  the  midst  of  [the]  Jordan,  out  of  the  place  wdiere  the  priests'  feet  stood 
firm,  twelve  stones,  and  ye  shall  carry  them  over  with  you,  and  leave  them  in  the 
lodging-place  where  j^e  shall  lodge  this  night. 

4  Then  [And]  Joshua  called  the  twelve  men,  whom  he  had  prepared  of  the  children 

5  [sons]  of  Israel,  out  of  every  tribe  a  man ;  And  Joshua  said  unto  them.  Pass  over 
before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  into  the  midst  of  [the]  Jordan, 
and  take  you  up  every  man  of  you  a  stone  upon  his   shoulder,  according  unto  the 

G  number  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel :  that  this  may  be  a  sign  among  you, 
that  [omit:  that]  when  your  children  ask  their  fathers  [omit:  their  fathers]  in  time 

7  to  come,  saying,  What  mean  ye  by  these  stones  ?  Then  ye  shall  answer  them 
[say  to  them].  That  the  Avaters  of  [the]  Jordan  were  cut  off  before  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  ;  when  it  passed  over  [the]  Jordan,  the  waters  of 
[the]  Jordan  were  cut  off:  and  these  stones  shall  be  for  a  memorial  unto  the  children 

8  [sons]  of  Israel  forever.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  so  as  Joshua  com- 
manded, and  took  up  twelve  stones  out  of  the  midst  of  [the]  Jordan,  as  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  spake  unto  Joshua,  according  to  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel,  and  carried  them  over  with  them  unto  the  place  where  they  lodged, 

9  and  laid  them  down  there.  Ajid  Joshua  set  up  twelve  stones  in  the  midst  of  [the] 
Jordan,  in  the  place  where  the  feet  of  the  priests  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant 

10  stood,  and  they  are  there  unto  this  day.  For  [And]  the  priests  which  bare  the  ark 
stood  in  the  midst  of  [the]  Jordan,  until  every  thing  was  finished  that  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  commanded  Joshua  to  speak  unto  the  people,  according  to  all  that  Moses 

11  commanded  Joshua:  and  the  people  hasted  and  passed  over.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  when  all  the  people  were  clean  passed  over,  that  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jeho- 

12  vah]  passed  over,  and  the  priests  in  the  presence  of  [before]  the  people.  And  the 
children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad,  and  half  the  tribe  of 
Manasseh  passed  over  armed  [eager  for  war,  or,  in  comjaanies  ch.  i.  14]  before  the 

13  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  as  Moses  spake  unto  them.  About  forty  thousand  pre- 
pared for  [the]  war  i:)assed  over  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  unto  battle,  to  the  plains 
[desert  plains,  steppes,  ni2"lV  ^]  of  Jericho. 

14  On  that  day  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  magnified  Joshua  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  and 
they  feared  him  [,]  as  they  [had]  feared  Moses,  all  the  days  of  his  life. 

15  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying.  Command  the  priests  that 
bear  the  ark  of  the  testimony  [law,  Gesenius]  that  they  come  up  out  of  [the]  Jor- 

16  dan.     Josluia  therefore  [And  Joshua]  commanded  the  priests,  saying.  Come  ye  up 

17  out  of  [the]  Jordan.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  priests  that  bare  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  were  come  up  out  of  the  midst  of  [the]  Jor- 
dan, and  [omit:  and]  the  soles  of  the  priests'  feet  were  lifted  up  [plucked  out 
!ipri3]  unto  the  dry  land,  that  [and]  the  waters  of  [the]  Jordan  returned  unto  their 
place,  and  flowed  over  all  his  [its]  banks,  as  they  did  before. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GEAMMATICAL. 

I  [Ch.  3.  Vcr.  15.  —  Our  version  is  here  particular  to  mark  the  difiference  between  S  with  Inf.  const.  (S*1^3)  and  2    in 
the  same  connection  in  ver  13   (^DD3).      Tlie  distinction  is  slight,  and  in  many  case?  probably  ij,one  was  deliberately 


CHAPTERS   III.-IV. 


55 


aimed  at  in  the  choice  of  the  particle  ;  yet  strictly  the  latter  (S)   denotes  an  action  as  contained  in  another  (in  time)^ 

the  former   (2)   denotes  it  as  bearing  a  comparison  with  that  other  in  respect  to  time  (or  quality  or  condition),  as  simul- 
taneous, following  close  upon,  about  the  same  as,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

•2  [(;ii.  iii.  15. —  Literally,  ;ind  the  Jordan  was  full  on  all  its  banks  all  the  days  of  harvest.  —  Tr.] 

3  [Oh.  iii.  10.  —  Very  far  {"  sc.  from  the  place  of  crossing,''  Keil)  at  or  by  the  city  of  Adam.  Our  version  followed  the 
Keri  here  apparently  without  good  reason.  —  Tr.] 

4  [Oh.  iii.  16.  —  Tbe  Arabah  (as  in  oh.  xviii.  18,  22)  the  definite,  individual  "  plain,"  which  bordered  the  Jordan  River 
and  the  Dead  Sea.     See  the  Exeget.  Note  on  this  verse.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ch.  iv.  13.  —  These  were  the  expanse  of  the  Jordan-valley  (Arabah)  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jericho,  greatly  widened 
here  by  the  retreat  of  the  mountains  toward  the  west.  —  Tr.] 

[6  Oil.  iv.  IS.  —  The  exact  translation  would  be  :  '•  And  it  came  to  pass  —  were  come  up  out  of  the  midst  of  the  Jordan,  the 
Boles  of  the  priest^'  feet  were  plucked  out  unto  the  dry  land,  and  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  returned  and  went  as  before  on  all 
its  banks."     The  return  of  the  water  to  its  course  is   tUiis  carefully  associated  with  the  last  step  of  the  priests    from   the 

muddy  bed  of  the  stream. —  ni2"inrT    ^S  -Ipi^^   is  prcBg.  for,  "were  plucked  up  out  of  the  bed  of  the  stream  and 
stepped  on  the  dry  or  solid  land."   Keil. — Tr.] 

c.  The  Erection  of  tlie  Memorial  at  Gilgal. 
Chapter  IV.    19-24. 

19  And  the  people  came  up  out  of  [the]  Jordan  on  the  tenth  dai/  of  the  first  month, 

20  and  encamped  in  Gilgal,  in  the  east  border  of  Jericho.     And  those  twelve  stones 

21  which  they  took  out  of  [the]  Jordan,  did  Joshua  pitch  [set  up]  in  Gilgal.  And  he 
spake  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  saying,  When  your  cliildren  shall  ask  their 

22  fathers  in  time  to  come,  saying,  "What  i}iea)i  these  stones  ?     Then  ye  shall  let  your 

23  children  [sons]  know,  saying,  Israel  came  over  this  Jordan  on  [the]  dry  land.  For 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  dried  up  the  waters  of  [the]  Joi-dan  froni  before  you, 
until  ye  were  passed  over,  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  did  to  the  Red  sea, 

24  wliich  he  di-ied  up  from  before  us,  until  we  were  gone  over :  that  all  the  people 
[peoples]  of  the  earth  might  know  the  hand  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  that  it  is  mighty, 
that  ye  [Fay  :   they]  might  fear  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  for  ever. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

a.  Joshua's  Arrangements  for  tlte  Passage  of  the 
Jordan. —  And  Joshua  rose  early.  CDtT^T  as  in 
Gen.  xix.  2,  27  ;  xx.  8 ;  xxii.  3  ;  xxviii.  18  ;  xxxii. 
1,  whli  and  without  the  addition  ''  in  the  morning." 

Properly  D^StTn  is  a  denom.  from  125^7,  "  to 
load  up,  on  the  backs  of  beasts  of  burden,  which 
among  the  nomads  is  done  early  in  the  morning," 

~  1?^  Is.  xxxiii.  20.  —  This  breaking  up  took 
place  immediately  after  the  rettirn  of  the  spies,  and 
this  verse  accordingly  belongs  properly  to  ch.  ii. 

Ver.  2  is  in  continuation  of  ch.  i.  10-16.  The 
three  days  here  are  the  same  as  in  ch.  i.  1 1 .  In 
ch.  ii.  which  is  othenvise  very  appositely  inserted, 
and  in  a  v/ay  completely  suiting  the  connection, 
the  differences  in  the  dates  were  not,  we  must 
simply  admit,  duly  taken  into  account.  On  the 
otlier  hand  it  seems  to  us  unnecessary,  to  assume 
a  contradiction  between  ver.  1  on  one  side  and  vers. 
2-6  on  the  other,  on  the  grounds  that  (a.)  the 
people,  according  to  ver.  1,  were  at  tlie  Jordan  and 
not  2,000  cubits  off  from  it ;  (6.)  the  Israelites  spent 

only  one  night  (^3''  z'^'S)  there,  and  so  could  not  have 
been  there  after  three  days.  Although  we  grant 
that  the  word  here  translated  "  lodge"  commonly 
means  to  "spend  the  night"  (Gen.  xix.  2;  xxiv. 
25;  xxviii.  11  ;  xxxii.  14,  22),  still  in  view  of  such 
passages  as  Job  xix.  4 ;  xli.  14;  Ps.  xxv.  13  ;  xlix. 
13],  Ave  may  well  take  it  here  in  the  sense  of  to  en- 
camp, to  taiTy,  as  the  Vulgate,  when  it  translates 

1  [Leyrer,  in  Herzog's  Enctjklop.,  vol.  xiv.  p.  1,  note, 
supposing  the  ground-meaning  of  'Hlitt^  to  have  been  "  to 
put  in  order,"  "set  in  a  row,  hence  to  make  a  row,  of  let- 


uiorati   sunt.      [The  English  word  "  lodge  "  very 

appropriately   represents    ]17.]      Again:    "they 

came  to  the  Jordan,"  ^Tl^iT'"Tr  -IS^"*!  is  certainly 
not  to  be  understood  with  literal  preciseness.  It 
means  :  they  came  near  to  the  Jordan,  not  exactly 
on  the  brink  of  the  river.  Two  thousand  cubits 
may  very  naturally  still  have  intervened,  especially 
when  we  take  into  account  the  great  extent  of  the 
camp.  This  view  is  very  evidently .  supported  by 
vers.  14,  15,  which,  according  to  Knobel  from  the 
same  author  as  ver.  1  a,  state  that  the  people  re- 
moved out  of  their  tents  and  the  priests  came  to  the 
Jordan.  Had  they  encamped  close  on  the  river- 
brink,  as  ver.  1  is  interpreted  by  Knobel,  we  should 
have  been  told  immediately  of  the  dipping  of  their 
feet  in  the  water,  but  not  certainly  of  their  coming 
to  the  Jordan. 

Ver.  3.     Overseers.    As  in  ch.  i.  11  so  also  here 

□  il^tL  ,  LXX.  ypajxixaret^  :  Vulg.  prfpcones ;  Lu- 
ther, Hauptleute  (head-men)  ;  Stier,  Amtleute  (offi- 
cials) ;  at  first  probably  altogether  general  officers, 
head-men  of  the  people  (Ex.  v.  6-19  ;  Num.  xi. 
16),  those  who  knew  how  to  write.  Later,  the 
magistrates  in  the  towns  (Deut.  xvi.  18  ;  1  Chron. 

xxxiii.  4).     In  Arabic  "It^ti?   signifies  simply  to 

write.  In  2  Chr.  xxvi.  11  "It^tT'  and  "^r.^  stand 
side  by  side.     In  Prov.  vi.  7,  the  fonner,  English 


Vers,  "overseer,' 
r^Lj  "  ruler."  1 


stands  with    ''^'Q  "  guide  "  and 


ters,"  says  :  "  we  may  rather  conceive  that  the  D'^'^lSt'', 
from  the  ground-meauing  of  the  word  and  from  their  pri- 
mary function,  are  called  ordinatures,  than  from  a  derived 


56 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Ark  of  the  Covenant.  litre  "  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant of  Jeliovah,"  elsewhere  also  "  ark  of  God,"  1 
Sam.  iii.  3,  "  ark  of  tlie  testimony  "  [law],  Ex.  xxv. 
22  :  the  saercd  ark  with  the  tallies  of  tlie  law  (ae- 
cording-  to  Heb.  ix.  4,  with  other  olijects  also),  pre- 
pared by  Moses  (Ex.  xxv.  lO  ft".)  after  a  divine 
jmttern.  It  was  two  and  a  half  enbits  long,  one 
and  a  half  cubits  high,  and  the  same  in  breadth. 
It  was  made  of  acacia  wood,  overlaid  within  and 

without  with  gold  plate.  The  name  "JI^IW  is  de- 
rived from  "^"J^)  to  bore  out,  hollow  out,  and  sig- 
nifies properly  something  hollow,  hence  also  "  a 
coffin,"  Gen.  1.  26.  Figures  may  be  seen  in  Hoft- 
mann  and  Rcdslob,  Universal  Bibel-Lcxicon  for  the 
People,  i.  244;  Kiejiert,  Bible  Atlas,  v.  Fig.  15. 
[Smith's  and  other  Bible  Dictionaries,  and  works 
of  the  same  design,  may  be  consulted.  Also  Jahn, 
Coleman,  and  other  writers,  on  Hebrew  antiquities. 
-Tr.I 

Ver.  4.  Yet  there  shall  be  a  space  .... 
two  thousand  cubits  by  measure.  As  a  reason 
it  is  given  that  the  ark  should  show  the  way.  Had 
the  masses  of  tlie  people,  who  by  no  means  marched 
as  soldiers,  crowded  around  it,  those  that  were  be- 
hind could  not  have  seen  it.  Tlie  sacredness  of  the 
ark  is  not  here  directly  the  reason,  as  various  inter- 
preters have  supposed  (Mas.,  C.  a  Lapide,  Seb. 
Schmidt,  v.  Len;jerkc  and  Knobel),  but  yet  may 
come  in  as  a  secondary  consideration.  According 
10  Num.  iv.  15  the  sons  of  Kohatli  bore  the  sanc- 
tuary, but  might  not  touch  it.  Uzziah  died  when 
he  did  this  (2  Sam.  vi.  7).  We  may  notice  also 
what  Starke  has  pointed  out,  that  no  longer  the 
pillar  of  cloud  but  the  ark  of  the  covenant  leads  the 
way.  The  manna  likewise  ceased  at  this  time. 
The  days  of  the  pilgrimage  are  past.  Two  thousand 
cubits  =  one  Sabbath  day's  journey  (Acts  i.  12) 

=  three  thousand  feet.     The  Kethib  "'3'^2  is  to  be 

retained  instead  of  Keri,  1'^3''3.    Soalsoch.viii.il, 

"  since  the  plural  VD"^^  is  limited  almost  entirely  to 
the  case  where  the  snff.  also  has  the  plural  sense. 
Comp.  Ewald,  §  2G6  a."  (Kcil). 

Ver.  5.  [Sanctify  yourselves.  "  The  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  peo])le  consisted  not  in  the  washing 
of  their  clothes,  which  is  mentioned  Ex.  xix.  10-14 

with  the  t2?1Ti7,  for  there  was  no  time  for  this  ;  nor 
in  the  changing  of  garments  merely,  which  ac- 
cording to  Gen.  XXXV.  2,  might  take  the  place  of 
washing,  and  in  abstinence  from  conjugal  inter- 
course, Ex.  xix.  15.  These  were  only  the  outward 
signs  of  the  sanctificatiou  which  really  consisted  at 
the  same  time  in  the  spiritual  purification,  the 
turning  of  the  heart  to  God,  in  faith  and  trust  in 
his  promise,  and  in  willing  obedience' to  his  com- 
mands, that  they  might  rightly  take  to  heart  the 
wonder  of  grace  which  the  Lord  would  the  next 
day  jierform  among  them."    Keil.  —  Tr.] 

•  To-morrow.  According  to  ch.  iv.  19  the  10th 
of  Nisan. 

Ver.  6.  And  they  took  up  the  ark  of  the  cov- 
enant. Tliis  statement  is  not  exact  [not  in  place 
liere],  the  correct  account  is  given  in  ver.  15,  since 
veis.  7-1.3  could  not  be  spoken  after  the  procession 
was  already  in  motion.  Keil :  "  Whether  the  com- 
mand in  ver.  G  was  given  the  evening  before,  as 
Maiirer,  or  on  the  morning  of  the  crossing,  as 
Hosenmiiller  supposes,  cannot  be  determined,  since 
both  were  equally  possible.  The  former  is  the  more 


probable  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  execution  of  thia 
command  in  the  last  words  of  the  verse  is  antici- 
fxited.  For  the  following  revelation  of  God  to 
Josluia,  together  with  .Toslina's  discourse  to  the  peo- 
])le,  cannot  ha\e  taken  jilace  after  the  priests  with 
the  ark  had  already  begun  the  march."  Knobel 
refers  the  words  to  the  breaking  uji  of  the  camp 
from  Shittim. 

Vers.  7,  8.  Revelation  of  God  to  Joshua,  in 
which  the  Lord  jjromises  to  make  him  great  from 
this  day  forward  as  he  had  made  Moses  great; 
agreeing  substantially  with  eh.  i.  2-9.  Then  fol- 
lows, ver.  8,  God's  command  that  "  Jo&hua  should 
direct  the  priests  bearing  the  ark  to  halt  when  they 
e.ame  to  the  edge  of  the  water  of  the  Jordan,  i-  e., 
as  soon  as  they  reached  the  water  in  the  bed  of  the 
Jordan,  and  their  feet  stood  in  it,  and  to  remain 

standing.  On  ^^^  comp.  Gen.  xliii.  15.  What 
Jehovah  communicated  further  is  not  here  told, 
because  it  appears  from  the  following."  (Knoliel). 
Ver.  9-13.  In  these  verses  we  have  to  think  of 
ourselves  as  addressed  in  a  solemn  assembly  of  the 
jieople,  a  congregation  of  Jehovah.  They  contain 
the  purport  of  the  divine  revelation,  and  more  fully 
than  it  had  been  stated  in  vers.  7  and  8^ 

Ver.  9.  ^tt'S  with  accent  di'awn  back  as  in 
Ruth  ii.  14;  1  Sam.xiv.  38,  comp.  Ewald,  §  100  a, 
and  227  b."     (Keil). 

Ver.  10.  Hereby  shall  ye  know  that  a  livins 
God  is  among  you.  The  design  of  the  miracle, 
the   furtherance   of  the  knowledge  of  God  as  a 

living  mighty  God,  is  significantly  put  fii-st.  "^H  /S ; 

God  is  here  called  vM  frona  7^M,  prop,  the  Strong 
One  in  opposition  to  the  gods  of  the  heathen, 
which  are  D'^7"*  j^j  Lev.  xix.  4 ;  xxvi.  1,  nothings, 
D"^ .  ^T^j  prop,  breaths,  Dent,  xxxii.  21 ;  Jer.  viii. 
19 ;  xiv.  22 ;  Ps.  xxxi.  7,  or  even  S^t^  "'bnrT, 
Jon.  ii.  8,  "  lying  vanities."     He  is,  however,  not 

called  7M  merel}'-,  which  term  in  the  plural  occurs 
also  of  the  gods  of  the  heasthen  (Ex.  xr.  11),  but 

^n  vH,  to  indicate  thait  he  is  not  dead  like  them, 
comp.  Jer.  x.  9,  10.  On  the  original  inhabitants 
of  Palestine  seethe  Introduction,  §  7.  As  here,  so 
previously  in  Dent.  vii.  1,  and  again  in  this  book 
ix.  ]  ;  xi.  3 ;  xxiv.  11,  seven  races  are  enumerated, 
but  in  varying  order.  The  Jehnsites,  however, 
always,  except  in  eh.  xi.  3,  stand  last. 

Ver.  1 1 .  Lord  of  the  whole  earth.  A  sionifi- 
cant  appellation  of  Gocl!,  where  the  conquest  of  a 
land  is  in  question.  From  Him  Israel  has  his  title 
to  Canaan. 

Verse  12  compared  vrith  ch.  iv.  2  occasions  diffi- 
culty. Two  questions  arise :  (1.)  When  was  this 
direction  given ;  before  the  crossing  or  during  the 
crossing  1  The  former  according  to  this  pas- 
sage, the  latter  according  to  iv.  2.  The  former 
.seems  more  probable,  because  the  twelve  men  could 
not  possibly  be  chosen  during  the  passage.  (2.) 
Does  the  choice  of  the  twelve  men  rest  as  Knobel 
teaches,  according  to  our  passage,  on  the  regulation 
of  Joshua  alone,  or  on  the  divine  command,  as  ch. 
iv.  1  expressly  says.  Answer:  The  author  has  here 
the  same  view  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  com- 
mand as  in  iv.  1 ,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  incor- 
porated these  words  in  a  discourse  which  contains 
the  solemn  announcement  of  a  divine  revelation. 


me,anlng  and  from  a  mere   accident  of  their   office.     See    Lengerke,  Jfenaan,  p.  374,  Anm.  ;  Hoffman,  the  Art.  "Hebi 
Vater,  vol.  Ui.  of  his  Com. ;  Von  Bohlen,  Genesis,  p.  xlii. ;   Schrift  "  in  Erach  u.  Gruber'a  Encyklop."  —  Tb.] 


CHxVPTERS   III. -IV. 


57 


Ver.  13.     Soles  of  the  feet,   comp.  ch.  i.  3. — 

The  water  ....  shaU  be  cut  off,  ^^^"^|^ 
Lntlv  r  :  be  broken  oft';  Do  Wette  :  part ;  literally  : 
"  ishtill  lie  ctit  ott',''  that  is,  the  water  above  the  place 
of  crossiii.n-  stood  still,  so  that  no  more  Howed  by. 
The  water  below  ran  away  toward  the  Dead  Sea. 

h.  Chaps,  iii.  14-iv.  18.  Tlte  Passage  of  the  Pcojjle 
tkroufjh  the  Jordnn.  This  took  place  according  to 
ch.  iv.  19,  on  the  tenth  day  of  tke  Jirst  month  (caUed 
Nisan  or  Abib),  hence  in  the  same  month  as  for- 
meriy  the  departure  out  of  Egypt.  This  like  that 
was  immediately  before  the  Passover,  which  accord- 
ing to  ch.  V.  was  celebrated  four  days  later  for  the 
first  time  on  the  soil  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  har- 
vest h'jre,  in  the  deeply  sunken  heated  valley  of  the 
Jordan,  was  already  begun.  The  "yellow  "  water 
of  the  river  stands  high  at  this  season,  because  the 
snows  are  melting  on  the  mountains  (comp.  Furrer, 
p.  154).  So  much  more  wonderful  was  the  event, 
aproof  of  the  actual  help  of  the  "living  God." 

Ver.  15.  And  the  Jordan  overfloweth 
.  .  harvest.  A  parenthetical  sentence.  The 
Jordan-valley,  the  Ghor,  is  t^^■o  hours  across,  the 
proper  river-bed,  through  which  the  stream  flows, 
only  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  the  stream  itself, 
according  to  Furrer 's  estimate  (p.  154),  only  90 
feet  in  breadth.  This  latter  valley  was  over- 
flowed, and  is  still  overflowed,  by  the  "  high-water  " 
at  the  time  of  harvest,  precisely  as  then.  See  Seet- 
zen,  Burckhardt,  Robinson,  [Stanley,  S.  Sf  P.,]  Fur- 
rer. The  last  named  says  :  "  When,  late  in  the 
spring,  the  snow  on  Hermon  begins  to  melt,  the 
Jordan  commonly  overHows  its  lower  bank,  and- 
puts  reeds  and  bushes  under  water.  So  found  it, 
as  was  related  in  Israel,  the  fathers  under  Joshua  ; 
'  The  Jordan  was  full  on  all  its  banks  all  the  time 
of  harvest.' " 

Ver.  16.  Near  Adam.  Heb.  D"TS5.  The 
Kethib  is  to  be  preferred,  since  its  meaning  is  that 
very  far  from  the  place  of  crossing,  by  the  city 
Adam  which  hiy  at  the  side  of  Zaretan,  the  water 
stood  still.  This  city  Adam  was  situated,  probably, 
where  now  we  find  the  ford  Damieh  with  remains 
of  a  liridge  of  the  Roman  period  (Lvnch's  licport, 
p.  150  f.,  Van  de  Velde,  Narrative,  "ii.  p.  322  f.), 
"  Several  hours  north  of  Jericho  "  ( Knobel ) .  Zare- 
tan. '•  Not  improbably  Kurn  Sartabeh,  near  the 
ford  Damieh,  a  long,  prominent  rocky  ridge,  from 
which  a  lower  range  of  hills  reaches  almost  to  the 
Jordan,  and  seems  to  extend  itself  obli(]uely  through 
to  the  eastern  mountains.  Here  the  Jordan  valley 
is  compressed  within  its  narrowest  limits,  and  the 
Ghor  divides  itself  into  the  upper  and  the  lower. 
On  Kurn  Sartabeh  it  is  reported  that  there  are 
still  ruins."  So  Knobel  after  Robinson  (Lat.  Bihl. 
Res.  pp.  283  f.,  217  f.).  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  just  here  the  water  "  is  cut  oft'"  where  from 
both  sides  the  mountain  ridges  narrow  the  river, 

1  ["The  plain"  here  (n^^pn),  is  the  arid  bottom 
l.-md  ia  the  gorge  of  the  Jordan  —  "  the  Ghor  "  (see  Introd. 
i^  6).  To  this  remarkable  feature  of  the  country  the  name  is 
uniformly  applied  throui^nout  our  book,  where  it  is  never 
applied  to  anything  else.  It  always  has  the  article  in  this 
connection,  and  nothing  seems  to  hinder  its  being  under- 
stood simply  as  a  proper  name  (in  which  sense  our  version 
twice  views  it,  xv.  6 ,  xviii.  18)  except  the  occurrence  of 
the  plural  form  to  denote  the  broader  parts  of  the  depressed 
valley,  as  about  .lericlio.  Uobinson  (  Phi/s.  Gfog.  p.  73)  never- 
Sheless  declares  it  decidedly  "  the  proper  name  of  this  valley." 
This  plain  encompassed  the  Dead  Sea  also,  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctly, and  then  stretched  on  in  the  modern  Wady  el-Arabah 
to  the  head  of  the  Elanitic  Gulf.  But  see,  for  a  complete 
account  of  this  very  extraordinary  natural    phenomenon, 


and  the  river  valley.  The  name  Zaretan,  perhaps 
identical  with  Zareda,  the  home  of  Jeroboam  (1  K. 
xi.  26),  as  Kn.obel  conjectures,  is  explained  from 
the  Arabic :  elatus  monlinni  locus.  Gescnius  like- 
wise holds  the  two  names  identical,  but  derives  from 

"T1^,  according  to  the  Arabic,  to  be  cool  =  cool- 
ing, also  a  suitable  name  for  a  town  on  a  fresh  hill- 
top in  the  vicinity  of  a  river.  The  name  Adam 
calls  to  mind  Admah,  one  of  the  five  cities  in  the 
vale  of  Siddim  (Gen.x.  19  ;  xiv.  2  ;  Hos.  xi.  8),  as 
also  Adami,  a  city  of  the  tribe  of  Isaphtali  (Josh. 
xix.  33).     Edom  may  also  be  compared  with  it. 

Failed  and  were  cut  off.  [The  conception  of 
this  scene  indicated  by  the  Keri  ("very  far  from 
Adam,)  "isdifl'erent  from  that  of  our  author  and 
the  recent  commentators  generally.  It  coincided 
with  (althouuh  not  necessary  to)  what  we  suppose 
to  have  been  the  common  (popular)  view,  well 
stated  and  explained  by  Gill  (among  others)  on 
tlie  place.  He  naively  remarks,  indeed,  that  "  both  . 
readings,  as  is  usually,  if  not  always  the  case,  are 
to  be  received,"  but  his  own  exposition  does  not 
require  anything  so  unreasonable.  Let  the  waters 
have  been  actually  "cut  oft'"  above  where  the 
priests  stood,  in  full  \icw  of  the  people  (as  the 
spirit  of  the  whole  account  seems  to  lie  in  the  visi 
bility  of  the  wonder  to  the  people),  and  still  the 
water  would  be  arrested  and  "  stand,"  before  the 
crossing  was  finished,  "  very  far  oft'."  The  current 
might  have  ceased  "  at  Adam,"  though  that  were 
thirty  or  even  more  miles  above.  Not  only  would 
this  be  immeasurably  more  im]n'essive  to  the  multi- 
tude as  an  exhibition  of  the  divine  power  than  the 
mere  phenomenon  of  a  bare  river  bed,  the  reason 
for  which  they  could  not  see,  but  thus  the  fear 
with  which  "  they  hasted  and  passed  over"  (see  on 
eh.  iv.  10),  is  much  more  naturally  accounted  for. 
This  view  of  the  miracle  ought,  at  least,  not  to  be 
wholly  ignored.  Indeed,  Keil  seems  so  to  conceive 
the  scene,  and  he  even  represents  (on  ver.  8)  the 
priests  with  the  ark  (symbolizing  the  divine  pres- 
ence) as  constituting  the  dam,  so  to  speak,  by  which 
the  rushing  waters  were  restrained  and  piled  up  in 
a  heap.  — Tr.] 

Toward  the  sea  of  the  plain  (Arabah),  the  salt 
sea.  It  is  evident  that  the  Dead  Sea  is  meant, 
concerning  whose  origin  we  have  a  report  in  Gen. 
xix.  24.  It  is  called  sea  of  the  plain  in  Dent.  iii. 
17  ;  iv.  49  also.i  The  region  round  about  is  deso- 
late, yet  birds  sing  on  the  shore  of  the  sea  in 
numerous  choirs  and  fly  freely  over  the  water 
(Furrer,  p.  258,  Robinson,  Phijs.  Geo;].,  p.  219). 
The  water  of  the  sea  is  clear  but  very  strongly 
tinctured  with  salt,  and  hence  fatal  to  fish.  Bath- 
ers become  covered  with  an  oily  envelope,  some- 
times painful,  sometimes  not.  From  the  southern 
point  of  the  Dead  Sea  clear  to  Elath  stretches  the 
desert  valley  in  which  the  Israelites  wandered  for 
forty  years .^ 

Mr.  Grove's  article  on  the  Arabah  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  tlie 
Bible,  and  Floulke'son  the  Jordan,  in  the  same  work. — ■  Ta.] 
'i  [A  very  full  and  in"ere^ting  digest  of  what  is  knowu 
concerning  the  Dead  Sea  is  given  in  Smith's  Dictionari/,  Art. 
'■  Sea,  the  Salt."  In  reference  to  tlie  relation  between  thi.s  sea 
and  the  cities  of  the  plain,  the  criticisms  of  Dr  U'olcott  on 
the  views  of  Mr.  Grove  in  the  article  just  named  and  in  those 
on  Sodom  and  Zoar,  and  Siddim,  should  by  all  means  be 
carefully  considered.  See  also  Couant's  instructive  note  on 
his  Reviseit  Version  of  Genesis,  p.  79.  Nor  should  Stanley's 
viviil  and  flowing  representation  in  ch.  ix.  of  iSiii.  S)'  Pat.. 
''The  Jordan  .and  the  Dead  Sea,"  be  overlooked.  Ths 
colored  views  of  the  sea  and  its  surroundings  in  Tris 
tram"s  Laml  of  Isrfi'i  assist  the  imagination  greatly  in  pie 
turing  to  itself  (l^e  scene.  —  Ta.J 


58 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


Ver.  17.  T'rn:  "Properly:  Jirmando,  i.  e.fmn- 

itcr,  with  solid  foot."  ''IH  used  here  of  Israel,  as 
ch.  iv.  1  ;  V.  6,  8;  x.  13;  Ex.  xix.  6;  xxxiii.  13; 
Deut.  xxxii.  28.  Where  the  passage  took  place 
cannot  now  he  determined. 

Chap.  iv.  After  the  author  has,  in  eh.  iii.  14-17, 
hrieflii  related  the  history'  of  the  crossing,  he  com- 
pletes his  rejiort  in  this  chapter.  The  account  is 
not  strictly  speaking  without  order,  and  confused, 
as  some  have  said,  but  yet  neither  is  it  M'itliout 
re]K'titions  wliich  indicate  a  variety  of  authorities, 
blended  together  I)y  a  later  hand.  These,  however, 
we  cannot  assume  that  it  is  possible  to  determine 
accurately,  according  to  their  original  parts,  as 
Knobel  has  with  much  acuteness  attempted  to  do. 

Ver.  1.  And  it  came  to  pass  when  aU  the 
people  were  clean  passed  over  the  Jordan. 
These  words  were  omitted  by  Luther  in  his  trans- 
lations. Why  ^  Did  he  possibly  consider  the  im- 
mediately following  Piska  (o)  as  a  sign  of  their 
spuriousness  ?  This  Piska  is,  according  to  Keil 
{Bib.  Com,  in  loc.),  "  a  sign  in  use  before  the  Mas- 
oretes,  and  by  them  lelt  remaining  to  denote  a 
division  in  the  middle  of  a  verse  where  a  Parasche 
begins  :  comp.  Hupfeld,  AusfuhrL  Heb.  Gramm-  pt. 
i.  pp.  86  and  89.  (iesenius  in  his  Lehrgeb.  p.  124, 
takes  a  ditferent  view-" 

Ver.  2.     Sec  ch.  iii.  12. 

Ver.  3.  For  ']^^'Q  we  should  read  Tpi^j  as  in 
ch.  iii.  17. 

Ver.  4-  Knobel  regards  this  as  a  continuation 
of  ver.  1 ,  a.  What  intervenes  he  refers  to  the  second 
source  of  his  Jehovist,  according  to  which  the 
choice  of  the  twelve  men  rested  on  a  divine  direc- 
tion, M'hilc  the  first  knew  nothing  of  it.  We  con- 
fidently hold  that  ch.  iii.  12  presupposes  a  divine 
direction,  which  however  is  first  stated  here  in  the 
way  of  a  supplement. 

Ver.  6-9.  "When  your  children  ask.  Corap. 
xxii.  27-28  ;  Ex.  xiii.  8-14.  —  Stones.  Here  it  is 
a  heap  of  twelve  stones,  in  Gen.  xxviii.  18  ;  xxxv. 
14  a  single  stone,  but  in  Gen.  xxxi.  46,  again  as 
here,  a  heap  of  stones.  They  were  sacred  me- 
morials of  the  simplest  kind.  According  to  ver.  9, 
"  Joshua  takes  twelve  other  stones,  and  sets  them 

up  in  the  bed  of  the  Jordan  on  the  spot  (rinn 
as  in  Ex.  x.  23  ;  xvi.  29)  where  the  feet  of  the  priests 
Btood,  and  where  the  stones  have  remained  till 
the  time  of  the  narrator"  (Knobel).  It  has  been 
asked :  To  what  ])urpose,  since  afterwards  the  water 
streamed  over  them  again  1  They  might  become 
visible  in  a  low  stage  of  the  water.i  This  second 
measure  Joshua  adopts  of  himself  without  express 
divine  direction. 

Unto  this  day.  A  very  common  phrase  in  our 
book,  as  Bleek  {Introd.  to  0.  T.  §  135)  observes: 
ch.  V.  9  ;  vi.  29  ;  vii.  26  (bis)  ;  viii.  28,  29;  ix.  27  ; 
X.  27  ;  xiii.  13  ;  xiv.  14  ;  xv.  63  ;  xvi.  10. 

Ver.  10.  The  priests  remain  standing  in  the 
Jordan  until  all  the  people  have  passed  through. 
They  had  therefore,  when  the  c;amp  broke  up,  oiily 
gone  the  two  thousand  cubits  in  advance  to  show 
the  M'ay,  then  remain  standing  after  they  have 
taken  their  jDO-sition  in  the  midst  of  the  dried  bed 

1  [Oi-  might  it  bo  that  the  "midst  of  the  Jordan  "  where 
the  priests  stood  in  tliis  time  of  tlie  freshet,  was  at  tlie 
odjteof  the  dry  flat  in  ordinary  seasons?  Then  tlie  pile  of 
twelve  stones  would  in  general  be  visible  and  less  exiiosed 
to  the  force  of  the  water  when  high.     Here  the  caution  of 

Maurer,  A'«  premas,  TJIFl  vocabulum,  is  to  be  heeded. 
-Te.]  "^ 


of  the  stream  uniil  the  passage  is  completed.  Their 
quiet  waiting  was  well  calculated  to  impart  cour- 
age to  the  people  who  hasted  and  passed  over 
through  fear.  The  contrast  well  desenes  considera- 
tion. Knobel  assumes  that  this  very  standing  still 
of  the  priests  was  the  ground  of  this  haste.  He 
says :  "  The  people  passed  as  quickly  through  as 
possible,  and  that  on  account  of  the  priests,  who 
during  this  long  passage  must  stand  in  one  place 
and  bear  the  ark."  This  reason  may  possibly  have 
0|ierated  also,  yet  such  a  consideration  is  rather 
modern  than  conformable  to  the  sentiment  of  an- 
ticjuity.  The  chief  reason  for  the  haste  was  cer- 
tainly fear.'-^ 

Ver.  1 1.  After  the  passage,  the  ark  again  takes 
the  lead,  as  in  eh.  iii.  3  ff'. 

After  the  history  of  the  crossing  has  thus  been 
given  first  briefly  in  eh.  iii.  14-17,  then  more  com- 
pletely ch.  iv.  1-11,  we  have  some  supplementary 
notices  in  vers.  12-17,  and  finally  the  conclusion  ver. 
18  announcing  the  return  of  the  water. 

On  vers.  12  and  13  comp.  ch.  i.  12-18. 

On  ver.  14  corap.  ch.  iii.  7. 

What  is  related  in  ver.  15-17  is  a  more  partic- 
ular statement  of  the  fact  mentioned  in  ver.  1 1  of 
this  chapter,  referred  by  Knobel,  on  account  of 
the  designation  of  the  ark  as  "  the  ark  of  the  testi- 
mony," to  the  Elohistic  original.  This  he  sup- 
poses to  have  been  used  here  first  in  the  book  of 
Joshua. 

Ver.  18.  States  the  conclusion,  pointing  back  to 
ch.  iii.  16. 

c.  On  ch..  iv.  19-24.  Erection  of  the  Monument 
at  Gilgal.  —  Ver.  19.  The  date,  on  the  tenth 
(day)  of  the*  first  month,  is  very  exact,  and  on 
this  account  Knobel  ascribes  the  verse  to  the  Elo- 
hist.  The  first  month  (as  Ex.  xii.  2,  18  ;  xl.  2,  17 
and  often)  is  elsewhere  called  also  Abib,  i.  e. 
month  of  green  ears  (Ex.  xiii.  4  ;  xxiii.  15 ;  Deut. 
xvi.  1),  and  subsequently  Nisan  (Neh.  ii;  1;  Est. 
iii.  7.)  "  This  name  is  probably  of  Persian  origin, 
and  to  be  explained  from  the  Zend  nacagan,  new 
day,  which  was  transferred  to  the  first  month  of  the 
year,  from  New  Year's  day.  See  Benfey,  Nu7iies 
of  the  Months,  p.  131  IF."  Gesenius.^  Fiirst,  in  his 
Hist,  of  Bibl.  Lit.  p.  400,  fixes  the  year  as  having 
been  1454  b.  c.  There  were  four  days  before  the 
Passover  which  fell  on  the  14th,  ch.  v.  10. 

Ver.  20.    GHgal,  see  ch.  v.  9. 

Ver.  21  like  ver.  6,  with  Epic  breadth  as  in 
Homer. 

Ver.   22,    23,    might,   from    the    repetition    of 

m'^nin  'd'^nin  'nra^rr,  seem  to  be  a  citation 
from  a  poetical  panegyric  on  the  Passage  of  the 
River,  as  Bunsen  assumes  in  ver.  7  when  he  trans- 
lates :  — 

"  As  through  the  .Jordan  passed  the  Ark, 
Flowed  away  the  waters  of  the  Jordan." 

Here  we  are  reminded  of  the  "  Book  of  Jasher," 
mentioned  ch.  x.  13,  which,  however,  was  not  a 
"  Law-book"  but  precisely  the  opposite,  a  poetical 
Hero-book.     See  Introd.  and  on  ch.  x.  13. 

Ver.  24.  All  the  peoples  of  the  earth, 
[Keil :  of  the  land,  sc.  of  Canaan-  But  not  well.] 
Might  know  the  hand  of  Jehovah.      A  heau- 

2  [This  fear  would  evidently  be  much  more  natural  on 
the  supposition  stated  above  on  ch.  iii.  16,  that  the  waters 
were  cut  off  and  stood  in  a  threatening  precipice  immediately 
above  the  place  of  crossing.  But  is  not  the  haste  of  the 
people  sufficiently  explained  by  the  fact  which  Keil  empha- 
sizes, that  so  vast  a  multitude  must  cross  in  one  day  '.'  —  Tr.1 

3  [But  see  this  disputed  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  Ike  Bibl.  a.  v 
Months,  p.  2006. —Tr.] 


CHAPTERS   III.-IV. 


tiful  catholicity !  The  miracle  made  the  pas- 
sage possible  and  easy  fox*  Israel,  but  was  at  the 
same  time  to  serve  also  for  imparting  to  the 
lieatiien  nations  of  all  ages  a  knowledge  of  the 
power  of  Jehovah,  and  a  fear  of  the  Almighty," 

(Knobel).  Instead  of  D^Sn^  read  CH^ll 
(Ewald,   Maurer,  Knobel),  with  reference  to   the 

coordinate  i^V^  iP^r-  [This  is  quite  doubtful; 
we  rather  agree  with  Keil,  that  the  Masoretic  point- 
ing should  stand.  —  Tr.] 

[Stanley  in  the  following  paragraphs  has  finely 
combined  the  various  incidents  of  this  marvelous 
event,  and  we  have  only  to  regret  that  he  should, 
as  his  custom  too  often  is,  bring  in  the  Septuagint 
version,  and  Josephus,  and  what  not,  as  if  of  about 
equal  authority  with  the  inspired  text.  His  work 
thus  wears,  with  all  its  charms  of  learning,  ar- 
rangement, and  style,  too  much  the  air  of  a  secular 
relation  of  the  history  of  the  ancient  "  Chnreh." 

"  The  scene  of  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  Sacred  Narrative  in  a  form 
so  distinct,  and  at  the  same  time  so  different  from 
that  in  which  it  is  usually  set  forth  in  pictures  and 
allegories,  that  it  shall  here  be  given  at  length,  so 
far  as  it  can  be  made  out  from  the  several  notices 
handed  down  to  us,  namely,  the  two  separate  ac- 
counts-in  the  Book  of  Joshua,  further  varied  by 
the  differences  between  the  Received  Text  and  the 
Septuagint,  the  narrative  of  Josephus,  and  the 
114th  Psalm. 

"  For  the  first  time  they  descended  from  the 
upper  terraces  of  the  valley,  they  '  removed '  from 
the  acacia  groves  and  came  to  the  Jordan,  and 
'  stayed  the  night '  there  before  they  passed  over. 

"  It  was  probably  at  the  point  near  the  present 
southern  fords,  crossed  at  the  time  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  by  a  bridge.  The  river  was  at  its  usual 
state  of  flood  at  the  spring  of  the  yeai",  so  as  to  fill 
the  whole  of  the  bed,  up  to  the  margin  of  the 
jungle  with  which  the  nearer  banks  are  lined  On 
the  broken  edge  of  the  swollen  stream,  the  band  of 
priests  stood  with  the  Ark  on  their  shoulders.  At 
the  distance  of  nearly  a  mile  in  the  rear  was  the 
mass  of  the  array.  Suddenly  the  full  bed  of  the 
Jordan  was  dried  before  them.  High  up  the  river, 
'  far,  far  away,'  ^  '  in  Adam  the  city  which  is  be- 
side Zaretan,'  '  as  far  as  the  parts  of  Kirjath- 
jearim,'  -  that  is,  at  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  from 
the  place  of  the  Israelite  encampment, '  the  waters 
there  stood  which  "  descended "  from  the  heights 
above,'  —  stood  and  rose  up,  as  if  gathered  into  a 
water  skin  ;  '^  as  if  in  a  barrier  or  heap,  as  if  con- 
gealed ;  ■*  and  those  that  '  descended'  towards  the 
sea  of  '  the  desert,'  the  salt  sea,  failed  and  were  cut 
off.'  Thus  the  scene  presented  is  of  the  '  de- 
scending stream'  (the  words  employed  seem  to 
have  a  special  reference  to  that  peculiar  and  most 
significant  name  of  the  Jordan),  not  parted  asun- 
der, as  we  generally  fancy,  but,  as  the  Psalm  ex- 
presses it,  'turned  backwards;'  the  whole  bed  of 
the  river  left  dry  from  north  to  south,  through  its 
long  windings ;  the  huge  stones  lying  bare  here 
and  there,  embedded  in  the  soft  bottom ;  or  the 
shingly  pebbles  drifted  along  the  coiL"se  of  the 
channel. 

"  The  ark  stood  above.  The  army  passed  below. 
The  women  and  children,  according  to  the  Jewish 

1  Maxpai/ o''f)o5pa  o"<J)oSpws,  LXX.  2  LXX. 

3  Symmachus,  as  the  LXX.  in  Ps.  xxxiii.  7. 

4  LXX. 

5  [This  is  Professor  Stanley's  interpretation  of  the  occur- 
ence moutioned  ch.  xxii.  10,  11.  —  In.] 


tradition,  were  placed  in  the  centre,  from  the  fear 
lest  they  should  be  swept  away  by  the  \iolence  of 
the  current.  The  host,  at  different  points  prob- 
ably, rushed  across.  The  priests  remained  motion- 
less, their  feet  sunk  in  the  deep  mud  of  the  chan- 
nel. In  front,  contrary  to  the  usual  order,  as  if  to 
secure  that  they  should  fulfill  their  vow,  went  the 
three  Transjordanic  tribes.  Their  own  memorial  of 
the  passage  was  the  monument  already  described.^ 
But  the  national  memorial  was  on  a  larger  scale. 
Carried  aloft  before  the  priests  as  they  left  the  river- 
bed, were  the  twelve  stones,  selected  by  the  twelve 
chiefs  of  the  tribes.  These  were  planted  on  the 
upper  terrace  of  the  plain  of  the  Jordan,  and  be- 
came the  centre  of  the  first  sanctuary  of  the  Holy 
Land,  —  the  first  place  pronounced  "Holy,"  the 
"sacred  place"  of  the  Jordan  valley,  where  the 
tabernacle  remained  till  it  was  fixed  at  Shiloh. 
Gilgal  long  retained  reminiscences  of  its  ancient 
sanctity.  The  twelve  stones  taken  up  from  the 
bed  of  the  Jordan  continued  at  least  till  the  time 
of  the  composition  of  the  Book  of  Joshua,  and 
seem  to  have  been  invested  with  a  reverence  which 
came  at  last  to  be  regarded  as  idolatrous.'^  The 
name  was  joined  with  that  of  the  acacia  groves  of 
the  farther  side,  in  the  title,  as  it  would  seem  given 
in  popular  ti'adition  or  in  ancient  records,  to  this 
passage  of  the  history:  from  Shittim  to  Gilgal" 
[!]  Lects.  on  Jewish  Church,  i.  255  ft'.  —  Te.J 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

The  ai-k  which  was  borne  by  the  priests  and 
Levites  in  front  of  the  people,  takes  henceforth,  as 
Avas  noticed  above,  the  place  of  the  pillar  of  cloud 
and  fire  which  had  led  Israel  through  the  wilder- 
ness (Ex.  xiii.  21,  22).  It  waij  take  this  place  be- 
cause it  not  only  serves  for  tlie  preservation  of  the 
tables  of  the  Law  (Ex.  xxv.  16),  but  is  also  a  sijmhol 
of  the  presence  of  God  among  his  chosen  people.  On 
the  cover  of  the  ark,  the  Kapporeth  adorned  with  the 
Cherubim,  God  sits  enthroned  (Ex.  xxv.  17-22; 
Num.  vii.  89;  Ps.  xcix.  1),  and  from  this  place 
speaks  with  Moses  (Ex.  xxv.  22;  Num.  vii.  89). 
Hence,  as  follows  indirectly  from  our  passage,  and 
directly  fi'om  passages  like  Num.  iv.  20 ;  1  Sam.  vi. 
19  ;  2  Sam.  vi.  6  (compared  with  Lev.  xvi.  13),  the 
ark  is  unapproachable.  But  hence  also,  on  the  other 
hand,  here  is  the  true  place  of  atonement  for  the  peo- 
ple, where  the  blood  of  atonement  was  sprinkled  on 
the  cover  of  the  ark  (Lev.  xvi.  15),  once  in  the  year 
only,  on  the  great  day  of  atonement,  by  the  high- 
priest's  hand.  To  this  Paul  refei's,  Rom.  iii.  25, 
when  he  calls  Christ  the  true  mercy-seat,  whom 
God  has  set  forth  before  (TrpoefleTo)  all  the  world, 
as  a  manifestation  of  his  righteousness,  for  those 
who  through  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  Christ's  recon- 
ciling death,  approach  this  New  Testament  place 
of  atonement.  "  The  iXaa-T-fipiov  is  brought  out  of 
the  most  holy  place  into  the  public  view  of  the 
whole  world  for  those  who  believe"  (Lange  on 
Rom.  iii.  2).  In  Christ  God  dwells  among  his  New 
Testament  congregation  (John  i.  14),  goes  before 
them  (John  xiv.  6),  and  is  reconciled  to  them  (2 
Cor.  V.  19.) 

2.  The  conception  of  the  living  God,  the  T]  vS 
(ch.  iii.  10),  is  of  great  importance  for  the  present 

6  [The  passages  adduced  in  support  of  this  only  show 
that  a  superstitious  sanctity  was  afterwards  ascribed  to  the 
place  Gilgal.  —  Tr.] 


60 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


day  also,  since  it  appears  to  have  vanished  utterly 
from  the  consciousness  of  many  of  our  contem- 
poraries, especially  that  of  the  Materiiilists.  These, 
lifter  tile  exam])le  of  Kjiienrus,  .-ubstitute  for  tliis 
living  author  of  all  things,  (,'haiiee,  that  is,  an  ulti- 
jnate  cause  which  they  omit  to  deline  hecanse  it 
is  utterly  incaj)ahle  of  logical  ilcfinition.  Other 
tiiinkers,  better  schooled  in  philosophy,  rojjlace  the 
living  God  with  an  Order  of  Mature  determining 
everything  liy  inevitable  law,  to  which  order,  as 
such,  tiiey  deny  self  consciousness  and  nuiintain 
that  it  comes  to  self-consciousness  only  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  rational  beings  —  never  in  and  of  it- 
self. This  they  do  from  fear  of  transferring 
human  limitations  to  the  Absolute,  especially  the 
conception  of  personality.  Of  personality  it  is 
maintained  that  it  is  predicable  of  the  human  in- 
dividual, never  of  the  (iodhead  ;  as  if  Goethe  were 
umiuestionably  in  the  right  when  he  says, — 

"  The  professor  is  a  person 
But  God  is  none.''  i 

But  Still  we  think  humanly  of  God  even  then  when 
we  identify  him  with  the  Order  of  Nature,  nay,  it  is 
absolutely  impossible  for  us  to  think  in  any  other 
way  concerning  God  than  consistently  with  ou^r 
faculties,  that  is  humanly.  AVe  certainly  shall  not, 
therefore,  be  found  in  the  wrong  course  if  we  again 
turn  more  and  more  toward  the  sound  Biblical  real- 
ism which  recognizes  a  living  God  who  is  at  the 
same  time  "  the  Lord  of  the  whole  earth"  (cli.  iii. 
11);  therefore  a  God  who  is  the  conscious,  indc- 
penilent  and  free  Creator  and  liuler  of  all  things, 
of  whom,  in  whom,  and  for  whom  we  are,  who  also 
wakens  life  in  us,  so  that  we  possess  power,  devel- 
opc  power,  and  bring  forth  new  power.  For  life  is 
fullness  of  power;  where  powerlessness  enters  — 
there  is  death. 

Such  a  living  God  can  ]ierform  even  miracles- 
He  can,  since  He  is  independent  and  free,  establish 
exceptions  to  rule,  which  are  and  remain  excep- 
tions, but  which,  because  planned  by  his  wisdom, 
no  more  endanger  the  continuance  of  order  than 
any  exceptions  to  rule  which  a  wise  house-father 
may  make  will  disturb  the  order  of  his  house. 
Com])are  Rothe,  Doi/inatik,  j).  80  tf. 

Rationalistic  cxplunalioHs  of  miracles,  such  as  have 
been  attempted  in  reference  to  the  passage  of  the 
Jordan  by  the  people  of  Israel,  are  to  be  avoided. 
On  the  other  hand,  investigation  of  the  Scripture, 
reverent  and  believing  but  not  fettered  by  the  spirit 
of  prescri])tion,  cannot  be  avoided.  Every  report 
of  any  nnraculous  transaction  is  as  much  to  be 
cxannned  as  the  report  of  any  other  fact  (Introd. 
p.  17).  Such  investigation  will  readily  concede 
that  reports,  especially  these  reaching  back  to  the 
most  ancient  times,  may  possibly  have  acquired  a 
mythical  coloring;  the  more  readily,  when  it  is 
demonstrated  that  poetical  elements  "have  been  ad- 
mitted into  the  text.  As  such  mythical  coloring 
we  regard  what  is  said  in  the  ])assage  before  us  (cli. 
iii.  IG)  about  the  water  of  the  Jordan  standing  by 
Zaretan.'- 


1  [Aj^ainat  the  arrogance  an  1  unreason  of  goJless  scienee 
some  of  the  Kfsays  of  Rev.  .James  Martiueau  (2  vol."  liost. 
1866,  1868)  are  very  cflectively  dircctel,  e.  s  that  on  Nature 
will  God,  i  121  IT.  See  also  a  recent  article  by  the  same 
author:  "  Is  there  any  Axiom  of  Causality?"  in  the  Con- 
tempnrary  Review  for  August,  1870. 

The  Materialism  of  the  Pnsent  Da;/,  a  critique  of  Dr. 
Buchner's  system ;  translated  from  the  Kreuch  of  Janet  by 
Gustave  Masson,  London,  1866  (in  Bailliere's  Library  of  Coii- 
temporarieous  Philosophy),   is  a  very  able  and  couvincing 


IIOMI LEXICAL    AND    PKAUTICAL. 

The  regulations  of  Joshua  touching  the  passage 
of  the  Jordan  (eh.  iii.  1-13).  —  Even  without  pillar 
of  cloud  and  without  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  Lord 
still  and  forever  goes  before  his  people.  —  Sanctify 
yourselves  !  A  word  of  preparation  for  the  Lord's 
supper.  —  Whom  the  Lord  makes  great,  he  is  truly 
great,  as  once  Moses  and  Joshua.  —  Joshua's  dis- 
course to  the  people.  It  contains:  (1)  a  demand 
to  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord  ;  (2)  a  promise  of  the 
effectual  help  of  the  living  Gotl.  —  By  what  do  we 
also  recognize  the  presence  of  a  living  God  among 
us  ?  ( 1 )  By  his  word  which  He  still  causes  to  be 
perpetually  published  among  us;  (2)  by  his  deeds 
which  He  is  still  perpetually  performing.  —  The 
Living  God!  (ver.  10).  How  should  we  think  of 
God?  (1)  Not  as  a  rigid  order  of  nature,  but  (2) 
as  the  living  God  and  ruler  over  all  the  earth.  The 
ruler  overall  the  world :  (1)  The  mightiest,  (2) 
the  best  Ruler. 

The  wonderful  passage  of  Israel  through  the 
Jordan  (ch.  iii.  13-4 ;  18)  to  be  treated  as  a  Bible 
Lesson,  for  which  use  all  these  longer  sections  are 
generally  speaking,  well  adapted.  —  As  Israel  went 
dryshod  through  the  Jordan  so  we  go  unharmed 
through  many  a  danger.  —  The  memory  of  God's 
mighty  deeds.  It  is  ( 1 )  to  be  faithfully  preserved 
by  the  parents,  (2)  carefully  to  be  impressed  on  the 
children.  —  The  erection  of  the  memorial  at  Gilgal. 
—  After  the  pilgrimage  comes  the  rest.  —  Increase 
of  the  knowledge  and  fear  of  God  is  the  holy  aim 
of  all  his  works. 

Starke  :  He  that  will  enter  into  the  proiuised 
land  on  high  must  also  be  up  early  and  waste  no 
time,  otherwise  he  will  not  reach  it.  Matt.  vi.  33.  — 
Whoever  will  be  and  be  called  a  right  spiritual 
priest  must  not  only  have  Christ  in  his  heart  but 
also  by  an  edifying  example  make  him  known  to 
others  and  praise  him,  1  Tim.  iv.  12  ;  Eph.  v.  25- 
27.  —  God  may  indeed  well  allow  us  to  erect  me- 
morials by  which  we  may  remember  his  wonderful 
works  and  his  benefits,  Gen.  xxviii.  1 8  ;  xxxi.  45  ; 
1  Sam.  vii.  12 ;  Esth.  ix.  27,  but  we  must  not  wor- 
ship such  things,  for  that  is  an  abomination  to  the 
Lord,  Matt.  iv.  10.  —  Teachers  and  preachers  must 
be  an  example  in  faith  and  constancy,  and  let  no 
danger  terrify  them.  —  A  Christian  on  the  journey 
towards  the  heavenly  fatherland  must  not  tarry, 
must  not  put  off  repentance,  nor  be  lazy  and  sloth- 
ful in  God's  ways,  Phil.  iii.  14;  1  Cor.  ix.  24. —  It 
is  not  enough  to  begin  to  be  pious,  but  one  must 
persevere  even  to  the  end,  Rev.  ii.  10.  —  A  Christian 
should  never  act  without,  but  always  according  to, 
God's  wall  and  word.  Matt,  xxi,  6.  —  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  magistracy  also  to  care  that  the  youth 
sliould  be  educated  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  Luke 
vii.  5.  —  Parents  should  relate  to  their  children  and 
hold  before  them,  not  their  own  vile  deeds  but 
God's  merciful  deeds,  Ex.  x.  1,  2,  l)ent.  vi.  20. — 
That  is  the  right  a])pIication  of  God's  marvelous 
and  beneficent  acts  when  we  learn  from  them 
truly  to  know,  fear,  and  love  him,  John  ii.  11. 

Cramer  :  When  we  go  to  church  to  hear  God's 

refutation,  in  short  compass,  of  the  doctrines  which  would 
explain  the  universe  without  a  God.  —  Tr.] 

•2  [This  statement,  however,  seems  quite  consistent  with 
the  rest.  If  we  are  to  imagine  the  water  cut  off  perpendicu- 
larly above  the  path  of  the  Israelites,  the  Uuid  wall  would 
continually  he  raised  by  the  down-coming  Hood,  aud  the  dis- 
tance to  which  the  water  would  set  back  (■'  stand  "),  must 
depend  on  the  time  during  which  the  interruption  lasted. 
So  that  there  is  no  need  of  suspectinji-  myth  particularly  in 
this.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   V. 


(Jl 


word  and  to  receive  the  holy  saci'aments,  we  should 
carefully  prepare  ourselves,  and  approach  God  with 
a  chaste,  temperate  heart,  and  hold  np  holy  hands, 
1  Tim.  ii.  8.  —  Whom  God  will  make  great,  him  he 
first  makes  small  through  wearisome  cross,  and 
care,  and  toil,  and  danger,  Fs.  xviii.  3G.  —  If  olten 
the  faithful  God  hefore^our  eyes  graciously  helps 
others  out  of  need  and  peril,  while  we,  in  our  own 
thought,  ai'e  left  far  behind,  still  our  Iiour  also 
shall  yet  come.  Let  us  only  await  the  right  time, 
(ver.  17.)  God  has  patience  even  with  the  weak, 
Rom.  xiv.  4  ;  Matt.  viii.  25,  xiv.  30.  —  So  long  as 
Christ,  the  true  mercy-seat,  is  imder  us,  and  his 
ministers  in  this  unquiet  life  preach  the  gospel,  we 
need  not  fear ;  the  great  floods  of  sins  and  of  the 
wrath  of  God  must  retire,  because  for  them  that 
are  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  now  no  condemnation, 
Rom.  viii.  1.  Nor  can  the  enemies  of  the  Church 
proceed  further  than  has  been  appointed  to  them. 
But  if  Christ  and  his  word  dejjart  from  us  then 
must  we  be  eternally  overwhelmed  and  perish  and 
experience  the  wrath  of  God.  —  Christ  with  many 
saints  has  passed  over  into  his  father's  house 
through  much  v/ater  of  affliction,  which  came  in 
even  unto  his  soul,  Ps.  Ixix.  1.  But  he  has  left  a 
memorial  behind  him,  namely,  his  twelve  apostles 
and  their  writings.  Happy  they  who  understand 
this,  and  thank  him  therefor. 

Hedinger  :  If  those  who  are  to  be  merely  spec- 
tators of  the  great  works  of  God  should  first  sanc- 
tify themselves,  how  much  more  have  those  need 
of  sanctitication  whom  God  will  employ  as  his  ser- 
vants for  the  performance  of  his  work,  1  Cor.  ix. 
27. 

Btbl.  Tub.  :  Before  thee  also,  0  soul !  there 
stand  waters  of  affliction,  through  which  thou 
must  travel,  before  thou  canst  enter  the  heavenly 
Canaan.  But  only  go  in  with  good  heart,  and 
trust  thyself  to  God's  help ;  He  will  open  a  way  for 
thee,  so  that  the  streams  cannot  drown  thee,  Ps. 
Ixvi.  12;  Is.  xliii.  2. 

OsiANDER  :  Dear  Christian,  remember  here  the 
twelve  apostles,  who  have  by  the  pi'caching  of  the 
gospel  spread  through  the  world  the  kindness  of 
Christ  in  that  He  would  lead  us,  through  the  power 
of  his  death  unto  everlasting  life ;  remember  them, 
and  heartily  thank  God  for  them,  —  God  can  cause 
respect  for  the  magistracy,  and  also  take  it  from 
them  again  and  cover  them  with  contempt  because 
of  their  ungodly  life,  Ps.  cvii.  4, 


[Matt.  Henrt  :  Those  that  would  bring  great 
things  to  pass  must  rise  early,  "  Love  not  sleep 
lest  thou  come  to  poverty."  Joshua  herein  set  a 
good  example  to  the  officers  under  him,  and  taught 
them  to  rise  early,  and  to  all  that  arc  in  public 
station,  especially  to  attend  continually  to  the  duty 
of  their  place.  —  They  must  follow  the  priests  as  far 
as  they  carried  the  ark,  but  no  further ;  so  we  must 
follow  our  ministers  only  as  they  follow  Christ. — 
Though  the  opposition  given  to  the  salvation  of 
God's  people  have  all  imaginable  advantages,  yet 
God  can  and  will  conquer  it.  —  God's  works  of 
wonder  ought  to  be  kept  in  everlasting  remem- 
brance, and  means'devised  for  preserving  the  re- 
membrance of  them.  —  God  had  said  in  his  wrath, 
that  they  should  wander  forty  years  in  the  wilder 
ness,  but  to  make  up  that  forty  years  we  must  take 
in  the  first  year,  which  was  then  passed,  and  had 
been  a  year  of  triumph  in  their  deliverance  out  of 
Egypt,  and  this  last,  which  had  been  a  year  of 
triumph  likewise  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan,  so 
that  all  the  forty  were  not  years  of  sorrow ;  and  at 
last  he  brought  them  into  the  land  of  Canaan  five 
days  before  tlft  forty  years  were  ended,  to  show 
how  little  pleasure  God  takes  in  punishing,  how 
swift  He  is  to  show  mercy,  and  that,  for  the  elects' 
sake,  the  days  of  trouble  are  shortened.  —  Those 
that  will  be  wise  when  they  ai'e  old  must  be  in- 
quisitive when  they  are  young.  Our  Lord  Jesus, 
though  He  had  in  himself  the  fullness  of  knowl- 
edge, has,  by  his  example,  taught  children  and 
young  people  to  hear  and  ask  questions. — In  all 
the  instructions  and  informations  parents  give 
their  children,  they  should  have  chiefly  in  their  eye 
to  teach  and  engage  them  to  fear  God  for  ever. 

Scott  (on  iii.  3) :  We  cannot  in  general  go 
wrong  in  keeping  close  to  the  ordinances  of  God, 
and  thus,  as  it  were,  following  the  ark  in  all  its 
removals.  In  so  doing  we  need  not  fear  rivers  of 
trouble,  mountains  of  difficulty,  nor  hosts  of  op- 
posing foes  ;  but  confiding  in  the  fiiithful  promise, 
the  Almighty  power  and  covenant-love  of  our 
God,  "  the  living  God,  the  Lord  of  the  v/hole 
earth,"  we  may  proceed  with  boldness  and  alacrity 

The  Same  (iv.  10):  When  with  careful  attention 
to  the  commands  and  providence  of  God,  we  have 
taken  the  place  and  engaged  in  the  service  assigned 
us,  we  ought  patiently  to  abide  in  it,  and  not  to  at- 
tempt to  remove  till  He  evidently  commands  us 
thence.  —  Tr.I 


4.  Tlie  Dedication  to  the  Holy  War. 

Chapter  Y. 

a.  The  Effect  of  the  Invasion  on  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Land. 

Chapter  V.  1. 


I  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  kings  of  the  Amorites  which  were  on  the  [other] 
side  of  [the]  Jordan  westward,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  Canaanites  which  were  by  the 
sea,  heard  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  dried  up  the  waters  of  [the]  Jordan  from  be- 
fore the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  until  we  were  passed  over,  that  their  heart  melted; 
neither  was  there  spuit  in  them  any  more,  because  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel. 


G2  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


b.  Tlic  Circumcision  of  the  People. 
Chapter   V.  2-9. 

2  At  that  time  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua  :  Make  thee  sharp  knives  [knives 

3  of  stone],  and  circumcise  again  the  children  of  Israel  the  second  time.  And  Joshua 
made  him  sharp  knives  [knives  of  stone],  and  circumcised  the  children  of  Israel  at 

4  the  hill  of  the  foreskins.  And  this  ^s  the  cause  why  Joshua  did  circumcise:  all  the 
Iieojile  that  came  out  of  Egypt,  that  were  males,  even  [omit :  even]  all  the  men  of  war 

'')  [had]  died  in  the  wilderness  by  the  way,  after  [as]  they  came  out  of  Egypt.  Now 
[For]  all  the  people  that  came  out  were  circumcised;  but  all  the  people  that  were 
born  in  the  wilderness  by  the  way  as  they  came  forth  out  of  Egypt,  the7n  they  had 

6  not  circumcised.  For  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  walked  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness, till  all  the  peojde  [nation]  that  were  [omit:  that  were]  men  [the  men]  of  war, 
which  came  out  of  Egypt  w^ere  consumed,  because  they  obeyed  not  [hearkened  not 
to]  the  voice  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  :  unto  whom  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  sware  that  he 
would  not  show  them  the  land  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]   sware  unto  their  fathei's 

7  that  he  would  give  us,  a  land  that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey.  And  their  children 
[sons],  whom  he  raised  ujj  in  their  stead,  them  Joshua  circumcised :  for  they  were 

5  uncircumcised  :  because  they  had  not  circumcised  them  by  the  way.^  And  it  came 
to  pass  when  they  had  done  circumcising  all  the  people,  that  they  abode  in  their 

1)  places  in  the  camp,  till  they  were  whole  [healed].  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto 
Joshua,  This  day  have  I  rolled  away  the  reproach  of  Egyjjt  from  off  you.  Wherefore 
[And]  the  name  of  the  [that]  jjlace  is  called  Gilgal  unto  this  day. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  [Ver.  7.  —  More  accurately :  And  their  sons  he  raised  up  in  their  stead  :  them  Joshua/ circumcised ;  for  they  were  un- 
sircumcised ;  for  they  had  not  circumcised  them  by  the  way Tr.] 

c.  The  Passover.     The  Corn  of  the  Land. 
Chapter  V.  10-12. 

10  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  encamped  in  Gilgal,  and  kept  the  passover  on 

11  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at  even,  in  the  plains  of  Jericho.  And  they  did 
eat  of  the  old  corn  [the  produce]  of  the  land  in  the  morrow  after  the  passover,  un- 

12  leavened  cakes  and  parched  corn  [roasted  ears]  in  tlie  self-same  day.  And  the 
manna  ceased  on  the  morrow  after  they  had  eaten  of  the  old  corn  [produce]  of 
the  hind  ;  neither  had  the  children  of  Israel  manna  any  more  ;  but  they  did  eat  of 
the  fruit  of  the  land  of  Canaan  that  year. 

d.  The  Captain  of  the  Lord's  Host. 
•  Chapter  V.  13-15.  n 

13  And  it  came  to  pass  when  Joshua  was  by  Jericho,  that  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and 
looked,  and  behold  there  stood  a  man  over  against  him  with  his  sword  drawn  in  his 
hand  :  and  Joshua  went  unto  him,  and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  for  us,  or  for  our 

1 4  adversaries  ?  And  he  said,  Nay  ;  but  as  captain  ^  of  the  host  of  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] am  I  now  come.^  And  Joshua  fell  on  his  face  to  the  earth,  and  did  worship, 

]  5  and  said  unto  him.  What  saith  my  Lord  unto  his  servant  ?  And  the  captain  of 
the  Lord's  [Jehovah's]  host  said  unto  Joshua,  Loose  thy  shoe  from  off  thy  foot, 
for  the  jDlace  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy :  and  Joshua  did  so. 

TEXTUAL  AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  14.  —  Scarcely  any  problem  is  more  perplexing  to  the  translator  of  the  0.  T.  than  to  find  appropriate  designa- 
tions for  the  officials  and  dignitaries,  civil  and  military,  among  the  Jews  and  related  nations.  The  word  D''"1I5^"'  ^^^ 
already  afl'orded  an  illustration.  An  identical  revision  of  the  entire  0.  T.  with  reference  to  this  point  would  doubtless  be 
requisite  to  remedy  the  difficulty,  and  could  then,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  attain  only  to  partial  success.     The 

Bnglish  Vers,  is,  however,  unnecessarily  vague.    Thug,  besides  "  captain."  as  here,  "1Ji7  is  rendered  by  at  least  a  dozen 


CHAPTER  V. 


63 


diSerent  terms,  while  "  captain  "  answers  to  nearly  or  quite  as  many  Hebrew  words.  The  same  is  true  of  S'*£ii'3  prince, 
and  in  a  great  measure  of  many  others.  The  result  is  indistinctness  and  confusion  to  the  reader  where  the  Hebrew  to 
the  Uebrews  was  probably  clear  and  specific.  Doiui;  our  best,  we  could  not,  perhaps,  from  our  inadequate  terminology 
in  this  sphere,  do  with  less  than  three  different  words  for   *1£t'.   in  its  civil,  military,  and  occupational  applications  ;  as 

captain  or  general  (used  1  Chr.  xxvii.  31),  governor,  chief.     And  so  mutatis  mutandis  viith.  the  rest. Tr.I 

[2  Ver.  li.  —  If,  as  many  suppo.se,  the  angelic  communication  was  interrupted   here  by  Joshua's  startled  sense  of  awe 

and  reverence,  the  connection  would  be  better  indicated  by  a  dash  in  place  of  the  period,  thus  :  Am  I  now  come And 

Joshua  etc.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

St.-vrkk  has  given  to  this  chai^ter  the  some-\vh;vt 
chimsy  yet  substantially  coiTect  superscrijjtion : 
"  ']"he  thing's  \vhich  followed  immediately  upon  the 
passag'e  through  the  Jordan."  Thus  we  have  here 
brought  before  us  in  succession,  related  and  dis- 
jilayed,  (a.)  the  effect  of  the  invasion  of  Canaan 
upon  tlie  heathen,  ver.  1  ;  (/».)  the  circumcision  of  the 
people,  ver.  2-9  ;  (c.)  the  enjoyment  of  the  bread  of 
the  land  and  the  Passover  in  connection  with  the 
cessation  of  the  manna,  ver.  10-19  ;  and  finally,  (d.) 
the  appearance  of  the  war-prince  of  God  (ver.  IS- 
IS). In  a  critical  point  of  view,  this  chapter  offers, 
when  compared  with  chapters  3  and  4,  no  difficul- 
ties, so  to  speak ;  since  the  continuity  of  the  narration 
is  interrupted  by  nothing  and  no  repetitions  occur. 
Even  Knobel  has  recei\ed  the  same  impression  of 
the  present  chapter,  except  ver.  10-12.  He  ascribes 
all  the  rest  to  one  and  the  same  author,  namely, 
that  of  the  "  Law  Book."  Since  for  us  this  "  Law 
Book  "  in  Knobel's  sense  has  no  existence,  we  can 
agree  with  him  only  in  so  far  as  we  believe  that  in 
ver.  1-9  and  13-15  we  meet  with  the  same  hand. 

As  to  vers.  10-12,  they  stand  nearly  related  to 
ch.  iv.  17,  19,  through  the  exact  designation  of  time 
which  characterizes  thena.  In  ver.  10  also,  as 
there  in  ver.  19,  Gilgal  is  mentioned,  so  that  all 
which  is  reported  between  may  be  omitted,  and  in 
ch.  v.  10  the  author  takes  up  the  thread  which  he 
had  droi)ped  in  ver.  iv.  19.  On  the  other  hand 
ch.  V.  10  connects  itself  easily  and  naturally  with 
ch.  V.  9,  so  that  there  appears  to  be  no  absolute 
necessity  to  go  back  to  iv.  19.  When,  however,  we 
examine  ver.  9  b  more  sharply,  the  -whole  turn 
of  the  sentence,  and  also  the  expression,  here  again 
repeated,  "  until  this  dny,"  presents  itself  as  de- 
signed to  introduce  vers.  10-12,  which  we  must 
refer  to  the  Elohistic  document,  on  account  of  its 
character  in  other  respects,  and  therefore  regard 
as  the  proper  continuation  of  ch.  iv.  19. 

a.  Ver.  1.  The  l^jfect  of  the  Irivasion  upon  the 
Heathen.  The  verse  stands  in  the  most  exact  con- 
nection with  ch.  iv.  24.  All  the  peoples  of  the 
earth  were  to  learn  how  mighty  is  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  and, /ear  Him.  A  first  example  of  this  effect 
is  given  by  the  Canaanites,  whose  heart  melts,  and 
whose  courage  flees.  The  terror  which,  according 
to  the  words  of  Rahab,  had  before  seized  them  (ch. 
ii.  9-11),  had  been  increased  by  the  marvelous  pas- 
sage of  the  Jordan.     A  panic  had  fallen  upon  them. 

—  "IIIV'I  does  not  refer  here,  as  in  ch.  i.  14-15,  to 
the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  but  as  is  shown  by 
the  careful  addition  H^^,  to  the  west  side  of  the 
river.  —  The  more  difficult  Kethib  -l^";?^,  is  to  Ue 

retained  like  ^37,  ver.  6.  "  In  •13'^5^  the  author 
assumes  the  person  of  the  people  and  speaks  in  their 
Qame,  as  in  ver.  6,  comp.  Ps.  Ixvi.  6."    (Knobel). i 

1  [Yet  this  form  of  expression  has  been  not  without 
reason  long  held,  and  still  is  by  Keil  and  others,  as  a  proof 
that  the  narrative  was  written  by  one  who  had  shared  in 
the  transaction.  —  Tr.]  ' 


6.  Ver.  2-9.  The  Circumcision  of  the  People.  This 
takes  place  upon  an  express  command  of  Jehovah 
because,  as  vers.  4-6  state,  it  had  been  omitted  in 
the  wilderness.  The  covenant-people  should,  as 
such,  bear  the  sign  of  the  covenant  which  Abraham 
had  formerly  received  as  a  seal  (a-cppayli)  of  the 
righteousness  of  faith  (Rom.  iv.  11 ),  and  with  it,  as 
a  sanctified  people,  holy  to  the  Lord,  enter  into 
the  promised  land. 

Knives  of  stone.  Thus  and  not  "  sharp  knives  " 
must  we  translate  C""!*?  nia~|rr.  Joshua  fol- 
lows the  custom  of  antiquity  which,  as  Ex.  iv.  25 
shows,  performed  circumcision  with  stone  knives, 
because  they  had  as  yet  no  others.  Afterwards 
this  kind  of  knives,  as  being  more  venerable, 
were  still  employed  in  sacred  transactions.  [Among 
the  additions  of'the  LXX.  at  the  end  of  this  book, 
is  the  curious  statement  after  ch.  xxiv.  30  :  "  there 
they  placed  with  him  in  the  tomb  where  they  buried 
him,  the  knives  of  stone  {Tas  fiaxatpas  to?  ireTplvas) 
with  which  he  circumcised  the  sons  of  Israel  in 
Gilgal.  —  Tr.]  "  The  testa  samia  with  which  the 
priests  of  Cybele  castrated  themselves  (Plin.  35,46), 
and  the  stone  knives  of  the  Egyjitian  embalmers 
(Herod.  2,  86),  may  serve  as  parallels"  (Winer, 
BiU.  Iiealiv.,s.y.  "Messer.")  The  Vulgate  has 
rightly  fac  tibi  cuUros  lapideos  ;  the  LXX.  mingle 
together  a  right  translation  and  wrong  interpreta- 
tion :  iToi7)cro  V  treavTip  fiaxalpai  nerpiyas  e'/c  irerpas 
aKpoTO/xou.  Stone  knives  were  found  also  at  the 
discovery  of  the  ])ile-dwelling's,  e.  g.  in  the  lake  of 
Zurich  near  jVIeilen  (1854),  where  I  myself  saw 
them.  They  are  very  finely  ground,  and  cut,  not 
indeed  like  a  knife  of  stee'l,  but  better  than  one 
would  believe.  Always,  however,  the  operation 
with  these  instruments  was  a  very  imperfect  one, 
and  in  the  case  before  us  extremely  painful.- 

[Circumcise  agaia    ....    the  second  tune. 

iV^^D  does  not  indicate,  of  course,  that  the  circum- 
cision of  the  same  people  was  to  be  repeated,  but 
that,  as  the  whole  people  which  came  out  of  Egypt 
had  been  circumcised,  so  now  there  should  be  a  cir- 
cumcision of  the  present  people.    Cf.  Keil,  Bib.  Com. 

in   loc.      Masius   understood  H^^E?  to  mark  the 
reintroduction  of  the  rite  with  reference  to  hs  first 
employment  by  Abraham.      Com.  in  Josuam,  p.  81 
This  is  too  for  sought. —  Tr.] 

HUl  of  foreskins.  Perhaps  so  named  from  this 
transaction.  Lev.  xix.  23,  where  circumcision  of 
the  trees  's  spoken  of,  appears  not  to  belong  here 
[against  an  intimation  of  Knobel's]. 

Ver.  4-7.  Statement  of  the  reason  why  Joshua 
performed  this  rite.  Knobel  expresses  doubt 
whether  what  is  here  reported  is  historical  fact. 
In  support  of  this  he  appeals  to  the  Elohist,  who 
says  nothing  of  such  omission,  ch.  iv.  19  compared 
with  V.  10.  But  even  assuming  that  these  passages 
are,  as  we  concede,  Elohistic,  they  do  not  suffice  to 

2  [See  Dr.  Hackett's  addition  to  art.  "  Knives,'  in  Sniith'g 
Diet,  of  the  Bible,  Amer.  ed.  —  Tr.] 


64 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


impeach  the  liistovical  cliaracter  of  the  reason  as 
sif;iied,  since  they  fui-nish  at  the  most  a  very  weak 
ari/nmcntum  e  sil.entio,  while  on  the  other  side  it 
is  lii}i,hly  prohable  tliat  altlioui;h  circumcision  "  had 
been  siiarply  enjoined  "  on  the  Israelites  at  Sinai 
(Lev.  xii.  3),  they  liad,  in  their  unsettled  wander- 
ings, neglected  to  follow  the  command  of  God. 
The  same  thing  took  place  later  in  the  case  of  the 
Passover,  through  hundreds  of  years,  as  we  learn 
from  2  K.  xxiii.  22. 

Ver.  G.  All  the  nation,  the  men  of  war.  Ac- 
cording to  Num.  xiv.  22-30  the  adult  generation, 
with  the  exception  of  Joshua  and  Caleb,  were 
doomed  to  die  in  the  wilderness,  and  a  new  gener- 
ation must  enter  into  Canaan.  That  the  men  of 
war  specially  are  mentioned,  agrees  with  Num.  xiv. 
29-32,  according  to  whi(;h  all  who  were  mustered 
after  their  number  (Comp.  Num.  i.  4.5  if.),  from 
twenty  years  old  and  upward,  should  die  in  the 
wilderness.  Since,  then,  the  former  circumcised 
men  of  war  were  no  more,  their  bodies  having 
fallen  in  the  wilderness,  on  account  of  disobedi- 
ence, the  present  race  of  young  men  must,  before 
they  dare  undertake  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  first 
receive  the  sign  of  the  Lord's  covenant  of  which  we 
just  now  spoke. 

A  land  that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey. 
Ex.  iii.  8,  17  ;  xiii.  5  ;  xvi.  14  ;  xxxiii.  3  ;  Lev.  xx. 
24 ;  Num.  xiii.  27  ;  xiv.  8  ;  Dent.  i.  3,  and  often. 
"  Milk  and  honey  are  productions  of  a  land  rich 
in  grass  and  flowers  which  make  residence  therein 
pleasant  and  beautiful.  Both  articles  Avere  abun- 
dantly produced  in  Canaan,  even  in  a  state  of  de- 
vastation, Is.  vii.  15,  22.  JVlilk,  eaten  partly  sweet 
and  partly  thick  or  curdled,  that  of  cows  as  well 
as  of  goats  and  sheep  (Dent,  xxxii.  14),  was  prom- 
inent in  the  diet  of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  as  in  that 
of  the  Orientals  of  the  present  day.  This  is  be- 
cause Palestine  was  and  is  so  well  suited  to  the 
care  of  cattle,  comp.  Winer.  Realw.  ii.  768  IF.  The 
land  yielded  great  quantities  of  honey  also,  especi- 
ally that  from  wild  bees  (Judg.  xiv.  8  ;  ,1  Sam.  xiv. 
26;  Matt.  iii.  4),  and  still  yields  it  in  its  wasted 
condition"  (Iveil).  [See  references  Introd.  §  6, 
p.  27.]  That  we  arc  to  understand  liei-e  real 
honey  and  not  syrup,  apjjears  from  its  connection 
with  milk.  Keil  quotes  similar  descriptions  from 
Euripides  and  Theocritus.  Thus  it  is  said  in 
Eurip.  Baeeha;,  142: 

'  Pel  Se  yaAoKTi  ■ni&ov 
"  Pet  fi'oti^o),  pet  6e  jaeAitrcTwi' 
NiKTapi, 

No  mention  is  made  here  of  wine,  altliongh  the 
vine  thrives  extraordinarily  well,  especially  in  the 
region  of  Hebron.  Com])are  also  Num.  xiii.  21, 
24,  as  well  as  the  beautiful  expression  that  each 
'one  dwelt,  or  should  dwell,  under  his  vine  and  tig- 
tree,  1  K.  iv.  2") ;  .Mic.  iv.  4. 

Vcr.  7.  Them  Joshua  circumcised,  that  is,  as 
in  ver.  3,  Joshua  ordered  their  circumcision.  The 
operation  itself  was  performed  by  the  several 
fathers  of  families,  as  it  is  related  of  Abraham, 
Gen.  xvii.  23  if.,  for  which  Acts  xvi.  3  also  may 

1  [Keil  elaboratel}'  calculates  that  from  670,000  to  720,- 
000  required  to  be  circumci.scJ,  while  there  were  besides  from 
280,000  to  330,000  circumcised  in  early  life  who  iiii';ht  per- 
form the  labors  of  the  Passover  celebration.  —  Tii.] 

2  [Uesidcs  the  common  answer  to  the  ([uestion,  Why  the 
rite  of  circmncisinn  had  been  disused  for  thirty-eight  years 
in  the  wilderness,  namely,  that  tho  nnsettleil  condition  of 
the  people  would  not  allow  it  to  be  practiced  conveniently 
n-  safely  (?)  Masius  subjoined:  "  Quod jfilii  non  circumciihr- 
sHlur,  putnoe  specitffuisse  viUeiur  qua  Dens  non  tain  ipsos' 


be  compared.  Thus  we  most  easily  escape  tho 
'  difficulty  which  otherwise  arises,  [a)  in  view  of  the 
great  number  to  be  circumcised,  and  [h)  of  the 
shortness  of  the  time,  since  according  to  ver.  10 
they  celebrated  the  Passover  on  the  fourteenth  of 
the  mouth  Abib.  We  surely  cannot  think  of  help 
from  the  mothers  and  other  women  (Rosenmiiller). 
Wo  refrain  from  an  exact  determination  of  the 
number  of  those  circumcised,  such  as  Keil  has  at- 
tempted (pp.  74,  75).  1 

Ver.  8.  Till  they  were  healed.  "When  tho 
whole  people  were  circumcised  they  remained  in 
their  place  (Ex.  x.  23;  xvi.  29)  in  the  camp,  that 
is,  did  not  leave  the  camp  nor  undertake  anything 

until  they  were  healed.  This  is  "i^^^i  prop,  to 
live,  become  lively  (Gen.  xiv.  27),  revive  (Job  xiv. 
14 ;  Ezek.  xxxvii.  3),  then  also  to  be  healed  (2  K. 
i.  2  ;  viii.  8).  On  the  third  day  the  pain  was  at  its 
height  (Gen.  xxxiv.  25)."  (Knobel.) 

Ver.  9.  The  reproach  of  Egypt.  The  reproach 
which  has  attached  to  the  people  all  the  way  from 
Egypt,  and  which  consists  in  the  misery  of  the 
people  who  had  there  become  a  people  of  slaves. 
This  reproach  had  not  yet  been  removed  while 
they  were  journeying  through  the  wilderness,  be- 
cause God  had  been  angry  with  his  people  for  their 
disobedience,  and  they  on  their  jiart  had  neglected 
circumcision.^  Now  a  new  day  has  dawned.  The 
reproach  is  rolled  away  through  the  resumption  of 
the  sacred  covenant-rite.  Hence  Isaiah  also,  at  a 
later  period,  warns  them  (ch.  xxx.  1-5)  against  al- 
liances with  Egypt,  lest  the  strength  of  Pharaoh 

should  become  a  shame  (niJ/'B)  to  them,  and 
prophesies  expressly  that  Egy])t  will  be  no  help 
nor  any  profit  at  all,  but  a  shame  and  a  reproach. 
One  day,  however,  a  time  will  come,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  the  same  i)ro])liet  (xxv.  8),  when 
the  Lord  will  swallow  up  death  forever,  and  wipe 
away  the  teare  from  every  face,  and  take  away  the 
reproach  of  his  ])eople  from  ofTF  the  earth.  The  re- 
proach of  former  slavery  is  meant,  the  reproach  of 
banishment,  of  widowhood,  as  it  is  called.  Is.  liv.  1.         ' 

n3"in     is  synonymous   with    ^^''3,     or      f*12, 

•(ib|T  n5^"i2  (Is.  xxx.  5;  Ps.  Ixix.  20;  cxix.  22  ; 
Prov.  xviii.  3;'  Ezek.  v.  15). 

And  the  name  of  this  place  is  called  GUgal 
unto  this  day;  according  to  the  view  of  the 
author,  because  God  had  in  this  place  rolled  away 
the  reproach  froni  off  his  people.  Knobel,  Eiirst, 
and  others,  (piestion  tliis  derivation  because  two 
cities  besides  of  this  name  are  mentioned,  one  be- 
tAvcen  Dor  andThirza  (Josh.  xii.  23),  and  another, 
six  Roman  miles  north  of  Antipatris  (Dent.  xi.  30), 
"  which  Eusebius  still  knew  by  the  name  of  Mag- 
dala,  and  accurately  indicates."  Accordingly  other 
derivations  have  been  sought.  The  name  should 
signify,  in  reference  to  ch.  iv.  19-24,  the  place  of  the 

stone-heap,  or  stone-heap  monument,  or  =   ''573, 

a  wheel-shaped  height,  to  which  n7273  =  Gol- 
gotha might  be  cited  as  analogous.     Fiirst,  and 

plectebat  filios  quam  impiorum  parrntum  urebat  an!?nos, 
quum  vidercnt  Uberos  suos  sacrosancii  fxderis  symbolo  carere. 
Hue  enini,  milii  certe,  videntiir  s/iectare  ilia  ni  Nu7neris  xiv. 
33  Dei  verba,  cum  dir.it :  Vestra  ipsoru.m  corpora,  etc.,  q.  (I. 
quia  ahdicastis  vos  a  inea  familia  per  rebellionem,  fil'ii 
quoque  vestri  adoptionis  nota  carebiint  qnamdiv.  vos  in  vivii 
eriiis.  Several  modern  critics  (Keil,  Ilengstcnberg)  make 
this  the  principal  reason  for  the  long  abeyance  of  circum- 
cision. —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   V. 


65 


Knobel  (on  ch.  xv.  7)  explain  the  word  by  circle, 
circuit,  like  the  cognate  ^:^  (hence  Galilee),  as 
also  we  have  H"!  V^7?'  Josh,  xviii.  7  for  vSySH,  xv. 
7,  and  according  to  LXX.  ''"^/S,  Josh.  xii.  23.  Sub- 
sequently  7273  was  pronounced     '-272  {roAywi', 

Golgol),  cf.  PhcEn.  ^3^2"^^  (coast  of  the  circle), 
pr.  nom.  of  the  city  Igilgili  ('171X71X61,  Ptol.  4,  2, 
litus  IfjilylUlanum,  in    Aram.  29,  5,   5  ;   now  Ci'i'- 

'gelli,  near  the  river  Ampsaga  in  Algiers)  ;  ''|?| 
(Gulgog),  pr.  nom.  of  a  Phoenician  settlement  in 
Cyprus."  Wc  adopt  this  last-named  etymology, 
since  manifestly  these  places  previously  bore  the 
n.tme  Gilgal,  and  not,  like  Bethel  or  Bethlehem 
(Gen.  xxviii.  19;  xxxv.  15,  19),  a  difterent  one. 
13ut  after  a  definite  historical  event  had  occurred 
here,  which  was  recalled  by  the  word,  the  name  Gil- 
gal was  subsequently  interpreted  symbolically  by 
the  Israelites.  Compare  with  this,  out  of  the  most 
recent  history,  the  symbolical  significance  of  the 
name  Koniggratz  =^  (dem)  KiJnig  g'rath's  [the 
king  succeeds.]  ^ 

c.  Ver.  10-12.  The  Passover,  connected  with  the 
first  Enjoyment  of  the  Bread  of  the  Land,  and  the  Ces- 
sation of  the  Manna.  On  the  special  relation  of  this 
sh(jrt  passage,  which  in  every  view  suits  very  well 
wiih  the  entire  narrative,  we  have  already  com- 
mented, on  ch.  iv.  1.5-17,  19'.  "The  children  of 
Israel  encamped  in  Gilgal  where  they  had  already 
pitched,  according  to  ch.  iv.  19,  and  observed  the 
passover  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at 
evening.  The  designation  of  time  recalls  Ex.  xii.  6, 
18  ;  Lev.  xxiii.  5  ;  Num.  ix.  3  ;  xxviii.  16,  and  is  not 
met  with  elsewhere  in  the  Pentateuch"  (Knobel). 

Ver.  1 1 .  On  the  morrow  after  the  passover ; 
not  as  Keil  strangely  supposes,  on  the  sixteenth, 
but  on  the  fifteenth,  precisely  according  to  the  pre- 
cept of  the  law,  Lev.  xxiii.  5,  6.- 

In  the  self-same  day,  "  on  which  they  observed 
the  Passover."  For  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth 
belonged  to  the  fifteenth  day,  see  Ex.  xii.  G  ;  Gen. 
i.  5  (Knobel).  [Or,  the  self-same  day  on  which 
they  ate  the  unleavened  bread  from  the  new  grain. 

Tr.]  —  VT!'^'7  "l^^l?.'??)  of  the  produce  of  the  laud. 
According  to  Gesen.  the  etymology  is  uncertain. 
Fiirst  derives  "1^337  from  "1227  =to  make  fruitful. 
Both  compare  the  Aram.  S^212?,  fetus,  surcidus. 
Targum  and  Peshito  use  "1^2^  for  ]2'^  and 
V^^''.  Instead  of  \^~lMn  "1*1217,  which  occurs  no- 
where else  in  the  0.  T.,  VT?^  HS^n.:^  is  used  Lev. 
xxiii.  39,  as  well  as  here  in  the  latter  part  of  ver. 
12.  In  the  translation,  the  distinction  between  the 
words  is  attempted  to  be  preserved  by  "  produce  " 
(not  old  corn)  and   "fruit"  (yield).     The  word 

nWISri  means  precisely  "income"  (from  S13). 

1  [There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  there  had  been 
any  town  or  inhabited  place  here  before  to  require  a  name 
at  all.  No  trace  of  one  has  been  discovered  or  is  likely  to 
be.  It  was  merely  a  suitable  camping-ground,  as  they 
found  it,  perhaps  on  the  easternmost  verge  of  fertile  land  — 
Josephus  says  it  was  about  one  and  a  quarter  miles  from 
Jericho, — and  was  named  simply  by  and  for  themselves. 
And  why  not  Gilgal  (as  suggested  by  "rolling")  then  as 
well  as  anything?  It  certainly  is  not  against  this  that  peo- 
ple of  the  same  language  gave  the  same  name  to  many 
other  places  for  related  reasons.  —  Tr.] 

•2  [And  yet,  considering  that  the  law  forbade  them  (Lev. 
xxiii.  14)  to  eat  roasted  ears,  etc.,  until  the  day  ou  which 


Koasted  ears.  Roasted  harvest  ears  are  meant ; 
an  article  of  food  still  much  esteemed  by  the 
Arabs.  [See  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  "  Ruth, 
Book  of,"  p.  2756  b.] 

Ver.  12.  And  the  manna  ceased  on  the  mor- 
row after  they  ate,  etc.  On  the  sixteenth  there- 
fore, the  manna  ceased,  because  the  people  had 
now  arrived  in  Canaan,  and  no  longer  needed  this 
bread  of  the  wilderness  (Ex.  xvi.  15,  31  ff. ;  Num. 
xi.  6  ff. ;  Dent.  viii.  3 ;  Neh.  ix.  20 ;  Ps.  Ixxviii. 
24;  John  vi.  31,  49,  58;  Rev.  ii.  17).  At  this 
place  also  the  ark  was  substituted  for  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  of  lire,  as  the  guide  in  the  way.'^  They 
stand  in  the  most  intimate  relation  to  each  other, 
since  in  the  plan  of  God,  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  people  was  gradually  to  take  the  place 
of  his  immediate  guidance  and  support. 

In  respect  to  the  manna  itself,  it  is  well  known 
that  reference  has  often  been  made  to  the  tamarisk- 
manna  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  which  results 
from  the  puncture  'of  the  leaves  of  the  Tamarix 
mannifera,  or  oricntalis,  by  an  insect  of  the  coccus 
family  (Coccus  manniparus),  and  in  the  form  of  a 
sweet,  honey-like  resin.  So  the  whole  body  of 
rationalist  interpreters  explain.  On  the  other 
side,  von  Raumer  ( The  March  of  the  Israelites,  p. 
21  ff.)  maintains  that,  "that  manna  of  the  Israel- 
ites differed  from  the  present  tamarisk-manna  toto 
ca/o ;  the  honest  student  of  Scripture  caimot  pos- 
sibly regard  that  "  corn  of  heaven,"  that  "  angel's 
food,"  as  it  is  called  (Ps.  Ixxviii.  25  ff. ),  with  which 
God  fed  his  people,  as  being  the  same  as  the  louse- 
pi'oduction  (!)  of  the  naturalist."  Stiff  supra- 
naturalism  !  to  which  even  Hengstenberg  and  Keil 
do  not  agree.  These  assume  rather  that  in  the 
feeding  with  manna,  "  the  supernatural  rises  on 
the  ground  of  the  natural,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
miracles  in  Egypt,  and  in  that  of  the  quail-food." 
See  Keil  on  this  passage  (p.  83  fF.). 

As  analogous  to  this  we  might  cite  the  miracu- 
lous feeding  in  John  vi.  where  also  the  natural  basis 
of  bread  and  fish  was  present  (John  vi.  9).  The 
miracle  consists  in  both  cases  in  the  increase,  on 
the  grandest  scale,  of  the  food  which  they  already 
had.  While  now,  even  in  the  most  rainj^  sea- 
sons, not  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  pounds  is  gath- 
ered, the  Isi-aelites  gathered,  according  to  von  Rau- 
mer's  calculation,  at  least  on  certain  occasions, 
near  600,000  pounds.  It  lay  after  the  dew  like  fi-ost 
around  the  camp  (Ex.  xvi.  14).  God  rained  it  on 
the  Israelites  (Ps.  Ixxviii.  25).  This  last  expres- 
sion, which  however  is  employed  also  concerning 
flesh,  Josephus  follows  when  he  says  [Ant.  iii.  1,  6), 
that  it  still  rains  manna  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai. 
Keil  disputes  this  statement  of  Josephus,  because 
[a]  it  is  supported  by  no  trustworthy  authority ; 
[h]  it  is  made  by  him  evidently  on  the  ground  of 
uncertain  accounts  which  had  come  to  Jiim  :y 
hearsay.  Recent  travellers  know  nothing  at  ail 
of  any  manna  rain.^     The  great  abundance  of  the 

they  brought  an  offering  to  their  God,  which  offering  (ver 
12)  was  to  be  made  on  the  day  in  which  they  "  waved  the 
sheaf,"  which  again  (ver.  11)  was  the  morrow  after  "the 
Sabbath  "  (commonly  understood  to  mean  here  the  day  of 
"holy  convocation,"  i.  e.  the  fifteenth  of  the  month),  there 
is  much  reason  for  Keil's  view.  And  so  many  commenta- 
tors have  always  held.  The  chief  doubt  seems  to  rest  on 
the  reference  of  the  word  Sabbath  in  this  passage.  See  the 
main  points  of  the  dispute  indicated  in  Smith's  Diet,  of 
Bihie,  Art.  "  Passover,"  (^)  p.  2346,  and  Pentecost,  note  b,  p. 
2341  f.—  Tr  ] 

3  [This  is  probable,  yet  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  has  for 
some  time  disappeared  fi-om  the  narrative.  —  Tr.] 

i  [Comp.  the  phenomena  of  '■  Honey-dew  "  fiuniliar  to 


66 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


manna,  therefore,  remains  a  miracle.  In  respect 
to  the  substance  also  a  difference  between  the 
manna  of  the  Bible,  and  that  of  the  present  day 
seems  to   hold  good,  since   the  latter  cannot  be 

fiounded,  ground,  baked  in  cakes,  as  is  reported 
Num.  xi,  7,  8)  concerning  the  former.  A  fnrtlier, 
"  essential "  ditference  we  cannot  assume,  with  Keil, 
at  least  not  on  the  ground  that  "  the  present  manna 
is  u,s('.(l  only  as  an  accompauhuent  to  other  food 
and  as  a  dainty,  or  even  as  a  purgative  medicine," 
since  Num.  xi.  6  proves  how  greatly  the  Israelites 
loathed  the  manna  as  the  solitary  staple  of  their 

diet.  Their  soul  was  dried  away  (H^''^^)  upon  it. 
They  longed  therefore  for  flesh,  which  the  Lord 
also  gave  them  (Num.  xi.  31  ;  Ts.  Ixxviii.  27;  cv. 
40),  as  conversely  he  had  before  (Ex.  xvi.  13) 
given  them  first  quails  and  then  manna.  Keil 
concludes  his  explanation  of  our  passage  in  these 
words  :  "  The  feeding  of  the  Israelites  with  manna 
remains,  therefore,  a  miracle  of  God  which  has  in- 
deed, in  nature,  a  faint  analogue,  but  can  never  be 
explained  on  natural  principles."  In  this  he 
means  riglu,  as  his  preceding  exposition  shows, 
but  ought  rather  to  have  said  that  this  mii'acle 
rises  indeed  on  a  foundation  given  in.  nature,  but 
can  by  no  means  be  identified  with  the  phenom- 
enon of  the  manna  still  commonly  exhibited  at  the 
present  day,  nor  be  fully  explained  by  it.i 

As  to  the  etymology,  the  word  ]^    according 

to  Ex.  xvi.  15,  31,  has  its  name  from  1^,  what '(, 
but  this  is  elsewhere  only  Chaldee.  Gcsenius  de- 
rives it  from  the  Arabic,  and  explains  it  as  mean- 
ing part,  present,  gift,  namely  of  heaven,  as  the 
Arabs  actually  call  it.     He  thus  follows  Kimchi, 

and  Ibn  Esra,  who  also  compare  Hcb.  i^^^.  Fiirst 
resorts  to  an  extra-Semitic  etymology,  liecause  the 
manna  was  strange  to  the  Hebrews,  and  they  (Ex. 
xvi.  15,  31)  had  no  name  for  it.  We  think  this 
unnecessary,  and  would  rather  refer  the  word  to 

the  unused  root  'J^^  =  '^??)  to  divide,  to  part,  to 
measure,  precisely  as  "J^,  Ps.  Ixviii.  24.  Com- 
pare also   ]t?7  from    pK",   ]n  (in  compounds  like 

bK^Sn,  sounded  also  10)  from  ]?n. 

c.  Ver.  1.3-15.  The  War -Prince  of  God.  As 
the  peo])lc  receive  the  consecration  to  the  holy  war 
through  circumcision  and  the  Passover,  so  Joshua, 
their  leader,  receives  his  through  the  appearance 
of  the  prince  over  Jehovali's  army,  who  commands 
him,  as  was  done  to  Moses  (Ex.  iii.  5),  to  take  off 
his  shoes  because  the  place  whereon  he  stands  is 
holy. 

Ver.  13.  By  Jericho  [lit.:  in  Jericho],  (cf.  ch. 
X.  16;  xxiv.  26;  Gen.  xiii.  18).  The  man  bears 
.  drawn  (Luther  :  l)are)  sword  in  his  hand.  Such 
an  one  is  borne  also  by  the  angel  who  meets  Ba- 
laam in  the  way  (Num.  xxii.  23),  and  not  less  l)y 
the  Cherub  at  the  gate  of  Paradise  (Gen.  iii.  24). 
Joshua,  thus  proving  that  God  has  not  in  vain  ad- 

evcry  naturalist.  This  sometimes  occurs  over  wide  dis- 
tricts of  America  and  Europe  in  such  abundance  as  to  drop 
freely  from  tlie  leaves  and  twigs  of  various  species  of  trees, 
while  yet  several  years  may  elajise  without  any  at  all,  or  at 
the  most  only  a  trilling  quantity  being  seen.  Apiarians  have 
much  occasion  to  notice  it.  Whether  it  is  uniformly  the 
e.Kcretion  of  Aphides  in  any  of  their  widely  dilfercnt' kinds, 
or  sometimes  a  direct  exudation  from  the  trees,  and  if  the 
latter,  from  what  cause,  are  still  disputed  questions.  On 
the  whole  subject  of  t.lie  in.-mna  see  the  Did.  of  the  Bible, 
8.  ¥.  ;  Ritter  in  tiage's  Transl.  ii.  pp.  271  292.  —  Tr.] 


monished  him  (ch.  i.  6,  7,  9)  to  be  strong  and 
firm,  goes  near  the  apparition  and  asks  the  man  : 
Art  thou  for  us  or  for  our  adversaries  ?  "  The 
question  was  ajjpropriate  for  the  military  leader  of 
the  Israelites"  (Knobel.) 

Ver.  14.  "  The  one  addressed  answers  in  the 
negative,  and  belongs,  therefore,  neither  to  one  nor 
to  the  other,  but  is  rather  the  captain  of  Jehovah's 
host^  that  is,  prince  of  the  angels.  For  these, 
called  also   the  host  of  heaven  (1  K.  xxii.  19),  are 

to  be  understood  as  the  "'"'  i^^??  as  Ps.  ciii.  21 ; 
exlviii.  2"  (Knobel).  Compare  further,  2  Chron. 
xviii.  18,  and  Luke  ii.  13.  And  Jehovah  himself 
is  "Jehovah  of  hosts,"  or  more  fully,  "Jehovah 
God  of  hosts"  (Jer.  v.  14;  xv.  16),  as  God  is 
called  by  the  prophets  and  frequently  in  the 
Psalms,  Is.  vi.  3  ;  xxxvii.  16;  Ii.  15  ;  Jer.  xxxiii. 
11  ;  Am.  ix.  5  ;  Ps.  xxiv.  10  ;  Ixxx.  8,  20  ;  Ixxxiv. 
2  ;  in  the  N.  T.  Jas.  v.  4.  On  the  significance  of 
this  angel  see  below.  Theological  and  Ethical. 

Am  I  now  come.-  For  what,  is  not  told,  since 
Joshua  internipts  the  angel,  and  with  the  deepest 

reverence  asks :  What  speaks  my  Lord   C'^IS 

as  Gen.  xix.  18,  not  ''^"TM,  should  be  read  [?]  be- 
cause Joshua  recognizes  the  man  as  a  higher  being ; 
Knobel)  to  his  servant. 

Ver.  1 5.  Loose  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet, 
prop,  throw  off  thy  shoes  from  thy  feet.    We  point 

according  to  Ex.  iii.  5,  ^^^3^  bl?^  ^"'brrbtt? 

instead  of  tJ75?5  and  Tjy?"].  [This  change  is  of 
very  doubtful  warrant.]  De  Wette  and  Luther 
also  adopt  the  plural  in  their  translations.  The 
shoes  must  be  removed  because  to  them  cleaves 
defilement  from  the  earth,  which  God  has  cursed 
(Gen.  iii.  17.)  Hence  the  priests  also  must  wash 
their  hands  and  feet,  when  they  entered  the  sanc- 
tuary (Ex.  XXX.  19  ;  xl.32),and  went  in  probably 
barefooted.  But  a  direct  precept  to  go  barefoot  is 
nowhere  found. 

For  the  place  ....  is  holy.  It  is  holy  from 
the  appearance  here  of  the  angel.  Probably  the 
latter  communicated  still  further  to  Joshua  Avhat 
he  was  to  do.  Knobel  supposes  directions  for  the 
approaching  war,  as  well  as  promises  and  encour 
agcments ;  rightly. 

[There  is  much  in  favor  of  the  view  advocated 
by  Keil,  and  many  before  him,  that  the  communi- 
cation of  the  angel  to  Jo.shua  is  contained  in  ch. 
vi.  2-5.  Chapter  v.  13-vi.  5,  would  thus  consti- 
tute one  paragraph  ;  ch.  vi.  1  being  a  parenthetical 
statement  of  the  historical  circumstance  which 
gave  occasion  for  this  divine  intervention  ;  and  the 
division  of  chapters  ought  to  be  before  or  after  the 
entire  paragraph.  That  the  Angel  should  be  at 
hist  recognized  by  the  narrator  as  Jehovah  and  so 
designated,  ch.  vi.  2,  is  in  full  accordance  with 
Gen.  xviii.  17,  20.  This  conception  of  the  scene 
prevents  the  theophany  from  being  so  aimless  and 
void  of  result  as  it  otherwise  appears. 

Is  it  accidental  merely  that  the  former  appear- 

[1  Dr.  Stowe  in  the  Bible  Bid.  s.  t.  regards  it  as  wholly 
miraculous.]  * 

[■2  The  nrni7,  "  now,"  in  this  phr.ase  is  probably  de- 
signed to  indicate  that  the  speaker  is  present  to  make  a 
communication  of  Importance,  cf.  Dan.  ix.  22 ;  x.  11,  14. 
So  Masius,  referring  to  those  passages  :  "  Significant  isia 
verba  eum  qui  sir.  loquitur  de  re  quapiam  singulari  iidesse, 
suamque  prasentiam  declarare."  — .Tr.] 


CHAPTER  V. 


67 


ance  also  of  the  Jehovah-angd,  to  Abraham,  is 
represented  as  having  occnned  immediately  after 
the  circumcision  of  his  family,  Gen.  xvii.  —  Te.] 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  Circumcision  and  the  Passover  were  the  two 
covenant  signs  and  seals  [(T<ppayi^€s)  of  the  0.  T. 

The  former  was,  as  Christ  himself  testifies,  older 
than  Moses;  it  was  of  the  fathers  (John  vii.  22), 
since  God,  as  Stephen  says,  Acts  vii.  8,  had  given 
the  covenant  of  circumcision  to  Abraham.  By  it 
the  nation  was,  through  its  fathers  and  youths, 
■consecrated  to  Jehovah.  That  was  to  be  indeed  a 
holy  people,  which  belonged  to  him  as  the  people 
of  his  possession.  To  the  true  Israelites,  therefore, 
who  perceived  in  the  circumcision  of  the  Hesli  an 
index  to  the  circumcision  of  the  heart,  which  must 
be  freed  from  all  impurity  even  through  pain,  it 
was  a  token  of  exalted  honor.i  In  later  times,  in- 
deed, upon  the  entrance  of  heathen  customs,  many 
became  ashamed  of  it,  and  artificially  removed  the 
traces  of  it.  It  was  performed,  as  is  well  known,  on 
the  eighth  day  (Gen.  xvii.  12;  Luke  ii.  21),  and  only 
he  who  was  circumcised  could  partake  of  the  Pass- 
over which  was  the  other  covenant,  sign  of  the  0.  T, 
(Gen.  xii.  1  ff.,  and  especially  43  tF.).  This  latter 
was  of  Mosaic  origin,  and  was  first  of  all  a  meal  of 
thankful,  joyous  remembrance  of  the  deliverance  of 

the  people  out  of  Egyj)t,  of  their  exemption  vHOS) 
from  the  plague,  of  the  rescue  from  the  house  of 
bondage.  Both  signs  point  beyond  themselves  to 
other  and  gi-eater  things,  to  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
supper,  wliich  are  of  a  more  universal,  spiritual  na- 
ture, but  just  as  exactly  and  intimately  connected 
with  each  other  as  circumcision  and-  the  Passover. 

2.  The  captain  of  the  Lord's  host  is  the  angel 
of  the  presence  or  face  (Ex.  xxiii.  20)  in  whom 
was  God's  name  (ver.  21),  of  whom  God  says  to 
Moses  (xxxiii.  14),  "  My  presence  shall  go,  thereby 
will  I  lead  thee."  From  the  passages  quoted  he  as- 
sumes an  altogether  peculiar  position  towards  God, 
who  raises  him  above  all  other  angels,  so  that  we 
may  perhaps  recognize  in  him  the  \6yo'i  incar- 
Dandus-    Comp.  also  Prov.  viii.  30. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  terror  of  the  Canaanites.  —  The  heart  melts, 
courage  flees  when  one  knows  not  the  living  God 
yet  hears  of  his  miglity  deeds.  —  Where  there  is  no 
eonfidence  in  God  there  is  no  courage.  The  conse- 
cration of  the  people  for  the  occupancy  of  the  Holy 
Land  through,  (1)  the  circumcision  of  the  warriors 
Iiorn  in  the  Wilderness.  (2)  The  Passover  kept  by 
all  Israel.  —  Circumcision  and  the  Passover  in 
their  typical  relation  to  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
supper.  The  sacraments  of  the  Old  and  those  of 
the  N.  T.  —  As  the  enjoyment  of  the  paschal  lamb 
and  the  sweet  bread  was  conditioned  on  the  circum- 
cision of  the  participant,  so  is  that  of  the  Holy 
Supper  on  baptism.  —  Of  the  ti'ue  circumcision, 
which  is  performed  not  on  the  body  but  on  the  heart 
(Rom.  ii.  29;  Col.  ii,  11). — Death  the  punishment 
of  disobedience.  —  Through  the  wilderness  to 
Canaan !  —  The  heavenly  Canaan  much  richer, 
more  lovely  and  beautiful  than  the  earthly,  of 
which,  however,  it  is  said  that  it  is  a  land  flowing 

1  [On  the  significance  of  circumcision,  see  Ebrard's  inter- 
esting views  in  his  Dn^mati/c,  §  526,  briefly  stated  by  the 
preseat  writer  in,  th,e  Baptist  Quarterly  for  July,  1869.  —  Tr.] 


with  milk  and  honey.  —  To-day  have  I  rolled 
away  tiie  reproach  of  Egyjit  from  off  you  !  This 
word  is  fulfilled,  (1.)  at  Gilgal ;  (2.)  much  more 
gloriously  at  Golgotha.  —  The  reproach  of  Egypt 
—  sin  and  its  misery. 

The  first  Passover  on  the  soil  of  Canaan  :  (1) 
A  feast  of  thankful  remembrance;  (2)  a  feast  of 
blessed  hope.  The  bread  of  the  land  although  not 
manna,  yet  also  bread  from  heaven  !  —  Ther'e  is  a 
manna  which  never  fails.  Comp.  John  vi..  Rev. 
ii.  —  The  true  bread  of  life. 

The  consecration  of  the  army-leader  Joshua  by 
the  appearance  of  the  captain  of  God's  army.  ( 1 ) 
Who  stood  opposite  him  ?  (2)  How  did  Joshua  be- 
have "?  (3)  What  command  did  he  receive  ?  —  The 
brave  question  of  Joshua  :  Art  thou  for  us  or  our 
adversaries  ?  —  The  prince  of  the  Lord's  host  in  his 
relation  to  Christ  the  prince  of  life. — Joshua's 
humility  the  more  beautiful  because  accompanied 
with  steadfast  courage.  So  should  Christians  also 
be  as  Joshua  was,  courageous  and  humble  minded. 
They  will  be  so  if  they  themselves  know  the  true 
source  of  courage  and  humility,  the  living  God.  — 
Loose  thy  shoes  fi'om  off  thy  feet,  for,  etc.  Com- 
parison of  the  call  of  Moses  (Ex.  3)  and  the  conse- 
cration of  Joshua.  —  Comparison  of  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  leader  Joshua  and  of  the  prophet  Isaiah 
(Is.  6).  —  "And  Joshua  did  so."  Let  us  also 
always  do  what  God  commands. 

Starke  :  God's  words  and  works  have  not  the 
same  effect  with  the  ungodly  and  the  pious.  — If 
the  Israelites  could  not  without  the  bodily  circum- 
cision enter  the  earthly  Canaan,  how  should  it  be 
possible  for  any  one  without  the  spiritual  circum- 
cision of  the  heart  to  enter  into  the  heavenly  Ca- 
naan. —  Who  loves  God,  him  God  loves  in  return 
and  reveals  Himself  to  him  (John.  xiv.  21).  — 
Even  the  exalted  in  this  world  should  not  be 
ashamed  to  bow  the  knee  before  God.  1  K.  viii. 
54;Ps.  xcv.  6. 

BiBL.  Wirt  :  When  God  will  punish  a  land 
or  a  people  He  gives  them  first  a  fearful  and  faint 
heart.  Lev.  xxvi.  36 ;  Dent,  xxviii.  6.5,  xi.  25. 

Cramer  :  He  who  will  have  prosperity  and  a 
blessing,  must  begin  his  enterprise  with  God,  ^vith 
his  woi"d  and  the  use  of  the  holy  sacraments,  Prov. 
i.  7,  Matt.  vi.  33.  God  usually  performs  no 
miracles  when  one  can  have  natural  means  to  ac- 
complish something,  and  then  He  points  us  to 
the  ordinary  way  of  subsistence  and  toil ;  He  will 
bless  that  and  will  su])port  us  therein.  There- 
fore, Christian,  sing,  pray,  and  go  on  in  God's 
ways. 

Gerlacii  :  "  The  Lord  cometh,"  when  his  peo- 
ple especially  feel  their  need  c^f  his  help,  and  become 
comfortably  conscious  of  his  presence  and  aid. 
Gen.  xviii.  1. 

[Matt.  Henry  (on  vers.  13-15) :  Observe,  I. 
the  time  when  he  was  favored  with  this  vision  ;  it 
was  immediately  after  he  had  performed  the  great 
solemnities  of  circumcision  and  the  Passover ;  then 
God  made  Himself  known  to  him.  Note,  we  may 
then  expect  the  discoveries  of  the  divine  grace, 
when  we  are  found  in  the  way  of  our  duty,  and  are 
diligent  and  sincere  in  our  attendance  on  holy  or- 
dinances. 

II.  The  place  where  he  had  this  vision ;  it  was 
b)/  Jericho.  .  .  .  There  he  was  (some  think) 
meditating  and  praying ;  and  to  those  who  are 
so  employed  God  often  graciously  manifests  Him- 
self. Or,  perhaps,  there  he  was  to  take  a  view  of 
the  city,  to  observe  its  fortifications  and  contrive 
how  to  attack  it,  and  perhaps  he  was  at  a  loss 
within  himself  how  to  make  lis  approaches,  when 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


God  came  and  directed  him.  Note,  God  will  help 
those  that  help  themselves  :  Vigilantibus  non  dor- 
■HiPntibu^  sucurrit  lex  —  "The  law  succors  those 


who  watch,  not  those  who  sleep"  Joshua  wat 
in  his  post  as  General  when  God  came  and  made 
Himself'  known  to  him  as  Generalissimo.  —  Tii.l 


SECTION  SECOND. 

The  Contests  of  Israel  with  the  Canaanitbs. 
Chapters  VI.-XI. 

A.  Contests  against  particular  cities. 
Chapters  VL-VIH: 


1.   The  Capture  of  Jericho. 
Chapter  VI. 

a.  Preparation  for  the  Capture. 
Chapter  VI.  1-14. 

1  Now  Jericho  was  straitly  shut  up  [lit.  had  shut  up  (her  gates)  and  was  shut  up], 

2  because  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel :  none  went  out,  and  none  came  in.  And 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua,  vSee,  I  have  given  into  thine  hand  Jericho, 
and  the  king  thereof,  and  [omit :  and]  the  mighty  men  of  valour  [strong  heroes]. 

3  And  ye  shall  compass  the  city,  all  ye  men  of  war,  and  go  round  about  the  city 

4  once :  thus  shalt  thou  do  six  days.  And  seven  priests  shall  bear  before  the  ark 
seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  [seven  alarm-trumpets  ^]  :  and  the  seventh  day  ye 
shall  compass  the  city  seven  times,  and  the  priests  shall  blow  with  the  trumpets. 

5  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  when  they  make  a  long  blast  with  the  ram's  horn 
[alarm-horn],  and  [omit :  and]  when  ye  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  all  the  peo- 
ple shall  shout  with  a  great  shout :  and  the  wall  of  the  city  shall  fall  down  flat,  and 
the  people  shall  ascend  up  every  man  straight  before  him. 

6  And  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  called  the  priests,  and  said  unto  them.  Take  up  the 
ark  of  the  covenant,  and  let  seven  priests  bear  seven   trumjiets  of  rams'  horns 

7  [alarm-trumpets]  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  he  [they-]  said 
unto  the  people.  Pass  on,  and  compass  the  city,  and  let  him  that  is  armed  ^  pass 
on  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]. 

8  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joshua  had  spoken  unto  the  people,  that  the  seven 
priests  bearing  the  seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  [alarm-trumpets]  passed  on  before 
the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  blew  with  the  trumpets :  and  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of 

9  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  followed  them.  And  the  armed  men  went  before  the  priests 
that  blew  with  the  trumpets,  and  the  rere-ward  came  [went]  after  the  ark,  the 
priests  [omit :  the  priests]  going  on,  and  blowing  with  the  trumpets.  * 

10  And  Joshua  had  [omit :  had]  commanded  the  people,  saying.  Ye  shall  not  shout, 
nor  make  any  noise  with  your  voice  [let  your  voice  be  heard],  neither  shall  any 
word  proceed  out  of  your  mouth,  until  the  day  I  bid  you  shout,  then  shall  ye  shout. 

11  So  [And]  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  compassed  the  city,  going  about  it  once: 
and  they  came  into  the  camp,  and  lodged  in  the  camp. 

12  And  Joshua  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  the   priests  took  up  the  ark  of  the 

13  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  [the]  seven  priests  bearing  seven  trumpets  of  ranis' horns 
[alarm-trumpets]  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  went  oti  continually,  and 
blew  with  the  trumpets  :  and  the  armed  men  [as  in  ver.  9]  went  before  them  ;  but 
the  rere-ward  came  [went]  after  the  ark  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  iAc/»7/.es#5  [omit: 


CHAPTER   VI.  69 


1 4  the  priests]  going  on,  and  blowing  with  the  trumpets  [as  in  ver.  9].  And  the 
second  day  they  compassed  the  city  once,  and  returned  into  the  camp.  So  they  did 
six  days. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GilAJIJIATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  4.  —  C^b^iTf     ni"15iti7  =  ^Si^n  "j"np.  (ver.  5).     The  specific  character  of  the  trumpets  or  horns 

here  mentioned,  ag  indicated  by  the  very  ob.'icure  word  ^^i"^,  is  elaborately  discussed  in  the  Exegetical  Notes,  to  which 
may  well  be  added  the  information  contained  in  Smith's  Bibl.  Diet,  articles  "  Cornet  "  and  "  Jubilee."  See  also  Leyrer's 
remarks  in  Uerzog's   Theol.  Rtaiencyk.  s.  v.  "  Musik,"  vol.  x.  p.  131.  With  reference  to  the  translation  to  be  adopted,  a 

word  is  ventured  here.  From  a  comparison  of  the  passages  cited  below  it  is  obvious  that  the  v3V  (whether  meaning 
direcily  a  sound  or  an  instrument  of  sound)  indicated  a  loud  sound,  a  sound  of  a  very  impressive,  if  not  formidable  charac- 
ter. It  was  a  sound  always  serving  as  a  signal,  or  alarm  in  the  more  general  sense  of  this  word.  Hence,  that  it  was  produced 

literally  by  a  "rams'  horn  "  employed  as  the  instrument  (making  vlli"". denote  a  ram),  seems  a  physical  impossibility, 
even  if  the  etymological  ground  for  such  an  interpretation  were  more  than  a  chimera.  But  it  is  not;  this  meaning, 
tlierefore,  may  unhe.^itatingly  be  set  aside.  In  thtir  uncertainty  as  to  the  real  deiivation  of  the  word,  many  lexicogra- 
phers and  interpreters  have  then  been  content  to  pass  it  with  the  vague  sense  of  Jubilee  (Jubel)  horn,  because  this  particu- 
lar instrument  was  employed  to  signalize  through  the  land  the  return  of  the  Sabbatical  (Jubilee)  year.  But  this  is  a 
Uysteron-proteron,  for  the  word  is  used  before  the  Sabbatical  year  had  ever  been  mentioned  (Ex.  xix.  13),  to  indicate  the 
signal  or  alarm  ^  which  the  people  should  be  warned  of  the  appearance  of  God  ou  Mount  Sinai.  It  is,  furthermore,  sig- 
nificant that  down  to  the  last  mention  of  the  7!QV  in  Scripture,  there  had  been  no  occurrence  of  the  year  of  Jubilee  to 
give  a  denomination  to  the  trumpet  or  anything  else  connected  icith  its  observance.  The  Sabbatical  year,  therefore, 
received  its  name  as  the  year  of  the  7^1^,  or  as  itself  the  7I2V'  from  the  name  of  the  instrument  or  of  the  sound  by 
which  it  was  to  be  ushered  in  and  heralded  to  all  the  people.  Instead  of  learning  the  character  of  the  instrument 
from  that  of  the  sacred  year,  we  must,  vice  versa,  learn  that  of  the  year  (so  far  as  intimated  by  its  name)  from  the  pecul- 
iar mode  of  its  announcement.  Its  intrinsic  character  to  the  experience  of  the  people  had  yet  to  be  ascertained  by  than, 
and  could  now  be  only  obscurely  foreseen. 

We  are  left  then  to  study  the  actual  quality  and  use  of  the  horn  of  731'^,  first  from  the  passages  outside  of  the  circlfi 
of  the  jubilee  year,  and  then  from  those  relating  to  that  year,  to  get  practically  at  the  meaning  of  the  word. 

Perhaps  neither  of  the  meanings  ''signal,"  ''alarm,"  to  which  we  are  thus  brought  can  be  rigidly  adhered  to  in  all 
places.  In  the  Pentateuch  generally  "  signal  "  would  perhaps  be  more  appropriate  ;  here  in  Joshua  "alarm  "  is  at  least 
equally  so.  If  we  were  at  perfect  liberty  to  make  compound  words,  "  loud-horn  "  might  pretty  well  cover  all  the  uses. 
Zunz's  excellent  version  gives  schmetterndes  Horn,  "  rattling,"  "  clattering  horn."  —  Tb,.] 

[2  Ver.  7.  —  T^^M'T  .  "  The  plural  is  not  to  be  altered  here,  but  to  be  explained  from  the  fact  that  Joshua  made 
the  announcement  not  in  person  but  through  the  Schoterim  (i,  10  ;  iii.  2)  by  whom  his  orders  were  ofiicially  published." 
Keil.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  7.  —  Him  that  is  armed  (the  armed  body),  V^  ^Hn,  Q^  expeditus,  stripped  .  .  .  .  i.  q.  armed,  ready,  etc.* 

Gesen.  s.  v.)  here  distinguished  from  r|5Spn  "rere-ward"  ver.  9,  as  a  part  only  of  the  "  men  of  war,"  verse  3 
They  may  have  been  a  special  branch  of  the"  forces  (light-armed,  weKTaarai,  which  the  etj-niology  would  shghtly  fevor), 
or,  more  probably,  the  soldiery  of  the  Transjordanic  tribes  who  were  to  cross  the  river  M3vJrf  '^!2-17ri,  iv.  13,  comp. 
Keil  in  loc.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  9  —  The  Heb.  leaves  the  subject  of  this  indefinite  ;  our  knowledge  otherwise  gained  suggests  the  priests.  —  Te.] 

b.  Capture  and  Destruction  of  Jericho. 
Chapter  VI.  l.')-27. 

15  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  day,  that  they  rose  early  about  the  dawning  of 
the  day,  and  compassed  the  city  after  the  same  [this]  manner  seven  times :  only  on 

16  that  day  they  compassed  the  city  seven  times.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  seventh 
time,  when  the  priests  blew  with  the  trumpets,  Joshua  said  imto  the  peojile.  Shout ; 

17  'for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  given  you  the  city.     And  the  city  shall  be  accursed 

[devoted],  even  [omit :  even]  it,  and  all  that  are  therein,  to  the   Lord  [Jehovah] : 
only  Rahab  the  harlot  shall  live,  she  and  all  that  are  with  her  in  the  house,  because 

18  she  hid  the  messengers  that  we  sent.  And  ye,  in  any  wise  keep  yourselves  from  the 
accursed  thing  [from  that  which  is  devoted],  lest  ye  make  yourselves  accursed,  when 
ye  take  of  the  accursed  thing  [that  which  is  devoted],  and  make  the  camp  of  Israel  a 

19  curse  [devoted  thing],  and  trouble  it.^  But  [And]  all  the  silver,  and  gold,  and  ves- 
sels of  brass  and  iron,  are  consecrated  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  :  they  shall  come 

20  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  So  the  people  shouted  when  t/ie  priests 
blew  ^  with  the  trumpets  :  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  people  heard  the  sound 
of  the  trumpet,  and  the  people  shouted  with  a  great  shout,  that  the  wall  fell  down 
flat,  so  that  the  people  went  up  into  the  city,  every  man  straight  before  him,  and  they 

21  tQok  the  city.     And  they  utterly  destroyed   [devoted]  all  that  was  in  the  city. 


70 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


both  man  and  woman,  yoimg  and  old,  and  ox,  and  sheep,  and  ass,  with  the  edge  of 
the  sword. 

22  But  Joshua  luxd  [omit :  had]  said  unto  the  two  men  that  had  spied  out  the  coun- 
try, Go  into  the  harlot's  house,  and  bring  out  thence  the  woman,  and  all  that  she 

23  hath,  as  ye  sware  unto  her.  And  the  young  men  that  were  spies  went  in,  and 
brought  out  Rahal),  and  her  father,  and  her  mother,  and  her  brethren,  and  all  that 
she  had  ;  and  they  brought  out  all  her  kindred  [Heb.  families,  and  so  Bunsen],  and 

24  left  them  without  the  camp  of  Israel.  And  they  burnt  the  city  with  fire,  and  all  that 
was  therein  :  only  the  silver,  and  the  gold,  and  the  vessels  of  brass  and  of  iron,  they 

25  put  into  the  treasury  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  Joshua  saved  Ra- 
hab  the  harlot  alive,  and  her  father's  household,  and  all  that  she  had  ;  and  she  dwel- 
leth  in  [in  the  midst  of]  Israel  even  [omit:  even]  unto  this  day;  because  she  hid 
the  messengers  which  Joshua  sent  to  spy  out  Jericho. 

26  And  Joshua  adjured  the>n  [caused  them  to  swear]  at  that  time,  saying.  Cursed  be 
the  man  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  that  riseth  up  and  buildeth  this  city  Jericho  :  he 
shall  lay  the  foundation  thereof  in  his  first-born,  and  in  his  youngest  son  shall  he  set 

27  up  the  gates  of  it.  So  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  was  with  Joshua ;  and  his  fame  was 
noised  [omit :  noised]  throughout  all  the  country  [in  all  the  land.] 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAAUVIATICAL. 

1  n/'er.  18.  This  verse  would  be  more  correctly  given  somewhat  thus  :  "  Only  do  ye  keep  yourselves  from  what  is  de- 
voted, lest  ye  devote,  and  take  of  what  is  devoted,  and  make  the  camp  of  Israel  a  devoted  thing,  and  trouble  it."  To 
devote  (to  Jehovah)  and  to  take  (for  themselves)  were  two  incompatible  things  :  '■  Ulrumqite  consistere  non  poterat,  pitg- 
nuntia  eraiit,  ....  aut  non  erat  res  devovenUa,  aut  cum  devotum  esset  ab  ea  abstinendum-  erat.'''  Lud.  de  Dieu  ap  Kei' 
in  loc —  Tr] 

2  [Ver.  20.     Lit. :  And  the  people  shouted,  and  they  blew  with  the  trumpets.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

With  this  sixth  chapter  begins  the  second  sec- 
tion of  the  first  part  of  our  book,  giving  us  in.  a 
continuous  narrative  the  history  of  the  conquest 
of  the  Land.  It  oft'ers  critical  dithculties  in  only  a 
few  passages  (ch.  viii.  12,  13  compared  with  viii.  3 
and  viii.  30-35),  so  that  even  Knoliel  describes  it  as 
"  an  exhibition,  in  the  main  regular  and  consistent, 
of  the  wars  of  Joshua,"  by  the  hand  of  the  Jehovist. 
In  so  far  it  is  advantageously  distinguished  from  the 
report  of  the  passage  through  the  Jordan  (chaps.* 
iii.,iv.)  The  style  is  excellent,  and  rises  often  (ch. 
vii.  8;  X.  1-27)  to  a  strikingly  beautiful  representa- 
tion of  deeds  of  war  wrought  by  God  through 
Joshua  and  the  pcojile  of  Israel  ;  comp.  Introd.  §  1, 
p.  3.  Poetical  i)ass;iges  are  twice  (chaps,  vi.  26  and 
x.  12-1.5)  intro(hiced.  A  certain  delicate  humor  is 
betrayed  in  ch.  ix.  From  ch.  x.  28  to  xi.  23,  the 
traits  just  noticed  are  absent,  and  a  sort  of  monot- 
ony in  the  chronological  enumeration  of  con- 
quests ap])cars.  C^hapter  xii.  is  a  veiy  valuable 
historical  document,  from  ver.  9  onward  in  partic- 
ular, to  which  Bunsen  has  rightly  called  attention. 
So  much  in  genera!  concerning  this  extremely 
interesting  section,  chaps,  vi.  1-xi.  23.  We  pro- 
ceed now  to  the  explanation  of  ch.  vi.,  which  re- 
lates the  capture  of  Jericho. 

[On  the  connection  between  this  and  the  preced- 
ing chapter,  sec  the  translator's  remarks  on  p.  66.] 

a.  Ver.  1-11.  Preparation  for  il.  Jericho  ha4, 
at  the  approach  of  the  Israelites,  closed  its  doors 
so  that  no  one  went  out  and  no  one  came  in.  Je- 
hovah now  commands  Joshua  to  march  around 
the  city  with  the  ark  ])recedcd  by  priests  giving 
blasts  on  alarm  trumpets,  once  each  day  for  six 
days  in  succession,  but  on  the  seven tli  day  seven 
times,  and  promises  tliat  then  her  walls  shall  fall 
down.  This  command  Joshua  imparts  to  the 
priests  with  the  people,  for  immediate  executipi), 
(ver.  6,  7),  which  then  also  follows  (vers.  8-11), 


Ver.  2.  See,  I  have  given  We  find  a  simi 
lar  expression  in  ch.  xi.  6.  Here,  however,  the 
Israelites  themselves  were  to  adopt  no  warlike 
measures  for  the  taking  of  the  city.  Jericho  must 
fall  rather  through  tlie  immediate  help  of  God, 
that  is,  through  a  miracle. 

Ver.  3-5.  Signal  trumpets.  ni'^^ilT 
L;"*b5i*n=b5i'rT  l-ll?.  That  these  two  des- 
ignations (ver.  4,  5)  signify  the  same  musical  in- 
strument is  clear,  and  may  be  inferred  directly 
from  our  passage.     It  may  be  also  further  assumed 

as  probable  that  "Ipit^  and  n^^'JQ  (Num.  x. 
2,  8)  are  not  identical,  but  ^,  rather  a  crooked  in- 
strument, and  hence  called  ]~1p,  and  H,  the 
straight  trumpet  frequently  represented  on  Egyp- 
tian monuments  (Keil,  Com.  on  J.,  p.  158).     The 

interpretation  of  ^5V  on  theother  hand  occasions 
difficulty.  According  to  Fiirst  it  has  two  significa- 
tions :  "  (1 )  Ham,  Aries,  from  the  unusual,  intrans. 

^^Q"*,  to  be  compressed,  hard,  strong,  according  to 

this  'TI  "IDItr,  '"^n  -pp  or  even  ^3V  alone, 
Ex.  xix.  13,  would  mean  ram's  horns  as  a  wind  in- 
strument.    This  signification  appears   already  in 

the  Targum  (S^D^'^)  and  the  Jewish  expositors, 

jvho  follow  indeed  the  tradition  (Rofih-ha-S/iana  3)  ; 
and  from  the  latter  we  learn  that  in  old  Arabic 

the  word  had  the  same  sense ;  Phcenic.  vS"*  the 
same  (Mass.  7) ;  (2)  (from  '?^  II)  Sound  of  Jubi- 
lee, sound  of  joy  (related  to  the  pr.  nom.  ^?^'') 
as  a  designation  of  the  great  feast  of  Julnlee  on 
the  tenth  of  the  seventh  month  in  each  fiftieth 
year,  which  was  proclaimed  with  trumpets  through 
the  whole  land.    I^ev,  xxy.  8."     That  the  same 


CHArTER   VI 


71 


word  should  have  these  two  radically  different  sig- 
nifications is,  it'  not  exactly  imijossible,  yet  in  this 

case  improbable,  since  the  year  of  jubilee  (n3t27 

7l3T  n)  was  announced,  as  Fiirst  himself  says,  by 

the    '■?'^*r!'  "'?'"^^)  and  from  this  evidently  had  its 

•  name,  as  Winer  (Reahv.  s.  v.  "  Jubcljahr  "),  Oehler 

(Reatmci/k.  x.  p.  131)  take  for  granted,  after  the 

example  of  older  interpreters,  esijecially  Groddeek, 

De  verisi'm.  voc.  V2V  signif.,  Danz.  1758.  On  this 
supposition  the  question  arises,  whence  the  deriva- 
tion  of   ^^''"')  and   how  it  is   to   be    explained. 

Either  it  is  from  a  root  ^?^  not  in  use,  which,  as 
Fiirst  assumes,  should  mean  to  be  comjjressed, 
hard,  strong,  the  same  as  the  Phoen.  ^?^)  from 
wliich  then  ^2^  or  ^i?'i^  =  the  strong,  the  ram 

(as  also  ^^^  means  properly  strength)  :  this  is 
supported  by  reference  to  the  inscription  of  Mar- 
seilles, 1.  7.  In  this  view,  '5'1*'!7""!T'l7.  would  be 
raras-horn,  v^'i^n'IDIti?  rams-horn-trumpet,  and 

75'i''n"i~ipty  the  year  at  the  beginning  of  which 
they  blew  the  rams-horn,  and  which  received  its 
name  from  this.     Or,  as  Gesenius  (Tlies.  ii!  561) 

teaches,  from  an  onomatop.    '?t'  ^^  sound  out,  to 

shout,  Lat.  jubilare,  as  the  related  3S'^,  Judg.  v. 
28,  signifies  to  call,  to  call  aloud,  and  in  Aram,  is 
employed   expressly  of  the  call  of  jubilee.     Thus 

^'?i^  would  he=  nvT^:^,  and  bai^^n-npitt? 

=  niy^-lj^p—lSiti;  (Lev.  xxv.  8)  =  alarm-signal  or 
jubilee-trumpet  The  ^5'^'''!7"]'^I7.  would  mean 
the  same,  and  vIII^mTIj^^  would  be  the  year  at 
whose  commencement  the  alarm-horn  or  trump  of 
jubilee  was  sounded,  and  which  hence  derived  its 
name.     This  etymology  is   decisively  favored   by 

the  name,  72^\  of  the  son  of  Lamech,  Gen.  iv.  21, 
who  was  the  inventor  of  the  harp  and  syrinx. 
We  must  therefore  adopt  this  explanation.     The 

double  plural  Q"'b^i»n-ni-13itZ7,  as  in  Num.  xiii. 

32,  niTtt-'^tSpSI,      Dent.    i.    28,       D^■735?-'^32. 

Ewald,  §  270.     [See  Gesen.  Lex.  s.  v".  b?i\] 

The  number  seven  of  the  trumpets,  priests, 
days,  is  significant,  for  which  compare  Gen.  xxi. 
30,  and  a  multitude  of  Old  and  New  Test,  pas- 
sages in  Winer,  art.  "  Zahlen."  [Smith's  Diet.  art. 
"  Seven."]  The  circuit  marches  were  thirteen  in  all, 
six  during  the  first  six  days,  and  seven  on  the  last, 
which  was  probably,  as  the  Rabbins  have  assumed, 
a  Sabbath.  It  might  be  objected  that,  according 
to  Pjx.  XX.  9-11,  no  work  was  to  be  done  on  the 
Sabbath  ;  but  this  circuit  was  no  work,  but  rather 
a  religious  transaction  of  the  nature  of  worship, 
jierformed  in  obedience  to  a  special  command  of 
God,  to  whose  glory  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  pre- 
cisely on  the  Sabbath.  The  object  of  these  encom- 
passing marches,  about  which  much  has  been  said, 
has  been  well  indicated  by  Knobel,  who  says : 
"  Jericho  was  to  fidl  as  the  first-fruits  of  the  Ca- 
naanitish  cities  manifestly  by  Israel's  God.  The 
repeated  compassing  of  the  city  directed  attention 
with  the  sharpest  intensity  towards  what  was  fin- 
ally to  come  to  pass,  and  when  the  event  came, 
left  no  doubt  that  Jehovah  was  its  cause,  while  the , 


courage  of  Israel  is  thereby  raised  also,  and  the 
despondency  of  the  Canaanites  increased." 

In  substantial  agreement  with  this  Keil  remarks, 
that  "  The  repetition  during  several  days  of  this 
procession  about  the  city  could  only  be  designed  to 
exercise  Israel  in  unconditional  taith  and  patient 
trust  in  the  power  and  assistance  of  God,  and  to 
impress  deeply  upon  him  that  it  was  the  ouiuipo- 
tence  and  tidelity  of  Jehovah  alone  which  could 
give  into  his  hand  this  fortified  city,  the  bastion  of 
the  whole  land." 

Ver.  5.  Every  man  straight  before  him. 
Over  the  prostrate  walls  sliould  the  Israelites 
enter  Jericho,  and  "  each  one  straight  forward," 
so  that  their  order  should  be  preserved  as  far  as 
possible.  In  Joel  ii.  9,  it  is  said  likewise  of  the 
locusts  :  "  like  men  of  war  they  climb  a  wall,  and 
every  one  marches  on  /lis  way. 

Vers.  6,  7.  Josliua  issues  the  needful  commands. 

Vers.  8-11.  The  first  circuit,  in  which  the  order 
of  procession  was,  (1.)  the  armed  men  ;  (2.)  the 
seven  priests  with  their  seven  trumpets;  (.3.)  the 
priests  with  the  ark  of  the  covenant;  (4.)  the  re- 
maining warriors  as  a  rear-guard.  ^5^  =  ag- 
men  daudere.  This  duty  on  the  march  through 
the  wilderness  devolved,  according  to  Num.  x.  25, 
on  the  tribe  of  Dan ;  whether  on  this  occasion  also 
cannot  be  determined. 

Ver.  9.     That  blew  with  the  trumpets.    Not 

according  to  the  Kethib^^|?.n,  but  the  Keri ''??r?^'^ 
which  Knobel  prefers  as  unquestionably  the  true 
reading.     [Kcil  holds  to  the  Kethib.] 

Ver.  10.  Ye  shaU  not  shout.  That  should  be 
done  first  on  the  seventh  day,  at  the  express  com- 
mand of  Joshua.  Silently  and  without  a  voice,  for 
six  long  days,  under  the  prolonged  clangor  of 
the  trumpets,  the  people  marched  around  and 
around  the  City  of  Palms,  whose  inhabitants  ven- 
tiu'ed  no  sortie.  Perhaps  they  were  imposed  upon 
by  the  sublime  silence  which  was  maintained 
throughout  this  delay. 

Ver.  11.  At  evening  of  the  first  day  they  came 
into  the  camp  to  spend  the  night. 

Vers.  12-14.  So  they  did  for  six  days,  without 
intennission. 

b.  Capture  and  Df  struct  ion  of  Jericho.  Vers.  15- 
20.  The  seventh  day.  Now  the  Lsraelites  begin. 
their  march  veiy  early,  with  the  dawn,  because 
they  have  to  make  the  circuit  seven  times.  If  we 
suppose  that  Jericho  had  a  compass  of  an  hour's 
journey,  then  a  formal  porcession  like  this,  which 
moved  slowly,  would  require  at  least  one  hoiu-  and 
a  half  to  accomplish  it.  This  would  give  for  the 
seven  circuits  ten  and  a  half  hours.  But  to  this 
we  must  add  the  absolutely  necessary  rests  of  at 
least  a  quarter  of  an  hour  each ;  and  if  we  assume 
one  after  the  first,  second,  and  third  circuits,  and  so 
on  to  the  end,  the  six  will  amount  to  an  hour  and 
a  half.  This  added  to  the  ten  and  a  half  makes 
twelve  houi"s.  The  fall  of  the  wall,  accordingly, 
must  have  taken  place  near  evening.  The  Sabbath 
would  then  be  about  over  and  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion might  begin. 

Ver.    17.      And   the   city   shall   be   devoted. 

^"lU  (only  once  D'^i7»  Zech.  xii.  11)  from  D"^n 
=  to  cut  oif,  in  the  Hiph.  to  devote,  to  withdraw 
from  common  use  and  consecrate  to  God  =  sacrare. 
is,  (a.)  with  active  signification,  the  devotement  of 
anything  by  Jehovah,  his  putting  under  the  ban, 
the  result  of  which  is  destruction,  Mai.  iii.  24  ;  Zech. 
xiv.  11  ;  1  K.  XX.  42;  Is.  xxxiv.  5;  or  (6.)  with 
pass,  signif.  thing  deyo.tedj  cloonaed,  laid  under  tha 


72 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


ban,  that  is,  devoted  to  Jehovah  wdthotxt  the  possi- 
bility of  being  redeemed  (in  distinction  from  otlier 
devoted  oljjevts),  Lev.  xxvii.  21,xxviii.  29.  In  tlie 
latter  sense  it  stands  here,  vers.  17,  18,  and  in  ch. 
vii.  1  fF.,  1  Sam.  xv.  3-9.  Quite  correctly  there- 
fore, Starke  long-  ago  remarked :  "  A  devoted  thing 
(Bann)  {IjX.X.  avade/xa,  Num.  xxi.  2,  3;  Dent.  vii. 
2,  x.x.  17)  was  that  whicii  hail  been  doomed  to  the 
Lord,  which  no  man  might  employ  for  his  own 
use,  but  which  was  either  put  away  and  destroyed 
.utterly  to  the  honor  of  God,  as  the  men  and  beasts 
in  this  pas.sagc,  a  propitiation,  as  it  were,  to  the 
divine  justice,  that  this  might  be  glorified  ;  or  it 
was  consecrated  to  the  special  service  of  God,  as 
here  all  precious  and  useful  metals.  Lev.  xxvii.  21, 
28 ;  Deut.  ii.  34,  iii.  6,  vii.  2,  26,  xiii.  15-17,  xx.  26 
fF."  See  also  the  explanation  to  ch.  ii.  11. 

Rahab  alone  should  be  spared,  because  she  had 
concealed  the  spies.  The  oath  of  the  latter  is  men- 
tioned only  to  them  (ver.  22),  but  not  before  the 
peo])le. 

Ver.  18  contains  a  warning  which  Achan,  to  his 
own  destruction,  and  that  of  his  family,  neglected 
(ch.  vii.). 

Vers.  20,  21.  Capture  of  the  City-  At  Joshua's 
command,  the  people  who  have  before  marched  in 
silence  around  the  city  raise  a  battle  shout.  The 
trumpets   clang-      The  walls  of  Jericho  fall  flat 

(prop,  under  themselves,  n\'7inri),  the  people  of 
Israel  pass  in  and  devote  everything  that  is  in  the 
city,  man  and  woman,  boy  and  gray-haired  sire, 
cattle,  sheep,  and  asses,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword 
(Gen.  xxxiv.  26,  and  very  often  in  our  book).  [On 

7  instrumenti,  see  Ges.  Lex.,  p.  501  e.  fin.]  — The 
miracle  here  related  has  been  explained  by  a  sud- 
den earthquake  (J.  D.  Michaelis  ;  Bartholm,  Jewish 
Histoni,  ii.  p.  22;  Jahn,  Bibl.  Archaolorjie,  ii.  p.  174 
ff).  "  But  nothing  of  that  stands  written  here  " 
(KnobelJ.  Nor  is  anything  said  of  undermining 
the  ivalls ;  manifestly  a  miracle  was  wrought,  accord- 
ing to  the  entire  view  of  the  author,  by  the  God  of 
"Israel  "  present  upon  the  ark  of  the  covenant." 
See  Doctrinal  and  Ethical  2. 

Vers.  22-25.  Rescue  of  Rahah.  This  is  effected 
in  consistency  with  the  promise,  and  oath  of  the 
spies. 

Ver.  22.  G-o  into  the  harlot's  house.  This 
house  appears  not  to  have  fallen,  although  it  Avas 
built  on  [or  against]  the  wall. 

Young  men.  The  Heb.  "^^^^  has  very  often 
this  signification.  Gen.  xxii.  3,  xxxiv.  19,  xxxvii. 
2  ;  Juiig.  viii.  20  ;  Jer.  vi.  6  ;  1  Sam.  xxx.  13  ;  LXX. 
Zvo  viaviffKOL ;  Vulg.  juvenes. 

Ver.  23.  And  left  them  without  tne  camp. 
After  the  analogy  of  Lev.  xxiv.  14,  Num.  xxxi.  19. 
They  were,  as  heathen,  unclean,  and  must  there- 
fore remain  for  a  specified  time,  probably,  as  in  the 
case  of  other  things  unclean,  seven  days,  without 
the  camp. 

Ver.  24  breaks  the  connection,  and  would  per- 
haps stand  better,  as  Knobel  conjectures,  before 
ver.  21.  [That  cattle  and  other  property  in  Jericho 
were  put  under  the  ban,  and  the  whole  city  reduced 
to  ashes,  was  "because  this  was  the  first  city  of 
Canaan  which  -Tchovah  had  given  a  prey  to  his 
people.  It,  therefore,  should  Israel  offer  .as  the  first- 
i'ruits  of  tiic  land  to  the  Lord,  and  even  consecrate 
to  Him  as  devoted,  for  a  .sign  that  they  received  the 
whole  land  from  his  hand,  as  a  loan  and  as  what 
liad  fallen  to  Him,  not  what  theyAvould  snatch  for 
themselves."  K-cil.  —  Tr.] 


Ver.  25  takes  up  again  the  thread  of  the  narra- 
tive concerning  Rahab's  position. 

She  dwelt  in  Israel.  See  the  Exegetical  and 
Honiiletieal  on  chap.  ii. 

Ver.  26.  Curse  upon  Jericho.  Since  a  devoted 
city  might  not,  according  to  Deut.  xiiii.  17,  be  re- 
built, Joshua  ])ronounces  an  imprecation  on  the 
foundation  and  soil  of  Jericho.  Such  a  curse,  as 
Strabo  says,  xiii.  p.  601,  Agamemnon  uttered  upon 
Ilium,  and  Scipio,  according  to  A])pian  (Punica,  § 
135  f.),  upon  Carthage  (Knohel).  In  connection 
with  this  they  used,  as  Hadrian  did  at  Jerusalem,  to 
plough  around  the  site  of  the  city  (Starke).  "  The 
Jews  also  probably  scattered  salt  over  the  place, 
.ludg.  ix.  45,  as  a  curse  and  sign  of  barrenness, 
Deut.  xxix.  22,  23 ;  Ps.  cvii.  33,  34  ;  Jer.  xvii.  6  ; 
Zech.  ii.  9,"  Starke.  Of  ploughing  and  sowing  s.alt 
there  is  no  mention  here,  but  so  much  the  more  im- 
pressive sounds  the  curse  which  Joshua  poetically 
utters.  That  this  curse  was  fulfilled  is  related  in 
1  Iv.  xvi.  34,  when  Hiel  of  Bethel  ventured  in 
Ahab's  time  to  rebuild  Jericho.  It  is  at  variance 
with  this  late  restoration  of  the  city  that  its  name 
reappears  in  our  book  ch.  xviii.  21  ;  Judg.  iii.  13  ;  2 
Sam.  X.  5.  The  difficulty  may  be  obviated  (a)  by 
.assuming,  with  Winer,  that  in  1  Iv.  xvi.  34  the 
language  relates  only  to  the  fortifications  of  Jericho, 

—  which  reference  of  the  word  "^^S  is  established 
by  1  K.  XV.  17  and  2  Chr.  xi.  5  —  and  that  Joshua 
himself  as  military  leader  had  respect  only  to  the 
fortifications;  or  (b)  by  availing  ourselves  of  the 
hypothesis  of  Knobel,  that  the  Jericho  spoken  of 
during  the  time  between  Joshua  and  Ah.ab  was  in 
a  different  pl.ace  from  that  which  Hiel  first  rebuilt. 
In  support  of  his  view  Knobel  recalls  that  neither 
Troy  nor  Carthage  was  built  uj)  again  on  the  old 
spot,  because  the  ground  of  both  places  had  been 
cursed.  For  the  rest,  Knobel  conceives  the  execra- 
tion in  the  special  form  which  it  had  received,  as 
wholly  vaticinium  ex  ecentu,  and  views  the  matter 
thus :  ( 1 )  Joshua  had  expressed  an  impi-ecation, 
but  a  "general  imprecation;"  (2)  This  general 
imprecation  was  known,  and  had  for  its  eflfectYhat 
when  Jericho  was  reliuilt  in  the  time  between 
Joshua  .and  David,  it  was  not  placed  on  the  old 
site;  (3)  the  rebuilding  on  the  old  site  was  effected 
under  Aliab,  by  Hiel,  who  lost  his  oldest  son  at  the 
time  of  laying  the  foundation  of  the  wall,  and  his 
youngest  at  the  setting  up  of  the  gate ;  (4)  the 
author  of  our  book  knew  of  these  occurrences,  an«i 
assumed  that  Joshua  had  not  only  uttered  a  gen- 
eral malediction,  but  had  extended  this  to  so  min- 
ute points  as  were  afterwards  brought  to  light. 
We  confess  that  we  hei-e  meet  too  many  hypotheses, 
and  therefore  stand  by  the  explanation  of  Winer, 
which  is  grammatically  well  cstablished- 

Ver.  27.  Joshua's   fame,  l^Dtt?,  Jos.  ix.  9. 


DOCTRINAL  AND   ETHICAL. 

In  order  to  determine  the  notion  of  C~!n,  we 
must  have  regard  above  all  to  the  passage  Lev.  xxvii. 
28,  29  :  "  Only  no  devoted   thing  (Q'Tin)  which  a 

man  shall  devote  (D~!n!)  to  Jehovah  of  all  that 
he  hath,  of  man  and  beast,  and  of  the  field  of  his 

possession,  shall  be  sold  or  redeemed  (  '?;*|!'"^  0) 
every  devoted  thing  is  most  holy  to  Jehovah.  No 
devoted  thing  which  is  devoted  by  men  shall  be 
redeemed ;  it  shall  surely  be  put  to  death."  Every- 


CHAPTER  \^, 


73 


.hing  else  of  man,  of  beast,  of  house,  of  field  which 
one  only  consecrated  to  Jehovali  (ly"^!?!)  might 
be  redeemed,  but  what  any  one  had  devoted,  that 
is,  given  over  to  complete  and  unconditional  sanc- 
tity, that  conkl  not  be  redeemed.  It  was,  as 
Ruetschi  says  {Realciicyk.  i.  p.  C77),  "a  doomed 
gift  "  (Baungeschenk),  an  object  laid  under  the  ban 

(DTIQ  in  its  first,  active  sense),  a  thing  most  holy 
to  Jehovali.  If  it  was  a  living  creature,  it  was, 
according  to  this  pi'eccpt  of  the  law,  put  to  death; 
if  it  was  a  piece  of  land  it  was  (as  we  may  rightly 
conclude  from  Lev.  xxvii.  21,  conip.  also  Num.  xviii. 
14;  Ezek.  xliv.  29)  the  jDOssession  of  the  priests; 
if  it  was  any  other  valuable  property  it  belonged,  as 
our  history  teaches  (ch.  vi.  19,  24)  and  as  is  shown 
also  by  Num.  xxxi.  54,  to  the  treasury  of  Jehovah. 
If  an  entire  city  like  Jericho  was  ])ut  under  the  ban, 
it  was  burnt  up  (Josh.  vi.  24  ;  x.  28,  35,  37,  40 ; 
xi.  11;  Num.  xxi.  1-3;  Ueut.  xiii.  16);  yet  not 
always,  Josh.  xi.  13,  asth.'y  also  sometimes  let  the 
cattle  live,  and  divided  them  as  booty  (Deut.  ii.  34  f , 
iii.  6  ff.,  and  Josh.  viii.  26  tf.).  Such  a  devotemcnt 
might  be,  as  Ruetschi  has  explained  with  special 
clearness,  directed  inwardlij,  on  the  people  of  Israel 
themselves,  comp.  ch.  vii.,  or  outwardly  against 
those  of  other  nations.  In  both  cases,  however, 
as  a  long  line  of  passages  (Ex.  xxii.  20;  Dent, 
xiii.  16  tf.,  ii.  34,  iii.  6;  Josh.  vi.  17  ff.,  etc.,  see 
above)  will  show,  the  destruction  of  everij  unholy, 
idolatrous  creature  was  the  design,  since  Israel  must 
be  a  holy  people.  The  latter  case,  the  outward 
direction  of  it,  is  met  with  earlier  in  the  history, 
but  with  special  frequency  in  our  book.  "  Dread- 
ful, certainly,"  says  Winer  (i.  135,  obs.  3),  "was 
such  devotemcnt  of  conquered  cities,  only  there  is 
no  good  reason  for  complaining  of  Hebrew  an- 
tiquity so  bitterly  as  Tindal,  JNlorgan,  and  others 
have  done.  Humanity  toward  prisoners  of  war, 
especially  toward  the  inhabitants  of  conquered 
cities,  was  unknown  to  the  ancient  nations  gen- 
erally. Every  war  was  at  first  a'  war  of  annihila- 
tion, and  that  treatment  of  the  Canaanitish  towns 
was,  on  political,  and  (in  the  sense  of  that  age) 
religious  grounds,  as  truly  demanded,  as  is  very 
much  besides  which  even  civilized  and  Christian 
nations  hold  valid,  as  flowing  from  the  right  of 
conquest." 

The  destruction  of  these  Canaanite  cities  fol- 
lowed upon  an  immediate,  divine  direction  (Ex. 
xvii.  14;  Deut.  vii.  2;  xx.  16;  1  Sam.  xv.  3),  at 
another  time,  the- Israelites  vow  the  same  (Num. 
xxi.  2).  Again  in  other  cases,  the  devotemcnt,  in 
its  inward  direction  and  in  its  outward,  takes  place 
in  consequence  of  appointments  of  the  law  (Lev. 
XX.  2  ;  Deut.  xiii.  16  if.).  By  this  a  limit  was  set 
to  all  caprice,  for,  the  holiness  of  Israel  in  rigid 
separation' from  everything  of  a  heathen  nature, 
and  from  every  abomination  of  idolatry  (Ex. 
xxiii.  32  ;  Deut.  xx.  18),  was  to  be  the  only  ground 
of  the  ban.  Otherwise  every  murdci-er  might  with 
hypocritical  mien  have  appealed  to  such  a  devote- 
mcnt of  his  neighbor.  He  who  seized  upon  any- 
thing for  himself  that  had  been  devoted  paid  the 
penalty  with  his  life  (Josh.  vi.  18  ;  Deut.  xiii.  17  ; 
Josh.  vii.  11  ff.) 

By  these  views  we  must  interpret  the  expression 
.■>f  the  high-pi-iest  (John  xi.  49,  50),  and  so  also  St. 
Paul's  designation  (Gal.  iii.  10)  of  the  crucified 
Redeemer,  as  Kardpa. 

Finally  we  may  mention  that  similar  statutes 
were  in  force  among  the  Gauls  and  ancient  Ger- 
mans ;  and  to  the  Romans  and  Greeks  they  were 
not  at  all  strange.     Caesar  relates  of  the  Gauls 


{Bell.  Gall.  vi.  17):  "  Huic  {sc.  Marti)  quum 
prictio  dimicare  conslituerunt,  ea,  quie  bello  cepe- 
riiU,  pleriimque  devovent.  Quae,  snperaverint,  ani- 
inalia  capta  immolant ;  reliquas  res  in  unum  locum 
conferunt.  Midtis  in  civilatibus  harum  rerum  ex- 
tructos  tumidos  locis  coiisecralis  conspicari  licet; 
nfqne  scvpe  accidit,  ut,  neglecta  quispiam  religione, 
aut  capta  apud  se  occultare,  ant  posita  tollere  auderet ; 
qravlssinuuuque  ei  rei  supplicium  cum  cruciatu  con- 
stitutuni  est."  The  practice  therefore  was  .similar 
to  what  happened  in  the  case  of  Achan,  the  pen- 
alty of  death  for  theft  of  what  had  been  devoted. 
Tacitus  {A7inal.  xni.  57)  tells  concerning  the 
Hermunduri,  that  a  war  in  which  they  had  been 
engaged  with  the  Catti  had  turned  out  fortunately 
for  the  former,  for  the  latter  ruinously  (exitiosius)  ; 
"  quia  victores  divtrsain  aciem  Marti  ac  Mercurio 
sacravere,  quo  voto,  iqui,  viri,  cuncta  victa  occidioni 
dantur."  Livy  (iii.  55)  recalls  a  la^v  passed  under 
the  consuls  L.  Valerius  and  M.  Horatius  :  "  Ut  qui 
tribunis  plehis,  ceddibus,  judicibus,  dfcemviris  nocu- 
isset,  ejus  caput  Jovi  sacrum  esset;  familia  ad 
oidem  Cereris,  Liberi,  Libera'que  venum  iret."  We 
may  remember  further  the  vi-r  sacrum,  so  beauti 
fully  described  by  Uhland  in  his  fiimiliar  poem, 
and  the  burning  up  of  a  part  of  the  spoils,  to 
consecrate  them  to  the  gods,  as  was  also  done 
in  Roman  antiquity  (Appian,  Pun.  ch.  cxxxiii  ; 
MIthr.  ch.  xlv.).  Similar  is  the  taboo  of  the  South 
Sea  islanders,  a  ban  the  violation  of  which  was 
punished  with  death.  See  the  Ccdwer  Missions- 
Geschiclde  by  Blumhardt,  ii.  pp.  238,  243.  [Mur- 
ray's Encijc.  of  Geoq.  iii.  p.  156;  Cook's  Voyages 
(2  vols.  Lond."  1842)",  vol.  ii.  pp.  112,  113,  255,  and 
often.] 

2.  The  fall  of  the  walls  of  Jericho  is  just  as 
much  I'cferi'ed  to  the  immediate  causality  of  God, 
as  the  miraculous  passage  of  the  Israelites  through 
the  Jordan.  It  is  a  soulless  expedient,  therefore, 
to  think  of  an  undermining  of  the  walls.  Much 
rather  might  we  approve  the  resort  to  an  earth- 
quake, because  in  such  a  natural  event  the  divine 
agency  is  directly  involved.  But  there  is  nothing 
said  of  that  in  the  text,  and  it  is  therefore  best  sim- 
ply to  recognize  the  fact.  It  was  for  the  Canaan- 
ites  a  terror,  to  the  Israelites  a  most  cheering  sign 
of  the  continued  presence  of  God  with  his  people. 
For  ns  its  symboHcal  significance  is  not  to  be 
lightly  estimated,  especially  for  those  among  us  to 
whom  the  Bible  is  indeed  precious  but  much  of 
what  is  related  in  it  difilcult  to  receive,  —  really 
earnest  Christians,  whom  we  should  not  on  this 
account  (as  is,  alas,  so  commonly  done)  immedi- 
ately characterize  as  infidels.  This  name,  indeed, 
it  would  in  general  be  far  better  to  apply  somewhat 
more  sparingly,  unless  all  investigation  of  Scripture 
is  to  be  threatened  with  the  ban: 

["  By  this  "  (namely,  its  occurrence,  through  the 
direct  efficiency  of  God),  "the  fall  of  Jericho  be- 
came the  image  and  type  of  the  fall  of  every  world- 
])ower  before  the  Lord,  when  He  comes  to  lead  his 
people  into  Canaan  and  to  establish  his  kingdom 
on  earth.  On  the  ground  of  this  fact  it  is,  that 
the  blast  of  the  trumpet  becomes,  in  the  writings 
of  the  prophets,  the  signal  and  symbolical  prog- 
nostic of  the  revelations  of  the  Lord  in  the  great 
judgments  by  which  He,  through  the  destruction 
of  one  world-power  after  the  other,  maintains  and 
extends  his  kingdom  on  earth,  and  carries  it  on- 
ward toward  perfection.  This  it  will  reach  when 
He  descends  from  heaven  in  his  glory  at  the  time 
of  the  last  trumpet,  with  a  shout,  with  the  a  oice 
of  the  archangel  and  trump  of  God,  to  raise  the 
dead  and  change  the  living,  to  hold  the  j  idgment 


74 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


of  the  world  and  cast  the  devil,  and  death,  and 
hell  into  the  lake  of  fire,  to  create  heaven  and  earth 
anew,  and  in  the  New  Jernsalem  to  set  uj)  the  tab- 
ernacle of  God  with  men  forever  and  ever."  ( I  Cor. 
XV.  51  fF. ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16  f. ;  Apoc.  xx.  and  xxi.) 
Keil. 

"  By  ordering  that  the  walls  of  Jericho  should 
fall  only  after  the  circuit  of  the  city  during  seven 
days,  and  on  the  seventh  day  seven  t'unvs  with  tlie 
sound  of  the  alarm-trumpets  and  the  war-cry  of 
the  warriors  of  God's  people,  God  would  make 
this  city,  the  key  of  Canaan,  a  type  of  the  final  de- 
struction of  the  powers  of  this  world  which  stand 
in  hostile  opposition  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  By 
this  would  He  not  only  intimate  to  his  people  that 
not  immediately,  but  after  protracted  and  patient 
struggles,  filially  at  the  end  of  the  M'orld,  will  the 
hostile  world-])ower  be  subdued,  but  also  hint  to 
the  enemies  of  his  kingdom,  that  their  strength, 
although  they  may  long  resist,  yet  at  last  will 
perish  in  a  moment."     Keil.  —  Tr.] 

3.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  how  the  Redeemer  has 
signalized  Jericho.  Here  he  entered  into  the  house 
of  Zacchajus  (Luke  xix.  5,  9) ;  here  he  healed  Bar- 
timeus  of  his  blindness  (Mar.  x.  46,  52  ;  Luke  xviii. 
35) ;  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  city  he  repeated 
the  announcement  of  his  sufferings  (Luke  xviii. 
31;  Matt.  XX.  28).  He  thinks  of  Jericho  in  the 
parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  (Luke  x.  .30).  Then 
Jericho  was  a  prominent  city  by  reason  of  Herod's 
magnificent  buildings  there  ;  now  it  is  a  miserable 
village.     [See  the  referi^nces  on  ch.  ii.  1.] 

4.  As  the  blessing  operates  in  its  effects  through 
centuries,  so  not  less  does  the  curse,  when  a  moral 
justification  accompanies  it.  The  curse  upon 
Jericho  was  the  curse  upon  everything  of  an  idol- 
atrous nature,  u])on  the  Canaanite  race  with  all  its 
heathenish  abominations ;  it  was  therefore  a  theo- 
cratic curse  on  sin  itself.  Such  a  curse  Paul 
utters,  on  the  principles  of  the  N.  T.,  against  all 
teachers  of  error  and  corruptors  of  the  congrega- 
tion (1  Cor.  xvi.  22  ;  Gal.  i.  8),  with  the  same  pro- 
priety as  did  Joshua.  The  more  the  leaven  of 
Christianity  spreads  and  pervades  all  things,  the 
less  occasion  shall  we  have  for  cursing ;  Ave  shall 
have  occasion  rather  for  praising  God  and  blessing 
the  brethren.  But  he  who  sees  everywhere  only 
apostasy  and  error,  who  will  not  perceive  that  even 
now  salvation  is  nearer  to  us  than  before,  he  will 
doubtless  rather  curse  than  bless,  as  in  feet  not 
only  ultramontane  Catholics,  but  also  some  profes- 
sing Protestantism  abundantly  do.  But  they  are 
no  Joshuas,  neither  of  them.  Their  glance  reaches 
not  even  into  the  near  future,  to  say  nothing  of  dis- 
tant ages.  So  their  sentences  of  curse  die  away  in 
silence,  to  our  great  comfort,  because  they  have 
no  moral  justification. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  closed  and  barred  Jericho  an  image  (1)  of 
a  closed  heart;  (2)  of  a  closed  house;  (.3)  of  a 
closed  congregation. — As  the  Lord  gave  Jericho 
into  the  hand  of  Joshua,  so  He  still  always  gives 
every  closed  heart,  and  every  closed  house,  and 
every  closed  congregation  (or  even  city)  into  the 
hand  of  his  servants.  —  The  trump  of  the  year  of 
jubilee  and  the  trump  of  Judgment.  —  Before  the 
war-shout  of  the  sjiiritual  Israel  fall  all  the  walls 
which  the  world  has  reared  for  its  own  defense, 
especially  the  walls  of  self-righteousness  behind 
which  sin  pursues  its  courses.  —  The  procession 
wound  Jericho,  (1)  silent,  (2)  but  with  the  accom- 


paniment of  trumpet  blasts,  a  procession  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  (iod  of  Israel.  —  The  capture  of 
Jericho,  (1)  well  prepared  for  by  Joshua,  (2)  glori- 
ously accomplished  hj  God's  almighty  power. 
The  dawn  of  the  seventh  day  a  dawn  of  victory. 
The  confidence  of  Josiiua's  fitith.  —  Shout,  ibr  God 
has  given  you  the  city.  —  The  holy  curse.  —  The 
holy  deliverance  (ver.  17.)  — Judgment  and  mercy 
shown  by  the  devotement  of  Jericho  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  by  the  deliverance  of  Rahab. 
—  Kec])  yourselves  from  that  which  is  devoted.  — 
The  treasure  of  the  Lord,  cohsisting  (l)in  Israel, 
in  gold  and  silver,  and  brass  (2)  among  us,  in  the 
holy  gospel  of  the  blessed  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  — 
The  walls  fell  down  flat !  0,  how  shall  we  rejoice 
when  one  day  all  the  walls  which  jtroud  worldli- 
ness  has  built  fall  down,  even  those  which  statutes 
have  erected  —  the  walls  of  cloisters  and  the  walls 
of  Rome  !  —  The  glorious  victory  of  the  people,  a 
condemnation  at  the  same  time  of  Jericho.  —  The 
rescue  of  Rahab  considered  in  reference  (1)  to  her 
person  (description  of  her  character  according  to 
ch.  ii.,  Heb.  xi.  31;  Ja.  ii.  25);  (2)  to  the  con- 
scientiousness of  Joshua,  who  would  have  the  word 
which  had  been  given  kept;  (3)  to  the  future  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  (Rahab  from  among  the 
heathen,  the  mother  of  a  family,  and  what  is  con- 
nected with  that :  Rahab  the  heathen  woman  is 
received  into  Israel,  that  througli  Israel  the  heathen 
also  might  be  saved). —  The  imprecation  upon  Jer- 
icho ;  (1)  a  well  deserved  sentence;  hence  (2)  ful- 
filled as  a  prophetic  word,  when  Hiel  again  built 
the  city,  1  K.  xvi.  34.  —  Rather  bless  than  curse, 
because  we  are  Christians.  —  Men  not  to  be  cursed, 
but  only  sin. 

Starke  :  That  is  the  way  of  the  sons  of  this 
world ;  seeing  need  and  danger  at  the  door  they 
resort  only  to  human  plans  and  expedients  for 
escape,  when  they  ought  to  betake  themselves  to 
God  and  seek  shelter  with  him,  Jer.  xviii.  11  ;  Ps. 
1.  15.  —  To  build  fortresses  and  to  fly  thither  in 
time  of  need  is  not  indeed  wrong  in  itself,  but  let 
not  one  trust  too  much  in  them,  because  without 
God  no  inclosure  can  help,  Hos.  viii.  14 ;  Ps. 
cxxvii.  1.  —  Those  who  sit  at  the  helm  should  not 
sleep  at  mid-day,  but  be  up  betimes,  and  attend  to 
their  duties,  Rom.  xii.  7.  —  A  believing  and  fervent 
prayer  is  the  true  war-shout  by  which  we  may  con- 
quer our  spiritual  foes  and  destroy  the  devil's  king- 
dom. Christian  brother,  avail  thyself  of  that  there- 
fore with  diligence  (Eph.  vi.  18). 

Hedinger  :  Every  carnal  heart  is  a  closed  Jer- 
icho ;  God  sits  down  before  it  and  shoots  mercy 
and  grace  up  against  its  walls.  Well  for  those 
who  do  not  harden  themselves  ! 

Cramer  :  God's  promises  are  as  certain  as  if 
they  had  already  been  fulfilled  and  gone  into  effect, 
2  Cor.  i.  20  ;  Ps.  xxxiii.  4.  —  God  thinks  also  of 
compassion  when  He  is  most  angry,  for  in  the  midst 
of  wrath  He  is  gracious,  Gen.  vi.  8,  11, 12,  13  f — 
What  God  ctxrses  no  man  must  bless,  and  what 
God  blesses  let  no  man  curse.  Num.  xxiii.  8 ;  1  K. 
xvi.  34. 

Gerlach  :  Through  the  silence  of  the  people  it 
should  be  more  clearly  manifest  that  it  was  the 
Lord  who  fought  for  Israel.  Plxereiscd  in  foith, 
uniler  the  scorn  of  their  foes  should  the  strength 
granted  them  by  God  be  kept  till  the  moment  of 
action. 

[(J.  R.  B. :  In  the  progress  of  his  spiritual  king- 
dom also  God  has  chosen  to  employ  means  for 
vancpushing  the  strongholds  of  unbelief  and 
worldliness  very  different  from  what  would  sug- 
gest themselves  to  human  contrivance.    But  God'a 


CHAPTER   VII.  75 


"  foolishness  "  in  this,  as  we  might  be  sure  before- 
hand, has  proved  itself  wiser  than  all  the  wis- 
dom of  men,  and  alone  efficacious  in  subduing  the 
proud  and  bolted  heart  to  repentance  and  the  trust- 
ful acceptance  of  Christ's  gracious  rule,  1  Cor.  i.  18- 


25.  Therefore  let  Israel  only  persevere  in  sound- 
ing the  gospel  trumpet,  patient  under  delays  but 
constant  in  the  wondrous,  even  though  despised, 
proclamation,  and  in  due  time  tlie  stoutest  walls 
of  opposition  shall  fall  flat.  —  Tk.] 


2.  Achan's  Theft. 

Chapter   VII. 
a.  The  Crime. 

1  But  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  committed  a  trespass  in  the  accursed  thing  ['in 
respect  to  what  was  devoted]  :  for  [and]  Achan,  the  son  of  Carmi,  the  son  of 
Zabdi,  the  son  of  Zerah,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  took  of  the  accursed  thing  [of  what 
was  devoted]  :  and  the  anger  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  was  kindled  against  the  chil- 
dren [sons]  of  Israel. 

b.  Its  evil  Effects  in  the  unfortunate  Expedition  against  Ai. 
Chapter  VII.  2-5. 

2  And  Joshua  sent  men  froin  Jericho  to  Ai,  wliich  is  beside  Beth-aven,  on  the  east 
side  of  Beth-el,  and  spake  unto  them,  saying.  Go  up  and  view  the  coixntry  [spy 

3  out  the  land].  And  the  men  went  up,  and  viewed  [spied  out]  Ai.  And  they  re- 
turned to  Joshua,  and  said  unto  him,  Let  not  all  the  people  go  up  ;  but  [omit :  but] 
let  about  two  or  three  thousand  men  go  up  and  smite  Ai :  and  [omit :  and]  make 

4  not  all  the  people  to  labour  thither ;  for  they  are  but  [omit :  but]  few.  So  [And] 
there  went  up  thither  of  the  people  about  three  thousand  men  :  and  they  fled  before 

5  the  men  of  Ai.  And  the  men  of  Ai  smote  of  them  about  thirty  and  six  men  :  for 
[and]  they  chased  theu^  from  before  tlie  gate  even  unto  Shebarim,  and  smote  them 
in  the  going  down :  wherefore  [and]  the  hearts  of  the  people  melted,  and  became 
as  [omit :  as]  water. 

c.  Joshua's  humble  Prayer  and  God's  Answer  thereto. 
Chapter  VII.  6-15. 

6  And  Joshua  rent  his  clothes,  and  fell  to  the  earth  upon  his  face  before  the  ark  of 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  until  the  even-tide,  he  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  put  dust 

I  upon  their  heads.  And  Joshua  said,  Alas  !  O  Lord  God  [Jehovah],  wherefore 
hast  thou  at  all  brought  this  people  over  [the]  Jordan,  to  deliver  us  into  the  hand 
of  the  Amorites,  to  destroy  us  ?  would  to  God  [O  that]  we  had  been  content,  and 

8  dwelt  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan.  0  Lord  [Fay :  Pray,  Lord ;  Bunsen  : 
Forgive,  Lord ;  De  Wette :  Pray,  my  Lord],  what  shall  I  say,  when  Israel  turneth 

9  their  backs  [has  turned  the  back]  before  their  [his]  enemies  ?  For  the  Canaanites 
[Canaanite],  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  shall  hear  of  it,  and  shall  environ 
us  round,  and  cut  off  our  name  from  the  earth :  and  what  will  thou  do  unto  thy 
great  name  ? 

10  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua:  Get  thee  up;  wherefore  liest  thou 

II  thus  upon  thy  face?  Israel  hath  sinned,  and  they  have  also  transgressed  my  cove- 
nant which  I  commanded  them ;  for  [and]  they  have  even  [also  ■'■]  taken  of  the  ac- 
cursed [devoted]  thing,  and  have  also  stolen,  and  dissembled  also,  and  they  have 

12  put  it  even  [also  put  it]  among  their  own  stuff.  Therefore  the  children  [sons] 
of  Israel  could  not  stand  before  their  enemies,  but  turned  their  backs  before 
their  enemies,  because  they  were  accursed  [have  become  a  devoted  thing] :  neither 
will  I  be  with  you  any  more,  except  ye  destroy  the  accursed  [devoted]  thing  from 

13  among  you.  Up,  sanctify  the  people,  and  say,  Sanctify  yourselves  against  to- 
morrow :  for  thus  saith  the  Lord  [.Jehovah]  God  of  Israel,  There  is  an  accursed 
[a  devoted]  thing  in  the  midst  of  thee,  O  Israel :  thou  canst  not  stand  before 
thine  enemies,  until  ye  have  put  away  the  accursed  [devoted]  thing  from  among 

_4  you.     In  the  morning  therefore  [^Vnd  in  the  morning]  ye  shall  be  brought  accord- 


76 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


ing  to  your  tribes  :  and  it  shall  be,  that  the  tribe  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  taketh 
shall  come  according  to  the  families  thereof ;  and  the  family  which  the  Lord  [.Je- 
hovah]   sliall  take    [taketh]    .shall  come  by    [the]   households  ;  and  the  household 

15  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  shall  take  [taketh]  shall  come  man  by  man.  And  it 
shall  be,  that  he  that  is  taken  with  the  accursed  [devoted]  thing  shall  be  burnt 
with  fire,  he  and  all  that  he  hath :  because  he  hath  transgressed  the  covenant  of  the 
Lord  [Jehovah],  and  because  he  hath  wrought  folly  in  Israel. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMJIATICAL. 

[1  Ver    11.  —  cm  repeated  to  the  fifth  time  very  emphatically  distinguishes  the  several  momenta  of  their  crime  : 
.     .     .     .     siuued,  auJ  also  taken     ....     and  also  stolen,  and  also  dissembled,  and  also  put  it,  etc.     See  Exeg. 

Note.  —  Tr.] 

d.  Discovery  and  Punishment  of  Achan  the  Transgressor. 
Chapter  VII.  16-26. 

16  So  Joshua  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  brought  Israel  by  their  tribes  ;  and 

17  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  taken :  And  he  brought  the  iixmily  [Fay :  families  "]  of 
Judah  ;  and  he  took  the  family  of  the   Zarhites  [of  Zarhi]  :  and  he  brought  the 

18  fiimily  of  the  Zarhites  [of  Zarhi]  man  by  man;''  and  Zabdi  was  taken:  And  he 
brought  his  household  man  by  man  ;  and  Achan  the  son  of  Carmi,  the  son  of  Zabdi, 
the  son  of  Zerah,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was  taken., 

19  And  Joshua  said  unto  Achan,  My  son,  give,  I  pray  thee,  glory  to  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  God  of  Israel,  and  make  confession  unto  him  [Gesen. ;  so  De  Wette  and 
Bunsen  ;  Fay :  give  him  [the]   praise] ;  and  tell  me  now  what  thou  hast  done, 

20  hide  it  not  from  me.  And  Achan  answered  Joshua,  and  said,  Indeed  I  have 
sinned  against  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel,  and  thus  and  thus  have  I  done. 

21  When  [And  ^]  I  saw  among  the  spoils  a  goodly  Babylonish  garment  [mantle  of 
Sliinar],  and  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and  a  wedge  [tongue]  of  gold  of  tifty  she- 
kels weight,  then  [and]  I  coveted  them,  and  took  them,  and  behold  they  are  hid  in  the 

22  earth  in  tlie  midst  of  my  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it.  So  Joshua  sent  messengers, 
and  tliey  ran  unto  the  tent,  and  behold,  it  tvas  hid  in  his  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it. 

23  And  they  took  them  out  of  the  midst  of  the  tent,  and  brought  them  unto  Joshua, 
and  unto  all  the  children  of  Israel,  and  laid  them  out  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah]. 

24  And  Joshua,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  took  Achan  the  son  of  Zerah,  and  the  silver, 
and  the  garment  [mantle],  and  the  wedge  of  gold,  and  his  sons,  and  his  daughters, 

25  and  his  oxen,  and  his  asses,  and  his  sheep,  and  liis  tent,  and  all  that  he  had: 
and  they  brought  them  unto  the  valley  of  Achor.  And  Joshua  said.  Why  hast  thou 
troubled  us  ?  [or.  What  trouble  hast  thou  brought  upon  us  ?]  The  Lord  [Jehovah] 
shall  trouble  thee  this  day.    And  all  Israel  stoned  him  with  stones,  and  they  burned 

26  them  with  fire,  after  they  had  stoned  [and  pelted]  them  with  stones.  And  they 
raised  over  him  a  great  heap  of  stones  unto  this  day.  So  [And]  the  Loixl  [Jehovah] 
turned  from  the  fierceness  of  his  anger :  wherefore  the  name  of  that  place  was 
called.  The  valley  of  Achor,  unto  this  day. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  21.  —  nS'nS^.  The  "l  is  as  nearly  redundant  here  probably  as  it  ever  is  (it  is  treated  as  if  it  were  entirely 
so  by  De  Wette,  Zuiiz,  and  Fay),  aiid  yet  is  not  redundant.  It  betrays  the  confusion  of  thought  in  which  Achan  spoke: 
Thus  and  thus  have  I  done  :  and  I  saw  ....  and  I  coveted  them,  etc. 

The  manner  in  wliicli  our  version,  and  perhaps  all  others,  not  uufrequently  substitute  a  conditional  sentence  ("  when 
I  saw  ;  then  I  coveted)  for  two  coordinate,  copulative  sentences  of  narration  ("  and  I  saw  —  and  I  coveted  ")  sometimes 
gives  a  welcome  variety  to  the  monotonous  succession  of  copulative  clauses  with  which  the  Hebrew  is  content ;  but  by 
just  so  much  it  misrepresents  the  child-like  artlcssness  of  the  Hebrew.  It  is  scarcely  ever  exactly  equivalent  to  the  original 
expression  of  the  thoughts.  It  is  strictly  allowable  only  when,  if  ever,  the  former  of  two  facts  may  be  assum'^d  as  known 
or  obvious,  and  the  latter  is  to  be  represented  in  its  dependence  upon  that.  —  Tr.] 


a  Different    Codd.,    the    LXX.,    the    Vulg.,   instead     of 

nn^n;'  nn^tt^^a  read  r^^^^^n\  nnstrn,  which 

pointing  we  follow  with  Keil  and  Bunsen.  [But  it  seems 
sufficient  and  quite  consistent  with  the  principle  of  the  fol- 
lowing foot-note  to  understand  nn^T^'ti  to  be  "  used 
laxly  for  iribe,  t^ntt.'.      Gesen.  —  Tr.] 


b  Different  Codd.,  some  old  editions,  the  Syr.,  Vulg.,  have 

instead  of  D'*~l3!!t  ,  the  reading  C^IJIS^  to  make  an 
agreement  with  ver.  16.  But  since  the  former  is  the  more 
difficult  reading  we  hold  fast  to  it  with  Keil  t  nd  Bunsen 
See  Exegctical  Notes. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


77 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

a.  Ver.  1.  The  Crime  of  Achan.  The  very  first 
words  with  which  the  account  of  Achan 's  theft 
begins  show  that  the  sin  of  the  individual  is  re- 
garded as  compromising  all ;  for  it  is  said :  The 
children  of  hrael   committed    a    trespass   iu   that 

which  was   devoted.    V^Q    signifies   properly  to 

cover,  from  which  v'^l^P  a  mantle ;  hence  to  act 
underhandedly,  treacherously,  Prov.  xvi.  10 ;  2 
Chron.  xxvi.  18;  xxix.  6,  19;  Neh.  i.  8;  specially 
frequent  in  the  combination  which  we  find  here 

Vl7^   71'^  =  to  sin  through  falsehood,  treachery, 

namely,  Hin^?,  l  Chron.  v.  2.5;  x.  13;  2  Chron. 

xii.   2,  here    □~in:}    therefore  indirectly  mrT'S 
eh.  xxii.  20 ;  1  Chron.  ii.  7. 
Achan.     In  1   Chron.  ii.  7   the  man  is   called 

"13V  =  the  troubler,  with  which  chaps,  vi.  18 ;  vii. 
26,  may  be  compared.  "  Josephus  also  calls  him, 
therefore,  "Axapos,  the  LXX.  in  Cod.  Vat.  "Axap, 
while  Cod.  Alex,  has  "Ax^y"  (Keil).  Stier  and 
Theile's  polyglott  reads  with  Vat.  "Axap-  Instead 
of  Zabdi  we  read  in  1  Cli.  ii.  6  Zimri,  arising  per- 
ha])s,  as  Keil  supposes,  from  confounding  letters. 

Then  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was  kindled 
against  the  children  of  Israel.  Luther :  "  was 
fierce;  "but  "  blazed,"  "  was  kindled  to  ablaze," 
is  perhaps  more  adequately  suggestive,  since  the 
anger  itself  is  regarded  as  a  flame  which  blazes  up 
and  turns  its  destructive  force  in  this  or  that  di- 
rection. It  is  said  concerning  men  :  Gen.  iv.  5  ; 
2  Sam.  xiu  5  ;  Ex.  xxxii.  19,  22;  1  Sam.  xviii.  8; 
XX.  7  and  often  ;  Acts  xvii.  16 ;  but  by  preference 
concerning  God;  Num.  xi.  1,  10;  xxii.  22;  Job 
xix.  11  ;  xlii.  7;  Zech.  x.  3;  Hab.  iii.  8.  In  the 
N.  T.  also  concerning  Christ,  John  xi.  33,  38  ; 
God  himself  is  a  consuming  fire;  Ex.  xxiv.  17  ; 
Deut.  iv.  24  ;  ix.  3 ;  Heb.  xii.  29.  Fire  goes  be- 
fore him  :  Deut.  ix.  3 ;  Joel  ii.  3  ;  Ps.  xviii.  9,  16. 
His  anger  is  therefore  a  destructive  anger  when  it 
is  revealed  from  heaven  against  the  unrighteous- 
ness of  men,  Rom.  i.  18.  Here  it  blazes  not 
agajnst  Achan  only,  but  against  the  whole  people, 
because  Achan,  a  member  of  the  people,  has 
through  his  crime  brought  the  whole  peojjle  into  a 
partnership  of  suffering.  The  consequences  of  his 
deed  show  themselves  immediately  iu  the  unfor- 
tunate expedition  against  Ai. 

b.  Vers.  2-5.  Its  evil  Effects  in  the  xinfortunate 
Expedition  against  Ai.  Joshua  sends  men  from 
Jericho  to  Ai,  to  explore  the  land,  pursuing  the 
same  course  as  before  (eh.  ii.).  They  bring  back  a 
favorable  report,  advise  to  let  only  two  or  three 
thousand  men  go  forward,  and  persuade  Joshua 
so  to  do.  The  ill  success  of  the  movement  shows 
that  they  had  underrated  the  strength  of  Ai.i  Al- 
though the  loss  of  thirty-six  men  is  comparatively 
small,  the  people  are  disheartened.  Their  heart 
melts  and  becomes  water. 

Ver.  2.  Ai,  Beth-aven,  ch.  xviii.  23.  —  Bethel, 
Kviii.  13. 

Ver.  3.  They  are  few.  According  to  ch.  viii. 
25,  Ai  had  12,000  inhabitants.  The  scouts  had  not 
estimated  rightly. 

Ver.  5.  ShebarLm.  D'^'^^t^',  probably  "stone 
quarries  "  which  lay  in  that  vicinity  but  have  not 

1  [And  yet  the  subsequent  statement  (viii.  25)  that  the 
entire  population  of  the  city  amounted  to  only  twelve  thou- 
laud,  would  imply  on  general  principles  that  a  few  thousand 


yet  been  found  by  travellers,  while  there  are  such 
near  Anathoth,  according  to  Robinson  (ii.  110),  and 
Toltler  ( Topo/raphi/  of  Jerusalem,  ii.  p.  395,  in 
Knobel).  Noticeable  is  the  translation  of  the  LXX. 
ecus   (Tvverpi-il/av  avrous,  which  supposes  instead  of 

the  Masoretic  Cn^tt^H"!?  the  reading  ~1'^ 
D'^"1*'Sti7rT.  According  to  that  the  defeat  should 
have  been  total,  and  the  discouragement  of  the  peo- 
ple more  intelligible  than  when  only  the  thirty-six 
were  lost. 

"Wherefore  the  heart  of  the  people  njplted  and 
became  water.  Ch.  ii.  1 1  ;  v.  1  ;  Deut.  i.  28.  A 
very  striking  addition  :  "  became  water."  Is  it, 
perhaps,  that  they  wept  1 

c.  Ver.  6-16.  Joshua's  humble  Prayer  and  God's 
Answer  thereto.  The  section  falls  into  two  divisions  : 
(a.)  Ver.  6-9.  Filled  with  deep  distress,  Joshua, 
with  the  elders  of  Israel,  falls  down  before  the  ark 
of  God,  and  continues  with  them  in  penitent  prayer 
till  evening.  (6.)  Ver.  10-15.  God  answers  that 
there  is  one  devoted  among  the  Israelites,  who 
must  be  destroyed,  after  he  has  been  discovei-ed  by 
casting  lots. 

a.  Ver.  6-9,  Joshua's  Praj/er. 

Ver.  6.  And  Joshua  rent  his  clothes.  A 
sign  of  mourning  and  distress.  The  clothes  were 
torn  in  front  over  the  breast,  yet  not  for  more  than 
a  hand-breadth  (Othon.  Lex.  Rabb.  p.  360,  apud 
Winer).  The  custom  appears  also  among  Greeks 
and  Romans.  Suet.  C'ces.  33  {veste  a  pectore  dis- 
cissa).  In  the  O.  T.  many  passages  remind  us  of 
it,  yet  in  Winer  precisely  the  passage  before  us  is 
wanting.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  2  Sam.  iii.  31, 
tlie  rending  of  the  garments  is  commanded  by  the 
king,  "  but  it  is  no  more  strange,"  as  Winer  well 
observes,  "  than  if  among  us,  on  the  death  of  the 
ruler  of  the  land,  the  mode  of  personal  mourning 
were  prescribed  by  an  edict."  Tearing  the  clothes 
had  gradually  become  among  the  Jews,  as  we  can 
not  but  think,  the  fashion  in  mourning,  precisely  as 
among  us  the  wearing  of  black  garments  and  crape 
liadges  for  a  specified  time.  [See  Bibl.  Diet.  art. 
"  Mourning.".]  Hence  the  prophet  Joel  admonishes 
the  people  :  "  Rend  your  hearts  and  not  your  gar- 
ments" (ii.  13).  Rut  when  the  high-priest  (Matt, 
xxvi.  65),  or  Paul  and  Rarnabas  tear  their  clothes 
(Acts  xiv.  14),  it  was  in  the  deepest  displeasure, 
when  the  feelings  were  excited,  since  such  a  state 
is  related  to  mourning. 

Dust.  Likewise  a  sign  of  mourning^  1  Sam.  ir. 
12  ;  2  Sam.  i.  2  ;  Lam.  ii.  10,  and  often,  Iliad  xviii. 
23  ff. ;  xxiv.  164. 

Ver.  7.  Joshua  first  asks  God  why  He  has 
brought  his  people  over  the  Jordan,  if  *He  would 
now  destroy  them ;  for  it  would  have  been  better 
if  they  had  been  content  to  stay  in  the  land  east  of 
that  river. 

"Would  that  we  had  been  content  and  dwelt 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan.  Luther :  O 
that  we  had  remained  on  the  other  side  of  the  Jor- 
dan as  we  had  commenced,  —  the  ut  coepimus  of  the 

Vulgate,  by  which  ^3  /SIH  is  translated.  Un- 
questionably v'^Sin  means  to  commence,  and  is 
eleven  times  rendered  by  the  LXX.,  according  to 
Gesenius,  apxa/j-ai ;  here,  however,  as  Judg.  xix.  6, 
xvii.  11,  it  means,  to  let  one's  self  be  pleased,  and 
with  the  accessory  notion,  of"  to  be  content."  The 
translation  of  the  Vulgate  and  of  Luther  is  tame, 

chosen  warriors  would  bo  sufficient  to  overcome  its  military 
force.  Something  must  be  allowed  for  the  effect  rf  the  Jl- 
i  vine  displeasure.  —  'i'R.j 


78 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


while  tlieLXX.  hits  the  correct  sense  :  Ei  Kar^/xeiva- 
Ufv  Kol  KaTuiKiadrj/xiP  Trapa  rliv  'lopSduriv. 

Vcr.  8.  Comiiuiatiun  of  tlic  comijhiiiit,  with  tlie 
additiouiil  element  that  Israel  has  jied  before  his 
enemies. 

Ver.  9.  Portrays  tlie  great  danger  if  the  Ca- 
naanites  hear  of  this,  and  iinally,  ver.  10  :  "  What 
wilt  thou  do  for  thy  great  name  .'  God  himself  is, 
as  it  were,  coneerned. 

/i.  Vers.  10-15.  God's  Rcj>h/.  The  entire  tone 
of  this  answer  attests  that  God's  anger  is  indeed 
Iciudled  against  tlie  children  of  Israel.  Israel  is 
himself  to  l)lame  for  the  defeat  (vers.  10,  11)  be- 
caii.se  he  has  sinned,  nor  will  he  hereafter  be  able  to 
stand  l)efore  his  enemies  on  this  account;  and  God 
will  not  be  among-  tlie  children  of  Israel  unless  they 
destroy  that  which  is  devoted  from  among  them 
(ver.  12).  Joshua  must  therefore  rise  up,  sanctify 
the  people  against  the  following  day,  and  discover 
the  guilty  man  by  casting  lots  (vers.  13,  14).  When 
he  is  discovered,  he  and  all  which  he  has  must  be 
burned  up  with  lire  (ver.  15).  It  is  a  mighty  and 
deeply  impressive  word  from  God  which  is  here 
imparted  to  Joshua. 

Ver.  10.  Get  thee  up !  Wherefore,  etc.  Divine 
displeasure.  '"  Josliua  might  well  divine  that  they 
had  merited  Jehovah's  ill-will.  Hence  God's  some- 
what impatient  question,  why  he  lay  there  on  his 
face.  He  should  rather  be  up  and  trying  to  detect 
and  put  away  the  sin"  (Knoliel). 

Ver.  11.  "The  C3  is  scarcely  more  than  ant/," 
Knobel  remarks,  but  we  would  call  attention  to 
the  rhetorical  climax  —  suited  to  express  God's 
vehement  displeasure — in  the  several  designations 

of  their  sin  as  connected  by  C5:  transgressed  — 
taken  —  stolen  —  dissembled  —  put  among  their 
Oivn  stuff.  For  here  was  the  culmination  of  the 
crime,  that  they  had  ajjpropriatcd  to  themselces  what 
belonged  to  God.  [Cf.  eh.  vi.  18.]  Thus  conceived, 
the  language  is  more  dramatic,  laden  with  the 
most  intense  emotion. 

Ver.  12.  They  have  become  a  devoted  thing, 
eh.  vi.  18. 

Ver.  13  begins  with  a  repeated  admonition  to 
Joshua  to  arise.  God  gives  him  this  admonition, 
as  indeed  the  entire  answer,  directly,  not  as  Cleri- 
cus  supposes,  through  the  higli-priest,  of  whom  the 
context  has  not  a  word.  —  Sanctify  yourselves 
against  to-morrow,  ch.  iii.  5. 

Ver.    14.       The    tribe   which   Jehovah   shall 

take.  That  is  through  the  lot  (^~fi^)  which  is 
here  used,  as  in  1  Sam.  xiv.  42  (Jonah  i.  7),  in  a 
criminal  investigation ;  elsewhere  in  divisions  of 
land  and  people,  of  prisoners,  in  elections,  warlike 
undertakings.  "  Commonly  dice  were  thrown,  as 
is  probable  ("to  cast  lots,''  xviii.  8,  "to  throw," 
xviii.  6,  "  the  lot  falls,"  Jon.  i.  7  ;  Ezek.  xxiv.  6), 
or  drawn  out  of  a  vessel  ("  the  lot  came  forth  ") 
Num.  xxxiii.  54,  "  came  up"  Lev.  vi.  9."  Wnier. 
First  the  tribe,  then  the  clan,  then  the  houseliold, 
("  fiither-house"),  finally  the  ])articular  man  was 
to  be  discovered.  Tlie  manner  itself  in  which  this 
was  done  is  not  known ;  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
that  white  and  black  stones  were  used,  especially  as 

v'^ia  from  v"12  =  Tia  to  be  rough,  signifies 
properly  a  small  stone,  \^/ri<pos.  Farther  particulars 
may  be  found  in  Mauritius,  De  Sortitione  ajntd  He- 
hrreos,  Basil,  1692.  [Dirt.qf  the  Bible,  nn.  "Lot."]. 
Like  tlie  Hebrews,  the  Romans  also  resorted  to  the 
lot  in  divisions  (so?-tes  dlviHori(p),  and  elections  ("  sors 
Mibana  "  and  "  peregrina  "  in  the  choice  of  a  prcetor) 


as  also  to  explore  the  will  of  the  divinity  (staff- 
oracle,  rliabdoinancy).  The  Homeric  heroes  cast  lots 
{kK7\povv  Kkripos)  wiienever  the  accomplishment  of 
any  heroic  deed  was  in  (jnestion,  as  was  done  also 
Judg.  xxii.  10.  They  too  had  i-halidoinancy  as  well 
as  the  Hoinans  (see  i'ierer  .<.  v.  "  Loos  "). 

Ver.  15.  Shall  be  burnt  with  fire-  "Not 
alive,  but  according  to  ver.  25  he  was  first  stoned 
to  death,  and  then  his  corpse  burned  as  an  aggra- 
vation of  the  death  penalty"  (Kcil). 

Polly,  ^72?.  The  v::3  is  not  so  much  a  fool 
in  an  intellectual  respect  as  in  a  moral;  hence 
•^7^5  is  more  the  moral  than  the  intellectual 
folly  =  to  iniquity,  coinp.  Gen.  xxxiv.  7  ;  Deut. 
xxii.  21  ;   Judg.  xix.  23,  24;  2  Sam.  xiii.  12.  For 

the  idea  of  733,  Ps.  xiv.  1  ;  liii.  2,  are  classical 
texts. 

d.  The  Discovery  and  Punishment  of  Achan  the 
Evil-doer.  Ver.  16-20.  Conformably  to  God's  com- 
mand, Joshua  the  next  morning  brings  the  tribes 
of  Israel  before  Jehovah,  when  Achan  is  indicated 
by  the  lot  as  the  transgressor  (vers.  16-18).  Being 
exhorted  to  confess  his  fault  Achan  owns  all  (vers. 
19-21).  The  stolen  property  is  found  in  his  tent 
according  to  his  statement  (vers.  22-23)  ;  he  him- 
self with  what  belonged  to  him  is  stoned  and  burnt 
(vers.  24-26). 

Vers.  16-18.  The  difficulty  which  the  text  of- 
fers, ver.  17,  has  been  already  intimated  above.  In 

nriDti^Q  it  requires  only  a  different  punctuation 
to  bring  it  into  harmony  witli  ver.  14.  We  there- 
fore read  the  plural  without  hesitation  instead  of 
the  singular  of  the  Masoretes.     It  is  different  witli 

^'^"'^3 ''.  Here  we  have  a  different  word  before 
us,  and  a  more  difficult  one,  which  we  can  the  less 
make  up  our  minds  to  change,  since,  as  Kcil,  fol- 
lowing Vatablus,  has  happily  remarked,  not  the 
father-houses  or  family  groups,  but  only  the  men 
representing  the  clan,  the  heads  of  the  several 
father-houses,  came  forward  to  the  lot.  So  also 
Bunsen  :  "  Man,  that  is,  house,  ver.  14." 

We  may  perhaps  best  represent  the  whole  pro- 
cess thus : — 

THE    PEOPLE    OF    ISRAEL. 

First  lot         ...         .         Tribe  of  Judah. 
Second  lot         ....     Clan  of  Zerah. 
Third  lot       ....         House  of  Zabdi.^ 
Fourth  lot        ...         .     Man  Achan. 

Ver.  19-21.  My  son,  give,  I  pray  thee,  glory 
to  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  give  him  (the) 
praise  [or,  make  confession  to  him]  ;  and  tell 
me  now  what  thou  hast  done ;  hide  it  not  from 
me,  ver.  19.  The  demand  of  Joshua  upon  Achan 
was  certainly  meant  by  him  honestly  and  frankly, 
not  craftily,  as  some  of  the  Eabbins  assume. 
Achan  should  confess  his  sin  in  order  to  receive 
inward  forgiveness,  although  he  has  outwardly 
fallen  under  the  irrevocable  sentence  of  (lod.  The 
form  of  the  demand  is  the  same  as  in  Jolin  ix.  24. 
Beverencc  for  the  Omniscient  God  should  move  to 
the  confession  of  the  truth-  The  circumstances, 
indeed,  are  here  essentially  different  from  those  in 
John  ix.  Honest  and  frank  Joshua  stands  before 
Achan,  crafty  and  treacherous  the  Pharisees  seek, 
under  an  ai)]ieal  for  honor  to  God,  to  extort  from 
the  man  born  l)lind  a  confession  injurious  to  our 
Lord. 

Ver.  20.  Achan  humbly  confesses  his  sin  as  a 
sin  against  Jehovah,  God  of  Israel. 

1  ["  Father-house,"  represented  by  Zabdi.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   V.    12^23. 


■9 


Ver.  21.  Babylonish  garment,  pi"op.  mantle  of 
Shinar  =  Babylon  (Gen.  xi.  2,  8,  9  ;  x.  10).  What 
it  was  made  of  we  know  not,  since  particular  state- 
ments are  wantinij;.  Starke  suspects  it  was  of  gold 
and  silken  threads,  and  that  it  was  wrought  in  many 
colors  mixed,  Jon.  iii.  6  ;  2  K.  ii.  1.3.  "  Concerning 
the  elaborate  and  beautiful  products  of  the  Baby- 
lonian looms,  sec  Heeren,  Asiat.  Nations,  i.  2,  p. 
422  ff.  [Bohn's  Eng.  ed.].  Movers'  Phaniciaiis, 
ii.3,  p.  2.i8  ff."  (Knobel).  [See  further  particulars 
in  Diet,  of  the  BibL,  art.  "Babylonish  Garment."] 

Two  hundred  shekels  of  silver  =  200  X  0.60 
=  $120.  For  details  concerning  the  calculation, 
vid.  in  Winer,  Re.alw.  s.  v.  "  Sekel,"  or  in  Herzog's 

Realencyk.  vol.  iv.  p.  764.  [Gesen.  s.  v.  ^i?.^. 
Did.  of  the  BibL  art.  "Money,"  "Shekel,"  and 
"  Weights  and  Measures."] 

A  wedge  (prop,  tongue)  of  gold.  Vulg.  regula 
aurea,  a  golden  bar.  Rather,  "  a  tongue-shaped 
article  made  of  gold"  (Knobel).  The  weight  is 
given  at  fifty  shekels,  equal  in  value  to  cir.  thirty 
dollars. 

I  coveted  them,   Gen.   iii.  6  ;   Jas.  iv.   13-15. 

''vnsrr,  the  article  as  Lev.  xxvii.  33. 

Under  it.  The  mantle  lay  probably  on  the  top, 
and  the  tongue  of  gold  next  below,  and  the  silver 
lowest. 

Vers.  22,  23.  Discovery  of  the  stolen  Goods  in 
Achan's  Tent.     The  messengers  laid  it  down,  after 

they  had  found  it,  before  Jehovah.     P^^H  from 

r^;>'  ^^  pour  out,  is  equivalent  to  3^?'7>  to  set,  to 
place,  2  Sam.  xv.  24. 

Before  Jehovah  =  before  the  ark  of  Jehovah, 
where  He  was  enthroned,  vi.  8. 

Ver.  24-26.  Achan,  son  of  Zerah  ;  in  a  wide 
sense  son  of  Zerah ;  strictly  he  was  his  great 
grandson.  He  is  now,  together  with  the  articles 
appropriated  by  him,  as  well  as  his  whole  ])roperty, 
and  also  all  his  sons  and  daughters,  given  up  10  de- 
struction. How  does  this  sentence  passed  on  Achan, 
under  which  his  innocent  sous  and  daughters  also 
fell,  agree  with  the  decision  of  the  law,  l3eut.  xxiv. 
16,  according  to  which  the  fathers  should  not  die 
for  the  children,  nor  the  children  for  the  fiithers, 
but  every  one  for  his  own  sin  ?  This  difficulty 
has  been  met  in  various  ways  :  (1)  Some  Rabbins, 
Schulz,  Hess,  and  others  suppose  that  Achan's 
family  were  brought  into  the  valley  of  Achor 
merely  as  spectators,  to  take  a  terrifying  example, 
contrary  to  what  is  written,  ver.  25.  (2)  C.  a 
Lapide,  Cler.,  Mich.,  Rosenmiiller,  think  they  had 
had  a  share  in  their  father's  crime.  For  this  an 
analogous  case  might  be  cited  in  Acts  v.  1  ft",  but 
while  there  it  is  made  conspicuous  that  Sapphira 
was  privy  to  the  sin  of  Ananias ;  here  every  inti- 
mation of  that  kind  is  wanting.  Hence  (3)  Calvin, 
Masius,  Seb.  Schmidt,  leave  the  matter  undecided, 
appealing  to  the  unfathomableness  of  God's  coun- 
sels ;  while  others  again,  like  Knobel,  and  Starke 
also,  at  least  by  intimations,  remark  that  we  have 
here  to  do  with  a  judgment  executed  by  the  im- 
mediate direction  of  God,  and  therefore  a  divine 
judgment,  similar  to  the  case,  Num.  xvi.  32, 
whereas  the  ordinance  in  Deut.  xxiv.  16,  holds  good 
only  for  the  usual  every-day  administration  of  jus- 
tice. Before  God,  the  searcher  of  hearts,  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  Achan  were  guilty  of  participa- 
tion in  their  father's  sin,  because  in  them  the  same 
"corrupted  nature  and  disposition,"  which  Keil 
rightly  notices,  was  present,  which  in  the  father 
produced  the  evil  deed  [?].     God  visits  the  sins  of 


the  fathers  on  the  children,  Ex.  xx.  5  ;  Num.  xiv. 
33.  Accurately  considered,  the  decision  pertaining  tc 
private  rights,  in  Deut.  xxiv.  16,  has  no  application  to 
this  higher  public  right  of  God. 

Ver.  24.  Valley  of  Achor.  Ch.  xv.  7  ;  Hos.  ii. 
15;  Is.  Ixv.  10.  The  origin  of  the  name  is  given, 
vei'.  25.  It  lay  north  of  Jericho  on  the  northern 
border  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  In  Jerome's  time 
the  name  was  still  in  use. 

Ver.  25.   And   all   Israel   stoned  him.     Here 

Cirt  is  used,  afterwards  at  the  close  of  the  verse, 
in  an  addition  which  the  LXX  omit,  vf^O.  Both 
words  arc  used  in  the  Bible  of  stoning,  but  C^"' 
has  the  more  general  signification,  and  is  found 
only  once,  Lev.  xxiv.  14,  without  "T?'^»  Achan  is 
condemned  to  be  stoned  because  he  had  by  his 
robbery  violated  the  honor  of  God,  as  did  blas- 
phemers.  Sabbath   breakers,   idolaters,    sorcerers, 

wizards,  etc.  The  addition  C^mSZl  QHS  lbi7D 
is  superfluous,  and  may  perhaps  be  intended,  as 
Knobel  conjectures,  to  obviate  a  misunderstanding 

of  liHS  in  the  former  half  of  the  verse.  Not  only 
the  LXX.  but  the  Vulg.  omits  it.  Luther  has 
aimed  to  avoid  the  difficulty  by  attaching  the  words 
to  the  following  verse,  and  translating :  "  And 
when  they  had  stoned  them  they  raised,"  etc. 
[Nearly  so  the  Eng.  vers.] 

Ver.  26.  Over  Achan  they  raised  a  great  heap 
of  stones  which  served  to  commemorate  his  dis- 
grace (ch.  viii.  29  ;  2  Sam.  xviii.  17) ;  and  that  even 
to  the  writer's  time.  The  casting  of  stones  on  cer- 
tain graves  was  customary  in  other  nations  also, 
e.  g.  among  the  Arabs  (Schulte's  Hist.  Joctanida- 
rum,  pp.  118,  144),  and  the  Roinans  (Propert.  4,  5, 
74  ff.  Serv.  ed.  Lion,  i.  p.  1),  but  had  not  always 
that  dishonorable  import.  It  had  not,  e.  g.  among 
the  Bedouins  who  often  heap  up  stones  over  one 
buried  (Burkhardt,  Bcduinen,  p.  81),  Knobel. 

And  Jehovah  turned  from  the  fierceness  of 
his  anger,  Ex.  xxxii.  12. 

* 

THEOLOGICAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  God's  anger  is  not  an  ebullition  of  blind  pas- 
sion, but  a  holy  displeasure  against  the  unright- 
eousness of  men.  When  this  unrighteousness  is 
removed  God's  anger  ceases,  as  the  close  of  our 
chapter,  ver.  26,  shows.  All  which  has  been  in- 
juriously said  concerning  the  blood-thirsty  and 
wrathful  God  of  the  0.  T.  rests  on  a  failure  to  ap- 
prehend this  holy  displeasure  of  God  against  the 
unrighteousness  of  men.  That  brings  upon  them 
indeed  judgment  and  penalty,  but  never  goes  so 
far  as  to  shut  up  his  compassion,  although  men 
may  think  so  and  with  Asaph  sigh  :  Hath  God  for- 
gotten to  be  gracious,  hath  He  in  anger  shut  up  his 
tender  mercies?  (Ps.  Ixxvii.  10.)  Eternal  justice 
which  belongs  as  a  constitutive  element  to  the  na- 
ture of  God,  without  which  we  cannot  conceive  of 
any  government  at  all  of  the  world,  is  constantly 
limited  by  his  love.  But  conversely  his  love  to- 
wards men  is  not  a  blind  love,  but  rather  a  truly 
paternal  affi-'Ction  which  leaves  no  fault,  no  trans- 
gression of  his  commands,  unreproved.  Both  jus- 
tice and  love  coexist  in  God,  and  are  mutually 
blended  in  him  with  an  interpenctration  of  the  most 
intimate,  highest,  absolute  kind.  Hence  the  jurists 
may  say  :  Fiat  justitia  pereat  mundiis !  God  never 
has  and  never  can. 

2.  Properly  Achan  alone  is  the  transgressor,  but 


80 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


since  he  is  a  member  of  the  body  politic  his  act 
compromises  all  the  children  of  Israel,  and  hence 
draws  after  it  injnrious  consequences  upon  all,  so 
that  the  anger  of  (Jod  is  kindled  ajiainst  all.  In 
the  eyes  of  God  the  whole  community  appears  in- 
fected by  the  sin  of  the  one,  so  that  they  stand  be- 
fore him,  not  as  a  pure  and  holy  con^^reyation,  as 
they  should  be  according  to  their  high  vocation, 
(I<:x.  xix.  6;  Deut.  vii.  6;  1  Pet.  ii.  9).  If  we 
keep  firmly  to  this  point  of  view,  we  shall  cease 
from  complaining  of  God  as  being  in  any  wa}^  un- 
righteous, as  if  lie  recklessly  punished  the  innocent 
with  the  guilty.  AVe  shall  rather,  in  this  matter, 
agree  with  Keil  when  he  says  :  "As  member  of  a 
community  established  by  God,  the  good  or  evil 
action  of  the  individual  involves  the  whole  congre- 
gation in  blessing  or  destruction."  As  Paul 
writes  :  "  if  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it;  and  if  one  member  be  honored  all 
the  members  rejoice  with  it  "  (1  Cor.  xii.  2G).  So 
ma}'  we  also  say,  that  if  one  member  becomes 
guilty,  all  the  members  share  the  guilt,  and  if  one 
of  the  members  does  well,  all  the  members  share 
the  blessing  of  this  good  deed.  It  is  important  in 
these  matters  to  look  not  only  at  the  individual  but 
also  at  the  community,  that  we  may  comprehend 
at  least  in  some  measure  the  procedure  of  the  divine 
justice  over  against  the  guilt  of  mankind.  We 
emphasize  "in  some  measure,"  because  we  need 
yet  to  lay  to  heart  the  advice  which  Calvin  here 
gives  :  "  Susjiensas  tenere  nostras  mentes,  donee  libri 
aperiiintur,  ubi  clare  patebunt  quce  nunc  nostra  caligine 
ohtenebrantur  Dei  judicia." 

[As  clearly  as  the  whole  Scripture  makes  the  in- 
di^^dual  an  object  of  the  divine  mercy  and  justice, 
so  clearly  does  it  teach  us  also  to  regard  tlie  total- 
ity of  a  people  as  an  organic  unity,  in  which  the 
individuals  are  only  members  of  flie  body,  and  not 
capable  of  being  separated,  as  so  many  atoms,  from 
the  whole.  The  state  as  a  divine  institution  is 
built  on  the  family,  to  promote  the  mutual  love  of 
the  members,  and  the  common  love  of  all  to  the 

one  invisible  head  of  all But  if  the  state  is 

of  divine  appointment,  not  a  mei'e  civil  establish- 
ment, not  a  human  institution,  conventionally 
agreed  upon  by  men,  the  fact  following  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence  from  the  moral  unity  of  the  or- 
ganism, that  the  good  or  evil  deed  of  the  one  mem- 
ber is  reckoned  to  the  whole  body,  loses  the  appear- 
ance of  caprice  and  unrighteousness  which  it  has 
while  one,  witliout  perceiving  their  fundamental 
connection,  has  only  a  one  sided  regard  to  the  in- 
fliction of  the  consequences  of  the  sin.  Keil  — 
Tr.] 

3.  The  deep  humility  of  Joshua  before  the  Lord 
reminds  us  of  Moses,  Ex.  xxxii.  32,  of  Ezra  (ix.  3), 
of  his  own  and  Caleb's  course  when  the  people 
murmured  (N\im.  xiv.  6).  How  mighty  appear 
these  O.  T.  saints  in  their  grief  because  of  the  sins 
of  their  pco]ile,  how  indejjcndently  they  stand  up 
against  God,  in  behalf  of  God's  honor,  and  yet  how 
huml)ly !  Their  sorrow  is  truly  a  Awtttj  kclto,  dehf 
(2  Cor.  vii.  10),  from  which  proceeds  the  fjnTavoia. 
ajxfTafj.e\r]Tos.  Hence  God  raises  thenr  up  again, 
and  gives  tiicm  again  fresh  courage  for  his  work, 
for  He  knows  that  their  grief,  in  its  deepest  root,  is 
a  grief  for  him,  for  his  name's  glory  and  honor. 
Themselves  pure  and  clean,  they  mourn  over  the 
misdeeds  of  the  peoi)le,  while  an  Ahab  (1  K.  xxi. 
27)  if  he  does  this  lias  to  exercise  penitence  for  his 
own  sin.  Si  duo  Jliciunt  idem,  non  est  idem.  Com- 
pare still  Ps.  Ixxxv;  cii.  14-19;  cxxx.  7,  8. 

4.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  God  (ver.  14  ff.)  re- 
serves to  himself  the  discovery  of  the  crime.     Je- 


hovah will  strike,  take  {^Ti^-  properly,  " select,") 
the  tribe,  the  clan,  the  house,  the  particular  man, 
by  the  lot,  the  disposing  of  which  is  ascribed  (Prov. 
xvi.  33)  to  the  Lord.  Such  an  employment  of  the 
lot  as  is  here  presented,  could  only  be  brought  in  at 
the  immediate  direction  of  God,  or  with  special  ap- 
peal to  him  (1  Sam.  xiv.  41),  and  belonged  to  the 
extraordinary  measures  which  He  prescribed  for  his 
people.  The  certainty  with  which  the  whole  pro- 
cess goes  forward,  the  quiet  which  aceomjjanies  it, 
makes  a  very  solemn  impression.  The  control  of 
the  divine  justice  is  most  directly  brought  to  our 
thought  when  we  read  the  narrative  ofthe  trans- 
action, distinguished  as  it  is  by  an  unadorned  sim- 
plicity;  how  much  more  powerful  must  have  been 
the  original  impression  which  this  judgment  of 
God  made  on  the  assembled  people  at  its  actual 
occurrence  !  An  analogous  example  is  presented 
in  the  N.  T.,  Acts  v.  1  ff. 

5.  That   all  wickedness   is   folly    ((1733),  that 

every  sinner  is  a  fool  (vJ3),  not  indeed  so  much 
in  an  intellectual  but  above  all  things  in  a  moral 
respect,  this  cutting  truth  is  proclaimed  by  the  O. 
T.  loudly  and  impressively.  A  very  significant 
hint  for  hamartiology ;  the  nature  of  sin  is  so 
difficult  to  explain  because  it  is  merely  absolute 
irrationality,  because  it  is  foolishness  ! 


HOMILETICAL   AND  PRACTICAL. 

How  human  iniquity  provokes  divine  anger.  — 
The  sin  of  an  individual  in  its  destructive  effects 
on  an  entire  people  shown  in  the  ease  of  Achan.  — 
Of  God's  anger.  (1)  What  are  we  to  understand 
thereby?  (2)  How  can  we  guard  against  it  so 
that  it  may  not  be  kindled  against  us  ?  —  The  un- 
fortunate expedition  of  Joshua  against  Ai.  —  Hu- 
man sagacity  alone  helps  not  if  God  be  not  with 
us. — Despise  no  enemy  ;  for  you  may  in  meeting 
him  be  greatly  deceived  concerning  his  strength. — 
How  soon,  alas,  is  the  heart  of  man  discouraged  ! 
—  Against  despondency  of  the  heart  helps  God's 
grace  alone,  Heb.  xiii.  9. 

Joshua's  humble  prayer  before  God. —  God  with- 
stands the  proud  but  givetli  grace  unto  the  humble. 
Joshua's  grief  for  his  people  compared  with  the 
lamentation  of  Moses  and  Ezra.  —  Joshua  as  an 
example  of  mourning  before  God.  —  Parallel  be- 
tween Joshua's  penitence  and  that  of  Ahab.  — 
Rending  of  the  garments  a  significant  symbol  of  the 
rending  of  the  heart,  JoCl  ii.  13.  —  How  God  hears 
prayer. 

The  discovery  and  punishment  of  Achan  the 
transgressor,  a  ease  of  the  divine  administration  of 
Justice.  —  (1)  How  Achan  was  hit  u]ion  ;  (2)  how 
he  confessed  his  sin;  (3)  what  jHinishment  he  re- 
ceived;  or  (1)  the  discovery  of  the  criminal;  (2) 
his  confession ;  (3)  his  punishment.  —  Joshua  and 
Achan;  (1)  How  Joshua  seeks  to  bring  Achan  to 
a  confession  of  his  guilt ;  (2)  how  the  latter  actu- 
ally confesses  it.  —  We  give  honor  to  God  when  we 
say  the  truth.  —  Achan's  lowly  confession  of  sin.  — 
Every  sin  a  .sin  against  the  Lord.  —  Covetousn'ess, 
imlawful  desire,  a  source  of  every  sin.  —  The  ston- 
ing of  Achan.  —  The  judgment  in  the  valley  pf 
Achor.  —  The  monument  of  the  crime  a  warning 
to  Israel.  —  The  stoning  of  Achan,  and  that  of 
Stejjhen  —  M^hat  a  contrast  1 

Starke  :  He  who  has  done  iniquity  should  own 
the  truth  to  the  honor  of  God.  But  woe  to  those 
who  deny  their  misdeeds,  Ps.  xxxii.  1.     Si  fecisti 


CHAPTER   VIII.    1-29. 


81 


nega,  is  not  a  divine  l)iit  a  devilish  rule.    Ye  advo- 
cates, put  nothing  of  siieh  into  any  man's  head. 

C^KAMER :  However  shrewdly  men  begin  a  thing 
it  does  no  good  except  in  so  far  as  God  gives  it 
success.  For  if  God  is  not  with  us  all  is  lost.  — 
The  "heart  of  man  van  nowl^ere  observe  a  just  pro- 
portion. In  prosperity  it  is  too  proud,  in  adversity 
too  pusillanimous. 

BiBL.  Tub.  :  When  God  goes  with  us  into  the 
field  the  mightiest  foe  cannot  hurt  us,  but  where 
God  is  not  we  cannot  resist  the  weakest  enemy. 
God  lets  us  not  sink  away  in  our  mourning,  but 
when  He  has  sufficiently  humbled  us  and  laid  us  in 
the  dust,  and  sees  in  us  a  true  repentance  for  our  sins, 
He  himself  also  raises  us  up  again  and  exalts  the 
miserable  from  the  dust,  Ps.  exiii.  7 ;  1  Cor.  x.  13. 

Hedingek  :  If,  in  the  spiritual  conflict  also  we 
are  left  to  come  otf  worsted,  there  is  often  nothing 
to  blame  but  some,  perhaps  hidden,  sin  which  yet 
lurks  in  us  and  of  which  we  have  not  yet  repented. 

Geklacii,  Calvin  :  That  they  in  this  prayer 
turn  straight  to  God,  and  recognize  that  He  who 
has  wounded  can  heal  them,  springs  from  their 
faith ;  but  carried  away  by  excess  of  grief  they 
transgress  all  limits.  Hence  the  boldness  of  their 
conti'oversy  with  God ;  hence  the  perverse  wish : 
0  that  we  had  remained  in  the  wilderness  !  But 
it  is  nothing  new  that  when  men  with  holy  zeal 
seek  God,  the  light  of  their  taith  is  dimmed  by  the 

intensity,    the   tempest  of  their  emotions 

And  yet  when  they  thus  strive  with  God  and  pour 
out  before  Him  all  which  weighs  them  down,  though 
this  their  simplicity  needs  forgiveness,  it  is  still  far 
more  agreeable  to  God  than  the  mock-humility  of 
hypocrites,  who  take  great  care  that  no  word  of  as- 
surance may  cross  their  lips,  while  they  arc  inwardly 
tilled  with  pride.  —  It  is  a  tine  trait  in  this  narrative 
that  the  criminal,  detected  by  the  lot,  should  be  con- 
demned only  on  his  own  confession.  Joshua  does 
not  promise  him  exemption  from  punishment,  but 
by  his  confession  God  was  honored  before  all  the 
people,  since  the  accuracy  of  the  lot  was  con- 
firmed. At  the  same  time  there  lies  in  these  words 
a  hint  of  a  divine  judgment  hereafter,  before  which 
guilt  and  penalty  will  be  abated  when  one  has 
given  himself  up  to  suffer  the  earthly  penalty  or- 
dained by  God,  confessing  that  he  has  deserved  it. 
There  is  manifested  here  a  truly  holy,  paternal 
disposition  in  Joshua,  as  a  judge  who  relaxes  noth- 
ing of  the  rigor  of  the  divine  command,  but,  so  far 
as  is  possible  in  consistency  with  that^  deals  merci- 


fully with  the  transgressor.  —  By  his  robbery  of  tho 
sanctuary  Achan  had  entirely  broken  the  covenant 
with  God,  and  he  and  his  had  become  the  same  as 
the  Canaanites;  as  they  had  snatched  for  them- 
selves what  had  been  devoted  to  destruction,  they 
must  themselves  now  be  destroyed.  Similar  in 
this  respect  was  the  punishment,  which  in  ancient 
times  was  inflicted  on  the  families  of  those  guilty 
of  high  treason,  and  in  some  degree  is  still  inflicted 
among  us. 

[Scott  :  Every  failure  in  such  undertakings 
as  evidently  accord  to  the  will  of  God,  and  the  duty 
of  our  place  and  station,  should  cause  us  to  hum- 
ble ourselves  before  him,  to  flee  to  his  mercy  seat, 
to  pour  out  our  hearts  in  prayer,  and  inquire 
"  wherefore  he  contendeth  with  us  ;  "  and  to  plead 
his  promises  and  the  glory  of  his  great  name,  as 
engaged  to  support  that  cause  which  we  are  en- 
deavoring to  promote  whatever  becomes  of  us  and 
our  worthless  names.  —  Would  we  avoid  the  com- 
mission of  gross  iniquity,  we  must  "  make  a  cove- 
nant with  our  eyes"  and  all  our  senses;  we  must 
repress  the  first  movements  of  concupiscence,  and 
pray  earnestly  not  to  be  led  into  temptation,  we 
must  habituate  ourselves  to  meditate  on  the  fu- 
ture consequences  of  sinful  gratification  ;  and  to 
place  ourselves,  by  an  effort  of  the  imagination,  in 
those  very  circumstances  in  which  we  should  be 
were  the  sin  committed,  and  the  infatuation  van- 
ished; and  to  consider  what  our  judgment  and  feel- 
ings in  that  case  would  be.  —  Einally,  though 
atrocious  criminals,  should  be  punished  with  un- 
relenting firmness,  and  all  should  unite  in  pro- 
testing against  their  crimes ;  yet  their  misery 
should  not  be  insulted,  nor  their  immortal  souls 
forgotten;  but  calm  expostulations,  serious  instruc- 
tions, and  compassionate  exhortations,  should  be 
used  to  bring  them  to  repentance,  that  they  may 
obtain  mercy  from  God  in  a  future  world. 

G.  R.  B  :  Jehovah  is  a  prayer-hearing  God  — 
blessed  be  His  name  !  — but  with  what  impatience 
He  listens  to  the  cries  of  those,  however  proper  the 
matter  of  their  petitions,  who  have  need  themselves 
to  act  in  order  tliat  their  wishes  may  be  granted ! 
"  Up  !  sanctify  thyself,"  we  may  hear  Him  saying 
to  many  an  earnest  suppliant;  "  put  away  thy  sins, 
supply  thy  own  deficiencies,  and  do  thy  part  to 
remove  the  stumbling-blocks  from  among  thy 
brethren  ;  then  expect  my  help  towards  what  thou 
desirest  further."  Happy  for  us  if  we  get  even  this 
answer  to  our  mistaken  prayer  !  —  Tk.] 


3.    Capture  and  Destruction  of  Ai. 

Chapter  VIIL     1-29. 

a.  Joshua's  Stratagem  against  Ai. 

Chapter  VIII.  1-13. 


And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua :  Fear  not,  neither  be  thou  dismayed, 
f  i.  9]  :  take  all  the  people  of  war  with  thee,  and  arise,  go  up  to  Ai :  see,  I  have 
given  into  thy  hand  the  king  of  Ai,  and  his  people,  and  his  city,  and  his  land :  And 
thou  shalt  do  unto  Ai  and  her  king  as  thou  didst  unto  Jericho  and  her  king :  only 
the  spoil  thereof,  and  the  cattle  thereof,  shall  ye  take  for  a  prey  unto  yourselves : 
lay  thee  an  ambush  for  the  city  behind  it. 
6 


82  THE  BOOK.  OF  JOSHUA. 


3  *     So  [And]  Joshua  arose,  and  all  the  people  of  war,  to  go  up  against  Ai  :  and  Joshua 

chose  out  thirty  thousand  mighty  men  of  valour  [strong  heroes]  and  sent  them  away 

4  by  night.  And  he  commanded  them,  saying.  Behold,  ye  shall  lie  in  wait  against 
the  city,  even  [omit :  even]    behind  the  city ;  go  not  very  far  from  the  city,  but  be 

5  ye  all  ready :  And  I,  and  all  the  people  that  are  with  me,  will  approach  unto  the 
city :  and  it  shall  come  to  pass  when  they  come  out  against  us,  as  at  the  first,  that 

6  we  will  tlee  before  them,  (for  [and  ^]  they  will  come  out  after  us,)  till  we  have  drawn 
them  from  the  city  ;  for  they  will  say,  They  flee  before  us  as  at  the  first :  there- 

7  fore  [and]  we  will  flee  before  them.  Then  ye  shall  rise  up  from  the  ambush 
and  seize  upon  the  city :  for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  will  deliver  it  into  your 

8  hand.  And  it  shall  be  when  ye  have  taken  the  city,  that  ye  shall  set  the  city  on 
fire ;  according  to  the  commandment  [word]  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  shall  ye  do. 
See,  I  have  commanded  you. 

9  Joshua  therefore  [And  Joshua]  sent  them  forth  ;  and  they  went  to  lie  in  ambush, 
and  abode  between  13eth-el  and  Ai,  on  the  west  side  of  Ai :  but  Joshua  lodged  that 

10  night  among  the  people.  And  Joshua  rose  up, early  in  the  morning,  and  numbered 
[mustered]  the  people,  and  went  up,  he  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  before  the  people 

11  to  Ai.  And  all  the  peoj^le,  even  the  people  [omit:  even  the  people]  of  war  that 
were  with  him,  went  up,  and  drew  nigh,  and  came  before  the  city,  and  pitched  on 
the  north  side  of  Ai :  now  there  was  a  valley  [and  the  valley  was]  between  them 

12  [him]  and  Ai.    And  he  took  about  five  thousand  men,  and  set  them  to  lie  in  ambush 

13  [as  an  ambush],  between  Beth-el  and  Ai,  on  the  west  side  of  the  city.  And  when 
they  had  set  the  people,  even  all  the  host  [camp]  that  was  on  the  north  of  the  city, 
and  their  liers  in  wait  on  the  west  of  the  city,  Joshua  went  ^  that  night  into  the 
midst  of  the  valley.* 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAIIMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  6.  —  ^i^t^"'').  The  train  of  thought  will  probably  be  better  represented  by  beginning  the  sentence  anew  and 
dropping  the  parenthesis,  so  as  to  connect  this  clause  with  the  following.  Bo  Fay  and  De  Wette  :  And  they  will  come  out 
After  us  till,  etc.     Zunz,  however,  continues  from  the  preceding  :   "  that  they  may  come  out,"  etc.  —  Tr.] 

h.  Sham  Flight  of  the  Israelites.     Their  Victory.  •  Capture  and  Destruction  of  the  City. 
Chapter  VIII.     14-29. 

14  And  it  came  to  pass  when  the  king  of  Ai  saw  it,  that  they  hasted  and  rose  up 
early,  and  the  men  of  the  city  went  out  against  Israel  to  battle,  he  and  all  his  people, 
at  a  [the]  time  appointed  [or,  to  the  appointed  place  ^],  before  the  -p^van  [Jordan- 
valley]  :  but  he  wist  not  that  there  rvere  liers  in  ambush  [was  an  ambush]  against 

15  him  behind  the  city.     And  Joshua  and  all  Israel  made  as  if  they  were  beaten  before 

16  them,  and  fled  by  the  way  of  the  wilderness.  And  all  the  people  that  were  in  Ai 
were  called  together  to  pursue  after  them  ;  and  they  pursued  after  Joshua,  and 

17  were  drawn  away^  from  the  city.  And  there  was  not  a  man  left  in  Ai,  or  Beth-el, 
that  went  not  out  after  Israel :  and  they  left  the  city  oj^en,  and  pursued  after 
Israel. 

18  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua,  Stretch  out  the  spear  that  is  in 
thine  hand  toward  Ai ;  for  I  will  give  it  into  thine  hand.     And  Joshua  stretched 

19  out  the  spear  that  he  had  in  his  hand  toward  the  city.  And  the  ambush  arose 
quickly  out  of  their  place,  and  they  ran  as  soon  as  he  had  stretched  out  his  hand  ; 

20  and  they  entered  into  the  city,  and  took  it,  and  hasted,  and  set  the  city  on  fire.  And 
when  the  men  of  Ai  looked  behind  them,  they  saw,  and  behold,  the  smoke  of  the 
city  ascended  up  to  heaven,  and  they  had  no  power  to  flee  this  way  or  [and]  that 
way :  and  the  people  that  fled  to  [had  fled  towards]   the  wilderness  turned  back 

21  upon  the  pursuers.  And  when  Joshua  and  all  Israel  saw  that  the  ambush  had 
taken  the  city,  and  that  the  smoke  of  the  city  ascended,  then  they  turned  again,  and 

22  slew  [smote]  ''  the  men  of  Ai.  And  the  other  issued  out  of  the  city  against  them : 
so  that  they  were  in  the  midst  of  Israel,  some  on  this  side,  and  some  on  tliat  side : 

23  and  they  smote  them,  so  that  they  let  none  of  them  remain  or  escape.  And  the  king 
of  Ai  they  took  alive,  and  brought  him  to  Joshua. 

*  Some  Codd.  read    y}^^    (lodged)  instead  of  Tj^*\ 


CHAPTER   VIII.     1-29. 


83 


24 


25 
26 


And  it  came  to  pass  when  Israel  had  made  an  end  of  slaying  all  the  inhabitants 
of  ^li  in  the  tield.  in  the  wilderness  wherein  they  [had]  chased  tliem,^  and  when 
they  were  all  fallen  on  [by]  the  edge  of  the  sword,  mitil  they  were  consumed,  that 
all  the  Israelites  [prop. :  all  Israel]  returned  unto  Ai,  and  smote  it  with  the  edge 
of  the  sword.  And  so  it  was,  that  all  that  fell  that  day,  both  of  men  and  women, 
were  twelve  thousand,  even  all  the  men  of  Ai.  For  Joshua  di-ew  not  his  hand  back 
wherewith  he  stretched  out  the  spear  [which  he  had  stretched  out  with  the  spear], 

27  until  he  had  utterly  destroyed  [devoted]  all  the  inhabitants  of  Ai.     Only  the  cattle 
and  the  spoil  of  that  city  Israel  took  for  a  prey  unto  themselves,  according  unto  the 

28  word  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  which  he  commanded  Joshua.     And  Joshua  burnt  Ai, 

29  and  made  it  a  heap  for  ever,  even  a  desolation  unto  tliis  day.    And  the  king  of  Ai  he 
-    hanged  on  a  [the]  tree  untH  even-tide :  and  as  soon  as  the  sun  was  down,  Joshua 

commanded  that  they  should  take  his  carcass  [corpse]  down  from  the  tree,  and  cast 
it  at  the  entering  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  raise  thereon  a  great  heap  [^2, 
mound]  of  stones,  that  remaineth  [omit :  that  remaineth]  unto  this  day. 


TEXTUAL   AND   QRAJIMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  14.  —  So  Fay,  De  Wette,  Keil.     Either  way   "7PiZ3  lias  the  article.     Perhaps  "  to  the  appointment,"  meaning 
In  respect  either  to  time  or  to  place,  would  represent  the  Ilebrew  with  sufficient  deflniteness.  —  Tr.J 
[2  Ver.  16.  —  ^piTlS**   here,  "  were  torn  away,"  "completely  separated."     See  Exegetical  Notes.  —  Te.] 

[3  Ver.  21.  —  ^3'^    as  in  the  next  verse.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  24.  —  That  is,  "  wherein  (or  whither)  the  men  of  Ai  had  chased  the  Israelites."  —  Tr.J 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

As  soon  as  Aclian's  crime  is  expiated  by  his 
death  God  restores  his  favor  to  -Toshua  and  the 
people,  exhorts  them  to  be  cheerful  and  bold,  and 
for  the  second  time  to  undertake  the  expedition 
against  Ai.  Tliis  is  done,  and  now  with  complete 
success  (ch.  viii.  1-29).  To  the  rhetorical  beauty 
of  this  section  we  have  already  referred  in  the  in- 
troduction (§  1) ;  the  critical  difficulty  (vers.  12, 13) 
will  be  discussed  below. 

a.  Jushua's  Stratatjem  againfst  Ai,  ch.  viii.  1-1.3. 
Ver.  1.  The  same  encouraging  address  as  in  ch. 
i.  9  ;  now  very  much  needed  in  reference  to  ch. 
vii.  5. 

All  the  people  of  war.  Not  as  in  the  first  at- 
tempt 3000  men  only,  ch.  vii.  4. 

Ver.  2.  Only  tlie  spoil  thereof  ....  shall  ye 
take  for  prey.  At  the  capture  of  Jericho,  the  spoil 
also  (the  property)  was  devoted  to  Jehovah  ;  but  at 
this  time  it  should  belong  to  the  people  to  whom 
ample  gain  had  been  promised  (Deut.  vi.  10  If.) 

An  ambush.  Concerning  the  question  so  ex- 
tensively discussed  by  the  old  interpreters.  Whether 
the  employment  of  stratagems  (v/iles  in  war)  was 
consistent  with  the  dignity  of  God,  Calvin  observes 
briefly  and  convincingly  :  ''  Qnod  hie  qmerunt  non- 
nulli,  dolonc  el  per  insidias  liceat  hostes  opprimere,  ex 
crassa  imperitia  nascitur.  Certnm  est  non  feriendo 
solum  fferi  hella,  sed  eos  censeri  optimos  duces,  qui  arte 
et  consilio  pollent  viagis  cjuam  impetu.  Ergo  si  legili- 
mum  sit  helium,  extra  controversiam  est,  co)isicetis  vin- 
cendi  artibus  patefactam  esse  viam :  modo  ne  vel  pac- 
'is  induciis,  vel  alio  modo  Jidem  datum  fallamus. 

Ver.  3  does  not  agree  with  vers.  13,  14.  Here 
it  is  said  that  30,000  men  are  placed  in  the  ambush  ; 
according  to  ver.  12  they  are  only  5,000.     Fur- 

1  [Keil  supposes  that  Joshua  also,  and  the  main  array 
h;id  gone  from  Gilgal  to  the  neighborhood  of  Ai  (ver.  3),  that 
from  there  he  sent  out  the  ambush  (vers.  3-9),  and  there 
moar  Ai)  he  spent  that  night  in  the  midst  of  the  people 
.ver.  9).  In  ver.  12,  1-5,  then  he  finds  only  a  repetition  witli 
some  vsif^^  partieularity  of  the  statement  concerning  the 


ther,  the  30,000  men  were,  accoixling  to  this  verse, 
sent  out  already  on  the  evening  before;  in  ver.  1.'3, 
on  the  contrary,  the  5,000  betake  themselves  to  their 
safe  concealment  tlrst  on  the  morning  of  the  battle. 
These  contradictory,  statements  taken  from  dif- 
ferent sources  cannot  be  reconciled,  as  Keil  indeed 
perceives,  while  yet  he  strangely  attempts  to  har- 
monize them.  He  takes  vers.  12  and  13  to  be  a 
"  supplementary  remark "   to  vers.   3,  and  says : 

Before  the  '^4]2  n7t?7*5,  ver.  3,  we  must  supply 
from  the  supplementary  remark,  that  Joshua  out 
of  the  30,000  men  separated  again  about  5,000  and 
sent  them  out  by  night  into  the  ambush."  i  Against 
this  Maurer  correctly  says,  on  vers.  12,  13  :  "//ac 
repugnaht  iis  qu(B  vers.  3-8  et  9-1 1  expositu  leguntur. 
Quam  repugnantiam  recte  plerique  repetuut  ex  anna- 
libus  diversis  alio  et  alio  ordine  diversisque  verbis 
scriptis,  in  quibns  contrahendis  is,  qui  /tunc  librum  com- 
posuerit,  non  satis  ad  diversitatem  attenderit.  Confer 
similem  locum,  iv.  9.  Alex.  ver.  12  prorsns  non  ex- 
hibet,  tertiidecimi,  maximnm partem  omittit;  habet  enim 
luec  lantum  :  koI  to,  evsSpa  rfjy  TroAeajj  dwo  OaXdacrri^ 
(Itala;  et  insidim  erant  ciuitali  a.  mari),  nihil  am- 
plius."  Such  is  the  judgment  of  Knobel  also.  The 
30,000  might  reach  the  neighborhood  of  Ai  before 
daybreak,  since  the  distance  from  Gilgal  to  Ai 
was  not  more  than  five  to  six  hours.  (Robinson, 
ii.  307-12.)  Joshua  still  remained  that  nio-ht  in 
Gilgal. 

Vers.  4-8.  Clear  and  exact  instructions  to  the 
soldiers  how  they  were  to  proceed.  They  must 
put  themselves  in  ambush,  not  too  far  from  the 
city,  and  be  in  readiness ;  he  would  make  an  attack 
in  front  and  pretend  to  flee.  Then  they  should 
break  forth  into  the  city  abandoned  by  the  enemy, 
and  set  it  on  fire.    "  See,"  he  concludes  his  address, 

ambush  previously  mentioned.  The  only  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  regarding  both  accounts  as  relating  to  the  same 
movement  is  the  great  difference  of  the  numbers  of  the  men. 
Ilefc  ho  tliinks  there  has  been  .simply  an  error  of  tran.scrip- 
tion,  the  letters  representing  the  .5,000  having  been  b3'  mis- 
take replaced  in  ver.  3  by  those  denoting  30,000.  — Ta.J 


84 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


"I  have  coinmaiidwl  it  to  you,"  that  is,  "Take 
heed  that  yon  do  well  your  ])art." 

Vcr.  9.  Between  Beth-el  and  Ai.  "  Ai  hiy 
forty-five  minutes  southeast  of  Beth-el  (eh.  xii.  9 ; 
Gen.  xii.  8)  ;  hetween  the  two  plaees  rise  two  rocky 
heights,  liehiud  which  tlie  liers  in  wait  appear  to 
have  taken  their  position  (Van  de  Velde  :  J\'ai-ra- 
tive,  ii.  p.  280)."    (Knol)el.) 

Vcr.  10.  In  the  morning  Joshua  leads  up  the 
rest  of  the  army,  conies  before  the  city  and  encamps 
to  the  north  of  it,  so  that  a  valley,  probably  "  the 
present  Wady  Mutyah,"  lay  between  him  and  Ai. 

Vers.  12,  13.      See  above  on  ver.  3.    According 

to  Keil,  S^nn  n^"v2  means  the  same  night  as 
ver.  9.  But  on  that  night  (ver.  9)  Joshua  was  not 
yet  certainly  before  Ai,  for  which  he  started  only 

in  the  morning  (ver.   10).      The   reading     1  .f^^ 

instead  of  "H /?.1'1  originated  perhaps  in  the  same 
effort  to  haruKmize  ver.  15  with  ver.  9. 

b.  Shaiii-J^li/lit  of  the  Israeliles.  Their  Victory, 
Capture  and  Destruction  of  the  City  (vers.  14-29). 
Tlie  plan  succeeds  admirably.  The  king  of  Ai, 
seeing  Joshua's  army  in  front,  leads  out  against 
him.  The  latter  pretends  to  run  away.  The  in- 
habitants of  Ai  now  pursue  the  Israelites  and  leave 
the  city  standing  open.  Then  Joshua  gives  the 
ambush  a  signal  with  his  spear.  They  rush  forth, 
seize  the  city,  and  set  it  on  fire.  Joshua  himself 
with  his  army  turns  about  at  the  same  moment. 
The  men  of  Ai  tind  themselves  suddenly  attacked 
in  front  and  rear  at  once,  and  are  annihilated.  The 
oth"r  inhabitants  of  Ai  also,  about  12,000 1  in  men 
and  women,  are  slain.  The  city  is  razed  to  the 
ground,  its  king  hanged  on  a  tree. 

Ver.  14.  When  the  king  of  Ai  saw  it,  namelj% 
Joshua  and  liis  army,  —  j^ointing  back,  therefore, 
to  ver.  11,  the  continuation  of  which  we  have  here. 
It  cannot  refer  to  ver.  13  because  he  could  not  see 
the  ambush  nor  have  any  knowledge  of  it,  as  is 
shown  by  the  close  of  ver.  1 1 . 

Vers.  16,  17.  The  men  of  Ai  in  their  excessive 
ardor  recklessly  leave  the  city,  without  care  about 
covering  their  line  of  return  to  Ai,  and  without 
protection  to  the  city  itself  which  they  leave  open. 

The  expression  ^pn3*T  is  striking :  "  they  were 
torn  away,"  Van  Ess  ;  "  they  were  cut  off."  ^ 

Ver.  18.  A  direct  command  of  God  renewed, 
under  whose  special  order  the  whole  affair  pi-o- 
cceds. 

Spear.  Heb.  I'l"''^^)  dart,  javelin,  a  small  spear 
which  is  hurled  (Job  xli.  20.  Eng.  28),  distinct 
from  the  H'^Sr]  there  mentioned  in  connection  with 
it.  From  our  passage  compared  with  ver.  2G, 
some  would  conclude  that  the  3  must  have  been 
furnished  with  a  flag  or  standard.  Possibly,  though 
not  necessarily,  since  the  waving  motion  which 
Joshua  made  with  his  spear  might  be  seen  a  long 
distance,  especially  if  we  suppose  that  there  was  a 
bright  sunshine.  As  a  weapon  of  the  Babylonians 
and  Tcrsians,  it  is  spoken  of  Jer.  vi.  2.3* ;  1.  42. 
The  rendering  of  the  Vulg.  hy  "  clypcus  "  is  er- 
roneous. 

Vcr.  20.     Q'^^7^  had  no  power,  Vulg.  non  pot- 

uerunt.  Others,  e.  7.  Gesenius,  explain  D'^T^  with 
reference  to  Dent,  xxiii.  13;  Num.  ii.  17  ;  Is.  xvii. 

1  [Bvit  it  was  "  all  that  fell  tliat  day  "  (vcr.  2.5),  not  "  the 
other  inhabitants  "  that  made  up  the  12,000.  —  Ta  ] 

2  [It  is  the   same  word  which,  iv.  18,  denotes  the  with- 


8,  as  meaning  place,  room;  but  whether  the  dual 
can  mean  this  appears  to  us  doubtful.  Wc  should 
ratlier  approve  the  rendering  "  sides"  (Keil).  'J'he 
first  signification,  however,  is  to  be  ])referred,  lie- 
cause  tlien  the  thought  is  this,  that  being  held  fast 
by  terror,  they  had  no  power  to  flee  this  way  or 
that.  The  Avhole  situation  of  the  men  of  Ai,  who 
saw  before  them  the  enemy,  beliind  them  the  burn- 
ing town,  is  admirably  pictured  in  a  few  strokes. 

Ver.  26.  "  Joshua  drew  not  back  the  hand  which 
he  had  stretched  out  with  the  spear,  until  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Ai  had  been  destroyed.  The  signal 
i'or  attack  on  Ai  was  also  a  sigual  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  inhabitants,  and  remained  until  its 
design  was  fulfilled"  (Knobel). 

Ver.  28.    The  city  is  made  even  with  the  ground 

—  Kar   eda(j>os. 

Ver.  29.     Heap  of  stones,  as  in  ch.  vii.  26. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  It  shoiild  not  he  overlooked  that  the  spoil  to 
be  taken  in  Ai  is  given  over  to  the  Israelites,  which 
was  not  the  case  at  Jericho.  Jericho  was  the  first 
of  the  cities  of  Canaan  captured,  and  belonged  on 
this  account  wholly  to  the  Lord,  as  the  first-born 
of  man  and  beast  (Ex.  xiii.  2,  12,  1.5),  and  as  the 
firstlings  of  the  fruits  of  the  field  (Ex.  xxiii.  19; 
xxxiv.  26;  Lev.  ii.  12;  xxiii.  10,  17,20;  Num.  xv. 
20,  21).     This  was  no  longer  so  at  Ai. 

2.  If  the  justice  of  the  war  is  conceded,  it  follows 
that  a  stratagem  such  as  was  here  adopted  by- 
Joshua  against  Ai,  is  likewise  morally  allowable, 
since  notoriously  wars  are  not  carried  on  exclusively 
through  "hard  blows"  {feriendo),  as  Calvin  has 
well  remarked.  Yet  stratagem,  as  Calvin  also  calls 
us  to  notice,  has  its  limits.  A  treacherous  termina- 
tion of  a  truce,  and  the  like,  is  morally  reprehen- 
sible. Of  such  things  there  is  no  mention  here, 
but  simply  an  instance  of  strategy  like  what  is 
witnessed  in  almost  every  great  battle. 

UOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

God's  renewed  call  to  Joshua — the  same  word 
indeed  as  before,  but  now  of  quite  a  different  import, 
since  God  by  it  not  only  assures  him  of  his  support, 
but  also  gives  him  to  understand  that  He  is  again 
gracious  to  him.  —  The  capture  and  destruction  of 
the  city  of  Ai.     (1.)  Preparation.   (2.)   Execution. 

—  See,  I  have  commanded  it  to  you  —  a  strict  mil- 
itary admonition,  which  may  apply  also  to  the 
s])iritual  conflict. — How  God  gives  his  enemies 
into  the  hands  of  his  servants,  while  he  (1.)  blinds 
and  disheartens  the  former;  (2.)  enlightens  and 
strengthens  the  latter. 

Starkk  :  Although  every  victory  comes  from 
God,  it  is  still  in  the  order  of  our  own  fidelity  and 
bravery. —  From  God  alone  comes  the  victory  and 
He  it  is  who  can  subdue  and  root  out  the  peoples. 

Lange  :  In  so  far  as  a  war  is  justifiable,  so  far 
is  stratagem  therein  justifiable  also,  provided  only 
that  it  conflict  not  with  the  sjieeial  agreements  ex- 
isting, and  lead  not  to  inhuman  measures  ;  for  as 
much  as  possible,  the  people  must  be  spared. 

Bib.  Tun.  :  The  fortune  of  -war  is  changeahle, 
but  it  turns  as  the  Lord  will  have. 

Cranmek:  Just  wars  arc  not  in  tliemsdves 
against  Ciod.  But  without  necessity,  recklessly, 
and  from  ti'ifling  causes  to  begin  war,  is  iniquitous, 
2  Chr.  XXXV.  20  ;  1  K.  xx.  3." 

drawment  of  the  priests  feet  frgm  tlje  mud  of  the  rirer-bed 
to   the  dry   land  ;    "  were  lifted,"  m<;re  pxactly  "  plucked, 
lup.-'  — Ta.] 


CHAPTER  Vm.     30-35. 


85 


4.   The  Altar  of  Blessing  and  of  Cursing  on  Ebal. 
Chapter  VIIL  30-35. 

30  Then  Joshua  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel  in  Mount  Ebal, 

31  as  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovali  had]  commanded  the  children  of  Israel, 
as  it  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses,  An  altar  of  whole  stones,  over  which 
no  man  hath  lifted  up  any  iron  :  and  they  offered  thereon  burnt-offerings  unto  the 

32  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  sacrificed  peace-offermgs.  And  he  wrote  there  upon  the 
stones  a  coj^y  of  the  law  of  Moses,  which  he  wrote  [had  written]  in  the  presence  of 

•33  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel.  And  all  Israel,  and  their  elders,  and  officers  [over- 
seers], and  their  judges,  stood  on  this  side  the  ark,  and  on  that  side,  before  the 
priests  the  Levites,  which  [who]  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah], 
as  well  the  stranger,  as  he  that  was  born  among  them ;  half  of  them  over  against 
mount  Gerizim,  and  half  of  them  over  against  mount  Ebal ;  as  Moses  the  servant 
of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  commanded  before,^  that  they  should  bless  the  people  of 

34  Israel.     And  afterward  he  read  all  the  words  of  the  law,  the  blessings  and  cursings, 

35  according  to  all  that  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  law.  There  was  not  a  word  of 
all  that  Moses  commanded,  wliich  Joshua  read  not  before  all  the  congregation  of 
Israel,  with  the  women  and  the  little  ones,  and  the  strangers  that  were  conversant 
[the  stranger  that  walked]  among  them. 

TEXTUAL  AND   GRA3I3IATICAL. 

p  Ver.  33.  —  HDIl'S'^S  qualifies  rather  the  following  clause,  "  to  bless  the  people  of  Israel  in  the  beginning,"  or,  "  at 
Erst ;  ■'  probably  with  reference  to  the  injunction  in  Deut.  xxyii.  2,  taken  literally,  and  so  Jar  removiog  the  improbability 
that  what  is  recorded  in  this  paragraph  should  have  occurred  before  the  completion  of  the  conquest.  —  Tr.J 


EXEGETICAL   AND    CKXTICAL. 

This  paragraph,  which  contains  the  fulfiUment  of 
the  command  given  by  Moses,  Deut.  xxvii.  1  ft"., 
breaks  the  connection  between  chaps,  vili.  29  and  ix. 
1,  and  wonld  appear  to  be  in  place  hiter,  perhaps 
after  ch.  xi.  23,  since  it  is  not  likely  that  before  the 
complete  conquest  of  the  land,  Joshua  could  have 
undertaken  such  a  celebration  :  and  besides,  we  find 
him  still,  chaps,  ix.  and  x.,  in  the  south  of  Palestine. 
Keil,  in  his  prejudiced  opposition  to  all  which  is 
called  criticism,  naturally  allows  no  weight  to  this, 
and  hence  seeks,  among  other  things,  to  show  that 
when  (ch.  ix.  6)  the  camp  at  Gilgal  is  spoken  of,  this 
is  not  Gilgal  near  Jericho  but  another  place  of  that 
name  in  the  region  of  Shechem.  If  this  were  correct 
the  author  would  certainly  in  some  way  have  given 
an  intimation  of  the  fact  that  in  ch.  ix.  6  we  no 
longer  are  to  understand  tlie  Gilgal  near  Jericho  but 
a  Gilgal  near  Shechem.  As  he  omits  this,  the  whole 
connection  points  to  the  former,  and  Joshua  is  in 
the  southern  part,  not  in  central  Palestine. 

Ver.  30.  Ebal."  On  the  alleged  fertility  of 
Gerizim,  and  barrenness  of  Ebal,  many  fables  have 
been  told  by  travellers  and  interpreters.  Accord- 
ing to  Robinson  {Bibl.  Res.  iii.  96-103,  and  Later 
Bibl.  Bes.  131,  132  [Phys.  Geo;/,  of  H.  L.  p.  36  f.]), 
both  mountains  are  alike  desolate,  while  the  vale 
of  Shechem  Ij'ing  between  them  is  extremely 
pleasant  and  fertile.  [Comp.  Z)('c<.  of  the  Bible,  arti- 
cles, Ebal,  Gerizim,  Shechem.]  According  to 
Deut.  xxvii.  6,  the  altar  was  to  be  erected  on  Ebal, 
which  would  thus  have  the  advantage  over  Gerizim, 
which,  however,  is  distinguished  in  its  turn  by  the 
fact  that  from  it  the  blessing  was  to  be  pronounced. 
Probably  Ebal  had  been  like  Sinai,  like  Moriah 
Gen.  X3^ii.),  an  old  place  of  sacrifice,  and  so  ren- 
dered safred.  The  name  ^!2''i?,  from  732?,  to  strip 


off  (leaves),  signifies  the  naked  (mountain) :  com- 
pare also  7^137  (Gen.  x.  28),  a  region  of  Joktanite 
Arabia.   Gerizim  (D"'-t"13  "liT')  ver.  33  is  =  mount 

of  the  Gerizites.  The  D"'-p3  (from  T"n3  in  Arab, 
to  hew,  to  exterminate,  in  Heb.  only  in  Niphal,  Ps. 
xxxi.  23  ;  Ixxxvi.  6 )  ai'e  the  dwellers  in  a  barren 
land.  Assuming  this,  then  the  desolation  perceived 
by  travellers  on  the  mountain  would  be  as  truly 
countenanced  by  the  name  in  the  case  of  mount 
Gerizim,  as  in  that  of  Ebal. 

Ver.  31.  Altar  of  unhewn  stones  over  wliich 
no  man  had  hfted  up  any  iron.  So  the  law  re- 
quired in  general  (Ex.  xx.  25) ;  so  it  had  been  spe- 
cially ordained  for  this  case  (Deut.  xxvii.  5,  6). 

Ver.  32.  Stones.  Not  the  stones  of  the  altar 
(Jos.  Syr.)  but  the  great  stones  whitewashed  with 
lime,  spoken  of  in  Deut.  xxvii.  2-4,  8.    Eor  this 

reason  the  article  also  stands  here,  NH.  The  un- 
hewn, rough  stones  of  the  altar  moreover  would 
have  been  poorly  adapted  to  this  use. 

A  copy  of  the  Law  of  Moses  ( ^  H  n.DtpJ3, 
propei'ly,  doubling  of  the  law  of  Moses.     So  Gen. 

xliii.  15  they  say  ^pSn  ^  =  doubling  of  the 
money.  By  this  doubling  of  the  law  is  naturally 
to  be  understood  a  copy  of  the  law,  in  the  same 
sense  here  as  in  Deut.  xvii.  18,  as  we  also  speak  of 
the  duplicate  of  a  document.  What  now  was 
written  on  the  stones  1  Different  answers  are  given 
to  this,  ranged  according  to  the  interpretations  of 
Deut.  xxvii.  3.  (a.)  The  whole  law  (several  llab- 
bins,  Mich. ,Baumg.)  and,  according  to  the  Talmud- 
ists  in  Tract.  Sota,  ch.  vii.,  in  seventy  languages, 
that  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  might  read  it ;  there- 
fore the  whole  Thorah  with  all  its  narratives, 
genealogies,  legal  prescriptions,  etc.     Improbable. 


86 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHTJA. 


(6.)  Partifular  parts  of  tlic  law  ;  (a.)  the  Decalopiic 
(Grotius,  KeiiiiifOtt,  Ilasse).  (;8.)  Dcutcronomv 
(Gerliardt,  Osiaiidcr,  (ieddes,  Vatcr,  Hcngstcii- 
berg).  (7.)  The  l)le.ssin,!j:s  and  cursinrjs  (Masius, 
Maurer,  lioscnnnilkT)  —  aj;aiiist  the  words  of  Dcut. 
xxvii.  3.     (c.)  Evcrytliiiii;'  in  the  books  of  Moses 

which  is  law,  every  i^J^P  (Deut.  xxvii.  1),  which 
is  given  in  them,  all  the  words  of  the  law  (Dcut. 
xxvii.  3).  So  formerly  Michaelis  {Laws  of  Moses 
ii.  §  60),  rightly,  and  now  Knobel  on  Deut.  xxvii. 
1  :  "  The  language  reaches  to  the  law  in  general 
(Mischna  Sota  7,  5),  to  the  Mosaic  law  (Josh.  viii. 
32).  The  author  thinks,  however,  only  of  the  com- 
mandments proper,  six  hundred  and  thirteen  in 
number,  according  to  the  Jewish  reckoning,  not  of 
all  the  narratives  also  and  warnings,  admonitions, 
discourses,  reasons,  and  the  like.  80  also  ch.  vi.  9." 
The  inscription  itself  may  probably  have  been 
effected  not  till  after  the  ceremony  was  completed, 
being  reported  here  by  anticipation. 

Vers.  33-35.  Proclamation  of  the  Blessing  and 
Curse.  We  must  imagine  the  position  of  the  peo- 
ple to  have  been  such  that  the  ]3riests  with  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  valley, 
between  Ebal  lying  on  the  north  and  Gcrizim  lying 
on  the  south,  but  the  people,  one  half  over  against 
Gerizim  (therefore  on  Ei)al),  and  the  other  half 
over  against  Ebal  (therefore  on  Gerizim).  After 
this  had  been  arranged  Joshua  himself  read 
(Luther;  incorrectly  :  "caused  to  be  read  ")  all  the 
■words  of  the  law,  the  blessing,  and  the  cursing.  A 
discrepancy  which  Knobel  thinks  he  finds  between 
this  report  and  tlie  directions  Deut.  xxvii.  9  ff.  we 
cannot  admit,  because  by  the  expression  "  all  the 
words  of  the  law  "  which  is  afterwards  defined  by 
the  addition,  '•  the  blessing  and  the  curse,"  nothing 
more  is  probably  to  be  understood  than  in  the  for- 
mulas given  Dcut.  xxvii.  14  IF.  The  curses  are  ex- 
actly twelve,  according  to  the  number  of  the  tribes; 
the  blessings,  see  Deut.  xxviii.  1-14. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  It  is  consistent  with  the  divine  economy  of 
salvation  in  the  time  of  the  old  covenant,  that  on 
the  entrance  of  the  chosen  people  into  the  promised 
land,  not  merely  blessing  but  also  curse  was  held  up 
before  them.  A  people  standing  so  low  in  morality 
as  the  Israelites  then  did  needed  stern  discipline,  and 
not  only  might  be  allured  by  promises  but  must  be 
alarmed  by  threats.  This  was  a  very  Mholesome 
pedagogic,  which  is  even  yet  quite  in  place  in  the  ed- 
ucation of  particular  individuals  as  well  as  of  whole 
nationalities,  under  certain  circumstances.  Think, 
for  instance,  of  the  neglected  children  as  they  are  de- 
livered to  our  reformatory  institutions,  or  of  rough 
heathen  nations  among  whom  the  Christian  mission- 
aries labor.  Only  we  must  consider  one  thing, 
namely  this,  that  the  day  of  salvation,  in  which  we 
live,  must  never  be  lost  sight  of,  that  Moses  may  not 


be  again  put  in  the  place  of  Christ  by  whom  grace 
and  truth  have  been  brought  to  us  (John  i.  17),  nor 
the  servile  spirit  in  place  of  the  filial  (Kom.  viii.  1.5). 
Unfortunately,  a  certain  legal  tendency  has  shown 
a  great  inclination  that  way,  even  in  the  evangeli- 
cal church,  to  say  nothing  of  Rome,  whose  curses, 
far  removed  from  the  royal  power  of  those  impre- 
cations of  the  O.  T.  are  a  kind  of  invectives  about 
which  no  one  cares.  The  curse,  to  have  any  power, 
must  be  uttered  in  the  name  of  God  against  im- 
questionable  transgressions  of  the  divine  command, 
as  conversely,  the  blessing  only  takes  effect  when  it 
is  bestowed  upon  acts  well  pleasing  to  God.  Ac- 
cording to  this  canonical  law  the  curia  has  seldom 
proceeded,  but  often  exactly  in  the  opposite  way. 

2.  More  closelj^  considered,  the  twelve  curses  are 
directed  against  idolatry  (Deut.  xxvii.  15),  con- 
tempt of  parents  (ver.  16),  removing  a  neighbor's 
land-mark  (ver.  17),  inhumanity  toward  the  blind, 
strangers,  brphan.s,  widows  (vers.  18,  19),  incest 
and  sodomy  (vers.  20-23),  murder  (vers.  24,  25), 
and  finally  in  general  against  the  transgression  of 
the  law  in  any  manner  (ver.  26).  Blessings  are 
promised  in  the  city  and  on  the  field  (ch.  xxviii.  3), 
on  all  births  (xxviii.  4),  on  the  basket  and  the 
kneading-trough  (xxviii.  5  ;  Ex.  vii.  28,  xi.  36),on 
going  out  and  coming  in  (Deut.  xxviii.  6) ;  a  bless- 
ing in  particular  on  their  arms  in  contest  with  their 
enemies  (xxviii.  7),  a  blessing  on  the  position  of 
Israel  among  the  nations  (xxviii.  9-14).  The  N. 
T.  recognizes  still  an  entirely  different  blessing,  the 
eu\oyla  iruev/xaTiKT]  in  heavenly  goods  (eV  rois 
i-Fovpayiois)  in  Christ  (Eph.  i.  3),  the  imperishable, 
and  undefilcd,  and  unfacling  inheritance  which  is 
reserved  in  heaven  (1  Pet.  i.  3).  This  blessing 
makes  rich,  in  the  highest  sense,  without  trouble 
added  (Prov.  x.  22). 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

The  solemn  gathering  of  the  people  on  Ebal,  (1) 
Sacrifice,  (2)  inscription  of  the  law,  (3)  blessing 
and  curse.  —  The  consecrated  altar.  —  Not  only  on 
the  stones  but  rather  on  the  heart  should  the  law 
of  God  be  written,  Jer.  xxxi.  31-34.  —  On  the  im- 
port of  blessing  and  cursing.  —  Rather  bless  than 
curse,  yet  bless  not  under  all  circumstances. — Curse 
may  become  blessing,  blessing  curse.  —  How  is  it 
with  thee.  Christian  congregation  7  Staudest  thou 
under  the  blessing  or  deservest  thou  the  curse  of 
thy  God?  —  Questions  to  be  asked,  perhaps,  on 
days  of  penitence  and  prayer.  —  The  whole  congrc' 
gation  should  hear  the  A\ford. 

Stakkk  :  A  Christian  should  n.^t,  after  being 
delivered  from  need,  forget  gratitude  also. — Not 
human  nonsense  but  the  holy  word  of  (iod  alone 
must  be  taught  and  preached.  —  My  (iod,  give  us 
also  readiness  and  desire  to  make  known  thy  com- 
mandments, to  all,  friends  and  foes,  old  and 
young. 


CHAPTER  IX.   1-27.  87 


B.    COXTESTS  AGAINST   THE   ALLIED   KINGS    OF   TUE    CANAANITES. 

Chapters  IX.-XI. 

1.   I'/ie  Jirst  League  of  Canaanite  Kings  against  Israel. 

CHAPTER  IX.  1-2. 

1  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  kings  which  were  on  this  side  [on  the  other  side 
of  the]  Jordan,  in  the  hills  [on  the  mountain],  and  in  the  valleys  [the  low  land], 
and  in  all  the  coasts  [on  all  the  coast]  of  the  great  sea  over  against  Lebanon,  the 
Hittite,  and  the  Amorite,  the  Canaauite,  the  Perizzite,  the  Ilivite,  and  the  Jebusite, 

2  heard  thereof;  That  they  gathered  themselves  together  to  fight  with  Joshua  and  with 
Israel,  with  one  accord. 


EXEGETICAIi  AND  CRITICAL. 

While  Joshua  had  hitherto  contended  against 
separate  cities,  namely,  .Jei-icho  and  Ai,  there  now 
follows  an  account  of  the  struggles  with  the  allied 
kings  of  the  (.'anaanites,  of  whose  first  league  we 
are  informed  in  ch.  ix.  1-2,  of  their  second  in  cli 
xi.  1-3.  They  are  defeated  in  two  great  battles, 
at  Gibeon  (ch.  x.  1  ff.),  and  at  the  sea  of  Merom 
(ch.  xi.  4-9).  Following  upon  that  first  triumph, 
southern  Palestine  west  of  the  Jordan  is  subju- 
gated (ch.  x.  28-43),  and  upon  the  second,  the 
northern  part  (ch.  xi.  10-23).  OnJy  the  Gibeon- 
ites  were  shrewd  enough,  as  is  related  in  ix.  3-27, 
to  save  themselves  by  a  stratagem  from  the  edge  of 
the  sword. 

Ver.  1.  On  the  other  side  (Eng..vers.  on  this 
Bide),  as  in  ch.  v.  1,  where  the  country  west  of  the 


Jordan  is  intended.  "  This  land,  Canaan  proper, 
is,  from  its  conspicuously  diverse  features,  divided 

into  the  mountain,  ~'r7'7'  the  plain  or  lowland, 
'^^?^'7,  and  the  sea  coast,  Q*n  V\^■^,  toward 
Lebanon"  (Keil).  The  mountain,  "Tin,  is  the 
Mount  Ephraim  and  mount  (or  mountain  of) 
Judah;  the  lowland  is  the  region  from  Akko  to 
Gaza  lying  west  of  the  mountain ;  the  sea  coast  is 

the  coast  of  north  Galilee  and  Phcenicia.  —  ^"1^^ 
elsewhere  in  poetical  passages  as  Gen.  xlix.  13; 
Judg.  V.  17;  Jer.  xlvii.  7;  Ezek.  xxv.   16. —  HQ 

"fi7v?  prop,  with  one  mouth,  unanimously.  Ex. 
xxiv!  3 ;  1  K.  xxii.  13. 


2.   Tlie  Craft  of  the  Giheonites. 
Chapter  IX.  3-27. 

a.  Coming  of  the  Gibeonites  to  Joshua  and  his  League  with  them. 
Chapter  IX.  3-15. 

3  And  when  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  heard  what  Joshua  had  done  unto  Jericho 

4  and  to  Ai,  they  [also]  did  work  wilily,  and  went  and  made  as  if  they  had  been 
ambassadors  [went,  and  set  out,  or,  went  and  '^  provided  themselves  with  victuals], 
and  took  old  [prop,  decayed]  sacks  upon  their  asses,  and  wine-bottles  [wine-skins], 

5  old  [decayed],  and  rent,  and  bound  up ;  And  old  [decayed]  shoes  and  clouted 
[patched]  upon  their  feet,  and  old   [decayed]  garments   upon   them ;  and  all   the 

6  bread  of  their  provision  was  dry  and  mouldy.  And  they  went  to  Jo.shua  unto  the 
camp  at  Gilgal,  and  said  unto  him,  and  to  the  men  of  Israel,  We  be  [are]  come  from 

7  a  far  country :  now  therefore  [and  now]  make  ye  a  league  [covenant]  with  us. 
And  the  men  of  Israel  said  unto  the  Hivites,  Peradventure  ye  dwell  among  us  ;  - 

8  and  how    shall  we  make  a  league  [covenant]  with  you  ?     And  they  saicl  unto 

9  Joshua,  We  are  thy  servants.  And  Joshua  said  unto  them,  Who  are  ye  ?  and  from 
whence  come  ye  ?  And  they  said  unto  him.  From  a  very  far  country  thy  servants 
are  come,  because  of  the  name  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  thy  God :  for  we  have  heard 

10  the  fame  of  him,  and  all  that  he  did  in  Egypt,  and  all  that  he  did  to  the 
two    kings  of  the     Amorites,  .that  were  beyond  the    Jordan,  to    Sihon    king   of 

11  Heshbon,  and  to  Og  king  of  Bashan,  which  [who]  loas  at  Ashtaroth.  Where- 
fore [And]  our  elders,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  our  countiy  spake  to  us,  saying. 
Take  victuals  with  you  for  the  journey,  and  go  to  meet  them,  and  say  unto  them, 
We  are  your  servants :  therefore  [and]  now  make  ye  a  league  [covenant]  with  us, 

12  This  our  bread  we  took  hot  for  our  provision  out  of  our  houses  on  the  day  we  came 


88  THE  BOOK  OE  JOSHUA. 


13  forth  to  go  unto  you  ;  but  now,  behold,  it  is  dry,  and  it  is  [has  become]  mouldy :  And 
these  bottles  of  wine  [wine-skins]  which  we  filled  ivere  new,  and  behold  they  be 
[are]  rent :  and  these  our  garments  and  our  shoes  are  become  old  [are  decayed]  by 

14  reason  of  the  very  long  journey.    And  the  men  took  of  their  victuals,  and  asked  not 

15  counsel  at  [omit :  counsel  at]  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  Joshua 
made  peace  Avith  them,  and  made  a  league  [covenant]  with  them,  to  let  them  live : 
and  the  princes  of  the  congregation  sware  unto  them. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMSIATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  4.  —  The  verb  !n*t3^*"n  from  ^^^,  not  elsewhere  found  in  Hebrew,  should  from  the  signification  of  its 
derivatives,  and  from  the  analogy  of  the  Arab.,  mean  to  go,  to  set  out  on  a  journey.  "  But  since  no  other  trace  of  this 
form  or  signification  e.\ists  in  Heb.  or  in  Aramrean,  it  is  better  to  read  with  six  MSS.  Jn*!^^"*,  they  provided  them- 
selves  with  food  for  the  journey,  as  in  ver.  12  ;  which  is  also  expressed  by  the  ancient  versions,"'  Gesen.  With  this  agree 
Knobel  and  i'ny.  But  De  Wette,  and  Keil  adhere  to  the  root-meaning  "  set  out  on  a  journey,"  and  there  is  a  reasonable 
probability  that  the  change  suggested  by  a  few  MSS.,  and  the  anc.  vers,  was  owing  simply  to  the  strangeness  of  the  word 
which  originally  stood  here.     The  meaning  "  to  act  as  amb.assadors  "  appears  to  have  been   derived  from  the  analogy  of 

"1^2   "  a  messenger,''  and  is  retained  by  Zunz  :   StHlten  sick  als  Eoten.  —  Tr.J 

[2  Ver.  7.  —  The  Hebrew  uses  the  sing.  "  in  the  midst  of  me,  and  how  shall  I."  —  Tb.] 

b.   Discovery  and  Punishment  of  the  Fraud. 
Chapter  IX.  16-27. 

16  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  three  days  after  they  had  made  a  league  with 
them,  that  they  heard  that  they  were  their  neighbors,  and  that  they  dwelt  among 

17  them.  And  the  children  of  Israel  journeyed  [broke  up],  and  came  unto  their  cities 
on  the  third  day.  Now  [And]  their  cities  tvere  Gibeon,  and  Chephirah,  and  Beeroth, 

18  and  Kirjathjearim.  And  the  children  of  Israel  smote  them  not,  because  the  princes 
of  the  congregation  had  sworn  unto  them  by  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel. 

19  And  all  the  congregation  murmured  against  the  princes.  But  all  the  princes  said 
unto  all  the  congregation,  We  have  sworn  unto  them  by  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God 

20  of  Israel :  now  therefore  we  may  not  touch  them.  This  we  will  do  to  them ;  w^e  will 
even  let  them  live,^  lest  wrath  be  upon  u.s,  because  of  the  oath  which  we  sware  unto 

21  them.  And  the  princes  said  unto  them,  Let  them  live ;  but  let  them  be  [and  they 
became]  hewers  of  wood  [wood-choppers],  and  drawers  of  water  unto  all  the  con- 
gregation ;  as  the  princes  had  promised  [spoken  to]  them. 

22  And  Joshua  called  for  them,  and  he  spake  unto  them,  saying.  Wherefore  have  ye  be- 

23  guiled  us,  saying.  We  are  very  far  from  you,  when  ye  dwell  among  us  ?  Now  therefore 
ye  are  cursed,  and  there  shall  none  of  you  be  freed  from  being  [there  shall  not  fail  to 
be  from  among  you]  bond-men,  and  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the 

24  house  of  my  God.  And  they  answered  Joshua,  and  said.  Because"  it  was  certainly  told 
thy  servants  how  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  thy  God  commanded  his  servant  Moses  to 
give  you  all  the  land,  and  to  destroy  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  from  before  you, 
therefore  we  were  sore  afraid  of  our  lives  because  of  you,  and  have  done  this  thing. 

25  And  now,  behold,  we  are  in  thy  hand  :  as  it  seemeth  good  and  right  unto  thee  to  do 
20  unto  us,  do.  And  so  did  he  unto  them,  and  delivered  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
27  children  of  Israel,  that  they  slew  them  not.  And  Joshua  made  them  that  day  hewers 

of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  congregation,  and  for   the  altar  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah],  even  unto  this  day,  in  the  place  which  he  should  choose. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  20.  —  Do  Wette,  F.-iy,  and  others  translate  this  and  the  following  Terse  accurately:  This  [sc.  what  we  haye 
gworii]  will  we  do  to  them,  and  let  them  live,  lest  wrath  be  upon  us,  because  of  the  oath  which  we  have  sworn  to  them. 
And  ^lle  princes  said  to  them,  l^ct  them  live.  And  they  became  wood-choppers  and  water-carriers  (or  drawers  of  water) 
s<je.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  24.  —  "^3  is  better  regarded  as  merely  introducing  the  words  quoted  :  It  was  told  .  .  .  and  we  were 
ifraid,  etc.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 
Giheon  would  appear  to  have  been  a  sort  of  in- 


(ix.  11),  but  not  of  a  king;  and  of  their  city  it  is 
s.aid  (x.  2)  that  it  w.as  a  great  city  like  a  royal  city. 
The  inhabitants,   having   heaixl  of  the   deeds   of 


dependent  republic,  since  wg  hear  of  elders  there  I  Joshua,   hit  upon   a  diiferent  plan  of  resistance 


CHAPTER  IX.    3-27. 


80 


from  that  adopted  by  the  kings  before  named,  — 
the  phxn  of  negotiation,  but  with  wiles.  Tliev  pre- 
tend to  have  come  from  a  very  far  country  (ix.  9) 
to  form  an  alliance  with  Joshua;  and  to  confirm 
tlieir  declaration  they  point  to  their  mouldy  bread, 
their  torn  wine-skins,  and  their  worn-out  clothing 
(ix.  12,  1.3).  Joshua  suffers  himself  to  be  deceived, 
and  makes  a  treaty  with  them  which  is  ratified  with 
an  oath  (ix.  1.5). 

The  deception,  however,  is  discovered.  After 
not  more  than  three  days  the  Israelites  hear  that 
the  Gibeonites  dwell  in  their  very  neighborhood 
(ix.  16).  They  break  up,  go  thither  themselves, 
and  spare  them  because  of  the  oath  which  the 
chiefs  had  sworn  to  them  (ix.  18).  When  discon- 
tent arises  in  the  camp  on  this  account,  Joshua 
consults  with  the  chiefs,  but  they  appeal  to  their 
oath,  and  decide  in  favor  of  letting  them  live.  To 
this  resolution  they  adhere,  but  the  Gibeonites,  as 
a  penalty  for  their  falsehood,  are  made  wood- 
choppers  and  water-carriers  for  the  congregation 
and  the  altar  of  Jehovah  (ix.  21-27).  • 

a-  Arrival  of  the  GUieonites  and  Joshua's  league 
with  them,  vers*.  3-15.  Gibeon,  ch.  xviii.  25.  They 
also  did  work  wilily.  They  had  heard  what 
Joshua  had  done  in  the  case  of  Jericho  and  Ai, 

and  they  also  (C3)  did  something,  and  that  with 
craft,  ntt^^,  ver.  3,  and  ^ti73?*1,  ver.  4,  are  rela- 
tive to  each  other,  so  that  the  C3  refers  not  to  what 
the  Canaanite  kings  had  done,  but  to  Joshua's 
deeds.  These  would  they  emnlate,  only  not  by 
warlike  exploits,  but  hj  a  finely  contrived  trick. 
So  also  the  LXX. :  Kai  firSirjaav  Kal  ye  avrol  uera 
iravovpyias.  Joshua's  stratagem  against  Ai  (ch.  8) 
is  to  be  remembered.  Maurer  thinks  also  of  Jeri- 
cho ;  but  that  is  less  apposite. 

Provided  themselves  with  victuals.  The  He- 
brew ^"^^^T^?]?  "  is  nowhere  else  met  with,  and  in- 
stead of  it  we  should  read  with  all  the  ancient 

translations  and  many  MSS.,  ^"T*^^*],  which 
also  occurs  in  ver.  12"  (Knobel).  Keil  adheres 
unqualifiedly  to  the  textus  receptus,  and,  connect- 
ing ^~^*^^*1  with  "l*^^,  nuncius,  translates  :  "  they 
went  and  journeyed  as  ambassadors,"  or  "  set  out 
as  ambassadoi's  "  [thus  bringing  out  the  sense  of 
the  English  version].  But  was  it  necessary  to 
state  this  particularly?  Is  not  that  evident  of 
itself,  that  if  the  Gibeonites  went  they  went  as  am- 
bassadors, since  ver.  3  leaves  us  to  suppose  a  pre- 
vious consultation  ? 

Ver.  6.  GUgal.  In  the  Jordan  Valley,  as  Ewald 
also  assumes,  and  not,  as  Keil  supposes,  the  Gilgal 
on  the  mountain  near  Bethel,  "  often  mentioned  in 
the  Book  of  Judges  and  in  Eirst  Samuel."  But 
something  would  surely  have  been  said  of  it  if 
Joshiui  had  moved  the  camp  from  Gilgal  in  the 
Jordan  Valley  to  Gilgal  near  Bethel ;  and  as  this 
is  not  the  case,  we  have  no  ground  for  thinking 
here  of  another  Gilgal.  Joshua  had  rather  re- 
turned from  his  successful  expedition  against  Ai 
to  his  well  situated  headquarters  in  the  Jordan 
Valley,  in  order  to  undertake  from  thence  fresh 
enterprises.  Comp.  the  preliminary  remarks  to 
ch.  viii.  30-35. 

Ver.  7,  ^~I7?S*\'  This  Kethib  is  to  be  retained 
after  the  analogy  of  Judg.  viii.  22,  xx.  36  ;  1  Sam.. 
^iv.  22.  The  Israelites  are  not  clear  in  this  matter. 
I'he  thing  looks  suspicious  to  them,  hence  the  ques- 
tion :  "  Perhaps  thou  dwellest  in  the  midst  of  us 
|me),  how  then  can  I  make  a  covenant  with  thee '? " 


Ver.  8.  To  this  entangling  question  the  Gibeon- 
ites return  no  answer  at  all,  but  say,  with  true 
oriental  adroitness,  apparently  submissive  and 
humble :  "  We  are  thy  servants."  This  was  no 
sincere  declaration  of  submission  (Serar.,  C.  A. 
Lap.,  Eosenm.,  Kiiobel),  but  simply  a  form  of 
courtesy,  as  (jen.  1.  18,  xxxii.  4,  which  was,  how- 
ever, very  well  designed  and  cunningly  addressed. 
Nevertheless,  Joshua  shows  himself  not  satisfied 
with  it,  and  asks  again,  more  definitely  than  others 
had  done  before :  Who  are  ye  and  whence  come 

ye  ?  The  imperfect  ^SQiT  I^WP,  is  Avorthy  of 
notice  as  indicating  the  still  incomplete  action, 
comp.  Judg.  xvii.  9,  xix.  17  ;  2  Sam.  i.  3  ;  Jonah 
i.  8;  Ewald,  Lehrgeb.  §  136,  1,  a. 

Ver.  9.  So  pressed,  ilie  Gibeonites  are  compelled 
to  answer  Joshua,  and  first  repeat  what  they  have 
said  before  (ver.  6),  but  add  that  they  have  come 
on  account  of  the  name  of  Jehovah,  whose  fame 

CVnW)  they  have  heard.  In  the  more  detailed 
specification  which  follows  of  what  they  had  heard 
they  say  nothing  of  Jericho  and  Ai  [to  have  heard 
of  which  might  indicate  that  they  lived  not  very 
far  off],  but  cunningly  confine  themselves  to  what 
God  has  done  to  the  Amorite  kings  beyond  the 
Jordan,  therefore  at  a  distance,  nay  even  in  Egypt 
(ver.  10), 

They  then  recall  the  commission  given  them  by 
their  elders  (ver.  11),  and  refer  in  conclusion  to 
their  mouldy  bread,  etc.,  as  a  proof  of  the  truth 
of  their  story.  The  Gibeonites  must  have  played 
their  part  admirably ;  for  all  the  scruples  which 
had  been  expressed  are  now  silent. 

Ver.  14.  And  the  men  took  of  their  victuals. 
"  The  men,"  as  we  learn  from  vers.  18,  21,  are  the 
princes,  i  e.,  heads  of  the  tribes.  The  taking  of 
their  food  is  a  sign  of  friendship,  of  inclination  to 
make  a  league  with  the  Gibeonites,  Gen.  xxxi.  46 ; 
Lev.  ii.  13  ;  2  Chron.  xiii.  5.  Keil  will  not  allow 
this,  but  adopts  the  explanation  of  Masius,  ap- 
proved also  by  J.  H.  Michaelis  and  Eosenmiiller. 
He  says:  "Est  enim  veluti  oppositio  quadam  inter 
ilia;  sumere  panem  Gibeonitarum  in  manus,  suis- 
que  oculis  satis  Jidere  et  os  s.  oraeulum  Domini  in- 
terrogare."  Tins  opposition  is  not  to  be  denied, 
but  would  it  not  be  much  stronger,  if  it  related 
not  merely  to  a  testing  of  the  bread  whether  it  was 
so  old,  but  to  an  eating  of  it  with  a  symbolical 
import,  wdiich  implied  readiness  to  make  a  league 
with  the  Gibeonites  'I 

And  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  they  asked  not. 
That  was  a  transgression  of  the  explicit  command, 
Num.  xxvii.  21,  that  the  priest  Eleazer  should  seek 

counsel  for  Joshua,  and  that  □^"■•ISn  1221^:72:?, 
i.  e.,  through  the  judgment  or  right  of  Urim  (and 
Thummim).!  The  priest  by  that  becomes  the 
mouth  of  Jehovah,  since  he  announces  God's  an- 
swer in  His  name,  just  the  same  as  the  prophet 
who  (Is.  XXX.  2;  Jer.  xv.  19;  Ex.  iv.  16)  is  so 
called. 

Ver.  15.  AjQd  Joshua  made  peace  with  them. 
He  assured  them  of  peace  and  so  of  preservation 
from  the  edge  of  the  sword. 

b.  Discovery  and  Punishment  of  the  Deceit.  Vers 
16-27.  Ver.  16.  At  the  end  of  three  days,  as  in 
ch.  iii.  2. 

Ver.  17.  And  came  to  their  cities  on  the  third 
day.  It  took  them  so  long,  namely,  to  come  from 
Gilgal  lying  in  the  Jordan  valley  to  Gibeon.  They 
might  have  accomplished  the  jouimey  in  much  less 

1  See  the  Art.  "  Urim  and  Thummim"  in  the  Diet,  of  the 
Bible.  —  Ta.] 


90 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


time,  as  appears  from  cli.  x.  9,  but  here  there  was 
no  forced  march  commanded  as  in  that  passage. 
They  could  therefore  take  tlieir  time.  Hut  it  would 
have  been  an  unreasoiuihly  slow  march,  if,  as  Kcil 
supposes,  Joshua's  head<piarters  had  now  lieeu  at 
Gilgal  near  Bethel,  and  he  had  taken  more  than 
two  days  for  a  distance  of  seven  or  eiiiht  hours. 
Chephirah,  ch.  xviii.  26.  Beeroth,  xviji.  25.  Kir- 
jath-jearim,  xv.  00. 

Vers.  18,  19.  The  question  whcthoi  the  princes 
were  really  bound  to  keep  the  oath  which  they  had 
sworn  to  the  Gihconites,  after  it  appeared  that  the 
condition  on  which  it  had  been  given  did  not  hold 
good,  h.^s  been  much  discussed  by  the  interpreters, 
and  decided  rij^htly  by  most  of  them  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  contrary  is  maintained  by  Osiander, 
Ising  (p.  208),  Corn,  a  Lapide,  and  Clericus.  The 
Jast  named  expresses  that  opinion  the  most  de- 
cidedly :  "  Non  videntur  Hebrceoruin  proc.eres  intabti- 
lis  faderis  hoc  adscripsisse,  se  ea  lege  fcedas  cum  iis 
facere,  si  modo  remotam  oram  habitarent,  quod  7rist 
esset,  fiedus  hoc  font  irrituni.  Sinipliciter  jumruiit, 
se  Gabulionitis  vitani  non  erepturos  idque  invoculo 
nomine  Dei  Israelis.  Qiiam  ob  rem  suurn  hoc  jusju- 
randam  revocnre  amplius  non  potueriint."  .... 
Upon  this  Keil,  from  whom  we  borrow  this  extract, 
justly  remarks:  "Although  the  Israelite  princes 
did  not  verbally  make  the  truth  of  the  declaration 
of  the  Gihconites  a  condition  of  the  validity  of 
their  oath,  and  add  it  to  the  league,  expressis  verbis, 
still  it  lay  at  the  bottom  of  their  oath,  as  the  Gib- 
eonites  very  well  knew ;  and  hence  they  so  care- 
fully represented  themselves  as  having  come  from 
a  very  liir  country.  The  Israelites  had  not,  there- 
fore, so  wholly  simpliciter,  as  Clericus  assnmes, 
sworn  to  presen'e  tlieir  lives,  and  were  not  bound 
to  spare  them  after  the  discovery  of  their  trick." 
That  the  princes  nevertheless  felt  themselves  bound 
in  conscience  is  sufiiciently  explained,  psychologi- 
cally, by  their  reverence  for  the  oath  in  itself,  Lev. 
xix.  12.  Although  the  congregation  murmur,  the 
princes  abide  by  their  conviction  that  the  Gihcon- 
ites must  be  spared  on  account  of  the  oath.  This 
murmuring  was  directed  once  against  Moses  also, 
Ex.  XV.  24  ;  xvi.  2  ;  xvii.  3  ;  Num.  xiv.  2  ;  xxvii. 
3G.  Murmui-ing  against  God  is  mentioned,  Judg. 
viii.  21.  Lam.  iii.  39,  is  a  classic  passage.  In  the 
N.  T.,  yoyyv^fiv,  yoyyva'fx6s,  Mark  xiv.  5  j  Luke 
v.  .'JO;  John  vi.  41,  51. 

Ver.  20.  They  would  therefore  let  the  Gibeonites 

live.  On  n"^nm,  comp.  Ewald,  Lehrg.  §  280,  a. 
[Ges.  §  131,  2,].  By  the  inf.  abs.,  m\ich  the  same 
as  by  the  Lat.  gerund  in  -ndo,  or  by  our  part, 
pres.  act.,  is  more  delinitely  expressed  what  they 
would  do  ;  Lev.  iii.  5  ;  1  Sam.  iii.  12. 

Ver.  21.  "  The  princes  repeat  with  emphasis 
that  they  shall  live.  Hence  the  Gibeonites  then 
became  wood-cliojjpers  and  drawers  of  water  for 
the  congregation,  as  the  princes  had  spoken  to 
them.  That  is,  the  princes  had  made  this  proposi- 
tion together,  with  their  ^''Hl  [ver.  20].  The  au- 
thor had  omitted  it  there  because  it  is  manifest 
from  the  historical  statement  in  the  second  mem 
ber  of  this  verse.     So  ch.  iii.  8  "  (Knol)el). 

Vers.  22,  23.  Joshua  communicates  to  the  Gib- 
eonites what  has  been  decided  upon.  There  shall 
not  fail  from  among  you  servants  and  wood- 
choppers  and  water-carriers,  i.  e.,  such  slaves  [^ 
ex])licative]  as  are  wood-choppers  and  water-car- 
ners,  and  are,  therefore,  reckoned  among  the  lowest 
L-lass  of  the  people  (Deut.  xxix.  10,  11).  Together 
with  captives  taken  in  war  and  devoted  for  like 
purpo'^es  to  the  sanctuary,  the"  bore,  at  a  later 


period,  the  name  Q'^3'^0?  [Diet,  of  Bible,  art, 
Nethinim],  Deo  dati,  donati,  1  Chron.  ix.  2  ;  Ez. 
ii.  43,  70 ;  viii.  20  ;  Neh.  vii.  43,  46.  Saul  was  dis- 
]>osed  to  exterminate  them,  as  is  implied  in  2  Sam. 
xxi.  1,  2,  and  David  sought  to  propitiate  them 
again  by  granting  their  blood-thirsty  request  (2 
Sam.  xxi.  6). 

Vers.  24, 25.  The  Gibeonites  plead  as  an  apology 
the  fear  which  they  felt  towards  the  Israelites,  and 
leave  their  fate  entirely  in  the  hand  of  Joshua. 

Vers.  26,  27.  Joshua  does  as  he  had  informed 
them,  according  to  verse  23.  And  delivered  them 
out  of  the  hand  of  the  sons  of  Isr'ael.  These 
would  certainly,  in  their  warlike  zeal,  as  we  may 
infer  from  their  murmuring,  have  been  glad  to 
destroy  the  Gibeonites.  Superior  to  the  people 
stands  the  leader  here,  who  proceeds  in  the  spirit 
of  humanity,  and,  in  full  harmony  with  the  princes, 
gives  no  heed  to  the  murmuring  of  the  people. 

Ver.  27.  For  the  congregation  and  for  the  al- 
tar.    The  worshipping  congregation  is  meant,  the 

^"^    /Hp,  as  appears  plain,  partly  from  the  word 

mi?  C^**  ryi'S,  Num.  xxvli.  17),  partly  from  the 
additional  qualification,  "  and  for  the  altar."  For 
profane  service  the  Gibeonites  could  not  be  em- 
ployed.    They  were  temple  slaves. 

In  the  place  which  He  (Jehovah)  should 
choose.  Keil  infers  from  these  words  that  the 
author  of  our  book  wrote  before  the  building  of 
Solomon's  temple,  because  in  his  time  God  could 
not  yet  have  chosen  a  fixed  and  permanent  place 
for  his  sanctuary.  Knobel  regards  them  as  "  an 
addition  by  the  careless  Deuteronomist,"  who  alone 
in  all  the  Pentateuch  had  used  this  expression 
(Deut.  xii.  5).  But  in  Ex.  xx.  24,  which  passage, 
even  according  to  Knobel,  certainlj'  does  not  belong 
to  the  Deuteronomist,  we  meet  with  a  related  ex- 
pression so  that  we  are  not  compelled  to  think  of 
"  an  addition  by  the  careless  Deuteronomist."  Just 
as  little  necessary  is  it  to  suppose  that  the  whole 
arrangement  by  which  the  Gibeonites  were  obliged 
to  serve  as  wood-choppers  and  drawers  of  water 
for  the  congregation  was  first  made  in  later  times 
by  Solomon.  Reasons  :  ( 1 )  The  Gibeonites  are 
not  expressly  mentioned,  1  K.  ix.  20;  (2)  1  K.  ix. 

21,  has  reference  to  tributary  work  (T^l?  Dtt), 
and  that,  as  the  context  shows,  for  architectural 
purposes,  but  not  to  servants  for  the  purposes  of 
worship.     To  such  tributary  services  did  Solomon 

appoint  (D/P^)  the  rest  of  the   popiilation  (C? 

~iri"iDn)  of  the  Amorites,  Hittites,  Perrizites, 
Hivites,  and  Jebusites ;  but  the  Israelites  he  made 
soldiers  (ver.  22).  Our  view  is,  accordingly,  that 
Joshua  did  certainly  appoint  the  Gibeonites  at 
once  to  the  lowest  service  at  the  sanctuary,  "  for 
congregation  and  altar,"  as  the  text  says,  es])ecially 
as  this  service  might  already  be  performed  about 
the  tabernacle,  as  soon  as  this  had  an  assigned 
place. 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  The  question  how  far  a  promissory  oath  is 
binding  on  him  who  has  given  it,  depends  very 
much  on  our  determination  of  the  conditions  tinder 
which  one  is  at  liberty  to  swear  at  all.  On  this 
Jer.  iv.  2  is  rightly  regarded  as  a  locus  classicus. 
According  to  this  passage  an  oath  may  be  given . 
(1)  n^^?,  (2)  i:^:t:'^?,  (3)  r\'rr\V^.  These 
three  conditions,  truth,  right,  and  justice,  are  that 
which  being  presup^iiosed  an  oath  may  be  taken. 


CHAPTER  IX.    3-27. 


91 


They  are,  as  Jerome  long  ago  called  them,  and  as 
the  canonical  law  recognizes  them,  the  comites 
jnmmenti,  namely,  Veritas  in  mente,  judicium  in 
]m-a.nte,justitia  in  objecto.  If  then,  as  in  the  case 
with  tlie  Gibeonites,  timjuslitia  in  objecto  is  absent, 
the  oath  need  not  be  observed  ;  and  so  in  all  cases, 
when  "  the  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject"  is 
wanting  to  the  swearer  without  his  fault.  Com- 
pletely so  when  tliis  subject  matter  of  the  promis- 
sory oath  is  something  directly  unallowable,  in 
clear  opposition  to  the  law  of  God,  which,  never- 
theless, one  has  hastily,  without  rightly  under- 
standing it,  sworn  to  do,  as  was  true  of  Jephtha 
(Jndg.  X.  30,  31)  and  Herod  (Matt.  xiv.  9).  Only, 
in  that  case,  some  expiation  must  be  made,  accord- 
ing to  the  principle  laid  down.  Lev.  v.  4-6,  which, 
if  a  man,  e.  c/.  has  taken  an  oath  of  office,  and  this 
office  he  cannot  discharge,  might  consist  in  his 
resignation  of  the  office,  and  in  the  case  of  a  king, 
in  his  abdication.  Christian  ethics,  especially  that 
of  the  evangelical  church,  cannot  be  too  earnest  on 
this  doctrine  of  tlie  obligation  of  an  oath,  since 
mental  reservations  are  so  easily  allowed  which 
threaten  truth,  right,  and  justice.  Very  beauti- 
fully, on  this  point,  Nitzsch  says  ( Sijstem  of  Chris- 
tian Doctrine,  §  207)  :  "Better,  indeed,  if  the  Chris- 
tian state  liad  done  away  with  the  word  oath,  opxos, 
and  the  like,  together  wiih  the  whole  train  of  heath- 
cnly-religious  presuppositions  which  are  connected 
with  them.  We  mir/ht  and  should  speak  of  God's 
ivitiiess,  appeal  to  God,  tvorship  in  court,  dutij  to  God, 
etc.  The  form  of  the  oath  of  this  kind  would  have 
far  less  difficulty.  Much  more  would  depend  on 
performing  the  whole  service  in  a  truly  religious 
way,  according  to  place  and  time,  and  on  limiting, 
in  conformity  with  this,  the  re([uisition  and  per- 
mission, and  on  giving  due  heed  to  what  Christian 
morals  and  policy  might  have  to  advise  further." 

On  the  conditions  of  a  right,  that  is,  Christianly- 
pious  ottering  and  performance  of  an  oath,  Harless 
observes  ( Christian  Ethics,  §  39,  b)  :  "  The  first  con- 
dition is,  that  the  oath  shoukl  be  rendered  only  by 

virtue  of  a  right  demand  for  it The 

second  condition  is,  that  the  swearer  be  in  truth  a 
confessor,  i.  e.  that  his  oath  be  the  expression  of  a 
believing  hope  truly  dwelling  in  him.  The  third 
condition  is,  that  the  engagement  into  which  he 
enters  under  his  professing  oath  should  be  such 
that  the  God  Himself  whom  the  swearer  acknowl- 
edges may  acknowledge  it  For  tlie  oath's  sake  to 
fultill  engagements  displeasing  to  God  is  wickedly 
to  carry  to  couplet  ion  that  which  has  been  wickedly 
begun,  to  add  a  second  sin  to  tiie  first.  Not  to  ful- 
till what  has  been  sworn  is  in  such  cases,  not  the 
violation  of  an  oath  pleasing  to  God,  but  the  peni- 
tent recall  of  a  God-ort'ending  oath."  Worthy  of 
consideration  further  are  the  richly  instructive  ar- 
ticles in  Herzog's  Realencjik.  (iii.  713  ff.)  on  "the 
Oath  among  the  Hebrews  "  by  Ruetschi,  and  on 
"  the  Oath  "  by  C.  F.  Goschel. 

^.  The  sanctity  of  the  oath  stood  very  high  with 
the  anci'^nt  Israelites,  so  that,  as  this  narrative 
shows,  they  ^vould  rather,  in  dubio,  hold  fast  to 
their  oath  even  when  they  might  justly  have  re- 
leased themselves  from  it.  As  the  name  of  God 
was  to  them  thrice  holy  (Is.  vi.  3  ;  Ps.  cxi.  9),  so 
also  was  the  solemn  appeal  to  tliis  name  whether  in 
a  promise  or  an  assertion.  With  this  is  connected 
the  fact  that  the  administration  of  oaths  before  the 
court  was  restricted  to  a  few  cases  (Ex.  xxii.  6  ff. 
11  ;  Lev.  V.  23,  2.5;  Num.  v.  19  ff.)  For  that 
State  of  things  ought  modern  legislation  also  to 
strive,  and  upon  that  ought  Christian  ethics  to  in- 
sist.    Yet  in  North  America,  (Otherwise  so  puritan- 


ically disposed,  what  sport  is  made  with  the  oath, 
while  in  the  territory  of  the  Zwinglian  church  in 
Switzerland,  the  oath  scarcely  occurs  any  more 
before  the  courts. 

3.  Priests  and  prophets  are  called  the  mouth  of 
Jehovah,  and  rightly,  because  he  speaks  through 
them  when  they  have  been  enlightened  by  Him. 
This  illumination,  however,  ought  not  to  be 
thought  of  as  in  any  way  a  mechanical  process,  but 
is  rather  to  be  regarded  always  as  in  the  closest 
connection  with  the  entire  personal  life,  and  official 
position  of  the  individual  bearer  of  the  divine  rev- 
elation. Even  in  the  handling  of  the  Urim  and 
Thummim,  this  also  must  be  taken  into  account 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

As  once  the  Canaanites  against  Israel,  so  still 
and  ever  the  foes  of  God  gather  themselves  together 
to  light  against  Him  and  his  church.  —  The  trick 
of  the  Gibeonites  (1 )  shrewdly  thought  out,  (2)  cun- 
ningly carried  out,  but  (3)  detected  and  punished. 

—  There  is  no  thread  so  finely  spun,  but  comes  at 
last  before  the  sun. —  Lying  and  deceit  bring  no  bles- 
sing. —  Humble  words  alone  do  not  accomplish  it, 
they  must  also  be  true.  —  The  glory  of  God  among 
the  heathen. —  Do  nothing  without  asking  God. — 
If  Ave  ask  the  Lord,  He  gives  us  also  an  answer ;  if 
we  neglect  it  we  have  to  bear  the  hurt  ourselves.  — 
How  necessary  it  is  for  us  to  ascertain  accurately 
the  state  of  the  case  before  we  bind  ourselves  by  an 
oath,  lest  we  afterwards  be  troubled  in  conscience 

—  shown  in  the  case  of  the  princes  of  Israel. — 
The  firmness  of  the  princes  against  the  nuirmur- 
ing  of  the  congregation.  —  The  judgment  upon  the 
Gibeonites:  (1)  the  hearing;  (2)  the  sentence. — 
Man  fears  for  nothing  more  than  his  life,  and  yet  this 
life  is  only  a  temporal  good.  —  Joshua's  beautiful 
humaneness.  —  Better  to  be  wood-choppers  and 
water-carriers  for  the  altar  of  the  Lord  than  to  have 
no  part  therein,  as  the  Gibeonites  had  well  deserved 
by  their  treacherous  scheme. 

Starke  :  It  is  no  new  thing  for  the  mighty  of 
the  world  to  bind  themselves  together  against  God 
and  his  gospel,  Ps.  ii.  2.  But  rage  ye  peoples,  and 
be  confounded  ;  and  give  ear  all  ye  of  far  counti'ies  ; 
arm  yourselves  and  be  confounded ;  take  counsel 
together  and  it  shall  come  to  nought ;  speak  a 
word  and  it  shall  not  stand,  for  God  is  with  us.  Is. 
vii.  9,  10.  —  No  man  should  lie;  straightforward 
truth  gives  the  best  security,  Eph.  iv.  25. —  God's 
wonders  and  works  are  not  hidden  even  from  the 
heathen ;  how  then  shall  they  excuse  themselves 
in  that  day"?  Rom.  i.  19,  20. — For  the  preserva- 
tion of  mortal  life  men  may  well  give  themselves  a 
deal  of  trouble,  but  where  lies  the  care  lor  the  soul's 
welfare  ?  Matt.  xvi.  25,  26.  —  He  who  always  takes 
counsel  of  God  in  prayer  will  not  easily  be  deceived. 

—  It  is  a  bad  case  when  one,  on  account  of  lying 
and  deceit,  must  blush  and  turn  pale ;  let  every 
man,  therefore,  strive  after  uprightness  and  honesty. 

Cramer  :  God  must  have  wood-choppers  also 
and  water-carriers  in  his  congregation,  and  He  gives 
to  everv  one  gifts  according  to  his  portion,  ]  Cor. 
xii.  27." 

Hedinger  :  It  is  thoughtless  stupidity  in  a  man, 
if  he  will  not  take  warning  but  runs  also  into  the 
judgment  where  he  sees  that  others  have  gone  to 
ruin.  —  Credulity  brings  us  into  trouble. 

Gerlach  :  This  history  warns  the  congregation 
of  God  at  all  times  of  the  craft  and  disguises  of  the 
world,  which  often,  when  it  would  bean  advantage 
to  it,  seeks  i-ecognition  and  admission  into  the  king- 
dom of  God. 


92  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


3.   The  f/reat  Victonj  at  Glhcoii  over  the  jive  allied  Canaanite  Kings. 
Chapter  X.     1-27. 

a.  Investment  of  Gibcon  by  the  five  allied  Kings. 
Chapter  X.  1-5. 

1  Now  [And]  it  came  to  pass,  when  Adoni-zedek  king  of  Jerusalem  had  [omit: 
had]  heard  how  Joshua  had  taken  Ai,  and  had  utterly  destroyed  [devoted]  it ;  as  he 
had  done  to  Jericho  and  her  king,  so  had  he  done  to  Ai  and  her  king  ;  and  how  the 

2  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  had  made  peace  with  Israel,  and  were  among  them  ;  that  they 
feared  greatly,  because  Gibeon  was  a  great  city,  as  one  of  the  royal  cities  [prop, 
one  of  the  cities  of  the  kingdom],  and  because  it  ivas  greater  than  Ai,  and  all  the 

3  men  thereof  were  mighty.  Wherefore  [And]  Adoni-zedek  king  of  Jerusalem  sent 
unto  Hoham  king  of  Hebron,  and  unto   Piram-  king  of  Jarmuth,  and  unto  Japhia 

4  king  of  Lachish,  and  unto  Debir  king  of  Eglon,  saying.  Come  up  unto  me,  and 
hel})  me,  that  we  may  smite  Gibeon :  for  it  hath  made  peace  with  Joshua  and  with 

5  the  children  of  Israel.  Therefore,  [And]  the  [omit :  the]  five  kings  of  the  Amo- 
rites,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  the  king  of  Hebron,  the  king  of  Jarmuth,  the  king  of 
Lachish,  the  king  of  Eglon,  gathered  themselves  together  and  went  up,  they  and 
aU  their  hosts  [camjjs],  and  encamped  before  Gibeon,  and  made  war  against  it. 

b.  Slaughter  at  Gibeon. 
Chapter   X.   6-15. 

6  And  the  men  of  Gibeon  sent  unto  Joshua  to  the  camp  to  Gilgal,  saying.  Slack  not 
thy  hand  [hands]  from  thy  servants  ;  come  up  to  us  quickly,  and  save  us,  and  help 
us  :  for  all  the  kings  of  the  Amorites  that  dwell  in  the  mountains  are  gathered  to- 

7  gether  against  us.  So  [And]  Joshua  ascended  from  Gilgal,  he  and  all  the  people  of 

8  war  with  him,  and  all  the  mighty  men  of  valour  [strong  heroes].  And  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] said  unto  Joshua,  Fear  them  not :  for  I  have  delivered  [given]  them  into  thine 

9  hand  ;  there  shall  not  a  man  of  them  stand  before  thee.     Joshua  therefore  [And 

10  Joshua]  came  u])on  them  suddenly,  [:]  and  went  [he  went  up]  from  Gilgal  all  night. 
And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  discomfited  [Bunsen  :  brought  into  confusion  ;  Knobel : 
scattered ;  Fay,  De  Wette,  Zunz  :  confused]  them  before  Israel,  and  slew  them  with  a 
great  slaughter  [De  Wette  :  effected  a  great  overthrow  among  them  ;  Fay,  literally  : 
smote  them  with  a  great  stroke]  at  Gibeon,  and  chased  them  along  the  way  that 
goeth  up  to  [the  way  of  the  ascent  of]  Beth-horon,^  and  smote  them  to  Azekah,  and 

11  unto  Makkedah.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  fled  from  before  Israel,  and  were  in 
the  going  down  to  [on  the  descent  from]  Beth-horon,  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  cast 
down  great  stones  from  heaven  upon  them  unto  Azekah,  and  they  died :  they  were 
more  which  died  with  [the]  hail-stones  than  they  whom  the  children  of  Israel  slew 
with  the  sword. 

12  Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord  [.Jehovah]  in  the  day  when  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
delivered  up  the  Amorites  before  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  and  he  said  in  the 
siglit  of  Israel : 

Sun,  stand  thou  [omit :  thou]  still  on  Gibeon, 

And  thou  [omit :  thou].  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon ! 

13  And  the  sun  stood  still, 
And  the  moon  stayed, 

Until  the  people  [nation]  had  avenged  themselves  upon  their  enemies. 

Is  not  this  written  in  the  book  of  Jasher   [Fay :  the  vipright  (RechtschafFenen) 
Luther  :  pious  ;  De  Wette  :  just  [Redlichen]  ?  So  [And]  the  sun  stood  still  in  the 

14  midst  of  heaven,  and  hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day.  And  there  was  no 
day  like  that   before  it  or  [and]  after  it,  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hearkened  unto 

15  the  voice  of  a  man  ;  for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  fought  for  Israel.  And  Joshua  re- 
turned, and  all  Israel  with  him,  unto  the  camu  to  Gilgal. 


CHAPTER  X.    16-27. 


93 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Vfir.  11.  —  This  senteuce  is  properly  parenthetical :  As  they  fleii  belore  Israel  (they  were  on  the  descent  from  Beth- 
lioronj  that  Jehovah,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

c.  Flight  and  Destruction  of  the  five  Kings. 
Chapter  X.     16-27. 

16  But  [And]  these  five  kings  fled  and  liid  themselves  in  a  [the]  cave  at  Makke- 

17  dah.     And  it  was  told  Joshua,  saying:  The  live  kings  are  found  liid  in  a  [the]  cave 

18  at    Makkedah.    And  Joshua  said,  Roll  great  stones  upon  the  mouth  of  the  cave, 

19  and  set  men  by  it  for  [omit :  for]  to  keep  them  :  And  stay  ye  not,  hot  [omit:  but] 
pursue  after  your  enemies,  and  smite  the  hindmost  of  them  ;  suffer  them  not  to 
enter  into  their  cities  ;  for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  hath  delivered  [given] 
them  into  your  hand. 

20  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joshua  and  the  children  of  Israel  had  made  an  end 
of  slaying  [smiting]  them  with  a  very  great  slaughter  [stroke],  till  they  were  con- 
sumed, fhat  the  rest  which  remained  of  them  entered  [Fay :  but  those  that  re- 

21  mained  of  them  escaped  and  came]  into  [the]  fenced  [fortified]  cities.  [,]  And  [thatH 
all  the  people  returned  to  the  camp  to  Joshua  at  Makkedah  in  peace :  none  moved 

22  [Fay,  properly  :  pointed]  his  tongue  against  any  of  the  children  of  Israel.  Then 
said  Joshua,  Open  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  bring  out  those  five  kings  unto  me 

23  out  of  the  cave.  And  they  did  so,  and  brought  forth  those  five  kings  unto  him  out 
of  the  cave,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  the  king  of  Hebron,  the  king  of  Jarmuth,  the 

24  king  of  Lachish,  and  [omit :  and]  the  king  of  Eglon.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
they  brought  out  those  kings  unto  Joshua,  that  Joshua  called  for  all  the  men  of  Is- 
rael, and  said  unto  the  captains  [:i"*r!ii7,  leaders]  of  the  men  of  war  which  went 
with  him,    Come   near,  put  your  feet  upon  the  necks  of  these  kings.     And  they 

25  came  near  and  put  their  feet  upon  the  necks  of  them.  And  Joshua  said  to  them, 
Fear  not,  nor  be  dismayed,  be  strong,  and  of  good  courage  [firm,  ch.  i.  6],  for  thus 

2G  shall  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  do  to  all  your  enemies  against  whom  ye  fight.  And  after- 
ward Joshua  smote  them,  and  slew  them,  and  hanged  them  on  five  trees  :  and  they 

27  were  hanging  upon  the  trees  until  the  evening.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  time 
of  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  that  Joshua  commanded,  and  they  took  them  down 
off"  the  trees,  and  cast  them  into  the  cave  wherein  they  had  been  hid,  and  laid  great 
stones  in  the  cave's  mouth,  which  remain  [omit  :  which  remain]  until  tliis  very 
day. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Verses  20  and  21  might  well  be  translated  and  connected  thus  :  And  it  came  to  pass  when  ....  till  they  were 
consumed,  and  those  that  had  escaped  of  them  had  fled,  and  were  come  into  the  fortified  cities,  that  all  the  people 
returned,  etc.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  abandonment  by  Gibeon  of  the  common  cause 
leads  Adoni-zcdek,  kinji' of  Jerusalem,  beyond  doubt 
the  most  ]ioworful  of  the  Canaanite  kings  in  South- 
ern Palestine,  to  call  upon  the  kings  of  Hebron,  La- 
chish, Jarmuth,  and  Eglon,  to  chastise  the  apostate 
city.  With  this  demand  tlie  princes  named  yielded 
compliance  (ver.  1-5).  But  Joshua,  being  sum- 
moned by  the  Gibconites  to  their  assistance,  hastens 
to  aid  his  threatened  allies,  defeats  the  Canaanite 
kings  in  the  famous  battle  at  Giheon,  ever  mem- 
orable on  account  of  the  much  disputed  standing 
still  of  the  sun  (vers.  6-15),  and  pursues  and  slays 
the  confederates  (vers.  66-27). 

a.   Investment  of  Giheon  hij  the  Jive  allied  Kings 

(vers.1-5),— ver.  1.  PlV*"''Plr?  =  Lord  of  right- 
eousness. Better  known  than  this  Adoni-zedek  is 
i^l'psb??  =  King  of  righteousness  (Gen.  xiv.  18  ; 
Ps.  ex  4;  Heb.  v.  6-10;  vi.  20;  vii.  1,10  and 
-jftcn),  who  was  likewise  king  of  Salem  I  Jerusalem). 


Dbttf.'n^  also  Cl^a^^Tj  (the  latter  form  here 
and  there  in  Chronicles,  e.  cj.,  1  Chron.  iii.  5,  also 
on  the  coins  of  the  Maccabtean  age,  while  others 
have  also  the  defective  fonn,  Gesen.),  abbi-eviated, 

^!?^'  (Gen.  xiv.  18;  Ps.  Ixxvi.  3),  from  which  it 
is  evident  that  the  proper  pointing  is  Dbli?^"!'),  as 
farther,  the  Aram.  D|pM7-'n^,  Ezraiv.  20,  24;  v.  1, 
and  D.yt?"?)"!'^.  Ezra  v.  14;  vi.  9,  goto  show.  The 
Keri  perpetuum  t^  ,  which  is  a  dual  form,  is  ex- 
plained (Fiirst)  as  having  arisen  with  reference  to 
the  double  city  (upper  and  lower),  or,  without  re- 
spect to  that,  from  the  fact  that  the  later  Hebrews 

understood  Q-  to  be  an  old  dual  form  (still  ap- 
pearing in  D^^K7,  C^ri^  and  the  nom.  prop. 
D'*^^,  M^ffi'),  .and  had  substituted  for  it  the  cus- 
tomary ^"1-v 


D4 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


The  etymolouy  is  doubtful.  Gcscnius  maintains 
the  interprctatiun,  supjjorted  by  the  transhition  of 

Saadjus :  dwelling  of  peace.  On  this  view,  -l"^!" 
wt/uld  be  from  '^'Jt  ~  dwelling  or  foundation,  and 
Ubw  =  nibw,  which  is  favored  by  the  Greek 
mode  of  writing  SuAu^a  (Josephus,  Ani.  i.  10,  12  ; 
Pans.  8,  16,  3)  and  the  Latin,  Solyma  (Mart.  10, 
65,  5).     Ewald  holds  the  first  part  of  tlie  word  to 

be  an  abbreviation  of  tt'^T^  =  possession,  and  ex- 
plains, possession  of  Shalcm."  Hitzig  (on  Is.  p.  1 ,  ff.) 
goes  back  to  ntT^I^  =  possession,  district,  "  dis- 
trict or  poss.'ssion  of  Salem."  More  recently  he 
holds,  on  Ts.  Ixxvi.  3,  that  27tt?1"l''  should  properly 

have  been  written  Q7lt"'S^~l';  which  he  translates 
(Historii  of  the  Paople  of  Israel,  i.  140)  by  :  "  Fear  ye 
(jod  uiidividedly."  Here  it  is  to  be  further  ob- 
served that  according  to  Hitzig's  views  Cvtt7,  in 
the  soutliern  Arabic  =  a  stone,  was,  with  the  Amo- 
rite  ~^— "!,  the  old  Canaanite  name  of  the  city  [Je- 
busalem|,' which  David  changed  into  Jerusalem, 
while  Hitzig  adds  that  the  city  was  earlier  called 
Salem  (?). 

Fiirst  decides  for  the  old  etymology,  appealing 
also  to  Saadjas  on  Is.  xliv.  28  ;  li.  17  ;  Ix.  1 ;  Ixii.  1, 

6,  taking  D!?^?  however,  =  Oi  vtt\  as  an   epithet 

of  the  most  high  God,  as  in  Divty"^Ilb?.      Thus 

DbttJ'n*'  would  be  equal  to  ^^^"1%  2  Chr.  xx.  16, 
meaning  "foimr/ntion  (or  place,  dwelling)  of  El," 
and  that  as  the  Pmcafid.     It  is  striking  that  Fiirst 

interprets  C7.!|',  Gen.  xiv.  18  ;  Ps.  Ixxvi.  3,  where 
it  stands  alone,  without  ^"^^  by  "  hilly  place,  sum- 
mit," from  a  supposed  stem  D7tt7,  to  be  high.  But 
it  would  be  more  obvious  to  explain  it,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  meaning  given  to  Dvti?  in  □vtCTT', 
as  "  place  of  the  Peaceful,"  that  is,  of  God. 

"  The  later  Arabic  name  of  Jcuisalem,  el-Kiids  or 
Beit  el-Mukaddas,  is  only  a  circumlocution   like 

H?"i|^n"l*'^  in  the  Hebrew  (Neh.xi.  18)."  Fiirst. 
On  the  topography  of  Jerusalem  and  its  neighbor- 
hood, comp.  \)\:  E.  G.  Sehultz,  Jerusalem  ;  W. 
Krafft,  TIte  Topographj  of  Jerusalem ;  Tobler,  Mem- 
oranda of  Jerusalem,  and,  Topoijraphj  of  Jerusalem 
and  its  Vicinity,  as  also  Mcnke's  Bible  Atlas,  rnap  v., 
where  on  very  carefully  drawn  side-maps  the  views 
of  Tobler,  Kiepert,  Ferguson,  Robinson,  Kraflft,  and 
Sepp,  concerning  the  plan  of  the  city,  are  delin- 
eated.i 

Ver.  2.  It  is  emphatically  mentioned  concern- 
ing Gibcon  that  it  was  a  great  city,  "  like  one  of 
the  cities  of  the  kingdom,"  that  is,  perhaps,  like  a 
city  in  which  a  king  dwelt,  like  a  "  royal  city." 

Ver.  3.  Hebron,  chaps,  x.  36  ;  xv.  54,  Jarmutli, 
ch.  XV.  35,  Lachish  and  Eglon,  ch.  xv.  39,  lie  in 
southern  Canaan. 

Ver.  4.  The  enterprise  is  not  directly  against 
Joshua,  but  against  (libeon,  because  Gibcon  lias 
madepeace  with  Joshua  and  the  children  of  Israel. 

Ver.  5.  The  four  kings  hear  the  summons,  and 
encamp  around  Gibcon.     The  names  of  the  kines 


are  not  given  here  a  second  time,  but  the  names  of 
the  cities  over  which  they  ruled,  and  in  the  same 
order  as  in  ver.  3.  The  former  names,  liowever, 
are  significant  throughout,  for  Hoham  is  probably 
"  wliom  Jehovah  drives,"  Piram  "  the  wild  ass  " 
(similar  desigiuitions  among  the  aborigines  of  N. 
A.),  Japhia  "  splendid,"  Debir  "  the  writer,"  on 
which  the  Lexicons  may  be  consulted. 

b.  Battle  of  Giheon,  vers.  6-15.  —  Ver.  6.  The 
Gibeonites  send  to  Joshua  at  Gilgal  and  implore 
help,  and  indeed,  as  the  form  of  their  e.Kpres- 
sion  indicates,  immediate  help.  Observe  the  cli- 
max ;  slacken  not  thy  hands  (2  Sam?  xxiv.  16)  — 
come  up  to  us  quickly  —  and  save  us  —  and  help 
us.  A  very  similar  tone  is  adopted  by  the  perse- 
cuted Christian  congregation.  Acts  iv.  24-30,  es- 
pecially vers.  27-29. 

Kings  of  the  Amorites  —  a  common  designa- 
tion of  the  five  jjrinces. 

Ver.  7.  Joshua  responds  to  the  appeal  and 
hastens  marching  all  night  long  to  reach  them 
(ver.  9),  and  that  with  a  select  portion  of  the  army 

—  b'^nn  "^'Tjiaa,  ch.  I.  U.  The  1  is  to  be  taken 
as  explicative,  as  Gen.  iii.  16  ;  comp.  also  Josh, 
xiv.  6. 

Ver.  8.  An  encouraging  address  from  Jeho- 
vah. 

Ver.  9.  A  more  particiilar  statement  of  what 
has  been  told  (ver.  7).  —  Suddenly  comes  he 
upon  them  because  he  has  marched  the  whole  night. 
In  the  morning  he  stands  before  them,  when  they 
believe  him  to  be  yet  at  his  head-quarters  on  the 
Jordan.  These  rapid  marches  illustrate  the  true 
energy  and  efficiency  of  great  military  commanders. 
This  is  perceived  also  in  modern  and  even  the 
most  recent  history .^ 

Ver.  10.  "Jehovah  scattered  (D?2rT';^)  the 
enemy  before  Israel.  The  latter  smote  them  in  a 
great  defeat  at  Gibcon  and  j^ursued  them  north- 
westward on  the  way  to  the  ascent  (2  Hv^.^S) 
of  Beth-horon.  So  likewise  he  followed  them  in  a 
southwesterly  direction  and  smote  them  even  unto 
Azekah  and  Makkedah."  So  Knobel.  According 
to  his  view,  therefore,  the  whole  pursuit  occurred 
simultaneously,  towards  the  northwest  and  the 
southwest.  But  that  is  not  the  sense  of  vers.  10 
and  11.  Bather  all  Israel  piirsued  the  enemy  in  a 
northwesterly  direction  towards  the  pass  of  Beth- 
horon,  and  i'rom  thence  through  the  pass  down 
into  the  plain,  where  probably  Azekah  and  Makke- 
dah lay.  By  what  means  Jehovah  discomfited 
the  enemy,  or  "  scattered  "  them,  as  Knobel  trans- 
lates, is  not  told  ;  for  the  hail  comes  later.  So  Je- 
hovah once  discomfited  the  Egyptians,  also,  Ex. 
xiv.  24  ;  and  xxiii.  27  the  promise  is  given  that 
God  will  always  do  so  witli  the  foes  of  Israel.  In 
1  Sam.  vii.  10  we  are  told  of  a  tempest  which  Je- 
hovah brought  up  when,  at  Samuel's  prayer,  he 
caused  it  to  thunder  against  the  Philistuies,  and 

then  it  is  said  :  C^iT^—  —  '■'^^  same  word  which  is 
used  here.  Probably  also  the  storm  came  on  during 
the  battle.  It  thundered  and  lightened.  Jehovah 
fought  for  liis  people  out  of  the  clouds.  The  enemy 
trembled  and  lost  heart.  They  fled.  During  their 
flight  the  storm  broke  upon  them  in  full  fury  ;  hail- 
stones fell  on  them  and  of  such  size  that  more  died 
from  these  than  were  slain  by  the  sword  (ver.  11). 
"» 

1  [A  particularly  v.aluable  article  on  Jeru.salem  will  be  2  [If  Sadowa  and  the  other  events  of  tlie  Austrian  c;im- 
fonnd  in  Sinitli's  Dictionary  nf  llie  Bible.  On  the  topography  '  paign  were  so  conimemorati'd  by  the  author,  what  would  he 
the  addilions  to  the  Am.  cd.  are  indispensable.  The  Recovery  have  s.aid  of  the  progress  from  Weissenberg  to  Sedan!  anil 
oj  .1  rusa'ivi  {Sen  lutr.  p  37)  is  now  reprinted  in  N.  Y  .—  Tr.]    Paris,  and in  1870.  —  Te.1 


CHAPTER  X.    1-27. 


95 


By  a  very  similar  mischance  the  Aiistrians  were 
overtaken  iu  1859  at  the  battle  of  Solt'erino.  —  We 

have  translated  H!???^  in  ver.  10  "ascent"  and 
in  ver.  11,  "descent."^  It  means  both  alike,  as 
in  1  Mace.  iii.  16,  24,  both  stand  too-ether  in 
reference  to  this  place  :  afdfiacns  kuI  Kard^acris  Bai9- 
wpaiv.  If  "  pass "  were  not  so  modern  it  would 
best  express  the  meaning  of  this  word.  This  Pass 
'  of  Beth-horon  is  still  very  rocky  and  rough  (Rob- 
inson, iii.  59-63),  and  leads  from  the  mountain 
down  into  the  western  plain,  whither  Joshua  pur- 
sued the  enemy  even  to  the  places  lying  there, 
Azekah  (ch.  xv.  35)  and  Makkedah  (ch.  xv.  41). 

Ver.  11.  That  by  the  great  stones,  not  stones 
literally  as  rained  down  (Grotius,  Calmet,  Ilgen), 
but  hail-stones  are  to  be  understood,  appears  from 
the    second  half  of  the  verse,  "A  hail-storm  is 

meant,  in  relation  to  which  "^"^^  15^  occurs  also 
Is.  xxx.  30;  comp.  Ez.  xiii.  11,  13.  Jehovah  in 
contending  with  his  enemies  employs  the  hail  also 
(Job  xxxviii.  23 ;  Is.  xxxii.  19)  as  he  did  e.  g.  in 
Egypt,  Ex.  ix.  19,  25"  (Knobel). 

The  verses  which  now  follow,  1 2-1 5,  deserve  a 
particulai'ly  careful  examination,  and  that  (1)  in 
reference  to  the  criticism  of  the  text;  (2)  as  regards 
(htur  contents.  As  to  the  former  it  is  obvious  that 
the  whole  passage,  ver.  12-1-5,  might  be  removed 
from  the  context  entirely,  without  in  the  least 
mutilating  the  narrative  ;  rather,  ver.  16  connects 
itself  with  ver.  11  as  its  proper  continuation.  It  is 
further  manifest  that  ver.  13  itself  refers  to  another 
writing  as  its  source,  and  that  the  same  author 
cannot  possibly  have  written  ver.  15  and  ver.  43. 
For,  according  to  ver.  15  Joshua  had  returned  im- 
mediately after  the  battle  at  (iibeon  into  the  camj) 
at  Gilgal,  while  in  ver.  43  this  return  takes  place 
only  after  the  completed  conquest  of  southa.'n 
Canaan. 

We  have  therefore  to  consider  here  an  inserted 
passage.  Knobel  calls  it  "  a  fragment  from  the 
first  document  of  the  Jehovist."  This  first  docu- 
ment of  the  Jehovist  is,  as  may  have  been  already 
perceived   from   the   Introd.    (§  2),    according    to 

Knobel's  view,  the  "^^'^U  "^^p  here  cited  —  the 
"Law-book"  as  he  calls  it, — composed  in  the 
Northern  kingdom.  From  this  first  document  the 
whole  episode  here  is  taken,  as  he  supposes,  except 
the  words,  "  is  it  not  written  in  the  Sepher 
Jaschar  ]  "  which  he  explains  as  an  addition  of  the 
Jehovist,  "  who  in  a  thing  so  unheard  of  and  in- 
credible thought  himself  bound  to  qiiote  his  au- 
thority expressly."  As  we  have  not  been  able  to 
assent  to  this  view,  but  are  rather  obliged,  with  the 

whole  body  of  critics,  to  regard  this  "^K^^U  "^P?) 
mentioned  only  here  and  2  Sam.  i.  18,  as  a  poeti- 
cal book,  we  cannot  by  any  means  refer  the  whole 
passage  to  the  "  Rook  of  the  Upright,"  but  only  a 
part  as  is  afterwards  shown.  In  this  assumption 
that  the  whole  passage,  with  the  exception  of  the 
formula  of  quotations,  is  taken  from  the  "  Book  of 

1  [The  remark  which  follows  is  true  and  appropriate  con- 
ceraitig  n|p27^,  which,  however,  is  not  repeated  in  ver. 
11-     nitt   is  used  there.  —  Tr.I 

T  -' 

2  plight  we  not  add  also  "'Ijl  ver.  13,  which   is  unusual 

for  IZ37  in  reference  to  the  Hehreival  —  Ta] 

3  [Tlie  uuhesitatinj!  confidence  of  our  author  in  this  con- 
clusion seems  hardly  home  out  by  his  re.asons.  The  cautious 
i  idgiiii'ut  of  Bleek,  above  quoted,  seems   more  consistent 


the  Upright,"  there  agree  with  Knobel :  Hengsten- 
berg  iu  the  Evang.  Kirchen-Zeitung,  1832,  No.  88, 
ibid.  1868,  No.  48  ;  Havernick,  Einl.'ii.  1,  p.  50,  Keil, 
Comm.  p.  255  If.  [Bibl.  Com/n.  ii.  1,  76  IF.].  The 
latter  remarks,  at  the  end  of  his  exposition  :  "  The 
only  plausible  consideration  which  can  be  brought 
agamst  this  view,  and  which  has  been  adduced 
with  great  emphasis  by  two  anonymous  writers  in 
the  Emng.  Kirchen-Zeitung,  1833,  No.  17,  p.  135  f., 
ami  No.  25  f.  p.  197  f.  and  211  f.,  consists  in  this, 
that  the  formula  of  citation,  '  Is  not  this  written 
in  the  Book  of  the  Upright '? '  stands  in  the  middle 
of  the  passage  quoted,  while  elsewhere  this  and 
similar  formulas  stand  either  at  the  beginning  of 
the  quotation,  as  Dent.  xxi.  14-27,  or  at  the  end  of 
it,  as  generally  in  the  books  of  Kings  and  Chroni- 
cles. But  from  both  cases  it  does  not  follow  that 
this  is  a  rule  without  exceptions."  Keil  labors  to 
prove  this,  quite  fruitlessly,  in  our  opinion  ;  Heng- 
stenberg  also,  in  his  second  essay,  seeks  to  obviate 
the  striking  fact  that  the  citation  occurs  in  the  midst 
of  the  passage,  by  assuming  that  the  author  has  com- 
municated, out  of  the  Book  of  the  Upright,  two  lyr- 
ical fragments,  which  he  separates  from  each  other 
by  the  intervening  phi-ase  of  quotation  (ubi  sup. 
p.  580).  But,  granting  that  ver.  13  6-15,  together 
with  the  very  prosaic  conclusion,  "  and  Joshua  re- 
turned and  all  Israel  with  him,  unto  the  camp  to 
Gilgal,"  must  be  a  lyrical  fragment,  would  it  not 
then  have  been  more  natural  tor  the  writer  to  re- 
jjeat  the  formula  somewhat  in  this  manner :  Is 
not  this  also  written  in  the  Book  of  the  Upright  1 
—  Bleek  has  left  the  question  unsettled,  saying, 
"  How  far  the  quotation  here .  extends,  and  where 
the  historian  resumes,  is  not  quite  clear  "  (Introd- 
to  the  0.  T.  p.  349).  Kamphausen  on  the  con- 
trary {Stud,  und  Kritiken,  1863,  p.  866),  assumes 
that  the  author  of  ver.  12-15  was  a  historian  who 
names  expressly  the  source  from  which  he  draws, 
and  plainly  distinguishes,  the  lines  which  he  extracts 
therefrom  from  his  own  jjrosaic  narrative.  To 
the  same  result  must  we  also  come,  and  for  the  fol- 
lowing reasons  :  (1.)  The  fact  that  the  formula  of 
citation  here  occurs  in  the  midst  of  the  passage, 
constitutes  for  us  an  insuperable  objection  to  refer- 
ring the  whole  to  the  Book  of  the  Ujiright,  since 
everywhere  else,  such  formula  comes  in  either  at 
the  beginning  or  end  of  the  words  cited.  (2.)  The 
exclamation  which  is  put  in  the  mouth  of  Joshua, 
breathes  in  every  aspect  the  spirit  of  Hebrew  poetry. 
It  is  sublime  in  its  import,  rythmical,  and  strictly 
observing  the  parallelism  in  its  form,  in  its  choice 

of  words  also  poetical  (notice  Di"^,  C^fl  " ) ;  while 
afterwards  the  discretion  of  the  historian  manifestly 
comes  into  play,  since  he  mentions  only  the  sun; 
lets  it  stand  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  then  continues 
with  the  observation  that  it  hasted  not  to  go  down 
almost  a  whole  dag;  in  ver.  14 expounds  ver'balhj  the 
poetical  language,  and  concludes,  finally,  with  a 
wholly  prosaic  notice. 

Verses  13  6-15,  accordingly,  do  not  belong  to  tho 
Book  of  the  Upright.^    But  how  with  verse  12  a ) 

with  all  the  facts.  We  think  the  poetic  spirit  resounds 
through  the  whole  of  vers.  13  and  14,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
more  satisfactory  dogmatic  bearing  of  Hengstenberg's  view, 
to  be  noticed  hereafter. 

Stanley,  in  his  very  interesting  presentation  of  the  great 
battle  of  Gibeon  {.Jewish  Church,  1st  series,  lect.  xi.),  gives 
this  whole  section  poetically  arranged,  as  follows.  It  will 
be  seen  that  here  again  he  blends  the  LXX.  aud  the  Hebrew 
text  too  much  as  if  they  were  of  like  authority :  — 
"Then  spake  Joshua  unto  .Tehovah, 
In  the  day  '  that  God  gave  up  the  .4juorite 


96 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


It  is  possible  that  these  words  may  have  formed  the 
historieal  introduction  in  that  Book  of  Heroes,  to 
Joshua's  cxehimation,  as  Ex.  xv.  1,  "  Then  sang- 
Moses,"  ete.,  but  it  is  also  possible  that  they  belonj;; 
to  the  same  author  as  vers.  13  6-15,  from  whom 
other  sections  likewise  wrought  into  the  body  of 
the  history  may  have  been  derived.  On  this  see 
the  Introduction. 

Having  dealt  with  the  criticism  of  the  text,  we 
proceed  (2)  to  a  consideration  of  the  meaning  of 
the  i^assagc,  which  especially  needs  to  be  exeget- 

ically  settled.  Ver.  12,  ^i!^,  pointedly  "at  that 
time,"  as  Gen.  xii.  6,  Josh.  xiv.  11,  in  contrast  with 
nri27;  LXX.  tJt€,  Vulg.  tunc.     This  TH  is  more 

closely  defined  by  13T  nW  DV2,  "in  the  day 
when  Jehovah  delivered  up,"  etc.  The  battle  at 
Gibeon  is  intended.  The  promise,  Deut.  i.  7,  8,  is 
to  be  remembered.  On  this  day,  Joshua  spake  to 
Jehovah,  ....  and  he  said  in  the  sight 
of  Israel.  "We  should  have  expected  rather,  "  in 
the  ears  of  Israel."  The  same  kind  of  expression 
is  used  in  Num.  xx.  8,  in  a  passage  which  prob- 
ably has  the  same  author  as  ours,  and  in  Deut. 

xxxi.  7.  Quite  correctly  0  '^3''!S7v  is  used.  Gen. 
xxiii.  11,  18;  Ex.  iv.  30.  Here  it  is  to  be  taken 
=  coram,  as  the  Vulgate  translates,  correctly  as 
to   the  sense.     Then   follows  what  Joshua  said. 

^J?^?  as  also  n^^,  is  without  the  article,  accord- 
ing to  the  usage  of  poetry,  as  Job  x\'i.  18,  VT?^ 
(0  earth),  while  in  prose  the  .article  in  this  case  is 
more  common  to  distinguish  the  noun  in   some 

manner  (Ewald,  Lehrg.  §  327).     Ci"^,  Imp.  Kal 

from  D^^»  prop.,  to  be  dumb  with  astonishment, 
tlien  to  be  silent,  then  ta  rest,  to  be  quiet,  to  keep 
still,  as  one  who  is  silent  does.  So  Ps.  iv.  5 ;  1 
Sam.   xiv.  9;   Job  xx.xi.  34;    Lam.  ii.  18;   Job 

XXX.  27.  Knobel  remarks  also  th.at  ^^''inU) 
Gen.  xxxiv,  5;  Ex.  xiv.  14,  is  used  in  the  same 
way  of  rest,  inactivity.  "  Sun,  stand  still  on  Gib- 
eon,"  is  accordingly,  ^  keep  thyself  quiet  and  inac- 
tive, stand  still.     Keil  indeed  will  not  grant  this, 

but  translates  '012'!  here  and  1  Sam.  xiv.  9,  by 
"  wait."  But  both  here  and  there  I^V  stands  im- 
mediately parallel  to  Q^^,  and  I^V  means  un- 
«lucstionably  to  stand,  stand  still,  remain  standing, 
for  which  1  Sam.  xx.  38  may  be  supei-fluously  com- 
pared. Besides,  how  can  the  sun  wait,  without 
standing  still.  It  is  better,  therefore,  to  translate 
poetically,  with  force  and  boldness,  "stand  still," 
than  tamely  "  Sun,  wait  at  Gibeon  and  moon  in 
tlie  Valley  of  Ajalon."  So  also  the  LXX.,  2,T-firai 
6  ^\io9  Kara  raPfciv,  Kai  r]  art\i]vr\  Kara  (pdpayya 
'Ai\a>u;  and  the  Vulgate:  "Sol  contra  Gabaon  ne 
movearis  ct  luna  contra  vallem  Ajalon ! "  Quite 
erroneous  is  the  .attempt  of  Dr.  Barzilai  in  the  bro- 
chure, Un  Errore  di  Trcnte  Secoli  (Trieste,  1868), 

to  translate  the  tzi"^  ^f^'^  by  "  Sun,  be  silent, 
cease  to  shine ! "  by  which  an  eclipse  of  the  sun 
Into  the  hand  of  Israel,'  (LXX.) 
When  he  discorafired  them  in  Gibeon, 
And  they  were  discomfited  before  the  face  of  Israel,'  (LXX.) " 
And  .loshna  said  :  — 

"  'Be  thou  still,  0  sun,  upon  Gibeon, 

And  thou  moon  upon  the  Valley  of  Ajalon.* 
And  the  sun  was  still, 
And  tlve  moon  stood, 


would  be  made  out  of  his  standing  still.  Zockler, 
in  a  treatise  (Beweis  dcs  Glaubens,  iv.  p.  250),  re- 
marks on  this  :  "  The  imtenableness  of  this  expla- 
nation appears  not  only  from  the  foct  that  Cu)"^, 

'to  be  silent'  (as  well  as  its  synonym  ty^"inn, 
in  Gen.  xxxiv.  5 ;  Ex.  xiv.  14),  according  to  1  Sam. 
xiv.  9,  may  very  well  signify  in  general,  the  hold- 
ing in,  or  ceasing  from  any  activity,  and  ])artic- 
ularly  resting  from  any  movement,  the  holding 
still  or  standing  of  a  moving  body  (comp.  also  Ps. 
iv.  5;  Job  xxxi.  34;  Lam.  ii.  18),  while  its  appli- 
cation to  the  self-concealment  of  a  luminous  body, 
can  be  supported  by  no  example,  —  but  further- 
more also  from  the  connection  with  what  follows. 
This,  as  definitely  as  is  possible,  presents  the  actual 
standing  still  of  the  sun,  as  the  result  of  the  mighty 
injunction  of  Joshua,  the  believing  warrior." 

The  Valley  of  Ajalon  lies  to  the  west  of  Gibeon. 
Knobel  says  on  this,  at  ch.  xix.  42  :  "Ajalon,  in 
whose  vale  Joshua  bade  the  moon  stand  still  (x. 
12),  allotted  to  the  Levites  (xxi.  24 ;  1  Chron.  vi. 
54),  often  mentioned  in  the  wars  with  the  Philis- 
tines (1  Sam.  xiv.  31  ;  1  Chron.  viii.  13),  fortified 
by  Eeiioboam  (2  Chron.  xi.  10),  taken  from  Ahaz 
by  the  Philistines  (2  Chron.  xxviii.  18),  lying,  ac- 
cording to  the  Onoin.,  s.  v.  "  Ajalon,"  two  miles  east 
of  Xicopolis ;  at  the  present  day,  a  village  Jalu, 
Jalo,  in  a  fertile  region  on  the  north  side  of  a 
mountain  ridge,  from  which  one  overlooks  the- 
beautiful  and  wide  basin  Merdj  Ibn  Omeir  stretch- 
ing away  to  the  north.  Bob.  iii.  63,  64  ;  Later  BiU. 
Res.  145,  Tobler,  Dritte  Wanderung,  p.  188  f."  To 
this  position  of  Ajalon,  westward  from  (iibeon, 
where  Joshua  joined  battle  with  the  Ainorites,  the 
place  of  the  moon  suits  well.  It  stood  in  the  M'cst, 
near  its  setting,  over  Ajalon,  and  was  still  visible 
although  the  sun  was  shining.  Let  the  two  heav- 
enly bodies  stand  where  they  stood  and  there 
would  continue  to  be  day ;  and  if  there  continued 
to  be  day  there  would  still  be  a  possibility  of  com- 
pletely destroying  the  foe.  And  that  was  precisely 
Joshua's  wish,  that  they  might  stand  where  they 
stood  in  order  that  he  might  anniliihite  the  enemy. 
Hengstenbei'g  {\thi  sup.  p.  558)  will  not  allow  this, 
but  explains  tlia*  the  "simultaneous  appearance  of 
the  sun  and  moon  "  was  "  something  entirely  un- 
usual, which  ought  not  to  be  so  readily  taken  for 
natural."  This  joint  a])parition,  however,  is  not 
very  unusual ;  on  the  contrary  it  may  be  witnessed 
in  a  clear  sky  at  any  time,  diu'ing  the  moon's  first 
quarter,  in  the  afternoon,  and  during  the  lastcjuar- 
ter,  in  the  forenoon  :  and  indeed,  from  what  is 
kindly  communicated  to  me  by  the  astronomer 
Miidler,  it  may  bo  seen,  in  the  much  clearer  south- 
ern heavens,  early  in  the  afternoon,  during  the 
moon's  first  quarter,  and  until  late  in  the  forenoon 
during  her  third . 

Knobel,  for  his  part,  supposes  that  "  the  sepa- 
rate mention  of  the  sun  and  moon  on  Gibeon  and 
Ajalon  has,  in  the  poetical  parallelism,  as  e.  g.  in 
Hos.  V.  8;  Am.  i.  5  ;  Mich.  iii.  12  ;  Zech.  ix.  10,  17, 
no  significance."  That,  however,  is  questionable, 
in  view  of  the  fact  thai  the  assignment  of  the  two 
heavenly  bodies  to  their  respective  positions  suits 

Until  '  the  nation '  (or,  LXX.,  until  God)  had  avenged  them 

upon  their  enemies. 
And  the  sun  stood  in  '  the  very  midst '  of  the  heavens, 
And  h.isted  not  to  go  down  for  a  whole  day, 
And  there  was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it, 
That  Jeiiov.vh  heard  the  voice  of  a  man, 
For  .Teuovah  fought  for  Israel. 
And  Joshua  returned,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  unto  the 

camp  in  Oilgal."  —  Tb.] 


CHAPTER  X.   1-27. 


97 


so  perfectly  to  the  place  of  Joshua,  and  the  more  1  trope  was  to  be  literally  understood.    Rather  it  is 
so   because  it  is  to  us  very  doubtful  whether  the  I  there,  as  here,  the  heavenly  powers,  nay  Jehovah 


names  in  Hos.  v.  8,  Am.  i.  5,  Zech.  ix.  10,  are  con 
nected  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  parallelism,  which 
we  admit  only  as  to  JNIic.  iii.  12.  But  if  the  sun 
and  moon  simultaneously  stood  still  in  the  heavens, 
and  so  that  the  sun  rested  over  Gibeon  east  of  the 
Held  of  battle,  and  the  moon  over  Ajalon  in  the 
west,  the  battle  must  have  been  going  on  in  the 
morning,  and  Joshua  have  uttei'ed  his  invocation 
at  this  time,  perhaps  toward  midday.  So  it  is  un- 
derstood also  by  Keil,  Knobel,  and  Ziickler,  who 
writes  (uhi  sup.) :  "  The  mention  of  the  moon  with 
tlic  sun  in  ver.  13  is  to  be  explained  simply  from 
the  circumstance  that  it  also  was  yet  visible  in  tlie 
sky,  and  tluit  the  prayer,  directed  toward  a  proloiuj- 
ation  of  the  day,  could  only  be  fully  expressed,  pos- 
itively as  well  as  negatively,  if  it  at  the  same  time 
called  for  the  delay  of  the  night,  or,  which  is  the 
same  thing,  a  standing  still  of  the  planet  which 
governed  the  night  (Qen.  i.  IG)." 

Gibeon  and  Ajalon  are  named  as  stations  of  the 
sun  and  moon,  because  Joshua  when  he  eilgaged 
in  the  battle  was  probably  west  of  Gibeon,  in  a 
place  from  which  he  saw  the  sun  shining  in  the 
east  over  that  city,  and  the  moon  in  the  far  west 
over  Ajalon. 

As  the  probable  hour  of  the  conflict  we  may  in- 
fer, partly  from  this  situation  and  partly  from  the 
sun  standing  still  "  in  the  midst  of  the  heaven  " 
(ver.  1.3),  that  it  was  in  the  middle  part  of  the  day, 
and  probably  still  in  the  forenoon,  hardly  the  late 
afternoon  as  Corn,  a  Lapide,  Clericus,  J.  D.  Mich. 
li  al.  have  supposed.  Hitzig  also  decides  in  favor  of 
the  forenoon  :  "As  Saul  upon  the  king  of  Amnion, 
.Joshua  fell  on  the  Amorites  earlij  in  the  momhif/. 
When,  soon  after,  the  battle  took  a  favorable  turn, 
the  sun  had  already  risen  and  stood  over  Gibeon 
lu'liind  the  combatants,  while  in  the  far  west,  the 
moon  had  not  yet  gone  down"  (ubi  sup.  p.  lOi). 
Most  recently  of  all  A.  Hengstenberg  in  Bochum 
has  also  published  a  contribution  (Beweisdes  Glaii- 
hens,  vol.  V.  pp.  287,  288)  toward  the  explanation  of 
our  passage,  in  which  he  agrees  with  Zockler  in  re- 
gard to  the  question  at  what  time  of  day  the  battle 
was  fought  and  Joshua  uttered  his  call  to  the  sun. 
Ewald,  on  the  contrary  ( Gfsch.  d.  v.  Israel,  2,  j). 
325,  326),  thinks  of  the  afternoon.  In  regard, 
further,  to  the  relation  between  the  hail-storm 
mentioned  ver.  11  and  Joshua's  exclamation,  we 
must  I'cmember  that  the  author  of  the  "Book  of 
the  Upright,"  knew  nothing  of  this  hail-storm, i  but 
the  writer  who  gave  the  Book  of  Joshua  its  preseirt 
form,  inserted  not  only  the  supposed  citation  (ver. 
12  and  13a.)  but  the  whole  passage  (vers.  12-15) 
into  the  midst  of  the  history  of  the  pursuit,  so  that 
he  appears  certainly  to  have  conceived  of  the  hail- 
storm as  a  preceding  event. 

Ver.  13.  And  the  sun  stood  still,  and  the 
moon  stayed  until  the  nation  had  avenged 
themselves  on  their  enemies.  Joshua's  wish  is 
fulfilled.  The  heavenly  bodies  pause  in  their  course 
an;l  stand  still.  AVhen  once  we  remember  that  the 
jiix't  says  this,  the  same  iKiet  who  has  previously 
])ut  in  Joshua's  mouth  tliis  grand,  poetical  excla- 
mation, reminding  us  of  Agamemnon's  wish  {11.2, 
413  if.),  we  have  found  the  key  to  ver.  13,  the  most 
striking  parallel  to  which  is  Judg.  vi»  20.  When 
it  is  there  said  that  the  stars  out  of  their  courses 

(CriwOXiQ)  fought  against  Siscra,  no  one,  so  far 
as  we  know,  has  ever  supposed  that  this  poetical 

1  [That  is,  strictly,  gives  no  indication  of  such  knowledge 
ill  this  passage.  —  Tr.]  I 


himself  (ver.  14)  who  tights  for  Israel.  'It  is  not 
"an  unheard  of,  astronomico-mechanical miracle" 
with  which  we  here  have  to  do,  btit  "  the  most 
glorious  typical  occurrence,  Avhich  illustrates  how 
all  nature,  heaven  and  earth,  is  in  league  with  the 
people  of  God,  and  helps  them  to  victory  in  their 
battles  of  the  kingdom  "  (Lange,  Com.  on  Gen.  pp. 
86,  87). 

The  standing  still  of  the  sun  and  moon  is  no 
more  to  be  understood  literally  than  that  fighting 
of  the  stars  down  out  of  their  courses,  or  the  melt- 
ing down  of  the  mountains  (Is.  xxxiv.  3  :  Amos 
ix.  13  ;  Mic.  i.  3),  the  rending  of  the  heavens 
(Ps.  xviii.  10),  or  the  skipping  of  Lebanon  (Ps. 
xxix.  6),  the  clapping  of  hands  by  the  trees  in  the 
field  (Is.  Iv.  12),  the  leaping  of  the  mountains  and 
hills  (Ps.  cxiv.  46),  the  bowing  of  the  heavens 
(Ps.  xviii.  10).  It  is  the  language  of  poetry  which 
we  have  here  to  interpret,  and  poetry,  too,  of  the 
most  figui'ative,  vehement  kind,  which  honors  and 
celebrates  Joshua's  confidence  in  God  in  the  midst 
of  the  strife  ;  that  "  unique  assurance  of  victory  on 
the  part  of  Joshua"  (Lange,  ubi  sup.)  which  the 
Lord  would  not  suffer  to  be  put  to  shame.  In  this 
the  most  positive  interpreters  (Keil,  Kurtz,  both 
Hengstenbergs),  however  they  may  differ  as  to  the 
]jarticulars,  and  to  textual  criticism,  are  perfectly 
at  one,  against  a  literal  apprehension  of  the  pas- 
sage. Nor  can  Hab.  iii.  11,  be  adduced  in  fixvor  of 
a  literal  interpretation  of  the  passage.     For  if  it  is 

said,  Hab.  iii.  11,  "Sun,  moon,  T^^  '^^?'^.» 
this  is  not  to  be  translated  as  Hengstenberg  (uhi 
sup.)  and  Keil,  on  the  one  side,  and  Hitzig  (Kl. 
Propheten),  on  the  other  have  shown,  "  The  sun, 
and  moon  remain  in  their  habitation,"  but  rather : 
"  The  sun, the  moon  enter  into  a  habitation,"  i.e. 
as  we  should  say :  "  into  the  shade,"  namely, 
"  behind  the  stratum  of  clouds "  or,  "  they  are 
darkened."  "  The  friendly  lights  grow  pale,  while 
on  the  other  hand,  there  shines  for  the  enemies  of 
God  and  his  people,  another,  an  ungenial  light, 
which  brings  destruction,  the  lightning,  God's 
spears  and  arrows  "  (Hengstenberg).  This  passage 
has  therefore  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  one  be- 
fore us.  And  when  Jesus  Sirach  in  his  enumera- 
tion of  the  exploits  of  Joshua,  asks  (xlvi.  4),  Oux^ 
iv  X^'P'  ("■"Tov  avewoSicrev  6  ^\los  koX  fiia  r]/j.fpa  iyev- 
7)dr]  TTphs  Svo  ;  he  makes  out  of  the  standing  still  of 
the  sun,  Hfjointj  back,  something  like  Is.  xxxviii.  8, 
and  speaks  at  the  same  time  of  lengthening  one 
day  into  two.  He  is  not  therefore  correct  in  his 
representation  of  the  occurrence.  The  same  is  true 
of  Josephus  {Ant.  v.  1,  17),  when  he  speaks  only 
of  an  increase,  i.  e.  lengthening  in  general  of  the 
day. 

Is  not  this  written  in  the  Book  of  the  Up- 
right ?  i.  e.  "  Lo,  this  stands  written  in  that  book 

and  may  there  be  read  expressly.     On  ^^l]  for 

r^ifn  comp.  Num.  xxii.  37;  Deut.  xi.  30.  So 
very  often  in  citations  ;  1  K.  xi.  41  ;  xiv.  29 ;  xv. 
7,  23,  31  :  xvi.  3,  20,  27  and  often"  (Knobel). 

And  the  sun  stood  stiU  in  the  midst  of  heaven, 
and  hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day. 

'^r Ct^  here  used  of  place,  iii  Judg.  xvi.  3  of  time ; 
in  the  middle,  a  more  precise  designation  of  the 
sun's  standing,  which  is  omitted  in  the  poetical 
part  of  this  episode. 

And  hastened  not    to   go   down.     The   verb 

V^^^^  is  used  once  besides  in  our  book  (ch.  xvii.  15), 


98 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


and  in  tlie  sense  "  to  be  r.arrow,"  and  again  in 
Ex.  V.  1.3,  where  the  Egyptian  task-masters  are 
spoken  of,  in  the  sense  of  "  to  oppress."  It  is  not 
employed  in  poetry  alone,  as  Zockler  {ubi  sup.) 
maintains,  in  order  to  support  his  view  that  tliese 
verses  also,  at  least  to  the  close  of  ver.  14,  breathe 
''a  poetically  exalted  "  strain.  Or  should  Ex.  v. 
13  also  be  regarded  as  a  poetical  passage  ?  A  cer- 
tain elevation  is,  indeed,  not  to  be  denied  to  the 
nari-ative  here,  but  that  we  find  also  in  places,  like 
ch.  viii.,  which  yet  is  unquestionably  pi'ose. 

About  a  whole  day.  t2''^Pl,  elsewhere  com- 
monly of  moral  integrity,  is  used  in  the  original 
sense, "  complete,''  "  entire,"  in  Lev.  iii.  9  ;  xxv.  30, 
in  the  latter  passage  of  time,  namely,  of  the  year 

riT^^pr)  n^W,  as  here  of  the  day  D'^ri  CV 
Plainly,  the  author  of  this  verse  understands  the 
poetical  citation  from  the  Book  of  the  Upright, 
literaJhj,  which  does  not  hinder  us  from  going  l)ack 
to  the  orif/inal.  sense,  as  we  have  done  above.  That 
he,  like  all  the  Scripture  writers,  thought  of  an 
"  anti-Copcrnican  "  system,  as  Zockler  expresses  it, 
or  as  we  might  more  correctly  say,  that  he  spoke 
of  what  was  immediately  perceptible,  is  evident 
without  discussion.  We  think  with  Zockler  (p. 
250)  "  it  is  lost  labor  to  put  upon  the  expressions 
of  holy  Scripture  concerning  the  magnitudes  and 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  a  heliocentric 
sense,  by  allegorical  artifices,  since  the  childishly 
simple  view  of  the  universe,  which  perceives  in  the 
earth  the  fixed  centre,  must  necessarily  have  pos- 
sessed the  Biblical  writers  also  as  children  of  their 
time." 

Ver.  14.  And  there  was  no  day  like  that  be- 
fore it  and  after  it  Cl"''J}nS\  V35b)  that  Jeho- 
vah hearkened  (^ttt^v)  unto  the  voice  of  a 
man ;  for  Jehovah  fought  for  Israel.  The  war 
was  not  merely  a  war  of  men,  Jehovah  himself 
rather  was  its  leader,  as  was  promised  the  Is- 
raelites,'Ex.  xiv.  14,  by  Moses.  Comp.  Dent.  i. 
29,  30;  iii.  22,  xx.  1,  3,  4,  xxxi.  6.  Hence  Jeho- 
vah is  called  precisely  nJ^nvtt  tt^^W,  "  man  of 
war  "  (Luther  :  der  rechte  Kriegsmann),  Ex.  xv.  3. 
He  has  heard  the  call  of  Joshua  and  lield  the  sun 
still  in  his  course  (of  the  moon  nothing  more  is 
said),  and  so,  according  to  the  view  of  the  author  of 
13  6-15,  has  performed  an  objective  astronomical 
miracle,  of  which  the  poet  from  whom  the  quotation 
is  made,  had  no  thought,  and  of  which  we,  following 
him  {the  poet)  have  no  thought.^ 

Ver.  15  b.  Hengstenberg  would  refer  this  prosaic 
statement  still  entirely  to  the  poetry  (which  Zockler 
does  not  do),  and  quotes  in  sup]iort  of  this  (Ex. 
XV.  19)  the  close  of  Moses'  song  of  triumph,  which 
is  also  found  Ex.  xiv.  22.  It  is  not  found,  however, 
in  precisely  the  same  words  (in  the  latter  passage 

i^S,  in  the  former  the  more  graphic  Tf  ^i^))  nor 
with  the  same  arrangement  of  the  words,  which  in 
Ex.  XV.  19  has  the  rythmical  cadence.  We  cannot, 
therefore,  allow  foi-ce  to  this  example,  but  believe, 
rather,  that  to  this,  certainly  if  to  any  of  the  vers. 
(13  6-15)  the  "words  of  Maurer  apply  :  Quce  ante 
formulani  cita7idi  Icgiinita-,  sunt  poesis  ;  quce  jiostpura 
puta  prosa." 

1  [Without  (IwplUng  on  the  palpable  difliculty,  not  to  say 
impossibility,  of  reconciling  such  a  judgment  with  any  satis- 
factory concepfion  of  the  inspiration  of  the  writer  of  our 
book,  is  not  that  judgment  inconsistent  with  the  natural 
probabilities  concerning  the  authorship  ?  That  is,  would 
iiot  the  reviser  or  compiler  of  the  Book  of  .loshua  know, 
lis  well  as  we,  that  he  was   iutroduciug  in  verses  12,  13,  a 


Keil's  View  of   vers.  12-15,  added  by   the 
Translator. 

[As  representing  a  somewhat  different  theologi- 
cal position,  the  following  comments  of  Keil  on 
this  passage,  may,  as  well  as  from  their  character 
in  other  respects,  be  profitably  cited  here. 

"  This  wonderful  victory  was  celebrated  by  Is- 
rael in  a  war-song  which  was  preserved  in  the 
Book  of  the  Pious.  Out  of  this  book  the  author 
of  the  Book  of  Joshua  inserted  here  the  passage 
which  commemorated  the  wonderful  work  of  Je- 
hovah toward  Israel  and  toward  his  enemies,  the 
Amorites,  for  the  glorification  of  his  own  name. 
For,  that  we  have  in  vers.  12-15  a  poetical  extract 

from  the  '^^'*'3  "^?.?  is  universally  acknowledged. 
This  insertion  and  the  reference  to  this  writing  is 
analogous  to  the  quotation  from  the  Book  of  the 
Wars  of  the  Lord  (Num.  xxi.  14),  and  the  lyrical 
strophes  woven  into  the  historical  narrative.  The 
object  is  not  to  confirm  the  historical  report  by 
reference  to  an  older  authority,  but  only  to  render 
more  vivid  to  future  generations  the  striking  im- 
pression which  those  wonders  of  the  Lord  had 
made  ujjon  the  congregation." 

Keil's  account  of  the  Book  of  the  Pious  is  the 
same  as  that  of  Fay  and  most  others.  He  dis- 
tinctly assumes,  however,  what  doubtless  should  be 
understood  hy  all,  that  this  progressively  accumu- 
lated anthology  of  pious  hymns  in  praise  of  the 
covenant  God  was  interspersed  with  explanatory 
historical  notices.  Thus  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
supposing  ver.  1 5  also  to  have  been  co])ied  from 
this  poetical  book.  Keil  then  proceeds :  "  The 
citation  from  it  proves  itself  at  once  to  have  been 
taken  from  a  song,  by  the  poetical  form  of  the 
language  and  by  the  parallelism  of  the  members. 

The  quotation  begins,  however,  not  with  "^^i^*!, 

ver.  12  b,  but  with  HPl  tti''?,  ver.  12  a,  and  to  it 
belong  also  vers.  13  and  14,  so  that  the  reference 
to  the  source  of  the  quotation  is  inserted  in  the 
middle  of  it.  Such  formulas  are  generally  met 
with,  indeed,  elsewhere  either  at  the  beginning  of 
the  passage  adduced,as  Num.  xxi.  14,  27  ;  2  Sam. 
i.  18,  or  at  the  close  of  it,  as  generally  in  the  books 
of  Kings  and  Chronicles.  But 'it  does  not  follow 
that  such  position  was  a  rule  without  e.Kception.s, 
especially  since  the  reference  to  sources  in  the 
books  of  Kings  has  a  quite  different  sense,  the  ci- 
tations being  not  documentary  proofs  of  the  occur- 
I'cnces  before  reported,  but  references  to  writings  , 
in  which  more  complete  accounts  might  be  found 
concerning  fragmentarily  communicated  facts. 
In  ver.  13  also  the  poetical  form  of  the  discourse 
leaves  no  doubt  that  vers.  13  and  14  still  contain 
words  of  the  ancient  poet,  not  a  prosaic  comment 
of  the  historian  on  the  poetic  expressions  which 
he  had  quoted.  Only  ver.  15  presents  a  pure  his- 
torical statement  which  is  repeated  (ver.  43)  at  the 
end  of  the  narrative  of  this  victory  and  war.  And 
this  literal  repetition  of  ver.  15  in  ver.  43,  and  still 
more  the  f;iet  that  the  statement  that  Joshua  re- 
turned with  all  the  ])eople  into  the  cam])  to  Gilgal 
anticipates  the  historical  order  of  events,  and  that 
in  a  very  striking  manner,  renders  it  highly  prob- 

highly  impassioned  and  hyperbolical  passage  of  poetry  ?  If 
so  how  could  he,  more  than  we,  go  on  to  interpret  it  as 
prosaic,  history  ?  \VS  think  this  indicates  at  once  that  the 
interpretation  is  not  his,  is  nobody's  cool  interpretation,  but 
only  a  continuation  of  the  lyrical  strain.  Not  all  the 
grammatical  objections  of  our  author  to  this  view  combiued 
can  stind  against  this  one  con.sideration.  — Tr.] 


CHAPTER  X.  1-27. 


99 


nhlc,  if  not  altogether  certain,  that  ver.  15  also  is 
taken  from  the  Hook  of  the  Pious."     .... 

Keil's  conception  of  the  circumstances  and  prog- 
ress of  the  battle,  and  of  the  position  of  the  parties  in 
reference  to  tlie  standing  still  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
agrees  in  every  important  point  with  that  of  Fay. 

"  How  then  shall  we  make  real  to  oursehes  this 
wonderful  occurrence  1  An  actual  standing  still 
of  the  sun  at  some  place  in  the  heavens,  about  the 
zenith,  is  not  clearly  expressed.  If  one  were  disposed 

to  insist  on  the  Tl^5?*1,  "the  sun  stood  (held 
his  position)  in  the  midst  of  the  heavens,"  which  is 

added  as  if  in  explanation  of  nT^^H  in  such  away 
that  it  must  express  a  miraculous  obstruction  of 
the  course  of  the  sun,  this  would  hardly  be  consis- 
tent with  the  phrase  Hil27  \'S  S7,  "it hastened 
not  to  go  down,"  for  this  strictly  taken,  means  only, 
as  several  of  the  Kabbius  long  ago  remarked,  a 
more  tardy  progress  of  the  sun.  Plainly  intimated 
in  vers.  12  and  13  is  so  much  only,  that  at  Joshua's 
word  the  sun  remained  standing  almost  a  day 
longer  in  the  heavens.  To  this  is  added  (ver.  14), 
"  That  thei-e  was  no  such  day  before  and  afterward, 
that  Jehovah  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  a  man ; 
for  Jehovah  fought  for  Israel."  This  expression, 
again,  should  not  be  too  hardly  pressed,  as  the  an- 
alogous utterances,  "  there  was  none  like  him,"  etc. 
2  K.  xviii.  5 ;  xxiii.  25,  show.  They  convey  only 
the  thought,  a  day  like  this  which  God  so  marvel- 
ously  lengthened  has  not  been  before  nor  since. 
So  much  therefore  lies  unambiguously  in  the  words, 
that  the  singer  of  the  ancient  song,  and  after  him 
also  the  author  of  our  Book  of  Joshua,  who  inserted 
these  words  into  his  narrative,  was  convinced  ^  of 
a  wonderful  prolongation  of  that  day.  Here,  how- 
ever, it  is  carefully  to  be  observed  that  it  is  not 
said,  that  God  did  at  Joshua's  request  increase  the 
length  of  that  day  by  about  a  whole  day,  or  cause 
the  sun  to  stand  still  for  nearly  a  whole  day,  but 
only  that  God  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  Joshua,  i.  e. 
did  not  let  the  sun  go  down  until  Israel  had 
avenged  themselves  ujwn  their  enemies.  The  dif- 
ference is  not  unimportant.  For  a  marvelous 
prolongation  of  that  day  took  place  not  only  if, 
throug-h  the  exertion  of  God's  Almighty  power,  the 
course  of  the  sun  or  his  going  ^own  was  delayed 
lor  many  hours,  or  the  day  lengthened  from  say 
twelve  to  eighteen  or  twenty  hours,  but  also  on  the 
supposition  that  the  day  appeared  to  Joshua  and 
to  Israel  wonderfully  lengthened,  the  work  accom- 
plished on  that  day  being  so  great  that  it  would 
without  supernatural  help  have  required  two  days. 
To  decide  between  these  two  views  is  not  easy, 
nay,  if  we  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  matter,  is  im- 
possiljle.  [And  no  more  necessary,  it  might  be 
added,  viewing  the  account  as  poetry,  than  to  try 
to  discover  the  exact  proportion  between  David's 
glorious  hyperboles  in  Psalm  xviii.  and  the  actual 
•events  of  the  deliverance  which  he  there  celebrates. 
—  Tit.]  When  we  cannot  measure  the  length  of  the 
day  by  the  clock,  we  may,  especially  in  the  ci-owd 
of  business  or  work,  with  extraordinary   facility 

1  [Considering  what  is  afterward  truly  said  of  the  fervid 
poetical  character  of  this  whole  pa.ssage,  this  statement  ap- 
pears quite  unwarranted.  Unless  David  and  Deborali  and 
Uabakkuk  were  convinced  of  the  actual  reality  of  what  they 
assort  in  the  form  of  fact,  there  seems  no  reason  at  all  for 
assuming  that  eitlier  the  original  composer  of  the  song  or 
he  who  insertedi  it  in  the  Book  of  the  Upright  or  ho  who 
copied  it  into  the  Borfk  of  Joshua,  believed  there  had  been 
an  actual  extension  of  that  day.  —  Tr.] 

2  [Compare  Matt.  Henry's  (from  this  point  of  view)  more 
r.itional  wjjiwsentation  :  —  | 


be  deci'ived  in  regard  to  its  length.  Rut  the  Israel- 
ites had  neither  sun-dials  nor  any  clocks,  and  amid 
the  tumult  of  the  conflict  hardly  would  Joshua,  or 
any  other.one  engaged  in  the  strife,  have  repeatedly 
noticed  the  shadow  of  the  sun,  and  inquired  after 
its  changes  in  reference  to  a  tree,  for  example,  or 
other  such  object,  so  as  to  perceive  from  its  possibly 
remaining  stationary  and  unaltered,  for  some  hours, 
that  the  sun  had  actually  stood  still.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  was  quite  impossible  for  the  Israel- 
ites to  decide  whether  that  day  was  really,  or  only 
in  their  conception,  longer  than  other  days. 

Besides  this  we  must  take  into  account  the 
poetical  character  of  our  passage.  When  David 
praises  the  wondrous  deliverance  which  he  had 
experienced  at  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  in  the  words  : 
"  In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord  .... 
and  he  heard  my  voice  out  of  his  heaven,  .... 
and  he  bowed  the  heaven  and  came  down,  .  .  . 
.  .  he  stretched  his  hand  out  of  the  height,  took 
me  and  drew  me  out  of  many  waters  "  (Ps.  xviii.  7- 
17),  who  imagines  that  these  words  are  to  be  un- 
derstood literally,  of  an  actual  descent  of  God  out 
of  heaven  and  stretching  out  of  his  hand  to  draw 
David  out  of  the  water  1  Or  who  will  take  the 
words  of  Deborah  :  "  Out  of  heaven  was  the  bat- 
tle waged,  the  stars  out  of  their  cdurses  fought 
against  Sisera,"  in  a  literal  sense  ?  The  truth  of 
such  expressions  lies  in  the  subjective  field  of  the 
religious  intuition,  not  in  the  rigorous  interpreta- 
tion of  the  words.  In  a  similar  way  may  the  verses 
before  us  be  understood  without  prejudice  thereby 
to  their  real  import,  if  that  day  had  been  merely 
subjectively  prolonged  to  the  religious  apprehen- 
sion of  Israel. 

But  if  the  words  had  expressed  even  an  objec- 
tively real  and  miraculous  extension  of  that  day, 
we  should  still  have  had  no  valid  ground  for  doubt- 
ing the  truth  of  this  statement  of  tacts.  All  objec- 
tions which  have  been  raised  against  the  fjtct  or  the 
possibility  of  such  a  miracle,  appear,  on  a  closer 
examination  of  the  matter,  nugatory.  Thus,  that 
the  annals  of  the  other  peoples  of  the  earth  give  no 
report  at  all  of  a  miracle  which  must  have  extended 
over  the  whole  earth,  Idses  all  importance  when  we 
perceive  that  no  annals  at  all  of  other  nations  of  that 
period  are  extant,  and  that  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  the  miracle  would  have  extended  far  be- 
yond the  bounds  of  Palestine  [!j  -  Again,  the  appeal 
to  the  unchangeableness  of  the  movement  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  fixed  by  eternally  unalterable  laws, 
is  not  suited  to  show  the  impossibility  of  such  a  mir 
acle.  The  eternal  laws  of  nature  are  nothing  more 
than  modes  of  manifestation,  or  phenomena,  of  God's 
creative  power,  the  proper  nature  of  which  no  mor- 
tal has  yet  found  out.  May  not  then  the  Almighty 
Creator  and  Presei'ver  of  nature  and  all  her  powers, 
be  able  also  so  to  direct  and  control  the  powers  of 
nature  according  to  his  own  will  that  they  should 
contribute  to  the  realization  of  his  ends  in  salva- 
tion '?  Finally,  the  objection  also  that  the  sudden 
arrest  of  the  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis, 
must  have  demolished  all  the  work  of  human  hands 

"  And  he  (Joshua)  believed  God"s  particular  fovor  to  Is- 
rael above  all  people  under  the  sun  ;  else  he  could  not  have 
expected,  that,  to  favor  them  upon  an  emergency  with  a 
double  day,  he  should  (which  must  follow  of  course)  amuse 
and  terrify  so  great  a  part  of  the  terresti-ial  globe  with  a 
double  night  at  the  same  time  ;  it  is  true  he  ranseth  the  sun 
to  shine  upon  tlie  just  and  upon  the  unjust,  but  this  once  ths 
unjust  shall  wait  for  it  beyond  the  usual  time,  wh  ile,  in 
favor  to  righteous  Israel,  it  stands  still."  —  Ta.j 


100 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


upon  its  surlace,  and  hurled  from  its  orbit  the  earth 
itself  and  her  attendant  the  moon,  proves  nothinjj;', 
since  it  is  forjiotten  in  all  this,  that  the  almii^hty 
hand  of  God  which  not  only  created  the  stars  but 
also  lent  to  them  and  to  all  worlds  the  power  to  run 
their  cour>e  with  renulaiity,  so  lony  as  this  world 
Stands,  that  that  hand  which  bears,  upholds,  con- 
trols all  thinj^s  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  is  not  too 
short,  to  i^uard  ajiainst  such  ruinous  consequences. 
To  this  may  still  be  added  that  even  the  most 
rigorous  apprehension  of  the  words  does  not  com- 
pel us,  with  the  fathers  and  older  theologians,  to 
suppose  a  miraculous  obstruction  of  the  sun  iu  his 
course,  but  only  an  optical  pause  of  the  sun,  /.  e. 
a  miraculous  arrest  of  the  i-evolution  of  the  earth 
on  its  axis,  which  would  have  appeared  to  the  ob- 
server as  a  standing  still  of  the  sun.  Knobel  is 
entirely  wrong  when  he  pronounces  this  view  of 
the  fact  contrary  to  the  text.  For  the  Scriptures 
speak  of  things  of  the  visible  world  according  to 
their  appearance,  as  we  also  still  speak  of  the  ris- 
ing and  setting  of  the  sun,  although  we  have  no 
doubt  of  the  revolution  of  the  earth  about  the  sun. 
Such  an  optical  stand-still  of  the  sun,  however,  or 
rather  merely  a  longer  standing  and  visibility  of 
the  sun  in  tlie  horizon,  might  be  etlectcd  through 
God's  omnipotence  in  an  astronomical  phenome- 
non unknown  to  us  and  wholly  incomprehensible 
by  natural  philosophy,  without  interfering  with  the 
general  laws  of  the  rotation  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 
Only  we  must  not,  surely,  reduce  this  exertion  of 
the  divine  power  to  a  mere  unusual  refraction  of 
the  light,  or  a  storm  of  lightning  lasting  through 
the  whole  night,  as  has  been  variously  attempted." 
Bibl  Com.  ii.  1,  p.  76-81.] 

Having  thus  treated  of  this  difficult  passage  in 
reference  to  the  criticism  of  the  text,  and  also  to  the 

Eurport  of  it,  it  remains  for  us  still  to  glance  at  the 
istory  of  its  interpretation. 

Although  Jesus  Sirach  and  Josephus  had,  even 
in  their  day,  betrayed  a  disposition  in  the  passages 
above  cited,  to  change  the  phraseology  of  our  verse, 
in  the  sense  of  a  not  entirely  literal  conception  of  it, 
still  the  overwhelming  majority  of  ancient  Jewish 
and  Christian  interpreters  understand  here  an  ob- 
jective, asti'onomical  miracle,  an  actual  standing- 
still  of  the  sun.  So  Justin  Martyr  in  Dial,  cum 
Trjjph.;  Ephraem  Syr. ;  Tertullian,  De.Tejiiiiio,  i.  10 ; 
Jerome  c.  Jovin.  i.  11 ;  Chrysost.  Horn.  27  in  Epist. 
ad  He.hr. ;  Augustine,  De  Civit.  Dei,  xvi.  8  ;  Theodo- 
i-et,  thellabbins,  Serarius,  Masius,  C.  a  Lapide,  Cal- 
vin, Osiander,  et  mult.  al.  Exceptions  are  (the  Ev. 
Kirclien-Zeitimf/,  itbi  sup.  p.  .5.55),  Maimonides  and 
Ralibi  Levi  l)eu  Gcrsom,  who  advocate  the  non-lit- 
eral view.  "  The  wish  of  Joshua,"  explains  the  lat- 
ter, "  aims  only  at  this,  that  that  one  day  and  night 
might  be  long  enough  for  the  overthrow  of  the  so 
numerous  forces  of  the  enemy.  It  Avas  the  same  as 
if  he  had  said :  Grant,  Almighty  Father,  that  be- 
fore sun  and  moon  go  down,  thy  people  may  take 
vengeance  on  this  multitude  of  thy  foes.  The  mira- 
cle of  that  day  was,  that  at  the  praj'cr  of  a  man  God 
elR'eted  so  great  a  defeat  in  so  short  a  time."  How  te- 
naciously the  Roman  curia,  on  the  contrary,  in  their 
Jesuitically  inspired  ])roceedings  against  Galileo 
(16.33),  held  fast  to  the  ojjposite  view,  is  well  known. 

1  [Tlie  note  of  the  learned  Wliiston,  translator  of  Jose- 
phus, is  curiously  accomniodating  :  "  Whether  this  length- 
ening of  the  day,  by  the  standing  still  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
were  physical  and  real,  by  the  niir.aculous  stoppage  of  the 
diurnal  motion  of  the  earth  for  about  half  a  revolution,  or 
whether  only  apparent,  by  aerial  phosplwri  imitating  the  sun 
iiid  nioou  as  stationary  so  loug,  while  clouds  and  the  night 


As  however  the  Copernican  system  neverthelesa 
found  adherents,  and  indeed,  even  among  ortho- 
dox Protestant  theologians  out  of  opposition  to 
Home,  these  thought  to  help  themselves  by  the  as- 
sumjition  of  an  ojitical  jJiinse  of  the  sun  {slatia 
ojiticd),  that  is,  they  assumed  that  the  earth  was 
hindered  by  God  in  its  revolution  on  its  axis,  by 
which  a  lengthening  of  the  day  was  ])roduced.  So 
Lilienthal,  (xule  Sache,  v.  p.  167  ff. ;  Mosheim  apud 
Calmet,  p.  45  ff.  ;  Bastliolm,  Jlldische  Geschichte, 
ii.  p.  3  Iff. ;  Zimmermann,  Script  ura  Coperiiizans,  i, 
1,  p.  228.  In  recent  times  this  view  is  maintained 
by  Baumgarten  (Herzog's  Realencyk.  vii.  40) 
According  to  this  writer,  Joshua,  in  the  full  confi- 
dence of  being  the  dispenser  of  divine  vengeance 
against  the  corrupt  Canaanites,  called,  as  nigh- 
threatened  to  overtake  them,  to  the  heavenly 
luminaries,  and  the  day  was  by  nearly  its  full 
length,  "  prolonged  through  the  apparent  pause  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  which  govern  day  and  night, 
but  through  the  actual  pause  of  the  globe  in  its 
diurnal  revolution."  Such  an  exorbitant  miracle 
came  to  pass  because  "  the  destination  of  Israel 
was  something  infinitely  transcending,  in  its  dig- 
nity and  signilicanee,  the  entire  natural  order  of 
things."  This  relation  between  Israel  and  the  "sys- 
tem of  the  universe  "  Joshua  apprehended  in  a  "  mo- 
ment of  daring  faith,"  "  assumed  the  innnediate 
realization  of  the  same,"  and  Jehovah  "  sealed  this 
venture  of  faith  by  his  work  and  word ;  "  and  it  is 
for  us  "  simply  to  believe,  that  this  was  done."    • 

The  editor  of  the  Enctjklopudie  has  made  on  this 
representation  the  very  apposite  remark,  "  That, 
however,  theologians  of  a  strictly  positive  tendency 
are  of  a  different  view  in  this  respect  is  well  known." 
Grotius  and  Clericus  are  to  be  regarded  as  pre- 
cui'sors  of  the  rationalizing  interpretation.  They 
imagined  extraordinary  refractions  of  the  light  of 
the  sun  already  set ;  for,  as  Grotius  supposes,  it 
was  not  impossible  for  God  solis  cursum  uiorari,aut 
etiaiii  post  solis  occasam  ejus  speciem  iii  nuhe  supra 
horizonteni  extanti per  repircussum  ostendere.  Spinoza, 
also  (Tract.  Thenl.  Polit.  ii.  pp.  22  and  6,  p.  78  ed. 
Hamb.  1670),  adopted  substantially  this  opinion. 
J.  1).  Michaelis  and  Schultz  resort  to  the  sup]iosi- 
tion  of  lightning  that  lasted  through  the  whole 
night ;  Hess  combined  lightning  with  the  light 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  so  that  there  was  no  night, 
so  to  sjjcak,  between  this  and  the  following  day 
(F.  F.  Hess,  GesckicJite  Josua,  i.  p.  140  f.).  Oth- 
ers otherwise ;  but  truly  laughable  is  the  at- 
tempt of  Bitter  (in  Henke's  Magazin,  vi.  1),  to 
make  the  expression  " sun "  and  "moon"  repre- 
sent tlie  signals  or  standards  which  Joshua  had 
ordered  to  remain  there  where  they  chanced  to 
stand  in  Gibcon  and  Ajalon.  This  insi])i(lity  re- 
minds one,  as  ZiJckler  has  rightly  observed,  of  the 
famous  Tavern  for  the  Whale,  and  similar  absurdi- 
ties of  a  spiritless,  jejune  exegesis.^ 

In  recent  times  the  more  advanced  study  of  text- 
ual criticism  has  led  to  the  poetical  understanding 
of  the  passage  —  in  our  view  the  only  correct  one, 
which  is  favored  ijotonlyin  general  by  i\Iaurer, 
Ewald  [Gescli.  ii.  p.  326),  llitzigand  von  Lengerke, 
but  also  as  has  been  sliown  above  by  theologians 
of  quite  positive  principles,  the  two  Ilengstenbcrgs, 
Keil,  Kurtz,  and  others.     Not  less  decidedly  have 

hid  the  real  ones,  and  this  p.arhelion,  or  mock  sun,  affording 
sufficient  light  for  Joshua's  pursuit  and  complete  victory 
(which  aerial  phosphori  in  other  shapes  hiive  b(!en  unusually 
common  of  late  years),  cannot  now  be  determined  ;  philoso- 
phers and  astronomers  will  natur.ally  incline  to  this  latt«» 
hypothesis,"  etc.     Ad.  Ant.  v.  i,  16.J 


CHAPTER  X.  1-27. 


101 


Lanu;e  and  Zockler  adopted  this  view.  How  far 
we  ditfer  from  one  and  another  of  these,  specially 
in  regard  to  the  criticism  of  the  text,  ^vill  appear 
from  tlie  fore<;oiiiy  explanation.  But  that  men 
like  Knak,  Frantz,  and  Straube  have  ayain  brought 
prominently  forward  as  a  "matter  of  faith,"  the 
assumption  of  an  actual  standing  still  of  the  sun, 
which,  under  tlie  nniversal  prevalence  of  _  the 
Ptolemaic  astronomy  was  a  quite  natm-al  view, 
although  by  no  means  required  by  the  text  in  vers. 
12  and'13;  that  they  believe  themselves  called  to 
defend  this  against  tlie  "  pseudodoxy  of  the  natural 
Bcieuces,"  we  r&iard  as  imiicatinr/  a  lamentable  con- 
fusion of  ideas,  re.stim/  on  a  total  want  of  scientific 
setise,  and  under  ike  injurions  influence  of  which  the 
true  "  matter  of  faith  "  is  likely  to  suffer  much. 

As  a  curiosity  we  may  refer  in  conclusion  to  the 
notion  of  Jean  d'  Espagne,  a  French  theologian, 
mentioned  by  Starke,  who  makes  oiit  that  this 
miracle  took  place  in  the  year  2555  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world.  But  that  is  the  year  7X365. 
"  Now  a  year  has  3G5  days,  and  the  number  seven 
has  in  God's  Word  much  mystery.  Thus  the 
number  of  the  year  2553  makes  3G5  week-years, 
[Wochenjahre,  years  each  of  which  contains  a 
week  of  years].  So  also  year-weeks  [Yahrwochen, 
weeks  whose  days  are  years]  are  to  be  understood 
(Dan.  ix.  24).  Thus  the  sun  after  completing 
365  year-weeks  in  his  course  here  kept  miracu- 
lously a  day  of  rest.  This  time  of  365  days  when 
it  has  passed  365  times  gives  us  a  year  of  years  " 
etc. 

c.  Flight  and  Destruction  of  the  Five  Kings. 
(Vers.  16-27 ).  Vers.  16  ff.  contain  the  continuation 
of  vers.  1-11.  The  hail-storm  had  inflicted  terrible 
injury  on  the  Amorites.  Many  died  from  the  hail, 
more  than  were  slain  by  the  sword  of  the  Israelites. 
But  the  five  kings  sought  to  secure  their  own 
persons,  and  hid  themselves  in  the  cave  at  Mak- 
kedah.  When  Joshua  heard  of  this,  he  caused  a 
stone  to  be  rolled  before  the  month  of  the  cave  and 
set  a  guard  over  it,  but  he  himself  drives  forward 
to  effect  a  complete  discomfiture  of  the  enemy,  and 
in  this  succeeds.  Not  until  this  is  done  does  he 
have  the  five  kings  brougjit  forward,  and,  after  a 
ceremony  expressive  of  their  total  subjection,  hung 
on  trees,  and  their  corpses  thrown  into  the  cave. 

Ver.  16.  Hid  themselves  in  the  cave  at  Mak- 
kedah.  Many  such  caves  were  found  in  the  lime 
and  chalk  rocks  of  Palestine.  In  David's  his- 
tory the  cave  of  Adull,am  is  often  mentioned  ( 1  Sam. 
xxii.  1  ff .  ;  2  Sam.  xxiii.  13;  1  Chron.  xi.  15).  In 
the  history  of  the  crusades  also  ( W.  Tyrius,  De  Bella 
Sacro,  15,  6;  18,  19;  11,  et  swp.),  caves  are  men- 
tioned. Judg.  XX.  47,  the  cavo  at  Rimmon  is  spoken 
of,  which  could  contain  600  men  in  its  spacious  re- 
cess. These  caves  are  large  and  dry,  and  branch 
(jut  also  into  chambers  (  Robinson  ii.  175,  352  ff., 
395-398.  Von  Schubert,  iii.  30).  They  were  thus 
admirably  fitted  for  places  of  refuge,  in  times  of 
danger,  as  in  the  case  before  us.  [See  Diet,  of  the 
Bible,  art.  Caves]. 

Ver.  17.     Q^'<2^3  for  2*'S3?73  from  a  sing. 

M2in3  after  the  manner  of  verbs  Hv,  Gesen. 
§  75*  Rem.  21,  (a)  (Knobcl). 

Ver.  19.     Smite  the  hindmost  of  them  (their 

rear).  Qi^r^ST  from  '2.'^\  (Kal  2?^,  prop,  "to 
hurt  the  tail,"  figuratively,  to  disturb  the  rear- 
guaKl  of  the  enemy  (Dent.  xxv.  18).  lu  Greek 
also  ovpd,  cppayia  is  =  rear-guard. 

Vers.  20,  21.  Most  of  the  enemy  were  left  on 
the   field,;  only  a  few  escaped  into    the   fortified. 


towns,  where  they  were  concealed  only  for  a  short 
time,  as  we  learn  from  vers.  27-43.     Those  that 

remained  3'''T"*~ltt^rT,  elsewhere  tS'^/Q  ch.  viii. 
22;  Gen.  xiv.  13;  Jcr.  xliv.  28;  Ezek.  vi.  8.  The 
apodosis  begins  not  with  D*'l*'"1ffi'm,  but   with 

^DtL'^D  ver.  21,  as  Maurer  correctly  shows.  How 
Keil  could  imagine  that  it  begins  not  until  ver.  23, 
it  is  difiicult  to  perceive.  Eor  the  j-est  cf.  ch.  iii. 
1 5  and  1 6,  where  the  construction  is  altogether  the 

same,  and  ch.  ii.  5  where  it  is  similar. —  Dl7ti72, 
LXX.  vyi€7s,  Vulg. :  Sani  et  integronumero,  in  good 
condition. 

None  pointed  against  the  children  of  Israel, 
against  one  of  them  his  tongue.  The  whole 
proverbial  expression  we  read  Ex.  xi.  7  :  "  against 
any  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  not  a  dog  move 
(point)  his  tongue,  against  man  or  beast,"  where 
dog  is  given  as  the  subject.     Here  the  subject  is 

wanting  unless  we  suppose  with  Maurer  that  the  7 

in  H?^M7  is  an  error  in  copying,  from  the  preccd- 

ino-  vS"1ti7"^,  and  to  be  rejected,  which  would  then 

leave  tt?'^S  as  the  subject.  We  think  it  more  sim- 
ple to  ■  supply  the  subject  in  an  indefinite,  euphe- 
mistic sense,  and  take  27"'S7  as  a  more  precise 
limitation  of  ''^^V,  which  is  favored  by  the  speci- 
fication in  Ex.  xi.  7,^nnn|i  ^^^  ^y^^^' 

Wholly  false  is  the  LXX.  koX  ovic  sypv^s  -twv  vloip 
I.  (!)  obSeiSTij  jAiiaar]  avrov,  while  the  Vulg. 
rightly  hits  the  sense  :  nuUusque  contra  filios  Israel 
mutirc  ausus  est.  The  meaning  is,  no  one  ventured 
to  do  any  harm  to  any  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
comp.  Judith  xi.  13. 

Vers.  22,  23.  At  Joshua's  command  the  cave  is 
now  opened,  and  the  kings  brought  before  him. 

Ver.  24.  Come  near,  put  your  feet  on  the 
necks'  of  these  kings.  This  demand  for  a  con- 
temptuous humiliation  of  the  conquered  leaders  of 
the  enemy  is  addressed  by  Joshua  to  the  leaders  of 
the  men  of  war,  to  his  field  officers,  who  also  respond 
thereto.  The  ceremony  indicates  "  entire  subjuga- 
tion," and  was  practiced,  according  to  Knobel,  by 
the  Greek  emperors  also.  Constant.  Porphyrog. 
De  Ceremoniis  Auke  Bijzant.  2,  19  ;  Bynieus,  De  Cal- 
ceis  Heir.  p.  318).     We  may  compare  Ps.  Ix.  10. 

s^^bnn  for  ^^7'^-^t^i^^  comp.  is.  xxviii.  12 

on  the  form  of  the"  verb ;  Ges.  §  109  ;  Ewald,  §  331 
b.  on  the  use  of  the  art.  for  pron.  rel. 

Ver.  25.  Here  Joshua  says  the  same  to  his  war- 
rioi-s  which  the  Lord  had  said  to  him  (ch.  i.  7,  9). 

Ver.  26.  Joshua  kills  the  kings,  doubtless  with 
the  sword,  and  then  hangs  up  their  bodies  in  con- 
tempt on  five  trees,  cf.  Dent.  xxi.  22  ;  Num.  xxy. 
4;  2  Sam.  iv.  12.  The  one  suspended,  was  as  is 
known,  considered  accursed,  and  might  not  re- 
main hanging  over  night,  Dent.  xxi.  23  ;  Gal.  iii. 
13;  John  xix.  31.  In  like  manner  Joshua  had 
done  to  the  king  of  Ai,  ch.  viii.  29.  _  "  The  hang- 
ing of  a /m»(y  man  is  a  Persian  pimishment  (Ezr. 
vi!  11).  Under  the  Herods  this  mode  of  execution 
occurs  among  the  Jews  also,  Josephus,  Ant.  xvi. 
11,  6  (unless  strangling  is  here  intended),  as  well 
as  in  Egypt  during  the  Roman  age,  Philo  ii.  529. 
See  Winer,  ii.  lis.  v.  Lebensstrafen. 

DOGJIATICAL  AND  ETHICAL. 
1.  The  Biblical  vietv  of  the  universe  is  like  that 


102 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


of  all  antiquity,  the  geocentric ;  the  earth  stands 
still,  the  sun  moves.  So  it  appears  according  to 
natural,  unaided  observation,  and  we  have  only 
come  to  a  difl'erent  apprehension  as  the  result  of 
modern  scieii title  researches.  This  result  we  clieer- 
fully  accejit  without  forfeiture  of  our  thith,  for  the 
only  dogmatical  question  is  whether  God  made  the 
world  or  not  (Heb.  xi.  3),  but  not  at  all  whether 
the  earth  revolves  about  the  sun  or  tlie  sun  about 
the  earth.  In  that  question,  whether  God  made  the 
world,  and  in  partieuLar,  whether  He  created  it  out 
of  nothing,  a  religious  interest  is  involved,  that  the 
origin  of  the  cosmos  should  not  be  referred  to  blind 
chance  but  to  an  intelligent  Creator  of  heaven  and 
earth  (Gen.  i.  1).  But  hoiv,  on  the  supposition 
that  God  lias  created  all  things,  the  universe  is 
constituted,  whether  so  that  the  eartli  moves  about 
the  sun  or  tlic  sun  about  the  earth,  tliis  question  is 
of  no  religious  moment  to  us,  but  is  relegated 
rather  to  the  science  of  astronomy,  whicli  has 
finally  answered  it  in  the  sense  of  Copernicus  and 
Galileo.  Comp.  on  this  the  instructive  article  of  Dr. 
F.  Pfatf  on  the  Coper nican  system  and  its  ojipo- 
nents,  B(weis  d.  GJmihe,  vol.  v.  pp.  278-287). 
[Whewell's  Histon/  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  book  v. 
eh.  3,  sect.  4  :  The  Copcrnican  System  opposed  on 
Theolocjical  grounds.  —  Te.  ) . 

2.  With  this  foundation  principle  clear  in  mind, 
it  is  self-evident  that  tliosc  render  poor  service  to 
the  "  cause  of  faith  "  who  feel  themselves  obliged  to 
uphold  as  a  matter  of  faith  what  has  nothing  to  do 
with  faith,  but  is  a  matter  of  science.  Conversel} , 
however,  it  needs  to  be  said  also  that  the  Bible  as 
a  book  of  religion,  cannot  reasonably  be  thought  less 
of  because  it  favors  the  geocentric  scheme.  So 
does  Homer  also,  c-  g.  wliom,  nevertheless,  in  his 
Doetic  worth  no  one  lias  ever  thought  of  disparag- 
mg  on  that  account,  while  it  has  always  belonged 
to  the  tactics  of  those  who  opposed  the  Bible  to 
assail  it  first  on  the  side  of  the  natural  sciences, 
that  they  might  next  impugn  itsreligious  authority. 

3.  On  the  very  recent  strife  in  the  Berlin  Church, 
in  the  course  of  which  our  passage  ch.  x.  12-15 
has  been  much  ventilated,  it  belongs  not  to  our  de- 
sign to  sj^eak. 


HOMILBTICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Jo.shua's  fidelity  to  his  covenant  vrith  the  op- 
pressed Gibeonitcs  crowned  with  a  glorious  vic- 
tory :  (1)  ricture  of  the  oppression  of  Gibeon  by 
the  five  Canaanitc  kings.  (2)  Plow  Joshua  goes 
up  at  the  call  of  the  (iibeonites  and  smites  the 
enemy.  (3)  How  ho  pursues  them  and  holds  judg- 
ment upon  them.  —  Gibeon's  need,  Joshua's  faith- 
fulness, God's  help.  —  If  men  come  to  us  for  help 
in  time  of  need  God  gives  the  courage  to  render 
aid.  —  True  courage  comes  alone  from  God.  —  As 
God  once  fought  for  Israel  so  He  still  fights  for  his 


own.  "  Sun,  stand  still  on  Gibeon,  and  moon  in 
the  valley  of  Ajalon ! "  A  believing  word  of 
Joshua,  God's  contending  hero:  (1)  Spoken  un- 
der what  circumstances  1  (2)  How  intended  .'  (3) 
How  answered  .'  —  Tlie  Lord  hears  when  we  call 
upon  Him  in  faith.  —  The  great  day  at  Gibeon. — 
It  was  great,  (1)  through  the  mighty  strife  of  the 
combatants;  (2)  through  the  courageous  fiiith  of 
the  general;  (3)  through  the  victory  which  God 
gave.  —  How  the  memory  of  Joshua  lived  still  in 
song,  and  through  song  was  glorified.  —  The  cow- 
ardice of  the  Canaanite  kings  contrasted  with  the 
boldness  of  Joshua.  —  He  that  has  no  good  con- 
science hides  himself  —  The  judgment  of  Joshua 
upon  the  five  kings  (1)  destructive  to  them;  (2) 
encouraging  to  Israel. 

Starke  :  Whoever,  in  spiritual  conflicts,  will 
have  the  true  Joshua  for  a  helper,  must  not  trust 
to  his  own  powers  but  to  the  power  of  Christ, 
and  freely  come  before  him,  Phil.  iv.  13.  —  He  who 
would  do  his  neighbor  a  favor,  should  not  delay  it 
long,  but  act  quickly,  for  the  specdiness  of  a  gift 
doubles  its  value  [bis  dat  qui  cito  dat],  while  a 
benefit  delayed  loses  its  thanks  and  becomes  use- 
less, 2  Cor.  ix.  7.  —  On  the  successful  progress  of  a 
cause,  one  ought  not  to  give  glory  to  himself  but 
to  God,  for  He  is  the  workman,  we  only  the  tools. 
—  From  God's  power  no  man  can  cither  climb  too 
high  or  creep  too  low ;  He  knows  easily  how  to 
find  us,  Amos  ix.  2,  Ps.  cxxxix.  7.  —  Pioxis  Chris- 
tian, God  will  one  day  for  thee  also  lay  thy  enemies 
at  thy  feet ;  therefore,  up,  contend,  conquer !  Rev. 
ii.  26,  27  ;  iii.  9,  12  ;  Rom.  xvi.  20. 

Cramer  :  It  is  strange  to  the  world  that  we 
will  not  keep  with  them  :  therefore  those  who  turn 
to  God  must  be  attacked  and  surter  persecution. 
1  Pet.  iv.  4  ;  Matt.  x.  36  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  12.  —  God  has 
various  artillery  with  which  He  contends  for  his 
people  against  their  enemies,  Judg.  v.  20.  Let  no 
one  faint,  therefore,  with  God's  help.  .  .  .  The 
tyrants  who  were  so  wild,  fierce,  and  unrcstraina- 
ble,  God  can  presently  tame. 

Hedinger  :  The  iniquity  of  the  ungodly  of  it- 
self hastens  to  its  punishment,  and  there  is  no  rod 
so  good  for  a  wicked  man  as  his  own.  —  It  is  well 
to  be  concerned  lest  one  make  God  angry,  but 
when  one  has  made  Him  angiy  it  is  useless  care  to 
try  to  escape  his  judgment.  Even  if  we  should 
run  out  of  the  world  we  should  only  find  his  wrath 
so  much  the  greater. 

Lange  :  If  a  man  has  once  gained  a  real  vic- 
tory over  his  spiritual  foes  he  must  boldly  follow  it 
up'without  indolent  delay,  and  faithfully  reap  the 
fruits  of  the  success  given  him. 

Gerlach  :  Holy  Scripture  speaks,  in  regard  to 
things  of  the  visible  world,  and  which  conceni  not 
tli£  attains  of  God's  kingdom,  according  to  natural 
appearances,  precisely  as  we  speak  of  the  sun  ris- 
ing and  setting,  although  we  have  no  doubt  of  the 
revolution  of  the  earth. 


4.  The  Conquest  of  Southern  Palestine. 
Chaptee  X.    28-43. 


28       And  that  day  Joshua  took  Makkedah,  and  smote  it  with  the  €4ge  of  the  sword^- 
and  the  king  thereof  he  utterly  destroyed  [devoted],  them  and  all  jthe  souls  thafe 


CHAPTER   X.   28-43. 


103 


were  therein ;  he  let  none  remain  [left  none  remaining,  as  in  vers.  33,  37,  39,  oh.  xi. 
8,  etc.]  :  and  he  did  to  the  king  of  Makkedah  as  he  did  [had  done]  nnto  the  king 
of  Jericho. 

29  Then  [And]  Joshua  passed  from  Makkedah,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  unto  Libnah, 

30  and  fought  against  Libnah :  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  it  also,  and  the 
king  thereof,  into  the  hand  of  Israel ;  and  he  smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
and  all  the  souls  that  loere  therein  ;  he  let  [left]  none  remain  [remaining]  in  it ; 
but  [and,  comp.  ver.  28]  did  unto  the  king  thereof  as  he  did  [had  done]  unto  the 
king  of  Jericho. 

31  And  Joshua  passed  from  Libnah,  and  all  Isi'ael  with  him,  unto  Lachish,  and  en- 

32  camped  against  it,  and  fought  against  it :  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  Lach- 
ish into  the  hand  of  Israel,  which  [who]  took  it  on  the  second  day,  and  smote  it 
with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  all  the  souls  that  were  therein,  according  to  all  that 
he  had  done  to  Libnah. 

33  Then  [At  that  time]  Iloram  king  of  Gezer  came  up  to  help  Lacliish ;  and  Joshua 
smote  him  and  his  people,  until  he  had  [omit :  had]  left  him  none  remaining. 

34  And  from  Lacliish  Joshua  passed  unto  Eglon,  and  all  Israel  with  him  :  and  they 

35  encamped  against  it,  and  fought  against  it.  And  they  took  it  on  that  day,  and  smote  it 
with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  all  the  souls  that  ivere  therein  he  utterly  destroyed 
[devoted]  that  day,  according  to  all  that  he  had  done  to  Lachish. 

36  And  .Joshua  went  up  from  Eglon,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  unto  Hebron  ;  and 

37  they  fought  against  it :  And  they  took  it,  and  smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
and  the  king  thereof,  and  all  the  cities  thereof,  and  all  the  souls  that  loere  therein  ; 
he  left  none  remaining,  according  to  all  that  he  had  done  to  Eglon,  but  [and]  de- 
stroyed it  utterly  [devoted  it],  and  all  the  souls  that  loe.re  therein. 

38  And  Joshua  retui-ned,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  to  Debir  ;  and  fought  against  it : 

39  And  he  took  it  and  the  king  thereof,  and  all  the  cities  thereof,  and  they  smote  them 
with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  utterly  destroyed  [devoted]  all  the  souls  that  ivere 
therein  :  he  left  none  remaining :  as  he  had  done  to  Hebron  so  he  did  to  Debir, 
and  to  the  king  thereof,  [and]  as  he  had  done  also  [omit :  also]  to  Libnah,  and  to 
her  king. 

40  So  [And]  Joshua  smote  all  the  country  of  the  hills,  and  of  the  south,  and  of  the 
vale,  and  of  the  springs,^  and  all  their  kings :  he  left  none  remaining,  but  [and] 
utterly  destroyed  [devoted]  all  that  breathed,  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]   God  of  Israel 

41  commanded.   And  .Joshua  smote  them  from  Kadesh-barnea  even  unto  Gaza,  and  all 

42  the  country  of  Goshen,  even  unto  Gibeon.     And  all  these  kings  and  their  land  did 

43  -Joshua  take  at  one  time  ;  because  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel  foi;ght  for  Is- 
rael.    And  Joshua  returned,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  unto  the  camp  to  Gilgal. 

TEXTUAL    AND    GRAINDIATICAL. 

1  [Ver.  40.  —  The  geographical  definiteness  of  this  statement  might  be  indicated  thus  :  And  Joshua  smote  all  the 
land  :  the  mountain,  and  the  south-country  (the  Negeb),  and  the  low-land  (the  Skepkelali),  and  the  foot-hills,  etc.  See 
Exegetical  note.  —  Te.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

After  the  brilliant  victory  at  Gibeon,  Joshua, 
vvithout  special  dilBcalty,  conquered  the  whole  of 
southern  Palestine  west  of  the  Jordan.  Partic- 
ularly named  are  the  cities  Makkedah  (ver.  28), 
Libnah  (ver.  29),  Lachish  (ver.  .31),  Eglon  (ver. 
34),  Hebron  (ver.  .36),  and  Debir  (vers.  38,  39). 
With  ver.  40  the  special  enumeration  of  conquered 
cities  ceases.  We  are  then  summarily  informed 
that  Joshua  smote  the  whole  land,  the  mountains, 
the  south-land,  ■  the  lowlands,  and  the  foot-hills, 
from  Kadesh-barnea  to  Gaza,  and  the  whole  land 
of  Goshen  unto  Gilicon  (vers.  40,  41).  This  suc- 
less  attended  him  because  God  fought  for  Israel 
(ver.  42).  After  completing  the  campaign  Joshua 
returned  to  the  camp  at  Gilgal  on  the  Jordan 
(ver  43).  At  this  point,  perhaps,  we  may  most 
conveniently  remark  that  when  Hitzig  {ubi  sup.  p. 


103)  holds  all  Joshua's  professed  activity,  after 
Giljeon,  to  be  mere  romance  and  no  history,  we, 
for  reasons  developed  in  the  Introd.  §  3,  must  de- 
cidedly differ  mth  him. 

Ver.  28.  Capture  of  Makkedah  (vers.  10,  10, 
21 ;  ch.  XV.  41).  Instead  of  ^HIS,  according  tc 
many  Codd.  and  various  editions,  as  well  as  the 

analogy  of  ver.  37,  rTiHIW  should  be  read. 

He  smote  them  with,  the  edge  of  the  sword,  as 
previously  Ai  (ch.  viii.  24),  as  afterwards  the  other 
cities.  This  phrase  occurs  in  the  present  section 
four  dmcs  (vers   28,  30,  32,  35). 

He  left  none  remaining,  likewise  used  four 
times  (vers.  28,  30,  33,  40).  A  complete  destruc- 
tion was  effected,  for  Joshua  devoied  all  that  had 
breath  (ver.  40). 

Vers.  29-32.     Joshuq,  turned  fi'om  Makkedah. 


104 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


(which  is  possibly  to  be  sought  for  in  the  region  of 
the  present  Terkiiniiii  (Tricouiias)),  westward 
toward  JJbnali,  and  then  ironi  there  sontlieast- 
wardly  toward  J^aehish,  both  -whieli  ]ilaees  are 
found,  tliough  wiili  the  mark  of  interrogation,  on 
Kiepert's  nnip,  but  not  on  that  of  Yiui  de  Velde. 
[On  Menke's  Map  (111.)  Lachish  is  phiced  sliglitlj 
N.  of  W.  from  Libna.  —  Tr.] 

Ver.  33.  According  to  the  previous  agreement 
(ch.  ix.  2)  the  king  of  (Jezer,  hiter  FaCapa  (2  Mace. 
X.  32,  Josepli.  Ant.  viii.  C,  1,)  and  rdSapa.  (.loseplt. 
Ant.  V.  1,  22;  xii.  7,4)  and  FaSapis  (Strabu, 
16,  p.  759),  now  goes  up  to  help  Lachish.  The 
city  has  not  j-et  been  discovered.  Iviepert  suspects 
that  it  hiy  nortliwest  of  Betli-horon,  and  so  like- 
wise Knobel  on  ch.  xvi.  3  ;  Van  de  Velde  has  no 
•statement.     This  king  too  is  destroyed. 

Ver.  34.  Joshua  now  marches  westward  [east- 
ward ?j  from  Lachish  to  Eglon  {"AyKa),  now  Adj- 
laii,  on  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza  ;  invests, 
takes,  aiul  destroj-s  Eglon  with  all  its  inhabitants, 
like  Lachi.sh,  Libnah,  and  Makkedah. 

Vers.  36-39.  Eglon  [Lachish  i]  was  the  west- 
ernmost point  of  which  the  bold  leader  of  Israel 
obtained  possession.  In  a  tolerably  direct  line  he 
marched  next  upon  Hebron,  the  seat  of  the  patri- 
archs, fomiliar  in  the  history  of  Abraham,  and 
which  still  lies  in  a  charming  region.  This  city 
also  he  captures  like  the  rest.  The  tate  of  Hebron 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  other  Canaanite  cities. 

Ver.  38.  3ti''^T  Joshua  now  turned,  as  Ex. 
V.  22 ;  Num.  xviii.  9.  He  turns  towards  Debir 
(ch.  XV.  1.5,  49).  This  Debir,  earlier  called 
Kirjath-sepher  (ch.  xv.  15;  Judg.  i.  11)  or  Kir- 
jath-sanno  (ch.  xv.  49),  is  either,  as  Rosen  sup- 
puses  {Ziiitschrift  der  D.  M.  G.  xi.  p.  50  ff.),  fol- 
lowed by  von  Raumer  (p.  184),  the  same  as  Idwir- 
ban,  or  Dewirban,  three  fourths  of  an  hour  west  of 
Helu'ou,  or,  according  to  the  view  of  Knobel  (p.  435), 
Thaharijeh,  or  Dhoherijeh,  as  Kiepert  and  Van  de 
Velde  write  it,  an  important  ])lace,  inhabited  down 
even  to  the  present  time,  tlie  first  on  the  mountain  of 
Judah  as  one  goes  toward  Hebron  from  the  south, 
and  distant  from  the  latter  about  live  hours,  —  or, 
according  to  Van  de  Velde  (Mem.  p.  307),  with 
whom  Keil  agrees  =  Dilbeh,  on  the  top  of  a  hill 
north  of  the  Wady  Dilbeh,  about  two  hours  south- 
west of  Hebron.  It  is  in  favor  of  one  of  the  two 
last  conjectures  that  all  the  cities  mentioned  ch. 
XV.  48,  49,  among  which  Debir  also  stands,  lie  en- 
tirely in  the  south,  while  Idwirban  or  Dewirban  is 
•west  of  Hebron  and  quite  too  far  north  for  that 
group  of  cities  to  which  it  belongs.     If  we  follow 

Rosen's  opinion  as  Bunsen  has  done,  ^^?*1.  must 
be  translated  "  returned,"  as  it  is  by  Bunsen.  On 
the  ])osition  of  Thaharijeh,  particularly,  cf  Rob.  i. 
311,  12  (edh  Dhoherijeh),  R'tter,  Erdkunde,  xvi. 
[(iage's  Trans,  iii.  193,288,  289,  202,  and  ch.  xv. 
15.]  To  this  we  shall  recur  in  connection  with  the 
concjuests  which  are  referred  to  Caleb,  ch.  xiv.  G  ff. ; 
XV.  14  ff.  According  to  Judg.  i.  10  if.  the  city  of  He- 
bron and  even  Debir  was  captured  not  until  a  later 
period. 

Vers.  40-43.  No  further  statement  of  special  con- 
(piests  is  nnulo ;  there  follows  rather  a  comprehensive 
survey  of  Joshini's  successes  at  that  time.  Joshua 
smote   the  lohole  land.  This  is  then  more  definitely 

siiecialized  :  (1)  '^^^,  the  mountain,  i.  c.  the  moun- 
tain of  Judah,  which  extends  southward  from  Jeru- 
salem. It  consists  of  calcareous  limestone,  and 
forms  the  watershed  between  the  Mediterranean  ami 
Dead  Seas,  rising  to  the  height  of  three  thousand 


feet ;  in  general  an  uneven  and  rocky  district,  espe- 
cially in  the  southern  portion,  yet  not  without  fruit- 
ful and  inviting  spots.  (2.)  322n,  the  land  of  the 
south,  prop.,  from  333,  which  in  the  Syr.,  Chald.,  and 
Sam.  signities  to  be  dry,  the  dry,  parched  land,  where 
the  mountain  brooks  fail  in  the  summer,  so  that  in 
Ps.  cxx\  i.  4,  God  is  invoked  to  let  them  return  again 
{vide  Hitzigonthis  passage).  It  is  the  steppe  which 
forms  the  southern  portion  of  Jud;ca,  a  land  "  in- 
termediate between  wilderness  and  cultivated  land," 
precisely  as  the  steppes  of  southern  Russia,  or  the 
heath-land  of  North  Germany.  Because  this  steppe, 
this  parched  and  sun-burnt  land,  lay  in  the  south 

of  Palestine   (cf   ch.  xv.   2-4,  21),    S^^    comes 

to  mean  generally,  south,  and  n233  southward, 
Num.  XXXV.  5;  Ex.  xl.  24  ;  Josh.  xvii.  9,  10.  (3.) 
The  low-lands    Jl^StS^n    (xi.   16;   xv.  33)  from 

^SE7  to  be  low,  tlie  strip  of  land  in  southern  Pal- 
estuie  accurately  indicated  on  Kiepert's  map  as 
stretching  along  the  sea  from  Joppa  to  Gaza  (Jer. 
xxxii.  44;  xxxiii.  13).  Much  more  populous, 
fertile,  and  beautiful   than   the  Negeb.     (4.)  The 

declivities  HiTtt'Sn,  out  of  which  the  LXX.  and 
Vulg.  make  a  proper  name :  'Aa-rjSdiB,  Asedoth. 
Luther  translates,  "  on  the  brooks,".  [Eng.  vers, 
"the  springs"],  in  accordance  with  Num.  xxi.  15, 
where  he  renders  D''7^2n"lti'S  "source  of  the 
brooks."     The  exjjlanation  is   this :     "f^TS    like 

i^"?^'^  is  to  be  derived  from  ^^'W,  according  to 
the  Syriac,  to  pour,  to  rush  down,  =  (1.)  out- 
pouring ;  (2.)  place  upon  Avhich  something  pours 

out,  e.  ff.  rr|D3n  ni'^irS  (Dent.  iii.  17  ;  iv.49), 
the  place  whither  the  brooks  of  Mount  Pisgah  is- 
sue, the  declivities  of  Pisgah. ^  In  our  passage  the 
declivities  or  "  foot-hills  "  are  those  of  the  moun- 
tain of  Judali,  which  slopes  off  gradually  to  the 
low-land:  —  the  land  of  Goshen  (ver.  41).  This 
is  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  Goshen  in 
the  land  of  Egypt  (Gen!^  xlv.  10  ;  xlvi.  28  and 
often).  Again  ch.  xi.  16;  xv.  51,  a  city  of  the 
same  name  is  mentioned,  perhaps  the  chief  city  of 
this  region.  Knobel  derives  the  name  from  the 
Arabic,  making  it  =joec^((s, /o?-i'c«.  Calmet  main- 
tains that  the  land  of  Goshen  here  mentioned  is  the' 
same  as  the  Egyjitian.  This  needs  no  refutation. 

Ver.  41.  From  Kadesh-barnea  unto  Gaza,  i. 
e.  from  the  wilderness  in  which  Kadesh-barnea  lay 
(Num.  xiii.  3,  26,  xx.  1,  xxvii.  14,  and  often)  to 
Gaza  in  the  Shephelah,  which  is  only  about  one 
hour  from  the  Mediterranean  Sea,: — and  the  whole 
land  of  Goshen  unto  Gibeon,  /.  e.  all  the  country 
between  Gaza  and  Gibeon  which  lay  on  a  line  di- 
rectly northeast  from  Gaza.  Thus  Joshiux  had  lie- 
come  master  of  all  southern  Palestine  l)etween  the 
Jordan  valley  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea  in  one 
direction,  and  between  the  heights  of  Gibeon  and 
the  wilderness  in  the  other.  Jericho,  Ai,  Makkedah, 
Libnah,  Lachish,  Eglon,  Hebron,  Debir,  had  one 
after  the  other  fallen  and  been  destroyed,  and 
whole  districts,  like  Goshen,  had  submitted  them- 
selves. With  the  ruins  of  broken  cities,  and  tho 
bodies  of  their  inhabitants,  the  land  was  covered 

1  [We  have  proposed  ia  the  amendcJ  translation  of  this 
verse  to  render  ^^i^t^S,  by  "foot-hills'"  which,  although 
not  suggested  by  the  etymology  of  the  Hebrew  word,  seeuu 
to  convey  nearly  the  intended  signification.  —  Ta.] 


CHAPTER  XL 


105 


f)ii  the  mountains,  as  well  as  on  the  slopes,  in  the 
lowland,  in  the  desert,  on  the  border  of  the  wilder- 
ness as  well  as  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan.  A  di- 
vine judgment  had  fallen  on  the  Canaanites.  Je- 
liovali,  God  of  Israel,  had  Himself  fonght  for  his 
chosen  ])eo]ile  (vers.  42,  14).  And  Joshua  marches 
baek,  to  find  rest  after  such  mighty  exploits,  in  the 
camp  at  Gilgal  (vcr.  43). 


DOCTRINAL  AND   ETHICAL. 

Of  the  extermination  of  the  Canaanites,  as  well 
as  of  the  idea  of  the  devotement  (D~in),  we  have 


already  treated,  and  do  not,  therefore,  here  enter 
again  on  the  subjeet.  Cf  the  Exegetical  and  Crit- 
ieal  on  eh.  ii.  11,  and  vi.  17  ;  also  the  Doctrinal  and 
Ethical  on  ch.  vi.  15-27  [Introd.  §  5,  p.  21]. 


nOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  section  before  ns  being  no  more  than  sevci-al 
of  the  following  (chaps,  xii.,  xiii.,  xv.,  etc.),  suited 
for  texts  of  sermons,  while  for  Bible-classes  the 
exegetical  notes  will  furnish  the  necessary  explana- 
tions, we  remark  here  once  for  all,  that  on  this 
description  of  passages  in  our  Book,  the  Homileti- 
cal  and  Practical  comments  will  be  omitted. 


The    Victory  over  the  Northern  Canaanites.      Capture  of  their  Land. 
Retrospect  of  the  Conquest  of  the  Country  West  of  the  Jordan. 

Chapter  XL 


General 


a.  The  Second  League  of  Canaanite  Kings. 

Chapter  XL  1-6. 

[  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jabin  king  of  Hazor  had  [omit :  had]  heard  those 
things,  that  he  sent  to  Jobab  king  of  Madon,  and  to  the  king  of  Shimron,  and 

!  to  the  king  of  Aclishaph,  And  to  tlie  kings  that  ivere  on  [in]  the  north  of  [on]  the 
mountains,  and  of  the  plains  [and  in  the  Jordan  valley]  south  of  Cinneroth,  and 

!  in  the  valley  [the  low-land],  and  in  the  borders  [heights]  of  Dor  on  the  west,  And 
to  the  Canaanite  on  the  east  and  on  the  west,  and  to  the  Amorite,  and  the  Hittite,  and 
the  Perizzite,  and  the  Jebusite  in  the  mountains,  and  to  the  Hivite  under  Hermon  in 

1:  the  land  of  Mizpeh.  And  they  went  out,  they  and  all  their  hosts  [camps]  with  them, 
much  people,  even  [omit :  even]  as  the  sand  that  is  upon  the  sea-shore  in  multitude, 

)  with  [and]  horses  and  chariots  very  many.  And  when  all  these  kings  were  met 
together,  they  came  and  pitched  [encamped]  together  at  the  waters  of  Merom,  to 

5  fight  against  Israel.  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Joshua,  Be  not  afraid  be- 
cause of  them :  for  to-morrow  about  this  time  will  I  deliver  them  all  up  [give 
them  all]  slain  before  Israel :  thou  shalt  hough  their  horses,  and  burn  their  chariots 
with  fire. 

b.  The  great  Victory  at  the  Waters  of  Merom. 

CiiArxER  XL  7-9. 

7  So  [And]  Jcshua  came,  and  all  the  people  of  war  with  Jiim,  against  them  by  the 

8  waters  of  Merom  suddenly,  and  they  fell  upon  them.  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
delivered  them  into  the  hand  of  Israel,  who  smote  them,  and  chased  them  unto 
great  Zidon,  and  unto  Misrephoth-maim,  and  unto  the  valley  of  Mizj^eh  eastward ; 

9  and  they  smote  them,  until  they  left  them  none  remaining.  And  Joshua  did  unto 
them  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  bade  [had  said  unto]  him :  he  houghed  their  horses, 
and  burnt  their  chariots  with  fire. 


c.  The  Capture  of  the  remaining  Portions  of  Northern  Palestine. 
Chapter  XL  10-25. 

10  And  Joshua  at  that  time  turned  back,  and   took  Hazor,  and  smote  the  king 
thereof  with  the  sword :  for  Hazor  beforetime  was  the  head  of  all  those  kingdoms. 

11  And  they  smote  all  the  souls  that  loere  therein  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  utterly 
destroying   [devoting]   them :  there  was   not  any  left  to  breatlie  :  and  he  burnt 


106 


THE  BOOK  or  JOSHUA. 


12  Hazor  with  fire.  And  all  the  cities  of  those  kings,  and  all  the  kings  of  them,  did 
Joshua  take,  and  smote  them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  [omit :  and]  he 
utterly  destroyed  [devoted]  them,  as   Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  commanded. 

13  But  as  for  ^  the  cities  that  stood  still  in  their  strength  [on  their  hill],  Israel  hurned 

14  none  of  them,  save  Hazor  only;  that  did  Joshua  burn.  And  all  the  spoil  of  these 
cities,  and  the  cattle,  the  children  of  Israel  took  for  a  prey  unto  themselves  :  but 
every  man  they  smote  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  until  they  had  destroyed  them, 

15  neither  left  they  any  to  breathe.  As  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  Moses  his 
servant,  so  did  Moses  command  Joshua,  and  so  did  Joshua :  he  left  nothing  undone 
of  all  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  Moses. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  13.  Literally  :  "  Only  all  the  cities  which  stood  on  their  hill  (vJjH)  Israel  did  not  bum  them."  In  English 
phrase  :  "  Only  [or,  yet]  Israel  burned  none  of  the  cities  which  stood  on  their  hill ;  except  that  Hazor  alone  Joshua 
burned.''  '^j'~l  V-1T  seems  quite  as  truly  to  stand  for  "  except  that "  here  as  in  the  one  instance  mentioned  by  Gesenius 
s.  v.,  in  1  K.  iii!  18.  —  Tr.] 

d.  General  Eetrospect  of  the  Conquest  of  West  Palestine. 
Chapter  XI.  16-23. 

16  So  [And]  Joshua  took  all  that  land,  the  hills  [mountain],  and  all  the  south 
country,  and  all  the  land  of  Goshen,  and  the  valley  [the  low-land],  and  the  plain 
[the  Arabah  or  Jordan-valley],  and  the  mountain  of  Israel,  and  i\\Q  valley  [low- 

17  land]  of  the  same  ;  Even  from  the  mount  Halak  [the  bald  mountain],  that  goeth  up 
to  Seir,  even  unto  Baal-gad,  in  the  valley  of  Lebanon,  under  mount  Hennon  :  and 

18  all  their  kings   he  took,  and  smote  them,  and  slew  them.     Joshua  made  war  a 

19  long  time  [Fay,  exactly  :  many  days]  with  all  those  kings.  There  was  not  a  city 
which  made  peace  with  [Fay,  De  Wette  :  peacefully  submitted  to]  the  children 
[sons]  •  of  Israel,   save  the   Ilivites  the  inhabitants   of  Gibeon :  all   other   [omit : 

20  other]  they  took  in  battle.  For  it  was  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  to  harden  [prop, 
strengthen,  LXX. :  KaTt<j)(yo-ai]  their  hearts,  that  they  should  come  against  Israel 
in  battle  [LXX.  :  o-wavTav  ek  TroAe/xoi/],  that  he  might  destroy  them  utterly 
[devote  them],  a7id  that  they  might  have  no  favour,  but  that  he  might  destroy  them, 
as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  Moses. 

21  And  at  that  time  came  Joshua  and  cut  oiF  the  Anakims  from  the  mountains, 
from  Hebron,  from  Debir,  from  Anab,  and  from  all  the  mountains  of  Judah, 
and  from  all  the  mountains  of  Israel :  Joshua  destroyed  them  utterly    [devoted 

22  them]  with  their  cities.  There  wfis  none  of  ihe  Anakims  left  in  the  land  of  the 
children  [sons]  of  Israel :  only  in  Gaza,  in  Gath,  and  in  Ashdod,  there  remained. 

23  So  [And]  Joshua  took  the  whole  land,  according  to  all  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
said  unto  Moses,  and  Joshua  gave  it  for  an  inheritance  [possession]  unto  Israel, 
according  to  their  divisions  by  their  tribes.     And  the  land  rested  from  war. 


EXEGKTICAL   AND   CRITICAIi. 

With  this  chapter  wc  enter  upon  a  new  theatre 
of  the  conquests  of  Joslina,  the  northern  part  of 
West  Palestine.  Just  .as  before  Adoni-Zedek,  the 
kintr  of  Jerusalem  (ch.  x.  1  ff.),  had  summoned 
the  five  king's  of  the  south  to  resist  Joshua,  so  now 
Jahin,  the  kinjj  of  Hazor,  who  occupied  a  promi- 
nent po.sition,  since  liis  city  is  designated  as  the 
chief  city  of  all  the  northern  kingdoms  (ch.  xi.  10), 
collects  the  military  forces  of  this  portion  of  the 
country  against  the  conqjicror  at  Gibeon.  But 
the  Lord  encourages  his  servant,  .and  now  ag.ain, 
as  before,  exhorts  him  not  to  fear  them,  although 
they  had  encamped  by  the  water  of  Merom,  like 
the  sandof  the  sea  for  multitude  (vers.  1-6),  Joshua 
falls  iipon  them  suddenly,  before  they  had  fully 
U'ot  together,  smites  them  utterly,  pursues  them  to 
the  seacoast,  in  the  I'cgion  of  Sidon,  Lames  their 
horses,  and  burns  their  chariots  with  fire.  The 
account  which  wc  have  in  vers.  7-9  is  brief  but  a  II 


the  more  vividly  impressive.  Next  follows  a  his- 
tory of  the  capture  of  the  remaining  parts  of  west- 
ern Palestine,  in  the  style  of  the  chronicler,  as  in 
ch.  X.  28-43.  To  all  this  is  appended,  finally,  a 
general  review  of  the  conquest  of  all  Palestine, 
Avith  a  special  notice  of  the  extirpation  of  the  Ana- 
kim. 

a.  The  Second  League  of  Canaam'te  Kings,  vers. 
1-6.  —  Jabin  king  of  Hazor.  Hazor  (ch.  xii.  19  ; 
xix.  36)  was  an  important  royal  seat  of  the  Ca- 
naanites,  which  Joshua  destroyed,  according  to  the 
statement  in  this  chapter  (ver.  13),  but  which  was 
afterwards  rebuilt,  and  became  again  a  kingly  cap- 
ital (Judg.  iv.  2,  17  ;  1  Sam.  xii.'  9).  Here  dwelt, 
in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  another  Jabin  whose 
general  was  Sisera.  Solomon  fortified  the  place 
(1  K.  ix.  15),  the  population  of  which  was  carried 
awav  by  the  Assyrians  under  Tiglath-pileser  (2  K. 
XV.  29).  According  to  Josephns  (Antiq.  v.  "),  1), 
virepKtiTai  TTJy  SejU.ex'W'TiSos  Ai/U'''?y)>  Hazor  lay  on 
the  range  of  hills  which  stretches  itself  on  the  wesi 


CHAPTER  XI. 


107 


of  the  sea  of  Merom,  now  the  Jebel  Safecl.  Porter 
(i.  304)  founil  lierc  a  place  Hafur;  Kobinson,  on 
the  same  ridge  an  hour  south  of  Kodesh,  with 
wliich  Hazor  is  mentioned  botli  in  our  Book  cli. 
xix;  36,  and  in  2  K.  xv.  29,  found  a  liill  Tel- 
Khureibeh,  which  he  woukl  identify  with  Hazor. 
Knobel  seeks  for  it  on  a  hill  north  of  Ramah,  south- 
west of  Safed,  where  a  collection  of  ruins,  Hnzzur 
or  Hazirch,  occurs.  This  suits  his  view  of  the 
"  water  of  Merom  ;  "  see  below.  But  as  we  can- 
not share  in  this,  for  reasons  to  be  given,  we  accept 
the  statement  of  Josephns,  which  seems  to  us  suffi- 
ciently supported  by  the  researches  of  Porter  and 
Robinson.  Such  a  point  was  well  adapted  to  the 
residence  of  a  prominent  monarch. ' 

Madon,  ch.  xii.  19.  A  city  not  yet  discovered, 
perhaps  to  be  sought  in  southern  Galilee,  more 
probably,  however,  like  the  other  cities  west  of  the 
sea  of  JNIerom  (Knob.). 

Shimron  is  called,  ch.  xii.  20,  Shimron-Meron, 
therefore  Shimron  in  the  vicinity  of  Merou  =  Ma- 
ron,  southwest  of  Kedesh. 

Achshaph  (ch.  xii.  20)  a  border  city  of  Asher 
(ch.  xix.  25).  According  to  Robinson  [Later  Bill. 
Res.  p.  55^,  perhaps  the  present  Kcsaf,  about  mid- 
way between  Tyre  and  IJanias ;  almost  certainly 
not  Akko,  as  Knobel  on  ch.  xix.  2.5  conjectures. 

Ver.  2.  On  the  mountain.  The  mountain  of 
Naphthali  (ch.  xix.  32)  is  meant. 

In  the  plain,  south  of  Clnneroth,  i.  e.,  the 
Ghor  of  the  Jordan,  south  of  the  sea  of  Gennes- 
aret. 

In  the  lowland ;  here  probably  the  strip  bor- 
dering the  sea  between  Akko  and  Sidon,  to  which 
the  following,  Naphoth-Dor  on  the  sea,  directs 
us  (ch.  xii.  23).  This  Dor  (ch.  xvii.  11,  Joseph. 
Ant.  V.  1,  22)  belonged  later  to  Manasseh  (ch. 
xvii.  11),  by  which  tribe  its  Canaanite  inhabitants 
were  not  driven  out  (Jndg.  i.  27).  Fi-om  1  Chron. 
viii.  29,  we  learn  that  children  of  Joseph  dwelt  in 
it.  The  population  was  accordingly  a  mixed  one. 
Under  Solomon  it  was  the  chief  place  of  a  revenue 
district  (1  K.  iv.  11);  now  called  Tortura,  also 
Tantura,  with  forty  or  fifty  dwellings,  five  hundred 
Mohammedan  inhabitants,  and  ruins  of  a  Frank 

castle  (von  Raumer).  "^il  il^^'2  or  "m  n33 
(ch.  xii.  23;  1  K.  iv.  11)  =  heights  of  Dor.  The 
place  was  so  called  because  it  lay  on  an  elevation, 
whci'e  Van  de  Velde  found  the  ruins  {Mem.  p. 
307),  nine  miles  north  of  Ca3sarea  towards  Tyre. 

Ver.  3.  Jabin  sent,  accordingly,  to  the  Canaan- 
ites  in  the  east  and  west,  and  to  the  other  tribes, 
s.  (/.  to  the  Hivites  dwelling  in  the  land  of  Mizpeh. 
Tliis  region  lay,  according  to  the  present  passage, 
under  Hermon,  and  was,  from  ver.  8,  a  plain,  per- 
haps the  level  strip  south  of  Hasbeiya,  and  to  the 
west  of  Tel  el-Kadi.  There,  on  a  hill,  from  which 
one  has  a  glorious  view  of  the  great  basin  of  Hule, 
lies  the  ])lace  Mutellch  or  Metelleh  (Robinson,  iii. 
347,  and  Later  BiU.  Res.  372  f..  Van  de  Velde,  Nar- 
rative, ii.  p.  428).     The  name  signifies  "outlook," 

and  corresponds  to  the  Heb.  HB^Q  (Knobel). 
The  name  Mizpeh  occurs  in  two  other  places,  in 
Judah  (von  Raumer,  p.  213),  and  probably  twice 
also  in  Gilead  (von  Raumer,  p.  205),  as  a  designa- 
tion of  localities  ;  very  naturally,  since  the  country 
abounded  in  positions  affording  beautiful  and  ex- 
tensive prospects.  Compare  the  similar  names  to 
be  met  witli  in  our  mountain  regions :  Lookout, 
Fairview,  etc. 

Ver.  4.  The  Canaanite  princes  and  their  tribes 
obey  and  march  out,  much  people  even  as  the 
^and  that  is   on  the  sea-shore  in  multitude, ' 


with  horses  and  chariots  very  many.  'Phe  com- 
jjarison  witli  the  sand  b/j  the  sea.  is  very  often  met 
with  in  tJie  Book  of  Genesis,  xxxii.  13,  31  ;  xii. 
49,  as  an  emblem  of  multitude ;  as  an  emblem  of 
wei(/ht  again,  Job  vi.  3 :  Prov.  xxvii.  3.  The 
horses  were  particularly  formidable  to  the  Israel- 
ites, who  had  none.  The  chariots  likewise,  of 
which  it  is- said,  ch.  xvii.  18,  that  they  were  iron 
cliariots,  i.  e.  had  wheels  with  iron  tires.  Comp. 
Bertheau  [and  Cassel]  on  Jndg.  i.  19 :  "  Tlic 
scvthe-chariots  were  first  introduced  by  Cyrus," 
(Xen.  Cyrop.  iv.  1,  27,  30),Keil. 

Ver.  5.  And  when  all  these  kings  were  met 
together  they  came  and  pitched  together  at  the 
waters  of  Merom,  to  fight  against  Israel.     This 

water  of  Merom,  m~IQ  "'Q  =  highest,  upper,  water 
is,  according  to  the  traditional  explanation,  the 
xilxvT)  lejx^x'^v'lTLS  of  Josephus  [Ant.  v.  5,  1  ;  Bell, 
.Jnd.  iii.  9,  7  ;  iv.  1,  1)  ;  now  called  by  the  Arabs 
Bahr  el-Uuleh,  or  el-Khait.  "  The  sea  is  two  and 
a  half  hours  long,  one  hour  wide  [about  three 
miles  in  each  direction,  Grove,  Z)<rt.  of  Bibl.  p. 
1898],  muddy,  abounding  in  fish,  its  surflice  forty 
feet  [Van  de  Velde:  140]  above  the  level  of  the 
sea ;  in  summer  mostly  dried  up,  full  of  reeds,  in 
whicli  wild  boars  and  serpents  tlwell,  only  its  east- 
ern shore  is  inhabited"  (von  Raumer).  It  is  men- 
tioned nowhere  else  in  the  Bible.  The  allied  kings, 
judging  from  ver.  7,  had,  probably,  pitched  their 
camp  in  a  strong  position,  covered  by  Hazor  and 
other  cities  as,  e.  ry.  Kedesh,  on  the  Jebel  Safed. 
From  thence  they  might  launch  I'orth  with  their 
horses  and  chariots  against  Joshua,  who  would  be 
likely  to  come  up  through  the  Jordan  valley.  But 
if  this  were  their  plan  it  was  frustrated  by  the  truly 
strategic  promptness  of  the  Hebrew  commander. 
Knobel,  followed  lately  by  Keil  [Bibl.  Com.  ii.  1, 
in  h.  1.)  seeks  this  water  of  Merom  in  a  little  brook 
flowing  in  the  valley  below  Safed,  and  which  has 
its  source  in  the  mountain  lying  two  hours  north- 
west of  Safed.  There  lies  a  place  called  Meirnm 
or  Merun  (Rob.  iii.  333  f ).  A  glance  at  the  map 
shows  that  this  valley  was  ill  suited  to  be  the 
camp  of  the  nuiltitudinous  Canaanites.  And  when 
Knobel,  to  support  his  peculiar  opinion,  brings  up 
the  circumstance,  that  "  there  is  no  proof  that  the 
Bahr  el-Hnleh  was  ever  called  by  the  ancients  the 
"  water  of  Merom,"  we  reply,  that  the  Bahr  el- 
Huleh  is  mentioned  at  all  only  in  this  single  pas- 
sage, so  that  the  only  question  is.  How  did  the  an- 
cients understand  this  passage  1     What  did  they 

think  of  the  'OiD'Ct  ^'d  ?  Answer :  According  to 
Josephus  they  thought  it  to  be  the  Sea  Semechon- 
itis,  or  Samochonitis,  the  present  Bahr  el-Huleh, 
near  which  the  battle  was  fought.  To  this  tra- 
ditional view,  Hitzig  also  holds.  He  briefly  re- 
marks {Hist,  of  People  of  Isr.  i.  p.  103):  "He 
(Joshua)  conquered,  it  is  said,  at  the  water  of 
Merom  (*.  e.  El  Huleh)  Iving  Jabin." 

Ver.  6.  Encouraging  appeal  of  God  to  Joshua, 
as  ch.  X.  8  and  often.  We  have  to  conceive  of 
Joshua  as  already  on  the  march,  Avhen  this  word 
was  addressed  to  him,  since  the  distance  from  Gil- 
gal  to  the  sea  of  Merom  was  too  great  for  him  to 
reach  the  latter  between  one  day  and  the  next  ("  to- 
morrow about  this  time"). 

Thou  shalt  hough  their  horses  and  burn  their 
chariots  with  fire.  So  David  does  with  the  horses 
of  Hadad-ezer,  king  of  Zoba  (2  Sam.  viii.  4;  1 

Cln-on.  xviii.  4.  ~'i?.^  =  vevpoKoireiv).  The  tendons 
of  the  hind  legs  were  severed  (they  were  hamstrung), 
and  thus  they  were  rendered  completely  useless.  — 


108 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


The  burning  of  the  cliariots  is  mentioned  also,  Ps. 
jdvi.  10  ;  they  were  tlieretbre  eertaiiily  of  wood. 

b.  The  (/rent   Vidorij  at  (he  ^Sca  of  Meroin,   vers. 

7-9.  — Ver.  7.  Suddenly,  C*Sn2  from  IS^jZIS 
with  the  adverbial  ending  D',  as  in  DtZ^^tt^,  and 
metathesis  of  N  and  27.  They  said  also  C'SHQ?, 
2  Chr.  xxix.  36,  or    CSri2  27np3,  Num.  vi.  i», 

or  asns  27np^,  is.  xxix.  5,  or  i'O?^  owns, 

Is.  XXX.  13.  Joshua  proves  himself  by  his  rapidity 
a  true  general,  as  eh.  x.  9. 

Ver.  8.  Pursued  them  unto  great  Zidon  and 
unto  Misrephoth-maim,  and  unto  the  valley 
of  Mizpeh  eastward.  Joshua  followed  the  enemy 
partly  in  a  nurtli western  direction  (toward  Sidonj, 
and  west^vard  (Misrephoth-m.),  partly  towards  the 
northeast  (valley  of  Mizpeh).      Sidoa  is  here  as 

ch.  xix.  28,  the  great  (n2~l),  i.  e.  the  populous 

(•^^"^  not  ^^^^),  and  thus  is  designated  as  the 
capital  of  the  land  of  the  Sidonians  (Phccnicians). 
It  was  older  than  Tyre,  and  allotted  to  the  tribe  of 
Asher  (ch.  xix.  28),  but  not  conquered  Ijy  it  (Judg. 
i.  31).  Sidon  is  repeatedly  mentioned  by  Homer 
(//.  vi.  289;  xxiii.  743;  Od.  xv.  425).  The  city, 
once  so  jjowerful,  luis  now  not  more  than  5,000  in- 
habitants ( Uol).  iii.  4171}'.).  In  his  prophecy  against 
Tyrus,  Isaiah  remembers  Sidon  also  (Is.  xxiii.  2,4, 
12).  Jeremiah  comprehends  Sidon  with  Tyre 
(Jer.  xlvii.  4,  compared  with  ch.  xxvii.  3),  which 
is  very  often  done  in  the  N.  T.  (Matt.  xi.  21,  22  ; 
Mark  vii.  24-31  ;  Matt.  xv.  21  ;  Luke  x.  1*3  ; 
Mark  iii.  8).  A  charming  description  of  Sidon  is 
given  by  Furrer,  Wanderungen  d.  Palest,  p.  351. — 
_  Misrephoth-maim.  Luther  :  "  warm  water  "  ; 
Gesen.  :  "  perhaps  lime-kilns  or  smelting-furnaces 

(from  ^  j?^')  situated  near  water;"  Knobel,  from 
the  Arab. :  ''  water-heights,"  among  whicli  should 
be  understood  the  promontories  Ras  en-Nakura  and 
Ras  el-Aibab  (Seala  Tyrioruin).  Not  both  prom- 
ontories, '  however,  but  only  one,  and  not  the  sea 
but  a  spring,  is  meant,  Ave  believe,  namely,  the 
southern  lias  en-Nakura,  which,  from  a  spring- 
lying  at  the  southern  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  a 
]dace  called  Muschairifeh  (plainly,  as  even  Knobel 
admits,  the  same  name  as  Misrephoth),  is  called 
also  Ras  el-Muschairifeh  (Ritter,  xvi.  807).  Here 
once  stood  perhaps  furnaces  (glass  furnaces?)  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  spring,  and  from  these  it  received 
its  name.  This  view  suits  excellently  with  ch. 
xiii.  G,  wliere  Misrephoth-maim  is  mentioned  as  a 
known  boundary  point.  Joshua,  therefore,  cast  the 
Canaanites  over  the  mountain,  here  precipitously 
steep,  down  into  the  ])lain  by  the  sea,  by  which,  cer- 
tainly, thousands  were  destroyed.  But  while  two 
divisions  of  tlii^  army  thus  followed  the  enemy 
toward  the  southwest  [N.  W.  1]  and  west,  another 
moves  at  the  same  time  toward  the  northeast,  and 
chases  them  into  the  valley  of  Mizpeh,  called  above 
in  ver.  3,  l\liz])ah. 

_  Ver.  9.     Finally,  Joshua  does  as  Jehovah  had 
bidden,  houghs  the  iiorscs,  und  burns  the  chariots. 

c.  The  Cajilnre  of  ivhat  remained  of  Nort/iern 
Palestine  (vers.  10-15).  Vers.  10,  "l  1 .  First, 
Hazor,  the  chief  city  of  these  petty  northern  king- 
doms, is  taken,  and,  because  of  its  prominence, 
more  hardly  dealt  with  tiuvn  the  rest.  For  Joshua 
burned  llazor  with Jire  (vers.  11,  13). — Ontheinf 

DIQ'7,  conip.  Dent.  iii.  6,  and  "J^H    ch.  iii.  17. 
Vers.  12,  13.    Fate  of  the  other "^cities.      The 


( sense  of  the  two  verses  is  that  the  cities  in  the 
plain  were  totally  burned  and  devoted,  while  those, 
on  the  contrary,  which  stood  on  t/uir  hill,  i.  c.  the 
I  fortified  mountain  cities,  with  the  sole  excej)tion  of 
Hazor,  were  not  burned.  The  Israelites  were  con- 
tent to  sack  them  (ver.  12). 

Ver.  14.  The  spoils  were  not  devoted  but  di- 
vided, as  at  Ai,  ch.  viii.  2,  27.  The  men,  all  that 
h.ad  breath  (comp.  ver.  11),  were  destroyed. 

Ver.  15.  This  command  of  God  to  Moses  is 
found  before  in  Ex.  xxxiv.  11-IG;  and  again  Num. 
xxxiii.  51-56,  strengthened  by  threatenings  ;  finally, 
also,  Deut.  xx.  16,  where  it  is  said,  "  Thou  shalt  save 
alive  nothing  that  breathes,"  as  Joshua  here  actually 
does.  For  the  transfer  of  this  command  to  Joshua, 
compare  in  general  the  often-cited  passage.  Num. 
xxvii.  18-23,  and  ])articularly  Deut.  iii.  21.  The 
author  states  emphatically,  to  show  the  conscien- 
tiousness of  Joshua  :  he  left  nothing  undone  of 
all  that  Jehovah  had  commanded  Moses,  comp. 
vers.  12,  as  well  as  ch.  i.  7,  8. 

d.  General  Retrospect  of  the  Conquest  of  Western 
Palestine  (ver.  16-23). —  "Joshua  captured  the 
whole  land  of  Canaan,  namely,  in  the  south,  the 
portions  mentioned  ch.  x.  40  tf.,  together  with  the 
Arabah  (ver.  2),  the  mountain  of  Israel,  i.  e. 
Ephraim  (ch.  xvii.  15),  and  its  lowland  on  the  west 
(ch.  xvi.  1 ),  and  so  the  land  from  the  Bald  Moun- 
tain in  the  south  to  Baal-gad  in  the  north  ;  the 
kings  he  took  captive,  smote  and  slew  "  (Knobel). 

Ver.  17.  From  the  Mount  Halak  (smooth,  or 
bald  mountain),  that  goes  up  to  Seir  (ch.  xii.  7). 
This  smooth  mountain  can  hardly  be  Mount  Mad- 
urah,  as  Knobel   thinks  (lie  writes  Madara),  and 

hence  translates  p'^H  "Tl  by  "smooth  moun- 
tain" (mentioned  by  Robinson,  ii.  589);  because 
this  mountain  does  not  go  up  to  Mount  Seir,  but 
rather  lies  on  the  west  side  of  the  Wadj^  el-Fikreh. 
It  is  more  proljably  identical  with  the  "  ascent  of 
Akrabbim,"  mentioned  ch.  xv.  3,  and  Num.  xxxiv. 
4,  which  Robinson  believes  he  has  discovered  in 
the  remarkable  line  of  cliffs  that  I'un  across  the  en- 
tire Ghor,  a  few  miles  south  of  the  Dead  Sea  (ii. 
489,  490).  This  divides  the  great  valley  into  two 
parts,  both  physically  and  in  respect  to  its  names 
down  even  to  the  present  day,  the  northern  portion 
from  hence  to  the  sea  of  Tiberias  being  called  el- 
Ghor  [formerly,  the  Arabah],  the  southern,  even  to 
Akabah,  being  called  el-Araba  (Rob.  I.  c.)  This 
ridge,  consisting  of  whitish  cliffs  (Rob./c.)  goes 
up  in  fact  to  Seir,  i.  e.  towards  the  mountains  of 
Edom  which  constitute  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
Arabah,  now  JebAl  (Gebalene),  and  lies  exactly 
opposite  to  Baal-gad  which  is  named  as  the  north- 
ern limit.  So  Keil  in  I.  accepts  it.  On  the  nuip 
accompanying  the  last  edition  of  von  Raumer's 
Paldstina,  from  Stieler's  Hand  Atlas  (No.  42  b), 
the  points  in  question  are  very  clearly  marked. 

Even  unto  Baal-gad  in  the  valley  of  Lebanon 
under  Mount  Hermon.  Not  Baalltec  (]\nol)el), 
which  lies  much  too  far  north,  but  the  later  Ciesarea- 
Philippi,  earlier  Panias,  now  Baneas,  comp.  ch.  xii. 
7,  xiii.  5  ;  Judg.  iii.  3  ;  von  Raumer,  Paliist.  p.  245, 
Gesen.  Lexicon.  The  city  was  called  Baal-gad,  be- 
cause Baal,  according  to  Is.  Ixv.  1 1 ,  was  worshipped 

as  Baal-Gad  (~T2,  fortune)  =  the  God  of  fortune 
In  Judg.  iii.  3  it  is  called  Baal-hcrmon.  Accord- 
ing to  Jerome  (Onoin.  s.  v.  Acrmon),  a  temple  of 
Baal  must  have  stood  on  Mount  Hermon. 

Ver.  18.  Joshua  made  war  with  those  kings 
a  long  time.  From  ch.  xiv.  7,  U),  at  least  live 
years.     For  Caleb  wa?  forty  years  old  when  Mose? 


CHAPTER  XI. 


109 


sent  liira  oxit  of  Katlosh-barnea  as  a  spy ;  eighty- 
tivc  years  old  was  he  when,  immediately  after  the 
conquest  of  the  land,  he  received  his  possession  from 
Joshua.  Since  the  former  date,  accordingly,  forty- 
live  years  have  past,  as  Caleb  also  himself  says, 
forty  of  which  belong  to  the  pilgrimage  in  the 
Arabah,  leaving  hve'for  the  subjugation  of  the 
land ;  not  too  long  certainly,  and  yet  long  enough 
to  be  called  a  long  time.  Heb.  :  "  many  days." 
So  also  Joseph.  Ant.  v.  1,  19.  Corap.  Introd.  §  4. 

Ver.  19.  Gibeon's  peaceful  surrender  is  men- 
tioned again,  ch.  ix.  7,  1.5;  x.  1,  6.  The  others 
had  all  to  be  taken  in  battle. 

Ver.  20.  For  it  was  of  Jehovah  to  harden  their 
hearts,  that  they  should  come  against  Israel 
in  battle,  that  he  might  devote  them,  and  that 
they  might  have  no  favor,  but  that  he  might 
destroy  them,  as  Jehovah  had  commanded  Mo- 
ses. God  dealt  witli  them  as  He  had  done  with 
Pharaoh,  Ex.  iv.  21  ;  vii.  .3  ;  xiv.  4  ;  Rom.  ix.  17  ; 
Calvin  :  In  luinc  fineiii  illos  Deus  ohdarat,  ut  a  se 
misericordkun  avertant  ;  wide  et  durities  ista  vacatur 
ejus  opus,  quia  ejfectum  consilii  ejus  stahiht."  See 
Doctrinal  and  Ethical  below. 

Verses  21-2.3  contain  in  part  a  supplementary 
notice  of  the  extirpation  of  the  Anakim,  in  the 
cities  of  Hebron  and  Debir,  the  destruction  of  which 
has  already  (ch.  x.  3(5  If.)  been  reported,  and  in 
part  a  general  conclusion  substantially  as  given 
before  in  ver.  16.  We  may  observe,  however,  that 
liere,  (1)  the  division  of  the  land  is  expressly  men- 
tioned, and  (2)  it  is  added  that  the  land  had  rest 
from  war. 

Ver.  21.  Cut  oflf  the  Anakim.  See  the  Iidrod. 
p.  30.  Hebron  and  Debir  were  mentioned  in  ch. 
X.  36  ff.  but  not  Anab  which,  and  also  Eshtemo, 
is  Joined  with  Debir  inch.  xv.  50.  Robinson  found 
both  as  neighboring  places  south  of  Hebron  (ii. 
194,  195).  Anab  wears  its  ancient  name  even  to 
the  present  day  ;  Eshtemo  is  now  called  Semua. 

Ver.  22.  Gaza,  ch.  x.  41  ;  xiii.  3  ;  xv.  47,  the  well- 
known  city  of  the  Philistines,  first  mentioned  Gen. 
x.  19,  familiar  from  the  history  of  Samson,  Judg. 
xvi.,  the  utterances  of  the  pro])hets  ( Jcr.  xxv.  20  ; 
xlvii.  5;  Amos  i.  6,  7  ;  Zepli.  ii.  4;  Zecli.  ix.  5), 
the  eunuch  from  Ethiopia  (Acts  viii.  26).  It  stands 
in  a  fertile  region,  and  is  even  now  an  important 
town  with  tifceen  thousand  inhabitants.  These 
derive  great  profit  from  the  cara^■ans. 

Gath,  now  lost  without  a  trace  discoverable, 
another  city  of  the  Philistines,  the  home  of  Goliath 
and  other  giants  (1  Sam.  xvii.  4  ;  1  Chr.  xxi.  5-8  ; 
2  Sam.  xxi.  19-22)  who  were  not  exterminated 
here  ;  familiar  from  the  history  of  David  (1  Sam. 
xxi.  10;  xxvii.  2-4;  Ps.  Ivi.  ;  2  Sam.  i.  20,  and 
often).  Already  in  the  time  of  the  pro])het  Amos, 
the  greatness  of  Gath  had  sliriink  (Amos  vi.  2). 
Robinson  (ii.  420  ff.)  sought  in  vain  for  its  site. 

Ashdod,  now  Esdud,  between  two  and  three 
hours  from  Ashkelon,  with  100  or  150  miserable 
hovels,  mentioned  in  our  book  ch.  xiii.  3  ;  xv.  46, 
47  ;  the  city  of  D:^on,  1  Sam.  v.  1-7,  against 
which,  as  against  Gaza,  the  prophets  often  direct 
their  denunciations  (Jer.  xxv.  20  ;  Amos  i.  8  ; 
iii.  9  ;  Zeph.  ii.  4  ;  Zech.  ix.  6).  To  this  place  was 
Philip  the  Evangelist  snatched  away,  Acts  viii.  40. 
The  city  is  said  to  have  been  very  strong  ( Herod, 
ii.  157). 

Ver.  23.  According  to  their  divisions, 
2np7np3,  elsewhere  used  principally  of  the  di- 
•'isions  of  the  priests  and  Levites  into  twenty-four 
elasses  {i(pt)ixepia.i,  K\r\poi)  1  Chr.  xxvii.  1  ff .  ;  2 
Chr.  T  iii.  14;  xxxi.  2;  xxxv.  4;  here,  as  in  ch. 


xii.  7  ;  xviii.  10,  of  the  division  of  the  people  intc 
tribes. 

And  the  land  had  rest  from  war,  i.  e.  "  there 
were  no  more  warlike  disturbances  in  it  (ch.  xiv. 
15 ;  Judg.  iii.  11,  30  ;  v.  31  ;  viii.  28),"  Knobel. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  Conscientiousness  in  carrying  out  the  di- 
vine commands  and  in  fulfilling  God's  will,  is  a 
prominent  characteristic  of  the  holy  men  in  both 
the  old  and  the  new  Testaments.  Thus  Moses  is 
praised  because  he  in  all  his  house  was  faithful  to 
him  that  made  him  (Heb.  iii.  2,  5).  Faithfulness, 
however,  exists  only  where  conscientiousness  ex- 
ists, for  the  faithless  man  is  always  void  of  con- 
science also.  And  so  Joshua  was  faithful,  as  is  in- 
timated in  ver.  1 5  of  the  chapter  before  us,  since 
he  left  nothing  undone  of  all  which  God  had  com- 
manded Moses.  The  highest  conscientiousness, 
which  is  at  the  same  time  perfect  fidelity,  is  found 
in  Jesus  Christ,  whose  meat  and  drink  it  is  to  do 
the  will  of  Him  that  sent  him,  and  to  finish  his 
M'ork  (John  iv.  34)  ;  who  seeks  to  do  not  his  own 
will  but  the  Father's  will  (John  v.  30) ;  who  there- 
fore loses  nothing  of  all  which  the  father  has  given 
him  (John  vi.  38,  39) ;  and  who  could,  on  the  cross, 
exclaim  with  satisfaction,  "  It  is  finished  "  (John 
xix.  30). 

2.  When  the  hostility  of  the  Canaanites  is  as- 
cribed to  the  hardening  of  their  hearts  by  God 
(ver.  20),  here,  as  everywhere  in  Scripture,  when 
such  hardening  is  spoken  of,  it  is  carefully  to  be 
borne  in  mind,  that  this  is  always  inflicted  as  o 
judgment  on  those  who  have  previously, somehow, 
acted  contrarij  to  his  will.  This  is  true  of  Pharaoh 
(Ex.  iv.  21  ;  vii.  13  ;  x.  20 ;  xi.  10;  xiv.  4  ;  Rom. 
ix.  17),  of  the  people  of  Israel  (Is.  vi.  10;  Matt, 
xiii.  12-14),  and  here  of  the  (Canaanites.  They 
have  all  transgressed  grievously  in  some  way 
against  God :  Pharaoh  through  the  oppression  of 
Israel ;  Israel  through  impiety ;  the  Canaanites 
through  idolatry ;  ami  are  therefore  now  hardened 
by  God,  i.  e.  their  understanding  is  infatuated, 
their  will  audacious,  so  that  they  blindly  run  into 
destruction.  That  this  ruin  on  their  part,  again, 
serves  to  glorify  God's  power  (Rom.  ix.  17),  is  self- 
evident  ;  only  the  matter  should  not  be  so  under- 
stood as  it  is  by  Calvin,  who,  while  not  denying 
indeed  the  guilt  of  the  Canaanites,  still  leaves  in 
the  background  the  judicial  providence  of  God  re- 
vealing itself  in  their  hardness  of  heart,  and  speaks 
only  of  God's  having  made  a  way  for  his  decree  by 
hardening  the  ungodly  (ubi  reprobos  obduravit). 
The  absolute  divine  decree  stands  here  also,  with 
Calvin,  high  above  all  else.  He  does  not  indeed, 
here  or  ever,  deny  the  guilt  of  men,  but  this  guilt 
itself  is  not  a  free  act  of  men,  but  is  rather  jointly 
included  in  the  decree  of  God,  as  follows  from  the 
close  of  his  explanation  of  vers.  19,  20  :  "Nunc  si 
rem  adeo  dilucidam  suis  nebuUs  obscurare  conentnr, 
qui  Deuni  e  calo  spcculari  Jimptnt,  quid  hoininibus 
libeat,  nee  hominum  corda  arcano  ejus  instinctu  fre- 
nari  susfinent:  quid  aliud  quani  suam  impudentiam 
prodent  ?  Deo  tantuni  concedunt  ut  perinitlat :  hoc  au- 
tem  modo  siispendunt  ejus  consilium  ab  hominum  placito. 
Quid  autetn  Spiritus  1  a  Deo  esse  obdurationem 
lit  prcecipitet  quos  vult  perdere."  The  final  words 
in  particular  are  intelligible  enotigh,  and  remind 
of  the  verses  of  an  anonymous  Greek  Tragic  Poet, 
quoted  in  a  scholium  on  Sophocles'  "  Antigone  " 
ver.  6,  20  :  — 


.10 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


"Orau  5'  6  Sai/jLWu  avSpl  wopavvr]  KaKa 
■  Thv  vovv  el3'/a\f/e  irpSnov,  d>  ^ovKivirai ; 
or  of  tlic  L;itiii  imixiui,  pruliably  orii^iiiatiai^-  in  what 
lias  just  been  quoted,  Q,uoti  JJeiis  perdere  vult  de- 
meiilat  priiis   (coiiip.  liiichmann,  p.  117,   GeflugeUe 
Wurtc). 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL 

Although  the  Lord's  enemies  may  be  like  sand 
by  the  sea,  yet  we  need  not  be  disheartened,  for  He 
gives  us  confidence,  courage,  and  victory,  as  He 
did  once  to  Joshua.  As  Joshua  always  followed 
up  his  victory,  so  must  we  follow  up  every  suc- 
cess on  t!ie  tield  of  our  inner  life,  to  its  full  re- 
sults, that  we  be  not  cheated  of  the  fruits.  —  The 
extirpation  of  the  Canaanites,  (1)  due  to  their  idol- 
atry and  immorality  ;  (2)  executed  through  a  di- 
vine command;  (3)  set  as  a  Avarning  example  for 
all  times.  —  They  left  nothing  remaining  which 
had  breath  !  So  when  a  whole  people  have  sinned, 
the  less  guilty  and  the  guilty  fall  together. — 
Joshua's  conscientiousness. — Moses  and  Joshua, 
God's  faithful  servants.  —  Men  of  God  act  not  ac- 
cording to  their  own  pleasure,  but  to  the  command 
of  God. — A  glance  at  Canaan. — A  long  time 
fought  Joshua  with  the  kings  of  the  Canaanites, 
ever  must  we  tight  with  sin,  the  flesh,  the  world. — 
The  obduracy  of  the  Canaanites  regarded  as  a  di- 
vine judgment  upon  them.  — All  obduracy  is  God's 
judgment  on  men,  who  are  sunk  in  sin  and  have 
forfeited  their  freedom.  —  Ah,  if  grace  no  more 
"  prevented  "  men,  how  terrible !  —  The  land  ceased 
from  war  (sermon  on  the  celebration  of  peace). 

Starke  :  When  it  goes  against  the  children  of 
God,  the  ungodly  blow  the  horn,  join  forces,  and 
use  ail  their  might,  Ps.  ii.  2  ;  iii.  1.  —  Whom  God 
deserts  with  his  grace  that  man  runs  into  his  own 
misfortune  and  destruction,  Horn.  ii.  5  ;  Ex.  xiv. 
27  ;  Is.  vi.  11. 

Ceameu  :  The  perverseness  of  the  ungodly  ! 
when  they  hear  of  God's  wonderful  deeds,  and 
should  justly  be  led  to  rcjientance  thereby,  they 
take  the  course  of  crabs,  and  become  only  the  more 
obdurate  and  wicked,  until  they  bring  upon  them- 
selves utter  ruin,  Ps.  Ixxviii.  31,  .32.  —  If  not  to- 
day, it  may  be  better  to-morrow,  only  wait  the  lit- 
tle while  (ver.  6).  — When  enemies  study  and  con- 
trive how  they  may  destroy  the  people  of  God,  then 
God  studies  and  contrives  how  they  may  be  re- 
strained and  even  entirely   rooted   out.  —  God's 


word  and  promise  cannot  delay,  and  they  remain 
unbound.  —  God's  hand  has  a  twofold  operation, 
by  one  He  strikes  his  foes,  and  by  the  other  He  gives 
his  people  victory,  power,  and  strength ;  and  this 
hand  is  not  yet  shortened.  Is.  lix.  1.  —  When  men 
become  hardened  through  the  instigation  of  the 
devil,  God  draws  back  his  hand  and  smites  them 
with  the  most  serious  penalty  of  obdui-acy,  appoints 
this  as  a  punishment  of  sin  and  a  warning  to  his 
elect,  and  yet  becomes  not  a  cause  of  sin,  Ps.  v.  5. 
—  Against  God  no  giant  even  has  any  strength ; 
Ps.  xx.xiji.  16;  Is.  xlix.  25. 

BiBL.  Tub.  :  In  war  all  depends  not  on  the 
strength  and  multitude  of  the  people,  but  on  God, 
who  gives  the  victory,  Ps.  xlvi.  10. 

OsiANDER  :  Those  who  continue  ever  in  their 
ungodly  life,  and  think  not  at  all  with  earnestness 
of  true  heart-conversion,  those  become  finally  so 
blinded  by  God,  and  arc  so  entirely  given  up  to  a 
perverse  heart  that,  like  madmen,  they  run  to 
meet  their  own  destruction,  until  they  are  plunged 
at  length  into  everlasting  hell-fire.  —  God  gives 
sometimes  even  to  his  Church  on  earth  temporal 
peace,  but  they  must  not  abuse  this  to  temporal 
security. 

Gerlach  :  Obduracy  of  the  heart  happens  here 
also  as  a  punishment,  after  grace  has  been  pre- 
viously offered,  Ex.  iv.  21.  This  oft'er  of  grace  lay 
in  the  Lord's  great  miracles  in  Egypt,  which  these 
people  had  heard  of  with  astonishment  before  the 
coming  of  the  Israelites. 

[Matt.  Henry  :  Several  nations  joined  in  this 
confederacy  ....  of  different  constitutions, 
and  divided  interests  among  themselves,  and  yet 
they  here  unite  against  Israel  as  against  a  com- 
mon enemy.  Thus  are  the  children  of  this  world 
more  unanimous,  and  therein  wiser  than  the  children 
of  light.  The  oneness  of  tlie  Church's  enemies 
should  shame  the  Church's  friends  out  of  their  dis- 
cords and  divisions,  and  engage  them  to  be  one.  — 
Never  let  the  sons  of  Anak  be  a  terror  to  the  Israel 
of  God,  for  even  their  day  will  come,  to  fall. — 
Note  :  God  sometimes  reserves  the  sharpest  trials 
of  his  people  by  affliction  and  temptation  for  tins 
latter  end  of  their  days.  Therefore  let  not  him  that 
girds  on  the  harness  boast  as  he  that  puts  it  off. 
Death,  that  tremendous  son  of  Anak,  is  the  last 
enemy  that  is  to  be  encountered,  but  it  is  to  be  de- 
stroyed, 1  Cor.  XV.  28.  Thanks  be  to  God  whc 
will  give  us  the  victory.  —  Tk.] 


SECTION   THIRD. 

Catalogue  of  all  the    Kings  Conquered  under  the  Command  op  Moses  and  Joshua  in 

East  and  West  Palestine. 

Chapter  XII. 

1.   Catalogue  of  the  Kings  Conquered  in  East  Palestine. 
Chapter  XII.     1-6. 


1  Now  ^  these  are  the  kings  of  the  land,  which  the  children  of  Israel  smote,  and  pos- 
sessed their  land  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan  toward  the  rising  of  the  sun^from 

2  the  river"  Arnon,  unto  Mount  Ilermon,  and  all  the  plain  on  the  east:    Sihon,  king 
of  the  Amorites,  who  dwelt  in  Heshbon,  and  ruled  from  Aroer,  which  is  upon  the 


CHAPTER  Xn.  Ill 


bank  of  the  river  Arnon  and  fi-om  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  from  half  Gilead, 

3  even  unto  the  river  Jabbok  lohicli  is  the  border  of  the  children  of  Amnion,  and  from 
the  plain  to  the  Sea  of  Ciuneroth  on  the  east,  and  unto  the  sea  of  the  plain,  even  the 

•  Salt  Sea  on  the  east,  the  way  to  Beth-jeshimoth  [LXX  :  bllv  rriv  Kara  'Ao-fi^&je  ;  Vulg. : 
per   viam    quce    ducit   Bethsimoth']  ;  and  from    the   south,    under  Ashdoth-pisgah. 

4  And  the  coast  [border]  of  Og,  king  of  Bashan,  ivhich  [who]  was  of  the  remnant  of 

5  the  giants,  that  dwelt  at  Ashtaroth  and  at  Edrei,  And  reigned  in  Mount  Hermon, 
and  in  Salcah,  and  in  all  Bashan,  unto  the  border  of  the  Geshurites,  and  the  Maacha- 
thites,  and  half  Gilead,  [where]  the  border  [was]  of  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon. 

6  Them  did  [omit:  them  did]  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  the 
children  [sons]  of  Israel  smite  [smote  them]  :  .and  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  gave  it  for  a  possession  unto  the  Reubenites,  and  [to]  the  Gadites,  and 
[to]  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh. 

2.    Catalogue  of  the  Kings  Conquered  in  West  Palestine. 
Chapter  XII.  7-24. 

7  And  these  are  the  kings  of  the  country  [land]  which  [whom]  Joshua  and  the 
children  of  Israel  smote  on  this  [the  other]  side  of  [the]  Jordan  on  the  west,  from 
Baal-Gad  in  the  valley  of  Lebanon,  even  unto  the  Mount  Ilalak  [Bald-mountain] 
that  goeth  up  to   Seir ;  which  Joshua  gave  [Fay,  correctly :  and  Joshua  gave  it] 

8  unto  the  tribes  of  Israel  for  a  possession  according  to  their  divisions  :  In  the  moun- 
tains [on  the  mountain],  and  in  the  valleys,  and  in  the  plains  [the  lowland],  and  in 
the  springs  [on  the  foot-hills],  and  in  the  wilderness,  and  in  the  south-country ; 
the  Hittites,  the  Amorites,  and  the  Canaanites,  the  Perizzites,  the  Hivites,  and  the 
Jebusites  : 

9  The  king  of  Jericho,  one  ; 

The  king  of  Ai,  which  is  beside  Beth-el,  one ; 

10  The  king  of  Jerusalem,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Hebron,  one  ; 

11  The  king  of  Jarmuth,  one; 
The  king  of  Lachish,  one  ; 

12  The  king  of  Eglon,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Gezer,  one  ; 

13  The  king  of  Debir,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Geder,  one ; 

14  The  king  of  Hormah,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Arad,  one  ; 

15  The  king  of  Libnah,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Adullam,  one  ; 

16  The  king  of  Makkedah,  one; 
The  king  of  Beth-el,  one  ; 

17  The  king  of  Tappuah,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Hepher,  one ; 

1 8  The  king  of  Aphek,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Lasharon,  one  ; 

1 9  The  king  of  Madon,  one  ; 
The  king  of  Hazor,  one  ; 

20  The  king  of  Shimron-meron,  one ; 
The  king  of  Achshaph,  one  ; 

21  The  king  of  Taanach,  one; 
The  king  of  Megiddo,  one  ; 

22  The  king  of  Kedesh,  one  ; 

The  king  of  Jokneam  of  Carmel,  one  ; 

23  The  king  of  Dor  in  the  coasts  of  [Naphoth]  Dor,  one; 
The  king  of  the  nations  of  Gilgal,  one  ; 

24  The  king  of  Tirzah,  one  ; 
All  the  kings  thirty  and  one. 


112 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


1  [1  Ter.  1.  —  Instead  of  interpolating  the  numerous  corrections  required  in  the  common  version  in  the  first  three 
verses  liere,  we  recast  sep:iiately,  in  much  the  same  way  as  De  W'ette  and  Fay  :  And  these  are  the  kings  of  tlia 
land,  whom  the  sons  of  Israel  smote,  and  possessed  their  land,  on  the   other  side  of  the  Jordan,  toward  the  rising  of 

2  the  suu,  from  the  water-course  of  Aruou  unto  Mount  Ilermon,  and  all  the  Arabali  on  the  east :  Sihou  king  of  the 
Amorites,  who  dwelt  in  Ileshbon,  ruling  from  Aroer  which  is  on  the  bank  of  tlie  water-course  of  Arnou  and  in  the 
middle  of  the  water-course,  and  [over]  lialf  of  Gilead  even  to  Jabbok  the  water-course  [which  is]  the  border  of  the  sons 

8  of  Amnion,  and  [over]  the  Arabah  unto  the  sea  ofCinneroth,  on  the  east,  and  unto  the  sea  of  the  Arabah,  the  Salt- 
Sea,  on  the  east,  the  way  to  Beth-jeshimoth  ;  and  in  the  south  under  the  foot-hills  of  Pisgah. 
[2  Ver.  1.  A  word  that  should  denote   indifferently  our  conception  of  a  rapid  brook  and  of  the  bed  in  which  it  flows, 

with  the  whole  inclusive  valley,  and  of  the  latter  equally  when  the  water  is  absent,  is  wanting  in   English  to  represent 

adequately  the  Ileb.    vH^.     Stanley's  account  of  this  word  well  presents  the  case  {Sin.  and  Pal.  App.  p.  49G) :  "  Nachal, 

VniD  a  '  torrent-bed,'  or  water-course  ;  from  //Tl,  to  perforate  [so  Fiirst,  cf.  Gesen.].The  word  corresponds  with  the 
Arabic  Wady,  the  Greek  veinappous,  the  Indian  Nullah,  the  Italian  '  flumara  '  [in  some  of  its  applications  approaching 
the  Spanish-American  caiion]  and  signifies  the  hollow,  or  valley,  of  a  mountain  torrent,  which,  while  in  rainy  seasons 
it  may  fill  the  whole  width  of  the  depression,  in  summer  is  reduced  to  a  mere  brook,  or  thread  of  water,  and  is  often  en- 
tirely dry.  [In  the  greater  number,  perhaps,  of  the  Wadies,  the  running  water  is  quite  an  exceptional  phenomenon.] 
Such  streams  are  graphically  described  in  Job  xi.  16,  17.  Nachal,  therefore,  is  sometimes  used  for  the  valley  (Num. 
xxi.  12;  Jud".  xvi.  4  [and  iu  the  second  instance  m  ver.  2  of  our  passage]),  and  sometimes  for  the  torrent  which  flows 
through  the  valley.  The  double  application  of  the  word  is  well  seen  in  1  K.  xvii.  3,  where  Elijah  is  commanded  to 
hide  himself '  '  in  '  not  '  by  '  the  '  Wady  Cherith,'  and  to  '  drink  of  the  brook  '  —  Nachal  being  used  in  both  cases.  No 
English  word  is  exactly  equivalent,  but  perhaps  '  torrent-bed  '  most  nearly  expresses  it."  —  This  last  opinion  is  probably 
correct,  in  reference  to  many  readers,  but  for  the  purposes  of  a  translation  we  have  ventured  to  adopt  the  other  term 
proposed  by  him,  "  water-course."  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL    AND  CRITICAL. 

This  twelfth  chapter  forms  a  separate  section, 
the  third  of  the  first  part  of  our  book,  and  contains 
a  list  of  all  the  kint^s  conquered  by  Moses  and 
Joshua  in  East  and  West  Palestine.  It  falls  into 
two  subdivisions :  (1 )  a  catatogue  of  the  kings  con- 
quered east  of  the  Jordan  (vers.  1-6);  (2)  a  cata- 
logue of  the  kings  conquered  in  Palestine  proper 
(vers.  7-24). 

1 .  Catalogue  of  those  Conquered  East  of  the  Jordan 
(vers.  1-6).  From  the  water-course  of  Arnon 
unto  Mount  Hermon,  and  all  the  plain  [Arabah 
or    Jordan    valleyj    on   the    East.     The  Arnon 

(T^^nS  for  li^l  tlie  rushing),  Num.  ii.  13; 
Deut".  iii.  8.  12,  16  ;"  iv.  48  ;  Is.  xvi.  2  ;  Jer.  xlviii. 
20,  now  the  Wady  Modscheh,  formed  tlie  southern 
boundary  of  the  'territory  governed  by  Sihon  the 
king  of  the  Amorites,  afterwards  the  southern 
boundary  of  Keuben,  as  of  all  Eastern  Palestine, 
against  Moab.  It  flows,  in  part,  through  a  deep 
rocky  bed,  into  the  Dead  Sea.  Its  source,  at  least 
that  of  the  main  branch  of  the  Arnon,  the  Wady 
cl-Safijeh,  lies  near  Kutraneh  (Katrane)  on  the 
route  of  the  pilgrims  from  Mecca  to  Damascus. 
To  Mount  Hermon.     According  to  the  Arab. 

"j'1!2"in  means  a  prominent  mountain  ridge,  "per- 
haps'prop,  nose"  (Gesen.).  According  to  Deut. 
iii.  9,  it  was  called  by  the  Amorites   "l"'3t?7,  by  the 

Sidonians,  V"'"^']^  (butcorap.  1  Chron.  v.2.3),  and 
according  to  Deut.  iv.  48,  it  was  also  the  same  as 
yS'^tt^.  Plur.  D'^pbin.  Ps.  xlii.  7,  because  it  con- 
sists of  several  mountains.  In  the  Psalm  referred 
to,  we  have  a  vivid  description  of  the  mountain 
landscape  on  Hermon  ;  but  "  the  land  of  splendor, 
of  heaven-towering  mountains,  and  of  glorious 
streams,  offers  no  compensation  to  the  heart  of  the 
Psalmist,  for  tlie  humbler  hills  of  Zion  where  his 
God  abides  (Hitzig,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17).  At  the  present 
time  the  mountain  is  called  Jebel  es-Schcikh.  Its 
height  reaches  over  9,000  feet.  The  summit  is 
1  [Tristram's  account  of  Ilermon,  its  scenery,  its  natural 
history,  and  the  magnificent  view  which  it  offers  of  all  Pal- 
estine, is  particularly  interesting,  p.  607  ff.  —  Te.] 


covered  with  eternal  snow  (von  Eaumer  p.  33 ; 
Robinson,  iii.  344,  357 ),i  carefully  to  be  distin- 
guished from  this  Hermon  proper, "is  the  "little 
Hermon,"  so  called,  which  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
Bible.      The  name  originated  with  Jerome,  who 

m-isunderstood  the  plural  D^3Z2"in,  in  Ps.  xlii.  7. 
He  gave  that  name  to  the  Jebel -ed-Duhy  (Rob- 
inson u.  s.  171,  172). 

All  the  plain  (n2"117n)  on  the  East.  By  the 
Arabah  (Deut.  i.  1  ;  ii.  8  ;  2  Sam.  iv.  7  ;  2  K.  xxv. 
4,)  where  it  has  the  article,  as  in  these  passages,  is 
meant  not,  in  general,  a  dry  steppe,  a  wilderness, 
as  in  Is.  xxxiii.  9  ;  Jer.  1.  12 ;  Ii.  43,  but,  as  Robin- 
son (ii.  .599,  600)  has  sho^vn,  the  whole  of  the  great 
valley  from  the  sea  of  Galilee  to  the  ^lanitic  Gulf. 
It  is  now  (see  above  on  ch.  xi.  17)  called  the  Ghor, 
northward  from  the  "  bald  mountain,"  and  el- 
Arabah  only  from  that  mountain  to  its  southern 
extremity.     This  great  valley  has  again  different 

parts  which  are  designated  as  m2'^5?»  e.g.  in  our 

book,  ch.  V.  10  the  riiS'^.?   of  Jericho  ;  2  K.  xxv. 

5,  the  n"l!il~117  of  Moab.  Here  also  we  have  to 
do  with  a  portion  of  the  Arabah,  the  portion 
namely  "  on  the  east,"  that  is  on  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Jordan.  In  general,  this  valley  is  a  "  soli- 
tary desert"  (Rob.  ii.  265),  particularly  horrid, 
south  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  only  exceptions  are 
the  small  places  in  the  northern  part,  "  over  which 
the  Jordan  and  occasional  springs  spread  an  ex- 
traordinary fertility"  (Rob.  ii.  265,  266). 

Ver.  2.  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  stands  first 
on  the  list  of  Canaanite  princes  subjugated  by  Moses 
and  Joshua  (see  above  ch.  ii.  10).  He  dwelt  at 
Heshhon,  ch.  xiii.  26  ;  xxi.  39 ;  Num.  xxi.  26  ff., 
which  name  properly  signifies  prudence  (Eccl.  xii. 
25,  27 ;  ix.  10) ;  now  Hesban  or  Hiisban.  The 
ruins  of  the  old  city  lie  on  a  hill  having  a  magnifi- 
cent prospect,  towards  the  Dead  Sea,  and  over 
toward  Bethlehem ;  -  toward  the  south  and  east 
with  no  limit  but  the  horizon.  Heshbon  belonged 
originally  to  the  Moabites  (Num.  xxi.  26),  then  to 


2  [Tristram   visited   the   spot. 
643.  — Tr.] 


See   his  descriptioD    p 


CHAPTEK    XII. 


11:3 


the  Amorites,  as  is  evident  from  our  book,  and 
other  phiees,  and  was  allotted  to  the  trans-Jor- 
danic  tribes  (s'jc  below  on  eh.  xiii.  17;  xxi.  39 
comp.  w.  1  Chr.  vii.  81).  In  the  days  of  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah,  Heshbon  lielonLied  again  to  the  Moabites 
(Is.  XV.  4  ;  xvi.  9  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  2,  45-49).  At  a  later 
period,  aecoivling-  to  Josephus  {Ant.  xiii.  15,4),  the 
Jews  once  more  possessed  it.  Heshbon  appears 
to  have  liad  a  very  strong  position,  to  which  the 
expressions  Jer.  xlviii.  45-49  refer.  The  niins 
have  a  compass,  according-  to  von  Raumer's  au- 
thority, of  more  than  a  nule. 

Ver.  2.  The  territory  of  Sihon  is  now  de- 
scribed in  full  accordance  with  Num.  xxi.  24,  as 
extending  from  the  Arnon  to  the  Jabbuk.  Here 
again  Aroer  is  ]iarticularly  mentioned,  which 
[iies]  upon  the  bank  of  the  brook  Arnon,  and 

in  the  middle  of  the  brook,   ~l3?~)37  and  "ll?!"!,!^' 

from  ~ni?  (tobebare,  naked),  lies  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Arnon,  and  like  Heshbon  is  indicated  bj-  Jere- 
miah (xlviii.  19)  as  a  Moainte  city.  It  was  allotte:l  to 
Reuben,  ch.  xiii.  9,  16.  The  city  lay,  as  our  passage 
shows,  partly  on  and  partly  in  the  Anion,  (".  e.  on  an 
island,  now  Araayr.  Carefully  to  be  distinguished 
from  another  city  Aroer,  ch.  xiii.  25,  and  from  a 
, third  city  Aroer  (I  Sam.  xxx.  26,  28),  in  the  tribe  of 
Jndah(Kob.  ii.  618),  to  which  David  sent  presents 
after  the  recovery  of  the  booty  taken  at  Ziklag. 

Half  GHead.      "T^/?  according  to  Gen.  xxxi. 

48  =  "73775,  hill  of  testimony,  perhaps  rather  an 
appellative  for  hard,  I'ough  region,  as  Gesenius 
thinks,  which  however  does  not  suit  with  Num. 
xxxii.  1  ;  Jer.  viii.  22  ;  xlvi.  11  ;  1.  19;  Cant.  iv. 
1 ;  vi.  4.  Properly  the  word  denotes  a  mountain 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Jabbok  (Gen.  xxxi.  21- 
48;  Cant.  iv.  1),  with  a  city  of  the  same  name, 
now  Jebel  Dsclielaad,  then  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  this  mountain  (Num.  xxxii.  1  ;  Deut.  ii.  37), 
and  hnally,  the  whole  mountain  region  between 
the  Arnon  and  the  Jabbok,  now  called  Belka.  It 
was  bounded  on  the  north  by  Bashan,  on  the  south 
by  Moab.  The  designation  "land  of  Gilead  "  is 
used  inexactly,  Deut.  .\xxiv.  1,  where  it  inchtdes 
also  Bashan,  likewise  in  2  K.  x.  33;  1  K.  iv.  19, 
and  often.  In  sucli  cases,  l)y  Gilead  is  meant  the 
whole  land  east  of  the  Jordan,  so  far  as  it  was  jios- 
sessed  by  the  Israelites,  eh.  xxii.  9,  13,  15;Judg. 
V.  17  (von  Uauiner,  p.  229  ff.).  See  In/rod.  p.  25. 
Even  unto  the  brook  Jabbok,  now  Wady  Lerka, 

then  p2^?  from  PP^i  to  pour  out,  gush  forth,  = 
gushing-brook.  The  word  is,  according  to  Si- 
nionis,  to  whom  Gesenius  assents,  the  Chald.  form 

for  P^T*  ^^^  *^'^'^-  ^^^"-  -  there  is  a  play  ujjon 
the  word  P?^)  to  wrestle.  The  Jabbok  is  here  to 
be  viewed  as  a  twofold  lioundary,  (1)  in  its  lower 
course,  a  boundary  toward  the  north,  (2)  in  its  up- 
jKir  course  (Nahr  Annnon)  as  a  boundary  toward 
the  east  against  the  children  of  Ammon.  A  glance 
at  the  map  will  at  once  show  the  actual  relations. 

Ver  3.  Over  the  plain  (the  Arabah)  to  the 
sea  of  Cinncroth  on  the  east,  i.  e.  over  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  Jordan  valley,  as  far  as  the  sea  of 

Cinneroth.     Here  n1"l33,  elsewhere  also  m~l33, 

or  ^"^T??.?  (perhaps  equivalent  to  "'133,  cithera), 
so  called  after  the  city  of  this  name  (ch.  xi.  2  ;  xix. 
35)  ;  in  the  N.T.,  the  sea  of  Galilee  (Matt.  iv.  18  ;  xv. 
29;  Mark  i.  16;  vii.  31),  sea  of  Gennesarcth  (Lu. 
V.  1,  derived  from  Kinnereth  or  Kinnarotli);  in 
John,  sea  of  Tiberias  (vi.  1,  xxi.  1 ),  from  the  city  of 
8 


Tiberias  ;  now  Bahr  Taberieh.  The  sea  is  "  about 
thirteen  geographical  miles  long  and  six  broad." 
The  climate  is  tropical,  since  the  level  is  from  six 
hundretl  and  twenty-five  to  seven  hundred  [Robin- 
son, seven  hundred]  feet  below  that  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean (Kusegger,  iii.  213 ;  Robinson,  iii.  264,  313 
ff).  Its  beauty  is  well  known  (Seetzen,  p-  348),  and 
has  been  described  by  Renan,  in  his  "  Life  of  Jesus," 
in  the  most  glowing  colors.  Robinson  expresses 
himself  more  moderately  (iii.  255):  "The  lake 
presents,  indeed,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  limpid  water, 

in  a  deep,   depressed  basin The   hills  are 

rounded  and  tame,  with  little  of  the  picturesque  in 

their   form Whoever   looks   here   for   the 

magniheence  of  the  Swiss  lakes,  or  the  softer 
beauty  of  those  of  England  and  the  United  States, 
will  be  disappointed."  In  the  0.  T.  it  is  men- 
tioned, besides  this  passage,  only  Num.  xxxiv.  11 ; 
Deut.  iii.  17.  [Add  Smith's  Bible  Diet.,  art.  "  Gen- 
nesaret.  Lake  of."] 

And  unto  the  sea  of  the  plain  (Arabah),  the 
salt  sea  on  the  east,  the  way  to  Beth-jeshi- 
motli.  While  this  eastern  part  of  the  Jordan  val- 
ley is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  lake  of  Gennes- 
aret,  it  is  in  like  manner  bounded  on  the  south  by 
the  Salt  Sea,  i.  e.  the  Dead  Sea,  near  which  (Num. 
xxxiii.  48)  Beth -jeshimoth  lay.  To  that  poin*- 
the  Israelite  camp  reached  from  Shittim.  It  be 
longed  to  Reuben  Cch.  xiii.  20),  later  to  Moab 
again,  Ezek.  xxv.  9. 

And   in  the    south   under   the   foot  -  hills  of 

Pisgah.  On  0  ^i■^t??S  comp.  ch.  x.,40.  Mount 
Pisgah,  "  a  part  of  the  mountain  of  Abarim,"lies 
to  one  looking  from  Jericho,  beyond  Beth-jeshi- 
moth,  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  at  the  northern 
end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Its  highest  point  is  Nebo, 
which  is  sometimes  called  "  Mount  xVljarim " 
(Deut.  xxxii.  49),  as  though  its  summit,  and 
again,  "the  top  of  Pisgah"  (Deut.  iii.  27,  34), 
comp.  Knobel  on  Num.  xxi.  11.  The  relation  be- 
tween Abarim,  Pisgah,  and  Nebo  is,  with  Knobel, 
to  be  conceived  of  as  if  Abarim  were  the  whole 
mountain  range  lying  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  Pis- 
gah a  part  of  it,  namely,  the  northeastern,  and 
Nebo  the  highest  point  of  Pisgah.  This  seems  to 
me  more  simple  than  with  von  Kaumer  (p.  72),  to 
sep;irate  Abarim  and  Pisgah,  and  then  assume  that 
Nelio  belonged  to  Abarim  as  its  (north)  western 
portion,  and  to  Mount  Pisgah  as  its  eastern  high- 
est extremity.!  The  region  which  sloped  along 
the  foot  of  JNIount  Pisgah  formed  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  kingdom  of  Sihon. 

Vers.  4-6,  follow  the  borders  of  the  kingdom  of 
0(j,   king  of  Bashan.     Ashtaroth,  and  Ashtaroth 

karnaim  (C^5"?p),  Gen.  xiv.  5,  where  were  giants ; 
according  to  ch.  ix.  10,  the  residence  of  Og  ;  now 
Tel  Ashtareh.  The  hill  (Tel)  rises,  according  to 
von  Raumer  (p.  243),  to  a  height  of  from  fifty  to  a 
hundred  feet  above  the  plain,  in  which  ruins  lie 
scattered.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill  are  ancient  wall- 
foundations  and  copious  springs. 

Edrei.  Here  Og  was  slain.  Num.  xxi.  33-35 ; 
Deut.  iii.  1-3.  By  the  Greeks  it  was  called  Adraa  ; 
by  the  Crusaders,  Adratum,  also  Civitas  Bernardi 
de  Stampis ;  by  Abulfeda,  Adsraat;  now  Draa,  a 
desert  basalt  city  without  inhabitants,  on  a  height 
(von  Raumer,  p.  247). 

Ver.  5.  Saleah,  conquered  by  the  Israeh'tes, 
Deut.  iii.  10.     Now  Szalthat,  with  eight  hundred 

1  [Tristram's  glowing  account  of  the  magnificent,  almost 
boundless  view  from  one  of  the  heights  of  Abarim,  which 
may  have  been  the  ancient  Nebo,  is  excellent,  p.  540  ff  ] 


114 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


lioiises  and  a  castle  on  basalt  rocks,  on  the  sovith- 
eni  border  of  Hauran ;  uninhabited,  like  Edrei. 
Porter  saw  from  the  castle  of  Salcha  fourteen 
["upwards  of  thirty,"  Giant  Cil.  of  Bash.  p.  76] 
villai^es,  in  part  appcarinj^  to  be  newly  built,  but 
entirely  deserted  (ii.  183,  ap.  von  Kaunier). 

Over  all  Bashan  unto  the  border  of  the  Gesh- 
urites  and  the  Maachathites.  The  Maacha- 
thites  dwelt  on  the  southwest  slope  of  Hermon,  at 
the  sources  of  the  Jordan.  "  Muachati  iirbs  Amor- 
rh(P,oruin  super  Jordanem  (irfpi  rhy'lopSavriv,  Euseb.) 
jux/a  montem  Hermon."  The  Geshurites  also  arc 
to  be  sought  on  Mount  Hermon,  near  the  present 
Jedur,  on  the  eastern  fall  of  the  mountain.  See 
von  Raumer,  p.  227,  and  Menke's  Bibelatlas, 
])late  3.  Here  was  the  north  boundary  of  Bashan. 
The  east  border  is  denoted  (see  above)  by  Salcah, 
the  south  by  the  half  Gilead,  where)  the  border 
(was)  of  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon,  i.  e.  by  the 
Jabbok  (ver.  2).  Toward  the  west  it  extended  to 
the  sea  of  Tiberias ;  see  von  Raumer,  p.  226  ff. 
Bashan  and  Batanaja  are  by  no  means  identical,  as 
von  Raumer  has  shown  {itlii  sup.).  Bashan  Was 
famous  for  its  oak  forests  (Is.  ii.  13  ;  Ezek.  xxvii. 
6),  and  fat  cattle;  hence  the  bullocks,  the  rams  of 
Bashan  (Deut.  xxxii.  14;  Am.  iv.  1;  Ps.  xxii. 
13).  The  waters  descending  from  the  Hauran 
fertilize  the  level  land  in  its  northeastern  part, 
which  was  afterwards  inhabited  by  the  ti'ibe  of 
Manasseh. 

Ver.  6.  Comp.  Num.  xxxii. 

2.  Catalogue  of  the  Kings  vanquished  in  the  Countrij 
West  of  the  Jordan  (vers.  7-24).  Verses  7  and  8, 
coinciding  with  cli.  xi.  16  and  x.  40-42,  introduce 

tlie  narrative.  The  Plain  (n3"117)  is  the  western 
part  of  the  Ghor  (Gen.  xiii.  10) ;  the  wilderness 
(~Q7^)  lies  in  the  province  of  Judah,  and  Benja- 
min (ch.  XV.  61  ;  xviii.  11  ;  Matt.  iii.  3;  iv.  1 ;  xi. 
7;  Mark  i.  3;  Ln.  iii.  4.) 

Ver.  9.  The  kings  are  enumerated  generally  in 
the.  order  in  M'hich  they  were  conquered.  First, 
accordingly,  the  kings  of  Jericho,  Ai,  Jerusalem, 
Hebron,  Jarmuth,  Laehish,  Eglon,  and  Gezer,  in 
regard  to  which  ch.  vi.  2  flf. ;  viii.  29 ;  x.  1-5, 
33  may  be  compared.  Tlien  follows  ver.  13,  the 
king  of  Debir,  ch.  x.  39,  after  him  still  in  the  same 

verse    the    king   of   Geder.     "1^5  is    called    also 

J^^^?)  and  belonged  to  the  lowland  of  Judah. 
Not  hitherto  recognized. 

Ver.  14.  Hormah,  earlier  Zephat  (Judg.  i.  17). 
Robinson  (ii.  616,  N.)  seeks  the  city  near  the  pass 
es-Sufeh,  W.  S.  W.  of  the  Dead  Sea,  where  the 
Israelites  were  defeated  by  the  Canaanites  (Num. 
xiv.  44,  4.5  ;  Deut.  i.  44),  and  sulisequently  the 
Canaanites  by  the  Israelites  (Num.  xxi.  1-3  ;  Judg. 
i.  17).  Perliaps  it  stood,  as  von  Raumer  suspects, 
on  the  adjacent  Mount  Madurah,  of  which  the  say- 
ing goes,  that  a  city  stood  upon  it  at  wliicli  God 
became  angry  so  that  He  destroyed  it.  To  this  it 
suits   that  the  city  of  Zepliath  was  later  called 

Hormah  (H^in,  i.  e.  devoted  to  destruction,  cog- 
nate with  c~in). 

Arad,  'named  also  Num.  xxi.  1-3,  and  Judg.  i. 
16,  17,  near  the  wilderness  of  Kadesh,  twenty  Ro- 
man miles  south  of  Hebron.  Robinson  (ii.  473) 
saw  from  a  distance  the  hill  Arad.  He  also  lughtly 
refers  ch.  x.  41  to  the  subjugation  of  Arad,  whose 
inhabitants  had  previously  (Num.  xxi.  1-3)',  like 
those  of  Hormah,  driven  back  the  Israelites. 

Ver.  15.  Libnah,  ch.  X.  29, 30 ;  xv.42.  AduUam, 


ch.  XV.  3.'),  fortified  by  Rehoboam  (2  Ch.  xl.  7) ;  fa- 
mous for  its  cave,  David's  I'efugc  (1  Sam.  xxii.  1  ; 
2Sam.  xxiii.  13;  1  Chr.  xii.  15).  Iua.d.  1138,  the 
inhabitants  of  Tekoah  took  refuge  tliere  from  the 
Saracens,  Will.  Tyr.  xv.  6  (von  Raumer,  p.  169). 
Ver.  16.  Makkedah,  eh.x.  10, 16, 17,  21.  Bethel, 
earlier  Luz  (^-1^),  sufficiently  known  ;  to  the  right 
of  tlie  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Sliechem  ;  the  place 
where  Jacob  saw  in  his  dream  the  ladder  from 
earth  to  heaven  (Gen.  xxviii.  11-19;  xxxi.  13; 
Hos.  xii.  5) ;  rendered  infamous  subsequently  by 
the  worship  of  the  calves  (1  K.  xii.  28,  33  ;  xiii.  1 ), 
hence  called  Beth-aven  (diiferent  from  Beth-avcn 
in  ch.  vii.  2;  xviii.  12),  by  the  prophets  (Am.  v. 
5;  Hos.  iv.  15,  and  often).  The  missionary  Nico- 
layson  discovered  Bethel,  1836.  According  to  Rob- 
inson (ii.  127)  it  is  now  called  Beitin,  three  and 
tln-ee-quarter  liours  from  Jerusalem.  See  more  in 
Robinson  iibi  sup.,  von  Raumer,  pp.  178, 179  [Tris- 
tram, Stanley]. 

Ver.  17.  Tappuah,  comp.  ch.  XV.  34,  53  ;  xvii.  7. 
Hepher,  in  the  plain  of  Jezreel  in  Issachar,  xix. 
19  (Knobel). 

Ver.  18.  Aphek,  ch.  xiii.  4.  Lassaron,  men- 
tioned only  in  this  place.  The  site  has  not  been 
discovered. 

Ver.  19.  Madon,  ch.  xi.  1.  Hazor,  ch.  xi.  1-10; 
xix.  37. 

Ver.  20.  Shimron-meron,  ch.  xi.  1 ;  xix.  37. 
Achshaph,  ch.  xi.  1  ;   xix.  25. 

Ver.  21.  Taanach  in  Samaria,  within  the  circuit 
of  Issachar,  but  belonging  to  Manasseh  (ch.  xvii. 
11),  althougli  not  conquered  by  him  (Judg.  i.  27). 
A  city  of  the  Levites,  ch.  xxi.  25.  Here  Barak  con- 
quered (Judg.  V.  19).  Robinson  (ii.  156,  157),  and 
Schubert  (iii.  164),  saw  Taanach  (now  Ta'annuk) 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Jennin  (Ginnaa),  von 
Raumer,  p.  165. 

Megiddo,  likewise  in  Samaria,  belonging  to 
Manasseh  but  beyond  his  border  (ch.  xvii.  11), 
and  likewise  unconquered  by  that  tribe  (Judg.  i. 
27).  Here  Ahaziah  died  in  his  fliglit  from  Jehu 
(2  K.  ix.  27),  and  here  Josiah  was  fatally  wounded 
in  the  battle  against  Necho  king  of  Egypt  (2 
Chron.  xxxv.  20,  25  ;  xxiii.  29,  30). 

Ver.  22.  Kedesh  on  the  mountain  of  Naphtali 
(Jebel  el-Safed),  ch.  xix.  37,  in  Galilee.  A  city  of 
refuge,  ch.  xx.  7,  of  the  Levites,  ch.  xxi.  32.  Birth- 
place of  Barak  (Judg.  iv.  6),  discovered  by  Smith 
on  a  hill,  in  a  well-watered  region  {Notes  on  Bibl. 
Geog.  in  Biblioth.  Sac,  May,  1849,  p.  374,  ap.  von. 
Raum.  p.  132) ;  by  Robinson  on  his  second  journey,  . 
not  "  visited  "  indeed,  as  von  Raumer  states,  but 
yet  seen  from  a  short  distance  and  described  {Later 
Bibl.  Res.  p.  366  ff.). 

Jokneam  on  Carmel.  Belonging  to  Zebu- 
lun,  ch.  xix.  11.  A  city  of  the  Levites,  ch  xxi. 
34.  Perhaps,  Tel  Kaimon  (Robinson,  Later  Bibl. 
Res.  Y>.   115).     The  place  is  called,  in  1   K.  iv.  12, 

□rpp*^,  out  of  which  Kaimon  appears  to  haw 
sprung  (comp.  Robinson,  ubi  sup.).  Carmel  ap- 
pears elscwhei'e  in  our  book  onlj^  ch.  xix.  26,  to 
mark  the  south  border  of  the  tribe  of  Asher. 
Rightly  does  the  mountain  bear  its  name  "  orchard  " 
(comj).  Is.  X.  8;  xvi.  10  and  often),  being  covered 
below  with  laurels  and  olive-trees,  above  with  pines 
and  oaks  (hence  the  comparison  Cant.  vii.  6),  and 
full  of  the  most  beautiful  flowers.  These  are  the 
glory  of  Carmel  which  shall  be  given  to  the  wilder- 
ness (Is.  xxxv.  2).  The  view- over  the  sea  as  well 
as  of  the  coast  is  magnificent.  Compare  the  dif- 
ferent descriptions  of  travellers,  von  Raumer,  p 


CHAPTER  XIII.  115 


♦3  iF.i  Since  1180  there  has  stood  on  Carmel,  al- 
though only  at  a  hei{;ht  of  578  feet,  and  therefore 
far  below  the  summit,  a  cloister  to  commemorate 
Elijah  (1  K.  xviii.  17-39  ;  42-45)  and  bearing  his 
name  ;  rebuilt  in  1833.  The  mountain  reaches  an 
altitude  of  17()U  feet. 

Vers.  23.  Naphoth-dor,  ch.  xi.  2  ;  xvii  11.  The 
king  of  the  nations  of  Gilgal,  as  Gen.  xiv.  1,  Tidal 

king  of  the  nations.     Similarly,  Gen.  x.  5,  v''72 

C^*12n.  Gilgal,  not  on  the  Jordan,  but,  according 
to  Robinson  iii.  47,  in  the  plain  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean sea,  now  Jiljuleh,  corresponding  to  the  old 

-1  [In  particular  also,  Stanley,  S.  If  P.  p.  344  £f.,  Tristram, 
p  99  ff.] 


Galgala,  which  Eusebius  and  Jerome  place  six 
Roman  miles  north  of  Antipatris.  Probably  th« 
Gilgal  of  Neh.  xii.  29  and  1  Mace.  ix.  2  was,  as  he 
supposes,  the  same.  With  this  falls  in  the  prox- 
imity of  Naphoth-dor. 

Ver.  24.  Tirzah  in  Samaria,  three  miles  from 
the  city  of  Samaria,  on  the  east.  Here  at  a  later 
period  the  kings  of  Israel  dwelt ;  Jeroboam  I., 
Baasha,  Elah,  and  Shimri,  and  here  the  last-named 
burned  himself  in  his  palace,  1  K.  xiv.  17;  xv. 
33;  xvi.  8-18.  Robinson  {Later  Bibl.  lies.  p.  302, 
ff. )  takes  Tulluzah  for  Tirzah,  being  beautifully  sit- 
uated like  the  ancient  city  (Cant.  vi.  4).  The  name 

signifies  delight,  from  "^^"IJ- 


PART  SECOND. 

The  Division  of  the  Land  of  Canaan. 
Chapters   XIII.-XXIV. 


SECTION  FIRST. 

God's  Command  to  Joshua  to  distribute  the  Land  in  West  Palestine.    RETEOsPEcnra 

Glance  at  the  Territory  already  assigned  to  the  Two  and  a  Half  Tribes 

East  of  the  Jordan.     Beginning  of  the  Division.      Caleb's  Portion. 

Chapters  XHI.,  XIV. 


1.    God's  Command  to  Joshua  to  distribute  the  Land. 
Chapter  XIII.     1-7. 

1  Now  [And]  Joshua  was  old  a7id  stricken  in  years  [far  gone  in  years  ;  Fay : 
come  into  the  days  ;  De  Wette :  come  into  the  years]  ;  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
said  unto  him,  Thou  art  old  and  stricken  [far-gone]  in  years,  and  there  remainetli 

2  yet  very  much  land  to  be  possessed.     This  is  the  land  that  yet  remaineth :  all  the 

3  borders  [circles]  of  the  Philistines,  and  all  Geshuri,  From  Sihor,  which  is  before 
Egypt,  even  unto  the  borders  of  Ekron,  northward,  which  is  [shall  it  be]  counted  to 
the  Canaanite  :  five  lords  of  the  Philistines,  the  Gazathites,^  and  the  Ashdotliites,  the 
Eshkalonites,  the  Gittites   [Gathite],  and  the  Ekronites  ;  [,]  also  [and]  the  Avites  ; 

4  [,]  From  [in]  the  south  [;]  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  Mearah  that  is  beside 
[which  belongs  to]  the  Sidonians,  unto  Aphek,  to  the  borders  [border]  of  the  Amo- 

5  rites ;  And  the  land  of  the  Giblites,  and  all  Lebanon,  toward  the   sunrising,  from 

6  Baal-gad  under  mount  Hermon  unto  the  entermginto  Hamath.  All  the  inhabitants 
of  the  hill  country  [the  mountain]  from  Lebanon  unto  Misrephoth-maim,  and  all  the 
Sidonians,  them  will  I  drive  out  from  before  the  cliildren  [sons]  of  Israel :  only  di- 
vide thou  it  by  lot  unto  the  Israelites  for  an  inheritance  [for  a  possession],  as  I  have 

7  commanded  thee.  Now  therefore  [And  now]  di\dde  this  land  for  an  inheritance 
[a  possession]  unto  the  nine  tribes,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[  1  Ver.  3.     This  and  the  following  Gentile  nouns  in  the  Terse  are  all  singular  ;n  the  Hebrew  and  might  better  be  b« 
understood  for  the  English.  —  Tr.] 


116  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


2.   The  Territory  of  the    Two  and  a  Half  Tribes  East  of  the  Jordan,  as  already 

granted  to  them  by  Moses. 

Chapter  XIII.     8-33. 

a.  Its  Boundaries.     The  Tribe  of  Levi. 
Chapter  XIII.     8-14. 

8  With  whom  [him]  the  Eeubenites  and  the  Gadites  have  received  their  inheri- 
tance [possession],  which  Moses  gave  them,  beyond  [the]   Jordan  eastward,  even 

9  as  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  gave  them  ;  From  Aroer  that  is  npon  the 
bank  of  the  river  [water-course]  Arnon,  and  the  city  that  is  in  the  midst  of  the  river 

10  [water-course],  and  all  the  plain  [table-land]  of  Medeba  unto  Dibon  ;  And  all  the 
cities  of  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites,  which  [who]   reigned  in  Heshbon,  unto  the 

1 1  border  of  the  children  of  Ammon ;  and  Gilead,  and  the  border  of  the  Geshurites 

12  and  Maachathites,  and  all  mount  Hermon,  and  all  Bashan  unto  Salcah ;  AlP  the 
■    kingdom  of  Og  in   Bashan,  which  [who]  reigned  in  Ashtaroth  and  Edrei,  which 

remained  of  the  remnant  of  the  giants.     For  these  did  Moses  smite  and  cast  them 

13  out.  Nevertheless  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  expelled  not  the  Geshurites,  nor 
the  Maachathites;  but  the  Geshurites  and  the  Maachathites  dwell  among  the 
Israelites  until  this  day. 

14  Only  unto  the  tribe  of  Levi  he  gave  none  inheritance  [no  possession]  ;  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel  made  by  fire  [Fay  and  De  Wette  :  offer- 
ing of  Jehovah ;  Bunsen,  after  the  Berleburg  Bibel :  fire-offerings]  are  their 
inheritance,  as  he  said  unto  them. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[  1  In  vers.  12,  13,  read :  All  the  kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan,  who  ruled  in  Ashtaroth,  and  in  Edrei :  he  was  left  of  the 
11  remnant  of  the  giants,  and  Moses  smote  them,  and  drove  them  out.     And  the  sons  of  Israel  drove  not  out  the  Qesh- 
urite,  and  the  Maachathite  ;  and  Geshur  and  Maachath  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  Israel  to  this  day.] 

b.  The  Possession  of  the  Tribe  of  Reuben. 
Chapter  XIII.    15-23. 

15  And  Moses  gave  unto  the  tribe  of  the  cliildren   [sons]  of  Reuben  inheritance 

16  [omit:  inheritance]  according  to  their  fiimilies.  And  their  coast  [border]  was  from 
Aroer  that  is  on  the  bank  of  the  river  [water-course  of  ]  Arnon,  and  the  city  that 
is  in  the  midst  of  the  river  [water-course]  and  all  the  plain  [table-land]  by  Medeba  ; 

17  [:]  He.shbon,  and  all  her  cities  that  are  in  the  plain  [table-land],  Dibon,  and  Bamoth- 

18  r.)  baal,  and  Beth-baal-meon,  And  Jahaza,   and  Kedemoth,   and  Mephaath,  And 

20  Kirjathaim,  and  Sibmah,  and  Zareth-shahar  in  the  mount  of  the  valley,  And  Beth- 

21  peor,  and  Ashdoth-pisgah  [the  foot-hills  of  Pisgah],  and  Beth-jeshimoth,  And  all  the 
cities  of  the  plain  [table-land],  and  all  the  kingdom  of  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites 
which  [who]  reigned  in  Heshbon,  whom  Moses  smote  with  the  princes  of  Midian, 
Evi,  and  Rekem,  and  Zur,  and  llur,  and  Reba,  which  were  dukes  [Fay  :  the  anointedl 

22  of  Sihon,  dwelling  in  the  country.  Balaam  also  [and  Balaam]  the  son  of  Beor,  the 
soothsayer,  did  \\\(i.  children  [sons]  of  Israel  slay  with  the  sword,  among  them  that 

23  were  slain  by  them  [in  addition  to  their  slain].  And  the  border  of  the  children 
[sons]  of  Reuben  was  [the]  Jordan,  and  the  border  thereof  [De  Wette,  Fay :  and 
that  which  bordered  it ;  Bunsen :  that  is,  its  margin].  This  was  the  inheritance 
[possession]  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  after  their  famihes,  the  cities  and 
tne  villages  ^  thereof. 

1  Some  Codd.  read  here  a?  in  ver.  20,  □H'^ntin,    doubtless  to  make  ver.  23  conformable  with  ver.  28.     We  abide 
iy  the  reading  "JH^'H^n. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


117 


c.  The  Possession  of  the  Tribe  of  Gad. 
CiiAPTEii  XIII.    24-28. 

2  4       And  Moses   gave  inheritance  [omit:  inheritance]   unto   the  tribe  of  Gad,  even 

25  [omit :  even]  vmto  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad  according  to  their  families.  And 
their  coast  [border]  was  Jazer,  and  all  the  cities  of  Gilead,  and  half  the  land  of  the 

26  children  of  Ammon,  nnto  Aroer  that  is  before  Rabbah ;  and  from  Heshbon  unto 
Ramath-Mizpeh,  and   Betonim ;  and   from   Mahanaim  unto  the  border  of  Debir  ; 

27  And  in  the  valley,  Beth-aram,  and  Beth-nimrah,  and  Succoth,  and  Zaphon,  the  rest 
of  the  kingdom  of  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon,  [the]  Jordan  and  his  [its]  border,  even 
unto  the  edge  of  the  sea  of  Cinnereth,  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan  eastward. 

28  Tliis  is  the  inheritance  [possession]  of  the  children,  [sons]  of  Gad  after  their  fami- 
lies, the  cities,  and  their  villages. 

d.  The  Possession  of  the  Half  Tribe  of  Manasseh.     A  Word  concerning  the  Tribe  of  Levi. 

Chapter  XIII.     29-33. 

29  And  Moses  gave  inheritance  [omit :  inheritance]  unto  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  : 
and  this  was  the  possession  of  the  half-tribe  [properly :  and  it  was  for  the  half- 

30  tribe]  of  the  childi-en  [sons]  of  Manasseh  by  their  families.  And  their  coast 
[border]  was  from  Mahanaim,  all  Bashan,  all  the  kingdom  of  Og  king  of  Bashan, 

31  and  all  the  towns  [villages]  of  Jair,  which  are  in  Bashan,  threescore  cities.  And 
half  Gilead,  and  Ashtaroth,  and  Edrei,  cities  [De  Wette,  Fay :  the  cities]  of  the 
kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan,  tvere  pertaining  unto  the  children  of  Macliir  the  son  of 

32  Manasseh,  even  to  the  one  half  of  the  children  of  Machir  by  tlieir  families.  These 
are  the  countries  which  [are  Avhat]  Moses  did  distribute  for  inheritance  [possession] 
in  the  plains  of  Moab,  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  .Jordan  by  Jericho  eastward. 

33  But  unto  the  tribe  of  Levi  Moses  gave  not  any  inheritance  [possession]  :  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel  was  [is]  their  inheritance,  as  he  said  unto  them. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

With  the  thirteenth  cha]itcr  be.cins  Part  Second 
of  the  book.  This  describes  the  division  of  the 
hxnd,  and  rests  no  doubt  on  definite  records  which 
h\y  before  the  autlior.  Such  records  must  have 
been  prepared  on  taking  possession  of  the  land, 
and  such  are  in  fact  referred  to,  ch.  xviii.  8,  9. 
"  Without  them  a  single  Hebrew  writer  would 
hardly  have  had  so  accurate  a  knowledge  of  the 
land  as  this  author  displays,  especially  in  regard 
to  the  boundaries  '"'  (Knobel).  When  "these  regis- 
ters were  established,  whether  already  in  Joshua's 
time,i  or,  as  Knobel,  from  certain  circumstances 
feels  obliged  to  infer,  "  at  a  somewhat  later  period," 
cannot  be  made  out  with  certainty.  We  have,  at 
all  events,  to  deal  here,  for  the  most  part,  with 
very  ancient  writings,  reminding  us  of  Ex.  xx., 
Kum.  xxxiii. 

1 .  Jfliovalis  Command  to  Joshua  to  divide  the  Land, 
ch.  xiii.  1-7.  Joshua  has  become  old,  much  land 
is  yet  to  be  conquered,  and  no  prospect  of  his  com- 
])'eting  the  conquest  of  it;  therefore  God  gives 
iiiui  tlio  command  to  wait  no  longer,  but  to  under- 
take the  division.  What  yet  remains  is  accurately 
mentioned,  vers.  2-6,  ami  in  ver.  7  it  is  said,  that  it 
shall  be  given  to  the  nine  and  a  half  tribes. 

Ver.  1.  Well-stricken  [far  gone]  in  years,  as 
ch.  xxiii.   1,   2;  Gen.  xxiv.  1  ;  xviii.  II. 

Ver.  2-6.  The  land  that  remains  to  be  occupied. 

1  [The  clear  and  positive  statements  made  in  ch.  xviii.  4- 
3  would  seem  to  leave  little  room  for  doubt  on  this  point, 


It  lies  part  in  the  south  (ver.  3,  4),  and  part  in 
the  north  (ver.  5,  6). 

Ver.  2.  AU  the  circles  of  the  Phihstines,  and 
aU  Geshuri.  nib^'brVs,  LXX.  rightly  :  &>«a, 
Vidg. :  Galilffia,  and  hence  Luther :  Galilee  of  the 
Philistines.  Geshuri  is  not  to  be  confounded  with 
the  country  of  the  Geshurites  on  Lebanon,  men- 
tioned ch.  xii.  5  ;  xiii.  13,  but  is  to  be  looked  for 
in  the  south  of  Palestine  near  Philistia. 

Ver.  3.  From  Sihor.  "lirT'ty  from  ll^t?-',  to 
be  black,  properly,  black  stream  ;  but  not  here,  as 
in  Is.  xxiii.  3 ;  Jer.  ii.  18,  the  Nile,  which  De 
Wette  judges  it  to  be,  but,  according  to  the  con- 
vincing analogy  of  1  Chron.  xiii.  5,  the  7n2 
n'^T'^^j  the  brook    of    Egypt,   Ehiuokolura,   or 

Rhinokorura,  which  actually  flows  before,  i.  e. 
eastwardly  (more  accurately  northeastwai-dly)  from 
Egypt,  while  the  Nile  takes  its  course  through  the 
middle  of  that  countiy.  Von  Raumer  well  re- 
marks in  his  excursus  on  this  passage  (p.  53) : 
"  That  under  the  name  Shihor  the  Nile  was  by  no 
means  alone  intended,  is  evident  from  the  single 
fact  that  Josh.  xix.  26  refers  to  a  border  stream  of 
Asher  of  the  same  name.  If  the  Nile  was  called 
Shihor,  niger,  quia  ni(/rum  Ititum  devehit,  why  should 
not  other  streams  receive  the  same  name  for  the 
same  reason.     Have  we    not    in    Germany  and 

to  one  who  admits  the  histofict^l  credibility  of  the  book.  - 
Tb.] 


118 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


America  streams  which  arc  called  Schwartzbach, 
Black  Creek,  Black  River,  Green  Biver,  etc.? "  It 
may  be  added  that  many  names  of  streams  and 
streamlets  may  be  met  witli  bearing  the  same  or 
closely  related  names,  from  the  repetition  of  the 
same  features  in  ditierent  places. 

Even  unto  the  border  of  Ekron.  Ekron,  'Ako- 
owv,  ^ kKKapinv  in  the  LXX.,  between  Ashdod  and 
Jamnia,  one  of  the  five  cities  of  the  Philistines, 
mentioned  elsewhere  in  the  Book  of  Joshua  sev- 
eral times,  ch.  xv.  11,  45,  46;  xix.  4.3 ;  accord- 
ing to  Judg.  i.  18  conquered  by  Judah,  afterward 
lost  again,  then  again  conquered,  under  Samuel 
(1  Sam.  vii.  14).  It  was  the  city  of  the  fly- 
Baal,  Baal-zebub,  whose  proteges  are  still  to  be 
found  there  in  great  numbers.  At  least  Van  de 
Velde  complains  (ii.  1 73  apud  von  Raumer,  p. 
185)  very  bitterly  of  them.  Jeremiah  (xxv.  20)  ; 
Amos  (i.  8)  ;  Zephaniah  (ii.  4)  ;  Zecharia  (ix.  5,  7) 
prophesied  against  Ekron.  Robinson  (iii.  2-3-25) 
thinks  he  discovered  it  in  Ahir,  pronounced  Agh- 
rum,  according  to  Furrer,  p.  135,  a  small  village 
built  of  unburnt  bricks  or  clay.  "  The  radical 
letters  of  the  Arabic  name  are  the  same  as  those 
of  the  Hebrew,  and  the  position  too  corresponds 
with  all  we  know  of  Ekron,"  that  is,  with  the  state- 
ment of  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  that  it  should  be 
between  Ashdod  and  Jamnia ;  for  "  such  is  the 
actual  position  of  Akir  relative  to  Esdud  and 
Gebna  at  the  present  day." 

ShaU  it  be  counted  to  the  Canaanites.  This 
land  shall  be  regarded  as  Canaanitish,  and  so  sub- 
ject to  conquest,  although  the  Philistines  were  not 
Canaanites,  but  according  to  Gen.  x.  13  sprang 
from  Mizraim.  So  also  Knobel :  "  The  country 
from  the  brook  of  Egypt,  northward,  is  reckoned 
to  the  Canaanite,  i.  e.  to  Canaan,  and  was  there- 
fore to  be  taken  into  account  also,  since  Israel  was 
to  receive  the  whole  of  Canaan." 

Five  lords  of  the  Philistines  :  the  Gazathite 
(Gazite),  the  Ashdothite,  the  Ashkelonite,  the 
Gittite  (Gathite)  and  the  Ekronite.  The  lords 
or  chiefs  are   named   instead  of  the  cities.     The 

Gazite,  ruler  of  Gaza,  H-T^?,  Ta^a,  first  mentioned, 
Gen.  x."19,  as  a  border  town  of  the  Canaanite 
peoples  ;  in  our  book,  x.  41  ;  xi.  22 ;  xv.  47,  con- 
i[uered  by  Judah,  Judg.  i.  18,  afterward  lost  again, 
Judg.  iii.  3.  Samson  carried  the  gates  of  Gaza 
to  a  hill  (Jndg.  xvi.  21-30)  which  is  now  shown 
one  half  hour  from  the  city.  As  against  Ekron, 
the  prophets  prophesied  also  against  Gaza ,  Jere- 
miah (xxv.  20;  xlvii.  5),  Amos  (i.  6,  7)  Zeph- 
aniah (ii.  4),  Zechariah  (ix.  5).  On  the  road  from 
Jerusalem  to  Gaza,  Philip  baptized  the  eunuch 
(Acts  viii.  30).  It  lies  in  a  fruitful  region,  rich  in 
palms  and  olive-trees,  on  a  small  hill  about  an 
hour  from  the  sea;  is  at  present  larger  than  Jeru- 
salem (Robinson,  ii.  372),  a  chief  emporium  be- 
tween Egypt  and  Syria,  lying  on  the  great  cara- 
van route,  and  distinguished  by  good  springs. 
The  ])opulation  may  be  about  fifteen  or  sixteen 
thousand.  Robinson  [uJii  sup.)  gives  a  very  in- 
structive sketch  of  the  history  of  the  city,  which 
has  suffered  much  in  the  military  campaigns  of 
thousands  of  years.  A  very  pleasant  description 
is  found  in  Fnrrer  (p.  119-122).     The  Ashdothite. 

Ashdod,  li"^pW,  "aC^otos,  ch.  xi.  22  ;  xv.  46,  47. 
Here  Dagon  fell  before  the  ark  of  God  (1  Sam.  v. 
1-7  ;  vi.  17)  ;  and  this  city  also  shared  in  the  male- 
lictions  of  the  prophets  mentioned  above,' in  the 
same'  passages  which  were  there  quoted.  It  like- 
wise is  named  in  the  account  of  the  eunuch  from 
Ethiopia  (Acts  viii.  40).     It  is  now  called  Esdud, 


a  village  of  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  mis- 
erable hovels,  lying  on  a  "  low  round  eminence,* 
and  surrounded  by  an  extensive  grove  of  olive 
trees  (Furrer,  p.  133,  Robinson,  ii.  368).  Of  an 
tiquities  Furrer  found  in  the  village,  not  a  single 
one.  "  Of  the  ancient  city  of  the  Philistines  which 
once  stood  here,"  he  says,  "  that  Ashdod  about 
which  the  Assyrian  (Is.  xx.  1)  and  Egyptian 
armies  often  encamped,  everything  but  the  name 
has  utterly  vanished."     The  Ashkelonite.  AshkeloQ 

(and  Askelon),  Ti^r?P^)  mentioned  nowhere  else 
in  our  book,  conquered  by  Judah  (Judg.  i.  18),  but 
not  named  among  the  •cities  of  -Judah  (Josh.  xv. 
45-47), — a  circumstance  which  favors  the  opinion 
that  the  list  was  composed  in  the  time  of  Joshua, 
and  not  later  —  was,  next  to  Gaza,  probably  the 
most  important  city  of  the  Philistines,  at  whose 
gates  David  would  not  have  the  tidings  of  the 
death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  proclaimed  (2  Sam.  i 
20),  lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  shoulo 
rejoice.  Like  the  other  Philistine  cities,  Ashkelon 
was  threatened  by  the  prophets  with  divine  punish- 
ment. S"amson  slew  here  thirty  Philistines.  Jona- 
than the  Maccabffian  conquered  the  city  twice  (1 
Mac.  X.  86 ;  xi.  60).  Herod  the  Great  was  born 
here,  according  to  Eusebius  {Hist.  Ecd.  i.  6),  was 
called  Ascalonita,  and  adorned  the  place  with 
baths  and  fountains.  It  was  distinguished  origin- 
ally for  hatred  against  the  Jews,  later  for  enmity 
toward  the  Christians.  During  the  Crnsades  many 
conflicts  took  place  here.  Its  destruction  by  Sala- 
din  (1191)  terminated  its  splendor  forever;  and 
Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  as  Ritter  relates  at  large, 
(xvi.  70  ff.  [Gage's  Transl.  iii.  213  ff.]),  caused  its 
ruins  to  be  explored  without  finding  silver  or  gold. 
The  ruins  are  of  vast  proportions.  The  village  of 
New  Ashkelon  lying  near  the  sea  is  surrounded 
with  green.  "  Thus  Ashkelon,  with  the  adjacent 
village,  formed  an  extremely  fertile  oasis  in  the 
midst  of  a  i^erfectly  desert  region ;  although, 
through  the  numerous  gajjs  and  rents  in  the  gi- 
gantic stone  wall,  the  wind  has  at  certain  points 
swept  the  sand  of  the  desert  into  the  very  site  of 
the  city"  (Furrer,  p.  128).     Tiie  Gittite  (Gathite) 

Gath,  mentioned  already,  ch.  xi.  22 ;  nS,  r/rTo, 
(Joseph.),  TeQ  (LXX.),  was  the  home  of  Goliath 
(1  Sam.  xvii.  4);  connected  with  Ashkelon  in 
David's  lamentation  (2  Sam.  i.  20),  conquered  by 
David  (1  Chron.  xix.  1).  Micha(i.  10)  and  Amos 
(vi.  2)  make  mention  of  this  city,  whose  ruins 
Robinson  (ii.  220)  sought  for  in  vain.  On  Menke's 
atlas,  map  iii.,  its  nam.e  is  brought  in  without  the 
sign  of  a  town,  on  the  border  of  the  second  group 
of  low  land  cities  belonging  to  the  tribe  of  Judah. 
Knobel  (p  433),  after  the  example  of  Hitzig  (  f/yv/e- 
schichte  der  PhiJister,  p.  154),  conjectures  that  Bult- 
oyd^pa  in  Ptolenr.  5,  16,  6,  Betogabri  in  Tdh. 
Peutinq.  ix.  6,  Eleutheropolis  of  the  Fathers,  the 
present  Beit  Jibrin,  is  the  same  as  Gath.  —  The 
Ekronite,  see  above  ver.  3.  —  The  Avites,  "  south  of 
Gaza,"  Deut.  ii.  23. 

Ver.  4.  In  the  South.  The  Masoretic  division 
of  the  verse  we  must  here  give  up,  as  Havcrnick, 
Keil,  and  Knobel  have  doiu3,  since  the  specification 

—  ^^'^nT2,  standing   unquestionably   in   contrast 

with  n^'iD!^  (ver.  3),  suits  very  well  with  the 
preceding,  but  not  at  all  with  what  follows.  Rather 
the  author  turns  here,  ver.  4,  to  an  enumeration 
of  the  portions  of  the  country  lying  in  the  north 
which  require  yet  to  be  fully  subjugated. 

All  the  land  of  the  Canaanites.     Phoen  'cia  is 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


119 


intended,  and  in  particular,  the  low-land  there  as 
well  as  the  "  mountain  country  from  Mearah  even 
to  the  border  of  the  Amorites  "  (Knobel). 

Mearah.  Since  n"127J2  properly  signified  a 
cave,  tlic  conjecture  proposed  by  Rosenmiiller  [Bibl. 
Geog.  ii.  1,  pp.  39,  40),  although  Robinson  (iii.  412) 
regards  it  "  as  of  very  questionable  value,"  may 
safely  he  approved,  with  Ritter  (xvii.  99)  and  Kno- 
bel, namely,  that  we  here  have  a  reference  to  the 
cavea  de  Ti/ro  mentioned  by  Will.  Tyr.  (xix.  11), 
which  he  describes  as  a  spelunca  inexpugnabilis,  an 
old  burial-place  of  the  Sidonians  ;  at  present,  Mughr 
Jezzin,  i.  e.  Cave  of  Jezzin,  on  Lebanon,  east  of  Si' 
don.    Ritter,  uhi  sup. 

Aphek,  now  Afka  (Robinson,  Later  Bibl.  Res.  p. 
60.3  tf. ) ,  northeast  of  Beirut ;  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  better  known  Aphek,  in  the  ti'ibe  of 
Issachar,  where  the  camp  of  the  Philistines  was 
pitched  before  their  victory  over  Saul  (1  Sara, 
xxix.  1-31 ),  and  where  Benhadad  was  subsequently 
captured  (1  K.  xx.  26-30).  The  Aphek  before  us, 
called  by  the  Greeks  "Atfa/ca,  noted  for  the  temple 
of  Venus,  destroyed  by  Constantine  the  "Great,  be- 
longed, as  we  see  "from  ch.  xix.  30,  to  Asher.  A  third 
Aphek  (von  Raum.  p.  242),  now  Feik,  a  village  of 
200  families,  lies  on  the  east  side  of  the  sea  of  Ti- 
berias, on  the  road  from  Hanran  to  the  Jordan. 
This  place  is  indicated  in  the  Oiiom.  as  a  castellum 
graTide.  There  was  also  a  fourth  place  of  the  name 
(ch.  XV.  53)  on  the  mountain  of  Judah. 

To  the  borders  of  the  Amorites,  i.  e.  to  the 
land  once  inhabited  by  the  Amorites,  which  be- 
longed to  Og,  king  of  Bashan  (Mich.,  Dereser, 
Rosenmiiller,  Keil). 

Ver.  .5.  The  land  of  the  Giblites.  The  land 
of  Gibli,  ?'.  e.  of  the  race  of  Gebal  (1  K.  v.  32  (18) ; 
Ez.  xxvii.  9),  a  district  north  of  Berytus,  on  the 
sea,  still  called  Jobail,  by  the  Arabs,  but  in  the 
classics  "Byblus"  (Knobel).  Byblus  itself  lay  on  the 
sea  (Ez.  xxvii.  9),  was  a  scat  of  the  Adonis-wor- 
ship (Winer,  i.  206),  "  home  of  the  Phoenician  arti- 
sans called  by  Solomon  to  the  buihling  of  the  tem- 
ple (1  K.  V.  32  (18).  The  country  belonging  to  it 
probablylay  east  of  the  city  "  (von  Raum.  p.  26,  28). 

All  Lebanon  towards  the  sun-rising,  i.  e.  the 
Anti-Lebanon. 

Baal-Gad,  not  Baalbec,  as  Knobel  here  again 
maintains,  but,  as  was  shown  on  ch.  xi.  17,  Cses- 
ai'oja  Philippi.  So  also  Menke  on  Map  iii.,  who 
strangely  writes  Baal-Gath  instead  of  Baal-Gad  — 
perhaps  a  mei'c  oversight. 

Hamath.  A  northern  boundary  point  of  Pales- 
tine, mentioned  Num.  xxxiv.  8,  in  our  book  here 
and  in  ch.  xix.  33,  and  many  times  throughout  the 
O.  T.,  particularly  during  the  period  of  greatest 
renown  of  the  Jewish  dominion  under  David  and 
Solomon.  Then  the  kingdom  actually  extended 
to  that  point  (see  the  side-map  to  Map  iii.  in 
Menke's  Atlas),  2  Sam.  viii.  .3-12  ;  1  Chron.  xviii. 
3-11  ;  1  Chron.  xiii.  5;  1  K.  viii.  65;  2  Chron. 
vii.  8  ;  i!  K.  xiv.  25-28.  So  far  had  the  spies 
originally  penetrated  (Num.  xiii.  21).  According 
to  the  Oiiom.  Hamath  =  Epiphania  on  the  Orontes, 
at  the  present  time,  Hamah,  seat  of  a  Greek  bishop 
(Robinson,  iii.  456  [see  also  Later  Blhl.  Res.  p. 
568]).  Yet  Jacobites  also  dwell  there  subject  to  the 
Jacobite  patriarch  who  resides  in  Mesopotamia 
(Robinson,  iii.  461).  The  city  is  veiy  large, 
and  numbers  100,000  inhabitants  (Winer,  i. 
1.58). 

Ver.  G.  There  I'emain  besides,  and  are  to  be  con- 
qiu^red,  aU  the  inhabitants  of  the  momitains 
from  X^banon  unto  Misrephoth-maim,  aU  the 


Sidonians,  i.  e.  all  the  heathen  tribes  dwelling 
south  of  the  Lebanon  as  far  as  to  the  present  prom- 
ontory Ras  en-Nakura  (see  on  ch.  xi.  8).  Knobel 
here  explains  Misrephoth-maim  simply  as  "  prom 
ontory  of  Nakura,"  while,  according  to  the  com- 
ments on  ch.  xi.  8,  his  opinion,  there  controverted  by 
us,  appears  to  include  under  the  name  the  other 
promontory  also,  Ras  el-Abiad. 

Only  divide  thou  it  by  lot  unto  Israel  for  a  pos- 
session. These  words  connect  themselves  with 
ver.  1,  and  particularly  the  conclusion  of  that 
verse,  as  Keil  has  well  observed.  As  I  have  com- 
manded thee,  comp.  ch.  i.  6. 

Ver.  7.  More  definite  statement  ,as  to  whom 
the  land  should  be  divided  among.  According  to 
ch.  xiv.  1,  Joshua  did  not  perfonn  this  service  alone, 
but  in  connection  with  the  high-priest  Eleazer,  and 
the  elders  of  the  ])eople. 

2.  The  Territonj  of  the  Two  and  a  Half  Tribes 
East  of  the  Jordan,  as  Moses  had  already  bestowea 
it  upon  them,  vers.  8-33. — a.  Its  Borders,  vers. 
8-13.  To  that  is  added  a  notice  of  the  tailure  of 
the  tribe  of  Levi  to  receive  a  possession,  vers.  14. 

Ver.  8.  With  him,  t.  e.  Manasseh,  but  the 
other  half  of  Manasseh. 

Vers.  9-12.  These  statements  are,  with  slight 
variation,  the  same  as  ch.  xii.  1-6.  Thus  instead 
of  the  halfGilead  in  xii.  2,  we  have  here  All  the 
table-land  of  Medeba  imto  Dibon.  Of  Medeba 
we  shall  speak  on  ver.  16,  of  Dibon,  on  ver.  17. 

In  ver.  13  it  is  significantly  stated  that  the  Gesh- 
nrites  and  Maachathites  were  not  driven  out. 
Similar  remarks  occur  ch.  xv.  63;  xvi.  10;  xvii. 
12  ff. 

Ver.  14  is  repeated  in  ver.  33,  yet  not  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  expression.     Thus,  while  it  is  said 

here  that"'"'  ^'^^t  i-  e.  the  offerings  of  Jehovah, 
should  be  the  portion  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  Jeho- 
vah Himself  is  there  called  their  possession.  It  is 
the  same  in  sense;  without  earthly  inheritance 
Jehovah  and  his  worship  should  be  the  only  pos- 
session of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  The  directions  of  the 
law  Num.  xviii.,  may  be  compared  with  this,  from 
which  it  appears  in  what  manner,  through  the  di- 
vine worship  itself,  the  bodily  subsistence  of  the 
priests  and  their  attendants  was  provided  for. 

b.  The  Possession  of  the  Tribe  of  Reuben,  vers. 
1 5-23.  There  follow,  now  evidently  on  the  ground 
of  old  registers,  the  several  boundaries  of  the  tribes 
east  of  the  Jordan  ;  of  which  Reuben  comes  first. 
They  are  found  in  shorter  compass,  Num.  xxxii. 
34-42. 

Ver.  16.  Medeba,  now  Medaba,  mentioned  in 
a  song  of  triumph.  Num.  xxi.  30 ;  according  to  ver. 
9,  and  this  passage,  belonging  to  Reuben  ;  later  to 
Moab,  Is.  XV.  2.  The  ruins,  on  a  hill,  have  a  compass 
of  half  an  hour,  about  two  hours  from  Heshlwu. 

The  plain  (~)b''^^rr)  by  Medeba.  The  plateau 
east  of  Abai'im  or  mount  Pisgah  is  meant  (comp. 
ch.  xii.  3),  comp.  also  Knobel  on  Num.  xxi.  10,  ll.^ 
Ver.  17.  Heshbon,  also,  lies,  like  Medeba,  on 
this  table-land,  comp.  xii.  2.  —  Dibon,  mentioned 
Num.  xxi.  30,  like  Medeba  ;  now  Diban  [the  site 
of  the  recently  discovered  monumental  stone 
(Moabite  stone)  containing  a  valuable  inscription 
of  great  antiquity. —  Tr.],  an  hour  north  of  the 
Anion.  There  were  not  two  Dibons,  as  the  Oiioin. 
assumes,  but  the  one  Dibon  is  ascribed.  Num.  xxxii. 
3,  34,  to  Gad,  here  to  Reuben,  comp.  also,  ver.  9. 

1  [Among  recent  travellers,  the  account  given  by  Tris- 
tram in  his  Land  of  Israel,  will  be  found  graphic  and  in- 
structive. —  Tr.] 


120 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Bamoth-Baal,  Num.  xxiv.  20,  a  stopping-place 
of  the  Israelites. 

Beth-baal-meon,  ealled  also,  briefly  Baal-meon 
(Num.  xxxii.  .38),  now  Macin,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Attarus,  which  rai.ses  itself  "  to  the  east  of  the 
northern  end  of  the  Dead  Sea"  (von  Kaura.  p.  71, 
72). 

Ver.  18.  Jahaza.  Here  Sihon  was  slain.  Num. 
xxi.  23  ;  Deut.  ii.  32  ;  Judg.  xi.  20.  According  to 
ch.  xxi.  36,  a  Lcvitical  city,  cf.  also  1  Chron.  vii.  28. 
It  was  later  retaken  by  Moab,  Is.  xv.  4 ;  Jer.  xlviii. 
21.  Not  given  07i  Menke's  map,  on  von  Rau- 
mer's  accom|)anicd  with  an  interrogation  point. 

Kedemoth,  another  city  of  the  Levites,  ch.  xxi. 
37;  1  Chron.  vi.  79. 

Mephaath,  also  a  Levite  city,  ch.  xxi.  37 ;  1 
Chron.  vi.  79,  later  of  the  Moabites.  In  Jerome's 
time  here  was  a  lloman  garrison  for  a  protection 
against  the  dwellers  in  the  wilderness  (von  Kaum. 
p.  265). 

Ver.  19.  Kirjathaim.  It  is  related.  Gen.  xiv.  5, 
that  Chedorlaoraer  here  smote  the  Emim.  From 
the  present  passage,  and  Num.  xxxii.  37,  it  be- 
longed to  Reuben;  later  to  Moab,  Jer.  xlviii.  1, 
23 ;  Ez.  XXV.  9.  In  the  time  of  Jerome  very  many 
Christians  lived  here  (von  Raumer,  p.  263). 

Sibmah,  very  near  Heshbon. 

Zareth-shahar  on  the  mount  of  the  valley. 
The    name  signifies    "  splendor    of   the   dawn," 

(HT?^  according  to  Gesenius  perhaps  =  n^HlJ, 
1  Chron.  iv.  7).  Von  Raumer  makes  no  mention 
of  it.  Winer  and  Keil  conjecture  that  Zereth- 
shahar,  which  is  nowhere  else  named  (nomen  loci 
forsan  in  a/irico  colle  siti,  cnjus  nusquam  alias  fit 
vientio,  Rosenm.  on  this  place),  may  have  lain  near 
Nebo  or  Pisgah,  "  not.  far  from  Heshbon  on  the 
■west,"  (Keil).  Menke  has  introduced  the  name 
west  of  Mount  Pisgah,  toward  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
somewhat  south  of  Zerka-maim,  perhaps  because 
Zereth-shahar  is  indicated  as  situated  on  a  moun- 
tain of  the  valley. 

Ver.  20.  Beth-peor,  probably  not  far  from  the 
mountain  of  Peor ;  opposite  Jericho,  according  to 
the  Onom. 

The  foot-hills  of  Pisgah,  and  Beth-jeshimoth, 
ch.  xii.  3. 

Ver.  21.  AU  the  cities  of  the  table-land  and 
all  the  kingdom  of  Sihon  king,  etc.  Meaning  : 
"all  the  other  cities  of  the  level  (the  plain)  and 
the  whole  kingdom  of  Sihon,  as  far  as  it  extended 
on  the  ])lain."  So  Keil,  rightly  taking  into  ac- 
count the  statement  of  ver.  27.  The  victory  of 
Moses  over  Sihon  is  here  related  more  fully  than 
in  ver.  12.  There  are  beside  himself  five  Midian- 
ite  princes  named,  Evi,  Rekcm,  Znr,  Hur,  and 
Reba,  and  in   the  same  order  as   Num.  xxxi.  8, 

where,  however,  they  are  called    R5  "^^f^?    while 

here  they  are  styled  ^  "^^^?)  just  as  in  Gen.  xvii. 
20  the  princes  of  the  Ishmaelites,  and  in  Num.  iv. 
34  as  well  as  ch.  ix.  18  of  our  book,  the  princes  of 

the  congregation  of  Israel,  "^^^V^  "^^^5)  the 
princes  of  their  tribes  are  mentioned  (Num.  vii.  11 
ff. ;  xxxiv.  18,  and  often).     They  are  at  the  same 

time  designated  as  the  anointed  of  Sihon  (^5"*?? 

C),   i.  e.  his  vassals.     In  this  sense  of  anointed, 

prince  =  n^tL''tt,  "the  word  staiids  only  in  the 
plural,  and  always,  as  would  seem,  of  native,  al- 
though dependent  and,  as  in  Josh.  xiii.  21,  s\ih- 
jugaied,  princes,  and  not  of  installed,  ordinary  of- 
^cials  "  (Gcscn.).     Keil  would,  with  Hcngstenberg 


(onPs.  ii.  6),  translate  Q'^p'^pS  by  "poured  out 

[founded  or  cast],  because  he  thinks  TfD3  cinnol 
be  proved  to  have  been  used  in  the  sense  of  "  to 
anoint."  Hitzig  likewise  contends  that  TfC^  can- 
not mean  "  anoint,"  for  which  rather  HW^  stands, 
Ps.  ii.  6,  but  will  hear  nothing  of  "  poured  out." 
He  reaches  back  after  an  Arabic  root  which  should 
signify  purify,  refine,  consecrate  to  God,  so  that 

in  the  passage  above  "'■^303  would  be  about  the 
same  as  "'.n^?i7.  In  this  view  D'^3*'P3  woidd 
properly  mean  "consecrated"  (to  God);  comp. 
Hitzig,  Psalms  i.  p.  9. 

Ver.  22.  Balaam,  Num.  xxii.  5  ff.,  is  here  char- 
acterized as  2pp,  soothsayer,  like  the  prophets  of 
the  Philistines,  1  Sam.  vi.  2,  and  the  necromancers 
1  Sam.  xxviii.  8,  different  from  the  M'^p^,  the  true 
prophet,  who  is  also  called  H^"")  (1  Sam.  ix.  9),  or 
^}n  (1  Chron.  xxi.  9;  xxv.  5;  xxix.  29).     The 

Qpp  divines  properly  through  inscribed  lots  ($e\- 
o/iavTia). 

Ver.  23.  And  the  border  ....  was  the  Jor- 
dan and  the  border.  Houbigant  and  Clericus,  be- 
cause the  passage  is  obscure,  would  mend  the  text 
here  and  Num.  xxxiv.  6;  Deut.  iii.  16,  also  Josh, 
xiii.  27;  xv.  12,  47.     Gesenius  (Thes.  i.  394  ff.) 

takes  "1  =  simnl,  etiam,  thus  :  Jordanes  qui'simid  ter- 
minus erat.  Knobel  (on  Num.  xxxiv.  6)  and  Keil 
(at  this  place)  ex])lain  :  "The  sea  (Num.  xxxiv. 
6),  the  Jordan,  with  Its  territory,  with  its  banks, 
shall  be  the  boundary."  This  sense  is  indicated 
by  De  Wette  also  in  his  translation,  which  we  have 
adopted  [der  Jordan  und  das  Anrjrenzende,  the  Jor- 
dan and  what  borders  it].    Bunsen  appears  to  take 

T  as  epexegetical,  ti'anslating :  "  that  is,  its  mar- 
gin," coming  close  therefore  to  Gesenius. 

Their  villages,  comp.  ver.  28,  xv.  32,  36,  41, 47, 

48,  and  often,  "l^^p,  a  farm,  village,  ewavhi 
(LXX  Kw/x-q),  which  was  not  inclosed,  like  a  city, 
with  walls,"  (Keil.)  By  the  Caucasians  such  a  vil- 
lage is  called  an  Aul,  reminding  us  of  erravAis  [and 
av\ri]. 

c.  Ver.  24-28.  The  Possession  of  the  Tribe  of  Gad. 

Ver.  25.  Jazer,  snatched  from  the  Amorites, 
Num.  xxi.  32,  belonging  to  Gad,  Num.  xxxii.  35, 
as  here,  a  Levite  city,  ch.  xxi.  39 ;  1  Chron.  vii. 
81.  Later,  like  many  other  of  the  cities  already 
mentioned,  it  belonged  again  to  the  Moabites  (Is. 
xvi.  8,  9  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  32)  ;  conquered  by  Judas 
Maccabaeus,  1  Mac.  v.  8.  Burckhardt  (p.  609)  held 
the  present  Ain  Hazir  to  be  Jazer  {apnd  von  Rau- 
mer, p.  262),  and  with  this  von  Raumer  agrees. 
Seetzen  conjectured  that  Szyr  or  Scirwas  to  be  re- 
garded as  this  place,  with  whom,  beside  Keil,  Van 
de  Veldc,  and  Menke  (Map  iii.  compared  with  Map 
viii.)  coincide. 

All  the  cities  of  Gilead,  ?'.  e.  of  the  southern 
part  of  Gilead,  to  the  Jabbok,  for  the  other  half 
which  belonged  not  to  the  kingdom  of  Sihon,  but 
to  that  of  Og  king  of  Bashan,  fell,  as  we  learn 
from  ver.  31,  to  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh.  For 
the  rest  comp.  on  ch.  xii.  2. 

The  half  of  the  land  of  the  sons  of  Ammon 
unto  Aroer  that  is  before  Babbah.  This  Aroer 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Aroer  of  Reuben  on 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Arnon,  ch.  xii.  2;  xiii 
9,  16.     It  is  Aroer  of  Gad,  which  is  before  Rabba 


CHAPTER  Xm. 


121 


that  is  Rabba  or  Rabbath  of  the  Ammonites  (Deut. 
iii.  11),  which,  aiiain,  is  diftercnt  from  Rabba  of 
the  Moabitcs  (von  Raumer,  p.  271).  Aroer  of 
Gad,  from  Num.  xxxii.  34,  was  built  by  the  Gad- 
itcs.  From  hence  to  Abel- keramim,  Jephtha 
smote  the  Ammonites  (Judg.  xi.  3.3)  in  tliat  vic- 
tory so  portentous  to  the  life  of  his  daughter. 
There  Joab  encamped  on  the  occasion  of  that  cen- 
sus of  the  people  so  portentous  to  David  (2  Sam. 
xxiv.  5).  "Probably  Ayra,  southwest  of  es-Salt" 
(von  Raumer,  p.  259).  "For  'before,'  cannot 
here,"  as  von  Raumer  correctly  says,  "  possibly 
signify  '  to  the  east  of  Rabbah,  since  Aroer,  as  a 
city  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  must  have  lain  west  of 
Rabbah.  '  Before '  signifies,  probably,  that  if  one 
goes  from  the  Jordan  toward  Rabbah,  Aroer  lies 
before  Rabbah."  So  likewise  Burckhardt  (p.  609). 
Ver.  26.  From  Heshbon  to  Ramothmizpeh. 
and  Betonim.  Thus  the  extension  northward  of 
the  ten-itory  of  the  tribe  is  expressed.  From  Hesh- 
bon. We  need  not  suppose  with  Keil  that  Hesh- 
bon, belonging  to  Reuben  (ver.  17),  lay  exactly  on 
the  border  between  Reuben  and  Gad,  but  "  from 
Heshbon  "  =  '^from  the  region  of  Heshbon."  To 
liamath-mizpeh  and  Betonim,  Again,  also,  'into 
the  region  of  these  cities.  Ramath-mizpeh,  /.  e. 
Height  of  the  Watch,  as  von  Raumer  translates. 
We  have  already,  ch.  xi.  8,  met  with  a  valley  of 
Mizpeh,   concerning  which  see    the  explanation 

there.     This  Ramath-mizpeh  is  called  also  mX^T 

"T^ySS,  ch.  XX.  8  ;  a  city  of  the  Levites,  ch.  xxi. 
38 ;  1  Chron.  vi.  80 ;  a  city  of  refuge,  according 
to  ch.  XX.  8,  and  Deut.  iv.  43  ;  in  Solomon's  time 
the  residence  of  one  of  his  prefects  (I  K.  iv.  13 
(see  the  side  map  of  Menkes'  Map  iii-)).  Here 
Ahab  was  mortally  wounded,  as  Micha  had  proph- 
esied to  him  (1  K.  xxii.  1-37;  2  Chron.  xviii.), 
his  son  Joram  slain  by  Hazael  king  of  the  Syrians, 
(2  K.  viii.  28),  and  Jehu  anointed  (2  K.  ix.  1-6). 
Probably  it  was  the  present  Salt  on  the  road  from 
Jericho  to  Damascus.  The  road  from  Nablus 
(Shechem)  also  here  joins  the  former,  as  Van  de 
Velde's  map  distinctly  shows.  Without  doubt 
this  has  been  so  for  thousands  of  years,  and  hence 
the  repeated  collision  of  Isi-aelitish  and  Syrian 
armies  at  this  point  was  very  natural.  —  Betonim. 
It  still  existed  in  Jerome's  time  ( Onom.  s.  v. "  Both- 
nia"), yet  he  can  say  nothing  of  its  site. 

From  Mahanaim  tmto  the  border  of  Debir. 
In  this  language  the  extension  of  the  country  of 
Gad  from  east  to  west  is  indicated.  Mahanaim,  i.  e. 
double  camp,  or  double  army  (of  the  angels),  most 
familiar  both  from  the  narrative  of  Jacob's  return 
homeward  (Gen.  xxxii.  2),  and  from  the  history 
of  David  who  fled  thither  from  Absalom  (2  Sam. 
xvii.  24,  27  ;  1  K.  ii.  8).  Here  also  Ishbosheth  was 
summoned  by  Abner  to  be  king.  A  Levitical  city, 
ch.  xxi.  39  ;  1  Chron.  vii.  SO ;  the  residence  of  a  pre- 
fect in  Solomon's  time  (1  K.  iv.  16).  The  site  can- 
not be  accurately  given.  Von  Raimier  looks  for  it  in 
tlie  Jordan  meadow  (p.  253),  because  it  lay  north 
of  the  Jalibok,  and  yet  belonged  to  Gad.  But 
north  of  the  jabbok  Gad's  border  (p.  231)  only 
took  in  the  Jordan  meadow,  as  he  thinks.  To  this 
assum])tion  Keil  rightly  replies:  "But,  since  Ma- 
lianaim,  according  to  ver.  30,  lay  on  tlie  border  of 
Manasseh,  and  already  belonged  to  Bashan,  it  may 
also  have  lain  on  the  plateau  north  of  the  Jabbok, 
perhaps  near  a  ford  of  that  stream  (Gen.  xxxii. 
L'2),  since  nowhere  in  the  O.  T.  is  the  Jabbok  sjioken 
af  as  the  northern  border  of  the  territory  of  Gad." 
Tliis  yievy  is  adopted  also  by  Menkc  in  his  Atlas. 


Unto  the  border  of  Debir  ("IS'rb).  Since  ^ 
as  a  sign  of  the  Stat,  constr.  occurs  nowhere  else  in 
our  book,  J.  D.  MichaeJis,  appealing  to  2  Sam.  ix. 

4  and  xvii.  27,  proposed  to  read  "'^T  S7,  which  is 
favored  by  the  circumstance  that  in  2  Sam.  xvii. 

27,  "l^"!  M7  occurs  in  connection  with  Mahanaim, 
Hitzig  {Begr.  d.  Krit.  p.  137,  apud  Keil,  p.  341)  con- 
jectures that  the  V  was  only  an  error  in  copying, 
from  the  repetition  of  the  ?  in  7^32.     Keil  thinks 

it  possible  that  the  ?  may  have  belonged  to  the 
name,  which  would  then  be  sounded  Lidhbir. 
Since  the  LXX.  read  Ae^ip,  we  decide  for  the  view 
of  Hitzig,  rejecting  the  suppositions  of  Michaelis 
and  Keil.-  Where  this  Debir  lay  (the  third,  for 
there  were  two  in  Judaja,  von  Raumer,  p.  184)  is 
not  made  out.  Even  Eusebius  could  say  nothing 
of  it  except  that  it  was  iroAh  tS>v  'Afioppaicov.  Per- 
haps, on  the  heights  which  border  the  Jordan,  and 
hence  named  as  their  western  boundary  point  1 

Ver.  27.  In  the  valley.  The  Jordan  valley 
is   meant,   as    in    ch.   xvii.    16,   elsewhere  called 

T  T  -:  T 

Betharam,  ah'cady  Num.  xxxii.  36  belong- 
ing to  Gad,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Peor,  afterward 
called  Julius  or  Livias,  but  not  to  be  identified 
with  the  Gaulanitic  Julias  (von  Raumer,  p.  260). 
Beth-nimra,  also  Nunr.  xxxii.  36,  referred  to 
Gad  ;  now  the  ruins  of  Kemrim. 

Succoth  and  Zaphon,  likewise  in  the  Jordan 
valley.  In  regard  to  Succoth,  cf.  especially  Robin- 
son [Later  Bibl.  iies.,  pp.  311,312)  and  von  Raum. 
(p.  256,  Remark  347).  Even  iinto  the  end  of  the 
sea  of  Cinnereth,  cf.  ch.  xii.  3. 

Ver.  28.  Thus  the  country  of  the  sons  of  Reu- 
ben and  Gad  tor/ether  covers  the  kingdom  of  Sihon. 
Cf  ch.  xii.  2,  .3'. 

d.  The  Possession  of  the  Half  Tribe  of  Manasseh, 
ver.  29-32.  This  embraces  the  kingdom  of  Og, 
ch.  xii.  4,  5.  From  Mahanaim.  To  be  under- 
stood as  was  "  from  Heshbon,"  ver.  26. 

VUlages  of  Jair.  H-in  =  r[^n  life,  the  name  of 
the  first  woman  as  the  mother  of  all  living,  Gen. 
iii.    20 ;  iv.    1 ;    here  as    Num.  xxxii.  41  ;  Deut. 

iii.  14  =  camp,  tent-village.  "  The  name  H^H 
opcurs  only  of  the  villages  of  Jair,  and  probably  de- 
notes a  particular  kind  of  towns;  but  it  is  yet  ob- 
scure "  (Knobel).  Keil  translates  the  name  Jair- 
life  [Jairleben],  thinking  probably  of  names  of 
towns  among  us,  like  Eisleben,  Aschersleben.  Kno- 
bel says  further,  on  Num.  xxxii.  41,  concerning 
these  villages  of  Jair :  "  The  division  of  Jair  con- 
quered the  cities  of  the  Amorites  and  named  them 
after  themselves.  These  Jair-towns,  sometimes 
given  as  23,  sometimes  30,  and  again  as  60  in 
number,  as  the  Manassite  occupation  of  the  coun- 
try changed  in  the  course  of  time,  were  given  up, 
together  with  Kenath  and  "  her  daughters,"  to  the 
Aramreans  and  Geshurites  (1  Chron.  ii.  23).  They 
lay  in  Bashan  (Josh.  xiii.  30)  or  in  Argob,  reach- 
ing as  far  as  the  border  of  Maacha  and  Gcshur 
(Deut.  iii.  14)  ;  hence  in  the  plain  of  Jaulan  and 
Hauran,  but  are  also  placed  in  the  land  of  Gilead 
( Judg.  x.  4  ;  1  Chron.  ii.  22),  and  are  mentioned 
with  Argob  in  Bashan  (1  K.  iv.  13).  This  may 
be  explained  in  this  way.  The  southern  part  of 
Hauran  lies  east  of  northern  Gilead,  then  follows, 
from  about  Remtha,  the  district  ez-Zueit  on  as  fxr 
as  the  Zerka  (Jabbok,  which  goes  up  far  to  the  east 
of  Gilead),  and  is  for  the  most  part,  a  flat  country 


122 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


with  many  uninhabited  places  (Eurek.  Si/ria, 
pp.  395,  397,  433  ff.,  Seetzen,  i.  p.  383).  Itbclongcil 
jointly  to  Manasseh.  Accordino-  to  Arabian  au- 
thorities there  must  lie  in  each  of  the  three  districts 
Zueit,  Jaulan,  and  Ledja,  366  ruined  towns  and  vil- 
lages (Buekintiham,  <.Sy/7«,  ii.  pp.  118,  142,434); 
and  Dhaberi  speaks  of  it  .as  a  common  opinion 
that  in  Haiiran  there  are  more  than  a  thousand 
places  (Rosenmilller,  Amik-cta  Arahica,  iii.  22)." 

Vcr.  31,  comp.  ch.  xii.  4.  "  This  northern  Gilead 
Dclonged  to  half  of  the  children  of  Machir  (1  Chr. 
V.  24).  The  others  received  their  portion  west  of 
the  Jordan,  ch.  xvii.  2  ff. 

Ver.  32.  A  repetition  of  the  statement  that 
Moses  had  already  ordered  this  division  of  the 
trans-Jordanic  country. 

Ver.  33,  comp.  v.  14.  —  On  von  Raumer's  hy- 
pothesis concerning  the  Jair-towns,  see  the  expla- 
nation of  ch.  xix.  34,  [comp.  also,  Stanley,  Sin.  <f- 
Pal.  App.  §  86  ;  Grove,  in  Did.  of  the  Bill.,  art. 
"Jair."  — Tr.] 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 
[Matt.  Henkt:     Note,  it  is  good  for   those 


who  are  old  and  stricken  in  years,  to  be  put  in  re- 
membrance of  their  being  so.  Some  have  gray 
hairs  here  and  there  upon  them  and  perceive  it  not. 
Ilos.  vii.  9 ;  they  do  not  care  to  think  of  it,  and 
therefore  need  to  be  told  of  it,  that  they  may  be 
quickened  to  do  the  work  of  life,  and  make  prepara- 
tion for  death  which  is  coming  on  them  apace.  — - 
All  people,  but  especially  old  ])eo])le,  should  set 
themselves  to  do  quickly  that  which  must  be  done 
before  they  die,  lest  death  prevent  them. 

The  same,  on  Dcut.  xviii.  2 :  Care  is  taken 
that  the  priests  entangle  not  themselves  with  the 
affairs  of  this  life,  nor  enrich  themselves  with  the 
wealth  of  this  world ;  they  have  better  things  to 
mind,  —  Note,  those  that  have  God  for  their  inheri- 
tance, according  to  the  new  covenant,  should  not 
be  greedy  of  great  things  in  the  world,  neither 
gripe  what  they  have,  nor  grasp  at  more,  but  look 
upon  all  things  present  with  the  indifference  which 
becomes  those  that  believe  God  to  be  all-sufficient.- 
—  Care  is  likewise  taken  that  they  want  not  any 
of  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  this  life. 
Though  God,  who  is  a  Spirit,  is  their  inheritance, 
it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  they  must  live  on 
the  air.  —  Tr.] 


3.  Beginning  of  the  Distribution. 
Chapter  XIV.     1-5. 


1  And  these  are  the  countries  wliich  the  children  of  Israel  inherited  in  the  land  of 
Canaan/  which  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  and  the  heads  of  the 
fathers  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  distributed  for  inheritance  [a 

2  possession]  to  them.  [,]  By  lot  was  their  inheritance  [by  the  lot  of  their  posses- 
sion], as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  for  the  nine  tribes, 

3  and /or  the  half-tribe.  For  Moses  had  given  the  inheritance  [possession]  of  [tlie] 
two  tribes  and  an  hs,lf-tribe  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan :  but  unto  the  Levites 

4  he  gave  none  [no]  inheritance  among  them.  For  the  children  [sons]  of  Joseph  were 
two  tribes,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim :  therefore  [and]  they  gave  no  part  unto  the 
Levites  in  the  land,  save  cities  to  dwell  in,  with    [and]   their   suburbs    [pasture- 

5  grounds]  for  their  cattle,  and  for  their  substance.  As  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded 
Moses,  so  the  children  of  Israel  did,  and  they  divided  the  land. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL, 

[1  Ver.  1. And  these  are  what  the  soos  of  Israel  received  as  a  possession  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  what  Eleazar  the 

priest,  etc.  — Ta.] 


4.   The  Possession  of  Oaleb. 

Chapter  XIV.  6-15. 

Then  [And]  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  came  unto  Joshua  in  Gilgal :  and  Ca- 
leb the  son  of  Jephunneh  the  Kenezite,  said  unto  him.  Thou  knowest  the  thing 
[word]  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Moses  the  man  of  God  concerning  me 
and  thee  in  Kadesh-barnea.  Forty  years  old  was  I  when  Mo.ses  the  servant  of  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  sent  me  from  Kadesh-barnea  to  espy  out  t}ie  land  ;  and  I  brought 
him  word  again  as  it  toas  in  my  heart.  Nevertheless  [And]  my  brethren  that  went 
up  with  me  made  the  heart  of  the  people  melt ;  but  I  wholly  folJ[Qwe(J  the  Lord 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


123 


9  rjehovali]  iny  God.  And  Moses  sware  on  that  day,  saying :  Surely  the  land 
whereon  thy  feet  have  [thy  foot  hath]  trodden  shall  be  thine  inheritance  [thy  pos- 
session], and  thy  children's  for  ever  ;  because  thou  hast  wholly  followed  the  Lord 

10  [Jehovah]  my  God.  And  now,  behold,  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  kept  me  alive, 
as  he  said,  these  forty  and  five  years,  even  [omit :  even]  since  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
spake  this  word  unto  Moses,  while  the  children  of  [omit :  the  children  of  ]  Israel 
wandered  [walked]  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  now,  lo  [behold],  I  am  this  day  fourscore 

11  and  five  years  old.  As  yet  I  am  as  strong  this  day,  as  I  was  in  the  day  that  Moses 
sent  me ;  as  my  strength  was  then,  even   [omit :  even]  so  is  my  strength  now,  for 

12  war,  both  [and]  to  go  out,  and  to  come  in.  Now  therefore  [and  now]  give  me 
this  mountain,  whereof  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  spake  in  that  day  ;  for  thou  heardest 

.  in  that  day  how  the  Anakims  ivere  there,  and  that  the  cities  were  great  and 
fenced  [and  great  and  fortified  cities]  :  if  so  be  [perhaps]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  will 
be  with  me,  then  I  shall  be  able  to  drive  them  out,  as  the  Lord   [Jehovah]   said. 

13  And  Joshua  blessed  him,  and  gave  unto  Caleb   the  son  of  Jephunneh,  Hebron 

14  for  an  inheritance  [a  possession].  Hebron  therefore  became  the  inheritance  [pos- 
session] of  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh  the  Kenezite  unto  this  day  ;  because  that 

15  he  wholly  followed  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel.  And  the  name  of  Hebron 
before  teas  Kirjath-arba  :  which  Arba  was  a  great  man  among  the  Anakims.  And 
the  land  had  rest  from  war. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  chapter  contains,  partly,  vers.  1-5,  the  in- 
troduction to  the  division  of  the  country  west  of 
the  Jordan  among  the  nine  and  a  lialf  remaining 
tribes,  and  partly  an  episode  breaking  the  connec- 
tion between  eh.  xiv.  1-5  and  xv.  1  ff.,  concern- 
ing the  possession  of  Caleb.  With  this,  ch.  xv. 
1.3-19  and  Judg.  i.  10-15,  which  agree  with  each 
other,  are  to  be  compared. 

a.  (3)  Ver.  1-5.  Introduction  to  the  Division  of 
the  Land  West  of  tlie  Jordan.  Ver.  1.  As  distribu- 
tors Eleazar  and  Joshua  are  named  here,  as  in 
Num.  xxxiv.  17,  while  inch.  xiii.  6,  7  ;  xviii.  6,  8,  10, 
Joshua  alone  casts  the  lot  or  grants  the  land  as  in 

vers.  13;  xvii.  15, 18.  Eleazar,  "'^^V!:^  (whom  God 
helps,  Gotthilf),  "was  Aaron's  third  son  and  suc- 
cessor in  the  high-priesthood,  Ex.  vi.  23,  25  ;  Num. 
iii.  2.  After  the  death  of  his  father  he  followed 
him  in  the  dignity  of  the  high-priesthood ;  Num. 
XX.  25  ff;  Dent.  x.  6,  and  was  associated  thus  for 
a  time  with  Moses,  then  with  Joshua,  ch.  xiv.  I  ; 
xvii.  4  ft  His  death  is  related  ch.  xxiv.  33 " 
(Winer,  i.  314). 

Ver.  2.  Eleazar  and  Joshua  distributed  the 
land  througli  the  lot  of  their  possession ;  i.  e. 
through  the  lot  by  which  the  part  of  the  land  was 
to  be  determined  according  to  Num.  xxvi.  55, 
whether  in  the  north  or  in  the  south,  whether  in 
the  east  or  in  the  west,  whereas  the  magnitude  of  the 
portion  was  to  he  fixed  (Num.  xxvi.  56)  according 
to  the  population  of  the  tribe,  by  Moses  or  his  suc- 
cessor. "  Whether  also  the  provinces  of  the  sev- 
eral families  of  the  tribes  were  assigned  by  lot,  or 
whether  this  was  left  to  the  heads  of  the  tribes, 
respectively,  is  not  to  be  discovered"  (Knobel). 

The  distribution  by  lot  of  conquered  countries  ap- 
pears also  in  other  histories.  Thus  it  was  "  a 
standing  custom  with  the  Athenians,  to  divide  the 
land  of  conquered  enemies  to  colonists  by  lot, 
(Diod.  xv.  23,  29).  They  proceeded  in  this  manner 
in  Euboca  (Herod,  v.  77  ;  6,  100),  and  in  Lesbos 
(Thuc.  iii.  50).  Among  the  Romans,  also  we  read  of 
aorte  agros legionibiis  assignare  (Cic.Epp.  add.Divv., 
xi.  20,  comp.  Appian,  Bi4l.  Civ.,  v.  74)  "  (Knobel). 

How  the  lot  was  taken  we  are  not  informed. 
Most  probal>ly,  as  the  Rabbins  have  conjectured. 


there  were  two  urns.  In  one  had  been  placed  lit- 
tle tablets  (Keil :  tickets)  with  the  names  of  the  tribe, 
and  in  the  other  similar  tablets  with  the  names 
of  the  districts ;  and  one  of  each  was  drawn  at 
the  same  time.  If  we  reject  the  supposition  of  two 
urns,  we  may  think  of  one  containing  the  tablets 
designating  the  portions  of  country,  which  the  heads 
of  the  several  trilies  may  have  drawn,  As  Jehovah 
had  commanded,  by  Moses,  Num.  xxvi.  52  ff. 

Ver.  4.  The  appointment  concerning  the  Le- 
vitical  cities  is  found  Num.  xxxv.  1  ff.  where  it 
is   stated   also   how  large   their   pasture-grounds 

should  be.  ^"^5^  from  ^"D^  'o  drive,  drive  forth 
signifies  a  place  whither  cattle  are  driven  (Germ. 
Trieb,  Trift,  [comp.  Eng.  :  drove,  "a  road  for 
driving  cattle,"  Webster]),  and  denotes  here  the 
space  around  the  city  which  should  serve  for  the 
driving  of  herds"  (Knobel  on  Num.  xxxv.  2). 
A  diagram  by  which  the  dimensions  in  Num. 
xxxv.  5  may  be  clearly  apprehended  is  given  in 
Keil  on  this  passage. ^  These  pasture-grounds 
(Bun sen  :  Commons) ;  in  Switzerland  called  All- 
menden),  are  repeatedly  mentioned  ch.  xx. 
Luther  [the  Eng.  version  also]  translates,  incor- 
rectly :  suburbs,  led  evidently  by  the  Vulg.,  which 

renders     Q  suburhana. 

b.  (4)  Vers.  6-15.  Caleb's  Possession,  Caleb, 
the  patriarch  of  the  sons  of  Judah  (Num.  xxxiv. 
19),  accompanied  by  the  men  of  his  tribe  (ver.  6), 
approaches  Joshua,  and  desires,  with  an  appeal  to 
the  promise  of  Moses  (ver.  9),  and  with  a  declara- 
tion of  his  still  unbroken  capacity  for  war  (ver. 
II),  that  the  mountain  of  Hebron  may  be  given  tc 
him,  out  of  which  he  pui-poses  to  extirpate  the 

1  [Thi«  is  Keil's  figure  :  —  Tp..] 


1000 
cub. 

1000 
cub. 

city 
S 

124 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Anakites  (ver.  12).  Joshua  promptly  and  gladly 
i; rants  the  retpiest  of  the  respected,  proved,  and 
brave  old  man,  who  had  onee  with  himself  spied 
out  the  land  fronr  Kadesii-barnea  (Num.  xiii.  7.9; 
xiv.  6).  The  place  of  the  transaction  is  Gilgal, 
and  that,  as  has  before  been  shown,  in  the  Jordan- 
valley.  Later,  eh.  xviii.  1,  we  find  the  camp 
moved  to  Shiloh. 

Ver.   6.  Caleb,   the  son  of  Jephunneh,   the 

Kenezite.  Caleb,  2?3  (perhaps,  seizing  vehe- 
mently, from  — /2,  Gesen.i),  son  of  one  Jephunneh, 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah  (Num.  xiii.  6),  one  of  the 
spies  (Num.  xiii.  7),  had  in  vain  encouraged  the 
Israelites  to  venture  an  attack  and  take  possession 
of  the  promised  land  (Num  xiii.  31 ).  Pained  at  the 
cowardice  of  the  people,  he  and  Joshua  rent  their 
garments  and  still  urged  the  people  to  a  bokl  aiul 
resolute  deed,  which  so  enraged  the  latter  that  they 
were  ready  to  stone  them  both  (Num.  xiv.  10).  On 
account  of  their  fidelity,  Caleb  and  Joshua  alone 
Avere  deemed  worthy  to  enter  into  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan (xiv.  24,  30,  "38;  xxvi.  65;  1  Mace.  ii.  56: 
Sirach  xlvi.  11,  12).     He  is  here,  as  in  ver.  14  and 

also  in  Num.  xxxii.  12,  called  ''"T?!!)  i-  e.  a  descend- 
ant of  Ivenaz,  wliich  name  occurs  yet  again,  as 
Judg.  i.  12,  in  the  family  of  Caleb.  "We  agree  with 
Winer  (i.  654)  in  thinking  it  quite  unlikely  that 
there  is  here  any  connection  with  the  Kenizzitcs 
mentioned  Gen.  xv.  19,  as  Berthean  and  Ewald 
suppose.  [But  see  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  arti- 
cles "  Caleb  "  and  "  Kenezites"]. 

We  next  have  the  speech  of  Caleb,  whose  main 
thought  has  been  already  given  above.  He  iirst 
calls  to  mind  the  word  which  Jehovah  in  Kadesh- 
barnea  spoke  to  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  concern- 
ing him  and  Joshua.  It  is  found  in  Num.  xiv.  24, 
30,  but  purports  only,  as  Keil  aptly  remarks,  that 
the  Lord  will  bring  Caleb  into  the  land  whither  he 
had  gone,  and  give  it  to  his  seed  for  a  possession. 
Kadesh-barnea  we  have  already  found  mentioned 
in  cli.  X.  41,  and  shall  find  it  again  ch.  xv.  3,  23. 

The  name  sounds  either  as  here,  or  merely  ^.7I!f 

(Gen.  xiv.  7;  xvi.  14;  Num.  xx.  16),  or  '^3T). 
(ch.  XV.  23).  It  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  of 
the  Amorites  (Deut.  i.  19-21),  was  reached  by  the 
Israelites  in  eleven  days  from  Horeb,  and  was  the 
principal  scene  of  their  stubbornness  and  insubor- 
dination (Num.  xiv.;  xx.  1-13),  and  where  they 
decided  their  fate  for  the  long  period  of  forty  years. 
Robinson,  whom  Ilitzig  ( Gesch.  d.  v.  Israels,  i. 
89)  unhesitatingly  follows,  regards  as  Kadesh,  Ain 
el-Weibeh,  which  lies  northwest  of  Petra,  and  al- 
most south  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Von  Ilaumer  fixes 
upon  the  more  northerly  Ain  Hash  (p.  209,  as 
with  special  particularity,  p.  483  ff.),  li/ing,  as  Wfll 
as  the  former  }>lacc,  in  the  Arahnh.  Menke  has  fol- 
lowed on  liis  map  the  opinion  of  Rowland,  contro- 
verted by  both  Robinson  and  Raumer,  according 
to  which  Kadesh  must  be  sought  far  west  of  the 
Arabah.  Thither  Menke  transfers  Mount  Scir, 
also,  and  the  wilderness  of  Zin.  But  how  then 
sliould  Num.  xxi.  4  be  understood  in  comparison 
witii  Deut.  ii.  12?- 

Ver.  7.  At  the  time  when  he  was  sent  forth  from 
Kadesh-barnea  Caleb  was  forty  years  old.  He 
brought  back  a  report,  and  as  he  expresses  it,  so 

1  [Oesenius  :  "  perhaps,  dog,  for  1373  from  3^3  "  to 
bark,  to  yelp."    But  Fiirst  and  Dietrich  (in  his  edition  of 


as  it  was  in  [lit.  with]  my  heart.     Hebr.  "'^'^S 

''^'^7'^'V'  Luther  translates  32  /  here  as  in 
Job  xxvii.  6,  by  "  conscience."  We  are  not  to 
think  of  conscience,  however,  but  rather  of  the 
bold  confident  spirit  of  Caleb,  which  he  spoke  out 
just  as  he  felt  it.  He  was  a  spirited  man  and  not 
discouraged  like  the  rest.     On  the  variant  reading 

of  the   LXX.    (avTov)   which  presupposes  12^7, 
as  one  codex  of  Kennicott  has  it,  see  Keil,  in  loc. 
Ver.  8.  Not  so  were  his  brethren  who  went  up 

with   him ;  they  rather  discouraged   (T^pXpn  for 

^Dpn,  Ewald,  Lehrg.  §142,  a;  Gesen.  §75.  Rem. 
17)  the  heart  of  the  ])eople;  prop,  they  made  the 
heart  of  the  people  to  melt,  as  in  Eng.  vers. 
Comp.  ch.  ii.  11  ;  v.  1,  but  especially  vii.  5.  By 
that  t/alcb  was  not  troubled,  but  ivkolly  followed 
(comp.  Num.   xiv.  24)  Jehovah,  i.  e.  completely 

fulfilled  C^in^.y'r)  what  Jehovah  required, — ren- 
dered him  unconditional,  cheerful  obedience. 

Ver.  9.  In  consequence  of  this  Moses  swore  to 
give  him  the  land  on  which  his  foot  had  trod.  We 
find  no  difiiculty  in  meeting  with  this  oath  in  Dent, 
i.  34  tf.  where  ver.  36  agrees,  in  part  literally,  with 
the  verse  before  ns.  And  although  it  is  there  said 
that  God  swore,  here  that  Moses  did,  we  see,  ceteris 
paribus,  no  irreconcilable  discrepancy.  Moses, 
the  man  of  God  (ver.  6),  swears  in  the  name  and 
at  the  command  of  God.  Knobel's  observation : 
"  moreover  we  read,  in  what  the  Jehovist  has  given 
of  the  report  of  the  author,  of  an  oath  of  Jehovah, 
Num.  xiv.  21,  24,"  needs  correction,  since  the  oath 
in  question,  which  is  identical  with  that  in  Deut.  i. 
34,  is  the  one  mentioned  Num.  xiv.  21,  24. 

[Jehovah  my  God.  It  is  less  easy  to  reconcile 
this  expression  Avitli  any  form  of  the  oath  as  taken 
by  Jehovah.  May  we  not  assume  that  Caleb 
quotes  some  expression  of  Mo.ses  not  elsewhere 
])reserved  to  us,  but  familiar  then  to  Joshua  1  — 
Tr.] 

Ver.  10.  God  has  fulfilled  his  promise  and  kept 
him  alive,  as  he  spoke,  and  that  for  these  forty 
and  five   years  ....  while  Israel  walked  in 

the  wilderness.  "'^'^  has  here  the  signification 
''in  which"  (time),  "  while,", Ewald,  Lehrg.  §321, 
c.     Concerning  the  forty-five  years  see  the  Introd. 

§^-  .  ,  .       . 

Ver.  1 1 .    The  might  of  the  hero  is  stdl  unbroken 

although  he  is  now  eighty-five  years  old.  A  similar 
statement  is  made  of  Moses,  Dent,  xxxiv.  7. 

Ver.  12.  On  the  ground  of  all  these  facts  Caleb 
now  asks  for  mount  Hebron,  although  he  had,  ac- 
cording to  Num.  xiii.  21,  gone  much  further  into 
the  country,  even  into  the  north  of  Palestine,  while 
certainly,  according  to  Num.  xiii.  22,  23,  he  had 
spied  out  the  land  only  into  the  region  of  Hebron. 
As  there  vers.  22,  23  are  inserted  into  the  context 
so  is  it  herewith  this  whole  jiassage,  vers.  6-15, 
which  probably  comes  from  tlie  same  hand.  It  is 
remarkable  also,  that  Caleb  here  says  to  Joshua : 
thou  heardcst  in  that  day,  how  the  Anakim  Were 
there,  since  Joshua  (Num.  xiii.  8)  also  was  one  of 
the  spies ;  cf  besides  Knobcl  on  this  passage,  also 
Bleek,  Introduction,  i.  p.  316.  As  Anakim  are 
mentioncii.  Num.  xiii.  22  ;  Judg.  i.  10,  and  in  this 
book,  ch.  XV.  14,  Sheshai,  Ahiman,  and  Talmai. 

Geseiiius)  give  the  above  explanation.  See  Smith's  Diet 
art.  "  Caleb,''  Am.  Edition.  —  Tr.] 

•2  [The  site  of  Kadesh  is  fully  discussed  in  the  Diet,  or 

the  Bible,  s.  v.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


125 


Perhaps  Jehovah  will  be  with  me  that  I  may- 
drive  them  out,  as  Jehovah  said.  According 
to  cli.  xi.  21,  Joshua  had  already  driven  them  out, 

(nnp-->^)._\nS  for  \71«  Gescu.  §  103,  1,  Kern. 
i:wal(l,  L'hrg.  §  26-i,  a. 

Ver.  13.  Joshua  cheerfully  granted  the  request 
of  Calel).  He  hicssrd  him,  i.  e.  "joined  with  his 
gratitude  for  the  courageous  declaration,  an  ex- 
pression of  his  good  wishes  and  prayer  for  the 
success  of  his  undertaking;  comp.  Gen.  xiv.  19  ; 
xxvii.  23  ;  Ex.  xxxix.  43  ;  2  Sam.  xiv.  22  "  (Kno- 
bel).  Joshua  himself,  as  in  ch.  xvii.  14  ff.,  bestows 
on  him  the  land. 

Ver.  14.  Thus  Hebron  passes  over  into  the 
hands  of  Caleb.  According  to  ch.  xxi.  11,  he 
must  have  yielded  the  city  to  the  Levites,  while  he 
held  the  land  for  himself. 

Ver.  15.  A  notice  that  in  earlier  times  (□"*357) 
Hebron  had  been  called  "city  of  Arba,"  who  was 
a  great  man  among  the  Anakim.  The  same  re- 
mark is  repeated  ch.  xv.  13;  xxi.  11,  and  had  al- 
ready occurred  Gen.  xxiii.  2.  Another  piece  of 
information  see  Num.  xiii.  22. 

And  the  land  had  rest  trom  war ;  repeated 
here  from  ch.  xi.  23. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1.  The  manner  of  employing  the  lot  here  is  dif- 
ferent from  its  use  in  ch.  vii.  14,  inasmuch  as  we 
here  have  to  deal,  not  with  a  criminal  process,  but 
only  with  the  fairest  possible  performance  of  an  ad- 
ministrative transaction,  namely,  with  the  division 
of  the  land.  In  this  case  also  God  himself  should 
give  the  decision,  and  therefore  resort  is  had  to  the 
lot.  So  again  after  the  return  from  the  exile  the 
resettlement  of  the  capital  was  effected  by  casting 
lots  (Neh.  xi.  1),  comp.  "Winer,  ii.  31. 

2.  That  the  Levites  received  no  province  as  a 
tribe,  but  rather  cities  for  their  habitation,  and  pas- 
tures for  their  herds,  just  so  much,  therefore,  as, 
joined  to  the  portion  of  the  offerings  mentioned 
Num.  xviii.,  was  necessary  for  their  subsistence, 
this  was  altogether  suited  to  keep  them  in  lively 
remembrance  that  Jehovah  was  their  inheritance. 
Christ  expresses  the  same  principle  in  regard  to 
his  disciples,  Matt.  x.  9,  10;  Mark  vi.  8,  9;  Lnke 
ix.  3;  X.  4,  7.  Paul  appeals  directly  to  the  O.  T. 
arrangement,  1  Cor.  ix.  13,  although  for  himself 
he  makes  no  claim  to  this  right,  1  Cor.  ix.  18. 
Now  also  these  pi'inciples  ought  to  give  the  stand- 
ard to  congregations  and  church  authorites  in  fix- 
ing the  salaries  of  spiritual  offices.  Pat  benefices 
with  large  landed  possessions  or  extravagant  rev 
cnues  of  money  are  wrong  ;  but  equally  wrong  is 
it  when  care  for  subsistence  daily  oppresses  the 

f  readier  and  robs  him  of  the  joy  of  his  calling. 
n  this  matter  there  is  still  much  room  for  im- 


provement. Rightly,  therefore,  does  Starke  say 
"  The  Levites  were  by  this  wise  arrangement  sc 
much  the  more  assured  of  their  earthly  support^ 
and  could  so  much  the  more  diligently  and  with- 
out embarrassment  perform  their  duty.  They  are 
a  pattern  for  all  Christians,  who  ought  to  regard 
all  which  they  have  as  a  gift  of  God." 

3.  The  youthful  freshness  with  which  Caleb 
comes  forward,  has  in  it  something  uncommonly 
cheering,  and  shows  how  a,pious  walk  joined  with 
an  efficient  accomplishment  of  the  business  of  life, 
keeps  a  man  even  physically  sound  and  vigorous 
up  to  advanced  age.  It  was  so  also  with  Moses, 
and  even  in  our  time  there  were  and  are  men  who 
have  shared  the  same  beautiful  lot.  Of  one  at 
least  let  us  here  make  mention,  the  recently  de- 
parted Nitzsch.  Compare  also  in  Schleiemiacher's 
Monologen  the  discourse  concerning  "  Youth  and 
Age." 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Caleb's  demand.  (1)  On  his  part  well  grounded, 
therefore :  (2)  gladly  granted  by  Joshua.  — What  is 
right  and  just  one  may  well  demand.  —  How  God 
sustains  those  who  are  his  even  to  old  age,  and 
until  they  are  gray  (Is.  xlvi.  4),  shown  in  the 
case  of  Caleb.  —  The  blessing  of  a  faithful  fulfill- 
ment of  the  commands  of  God.  —  The  land  had 
ceased  from  war  (Peace  Sermon). 

Starke  :  Only  he  who  is  a  child  of  God  and 
belongs  to  the  peculiar  people  of  God,  can  partake 
of  the  heavenly  inheritance.  Gal.  iv.  7  ;  iii.  29 ; 
Rom.  viii.  17.  — In  the  reception  of  earthly  good 
we  must  refer  everything  to  the  divine  blessing. — 
0,  how  profitable  is  godliness !  It  is  profitable 
unto  all  things  and  has  the  promise  of  the  life 
which  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to  come,  1  Tim. 
iv.  8  ;  Matt.  vi.  33.  Although  God  does  good  to 
his  children  and  blesses  them,  yet  with  the  sweet 
He  always  shows  them  the  rod  also,  Mai.  iii.  16- 
18.  —  In  the  world  is  war  and  strife,  but  in  heaven, 
peace,  rest,  and  blessedness.  Job  vii..  1. 

Cramer  :  Dividing  an  inheritance  and  all  busi- 
ness transactions  and  dealings  are  matters  of  con- 
science, 1  Thes.  iv.  6.  —  No  one  can  of  himself 
take  for  himself  anything  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  of  eternal  life,  except  it  be  given  to  him  from 
above,  John  iii.  27.  —  That  to  which  a  man  has  a 
right  he  may  even  demand  of  the  magistrate,  for 
to  this  end  are  judges  appointed,  Deut.  xvii.  18.  — 
Our  glory  and  boast  should  be  the  testimony  of 
a  good  conscience,  2  Cor.  i.  12,  Acts  xxiv.  16. — 
Godliness  is  rewarded  also  with  long  life  and 
health,  Ps.  xei.  16  ;  Prov.  iii.  2. 

OsiANDER :  Although  we  certainly  cannot  at- 
tain blessedness  through  our  own  works  and  merits, 
still  God  of  his  great  goodness  is  wont  to  reward 
what  we  do  from  the  spirit  of  submissive  obedience 
I  with  temporal  and  spii'itual  benefits. 


126 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


SECTION  SECOND. 

Division  of  West  Palestine  among  the  Nine   and  a  Half  Tribes  kesiaining.    ArpOiNX 

MENT  OF  THE  ClTIES  OF  EeFUGE,  AND  THE  CiTIES  OF  THE  LeVITES. 

Chapter  XV.-XXT. 

1.   Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Juddh. 

Chapter  XV. 

a.  Its  Boundaries. 

Chapter  XV.  1-12. 

1  This  then  was  the  lot  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  Judah  by  their  families  ; 
even  to  the  border  of  Edom,  the  wilderness  of  Zin  southward.  %vas  the  uttermost 

2  part  of  the  south  coast.     And  their  south  border  was  from  the  shore  [end]  of  the 

3  salt  sea,  from  the  bay  [Heb.  tongue]  that  looketh  southward :  And  it  went  out  to 
the  south  side  to  [of]  Maaleh  [the  ascent  of]  Acrabbim,  and  passed  along  to  Zin, 
and  ascended  up  on  the  south  side  unto  [of]  Kadesh-barnea,  and  passed  along  to 

4  Hezron,  and  went  up  to  Adar,  and  fetched  a  compass  to  Karkaa :  From  thence  it 
[and]  passed  toward  Azmon,  and  went  out  unto  the  river  [water-course]  of  Egypt ; 
and  the  goings  out  of  that  [the]  coast  [border]  were  "  at  the  sea ;  this  shall  be  your 
south  coast  [border], 

5  And  the  east  border  was  the  salt  sea,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  Jordan  :  and  their 
[the]  border  in  the  north  quarter  was  from  the  bay  [tongue]  of  the  sea,  at  the  utter- 

6  most  part  [the  end]  of  the  Jordan  :  And  the  border  went  up  to  Beth-hogla,  and  passed 
along  by   the  north  of  Beth-arabah;  and  the  border  went  up   to  the  stone  of 

7  Bohan  the  son  of  Reuben  :  And  the  border  went  up  toward  Debir  from  the  valley 
of  Achor,  and  so  northward  looking  [and  turned  northward]  toward  Gilgal,  that 
is  before  the  going  up  to  Adummim,  which  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  [water- 
course] :  and  the  border  passed  toward  the  waters  of  En-shemesh  [Sun-spring],  and 

8  the  goings  out  thereof  were  at  En-rogel  [Fullers-spring]  :  And  the  border  went  up 
by  [into]  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  unto  the  south  side  of  the  Jebusite ;  the 
same  is  Jerusalem :  and  the  border  went  up  to  the  tojJ  of  the  mountain  that  lieth 
before  the  valley  of  Hinnom  westward,  which  is  at  the  end  of  the  valley  of  the 

9  giants  [Rephaim]  northward:  And  the  border  was  drawn ^  from  the  top  of  the  hill 
[mountain]  unto  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  Nephtoah,  and  went  out  to  the  cities 
of  mount  Ephron  ;   and  the  border  was  drawn  to  Baalah,  which  is  Kirjath-jearim : 

10  And  the  border  compassed  [took  a  compass]  from  Baalah  westward  unto  mount 
Seir,  and  passed  along  unto  the  side  of  mount  Jearim  (which  is  Chesalon)  on  the 
north  side  [Fay,  more  exactly :  to  the  side  northward  of  Har-jearim,  that  is  Ches- 

11  alon],  and  went  down  to  Beth-shemesh,  and  passed  on  to  Timnah  :  And  the  border 
went  out  unto  the  side  of  Ekron  northward  :  and  the  border  was  drawn  to  Shicron, 
and  passed  along  to  mount  Baalah,  and  went  out  unto  Jabneel ;  and  the  goings  out 
of  the  border  were  at  the  sea. 

12  And  the  west  [prop,  sea] -border  was  to  [or  at]  the  great  sea,  and  the  coast 
thereof  Tliis  is  the  coast  [border]  of  the  children  of  Judah  round  about,  according 
to  their  families. 

TEXTUAL    AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1 — This  yerso  would  read  more  exactly  as  follows  :  And  there  was  the  lot  for  the  trihe  of  the  sons  of  Judah 
according  to  their  families  :  toward  the  border  of  Edom,  the  wilderness  of  Zin  southward,  In  the  extreme  south.  —  Tr.] 

['.!  Vcr.  9 Gesenius  inclines  to  the  meaning  "stretched  "  "extended,"  for  "ISO  in  the  Kal  and  Piel;  and  so  DeWette, 

Fay,  and  others  translate  ;  but  as  Fdrst  and  Winer  (Simonis)  approve  in  these  conjugations  the  definition  "  mark  off,"  defi, 
nire,  which  all  admit  to  be  the  sense  of  the  Piel,  there  sterns  to  be  no  necessity  for  changing  the  English  yersion. —  Tb.] 


a  The  Kethib  n^m,  although  we  cannot  allowably  ex- 
press it  as  a  sing,  in  the  translation,  is  to  be  retained  in 


the  text  rather  than  the  needless  Keri  TrT). 
xi.  2.  Ewald's  Leivrg.  §  306,  a. 


Ccmp.  ch 


CHAPTER  XV.  127 


b.  Caleb's  Possession.    His  Daugliter  Aclisah.     Conclusion  to  vers.  :  ■  12. 
Chapter  XV.  13-20.      Comp.  ch.  xiv.  6-15  ;  Judg.  i.  10-15. 

1 3  And  unto  Caleb  the  son  of  Jepliunneh  he  gave  a  part  among  the  childi'en  of  Ju- 
dah,  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  to  Joshua,  even  the  city 

14  of  Arba  [Ivirjath-arba,  ch.  xiv.  15]  the  father  of  Anak,  which  citi/  is  Hebron.  And 
Caleb  drove  thence  the  three  sons  of  Anak,  Sheshai,  and  Ahiman,  and  Talmai,  the 

15  children  [sons]  of  Anak.  And  he  went  up  thence  to  the  inhabitants  of  Debir  :  and 

16  the  name  of  Debir  before  was  Kirjath-sepher  [Book-city,  comp.  ver.  49].  And  Ca- 
leb   said,  He  that  smiteth  Kirjath-sepher,  and  taketh  it,  to  him  will  I  give  Achsah 

17  my  daughter  to  wife.   And    Othniel,  the  son  of  Kenaz,  the  brother  of  Caleb,  took 

18  it:  and  he  gave  him  Achsah  his  daughter  to  wife.  And  it  came  to  pass, as  she  came 
tmto  him  [came  in],  that  she  moved  him  to  ask  of  her  father  a  held:  and  she  lighted 

19  off  her  [the]  ass  ;  and  Caleb  said  unto  her.  What  wouldest  thou?  Who  answered 
[And  she  said],  Give  me  a  blessing ;  for  thou  hast  given  me  ^  a  south  land  [prop,  a 
land  of  the  south-counti-y]  ;  give  me  also  springs  of  water  :  and  he  gave  her  the  up- 

20  per  springs,  and  the  nether  springs.  This  is  the  inheritance  [possession]  of  the 
tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  accorduig  to  their  families. 

TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  19 — "'^nn^.      Since  the  suf.   "*  cannot  well  betaken  as   a  dat.  but  only  as  an  ace,  many  haye  understood 

n  ^^W  adverbially,  "into  a  land,"  etc.  So  Fay,  following  Knobel :  Nach  dem  Mittagslande  hast  du  mick  gegeben. 
So  also  the  LXX.  :  ort  eis  yrjv  NdyejS  SeSuKcis  fxe ;  but  the  Vulgate  more  simply  regards  this  as  a  case  where  the  verb  of 
giving  governs  two  accusatives  ;  terram  australem  et  torrentem  dedisti  niihi.  Gesen.  Lex.  «.  t).  Tn3  p.  703,  1.  Witt 
this  agree  De  Wette,  Maurer,  Keil,  Zunz.  —  Tr.] 

c.  Catalogue  of  the  Cities  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah. 
Chapter  XV.   21-63- 

a.   Cities  in  the  South. 
Chapter  XV.  21-32. 

21  And  the  uttermost  cities^  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  toward 

22  the  coast  [border]  of  Edom  southward  were  Kabzeel,  and  Eder,  and  Jao-ur,  And 

23  24  Kinah,  and  Dimonah,  and  Adadah,  And  Kedesh,  and  Hazor,  and  Ithnan,  Ziph, 

25  and  Telem,  and  Bealoth,  And  Hazor,  Hadattah  [Hazor-hadattah],  and  Kerioth, 

26  27  and  Hezron  [Kerioth-hezron]  which  is  Hazor,  Amam,  and  Shema,  and  Moladah, 

28  And  Hazar-gaddah,  and  Heshmon,  and  Beth-palet,  And  Hazar-shual,  and  Beer- 

29  30  slieba,  and  Bizjoth-jah,  Baalah,  and  lim,  and  Azem,  And  Eltolad,  and  Chesil, 
31  32  and  Hormah,  And  Ziklag,  and  Madmannah,  and  Sansannah,  And  Lebaoth,  and 

Shilhim,  and  Ain,  and  Rimmon  :  all  the  cities  are  twenty  and  nine,  with  [and] 
their  villages. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver  21 — And  the  cities  were,  in  [or  from]  the  extremity  of  the  tribe  of  the  sons  of  Judah,  toward  the  border  of 
Edom,  in  the  south-country  :  Kabzeel,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

j3.  Cities  in  the  Lowland. 

Chapter  XV.  33-47. 

33  34       And  in  the  valley  [lowland],  Eshtaol,  and  Zoreah,  and  Ashnah,  And  Zanoah, 

35  and  En-gannim,  Tappuah,  and  Enam,  Jarmuth,  and  Adullam,  Socoh,  and  Aze- 

36  kah.  And  Sharaim,  Adithaim,  and  Gederah,  and  Gederothaim  ;  fourteen  cities 
with  [and]  their  villages  : 

37  38  Zenan,  and  Hadashah,  and  Migdalgad,  And  Dilean,  and  Mizpeh,  and  Jok- 
39  40  theel,  Lachish,  and  Bozkath,  and  Eglon,  And  Cabbon,  and  Lahmam,"  and  Kith- 

a  Numerous  Codd.  and  Editions  read  DDHl'  (Latunas)  instead  of    DXSnb  . 


128 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


41  lish,  Aud  Gederoth,  Beth-dagon,  and  Naamah,  and  Makkedah ;  sixteen  cities 
with  [andj  their  villages  : 

42  43  44    Libnah,  aud  Ether,  and  Ashan,  And  Jiphtah,  and  Ashnah,  and  Nezib,  And 

Keilah,  and  Achzib,  and  Mareshah ;  nine  cities  with  [and]  their  villages  : 
45  46       Ekron,  with   [and]   her  towns   [Heb.  daughters],  and  her  villages  :  From 
Ekron  even  unto  the  sea  [or,  and  westward],  all  that  lay  near  [by  the  side  of] 

47  Ashdod,  with  [and]  their  villages  :  Ashdod  with  [omit :  with]  her  towns  and 
her  villages ;  Gaza,  with  her  towns  [daughters]  and  her  villages,  unto  the  river 
[water-course]  of  Egypt,  and  the  great  sea  "  and  the  border  thereof. 

y.  Cities  on  the  Mountain. 
Chapter  XV.  48-60. 

48  And  in  the  mountains  [prop,  on  the  mountain],  Shamir,  and  Jattir,  and  Socoh, 

49  50  And  Dannah,  and  Kirjath-sannah,  which  is  Debir,  And  Anab,  and  Eshtemoh, 

51  and  Anim,  And  Goshen,  and  Holon,  and  Giloh;  eleven  cities  with  [and]  their 
villages : 

52  53       Arab,  and  Dumah,  and  Eshean,  And  Janum,*"  and  Beth-tappuah,  and  Aphe- 

54  kah,  Aud  Humtah,  and  Kirjath-arba  (which  is  Hebron)  and  Zior ;  nine  cities 
with  [and]  their  villages  : 

55  56       Maon.  Carmel,  and  Ziph,  and  Juttah,  And  Jezreel,  and  Jokdeam,  and  Zanoah, 

57  Cain,  Gibeah,  and  Timnah ;  ten  cities  with  [and]  their  villages. 

58  59       Halhul,  Beth-zur,  aud  Gedor,  And  Maarath,  and  Beth-anoth,  and  Eltekon; 

six  cities  with  [and]  their  villages  : " 

60  Kirjath-baal  (which  is  Kirjath-jearim)  and  Kabbah;  two  cities  with  [and] 
their  villages. 

5 .  Cities  in  the  Wilderness. 
Chapter  XV.  61-63. 

61  62       In  the  wilderness,  Beth-arabah,  Middin,  and  Secacah,  And  Nibshan,  and  the 

city  of  Salt,  and  Eu-gedi ;  six  cities  with  [and]  their  villages. 
63  As  for  the  Jebusites  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  the  cliildren  [sons]  of  Ju- 

dah  could  not  drive  them  out ;  but  the  Jebusites  dwell  with  the  childi-en  [sons] 
of  Judah  at  Jerusalem  unto  this  day. 


EXEGETICAIi  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  beginning  of  the  account  concerning  the  di- 
vision of  ralestuie  liaving  been  given  in  vers.  1-6 
of  the  preceding  chapter,  we  find  the  continuation 
of  it  in  ch.  xv.'l  and  onward.  The  enumeration 
of  names  which  now  follows,  embracing  five  chap- 
ters in  all,  with  only  three  interruptions  (chaps. 
XV.  3-19;  xvii.  3-18  ;  xviii.  1-10)  aud  those  in- 
structive, is  extremely  valuable  for  the  geogra])hy 
of  Paicstine.  It  suggests  a  comparison  with 
Homer's  catalogue  of  ships,  II.  ii.  484  ff.  For  the 
cartographic  presentation  of  the  places  named  the 
maps  of  Kiepert,  Van  de  Velde,  and  Menke  may 
be  consulted.  [Osborne's  Wall-map,  also,  and  the 
maps  accompanying  Hobinson's  Researches].  In 
ch.  XV.   we   have  given  us  the  province   of  the 


tribe  of  Judah,  (a)  its  boiinds  (vers.  1-12);  (6) 
Caleb's  possession  (vers!  13-19) ;  (c)  a  list  of  the 
cities  (vers.  20-63). 

a.  Ver.  1-12.  Its  Boundaries,  ver.  1.  And  there 
was  the  lot  of  the  tribe  of  the  sons  of  Judah,  ac- 
cording to  their  families:  toward  (  '^  not  ^27) 
the  border  of  Edom,  (toward)  the  wilderness  of 

Zin,  southward,  in  i"]^  as  Gen.  ii.  8 ;  xi.  2) 
the  extreme  south  ;  i.  e.  the  territory  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah  embraced  the  most  southern  jiart  of  the 
land,  so  that,  as  Keil  rightly  supposes,  it  touched 
Edom  in  the  east  and  in  the  south  had  the  wilder- 
ness of  Zin  as  its  border.  The  position  of  this 
wilderness  is  determined,  from  Num.  xx.  1  ;  xxvii. 
14  ;  xxxiii.  36,  by  that  of  Kadesh-barnca  concern- 
ing which  we  have  already  spoken,  on  ch.  xiv.  6. 


a  So  according  to  the  Keri    7i"t5n,   while  the  Kethib  would  have  it  written   V^^SH.       On  the  reading  of  the 

.p    _  ;  ;    - 

Kethib,  comp.  ver.  12. 

b  So  the  Keri   Q?I3'*T  .   the  Kethib  reads  CS^V   hence  Bunsen :  Janim.     We  stand  by  the  reading  of  the  Masoretes 
t:  »  • T : 

with  the  IjXX.  (lovoiV),  Vulg.  (.lanum),  lAither,  and  De  Wette. 

c  Between  ver.scs  59  and  GO  the  LXX.  have  (A  B  E  X)  the  addition  :  ©eKw  Ka.l'F,<j>para.  (av-rr)  ea-ri  Bc0A.ee'fi)  koX  ^ay!i>p, 
(tat  "AiTafi  {Mrdv  In  Cod.  Vat.)  KaL  KouXbi/  /cnl  Tarafil  (Taraju.  in  cod.  Vat.)  koX  Sojprj;  (©wjSrj?  in  Cod.  Vat.)  Kai  Kapen  <cai 
TaAAiiu.  (cai  Bai9))p  (©cfl^p  in  Cod.  Vat.)  koc  Mavoxw- TroAeis  «V6cKa  xai  ai  Kw/aai  avTwi'. )  See  further  on  this  in  the  Es- 
igetical  notes. 


^ftt 


CHAPTER  XV. 


129 


According  to  this  view,  the  wilderness  of  Zin  also 
^  must  be  sought  in  tiie  Arabah,  and  according  to 
Num.  xiii.  26  should  have  formd  the  northern  part 
of  the  wilderness  of  Paran.  Cf.  the  Articles  Zin  and 
Paran  in  Winer,  ii.  1-3.5  and  1 92  [and  in  the  Diet,  of 
the  Bible].  —  The  general  account  of  the  position  of 
the  land  of  Judah  is  Ibllowed  (vers.  2-12)  by  the 
more  particular  description  of  the  boundaries  ;  and 
first,  tlie  south' border  is  drawn  (vers.  2-4)  so  as  to 
(coincide  in  general  with  Num.  xxxiv.  .3-5. 

Ver.  2.  Its  starting-point  is  the  end  of  the  Salt 
sea,  more  exactly  still,  the  tongue  which  turns 
southward.  "  This  tongue  is  the  south  (more 
accurately  southernmost)  part  of  the  Dead  Sea,  be- 
low the  promontory  which  stretches  far  into  the 
sea  west  of  Kerah  (Robinson,  ii.  231-234),  and  ex- 
tending quite  to  the  southern  point  at  the  so-called 
salt-mountain,  and  salt-morass  from  which  the 
border  of  Judah  began  "  (Keil).  The  Salt-moun- 
tain (Kaschm  Usdum),  and  salt-swamp  are  ac- 
curately 'given  on  Kiepert's  Map. 

From  this  point  the  border  runs  in  a  tolerably 
direct  course  toward  the  south,  as  we  learn  from 
ver.  3  which  says  :  It  went  out  toward  the  south 
side  of  the  ascent  of  Acrabbim.  On  Acrabbim 
comp.  ch.  xi.  17.  If  the  mountain  Aci'abbim  is 
the  same  as  the  Bald  mountain,  mentioned  ch.  xi. 
1 7  ;  xii.  7,  as  a  south  boundary,  this  height  (Knobel  : 
ascent)  of  Acral)bim  would  be  a  pass  in  this  Bald 
mountain.  Knobel  who  I'cjects  the  identity  of  the 
Bald  and  Acrabbim  mountains,  believes  that  the 
latter  was  the  steep  pass  es-Sufah,  S.  W.  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  which  view  is  indicated  byMenke  on  his 
map,  while  Kiepert's  sketch  supports  our  opinion. 
From  this  south-side  of  the  hill  of  Acrabbim,  the 
border  goes  over  toward  Zin,  i.  e.  perhajjs  a  defi- 
nite place  (Keil)  or  mountain  (Knobel)  in  the 
wilderness  of  Zin  and  deriving  its  name  therefrom. 
Thence  it  went  up  to  the  side  of  Kadesh- 
barnea,  and  passed  along  to  Hezron,  .  .  .  . 
and  went  out  at  the  water-course  of  Eg3rpt, 
and  the  goings  out  of  the  border  were  at  the 
sea.  In  other  words  :  The  border  went  constantly 
southward  to  Kadesh-barnea  (Nnm.  xxxiv.  3). 
South  of  Kadesh  it  turned  toward  the  west,  since 
it  came  out  finally  at  the  torrent  of  Egypt  (comp. 
ch.  xiii.  3)  and  at  the  sea.  Hezron  (ver.  25  with 
the  addition  "that  is  Hazor")  Adar,  Karkaa,  Az- 
mon,  are  to  us  unknown  places.  The  torrent  of 
Eg u jit  was  spoken  of  ch.  xiii.  3.  The  sea  is  evidently 
the  Mediterranean  sea.  Ruins  of  considerable  cities 
are  still  met  with  in  these  regions  then  allotted  to 
the  tribe  of  Judah  ( Robinson,  i.  290,  318  ;  ii.  591  f.). 

Ver.  4.  This  shall  be  your  south  border.  The 
jussive  is  to  be  explained,  as  Masius  and  Keil  ob- 
eei've,  by  reference  to  Num.  xxxii.  2. 

Next,  in  ver.  5  a,  the  east  border  is  given :  the 
salt  sea  in  all  its  extent  from  south  to  north,  to 
the  end  of  the  Jordan,  /.  e.  to  its  embouchure  at 
the  Dead  Sea. 

Ver.  5  b-11.  North  Border.  This  went  forth 
from  the  northern  tongue  of  the  sea  at  the  raoixth 
of  the  Jordan,  and  is  given  a  second  time,  ch.  xviii. 
15-19,  as  the  south  line  of  Benjamin. 

Ver.  6.  It  went  up  toward  Beth-hogla,  a  bound- 
ary point  between  Judah  and  Benjamin,  belong- 
ing to  the  latter,  perhaps  the  same  as  the  thresh- 
ing Hoor  of  Atad  and  Abel-mizraim  (mourning 
of  the  Egyptians)  Gen.  1.  10,  between  Jericho 
and  the  Jordan,  discovered  again  by  Robinson,  ii. 
2G8  in  Ain  Hadschla,  (cf  von  Raumcr,  ]>.  177). 
From  Beth-IIoula  it  passed  on  northwardly  to 
Beth-Arabah,  which  is  ascribed  now  to  Judah 
jver.  Gl),  now  to  Benjamin  (ch.  xviii.  22),  and  lay 
9 


(ver.  61)  in  the  wilderness  at  the  north  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea ;  and  went  up  to  the  stone  of  Bohan, 
the  son  of  Reuben.     This  stone  of  Bohan  ''  must 

from  the  "^/t^  '^^^  '^"'t'  ^^^-  xviii.  17,  have  lain  _ 
nearer  the  mountain,  that  is,  more  to  the  west  or 
southwest "  (Knobel).  Keil  seeks  it  on  the  same 
grounds  "  nearer  the  mountain,"  and  declines  any 
more  exact  determination.  Further  conjectures 
see  in  Knobel,  p.  415. 

Ver.  7.  From  the  stone  of  Bohan  it  went  up 
toward  Debir  which  lay  in  the  vicinity  of  Gilgal, 
to  be  distinguished  evidently  from  the  Canaanitish 
royal  city  con(|uered  bv  Joshua  near  Hebron  (ch. 
x.29,38;  xii.  13  ;  xv.  15,49;  xxi.  5 ;  1  Chron.  vii. 
58),  — from  the  valley  of  Achor,  ch.  vii.  26.  Now 
it  turned  northward  toward  Gilgal,  that  is  be- 
fore the  going  up  to  Adummim,  which  is  on  the 
south  side  of  the  water-course.  Keil  supposes 
this  Gilgal  not  to  be  the  place  of  encampment 
mentioned  ch.  iv.  19,  because  here  "its  position  is 
determined  with  reference  to  another  place  than 
Jericho."  This  reason  would  have  force  only  if 
"  the  other  place,"  the  ascent  of  Adummim,  could 
not  be  shown  to  have  been  in  the  same  region 
But  so  long  ago  as  the  time  of  Jerome,  he  ob- 
serves that  the  ascent  of  Adummim  (now  Galaat 
el  Demm)  (Ritter,  xv.  493  [Gage's  transl.  iii.  10], 
Tobler,  DenkwUrdigkeilen,  p.  698),  lay  on  the  road 
from  Jerusalem  :  "  est  autem  confinium  tribtis  Jndce 
et  Benjamini,  descendentibus  ab  /Elia  iibi  et  castellum 
militum  sititm  est,  ob  auxilia  viatoruiii."  He  has  in 
mind,  as  we  may  suppose,  since  from  the  context 
Luke  X.  30  flits  before  him,  the  road  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Jericho.  But  Gilgal  lay  near  Jericho,  ac- 
cording to  ch.  iv.  19  being  itself  not  a  city  but  a 
larger  circuit,  whence,  ch.  xviii.  17,  we   read  of 

niv^vi.  The  watercourse  is  the  Wady  Kelt, 
south  of  Riha.  Further  particulars  see  in  Knobel, 
pp.  416,  417.  With  this  view  von  Raumer  also 
agrees,  comp.  pp.  198  with  169. 

The  border  now  goes  to  the  Sun-spring  as  in 
ch.  xviii.  17.  "  That  is  the  present  Ain  el-Hodh,  or 
Apostles'  Spring,  three-quarters  of  an  hour  north- 
east of  Jerusalem,  the  only  Sf>ring  on  the  road  to 
Jericho.  Seetzen,  ii.  p.  273,  Tobler,  Topographie, 
etc.,  ii.  p.  398  ff."  (Knobel).  From  the  Sun-spring 
it  went  (see  the  side  map  to  Map  iii.  in  Menke)  in 
a  southwest  direction  (conversely  ch.  xviii.  7)  to 

the  Fullers'  Spring  ( v2~l  3'^37,  Spies'  Spring  would 
beb.51'3  T''S,  cf.  Gen.  xiii.  9  fF. ;  Josh.  vi.  22). 

This  spring  is  mentioned  again,  2  Sam.  xvii.  17; 
1  K.  i.  9.  It  is  the  present  deep  and  copious  Well 
of  Job  (von  Raumer,  p.  307),  or  of  Nehemiah,  on 
the  south  side  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  valleys  of 
Kidron  and  Hinnom  unite  (Robinson,  i.  354-491  ; 
Tobler,  ii.  p.  .50  ff.)  "  (Knobel).  Furrer  (p.  57) 
says  concerning  it  :  "  Somewhat  south  of  the  gar- 
dens (p.  56)  which  spread  themselves  in  the  mod- 
erately broad  valley  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
ravines  of  Hinnom  and  Kidron  together  with 
the  Tyropoeon,  we  come  to  an  old  well,  called 
En  Rogel  in  the  O.  T.,  at  the  present  time.  Job's 
Well.  Although  it  is  more  than  one  hundred  feet 
deep  [Robinson,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet],  it 
overflows,  upon  a  long  continuance  of  rainy 
weather,  which  is  regarded  in  Jerusalem  as  a  joy- 
ful occurrence,  indicating  a  good  year.  The  over 
How  meanwhile  lasts  but  a  short  time.     I  struck 

the  water  at  a  depth  of  twenty-eight  feet 

The  scenery  about  tiie  fountain  is  very  attractive. 
The  hills  rise  high  on  the  east  and  west.     To  the 


130 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


north  one  sees  the  spurs  of  Zion  iiud  Moriah,  bnt 
little  of  the  city  walls.  Southward  the  eye  follows 
the  course  of  the  Yalley  to. its  turn  toward  the 
southeast.  There  a  declivity  of  the  mountain  with 
its  olive  trees  and  beautiful  green  fields  formed  a 
very  pleasing  back-ground."  ^ 

Ver.  8.  From  En-rogel  the  border  went  up  into 
the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Jebusite,  that  is  Jerusalem.  The 
direction  accordingly  runs  southwest  on  the  south 
side  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  valley  mentioned  lies. 
It  is  noted  also,  ch.  xviii.  16  ;  Neh.  xi.  30,  as  a 
border  between  Judah  and  Benjamin.  It  was  the 
place  whei'e,  after  Ahaz,  the  horrible  sacrifice  of 
children  was  oftcrcd  (2  K.  xxiii.  10;  2  Chron. 
xxviii.  3  ;  xxxiii.  6  ;  Jer.  vii.  31 ;  xix.  2,  6  ;  xxxii. 
35).  The  man  from  whom  it  derived  its  name  is 
as  little  known  as  Bohan  the  son  of  Reuben  (vcr. 
6).  On  account  of  the  offerings  to  Moloch,  the 
valley  became   "  a  symbol   of  Hell,  the  name  of 

which,  76€wa  (Chald.  D3n|,  in  which  nbn-''2 
is  perceptibly  audible)  is  thence  derived,  cf.  Matt. 
V.  22,  els  TTjv  '^ievva.v  tov  Trvpos.  Hitzig  and  BiJtt- 
cher  (apud  Winer,  i.  492)  dispute  the  common 
view  that  the  valley  was  named  after  a   pei'son, 

Hinnom,  and  take  DSH  as  an  appellative  =  moan- 
ing, wailing ;  certainly  a  very  appropriate  desig- 
nation of  the  scene  of  the  sacrifice  of  so  many  in- 
nocent victims.     This  hypothesis  falls  in  well  with 

Kethib,  2  K.  xxiii.  10,  'n  "^3^  ^2.  — "'D^H^  "for 

the  complete  expression  "'D^S^n  T'l?,  Judg.  xix. 
11.  Jerusalem  is  in  the  same  connection,  called 
also  C>^2"1,  Judg.  xix.  11 ;  1  Chron.  xi.  4"  (Kno- 
bel).  All  in  the  time  before  David.  So  Bethel 
was  earlier  called  Luz  (Gen.  xxviii.  19),  Bethle- 
hem Ephrath,  Gen.  xxxv.  16;  Mich.  v.  1.  Out 
of  the  valley  of  Hinnom  the  border  now  ascended 
to  the  top  of  the  mountain  that  lieth  before  the 
vaUey  of  Hinnom  westward,  which  is  at  the 
end  of  the  vaUey  of  giants  northward.  The 
mountain  on  which  the  border  went  up  lies  ac- 
cording to  this  statement  west  of  the  vale  of  Hin- 
nom and  at  the  north  end  of  the  vale  of  Rephaim- 
This  vale  of  Eephaim  is  one  which  extends  in  a 
southwest  direction  from  Jerusalem  to  Mar  Elias, 
one  hour  long,  a  half  hour  wide,  fertile  ( Is.  xvii. 

5),  and  still  well  cultivated,  a  valley-plain  (pP^) 

not  properly  a  vale  (n^jTS,  "^17)  "  spacious  enough 
to  serve  as  a  camp  for  an  army  (2  Sam.  v.  18,  22 ; 
xxiii.  13;  1  Chron.  xi.  .5),"  named  after  the  old 
gigantic  race  of  Canaanites,  the  Rephaim,  from 
whom  sprang  Og  king  of  Bashan  (ch.  xii.  4).  "  It 
is  bounded  on  the  north  by  a  slight  rock-ridge, 
which  constitutes  the  border  of  the  valley  of  Hin- 
nom, Winer,  ii.  332 ;  Robinson,  i.  324  ;  Tobler,  ii. 
401  ff.)  That  is  the  mountain  which  is  here 
meant. 

Ver.  9.  From  the  summit  of  this  mountain, 
the  line  was  drawn  (~l^.n,  related  to  "1W,  to  go 

around,  from  which  "^^^1,  outline,  form,  shape  of 
the  body,  1  Sam.  xxviii.  14)  to  the  fountain  of 
the  water  of  Wephtoah.  This  fountain  of  the 
water  of  Ncphtoah,  i.  e.  Liftah,  one  hour  northwest 
of  Jerusalem,  irrigates  a  strip  of  smiling  gardens, 
and  its  excellent  water  is  carried  also  to  Jerusalem 

1  [A  full  acco\int  of  tliis  spring  (calloil  there  "  Well  of 
the  Messengers")  is  given  in  Gage's  llitter,  iv,  145-148. — 
Xb.1 


(Dieterici,  Uekehikler,  ii.  p.  221  f. ;  Tobler,  ii.  258  ff. 
apnd  Knobel)  Valentiner,  p.  95,  observes:  "Liftah 
numbers  its  fighting  men  by  hundreds,  and  pro- 
vides Jerusalem,  among  other  things,  ivith  icatp.t 
from  its  copious  fountain.  From  its  position  it  is 
doubtless  to  be  regarded  as  the  fountain  of  Neph- 
toah,  from  which  the  dividing  line  between  Judah 
and  Benjamin  ran  on  to  the  cities  of  Mount  Eph- 
ron.  This  latter  must  not  be  confounded  with 
Ephraim,  which  lay  further  north,  Josh.  xv.  9 ; 
xviii.  15."  From  this  fountain  it  ran  as  Valen- 
tiner, with  reference  to  our  passage,  correctly 
states,  up  to  the  cities  of.  Mount  Ephron,  and 
was  drawn  to  Baalah,  which  is  Kirjath-jearim. 
This  mount  Ephron  is  not  elsewhere  mentioned. 
It  was  certainly  between  Liftah  and  Kureyet  el- 
Enab,  therefore  probably  the  prominent  ridge,  on 
which  stand  the  places  Soba,  Kartal,  Kulonieh, 
etc.,  and  near  which  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to 
Joppa  runs,  Robinson,  ii.  328  fF."  ( Knobel).  BaaJa, 
that  is,  Kirjath-jearim,  one  of  the  cities  marked  in 
ch.  ix.  17  ;'  xviii.  25,  26  ;  Ezr.  ii.  25  ;  Neh.  vii.  29, 
as  belonging  to  Gibeon,  "  now  Kureyet  el-Enab, 
three  hours  northwest  of  Jerusalem,  see  ver.  60," 
(Knobel).  The  border  still  followed  constantly  a 
northwest  course. 

Ver.  10.  Now,  however,  it  took  a  compass  (bent 
around,  2?3)  from  Baala  westward  unto  mount 
Seir.  This  mount  Seir  must  not  be  mistaken  for 
the  Edomite  mountain  (Gen.  xxxii.  3;  Num. 
xxiv.  18;  Dent.  ii.  4,  5,  29 ;  Josh.  xxiv.  4) ;  rather 
the  mountain  range  is  intended  which  runs  in  a 
southwest  direction  as  far  as  the  Wady  Surar. 
The  name  has  perhaps  been  preserved  in  Sairah, 
Robinson,  ii.  363  "  (Winer,  ii.  443).  Cf.  also  Rob- 
inson, Later  Bibl.  Res.,  p.  155,  who  gives  the  height 
of  the  ridge  as  one  thousand  five  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

Passed  along  to  the  side  of  mount  Jearim 
(which  is  Chesalon)  towards  the  north.  Chesa- 
lon,  ])robably,  now  Kesla  (Robinson,  ii.  363,  more 
definitely.  Later  Bibl.  Res.  p.  154),  was  called  also 
Har  -jearim  =  mountain  of  forests,  as  Baala  or 
Kirjath-jearim,  =  city  of  forests,  or  forest-town. 
The  region  appears  therefore  to  have  been  earlier 
thickly  covered  with  woods.  Thence  the  border 
went  down  to  Beth-shemesh,  and  passed  on  to 
Timnah.  Beth-shemesh  =  house  of  the  sun,  here 
under  this  name  as  a  border  town  of  Judah ;  ch. 
xix.  41,  called  Ir-shemesh  and  counted  as  a  border 
town  of  Dan ;  according  to  ch.  xxi.  9,  16 ;  1 
Chron.  vii.  59,  a  city  of  the  priests,  known  especi- 
ally from  the  narrative  concerning  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  1  Sam.  vi.  9-20.  Robinson  (iii.  17-20) 
found,  "  to  the  west  of  the  village  Ain  Schems,  on 
the  plateau  of  a  low  swell  or  mound,  between  the 
Surar  on  the  north  and  a  smaller  Wady  on  the 
south,  the  manifest  traces  of  an  ancient  site.  Here 
are  the  vestiges  of  a  former  extensive  city  consist- 
ing of  many  foundations,  and  the  remains  of  an- 
cient walls  of  hewn  stone Both  the  name 

and  the  position  of  this  spot  seem  to  indicate  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Beth-shemesh  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment," comp.  Later  Bibl.  Res.,  p.  1 53  ;  also,  Furrer, 
p.  187-211,  especially  198-201.  Timnah,  or  Tim- 
natha  (ch.  xix.  43)  belonuing  to  Dan,  now  Tibneh, 
west  of  Beth-shemesh  (Furrer,  p.  200),  the  home 
of  Samson  (Judg.  xiv.  1-4).  In  the  vineyards  of 
Timnah,  without  anything,  in  his  hand  he  killed 
the  lion  (Judg.  xiv.  5-6). 

Vcr.  11.  Now  the  boundary,  following  a  north- 
west course,  went  out  unto  the  side  of  Ekron 
northward,  /.  e.  to  a  point  lying  in  the  vicinity  of 


CHAPTER  XV. 


131 


Ekron  north  of  this  Philistine  city.  Then  it  was 
drawn  to  Shicron  (Socveir,  Snuheir  ;  Knobel,  p. 
419),  and  passed  along  to  mount  Baala.  This 
mount  Baahi  is  probably,  as  Kcil  and  Knobel  also 
suppose,  "  the  short  line  of  hills  running  almost 
parallel  with  the  coast,  which  Robinson  observed 
west  of  Ekron  (Akir),  iii.  22,  23.  From  this 
mount  Baala  the  border  went  out  unto  Jabneel, 
and  then  to  the  sea,  where  its  goings  out  were. 

Jabneel  or  Jabneh  (2  Chron.  xxvi.  6,  H^^^),  de- 
stroyed by  Uzziah,  the  Jamnia  so  often  mentioned 
in  the  books  of  Maccabees  (1  Mace.  iv.  1.5;  v.  58; 
X.  69;  XV.  40;  2  Mace.  xii.  9).  After  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  there  was  here  a  high  school 
of  the  Jews  and  a  Sanhedrim  (Reland,  p.  823,  after 
the  Talmud;  apud  vou  Kaumer,  p.  204).  It  is 
now  Jebna,  "  a  large  village  on  an  insignificant  hill 
west  of  Akir  (Knobel,  after  Tobler,  Dritte  Wund- 
cning,  p.  20  f  ;  Wittniann's  Reisen,  ii.  p.  7).  An- 
other Jabneel,  which  is  mentioned  ch.  xix.  33,  lay 
on  Lebanon. 

Ver.  1 2.  Gioes  the  West  Border.  The  great  sea, 
i.  e.,  the  Mediterranean.     The  borders  thereof 

(7^2?n),  is  to  be  explained  as  in  ch.  xiii.  23, 27,  cf. 
also  Num.  xxxiv.  6. 

b.  Vers.  13-20  (comp.  ch.  xiv.  6-15;  Judg.  i. 
10-15).  Caleb's  Possession.  His  daughter  Achsah. 
Conclusion  to  a.  Nothing  is  said  here  as  in  the 
episode,  ch.  xiv.  6-15,  of  any  demand  of  Caleb,  but 
simply  ver.  13  that  Joshua  gave  Hebron  to  Caleb, 
according  to  the  command  of  God.  On  the  other 
hand  we  have  here,  in  almost  literal  agreement  with 
the  account  in  Judg.  i.  10-15,  the  story  of  Achsah, 
whom  Caleb  gave  as  a  reward  for  the  conquest  of 
Debir,  which  is  not  alluded  to  in  ch.  xiv. 

Ver.  13.  It  is  stated  that  Joshua,  according  to 

tlie  command  of  Jehovah  (^"^  "^^  ^^)  hei'e  and  ch. 
xvii.  3,  with  which  Gesenius  compares  Ps.  v.  1  ; 
Ixxx.  1,  nib'^i7?n-bh?,  and  also  1  Sam.  xxvi.  4, 
P^^  "  7S),  giive  Caleb  his  portion  ip^^)  among 

the  children  of  Judah.  This  command  must  liave 
been  communicated  to  Joshua  then,  as  they  were 
dividing  the  land  (Knobel).  A  complete  account 
of  the  facts  is  wanting,  for  ch.  xiv.  9,  which  Keil 
would  apply  here,  speaks  not  of  a  command  of 
God  to  Joshua  but  of  an  oath  of  Moses  to  Caleb, 
cf.  further  the  explanation  of  ch.  xiv.  9.  Hebron 
is  here  called  Kirjath-arba  as  in  ver.  54;  xx.  7; 
xxi.  11  ;  Gen.  xxiii.  2;  xxxv.  27  (Knobel). 

Ver.  1 4-19.  The  history  of  Achsah,  the  daughter 
of  Caleb,  is  introduced  with  the  remark  that  Caleb 
drove  out  of  Hebi-on  the  three  sons  of  Anak, 
Shcshai,    Ahiman,     and     Talmai,     descendants 

07^^;)  of  Anak. 

Ver.  15.  Thence  he  proceeded  against  the  in- 
habitants of  Debir.  According  to  ch.  xi.  21,  Joshua 
had  conquered  and  devoted  Debir.  On  the  position 
of  this  city  see  on  ch.  xi.  21.  Debir  before  was 
Kirjath-sepher.     Ver.  49,  the  same  city  is  called 

n2P"n^"li7.  On  this  diversity  of  names  ef  Keil 
on  ch.  X.  38.  The  there  quoted  explanation  of 
Boehart  (Can.  ii.  17)  on  n3D  :  "  Id  Pha-mc.ibus 
idem  fuit  quod  Arabibus  Sunna,  lex,  doctrina,  jus  can- 
miicwn,"  suits   better  to  ~I?.P"-'"1^~'P.  than  if,  as 

1  rPunctu.T.tion  in  English  can  but  imperfectly  serve  the 
purpose  here   of  the   nominative   endinfr  as   distinct    from 
that  of  the  genitive,  in  German,  to  indicate  that  brother  is 
9 


Gesenius  supposes,  HSp  =  n3p2D,  ramus  palmoB, 

and  n3P"n'^~l|7  therefore  =  palm  city. 

Ver.  16.  Caleb,  like  Saul,  1  Sam.  xvii.  25,  prom- 
ises his  daughter  Achsah  as  a  wife  to  whomsoever 
would  conquer  the  city,  which  was  found  difiicult 

to  take.  Tip'DV  =  D^'2  signifies  properly  foot- 
chains,  cf  Is.  iii.  18. 

Ver.  17.  And  Othniel,  son  of  Kenaz,  the 
brother  of  Caleb,  took  it.  So  we  translate,^  ac- 
cording to  the  view  of  the  Masoretes,  with  Keil, 
Bunsen,  and  Winer  (ii.  185)  who  appeal  to  Judg. 
i.  13 ;  iii.  9.  Omitting  the  comma  after  Kenaz, 
and  making  "  the  brother "  in  apposition  witli 
Kenaz  (Kenaz  the  brother)  is  grammatically  allow- 
able, but  is  not  the  most  obvious,  cf  Judg.  i.  13 
(I^unsen).    Yu.\g. /rater ;  LXX.  aSeAcpov-    Othniel 

(7M'^3j7ljy  =lion  of  God)  was,  according  to  Judg. 
iii.  9,  the  first  Judge  of  Israel,  who  delivered  his 
]3eople  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Mesopotamia!!  King 
Chushan-rishathaim.  "On  the  allowableness  of  his 
marriage,  see  Michaelis,  E/iegesetze  Mosis,  §  82, 
Laws  of  Moses,  §  1 1 7. 

Ver.  18.  Achsah  had  not  gone  with  the  rest  into 
the  war,  but  had  remained  with  her  father  prob- 
ably in  Hebron.  As  now  she  came  to  Debir  to  be- 
come Othniel's  wife,  She  moved  him  (^nn'^pill 
from  n^D  or  rT^D  not  used  in  Kal,  perhaps  "  to 
be  excited,"  then  in  Hiphil,  "  to  incite ;  "  so  here 
and  Judg.  i.  14;  2  Chron.  xviii.  2  ;  in  particular, 
"  to  tempt  to  something  wrong,"  Dent.  xiii.  7  ;  Is. 
xxxvi.  8;  Jer.  xxxviii.  22,  and  often)  to  ask  of 
her  father  a  field  (Judg.  i.  14  moi-e  definitely  the 
field  which  belonged  to  Debir),  and  hghted  oflF 

(nS^riT  from  the  rare  TIT^  cognate  with  273^, 
Judg.  i.  14  ;  iv.  21  =  to  sink  down,  to  go  under; 
LXX  :  /cat  e^Srjaev  iK  rov  uvou  ;  Vulg.  :  "  suspira- 
vitque  lit  sedebat  in  asino."  This  translation  of  the 
LXX.  followed  by  the  Vulg.,  raises  the  conjecture 

that  the  LXX.,  instead  of  the  unusual  n3!Jj'^1, 
read  \')'2'2!j)'])  from  the  ass.  "  Whether  Othniel 
followed  her  is  not  said.  She  he!'self  pi-oeeeded 
farther,  and  on  ajiproaching  her  father  she  sprang 
from  the  ass  and  humbled  herself  before  him  " 
(Knobel).  So  did  Rebecca  also  at  her  first  meet- 
ing with  Isaac  (Gen.  xxiv.  64).  Caleb  perceived 
that  she  had  something  unusual  to  pi-esent  to  him, 
and  asked:  "What  is  to  thee?  What  tcouldest 
thou  ?  or  what  dost  thou  wish  ? 

Ver.  19.  And  she  said:  Give  me  a  blessing, 
"^57?'  '•  *v  as  in  Gen.  xxxiii.  11,  a  gift,  a  pres- 
ent, as  Gen.  xxxiii.  10,  nn?Q  is  used  instead  of 
it.  This  gift  should  coi!sis"t  in  springs  of  water, 
since  Caleb  had  given  her  toward  the  south  coun- 
try (2?.'3,  comp.  X.  40).  It  is  to  be  noted,  ,firsf,  that 
here  Debir  is  reckoned  as  belonging  to  the  Negeb, 
while  the  city  in  ver.  49  is  counted  to  the  moun- 
tain ;  probably,  as  Knobel  suggests,  because  the 
region  was  like  the  Negeb.    Besides,  the  Negeb 

begins,  at  least,  in  that  section.     Secondly,  j"liv'2, 

Q^^  occurs  only  here  and  Judg.  i.  15,  and  is  ex- 
plained either  "  water  springs  "  (Bunsen  :  Wasser- 
strndel,  whirlpool  or  eddy),  as  Gesenius  and  Keil 

in  apposition  with  Othniel,  thus  making  the  latter  Caljb'i 
brother.  —  Tr.] 


132 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


prefer,  or,  according  to  Bertheau  and  Ivnobcl, 
who  quote  Zach.  iv.  2,  3;  Ecc.  xii.  6  ;  1  K.  vii.  41, 

"  water-holders,"  inclosed  fountains,  which  ^2) 
Cant.  iv.  12,  should  also  mean.  We  venture  not 
to  decide,  hut  certainly  hokl  the  translation  "  water 
springs"  in  a  poetically  colored  passage,  to  be  finer 
than  the  transfer  of  "  water-holders."  Neither  can 
we  exactly  approve  Bunscn's  "  Wasserstrudcl." 
2'hirdli/,  we  notice  that  Aclisah  names  the  springs 
instead  of  the  fields  which  were  watered  by  them, 
in  order  doubtless  "  to  express  the  direct  antithesis 

to  tlie  2?5  '•  perhaps  also  from  feminine  shrewd- 
ness and  cunning,  that  she  might  not  diredli/  bring 
out  her  pro])er  wish.  That  gardens  and  fields  in 
Palestine  are  even  to  the  present  day  watered  from 
springs  and  cisterns  is  well  known,  of.  what  was 
said  above  on  ver.  7,  also  Cant.  ii.  6 ;  Robinson,  i. 
541  ;  ii.  285;  iii.  95. 

And  he  gave  her  the  upper  springs  and  the 
lower  springs.  Caleb  responds  to  the  wish  of  his 
daughter,  and  gives  her  higher  and  lower  springs, 
that  is,  higher  and  lower  fields  watered  by  springs. 
IIow  large  this  jtossession  was  cannot  be  deter- 
mined. Fi)i(il/i/  let  us  remark,  in  passing,  that 
Handel,  in  his  Oratorio  of  Joshua,  brings  forward 
Othuiel  and  Achsah  as  chief  personages. 

Ver.  20  Belongs  as  a  conclusion  to  vers.  1-12. 
Its  position  shows  that  vers.  13-19  were  inserted. 
So  also  Keil :  "the  20th  verse  contains  the  sub- 
scription or  conclusion  to  the  first  division  of  our 
(•lia)iter,  with  which  the  description  of  the  bounds 
(if  the  inheritance  of  Judah  closes." 

c.  Listo/'the  Cities  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah.  From 
ver.  21  on  follow  the  names  of  the  cities  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  and  a.  the  cities  in  the  south 
country  (vers.  21-32) ;  ;8.  the  cities  in  the  lowland 
(vers.  3.3-47)  ;  y.  the  cities  on  the  mountain  (vers. 
4S-60)  ;  S.  the  cities  in  the  wilderness  (vers.  Gl, 
()2).  The  whole  is  concluded  with  a  notice  (ver. 
t)3)  concerning  the  Jebusites. 
a.  Vers.  21-32.  Cities  in  the  South  Connlnj.  Ver.  21, 

n!:!|7^,  at  the  extremity  or  end ;  ^fp,  as  in  ver.  I. 

In  the  south-country,  ^?.3p ;  of.  eh.  x.  40.  The 
enumeration  begins  within  the  Negeb  at  the  east, 
as  ver.  2  ff.  in  giving  the  boundaries.  First  we 
have  nine  cities  named  and  connected  by  the  cop- 
ula, which  Luther  in  his  translation  omits,  while 
the  LXX.  and  Vulg.  have  it.    Kabzeel  or  Jekab- 

zeel  (^^.-'^i2";  Neh.  xi.  25  =  which  God  gathers) 
was  the  birth-place  of  Benaiah  one  of  David's  he- 
roes, 2  Sam.  xxiii.  30.  Eder,  Jagur,  riot  to  be 
made  out. 

^  Ver.  22.  Kinah,  "  I'erhaps  the  place  of  the 
Kenites  who  settled  in  the  territory  of  Arad,  Num. 
X.  32"  (Knol)el). 

Dimona=  Dibon,  Neh.  xi.  25.  "  Proba|bly  the 
niins  ed-Dlieil),  nortlieast  of  Arad  (Van  de  Velde, 
Mem.  252),"  Knobcl. 

Adah.  =  Sudeid  (Rob.  ii.  474).  The  country 
here  is  hilly  and  cut  u])  by  small  ravines,  but  with- 
out steep  decliviiii's,  and  sparsely  covered  with  a 
thin  and  now  dried  up  growth  ofgrass.  (Rob.  I.e.) 

Ver.  23.  Kedesh,  Hazor,  Kadesh-barnea  and 
Hezron  (ver.  3),  Ithnan — unknown. 

Ver.  24.  A  second  groxip  oijive  cities  follows,  a 
))entapolis.  Ziph,  ]ierhaps  =  Kuseifeh  (Hob.  ii. 
191,  195),  southwest  <if  Arad.  Another  Ziph  lies 
on  the  nu)untain,  ver.  55.  —  Telem  we,  after  the 
example  of  Kimehi,  with  von  l^aumer  (p.  222)  and 

Kn'^bel,  regard  =  2'^S_*.-,  where  Saul   mustered 


his  army  before  he  moved  against  the  Amalekites 
(1  Sam.  XV.  4).  The  position,  in  the  Negeb,  suit.<! 
this  view.  When  Keil  (Com.  on  Josh,  in  h.  1.)  ob- 
jects to  this  assumption  that  the  words  Dv^  (o])- 
pression)  and  D"^S7!p  (young  lambs),  came  from 
two  quite  difterent  roots ;  it  is  a  sutficient  answer  to 
say,  with  Gesenius,  that  one  of  the  names  may  be 
altered  (perhaps  by  corrupt  pronunciation),  which 
is  easily  possible  with  names  of  places.  Supposing 

this,  it  is    more   probable  that    ^.c^  is   derived 

from  the  longer  D'^S^tp  than  the  reverse. 

Bealoth  =  Bealoth-beer,  Ramath-negeb,  Ramoth- 
negeb  (xix.  8),  on  the  road  toward  Hebron,  marked 
on  Menke's  map. 

Ver,  25.  Hazor-hadata,  nrilfl  il  =  New  Ha- 
zor, since  Hin  =  Ji^in).  Perhaps  Hudhairah 
(Rob.  A  pp.  p.  114). 

Kerioth-hezron,  which  is  Hazor.  Against  the 
Masoretes,  but  with  the  LXX.  and  Syr.,  we  join 

nV^n  and  P^'tTJ  in  one  name,  as  Reland,  Mau- 
rer,  Keil,  and  Knobel  have  done.  In  favor  of  this 
the  analogy  of  Kirjath-arba  (ver.  13)  and  Kirjath- 
jearim  (ver.  9)  adduced  by  Maurei',  is  of  decisive 
weight.  "  Possibly  the  place  Kuryatein  north  ol 
Arad  (Rob.  ii.  472),"  (Knobel). 

Ver.  2G.  Third  group,  consisting  again,  like  the 
first,  of  nine  cities,  —  Amam,  unknown. 

Shema,  a  place  of  the  Simeonites ;  ch.  xix.  2  as- 
sociated  with  Bcer-shaba   and    Moladah;  273^.^.'', 

probably  the  same  name,  as  2  and  X2  are  often  in- 
terchanged. 

Moladah,  according  to  ch.  xix.  2  likewise  a 
place  belonging  to  Simeon,  nowMilh  (Rob.  ii.  ])p. 
619,  621 ).  "  Moladah  was  at  a  later  ])eriod  inhab- 
ited by  the  sons  of  Judah  who  returned  from  the 
exile  (Neh.  xi.  25,  26).  Probably  identical  with 
Malatha,  an  Idumean  fortress  (Joseph.  Ant.  xviii. 
6,  2)  ;  often  named  in  the  Onom."  (von  Raumer,  p. 
214).  It  lies  on  the  road  to  Hebron,  northwest  of 
Baalath-beer.  Robinson  found  here  two  wells 
about  forty  feet  in  depth,  and  walled  around  with 
good  mason-work,  one  of  them  seven  and  a  half 
feet,  and  the  other  five  feet  in  diameter.  The 
water  a])peared  to  be  not  good,  but  the  Arabs  of 
the  Tiyahah  watered  their  animals  here  as  did  the 
Kudeirat  at  Bcer-sheba  (Rob.  /.  r.  note).  On  the 
plain  lying  near  the  wells  to  the  south,  the  stones 
of  a  ruined  town,  or  large  village,  are  scattered 
over  a  space  of  nearly  half  a  mile  square,  all  un- 
hewn. These  wells  and  ruins  in  all  probability 
mark  the  site  of  Moladah  of  the  O.  T.,  the  Malatha 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  (Rob.  iihi  sup.).  On 
.the  etyniologieal  difficulty  in  deriving  Milh  from 
Moladah  or  Malatha,  cf.  the  foot-note,  p.  621. 

Ver.  27.  Hazor-gadah,  Heshmon,  Beth-palat, 
unknown. 

Ver.  28.  Hazor-shual  {^VJW  "ll'n  =  Fox- 
yard;  [Gesen.  village  of  Jackals],  cf.  the  Lex.  under 

n!Jn  for  other  like  compounds),  a  place  of  the  Sim- 
eonites, eh.  xix.  3  ;  1  Chr.  iv.  28,  inhabited,  like  Mo- 
ladah and  Shema,  after  the  exile,  by  men  of  Judah, 
Neh.  xi.  27.     Possibly  Tla'aly( Hob!  iii.  App.  114). 

Beer-Bheba,  ^5^-"  1^5,  i.  e.  "  well  of  seven, 
meaning  the  seven  lambs  ^yhic))  Abraham  sacri- 
ficed when  he  made  a  covenant  with  Abimelech 
(Gen.  xxi.  28-32)."  So  von  Rijumcr,  p.  176. 
Others,  e.  (j.  Ges.,  explain,  with  re/'erence  to  Gen 


CHAPTER  XV. 


133 


xxvi.  30,  by  puteus  jurisjurandt,  well  of  the  oath, 
making  ^?tj?  =  H^^^tC.  Hitzig  again  {ubi  sup. 
p.  26)  in  another  way;  "if  the  wilderness  be- 
tween Peliisimu  and  Gaza  extends  for  the  distance 
of  seven  days'  journey,  Beershaba  (properly,  Bir 
sib)  signifies  "well  of  the  seven  day  camel"  (wliich 
has  borne  the  seven  days'  thirst) — in  the  Arabic; 
and  Arabs  carry  (Gen.  xxxvii.  25)  into  Egypt, 
on  the  backs  of  camels,  the  costly  productions  of 
Gilead."  Lange  {Com.  on  Gen.  x.ri.  28  ft".)  would 
not  press  the  antithesis  between  "seven-well"  and 
"  oath-wcll."  "  The  form  designates  it  as  the 
seven  wells,  but  the  seven  designates  it  as  in  fact 

the' well  of  the  oath."  In  this  view  373tt7  is  taken 
as  =  seven,  but  at  the  same  time  it  commemorates 
that  ^3t?73,  to  swear,  means  primarily  to  "  seven 
one's  self"  "  to  confirm  by  seven."  Cf.  Herod,  iii.  8, 
according  to  wliom  seven  things  were  chosen 
among  the  Arabians  for  the  confirmation  of  an 
oath.  Beer-sheba  is  very  often  mentioned  in  the 
history  of  the  patriarchs  (Gen.  xxi.  14,  28-33; 
xxii.  19  ;  xxvi.  23;  xxviii.  10;  xlvi.  1).  Accord- 
ing to  the  passage  before  us  it  belonged  to  Ju- 
dah  ;from  ch.  xix.  2,  1  Chr.  iv.  28,  it  was  ascribed 
also  to  Simeon.  It  is  often  named  in  the  formula 
"from  Dan  to  Beershcba"  (Judg.  xx.  1;  2  Sam. 
xvii.  11  ;  2  Chr.  xxx.  .5).  At  present  it  is  called 
Bir  es-seba,  on  tlie  north  side  of  the  Wady  es-Seba, 
close  on  its  banks,  where  two  wells  now  bear  this 
name  (Robinson,  i.  300-303).  These  two  wells 
lie  at  some  distance  from  each  other,  are  round  and 
walled  up  in  a  very  firm  and  permanent  manner, 
and  furnish  clear  and  excellent  water  in  gi'eat  abun- 
dance. The  ruins  oa  some  low  hills  north  of  the 
well  probably  indicate  the  existence  there  formerly 
of  a  small  and  straggling  city  (Robinson,  uhi  sup.). 
Euseb.  :  Kuts/xT^  /leyitTTri.     Hierou. :  vicus  grandis. 

Bizjothah. —  undeterminable. 

Ver.  29.  The  names  of  13  places  are  added, 
which  lay  to  the  west  and  southwest.  Baala  = 
Deir  ei-Belah  (Robinson,  iii.  App.  p.  118),  some 
hours  southwest  of  Gaza  on  the  north  border  of 
the  Negeb  with  a  great  forest  of  palm  trees,  and 
remnants  of  marble  pillars  (Bitter,  xvi.  41,  42 
[Gage's  Trans,  i.  30,  31]).  The  considerable  plan- 
tation of  date-palms  at  this  place  is  remarkable 
from  the  fact  that  here  alone  in  Palestine  the  dates 
still  ripen  ;  here,  therefore,  we  pass  the  north  limit 
of  d;Ue culture  (Ritter/.  c). 

Ijiin,  "  or  D"^*???  as  we  may  judge  from  'Aueiyti 
in  the  LXX.  Cod.  Alex.,  is  passed  over  in  the 
enumeration  of  Simeonite  cities  ch.  xix.  1  ff.  and 
may  have  been  not  of  much  importance  "  (Knobel). 
The  site  cannot  now  be  determined. 

Ezem  also  belonging,  like  Baala,  to  the  Simeon- 
ites  (ch.  xix.  3)  =  Abdeh,  a  place  of  very  consid- 
erable ruins  on  a  ridge  of  rocks,  and  on,ce.  strong, 

Q^2?  =  firmness,  strength  (Knobel). 

Ver.  30.  Eltolad,  later  given  likewise  to  Sim- 
eon, ch.  xix.  4.  In  1  Chr.  iv.  29  it  is  called  merely 
Tholad  (Keil).     This  also  remains  undiscovered. 

Chesil,     7"^C!p.      According    to    Job    ix.     9; 

xxxviii.  31 ;  Amos  y.  8,  3  is  a  constellation  in 
the  heavens,  probably  Orion.  Since  the  place 
is  named  eh.  xix.  4;  1  Chr.  iv.  30;  7-in3  and 
v^'inp,  since  further  1  Sam.  xxx.  27,  "  the  same 

place  is  manifestly  "called  /WTl'^a,  it  must  have 
been  thje  $^at  of  a,  sanctixary  as  Knobel  rightly  con- 


jectures. May  not,  as  the  name  indicates,  tha* 
very  constellation  of  Orion  (Chesil)  have  been 
worshipped  here,  especially  as  Jerome  reports  (  Vit. 
Hilar,  ep.  25,  ap.  Robinson,  i.  p.  298)  that  the  in- 
habitants had  worshipped  Venus  and  the  Morning 
S/ar  ?  True,  the  morning  star  is  mentioned  and 
not  Orion,  but  Jerome  hardly  had  so  exact  infor- 
mation. At  all  events,  worship  of  the  stars  then 
existed,  and  that  is  the  main  thing.  Probably 
Chesil  is  =  Elusa,  where  in  pre-Islamite  times  a 
sanctuary  of  Arabic  tribes  existed  (comp.  Tuch, 
Zeitschrift  der  deutsch-morfjml.  Ges.,  iii.  p.  194  f.  ap. 
Knobel).  Ehxsa  lies  five  and  a  half  hours  south 
of  Beer-sheba  (comp.  Ro!)inson,  i.  pp.  296-298). 
Horma  "  or  Zephat,  now  Sepata,  two  and  a  half 
hours  southwest  of  Chalaza ;  see  Num.  xiv.  45  " 
(Knobel). 

Ver.  31.  Ziklag,  later  belonging  to  Simeon,  ch. 
xix.  5;  1  Chr.  v.  30.  Familiar  from  the  history 
of  David  (1  Sam.  xxvii.  6 ;  xxx.  1  ;  2  Sam.  i.  1 ; 
iv.  10;  1  Chr.  xiii.  1).  Perhaps  Tel  el-IIasy, 
northeast  of  Gaza  (von  Raumer,  p.  225),  from 
which  one  has  an  extensive  view,  westward  to  the 
sea,  in  the  east  toward  the  mountains  of  Hebron, 
northwai'd  to  mount  Ephraim,  and  southward  to 
the  plains  of  Egypt  (Hitter,  xvi.  133  [Gage,  iii. 
246,  247]).  Knobel  seeks  Ziklag  to  the  southwest 
of  Milh,  where  a  place,  Gasludh,  lies  on  the  road 
to  Abdeh  (Robinson,  ii.  621),  some  hours  east  of 

Sepata.  The  etymology  of  Ziklag  (^bn"^^,  ^bp^) 
is  doubtful ;  perhaps,  as  Gesen.  supposes,  from 
p7p  "^^j  wilderness  of  destruction. 

Madmanna  =  Minyay  or  Minnieh,  south  of 
Gaza  (Robinson,  iii.  287  f),  on  the  I'outeof  the  pil- 
grims during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 

Sansanna  —  unknown.  The  name  signifies 
"  palm-branch."  Instead  of  Madmanna  and  San- 
sanna, elsewhere  Beth-markaboth  ("  Wagon - 
house,"  Knobel,  Keil)  and  Hazar-suza  or  Susim 
("Horse-yard,"  Knobel;  "Horse-village,"  Keil) 
are  mentioned  (xix.  3)  as  cities  of  the  Simeonites. 
Are  they  possibly  stations  of  wagons  and  horses,  as 
Knobel  conjectures "? 

Ver.  32.  Lebaoth  or  Beth-lebaoth,  belonging 
to  the  Simeonites,  ch.  xix.  6;  in  I  Chr.  iv.  31,  the 
name  of  the  place  is  Beth  Birei.  Perhaps  Lel> 
hem,  eight  hours  south  of  Gaza. 

Shllhim,  called,  ch.  xix.  6,  Saruhen  (]U^~'?''). 
a  place  of  the  Simeonites,  1  Chron.  iv.  31  =  el- 
Scheriat,  about  midway  between  Gaza  and  Beer- 
sheba;  a  scene  of  ruins  (Van  de  Velde,  Narrative, 
ii.  p.  144,  and  Mem.  p.  113,  apud  Knobel). 

Ain,  Rimmon,  in  ch.  xix.  7  ;  1  Chron.  iv.  32  ; 
Neh.  xi.  29,  treated  as  one  place.  Rimmon  is  dis- 
covered in  the  ruins  Um  er-Rumamim,  about  three 
hours  north  of  Beer-sheba.  Only  about  thirty 
minutes  south  of  it  is  the  well  el-Khulweilifeh, 
with  remains  of  buildings  (Robinson,  iii.  8),  on  the 
road  from  Hebron  to  Gaza.  Compare,  further, 
Knobel  on  this  verse. 

AH  the  cities  twenty-nine  and  their  villages. 
There  are  not  twenty -nine  luit  thirty-six,  namely, 
(1)  group  first,  9;  (2)  group  second,  5;  (3)  group 
third,  9  ;  (4)  group  fourth,  13  =36.  So  indeed  the 
Syriac  reads.  Since,  however,  all  the  other  ancient 
versions  have  twenty -nine,  the  Syriac  probably 
gives  a  "critical  correction."  The  matter  is  capa- 
ble of  the  simple  explanation  that  the  original  an- 
cient list  had  only  twenty-nine  cities,  but  later,  as 
even  Keil  concedes,  "  a  supjilementary  hand  added 
still  others  without  altei'ing  the  sum  total  to  ear- 
respond  " 


134 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


$.  Ver.  33-47.  Cities  in  the  Lowland.  Vcr.  33. 
In  the  lowland.     See  ch.  x.  40.     It  only  needs  to 

be  remarked  here  that  the  foot-hills  (Hiltt'S) 
mentioned  ch.  x.  40;  xi.  16  are  here  reckoned  in 
with  the  lowland.  They  are  designated  also  as 
the  land  of  Goshen,  as  was  explained,  ch.  x.  40, 
(xi.  16),  and  form  the  east  border  of  the  Shephe- 
lah  of  .Jndali.  The  places  mentioned  by  the 
author  are  arranued  in  three  groups.  The  Jirst  of 
these  (ver.  33-36)  lies  in  the  northeast  part  of  the 
lowland. 

Eshtaol  and  Zorea  mentioned  in  reverse  order, 
ch.  xix.  41  ;  Judg.  xiii.  25  ;  xvi.  31.  Here  ascribed 
to  Judah,  there  to  Dan.  Eshtaol  is  the  present 
Um-Eschteiyeh  (Robinson,  ii.  342).  Zorea  was 
Sam.son's  home  (Judg.  xiii.  2),  visited  in  modern 
times  by  Kobinson  {Latei-  BiU.  Res.  p.  153),  Tob- 
ler  (Dritte  Wunderung,  p.  150)  and  Fnrrer  (p. 
200).  The  prospect  from  the  summit  of  Zorea  is, 
according  to  Robinson's  statement,  beautiful  and 
very  extensive,  especially  toward  Beth-shcmesh. 
The  well,  the  fields,  the  mountains,  the  women 
who  bore  watei-,  all  transported  the  travellers  back 
into  the  earliest  times,  when  in  all  probability  the 
mother  of  Samson  in  the  same  manner  came  to 
the  well,  and  laboriously  carried  her  water -jar 
home.  Between  Zoreah  and  Eshtaol  Samson  was 
buried  in  his  father  Manoah's  tomb  (Judg.  xvi.  31.) 

Ashna,  unknown.  Knobel  would  read  "^^^"'i!? 
after  "Aenra  of  the  LXX.  Cod.  Vat. 

Ver.  34.  Sanoah,  now  Sanna,  not  far  from 
Zorea  (Robinson,  ii.  343)  to  the  southeast.  "The 
other,  Zanoah,  on  the  mountain,  ver.  56,  has  not 
yet  been  discovered  by  modern  explorers"  (Keil)- 

En-gannim,  Tappuah,  unknown.  Enam,  men- 
tioned Gen.  xxxviii,  14,21;  perhaps  Beth-anan, 
Tobler,  p.  137  (Knobel). 

Ver.  35.  Jarmuth,  a  Canaanitish  capital  (ch. 

xii.  11,  comp.  x.  3-27).  ■  Since  n^!^")!,  as  Kno- 
bel observes  =  •H^T'?  '^^"?>  ch.  xix.  21,  and  there- 
fore, judging  from  the  meaning  of  these  words,  lay 
upon  a  height,  the  modern  Jarmnk  ( Robinson,  ii. 
344),  which  stands  on  a  hill,  and  exhibits  cisterns 
and  remains  of  buildings  of  liigh  antiquity,  may 
be  regarded  as  ancient  Jarmuth. 

AduUam.  Probably  Deir  Dubban,  two  hours 
north  of  Beit  Jihrin,  where  are  great  and  remark- 
able caves,  fully  described  by  Rol)inson  (ii.  353  f.). 
He  does  not  decide  whether  they  are  natural  or 
artificial.  The  circumstance  that  they  arc  very 
regularly  hewn  out  leads  us  to  conclude  that  they 
are  of  artilicial  origin,  which,  however,  may  well 
have  been  in  part  natural,  since  the  mountain  of 
Judah  is  cavernous.  [Robinson  seems  to  indicate 
no  doubt  at  all  of  the  purely  artificial  character  of 
the  caves,  only  questioning  whether  the  "  pits  " 
through  which  they  .are  entered  "  are  natural  or 
artificial."  Their  object  also  was  to  him  quite  a 
puzzle.  —  Tn.] 

Socho,  and  Azeka,  lay  near  Ephes-dammim 
(Daman),  1  Sam.  xvii.  1.  Azeka  has  been  al- 
ready mentioned  (ch.  x.  10  f.)  Goliath's  battle 
with  David  took  ])lace  between  Azeka  and  Socho 
(1  Sam.  xvii.  1  ft'.).  Socho,  now  Shuweikeh,  but 
not  to  be  confounded  with  Socho  on  the  mountain 
(ver.  48),  which  is  also  called  Shuweikeh,  lies 
about  seventeen  miles  southwest  of  Jerusalem  on 
the  Wady  Sumt,  whose  beatitiful  vale  Robinson 
(ii.  349  f.)  regards  as  the  terebinth-vale  ("valley 
of  Elah"),  celebrated  for  the  combat  between 
David  and  the  giant  (von  Raumer,  p.  222). 


Ver.  36.  Sharaim,  "  according  to  1  Sam.  xvii 
52,  westward  of  Socho  and  Azeka  =  Tel  Sakarieh 
and  Kefr  Sakarieh  "  (Knobel).  The  dual  form  of 
the  name  indicates  two  villages  out  of  which  the 
ancient  Sharaim  may  have  already  grown,  and 
properly  signifies  "two  doors."  Adithaim,  un- 
known ;  a  dual  form  again. 

Gedera,    ^'^^^^T  with    the    article,   properly, 

"the  wall."  In  ch.  xii.  13  the  king  of  "l^^ 
(walled  place)  is  mentioned.  Probably  the  same 
place.  Whether  Gederoth  also  (ver.  41)  is  the 
same,  as  Knobel  would  have  it,  is  to  me  doubtful. 
Different  towns  might  naturally  be  called  simply 
walled  places.  Wc  may  compare  frequent  ele- 
ments of  modern  names,  Burg,  Ville,  House,  etc. 

Another  related  name  is  "TiT2,  ver.  58. 

Gederothaim  is  omitted  by  the  LXX.  If  we 
follow  them,  as  Winer  (ii.  471)  and  Knobel  do,  we 
make  out  only  fourteen  cities  according  to  the  sum 
total  given,  otherwise  fifteen,  as  above  thirty-six 
instead  of  twenty-nine. 

Ver.  37-41.  Second  Group.  It  includes  sixteen 
cities,  lying  "  south  "  and  "  west  "  of  the  first,  ver. 
37.  Zenan,  probably  indentical  with  Zaanan 
(Mich.  i.  11)  ;  perhaps  Chirbet  es-Senat. 

Hadashah.  "  The  smallest  place  in  Judah,  with 
only  fifty  dwellings  (Mischn.  Erubin,  pp.  5,  6  "), 
Knobel.  Not  identical  with  Adasa,  north  of  Jeru- 
salem. Von  Raumer  has  entirely  omitted  the  lit- 
tle place. 

Migdal-gad  =  Tel  ledeideh,  after  which  the 
Wady  ledeideh  is  named  (Tobler,  p.  124  f ) 

Ver.  38.  Dilean,  perhaps  Beit  Dula  (Tobler,  p 
150).  Mizpeh.  We  have  already  found  a  land 
of  Mizpeh  on  Hcrinon,  ch.  xi.  3-8,  where  the  name 
was  explained  and  its  frequent  occurrence  noticed. 
The  most  celebrated  place  of  the  name  is  yet  to  be 
mentioned,  ch.  xviii.  26.  The  one  before  us  is 
possibly  the  present  Tel  es-Safieh  (Robinson,  ii. 
363)  on  a  low  hill,  "  but  lying  sufficiently  above 
the  surrounding  country  to  be  seen  at  the  distance 
of  some  hours  in  every  direction ;"  called  in  the 
Middle  Ages  Alha  specula  or  Alba  custodia  [Blanche- 
f/arde],  a  castle,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  some  ro- 
mantic adventures  of  Richard  Cauir  de  Lion  are 
reported  to  have  taken  place.  These  are  enumer- 
ated by  Robinson  {ubi  svp.  p.  366). 

Joktheel,  perhaps  Keitulaneh  (Robinson,  iii. 
App.  126),  where  are  ruins. 

Ver.  39.  Lachish,  according  to  x.  3  flf. ;  xii.  11,  a 
CanaanitisJi  capital,  later,  like  many  of  these  cities, 
fortilied  liy  Rehoboam  (2  Chr.  xi.  9).  Here  Ama- 
ziah  died  "(2  K.  xiv.  19).  Sennacherib  besieged  L.a- 
chish,  and  moved  from  hence  to  Libnah  (Is.  xxxvi. 
2;  xxxvii.  8).  Nebuchadnezzar  also  contended 
against  the  royal  city  of  chariots  (Mich.  i.  13), 
which  had  become  a  beginning  of  sin  to  the  daugh- 
ter of  Zion,  doubtless  through  tem])tation  to  idola- 
try (Jer.  xxxiv.  7).  The  position  is  questionable. 
Robinson  (ii.  p.  388)  decided  against  Um  Lakis, 
which  suits  as  far  as  the  name  is  concerned,  partly 
because  the  trifling  remains  give  no  indication  of  a 
once  fortified  and'  stron^city,  and  partly  because 
the  position  does  not  agrA  with  what  is  known  of 
the  ancient  city.  He  is  followed  by  Knobel,  who 
thinks  he  has  recognized  Lachish  in  Zukkarijeh,  two 
and  a  half  hours  southwest  of  Beit  Jihrin.  On  the 
other  hand  von  Raumer,  Keil,  and  Van  de  Velde  on 
his  map,  unite  njion  Um  Lakis  as  the  ancient  city, 
mainly  on  the  ground  that  Eglon,  mentioned  here 
in  the  same  verse,  and  confidently  recognized  by 
Robinson  (ii.  392)  in  Ajalau,  w^s  .^gain,  according 


CHAPTER  XV. 


138 


to  his  own  statement  (nln  sup.  389)  only  three 
quarters  of  an  liour  distant  from  Um  Lal<is.  We 
likewise  adopt  this  latter  view.  £!glon  has  been 
already  nam^d  eh.  x.  1  tf.  3(5 ;  xii.  32.  — Bozkath, 
perha])s  Tubukah  (Robinson,  ii.  pp.  388,  648), 
spelled  Tubaka  by  Van  de  Velde  and  Knobel. 

Ver.  40.  Cabbon  =  Kubeibeh,  two  and  a-half 
hours  east  of  Ajlon  (Eglon),  upon  a  stony  ban-en 
heijiht.  So  Knobel  supposes,  and  the  name  eertainly 
sounds  like  ;  but  Kobin.^on  observes  very  moderately 
that  "  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  to  mark  it  particu- 
larly as  an  ancient  site"  (p.  394). 

Lachmas,  LXX. :  Aa^aj  ;  Vulg. :  Leheman  ;  hence 
Luther  :  Lehmam.     TiieLXX.  support  the  reading 

DMn7,  the  Vulg.  goes  back  to  the  other  reading, 

C?5n7-  The  correctness  of  the  latter  is  favored 
by  the  circumstance  tliat  Tobler  (Dn'tte  Wander- 
ung,  p.  129)  has  actually  found  south  of  Beit  Jib- 
rin,  a  place  of  ruins,  el-Lahem. 

Kithlish,  undetermined.  To  compare  Tell  Kilkis 
or  Chilcliis,  not  far  from  Kubeibeh,  as  Knobel  does, 
would  be  somewhat  rash,  since  in  this  case  (1)  a 

transposition  of  the  7,  (2)  a  change  of  i~l  into  3 
must  be  assumed,  which  is  not  so  easy  to  suppose 

as  the  more  frequent  interchange  of  ^  and  ^. 

Ver.  41.  Gederoth,  comp.  ver.  36. — Beth- 
dagon  and  Naamah  and  Makkedah, —  a  tripolis. 
Beth-dagon  to  be  distinguished  from  the  border- 
town  of  Aslier  mentioned  ch.  xix.  27,  now  Beth- 
Dejan  between  Joppa  (Jaffa)  and  Lydda  (Lod, 
Ludd),  on  a  knoll  to  the  left  of  the  road  (Furrer, 
]).  10),  but  according  to  Tobler  [Nazareth  nebst  An- 
hang  der  vierti-ii  Wander niig,  p.  .306),  on  the  right. 
The  name  indicates  the  Philistine  worship  of  Jl)a- 
gon.  Xaamah  cannot  be  made  out.  Makkedah, 
ah-eady  spoken  of  more  than  once  (ch.  x.  10, 16  ff.) 
in  the  account  of  the  battle  of  Gibeon,  also  ch. 
xii.  16,  was  a  royal  city  of  the  Canaanites,  accord- 
ing;- to  the  Onom.,  three  hours  east  of  Eleutherop- 
olis  (assuming  that  this  statement  of  the  Onom. 
does  not  rest,  as  Keil,  on  ch.  x.  10,  supposes,  on  an 
error,  and  mean  west  instead  oi  east).  This  would 
be,  and  so  Knobel  takes  it,  about  the  region  of 
Terkumieh,  or,  if  east  be  understood  as  =  south- 
east, of  Morak.  Both  places  lie  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  of  .Judah. —  Sixteen  cities  and  their  vil- 
lages.    In  this  instance  there  are  actually  sixteen. 

Vers.  42-44.  Third  Group,  "  further  south,  era- 
bracing  nine  ])laces."  ■  Libnah,  conquered  by 
Joshua  (x.  29,  30),  a  Canaauite  capital  (ch.  xii.  1.5), 
later  a  city  of  the  Levites  (xxi.  13;  1  Chr.  vi.  57j, 
according  to  the  Onom.,  Lihna  in  regione  Eleuthero- 
■jioUutna.  Kobinson  (ii.  p.  389)  could  rind  no  trace 
of  it.  Knobel  conjectures  that  it  may  be  the  ruins 
IJora-Hawara  (Uobinson,  iii.  App.  115),  discovered 
by  Seetzen  (iii.  31 ),  because  the  Arab,  hawara,  like 

71 J 1^,  signifies  "white,"  and  therefore  this  is  the 
j'Vrab.  translation  of  the  Hebrew  name  (comp.  sim- 
ilar examples,  vers.  28-36).  But  we  cannot  accept 
this  acute  hypothesis.  For,  although  in  the  Negeb, 
wliere  Tel  Hora  stands  on  Van  de  \'elde's  Map,  on 
the  rond  leading  north  from  Beer-sheba,  "  the 
Arabic  lesignation  of  the  cities  may  have  been 
introduced  early  "  (p.  425),  so  that  the  names  were 
furni:illy  translated,  still  we  have  not  yet,  at  least 
amou'.;-  the  cities  of  Judah,  found  a  single  exam]jle 
jf  this  kind.  Nay,  what  specially  concerns  the 
L'ase  before  us,  the  Arabic  geograpliers  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  as  Knobel  himself  informs  us,  are  still 
acquainted  with  a  Libna  [spelled  Lobna]  in  Pales- 
tine, e.  g.  Maraszid,  iii.  p.  5,  Jakut,  Muscht,  p.  379, 


Ether  and  Ashan;  afterwards  belonging  ic 
Simeon,  xix.  7  ;  1  Chr.  iv.  32.  Prabobly  to  be 
sought  in  the  south,  toward  the  Xegeb. 

Ver.  43.  Jiphta  and  Ashnah  and  JSTezib,  un- 
determinable. 

_Ver.  44.  Kegila,  according  to  the  Onom.,  eight 
miles  from  Eleutheropolis  toward  Hebron  ;  rescued 
by  David  from  the  hand  of  the  Philistines  (I  Sam. 
xxiii.  5),  but  ungratefully  treacherous  toward  him 
(1  Sam.  xxiii.  12).  On  Kiepert's  Map,  Jedna 
JKob.,  iii.  App.  117]  or  Idlma,  about  southwest  of 
Terkumieh,  in  accordance  with  the  statement  of 
the  Onom.  Knobel  maintains,  on  the  contrary,  that 
KeeiAa,  Ceila,  or 'ExeAci  of  the  Onom.  now  Kila 
(Tobler,  p.  151),  belongs  here,  and  rinds  Kegila 
rather  in  the  ruins  called  Khugaleh  ([Jughaleh?] 
Kobinson,  iii.  App.  1 15)j  in  the  south  of  the  Jebel 
el-Chalil  (Kobinson  writes  el-Khulil).  The  simi- 
larity of  the  name   speaks  for  this  position  in  the 

plain,  which  snits  also  with  T^,  1   Sam  xxiii.  4. 

Achzib,  or  2'^T5,  is  also  mentioned  Mic.  i.  14; 
Gen.  xxxviii.  5,  in  the  plain.  Perhaps  Kesaba, 
Knssabeh  (Robinson,  ii.  391),  a  place  with  springs, 
and  with  ruins  in  the  vicinity. 

Maresha,  likewise  fortified  by  Rehoboam  (2 
Chr.  xi.  8).  The  scene  of  Asa's  victory  (2  Chr. 
xiv.  9-13),  homeofanotiierwisc  unknown  prophet 
Eliezer  (2  Chr.  xx.  37),  afterward  Marissa  (ttJais 
Suvarri,  Joseph.  Ant.  xiv.  5,  3  ;  13,  9),  mentioned 
in  the  contests  of  the  Maccabees  ( 1  Mace.  v.  65- 
68),  restored  by  Gabinius,  destroyed  by  the  Parthi- 
ans.  Robinson  supposes  (ii.  4)  that  Eleutheropolis 
(Betogabris,  Beit  Jibrin),  arose  after  this  destruc- 
tion of  Maresha,  and  was  built  out  of  its  materials. 
Its  foundation  walls  he  thinks  he  found  one  and  a 
half  hours  south  of  Beit  Jibrin.  With  this  Tobler 
agrees  {pp.  129,  142  f.),  who  mentions  a  jilace  of 
ruins,  Marasch,  twenty-four  minutes  from  Beit  Jib- 
rin, marked  also  on  Van  de  Velde's  Map  as  tlie  an- 
cient Maresha.  Knobel  seeks  it  four  hours  south  of 
Beit  Jibrin,  where  lies  a  place  Mirsim  (Kobinson,  iii. 
A])p.  p.  117).  Improbable.  Maresha  is,  at  all  events, 
di^tinct  from  Moresheth-gath,  the  home  of  the 
prophet  JNIicah  (comp.  von  Kaumer,  p.  215,  Rob.  ii. 
4).  —  Nine  cities  and  their  villages.  The  num- 
ber is  correct  again,  as  at  ver.  41. 

Vers.  45-47.  Fourth  Group.  This  includes  the 
Philistine  cities,  Ekron,  which  ch.  xix.  40  is  as- 
cribed to  Dan,  Ashdod  and  Gaza,  and  their 
daughters,  and  their  villages.  But  according  to 
ver.  1 1  the  border  of  Judah  runs  north  of  Ekron, 
toward  the  sea,  and  so  includes  the  Philistine  cities. 
Of  "  daughters  "  i.  e.  sulyect  cities,  no  mention 
has  been  made  in  the  preceding  lists,  while  here 
the  statement  of  number  at  the  close  of  the  several 
groups  is  wanting.  The  section  is,  accordingly, 
a  manifest  addition  from  some  other  source,  as 
Ewald  (Geach.  ii.  p.  258),  Bertheau  (Komin.  Zuni 
Buche  d.  Rinht.  p.  28),  Knobel  (p.  419),  with  per- 
fect right  maintain.  Zealously  to  deny  this,  as  Keil 
does  (Com.  on  Josh,  in  loc.)  we  regard  as  perfectly 
unnecessary,  esjtecially  as  Keil  himself  (ver.  32)  can- 
not help  assuming  a  "  supjjiementary  liand."  If  a 
supplement  is  anywhere  possible,  then  certainly  also 
"  a  later  addition,"  since  both  come  substantially  to 
the  same  result.  Besides,  it  is  also  *'  verV striking," 
as  Keil  himself  says  [I.e.),  that  Gath  and  Ashkelon 
are  here  wanting,  whereas  in  ch.  xiii.  3,  they  are 
mentioned,  and  that  too,  as  cities  which  had  their 
own  jjrinces,  and  so  cannot  be  reckoned  among  the 
"daughters"  of  the  rest.  Verses  45-47.  therefore, 
make  the  impression  not  ohly  of  an  addition,  but 


136 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


still  more  definitely  that  of  a  fra.umeiitary  addition. 
I'or  the  rest  we  refer  to  the  explanation  already 
given  eh.  xiii.  3  of  the  position  of  the  several  ])laees, 
whieh,  after  wars  renewed  through  centuries,  were 
first  eoncpiered  by  the  Israelites  in  the  a^e  of  the 
Maceabees.  Conip.  Knobel's  excursus  |  (J  on  this 
passage. 

7.  vers.  48-60.  Cities  on  the  Mountain,  vers. 
48-51.  First  Group,  wholly  in  the  south,  embi'a- 
cing-  eleven  cities.  —  On  the  mountain.  See  ch.  x. 
40.  —  Shamir,  jierhaps  Uni  Schauniereh  (Iloliin- 
son,  iii.  Apj).  p.  ll.")).  — Jattir,  a  priests'  city  (eh. 
x.\i.  14;  1  Chr.  vi.  57),  prol)ably  Attir  (Hob.  ii. 
194,  625).  —  Socho,  dilTerent  from  Soeho  in  the 
lowland  (ver.  .'55),  but  like  that  now  called  Suwei- 
keh  (Kobiuson,  ii.  195),  about  ten  miles  S.  S.  W. 
from  Hebron  (von  Raumer,  p.  222). 

Dannah,  passed  over  by  von  Raumer.   Perhaps, 

in   Knobel's  judgment,    we  are  to  read  HDIl  == 

•^5^?  =  Zannte,  the  last  inhabited  place  on  the 
southwest  part  of  the  mountain,  five  hours  sonth 
of  Hebron  (Robinson  [Zanuta],  ii.  626,  iii.  App. 
116).  —  Kirjath-Sannah,  that  is  Debir.  Concern- 
ing this,  see  on  ch.  x.  38,  and  also  ver.  15  here. 

_Ver.  50.  Anab,  "  a  home  of  Anakim  (xi.  21), 
still  existing  under  the  old  name  east  of  Thal)arieh, 
(Seetzen,  iii.  6,  Robinson,  ii.  195)"  (Knobel).  It 
has,  according  to  Robinson,  a  small  tower. 

Eshtemoh,  situated  very  high,  according  to 
Schubert,  2225  feet  above  the  sea.  A  city  of  the 
priests,  ch.  xxi.  14;  now  Semua,  a  considerable 
village,  whieh  Robinson  saw  (ii.  196)  from  Tlia- 
barieh.  Around  it  (ii.  626)  are  broad  valleys,  "  not 
susceptible  of  much  tillage,  but  full  of  fiocks  and 
herds  all  in  fine  order."  The  travellers  halted 
among  the  olive  trees  in  the  moist  southern  valley. 
At  several  jjlaces  in  the  village  they  saw  remains 
of  walls  built  of  large  stones,  beveled  around  the 
edges,  but  left  rough  between,  some  of  which  were 
more  than  ten  feet  long.    Eshtemoh,  or  Eshtemoa 

(^l^iptp^),  appears  from  the  extent  of  these  Avails 
to  have  been,  as  Robinson  judges,  a  spacious  town. 
It  once  received  from  David  a  part  (1  Sam.  xxx. 
28)  of  the  booty  from  the  Amalekites. 

Anim,  probalily  the  present  Ghuwein  (von 
Raumer,  p.  171,  Knobel),  south  of  Semna.  So  Wil- 
son (i.  .354  ap.  von  Ranm.  cujainst  Robinson,  who 
regards  Ghuwein  as  Ain,  ver.  32). 

Ver.  51.  Goshen,  not  determined. — Holon,  a 
priests'  city  (ch.  xxi.  15;  1  Chr.  vi.  58  [Hilen]),  not 
yet  discovered.  —  Giloh,  birthplace  of  Ahithophel 
(2  Sam.  XV.  12),  where  the  traitor  against  David 
hanged  himself  (2  Sam.  xvii.  23).  —  Eleven  cities. 
The  number  is  correct. 

Ver.  52-54.  .Second  Group,  north  of  the  first, 
west  of  the  third  grou]).  See  Menke's  Map. 

Ver.  52.  Arab,  omitted  by  von  Raumer;  perhaps, 
as  Knoi)el  thinks,  Husn  el  Ghurab  near  Semua 
(Robinson,  i.  312).  This  is  very  questionable, 
since  Robinson  only  heard  from  the  Arabs  of  a 
ruin  el-Ghurab,  but  did  not  .see  it. 

Dumah,  HD^"^,  LXX. :  Vovfid,  stated  in  the 
0)10)11.  to  have  been  seventeen  miles  from  Eleu- 
theropolis  f  Beit  Jibrin),  now  Daumeh,  a  ruined  vil- 
lage, not  far  from  Hebron  in  the  Wadv  Dilbeh 
(Robinson,  i.  314).  In  Is.  xxi.  II  Dum.ah  is  the 
proper  name  of  an  Ishmaelite  tribe  in,  Arabia, 
with  whieh  comj).  (ien.  xxv.  14. 

Eshean  Cj^t^'W),  elsewhere  'not  mentioned. 
Since  the  Cod.  Vat.   of  the   LXX  has   -Xoixd,  we 


might  read  with  Knobel,  after  1  Chr.  ii.  43  f., 
1?X1^,  and  compare  the  place  of  ruins  Simir  (Rob- 
inson, iii.  App.  p.  114),  south  of  Daumeh.  Von 
Raumer  has  ])assed  over  this  place  also,  as  being 
unrecognizable.     Kcil  likewise. 

Ver.  53-  Janvim.  On  the  reading  comp.  the 
foot-note  on  the  text.     Not  discovered. 

Beth-tappua  not  to  be  confonnded  (a)  with 
Tajipuah  in  the  lowland  (ver.  34),  (!>)  with  the  En 
Tapi)uab  mentioned  ch.  xvii.  7,  which  was  assigned 
to  Manasseh.     The  name  of  both  towns  refers  to 

fruit  culture,  since  H^Tri  (from  H?^,  to  emit 
odors)  signifies  a])ple  (Cant.  vii.  9;  Prov.  xxv. 
11),  or  apple-tree  1  (Cant.  ii.  3  ;  viii.  5).  Robinson 
found  apples  and  pears  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Gophna,  now  Jifna  [Jufna],  (Robinson,  iii.  77-80), 
four  and  one  half  hours  north  of  Jerusalem. 
Comp.  also  von  Raumer,  p.  100.  Beth-tappuah 
would  thus  be  =  apple-house.  The  name  has  been 
])reservcd  in  Tatt'uh,  a  place  about  two  hours  west 
of  Hebron.  It  still  lies  (Robinson,  ii.  428)  "  in  the 
midst  of  olive-groves  and  vineyards  with  marks  of 
industry  on  every  side."  This  circumstance  favors 
our  interpretation  of  the  name,  since  where  olive 
trees  and  vines  flourish  apjde  trees  can  and  could 
be  produced.     Knobel,  on  the  contraiy,  explains 

n^2ri,  from  npti  ixnd  HDV,  by  "extent," 
"  breadth,"  "  surfiice,"  and  adduces,  in  support  of 
this  interpretation  of  the  name,  the  fact  that  both 
our  Beth-ta]i}5uah  and  En-ta])puah  (ch.  xvii.  7)  lay 
in  a  plain.  To  sustain  our  view%  which  von  Rau- 
mer also  gives  (p.  181),  we  may  adduce  the  anal- 
ogy  of   Bethphage   S25"n''3,    Chald.   for  the 

Heb.  35-n"^3  (Cant.  ii.  13),  =  Eig-house. 

Apheka  not  the  same  as  Aplick  (xii.  18  ;  xiii.  4), 
which  lay  in  the  plain  not  far  from  Jezreel  (1  Sam. 
x.xi.x.  1  ;  1  K.  XX.  26,  30),  where  Sanl  was  slain 
b}^  the  Philistines,  Benhadail  the  Syrian  by  the 
Israelites  ;  but  on  Mount  Judah,  near  Hebron, 
"  probably  betw'een  Hebron  and  Tufiah  "  (Keil). 
Against  the  opinion  of  von  Raumer  (p.  172)  that 
the  battle  of  1  Sarn.  iv.  1  may  have  taken  pla'ce 
here,  comp.  Thenius  on  that  passage.  Aphek  on 
the  mountain  of  Judah  has  not  yet  been  discovered. 

The   frequent  occurrence  of  the   name   p?W    or 

p"*CN  (Judg.  i.  31),  or  HI^^H  here,  is  explained, 

as  in  the  case  of  "Ti"T5,  n'1'13,  "l"!J5,  from  the 
meaning  of  the  word  which  signifies  st)'ength,  and 
then  Fort,  Burg  (seeGesen.).     It  is  derived  from 

P5S,  to  be  strong. 

Ver  54.  HiAmtah,  not  yet  found.  The  name 
(ntpan)  appears  to  be  related  to  ^pH,  Lev.  xi.  30, 
LXX'.  auipa,  Vulg.  lacerta,  probably  a  species  of 
lizard  (Gesen.).  Lizards  are  mentioned  by  Seetzen 
(pp.  446-448)  ap.  von  Raumer  (p.  105).  There  are 
such  still  in  Palestine  [Tristram,  pp.  495,  536],  and 
a  place  might  be  named  after  this  creature  just  as 
well  as  .after  the  fox  or  jackal  ( Ilazor-shual,  ver.  28). 

Kirjath  Arba,  that  is,  Hebron.  See  ver.  13. 
Comp.  besides,  the  more  particular  account  of  this 
city  on  ch.  x.  36. 

Zior.  The  name  is  perhaps  retained,  as  Knobel 
suggests,  in  that  of  the  ridge  Tughra  near  Hebron 
(see  Rosenm.  Zcitficlir.  der  D.  M.  G.  xi.  p.  56), 
There  are  nine  of  the  cities  as  stated. 

1  [Tristram  (Land  of  Israel,  p.  G09  f.)  strenuously  main- 
tains that  the  Apricot  is  the  apple  of  Scripture.  —  Tb.] 


A 


CHAPTER  XV. 


137 


Ver.  55-57.  Third  Group.  East  and  northeast 
of  the  first,  (Knol)el:  northward;  but  see  Menke's 
Map)  and  southeast  (Kuobel:  east)  of  the  second. 

Maon,  uow  Maiu,  "  witliout  doubt  the  Maon  of 
Nabal  (Robinson,  ii.  194;  1  Sam.  xxv.  2).  It 
stood  on  the  suiuiuit  of  a  conical  rock  (Robinson, 
p.  l'J3),  which  is  crowned  with  ruins  of  no  great 
extent.  David  kept  himself  in  the  wilderness  of 
Maon  (1  Sam.  xxiii.  24  ff. ;  xxv.  2). 

Carmel,  a  name  familiar  in  the  history  of  Saul 
(1  Sara.  XV.  12),  of  David  (1  Sam.  xxv.  2,  5,  7,  40  ; 
xxvii.  S),  of  Uzziah  (2  Chr.  xxvi.  10)  ;  in  Roman 
times  a  castle  (Robinson,  p.  198)  with  a  garrison. 
It  appears  in  the  history  of  King  Amalrich  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  a.  d.  1172"^  (Robinson,  p.  199).  Now 
called  Kurmul,  with  vast  ruins  from  antiquity  and 
the  Middle  Ages. 

Ziph.  When  its  inhabitants  proved  treacherous 
toward  David  (1  Sam.  xxiii.  19;  xxvi.  1  ;  Ps.  liv. 
2),  he  removed  (1  Sam.  xxiii.  14,  15,  19  flf.^  from 
the  wilderness  of  this  name  to  the  wilderness  of 
]\laon.  Rehoboam  fortified  the  city,  whose  ruins, 
according  to  Robinson  (ii.  191),  "  lie  on  a  low  hill 
or  ridge  between  two  small  Wadies  which  com- 
mence here  and  run  toward  the  Dead  Sea."  Now 
called  Zif,  about  one  and  three  fourth  hours  south- 
east of  Hebron  (von  Raumcr,  p.  222).  Not  to  be 
coufoundetl  with  Ziph,  ver.  24. 

Juttah  (ni3T),  according  to  xxi.  16,  a  priest- 
city,  now  Jutta  (Robinson,  I.  c),  "having  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  large,  modern  Mohammedan  town  " 
(]).  628).  It  was,  probably,  according  to  the  con- 
jecture first  ])roposed  by  "Relan<l  (Pald'st.  p.  870), 
adopted  by  liachiene,  Hosenmiiller  (and  also  by 
Robinson),  the  abode  of  the  priest  Zachariah,  the 
ttJais  'lovSa  (Luke  i.  .39).  Reland  supposes  (Rob- 
inson, ii.  628,  note)  that  tt.  'lovra  has  been  changed 
by  error  of  the  text,  or  softer  pronunciation  (comp. 
vou  Raumer,  p.  208,  Anm.  p.  222). 

Ver.  56.  Jezreel  (^^^"9"^?^  "  whom  or  what, 
God  plants"),  different  from  the  Jezreel  in  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon  (xvii.  16),  and  mentioned  else- 
where only  as  the  home  of  Ahiiioam,  the  second 
Mife  of  David  (not  reckoning  Michal  whom  Saul, 
1  Sam.  xxv.  44,  gave  to  Shalti).  Not  to  be  iden- 
tified. Jokdeam  and  Zanoah,  likewise  undiscov- 
ered, and  not  elsewhere  named. 

Ver.  57.  Cain  (l^i^r?  with  the  art.  prop.  "  the 
lance"),  perhaps  Jukin  (Robinson,  ii.  190),  as 
Knobel  proposes  (]>.  437),  "a  Jlohammedan  Ma- 
kani  (station,  grave),  where  they  say  Lot  stopped 
after  his  flight  from  Sodom  "  (Robinson,  /.  c). 

Gibeah  (n275?  =  hill),  a  very  common  name  of 
place  (ch.  xviii.  28,  Gibeah  in  the  tribe  of  Benja- 
min, GibiMli  of  Saul,  1  Sara.  xi.  4  ;  xiii.  2  ;  xv. 
2,  and  often,  besides  Gibeah  in  the  tribe  of  Eph- 
raim,  ch.  xxiv.  ,33).     It  shares  with  the  topograjjh- 

i-al  names  ^.?j^.  (xviii.  24;  xxi.  17),  and  i?'?2 
(x.  2;  xi.  19),  and  also  that  of  the  "judgment 
hall,"  raj8/8a9a,  John  xix.  13,  the  derivation  from 

the  same  root  ri33  (to  be  high,  to  be  arched)  and 
signification.  Robinson  (ii.  14)  believes  that  in 
the  village  of  Jeba  (Jebah)  in  the  Wady  el-Mus- 
urr,  southwest  of  Bethlehem,  he  had  "  with  little 
doubt"  discovered  again  Gibeah  of  Benjamin. 
This  Gibeah  is  also,  in  his  view,  probably  the  Ga- 
batha  of  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  twelve  Roman 
miles  from  Elcutheropolis.  Von  Raumer  agrees 
with  hiia,  while  Keil  and  Knobel  differ,  on  the 
grounds  that  this  place  lies  without  the  district  of 


this  division  of  cities,  and  that  the  similarity  of 
name  proves  nothing,  since  this,  as  just  now 
shown,  very  often  recurs  elsewhere.  Indeed,  Rob- 
inson himself  (iii.  151),  as  Keil  points  out,  found 
another  village,  Jebak,  north  of  Shechem !  For 
these  reasons  we  also  side  with  the  two  latter  in- 
terpreters. Perhaps  our  Gibeah  is  (although  we 
cannot  assert  this,  with  the  certainty  which  Kno- 
bel expresses),  one  of  the  viculi  called  Gabaa  and 
Gabatha,  contra  orientalem  pia/jam  Duronue,  in  the 
Onom.  s.  V.  Gabathon. 

Tininah,  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  Tim- 
nah  between  Beth-shemesh  and  Ekron  (xv.  10  ; 
xix.  43  ;  Judg.  xiv. ;  xv.  1-6),  but  certainly  iden- 
tical (so  von  Raumer,  p.  224,  and  Knobel,  p.  437, 
against  Keil,  in  loc. )  with  Tininah  (Gen.  xxxviii. 
12-14),  to  which  Judah  went  itp  to  his  sheep-shear- 
ers.    Not  yet  discovered.    On  Mount  Ephraim  lay 

(n3:2ri  D";iri),  ch.  xLx.  so  ;  xxlv.  30.     The  name 

(from  "^^SU)  signifies  "  portion  assigned,"  Gesen. 
There  are  ten  cities  as  stated. 

Vers.  58,  59.  Fourth  Group.  This  lies  north  of 
the  second  and  third.  Halhul,  still  called  Halhul 
or  Hulhul,  in  a  well  cultivated  region,  and  chief 
city  of  a  district.  Beautiful  fields  and  vineyards 
are  seen  there  (Robinson,  Later  Bihl.  Res.,  p.  281), 
and  also  many  cows  and  goats.  Noticeable  is  Rob- 
inson's remark  :  "  The  identity  of  no  ancient  site 
is  more  undisputed,  though  it  seems  not  to  have 
been  recognized  before  our  former  journey"  (/.  c. 
comp.  Bilil.  Res.  i.  319).  The  ])lace  lies  north  of 
Hebron  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem  (corap.  also  Val- 
entiner,  Dns  heilic/e  Land,  p.  38). 

Beth-zur,  now  Beit-Sur  (Robinson,  fjater  Bihl. 
Rex.  p.  276  f.),  whose  principal  relic  is  a  ruined 
tower,  of  which  only  one  side  is  left.  The  place 
appears  to  have  been  small  but  very  strong,  ac- 
cording to  Josephus  (Ant.  xiii.  5,  6),  the  strongest 
fortress  in  all  Judtea.  It  is  frequently  mentioned 
in  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees  (ch.  iv.  29,  61  ;  vi. 
7,  26,  31  f.,  49  f.  ;  ix.  52,  etc.),  seldora  in  the  0.  T, 
(2  Chr.  xi.  7;  Neh.  iii.  16).  Here,  according  to 
an  old  tradition  found  in  the  Onom.,  Philip  (Acts 
viii.  26-40)  baptized  the  Eunuch  ("von  Raumer,  p. 
182.) 

Gedor,  referred  to,  1  Chron.  xii.  7,  as  the  home 
,of  Joelah  and  Zebadiah,  two  followers  of  David  ; 
now  Jcdur,  "  on  the  brow  of  a  high  mountain 
ridge"  (Robinson,  ii.  338),  about  northwest  of 
the  road  between  Hebron  and  Jerusalem ;  a  small 
ruin  marked  by  one  tree  (Robinson,  Later  Bill. 
Res.  13.276  f.). 

Verse  59.  Maarath,  unknown.  Beth-anoth 
(nlJ^^Tl^S,  house  of  answers,  of  Echo,  Gesen.), 

distinct  from  n^337"n''5  in  the  tribe  of  Naphtali, 
ch.  xix.  38;  Judg.  i.  33,  now  Beit  Ainnn,  with 
ruins  which  Wolcott  visited  in  1842.  Roliinson 
[Later  Bibt.  Res.  p.  280 f.)  saw  it  from  Er  Ramch. 
Elthekon  not  discovered. 

Fifth  Group.  According  to  the  addition  of  the 
LXX.  which  Jerome  also  has,  on  Mic.  v.  2.  "  Cer- 
tainly," says  Knobel  rightly,  "  this  is  no  invention 
of  the  LXX.  but  a  translation  of  the  original  text, 
which  therefore  lay  more  complete  before  them. 
Otherwise  a  large  piece  of  the  mountain  of  Judah 
with  numerous  places  would  be  passed  over,  which, 
considering  the  completeness  of  the  author  else- 
where, has  not  the  slightest  probability.  The  gap 
in  the  Masoretic  text  originated  with  a  transcriber 

who  having  read  the  'jn'^llini,  ver.  59,  supposc(? 


138 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


he  had  read  the  IH^'ni^m  at  the  end  of  this  di- 
vision." To  tliis  view  Keil  also  assents,  while  he 
refers  to  the  naive  opinion  of  Jerome,  that  the 
words  liad  ])robah]y  been  rejected  by  the  Jews  from 
malice  (malitia),  "  ne  Christus  de  triliuJuda  orttis  vid- 
eretnr,"  against  which  Clericus,  "  quite  rightly  "  ob- 
jected, "  JVon  video  cur  a  Judceis  proptei'eaerasnessent, 
cum  sit  alias  in  V.  T.  sat  frequens  inentio  Belhlehemi 
Davidis  patriie."  Menke  also  follows  this  view 
on  his  map,  while  Maiircr  on  the  other  hand,  and 
Bunsen,  declare  against  the  addition.  The  former 
—  smce  the  LXX.  in  this  book  have  allowed  them- 
selves many  additions  as  well  as  omissions  and  ar- 
bitrary changes  —  thinks  most  probably  "  cos  totuin 
hoc  comma  ex  loco  quocunqne  alio,  proprio  Marte  hue 
transtulisse."  The  possibility  of  such  a  proceeding 
need  not  be  denied  ;  but  here,  as  Keil  and  Knobel 
rightly  urge,  our  Masoretic  text  presents  a  mani- 
fest hiatus  which  is  excellently  filled  up  by  the  ad- 
dition of  the  LXX.  Bunsen  says  :  "  The  forms 
of  many  of  these  names  are  decidedly  not  Hebrew  ; 
besides,  except  Tecoali  and  Bethlehem,  not  one  of 
the  cities  is  elsewhere  mentioned  in  the  0.  T.  We 
have,  therefore,  here  an  old  Aramaic  gloss,  which 
some  MSS.  afterwards  received  into  the  text." 
Reply :  The  first  reason  proposed  by  Bunsen  is  an 
assertion  without  proof;  and  the  second  has  no 
weight,  because  very  many  of  the  cities  mentioned 
in  this  chapter  are  named  nowhere  else  in  the  0. 
T.,  e.  (J.  ver.  56,  Jokdeam  and  Zanoah ;  ver.  54, 
Humtah ;  ver.  53,  Jamun  ;  ver.  43,  Nezib,  etc.  We, 
therefore,  regard  the  addition  of  the  LXX.  as  a 
highly  valuable  complement  to  the  Masoretic  text, 
serving  to  fill  up  the  catalogue  of  the  cities.  In  an 
English  translation  it  would  read :  Tekoa  and 
Ejihrata  [that  is  Bethlehem) ,  and  Phar/or  and  Aitam 
(Aitan ) ,  and  Kulon,  and  Tatami  ( Tatam ) ,  and  Soi-esh 
(  Thobefih),  and  Karem  and  Gallim,  and  Bait  her  (  The- 
ier],  and  Manocho;  eleven  cities  and  their  villages. 

Tckoah  ('D'^p^\),  two  hours  south  of  Bethlehem, 
the  home  of  the  prophet  Amos  (i.  1),  who  is  said 
to  have  been  buried  here ;  fortified  by  Eehoboam 
(2  Chr.  xi.  6),  and  elsewhere  mentioned  in  the  0. 
T.,  e.  g.  2  Sam.  xiv.  2  ;  Jer.  vi.  1  ;  Nch.  iii.  5,  27  ; 
now  Tekuah  (Robinson,  ii.  182-184  [Tristram,  p. 
406]),  on  a  hill  covered  with  ruins  ;  which  agrees 
with  Jer.  vi.  1.  Concerning  the  neighboring 
Frankcnberg  (Frank  Mountain),  which  the  Franks  ■ 
are  reported  to  have  held  for  forty  years  after  the 
loss  of  Jerusalem,  comp.  von  Raumer's  "  Excur- 
sus," p.  223. 

Ephrat(di  (i.  e.  Bethlehem).  Both  names  are  ap- 
plied, Ruth  iv.  11  ;  Mic.  v.  1,  unquestionably  to 
the  city  now  before  us,  Bethlehem-Judah  (Judg. 
xvii.  7,  9;  xix.  1,  2;  1  Sam.  xvii.  12;  Ruth  i.  1, 
2).  It  was  different  from  the  Bethlehem  in  the 
tribe  of  Zel)uhin  (xix.  15) ;  but  whether  this  Beth- 
lchem-E])liratah  can  be  meant  Gen.  xxxv.  16,  19, 
is  doubtful,  comp.  Lange's  Com.  on  Gen.  p.  569. 

The  name  □HT'TI^'S  =  house  of  bread,  bread- 
house  (Winer,  i.  172)  is  clear;  H^DS  also,  or 
'^'iP'^v^f  is  without  difficulty  derived  from  ^"^^i 
with  which  the  related  D^'T'?^  may  be  compared. 

In  this  view  S  would  be  =  "the  fruitful,"  "a 
name,"  as  Eange  remarks  {uhi  sup.),  "which  cor- 
res])onds  with  the  added  name  liethlchem."  Be- 
sides the  place  is,  as  maybe  seen  from  Ruth,  ch.  ii. 
and  from  the  descriptions  of  modern  travellers, 
really  fruitful.  Thus  Furrcr  relates  :  "  The  nearer 
/ve  approached  Bethlehem,  the  better  cultivated  we 


found   the  fields But  surprisingly  lovelj 

was  to  us  the  sight  of  the  Wady  Charubeh,  the 
valley  above  which,  high  in  the  south,  lies  the  lit- 
tle town  of  Bethlehem,  two  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  four  feet  above  the  sea.  There  olive 
and  fig  trees  were  growing  in  ricii  abundance. 
Vineyards  spread  themselves  out  on  the  north- 
western slope,  whose  watch-towers  gently  reminded 
us  of  long  i)ast  times."  Bethlehem  is  now  called 
Beit-Lahm,  that  is,  house  of  flesh,  and  is  inhabited, 
since  1834,  almost  exclusively  by  Christians,  of 
whom  Tobler  thinks,  there  may  be  three  thousand. 
The  remaining  three  hundred  inhabitants  ai'e  Mo- 
hammedans. Thei'c  are  no  Jews  there.  The  his- 
torical importance  of  Bethlehem  as  David's  city 
(Ruth  iv.  11  ;  1  Sam.  xvi.  4;  xvii.  12,  15;  xx.  6, 
28;  Mic.  V.  1),  and  as  the  birthplace  of  Christ 
(Matt.  ii.  1  flf'. ;  Luke  ii.  4,  15)  is  well  known. 
Further  particulars  concerning  the  place  see  in 
Seetzen,  ii.  37  ft". ;  Robinson,  ii.  157-163  ;  Tobler, 
Topographie  von  Jerusalem,  ii.  464  ;  and  Bethlehem 
in  Paldstina,  p.  2  if.  ;  Furrer,  Wanderung  en  durch 
Paldstina,  p.  167  ff.;  Valentinei",  Das  heil.  Land, 
p.  28  ff .  ;  von  Raumer,  p.  313  ff.;  Ritter,  Erd- 
kunde,  xvi.  p.  284  ff.  [Gage's  transl.  iii.  339-50]. 

Phagor,  now  Faghur  between  Hebron  and  Beth- 
lehem, west  of  the  road  (Robinson,  Later  Bihl.  Res 
p.  275,  Tobler,  Dritte  Wanderung,  p.  91  ff.). 

Aitam  (D^"*^)  mentioned  2  Chron.  xi.  6,  among 
the  cities  fortified  by  Rehoboam,  immediately  after 
Bethlehem.  The  name  is  still  preserved  in  the 
Wady  and  Ain  Attar  between  Bethlehem  and 
Faghur,  in  Tobler,  ubi  sup.  p.  88  ff.  (Knobel). 
Once,  in  Solomon's  time,  a  pleasant  place  with 
gardens,  and  perhaps  also  with  a  pleasure  palace 
of  the  king  (Furrer,  p.  177,  Anm.  1 ). 

Kulon,  now  Kulonieh  or  Kalonieh,  lying  high 
above  the  pilgrim  road  to  Jerusalem  (Furrer,  p. 
141).  The  moderately  extensive  ruins  of  ancient 
Kulon  which  Hitzig,  Sepp,  Van  Osterzee  (Lange's 
Comm.  on  Luke,  ch.  xxiv.  13),  Furrer,  and  appar- 
ently also  Tobler  {Nazareth  in  Palast.  ii.  s.  w.  pp. 
316,319),  understand  to  be  the  Emmaus  of  the  N. 
T.  "lie  near  the  bottom  of  the  valley  whose  love- 
liness is  very  beautifully  described  bv  Furrer.  "A 
copious  spring,"  he  says,  "  concealed  under  an 
overarching  rock,  by  a  double  outlet  irrigated  gar- 
dens, in  which  numerous  almond  trees  with  pink 
blossoms  gleamed  through  the  dark  green  foliage 
of  the  orange-trees.  Up  the  surrounding  slopes, 
vineyards  and  rows  of  olive  trees  rose  by  a  suc- 
cession of  terraces.  The  prospect  extends  not  far 
in  any  direction ;  but  its  seclusion  heightens  the 
charm  of  the  happy,  pleasant  vale  "  (p.  142).  The 
distance  from  Jerusalem  is  about  one  and  a  half 
hours. 

Tatami,  or  Tatam,  is  not  identified,  nor  Gallim; 
for  the  Gallim  named.  Is.  x.  30  ;  1  Sam.  xxv.  44, 
lay  north  of  Jerusalem  in  Benjamin  (Knobel). 

Sores,  now  Saris,  "on  a  proud  hill"  (Furrer,  p, 
139),  up  which  terraces  of  olive-trees  ascend,  four 
hours  west  of  Jerusalem  (comp.  also  Robinson, 
Later  Bibl.  Res.  p.  154  flf.). 

Karem,  now  Ain  Karem,  three  quarters  of  an 
hour  west  of  Jerus.alem  (Furrer,  p.  210),  with  a 
splendid  cloister,  whose  garden  walls  ai"c  overhung 
by  tall  cypress-trees,  in  the  midst  of  a  landscape 
which  surju-ises  the  traveller  by  its  loveliness  and 
beauty  (Robinson,  ii.  141-157,  Later  Bibl.  Res.  p. 
271  f.,  Tobler,  Topog.  ii.  344  ff). 

Beither,  now  Better,  southwest  of  Jerusalem 
(Furrer,  p.  191),  situated  high  up  on  a  mountain 
side  above  fine  green   terraces,  surrounded  with 


CHAPTERS  XVI.,   XVII. 


139 


olive  and  fig  trees  ;  mentioned,  Cant.  ii.  17,  where 

the  "^0?  ""^P  '^^'^  ^^^^  explained  as  mountains 

of  Bether.    "^0?  signifies  part,  piece,  Gen.  xv.  10 ; 

Jer.   xxxiv.    18,    19.     Cognate   is   7'1~'0?)  prob. 

mountain  defile,  2  Sam.  ii.  29.  "^O^I,  "?''^~'04i  is 
what  we  technieally  call  terrain  coupe  (a  country 
cut  up,  broken  country).  Of  this  character  is  the 
country  about  Bether  (Furrer,  p.  192). 

Alunocho,  according  to  Kuobel's  highly  probable 

conjecture  =  •HnS^,  1  Chr.  viii.  6,  to  which  place 
Benjamitcs  were  carried  from  Geba. 

Ver.  60.  Sixth  Group,  northwest  of  the  fifth,  em- 
bracing only  two  cities.  Kirjath-jearlm,  ver.  9. 
As  was  there  remarked,  this  place  was  =  to  Kure- 
yet  el-Enab,  three  hours  northwest  of  Jerusalem. 
"  The  old  '  city  of  the  woods '  has  become  in  mod- 
ern times  the  'city  of  wine,'"  as  Eobinson  (ii.  335) 
interprets  the  ancient  and  the  present  name.  Peo- 
ple from  Kirjutli-jeariui  once  brought  up  the  ark 
from  Belh-sheme'-;]!  (1  Sam.  vi.  21 ;  vii.  1,  2).  Of 
the  vineyards  some  still  exist,  according  to  Valen- 
tiner,  p.  19,  on  the  east  side  of  the  place.  Kabba, 
not  to  be  identified. 

5.  Vci:  61,  62.  Cities  in  the  Wilderness,  The 
wilderness  of  Judah  bordered  in  the  east  on  the 
Dead  Sea,  in  the  south  on  the  Negeb,  on  the  terri- 
tory of  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  groups  of  cities 
(westward)  on  Mount  Judah  (see  Menke's  map, 
iii.),  in  the  north  on  the  border  line  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  as  given  vers.  6,  7.  This  whole  region 
is  with  good   reason   designated   as  a  wilderness 

(~12n^),  since,  with  the  exception  of  En-gedi  and 
certain  spots  where  springs  occur,  it  is  a  wild,  bar- 
ren, "frightful"  (Furrer,  p.  149)  solitude.  Thus 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Cloister  of  Mar  Saba,  e. 
g.  wears  the  appearance  of  terrible  desolation  and 
loneliness.  "  In  vain  the  eye  searches  far  and  near 
for  some  green  thing  to  cover  the  weather-worn 
chalk  rock  of  the  gullied  mountain.  In  summer 
the  intolerable  heat  blazes  upon  tlic  naked  rocks, 
and  the  winter  rains  rush  down  from  the  heights 
to  no  profit  "  (Furrer,  p.  161 ).  The  roads  through 
this  wilderness,  on  which  the  starry  heavens  look 
down  at  night  with  wondrous  beauty  (Furrer,  u. 
s.),  lead  frequently  to  steep  precipices;  sometimes 
so  abruptly  down  the  rocks  that  it  needs  all  the 


sagacity  and  practice  of  the  animals  not  to  fall 
(Furrer,  p.  149).  In  this  solitude  David  once 
spent  his  time  (1  Sam.  xxiii.  24  ;  Ps.  Ixiii.  1  ;  liv 
2),  here  John  the  Baptist  preached  (Matt.  iii.  1) 
here  Christ  was  tempted  (Matt.  iv.  1  ;  Mark  ii.  12, 
13  ;  Luke  iv.  1).  Comp.  further,  Knobel,  p.  440; 
Eobinson,  ii.  187,- 202  fl'.,  474  fi'. ;  von  Schubert, 
iii.  pp.  94,  96,  102  ff. ;  Seetzen,  ii.  p.  220  ff. ;  von 
Eaumer,  p.  47. 

Vers.  61,  62.  Beth-arabah,  ver.  6.  Probably 
Kaffr  Hajla  (Ivnol)el).  Middin,  Secacah,  Nib- 
shan,  not  mentioned  elsewhere,  unknown. 

The  city  of  Salt  (Irhamelah,  nbsn-"T'27), 
LXX. :  7]  it6\is  t(xiv  a\Siv.  Vulg.  :  civitas  salis. 
Luther:  Salzstadt  [Salt  city].  Probably  near  the 
valley  of  Salt  where  the  Edomites  suffered  several 
defeats  (Enobel),  and  so,  tolerablv  far  south,  comp. 
2  Sam.  viii.  13  ;  Ps.  Ix.  2  ;  2  K.  xiv.  7  ;  1  Chr. 
xviii.  12;  2  Chr.  xxv.  11  ;  and  so  EobinsoUj  ii. 
483. 

En-gedj  ("'"T3"]'^S,  Goat -fountain),  now  Ain 
Jidy,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Dead  Sea,  with  a 
rich,  warm  (81°  F.,  Eobinson,  ii.  210),  sweet  spring 
of  water  (Furrer,  p.  159),  which  once  refreshed 
palms  and  balsam-shrubs.  "  The  Canticles  sing 
(i.  1 4)  of  a  '  cluster  of  the  Hennah '  ^  from  the  vine- 
yards of  En-gedi.  Here  flourishes,  the  giant  As- 
clepias,  which  bears  the  fruit  so  famous  under  the 
name  of  Apples  of  Sodom"  (Furrer,  p.  159).  The 
vegetation  is  tropical.  By  the  fountain  arc  the  re- 
mains of  various  edifices  apparently  ancient,  al- 
though the  spot  where  the  old  city  stood  appears 
to  have  been  further  down  (Eobinson,  ii.  216). 
Here  David  tarried,  1  Sam.  xxiv.  2.  Whether 
Hazezon-Tamar  (Gen.  xiv.  7  ;  comp.  2  Chr.  xx.  2) 
was  the  same  place  as  En-gedi,  is  doubtful ;  vou 
Eaumer  (p.  188)  and  Keil  are  iu  favor  of  the  sup- 
position, Knobel  (on  this  verse)  is  against  it. 

Ver.  63.  A  passing  statement  that  the  children 
of  Judah  were  not  able  to  drive  out  the  Jebusites. 
The  same  verse  is  repeated,  Jiidg.  i.  21,  with  the 
difference  only  that,  instead  of  the  children  of 
Judah,  the  children  of  Benjamin  are  named,  to 
whom,  according  to  eh.  xviii.  28,  the  place  was 
allotted.  See  more  on  xviii.  28.  On  the  impor- 
tance of  this  verse  for  determining  the  date  of  the 
composition  of  our  book,  see  the  Introd.  §  2. 

1  \_Dkt.  of  the  Bible,  art.  "  Camphire.-" — Tr.] 


2.   The  Territory  of  the  Tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh 

Chapters   XVI.,  XVII. 

a.  Its  Boundaries. 

Chapter  XVI.  1-4. 

And  the  lot  of  [for]  the  children  [sons]  of  Joseph  fell  [ccame  out]  from  [the]  Jor- 
dan by  Jericho,  unto  [at]  the  water  of  Jericho,  on  the  east,  to  the  wilderness  wliich 
goeth  up  from  Jericho  throughout  [on]  Mount  Beth-el,  And  goeth  [and  it  went] 
out  from  Beth-el  to  Liiz,  and  passeth  [passed]  along  unto  the  border  of  Arclii  [the 
Archite]  to  Ataroth,  And  goeth  [went]  down  westward  to  the  coast  [border]  of 
Japhleti  [the  Japhletite],  unto  the  coast  [border]  of  Beth-horon  the  nether,  and  to 
Gezer :  and  the  goings  out  thereof  are  [were]  at  the  sea.  So  [And]  the  cliildren 
[sous]  of  Joseph,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim,  took  their  inheritance  [possession]. 


1-10  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


h.  Porliun  of  the  Tribe  of  E2)hraim. 
Chapter  XVI.  5-10. 

5  And  the  border  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Ephraim  [was]  according  to  their  fami- 
lies was  thus  [omit:  was  thus]:  even  [and]  the  border  of  their  inheritance  [jiosses- 

6  sion]  on  the  east  side  was  Ataroth-addar,  unto  Beth-horon  the  upper  ;  And  the 
border  went  out  toward  the  sea  to  IMichmethah  on  the  north  side  [so  De  Wette ; 
Keil,  and  Fay :  from  IMichmethah,  northward]  ;  and  the  border  went  about  east- 
ward unto  Taanath-sliiloh,  and  passed  by  it  on  the  east  [eastward]  to  Janohah 

7  And  it  went  down  from  Janohah  to  Ataroth,  and  to  Naarath,  and  came  to  [struck 

8  or  touched]  Jericho,  and  went  out  at  [the]  Jordan.  The  border  went  out  [went] 
from  Tappuah  westward  unto  the  river  [water-course  of]  Kanah;  and  the  goings 
out  thereof  were  at  the  sea.     This  is  the  inheritance  [possession]   of  the  tribe 

9  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Ephraim  by  their  families.  And  -^  the  separate  cities 
for  the  children  [sons]  of  Ephraim  ivere  among  the  inheritance  of  the  children 

10  [sons]  of  Manasseh,  all  the  cities  with  their  villages.  And  they  drave  not  out  the 
Canaanites  that  dwelt  in  Gezer  :  but  the  Canaanites  dwell  among  the  Ephraimites 
unto  this  day,  and  serve  under  tribute  [and  they  became  tributary  servants  ;  LXX. : 
Kut  iyivovTO  VTTOcpopoL  SoCAot]. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Perhaps  the  connection  of  this  verse,  and  its  own  meaning  may  best  be  represented  thus :   Ver.  8.  This  is  the  pos- 
session  Ver.  9.   And  [also]  the  cities  which  were  separated  for  the  sons  of  Ephraim  in  the  midst  of  the  possession 

af  the  sous  of  Manasseh,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

c.  Portion  of  the  Tribe  of  Manasseh. 
Chapter  XVII.  1-13. 

1  There  was  also  a  lot  [And  there  was  the  lot]  for  the  tribe  of  Manasseh ;  for  he 
was  the  first-born  of  Joseph ;  to  wit,  for  Machir  the  first-born  of  Manasseh,  the 
father  of  Gilead :   [,]  because  he  was  a  man  of  war,  [;]  therefore  [and]  he  had 

2  Gilead  and  Bashan.  There  was  also  [And  there  was]  a  lot  for  the  rest  of  the  chil- 
dren [sons]  of  Manasseh  by  their  families;  for  the  children  [sons]  of  Abiezer,  and 
for  the  children  [sons]  of  Heiek,  and  for  the  children  [sons]  of  Asriel,  and  for  the 
children  [sons]  of  Shechem,  and  for  the  children  [sons]  of  Hepher,  and  for  the 
children  [sons]  of  Shemida :  these  ivere  the  male  children  of  Manasseh  the  son 

3  of  Joseph  by  their  families.  But  [And]  Zelophehad,  the  son  of  Hepher,  the  son 
of  Gilead,  the  son  of  Machir,  the  son  of  Manasseh,  had  no  sons,  but  daughters  :  and 

4  these  are  the  names  of  his  daughters,  Mahlah,  and  Noah,  Hoglah,  Milcah,  and  Tirzah. 
And  they  came  near  before  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  before  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun, 
and  before  the  princes,  saying,  The  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  Moses  to  give  us  an 
inheritance  [a  possession]  among  our  brethren  :  therefore  [and]  according  to  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  he  gave  them  an  inheritance  [a  possession] 

5  among  the  brethren  of  their  father.     And  there  fell  ten  portions  to  Manasseh,  be- 

6  sides  the  land  of  Gilead  and  Bashan,  which  were  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan  ; 
Because  the  daughters  of  Manasseh  had  an  inheritance  [possession]  among  his  sons  : 
and  the  rest  of  Manasseh's  sons  had  the  land  of  Gilead. 

7  And  the  coast  [border]  of  Manasseh  was  from  Asher  to  Michmethah,  that  lieth 
before  Shechem  ;  and  the  border  went  along  on  the  right  hand  [De  Wette  :  towards 

8  the  south]  unto  the  inhabitants  of  En-tappuah.  Note  [omit:  now]  Manasseh  had 
the  land  of  Tapi)uah :  but  Tappuah  on  the  border  of  Manasseh  belonged  to  the 

9  children  of  Ephraim :  And  tlae  border  descended  unto  the  river  [water-course 
of]  Kanah  [reeds ;  hence  =  Reed-brook],  southward  of  the  river  [water-course]. 
These  cities  ^  of  E])hraim  are  among  the  cities  of  Manasseh :  the  coast  [border]  of 
JManasseh  also  was  on  the  north  side  of  tlie  river  [water-course],  and  the  out-goings 

10  of  it  were  at  the  sea:  Southward  it  [the  laud]  was  Ephraim's,  and  northward  /;; 
was  Manasseh's,  and  the  sea  is  [was]  his  border ;  and  they  met  together  in 
[touched,  07  struck  u^jon]  Asher  on  the  north,  and  in  [upon]  Issachar  on  the  east. 


CHAPTERS  XVI.,   XVII.  141 


11  And  Manasseh  had  in  Issachai'  and  in  Asher,  Beth-sliean  and  her  towns  [daugh- 
ters], and  Ibleam  and  her  towns  [daughters],  and  the  inhabitants  of  Dor  and  lier  towns 
[daughters],  and  the  inhabitants  of  En-Dor  and  lier  towns  [daughters],  and  the  in- 
habitants of  Taanach  audlier  towns  [daughters],  and  the  inhabitants  of  JMegiddo  and 
her  towns  [daughters],  even  three  countries  [Gesen.,  Fay  :  the  three  lieights,  i.  e.  the 
thi'ee  cities  situated  on  lieights.  See  the  exegetical  explanations.  LXX. :  K-ai.  to  tjjCtuv 
T^s  No<^ey.  Yulg.:  tertiapars.  Luther:  the  third  part  of  Naphcth.  De  AVette  :  three 

12  portions  of  country  {drei  Landscliajten)  ;  Bunsen  :  die  Dreilandscliaft].  Yet  [And] 
the  children  of  Manasseh  coidd  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  [could  not  conquer] 

13  those  cities  ;  but  [and]  the  Canaanites  would  dwell  in  that  land.  Yet  [And]  it  came 
to  pass,  when  the  children  of  Israel  were  waxen  [became]  strong,  that  they  put  the 
Canaanites  to  tribute  [made  the  Canaanites  tributary  servants]  ;  but  did  not  utterly 
drive  them  out,  [De  Wette,  Fay :  aher  vertreiben  thaten  sie  sie  nicht ;  nearly  the 
same  as  "  but  drive  them  out  they  did  not  do  ;  "  to  express  :    ^tt?''nin  U^b  tt'^irTj]' 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMJUTICAL. 

[1  Ver.  9.  These  cities  had  Ephraim  in  the  midst  of  the  cities  of  Manasseh.     And  the  border  of  Manasseh  was  on  the 
north  side  of  the  water-course.  —  Tr.J 

d.  Complaint  of  the  Sons  of  Joseph  on  Account  of  an  insufficient  Possession. 
Chapter  XVII.    14-18. 

14  And  the  cliildren  [sons]  of  Joseph  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying,  "Why  hast  thou 
given  me  but  one  lot  and  one  portion  to  inherit  [as  a  possession],  seeing  I  am  a  great 
people,  forasmuch  as  [in  so  far  as,  ""t£7M"l3?]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  blessed  me 

15  hitherto  ?  And  Joshua  answered  [said  to]  them.  If  thou  be  a  great  people,  then 
[omit :  then]  get  thee  up  to  the  wood-country  [forest],  and  cut  down  for  thyself 
there  in  the  land  of  the  Perizzites  and  of  the  giants  [Rephaim],  if  mount  Ephraim 

16  be  too  narrow  for  thee.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Joseph  said.  The  hill  [moun- 
tain] is  not  enough  for  us :  and  all  the  Canaanites  that  dwell  in  the  land  of  the 
valley  have  chariots  of  iron,  both  they  who  are  of  [in]  Beth-shean  and  her  towns 

17  [daughters],  and  they  who  are  of  [in]  the  valley  of  Jezreel.  And  Joshua  spake 
unto  the  house  of  Joseph,  even  to  Ephraim  and  to  Manasseh,  saying.  Thou  art  a 

18  great  peojjle  and  hast  great  power,  thou  shalt  not  have  one  lot  only :  But  the  [a] 
mountain  shall  be  thine  ;  for  it  is  a  wood  [forest],  and  thou  shalt  cut  it  down  :  and 
the  out-goings  of  it  [its  outrunners,  spurs]  shall  be  thine :  for  thou  shalt  [wilt] 
drive  out  the  Canaanites,  though  [for]  they  have  iron  chariots,  and  though  they  be 
[for  they  are]  strong. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  two  chapters,  sixteen  and  seventeen,  belong 
together,  since  they  contain  the  statements  con- 
cerning the  territory  of  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh,  the  sons  of  .Joseph  (Gen.  xli.  50-52; 
xlvi.  20;  xlviii.  5  IF.).  The  united  inlicritiince  of 
the  two  tril)es  includes  a  fniitfiil,  for  the  most  part, 
and  pleasant  country  lying  in  the  midst  of  western 
Palestine.  It  extends  from  the  Jordan,  and  the  east- 
ern declivities  of  mount  Ephraim  (which  are  much 
less  rough  than  the  land  of  Jndah),  across  t©  the  sea- 
shore wiiich  borders  the  beautiful  plain  of  Sharon. 
Of  this  entire  district  Ej)liraim  received  the  south- 
cm  portion,  Manasseh  (strictly  speaking  onlv  the 
half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  comp.  ch.  xiii.  29  ff.)  the 
northern.  Ephraim  only,  and  he  for  a  narrow 
space,  touched  the  Jordan.  See  the  often  men- 
tioned and  very  clear  Map  iii.  of  Menke's  Bibel 

1  [Mr.  Grove,  in  the  Did.  of  the  Bible  (e  g.  i.  752  6,  note 


Atlas,  and  also  Kiepert's  Wall  Map.  On  the  qual- 
ity of  the  land  comp.  Robinson,  iii.,  lect.  xiv. ; 
Ritter,  xvi.  566  if.  [Gage's  transl.  iv.  29.3-3.32]  ;  von 
Raumer,  pp.  42-45;  Eurrcr,  pp.  211-246  ;  Robin- 
son, Phys.  Geoff,  pp.  34-42  [Stanley,  Sin.  and  Pal. 
ch.  V.]. 

a.  Ch.  xvi.  1-4.  Boundaries  of  the  Entire  Prov- 
ince. Ver.  1.  The  lot  came  out,  namely,  from  the 
urn.  Bunsen  rightly  observes  :  "  From  the  ambi- 
guity of  the  word  '  lot,'  the  passage  might  perhaps 
be  paraphrased  thus  :  '  The  lot  was  drawn  for  the 
children  of  .Joseph  and  to  them  fell,'  "  etc. 

From  the  Jordan  by  Jericho,^  at  the  watei 
of  Jericho  on  the  east.  The  \vater  of  Jericho  is 
the  fountain  of  Elisha  (2  K.  ii.  19-22),  now  Ain  es- 
Sultan,  whose  waters  are  diffused  over  the  plain 
(Robinson,  ii.  283  ff.).  It  gurgles  forth  beauti- 
fully from  under  the  rocks,  and  forms,  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  from  which  it  comes,  a  beautiful  basin 

Jordan,"   the  "  Jordan   of  Jericho."  /.  e.  that   part  of  tho 


>  repeatedly  says   that    in^-T>     V^'T'     should   be   ^^^A^oV'X'i.n  ^i^\ch  touches  nx,<,ii  th,^  Utvv\tovy  oi ^i^y^<=\^o■' {Kuo- 
.       ,    .       ,    „T     ■       T    .  '•      '••:-  I  Del  Oil  Num.  xxu.  1).     Comp.  Stanley  (.SVh.  u»rf  P«/.  p.  292, 

dered  simply  '.lordan-Jencho,"  and  that  -■  by  "  or  near,  has  !  „.  q,.     This  is  most  conveniently  expressed  as  in  the  Bnfr 
no  business  there.     This  is  strange,  since  the  natural  sense    ]^^  Version. —  Ta.l 
•f  the  words  in  such  coaoectiou  is  much  rather  "  Jericho-  I 


142 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


of  water  densely  surrounded  by  oleanders  and 
reeds  (Furrer,  p.  150.  [Stanley,  Sin.  and  Pal.  p. 
300,  ct  ibid.  Van  dc  Velde,  in  a  note]).  Somewhat 
to  the  north  of  this,  the  still  larj^er  fountain  of 
J)uk  is  met  with,  tiie  waters  of  which,  led  aloiiy  in 
canals,  formerly  turned  several  mills  in  the  vicin- 
ity (Uohinson,  Furrer,  [Stanley]).  The  border 
began  at  the  lower  Jordan,  and  went  thence  to  the 
fountain  of  Elisha.  This,  accordingly,  the  region 
of  the  .Jordan  opposite  Jericho,  is  its  eastern  start- 
ing jioint  or,  more  correctly,  place.  Hence  it 
passed  into  the  wilderness  which  goes  up  from 
Jericho  on  the  mountain  of  Beth-el.  The  re- 
gion intended  here  is  what  in  ch.  xviii.  12  is  called 
the  wilderness  of  Eetli-aven,  which  city  appears 
from  ch.  vii.  2  to  have  lain  east  of  Betli-el.     On 

the  mountain  of  Beth-el.       1TTD.  which  the  Masor- 

etcs  separate  from  7S"n"^2  is  yet,  and  notwith- 
standing the  LXX.,  Cinild.,  and  Arab,  versions 
lepeat  this  view,  undoubtedly  to  be  connected  with 

vMTl"'^,  according  to  1  Sara.  xiii.  2,  and  to  be 

pointed  "'HS.  So  the  Vulg. :  ad  montem  Bethel, 
and  Syriac"  (Keil).  The  mountain  about  Bethel 
is  meant. 

Ver.  2.  And  it  went   out  (the  border)  from 

Beth-el  to  Luz.  Hebr.  Hf  b  bS-H'^Iin  S'2^*1. 
The  words  must  either  be  translated,  as  we  have 
done,  with  the  LXX.,  Luther,  De  Wette,  [Kng. 
vers.]  Keil,  Bunseii,  in  which  case  Beth-id  stands, 
as  Bunsen  also  supposes,  lor  mountain  of  Beth-el; 
or,  as  Knobel  among  others  prefers  :  "  and  it  went 
out  from  Bethel-lu/.ah."  In  this  translation  Kno- 
bel (1)  follows  in  ver.  1,  the  Masoretic  pointing 

"^nS,  (2)  assumes  in  ver.  2  a  union  of  the  old 
and  new  names,  "quite  contrary  to  the  usage  of 
our  author,  who,  when   a  city   had   two   names 

places  one  after  the  other  connected  by  W^H,  as 
he  does  e.  (j.  (ch.  xviii.  13)  in  the  case  even  of 
Beth-el  and  Luz"  (Keil).  Other  examples  arcch. 
XV.  14,  49,  54  (ver.  5!),  LXX.),  00.  See  more 
concerning  Beth-el  and  Luz  on  ch.  xviii.  12,  l.'i. 
From  Luz,  i.e.  J}eth-el  (eh.  xviii.  13),  it  went,  and 
on  the  south  side  of  this  city  (ch.  xviii.  13),  unto 
the  border  of  the  Archite  to  Ataroth.  Jliishai 
was  an  ^Vrchite  (2  Sam.  xv.  32  ;  xvi  16  ;  1  Chron. 
x.wii.  33).  Where  his  possession  lay  is  to  be  de- 
termined from  Ataroth,  concerning  which  see  on 
xviii.  13. 

Ver.  3.  Thence  it  went  down  westward  to 
the  border  of  the  Japhletite,  unto  the  border  of 
Bet}i-horon,  the  nether,  and  to  Gezer  ;  and  the 
goings  out  thereof  were  at  (or,  toward)  the  sea. 
The  hurder  fulhjwed  from  IJethel  toward  Ataroth 
a  northerly,  then  a  southwestern,  and  finally  a  de- 
cidedly western  course  (see  the  map).     The  Japh- 

ktite  ("^^.??*n))  only  here  as  a  patronymic ;  the 

prop,  name  tSvD^  (whom  He,  i.  e.  God  saves, 
Gesen.),  1  Chron.  vii.  32,  33.  On  Beth-horon 
comp.  partly  ch.  x.  10,  partly  ch.  xviii.  13.     Gezer 

("^.T?))  as  the  seat  of  a  Canaanite  king  mentioned 
already  ch.  x.  33;  xii.  12;  according  to  ch.  xxi. 
21  ;  1  Chr.  vi.  52,  a  city  of  the  priests ;  not  yet  dis- 
covered by  modern  travellers.  Knobel  seeks  the 
f:ity  northwest  of  Beth-horon,  where  Mcnkc  has 
introduced  the  name.  Comp.  also  von  Bauniei', 
p.  191,  and  his  map,  where  he  also  has  placed  it 
Qorthwest  of  Jieth-horon. 

Ver.  4.    "  North  of  the  line  indicated  Ephraim 


and  Manasseh  took  their  possession."  It  is  there« 
fore  only  the  south  line  of  both  tribes,  which  is  at 
the  same  time  the  north  line  of  Benjamin,  and  as 
such  is  given  in  inverse  order  as  before  men 
tioned,  in  ch.  xviii.  12,  13. 

b-  Ch.  xvi.  5-10.  The  Province  of  the  Tribe  oj 
Ephraim.  Ver.  5.  The  south  border  is  first  given. 
Ataroth-addar  appears  as  the  starting-jjoint,  iden- 
tical, according  to  xviii.  13,  with  our  Ataroth,  ver. 
2.  Assuming  this,  "  the  author  notices  only  the 
western  half  of  the  south  border,  and  omits  the 
eastern  half,"  for  Beth-horon,  whether  the  upper 
as  here,  to  the  lower  as  mentioned  in  ver.  2,  lies 
west,  or  more  accurately  still,  southwest  of 
Ataroth-addar.     We  might,  it  is  true,  and  Knobel 

proposes  this'  as  an  alternative,  read  m~l^Vj  and 
understand  the  Ataroth  mentioned  ver.  7,  which 
would  then  nuike  the  eastern  part  of  the  south 

border  to  be  drawn.     But  in  that  case,  "iWH^  or 

"1?yi  would,  it  seems  to  us,  be  inserted  between 
the  two  names.  The  first  sujjposition  therefore 
appears  preferable,  according  to  which  we  are  to 
understand  that  the  south  horder  of  Ephraim  in 
its  western  half  is  specified  from  Ataroth-addar  to 
Beth-horon.  But  even  thus  we  have  not,  if  wo 
compare  ver.  3,  this  western  half  of  the  line  at  all 
complete ;  for  from  ver.  3,  the  border  proceeds  still 
to  Gezer,  nay  even  to  the  sea.  And  the  LXX. 
have  here  after  Beth-horon  koI  Ta^apa.  Perhaps 
this,  as  well  as  what  is  nu'utioned  besides,  ver.  3, 
has  here  fallen  out.  At  all  events  we  have,  as  ver. 
6  will  show,  to  deal  with  a  corrujjt  text,  in  which 

the  first  words  of  ver.  6  to  and  including  n^^IH 
might  easily  have  formed  the  conclusion  of  ver  5, 
to  which  they  would  admirably  suit.  [Verse  5 
would  thus  end — Beth-horon,  the  upper;  and  the 
border  went  out  to  the  sea].  Then  the  south  bor- 
der at  least  of  Ephraim,  from  Ataroth-addar  to 
the  sea,  would  be  completely  given. 

Ver.  6.  Keil  says,  in  I'cference  to  this  verse  : 
"  With  ver.  6  I  know  as  little  as  my  predecessors 
how  to  begin.  It  would  appear  that  vers.  6-8 
should  give  the  northern  boundary  of  the  land  of 
lOphraim,  and  that  from  a  central  point,  in  ver.  6 
and  7  toward  the  east,  then  in  ver.  8  toward  the 
west,"  as  analogous  to  which,  Knobel,  who  shares 
this  view,  adduces  the  south  boundary  of  Zebulun, 
ch.  xix.  10-12,  and  the  division  of  the  places  of 
Benjamin,  ch.  xviii.  21-28,  as  also  the  west  border 
of  Naphtali,  ch.  xix.  33  ff.  "  In  this  view,  how- 
ever," as  Keil  further  remarks,  "  the  first  clause  of 
ver.  6  is  perfectly  inexplicable,  and  must  be  cor- 
rupt." Perhaps  there  originally  stood  "  on  the 
north  the  border  went  out  from  Michmethah,  for 
according  to  ch.  xvii.  7,  the  border  of  Manasseh 
went  '  from  Asher  to  Michmethah.' "  It  seems  to 
us  still  better  to  assume  that  it  originally  stood : 

«  T  T  -  .    -  T  T- 

If  that  were  so  it  is  obvious  that  the  twice  recur- 
ring n^^n  b^mn  W*2*l  (namely,  at  the  end 
of  ver.  5,  and  at  the  beginning  of  ver.  6),  must 
have  fallen  away  once.  Let  us  now  by  this  exten- 
sion of  Keil's  very  appropriate  correction  restore 
the  text,  .and  we  gain  a  reading  at  least  in  some 
degree  acceptal)le,  by  which  ( 1)  ver.  5  receives  a 
good  ending,  and  (2)  ver.  (>  an  intelligible  begin- 
ning, and  the  whole  would  mean  thus  :  And  the 
border  went  out  seaward,  i.  e.  toward  the  west, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


143 


from  ^liohmcthah  on  the  north  side,  /.  e.  nortli  of 
Mk'hmethah.  Miclnnethnh  (LXX.  :  MaxdiiO)  h\y 
according  to  ch.  xvii.  7,  east  from  Shechem.  See 
fiirtlier  on  xvii.  7.  Tlins  we  sliould  have  given 
the  stiirtiuii-point  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  nort/urn 
houndary  of  Kphraim,  a^s  lyuyj;  north  of  Michme- 
thah  ill  tlie  iccsl  of'tlte  intuL  Unt  then,  it  jiroceeds, 
the  border  went  about  eastward  imto  Taanath- 
shiloh,  and  passed  by  it  on  the  east  to  Janohah. 
Toamith-shiloh,  now  Tana,  Ain  Tana,  a  phice  of 
ruins,  southeast  of  Nabhis  (Robinson,  Later  Bibl. 
lies.  p.  i^a^).  Janoah,  "according  to  the  Onoin.  s. 
V.  'lavu>,  Janon,  twelve  miles,  /.  e.  near  three  hours 
cast  of  Xeapolis,  now  a  ruin,  Janun,  somewhat 
over  two  liours  southeast  of  Nablus,  Robinson, 
Later  Bibl.  Res.  p.  '2%'  "'  (  Knobel).  The  border,  ac- 
cordingly, went  from  Miehmethah  to  Janohah  in  a 
southeast  direction,  as  .Meuke  has  indicated. 

Ver.  7.  From  Janohah  it  went  down  to  Atar- 
oth,  and  to  Naarath,  and  came  to  (stiuek)  Jeri- 
cho, and  went  out  at  the  Jordan.  Keil  holds  this 
Atarotli  to  be  the  same  as  Ataroth,  ver.  2,  Ataroth- 1 
addar  (ver.  5  and  xviii.  1."?),  tlius  making  it  the  i 
Atara  discovered  by  Robinson  (iii.  SO,  not  that 
mentioned' ii.  315),  one  aiul  a  half  hours  southwest 
of  Jiljilieh,  as  Robinson  himself  also  believes. 
Knobel  explains  that  our  Ataroth  here  in  ver.  7 

cannot  be  identified,  but  must  certainly,  from  "TI'^ 
have  lain  nearer  the  Jordan,  possibly  one  of  tlie 
two  Ataroths  which  the  Onoin.,  s.  h.  v.,  reters  to  in 
the  district  of  Jerusalem.  Wo  shall  come  upon 
the  question  again,  ch.  xviii.  13.  Naarath  = 
Naaran,  1  Chr.  vii.  28,  in  the  cast  of  Kphraim. 
Oiiom.  :  "  Naortith  rilla,  in  qitinto  milliario  ,/eric/iiis," 
i.  c.  two  hours  from  Jericho  (Keil,  Knobel,  von 
Raumer,  p.  215).  Stnic/c  Jericho,  i.  e.  the  terri- 
tory of  Jericho  which  city,  according  to  xviii.  21, 
belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  The  border  of 
K|)hr;um  thus  touched  the  northern  side  of  this 
territory,  comp,  xviii.  12. 

Ver,   S.    Now    follows    the   western   Juilf  of  the 
north    border   of  Kphraim,    described  as  follows  : 

From  Tappuah  the  border  goes  ("H.?."!)  west- 
ward to  the  water-course  of  Kanah.and  the  go- 
ings out  thereof  were  at  [to|  the  sea.  Tajipuah, 
distinct  from  the  Tap]>iiali  (xv.  34)  and  Heth-tap- 
puah  (xv.  53),  in  Judah,  concerning  the  etymology 
of  which  we  have  already  spoken ;  the  residence 
of  a  Caiiaanite  king  (xii.  24).  Its  site  is  doubt- 
ful. Knobel :  "  rmiiaMy  Kefr  Kiid  with  its  im- 
portant well,  by  which  the  great  ro.-ul  from  Beisan 
and  Zerin  passes  toward  Ramleli  (  Robinson,  Ln/er 
Bilil.  lies.  p.  121  rt". )  as  in  the  Roman  times  a  mili- 
tary road  ])assed  from  Cesariva  to  Scythopolis  past 
Capcrcota  (  Tiil>.  Pentiwi.  ix.  f ,  in  Menke,  Map 
vi.  where  an  extract  from  the  Tub.  Peutimj.  is 
found").     The  fact  that  the  place  is  called  (xvii. 

7)  n  y^V,  while  Kefr  Kud  has  a  valuable  well, 
would  seem  to  favor  the  identity  of  the  two  ])laces  : 
but  it  may  be  maintained  on  the  other  hand,  (1) 
that  Kefr  Kud  lies  too  far  north  on  the  bonier  of 
Manasseh  toward  Issachar,  while  it  should  lie  on 
tlie  border  of  IMauasseh  toward  Kphraim  (see 
Menke's  Map  viii.  compared  with  Maj)  iii)  ;  (2) 
that  the  old  name  does  not  at  all  appear  in  the 
]irescnt  name  Kefr  Kud.  This  is  true  rather  of 
the  present  Belad  (land)  Tafiia  northeast  of 
Shechem,  toward  which  von  Raumer,  though  not 
without  hesitation,  inclines.  AVe  hear  of  a  land  of 
Tappuah  in  ch.  xvii.  8  as  the  district  belonging  to 

1  rUobinson  expressly  denies   the  probability  that  Ain 
Vaua  is  the  aucieut  TaanatU-shiloh] 


En-tappuah.  Van  de  Velde  ( J/em.  p.  357 )  holds  it 
to  be  Atnf.  four  hours  K.  N.  K.  of  Shechem.  Very 
improbable.  Hence  we  decide  for  Helad  Tafua', 
against  which  Keil  brings  the  objection,  that  this 
opinion  does  not  .igree  with  the  ]''~*n"^S  (ch 
xvii.  7),  and  therefore  he  concludes  that  here  also 
the  text  is  corrupt.  See  further  on  ch.  xvii.  7, 
where  we  must  at  all  events  i-eturn  again  to  this 
passage.  Water-course  of  Kana  (Reed-brook), 
see  ch.  xvii.  9. 

Ver.  9.  To  this  province  belong  also  the  cities 
separated  in  the  land  of  :Manasseh  for  the  children 
of  Ki)hraim,  of  which,  however,  onlv  Tappuah  is 
•mentioned  ch.  xvii.  S.  Instead  of  "the  elsewhere 
"  unheard  of"  niv'^^^p,  Knobel  proposes  to  read 
ni7"5?2 :  Gesen.  nib'J?:;^.  Maurer  and  Keil 
regard  it  as  a  substantive  formed  after  the  analogy 
of"  "=1^7^'  n^n2D!3,  and  other  words.  Maurer 
translates  loca  selecta.  To  me  the  change  of  Chireq 
into  Kihbiits,  as  j)roposed  by  Gesen., "appears  thr 
most  simple,  and  thus  avc  have  a  part.  Hoplial. 

Ver.  10.  An  addition  similar  to  ch.  xv.  63. 
They  became    tributary  servants    (Dp?""'n|'] 

•r?^)'  In  Gen.  xlix.  15  the  same  expression  is  used 
concerning  Issachar.  According  to  1  K.  ix.  16, 
Pharaoh,  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Solo- 
mon, took  lie/.er,  burned  the  city  and  drove  out  of 
it  the  Canaanites.  Hence  the  LXX.  add  to  our 
A'Crse :  "Ews  ave^i]  Papain  (Sao-iAei/j  'Aiyvwrov  Kal 
e\a&ev  IvT^v  (AEX.  t?V  ttJAii/)  Kal  eviTrpiia-ev  aiiriiv 
if  irvpi,  Kai  Tous  ^epe^aious,  Kal  tovs  KaTotKOvvras  €V 
TaCfp  e^fKevT7i(rai'  (AEX-  f^fKfl/T^}a■el')  Kal  eSwKfv 
eV  pfpvTJ  TTJ  dvyarpl  avToi).  Manifestly  transferred 
(/(/  libitum  from  1  K.  ix.  16.     Knobel",  Gen.  xlix. 

1 5,  translates  "TS^J'DD,  er  tcani  zu  Frohn  des  Ar- 
beiters,  i.  e.  he  fell  under  tributary  labor,  as  he 
himself  further  on  explains.  Langc,  more  poeti- 
cally and  more  clearly :  "  lie  is  become  subject 
to  tributary  service."  "We  render  the  phrase  here 
in  prose,  with  De  Wette  "  subject  to  tributary 
ser\ice."  The  common  reiulering:  "subject  to  trib 
ute  "  which  Biinseu  still  retains,  gives  the  erroneous 
idea  that  the  Canaanites  had  to  pay  a  tribute  in 
money,  like  the  tributary  states  in"  the  Turkish 
empire.  The  expression' is  used  elsewhere,  with 
the  exception  of  Gen.  xlix.  15.  "of  the  Canajtnites 
who  became  subject  to  the  Hebrews  (as  ch.  xvii. 
13  ;  1  K.  ix.  21  ;  'judg.  i.  2S,  33),  and  of  prisonei-s 
taken  in  war  -whom  the  Hebrews  made  slaves 
(Deut,  XX.  11;  Is.  xxxi.  8)  "  (Knobel).  Comp. 
also  Keil  on  Kings,  pp.  44  and  67  [Germ.]. 

c.  Ch.  xvii,  1-13.  Portion  of  the  Tribe  of  Man 
assi'h.  The  descri])tion  of  this  province  bv  its 
boundaries,  beginning  ver.  7,  is  preceded  by  "some 
genealogical  notices  concerning  the  families"  of  the 
tribe.  Of  these  that  of  Maeliir  had  alreaily  re 
ceived  its  territory  beyond  the  Jonlaii. 

A'er.  1 .  And  there  was  the  lot  for  the  tribe 
of  Manasseh.  After  it  had  fallen  to  Kphraim,  Ma- 
nasseli's  turn  came.  These  introductory  words  refer 
only  to  the  country  allotted  to  this  trib"e  west  of  the 
Jordan  (vers.  7-13).  This  lay  north  of  the  po.<ses- 
sion  of  Kjihraim  in  a  fertile  and  heaiitirnl  region. 

Foi'  he  was  the  first-born  of  Joseph,  Gen. 
xH.  51;  xlviii.  14.  Keil:  "the  '^3  is  not  to  be 
pressed,  and  the  whole  remark  is  made  only  with 
reference  to  the  following  genealogical  "  state- 
ments." Better  Knobel  :  "  Wherefore"(  because  he 
was  Joseph's  tirst-boni)  he  received  yet  a  posses- 


144 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


sion  in  Canaan  also,  the  land  of  the  fathers,  God's 
land."    ~1''D^7  is  placed  first  and  is  afterwards 

taken  tip  by  iv  after  "'H^l,  thus:  "To  Machir 
....  (and)  to  him  fell  Gilead  and  Bashan." 
Why  is  stated  in  the  parenthetical  clause,  "  be- 
cause he  was  a  man  of  war,"  Num.  xxxii.  29  ff. 
This  portion  of  the  tribe,  the  author  would  have  us 
understand,  had  nothing  to  receive  west  of  the  Jor- 
dan. They  had  their  part  already  on  the  east  side. 
Ver.  2.  The  other  sons  of  Manasseh  follow,  to 
whom  the  lot  fell  in  west  Palestine.  They  are 
mentioned  in  Num.  xxvi.  30-32,  where  instead  of 

"iT^'^IlS  stands  "l.'f^'^S.  By  an  error  of  tran- 
scription, as  Keil  conjectures,  the  ^  appears  to 
have  foUen  out.  Instead  of  C^"l3T  to  read 
C^^mS,  as  Knobel  proposes,  is  not  justifiable; 

rather,  since  in  genealogies  ""p.S  may  indicate  all 
(male  and  female)  posterity,  while  here,  in  what 
follows,  female  descendants  also  are  mentioned,  the 

D'^'^^T  is  added  for  perspicuity"  (Keil). 

Ver.  3.  It  had  been  stated  also  in  Num.  xxvi. 

33  that  Zelophehad,!  the  son  of  Hepher,  had  no 
sons  but  only  daughters.  Zelojihehad  himself,  ac- 
cording to  Num.  xxvii.  3,  had  died  in  the  wilder- 
ness, but  the  daughters  declare  it  an  injustice 
(Num.  xxvii.  4)  that  their  father's  name  should 
perish,  and  that  too  when  he  had  not  been  of  those 
that  rose  up  against  the  Lord  in  the  company  of 
Korali.  Moses  agrees  with  them,  and  at  their 
request  grants  their  wish,  an  inheritance  among 
their  brothers.  By  this  the  name  of  Zelophehad 
was  preserved,  which  could  not  have  been  the  case 
without  the  possession  of  an  estate  to  which  the 
name  of  the  original  proprietor  attached.  The  law 
wliich  governed  the  case  is  found  in  Num.  xxvii. 
8-11  (compared  with  Num.  xxxvi.  6-10),  oc- 
casioned by  this  occurrence.  They  were  accordingly 
heir  daur/htirs,  comp.  Knobel  on  Num.  xx-\ii.  1  tf. 

Ver.  4.  Now,  since  the  land  was  divided,  they 
claim  their  right,  appealing  to  the  command  of 
God  through  Moses.  Eleazar  and  Joshua  without 
objection  immediateh''  promise  what  they  fiesire. 

Vers.  5,  6.  "  According  to  this  the  inheritance 
coming  to  the  Manassites  had  to  be  divided  into 
ten  parts,  since  the  male  posterity  fell  into  five 
femilies,  and  so  received  five  parts,  while  the  sixth 
family,  that  of  Hepher,  was  divided  again  into 
five  families,  through  his  grand-daughters,  the  five 
daughters  of  Zelopheliad,  who  mari'icd  men  of  the 
other  families  of  their  ])aternal  tribe  (Num.  xxxvi. 
1-10),  and  received  each  her  special  share  of  the 
land"  (Keil).  Because,  therefore,  the  daughters, 
as  heirs,  obtained  their  possession  among  the  male 
descendants  of  Manasseh,  the  inheritance  in  west- 
ern Palestine  must  need,  be  divided  into  ten  ])arts, 
while  the  land  of  Gilead  went  to  the  remaining 
Manassites.  The  genealogy  is  for  the  rest  by  no 
means  clear.     Comp.  Knobel  on  Num.  xxvi.  29- 

34  ;  Keil  on  ver.  1  of  this  chapter. 

Vers.  7-13.  Portion  of  the  Western  Branch  of  the 
Tribe  of  Manasaeh.  The  author  gives  the  bound- 
ary again  from  east  to  west,  as  in  the  case  of 
Judah  (ch.  xv.  2  ft'.),  the  sons  of  Joseph  (xvi.  1  ft'.) 
and  Benjamin  (ch.  xviii.  12  ff.).  So  the  author  of 
the  Apocalypse  also  names  the  gates  of  the  New 
Jerusalem,  beginning  from  the  east  (Rev.  xxi.  13), 

1  inp^V?  lience  properly  to  be  written  in  Eng. 
Zelophehad  sot  Zelophehad. 


and  Ezekiel  designates  the  several  tribe  divisions 
in  like  manner  from  east  to  west  (ch.  xlviii.  1  ft'.). 
And  the  border  of  Manasseh  was  from  Asher 
to  Michmethah,  that  lieth  before  Shechem ; 
and  the  border  went  along  on  [toward]  the 
right  hand  unto  the  inhabitants  of  En-tappua-h. 
What  border  is  meant,  the  north  or  south'?  Kno- 
bel thinks  the  former,  Keil  and  Bunsen  the  south 
border.     The  starting-point  lies  unquestionably  in 

the  east.  Asher  ("IK'S),  fifteen  Roman  miles  from 
Shechem  toward  Bethshean  (Scythopolis),  perhaps 
Teyasir  (Robinson,  Later  Bibl.  Res.  p.  306  f.),  or 
Jafir  (Van  de  Velde,  ii.  295,  apud.  von  Raumer, p. 
148).  This  however  is  not  certain,  but  only  so 
far  sure  that  Asher  is  to  be  sought,  according  to 
the  statement  of  the  Onom.,  on  the  road  from 
Shechem  to  Bethshean,  hence  in  the  eastern  ffert 
of  the  territory  of  Manasseh. 

Thence  the  border  goes  to  Michmethah  which 
we   have   already  met  with   at  ch.  xvi.  5.     This 

Michmethah  'nri^DXS,  perhaps  "hiding-place," 

from  .npS,  Gesen.)  lay,  as  our  passage  would  in- 
dicate, before,  i.  e.  according  to  the  customary  use 
of  ''IlS'vy,  east  or  northeast  of  Shechem,  unless, 
as  Knobel  assumes,  "^3i3"7p  is  to  be  taken  here  in 

reference  to  a  more  remote  distance  =  v^tt,  Deut. 
xi.  30.  In  this  case,  Kubatijeh  (on  Menke's  Map  viii. 
written  Kabatijeh)  orKabaat  (Buckingham,  oyn'a, 
i.  p.  453),  Kabate  in  Seetzen  (ii.  p.  166),  lying  ex- 
actly north  of  Shechem,  on  the  road  from  Shechem 
to  Jenin  would  in  his  view  off'er  itself  for  compari- 
son. The  etymological  relationship  of  the  two  words 

is  thus  established  by  Knobel:  "  ^  doubtless  is  to 
be  regarded,  with  the  LXX.  as  the  plural  of  a  sing. 

nnppp,  for  which  they  may  probably  have  used 

also  nnpS  (see  on  ch.  xii.  18).  Then,  since  m  and 
b  are  frequently  interchanged  (see  onch.  iii.  16),  the 
])resent  name  of  the  place  agrees,  etc."  Against 
this  we  would  oppose  the  following  considerations  : 
( 1 )  It  appears  to  us  that  the  operation  by  which 
the  relationship  between  the  names  Michmethah 
and  Kubatijeh,  or  Kabaat,  or  Kabate,  is  attempted 
to  be  proved,  is  an  exceedingly  violent  one.  (2)  In 

Deut.  xi.  30  ^-"l^  does  indeed  stand  for  a  north- 
west direction,  but  it  is  precisely  vTO  that  stands 
there,  meaning,  in  a  quite  general  way,  over  against, 
and  not  the  more  definite  "^p.S'V^  concerning 
which  Knobel  himself  admits  that  in  geographical 
statements  it  is  "certainly  for  the  most  part  to  the 
east,"  —  precisely  in  the  same  way,  Knobel  might 

have  added,  as  is  the  case  with  "^P?/  (Gen.  xxiii. 
17  ;  XXV.  18;  Deut.  xxxii.  49).  (3)  If  Michme- 
thah is  to  be  sought  so  far  north,  then  ch.  xvi.  6, 
where  it  is  brought  in  to  determine  the  north  bor- 
der of  Ephraim  which  lies  south  of  Manasseh,  is 
inexplicable.     Rather  may  it  be  said,  that  («)  the 

statement  of  this  passage :  23^17  "^^D'bl?  ~'U:7>< 
and  (/;)  the  proximity  indicated,  ch.  xvi.  6,  of 
Taanath-shiloh,  which  is  now  recognized  in  Ain 
Tana  [?],  go  to  show  that  Michmethah  is  to  be 
looked  for  east  or  northeast  of  Shechem,  perhaps, 
also,  on  the  road  to  Bethshean,  where  Kicpert,  in- 
deed (on  the  large  map,  3d  and  most  recent  edition, 
1866),  although  with  a  mark  of  interrogation,  and 
Menke  ( Map  iii. )  have  inserted  the  name.     But  if 


I 


CHAPTER   XVII. 


145 


this  is  correct  we  liave  here  not  the  north  border 
of  Manasseh,  but  the  south,  the  same  which  is 
piven,  eh.  xvi.  5  ff.,  as  the  north  boundary  of 
Ephraim ;  and  there  lies  before  us  precisely  the 
same  case  of  the  double  re.ii'istry  of  the  same  line 
as  between  our  two  tribes  and  Benjamin  (ch.  xvi. 
1-4  compared  with  ch.  xvili.  12,  13)  on  one  side, 
and  between  Judah  and  Benjamin  (ch.  xv.  5-tf. ; 
xviii.  15  ff.)  on  the  other.  But  as  regards  the 
north  border  of  ISIanas.seh,  it  as  well  as  the  east 
border  is  given  in  common  for  both  tribes  in  the 
second  half  of  ver.  10. 

Shechem,  D?^)  now  Nablus  or  Nabulus,  hav- 
ing, like  Jerusalem,  Gibcon,  and  Jericho,  had  sev- 
eral names  between  the  times  of  the  patriaixhs  and 
of  Christ  (Gen.  xii.  6  ;  John  iv.  5),  lies  on  the 

watershed  (0327  =  back)  between  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  the  Jordan  Valley  (Furrer,  pp.  237, 
238),  in  a  lovely,  richly  favored  valley  between 
Ebal  and  Gerizim,  surrounded  by  gardens  in  which 
nature  has  prodigally  scattered  her  richness  (Fur- 
rer, p.  234).  See  the  fresh  and  beautiful  descrip- 
tion in  Furrer,  p.  230  ff. ;  comp.  furthei-,  von  Kau- 
mer,  p.  161  ff.  ;  Rob.  iii.  p.  95  ff.  [Tristram,  141 
ff.;  Stanley,  S.  cj-  P.,  .229  ft".].  Shechem  has  at 
j)resent  about  eight  thousand  inhabitants.  From 
Michmethah    the    border    went    to    the    right 

(]"'D*n"7S)  uiito  the  inhabitants  of  en-Tap- 
puah.  According  to  this,  en-Tappuah  or  Tappuah 
(i-h.  xvi.  8)  lay  south  of  Michmethah,  and  hence 
also  south  or  southwest  of  Shechem.  But  Balad 
Tafuah  (comp.  on  ch.  xvi.  8)  lies  rather  northeast 
of  Shechem.  How  then  should  the  border  go 
thence  toward  the  right,  *.  e.,  southwardly  1  May 
not,  perhaps,  an  escape  be  found  from  the  ob- 
scurity (undeniably  veiy  great  ^)  of  this  passage  in 
the  fact  that  it  reads,  not  unto  en-Tappuah,  but  only 
unto  the  inhaliitaiifs  of  Tappuah  ?  Although  then 
Tappuah  itself  had  lain  northeast  of  Shechem,  we 
might  still  imagine  that  the  territory  of  this  royal 
city  of  the  Canaanites  (ch.  xii.  17)  had  stretched 
toward  the  south  or  southwest.  With  Knobcl, 
who  everywhere  liere  supposes  that  he  has  the 
north  boundary  line  before  him,  it  all  goes  beauti- 
fully.    For  him  the  line  runs  from  Asher  to  Ivuba- 

tijeh,  from  Kubatijeh  to  Jamun  (V^^)  in  spite  of 
the  article,  is  taken  as  a  proper  namc^  Yamon, 
Hob.  iii.  pp.  161,  167),  and  from  Jamun  to  Kefr 
Kud.  But  we  repeat,  that  we  are  not  now  con- 
cerned with  the  north  limit  of  Manasseh,  but  its 
southern,  toward  Ephraim.  [So  Mr.  Grove,  also. 
Diet,  of  the  Bilile,  art.  "Manasseh,"  p.  1770  c,  al- 
though he  thinks  it  doubtful  whether  the  portions 
of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  were  intended  to  be 
effectually  separated,  and  that,  if  they  were,  no 
clear  line  of  division  can  now  be  made  out.  —  Tr.J 

Ver.  8.  Another  notice  of  Tappuah,  purporting 
that  the  land  of  Tappuah  went  to  Manasseh,  the 
city  to  Ephraim.  The  latter  possessed,  according 
to  ch.  xvi.  9,"  still  other  places  in  Manasseh.  Kie- 
pert  has  inserted  Ta]ipuah  on  the  map  northivest 
of  Shechem  and  Michmethah,  but  with  a  mark  of 
inteiTogation.  Menke  assigns  it  the  same  position, 
perhaps  with  reference  to  the  brook  of  reeds  men- 
tioned (ch.  xvi.  8),  which  we  here  find  again  in 
rer.  9. 

Ver.  9.  And  the  border  descended  unto  the 
watercourse  Kanah,  southv/ard  of  the  water- 
course. In  ch.  xvi.  8,  it  reads  :  From  Tappuah  the 
'lorder  goes  westward  toward  the  Reed-brook,  and  its 


1  [Cf.  Grove  in  Diet. 


of  Bible,  axi:  "  Miclamethah.''] 
lb 


out-goings  w'ere  at  the  sea.  Keil  supposes  this  brook 
to  be  the  Abu  Zabura,  which  Knobel  also  mentiou.s 
at  first,  although  he  immediately  afterward  refers 
to  the  Nahr  el-Kassab.  Von  Raumer  decides  for 
the  latter  (p.  51)  with  greater  positiveness,  because 
the  old  name  Reed-brook  has  been  preserved  in 
Nahr  el-Kassab.  But  Nahr  el-Kassab  is  the  same 
stream  which  on  Kiepert's  wall-map  appears  as 
Nahr  el-Falik  (Van  de  Velde  :  Falaik),  which  Kie- 
pert  with  von  Raumer  holds  to  be  the  Reed-brook 
(brook  of  Cana).  The  border  extended  south  of 
the  brook  to  the  sea,  i.  e.,  the  Mediterranean  sea 

(nD*n,  ell.  xvi.  8),  which  Jerome  strangely  re- 
gards as  being  the  mare  salsissimum! 

These  cities  belonged  to  Ephraim  among  the 
cities  of  Manasseh.  Thus  ch.  xvi.  9  is  more  ex- 
actly detined,  "  These  cities."  Which  cities  ?  It 
is  indeed  said  further  :  "  and  the  border  of  Man;is 
sell  was  north  of  the  brook,"  but  the  definition  ib 
nuide  no  clearer  thereby.  The  sense  can  hardly 
be  other  than  what  Masius  long  ago  expressed  : 
"  Fitnicalas,  qui  diacernahat  fratram  istoruni  posses- 
sioiies,   anibiebat    ille    quideni    torrenteni    Cannosum 

{Tl'^p  7n3)  a  meridie  atque  eum  attribiiebat  Manas- 
sensibus ;  veru/ntamen  urbes,  qnce  illi  torrenti  ab  austro 
adjacebant,  etsi  essent  reipsa  intra  Manassensium 
positm  terminos,  nihilominus  jure  fuerunt  Ephraimi- 
tariim ;  quie  vero  a  septentrione  torrentis  exstabant, 
eas  obtinebant  Manassenses."  For  in  ver.  10  we 
read  still  more  plainly:  "Southward  (from  the 
brook  it,  the  land,  was)  Ephraim's,  and  northward 
(of  the  same)  it  was  Manasseh's ;  and  the  sea  was 
his  border  (toward  the  west).  Knobel  would,  ac- 
cording to  ch.  xvi.  9,  read  ^^2  for  '^~}'^  ■  but  this 
is  not  strictly  necessary. 

Ver.  10.  South  of  the  Reed-brook  the  land  is 
here  said  to  have  belonged  to  Ephraim,  north  of  it 
to  Manasseh,  a  boundary  line  as  simple  as  could 
be.  Knobel  here  comes  into  perplexity,  out  of 
which  he  would  escape  by  supposing  that  the  north 
border  of  Manasseh  cuts  through  the  Reed-brook 
while  the  north  border  of  Ephraim  comes  to  it,  so 
that  the  territory  of  Manasseh  there  formed  a 
point  !  — And  the  sea  was  his  border.  Both  di- 
visions had  the  sea  on  the  west,  one  (Ephraim) 
south  of  the  Reed-brook,  the  other  (Manasseh) 
north  of  it.  The  account  of  the  north  boundary 
for  both  in  common  follows  (comp.  ch.  xvi.  1  ff.). 

They  struck  upon  (]^2722]')  Asher  on  the  north, 

/.  e.,  on  the  north  side  (ch.  xix.  26).  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  province  concludes  with  the  eastern 
limit;  on  Issachar  on  the  east  (ch.  xix.  17). 
The  two  tribes  were  bounded,  therefore,  (1 )  on  the 
east  by  Issachar;  (2)  on  the  north  by  Asher;  (3) 
on  the  west  by  the  sea ;  (4)  on  the  south  by  Ben- 
jamin and  Dan.  Between  them  they  liad  a  divis- 
ion line  which  is  twice  referred  to,  (a)  ch.  xvi.  6  ff.. 
(6)  in  our  chapter,  ver.  7-10  ;  but  unfortunately  in 
neither  place  with  such  clearness  as  marks  tht 
description  e.  ^7.  of  the  boundary  between  Judah 
and  Benjamin  (ch.  xv.  8  ff.).  A  separate  border 
of  Manasseh  on  the  north,  such  as  Knobel  as- 
sumes, we  cannot  find  given  in  the  text. 

Vers.  11-13.  Six  cities  are  enumerated  which 
Manasseh  received  beyond  liis  own  country,  in 
Issachar  and  Asher,  without,  however,  being  able 
to  expel  the  Canaanites  from  them.  At  a  later 
period  having  become  stronger,  they  were  content 
to  make  them  tributary  servants  (ver.  13).  The 
same  report  is  found  again  (Jndg.  i.  27  ff.),  where, 
however,  Endor  is  omitted. 


146 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


The  word  m^S  reminds  us  of  ch.  xv.  47.  Kno- 
bel  finds  iicre  the  second  doeiinient  of  the  Jchovist. 

Ver.  11.  Beth-shean  (^S^-rT'a,  {.  c,  house  of 
rest,  now  Bcisan,  — "  in  an  expansion  of  the 
Jordan  Valley,  which  is  bounded  on  the  west  by 
the  low  ridge  of  Mount  (iilboa.  At  the  present 
day  ruins  of  an  ancient  Roman  theatre  are  found 
here,  Init  only  about  seventy  or  ciyhty  miserable 
huts  for  the  two  hundred  actual  inhabitants.  It 
stands  about  four  hours  from  Tiberias,  on  the  road 
from  Jerusalem  to  Damascus "  (von  liaumer,  p. 
150  ;  Hob.  iii.  174  fF.).  The  Philistines  hung  on  its 
walls  the  dead  body  of  Saul  (1  Sam.  xxxi.  10).  It 
was  afterward  called  Scythopolis  (sec  Herod,  i. 
104-106,  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  name). 
From  the  summit  of  Gilboa,  two  thousand  two 
•huiulred  feet  high,  Furrer  (p.  2G0)  saw  a  green 
plain  lying  at  his  feet  on  the  east,  out  of  which 
rose  the  black  tents  of  the  Bedouin  camps,  like 
dark  patches,  on  the  green.  The  plain  extends 
downward  to  the  Jordan,  and  he  was  able  to  follow 
its  picturesque  windings  to  a  etmsiderable  distance. 
"  There,  not  far  from  the  river,"  Furrer  proceeds, 
"Beisan  must  lie,  although  I  could  not  discern 
it  —  the  ancient  Bethshean  on  whose  walls  the 
Philistines  once  hung  the  dead  body  of  Saul." 
[Comp.  Tristram's  account  of  Beisan,  p.  .504  fll'.] 

Ibleam,  where  Ahaziah  was  mortally  wounded 
(2  K.  ix.  27),  a  Levitical  city  (ch.  xxi".  2.5),  per- 
haps, as  Knobel  su])poses,  Jelameh,  Jelamah  be- 
tween Zerin  and  Jenin  (Bob.  iii.  161).  The  accu- 
sative (IMl  '^21^'^'n^"))  which  follows  is  remark- 
able, since  the  sentence  had  begun  with  V  ''H"!!' 
It  is  most  simply  explained  by  a  change  of  con- 
struction,  perhaps   occasioned    by   the   fact   that 

tt7'^~1lny,  which  governs  the  accusative,  is  used  in 
verse  12;  to  which  may  be  added  that  in  Judg.  i. 
27,  the  whole  statement  begins  with  Ji7"'^in"S7'7. 
Nor  should  it  be  overlooked,  that  instead  of  the 
cities  the  inhabitants  whom  Manasseh  could  not 
drive  out  are  mentioned. 
Dor,  ch.  xi.  2  ;  xii.  23. 

En-dor  ("11"^  V^)^  fom'  Boman  miles  south  of 
Tabor,  according  to  the  Onom.  (von  llaumer,  p. 
12.5),  near  the  northern  slope  of  the  Jebel  Dachi 
(l)uhy,  little  Hermon),  which  rises  in  "yellow 
nakedness  "  over  against  Tabor  (Furrer,  p.  308 ; 
Bob.  ]).  171  f.).  Fndor  was  the  abode  of  the 
"  wonuin  with  a  familiar  spirit,"  whom  Saul  con- 
sulted (1  Sam.  xxviii.  9),  but  is  also  celebrated  (Ps. 
Ixxxiii.  11)  as  the  scene  of  the  victory  in  which 
the  Midianites  were  destroyed.  In  the  parallel 
passage  (Judg.  i.  27  ff.)  Endor  is  not  mentioned. 
Taanach,  ch.  xii.  21.     Megiddo,  ch.  xii.  21. 

The  three  heights  (n^Sn  HtZ^bti?;  LXX., 
■rb  Tpirou  rf/s  'Nii(pe6  ;  Vulg.,  tcilia,  pars  iirhis  Na- 
phet).  What  is  intended  is  the  three  cities  lying 
on  hills  :  Endor,  Taanach,  and  Megiddo,  aTripolis 
of  mountain  cities  in  distinction  from  the  places  on 
the  plain :    Bethshean,   Ibleam,   and   Dor.     The 

author  miglit  have  called  the  latter  also  a  HU? 71?^, 
a  nbs:ti?n  n\f^^,  using  nbptp  in  the  general 
sense  of  "  ])lain,"  and  not  in  the  definite  geograph- 
ical signification  which  in  this  book  it  everywhere 
bears,  as  e.  (]■,  in  ch.  xv.  33. 

Ver.  12.   "  The  Manassitcs,  however,  were  not 

1  [Knobel's  supposition  Is  better,  namely,  that  yTlTT 
'«  here  felt  to  bo  equivalent  to  receive,  possess,  have.  —  Tb.] 


in  a  condition  to  expel  the  population  from  the 
cities  named,  so  that  the  Canaanites,  according  to 
their  ivill  and  pleasure,  dwelt  in  this  district "  ( Kno- 
bel).    The  will  and  pleasure  is  right  vividly  ex- 

I  pressed  by  the  plastic  vbjl''^  (ch.  vii.  7 ;  Ex.  ii.  21), 
Ver.  13.  But  when  the  Israelites  became  strong 

j  ("Ip^n)  they  made  the  Canaanites  tributary  ser- 
vants (comp.  eh.  x.  10),  but  drive  them  out  they 
did  not.  We  allow  ourselves  this  translation, 
after  the  example  of  De  Wette,  to  indicate  iu 
English  something  of  the  effect  of  the  emphatic 

d.  Ver.  14-18.  Complaint  of  the  Children  of 
Joseph  that  their  Possession  is  insufficient.  "  An 
old,  original  fragment,  and  a  beautiful,  historical 
trait  in  the  character  of  Joshua.  The  unselfish 
Joshua  was  himself  of  Ephraim,  Num.  xiii.  8,  16  " 
(Bunsen).  As  the  history  of  Achsah  (eh.  xv.  1.3- 
19),  occurring  in  the  midst  of  the  boundary  descrip- 
tions of  Jiulah,  and  catalogues  of  its  cities,  makes 
a  very  refreshing  impression  on  the  laborious  ex- 
plorer of  these  recoi'ds,  so  this  narrative  awakens 
similar  emotions.  The  children  of  Joseph,  i.  e.. 
probably  the  patriarchs  of  the  tribe,  came  com- 
plaining before  their  fellow-tribesman  Joshua,  to 
whom  they  had  trusted  for  a  better  guardianship 
of  their  interests.  "  Why,"  they  ask,  "  hast  thou 
given  me  but  one  lot  and  one  jiortion,  as  a  posses 
sion,  when  I  am  a  great  people,  iu  so  far  as  Jeho- 
vah hath  blessed  me  hitherto."  Joshua,  by  no 
means  disposed  to  grant  special  favors  to  his  own 
ti'ibe,  demands  of  them  to  use  their  strength,  to 
go  up  into  the  forest,  to  clear  it  out,  and  establish 
for  themselves  new  abodes  there  among  the  Periz- 
zites  and  the  Bephaim.  When  they  (ver.  16) 
show  little  inclination  to  this  course,  and  at  the 
same  time  intimate  that  they  cannot  s])rcad  them- 
selves further  in  the  plain  because  of  the  formida- 
bleness  of  the  Canaanites  who  dwell  there,  Joshua 
(ver.  17)  still  remains  firm.  In  both  his  replies 
(vers.  15,  17)  he  betrays  a  touch  of  irony,  as  if  he 
would  say  :  Yes,  it  is  true,  thou  art  a  numerous 
people,  and  hast  great  strength,  and  oughtest  there- 
fore to  have  more  than  one  share.  But  seek  to 
procure  this  second  portion  thijsclf!  Ilely  on  thy 
own  power  !  C>it  down  the  forest !  Behold  thou 
wilt  drive  out  the  Canaanites ;  it  is  precisely  thy 
task  to  conquer  those  that  have  iron  chariots  and 
are  mighty;  no  other  tribe  can  do  it."  Of  the 
manner  in  which  Ewald  (ii.  315-317,  2d  [Germ.] 
ed.)  treats  this  luxrrative,  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  further  on. 

Ver.  14.  As  here,  so  also  ch.  xvi.  1  ff". ;  xvii.  10, 
the  children  of  Joseph  are  taken  together.  They 
are  regarded  as  one  tribe,  so  to  speak,  the  tribe  of 
Joseph,  as  Bev.  vii.  8.  Comp.  also  passages  like 
Am.  vi.  6;  Ps.  Ixxvii.  16;  Ixxviii.  67;  Ixxx.  2; 
Ixxxi.  6  ;  Ez.  xxxvii.  16,  19. 

One  lot  and  one  portion.  "  ^"^13  and  ^5^ 
are  synonymous  and  combined  for  greater  cmpha 
sis.  /^"iS  is  the  lot  which  is  cast ;  ''50  the 
measuring  line,  then  the  measured  inheritance " 
(Keil).     Comp.  also  ver.  5. 

So  far  as  ("^?'"'y ^^ ;  not  as  Gesenius  would 

have   it,  "^t?^' ''? ;  de  gradu.,  Maurcr)   Jehovah 

hath  blessed  me  hitherto  (^2"^2?,  de  tempore, 
Maurer).    A  quite  peculiar  blessing  had  been  prom- 
ised to  Joseph  (Gen.  xlix.  25,  26;  DeiTt.  xxxiii. 
13-17. 
Ver.  15.  Joshua's  answer.     Get  thee  up  into 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


147 


the  forest.  The  forest  of  the  mountain  of  Eph- 
r.iiin  and  of  its  ()ut-.t;oinj;s  (ver.  18)  is  meant. 
'I'hat  Mount  ICphraiui  (mountain  of  Israel,  ch.  xi. 
lG-21)  was  thun  covered  with  woods,  is  clear  from 
1  Sam.  xiv.  23  ;  2  Sam.  xviii.  6.  Even  the  forest  at 
Bethel,  2  K.  ii.  23,  24,  probably  belonf^ed  (Winer, 
ii.  075)  to  the  forest  of  Epliraim.  And  even  at 
the  present  day,  accordint;-  to  the  uniform  testi- 
mony of  travellers,  the  hei;L;hts  of  Mount  Ephraim, 
forming  the  northern  portion  of  the  mountainous 
country  between  the  plain  of  Jezreel  and  the  wil- 
derness of  the  south  (von  Kaumer,  p.  42),  are  more 
rich  in  vegetation  than  that  part  of  the  same 
mountain  which  belon<;cd  to  Judah  Especially 
is  this  the  case  with  its  spurs  towanl  the  north- 
west and  northeast.  ■  On  the  northwest  a  forest- 
'jovered  hill  joins  itself  to  Mount  Ephraim  connect- 
ing the  latter  with  Carmel,  that  most  beautiful,  and 
greenest  of  all  the  mountains  of  Canaan.  On  the 
northeast  Mount  Gilboa,  where  Saul  and  Jonathan 
fell  in  the  contest  with  the  Philistines  (1  Sam. 
xxviii.  4  ;  xxxi.  1-8;  2  Sam.  i.  6-20),  constitutes 
its  ofF-shoot  toward  the  Jordan.  On  the  road  from 
the  hamlet  of  Jelbon,  jn  which  word  the  old  name  is 
preserved,  Furrer  (p.  260)  ascended  the  mountain 
by  a  lofty  slope  which  was  in  places  clothed  with  a 
dense  oak  thicket.  A  small  forest  of  low  oak  trees 
is  mentioned  by  the  same  traveller  as  standing  on 
the  right  of  the  road  from  Nazareth  to  Carmel  (p. 
280).  Without  doubt  it  is  the  same  woods  which 
Schultz  describes  {Reise  in  das  gelohte  Land,  pp. 
249,  250),  since  he  also  notices  the  "  crisp  eastern 
oaks."  Hobinson  (iii.  p.  18'.»  f.)  speaks  of  "  a  wide 
strip  of  low  woody  heights"  by  which  Carmel  is 
Joined  on.  the  southwest  with  the  mountains  of 
JSamaria.  We  find  woods  therefore  partly  on 
Mount  Ephraim  itself,  partly  on  its  off-shoots. 

'  At  tlie  very  foot  of  this  forest,  however,  on  the 
northwest  spur  of  JMount  Ephraim,  the  children 
of  Joseph  had  liad  cities  in  the  ])lain  assigned  to 
them,  namely,  Taanach,  and  INIegiddo  (l)or  lay 
further  west  on  the  sea)  in  the  ]jlain  of  Jezreel 
{ver.  11).  Ibleam  and  Bethshean  also  (ver.  11) 
lay  west  and  east  of  Mount  Gilboa,  being  spoken 
of  again  in  ver.  16.  Knobel  (p.  430)  says: 
"  Whether  the  author  thinks  also  of  the  Little 
Ilcrmon  lying  further  north,  and  so  refers  to  En- 
dor,  is  doubtful,"  and  we  not  only  share  his  doubt 
but  go  a  step  further  and  consider  it  quite  improb- 
.able,  since  Robinson  (iii.  p.  171)  speaks  of  that 
mountain  as  "  a  desert,  shapeless  mass,"  and  Furrer 
(p.  .308)  notices  the  "yellow  nakedness"  of  the 
Jebel  Dully,  or  Dachi. 

Cut  down  for  thyself  there  in  the  land  of 
the   Perizzites  and  of  the  Rephaim,  if  Mount 

Ephraim  is  too  narrow  (^^  here  in  a  different 
sense  from  ch.  x.  13).  Cornel,  a  Lapide  (in  Keil, 
p.  411  f )  long  ago  hit  tipon  the  thought  that  here 
and  in  ver.  1 8,  by  the  forest  the  Perizzites  and  the 
Rephaim  ■were  to  be  undei-stood,  thus  assuming 
that  there  was  a  metaphor.  He  says  :  "  Est  meta- 
phora,  terram  enim  a  Chananctis  occupatam  vocat  si/l- 
vam,  e.o  quod  sir.ut  si/lva  exscindi  debet,  itt  locus  arari 
possit ;  sic  exscindendi  erant  Pherizcei,  ut  eorum  ter- 
ram occuparent  Josephitce." 

Him  Ewald  follows,  as  Keil  has  pointed  out, 
when  he  represents  the  import  of  ver.  15  in  the 
ibllowing  manner:  "not  at  a  loss  for  the  answer, 
fte  (Joshua)  replied  :  '  if  they  were  so  numerous 
(and  Mount  Ephraim  as  liitherto  occupied  by  them 
;oo  small)  then  they  need  only  move  into  the  for- 
est (i.  e.  into,  the  thickly  settled  and  cultivated 
plain  )^  !3iP,d  laboriously  cut  down   for  themselves 


there  the  tall,  profitable  trees.'  In  other  words 
they  should  enter  the  plain  surrounding  the  moun- 
tain on  which  they  dwelt,  where,  however,  the 
'  Perizzites  and  Rephaim  '  (that  is,  the  enemy)  still 
lay  in  dense  masses,  whom  the  tribe  (instead  of 
envying  other  tribes  their  inheritance),  ought 
themselves  long  ago  to  have  destroyed  and  so  to 
have  doubletl  their  jiossession."  A  purely  arbi- 
trary exjjlanation,  which  may  be  pardoned  to  old 
Cornelius  a  Lapide,  but  so  much  the  less  readily 
to  Ewald,  as  he  arrogates  too  much  to  himself, 
when,  with  well-known  dojiinatism,  he  says  (p. 
315,  note  2) :  "  Already  the  LXX.  failed  to  under- 
stand this  ancient  passage,  hard  to  be  compre- 
hended by  reason  of  its  '  biting  scorn  '  (sie  !),  and 
still  less  \\i\VQ.themodprns  understood  it."  Wherein 
the  fault  of  the  LXX.  consists  in  this  respect,  we 
are  unable,  after  repeated  comparison  of  the  orig- 
inal with  their  version,  to  discover,  unless  in  the" 

fact  that  the  LXX.  venture  to  render  Hvl?  (quite 
properly  in  our  humble  opinion)  by  ai/d^ridi,  while 
Ewald  prefers  to  make  of  it  murch  into  the  plain. 
Of  the  "  biting  scorn "  of  Joshua  we  will  pres- 
ently speak  again. 

Ver.  16.  The  sons  of  Joseph  answer,  that  the 
mountain  really  will  not  suffice  for  them,  while 

the  Canaanites  in  the  valley-land  (PPyn"^"^!?^?) 
have  iron  chariots.  They  appear  as  if  they  had 
not  lieard  a  syllable  of  going  up  into  the  forest. 

Is  not  enough.  Here  W-;^?  is  used  as  in  Zech. 
X.  10;  Nnra.  xi.  22  (Knobcland  Keil).  LXX.: 
ohx  oLpKecrei,  according  to  the  correct  text,  instead 
of  apfo-Ket.  Comp.  also  LXX.,  Num.  xi.  22.  The 
iron  chariots  of  the  Canaanites  were  greatly  feared 
by  the  Israelites,  and  were  "  the  main  reason  why 
the  Hebrews  could  not  establish  themselves  in  the 
plains  (ch.  xi.  4;  Judg.  i.  19  ;  iv.  3 ;  1  Sam.  xiii. 
5).  Israel  adopted  this  species  of  weajions  not 
until  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon  (2  Sam.  viii. 
4;  1  K.  V.  6;  ix.  19;  x.  26)"  (Knobel).  That 
the  Canaanites  had  these  iron  chariots  did  not 
hinder  the  children  of  Joseph  from  "  occupying 
the  forest  region"  (Keil),  but  the  jjlain,  as  Kno- 
bel rightly  perceived,  since  the  "  chariot-cavalry  " 
(Winer,  ii.  671),  very  dangerous  in  the  plains, 
could  not  well  get  on  in  the  mountain,  as  the  pas- 
sage of  Vegetius  {Mil.  iii.  24),  cited  by  Winer, 
shows :  "Quadri(/re  falcatce  ut  primo  marjnum  intu- 
Icre  terrorem,  ita  postmodum  fuere  derisui.  Nam 
difficile  currus  falcatiis  planum  semper  invc.nit  cam- 
pum  et  levi  impedimento  detinetur,  unoque  ajjlicto  aut 
vulnerato  eqiio  decipitur." 

Ver.  17.  Joshua  does  not  allow  them  to  slip  out, 
but  holds  fixst  to  his  declaration  already  made,  the 
sense  of  which  has  been  exhibited  above. 

Ver.  18.  Continuation.  A  mountain  shall  bo 
thine,  for  it  is  a  forest.  The  mountain  of  E])h- 
raim  is  meant.  This  mountain  should  fall  to  the 
lot  of  the  strong  and  able  house  of  Jose])h,  be- 
cause it  was  adapted  to  them  as  being  woodland 
to  be  cleared  up  by  them.  As  the  result  of  this 
clearing  the  one  lot  should  become  two,  as  it  were, 
to  which  Joshua  plainly  points,  ver.  17. 

Thou  Shalt  cut  it  down,  and  the  out-goings 

(Vn'S^ri)  of  it  shall  be  thine.  We  cannot  with 
Knobel  understand  the  sense  of  these  words  so 
that  according  to  ver.  13,  the  one  of  these.out-go- 
ings  or  spurs,  the  northwestern  one,  toward  Car- 
mel, and  according  to  this  verse  the  other,  north- 
eastern, Gilboa,  were  to  be  gi-antcd  in  addition  to 
what  they  had  received;  for  in  this  case  Joshua 


148 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


would  have  made  a  concession  to  his  fellow  tribes- 
men, and  so  broken  the  point  of  tlie  whole  trans- 
action. Rather,  tho  sons  of  Joseph  have  indeed 
Mount  Epliraim  proper,  as  they  tliemselvcs  say 
(ver.  16),  already  in  possession,  and,  in  tlie  vicinity 
of  those  tw'o  s])urs  to  the  nortlnvest  and  nortlieast, 
the  cities  ineutioued  in  ver.  11  had  been  allotted. 
If  now  they  have  not  room  enou<,di,  they  should, 
partly  on  Mount  Ephraim,  and  partly  on  the 
tieijihts  which  rose  above  those  cities,  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Perizzites  and  Rephaim,  cut  down  the 
woods  and  so  make  themselves  new  abodes,  as,  mod- 
est in  his  claims,  Joshua  himself  did  (ch.  xix.  50). 
To  convince  and  encourage  them  Joshua  adds  :  — 
For  thou  wilt  drive  out  the  Canaanites,  for 
they  have  iron  chariots,  for  they  are  strong. 
"  Male  Dathius,  alii,  quamvis  r.urrus  ferreos  habcunt 

et  potentes  sint.  ^3  siqnifir.at  nam.  Sensits  :  hanc 
ipsam  oh  cansam,  quod  curriis  ferreos  liahent  et  po- 
tentes sunt,  vos,  EphraimitxB  et  Manassitce,  eos  ag- 
grediamini,  quippe  qui  estis  populus  numerosus  et 
potens"  {ver.  17).  So  Maurer,  and  I)e  Wette, 
Keil,  Knobel  likewise.     When  the  LXX.  render 

the  last  words  :   ^-"IH  jTTn  "^3   by  <tv  yap  vwepta- 

X^eii   auTov,    they   either  read :    HFIS    p^FT  "^3 

S^np,  or,  which  is  to  me  more  likely,  allow  them- 
selves a  variation.  The  Vulg.  translates  very 
freely  :  "  Et  poteris  ultra  procedere,  cum  suhveHeris 
ChanancBum,  quern  dicis  ferreos  habere  currus  et  esse 
fortissimum." 

At  this  place  we  may  appropriately  return  to 
Ewald's  account  of  the  transaction.  He  com- 
ments on  vers.  16-18,  thus:  "but  when  to  this 
sharp  answer  "  (he  means  the  decision  of  Joshua 
given  in  ver.  1.5),  "  they  go  on  to  reply  that,  '  that 
did  not  suit,  that  the  mountain  was  enough  for 
them,  since  the  Canaanites  lining  in  the  plain  had 
the  dangerous  iron  chariots.'  Joshua  carries  still 
further  the  figure  of  forest  and  mountain,  even  to 
the  uttermost,  and,  in  order  to  finish  the  matter 
with  one  blow,  turns  off  the  importunate  petition- 
ers who  desire  much  and  yet,  out  of  vain  fear,  will 
not  exert  themselves  to  obtain  their  wisli,  by  the 
still  more  pointed  insidt  (sic!)  that  'they  should  by 
all  means,  since  they  were  a  very  numerous  and 
strong  tribe,  have  not  merely  one  lot !  Rather 
should  they,  besides  the  mountain  which  they  al- 
ready possessed,  and  yet  did  not  truly  possess, 
have  also  another,  namely,  that  forest,  which  they 
would  have  first  with  bitter  toil  to  clear  off  and 
make  useful,  i.  e.  the  Canaanites,  whom  to  subdue 
in  spite  of,  and  indeed  precisely  on  account  of, 
their  mighty  armor,  and  to  render  serviceable  was 
their  second  portion  yet  to  be  acquired ;  and  in 
this,  fear  and  trembling  would  be  of  no  avail ! '  A 
biting  sarcasm,  worthy  of  a  Samson  !  And  so  the 
most  ancient  legend,  as  it  appears  in  this  narra- 
tive, conceived  of  Joshua  also  as  the  hero  who  con- 
tended by  his  humiliating  wit  against  the  presump- 
tion of  the  men  of  his  tribe,  —  a  true  man  of  the 
people,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word." 

Against  this,  aside  from  what  we  have  already 
said  in  opjjosition  to  the  figurative  interpretation 
of  the  forest  and  mounlain,  two  remarks  are  ap- 
propriate:  (I)  ver.  16  is  treated  quite  arbitrarily 
when  Ewald,  in  his  note,  p.  316,  writes;  "In  ver. 

16,  S7  is,  against  the  Masora,  to  be  separated  as 

'no!'  and  ^*.;'P')  to  be  written."  Thus  he 
would  bring  out  exactly  the  opposite  sense, 
namely,  that  the  mountain  was  enough  for  them. 


although  the  sons  of  Joseph,  in  ver.  14,  complain 
oi'  that  very  thing,  that  their  district  was  too  small 
for  so  numerous  a  people  ;  (2)  the  more  "  pointed 
insult,"  which  Ewald,  resting  on  ver.  17  and  18 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  Joshua,  presupposes  that  his 
answer  in  ver.  1')  also  was  pointed,  and  moreover 
a  pointed  insult,  as  indeed  he  finds  in  the  whole 
passage  nothing  but  biting  mockery  (p.  315,  note 
2).  Fine  irony,  a  noble  humor,  we  also  recognize 
in  the  replies  of  Joshua  as  well  in  ver.  15  as  in 
vers.  17,  18,  but  between  this  and  "biting  mock- 
ery "  there  is  a  great  difference.  Irony  is  inor- 
ally  allowable,  mockery  and  insult  not.  He  who 
employs  the  latter  is  a  bad  man,  and  will  never  be 
regarded  as  "  a  true  man  of  the  people  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  word,"  Avhich  the  most  ancient  myth 
is  here  said  to  liave  made  Joshua.  Joshua  was 
certainly  a  true  people's  man ;  certainly  our  author 
will,  in  this  old,  precious  narrative,  so  represent 
him,  but  as  a  people's  man  who  has  gained  his 
popularity  not  through  sharp  and  sharper  sar- 
casms, but  through  his  unselfishness  and  noble 
preeminence.  For,  that  any  one  should  have  be- 
come a  favorite  by  insulting  mockery,  would  no 
more  occur  in  Joshua's  time  than  in  ours.  We 
must,  therefore,  deny  the  biting  scorn  which  Ewald 
here  scents  out.  Malicious  teazing  lay  far  enough 
remote  from  so  noble  a  hero  as  Joshua.  He  knew 
nothing  of  it. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PKACTICAL. 

The  narrative,  ch.  xvii.  14-18,  can,  on  the  one 
hand,  be  employed  to  .show  Joshua  as  a  pattern 
of  an  unselfish,  noble,  and  prudent  popular  leader 
and  statesman;  and,  on  the  other,  to  set  home  his 
decision  toward  the  house  of  Joseph,  as  an  impres- 
sive lesson  to  all  at  the  present  day  who  desire 
everything  from  the  state,  but  would  themselves 
put  forth  the  least  possible  exertion.  So  in  refer- 
ence to  the  age  in  general ;  but  the  passage  admits 
of  an  individual  application  also  to  all  idle  men 
Avho  will  not  labor,  for  instance,  in  new  founded 
colonies,  where  a  sermon  on  this  text  would,  under 
certain  circumstances,  be  very  much  in  place. 

Starke:  That  is  the  way  with  the  covetous 
man,  that  the  more  he  has  tlie  more  he  desires  to 
have,  and  cannot  but  grudge  his  neighbor  what 
belongs  to  him.  One  should  be  content  with  that 
which  God  gives.  Those  who  are  ai)poiuted  to 
the  duty  of  distributing  goods  and  lands,  however 
faithfully  they  may  perform  the  service,  yet  com- 
monly get  no  great  thanks  therefor. 

An  original  remark  occui-s  in  the  Dihl.  Tub.  on 
ver.  15:  It  is  a  duty  of  the  magistrate,  among 
others,  this,  namely,  for  the  benefit  of  the  inhabi- 
tants when  there  are  many  of  them,  to  prepare 
the  yet  uncultivated  land  for  cultivation,  that  the 
people  may  derive  from  it  so  much  the  more  rev- 
enue and  support. 

Laxge  :  So  it  goes  also  with  many  an  insincere 
combatant  in  the  kingdom  of  (!od,  that  they 
woidd  fain  have  many  spiritual  gifts  but  without 
a  strife. 

Kramer:  Prayer,  labor,  and  trust  in  God  must 
go  together,  Ps.  cxxvH  2. 

[Matt.  Henry  :  Many  wish  for  larger  posses- 
sions, who  do  not  cultivate  and  make  the  best  of 
what  they  have,  think  they  should  have  more  tal- 
ents given  them,  who  do  not  trade  with  those  y/ith 
which  they  are  intrusted.  Most  people's  poverty 
is  the  effect  of  their  idleness ;  would  they  dig  they 
need  not  beg.  —  Tk.] 


CHAPTERS  XVIIL,  XIX.  149 


3.   The    Territories   of  the   Seven    reinaining  Tribes :  Benjamin,  Simeon,  Zebulun, 
Issachar,  Asher,  Naphtali,  Dan  ;  and  the  Possession  of  Joshua. 

Chapters  XVIII.,  XIX. 

a.  Setting  up  of  the  Tabernacle  at  Shiloh.     Description  of  the  Land  yet  to  be  divided. 
Chapter  XVIII.    1-10. 

1  And  the  whole  congregation  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  assembled  together 
at  Shiloh,  and  set  up  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  there :  and  the  land  was 

2  subdued  before  them.     And  there  remained  among  the  children  of  Israel  seven 

3  tribes,  which  had  ^lot  yet  [omit :  yet]  received  their  inheritance.  And  Joshua  said 
unto  the  children  of  Israel,  How  long  are  ye  slack  to  go  to  possess  the  land  which 

4  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  your  fathers  hath  given  you  ?  Give  out  from  among  [for] 
you  three  men  for  each  tribe :  and  I  will  send  them,  and  they  shall  rise,  and  go 
[about]  through  the  land,  and  describe  it  according  to  the  inheritance  of  them  [their 

5  possession]  :  and  they  shall  come  again  [omit :  again]  to  me.  And  they  shall  divide 
it  into  seven  parts :  Judah  shall  abide  in  their  coast  [stand  on  his  border]  on  tho 
south,  and  the  house  of  Joseph  shall  abide  in  their  coasts  [stand  on  their  border]  in 

6  the  north.  Ye  shall  therefore  [And  ye  shall]  describe  the  land  into  seven  parts,  and 
bring  the  description  [so  Bunsen,  but  properly :  them  or  it]   hither  to  me,  that  I 

7  may  cast  lots  for  you  here  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  our  God.  But  [For]  the 
Levites  have  no  part  among  you ;  for  the  priesthood  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  is  their 
inheritance  [possession]  :  and  Gad,  and  Reuben,  and  half  the  tribe  of  Manasseh, 
have  received  their  inheritance  [possession]  beyond  [the]  Jordan  on  the  east,  which 

8  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [.Jehovah]  gave  them.  And  the  men  arose,  and  went 
away :  and  .Joshua  charged  them  that  went  to  describe  the  land,  saying.  Go,  and 
walk  through  the  land,  and  describe  it,  and  come  again  to  me,  that  I  may  here  cast 

9  lots  for  you  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  in  Shiloh.  And  the  men  went  and  passed 
through  the  land,  and  described  it  by  [the]  cities  into  seven  parts  in  a  book,  and  came 

10  again  [omit :  again]  to  Joshua  to  the  host  [camp]  at  Shiloh.  And  Joshua  cast  lots 
for  them  in  Shiloh  before  the  Lord  [.Jehovah]  :  and  there  Joshua  divided  the  land 
unto  the  children  of  Israel  according  to  their  divisions. 

h.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Benjamin. 
Chapter  XVIIL     11-28. 
a.  Its  boundaries. 
Chapter  X^II,     11-20. 

11  And  the  lot  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  came  up  according 
to  their  families  :  and  the  coast  [border]   of  their  lot  came  forth  between  the  chil- 

12  dren  of  Judah  and  the  children  of  Joseph.  And  their  border  on  the  north  side 
was  [De  Wette  :  began ;  but  properly  :  There  was  for  them  the  border,  etc.]  from 
[the]  Jordan,  [Fay :  at  the  Jordan]  ;  and  the  border  went  up  to  the  side  of  j'ericho 
on  the  north  side   [omit:  side],   and  went  up  through   [on]   the  mountains  west- 

13  ward;  and  the  goings  out  thereof  were  at  the  wilderness  of  Beth-aven.  And  the 
border  went  over  from  thence  toward  Luz,  to  the  side  of  Luz  (which  is  Beth-el) 
southward ;  and  the  border  descended  to  Ataroth-adar,  near  [on]  the  hill  [mountain] 

14  that  lieth  on  the  south  side  of  the  nether  Beth-horon.  And  the  border  was  drawn 
thence,  and  compassed  the  corner  of  the  sea  [and  bent  around  toward  the  west  side] 
southward,  from  the  hill  [mountain]  that  lieth  before  Beth-horon  southward ;  and 
the  goings  out  thereof  were  at  Kirjath-baal  (which  is  Kirjath-jearim),  a  city  of  the 
children  [sons]  of  Judah.     This  teas  the  west  quarter  [side]. 

15  And  the  south  quarter  [side J  was  from  the  end  of  Kirjath-jearim,  and  the  bor- 
der went  out  on   [toward]   the  west,  and  went  out  to  the  well  [fountain]   of  the 

16  waters  of  Nephtoah.  And  the  border  came  [went]  down  to  the  end  of  the  moun- 
tain tha,t  lieih  before  the  valley  [ravine]  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  and  [om't :  and] 


150  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


which  is  in  the  valley  of  the  giants  [Rephaim]  on  the  north,  and  descended  to  the 
valley  [ravine]  of  llinnom,  to  the  side  [prop. :  shoulder]  of  Jebusi  on  the  south 
[De  Wette :  on  the  south  side  of  the  Jebusite  ;  Fay :  on  the  side  of  the  Jebusite 

17  towai'd  the  south],  and  descended  to  En-rogel,  and  was  drawn  from  [on]  the  north, 
and  went  forth  to  En-shemesh,  and  went  forth  toward  Geliloth,  which  is  over 
against  the  going  up  of  Adumniim,  and  descended  to  the  stone  of  Bohan  the  son 

18  of  Reuben,  And  passed  along  toward  the  side  [shoulder]  over  against  [b^?2)]  [the] 

19  Arabah  [Jordan-valley]  northward,  and  went  down  unto  [the]  Arabah :  And  the 
border  passed  along  to  the  side  [shoulder]  of  Beth-hoglah  northward :  and  the  out- 
goings of  the  border  [it,  the  border]  were  at  the  north  bay  [tongue]  of  the  salt  sea, 
at  the  south  end  of  [the]  Jordan.     This  was  the  south  coast  [border]. 

20  And  [the]  Joi-dan  was  the  border  of  it  [bordered  it],  on  the  east  side.  This  ivas 
the  inheritance  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin,  by  the  coasts  [borders]  thereof 
round  about,  according  to  their  families. 

p.   Cities  of  the  Tribe  of  Benjamin. 
Chapter  XVIII.     21-28. 

21  Now  [And]  the  cities  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin,  accord- 
ing to  their  families,  were  Jericho,  and  Beth-hoglah,  and  the  valley  of  [Emek] 

22  23  Keziz,  And  Beth-arabah,  and  Zemaraim,  and  Beth-el,  And  Avim,  and  Parah,  and 

24  Ophrah,  And  Chephar-haammonai,  and  Ophni,   and  Gaba  ;  twelve  cities  with 

25  26  [and]  their  villages:  Gibeon,  and  Ramah, and  Beeroth,  And  Mizjjeh, and  Chephi- 
27  28  rah,  and  Mozah,  And  Rekem,  and  Ir^jeel,  and  Taralah,  And  Zelah,  Eleph,  and 

Jebusi  (which  is  Jerusalem),  Gibeath,  and  Kirjath ;  fourteen  cities  with  [and] 

their  villages.  This  is  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Benjamin  according  to 
their  families. 

•  c.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Simeon. 

Chapter  XIX.     1-9. 

1  And  the  second  lot  came  forth  to  [for]  Simeon,  even  [omit :  even]  for  the  tribe 
of  the  children  [sons]  of  Simeon  according  to  their  families  :  and  their  inheritance 
[possession]   was  within   the  inheritance   [possession]    of  the   children  of  Judah. 

2  And  they    had    in    their    inheritance  [possession],   Beer-sheba,    and    Sheba,    and 

3  4  Moladah,  And  Hazar-shual,  and  Balah,  and  Azem,  and  Eltolad,  And  Bethul,  and 
5   6  Hormah,  And  Ziklag,  and  Beth-marcaboth,  and  Hazar-susah,  And  Beth-lebaoth, 

7  and    Sharuhen ;    thirteen    cities   and   their   villages :    Ain,    Remmon,    and    Ether, 

8  and  Ashan  ;  four  cities  and  their  villages  :  And  all  the  villages  that  were  round  about 
these  cities  to  Baalath-beer,  Ramath  of  the  south.  This  is  the  inheritance  [posses- 
sion]  of  the  tribe   of  the  children   [sons]  of  Simeon,  according  to   their  families. 

9  Out  of  the  jjortion  of  the  children  of  Judah  teas  the  inheritance  [possession]  of 
the  children  [sons]  of  Simeon :  for  the  part  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  was 
too  large  for  them  ;  therefore  [and]  the  children  [sons]  of  Simeon  had  their  inher- 
itance [possession]  within  the  inheritance  [possession]  of  them. 

d.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Zehulun. 
.€haptee  XIX.  10-16. 

10  And  the  third  lot  came  .vp  for  the  children  [sons]  of  Zebulun  according  to  their 

11  families:  and  the  border  of  their  inheritance  was  unto  Sarid:  And  their  border 
went  up  toward  the  sea  [westward],  and  Maralah,  and  reached  to  Dabbasheth,  and 

12  reached  to  the  river  [water-course]  that  is  before  Jokneani :  And  turned  from  Sarid 
eastward,  toward  the  sun-rising,  unto  the  border  of  Chisloth-tabor,  and  then  goeth 

13  [and  went]  out  to  Daberath,  and  goeth  [went]  up  to  Japhia,  And  from  thence 
passeth  [it  passed]  on  along  on  the  east  [toward  the  east,  toward  the  rising  of  the 
sun]  to  Gittah-hepher,  to  Ittah-kazin,  and  goeth  [went]  out  to  Remmon-methoar 

14  [Remmon  which  stretches]  to  Neah;  And  the  border  compasseth  [bent  around]  it 
on  the  north  side  [northward]  to  Hannathon :  and  the  out-goings  thereof  are  [were] 

1 5  in  the  valley  of  Jiphthah-el :  And  Kattath,  and  Nahallal,  an(i  jShimron,  and  Ida- 


i 


CHAPTER    XIX.  151 


16  lah,  and  Beth-lehem ;  twelve  cities  with  [and]  their  villages.  This  is  the  inheri- 
tance [possession]  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Zebulun 'according  to  their  families, 
these  cities  with  [and]  their  vilhiges. 

e.  The  Torritory  of  the  Tribe  of  Issachar. 
Chapter  XIX.  17-23. 

17  And  [omit:  and]   the  fourth  lot  came  out  to  [for]   Issachar,  for  the  children 

18  [sons]  of  Issachar  according  to  their  families.     And  their  border  was  toward  Jezreel, 

19  20  and  Chesulloth,  and  Shunem,  And  Ilapharaim,  and  Shihon,  and  Anaharath,  And 

21  Rabbith,  and  Kishion,  and  Abez,  And  Remeth,  and  En-gannim,  and  En-haddah, 

22  and  Beth-pazzez  ;  And  the  coast  [border]  reacheth  to  [struck]  Taboi-,  and  Sha- 
hazimah,  and   Beth-shemesh  ;  and  the  out-goings  of  their  border  were  at  [the] 

23  Jordan ;  sixteen  cities  with  [and]  their  villages.     This  is   the  inheritance  [pos- 
session] of  the  tribe  of  tlie  children  [sons]  of  Issachar,  according  to  their  fam 
ilies,  the  cities  and  their  villages. 

/  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Ashcr. 
Chapter  XIX.  24-31. 

24  And  the  fifth  lot  came  out  for  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Asher  accord- 

25  ing  to  their  fiimilies.     And  their  border  was  Helkath,  and  Hali,  and  Beten,  and 

26  Achsliaph,  And  Alammelech,  and  Amad,  and  Misheal ;  and  reacheth  to  [it  struck] 

27  Carmel  westward,  and  to  [omit :  to]  Shihor-libnath  ;  And  turneth  [turned]  toward 
the  sun-rising  to  Beth-dagon,  and  reacheth  to  [struck]  Zebukm,  and  to  [omit :  to] 
the  valley  [ravine]  of  Jiphthah-el,  toward  [on]  the  nortli  side  of  Betli-emek,  and 

28  Neiel,  and  goeth  [went]  out  to  Cabul  on  the  left  hand,  And  Hebron,  and  Rehob, 

29  and  Hammon,  and  Kanah,  even  unto  great  Zidon ;  Ajid  then  [omit :  then]  the 
coast  [border]  turneth  [turned]  to  Ramah,  and  to  the  strong  [fortified]  city  Tyre  ; 
and  the  coast  [border]  turneth  [turned]  to  Hosah ;  and  the  out-goings  thereof  are 

30  at  the  sea  from  the  coast  to  Achzib  [in  the  district  of  Achzib]  :  Ummah  also 
[and  Ummah],  and  Aphek,  and  Rehob  :  twenty  and  two  cities  with  [and]  their  vil- 

31  lages.  This  is  the  inheritance  [possession]  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of 
Asher  according  to  their  families,  these  cities  with  [and]  their  villages. 

(J.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Naplitali. 
Chapter  XIX.  32-39. 

32  The  sixth  lot  came  out  to  [for]  the  children  [sons]  of  Naphtali,  even  [omu, 

33  even]  for  the  children  [sons]  of  Naphtali  according  to  their  families.  And  their 
coast  [border]  was  from  Heleph,  from  Allon  to  Zaanannim,  [the  oak  of  Zaanan- 
nim],  and  Adami,  Nekeb  [^or  Adami-nekeb],  and  Jabneel,  unto  Lakum  ;  and  the 

34  out-goings  thereof  were  at  [the]  Jordan:  And  then  [omit:  then]  the  coast  [border] 
turneth  [turned]  westward  to  Aznoth-tabor,  and  goeth  [went]  out  from  thence  to 
Hukkok,  and  reacheth  to  [struck]  Zebulun  on  the  south  side,  and  reacheth  to 
[struck]  Asher  on  the  west  side,  and  to  [omit :  to]  Judah  upon  [the]  Jordan  to- 

35  ward  the  sun-rising.     And  the  fenced  [fortified]  cities  are  Ziddim,  Zer,  and  Ham- 

36  37  math,  Rakkath,  and  Cinneroth,  And  Adamah,  and  Ramah,  and  liazor.  And 
38  Kedesh,  and  Edrei,  and  En-hazor,  And  Iron,  and  Migdal-el,  Horem,  and  Beth 
D9  anath,  and  Beth-shemesh  ;  nineteen  cities  with  [and]  their  villages.     This  is  the  in- 
heritance [possession]  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Naphtali,  the  cities 
and  their  villages. 

h.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of  Dan. 

Chapter  XIX.  40-48. 

40  A7id  [omit :  and]  the  seventh  lot  came  out  for  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons] 

41  of  Dan,  according  to  their  families.     And  the  coast  [border]  of  their  inlieritauce 


15'2 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


42  [possession]  was  Zoi'ah,  and  Eslitaol,  and  Ir-shemesh,  And  Sliaalabbim,  and  Aja- 

43  44  Ion,   and   Jethlah,    And    Elon,    and  Thimnathah,  and  Ekron,   And   Eltekeli, 

45  and   Gibbethon,  and   Baalath,    And  Jehud,   and  Beue-berak,  and   Gatb-rimmon, 

46  And    Me-jarkon,    and    Rakkon,   with    the    border    before   [over    against]   Japlio. 

47  And  the  coast  [border]  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan  went  out  too  little  for  them 
[Fay  :  went  out  from  them  (^.  e.,  tlie  children  of  Dan  extended  their  border  fur- 
ther) ;  De  Wette :  and  the  border  of  the  sons  of  Dan  went  out  (afterwards) 
further  from  them  ;  Bunsen  :  and  the  border  of  the  children  of  Dan  went  yet 
further  than  this ;  Zunz  :  went  beyond  these]  ;  therefore  [and]  the  children  [sons] 
of  Dan  went  up  to  fight  against  Leshem,  and  took  it,  and  smote  it  with  the  edge 
of  the  sword,  and  possessed  it,  and  dwelt  therein,  and  called  Leshem,  Dan,  after 

48  the  name  of  Dan  their  father.  This  is  the  mheritance  [possession]  of  the  tribe  of 
the  children  [sons]  of  Dan  according  to  their  families,  these  cities  with  [and]  their 
villages. 

i.  Joshna's  Possession. 

Chapter  XIX.  49,  50. 

49  [And]  when  they  had  made  an  end  of  dividing  the  land  for  inheritance  by  their 
coasts  [according  to  its  borders],  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  gave  an  inheritance 

50  [possession]  to  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  among  them :  Accordmg  to  the  command 
[mouth]  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  they  gave  him  the  city  which  he  asked,  even  Tim- 
uath-serah,  in  mount  Ephraim  ;  and  he  built  the  city,  and  dwelt  therein. 

j.  Conclusion. 
Chaptek  XIX.  51. 


51  These  are  the  inheritances  [possessions],  which  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  Joshua 
the  son  of  Nun,  and  the  heads  of  the  fathers  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
divided  for  an  inheritance  [possession]  by  lot  in  Shiloh  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah], 
at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  So  [And]  they  made  an  end  of 
dividing  the  country  [land]. 


EXEGETICAL    AND  CRITICAL. 

As  chapters  xvi.  and  xvii.  belonged  together,  so 
io  these  two  chapters  xviii.  and  xix.,  which  con- 
tain the  account  of  the  allotments  of  the  remaining 
seven  tribes,  Benjamin,  Simeon,  Zebulun,  Issachar, 
Asher,  Naphtali,  and  Dan.  At  the  end  follows  a 
notice  of  the  possession  given  to  Joshua  (ch.  xix. 
49,  50),  with  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  section 
(ver.  51).  There  are  seven  tribes  only  left  to  be 
noticed,  because  the  tribe  of  Levi  was  tp  receive 
no  inheritance,  as  had  been  already  before  said  (ch. 
xiii.  14,  .33)  and  repeated  (ch.  xviii.  7).  This 
distribution  was  effected  at  Shiloh  (ch.  xviii.  1), 
M'hile  Judah  and  the  house  of  Joseph  —  Ephraim 
and  Manassch  —  had  received  their  possessions,  as 
may  be  confidently  inferred  from  ch.  xiv.  6,  in  the 
camp  at  Gilgal  (see  on  xiv.  6).  But  before  pro- 
ceeding to  divide  the  land,  twenty-one  men  wei'e 
sent  out  to  survey  and  describe  it  (ch.  xviii.  3,  10). 

a.  Chap,  xviii.  1-10.  Erection  of  the  Tabernacle 
at  Shiloh.  Description  of  the  Land  yet  to  be  divided. 
The  whole  congregation  comes  together  at  Shiloh, 
where  they  set  up  the  tent  of  the  congregation 
(tabernacle).  The  land  is  completely  subdued,  but 
seven  tribes  still  remain,  which  have  not  yet  re- 
ceived any  possession,  since  the  most  powerful  tribe 
i)f  Judah,  Ephraim,  and  the  half  tril)e  of  Manas- 
;<eh  (to  say  nothing  of  the  tribes  east  of  the  Jor- 
dan, previously  s])oken  of),  had  first  obtained  their 
portion  (vers.  1,  2).  Joshua  reproaches  them  for 
I  heir  listlessness,  and,  in  order  to  discharge  the 
I'emaining  duty  as  impartially  as  possible,  perhaps 


also  bearing  in  mind  the  complaint  of  the  sons  of 
Joseph  (ch.  xvii.  14-18),  he  ])rovides  that  twenty- 
one  men,  three  from  each  of  the  seven  tribes,  shall 
first  "  describe  "  the  land  (vers.  3-7).  This  is  done 
(vers.  8, '9),  and  now  Joshua  casts  lots  and  distrib- 
utes the  still  remaining  territory  (ver.  10).  Eleazar 
is  not  mentioned  here,  while  in  ch.  xiv.  1,  2  [also 
xix.  51]  he  and  the  patriarchs  of  the  tribes  are  in- 
troduced with  Joshua. 

Ver.  1.  And  the  whole  congregation  of  the 
sons  of  Israel  assembled  together  at  Shiloh. 
"  The  congregation  of  the  sons  of  Israel,"  here  as 
Ex.  xvi.  1,  2,  9;  more  briefly,  "congregation  of 
Israel,"  Ex.  xii.  3,  or  merely  "  the  congregation," 
Lev.  iv.  15.     The  same  is  the  "congregation  of 

Jehovah  "  (m37  from  1?'^,  for  n^l7>    by  aph.ne- 

resis,  Gesen.).    It  is  called  also    vSnCi?";   ^il|7 

(^i^l^)  convocation,  from  7n||J,  to  call  together, 
in  Kal  not  used  while  Hiphil  is  found  Num.  viii. 
9 ;  X.  7 ;  xx.  8 ;  and  Niphal,  Num.  xvi.  3,  and  in 

this  passage,  Gesen.),  Deut.  xxxi.  30;  '~'^i^;  'IPi 
Num.  xvi.  3 ;  xx.  4,  or  simply  ^Hf^r!',  Lev.  iv.  13, 
precisely  like  Hl^^n.  Shiloh  (ribli'  or  nb'^tt?, 
1  Iv.  ii.  27,  or  i  v'^tt?,  Judg.  xxi.  21,  "i  vtt?,  Judg.  xxi. 
19,  shortened  from  'ji^''^",  from  nbt^,  to  rest, 
"a  place  of  rest"),  in  Joseph.  Ant.  v.  1,  20,  21. 
SiAoCv  (hence  pointing  back  to  the  form  P^**^ 


CHAPTERS   XVIIL,  XIX. 


153 


from  which  "'^ib'^tt?,  i  K.  xi.  29  ;  xii.  15  ;  Neh.  xi. 

5,  with  wliich  Gcsen.  very  aptly  comijares  H  .3 

and  ""^^S,  cli.  xv.  51  ;  2  Sam.  xv.  12),  imw  Scilun, 
first  corret'tly  made  out  in  modern  times  hy  Rob- 
inson (iii.  8-i  ff.)  i'rom  its  position,  which  is  accu- 
rately jj;iven  Judg.  xxi.  19.  Eusebius  and  Jerome 
already  give  the  distances  from  Neapolis  {Onom. 
art.  "  Selo")  incorrectly;  "  the  knights  of  the  cross, 
also,  found  Silo  at  Neby  Samwil,  where  the  monks 
and  ])ilgrims  continued,  witli  little  variation,  to 
seek  the  place  until  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century."  About  this  time  there  appears  in  Boni- 
facius  [De  Perenni  Cultii)  a  more  correct  view  con- 
cerning the  sites  of  the  holy  places,  but  it  was  soon 
lost  (Rob.  iii.  89).  Among  the  ruins,  to  which 
one  ascends  by  a  gentle  slope,  whose  fertile  soil, 
when  Furrer  visited  Shiloh,  was  covered  with  wheat 
fields  (p.  225),  there  are  still  found  (Rob.  /.  c.) 
many  large  stones,  and  some  fragments  of  columns 
which  indicate  the  site  of  an  ancient  town.  The 
tabernacle  stood  here  from  Joshua  to  Samuel  (Jos. 
xviii.  1  ;  1  Sam.  iv.  3).  Afterward  Shiloh  was 
rejected  by  God  (Ps.  Ixxviii.  60-68  ;  1  Sam.  iii.  4  ; 
Jer.  vii.  12,  14;  xxvi.  6),  and  at  a  very  early  pe- 
I'iod  utterly  destroyed ;  for  Jerome  says :  "  Silo 
tabeniacuhnn  et  area  Domini  fuit,  vix  altaris  fimda- 
menta  monstrantur  "  (von  Raumer,  p.  221  ;  Rob.  /. 
c).  Josephus  {Ant.  v.  1,  19)  assumes  that  Joshua 
brought  the  tabernacle  (tV  iepav  ffKr\vi]u)  to  Shi- 
loh, because  the  place  by  its  beauty  seemed  to  him 
appropriate,  until  an  op]rortunity  should  be  offered 
them  to  build  a  temjile  ('iTjtroiis  iffra  t^V  h^av 
aKriv))v  Kara  SiAoiIj/  iroKiv,  iimrjSftov  yap  iS6Kei  to 
\tiopiov  Sia  rh  /caAAos,  ews  av  oiKoSo/j.e'iv  uahv  avTol; 
TO.  wpdyfxaTa  Trapfcrxv)-  The  site  in  the  midst  of 
the  land  was  very  suitable  and  also  very  beautiful, 
so  thai  Josephus  may  at  bottom  have  very  nearly 
hit  the  truth.  How  Gen.  .\lix.  10  is  to  l)e  explained 
does  not  concern  us  here.  See  Lange,  Com.  on 
Gen.,  in  L,  on  the. various  interpretations  of  this 
difficult  passage.  Finally,  let  it  be  noticed  that 
Shiloh  lies  eight  and  a  half  hours  north  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  nearly  five  hours  south  of  Shechem 
(Furrer,  p.  413). 

And  set  up  the  tabernacle  of  the  congrega- 
tion there ;  and  the  land  was   subdued  before 

them.  As  regards  the  "TPil-'vPIS,  Luther's 
translation  Stijlshiilte,  i.  e.  tent  of  the  covenant, 
is,  as  Gesen.  remarks,  the  Greek  crKT\ui)  toO  fxap- 
Tupiov,  Lat.  tabernaculum  testimonii,  according  to  a 

derivation  from  "l-l^,  testari;  cf.  ri^llj'n  "}3tt?a, 
tent  of  the  law,  Num.  ix.  15.  It  is  more  probable 
that,  with  (iesen.  and  after  him  most  of  the  mod- 
erns, 'T??'"^^   is  to  be  derived  not  from  ^^27   but 

from  Tl?^  (Niph.  "T27i3),  and  accordingly  we 
translate  tent  of  the  congregation,  place  where  the 
■"■^r?  meets  .1     If  the  national  sanctuary  is  called 

alio  n^ivn-):2wr2  (Xum.  ix.  15),  or  bqw 

1  [Professor  Plumtre  {Diet,  of  the  Bible,  p.  3152)  leads  us 
rather  to  "  the  Tabernacle  of  meeting  "  (meetiug-tent  ?)  as 
the  proper  equivalent  to  the  Hebrew  designation,  but  with 
R  deeper  sense    than  would  commonly  be  attached  to  the 

phrase.     He  well  says  :    "  The  primary   force  of  ^17'^  is 

"  to  meet  by  appointment,"  and  the  phrase  "T^ID  ^HS 
nas  therefore  the  meaning  of  "  a  place  of  or  for  a  fixed 
meeting."'  ^' The  real  meaning  of  the  word  is  to  be  found 
In  what  may  be  called  the  locus  dassicus,  as  the  interpreta- 
tion of  all  words  connected  with  the  tabernacle,  Ex.  xxix. 


n^l^'H  (Num.  ix.  15;  xvii.  23;  xviii.  2),  the 
two  names  agree  well  with  each  other,  in  so  far  as 
tiie  tent  where  the  congregation  met  was,  at  the 
same  time,  the  tent  in  whose  most  holy  recess  the 

law  was  preserved  within  the  n^ll^H  ]i~S  (Ex. 
XXV.  22).  Concerning  the  construction  and  in- 
terior arrangement  of  the  tabernacle,  comp.  Winer 
(ii.  529  if.)  as  well  as  Riggcnbach.     The  land  was  * 

subdued  (nK?2pD  from  t^'^S,  prop,  to  tread 
under  the  feet ;  in  the  same  sense  as  here,  Gen. 
i.   28 ;   Jer.   xxxiv.    16,   and  with    the   addition 

a"^735b,  2  Chr.  xxviii.  10;  Jer.  xxxiv.  11 ;  Neh. 
V.  6;  tiie  Niphal,  Num.  xxxii.  22-29,  Gesen.)  be- 
fore them.  Because  the  land  was  subdued  it  might 
be  divided. 

Ver.  3-10.  The  mission  of  the  twenty-one  men 
for  the  description  of  the  laud  is  now  related. 
Knobel  refers  this  section  to  the  Jeliovist,  and  to 
the  second  of  his  documents ;  on  which  compare 
the  Introduction.  But  when  Knobel  (p.  451) 
further  supposes  it  improbable  that  such  an  occu- 
pation of  the  land  would  take  place  under  Joshua, 
and  maintains  that  the  ;aking  up  the  land  and 
jieople  must  have  been  effected  at  a  later  period, 
say  in  the  time  of  Judges  i.  19-34  f.,  or  Judges  iv 
2  if.,  w"e  may  urge,  against  this  totally  unsup- 
ported suggestion,  that  the  time  of  Joshua,  when 
the  Canaanites  were  filled  with  terror  and  distress 
through  the  strange  conqueror  (ch.  ii.  9-11),  and 
had  lost  all  confidence  in  themselves,  was  much 
better  suited  for  the  perilous  accomplishment  of 
such  a  result  than  the  following  age,  in  which  the 
Israelites  did  indeed  gain  victories  but  were  then 
immediately  enslaved  again  (Judg.  ii.  14-23  ;  iii.  8, 
13,  14;  vi.  1,  etc.).  Besides,  a  man  of  thecircum- 
spection  of  Joshua  would,  surely  if  any  leader  of 
the  people,  conceive  the  idea  of  occupying  the  land 
before  he  went  forward  hap-hazard  to  the  division 
of  it.  For,  although  he  acted  under  the  divine 
command,  he  assuredly  did  not  act  without  hu- 
man consideration  which  was  not  at  all  excluded 
thereby.  That  Joshua,  as  Josephus  {Ant.  v.  1, 
21)  of  his  own  invention  relates,  sent  with  these 
men  some  skilled  in  the  art  of  mensuration  ('Itjo-oDs 
.  •  .  .  avSpas  robs  fKfxiTprjffOfjLevovs  rrji'  x^po^f  o,v- 
Taiv  i^iirejj.\p€,  irapaSovs  auTolf  rivas  yecii/j.ETpias 
iiricrT-fif.Lovas),  our  te.xt  is  altogether  ignorant. 
Josephus  may,  indeed,  as  Keil  also  {in  loc.)  ob- 
serves, have  rightly  judged  wlien  he  makes  the 
men  attentive  to  the  quality  of  the  soil  of  I'ales- 
tine,  and  assumes  that  the  several  inheritances 
were  rather  estimated  than  measured  {koI  5ia  toCto, 
—  on  account  of  the  diverse  quality  of  the  soil -^ 
Tifn^Tovs  /xaWov  ))  /ierprjToi/s  rov;  kAtj/jous  Selv  uTvd- 
Aa/Se,  TToAAa/fis  evhs  nXedpov  kuv  ;^iAi£ov  ayra^iov 
yevo/xevov  {Ant.  v.  1,  21). 

Ver.  3.  A  reproof  to  the  remaining  seven  tribes 
who  doubtless  could  not  yet  effectually  resolve  to 
give  up  their  previous  nomadic  life,  and  accustom 
themselves  to  settled  abodes,  especially  wdien  these 
would  in  great  part  have  yet  to  be  conquered. 

42-46.  The  same  central  thought  occurs  in  Ex.  xxv.  22, 
'there  I  will  meet  with  thee'  (comp.  also  Ex.  xxx.  0,  36; 
Num.  xvii.  4).  It  is  clear  therefore  that  'congregation' 
is  inadequate.  Not  the  gathering  of  the  worshippers  only, 
but  the  meeting  of  God  with  his  people,  to  commune  with 
them,  to  make  himself  known  to  them,  was  what  the  name 
embodied.  Ewald  has  accordingly  suggested  Offunharicngs 
zfU  =  Tent  of  Revelation,  as  the  best  equivalent  (Alter- 
thiimer,  p.  130).  This  made  the  tent  a  sanctuary.  Thus  it 
was  that  the  tent  was  the  dwelling,  the  liouse  of  God  (Biihr, 
Symboli/c,  i.  81)."  —  Tb.1 


154 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Ver.  4.  Joshua  will  not  longer  tolerate  this 
lethargy,  and  therefore  demands  of  each  tribe  to 
choose  three  men  whom  .he  will  send  out,  and 

these  shall  rise  (^^p!^"})  and  go  throiTgh  the  land 
and  describe  it  according  to  their  possession. 
There  were  accordingly  7  X  3=21  men,  and  not 
merely  ten  as  Josephus  reports,  reckoning  one  to 
each  tribe  {Ant.  v.  1,  20),  but  in  all  ten  (v.  1-21), 
because  three  surveyors  were  included  in  the  total 
number.  In  the  description  was  included  particu- 
larly, according  to  ver.  9,  an  accurate  designation 
of  the  cities,  while  at  the  same  time  situation  and 
soil  might  be  more  particularly  taken  into  ac- 
count. D''^/n^  '^?'')  i-e.  "with  reference  to  its 
being  taken  iu  possession  by  the  seven  tribes" 
(Knobel). 

Ver.  5.  More  minute  statement  of  the  errand 
of  the  men  sent  out,  ver.  4.  They  should  divide 
the  remaining  land  into  seven  parts,  yet  Judah 
should  remain  on  his  border  in  the  south,  and 
the  house  of  Joseph  in  the  north  on  his  border, 
that  is  to  say,  no  change  should  be  made  in  the 
possessions  of  these  tribes.  With  them  it  should 
I'emain  as  it  was. 

Ver.  6.  When  they  had  described  the  land  thus 
into  seven  parts,  they  should  bring  the  same,  i.  e. 
the  list  as  liunsen  for  distinctness  translates,  to 
Joshua  at  Shiloh  (ver.  4),  and  then  would  he  cast 
the  lots  before  Jehovah  their  God.  This  last 
should  be  done  at  a  consecrated  place  before  God's 
face,  that  it  might  stand  fast  inviolably. 

Ver.  7.  Reason  why  there  should  be  only  seven 
parts.  First,  the  Levites  have  no  part  among 
you;  for  the  priesthood  of  Jehovah  is  their 
possession.  Essentially  the  same  reason  for  the 
lack  of  a  possession  as  is  given,  ch.  xiii.  14,  33; 
yet  here  instead  of  "  the  sacrifices  of  Jehovah, 
xiii.  14,  or  simply  'Jehovah  God  of  Israel,'  xiii. 
33,  we  have  '  the  priesthood  of  Jehovah,'  "  as 
Num.  xvi.  10;  Ex.  xxix.  9;  xl.  1.5;  Num.  iii.  10; 
xviii.  1-7  ;  x.kv.  13  "  (Knobel).  Second,  Gad,  and 
Reuben,  and  half  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  have 
received  their  possession  beyond  the  Jordan  on 
the  east,  etc. 

Ver.  8.  At  the  departure  of  the  men  Joshua  re- 
peats his  command. 

Ver.  9.  They  go  and  describe  the  land  accord- 
ing to  the  cities  into  seven  parts  in  a  book,  /.  e. 
they  describe  it  and  divide  it  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  cities  found  therein,  into  seven  parts. 

Rosenmiiller,  incorrectly:  "D'*"]3?v,  per  iirbes,  i. 
e.  additis  etiam  et  adscriptis  urbibus,  quce  in  quaque 
rcgione  erant ; "  the  cities  rather  give  the  proper 
ground  of  division.  How  long  a  time  the  mes- 
sengers spent  in  this  service  we  arc  not  informed. 
Josephus  m.akcs  up  a  story  of  seven  months  (Ant. 
V.  1,  21  :  Oi  Se  &,v^pis  ol  ■nen(pQiVTe<;  ....  TreptoS- 
ivao.vris  t€  Kal  TLjxy\ai.^^voi  Ty\v  yfji',  iv  e^SSjuLci} 
iU7}vl  Traprjaav  rrphs  avrhv  ei?  2,c\odv  ttoAiv,  fv6a  t^jv 
(TKr]V7}v  iffraKeicrav).  The  Jewish  historian  a])- 
pears  to  have  been  led  to  the  seven  months  by  the 
.seven  parts  into  which  the  land  was  divided.  The 
statement  is  "  of  no  value  "  (Bunsen),  and  is  "  of 
no  more  consequence  than  the  assertion  of  the 
Rabbins  that  the  division  at  Shiloh  was  made 
seven  years  after  that  at  Gilgal  "  (Iveil). 

Ver.  10.  After  they  have  returned  Joshua  casts 

lots  and  effects  the  division.  On  □rip7n^3, 
3omp.  ch.  xi.  23  ;  xii.  7. 

b.  Ch.  xviii.  11-28.  The  Territonj  of  the  Tribe  of 
Benjamin.  First  are  given  a.  its  boundaries,  ch. 
xviii.  11-20,  then  /3.  its  cities,  ch.  xviii.  21-28.     It 


was  in  general  mountainous,  in  part  very  desert 
but  in  part  also,  as  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jerichc 
and  Jerusalem  (Joseph.  Ant.  v.  1,21;  Bell.Jml. 
iv.  8,  3),  a  well  cultivated,  fruitful  land.  The  land 
of  Benjamin  now  makes  the  impression  of  solitude 
and  desolation,  as  if  the  breath  of  death  rested 
upon  it  (Furrer,  p.  218-327  [Stanley,  S.  ;?•  P.  has 
an  instructive  chajiter  on  the  Heights  and  Passes 
of  Benjamin]). 

a.  Ch.  xviii.  11-20.  Its  Boundaries,  ver.  11. 
The  territory  of  Benjamin  lay,  according  to  this 
verse,  between  the  sons  of  Judah  on  the  south,  and 
the  sons  of  Joseph  on  the  north. 

Ver.  12.  The  border  which  is  here,  drawn  is  the 
north  border,  on  the  north  side.  It  went  out 
from  the  Jordan,  and  ascended,  north  of  Jericho, 
on  to  the  mountains  westward,  i.  e.  ascended 
north  of  Jericho,  on  the  mountain  l3'ing  west  (and 
northwest)  of  this  city,  and  already  familiar  (cfi. 
xvi.  1).  Its  goings  out  were  at  the  wilderness 
of  Beth-aven.  In  ch.  vii.  2,  Beth-aven  is  clearly 
distinguished,  as  lying  east  of  Beth-el,  from  this 
latter  city  which  itself  is  often  called  by  the  proph- 
ets ^lS"n^2l  (Idol-house,  Am.  iv.  5:  Hos.  iv. 
15 ;  V.  8  ;  x.  5,  8).  Since  Miehmash  again,  accord- 
ing to  1  Sam.  xiii.  5,  lay  east  of  Beth-aven,  this 
place  must  have  been  situated  between  Beth-el 
and  Miehmash.  Kiepert  has  introduced  Beth- 
aven  on  his  map  somewhat  to  the  northeast  of 
Miehmash,  whose  immediate  surroundings,  con- 
trasted with  the  bare  and  rocky  heights  to  the  east 
and  north,  might  be  called  green  and  fertile 
(Furrer,  p.  217).  "  The  bare  and  rocky  heights" 
to  the  east  and  north  of  Miehmash  are  no  other 
than  those  of  Beth-aven. 

Ver.  13.  And  the  border  went  over  from 
thence  toward  Luz,  to  the  side  of  Luz  (which 
is  Beth-el)  southward.  Here  the  difficulty  which 
we  met  in  ch.  xvi.  2  from  the  distinction  between 
Beth-el  and  Luz  falls  away,  since  it  is  said  that 
the  border  between  Benjamin  .and  Ephraim  went 
over  out  of  the  wilderness  of  Beth-aven  toivard 
Luz,  that  is  Beth-el,  and  more  particularly  on  the 
south  side  of  Luz,  thus  excluding  Beth-el  from 
the  cities  of  Benjamin,  while  yet,  in  ver.  22,  it  be- 
longs to  them.  In  this  way  contradiction  would 
arise  which  Knobel  seeks  to  obviate,  thus  :  "  The 
author  does  not  say  that  the  border  went  merely 
to  the  south  side  of  Beth-el ;  it  went  to  the  south 

side  of  the  ridge    (^0?)  of  Beth-el,  i.  e.  toward 

Bethel."    Beth-el  PSTl^'a,  Gen.  xxviii.  11-19; 

xxxi.  13,  earlier  f^ ''  =  almond -tree),  familiar 
through  all  the  history  of  Israel,  from  the  patri- 
archs to  the  Maccabees  (1  Mace.  ix.  .50),  and  even 
later  (Joseph.  Bell.  Jud.  iv.  9,  9),  now  a  seat  of  the 
woi'ship  of  God,  again  a  place  of  idolatry,  lies  on 
the  right  of  the  road  from  Jerusalem  toward 
Shechem  (von  Raumer,  p.  178),  is  now  called 
Beitin  (Robinson,  p.  225  ff.),  and  was  first  recog- 
nized by  the  Missionary  Nicolayson  in  1836  (von 
Raumer,  p.  174).  Ruins  cover  three  or  four  acres, 
and  there  are  interesting  remains  of  a  great  reser- 
voir which  Furrer  saw  (p.  221).  Beitin  lies  1,767 
feet  high,  three  and  three-quarters  or  four  hours 
from  Jerusalem  (von  Raumer,  p.  179;  Furrer,  p. 
413).  From  this  position  of  Beth-el  we  may  un- 
derstand how  the  border  luent  down  i'^'^'^)  from 
therce  toward  Ataroth-addar,  which  is  identical 
with  the  place  of  the  same  name,  ch.  xvi.  2,  but 
different  from  the  Ataroth,  ch.  xvi.  7.  "  Robin- 
son found  an  Atara  about  six  miles  south,  and  a 


CHAPTERS  XVni.,  XIX. 


156 


Beeond  one  about  four  miles  noith  of  Gopluia. 
The  soutlieru  one  appears  to  be  the  same  as  Atar- 
ath-uildar,  past  which  ran  the  nortli  liorder  of 
IJeiijamin  ironi  Uetli-el  toward  lower  Beth-lioron, 
Jos.  xvi.  2,  3,  5 ;  xviii.  13,  14."  So  von  Raumer, 
(p.  175),  with  whom  Knobel  agrees,  while  Rob- 
inson himself,  aecording  to  the  passa<;e  eited  by 
Knobel  (ii.  315),  holds  that  this  soutliern  Atara 
cannot  be  Ataroth-addar,  because  it  lies  too  far 
within  the  territory  of  Eenjamin.  He  has  been 
followed  by  Kiepert,  Van  de  Velde,  and  Menke 
on  their  maps.  Von  Raumer,  also  has  only 
marked  this  northern  Ataroth,  and  entirely  omit- 
ted the  southern  one  which,  according  to  his  view 
and  that  of  Knobel,  should  be  =  Ataroth-addar. 
We,  like  Keil  (on  ch.  xvi.  '2),  adopt  the  view  of 
Robinson. 

From  Beth-el  the  border  went  thus  northwest- 
wardly toward  Ataroth-addar,  and  thence  on  to- 
ward the  southwest,  upon  ( De  Wette  :  on ;  Bunsen  : 
over)  the  mountain  that  lieth.  on  the  south  side 
of  the  nether  Beth-horon.  This  is  the  north 
border  of  Benjamin,  wliieh,  as  far  as  lower  Beth- 
horon,  coincides  with  the  south  border  of  Ephraim. 

Beth-horon  (]1~in"n''3  =  house  of  the  hollow) 
mentioned,  ch.  x.  11,  in  the  history  of  the  battle 
of  Gibeon,  and  in  ch.  xvi.  3-5,  as  here,  as  a  border 
city  between  Benjamin  and  Ephraim,  a  city  of 
Levites,  ch.  xxi.  22,  fbrtitied  by  Solomon,  1  K.  ix. 
17  ;  2  Cliron.  viii.  5),  spoken  of  in  tlie  Maccabasan 
wars  (1  Mace.  iii.  15-24  ;  vii.  39  If.;  ix.  50),  and 
in  the  liistory  of  the  wars  of  the  Jews  (Joseph. 
Bell.  Jud.  ii.  19,  18).  There  was,  as  appears 
from  ch.  xvi.  3,5;  1  K.  ix.  17;  1  Chron.  vii.  24  ; 
2  (l\\Y.  viii.  5,  as  well  as  from  the  passage  before 
us,  an  upper  and  a  lower  Beth-horon.  Both  places 
are  still  recognized.  The  upper  is  now  called  Beit 
ur  el-Forka,  the  lower  Ik-it  nr  et-Tahta.  The  lal- 
ter  place  stands  on  the  top  of  a  low  ridge  (Robin- 
son, iii.  58  f )  and  is  separated  from  the  upper 
Beth-horon  by  a  wady.  Robinson  and  his  com- 
panioH  passed  through  this,  and  then  began  to 
a.scend  the  long  and  steep  pass.  "  The  ascent  is 
very  rock}-  and  rough;  but  the  rock  has  been  cut 
away  in  many  places  and  the   path  formed  into 

stejis;  shomng  that  this  is  an  ancient  road 

The  pass  between  the  two  places  was  called  botli 

the  ascent  (nbl?p)  and  descent  (T^i^)  of  Beth- 
horon,  Josh.  X.  10,  11  (Gr.  :  avdfiaais  koX  Kard^- 
affis  ^aidcDpwv,  1  Macc.  iii.  15-24)."  (Robinson, 
5:s-00).  Remains  of  ancient  walls  are  found  in 
both  places  as  well  as  in  the  pass  between  them 
(iii.  58).  Eurrer  (p.  14)  found  the  hill  on  wliieh 
stands  the  village  of  lower  Beth-horon,  partly  cov- 
ered with  olive  trees.  The  barley  fields  in  the  low 
ground  were  mingled  with  patches  full  of  dark 
green  beans.  He  also  describes  the  pass  as  "  rocky, 
steep,  and  extremely  laborious."  Seldom  does  a 
trader  drive  his  camels  through  it  (contrast  Israel's 
hope,  Is.  Ix.  5,  6,  9).  The  land  on  almost  all  sides 
is  burnt  up  like  a  desert,  through  which  no  one 
passes  (Furrer,  p.  15). 

Ver.  14.  At  this  point,  namely,  at  the  mountain 
south  of  Lower  Beth-horon,  the  boundary  line  of 
Benjamin  bends  southwardly  toward  Kirjath-baal, 
or  Kirjatli-jearim,  separating  this  territory  from  that 
of  1  )an  on  the  west;  while  the  border  of  Ephraim 
runs  out  in  a  northwest  direction  past  Gezer  to  the 
sea.  Of  this  west  border  of  Benjamin,  of  which  we 
now  read  for  the  first  time,  it  is  said :  and  the  border 

was  drawn  ("l^ni,  as  ch.  xv.  11,  and  often)  and 
bent  around  toward  the  west  side  southward 


from  the  mountain  that  lieth  before  Beth-horon 
southward  ;  and  the  goings  out  thereof  were 
at  Kirjath-baal  (which  is  Kirjath-jearim),  a  city 
of  the  children  of  Judah,     This  was  the  west 

side.  □^"DSS  =  sea-side  [side  toward  the  sea]. 
nS2  is  properly  "  mouth  "  =  to  HS,  from  ^^^ 
(cogn.  with  nn5,  'ilV'2)  to  blow;  then,  like 
Lat.  ora  (from  os),  "side,"  which  is  turned  to  any 
quarter  of  the  heavens.     As  here  D^"nS3,  so  ver. 

15  we  have  ^^}'?.  2,  and  Ex.  xxvi.  20,  "ji2^  S 
[comp.  ver.  12  of  this  chap.].  Kirjath-baal:  see 
ch.  XV.  60. 

Ver.  15-19.  South  Border.  This  coincides  en- 
tirely with  the  north  border  of  Judah,  ch.  xv.  5-9. 

np^  merely  indicates  that  the  south  border 
started  from  the  west  and  ran  toward  the  east.' 
That  Kirjath-baal  (Kirjath-jearim)  belonged  to 
the  cities  of  Judah  and  not  to  those  of  Benjamin, 
is  plainly  apparent  from  ch.  xv.  GO.  The  border, 
therefore,  on  Kiepert's  Map  requires  correction ; 
Menke  has  drawn  it  right. 

Ver.  20.  The  east  border  consists  of  the  Jor- 
dan. 

|3.  Ch.  xviii.  21-28.  Cities  of  the  Tribe  of  Ben- 
jamin. They  fall  into  two  groups  of  twelve  and 
fourteen  cities,  the  former  lying  in  the  east,  the 
latter  in  tlie  west.  Jericho,  ch.  ii.  1 ,  and  often. 
Beth-hoglah,  ch.  xv.  6.  Emek  (vale  of)  keziz. 
Tliere  is  a  Wady  el-Ka/.iz  east  of  Jerusalem  (Van 
de  Velde,  Mem.  p.  328,  apud  Knobel). 

Ver.  22.  Beth-arabah,  ch.  xv.  6,  now  Kaftr 
Hajla.  Zemaraim,  probably  a  place  of  ruins. 
Sumrah,  northeast  of  the  Wady  el-Kaziz,  near 
the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  opposite  the 
Kluiii  Iladschur.  See  Van  de  Velde's  Map. 
Bethel,  ver.  13. 

Ver.  23.    Avim.      Since    Avim    (D"*^!?!!)  here 

follows  directly  after  Beth-el,  while  Ai  O^?)  which 
stood  near  Beth-el  (ch.  vii.  2;  xii.  9),  and  to  the 
east  of  it,  is  not  mentioned,  it  is  natural  with 
Knobel  to  I'cgard  Avim  as  identical  with  Ai, 
which  is  called  also  Aiah  (Neh.  xiii.  11)  and 
Aiath  (Is.  X.  23).  The  signification  of  all  these 
names  is  essentially  the  same  :  ruins,  heaps,  stone- 
heaps,  Mich.  i.  6  (sec  Gesen.).  Where  Ai  lay  is 
not  accurately  made  out.  Van  de  Velde,  follow- 
ing Finn,  supposes,  as  may  be  seen  from  his  map, 
that  it  was  the  same  as  Tel  el-Hadshar  (Stone- 
hill),  thirty-five  minutes  east  of  Beth-el  (ii.  251- 
255,  and  Mem.  p.  282,  apud  von  Raumer,  p.  169). 
Robinson  (ii.  119,  312  f )  sought  it  twice,  but  after 
all  his  investigation  only  reached  the  conclusion 
that  the  most  probable  site  of  Ai  is  the  place  of 
ruins  exactly  south  of  DeirDirvan,  one  hour  dis- 
tant from  Beth-el.  The  direction  would  be  south- 
east. Knobel  on  the  passage  before  us  has  not 
kept  the  two  views  sufficiently  distinct.  Furrer 
also  visited  the  region,  but  undertook  no  further 
researches.  He  too  speaks  of  "  many  stones  "  ex- 
isting there  (p.  219).  [Tristram,  168  f  confidently 
agrees  with  Robinson's  view.]  The  tent  of  Abra- 
ham once  stood  here  between  Beth-el  and  Ai  (Gen. 
xii.  8;  xiii.  3).  The  history  of  the  conquest  of 
Ai  has  been  treated  above,  ch.  viii.  Hitzig  {nbi 
sup.  ])p.  99,  100)  disputes  the  existence  of  a  city 
of  Ai  altogether,  and  proposes  the  view  that  Ai 
signifies  in  Turkish  "  moon,"  aiul  can  therefore 
have  been  the  Scytiiian,  perhaps  Amoritish  name 
for  Jericho  us  Uibon  was  the  Hebraized  Dirvau 


156 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Council  (1?).  After  the  Exile,  Benjamites  dwelt 
tliere  ao-ain  (Noli.  xi.  31  ;  vii.  32  ;  Ezra  ii.  28},  so 
tliat  the  city  had  been  reljLiilt. 

Parah,  a  ]ilace  of  ruins,  Fara,  west  of  Jericho 
on  Van  de  Velde's  Map.  Ophrah,  in  Saul's  time 
attacked  In'  the  Philistines  (1  Sam.  xiii.  17),  per- 
haps, as  Koliinson  (ii.  124)  conjectures,  the  mod- 
era  Taiyiljeh.  Von  Ilaiimer  (p.  216,  n.,  23.")  c) 
suggests  that  Uphrah  may  be  the  same  as  Ephraim 
or  Epliron  (John  xi.  54). 

Vcr.  24.  Chephar  -  haamonai,  Ophni,  men- 
tioned   only    liere,    and     liitherto    undiscovered. 

Gaba  (3??.5)  =  HI???  "height,"  "  hilL"  This 
Gaba  is  according  to  vcr.  28  distinct  from  Gibeath 
or  Gibeah,  with  which  further  1  Sam.  xiii.  2,  3 ; 
Is.  X.  29  are  to  be  compared.  Now  since  between 
Anathoth  and  Miclimash  (see  Kiepert's  Map) 
there  is  a  place  called  Jeba,  the  question  has  arisen 
wlicrher  tliLs  Jeba  was  Gaba  or  Gibeah.  Robin- 
son (ii.  114,316)  was  at  first  inclined  to  regard 
Jeba  as  =  Gibeah,  the  Gibeah  of  Saul,  but  after- 
ward became  satisfied  (comp.  Bibl.  Sac,  Aug. 
1844,  p.  598)  that  Giljeah  of  Saul  was  rather,  as 
Gross  suspected,  to  be  looked  for  on  the  hill  Tuleil 
el-Fuleh  ("  hill  of  beans,"  Rob.  p.  317),  where  von 
Raumer  also,  and  Van  de  Velde,  and  Kiepert  place 
it,  while  our  Gaba,  as  the  similarity  of  the  name 
renders  probable,  has  been  preserved  in  the  .Jeba 
just  spoken  of  Knobel  on  the  contrary  identifies 
Gaba  and  Gibeah  of  Saul  in  accordance  with  Rob- 
inson's earlier  view,  and  proposes  a  variety  of  con- 
jectures in  regard  to  Gibeath  of  ver.  28.  For  the 
distinctness  of  Gaba  and  Gibeah  of  Saul,  Is.  x.  29 
is,  we  ma}'  remark  in  conclusion,  decisive,  a  pas- 
sage whose  vividness  of  description  Furrer  (who 
likewise  regards  the  two  places  as  clearly  different, 
pp.  212,  213,  compared  wiih  215,  210),  was  con- 
strained on  the  spot  to  admire  (pp.  216,  217).  To 
this  eastern  division  belong  als(j  the  two  cities  of 
priests,  Anathoth  and  Almon,  ch.  xxi.  18,  of 
which  more  hereafter. 

Ver.  25-28.  "The  fourteen  west  Benjamite 
cities." 

Ver.  25.    Gibeon,    l^^l)   properly  the   same 

name  again  as  3.''D3,  HVIlS,  ni7 23,  quite  famil- 
iar to  us  from  the  narrative,  in  this  book,  of  the 
wiles  of  its  inhabitants  (ch.  ix.)  and  from  tlie  bat- 
tle at  Gibeon  (ch.  x.  1-15) ;  later  (ch.  xxi.  17)  a 
Levite  city  as  well  as  Geba.  It  is  the  modern  el-Jib 
lying  on  an  oblong  hill  or  ridge  of  limestone  rock, 
which  rises  above  a  very  fertile  and  well  cultivated 
plain  (Robinson,  ii.  135  ff.).  Of  the  fertile  plain 
Furrer  also  (p.  16)  makes  mention.  He  found  the 
hill  on  which  el-Jib  is  situated  well  cultivated  in 
terraces.  Vines,  figs,  and  olives'  flourish  on  the 
eastern  slope,  while  on  the  north  the  Tel  falls  off 
somewhat  abruptly  (Furrer,  pp.  16,  17).  Histor- 
ical associations  with  days  subsequent  to  Joshua 
attach  to  tliis  place  where  stood  the  Tabernacle 
under  David  and  Solomon  (.1  K.  iii.  5  ff. ;  1  Chr. 
xvi.  39  ;  xxi.  29  ;  2  Chv.  i.  3  ;  2  Sam.  xx.  9).  To 
Gibeon  belonged  Chephirah  (ver.  26),  Beeroth 
(ver.  25),  Kirjath-jearim  (ch.  xv.  9-60;  .\.viii.  14). 

Ramah  (i^^TJ  =  height,  a  frequently  occurring 
name  of  places,  on  which  compare  Gesen.),  not  to 
lie  confounded  with  the  Ramah  of  Samuel  or 
llamathaim  (von  Raumer,  p.  217,  No.  148)  ;  near 
Gibeah  (Judg.  xix.  13;  Hos.  v.  8),  noted  in  the 
contests  with  Syria  (1  K.  xv.  17;  2  Chr.  xvi.  1) 
ind  Assyria  (Is.  x.29)  ;  the  place  where  Jeremiah 
was  set  free  (Jer.  xl.  1,  compared  with  xxxi.  15) ; 


inhabited  again  after  the  exile  (Ezra  ii.  26;  Neh. 
vii.  30;  xi.  33)  ;  now  er-Ram  (Robinson,  ii.  315)  ; 
a  wretched  village  north  of  Gibeah,  on  a  hill 
(Furrer,  p.  214).  Furrer  discovered  here  remains 
of  Roman  milestones,  and  supposes  that  a  Roman 
road  ran  from  Gibeali,  Rama,  Geba  down  toward 
the  narrow  pass  of  Miclimash  (p.  215). 

Beeroth  mentioned,  ch.  ix.  17,  as  belonging  to 
Gibeon,  or  allied  with  Ciibeon  ;  home  of  the  mur- 
derers of  Ish-bosheth  (2  Sam.  iv.  2),  and  of  Joab's 
Armor-bearer  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  37),  likewise  rebuilt 
after  the  exile  (Neh.  vii.  29).  Robinson  (ii.  132) 
regards  the  present  Birch  as  Beeroth,  a  village 
with  old  foundations,  remains  of  a  Gothic  church, 
and  about  seven  hundred  Mohammedan  inhab- 
itants. With  him  agree  Keil  and  Knobel,  while 
von  Raumer  disputes  the  view  of  Robinson  as  con- 
tradicting the  statements  of  Jerome  (p.  197,  n.  187). 
But  compare,  for  a  defense  of  Robinson,  Keil  on 
ch.  ix.  17. 

Ver.  26.  Mizpeh,  not  the  same  as  the  Mizpeh 
in  the  lowland,  ch.  xv.  38 ;  already  in  the  time  of 
the  Judges  a  place  of  assembling  for  Israel  (Judg. 
XX.  1  ;  xxi.  1 ) ;  but  specially  celebrated  on  ac- 
count of  Samuel  (1  Sam.  vii.  5-15;  x.  17)  ;  after 
the  fall  of  Judah,  the  seat  of  the  Chaldi^an  gov- 
ernor Gedaliah  (2  K.  xxv.  23,  25 ;  Jer.  xl.  6  if. , 
xli.  1  ff. ) ;  now  the  Nebi  Samioil,  i.  e.  prophet 
Samuel,  five  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
plain,  2,484  feet  above  the  sea  (von  Raumer,  after 
Symonds,  p.  213),  with  a  very  rich  and  extensive 
prospect  (Robinson,  ii.  143,  144).  Here  they 
would  have  it  that  Samuel  was  buried  under  the 
half-  decayed  mosque  on  the  mountain.  Thus 
Nel)i  Samwil  would  be  =  the  Rama  of  Samuel. 
Robinson  has,  however,  among  others,  shown  that 
this  is  not  so,  but  that  Mizpeh  is  probably  to  be 
sought  here.  He  is  followed  by  Keil,  Knobel, 
Tobler,  Van  de  Velde,  Kiepert,  Furrer  (p.  212). 
The  last  named  writer  from  the  Scopus  near  Jeru- 
salem perceived  Nebi  Samwil  in  the  northwest, 
"  the  high  watch-tower  of  the  land  of  Benjamin." 

Chephirah,  like  Beeroth  belonging  to  Gibeon 
(ch.  ix.  17  ;  Ezr.  ii.  25) ;  the  present  place  of  ruins 
Kefir  on  the  mountain  east  of  Ajalon  (.Jalo).  See 
Robinson  (Later  Bibl.  lies.  p.  146).     The  name  is 

related  to  "^p?)  village,  instead  of  which  "T^pS 
occurs,  Neh.  vi.  2.  Mozah,  mentioned  only  here 
and  unrecognized. 

Ver.  27.  Rekem,  Irpeel,  and  Taralah,  also 
unrecognized,  and  like  Mozah  mentioned  only  in 
this  place,  —  a  proof  again  of  the  integrity  of  the 
LXX.  in  ch.  xv.  59. 

Zelah  i^y"^,  rib,  side),  burial-place  of  Saul 
and  Jonathan  (2  Sam.  xxi.  14) ;  unknown  ;  and 
so  with  Eleph.  — Jebusi,  i.  e.  Jerusalem.  See  ch. 
XV.  8. 

Gibeath  (ni7^2).  This  is  the  Gibeah  of  Saul 
(b^Stt7  n3?33,  1  Sam.  x.  26  ;  xi.  4 ;  xv.  34,  and 
often)  ;  as  was  already  shown  above  on  ver.  24,  to 
be  sought  on  the  hill  Tuleil  el-Ful.  Here  occurred 
before  Saul's  time  the  outrage  reported  in  Judg. 
xix.  which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the  city, 
and  the  extirpation  of  the  Benjamites  except  six 
hundred  (Judg.  xx).  Comp.  also  Hos.  ix.  9;  x. 
9.  After  Saul's  death  its  inhabitants  hung  seven 
of  his  descendants,  on  the  mountain  of  Gibeah  (2 
Sam.  xxi.  6-9),  l)nt  Mephibosheth  was  spared 
Furrer  accomplished  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to 
Tel  el-Ful,  on  foot,  in  one  hour  and  twenty-fivo 
minutes    (p.  412).     He  found  the   summit  com- 


CHAPTERS  XVIII.,  XIX. 


157 


pletely  strown  with  ruins.  There  the  traveller  was 
rewarded  with  a  wide  and  glorious  prospect 
scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  Mizpeli.  "'  The  land 
of  Benjamin  with  its  many  famous  old  cities  lay 
spread  out  around  me.  Ovev  the  heights  of  Hiz- 
meh,  Anathoth,  and  Isawijeh,  the  eye  swe])t  down- 
ward to  the  Jortlan  valley,  which  here  appeared 
more  beautiful  than  ou  the  mount  of  01i\e.s.  In 
the  southeast  the  dark  blue  of  the  Dead  Sea 
enlivened  wonderfully  the  stiff  yellow  mountain 
rocks  of  its  neighborhood.  On  the  far  distant 
horizon  the  mountain  chains  of  Moab  were  traced 
in  soft  and  hazy  lines.  Northward  luij  Ramah  and 
the  lull  of  Geba.  Further  west  and  arounil  toward 
the  south  followed  Gibeon,  '  the  glorious  height,' 
JNlizpch,  the  queen  among  the  mountains  of  Ben- 
jamin, and  then  in  the  south,  the  most  beautiful 
of  all,  the  Holy  City  "  (pp.  212,  213).  Excellently 
descriptive  ! 

Kirjath,  not  to  be  confounded  with  Kirjath- 
jearim,  ver.  14,  ch.  xv.  60,  which  belonged  to 
Judah.  Perhaps,  as  Knobel  conjectures,  Kerteh, 
west  of  Jerusalem  (Scholtz,  Reise,  p.  161). 

c.  Ch.  xix.  1-9.  Tlie  Trrritorij  of  the  Tribe  of 
Simeon.  The  second  lot  came  out  for  the  tribe  of 
Simeon,  who,  since  the  portion  assigned  to  the 
tribe  of  Judah  was  too  large  for  them  (ver.  9),  re- 
ceived their  possession  out  of  that  of  Judah;  con- 
cerning which  comp.  Gen.  xlix.  7.  Two  groups 
of  cities  are  enumerated,  one  of  thirteen  or  four- 
teen (comp.  on  this  ditference,  ch.  xv.  32),  all  lying- 
in  the  land'  of  the  south,  the  other  of  four  cities. 
Of  these  latter,  Ashan  and  Ether  lay,  according 
to  ch.  XV.  42,  in  the  Shephelah.  When  now  Ain 
and  Rimmon,  which  in  ch.  xv.  32  are  ascribed  to 
the  Negeb,  are  here  placed  with  Ashan  and  Ether, 
the  author  seems,  as  Knobel  remarks,  to  refer 
them  here  to  the  Shephelah  also.  "  The  dividing 
line  between  the  Negeb  and  Shephelah  was  not  so 
accurately  determined;"  The  province  of  Simeon, 
although  only  the  cities  and  villages  are  men- 
tioned, appears  to  have  been  a  continuous  one, 
namely  the  Negeb,  with  a  small  part  of  the  She- 
phelah, while  theLevites,  as  we  learn  from  ch.  xxi. 
acquired  particular  cities  with  their  appurtenant 
pasture-ground  tliroughout  the  ivhole  land.  The 
list  of  the  abodes  of  Simeon  is  found  again,  1  Chr. 
iv.  28-32,  with  slight  deviations  (see  Keil,  p.  420). 
The  explanations  concerning  the  places  see  on  ch. 
XV   24-32,  42. 

d.  Ch.  xix.  10-16.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of 
Zebulun.  The  third  lot  fell  to  Zebulun  (Gen.  xlix. 
13;  Dent,  xxxiii.  19),  the  bounds  of  which,  from 
the  data  given,  can  be  but  imperfectly  determined. 
Josephus  {Ant.  v.  1,  22)  assigns  the  sea  of  Gennes- 
aret  as  the  eastern  border,  Carmel  and  the  sea 
as  the  western.  He  says :  Za^ovXwv'nai  Se  tV 
IKTpyjcTiv  jxexpi  TevvriaapiTidos,  KaO-r^Kovaav  Se  Trepl 
KapiJL-qXov  Kal  QaWaaaav  txaxov.  In  general  this 
statement  agrees  with  our  book,  only  Zebulun  ap- 
pears not  to  have  reached  to  the  sea.  His  prov- 
ince was,  especially  in  the  interior  where  it  em- 
braced the  beautiful  valley  el-Buttauf  (Robinson, 
iii.  189),  fertile,  toward  the  sea  of  Gennesaret 
mountainous  but  pleasant  and  well  cultivated, 
higher  than  the  plain  of  Jczreel  and  lower  than 
the  mountains  of  Naphtali  :  "a  land  of  mountain 
terraces"  (Knobel  [cf.  Robinson,  iii.  190]). 

Ver.  10.  South  Border,  given  as  at  ch.  xvi.  6  ; 
xix.  33,  from  a  central   point  toward  west   and 

east.  It  went  to  Sarid.  Where  this  Sarid  ("T^lti') 
lay  cannot  be  made  out.  Von  Raumer  is  entirely 
■iilent  concerning  it ;  Masius  and  Rosemiiller  seek 


the  place  south  of  Carmel,  near  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  which  however  does  not  answer  well  on  ac- 
count of  ver.  11  ;  Keil  and  Knobel,  just  on  ac- 
count of  this  verse,  place  it  more  in  tlie  interior, — 
north  or  east  of  Legio  (Lejijim)  in  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon  (Keil),  or  one  hour  southeast  of  Naz- 
areth (Knobel).  The  latter,  however,  supposes  no 
place  to  be  intended  but,  since  Sarid  mAj  signify 

brook,  incision  (according  to  T!?^)  perforauit,  and 

^r'^j  incidit),  "  the  southern  mouth  of  the  deep 
and  narrow  wady  descending  from  the  basin  of 
Nazareth."  It  is  possible  that  Sarid  lay  here,  and 
was  named  after  the  mouth  of  this  wady.  But 
that  this  itself  was  intended  appears  to  me  con- 
trary to  all  analogy  in  the  other  determinations  of 
boundary. 

Ver.  11.  From  hence  the  boundary  went  up  to- 
ward the  sea  (westward),  and  (more  particularly) 
toward  Maralah,  and  struck  Dabbasheth  and 
struck  the  water-course  that  is  before  Jokneam. 
Maralah  is  unfortunately  altogether  unknown  ;  per- 
haps on  account  of  "^^"^i  to  which  Keil  calls  atten- 
tion, to  bo  sought  somewhere  on  Carmel.  D.ibbash- 
elh  (n^^'Jl?,  camel's  hump.  Is.  xxx.  6,  therefore  a 

name  like  D3^)  perhaps  situated  on  the  height 
of  Carmel  (Keil).  Knobel  refers  to  Jebata  (Rob- 
inson, iii.  201 )  between  Mujeidil  and  Kaimon,  near 
the  edge  of  the  mountains  which  border  the  plain 
of  Jezreel,  or  to  Tel  Tureh  somewhat  further 
toward  the  southwest  (Robinson,  Later  Bibl.  Res. 
p.  11.5).  These  are  pure  conjectures  without  any 
hrm  foundation.  The  ivater-conrse  that  is  before 
Jokneaia  (see   ch.   xii.  22)  is,  without  doubt,  the 

Kishon,  (pti^^^,  /.  e.  which   curves,  winds  about, 

from  ^'-Ip),  now  Nahr  el-llukattaa  (Mukattua) 
with  clear,  green  water  (von  Raumer,  p.  50).  "  It 
flows  through  the  slender  valley  which  separates 
Carmel  from  the  hills  lying  along  to  the  north  of 
it.  Dense  oleandef  tbickets  skirt  the  bed  of  the 
brook,  and  follow  its  pleasantli/  ivinding  course 
(Furrer,  p.  280).  The  Kishon  is  historically  cele- 
brated for  the  events  recorded,  Judg.  iv.  7,  13  ;  v. 
21  (comp.  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  10),  and  1  K.  xix.  40.  With 
reference  to  Judg.  v.  9,  Furrer  observes,  "  The 
water  flowed  in  a  swift  stream  of  about  a  foot  in 
depth,  strong  enough  to  carry  away  corpses." 
Dittering  from  all  other  commentators,  Knobel 
will  see  nothing  of  the  Kishon  here,  but  thinks  of 
the  Wady  el-Milh  on  whose  eastern  bank  Kaimca 
(Jokneam)  should  lie.  The  grounds  of  his  view 
are  given  in  his  Commentary,  p.  458. 

Ver.  12.  As  the  border  turned  from  Sarid  west- 
ward, so  also  it  turned  from  the  same  point  toward 
the  east :  Eastward,  toward  the  sun-rising,  unto 
the  border  of  Chisloth-tabor,  and  went  out  to 
Daberath,  and  went  up  to  Japhia.     Chisloth-tabor 

(nhn-ni'^pS,    Hke    li'^??,    ch.  xv.  lO,  irom 

^51*)  to  be  strong),  probably  =n1vp3,  ver.  18, 
inthe  tribe  of  Issachar  ;  now  Iksal,  Ksal,  Zal,  on 
a  rocky  height  west  of  Tabor,  with  many  tombs 
in  the  rock  (Rob.  iii.  182).  The  rocky  height  on 
which  it  stands  lies  more  in  the  plain  (Rob.  /.  c). 
fJaberath,  a  Levitical  city,  ch.  xxi.  28 ;  1  Chron. 
vi.  72,  pertaining  to  Issachar ;  now  Deburijeh,  a 
small  and  unimportant  village  "  lying  on  tlie  side 
of  a  ledge  of  rocks  directly  at  the  foot  of  Tabor '' 
(Rob.  iii.  210).  Furrer  describes  its  situation  thus 
"A  little  valley  running  north  and  south  divides 


158 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


Taboi-  from  the  low  hills  in  the  west.  Near  the 
mouth  of  this  wady,  in  the  northeast  arm  of  the 
valley  of  Jezreel,  lies  the  viilajje  of  Deburijeh  " 

(p.  306).  Japhia  (Vr"^'  "glancing,"  Gesen.). 
Jafa,  somewhat  over  half  an  hour  southwest  of 
Nazaretii  in  another  valley.  It  contains  thirty 
houses  with  the  remains  of  a  church  and  a  couple 

of  solitary  palm  trees The  Japha  fortified 

by  Josephus  was  probably  the  same,  a  large  and 
strong  village  in  Galilee,  afterward  conquered  by 
Trajan  and  Titus  under  the  orders  of  Vespasian 
(Uob.  iii.  200).     When  it  is  said  of  the  border  that 

it  ascended  (^7?)  toward  Japhia,  this  is  correct, 
for  "  Monro  ascended  the  Galilean  mountains 
from  the  plain  of  Jezreel,  'in  a  ravine'  toward 
Jaffa"  (Monro,  i.  276  ap.  von  Eaunier,  p.  128). 

With  this  comp.  Knobel's  remark  :  "  "^^^  stands 
correctly,  since  according  to  von  Schubert,  iii.  169, 
the  valley  of  Nazareth  lies  about  four  hundred 
feet  higher  than  the  plain  at  the  western  foot  of 
Tabor." 

Ver.  13.  From  Japhia  the  border  ran  still  in  an 
easterly  direction  :  Eastward,  toward  the  rising 
(of  the  sun),  to  Gittah-hepher,  to  Ittah-kazin, 
and  went  out  to  Remmon,  which  stretches  to 

Neah.  Gaih-hepher  (n^n'nril,  n3  with  H 
local),  the  birth-place  of  the  prophet  Jonah  (2  K. 
xiv.  25),  whose  grave  is  shown  in  a  mosque  =  el 
Meschad,  one  hour  northeast  of  Nazaretii  (Rob. 
iii.  209).  Robinson  says  concerning  it  (note,  p. 
209) :  "At  el-Meshhad  is  one  of  the  many  tombs 
of  Neby  Yunas,  the  prophet  Jonah ;  and  hence 
modern  monastic  tradition  has  adopted  this  vil- 
lage as  the  Gath-hepher  where  the  prophet  was 
born  (2  K.  xiv.  25  ;   Quaresimus,  ii.  855)."     Jttah- 

kazin  (r*-ir7"nri^,,  ni?  with  n  local),  un- 
known. The  name  signifies,  "time  of  the  judge." 
Remmon,  a  city  of  Levites,  ch.  xxi.  35 ;  1  Chron. 
vi.  62,  perhaps  the  present  Rummaneh,  north  of 
Nazareth  (Rob.  iii.  194,  195;  von  Raum.  p.  138). 
Which  extends  to  Neah.  Thus,  according  to  the 
very  simple  and  therefore  obvious  conjecture  of 

Knobel:  '^^'^^  ^Db-I.  The  LXX.  made  a 
proper  name  out  of  "IWHSH,  Afxixadapl/j.,  Vulg. 
Amthar.  Fiirst  renders  the  participle  by  "  marked 
off,  staked  out."  With  him  agree  Knobel  and 
Bunsen.  Gesenius,  Rosenmliller,  De  Wette,  on 
the  other  hand,  translate  it,  "  which  stretches  to- 
ward." Since  "^^?n  everywhere  else  is  employed 
of  the  boundary,  we  side  with  Knobel. i  Nmh 
(n573,  perhaps  "  inclination,"  slope,  declivity, 
r.  V^2,  Gesen.),  unknown  ;  "perhaps  the  same  as 
vS'^I^p,  ver.  27,  which  lay  south  of  Jiphtha-el,  as 

they  said  also  n?.?^  for  bS33^  ch.  xv.  11" 
(Knobel). 

Ver.  14.  And  the  border  bent  around  it 
(Neah)  northward  to  Hannathon:  and  the  out- 
goings thereof  were  in  the  valley  of  Jiphthah- 
el  (God  opens).  Compassed  Neah,  not  Rimmon 
(Keil),  and  went  in  a  northerly  direction  toward 

Hannathon  (^HSH,    pleasant),  in  which  Knobel 

'  and  Keil  (Bill.  Com.  ii.  1,  in  loc.)  suspect  the  New 

Testament  Cana  (John  ii.  1,  11  ;  iv.  46;  xxi.  2) ; 

I  [The  author  translates  precisely  with  Qesenius  ,  indeed 
there  seeuis  to  be  little  diEFerence  la  conception  between 
these  critics.  —  Ta.] 


the  present  Kana  el-Jelil  between  Jefat  and  Rum- 
maneh. Jiphtha-el  (vSTinp^)  is  ])erhaps  the 
Japata  defended  by  Josephus,  now  Jefat,  midway 
between  the  sea  of  Tiberias  and  the  Bay  of  Accho 
(von  Ranmer,  p.  129  ;  Knobel  and  Keil).  The 
valley  would  be,  according  to  this  view,  the  great 
Wady  Abilie,  which  commences  above  in  the  hills 
near  Jefat  (Rob.  Later  Bib.  Res.  p.  103  f.).  It  emp- 
ties into  the  Nahr  Amar  (Belus),  as  Van  de  Velde's 
map  clearly  shows.  Comp.  ver.  27.  Keil  remarks 
very  correctly,  "that  this  verse  should  describe  the 
northern  boundary,"  but,  as  is  to  be  inferred  also 
from  the  other  expressions  of  Keil,  does  this  very 
imperfectly. 

Ver.  15.  This  verse  beginning  with  T  is  evi- 
dently a  fragment.  There  must  something  before 
have  fallen  out,  in  favor  of  which  is  the  circum- 
stance also,  that  at  the  close  of  the  verse  tivelve 
cities  and  their  villages  are  summed  up,  while  only 
five  are  named.  We  must  conclude,  as  Keil  also 
assumes,  that  there  is  here  a  chasm  in  the  text 
where  we  are  left  in  the  lurch  even  by  the  LXX., 
who  at  ch.  XV.  59  offered  so  helpful  a  supplement. 
Probably  there  has  dropped  out  (a)  the  statement 
of  the  west  border,  which  Knobel  also  feels  to  be 
wanting ;  (b)  the  enumeration  of  seven  cities  among 
which  it  is  likely  that  Nazareth  would  not  have 
failed  to  be.  In  respect  to  this  last  city,  it  cannot 
help  striking  one  without  needing  to  agree  with 
Jerome  on  ch.  xv.  59,  that  here  Nazareth  is  want- 
ing as  there  Bethlehem.  As  regards  the  missing 
west  border,  it  is  indicated  ver.  27,  in  connection 
with  Asher,  but  "  in  a  very  general  and  vague 
manner."    The  five  cities  are  :  Kattath,  perhaps  = 

•^■(^"^l^  (ch.  xxi.  34),  Kireh,  a  place  of  ruins  one 
and  a  half  hour's  south  of  Kaimon  (Knobel,  on 
the  authority  of  Rob.  Later  Bihl.  Res.  p.  116). 
Nahalial  or  Nahalol,  a  Levitieal  city,  ch.  xxi.  35  ; 
Judg  i.  30  ;  unknown.  Shimron  (ch.  xi.  1),  like- 
wise. Idalah,  the  same.  Beth-lehem,  now  Beit- 
lahm,  west-northwest  of  Nazareth  (Rob.  Later 
Bibl.  Res.  p.  113) ;  von  Raumer,  p.  122. 

e.  Ch.  xix.  17-23.  The  Territory  of  the  Tribe  of 
Issachar.  The  borders  of  the  tribe  of  Issaehar 
are  not  particularly  noted  by  the  author,  having 
been  given  by  him  in  connection  with  the  other 
tribes,  except  the  eastern  part  of  the  north  border 
and  the  east  border,  ver.  22.  Issachar  touched  in 
the  north  on  Zebulun  and  Naphtali ;  in  the  west 
on  Asher  and  Manasseh  ;  in  the  south  likewise  on 
Manasseh  in  part,  and  in  part  also  (see  the  maps) 
on  Ephraim  ;  in  the  east  on  the  Jordan.  Its  most 
important  and  most  beautiful  section  of  country 
was  the  fertile  plain  of  Jezreel  (von  Raumer, 
Palest,  p.  39  ff. ;  Ritter,  xvi.  689  ff. ;  Furrer,  p. 
258  ff.).  Josephus  observes  concerning  the  boun- 
daries, merely  :  Kal  fxera.  tovtois  'Iffax^p's,  Kap- 
yUTjAou  T€  upos  Ka\  Tuv  TTOTa/j.ht'  rod  firjKuvs  nofqffafj.evr] 
Tipfxova,  rh  5'  Irafivpiov  (Tabor)  ipos  rod  ir\dTOvs 
[Ant.  V.  1,  22). 

Ver.  1 8.  Jezreel  ( 7^^"!^.),  "  i.  e.,  God's  plant 

ing.  Esdraela,  among  the  Greeks,  from  which 
Stradela ;  at  the  time  of  the  crusades.  Little  Ge- 
rinum  (Parvum  Gerinum)  ;  now  Zerin "  (von 
Raumer,  p.  157).  It  stands  on  the  brow  of  a  very 
steep  rocky  sloi)e  of  one  hundred  feet  or  more  to- 
ward the  northeast,  commanding  a  wide  and  noble 
view  of  the  country  around  in  all  directions  (Rob. 
iii.  161  ff.).  The  present  village  is  small  and  poor. 
The  inhabitants  live  in  constant  strife  with  the 
Bedouins  of  the  plain  of  Jezreel,  who,  with  vio 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


159 


lence  or  craft,  practice  incessant  provocations  and 
robberies  on  the  wretched  people  (Furrer,  pp.  262- 
264).  The  splendid  site  induced  Ahab  and  his 
house  to  reside  here,  perhaps  more  especially  in 
the  summer  (Keil),  to  keep  court,  1  K.  xviii.  45, 
46  ;  xxi.  1  ff. ;  2  K,  viii.  29  ;  ix.  15-37  ;  x.  1-11. 
Hosea  refers  to  the  blood-guiltiness  of  Jezreel  (ch. 
i.  4, 11 ;  ii.  22).  Chesulloth  =  Chisloth-tabor,  ver. 
12 

Shunem,  I^.^^^   (prop.,  according  to  Gesenius, 

"  two  resting-places,"  for  C^3^li?,  for  which,  as 

Eusebius  informs  us,  Dy^tE'  also  was  employed), 
now  Solam  or  Sulem  (Rob.  iii.  169),  on  the  de- 
clivity at  the  western  end  of  Mount  Duhy  (little 
Hermon),  over  against  Zerin,  but  hijiher.  Furrer 
recjuired  one  and  a  half  hours  between  Zerin  and 
Shunem.  The  ground  in  the  broad  valley  rose 
and  fell  in  gentle  undulations.  The  village  itself 
lies  behind  tall  cactus  hedges  and  trees  (Furrer,  p. 
264,  265).  Here  the  Philistines  encamped  before 
Saul's  last  battle  (1  Sam.  xxviii.  4).  Shunem  was 
the  home  of  Abishag  (1  K.  i.  .3).  In  the  house  of 
a  Shunaraite  woman  Elisha  often  lodged,  and  her 
son  he  raised  from  death  (2  K.  iv.  8-37 ;  viii.  1-6). 
Shunem  (Shulem)  was  probably  also  the  birth- 
phiee  of  the  Shulamite  (Cant.  vi.  12). 

Ver.  19.  Chepharaim,  perhaps  =  Chepher,  the 
residence  of  a  Canaanitish  king  mentioned  ch.  xii. 
17;  according  to  the  0)iom.,  Affarea,  according  to 
Knobel,  Afuleh,  west  of  Shulem,  and  more  than  two 
hours  northeast  of  Lejun.     Shihon,  not  found. 

Anaharath.  According  to  Knobel  either  Na'- 
urah,  on  the  east  side  of  Little  Hermon  (Rob. 
Later  Bib/.  Bes.  p.  339)  on  an  elevation,  or  —  since 
Cod.  A  of  the  LXX.  gives  instead  of  this  name, 

PevdO  and  'Appavtd,  therefore  n^HIS  —  Arraneh, 
north  of  Jenin,  in  the  plain  (in  Seetzen,  ii.  156  ; 
Rob.  iii.  157,  160). 

Ver.  20.  Rabbith,  "conjecturably  Arabboneh, 
somewhat  further  toward  the  northeast  on  Gilboa, 
in  Rob.  iii.  158"  (Knobel). 

Kishion,  a  Levitical  city,  ch.  xxi.  28,  is  errone- 
ously called  ^-TII?.'  1  Chr.  vi.  57  (Knobel,  Keil). 
The  site  is  unknown. 

Abez,  not  identified. 

Ver.  21.  Remetti,  "or  Ramoth,  or  Jarmuth, 
belonging  to  the  Levites  (ch.  xxi.  29  ,  1  Chron.  vi. 
58)  ;  the  name  signifies  height"  (Knobel).  Con- 
cerning Knobel's  further  conjectures,  see  Keil,  Bib. 
Com.  on  the  0.  T.  ii.  145,  rem.     Unknown. 

En-Gannim,  D^32"]^37,  i.  e.,  Garden-spring,  a 
Levitical  city,  ch.  xxi.  29,  "  without  doubt,"  as 
Knobel  rightly  says,  "  the  present  Jenin."  For, 
according  to  Robinson  (iii.  155),  this  town  lies  in 
the  midst  of  gardens  of  fruit-trees,  which  are  sur- 
rounded by  hedges  of  the  prickly  pear  ;  but  having 
for  its  most  remarkable  feature  a  beautiful,  flow- 
ing, public  fountain,  rising  in  the  hills  back  of  the 
town,  and  brought  down  so  that  it  issues  in  a 
noble  stream  in  the  midst  of  the  place.  Furrer 
describes  it  as  an  important  place  on  the  border  of 
the  Samaritan  mountain,  and  mentions  not  only 
the  copiousness  of  the  water,  but  the  fruitfulness 
of  the  gardens  there  (p.  257).  In  Josephus  {Ant. 
XX.  6,  1  ;  Bell.  Jud.  iii.  3,  4),  En-gannira  is  called 
Tivaia,  from  which  Jenin  has  come,  as  Robinson 
rightly  conjectured  (iii.  156,  note  1). 

En-Haddah  and  Beth-pazzaz,  not  yet  identi- 
led.  En-haddah  may  have  been  the  same  as 
.fudeideh  or  Beit  Kad,  Kadd  on  Gilboa  (Rob.  iii. 
157 ,,  Knobel. 


Ver.  22.  And  the  border  struck  Tabor  and 
Shahazimah,  and  Beth-shemesh ;  and  the  out- 
goings of  their  border  were  at  the  Jordan.  In 
this  the  eastern  part  of  the  north  border  is  given. 
The  western  point  of  beginning  was  Tabor,  here 
probably  not  the  mountain  of  this  name,  but  a 
city  lying  on  this  mountain  (Knobel  and  Keil), 
which  was  given  to  the  Levites  (1  Chr.  vi.  62), 
Remains  of  walls  have  been  found  there  by  Seet- 
zen,  Robinson  (iii.  213  ff.),  Buckingham,  Ruseg- 
ger,  and  most  recently  Furrer  (p.  307  ff.).  Thf 
largest  and  best  preserved  mass  of  ruuis  is  fcund, 
according  to  Furrer's  representation,  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  plateau  of  the  mountain,  where 
the  large  closely-jointed  blocks  of  cut  stone  lie 
firmly  one  upon  the  other,  from  fifteen  to  twenty 

feet  high.  Shahazimah  ( the  Kethib  reads  C^'^rili?) 
=  heights,  therefore  a  city  lying  on  a  height,  per- 
haps Hazetheth,  on  the  hills  east  of  Tabor  toward 
the  Jordan  (Knobel).  i?e^A-s^e?nesA,  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  Beth-shemesh  in  the  tribe  of  Judah 
(ch.  XV.  10,  mentioned  besides  in  Judg.  i.  33),  per 
haps  =  Bessum  (Rob.  iii.  237J,  a  conjecture  of  Kno 
bel's  with  which  Keil  agrees.  "  The  eastei-n  portion 
of  the  north  border  of  Issachar  toward  Naphrali 
may  have  run  from  Tabor  northeastward  through 
the  plain  to  Kefr  Sabt,  and  thence  along  the  Wady 
Bessum  to  the  Jordan.  But  how  far  the  territory 
of  Issachar  extended  down  into  the  Jordan  Valley 
is  not  stated  "  (Keil). 

Sixteen  cities.  The  number  is  correct  if  Tabor 
is  taken  as  a  city.  This  city  would  then  be  as- 
cribed here  to  Issachar,  while  in  1  Chron.  vi.  62  it 
is  reckoned  to  Zebulun ;  not  a  remarkable  thing 
in  the  case  of  a  border  town. 

/  Ch.  xix.  24-31.  The  Teiriton/  of  the  Tribe  of 
Asher.  The  fifth  lot  fell  to  the  tribe  of  Ashcr, 
which  received  its  territory  on  the  slope  of  the 
Galilean  mountains  toward  the  Mediterranean ; 
in  general,  likewise,  a  very  beautiful  and  fertile 
region,  whose  olive  trees  (Deut.  xxxiii.  24)  were 
formerly  famous  for  their  rich  product.  Even  yet 
there  are  in  that  region  "ancient  olive  trees,  large 
gardens  with  all  kinds  of  southern  fruit  trees,  and 
green  corn-fields"  (Furrer,  p.  291).  From  the 
Franciscan  cloister  at  Accho  "  the  eye  sweeps  east- 
ward over  the  wide,  fertile,  grassy  plains  up  to  the 
mountains  of  Galilee"  [ibid.  p.  294).  Here  Asher 
had  his  beautiful  possession.  This  was  the  KotXas 
of  which  Josephus  speaks  :  TV  8e  a-vh  tou  Kap/x-f]- 
\ov,  Kot\d5a  TTpoaayopivo^ivTjv  5ja  rh  Kol  roiavrrii 
eluai,  Aa-qpiraL  <(>4povTat  i:aaav  ti)v  €Trl  "XiZoivo: 
TeTpaiu.fjiei>r]v  (A)it.  v.  1,  22).  The  description  be- 
gins in  the  vicinity  of  Accho  (ver.  25),  goes  first 
toward  the  south  (vers.  26,  27),  then  northward 
(vers.  28-30). 

Ver.  25.  Helkath,  a  city  of  the  Levites,  ch.  xxi. 
31  =  Jelka  or  Jerka,  northeast  of  Accho  (Robin 
son  iii.  App.  p.  133),  on  the  slope  of  the  moun- 
tains by  a  little  wady. 

Hali,  passed  over  by  von  Raumer,  possibly  Julis 
or  Gulis,  in  the  same  region,  somewhat  to  the 
southwest  of  Helkath  and  more  toward  the  sea. 

Beten  (]P?,  Belly,  =  Valley,  KoiKas,  Gesen. 
with  which  the  designation  used  by  Josephus  for 
the  whole  region  is  suggestively  accordant),  not 
yet  identified  ;  according  to  the  Onom.  called  Beth 
beten  or  Be^ereV,  eight  Roman  miles  east  of  Ptole 
mais.  Von  Raumer  (p.  121,  Rem.  18,  E.)  inquires 
whether  it  is  identical  with  Ekbatana  not  flu-  from 
Ptolemais  (Plin.  v.  17,  5  ;  Reland,  p.  617). 

Achshaph,  ch.  xi.  1  ;  xii.  20. 

Ver.  26.    Alammelech.    The  name  is  preservfiO 


160 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


in  the  Wady  el-Malek  which  empties  into  the 
Kishon  from  tlie  northeast. 

Amad.  Kuobel  supposes  this  to  be  the  modern 
Haifa,  about  three  hours  south  of  Accho,  on  the 
sea,  called  by  the  ancients  Sycaminon,  /    e.  Syca- 

tnorc-town,  since  the  Hebrew  name  IV^V  must, 
according  to  the  Arab.,  be  interpreted  by  Syco- 
morus.  Knobel  further  thinks  that  since  d  passes 
into  r,  for  which  Ex.  ii.  15  is  cited,  the  old  name 
Amad  may  be  jjreserved  in  Animara  as  the  coun- 
try people  call  Haifa. 

Misheal,  a  Levitical  city  (ch.  xxi.  30 ;  1  Chr. 
vi.  59),  according  to  the  Onom.  s.  v.  Masan,  situ- 
ated on  the  seii,jiixta  Carmehim.  This  suits  with 
the  following  statement  of  the  direction  of  the 
boundary  :  and  struck  Carmel  westward  and 
Shihor-libnath.  —  Shilior-Ubnath.     The  brook  of 

Egypt  was  called  simply  ~l1n^tZ7,  ch.  xiii.  8.  Here 

by  n35?  ^  is  intended  not  the  Belus  (Nahr 
Raaman),  which  empties  into  the  Mediterranean 
north  of  Carmel,  but,  from  the  direction  which  the 
description  takes,  and  with  respect  to  ch.  xvii.  10, 
a  stream  south  of  Carmel,  and  quite  probably 
the  Nahr  Zerka  or  Crocodile  Brook.  Its  name 
Zerka,  "  blue,"  bluish  stream,  as  Knobel  and  Keil 

suppose,    might    answer    both    to    the    "'in^ti?, 

"  black,"  and  to  the  i^^^f'  "  white." 

Ver.  27.  From  that  point  the  border  returned 
toward  the  sunrising,  to  Beth-dagon.  This 
Beth-dagon,  ditl^"erent  from  the  Beth-dagon  in  the 
Shephelah  which  was  assigned  to  Judah,  ch.  xv. 
41,  has  not  been  discovered.  Proceeding  in  a 
northeasterly  direction  the  border  struck  Zebulun 
and  the  ravine  of  Jiphtha-el,  that  is,  according 
to  the  explanations  on  ver.  14,  the  Wady  Abilin, 
to  the  north  of  Beth-emek  and  Weiel.  —  Beth-emek 
is  not  idcntilied.  Ni'iel  is  perhaps  the  same  as  Neah, 
ver.  1.3.  —  From  hence  the  I)order  went  out  to  Ca- 
bulon  the  left  hand,  /.  e.  "on  thenortli  side  of  it. 
Cabul,  northeast  of  tJie  Wady  Abilin,  four  hours 
southeast  of  Accho  still  bears  the  same  name ;  in 
the  LXX.  Ka^diW  in  Josephus  «£o/irj  Ka/SoiAw  (  Vit. 
§43).    Comp.  Eobinson,  Later  Blbl.  Res.  p.  88. 

Vers.  28-30.  The  main  province  proper  of  the 
tribe  of  Asher  having  been  marked  out  in  the  pre- 
ceding verses,  tlie  northern  district  is  now  more 
particularly  defined  (Knobel). 

Ver.  28.  Hebron,  probably  a  mistake  of  the 
copyist  for  Abdon,  which  is  named  ch.  xxi.  30 ; 

1  Chr.  vi.  59,  among  the  Levitical  cities  (1"^?)^  = 

P"T?V)-  Not  yet  recognized  ;  neither  is  Rehob, 
Hammon,  or  Kanah.  See  Conjectures  in  Knobel, 
pj).  464,  465  ;  and  Keil,  Bihl.  Com.  ii.  2,  in  I.  [also 
f>)ct.  of  the  Bible].  The  limitation  even  unto 
Great  Zidon  indicates  that  these  places  are  to  be 
sought  for  in  that  direction.  Concerning  Sidon, 
see  on  cii.  xi.  8. 

Ver.  29.  From  Sidon  the  border  returned 
southward"  toward  Ramah  and  to  the  fortified 
city  of  Tyre  (Zor).  Ilumah  is,  according  to 
Robinson  (Later  Bihl.  Res.  ^.  63),  Rameh,  south- 
east of  Tyre,  on  a  solitary  hill  (hence  the  name) 
in  the  midst  of  a  basin  of  green  fields  and  sur- 
rounded by  greater  heights.  "1!5'"153^  "  '  For- 
tress of  Zor,'  i.  e.  Tyre,  is  not  the  island  of  Tyre, 
nut  the  city  of  Tyre  standing  on  tlie  main  land, 
nowSur"  (Keil).  At  jn-esent  the  once  mighty 
Tyre  is  a  "  small  and  wretched  "  town,  in  respect  to 
which  the  predictions  of  the  prophets   have  been 


fulfilled  (Is.  xxiii.  7,  8;  Ezck.  xxvi.  12,  27).  For 
the  future  also  "  she  seems  destined  to  remain  nec- 
essarily a  miserable  market  spot  "  (Furrer,  p.  385). 

The  site  is  a  noble  one.     The  name  ~l^    signifies 

"rock"  =  ~1^!J.      Notice  the  alliteration   ''^^^ 

"1-.  Comp.  further,  Ritter,  Erdk.  xvii.  p.  320 
fF.  and  Movers,  Phoni~ier,  ii.  1,  llSff.  (in  Keil). 
Now  the  border  turned  toward  Hosah,  which  is  un- 
known, and  finally  ran  out  to  the  sea  in  the  region 
of  Achzib.  "  Achziph.  Heec  est  Ecdippa  in  nana 
millmrio  Ptolemaidis  percjentibns  Tyrum"  (Onom.), 
Now  Zib,  three  hours  north  of  Accho  ;  the  'A/j/cr;  or 
'kKTiTTovs  of  Josephus  [Ant.  v.  1,  22).  Another 
Achzib  belonged  to  Judah,  ch.  xv.  44.     The  name 

is  probably  =  to  2J2S,  "  Winter-brook,"  Gesen.  In 
fact,  "  Pococke  saw  (ap.  Ritter,  xvi.  811)  a  brook 
pass  along  on  the  south  side,  over  which,  a  beauti- 
ful bridge  having  an  arch  crossed."  By  a  wide 
circuit  the  author  has  arrived  again  at  the  vicinity 
of  Accho. 

Ver.  30.  Finally  he  names  still  three  cities  by 
themselves,  Ummah  and  Aphek,  and  Rehob,  of 
which  only  the  Aphek  on  Lebanon,  ch.  xiii.  14, 
can  with  certainty  be  made  out,  as  was  there  stated. 
Possibly,  nay  probably,  Ummah  and  Rehob  also 
lay  in  that  mountain  region.     It  is  to  be  noted 

that  the  name  Rehob  (^n"1,  from  ^H"^?  "  to  be 
wide,  spacious  ")  occurs  twice  in  the  territory  of 
Asher,  namely,  here  and  in  ver.  28  above.    (It  is  a 

name  precisely  analogous  to  HS^Q  and  H^"^), 
The  total  twenty-two  does  not  agree  with  the  enu- 
meration, as  is  often  the  case. 

g.  Ch.  xix.  32-39.  The  Territoi-i/  of  the  Tribe 
of  Naphtali.  The  sixth  lot  came  to  the  tribe  of 
Naphtali,    which  is  designated  in  Gen.   xlix.   21 

as  the  "  hind  let  loose  "  (nn^b^  "^^t^^-  Their 
province  was  bounded  east  by  the  sea  of  (iennesaret 
and  the  Jordan,  west  by  Asher,  south  by  Zebulun 
and  Issachar.  In  the  north  it  reached  far  up  into 
Coele-syria,  and  so  to  the  very  extremity  of  west 
Palestine.  The  possession  of  the  tribe,  through 
which  runs  the  mountain  of  Naphtali  rising  to  the 
height  of  3,000  feet  —  the  modern  Jebel  Safed, — 
sinks  down  on  the  west  into  the  plain  on  the  sea, 
while  in  the  east  it  falls  off  to  the  Jordan  valley  and 
the  sea  of  Merom.  The  soil  is,  generally  speaking, 
fruitful,  the  natural  scenery  of  great  beauty.  Comp. 
besides  the  former  travellei's,  Furrer,  pp.  306-331, 
for  the  vicinity  of  the  sea  of  Merom,  p.  361  ff. 

Ver.  33.  Knobel  assumes  that  here,  as  in  ver. 
10  and  ch.  xvi.  6,  the  author,  proceeding  fi'om  a 
central  point,  describes  the  west  border  first  toward 
the  north,  then  toward  the  south.  To  us  it  ap- 
pears mqre  simple,  since  Helepli  is  not  repeated 
like  Sarid  (vers.  10,  12),  to  understand  with  Keil 
that  in  ver.  33  the  west  border  toward  Asher,  with 
the  north  and  east  border  is  described,  in  ver.  34 
the  south  border. 

Heleph  is  unknown.  On  the  other  hand  we 
know  from  Judg.  iv.  11,  where  Allon,  the  Oak,  i.  e., 

according  to  Gen.  xii.  6,  the  oak  forest  (P  'i^ 
taken  collect.)  near  Zaannanim  lay,  namely,  by 
Kadesh  northwest  of  the  sea  of  Merom.  Here  Sis- 
era  was  slain  (Judg.  iv.  21)  by  Jael,  the  wife  of 
Heber  the  Kenite,  who  had  pitched  his  tent  there 

(Judg.   iv.   11).     The  name  Q''23^.*^    is   derived 

from  ]?->  "to  wander,"  a  place,  therefore,  Avhere 
the  tents  of  the  wanderers,  the  nomads,  stand 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


161 


Such  a  nomadic  herdsman  was  Heber.  Even  to 
the  present  day  the  Bedouins  more  or  less  friendly 
disposed  wander  about  in  the  north  of  Palestine, 
in  the  plain  of  Jezreel,  on  Gilboa,  and  on  Tabor. 
Comp.  Furrer,  p.  311,  and  often.  Kobinson  notices 
tlie  oaks  growiiiii'  in  this  region  (iii.  p.  370 ;  Later 
Bihl.  Res.  p.  365'[Stanley,  S.  <j-  P.  pp.  142,  3.55  n.]). 
Furrer  clearly  perceived  from  Tibnin,  looking  east- 
ward, near  the  elevated  Biraschit,  the  mighty  Mes- 
siah-tree, "  a  solitary,  majestic  oak"  (indicated  on 
Van  de  Velde's  Map).  Forests,  however,  nowhere 
met  the  view,  however  eagerly  he  sought  to  dis- 
cern them.  He  is  led  accordingly  to  the  remark  : 
"  Other  travellers  have  praised  the  abundance  of 
trees  in  northern  Galilee.  They  could  not,  I  think, 
have  followed  my  road.  An  atmosphere  of  death 
seemed  to  me  to  lie  on  the  holy  laad  here  as  in 
Benjamin"  (Furrer,  p.  337). 

Adami-nekeb  (3|73n""^;^7^»  «'•  e.  Adami  of  the 
depth,  hollow,  "  of  the  pass  "  (Knobel  and  Keil). 

The  name  "'^"J^  (reddish)  recalls  !^7^'  ^^^-  ''^^• 
10. 

Jabneel,  Lakum,  like  the  preceding,  unrecog- 
iii/ed,  although  Knobel  thinks  he  has  found 
Adami-nekeb  in  Deir-el-ahmar,  i.  e.  red  cloister, 
three  hours  northwest  of  Baalbec.  See  particulars, 
Knobel,  p.  466  ;  a  ditferent  view,  Keil,  ii.  1,  p.  149. 

And  the  outgoings  thereof  were  at  the  Jor- 
dan (ver.  22).  The  upper  Jordan  is  meant,  the 
Nalir  Hasbany,  as  a  source  of  the  Jordan,  comp. 
Num.  xxxiv.  10-12. 

Ver.  34.  And  the  border  returned  westward, 
i.e.  from  the  Jordan,  the  border,  namely,  the  south 
border  of  Naphtali  turned  back,  probably  follow- 
ing the  Wady  Bessum  westward  to  Aznath-tabor. 

3tJ',  as  in  ver.  12.  Aznath-tabor  is,  according  to 
the  Onom.  a  "  vicus  ad  rec/ionem  DioccesarecB  pertinens 
in  campestribus."  Not  discovered.  From  this  notice 
it  stood  near  Diociesarea  =  Sepphoris  =  Sefurieh, 
perhaps,  as  Knobel  and  Keil  suppose,  southeast  of 
this  city,  toward  Mount  Tabor.  Thence  it  ran  on 
to  Hukkok,  which  cannot  be  identified. 

And  struck  Zebulun  on  the  south,  and  struck 
Asher  on  the  west,  and  Judah  ;  the  Jordan  (was) 
toward  the  sun-rising.  The  south  and  west  bound- 
ary is  to  be  understood,  which  grazed  Zebulun  in 
the  south,  and  Asher  and  Judah  in  the  west,  wiiile 
the  Jordan  is  noticed  as  the  east  boVder.     Great 

difficulties  are  raised  by-  the  enigmatical  m^rT'S. 
The  LXX.  do  not  have  it,  but  read  :  Kal  awdx^et 
Trf  Za0v\(bv  airh  v6tov,  Kai  T<p  'A(rr;p  (rvvdi\iei  Kara 
6d\daffav,  Kot  6  'lopSduris  airh  a,vaTa\5iu  7]\lov.  Either 
the  word  was  wanting  in  their  text,  or,  which  is 
more  likely,  they  left  it  out  because  they  knew  not 
what  to  do  with  it.  The  Vulgate  translates,  dis- 
regarding the  punctuation  of  the  Masorctes  :  "  Jtt 
in  Juda  ad  Jordanem."  This  Luther  [and  the 
Eng.  Ver.]  followed;  but  von  Raumer  (p.  233  ff.) 
has  labored  to  show  that  this  Judah  on  the  Jordan 
consisted  in  the  sixty  Jair  villages  oii  the  east  side 
of  the  Jordan.  His  reason  is  that  Jair,  who  is 
brought  in,  ch.  xiii.  40;  Num.  xxxii.  4\,  contra 
morem  (i.  e.  contrary  to  the  rule  proposed  Num. 
xxxvi.  7,  as  a  descendant  of  Manasseh,  from 
Maehir  the  Manassite)  was  actually,  according  to 
1  Chr.  ii.  5,  21  f.,  descended  through  Hezron,  on 
his  father's  side,  from  Judah,  and  therefore  to  be 
designated  properly  and  regularly  a  descendant 
of  Judah.  Keil  also  has  adopted  this  view,  which, 
however,  after  all  the  care  with  which  von  Raumer 
has  laljored  to  develope  it,  appears  not  sufficiently 
11 


established  by  that  solitary  passage  in  Chronicles 
combined  with  Josephus,  Ant.  viii.  2,  3.  Rather  "  it 
is  hard  to  believe  that  the  possession  of  Jair,  which 
belonged,  from  ch.  xiii.  30,  to  Manasseh,  could 
have  borne  the  name  of  Judah  "  (Bunsen).  Not 
more  satisfactory  are  the  attempts  of  older  writers  ; 
of  Masius,  who  supposes  that  a  narrow  strip  of  the 
land  of  Naphtali  stretched  along  down  the  west 
shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  to  Judah  ;  of  Baehiene, 
who  places  a  city  Judah  on  the  Jordan  ;  of  Reland, 
who  says  that  sometimes  all  Palestine,  the  whole 
land  of  the  twelve  tribes,  was  called  Judoea,  there- 
fore the  land  east  of  the  Jordan  might  be  so  called. 
Hence  alterations  of  the  text  have  been  resorted  to. 

From  the  omission  of  imrTDT  by  the  best  Co- 
dices of  the  LXX.  (Vat.,  Alex.,  and  Aid.),  Clericus 
had  proposed  to  treat  it  simply  as  not  belonging  to 
the  text.     Maurer,  followed  by  Bunsen,  referring 

to  ch.  xvii.  10;  xix.  22,  would  read  Q/^^?,  and 
translates  accordingly :  "  et  terminus  eorum  erat 
Jordaiius  ab  oriente."      Concerning  the  LXX.   he 

says  briefly  and  well :  "  Sept.  HTini^l  suo 
Marte  omiserunt,  cfr.  ad  vers.  15,  30,  38  al."  Kno- 
bel   thinks  "it  would  be  more  suitable   to    read 

''•t^^-'"?'  ^i"^°  Naphtali  bordered  on  Issachar 
on  the  west  and  south."  He  says  further,  "If  we 
retain  ni^rf^a,  we  must  assume  that  the  part  of 
Issachar  bordering  on  Naphtali  was  called  Judah, 
of  which,  however  there  is  no  evidence."  But  what 
if  not  an  adjacent  portion  of  Issachar,  but  a  place 
in  Asher,  which  was  mentioned  immediately  before 

'^7^^?'  '^'^^  ®°  called  ?  And  this  appears  in  fact 
to  have  been  the  ease,  for  on  Van  de  Velde's  Map 
there  is  a  place  north  of  Tibnin  marked  el-Jehudi- 
jeh,  in  whose  name  the  old  name  has  been  pre- 
served, since  Jehudijeh  might  come  from  m^n'' 

as  well  as  from  ^^^^,  ch.  xix.  45  (see  below). 
Furrer  reached  this  Jehudijeh  from  Tibnin  in  an 
hour  (p.  339  1.  II,  compared  with  1.  4  from  bot- 
tom). After  first  descending  the  steep  path,  which 
winds  down  along  the  west  slope  from  Tibnin,  he 
went  up  then  out  of  the  ravine  (the  Wady  Ilmah 
is  meant)  toward  the  west,  and  came  to  the  little 
village  Jehudijeh,  "  Jews  village,"  surrounded  by 
many  trees.  Of  ruins,  Furrer  found  there  a  finely 
chiseled  block  of  stone  which  he  regards  as  the 
slight  trace  of  a  synagogue.  In  this  manner  we 
may  solve  the  riddle,  simply  and  easily,  as  it  seems 
to  us,  without  any  change  of  the  text  and  holding  fast 
the  Masoretic punctuation.  If,  however,  we  were  to 
change  the  text,  Maurer's  conjecture  would  de- 
serve the  preference  over  that  of  Knobel,  because 

min'^^l,  from  the  similarity  of  the  letters,  might 
very  easily  have  arisen  from  □  7^33-1,  which  is  not 
the  case  with  "Ott^Ji?""!:. 

Ver.  35-39.  Fortified  Cities  of  Galilee,  ver  35. 
Ziddim,  unknown.  Zer,  likewise  unkno-Ti 
Hammath,  to  be  kept  distinct  from  the  often  men 
tioned  Hamath,  the  northern  boundary-town  of 
Palestine ;  a  Levitical  city,  ch.  xxi.  32,  called 
also  Hammoth-dor  or  Hammon  (1  Chr.  vi.  61). 
The  name  indicates  warm  springs,  such  as  existed 
at  Ammaus  south  of  Tiberias  ('A^^aoiJs  in  Joseph. 
Ant.  xviii.  2,3;  Bell  .Tud.  iv.  1,3;  see  Menke's 
Map  v.,  side  map  of  Galilee),  and  still  exist. 

Rakkath,  situated,  as  the  Jews  have  thought, 
on  the  site  of  the  later  Tiberias. 


162 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


Cinneroth  (''"'T??.?  or  ni~l33,  ch.  xi.  2 ;  Targ, : 
"^D^^^,  "iS'i^'^a,  Ipiaa,  re^vnadp,  Joseph.  Bell. 
Jud.  iit.  10,  7,  8),  the  city  ah-eady  mentioned,  ch. 
xiv.  2,  which  gave  name  to  the  beautiful  and  fer- 
tile plain,  pictured  by  Josephus  (/.  c. )  in  the  most 
splendid  colors,  and  to  the  sea  (ch.  xii.  .3  ;  xiii.  27  ; 
Num.  xxxiv.  11),  but  which  has  itself  disappeared. 
Knobel  supposes  the  Khan  Minijeh  to  be  the  place 
where  it  stood.  The  plain,  which  is  about  an  hour 
long  and' twenty  minutes  broad,  extends  from  near 
Mejdel  to  Khan  Minijeh.     Comp.  farther  Furrer, 

p.  319  ff. ;  Kobinson,  iii.  290).  n~133  signifies  prob- 
ably "  low  ground,"  a  hollow,  Kot\ds,  from  2733 
(Knobel). 

Verse  .3fi.  Adamah,  unknown.  Kamah,  the 
present  Ramch,  southwest  of  Safed,  on  a  plain,  a 
large,  beautiful  village  surrounded  with  planta- 
tions of  olive  trees.     Hazor,  see  on  ch.  xi.  1. 

Ver.  37.  Kadesh,  see  on  ch.  xii.  22.  Edrei, 
not  to  be  confounded  with  Edrei  in  Bashan,  ch. 
xii.  4,  unknown.  En-hazor,  doubtless  Ain  Hazur 
south  of  Rameh. 

Ver.  38.  Iron,  now  Jaron,  Jarun,  on  a  height 
northwest  of  el-Jisch  (Giscala)  in  a  fertile  and  cul- 
tivated region  with  ruins  near  by.  Seetzen,  ii.  p. 
123  f. ;  Van  de  Velde,  Narr.  i.  174  ff.,  apad  Knobel. 

Migdal-el  (bs-^ir^.T^,  God's  tower).  The 
name  speaks  for  Magdala  (Matt.  xv.  39),  now  el- 
Mejdcl,  which  it  is  supposed  to  be  by  Gesen.  and 
Robinson  (iii.  278),  only  it  is  remarkable  that 
Migdal-el  was  not  before  (ver.  35)  included  in  the 
cities  lying  on  the  Sea  of  Gennesaret,  rather  than 
here  among  such  as  lie  further  west.  On  this  ac- 
count Knobel,  contrary*  to  the  Masoretic  pointing 

tiS'biarj,  joins  it  with  the  following  CnfT,  and 
then  finds  the  place  in  Mejdel  Kerum,  west  of 
Rama,  three  hours  east  of  Accho  (Robinson, Zafer 
BihI.  Res.  p.  86).     Too  far  Avest. 

Horem,  unless  one  accepts  Knobel's  combina- 
tion, not  yet  found.  So  Avith  Beth-anath  (Judg. 
i.  33),  and  Beth-shemesh,  which  is  different  from 
Beth-shemesh  in  Judah  (ch.  xv.  10),  and  Beth- 
shemesh  in  Issachar  (ver.  22).  Nineteen  cities. 
The  number  detailed  is  sixteen. 

g.  Ch.  xix.  40-48.  The  Territory  of  the  Trihe  of 
Dan.  This  tribe  received  the  seventh  lot,  which 
fell  to  them  in  "pleasant  places"  (Ps.  xvi.  6), 
west  of  Benjamin,  north  of  Judah,  south  of  Eph- 
raim.  Their  country  lay  mostly  in  the  Shephelah, 
but  hindered  hi/  the  Ainorit.es  (Judg.  i.  S-i)  from  tak- 
huj  possession  of  their  province,  the  warlike  tribe  con- 
quered, besides,  a  small  tract  far  up  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  north  (Judg.  xviii.  Iff.).  Josephus 
does  not  mention  this  (Ant.  v.  1,  27),  but  our 
author  does  (ver.  47). 

Ver.  41.  Zorah,  Eshtaol,  and  Ir  -  shemesh, 
three  cities  of  Judah  which  Avere  yielded  to  the 
Danites,  but  cf  which  they  did  not  occupy  Irshc- 
mesh,  a  city  assigned  to  theLevites  (ch.  xxi.  16). 

Ver.  42.   Shaalabbin   (r?l?l^t»   or  li^^l^tT', 

Gesenius :  place  of  jackals,  comp.  v^^tT'lTfrr, 
ch.  XV.  28),  2  Sam.  xxiii.32;  I  Chr.  xi.  33;  1  K. 
iv.  9  ;  noAV  Sal  bit  (Robinson,  Later  Bibl.  B£S.  p. 
144,  n.  3  (Selbit].     Ajalon,  ch.  x.  12. 

Jethlah.  According  to  Knobel  contained  in 
the  Wadv  Atallali  Avcst  of  Jalo  (Ajalon)  (Robin- 
son, Later  Bihl.  Lies.  pp.  144,  145). 

Ver.  43.  Elon,  perhajis  Ellin  (Robinson,  iii.  Ap. 
p.  120).  Thimnatbah,  ch.  xv.  10.  Ekron,  ch. 
XV.  11. 


Ver.  44.  Eltekeh,  a  city  of  tLt;  Levites,  ch.  xxi 
23,  otherwise  unknown. 

Gibbethon,  ch.  xxi.  23,  a  Leritical  city  also. 
Mentioned  1  K.  xv.  27  ;  xvi.  15, 17,  in  the  contests 
Avith  the  Philistines;  not  yet  discovered  in  modern 
times. 

Baalath,  fortified  by  Solomon,  1  K.  ix.  18  ;  un- 
knoAvn.  Whether  identical  Avith  Baala,  ch.  xv. 
11  ■?  (Knobel). 

Ver.  45.  Jehud,  veiy  probably  el- Yehudijeh, 
two  hours  north  of  Ludd  (Robinson,  iii.  45),  in  a 
beautiful,  Avell-cultivated  plain. 

Bene-berak,  now  Ibn  Abrak,  one  hour  to  the 
west  of  Yehudijeh. 

Gath-rimmon,  a  Levitical  city,  ch.  xxi.  24  ;  1 
Chr.  vi.  54,  to  be  sought  according  to  the  Onom. 
in  the  vicinity  of  Thimnah,  but  not  yet  discovered 
(Keil). 

Ver.  46.  Me-jarkon  [aqua:  Jlavedinis,  yelloAV 
water),  unknown. 

Rakkon    C|i)?^    from   Pil"?  =  ^1?^,    "cheek," 

Gesen.)  xxnknown. 

With  the  border  before  Japho.  These  words 
indicate  that  Me-jarkon  and  Rakkon  are  to  bo 
sought  in  the  region  of  Japho. 

Japho  ("12^,  beauty)  is  mentioned  elscAvhere  in 
the  0.  T.  only  1  K.  v.  9  ;  2  Chr.  ii.  16;  Ez.  iii. 
7 ;  Jon.  i.  3.  Under  the  Greek  name  of  Iotttttj, 
Lat.  Joppe,  it  occurs  often  in  the  books  of  Macca- 
bees (1  Mace.  X.  74,  76;  xii.  34  ;  xiv.  15,  34  ;  xa'. 
28,  35  ;  2  Mace.  xii.  3-7),  and  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  (ch.  ix.  36-43;  x.  5,  8,  23,  32;  xi.  5). 
The  plfice  is  now  called  Jaffa,  in  Avhich  the  old 
name  Japho  is  preserved,  and  it  has,  since  the 
times  of  the  Crusaders  to  the  present  day  been  the 
landing-place  of  pilgrims  Avho  go  thence  to  Jeru- 
salem. The  population  amounts  to  not  far  from 
five  thousand  souls,  including  about  three  thousand 
Mohammedans,  six  hundred  Christians,  and  only 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  Jews  (von  Raum. 
p.  205).  The  city  is  A'ery  old,  built,  as  the  an- 
cients thought,  before  the  Flood  :  "  Est  Joppe  ante 
diluvium,  xit  ferunt  condita"  (Pomp.  Mela,  i.  11); 
"  Joppe  Phanicum  anliquior  terrarum  innndatione,  ut 
ferunt"  (Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  v.  13)  [apad  von  Rau- 
mer,  p.  204).  On  the  east  the  town  is  surrounded 
by  a  Avide  circle  of  gardens  and  groves  of  noble 
trees.  Oranges,  almonds,  figs,  apricots,  peaches, 
pomegranates,  apples  and  plums,  sugar-cane  and 
cotton,  all  flourish  admirably  here  (Furrer,  pp.  6, 
7).  Even  to  these  gardens  extended,  according  to 
the  passage  before  us,  the  territory  of  Dan.  Con- 
cerning Joppa,  comp.  further,  Ritter,  xvi.  574  ff. 
[Gage's  transl.  iv.  253-259]),  Winer  in  the  Real- 
woiterbiich,-  Robinson,  i  Tobler,  Wanderung,  and 
Nazareth,  nebst  Anhang  u.  s.  iv.,  p.  302.  This 
author  found  civilization  so  far  advanced  there  in 
1865  that  houses  Avere  numbered,  and  "  in  genuine 
Arabic  numerals,"  and  their  "  gates  named,  e.  g. 
Tarif  el-Baher,  Se.a-gate." 

And  the  border  of  the  children  of  Daa  went 
out  from  them,  i.  e.  the  children  of  Dan  extended 
their  territory  as  is  related  in  Judg.  xviii;  not, 
however,  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  but  rather, 
after  having  through  five  scouts  become  satisfied 
of  the  feasibility  of  their  undertaking  (Judg.  xviii. 

7-10),  at  the  foot  of  Anti-Lebanon  in  Laish  (t^''')7, 

Judg.  XA-iii.  7,  27),  or  C^rV)  as  the  place  is  called 

1  [Robinson  gives  no  original  informatioa  coacerning 
Joppa  I  see  iii.  31,  note.  — Tr.] 


CHAPTER  XX. 


163 


in  the  latter  half  of  our  verse.  The  reason  for 
this  migration  lay  in  the  pressure  of  the  Amorites 
who  did  not  allow  the  Danites  to  spread  them- 
selves in  the  plain  (Judg.  i.  34).  With  the  peace- 
ful and  quiet  Siiloniaus  they  were  able  more 
easily  to  deal  and  then  conquer  them  also.  For 
the  children  of  Dan  went  up  to  fight  against 
Leshem,  and  took  it.  and  smote  it  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword,  and  possessed  it,  and  dwelt 
therein,  and  called  Leshem  Dan,  after  the 
name  of  Dan  their  father.  This  Leshem  or  Lais 
which  was  called  Dan  by  the  Danites,  and  perpro- 
lepsin,  is  called  so  also  in  Gen.  xiv.  14,  is  preserved 
in  the  present  name  of  the  place,  Tel  el-Kadi  (hill  of 

the  judge),  hill  of  Dan,  for  X^  means  judge,  as 
Wilson,  ii.  172,  apud  von  Raumer,  p.  125,  Rem. 
24  a,  has  pointed  out,  and  with  this  Gen.  xlix.  16 
may  be  compared.  It  is  a  pleasant  green  hill  of 
not  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  feet  in  height  on 
the  north  side,  while  toward  the  south  it  falls  off 
to  a  considerably  greater  depth  (Furrer,  p.  365, 
366).  Furrer  saw  no  trace  of  an  ancient  city  ex- 
cept some  heaps  of  stones  near  the  southwest 
edge.  The  same  traveller  describes  very  vividly 
the  capture  of  Leshem  by  the  Danites,  p.  367. 
Comp.  Robinson,  iii.  351,338  ;  Later  Bibl.  R''s.  p. 
392  ;  Ritter,  xv.  p.  207  (Gage's  transl.  ii.  204-207 J , 
von  Raumer,  p.  125.  The  name  was  most  famil- 
iar from   the    expression   "from   Dan   to   Beer- 


sheba,"  Judg.  xx.  1 ;  1  Sam.  iii.  20 ;  xxx.  30  ;  2 
Sara.  xvii.  11.  Jeroboam  established  here  the  wor- 
ship of  tlic  calves,  the  "  Neo-Israelitish  worship," 
1  K.  xii.  28,  29.  Jehu  was  still  devoted  to  it,  2  K. 
x.  29  ;  Am.  viii.  13,  14.  May  not  the  old  name 
Leshem  have  been  retained  in  that  of  the  middle 
source  of  the  Jordan,  el-Leddan  (Keil,  i.  2,  p.  53)  'i 

i.  Ch.  xix.  49,  50.  Joshua's  Possession.  Ac- 
cording to  his  desire,  the  moderation  of  which  has 
already  been  alluded  to,  ch.  xvii.  14  ff.,  Joshua  re- 
ceived, after  the  land  had  been  divided,  Timnath- 
serah  (remaining  portion,  Gesen.),  or  Timnath- 
heres  (portion  of  the  sun),  as  a  possession,  on 
Mount  Epliraim.  There  on  the  mountain  Gaash 
was  he  buried,  ch.  xxiv.  30  ;  Judg.  ii.  8,  9.  It  is 
now  Tibneh  between  Gophnah  and  el-Mejdel, 
first  discovered  by  Smith  in  1843  on  an  affluent  of 
the  Wady  Belat.  The  ruins  are  of  considerable 
importance ;  the  tombs  there  are  similar  to  the 
royal  tombs  at  Jerusalem  {Bib.  Sacra,  1843,  p. 
484  ff.  in  von  Raumer,  p.  166).  Robinson,  Later 
Bibl.  Res.  p.  141.  Ritter,  xvi.  p.  562  ff.  [(page's 
transl.  iv.  246  f.].  Tiie  place  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  Timnath  (ver.  43)  ch.  xv.  10. 

k.  Ch.  xix.  51.  Conclusion.  This  general  re 
mark  in  closing  the  narrative,  directly  refers,  hy 
the  statement  that  the  division  was  made  in  Shi- 
loh,  only  to  ch.  xviii.  I,  because  there  the  majority 
of  the  tribes  had  received  their  portions. 


4.  Appointment  of  the  Cities  of  Refuge. 

Chapter   XX. 

a.  The  Command  of  God  to  Joshua. 

Chapter  XX.    1-6. 


1  The  Lord  also  [And  Jehovah]  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying.  Speak  to  the  children 

2  [sons]   of  Israel,  saying,  Appoint  out   [Appoint]   for  you   [the]   cities  of  refuge, 

3  whereof  I  spake  unto  you  by  the  hand  of  Moses  :  that  the  slayer  that  killeth 
[smiteth]  any  person  unawares  [by  mistake]   and  unwittingly,  may  flee  thither 

4  and  they  shall  be  your  refuge  from  the  avenger  of  blood.  And  when  he  that  doth 
flee  unto  one  of  those  cities  shall  stand  at  the  entering  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and 
shall  declare  his  cause  [sjieak  his  words]  in  the  ears  of  the  elders  of  that  city,  they 
sliall  take  him  into  the  city  unto  them,  and  give  him  a  place,  that  he  may  dwell 

5  among  them.  And  if  the  avenger  of  blood  pursue  after  him,  then  they  shall  not  de- 
liver the  slayer  up  into  his  hand  ;  because  he  smote  his   neighbor  unwittingly,  and 

i6  hated  him  not  beforetime.  And  he  shall  dwell  in  that  city,  until  he  stand  before 
the  congregation  for  judgment,  and  until  the  death  of  the  high  priest  that  shall  be 
in  those  days  :  then  shall  the  slayer  return,  and  come  unto  his  own  city,  and  imto 
his  own  house,  unto  the  city  from  whence  he  fled, 

h.  Fulfillment  of  this  Command. 

Chapter  XX.  7-9. 

7  And  they  appointed  [consecrated]  Ivedesh  in  Galilee  in  mount  Naphtali,  and 
Shechem  in  mount  Ephraim,  and  Kirjath-arba,  (which  is  Hebron)  in  the  mountain 

8  of  Jitdah.  And  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan  by  Jericho  eastward,  they  assigned 
[appointed  ver.  2]  Bezer  in  the  wilderness  upon  the  plain  [the  table  land]  out  of 
the  tribe  of  Reuben,  and  Ramoth  in  Gilead  out  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  and  Golan  in 


164 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Bashaii  out  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseli.  These  were  the  cities  appointed  [prop,  of 
apjDointmeut]  for  all  the  children  of  Isi'ael,  and  for  the  stranger  [sojourner]  that 
sojourneth  among  them,  that  whosoever  killeth  [smiteth]  any  person  at  unawares 
[by  mistake]  might  fiee  thither,  and  not  die  by  the  hand  of  the  avenger  of  blood; 
until  he  stood  before  the  congregation. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ch.  XX.  contains  the  desio-nation  of  tlie  free  cities 
for  homicides  as  Moses  had  ahx-ady  (Num.  xxxv. 
9-.34  ;  Ueut.  xix.  1-13)  ordained.  There  wore  to 
he  six  of  them  (Num.  xxxv.  6,  13  ;  Dent.  xix.  3-9) 
and  they  were  taken  from  the  number  of  the  Le- 
vitical  cities  (Num.  xxxv.  6).  The  way  to  them 
must  be  prepared  (Dent.  xix.  3),  that  the  fugitive 
might  as  quickly  as  possible  reach  his  asylum. 

a.  Ch.  XX.  1-6.    God's  Command  to  Joshua,  vers. 

I,  2.  Recollection  of  the  ordinance  established  by 
God  through  Moses  (Num.  xxxv.  9  fF. ;  Dent.  xix. 
5  tf".,  with  which  Gen.  ix.  5ff.,  and  Ex.  xxi.  12-14 
maybe  further  compared).     The  cities  are  called 

rsbpxan  'v.  The  root  t^^i^  signifies  ( 1 . )  to  draw 
together,  to  contract  ones  self,  ( 2. )  to  draw  in,  hence 
to  receive  (a  fugitive),  as  in  the  Glial.  (Gesen.) 
[The  meaning  of  the  noun  comes  near  to  asylum] . 

Ver.  3.     In  these  cities  the  man-sUiyer  (0'."^"^) 

from  '^^'^j  prop.  "  to  break  or  crush  in  pieces") 

might  flee,  yet  only  the  one  who  smote  (nSip)   a 

soul  hi/  mistake  (n33t£'3,  from  ^SK?,  to  go  astray, 

to  err,"  for  which  in  Num.  xxxv.  22,  ^Or??    [i'l 

a  twinkling]  stands).  Knobel  remarks  on  n2Dt^'2, 

on  Lev.  iv.  2  :  "  This  expression,  as  well  as  3.^tt7 

and  nHti7,  occurs  in  reference  to  transgressions  of 
the  divine  law  which  are  committed  without  con- 
sciousness of  their  being  unlawful,  and  which  are 
only  afterwards  recognized  as  sins  (vers.  13,  22,  27, 
V.  18;  xxii.  14),  e.g.,  of  sins  of  the  congregation 
without  their  knowledge  (Num.  xv.  24  ff.),  or  even 
of  unlawful  conduct  which  has  resulted  from  some 
weakness,  carelessness  (ch.  v.  15),  or  ivhich  ivus 
occasioned  In/  some  unfortunate  accident  (Num.  xxxv. 

II,  1.5,  22  f.';  .Josh.  xx.  3,  9).  Hence  it  stands  in 
general  for  unpremeditated  sins  in  opposition  to 

HttT  "T^?,  i.  e.,  violent  intentional  sins,  which 
must  be  punished  with  death  (Num.  xv.  27-31), 
and  could  not  be  expiated  M'ith  sacrifices."     Thus 

it  is  added  here  also,  uawittingly  (n3?'T"'^7Q2, 
without  his  knowing  it).  Now  for  those  who  had 
slain  any  person  by  mistake,  without  intending  it, 
these  cities  should  be  for  a  refuge  from  the  avenger 

of  blood.  He  is  C^H  VN3,  LXX.  o  ayxt<^r€vaiv 
Tb  aifxa  {ayxtcrrevs,  whence  ayx^o'Tevoo,  is  the  near- 
est of  kin,  according  to  Ainmonius  the  one  en- 
titled to  the  heirship,  difi'erent  from  avyyevels, 
who  liavc  no  such  right,  and  from  oIkuoi,  related 
by  marriage,  Herod,  x.  80.  The  word  ayxiffTevw 
occurs  fre(|uently  in  the  LXX.  still  also  iu  Isicus, 
Orat.  Att.il,  11,  and  in  Eurip.  Track.  243).   Vulg.  : 

ultorsanc^iinis.  'S3  signifies  properly  to  demand 
back,  reclaim  what  l>elongs  to  one,  hence,  in  con- 
nection with  C"iJ,  to  require,  revenge  the  blood 
which  has  been  stolen  ])y  the  murderer.  As  such 
a  reclamation  in  reference  to  real  estate  belonged 
fo  the  family  (Lev.  xxv.  35;  Ruth  iv.  4-6),  so 


that  they  alone  had  a  light  to  repurchase  it ;  so 
also  the  reclamation  for  the  blood  of  a  member  of 
a  family  was  a  duty  of  the  family,  and  tliey  alone 
had  a  right  in  regard  to  it.  Precisely  so  was  it  with 
the  duty  of  marrving  a  brother's  widow  (Deut. 
xxv.  5;"  Matt,  xx'ii.   23  flf.  ;  Mark  xii.   19;  Luke 

XX.  28)  which  is  expressed  Ruth  iii.  13  by  ^^3. 
On  the  custom  itself  of  vengeance  for  blood  [the 
vendetta],  see  the  Theological  and  Ethical. 

Ver.  4.  More  particular  directions,  not  given 
in  the  passages  of  the  Pentateuch,  how  the  man- 
slayer  should  proceed  on  his  arrival  at  the  free 
city.  He  must  remain  standing  at  the  entering 
of  the  gate  of  the  city,  i.  e.  ante  portaiii  (Vulg.), 
and  state  his  case  before  the  ears  of  the  elders  of 

that  city.  Then  they  shall  gather  him  (^-pS^) 
into  the  city,  and  shall  give  him  a  place,  that 
he  may  dwell  among  them,  i.  e.  assign  to  him 
a  habitation. 

Vers.  5,  6.  He  might  not  be  delivered  to  the 
avenger  of  blood,  but  might,  according  to  ver.  6, 
to  the  congregation,  that  is,  as  appears  from  Num. 
xxxv.  24  if.,  to  the  congregation  of  his  own  city, 
who  should  hold  judgment  upon  him,  and  either, 
if  they  found  him  guilty,  give  him  up  to  the 
avenger  of  blood,  or,  if  they  esteemed  him  innocent, 
send  him  back  to  the  city  of  refuge,  where  he  must 
remain  until  the  death  of  the  anointed  high-priest 
(Num.  xxxv.  25),  that  is,  of  the  ruling  high-priest. 
After  the  death  of  the  latter  there  follows,  some- 
what as  upon  the  death  of  an  anointed  prince,  an 
amnesty,  and  the  man-slayer  is  at  liberty  to  return 
to  his  home.  If,  however,  he  presumptuousl}^  leaves 
his  asylum  sooner,  he  is  exposed  to  the  anger  of 
the  avenger  (Num.  xxxv.  26,  28). 

b.  Ch.  XX.  7-9.  Fuljillment  of  this  Command, 
ver.  7.    They  consecrated  to  this  use  six  cities. 

t2?''"lpri,  as  Keil  rightly  notices,  is  not  merely  to 
set  apart,  but  to  set  apart  something  to  a  holy  des- 
tination from  the  remaining  mass  of  things.  "  The 
free  cities  "  as  Rauke  says  ( Unteisucli.  iiher  den 
Pentateuch,  ii.  316,  apud  Keil,  pp.363),  "are  in- 
tended to  keep  the  people  and  land  of  Jehovah  pure 
from  blood  guiltiness.  They  exist  as  a  monument 
of  Jehovah's  love  for  his  chosen."  Hence  not  cities 
at  random  but  Levitical  cities  were  chosen  (Num. 
xxxv.  6). 

Kedesh    in    Galilee.      Ch.   xii.    22;  xix.  37. 

v"*?!,  from    ''  /|,  signifies  a  ring,  Estli.  i.  6  ;  Cant. 

v.  14,  then  circle,  section  of  land,  like  ^^3.  In 
particular  it  is  a  circuit  of  twenty  cities  (1  K.  ix. 

11)  in  the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  ^^  't-*'  within  whose 
borders  many  heathen  still  dwelt,  and  licnce  called. 

Is,  viii.  13,  D'^ISn  2  (comp.  Matt.  iv.  15,  ToAfAaia 
rav  fOvcvv).  From  it  the  name  (Talilee,  which  oc- 
curs in  the  translytion  here  and  in  ch.  xxi.  32,  has 
been  formed.  Shechem,  ch.  xvii.  7.  Kirjath- 
artaa,  ch.  xv.  13.  The  three  cities  of  refuge  west 
of  the  Jordan  thus  la}'  so  distributed  that  one 
(Kedesh)  was  found  in  the  north,  one  (Shechem) 
in  the  centre,  and  one  (Kirjatl;-arba  =  Hebron )i 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  lanij. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


165 


Ver.  8.  East  of  the  Jordan  there  are  likewise 
three  which  Moses  had  ah'eadj  (Deut.  iv.  41-43) 
f^talilished. 

Bezer,  jierhaps  identical  with  Bozra  (Jcr.  xlviii. 
24),  but  not  to  be  identitied  more  particularly,  al- 
thou<^]i  we  may,  as  Knobel  remarks  on  Num.  xxxii. 
38,  compare  the  place  of  ruins  Burazin,  some  way 
east  of  Heshbon  in  the  plain  (Robinson,  App.  p. 
170),  or  Berza  (Robinson,  ibid,}. 

Ramoth  in  Gilead,  the  same  city  which  is  called, 
ch.  xiii.  26,  Ramath-Mizpeh,i  now,  as  was  shown  at 
the  jjlace  cited  (com p.  also  Knobel  on  Num.  xxxii. 
42,  p.  183),  cs-Salt,  and  tlierefore  not  to  be  placed  so 
far  northward  as  on  Menke's  Map  iii. ;  comp.  Gen. 
<:xxi.  49. 

Golan  in  the  country  of  Gaulanitis  (Jaulan) 
not  yet  discovered  by  modern  travellers,  but  in  the 
time  of  Eusebius  and  Jerome  called  a  Kwjj.r)  n^yiari) 
and  villa  prmjrandis.  Since  Ramoth  in  Gilead  lay 
in  the  middle  of  the  land,  Bezer  probably  in  the 
south,  and  Golan  in  the  north,  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  similarlj'^  fit  distribution  of  the  cities  to  that 
which  we  have  noticed  in  West  Palestine.  But 
while  they  were  enumerated  there  from  north  to 
south,  these  are  mentioned,  as  in  Deut.  iv.  43,  in 
the  opposite  order. 

Ver.  9,  These  were  the  cities  appointed,  — 

TTTl^-iarr    ^^27,    the  Vulgate,  rightly :   civita.tes 

constitutce,  cities  of  appointment  (from  "^?^?  to  ap- 
point), i.  e.,  which  were  appointed  in  order  that 
every  one  ....  might  flee  thither ;  Kimchi,  in- 
accurately ;  urbes  coni/regationis  (with  reference  to 

the  signification  of  "^V^i  in  Niph.);  Gesen.,  not 
precisely  :  iirbes  asjili,  for  in  that  view  they  are 

called,  ver.  3,  '^^^^T3  '!??•  Luther  [and  Eng. 
Vers,]  translated  quite  rightly :  these  were  the  cities 
appointed  iov  all  the  children  of  Israel,  etc. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

So  long  as  no  organized  commonwealth  exists 
among  a  people,  a  common  consciousness  of  right 
develops  itself  first  in  that  sphere  of  society  whicli 
is  immediately  given  by  the  divine  order  of  nature 
—  the  family.  It  will  therefore  interpose  when  the 
right  of  one  of  the  members  is  violated,  whether 
in  the  loss  of  material  goods  through  i-obbery,  or 
by  injury  to  body  and  life.  So  we  find  vengeance 
for  blood,  not  only  among  the  Hebrews,  Arabs, 
Persians,  but  also  among  the  Greeks,  with  the 
Germanic  and  Slavic  peoples,  in  the  infancy  of 
their  develo])ment,  as  now  among  savage  nations. 
The  theocratic  legislation  found  the  custom  existing, 
and  sought,  without  attempting  to  abolish,  to  restrain 
it.     This  purpose  was  served  by  the  free  cities,  as 

1  [Osbort's  large  map  makes  them  distinct  places.  —  Th.] 


also  by  the  other  restricting,  appointments  in  the 
passages  of  the  law  quoted  above,  as  well  as  in 
this  passage.  It  deserves  to  be  carefully  consid- 
ered also,  that  according  to  the  view  of  the  0. 
T.,  in  a  case  of  manslaughter,  not  merely  the 
family  to  which  the  slain  man  belonged  was  in- 
jured, but  God  himself  in  whose  image  man  was 
created  (Gen.  ix.  6).  On  this  account  the  real 
avenger  of  blood,  as  is  said  just  before,  is  God 
himself  (Gen.  ix.  5;  Ps.  ix.  13;  2  Chron.  xxiv. 
22).  He  avenges  the  murdered  man  even  on 
brutes  (Gen.  ix.  5;  Ex.  xxi.  28,  29).  Since  God 
is  wronged  in  intentional  murder,  even  the  altar 
itself  aftbrds  no  protection  to  the  slayer  (Ex.  xxi. 
14),  ransom  is  not  allowed  (Num.  xxxv.  31),  the 
land  even  is  defiled  and  cannot  be  purified  from 
the  blood  which  has  been  shed  in  it,  without  the 
blood  of  him  who  has  spilled  it  (Num.  xxxv.  33). 
The  legislation  of  the  O.  T.  is,  therefore,  on  this 
side,  much  stricter  than  the  Greek,  Roman,  or 
German  idea  of  right.  These  allowed  ransom,  and 
regarded  consecrated  places  as  places  of  asylum 
even  for  the  intentional  mui'derer  (comp.  Winer, 
Realm.,  art.  "  Frcistatt").  On  the  other  hand,  it 
appears  much  more  humane  and  equitable  in  re- 
garding God  himself  as  the  proper  avenger  (see 
Gen.  ix.  5  fi",  and  comp.  Lange  on  the  passage), 
in  distinguishing  between  premeditated  and  unin- 
tentional homicide,  and  in  requiring  punishment 
of  the  perpetrator  only,  not  at  all  of  his  relations. 
Comp.  on  this  subject  the  art.  "Blutracher "  by 
Oehler  in  Herzog's  liealencyk.  ii.  260  if.,  also  Winer, 
art.  "  Blutriicher,"  Keil,  Com.  on  .Josh,  in  loc,  [and 
Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  arts.  "  Blood,  Avenger 
of,"  and  "  Cities  of  Refuge."  —  Tr.] 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  chapter  is  suitable  to  be  treated  as  a  Bible 
lesson,  to  show<  with  reference  to  the  passages 
Gen.  ix.  5  ff. ;  Ex.  xxi.  12-14;  Num.  xxxv.  9  ff. ; 
Deut.  xix.  1  ff.,  how  solemnly  and  strictly,  and  at 
the  same  time  how  justly  and  mildly,  the  0.  T. 
legislation  spoke  concerning  violence  to  human 
life  ;  how  it  in  part  clung  still  to  the  patriarchal 
institutions,  but  in  part  prepared  for  a  better  order ; 
in  particular,  how  this  arrangement  for  free  cities 
put  a  check  on  family  revenge,  and  endless,  bloody 
quarrels.  Eor  the  practical  application,  the  fol- 
lowing comments  of  Starke  give  hints  :  The  name 
of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower  and  safe  refuge  ;  the 
righteous  flee  thereto  and  are  protected,  Pi'ov.  xviii. 
19  ;  Ps.  xviii.  2,  3.  —  The  blood  of  a  man  is  highly 
esteemed  before  God ;  he  who  sheds  it  has  God's 
wrath  upon  him.  Gen.  iv.  10 ;  ix.  6 ;  Gal.  v.  21 ; 
Rev.  xxii.  1.5.  —  God  has  no  pleasvxre  in  sin,  Ps.  v 
5,  nor  delight  in  the  death  of  the  sinner,  Ezek.  xviii. 
23,  24. 


1(56  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


5.  Appointment  of  the  Cities  for  the  Priests  and  Levites. 

Chapter  XXI. 

a.  Demand  of  the  Levites  that  Cities  should  be  given  them. 
Chapter  XXI.  1-3. 

1  Then  [And]  came  near  the  heads  of  the  fathers  of  the  Levites  unto  Eleazar  the 
j^riest,  and  unto  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  and  xxnto  the  heads  of  the  fathers  of  the 

2  tribes  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel ;  And  they  [omit :  they]  spake  unto  them  at 
Shiloh  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  saying,  The  Lord  [Jehovah]  commanded  by  the 
hand  of  Moses  to  give  us  cities  to  dwell  in,  with  the  suburbs  [and  their  pasture- 
grounds  ;  De  Wette  :  their  circuits  ;  Bunsen  :  common-pastures  ;  Knobel :  driving- 

3  grounds]  for  our  cattle.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  gave  unto  the  Levites 
out  of  their  inheritance  [possession],  at  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  [JehovahJ, 
these  cities  and  their  suburbs  [pasture-grounds]. 

h.  General  Account  of  the  Levitical  Cities. 
Chapter  XXI.   4-8- 

4  And  the  lot  came  out  for  the  families  of  the  Kohathites  :  and  the  children  [sons] 
of  Aaron  ^  the  priest,  lohich  were  of  the  Levites,  had  by  lot  out  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon  [the  Simeonitcs],  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Ben- 

5  jamin,  thirteen  cities.  And  the  rest  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Kohath  had  by  lot  out 
of  the  families  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  and  out  of  the 

6  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  ten  cities.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Gershon  had  by  lot 
out  of  the  families  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Asher,  and  out 
of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  and  out  of  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  in  Bashan,  thirteen 

7  cities.  The  children  [sons]  of  Merari  by  their  families  had  out  of  the  tribe  of 
Reuben,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  twelve  cities. 

8  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  gave  by  lot  unto  the  Levites  these  cities  with 
[and]  their  suburbs  [pasture-grounds],  as  the  Lord  commanded  by  the  hand  of 
Moses. 

TfiXTDAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  4.     S  "^3117  '^n''*),  strictly  :  and  there  were  for  the  sons  of  Aaron  ....  by  the  lot  thirteen  cities.     And 
to  through  the  following  verses  to  the  7th  inclusive.  —  Te.] 

c.  Cities  of  the  Children  of  Aaron  (Cities  of  the  Priests). 

Chapter  XXI.     9-19. 

9  And  they  gave  out  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah,  and  out  of  the 
tribe  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Simeon,  these  cities  which  are  here  mentioned  by 

10  name  [which  were  called  by  name],  Which  the  children  [sons]  of  Aaron,^  being  of 
the  families  of  the  Kohathites,  who  were  of  the  children  of  Levi,  had :  for  theirs 

11  was  the  first  lot.     And  they  gave  them  the  city  of  Arba  the  fixther  of  Anak  (which 
city  is  Hebron)  in  the  \\\\\-country  [on  the  mountain]  of  Judah,  with  the  suburbs 

12  thereof  [and  its  pasture-grounds]  round  about  it.     But  [And]  the  fields  of  the  city, 
and  the  villages  thereof,  gave  they  to  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh  for  [in]  his  pos- 

13  session.     Thus  [And]  they  gave  to  the  children  of  Aaron  the  priest,  Hebron  with 
her  suburbs,  to   he  a  city  [the  city]  of  I'efuge^  for  the  slayer;  and  Libnah  with 

14  her    suburbs.  And  Jattir  with   her    suburbs,    and   Eshtenaoa    with   her    suburbs, 

15  16  And  Holon  with  her  suburbs,  and  Debir  with  her  suburbs,  And  Ain  with  her 
sxxburbs,  and  Juttah  with  her  suburbs,  and  Beth-shemesh  with  her  suburbs  ;  nine 

17  cities  out  of  those  two  tribes.     And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Bcnjaxnin,  Gibeon  with  her 

18  suburbs,  Geba  with  her  suburbs,  Anathoth  with  her  suburbs,  a^d  Almon  with  her 

19  suburbs  ;  four  cities.  All  the  cities  of  the  children  of  Aarqa,  the  priests^  were 
thirteen  cities  with  their  suburbfs. 


CHAPTER  XXI.  167 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  10.  S  "'IJJ^^  "TT^I,  as  in  verse  4,  properly  :  And  there  was  for  the  sons  of  Aaron  [sc.  the  lot,  see  exeg.  note], 
or.  there  were  [the  cities].  The  subject  in  any  case  has  to  be  supplied,  on  account  of  the  parenthesis  at  the  end  of  the 
verse.  —  Tb.] 

[2  Ver.  13.  Hebron  the  city  of  refuge  for  the  slayer,  and  its  pasture-grounds.  It  may  be  remarked,  once  for  all,  that 
"suburbs"  in  the  version,  should  uuit'ormly  throughout  the  chapter  be  understood  in  the  sense  which  we  have  hitherto 
indicated  by  substituting  "  pasture-grounds."     The  "  with  "  which  precedes  it  should  as  uniformly  be  "and."  —  Tr.] 

d.  Cities  of  the  remaining  Kohathites. 
Chapter  XXL  20-26. 

20  And  the  families  of  the  chiklren  of  Kohath,  the  Levites  which  [who]  remained 
of  the  children  of  Kohath,  even  [omit :  even]  they  had  the  cities  of  their  lot  out 

21  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim.  For  [And]  they  gave  them  Shechem  with  her  suburbs 
in  mount  Ephraim,  to  be  a  city  [the  city]  of  refuge  ^  for  the  slayer  ;  and  Gezer 

22  with  her  suburbs,  And  Kibzaim  with  her  suburbs,  and  Beth-horon  with  her  sub- 

23  urbs  ;  four  cities.     And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  Eltekeh  with  her  suburbs,  Gib- 

24  bethon  with  her  suburbs,  Aijalon  with  her  suburbs,  Gath-rimmon  with  her  sub- 

25  ui'bs  ;    four  cities.     And   out  of   the  half-tribe   of   Manasseh,   Tanach  with    her 

26  suburbs,  and  Gath-rimmon,  with  her  suburbs  ;  two  cities.  All  the  cities  were  ten 
with  their  suburbs,  for  the  families  of  the  children  of  Kohath  that  remained. 

TEXTUAL    AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[  1  Ver.  21.  Heb.  nearly  as  in  ver.  13.  And  they  gave  them  the  city  of  refuge  for  the  slayer,  Shechem  and  its  pas- 
ture-grounds, on  Mount  Ephraim.  —  Tr.] 

e.  The  Cities  of  the  Gershonites  (comp.  ver.  6). 
Chapter  XXI.  27-33. 

27  And  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Gershon,  of  the  families  of  the  Levites,  out 
of  the  other  [omit :  other]  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  t/iej/  gave  Golan  in  Bashan  with 
her  suburbs,  to  be  a  city  of  refuge  for  the  slayer,^  and  Beesh-terah  with  her  sub- 

28  urbs  ;  two  cities.      And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  Kishon  with  her  suburbs, 

29  Dabareh  with  her  suburbs,  Jarmuth  with  her  suburbs,  En-gannim  with  her  sub- 

30  urbs  ;  four  cities.     And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Asher,  Mishal  with  her  suburbs,  Abdon 

31  with  her  suburbs,  Helkath  with   her  suburbs,  and  Rehob  with  her  suburbs  ;  four 

32  cities.  And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  Kedesh  in  Galilee  with  her  suburbs, 
to  be  a  city  of  refuge  for  the  slayer  ;  ^  and  Hammoth-dor  with  her  suburbs,  and 

33  Kartan  with  her  suburbs  ;  three  cities.  All  the  cities  of  the  Gershonites,  accord- 
ing to  their  families,  were  thirteen  cities  with  their  suburbs. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAM.MATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  27.  As  in  ver.  21 :  The  city  of  refuge  for  the  slayer,  Golan,  in  Bashan,  etc.  — Tr.] 
(•2  Ver.  32.  As  in  ver.  27.  —  Tr.] 

f.  The  Cities  of  the  IMerarites  (comp.  ver.  7). 
Chapter  XXI.  34-42. 

34  And  unto  the  families  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Merari,  the  rest  of  the  Levites, 
out  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  Jokneam  with  her  suburbs,  and  Kartah  with  her  sub- 

35  36  urbs,  Dimnah  with  her  suburbs,  Nahalal  with  her  suburbs  ;  four  cities.  And  out 
of  the  tribe  of  Reuben,  Bezer  with  her  suburbs,  and  Jahazah  with  her  suburbs, 

37  38  Kedemoth  with  her  suburbs,  and  Mephaath  with  her  suburbs  ;  four  cities.  And 
out  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  Ramotli  in  Gilead  with  her  suburbs,  to  be  a  city  of  refuge 

39  for  the  slayer  ;  ^  and  Mahanaim  with    her    suburbs,  Ileshbon  with  her    suburbs, 

40  Jazer  with  her  suburbs  ;  four  cities  in  all.  So  all  the  cities  [All  the  cities]  for 
the  children  [sons]  of  Merari  by  their  families,  which  were  remaining  of  the  fami- 

41  lies  of  the  Levites,  were  bi/  their  lot  twelve  cities.-     All  the  cities  of  the  Levites 


168 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


within  the  possession  of  the  children  of  Israel  ivere  forty  and   eight   citie&  with 

42  their  suburbs.  These  cities  were  every  one  with  their  suburbs  round  about  them. 
Thus  ivere  [So  to]  all  these  cities. 

TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMMATICAL 

[  1  Ver.  38.  As  in  vers.  27,  32.  —  Tr.] 

p  Ver.  40.  Ueb.  with  broken  construction :  and  their  lot  was  twelve  cities.  —  Tr.] 

g.  Conclusion. 
Chapter  XXL   43-46. 

43  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  gave  unto  Israel  all  the  land  which  he  sware  [had 

44  sworn]  to  give  unto  their  fathers  :  and  they  possessed  it,  and  dwelt  therein.  And 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  gave  them  rest  round  about,  according  to  all  that  he  sware 
[had  sworn]  unto  their  fathers  :  and  there  stood  not  a  man  of  all  their  enemies 
before   them ;  the   Lord  [Jehovah]   delivered  all  their  enemies  into  their  hand. 

45  There  failed  not  aught  of  any  good  thing  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  spoken 
unto  the  house  of  Israel ;  all  came  to  pass.  • 


exegetical  and  critical. 

The  chapter  contains  the  catalogue  of  the  Le- 
vitical  cities,  which  were  a])pointed  according  to 
the  regulations  already  given  by  Moses,  Num. 
XXXV.  i  ff.  There  were  forty-eight  of  them  in  all, 
of  which  six  were  at  the  same  time  (ch.  xx.)  cities 
of  refuge.  On  Kiepcrt's  Wall  Map  they  are  dis- 
tinguished by  a  colored  line  drawn  under  each  [on 
Clark's  Bible  Atlas  of  Maps  and  Plans,  by  being 
printed  in  small  capitals,  and  on  Menke's  by  a  dis- 
tinguishing mark]. 

The  list  of  the  Levitical  cities  is  given  also  in 
1  Chron.  vi.  .39-66,  with  several  in  part  easily  re- 
movable deviations,  due  probably,  as  Keil  sup- 
poses (ii.  1,  p.  156,  note),  to  another  documentary 
source.  The  chronicler  names  only  forty-two 
cities,  although  he  also  relates  ver.  45  ff.  that  the 
children  of  Aaron  had  received  thirteen,  the  other 
Kohathites  ten,  the  Gershonites  thirteen,  the  Me- 
rarites  twelve  cities,  in  all  therefore  forty-eight. 
Omitted  are  (1)  Jutta  in  Judah,  (2)  Gibeon  in 
Benjamin,  (3)  Eltekeh  in  Dan,  (4)  Gibbethon  in 
Dan,  (5)  .Jokneam  in  Zebulun,  (6)  Nahalal  in 
Zebulun.  Knobel  seeks  the  reason  in  mei-e  negli- 
gence on  the  part  either  of  the  chronicler  himself 
or  of  a  transcriber.  Judging  somewhat  more  leni- 
ently, we  may  find  the  explanation  in  an  oversight, 
well  deserving  excuse  amid  so  many  names.  If, 
further,  the  author  of  Chi'onicles  gives  to  some  ex- 
tent different  names,  many  of  them  exhibit  faulty 

readings,  as  "1?.^  for   Tf?l?ri  (ver.  25),  ti^TIl?-  for 

V^^i?  (ver.  29),  etc.,  but  others,  on  the  contrary, 

the  true  reading,  as  Vp"^  forl^V  (ver.  16),  D^^3 

for  'liaT'''^a    (ver.  25),   and    i3ia"1  for  PS^"^ 


(ver.  35).  In  other  places  he  shows  only  different 
forms  of  the  same  name,  as  the  examples  cited  by 

Keil,  ry^/?:^  for  V^^^,  b*^^tt  for  bs^^tt,  "jizsn 

for  "^S"^  nsn,  and  many  others  (Keil,  ?(i.  sup.). 
Some,  finally,  are  probably  different  designations 
of  the  same  city,  as  C^l?i7')Jbr  Q^^^i?,  riiCST 

for  n^a^^,  and  D2^  for  □'prr??  (1  Chron.  vi. 
53,  58  [Eng.  68,  73]  compared  with  Josh.  xxi.  22, 
29. 

a.  Vers.  1-3.  Demand  of  the  Levites  that  Cities 
should  be  given  to  them .  The  account  which  we  have 
here  of  the  application  of  the  heads  of  the  tribe 
(Ex.  vi.  14,  25)  reminds  us  of  ch.  xiii.  6,  where  it 
is  similarly  told  concerning  Caleb,  that  he,  accom- 
panied by  members  of  his  tribe,  brings  to  mind  the 
promise  that  had  been  given  him  by  Moses.  Cal- 
vin regards  it  as  probable  that  the  Levites  had 
been  forgotten,  adducing  in  support  of  this  :  "  Sic 
enim  accidere  solet,  dum  quisque  ad  saa  curanda  at- 
tentus  est,  utfratrum  obliviscatur."  Considering  the 
great  respect  in  which  their  fellow  tribesman  of 
that  day,  Eleazar,  was  held,  and  that  he  himself 
shared  in  the  distribution  of  the  land,  we  may 
much  rather  assume  with  Masius  (in  Keil,  p.  155), 
"  illos,  cum  res  ad  earn  opportunitatem  perductoi  fnis- 
sent,  accessisse  ad  dicisores  communi  saoriim  tribuVinm 
nomine  ut  designatas  ab  illis  urbes  sortireniiir."  They 
had  not  deemed  it  opportune  to  urge  their  claim 
before. 

b.  Vers.  4-8.  Account  of  the  Levitical  cities  in 
general.  According  to  Ex.  vi.  16-20,  and  Num.  iii. 
17-19,  compared  with  1  Chron.  v.  27-vi.  34  [Eng. 
vi.  1-49],  we  have  the  following  family-tree  for  the 
Levites,  to  keep  which  before  the  eyes  nmy  help  to 
understand  the  following  allotment :  — 


1.  Gcrshon. 


3.  Merari  (Ex.  vi.  16  ;  Num.  iii.  17). 


1.  Amram. 


2.  Izhar. 


3.   Hebron. 


4.  Uzziiil  (Ex.  vi.  18  ;  Num.  iii.  19). 


1,  Aaron. 


2.  Moses  (Hk.  vi.  20). 


Aaron's  posterity  received  the  i)riesthood,  Num.  |ap]iointed,  Num.  xvili.  3-6  (1  Chron.  vi.  33  [48]), 
sviii.  1,  2,  7  (1  Cliron.  vi.  49).  All  the  other  Le- 1  to  the  inferior  service  of  the  sanctuar3%  The  chil- 
fites,  hence  the  descendaiits  of  Moses  also,  were  |  dren  of  Israel,  according  to  Num.  xxxv.  6  ff.,  do 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


161; 


termincd  what  cities  the  fomilies  of  the  Levites 
should  receive,  hut  the  lot  decided  which  of  these 
sities  each  ])articular  family  should  have. 

Ver.  4.  Tlie  tirst  lot  came  out  for  the  families 
of  the  Kohathites,  and,  ainouL;-  these,  for  the 
sons  of  Aaron  the  priest,  of  the  Levites.  They, 
namely,  the  ])roj)er  jin'csts,  received  thirteen  cities 
in  the  territory  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  Simeon,  and 
Benjamin.  Upon  which  Calvin  remarks  :  "  Quod 
non  coiitigitjbrtuilo  eventii:  quia  Deits  pro  admlrabili 
suo  consilio  in  ea  sede  eos  locavit,  iibi  statuei'at  tem- 
plnm  sibi  elic/cre." 

Ver.  5.  The  other  Kohathites,  that  is,  the  pos- 
terity of  Izhar,  Hebron,  Uzziel,  and,  in  the  line  <>f 
Amram,  those  of  Moses,  shared  ten  cities  in  the 
land  of  Ephraim,  Dan,  and  Manasseh  west  of  the 
Jordan. 

Ver.  6.  The  Gershonites  received  eighteen  cities 
of  Issachar,  Asher,  Naphtali,  and  Manasseh  east 
of  the  Jordan. 

Ver.  7.  To  the  Merarites  were  allotted  twelve 
cities  out  of  Reuben,  Gad,  and  Zcbulun. 

c.  Vers.  9-19.  The  Cities  of  the  Sons  of  Aaron 
(cities  of  the  priests).  In  vers.  9-16  arc  mentioned 
the  cities  which  the  Aaronides  received  in  the  coun- 
try of  Simeon  and  Judah,  then  in  vers.  17-19  the 
four  cities  of  Benjamin.  That  they  had  so  many 
was  reasonable  in  view  of  the  future  increase  of 
the  posterity  of  Aaron. 

[Keil.  Bib!.  Comm.  ii.  1,  pp.  155, 156,  says  on  this 
topic  :  "  This  nifmber  for  the  cities  allotted  to  the 
Levites  will  not  appear  too  large  if  we  consider, 
that  (1)  most  of  the  cities  of  Canaan,  to  judge 
fr(im  the  great  number  in  so  small  a  country,  could 
not  have  been  very  large  ;  (2)  the  Levites  were  not 
the  sole  occupants  of  these  cities,  but  had  only  the 
necessary  abodes  in  them  for  themselves,  and  pas- 
ture for  their  cattle  in  the  vicinity,  while  the  re- 
maining space  was  for  the  other  tribes  ;  (3)  that 
the  twenty-three  thousand  male  persons  which  the 
Levites  numbered  in  the  second  census  in  the 
steppes  of  Moab,  when  distributed  among  thirty- 
five  cities,  would  give  to  each  six  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  males,  or  about  thirteen  hundred  male 
and  female  Levites.  On  the  other  hand,  the  allow- 
ance of  thirteen  cities  to  the  priests  has  raised  ob- 
jections tending  to  the  supposition  that,  since 
Aaron,  in  Joshua's  time,  could  scarcely  have  had 
so  numerous  a  jiosterity  from  his  two  remaining 
sons  as  to  till  two,  not  to  speak  of  thirteen  cities, 
therefore  the  catalogue  betrays  a  document  of  a 
much  later  date  (Maurer  and  others).  But  in  this, 
not  only  is  there  ascribed  to  those  who  effected  the 
division,  the  monstrous  short-sightedness  of  assign- 
ing to  the  priests  their  abodes  with  reference  merely 
to  tlicir  necessity  at  that  time,  and  without  regard 
to  their  future  increase,  but  also  of  having  taken 
the  size  of  the  cities  as  much  too  important,  and 
the  number  of  the  Levites  as  much  too  small. 
But  it  was  not  at  all  designed  that  the  cities  should 
be  filled  with  the  families  of  the  priests.  And 
although  the  poll-list  of  the  priests  then  living  is 
nowhere  given,  still,  if  we  remember  that  Aaron 
died  in  the  fortieth  year  of  the  exodus,  at  the  age 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  (Num. 
xxxiii.  38),  and  so  was  already  eighty-three  years 
old  when  they  left  Egypt,  it  will  appear  that  there 
might  be  now,  seven  years  after  his  death,  descend- 
ants of  the  fourth  generation.  But  his  two  sons 
had  twenty-four  male  offspring  who  founded  the 
twenty-four  classes  of  priests  instituted  by  David 
(1  Chron.  xxiv.).  If,  then,  we  allow  only  six 
males  respectively  to  each  of  the  following  genera- 
tions, the   third  generation  would   already  have 


I  numbered   one  hundred   and  forty-four  persons, 

who,  ranging  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  years 

j  of  age  at  the  distribution  of  the  land,  might  now 

j  have  had  eight  hundred  and  sixty-four  male  chil- 

'  dren.     Thus  the  total  number  of  male  persons  of 

■  the  priestly  class  might  at  that  time  have  amounted 

to  over  one  thousand,  or  to  at  least  two  hundred 

families." —  Tr.] 

Ver.  9.  The  cities  were  called  by  name,  that 
is,  they  indicated  them  by  their  names,  "  siiecified 
them  by  name  "  (Kuobel). 

Ver.  10.  The  subject  of  the  principal  sentence  is 
^'IIS,  which  must  be  supplied  from  the  parenthet- 
ical explanatory  sentence  ("for  theirs  was  the  first 
lot").  The  awkwardness  of  the  construction  re- 
minds us  of  ch.  xvii.  1. 

Vers.  11,  12.  The  first  city  named  is  Hebron, 
here  also  as  in  ch.  xv.  13,  and  often,  called  the  city 
of  Arba.    When  this  Arba  is  here  called  the  father 

of  Anok,  p13^,  hut  elsewhere  always  the  father  of 

Anak  (p35>  'Ej/cik),  the  ^^31?  is  undoubtedly  a 
mere  variety  of  pronunciation  of  the  same  name. 
The  A  sound  easily  passes  over,  in  the  German 
dialects  also   into  the  0  sound.     At  Hebron  the 

Levites  received,  besides  the  city,  only  D"^tt?n5^ 

(from  li^r^l,  to  drive),  the  "  drives,"  the  pasture- 
grounds,  but  not  the  tillable  land  which,  with  the 
villages  thereon,  belonged  to  Caleb  (ch.  xiv.  12). 

Compare  also  in  reference  to  the  D"'^^?^,  ver.  3, 
as  well  as  Num.  xxxv.  2.    . 

Ver.  13  repeats  the  sense  of  ver..  11  on  account 
of  the  parenthetical  remark  in  ver.  12.  Libnah 
(ch.  XV.  42;  x.  29);  Jattir  (ch.  xv.  48);  Eshte- 
moa  (ch,  xv.  50)  ;  Holon  (ch.  xv.  51 )  ;  Debir  (ch. 
xv.  15,  49 ;  X.  38) ;  Ain  (eh.  xv.  32) ;  Jutta  (ch. 
XV.  55)  ;  Bethshemesh  (ch.  xv.  10).  Of  the  cities 
so  far  enumerated  six,  Hebron,  Jattir,  Eshtemoa, 
Holon,  Debir,  Jutta,  lay  on  the  mountain  of  Judah  ; 
two,  Libnah  and  Beth-shemesh,  in  the  lowland,  to 
which  is  added  one  city  of  Simeon,  Ashan  in  the 

lowland  (l^^i  ch.  xv.  42  ;  xix.  7,  as   should  be 

read,  1  Chron.  vi.  44  (59),  instead  of  T^- 

Ver.  17  flF.  The  four  Levitical  cities  in  Benjamin, 
Gibeon  (ch.  ix  3  If. ;  x.  1  ff. ;  xviii.  25),  Geba  (ch. 
xviii.  24),  Anathoth,  and  Almon.  The  two  latter 
are  wanting  in  the  list  of  the  cities  of  Benjamin, 
and  are  therefore  still  to  be  spoken  of  here.     Ana 

thoth  (nin327),  Jeremiah's  birth-place  ( Jer.  i.  1 ; 
XX ix.  27),  whose  inhabitants,  however,  hated  hira 
(Jer.  xi.  21),  and  were  therefore  threatened  by  the 
indignant  prophet  (Jer.  xi.  22,  23),  lies  one  hour 
and  a  quarter  (Furrer  one  hour  and  seventeen 
minutes)  northeast  of  Jerusalem,  and  is  now  called 
Anata,  built  "  on  a  height  rising  a  little  above  the 
table-land."  As  traces  of  its  antiquity,  Furrer, 
who  made  a  trip  thither  from'  Jerusalem  (pji.  75- 
80),  found  in  a  house  stones  with  jointed  edges, 
three  feet  long  and  one  and  a  half  feet  wide  (p. 
77).  Robinson  (who  first  recognized  in  Anata  the 
ancient  Anathoth,  while  ecclesiastical  tradition  had 
chosen  for  it  another  site,  near  the  village  of 
Kuryet  el-Enab,  about  three  hours  from  Jerusalem 
on  the  road  to  Ramleh,  and  had  called  it  Jeremiic) 
also  notices  ancient  remains  of  walls,  and,  like 
Furrer,  praises  the  prospect  from  this  place  (Rob. 
ii.  109,  110;  Furrer,  p.  77).  The  statements  of 
Joseph.  (Ant.  x.  7,  3),  of  the  Onom.,  and  of  Jerome 
in  the  Comm.  in  Jtr.  1,  on  the  distance  of  Ana- 


170 


THF  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


thoth  from  Jerusalem  hiivc  been  provt  I  correct 
(see  von  Raumer,  p.  171).  Alinon  (]il^V^; 
Chron.  vi.  45  (60)  H^bl?),  now  Almit  (Rob.  Later 
Bibl.  Res.  287)  or  el-Mid,  as  Toblcr  writes  it 
(Dciikbl.  p.  631,  note  1),  situated  a  little  to  the 
northeast  of  Anathoth.  A  place  of  ruins. 
Ver.  19.  Thirteen  cities  in  all. 

d.  Vers.  20-26.  The  Cities  of  the  remaining  Ko- 
hafhites.  Of  these  thei'e  were  ten,  namely,  four  in 
Ephraim  (ver.  22),  four  in  Dan  (ver.  24),  two  in 
west  Manasseh  (ver.  2,5). 

Vers.  20-22.  a.  Four  Cities  in  Ephraim,  She- 
ehem  (ch.  xvii.  7),  Gezer  (ch.  x.  33;  xvi.  3), 
Kibzaim  (instead  of  which  1  Chron.  vi.  53  (68)  has 

^^Pi7^!  not  discovered.  That  Kibzaim  and  Jok- 
meam  may  be,  as  Knobel  and  Keil  suppose,  differ- 
ent names  of  the  same  place,  is  confirmed  perhaps 
by  the  fact  referred  to  by  Gesenius  in  his  Lex.,  that 

t^^PP^,  "  gathered  by  the  people,"  from  r.  •^^flj- 
and  D'^?5rp  from  V?!^?  to  collect,  cognate  with 
n^^Hp,  Ezek.  xxii.  20,  "  have  a  quite  similar 
etymology."  The  fourth  city  is  Beth-horon. 
"  Whether  the  upper  or  lower  city,  is  not  said " 
(Keil). 

Vers.  23,  24.  /3.  Four  Cities  in  Dan,  Eltekeh, 
Gibbethon  (ch.  xix.  44),  Aijalon  (ch.  x.  12  ;  xix. 
42),  Gath-rimmon  (ch.  xi.x.  45). 

Ver  25.  y.  'Two  Cities  in  West  Manasseh;  Ta- 
nach.  (ch.  xii.  21  ;  xvii.  11).      Gath-rimmon,  an 

old  mistake  in  copying  for  Cl?/^  (1  Chron.  vi. 
55  [70]),  that  is  Ibleam  (ch.  xvii.'ll). 
Ver.  26.  In  all,  ten  cities. 

e.  Vers.  27-33.  The  Cities  of  the  Gershonites. 
Thirteen,  again,  as  with  the  sons  of  Aaron  (vers. 
4,  19),  namely,  two  in  East  Manasseh  (ver.  2), 
four  in  Issachar  (ver.  28),  four  in  Asher  (ver.  30), 
three  in  Naphtali  (ver.  32). 

Ver.  27.  o.  Two  Cities  in  East  Manasseh.    Golan 

(ch.  XX.  8  ;  Dent.  iv.  43).  Beesh-tera  (n"nritp??3, 

cont.  from  n'n;71^'??-n''3,  that  is.  House  of  As- 

tarte;  called  1  Chron.  vi.  56  (71)  Hiiritt??'.  It 
was  plainly  a  city  with  a  temple  of  Astarte,  per- 
haps the  Ashteroth-Karnaim  mentioned  in  Gen. 
xiv.  5  as  the  residence  of  Og,  king  of  Bashan,  the 
site  of  which  cannot  now  be  determined.  In  any 
case,  we  must  not,  as  Keil  and  Knobel  observe, 
think  of  the  present  B,asra  in  the  east  of  Hanran 
(as  Rcland  does,  pp.  621,  662),  for  this  was  called 
even  from  ancient  times  B6<T(Topa,  Boiropd  (1  Mace. 

V.  26  ;  Joseph.  Ant.  xii.  8,  3),  hence  as  now  iT^^S, 
which  the  Greeks  and  Romans  corrupted  into 
BSarpc  (Knobel).  But  we  must  not  either  refer, 
as  Knobel  would,  to  a  Bostra  or  Bustra  on  Mount 
Hermon,  north  of  Banias,  since  the  territory  of 
the  tribes  did  not  extend  so  fiir  north.  Knobel, 
indeed,  assumes  this  when  he  discovers  Baal-gad 
in  Heliopolis ;  which  view  we  have  attempted  to 
disprove  in  ch.  xi.  17.  The  site  of  this  Beeshterah, 
therefore,  must  be  regarded  as  not  yet  ascertained. 
That  the  name  Beeshtera  should  occur  more  than 
once,  and  therefore  on  Mount  Hermon,  is  owing  to 
the  wide  spread  of  the  worship  of  Astarte  through 
that  region.  So  much  the  more  difficult  will  it  be 
to  make  out  the  situation  of  our  city. 

Ver.s.  28,  29.  ;3.  Four  Cities  in  Issachar:  Kashon 
(ch.  xix.  20),  Dabareh  (ch.  xix.  12),  Jarmuth, 
Bn-gaimim  (ch.  xix.  21). 


Vers.  30,  31.  y.  Four  Cities  in  Asher:  Mishal 
(ch.  xix.  26),  Abdon  (ch.  xix.  28),  Helkath  (ch. 
xix.  25),  Rehob  (eh.  xix.  28).     ■ 

Ver.  32.  5.  Three  Cities  in  Naphtali:  Kedesh 
(ch.  xix.  37),  Hammoth-dor,  called  Hammath  in 
ch.  xi.x.  35,  and  Hammon  in  1  Chron.  vi.,  61  (76), 

Kartan  (lj!j!l~'i7)  according  to  Keil  contracted  from 

V.i?'7P  =  C\n:;"ir;,  l  Chron.  vi.  61  (76),  like  Do- 
than,  2  K.  vi.  13,  from  Dothain,  Gen.  xxxvii.  17), 
not  named  among  the  cities  of  Naphtali.  Knobel 
says :  "  Perh.aps  Katanah,  with  ruins,  northeast 
from  Safed,"  in  Van  de  Velde,  Mem.  p.  147. 

Ver.  33.  Thirteen  cities  in  all. 
/  Vers.  34-42.  The  Cities  of  the  Merarites.  They 
acquired  twelve  cities  (ver.  40),  namely,  four  in  the 
tribe  of  Zebulun  (ver.  34),  four  in  the  tribe  of 
Reuben  (ver.  36),  and  four  in  the  tribe  of  Gad; 
mostly  therefore  in  eastern  Palestine. 

Vers.  34,  35.  a.  Four  Cities  in  Zebulun:  Jokneam 
(ch.  xii.  32;  xix.  11),  Kartah  (ch.  xix.  15),  Dim- 

nah,  perhaps  =  ""^^iT^"}  or  i^ilS"!  (ch.  xix.  13;  1 
Chron.  vi.  62).  So  Knobel  and  others.  Keil 
questions  the  identity,  because  in  the  passage 
quoted  from  the  Chronicles  the  text  is  undoubt- 
edly corrupt,  since  it  presents  not  four  but  only 
two  cities,  Rimmono  and  Tabor.  Nahalal  (ch.  xix. 
15).     Instead  of  this  Tabor,  1  Chron.  vi.  62. 

Vers.  36,  37.  /3.  Four  Cities  in  Reuben:  Bezer 
(ch.  XX.  8;  Dent.  iv.  43),  JahaSah,  Kedemoth, 
and  Mephaath  (ch.  xiii.  18).  Both  verses  are 
supported  by  the  majority  of  Codd.,  are  not  want- 
ing in  the  early  translations,  and  correspond  to 
the  statements  of  vers.  7,  40,  41 .  When  Rabbi 
Jacob  ben  Chasim  omitted  them  in  his  great  Rab- 
binic Bible  of  the  year  1525,  on  the  authority  of 
the  Masora,  he  proceeded  altogether  without  right, 
cf.  Knobel,  p.  474;  Keil,  Bibl.  Com.,  p.  155,  Anm. 
2  ;  and  Com.  on  Josh.,  p.  457,  note  ;  also  De  Rossi, 
Varice  Lectiones,  ad  h.  1.,  and  J.  H.  Michaelis,  note 
to  his  Heb.  Bib!.,  ed.  Halle  (ap.  Keil,  /.  c). 

Vers.  38,  39.  y.  Four  Cities  in  the  Tribe  of  Gad: 
Ramoth  in  Gilead  (ch.  xx.  8  ;  xiii.  26),  Maha- 
naim  (cli.  xiii.  26),  Heshbon  (ch.  xiii.  17),  Jazer 
(ch.  xiii.  25). 

Ver.  40.  Twelve  cities  in  all. 

Vers.  41,  42.  End  of  the  list  of  Levitical  cities. 
Tliere  were  forty-eight  of  them,  as  had  been  com- 
manded. Num.  XXXV.  6,  and  as  is  here  again  men- 
tioned.    Each  one  had  its  pasture-ground;  "^^^^ 

"^^^5  city  city,  i.  e.,  each  city  according  to  the 
manner  of  distributive  numerals,  Gesenius,  Gram. 
§  118,  5. 

g.  Vers.  42-45.  Conclusion.  He  refers  to  -what 
God  had  said  to  Joshua,  ch.  i.  2-6,  when  he  directed 
him  to  take  possession  of  the  land. 

Ver.  43.  Jehovah  gave  Israel  the  land  which  he 
had  sworn  to  their  fathers  (Gen.  xii.  7;  xv.  18; 
Num.  xi.  12;  xxxii.  11;  Dent.  xxxi.  21).  And 
they  possessed  it,  and  dwelt  therein.  The  same 
expression  is  used  ch.  xix.  47. 

Ver.  44.  And  he  gave  them  rest  round  about, 
as  he  likewise  had  sworn  to  their  fathers  (Ex. 
xxxiii.  14;  Deut.  iii.  20;  xxv.  19).  Their  ene- 
mies could  net  stand  against  them,  and  although 
these  were  not  yet  entirely  subjugated,  as  appears 
from  Judg.  i..  they  dared  no  enterprise  against  the 
Israelites  while  Joshua  lived  (Judg.  ii.  6  ff.).  As 
Rahab  said  to  the  spies  (ii.  9),  a  terror  had  fallen 
on  the  Canaanites. 

Ver.  45.    The  good  words  not  one  of  which 


CHAPTER  XXIT.  171 


failed  (^P^,  fell),  i.  «.,  remained  unfulfilled  (ch. 
xxiii.  14),  are  God's  pi'omises.  Comp.  on  this 
in  the  New  Testament,  2  Cor.  i.  20,  "'God  is  in  his 


promises  truthful,  and  keeps  them,  only  that  we 
through  unbelief  and  indifterence  ourselves  stand 
in  the  way,"  Osiander. 


SECTION    THIRD. 

The  Release  of  the  Two  and  a  Half  Transjokdanic  Tribes.    Joshua's  Farewell  Dis- 
COURSE.     His  Death  and  that  of  Eleazar. 

Chapters  XXII.-XXIV. 

1.   The  Release  of  the  Two  and  a  Half  Transjordanic  Tribes. 

Chapter  XXII. 

a.  Joshua's  Parting  Address. 

Chapter  XXII.  1-8. 

1  Then  Joshua  called  the  Eeubenites,  and  the  Gadites,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manas- 

2  sell,  And  said  unto  them,  Ye  have  kept  all  that  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  commanded  you,  and  have  obeyed  [hearkened  to]  my  voice  in  all  that  1 

3  commanded  you :  Ye  have  not  left  your  brethren  these  many  days  unto  this  day, 
but  [and]  have  kept  the  charge  of  [omit :  of]  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  [Je- 

4  hovah]  your  God.  And  now  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  hath  given  rest 
unto  your  brethren,  as  he  promised  [spoke  to]  them :  therefore  [and]  now  re- 
turn ye,  and  get  you  unto  your  tents,  and  [omit :  and]  unto  [into]  the  land  of  your 
possession,  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  gave  you  on  the  other 

5  side  [of  the]  Jordan.  But  [Only]  take  diligent  heed  to  do  the  commandment  and 
the  law,  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  charged  [commanded]  you, 
to  love  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  and  to  walk  in  all  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his 
commandments,  and  to  cleave  unto  him,  and  to  serve  him  with  all  your  heart,  and 

6  with  all  your  soul.     So  [And]  Joshua  blessed  them,  and  sent  them  away ;  and  they 

7  went  unto  their  tents.  Now  [And]  to  the  one  half  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  Moses 
had  given  possession  in  Bashan  :  but  [and]  unto  the  other  half  thereof  gave  Joshua 
among  their  brethren  on  this  [the  other]  ^  side  [of  the]  Jordan  westward.  And  [and 
also]  when  Joshua  sent  them  away  also  [omit :  also]  unto  their  tents,  then  he 

8  blessed  them,  And  he  [omit :  he]  spake  unto  them,  saying.  Return  with  much 
riches  unto  your  tents,  and  -with  very  much  cattle,  with  silver,  and  with  gold,  and 
with  brass,  and  with  iron,  and  with  very  much  raiment :  divide  the  spoil  of  your 
enemies  with  your  brethren. 

textual  and  grammatical. 

[1  Ver.  7.  —  "^5^^  ^^  "^r??5>  ^^-  ^'  ■^'  s^'^^P'  ^^^^  ^^^  latter  is  defined  by  TVG^  \  here  it  is  "on  (lit.  out  of)  the 
}ther  side  ''  vfith  reference  to  IJashan  east  of  the  Jordan,  which  has  just  been  mentioned.  —  Tb.] 

b.  Return  Homeward  of  the  Two  and  a  Half  Tribes.     Erection  of  an  Altar  on  the  Jordan. 

Chapter  XXII.  9,  10. 

9  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad,  and  the 
half-tribe  of  Manasseh  returned,  and  departed  from  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel 
out  of  Shiloh,  which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  to  go  unto  the  country  [into  the 
land]  of  Gilead,  to  the  land  of  their  possession,  whereof  they  were  possessed  [in 
which  they  had  possessions],  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  by  the 


172  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 

10  hand  of  Moses.  And  when  they  came  unto  the  borders  of  [into  the  ch-cles  ^  of 
the]  Jordan,  that  are  in  the  Lmd  of  Canaan,  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and 
the  ehihh'en  [sons]  of  Gad,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  built  there  an  altar  by 
[the]  Jordan,  a  great  altar  to  see  to  [an  altar  great  to  behold]. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  10.  —  *n  niv^  '3,  "circles,  circuit,  region  ; "'  see  the  exeg.  note.  Tliat  this  district  is  said  to  have  heeu 
In  the  ''laud  of  Canaan,"  which  is  in  general  strongly  distinguished  from  the  table-land  east  of  the  Jordan,  certainly 
favors  the  supposition  that  the  altar  in  question  was  erected  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Still  everything  else  is  agaiu^t 
it,  and  we  cannot  but  think  that  the  recent  commentators,  against  many  of  the  older  and  agaiust  Josephus,  have  tuj 
readily  assumed  that  it  was  so.  It  is  in  itself  highly  improbable  that  the  Gileadites  should  have  built  an  altar  with 
their  design  on  ground  not  belonging  to  them,  where  they  could  have  no  control  over  its  safety,  and  where  it  is  impos- 

Biblc  to  see  how  it  could  bear  witness  for  tliem.     And  the  expressions  in  ver.  11,  '3  \^"1^  ^^^" '^i  "  o^^r  against  the 

land  of  Canaan,"  and  W^  '^|33  "121/"  vS,  hoth  naturally  point  to  the  other  side,  and  can  only  with  a  degree  of  vie 
lence  be  understood  of  a  locality  in  the  fullest  sense  within  and  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  Consider  further  that  there  was 
no  mention  by  the  Israelites  of  simply  destroying  the  altar,  which  would  on  this  supposition  be  easy,  and  in  their  state 
of  mind  very  natural  (as  indeed  they  would  not  have  allowed  it  to  be  built  without  explanation  on  their  territory),  but 
that  the  ambassadors  must  pass  over  into  Gilead  to  treat  of  the  matter,  and  that  there  to  all  appearance  the  naming  of 
the  altiir  took  place,  and  there  will  appear  to  be  more  reasons  for  the  view  of  those  who  place  the  altar  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Jordan  than  against  it.  May  not  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  lie  in  the  extension  of  the  "land  of  Canaan,"  in 
ver.  10,  so  as  to  include  the  whole  of  the  Ghor  (ancient  Arabah),  overlooking  the  river,  for  the  moment,  as  a  boundary, 
and  making  the  boundary  between  Canaan,  the  "low  country,''  and  Gilead  to  be  the  wall  of  eastern  mountains  which 
fences  in  the  Jordan  A'allej  ?     This  being   conceded,  the  phrase    "over  against,"  quasi   "fronting,"  in  ver.  11,  and 

{i?^  2  "inl^'^S  (English  version,  "at  the  passage  of,"  etc.),  "  to  the  other  side  with  reference  to  the  sons  of  Israel," 
might  both  be  understood  in  their  most  usual  sense.  Certainly  some  notice  ought  to  he  taken  of  the  probabilities  for 
this  opinion.  —  Tr.] 

c.  Embassy  from  Israel  to  the  Two  and  a  Half  Tribes  on  account  of  the  Altar. 
Chapter  XXH.  11-20. 

11  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  heard  say,  Behold,  the  children  [sons]  of 
Reuben,  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  have  built 
an  [the]  altar  over  against,  the  land  of  Canaan,^  in  the  borders  [circles]  of  [the] 

12  Jordan,  at  the  passage  of  [opposite  to]  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel.  And  when 
the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  heard  of  it,  the  whole  congregation  of  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel  gathered  themselves  together  at  Shiloh,  to  go  up  to  war  against 

13  them.  And  the  children  [sous]  of  Israel  sent  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben, 
and  to  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad,  and  to  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  into  the  land 

14  of  Gilead,  Phinehas  the  son  of  Eleazar  the  priest.  And  with  him  ten  princes,  of  each 
chief  house  "^  a  prince  throughout  [for]  all  the  tribes  of  Israel ;  and  each  one  was 
an  [a]  head  of  the  house  of  their  fathers  [the  head  of  their  chief  houses]  ^  among 
the  thousands  of  Israel. 

15  And  they  came  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and  to  the  children  [sons] 
of  Gad,  and  to  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  unto  the  land  of  Gilead,  and  they  spake 

1 G  with  them,  saying,  Thus  saith  the  whole  [all  the]  congregation  of  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah], What  trespass  is  this  that  ye  have  committed  against  the  God  of  Israel, 
to  turn  away  [return]  this  day  from  following  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  in  that  ye  have 

17  builded  you' an  altar,  that  ye  might  rebel  this  day  against  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  ?  Is 
the  iniquity  ^  of  Peor  too  little  for  us,  from  which  we  are  not  cleansed  until  this 
day,  although  there  was  a  plague  [and  the  plague  was]  in  the  congregation  of 

18  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  But  that  ye  must  turn  away  this  day  from  folloAving  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  ?  and  it  will  be,  seeing  ye  rebel  to-day  against  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah], that  to-morrow  he  will  be  wroth  with  the  whole  congregation  of  Israel. 

19  Notwithstanding  [And  truly],  if  the  land  of  your  possession  he  [is]  unclean, 
then  [omit :  then]  pass  ye  over  unto  the  land  of  the  possession  of  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] wherein  the  Lord's  [Jehovah's]  tabernacle  dwelleth,  and  take  possession 
among  us  :  but  rebel  not  against  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  nor  rebel  against  us,  in  build- 

20  ing  you  an  altar  beside  the  altar  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  our  God.  Did  not  Achan 
the  son  of  Zerah  commit  a  trespass  in  the  accursed  thing  [in  what  was  devoted], 
and  wrath  fell  on  all  the  congregation  of  Israel  ?  and  that  man  perished  not  alone 
in  his  iniquity. 


CHAPTER  xxn.  173 


TEXTUAL   AND    GRAJDIATICAL. 

1.1  Ver.  11.  —  ^S,  "'■«  a  place  to  which  one  has  come  :  "  comp.  V,  letter  B,  also  Greek  eij,  «  for  iv.  In  all  this, 
however,  the  idea  oi'  motion  is  not  wholly  lost,  namely,  "a  motion  that  preceded  "  (Gesen.  Lex.  p.  52  B).  —  Te.] 

[•2  Ver.  14.  —  3S  n^  ^,  "house  of  a  father,"  and  HI^M  i'T'S,  "house  of  the  fathers,"  z=  father-house,  father- 
houses.  On  the  use  of  the  genitive  plural  instead  of  the  plural  of  the  noun  limited,  see  Gesen.  Lex.  s.  v.  fT^II  (11), 
p.  129.  — Tk.] 

[3  Ver.  17.  —  Q  7il7"inW  prop,  an  adverbial  ace,  "in  respect  to"  the  iniquity,  etc.  The  sense  of  the  question 
is,  "  Had  we  not  enough  of  tiie  iniquity  ?  ■'  etc.  Zunz's  version  appears  to  take  the  last  member  of  the  verse  singularly, 
as  giving  a  vivid  designation  of  the  time  of  the  transgression  :  als  die  Seiic/ie  war,  etc.  "  And  "  (l)  need  not  be  under- 
stood here  as  —  "although,"  but  more  naturally  in  its  proper  sense  :  "  and  the  plague  [for  which]  was  upon  the  congre- 
gation (not  the  piirticular  sinners)  of  Jehovah."  The  next  verse  (18)  then  proceeds:  And  (nearly  =  and  yet)  ye  are 
turning  away  this  day  from  after  Jehovah.  Or,  if  we  suppose  a  somewhat  more  free  combination  of  clauses,  than  is 
often  met  with  in  this  style  of  Hebrew  writing,  we  may  consider  the  two  verses  as  making  up  a  compound  sentence,  in 
which  one  question  runs  through  to  the  end  of  the  tirst  member  of  ver.  18.  AVe  should  then  translate  thu? :  Is  the 
iniquity  of  Peor  too  little  for  us,  from  which  we  are  not  cleansed  until  this  day,  and  [for  which]  the  plague  was  on 
the  congregation  of  Jehovah,  —  and  are  ye  turning  away  this  day  from  after  Jehovah?  And  it  will  be  {q.  d.,  the  result 
is)  ye  will  rebel  to-day  against  Jehovah,  and  to-morrow  upon  the  whole  congregation  of  Israel  he  will  break  forth." 
_Tr.] 

d.  Apology  of  the  Two  and  a  Half  Ti-ibes  for  Building  the  Altar. 

Chapter  XXII.  21-31. 

21  Then  [And]  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and  the  chiklren  [sons]  of  Gad,  and 
the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  answered,  and  said  [spake]  unto  the  heads  of  the  thou- 

22  sands  of  Israel,  The  Lord  God  of  gods,  the  Lord  God  of  gods  [God,  God  Jeho- 
vah, God,  God  Jehovah,  or,  the  God  of  gods,  Jehovah,  etc.],  he  knoweth,  and  Israel 
he  shall  know  ;  if  it  be  [laces']  in  rebellion,  or  [and]  if  in  transgression  [trespass] 

23  against  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  (save  us  not  this  day,)  That  we  have  built  us  an  altar 
to  turn  [return]  from  following  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  or  [and]  if  to  ofter  thereon 
burnt-oflering,  or  [and]  meat-oifering,  or  [and]  if  to  offer  [make]  peace-offerings 

24  thereon,  let  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  require  it  ;  And  if  we  have  not  rather  [omit :  rather] 
done  it  for  fear  of  this  thing  [done  this  from  concern,  for  a  reason],  saying,  In  time 
to  come  your  children  [sons]  might  [will]  speak  unto  our  children  [sons],  saying, 

25  What  have  ye  to  do  with  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel  ?  For  [And]  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  made  [the]  Jox-dan  a  border  between  us  and  you,  ye  children 
[sons]  of  Reuben  and  children  [sons]  of  Gad ;  ye  have  no  part  in  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] :  So  [And]  shall  your  children  [sons]  make  our  children  [sons]  cease  from  fear- 

26  ing  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  Therefore  [And]  we  said,  Let  us  now  prepare  to  build 
us  an  altar  [let  us  now  do  for  ourselves  to  build  the  altar],  not  for  burnt-offering, 

27  nor  for  sacrifice  :  But  that  it  may  be  a  witness  between  us  and  you,  and  between  our 
generations  after  us,  that  we  might  do  the  service  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  before 
him  with  our  burnt-offerings,  and  with  our  sacrifices,  and  with  our  peace-offerings  ; 
that  your  children   [sons]  may  not  say  to  our  children  [sons]  in  time  to  come,  Ye 

28  have  no  part  in  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  Therefore  [And]  said  we,  that  it  shall  be, 
when  they  should  [shall]  so  say  to  us  or  [and]  to  our  generations  in  time  to  come, 
that  we  may  [will]  say  again  [omit :  again].  Behold  [See]  the  pattern  of  the  altar 
of  the  Lord   [Jehovah],  which  our  fathers  made,  not  for  burnt-offerings,  nor  for 

29  sacrifices  ;  but  it  is  a  witness  between  us  and  you.  God  forbid  [Far  be  it  from  us] 
■that  we  should  rebel  against  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  turn  this  day  from  following 

the  Lord  [Jehovah],  to  build  an  altar  for  burnt  offerings,  and  for  meat-offerings,  or 
[and]  for  sacrifices,  beside  the  altar  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  our  God,  that  is  before 
his  tabernacle  [dwelling]. 

30  And  when  Phinehas  the  pniest,  and  the  princes  of  the  congregation,  and  heads 
of  the  thousands  of  Israel  which  ^oere  with  him,  heaixl  the  words  that  the  children 
[sons]  of  Reuben,  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad,  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Ma- 

31  nasseh  spake,  it  pleased  them  [was  good  in_  their  eyes].  And  Phinehas  the  son 
of  Eleazar  the  priest  said  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and  to  the  children 
[sons]  of  Gad,  and  to  the  children  [sons]  of  Manasseh,  This  day  we  perceive  that 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  is  among  us,  because  ye  have  not  committed  this   trespass 


174 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


against  the   Lord  [Jeliovah]  :  now  ye  have  delivered  [then  did  ye  deliver]  the 
children  [sons]  of  Israel  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]. 

e.  Kctuni  of  the  Embassy.     Naming  of  the  AUar. 
Chapter   XXII.  32-34. 

D2  And  Phinehas  the  son  of  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  the  princes,  returned  from  the 
children  [sons]  of  Reuben,  and  from  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad,  out  of  the  land 
of  Gilead,  unto  tjie  land  of  Canaan,  to  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  and  brought 

33  them  word  again.  And  the  thing  pleased  [was  good  in  the  eyes  of]  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel :  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  blessed  God,  and  did  not  intend 
to  go  up  [Heb.  nearly  :  did  not  say  they  would  go  up]  against  them  in  battle,  to 
destroy  the  land  wherein  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben  and  [the  sons  of]   Gad 

34  dwelt.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Reuben  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Gad  called 
the  altar  Ed  [  Witness  ;  or,  more  probably,  omit :  Ed]  :  for  it  shall  be  a  witness 
[it  is  a  witness]  between  us  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  is  God. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

The  author  of  chaps,  xiii.-xxi.  having  given  the 
report,  distinp;nishccl  by  his  valuable  and  accurate 
statements,  of  the  division  of  the  land,  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  cities  of  refuge  and  the  Lcvitical  cities, 
relates  to  us  in  the  three  following  chapters,  which 
close  the  book,  the  release  of  the  two  and  a  half 
transjordanic  tribes,  transcribes  Joshua's  last  dis- 
courses to  the  people,  and  finally  gives  account  of 
his  death  and  that  of  Eleazar. 

Chap.  xxii.  itself  falls  naturally  into  the  following 
smaller  sections:  («.)  Joshua's  farewell  discourse 
to  the  two  and  a  half  tribes,  vers.  1-8 ;  (b.)  Return 
of  these  tribes  to  their  home.  Erection  of  an  altar 
on  the  Jordan,  vers.  9,  10  ;  (c.)  Embassy  from  Israel 
on  account  of  this  altar,  vers.  11-20;  {d.)  The 
apology  of  the  eastern  tribes,  vers.  21-31 ;  (e.)  Re- 
turn of  the  embassy,  vers.  32-34. 

a.  Vers.  1-8.  Jos/mas  Farewell  Discourse  to  the 
Tivo  and  a  Half  Tribes  from  across  the  Jordan. 
Joshua  acknowledges  their  obedience  to  Moses  and 
to  his  own  commands  (ver.  2),  and  further,  that 
they  had  faithfully  stood  by  their  brethren  and  ke))t 
the  commandment  of  God  (ver.  3).  As  now  Jeho- 
vah had  given  rest  to  the  others,  they  might  return 
to  their  tents  in  the  land  of  their  possession  already 
given  to  them  by  Moses  beyond  the  Jordan  (ver. 
4).  To  this  he  adds  the  admonition  that  they 
should  continue  to  observe  the  commandment,  to 
serve  God  in  unchanging  love,  with  their  whole 
heart  and  their  whole  .soul.  Still  further  are  they 
called  upon  to  share  their  rich  booty  with  their 
brethren  (ver.  8).  That  he  sent  them  away  with 
his  blessing  is  twice  related  (vers.  6  and  7  b).  A 
geographical  notice  is  inserted  (ver.  7). 

Ver.  1.  f^,  almost  certainly  not  immediately  at 
the  end  of  the  war,  but,  from  the  connection  in 
which  this  narrative  occurs,  and  according  to  ver. 
4,  not  until  after  the  division  of  the  land  was  com- 
pleted. 

Ver.  2.  They  have  kept  their  obligations  to 
Moses  (Num.  xxxii.  20  ff.)  and  to  Joshua  himself 
(ch.  i.  leff.). 

Ver.  3.  Still  further,  they  had  kept  what  was  to 
be  kept,  the  commandment  of  Jehovah.     On 

"'^  n^l'rj  nn^tf  n  nr^W,  vid.  Oen.  xxvl.  5  -,,  Lev. 
riii  35. 
Ver.  4.  Comp.  ch.  i.  15,  HiTn^?  V"!!^'  vers.  9, 


10;  Gen.  xxxvi.  43;  Lev.  xiv.  34;  xxv.  24,  and- 
often. 

Ver.  5  recalls  Deut.  iv.  2,  29  ;  vi.  5  ;  viii.  6.     On 

the  infin.  form.  HnnS,  cf.  Gcsen.  §  133 ;  Ewald, 
§  238  a ;  Knobel  on  Deut.  i.  27. 

Ver.  6  properly  closes  in  its  first  half  the  ac- 
count of  the  sending  away  of  the  two  and  a  half 
tribes,  while  ver.  7  adds  a  notice  which  was  given 
in  a  similar  way  ch.  xiv.  3,  xviii.  7,  and  was 
therefore  not  necessary.  Keil,  in  his  earlier  com- . 
mentary  on  Joshua,  noticed  it  quite  sharply.  He 
says  (p.  462),  "  in  ver.  7  we  find  again  a  notice,  char- 
acteristic of  our  author,  as  Maurer  rightly  observes, 
in  which  he,  from  a  mere  desire  to  be  perfectly  ex- 
plicit, sometimes  falls  into  redundancy  and  super- 
fluous repetitions."  He  now  {Bidl.  Com.  in  loc.) 
says  more  mildly,  "in  ver.  7  the  author,  for  the 
sake  of  perspicuity,  inserts  the  repeated  observa- 
tion, that  only  half  of  Manasseh  had  received  their 
inheritance  at  the  hand  of  Moses  in  Bashan,  while 
the  other  half,  on  the  contrary,  had  received  theirs 
through  Joshua  west  of  the  Jordan,  as  in  ch.  xiv. 
3  and  xviii.  7.  To  us  this  repetition  appears  re- 
dundant ;  it  agrees,  however,  with  the  fullness, 
abundant  in  repetitions,  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
style  of  narrative."  The  second  half  of  the  verse 
now  repeats  what  is  known  already  from  ver.  6. 

Since  it  begins  with  the  words  "'S  C31,  it  would 
almost  seem  that  something  immediately  preceding 
had  fixllen  out  or  "  been  omitted." 

Ver.  8  presents  a  continuation  of  the  foregoing 
in  the  demand  not  previously  made,  that  they 
should  share  the  rich  booty  with  their  brethren. 
This  booty  consisted  in  cattle,  silver,  gold,  brass, 
iron,  .and  clothing,  and  these  all  in  very  large 
quantities  (Ex.  iii.  22;  xi.  2;  xii.  36).  By  the 
brethren  are  meant  the  members  of  their  tribes 
who  had  remained  at  home,  to  whom,  according 
to  Num.  iii.  27,  one  half  belonged.  Although  wo 
cannot,  with  Knobel,  recognize  three  original  ele- 
ments of  the  section,  namely,  vers.  1-4  and  6  from 
the  War-book,  ver.  5  from  the  Deuteronomist,  vers. 
7,  8  from  the  Law-book,  we  may  not  suppress  the 
remark  that  ver.  7  b.  and  8  apjiear  to  have  sprung 
from  a  diftcrent  source,  the  statements  of  which 
are  not  fully  communicated.  Whoever  put  the 
finishing  hand  to  the  whole  work,  has  added  that 
portion  of  its  contents  which  oftered  a  new  thought 
as  a  valuable  complement. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


175 


6.  Vers.  9,  10.  Return  of  the  Tivo  and  a  Half 
Tribes  to  their  Home.  Erection  of  an  Altar  on  the 
Jordan.  The  children  of  Keuben  and  Gad,  and 
the  half  tribe  of  iMunasseli  returned  from  Shiloh, 
which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  into  the  land 
of  Gilead,  into  the  land  of  their   possession, 


Shiloh.  "  This  zeal  was,"  as  Keil  says,  with  ref- 
erence to  Calvin's  remark  on  this  passage,  "en- 
tirely justiKable  and  praiseworthy,  since  the  altar, 
although  not  built  for  a  place  of  sacrifice,  yet 
might  easily  be  perverted  to  that  use,  and  lead  the 
whole  people  into  the  sin.     At  all  events,  the  two 


wherein  they  had  taken  possessions    (-^THSD, !  and  a  half  tribes  ought  not  to  have  undertaken 


as  in  Gen.  xxxiv.  10;  xlvii.  27;  Num.  xxxii.  30; 
prop.,  ''  wherein  they  had  been  held  fast,"  or  estab- 
lished themselves),  according  to  the  command  of 
Jehovah  by  Moses.  That  they  departed  from 
Shiloh,  favors  the  view  that  this  return  took  place 
not  till  after  the  division  of  the  land.  From  ver. 
9  we  see  that  only  the  country  west  of  the  Jordan 
is  regarded  as  the  land  of  Canaan ;  that  on  the 
east  of  that  river  is  called  here  simply  Gilead, 
although  it  embraced  Gilead  and  Bashan,  the  king- 
doms of  Sihon  and  Og.  The  command  of  Jehovah 
hij  Moses,  see  Num.  xxxii.  20  ff. 

Ver.  10.  On  their  way  home  they  reared  an  altar 
on  the  Jordan.  For  they  came  into  the  regions 
on  the  Jordan  [the  circles  of  the  Jordan],  Hebrew, 

^!^'?!1l'  nibvfl.     As  in  ch.  xiii.  2  and  Joel  iv.  4, 

the  circles  of  the  Philistines  (D^'ntpb^H    3  or 

^"^^^^  3)  are  mentioned,  so  here  the  "i?J~}t'3  2) 
which,  Gen.  xiii.  10,  11;  1  K.  vii.  47,  are  desig- 
nated as  ]]7~l*i7  ~1?3  (Matt.  iii.  5,  rj  nepix'^pos 
Tov  'lopSavov),  then,  Gen.  xiii.  12  ;  xix.  17,  simply, 

as  "^33(1;  now  the  Ghor.  The  west  side  of  the 
Ghor  is  intended,  as  appears  from  the  addition, 
which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  —  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Jordan.  Here  they  built  an  altar  on 
the  Jordan,  an  altar  great  to  behold.     Hebrew, 

•^^"^^V  ^"l^^,  /.  e.,  an  altar  so  high  and  broad 
that  it  could  be  seen  from  a  great  distance  [or, 
great  in  appearance,  great  as  compared  with  other 
altars,  guasi  '"great-looking"].  Since  Moses  had 
once  raised  such  an  altar  to  commemorate  his  vic- 
tory over  Amalek  (Ex.xvii.  15),  they  believed  they 
were  acting  in  good  faith,  as  also  they  afterwards 
with  a  good  conscience  testify  (ver.  24  fF.). 

c.  Vers.  11-20.  Embassi/ from  Israel  to  the  Two 
and  a  Half  Tribes  on  Account  of  this  Altar.  Ver. 
11.  The  children  of  Israel  heard  that  an  altar  had 
been   built,    over  against  the   land   of  Canaan 

(1^='?  Vv'v  ''^^' ''^'  i-  e.,  on  its  eastern  side, 
Knobel),  in  the  circles  of  the  Jordan  (7M 
"121  ni7''7?j  i-  e.,  in  the  Ghor),  at  the  side  of 

the  sons  of  Israel  (1  -T  "^^5"  ■■^,  as  in  Ex.  xxv. 
37;  xxxii.  15).  It  is  the  east  side  [Zunz :  at  the 
side  (of  the  river)  turned  toward  the  children  of 
Israel.     But  comp.  Textual  Note]. 

Ver.  12  repeats  that  the  children  of  Israel  had 
heard  of  this,  but  adds  that  the  whole  congregation 
of  the  children  of  Israel  gathered  themselves  to- 
gether at  Shiloh,  to  overrun  the  two  and  a  half 
tribes  with  war.  Knobel  regards  this  verse  as  an 
interpolation,  and  out  of  the  War-book.  It  is 
noticeable,  indeed,  that  the  beginning  of  ver.  11 
is  repeated  here,  and  that  ver.  13  might  perfectly 
(veil  follow  ver.  11.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
/erse  contains  nothing  at  all  which  could  disturb 
the  connection  or  would  be  improbable  in  itself, 
since  in  view  of  Lev.  xvii.  8,  9  (comp.  Ex.  xx.  24) 
such  an  excitement  appears  so  much  the  more  in- 
telligible, as  the  tabernacle  had  been  a  short  time 
before  (ch.  xviii.  1)  erected  for  the  first  time  in 


the  building  of  this  altar  without  the  consent  of 
Joshua,  or  of  the  high-priest." 

Vers.  13,  14.  The  congregation  now  send  Phin- 
ehas  the  ^on  of  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  ten  princea 
to  their  fellow  tribes  beyond  the  Joi'dan,  to  demand 

an  explanation  of  this  matter.  Phinehas  (DPI^'^D, 
according   to   Gesen.  =  brazen   mouth,    DPI?  _ 

nC^Tl^),  son  of  Eleazar  and  one  of  the  daughters 
of  Put'iel  (Ex.  vi.  25),  is  named  (Num.  xxv  6  fF.) 
as  zealous  for  discipline  and  morality  in  Israel,  as 
a  victorious  leader  of  the  people  (Num.  xxxi.  6  ff.) 
in  the  strife  with  the  Midianites,  and  was  therefore 
very  well  suited,  on  account  of  the  high  respect 
which  he  undoubtedly  enjoyed,  to  be  the  head  and 
spokesman  of  the  embassy.  Afterwards,  he  was, 
as  related  Judg.  xx.  28,  himself  high  priest.  The 
ten  princes  who  were  sent  with  him  represented 
the  nine  and  a  half  tribes  west  of  the  Jordan,  and  in 
ver.  30  are  called  Hll^rT  ''W^bp.  Each  of  them 
was  head  of  a  chief  (father)  house  among  the 
thousands  of  Israel.  On  the  relation  of  the  chief 
houses,  or,  as  De  Wette  translates  family  houses 
(Stammliauser),  to  the  whole  tribe,  cf.  ch.  vii.  14, 

16-18.  The  b«nb^  ^Dbw  are  the  families  of 
Israel,  as  appears  from  1  Sam.  x.  19,  21,  where 
^7^  is  exchanged  with  nnStpa.  The  expres- 
sion is  often  met  with,  e.  g.,  Judg.  vi.  15  ;  Num.  i. 
16;  X.  4 ;  in  our  ch.,  ver.  30,  and  above  all  in  the 
famous  passage  Mic.  v.  1. 

Vers.  15-20.  The  messengers  come  to  the  chil- 
dren of  Reuben,  and  the  rest,  in  the  land  of  Gilead, 
and  make  to  them  earnest  representations.  As 
their  speaker  we  have  to  imagine  to  ourselves 
Phinehas,  the  man  of  the  brazen-mouth,  whose 
words  sound  vehemently  and  as  instinct  with  feel- 
ing. He  assumes  from  the  first  that  the  altar  was 
built  mala  fide  by  the  two  and  a  half  tribes,  that  the 
question  is  one  of  rebellion  against  Jehovah  (vers. 
16,  22),  and  then  asks  whether  the  iniquity  of  Peor 
was  not  enough,  of  which  the  people  were  not  yet 
purified,  that  they  should  call  forth  against  them 
the  wrath  of  Jehovah  anew  (vers.  17,  18).  Rather, 
he  admonishes  them  in  the  second  part  of  his  dis- 
course, if  the  land  of  their  possession  seemed  to 
them  unclean,  should  the  brother  tribes  cross  over 
into  the  land  of  Jehovah's  possession,  where  his 
dwelling  was,  and  there  take  possession,  but  not 
rebel  against  Jehovah  and  apostatize  by  building 
them  an  altar  besides  the  altar  of  Jehovah  (ver. 
19).  With  an  impressive  reference  to  the  crime 
of  Achan  who  perished  not  as  an  individual  man, 
but  likewise  brought  God's  anger  on  the  entire 
congregation,  the  noble  zealot  concludes  his  dis- 
course (ver.  20). 

Vers.  15,  16.  What  trespass  is  this  —  to  turn 
away  —  that  ye  might  rebel  against  Jehovah. 
The  expressions  here  chosen  are  to  be  particularly 

noted:  (1)  ^17^,  used  ch.  vii.  1  and  ver.  20  with 

?,  of  the  thing,  to  commit  a  trespass  in  respect  to 

something ;  but  here  with  5,  of  the  person,  and 
he  the  most  exalted  person,  Jehovah;  "to  deal 


176 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


treacherously,  with  concealment,  underhandedly," 
in  consistency  with  the  probable  ground  significa- 
tion ;  "  to  cover,"  whence    ^"^377?,  mantle.     For 

strengthening,  the  substantive  '■'^^  is  added  to 
the  verb,  as  [ch.  vii.  1]  1   Chron.  v.  25 ;  x.  13  ; 

2  Chron.  xii.  2.  (2)  ''''  \'?n'^1?  ^"'■^)  as  vers.  23, 
29  (cf.  ch.  xxiii.  12),  to  turn  away  from  Jehovah. 
In  that  consists  the  treacherousncss  in  general,  that 
they  turn  away  from  Jehovah.  But  since  they 
have  so  far  forgotten  themselves  as  even  to  build 
an  altar,  so  (3)  the  strongest  exjiression  is  chosen, 

namely,  "TT?^;  to  be  disobedient,  refractory,  to  rebel 
(Gen.  xiv.  4;  2  K.  xviii.  7,  20;  xxiv.  1),  first, 
against  human  rulers,  as  the  passages  quoted  show, 
but  here,  as  in  Ezek.  ii.  3 ;  Dan.  ix.  9,  against  Je- 
hovah. 

Vei'.  17.  Is  the  iniqiiity  of  Peer  too  little  for 
us  ?  That  is,  the  iniquity  which  we  committed 
(Num.  XXV.  3  ;  xxxi.  16)  in  the  worship  of  Baal 
Peor,  consisting  in  the  offering  of  young  maidens 
(Winer,  Eealw.,  art.  Baal  [Smith's  BilA.  Diet.]). 
At  that  time  twenty-four  thousand  of  the  people 
died  as  a  punishment.  To  the  zeal  of  Phinehas 
the  people  owed  the  cessation  of  the  plague  (Num. 
XXV.  9-12).  Of  him  God  said  to  Moses,  "  he  has 
turned  away  my  anger  from  the  children  of  Israel " 
(Num.  XXV.  11).  So  much  the  more  remarkable 
must  it  appear  that  Phinehas  himself  here  still 
designates  the  iniquity  as  one  from  which  we  are 
not  cleanaed  until  this  day.  He  is  thinking,  per- 
haps, that,  as  in  his  opinion  the  case  of  the  two 
and  a  half  tribes  shows,  the  inclination  to  idolatry 
still  exists  among  the  Jews.  So  explained  already, 
after  the  example  of  R.  Levi  ben  Gerson,  C.  a 
Lapide,  and  Cloricus  :  "A  quo  nondura  satis  ahhor- 
remus  ;  multi  enim  vklentur  Jhisse,  qui  nondnm  delicti 
macjnitudineininteiligehant."  Vid.  Pi"ov.  xx.  9.  "Non 
deerant  etiam,  qui  clam  Cananteorum  el  Chaldaorum 
deos  colerent,  id  liquet  ex  oraiione  Josuce,  cap.  xxiv. 
14,  23  "  (ap.  Kcil,  Com.  on  Josh,  in  loc).  With  this 
agree  Keil  and  Knobel. 

Ver.  18.  And  ye  turn  away  this  day  from 
following  Jehovah.  The  sense  is :  so  little  do 
you  think  of  that  plague  which  once  came  upon 
the  congregation,  that  you  are  to-day  ready  again 
to  turn  away  from  Jehovah  [comp.  Textual  and 
Gram.  Note]. 

And  it  will  be,  since  ye  rebel  ....  will  be 
wroth.     The  construction  is  the  same  as  in  Gen. 

xxxiii.  13,  ^"T"1»ri  Ci^lW  =  'n  'S  CS.  Mean- 
ing :  "  Consider  well,  for  if  you  rebel  to-day  against 
Jehovah,  to-morrow  he  will  be  angry  with  the  whole 
congregation  of  Israel."  The  judgment  of  God 
comes  quickly,  and  it  comes  not  alone  on  the  two 
and  a  half  tribes,  but  upon  the  whole  people.  In 
the  latter  circumstance  lies,  for  Phinehas,  at  the 
same  time,  a  sort  of  warrant  for  his  speaking  so 
earnestly  to  his  transjordanic  countrymen. 

Ver.  19.  Proceeding  in  a  milder  tone^  Phinehas 
proposes  to  them,  that  if  their  land  seemed  un- 
clean to  them  they  should  go  over  to  the  others  in 
the  land  where  Jehovah  has  his  dwelling,  only  they 
should  build  no  separate  altar.     Knobel :  "  And, 

indeed  ("HS,  as  Gen.  xxvi.  9  ;  xxix.  14 ;  xliv.  28), 
if  the  land  which  they  have  taken  were  unclean, 
they  could  cross  over  into  the  land  of  Jehovah's 
possession,  where  the  dwelling  of  Jehovah  had  its 

seat  (]?^5  as  ch.  xviii.  1),  and  there  settle;  only 
they  should  not,  through  such  building  of  a  special 
altar  besides  the  true  altar  of  Jehovah,  rebel  against 


the  Lord,  and  bring  their  bretlu'en  into  hostility, 
i.e.,  draw  down  mischief  on  the  whole  people  from 
God." 

If  the  land  ....  be  unclean,  etc.,  i.  e.,  be- 
cause Jehovah  had  not  his  abode  there,  and  be- 
cause many  heathen  dwelt  among  them. 

Land  of  your  possession  ....  land  of  the 
possession  of  Jehovah.     The  antithesis  is  worthy 

of  careful  notice.     '^'2'^,  with  the  accus.  as  Job 

xxiv.  13,  liN  ^I'-p. 

Ver.  20.  Finally,  Phinehas  reminds  them  of  the 
crime  of  Achan  (ch.  vii.  1  ff.),  which  was  yet  fresh 
in  memory,  and  which,  as  once  the  iniquity  of 
Peor,  had  involved  in  its  consequences,  not  only 
the  jjarticular  man,  but  also  his  children  (ch.  vii. 
24),  and,  through  the  unfortunate  attack  on  Ai 
(eh.  vii.  1-5),  the  entire  people.  Keil :  "  Phinehas 
argues  a  minore  ad  majus.  Yet  the  antithesis  of 
minus  and  majus  is  not,  with  Calvin,  to  be  sought 
in  the  clandestinum  unius  hominis  maleficium  and  the 
manifesta  idololatria,  but  to  be  understood  with 
Masius,  thus  :  '  Si  Achan  cum  fecisset  sacrilegium, 
non  sdus  est^  exstinctus,  sed  indignatus  est  Deus  uni- 
versce  ecclesice,  quid  futurum  existimatis,  si  vos,  tan- 
tus  hominum  numerus,  tarn  graviter  peccaveritis  in 
Deum'"  (p.  381). 

d.  Vers.  21-31.  Defense  of  the  Two  and  a  Half 
Tribes  against  the  Reproach  on  Account  of  this  Altar. 
With  a  solemn  appeal  to  God,  and  that  as  the  God 
Jehovah,  whom  Israel  worshipped,  these  tribes  de- 
clare that  they  have  built  the  altar,  not  in  treach- 
ery, to  turn  away  from  Jehovah  and  establish  a 
new  worship  (vers.  21-23),  but  rather  from  solici- 
tude lest  the  posterity  of  those  who  dwelt  in  Ca- 
naan proper  should  say  to  their  posterity:  You 
have  no  part  in  Jehovah  !  and  should  so  restrain 
their  children  from  worslii])]jing  Him.  This  had 
led  them  to  think  of  building  an  altar,  not  as  an 
altar  of  sacrifice,  but  as  a  witness  to  their  common 
worship  of  Jehovah,  even  to  future  generations, 
that,  if  ever  the  ease  before  supposed  should  occur, 
they  might  point  to  this  altar  fashioned  after  the 
pattern  of  the  altar  of  Jehovah  (vers.  26-28).  In 
conclusion,  they  again  repeat  that  rebellion  or 
apostasy  was  furthest  from  their  thoughts  (ver. 
29).  With  this  frank  reply,  evidently  springing 
fi-om  a  good  conscience,  Phinehas  and  the  princes 
declare  themselves  satisfied ;  for  to-day  have  they 
learned  that  Jehovah  is  among  them,  from  whose 
hand  the  children  of  Reuben,  Gad,  and  Manasseh 
have  saved  Israel  (vers.  30,  31). 

Vers.  21-23.  The  answer  of  the  Eastern  tribes 

begins  with  much  solemnity :  God  ( vS),  God  Jeho- 
vah (nin^  D'^nbi^),  God  (bS),  God  Jehovah 
(nin^  D^rib^),  he  knoweth  it  {^T  S^in),  and 
let  Israel  also  know.  "  The  combination  of  the 
three  names  of  God,    vS,  the  strong,  DTTvi;*, 

the  Supreme  Being  worthy  to  be  feared,  and  '^!J'^^ 
He  who  truly  is,  the  covenant  God  (ver.  22)  serves, 
as  in  Ps.  1.  1,  to  strengthen  the  appeal,  which  is 
intensified  by  the  repetition  of  the  three  names" 
(Keil). 

If  it  be  in  rebeUion,  etc.  The  apodosis  to  this 
follows  at  the  close  of  ver.  23,  let  Jehovah  re- 
quire it.  Interpolated  into  the  asseveration  is  the 
imprecation,  proceeding  from  an  excited  feeling, 
and  addressed  immediately  to  God,  save  us  not 

this  day!  This  day,  ^-^n  Di^H  ==  to-day.  Ha 
should  to-day  not  help  them,  to-day  not  stand  by 


CHAPTER  XXn. 


177 


them,  to-day  forsake  them  if  they  have  reared  tlie 
altar  in  rebellion  or  in  trespass.  Knobel :  "  In 
case  of  our  unfii  thfulness,  help  thon  us  not  in  our 
present  trouble,  but  leave  us  to  destruction !  A 
parenthetic  clause,  in  which  the  excited  feeling 
passionately  invoking  evil  upon  itself  passes  into 
the  appeal  to  God."  On  the  different  kinds  of 
sacriKce,  in  vers.  23  and  27,  see  Winer,  Rexilw., 
art.  "Opfer"  ;  Herzog,  Reaknc.  x.  614  ff.  [Smith's 
Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  "  Sacrirtce"]). 

Vers.  24,  25.  And  if  not  rather  from  anxiety, 
for  a  reason,  we  have  done  this  thing,  saying, 

etc.  From  anxictij,  H^S'^ZS,  from  3^^)  to  fear,  to 
be  concerned,  1  Sam.  ix.  5  ;  x.  2  ;  Ps.  xxxviii.  19. 
The  substantive  occurs  Ezek.  iv.  16  ;  xii.  18,  19; 

Jer.  xlix.  23  :  Prov.  xii.  2.5.  — For  a  reason,  ~13']T^, 

comp.  oh.  V.  4,  as  also  ~^'^  ''^i  Gen.  xii.  17 ;  xx. 
11.  —  Saijinfj,  i.  c.,  saying  to  themselves,  and  so  = 
thinking. 

Ver.  25.  W~l^  "  This  infin.  form,  instead  of 
the  shortened,  ^"'.^5  1  Sam.  xviii.  29,  has  analo- 
gies in  p2\  Ezek.  xxiv.  3,  and  "ji-'"^,  Cant.  v. 

1 1,  whereas  in  the  Pentateuch  only  ^^~'.'^.  is  used  " 
(Keil).  The  anxiety  was  not  unfounded,  in  so  far 
as  in  the  promises  only  Canaan  was  spoken  of, 
therefore  only  the  land  west  of  the  Jordan  accord- 
ing to  the  clear  signification  of  ver.  10.  Comp. 
Gen.  xii.  7  ;  xiii.  15  ;  xv.  18;  xvii.  8,  and  in  par- 
ticular, Num.  xxxiv.  1-12. 

Vers.  26-28.  Let  us  now  do  for  ourselves  to 
bvuld  the  altar,  not  ....  but  that  it  may  be  a 

witness,  etc.,  HiSI^b  ^^b  "nxpV^.  Either  to  be 
taken,  according  to  the  examples  cited  by  Knobel, 
Gen.  ii.  3  ;  xxx.  30,  as  we  have  aimed  to  express 
it  in  our  translation,  or  as  Keil  prefers  :  "  We  will 
make  us  to  build  an  altar  (an  expression  out  of  the 
language  of  common  life  for  :  We  will  build  us  an 
altar)."  Both  explanations  afford  a  good  and 
apposite  sense,  which  Luther  renders  with  preg- 
nant brevity:  "  Lasset  uns  einen  allar  hilden"  (let 
us  build  an  altar),  doubtless  following  the  Vulg. : 
"  Exstruumus  nobis  altcire."     The  LXX,  refer  the 

nit'^?!?  not  to  the  building  in  itself,  but  to  the  de- 
sign of  the  altar  to  be  built :  Kal  eXrrajxiv  iroiriffat, 
ivro!  rod  o(/fo5o/i^(rat  rhv  ^oijxov  rovrov,  ovk  eveKfv 
Kupirccfxaroiv  ....  dAA.  'iva  i)  /xapTvpiov  tovto,  etc. 
Ver.  27.  The  altar,  therefore,  should  serve  not 
for  sacrifices,  but  to  be  a  witness  (cf.  Ex.  xvii.  15) 
between  the  generations  on  both  sides,  in  the  pres- 
ent and  future  times,  that  we  might  do  [or  that 
we   do]    the    service   of   Jehovah   before    Him 

(>12p^  "^^  mhTn^  ■Ti??^)  with  our  burnt- 
oflferings,  etc.  The  offerings  were  not  to  be  made 
upon  this  altar,  but  before  Him,  before  Jehovah, 
in  Canaan.  There  would  they  perform  the  sewice 
of  Jehovah. 

Ver.  28.  Simply  for  that  should  the  altar  be 
built  after  the  pattern  of  the  altar  in  the  Taber- 
nacle, that  it  might  be  a  witness  to  which  posterity 

also  might  point.  iT^^Sri  from  "^.^^j  is  the 
model,  Ex.  xxv.  9,  40 ;  2  K.  xvi.  10,  after  which 
anything  is  built ;  but  then  also  here,  as  Deut.  iv. 
16-18;  Ezek.  viii.  10,  copy,  image  of  anything. 
This  sense  is  expressed  by  the  LXX.  quite  cor- 
rectly by  bno'i.aitJi.a,  by  Luther  by  "  likeness."     The 

Vulgate  does  not  translate  n"'35^ ;  De  Wette's 
Bail  (structure)  is  too  indefinite. 
IS 


Ver.  29.  Another  asseveration  of  their  inno- 
cence. "  The  speakers  conclude  with  the  expres- 
sion of  their  horror  at  the  idea  of  forsaking  Jeho- 
vah, =12:?n  ^3b  nV^n,  far  be   it   to   us   from 

Him,  i.  e.,  from  God  (^a^^^l  =  nin"^»,  i  Sam. 
xxiv.  7  ;  xxvi.  11  ;  1  K.  xxi.  3),  that  we  should 
rebel  against  Jehovah,"  etc.  ["  The  sense  is : 
'  profane  or  accursed  be  it  from  Jehovah,'  God  for- 
bid, LXX.,  fji.^  yei/oiTo ;  or,  the  primary  significa- 
tion being  neglected  ;  '  woe  to  me '  [or  us]  '  from 

Jehovah,' "  etc.,  Gesen.  in  v.,  nb"*  .-H]. 

Ver.  30.  It  was  good  in  their  eyes,  namely, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  ambassadors,  who  had  heard 
these  woi-ds  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes.     The 

sense  of  Dn"^3173  is  very  correctly  given  by  the 
LXX.  by  Kal  fjpeafv  avTo7s. 

Ver.  31.  In  his  explanation  Phinehas  gives  the 
glory  to  God  alone,  when  he  says :  This  day  wo 
perceive  that  Jehovah  is  among  us,  because 

("'^'^i  in  this  sense,  as  Gen.  xxx.  18;  xxxi.  49; 
xxxiv.  13,  27;  Eccl.  iv.  9;  viii.  11,  more  com- 
pletely "^^^  VSI)  ye  have  not  committed  thia 
trespass  against  Jehovah.  God  himself,  as  Phin- 
ehas rightly  asumes,  hindered  that.  Now  0^ 
before  conclusions  =  then  or  now.  Job  ix.  31 ; 
Prov.  ii.  5 ;  Ps.  cxix.  92)i  have  ye  rescued  Israel 

from  the  hand  of  Jehovah.  "  On  T*'P  ^"'•?'7» 
comp.  Gen.  xxxvii.  21;  Ex.  ii.  19"  (Knobel). 
This  was  realized  in  so  far  as  otherwise  a  punish- 
ment like  that  in  Num.  xxv.  8  would  have  again 
fallen  on  the  whole  people. 

e.  Vers.  32-34.  Return  of  the  Embassy.  Nam^ 
ing  of  the  Altar.  Phinehas  and  the  princes  return 
from  the  land  of  Gilead  to  Canaan,  and  bring- 
back  word  which  is  universally  acceptable,  so  that 
the  people  thank  God,  and  all  thought  of  going  to 
war  against  the  eastern  tribes  is  dropped  (vers.  32, 
33).  The  chapter  concludes  with  the  mention  that 
the  children  of  Keuben  and  Gad  had  named  the 
altar :  It  is  a  witness  between  us  that  Jehovah 
is  God  (ver.  34).  In  ver.  32  the  children  of  Reu 
ben  and  Gad  alone  are  named,  and  so  in  ver.  34, 
merely  for  brevity's  sake. 

Ver.  34.  By  the  giving  of  this  name  the  two  and 
a  half  tribes  distinctly  professed  themselves  wor- 
shippers of  Jehovah  as  the  true  God.     The  first 

"^3  stands  like  the  Greek  on,  as  sign  of  the  quo- 
tation of  direct  discourse  (cf.  Gen.  iv.  23  ;  xxix. 
33;  Ruth  i.  10 ;  1  Sam.  x.  19),  and  is  therefore 
not  to  be  translated. 


THEOLOGICAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1 .  As  Israel  was  to  honor  only  one  God,  Jeho- 
vah, who  truly  was  (Ex.  iii.  14  ;  xx.  2),  so  should 
there  be  in  Israel  only  one  place  of  sacrifice  (Lev. 

xvii.  1-9) ;  for  to  the  C'*"}''!,''^  (Lev.  xvii.  7),  prop. 
goats,  then,  probably,  shepherd  deities,  whose  wor- 
ship the  apostate  Jeroboam,  according  to  2  Chron. 
xi.  15,  brought  in  again  with  that  of  the  calves, 
to  these  they  should  not  sacrifice.  CJonsidering  the 
strong  inclination  of  the  people  to  turn  aside  to 
heathenish  idolatry,  which  had  shown  itself  re- 
peatedly (Ex.  xxxii;  Num.  xxv.)  on  their  march 
through  the  wilderness,  the  leaders  of  Israel  must 

1  [Perhaps,  rather,  simply  :  "  then  (.'c,  when  ye  adopted 
the  pious  course)."  —  Te.] 


178 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


have  felt  now  tliat  the  people  had  received  their 
dwelling-place,  and  the  tabernacle  been  reared  at 
Shiloh,  and  the  land  divided,  the  supreme  neces- 
sity of  establishing  the  unity  of  the  worship.  This 
could  be  truly  instituted  with  a  people  that  needed 
to  be  educated  through  the  law  (Gal.  iv.  23,  24), 
only  by  absolutely  prohibiting  the  offering  of  sacri- 
fices on  any  other  altar  than  the  altar  in  the  taber- 
nacle. One  God,  one  house  of  God  among  the  one 
people  chosen  by  him  :  one  altar  of  sacrifice  before 
the  door  of  this  one  habitation,  —  all  this  belonged 
together  in  the  Old  Testament,  precisely  as  in  the 
New,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and 
Father  of  all  (Eph.  iv.  5,  6). 

2.  The  zeal  which  animated  a  Phinehas  already 
once  before  (Num.  xxv. ),  and  now  again,  was  a 
lioly  zeal  for  the  honor  of  God,  manifestly  spring- 
ing from  a  deep  moral  aversion  to  the  shameful 
I'eur-worship  which  threatened  to  bring  Israel  into 
destruction.  Altogether  in  the  same  spirit  as 
Phinehas,  Elijah  acted  at  a  later  period  (1  K. 
xviii.).  If  this  involved  the  shedding  of  blood, 
we  must  consider  that,  according  to  Lev.  xvii.  4, 
idolatry  was  regarded  exactly  as  if  a  murder  had 
been  committed,  and  was  therefore  to  be  punished 
with  death.  The  spirit  of  -Jewish  zealotry,  as  it 
was  developed  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of 
the  city  by  Titus,  was  a  caricatiire  of  that  which 
Phinehas  and  Elijah  cherished.  How^  Christ  stood 
related  to  it  apjiears  from  the  account  of  the  puri- 
fication of  the  Temple  (John  ii.  13  If.;  Matt.  xxi. 
12  ff.;  Mark  xi.  15  If.),  which  teaches  us  how  in 
Him  holy  zeal  was  blended  with  temperate  self- 
restraint  (John  ii.  15,  16),  as  an  impressive  admo- 
nition to  blind  zeal  in  all  ages.  True,  holy  zeal  is 
in  all  respects  different  from  the  wild  excited  pas- 
sion of  fanaticism.  That  resembles  the  flame  which 
purifies  the  noble  metal  from  the  dross,  this  is  the 
torch  which,  wherever  it  is  hurled,  sets  all  in 
flames,  destroys  everything,  not  in  majorem  Dei 
gloriam,  but  in  majorem  insaniie  gloriam.  If  our 
times  in  ecclesiastical  matters  show  again  a  very 
strong  tendency  to  that  false  zealotry,  this  sign  of 
the  times  is  to  he  esteemed  one  of  the  worst,  a  sign 
in  which  no  one  will  conquer,  but  many  certainly 
perish. 

3.  How  a  good  conscience  might  appeal  to  God, 
the  two  and  a  half  tribes  show  in  their  reply  to 
the  ambassadors  of  Israel.  On  the  ground  and 
foundation  of  Christianity  also,  the  same  appeal 
is  still  allowable,  as  the  asseverations  employed  by 
Christ  and  his  Apostles  prove,  comp.  e.  g.,  John 
iii.  5  ;  v.  24,  25  ;  vi.  53;  xiii.  16,  21  ;  Luke  xxiii. 
43  ;  Rom.  i  9  ;  ix.  1,  3 ;  Phil.  i.  8.  Such  affirma- 
tions are  not  thoughtlessly  ejaculated  assertions, 
but  they  spring  immediately  from  the  temper  of 
the  soul  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God,  which  temper 
tlicy  evince. 

4.  To  have  no  part  in  the  Lord  is  the  worst  thing 
which  can  befall  a  people,  a  congregation,  an  indi- 
vidual. How  deeply  Peter  once  felt  this  we  learn 
from  John  xiii.  8,  9. 

5.  In  all  that  men  do  or  leave  undone  constantly 
to  recognize  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  therefore  the 
control  of  his  providence  (ver.  31 ),  is  an  altogether 
peculiar  result  of  eai-nest  religious  meditation. 
The  eye  of  the  ancient  Israelites  for  this,  as  the 
passage  before  us  shows,  and  1  Sam.  iii.  8  very 
impressively,  was  sharjiened  in  an  unusual  degree. 
The  more  clearly  this  ultimate  causality  of  God  is 
discerned,  so  much  the  more  intelligible  appears  to 


us  all  human  history,  and  that  as  the  hypothesis 
of  divine  control  and  human  conduct,  or  of  divine 
appointment  and  human  freedom. 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

The  release  of  the  brother  tribes  from  Gilead, 
by  Joshua.  (1)  How  he  acknowledges  the  fra- 
ternal help  which  had  been  afforded  ;  (2)  admon- 
ishes to  faithful  compliance  with  tlie  commands  of 
God;  (3)  dismisses  them,  with  his  blessing,  to 
their  tents  (vers.  1-8).  —  The  return  of  the  tribes 
to  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  and  the  erection 
of  the  altar  on  the  border  of  Canaan  (vers.  9,  10). — 
Israel's  embassy  to  their  brethren  beyond  the  Jor- 
dan, (1)  occasion  (vers.  11-14);  (2)  the  message 
of  Phinehas  and  the  princes  (vers.  15-20)  ;  (3)  the 
answer  to  this  (vers.  21-31) ;  (4)  the  return  of  the 
messengers  (vers.  31-33).  —  Phinehas  the  holy 
zealot  for  the  honor  of  God  (vers.  15-20,  with  ap- 
propriate and  skillful  use  of  Num.  xxv.  1  ff.  — So  let 
the  ivhole  congregation  of  the  Lord  say  to  you  — 
a  powerful,  solemn  word  (ver.  16) !  —  How  people 
with  a  good  conscience  speak.  (1)  They  may  ap- 
peal to  God  as  their  witness;  (2)  they  may,  how- 
ever, also  state  clearly  and  frankly  what  they  have 
done,  without  being  obliged  to  conceal  anything 
(vers.  21-31 ).  —  Monuments  of  historical  events  are 
dumb  and  yet  eloquent  witnesses  (ver.  28  compared 
with  vers.  9,  10,  and  34).  —  How  brethren  can  un- 
derstand each  other  (vers.  30,  31).  —  To-day  we 
perceive  that  the  Lord  is  among  us  !  Can  we  not 
also  frequently  say  so,  when  God  keeps  us  that  we 
commit  no  trespass  against  Him  (vers.  31).  —  A 
joyful  return  home  (vers.  32,  33).  —  What  joy  good 
tidings  may  spread  abroad  (ver.  33).  — In  all  things 
be  the  honor  God's  (ver.  33,  comp.  Ps.  cxv.  1). 

Starke  :  It  is  not  enough  to  begin  well,  but 
we  must  also  continue  in  that  way  and  jjcrsevere 
even  to  the  end,  Heb.  iii.  12,  14;  Matt  x.  22 ; 
xxiv.  1<5.  —  When  God  releases  us  from  our  service 
we  may  go  but  not  before,  Ps.  xxxi.  16  ;  xxxix.  5  ; 
Luke  ii.  29.  —  A  Christian  zeal  for  religion  is  not 
wrong.  —  It  is  certainly  allowable  in  important 
cases,  with  moderation  to  answer,  and  with  adju- 
ration by  the  name  of  God  to  manifest  truth  and 
innocence.  —  Altars  and  images  are  not  in  them- 
selves wrong  and  forbidden  :  only  we  must  not 
practice  superstition  with  them,  2  K.  xviii.  4. 

OsiANDKR :  By  this  is  it  manifest  and  known 
that  we  love  God  if  we  keep  his  coram  aiulments, 
John  xiv.  23;  xv.  14.  —  Whenever  vt^e  hear  con- 
cerning Christian  believers  that  they  stand  fast  in 
the  faith,  we  ought  to  thank  God  for  such  a  ben- 
efit [1  Thess.  i.  1-3  ;  ii.  6-9].  —  We  should,  as  far 
as  possible,  guard  beforehand  that  none  be  offended 
(ver.  34). 

Hedinger  :  Precipitate  blood-thirstiness  is  not 
consistent  with  true  religion  ;  for  how  can  he  who 
himself  would  not  break  the  bruised  reed,  allow  us 
cither  to  bruise  that  which  is  whole,  or  break  that 
which  is  bruised,  or  burn  up  the  broken  '?  Is.  xliii. 
3.  —  In  cases  which  are  ambiguous  and  uncertain, 
it  is  better  to  let  the  judgment  stand  suspended 
than  to  act  contrary  to  love,  1  Cor.  xiii.  7. — As 
good  householders  plant  trees  of  which  only  their 
children  and  children's  children  will  eat  the  fruit, 
and  sit  itnder  the  shadow,  so  should  Christian  par- 
ents strive  still  more  earnestly  that  true  godliness 
'  may  be  propagated  to  their  children. 


CHAPTERS  XXIII.,  XXIV.  179 


2.  Joshua's  Parting  with  the  People.     His  Death  and  that  of  Eleazar 

Chapters  XXIII.,  XXIV.  . 

a.  The  First  Parting  Address. 

Chapter  XXm. 

«.  Promise  that  Jeliovah  will  still  Jiyld  for  his  people,  and  help  them  to  the  complete  possession  of  the  land. 

Chapter  XXIII.  1-11. 

1  And  it  came  to  pass,  a  long  time  [many  days]  ^  after  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
had  given  rest  unto  Israel  from  all  their  enemies  round  about,  that  Joshua  waxed 

2  old  and  stricken  in  age.  And  ^  Joshua  called  for  ^  [omit :  for]  all  Israel,  and  [omit : 
and]  for  their  elders,  and  for  their  heads,  and  for  their  officers  [overseers],  and 
said  unto  them,  I  am  old  and  [omit :  and]  stricken  in  age  [f\xr  gone  in  years]  : 

3  And  ye  have  seen  all  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  hath  done  unto  all  these 
nations  because  of  you ;  for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  is  he  that  hath  fought 

4  for  you.  Behold  [See],  I  have  divided  unto  you  by  lot  these  nations  that  remain, 
to  be  an  inheritance  [as  a  possession]  for  your  tribes ;  from  [the]  Jordan,  with 
'and]  all  the  nations  that  I  have  cut  off,  even  unto  [and]  the  great  sea  westward 

5  'toward  the  going  down  of  the  sun].  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  he  shall 
expel  them  from  before  you,*  and  drive  them  from  out  of  your  sights'*  and  ye  shall 
possess  their  land,  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  hath  promised  [spoken]  unto 

6  you.  Be  ye  therefore  very  courageous  [And  be  ye,  or,  ye  shall  be,  very  strong] 
to  keep  and  to  do  all  that  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses,  that  ye  turn 

7  not  aside  therefrom  to  the  right  hand  or  [and]  to  the  left ;  That  ye  come  not  among 
these  nations,  these  that  remain  among  [with]  you  ;  neither  make  mention  of  the 
nanie  ^  of  their  gods,  nor  cause  to  swear  bi/  them  [it],  neither  serve  them,  nor  bow 

8  yourselves  unto  them :  But  cleave  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  as  ye  have 

9  done  unto  this  day.  For  [And]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  driven  out  from  before 
you  great   nations  and  strong  :  but  as  for   [and]  you,  no  man  hath  been  able 

10  to  stand  [hath  stood]  before  you  unto  this  day.  One  man  of  you  shall  chase 
[chaseth]  a  thousand :  for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  he  it  is  that  fighteth  for 

11  you,  as  he  hath  promised  [spoken]  unto  you.  Take  [And  take]  good  heed  there- 
fore [omit :  therefore]  unto  yourselves  [your  souls],  that  ye  love  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] your  God. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1.  1  C"'^*'^,  prop,  after,  or  following,  many  days.  This  is  taken  by  our  Tersion  rather  as  modifying  the 
following  clause,  ''at  the  end  of  many  days  after,"  etc.,  than  as  parallel  to  it  (De  AVette,  Fay),  and  meaning  the  same 
iVhing:  ''after  many  days,  after  Jehovah  had  given,"  etc.     The  latter  is  preferable.  —  Tr.J 

[2  Ver.  2.   W^|7*"1  should  introduce  the  apodosis  to  ver.  1,  and  the  translation  be  (ver.  1),  "and  it  came  to  pass  . 
Itter  that  Jehovah  ....  and  Joshua  was  old,  far  gone  in  years  (ver.  2),  that  Joshua  called  all  Israel,"  etc.  —  Tb.] 

[3  Ver.  2.  Lit.  "  called  to,"'  but  the  "  to  "  is  superfluous  in  consistency  with  the  usage  generally  ;  so  that  "  for  "  should 
be  omitted  throughout  this  verse,  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  5.  Our  version  rightly,  although  perhaps  too  strongly  marks  the  vai-iety  in  CS'^^S^  and  D!3''3pvX3, 
which  De  Wette  and  Fay  ueglect. —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  7.  DtySl.  To  indicate  exactly  the  construction  of  the  prep.  2  with  both  verbs,  is  scarcely  possible  in  Eng- 
lish. We  have  to  adopt  some  such  substitute  as,  "  and  not  make  mention  of,  and  not  cause  to  swear  by  the  name  of 
.heir  gods."  —  Tr.] 

p.    Warning  against  Apostasy  from  God. 

Chapter  XXIII.  13-10. 

12  Else  [For]  if  ye  do  in  any  wise  go  back  [return],  and  cleave  unto  the  remnant 
of  t(h,e&e  nations,  even  [omit :  even]  these  that  remain  among  [with]  you,  and  shaU 


180  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


make  marriages  with  them,  and  go  in  unto  them,  and  they  to  you  [and  come  among 

13  them,  and  they  among  you]  :^  Know  for  a  certainty  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your 
God  will  no  more  drive  out  any  of  [omit :  any  of]  these  nations  from  before  you : 
but  [and]  they  shall  be  snares  [a  snare]  and  trails  [a  trap]  unto  you,  and  scourges 
[a  scourge]  in  your  sides,  and  thorns  in  your  eyes,  until  ye  perish  from  off  this  good 
land  [ground  HttlS!]  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  hath  given  you. 

1 4  And  behold,  this  day  I  am  going  the  way  of  all  the  earth ;  and  ye  know  in  all 
your  hearts  and  in  all  your  souls,  that  not  one  thing  [word]  hath  failed  of  all  the 
good  things  [words]  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  spake  concerning  you ; 
all  are  come  to  pass  unto  you,  and  [omit :  and]  not  one  thing  [word]  hath  failed 

15  thereof.  Therefore  [And]  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  as  all  good  things  are  [e'.ery 
good  word  is]  come  upon  you,  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God  promised  [spoke 
to]  you ;  so  shall  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  bring  upon  you  all  evil  things  [every  evil 
word],  until  he  have  destroyed  you  from  off  this  good  land  [ground]  which  the  Lord 

16  [Jehovah]  your  God  hath  given  you.  When  ye  have  transgressed  [transgress]  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God,  which  he  commanded  you,  and  have 
gone  and  served  [go  and  serve]  other  gods,  and  bowed  [bow]  yourselves  to  them ; 
then  shall  the  anger  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  be  kindled  against  you,  and  ye  shall 
perish  quickly  from  off  the  good  land  which  he  hath  given  unto  you. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMJIATICAL. 

[1  Ter.  12.  The  idea  is  that  of  general  intercourse.     Tlie  verb  "come"  ia  used  for  brevity's  sake,  instead  of  sa.viog 
fully :  "  and  you  go  among  them  and  they  come  among  you."  —  Tr.] 

h.  The  Second  Parting  Address.     Renewal  of  tlie  Covenant.     Conchision. 
Chapter  XXIV. 
a.    The  Second  Parting  Address. 
Chapter  XXIV.  1-15. 

1  And  Joshua  gathered  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  Shechem,  and  called  fbr  [omit : 
for  ^]  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  for  their  heads  and  for  their  judges,  and  for  their 

2  officers  [overseers]  ;  and  they  presented  themselves  before  God.  And  Joshua  said 
unto  all  the  people.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel,  Your  flithers 
dwelt  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood  [river]  in  old  time,  even  [omit :  even]  Terah,  the 

3  father  of  Abraham,  and  the  father  of  Nachor ;  and  they  served  other  gods.  And 
I  took  your  father  Abraham  from  the  other  side  of  the  flood  [river],  and  led  him 
throughout  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  multiplied  his  seed,  and  gave  him  Isaac. 

4  And  i  gave  unto  Isaac  Jacob  and  Esau :  and  I  gave  unto  Esau  mount  Seir,  to  pos- 

5  sess  it ; "but  [and]  Jacob  and  his  children  [sons]  w^ent  down  into  Egypt.  I  sent  [And 
I  sent]  Moses  also  [omit :  also]  and  Aaron,  and  I  plagued  Egypt,  according  to  that 

6  which  I  did  among  them  :  and  afterward  I  brought  you  out.  And  I  brought  your 
fathers  out  of  Egypt :  and  ye  came  unto  the  sea ;  and  the  Egyptians  pursued  after 

7  your  fathers  with  chariots  and  horsemen  unto  the  Red  Sea.  And  when  they  cried 
unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  he  put  darkness  between  you  and  the  Egyptians,  and 
brought  the  sea  upon  them,  and  covered  them  ;  and  your  eyes  have  seen  [saw]  what 
I  have  done  [did]  in  Egypt:  and  ye  dwelt  in  the  wilderness  a  long  season  [many 

8  days].  And  I  brought'you  into  the  land  of  the  Amorites  [Amorite],  which  [who] 
dwelt  on  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan  ;  and  they  fought  with  you :  and  I  gave  theni 
into  your  hand,  that  ye  might  possess  [or,  and  ye  }iossessed]  their  land  ;  and  I  de- 

9  stroyed  them  from  before  you.  Then  [And]  Balak  the  son  of  Zi]ipor,  king  of  Moah, 
arose  and  warred  [fought'-]  against  Israel,  and  sent  and  called  Balaam  the  son  of 

10  Beor  to  curse  you:  But  I  would  not  hearken  unto  Balaam;  therefore  [and]  he 

1 1  blessed  you  still :  '^  so  [and]  I  delivered  you  out  of  his  hand.  And  ye  went  over 
[the]  Jordan,  and  came  unto  Jericho  :  and  the  men  of  Jericho  fought  against  you, 
the  Amorites,-*  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the 
Girgashites,  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites,  and  I  delivered  [gave]  them  into  your 


CHAPTERS  XXIII.,  XXIV.  181 


12  hand.  And  I  sent  the  hornet  before  you,  which  [and  it]  drave  them  out  from  be- 
fore you,  even  the  [omit :  even  the]  two  kings  of  the  Amorites :  but  [omit :  but] 

13  not  with  thy  sword,  nor  with  thy  bow.  And  I  liave  given  you  a  hxnd  for  [or,  in] 
wliich  ye  did  not  labor,  and  cities  which  ye  built  not,  and  ye  dwell  in  them ;  of  the 

14  [omit :  the]  vineyards  and  olive-yards  [trees]  which  ye  planted  not  do  ye  eat.  JMow 
therefore  [And  now]  fear  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  serve  him  in  sincerity  and  in 
truth  ;  and  put  away  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood 

15  [river],  and  in  Egypt;  and  serve  ye  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  if  it  seem  evil  unto 
you  to  serve  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  choose  you  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve,  whether 
the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  that  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood  [river] 
or  the  gods  of  the  Amorites  [  Amorite]  in  whose  land  ye  dwell :  but  as  for  me  [and 
I]  and  my  house,  we  [omit :  we]  will  serve  the  Lord  [Jehovah]. 

TEXTUAL   AMD   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1.  Omit  "for  "  throughout  this  verse  as  ch.  xxiii.  2.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  9.  Cn^3,  although  capable  of  meaning  "to  war,"  "wage  war,"  is,  with  one  exception,  translated  through- 
out our  book,  "  to  "fight."  —  Tr.]  , 

[3  Ver.  10.  The  emphatic  force  of  the  infin.  abs.  here  might  be  variously  expressed  :  "  he  kept  blessing  you ;  "  "  he 
must  fain  bless  you  ;  "  "he  did  nothing  but  bless  you."     Equivalent  is  the  intent  of  "he  bles.sed  you  still." 

[4  Ver.  11.  These  names  are  all  singular  in  the  Hebrew  throughout  the  verse,  and  are  best  so  read  in  English. 

/J.   The  Renewal  of  the  Covenunl. 
Chapter  XXIV.  16-28. 

16  And  the  people  answered  and  said,  God  forbid  [Far  be  it  from  us]  that  we 
1-7  should  forsake  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  to  serve  other  gods  ;  For  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 

our  God,  he  it  is  that  brought  us  up,  and  our  fathers,  out  of  the  land  of  Egj^pt,  from 
[out  of]  the  house  of  bondage  [lit.  of  bondmen],  and  which  [who]  did  those  great 
signs  in  our  sight,  and  preserved  us  in  all  the  way  wherein  we  went,  and  among  all 

18  the  people  [peojoles]  through  whom  we  passed:  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  drave 
out  from  before  us  all  the  people  [peojjles],  even  [and]  the  Amorites  [Amorite] 
which  [who]  dwelt  in  the  land  :  therefore  [omit :  therefore]  will  we  also  [we  also 
will]  serve  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  ;  for  he  is  our  God. 

19  And  .Joshua  said  unto  the  i)eoi3le,  Ye  cannot  serve  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  :  for  he 
is  an  holy  God :  he  is  a  jealous  God ;  he  will  not  forgive  your  transgressions,  nor 

20  [and]  your  sins.  If  [when]  ye  forsake  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  serve  strange 
gods,  then  he  will  turn  and  do  you  hurt,  and  consume  you,  after  that  he  hath  done 
you  good. 

21  And  the  people  said  unto  Joshua,  Nay ;  but  we  will  serve  the  Lord  [Jehovah], 

22  And  Joshua  said  unto  the  people.  Ye  are  witnesses  against  yourselves  that  ye  have 
chosen  you  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  to  serve  him.     And  they  said.  We  are  witnesses. 

23  Now  therefore.  [And  now],  said  he,  put  away  the  strange  gods  which  are  among  you, 

24  and  incline  your  heart  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  God  of  Israel.  And  the  people 
said  unto  Joshua,  The  Lord  [Jehovah]  our  God  will  we  serve,  and  [to]  his  voice 
will  we  obey  [hearken]. 

25  So  [And  so]  Joshua  made  a  covenant  with  the  people  that  day,  and  set  them  a 

26  statute  and  an  ordinance  in  Shechem.  And  Joshua  wrote  these  words  in  the  book 
of  the  law  of  God,  and  took  a  great  stone,  and  set  it  up  there  under  an  [the]  oak 

27  that  was  by  [in]  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  Joshua  said  unto  all 
the  people.  Behold,  this  stone  shall  be  a  witness  [for  witness  TTi^  7]  unto  [against 
ver.  22]  us ;  for  it  hath  heard  all  the  words  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  which  he  spake 
[hath  spoken]  unto  [with]  us:  it  shall  be  therefore  [,  and  shall  be]  a  witness  unto 

28  [against]  you,  lest  ye  deny  your  God.  So  [And]  Joshua  let  the  people  depart, 
eve^y  man  [one]  unto  his  inheritance  [possession]. 


182 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


•y.  Death  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar.     The  Bones  of  Joseph. 
Chapter  XXIV.  29-33. 

29  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  the  servant 

30  of  the  Loi-d  [Jehovah]  died,  being  an  hundred  and  ten  years  old.  And  they  buried 
him  in  the  border  of  his  inheritance  [possession]  in  Timnatli-serah,  which  is  in 

31  mount  Ephraim,  on  the  north  side  of  the  hill  of  [of  mount]  Gaash.  And  Israel 
served  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days  of  the  elders  that 
over-lived  [lit.  prolonged  dixya  after]  Joshua,  and  wliich  [^\ho]  had  known  [knew] 
all  the  works  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  that  he  had  done  for  Israel. 

32  And  the  bones  of  Joseph,  which  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  brought  up  out 
of  Egypt,  buried  they  in  Shechem,  in  a  parcel  of  ground  [portion  of  the  Held] 
which  Jacob  bought  of  the  sons  of  Ilamor  the  father  of  Shechem  for  an  hundred 
pieces  of  silver  [kesita]  ;  and  it  became  the  inheritance  of  [they  were  for  a  jios- 
session  to]  the  children  [sons]  of  Joseph. 

33  And  Eleazar  the  son  of  Aaron  died  ;  and  they  buried  him  in  a  hill  that  pertained 
to  [in  Gibeah  of]  Phinehas  his  son,  which  was  given  him  in  mount  Ephraim. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

These  two  closing  chapters  of  the  book  are  inti- 
mately related,  containing  the  two  farewell  ad- 
dresses of  Joshua  to  the  people,  an  account  of  the 
renewal  of  the  covenant  in  connection  with  the 
latter  of  those  addresses,  and  the  report  of  the  death 
of  Joshua  and  Eleazar.  They  give  information 
also  concerning  the  last  transactions  of  Joshua,  and 
ilie  closing  circumstances  of  his  life  so  full  of  ac- 
tivity, and  so  significant  with  reference  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  religious  character  of  the  people 
of  Israel. 

Particularly  to  be  considered  here,  from  the  first, 
is  the  relation  between  the  two  farewell  addresses 
in  respect  to  diflerences  and  agreement  of  their 
subject-matter  ;  and  manifestly,  the  ^first  prctsenis  to 
the  Israelites  ivhnt  Jehovah  will  do  Jor  them  to  bring 
them  into  fall  possession  of  the  land,  ichile  the  second 
in  powerful  icords  calls  to  mind  in  detail  ivhat  Jeho- 
vah, since  the  time  of  the  patriarchs,  has  already/  done 
fur  them.  Admonitions  to  fidelity  towards  Jeho- 
vah, warnings  against  backsliding  from  him,  are 
found  in  both  addresses  (ch.  xxiii.  6,  7,  8,  11,  12, 
l;},  15,  10;  xxiv.  14,  1.5),  and  are  repeated,  at  the 
renewal  of  the  covenant;  in  a  lively  dialogue  be- 
tween Joshua  and  the  people  (ch.  xxiv.  19,  20,  27). 

a.  Ch.  xxiii.  The  First  Farewell  Discourse.  This, 
after  the  introduction,  vers.  1,  2,  falls  into  two  sec- 
tions, vers.  ."{-1 1  and  12-10.  a.  In  the  first  section 
Joshua  announces  that  Jehovah  will  continue  to 
fight  for  his  people,  and  help  them  to  the  entire 
possession  of  their  land  ;  j8.  in  the  second  he  warns 
them  vehemently  against  apostasy  from  him,  lest, 
instead  of  help,  the  judgment  of  God,  consisting 
in  their  expulsion  from  Canaan,  shall  come  upon 
them. 

Vers.  1,  2.  Introduction,  recalling  ch.  xiii.  1, 
as  well  as  ch.  xxi.  42.  Where  Joshua  held  this 
discourse,  is  not  said ;  perhaps  at  his  residence  in 
Timnath-scrah  (ch.  xix.  50),  perhaps,  and  this  is 
more  probalile,  at  Shiloh.  He  first  begins  by  re- 
minding them  that  he  is  become  old,  but  that 
they  have  seen  all  that  Jehovah  has  done  to 
all  these  nations  before  them,  for  he  has  fought 
for  them.  ,  Of  his  own  merits  toward  Israel  the. 
modest  hero  boasts  not  a  word.  He  only  remarks 
(ver.  4)  that  he  has  divided  by  lot  for  them  the 
remaining  nations  also,  from  the  Jordan,  and  all 


the  nations  which  I  have  cut  oflf,  and  the  great- 
sea  toward  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  The 
sense  is,  In  the  country  lying  between  the  Jordan 
on  the  east  and  the  great  sea  on  the  west,  have  I 
distributed"  to  you  by  lot  as  well  the  still  remaining 
peoples,  therefore  to  be  driven  out  (comp.  ch.  xvii. 
15),  as  those  already  destroyed  (comp.  ch.  xi.  12), 
that  you  may  possess  their  land. 

Ver.  5.  These  nations,  viz.,  the  C*"n«^-'3n  T^^^l, 

will  Jehovah  himself  expel,  thrust  out  (CD^H"', 
comp.  Dent.  vi.  19  ;  ix.  14,  likewise  used  of  the 
expulsion    of   the    Canaanites)    before    them,  and 

drive  them  oft'  (ty^liin^),  and  they  (the  Israelites) 
shall  possess  the  land  (ch.  i.  15)  as  Jehovah  has 
spoken  (ch.  xiii.  6;  Ex.  xxiii.  2-3  if.).  That  will 
Jehovah  do,  as  is  afterward  repeated  in  ver.  10. 
But  they  must,  as  Joshua  admonishes,  ver.  8,  be 
very  strong  to  keep  and  to  do  all  that  is  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses,  etc.,  comp.  ch. 
i.  7. 

Vers.  7,  8.  Especially  they  are  warned  against 
all  intercourse  with  those  nations,  and  above  all, 

against  participation  in  their  idolatry.    "  On  "^^TH 

Cli?3,  to  mention  any  one  by  his  name,  i.  e.,  to 
make  him  the  object  of  a  call  and  proclamation, 

comp.  Is.  xlviii.  1  ;  Ps.  xx.  8  ;  t^^"'3  ^"^i^i  Is.  xii. 
4;  xli.  25"  (Knobel).  Keil  appositely  remarks 
further,  that,  "  to  mention  the  names  of  the  gods 
(Ex.  xxiii.  13),  to  swear  by  them,  to  serve  them 
(by  oft'e rings),  and  to  bow  down  to  them  (call  upon 
them  in  prayer),  are  the  four  expressions  of  divine 
worship,    see  Deut.  vi.  13;  x.  20. 

Ver.  9.  A  fresh  reminiscence  of  God's  help,  who 
has  driven  out  before  them  great  and  strong  na- 
tions, cf.  ver.  3.  And  you  —  no  man  hath  stood 
before  you  unto  this  day.  Meaning :  and  you 
were  so  powerful  through  his  assistance  that  you 
conquered  everything  before  you,  comp.  ch.  xxi. 
44. 

Ver.   10.    To   be   understood   neither  with  the 

LXX.,  who  render  n./.^'HlJ"]^  by  e5ia)|€  xi'^'""*? 
of  the  past,  nor  with  the  Vulg.,  which  translates 
persequetitr,  of  the  future,  but  rather  of  the  present ; 
one  man  of  you  chaseth  a  thousand,  for  Jeho- 
vah your  God,  he  it  is  who  fighteth  for  you  as 


CHAPTEKS   XXIII.,  XXIV. 


183 


he  hath  spoken  to  you.  So  De  Wette  rightlj^ 
translates,  for  it  must  be  the  actual  present  state 
of  the  people,  and  their  actual  present  relation  to 
Jehovah,  in  which  the  sure  giuirantee  of  their 
ftdare  complete  extirpation  of  the  Canaanites  will 
consist.  Dent,  xxxii.  30 ;  Num.  xxvi.  8,  should 
be  compared. 

Ver.  11.  A  repeated  admouition  to  love  Jehovah 
their  God.  Thoro  follows  j8,  in  vers.  12-16,  the. 
warning    against    apostasy    from    God,    which   is 

closely  connected  by  "'S  with  the  last  words  of  the 
admonition. 

Vers.  12,  13.  For  if  ye  do  in  any  wise  turn  back 
(^n^tt'ri),  and  cleave  (Cj7)r??T)  to  the  rem- 
nant of  these  nations,  these  that  remain  with 
you,  and  make  marriages  with  them  (contrary 

to  the  prohibition,  Ex.  xxxiv.  IG;  2J7}3^I^J71^^ 
from  ^DH'  pri^P-  to  cut  off,  then  =  Tfnn,  to  de- 
termine, make  fast;  to  betroth,  as  in  old  Lat. 
festa  for  bridegroom  [1\"7]  ^^'  ^^^'^  father  of  the 
bride  [10^],  Ex.  xviii.  1  If.;  Judg.  xix.  4  ff. 
Hithpael :  to  intermarry,  to  contract  affinities  by 
marriage,  and  that  either  by  taking  another's  dauyh- 

ter,  or  giving  him  one's  own,  with  ?  as  here  (Dent. 
vii.  3;  1  Sam.  xviii.  22,  23,  26,  27;  Ezra  ix.  14. 
Gesen.),  and  ye  come  among   them  and  they 

among  you,  know  for  a  certainty  (•^37'7^  ^'l"'^) 
that  Jehovah  your  God  will  no  more  drive  out 
these  nations  from  before  you,  and  they  will 

be  for  you  a  trap  ('"'?/,  in  the  same  tragic  sense 

as  in  Ps.  Ixix.  23  and  Is.  viii.  15,  where  also  HQ 

is  connected  with  '^'''17.'^^)  i^s  likewise  in  the  N.  T., 
Luke  xxi.  35,  Tragi's),  and  a  snare  and  a  scourge 
(tStpb^,  commonly  t^i^^',  e.  g.,  Prov.  xxvi.  3  : 
1  K.  xii.  11)  in  your  sides,  and  thorns  (D'^3"'3'^, 

Num.  xxxiii.  55,  from  *?^?  in  the  signif.  to  be  in- 
terwoven, entangled)  in  your  eyes,  until  ye  per- 
ish from  oflf  this  good  ground  (^i^^Sn)  which 

Jehovah  your  God  hath  given  you.  The  decla- 
ration of  Joshua  is  much  more  severe  than  that 
of  Moses,  Num.  xxxiii.  55,  which  speaks  only  of 

Q*'3ffi'  (thorns),  parallel  to  a''2'^3\'.  But  here 
Joshua  threatens  that  the  Canaanites  shall  be  to 
them  a  trap  and  snare  for  their  feet ;  a  scourge  — 
in  their  sides  ;  thorns  —  in  their  eyes,  so  that  they 
shall  be  endangered  by  them  and  plagued  on  every 
side  of  the  body,  as  it  were.  Keil :  Joshua  multi- 
plies the  figures  to  picture  the  inconvenience  and 
distress  which  will  arise  from  their  intercourse 
with  the  Canaanites,  because,  knowing  the  fickle- 
ness of  the  people,  and  the  pride  of  the  human 
heart,  he  foresaw  that  the  falling  away  from  God, 
whiqh  Moses  had  in  his  day  predicted,  will  onlj- 
too  soon  take  place ;  as  indeed  it  did,  according  to 
Jut'g.  ii.  3  tf.,  in  the  next  generation.     The  words 

m  ;2'^"J.2S"1^,  repeat  the  threat  of  Moses,  Dent. 
xi.  17;  comp.  eh.  xxviii.  21  ff." 

Ver.  14.  Joshua,  as  in  ver.  3,  calls  to  mind  his 
approaching  end  :  I  am  going  the  way  of  all  the 
earth,  i.  e.,  on  the  way  to  death,  which  a  man 
goes  and  i-eti^rns  not,  into  the  land  of  darkness 
'And  the  shadow  of  death  (Job  x.  21  ;  1  Iv.  ii.  2). 
This  way  aU  the  earth,  the  whole  world  must  take. 


The  lesson  which  he  connects  with  these  words 
teaches  them  to  perceive  that,  as  was  said  ch.  xxi. 
45,  God  has  fulfilled  to  them  all  his  promises,  in 
which  Joshua  thinks  particularly  of  the  conquest 
of  Canaan. 

Vers.  15,  16.  Reiterated  warning  against  back- 
sliding (comp.  ver.  13J.  As  God  has  fulfilled  the 
good  words  concerning  them,  so  will  Jehovah  bring 

v^^-?t'  "po'^  them  also  every  evil  word  (Lev.  xxvi. 
14-33;  Dent,  xxviii.  15-68';  xxix.  14-28;  xxx.  1, 
15  ;  comp.  Josh.  viii.  34,  35),  until  he  destroys  them 

(iT'apn"!^,  as  Deut.  vii.  34  ;  xxviii.  48,  Keil). 
Nay,  if  they  transgress  the  covenant  of  Jehovah, 
to  serve  other  gods  and  worship  them,  then  his 
anger  will  burn  against  them,  and.  they  will  quickly 

(•^"^np)  perish  out  of  the  good  land,  which  he  has 
given  them.  The  second  part  of  ver.  16  occurs 
word  for  word  in  Deut.  xi.  17,  the  first  in  part. 

b.  Ch.  xxiv.  The  Second  Farewell.  Renewal  of 
the  Covenant.  Conclusion,  a.  Vers.  1-15.  The  dis- 
course, the  general  character  of  which  has  been 
described,  falls,  after  the  exordium,  into  two  divis- 
ions ;  vers.  2-13  a  recapitulation  of  what  God, 
since  the  time  of  the  patriarchs,  has  done  for  his 
people;  vers.  14-16,  a  demand  to  abstain  entirely 
from  idolatry,  and  to  cleave  to  Jehovah,  whom 
Joshua,  at  all  events,  and  his  family,  will  serve. 

Ver.  1.  The  assembly  gathered  not  in  Shilohbut 
in  Shechem,  where  the  solemn  transaction  related 
ch.  viii.  30-35,  had  taken  place.  On  this  account 
particularly,  to  recall  that  transaction,  were  the  peo- 
])le  summoned  thither.  A  second  reason  is  found 
by  Hengstenbcrg  (Beitrage,  iii.  p.  14  ff.)  and  Keil, 
in  the  fact  that  Jacob  had  dwelt  here  after  his  re- 
turn from  Mesopotamia,  here  purified  his  house 
of  strange  gods  and  buried  their  images  under  the 
oak  at  Shechem  (Gen.  xxxiii.  19;  xxxv.  2,  4). 
An  opinion  intrinsically  probable,  but  neither  in 
the  context  of  our  chapter  nor  elsewhere  in  the 

book  is  it  mentioned.  The  C"]tpti?,  as  ch.  i.  10; 
iii.  2  ;  viii.  33  ;  xxiii.  2. 

And  they  presented  themselves  before  God 
['Sn  \3?b  ^n^iri),  as  in  Job  i.  6  ;  ii.  1,  12!2\'-|rr 

^''  v27].  Joshua  had,  ch.  viii.  31,  raised  an  altar 
on  Mount  Ebal,  on  which  at  that  time,  before  the 
building  of  the  tabernacle,  sacrifices  were  offered. 
Of  offerings  there  is  no  mention  here. 

Ver.  2.  God  of  Israel ;  significant,  so  ver.  23.  In 
this  verse,  as  in  vers.  3, 4,  Joshua,  in  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah, holds  up  to  the  people  what  He  has  done  for 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  the  Jirst  proof  of  his 

divine  grace.  The  fathers  dwelt  of  old  (C^ll^Q) 
beyond  the  stream,  /.  e.,  the  Euphrates,  namely,  in 
Ur  in  Chaldea,  and  then  in  Haran  (Gen.  xi.  28, 
31). 

Terah  (n"2i^,  LXX. :  &a.p^a,  from  n"in,  in 
Chald.  to  delay,  comp.  also  Num.  xxxiii.  27)  the 
father  of  Abraham,  and  the  father  of  Nahor, 
and  served  other  gods.  And  I  took  your  father 
A^braham  ....  Isaac.  The  gods  which  Terah 
reverenced  were,  as  appears  from  Gen.  xxxi.  19, 
34,  Tera])him,  Penates  (see  Winer,  Realiv.  s.  v. 
Theraphim,  [Smith's  Diet,  of  Bible,  art.  "  Tera- 
phim."]  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  it  is  not  said 
distinctly  of  Abraham  that  he  served  other  gods, 
on  which  account  we  agree  with  Knobel,  who  says  : 
"  Whether,  according  to  our  author,  Abraham  alsc 
was  originally  an  idolater,  is  rather  to  be  denied 
than  affirmed,  comp.  Gen.  xxxi.  53."     Dangerous 


184 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


even  for  him  certainly  were  the  idolatrous  sur- 
roiinclins's,  wherefore  God  took  him  [Tli)/)  and 
caused  him  to  wander  through  Canaan.  Accord- 
ing^ to  a  tradition  preserved  in  the  Targum  Jona- 
than (Keil,  Coin-  iih.  Jos.  169,  Anm.  1),  and  which 
recurs  in  tlie  latter  Rabbins-,  Abraham  had  to  sutler 
persecution  on  account  of  his  avei'sion  to  idolatry, 
and  to  forsake  his  native  country  ;  while  an  Arabic 
story  ( Hottinger,  Hist.  or.  50  ap.  Winer,  liealw. 
s.  V.  Abraham)  makes  him  wander  as  far  as  Mecca, 
and  there  lay  the  first  foundation  of  the  Caaba. 
According  to  this,  therefore,  it  must  he  assumed 
that  he  was  a  Sabaean. 

Of  Abraham's  life  nothing  further  is  mentioned, 
ver.  3,  than  that  Jehovah  caused  him  to  wander 
through  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  multiplied  his 
seed  and  gave  him  Isaac. 

Ver.  4.  To  Isaac  gave  Jehovah  Jacob,  and  Esau, 
who  received  Mount  Seir  (Gen.  xxvi.  6  ff. )  for  a 
possession.  Jacob  alone  was  to  have  Canaan  for 
himself  and  his  posterity,  of  which,  however,  noth- 
ing further  is  here  said.  Rather,  there  is  added 
only  the  remark,  which  leads  to  ver.  5,  that  Jacob 
and  his  sons  went  down  into  Egypt,  as  is  told  Gen. 
xlvi.  1  tr. 

Vers.  5-7.  The  second  proof  of  the  Divine 
favor :  Israel's  deliverance  out  of  Eijypt,  the  chief 
incidents  of  which  are  succinctly  enumerated, 
namely,  (1)  the  sending  of  Moses  and  Aaron  and 
the  infliction  of  the  plagues  upon  Egypt  (Ex.  iii.- 
xii.)  ;  (2)  the  destruction  of  the  Egyptians  in  the 
Red  Sea  (Ex.  xiv.). 

Vers.  5,  6.  The  words  in  ver.  5,  according  to 

that  which  I  did  in  the  midst  of  them  C^??-'^? 

'i:El"]P^  \l''ii?]?),  occasion  some  difficulty.     The 

LXX.,  without  doubt,  read  "Iffi'SS,  for  they  trans- 
hite  the  whole  verse,  "  freely  it  is  true  :  "  koI  iird- 
Ta|a  T^tv  MyviTTOV  eV  crrineioLS,  oTs  eTroirjtra  iv  aii- 
Tois,  Kul  (Uera  ravra  ii.ri'ya.'yov.  The  Vulgate  also, 
following  them,  offers  no  sure  standing  ground 
when  it  renders  :  "  Kt  peixussi  ^Egi/pttun  mu/tis  sirj- 
nis  afqtte  portentis  eduxiqiie  vos."  Knobel,  appeal- 
ing to  the  translation  of  the  LXX.,  would  read 

~ltt\S^2  instead  of  "l^'^^S  ;  but  even  "lli't??,  gives 
not  a  bad  sense,  if  we  paraphrase  the  very  curtly 
spoken  sentence  thus  :  "  As  you,  according  to  all 
tliat  which  I  did  in  the  midst  of  them,  sc.  the 
Egyptians,  perfectly  well  know."  Bunsen  :  "  So 
as  you  know  that  I  did  among  them."     We  retain 

'^^'^?)  therefore,  because  it  is  the  more  difficult 
reading. 

Red  sea,  see  on  ch.  ii.  10. 

Ver.  7.  A  poetical,  noble  description.  The  Is- 
raelites cried  to  Jehovah.  Then  he  placed" dark- 
ness   (7DS^5,    LXX.  :   vecpeXiju  Kal  yvScpou,  from 

-'?^)  to  go  down  [of  the  sun],  to  become  dark, 
air.  Key.     In  Jer.  ii.  21,  we  meet  again  with  the 

compound,  i^^  y?^^)  as  a  designation  of  the  wil- 
derness\,  i.  "..,  the  pillar  of  cloud  (Ex.  xiil  "1  ff.; 
xiv.  19  ff.)  between  them  and  the  Egyptians, 
brought  the  oca  upon  the  latter  and  covered  them. 
But  the  evbi  of  the  Israelites  saw  what  Jehovah 
did  to  the  Egyptians.  The  change  between  the  third 
and  the  first  person  is  to  be  noticed.  While  we 
find  the  first  person  in  vers.  5,  6,  Jehovah  is  spoken 
of  at  the  beginning  of  ver.  7  in  the  third  person, 
:iii(I  then  proceeds  in  the  first.  Ye  dwelt  in  the 
wilderness  many  days.  Transition  to  ^  er.  8, 
comp.  ver,  5  b. 


Vers.  8-10.  The  third  proof  of  God's  fiivor  • 
Victorij  over  the  Amorites  (Num.  xxi.  23),  and  turn- 
ing awaif  of  Balaam's  purposed  curse  from  Israel 
(Num.  xxi'i.  22-24). 

Ver.  8.  They  fought  with  you,  namely,  under 
the  command  of  their  kings,  Sihon,  who  was  slain 
at  Jahaz  (Num.  xxi.  23),  and  Og,  who  was  slain 
at  Edrei  (Num.  xxi.  33). 

Ver.  9.  When  it  is  said  of  Balak  that  he,  the 
king  of  the  Moabites,  warred  against  Israel,  we 
learn  from  the  following  words,  and  sent  and 
called  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor  to  come  and 
curse  you,  how  this  is  meant  by  the  author. 
Balak  contended  not  with  "arms  against  the  Israel- 
ites, but  would   have   them   cursed  by  the  false 

prophet  Balaam,  the  CDp  (ch.  xiii.  22),  in  which 
the  terrified  king  at  least  staked  his  gold  (Num. 
xxii.  7),  although  it  did  not  win.  He  lacked  the 
courage  for  warfare  with  arms. 

Ver.  11.  T\\&  fourth  proof  of  God's  favor:  The 
passage  of  the  Jordan,  capture  of  Jericho,  victory  over 

the  Canaanites.  The  "li"^^"]^  '^!????  are  not,  as 
Knobel  supposes,  appealing  to  ch.  vi.  2,  the  king 
and  his  heroes,  since  the  author  in  this  case  would 
have  chosen  the  same  expression ;  but,  according 
to  the  example  of  2  Sam.  xxi.  1 2 ;  1  Sam.  xxiii. 
11  ;  Judg.  ix.  6,  the  citizens  of  Jericho. 

Vers.  12,  13.  Summary  conclusion  of  the  first 
division  of  Joshua's  speech,  in  which  he  again 
emphasizes  the  fact,  that  it  was  God  who  inspired 
the  Canaanites,  particularly  Sihon  and  Og,  with 
terror,  and  who  has  given  the  Israelites  a  rich  and 
well  cultivated  land. 

Ver.  12.  And  I  sent  the  hornet  (n^"]!")  be- 
fore you.  (So  had  it  been  promised  by  God,  Ex. 
xxiii.  28 ;  Dent.  vii.  20,  and  now  also  fulfilled, 

comp.  Wisd.  xii.  8).  n^i)^  is  not  to  be  under- 
stood literally,  nor  of  plagues  generally,  but  with 
Knobel  and  Keil,  and  most  of  the  recent  author- 
ities, in  such  figurative  sense  as  to  be  compared 
with  Dent.  ii.  25  ;  Josh.  ii.  11,  where  it  is  stated 
that  Jehovah  began,  on  the  day  of  the  victory  over 
Sihon,  to  spread  among  all  peoples,  fear  and  terror, 
trembling  and  quaking  and  anguish,  on  account 
of  Israel.  The  swarm  of  hornets  is  a  terror  and 
consternation  to  those  against  whom  it  turns,  to 
fall  upon  them  ;  before  it  they  cannot  stand  but 
hurrj^  away  in  distress.  Like  this  is  the  conster- 
nation which,  after  their  first  great  battle,  preceded 
the  Hebrews,  and,  like  a  heaven-sent  .spiritual 
plague,  fell  upon  the  peoples  so  that  they  fainted 
before  Israel.  Elsewhere  the  bees  appear  as  an 
image  of  terrible  foes  (Dent.  i.  44  ;  Ps.  cxviii.  12  ; 
Knobel,  on  Ex.  xxiii.  28).  It  ought  also  to  be  con- 
sidered that  in  Ex.  xxiii.  27,  the  next  preceding 

verse,  terror   is   spoken  of   (nbtpb*  ''Hn'^STl.^ 

V|"^35v).  The  same  conclusion  follows  if  we  com- 
pare Deut.  vii.  20  with  ver.  19,  ver.  21  (end),  vers. 
23,  24. 

Not  by  thy  sword  and  not  by  thy  bow.  The 
same  thought  as  in  Ps.  xliv.  4. 

Ver.  13.  Thus  Israel  has,  through  God's  good- 
ness, without  merit  on  his  part,  received  a  glorious 
land,  a  land  which  he  has  not  worked  with  the 

sweat  of  his  brow  (m^  ^V?!^'*^ -')!  i.  e.,  made  pro- 
ductive, cities  which  he  has  not  built,  vineyards 
and  olive-trees  which  he  has  not  planted,  but  of 

which  he  shall  eat.  The  LXX.  render  D^'?^! 
by  **  tiUvas^  the  Vulgate,  by  oliveta  =  olive  plan 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 


185 


tations,  olive-yards,  as  Luther  and  De  Wette  trans- 
late; rightly,  no  doubt,  for  the  sense.  If  the  He- 
brew language  had  a  special  word  for  this,  as  it 

had  in  ^T??  for  vineyard,  it  would  certainly  have 
made  use  of  it  here.  This  all  happened  as  Jeho- 
vah had  promised,  Deut.  vi.  10. 

Vers.  14-16.  A  demand  to  forsake  idolatry  en- 
tirely, and  cleave  to  Jehovah  alone,  whom  Joshua 
lit  least  with  his  house  will  serve. 

Ver.  14.  And  now  fear  Jehovah  (cf.  Ps.  ii. 
Hj    V.  8  ;  especially  I'rov.  i.  7;    Job  xxviii.  28) 

and  serve  him  (inS  ^71111^,  LXX.  ;  Karpevaare, 
conip.   Rom.  i.  2o)    in   sincerity   and   in   truth 

(n:^s.;n  n  nn^,  cf.  Judg.  ix.  le,  19,  and  on 

D"^pri2,  in  the  N.  T.  eiAiwrpiVeia,  1  Cor.  v.  8 ;  2 
Cor.  i.  12 ;  ii.  1 "),  and  put  away  the  gods  which 
yovir  fathers  served  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river  and  in  Egypt  (comp.  Lev.  xvii.  7 ;  Amos  v. 
26 ;  as  well  as  Ezek.  xx.  7  ff. ;  xxiii.  3,  8),  and 
serve  Jehovah. 

Ver.  15.  Finally,  Joshua  challenges  the  people 
to  decide  with  the  utmost  freedom  :  "  if  it  seem 
evil  in  your  eyes,  ii'  it  please  you  not  (LXX.  :  ei 
fjii]  apec/fei),  lie  calls  to  them,  to  serve  Jehovah, 

then  choose  you  (for  yourselves,  CDDv  •l~in3) 
this  day  whom  ye  will  serve ;  whether  the 
gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  or  the  gods  of  the  Amorites, 
in  whose  land  ye  dwell."  He  gives  them  the 
choice,  therefore,  between  the  old  worshi])  of  the 
Penates  practiced  by  their  fathers  and  the  Baal- 
worship  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  if  they 
will  not  serve  Jehovah.  The  latter  will  he  for  his 
part  and  his  family  do,  in  any  case,  for  he  adds  : 
but  I  and  my  house  wiU  serve  Jehovah. 

/3.  Ch.  xxiv.  16-28.  The  Rcmwul  of  the  Cov- 
enant. Struck  by  the  words  of  Joshua  the  whole 
people  with  one  consent  reply,  that  they  will  not 
forsake  Jehovah :  "  We  also  will  serve  Jehovah, 
for  he  is  our  God"  (vers.  16-18).  Being  reminded 
furtlier  by  Joshua  how  hard  this  is,  since  Jehovah 
is  a  hoi}'  and  a  jealous  God  (vers.  19,  20),  the  peo- 
ple persist  in  their  former  declaration  (ver.  21) 
■whereupon  the  choice  of  Jehovah  is,  solemnly  made 
(vers.  22-24),  and  the  covenant  renewed  (ver.  2.5). 
All  these  things  Joshua  writes  in  the  law-book  of 
God  (ver.  26),  raises  a  monument  of  stone  as  a 
witness  of  what  has  taken  place  (ver.  27),  and  then 
dismisses  the  people  (ver.  28)  each  to  his  posses- 
sion. 

Vers.  16-18.  The  People's  Reply  to  Joshuas 
Speech.  Ver.  16.  The  idea  of  forsaking  Jehovah 
and  serving  other  gods,  is  rejected  with  expres- 
sions of  the  deepest  aversion  (12T  -l^^  "Tt  •  7^ 
to  idolatry,  comp.  ch.  xxii.  29. 

Ver.  17.  The  reason:  Jehovah  was  their  God, 

he  who  had  brought  them  up  (H^^?^,  for  which, 

in  Ex.  XX.  2,  we  have  ^"'•O^t?'^^)  out  of  the  land 

of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage    (H^? 

w2^7^5?)  as  Ex.  XX.  2),  and  had  done  these  great 
signs,  i.  e.,  the  wonders  mentioned  by  Joshua 
^vers.  8-12)  before  their  eyes,  and  had  kept  them 
in  all  the  way  wherein  they  went,  etc. 

Ver.  18.  Among  the  deeds  of  Jchov.ih  they  re- 
call especially  the  expulsion  of  the  original  inhab- 
itants of  the  land,  and  then  add,  in  allusion  to 
Joshua's  last  word,  "  we  also  will  serve  Jeho- 
vah, for  he  is  oiir  God." 


Vers.  19,  20.  Joshua  still  calls  the  people  to 
notice  how  difficult  it  was  to  serve  Jehovah,  by 

showing  that  he  was  a  holy  God  (C*'tt7ip  D'^nb^, 

as  1  Sam.  xvii.  26  ;  D'^'H  D^ri*".^,  where  also  the 
adject,  is  in  the  plural;  in  respect  to  the  sense, 
comp.  Ex.  xix.  6 ;  Lev.  xxi.  6,  7,  8 ;  1  Pet.  ii.  9, 
as  well  as  the  numerous  passages  in  Isaiah,  where 

God  is  designated  as  the  vS"piZ7^  li^iTp,  e.  g.,  ch. 
V.  19,  24;  xii.  6;  xxx.  11,  12';'xli.  14,  4.3,  etc.),  a 
jealous  God  (Si:i2  ^i^;  Ex.  xx.  5,  S3r2  bS; 
Nah.  i.  2,  Wl3i7  y^,  as  here),  who  will  not  forgive 

transgressions  i'^'^J^)  and  sins.  "  ^^5'  spoken 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  is  commonly  construed 

with  ace.  rei;  less  frequently  with  7  rei,  besides 
this  passage  in  Ex.  xxiii.  21 ;  Ps.  xxv.  18,  with 
slight  modification  of  meaning  —  to  award  forgive- 
ness to  sin"  (Keil). 

Ver.  20.  This  jealousy  of  the  holy  God  will  show 
itself  in  this,  that  if  they  should  forsake  him  and 

serve  strange  gods  i"^^.}  ^H  '^_-i  ^s  Gen.  xxxv.  4, 
while  in  ver.  16,  as  in  ch.  xxiii.  16,  we  found 
2''ini^  S)  he  will  turn  (3K?1)  and  do  them  harm 

and  consume  (nv3,  finish,  abolish)  them,  after 
that  he  has  done  them  good,  /.  e.,  without  any 
regard  to  the  f;xct  that  he  had  done  them  good. 

Ver.  21.  The  people  adhere  to  their  resolution 
to  serve  Jehovah.  On  'i^^,  minime,  comp.  ch.  v. 
14. 

Ver.  22.  Joshua  calls  them  now  to  witness 
against  themselves,  that  they  have  chosen  Jehovah 
as  their  God,  to  serve  him,  i.  e.,  they  will,  if  they 
ever  fall  away,  be  obliged  to  admit  that  they  once 
chose  Jehovah,  and  that  lie  now  has  a  right  also 
to  punish  them  for  their  unfaithfulness.  To  this, 
too,  they  assent,  replying,  as  Avith  one  mouth : 
witnesses  (are  we). 

Ver.  23.  Still  another  exhortation  of  Joshua, 
resting  on  that  assent,  to  put  away  the  strange 

gods  (as  ver.  20,  "^33  "^i^  <!??)  which  were  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  incline  their  heart  to  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  Israel  (as  ver.  2).  Keil,  following  the 
example  of  R.  Levi  ben  Gerson,  Augustine,  and 

Calvin,  takes  D^^ir???  figuratively  =  in  your 
hearts,  because  the  people,  with  all  their  willing- 
ness to  renounce  idolatry,  yet  deliver  to  Joshua  no 
images  to  be  destroyed,  as  was  done  in  the  similar 
cases.  Gen.  xxxv.  4 ;  1  Sam.  vii.  4.  He  tkinks 
further,  that  although  the  people,  as  Amos  repre 
sents  to  his  generation  (Am.  v.  26,  comp.  Acts  vii 
43),  carried  about  with  them  idols  in  the  wilder- 
ness, yet  with  the  dying  out  of  the  generation  con- 
demned at  Kadesh,  gross  idolatry  would  have  dis- 
appeared from  Israel.  We  may  grant  that  so  long 
as  Joshua  lived,  Israel  publicly  served  the  true 
God,  but  hold  it  very  probable  that,  as  he  might 
full  well  know,  many  a  one  in  secret  worshipped 
the  idols  which  he  now  demanded  that  they  should 

put  away,  using  the  same  word  (•1~l"'Dri)  which 
Jacob  had  used  before,  and  Samuel  used  after  him- 
As  regards  the  actual  removal  of  the  images,  this 
may  have  followed,  although  we  are  not  so  in- 
formed. Einally,  D23~lp2  here  certainly  is  used 
precisely  as  much  in  the  proper  sense  as  in  Gen 
xxxv.  2,  Criph?,  and  1  Sam.  vii.  8,  D^pi'^'r- 


186 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Ver.  24.  For  the  third  time  (vers.  16,  21)  the 
people  aver  that  they  will  serve  Jehovah  and 
hearken  to  liis  voice. 

Ver.  25.  Upon  this,  Joshua  made  a  covenant 
with  them  that  day,  i.  c,  he  renewed  the  covenant 
concluded  on  Sinai  by  God  with  Israel  (Ex.  xix. 
20),  in  like  manner  as  Moses  had  done  (Dent, 
xxviii.  69)  in  the  field  of  Moab.  When  it  is  said 
further  concerning  Joshua,  that  lie  set  them  a 
statute  and  an  ordinance  (or  judgment)  in  Is- 
rael, these  words  arc  in  allusion  to  Ex.  xv.  25, 
where,  in  connection  icith  the  change  (not  bij  this, 
Keil)  of  the  bitter  water  into  sweet,  God  himself 
established  for  Israel  a  statute  and  right.  Here, 
it  was  precisely  through  the  renewal  of  the  cov- 
enant that  statute  and  right  for  the  people  were 
established  and  determined,  —  "what  in  matters  of 
religion  should  be  with  Israel  law  and  right" 
(Knobel). 

Vers.  26-28.  After  this  had  been  done,  Joshua 

wrote  these  things,  (prop,  words,  t3'^^3"^n"n^<), 
i.  e.,  all  which  had  happened  there  at  Sheehem, 
the  whole  transaction  between  him  and  the  people, 
in  the  book  of  the  law  of  God.  He  wrote  a  docu- 
ment—  a  protocol,  so  to  speak  —  concerning  the 
matter,  and  introduced  it  into  the  book  of  the  law. 
At  the  same  time  he  took  a  great  stone  and  set  it 
up  there  under  the  oak  which  was  in  the  sanc- 
tuary of  Jehovah  ("'"^  tL^p/ti?).  The  sanctuary 
is  not  the  tabernacle  (Ex.  xxv.  8  ;  Lev.  xii.  4 ;  xix. 
30  ;  XX.  3  ;  xxi.  12  ;  Num.  iii.  38  ;  xix.  20  ap.  Kno- 
bel), since  this,  according  to  ch.  xviii.  1,  stood  in 
Shiloh,  but  a  consecrated  space,  a  sacred  spot ;  and 
this  place,  indeed,  within  whose  limits  stood  the 
oak,  where  the  great  stone  was  set  up  bv  Joshua  (cf. 
Gen.  xxviii.  18;  Josh.  iv.  20-22  ;  1  S"ara.  vii.  12), 
had  been  hallowed  by  the  altar  which  Abraham  and 
Jacob  had  formerly  built  there  (Gen.  xii.  7  ;  xxxiii. 
20).  We  may  add  with  Knobel,  that  according  to 
ch.  viii.  30,  Joshua  himself  had  built  an  altar  on 
Mount  Ebal,  therefore  in  close  proximity  to  She- 
ehem, which,  like  Gilgal  (ch.  iv.  20  if.;  xv.  7), 
became  a  holy  place. 

Ver.  27.  Joshua  finally  explains  the  significance 
of  the  stone,  which  is  to  be  a  witness  against  the 
people  in  case  they  deny  God,  since  it  has  heard 
all  the  words  of  Jehovah  (ver.  2).  In  a  vivid 
imagination  the  stone  is  regarded  as  a  person,  so 
to  speak,  which  has  seen  and  heard  every  thing, 
eomp.  ch.  xxii.  34. 

Ver.  28  relates  the  dismissal  of  the  people. 
Every  one  returns  to  his  possession. 

7.  "Ch.  xxiv.  29-33.  Death  of  Joshua  and  of  Elea- 
zar.  Vers.  29,  30.  It  is  probable  that  immediately 
thereafter  Jo.shua  died,  one  hundred  and  ten  years 
old,  at  the  same  age  precisely  as  that  which  Joseph 
reached,  Gen.  1.  26.  He  was  buried  at  Timnath- 
serah  (ch.  xix.  50).  The  mountain  of  Gaash, 
mentioned  here  as  well  as  in  Judg.  ii.  9  ;  2  Sam. 
xxiii.  30;  1  Chr.  xi.  32,  cannot  be  identified.     Its 

name,  ^^^5  from  i^V|»  to  push,  thrust,  signifies, 
according  to  Gcsenius,  perhaps  the  same  as  fore- 
thrust,  forespring. 

Ver.  31.  So  long  as  Joshua  and  the  elders,  who 
ivitii  him  had  led  the  people,  lived,  and  those  who 

had  known  (^37"f^),  i.  e.  experienced,  all  the  works 

(»  ntt7))p"b3)  of  Jehovah,  which  he  had  done 
for  Israel,  Israel  served  Jehovah,  as  is  likewise  re- 
lated Judg.  ii.  11  if. 

Ver.  32  contains  an  additional  statement  con- 
'^rning  the  bones  of  Joseph,  which  suited  the  con- 


clusion here,  especially  as  the  discourse  in  vers. 
1-28  had  been  concerning  Sheehem,  Avhere  they 
were  buried,  in  the  piece  of  ground  which  Jacob 
had  once  bought  for  one  hundred  kesita  (Gen.  xxiii. 
19)  of  the  sons  of  Hamor  the  father  of  Sheehem. 
We  learn  from  Ex.  xiii.  19,  that  the  Israelites  had, 
in  conformity  with  a  last  wish  of  Joseph,  recorded 
Gen.  1.  25,  brought  these  bones  out  of  Egypt,  and 
this  circumstance  is  mentioned  by  our  author  in 
the  beginning  of  this  verse. 

Ver.  33.  After  Joshua,  died  Eleazar  also,  the 
son  of  Aaron.  How  long  afterward  we  cannot 
determine.  They  buried  hinr  at  Gibeah-phinehas, 
the  city  of  his  son,  which  had  been  given  to  the 
latter. on  Mount  E])hraim.  Since  it  is  expressly 
said  that  this  Gibeah-phinehas  lay  on  mount 
Ephraim,  we  agree  with  Hobinson,  von  Raumer 
(p.  155),  and  Knobel,  who  regarded  it  as  being  the 
present  Geeb  in  Maundrell,  p.  87,  or  Jibia  in  Rob. 
iii.  80,  81,  or  Chirbet  Jibia  in  Ritter,  Erdk.  xvi.  p. 
559  f.,  the  Kco^Tj,  villa  Geha  of  Euseb.  and  Jerome. 
It  stood  five  miles,  i.  e.,  two  hours,  north  of  Guph- 
na,  toward  Neapolis  or  Sheehem.  Kcil,  however, 
thinks  of  the  Levitical  city  Geba  (ch.  xviii.  24),  to 
which  view  the  position  "  on  Mount  Ephraim " 
need  not,  in  his  opinion,  be  an  objection,  because 
this  mountain,  according  to  Judg.  iv.  5  and  other 
passages,  reached  far  into  the  territory  of  Benja- 
min (?). 

The  Hebrew  original  of  our  book  closes  with 
this  notice  of  the  death  of  Eleazar.  The  LXX. 
have  added  a  supplement,  combining  Judg.  ii.  6, 
11  ff.,  and  iii.  7,  12  ff.,  which,  however,  is  nowhere 
found  in  the  MSS.  and  editions  of  Joshua.  We 
give  it  according  to  the  Polyglott  Bible  of  Stier 
and  Theile :  ^Ev  iKeivri  rfj  rj/J.€pa,  AajQovres  ol  viol 
'iffparjX  T^v  KificoThv  rod  Ofov  irepiecpfpoaav  iv  eav- 
Toh,  Kol  <t>tvees  lepaT^uaei/  avrl  EAea^ap  rod  -rrarphs 
avrou  eojs  antOave,  Koi  Karoopvyr]  iv  Ta^aaO  rrj  eav- 
Tov.  Ol  5e  iiiol  'l(Tpari\  aiz^Xdocrav  eKaffros  eis  rhv 
rSTTOV  avrwv  Kol  eis  t))V  kavrwv  irdAiv.  Kal  eae^ovro 
ol  viol  'Icrpa^A  rr]V  Aaraprriv  koX  'harapwQ  KoX  rovs 
deovs  rSiv  idvwv  rwv  kvkKw  avrwv.  Kal  irapiSooKep 
avrovs  Kvpios  els  xei'pas  EyXivv  ^aciAe'coy  Mwa^iroov, 
Kal  KareKvpievaev  aiircbv  err]  Se'/va  OKria, 


THEOLOGICAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

1 .  Joshua's  noble  character,  his  deep  insight  into 
God's  leadings  of  his  people,  his  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  inconstancy  of  the  human  heart,  his 
beautiful  treatment  of  religious  occasions,  all  ap- 
pear in  his  last  two  addresses  at  parting  with  the 
people.  As  far  as  possible  he  keeps  his  own  per- 
sonal merit  in  the  background.  It  is  God  who  has 
fought  for  Israel  (ch.  xxiii.  3)  and  will  still  further 
fight  for  him  (ch.  xxiii.  10),  the  God  of  Israel  (ch. 
xxiv.  2,  23),  who  from  ancient  times  (ch.  xxiv.  2) 
to  the  present  day  has  wonderfully  manifested 
himself  to  his  j)eople,  shown  them  much  fivvor,  and 
finally  given  them  a  beautiful  dwelling-place  (ch. 
xxiv.  13).  Of  himself  he  says  repeatedly  that  he 
is  old  and  must  go  the  way  of  all  the  earth  (ch. 
xxiii.  2,  14),  therefore  a  mortal  man  subject  to  the 
lot  of  all  earthly  existence,  a  man  who,  having 
fulfilled  his  task  and  distributed  the  land  to  the 
people  (ch.  xxiii.  4),  must  now  retire  from  the  the- 
atre of  his  activity,  but  who,  as  long  as  he  lives, 
will  with  his  family  serve  Jehovah  (ch.  xxiv.  15). 
How  nobly,  on  the  other  hand,  he  sketches  in  large 
features,  particularly  in  the  second  discourse,  the 
works  of  God;  Abraham's  call  (ch.  xxiv.  2  ff.), 
the  mission  of  Mores  and  Israel's  de'averance  out 


CHAPTERS  XXIII.,  XXIV 


187 


of  Egypt  (ch.  xxiv  5  if.),  the  conquest  of  the 
Amorites  beyond  the  Jordan,  the  turning  away  of 
the  curse  of  Bahiam,  the  capture  of  Jericho,  the 
conquest  of  the  hiiul  (ch.  xxiv.  8  ff.).  Since  he 
knew,  however,  the  luunau  lieart  in  its  fickleness, 
and  in  particuhir  understood  accurately  the  want 
of  stedfiistness  on  the  part  of  Israel,  he  repeatedly 
admonishes  them  to  titlelity  towaixls  God  (ch.  xxiii. 
6,  7,  11  ;  xxiv.  14,  15),  warns  them  likewise,  and 
in  part  with  words  of  sharp  severity,  against  all 
apostasy  (ch.  xxiii.  12-16  ;  xxiv.  14,  20),  and  puts 
them  a  third  time  to  the  test  whether  they  will 
really  serve  Jehovah  (ch.  xxiv.  15,  19,  20,  22).  In 
this,  however,  appears  at  the  same  time  Joshua's 
excellent  understanding  of  the  treatment  of  relig- 
ious concerns,  for  he  will  employ  no  constraint, 
but  leaves  entirely  to  their  own  choice  the  decision 
whether  Israel  will  serve  Jehovah  or  the  strange 
gods  of  whom  they  had  knowledge  (ch.  xxiv.  15, 
19,  20).  But  then,  after  the  people  have  decided 
for  Jehovah,  although  Joshua  has  very  emphat- 
ically i)ointed  out  that  He  is  a  holy  and  a  jealous 
God  (ch.  xxiv.  19),  who  will  not  forgive  transgres- 
sions and  sins,  he  demands  of  them  also  so  much 
the  more  pointedly  that  they  shall  put  away  all 
strange  gods. 

2.  In  respect  to  this  putting  away  of  strange 
gods,  we  take  the  liberty  of  adding  Gerlach's  re- 
mark on  ch.  xxiv.  23,  which  still  more  definitely 
supports  our  explanation  of  the  passage.  "  It  is 
remarkable,"  he  says,  "that,  after  Achan's  tres- 
pass in  the  matter  of  things  devoted,  and  after  the 
Israelites  had  not  long  before  been  ready  to  avenge 
so  signally  the  supposed  crime  of  their  transjor- 
danic  brethren  in  erecting  a  rival  altar,  idolatry 
could  still  have  been  secretly  practiced  among 
them.  In  this,  however,  we  must  fairly  consider 
how  hard  it  was  for  the  thought  of  the  one,  al- 
mighty, omnipresent  God  to  find  lodgment  in  the 
mind  of  the  heathen-spirited  people,  how,  with 
this  faith  they  stood  alone  among  the  nations  of 
the  whole  contemporary  world,  how  they,  there- 
fore, were  continually  overcome  anew  and  taken 
captive  by  the  spirit  of  the  world  and  of  the  age, 
and  incessantly  turned  away  to  other  helpers  from 
the  divinely  appointed  means  of  grace  which  seemed 
not  to  satisfy  their  carnal  desires ;  how,  in  partic- 
ular, they  still  afterwards  worshipped  partly  the 
true  God  under  images,  partly  the  divining  house- 
gods  (teraphim)  in  secret;  and  how  the  judgment 
of  God  might  indeed  seize  upon  and  hold  up  one 
example  (Aclian,  ch.  vii.),  without,  therefore,  at  a 
later  period,  in  like  manner,  extirpating  the  sin. 
That  in  the  wilderness  the  people  in  secret  wor- 
shipped idols  Amos  declares  (ch.  v.  25  ;  comp.  Acts 
vii.  43),  that  there  were  household  gods  even  in 
David's  house,  is  shown  by  1  Sam.  xix.  13,  16. 
No  apostasy  from  the  true  God  followed  from  that, 
but  a  partial  and  e\er  renewed  corruption  of  his 
service  through  superstition."  Analogous  exam- 
ples are  found  in  Grimm's  Mythology,  from  the  his- 
tory of  our  German  people. 

3.  Similar  representations  of  the  benefits  of  God 
to  his  people  may  be  read  in  many  passages  of  the 
Psalms,  partly  abridged,  partly  in  more  full  ac- 
:;ounts.  Thus  Ps.  xliv.  1-4  ;  Ixviii.  8  ff. ;  Ixxviii. ; 
Ixxx.  9  ff. ;  Ixxxi.  1 1  ;  xcix.  6,  7 ;  cv. ;  cvi. ;  exxxv. 
8  ff . ;  cxxxvi.  10,  11,  19.  Touching  the  deliver- 
ance from  Egypt  the  tenderly  winning  representa- 
tion of  Hosea  (ch.  xi.  1  ff.  [and  of  Jeremiah,  ch. 
ii.  1  ff.])  may  be  compared. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Joshua's  first  fiirewell  discourse  considered  in 
the  two  sections  above  given,  for  comfort  and  ad- 
monition (ch.  xxiii.  1-15). —  As  the  Lord  once 
brought  Israel  into  rest,  so  will  He  also  bring  us  to 
rest,  for  "  there  remaineth  a  rest  for  the  people  of 
God"  (ch.  xxiii.  1).  —  Joshua,  in  his  humility  and 
modesty,  set  before  us  as  a  pattern,  that  we  should 
in  all  things  give  God  alone  the  honor,  while  wc 
know  and  feel  ourselves  to  be  weak  and  dying 
men.  —  The  Lord  has  fought  also  for  you.  (1) 
The  Lord  has  fought;  (2)  the  Lord  has  fought  /br 
you  (ch.  xxiii.  3;  sermon  for  victory).  —  Depart 
neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left  from  the 
commands  of  God ;  a  text  suitable  for  confirma- 
tion addresses.  —  God  gives  victory  only  when  the 
combatants  most  diligently  keep  their  souls  and 
love  him.  —  Bad  men  will  be,  as  the lieathen  were 
for  the  Israelites,  a  trap  and  a  snare  and  a  scourge 
in  the  sides,  and  thorns  in  the  eyes  for  those  who 
live  in  intercourse  with  them.  —  Ver.  14,  a  very 
beautiful  text  for  a  farewell  sermon  for  a  preacher 
who  is  obliged  to  lay  down  his  office  from  advanced 
age,  also  for  a  funeral  discourse  when  a  father,  for 
instance,  to  whose  family  God  has  shown  much 
kindness,  is  deceased.  —  Vers.  15,  16.  Suitable  for 
a  sermon  on  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  (1) 
Think  to-day  of  all  the  good  which  you  have  re- 
ceived, according  to  what  God  has  spoken  to  you ; 
but  (2)  be  warned  against  the  transgression  of  his 
covenant,  lest  his  judgment  come  upon  you. 

Joshua's  last  congress  at  Shechem.  (1)  His  dis- 
course (ch.  xxiv.  1-15) ;  (2)  the  answer  of  the  peo- 
ple (vers.  lG-18) ;  (3)  the  final  decision  and  renewal 
of  the  covenant  (vers.  19-25). — Joshua's  second 
farewell  discourse  treated  by  itself,  and  that  as  a 
review  of  the  history  of  Israel  from  the  days  of  the 
patriarchs  to  his  own,  in  its  most  important  inci- 
dents as  above  stated  (ch.  xxiv.  1-15).  —  Of  the 
terror  of  God  upon  nations  doomed  to  destruction 
(ver.  12).  —  Not  by  thy  sword  nor  by  thy  bow  !  — 
God's  surpassing  benefits  proved  by  what  He  be- 
stowed upon  Israel.  —  Earnest  exhortation  to  give 
up  all  the  idolatry  still  remaining  among  them. — 
In  matters  of  religious  conviction  the  decision  must 
be  altogether  free;  all  constraint  is  to  be  con- 
demned. That  Joshua  teaches  once  for  all.  —  I 
and  my  house  will  serve  the  Lord !  —  A  text  of 
inexhaustible  richness  for  weddings ;  yet  rightly 
employed  only  when  the  individual  dispositions 
correspond,  —  a  thing  which  in  occasional  services 
should  never  be  wanting.  That  Erederick  William 
IV.,  king  of  Prussia,  at  ihe  opening  of  the  United 
Diet  in  1847,  declared  this  word  of  Joshua  to  be 
his  own  maxim,  is  well  known.  —  Such  deep  hor- 
ror of  all  idolatry  becomes  us  also,  as  it  once  be- 
came Israel.  Only  our  aversion  must  be  more 
permanent  than  it  was  with  that  people.  —  We  also 
will  serve  Jehovah,  for  He  is  our  God.  —  God  a 
holy,  and  a  jealous  God.  —  How  the  thought  that 
God  is  holy,  pure  from  all  evil,  and  jealous,  zeal- 
ously intent  on  his  proper  glory,  should  restrain 
us  from  all  evil,  and  especially  from  all  idolatry.  — 
When  does  God  not  spare  (forgive)"?  (1)  When 
transgression  and  sin  is  wilfully  committed,  and 
when  (2)  forgiveness  would,  as  He  foresees,  lead  to 
no  amendment.  —  When  we  forsake  the  Lord  He 
forsakes  us  also,  and  turns  away  from  us  although 
He  may  have  done  its  ever  so  much  good.  —  Ver. 
22  also  may  be  employed  as  a  text  for  discourses 


188 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


at  confirmation  [and  at  all  receptions  into  the 
clmrcli],  in  wliich  it  is  to  be  im])res.sed  upon  the 
candidates  that  their  "yes"  will  testify  against 
tlieni  it'  they  prove  unfaithful  to  the  Lord.  —  In 
wjiat  must  the  true  and  sincere  conversion  (repent- 
ance) of  an  eiiiire  peojde  consist?  (1)  In  their 
putting  away  their  strange,  often  very  secretly 
worshipped  gods;  (2)  in  the  inclination  of  their 
hearts  to  the  I/ord  God  of  Israel.  —  The  God  of 
Israel  (vers.  2,  23).  —  The  re])eated  profession  of 
the  people  that  they  will  serve  the  Lord,  regarded 
(1)  in  reference  to  its  import,  (2)  to  the  responsi- 
bility which  the  peo]}le  thus  took  upon  them.  —  It 
is  easily  said  :  I  will  serve  the  Lord  and  obey  his 
voice ;  but  actually  to  keep  the  promise  when  the 
world  allures  to  its  altars,  is  quite  another  thing.  — 
Israel's  resolution  to  serve  the  Lord  was  wholly 
voluntary.  >Sk)  should  it  be  also  with  us.  There 
should  be  no  compulsion.  —  Men  may  well  hearken 
to  God's  voice,  for  (1)  it  always  warns  against  tlie 
evil,  (2)  always  admonishes  to  the  good.  —  O  !  how 
peaceful  is  it  in  the  heart  when  we  really  serve  the 
Lord  our  God  in  sincerity,  and  hear  nothing  in 
preference  to  his  friendly  voice,  that  we  may  joy- 
fully obey  it.  —  The  renewal  of  the  covenant  at 
Shechem;  to  be  treated  in  such  a  way  that  (1) 
Joshua,  (2)  the  people,  (.3)  the  matter  of  the  cov- 
enant (law  and  rights  of  God),  (4)  the  place  where 
it  was  accomplished  —  keeping  in  view  the  his- 
torical recollections  so  richly  associated  with  She- 
chem, (5)  the  memorial  of  the  covenant,  shall  all 
receive  due  attention. — Joshua's  death,  the  end 
of  a  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord  who  had  proved 
himself  such  (1 )  already  in  Moses'  time  (Num.  xiii. ; 
xxvii.  15-2,3);  (2)  in  the  conquest  and  partition 
of  the  land,  in  which  (a)  his  trust  in  God,  (6)  his 
bravery,  (c)  his  unselfishness  (ch.  xvii.  14-^8  ;  xix. 
49,  .50)  are  to  be  signalized;  (3)  even  to  the  end 
(comp.  ch.  xxiii.  1-11  ;  xxiv.  1-15). — Vers.  29, 
30.  How  beneficially  the  good  example  of  a  pious 
and  true  leader  may  influence  a  whole  people,  illus- 
trated by  the  case  of  Joshua,  Eleazar,  Phinehas, 
and  the  other  elders  of  Israel.  —  The  burial  of 
Joseph's  bones,  an  act  of  grateful  respect,  and  the 
conscientious  fulfillment  of  a  dying  wish.  —  Elea- 
zar's  death  the  end  of  a  priest  after  God's  heart 
(Ex.  vi.  23,  25;  xxviii.  1;  Lev.  viii.24;  Num.  iii.32; 
XX.  26;  xxvii.  18  ff . ;  xxxiv.  17;  Josh.  xiv.  1). 

Starke  :  Peace  and  rest  is  also  a  favor  from 
God,  therefore  we  may  well  pray  :  Graciously  grant 
us  peace,  etc.,  and,  From  war  and  bloodshed  pre- 
serve us,  merciful  Lord  God,  etc. — Although  God 
alone,  in  all  things  which  happen,  deserves  the 
honor,  and  He  it  is  also  who  is  and  remains  the 
one  who  effects  all  good,  yet  we  must  not  leave 
anything  wanting  in  our  own  fidelity. — A  Chris- 
tian must  not  walk  in  his  own  way,  but  order  all 
his  conduct  by  God's  word.  —  Soul  lost,  all  lost ! 
Therefore  watch,  make  haste  and  save  thy  soul !  — 
God  demands  not  merely  an  outward  but  an  in- 


ward obedience  to  his  law.  —  By  our  might  noth- 
ing is  done,  by  God's  might  everything.  —  To  serve 
the  true  God  is  the  highest  propriety  and  our 
duty ;  0  that  all  might  recognize  it  as  such  and 
serve  God  from  tlic  heart !  —  The  service  which  one 
renders  to  God  must  be  imconstrained. 

Cramer  :  Eaitli  is  an  assured  confidence  and 
excludes  doubt  (Heb.  xi.  1 ;  Jas.  i.  6)  even  where 
one  cannot  see  (John  xx.  29).  —  The  promises  of 
the  law  are  conditioned  on  obedience  (Ueut.  xxviii. 
1). — There  is,  however,  none  other  who  could 
fight  for  us,  etc.,  Ps.  liii.  6  ;  Ixxix.  10  (ch.  xxiii. 
10).  —  With  the  froward  God  is  froward.  —  Death 
knows  no  difference  in  person,  age,  sex,  condition, 
or  country.  —  By  repeating  and  meditating  on  the 
great  deeds  of  God  we  should  strengthen  ourselves 
in  faith,  and  press  on  towards  obedience  to  his 
commands  (Ps.  xliv.  2  ;  Ixxxv.  2  ;  cv.  5  ;  cvi.  6). 

OsiANDER :  Whoever  desires  to  live  in  accord- 
ance with  the  prescribed  word  of  God,  so  as  to  add 
nothing  thereto  and  take  nothing  therefrom,  he  is 
on  the  right  road  and  walks  most  safely.  —  It  is 
not  enough  to  have  made  a  good  beginning,  but 
he  who  perseveres  to  tlie  end  shall  be  saved,  Matt, 
xxiv.  13.  —  To  God  must  we  ascribe  the  victory, 
and  not  to  our  own  might  and  strength.  —  The 
church  of  God  is  never  without  hypocrites  aud 
apostates.  —  God  can  put  up  with  no  mixed  relig- 
ion ;  with  him  it  is  "  all  mine  or  let  it  alone  alto- 
gether," Matt.  iv.  10. 

Bihl.  Tub.^  The  precious  covenant  which  we 
have  made  with  God  we  should  have  constantly 
before  our  eyes. 

[Matt.  Henry  ;  on  ch.  xxiii.  1,2:  AVhcn  we  see 
death  hastening  toward  us,  that  should  quicken  us 
to  do  tiie  ivork  of  life  with  all  our  might.  —  On  ch. 
xxiv.  1  :  We  must  never  think  our  work  for  God 
done,  till  our  life  is  done ;  and  if  He  lengthen  out 
our  days  beyond  what  we  thought,  we  must  con- 
clude it  is  because  He  has  some  further  sei'vice  for 
us  to  do.  — Ibid.  ver.  15  :  When  we  cannot  bring- 
as  many  as  we  would  to  the  service  of  God,  we 
must  bring  as  many  as  we  can,  and  extend  our 
endeavors  to  the  utmost  sphere  of  our  activity ;  if 
we  cannot  reform  the  land,  let  ns  put  away  iniquity 
far  from  our  own  tabernacle.  —  Those  that  lead 
and  rule  in  other  things,  should  be  first  in  the  ser- 
vice of  God,  and  go  before  in  the  best  things. — 
Those  that  resolve  to  serve  God,  must  not  mind 
being  singular  in  it,  nor  be  drawn  by  the  crowd  to 
forsake  his  service.  —  Those  that  are  bound  for 
heaven,  must  be  willing  to  swim  against  the  stream, 
and  must  not  do  as  the  viost  do,  but  as  the  best 
do. — Ibid.  vers.  29-33:  This  book  which  began 
with  triumphs  here  ends  with  funerals,  by  which 
all  the  glory  of  man  is  stained.  —  How  well  is  it 
for  the  Gospel  church  that  Christ  our  Joshua  is 
still  with  it,  by  his  Spirit,  and  will  be  always,  even 
mito  the  end  of  the  world .'] 


THE 


OOK    OF    JUDGES 


PAULUS   OASSEL,  D.  D., 


PROFESSOR    IN    BERLIN, 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN,  WITH  ADDITIONS, 


P.  H.  STEEI^STPvA, 


PROFESSOR  OF   BIBLICAL  LITERATURE   IN  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL   DIVINITV    SCHOOL 

AT   CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 


NEW    YORK: 
SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,  AND  COMPANY 

1875. 


Entered  accurding  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  hj 

ClIAKLKS    SciiinNPJK   AND    CojIPANY, 

lu  fne  Oiliee  of  the  Lihiarian  of  Congress,  at  WasliingtoG, 


RIVERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE: 

fe  I  I,  K  KOT  YPKJ)    AND    PRINTED    BY 

H.    <).    HOUGHTON   AND    COMPANY. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.      Contents  and  Plan. 

1,  The  Book  of  Judges  is  in  a  special  sense  the  first  historical  book  of  Israel.  It  does 
not,  like  the  Book  of  Joshua,  relate  the  deeds  of  one  man,  nor  does  it,  like  the  last  four  books 
of  Moses,  revolve  around  the  commanding  figure  and  lofty  wisdom  of  a  prophet.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent,  this  book  also  is  a  Genesis.  The  first  book  of  the  Pentateuch  describes  the 
opening  period  of  the  primitive  patriarchal  family ;  the  Book  of  Judges  relates  the  earliest 
history  of  the  people  of  Israel  in  Canaan.  "  The  children  of  Israel  asked  the  Lord,"  is 
its  opening  sentence.  It  rehearses  the  fortunes,  deeds,  and  sufferings  of  the  people,  as  they 
occurred  after  the  death  of  Joshua.  For  this  personage  was  only  the  testamentary  executor 
of  the  prophet  who  remained  behind  on  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan  (cf.  on  ch.  i.  1).  When 
he  also  died,  Israel,  the  heir,  deprived  both  of  the  authoritative  direction  of  Moses  and  the 
executive  guidance  of  Joshua,  entered  upon  the  independent  management  of  its  acquired 
possession.  The  Book  of  Joshua  is  the  history  of  a  conqueror  ;  the  Book  of  Judges  that  of  a 
people  for  the  first  time  in  possession.  Hitherto,  Israel  had  always  been  in  a  condition  of 
unrest  and  movement,  first  enslaved,  then  wandering  in  the  desert,  finally  undergoing  the 
hardships  of  the  camp  and  conquest ;  the  Book  of  Judges  exhibits  the  nation  in  the  first  period 
of  its  life  as  a  settled,  possessing,  and  peaceable  people.  Hitherto,  the  nation,  like  a  minor, 
had  been  authoritatively  directed  by  its  guai'dian  and  friend  ;  the  Book  of  Judges  opens  at  the 
moment  in  which  the  people  itself  is  to  assume  the  administration  of  its  affairs  in  accordance 
with  the  sacerdotal  and  civil  constitution  which  has  been  framed  for  it.  This  is  indicated,  from 
various  points  of  view,  by  the  name  Avhich  our  Book  bears  in  the  Canon  :  Shophetim,  Judges. 
The  same  title  is  borne  by  the  Synagogue  pericope  which  begins,  at  Deut.  xvi.  18,  with  the 
command,  "  Thou  shalt  make  thee  Judges  (Shophetim)  in  all  thy  gates  which  the  Lord  thy 
God  giveth  thee."  Since  Moses  no  longer  exercised  his  legislative,  nor  Joshua  his  executive 
functions,  these  Shophetim  constituted  the  highest  civil  authority  (cf  on  ch.  ii.  16),  who  in 
conjunction  with  the  priesthood,  were  to  watch  over  the  observance  of  the  law.  The  Book 
of  -Judges,  accordingly,  recounts  the  history  of  the  times,  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  in  which 
the  governing  authority  in  Israel  was  to  be  exercised  by  the  Shophetim. 

2.  The  Biblical  books  are  throughout  books  of  instruction.  For  this  purpose,  and  this 
alone,  were  they  written.  Their  design  is  to  show  the  relations,  first  of  God,  and  through 
God  of  Israel,  to  history.  In  their  view,  all  history,  and  that  of  Israel  especially,  is  a  con- 
tinuous fulfillment  of  the  truth  and  purposes  of  God.  The  achievements  and  the  fortunes  of 
all  nations  are  the  consequences  of  their  moral  relations  to  God.  But  the  preeminence  of 
Israel  consists  in  this,  that  the  God  of  nature  and  of  time  was  first  revealed  to  it,  and  that  in 
the  Law  which  it  received  from  Him,  it  has  a  clear  and  definite  rule  by  which  it  can  order  its 
relations  to  God  and  know  the  moral  grounds  of  whatever  befalls  it.  Upon  the  observance 
of  this  law,  as  the  evidence  and  expression  of  faith  in  the  living  God,  the  freedom,  well-being, 
and  peace  of  Israel  repose.  This  had  been  made  known  to  the  people,  before  under  Joshua's 
direction  they  left  the  desert  and  addressed  themselves  to  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  If  after 
victory,  they  shall  observe  the  law,  and  be  mindful  of  their  calling  to  be  a  holy  People  of 
God,  prosperity  will  follow  them ;  if  not,  they  shall  fall  into  bondage,  poverty,  and  discord 
(Deut.  vii.  1  ff.).  The  Book  of  Judges  is  a  text-book  of  fulfillment  to  this  prediction.  The 
twenty-one  sections  of  which  it  consists  are  organically  put  together  for  this  pui'pose.  It 
may,  indeed,  be  said  that  there  are  three  principal  divisions  recognizable :  first,  chaps,  i.  and 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


ii. ;  secondly,  chaps,  iii.-xvi. ;  thirdly,  chaps,  xvii.-xxi.  But  the  lessons  which  these  three 
divisions  respectively  contain,  evince  precisely  the  organic  connection  in  which  the  whole 
narrative  stands  with  all  its  parts,  as  the  necessary  fulfillment  of  what  was  promised  in  the 
law.  The  first  two  chapters  are  a  pragmatic  introduction  to  the  history  of  the  book  as  a 
■whole.  They  explain  the  possibility  of  the  events  about  to  be  related.  Not  in  the  history 
of  Joshua  could  the  germs  of  the  subsequent  conflicts  lie ;  for  Joshua  stood  in  the  spirit  of 
the  law,  and  moved  in  the  steps  of  Moses.  .It  was  only  in  what  the  tribes  did  afler  his  death, 
that  their  foundation  was  laid.  Accordingly,  when  ch.  i.  relates  the  prosecution  of  the  con- 
quest by  Israel,  its  main  object  in  so  doing  is  not  to  tell  what  was  conquered  and  how, 
but  rather  to  show  that  in  violation  of  the  Mosaic  command  the  tribes  failed  to  expel  the 
Canaanites.  In  consequence  of  this  failure,  the  forewarnings  of  the  law  (Deut.  vii.)  went 
into  fulfillment.  Peace  endured  only  so  long  as  the  elders  yet  lived  who  remembered  all  the 
great  works  that  were  done  for  Israel  at  their  entrance  into  Canaan  (Josh.  xxiv.  31).  The 
younger  generation  soon  fell  into  the  snares  of  temptation,  and  consequently  into  spiritual  and 
political  servitude.  In  distress,  indeed,  they  sought  after  God,  and  then  heroes  rose  up  among 
them,  who  were  truly  their  Judges,  and  who,  acting  in  the  spirit  of  God,  regained  their  lib- 
erty. Their  deeds  are  reported  in  chaps,  iii.-xvi.  But  the  root  of  the  evil  was  not  thereby 
removed.  Heathenism  continued  to  exist  in  the  bosom  of  Israel.  The  occasion  of  apostasy 
afforded  by  the  idolatry  of  the  Canaanites  was  permanent,  but  the  institution  of  the  judgeship 
was  transient.  The  service  of  Baal  perpetuated  itself  from  generation  to  generation  ;  but  the 
strength  and  energy  of  the  Judge  expired  with  the  person  in  Avhom  they  dwelt.  So  also  all 
those  judges  whom  according  to  the  law  Israel  was  to  elect  for  the  administration  of  its  local 
affairs  (Deut.  xvi.  18  f.),  were  invested  with  merely  personal,  not  hereditary,  dignity.  The 
permanent  evil  was  not  confronted  with  any  equally  permanent  institution.  To  this  fact 
ch.  ii.  already  alludes ;  for  it  says,  ver.  1 9,  that  "  when  the  Judge  was  dead,  they  turned 
back." 

3.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  Book  of  Judges  is  the  book  of  fulfillment  from  yet  another 
point  of  view.  It  teaches  that  by  reason  of  the  fact  just  alluded  to,  the  hereditary  kingly 
office  had  to  be  set  up.  In  Deuteronomy  (xvi.  18  f.),  the  institution  of  Judges  in  all  the 
gates  of  Israel  is  immediately  followed  by  this  provision  (ch.  xvii.  14  ff.)  :  "  When  thou  art 
come  into  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  and  shalt  possess  it,  and  shalt  dwell 
therein,  and  shalt  say,  I  will  set  a  king  over  me,  like  as  all  the  nations  that  are  about  me,  then 
shalt  thou  set  him  king  over  thee  whom  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose."  The  Book  of  Judges 
shows  that  this  result  was  unavoidable.  The  government  of  the  Judges,  it  points  out  already  in 
ch.  ii.,  has  no  traditional  strength.  The  authority  of  the  greatest  among  them  ceases  when 
he  dies.  Each  one  of  the  great  heroes  who  are  portrayed  from  ch.  iii.  onward,  affords  proof 
of  the  want  of  the  hereditary  kingly  office,  albeit  in  different  ways.  When  Othniel  died,  no 
second  hero  of  Judah  was  forthcoming  to  restrain  Israel  from  sin.  Ehud  was  a  deliverer 
(ch.  iii.),  but  he  is  not  even  called  a  Judge.  Afler  him,  the  work  of  delivering  and  judging 
devolved  on  a  woman,  and  Barak  was  willing  to  fight  only  if  she  went  with  him  (chaps,  iv., 
v.).  Gideon  became  inspired  with  courage  only  through  great  wonders  on  the  part  of  God 
(ch.  vi.)  ;  and  however  pious  and  great,  he  himself  occasioned  confusion  in  Israel  (ch.  viii. 
27).  Jephthah  had  no  legal  descent  of  any  kind.  Samson  was  an  incomparable  hero  ;  but 
he  fought  single-handed,  without  a  people  to  support  him. 

The  Judges  were  indeed  deliverers ;  but  their  authority  was  not  recognized  throughout  all 
Israel.  The  call  of  Deborah  was  answered  by  only  two  tribes.  Gideon's  leadership  was  at 
first  opposed  by  Ephraim.  Jephthah  fell  into  sanguinary  discord  with  the  same  tribe.  Sam- 
son was  bound  to  be  delivered  up  to  the  Philistines  by  the  terror-stricken  tribe  of  Judah 
itself. 

The  judgeship  did  not  even  maintain  itifelf  within  the  same  tribe.  Of  the  six  principal 
heroes,  three  belonged  to  the  south,  —  Othniel,  Ehud,  Samson,  —  and  three  to  the  north, 
—  Barak,  Gideon,  Jephthah ;  none  to  Ephraim,  the  tribe  of  Joshua,  and  two  to  Man- 
asseh. 

The  title  of  the  hero  was  Shophet,  Judge.  But  judges  there  were  always.  In  every  tribe, 
the  judge  was  the  local  magistrate.  The  hero  who  rose  up  to  conquer  bore  no  new  title. 
A.nd  his  authority  was  merely  the  authority  of  the  common  Shophet  territorially  extended  by 
virtue  of  his  mighty  deeds.  But  whatever  imity  he  might  have  formed  during  his  activity, 
dissolved  itself  at  his  death.  The  tribes  then  stood  again  under  their  separate  Shophetim. 
Permanent  organic  connection  could  be  secured  only  through  a  king.     Without  this  common 


§  2.    TIME   OF   COMPOSITION. 


and  permanent  centre,  the  interests  of  the  several  tribes  diverged,  and  each  section  became 
indifferent  to  whatever  occurred  in  the  others.  National  interest  decayed,  and  with  it,  of 
course,  national  strength.  The  narratives  of  chaps,  xvii.-xxi.  form,  it  is  true,  a  division  by 
themselves,  but  a  division  that  stands  in  organic  connection  with  the  whole  Book.  The 
events  there  related  do  not  follow  after  the  last  judge  of  whom  ch.  xvi.  speaks.  They  belong 
to  much  earlier  times,  and  yet  the  position  assigned  them  is  well  considered  and  instructive. 
They  demonstrate  by  new  and  striking  illustrations  the  necessity  of  the  kingly  office  to 
strengthen  Israel,  within  and  without,  over  against  the  existing  idolatry,  wliich  could  main- 
tain itself  only  by  reason  of  the  divisions  and  want  of  unity  between  the  tribes  of  Israel.  The 
events  of  these  last  five  chapters  do  not  seem  to  have  occurred  under  the  tyranny  of  any 
hostile  king.  So  much  the  more  strikingly  do  they  set  forth  the  weakness  of  the  form  of 
government  which  Israel  had  at  that  time,  —  a  weakness  which,  to  be  sure,  had  its  ulti- 
mate ground  in  the  weakness  of  the  people  itself  They  show  the  decay  both  of  religion 
among  the  people  and  of  the  priesthood.  The  first  two  of  these  chapters  (xvii.  and  xviii.) 
teach  us  what  sins  in  spiritual  matters  and  what  deeds  of  civil  violence  were  possible  in 
Israel,  without  causing  the  whole  nation  to  rise  in  remonstrance.  The  last  two  show  the 
reverse  of  this,  namely,  the  fimaticism  of  self-righteousness  with  which  the  whole  people  pro- 
ceeded against  one  of  the  brotherhood  of  tribes,  reducing  it  even  to  the  verge  of  extinction. 
Both  kinds  of  sins  were  possible  only  because  the  hereditary,  general,  and  authoritative 
kingly  office  was  wanting,  which  everywhei'e  interposes  with  the  same  comprehensiveness  of 
view,  because  it  everywhere  governs  with  the  same  strength.  For  that  reason  the  narrator 
several  times  adds  the  remark  (ch.  xvii.  6,  xviii.  1,  xix.  1)  :  "  There  was  no  king  in  Israel." 
It  is  the  last  sentence  he  writes  :  "  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel ;  every  man  did 
that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes."  But  the  whole  Book  points  to  this  conclusion.  It  is 
the  essence  of  its  special  teaching.  It  is  that  which  makes  its  title  doubly  significant.  The 
civil  authority  of  the  Shophetim  would  have  sufficed,  if  Israel  had  been  obedient,  and  had 
not  retained  the  Canaanitos  in  its  borders.  As  it  was  not  obedient,  it  needed  extraordinary 
Shophetim  to  effect  its  deliverance.  But  their  sporadic  activity  could  not  prevail  against  a 
permanent  evil.  Tliis  the  concentrated  strength  of  the  kingly  office  alone  could  overcome  ; 
just  as,  according  to  the  gospel,  every  evil  to  which  the  children  of  men  were  subject,  has 
been  dissolved  by  the  true  kingship  of  the  Son  of  God. 

§  2.      Time  of  Composition. 

The  doctrinal  tendency  which  we  thus  perceive  in  the  Book  is  of  great  importance ;  for 
it  undoubtedly  furnishes  a  clew  to  the  time  in  which  it  was  edited.  The  idea  of  explaining 
the  possibility  of  such  events  as  are  related  in  chaps,  xvii.-xxi.  by  the  remark,  "  There 
was  no  king  in  Israel,"  could  be  entertained  only  at  a  time  when  perfect  political  unity 
and  order  were  still  expected  to  result  fi'om  the  kingly  office.  No  such  explanation  could 
have  been  appended  to  the  account  of  Micah  in  eh.  xvii.,  if  the  division  of  Israel,  and  the 
institution  of  Jeroboam's  political  idolatry,  had  already  taken  place.  After  the  reigns  of 
various  sinful  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  had  become  matters  of  history,  and  after  the  rebellion 
against  David  and  the  sanguinary  conflicts  between  Judah  and  Israel  had  taken  place,  the 
want  of  a  king  could  not  have  been  offered  in  explanation  of  the  civil  war  between  Israel 
and  Benjamin.  This  could  only  be  done  while  people  yet  looked  with  confidence  to  the 
kingly  office  for  certain  victory  without,  and  divine  peace  and  order  within.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  prominence  with  which  the  lack  of  hereditariness  in  the  judgeship,  and  the  want 
vf  any  guaranty  against  apostasy  are  set  forth,  is  explainable  only  if  done  at  a  time  when  the 
jvidicial  office  had  ceased  to  inspire  confidence.  There  is  but  one  period  in  the  history  of 
Israel  in  which  both  these  conditions  meet,  namely,  when  the  people  desired  a  king  from 
Samuel,  and  he  consecrated  Saul,  and  the  victories  of  the  latter  afforded  peace  within  and 
without.  The  Book  might  be  called  a  text-book  for  the  people,  collected  and  written  to 
instruct  and  establish  them  in  the  new  kingly  government. 

Tlie  desire  for  a  king  appears  as  early  as  Gideon's  time.  After  that  hero's  victory,  the 
people  come  and  wish  to  have  him  for  a  king.  But  Gideon  declines,  and  our  author  mani- 
festly approves  his  course.  Abimelech's  disgraceful  kingship  is  minutely  related ;  but  the 
parable  of  Jotham  sets  in  a  convincing  light  the  wrongfulness  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
trees,  i.  e.  the  people,  seek  to  make  a  king.  A  king  so  made  can  be  of  no  service  to  Israel, 
It  is  written  (Deut.  xvii,  15)  :     "  Thou  shalt  make  Am  king  whom  the  Lord  shall  choose;" 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


In  Samuel's  time,  also,  the  people  wisli  a  king,  but  they  do  not  undertake  to  choose  one 
themselves.  They  pray  Samuel  to  select  one  for  them ;  and  it  is  only  at  God's  command 
that  Samuel  complies. 

Samuel,  as  chronologically  he  stands  between  King  Saul  and  the  Judges,  so  as  Prophet  and 
Priest  he  mediates  the  transition  from  the  judicial  to  the  kingly  office.  His  pj-ophetic  ex- 
ercise of  the  judicial  office  first  teaches  the  jDcople  how  rightly  to  desire  and  ask  for  a  king. 
It  is  on  that  account  that  the  Book  of  Judges  closes  with  the  heroic  deeds  and  death  of  Sam- 
son. The  age  of  heroes  is  past.  The  age  of  kings  can  begin  only  when  a  prophet  enjoys 
respect  as  a  judge  throughout  all  Israel,  which  had  never  been  the  case  before  Samuel. 
Hence,  this  prophet's  history  forms  the  introduction  to  the  history  of  the  kingship,  since  with- 
out his  consecration  no  king  could  exist.  This  is  why  the  Septuagint  and  the  "Vulgate  call 
the  Books  of  Samuel  the  Fu'st  and  Second  of  Kings. 

The  extreme  points  of  time  between  which  the  composition  of  our  Book  must  have  taken 
place,  may  easily  be  indicated.  It  must  have  been  later  than  the  great  victory  of  Samuel 
over  the  PhiUstines,  the  reformation  of  Israel,  and  the  return  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  from 
exile  (cf.  on  ch.  xviii.  30).  One  consequence  of  the  reformation  was  that,  notwithstand- 
ing Samuel's  protest  at  first,  the  people  desired  a  king  ;  for  in  tliis  promised  office  they 
sought  security  both  against  their  enemies  and  against  themselves  and  their  own  unbe- 
lief. Another  consequence,  probably,  was  the  composition  of  this  manual  of  penitence  and 
instruction. 

On  the  other  hand,  our  Book  must  have  been  written  before  the  reign  of  David.  Jerusa- 
lem was  still  called  Jebus,  and  the  Jebusites  had  not  yet  been  expelled  (ch.  i.  21,  xix.  10). 
But  if  2  Sam.  V.  6  IF.  is  to  have  any  meaning  at  all,  it  must  refer  to  the  utter  destruction  of 
the  Jebusites'  power  by  David,  a  conclusion  which  the  whole  history  confirms.  Moreover, 
if  our  Book  had  not  been  written  before  the  time  of  David,  references  to  his  reign  could  not 
be  wanting.  From  Othniel's  time,  the  tribe  of  Judah,  David's  tribe,  falls  into  the  back- 
ground. The  mention  of  it  in  the  history  of  Samson,  is  far  from  honorable.  The  relatively 
copious  treatment  of  affairs  in  wliich  Benjamin  figures,  points  to  the  time  of  King  Saul, 
While  the  history  of  Othniel  is  quite  summarily  related,  that  of  Ehud  is  drawn  out  to  the 
minutest  detail.  Similarly  i-ich  is  the  flow  of  tradition  in  the  narrative  concerning  Gibeah 
(ch.  xix.  seq.).  Saul  says  of  himself  that  he  is  "  of  the  smallest  of  the  tribes"  (1  Sam.  ix. 
21).  This  history  of  Gibeah  explains  the  cause  of  Benjamin's  smallness,  and  traces  it  to  the 
savage  war  made  on  him  by  Israel. 

§  3.   The  Sources. 

1.  The  author  did  not  command  materials  in  equal  abundance  from  all  the  tribes.  A  full 
supply  flowed  in  upon  him  out  of  the  traditions  of  the  tribes  bordering  on  Ephraim,  namely, 
Benjamin,  Manasseh,  and  Dan.  The  story  of  Deborah  describes  the  heroic  exploit  of  Naph- 
tali  and  Zebulun;  but  Deborah  herself  resided  between  Ramah  and  Bethel,  on  Mount  Ephraim, 
near  the  confines  of  Benjamin.  Of  the  tribes  at  the  extremities  of  the  land,  of  Reuben 
(Gad  is  included  in  Gilcad),  of  Simeon  (only  the  incident  in  ch.  i.),  of  Asher,  the  author's 
sources  affbrded  scarcely  any  information.  Concerning  Judah's  preeminence,  only  ch.  i.  (cf. 
ch.  XX.  18)  communicates  anything.  Toward  Ephraim  (for  ch.  i.  22  ff".  refers  to  the  zvhole 
house  of  Joseph),  the  sources  nourish  an  unfavorable  disposition.  No  hero,  properly  speak- 
ing, came  out  of  Ephraim  ;  for  of  Abdon  nothing  but  his  name  and  wealth  is  mentioned  (ch. 
xii.  13).  Ephraim  originates  the  sinful  opposition  to  Gideon  and  Jephthah.  In  Ephraim 
Abimelech  plays  his  role  as  royal  usurper.  There  Micah  sets  up  his  false  religion.  Thence 
also  sprang  that  Levite  who  was  the  cause  of  the  civil  war.  It  must  not  be  overlooked  that 
for  the  author  and  liis  times  all  this  was  of  great  significance.  When  the  king  demanded  of 
Samuel  is  appointed,  he  is  not  chosen  out  of  Ephraim,  but  out  of  Benjamin.  The  author, 
who  favors  the  institution  of  the  kingship,  brings  the  moral  incapacity  which  Ephraim  as 
leading  tribe  has  hitherto  shown,  into  prominence.  The  priesthood,  it  is  true,  had  their  seat 
at  Shiloh.  But  the  whole  history  of  the  Judges  shows  the  powerlessness  of  the  priesthood 
in  times  of  danger.  The  facts  related  in  the  last  five  chapters  of  our  book,  by  way  of  sup- 
plement to  the  deeds  of  the  heroes,  are  sufficiently  indicative  of  the  fall  of  the  priestly 
tribe.  Such  things,  also,  as  are  told  of  Levites,  occurred  only  "  because  there  was  no  king." 
Ephraim,  it  is  true,  gave  Samuel  to  the  nation,  the  restorer  of  Israel's  spiritual  strength, 
and  the  reformer  of  the  priesthood;  but  even  he  could  give  no  guaranty  for  his  children, 
who  when  in  old  age  he  transfers  his  office  to  them,  do  not  walk  in  his  steps. 


§  3.     THE   SOUKCES. 


2.  As  to  the  autliorsliip  of  the  Book  of  Judges,  the  traditions  which  ascribe  it  to  Samuel 
are  ancient ;  but  if  in  such  obscure  matters  one  were  to  risk  a  conjecture,  he  would  hardly 
attach  himself  to  these  traditions.  The  Book  apparently  presupposes  the  I'eign  of  Saul,  just 
as  in  the  Books  of  Samuel  the  reign  of  David  is  presupposed.  To  record  the  deeds  and  in- 
structions of  God,  as  brought  to  view  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  was  certainly  a  well-con- 
sidei'ed,  and,  as  the  extant  sacred  writings  show,  a  fearlessly  and  honestly  executed  office. 
If  this  was  the  office  held  by  the  mazkir  at  the  courts  of  David,  Solomon,  and  the  kings  in 
general  (cf.  2  Sara.  viii.  16,  1  Kings  iv.  3,  etc.),  it  would  be  natural  to  ascribe  our  Book  to 
a  Benjaminite  of  the  court  of  Saul.  This  man  had  before  him  narratives,  extending  over  a 
period  of  400  years,  which  must  have  been  written  by  contemporaries  of  the  events  related. 
Local  and  matei-ial  details  such  as  the  histories  of  Ehud,  Gideon,  Abimelech,  Jephthali,  Sam- 
son, as  also  those  of  Micah  and  the  priest  at  Gibeah,  exhibit,  can  only  proceed  from  narra- 
tors who  stood  personally  near  the  events.  Nevertheless,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  an 
organic  recasting  of  the  materials  extends  through  the  whole  Book,  by  means  of  which  the 
docti'ine  it  is  designed  to  teach  is  brought  prominently  to  view,  and  the  arrangement  of  the 
individual  narratives  determined.  To  this  it  is  owing  that  the  record  of  the  great  deeds 
achieved  by  the  Judges  closes  with  Samson,  although  it  is  not  certain  that  the  death  of  that 
hero  is  the  latest  event  of  the  Book,  and  also  that  the  narratives  concerning  Micah  and  Gib- 
eah stand  at  the  end,  although,  as  the  author  himself  does  not  conceal,  the  events  occurred 
much  earlier  (cf.  ch.  xviiL.  12,  xiii.  25;  also,  xx.  28).  The  lesson  conveyed  in  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Book,  especially  in  ch.  ii.,  that  sin  and  apostasy  are  the  cause  of  servitude,  and 
that  apostasy  in  turn  is  the  consequence  of  the  people's  disobedience  in  not  expelling  the 
Canaanites,  is  brought  out  in  similar  tm-ns  of  thought  and  expression,  throughout  the  work 
(cf.  ch.  ii.  11,  iv.  1,  vi.  1,  x.  6,  xiii.  1 ;  ch.  ii.  14,  iii.  8,  x.  7  ;  ch.  ii.  17,  viii.  33,  x.  13  ff.). 
The  objection  that  chaps,  xvii.-xxi.  do  not  contain  such  expressions,  testifies  only  to  the 
clearness  and  order  which  everywhere  pervade  the  simple  narrative.  Until  the  story  reaches 
the  age  of  Samson,  these  expressions  occur  because  they  indicate  the  moi'al  links  in  the  his- 
torical connection.  But  chaps,  xvii.  -  xxi.  are  placed  outside  of  this  connection.  They  pi'e- 
sent  occurrences  out  of  times  in  which  the  formulae,  "  the  sons  of  Israel  continued  to  do  evil " 
(cf.  ch-  iv.  1,  etc.),  or,  "  they  did  evil "  (cf.  ch.  ii.  11,  etc.),  were  not  properly  applicable,  since 
they  were  times  of  "  rest  "  to  the  land,  in  consequence  of  the  victories  of  one  great  Judge  or 
another  (cf.  ch.  iii.  11,  etc.).  Accordingly,  these  chapters  find  the  ground  of  the  evils  they  set 
forth  not  in  the  want  of  a  Shophet  but  of  a  king.  Their  unity  with  the  Book  as  a  whole,  ap- 
pears clearly  on  a  comparison  of  them,  as  to  style  and  diction,  with  the  introduction,  chaps. 
i.  -  iii. ;  as  again  similar  philological  characteristics  testify  to  the  unity  of  chaps,  i.  -  iii.  with 
iv. -xvi.  (c£  Keil,  Lehrb.  der  hist.  krit.  Einleit.,  §  47,  notes  4  and  5). 

3.  Notwithstanding  this,  it  is  plain  that  the  different  narratives  of  the  Book  exhibit  a  dif- 
ference of  coloring  among  themselves.  This  could  not  be  otherwise.  From  the  earliest 
times  down  to  the  Middle  Ages,  it  has  ever  been  the  manner  of  the  chronicler  to  tell  his  story, 
for  the  most  part,  in  the  very  words  of  his  sources.  Precisely  the  Christian  historiography 
of  pious  men  in  mediaeval  times  abounds  with  proofs  and  instructive  illustrations  of  this 
fact.  To  this  practice  the  numerous  liapax  legomena  of  our  Book,  found  nowhere  else,  are 
due  (cf.  ch.  i.  15,  iii.  22,  iv.  4-19,  v.  10,  28,  vii.  3,  xiv.  9-18,  xv.  8,  xviii.  7,  etc.)  ;  while  in 
many  places  traces  of  abridgment  by  the  author  might  be  pointed  out  (cf.  ch.  iv.  15,  xvi. 
13  ff.,  XX.).  The  communication  of  invaluable  contemporary  documents  like  the  Song 
of  Deborah  and  the  Parable  of  Jotham  not  only  confirms  this  explanation,  but  also  makes 
it  probable  that  in  other  parts  of  his  work  too  the  author  made  use  of  popular  and  heroic 
songs,  although  the  fact  that  his  prose  account  of  the  victory  of  Deborah  and  Barak  is  man- 
ifestly independent  of  the  Song  of  Deborah  shows  that  this  conjecture  is  to  be  applied  with 
great  caution. 

The  author  was  acquainted  with  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  and  of  the  entire  Pen- 
tateuch. His  first  chapter  becomes  intelligible  only  when  viewed  in  connection  with  the 
Book  of  Joshua.  In  the  13th  chapter  of  that  Book,  the  Lord  says  to  Joshua  that  while  he  is 
old  much  land  renaains  still  to  be  possessed.  The  territories  yet  to  be  conquered  are  indicated, 
and  orders  are  given  for  the  division  of  the  whole  land  among  the  tribes.  With  this  account 
ch.  i.  of  our  Book  connects  itself.  It  shows  what  conquests  remained  to  be  made,  from  what 
necessary  exertions  the  people  still  shrank,  and  where  contracts  of  toleration  were  still  made 
with  the  heathen  inhabitants.  The  enumeration  of  places,  especially  in  ch.  i.  27-36,  pre- 
Buppos^?  familiarity  with  chaps,  xiii.-xix.  of  Joshua  so  necessarily,  that  withott  it  it  would 


8  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


be  altogether  unintcllij;il)lo.  Only  those  places  are  named  which  were  not  fully  subdued ; 
consequently,  the  knowledire  of  what  formed  the  entire  territory  allotted  to  each  tribe  is  pre- 
supposed. But  this  knowledge  could  only  be  obtained  from  the  above-mentioned  chapters  in 
Joshua,  since  the  territorial  possessions  of  the  respective  tribes  had  nowhere  else  been  de- 
fined. 

In  fact,  the  Book  of  Judges  as  a,  whole  sets  forth  the  fulfillment  of  what  was  contained  in 
the  I'entatcuch  and  Joshua  :  its  author  must  therefore  have  been  acquainted  with  the  con- 
tents of  both.  Chaj)ter  ii.  is  largely  made  up  of  sentences  found  in  tlie  last  four  books  of 
Moses  [cf.  Hengst.  PcDtaleurh,  H viand's  ed.,  il.  24  f.].  The  history  of  the  exodus  is  evi- 
dently known  to  the  author  in  the  very  words  of  the  Jiiblical  narrative  (cf.  ch.  ii.  12,  vi.  13). 
The  song  of  Deboi-ah  sj)eaks  in  like  manner  of  the  journey  through  the  desert  and  of  Sinai. 
The  narrative  of  the  discord  in  Shechem  (ch.  ix.  28),  reminds  one  of  the  story  of  Dinah 
(Gen.  xxxiv.)  ;  and  the  deed  in  Gibeah  is  related  in  ])liraseology  similar  to  that  used  in  the 
history  of  Lot  (Gen.  xix.).  We  must  here  glance  at  a  misun<lerstan(ling  cm])ha-tically  main- 
tained by  Bertheau  in  several  jjassages  of  his  Conunentary.  Ilie  Book  of  Judges,  he  asserts, 
contains  references  to  matters  that  occurred  under  Solomon,  and  therefore  its  author  must 
have  lived  after  this  king.  In  support  of  this,  he  refers  to  1  Kgs.  iv.  7-19  compared  with 
Judg.  i.  27,  28;  but  the  reference  proves  nothing.  The  passage  in  Kings  relates,  to  be  sure, 
that  Solomon  appointed  twelve  officers  over  all  the  realm,  whose  duty  it  was  to  provide  for 
the  royal  houscihold.  Of  course,  the  districts  mentioned  Judg.  i.  27  fell  under  the  charge  of 
some  one  of  these  officers.  But  in  Judg.  i.  28,  it  is  stated  that  Manasseh  did  not  drive  out  the 
Canaanites  of  these  districts,  but  let  them  remain  on  condition  of  ])aying  tribute,  and  in  that 
we  are  to  find  a  reference  to  Solomon  !  I  As  if  Solomon  had  not  a{)pointed  these  oflicers  over 
the  H'//o/(' kingdom  !  or  as  if  their  appointment  had  any  reference  to  the  Canaanites  or  to 
"  tribute,"  neither  of  Avhicli  are  so  nutch  as  named  in  connection  with  it !  A  measure  neces- 
sary in  every  regal  government  for  the  existence  of  the  state,  we  are  to  identify,  forsooth,  with 
a  measure  of  subjugation  against  enemies  in  a  district!  The  very  passage  in  1  Kgs.  ix.  15- 
22,  which  Bertheau  connects  with  1  Kgs.  iv.  7-19,  should  have  shown  him  the  true  nature  of 
the  appointment  of  these  oflicers.  For  these  verses,  wliile  they  state  that  Solomon  made  serfa 
of  the  still  remainiug  heathen,  I'xpressly  add  that  he  did  not  make  servants  of  any  Israelites. 
But  this  action  of  Solomon  toward  heathen  is  not  the  subject  of  discourse  at  1  Kgs.  iv.  7-19, 
where  oflicers  are  appointed  over  all  Israel ;  and  as  little  in  Judges  i.  28,  which  sjieaks  of 
the  time  when  Israel  (jrew  stivnf/  (which  it  certainly  had  been  long  before  Solomon's  day), 
and  imposed  tribute '  upon  the  Canaanites.  This  is  the  very  thing  for  which  Manasseh  is 
blamed,  that  when  it  grew  strong,  instead  of  expelling  the  heathen  inhabitants,  it  made  them 
tributary,  thus  sowing  the  seeds  of  future  sin.  The  whole  ])assage,  if  it  referred  to  Solomon, 
would  be  senseless.      And  why,  if  the  author  thought  of  Solomon,  did  he  not  name  him  ? 

Yet  more  singular  is  another  conjecture  put  forth  by  Studer  and  Bertheau.  Judg.  i.  29  states 
that  Ephraim  did  not  drive  the  Canaanites  out  of  Gezer,  but  that  they  continued  to  dwell 
there.  Now,  we  read  in  1  Kgs.  ix.  16  fl'.,  that  an  Egyptian  Pharaoh  conquered  Gezer,  and 
b1(!w  the  Canaanites,  after  which  Solomon  rebuilt  the  city.  To  this  concpiest,  now,  we  are  to 
suppose  the  author  of  Judges  alludes  in  eh.  i.  29  !  But  tlie  author  manifestly  knows  only 
tliis,  that  the  Canaanite  still  dwelt  in  Gezer  1  Had  he  alluded  to  the  conquest  of  Gey er  and 
its  rebuilding,  he  must  have  told  of  the  destruction  of  the  Canaanite  ;  for  at  the  time  of 
Solomon's  rebuilding,  the  Canaanite  was  no  longer  there !  Of  such  grounds  as  these  for 
bringing  down  the  date  at  which  our  book  was  written,  Bertheau  has  fou7'  more  (p.  xxix.)  : 
1.  llis  interpretation  of  ch.  xviii.  JJO,  which  he  thinks  may  refer  either  to  the  Assyrian  or 
Babylonian  conquest,  on  which  see  the  commentary  below.  2.  The  expression  "  until  this 
day  "  (eh.  i.  21,  26,  vi.  24,  x,  4,  etc.),  implies  a  long  lai)se  of  time  between  the  occurrence 
and  the  author.  But  even  fifty  years  would  suffice,  and  the  author  had  a  period  of  four  cen- 
turies under  review.  3.  The  author  was  acquainted  with  regal  government  in  Israel  (eh.  xvii. 
6,  xviii.  1,  etc.).  Undoubtedly,  because  lie  lived  under  Saul,  and  therefore  also,  4.  Shi- 
loh  had  eeased  to  be  the  seat  of  the  jiriesthood.  But  how  all  this  can  be  nuule  to  prove  the 
composition  of  the  Book  of  Judges  in  the  Assyrian  period,  it  is  hard  to  say.  Bertheau  (after 
others)  speaks  of  a  cycle  of  twelve  judges;  but  to  justify  this,  either  Barak  or  Abimelech 
must  be  omitted.  The  Jews  counted  fourteen.  Tlie  number  seven  can  only  be  got  by  force; 
♦or  the  Book  contains  eight  extended  biograplucal  sketches,  to  which  Othniel  is  to  be  added 

1  DQ,  the  dlfTorence  between  which  and  ^1^3?  DX3,  1  Kgs.  ix.  21,  is  also  to  be  noted. 


§  3.    THE  SOURCES.  9 


All  such  play  on  numbers,  wliich  if  the  author  had  intended  or  found,  he  would  have 
unquestionably  set  forth  clearly  and  boldly,  can  at  best  neither  prove  nor  disprove  any- 
thing. 

4.  But  it  is-  precisely  the  traces  by  which  the  author's  use  of  earlier  narratives  is  indi- 
cated, that  testify  to  his  freedom  and  originality.  They  show  a  natural  and  living  appro- 
priation of  sacred  history  and  its  teaching,  not  a  slavish  and  mechanical  borrowing.  The 
language  of  our  Book,  too,  contains  expressions  not  found  in  the  Pentateuch  and  in  Joshua 
(cf.  on  ck  ii.  14  and  18,  xx.  26,  and  Keil,  I.  c).  The  manner  in  which  oarHer  history 
records  occurrences  analogous  to  those  which  our  author  has  to  relate,  is  recalled  with  free- 
dom, without  servile  imitation.  Compare,  e.  (].  the  account  of  the  appearance  of  the  angel  to 
Gideon  and  the  kindling  of  his  present,  with  that  of  the  visit  of  the  angels  to  Abraham  (Gen. 
xviii.)  and  the  kindling  of  his  sacrifice  (Gen.  xv.  17);  the  story  of  Jophthah's  vow  with 
Abraham's  oifering  up  of  Isaac  (Gen.  xxii.). 

Very  significant  is  the  clearly  discriminating  use  of  the  divine  names  Jehovah  and  Elo- 
him,  the  former  of  which  constantly  designates  the  absolute  God  who  has  i-evcaled  himself  to 
Israel,  while  the  latter  expresses  the  general  conception  of  Deity,  as  recognized  also  by  heathen- 
ism. The  nations  of  Canaan  were  not  without  Elohim  on  whom  to  call.  Bat  Baal  and  Ash- 
taroth  were  false  Elohim.  Israel  had  the  true  Deity,  the  only  Elohim  (D'^iibsn):  the  living 
Jehovah.  Tliis  God  of  Israel  the  heathen,  and  with  them  the  apostate  Israelites  themselves, 
did  indeed  consider  and  speak  of  as  an  Elohim  ;  but  he  was  no  nature-deity,  but  the  God  of 
Israel's  history,  Jehovah,  the  Deliverer  from  Egypt,  the  mighty  wonder-worker,  the  Creator 
of  all  men.  The  use  of  the  names  Jehovah  and  Eloliim  is  indicative  of  the  diifercnce  be- 
tween Israel  and  the  nations  in  their  ixilations  to  the  true  God  and  in  their  views  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  implies  not  diilerent  docuinents  but  different  spiritual  conditions  ;  and  the  profound 
subtilty  of  the  narrative  is  shown  nowhere  more  strikingly  than  in  the  alternation  of  these 
names.  Wlien  the  heathen  Adonibezek  speaks,  in  ch.  i.,  he  uses  Elohim.  Ehud,  when  ho 
addresses  King  Eglon,  says  Elohim ;  but  when  he  speaks  to  Israel,  Jehovah  (cf  ch.  iii.  20, 
28).  Mieah's  private  chapel  is  merely  called  a  house  of  Elohim  (ch.  xvii.  5),  although  he 
himself  protends  to  serve  Jehovah.  To  sinning  Ephraim  Gideon  speaks  only  of  Elohim,  just 
as  this  name  only  occurs  in  the  history  of  Abimelecli.  The  name  used  corresponds  with  the 
spirit  of  those  by  whom  or  in  whose  ears  it  is  spoken.  In  Mieah's  idolatrous  temple,  in  the 
Shechcm  of  Abimelech's  time,  and  in  Ephraira's  pride,  the  fear  of  the  true  God  of  Israel 
does  not  manifest  itself. 

Occasionally,  Jehovah  and  ha-Elohim  (D"*nbsn),  the  God,  sc.  of  Israel,  arc  used  inter- 
changeably ;  but  yet  not  altogether  as  ecpiivalents.  Even  the  heathen  Midianites  may  speak 
of  the  God  of  Israel  as  ha-Elohim  (ch.  vii.  14),  but  not  as  Jehovah.  The  latter  is  only  put 
into  the  mouths  of  such  as  worship  the  Holy  One  in  full  faith.  Very  instructive  in  this 
respect  is  the  alternation  of  the  divine  names  in  the  accounts  of  the  angelophanies  to  Gideon 
and  the  parents  of  Samson.  The  angels  appear  in  hun\an  form,  but  their  exalted  nature 
shinies  through  the  lowlier  appearance.  On  this  account,  an  angel  (ch.  xiii.  6),  as  also  a 
prophet,  may  be  called  an  /.s/t  ha-Elohitn,  a  godUke  man  ;  but  no  one  is  ever  calle<l  Ish 
Jehovah,  a  Jehovah-like  man.  That  description  can  be  applied  to  neither  angel  nor  man. 
The  divine  appearance  in  the  human  form  under  which  the  angel  comes,  can  only  be 
described  by  the  term  Elohim,  or,  in  so,  far  as  its  source  in  the  God  of  Israel  is  to  be  specially 
indicated,  by  ha-Elohim.^  True,  the  expression  "  Angel  of  Jehovah  "  may  be  used  as  well 
as  "  Angel  of  ha-Elohim;"  but  still,  in  ch.  vi.  20,  21,  these  expressions  seem  to  be  distin- 
guished from  each  other  in  such  a  way,  that  the  latter  designates  the  angel  sintply  in  his 
appearance  (ver.  20),  the  former  as  the  possessor  of  supernatural  powers  (ver.  21).  When 
Gideon  once  more  hesitates,  and  desires  to  assure  himself  whether  he  be  really  the  chosen 
deliverer,  and  therefore  longs  to  have  the  reality  of  the  angelic  appearance  ah-eady  enjoyed 
confirmed,  he  addresses  himself  to  ha-Elohim  (vers.  36,  39).  It  may  indeed  appear  strange 
that  in  connection  with  the  answer  in  ver.  40  simply  Elohim  is  used ;  but  the  explanation  is 
ihat  the  meaning  being  plain,  the  article  is  omitted  as  unnecessary. 

[1  Tho  author  seems  to  taho  the  genitive  in  D"*n /SH  tt^^S,  as  a  gon.  of  quality,  as  in  Q''"12'7  u?^S, 
"  an  elofjuent  man."  But  this  is  certiiinly  incorrect.  The  expres.sion  "  naan  of  Goil,"  does  not  imlicato  subjective  char- 
acter or  nature^  but  objective  ofHcial  relation*.  First  appJieii  to  Mosos  (Deut.  xxxiii.  1),  it  was  commonly  u.«ed  to  desig- 
nate a  firojjiiet.  It  denotes  a  man  whom  God  ha.s  taken  into  relations  of  peculiar  intimaey  witl  himself  in  order  through 
him  to  instruct  and  lead  his  people.  The  genitive  may  be  defined  aa  the  gen.  of  the  priucipai,  fron  whom  tho  "  man  " 
derives  hifJ  kiiowlodgo  and  power,  and  for  whom  ho  acts,  —  Tr.] 


10  THE  BOOl^:  OF  JUDGES. 


5.  These  discriminations  between  the  divine  names  are  not  to  be  ascribed  to  our  author  in 
any  such  sense  as  if  the  earlier  times  which  he  describes,  and  the  sources  which  came  down 
to  him  out  of  them,  had  not  yet  possessed  any  clear  perception  of  them.  All  tradition,  in 
whatever  form  he  used  it,  narrative  and  song,  was  pervaded  with  the  same  consciousness  as 
that  which  lives  in  Biblical  books  and  doctrines,  from  which  indeed  it  had  derived  them. 
The  Song  of  Deborah,  the  documentary  character  and  genuineness  of  which  are  undoubted, 
celebrates  with  prophetic  power  the  Jehovah  of  the  generations  of  Israel,  The  document 
which  Jephthah  sends  to  the  king  of  Amnion  shows  a  living  knowledge  of  the  contents  and 
language  of  the  Books  of  Moses,  although  it  treats  both  with  great  freedom.  If  Gideon  did 
not  live  in  the  consciousness  of  the  authoritative  God,  who  revealed  himself  in  the  law,  and 
led  Israel  through  the  desert  into  Canaan,  he  could  not  say,  while  refusing  an  oifered  crown, 
"  Jehovah  shall  rule  over  you  "  (ch.  viii.  23).  When  Jephthah  makes  a  vow,  he  makes  it 
not  after  the  model  of  any  heathen  usage,  but  in  the  language,  form,  and  spirit  of  the  Israel- 
itish  vow,  as  regulated  by  Moses.  The  storj'  of  Samson  becomes  intelligible  only  by  the 
light  of  the  Nazaritic  institute  of  the  Pentateuch  (Num.  vi.).  The  priestly  body  comes  to 
view  in  the  service  with  Urim  (ch.  i.  2,  xx.  18).  Respect  for  the  priesthood  shows  itself 
plainly,  albeit  in  a  perversion  of  it,  in  the  conduct  of  Micah  (ch.  xvii.  13).  The  officiating 
Levite  is  known  by  his  priestly  dress,  furnished  with  the  prescribed  bells  (ch.  xviii.  3).  It 
is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  circumstances  of  the  Levites,  as  they  come  to  view  here  and 
there,  as  also  the  story  in  ch.  xix.,  indicate  a  wretched  condition  of  the  order ;  but  decay 
implies  vigor,  just  as  caricature  implies  truth.  The  false  ephod  points  to  the  true;  the  idol 
altar  of  Gideon's  father,  to  that  which  his  son  erects  in  the  place  of  it.  The  Book  of  Judges 
treats  of  great  international  conflicts.  But  these  wars  are  waged  by  the  nations  of  Canaan 
not  only  against  the  strange  people,  but  against  that  people's  God.  No  conflict  had  ever 
arisen,  but  for  Israel's  Jehovah,  from  whom  his  people  dei'ived  their  national  existence  and 
character,  —  and,  indeed,  it  was  only  the  living  Jehovah,  who  would  not  suffer  himself  to  be 
represented  by  dead  images,  that  could  produce  this  deep  and  lasting  antagonism.  Without 
him,  Israel  could  not  have  maintained  itself  in  a  struggle  of  four  hundred  years,  to  be  finally 
victorious,  and  to  find  itself  in  possession  of  solid  foundations  for  future  civil  and  religious 
life. 

Of  course,  the  Book  of  Judges  does  not  aim  at  giving  a  history  of  the  general  culture  of 
the  age,  after  the  manner  of  modern  times.  That  it  says  so  little  of  the  priestly  institutions 
and  the  law,  proves  only  that  it  presupposes  them  as  known.  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  the 
discourses  of  the  prophetic  messengers  (chaps,  ii.  and  x.),  like  the  whole  Book,  explain 
the  several  apostasies  of  the  nation  out  of  the  decay  of  their  religious  and  spiritual 
life. 

To  infer  from  the  abnorxnities  that  come  to  view,  as  the  idolatry  in  Ophra,  the  sin  of  Abim- 
elech,  the  discord  between  the  tribes  under  Jephthah,  the  abomination  in  Gibeah,  and  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  Levites,  that  the  law,  in  all  the  fullness  of  its  instructions,  was  not 
yet  known  or  published,  would  be  a  singular  procedure.  As  if  dui-ing  the  times  succeeding 
Clovis  there  had  been  no  churches,  no  bishops,  no  Christian  people,  in  Gaul,  notwithstanding 
the  horrible  deeds  of  the  kings  and  their  helpers  !  Or  as  if  in  our  own  day  and  land,  in  which 
the  Christian  Church  and  Christian  doctrine  are  unquestionably  prevalent,  the  presence  and 
existence  of  these  might  nevertheless  be  denied,  because  of  the  abominations  of  apostasy 
which  come  to  light,  as  to  morals,  in  police-reports,  and  as  to  doctrine  in  the  myriad  books 
of  modern  idolatry  !  It  is  the  nature  of  Biblical  historiography  to  disclose  the  truth,  without 
regard  to  men  and  without  flattery.  It  does  not,  in  modern  fashion,  glorify  in  breathless 
declamations  the  dutiful  deeds  of  the  "  faithful  "  ;  it  mentions  them  in  few  words.  But  it 
brings  the  disgrace  and  punishment  of  sin  into  the  foreground,  in  order  to  warn  against 
transgression  and  induce  repentance.  That  it  has  become  common,  especially  since  the 
rationalistic  period,  to  represent  the  age  of  the  Judges  as  wild  and  barbarous,  only  shows  that 
men  are  prone  to  overlook  the  vices  and  bloodshed  peculiar  to  their  own  day.  Our  Book 
covers  a  space  of  four  hundred  years.  Now,  as  the  periods  of  servitude  are  characterized  as 
times  of  apostasy,  while  those  of  independence  are  represented  as  times  of  order,  it  is  not 
unhnportant  to  observe  that  apostasy  prevailed  during  but  one  third  of  the  time  descril>ed. 


§4.     CHRONOLOGY.  1 1 


§  4.     Chronology. 

1.  The  Book  of  Judges  contains  also  chronological  data  in  connection  with  the  occurrences 
which  it  records.  It  is  a  suggestive  fact,  with  reference  to  the  peculiarities  of  his  sources, 
and  the  manner  in  which  he  used  them,  that  the  first  numerical  statement  of  time  given  by 
the  author  refers  to  the  duration  of  the  oppression  of  Israel  by  Chushan  Rishathaim,  king  of 
Aram.  Concerning  the  occurrences  between  the  death  of  Joshua  and  the  time  of  Chushan, 
related  in  the  introductory  chapters,  no  dates  are  given,  and  their  duration  can  only  be 
approximately  ascertained.  The  table  of  chronological  data  is  conveniently  divided  into  two 
parts  :  from  Chushan  to  the  domination  of  Ammon,  and  from  that  to  the  death  of  Samson. 

Israel  sei-ved  Chushan 8  years. 

Had  rest  under  Othniel 40  " 

Served  Moab 18  " 

Had  rest  under  Ehud 80  "       (40?) 

Served  Jabin 20  " 

Had  rest  under  Barak 40  " 

Served  Midian 7  " 

Had  rest  under  Gideon 40  " 

Was  ruled  by  Abimelech 3  " 

Had  Tola  for  Judge 23  " 

Jair,  Judge .  22  " 

Total 301  years.  (261  1) 

Among  these  numbers,  only  the  statement  that  after  Ehud's  victory  there  followed  eighty 
years  of  rest,  excites  special  attention.  The  number  forty  is  by  no  means  an  unhistorical, 
round  number.  Nevertheless,  it  seems  manifestly  to  express  the  duration  of  a  period,  par- 
ticularly that  of  a  generation.  In  forty  years  the  generation  of  the  desert  died  out  (cf.  Num. 
xiv.  33).  The  statements  that  after  the  achievements  of  Othniel,  Deborah,  and  Gideon, 
respectively,  a  period  of  foi-ty  years  passed  in  rest,  bring  to  light  the  internal  ground  of  re- 
newed apostasy,  already  indicated  in  the  introduction  (ch.  ii.  10),  namely,  that  after  the  death 
of  the  generation  which  had  Avitnessed  the  deeds  of  the  heroes,  another  rose  up  which  had  no 
living  remembrance  of  them.  So  much  stress  may  properly  be  laid  on  this  internal  ground,  as 
to  make  the  number  eighty  after  Ehud's  exploit  very  remarkable  in  its  singularity  ;  so  remark- 
able, in  fact,  as  to  incline  one  to  suppose  that  the  original  reading  was  forty.  Apart  from  every 
other  consideration,  this  supposition  would  have  much  in  its  favor,  if  it  were  certain  —  which, 
however,  despite  the  statement  in  ch.  iv.  1,  it  is  not  —  that  the  number  in  question  was  also 
intended  to  give  the  length  of  Ehud's  subsequent  life.  It  would  also  give  a  clearness  unu- 
sual in  chronological  matters  to  the  statement  of  Jephthah  that  three  hundred  years  had 
passed  since  Israel  gained  a  firm  footing  in  Heshbon,  beyond  the  Jordan  (ch.  xi.  26).  For 
from  the  year  in  which  Jephthah  says  this,  backward  to  the  first  year  of  Chushan,  would  on 
this  reckoning  be  261  -|-  18  =  279  years.  Twenty  years  would  very  satisfactorily  fill  up  the 
gap  between  the  last  of  Joshua's  conquests  and  the  commencement  of  the  Aramaaan  domina- 
tion. For  although  the  kings  of  Sihon  and  Og  were  defeated  by  Moses  seven  years  earlier,  the 
two  and  a  half  trans-Jordanic  tribes  came  into  possession,  properly  speaking,  only  after  the 
conqutist  of  Canaan  (Josh.  xxii.).  If  the  number  eighty  be  left  untouched,  we  get  a  period  of 
three  hundred  and  nineteen  years  from  Jephthah  back  to  Chushan's  domination,  to  which  the 
interval  of  twenty  (or  twenty-seven)  years  must  be  added,  for  this  length  of  time  must  in  any 
case  have  elapsed  between  the  entrance  into  Canaan  and  the  invasion  of  Chushan  (cf.  ch.  ii. 
10,  iii.  7).  But  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  Jephthah  in  his  letter  to  the  king  of  Ammon 
would  use  the  larger,  not  the  smaller,  number  of  which  the  case  admitted,  in  order  to  prove 
the  right  of  Israel  to  its  land.  The  change  of  eighty  into  forty  is  also  of  importance  with 
reference  to  other  chronological  combinations,  as  will  appear  farther  on. 

2.  In  ch.  X.  7  the  historian  states  that  God,  by  reason  of  Israel's  renewed  apostasy,  deliv- 
ered them  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines  and  Ammonites.  The  statement  gives  the  impres- 
sion that  this  domination  of  these  nations  over  Israel  was  contemporaneous,  but  exerted  over 
difierent  parts  of  the  land.  The  narrative  then  proceeds  to  speak  first  of  the  tyranny  of 
Ammon,  which  lasted  eighteen  years,  and  then  of  that  of  the  Philistines,  which  continued 
forty  years.  From  the  first  of  these  oppressors,  Jephthah  delivered  the  eastern  tribes  ; 
against  the  other,  Samson  began  the  war  of  liberation. 


32  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 

It  certainly  seems  as  if  the  author  of  our  Book  wished  to  convey  the  lesson  that,  as  time 
went  on,  the  condition  of  kingless  Israel  became  continually  worse.  At  first,  hostile  attacks 
had  come  from  one  side  only  ;  a  great  victory  was  then  won,  and  "  the  land  rested."  After 
Gideon,  this  expression  no  longer  occurs.  Moreover,  it  is  never  said  of  subsequent  heroes 
that  "  they  judged  ;  "  and  the  duration  of  their  official  activity  no  longer  reaches  to  forty 
years.      These  focts  are  not  to  be  neglected  in  our  chronological  survey. 

The  combination  of  the  chronological  data  of  the  Book  of  Judges  with  those  found  else- 
where, and  especially  with  the  well-known  statement  in  1  Kgs.  vi.  1,  according  to  which  four 
hundred  and  eighty  years  intervened  between  the  exodus  from  Egypt  and  the  building  of  the 
temple,  is  still  attended  with  difficulty.  Doubtless,  the  difficulty  is  itself  a  most  striking 
jiroof  of  the  antiquity,  originality,  and  independence  of  our  Book.  Had  it  been  composed  at 
a  late  period,  by  the  same  hand  that  wrote  the  Books  of  Kings,  would  not  its  author  have 
attempted  to  get  rid  of  these  remarkable  difficulties  ?  But  the  fidelity  of  the  Old  Testament 
tradition  never  shows  itself  more  clearly  than  in  cases  in  which,  according  to  modern  notions, 
it  had  been  so  easy  for  an  editor  to  remove  all  occasion  for  resorting  to  hypotheses.  For 
without  these,  it  is  at  tliis  day  impossible  to  produce  agreement.  We  know  that  agreement 
must  exist,  —  for,  surely,  ancient  authors  were  not  incapable  of  arithmetical  addition  !  —  but 
coercive,  scientific  proof  of  it,  we  do  not  possess.  The  opinions  of  even  the  oldest  Jewish 
chronologists  were  divergent.  In  support  of  our  hypothesis  we  adduce  the  passage  1  Sam. 
xii.  11,  where  it  is  said  that  "Jehovah  sent  Jerubbaal,  and  Bedan,  and  Jephthah,  and  Sam- 
uel," and  delivered  Israel  fi-om  their  enemies  round  about.  Now,  Bedan  is,  without  doubt,  to 
be  understood  of  Samson,  the  hero  out  of  Dan.  The  passage,  therefore,  presents  the  pecu- 
liarity that  it  places  Samson  before  Jephthah.  Keil  insists  that  the  Ammonitish  and  Philis- 
tine oppressions  occurred,  not  successively,  but  simultaneously.  It  is  undoubtedly  correct  to 
say,  that  we  are  not  first  to  sum  up  the  numbers  relating  to  the  occurrences  set  forth  in 
chaps,  xi.  and  xii.  thus  :  — 

Ammon 18  years. 

Jephthah 6      " 

Ibzan 7      " 

Elon 10      " 

Abdon 8      " 

Total 49  years. 

and  then  add  the  years  of  the  Philistine  domination  and  those  of  Samson.  Just  as  in  1  Sam, 
xii.  11,  Samson  stands  before  Jephthah,  so  in  Judg.  x.  7  the  Philistines  are  named  before  the 
Ammonites  :  "  Jehovah  gave  Israel  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines  and  of  the  sons  of 
Ammon."  That  notwithstanding  this  Jephthah's  deeds  are  first  related,  has  its  ground  in 
the  fixct  that  in  this  way  the  achievements  against  the  Philistines  connect  themselves  with  the 
principal  wars  of  Israel  in  the  days  of  Samuel  and  Saul.  According  to  ch.  xiii.  1,  the  Philis- 
tine domination  lasted  forty  years.  After  Samson's  great  victory  at  Lehi,  it  is  remarked,  ch. 
XV.  20,  and  afterwards  repeated,  that  "  he  judged  Israel  twenty  years."  These  twenty  years 
cannot  be  included  in  the  forty.  It  is  against  the  spirit  of  the  Book,  after  such  a  victory  to 
speak  of  Samson's  "judging,"  and  yet  to  suppose  that  at  the  same  time  Israel  continues  to  be 
given  "  into  the  hands  of  the  PhiUstines."  Therefore,  when  the  prediction  concerning  Sam 
son  (ch.  xiii.  5)  only  says  that  "  he  shall  begin  to  dehver  Israel,"  the  meanmg  is  that  he  will 
not  thoroughly  subdue  them,  as  was  done  in  the  days  of  Samuel  and  David,  for  after  the 
death  of  Samson  their  power  again  became  dominant.  Now,  if  this  be  undoubtedly  correct, 
the  supposition  that  the  Ammonitish  and  PhiUstine  servitudes  commenced  exactly  at  the  same 
time,  would  compel  us,  notwithstanding  1  Sam.  xii.  11,  to  place  Jephthah  long  before  Samson; 
for  the  Ammonitish  domination  lasted  only  eighteen  years,  and  Jephthali  ruled  only  six.  The 
following  conjecture  is  therefore  to  be  preferred  :  With  Gideon's  death  the  land  ceased  "  to 
have  rest."  Judges  of  forty  years'  service  appear  no  more ;  but  a  servitude  of  forty  years 
begins.  The  Philistine  attack  occurred  perhaps  soon  after  Abimelech,  induced  probably  by 
reports  of  the  discord  that  prevailed  in  Israel.  While  in  the  North  and  East  Tola  and  Jair 
judged  forty-five  years,  the  Philistine  servitude  began  in  the  southwest ;  and  while  Ammon 
oppressed  Gilead  in  the  East,  Samson  smote  the  Philistines  in  the  southwest.  The  Gilead- 
ites  make  Jephthah  then-  chieftain  "  because  he  had  begun  to  smite  the  enemy  "  (cf.  on  ch.  xi. 
1,  2)  ;  for  Samson  also  had  become  Judge  when  he  had  commenced  to  put  down  the  Philia^ 
tines  (cf.  on  ch.  xv.  20), 


§  4.     CHRONOLOGY. 


13 


Tlie  combination  of"  the  clironological  data  of  our  Book  with  those  of  Samuel  and  especially 
the  important  one  in  1  Kgs.  vi.  1,  is  further  facilitated  by  the  fact  that  in  1  Sam.  xii.  11,  Eli 
is  not  named  between  Jephthah  and  Samuel.  The  inference  from  this  omission  is,  that  the 
forty  years  during  which  he  ruled,  are  not  to  be  separately  taken  into  account.  He  was 
high-priest  during  the  occurrence  of  the  events  in  the  North  and  South.  The  following  addi- 
tional conjectures  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  probable  :  The  war  spoken  of  in  1  Sam.  iv.  1, 
commenced  by  Israel  against  the  Philistines,  may  be  held  to  indicate  the  new  vigor  which 
the  victories  of  Samson  and  the  terrible  catastrophe  at  Gaza  had  infused  into  the  people. 
About  thirty  years  had  probably  elapsed  since  the  death  of  Samson.  Then  follow  twenty 
years  of  penitence  on  the  part  of  Israel  (1  Sam.  vii.  2),  dated  from  the  exile  of  the  ark  and 
its  restoration  to  Kirjath-jearim,  that  great  event  with  which  the  Book  of  Judges  is  also 
acquainted.  If  next,  according  to  ancient  tradition,  we  add  forty  years  for  the  time  of  Sam- 
uel and  Saul,  and  forty  for  the  reign  of  David,  we  arrive  at  the  number  foui*  hundred  and 
eighty  in  a  manner  sufficiently  satisfiictory  and  historically  probable,  as  shown  by  the  follow- 
inor  tables  :  — 


Wanderings  in  the  desert  .  40 
Conquest  of  the  land  ...  7 
Until  Chushan 20 

67 


Chushan 

.     8 

Abimelech 

Othniel 

.  40 

Tola    .     . 

Moab      . 

.  18 

Jair      .     . 

Ehud     . 

.  40 

Amnion 

Jabin 

.  20 

Jephthah 

Bakak"  . 

.  40 

Ibzan    .     . 

Midian  . 

.     7 

Elon     .     . 

Gideon 

.  40 

Abdon  .     . 

■  ~'(,  >  =r  -j  Philistines 
' Samson  . 


From  death 
of  Samson  to 
Sam'l,  about  30 


=  90 


213 


97 


Samuel  before  the  victory  (1  Sam.  vii.  10)  20  Therefore,  From  Exodns  to  Chushan  .     .     67 

Samuel  and  Saul 40  Chushan  to  Gideon  ....  213 

David 40  Abimelech  to  Abdon      ...     97 

Solomon 3  Samuel  to  Solomon  ....  103 

103  480  years. 

Those  who  accept  the  eighty  years  of  Ehud,  as  has  hitherto  been  done,  are  obliged  with 
Keil  to  reduce  the  interval  from  the  death  of  Moses  to  Chushan  to  seventeen  years,  and  that 
from  the  death  of  Jair  to  Solomon  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-three,  whereby  Samson's  judge- 
ship vanishes,  and  no  account  is  taken  of  the  twenty  years  preceding  the  victory  under 
Svimuel. 

3.  In  conclusion,  we  remark  that  in  the  historical  sketch  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  Acts  xiii.  18- 
20,  where  he  says,  ver.  18,  "  and  God  nourished  (^drpocpocpSpria-ev^  them  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  "  ver.  19,  "  and  destroying  seven  nations  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  he  divided  their  land  to 
them  by  lot ; "  ver.  20,  "  and  after  that  he  gave  them  Judges  for  about  four  hundred  and  eighty 
years,  until  Samuel  the  prophet,"  the  reading  four  hundred  and  eighty  can  scarcely  be  the 
original  one.  The  apostle  evidently  had  his  eye  on  our  canonical  books :  in  vers.  17  and  18, 
on  the  Books  of  Moses ;  in  ver.  19,  on  the  Book  of  Joshua ;  in  ver.  20,  on  the  Book  of  Judges  ; 
for  this  is  followed  by  references  to  the  Books  of  Samuel.  As  he  was  undoubtedly  acquainted 
with  the  number  four  hundred  and  eighty  in  Kings,  he  could  not  assign  four  hundred  and 
fifty  years  to  the  period  from  Joshua  to  Samuel,  with  which  moreover  no  ancient  tradition 
coincided.  The  conjectural  reading,  three  hundred  and  fifty,  appears  therefore  to  be  prefera- 
ble ;  and  it  is  certainly  not  a  matter  of  indifference  that,  adding  the  numbers  one  after  another 
as  was  done  by  Jewish  tradition  in  general,  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  would  actually 
represent  the  period  from  Chushan  to  the  end  of  the  Philistine  domination.  True,  it  would 
show  that  Paul  also  read  only  forty  years  in  connection  with  Ehud.  The  objection  that  Paul 
also  assigns  a  definite  period  of  forty  years  for  the  reign  of  Saul,  for  which  the  Old  Testa- 
ment gives  no  authority,  is  destitute  of  force.  For  the  Book  of  Samuel  gives  no  information 
at  all  concerning  the  length  of  this  king's  reign,  and  the  Apostle  followed  the  view,  enter- 
tained also  b}'  Josephus  (Ant.  vi.  14,  9),  according  to  which  the  reign  of  Saul,  during  and 
after  the  lifetime  of  Samuel,  lasted  forty  years.  It  was  sought  in  this  way  to  explain  1  Sam. 
xiii.  1. 


[Note  by  the  translator.     Keil  and  Bachmann,  both  of  whom  have  repeatedly  in- 
^restigated  the  chronology  of  the  Book  of  Judges,  have  come  to  conclusions  somewhat  different 


14  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


from  tliose  of  our  author.  As  their  schemes  essentially  agree,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  indicate 
that  of  Bachmann,  the  latest  i:)ublished  and  the  least  accessible  to  the  English  reader.  It 
may  be  found  in  his  commentary,  Das  Buck  der  Ricliter,  vol.  i.  pp.  53-74.  Its  turning  points 
so  far  as  they  differ  from  our  author's,  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows :  (l.)  It  adheres  in 
every  instance  to  the  numbers  given  ;  hence,  the  period  from  Chushan  to  Gideon  inclusive  (cf. 
the  table  above),  becomes  two  hundred  and  fifty-three  years.  (2.)  It  makes  the  forty  years' 
Philistine  servitude  come  to  an  end  with  the  victory  near  Mizpeh.  (3.)  While  it  makes  the 
Ammonitish  and  Philistine  servitudes  synchronistic  in  the  main,  as  required  by  ch.  x.  7,  it  sup- 
poses the  beginning  of  the  Philistine  to  fall  from  three  to  five  years  later  than  that  of  the  Am- 
monitish oppression.  If  they  began  simultaneously,  it  would  follow  that  a  new  Judge,  Abdon, 
was  somewhere  recognized  after  Samuel  had  already  assembled  all  the  house  of  Israel,  and  had 
shown  himself  the  Judge  and  deliverer  of  all  Israel  (cf  1  Sam.  vii.  3,  5,  6),  which  is  not  likely. 
Abdon,  however,  having  once  been  recognized  as  Judge,  before  the  victory  under  Samuel, 
might  continue  to  be  regarded  as  such  until  his  death.  It  is  only  necessary,  therefore,  to  bring 
down  the  beginning  of  the  Philistine  servitude  far  enough  to  allow  of  this  previous  recogni- 
tion. (4.)  It  includes  the  twenty  years  of  Samson  in  the  "  days  of  the  Philistines,"  according  to 
ch.  XV.  20.  It  supposes  Samson  to  begin  his  work  as  a  young  man  of  eighteen  or  nineteen 
years  of  age  (cf.  ch.  xiv.  4  ff.),  and  thus  allows  his  birth  to  fall  after  the  beginning  of  the  Phil- 
istine servitude,  as  demanded  by  ch.  xiii.  5.  (5.)  As  to  Eli,  since  his  pontificate  ended  twenty 
years  before  the  victory  of  Mizpeh,  its  beginning  must  antedate  the  commencement  of  the 
Philistine  oppression  by  twenty,  and  the  Ammonitish  by  from  fifteen  to  seventeen  years. 
And,  in  fact,  the  earlier  years  of  Eli's  pontificate  afford  no  traces  of  hostile  oppression.  The 
people  journey  to  the  great  festivals  regularly  and  securely  (1  Sam.  i.  3,  7,  21,  24;  ii.  19); 
and  even  the  sins  of  the  sons  of  Eli,  by  which  the  people  also  are  led  astray  (1  Sam.  ii.  17, 
24),  are  such  as  bespeak  a  time  of  careless  security  and  prosperity.  The  following  table 
exhibits  the  results  thus  obtained,  for  the  time  beginning  with  the  Ammonitish  and  ending 
with  the  Philistine  ojipression.  The  figures  at  the  left  denote  years  after  the  death  of 
Jair  :  — 

1  Ammonitish  servitude  begins  in  the    Eli  is  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  pontificate. 
East,  and  continues  eighteen  years. 

4 In   this  year  or  one  year  earlier  or  later,  the 

Philistine  sei-vitude  begins  in  the  West. 
18  Jephthah    breaks    the  Ammonitish 
yoke,  and  judges  six  years. 

22 Samson   begins  his  career,  as  a  young  man  of 

eighteen  to  nineteen  years. 
24  Ibzan,  Judge,  seven  years.  Eli  dies.    Samuel. 

31  Elon,  Judge,  ten  years. 
41  Abdon  becomes  Judge,  and  rules 
eight  years. 

42 Samson  dies. 

44  The  third  year  of  Abdon's  Judge-    The  victory  near  Mizpeh,  under  Samuel,  ends 
ship.  the  Philistine  servitude,  1  Sam.  vii. 

Now,  allowing  ten  years,  instead  of  Dr.  Cassel's  twenty,  for  the  interval  between  the 
division  of  the  land  and  the  invasion  of  Chushan,  and  retaining  the  eighty  years  of  Ehud, 
we  get,  — 

From  the  Exodus  to  Chushan, 57  years. 

From  Chushan  to  Gideon 253       " 

From  Abimclech  to  Mizpeh, 92       " 

Samuel  and  Saul,  40 ;  David,  40  ;  Solomon,  3, 83       " 

Total, 485  years. 

This  total,  which  it  would  be  more  proper  to  express  variably  as  four  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  to  four  hundred  and  eighty-six,  is  not  so  far  away  from  four  hundred  and  eighty  as  to 
occasion  any  difficulty.  In  the  first  place  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  three  years  of 
Abimclech  ought  to  be  reckoned  in  ;  and  in  the  second  place,  it  is  highly  probable  that  some 
of  the  periods  include  fractional  years,  so  that  the  last  year  of  one  and  the  first  of  the  next 
properly  form  but  one,  whereas  in  the  process  of  addition  they  come  to  stand  for  two.  But 
are  not  ten  years  too  short  to  cover  the  interval  between  the  division  of  the  land  and  the 
inroad  cf  Chushan- Rishathaim  ?     No,  says  Bachmann,  p.  72  ff.,  "for,  1.  Nothing  demands  a 


§  5.     CRITICAL  AND  EXEGETICAL  HELPS.  15 


lengthened  period  between  the  death  of  Joshua  and  the  beginning  of  the  Mesopotamian 
servitude.  The  passage  at  ch.  ii.  11  ff.  does  not  describe  an  earlier  visitation  than  the  Meso- 
potamian, but  merely  gives  a  general  view  of  the  causes  and  consequences  of  all  the  visita- 
tions about  to  be  related.  Under  the  inS  "iM,  the  "  other  generation,"  cf.  ch.  ii.  10,  neither  a 
chronological  generation  of  forty  years  (Bertheau),  nor  a  familia  eminens,  that  placed  itself 
at  the  head  of  the  nation  (M.  Hartmann),  is  to  be  understood.  Nor  does  the  remark  of  ch. 
ii.  7,  about  the  elders  who  "  outUved  Joshua,"  require  any  considerable  number  of  years.  It 
merely  afSrms  that  they  outlived  him,  without  saying  that  they  outlived  him  long.  If  in  the 
second  year  of  the  Exodus  these  elders  were  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  old  (Num.  xiv. 
29),  at  the  division  of  the  land,  that  is  38  +  7  years  later,  they  would  be  sixty-three  or 
sixty-four  ;  and  ten  years  more,  until  the  first  hostile  oppression,  would  suffice  fully  to  bring 
them  to  that  age  which  according  to  Ps.  xc.  10  constituted  the  highest  average  of  human 
life  even  in  the^'time  of  Moses.  Nor,  finally,  is  it  necessary  to  assign  much  time  to  the  pro- 
cess, of  moral  deterioration  in  Israel  (ch.ii.  6  ff.)  ;  for  this  began  and  went  on  progressively  in 
and  even  before  the  days  of  the  elders,  and  it  was  only  the  completed  apostasy  to  idolatry 
that  ensued  after  their  death.  2.  From  Josh.  xiii.  1,  compared  with  xiv.  10  fF.  it  is  evident 
that  Joshua  cannot  have  continued  to  live  long  after  the  division  of  the  land.  While  the 
second  of  these  passages  represents  Caleb,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years,  still  full  of  youth- 
ful strength  and  perfectly  ready  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  his  inheritance,  the  first  gives 
the  great  age  of  Joshua  as  the  reason  for  the  command  to  divide  the  land,  although  the 
conquest  was  yet  far  from  complete.  And  since  exactly  the  same  expression  recurs  in  ch. 
xxiii.  1,  2,  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  ^he  farewell  gatherings  of  chaps,  xxiii.  and  xxiv., 
which  were  held  shortly  before  the  death  of  Joshua  (ch.  xxiii.  14),  took  place  many  years 
later.  Neither  the  □"'an  W'lZ"',  "many  days,"  of  ch.  xxiii.  1,  nor  the  circumstance  that,  ac- 
cording to  ch.  xix.  50,  Joshua  built  a  city  and  lived  in  it,  can  prove  the  contrary ;  for  a  few 
years'  time  satisfies  them  both.  Nor  is  there  any  ground  in  Ex.  xxxiii.  11  and  Num.  xi.  28 
for  inferring  that  Joshua  must  have  lived  a  considei-able  time  after  the  division  of  the  land  ; 
for  the  term  -i^3  denotes  office,  not  age,  and  V"in3^,  even  if  we  explain  it  "  from  his  youth  " 
("  of  his  chosen  ones,"  is  probably  to  be  preferred,  cf.  the  Sept.  and  Vulg.),  does  not  assert 
that  Joshua  was  then  a  young  man.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  only  when  we  assume  that 
Joshua  died  at  a  relatively  early  date,  that  the  contents  of  Judg.  i.  1-21  appear  in  their 
true  light.  But  especially  decisive  for  the  utmost  possible  reduction  of  the  length  of  the  in- 
terval in  question  is  the  passage  Judg.  xi.  26.  According  to  this  passage,  thi-ee  hundred 
years  had  elapsed  since  Israel  took  possession  of  the  land  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  Now, 
between  the  Mesopotamian  invasion  and  the  death  of  Jair,  there  hes  a  period  of  three  hun- 
dred and  one,  or,  excluding  Abimelech,  two  hundred  and  ninety-eight  years.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that,  reckoning  Jephthah's  three  hundred  years  from  the  dismissal  of  the  eastern 
tribes  (Josh,  xxii.)  to  the  attack  of  the  Ammonites  (Judg.  x.  7),  the  shorter  the  preceding 
period  be  computed,  the  closer  becomes  the  agreement  between  the  historical  fact  and  the 
approximate  number  of  Jephthah.  It  is  manifestly  more  likely  that  three  hundred  and  eight 
to  three  hundred  ami  eleven,  than  that  three  hundred  and  thirty  to  three  hundred  and  forty 
or  more  years,  should  be  roundly  represented  as  three  hundred.  We  hold,  therefore,  with 
Lightfoot  {Opp.  i.  42),  S.  Sehmid,  Vitringa,  Keil,  and  others,  that  an  interval  of  about  ten 
years,  as  left  at  our  disposal  by  our  computation  of  the  chronology  of  the  whole  period,  is  in 
fact  fully  sufficient  for  the  events  between  the  division  and  the  first  subjugation  of  the  land  ; 
and  we  accordingly  reject,  as  wholly  groundless  extensions  of  the  chronological  frame,  the  as- 
sumption, since  JosejAus  (Ant.  v.  1,  29  ;  vi.  5,  4)  almost  become  traditional,  that  twenty-five 
years  are  to  be  allowed  for  Joshua,  and  eighteen  for  the  "  elders  ;  "  the  computation  of  vari- 
ous Rabbins  (Sed.  Olam,  Isaaki,  Abr.  Zakut,  and  others),  which  assigns  twenty-eight  years 
to  Joshua  and  the  "elders"  together ;  and  every  other  similar  hypothesis."  —  Tr.] 

§  5.   Critical  and  Exegetical  Helps. 

1.  In  the  criticism  and  translation  of  the  Hebrew  text,  constant  use  has  been  made  of  the 
large  Rabbinic  Bible  published  at  Venice,  ICl 7-1618  by  Fetrus  and  Laurcntius  Bragadin,  af- 
ter the  Bomberg  edition.  Compare  the  preface  by  Judah  Arjeh  of  Modena,  corrector  of 
Lhe  work.  Use  has  also  been  made  of  the  Biblia  Universa,  published  in  1657,  at  Leipzig,  by 
Christian  Kirchner,  after  the  edition  of  B.  A.  Montanus.      Compare  the  preface   prefixed  to 


16  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


the  work  by  the  Dean  and  Theological  Faculty  of  the  University  of  Leipzig.  Also  of  the 
BihJia  Hehraica  of  Job.  H.  Michaelis,  Halle,  1720;  the  Bihlia  of  Dciderlein  and  Meisner,  as 
edited  by  Knapp,  1819  ;  and  the  edition  of  the  Book  of  Judges,  with  a  German  translation 
and  commentary,  by  Mair  Obernik,  Fiirth,  1805. 

A  treatment'  of  the  text  such  as  has  recently  again  been  attempted  by  the  wild  theories  of 
Geiger,  Dozy,  and  others,  is  at  variance  with  the  laws  of  objective  scientific  criticism,  and 
renders  textual  ti'adition,  language,  and  contents  so  many  footballs  for  subjective  caprice.  Its 
application  is  the  more  to  be  lamented,  since  it  also  increases  the  difficulties  of  such  criticism 
as  is  both  necessary  and  in  accord  with  the  spu'it  of  Holy  Scripture.  But  we  must  not  be 
hindered  by  excesses  of  this  kind  from  acknowledging,  that  it  is  more  in  keeping  with  piety 
toward  the  sacred  volume  to  venture  upon  textual  emendations  in  a  few  passages  than  to 
reject  them.  This  conviction  has  governed  us  in  the  exposition  of  several  passages  (cf.  on 
ch.  ii.  3,  iv.  15,  v.  11,  vii.  6  and  8),  and  especially  in  the  treatment  of  ch.  xviii.  30,  where 
it  is  shown  that  the  antiquity  of  the  current  reading  is  by  no  means  a  guaranty  of  its  correct- 
ness, but  only  a  proof  of  the  fidelity  of  the  Masoretic  tradition. 

It  is  unfortunately  impracticable  here  to  institute  a  closer  collation  of  the  Hebrew  text 
with  the  LXX.  and  the  Targum,  as  also  with  Josephus,  than  has  been  incidentally  done  in 
the  exposition.  It  is,  however,  a  matter  sufficiently  necessary,  not  to  be  neglected  hereafter. 
The  beginnings  made  by  Ziegler  [Bemerkungen  uber  das  Buck  d.  Richter,  in  the  Theol. 
AbhandL,  Gottingen,  1791)  and  Frankel  (in  his  Vorstudien  ziir  Septuaginta,  Leipzig,  1841) 
are  certainly  still  in  want  of  a  thorough  continuation. 

The  Syriac  version  of  the  Books  of  Judges  and  Ruth  by  Paul  of  Telia  (beginning  of  the 
7th  century),  has  been  published  at  Copenhagen,  by  Th.  Skat  Rordam :  Librl  Judicum  et 
Ruth,  secundum  versionum  Sijriaco-Hexaplarem,  HavniiE,  1859.  The  exposition  of  the  Mi- 
drash  on  the  Book  of  Judges,  is  given  in  the  Jalkut  Shimeoni,  by  R.  Simeon,  of  Frankfurt, 
Venice  edition,  printed  by  Bragadin,  tom.  ii. 

For  assistance  in  gaining  acquaintance  with  Talmudic  expositions,  the  following  works 
may  be  consulted  :  Nachalath  Shimeoni,  by  R.  Simeon,  of  Lissa,  ed.  Wandsbeck  ;  Toledoth 
Jakob,  by  R.  Jakob  Sasportas,  Amsterdam,  1657,  4to ;  Sepher  Mareh  Kohen,  by  R.  Isachar, 
Cracow  edition,  1689,  4to.  The  Jewish  expositors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  R.  Solomon  Isaaki 
{i.  e.  Raschi,  frequently  but  improperly  called  Jarchi),  R.  David  Kimchi  (Redak),  R.  Levi 
ben  Gerson  (Ralbag),  and  other  expositions,  are  found  in  the  large  Rabbinic  Bibles.  The 
commentary  of  R.  Isaak  Abarbanel  on  the  Prophetce  Priores  appeared  at  Leipzig,  1686. 

Expositions,  partly  excellent,  of  passages  of  our  Book,  by  the  Caraite  Aaron,  are  found  in 
WoHF's  Bibliotheca  Hebrcea,  Hamburg,  1715-43.  A  Jewish  German  translation  in  rhyme  is 
found  m  Koheleth  JaA:o6,  Prague,  1763,  but  with  expositions  and  legends  intermixed.  A 
better,  oldei*,  and  literal  Jewish  German  translation  appeared  at  Amsterdam,  1679,  fol.  In 
more  recent  times  several  synagogue  versions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  been  printed.  Of 
these  that  which  appeared  under  the  conduct  of  Dr.  Zunz  adheres  most  closely  to  the  Maso- 
retic text,  cf.  Orient.  Literaturbl.,  1840,  p.  618. 

The  Book  Qf  Judges  as  a  whole  did  not  receive  separate  and  special  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  earlier  Christian  exegesis.  We  must  here  refer  to  the  general  introductions  to 
the  0.  T.  for  information  concerning  editions  and  expositions  which  include  our  Book. 
Jerome,  Theodoret,  and,  later,  Rhabanus  Maurus  and  Rupert  von  Deutz,  might  be  particu- 
larly mentioned. 

Among  the  later  Roman  Catholic  expositors  Serarius  stands  preeminent  on  account  of 
his  diligence  and  voluminousness  :  Commentarii  in  libros  Judicum  et  Ruth,  Paris,  1611, 
Moguntiaj,  1619.  Among  Protestant  expositors  Brentius,  Bucer,  P.  Martyr,  Chytr'aus,  Seb. 
Schinid,  Osiander,  Starke,  and  Drusius,  are  still  worthy  of  attention.  The  commentary  of 
Le  Clerc  began  the  rationalistic  mode  of  exposition,  and  has  furnished  it  with  most  of  its 
materials.  It  is  only  forty  years  since  the  Book  began  again  to  receive  any  real  attention. 
For  ten  years  the  conmientary  of  Studer,  Das  Buch  der  Richter,  grammatish  und  historisch 
erkldrt,  Bern,  1835,  almost  entirely  controlled  the  exposition.  Valuable  matter  was  contrib- 
uted by  Hengstenberg,  die  Authentic  des  Pentateuchs  [translated  into  Enghsh  by  Ryland, 
under  the  title  Dissertations  on  the  Genuineness  of  the  Pentateuch,  Edinburgh,  1847. —  Tr.]. 
Still  longer  than  Studer  did  Bertheau's  exposition.  Das  Buch  der  Richter  und  Rut,  Leipzig, 
1845,  maintain  its  prominence,  to  which  for  that  reason  special  attention  is  given  in  the 
present  work.  The  first  volume  of  C.  R.  Keil's  Biblischer  Commentar  Uber  die  Prophetischen 
Geschichtsbiicher  des  A.  T.,  containing  Joshua,  Judges,  and  Ruth   (Leipzig,  1863),  appeared 


§  5.     CRITICAL  AND   EXEGETICAL  HELPS.  "     17 

after  the  greater  part  of  our  Book  was  finished.  The  author's  theological  attitude,  diligence, 
and  erudition  are  in  no  need  of  special  characterization  in  this  place.  [Since  the  publica- 
tion of  Dr.  Cassel's  work,  the  first  volume  of  a  new  commentary  by  Dr.  Joh.  Bachmann,  Pro- 
fessor at  Rostock,  has  appeared,  entitled,  Das  Buck  der  Richter,  mit  besonderer  Riicksicht  auf 
die  Geschichte  seiner  Auslegung  und  kirddichen  Verwendung  erhldrt,  etc.,  Berlin,  Ersten 
Bandes  erste  Hiilfle,  1868,  Zweite  Hiilfte,  1869.  Theologically,  the  author  stands  on  sub- 
stantially the  same  ground  with  Cassel  and  Keil.  His  work  is  thorough  and  exhaustive. 
For  English  works  on  the  whole  Bible,  cf.  the  commentary  on  Matthew,  p.  19.  We  here 
add  :  Bush,  Notes  Critical  and  Practical  on  the  Book  of  Judges,  New  York ;  and  the  Books 
of  Joshua,  Judges,  and  Ruth  ;  loith  Notes  and  Introductions  by  Chr.  Wordsworth,  I).  D., 
London,  1865,  forming  Part  I.  of  vol.  ii.  of  The  Holy  Bible  ;  with  Notes,  etc.,  by  the  same 
author.  Dr.  Wordsworth  is  learned  and  devout,  but  somewhat  too  much  given  to  allegori- 
zing. —  Tr.] 

It  cannot  be  desirable  to  enumerate  here  all  the  exegetical  introductions  and  other  writings 
more  remotely  connected  with  the  business  of  exposition.  For  such  enumeration  we  refer  to 
Danz's  Universalivorterbuch,  to  the  works  named  by  Dr.  Lange  in  the  commentary  on  Gene- 
sis, and  to  the  older  general  commentaries  of  Starke,  Lisco,  and  Gerlach.  It  is  sufficient 
here  to  mention  the  Introductions  of  Hiivernick  and  Keil,  Ewald's  Geschichte  Israels,  and 
Stiihelin's  Untersuchungen  iiber  den  Pentateuch,  die  Biicher  Joshua,  Richter,  etc.,  Berlin,  1843. 
Much  that  is  excellent  —  to  confine  ourselves  to  what  specially  belongs  here  —  is  contained 
in  the  little  work  of  Pi-of  Wahl,  Ueber  den  Verfasser  des  Baches  der  Richter,  a  "  programme" 
of  the  Gymnasium  and  Realschule  at  Ellwangen,  1859.  Compare  also  Nagelsbach,  s.  v. 
Richter,  in  Herzog's  Real  Encijklopddie,  vol.  xiii. ;  and  in  general,  the  articles  of  this  encyclo- 
paedia on  the  several  Judges. 

On  the  chronology  of  the  Book,  the  following  works  deserve  to  be  mentioned  :  Jewish  — 
the  Sepher  Juchasin,  by  Abraham  Sacuto,  Amsterdam,  1717;  Tsemach  David,  hj  David 
Gans,  in  the  edition  of  Vorstius,  Hebrew  and  Latin,  1644,  4to  ;  and  Seder  Haddoroth,  by  R. 
Jechiel,  of  Minsk,  1810,  fol.  Hei'zfeld,  Chronologia  Judicum  et  priinorum  Regum  Hebrceorum, 
Bei-olini,  1836  ;  and  Bachmann,  Sgmbolarum  ad  tempora  Judicum  recte  constituenda  specimen 
(Rostock  University  "Programme"  for  1860).  The  very  latest  conjectures  maybe  found 
in  Rbckerath,  Bibl.  Chronologic,  Miinster,  1865. 

2.  Of  writings  treating  single  parts  of  the  Book  of  Judges,  the  number  is  larger.  The 
Song  of  Deborah  has  been  especially  favored.  We  mention  the  following  :  ^  Lette,  Animad- 
versiones  Sacrce,  L.  Bat.  1759.  Ruckersfelder,  Sylloge  comentt.  et  observatt.  philol.  exeget., 
Deventirse,  1762.  Wilh.  Abrah.  Teller,  Uebers.  des  Segens  Jakobs  und  Mosis,  insgleichen  des 
Liedes  der  Israeliten  und  der  Debora,  etc.,  Halle  and  Helmst.,  1766.  Schnurrer,  Diss,  in 
Deborce-Canticum,  Tiib.  1775  (cf.  his  Dissertt.  Phil.  Criticce,  Gothas,  1790).  Kdliler,  Nachlese 
einiger  Anmerkk.  iiber  das  Siegeslied  der  Deb.,  in  Eiclihorn's  Repertorium  for  1780,  p.  163  ff. 
HoUmann,  Comment,  phil.  crit.  in  Carmen  Deborce,  Lips.  1818.  Kohler,  in  the  Studien  und 
Kritiken  for  1831,  pp.  72-76.  Kemink,  Commentatio  de  Carmine  Deborce,  Traj.  ad  Rhen., 
1840.  Kalkar,  Questionum  Biblic,  Specimen,  I.,  Othinife,  1835.  Bottger,  in  KaufTer's  Bib- 
lischen  Studien  (only  to  ver.  23),  Dresden  and  Leipzig,  1842-44.  Gumpach,  Alttestament- 
lichen  Studien,  Heidelberg,  1852.  Sack,  Die  Lieder  in  den  historischen  Buchern  des  A.  T., 
Barmen,  1864.  Among  translations,  that  of  Herder,  in  his  Geist  der  Hebrdischen  Poesie,  ii. 
196  (Cotta's  edition  of  his  woi'ks,  1852),  still  holds  its  merited  rank.  Little  known,  and  yet 
not  unimportant,  is  that  of  J.  C.  W.  Seherer,  in  Irene,  a  monthly  periodical  by  G.  A.  v. 
Halem,  Miinster,  1804,  i.  44.  Less  valuable  is  Debora,  a  Portrait  of  Female  Character,  by 
E.  Miinch,  in  Minerva,  an  annual,  for  1828,  p.  339.  Many  excellent  remarks  on  the  Song 
of  Deborah  are  found  in  Lowth's  celebrated  book  on  Hebrew  Poetry ;  but  the  annotations  of 
Schmidt  (in  Auszuge  aus  Lowth^s  Vorlesungen,  Dantzig,  1793)  are  worthless. 

In  the  exposition  of  the  Song  below,  compression  has  been  so  much  sought  after,  that  its 
brevity,  in  view  of  the  many  new  explanations  that  are  offered,  may  be  deemed  a  fault. 
Some  improvement  may  perhaps  be  made  in  this  respect  hereafter. 

The  history  of  Jephthah  has  experienced  an  equally  abundant  treatment.  To  the  literature 
mentioned  in  the  exposition  below,  we  here  add  the  following  :  Reinke,  Beitrdge  zur  Erkldrung 
des  A.  T.,  Miinster,  1852.  Very  sensible  remarks  against  the  assumption  that  Jephthah's 
daughter  was  sacrificed  are  found  in  Schedius,  Srjngramma  de  Diis  Germanis,  Halfe,  1728. 
A  discourse  on  "  Jephthah's  Sacrifice,"  with  special  reference  to  the  importance  of  vows  of 

1  Ihe  Jewish  traditions  concerniug  Deborah  are  given  in  a  popular  form  in  Beth  Jisrael,  Amsterdam,  1724. 
2 


18  THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 

homaife,  may  be  found  among  the  Discourses  of  the  Stolbcrg  Chauciillor,  Job.  Tilius,  Hal- 
berstadt,  1G78.  F.  Ranke,  also,  in  his  Klatjlied  der  Hehrder,  felt  bimself  oblioed  to  follow  the 
old  view.  It  is  a  curiosity  of  unconiuion  ignorance  that  in  the  French  Opera  V Enfant 
Proditjue,  of  Sue  and  Auber,  the  bride  of  the  Prodigal,  that  is  to  say,  a  woman,  is  named 
Je|)lilbah. 

lloskoir,  in  his  work  Die  Shnsonssa(/e,  nach  Hirer  Enlstehuncj,  Form,  und  Bedeutung,  und 
der  Ileruldesm;/lhus,  Leipzig,  18G0,  gives  the  literature  of  those  writings  in  which  Samson  is 
j)ut  on  a  parallel  with  Hercules.  Tbe  author's  own  zeal  ibr  the  parallelism  is  far  more  mod- 
erate than  that  of  E.  Meier,  for  instance,  in  liis  Gesch.  der  poetischen  Nationalliteratur  der 
llehrder,  Leipzig,  1856.  But  even  his  admissions  we  have  not  been  able  to  consider  well 
I'ounded  and  trustworthy.  We  cannot  believe,  for  instance,  that  there  is  such  similarity 
between  the  answer  to  Samson's  prayer,  after  his  exploit  at  Lehi,  and  the  myth  which 
recounts  how  Hercules,  when  unable  to  sleep  on  account  of  crickets,  got  rid  of  them,  as  to 
make  it  a  safe  foundation  for  scientific  results.  And  it  is  only  the  thorough-going  establish- 
ment of  the  historical  and  moral  as  well  as  ideal  difference  between  the  two  characters  that 
can  ("ive  any  real  significance  to  other  analogies  that  may  exist,  and  that  appear  to  suggest 
themselves  so  plainly.  In  the  commentary  on  the  narrative  we  have  engaged  in  no  polemics, 
but  have  attempted  a  positive  exposition  of  the  ideas  contained  in  it. 

Sin<dc  jiarts  of  Samson's  life  were  formerly  frequently  treated.  As  against  the  boundlessly 
insipid  and  wretched  views  of  the  so-called  rationalistic  exposition,  which  reached  its  acme 
in  Baur's  Biblisher  Moral,  1803,  i.  195  ff.  the  modern  mythical  apprehension  is,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  real  advance.  But  it  is  only  by  setting  aside  the  subjective  party  opinions  of  the 
day,  and  by  adopting  a  mode  of  apprehending  the  narrative  that  shall  be  at  once  objective, 
historical,  and  congenial  to  its  contents,  that  exegesis  can  claim  to  be  scientific  or  be  capable 
of  advancinti- science.  A  beautiful  elogium  of  Samson  as  compared  with  Hercules  is  found 
in  Petri  Labbe  Elogia  Sacra,  Lips.  1G8G,  p.  GG7  :  — 

"  Hcrculi  cooetancus  verus  Hercules  fuit ; 
QuiB  in  illo  fabula,  in  -hoc  fuere  miracula." 

"  Samson's  Foxes"  arc  treated  of  by  Paullini,  in  his  Philosoph.  Luststunden,  i.  147.  Essays 
on  the  jawbone  in  Lehi  are  named  below.  Schiller,  perhaps,  had  the  miracle  of  Lehi  in 
mind  in  his  ballad  Der  Biirgschafl,  verses  twelve  and  thirteen,  where  Moros  in  answer  to 
prayer  is  delivered  from  thirst  by  water  issuing  from  the  rock.  In  the  Willinasage  (ed.  Per- 
ini'skicild,  p.  272),  Sigurd,  who  has  freely  allowed  himself  to  be  bound,  at  the  right  time 
rends  all  his  cords  asunder.  Thackeray  relates  (in  his  Four  Georges,  ch.  vii.)  that  when 
George  III.  of  England  was  blind  and  mentally  diseased,  he  nevertheless  selected  himself  the 
music  for  sacred  concerts,  and  always  from  the  Samson  of  Milton  and  Handel,  and  all  his  selec- 
tions had  reference  to  blindness,  imprisonment,  and  suffering.  There  is  a  dramatic  poem  in 
three  acts,  by  Sack,  entitled  Simson,  Zurich,  1854. 

The  narrative  in  Judg.  i.  1 7  is  supposed  to  be  improved  and  supplemented  in  the  work  of 
the  Leiden  Professor,  Dozy :  De  Israeliten  te  Mekka,  van  Davids  tyd  tot  in  de  vyfde  eeuw  onser 
tgdrekening,  Haarlem,  18G4.  German  translation,  Leipzig,  18G4.  If  any  book  can  bring  con- 
tempt and  ridicule  on  j)hilological  and  ethnographical  investigations  and  expositions,  it  is 
this  volume.  Few  books  can  ever  have  been  written  whose  authors  presumed,  to  such  an 
extent,  and  with  such  naive  boldness,  to  substitute  subjective  arbitrariness  for  objective  tact 
and  moderation  in  the  treatment  of  history  and  language.  It  is  here  made  clear  how  little  a 
knowledge  of  Arabic  literature  implies  a  fitness  for  historical  investigation  and  conjecture.  It 
happens  unfortunately  too  often  that  some  knowledge  of  technology  imagines  itself  to  be  master 
of  art,  and  that  some  acquaintance  wit)  i  ainmatical  forms  deems  itself  proficient  in  exegesis. 
Let  it  not  be  thought  that  this  judgmcn'  is  here  written  down  because  Prof.  Dozy  holds  the 
freest  views  of  the  Bible,  considers  Abiaham  and  Sarah  to  be  myths,  and  subscribes  to  Gei- 
ger's  opinion  that  the  Jews  falsified  Scripture.  For  Prof.  Dozy,  the  credibility  of  Scripture 
is  conditioned  by  the  necessities  of  his  hypothesis.  If  a  passage  suits  him,  it  is  by  all  means 
to  be  accepted ;  if  it  does  not  suit  him,  the  reasons  for  rejecting  it  are  at  once  apparent. 
The  book,  likely  to  dazzle  and  deceive  by  reason  of  its  unecjualed  audacity  and  the  splendor 
of  its  exterior,  deserves  the  severest  censure,  because  it  treads  under  foot  all  lawful  methods 
of  scientific  and  philological  research.  A  few  sentences,  having  reference  to  the  above-men- 
tioned passage  will  show  this. 

We  pass  over  bj.8  identification  of  the  fact  recorded  at  Num.  xxi.  2,  3,  with  that  related  in 


§  6.    THE  COURSE  OF  THOUGHT.  19 

Judg.  i.  17,  for  tlierein  he  follows  others.  But  he  thinks  that  the  reading  of  the  Syriac  and 
Arabic  versions,  "  Simeon  went  with  Judah  his  brother,"  is  better  than  that  of  the  Hebrew 
text  (which  the  Sept.  has  also),  "  Judah  went  with  Simeon  his  brother."  The  Hebrew  text, 
he  thinks,  was  altered  by  the  Jewish  doctors,  "  who  begrudged  Simeon  the  first  role  "  Now, 
the  matter  stands  thus :  In  ver.  3  Judah  invites  Simeon  to  assist  him  to  subjugate  the  terri- 
tory allotted  to  him,  jjromising  that  he  will  afterwai'ds  help  him  (Simeon)  to  take  possession 
of  his  also.  Simeon  consents,  "  and,"  says  the  writer,  "  Simeon  went  with  him  (Judah). 
Simeon  therefore  stands  first  in  this  instance,  and  yet  the  envy  of  the  Jews  did  not  alter  the 
clause.  When  the  turn  came  to  Simeon's  territory,  to  which  Zephath  belongs,  Judah  ren- 
dered assistance  to  Simeon ;  consequently  ver.  1 7  says,  "  and  Judah  went  with  Simeon."  If 
rank  comes  into  consideration  at  all  in  this  expression,  it  belongs  to  the  second  named,  to 
whom  he  who  goes  with  him  merely  renders  assistance.  If  the  Peshito  reversed  the  order 
in  ver.  17,  it  was  only  to  bring  about  a  verbal  agreement  with  ver.  3  b. 

Simeon  and  Judah  had  smitten  the  Canaanites  in  Zephath,  inflicted  the  ban  upon  them, 
and  given  to  Zephath  the  name  Hormah  (prop.  Chormah)  from  cherem,  cf.  below  on  ch. 
i.  17.  Now  this  putting  under  the  ban  was  not  anything  peculiar  to  these  two  tribes. 
Moses  had  done  it  in  behalf  of  all  Israel  (Num.  xxi.  3).  Its  infliction  throughout  the  con- 
quest was  expressly  enjoined,  Deut.  vii.  2.  Joshua  executed  it  in  Jericho,  in  Ai,  and  every- 
where else  (cf.  Josh.  vi.  17,  vii.  10,  etc.).  But  Dozy  finds  in  the  ban  (cherern)  something 
peculiar  to  the  tribe  of  Simeon ;  and  combining  this  assumption  with  the  narrative  in  1 
Chron.  iv.  24-43,  where  (ver.  41)  we  read  of  a  ban  executed  by  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  he 
arrives  at  the  following  conclusion  :  "  Since  the  sons  of  Simeon  made  and  inflicted  the  ban 
('XS^in*]),  it  follows  that  they  made  a  herem."  The  place  therefore  "  was  called  Herem  or 
Hormah."  But  what  place  in  Arabia  —  for  that  the  place  was  in  Arabia  similar  reasonings 
have  previously  proved  —  could  be  called  Herem  but  Mecca !  For  Herem  means  also  a 
"  place  consecrated  to  God,"  and  Mecca  is  called  Haram,  which  is  equivalent  to  Herem. 
Therefore,  the  battle  of  the  sons  of  Simeon  took  place  in  Mecca  ;  and  even  the  name  Mecca 
dates  from  it ;  for  maka  raba  signifies  a  great  defeat,  to  wit,  that  which  the  enemy  there  suf- 
fered at  the  hands  of  Simeon.  The  Simeonites  came  to  the  entrance  of  Gedor,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  valley  (1  Chron.  iv.  39).  Now,  of  course,  the  walls  of  the  old  temple  in  Mecca 
were  called  al  (jadr  {cil  gidar  =  the  wall)  ;  consequently,  Gedor  is  to  be  read  Gedcr,  and 
signifies  the  temple  in  Mecca,  to  which  they  came.  It  must,  however,  be  read  Geder  Baal, 
although  the  second  word  be  wanting ;  for  2  Chron.  xxvi.  7  speaks  of  Arabians  who  dwelt 
in  Gur  Baal,  and  Gur  is  to  be  read  Geder.  The  LXX.  at  tliis  place  speaks  of  Arabians 
dwelling  eVi  t5js  ireVpas.  Common  sense  would  think  of  Petra ;  but  Dozy  knows  that  they 
mean  the  black  stone  in  Mecca,  etc. 

Dozy  says  at  the  beginning,  that  exegesis  requires  so  much  learning  only  because  it  deals 
with  "  Hebrew  books."  Unquestionably  1  for  where  but  in  Hebrew  exegesis  would  one  dare 
to  be  guilty  of  such  scientific  folly  I  Had  one  ventured  to  do  this  in  the  domain  of  classical 
philology,  he  would  have  experienced  the  fate  with  which  the  philosophers  menaced  Homer 
when  they  threatened  to  drive  him  from  the  stadium  with  scourges. 

All  science  becomes  impossible,  when  credible  objective  tradition  is  made  the  plaything 
of  subjective  caprice.  We  cannot  here  enter  farther  into  details  ;  these  must  be  left  for  other 
places.  For  those  who  know,  it  is  enough  to  say,  that  if  such  arguments  are  valid,  the  next 
thing  will  be,  instead  of  the  Israelites  in  Mecca,  a  book  on  "  the  Meccans  in  Zion." 

Science,  too,  needs  to  experience  the  promise  written  in  Ezek.  xxxix.  29. 

§  6.      The  Course  of  Thought} 

The  Book  derives  its  name  from  the  Judges  whom  God  raised  up  to  guide  and  dehvei 
Israel.  It  begins,  therefore,  by  depicting  the  sins  and  consequent  sufferings  into  which  Israel 
fell  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  and  which  rendered  the  judgeship  necessary. 

fl  The  following  paragraphs  were  written  by  the  author  as  "  Preliminary  Observations  "  to  the  "  Homiletical  Hints," 
which  he  gives  in  a  body  at  the  close  of  the  commentary,  and  not,  as  in  the  other  volumes  of  this  work,  after  the  several 
Bections  to  which  tliey  refer.  It  was  thought  advisable  in  translating  the  book  to  alter  this  arrangement  and  make  it 
conform  to  that  observed  in  other  parts  of  the  general  work.  The  more  detailed  analysis  of  the  contents,  as  also  the 
formal  division  of  the  work  itself  into  parts  and  sections,  together  with  the  resumes  placed  at  the  head  of  each  division 
throughout  the  work,  have  been  added  by  the  translator,  guided  for  the  most  part  by  hints,  and  largely  even  in  the  Ian- 
^age  of  the  author  himself.  It  is  proper  to  add  that  these  are  the  only  additions  that  have  not  been  inclosed  in  brackets. 
-Ta.] 


20  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 

After  this  introduction  follows  the  main  body  of  the  work,  which  treats  of  ihe  history  of 
Israel  under  the  Judges  themselves.  The  raising  up  of  the  successive  heroes  exhibits  with 
ever-growing  lustre  the  gracious  guidance  of  God,  revealing  itself  more  and  more  wonderfully 
as  the  distress  into  which  Israel  falls  becomes  more  pressing.  The  selection  of  the  several 
judges  and  heroes  forms  a  climax  of  divine  wonders,  in  which  the  multiformity  of  Jehovah's 
saving  resources  shows  itself  in  contrast  with  the  monotonousness  of  Israel's  sins,  and  the 
workings  of  His  grace  in  the  hidden  and  obscure  in  opposition  to  that  pride  of  the  people  in 
which  their  falls  originated.  The  histories  of  the  Judges,  especially  those  of  Othniel,  Ehud, 
Deborah  and  Barak,  Gideon,  Jephtliah,  and  Samson,  through  whom  and  their  adherents  the 
great  and  merciful  deeds  of  God  do  show  themselves  in  ever-increasing  fullness,  form  the  sec- 
tions into  which  the  Book  may  be  divided.  From  Othniel  to  Samson,  under  whom  the  his- 
tory returns  to  the  tribe  of  Judah  from  Avhich  it  started,  every  Judge  illustrates  a  new  side 
of  God's  wonderful  assistance.  Tliis  manifoldness  characterizes  the  judgeship.  It  rests  on 
no  tradition.  The  changes  of  the  persons  and  tribes  entrusted  with  its  functions,  interrupt 
its  efficacy.  The  narrative  gradually  indicates  the  want  of  unity,  despite  the  abundance  of 
strength.  Hence  that  which  peculiarly  characterizes  the  judgeship,  marks  at  the  same  time 
its  imperfection.  For  even  times  of  peace  admitted  of  such  occurrences  as  those  which  fill 
the  closing  part  of  the  Book,  after  the  record  of  Samson's  death. 

In  the  closing  part'of  the  Book,  the  decay  of  the  priesthood,  the  arbitrariness  of  individ- 
uals, and  the  abominations  of  licentiousness,  passion,  and  discord,  are  traced  back  to  the  want 
of  a  settled,  permanent  government.  The  close  of  the  Book  of  Judges  forms  an  introduction 
to  the  Books  of  liings. 

The  following  analysis  indicates  a  little  more  in  detail  the  course  of  the  narrative  as 
sketched  above :  — 

Part  First. 

Introductory  delineation  of  the  condition  of  Israel  after  the  death  of  Joshua ;  sin,  and  the 
judgments  entailed  by  it,  rendering  the  judgeship  necessary.      Chaps,  i.-iii.  4. 

1st  Section.  The  relations  of  Israel  towards  the  remaining  Canaanites,  as  forming  the  back- 
ground of  the  ensuing  history.  Believing  and  obedient  Israel  enjoys  divine  direction  and 
favor,  is  united  within  and  victorious  without ;  but  faithlessness  and  disobedience  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  apostasy  and  servitude.      Ch.  i. 

2d  Section.  The  religious  degeneracy  of  Israel  which  resulted  from  its  disobedient  conduct 
with  respect  to  the  Canaanites,  and  the  severe  discipline  which  it  rendered  necessary,  as 
explaining  the  alternations  of  apostasy  and  servitude,  repentance  and  deliverance,  character- 
istic of  the  period  of  the  Judges.     Chaps,  ii.-iii.  4. 

Part  Second. 

The  history  of  Israel  under  the  Judges  :  a  liistory  of  sin,  ever  repeating  itself,  and  of  divine 
grace,  constantly  devising  new  means  of  deliverance.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  imperfections 
of  the  judicial  institute  display  themselves,  and  prepare  the  way  for  the  appointment  of  a 
king.      Chaps,  iii.  5.-xvi. 

1st  Section.  The  servitude  to  Chushan  Rishathaim,  King  of  Mesopotamia.  Othniel,  the 
Judge  of  blameless  and  happy  life.      Ch,  iii.  5-11. 

2d  Section.  The  servitude  to  Eglon,  King  of  Moab.  Ehud,  the  Judge  with  the  double- 
edged  dagger.      Shamgar,  the  deUverer  with  the  ox-goad.      Ch.  iii.  12-31. 

3d  Section.  The  servitude  to  Jabin,  King  of  Canaan.  Deborah,  the  female  Judge  of  fiery 
spirit,  and  Barak, -the  military  hero.      Chaps,  iv.,  v. 

Ath  Section.  The  incursions  and  oppressions  of  the  Midianites.  Gideon,  the  Judge  who 
refuses  to  be  king.     Chaps,  vi.-viii. 

5th  Section.    The  usurped  rule  of  Abimelech,  the  fratricide  and  thorn-bush  king.     Ch.  ix. 

Qth  Section.  Two  Judges  in  quiet,  peaceful  times  :  Tolah  of  Issachar,  and  Jair  the  Gileadite. 
Ch.  X.  1-5. 

7th  Section.  The  oppression  of  the  Midianites.  Jephthah,  the  Judge  of  the  vow.  Chaps. 
X.  6-xii.  7. 

8th  Section.  Three  Judges  of  uneventful  lives  in  peaceful  times  :  Ibzan  of  Bethlehem,  Elon 
the  Zebulonite,  and  Abdon  the  Pirathonite.      Ch.  xii.  8-15. 

9th  Section     The  oppression  of  the  Philistines.     Samson  the  Nazarite  Judge.     Chaps. 


§  6.    THE  COURSE  OF  THOUGHT.  21 

Part  Third. 

The  conclusion  of  the  Book,  tracing  the  evils  of  the  period,  the  decay  of  the  priesthood, 
the  self-will  of  individuals,  and  the  prevalence  of  licentiousness,  passion,  and  discord,  to  the 
absence  of  a  fixed  and  permanent  form  of  government.      Chaps,  xvii.-xxi. 

1st  Section.  The  history  of  Micah's  private  temple  and  image-worship  :  showing  the 
individual  arbitrariness  of  the  times,  and  its  tendency  to  subvert  and  corrupt  the  religious 
institutions  of  Israel.      Chaps,  xvii.,  xviii. 

2d  Section.  The  story  of  the  infamous  deed  perpetrated  at  Gibeah,  and  its  terrible  conse- 
quences :  another  illustration  of  the  evils  that  result  when  "  every  man  does  what  is  good 
ia  his  own  eyes."     Chaps,  xix.-xxi. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


PART  FIRST. 


iNTnoDUCTORT  Delineation  of  the  Condition  of  Israel  after  the  Death  of  Joshua 
Sin,  and  the  Judgments  entailed  by  it,  rendering  the  Judgeship  necessary. 


FIRST  SECTION. 

THE  RELATIONS  OF  ISRAEL  TOWARDS  THE  REMAINING  CANAANITES  AS  FORMING  THE  BACK- 
GROUND OF  THE  ENSUING  HISTORY.  BELIEVING  AND  OBEDIENT  ISRAEL  ENJOYS  DIVINE  DI- 
RECTION AND  FAVOR,  IS  UNITED  WITHIN  AND  VICTORIOUS  WITHOUT  ;  BUT  FAITHLESSNESS  AND 
DISOBEDIENCE    LAY    THE    FOUNDATIONS    OF   APOSTASY   AND    SERVITUDE. 


"  Who  shall  first  go  up  against  the   Canaanite  ? " 
Chapter  L  1,  2. 

1  Now  [And]  after  the  death  of  Joshua  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  children  [sons]  of 
Israel   asked  the    Lord  [Jehovah],^  saying,  Who  shall  go  up  for  us^  against^  the 

2  Canaanites    first  to  fight    against  them  ?      And  the    Lord    [Jehovah]  said,   Judah 
shall  go  up :  behold,*  I  have  delivered  the  laud  into  his  hand. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1.  —  The  author  renders  :  "  the  sons  of  Israel  asked  God  ;  "  and  by  way  of  explanation  adds  the  following  note  : 
"  Thus  do  we  intend  constantly  to  render  riin"',  on  the  ground  that  it  expresses  the  absolute  idea  of  the  true  God  in 

Lsrael.      Since  D^H  vK    is  also  used  in  connection  with  heathen  worship,  it  corresponds  to  our  '  Godhead,  Deity  '  or 
'the  Gods.'"     In  this  tran.slation  the  word  Jehovah  will  be  in.serted.  — Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  1.  —  ^3  v"n717^"^^.  Dr.  Cassel  takes  !137  in  a  partitive  sense,  and  translates,  "who  of  us  shall  go  up." 
It  is  more  properly  regarded  as  dat.  commodi ;  for,  (1.)  The  partitive  relation,  though  sometimes  indicated  by  v  (ap- 
parently, however,  only  after  numerals,  cf.  Ges.  Lex.  e.  v.  ,4  b),  would  be  more  properly  expressed  by  2  or  'J^  . 
and  (2.)  If  the  writer  had  intended  to  connect  ^13^  with  "^l^,  he  would  not  have  placed  the  verb   between  them,  cf. 

Is.  xlviii.  14 ;  Judg.  xxi.  8.     As  it  stands,  the  expression  is  a  perfect  grammatical  parallel  with  Is.  vi.  8 :    ^3^"7T^'^"''^ 

T       '  v 

Moreover,  Aj^,  in  the  sense  of  ^13  3  or    ^13^73,  adds  nothing  which  is  not  already  implied  in  the  words,  H^D^    "^^ 
t'  TV-'  v-:- 

n^^HFlSj    "  ^^°  shall  first  go  up."     On  the  other  hand,  taken  in  its  natural  sense,  as  indirect  object  after  the  verb,  it 

expresses  the  thought  that  whoever  "goes  first,"  makes  a  beginning,  will  do  it  for  the  advantage  of  all.     What  that 

advantage  was,  may  be  seen  from  our  author's  exposition  of  the  inquiry.  —  Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  1 vW,  properly,   towards.     Dr.  Cassel  has  gegen,  which   means  both  "  towards  "  and  "  against."     The 

•ame  preposition  occurs  in  vers.  10, 11 ;  and  though  translated  "  against,"  is  not  to  be  tak^tp  in  the  sense  of  ^V,      ^hu 


24 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


hostile  intent  ia  these  passages  is  not  expressed  by  vM,  but  appears  from  the  context.     In  this  verse,  attention  to  the 
proper  meaning  of   7W,  does  away  with  the  appearance  of  tautology  which  in  English  the  inquiry  presents.  —  Tr.] 
[•1  Ver.  2.  —  Dr.  Cassel :  "  Wo/dan .'   Up  then  1  "  On  this  rendering  of  HpH,   cf.  the  foot-note  on  p.  26.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETIOAL  AND  DOCTKINAL. 

Ver.  1 .  And  after  the  death  of  Joshua  it  came 
to  pass.  Tliis  commencement  coiTesponds  entkely 
with  that  of  Joshua,  ch.  i.  1  :  "  and  after  the  death 
of  Moses,  the  servant  of  Jehovah,  it  came  to  pass." 
On  account  of  this  correspondence  the  usual  ad- 
dition, "  the  son  of  Nun,"  but  also  the  dcsitfnation 
"  servant  of  Jehovah,"  elsewhere  applied  to  Joshua 
(.Josh.  xxiv.  29  ;  Judg.  ii  8),  is  omitted.  A  simi- 
lar correspondence  exists  between  Josh.  xxiv.  29, 
and  Deut.  xxxiv.  5.  Wherever  Joshua  is  com- 
pared with  Moses,  care  is  taken  to  indicate  at  the 
same  time  the  important  difference  between  them. 
Joshua  also  is  a  "  servant  of  Jehovah,"  but  not  in 
the  same  hijih  sense  as  his  master.  Joshua  also 
died,  but  not  like  Moses  "  through  the  mouth  of 

Jehovah"  (nin^  ''Q'br).  Moses  was  clothed 
with  the  authority  of  orif/ination  and  establishment. 
He  had  been  the  Father  (cf.  Num.  xi.  12),  the 
Priest  (Ex.  xxiv.  8),  the  sole  Regent  (Num.  xvi. 
13),  and  Judge  (Ex.  xviii.  16),  of  his  tribes.  He 
transferred  the  priesthood  from  himself  to  Aaron 
(Ex,  xxviii.  1)  ;  he  selected  those  who  assisted 
him  in  deciding  minor  lawsuits  (Ex.  xviiL  21  ; 
Num.  xi.  17).  He  took  seventy  men  of  the  "el- 
ders of  the  people,"  to  bear  with  him  the  burden 
of  governing  tlie  tribes  (Num.  xi.  16)  ;  he  imparted 
of  his  own  honor  to  Joshua,  that  the  congregation 

1  If  in  Ex.  vi.  20,  26,  the  order  is  "  Aaron  and  Moses,"  it 
s  only  to  indicate  Aaron  as  the  first-born ;  hence,  ver.  27  of 
the  same  chapter,  as  if  by  way  of  correction,  says.  "  these 
are  that  Moses  and  Aaron."'  For  the  same  reason  Num.  iii. 
1  reads  :  "  These  are  the  generations  of  Aaron  and  Moses." 
As  the  order  is  everywhere  Moses  and  Aaron,  so  it  is  nat- 
urally also  "  Moses  and  Eleazar.''  This  difference  in  the 
relations  of  Moses  and  Joshua  respectively  to  the  Priest,  it 
is  important  to  notice.  For  it  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  show 
the  un'eiiableness  of  Bertheau's  assertion  (Bitch  cler  Rirh- 
ler,  p.  9),  that  Num.  xxvii.  21  is  to  be  so  taken  that  Joshua 
ia  to  ask,  not  brfnre,  but _/or,  instead  of,  Eleazar,  whether  he 
shall  go  out ;  that  is  (as  he  thinks),  "  in  a  manner  just  as 
valid  as  if  the  high-priest  had  inquired  of  Jehovah."  To  in- 
quire of  Uod  by  means  of  the  Uriin.  the  Priest  .alone  could 
do,  for  he  alone  had  it.  Moses  and  the  prophets  received 
revelations  immediately  ;  but  when  the  Urim  is  mentioned, 
the  I'riest  is  the  only  possible  medium.  The  passages  to 
which  Bertheau  refers,  speak  against  his  assertion.  The 
iiXX.  are  as  plain  as  the  Hebrew  text.  In  1  Sam.  xxii.  10, 
it  is  the  Priest  who  inquires  of  God  for  David.  Josephus, 
Ant.  iv.  7,  2,  is  an  irrelevant  passage,  and  therefore  cannot 
be  cited  at  ^all.  Moreover,  Jo.sephus  himself  puts  Eleazar 
before  Joshua,  when  he  speaks  of  both  ^iv.  7,  3).  Nor  is 
there  any  good  ground  for  doubt  as  to  the  clearness  of  the 
passage  in  Num.  xxvii.  If  we  find  no  mention  anywhere 
of  Joshua's  having  inquired  by  Urim,  the  foundation  of  this 
fact  is  deeply  laid  in  his  relations  to  Moses.  lie  was  called 
only  to  be  the  executor  of  the  de.signs  of  Moses.  His  ac- 
tivity expends  itself  in  continuing  the  work  of  Moses.  It 
nu.ves  entirely  within  the  lines  prescribed  by  Moses,  and  is 
impelled  by  his  inviolable  authority.  Joshua's  deeds  are 
but  the  historical  outgrowth  of  the  spirit  of  Moses.  The 
Book  of  Joshua  is  but  the  narrative  of  Josliua's  obedience 
to  the  word  of  Moses.  \Vhatever  Joshua  ordains,  is  ren- 
dered sacred  by  an  appeal  to  Moses.  Even  the  division  of 
the  land  is  conducted  according  to  this  authority  (Josh. 
xiii.-xv.).  "Every  place  have  I  given  you,  as  I  said  unto 
Moses,"  is  the  language  used  (Josh.  i.  3).  Ileniember  what 
Mo.'ies  commanded  you,  says  Joshua  to  the  tribes  of  Reuben, 
3aJ|  and  Manasseh  (Josh.  i.  13).     The  fact  is  brought  out 


of  Israel  might  obey  him  (Num.  xxvii.  20.)  With 
the  death  of  Moses  the  work  of  legislation  is  closed. 
After  him,  Joshua  exercises  the  authority  of 
government  and  direction.  By  his  deeds  he  gains  foi 
liimself  respect  among  the  people,  like  that  v/hich 
Moses  had  (Josh.  i.  5,  i.  17,  iv.  14,  xvii.  4,  xviii.  ','•)  ; 
similar  wonders  are  wrought  through  liim :  but  he 
executes  only  inherited  commands  ;  his  task  de- 
mands the  energy  of  obedience.  Moses  had  always 
been  named  before  Aaron  (Moses  and  Aaron)  ;^ 
but  when  Joshua  and  the  i'riest  were  named  to- 
gether, Eleazar  stood  first.  (Thus,  Num.  xxxiv. 
17  ;  Josh.  xiv.  1,  xvii.  4,  xix.  51,  xxi.  1).  When 
Moses  lived,  the  priesthood  received  their  com- 
mands through  him ;  after  liis  death,  Joshua  re- 
ceived support  and  aid  through  the  Priest  (Num. 
xxvii.  21).  In  accordance  with  this,  we  must  un- 
derstand what  is  said,  Josh.  i.  1,  namely,  that 
"  the  Lord  spake  nnto  Joshua."  For  henceforth 
"  there  arose  not  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses." 
That  which  Moses  was,  could  not  repeat  itself  in 
any  other  person.  Joshua,  therefore,  was  only  the 
reflection  of  a  part  of  the  power  of  Moses  ;  but  as 
such  he  had  conducted  the  first  historical  act  of 
fulfillment  demanded  by  the  Mosaic  law.  The 
conquest  of  Canaan  was  the  necessary  presupposi- 
tion of  the  Mosaic  system.  Israel,  having  been 
liberated,  received  a  national  homestead.  When 
Joshua  died,  the  division  of  the  land  among  the 
tribes  was  completed.     With  the  death  of  Moses 

with  peculiar  emphasis  in  the  following  passages :  "  Be 
strong  and  very  cour.ageous  to  do  according  to  all  the  laws 
which  Moses  my  servant  commanded  thee  :  turn  vnt  from  it 
to  the  rig/U  hand  or  the  left  "  (Josh.  i.  7).  "There  was  not 
a  ivord  of  all  that  Moses  commanded  which  Joshua  read  not 
before  all  the  congregation  of  Israel  "  (Josh,  viii.35).  "As 
the  Lord  commanded  Moses  his  servant,  so  did  Moses  com- 
mand Joshua,  and  so  aid  Joshua;  he  left  nothing  undone 
of  all  that  the  Lord  commanded  Moses  "  (Josh.  xi.  15). 

Wherever,  thei'efore,  Joshua  simply  executes  the  will  of 
God  as  expressed  in  the  commands  of  Moses,  the  necessity 
for  inquiring  by  Urim  does  not  arise.  It  is  precisely  in  this 
execution  of  the  Mosaic  commands  that  God  speaks  to  Joshua, 
as  Josh  iv.  10  clearly  teaches:  "until  everything  was 
finished  tliat  the  Lord  commanded  Joshua  to  speak,  accord- 
ing to  all  that  Moses  commanded  Jo.shua."  The  direct 
command  of  God  to  Moses  operates  on  Joshua  who  exe- 
cutes it. 

That  Joshua  is  the  executor  of  the  commands  of  Moses, 
cannot  consistently  with  the  spirit  of  the  book  which  re 
lates  his  history,  be  overlooked.  When,  however,  the  de- 
cision by  Urim  is  alluded  to,  and  it  is  said,  "  according  to  hi.s 

mouth"  (VQ  73?),  the  reference  is  to  the  same  (priestly) 
mouth  which.  Josh.  xix.  50.  assigns  an  inherit<ance  to 
Joshua,    "according   to    the   mouth  of    Jehovah"     (^X'' 

n'ln''  "^Q).  This  method  of  decision  comes  into  play  when 
Joshua  has  no  instructions  from  Moses  according  to  which 
to  act.  The  peculiar  position  of  Joshua,  by  whom,  through 
the  word  of  Moses,  God  still  always  speaks  and  acts  as 
through  Moses  (Josh.  iii.  7),  and  who  nevertheless  does  not 
like  Moses  stand  before,  but  a/ter,  the  priest,  becomes  evcry- 
wh^e  manifest.  This  position  also  is  unique,  and  never 
again  recurs.  It  is  therefofe  at  his  death,  and  not  till  then, 
that  the  preponderance  of  the  Priest  as  the  sole  possessor  of 
the  word  of  God,  becomes  fully  manifest.  The'  fact,  there- 
fore, that  we  now  first  hear  of  an  "  asking  of  the  Lord,"  so 
far  from  being  obscure,  is  full  of  instruction  on  the  histor- 
ical position  of  affairs. 


CHxVPTER   I.    1,  2. 


25 


llie  spirit  revealed  in  the  law  enters  ujion  its  course 
tlirough  the  history  of  the  world.  With  the  de- 
parture of  Joshua,  the  national  development  of 
Israel  in  Canaan  commences.  The  position  of 
Moses  was  uni([ue,  and  like  that  of  a  father,  could 
not  be  refilled.  When  he  dies,  the  heir  assumes 
the  house  and  its  management.  This  heir  was  not 
Joshua,  but  the  ])eople  itself.  Joshua  was  only 
a  temporary  continuator  of  the  jNlosaic  authority, 
specially  charged  with  the  seizure  of  the  land. 
He  was  but  the  executive  arm  of  Moses  for  the 

conquest  (n'7K''P,  "minister,"  Josh.  i.  1).  His  per- 
sonality is  inseparable  from  that  of  Moses.  As 
Elijah's  spirit  does  not  wholly  depart  from  the  na- 
tion until  Elisha's  death,  so  the  personal  conduct 
and  guidance  of  the  people  by  Moses  do  not  en- 
tirely cease  until  the  death  of  Joshua.  Joshua's 
activity  is  just  as  unique  as  that  of  his  teacher.  He 
is  no  lawgiver,  but  neither  is  he  a  king  or  judge, 
as  were  others  who  came  after  him.  He  is  the 
servant  of  Jehovah,  inasmuch  as  he  is  the  minis- 
ter of  Moses.  The  correspondence  between  Judg. 
i.  1  and  Josh.  i.  1,  is  therefore  a  very  profound 
one.  The  death  of  the  men,  which  these  verses 
respectively  record,  gave  rise  to  the  occurrences  that 
follow. 

The  sons  of  Israel  asked  Jehovah.  Literally : 
"And  it  came. to  pass  ....  anc?  the  sons  of  Israel 

asked,"  etc.  The  first  "  and  "  (1)  introduces  the 
cause, ^  the  second  the  consequence.  It  is  moreover 
intimated  that  the  consequence  is  speedy  in  coming, 
follows  its  cause  without  any  inten-al.  The  trans- 
lation might  have  been  :  "  And  it  came  to  pass 
.  .  .  .  that  the  sons  of  Israel /»/wr'(//rtfe/y  asked  ;  " 
or,  "  Scarcely  had  Joshua  died,  when  the  sons  of 
Israel,"  etc.  It  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  Hebrew 
copula,  that  when  it  introduces  a  consequence,  it 
also  marks  it  as  closely  connected  with  its  antece- 
dent in  point  of  time.  The  Greeks  and  Eomans 
made  similar  use  of  koI  and  et.  Cf.  the  line  of  Vir- 
gil (^'Eneid,  iii.  9):  Vix  prima  inceperat  wstas,  et 
jialcr  Anchises  dare  fatis  vela  jnbebat.  The  Hebrew 
idiom  has  also  passed  over  into  the  Greek  of  the 
New  Testament,  cf.  Luke  ii.  21  ;  real  oTi  e-n-Xris- 
dricrav  rifj.epai  oktiv  ....  /cal  (KXrjdri,  etc.  : 
"  and  the  child  was  eight  days  old,  when  forthwith 
it  w;\s  named  Jesus,"  where  the  Gothic  version  like- 
wise retains  the  double  ^/wA,  "  and."  This  brings  out 
the  more  definite  sense,  both  in  the  parallel  passage. 
Josh.  i.  1,  and  here.  Scarcely  had  Moses  died,  is 
the  idea  there,  when  God  spake  to  Joshua.  The 
government  of  Isi-ael  was  not  for  a  moment  to  be 
interrupted.  Scarcely  was  Joshua  dead,  when  the 
sons  of  Israel  asked  Jehovah.  As  Joshua  suc- 
ceeded Moses  in  the  chief  direction  of  atfuirs,  so  the 
congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel  succeeded 
Josliua.  The  rc^presentatives  of  this  congregation, 
as  apj)ears  from  Josh.  xxiv.  31  and  Judg.  ii.  7,  are 

the  Elders  (C^^IlT).  Jewish  tradition,  accordingly, 
makes  the  spiritual  doctrine  pass  fi-om  Moses  to 
Joshua,  and  from  Joshua  to  the  Elders.   These  El- 

1  [BfiRTHEAU  :  "  Tf^T  in  conjunction  witli  the  word.s, 
'after  the  death  of  Joshua,'  fir-st  connects  it.self  with  the 
closing  narrative  of  the  13ook  of  Joshua  (xxiv.  29-33),  and 
Becondly  designates  the  Book  of  Judges  as  a  link  in  the  chain 
of  books  which  relate,  in  unbroken  connection,  the  [sacred] 
history  of  the  woi-ld,  from  the  creation  to  the  exile  of  the 
Inhabitants  of  the  southern  kingdom.  The  several  hooks 
vhlch  contain  this  connected  historical  account  are  joined 

together  by  the  connective  1."  —  Tr.] 

2  Cf.  Josephus,  Ant.  iv.  8,14,  who  states  on  the  authority 


ders  are  the  seventy  men  chosen  by  Moses  (Num. 
xi.  16)  to  assist  him  in  bearing  the  burden  of  the 
people.  The  term  "  Elder,"  it  is  true,  is  applied  to 
every  authority  among  the  people,  especially  civil. 
"  Elders,"  as  representatives  of  the  people,  are  wit- 
nesses of  the  wonders  of  God  in  the  desert  (Ex.  xvii. 
5).  The  "  Elders  "  are  judges-  {Deut.  xxii.  16) ;  the 
civil  authorities  of  each  city  are  "Elders"  (Deut. 
xxv.  7).  "  Seventy  of  the  Elders,"  with  Moses  and 
the  priests,  behold  the  glory  of  God  (Ex.  xxiv.  1, 

seq.).  The  D"^~]iptC,  shoterim,  ofiicers  charged  with 
executive  and  police  duties,  become  "  Elders "  as 
soon  as  they  execute  the  regulations  of  Moses 
among  the  people  (Ex.  xii.  21 ).  The  seventy  Elders 
who  assisted  Moses  in  bearing  the  burden  that 
pressed  upon  him  must,  therefore,  be  distinguished 
from  the  authorities  of  the  several  tribes  and  cities. 
They  i-eprescnt  the  whole  nation.  As  such,  they 
unite  with  Moses,  at  the  close  of  his  career,  in  com- 
manding the  people  to  keep  the  law,  and  after  pass- 
ing the  Jordan  to  erect  a  memorial  of  great  stones 
(Deut.  xxvii.  1,  2).  During  the  regency  of  Joshua, 
the  authorities  and  representatives  of  the  people, 
beside  the  priests  and  Levites,  consist  of  Elders, 
heads  of  tribes,  judges,  and  magistrates  (shoterim). 
Such  is  the  enumeration  after  the  conciuest  of  Ai, 
and  particularly  in  Josh,  xxiii.  2,  where,  in  order  to 
give  his  last  instructions  to  Israel,  Joshua  calls  all 
the  representatives  of  the  people  together.  Again, 
in  ch.  xxiv.  1,  it  is  stated  that  Joshua  "  called  for 
the  Elders  of  Israel,  and  for  their  heads,  judges,  and 
magistrates."  If  no  distinction  were  intended  here, 
it  had  been  sufiicient  to  say,  "elders  and  heads  ;  " 
for  judges  and  magistrates  were  also  "  elders." 
But  he  called  together  the  national  representatives 
and  those  of  the  several  tribes,  like  two  "  Houses  " 
or  "  Chambers."  The  tribal  representatives  and 
authorities  he  dismisses;  but  the  "Elders,"  who 
belong  to  all  the  tribes  in  common,  remain  near 
him,  as  they  had  been  near  Moses.  These,  there- 
fore are  they  who,  when  Joshua  dies,  step  into  his 
place.  As  on  him,  so  on  them,  there  had  been  ])ut 
of  the  spirit  that  was  on  Moses  (Num.  xi.  17).  They 
quickly  and  zealc^usly  undertake  the  government, 
'riiey  determine  to  begin  at  once  where  Joshua 
sto])ped,  to  make  war  on  the  nations  who  have  not 
yet  been  conquered,  though  their  lands  have  been 
assigned  to  the  several  tribes  (Josh,  xxiii.  4). 
Joshua  is  scarcely  dead,  before  the  Elders  inquire  of 
God.3 

No  firther  ever  cared  for  his  children  as  Moses, 
imder  divine  direction,  cared  for  his  people.  Who, 
then,  when  he  is  gone,  shall  determine  what  the 
peo])le  are  or  are  not  to  iindertake  1  The  answer 
to  this  question  is  recorded  Num.  xxvii.  21  :  After 
the  death  of  Moses,  Joshua  is  to  stand  before  Elea- 
zar  the  priest,  inquire  of  him  after  the  judgment  of 
Ui'im  from  Jehovah,  and  according  to  his  answer 
they  shall  go  out  and  come  in.  That  Joshua  ever 
did  this,  the  book  which  bears  his  name  nowhere 
records.  It  is  characteristic  of  his  exceptional  posi- 
tion, as  bound  by  the  word  and  directions  of  Moses, 

of  Jewish  tradition  that  there  were  in  every  city  seven  judges, 
each  with  two  Levitical  assistants,  corresponding  to  the 
seventy-two  of  the  general  senate. 

3  [Bachmann  :  "  The  sons  of  Israel  here  are  not  the  whole 
nation,  but  only  the  tribes  west  of  the  Jordan,  who  are 
spoken  of  in  the  same  way,  and  in  express  contradistinction 
from  the  tribes  east  of  the  Jordan,  in  Josh.  xxii.  12,  13,  32. 
According  to  Josh.  xiii.  and  xxiii.  the  further  conflict  with 
the  Oanaanites  was  incumbent  on  the  western,  not  on  tha 
eastern  tribes.  Hence,  also,  the  following  account  treats  only 
of  the  iluiugs  and  omissions  of  the  western  Israel  Tb  ^ 


26 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


that  the  word  of  God  comes  directly  to  him,  .al- 
though he  ranks  after  Eleazar  the  j)riest.  But  this 
is  not  the  position  of  the  congrej^ation  of  Israel ; 
and  hence  the  provision  made  by  Moses  for  Joshua 
now  formally  becomes  of  force.     For  the  fii-st  time 

since  Num.  xxvii.  21,  we  find  here  the  word  vKtt? 
with  5,  in  the  sijjnification  "  to  inquire  of  Jeho- 
vah ; "  for  the  G'^"]^H2l  vStt?  of  that  passage  and 

the  n'lrT'S  vMtt?  of  this  are  equivalent  expres- 
sions. Inquiries  put  to  the  Urim  and  Thummim 
were  answered  by  none  but  God.  In  tlic  sublime 
organism  of  the  Mosaic  law  every  internal  thought, 
every  spiritual  truth,  presents  itself  in  the  form  of 
an  external  action,  a  visible  symbol.  Urim  and 
Thummim  (Light  and  Purity)  lie  in  the  bi'east-plate 
on  the  heart  of  the  priest,  when  he  enters  into  the 
sanctuary  (Ex.  xxviii.  30).  They  lie  on  the  heart; 
but  that  which  is  inquired  after,  receives  its  solution 
from  the  Spirit  of  God  i/i  the  heart  of  the  priest. 
Consequently,  although  in  the  locus  classicun  (Num. 
xxvii.  21 ),  the  expression  is,  '.'  to  inquire  of  the 
Urim,"  here  and  elsewhere  in  the  Book  of  Judges 
it  is  always,  "  and  they  inquired  of  Jehocah."  The 
Greeks  also  used  the  expression  ipunav  rhv  Oeov  for 
"  inquiring  of  the  oracle,"  cf.  Xenoph.,  Mem.,  viii. 
3).  The  Urim  also  were  an  oracle,  and  a  priest 
announced  the  word  of  God.  The  God  of  Israel, 
hcivever,  does  not  speak  in  riddles  (Num.  xii.  8), 
bu',  in  clear  and  definite  responses.   Israel  asks  :  — 

'Who  of  us  1  shall  first  go  up  against  the  Ca- 
naanite  to  fight  against  him  ?  The  word  "  go 
up  "  is  not  to  be  taken  altogether  literally.     The 

Hebrew  "^^^t  here  and  frequently  answers  in  sig- 
nification to  the  Greek  ecpopfiav,  Latin  aggredi.  It 
means  to  advance  to  the  attack,  but  conceives  the 
defense  as  made  fi-om  a  higher  level.  The  point 
and  justification  of  the  inquiry  lies  in  the  word 
"first."  The  question  is  not  whether  aggressive 
measures  shall  or  shall  not  be  adopted,  but  which 
of  the  tribes  shall  initiate  them.  Hitherto,  Moses, 
and  after  him,  Joshua  have  directed  the  movements 
of  the  people.  Under  Joshua, 'moreover,  all  the 
ti'ibes  united  in  common  warfare.  All  for  one,  each 
for  all.  The  generalwar  is  at  an  end  ;  the  land  is 
divided,  the  tribes  have  had  their  territories  as- 
signed them.  Now  each  single  tribe  must  engage 
the  enemies  still  settled  within  its  borders.  This 
was  another,  very  difficult  task.  It  was  a  test  of 
the  strength  and  moral  endurance  of  the  several 
tribes.  The  general  war  of  conquest  under  Joshua 
did  not  come  into  collision  with  the  joy  of  posses- 
sion and  rest,  for  these  had  as  yet  no  existence. 
But  after  the  dispersion  of  the  tribes  such  a  com- 
mon war,  under  one  leadership,  was  no  longer  prac- 
ticable. It  may  also  have  appeared  unwise  that  all 
the  tribes  should  be  engaged  in  general  and  simul- 
taneous action  within  their  several  territories.  Had 
one  tribe  been  defeated,  the  others  would  not  have 
been  in  a  position  to  assist  it.  The  question  there- 
fore concerned  the  honor  and  duty  of  the  first  at- 

1  [Cf.  on  this  rendering  the  note  under  the  text  on  p.  23. 
—  Tr.] 

2  Cf.  Ps.  cxiv.  2,  and  the  Tesihtn  and  Jnlkut  on  the  Book 
of  .Judges  (Ed.  Amsterd.)  §  37,  p.  2,  oh.  viii. 

3  The  history  of  Athens  contains  a  similar  instance.  The 
council  of  war  before  the  battle  of  Marathon  was  presided 
over  by  Callimachus,  of  the  tribe  Ajax.  A  prepondei-ance 
of  voices,  exaggerating  the  danger,  already  inclined  to  avoid 
the  Persian  army,  when  Callimachus  voted  for  the  course 
urged  by  Miltiades,  and  turned  the  tide.  In  consequence  of 
Kiis,  the  tribe  of  Ajax  was  specially  honored.   Notwithstand- 


tack.  As  yet  no  tribe  held  any  definite  priority  of 
rank.  For  the  sake  of  peace  and  right,  it  was  left 
with  God  to  determine  who  should  first  go  up  to 
fight  against  tiie  inhabitants  of  the  land,  to  grind 
them,  as  the  word  used  expresses  it,  and  thus  de- 
prive them  of  that  power  for  evil  which  as  nations 
they  possessed.      The  signification  "  to  war "  of 

on  V,  is  illustrated  by  the  meaning  "  to  eat,"  which 
it  also  has.  The  terrible  work  of  war  is  like  the 
action  of  the  teeth  on  bread,  it  tears  and  grinds  its 
object.    Hence  the  Greek  fj.axa.ipa,  knife,  belongs  to 

lj.dxoiJ.ai,   to  fight,  just  as  the   Hebrew  Pv^S^, 

knife,  belongs  to  v3S,  to  eat. 

Ver.  2.  And  Jehovah  said,  Judah  shall  go 
up.  Judah  takes  a  prominent  position  among  the 
sons  of  Jacob,  even  in  the  lifetime  of  their  father 
The  misdemeanors  of  his  elder  brethren  favor  this. 
It  is  he  who  saves  Joseph  from  the  pit  in  which  the 
wrath  of  the  others  designed  him  to  perish ;  and 
who,  by  suggesting  his  sale  into  Egypt,  paves  the 
way  for  the  wonderful  destinies  which  that  land  has 
in  store  for  Israel.  He  is  capable  of  confessing  his 
sins  (Gen.  xxxviii.  26).  He  pledges  himself  to 
Jacob  for  the  safe  return  of  Benjamin,  and  him  the 
patriarch  trusts.  He,  also,  in  the  hour  of  peril, 
speaks  the  decisive  word  to  the  yet  unrecognized 
Joseph  (Gen.  xliv.  18) ;  and,  although  he  bows  him- 
self before  Joseph,  the  blessing  of  Jacob  neverthe- 
less says  of  him  (Gen.  xlix.  8  if.) :  "  Thy  brethren 
praise  thee ;  the  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Ju- 
dah." The  tribe  of  Judah  holds  the  same  promi- 
nent position.  It  is  the  most  numerous  tribe.  At 
the  first  census  (Ntim.  ii.),  its  military  strength  is 
greater  than  that  of  both  the  tribes  of  Joseph.  In 
the  desert,  it  leads  the  first  of  the  four  encamp- 
ments,—  that,  namely,  which  fiices  the  east  (Num. 
ii.  3).'-^  It  began  the  decamjjment  and  advance 
(Num.  X.  14).  Among  those  appointed  by  Moses 
to  allot  the  land,  the  representative  of  Judah  is 
named  first  (Num.  xxxiv.  19) ;  and  hence  when  the 
allotment  was  actually  made  under  Joshua,  the  lot 
of  Judah  came  out  first  (Josh.  xv.  1). 

But  the  tribe  of  Judah  had  yet  other  merits,  by 
reason  of  which  it  took  the  initiative  on  the  present 
occasion.  When  Moses  sent  twelve  meti  to  recon- 
noitre the  land,  one  man  from  each  tribe,  the  mes- 
sengers of  Judah  and  Ephraim  alone,  full  of  faith 
and  courage,  sought  to  awaken  within  the  people  a 
spirit  pleasing  to  God.  The  messenger  of  Ephraim 
was  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  the  minister  of  Moses ; 
the  representative  of  Judah  was  Caleb.  Both  ob- 
tained great  credit  for  their  conduct.  Joshua  be- 
came the  successor  of  Moses.  When  Joshua  died, 
Caleb  still  lived.  The  great  respect  which  he  en- 
joyed, as  head  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  on  account 
of  the  approbation  of  Moses,  may  also  be  inferred 
from  Josh.  xiv.  6.^ 

Up  then !  I  have  delivered  the  land  into  his 
hand.  "  Up  then,"  the  address  of  encouragement : 
agite,  macte!'^  Judah  may  boldly  attack  —  victory 
is  certain.     Caleb  stands  at  the  head  of  the  tribe. 

ing  the  use  of  the  lot,  the  last  place  in  the  chorus  was  never 
assigned  to  this  tribe  (Plutarch,  Qu.  Si/mp.,  i.  10;  cf. 
Biickh,  Staats/iau.<:haU  der  Athener,  i.  743,  note).  It  is  said 
that  Charlemagne,  induced  by  the  heroic  deeds  of  Count 
Gerold,  bestowed  on  the  Swabians  the  right  of  forming  the 
vanguard  in  every  campaign  of  the  empire. 

4  [Occasionally  nSn  may  be  properly  rendered  by 
"  Dp  !  ■'  or  "  Now  then  !  "  cf.  Ps.  cxxxiv.  1,  where  it  is  fol- 
lowed by  an  imperative ;  but  in  situations  like  the  present 
such  a  rendering  is  unnecessarily  free.   The  word  is  designed 


CHAPTER  I.   3-8. 


27 


He  has  iih'cady  been  assured  of  victory  by  Moses 
(Num.  xiv.  24;  Josh.  xiv.  9).  Josephiis  [Ant.  v. 
2,  1 )  calls  the  priest  who  officiates  Phinehas.  He 
infers  this  from  Josh.  xxiv.  33,  where  the  death  of 
Eleazar  is  recorded.  According  to  Jewish  tradition, 
Phinehas  also  wrote  the  conclusion  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua. 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Vbi:  1 .  Israel  is  believing  and  obedient  after  the 
death  of  Joshua.  Like  a  child  after  the  death  of  its 
father,  it  has  the  best  intentions.  It  is  zealous  to 
])erform,  with  speed  and  vigoi",  the  task  imposed  by 
Joshua.  As  directed  by  the  law  (Nnm.  xxvii.  21  J, 
it  inquires  of  God  through  His  priest,  the  appointed 
medium  for  announcing  His  Avill.  The  recollection 
of  benefits  received  from  the  departed  hero,  and  the 
feelings  of  piety  toward  him,  are  still  exerting  their 
influence.  So  does  many  a  child  finish  the  period 
of  instruction  preparatory  to  confirmation,  with  a 
heart  zealously  resolved  to  be  pious.  Many  a  Chris- 
tian comes  away  from  an  awakcTiing  sermon  with 
resolutions  of  repentance.  Priiw'tinumjh-vet.  First 
love  is  full  of  glowing  zeal.  To  begin  well  is  never 
without  a  blessing.  The  best  inheritance  is  to  con- 
tinue obedient  toward  God. 

Stakice  :    God  gives  more  than  we  seek  from 

him.  —  Gerlach  :  Not  even  the  task  which  had 

been  imposed  on  each  individual  tribe,  will    they 

•  take  in  hand,  without  having  inquii-ed  of  the  Lord 

concerning  it- 

Ver.  2.  God  therefore  vouchsafes  direction  and 
promise.  Judah  is  to  go  before.  When  Israel  is 
believing  and  obedient,  Judah  always  goes  before 
(Gen.  xlJx.  10)  :  in  the  desert,  at  the  head  of  the 
host;  after  the  time  of  the  Judges,  when  David 
sits  upon  tlie  throne  of  Israel ;  and  fiualh',  wlieii 

to  excite  the  attention  and  put  it  on  the  alert  for  what  is 
coming.  Of  course,  the  assurance  which  hero  follows  it, 
would  anJmafc  aud  incite  ;  but  the  agite  '.   n\acle !  are  in  the 


the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  conquers  the  last 
enemy,  which  is  death. 

Starke  :  If  we  also  desire  to  war  against  our 
spiritual  Canaanites,  the  first  attack  must  be  made, 
and  the  war  must  be  conducted,  by  Christ  Jesus, 
the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  (Rev."  v.  5). 

Lisco  :  Tlie words,  "I  have  delivered  the  land," 
are  meant  prophetically ;  with  God  that  which  is 
certain  in  the  future  is  as  if  it  were  present. 

[Bush  (combining  Scott  and  Henry)  :  The  pre- 
cedency was  given  to  Judah  because  it  was  the 
most  numerous,  powerful,  and  valiant  of  all  the 
tribes,  and  that  which  the  Lord  designed  should 
possess  the  preeminence  in  all  respects,  as  being 
the  one  from  which  the  Messiah  was  to  spring,  and 
for  that  reason  crowned  with  the  "  excellency  of 
dignity"  above  all  its  fellows.  Judah  therefore 
must  lead  in  this  perilous  enterprise ;  for  God  not 
only  appoints  service  according  to  the  strength  and 
ability  He  has  given,  but  "  would  also  have  the 
burden  of  honor  and  the  burden  of  labor  go 
together."  Those  who  have  the  precedency  in 
rank,  reputation,  or  influence,  should  always  be 
disposed  to  go  before  otiiers  in  every  good  work, 
undismayed  by  danger,  difficulty,  or  obloquy,  that 
they  may  encourage  others  by  their  example. 

^VoRDS WORTH  :  The  death  of  Joshua  is  the 
date  of  degeneracy.  So  in  spiritual  respects,  as 
long  as  the  true  Joshua  lives  in  the  soul,  there  is 
health.  St.  Paul  says,  "  I  live ;  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  Uveth  in  me."  The  true  Joshua  lives  in  the 
souls  of  his  saints  ;  but  if  He  dies  in  the  soiil,  that 
death  is  theirs ;  the  death  of  their  souls  ((Jrigen). 

Bachmann  :  As  the  Book  of  Joshua  opens  with 
the  mention  of  Moses'  death,  so  the  Book  of 
Judges  with  that  of  Joshua.  The  servants  of  the 
Lord  die  one  after  the  other ;  but  the  history  of 
his  kingdom  goes  on  uninterruptedly.  —  Tr.] 

words  to  which  HSn  calls  attention,  not  in  rTSH  itself. 
Tr.] 


Judah  and  Simeon  agree  to  assist  each  other  in  clearing  their  allotted  lands  of  Canaan- 
ites.     They  defeat  the  enemy  in  Bezek,  capture  Adoni-bezek,  and  burn  Jeriiscdem. 

Chapter  I.     3-8. 


3  And  Judah  said  unto  Simeon  his  brother,  Come  up  with  me  into  my  lot,  that  we 
may  [and  let  us]  figlit  [together]  against  the  Canaanites  ;  and  I  likewise  will  go  with 

4  thee  into  thy  lot.  So  Simeon  went  with  him.  And  Judah  went  up,  and  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  delivered  the  Canaanites  and  the  Perizzites  into  their  hand  :   and  they 

5  slew  [smote]  of  [omit:  of]  them  in  Bezek  ten  thousand  men.^  And  they  found 
[came  upon,  unexpectedly  met  with]   Adoni-bczek  iu  Bczek  :  and  they  fought  against  him, 

6  and  they  slew  [smote]  the  Canaanites  and  the  Perizzites.  But  [And]  Adoni-bezek 
fled ;  and  they  pursued   after  him,  and  caught  him,  and  cut  off  his  thumbs  and  his 

7  great  toes.  And  Adonibezek  said,  Threescore  and  ten  kings,  having  their  thumbs 
and  their  great  toes  cut  off,  gathered  their  meat  under  my  table ;  as  I  have  done,  so 
God   [the  Deity]   hath  requited  me.     And  they  brought  him   to  Jerusalem,  and  there 

8  he  died.  (Now  [omit  the  (  ),and  for  Now  read:  But]  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  had 
fought  [omit :  had  ^]  against  Jerusalem,  and  had  taken  it,  and  smitten  it  [and  took  it  ^ 
and  smote  it]  with  the  edge  *  of  the  sword,  and  set  the  city  on  fire  [gave  the  city  up 
to  th,?  fire]. 


28 


THE  BOOK  or  JUDGES. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  4.  —  "  Smote  them  In  Bezek  ten  thousand  men  "  i.  e.  to  the  number  of  10,000  men.  Cf.  ch.  iii.  29,  31,  etc. 
As  for  the  word  TTD'^,  its  proper  meaning  is  "to  strike,  to  smite  ;  "  here,  doubtless,  so  far  as  the  ten  thousand  are  con- 
cerned, to  smite  fatally,  to  kill  ;  elsewhere  (in  ver.  5,  for  instance),  to  defeat,  vanquish Tr.] 

[2  Ver.   8 M.WTHEW  Uenry  :    Our  translators  jud^e  it  [the  tiiking  of.  Jerusalem]  spoken  of  here,  as  done  formerly  in 

Joshua's  time,  and  only  repeated  [related]  on  occasion  of  Adoni-bezek's  dying  there,  and  therefore  read  it,  "  tliey  had 
fought  against  Jerusalem,"  and  put  this  verse  in  a  parenthesis  ;  but  the  original  speaks  of  it  as  t  thing  now  done  ;  and 
th.at  seems  most  probable,  because  it  is  said  to  be  done  by  the  children  of  Judah  in  particular,  not  by  all  Israel  in  general , 
whom  Joshua  commanded.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  8.  — To  fight  against  a  city,  "1^%^!^  CnvTI,  is  to  besiege  it,  or  as.sault  it  by  storm,  cf.  Josh.  x.  31 ;  2  Sam 
xii.  26.      idh  is  to  take  by  such  a  movement.     Ileuce  Dr.  Cassel  translates^  "  fought  against  Jerusalem,  and  took  it  liv 

-    T 

Btorm,  erstiirrnlen  es."  —  Te.] 

[4  Ver.  8. 3"T1"''D^  :   lit.  "  acrordin^  to  the  mouth  {i.  e.  edge)  of  the  sword.     The  expression  denotes  uusparine 

destruction,  a  killing  whose  only  measure  is  the  sharpness  of  the  sword's  edge,     Cf.  Bertheau  in  loc Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  3.  And  Judah  said  unto  Simeon  his 
brother.  In  matters  of  war  tlic  tribes  were  repre- 
sented by  the  iV(?sj'»«  (Q'S'^ti?:?).  A  Nasi,  prince 
or  chief,  stood  at  the  head  of  each  tribe,  and  acted 
in  its  name,  although  with  great  independence. 
At  the  numbering  of  the  people  in  tlie  desert,  the 
Nasi  of  Judah  was  Nahshon,  the  son  of  Aminadab  ; 
but  after  the  sending  of  the  spies,  Caleb,  the  son  of 
Jephunneh,  held  that  position  (Num.  xxxiv.  19). 
According  to  the  directions  of  Moses  in  the  pas- 
sage just  referred  to,  these  princes  were  to  assist 
the  Priest  and  Joshua  in  the  allotment  of  the  land 
to  the  tribes.  They  are  the  same  who,  in  Josh. 
xix.  .51,  are  called  "heads  of  families."  For,  as 
appears  especially  from  Josh.  xxii.  14,  only  he 
could  be  Nasi  who  was  "  head  of  a  fiimily."  Col- 
lectively, they  are  styled  "  the  ]>riiices  of  the  con- 
gregation "  (.Josh.  xxii.  30).  That  Moses  names 
only  ten  (Num.  xxxiv.  18,  etc.),  arises  from  the 
fact  that  he  refers  only  to  the  allotment  of  the  land 
this  side  the  Jordan-  The  princes  of  the  two  and 
a  half  tribes  beyond  the  Jordan  iiad  nothing  to  do 
with  this.  When  the  trans-Jordanic  tribes  were 
erroneously  suspected  of  apostasy,  the  ten  princes 
with  the  priest  went  to  them  as  an  embassy  from  the 
other  tribes  (Josh.  xxii.  14).  It  was  these  princes 
who  ratified  the  treaty  with  the  Gibeonites  (Josh. 
ix.  1.5) ;  and  the  congregation  was  bound  by  theii 
oath,  although  greatly  dissatisfied  when  the  decep- 
tion of  the  Gibeonites  was  discovered. 

Come  up  with  me  into  my  lot.     The  territory 

of  a  single  tribe  was  called  its  lot,  7^12.  Coif.- 
pare  the  Greek  nAripos,  used  to  denote  p;3sessions 
in  general,  and  also  the  portion  of  territory  as- 
signed to  each  party  embarked  in  a  colonial  enter- 
prise. ("  Croesus  devastated  the  lots  of  the  Syrians," 
(pOeipcav  Tovs  K\-qpovs,  Herod,  i  76.) — It  was  nat- 
ural for  Judah  to  summon  his  brother  Simeon  to 
join  him ;  for  Simeon's  territory  lay  within  the 
borders  of  Judah.i  According  to  the  statements 
of  Josh.  XV.,  the  inheritance  assigned  to  the  trilie 
of  Judah  might  be  bounded  by  two  lines,  drawn 
respectively  from  the  northern  and  southern  ex- 
tremities of  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean, 
the  northern  line  passing  below  Jerusalem.  Sim- 
eon's part  lay  in  the  middle  between  these  lines, 
toward  the  west.  Eor  this  reason,  Simeon  is  al- 
ready in   Num.  xxxiv.  20  named  second,  next  to 

1  [Keil  :  Simeon  is  called  the  "brother"  of  Judah,  not 
5o  much  because  they  both  descended  from  one  mother, 
Leah  (Gen.  xxix.  33,  35),  as  because    Simeon's   inheriUnce 


Judah,  the  first  tribe.  This  summons  of  .Judah  to 
Simeon  to  conquer  together  their  territories  is  in- 
structive in  several  respects.  It  shows  that  the 
whole  south  had  indeed  been  attacked,  but  was  not 
yet  occupied.  True,  the  narrative  of  the  conquest 
of  Canaan  by  Joshua  is  not  com]ilete,  and  leaves 
much  to  be  supplied  ;  but  thus  much  is  clear,  thai 
though  Joshua  undoubtedly  made  war  on  the 
southern  and  northern  Canaanites,  he  by  no  means 
obtained  control  of  all  the  land.  It  is  also  evident 
from  Josh.  i.-x.  42,  that  as  long  as  Joshua  fought 
with  the  more  southern  enemies,  his  encampment 
was  at  Gilgal,  in  the  neigh))orliood  of  Jericho  and 
the  Jordan,  to  which  after  each  victory  over  the 
southern  kings,  whom  he  pursued  far  into  the 
southwest,  he  always  fell  back  (Josh.  x.  15,  43). 
Hence  the  conversation  with  Caleb,  concerning  the 
inheritance  of  the  latter  takes  place  while  the  camp 
is  still  at  Gilgal  (Josh  xiv.  6).  Consequently,  it 
can  only  have  been  the  result  of  victories  over  the 
northern  princes,  that  Joshua,  in  the  last  years  of 
his  regency,  transferred  the  encampment  of  the 
people  to  Shiloh  (Josh,  xviii.  1,  xxi.  2)  and  She- 
cheni  (Josh  xxi  v.  1).  Of  this  territory  he  had 
already  gained  permanent  ])ossession.  It  lielonged 
to  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim.  .Joshua 
himself  was  of  this  tribe.  That  fact  explains  how 
it  was  that  Ephraim  was  the  first  to  come  into  se- 
cure and  permanent  territorial  possession.  In  this 
also  Joshua  differs  from  Moses.  The  latter,  al- 
though s]irung  from  the  tribe  of  Levi,  belonged  to 
all  tiie  tril)es.  lie  was  raised  above  every  special 
tribe-relationship.  His  grave  even  none  can  boast 
of.  Joshua  does  not  deny  that  he  belongs  to  Joseph, 
although  he  does  not  yield  to  their  less  righteous 
demands  (Josh.  xvii.  14).  His  tribe  forms  the  first 
circle  around  him.  When  he  locates  the  national 
centre  in  Shiloh  and  Shechem,  it  is  in  the  posses- 
sions of  Ephraim.  Here,  as  long  as  Joshua  lived, 
the  government  of  the  Israelitish  tribes  and  tlu  ir 
sanctuary  had  their  seat.  Here  the  bones  of 
Jose])h  were  buried ;  here  are  the  sepulchres  of 
Joshua  and  his  contemporary,  the  ]iriest  Elea/.ar. 
Ephraim  was  the  point  from  wliich  the  farther 
warlike  exjieditions  of  the  individual  tril)es  were 
directed.  Precisely  because  the  first  permanently 
held  possession  had  connected  itself  with  Joshua 
.and  his  tribe,  the  summons  to  seize  and  occupy 
their  assigned  territory  came  next  to  Judaii  and  its 
prince  Caleb,  the  associate  of  Joshua,  and  after 
him  the  first  man   of   Isriiel.    But  Judah    and 

lay  within  tlfat  of  Jud.ah  (.Tosh.  xix.  1  ff.),  on  .account  of 
which  Simeon's  connection  with  Judah  was  closer  than  that 
of  the  other  tribes.  —  Tr.) 


CHAPTER  I.   3-8. 


29 


Simeon  cannot  heave  set  out  on  their  expedition 
from  "Sliiloh  or  Shcchem.  There  was  not  room 
enoiio-h  in  the  territory  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  to 
afford  eamping-ground  for  all  Israel.  The  en 
ca'mpment  in  Gilgal  had  not  ceased;  and  there  the 
tribe  of  Judah  found  a  suitable  station  whence  to 
gain  possession  of  its  own  land.  Thence  they 
could  enter  immediately  into  the  territory^  assigned 
them.  Moreover,  it  is  only  upon  the  supposition 
that  Gilgal  was  the  point  of  departure  of  the 
army  of  Judah,  that  it  becomes  entirely  clear  why 
Judah  turned  to  his  brother  Simeon.  Had  he  come 
down  fi'om  Shechem,  he  might  also  have  turned 
to  Benjamin.  But  Simeon  needed  the  same  ave- 
nue into  his  dominions  as  Judah.  He  must  pass 
through  the  country  of  the  latter  to  reach  his 
own.  From  Gilgal,  the  armies  of  Judah  advanced 
along  the  boundary  line  between  their  own  land 
and  Benjamin,  in  the  direction  of  the  western 
.shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  which  formed  their  eastern 
border  ( Josh.  xv.  5-7),  intending  to  march  through 
the  wilderness,  and  perhaps  after  passing  Tekoah, 
to  turn  lirst  against  Hebron.  There  the  enemy 
met  them.i 

Ven  4,  And  they  smote  them  in  Bezek,  ten 
thousand  men.  The  position  of  Bezek  is  indicated 
by  the  direction  of  Judah'.s  advance.  It  must  have 
been  already  within  tlie  limits  of  Judah ;  for  "  Ju- 
dah went  up,"  namely,  to  his  territory.  Its  distance 
from  Jenisalem  cannot  have  been  great,  for  they 
brought  the  wounded  and  maimed  Adoni-bezek 
thither,  and  immediately  after  the  battle  in  Bezek 
the  tribes  attack  Jerusalem  If  it  were  the  name  of 
a,  city,  the  place  bearing  it  would  seem  to  have  been 
of  such  importance,  as  to  make  it  matter  of  surprise 
that  we  find  no  further  mention  of  it.^  The  name 
announces  itself  as  an  appellative  derived  from  the 

characterof  the  region,  p.''.?  (Bezek)  is  undoubtedly 

equivalent  to  p'^3  (Barak).  It  designates  unfruit- 
ful, stony  sand-areas  (Sp-tes).  The  desert  Barca  in 
North  Africa  is  familiar  in  ancient  and  modern 
times.  The  inhabitants  of  deserts  received  the  name 
Barea^ans,  as  Jerome  remarks  {Ep.  cxxix.),  "  from 
the  city  Barca,  which  lies  in  the  desert."  At  the 
present  day  a  chasm  in  the  rocks,  in  the  peninsula 
of  Sinai,  bears  the  name  Bereika  (Ritter,  xiv.  547). 
The  ancient  name  Bene-berak  (Josh.  xix.  45)  also 

■explains  itself  in  this  way.  In  Arabic  np~13  des- 
ignates stony,  unfruitful  land.  Now,  the  land  west 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  through  which  Judah  marched 
into  his  territory,  is  for  the  most  part  of  this  char- 
acter. "  The  desert  here,  covered  with  chalk  and 
crumbling  limestone,  and  ^nthout  the  least  trace  of 
vegetation,  has  a  truly  terrible  appearance"  (Hitter, 

1  [That  .Tudah,  nor  in  fact  any  of  the  western  tribes,  ex- 
cept Ephraim,  had  not  hitherto  enjoyed  actual  possession 
of  any  part  of  his  land,  is  also  the  view  of  I'ertheau  and 
Ewald.  It  is  strenuously  objected  to  by  JJachmann,  who 
niaint.ains  that  "  not  only  the  allotment  of  the  land  among 
the  tribes,  but  also  its  actual  occupation  by  them,  are  con- 
stantly presupposed  in  all  that  this  first  chapter  relates  both 
about  the  prosecution  of  the  local  wars,  and  the  many  in- 
stances of  sinful  foilure  to  prosecute  them."  And,  certainly, 
such  passages  as  Josh,  xxiii.  1  and  xxiv.  28,  cf.  Judg  ii.  6, 
appear  at  least  to  be  decidedly  against  the  view  taken  by 
our  author.  The  subject,  however,  is  obscure  and  intri- 
cate, and  not  to  be  entered  upon  in  a  foot-note. —  Tr.] 

2  The  name  does  indeed  occur  again  in  1  Sam.  xi.  8,  where 
?aul  numbers  Israel  in  Bezek.  But  the  very  fact  that  Be- 
zek is  there  used  as  a  place  for  mustering  troops,  shows  that 
it  is  open  country,  not  any  thickly  peopled  spot.  It  cannot 
be  maintained  that  both  Bezeks  niuiit  designate  the  same  re- 
gion.    Similar  topographical  conditions  conferred  similar  or 


XV.  65.3  (Gage's  Transl.,  iii.  114).  It  was  in  this 
tract  that  the  battle  was  joined,  which  ended  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Canaanite  and  Perizzite.  The  name 
Canaan  ites  passed  over  from  the  cities  of  the  Phoj- 
nician  Lowlands  (Canaan),  to  the  inhabitants  of 
cities  throughout  the  land.  It  designates  the  popu- 
lation devoted  to  agriculture  and  the  arts  of  civil- 
ized life.  Perizzites  may  have  been  the  name  of 
tribes  of  Bedouins,  inhabitants  of  tents,  roving  at 
will  among  the  mountains  and  in  the  desert.  Down 
to  the  present  time,  the  eastern  part  of  Judah,  ad- 
joining the  Dead  Sea,  is  a  true  Bedouin  highwav, 
especially  for  all  those  Arabs  who  press  tbrwanl 
from  the  east  and  south.  The  Canaanites  aiul 
Perizzites  unite  to  meet  the  common  enemy  in  the 
desert  tract,  just  as  Zenobia  united  herself  with  the 
Saracens  of  the  desert  against  the  Romans.  They 
are  defeated,  and  there  fall  ten  thousand  men,  i.  e. 
fjivpioi,  myriads,  an  indefinitely  large  number 
From  the  fact  that  Bezek  does  not  designate  a  par- 
ticular place,  but  the  region  in  general,  it  becomes 
plain  that  verses  4  and  5  do  not  relate  the  same  oc- 
currence twice.  Verse  4  speaks  of  the  first  conflict. 
The  second  was  offered  by  Adoni-bezek  (ver.  5). 

Ver.  5.  And  they  came  upon  Adoni-bezek 
in  Bezek.  We  can  trace  the  way  which  Judah 
took,  with  Simeon,  to  the  borders  assigned  him. 
Fi-om  Gilgal  it  proceeded  to  Beth-hogla  {Ain 
Hujla),  through  the  wide  northern  plain  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  on  its  northwestern  shore,  to  the  region 
at  present  traversed  by  the   Ta'iimirah  Bedouin 

tribes.     This  region  was  named  Bezek.     pt2  and 

p'JS  primarily  signify  "  dazzling  brightness  ;  " 
hence  the  signification  "lightning."  It  was  doubt- 
less the  dazzling  glare  of  the  ground,  produced  by 
the  reflection  of  the  sun  whether  from  the  white  salt- 
crust  of  the  surface,  the  rocks,*  or  the  undulating 
sandhills,  that  suggested  the  name  Bezek  for  such 
regions.  This  primary  sense  enables  us,  moreover, 
also  to  discover  the  connection  between  Adoni-bezek 
and  Bezek.  That  the  latter  is  not  a  city,  might 
have  been  suflBciently  inferred  fi-om  the  fact  that 
notwithstanding  the  victory  no  record  is  made  here, 
as  in  the  cases  of  other  cities,  of  its  fall  and  destruc- 
sion.  To  take  Adoni-bezek  as  Prince  of  Bezek,  does 
not  seem  advisable.  The  proper  names  of  heathen 
kings  always  have  reference  to  their  religion.^ 
Since  Adoni-bezek,  after  having  been  mutilated, 
was  carried  by  his  attendants  to  Jerusalem,  he  must 
have  held  some  relation  to  that  city.  Only  that 
supposition  enables  us  to  see  why  Judah  and  Sim- 
eon storm  Jebus  (Jerusalem),  belonging  as  it  did 
to  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  for  which  reason  they 
make  no  attempt  to  hold  it  by  garrisoning  it.  Al- 
ready in  the  10th  chapter  of  Joshua  we  meet  with 

identical  names.  Bene-berak  [sons  of  Berak,  Josh.  xix.  45, 
as  to  the  origin  and  significance  of  the  name  compare  the 
commentary  on  vers.  4  and  5.  —  Tr.]  was  in  the  tribe  of  Dan. 
And  so  a  region  west  of  the  Jordan,  and  east  of  Shechem.,  so 
fir  at  least  as  we  can  determine  the  true  direction  from  the 
narrative  [in  Sam.  xi.  8],  seems  also  to  have  borne  the  name 
Bezek. 

a  According  to  the  interchange  of  r  and  s  as  in  ^"Itn  and 

'JTin  (Ezek.  i.  14).  quaero  and  r/uneso,  etc.  In  Ezek.  i.  14 
bfzek  (bazak)  denotes  a  dazzling  r.adiance.  Barak,  lightning, 
became  a  proper  name.  In  the  regions  of  Barca  (the  desert) 
tile  name  Barcas  (Hamiloar)  was  familiar  enough. 

4  "  The  glitter  of  the  (gravel)  surface  in  the  sunshine,  is 
not  a  little  trying  to  the  eyes."  —  Strauss,  Sinai  und  Gol- 
gotha, iii.  1,  1.33. 

5  Cf.  my  Orlsiiameji  (Erfurt,  1856),  i.  118. 


80 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Adoni-zedek  in  Jerusalem,  just  as  in  the  history  of 
Abraham  Melchi-zedek  appears  there.  Adon  is  a 
Phoenician  designation  of  the  Deity.  Adoni-zedek 
and  Melchi-zedek  n»,'an, '"  My  God,  my  kinj^,  is  Zc- 
dek."  The  names  of  the  kings  enunciated  their 
creeds.  Zedek  (Sadij/c,  S/jdi/k,)  belongs  to  the  star- 
worship  of  tlie  Canaanites,  and  according  to  ancient 
tradition  was  the  name  of  the  planet  Jupiter. 
Adoni-bezek  manifestly  expresses  a  similar  idea. 
Bezek  =  Barak  is  the  dazzling  brightness,  which  is 
also  pecuhar  to  Jupiter.  His  Sanskrit  name  is 
"  Brahaspati  {Brihaspati.)}  Father  of  Brightness." 
"My  God  is  Brightness,"  is  the  creed  contained  in 
the  name  Adoni-bezek.  His  name  alone  might  lead 
us  to  consider  him  King  of  Jerusalem,  to  which,  as 
if  it  were  his  royal  residence,  his  own  attendants  carry 
him  after  his  defeat.^ 

Yer.  6.  And  Adoni-bezek  fled,  .  .  .  . 
and  they  cut  oflf  the  thumbs  of  his  hands  and 
feet,  etc.  How  horrible  is  the  history  of  human 
cruelty !  It  is  the  mark  of  ungodliness,  that  it 
glories  in  the  agony  of  him  whom  it  calls  an  en- 
ejny.  The  mutilation  of  the  human  body  is  the 
tyranny  of  sin  over  the  work  of  God,  which  it  never- 
theless fears.  The  Persian  king  Artaxerxes  caused 
the  arm  of  his  brother,  which  had  bent  the  bow 
against  him,  to  be  hewn  off,  even  after  death. 
Thumbs  were  cut  off  to  incapacitate  the  hand  for 
using  the  bow,  great  toes  to  render  the  gait  uncer- 
tain. When  in  456  b.  c,  the  inhabitants  of  JEgina 
were  conquered  by  the  Athenians,  the  victors  or- 
dered their  right  thumbs  to  be  cut  off,  so  that,  while 
still  able  to  handle  the  oar,  they  might  be  incapable 
of  using  the  spear  (^lian,  Var.  Hist.,  ii.  9).  Mo- 
hammed (Sura,  viii.  12)  gave  orders  to  piinish  the 
enemies  of  Islam  by  cutting  oft'  their  heads  and  the 
ends  of  their  fingers,  and  blames  its  omission  in  the 
battle  of  Beder.  In  the  German  Waldioeistkurnern 
the  penalty  against  hunters  and  poachers  of  having 
their  thumbs  cut  off,  is  of  frequent  occurrence 
{Gv'unm,  Rechtsalterth., '07 ;  Deutsches  Worterb.  ii. 
346).^  Adoni-bezek,  in  his  pride,  enjoyed  the  hor- 
rible satisfaction  of  making  the  niutilated  wretches 
pick   up   their  food  under  his  table,  hungry  and 

1  Of.  Bohlen,  AUes  liiclien,  ii.  248. 

'2  [Beisek  is  gener.aUy  regarded  as  the  name  of  a  city  or 
village.  The  majority  of  scholars  (Le  Clerc,  Roseumiiller, 
Reland,  V.  llauoier,  Cachmanu,  etc.)  look  tor  it  in  the  terri- 
tory of  .ludah,  but  without  being  able  to  discover  any  traces 
of  it,  which  is  certainly  remarkable ;  for,  if  a  city,  it  must 
have  been,  as  Dr.  Cassel  rem.arks,  and  Jis  the  usual  interpre- 
tation of  Adoni-bezek  as  King  of  Bezek  implies,  a  place  of 
some  importance.  Others,  therefore  (as  Bertheau,  Keil, 
Kvvald,  etc.),  connect  this  Bezek  with  that  of  1  Sam.  xi.  8, 
and  both  with  the  following  statement  in  the  Onoinasticon  : 
"  hodie  duae  viUae  sunt  nomine  Bezech,  vicinae  sibi,  in  deci- 
mo  septimo  lapiJe  a  Neapoli,  descendentibus  Scythopolin." 
Then  to  account  for  this  northern  position  of  the  armies  of 
.lud.ah  and  Simeon.  Bertheau  supposes  them  to  set  out  from 
Shechem  (cf  .Josh.  xxiv.  1,  etc.),  and  to  make  a  detour  thence 
to  the  northeast,  either  for  the  purpose  of  descending  to  the 
south  by  way  of  the  Jordan  valley,  or  for  some  other  reason  ; 
while  Keil,  without  naming  any  place  of  departure,  suggests 
that  Judah  and  Snneon  may  have  been  compelled,  before  en- 
gaging the  Canaanites  in  their  own  allotments,  to  meet  those 
coming  down  upon  them  from  the  north,  whom  after  defeating, 
they  then  pursued  .as  far  as  Bezek.  Dr.  Cassel's  explanation 
is  attractive  as  well  as  ingenious  ;  but,  to  say  nothing  about 
the  uncertainty  of  its  etymology,  Bezek,  as  an  appellative 
applied  to  a  definite  region,  would,  as  Bachmanu  remarks, 

require  the  article,  cf.  3  PH.  nb^'.^H,  "iSSn.  —  Ta.] 
3  Hence,  on  the  other  h.and,  the  severe  punishment  which 
the  ancient  popular  laws  aijjudged  to  him  who  unjiritli/  cuts 
.iff  another's  thumb.  The  fine  was  almost  as  high  as  for 
ihe  wlioie  hand.     The  Salic  law  rated  the  hand  at  2,500,  the 


whining  like  dogs.*  Curtius  relates  that  the  Per- 
sians had  preserved  Greek  captives,  mutilated  in 
their  hands,  feet,  and  ears,  "  for  protracted  sport" 
(in  longum sui Indibrium  reservaverant.  De Rebus  Gest. 
Alex.,  V.  5,  6).  Posidonius  (in  Aihenceus,  iv.  1.52, 
d.)  tells  how  tlie  king  of  the  Parthians  at  his  meals 
threw  food  to  his  courtier,  who  caught  it  like  a  dog 
(t^  irapa^AyjOfv  Kwiffrl  tnTeirai),  and  was  more- 
over beaten  like  a  dog.  The  tribe  of  Judah  simply 
recompensed  Adoni-l)ezek  :  not  from  revenge,  for 
Israel  had  not  suftered  anything  from  him ;  nor 
from  pleasure  in  the  misery  of  others,  for  they  left 
him  in  the  hands  of  his  own  people. 

Ver.  7.  As  I  have  done,  so  has  the  Deity  ^ 
completed  unto  me.     Many  (in  round  numbers, 

seventy)  are  they  whom  he  has  maltreated.     o'pW 

(Piel  of  Qyti')  is  to  finish,  complete,  and  hence  to 
requite ;  for  reward  and  punishment  are  insepara- 
bly connected  with  good  and  evil  deeds.  As  the 
blossom  reaches  completion  only  in  the  fruit,  so 
deeds  in  their  recompense.  The  Greeks  used 
reXelu  in  the  same  sense.  "  When  the  Olympian 
(says  Homer,  Iliad,  iv.  160)  does  not  speedily  pun- 
ish (ereKecraey),  he  still  does  it  later  (eK  re  ica)  6\pi 
reXe?)."  It  was  an  ethical  ma.xim  extensively 
accepted  among  ancient  nations  that  men  must 
suft'er  the  same  pains  which  they  have  inflicted  on 
others.  The  later  Greeks  called  this  the  Neopto- 
lemic  Tisis,  from  the  circumstance  that  Neoptolemus 
was  punished  in  the  same  way  in  whicli  he  had 
sinned  (Pausanius,  iv.  17,  3;  Nagelsbach,  Nach- 
hom.  Theologie,  343).  He  had  murdered  at  the 
altar,  and  at  the  altar  he  was  murdered.  Phaleris 
had  roasted  human  beings  in  a  brazen  bull  —  the 
same  punishment  was  inflicted  on  himself  "^  That 
which  Dionysius  had  done  to  the  women  of  his 
people,  his  own  daughters  were  made  to  undergo 
(yElian,  Var.  Hist.,  ix.  8).  Jethro  says  (Ex.  xviii. 
11),  "  for  the  thing  wherein  they  sinned,  came  upon 
them." 

And  they  brought  him  to  Jerusalem.  None 
but  his  own  people'  could  bring  him  thither,  for 
the  city  was  not  yet  taken.     It  was  evidently  his 

thumb  of  hand  or  foot  at  2,000  denarii,  "qui/aciunt  soliclos 
quinquasinla  "  (Lex  Salica,  xxix.  3,  ed.  Merkel,  p.  16). 

4  [Kitto  (Daily  Bible  Illustrations:  Moses  and  the  Jur/ges, 
p.  299)  :  "  Tliis  helps  us  to  some  insight  of  the  state  of  the 
country  under  the  native  princes,  whom  the  Israelites  were 
commissioned  to  expel.  Conceive  what  must  have  been  the 
state  of  the  people  among  whom  such  a  scene  could  exist,  — 
what  wars  had  been  waged,  what  cruel  ravages  committed, 
before  these  seventy  kings  —  however  small  their  territories 

—  became  reduced  to  this  condition ;  and  behold  in  this  a 
specimen  of  the  fashion  in  which  war  w.as  conducted,  and  of 
the  treatment  to  which  the  conquered  were  ex(x>sed.  Those 
are  certainly  very  much  in  the  wrong  who  picture  to  them- 
selves the  Canaanites  as  '  a  happy  family,'  disturbed  in  their 
peaceful  homes  by  the  Hebrew  barbarians  from  the  wilder- 
ness.   Behold  how  happy,  behold  how  peacefu'l,  they  were!  " 

—  Tr.] 

5  Elohim,  which  is  also  used  of  the  heathen  deity.  The 
speaker  speaks  in  the  spirit  of  heathenism.     As  regards  the 

.seventy  kings,  it  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  TT^ZS 
like  the  Greek  Tupari/os,  is  applied  to  any  ruler,  even  of  a 
single  city.  .losephus  (Ant.,  v.  2,  2)  read  seventy-two,  which 
especially  in  his  time,  was  interchangeable  as  ,a  round  num- 
ber with  seventy. 

6  In  the  Gesta  Romannnnn,  ch.  xlviii.,  this  is  still  ad- 
duced as  a  warning,  and  with  .an  allu.sion  to  the  passage  ia 
Ovid,  De  Arte  Anianili,  i.  tj53  [Et  Pknleris  taiiro  violenti 
membra  Perilli  torruit.  Infeliz  imbuil  auctor  opus. — Tb.], 
it  is  remarked:  " neque  enim  lex  ccquior  ulla,  qvatn  necis 
artifices  arte  perire  sun." 

7  Since  it  is  Adoni-bezek  who  speaks  in  ver.  7,  the  word 


CHAPTER  I.  9,  10. 


31 


city;  for  the  Israelites  follow  after,  and  complete 
their  victory  by  its  capture.  The  storming  of  Jeru- 
salem fur  its  own  sake  could  not  have  formed  jjart 
of  the  plan  of  the  tribes,  since  it  belonged  to  Ben- 
jamin. They  were  led  to  it  by  the  attack  which 
they  suffered  from  Adoni-bezek.  Nor  did  they  take 
possession  of  it.  They  only  broke  the  power  of  the 
king  thoroughly.  He  died  miserably;  his  people 
were  put  to  the  sword ;  the  city  Avas  consumed  by 

fire  (ti'Sa  nbtt7,  to  abandon  to  the  flames).  Thus 
the  wanton  haughtiness  of  Adoni-bezek  was  tenibly 
requited. 

HOllILKTICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Ver.  3.  Believing  Israel  is  also  united  Israel. 
Judah  and  Simeon  go  forth  together,  in  faith,  as 
one  tribe,  one  heart,  and  one  soul,  to  the  same  vic- 
tory. So  united  arc  children,  when  in  faith  they 
return  from  their  father's  grave  [cf  Horn.  Hints  on 
eh.  i.  1.  —  Tr.].  The  children  of  God  are  good 
brothers  and  sisters.  They  do  not  quarrel  over  the 
inheritance,  —  they  enjoy  it  in  love.  Believing 
Israel  is  a  sermon  on  unity  among  families,  neigh- 
bors, citizens,  and  nations.  Union  arises  not  from 
without,  but  from  within.  Penitence  and  faith 
bind  together.  Unio  is  the  name  of  a  pearl,  and 
pearls  symbolize  tears.  Ex  unione  lux.  E  luce 
uniones. 

Starke  :  As  all  Christians  in  general,  so 
brothers  and  sisters  in  particular,  should  maintain 
a  good  understanding,  and  live  together  in  peace 
and  imity. 

[Henry  :  It  becomes  Israelites  to  help  one 
another  against  Canaanites ;  and  all  Christians, 
even  those  of  different  tribes,  to  strengthen  one 
another's  hands  against  the  common  interests  of 
Satan's  kingdom.  Those  who  thus  help  one 
another  in  love,  have  reason  to  hope  that  God  will 
help  them  both. 

Bachmann  :  It  is  not  incompatible  with  the 
obedience  of  faith,  that  Judah  makes  use  of  the 
helps  placed  by  God  at  his  disposal ;  and  it  is  in 
accordance  with  the  dictates  of  fraternal  love  that 
he  makes  that  tribe  the  companion  of  his  under- 
taking whose  lot  it  was  made  rather  to  attach  itself 
to  others  than  to  equal  their  independence  (cf  Gen. 

I^nS'^IS^T  in  the  same  verse  cannot  refer  to  the  Israelites. 
Why  should  they  carry  him  with  them  ?  It  would  indicate 
the  gratification  of  gratuitous  cruelty,  a  thing  inconceivable 
in  this  connection.  Those  who  save  him  are  his  own  ser- 
^•ants ;  but  arrived  at  Jerusalem  he  dies.     Verse  8,  there- 


xlix.  7,  and  also  the  silence  of  Deut.  xxxiii.  con- 
cerning Simeon),  and  whose  interests  were  pecid- 
iarly  closely  connected  with  his  own.  —  Tr.] 

Vers.  4-8.  Starke  :  In  the  lives  of  men, 
things  are  often  wonderfully  changed  about,  and 
not  by  accident,  but  by  the  wonderful  governance 
of  God  (Gen.  1.  19). 

The  same  :  God  requites  every  one  according 
to  his  deeds.  Wherein  one  sins,  therein  he  is  also 
punished,  —  evidence  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that 
He  is  just,  recompensing  according  to  deserts. 

[Scott  :  Men  often  read  their  crimes  in  their 
punishments ;  and  at  last  every  mouth  shall  be 
stopped,  and  all  sinners  be  constrained  to  admit 
the  justice  of  God  in  their  extremest  miseries. 
Happy  they  who  justify  Him  in  their  temporal 
afflictions,  plead  guilty  before  his  mercy-scat,  and 
by  repentance  and  faith  seek  deliverance  fi'om  the 
wrath  to  come. 

Joseph  Mede  (t  1638)  :  As  I  have  done  so 
God  hath  requited  me  :  1 .  God  punisheth  sin  with 
temporal  punishment  in  this  lite  as  well  as  with 
eternal  in  the  life  to  come.  2.  God  doth  not  always 
presently  inflict  his  judgments  while  the  sin  is 
iresh,  but  sometimes  defers  that  long  which  He 
means  to  give  home  at  the  last.  3.  These  divine 
judgments  by  some  conformity  or  affinity  do  carry 
in  them  as  it  were  a  stamp  and  print  of  the  sin  for 
which  they  are  inflicted.  4.  The  profit  and  pleas- 
ure which  men  aun  at  when  they  commit  sin  will 
not  so  much  as  quit  cost  even  in  this  life. 

Wordsworth  ;  As  by  this  specimen  at  the 
beginning  of  this  book,  showing  what  two  tribes  of 
Israel  could  do  by  faith  and  obedience  against 
Adoni-bezek,  who  had  subdued  and  enslaved  seventy 
kinps,  God  showed  what  the  twelve  tribes  might  have 
done,  if  they  had  believed  and  obeyed  him ;  and 
that  all  their  subsequent  miseries  were  due  to  de- 
fection from  God;  —  in  like  manner,  also,  in  the 
Christian  Church,  if  men  had  followed  the  exam- 
ples of  the  Apostles,  — the  Judahs  and  Simeons  of 
the  first  ages,  —  and  gone  forth  in  their  spirit  of 
faith  and  love  against  the  powers  of  darkness,  they 
might  long  since  have  evangelized  the  world.  All 
the  distresses  of  Christendom  are  ascribable  to 
desertions  of  [from]  Christ,  and  not  to  any  imper- 
fection (as  some"  have  alleged)  in  Christianity  (cf. 
Bp.  Butler,  Analogy,  Part  ii.  ch.  1).  —  Tk.] 

fore,  commences  very  properly,   not   with    the   mere  verb 

^Dnv*X  but  with  a  repetition  of  the  grammatical  »ub 
-:  T  •-' 


77ie  sons  of  Judah  smite  the  Anakim  and  take  Hebron. 
Chapter  I.  9,  10 


9  And  afterward  [Hereupon]  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  went  down  [prop<5eded]  to 
fight  against  the  Canaanites  that  dwelt  in  the  mountain  [mountains],  and  in  the  south, 
10  and  in  the  valley  [lit.  depression,  low  country].  And  Judah  went  against  the  Ca- 
naanites that  dwelt  in  Hebron  :  (now  the  name  of  Hebron  before  [formerly]  was 
Kirjath-arba  [The  Four  Cities  *] :)  and  they  slew  [smote]  Sheshai,  and  Ahiman, 
and  Talmai. 


32 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


TEXTUAL   AND   GRA5IMATICAI/. 

[1  Ver.  10.  This  is  the  nearest  we  can  come  in  English  to  Dr.  Cassel's  Vierstadt,  Tetrapolis.  Against  the  couunoa 
Interpretation,  "  City  of  Arba,"  —  Arba  being  taken  as  the  name  of  a  person,  —  cf.  Mr.  Grove  in  Smith's  Bib.  Diet.,  s.  t. 
Kirjath-arba.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 
Ver.  9  f.     Hereupon  the  sons  of  Judah  pro- 
ceeded. They  advcanced,  proceeded,  •"IT^^.    While 

n7y,  "  ascendere,"  was  used  to  express  the  first 
attack  (ver.  4),  the  continuation  of  the  conflict  is 
indicated  by  "T"^^,  "  descendere,"  although  they  ad- 
vance mountain-ward.  Verse  9  sets  forth  the  full 
extent  of  the  task  undertaken  by  the  tribes.  Before 
advancing  into  the  territory  allotted  them,  they 
have  been  obliged  to  resist  the  attack  of  Adoni- 
bezek  at  its  border.  They  divide  their  work  proper 
into  the  conquest  of  the  mountains,  the  occupancy 
of  the  southern  tract  from  the  Dead  Sea  to  Becr- 
sheba,  and  the  seizure  of  the  western  lowlands. 
Details  of  these  undertakings  are  given  us  only  so 
far  as  they  concern  Caleb  and  his  house.  Hence, 
the  conquest  of  Hebron  is  first  of  all  related.  About 
this  ancient  city,i  where  Abraham  tarried,  and  the 
patriarchs  repose  in  the  family-vault,  the  recollec- 
tions of  the  tribe  of  Judah  concentrate  themselves. 
It  was  of  old  the  dwelling-place  of  valiant  people. 
The  robust  vine-dressers  of  the  valley,  ages  before, 
supported  Abraham  in  his  victorious  expedition 
against  the  eastern  hosts.  But  on  the  mountains 
there  dwelt  a  wild  and  warlike  race,  the  sons  of 
Anak,  before  whom  the  faint-hearted  spies  of  Moses 
formerly  trembled.  Only  Caleb  and  Joshua  were 
full  of  confidence  in  God.  On  this  account,  Caleb  re- 
ceived the  special  assurance  of  Moses  that  he  should 
possess  the  land  which  he  had  seen  ;  and  therefore  at 
the  division  of  the  country  by  Joshua,  he  brings  for- 
ward his  claim  to  it  (Josh.  xiv.  12).  Joshua  allows 
it.  It  is  no  lightly-gained  inheritance  that  Caleb 
asks  :  "  Therefore  give  me  (he  says). this  mountain, 
whereof  the  Lord  spake  in  that  day ;  for  thou  hast 
heard  that  there  are  Anakim  there,  and  cities  great 
and  fenced;  perhaps  the  Lord  will  be  with  me  that 
I  drive  them  out"  (Josh.  xiv.  12).  Now,  although 
the  conquest  of  the  city,  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
Anakim,  are  already  recorded  in  Josh.  xv.  14,  that 
is  only  an  anticipatory  historical  notice  in  connec- 
tion with  the  description  of  boundaries.  The  events 
actually  occur  now,  in  connection  with  the  first 
efibrts  to  gain  permanent  possession  of  the  terri- 
tory. Caleb,  it  is  true,  is  old  ;  but  younger  heroes 
surround  him.     They  defeated  the  Anakim. 

Ver.  10.  Hebron,  formerly  called  the  Four 
Cities  (Kirjath-arba).  It  is  difficult  to  see  why 
modern  expositors  '^  take  offense  at  the  idea  that  in 
Hebron  an  earlier  Tetrapolis  is  to  be  recognized. 

1  Hebron  is  said  to  be  seven  years  older  than  Zoan  (Tanis) 
in  Egypt  (Num.  xiii.  22).  The  number  "seven  "  is  here  also 
to  be  regarded  as  a  round  number.  It  expresses  the  finished 
lapse  of  a  long  period. 

2  Hitter's  remarks  (xvi.  211  [Gage's  Transl.  iii.  292,  seq.']), 
would  admit  of  many  corrections.  Jerome,  it  is  true,  follows 
Jewish  traditions  (cf.  Pirke,  R.  Eliezer,  ch.  xx.)  when  he 
thinks  that  the  Civitas  Qiiatuor  was  so  named  from  the 
patriarchs  who  were  buried  there.  It  is,  however,  none  the 
less  evident  from  this,  that  the  Jews  of  old  interpreted 
Kirjath-arba  as  meaning  "  Tetrapolis."  Nor  does  Num.  xiii. 
22  afford  the  slishtest  occasion  for  doubting  the  truth  of  the 
ftatement  that  Kirjath-arba  was  the  former  name  of  Hebron, 
Bitter  seems  especially  to  have  followed  Robinson  {Bibl.  Res. 
U  88.) 


The  remark,  Josh.  xiv.  15:  "And  the  name  of 
Hebron  was  formerly  Kirjath-arba,  Vl~12n  D'TSH 
S^n    D'^f73yD,     cannot  furnish  the  ground;  for 

D"^^  is  here  a  collective  term,  like  gens,  as  appears 
indubitably  from  Josh.  xv.  13,  where  we  have  the 
expression,    "  Ivirjath-arba,   the    father    of   Anak 

{p^Vjl  ''n^),  which  is  Hebron."  The  Tetrapolis 
was  the  ancient  seat  of  powerful  tribes,  whom  the 
traditions  of  Israel  described  as  giants.  Similar 
tetrapolitan  cities  are  elsewhere  met  with.  The 
Indians  had  a  Kdturgrdma,  the  Four  Villages 
(Lassen,  Ind.  Alterth.,  i.  72).  In  Phrygia,  Cibyra 
and  three  other  places  formed  a  Tetrapolis  (Strabo, 
lib.  xiii.  1,17).  I  am  inclined  to  find  in  the  name 
Cibyra  the  same  idea  as  in  the  Arabic  Cheibar  '^ 
and  the  Hebrew  Chebron  (Hebron),  namely,  that 
of  confederation,  community  of  interest.  It  is  a 
suggestive  fact  that  Abraham's  expedition  is  joined 
by  the  brothers  Eshcol,  Aner,  and  Mamre  (Gen.  xiv. 
13) ;  concerning  Mamre  it  is  remarked,  "  the  same 
is  Hebron"  (Gen.  xxiii.  19).  The  Upper  City 
(Acropolis),  situated  upon  the  mountains,  and  the 
lower  cities  lying  in  the  fertile  valley  which  these 
mountains  inclose,  together  constituted  the  Tetrap- 
olis. At  the  present  day  the  city  in  the  valley  is 
still  divided  into  three  parts.*  Three  sons  of  Anak 
are  eniimerated,  manifestly  three  tribes,  probably 
named  after  ancient  heroes,  which  tribes  coalesced 
with  the  mountain  city.*  As  late  as  the  time  of 
David,  the  phraseology  is,  that  he  dwelt  in  "  the 
cities  of  Hebron"  (2  Sam.  ii.  3).  Probably  the 
name  Hebron  was  originally  given  to  the  moun- 
tain^ (the  ~in  which  Caleb  claims,  Josh.  xiv.  12), 
as  forming  the  common  defense,  and  was  then  after 
the  suppression  of  the  Anakim,  transferred  to  the 
whole  city.  The  names  of  the  three  families  of 
Anakim  do  not  admit  of  any  certain  interpretation. 

^^TIS  might  with  most  probability  be  interpreted 
after  the  analogy  of  Achijah  (Ahijah  or  Ahiah), 
"  Friend  of  God."  "^^P,  'JD,  is  the  heathen  deity 
(Isa.  Ixv.  11),  who  also  occurs  in  Phoenician  inscrip- 
tions, in  proper  names  like  ^wX2^22?,  "servant of 
Meni."     The  name  *^W^i  "  Sheshai,"  reminds  one 

of  the  Egyptian  king  pti^'^tC',  Shishak,  Sechon- 
chis,  who  made  war  on  Rehoboam  (1  Kgs.  xiv. 

25).     The  name  "1?2pU?  ("  Sheshbazzar,"  Ezra 

3  Cf.  my  History  of  the  Jews,  in  Ersch  and  Qruber's 
Encyklopddie,  ii.  27,  p.  166. 

4  Robinson,  Bibl.  Res.,  ii.  74. 

5  In  a  manner  analogous  perhaps  to  the  fusion  of  the 
Ramnes,  Titles,  and  Luceres,  into  the  one  Roma  of  the 
Ramnes. 

6  Ritter  (xvi.  228  [Gage's  Transl.  iii.  301])  proves  that  the 
ancient  Hebron  lay  higher  than  the  present,  which  however 
can  refer  only  to  a  part  of  the  city.  The  great  importance 
of  the  place  is  explained  by  its  protected  situation  in  the 
mountains,  along  whose  slopes  it  extended  down  into  the 
valley.    That  fact  only  adapted  it  to  be  the  capital  of  David's 

kingdom.     Cf.  Josh.  xi.  21  ("inn  ]72t). 


CHAPTEK  I.   11-15. 


33 


i.  8)  may  also  be  compared.  The  third  name, 
Talmai,  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  it  is  to  be  taken 
primarily  as  the  name  of  a  place  or  of  a  person. 
Stephanus  Byzantinus  .-^jx'aks  of  an  Arabic  place 
which  he  calls  Castle  QtKa/xov^a.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  analoi;ous  mythical  ideas  come  into 
contact  with  each  other,  in  the  Greek  legend  con- 
cerning Salmoneus,!  father  of  Tyro,  and  husband 
of  Sidero.  Hesiod  already  (in  a  Fragment,  _ed. 
Gottling.  p.  259)  calls  him  an  S5i«os  koI  uTrepdufxos. 
Josephus  {Ant.  v.  2,  3)  saj's  that  the  Anakim  were 
a  race  of  giants,  "  whose  bones  are  still  shown  to 
this  very  day."  What  stories  were  current  about 
the  discovery  of  gigantic  human  remains  in  Asia 
Minor  and  Syria,  may  be  learned  from  the  Heroica 
of  Philostratus  (ed.  Jacobs,  p.  28).  A  body  of 
gigantic  length  was  found  in  the  bed  of  the  Oron- 

1  Cf.  Heyne  on  ApoUodorus,  i.  9,  p.  59.  The  later  Jews 
write  ^^^i^  for  Ptolemy.  Cf.  Ewald,  Gesc/i.  Israel's,  i. 
309,311.^'  ' 


tes.  It  was  thought  also  that  the  bodies  of  Orestes 
and  Ajax  had  been  seen.  The  faint-hearted  spies 
had  depicted  the  Anakim  as  Nephilim,  men  like 
the  prehistoric  Nibelungen  of  German  story;  and 
from  this  Josephus  constructed  his  giant-tale. 

Josh.  XV.  14  remarks,  "  And  Caleb  drove  thence 
the  three  sons  of  Anak."  A  contradiction  has 
been  found  thei'ein  with  what  we  read  here,  "  And 
they  smote."  ISIone  really  exists.  The  narrative 
is  actually  more  exact  than  is  generally  supposed. 
The  statement  of  Josh.  xv.  14  refers  to  Judges  i.  20. 
The  tribe  of  Judah  had  now  indeed  taken  Hebron, 
and  conquered  the  Anakim ;  but  for  peaceable 
possession  the  time  had  not  yet  come.  Accom- 
panied by  Simeon,  Judah  proceeded  onward  to 
gain  possession  of  the  whole  territory.  At  Judg.  i. 
19  the  whole  campaign  is  finished.  Then  they  give 
Hebron  to  Caleb,  and  he  drives  out  whatever  re- 
mains of  the  Anakim.  It  was  not  with  three  per 
sons,  but  with  three  tribes  or  nations,  that  they 
had  to  do. 


Othniel  takes  Kirjath-sepher,  and  wins  Achsah,  the  daughter  of  Caleb. 
Chapter    L     11-15. 

11  And  from  thence  he  [i.  e.  judiiu]  went  against  the  inhabitants  of  Debir :  and  the 

12  name  of  Debir  before  was  Kirjath-sepher :     And  Caleb  said,   He  that  smiteth  Kir- 

13  jath  sepher,  and  taketli  it,  to  him  will  I  give  Achsah  my  daughter  to  wife.  And 
Otiiniel  the  son  of  Kenaz,  Caleb's  younger  brother,  took  it:  and  he  gave  him  Achsah 

14  his  daughter  to  wife.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  she  came  to  him  [at  her  coming; 
scU.  to  her  husband's  house],  tliat  she  movcd  [urgcd]  him  to  a.sk  of  her  father  a  [the]  field: 
and  she  lighted  from  oW  her  ass  ;  and  Caleb  said  unto  her,  What  wilt  thou  [what  is 

15  the  matter  with  thee]  ?  And  she  said  unto  him.  Give  me  a  blessing  :  for  thou  hast 
given  me  a  south  land  [hast  given  me  away  into  a  dry  laud  ^]  ;  give  me  also  [therefore] 
springs  of  watei'.     And  Caleb  gave  her  the  upper  springs,  and  the  nether  springs. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

U  Ver.  15.  — "'3nn3  np.pn  ^^^S  "^3:  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering  agrees  substantially  with  that  of  the  LXX.  and 
many  modem  critics.  Bertheau  says ;  "  D23n  ^"^S  is  the  accusatiTe  of  place.  It  would  be  difficult  to  justify 
the  other  and  usual  rendering  grammatically,  since  in3  with  the  aecus.  suffls,  never,  not  even  Jer.  ix.  1,  Isa.  xxvii. 
4,  means  to  give  anything  to  one."  Bachmann,  however,  objects  that  "  7n3  does  not  occur  of  the  giving  of  daugh- 
ters in  marriage,  and  that  the  absence  of  a  preposition,  say     /S,    before    V"1S  would  make  a  hard  construction.    Tho 

Puffix  "'i  is  either  a  negligent  form  of  popular  speech,  substituted  for  "^7  (cf.  Ewald,  Ausf.  Lehrb.  315  b),  or,  better,  a 
Becond  accus.,  such  as  is  quite  common  with  verbs  of  giving,  favoring,  etc.  (cf.  Ewald,  283  b),  and  from  which  rule 
^n3    ia  not  to  be  excepted,  cf.  Ezek.  xxi.  32."—  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  11.  And  he  went  against  Debir.  The 
position  of  Debir,  hitherto  unknown,  was  recog- 
nized not  long  since  by  Dr.  Rosen,  on  the  hill-top 
called  Dewirhdn,  near  the  spring  Ain  Nunkur,  in  a 
southwestern  direction  from  Hebron,  between  that 
place  and  Dura  [Zeitschr.  der  Morqenl.  Gesellschaft, 
1857,  ii.  50-64). 

The  name  of  Debir  was  formerly  Kirjath- 
sepher.  In  my  Ortsnamen  (i.  116,  note),  I  already 
endeavored  to  show  that  Debir,  Ivirjath-sepher,  and 
3 


Kirjath-sannah  (^2p,  Josh.  xv.  49)  philologically 
express  one  and  the  same  idea.  Fiirst  well  remarks 
[Lex.  s.  V.  "l''3"7)  that  "  ~12"T  is  the  Phoenician 
equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  "'^.S,   a  material   pre- 

Sared  from  the  skins  of  animals,  and  of  the 
[imyaritic  for  a  book  written  on  palm-leaves." 
From  the  latter,  he  says,  the  Greek  Stcpdepa  was 
formed,  and  thus  the  word  passed  over  to  the 
Greeks  and  Persians.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  name  describes  the  city  as  a  depository  of 


34 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


written  traditions,  book-rolls.  Kirjath-scpheri  was 
a  Palestinian  Hermopolis,  city  of  Thoth,  where 
literature  had  its  seat  (cf.  Plutarch,  De  hid.,  ed. 
Parthcy,  p.  4 ;  the  Sept.  translates,  it6\is  tSiv 
■ypafxixarusy).  Such  depositories,  where  the  sacred 
writings  were  kept  eV  Kiffrri,  in  a  chest  (Pint.  I.  c), 
for  preservation,  were  conunon  to  the  religion  of  the 
Egyptians,  Phoenicians,  and  Babylonians.  To  this 
place,  that  which  sheltered  the  sacred  ark  of  Israel's 
divine  law  opposed  itself.  It  was  therefore  of  much 
consequence  to  conquer  it,  as  on  the  other  hand 
its  inhabitants  valiantly  defended  it.  The  different 
mimes  testify  of  the  ditfereut  dialects  of  the  tribes 
wlio  have  held  Debir. 

Ver.  12.  And  Caleb  said,  He  that  smiteth 
Kirjath-seiJier.  Caleb  is  the  chief  of  the  ti'ibe  of 
Judah.  Hebron  has  fallen  to  him  as  his  inherit- 
ance, but  it  does  not  circumscribe  his  eager  in- 
terest. "  Caleb  said."  His  personal  zeal  is  the 
more  prominently  indicated,  because  displayed  in 
a  matter  which  involved  the  general  cause,  the 
honor  of  the  whole  tribe.  At  the  conquest  of  He- 
bron, the  phrase  was,  "  and  tliey  smote ; "  at  the 
next  battle,  fought  for  Debir,  it  is,  "  Caleb  said." 
As  the  whole  ti'ibe  assisted  in  gaining  his  personal 
inheritance,  so  for  the  honor  of  the  tribe  he  de- 
votes that  which  was  wholly  his,  and  his  alone. 
He  offers  the  dearest  possession  he  has,  as  a  prize 
for  him  who  shall  storm  and  take  the  strong 
mountain  fortress  and  seat  of  idolatry.  It  is  his 
only  daughter  (cf.  1  Chron.  ii.  49)  Achsah,  born 
to  him  in  advancing  years.  He  can  offer  nothing 
better.  Stronger  proof  of  his  zeal  for  the  cause  of 
Israel  he  cannot  give.  To  obtain  the  daughter  of 
a  house  by  meritorious  actions  has  in  all  ages  been 
a  worthy  object  of  ambition  set  before  young  and 
active  men.  It  was  only  by  a  warlike  exploit  that 
David  obtained  Michal  who  loved  him.  The 
Messcnian  hero  Aristomenes  bestows  a  similar  re- 
ward. When  a  country  maiden  rescued  him,  with 
heroic  daring,  from  danger  involving  his  life,  he 
gave  her  his  son  for  a  husband  (Pans.  iv.  19).  The 
conquest  of  Debir  is  therefore  especially  mentioned 
to  the  honor  of  Caleb  and  his  love  for  Israel.  The 
event  was  a  glorious  incident  in  the  hero's  family 
history. 

Ver.  1.3.  And  Otliniel,  the  son  of  Kenaz,  a 
younger  brother  of  Caleb,  took  it.  Israel,  the 
nation,  was  divided  into  tribes,  these  into  families, 
these  into  "  houses,"  and  these  again  into  single 
households.  This  may  be  clearly  seen  from  the 
story  of  Achan  (Josh.  vii.  14  ff.).  Achan  was  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  the  family  of  Zerah,  the  house  of 
Zabdi,  and  the  son  of  Carmi.  So  Caleb  was  the  son 
of  Jephunneh,  of  the  house  of  Kenaz ;  whence, 
Num.  xxxii.  12,  he  is  called  the  Kenezite.  Ber- 
tlieau  (pp.  21,  22)  labors  under  a  peculiar  error,  in 
that  he  confounds  the  family  of  the  Kenezite  in  the 

1  Attention  was  again  directed  to  the  city  from  the  fact 
that  the  first  liturgical  poet  of  the  modern  Jews,  Kalir, 
designates  a  Kirjath-sepher  as  his  native  place.  He  does 
not,  however,  mean  this  city,  but,  playing  on  the  word,  he 
translates  KaAAippoi)  in  Palestine  by  Kirjath  Shep/ier,  i.  e. 
Beautiful  City.  This  opinion  advanced  by  me  iu  1845 
(Fraiikel's  Zeitschr.)  has  perhaps  lost  none  of  its  prob- 
ability. 

2  [The  above  view  of  the  relationship  between  Caleb  and 
Othniel  is  held  by  most  modern  critics.  Among  its  oppo- 
nents, however,  are  Ewald  and  De  AVette.  The  former  ( Gesch. 
Israels^  ii.  374)  deems  it  "  more  suitable,  in  accordance  with 
tlie  view  of  the  oldest  narrator,  to  take  Kenaz  as  the  younger 
brother  of  Caleb  ;  "  the  latter,  in  his  excellent  German 
Version,  translates :  "  Othniel,  der  Su/in  des  Kenas,  des 
iiingsten  Bmders   Calebs."     Of  ancient  versions,  the  Tar- 


tribe  of  Judah  with  the  hostile  people  of  the  same 
name  mentioned  Gen.  xv.  19.  It  is  true,  Lengerke 
(Kenaan,  p.  204)  and  others  preceded  him  in  this  ; 
kitter  also  {Erdkitnde,  xv.  138  [Gage's  Transl.  ii. 
14GJ)  has  allowed  himself  to  be  misled  by  it.  But 
a  consideration  of  the  important  relations  in  wliich 
Caleb  stands  to  the  people  of  God,  would  alone 
have  authorized  the  presumption  that  he  could 
liave  no  connection  with  a  people  that  was  to  be 
driven  out  before  Israel.  In  addition  to  this, 
notice  should  have  been  taken  of  the  isolated 
position  of  the  Kenites,  continuing  down  to  a  late 
period;  lor  notwithstanding  the  peaceful  conduct 
of  this  people,  and  their  attachment  to  Israel,  their 
historical  derivation  from  the  father-in-law  of  Moses 
is  never  forgotten.  The  adoption  of  the  celebrated 
hero  into  the  tribe  of  Judah  must  at  all  events 
have  been  explained.  But  there  is  absolutelj'  no 
foundation  for  any  such  assumption  as  tliat  in 
question.  The  similarity  of  names  affords  so 
much  the  less  occasion,  since  the  same  names  were 
frequently  borne  by  heathen  and  Israelites,  and 
also  by  families  in  the  different  tribes  of  Israel. 
One  Edomitc  is  named  Kenaz,  like  the  ancestor  of 
Caleb ;  another  Saul,  like  the  king  of  Israel ;  a 
third  Elah,  like  a  man  of  Benjamin  (Gen.  xxxvi. 
41 ;  1  Kgs.  iv.  18).     There  is  an  alien  tribe  named 

"'']'in  ')   but  no  one  imagines  that  Israelites  of  the 

name  "l^H  are  to  be  reckoned  to  it.  The  name 
of  the  king  of  Lachish  whom  Joshua  defeated,  was 
Japhia,  exactly  like  that  of  a  son  of  David  (2  Sam. 
V.  15).  Hezron  and  Carmi,  both  families  of 
Reuben,  are  such  also  in  the  tribe  of  Judah.  The 
name  Jephunneh  is  borne  also  by  a  man  of  the 
tribe  of  Asher  (1  Chron.  vii.  38).  To  this  must 
be  added  that  the  Book  of  Chronicles  traces  the 
family  of  Caleb  more  in  detail,  and  places  them 
as  relatives  alongside  of  Nahshon,  tlie  progenitor 
of  David  (1  Cliron.  ii.  9  seq.).  Caleb  is  the  son  of 
Jephunneh,  of  the  house  of  Kenaz.  Othniel  is  his 
brother.  That  the  latter  is  not  designated  "  son 
of  Jephunneh,"  is  because  he  is  sufficiently  distin- 
guished by  means  of  his  more  illustrious  brother. 
That  he  is  styled  "  son  of  Kenaz,"  is  to  intimate 
that  he  is  full  brother  to  the  son  of  Jejihunneh, 
belonging  to  the  same  stock ;  not,  as  might  be,  the 
son  of  Caleb's  mother,  by  a  husband  from  some 
other  family.  He  is  so  much  younger  than  Caleb, 
that  the  latter  may  be  regarded  as  his  second  father, 
who  had  watched  over  him  from  youth  up.  Why 
we  are  here,  Avhere  the  narrative  is  so  personal  in 
its  character,  to  think  only  of  genealogical,  not  of 
physical  relationships,  as  Bertheau  supposes,  it  is 
difficult  to  perceive.  Just  here,  this  would  destroy, 
not  merely  the  historical  truth,  but  also  the  ajsthetic 
character,  of  the  narrative.^ 

Ver.  14.     And  it  came  to  pass  at  her  coming. 

gum  and  Peshito  leave  the  question  undecided.  The  LXX. 
in  C.  Vat.,  in  all  three  passages,  and  iu  C.  Alex,  at  Josh. 
XV.  17  and  Judg.  iii.  9,  makes  Othniel  the  nephew,  while 
in  Judg.  i.  13  C.  Alex,  makes  him  the  brother,  of  Caleb 
The  Vulg.  invariably  :  "  Othoniel  filius  Cenez,  frater  Caleb." 

Grammatically,  both  constructions  are  equally  admissible. 
For  that  adopted  by  Dr.  Cassel,  cf.  Geu.  xxviii.  5  ;  1  Sam. 
x.xvi.  6,  etc. ;  for  the  other.  Gen.  xxix.  10  ;  1  Sam.  xiv.  3, 
etc.  That  the  distinctive  accent  over  Keuaz  is  not  incom- 
patible with  either  construction,  or  rather  does  not  commit 
the  M.asorites  to  the  construction  adopted  by  Dr.  Cassel.  as 
Keil  intimates,  may  be  seen  from  Gen.  xxiv.  15,  etc. 

B.achmann  favoi-s  the  alternate  rendering  —  "filius  Ke- 
nasi  fratris  Calebi "  —  on  the  following  grounds  :  1.  "  The 
fact  that  elsewhere  Caleb  is  always  designated  as  "  the  son 
of  Jephunneh,"  while  Othniel  is  always  spoken  of  as  "  th# 


CHAPTER  I.   11-14. 


35 


Othnielhad  conquered  the  stronghold,  —  the  victory 
was  his,  and  Caleb  gave  him  his  daughter.  The 
narrator  forthwitli  adds  an  incident  that  marked 
the  jieacehil  entrance  of  the  young  wife  into  the 
house  of  her  husband,  and  atforded  an  interesting 
glimpse  of  her  character.  Caleb,  the  head  of  the 
tribe,  was  rich  ;  to  him,  and  to  him  alone,  the  fine 
fields  and  estates  about  Hebron  had  been  given. 
Only  Caleb,  the  son  of  Jephunneh,  had  received 
them,  not  the  whole  family  (Josh.  xxi.  12). 
Othniel  was  poor.  In  the  character  of  a  poor, 
younger  son,  he  had  achieved  heroic  deeds.  Not 
he  thinks  of  goods  and  possessions ;  but  so  miich 
the  more  docs  the  young  Achsah,  who  has  been 
accustomed  to  wealth.  ISuch  is  the  course  of  the 
world.  They  are  on  their  way  to  Hebron,  a  way 
which  leads  through  fertile,  well-watered  fields. 
Their  journey  is  a  beautiful  triumphal  procession, 
over  which  the  aged  father  rejoices.     Achsah  urges 

(•"inn^priT  from  n^D)  her  husband  to  seize  the 
cfpiiortunity,  and  petition  her  father  for  the  noble 
field  through  which  they  are  passing. i  He  does  it 
not.  He  deems  it  an  act  imwurthy  of  himself.  She, 
however,  like  a  true  woman,  too  sagacious  to  lose 
the  proper  moment,  proceeds  .herself  ingeniously  to 
call  her  father's  attention  to  the  fact  that  she 
desires  not  merely  honor,  but  also  property.  She 
slides    from    her   ass  —  suddenly,    as    if    she   fell 

(TOlJril)  —  so  that  her  father  asks,  "  What  is  the 
matter  with  thee "?  "  Her  answer  has  a  double 
sense :  "  Thou  gavest  me  away  into  a  dry  land, 
give  me   also  springs."     0   give  me  a  blessing ! 

Saan  ^'■71^^  Cland  of  the  south")  is  land  desti- 
tute of  water.  No  greater  blessing  there  than 
springs.  They  make  the  parched  field  flourishing 
and  productive  (cf  Ps.  cxxvi.  4).  Now,  just  as 
springs  arc  a  sign  of  abundance  and  wealth,  so 
negeb  is  a  symbol  of  indigence  and  want.  Thou 
gavest  me  away,  says  Achsah,  in  words  full  of  con- 
cealed meaning,  into  a  dry  land  —  to  a  poor  hus- 
band ;  give  me  also  springs  to  enrich  the  land  ■ — 
my  husband.  Caleb  understood  and  gave,  the 
more  liberally,  no  doubt,  for  the  ingenious  manner 
in  which  she  asked.     He  gave  her  the  upper  and 

lower  springs.  nv2,  for  springs,  occurs  only  in 
this  passage.  It  is  obviously  not  to  be  derived  from 
V  v2,  in  the  sense  of  rolling,  turning,  —  from  which 

comes  ^^3)  "pitcher,"  so  named  on  account  of  its 
round  form,  —  but  is  connected  with  old  roots  ex- 
pressive, like  the  Sanskr.^ofa,  "water,"  of  welling, 
bubbling    (cf     Diefienbach,     Worterb.    der     Goth. 

BOn  of  Kenaz,"  raises  a  presumption  against  the  supposition 
that  Othniel  is  the  brother  of  Caleb  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 

term 2.  Caleb  was  8.5  years  old  when  Hebron 

was  bestowed  on  him  (Josh.  xiv.  10,  14) ;  and  when  he  took 
possession  of  it,  must  have  been  some  jears  older.  Accord- 
ingly, if  Othniel  was  his  brother,  even  though  his  junior  by 
fi'om  twenty  to  thirty  years,  —  and  a  greater  difference  in 
age  is  surely  not  to  be  supposed,  —  it  would  follow,  that  the 
bold  hero  nvho  won  his  wile  as  a  prize  for  storming  Debir 
was  at  that  time  from  sixty  to  seventy  years  of  age  ;  that 
about  eighteen  years  later,  he  entered  on  his  office  as  Judge 
as  a  man  of  full  eighty  years'of  age ;  and  that,  even  though 
he  died  some  time  before  the  end  of  the  forty  years'  rest 
(ch.  iii.  11),  he  reached  an  age  of  120  years  or  more,  which 
is  scarcely  probable.  3.  According  to  ch.  iii.  9,  Othniel  is 
the  fiist  deliverer  of  Israel  fallen  under  the  yoke  of  heathen 
oppressors  in  consequence  of  its  apostasy  to  heathen  idola 
try.  Now,  .since  idolatry  is  said  to  have  become  prevalent 
In  Israel  only  after  the  generation  that  had  entered  Cana.an 
With  Joshua  and  Caleb  had  died  off  (ch.  ii.  10),  it  is  clear 
hat  Othniel  is  regarded  as  belonging  not  to  this,  but  to  the 


Sprache,  i.  183).  What  springs  they  were  which 
Othniel  received,  it  is  dilficult  to  say.  Were  they 
those  which  Eobinson  found  on  the  way  to  Hebron, 
within  an  hour's  distance  !  Le  Clerc  wonders  why 
this  family  history  is  here  related.  Most  certainly 
not  without  intending  to  make  the  zeal  of  Caleb, 
the  unselfishness  of  Othniel,  and  the  prudence  of 
Achsah,  points  of  instruction.  The  Jewish  exege- 
sis, reproduced  by  Kaschi,  is  essentially  right,  when 
it  explains  that  Othniel  was  poor  in  everything  but 
the  law,  in  everything,  that  is,  biit  piety  and  solidity 
of  character.2  History  and  tradition  present  many 
another  pair  like  Othniel  and  Achsah.  The  thing 
to  be  especially  noted,  however,  is  the  firmness  of 
Othniel  in  resisting  his  wife's  enticement  to  make 
requests  which  it  is  more  becoming  in  her  to  make. 
Not  many  men  have  so  well  withstood  the  amb' 
tious  and  eagerly  craving  projects  of  their  wives 


HOMILETICAX   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Compare  Horn.  Hints  on  ch.  i.  17-20. 

[Scott  :  It  is  a  very  valuable  privilege  to  be 
closely  united  with  families  distinguished  for  faith 
and  piety ;  and  to  contract  marriage  Avith  those 
who  have  been  "  trained  up  in  the  nurture  and  ad- 
monition of  the  Lord." 

The  same  :  Nature  teaches  lis  to  desire  tem- 
poral benefits  for  our  children  ;  but  grace  will  teach 
us  to  be  far  more  desirous  and  earnest  in  using 
means  that  they  may  be  partakers  of  spiritual 
blessings. 

The  same  :  If  affection  to  a  creature  animates 
men  to  such  strenuous  efforts  and  perilous  adven- 
tures, what  will  the  love  of  God  our  Saviour  do,  if 
it  bear  rule  in  our  hearts  1 

The  same  :  If  earthly  parents,  "  being  evil, 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  their  children,  how 
much  more  will  our  Heavenly  Father  give  good 
things  to  those  who  ask  him  !  " 

Henry  :  From  this  story  we  learn,  1st.  That 
it  is  no  breach  of  the  tenth  commandment  moder- 
ately to  desire  those  comforts  and  conveniences  of 
this  life  which  we  see  attainable  in  a  fair  and  regu- 
lar way 3dly.  That  parents  must  never, 

think  that  lost,  which  is  bestowed  on  their  children 
for  their  real  advantage,  but  must  be  free  in  giving 
them  portions  as  well  as  maintenance,  especially 
when  dutiful. 

P.  H.  S. :  Three  Lessons  from  an  Ancient 
Wedding :  1 .  Caleb's  lesson  :  Pious  zeal  for  God 
and  an  heroic  character  are  better  than  w-ealth  or 
social  rank.  To  such  as  possess  these  qualities  let 
fathers  freely  give  their  daughters.      2.  Othniel'.'i 

succeeding  generation,  which  agrees  better  with  the  hypoth 
esis  that  he  is  the  ^on  of  a  younger  brother  of  Caleb,  than 
that  be  is  such  a  brother  himself.  4.  Finally,  whatever,  in 
view  of  Lev.  xviii.  12,  13,  may  be  thought  of  the  difficulty 
of  a  marriage  between  an  uncle  and  a  niece,  that  interpi'eta- 
tion  surely  deserves  to  be  preferred  which,  while  it  is  possi 
ble  in  itself,  does  not  rai.se  the  said  difficulty  at  all." —  Tr.] 

1  [Wordsworth  :  "  The  field  :  that  is,  the  field  which  had 
been  given  to  Othniel  when  the  Book  of  Judges  was  written, 
and  which  was  known  to  be  well  supplied  with  water.' 
This  explanation  of  the  article  supposes  that  the  words 
attributed  to  Achsah  in  the  text,  were  not  the  very  words 
she  used.  —  Tr.] 

2  At  an  early  date,  the  passage  1  Chron.  iv.  10,  where 
Jabez  says,  "  Oh,  that  thou  wouldest  bless  me  indeed,  and 
enlarge  my  coast,  and  that  thine  hand  might  be  with  me," 
was  already  explained  as  referring  to  Othniel  (cf.  Temura, 
p.  16,  a).  Jerome  was  acquainted  with  a  Jewish  opinion 
according  to  which  Jabez  was  a  teacher  of  the  law  (cf.  1 
Chron.  ii.  55),  who  instructed  the  sons  of  the  Kenite,  cf. 
Qumst.  Hebr.  in  Lib.  i.  Parol.,  ed.  Migne,  iii.  1370. 


36 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


lesson  :  A  wife  is  to  be  won  for  her  own  sake,  not 
as  the  means  of  gaining  access  to  her  fatlier's 
wealth.  3.  Achsah's  lesson :  It  is  the  wife's  duty 
to  promote  the  interests  and  honor  of  her  husband. 
Wealth  is  a  source  of  weight  and  influence,  and  a 
means  of  usefulness.  Who  knows  how  much  this 
and  similar  thoughtful  acts  of  Achsah  contributed 
to  shape  the  subsequent  life-work  of  Othniel  as 
judge  of  Israel. 

The   same  :   It  is  more    honorable   to  woman 
to  be  "sold"  (a  term  entirely  inapplicable,  how- 


ever, to  the  case  in  hand),  than  to  have  a  husband 
bought  for  her  by  her  father's  gold  or  lands.  When 
a  man  stormed  the  walls  of  a  stronghold,  or  slew 
an  hundred  Philistines  by  personal  prowess,  or  paid 
fourteen  years  of  responsible  service,  for  a  wife,  or 
when,  as  in  the  days  of  chivalry,  he  ran  tilts  and 
courted  dangers  in  her  behalf,  however  grotesque 
the  performance,  it  indicated  not  only  solidity  of 
character  in  the  wooer,  but  also  a  true  and  manly 
respect  for  woman,  which  is  not  possessed  by  all 
men  of  modern  days. —  Tk.] 


The  Kenites  take  tip  their  abode  in  the  territories  of  Judah. 

Chapter   I.  16. 

16  And  the  children  [sons]  of  the  Kenite,  Moses'  father-in-law,  went  up  out  of 
[from]  the  city  of  palm-trees  with  the  children  [sons]  of  Judah  into  the  wilderness 
of  Judah,  Avhich  lieth  in  the  south  of  Arad  ;  and  they  [he  ^]  went  and  dwelt  among  ' 
the  people. 

TEXTUAL   AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  16.  —  He,  i.  e.,  the  Kenite.     The  subject  of  TJ^^T  is  "'S'^p,  the  Kenite,  collective  term  for  the  tribe. —  Ta.] 

[2  Ver.  16.  —  inN,  ■with,  near,  the  people,  but  still  in  settlements  of  their  own,  cf.  ver.  21.    Dr.  Cassel's  unter  answer* 
tc  the  English  among.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  16.  And  the  sons  of  the  Kenite,  Moses' 
father-in-law.  Kenite  is  the  name  of  a  heathen 
tribe,  which  in  Gen.  xv.  19  is  enumei'ated  among 
the  nations  hostile  to  Israel.  In  the  vision  of 
Balaam  it  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  Amalek 
(Num.  xxiv.  21 ).     It  is  there  said  of  the   tribe, 

"  In  the  rock  hast  thou  put  thy  nest "  (^.?i7)    from 

IP.,  "nest").  "  Sti'ong,"  indeed,  "is  their  dv/ell- 
ing-place."  The  Kenites  were  a  tribe  of  the  wil- 
derness, troglodytes,  who  dwelt  in  the  grottoes 
which  abound  everywhere  in  Palestine,  but  espe- 
cially in  its  southern  parts.  Barth,  in  1847,  saw 
caves  at  the  lower  Jordan,  "high  up  in  the  steep 
face  of  the  precipitous  rock,  on  the  left,  inhabited 
by  human  beings  and  goats,  though  it  is  impossible 
to  see  how  they  get  there"  (Ritter,  xv.  465).  At 
the  Dead  Sea,  Lynch  discovered  grottoes  in  the 
rocks,  the  entrance  to  which,  in  spite  of  all  profi- 
ciency in  climbing,  could  not  be  found.     The  name 

of  the  tribe,  Kenites,  is  doubtless  derived  from  ^p.^ 

1  Earlier  scholars  (Le  Clerc,  Lightfoofc,  Opera^  ii.  581)  were 
already  struck   by  the  Targum's  constant  substitution   of 

nHtt7ti7,    Salmaah  for  Kenite.     In  this  passage  also  it 

reads,  "  the  sons  of  Salmaah."  Even  Jewish  authors  were 
l,t  a  loss  how  to  explain  this.  As  it  affords  a  specimen  of 
the  traditional  exegesis  of  the  Jews,  already  current  in  the 
largum  on  this  passage,  I  will  here  set  down  the  explanation 
of  this  substitution :  The  Kenite  of  our  passage  is  identifiid 
with  the  Kiniin  of  1  Chron.  ii.  55,  who  are  there  described 
as  "the  families  of  the  Snpherim.'^  But  liow  came  the  Ke- 
nites to  hold  this  office,  in  after  times  so  highly  honored,  and 
filled  by  men  learned  in  the  law  (cf.  Sankeilrin,  p.  104  a  and 
106  a)  ?     The  father-in-law  of  Moses  —  (tradition  makes  him 


which  means  an  elevated  hiding-place  in  the  rocks, 
as  well  as  a  nest.  The  term  troglodytes,  likewise, 
comes  from  rfxiyXr},  "grotto,"  and  is  applied  to 
both  birds  and  human  beings.  As  Jeremiah  (xlix. 
16)  exclaims,  "  though  thou  shouldest  make  thy 
nest  as  high  as  the  eagle,"  so  .(Eschylus  (  Choephoroe, 
249)  calls  the  nest  of  the  eagle's  brood,  crK'r]V7}ixa, 
"  dwelling-place." 

It  is  from  this  passage,  and  from  ch.  iv.  11,  that 
we  first  learn  that  Jethro,  the  fother-in-law  of 
Moses,!  belonged  to  one  of  the  Kenite  families. 
Moses,  when  a  fugitive  in  the  desert,  found  an  asy- 
lum and  a  wife  in  the  retirement  of  Jethro's  liouse- 
hold.  From  that  time,  this  family,  M'ithout  losing 
its  independent  and  separate  existence,  was  closely 
allied  with  all  Israel.  But  it  was  only  this  family, 
and  not  the  whole  Kenite  nation,  that  entered  into 
this  alliance.  Else,  how  could  the  Kenite  be  named 
among  enemies  in  the  prophetic  announcements  of 
Gen.  XV.,  and  with  iVmalek  in  the  vision  of  Ba- 
laam'^  Moreover,  the  text  clearly  intimates  that 
the  sons  of  the  Kenite  adhered  to  Israel,  not  as 
Kenites,  but  as  descendants  of  Jethro,  the  father- 
flee  from  the  council  of  Pharaoh  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
Sola,  11  a)  —  is  the  Kenite  who,  when  the  latter  wandered 
in  the  desert  (Ex.  ii.  20,  21),  gave  him  bread  (lechem)  and  also, 
through  his  daughter,  a  house  (beth).  Now,  the  same  chap- 
ter of  Chronicles,  vers.  51,  54,  names  a  certiiin  Sa!ma,  and 
styles  him  the  "father  of  Belh-Urhem."  The  fVithcr  of  this 
"  Bread-house  "  is  then  identified  with  Jethro.  Consequently, 
the  sons  of  the  Kenite  are  the  sons  of  Salmaah,  and  thus  their 
name  itself  indicates  how  they  attained  to  the  dignity  ac- 
corded tliem.  The  Tars'um  on  Chronicles  {'d.  Wiliiri,  1836, 
p.  3,  A)  expresses  it  tlius  :  "  They  were  the  sons  of  Zippora, 
who  (in  tlieir  capacity  of  l^opherim)  enjoyed,  together  with 
tlie  families  of  the  Ixivites,  the  glory  of  having  descended 
from  Moses,  the  teacher  of  Israel." 


CHAPTER   I.    17-20. 


37 


in-law  of  Moses.i  It  is  the  constant  aim  of  the 
historian  of  tlie  conquest  of  Canaan  by  Israel,  to 
show  that  ('WTji  fromise  was  fa{ filled,  and  that  no  one 
who  at  anij  time  showed  kindness  failed  of  his  promised 
reward.  Caleb's  constancy  and  courage  found  their 
long-promised  inheritance  in  Hebron.  A  recom- 
pense had  also  been  promised  to  the  sons  of  the 
Kenite.  When  Israel  was  on  its  journey  through 
tlie  desert  (Num.  x.  31),  and  Hobab  (on  the  name, 
see  below,  on  eh.  iv.  11)  desired  to  return  to  his 
old  place  of  abode,  Moses  said :  "  Leave  us  not ; 
thou  knowest  our  places  of  encampment  in  the  des- 
ert, and  hast  been  to  us  instead  of  eyes.  If  thou  go 
with  us,  every  good  thing  with  which  God  blesses 
us,  we  will  share  with  thee."  The  fulfillment  of 
this  promise  now  takes  place.  The  Kenites  enter 
with  the  tribe  of  Judah  into  the  inheritance  of  the 
latter,  as  into  a  domain  in  which  they  had  always 
been  at  home.  They  share  in  the  blessing  bestowed 
by  God  on  Israel. 

They  went  up  from  the  City  of  Palms.  No 
other  place  than  the  plain  of  Jericho  is  ever  called 
the  City  of  Palms  in  the  Scriptures.  Although  the 
city  was  destroyed,  the  palm-groves  still  existed. 
How  was  it  possible  to  suppose,'-  in  the  face  of  Deut. 
xxxiv.  3  and  Judg.  iii.  13,  that  here  suddenly,  with- 
out any  preparatory  notice,  another  City  of  Palms 
is  referred  to !  The  statement  here  made,  so  far 
from  occasioning  difficulties,  only  testifies  to  the 
exactness  of  the  narrator.  Judah's  camp  was  in 
Gilgal,  whence  they  marched  through  Bezek  against 
the  enemy,  and  then  to  Hebron.  Gilgal  lay  in  the 
ricinity  of  Jericho.  When  the  tribe  decamped, 
the  Kenite  was  unwilling  to  remain  behind.  On 
the  march  through  the  desert,  their  position  as 
guides  had  of  course  always  been  in  the  van,  and, 
therefore,  with  the  tribe  of  Judah.  They  desire  to 
enjoy  their  reward  also  in  connection  -with  this 
tril)e,  and  hence  the  palms  of  overthrown  Jericho 
cannot  detain  them.  The  region  in  which  they 
were,  can  therefore  be  no  other  place  of  palms  than 
that  from  which  Judah  broke  up,  namely,  Jericho. 
In.  fact,  the  statement  that  the)'  came  fi'om  Jericho, 
proves  the  correctness  of  the  view  given  above,  that 
Gilgal  was  the  place  fi-om  which  Judah  set  out  to 
enter  his  territory. 

Into  the  wilderness  of  Judah,  •which,  lieth  in 

1  This  view  does  awa3'  with  all  those  questions  of  which, 
after  earlier  expositors,  Bertheau  treats  on  pp.  24,  25. 

2  Into  this  error,  Le  Clerc  has  misled  later  expositors,  and 
among  them,  Bertheau,  p.  25.  However,  the  wholly  irrele- 
vant passage  of  Diodorus  (iii.  42),  frequently  cited  to  justify 
the  assumption  of  another  City  of  Palms,  was  already  aban- 
doned by  Rosenmiiller,  p.  24. 

3  Ishak  Chelo,  the  author  of  Les  chemins  de  Jerusalem,  in 
the  14th  century,  found  Arad  sparsely  inhabited,  by  poor 


the  south  of  Arad.  But  why  is  the  narrative  of 
the  Keirite  expedition  here  introduced  ?  It  is  a 
peculiarity  of  Hebrew  narrators,  that  they  weave 
in  episodes  like  this  and  that  of  Othniel  and  Achsah, 
whenever  the  progress  of  the  history,  coming  into 
contact  with  the  place  or  person  with  which  they 
are  associated,  offers  an  occasion.  Hence  we  al- 
ready find  events  communicated  in  the  15th  chap- 
ter of  Joshua,  which  occurred  at  a  later  date,  but 
of  which  the  author  was  reminded  while  speaking 
of  the  division  of  the  land.  The  history  of  the  con- 
quest of  their  territory  by  Judah  is  very  brief 
First,  the  mountain  district  of  Hebron  and  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  territory  was  taken  posses- 
sion of  Then,  according  to  the  plan  laid  down  ver. 
9,  they  turned  to  the  south.  Of  this  part  of  their 
undertaking  no  details  are  given  ;  but  as  they  were 
getting  possession  of  the  land  in  this  direction,  they 
came  to  Arad,  where  it  pleased  the  Kenites  to  take 
up  their  abode,  in  close  relations  with  Judah.  A 
king  formerly  reigned  at  Arad,  who  attacked  Israel 
when  journeying  in  the  desert  (Num.  xxi.  1),  and 
was  defeated  by  Moses.  A  king  of  Arad  was  also 
conquered  by  Joshua  (Josh.  xii.  14).  After  its 
occupancy  by  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  Kenites  re- 
sided there.  The  position  ■^  of  the  place  has  been 
accurately  determined  by  Robinson  (Bib.  Res.  ii 
101,  cf  Ritter,  xiv.  121).  Eusebius  and  Jerome 
had  placed  it  twenty  Roman  miles,  a  camel's  jour 
ney  of  about  eight  houi-s,  from  Hebron.  This 
accords  well  with  the  position  of  the  present  Tell 
'Arad,  "  a  barren-looking  eminence  rising  above  the 
country  around."  From  this  fragmentary  notice 
of  the  place,  we  may  perhaps  infer  what  it  was  that 
specially  attracted  the  Kenites.  If  these  tribes 
were  attached  to  the  Troglodyte  mode  of  life,  the 
Arabs  still  told  Robinson  of  a  "cavei-n"  found 
there.  The  Kenites  still  held  this  region  in  the 
time  of  David  ;  for  from  the  vicinage  of  the  places 
named  in  1  Sam.  xxx.  29  ff.,  especially  Hormah, 
it  appears  that  they  are  those  to  whom  as  friends 
he  makes  presents.*  It  is  time,  that  when  the  tei-- 
rible  war  between  Saul  and  Amalek  raged  in  this 
region,  Saul,  lest  he  should  strike  friend  with  foe, 
caused  them  to  remove  (1  Sam.  xv.  6).  After  the 
victory,  they  must  have  returned  again. 

Arabs  and  Jews,  who  lived  of  their  flocks.  The  Rabbi  tends 
his  sheep,  and  at  the  same  time  gives  Instruction  to  his  pu- 
pils. Cf.  Carmoly,  Itineraires  de  la  Ttrre  Hainte  (Bruxelles, 
1847),  pp.  244.  245. 

4  Cf.  1  Sam.  xxvii.  10,  where  the  same  local  position  is 
assigned  to  the  Kenites,  and  spoken  of  by  David  as  the  scene 
of  his  incursions,  in  order  to  make  the  suspicious  Philistinna 
believe  that  he  injures  the  friends  of  Israel 


Simeon's  territory  is  conquered,  and  Judah  takes  the  Philistine  citiet. 
Chapter  I.  17-20. 


17  And  Judah  went  with  Simeon  his  brother,  and  they  slew  [smote]  the  Canaaniles 
that  inhabited  Zephath,  and  utterly  destroyed  it  [executed  the  ban  upon  it].^     And 

1 8  the  name  of  tlie  city  was  called  "^  Hormah.     Also  [And]  Judah  took  Gaza  with  the 
coast  [territory]  thereof,  and  Askelon  with  the  coast  [territory]  thereof,  and  Ekron 

19  with  the  coast  [territory]  thereof.     And  the  Lwd  [Jehovah]  was  with   Judah  ;  [,] 


38 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


and  he  drave  out  the  inhabitants  [obtained  possession]  of  the  mountain  [mountains]  ; 
but  could  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  [for  the  inhabitants  of  the  low 
20  country  were  not  to  be  driven  out],'^  because  they  had  chariots  of  iron.  And  they 
gave  Hebron  unto  Caleb,  as  Moses  [had]  said :  and  he  expelled  thence  the  thi-ee  sous 
of  Anak. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRA3IMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  17.  —  The  D'^H  (LXX.  avadefxaji  in  cases  like  the  present,  was,  as  Hengstenberg  {Pent.  ii.  74)  expresses  it, 
"  the  compulsory  devotement  to  the  Lord  of  those  who  would  not  voluntarily  devote  themselves  to  him."  To  render  the 
word  simply  by  "  destruction,"  as  is  done  in  the  A.  V.  here  and  elsewhere,  is  to  leave  out  the  religious  element  of  the  act, 
and  reduce  it  to  the  level  of  a  common  war  measure.  Cf.  Winer,  Realworlerb.,s.  v.  Bann ;  Smith's  Bib.  Diet.  s.  v.  Anathe- 
ma. —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  17.  —  W^p*"!,    Dr.  Cassel  translates  it  as  if  it  were  plural,  and  gives  it  the  same  subject  with  !l7D''*in]|"1, 

"  they  called."  Correct,  perhaps,  as  to  fact,  but  grammatically  less  accurate  than  the  A.  V.  S'^p'^T  is  the  indefinit* 
third  person.     Cf.  Ges.  Gr.  137,  3.  —  Tr.]  * 

[3  Ver.  19.  —  Dr.  Cassel :  denn  nic/it  zu  vertreiben  waren  die  Bewohner  der  Niederung.  On  the  force  of  "'3.  for  (E.  V. 
but),  cf.  Ges.  Grain.  §  155,  p.  271.  —  The  construction  of  li?"^mn  V  S  V  is  unusual.    According  to  Keil  (and  Bertheau) 

"M^  is  to  be  taken  substantively,  as  in  Amos  vi.  10,  in  the  same  sense  in  which  the  later  Scriptures  use  T'^S  before 
the  infinitive,  2  Chron.  v.  11 ;  Esth.  iv.  2,  viii.  8  ;  Eccles  iii.  14.  Cf.  Ges.  Gra7n.  §  132,  3,  Rem.  1  ;  Ewald,  237  c."  Idea 
and  expression  might  then  be  represented  in  English  by  the  phrase :  "  there  was  no  driving  the  enemy  out."  On  pD27, 
see  foot-note  on  p.  39.  —  Tr.] 

of  the  places  put  under  the  ban,  we  are  told,  re- 
ceived the  name  Hormah.-  The  vow  in  pursuance 
of  which  this  ban  was  inflicted  required  its  subse- 
quent maintenance  as  much  as  its  original  execu- 
tion. Thus  much  we  learn  from  the  passage  in 
Numbers.  That  a  close  connection  existed  between 
Arad  and  -Hormali  is  also  confirmed  by  Josh.  xii. 
14,  where  a  king  of  Arad  and  one  of  Hormah  are 
named  together.  In  the  same  way  are  the  inhab- 
itants of  Hormah  and  the  Kenites  in  Arad  men- 
tioned together,  upon  occasion  of  David's  division  of 
booty  (1  Sam.  xxx.  29).  Since  Moses  was  not  able 
to  occupy  these  regions,  the  banned  city,  as  appears 
plainly  from  Josh.  xii.  14,  where  a  king  of  Hormah 
occurs,  had  been  peopled  and  occupied  anew. 
Hence  it  was  the  task  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  with 
the  help  of  Judah,  to  restore  the  vow  of  Israel,  and 
to  change  the  Zephath  of  its  heathen  inhabitants 
once  more  into  Hormah.  That,  in  this  respect 
also,  the  tribes  observed  the  commands  of  Moses, 
aiid  fulfilled  what  was  fi>rinerli/  proiniseJ,  —  adjudg- 
ing to  one,  reward,  as  to  the  Kcnite ;  to  another,  the 
ban,  as  to  Zephath,  —  this  is  the  reason  why  this 
fact  is  here  recorded.  Robinson  thought  that 
there  was  every  reason  for  supposing  that  in  the 
position  of  the  pass  es-Suf"ih,  far  down  in  the  south, 
the  locality  of  Zephath  was  discovered  (Bib.  lies. 
ii.  181).  The  position,  as  laid  down  on  his  maj), 
strikes  me  as  somewhat  remote  from  Tell  'Arftd ; 
and  the  name  es-Sufah,  Arabic  for  "  rock,"  cannot, 
on  account  of  its  general  character,  be  considered 
altogether  decisive.^  Moreover,  another  Zephath 
actually  occurs,  near  Mareshah  (2  Chron.  xiv.  10), 

be  understood  here,  as  in  Gen.  xxviii  19  and  elsewhere,  of 
one  place  or  one  city."  — Tb.] 

3  Some  ruins,  named  Sepiita  by  the  Arabs,  were  found  by 
Rowlands  (cf.  Hitter,  xiv.  1084-5;  Williams'  Holy  City, 
i.  464).  two  and  a  half  hours  southwest  of  Khalasa  (Robin- 
son's Elusa),  and  have  also  been  identified  with  Zephath. 
Their  position  is  very  different  from  that  of  Tell  es-Suf.lh. 
They  also  seem  to  me  to  lie  too  remote  from  Arad.  That 
the  Biblical  name  Zephath  has  been  preserved,  after  the  Jew- 
ish inhabitants  for  many  centuries  must  have  used,  not  that, 
but  Hormah,  docs  not  appear  at  all  probable.  In  the  moun- 
tains of  Ephraiin,  Eli  Smith  came  into  a  village  tJm-Suflh. 
"  It  reminded  him  of  the  locality  of  Hormah  near  tha 
southern  border  of  Palestine,  both  of  which  names  [Um- 
Suf.ih  and  Hormah]  in  Arabic  designate  such  smooth  tract! 
of  rock  "  (Ritter,  xvi.  561). 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  17.  And  Judah  went  with  Simeon  his 
brother.  The  course  of  conquest  by  the  tribes 
is  regularly  followed,  but  the  narrative  delays 
only  at  such  points  as  are  connected  with  note- 
worthy facts.  When  Judah  had  reached  the  south, 
and  was  in  Arad,  the  statement  was  introduced 
that  the  Kenite  settled  there.  After  the  conquest 
of  the  south,  the  conquerors  turned  toward  the  low 
country  (ver.  9).  In  order  to  get  there,  they  must 
traverse  the  territory  of  Simeon.  Consequently, 
Judah  goes  with  Simeon  now,  to  assist  him  in  gain- 
ing possession  of  his  land.  This  expedition  also 
ottered  an  event  which  it  was  important  to  chron- 
icle. 

They  smote  the  inhabitants  of  Zephath,  and 
called  the  city  Chormah.  In  itself  considered, 
the  mere  execution  of  the  ban  of  destruction  on 
a  city  otherwise  unknown,  cannot  be  of  such  im- 
portance as  would  jjroperly  make  it  the  only  re- 
ported event  of  the  campaign  in  Simeon's  territory. 
The  record  must  have  been  made  with  reference  to 
some  event  in  the  earlier  history  of  Israel. ^  The 
tribes  had  just  been  in  Arad,  where  the  Kenites 
settled.  Now,  according  to  the  narrative  in  Num. 
xxi.  I  if.,  it  was  the  King  of  Arad  who  suddenly  fell 
upon  the  people  in  their  journey  through  the  desert. 
The  attack  was  made  when  the  Israelitish  host  was 
in  a  most  critical  situation,  which,  to  be  sure,  could 
not  be  said  to  be  improved  by  the  ban  executed  on 
the  cities  of  the  king  after  the  victory  was  won. 
Not  Arad,  —  for  this  retained  its  name,  —  but  one 

i  Compare  RosenmuUer,  p.  25,  and  Hengstenberg,  Pent. 
Ii.  p.  179,  etc. 

■2  The  King  of  Arad  only  is  spoken  of.  Num.  xxi.  1,  and 
it  is  not  said  that  Arad  was  called  Hormah.  The  "  name  of 
the  (one)  place,"  it  is  stated,  they  called  Hormah,  whereas 
they  "  banned  their  cities."  Since,  therefore,  Ar!id  and  Hor- 
mah are  distinguished,  it  is  plain  that  this  one  place  of  the 
banned  cities,  which  was  called  Hormah,  was  Zephath.  — 
[Bertheau:  "It  has  been  thought,  indeed,  that  the  word 

Q^wtt  in  Num.  xxi.  3,  in  the  connection  in  which  it  stands, 

'      T  ' 

indicates  that  in  the  time  of  Moses  the  whole  southern  dis- 
trict received  the  name  Hormah,  whereas,  according  to  our 
passage   [i.  e.  Judg.  i.  17]  it  was  given  only  to  the  city  of 

Eephatb  ;  but  DIpQ  never  signifies  "  region,"  and  must 


CHAPTER  I.    17-20. 


3S 


not  far  from  EknithcropoHs,  and  Robinson  (ii.  31) 
makes  it  probable  that  by  the  valley  of  Zephath  in 
which  King  Asa  fought,  the  wacly  is  meant  which 
"  comes  down  from  Beit  Jibrin  towards  Tell  es- 
Safieh."  In  the  Middle  Ages,  a  castle  existing 
there,  bore  the  name  Alba  Specula,  Fortress  of  Ob- 
servation, which  at  all  events  agrees  with  the  sig- 
nification of  Zephath. 

Ver.  18.  And  Judah  took  Gaza,  Askelon,  and 
Ekron.  The  territory  assigned  to  Judah  extended 
to  the  sea,  including  the  Philistine  coast-land,  with 
their  five  cities.  After  the  conquest  of  Simeon's 
lot  their  course  descended  from  the  hills  into  the 
lowlands  {Shephelah,ver.  9),  most  probaljjy  by  way 
of  Beer-sheba,  to  the  sea.  In  their  victorious  prog- 
ress, they  storm  and  seize  Gaza,  Askelon,  and 
Ekron,  pressing  on  from  south  to  north.  Althougli 
Ashdod  is  not  mentioned  here,  it  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose, since  it  was  included  in  the  borders  assigned 
to  Judah  (Josh,  xv.),  and  lay  on  the  road  from 
Askelon  to  Ekron,  that  it  was  also  taken,  pi'evious 
to  the  conquest  of  Ekron.  Josephus,  drawing  the 
same  inference,  expressly  includes  it.     It  is  said 

"737*1,  "they  took  by  storm."  They' were  not 
able,  at  this  time,  so  to  take  and  hold  these  places 
as  to  expel  their  inhabitants.  The  tribe  of  Judah, 
which,  as  it  seems,  now  continued  the  war  alone, 
on  the  sea-coast  fell  in  with  cultivated  cities,  pro- 
vided with  all  the  arts  of  warfare.  Israel  at  that 
'time  was  not  prepared  for  long  and  tedious  wars. 
In  swift  and  stormy  campaigns,  their  divinely- 
inspired  enthusiasm  enabled  them  to  conquer.  On 
the  mountains,  where  personal  courage  and  natural 
strength  alone  came  into  play,  they  were  entirely 
victorious,  and  held  whatever  they  gained.  It  was 
only  in  the  plains,  where  the  inhabitants  of  the 
coast  cities  met  them  with  the  murderous  opposi- 
tion of  iron  chariots,  that  they  gave  up  the  duty  of 
gaining  entire  mastery  over  the  land.^  ^ 

Ver.  19.  For  the  inhabitants  of  the  low 
country  were  not  to  be  driven  out,  because 
they  had  iron  chariots.^     The  noble  simplicity 

1  Thus  an  internal  contradiction  between  this  verse  and 
the  statiement  of  the  next  that  Judah  failed  to  drive  out  the 
inhabita.nts  of  the  low  country,  as  asserted  by  Baihinger 
(Herz.  Beal-Encykl.  xi.  554),  does  not  exist. 

2  [The  author  identifies  the  ptt^,  the  inhabitants  of 
which  Judah  failed  to  drive  out,  with  the   H  v2tt7,  ver.  9, 

T  *•      . 

and  hence  renders  it  (see  ver.  19)  by  Niet/fntni;,  "  low  coun- 
try,'" prop,  depression.  Against  this  identification,  accepted 
by  Studer,  Bertheau,  Keil,  and  many  others,  Bachmann 
objects   that,  with   the  single  exception  of  Jer.  xlvii.  5,  a 

poetic  passage  in  a  late  prophet,  p!217  is  never  applied  to 
the  Philistine  plain.  "  In  accordance  with  it*  derivation, 
"^T^V  denotes  a  valley-basin  (cf.  Robinson,  Pfiys.  Geog. 
p.  70),  broadly  extended  it  may  be  (Gen.  xiv.  9,  10  ;  Josh, 
xvii.  16;  etc.),  adapted  for  battle  (Jash.  viii.  1.3),  susceptible 
of  cultivation  (Job  xxxix.  10  ;  Cant.  ii.  1  ;  Ps.  Ixv.  14  ;  etc.), 
but  still  always  depressed  between  mountains  and  bordered 
by  them.  It  never  means  a  level  plain  or  lowlands."  Cf. 
Stanley,  Sinai  and  Pal.,  p.  476,  Amer.  el.  Bachmann, 
therefore,  looks  for  the  Emek  —  which,  by  the  way,  with 
the  article,  is  not  necessarily  singular,  but  may  be  used 
collectively  —  within  or  at  le;ist  very  near  the  Mountains  of 
Judah.  "  Of  valleys  affording  room  for  the  action  of  char- 
iots, the  mountains  of  Judah  have  several ;  e.  §■•,  the  Emek 
Rephaim,  Josh.  xv.  8,  southwest  of  Jerusalem,  one  hour  long 
\nd  one  half  hour  broad,  known  as  a  battle-field  in  other 
Smes  also  (2  Sam.  v.  18,  22  ;  xxiii.  13)  ;  the  Emek  ha-Elah, 
Sam.  xvii.  1,  2  ;  the  broad  basins  of  the  valleys  of  Jehosh- 
iphath  and  Ben  Ilinnom  ne^^  th£  northern  boundary  (see 
Rob.  i.  268^  273) ;  the  great,  basiu-like   plain  of  Beni  Naim 


of  the  narrative  could  not  show  itself  more  plainly. 
"  The  Lord  was  with  Judah,  and  he  gained  posses- 
sion of  the  mountain  district ;  but  tt/''''"1in  v  S7, 
not  to  be  driven  out,"  etc.     The  expression  M  / 

^7p^,  "  they  could  not,"  is  purposely  avoided. 
They  would  have  been  quite  able  when  God  was 
with  them ;  but  when  it  came  to  a  contest  with  iron 
chariots  their  faith  failed  them.  The  tribes  of 
Joseph  were  likewise  kept  out  of  the  low  country 
because  the  inhabitants  had  chariots  of  iron  (Josh 
xvii.  16) ;  but  Joshua  said  (ver.  18),  "  Thou  shalt 
(or  canst)  drive  out  the  Canaanite,  though  he  be 
strong."  Iron  chariots  are  known  only  to  the 
Book  of  Judges,  excepting  the  notice  of  them  in 
the  passage  just  cited  from  Joshua.  The  victory 
of  Deborah  and  Barak  over  Jabin,  king  of  Canaan, 
owed  much  of  its  glory  to  the  fact  that  Sisera  com- 
manded nine  hundred  iron  chariots.  Bertheau 
rejects  the  earlier  opinion  that  these  chariots  were 
ciirrus  falcati,  scythe-chariots,  on  the  ground  that 
those  were  unknown  to  the  Egyptians.  He  thinks 
it  probable  that  the  chariots  of  the  Canaanites,  like 
those  of  the  Egyptians,  were  only  made  of  wood, 
but  with  iron-clad  corners,  etc.,  and  therefore  very 
strong.  But  such  chariots  would  never  be  called  (Vow 
chariots.  The  Egyptian  war-chariots  which  Pha- 
raoh leads  forth  against  Israel,  are  not  so  called. 
To  speak  of  chariots  as  iron  chariots,  when  they 
were  in  the  main  constructed  of  a  different  material, 
would  be  manifestly  improper,  unless  what  of  iron 
there  was  about  them,  indicated  their  terrible  de- 
structive capacities.  It  has,  indeed,  been  inferred 
from  Xenophon's  Cyropcedia  (vi.  1, 27),  that  scythe- 
chariots  were  first  invented  by  Cyrus,  and  that 
they  were  previously  unknown  "  in  Media,  Syria, 
Arabia,  and  the  whole  of  Asia."  But  even  if  this 
Cyrus  were  to  be  deemed  strictly  historical,  the 
whole  notice  indicates  no  more  than  the  improve- 
ment *  of  a  similar  kind  of  weapon.  It  does  not 
at  all  prove  that  scythe-chariots  did  not  previously 
exist.      The    principal    improvement  which    the 

in  the  east  (see  Rob.  i.  488  ff.)  ;  and  others.  And  that,  in 
general,  chariots  in  considerable  numbers  might  be  used  in 
the  mountain  country,  appears,  with  reference  to  a  region  a 
little  further  north,  from  1  Sam.  xiii.  5."  Bachmann"s 
view  of  the  connection  of  ver.  19  with  what  precedes  is  as 
follows  :  Ver.  9.  The  battle  of  Bezek,  etc.,  having  secured 
Judah  from  attacks  in  the  rear,  and  left  him  free  to  proceed 
in  his  xmdertakiugs,  the  theatre  of  these  undertakings  is 
divided  by  ver.  9  into  three  parts:  the  mountain  country, 
the  south  (negeb),  and  the  plain  (shephelah).  The  conquest 
of  the  mountain  country  is  illustrated  by  a  couple  of  in 
stances  in  vers.  10-15  ;  that  of  the  south  is  similarly  indi 
cated  in  vers.  16,  17;  and  that  of  the  plain  in  ver.  18. 
Here,  too,  Judah  was  succes.«ful  in  his  undertakings.  As 
in  the  other  cases,  the  places  named  here,  Gaza,  Askelon, 
Ekron,  are  only  mentioned  as  examples  of  what  took  place 
in  the  Shephelah  genei-ally.  The  conquest  of  the  western 
parts  of  the  Shephelah  being  related,  that  of  the  eastern 
districts,  nearer  the  mountains,  was  left  to  be  inferred  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Then,  in  ver.  19,  tiie  narrative  returns 
to  the  mountain  country,  in  order  to  supplement  vers.  10-15 
by  indicating,  what  those  verses  did  not  show,  that  the  con- 
quest of  this  division,  the  first  of  the  three  mentioned,  was 
not  complete.  —  Tr.] 

3  How  properly  the  readings  of  the  Septuaginta  are  not 
considered  as  authorities  against  the  Hebrew  text,  is  sufii- 
ciently  shown  by  the  single  fact  that  here  they  read,  ''  6tl 
•Pj),Xa|3  SteoreiAaTO  avTOis,"  which  also  passed  over  into  th€ 
Syriac  version.     A  few  Codd.  add  "  koI  apy-aja  a-iSripa  au- 

TOtS-" 

4  Cf  Joh.  Oottl.  Schneider  in  his  edition  of  the  Cyropa 
dm  (Lips.  1840),  p.  368. 


40 


TlIE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Cyrus  of  Xenophon  introduced,  was,  that  he 
changed  the  chariot-rampart,  formed  perhaps  after 
tlie  manner  of  the  Indian  battle-array  {akschau- 
hini}  the  idea  of  our  game  of  chess)  into  a  means 
of  aggressive  warfare.  For  this  purpose,  he  changed 
the  form  of  the  chariot,  and  added  the  scythe  to 
the  axle-tree.  But  the  chariots  of  our  passage 
must  already  have  been  intended  for  aggressive 
action,  since  otherwise  the  purpose  of  the  iron  is 
incomprehensible.  Nor  does  Xenophon  assert  that 
Cyrus  was  the  tirst  who  affixed  scythes  to  chariots, 
although  he  would  not  have  failed  to  do  so  if  that 
had  been  his  opinion.  It  is,  moreover,  in  itself  not 
probable.  Xenophon  mentions  that  the  (African) 
Cyrenians  "  still  "  had  that  kind  of  chariots  which 
Cyrus  invented.-  And  Strabo  informs  us  that  in 
his  time  the  Nigretes,  Pharusii,  and  Ethiopians, 
African  tribes,  made  use  of  the  scythe-chariot.^ 
The  changes  introduced  in  the  chariot  by  Cyrus, 
were  made  in  view  of  a  war  against  the  Assyrians, 
whom  Xenophon  distinguishes  from  the  Syrians. 
But  from  a  statement  of  Ctesias  *  we  learn  that  the 
Assyrian  armies  already  had  scythe-chariots.  The 
same  occasion  induced  Cyrus  to  clothe  his  chariot- 
warriors  in  armor.  For  at  all  events,  Assyrian 
monuments  represent  the  charioteers  encased  in 
coats  of  mail.^  It  serves  to  explain  the  term  iron 
chariots,  that  Xenophon  also  speaks  of  iron  scythes 
(Spewava  crtSripa).  Curtius  (iv.  9,  4)  describes 
chariots  which  carried  iron  lances  on  their  poles 
{ex  summo  teinone  hastce  pnejixce  ferro  eminebant), 
for  which  the  form  of  Assyrian  chariots  seems  to 
be  very  well  adapted.  Representations  of  them 
sufficiently  indicate  the  horrors  of  these  instru- 
ments of  war,  by  the  bodies  of  the  slain  between 
their  wheels. 

Ver.  20.  And  they  gave  Hebron  unto  Caleb. 
This  statement,  even  after  that  of  ver.  10,  is  by  no 
means  superfluous.  Now,  and  not  before,  could 
Caleb  receive  Hebron  as  a  quiet  possession.  Judah 
must  first  enter  his  territory.  When  the  conquest 
was  completed,  —  and  it  was  completed  after  the 
western  parts  of  the  mountain  region  also  sub- 
mitted, —  the  tribe  of  Judah  entered  upon  its  pos- 
sessions ;  and  then  the  aged  hero  received  that 
which  had  been  promised  him.  Then  also,  most 
likely,  transpired  that  beautiful  episode  which  gave 
to  Othniel  his  wife  and  property. 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Vers.  4-20.  Obedient,  believing,  united  Israel 
is  attended  by  victory.     And  in  victory  it  knows 

1  Bohlen,  Altes  Indlen,  ii.  66. 

2  [Da  this  sentence  of  our  author,  Bachmann  remarks  : 
"  Cassel's  explanation  that  the  Cyrenians  had  '  still '  that 
kind  of  chariots  which  Cyrus  invented,  is  the  opposite  of 
what  Xenophon,  /.  c,  expressly  and  repeatedly  declares, 
namely,  that  Cyrus  abolislud  {Kdrikvae)  both  the  earlier 
WpoaOev  ova-av)  Trojan  method  of  chariot-warfare,  and  also 
that  still  in  use  (eri  koX  vvv  olcro-v)  among  the  Cyrenians, 
which  formerly  {t'iv  irpoaBsv  xpovov)  was  also  practiced  by 
the  Medes.  Syrians,  etc."  Eertheau  and  Bachmann  (Keil, 
too)  resist  the  conversion  of  "  iron  chariots  "  into  currus 
falcali  on  the  ground  that  these  were  unknown  before  Cy- 


how  to  punish  and  reward.  Adoni-bezek  terribly 
experiences  what  he  had  inflicted  on  others,  but 
the  sons  of  the  Kenite  dwell  like  brethren  in  the 
midst  of  Judah.  The  Canaanite  is  chastised  ;  but 
the  Kenite  reaps  the  fruits  of  conquest.  The  un- 
believers among  the  spies  formerly  sent  by  ^Moses 
are  infamous,  but  Caleb  gains  an  inheritance  fuU 
of  honor.  Thus,  faith  makes  men  united  before 
action;  after  it,  just.  Men  are  wise  enough  to 
give  every  one  his  own  {suuin  cuique),  only  so  long 
as  they  continue  obedient  toward  God.     For  faith 

1 .  regards  that  which  is   God's ;    and,  therefore, 

2.  awards  according  to  real  deserts.  Othniel  ob- 
tained Caleb's  daughter,  not  because  he  was  his 
nephew  (nepos),  but  because  he  took  Kirjath-sepher. 
Before  God,  no  nepotism  holds  good,  for  it  is  a  sign 
of  moral  decay ;  on  the  contrary,  he  gives  the 
power  of  discerning  spirits.  He  only,  who  in  the 
sanctuary  of  God  has  inquired  after  "  Light  and 
Righteousness"  (Urim  and  Thummim),  can  pi'op- 
erly  punish  and  reward. 

Starke  (ver.  16) :  The  children  of  those  par- 
ents who  have  deserved  well  of  the  church  of  God, 
should  have  kindness  shown,  and  benefits  extended 
to  them  before  others.  For  ingratitude  is  a  shame- 
ful thing. 

The  same  (ver.  17)  :  Covenants,  even  when 
involving  dangers,  must  be  faithfully  kept  by  all, 
but  especially  by  brothers  and  sisters. 

[Scott  (vei-.  19):  Great  things  might  be 
achieved  by  the  professors  of  the  gospel,  if  they 
unitedly  endeavored  to  promote  the  common  cause 
of  truth  and  righteousness ;  for  then  "  the  Lord 
would  be  with  them,"  and  every  mountain  would 
sink  into  a  plain.  But  when  outward  difficulties 
are  viewed  by  the  eye  of  sense,  and  the  almighty 
power  of  God  is  forgotten,  then  no  wonder  we  do 
not  prosper ;  for  according  to  our  faith  will  be  our 
vigor,  zeal,  and  success.  Love  of  ease,  indulgence, 
and  worldly  advantages,  both  spring  from  and  fos- 
ter unbelief.  Thus  many  an  awakened  sinner, 
who  seemed  to  have  escaped  Satan's  bondage,  "  is 
entangled  again,  and  overcome,  and  his  last  state 
is  worse  than  the  first."  Thus  even  many  a  be- 
liever who  begins  well  is  hindered  :  lie  grows  neg- 
ligent and  unwatchful  and  afraid  of  the  cross ;  his 
graces  languish,  his  evil  propensities  revive;  Satan 
perceives  his  advantage,  and  plies  him  with  suita- 
ble temptations ;  the  world  recovers  its  liold ;  he 
loses  his  peace,  brings  guilt  into  his  conscience, 
anguish  into  his  heart,  discredit  on  his  character, 
and  reproach  on  the  gospel ;  his  hands  are  tied, 
his  mouth  is  closed,  and  his  usefulness  ruined.  — 
Tr.] 

rus,  who  Invented  them,  Cyroptxdia,  vi.  1,  27,  30.  On  the 
Egyptian  war-chariot,  see  Wilkinson,  Manners  and  Customs, 
i.  350. —  Te.] 

3  Lib.  xvii.  3,  7,  ed.  Paris,  p.  703 :  "  xP"''™'  ^^  ''«'  ^P^- 
nav7j(i)6poi.^  apjuLao"t." 

4  In  the  Bibl.  Hist,  of  Diodorus,  ii.  5. 

5  Cf.  La3'ard,  Nineveh  aii't  its  Remain's,  ii.  335.  [For  an 
account  of  the  Assyrian  war-chariot,  p.  349.  On  p.  353, 
Layard  remarks:  ''Chariots  armed  with  scythes  are  not 
seen  in  the  Assyrian  sculptures,  although  mentioned  by 
Ctesiaa  as  being  iti  the  army  of  Ninus."  —  Te.] 


CHAPTER  I.   21-26. 


41 


Benjamin  is  inactive,  and  allows  the  Jebusite  to  remain  in  Jerusalem. 
Joseph  emulates  Judah,  and  takes  Bethel. 

Chapter  I.     21-26. 


Ute  House  of 


21  And  ^  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  did  not  drive  out  the  Jebusites  that  inhab- 
ited Jerusalem :  but  the  Jebusites  dwell  [dwelt]  with  [among]  ^  the  children  [sons] 

22  of  Benjamin  in  Jerusalem  unto  this  day.     And  the  house  of  Joseph,  they  also  **  went 

23  up  against  Beth-el :  and  the  Lord   [Jehovah]  loas  with   them.     And  the  house  of 
Joseph  sent  to  descry  [spy  out  the  entrance  to]  *  Beth-el.     Now  the  name  of  the  city 

24  before  was  Luz.     And  the  spies  saw  a  man  come   forth  out  of  the  city,  and  they 
said  unto  him,  Shew  us,  we  pray   thee,  the  entrance  into  the  city,  and  we  will  shew 

25  thee  mercy  [favor].     And  when  [omit:  Avhen]  he  shewed  them  the  entrance  into  the 
city,  [and]  they  smote  the  city  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  :  but  they  let  go  the  man 

26  and  all  his  family.     And  the  man  went  into  the  land  of  the  Hittites,  and  built  [there] 
a  city,  and  called  the  name  thereof  Luz  :  which  is  the  name  thereof  unto  this  day. 

TEXTUAL    AND  GRAMMATIOAL."* 

]}  Ver.  21.  —  The  T  would  be  better  taken  adversitively :  But.  It  contrasts  the  conduct  of  Benjamin  with  that  of 
Caleb,  Ter.  20.  — Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  21.  —  Cf.  note  2,  on  ver.  16,  and  3  on  ver.  29.  —  Tb.] 

[3  Ver.  22,  —  CiTDS  looks  back  to  ver.  3  ff.  and  intimates  a  parallelism  between  the  conduct  of  the  House  of 
Joseph  and  that  of  Judah  and  his  brother  Simeon Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  23.  —Dr.  Cassel  apparently  supplies   S^2Q    from  the  next  verse.  "I^IF!,  it  is  true,  is  usually  followed  by  the 

■iccusative,  not  by  3,     But  on  the  other  hand,  i«?"13XD  is  put  in  the  const,  state  before  T^17  (cf  vers.  24,  25) ;  whereas, 

if  we  supply  it  here,  we  must  suppose  it  joined  to  T*!?  by  means  of  a  preposition.     It  is  as  well,  therefore,  to  say,  with 

Bertheau,  that  "  the  verb  is  connected  with  2  because  the  spying  is  to  fasten  itself,  and  that  continuously,  upon  Bethel, 

cf.  2  with  nS"1  and  nSTH  '>  or  with  Bachmann,  that  2  indicates  the  hostile  character  of  the  spying."  S12J3 
is  used  as  a  general  expression  for  any  way  or  mode  of  access  into  the  city  :  "  Show  us  how  to  get  in,"  is  the  demand  of 
the  spies.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  21.     And  the  sons  of  Benjamin  did  not 
drive  out  the  Jebusite.     At  Josh.  xv.  G.j,  at  the 
close  of  a  detailed  description  of  the  territory  of 
Judah,  it  is  said,  "  As  for  the  Jebusites,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Jerusalem,  the  sons  of  Judah  could  not 
drive  them  out ;  and  the  Jebusites  dwelt  with  the 
sons  of  Judah  in  Jerusalem  unto  this  day."     This 
verse  has  been  thought  to  contradict  the  one  above. 
In  reality,  however,  it  only  ]5rovcs  the  exactness 
of  the  statements.    The  boundary  line  of  the  tribes 
of  Benjamin  and  Judah  ran  through  the  district  of 
Jerusalem,  through   the  valley  of  Ben  Hinnom, 
south  of  the  city  (Josh.  xv.  8).     The  city  already 
extended  outward  from  the  foot  of  the  citadel.  The 
remark  of  Josephus,i  that,  in  the   passage  above 
discussed,  Judg.  i.  8,  the  tribe  of  Judah  took  only 
the  lower  city,  not  the  citadel,  has  gi'eat  probability 
on  its  side.     The  conquest  of  the  citadel  was  not 
their  business  at  the  time.     It  was   sufficient  for 
them  to  pursue  the  hostile  king  into  his  city,  and 
then  lay  that  in  ashes.     The  citadel  lay  within  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin.     Nevertheless,  on  account  of 
this  fortress,  Judah,  also,  was  not  able  to  expel  the 
Jebusites,  who  continued  to  live  side  by  side  with 
them  in  the  district  of  Jerusalem.     At  all  events, 
the  Jebusites  in  Jerusalem  belonged  to  the  territory 
of  Judah  so  far  at  least,  that  the  failure  to  expel 

1  Ant.    V.  2,  2 :     XaAemj  S'  ?iv  i)  KaOvTrepOev  avTols  atpe- 


them  must  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
boundaries  of  Judah.  Still  more  necessary  was  it 
to  repeat  this  statement  in  connection  with  Benja- 
min, within  whose  limits  the  city  and  fortress  of  the 
Jebusites  were  situated.  Their  expulsion  properly 
devolved  on  this  tribe.  Successful  occupation  of 
the  stronghold  would  have  greatly  increased  the 
honor  and  consideration  of  Benjamin-  The 
impoi'tance  of  the  place,  David  recognized  as  soon 
as  he  became  king.  But  Benjamin  was  content 
when  the  Jebusites,  humbled  by  Judah,  offered  no 
resistance,  left  them  in  possession  of  the  fortress, 
and  lived  peaceably  together  with  them.  It  has 
been  justly  observed,  that  different  terms  are  em- 
])loyed  in  speaking  of  the  failure  of  Judah  and 
Benjamin  respectively  to  drive  out  the  Jebusites. 
Of  Judah  it  is  said  (Josh.  xv.  63),  "  they  could 
not,"  because  the  Jebusites  had  their  stronghold 
in  another  tribe.  But  of  Benjamin  this  expression 
is  not  used,  because  they  were  wanting  in  disposi- 
tion and  energy  for  the  struggle  that  devolved 
upon  them.     Cf.  on  ch.  xix.  12. 

Ver.  22.  And  the  house  of  Joseph,  they  also 
went  up  toward  Bethel.  This  action  of  the  house 
of  Joseph  is  told  byway  of  contrast  with  the  house 
of  Benjamin.  The  tribe  of  Benjamin  lay  between 
Judah  and  Ephraim  (Josh,  xviii.  11) ;  and  Bethel, 
within  its  limits,  formed  a  counterpart  to  Jerusa- 
lem. Historically,  Bethel  is  celebrated  for  the 
blessing  there  promised  to  Jacob,  and  afterwards 
.  le.ss  favorably  for  the  idolatrous  worship  of  Jero- 


42 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


boani'  GeogTi'aphically,  it  was  important  on  ac- 
count of  its  position  and  strength.  As  Jebus  and 
Jerusalem  are  always  identified,  so  it  is  everywhere 
remarked  of  Bethel,  that  it  was  formerly  Luz ;  and 
as  Jebus  indicated  particularly  the  fortress,  Jerusa- 
lem the  city,  —  although  the  latter  name  also  em- 
braced both,  —  so  a  similar  relation  must  be 
assumed  to  have  existed  between  Betliel  and  Luz. 
Otherwise  the  border  of  Benjamin  could  not  have 
run  south  of  Luz  (Josh,  xviii.  13),  while  neverthe- 
less Bethel  was  reckoned  among  the  cities  of  Ben- 
jamin (Josh,  xviii.  22).  This  assumption,  more- 
over, explains  the  peculiar  phraseology  of  Josh, 
xviii.  13 :  "  And  the  border  went  over  from  thence  to- 
ward Luz  (after  Avhich  we  expect  the  usual  addition 
"which  is  Bethel ;  "  but  that  which  does  follow  is  :) 
on  the  south  side  of  Luz,  which  is  Bethel.  It  ex- 
plains likewise  the  mention.  Josh.  xvi.  2,  of  the 
border  "  from  Bethel  to  Luz,"  i.  e.  between  Bethel 
and  Luz.  The  latter  was  evidently  a  fortress, 
high  and  strong,  whose  city  descended  along  the 
mountain-slope.  When  Jacob  erected  his-  altar,  it 
must  have  been  on  this  slope  or  in  the  valley.  One 
name  designated  both  fortress  and  city,  but  this 
does  not  militate  against  their  being  distinguished 
from  each  other.  Bethel  belonged  to  two  tribes  in 
a  similar  manner  as  Jerusalem.  The  capture  of 
Luz  by  Joseph  would  not  have  been  told  in  a  pas- 
sage which  treats  of  the  conflicts  of  the  individual 
tribes  in  their  own  territories,  if  that  fortress  had 
not  belonged  to  the  tribes  of  Joseph.  By  the  con- 
quest of  Luz,  Joseph  secured  the  possession  of 
Bethel,  since  both  went  by  that  name,  just  as 
David,  when  he  had  taken  the  fortress  of  the  Jebu- 
site,  was  for  the  first  time  master  of  Jerusalem. 
This  deed  is  related  as  contrasting  with  the  con- 
duct of  Benjamin.  Benjamin  did  nothing  to  take 
the  fortress  of  Zion  :  Joseph  went  up  to  Luz,  and 
God  was  with  him.  This  remark  had  been  impos- 
sible, if,  as  has  been  frequently  assumed,^  the  tribe 
of  Joseph  had  arbitrarily  appropriated  to  itself  the 
city  which  had  been  promised  to  Benjamin.  The 
view  of  ancient  Jewish  expositors,  who  assume  a 
Bethel  in  the  valley  and  one  on  the  mountain,  docs 
not  differ  from  that  here  suggested. — Robinson 
seems  to  have  established  the  position  of  the  an- 
cient Bethel  near  the  present  Beitin,  where  scat- 
tei'cd  ruins  occupy  the  surface  of  a  hill-point.  A 
few  minutes  to  the  N.  E.,  on  the  highest  spot  of 
ground  in  the  vicinity,  arc  other  ruins,  erroneously 
supposed  to  be  Ai  by  the  natives :  these  also  per- 
haps Ijclonged  to  Bethel.-  It  cannot,  however,  be 
said,  that  until  Robinson  this  position  was  entirely 
unknown.  Esthori  ha-Parchi,  who  in  his  time 
found  it  called  Bethai,  the  /  having  fallen  away, 
was  evidently  accpiainted  with  it."*  In  another 
work  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  then  current 
name  of  Bethel  is  said  to  be  Bethin.* 

Vers.  23-2.5.    And  the  house  of  Joseph  sent  to 

spy  out.  ^"I'^n^'l  from  ~l^n,  to  travel  around, 
in  order  to  find  an  entrance  less  guarded  and  inac- 
cessible. Luz  appeared  to  be  very  strong  and  well 
guarded,  and  for  a  long  time  the  assailants  vainly 

1  Already  by  Reland,  Pala-stina,  p.  841. 

2  Rnbiuson,  Bihl.  K-s.  i.  448. 

8  Kaflor  ve  Pherach  (Berlin  eiliHon),  ch.  xi.  pp.  47,  48. 
Cf.  Zunz,  ill  Asher's  Beiij.  of  Ta/ela.  ii.  438. 

4  Ishak  Chelo  in  (Jannoly,  pp.  249,  250. 

5  The  German  traitor  Sege.stes  merely  alleges  that  he  fol- 
lows higher  reasons,  although  lie  knows  that  " proflitnres 
etiam  iis  quos  antepnimnt  hirisi  sunt.'"  Tacit.,  AiDial.  i.  58, 
2.  Israel  saw  the  hand  of  a  higher  Helper  in  such  assist- 
ance ;  and  hence  it  had  no  hatred  toward  the  instru- 
■ueuts 


sought  a  suitable  opportunity  for  a  successful  as- 
sault. When  the  Persians  besieged  Sardis,  their 
efforts  were  long  in  vain.  One  day  a  Persian  saw 
a  Lydian,  whose  helmet  had  fallen  over  the  ram- 
part, fetch  it  back  by  a  hitherto  unnoticed  way. 
The  man  was  followed,  and  the  city  was  taken 
(Herod,  i.  84).  A  similar  accident  iavored  the 
conquest  of  the  fortress.  The  spies  saw  a  man 
who  had  come  out  of  the  city.  He  failed  to  escape 
them.  They  compelled  him  to  disclose  the  en- 
trance. They  promised  him  peace  and  meixy  on 
condition  of  showing  them  the  right  way.  He 
did  it.  It  seems  not  even  to  have  laeen  necessary 
to  storm  the  city ;  they  fell  upon  the  inhabitants 
unawares.  Only  the  man  who  had  assisted  them, 
and  his  family,  were  spared.  They  let  him  go  in 
peace.  He  was  evidently  no  Ephialtes,  who  had 
betrayed  the  city  for  money.  Doing  it  under  com- 
pulsion, and  unconsciously  serving  a  great  cause,* 
no  calamity  befell  him,  and  he  found  a  new  country. 
It  not  only  behooves  the  people  of  God  to  perform 
what  they  have  promised,  but  Jewish  tradition  fol- 
lowed persons  like  Rahab  and  this  man,  as  those 
who  had  furthered  the  course  of  sacred  history 
against  their  own  people,  with  p(!culiar  kindness. 
Tliis  man,  like  Kahab,  is  blessed  for  all  time  (cf. 
Jalkut  on  the  passage,  p.  8,  d). 

Ver.  26.  And  the  man  went  into  the  land  of 
the  Hittites.  It  evinces  a  special  interest  in  the 
man  that  his  fortunes  are  traced  even  into  a  strange 
land.  Greek  patriotism  relates  that  Ephialtes 
fared  as  he  deserved  ; ''  our  history  employs  the 
favorable  destiny  which  befell  this  man,  to  show 
that  as  he  did  not  designedly  for  the  sake  of  money 
practice  treason,  so  he  was  also  the  instrument 
of  setting  a  prosperous  enterprise  on  foot.  But 
where  is  the  land  of  the  CliilUm  (Hittites)  to  which 
he  went  ?  In  nearly  all  passages  in  which  Scrip- 
ture makes  mention  of  the  Sons  of  Cheth  '.^n, 
E.  V.  Heth),  the  Chitti  (""i^n,  E.  V.  Hittite),  and 
the  Chittim    (2^"'^'   12-  V.  Hittites),  the  name 

appears  to  be  a  general  term,  like  the  word  Canaan- 
ite.  Especially  in  the  three  passages  where  the 
Chiltiiii  are  mentioned  '  (Josh.  i.  4 ;  1  Kgs.  x.  29 ;  2 
Kgs.  vii.  G),  their  land  and  kings  are  placed  between 
Egypt  and  Aram  in  such  a  way  as  seems  to  be  ap- 
plicable only  to  the  populations  of  Canaan.  Mov- 
ers ^  has  successfully  maintained  that  D  .HH    and 

S'^r'?  rcfcr  to  the  same  race  of  people  ;  but  it  can- 
not be  accepted  that  this  race  consisted  only  of  the 
Kittim  of  Cy])rus.  It  must  rather  be  assumed 
that  the  Chittim  answer  to  a  more  general  concep- 
tion, which  also  gave  to  the  Kittim,  their  colonists, 
the  name  they  bore.  The  historical  interjireta- 
tion  of  Kittim,  which  applied  it  to  lonians,  Mace- 
donians, and  Romans,  would  not  have  been  possi- 
ble, if  the  name  had  not  carried  with  it  the  notion 
of  axist-dtvelhrs,''  an  idea  which  comparative  phi- 
lology may  find  indicated.  Now,  it  is  unques- 
tionable that  the  Phcjcnician  cities,  Avith  Tyre  at 

6  Ephialtes  was  the  traitor  of  ThorniopyL-c,  cf.  Herod, 
vii.  213.  Traditions  are  still  current  of  a  traitor  at  Jena 
(1806),  who  was  obliged  to  flee  into  exile. 

7  [That  is,  where  this  people  is  spoken  of  under  the  ptumi 
form  of  its  patronymic,  which  happens  only  live  times  — 
at  Judg.  i.  2(5,  2  Ohron.  i.  17,  and  the  places  named  in  the 
text.  —  Ta.] 

8  Phonizier,  ii.  2,  213,  etc, . 

9  I  have  already  directed  attention  to  tLis  in  the  Mag 
AUertkiinur  (Berlin,  1848),  p.  281. 


CHAPTER   L   21-26. 


48 


their  head,  are  even  on  their  own  coins  designated 
by  the  terms  Hn  and  H^.  As  from  its  lowlands, 
"  Canaan  "  became  the  general  popular  name  of 
Palestine,  so  likewise  to  a  certain  extent  the  name 
Chittim  became  a  general  term  applied  to  all 
Canaanites.  When  the  panic-struck  king  of  Aram 
thinks  that  Israel  has  received  support  from  the 
kings  of  Egypt  and  the  Chittim  (2  Kgs.  vii.  6),  this 
latter  name  can  only  signify  the  coast-cities,  whose 
power,  from  Tyre  upwards,  was  felt  throughout 
the  world.  From  the  fact  that  our  passage  merely 
says  that  the  man  went  into  the  land  of  Chittim, ^ 
and  presu])poses  tlie  city  built  by  him  as  still 
known,  it  may  reasonably  lie  inferred  that  he  went 
to  the  familiarly  known  Chittim  north  of  Israel. 
The  jjrobability  is  great  enough  to  justify  our  seek- 
ing this  Luz  upon  the  Phceuieiaii  coast  or  islands 
Aicmarkable  notice  in  the  Talmud  {i>ota,  i&h), 
derived  from  ancient  tradition,  may  lead  to  the 
same  conclusion  :  Luz  is  the  place  where  the  dyeing 

of  n^rri  is  carried  on,  where  there  are  hyacinth- 
ian  -  purple  dyeing-establishments.  Down  to  the 
most  recent  times,  the  coast  from  Tyre  upwards, 
as  far  as  the  Syrian  Alexandria,  was  very  rich  in 

Eurple  (Hitter,  xvi.  Gil  [Gage's  Transl.  iv.  280]). 
ow,  ])retty  far  avv'ay  to  the  north,  it  is  true,  in  the 
present  Jebel  el-Aala,  at  a  point  where  a  splendid 
northwest  prospect  over  the  plain  to  the  lake  of 
Antioch  otters  itself,  Thomson^  found  hitherto 
wholly  unknown  ruins  bearing  the  name  of  Kulb 
Lousy,  with  remnants  of  old  and  splendid  temples 
The  surname  Kulb  *  might  authorize  the  inference 
that  the  dyeing-business  was  formerly  exercised 
there.  The  existence  of  temple-ruins,  eoncernin<: 
which  the  Druses  said  that  they  had  been  with 
out  worshippers  from  time  immemorial,  explains 
also  another  remarkable  tradition  of  the  Tal- 
mud :  that  Luz  is  a  city  which  the  conquerors  of 
the  land  did  not  destroy,  and  to  which  the  angel  of 
death  never  comes,  but  that  they  who  feel  the  ap- 
proach of  death,  leave  the  city  of  their  own  accord. 
Traditions  like  this  are  characteristic  of  Sun- 
worship.  In  Delos  no  one  was  allowed  to  die  or 
to  be  buried.*  To  Claros  no  serpents  came. 
Neither  could  they  penetrate  to  the  land  of  the 
Astypalaians,  on  the  island  Cos.  The  island  Cos 
is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  seats  of  the  ancient 
purple-trade.  In  the  Syrian  city  Emesa  there  was 
a  temple  of  the  Sun,  on  account  of  which — as  the 
story  still  went  in  Mohammedan  times —  scorpions 
and  venomous  animals  cannot  live  there."  Name, 
ruins,  and  tradition  would  therefore  tend  to  iden- 
tify Kulb  Lousy  as  the  remnant  of  an  ancient  city, 
elistinguished  like  Cos  for  a  specific  form  of  indus- 
try and  for  its  sun-worship,  if  indeed  Cos  itself 

(riD)  be  not  understood  by  it. 

Luz  is  described  by  its  name  as  a  place  of  almoiid- 
treeis  (Gen.  xxx.  37).  And  indeed,  philologically 
Luz  is  akin  to  mix,  nut.  The  Greek  Kapvov  signi- 
fies almond  (on  account  of  its  shape)  as  well  as 
nut  and  egg.'  Eusebius  was  induced  to  identify 
the  land  of  the  Chittim  with  Cyprus,  the  rather 

1  Cf.  aKTrj,  Cos  (the  island  Cos),  cautes,  casta,  cOte, 
Kiiste. 

2  The    Sept.    constantly   (with    barely    two   e.xceptions) 

translate  n^-i^  by  vaKlvQivo-,.  Cf.  Ad.  Schmidt,  Die 
griechischen  Papyrusurkunden  (Berlin.  1842),  p.  134. 

8  Of.  Hitter,  xvii.  1577.  [Thomson,  Journey  from  Aleppo 
to   Mt.   Lebanon,  in   Bibliotheca    Sacra,  vol.  v.   p.  667.  — 


because  the  Cyprian  almonds  were  celebrated  in 
antiquity.**  The  almond-tree  has  always  abounded 
in  the  holy  land.  The  cities  are  in  ruins,  but  the 
tree  still  flourishes. 

IIOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

The  cessation  of  perfect  obedience  is  attended  by 
the  cessation  of  perfect  victory.  Benjamin  does 
not  expel  the  hostile  Jelnisite  from  Jerusalem  be- 
cause he  has  lost  his  first  love.  The  tribes  of 
Joseph,  on  the  other  hand,  are  able  to  conquer 
Bethel,  because  God  is  with  them.  Benjamin,  the 
valiant  tribe,  is  alone  to  blame,  if  it  failed  to  tri- 
umph  ;  for  when  Bethel  resisted  the  sons  of  Joseph, 
the  latter  were  aided  by  a  fortunate  incident. 
Benjamin  did  not  conquer  Jerusalem ;  therefore, 
not  the  king  out  of  Benjamin  (Saul),  but  the  ruler 
out  of  Judah  (David),  dwelt  therein.  However, 
it  is  of  no  avail  to  conquer  by  faith,  unless  it  be 
also  maintained  in  faith ;  for  Bethel  became  after 
wards  a  Beth-aven,  a  House  of  Sin. 

Starke  :  111  got,  ill  spent ;  but  that  also  which 
has  been  rightly  got,  is  apt  to  be  lost,  if  we  make 
ourselves  unworthy  of  the  divine  blessing,  just  as 
these  places  were  again  taken  from  the  Israelites. 

[Wordsworth  :  Here  then  was  a  happy  op- 
portunity for  the  man  of  Bethel;  he  might  have 
dwelt  with  the  men  of  Joseph  at  Bethel,  and  have 
become  a  worshipper  of  the  true  God,  and  have 
thus  become  a  citizen  forever  of  the  heavenly  Bethel, 
the  house  of  God,  which  will  stand  forever.  But 
.  .  .  .  he  quits  the  house  of  God  to  propagate 
heathenism  and  idolatry.  The  man  of  Bethel, 
therefore,  is  presented  to  us  in  this  Scripture  as  a 
specimen  of  that  class  of  persons,  who  help  the 
Church  of  God  in  her  work  from  motives  of  fear, 
or  of  worldly  benefit,  and  not  from  love  of  God ; 
and  who,  when  they  have  ojjportunities  of  spiritual 
benefit,  slight  those  opportunities,  and  even  shun 
the  light,  and  go  away  from  Bethel,  the  house  of 
God,  as  it  were,  unto  some  fiir-off  land  of  the 
Hittites,  and  build  there  a  heathen  Luz  of  their 
own.  —  The  same  :  There  are  four  classes  of  per- 
sons, whose  various  conduct  .toward  the  Church 
of  God,  and  to  the  gospel  preached  by  her,  is  repre- 
sented by  four  cases  in  the  Books  of  Joshua  and 
Judges  ;  namely,  —  1 .  There  is  this  case  of  the 
man  of  Bethel.  2.  There  is  the  case  of  the  Ke- 
nites,  in  ver.  16,  who  helped  Judah  after  their  vic- 
tories in  Canaan,  and  are  received  into  fellowship 
with  them.  3,  There  is  the  case  of  the  Gibeonites, 
who  came  to  Joshua  from  motives  of  fear,  and 
were  admitted  to  dwell  with  Israel,  as  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water.  4.  There  is  the  case 
of  Kahab.  She  stands  out  in  beautiful  contrast 
to  the  man  of  Bethel.  He  helped  the  spies  of 
Joseph,  and  was  spared,  with  his  household,  but 
did  not  choose  to  live  in  their  Bethel.  But  Hahab 
received  the  spies  of  Joshua,  even  before  he  had 
gained  a  single  victory,  and  she  professed  her  faith 
in  their  God;  and  she  was  spared,  she  and  her 
household,  and  became  a  mother  in  Israel,  an  an- 
cestress of  Christ  (see  Josh.  vi.  25).  —  Tr.] 

4  Cf.  Bochart,  Hierozokon,  ii.  740.     Ariich  (ed.  Amsteld.) 

p.  89,  s.  V.  012^3. 

5  On  this  and  the  following  notices,  which  will  be  more 
thoroughly  treated  in  the  second  part  of  my  Hierozoicon, 
compare  meanwhile,  JEhnu,  Hist.  Anim.  V.  cap.  viii.  ; 
cap.  X.  49 

6  Cf.  Ritter,  xvii.  1010. 

7  Casaubon,  on  Atlunmiis,  p.  65. 

8  Athenajus,  p.  52  ;  cl.  Meursius,  Cyprus^  p.  30. 


44 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


A  list  of  places  in  the  central  and  northern  tribes  from  which  the  Oanaanites  were  not 

driven   out.      The  tribes  when  strong,  make  the  Canaanites  tributary  ;  when  weak, 

are  content  to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  them. 

Chapter  I.  27-36. 

27  Neither  did  [And]  ^  Manasseh  [did  not]  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  Beth-sbean  and 
her  towns  [daugliter-cities],  nor  Taauach  and  her  towns  [daughter-cities],  nor  the 
inhabitants  of  Dor  and  her  towns  [daughter-cities],  nor  the  inhabitants  of  Ibleam 
and  her  towns  [daugliter-cities],  nor  the  inhabitants  of  Megiddo  and  her  towns 
[daughter-cities]  ;  but  tl^e  Canaanites  would  dwell  [consented  to  dwell]  in  that  land. 

28  And  it  came  to  pass  when  Israel  was  strong,  that  they  put  the  Canaanites  to  ti'ibute 
[made    the    Canaanites    tributary],   and    [but]    did    not   utterly   drive    them  out. 

29  Neither^  did  Ephraim   drive  out  the  Canaanites  that  dwelt  in  Gezer ;  but   the  Ca- 

30  naanites  dwelt  in  Gezer  among'*  them.  Neither*  did  Zebulun  drive  out  the  inhab- 
itants of  Kitron,  nor  the  inhabitants  of  Nahalol ;  but  the  Canaanites  dwelt  among 

31  them,  and  became  tributaries.  Neither  did  Asher  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  Accho, 
nor  the  inhabitants  of  Zidon,  nor  of  Ahlab,  nor  of  Achzib,  nor  of  Ilelbah,  nor  of 

32  Aphik,  nor  of  Rehob :    But  tiie  Asherites  dwelt  among  the  Canaanites,  the  inhab- 

33  itants  of  the  land:  for  they  did  not  drive  them  out.  Neither  did  Naphtali  drive  out 
the  inhabitants  of  Beth-shemesh,  nor  the  inhabitants  of  Beth-anath  ;  but  he  dwelt 
among  the  Canaanites,  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  :  nevertheless,  [and]  the  inhabitants 
of  Beth-shemesh  and  of  Beth-anath  became  tributaries  [were  tributary]  unto  them. 

34  And  the  Amorites  forced  [crowded]^  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan  mto  the  mountain 
[mountains]  :  for  they  would  not  sufter  them  to  come  down  to  the  valley  :  But 
[And]  the  Amorite  would  dwell  [consented  to  dwell]  in  mount  Heres  [,]  in  Aijalon, 
and  in   Shaalbim  :  yet  [and]  the  hand  of  the  house  of  Joseph  prevailed  [became 

36  powerful],  so  that  [and]  they  became  tributaries  [tributary].  And  the  coast  [border] 
of  the  Amorites  was  [went]  from  the  going  up  to  Akrabbim,  from  the  rock,  and  up- 
wards [from  Maahleh  Akrabbim,  and  from  Sela  and  onward]. 

TKXTUAL  AND  GRMIMATICAL. 

p  Ver.  27.  —  So  Dr.  Cassel.  But  the  position  of  the  verb  at  the  beginning  of  the  sentence  suggests  a  contrast  with 
what  precedes :  the  Mouse  of  Joseph  took  Luz  ;  but  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  Beth-shean  Manasseh  (a  member  of  the 
House  of  Joseph)  did  not  do.     Of  next  note.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  29.  —  The   1  here  connects  Ephraim   with  Manasseh,  ver.  27  :  Ephraim  also  was  guilty  of  not  driving  out. 

—  Til.] 

[3  Ver.  29.—   i2~!pS  :   lit.  "in  the  midst  of  them."     Cf.  vers.  IG,  21,  30,  32,  33.  — Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  30. — The  "neither  "  ought  to   be  omitted  here  and  also  in  vers.  31  and  33.     Manasseh   and   Ephraim   are 

coupled  together,  cf.  notes  1  and  2  ;  but  from  this  point  each  tribe  is  treated  separately  :    "Zebulun  did  not  drive  out," 

etc.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  34.  —  ^!Jn  7*1  :  to  press,  to  push.  From  this  word  Bachm.  infers  that  Dan  had  originally  taken  more  of 
his  territory  than  he  now  held.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETIOAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  27.  And  Manasseh  did  not  drive  out. 
The  conquest  of  Luz  w.as  achieved  by  the  two 
brother  tribes  conjointly.  With  the  exce]5tion  of 
this  phvcc,  the  lands  allotted  to  them  had  for  the 
most  part  been  already  conquered  by  Joshua.  The 
portion  of  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  lay  about  the 
brook  Kanah  (Nnhr  cl-Akhdar).i  A  few  cities, 
however,  south  of  this  brook,  which  fell  to  Ephraim, 
were  made  good  to  Manasseh  by  certain  districts 
included  within  the  borders  of  Asher  and  Issachar. 
This  exjjlains  why  Manasseh  did  not  drive  out  the 

1  [On  this  identification  of  the  brook  Kanah,  cf.  Grove  in 
Smith's  Bib.  Diet.,  s.  v.  "  Kanah,  the  River."  —  Tr.] 


inhabitants  of  these  districts.  There  were  six  town- 
ships of  them,  constitutinj^  three  several  domains, 
each  of  them  inclosed  in  the  lands  of  another  tribe 

(nDSn  n^btp,  josh.  xvii.  H ).  The  first  of  these 
■was  Beth-shean  to  the  cast ;  the  second,  the  three 
cities  Megiddo,  Taanach,  and  Ibleam ;  the  third, 
Dor  on  the  sea-coast.  The  two  former  were  in- 
closed within  the  tribe  of  Issachar ;  the  latter  should 
have  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Asher.  The  districts 
thus  given  to  Manasseh  were  valuable.  Beth- 
shean  (Greek,  Scythopolis,  at  present  Beis^in)  oc- 
cujjies  an  important  position,  and  has  a  fertile  soil 
It  formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  two  seas, 
as  also  between  the  territories  east  and  west  }f  the 


CHAI^TER-  I.   27-36. 


45 


Jordan,  and  was  a  precious  oasis  ^  in  the  Glior,  the 
desert-like  valley  of  this  stream.  It  was  an  impor- 
tant place  in  both  ancient  and  later  times.  Esthor 
ha  I'arehi,  the  highly  intelligent  Jewish  traveller 
uf  the  14th  century,  who  nuxde  this  place  the  cen- 
tral ]  "uint  of  his  researches,  says  of  it :  "  It  is  situ- 
ated near  rich  waters,  a  blessed,  glorious  land,  fer- 
tile as  a  garden  of  God,  as  a  gate  of  Paradise  " 
(Berlin  ed.,  pp.  1,  6 ;  of.  Zunz  in  Asher's  Benj.  of 
Tudela,  ii.  401).  The  situation  of  the  three  cities 
Megiddo,  Taanach,  and  Ibleam,  in  the  noble  plain 
of  Jezreel,  was  equally  favorable.  Concerning  the 
first,  it  is  to  be  considered  as  established  that  it 
answers  to  the  old  Legio,  the  modern  Lejjun  (Rob. 
ii.  .328;  iii.  118) ;  although  I  am  not  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  name  Legio,  hrst  mentioned  by  Euse- 
bius  and  Jerome,  is  etymologically  derived  from 
Megiddo.  It  appears  much  more  likely  that  Lejjun 
was  an  ancient  popular  nuitilation  of  Megiddo, 
which  subsequently  in  the  time  of  the  Romans  be- 
came Latinized  into  Legio.  Taanach  is  confessedly 
the  present  Ta'annuk  (Schubert's  Reise,  iii.  164; 
Rob.  ii.  316,  iii.  117).  The  more  confidently 
may  I  suggest  the  neighboring  Jelameh  as  the  site 
of  Ibleam,  although  not  proposed  as  such  by  these 
travellers.-  Robinson  reached  this  place  from 
Jenin,  in  about  one  hour's  travel  through  a  fine 
country  (ZJ/6.  Res.  ii.  318  if.).  Dor ^  is  the  well- 
known  Dandura,  Tantura,  of  the  present  day,  on 
the  coast  (Ritter,  xvi.  608,  etc.  [Gage's  transl.  iv. 
278]).  Josh.xvii.il  names  Endor  also,  of  which 
here  nothing  is  said.     The  same  passage  aflirms 

that  "  the  sons  of  Manasseh  could  not  (-l^?^  H  v) 
drive  out  the  inhabitants."  Evidently,  IManasseh 
depended  for  the  expulsion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
these  cities  upon  the  cooperation  of  Issaehar,  by 
whose  territory  they  were  inclosed.  The  example 
of  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Simeon,  the  latter  of 
whom  was  entirely  surrounded  by  the  former,  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  imitated.  Issaehar  is  the 
only  tribe  concerning  which  our  chapter  gives  no 
information.  But  since  in  the  case  of  all  the  tribes, 
except  Judah,  only  those  cities  are  here  enumerated 
out  of  which  the  Canaanites  had  not  been  expelled, 
the  inference  is  that  Issaehar  had  done  his  part, 
and  that  the  cities  within  his  limits  which  did  not 
expel  their  inhabitants,  were  just  those  which  be- 
longed to  Manasseh.  The  .statement  that  in 
Bcth-shean,  Megiddo,  Taanach,  and  Ibleam  the 
Canaanite  remained,  included  therefore  also  all  that 
was  to  be  said  about  Issaehar,  and  rendered  further 
mention  unnecessary.  Issaehar  possessed  the  mag- 
nihcent  Plain  of  Jezreel  [ti^-ya.  -rfSiov),  and  was  on 
that  account  an  agricultural,  peaceable,  solid  tribe. 
And  the  Canaanite  consented  to  continue  to 

dwell.  Wherever  vST'T  occurs,  it  seems  neces- 
sary to  take  it  as  expressing  acquiescence  in  offered 

1  Its  magnificent  position  is  also  celebrated  in  the  Tal- 
mud, Entbhiy  19  a;  cf.  Ketuboth,  112  a.  See  below  on  ch. 
iv. 

•2  [.According  to  Bachmann,  Knobel  had  already  proposed 
this  identification.  Keil,  after  Schultz,  suggests  Khirbet- 
Belameh,  half  an  liour  south  of  Jenm.  —  Tr.] 

3  Levy  (Pkunizische  Insc/iriften,  i.  35)  thought  that  he 
•ead  this  Dor  on  a  Sidonian  inscription  together  with  Joppa. 
^t  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  has  found  any  one  to  agree 
with  him. 

4  [On  the  derivation  and  radical  idea  of  the  word  D^, 
Dpinions  are  very  much  divided.     There  is  no  unanimity 

ven  as  to  the  usage  of  the  word.  Keil  (on  1  Kgs.  iv.  6, 
(Jdinb.  ed.  1857)  asserts  that  it  "  nowhere  signifies  vectignl. 
tribute,  or  socage,  but  in  all  places  only  serf  or  socager." 


proposals  and  conditions.  In  this  sense  it  is  to  be 
taken  Ex.  ii.  21,  where  Moses  consents  to  enter  into 
the  family  of  Jethro.  Upon  the  proposals  made 
by  Micah  to  the  Levite  (Judg.  xvii.  11),  the  latter 
consents  to  remain  with  him.  David  willingly  ac- 
quiesces in  the  proposal  to  wear  the  armor  of  Saul, 
but  finds  himself  as  yet  unaccustomed  to  its  use. 
Manasseh  was  too  weak  to  expel  the  inhabitants 
of  these  cities.  He  therefore  came  to  an  under 
standing  with  them.  He  proposed  that  they  should 
peaceably  submit  themselves.  Unwilling  to  leave 
The  fine  country  which  they  occupied,  and  seeing 
that  all  the  Canaanites  round  about  had  been  over- 
powered, they  acceded  to  the  proposition. 

Ver.  28.  When  Israel  was  strong,  they  made 
the  Canaanite  tributary.  The  narrator  general- 
izes what  he  has  said  of  Manasseh,  and  applies  it 
to  all  Israel.  The  Canaanite,  wherever  he  Avas  not 
driven  out,  but  "  consented  "  to  remain,  was  obliged 
to  pay  tribute.  This  lasted,  of  course,  only  so  long 
as  Israel  had  strengUi  enough  to  command  the  re- 
spect of  the  subject  people.  Similar  relations  be- 
tween conquerors  and  conquered  are  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  history.  The  inhabitants  of  Sparta, 
the  Periaki,  were  made  tributar\'  by  the  victorious 
immigrant  Dorians,  and  even  after  many  centuries, 
when  Epaminondas  threatened  Sparta,  were  in- 
clined to  make  common  cause  with  the  enemy 
(Manso,  Sparta,  iii.  i.  167).  According  to  Mo- 
hammedan law,  the  unbeliever  who  freely  submits 
himself,  retains  his  property,  but  is  obliged  to  pay 
poll-tax  and  ground-rent  (cf.  Tornauv,  Das  Most. 
Recht,  i^.  51).  When  the  Saxons  had  vanquished 
the  Thuringian  nobility,  and  were  not  sufficiently 
numerous  to  cultivate  the  land,  "they  let  tbe  peas- 
antry remain,"  says  the  Sachsenspiecjd  (iii.  44), 
and  took  rent  from  them  (cf.  Eichhorn,  Deutsche 
Staats  imd  Rec/its;/.,  §  15).  The  treatment  which 
the  Israelitish  tribes  now  extended  to  the  Canaan- 
ites, was  afterwards,  in  the  time  of  their  national 
decay,  experienced  by  themselves  (cf.  my  History  of 
the  Jews  in  Ersch  &  Gruber,  II.  xxvii.  7,  etc.).  The 

word  Dp,  by  which  the  tribute  imposed  is  desig- 
nated, evidently  means  ground-rent,  and  is  related 
to  the  Sanskrit  mddmetior,  to  measure.  Another 
expression  for  this  form  of  tribute  is. the  Chaldee 

n'^p  (Ezra  iv.  20),  for  which  elsewhere  ^l??'^ 
appears  (Ezra  iv.  13).  The  Midrash  {Ber.  Rabha, 
p.  57,  a),  therefore,  rightly  explains  the  latter  as 

VT}^r7  ^'~'?^)  ground-rent.  The  terms  mensura 
and  mensuraticum,  in  mediteval  Latin,  were  formed 
in  a  similar  manner.    The  Arabic  ^"'3,  Talmudic 

i^^^^^,  also,  as  Hammer  observes  [Ldndervcrwalt 
des  Chalifats,  p.  119),  mean  tribute  and  corn.* 

But  the  better  view  seems  to  be  that  although  it  is  some 
times  used  concretely  for  socagers  or  bond-servants,  (c(.  1  Kgs. 
v. 27(13)),  yet  its  proper  .and  usual  meaning  is  tribute-.«frf/ce. 
Out  of  the  twenty-three  instances  in  which  the  word  occurs, 
there  is  not  one  in  which  it  can  be  shown  that  it  means 
tribute  in  money  or  products  ;  while  it  is  abundantly  evi 
dent  that  in  many  cases  it  does  mean  compulsory  labor, 
personal  service.  What  kind  of  service  the  I.sraelites  here  re- 
quired of  the  Canaanites  does  not  appear.  It  may  have  been 
labor  on  public  works,  or  assistance  rendered  at  certain  times 
to  the  individual  agriculturist.  This  appears  at  least  as 
probable  as  Bachmann's  suggestion  that  perhaps  "  the  Ca- 
naanite merchants  "  were  expected  to  furnLsh  certain  "  com- 
mercial supplies  and  services."  Our  author's  view  in  favor 
of  "ground-rent,"  cannot  be  said  to  derive  the  support  of 
analogy   from   his  histo;ical  references.     For  as  Bachmanu 


46 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


[But  did  not  drive  them  out.  Bertheau  : 
"  ity^nin-sb  ty^THV  the  emphatic  expression 
by  means  of  the  infinitive  before  the  finite  verb,  we 
regard  as  indieative  of  an  implied  antithesis ;  but, 
although  Israel,  when  it  became  strong,  had  the 
power  to  execute  the  law  of  Moses  to  destroy  the 
Canaanites,  it  nevertheless  did  not  destroy  them." 
-Tk.] 

Ver.  29.  And  Ephraim  did  not  drive  out 
the  Canaanite  that  dwelt  in  Gezer.  The  situa- 
tion of  Gezer  may  be  exactly  determined  fronf 
Josh.  xvi.  3.  The  border  of  Ephraim  proceeds 
from  Lower  Beth-horon,  by  way  of  Gezer,  to  the 
sea.  Now,  since  the  position  of  Beth-horon  is  well 
ascertained  (Beit  'Ur  et-Tatha),  the  border,  run- 
ning northwest,  past  Ludd,  which  belonged  to  Ben- 
jamin, must  have  touched  the  sea  to  the  north  of 
Japho,  which  likewise  lay  within  the  territory  of 
Benjamin.  On  this  line,  four  or  five  miles  east  of 
Joppa,  there  still  exists  a  place  called  Jesor  ( Jazour 
Yaziir),  which  can  be  nothing  else  than  Gezer, 
although  Bertheau  does  not  recognize  it  as  such 
(p.  41  ;  nor  Bitter,  xvi.  127  [Gage's  Transl.  iii. 
245]).  It  is  not  improbable  that  it  is  the  Gazara 
of  Jerome  (p.  137,  ed.  Parthey),  in  quarto  milliario 
Nicopoleos  contra  septentrionem,  although  the  dis- 
tance does  not  appear  to  be  accurately  given.  The 
Ganzur  of  Esthor  ha-Parchi  (ii.  434),  on  the  con- 
trary, is  entirely  incorrect.  The  position  of  Gezer 
enables  us  also  to  see  why  Ephraim  did  not  drive 
out  the  inhabitants.  The  place  was  situated  in  a 
■fine,  fertile  region.  It  is  still  surrounded  by  noble 
corn-fields  and  rich  orchards.  The  agricultural 
population  of  such  fruitful  regions  were  readily 
permitted  to  remain  for  the  sake  of  profit,  especially 
by  warlike  tribes  who  had  less  love  and  skill  for 
such  peaceful  labors  than  was  possessed  by  Issa- 
char. 

Ver.  30.  Zebulon  did  not  drive  out  the  in- 
habitants of  Kitron  nor  the  inhabitants  of 
Nahalol.  This  statement  will  only  confirm  the 
remarks  just  made.  There  is  no  reason  for  con- 
tradicting the  Talmud  (Mec/i/la,  6  a),  when  it  defi- 
nitely identifies  Kitron  with  the  later  Zippori, 
Sepphoris,  the  present  Sefi'firieh.  As  the  present 
village  still  lies  at  the  foot  of  a  castle-crowned  emi- 
nence, and  as  the  Rabbinic,  name  Zippori  (Tsip- 

pori,  from  "Tl^^,  "a  bird,  which  hovers  aloft") 
indicates  an  elevated  situation,  the  ancient  name 
P"ltpp  (from  "1^1^  =~1^^)  may  perhaps  be  sup- 
posed to  describe  the  city  as  the  "  mountain- 
crown  "  of  the  surrounding  district.  The  tribe  of 
Zebulon,  it  is  remarked  in  the  Talmud,  need  not 
connniserate  itself,  since  it  has  Kitron,  that  is,  Sep- 
phoris, a  district  rich  in  milk  and  honey.  And  in 
truth  Sefturieh  does  lie  on  the  southern  limit  of  the 
beautiful  plain  el-Buttauf,  the  present  beauty  and 
richness  of  which,-  as  last  noted  by  Kobinson  (ii. 
S36),  must  formerly  have  been  much  enhanced  by 
cultivation.  In  connection  with  this,  it  will  also 
be  possible  to  locate  Nahalol  more  definitely.  Phi- 
lologically,  it  is  clearly  to  be  interpi-eted  "  pasture  " 
(Isa.  vii.  19).     It  answers  perhaps  to   the  later 

ju.stly  remarks,  "  the  case  in  which  the  conquerors  of  a 
country  leave  tlie  earlier  population  in  possession  of  their 
lands  on  condition  of  paying  ground-rent,  is  the  reverse  of 
what  takes  place  here,  where  a  people,  themselves  agricul- 
turists, take  personal  possession  of  the  open  country,  and 
concede  a  few  cities  to  the  old  inhabitants."'  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  the  situation  varied  considerably  in  different , 
localities,  cf.  ver.  31  f.  and  ver.  34.  —  Tr.] 
1  Wetzstein  (Haitran,  p.  88)  writes:   "Of  Ziphron  (Arab. 


Abilin,  a  place  from  which  a  wady  somewhat  tc 
the  northwest  of  Setfilrieh  has  its  name.  For  this 
name  comes  from  Abel,  which  also  means  pasture. 
Tills  moreover  suggests  the  explanation  why  from 
just  these  two  places  the  Canaanites  were  not  ex- 
pelled. They  both  became  tributary,  and  remained 
the  occupants  and  bailiff's  of  their  pastures  and 
meadows. 

Vers.  31,  32.  Asher  did  not  drive  out  the 
inhabitants  of  Accho,  Zidon,  Ahlab,  Achzib, 
Helbah,  Aphik,  Rehob.  The  whole  history  of 
Israel  can  be  nothing  else  than  a  fulfilling  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Mosaic  law.  The  division  of  the  land 
of  Canaan  is  a  part  of  this  fulfillment.  This  divis- 
ion therefore  cannot  have  respect  only  to  the  terri- 
tory already  acquired,  but  must  proceed  according 
to  the  promise.  The  boundaries  of  the  land  des- 
tined for  Israel  were  indicated  by  Moses.  The  ter- 
ritories which  they  circumscribe  must  be  conquered. 
Whatever  part  is  not  gained,  the  failure  is  the 
fault  of  Israel  itself.  The  boundaries  indicated, 
wei"e  the  outlines  of  a  magnificent  country.  Splen- 
did coast-lands,  stately  mountains,  wealthy  agri- 
cultural districts,  rich  in  varieties  of  products  and 
beauty,  inclosed  by  natural  boundaries.  The 
whole  sea-coast  with  its  harbors  —  Phoenicia  not 
excepted  —  was  included  ;  the  northeastern  bound- 
ary was  formed  by  the  desert,  and  lower  down  by 
the  river.  The  border  lines  of  the  land  of  Israel, 
drawn  Num.  xxxiv.,  are  based  upon  the  permanent 
landmarks  which  it  offers ;  they  are  accurate  geo- 
graphical definitions,  obtained  trom  the  wandering- 
tribes  of  the  land.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  only 
from  this  point  of  view  that  the  hitherto  frequently 
mistaken  northern  boundary  of  the  land,  as  given 
Num.  xxxiv.  7-9,  can  be  correctly  made  out. 
"  And  this  shall  be  your  north  border,"  it  is  there 
said:  "from  the  great  sea  ye  shall  take  Mount 
Hor  as  your  landmark  ;  thence  follow  the  road  as 
far  as  Hamath ;  and  the  border  shall  end  in  Zedad : 
thence  it  goes  on  to  Ziphron, ^  and  ends  in  Hazar- 
enan."  The  range  of  Mount  Casius,  whose  south- 
ernmost prominence  lifts  itself  up  over  Laodicea 
(the  present  Ladikieh),  forms  the  natural  northern 
boundary  of  Phceuieia.     This  is  the  reason  why 

on  coins  Laodicea  was  called  ^^332  DS,  the  "  Be- 
ginning of  Canaan,"  as  it  might  be  translated.  It 
is  therefore  also  from  the  foot  of  this  range  that 
the  northern  boundary  of  Israel  sets  out.  The 
name  Moixnt  Hor  is  simply  the  ancient  equivalent 
of  Mount  Casius  and  also  of  the  later  Jebel  Akra, 
which  latter  term  furnishes  a  general  designation 
for  every  mountain,  since  the  Greek  Akra  was  ex- 
plahied  by  the  Arabic  Jebel.  From  the  foot  of  this 
mountain   ancient  caravan   roads    (suggested    by 

^'^'n  ^^7)  lead  to  Hamath,  and  from  Hamath 
to  the  desert.  At  present,  as  in  the  time  of  the 
geographer  Ptolemy,  who  indicated  their  course, 
tiiese  roads  pass  over  Zedad,  at  the  western  en- 
trance of  the  desert,  the  modern  Sndtid  (Bitter, 
x^^.  5  [Gage's  Transl.  iii.  175]  ;  xvii.  1443,  etc.). 
Thence  the  border  went  southward  till  it  ended  in  ' 
Hazar-enan,  the  last  oasis,  distinguished  by  fertile 
meadows  and  good  water  {Enan),  where  the  two 

Zifran)  wide-spread  ruins  are  yet  existing.  According  to  my 
inquiries,  the  place  lies  fourteen  liours  N.  E.  of  DamascuSj 
near  the  Palmyra  road.  It  has  not  yet,  I  think,  been  vis- 
ited by  any  traveller."  It  is  impracticable  here  to  enter 
into  further  geographical  discussions,  but  the  opinion  of 
Keil  (on  Num.  xxxiv.  7-9)  who  rejects  the  above  determina- 
tion, cannot  be  accepted  as  decisive,  if  for  no  other  reason 
on  account  of  t  le  general  idea  by  which  he  ic  evidently 
influenced. 


CHAPTER   I.   27-30. 


i,1 


principal  roads  from  Damascus  and  Haleb  to  Pal- 
myra meet,  and  where  the  proper  Syrian  desert  in 
which  Palmyra  (Tadmor)  is  situated  begins.  The 
name  Cehere  on  the  Tabula  Peutingeriana,  Zoaria 
(for  the  Goaria  of  Ptolemy),  at  present  Carietein, 
Kuryetein  (Ritter,  xvii.  1457,  etc.),  may  remind  us 
of  Hazor. 

Tadmor  itself  did  not  lay  beyond  the  horizon  of 
Israelitish  views.  Whithersoever  David  and  Solo- 
mon turned  their  steps,  they  moved  everywhei'e 
within  the  circle  of  original  claims.  Israel  was  not 
to  conquer  in  unbi'idled  arbitrariness ;  they  were 
to  gain  those  districts  which  God  had  promised 
them.  Conquest,  with  them,  was  fiilfillinent.  The 
eastern  border  has  the  same  natui'al  character. 
From  Hazar-enan  it  runs  to  Shepham,  along  the 
edge  of  the  desert  to  Riblah  (the  present  Ribleh) 
'-on  the  east  side  of  Ain"  (Rob.  iii.  534),  along 
the  range  of  Antilebanon,  down  the  Jordan  to  the 
Dead  Sea.  These  remarks  it  was  necessary  to 
make  here  where  we  must  treat  of  the  territories 
of  Ashef  and  Naphtali,  the  northwestern  and  north- 
eastern divisions  of  Israel.  For  it  must  be  assumed 
that  Asher's  territory  was  considered  to  extend  as 
far  up  as  Mount  Hor,  —  that  the  whole  coast  from 
Accho  to  Gabala  was  ascribed  to  him.  This 
coast.-region  Asher  was  not  sufficiently  strong 
and  numerous  to  command.  The  division  of  the 
land  remained  ideal  nowhere  more  than  in  the 
case  of  the  Phoenician  cities.  Nowhere,  conse- 
quently, was  the  remark  of  ver.  32  more  applica- 
ble :  "  the  Asherite  dwelt  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  land ; "  whereas  elsewhere  the  Canaanites 
dwelt  among  Israel,  though  even  that  was  against 
the  Mosaic  commands.  Nor  can  it  be  supposed 
that  the  seven  cities  expressly  named  were  the  only 
ones  out  of  which  Asher  did  not  expel  the  Canaan- 
ites. For  who  can  think  that  this  had  been  done 
in  the  case  of  Tyre,  the  "  fortified  city  "  (Josh,  xix- 
29)  ?  The  names  are  rather  to  be  considered  as 
those  of  townships  and  metropolitan  cities,  so  that 
when  Zidon  is  mentioned  other  cities  to  the  south 
and  north  are  included  as  standing  under  Sidonian 
supremacy.  The  express  mention  of  Tyre,  in 
Josh.  xix.  29,  is  duo  to  the  fact  that  the  passage 
was  giving  the  course  of  the  boundaries.  For  the 
same  reason,  Joshua  xix.  is  not  a  complete  enu- 
meration of  places ;  for  of  the  seven  mentioned 
here,  two  at  least  (Accho  and  Ahlab)  are  wanting 
there.  That  Accho  cannot  have  been  accidentally 
overlooked,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  bor- 
der is  spoken  of  as  touching  Carmel,  and  that 
mention  is  made  of  Achzib.  The  relation  of  Asher 
to  the  I'hoenician  territory  was  in  general  the  fol- 
lowing :  A  number  of  places  (Josh.  xix.  30  speaks 
of  twenty  two)  had  bcenVholIy  taken  possession 
of  by  the  tribe.  Outside  of  these,  the  Asherites 
lived  widely  scattered  among  the  inhabitants,  mak- 
ing no  attempts  t6  drive  them  out.  The  seven 
cities  mentioned  above,  especially  those  on  the 
coast,  are  to  be  regarded  as  districts  in  which  they 
dwelt  along  with  the  Canaanites.  We  have  no 
reason  for  confining  these  to  the  south  of  Sidon. 
On  the  contrary,  Esthor  ha-Parchi  (ii.  413-415) 
was  right  in  maintaining  that  cities  of  the  ti-ibe  of 
Asher  must  be  acknowledged  as  far  north  as  Lao- 
dicea.  The  statements  in  Joshua  for  the  most  part 
mention  bordei'-places  of  districts  farther  inland,  in 
whicli  the  tribe  dwelt,  and  from  which  the  bound- 
ary lino  ran  westward  to  the  sea.     Thus,  at  one 

,   mu    m  ,       .        ,1      -.V-r-i    V.      w*-^>,s»/sV«      CAaW.,  p.  1740),  but  also  in  proper  names,  as  Rehoboth  Tr. 

1  The  Targum   also   translates  3m    by    Sj  iTID 72     P  11 

>ot  only  when   used  as  a  common  noun  (cf.  Buxtorf,  Lex.  ' 


time  the  line  meandered  (^K.")  to  Zidon  (xix.  28) ; 
tlien  it  came  back,  and  ran  toward  Tyre  (ver.  29). 
Not  till  the  words,  "the  ends  were  at  the  sea, 

•^9  W  -  "5^^'"  do  we  get  a  sea-boundary  from 
north  to  south.  I  translate  this  phrase,  "from 
Chebel  towards  Achzib  : "  it  includes  the  whole 
Phoenician  tract.  True,  the  whole  enumeration 
implies  that  most  of  the  places  lay  farther  south 
than  Zidon,  in  closer  geographical  connection  with 
the  rest  of  Israel.  But  places  higher  up  are  also 
named,  for  the  very  purpose  of  indicating  the  ideal 
boundaries.  Among  these  are  the  ptaces  men- 
tioned ver.  30,  two  of  which  again  appear  in  our 
passage.  Asher  did  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants 
of  Accho  (Ptolemais,  the  present  Akka),  but  dwelt 
among  them.  To  the  north  of  this  was  Achzib 
(Ecdippa,  the  present  cz-Zib).  They  dwelt  with 
the  inhabitants  of  Zidon  in  their  dominion.  They 
did  not  expel  the  inhabitants  of  Aphik  (Apheca), 
on  the  Adonis  river  (Ritter,  xvii.  5.53,  etc.),  not- 
withstanding the  ancient  idolatry  there  practiced, 
on  account  of  which,  evidently,  it  is  mentioned. 
Rehob,  since  it  is  here  named,  must  have  been  a 
not  unimportant  place.     The  Syrian  translation 

of  Rehob  is  S"^ID7D,  Sn^tobs,  paJtia,  paltusa 
[platea'^).  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  speak  of  an  ancient  Paltos, 
otherwise  unknown  (Ritter,  xvii.  890),  and  of 
which  the  present  Beldeh  may  still  remind  us. 
Hitherto,  this  has  escaped  attention.  It  was  I'e- 
marked  above  that  the  sea-boundary  is  drawn, 
Josh,  xix.,  "  from  Chebel  to  Achzib."     With  this 

Chebel    the   HS^D    (Chelbah,   E.   V.    Helbah), 

probably  to  be  read  "^^^ri  (Cheblah),  of  our 
passage,  may  perhaps  be  identified.  It  is  the  Ga- 
bala of  Strabo  and  Pliny,  the  Gabellum  of  the 
crusaders,  the  present  Jebele,  which  lies  to  the 
north  of  Paltos,  and  below  Laodicea,  and  in  Phoe- 
nician times  was  the  seat  of  the  worship  of  the 
goddess  Thuro  (Ritter,  xvii.  893;  Movers,  ii.  1, 
117  ft'.).  Thei-e  is  but  one  of  the  seven  cities  of 
which  we  have  not  yet  spoken,  namely,  Ahlab, 
named  along  with  Achzib.  It  is  very  probable 
that  this  is  Giscala,  situated  in  the  same  latitude 
with  Achzib,  but  farther  inland.  In  Talmudic 
times  the  name  of  this  place  was  Gush  Chaleb ;  at 
present  there  is  nothing  but  the  modern  name 
el-Jish  to  remind  us  of  it. 

Ver.  33.  Naphtali  did  not  drive  out  the  in- 
habitants of  Beth-shemesh  and  Beth-anath. 
The  names  of  both  these  places  allude  to  an  idola- 
trous worship,  and  are  also  found  in  the  tribe  of 

Judah.     The  name  of  Beth-anath  iX^yS   rT^?), 

"  House  of  Echo,"  from  "^33?,  "  to  answer,"  indi- 
cates that  its  situation  was  that  of  the  present 
Binias,  the  ancient  Paneas.  The  inscriptions  on 
the  grotto  called  Panium,  still  point  to  the  echo. 
One  of  them  is  dedicated  to  the  "  echo-loving " 
{(piXevhxv)  I'an-  'J-'lie  love  of  Pan  for  the  nymph 
Echo  was  a  widely-spread  myth.  Another  inscrip- 
tion tells  of  a  man  who  dedicated  a  niche  (K6yxftv) 
to  the  Echo  (Commentary  on  Seetzens  Iteisen,  iv. 
161,  162).  The  introduction  in  Greek  times  of 
Pan  worship  in  Banias,  is  moreover  also  explained 
by  the  fact  that  the  name  Bethanas  (th),  required 
only  an  easy  popular  corruption  to  make  it  Paneas. 


48 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Robinson  {Bib.  Res.  in.  409)  lias  !\n:ain  taken  np 
the  view,  already  rejected  by  Kitter  (xvii.  229), 
which  identifies  Pancas  with  the  repeatedly  occur- 
ring Baal-i,rad,  and  which  on  closer  inspection  is 
simi)ly  impossible.    Joshua  M.  17  says  ot'Baal-f^ad 

that  it  lay  in  the  Bikath  (n37I72)  Lebanon,  under 
Mount  Hermon.  Joshua  xii.  7  speaks  of  it  simply 
as  Baal-gad  in  the  Bikath  Lebanon.  The  valley 
thus  spoken  of  is  none  other  than  the  Buka'a,  i.  e. 
'■  Hollow  Syria."  There  is  no  other  hollow  region 
that  could  be  thus  indicated.  The  further  deter- 
mination tachuth  har  Chermon  indicates,  quite  con- 
sistently with  the  meaning  of  tachath,  which  fre- 
quently combines  the  signification  of  "  behind  " 
with  that  of  "  under,"  the  Lebanon  valley  behind 
Mount  Hermon,  i.  e.  on  the  northern  base  of  Her- 
mon, for  on  its  southern  base  there  can  be  no  Leb- 
anon valley.  This  alone  would  suffice  to  transfer 
Baal-gad  to  the  Buka'a.  But  in  Joshua  xiii.  5  a  Leb- 
anon is  spoken  of  "  east  of  Baal-gad  under  Mount 
Hermon."  Now,  a  Lebanon  east  of  Baal-gad  there 
can  be  only  if  Baal-gad  lies  in  the  Buka'a ;  and 
there  being  a  Lebanon  on  the  east,  only  the  north- 
ern base  of  Mount  Hermon  can  be  meant  by  the 
phrase  "under  Mount  Hermon"  (cf.  below,  on  ch.  iii. 
3).  Now,  although  there  ought  to  be  no  doubt  that 
Baal-gad  lay  in  the  "  Hollow,"  yet,  the  addition 
"  under  Mount  Hermon"  cannot  have  been  made 
without  a  reason.  It  was  intended  to  distinguish 
BaaL-qad  from  Baal-bek,  which  latter,  since  it  lies 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  Buka'a,  could  not  prop- 
erly be  said  to  lie  on  the  northern  base  of  Hermon. 
We  scarcely  need  to  hesitate,  therefore,  to  recog- 
nize in  Baal-gad  the  position  of  the  later  Chalcis 
[ad  Libanum)  whose  site  is  marked  by  fountains 
and  temple-ruins.  "  The  temple  which  stands  on 
the  summit  of  the  northernmost  hill,  belongs  evi- 
dently to  an  older  and  severer  style  of  architecture 
than  those  at  Baalbek.  Its  position  is  incompara- 
ble "  (Bitter,  xvii.  185  ;  Rob.  iii.  492,  etc  ). 

Besides  the  inhabitants  of  Beth-anath,  the  tribe 
of  Naphtali  tailed  to  drive  out  those  of  Beth- 
shemesh  also.  There  was  a  celebrated  place  of  the 
same  name  in  Judah,  and  still  another,  unknown 
one  in  Issachar.  Concerning  the  tribe  of  Nai^h- 
tali  also  the  remark  is  made  that  they  dwelt  among 
the  Canaanites,  the  inhabitants  of  the  land.  Their 
assigned  boundaries  likewise  went  far  np  to  the 
north.  They  inclosed  Coelo-Syria,  as  was  already 
remarked.  The  peculiar  mode  in  which  Beth- 
shcmesh  is  here  spoken  of,  along  with  Beth-anath, 
is  doubtless  intended  to  point  it  out  as  a  renuirk- 
able  seat  of  idol  worship,  whose  people  neverthe- 
less Israel  did  not  expel,  but  only  rendered  tribu- 
tary. The  most  celebrated  place  of  the  north  was 
the  temple-city  in  the  "Hollow,"  —  Beth-shemesh, 
as  later  Syrian  inhabitants  still  called  it,  —  Baal- 
bek as  we,  following  the  prevailing  usage  of  its 
pcoi)le,  Heiiojiolis  as  the  Greeks,  named  it.  The 
Egy])ti;ui  Heliopolis  also  bore  the  name  Beth- 
shemesh,  House  of  the  Sun.  Baalbek  answers  to 
the  name  Baalath,^  to  which,  as  to  Tadmor,  Solo- 
mon extended  his  wisdom  and  his  architecture. 

Vers.  .'U,  .3.5.  And  the  Amorite  crowded  the 
sons  of  Dan  into  the  mountains.  The  domains 
of  the  tribe  of  Dan  lay  alongside  of  those  of  Benja- 

1  1  Kgs.  ix.  18.  Others  refer  tliis  to  Baalatli  in  the 
*riho  of  Dau.  Cf.  Keil  on  Joshua  xix.  44,  and  on  1  Kgs. 
IX.  18. 

2  Compare  the  Syrian  WUvtt?,  "anfractus  inter  duos 
monies.''-     Cf.  Castelli,  p.  912. 

8  [Bachmann  :  "  That  the  House  of  Joseph  used  its  greater 
itrength  not  to  eNterminate  the  Amorite  cities,  but  only  to 


min,  between  Judah  on  the  south  and  Ephraim  on 
the  north.  They  should  have  reached  to  the  sea; 
but  the  warlike  dwellers  on  the  western  plain, 
provided  with  the  appliances  of  military  art,  had 
resisted  even  Judah.  The  plain  which  we  are  here 
told  the  sons  of  Dan  could  not  take,  seems  to  have 
been  the  niagniticent  and  fertile  Merj  Ibn  Omeir, 
which  opens  into  the  great  western  plain.  This 
may  be  inferred  from  the  remark  in  ver.  35  :  "  The 
Amorite  consented  to  remain  on  Mount  Heres,  in 
Aijalon,  and  in  Shaalbim."  This  plain,  as  Rob- 
inson (iii.  144)  accurately  observes,  reaches  to  the 
base  of  the  steep  mountain  wall,  on  the  top  of 
which  Siris  is  the  first  place  met  with.  It  must  be 
this  mountain  land  that  is  meant  by  Mount  Heres. 
Southward  of  it  is  the  ridge  on  which  Yalo  lies, 
which  is  justly  considered  to  be  the  ancient  Aija- 
lon Perhaps  no  place  answers  more  closely  to  the 
Shaalbim  of  our  passage,  than  Amwas  (Emmaus, 
Nicopolis),  twenty  minutes  distant  from  the  coni- 
cal Tell  Latron.  It  is  evident  that  U'^'D^^'SW  has 
nothing  to  do  with  v^^lZ?,  "  fox,"  but  belongs 
to    the    Chaldaic  2^t^,   "to  connect,"  'J?"'^^^ 

"  steps,"  2  to  which  the  Hebrew  233^  corresponds 
The  position  of  Amwas  is  "  on  the  gradual  decliv- 
ity of  a  rocky  hill,"  with  an  extensive  view  of  the 
plain  (Rob.  iii.  146),  "where,"  as  Jerome  says, 
"  the  mountains  of  Judah  begin  to  rise."  When 
Jerome  speaks  of  a  tower  called  Selebi,  he  proba- 
bly refers  to  the  neighboring  castle  Latron. 

The  sons  of  Dan  were  not  only  unable  to  com- 
mand the  plain,  but  also  on  some  ])oints  of  the 
hill-country  they  suffered  the  inhabitants  to  remain. 

Har  Heres  (D~in  ")/!)  means  the  "  mountain  of 
the  Sun  ;"  but  the  attempts  to  bring  its  position 
into  connection  with  Ain  Shems  cannot  succeed, 
since  that  lies  much  farther  south,  in  the  valley. 
Heres  was  the  name  of  the  mountain  chain  which 
at  Beth-horon  enters  the  territory  of  Ephraim,  and 
on  which  Joshua  was  buried.  Possibly,  the  name 
Saris  or  Soris  contains  a  reminiscence  of  it.  This 
explains  the  remark,  that  "  the  hand  of  the  sons  of 
Joseph  became  powerful  and  made  the  Amorites 
tributary."  That  which  was  impossible  for  the 
tribe  of' Dan,  Ephraim  from  their  own  mountains 
performed.^ 

"N'er.  .Ofi.  The  border  of  the  Amorite  re- 
mained from  the  Scorpion-terrace,  from  Sela 
and  onward.  This  peculiar  statement  is  explained 
Ijy  the  com]iosition  of  the  whole  tableau  presented 
by  the  first  chapter.  It  had  been  unfolded  how  far 
the  tribes  of  Israel  had  performed  the  task  ap- 
pointed by  Moses,  by  taking  the  territories  whoso 
borders  he  had  indicated.  For  this  reason,  it  had 
been  stated  concerning  all  the  tribes,  what  they 
had  not  yet  taken,  or  had  not  yet  wholly  national- 
ized. Neither  the  eastern,  nor  the  northern  and 
western  boundaries  had  been  hitherto  fully  realized. 
Only  the  southern  border  had  been  held  fast.  This 
line,  as  drawn  Num.  xxxiv.  3  ff.,  actually  sep- 
arated Israel  and  the  heathen  nations.  Ver.  36  is, 
as  it  were,  a  citation  from  the  original  Mosaic 
document.  After  beginning  the  sentence  by  say- 
render  them  tributary,  thus  benefitting  itself  more  than 
the  tribe  of  Dan,  seta  forth  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of 
their  assistance,  and  conveys  a  just  reproach.  Meanwhile, 
however,  it  seems  that  the  subjugation  of  the  Amorite  by  the 
House  of  .Joseph  w.as  so  far  at  least  of  use  to  Dau  as  to  en- 
able tliem  to  reach  the  coast,  in  partial  possession  of  which, 
at  least,  we  find  the  tribe  in  ch.  v.  17."  But  cf.  our  author 
in  Inc.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  I.   27-30. 


49 


ing-,  "  and  the  border  of  the  Amorite  went  from 
Akrabbim  and  Sela/'  it  is  brought  to  a  sudden 

close  by  the  addition  n|^I''^'1,  "and  onward,  be- 
cause it  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  further  course 
of  the  border  to  the  "  Brook  of  Egypt  "  is  known 
fi-om  the  determinations  of  Moses  as  recorded  in 
Numbers.  There  it  was  said,  "  Your  border  shall 
go  to  the  south  of  Maaleh  Akrabbim  (at  the  south- 
ern extremity  of  the  Dead  Sea),  pass  through  Zin, 
and  its  end  shall  be  to  the  soutli  of  Kadesh-barnea." 
Here,  the  statement  is  somewhat  more  exact,  inas- 
much as  the  border  is  prolonged  from  Akrabbim 
eastward  to  Sela,  i.  e.  Petra.  From  Akrabbim 
westward  it  proceeds  along  the  already  indicated 
route,  over  Kadesh-barnea,  Hazar-addar,  and  Az- 
mon,  to  the  "  Brook  of  Egypt"  (Wady  el-Arish, 
Rhinocoiiira).  This  course  the  writer  deemed  suf- 
ficiently indicated  by  the  words  "  and  onward."  ^ 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Obedience  and  love  toward  God  are  wrecked  on 
greediness  and  love  of  ease.  Immediately  after  the 
death  of  Joshua,  the  children  of  Israel  asked  after 
God.  But  very  soon  they  ceased  to  do  that  which 
Moses,  and,  in  his  name,  Joshua  had  commanded 
them.  Their  business  was  to  conquer,  and  not  to 
tremble  at  strongholds  or  chariots  of  iron.  They 
were  to  expel,  and  not  to  take  tribute.  But  their 
heart  was  no  longer  entirely  with  their  God.  They 

1  [The  foregoing  paragraph,  rendered  somewhat  obscure 
by  its  brevity,  was  explained  by  the  author,  in  reply  to 
Bonie  inquiries,  as  follows:  "I  endeavored  to  show  that 
the  idea  of  the  pas.sage  is,  that  the  original  boundary  lines 
of  Israel,  as  drawn  by  Moses,  had  nowhere  been  held  against 
the  Amorite,  i.  e.  the  original  inhabitants,  except  only  in 
the  south.  Everywhere  else,  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan, 
especially  the  Amorite,  had  thus  far  prevented  the  Israelites 
from  taking  full  possession  of  the  laud  ;  but  in  the  south 
the  boundary  between  Israel  and  the  Amorite  remained  as 
drawn  by  Moses,  in  Num.  xxxiv.  3.  I  would  ask  that  in 
connection  with  this  the  remarks  under  vers.  31,  32,  be  con- 
sidered. The  whole  first  chapter  is  an  exposition  of  the 
fact  that  Israel  had  not  yet  attained  to  complete  possession 
of  Canaan.  It  is  a  spiritual-geographical  picture  of  what 
Israel  had  not  yet  acquired,  and  what  nevertheless  it  should 
possess."  In  other  words.  Dr.  Cas-'el's  idea  is,  that  the 
main  thought  of  ch.  i.  may  be  expressed  in  two  sentences: 

1.  On  the  west,  north,  and  east  Israel  did  not  actually 
realize  the  assigned  boundary  lines  between  itself  and  the 
original  inhabitants  —  the  term  Amorite  being  used  in  the 
wider  sense    it  sometimes  has.     Cf.  Gage's   Ritter.  ii.  125 

2.  On  the  south,  the  Mosaic  hne  was  made  good,  and  con- 
tinued to  be  held.  The  first  of  these  sentences  is  expressed 
indirectly,  by  means  of  illustrative  instance.'!,  in  vers.  4-35  ; 
the  second,  by  direct  and  simple  statement,  in  ver.  36.  In 
tliat  verse,  the  narrative  which  in  ver.  9  set  out  from  Ju- 
dah  on  its  northward  course,  returns  to  its  starting-point, 
and  completes  what  might  be  called  its  tour  of  boundary  in- 
spection, by  remarking  that  the  southern  boundary  (known 
as  southern  by  the  cour.se  ascribed  to  it)  corresponded  to  the 
Mosaic  determinations.  Ver.  36,  therefore,  connects  itself 
■with  the  entire  previous  narrative,  and  not  particularly  with 
vers.  34,  35. 

This  explanation  labors,  however,  under  at  least  one  very 
serious  difficulty.  It  assumes  that  in  the  expression  "border 
of  the  Amorite,"  the  gen.  is  an  adjective  gen.,  making  the 
phrase  mean  the  Anioritish  (Canaanitish)  border,  just  as  we 
speak  of  the  "  Canadian  border,"  meaning  the  border  of  the 
U.  S.  over  against  Canada.  But  in  expressions  of  this  kind, 
the  gen.  is  always  the  genitive  of  the  possessor,  so  that  the 
border  of  the  Amorite,  Ammonite,  etc.,  indicates  the  boun- 
dary pf  the  land  held  by  the  Amorite,  Ammonite,  etc.  It 
«eems  nece.s.sary,  therefore,  with  Bertheau,  Keil,  Bachniann, 
etc.,  to  read  this  verse  in  connection  with  vers.  34,  35,  ami  to 
Ind  in  it  a  note  of  the  extent  of  territ»^-y  held   by  the  Axn- 


forgot,  not  only  that  they  were  to  purify  the  land, 
and  alone  control  it,  but  also  why  they  were  to  do 
this.  They  were  indulgent  to  idolatry,  because 
the  worm  was  already  gnawing  at  their  own  re- 
ligion. They  no  longer  thouglit  of  the  danger  of 
being  led  astray,  because  they  were  unmindful  of 
the  word  which  demanded  obedience.  Perfect  obe- 
dience is  the  only  safe  way.  Every  departure  from 
it  leads  downhill  into'  danger. 

Thus  we  have  it  explained  why  so  many  imder- 
takings  of  Christians  and  of  the  church  fail,  even 
while  the  truth  is  still  confessed.  The  word  of  God 
has  not  lost  its  power;  but  the  people  who  have  it 
on  their  tongues  do  not  thoroughly  enter  into  its 
life.  The  fear  of  God  is  still  ever  the  beginning  of 
wisdom  ;  but  it  must  not  be  mixed  with  the  fear  of 
men.  Preaching  is  still  ever  effective  ;  but  respect 
to  tribute  and  profitable  returns  must  not  weaken 
it.  Perfect  obedience  has  still  ever  its  victory ;  but 
that  which  does  not  belong  to  God  comes  into  judg- 
ment, even  though  connected  with  Christian  mat- 
ters. Israel  still  confessed  God,  though  it  allowed 
the  tribes  of  Canaan  to  remain ;  but  nominal  ser 
vice  is  not  enough.  When  confession  and  life  do 
not  agree,  the  life  must  bear  the  consequences. 

Starke  :  We  men  often  do  not  at  all  know  how 
to  use  aright  the  blessings  M'hich  God  gives,  but 
abuse  them  rather  to  our  own  hurt.  —  The  same  : 
Our  corrupt  nature  will  show  mercy  only  there 
where  severity  should  be  used,  and  on  the  other 
nand  is  altogether  rough  and  hard  where  gentle- 

orite.  The  question  then  arises,  how  it  is  to  be  explained. 
We  take  for  granted  that  the  Maaleh  Akrabbim  of  this 
verse  is  the  same  as  that  in  Num.  xxxiv.  4  (a  line  of  cliffs, 
a  few  miles  below  the  Dead  Sea,  dividing  the  Ghor  from  the 
Arabah,  see  Bob.  ii.  120),  and  is  not,  as  some  have  thought, 
to  be  sought  in  the  town  Akrabeh,  a  short  distance  S.  E.  of 
Nabulus    (Bob.    iii.   296).     The   other  point  mentioned    is 

377??U)  *'^®  Rock.  Commentators  generally  take  this  to 
be  Petra,  in  Arabia  Petrsea  ;  but  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  this  view  are  insurmountable.  lu  the  first  place 
we  never  hear  of  Amorites  (take  it  in  the  wider  or 
narrower    sense)    so    far    south  as    Petra,    in    the    midst 

of  the  territories  of  Edom.  In  the  next  place,  71  -PJ2 
means  iipwarri,  i.  e.  under  the  geographical  conditions  of 
this  verse,  northward  (Dr.  Cassel's  univarrj,  i.  e.  downward 
to  the  sea,  could  scarcely  be  defended).  Now,  a  line  run- 
ning from  Akrabbim  to  Petra,  and  thence  northward,  would 
merely  return  on  its  own  track,  and  would  after  all  leave  the 
Amorite  territories  undefined  on  just  that  side  where  a  defi- 
nition was  most  needed  because  least  obvious,  namely,  the 
southern.  It  seems,  therefore,  altogether  preferable  (with  the 
Targ.,  Kurtz,  Hist.  O.  Cuv.  iii.  239,  Keil,  and  Bachm.)  to  take 

1?  V5n  as  an  appellative,  and  to  find  in  it  a  second  point 
for  a  southern  boundary  line.  Kurtz  and  Keil  identify  it 
with  "  the  (well-known)  rock  "  at  Kadesh  (the  Kudes  of  Row- 
lands, cf  Williams,  Holy  City,  i.  463  £f.),  from  which  Mo.ses 
caused  the  water  to  flow,  Num.  xx.  8.  Bachmann  prefers 
the  "bald  mountain  that  ascends  toward  Seir  "  (Josh.  xi.  17), 
whether  it  be  the  chalk-mountain  Madurah  (Rob.  ii.  179), 
or,  what  he  deems  more  suitable,  the  northern  wall  of  the 
Azazimat  mountains,  with  its  masses  of  naked  rock.  In 
the  vast  confusion  that  covers  the  geography  of  this  region, 
the  most  that  can  be  said,  is,  that  either  view  would  serve 
this  passage.  In  either  case  we  get  a  line  running  from  Akrab- 
bim on  the  east  in  a  westerly  direction.  From  this  south- 
ern boundary  the  Amorite  territories  extended  '■  upwards." 

But  when  ?  Manifestly  not  at  the  time  of  which  ch.  i. 
treats,  cf  ver.  9-19.  The  statement  refers  to  the  time  be- 
fore the  entrance  of  Israel  into  Canaan,  and  is  probably  in- 
tended to  explain  the  facts  stated  in  vers.  34,  35,  by  remind- 
ing the  reader  of  the  originally  vast  power  of  tlie  Amorite. 
It  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  an  enemy  once  so  power-* 
ful  and  widely  diffused  should  still  assert  his  strength  in 
some  parts  of  his  former  domain.     Cf.  Bachmann.  —  Tb.] 


50  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


ness  might  be  practiced.  —  The  same  :  Self-con- 
ceit, avarice,  and  self-interest  can  bring  it  about 
tliat  men  will  unhesitatingly  despise  the  command 
of  God.  When  human  counsels  arc  j)referred  to 
the  express  word  and  command  of  God,  the  result 
is  tliat  matters  grow  worse  and  worse. 

I  Scott:  The  sin  [of  the  people  in  not  driving 


out  the  Canaanitcs]  prepared  its  own  punishment, 
and  the  love  of  present  ease  became  the  cause  of 
their  perpetual  disquiet. 

Henry  :  The  same  thing  that  kept  their  fathers 
forty  years  out  of  Canaan,  kept  them  now  out  of 
the  full  possession  of  it,  and  that  was  unbelief.  — 
Tr.] 


SECOND   SECTION. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  DEGENERACY  OF  ISRAEL  WHICH  RESULTED  FROM  ITS  DISOBEDIENT  CONDUCT 
AVITII  RESPECT  TO  THE  CANAANITES,  AND  THE  SEVERE  DISCIPLINE  WHICH  IT  RENDERED  NECES- 
SARY, AS  EXPLAINING  THE  ALTERNATIONS  OF  APOSTASY  AND  SERVITUDE,  REPENTANCE  AND 
DELIVERANCE,    CHARACTERISTIC    OF    THE    PERIOD    OF    THE    JUDGES. 


A  Messenger  of  Jehovah  charges  Israel  with  disobedience,  and  announces  punishment. 
The  people  repent  and  offer  sacrifice. 

Chapter  II.  1-5. 

1  And  an  angel  [messenger]  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  np  from  Gilgal  to  Bochim, 
and  said,  I  made  yon  to  go  up  ^  ont  of  Egypt,  and  have  brought  you  unto  the  huul 
which  I  sware  unto  your  fatliers  ;  and  I  said,  I  will  never  break  my  covenant  with 

2  you.  And  [But]  ye  shall  make  no  league  [covenant]  with  the  inhabitants  of  this 
"land  ;  ye  siiall  throw  down  ^  their  altars :  but  ye  have  not  obeyed  [hearkened  to]  my 

3  voice  :  why  have  ye  done  this?^  Wherefore  [And]  I  also  said,  [in  that  case  — i.  e.  in  the 
event  of  disobedience]  *  I  will  not  drive  them  out  from  before  you ;  but  they  shall  be  as 

4  thorns  in  }'our  sides.^  and  their  gods  shall  be  [for]  a  snare  unto  you.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  when  the  angel  [messenger]  of  the  Lord  [.Jehovah]  spake  [had  spoken]  ®  these 
words  unto  all  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  that  the  people  lifted  up  their  voice,  and 

5  wept.  And  they  called  the  name  of  that  place  Bochim  [weepers]  :  and  they  sacrificed 
there  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]. 

TEXTUAL   AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1.  —  n  v3?W.  Keil  :  "  The  use  of  the  imperfect  instead  of  the  perfect  (cf.  ch.  vi.  8)  is  very  singular,  seeing  that 
the  contents  of  the  address,  and  its  continuation  in  the  historical  tense   (S^DSI  and  ^HS^),  require  the  preterite. 

^  .    TT  -        T    ' 

The  imperfect  can  only  be  explained  by  supposing  it  to  be  under  the  retrospective  influence  of  the  immediately  following 
imperfect  consecutive.''  De  Wette  translates,  "  I  said,  I  will  lead  you  up  out  of  Egypt,  and  brought  you  into  the  land," 
etc.  This  supposes  that  ''ri"]l?2S,  or  some  such  expression,  has  dropped  out  of  the  text,  or  is  to  be  supplied.  This  mode 
of  explaiuing  the  imperfect  is  favored  (1),  by  the  fact  that  we  seem  to  have  here  a  quotation  from  Ex.  iii.  17;  but  especi- 
ally (2(,  by  the  "l^S"^  before  the  last  clause  of  this  verse,  and  the  "'^"^XSS  Cm  of  ver.  3,  which  suggest  that  the  samn 
verb  is  to  be  understood  in  ver.  la.  —  Tr.] 

[•2  Ver.  2.  —  ^!^!jhiri,  from   ^^HS,   to  tear  down,  demolish.     On  the  form,  cf.  Ges.  Gra7n.  §  47,  Rem.  4.  —  Tr.] 
[3  Ver.  2.  —  More  literally  :  "  AVhat  is  this  that  ye  have  done !  "  i.  t.  How  great  is  this  sin  you  have  committed  !  cf. 
ch.  Tiii.  1.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  3.  —  Dr.  Bachmann  interprets  the  words  that  follow  as  a  definite  judgment  on  Israel,  announcing  that  henceforth 
Jehovaii  will  not  drive  out  any  of  the  still  remaining  nations,  but  will  leave  them  to  punish  Israel.  It  is  undoubtedly 
true  that  "^rnH^S  D!l"1  niay  be  translated,  "  therefore,  now,  I  also  say  ;  "  but  it  is  also  true  that  it  is  more  natural 
here  (with  Bertheau,  Keil,  Cass.)  to  render,  '•  and  I  also  said."  To  the  citations  of  earlier  divine  utterances  in  vers.  1,  2 
(see  the  Comment.),  the  messenger  of  .Jehovah  now  adds  another,  from  Num.  xxxiii.  55,  .Josh,  xxiii.  13.  It  is,  moreover,  a 
strong  point  against  Bachmann's  view  that  God  does  not  execute  judgment  speedily,  least  of  all  on  Israel  We  can 
hardly  conceive  him  to  shut  the  door  of  hope  on  the  nation  so  soon  after  the  departure  of  the  latest  surviving  contempo- 
raries of  .Joshua  a.s  this  scene  at  Bocliiin  soema  to  have  occurred,  cf.  the  comparatively  mild  charges  bi-ought  by  the  mes- 
senger, as  implied  in  ver.  2,  with  the  heavier  ones  in  ver.  11  ff.  .ind  ch.  iii.  6,  7.  Besides,  if  we  understand  a  definite  and  final 
lentence  to  be  pronounced  here,  we  mast  understand  ch.  ii.  20  f.  as  only  reproducing  the  same  (as  Bachmann  does),  although 


CHAPTER  II.   1-5. 


51 


Israel's  apostasy  had  become  far  more  pronounced  when  the  first  Judge  arose  than  it  is  now.      It  seems  clear,  therefore, 
t.iat  we  must  here  understand  a  warning,  while  the  sentence  itselt  issues  subsequently  (cf.  foot-note  3,  on  p.  62).  — Tr.] 
[o  Ver.  3.  —  Dr.  Cassel  translates  :  "  they  shall  be  to  you  for  thorns.''   Cf.  the  Commentary.    The  E.  V.  supplies  "  thorns  " 

from  Num.  xxxiii.  55 ;  but  it  has  to  change   Q^"^!^/  into   D2"*^iJ2   or   □'^"^"3.  — Tr.] 

[6  Ter.  4.  —  Better  perhaps,  with  De  Wette  :  "  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  the  messenger  of  Jehovah  spake,  etc.,  that  the 
people,"  etc.    On  3   with  the  infin.  cf.  Ges.  Lex.  s.   3,   B.  5,  b.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1 .  And  there  came  a  messenger  of  Je- 
hovah. Israel  had  experienced  the  faithfulness  of 
the  Divine  Sjairit  who,  through  Moses,  led  them 
forth  from  Egyjjt,  and  made  them  a  peoi^le.  In 
him,  they  con(]uered  Canaan,  and  took  possession 
of  a  noble  country.  In  addition  to  this,  they  had 
the  guaranty  of  the  divine  word  (cf  Lev.  xxvi.  44.), 
tliat  God  would  never  forsake  them  —  that  the 
truth  on  which  He  had  thus  far  bnilt  up  their  life 
and  nationality,  would  endure.  Reason  enough 
had  been  given  them  to  fulfill  everything  jirescribed 
by  Moses,  whether  great  or  small,  difficult  or  pleas- 
ant, whether  it  gave  or  took  away.  They  had 
every  reason  for  being  wholly  with  their  God, 
whether  they  waged  war  or  enjoyed  the  fruits  of 
victory.  Were  they  thus  with  Him  1  Could  they 
be  thus  with  Him  after  siich  jjroceedings  in  relation 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  as  ch.  i.  sets  forth  1 
Israel's  strength  consists  in  the  enthusiasm  which 
springs  from  faith  in  the  invisible  God  who  made 
heaven  and  earth,  and  in  obedience  to  his  com- 
mands. If  enthusiasm  fiiil  and  obedience  be  im- 
jiaired,  Israel  becomes  weak.  The  law  which  it  fol- 
lows is  not  only  its  rule  of  duty,  but  also  its  bill  of 
rights.  Israel  is  free,  only  by  the  law ;  without  it,  a 
servant.  A  life  springing  from  the  law,  exhibited 
clearly  and  uninterruptedly,  is  the  condition  on 
which  it  enjoys  whatever  is  to  its  advantage.  To 
preserve  and  promote  such  a  life,  was  the  object  of 
the  command,  given  by  Moses,  not  to  enter  into 
any  kind  of  fellowship  with  the  nations  against 
whom  they  were  called  to  contend.  The  toleration 
which  Israel  might  be  inclined  to  exercise,  could 
only  be  the  offspring  of  weakness  in  faith  (Dent, 
vii.  17)  and  of  blind  selfishness.  For  the  sake  of 
its  own  life,  it  was  commanded  not  to  tolerate  idol- 
atry within  its  borders,  even  though  practiced  only 
by  those  of  alien  nations.  For  the  people  are  weak, 
and  the  superstitious  tendency  to  that  which  strikes 
the  senses,  seduces  tlie  inconstant  heart.  It  can- 
not be  otherwise  than  injurious  when  Israel  ceases 
to  be  entirely  obedient  to  that  word  in  whose  or- 
ganic wisdom  its  history  is  grounded,  and  its  future 

1  Nevertheless,  Keil  also,  in  loc,  has  followed  the  older 
expositors.    [We  subjoin  the  main  points  on  which  Keil  rests 

his  interpretation  :  "  TTirT^  TlS^^  is  not  a  prophet  or 
any  other  earthly  ambassador  of  Jehovah,  as  Phinehas  or 
Joshua  (Targ.,  Rabb.,  Stud.,  Berth.,  and  others),  but  the 
Angel  of  Jehovah,  consubstantial  with  God.  In  simple  his- 
torical narrative  no  prophet  is  ever  called  n'in"'  "TK7tt  5 
such  are  designated  S^32   or  S^23    ti'^S,  as  in  ch.  vi. 

•  T  T  • ' 

8,  or  a'^ribS  tr^i^,  l  Kgs.  xW.  22,  xm.  1,  etc.  The  pas- 
sages, Hag.  i.  13  and  Mai.  iii.  1,  cannot  be  adduced  against 
this,  since  there,  in  the  prophetic  style,  the  purely  appella- 
tive significance  of  T[S^S2  is  placed  beyond  all  doubt  by 
the  context.  Moreover,  no  prophet  ever  identifies  himself 
BO  entirely  with  God,  as  is  here  done  by  the  Angel  of  Jeho- 
vah, in  his  address  vers  1-3.  The  prophets  always  distin- 
guish themselves  from  Jehovah  by  this,  that  they  intro- 
duce their  utterances  as  the  word  of  God  by  the  formula 
"  thus  saith  Jehovah,"  as  is  also  done  by  the  prophet  in  ch. 
yi.  8.     .  .     .     Nor  does  it  conflict  with  the  nature  of 


secured.  Ruin  must  result  when,  as  has  been  re- 
lated, the  i3eo])le  fails  in  numerous  instances  to  drive 
out  the  heathen  nations,  and  instead  thereof  enters 
into  compacts  with  them.  Special  cmjihasis  was 
laid,  in  the  jjreceding  narrative,  upon  the  fact  that 
for  the  sake  of  tribute,  Israel  had  tolerated  the 
worship  of  the  lewd  Asherah  and  of  the  sun,  in 
Apheca,  in  the  Phoenician  cities,  in  Banias,  and  in 
Beth-shemesh.  When  the  occupation  of  Canaan 
was  completed  —  a  date  is  not  given  —  the  impres- 
sion produced  by  a  suiwey  of  the  whole  land  was 
not  such  as  promised  enduring  peace  and  obedience 
to  the  AVord  of  God.  The  organs  of  this  word  were 
not  yet  silenced,  however.  When  the  heads  of  Is- 
rael asked  who  should  begin  the  conflict,  the  Word 
of  God  had  answered  through  the  priest ;  and  an- 
cient exegesis  rightly  considered  the  messenger  of 
God  who  now,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  speaks  to 
Israel,  to  be  the  same  priest.  At  the  beginning, 
he  answered  from  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  at  the  end,  he 
admonishes  by  an  im|Dulse  of  his  own.  There  he 
encourages  ;  here  he  calls  to  account.  There  "  they 
inquire  of  God ; "  here  also  he  speaks  only  as  the 
"  messenger  of  God."  He  is  designedly  called 
"  messenger  of  God."  Every  word  he  speaks,  God 
has  spoken.  His  words  are  only  reminiscences  out 
of  the  Word  of  God.  His  sermon  is,  as  it  were,  a 
lesson  read  out  of  this  word.  He  speaks  only  like 
a  messenger  who  verbally  repeats  his  commission. 
No  additions  of  his  own  ;  objective  truth  alone,  is 

what  he  presents.  That  is  the  idea  of  the  "HS^^, 
the  messenger,  iyyeKos,  according  to  every  exjilan- 
ation  that  has  been  given  of  him.  The  emphasis 
falls  here,  not  on  who  spake,  but  on  what  was 
spoken.  God's  word  comes  to  the  people  unasked 
for,  like  the  voice  of  conscience.  From  the  antith- 
esis to  the  opening  verse  of  the  Book,  where  the 
]jeople  asked,  it  is  evident  that  no  angel  of  a  celes- 
tial kind  is  here  thought  of.  Earlier  expositors 
ought  to  have  perceived  this,  if  only  because  it  is 
said  that  the  messenger  — 

Came  up  from  Gilgal  to  Bochim.  Heavenly 
angels  "  appear,"  and  do  not  come  from  Gilgal 
particularly.!      The  connection  of  this  statement 

the  Angel  of  Jehovah  that  he  comes  up  from  Gilgal  to  Bo- 
chim. His  appearance  at  Bochim  is  described  as  a  coming 
up  to  Bochim,  with  as  much  propriety  as  in  ch.  vi.  11  it  is 
said  concerning  the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  that  "he  came  and 
sat  down  under  the  terebinth  at  Ophra."  The  only  fea- 
ture peculiar  to  the  present  instance  is  the  coming  up  "  from 
Gilgal."  This  statement  must  stand  in  intimate  connection 
with  the  mission  of  the  angel  —  must  contain  more  than  a 
mere  notice  of  his  journeying  from  one  place  to  another."  Keil 
then  recalls  the  appearance  to  Joshua,  at  Gilgal,  of  the  an- 
gel who  announced  himself  as  the  "  Captain  of  the  host  of 
Jehovah,"  and  promised  a  successful  issue  to  the  siege  of 
Jericho.  "  The  coming  up  from  Gilgal  indicates,  therefore, 
that  the  same  angel  who  at  Gilgal,  with  the  fall  of  Jericho 
delivered  all  Canaan  into  the  hands  of  the  Israelites,  ap- 
peared to  them  again  at  Bochim,  in  order  to  announce  the 
divine  decree  resulting  from  their  disobedience  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  Lord."  With  this  view  Bachmann  and  Words- 
worth also  agree.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the 
appearance  of  the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  or  indeed  of  any  angel, 
in  the  character  of  a  preacher  before  the  assembled  congre- 
gation of  Israel  is  without  a  parallel  in  sacred  history.  Keil's 
supposition  that  he  addressed  the  people  only  through  theii 


52 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


with  the  whole  preceding  nari'ative  is  profound 
and  instructive.  The  history  of  Israel  in  Canaan 
begins  in  Gilgal.  There  (Josh.  iv.  20  ff.)  stood 
the  memorial  which  showed  how  they  had  come 

through  the  Jordan  into  this  land  (^PO'v  ^"'■^^t 
Vr?^V'"'^^)-  The  name  Gilgal  itself  speaks  of  the 
noblest  benefit  bestowed  on  them  —  their  liberation 
from  the  rej) roach  of  EgyjJt.  There  the  first  Pass- 
over ii»  Canaan  had  been  celebrated.  Thence  also 
l)egin  the  great  deeds  that  are  done  after  the  death 
of  Joshua.  As  noAV  the  messenger  of  God  comes 
from  Gilgal,  so  at  first  Judah  set  out  from  thence 
to  enter  into  his  possessions.  A  messenger  who 
came  from  Gilgal,  did  by  that  circumstance  alone 
remind  the  people  of  Joshua's  last  words  and  com- 
mands. The  memorial  which  was  there  erected 
rendered  the  place  permanently  suggestive  to  Israel 
of  past  events.  Erom  the  time  that  Joshua's  camp 
was  there,  it  never  ceased  to  be  a  celebrated  spot 
(corap.  1  Sam.  vii.  16)  ;  but  that  on  this  occasion 
the  messenger  comes  from  Gilgal,  has  its  ground 
in  the  nature  of  his  message,  the  history  of  which 
commences  at  Gilgal. 

Vers.  2,  3.  "Why  have  ye  done  this?  This 
sorrowful  exclamation  is  uttered  by  the  priest  — 
according  to  Jewish  exegesis,  Phinehas,  the  same 
who  spoke  ch.  i.  2  —  after  he  has  exhibited  in  brief 
quotations  from  the  old  divine  instructions,  first, 
what  God  has  done  for  Israel,  and  then  what  Israel 
has  done  in  disregard  of  God.  The  eternal  God 
has  enjoined  it  upon  you,  not  under  any  circum- 
stances to  enter  into  peaceful  compacts  with  the 
idolatrous  tribes  and  their  altars  among  you,  there- 
by authorizing  them  openly  before  your  eyes  to 
manifest  their  depravity  and  practice  their  abomi- 
nations —  what  have  ye  done  !  The  exclamation 
is  full  of  sharp  grief;  for  the  consequences  are  in- 
evitable. For  God  said  (Josh,  xxiii.  13) :  "I  will 
not  drive  out  these  nations  from  l)efore  you."  Is- 
rael had  its  tasks  to  perform.  If  it  failed  it  must 
bear  the  consequences.  God  has  indeed  said  (Ex. 
xxiii.  29,  30),  and  Moses  reiterates  it  (Dent.  vii. 
22),  "By  little  and  little  I  will  drive  out  the  Ca- 
naanite,  lest  the  land  become  desolate."  And  this 
word  received  its  fulfillment  in  the  days  of  Joshua 
and  subsequently.  But  when  Israel  disobeys,  God 
will  not  prosper  its  disobedience.  It  must  then  ex- 
perience that  which  the  messenger  now  with  grief 
and  pain  announces  :  Since  Canaanites  remain 
among  you,  who  ought  not  to  remain,  and  whom 
ye  could  have  expelled,  had  ye  been  wholly  with 
your  God  (Deut.  vii.  17  ft'.),  they  will  hurt  you, 
though  they  are  conquered.  It  is  not  an  innocent 
tiling  to  suffer  the  presence  of  sin,  and  give  it  equal 
ri(jhts. 

They  shall  be  thorns,  and  their  gods  shall 
be  a  snare   unto   you.      The   Hebrew   text  has 

W'Vl^  D^b  Tni:  literally,  "they  shall  be  sides 

unto  you."  "T?  everywhere  means  "  the  side ;  " 
and  the  explanations  which  make  "  adversaries, 
hostes"  (Vulgate),  "nets"  (Luther),  "torment- 
ors" (Sachs),  out  of  it,  are  without  any  founda- 
tion. Arias  Montanus,  who  gives  in  lateribus,  fol- 
lows therein  the  older  Jewish  expositors ;  but 
neither  does  the  idea  of  "  hurtful  neighbors  "  lie  in 

heads  or  representatives,  is  against  the  clear  import  of  vers. 
4,  5,  and  not  to  bo  justified  by  a  reference  to  .Tosh.  xxiv.  1, 
2.  Besides,  an  assembly  of  the  heads  and  representatives, 
presents  the  same  difficulty  as  an  assembly  of  all  the  people. 
Angels  appear  only  to  individuals ;  to  Israel  as  a  nation  God 
jpeaks  through  prophets. — Tr.J 


the  word.  From  the  fact  that  the  Chaldee  para- 
phrast  has  l^i?"^27)p,  "  opijressors,"  it  would  indeed 
seem  that  he  read  C^l^  '  for  in  Num.  xxxiii.  55 

he  also  renders  ^Tl^l  by  1^p'^^"'\  The  Septua- 
gint  rendering  crvvoxo.^  (the  Syi-iac  version  of  i'. 
has  the  singular,  cf.  Itordam,  p.  69),  might  seem 
to  indicate  a   similar  reading,  although  (ruvexeiy 

occurs  perhaps  only  twice  for  *^^!2  ( i  Sam.  xxiii. 
8;  2  Sam.  xx.  3).  None  the  less  does  it  appear 
to  me  to  be  against  the  language  and  spirit  of 

Scripture,  to  read  D'^'}^  here.    For  not  only  does 

D''"]^  occur  but  once  in  Scripture  (Lam.  i.  7),  but 
it  is  expressive  of  that  hostility  which  arises  in. 
consequence  of  the  state  of  things  here  described. 
Only  after  one  has  fallen  into  the  snare  begins  that 
miserable  condition  in  which  one  is  oppressed  by 
the  enemy,  while  all  power  of  resistance  is  lost. 
The  following  considerations  may  assist  us  to 
arrive  at  the  true  sense  :  Every  sentence,  from  ver. 
1  to  ver.  4,  is  in  all  its  parts  and  words  a  repro- 
duction of  utterances  by  Moses  and  Joshua.  Verse 
1    is   coni2)oscd  of  expressions  found  as  follows : 

n^l^.bN  etc.,Ex.iii.  17;  W**?^!?,  etc..  Josh.  xxiv. 

8 ;    *'ri?'2tp3,    etc.,  Deut.  i.  35  ;    ~)pS  sb,    etc., 

Lev.  xxvi.  44.     Verse  2  likewise  :  ^j~l~IDri   ^57. 

etc.,  Ex.  xxiii.  32,  Deut.  vii.  2 ;    Dr7''jD"in3'ra 

'iri'nPi,  Ex.xxxiv.  13,  Deut.  vii.  5  ;  Cj:^^"?ip  sb, 
Num.  xiv.  22.  The  case  is  similar  with  ver.  3, 
and  it  is  to  be  assumed  that  the  parallel  passages 
may  be  used  to  throw  light  on  the  text.  Now,  as 
the  first  parallel  to  the  expression,  "  and  they  shall 

be  to  you  for  tsiddim  (C^^),"  we  have  the  words 
in  Num.  xxxiii.  55  :  "  and  they  shall  be  to  you 
for  pricks  in  your  eyes  and  thorns  in  your  sides 

(D^"^"!^'?  ^T^'*}})."  Not  for  "  sides,"  therefore, 
but  for  "  thorns  in  the  sides  ;  "  and  wc  can  as  little 
believe  that  the  same  meaning  would  result  if  the 
expression  were  only  "  sides,"  as  we  can  imagine 
the  idea  to  remain  unaltered  if  instead  of  "  pricks 
in  the  eyes,"  one  were  to  say,  "  they  shall  be  to  you 
for  eyes."  The  second  })arallel  passage  is  Josh, 
xxiii.  13  :  they  shall  be  to  you  for  "  scourges  in 
your  sides  ancl  thorns  in  your  eyes."  The  enemies 
arc  compared,  not  with  "  sides  "  and  "  eyes,"  but 
with  scourges  and  thorns  by  which  sides  and  eyes 
are  afflicted.  Now  as  our  passage  as  a  whole 
corresponds  entirely  with  those  of  Numbers  and 
Joshua,  save  only  that  it  abridges  and  epitomizes 
them,  the  threat  which  they  contain  appears  here 
also,  and  in  a  similarly  condensed  form.  It  was 
sufticient  to  say,  "  they  shall  be  to  you  for  thorns ; " 

accordingly,  instead  of  2'^"^?  we  are  to  read  0*3^ 
[tsinnim  for  tsiddim),  a  change  as  natural  as  it  is 
easily  accounted  for,  since  both  words  occun'cd  not 
only  in  each  of  the  other  passages,  but  in  one  of 
them  were  joined  together  in  the  same  clailse. 
Emendation  in  this  instance  is  more  conservative 
than  retention,  for  it  rests  on  the  internal  organic 
coherence  of  Scripture. ^    Tsinnah,  tsinnim,  tseninim, 

1  [Bachmann  is  not  inclined  to  admire  the  "conservative" 
character  of  this  emendation.  He  holds  to  the  reading  of 
the  text,  and  finds  in  it  a  free  reference  to  Num.  xxxiii.  55 
and  .Tosh,  xxiii.  13,  by  virtue  of  which  "  the  nations  them- 

-for,  in  his  view,  the  U!,'''^3S  S7   (ver.  3)  refers 


CHAPTER  II.   1-5. 


53 


arc  thorns,  spince,  pointed  and  stinging.  The  fig- 
ure is  taken  from  rural  life.  Israel,  in  the  con- 
qnest,  has  acted  like  a  slothful  gardener.  It  has 
not  thoroughly  destroyed  the  thorns  and  thistles  of 
its  fields.  The  consequence  will  be,  that  sowing 
and  planting  and  other  field  labors,  will  soon  be 
rendered  painful  by  the  presence  of  spiteful  thorns. 
^Vhut  will  turn  the  Canaanites  into  stingiug  weeds 
and  snares  for  Israel  "i  The  influence  of  habitual 
intercourse.  Fanuliarity  blunts  aversion,  smooths 
away  contrarieties,  removes  differences,  impairs 
obedience.  It  induces  forgetfulness  of  what  one 
was,  what  one  promised,  and  to  what  conditions 
one  is  subject.  Familiar  intercourse  with  idolaters 
will  weaken  Israel's  faith  in  the  invisible  God  who 
has  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  serve  strange  gods." 

Ver.  4.  "When  the  messenger  had  spoken 
these  words,  etc.  It  is  most  likely  that  the  few 
sentences  here  given,  are  but  the  outlines  of  the 
messenger's  address.  But  every  word  rests  on  the 
basis  of  instructions  delivered  by  Moses  and  Joshua. 
The  people  are  sensible  of  the  surpassing  reality 
of  the  blessings  which  they  have  received,  and  for 
that  reason  are  the  more  affected  by  the  thought 
of  the  consequences  which  their  errors  have  brought 
upon  them.  For  the  fulfillment  of  the  law  of  truth 
as  to  its  promises,  guarantees  the  same  as  to  its 
threatenings.  Their  alarm  on  account  of  sin  is 
the  livelier,  the  less  decidedly  active  their  disregard 
of  the  Word  of  God  has  hitherto  been.  They  have 
not  yet  served  the  gods  whose  temples  they  have 
failed  to  destroy  —  have  not  yet  joined  in  sin  with 
the  nations  whom  they  suffered  to  remain.  It  was 
a  weak  faith,  but  not  yet  full-grown  sin,  by  which 
tliey  were  led  astray.  God's  messenger  addresses 
"  all  the  sons  of  Israel,"  for  no  tribe  had  formed 
an  exception.  In  greater  or  less  degree,  they  all 
had  committed  the  same  disobedience.  The  whole 
nation  lifted  up  its  voice  aiul  wept. 

Ver.  5.  And  they  called  the  name  of  the 
place  Boehim  ("Weepers).  The  messenger  of  the 
divine  word,  when  he  wished  to  address  Israel, 
must  have  gone  up  to  the  place  where  he  would 
find  them  assembled.  Israel  had  been  commanded, 
as  soon  as  the  Jordan  should  have  been  crossed, 
and  rest  obtained,  to  assemble  for  feasts  and  sacri- 
fices at  a  sacred  place  (Dent.  xii.  10).  This  order 
applied  not  to  Jerusalem  merely,  but  to  "  the  place 
which  the  Lord  your  God  shall  choose  in  one  of 
the  tribes."  Thither  they  are  to  go  up,  tmsting 
in  God  and  dismissing  care.  It  was  only  at  such 
festal  assemblies  that  Israel  could  be  met.  There 
was  the  opportunity  for  preaching  and  admonition. 
The  chosen  place  at  that  time  was  Shiloh.  There 
the  tabernacle  had  been  set  up  (Josh,  xviii.  1)  ; 
and  there  the  people  assembled  (cf.  Josh.  xxi.  2). 
Thither  they  went  up  from  far  and  near,  to  attend 
festivals  (Judg.  xxi.  19),  and  to  offer  sacrifices  (1 
Sam.  i.  3).  The  whole  progress  of  Joshua  was  a 
going  from  Gilgal  to  Shiloh.  Accordingly,  the 
messenger  of  God  can  have  found  Israel  at  no 
other  place.  His  discourse  produced  a  general 
outburst  of  weeping  (cf.  1  Sara.  xi.  4).  And  only 
because  it  was  a  weeping  of  penitence  and  shame 
before  God,  did  the  place  where  it  occurred  receive 
and  retain  the  name  Boehim.  It  was  not  a  place 
otherwise  nameless.  How  could  the  place  where 
buch  an  assembly  was  held  be  without  a  name ! 
And  how  could  it  occur  to  the  people  to  assemble 

rather  to  the  nations  of  the  unconqiiered  border  districts  (cf. 
ch.  ii.  23,  iii.  1),  than  to  the  scattered  remnants  of  Canaan- 
ites withia  the  conquered  territories --"  are  described  as 
Bides  for  Israel,  i.  e.  as  cramping,  burdensome,  tormenting 
neighbors."     But  is  it  quite   "  conservative  "  to  attach  the 


at  such  a  place  !  In  Shiloh  itself,  some  spot  — 
perhaps  that  where  the  priest  was  accustomed  to 
address  the  people  —  received  the  name  Boehim. 
This  name  served  thenceforth  to  recall  the  tears 
which  were  there  shed.  So  do  they  show  to-day  in 
Jerusalem  the  "Jews'  wailing-place "  (El  Ebra, 
Bitter,  xvi.  3.50  [Gage's  Transl.  iv.  50]),  where 
every  Friday  the  Jews  pray  and  lament.  "  And 
they  offered  sacrifices  there."  After  repentance  and 
reconciliation  comes  sacrijice. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Faith  and  repentance  come  from  preaching. 
God's  messenger  preaches,  and  Israel  hears.  The 
people  acknowledge  their  sins,  and  weep.  At  that 
time  only  a  divine  admonition  was  needed  to  make 
them  sacrifice  again  to  their  God.  To  fall  is  pos- 
sible even  for  one  who  has  received  so  much  grace 
as  Israel  had  experienced  in  the  lifetime  of  Joshua 
and  after  his  death  ;  but  he  rises  up  as  soon  as  the 
messenger  of  God  touches  his  heart  with  the 
preaching  of  repentance.  A  generation  which 
experienced  divine  miracles,  and  recognized  them 
as  divine,  can  be  brought  to  repentance  by  that 
miracle  which  in  the  proclamation  of  the  word  of 
God  addresses  the  souls  of  men. 

Therefore,  let  not  the  preaching  of  repentance 
fail  to  address  all  the  people.  But  the  preacher 
must  be  (1),  a  messenger  of  God  ;  and  (2),  must  not 
shun  the  way  from  Gilgal  to  Boehim,  —  must  not 
wait  till  the  people  come  to  him  in  the  place  for 
preaching,  but  must  go  to  them,  until  he  find  a 
Boehim,  a  place  of  tearful  eyes.  But  as  God's 
messenger  he  must  give  heed  that  the  weeping  be 
not  merely  the  result  of  affecting  words,  but  of  a 
penitent  disposition  ;  that  it  be  called  forth,  not  by 
the  flow  of  rhetoric,  but  by  memories  of  the  grace 
of  God  hitherto  experienced  by  the  congregation. 

Starke  :  How  great  concern  God  takes  in  the 
salvation  of  men,  and  especially  in  the  welfare  of 
His  church,  appears  clearly  from  the  fact  that  He 
himself  has  often  reasoned  with  them,  taught  them, 
admonished  and  rebuked  them. 

The  same  :  The  Word  of  God  has  the  power 
of  moving  and  converting  men. 

The  same  :  To  attest  our  repentance  by  tears 
as  well  as  reformation,  is  not  improper ;  nay,  re- 
pentance is  seldom'  of  the  right  sort,  if  it  does  not, 
at  least  in  secret,  weep  for  sin. 

Geelach  :  He  reminds  them  of  earlier  com- 
mands, promises  and  threats,  and  shows  them  how 
their  own  transgressions  are  now  about  to  turn 
into  self-inflicted  judgments.  The  people,  however, 
do  not  proceed  beyond  an  unfruitful  sorrow  in  view 
of  this  announcement. 

[Henrt  :  Many  are  melted  under  the  wonl, 
that  harden  again  before  they  are  cast  into  a  new 
mould. 

Scott  :  If  transgressors  cannot  endure  the  re- 
bukes of  God's  word  and  the  convictions  of  their 
own  consciences,  how  will  they  be  able  to  stand 
before  the  tribunal  of  the  holy,  heart-searching 
Judge. 

The  same  :  The  worship  of  God  is  in  its  own 
nature  joy,  praise,  and  thanksgiving,  and  our 
crimes  alone  render  weeping  needful ;  yet,  consider- 
ing what  we  are  and  what  we  have  done,  it  is  much 

idea  of  something  cramping,  etc.,  to  the  simple  word  "  side." 
which  on  no  other  occasion  appears  with  such  horrible  sug- 
gestions of  compression  and  suffocation  as  Dr.  B.  would  giva 
it  here  ?  —  Tb.] 


64 


THE  BOOR  OF  JUDGES. 


to  be  wished  that  our  religious  assemblies  were 
more  frequently  called  "Bochim,"  the  place  of  the 
weepers.  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they 
shall  l)C  comforted." 

WouDSWORTH  ■  The  Israelites  called  the  place 
Bochim ;  they  named  it  from  their  own  tears. 
They  laid  the  principal  stress  on  their  own  feelings, 
and  on  their  own  outward  demonstrations  of  sor- 
row. But  they  did  not  speak  of  God's  mercies ; 
and  thev  were  not  careful  to  bring  forth  fruits  of 


repentance ;  they  were  a  barren  fig-tree,  having  only 
leaves.  Their's  was  a  religion  (such  as  is  too  com- 
mon) of  sentiment  and  emotions,  not  of  faith  and 
obedience. 

The  same  :  Reproofs  which  produce  only  tears 
—  religious  feelings  without  religious  acts  —  emo- 
tions without  effects —  leave  the  heart  worse  than 
before.  If  God's  rebukes  are  trifled  with,  His  grace 
is  withdrawn.  —  Tr.] 


An  extract  from  the  Book  of  Joshua  showing  when  and  through  what  occasion  the  relig- 
ious apostasy  of  Israel  began. 

Chapter  IL  6-10. 

6  And  when  [omit :  when]  Joshua  had  [omit :  had]  let  the  people  go,  [and]  the 
children  [sons]  of  Israel  went  every  man  unto  his  inheritance,  to  possess  [to  take 

7  possession  of]  the  land.     And  the  people  served  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  all  tiie  days 
of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days  of  the  elders  that  outlived  ^  Joshua,  who  liad  seen  all 

8  the  o-reat  works  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  that  he  did  for  Israel.    And  Joshua,  the  son 
of  Nun,  the  servant  of  the   Lord   [Jehovah],  died,  being  an  hundred  and  ten  years 

9  old.    And  they  huried  him  in  the  border  [disti-ict]  of  his  inheritance  in  Tinniaih-heres, 
in  the  mount  [mountains]  of  Ephraim,  on  the  north  side  of  the  hill  [north  of  Mount] 

10  Gaash.  And  also  all  that  generation  were  gathered  unto  their  lathers :  -  and  there 
arose  another  generation  after  them,  which  knew  not  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  nor  yet 
the  works  ^  which  he  had  done  for  Israel. 


[1  Ver.  7. □^tt"'  TI*'"^WrT    to  prolong  one's  days,  usually  means,  "to  live  long;"  but  here   the  addition  "after 

Joshua  "  shows  that  the  expression  is  not  to  be  taken  in  this  ordinary  acceptation,  but  according  to  the  proper  sense  of 
the  words  :  "  they  prolonged  days  (life)  after  Joshua,"  i.  e.  they  survived  him  :  not,  "  they  lived  long  after  Joshua,"  cf. 
the  remarks  of  Bachmaun  quoted  on  p.  15. —  Tr.] 

r-2  Ter  10  —  The  sing.  suf.  in  Vn"QH,  although  the  verb  is  plural,  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  expression  ?1SS3 
'-  T       -:'  —.■■.:■ 

TiJ-|^3]»;-^^    and  others  of  like  import,  are  generally  used  of  individuals.     Habit  gets  the  better  of  strict  grammatical 

propriety. — Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  10.  —  Dr.  Cassel :  die  Gotl  nicht  Icannten,  vnd  [also]  audi  seine  That  nicht ;  i.  e.  "  who  knew  not  God  (Jehovah), 
nor  [consequently],  the  works."  The  explanation  of  this  rendering  is  that  he  takes  "knew"  in  the  sense  of  "acknowl- 
edge "  see  below ;  so  that  the  clause  gives  him  the  following  sense  :   "  they  acknowledged  not  what  God  had  done  for 

them,  and  of  course  did  not  rightly  value  his  works.  But,  as  Bachmann  observes,  "  Sll?"!"^  Sv  conveys  no  reproach, 
but  only  states  the  cause  of  the  ensuing  apostasy.  The  new  generation  did  not  know  the  Lord  and  his  work,  sc.  as  eye- 
witnesses (cf.  ver.  7,  iii.  2) ;  they  only  knew  from  hearsay."  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  6-8.  The  penitence  of  the  people  at  Bo- 
chim had  shown  that  it  had  not  yet  fallen  from  its 
obedience  to  God,  that  it  was  still  conscious  of  the 
blessings  which  had  been  bestowed  upon  it.  The 
promise  made  to  Joshua  (Josh.  xxiv.  24)  had  as 
yet  been  kept.  They  still  served  the  Lord.  Their 
position  in  this  respect  was  the  same  as  when  he 
dismissed  the  tribes  to  take  possession  of  their 
several  inheritances.  This  dismission  introduced 
Israel  to  the  new  epoch,  in  which  it  was  no  longer 
guided  by  Moses  or  Joshua.  Hence,  the  insertion 
of  these  sentences,  wliich  are  also  found  in  Josh, 
xxiv.,  is  entirely  appropriate.  They  describe  the 
■whole  period  in  which  the  people  was  submissive 
to  the  Word  of  God,  although  removed  frorii  under 
the  direct  guidance  of  Joshua.  The  people  was 
faithful  when  left  to  itself  by  Joshua,  faithftil  after 


his  death,  faithful  still  in  the  days  of  the  elders  who 
outlived  Joshua.  That  whole  generation,  which 
had  seen  the  mighty  deeds  that  attended  the  con- 
quest of  Canaan,  stood  firm.  Our  passage  says, 
"  for  they  had  seen,"  whereas  Josh,  x.xiv.  31  says, 
"  they  had  known."  "  To  see  "  is  more  definite  than 
"  to  know."  The  facts  of  history  may  be  known 
as  the  acts  of  God,  without  being  witnessed  and 
experienced.  But  this  generation  had  stood  in  the 
midst  of  the  events ;  the  movements  of  the  conflict 
and  its  I'esults  were  still  present  in  their  memories. 
Whoever  has  felt  the  enthusiasm  inspired  by  such 
victories  and  conquests,  can  never  forget  them. 
The  Scripture  narrators  are  accustomed,  like  the 
chroniclers  of  the  IVIiddle  Ages,  to  repeat  literally 
what  has  already  been  .said  elsewhere,  in  cases 
where  modern  writers  content  themselves  with  a 
mere  reference.  While  we  should  have  deemed  it 
sufficient  to  appeal  to  earlier  histories  for  an  account 


CHAPTER   11.   G-10. 


55 


yf  the  death  of  Joshua,  the  narrative  before  us  takes 
the  more  accurate  method  of  literal  repetition. 
Hence,  the  interruption  of  the  course  of  thought 
conimi.'nced  vers.  1-5,  is  only  apparent.  Vers.  6-10 
explain  the  pious  weeping  of  the  people  which  vers. 
4  and  5  recorded.  Joshua's  death,  age,  and  burial 
are  mentioned,  because  the  writer  wshes  to  indicate 
that  Israel  served  God,  not  only  after  its  dismission 
by  the  still  living  leader,  but  also  after  his  decease. 
The  less  necessity  there  was  for  the  statements  of 
vers.  8  and  9,  the  more  evident  it  is  that  they  are 
borrowed  fi'om  Josh.  xxiv.  And  we  may  congratu- 
'late  ourselves  that  by  this  means  the  name  of  the 
place  where  Joshua*  was  buried,  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  in  a  second  form. 

Yer.  9.  And  they  buried  him  in  Tinmath- 
heres,  in  the  mountains  of  Ephraim,  north  of 
Gaash.     In   Josh.    xxiv.    30,    the   place   is  called 

Timnath-serah  (H"]?  for  ^l^J)-  The  most  rever- 
ential regard  for  the  Masoretic  text  will  not  refuse 
to  acknowledge  many  variations  in  the  names  of 
places,  arising  especially  from  the  transposition  of 

letters  (as  ^50  and  sbn  Josh.  xbc.  29).i  Jew- 
ish tradition,  it  is  true,  explains  them  as  different 
names  borne  by  the  same  place ;  but  the  name 
Cheres  is  that  which,  in  Kefr  Cheres,  presenx'd  it- 
self in  the  country,  as  remarked  by  Esthor  ha- 
Parchi  (ii.  434)  and  other  travellers  (Carmoly,  pp. 
212,  368,  444,  etc.).  Eli  Smith  discovered  the  place, 
April  26,  1843.  A  short  distance  northwest  of 
Bir-Zeit  (already  on  Eobinson's  earlier  map,  cf.  the 
later),  near  Wady  Belat,  "there  rose  up  a  gentle 
hill,  which  was  covered  with  the  ruins  or  rather 
foundations  of  what  was  once  a  town  of  consider- 
able size."  The  sjwt  was  still  called  Tibneh  (for 
Timnah,  just  as  the  southern  Timnath  is  at  present 
called  Tibneh).  The  city  lay  to  the  north  of  "a 
much  higher  hill,  on  the  north  side  of  which  (thus 
facing  the  city),  appeared  several  sepulchral  exca- 
vations." -  No  other  place  than  this  can  have  been 
intended  by  the  Jewish  travellers,  who  describe 
several  graves  found  there,  and  identify  ll'.em  as 
those  of  Joshua,  his  father,  and  Caleb  (Carmoly,  p. 
387),  The  antiquity  of  the  decorations  of  these 
sepulchres  may  indeed  be  questioned,  but  not  that 
of  the  sepulchres  themselves.  Smith  was  of  opin- 
ion that  hitherto  no  graves  like  these  had  been  dis- 
covered in  Palestine.  Tibneh  lies  on  the  eastern 
side  of  Mount  Ejihraim,  the  same  side  on  which, 
farther  south,  Beth-hqron  and  Saris  are  found. 
"  Mount  Heres,"  which  not  the  tribe  of  Dan,  but 
only  the  strength  of  Ephraim,  could  render  tribu- 
tary, must  have  lain  near  Saris,  east  of  Aijalon. 
It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  name  Heres  must 
have  been  borne  by  this  whole  division  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Ephraim  ;  and  that  the  Timnath  in  which 
Joshua  was  buried,  was  by  the  addition  of  Heres 
distinguished  from  other  places  of  the  same  name. 
In  this  way,  the  peculiar  interest  which  led  Eph- 
raim to  administer  justice  on  Mount  Heres  (cf.  on 
ch.  i.  35)  explains  itself. 

Ver.  10.  And  also  all  that  generation,  etc. 
Time  vanishes.  One  generation  goes,  another 
comes.  Joshua,  who  had  died  weary  with  years, 
was  followed  into  the  grave  by  his  younger  con- 
temporaries. The  generation  that  had  borne  arms 
with  him,  had  been  buried  in  the  soil  of  the  prom- 
ised land ;  and  another,  younger  generation  lived. 

1  As       D'^tt^^n      and      Dniri',      C^TS^iabS      and 

-'2p^S,  ""ip^r'  and  '^^^r*\  Cf.  Bochart,  Hierozo- 
icon,  lib.  I,  cap.  xx.  torn.  2,  p.  137. 


It  had  already  grown  up  in  the  land  which  the 
fathers  had  won.  It  inherited  from  them  only 
possession  and  enjoyment.  It  already  felt  itself  at 
home  in  the  life  of  abundance  to  which  it  was  born. 
It  could  not  be  counted  as  a  reproach  to  them  that 
they  had  not  seen  the  mighty  works  of  God  in  con- 
nection with  the  conquest  (hence    it  is  not  said 

^S"1  S7);  but  in  the  triteness  of  possession  they 

utterly  fliiled  to  acknowledge  (^^"[^  W7)  their 
indebtedness  for  it  to  God.  How  Israel  came  into 
the  land,  they  must  indeed  have  known ;  but  to 
"  know  Jehovah  "  is  something  higher.  They  did 
not  acknowledge  that  it  was  through  God  that  they 
had  come  thither.  Their  fathers  had  seen  and  felt 
that  victory  and  freedom  came  to  them  from  the 
Lord.  But  they,  as  they  did  eat,  built  goodly 
houses,  and  dwelt  in  them  (Dent.  viii.  12),  forgat 
God,  and  said  (Dent.  viii.  17)  :  "  Our  power  and 
the  might  of  our  hands  hath  gotten  us  this  wealth." 
^Modern  German  history  furnishes  an  instructive 
illustration.  The  generation  which  broke  the  yoke 
of  servitude  imposed  by  Napoleon,  "  felt  their 
God,"  as  E.  M.  Arndt  sang  and  prayed.  The 
succeeding  age  enjoys  the  fruits  and  says :  "  Our 
skill  and  arms  have  smitten  him."  The  living 
enthusiasm  of  action  and  strength,  feels  that  its 
source  is  in  the  living  God.  It  looks  upon  itself  as 
the  instrument  of  a  Spirit  who  gives  to  truth  and 
freedom  their  places  in  history.  The  children  want 
the  strength  which  comes  of  faith  in  that  Spirit 
who  in  the  fathers  accomplished  everything  —  and 
want  it  the  more,  the  less  they  have  done.  Every- 
thing foretold  by  Moses  goes  into  fulHllment.  The 
later  Israel  had  forgotten  (Dent.  viii.  14)  what  God 
had  done  for  their  fathers  —  in  Eoypt,  in  the  des- 
ert, in  Canaan.  The  phraseology  is  very  sug- 
gestive ;  they  "  knew  not  Jehovah,  nor,  conse- 
quently, the  works  which  he  had  done  for  Israel." 
Among  the  people,  the  one  is  closely  connected 
with  the  other,  as  is  shown  by  what  follows. 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

One  generation  goes  and  another  comes,  but  the 
word  of  God  abides  forever.  It  holds  good  for 
fathers  and  children ;  it  judges  ancestors  and  de- 
scendants. The  new  Israel  had  not  beheld  the 
deeds  of  Joshua  and  Caleb  ;  but  the  God  in  whose 
spirit  they  wei"e  accomplished,  still  lived.  They 
had  not  witnessed  the  recompense  which  was  vis- 
ited upon  Adoni-bezek ;  but  the  Word  which  prom- 
ises reward  and  punishment,  was  still  living.  Israel 
apostatized  not  because  it  had  forgotten,  but  be- 
cause sin  is  ever  forgetful.  When  the  blind  man 
sins,  it  is  not  because  he  does  not  see  the  creation 
which  God  created,  but  because  sin  is  blind  both 
in  those  who  see  and  in  those  who  see  not. 

Therefore,  no  one  can  excuse  himself,  when  he 
fells  away  into  idolatry.  Creation  is  visible  to  all, 
all  have  come  up  out  of  Egypt,  all  enjoy  the  favor 
of  their  God.  Inexperience,  satanie  arts  of  temp- 
tation, temperament,  can  explain  many  a  fall ;  yet, 
no  one  falls  save  by  his  own  evil  lusts,  and  all 
wickedness  is  done  before  the  eyes  of  God  (ver. 
11). 

Starke  :  Constantly  to  remember  and  medi- 
tate on  the  works  of  God  promotes  piety,  causing 

2  Hitter  xvi.  562,  Gage's  Transl.  iv.  246  ;  [Smith's  "  Visii 
to  Anlipatris,''  iu  Bibliotheca   Sacra  for  1843  (published  at 

New  York)  p.  484 Tr.]    On  the  desire  of  the  Bed)uins  to 

be  buried  on  mountains,  cf.  Wetzstein,  Hauran.  p.  26. 


56 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


ns  to  fear  God,  to  believe  in  Him,  and  to  serve 
Him. 
Lisoo :   As  lonsr  as  the   remembrance  of  the 


mighty  works  of  God  continued  alive,  so  long  also 
did  active  gratitude,  covenant  faithfulness,  en- 
dure. 


The  apostasy  of  Israel  during  the  period  of  the  Judges :  Idolatry  and  its  consequences. 

Chapter   IL   11-15. 

1 1  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  evil  ^  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and 

12  served  Baalim:  And  they  forsook  the  Lord  [Jehovah,  the]  God  of  their  fathers, 
which  brouglit  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  [Mitsraim].  and  followed  other  gods,  of 
the  gods  of  the  people  [peoples]  that  loere  round  about  them,  and  bowed  themselves 

13  unto  them,  and  provoked  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  to  anger.     And  [Yea]  they  forsook  the 

14  Lord  [Jeliovah],  and  served  Baal  and  Ashtaroth.  And  the  anger  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  was  hot  [kindled]  against  Israel,  and  he  delivered  them  into  the  hands 
of  spoilers  that  [and  they]  spoiled  them,  and  he  sold  them  [gave  them  up  '^'\  into  the 
hands  of  their  enemies  round  about,  so  that  they  could  not  any  longer  stand  before 

15  their  enemies.  Whithersoever  [Wheresoever]  ^  they  went  out,  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  was  against  them  for  evil  [disaster],  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  said, 
and  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  sworn  unto  them :  and  tliey  were  [became]  greatly 
distressed. 

TEXTUAL   AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


fl  Ver.  11.  —  3?^n  ■   lit.  "  the  evil."     The  use  of  the  article,  however,  scarcely  warrants  the  stress  laid  on  it  by  Dr. 

-  T 

Cassel  (see  below),  as  l^^n,  although  most  frequently  used  of  idolatry,  occurs  also  of  sin  in  general  and  of  other  sins, 
cf.  Num.  xxxii.  13 ;  2  Sam.  xii,  9  ;  P».  li.  6.  The  art.  is  probably  used  here  as  with  other  words  denoting  abstract  ideas, 
cf.  Ges.  Gr.  §  109,  Rem.  1,  c.  —  Tr.] 

p  Ver.  14.  —  Bachmann  :  "  The  giving  up  to  the  enemy  is  represented  as  a  selling.  The  term  of  comparison,  however, 
is  not  the  price  received,  but  the  complete  surrender  into  the  stranger's  power."  —  Ta.] 

13  Ver.  15. —  The  E.  V.  takes  bbS  =  n^DD"v312,    and  "111?^  as  the  accus.  whither,  cf.  Num.  xiii.  27.     So  also 
^  :  '    T       T  :  '  V  -: 

Bertheau,  Keil,  and  most  versions  and  commentators.     Dr.  Cassel  takes  Ttt'S  as  accus.  where,  as  in  Gen.  xxxv.  13, 

2  Sam.  vii.  7.     Dr.  Bachmann  thinks  it  safer   "in  accordance  with  2  Kgs.  xviii.  7  (cf.  Josh.  i.  7,  9),  to  understand  the 

whole  expression  not  of  the  place  of  the  undertaking,   but  of  the  undertaking  itself  (ef.   Deut.  xxviii.  20  :  "  v33 

ntt^l^n  ~)tt?Sl  ^1"^  nbtt^n,  with  ver.  19  :  ....  TfnWl^Ja  "TJSba):  llt.  "lu  aU  what  =  for  what 
they  went  out,'''i.  e.  (since  the' connection  points  to  matters  of  war)  in  all  undertakings  for  which  they  took  the  field. 
It  is  at  least  safe  to  say  that  2  Kgs.  xviii.  7  requires  this  interpretation  of  the  phrase  in  question,  cf.  Thenius  in  loc.  — 
Tb.] 

guidance,  but  to  its  own  strength.  Hence  also,  as 
soon  as  Israel  forgets  God  as  the  autlior  of  its  his- 
tory, it  falls  into  the  service  of  other  gods,  since 
these  arc  the  opposite  of  the  absolute  God,  namely, 
the  visible  embodiment  of  the  nation's  own  self. 
The  God  of  Israel  is  a  God  on  whom  the  people 
feels  itself  dependent ;  the  heathen  deity,  with  its 
material  representation,  is  the  resultant  of  the 
popular  will.  The  very  moment  in  which  the 
impatient  Israel  of  the  desert  forsook  God,  it  wor- 
shi]iped  the  golden  calf,  the  type  of  Egypt.  Now, 
in  Canaan  also,  Israel  is  induced  to  forget  God  as 
its  benefactor.  It  seeks  to  remove  the  contrariety 
which  exists  between  itself  and  the  Canaanites  :  to 
cancel  the  dividing-lines  drawn  by  tbe  law  of  the 
invisible  God.  It  can  have  fellowship  with  the 
other  nations  only  l)y  serving  their  gods.  Among 
the  nations  of  antiquity  no  leagues  found  place 
except  on  the  basisof  community  in  sacred  things; 
for  in  these  the  national  type  or  character  ex- 
pressed itself  In  the  Italian  cities,  a  uTiion  for 
joint-sacrifices  was  called  concilium,  and  formed  the 


EXBGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  11-1.3.  And  they  did  the  evil  in  the 
sight  of  Jehovah.  In  what  the  evil  consisted, 
we  are  soon  informed  :  they  served  other  gods,  not 
their  God.  These  other  gods  of  the  nations  round 
about  them,  are  national  gods.  They  severally 
represent  the  morals,  inclinations,  and  aptitudes, 
of  those  nations.  The  heathen  god  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  spiritual  life  and  character  of  the  peo- 
ple that  worships  him.  The  God  of  Israel  is  the 
very  opposite  of  this.  He  is  the  God  of  the  uni- 
verse, inasmucli  as  He  created  heaven  and  earth ; 
and  the  God  of  Israel,  inasmuch  as  He  elected'  them 
from  among  the  nations  in  order  to  be  a  holy  peo- 
ple unto  Himself  Tlie  law  is  the  abstract  repre- 
sentation of  that  divine  morality  which  is  charac- 
teristic of  tin;  holy  nation,  as  such.  Israel  forsakes 
God,  when  it  does  not  follow  this  law.  It  forgets 
God,  when  it  ascribes  to  itself  that  which  belongs 
to  Him ;  when  it  explains  the  history  of  its  wars 
ind    victories   by   referring    them,    not    to   divine 


CHAPTER  II.   11-15. 


67 


indispensable  prerequisite  to  connubium  and  com- 
mercium.  The  cliildrcn  of  Israel,  for  the  sake  of 
their  neighbors,  forget  their  God.  To  please  men, 
they  do  "  the  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord."     Evil, 

S?"})  is  the  opposite  of  what  God  Avills.     Whatever 

the  laws  forbids,  is  "  evil."  "  Ye  shall  not  wor- 
ship strange  gods,"  is  the  burden  of  tlie  first,  and 
the  ultimate  ground  of  all,  coininandments.  There- 
fore, when  Israel  serves  them  it  does  what  is,  not 

simply  "  evil,"  but  "  the  evil  "  (37'^n).  The  trains 
of  thought  of  the  simple  sentences,  are  bound  to- 
gether by  a  profoundly  penetrating  logic.  The 
new  generation  no  longer  knows  the  works  of  God 
in  Israel's  behalf.  Hence  it  longs  for  intercourse 
with  the  nations  round  about.  For  these  have  not 
been  driven  out.  In  order  to  gratify  this  longing, 
it  serves  their  strange  gods.  But  thereby  it  for- 
sakes Jehovah,  and  pro\okes  Him  to  anger. 

And  they  served  Baalim.  Baal  (v27S),  as 
deity,  is  for  the  nation,  what  as  master  he  is  in  the 
house,  and  as  lord  in  the  city.  He  represents  and 
impersonates  the  people's  lite  and  energies.  Hence, 
there  is  one  general  Baal,  as  well  as  many  Baalim. 
The  different  cities  and  tribes  had  their  individual 
Baalim,  who  were  not  always  named  after  their 
cities,  but  frequently  from  the  various  characteris- 
tics for  which  they  were  adored.  The  case  is  an- 
alogous to  that  of  Zeus,  who  by  reason  of  liis 
various  attributes,  M'as  variously  named  and  wor- 
shi))ped  in  Greece.  The  Israelites,  as  they  forgot 
their  own  God,  apostatized  to  that  form  of  Baal 
sen-ice  which  obtained  in  the  tribe  or  city  in  which 
they  happened  to  live,  according  to  the  manifold 
modifications  which  the  seiwice  of  the  idol  assumed. 
Our  passage  reproduces  veiy  closely  the  words  of 
the  Mosaic" law  (cf.  Deut.  xxii.  2,  3  ;  xxix.  25  (26) ), 
except  that  it  substitutes  Baalim  ioYelohim  arherim, 
other  gods.  Elohim  aclierhn  is  of  universal  compre- 
hensiveness. "  Other  gods  "  being  forbidden,  the 
false  gods  of  all  ages  and  countries,  whatever 
names  they  may  bear,  are  forbidden.  Acker  is 
"  another,"  not  in  any  sense  implying  coordina- 
tion, but  as  expressive  of  inferiority,  spuriousness. 
It  is  used  like  erepos,  posterior,  and  the  German 
aj}er  and  aber.  {Abergluube  [superstitionj  is  a  false 
qlaiihe  [faith],  just  as  elohim  acherim  are  false  gods.^) 
Baalim  is  here  substituted  as  being  the  current 
name  of  the  country'  for  the  false  god.  And  in 
truth  the  very  name  of  Baal,  in  its  literal  significa- 
tion, expresses  the  contrast  between  him  and  the 
absolute  and  true  Elokim,  Jehovah.  For  as  Baal 
{i.  e.  Lord,  Master),  he  is  dependent  on  the  ex- 
istence of  him  whose  Baal  he  is,  just  as  he  is  no 
husband  who  has  not  a  wife ;  whereas  it  is  the  na- 
ture of  the  absolute  God  to  be  perfectly  free  and 
independent  of  every  extraneous  object.  These 
Baalim  were  the  "  gods  of  the  nations  who  dwelt 
round  about  them."  Every  word  of  ver.  12  indi- 
cates that  what  now  occurred,  had  been  foretold  by 
Moses  (cf.  Deut.  xxviii.  20;  xxxi.  16  ;  Lev.  xxii. 
33).  The  chief  passages  which  are  kept  in  view, 
arc  Deut.  vi.  10  ff. ;  xxix.  25  ff.  Ver.  13  begins 
with  the  same  woi'ds  as  ver.  12,  "they  forsook 
God,"  not  to  repeat  but  to  strengthen  the  state- 
ment.   It  must  astound  the  reader  that  they  have 

1  Of.  my  Abhandlung  ilber  Wissensch,  und  Akademien,  p. 
ixxviii. 

2  Compare  Methuastartus  (n"inEl?2?1jn^),  formed 
Ske  MethubftSl,  Methusalem,  Man  of  (belonging  to)  Astarte. 
Compare  j*T^nti?17^W,  "  my  mother  is  Astarte,"  on  the 


forsaken  Goi>  (3T3J  has  the  sense  of  our  expres- 
sion "  to  ignore  one,"  "  not  to  notice  him,"  as  one 
lets  a  poor  mar  stand  and  beg  without  noticing 
him),  to  serve  "  Baal  and  Ashtaroth."  Israel,  the 
narrator  wishes  to  say,  was  actually  capable  of 
giving  up  its  own  glorious  God,  who  brought  it 
up  out  of  Egypt,  for  the  sake  of  Baal  and  Ash- 
taroth! The  statements  of  vers.  11,  12,  13,  and 
14  form  a  climax  ;  for  sin  is  not  stationarj%  but 
sinks  ever  deeper.  Ver.  11  had  said  that  "they 
served  Baalim."  Ver.  12  intimates  that  this  was 
hi  fact  nothing  else  than  that  which  Moses,  in  the 
name  of  God,  had  described  as  the  deepest  and 
most  radical  crime  of  which  the  nation  could  be 
guilty.  Ver.  13  shows  the  blindness  of  Israel  in 
its  deepest  darkness.  The  people  has  forsaken  its 
God  of  truth  and  purity,  for  the  sake  of  Baal  and 
Ashtaroth  !  That  has  come  to  pass  against  which 
Deut.  iv.  19  warned  as  possible  :  "Lest  thou  lift  up 
thine  eyes  unto  heaven,  and  when  thou  seest  the  sun, 
and  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  all  the  host  of  heaven, 
shouldest  bow  down  to  them  and  serve  them.  "  The 
luminaries  of  the  heavens  are  the  original  s_>Tnbols 
of  ancient  idolatry.  Baal  answers  to  Zeus,  the  Greek 
Lightgod.  Ashtaroth,  in  like  manner,  coiTcsponds 
to  Hera  (according  to  the  meaning  of  her  name,  a 
Baalah),  the  Star-queen.    Ashtoreth  means  "the 

star  "  ("iripS,  Persian  sitareh,  acTTip,  star) ;  in  the 
plural  her  name  is  Ashtaroth.  This  plural  ex- 
presses the  Scripture  phrase  "  host  of  heaven,"  in 
one  collective  conception.  As  Elohim  in  its  plural 
form  i-epresents  the  Deity,  so  Baalim  represents 
Baaldom,  and  Ashtaroth  the  shining  night-heavens. 

(Just  as  cives  and  civitas,  C^  /3J?  and  Hv^S, 
are  used  to  express  all  that  is  included  in  the  idea 
of  the  State.)  The  Greek  form  of  Ashtoreth,  it  is 
well  known,  was  Astarte.  Hence,  names  formed 
like  Abdastartus  -  (Servant  of  Astarte),  find  their 
contrast  in  such  as  Obadiah  (Servant  of  Jah), 
formed  in  the  spirit  of  the  Israelitish  people.  As- 
tarte represents  on  the  coast  of  Phoenicia  the  same 
popular  conception,  suggested  by  natural  phenom- 
ena, which  till  a  very  late  period  Asia  Minor 
worshipped  in  the  goddess  of  Ephesus.  The  Greek 
conceptions  of  Hera,  Artemis,  and  Aphrodite  do 
not  so  coalesce  in  her  as  to  prevent  us  from  clearly 
finding  the  common  source.  Prom  the  instruc- 
tive passages  of  Scripture,  in  which  the  language 
shows  a  relation  of  Astarte  to  the  propagation  of 
flocks  (Deut.  vii.  13;  xxviii.  4),  it  is  evident  that 
as  luminous  night-goddess  she,  like  Hera,  was  a 
patroness  of  corporeal  fertility,  an  Ilithyia,  Lucina, 
Mvlitta.  On  account  of  this  idea,  which  is  char- 
actei'istic  of  both  goddesses,  the  heavenly  Hera 
{Juno  calestis)  coincides  with  Aphrodite  Urania, 
so  that  Hesychius  remarks  concerning  Belthis 
(Baalath),  that  she  may  be  the  one  or  the  other. 
Astarte  was  worshipped  as  Ashtoreth,  not  only  in 
Zidon  (1  Kgs.  xi.  5  ;  2  Kgs.  xxiii.  13),  but  through- 
out Canaan  ;  special  mention  is  made  of  her  temple 
in  Askelon  (1  Sam.  xxxi.  10).  It  is  evidently  this 
temple  of  which  Herodotus  (i.  105)  speaks  as  dedi- 
cated to  Aphrodite  Urania,  and  which,  as  the 
national  sanctuary  of  Askelon,  the  Scythians  de- 
stroyed.    It  was  on  account  of  its  national  charac- 

Sidonian  Inscription  of  E^hmunazar.  Rodiger  (Zeit.ichri/l 
li.  d.  VI.  Ges;  1855,  p.  656)  regards  it  as  an  abbreviation  for 
n~inti?3?nT2S,  "  maid-servant  of  Astarte,"  wherein  he  ia 
followed  by  others. 


68 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


ter,  that  the  Philistines  deposited  in  it  tlie  arn>or 
of  Saul  as  trophies.  They  saw  in  its  goddess  the 
victor  over  the  defeated  enemy,  just  as  at  Ephesus 
the  repulse  of  the  Cimmerians  was  attributed  to 
the  aid  of  Artemis.  Powers  of  resistance  and  de- 
fense were  ascribed  to  all  those  Asiatic  goddesses 
who  presided  over  the  principle  of  fecundity  in 
nature.  Their  weapons  protect  pacific  nature  and 
that  which  she  cherishes,  against  the  hostility  of 
wild  and  savage  forces.  Tiie  worship  of  the  Eplie- 
sian  goddess  is  founded  and  celebrated  by  Ama- 
zons. Juno,  the  celestial,  is  represented  with  lance 
in  hand.  Tlic  same  conception  is  indicated  by  an- 
cient representations  of  Aphrodite,  in  which  she 
appears  armed  and  prepared  for  battle.  Astarte  is 
at  all  events  considered  favorable  to  her  nation  in 
war,  since  trophies  of  victory  hang  in  her  temple, 
and  the  capital  of  the  terrible  warrior  Og  bears  the 
name  Ashtaroth  (Josh.  ix.  10  ;  xii.  4).  This  King 
Og  of  Bashan  is  regarded  as  a  scion  of  the  mighty 
Rephaim.  These  latter  have  their  seat  at  Ashte- 
roth  Karnaim,  where  they  are  attacked  by  the 
eastern  kings  (Gen.  xiv.  5).  Ashteroth  Karnaim 
points  to  the  horns  of  the  crescent  moon,  by  which 
also  Astarte  of  Askelon  is  indicated  on  the  coins 
of  that  city  (cf  Stark,  Gaza,  p.  259).  The  armed 
Aphrodite  in  Sparta  is  the  same  with  Helena  or 
Selene,  the  moon-goddess, — a  fact  clearly  demon- 
strative of  her  identity  with  Astarte.  Moon  and 
stars,  the  luminaries  of  the  night-sky,  are  blended 
in  Ashtaroth.  She  represents  the  collective  host 
of  heaven.  Before  this  "  host "  Israel  bowed  down 
when  it  forsook  its  "Lord  of  hosts."  Baal  and 
Ashtaroth  stand  for  the  whole  national  worship  of 
Phoenicia,  over  against  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the 
universe.  They  are  the  representatives  of  their  na- 
tion's prosperity ;  and  it  is  therefore  a  profound 
conception,  which  Epiphanias  says  some  held 
{Hceres.  Iv.  cap.  2),  which  makes  Hercules  (Baal) 
to  be  the  father,  and  Ashtaroth  (or  Astcria,  tV 
Ka\  ^Affreplav, )  the  mother,  of  Melchizedek.  Thus 
when  Melchizedek  bowed  himself  befoi'e  Abraham 
and  Abraham's  God,  the  national  spirit  of  Canaan 
submitted  itself.  When  Israel  prostrates  itself  be- 
fore such  svmbols,  it  cannot  fail  to  provoke  the  au- 
ger of  its  God. 

Ver.  14.  And  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was 
kindled  against  Israel.  A  climax  appears  also 
in  the  expressions  concerning  the  displeasure  of 
God.  First,  that  which  they  do  is  evil  in  his 
sight  (ver.  11) ;  then,  they  provoke  Him  to  anger 
(ver.  12;  cf.  Dent.  iv.  25;  ix.  18);  finally,  his 
anger  is  kindled  (ver.  14;  also  Num.  xxv,  3; 
xxxii.  13). 

And  He  dehvered  them  into  the  hands  of  the 
oppressors  [spoilers]  —  and  gave  them  up  into 
the  hands  of  their  enemies.^  Thus  far  the 
phraseology  has  been  literally  (pioted  from  Mosaic 
utterances,  except  that  Baal  and  Ashtaroth  were 
substituted  for  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  The  above 
words  occur  here  for  the  first  time.  They  express 
the  historical  consequences  of  Israel's  wrong-doing. 
When  Israel  forsakes  God  and  his  law,  it  loses  the 
basis  of  its  nationality.  With  God  aiul  God's  law, 
and  through  them,  it  is  a  people;  without  them,  it 
has  neither  law  nor  national  power.  The  gods 
after  whom  they  run,  do  not  at  all  belong  to  them. 
On  the  contrary,  they  arc  the  property  of  nations 
who  are  their  enemies,     Israel  left  Egypt  a  crowd 

1  [On  these  woi'ds  Bachmana  remai-Ug :  "  This  does  not  de- 
Bcribe  a  twofold  visitation,  cither  simultaueous  or  successive  : 
first  spoiliug,  then  servitude  (P.  Mart,),  or  roving  robber 
bands  and  i-egular  hostile  armies  (Schm.) ;  still  les8(Cajet. ) 
itbrefifold  degree  of  calamity  — spoiling,  slavery,  flight  [the 


of  slaves.  It  was  God's  own  revelation  of  Himself, 
fulfilling  his  promise  to  the  fathers,  that  made  it 
free.  If  it  give  up  this  revelation,  it  has  no  longer 
a  basis  of  freedom.  Freedom  is  henceforth  impos- 
sible ;  for  by  serving  the  gods  of  other  nations,  it 
dissolves  its  own  national  existence.  Hence,  this 
faithlessness  towards  God,  is  the  worst  folly  against 
itself.  For  the  enemy  who  gave  way  before  Israel's 
God  and  Israel's  enthusiasm,  will  no  longer  spare 
the  conquerors  of  Canaan  when,  like  men  without 
cluu-acter,  they  kneel  at  strange  altars.  When 
God  who  elected  Israel  is  not  in  the  midst  of  the 
nation  as  its  protector,  it  is  like  the  defenseless 
hart  which  the  hunter  pursues.  Such  is  the  figure 
which  underlies  the  expression  :  "  and  God  gave 

them  into  the  hands  of  their  W^DID."     The  root 

nDtt7,  DDtt?,  is  not  found  in  the  Pentateuch,  and 
occurs  here  for  the  first  time.  The  shosim  are  ene- 
mies of  the  property  of  another,  robbers,  plunder- 
ers,—  as  the  hunter  robs  his  game  of  life  and  hap- 
piness. The  word  is  kindred  to  the  Greek  x'^C^y 
with  the  same  meaning,  although,  to  be  sure,  only 
the  passive  x^C"/"-'*'  i*  i'^  ^^(^-  (It  seems  also  that 
the  Italian  cacciare  and  the  French  diasser  are  to 
be  derived  from  this  word ;  but  cf.  Diez,  Lex.  der 
Rom.  Spr.,  p.  79).  Israel,  having  broken  its  cov- 
enant with  God  for  the  sake  of  men,  v/as  by  these 
very  men  oppressed.  They  robbed  it  of  goods  and 
freedom.  For  God  had  "  sold  it,"  like  a  person 
who  has  lost  his  freedom.  What  but  servitude 
remained  for  Israel  when  it  no  longer  possessed  the 
power  of  God  ?  It  cannot  stand  before  its  enemies, 
as  was  foretold.  Lev.  xxvi.  37,  in  somewhat  ditler- 
ent  words.  A  people  that  conquered  only  through 
the  contrariety  of  its  spirit  with  that  of  its  enemies, 
must  fall  when  it  ceases  to  cherish  that  spirit.  No 
one  can  have  power  to  succeed,  who  himself  de- 
stroys his  sole  vocation  to  success.  Hence,  Israel 
could  no  more  be  successful  in  anything.  The 
measure  of  its  triumph  with  God,  is  the  measure 
of  its  misery  without  Him.  Apostasy  fi'ora  God  is 
always  like  a  return  to  Egypt  into  bondage  (Dent, 
xxviii.  tJ8). 

Ver.  1.5.  As  Jehovah  had  said,  and  as  he 
had  sworn  unto  them.  By  applying  to  their 
sin  the  very  words  used  in  the  law,  the  narrator 
has  already  emphasized  the  enduring  truthfulness 
of  the  divine  announcements.  Israel  is  to  experi- 
ence that  everything  threatened  conges  to  pass; 
and  with  reason,  for  every  promise  also  has  been 
verified.  But  here  he  expresses  hin^self  still  moixs 
plainly.  The  hand  of  the  Lord  (Deut.  ii/l5)  was 
against  them  for  evil  (Deut.  xxix.  20),  as  He  "  had 
sworn  unto  them."  No  sentence  evinces  more 
plainly  how  closely  the  narrator  keeps  to  tlie  Mo- 
saic writings.  When  God  is  said  to  swear  unto 
Israel,  it  is  almost  always  in  connection  vnth 
blessings  to  be  bestowed.  Only  in  two  instance* 
(Dent.  ii.  14;  cf.  Josh.  v.  6),  the  Lord  is  repre- 
sented as  having  sworn  that  to  those  who  had  not 
obeyed  his  voiee.  He  would  not  show  the  land.  In 
these,  therefore,  the  oath  is  coufn'matory  ©.f  threat- 
ened punishment.  The  double  form  of  expressidn 
also,  that  God  spake  and  swore,  is  prii'fi;gureii 
Deut.  xxix.  12  (13). 

And  they  became  greatly  distressed,  "^^.^l- 
Deut.  xxviii.  50-52  describes  the  plunderers,,  who 

latter  indicated  by  '  they  were  no  longer  able  to  stand  before 
their  enemies  '  —  Ta.]  ;  but  God  in  abandoning  the  people 
to  the  resistless  violence  of  theif  hostile  neighbors,  does 
thereby  deliver  them  into  the  hs-ai»  of  the  spoilers."-^ 
Tr] 


CHAPTER    II.    16-2.3. 


59 


shall  rob  them  of  their  cattle  and  their  harvests. 
"  Thou    shall    be   distressed  in    all    thy  gates " 

(^?  "'^n?))  is  twice  repeated  in  ver.  52.  The 
narrator  presupposes  intimate  acquaintance  Avith 
the  ancient  writings,  and  therefore  cites  only  their 
salient  points. 

nOMILETlCAL   AND    PRACTICAL. 

After  the  judgment  of  the  word  comes  the  judg- 
ment of  the  sword.  He  M'ho  ceases  to  remember 
the  works  of  God,  ceases  also  to  enjoy  the  power 
of  God.  For  him  who  shuts  his  eyes,  the  sun 
affords  no  light.  Men  are  judged  by  the  truth 
which  they  despise,  and  betrayed  by  the  sin  which 
they  love.  Israel  can  no.  longer  withstand  the 
nations  over  whom  it  formerly  triumphed,  because 
it  courts  their  idols  and  leaves  its  own  God. 

Thus  men  suffer  through  the  passions  which 
they  entertain.     They  are  plundered,  when  instead 


of  God,  they  serve  Baal-Mammon.  The  judg. 
ment  of  the  word  which  they  forsake,  is  confirmed 
Men  lose  the  freedom  of  the  children  of  God,  when 
(1)  they  are  no  longer  grateful  to  God;  conse- 
quently, (2)  remember  Him  no  more;  hence,  (3) 
attend  no  longer  to  the  preaching  of  repentance ; 
and  despite  of  it,  (4)  serve  idols. 

Starke  :  He  who  engages  in  another  worship, 
forsakes  the  true  God,  and  apostatizes  from  Him. 
But  woe  to  the  man  who  does  this :  for  he  bi-ings 
himself  into  endless  trouble.  The  same  :  God  is 
as  true  to  his  threats  as  to  his  promises.  Lisco: 
The  people  whom  troulile  and  bondage  had  brought 
to  a  coiiscious7iess  of  their  guilt,  sank  again  into 
idolatry  through  levity  and  commerce  with  heathen, 
and  thus  new  chastisements  became  necessary. 
Gerlach  :  The  judgment  affords  a  deep  glance 
into  God's  government  of  the  world,  showing  how 
He  makes  all  sin  subservient  to  his  own  power,  by 
punishing  it  with  the  very  evils  that  arise  from 
it. 


The  interposition  of  God  in  Israel's  hehalf  hy  the  appointment  of  Judges.     Deliverance 
and  the  death  of  the  Deliverer  the  occasion  of  renewed  apostasy. 

Chapter  II.  16-23. 


16  Nevertheless   [And]   the   Lord   [Jehovah]   raised   up  judges,  which  [and  they] 

17  delivered  them  out  of  the  hand  of  those  that  spoiled  them.  And  yet  they  would  not 
[But  neither  did  they]  hearken  unto  their  judges,  but^  they  went  a  whoring''  after 
other  [false]  gods,  and  bowed  themselves  unto  them:  they  turned  quickly '^  out  of 
the  way  ^  which  their  fathers  walked  in,  obeying  ^  the  commandment-;  of  the  Lord 

18  [Jehovah]  ;  hut  they  did  not  so.  And  when  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  raised  them  up 
judges,  then  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  was  with  the  judge,  and  delivered  them  out  of  tlie 
hand  of  their  enemies  all  the  days  of  the  judge  :  (for  it  repented  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
because  of  their  groanings  [waiiings  '^]  by  reason  of  them  that  oppressed  **  them  and 

19  vexed  [persecuted*]  *  them.)  And  [But]  it  cahie  to  pass,  when  the  judge  Avas  dead, 
tJtat  they  returned  [turned  back],  and  corrupted  themselves  ^  more  than  their  fathers, 
in  following  other  [false]  gods  to  serve  them,  and  to  bow  down  unto  them;  they 
ceased  not  from  ®  their  own    [omit :  own]    [evil]    doings,^  nor  from  their  stubborn 

20  way.'  And  the  anger  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  was  hot  [kindled]  against  Israel ;  and 
he   said.  Because  that  this  people   hath   transgressed  my  covenant**  which  I  com- 

21  manded  their  fatliers,  and  have  not  hearkened  unto  my  voice;  I  also  will  not  hence- 
forth [will  not  go  on  to]  drive  out  any  [a  man]  from  before  them  of  the  nations 

22  which  Ji)shna  left  when  he  died  :  that  through  them  I  may  prove  [in  order  by  them 
to  prove ']  ''  Israel,  whether  they  will  keep  the  Avay  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  to  walk 

23  therein,  as  their  fathers  did  keep  it,  or  not.  Therefore  [And]  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
left  those  [these]  nations  [at  rest ''],  without  driving  them  out  hastily  [so  that  they 
should  not  be  speedily  driven  out],  neither  delivered  he  them  [and  delivered  them 
not]  into  the  hand  of  Joshua. 


a  Ver.  17.  —  J13T   "'S,  etc.,  cf.  Deut.  xxxi.  16. 

D  Ver.  17.  —  "IHQ  ^~ID,  cf.  Ex.  xxxii.  8  ;  Deut.  ix.  12. 

c  Ver.  18.  —  DnrSl,   from   rS3,   cf.  Ex.  U.  24,  vi.  5. 
T  T-;-'  '    -  t' 

d  Ver.  18.—  VOb,  cf.  Ex.  iii.  9. 

•  Ver.  18.  —  pn^  appears  here  for  the  first  time.     Cf. 
the  Greek  Siu/cw. 


f  Ver.  19.  —  Cf.  Deut.  xxviii.  20. 

g  Ver.  19. —    ntt-T?,   with   reference  to   Ex,    xxxiii.  5 

T  't' 

etc.,  where  already  Israel  is  cajled  nil^'ntJ'P. 
h  Ver.  20.  —  Cf.  Josh.  vii.  11. 
i  Ver.  22.  —  Cf.    Ex.   xvi.   4  ;   xx.  20  ;  Deut.  viii.  2,   16 

xiii.  4(3). 
k  Ver.  23.  —  Cf.  Num.  xxxii.  15. 


30 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMMATICAL. 


[1  Ver.  17-  —  Dr.  Cassel  has  ilenn,"  for."    "  But  "  is  better.    On  ''S  after  a  nogatiye,  cf.  Qes.  Gr.  p.  272,  at  top. —  Tb.] 
[•2  Ver.  17.  —  That  is,  as  often  as  a  Judge  had  succeeded  in  bringing  them  back  to  the  way  of  their  fathers,  thev  • 

quickly  left  it  again.     So  Bachmann.  —  Te.] 

[3  Ver.  17.  —  ^Z2ti^  V  :   "  in  that  they  obeyed."     On  this   less  regular,  but  by  no  means  rare  (cf.  ver.  19,  Ps.  Ixxviii. 

18  I  1  Sam.  XX.  20  ;  etc.)  use  of  the  infin.  with  b,   cf.  Ew.  280  d.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  18. —  pn"^,  only  here  and  in  Joel  ii.  8.  If  the  clause  were  rendered  :  "before  those  that  crowded  (Vn7, 
cf.  on  ch.  i.  31)  and  pressed  upon  them,"  its  metaphorical  character  would  be  preserved  as  nearly  as  possible. —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  19.  — The  E.  V.  is  correct  as  to  sense  ;  but  the  Hebrew  phrase,  filled  out,  would  be,  "  they  corrupted  their 
way,"  cf.  Gen.  vi.  12.  —  Tr.] 

[6  Ver.  19.  —  ^73  •!  v'^Sn  S7  :  lit.  "  they  caused  not  {sc.  their  conduct,  course  of  action)  to  fall  away  from  their 
(evil)  deeds."  — Tr.] 

[7  Ver.  22. —  niDD  ^l^ui/.  Grammatically  this  infin.  of  design  maybe  connected  either  with  Jn^DiM  Nv, 
ver.  21,  "IttS^I,  ver.  20,  or  3T17.  The  first  construction  (adopted  by  E.  V.)  is  inadmissible,  because,  1.  It  supposes 
that  Jehovah  himself  continues  to  speak  in  ver.  22,  in  which  case  we  should  expect  '^3~T^"nS,    first  per.,  rather  than 

nin^  TI^^"j"lS.  2.  It  supposes  that  the  purpose  to  prove  Israel  is  now  first  formed,  whereas  it  is  clear  from  ch. 
iii  1,  4,  that  it  was  already  operative  in  the  time  of  Joshua.  This  objection  is  also  fatal  to  the  construction  with 
^^S^'l,  adopted  by  Keil.  (That  Dr.  Cassel  adopts  one  of  these  two  appears  from  the  fact  that  he  reads:  "  whether 
they  ivitl  (instead  of  would,  see  farther  on)  keep  the  way  of  Jehovah,"  but  which  of  the  two  is  not  clear.)  It  remains, 
therefore,  to  connect  with  2T27,  against  which  there  is  no  objection,  either  grammatical  or  logical.  "  For  in  such 
loosely  added  infinitives  of  design,  in  which  the  subject  is  not  definitely  determined,  the  person  of  the  infin.  goes  back 
to  the  preceding  principal  word  only  when  no  other  relation  is  more  obvious,  .see  Ew.  337  b  (cf.  Ex.  ix.  16).  But  that 
here,  as  in  the  perfectly  analogous  parallel  passage,  ch.  iii.  4,  the  design  expressed  by  the  infin.  is  not  Joshua's  nor  that 
of  the  nations,  but  Jehovah's,  is  self-evident,  and  is  besides  expressly  declared  in  ver.  23  and  eh.  iii.  1.  So  rightly  LXX. 
It.  Pesh.  At.  Aug.  (ques.  17),  Ser.  Sturl.  and  many  others  "  (Bachmann).  The  connection  from  ver.  21  onward  is  there- 
fore as  follows  :  In  ver.  21  Jehovah  is  represented  (cf.  foot-note  3  on  p.  62)  as  saying,  "  I  will  not  go  on  to  drive  out  the 
nations  which  Joshua  left  when  he  died."     To  this  the  author  of  the  Book  him.self  adds  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 

left,  namely,   to  prove  Israel,  whether  they  would  (not,  will)  keep  the  way   (TJ^^^jHS)  of  Jehovah  to  walk  therein 

(D"'^,  plur.  "in  them,"  const/,  ad  sensum,  the  way  of  Jehovah  consisting  of  the  niH"'.  n  1^12,  Dent.  viii.  2.  —  Keil), 
as  their  fathers  kept  it,  or  not.  "  And  so,"  he  continues,  i.  e.  in  consequence  of  this  purpose,  "  Jehovah  (not  merely 
Joshua)  left  these  nations  (H /MH,  these,  pointing  forward  to  ch.  iii.  1  S.,  where  they  are  enumerated,)  at  rest,  in  order 
that  they  should  not  speedily  (for  that  would  have  been  inconsistent  with  the  design  of  proving  Israel  by  them,  but  yet 
ultimately)  be  driven  out,  and  did  not  give  them  into  the  hand  of  Joshua."  But  the  "not  speedily  "  of  Joshua's  time 
had  by  Israel's  faithless  apostasy  been  changed  into  "  never."  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  first  two  chapters  indicate,  by  ■way  of  intro- 
duction, the  laws  of  historical  cause  and  eifect 
whose  operation  explains  the  occurrences  about  to 
be  related  in  the  succeeding  pages.  They  are  de- 
signed to  give  information  concerning  that  most 
important  of  all  subjects  in  Israel,  —  the  relation  of 
the  will  of  God  to  his  chosen  people.  Since  j^ros- 
perity  and  calamity  were  both  refeiTcd  to  God,  it 
was  necessary  to  explain  the  moral  groiinds  of  the 
same  in  the  fixvor  or  wrath  of  God.  It  was  most 
important,  in  view  of  the  ]ieculiar  histories  which 
were  to  be  narrated,  that  the  doubts  which  might 
be  raised  against  the  doctrine  of  God's  all-power- 
ful and  world-controlling  direction,  should  be  ob- 
viated. The  connection  between  the  national  for- 
tunes, as  about  to  be  related,  and  the  declarations 
of  the  Mosaic  law,  was  to  be  pointed  out.  The 
reader  was  to  be  informed  why  the  jjurposes  of  God 
concerning  the  glory  of  Israel  in  Canaan,  as  un- 
folded to  Moses,  had  been  so  imperfectly  fulfilled. 
In  ch.  i.  a  historical  survey  of  the  conquests  of  the 
tribes  had  been  given,  in  order  in  connection  there- 
K-ith  to  state  how  little  heed  had  been  given  to  the 
Itehest  of  the  law  to  ex])cl  the  nations.  In  that 
disobedience  the  germ  of  all  subsequent  misfor- 
tunes was  contained.  For  by  mingling  with  the 
heathen  nations,  the  chosen  people  fell  into  sin. 
With  Israel  to  fall  from  God  was  actually  to  fall 


back  into  bondage.  In  their  distress  and  anguish, 
God  (vers.  1,5  and  18)  mercifully  heard  their  crying, 
as  he  had  heard  it  in  Egypt  (Ex.  ii.  24;  vi.  5). 
Now,  as  then.  He  raised  them  up  heroes,  who 
through  liis  might  smote  the  enemy,  and  delivered 
the  people  from  both  internal  and  external  bondage 
^ver.  16).  This,  however,  did  not  remove  the  evil  in 
its  germ.  Since  the  judgeship  was  not  hereditary, 
the  death  of  each  individual  Judge  lirought  back  the 
same  state  of  things  which  followed  the  departure  • 
of  Joshua  and  his  contemporaries.  The  nation 
continually  fell  back  into  its  old  sin  (vers.  18,  19). 
The  history  of  events  imder  the  Judges,  is  the  hi.s- 
tory  of  ever  recurring  exhibitions  of  divine  com- 
passion and  human  weakness.  Hence,  the  great 
question  in  Israel  must  be  one  inquiring  into  the 
cause  of  these  relations.  If,  the  people  might  say, 
present  relations  owed  their  existence  to  the  temp- 
tations occasioned  by  the  remaining  Canaanitcs, 
he  on  whom  the  first  blame  for  not  expelling  them 
must  fall,  would  be  none  other  than  Joshua  !  Why 
did  not  that  hero  of  God  drive  them  all  out  of  the 
land  ?  Why  did  he  not  secure  the  whole  land,  in  all 
its  extended  boundaries,  for  a  ])Ossession  to  Israel  t 
If  only  sea  .and  desert  had  bounded  their  tei'ritones, 
Israel  would  have  had  no  temptation  to  meddle 
with  the  supei'stitions  of  neighbors.  Left  to  them- 
selves, they  would  have  thought  of  nothing  else  than 
to  serve  their  God.  To  this  vers.  21  tf.  reply  :  God  is 
certainly  the  Helper  and  Guide  of  Israel,  its  Libera 


CHAPTER   U.    11-2.3. 


61 


lur  and  Conqueror  ;  but  not  to  serve  the  sinfulness 
!ind  sloth  of  Israel.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  with  Israel, 
when  the  freewill  of  Israel  chooses  obedience  to  God. 
But  the  freedom  of  this  choice  demonstrates  itself 
only  under  temjitation.  Abraham  became  Father  of 
the  Faitiiful  because,  th()u;;h  tempted  (Gen.  xxii. 
1),  he  nevertheless  stood  firm.  Fidelity  and  faith 
apjjrove  themselves  only  in  resistance  to  seductive 
influences.  God  in  his  omnipotence  might  no  doubt 
remove  every  teniptation  from  the  path  of  believ- 
ers ;  but  He  would  not  thereby  bestow  a  boon  on 
man.  The  opjwrtnnity  for  sinning  would  indeed 
be  rendered  difficult ;  but  the  evidence  of  victorious 
conflict  with  sin  would  be  made  impossible.  Had 
God  suffered  Joshua  to  remove  out  of  the  way  all 
nations  who  might  tempt  Israel,  the  people's  in- 
ward sinful  inclimitions  would  have  been  no  less, 
it  would  have  cherished  no  greater  love  for  God  its 
benefactor,  it  would  have  forgotten  that  He  was  its 
liberator  (ch.  ii.  10) ;  and  the  taitli,  the  fidelity,  the 
enthusiasm,  which  come  to  light  amid  the  assaults 
of  temptation,  would  have  had  no  opportunity  to 
win  the  a))jjroval  of  Goil  or  to  secure  the  imparta- 
tion  of  his  strength.  Unfaithfulness,  to  be  sure, 
mnst  suffer  for  its  sins  ;  but  faithfulness  is  the 
mother  of  heroes.  The  Book  of  Judges  tells  of  the 
trials  by  which  God  suffered  Israel  to  be  tried 
through  the  Canaanites,  of  the  punishments  which 
they  endured  whenever  they  failed  to  stand  the 
tests,  —  but  also  of  the  heroes  whom  God  raised 
np  because  they  preserved  some  faith  in  Him.  The 
closing  verses  do  not  therefore  contradict  the  open- 
ing of  the  chapter.  The  pious  elders  weep  when 
from  the  words  of  the  "  messenger  from  Gilgal  " 
they  ])erceive  the  temptation.  The  unfaithful 
younger  generation  must  suffer  the  penalty  be- 
cause they  yielded  to  the  seduction.  Joshua  would 
doubtless  have  expelled  all  the  nations ;  but  God 
did  not  permit  it.  He  died ;  but  in  his  place  God 
raised  up  other  heroes,  who  liberated  Israel  when, 
in  distress,  it  breathed  penitential  sighs.  Such,  in 
outline,  are  the  author's  thoughts  as  to  the  causes 
which  underlie!  his  history.  He  uses  them  to  intro- 
duce his  narrative,  and  in  the  various  catastrophes 
of  the  history  constantly  refers  to  them. 

Vers.  16-19.  And  Jehovah,  raised  them  up 
Judges,  D  tp"  ti7,  Shophetim.  This  word  occurs 
here  for  the  first  time  in  the  special  sense  which  it 
has  in  this  period  of  Israelitish  history,  and  which 

it  does  not  appear  to  have  had  previously.  I22K7 
is  to  judge,  to  decide  and  to  proceed  according  to 
the  decision,  in  disputes  between   fellow-country- 

1  A  similarly  formed  title  is  that  of  B&tonnier,  given  by 
the  French  to  the  chief  of  the  barristers,  and  yet  very  (lif- 
erent from  the  meJiaeval  baslonerius. 

2  [Dr.  Cassel's  words  are :  Gesetz  iind  Rerht.  For  the 
latter  term,  as  technically  used,  the  English  language  has 
no  equivalent.     It  is  Right  as  determined  by  law.  —  Tr.] 

3  [Dr.  Bachmann  (with  many  others)  reaches  an  entirely 
different  definition  of  the  "Judges."  The  Judge  as  such, 
he  contends,  acts  in  an  external  direction,  in  behalf  of,  not 
on,  the  people.  A  Judge,  in  the  special  sense  of  our  Book,  is 
3rst  of  all  a  Deliverer,  a  Savior.  He  may,  or  he  ma}-  not, 
.'xercise  judicial  functions,  properly  speaking,  but  he  is 
Judge  because  he  r/e/ivfrs.  This  view  he  supports  by  an 
extended  review  of  the  usiix  lorjuen'li  of  the  word,  and  espe- 
cially by  insisting  that  ch.  ii.  16,  18  admits  of  no  other 
definition.  "Why,"  he  asks,  quoting  Dr.  Cassel,  "  if  a 
Judge  is  first  of  all  a  restorer  of  law  and  right,  does  not  ch. 
ii.  11-19,  which  gives  such  prominence  to  the  fact  that  the 
forsaking  of  the  divine  law  is  the  cause  of  all  the  hostile 
oppressions  endured  by  Israel,  lay  similar  stress,  when  it 
somes  to  speak  of  the  Shophetim,  on  the  restoration  of  the 
luthority  of  law,  but,  on  the  contrary,  speaks  of  the  deliv- 


men  and  citizens.  Originally,  Moses,  deeming  it 
his  duty  to  exercise  all  judicial  functions  himself, 
was  the  only  judge  in  Israel  (Ex.  xviii.  16).  But 
when  this  proved  impracticable,  he  committed  the 
les.ser  causes  to  trustworthy  men  from  among  the 
people,  just  as  at  the  outset  the  Spartan  ephors 
had  authority  only  in  unimportant  matters.  These 
he  charged  (Ex.  xviii.  21  ;  Deut.  i.  16)  to  "judge 
righteously  between  every  man  and  his  brother." 
For  the  future,  he  enjoins  the  appointment  of  judges 
in  every  city  (Ueut.  xvi.  18).  Their  jurisdictfon 
extends  to  cases  of  life  and  death,  to  matters  of  idol- 
atry as  all  other  causes  (Deut.  xvii.  1-12  ;  xxv.  2) ; 
and  although  the  words  are  "  thou  shalt  make  thee 
judges,"  the  judges  are  neverthdess  clothed  with 
such  authority  as  renders  their  decisions  completely 
and  finally  valid.  Whoever  resists  them,  must  die 
(Deut.  xvii.  12).  The  emblem  of  this  authority,  in 
Israel  as  elsewhere,  was  the  staff  or  rod,  as  we  see 

it  carried  by  Moses.    The  root  tacts'  is  therefore  to 

be  connected   with  ^^K-',  staff,  (TKriirrpov,   scipio. 

^^:^  is  a  staff-man,  a  judge.  Iti  the  Homeric 
poems,  when  the  elders  are  to  sit  in  judgment,  the 
heralds  reach  them  their  staves  (//.  xviii.  5r)6)  ; 
"but  now  (says  Achilles,  //.  i.  237),  the  judges 
carry  in  their  hands  the  staff'."  i  Judicial  author- 
ity is  the  cliief  attribute  of  the  royal  dignity. 
Hence,  (jod,  the  highest  king,  is  also  "  the  judge 
of  all  the  earth"  (Gen.  xviii.  2.5).  He  judges 
concerning  right  and  wrong,  and  makes  his  awards 
accordhigly.  When  law  and  sin  had  ceased  to  be 
distinguished  in  Israel,  compassion  induced  Him  to 
appoint  judges  again.  If  these  are  gifted  with 
heroic  qualities,  to  vanquish  the  oppres.sors  of 
Israel,  it  is  nevertheless  not  this  heroism  that 
forms  their  principal  characteristic.  That  consists 
in  "judging."  They  restore,  as  was-  foreseen, 
Deut.  xvii.  7,  12,  the  authority  of  law.  They 
enforce  the  penalties  of  law  against  the  sin  of  dis- 
obedience towards  God.  It  is  the  spirit  of  this 
law  living  in  them,  that  makes  them  strong.  The 
normal  condition  of  Israel  is  not  one  of  victory 

simply ;  it  is  a  condition  in  which  t25If^^  "H 
law  and  right,-  are  kept.  For  this  reason,  God 
raises  ixp  Shophetim,  judges,  not  princes  [nesiim, 
sariiii).  The  title  sets  forth  both  their  work  and 
the  occasion  of  their  appointment.  Israel  is  free 
and  powerful  when  its  law  is  observed  throughout 
the  land.-^  Henceforth,  (as  appears  from  Deut. 
xvii.  14,)  except  shophetim,  only  kings,  vi'lakim, 
can  rule  in  Israel.     The  difference  between  them 

erance  of  the  people  from  its  oppressors  ?  •'  To  which  it 
were  enough  to  reply,  first,  that  ver.  16  intends  only  to  show 
how  Israel  was  delivered  from  the  previously  mentioned 
consequences  of  its  lawless  condition,  not  how  it  was  res- 
cued from  the  lawless  condition  itself;  and,  secondly,  that 
vers.  18,  19  clearly  imply,  that  while  military  activity  may 
(and  from  the  nature  of  the  case  usually  did)  occupy  a  part 
of  the  Judge's  career,  efforts,  more  or  less  successful,  to 
restore  the  supremacy  of  the  divide  law  within  the  nation 
engage  the  whole.  Hence,  the  Deliverer  was  riglitly  called 
Shophet,  whereas  in  his  military  character  he  would  have 

been  more  properly  called  VC^XS,  cf.  ch.  iii.  9.  Dr. 
Bachmann,  it  is  true,  explains  the  title  Judge  (as  derived  from 

the  second  of  the  three  meaninss  of  ti^tt"",  1.  to  judge  ; 

-  T  ' 
2.  to  save,  namely,  by  affording  justice  ;  3.  to  rule)  by  the 
fact  that  the  0  T.  views  the  assistance  sent  by  Jehovali  to 
his  oppres.sed  people  as  an  act  of  retributive  justice  towards 
botli  oppres.sed  and  oppressor,  cf.  Gen.  xv.  14  ;  Ex.  vi.  6, 
vii.  4  :  but  in  such  cases  Jehovah,  and  not  the  human 
organ  through  whom  He  acts,  is  the  Judge.  —  Tr.] 


62 


THE   BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


lies  chiefly  in  the  hereclitariness  of  the  royal  offiee 
—  a  difference,  it  is  true,  of  great  significance  in 
Israel,  and  closely  related  to  the  national  destiny. 
The  Judge  has  only  a  personal  commission.  His 
work  is  to  re-inspire  Israel  with  divine  enthusiasm, 
and  thus  to  make  it  victorious.  He  I'estorcs  things 
to  the  condition  in  which  they  were  on  the  death 
of  Joshua.  No  successor  were  necessary,  if  with- 
out a  judge,  the  nation  itself  maintained  the  law, 
and  resisted  temptation.  Israel  has  enough  in  its 
divinely-given  law.  Rallying  about  this  and  the 
priesthood,  it  could  be  free ;  for  God  is  its  King. 
But  it  is  weak.  The  Judge  is  scarcely  dead,  before 
the  authority  of  law  is  shaken.  Unity  is  lost,  and 
the  enemy  takes  advantage  of  the  masterless  dis- 
order. Therefore,  Judges,  raised  up  by  God,  and 
girded  with  fresh  strength,  succeed  each  other,  — 
vigorous  rulers,  full  of  personal  energy,  but  called 
to  exercise  judgment  only  in  the  Spirit  of  God.  It 
has  been  customary,  in  speaking  of  the  Punic 
suffetes,  to  compare  them  with  the  Israelitish  sho- 
pheiiii).  And  it  is  really  more  correct  to  regard  the 
suffetes  as  consules  than  as  kings.  Among  the 
Phoenicians  also  the  idea  of  king  included  that  of 
hereditariness.i  The  suffetes  were  an  elected  mag- 
istracy, whose  name,  like  that  of  the  Judges,  was 
doubtless  derived  from  the  fact  that  they  also  con- 
stituted the  highest  judicial  authority.  They  sat 
in  judgment  (ad  Jus  dlcendum)  when  tho  designs 
of  Aristo  came  to  light  (Livy,  xxxiv.  61).  It  is, 
in  general,  by  no  means  uncommon  for  the  magis- 
tracy of  a  city  (suminus  imiciistratus),  as  in  the  Span- 
ish Gades  (Livy,  xxviii.  37),  to  be  styled  Judges, 
i.  e.  suffetes.  As  late  as  the  Middle  Ages,  the  title 
of  Spanish  magisti'ates  was  judices.     The  highest 

1  'Which  Movers  (P/idnizier,  ii.  1,  53Q)  has  improperly 
overlooked.  As  those  who  exercised  governmental  func- 
tions, properly  symbolized  by  the  sceptre,  the  Greek  lan- 
guage could  scarcely  call  them  anything  else  than  ^ao-iAets. 
Some  good  remarks  against  Ueeren's  view  of  this  matter 
were  made  by  J.  G.  Schlosser  {Aristoteles^  Politik,  i.  195, 
196). 

•2  It  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  Du  Cange,  under  Ju- 
dices. Similar  relations  occur  in  the  early  political  and 
judicial  history  of  all  natious.  Cf.  Grimm,  ReclitsallertkUmer, 
p.  750,  etc. 

3  [Dr.  Cassel,  in  striving  after  brevity,  has  here  left  a 
point  of  considerable  interest  in  obscurity.  Ver.  20  reads 
as  follows  :  "  And  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was  kindled  against 
Israel,  and  he  said,  Because  this  people  hath  transgressed 
my  covenant  which  I  commanded  their  fathers,  and  have 
not  hearkened  to  my  voice,  1  also  will  not,"  etc.  How  is 
this  verse  connected  with  the  preceding?  Vers.  11-19 
have  given  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole  period  of  the 
Judges.  They  have  described  it  as  a  period  of  constantly 
renewed  backsliding,  calling  down  God's  anger  on  Israel, 
and  not  permanently  cured  even  by  the  efforts  of  the 
Judges.  Thereupon  ver.  20  proceeds  as  above;  and  the 
question  arises,  to  what  point  of  time  in  the  whole  period  it 
is  to  be  referred.  Dr.  Bachmann  argues  that  in  ver.  20  the 
narrative  goes  back  to  the  "  sentence  "  pronounced  at 
Bochini  (see  ver.  3).  "  Ver.  20,"  he  says,  "  adds  [to  the  sur- 
vey in  vers.  11-19]  that,  before  God's  anger  attained  its 
complete  expression  in  delivering  Israel  into  the  hands  of 
strange  nations  (ver.  14),  it  had  already  manifested  itself  in 
the  determination  not  to  drive  those  nations  out  ;  and  with 
this   the  narrative  returns  to   the  judgment  of  Bochim." 

Accordingly,  he  interprets  the  'H^S^^,  "and  he  said,"  of 
ver.  20,  as  introducing  an  .actual  divine  uttcr.ance,  namely, 
the  one  delivered  at  Bochim.  Without  following  the  whole 
course  of  Dr.  Bachmann's  argument,  it  is  enougli  here  to 
pay  that  his  conclusion  is  surely  wrong,  and  that  the  source 
of  his  error  lies  in  the  view  he  takes  of  the  words. spoken  at 
Bochim,  which  are  not  a  "  sentence  "  or  "judgment,"  but 
i  warning,  designed  to  obviate  the  necessity  for  denouncing 
'udgment.     The  true  connection,  in  my  judgment  (and  as 


officer  of  Sardinia  was  termed  judcxJ^  The  Israel 
itish  Judges  differ  from  the  suffetes,  not  so  much 
by  tbe  nature  of  their  official  activity,  as  by  the 
source,  purpose,  and  extent  of  their  power.  In 
Israel  also  common  shophetiin  existed  evei-ywhere  ; 
but  the  persons  whom  God  selected  as  deliverers 
were  in  a  peculiar  sense  men  of  divine  law  and 
order.  They  were  not  regular  but  extraordinar}' 
authorities.  Hence,  they  were  not,  like  the  suf- 
fetes, chosen  by  the  people.  God  himself  appointed 
them.  The  spirit  of  the  national  faith  placed  then 
at  the  head  of  the 'people. 

Ver.  20,  etc.*  I  will  not  go  on  to  drive  out  a 
man  of  the  nations  which  Joshua  left  when  he 
died.  The  purport  of  this  im[)ortant  sentence, 
which  connects  chapters  i.  and  iii.  historically  and 
geographically,  is  as  follows  :  The  whole  land, 
from  the  wilderness  of  Edom  to  Mount  Casius  and 
the  "  road  to  Hamath,"  and  from  Jordan  to  the 
sea,  was  intended  for  Israel.  But  it  had  not  been 
given  to  Joshua  to  clear  this  whole  territory.  A 
group  of  nations,  enumerated  ch.  iii.  3,  had  re- 
mained in  their  seats.  Nor  did  the  individual 
tribes,  when  they  took  possession  of  their  allot- 
ments, make  t^rogress  against  them  (cf.  ch.  i.  19, 
34).  Especially  does  this  explain  what  is  said 
above,  ch.  i.  31,  of  the  tribe  of  Asher.  Israel, 
therefore,  was  still  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  hea- 
then nations,  living  within  its  promised  borders,  to 
say  nothing  of  those  who  with  their  idolatry  were 
tolerated  in  the  territory  actually  subjugated  (cf 
ch.  i.  21,  27,  30).  These  were"  the  "nations  by 
whom  temptations  and  conflicts  were  prepared  for 
Israel,  and  against  whom,  led  by  divinely-inspired 
heroes,  it  rose  in  warlike  and  successful  resistance. 

I  thinlc  Dr.  Cassel  also  conceives  it),  is  as  follows :  When 
Joshua  ceased  from  war,  there  were  still  many  nations  left 
in  possession  of  territory  intended  for  Isr.iel,  cf.  Josh.  xiii. 
1  If.  They  were  left  temporarily,  and  for  the  good  of  Israel, 
cf.  Judg.  ii.  22,  23,  iii.  1,  2.  At  the  same  time  Israel  was 
warned  against  the  danger  that  thus  arose,  and  distinctly 
told  that  if  they  entered  into  close  and  friendly  relation.^ 
with  the  people  thus  left,  Jehovah  would  not  drive  them 
out  at  all,  but  would  leave  them  to  become  a  scourge  to 
them.  Josh,  xxiii.  12  f.  Nevertheless,  Israel  soon  adopted  a 
line  of  conduct  towards  them  such  as  rendered  it  inevitable 
that  the  prohibited  relations  must  soon  be  established,  cf. 
Judg.  i.  Then  came  tlie  warning  of  Bochim.  It  proved 
unavailing.  Israel  entered  iato  the  closest  connections  with 
the  heathen,  forsook  Jehovah,  and  served  Baal  and  Ashta- 
roth,   ch.  iii.  6,  ii.  11  ff.     The  contingency  of  Josh.  x.\iii. 

12,  13  had  actually  occurred,  and  its  conditional  threat 
passed  over  into  irrevocable  determination  on  the  part  of 
Jehovah.  The  time  of  the  determination  falls  therefore  iu 
tlie  earlier  part  of  tlie  pei'iod  of  the  Judges  ;  but  as  tlie 
moment  at  which  it  went  into  force  was  not  signalized  by 
any  public  announcement,  and  as  each  successive  apostasy 
added,  so  to  speak,  to  its  finality,  the  author  of  the  Book 
of  Judges  makes  express  mention  of  it  (allusion  to  it  there 
is  already  in  vers.  14  b,  15  a,)  only  at  the  close  of  his 
survey,  where,  moreover,  it  furnished  an  answer  to  the 
question  which  the  review  itself  could  not  fail  to  suggest, 
Why  did  God  leave  these  nations  to  be  a  constant  snare  to 
Israel?  why  was  it,  that  even  the  most  heroic  Judges., 
men  full  of  faith  in  God  and  zeal  for  Israel,  did  not  exter- 
minate them  ?  The  "nZ2S*T  of  ver.  20,  therefore,  does  not 
introduce  an  actu.al  divine  utterance.  The  author  derives 
his  knowledge  of  God's  determination,  first,  from  Josh,  xxiii. 

13,  and  secondly,  from  tlie  course  of  the  history  ;  but  in 
order  to  give  :mpressiveness  and  force  to  his  statement,  he 
"  clothes  it  in  the  form  of  a  sentence  pronounced  by  God  " 

(Keil).  The  1  in  "in*T  denotes  logical,  not  temporal, 
sequence.  On  the  connection  of  ver.  22  S.  with  ver  21,  se« 
note  7  under  the  text.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   III.    1-4. 


63 


With  their  enumeration,  briefly  made  in  eh.  iii. 
1-5,  the  ail  hor  closes  his  inti'oduction  to  the  nar- 
ration of  subsequent  events.  The  historical  and 
moral  background  on  which  these  arise,  is  now 
clear.  Not  only  the  scene  and  the  combatants,  but 
also  the  causes  of  conflict  and  victory  have  been 
indicated. 

HOJnLETICAL-  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  judgments  of  God  are  indescribable  —  his 
compassion  is  indefatigable.  Whatever  God  had 
promised  in  the  law,  must  come  to  pass,  be  it  pros- 
perity or  distress.  Apostasy  is  followed  by  ruin ; 
the  loss  of  character  by  that  of  courage.  Heroes 
become  cowards ;  conquerors  take  to  flight.  Shame 
and  scorn  came  iipon  the  name  of  Israel.  The 
nation  could  no  longer  protect  its  cities,  nor  indi- 
viduals their  homes.  In  distress,  the  people  re- 
turned to  the  altars  which  in  presumptuous  pride 
they  had  left.  Old  Israel  wept  when  it  heard  the 
preaching  of  repentance;  new  Israel  weeps  only 
when  it  feels  the  sword  of  the  enemy.  And  God's 
compassion  is  untiring.  He  gave  them  deliverers, 
choosing  them  from  among  Israel's  judges,  making 
them  strong  for  victory  and  salvation.  Bnt  in  his 
mercy  He  chastened  them.  For  Israel  must  be 
trained  and  educated  by  means  of  judgment  and 
mercy.  The  time  to  save  them  by  a  king  had  not 
yet  come.  Jndah  had  formerly  led  the  van  ;  but 
neither  M'as  the  education  of  this  tribe  completed. 
Judges  arose  in  Israel ;  bvit  their  office  was  not 
hereditary.  AVhen  the  Judge  died  a  condition  of 
national  affairs  ensued  like  that  which  followed  the 
death  of  Joshua :  the  old  remained  faithful,  the 
young  apostatized.  The  Judges  for  the  most  part 
exercised  autliority  in  single  tribes.  The  heathen 
were  not  expelled  from  the  borders  assigned  to  Is- 
rael ;  Israel  must  submit  to  ever-renewed  trials ;  and 
when  it  failed  to  stand,  then  came  the  judgment. 
But  in  this  discipline,  compassion  constantly  mani- 
fested itself  anew.  The  word  of  God  continued  to 
manifest  its  power.  It  quietly  reared  up  heroes 
and  champions.  The  contents  of  these  verses  form 
the  substance  of  the  whole  Book.  Israel  must 
contend,  —  1,  with  sin,  and  2,  with  enemies  ;  it  ex- 
periences.—  1,  the  discipline  of  judgment,  and  2, 
the  discipline  of  compassion ;  but  in  contest  and  in 
discipline  that  which  approves  itself  is,  —  1,  the  vic- 
tory of  I'cpeutance,  and  2,  the  obedience  of  faith. 


Thus  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Judges  afford 
a  look  into  the  history  of  Christian  nations.  They 
have  found  by  experience  what  even  in  a  modern 
novel  the  author  almost  involuntarily  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  one  of  his  characters  (B.  Abcken,  Grei- 
fmsee,  i.  43)  :  "  Truly,  when  once  the  granite 
rock  on  which  the  church  is  reared  has  crumbled 
away,  all  other  foundations  crumble  after  it,  and 
nothing  remains  but  a  nation  of  cowards  and  volup- 
tuaries." A  glance  into  the  spiritual  life  shows 
the  same  process  of  chastisement  and  compassion. 
The  Apostle  says  (2  Cor.  xii.  7):  "And  lest  I 
should  be  exalted  above  measure  through  the  abun- 
dance of  the  revelations,  there  was  given  to  me  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan,  to  buffet 
me,  lest  I  should  be  exalted  above  measure.  For  this 
thing  I  besought  the  Lord  thrice,  that  it  might  de- 
part from  me.  And  he  said  imto  me.  My  grace  is 
sufficient  for  thee  :  for  my  strength  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness."  A  recent  philosopher  (Fischei-,  Gesvh. 
der  neueren  Philos.,  i.  11 )  defines  philosophy  to  be, 
not  so  much  universal  science,  as  selj'-knomedge.  If 
this  be  correct,  repentance  is  the  true  philosophy ; 
for  in  repentance  man  learns  to  know  himself  in 
all  the  various  conditions  of  apostasy  and  ruin, 
reflection  and  return,  pride  and  penitence,  heart- 
quickening  and  longing  after  divine  compassion. 

Starke  :  Fathers,  by  a  bad  example,  make 
their  children  worse  than  themselves ;  for  fVom  old 
sins,  new  ones  are  continually  growing.  The  same  • 
Although  God  knows  and  might  immediately  pun- 
ish all  that  is  hidden  in  men,  his  wisdom  employs 
temptation  and  other  means  to  bring  it  to  the  light, 
that  his  justice  may  be  manifest  to  his  creatures. 
The  same  :  Through  tribulation  and  the  cross  to 
the  exercise  of  faith  and  obedience,  prayer  and  hope. 
And  all  this  tends  to  our  good  ;  for  God  tempts  no 
one  to  evil.  The  same  :  Though  God  permit.  He 
does  not  approve,  the  unrighteous  oppressor  of  the 
unrighteous,  but  punishes  his  unrighteousness  when 
his  help  is  invoked.  Lisco  :  God's  judgment  on 
Israel  is  the  non-destruction  of  the  heathen. 
Gerlach  :  From  the  fact  that  the  whole  history 
does  at  the  same  time,  through  scattered  hints,  point 
to  the  flourishing  period  of  Israel  under  the  kings, 
we  learn  that  these  constantly-recurring  events 
do  not  constitute  a  fruitless  circle,  ever  returning 
whence  it  started,  but  that  through  them  all,  God's 
providence  conducted  his  people,  by  a  road  won- 
derfully involved,  to  a  glorious  goal. 


Enumeration  of  the  heathen  nations  left  to  prove  Israel. 
Chapter  III.     1-4. 


1  Now  these  are  the  nations  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  left  [at  rest],  to  prove  Israel 
by  them,  {even  as  many  of  Israel  as  had  not  known  [by  experience]  all  the  wai's  of  Canaan  ; 

2  Only  that  the  generations  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  might  know  to  teach  them 

3  war,  at  the  least  such  as  before  knew  nothing  thereof;  Y  Namely,  five  lords  [principalities] 
of  the  Philistines,  and  all  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Sidonians,  and  tlie  Hivites  that 
dwelt  [dwell]  in  mount  Lebanon,  from  mount  Baal-hermon  unto  the  entering  in  of 

i  flit,  unto  tiie  coming  i.  e.  the  road  to]  Hamath.  And  they  wcrc  to  prove  Israel  by  tliem,  to 
know  whether  they  would  hearken  luito  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah], which  he  commanded  their  fathers  by  the  hand  of  Moses. 


84 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GUAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  2.  —  Dr.  Cassel  renders  this  verse  freely :   "  Ouly  that  to  give  experience  to  the   generations  of  the  sons  of  Is- 
rael, they  might  teach  them  war  which  they  did  not  formerly  learn  to  know."'     lie  supplies  a  second   I^^V    before 

C~IS77  (see  the  exposition  below),  and  in  a  note  (which  we  transfer  from  the  foot  of  tlie  page),  remarks  :  "  Ver.  2  coqj 
t;iins'two'subordinate  clauses  dependent  oil  the  subject  of  the  principal  sentence  in  ver.  1,  which  is  '  Jehovah.'  In  the 
Urst  of  these  clauses  (each  of  which  is  introduced  by  ^^Ipv),  the  subject  is  '  Israel '  (fully,  ti?'^"'^|5^  ni"!"!)  '  in 
the  second,  '  the  nations.'  The  first  expresses  the  result  of ' the  second;  that  which  Israel  experiences  is,  that  the  na- 
tions teach  it  war."    Keil  (who  follows  Bertheau)  explains  as  follows  :"  only  (p"1,    with    no  other  view    than)  to   know 

the  subsequent  generations  (iHiT^,  the  generations  after  Joshua  and  his  contemporaries)  of  the  sons  of  Israel,  that 
lie    (Jehovah)   might  teach  them  war,  only  those  who  had  not  learned  to  know  them  (the  wars  of  Canaan)."     But,  1,  if 

/Ti"Try    ^ere  in  the  accus.,  the  author  could  hardly  have  failed  to  remove  all  ambiguity  by  prefixing  "iH.^   to  it-     2- 

An  infin.  of  design  with  V,  following  one  with  ^37Qy,  without  1  to  indicate  coordination,  can  only  be  subordi- 
nate to  the  preceding.  Thus  in  the  English  sentence  :  "  We  eat  in  order  to  live  to  work,"  "  to  work,''  would  be  at 
once  interpreted  as  subordinate  to  "  to  live."     A   second   "J37X27   might  indicate  coordination  even  without   the  assis- 

iance  of  %  cf.  in  English :  "  We  eat  in  order  to  live,  in  order  to  work ;''  where  we  feel  at  once  that  "  to  live  " 
and  "  to  work  "  are  coordinate  so  far  as  their  relation  to  _the  principal  verb  is  concerned.  Hence,  Dr.  Cassel  inserts 
a  second  li^^^i  but  this  is  an  expedient  too  much  like  cutting  the  Gordian  knot  to  be  satisfactory.  Bachmaun, 
who   in  the  main  agrees  with  our  author,  avoids  this  by   treating     m^  v7  as  a  gerundive  adverbial  phrase.     As 

for  n37*^  it  is  not  indeed  impossible  that,  remembering  what  he  said  in  ch.  ii.  10  (^yj^  ^^j  ^^^■)j  ""^i  just 
now  substantially  repeated  in  ver.  1  b,  the  writer  of  Judges  uses  it  here  absolutely,  to  indicate  briefly  the  opposite  of 

tlie  condition   there  described,  in  which  case  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering  would  be  sufficiently  justified.     But    since    i~m'^ 

W^   "^32    (ver.  2  a)  clearly  represents  the    Sv   HtTS'^S    J~1S   of  ver.  1  b,  it  seems  obvious  that  the   i"!!?^  of 

yer.  2  in  like  manner  resumes  the   127^3    jHiDn^D'/S    ili^    ^27~I"'   of  ver.  1.     We  may  suppose,  therefore,  that 
■  -  T  :  -;  :  r  ••  :t 

the  pronoun  "  them "  is  here,  as  frequently,  omitted  after  rT^I,  and  translate,  freely,  thus :  "  And  these  are  tlie 
nations  which  Jehovah  left  to  prove  Israel  by  them  —  all  that  Israel  which  did  not  know  all  the  wars  of  Canaan,  in 
order  that  the  after  generations  of  Israel  (they  also)  might  know  (understand  and  appreciate)  them  ((.  e.  those  wars),  in 
that  he  (J.  e.  Jehovah,  or  tliey,  the  nations)  taught  them  war,  (not  war  in  general,  however,  but)  only  the  wars  which 
(or,  such  wars  as)  they  did  not  formerly  know."  The  first  pi,  as  Bachmann  remarks,  limits  the  design  of  Jehovah,  the 
second  the  thing  to  be  taught.  As  to  the  last  clause  of  ver.  2,  if  the  accents  be  disregarded,  the  only  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  the  rendering  here  given  is  the  plural  suffix  D  ;  but  this  probably  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  writer's  mind  at 
once  recurs  to  the  "  wars  of  Canaan."  The  D'^DSv,  of  old,  is  used  from  the  point  of  time  occupied  by  the  "  after  gen- 
ei-ations,"  as  was  natural  to  a  writer  who  lived  so  late  as  the  period  of  kings,  and  not  from  that  in  which  the  rT'jn 
of  ver.  1,  and  its  design,  took  place.  The  masculine  Q  to  represent  a  fem.  plur.  is  not  very  unfrequent,  cf.  2  Sam.  xx.  3  ; 
2  Kgs.  xviii.  13.     Dr.  Bachmanu  connects  the  last  clause   with    n^"T,  respects  the  accents   (which  join    D'^^Dv  with 

m?S  not  with  □^3?T'  Sv),  and  renders :  "  that  Israel  might  learn  to  know  ....  war,  namely,  cnly  those 
(wars)  which  were  formerly,  they  did  not  know  them=  only  the  former  wars  which  they  did  not  know."  The  sense  is  not 
materially  affected  by  this  change.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL- 

Ver.  1.  All  who  had  not  experienced  the 
wars  of  Canaan.  Tliesc  are  they  of  whom  it  'ivas 
said,  ch.  ii.  10,  that  they  "  knew  not  the  works  of 
the  Lord."  Tiiis  younj^er  j^eneration,  after  the 
deatli  of  Joshua  and  the  elders,  enjoyed  the  fruits 
of  con(|uest,  but  did  not  estimate  ariyht  the  great- 
ness of  the  dangers  endured  by  the  fathers,  and 
therefore  did  not  sufficiently  value  the  help  of  God. 
The  horrors  of  war,  to  be  known,  must  be  ex- 
perienced. As  if  the  conquest  of  Canaan  had  been 
oi'  easy  achievement !  It  was  no  light  thing  to 
triumph  over  the  warlike  nations.  Was  not  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  although  victorious,  obliged  never- 
theless to  abandon  the  valley  to  the  iron  chariots  1 
But  of  that  the  rising  generation  no  longer  wished 
to  know  anything.  They  did  not  know  what  "  a 
war  with  Canaan  signified." 


Ver.  2.  Only  that  to  give  experience  to 
the  generations  of  the  sons  of  Israel  they 
might  teach  them  war,  with  which  they  did 
not  before  become  acquainted.  The  construc- 
tion of  the  sentence  is  difficult,  and  conse- 
(juently  has  been  fre([uently  misunderstood  (among 
others,  by  Bertheau).  The  book  which  the  nar- 
rator is  about  to  write,  is  a  Book  of  Wars ;  and  it 
is  therefore  incumbent  upon  him  to  state  the  moral 
causes  in  which  these  originated.  God  proves  Is- 
rael for  its  own  good.  With  this  in  view,  "  He  left 
the  nations  in  peace,  to  prove  Israel  by  them." 
How  prove  Israel "?  By  depriving  it  of  rest  through 
them.  They  compel  Israel  to  engage  in  conflict. 
In  defeat  the  people  loam  to  know  the  violcTice  of 
Canaanitish  oppression,  and,  when  God  sends  them 
heroes,  the  preeiousness  of  the  boon  of  restored 
freedom.     Onl^  for  this  ;  the  emphasis  of  the  verse 


CHAPTER  III.   1-4. 


65 


falls  on  only  (p"^),  wliich  is  introduced  twice.  Be 

tween  bs^Cf "]  and  ^"^^V?  a  ^l?^^  i  is  to  be 
supplied.  The  Hebi-ew  usus  loqiiendi  places  both 
clauses  (H!??  ^1371^  and  D?^^^    1?^^),  each 

beginning  with  l^r'^rj  alongside  of  each  other 
without  any  connective,  whereby  one  sets  forth  the 
ground  of  the  otlier.  God  leaves  the  nations  in 
peace,  "  in  order  that  they  might  teach  the  Israel- 
ites what  war  with  Canaan  signified,  —  in  order 
that  those  generations  might  know  it  who  had  not 
yet  experienced  it."  It  is  not  for  technical  instruc- 
tion in  military  science  that  He  leaves  the  heathen 
nations  in  the  land,  l)Ut  that  Israel  may  know  what 
it  is  to  wage  war,  that  without  God  it  can  do  noth- 
ing against  Canaan,  and  that,  having  in  the  deeds 
of  contemporary  heroes  a  present  counterpart  of 
the  experience  of  their  fathers,  who  beheld  the 
mighty  works  which  God  wroiight  for  Israel 
tln'ough  Moses  and  Joshua,  it  may  leani  humility 
and  submission  to  the  law.  This  reason  why  God 
did  not  cause  the  Canaanites  to  be  driven  out, 
does  not,  however,  contradict  that  given  in  ch.  ii. 
22.  Israel  can  apostatize  from  God,  only  when  it 
has  forgotten  Him.  The  consequence  is  servitude. 
In  this  distress,  God  sends  them  Judges.  These 
triumph,  in  glorious  wars,  over  victorious  Canaan. 
Grateful  Israel,  being  now  able  to  conceive,  in  their 
living  locality,  tlie  wonders  by  which  God  formerly 
raised  it  to  the  dignity  of  nationality,  has  learned  to 
know  the  hand  of  its  God.    Cf.  ver.  4. 

Ver.  3.  Five  principalities  of  the  Philistines. 
Josh.  xiii.  2,  seq.,  enumerates  the  nations  which 
were  to  remain,  with  still  more  distinctness.  There, 
however,  the  reason,  given  in  our  passage,  why  God 
let  them  remain,  is  not  stated.  The  ])rincipalities 
of  the  Philistines  must  be  treated  of  elsewhere. 
The  Canaanites  and  the  Zidonians  are  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Phaiiiician  coast.  The  importance  of 
Zidon  has  already  been  pointed  out  in  ch.  i.  31. 
The  districts  not  under  Zidonian  supremacy,  are 
referred  to  by  the  general  term  "  Canaanite."  The 
Hivite,  here  mentioned  as  an  inhabitant  of  Mount 
Lebanon,  does  not  occur  under  that  name  in  Josh- 
xiii.  5.  He  is  tlicre  spoken  of  under  the  terms, 
"land  of  the  Giblites  (Byblus,  etc.)  and  all  Leba- 
non ; "  here,  a  more  general  designation  is  em- 
ployed. The  name  "^H  indicates  and  explains 
this  in  a  manner  highly  interesting.     The  LXX. 

render  "^^H  by  E ua?os,  as  for  Hljn,  the  mother  of 

all  the  living,  they  give  Eua.     The   word  "^^rjl, 

i^ljn,  to  live,  whence  H^H,  includes  the  idea  of 
"  roundness,  circularity  of  form  "  So  the  ui6v, 
ovum,  egg,  is  round,  and  at  the  same  time  the  source 

of  life.  ♦  Consequently,  H^H  and  n|jn  came  to 
signify  battle-array  or  encampment  (cf.  2  Sam. 
xxiii.  11)  and  village  (Num.  xxxii.  41),  from  the 
circular  form  in  which  camps  and  villages  were 
.iisposcd.  The  people  called  Hivite  is  the  people 
that  resides  in  round  fillar/es.  Do\vn  to  the  present 
day  —  marvelous  tenacity  of  national  custom  !  — 
the  villages  in  Syria  are  so  built  that  the  conically- 
shaped  houses  form  a  circular  sti'eet,  inclosing  an 
open  space  in  the  centre  for  the  herds  and  flocks. 

1  Cf.  Josh.  iv.  24.  [Compare  the  note  under  "  Textual 
and  Grammatical."  —  Tr.] 

3  Cf.  Preller,  Gr.  Mythol.,  i.  77.  He  is  .such  as  ixparos, 
=7r(i/cpios,  etc.  That  o.Trecrdi'r lo?  also  has  no  other  meaning, 
Preller  shows  elsewhere.     Mountain  temples,  says  Welcker 


Modern  travellers  have  found  this  style  of  building 
still  in  use  from  the  Orontes  to  the  Euphrates 
(Hitter,  xvii.  1698).  It  distinguished  the  Hivite 
from  the  other  nations.  And  it  is,  in  fact,  found 
only  beyond  the  boundary  here  indicated ;  on 
northern  Lebanon,  above  Mount  Hennon.  Tliis 
therefore  also  confirms  the  remarks  made  above  (at 
ch.  i.  33),  on  the  parallel  passage,  Josh.  xiii.  .5, 
where  we  find  the  definition  "  from  Baal-gad  under 
Mount  Hermon,"  whereas  here  we  read  of  a 
"  mount  Baal  Hermon."  Baal  Hermon,  according 
to  its  signification,  coiresponds  exactly  with  the 
present  name  Jebel  esh-Sheikh,  since  on  the  one 
haud  Sheikh  may  stand  for  Baal,  while,  on  the 
other,  Hermon  derived  its  name  from  its  peculiar 

fonn.  ]1Q"^n  is  a  dialectic  equivalent  of  the  He- 
brew  ^ID'IM.      Cn^5  is  the  height,  the  highlands  : 

PJD'^S  the  prominent  point,  the  commanding  for- 
tress. Hermon,  as  the  southern  foot  of  Anti-Libanus, 
is  its  loftiest  peak.  It  towers  grandly,  like  a  giant 
fcf.  Bitter,  xvii.  151,  211),  above  all  its  surround- 
ings, —  like  a  silver-roofed  fortress  of  God.  This  is 
not  the  only  instance  in  which  Hermon  is  ap- 
parently the  name  of  a  mountain.  It  is  probable 
indeed  that  to  the  Greeks  the  Hermoean  Promon- 
tory ('Epjuaia  &Kpa,  Polyb.  I.  xxxvi.  11  ;  cf.  Man- 
nert,  Gemjr.,  x.  ii.  512)  suggested  only  some 
reference  to  Hermes.  But  the  greater  the  diffi- 
culty of  seeing  why  Hermes  should  give  names  to 
mountain  peaks,  the  more  readily  do  we  recognize  a 

]1^"}rj)  not  only  in  this  but  also  in  the  promontory 
of  Lemnos,  the  Hcrmjean  Rock  {"Epfxalov  \i-nas) 
mentioned  by  Greek  poets  (yEschyl.  Affam.,  283). 
It  accords  with  this  that  Ptolemy  sjjecifics  a  Her- 
ma;an  Promontoiy  in  Crete  also.  It  is  evident 
how  appropriately  Hennon,  in  its  signification  of 
Armon,  "  a  fortress-like,  towering  eminence,"  is 
used  to  denote  a  promontory.  The  Greek  &Kpa  also 
has  the  twofold  signification  of  fortress  and  prom- 
ontory ;  and  Mount  Hermon  itself  may  to  a  certain 
extent  be  considered  to  be  both  one  and  the  other. 

It  is  evident  that  when  in  Josh.  xiii.  5  the  bound- 
ary of  the  hostile  nations  is  defined  as  running 
from  "  Baal-gad  under  Mount  Hermon,"  and  here 
as  extending  "  from  Baal  Hermon  "  onward,  the 
same  sacred  locality  is  meant  in  both  passages,  and 
that  Baal  Hermon  is  identified  with  Baal-gad. 
This  is  further  confirmed  by  the  following ;  The 
Talmud  (  Chulin,  40  a)  speaks  of  the  sinful  worship 

which  is  rendered  "^HT  ^7t  ■ '  ^°  ^^^  Godaof  the 
mountain,  i.  e.  as  Raschi  explains,  the  angel  like 
unto  Michael,  who  is  placed  over  the  mountains  of 
the  world.  Moses  ha-Cohen  advances  an  equally 
ancient  conception,  current  also  among  the  Ara- 
bians, wh:;n  he  states  (ap.  Ibn  Ezra,  on  Isa.  Ixv. 
11),  that  Baal-gad  is  the  star  Zedek,  i.  e.  Zeus. 
For  Zeus  is  in  fact  the  Hellenic  deity  of  all  moun- 
tain-peaks,'- the  Great  Baal  Hermon.  Hence  it  was 
customary  among  the  Hellenes  also  to  prepare 
sacrificial  tables  in  the  service  of  Zeus ;  and  with 
Isa.  Ixv.  1 1  we  may  profitably  compare  Pans.  ix. 
40,  where  we  learn  that  in  Cha;ronea,  where  the 
sceptre  of  Zeus  was  venerated  as  a  palladium,  "  a 
table  with  meat  and  pastry  was  daily  "  prepared. 
At  the  birth  of  a  son  to  her  maid,  Leah  says  (Gen. 

(Mythologie,  i.  170),  were  erected  to  other  gods  only  excep 
tionally.  As  for  the  temple  of  Hermes  on  Mount  Cellene 
(I'aus.  viii.  17,  1),  it  could  perhaps  be  made  probalile  that 
here  also  the  name  of  the  mountain  suggested  the  worship 
of  Hermes. 


66 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


XXX.  11) :  13  ^3  ;  wliicli  the  Chaldee  translators 
already  render  by  ^^^  if^^T  (J^rus.  Targ.)  and 
Sni2  Sb-T^  (.Jonath.).  ^Vv'^  (^f-  2  Kgs.  xxiii. 
5),  means,  star ;  21!^  v*t^  is  the  f;ood  star  that  ap- 
pears,—  fortune,  as  the  Septiiaginta  render  rixv- 
Two  phmets,  .Jupiter  and  Venus,  were  ayaOovpyoi 
(Plutareh,  De  Is.  et  Os.,  cap.  xlviii.),  hearers  of 
what  is  good, —  fortune-bringers.  Hence,  Gad,  as 
"  Fortune,"  could  be  connected  both  with  Astarte 
(ef.  Movers,  Pharn.,  i.  636),  and  with  Baal  (Jupi- 
ter).     13  is  manifestly  the  same  as  the  Persian 

Snn  (cf.  113  and  1in,  b33  and  ^311,  etc.), 
(i/ioda,  which  signifies  god  and  lord,  quite  in  the 

sense  of  v373  (cf.  Vullers,  Lex.  Pers.  Lat.,  i. 
660).  If  there  be  any  connection  between  this 
term  and  the  Zendic  Khadltata,  it  is  only  that  the 
latter  was  used  to  designate  the  constellations.  In 
heathen  ^iews  of  life,  fortune  and  good  coincide. 
To  enjoy  the  good  things  of  life  is  to  be  fortunate. 
hyadr)  tvxv  is  the  Hellenic  for  happiness.  The 
Syriac  and  (Jhaldee  versions  almost  uniformly  ren- 
der the  terms  "^^^"'^  and  /laKaptos,  blessed,  which 
occur  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  by   31tD, 

good  (cf.  my  work  Irene,  Erf.  1855,  p.  9).  In  13 
the  ideas  God  and  Fortune  coexist  as  yet  un- 
resolved ;  subsequently,  especially  in  the  Christian 
age,  they  were  separated  in  the  Germanic  dialects 
as  God  and  Good.  For  there  is  no  doul)t  that  in 
Gad  (God),  the  good  (fortunate)  god  and  constel- 
lation, we  find  the  oldest  form,  and  for  that  reason 
a  serviceable  explanation,  of  the  name  God,  which, 
like  Elohim,  disengaging  itself  from  heathen  con- 
cej)tions,  became  the  sacred  name  of  the  Absolute 
Spirit.  At  the  same  time  it  affbrds  us  the  philolog- 
ical advantage  of  perceiving,  what  has  often  been 
contested  (cf.  Dieff'enbaeh,  Goth.  Lex.  ii.  416  ; 
Grimm.  Mijth.  p]).  12,  1199,  etc.),  that  God  and 
Good  actually  belong  together.  Baal-gad  was  the 
God  of  Fortune,  which  was  held  to  be  the  highest 

good.i  —  The  meaning  of  il^H  Sil27  has  been 
indicated  above  (p.  46). 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Compare  the  Homiletical  Hints  of  the  preced- 
ing section.  —  Keil  :  In  the  wars  of  Canaan 
nnder  Joshua,  Israel  had  1-earned  and  experienced 
that  the  jiower  which  subdued  its  enemies  consisted 
not  in  the  multitude  and  valor  of  its  warriors  but 
in  the  might  of  its  God,  the  putting  forth  of  which 
however  dejjcnded  upon  Israel's  continued  faithful- 
ness  towards  its  Possessor Now,  in 

order  to  impress  them  with  this  truth,  on  which 
the  existence  and  prosjierity  of  Israel,  and  the 
realization  of  the  purpose  for  which  they  had  been 
divinely  called,  depended  ;  in  other  words,  in  order 
to  show  them  by  the  practical  lessons  of  experience 
that  the  People  of  Jehovah  can  fight  and  conquer 
only  in   the  strength  of  their  God,  the  Lord  had 

1  Movers  (Phcen.  ii.  2,  515)  thinlis  that  he   can    explain 

the  name  of  the  Numidian  seaport  Cirta  from   TS   tt^i^n, 

T  ' 

ffbich  is  doubtful.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  Etymolog, 

Magnum,    under     Taheipa,    expresses     the    opinion     that 

Gades  in  Spain  was  so  named  because  "  yaSov  nap  aurocs  to 


suffered  the  Canaanites  to  be  left  in  the  land. 
Necessity  teaches  prayer.  The  distress  into  which 
Israel  iell  by  means  of  the  remaining  Canaanites, 
was  a  divine  disci])line,  by  which  the  Lord  woukl 
bring  the  faithless  back  to  Himself,  admonish  them 
to  follow  his  commands,  and  prepare  them  for  the 
fulfillment  of  his  covenant-engagements.  Hence, 
the  learning  of  war,  i.  e.  the  learning  how  the 
People  of  the  Lord  should  fight  against  the  enemies 
of  God  and  his  kingdom,  was  a  means  ordained 
b}'  God  of  tempting  or  trying  Israel,  whether  they 
would  hearken  to  the  commands  of  their  God  and 
walk  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord.  When  Israel 
learned  so  to  war,  it  learned  also  to  keep  the  divine 
commands.  Both  were  necessary  to  the  People  of 
God.  For  as  the  realization  by  the  people  of  the 
blessings  promised  in  the  covenant  depended  on 
their  giving  heed  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  so  also 
the  conflict  appointed  for  them  was  necessary,  as 
well  for  their  personal  purification,  as  for  the  con- 
tinued existence  and  growth  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth.  —  Bketheau  :  The  historian  can- 
not suthciently  insist  on  the  fact  that  the  remaining 
of  some  of  the  former  inhabitants  of  the  land,  after 
the  wars  of  Joshua,  is  not  a  punishment  but  only 
a  trial ;  a  trial  designed  to  aflford  occasion  of  show- 
ing to  the  Israelites  who  lived  after  Joshua  benefits 
similar  to  those  bestowed  on  his  contemporaries. 
And  it  is  his  firm  conviction  that  these  benefits, 
consisting  chiefiy  of  efheient  aid  and  wonderful  de- 
liverances in  wars  against  the  remaining  inhabi- 
tants, would  assuredly  have  accrued  to  the  people, 
if  they  had  followed  the  commands  of  Jehovah, 
especially  that  on  which  such  stress  is  laid  in  the 
Pentateuch,  to  make  no  league  with  the  heathen, 
hut  to  make  war  on  them  as  long  as  a  man  of  them 
I'emains. 

Henry  :  It  w.as  the  will  of  God  that  Israel 
should  be  inured  to  war, — 1.  Because  their  country 
was  exceeding  rich  and  fruitful,  and  abounded 
with  dainties  of  all  sorts,  which  if  they  were  not 
sometimes  made  to  know  hardship,  would  be  in 
danger  of  sinking  them  into  the  utmost  degree  of 
luxury  and  effeminacy,  —  a  state  as  destructive  to 
everything  good  as  it  is  to  everything  great,  and 
therefore  to  bo  carefully  watched  against  by  all 
God's  Israel.  2.  Because  their  country  lay  very 
much  in  the  midst  of  enemies,  by  whom  they  mnst 
expect  to  be  insulted  ;  for  God's  heritage  was  as  a 
speckled  bird  ;  the  birds  round  about  were  against 

her Israel  was  a  figure  of  the  church 

militant,  that  must  fight  its  way  to  a  triumphant 
state.  'J'he  soldiers  of  Christ  must  endure  hard- 
ness. Corruption  is  therefore  left  remaining  in 
the  hearts  even  of  good  Christians,  that  they  may 
learn  war,  keep  on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  and 
stand  continually  on  their  guard. 

Wordsworth  :  "  To  teach  them  tear."  So 
unbelief  awakens  faith,  and  teaches  it  war ;  it 
excites  it  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  truth.  The 
dissemination  of  false  doctrines  lias  led  to  clearer 
assertions  of  the  truth.  Heresies  have  produced 
the  creeds.  "  There  must  be  heresies,"  says  the 
Apostle,  "  that  they  who  are  approved  among  you 
may  be  made  manifest"  (1  Cor.  xi.  19).  —  Tr.] 

cK  iJuKpitiv  MKoSoftTijaeVov,"  there  is  evidently  no  reference  to 
lisp,  but  to  Gad  in  the  sense  of  Fortune.  For  the  stress 
is  laid  not  on  the  small  beginnings,  but  on  the  good  for 
tune,  which  from  a  small  city  made  it  great.  This  on 
Movers,  U.  2,  621,  not.  89  a. 


CHAPTER  m.  5-11.  67 


PART   SECOND. 

The  History  of  Israel  under  the  Judges  :  a  history  of  sin,  ever  repeating  itself,  and 
of  Divine  Grace,  constantly  devising  new  means  of  deliverance.  Meanwhile,  however, 
the  imperfections  of  the  judicial  institute  display  themselves,  and  prepare  the  way  for 
the  Appointment  of  a  King. 


FIRST   SECTION. 

THE   SERVITTTDB     TO   CHUSHAN-RISHATHAIM,   KING    OF    MESOPOTAMIA.      OTHNIBL,     THE     JUDGE   0» 

BLAMELESS   AND   HAPPY   LIFE. 


Israel  is   given  up  into  the   power   of  Gliushan-rishathaim  on    account  of  its  sins: 
Othniel  is  raised  up  as  a  Deliverer  in  answer  to  their  penitence. 

Chapter  III.     5-11. 

5  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  dwelt  among  [in  the  midst  of]  the  Canaanites, 

6  Hittites,  and  Araorites,  and  Perizzites,  and  Hivites,  and  Jebusites :  And  they  took 
theii"  daughters  to  be  their  wives,  and  gave  their  daughters  to  their  sons,  and  served 

7  their  gods.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  evil  ^  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah],  and  forgat  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  their  God.  and  served  Baalim,  and  the 

8  groves  [Asheroth].  Therefore  [And]  the  anger  of  the  Loi'd  [Jehovah]  was  hot 
[kindled]  against  Israel,  and  he  sold  tliera  [gave  them  up]  into  the  hand  of  Chushan- 
rishathaim,  king  of  Mesopotamia  [Aram-naharaim]  :  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel 

9  served  Chushan-rishathaim  eight  years.  And  when  [omit:  when]  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel  cried  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  [and]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  raised 
up  a  deliverer  to  the  children   [sons]  of  Israel,  who   [and]    delivered  ^  them,  even 

10  Othniel  the  son  of  Kenaz,  Caleb's  younger  brother.  And  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  came  [was]  "  upon  him,  and  he  judged  Israel,  and  went  out  to  war  :  and 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  Chushan-rishathaim  king  of  Mesopotamia  [Aram] 
into  his  hand ;  and  his  hand  prevailed   [became   strong]  *   against  Chushan-risha- 

11  thaim.     And  the  land  had  rest  forty  years :  and  Othniel  the  son  of  Kenaz  died. 

TEXTUAL  AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  7.  —  Literally,  "  the  eyil,"  as  at  verse  12  and  frequently.  On  the  use  of  the  article  compare  the  "  Grammatical  " 
note  on  ch.  ii-  11.     Wordsworth's  note  on  the  present  verse  is  :  "  They  did  that  evil  which  God  had  forbidden  05  evil.' 

—  Tr.] 

2  Ver.  9. —  C3?^r''"i*T  (from  IJUL''^),  here,  without  any  preposition,  with  vS^SHl?  ilM  i  on  the  other  hand, 
at  2  Kgs.  siv.  27,  T^S  is  inserted.     [De  Wette,  in  his  German  Version,  also  takes  Jehovah  as  subject  of  Dl?"^li7i*') 

which  seems  to  be  favored  by  the  position  of  vS'^SHl?  iHS,  which  according  to  the  common  view  would  be  separated 
from  its  governing  verb  by  another  verb  with  a  different  and  unexpressed  subject.  But  Dr.  Cassel  is  certainly  wrong 
when  he  supplies  "through"  instead  of  the  "even"  of  our  E.  V.,  and  so  makes  "Othniel"  the  medium  by  whom 
Jehsvah  delivered.  That  would  be  expressed  either  by  T*2l  or  by  2,  cf.  Hos.  i.  7  ;  1  Sam.  xiv.  6;  xvii.  47.  The 
ffoicis  bW''3ril7   nS  are  in  apposition  with   r"^ty'TO.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  10.  —  So 'do  Dr.  Cassel  and  many  others  render  TtFIT  *'  t>ut  the  rendering  "  came  "  is  very  suitable,  if  with 
Or.  Bachmann,  we  assume  "*nri1,   etc.,  to  be  explanatory  of  D)?*^,  etc.,  in  ver.  9.  —  Tr.] 

4  Ver.  11  —  f'-Tll,    from  TT27.     [On  the  vowel  in  the  last  syllable,  see  Ges.  Gram.  67,  Rem.  2.  —  Tr.] 


38 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  5.  And  the  sons  of  Israel  dwelt.  The 
introduction  is  ended,  and  the  author  now  proceeds 
to  the  events  themselves.  Fastening  tlie  thread  of 
his  narrative  to  the  relations  which  he  has  just 
unfolded,  he  goes  on  to  say:  Israel  (therefore) 
dwelt  among  the  Canaanite,  Hittite,  Amorite,  Pci-- 
izzite,  Hivite,  Jebusite.  Tlie  last  of  these  tribes  he 
had  not  in  any  way  named  before  ;  nor,  apparently, 
is  it  accurate  to  say  that  Israel  dwelt  among  the 
Jebusites.  But  the  passage  is  a  deeply  significant 
citation.  Dent.  xx.  17  contains  the  following: 
"  Thou  shalt  ntterly  destroy  the  Hittites,  and  the 
Amorites,  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Perizzites,  the 
Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites,  as  Jehovah  thy  God 
hath  commanded  thee ;  tliat  they  teach  you  not  to 
do  after  all  their  abominations."  But,  says  the 
narrator,  the  contrary  took  place;  Israel  dwells 
among  them,  and  is  consequently,  as  Moses  fore- 
told, initiated  into  the  sins  of  its  neighbors.  Hence, 
just  as  in  that  passage,  so  here  also,  only  six  nations 
are  named.  At  Dent.  vii.  1  the  Girgashitesave 
added.  The  most  complete  catalogue  of  the  nations 
of  Canaan  is  given  in  Gen.  x.  15  ff.  Another  one, 
essentially  different,  is  found  Gen.  xv.  19-21 .  Here, 
the  writer  does  not  intend  to  give  a  catalogue  ;  he 
names  the  nations  only  by  way  of  reproducing  the 
words  of  Moses,  and  of  manifesting  their  truth- 
fulness. 

Vers.  6,  7.  And  they  took  their  davighters. 
Precisely  in  this  consisted  the  "  covenant  "  (ri''~1I?) 
which  they  were  not  to  make  with  them.  Tlie 
reference  here  is  especially  to  Dent.  vii.  2  fF.  : 
"  Thou  shalt  make  no  covenant  with  them.  And 
thou  shalt  not  make  marriages  with  them  ;  thy 
daughter  thou  shalt  not  give  unto  his  son,  nor  his 
daugliter  shalt  thou  take  unto  thy  son.  For  it 
wovild  turn  away  thy  child  from  me,  and  they  will 
serve  false  gods."  All  this  has  here  come  to  pass. 
We  read  the  consequence  of  intermarriage  in  tlie 
words  :  "  and  they  served  their  gods."  The  same 
passage  (Dent.  vii.  5)  proceeds  :  "  Ye  shall  destroy 
their  altars,  and  break  down  their  images,  and  cut 
down  their  Asheroth."  But  now  Israel  served 
"  Baalim  and  Asheroth."  It  bent  the  knee  before 
the  altars  of  Baal  and  the  idols  of  Astarte.  Ashe- 
rah  (see  below,  on  ch.  vi.  2.5)  is  the  idol  through 
which  Astarte  was  worshipped.  The  altar  was 
especially  consecrated  to  Baal,  the  pillar  or  tree- 
idol  to  her.  Hence  the  Baalim  and  Asheroth  of 
this  passage  answer  perfectly  to  the  Baal  and  x\sh- 
taroth  of  ch.  ii.  13.     Instead  of  destroying,  Israel 

served  them.  *T?^  is  to  render  bodily  and  per- 
sonal service.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  thought  or 
oiiinion  merely.  He  who  serves,  serves  with  his 
body,  —  he  kneels,  offers,  jjrays.  The  ancient  trans 
latoVs  are  therefore  right  in  generally  rendering 
it  by  heiTovpyuv.  Among  the  Hellenes,  Uturgij 
{AeiTovoyia)  meant  service  which,  as  Bockh  shows, 
differed  tVom  all  other  obligations  precisely  in  this, 
that  it  was  to  be  rendered  personally.  Hence,  also, 
liturgy,   in   its   ecclesiastical   sense,   corresponded 

perfectly  with  abodah  {T1T2V),  and  was  rightly 
used  to  denote  the  acts  of  divine  service.  Now, 
when  in  this  way  Israel  performed  lltwgi/  before 
idol  images,  that  took  place  which  Dent.  vii.  4 

1  [The  "  Crime-conimitting   (frevelnde)   Chushan."     See 
Bertheau  in  loc.  —  Tr.] 

2  Josephus  has  xouo-apflos-    On  other  readings  see  Haver- 
»mp,  ad  Josh.,  i.  289,  not.  x. 

«  The  opinion  of  Bertheau  that  the  prophet  alludes  to  our 


foretold  :  "  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled." 
Whenever  Israel,  the  people  called  to  be  free,  falls 
into  servitude,  it  is  in  consequence  of  the  anger  of 
God.  It  is  free  only  while  it  holds  fast  to  its 
God.  When  it  apostatizes  from  the  God  of  free- 
dom. He  gives  it  up  to  tyi'ants,  as  one  gives  up  a 

slave  (-)??). 

Ver.  8.  He  gave  them  up  into  the  hand  of 
Chushan-rishathaim.  The  explanation  of  Eislia- 
thaini,  adopted  by  Bertheau,  which  derives  it  fron" 

^?PT]>  and  gives  it  the  sense  of  "  double  injustice ' 
or  "outrage,"  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  To  say 
nothing  of  its  peculiar  form,  there  is  no  reason 
whatever  why  this  title  should  be  given  to  Chushan 
and  not  to  the  other  tyrants  over  Israel.  Had  il 
been  intended  to  describe  him  as  peculiarly  wicked 

he  would  have  been  called  ^'^'7'  ^^  in  the  anal- 
ogous case  of  Hainan  (Esth.  vii.  6).  The  Midrash 
alone  attempts  an  explanation,  and  makes  Risha- 
thaim  to  mean  Laban.  The  "  double  siii  "  is,  that 
Aram  (of  which,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Midrash, 
Laban  is  the  representative)  formerly  injured  Ja- 
cob, and  now  injures  his  descendants  (cf.  Jalkut, 
Judges,  n.  41).  The  renderings  of  the  Targum 
and  Pcshito  ^  sprang  from  this  interpretation.  Paul 
of  Tela,  on  the  other  hand,  follows  the  Septuagint, 
which  has  x<""''"P'''"^"'V  !  ^i^>  ^^'t^I  others  of  later 
date,  write  Xovaav  Peaaddii/j,  (ed.  Rurdam,  p.  74). 
(S\'iicellus,  ed.  Bonn.  i.  285,  has  xo^<''''-f><^°-^'^M-^) 
Rishathaim  is  manifestly  a  proper  name,  and  forms 
the  complement  of  Chushan,  wliich  docs  not  con- 
ceal its  national  derivation.  At  all  events,  at  Hab. 
iii.  7,^  where  it  stands  parallel  with  Midian,  it  is 
used  to  designate  nationality.*  Now,  ancient  Per- 
sian tradition,  as  found  in  the  Schahnaineh  of  Fir- 
dousi,  contains  reminiscences  of  warlike  expedi- 
tions from  the  centre  of  Iran  against  the  West. 

One  of  the  three  sons  of  Feridoun,  Selm  (D7ti7), 
is  lord  of  the  territories  west  of  the  Euplirates.  The 
nations  of  those  countries  are  liostilc  to  Iran.  Men- 
tion is  also  made  of  assistance  from  Ganr/i  Jehocht 
(as  Jerusalem  is  several  times  designated)  in  a  war. 
against  Iran  (cf.  Schack,  Heldens.  des  Firdusi,  p. 
160).     The  Iranian   heroes,   on  the  other  band, 

Sam,  Zal  (^ST),  and  Rustem,  who  carry  on  the 
wars  of  the  kings,  east  and  west,  are  from  Sedjes- 
tan.  Sedjestan,  whose  inhabitants  under  the  Sas- 
sanides  also  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  army  (cf. 
Lassen,  Indische  Alterth.  ii.  363),  derives  its  name 
from  the  Sacm  (Sacastene).  The  name  Sacas, 
however,  is  itself  only  a  general  ethnographic  term, 
answering  to  the  term  Scythians,  and  compre- 
hended all  those  powerful  nations,  addicted  to 
horsemanship  and  the  chase,  who  made  themselves 
famous  as  warriors  and  conquerors  in  the  regions 
east  and  west  of  the  Tigris.  All  Scythians,  says 
Herodotus,  are  called  Sacie  by  the  Persians.  The 
term  Cossajans  was  evidently  of  similar  compre- 
hensiveness. As  at  this  day  Segestan  (or  Seistnn) 
is  still  named  after  the  Sac£e,  so  Khuzistan  after 
the  Cossa3ans  (cf.  Mannert,  v.  2,  495).  Moses 
Chorenensis  derives  tlie  Parthians  from  the  land 
of  (:;iiushan  (ed.  Florival,  i.  308-311).  In  the 
A\dc/tski  Rustam  inscription  (ver.  30)  wc  read  of 
Khushiya,  which  certainly  appears  more  suggestive 
of  Cossaii,  as  Lassen  interprets,  than  of  Gauda;,  as 

passage,  is  already  found  in  the  older  J^ewish  expositors. 
From  any  objective,  scientific  point  of  view,  this  view  can 
scarcely  be  concurred  in. 

4  [That  is  to  say,  the  term  expresses  ethnological,  not 
local  relations.  —  Tr.1 


CHAPTER  III.   5-11. 


69 


Benfey  explains  (Die  Pers.  Keilinschr.,  p.  60).  That 
they  are  quite  like  the  Parthians,  Scythians,  SacK, 
in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the  practice  of  pillage 
and  the  chase,  is  sufticiently  shown  by  the  passa<^e 
of  Strabo  (ed.  Paris,  p.  449,  lib.  xi.  13,  6).  Like 
Nimrod  (Gen.  x.  8),  all  these  nations,  and  also  the 
princes  of  the  Sacae,  Sam,  Zal,  and  Rnstem,  are 
represented  as  heroes  and  hunters.  Nimrod  de- 
scends from  Cusli,  and  rules  at  the  rivers.  So  here 
also  Cush  is  a  general  term  for  a  widely-diffused 
family  of  nations.  It  does  not  indicate  their  dwell- 
ing-place, but  their  mode  of  life  and  general  char- 
acteristics.^  Even  the  reference  in  the  name  of  this 
Chushan  to  darkness  of  complexion  is  not  to  be 
overlooked.  A  centaur  (horseman)  is  with  Hesiod 
{Scut.  Here.  185)  an  asholos.  "Asbolos,"  says 
Eiipolemus  (in  Euseb.,  Prcep.  Ev.  ix.  17  ;  cf.  Nie- 
buhr,  Assnrund  Babel,  p.  262,  note  2),  is  translated 
xov/is  by  the  Hellenes.  The  second  Chaldee  king 
is  called  Chomasbelos  bv  Berosus  [Fraymenta, 
cd.  Miillcr,  Paris,  p.  503 ;  Niebuhr,  p.  490  ;  Syn- 
cellus,  i.  147,  ed.  Bonn)  ;  while  in  one  passage 
(Lam.  iv.  8)  the  LXX.  translate  shechor,  "  black," 
by  a<T06\7i.  Syncellus  is  therefore  impi'operly  cen- 
sured by  Niebuhr  for  comparing  Evechios,  and  not 
the  .son  of  Chomasbelos,  with  Nimrod.  He  could 
compare  none  but  the  fii'st  king  with  him  who  was 
likewise  held  to  be  the  first.  Accordingly,  it  can- 
not appear  surprising  that  kings  and  heroes  beyond 

the  Euphrates  are  named  l^'-l^j  "  Chushan."  - 
One  of  the  most  famous  of  the  primitive  kings  of 

Iran  was  named  CCISD  ''D,  Kai  Kaoui.  Persian 
tradition  tells  of  wars  and  conquests  which  he 
carried  on  in  Mesi,  Sham,  and  Rum,  i.  e.  pjgypt, 
Syria,  and  Asia  Minor  (cf.  Hei'belot,  Or.  Bihl.  ii. 
59).  They  also  relate  misfortunes  endured  by 
him.  In  his  wars  in  the  West,^  he  was  defeated 
and  taken  prisoner.     His  hero  and  deliverer  was 

always  Eustem  (CHffi'"!  or  nnD"),  also  Cnir-'n, 

C2nrm;i~l,  cf.  Vullers,  Lex.  Pers.  ii.  32).  Now, 
since  it  is  obviously  proper  to  compare  these  names 
with  D^"127kiL?^  ']^^':,  "  Chushan-rishathaim  " 
(for  the  y  as  well  as  the  pointing  of  the  Masora 

dates  from  the  PabliinicMidrash),  there  is  nothing 
to  oppose  the  idea  that  the  celebrated  Rustem  of  the 
East,  the  hero  of  Kaous,  whom  Moses  Chorenensis 
calls  the  Saces,  is  actually  mentioned  here.  It 
Avould  enhance  the  interest  of  the  narrative  to  find 
the  hero  of  the  Iranian  world  brought  upon  the 
scene  of  our  history.  Profane  history  would  here, 
as  so  frequently  elsewhere,  receive  valuable  illus- 
tration from  Scripture.  An  historical  period  would 
be  approximately  gained  for  Kai  Kaous.  On  the 
other  hand,  such  conflicts  were  sufficiently  memo- 
rable for  Israel  to  serve  as  testimonies  first  of  God's 
anger,  and  then  of  salvation  wrought  out  by  Him. 

And  they  serve'd  Chushan-rishathaim,  ^~f?^^5' 

God  is  served  with  sacrifices ;  human  lords  with 

tribute  (cf.  ver.   15).     Hence  the  expression  '072 

1  We  cannot  enter  here  on  a  full  illustration  of  the  gene- 
llogy  of  Cush,  as  given  Gen.  x.  For  some  excellent  remarks 
Bee  Knobel  Dte  ethnogr.  Tafel,  p.  251.  Where  he  read  disk, 
in  Wagenseil's  edition  of  Petachia,  Carmoly's  edition,  prob- 
tbly  less  correctly,  has  Acco.     Where  Benjamin  of  Tudela, 

>d.  Asher,  p.  83,  has  iH-lS,  other  manuscripts  have  tt'-ljJ. 
3ush  (Ezek.  xxxviii.  5)  may  also  pass  for  the  African. 


^2137,  -when  a  people  became  tributary.  The 
"  eight  years  "  are  considered  in  the  introductory 
section  on  the  Chronology  of  the  Book. 

Ver.  9.     And  the   sons  of  Israel  cried  unto 

Jehovah.  pl7J  is  the  anxious  cry  of  distress.  So 
cried  they  in  Egypt  by  reason  of  their  heavy  ser- 
vice (Ex.  ii.  23).  They  cry  to  God,  as  children  to 
their  father.  In  his  compassion.  He  hears  them. 
However,  Jeremiah    (xi.   11)    warns    the  people 

against  that  time  "  when  they  shall  cry  (^p3?|1) 
unto  God,  but  he  will  not  hearken  unto  them." 

And  He  delivered  them  through  Othniel  the 
son  of  Kenaz.  The  Septuagint  gives  his  name 
as  TodovirtX.  while  Josephus  has  'OQoviy)\os.  Jerome 
(De  Noininihus,  ed.  Migne,  p.  809)  has  Athaniel, 
which  he  translates  "  my  time  of  God  "  (fempiis 
meum  Dei).  This  is  also  the  translation  of  Leusdcn 
in  his  Onomnsticon,  who  however  unnecessarily  dis- 
tinguishes between  a  Gothoniel  (1  Chron.  xxvii. 
15)  and  Othniel.  Gesenius  derives  the  name  from 
the  Arabic,  and  says  it  means  "  lion  of  God." 
How  carefully  -Josephus  follows  ancient  exegesis, 
appears  from  his  inserting  the  story  of  Othniel 
only  after  the  abominations  of  Gibeah  (cli.  xi.x.) 
and  those  of  the  tribe  of  Dan  (ch.  xviii.) ;  for  these 
occurrences  were  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  time 
of  servitude  under  Chushan  {Jalkut,  Judges,  n. 
41).  But  his  anxiety  to  avoid  every  appearance 
of  improbability  docs  not  allow  him  to  call  Othniel 
the  brother  of  Caleb.  He  speaks  of  him  as  "t^s 
'loi^So  (pv\ris  Tis,  one  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  "  {Ant. 
V.  3,  3)  ;  for  he  fears  lest  the  Greek  reader  should 
take  offense  at  finding  Othniel  still  young  and  vig- 
orous enough  to  achieve  victory  in  the  field,  and 
render  forty  years'  service  as  Judge.  But  the  nar 
rator  adds  emphatically,  "  the  younger  brother  of 
Caleb,"  — in  order  to  leave  no  doubt  that  the  con- 
queror of  Kirjath-sepher  and  the  victor  over  Aram 
were  one  and  the  same  person.  Nor  is  there  any 
foundation  for  the  scrupulosity  of  Josephus.  In 
Israel  the  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  were 
enrolled  upon  the  completion  of  their  twentieth 
year  (Num.  xxvi.  2,  seq.).  Now,  if  Othniel  was 
twenty-five  years  of  age  when  he  conquered  Kir- 
jath-sepher, and  if  after  that  a  period  of  twenty 
years  elapsed,  during  which  a  new  generation  grew 
up,  he  would  be  fifty-three  years  of  age  when  as 
hero  and  conqueror  he  assumed  the  judicial  office, 
—  a  supposition  altogether  natural  and  probable. 
Caleb  in  his  eighty-fifth  year  still  considered  him- 
self fully  able  to  take  the  field.  Besides,  it  is  con- 
sonant with  the  spirit  which  animates  the  history 
here  narrated,  that  it  is  Othniel  who  appears  as 
the  first  Shophet.  Not  merely  because  of  the  hero- 
ism which  he  displayed  before  Kirjath-sepher;  but 
a  new  dignity  like  this  of  Judge  is  easily  attracted  to 
one  who  is  already  in  possession  of  a  certain  author- 
ity, which  was  evidently  the  case  with  Othniel.  He 
was  one  of  those  who,  in  part  at  least,  had  shared 
the  wars  with  Canaan.  He  was  the  brother  and 
son-in-law  of  the  celebrated  Caleb,  and  hence  a 
head  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  to  which  in  this  matter 

2  One  of  the  worst  enemies  of  Kai  Eaous  was  Deo  Sefid, 
i.  e.  the  White  Foe.  At  the  birth  of  Rustem's  father,  Zal, 
it  was  considered  a  misfortune  that  his  head  was  white.  H» 
was  therefore  exposed  (cf.  Schack.  Firdusi,  p.  175). 

3  Some  call  him  ruler  of  Arabia,  others  of  Syria.  Cf 
Malcolm,  Hist,  of  Persia,  i.  27. 


70 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


also  the  initiative  belongs.  Once  it  was  asked, 
"  Who  shall  first  go  up  1 "  Jiulah  was  the  tribe 
Belcctcd  by  the  response.  The  first  Judge  whom 
God  appointed,  must  appear  in  Judah.  That  tribe 
Btill  had  strength  and  energy ;  there  the  memory 
of  former  deeds  achieved  by  faith  was  still  cher- 
ished among  the  people  (cf.  Shemoth  Rabba,  §  48, 
p.  144  a). 

Ver.  10.  And  the  spirit  of  Jehovah  was  upon 
him.  The  spirit  of  faitli,  of  trust  in  God,  of  enthu- 
siasm. It  is  the  same  spirit  which  God  bestows 
upon  the  seventy  also,  who  are  to  assist  Moses 
(Num.  xi.  25).  It  was  on  that  occasion  that  Moses 
exclaimed,  "  Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people 
were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  his 
Spirit  upon  them."  In  this  spirit,  Moses  and 
Joshua  performed  their  great  deeds.  In  this  spirit, 
Joshua  and  Caleb  knew  no  fear  when  they  explored 
the  land.  In  this  spirit,  the  spirit  of  obedience, 
which  in  faith  performs  the  law,  becomes  a  spirit 
of  power.  Of  those  seventy  we  are  told  (Num.  xi. 
25),  that  when  they  had  received  the  Spirit  of  God, 
they  prophesied.  The  Targum  therefore  trans- 
lates, both  there  and  here,  nN^D3  n^"1,  Spirit  of 
Prophecy.  It  does  this,  however,  in  the  case  of  no 
Judge  but  Othniel.  For  although  the  HirT^  n-ll 
is  also  spoken  of  in  connection  with  Gideon,  Jeph- 
thah,  and  Samson,  it  merely  gives  ^"^-5  C^"' 
in  those  cases,  Spirit  of  heroism  (ch.  vi.  34 ;  xi. 
29  ;  xiii.  25).  The  first  ground  of  this  distinction 
conferred  on  Othniel,  is  the  irreproachable  charac- 
ter of  his  rule.  No  tragic  shadow  lies  on  his  life, 
as  on  the  lives  of  the  other  heroes.  To  this  must 
be  added  the  ancient  interpretation,  already  alluded 
to  above  (p.  35,  note  2),  which  identified  Othniel 
with  Jabez  (1  Chron.  iv.  10),  and  regarded  him  as 
a  pious  teacher  of  the  law.  They  said  concerning 
him,  that  his  sun  arose  when  Joshua's  went  down 
(Bereshith  Rabba,  §  58,  p.  51  b).  They  applied  to 
him  the  verse  in  Canticles  (iv.  7)  :  "  Thou  art  all 
fair,  there  is  no  spot  in  thee"  (Shir  ha-S/u'rim 
Rabba,  on  the  passage,  ed.  Amsterd.  p.  17  c.).i 

And  he  judged  Israel.  He  judged  Israel  before 
he  went  forth  to  war.   It  has  already  been  remarked 

above,  that  tO?ti7   means  to  judge  in  the  name  of 

1  [Keil  :  "  The  Spirit  of  God  is  the  spiritual  life-princi- 
ple in  the  worid  of  nature  and  of  mankind ;  and  in  man  it 
Is  the  principle  as  well  of  the  natural  life  received  by  birth, 
as  of  the  spiritual  life  received  through  the  new  birth,  cf. 
Auberlen,  Geist  cles  Mcnschen,  in  Herzog's  Realrncykl.,  iv. 
731.  In  this  sense,  the  expression  '■  Spirit  of  Elohim  ' 
alternates  with  '  Spirit  of  Jehovah,'  as  already  in  Gen.  i.  2, 
compared  with  vi.  3,  and  so  on  in  all  the  books  of  the  0.  T., 
with  this  difference,  however,  that  whereas  '  Spirit  of  Elo- 
him '  designates  the  Divine  Spirit  only  in  general,  on  the 
side  of  its  supernatural  causality  and  power,  '  Spirit  of  Je- 
hovah '  presents  it  on  the  side  of  its  historical  operation  on 
the  world  and  human  life,  in  the  interests  of  salvation.  In 
its  operations,  however,  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  manifests 
itself  as  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom  and  Understanding,  of  Coun- 
cil and  Strength,  of  Knowledge  and  the  Fear  of  the  Lord 
(Isa.  xi.  2).  The  impartation  of  this  spirit  in  the  0.  T., 
^kes  the  form  for  the  most  part  of  an  extraordinary,  super- 
natural influence  exerted  over  the  human  spirit.  The  usual 
expression   for  this  is,  '  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  (or  Elohim) 

1""  v37  TUTIl,  came  upon  him  ;  '  so  here  and  in  xi.  29  ;  1 
Sam.\ix.'20',  23;  2  Chron.  xx.  14;  Num.  xxiv.  2.  With 
this,however,  the  expressions  V727  (Pinb^J)  HviSm, 
ch.  xiv.  6,  19  ;  xv.  14;  1  Sara.  x.  10;  xi.  6  ;  xvi.  13,  and 
r  nW  rTli.''37,  the  spirit  '  put  on  (clothed)  the  person,' 
r.h.  vi.  34;  1  Chron.  xii.  18;  2  Chron.  xxiv.  20,  alternate; 


the  law.  The  Judge  enforces  the  law ;  he  pun- 
ishes sin,  abolishes  wrong.  If  Israel  is  to  be  victo- 
rious, it  is  not  enough  to   "  cry  unto  the  Lord ; " 

the  authority  of  the  law  (I^Sffi^)  must  be  recog- 
nized. "  These  are  the  D'^CllQffi'^  (judgments) 
which  thou  shalt  set  before  them,"  is  the  order, 
Ex.  xxi.  1.  Israel  must  become  conscious  of  God 
and  duty.  At  that  point  Othnicl's  judicial  activity 
began.  This  was  what  he  taught  them  for  the 
future.  Not  till  that  is  accomplished  can  war  bo 
successfully  undertaken. 

Ver.  11.  And  the  land  rested.  '^\l^  does 
not  occur  in  the  Pentateuch.  It  signifies  that  de- 
sirable condition  of  quiet  in  which  the  people, 
troubled  by  neither  external  nor  internal  foes,  en- 
joys its  possessions,  — when  the  tumults  of  war  are 
hushed,  and  peaceful  calm  jjervades  the  land. 
Such  rest  is  found  in  Israel,  when  the  people  obe- 
diently serve  their  God.  "  The  service  of  right- 
eousness   (says    Isaiah,   ch.   xxxii.    17),    is    rest 

(tsr^.trn)  and  security  forever."  Jeremiah  (ch. 
XXX.  10)  announces  that  when  Israel  shall  be 
redeemed,  Jacob  shall  rest  and  be  free  from  care 

(l?^^'!  ^n^)'  The  present  rest,  alas,  endured 
only  until  Othniel  died.  Wlien  he  went  home,  his 
authority  ceased,  and  peace  departed. 

HOMILETICAL    AND    PRACTICAL. 

Othniel  the  Judge  without  offense  and  without 
sorrow.  The  fii"st  Judge  comes  out  of  Judah. 
Here  also  that  tribe  leads.  On  all  succeeding 
Judges  there  rests,  notwithstanding  their  victories, 
the  shadow  of  error,  of  grief,  or  of  a  tragic  end. 
They  were  all  of  other  tribes  ;  only  Othniel,  out  of 
Judah,  saved  and  died  without  blemish  and  with- 
out sorrow.  To  him  no  abnormity  of  Jewish  his- 
tory attaches.  He  was  the  appointed  hero  of  his 
time.  The  relative  and  son-in-law  of  Caleb  con- 
tinued the  line  of  heroes  which  begins  in  the  desert. 
For  that  very  reason  he  was  free  from  many  temp- 
tations and  irregularities.  Men  were  accustomed 
to  see  Judah  and  the  family  of  Caleb  take  the 
lead.     Other  Judges  had  first  to  struggle  for  that 

the  former  of  which  characterizes  the  influence  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  as  one  which  overpowers  the  resistance  of  the  natural 

will  [the  verb  Hv!?,  which  in  this  connection  the  E.  V. 
sometimes  renders  '  to  come  upon  mightily,'  as  in  Judges 
xiv.  6,  sometimes  merely  '  to  come  upon,'  as  in  ver.  19  of 
the  same  chapter,  properly  signifies  '  to  cleave,  to  cut,  to 
break  through  '  —  Tr.],  while  the  latter  represents  it  as  a 
power  which  envelopes  and  covers  man.  They  who  receive 
and  possess  this  spirit  are  thereby  endowed  with  power  to 
perform  wonderful  deeds.  Commonly,  the  Spirit  that  has 
come  upon  them  manifests  itself  in  the  ability  to  prophesy, 
but  also  in  the  power  to  perform  wonders  or  exploits  tran- 
scending the  natural  courage  and  strength  of  man.  The 
latter  was  especially  the  case  with  the  Judges.  Hence  the 
Targum  .already,  on  ch.  vi.  34,  explains  the  '  Spirit  of  Jeho- 
vah '  as  the  '  Spirit  of  Strength  from  the  Lord,'  while  on 
the  other  hand  in  our  passage  it  erroneously  thinks  of  the 
'  Spirit  of  Prophecy.'  Kimchi  also  understands  here  the 
'  spiritiim  fortitudinis,  quo  excitatus,  atnoto  omni  metii,  bel- 
liini  a/Jversiis  Cusckanein  susceptrit.''  It  is  however  scarcely 
proper  so  to  separate  the  various  powers  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  as  to  take  it  in  its  operation  on  the  Judges,  merely  as 
the  Spirit  of  Strength  and  Valor.  The  Judges  not  only  fought 
the  enemy  courageously  and  victoriously,  but  also  judged  the 
people,  for  which  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom  and  Understanding, 
and  restrained  idolatry  (ch.  ii.  18  s«/.),  for  which  the  Spirit  of 
Knowledge  and  of  the  Fear  of  the  Lord,  was  required."  —  Te.] 


CHAPTER  III.    12-30. 


71 


authority  which  Othniel  already  possessed.  He 
who  is  exempt  from  this  necessity,  escapes  many  a 
temptation. 

Thus  Othniel  is  a  type  of  sons  descended  from 
good  families,  and  of  inherited  position.  From  him 
such  may  learn  their  duty  to  use  life  and  strength 
for  their  country.  His  life  shows  that  to  lead  and 
judge  is  easier  for  them  than  for  others.  There  arc 
many  "  Caleb-relatives  "  who  squander  the  glory 
of  their  name ;  but  yet  there  have  never  been 
wanting  Christians  who,  historically  among  the 
first  men  of  their  country,  have  borne  aloft  the 
banner  of  truth.  Joachim  von  Alvensleben  com- 
posed his  Confession  of  the  Christian  Faith  (printed 
at  Stendal,  18.54),  that  he  might  acquit  himself  of 
his  "  paternal  office "  to  his  family,  warn  them 
faithfully,  and  preserve  them  from  apostasy ;  so 
that  Martin  Chemnitz  prays  the  "  good  and  kind 
God  to  preserve  hoc  sacrum  deposit  um  in  its  purity, 
everywhere  in  his  church,  and  especially  in  nohili 
Aac  /am(7/a  "  (BrunsAvick,  March  1,  1.5G6).  The 
spirit  of  Othniel  clearly  manifested  itself  in  Zinzen- 
dorf ;  and  he  rendered  useful  service  not  only  in 
spite  of  his  distinguished  name,  hut  especiallj^  in 
his  own  day,  because  he  bore  it.  His  life,  while  it 
testifies  that  in  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  everything 
can  be  turned  into  a  special  blessing,  shows  also 
that  no  gift  of  Providence  is  to  be  suppressed,  — 
least  of  all,  one's  family  and  origin  (cf.  Otto 
Strauss :    Zinzendorf,   Leben  und  Auswahi    seiner 


Schriflen,  etc.,  iv.  147,  etc.).  This  spirit  of  Othniel 
was  in  the  Minister  Von  Pfcil,  in  his  life  and  work, 
confessing  and  praying.     In  his  own  words  :  — 

"  Knight  of  heaven  Jesus  made  me, 

Touelied  me  with  the  Spirit's  sword, 
When  the  Spirit's  voice  declared  me 
Free  forever  to  the  Lord." 

Starke  :  What  great  depravity  of  the  human 
heart,  that  men  so  easily  forget  the  true  God  whom 
they  have  known,  and  voluntarily  accept  and 
honor  strange  gods,  whom  neither  they  nor  their 
fathers  knew.  The  Same  :  God  is  at  no  loss  for 
means ;  He  prescribes  bovmds  to  the  aggressions  of 
the  enemy.  But  in  the  spiritual  warfare  also  men 
must  be  bold.  We  do  not  conquer  by  sitting  still. 
Li  SCO :  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  the  originator 
of  everything  good  and  of  all  great  achievements. 

[Henry  :  Affliction  makes  those  cry  to  God 
with  importiinity,  who  before  would  scarcely  speak 
to  Mm.  The  same:  Othniel  first  judged  Israel, 
reproved  them,  called  them  to  an  account  for  their 
sins,  and  reformed  them,  and  then  went  out  to  war  ; 
that  was  the  right  method.  Let  sin  at  home  be 
conquered,  that  worst  of  enemies,  and  then  ene- 
mies abroad  will  be  moi-e  easily  dealt  with.  Bishop 
Hall  :  Othniel's  life  and  Israel's  innocence  and 
peace  ended  together.  How  powerful  the  presence 
of  one  good  man  is  in  a  church  or  state,  is  best 
found  in  his  death.  —  Tr.] 


SECOND  SECTION. 


THE  SERVITUDE  TO  EGLON,  KING  OF  MOAB.   EHUB,  THE  JUDGE  WITH  THE  DOUBLE-EDOED 
DAGGER.   SHAMGAR,  THE  DELIVERER  WITH  THE  OX-GOAD. 


Eglon,  King  of  Moab,  reduces  Israel  to  servitude,  and  seizes  on  the  City  of  Palms . 
are  delivered  by  Ehud,  who  destroys  the  oppressor. 

Chapter  III.  12-30. 


they 


12  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  evil  again  [continued  to  do  evil]  in  the 
sight  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah] :  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  strengthened  [encouraged  i] 
Eglon  the  king  of  Moab   against  Israel,  because  they  had   done   [did]  evil  in  the 

13  sight  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  he  gathered  unto  him  [having  allied  himself  with]  the 
children   [sons]  of  Ammon  and  Amalek,  and  went   and   smote  Israel,  and   [they] 

14  possessed  [took  possession  of]  the  city  of  palm-trees.     So  [And]  the  children  [sons] 

15  of  Israel  served  Eglon  the  king  of  Moab  eighteen  years.  But  when  [And]  the  chil- 
dren [sons]  of  Israel  cried  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  [and]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  raised 
them  up  a  deliverer,  Ehud  the  son  of  Gera,  a  Benjamite  [Ben-jemini],  a  man 
left-handed  [weak  ^  of  his  right  hand]  :  and  by  him  the  children   [sons]  of  Israel 

16  sent  a  present  unto  Eglon  the  king  of  Moab.^  But  [And]  Ehud  made  him  a  dag 
ger  which  had  two  edges,  of  a  cubit  [^omerf]  length  :  and  he  did  gird  it  under  his 

17  raiment  upon  his  right  thigh.     And  he  brouglit  the  present  unto  Eglon  king  of  Moab  : 

18  and  Eglon  ^vas  a  very  fat  man.     And  when  he  had  made  an  end  to  offer  the  present, 

19  he  sent  away  [dismissed  *]  the  people  that  bare  the  present.  But  he  himself  turned 
again  [turned  back]  from  the  quarries  \_Pesilim']  that  ivere  by  Gilgal,  and  said,  I 
hav^  a,  secret  errand  ^  unto  thee,  O  king  :  who  said,  Keep  [omit :  keep]  silence. 


'2  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


20  And  [thereupon]  all  that  stood  by  him  went  out  from  him.  And  Ehud  came  [drew 
near]  uiito  him  ;  and  he  was  sitting  in  a  summer  parlour  [now  he,  i.  e.  the  king,  was  sitting 
in  the  upper  story  of  the  cooling-house "],  which  he  had  for  himself  alone  [his  private 
apartment]  :  and  Ehud  Said,  I  have  a  message  from  God  [the  Deitj]  unto  thee.     And 

21  [Then]  he  arose  out  of  his  seat.     And  [immediately]  Ehud  put  forth  his  left  hand,  and 

22  took  the  dagger  from  his  right  thigh,  and  thrust  it  into  his  belly  :  And  the  haft  also 
went  in  afterthe  blade :  and  the  fat  closed  upon  [about]  the  blade,  so  that  he  could  not 
[for  he  did  not]  draw  the   dagger  out  of  his  belly  ;  and  the  dirt  [the  dagger'^]  came 

23  out  [behind].  Then  [And]  Ehud  went  forth  through  the  porch  [went  upon  the 
balcony],  and  shut  the  doors  of  the  parlour  [upper  story]  upon  liim  [after  him],  and 

24  locked  them.  When  he  was  gone  out,  his  [the  king's]  servants  came ;  and  when  they 
saw  that  [and  they  looked,  and]  behold,  the  doors  of  the  parlour  [upper  story]  were 
locked,  [and]   they  said.   Surely  [doubtless],   he  covereth  his  feet  in   his  summer- 

25  chamber  [chamber  of  the  cooling-house].  And  they  tarried  till  they  were  ashamed 
[waited  very  long]  :  and  bchold,  he  opened  not  [no  one  opened]  the  doors  of  the  parlour 
[upper  story],  therefore  they  took  a  [the]  key  and  opened    them :  and   behold,  their 

26  lord  was  fallen  down  dead  on  the  earth.  And  [But]  Ehud  [liad]  escaped  while 
they    tarried ;    and    [had    already]     passed    beyond    the    quarries  [PesiYm],    and 

27  [had]  escaped  unto  Seirath  [Seirah].  And  it  came  to  pass  when  he  was  come 
[when  he  arrived],  that  he  blew  a  [the]  trumpet  in  the  mountain  [mountains]  of 
Ephraim,  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel    went  down  with  him  from  the   mount 

28  [mountains],  and  he  before  tli^jm.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Follow  [Hasten]  after 
me :  for  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  delivered  your  enemies  the  Moabites  into  your 
hand.     And  they  went  down  after  him,  and  took  the  fords  of  Jordan  toward  Moab, 

29  and  suffered  not  a  man  to  pass  over.  And  they  slew  [smote]  of  Moab  at  that  time 
about  ten  thousand  men,  all  lusty,  ^  and  all  men  of  valour  :  and   there  escaped  not  a 

30  man.  So  Moab  was  subdued  that  day  under  the  hand  of  Israel :  and  the  land  had 
rest  four-score  years. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[I  Ver.  12.  —  p-tn"^"!  :  the  same  word  is  used  Ex.  iv.  21.  etc.,  Josh.  xi.  20;  but  is  here,  as  Bachmann  remarks,  to  t« 
explained  not  by  those  passages,  but  by  Ezek.  xxx.  24.  It  implies  here  the  impartation  not  so  much  of  strength  as  cf 
the  consciousness  of  it.  —  Tr] 

[2  Ver.  15.  —  *ltSM  :  Dr.  Cassel,  sc/i!tiaf/i,  we.ak.  "Impeded"  would  be  the  better  word.  Against  the  opinion  of 
Borne,  that  Ehud's  riglit  Iiand  was  either  lamed  or  mutilated,  Bachmann  quotes  the  remark  of  Schmid  that  it  would  have 
been  a  breach  of  decorum  to  send  such  a  physically  imperfect  person  on  an  embassy  to  the  king.     It  may  be  added  that 

this  explanation  of  "ItSM  is  at  all  events  not  to  be  thought  of  in  the  case  of  the  700  chosen  men  mentioned  in  ch.  xx. 
16.  — Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  15.  —  Dr.  Cassel  translates  this  clause:  "when  [nix;  i.  e.  .Jehovah  raised  up  Ehud  as  a  deliverer,  w/ifn]  the 
Bons  of  Israel  sent  a  present  by  him  to  Eglon,  the  kitig  of  Moab."  But  it  is  altogether  simpler  and  better  to  take  the 
clause  as  an  independent  progressive  sentence,  as  in  the  E.  V.     So  Bachmann  also.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  18.  —  n  -K.'^  :  dismissed  ttiem  by  accompanying  them  part  of  the  way  back,  cf.  Gen.  xji.  20  ;  xviii.  16 ; 
etc.  —  Tr.] 

rs  Ver.  19.  —  TnD""13^  :   Dr.  Cassel  translates,  "  a  secret  word."     But  "errand  "is  better:  becau.tie  like    ^3"^, 

•-......-;  '  T  T  ' 

it  may  be  a  word  or  message,  or  it  may  be  a  commission  of  a  more  active  nature.  Bachmann  quotes  Chytriius:  rewi, 
negotiiim  secretinyi  habeo  apud  te  a^eiiflum.  So,  he  goes  on  to  rem.ark,  in  ver.  20  tJ^^S  "^7  D'^rT^S""^^^,  is  not 
necessarily,  '  I  have  a  word  from  God  to  say  to  thee  ; '  but  may  mean,  '  I  have  a  commission  from  God  to  execute  to 
thee.' "  It  would  be  preferable,  therefore,  to  conform  the  English  Version  in  ver.  20  to  ver.  19,  rather  than  the  reverse. 
—  Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  20.  —  The  rendering  given  above  is  Dr.  Cassel's,  except  that  he  puts  the  verb  (^ti?^)  in  the  pluperfect,  whi«h 
can  scarcely  be  approved.     He  translates   mp^TI    1^*7173    by    Obergesrkoss    des   KuM/iaiiaes, -which  vrc   can    only 

represent  by  the  awkward  phrase :  "  upper  story  of  the  cooling-house."  It  would  be  better,  however,  to  take  rT"lp?D 
as  containing  an  adjective  idea,  descriptive  of  the  ^alijah  :  "  cool  upper  story."     Cf.  Bachmann.  — Tr.] 

[7  Ver.  22.  —  The  term  'J1^tK'"^?!)  occurs  only  here,  and  is  of  exceedingly  doubtful  interpretation.  Bachm.ann  as- 
sumes that  the  S*?'"^  which  precedes  it  has  Ehud  for  its  subject,  and  then —  by  a  course  of  reasoning  far  too  lengthy 
and  intricate  to  be  here  discussed — comes  to  the  conclusion  that  'J*l'7t?7"1?3  denotes  a  locality,  which  in  the  next  verso 

.U  more  definitely  indicated  by  "jlT^ptt,  The  latter  term,  he  thinks,  is  best  understood  "of  the  lattice-work  by 
which  the  roof  was  inclosed,  or  rather  of  the  inclosed  platform  of  the  roof  itself."  Accordingly  he  conceives  the  text 
lO  say  that  Ehud  issued  forth  from  Eglon's  private  apartment "  upon  the  flat  roof,  more  definitely  upon  the  inclosed  plat- 
<brm  or  g.allery."  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  III.    12-30. 


73 


[8  Ver.  29.  — Dr.  Cassel :  angesehene  Lcute,  cf.  the  Commentary  ;  but  it  seems  better  to  hold  fast  to  me  E.  V.     The  ex- 
pression is  literally :  "  fat  men,"  i.  e.  well-fed,  lusty  men,  of  great  physical  strength.     So  Bachmann  also.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  12-14.  And  Jehovah,  encouraged  Eg- 
lon,  king  of  Moab.  The  second  attack  on  Israel 
came  likewise  from  the  cast,  but  from  a  point  mucli 
nearer  home  than  tliat  from  which  the  first  by 
Aram  had  come.  A  warlike  prince  of  Moab  had 
formed  a  league  for  the  occasion  with  neighbors 
north  and  soiith  of  him.  For  the  sons  of  Amnion 
dwelt  beyond  the  Jordan,  east  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
above  the  Moabites ;  while  the  hosts  of  AmalQk 
roved  lower  down,  to  the  southwest  of  Moab. 
Hitherto  no  actual  conflict  had  occurred  between 
Moab  and  Israel.  But  the  order  that  "  no  Am- 
monite or  Moabite  shall  enter  into  the  congrega- 
tion of  Jehovah"  (Deut.  xxiii.  4  (3)),  sufficiently 
marks  the  antagonism  that  existed  between  them. 
The  Moabites  longed  for  the  excellent  oasis  of  the 
City  of  Palms.  Jericho,  it  is  true,  was  destroyed  ; 
but  the  indestructible  wealth  of  its  splendid  site 
attracted  them.  They  surprised  Israel,  now  be- 
come dull  and  incapable.  Neither  in  the  land  of 
Benjamin,  whei'e  the  battle  was  fought,  nor  from 
the  neighboring  tribes  of  Judah  and  Ephraim,  did 
they  meet  with  any  energetic  resistance.  From 
the  words  "  and  they  took  possession  of,"  in  con- 
nection with  the  following  narrative,  it  appears 
that  Eglon  had  fixed  his  residence  in  the  City  of 
Palms. ^  This  renders  it  probable  that  Eglon  was 
not  the  king  of  all  Moab,  (whose  principal  seat 
was  in  Rabbath  Moab,)  but  a  Moabitish  chieftain, 
whom  this  successful  expedition  placed  in  posses- 
sion of  this  fair  territory  west  of  the  Jordan. 

Ver.  15.  And  Jehovah  raised  them  up  a 
deliverer,  Ehud,  the  son  of  Gera,  a  Ben-jemini, 

a  man  weak   of   his  right  hand.     "''^^^  ;    for 

which  the  LXX.  read  TinW,  Aod  (Jerome  has 
Evd).  It  seems  to  me  that  the  older  derivation  of 
this  name  from  ^^i"',  giving  it  the  sense  of  "  one 
who  praises,"  or  "one  who  is  praised"  {rjloriam 
accipiens,  Jerome),  is  to  be  nnqualitiedly  preferred 
to  the  later,  proposed  by  Fiirst,  from  a  conjectural 

roo*  "TS.  l^nS  is  related  to  l^Tl,  TTil,  as 
bnW,  to  be  bright,  is  to  ^L?,  ^^H,  and  li"^nS 
(Arabic,  Tldrun)  to  "^H,  "^"l"^.    Elsewhere  I  have 

already  compared  hod  with  the  Sanskrit  vad,  ^5<w, 
as/'5a),  uSo),  and  the  Gothic  audags  (Irene,  p.  6, 
note.)  At  all  events,  as  Ehud  belongs  to  hod,  so 
such  names  as  Audo,  Eudo,  Heudo,  seem  to  belong 
to  audags  (ef.  Forstemann,  Namenhuch,  i.  162,  391), 
He  was  a  Ben-jemini,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 
as  the  Targum  expressly  adds.  When  the  son  of 
Jacob  was  born,  his  dying  mother  named  him 
Benoni,  "  son  of  my  sorrow  ;  "  but  his  father,  by 
way  of  euphemism,  called  him  Ben-jamin,  "  son 
of  good  fortune"  (Gen.  xxxv.  18).  Jamin  came 
to  signify  "  good  fortune,"  only  because  it  desig- 
nated the  right  side.  The  inhabitants  of  the  holy 
land  had  the  sea  (jam  -)  on  the  right,  hence  called 

1  [It  certainly  appears  that  he  had  done  so  temporarily, 
but  by  no  means  that  he  had  done  so  permanently.  —  Tr.] 

2  The  importance  of  this  observation  has  been  overlooked 
with  reference  to  other  lands  as  well  as  Palestine.  The 
general  fact  that  the  sea-side  was  the  right  side,  has  been 
tonstantly  ignored.  That  was  the  reason  why  Jacob  Grimm 
[Gesth..  der  Deutschen  Sprache^  p.  990,  etc.)  failed  to  under- 
stancH  why  a,mong  the  Ind'^aas,  Romans,  etc.,  the  south  side  | 


that  .side  jamin,  literally,  sea-side  ;  and  the  high- 
lands of  Aram  (or  Sham,  cf.  Magyar,  Altherth.,  p. 
228)  on  the  left,  hence  semol,  the 'left,  from  Sam. 
Different  nations  derived  their  expressions  for  right 
and  left  from  conceptions  peculiar  to  themselves. 
Thus  5€|i09  and  dexter '■^  are  based  on  the  idea  of 
showing,  pointing,  with  the  right  hand  (diiKwixi)  ; 
sinister,  from  sinus,  on  the  action  of  laying  the  riglit 
hand  on  the  side  of  the  heart.  The  left  hand  has 
everywhere  been  regarded  as  the  weaker, -which, 
properly  speaking,  did  not  wield  arras.  When 
oriental  custom  placed  the  stranger  on  the  left,  it 
assigned  him  the  seat  of  honor  in  so  far  as  the  left 
side  seemed  to  be  the  weaker  and  less  protected  (cf. 
Xenoph.  Cyrop.  viii.  4  ;  Meiners,  Veber  die  Versch. 
der  Menschennaturen,  ii.  588).  From  the  idea  of 
weakness,  sprang  sucli  terms  as  Kai6s,  lavus,  Ger. 
link,  [Eng.  left],  because  that  side  is  harmless, 
smooth,  and  gentle  (cf.  Aeios,  l(cvis).  Hence  also 
the  custom  among  Asiatic  nations  of  inclining 
toward  the  left  side,  and  resting  on  the  left  hand, 
when  seated,  (Meiners,  iii.  213)  :  the  right  hand 
was  thus  left  free.  It  was  by  a  euphemism  that 
the  name  of  Jacob's  son  was  Ben-jamin.  Among 
the  Greeks  also  the  "  left "  was  euphemistically 
called  evdw/jLos,  good-omened,  because  it  was  wished 
to  avoid  the  ominous  api<mp6s.  A  similar  custom 
must  have  obtained  in  Israel,  since  just  in  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin  there  were,  as  we  are  informed  Judg. 
XX.  16,  large  numbers  of  men  who,  like  Ehud,  were 

i^"'?:?^  "T^  1I3S,  I.  e.  left-handed,— tha  sons  of  the 
right  hand  being  thus  most  addicted  to  the  use  of 
the  left.  But  for  the  very  reason  that  it  seems  to 
have  been  a  habit  of  the  tribe  to  use  the  left  hand, 

it  cannot  be  supposed  that  "ItSM  is  meant  to  indi- 
cate lameness  of  the  right  hand.  The  LXX.  felt 
this  when  they  rendered  the  phrase  by  aficpiSe^ios, 
"  double  right-handed."  The  same  consideration 
influenced  those  more  recent  scholars  who  in- 
stanced (as  Serarius  already  did,  p.  84)  the  Ho- 
meric Asterop£Eus,  who  fought  with  both  hands. 
However,  this  also  contradicts  the  spirit  of  the  nar- 
rative, and,  as  the  peculiarity  occurs  only  in  Ben- 
jamin, the  name  as  well.  Those  Ben-jemini,  who, 
like  Ehud,  use  the  left  hand,  do  it  in  contrast  with 
others,  who  make  use  of  the  right  without  any 
lameness  in  the  left.  That  which  Stoboeus  (Ec- 
logce  Physical,  ed.  Heeren,  i.  52,  992)  relates  of 
certain  African  nations,  might  also  be  said  of  the 
Beujaraites  :  that  they  are  "  good  and  for  the  most 
part  left-handed  fighters  (apiaT€pojj.dxovs),  and  do 
with  the  left  hand  whatever  others  do  with  the 
right."  These  are  manifestly  the  same  tribes  of 
■i\hom  Stephanus  of  Byzantium  (ed.  Westermann, 
p.  128)  speaks  as  an  Egyptian  people  near  Ethio- 
pia, and  whom  he  styles  'Evoi}vv/j.'iTaL  (thus  desig- 
nating  them,  like  Benjamin,  by  the  euphemistic 

term  for  left-handed).  Accordingly  i^'^tt"]  1"^  ~lt2W 

means  no  more  than  "  unpracticed,  weak,  awk 
ward,  with  the  right  hand,"  as  other  people  are 
with    the  left.     They  are   such   as   among  other 

of  the  mountains  was  the  right,  and  the  north  side  the  left. 
The  same  idea  prevailed  among  the  Greeks.  That  in  Roman 
augury  "to  the  .'eft"  was  more  favorable  than  "to  the 
right,"  originated  only  in  another  view  of  the  oViject  which 
was  supposed  to  produce  good  fortune.  The  sea-side  wag 
the  free  side. 

3  Cf.  Benfey,  Uriech.  Grammat.,  \.  240. 


74 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


nations  tlie  people  frecpiently  called  Linketatz,  ZinZ;- 
/hss  [literally,  "left-paw,"  "left-foot"]  (Frisch,  i. 
616),  in  France  gauchier  [lit.  "left-hander";  cf. 
the  English  awk,  (jawk,  and  their  derivative  fi>rms]. 
It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  Roman  legend  the 
hero,  who,  like  Ehud,  undertakes  to  kill  the  enemy 
of  his  country,  is  also  named  Sctevola,  left-handed. 
The  traditional  explanation  that  he  was  so  named 
because  he  burned  his  right  hand,  is  not  very 
suitable ;  he  should  in  that  case,  be  named  "  one- 
handed."  Still,  no  one  will  agree  with  Niebuhr 
(Riim.  Gesch.,  i.  .569),  who,  following  Varro,  pro- 
posed an  altogether  different  derivation.  The  tra- 
dition must  refer  to  an  actually  left-handed  hero. 
Scocvus,  says  Ulpian  {Dif/estor.,  lib.  i.  tit.  1,  12,  3), 
does  not  apply  to  one  who  is  maimed ;  hence,  he 
who  cannot  move  the  right  hand  is  called  mancns- 
As  such  a  left-handed  person  we  are  to  consider 
La'ius  {Ad'ios),  the  father  of  Qi)dipus  {OlSiirovs). 

Ver.  16.  And  Ehud  made  him  a  dagger 
[German :  Dolch]  which  had  two  edges,  a 
gomed  long.  The  word  dolch  [dagger,. dirkj  has 
passed  over  into  the  German,  from  the  Slavic,  since 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  was  not  yet  known  to 

Luther.i  It  answers  to  2*^0  in  this  passage, 
better  than  "  sword "  would  do,  because  it  has 
become  quite  synonymous  with  stichdegen  (dirk  or 
poniard).  Oriental  daggers  have  always  been 
double-edged  and  short-handled  (ver.  22).  Gomed 
is  translated  (nnda/ji.7i  by  the  Septuaginta.  Among 
the  Greeks,  the  mriOaixTi  was  half  an  ell,  i.e.  twelve 
digits  or  three  fourths  of  a  foot  (cf.  Bockh,  Metro- 
log.  Unters.,  p.  211).  With  this  measure,  (jrome  J,  in 
its  general  sense  of  cubitus,  which  is  also  given  in 
the  garmidd  of  the  Targnm,  corresponds.  The 
dagger  of  Ehud  was  not  curved,  as  the  sicce  usually 
were  and  as  the  daggers  of  the  Bedouins  still  arc 
(cf.  Jos.  Ant.  XX.  10).  Its  length  could  only  be 
such  as  was  consistent  with  concealment.     , 

And  girded  it  under  his  raiment.  "  To  the 
presence  of  Dionysius  the  Tyrant,  glided  Moeros, 
the  dagger  in  his  garment,"  sings  our  poet,-'  and  is 
withal  perfectly  historical,  even  though  the  Fable 
(n.  257)  of  Hyginus  does  not  expressly  say  this. 
With  such  daggers  in  their  garments  the  Sicarii 
raged  among  the  crowds  at  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 
Prudentius  (Psi/choinachiu,  689)  sings  of  Discordia  : 
"  sicam  snb  veste  tegit!"  Rothari,  the  would-be 
murderer  of  the  Longobard  king  Luitprand,  wore 
coat  of  mail  and  a  dagger  beneath  his  clothing 
(Paulus  Diaconus,  Hist,  Lotnh.  vi.  37).  Ehud  had 
to  wear  the  dagger  on  his  right  side  because  he 
was  left-handed.  However,  among  German  war- 
riors who  were  not  left-handed,  the  dagger  was  also 
frequently  worn  on  the  right,  because  the  sword 
hung  on  the  left,  as  may  be  seen  in  old  pictures 
and  on  gravestones  (Klemm,  Waffen  und  Werk- 
zeuqe,  Leipzig,  1854,  p.  173). 

Ver.   17.     And  Eglon  was  a  very   fat   man. 

Considering  the  sense  of  W~l?  wherever  it  occurs 
in  Scripture,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  in- 
tended here  to  express  the  corpulency  of  the  king. 
The  LXX.  in  giving  aaTehs,  follow  another  inter- 
pi-etation.  They  do  not  (as  Bochart  thought, 
jPhaleg,  p.  534)  take  it  as  descriptive  of  a  handsome 


1  This  is  the  opinion  of  Grimm  {Deittsch.  Wdrlerb.,  ii. 
1222).  However,  the  view  of  Klemrt.  {Waff'oi  mid  Werk- 
zeuge,  p  172)  may  nevertheless  serve  io  find  the  original 
Jtymology  of  the  word.  [Luther  has  Schwert,  sword.  — 
'E.1 

2  [Schiller,  in  his  ballad  entitled  Die  Biirgsc/iafl. 


man,  nor  do  they  imagine  that  all  urbani,  on  ac- 
count of  their  comfortable  mode  of  living,  have  a 
tendency  to  become  fat  (cf.  Serarius,  p.  87)  ;  but 
since  the  statement  "  and  Eglon  was  a  fat  man  "  is 
closely  connected  with  the  narrative  of  the  presen- 
tation of  tlie  gifts,  they  make  it  refer  to  the  maunei 
in  which  the  king  received  the  presents.-*  'Ao-reioj 
is  friendly,  accessible  (Plato,  Phced.,  116  b.).  In 
Egypt,  where  the  translators  lived,  it  was  probably 
still  a  matter  of  present  experience,  that  jjresenta- 
tions  of  triliutc  and  gifts  to  the  rulers  did  not 
always  meet  with  a  gracious  reception. 

Ver.  18.  When  the  presentation  of  the 
present  was  over,  he  dismissed  the  people. 
Menschen  (Nov.  Test,  ex  Talin.,  p.  971)  very  prop- 
erly observes  that  2"](7)  here  employed  to  express 
the  presentation  of  gifts  to  a  king,  is  elsewhere  used 
to  denote  the  bringing  of  oblations  to  God,  hence 

13"}l7)  offering.  It  was  not  lawful  to  appear  be- 
fore an  Asiatic  king  without  bringing  a  giff  (Sen- 
eca, Ep.  xvii.)  ;  only  in  this  way,  therefore,  could 
Ehud  inform  himself  of  the  situation  and  humor 
of  the  king.  The  jjresentation  of  gifts  is  a  lengthy 
ceremony.  The  tenacious  adherence  of  oriental 
nations  to  ancient  customs,  enables  us  to  depict 
the  present  scene  by  the  help  of  Persian  descrip- 
tions of  similar  occasions.     Our  narrator  properly 

speaks  of  the  bearers  of  the  present  as  D^H,  the 
people ;  for  the  more  numerous  the  persons  who 
carried  the  gifts,  the  more  honored  was  the  king. 
"  Fifty  persons  often  bear  what  one  man  could 
easily  carry,"  says  Chardiu  [Voyage,  m.  2\1).  At 
this  ceremony  Ehud  had  no  opportunity  to  attempt 
anything,  for  he  neither  came  near  the  king,  nor 
saw  him  alone  ;  nor  yet  was  he  willing,  among  so 
man)'  bystanders,  to  involve  his  companions  in  the 
consequences  of  a  possible  failure.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  accompanied  them  back  to  the  liorders, 
in  order  to  be  sure  that  lie  was  alone  when  making 
the  dangerous  attempt.  Whether  he  suffered  or 
escaped,  he  wished  to  be  unhindered  by  their  pres- 
ence, and  also  to  appear  as  acting  without  their 
concurrence. 

Ver.  19.  Bvit  he  himself  turned  back  from 
the  boundary-stones.    This  is  evidently  the  sense 

in  which  lj' v^pT  is  to  he  taken.  7p3  is  always  a 
carved  image,  yXvTrrSv.  The  entire  number  of 
instances  in  which  this  word  is  used  by  Scripture 
writers  fails  to  suggest  any  reason  for  thinking 
here  of  "  stone-quarries,"  a  definition  which  more- 
over does  not  appear  to  harmonize  with  the  locality. 
But  as  the  connection  implies  that  the  borders  of 
Eglon's  territory,  which  he  had  wrenched  from 
Israel,  were  at  the  pesilim,  wc  must  understand  by 
them  the  posts,  arriAui,  stones,  lapides  sacri,  which 
marked  the  line.  In  consequence  of  the  honors 
everywhere  paid  thCm,  these  were  considered  Pesi- 
lim, idol  images,  just  as  at  a  later  time  the  Hermce, 
{'ipnuKes,  heaps  of  stone)  were  prohibited  as  idola- 
trous objects  (cf.  Aboda  Sara,  Mischna,  4).     With 

this,  the  interpretation  of  the  Targum,  S^D^H^, 
heaps  of  unliewn  stones,  may  also  be  made  to  har- 
monize.5     Tliis  border  line  was  in  the  vicinity  of 


8  Hence  they  also  translate   2115  by  do-Teios,  Ex.   ii.  2, 
where,  to  be  sure,  it  rather  signifies  "  beautiful." 

4  Transferred  to  God,  Ex.  xxiii.  15  :  "  None  shall  appear 
before  me  empty.'" 

5  [To  this  interpretation  of  the  pesilim,  Bachmann  (who 
Tr,]  I  agrees  with  our  author  in  rejecting  the  commonly  received 

I  ''stone-quarries  ")  objects  that  it  is  not  in  accordance  witl* 


CHAPTER   III.    12-ai). 


Gilgal,  which  liad  not  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
Moab.  Ewald  has  rightly  insisted  npon  it  that 
Gilgal  must  have  lain  northeast  of  Jericho  {Gesch. 
des  Volkes  Israel,  ii.  317).  That  this  was  the  rela- 
tive position  of  Gilgal,  and  its  direction  from  Jeri- 
sho,  has  already  received  confirmation  from  the 
first  chapter  of  our  Book. 

And  said,  I  have  a  secret  message.  It  could 
not  be  nuitter  of  surprise  that  Ehud  did  not  make 
this  request  until  his  return.  The  ceremony  of  the 
public  audience  did  not  allow  it  to  he  made  at  that 
time.  The  presentation  of  the  presents  must  have 
been  so  conducted  as  to  impress  the  king  with  the 
conviction  that  Ehud  was  especially  devoted  to 
him.  ISigns  of  discontent  and  ill-will  on  the  part 
of  the  subjugated  people  cannot  have  escaped  the 
conqueror.  The  more  highly  would  he  value  the 
devotion  of  one  of  the  Israelitish  leaders.  That 
Ehud  had  sent  his  companions  away,  and  had  not 
returned  until  they  had  crossed  the  border,  was 
easily  explained  as  indicating  that  he  had  a  matter 
to  present  in  which  he  did  not  wish  to  be  observed 
by  them.  All  the  more  eager,  therefore,  was  Eglon 
to  hear  that  which  Ehud  seemed  to  hide  from 
Israel.  It  was  only  by  such  a  feint  that  Ehud 
could  suc<!eed  in  apjn'oaching  the  tyrant  and  ob- 
taining a  private  interview.  Israel's  deliverer  must 
first  seem  to  be  its  betrayer.  The  same  artifice  has 
been  used  by  others.  When  the  Persians  wished 
to  destroy  the  pseudo-Smerdis,  and  doubtingly  con- 
sidered how  they  could  jiass  the  guards,  Darius 
said  that  he  would  pretend  to  have  a  secret  com- 
mission, concerning  Persia,  from  his  father  to  the 
king;  adding,  as  Herodotus  (iii.  72)  says:  "For 
when  lying  is  necessary,  lie"  ! 

Who  said,  Silence !  Thereupon  all  that  stood 
by  him  went  out.  Ehud  does  not  demean  him- 
self as  if  he  wished  that  those  present  would  depart. 
He  appears  to  be  on  the  point  of  telling  his  secret 
before  them  all.  But  this  Eglon  will  not  permit. 
Oriental  manners  could  not  be  moi'e  perfectly  set 

forth.  The  king's  injunction  of  silence  (DH,  'st !) 
on  Ehud,  is  of  itself  a  sufficient  command  to  those 
])resent  to  leave  the  room.  Eglon  must  therefore 
have  expected  matters  not  to  be  heard  by  all  ears. 
All  who  "  stood  "  about  him,  went  out.  They  were 
his  servants  (ver.  24),  who  do  not  sit  when  the 
king  is  present.  "  Happy  are  these  thy  servants," 
says  the  queen  of  Sheba  to  Solomon,  "  who  stand 
contiiuially  before  thee,  and  hear  thy  wisdom." 
In  the  Tatinameh  (translated  by  Rosen,  i.  42,  43) 
it  is  said :  "  The  Iving  of  Khorassan  was  once 
sitting  in  his  palace,  and  before  his  throne  stood 
the  pillars  of  the  empire,  the  servants  of  the  crown, 
high  and  low,  great  aTid  small,"  etc. 

Ver.  20.  Now,  he  had  seated  himself  in 
the  upper  story  of  the  cooling-house.  To  un- 
derstand what  part  of  the  house  is  thus  indicated, 
we  have  only  to  attend  to  the  description  of  orien- 
tal architecture  given  by  Shaw,  in  his  Travels  (i. 
38G,  Edinb.  edit.  1808).  Down  to  the  present 
day  many  oriental  houses  have  a  smaller  one  an- 
nexed to  them,  Avhich  sometimes  rises  one  story 
higher  than  the  main  building.  In  Arabic  as  in 
Hebrew  this  is  called  alijah,  and  serves  for  jjurjDoses 
of  entire  seclufeion  or  rest.  "  There  is  a  door  of 
communication   from  it  into   the  gallery  of    the 

he  usual  meaning  of  the  word,  lie  thinks  that  the  pesi- 
Um  were  idolatrous  images  set  up  either  by  the  apostate 
Israelites  themselves,  or  by  Eglon,  "  as  boundary-marks  of 
.he  territory  immediately  subject  to  him,  and  as  signs  of  his 
eupremacy."  He  seems  inclined  to  prefer  the  latter  alter- 
native, because  of  "  the  fact  that  Ehud  does  not  feel  him- 


liouse,  besides  another  which  opens  immediately, 
from  a  privy  stairs,  down  into  the  porch  or  street, 
without  giving  the  least  disturbance  to  the  house." 
The  alijah  of  Eglon  consisted  of  an  inner  chamber, 
opening  on  an  exposed  balcony  (^i"l"^D(:2),  from 
which  a  door  led  into  the  house  itself  (at  present 
called  dor  or  bait)  Within  the  door  of  the  ulijah 
there  was  however  still  another  apartment  (~l"in, 
ver.  24),  which  served  the  jiurpose  of  a  neccssarv- 
house.  Being  high  and  freely  accessible  to  cur- 
rents of  air,  the  aJiJah  was  a  cool  retreat.  Similar 
purposes  were  subserved  in  Germany  by  the  ]>er- 
<]nke,  balconies,  galleries,  arbors  (Lauhen);  hence 
Luther's  translation,  Sommer-lauhe  (summer-arbor 
or  bower).  He  followed  the  rendering  of  the  LXX. 
who  have  t^  depivc^,  while  the  Targum  gives  more 

prominence  to  the  idea  of  repose  (^^^^(2  ■»'^''2» 
/coiTrj).  The  public  reception  of  the  gifts  had  taken 
place  in  the  house.  Afterwards,  while  Ehud  ac- 
companied his  companions,  the  king  had  betaken 
himself  to  the  aiijuh  "  which  was  for  himself  alone  " 
(his  private  chamber).  When  Ehud  returned  he 
was  received  there,  as  he  had  anticipated. 

And  Eliiid  said,  I  have  a  message  from  the 
Deity  unto  thee.     Then  he  arose  from  his  seat. 

^''n ''^-  "^5"^  is  a  commission  from  a  higher  be- 
ing. He  does  not  say  Jehovah,  for  this  is  the  name 
of  the  Israelitish  God,  with  whom  Eglon  has  noth- 
ing to  do.  We  are  not  however  to  assume  that 
the  God  of  Eglon  is  meant ;  for  what  can  Ehud 
the  Israelite  announce  from  Chemosh !  It  is 
therefore  probable  that  by  Eloliiiii  a  superior  prince 
is  to  be  understood,  whosq  liegeman  or  satrap  Eg- 
lon was,  as  was  already  intimated  above,  —  a  hu- 
man possessor  of  majesty  and  aufliorittj.  As  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  the  capital  of  ^loab  was 
transfcM-ed  from  Rabbah  to  the  small  bit  of  terri- 
tory which  had  been  acquired  across  the  Jordan, 
Eglon  in  Jericho  is  not  to  be  looked  on  as  lord  of 
all  Moab.  The  relation  in  which  he  stood  to  the 
mother-country  was  most  likely  that  of  a  vassal  or 
feudal  baron.  That  he  is  styled  king  does  not 
contradict  this.  The  potentates  of  single  cities 
were  all  called  "  kings,"  as  the  Greeks  called  them 
Tvpavvoi,  without  on  that  account  Itcing  anything 
more  than  dependents  of  more  powerful  states  and 
princes. 1  It  suits  the  role  which  Ehud  wishes  to 
be  ascribed  to  him,  that  he  should  also  have  rela- 
tions with  the  transfluvial  Moab,  a  fact  which  of 
course  must  be  kept  profoundly  secret.  Thus 
Eglon's  rising  is  explained.  The  same  honor  was 
due  to  a  message  from  the  superior  lord  as  to  his 
presence.  Like  reverence  was  shown  to  royal  let- 
ters even,  as  appears  from  the  narrative  of  Herodo- 
tus concerning  a  message  to  Oroetes  ;  and  from  it, 
the  fidelity  of  those  whom  the  message  concerned 
was  inferred  (Herod,  iii.  128).  The  same  mark  of 
honor  was  paid  to  parents  and  aged  persons.  From 
this  custom  the  ecclesiastical  usage  of  staiuling  dur- 
ing the  reading  of  the  Gospel,  is  also  to  be  derived. 

Eglon  rises  out  of  respect  for  the  D^H  ^|^  "'?"^' 
This  has  been  the  constant  explanation.  The  di- 
verging view  of  Bertheau  ^  does  not  commend 
itself.     The  Talmud  —  understanding  the  words, 

self  and  those  with  him  secure  until  he  has  passed  the 
pesilim."  —  Tr.] 

1  Thus  the  king  of  Hazor  was  king  paramount  over   all 
the  kings  of  his  vicinity  (Josh.  xi.  10). 

2  [Bertheau    says :  ■■  Divining  the   purpose  of  Ehud,  he 
rose  up  to  defend  himswll.''  —  Th] 


7G 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


however,  of  the  God  of  Israel  —  already  deduces 
from  them  the  lesson,  that  if  a  stranger  thus  rose 
up  to  receive  a  messa<^e  from  God,  much  more  is 
it  the  duty  of  an  Israelite  so  to  do  {Sanhedrin, 
60  a). 

Vers.  21-24.  Immediately  Ehud  put  forth 
his  left  hand.  Ehud  made  use  of  a  pretext,  in 
ord(-r  to  cause  Eolou  to  rise.  He  was  surer  of  his 
thrust  if  his  victim  stood.  Eglon's  attention  must 
be  wholly  diverted,  that  the  attack,  entirely  unre- 
eistcd,  might  be  the  more  effective.  In  such  sud- 
den assaults,  bulky  people  like  Eglon  are  at  a 
disadvantage.  Cimber  pressed  closely  on  Caesar, 
us  if  to  make  most  urgent  entreaty  for  his  brother 
(Plut.,  Ciesdr,  86).  Parmenio  was  stabbed  by 
Cleander,  while  cheerfully  reading  a  letter  (Cur- 
tius,  vii.  2,  27).  The  instance  most  like  Eglon's 
case,  is  that  of  King  Henry  III.  of  France. 
Clement,  to  secure  an  interview,  had  provided 
himself  with  a  commission  from  a  friend  of  the 
king.  When  he  arrived,  the  king  was  sitting  on 
his  close-stool.  Hoping  to  hear  of  an  understand- 
ing with  his  opponents,  Henry  bade  the  messenger 
draw  near  ;  whereupon  the  monk  stabbed  him  in 
the  abdomen  (cf  llanke,  Fi-anzos-  Gesch.,  i.  171). 
Ehud's  thrust,  though  left-handed,  was  powerful. 
The  dagger,  together  with  its  short  handle,  buried 
itself  iu  the  ftit  of  the  man,  and  came  out  behind. 

^I' ?  signifies  a  flame  ;  then  the  blade  of  a  sword, 
which  glitters  and  burns  like  a  flame.  In  a  medi- 
aeval writing,  the  following  words  occur  :  "  Sin 
swcrt  flamnierd  an  siner  hant'^  (Miiller's  Mittelh. 
Worterh.,  iii.  336).  In  technical  language  we  also 
speak  of  flaming  blades  (geflammlen  klimjen). 

And  came  out  behind,  H^l^pnerT  N^J^X 
The  ancient  doubt  as  to  this  word,  which  occurs 
but  once,  and  about  which  opinions  are  still  divided, 
appears  from  the  divergent  renderings  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint  and  the  Targum.  It  is  certain,  however, 
in  the  first  place,  that  the  Greek  rendering  irpoaraJia, 
can  have  little  weight ;  for  it  arose  from  the  simi- 
larity of  the  word  in  the  text  to  SlOTliD,  cur- 
rent at  the  time,  and  meaning  irpoffrds,  vestibule. 
In  the  second  place,  the  addition  of  Ehud  after  the 

second  ^'.'r.l  (ver.  23),  shows  that  another  sub- 
ject begins,  and  that  therefore  the  first  '^"r.2  can 
refer  only  to  the  sword,  not  to  the  man.     Further, 

since  ^5"^^.^"?' -"^  ^^  provided  with  ^  local,  it 
manifestly  denotes  that  part  of  the  body  toward 
which  the  course  of  the  sword  was  directed,  while 

'^V;*!  testifies  to  the  actual  perforation  of  the  body. 
Now,  as  the  sword  was  thrust  from  before  into  the 
abdomen  (.]t05),  there  would  be  no  doubt  as  to  the 
part  where  it  emerged,  even  if  the  etymology,  which 
kas  here  to  deal  with  an  onomatopoetic  word,  did  not 
make  this  perfectly  plain.  Parshedon  is  the  Greek 
wpa)icT6s,  and  belongs  to  the  same  family  as  the 
Lithuanian  pp.rsti,  Lettish  pirst,  Polish  pierdziec, 
liussian  pe.rdjet,  Greek  irepSeii/,  Sanscrit  para?,  Latin 
pi'dere,  Gothic  fairtnn,  Old  High  German /eVsan  (cf 
Pott,  Etjjmoloq.  Forsch.,  i.  245  ;  Grimm.  Worterh., 
'ii.  1335).     The  sword  emerged  behind  through  the 

1  ["  His  sword  flameil  in  his!  hand."  —  Tr.] 

2  [Robinson's  map  locates  El-Helu  not  directly  east,  but 
^outlieast  of  Jericho,  not  north  liut  south  of  \7ady  Heghban 
(cf.  BM.  Res.  i.  535).  It  a-ppears  that  the  words."  directly 
east "  belong  to  Seetzen,  and  must  in  Hitter's  opinion  be 
niiide  to  conform  to  Robinson's  location  of  El  Helu.  Cf. 
Gage's  Ritter,  iii.  49.     Van  de  Velde's  map  places  El-Helu 


fundament.  The  king  fell  down  without  uttering 
a  sound.  Ehud  did  not  delay,  but  went  out  un- 
hindered througli  the  balcony.  The  attendants 
had  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  alijah:  Ehud 
takes  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  and  locks  the 
door  to  it,  in  order  to  delay  the  moment  of  discov- 
ery. The  heedless  conduct  of  the  unsuspecting 
attendants  supports  his  boldness.  As  soon  how- 
ever as  they  see  him  go  out,  —  an  earlier  return  to 
their  lord  is  not  lawful,  —  they  endeavor  to  enter 
the  alijah.  Ehud  had  gone  away  so  calmly,  that 
they  suspect  nothing.  They  are  not  even  sur- 
prised when  they  find  the  doors  fastened.  Serarius 
has  properly  directed  attention  to  the  aversion  felt 
by  the  ancients  to  the  least  degree  of  exposure 
when  complying  with  the  necessities  of  nature. 
This  applies  especially  to  kings,  inasmuch  as  sub- 
jection to  these  necessities,  too  plainly  proved 
them  men.  Of  Pharaoh,  the  Jewish  legend  says 
that  he  wished  to  appear  like  a  god,  above  the  need 
of  such  things.  "  He  covers  his  feet,"  is  a  euphe- 
mism, taken  from  the  descent  of  the  long  garments 
(cf  Bochart,  Hierozoicon,  i.  677). 

Vers.    25-30.      And   they   waited    long,    "T^? 

11712.  These  words  add  the  notion  of  displeasure 
and  ill  humor  to  the  idea  of  waiting  (cf  2  Kgs. 
ii.  17  ;  viii.  11).  At  length  they  comprehend  that 
something  extraordinary  must  have  taken  place. 
They  procure  another  key,  with  which  they  open 
the  doors,  and  find  their  lord  — dead.  Ehud's  arti- 
fice, however,  had  succeeded.     While  they  delayed 

(Cn^rTQnn,  from  n^rriS,  morari,  is  onomato- 
poetic), he  had  got  beyond  the  border,  as  far  as  Sei- 
rah.  This  place,  which  according  to  ver.  27  be- 
longed to  the  mountains  of  Ephraim,  is  vmknown. 
It  bounded  the  territories  of  Benjamin  on  the 
north.  Ehud  reached  it  by  way  of  the  border 
which  ran  by  Gilgal,  which  shows  that  both  these 
places  were  north  of  Jericho.  It  is  evident  that  he 
had  agreed  with  the  Israelites  to  give  the  signal 
there,  in  case  he  were  successful.  His  trumpet- 
blast  was  transmitted  among  the  mountains.  Is- 
rael flocked  together,  and  heaixl  of  the  unprece- 
dentedly  fortunate  deed.  The  people  saw  in  it 
the  firm  resolve,  which  gives  victory.  The  plan 
of  battle  had  also  been  already  deteiTnined  by 
Ehud.  It  was  of  the  last  importance  to  cut  the 
terrified  and  leaderless  Moabites  oflF  from  the  assist- 
ance of  their  transjord.anic  friends.  Hence,  the  first 
care  of  Israel  is  to  seize  the  ford  of  the  river.  The 
ford  in  question  was  manifestly  no  other  than  that 
which,  directly  east  of  Jericho,  half  an  hour  north 
of  Wady  Heshban,  is  still  in  use.  Seetzen  called  it 
el-Mokhtaa,  Robinson  el-Helu-  (Ritter  xv.  484,  547, 
Gage's  transl.  iii.  4, 49).  That  the  occupation  of  this 
ford  decides  the  victory,  ])roves  clearly  that  EliIou 
was  not  king  of  all  Moab,  but  only  of  the  Mo.ih 
on  this  side  of  the  Jordan.  It  was  a  terrible  retri- 
bution, a  sort  of  "  Sicilian  vespers,"  which  Israel, 
rising  up  after  long  subjection,  inflicted  on  Eglon 
and  his   people.     'The  falling  foes   were  men  of 

might.    ^PK"  liy^S   expresses  the  distinction  {das 

Anselin),^  v"^_n  tf^S  the  warlike  character  and 
abilities,    of   the    smitten    enemies.      Moab    was 

southeast  of  Jericho,  a  short  distance  north  of  W.  Heshban. 

.Tr.] 

3  [Berthb.vu  :  "  1pK7,  the  fit,  i.  e.  (in  contrast  with  per- 
sons of  starved  appearance)  tlie  well-fed  and  opulent  man  ; 
cf  Latin  op; w?  hs  ,■  hence,  the  man  of  consequence."  But 
compare  note  8  under  "  Textual  and  Qrammatioal."  —  Tr.J 


CHAPTER   III.    12-30. 


..horoviglily  vanquished,  and  Israel   had  rest  for 
eighty  years. 

The  exploit  of  Ehud  doubtless  surpasses  all  sim- 
ilar deeds  of  ancient  history  in  the  purity  of  its 
motive,  as  well  as  in  the  energy  and  boldness  of  its 
execution.  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton,  however 
celebrated  by  the  Athenians,  were  moved  to  kill 
Hipparchus  by  private  interests  (cf.  Thucyd.  vi. 
.56).  Blind  warrior-fury  fills  Mucins  Screvola,  as 
also  Thcodotus  (Polyb.  v.  81),  the  would-be  mur- 
derer of  Ptolemaius,  and  they  fail  of  success. 
Ehud  was  equally  bold  and  pure.  He  risked  his 
life  for  no  interest  of  his  own,  but  for  his  people. 
And  not  merely  for  the  external  freedom  of  his 
nation,  but  for  the  maintenance  and  honor  of  its 
divine  religion,  which  was  inseparably  linked  with 
freedom.  It  was  against  the  mortal  enemy  of  Is- 
rael—  against  one  lying  under  the  ban,  and  shut 
out  from  the  congregation  of  Israel  —  that  he 
lifted  up  his  sword.  He  exposed  himself  to  a  fear- 
ful peril,  in  order,  if  successful,  to  give  therewith  a 
signal  of  courage  and  comfort  to  bis  people.  To 
be  sure,  if  he  did  not  succeed,  the  hatred  and  op- 
pression of  the  enemy  would  increase  in  violence. 
But  for  that  very  reason  men  saw  the  more  clearly 
that  (iod  had  raised  him  iip  to  be  a  deliverer. 
And  yet,  where  in  Israel  are  those  praises  of  Ehud, 
wbich  in  Athens  resounded  for  centuries  in  honor 
of  Harmodius  1  SciBvola's  deed  ^  is  celebrated  as 
one  of  the  nation's  heroic  performances.  The  his- 
torian makes  him  say  (Livy,  xi.  12):  "As  an 
enemy  have  I  slain  the  enemy."  It  is  tiiie,  the 
remarkable  act  has  had  the  honor  of  being  minutely 
handed  down,  even  to  the  least  details  of  its  prog- 
ress. But  all  this  was  to  point  out  the  sagacity 
and  energy  of  tlie  strong  left-handed  man.  Not 
one  word  of  praise  is  found.  On  the  contrary  — 
and  this  fact  desen^es  attention  —  the  remark  usu- 
ally made  of  other  Judges,  is  here  wanting  :  it  is 
not  said  that  "  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  was  upon 
iiim."  Nor  is  it  said,  as  of  Othniel,  that  he  "  judged 
Israel."  Neither  are  we  told  that  the  rest  and 
]icace  of  Israel  were  connected  with  his  life  and 
death.  Subsequent  exegesis  called  him  the  Wolf 
with  which  Benjamin  is  compared  {Midrash,  Ber. 
Rahha,  cap.  89,  p.  87  a).  As  the  wolf  throws  him- 
self on  his  prey,  so  had  Ehud  thrown  himself  on 
Eglon.  They  saw  in  Ehud's  deed  the  act  of  a 
mighty  man,  influenced  by  zeal  for  God ;  hut  the 
''  Spirit  of  Jehovali  "  inspires  neither  such  artifice  nor 
such  murder.  So  much  the  less  could  the  act  of 
Ehud,  however  brilliant  under  the  circumstances, 
be  made  to  exculpate  similar  deeds.  So  mx;eh  the 
less  could  the  crimes  that  defile  the  pages  of  Chris- 
tian liistory,  such  as  those  committed  against 
Henry  III.  and  Henry  IV.,  use  it  as  a  cover  for 
themselves.'^  Although  Eglon  was  a  heathen,  a 
foreigner,  a  tyrant,  an  enemy  actually  engaged  in 

1  In  Plutarch's  Parallels  of  Greek  and  Roman  Triistory 
(n.  2),  the  same  history  is  given  of  a  Greek,  Neocles,  who 
made  an  attempt  against  Xerxes  like  that  of  Scaevola  against 
Porsenna. 

2  Excellent  remarks  are  found  in  the  work  of  Hugo  Gro- 
tius,  Dp  Jure  Belli  et  Pads,  lib.  i  cap.  iv.  (ed.  Traj.,  1773),  p. 
178.  Serarius  declines  to  treat  the  subject,  under  the  feeble 
pretext  of  lack  of  time,  p.  92.  (Compare  Bajie,  Diction- 
naire,  s.  v.  Mnrinna,  ii.  2051,  e.) 

3  [Wordsworth  :  '■  Some  have  raised  objections  to  this 
act  of  Ehud,  as  censurable  on  moral  grounds :  and  they 
have  described  him  as  a  '  crafty  Israelite.'  taking  an  unfair 
advantage  over  an  unwieldy  coi'pulent  Moabice  ;  others  have 
apologized  for  it,  on  the  plea  that  it  is  not  to  be  measured 
»y  what  they  call  the  standard  of  our  '  enlightened  modern 


hostilities,  the  Scripture  speaks  of  Ehud  only  as  a 
deliverer,  but  never  of  his  deed  as  sprung  from  the 
Spirit  of  God.  How  much  more  disgraceful  are 
murder  and  treason  against  one's  own  king, 
countrymen,  and  fellow  Christians  !  It  was  an  in- 
sult to  Christianity,  a  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
when  in  answer  to  Clement's  question,  whether  a 
priest  might  kill  a  tyrant,  it  was  determined  that 
"  it  was  not  a  mortal  sin,  but  only  an  irregularity  " 
(Ranke,  Franz.  Gesch.,  i.  47-3) ;  or  when  Pope  Paul 
V.  exclaimed,  with  reference  to  the  murder  of 
Henry  IV.  by  Ravaillac  :  "  Deus  gentium  fecit  hoc, 
quia  datus  in  reprobum  sensum."  Worse  than  the 
dagger  is  such  doctrine.^ 

UOJIILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Ehud,  the  Judge  with  the  two-edged  sword.  — 
1.  Israel  was  again  in.  bondage  on  account  of  sin. 
And  the  compassion  of  God  was  not  exhausted, 
although  no  deliverer  came  out  of  Judah.  In  the 
kingdom  of  God,  the  great  and  rich  may  indeed 
become  instruments  of  God's  will ;  but  his  power 
is  not  confined  to  them.  If  no  one  arises  in  Judah, 
some  one  in  Benjamin  does.  If  it  be  not  Othniel, 
Caleb's  nephew,  it  is  some  unknown  person  who 
comes  to  rescue  his  people.  Neither  the  name, 
nor  the  physique,  is  material.  Deliverance  may  be 
begun  with  the  left  hand. 

2.  Ehud  kills  Eglon,  the  tyrant  of  Israel ;  yet 
he  is  not  projierly  'a  murderer,  but  only  a  warrior. 
However,  it  is  better  to  conquer  as  Othniel  and 
Gideon  conquered.  He  did  it,  not  for  private  re- 
venge, nor  from  fanaticism,  but  for  tlie  just  freedom 
of  Israel  and  its  religion.  He  did  it  against  Moab, 
and  not  against  one  who  shared  his  own  faith  and 
country.  God  raised  him  up  ;  but  yet  the  Word 
of  God  does  not  approve  his  deed.  He  was  a  de- 
liverer of  Israel ;  but  there  hangs  a  shadow  never- 
theless over  his  official  activity.  Therefore,  no 
murderous  passion  can  appeal  to  him.  By  him  no 
tyrant-murder,  no  political  assassination,  is  excul- 
jmted.  And  this  not  simply  because  in  Christian 
states  and  churches  there  can  be  no  Eglons  or 
Moabs.  —  Starke  :  "  The  Jesuit  principle  that  it 
is  right  to  put  an  heretical  prince  out  of  the  way, 
will  never  be  valid  until  a  person  can  be  certain 
of  having  such  a  calling  from  God  to  it,  as  Ehud 
undoubtedly  had."  —  His  cause  was  pure;  which 
cannot  be  said  of  any  other  assassination  in  his- 
tory, —  Christian  history  not  excepted,  —  down  to 
the  murder  of  the  North  American  President  Lin- 
coln ;  not  even  of  those  instances  which  remind  us 
(as  Mallet,  Altes  mid  Neues,  p.  92,  so  beautifully 
did  with  reference  to  G.  Sand,  the  murderer  of 
Kotzebue)  of  the  words  of  the  Lord  :  "  Father, 
forgive  them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

Geelach  :     We  are  not  to  think  that  the  deed 

civilization  '  compared  with  what  they  term  the  '  barbarous 
temper  of  those  times.'  But  surely  these  are  low  and  un- 
worthy motives."  He  then  quotes  with  approbation  from 
Bp.  Sanderson  and  Dr.  Waterland,  the  gist  of  whose  rem.arks 
(Sanderson's  however  being  made  with  immediate  reference 
to  the  act  of  Phinehas,  Num.  xxv.)  is,  that  the  Lord  raised 
up  deliverers  for  Israel,  and  divinely  warranted  their  actions, 
which  actions,  however,  form  no  precedents  for  those  who 
have  not  similar  divine  authority.  But  it  is  surely  not  an 
improper  question  to  ask,  whether,  when  God  rai.'icd  up  a 
hero,  endowed  him  with  faith  and  zeal,  with  strength  and 
energy,  to  secure  certain  results,  lie  also,  always  and 
necessarily,  suggested  or  even  approved  the  methods  adopted 
not  only  as  a  whole  but  even  |n  detail.  —  Tb.] 


78 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


of  Ehud,  in  the  manner  of  its  accomplishment,  is 
set  before  us  as  an  example ;  but  wc  must  also 
beware  lest,  becaiise  the  manner  is  no  longer  allow- 
able, we  be  led  to  deny  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  by  whom  this  deliverer  of  liis  people  was 
impelled. 

3.  Because  Ehud's  cause  was  pure,  his  deed  was 
followed  b}-^  peace  and  freedom.  Ths^t  can  be  said 
of  no  other  similar  deed.  He  first  searched  out  the 
enemy  in  his  hiding-place,  and  then  triumphed 
over  him  in  the  battlefield.  He  shows  himself,  —  1 , 
a  true  Israelite  by  faith ;  2,  a  true  son  of  Benja- 
min, who  ^vas  compared  with  the  wolf,  by  his 


strength.  He  drew  his  sword,  not  for  the  sake  of 
war,  but  of  peace.  Therefore,  Israel  had  peace 
through  him  until  he  died. 

Ehud  may  not  improperly  be  considered  a  type 
in  spirit  of  liim  who  likewise  sprang  from  Benja- 
min—  of  Saul  who  first  ravened  like  a  wolf,  but 
became  patient  and  trustful  like  a  lamb ;  of  the 
Apostle  who  called  the  Word  of  God  a  two-edged 
sword  that  pierces  through  the  conscience;  of 
I^aul,  whose  symbol  in  the  church  is  the  sword 
through  which  as  martyr  he  lost  his  own  life,  after 
he  had  saved  the  lives  of  thousands  by  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit. 


Shamgar  smites  six  hundred  Philistines  with  an  ox-goad. 

Chapter    III.     31. 

31  And  after  him  was  Shamgar  the  son  of  Aiiath,  which  [and  he]  slew  [smote]  of 
the  Philistines  six  hmidred  men  with  au  ox-goad  ;  and  he  also  [he,  too,]  delivered 
Israel. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

After  him.  After  his  example.  Following 
Ehud's  example,!  Shamgar  smote  the  Pliilistines. 
That  the  expression  is  not  to  be  taken  of  time,  as 
if  on  the  death  of  Ehud  Shamgar  had  succeeded 
him,  is  evident  from  ch.  iv.  1.  Moreover,  if  that 
were  the  meaning,  a  statement  of  the  years  of 
Shamgar  would  not  be  absent.  The  hypothesis  of 
Josephus,  that  he  governed  one  year,  is  •untena- 
ble. Accordingly,  the  other  Jewish  expositors  have 
properly  assigned  the  exploit  of  Shamgar  to  the 
time  of  Ehud,  i.  e.  to  the  period  of  eighty  years. 

Shamgar,-  the  son  of  Anath.  To  what  tribe 
he  belonged,  is  not  stated.  If  it  be  correct  to  con- 
nect •Hpl?  with  nin317,  Anathoth  (cf.  Kaplan, 
Erets  Kedumim,  ii.  142),  it  will  follow  that  like 
Ehud  he  was  of  Benjamin,  and  defended  the  terri- 
tory of  that  tribe  in  the  west  against  the  Philis- 
tines, as  Ehud  lUd  in  the  east  against  the  Moabites. 
His  whole  histoiy,  as  here  given,  consists  of  a  sin- 
gle heroic  exploit,  in  which  he  repulsed  an  attack 
of  the  Philistines  with  extraordinaiy  strength.^ 

With  an  ox-goad.  The  Septuagint  gives 
apoTpoirovs,  by  which  it  evidently  means  the  plough- 

1  [Bachmann  observes  that  this  and  similar  interpreta- 
tions of  this  expression,  militate  against  the  analogy  of  ch. 

X.  1,  3 ;  xii.  8,  11,  13,  in  all  which  passages  "^nnH  refers 
to  the  duration  of  the  official  or  natural  life  of  the  pre- 
viously mentioned  person.  Appealing  to  ch.  v.  6,  where 
the  "  days  of  Shamgar  "  are  described  in  such  a  way  as  to 
exclude  the  suppositiou  that  they  belonged  to  the  period  of 
"  rest "  obtained  by  Ehud,  he  makes  them  synchronous 
with  some  part  of  the  Canaanite  oppression  under  Jabin. 
While  tlie  Canaanites  subjugated  the  northern  part  of  the 
laud,  the  Philistines  attempted  to  extend  their  power  in  the 
south,  which  occasioned  the  conflicts  of  Shamgar  with 
them.  —  Te.] 

2  *n2ttt27.  The  ancients  translated  it :  Nameti  Ad- 
petuz,  "  Name  of  a  stranger."  Ehud  was  the  son  of  a  cer- 
tain S"^3.  Perhaps  Shamgar  also  is  somehow  related  to 
'^nt  name. 


handle,  stiva,  that  part  which  the  ploughman 
holds  in  his  hand,  and  with  which  he  guides  the 
plough.*  More  correct,  however,  is  the  render- 
ing "ox-goad"  (cf.  Bochart,  Hierozoicon,  i.  385); 

S»~Vin  ^"1%  as  the  Targum  has  it.  It  was  the 
" prick "  against  which  the  oxen  "kicked,"  when 
struck  with  it.  The  Greeks  called  it  ;8ou7rA^|. 
With  such  an  instrument,  King  L^^curgus  is  said 
to  have  attacked  the  wandering  Bacchus  and  his 
followers  ^  (//.  vi.  135).  There  is  a  tradition  in 
Holstein  that  in  the  Swedish  time  a  peasant 
armed  with  a  pole  put  to  fliglit  a  multitude  of 
Swedes  who  had  entered  his  house  and  threatened 
to  burn  it  (Miillenhoff,  Sagen,  etc.,  p.  81). 

He  delivered  Israel.  He  procured  victory  for 
them,  and  assisted  them  over  the  danger  of  present 
and  local  subjugation.  But  to  "deliver"  is  not  to 
"judge."  Nor  is  there  any  mention  of  the 
"  Spirit  of  the  Lord  "  in  connection  with  him. 


H05IILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Shamgar  the  deliverer  with  the  ox-goad.  Coura- 
geous examples  find  worthy  followers.     Shamgar 

3  [Bachmann:  "  We  are  undoubtedly  to  think  here  of  a 
marauding  band  like  those  brought  to  view  in  1  Sam.  xxx. 
1  ff.  and  Job  i.  15,  against  whom  Shamgar,  either  engaged 
at  the  moment  in  ploughing,  or  else  seizing  the  fir.<t  weapon 
that  came  to  hand,  proceeded  with  an  ox-goad,  with  such 
effect  as  to  strike  dowu  six  hundred  of  them."  —  Tr.] 

4  This  interpretation  of  the  LXX.  has  nothing  to  do  (as 

Bertheau    thinks)   with    the    reading    TpSPT      ^.2•  H, 
found  by  Augustine. 

6  This  legend  is  copiously  treated  by  Nonnus,  on  the 
basis  of  Homer's  version  of  it.  It  is  remarkable  that  al- 
though the  scene  is  laid  in  "  Arabia,"  Nonnus  neverthe- 
less transfers  the  above-mentioned  event  and  the  city  of 
Lycurgus  to  Carmel  and  the  Erythraean  Sea.  It  is  doubt- 
less true,  as  Kohler  observes  (Die  Dionysinka  twn  Nonnus 
von  Panopolis,  Halle,  1853,  pp.  76,  77),  that  by  povn-Krj^ 
Nonnus  appears  to  have  understood  an  axe.  The  Roman 
poets  also  give  an  axe  to  Lycurgus. 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-11. 


7& 


trode  in  Ehud's  footsteps.  One  tiiumphs  with  a 
Bword,  the  other  with  an  implement  of  peace. 
Hence  we  may  infer,  says  Origen,  that  a  judge  of 
the  church  need  not  always  carry  a  sword,  and  be 
full  of  severity  and  admonitions  to  repentance,  but 
should  also  be  like  a  husbandman,  "  who,  grad- 
ually opening  the  earth  with  his  plough,  prepares 
it  for  the  reception  of  good  seed." 

St.\rke  :  AVhen  God  wishes  to  terrify  the 
enemy.  He  needs  not  many  men,  nor  strong  de- 
fense and  preparation  for  the  purpose.  —  Gerlach  : 
Shamgar's  cleed  is  probably  to  be  viewed  only  as 
tlie  effect  of  a  sudden  outbreak  of  holy  enthusiasm, 
under  the  influence  of  which  he  seized  the  first  best 


weapon,  and  put  to  flight  the  enemy  whom  some 
terror  from  God  had  scared. 

[Henry:  1.  God  can  make  those  eminently 
serviceable  to  his  glory  and  the  church's  good, 
whose  extraction,  education,  and  employment  are 
very  obscure.  He  that  has  the  residue  of  the 
Spirit,  could,  wlien  he  pleased,  make  ploughmen 
judges  and  generals,  and  fishermen  apostles.  2.  It 
is  no  matter  what  the  weapon  is,  if  God  direct  and 
strengthen  the  arm.  An  ox-goad,  when  God 
pleases,  shall  do  more  than  Goliath's  sword.  And 
sometimes  He  chooses  to  work  by  such  'unlikely 
means,  that  the  excelkncj  of  the  power  may  ap- 
pear to  be  of  God       " 


xceuency 


THIRD   SECTION. 


THE    SERVITUDE     TO  JABIN,    KING   OF   CANAAN.      DEBORAH,  THE   FEMALE    JUDGE  OF  FIEET   SPIRIT, 

AND   BARAK,    THE    MILITARY    HERO. 


Ehud  being  dead,  Israel  falls  back  into  evil-doing,  and  is  given  up  to  the  tyranny  of 
Jahiriy  king  of  Canaan.     Deborah,  the  Prophetess,  summons  Barak  to  undertake  the 

ivork  of  deliverance. 

Chapter  IV.    1-11. 


1  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  again  did  [continued  to  do]  evil  in  the  sight 

2  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah  ;]  when  [and]  Ehud  was  dead.  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
sold  them  [gave  them  up]  into  the  hand  of  Jabin  king  of  Canaan  that  reigned  in 
Hazor,  the  captain  of  whose  host  ivas  Sisera,  which  dwelt  in  Harosheth  of  the  Gen- 

3  tiles  [Harosheth-IIagojim].  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  cried  unto  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  ;  for  he  had  nine  hundred  chariots  of  iron  ;  and  twenty  years  he  mightily 

4  oppressed  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel.     And  Deborah,  a  prophetess,  the  wife  of 

5  Lapidoth,^  she  judged  Israel  at  that  time.  And  she  dwelt  [sat-]  under  the  palm-tree 
of  Deborah,  between  Ramah  and  Beth-el  in  mount  Ephi-aim  :  and  the  cliildren  [sons] 

6  of  Israel  came  up  to  her  for  judgment.  And  she  sent  and  called  Barak  the  son  of 
Abinoam  out  of  Kedesh-naphtali,  and  said  unto  him,  Hath  not  the  Lord  [Jehovah 
the]  God  of  Israel  commanded  [thee],  saying.  Go,  and  draw  toward  mount  Tabor,^ 
and  take  with  thee  ten  thousand  men  of  the  chiklren  [sons]  of  Naphtali,  and  of  the 

7  children  [sons]  of  Zebulun  ?  And  I  will  draw  unto  thee,  to  the  river  [brook] 
Kishoii,  Sisera  the  captain  of  Jabin's  army,  with  *  his  chariots  and  his   multitude  ; 

8  and  I  will  deliver  him  into  thine  hand  ?     And  Barak  said  unto  her.  If  thou  wilt  go 

9  with  me,  then  I  will  go :  but  if  thou  wilt  not  go  witli  me,  tlien  I  will  not  go.  And 
she  said,  I  will  surely  go  with  thee :  notwithstanding  [but]  the  journey  that  thou 
takest  [the  expedition  on  which  thou  goest]  shall  not  be  for  thine  honour  ;  f(jr  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  shall  sell  [give  up]  Sisera  into  the  hand  of  a  woman.     And  Deborah 

10  arose,  and  went  with  Barak  to  Kedesh.  And  Barak  called  Zebulun  and  Naphtali 
to  Kedesh  ;  and  he  went  up  with  ten  thousand  men  at  his  feet :  ^  and  Deborah  went 

11  up  with  him.  Now  Heber  the  Kenite,  which  ivas  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Hobab 
the  father-  [brother-]  in-law  of  Moses,  had  severed  himself  from  the  Kenites,  and 
pitched  his  tent  unto  the  plahi  of  Zaanaim  [near  Elon-Zaanannim],  which  is  by 
Kedesh.® 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  4 —  niT'Q^  nK-'S :  Dr.  Cassel,  taking    the   second  of  these  words  as  an  appellative,  renders, — ein  VVeib 
von  Feuergeist,  a  woman  of  fiery  spirit,  cf.  his  remarks  below.     The  possibility  of  this  rendering  cannot  be  denied  ;  but 


80 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


It  is  at  least  equally  probable  tliat  the  ordinary  view  which  regards  Lapidoth  as  a  proper  noun  is  correct.  Bachmann 
points  out  that  the  succession  of  statements  in  this  passage  is  exactly  the  same  as  in  "Miriam  the  prophetess,  the  sister  of 
Aaron,"  "  lluljah  the  prophetess,  the  wife  of  Sliallum,''  "  Anna,  a  prophetess,  the  daughter  of  Phanuel,'' etc.  These 
instauces  ci-eatu  a  presumption  tliat  in  this  case  too  tlie  second  statement  after  the  name  will  be  one  of  family  relation- 
ship, which  in  the  absence  of  positive  jiroof  the  mere  grammatical  possibility  of  another  yiew  does  not  suffice  to  counter- 
vail. Tlie  feminine  ending  of  Lapidoth  creates  as  little  difficulty  as  it  does  in  Naboth,  and  other  instances  of  the  same 
sort.  Of  Lipidoth  we  have  no  knowledge  whatever.  The  mention  here  made  of  him  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  he 
was  still  living.    Cf.  Ruth  iv.  10  ;  1  Sam.  xxvii.  3  ;  etc.  — Tr.] 

['i  Ver.  5. n^lC V  :  Bachmann  also  translates  "  sat "  {sass),  although  he  interprets  •'  dwelt ;  "  cf  ch.  x.  1 ;  Josh. 

ii.  15  ;  2  Kgs.  xxii.  14.     "  As  according  to  the  last  of  these  passages  the  prophetess  Uuldah  had  her  dwelling     (S'^n'l 

nptri"^)  in  the  second  district  of  Jerusalem,  so  the  prophetess  Deborah  had  her  dwelling  (niStTV  STl"))  under 
the  I'alm  of  Deborah."  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  6.—  "'inn    "ins     nStt?^^:    Dr.  Cassel,— ZjWie  auf  den  Bers;   2a4or,  proceed  to  Mount  Tabor.     So 
t-:t;-t 

.nany  others.     For   2  with  a  verb  of  motion,  cf.  Ps.  xxiv.  3.     But  inasmuch  as  TTtyQ   recurs  immediately  in  ver.  7, 

and  is  there   transitive,  Bachmann  proposes  to  take  it  so  here :  go,  draw  sc.  an  army,  to  thyself  or  together,  on  Mount 

Tabor.     Cf  the  Vulgate. —Tr.J 

[4  Ver.  7.  —  "IZlD'T'jISI  :  properly,  "  and  (not,  with)  his  chariots,"  etc.,  although  Cassel  also  has  7nit.  JHS  is  the 
sign  of  the  accusative,  not  the  preposition,  as  appears  from  the  fact  that  it  has  the  copula  "  and  "  before  it.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  10.—  V'7?~12  :  if  the  subject  of  V^^T  be  Barak,  as  the  E.  V.  and  Dr.  Cassel  teke  it,  V7.5"]2  can 
hardly  mean  anything  else  than  "  on  foot,"  as  Dr.  Cassel  renders  it ;  cf.  ver.  15.  But  the  true  construction  —  true,  be- 
cause regular  and  leaving  nothing  to  be  supplied  —  is  that  which  De  Wette  adopts:  "and  there   went  up,  V^3'^2, 

ten  thousand  men."  In  this  construction,  which  harmonizes  perfectly  with  the  context,  V^!3"^3  evidently  means  "at 
his  feet,"  /.  e.  as  De  Wette  renders,  "after  him."  —  Tr] 

[G  Ver.  11.  —  Dr.  Cassel's  translation  adheres  strictly  to  the  order  of  the  original  :  "  And  Ileber,  the  Kenite,  had  severed 
himself  from  Kaiu,  the  sons  of  llobab,  the  brother-in-law  of  Moses,  and  had  pitched  his  tent  near  Elon-Znanannim,  by 
Kedesh.  On  the  rendering  "  brother-in-law,"  instead  of  "  father-in-law,"  cf.  Keil,  on  Ex.  ii.  18  ;  Smith's  Bibt.  Did.  s.  v. 
Uoiiab.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1.  And  Ehud  was  dead :  i.e.  i^wEhud 
was  no  more.  That  the  eighty  years  of  rest  were 
also  the  years  of  Ehud's  government  is  not  indeed 
exjjressly  stated,  but  seems  nevertheless  to  be  indi- 
cated in  this  verse.  For  "rest"  is  always  coinci- 
dent with  "  obedience  towards  God ; "  and  obedi- 
ence is  maintained  in  Israel  throiigii  the  ]:)ersonal 
influence  of  the  Judge.  Wlien  he  dies,  the  weak- 
ness of  tlie  ])eo])le  manifests  itself  anew.  Hence, 
when  we  read  that  the  iJeojjle  "  continued  to  do 
evil,  and  Ehud  was  dead,"  this  language  must  be 
understood  to  connect  the  cessation  of  rest  with  the 
death  of  Ehud.  Shamgar  —  no  mention  being 
made  of  him  here  —  must  have  performed  his  ex- 
ploit some   time  during   the   eighty  years.     The 

standing  ekpi-ession  ^D'^D^^,  "  and  they  con- 
tinued," is  to  be  regarded  as  noting  the  contin- 
uance of  that  fickleness  which  obtains  among  the 
jjeople  when  not  led  by  a  person  of  divine  enthusi- 
asm. They  always  enter  afresh  on  courses  whose 
inevitable  issues  they  might  long  since  have  learned 
to  know.  The  new  generation  learns  nothing 
from  the  history  of  the  past.  "They  continued," 
is,  therefore,  really  equivalent  to  "  they  began 
anew." 

Vers.  2,  3.  And  Jehovah  gave  them  up  into 
the  hand  of  Jabin,  king  of  Canaan,  etc.  Joshua 
already  had  been  obliged  to  sustain  a  violent  con- 
test with  a  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor.  He  ccTmmanded 
a  confederation  of  tribes,  whose  frontier  reached 
as  far  gjuth  as  Dor  (Tantura)  on  the  coast,  and 
the  plains  below  the  Sea  of  Tiberias.     The  battle 


Merom  (Lake  Huleh)  ;  and  from  that  fact  alone 
Josephus  inferred  that  "  Hazor  lay  above  {wfp- 
lilrai)  this  sea."  But  its  position  was  by  no  means 

1  [Bachmann  identifies  "  Ilazor  with  IluzzCir  orllazireh, 
two  hours  \V.  of  Bint  Jebeil,  in  the  heart  of  Northern  Gali- 
lee, on  an  acclivity  with  extensive  ruins  and  a  sepulchral 
vault  of   great  antiquity,"   cf   Rob.  iii.  62.     He  remarks 


SO  close  to  the  lake  as  Robinson  ( Bihl.  Res.,  iii.  36.'j) 
wishes  to  locate  it,  which  is  altogether  impossible. 
The  course  of  Joshua  makes  it  clear  that  it  lay  on 
the  road  from  Lake  Merom  to  Zidon.  For  In 
order    to    capture    Hazor,   Joshua    turned    back 

(^^'*!1)  Josh.  xi.  10)  from  the  pursuit.  It  appears 
from  our  passage,  and  also  from  Josh.  xix.  37, 
that  it  must  have  been  situated  not  very  far  from 
Kedesh,  but  in  such  a  direction  that  from  it  the 
movements  of  Israel  toward  Tabor,  on  the  line  of 
Naphtali  and  Zebulon,  could  nut  be  readily  ob- 
served or  hindered  :  that  is  to  say,  to  the  west  of 
Kedesh.  That  its  position  cannot  be  determined 
by  the  similarity  of  modern  names  alone,  is  shown 
by  the  experience  of  Kobinson,  who  successively 
rejected  a  Hazireh,  a  Tell  Hazur,  and  el-Hazury 
( for  which  Kitter  had  decided).  For  a  capital  of 
such  imjjortance  as  Hazor  here  and  elsewhere  ap- 
pears to  be,  an  elevated  situation,  commanding  the 

lowlands  (^lI'SS'Tf  v^),  must  be  assumed.  It  must 
have  been  a  fortress  sujiported  hy  rich  and  fertile 
iields.  These  conditions  are  met  by  Tihnin,  as  is 
evident  from  Robinson's  extended  descri])tion  of  it 
(ii.  451  if. ;  iii.  .57  fF.).  The  similarity  of  name  is 
not  wanting ;  for  the  Crusaders  must  have  had 
some  reason  for  calling  it  Toronum.  William  of 
Tyre  ( Hist.  lib.  xi.  -i  ;  in  Gcsta  Del  Francorum,  p. 
798)  described  the  place  as  adorned  with  vineyards 
and  trees,  the  lahd  fertile  and  adapted  for  cultiva- 
tion. It  lies  midway  between  Tyre  and  Paneas, 
and  is  of  immense  importance  for  the  control  of 
the  country.  Robinson  has  justly  remarked,  that 
a  fortress  must  have  been  on  this  spot  long  before 


of  Jabin  with  Joshua  took  place  at  the  waters  of .  the  time  of  the  Crusaders ;  nor  does  it  raise  any 


great  difficulty  that  William  of  Tyre  reckoned  it 
to  the  tribe  of  Ashcr,  on  whose  borders,  at  all 
events,  it  lay.i  —  The  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor,  of  our 

that  for  Tibniu  nothing  speaks  except  its  importance  from  a 
military  point  of  view,  which  of  itself  is  not  sufficient  evi- 
dence. "  The  similarity  of  the  mediaeval  name  Toronum 
(  =  Hazor?)  is  wh9lly  illusory."  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  IV.    l-ll. 


81 


passage,  evidently  cherished  the  design  of  regain- 
ing, in  some  favorable  hour  of  Israelitish  snpine- 
ness,  tlie  territory  taken  from  his  ancestors  by 
Joshua.  With  this  object  in  view,  his  general-in- 
chief,  Sisera,  kept  the  languishing  nation  under 
discipline  at  another  point.  The  name  of  Sisera's 
residence  was  Harosheth  Hagojim.  It  may  pei'- 
haps  be  possible  to  lix  this  hitherto  wholly  un- 
known place  also.  The  power  of  the  present  Jabin 
must  have  extended  as  far  as  that  of  the  earlier  one 
(/.  e.  to  Tantura  and  the  region  south  of  the  Sea 
of  Tiberias)  ;  since  otherwise  the  battle  with  Barak 
woukl  not  have  been  fouglatatthe  Kishon.  Moi'e- 
over,  Naphtaii,  Zebulun,  and  Issachar  were  all  in- 
terested in  the  war  against  him  (ch.  v.  15).  This 
being  the  case,  it  is  certainly  probable  that  Sisera's 
residence  was  in  this  southern  part  of  Jabin's  do- 
minions. Sisera  was  commander  of  an  array 
dreaded  chiefly  for  its  nine  hundred  iron  chariots. 
But  these  were  of  consequence  only  on  level 
ground.  That  is  the  reason  why,  Josh.  xvii.  16, 
such  prominence  is  given  to  the  fact  that  just  those 
Canaanites  who  .lived  in  the  plains  of  Beth-shean 
(Beisan)  and  Jezreel,  through  which  latter  the 
Kishon  flowed,  had  iron  chariots.  The  name  it- 
self of  Harosheth  Hagojim  suffices  to  suggest  its 
connection  with  iron  chariots.  Harosheth  (Heb. 
Cliaroslieth)  is  the  place  where  iron  was  worked 
(charash,  the  smith).  It  is  only  natural  to  look 
for  it  in  the  plains  just  named.  But  the  residence 
of  Sisera  is  called  Harosheth  Hacpjiin,  the  Haro- 
sheth of  the  Gojim.  By  Gojiin  we  must  understand 
a  race  different  not  only  from  Israel,  but  also  from 
the  Canaanite,  Aram,  Edom,  Moab,  etc.  The 
Targum  translates  Harosheth  Hagojim  by  fortress 

or  city  of  the  Gojim  (W^^p37  "'S^?),  and  thus  re- 
fers us  to  Gelil  Hagojim  (Isa.  viii.  23  [E.  V.  ix.  l]), 
which  is  translated  in  the  same  way  C*?"!!?  stands 

often  for  "T^ 27,  city).  The  projJiet  in  the  passage 
referred  to,  locates  this  Gelil  of  the  Gojim  on  this 
side  of  the  Jordan,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Lake  of  Tiberias.  It  is  clearly  erroneous  to  make 
this  Gali'.cBa  Gentium  cover  the  whole  district  of 
Galilee;  for  that  included  Zebulun,  Naphtali,  and 
the  shore  of  Lake  Tiberias,  which  the  prophet 
mentions  separately.  If  it  be  proper  to  interpret 
tlie  passage  geographically,  Gelil  Hagojim  must 
lie  south  of  Lake  Tiberias,  where  subsequently  Gal- 
ilee began.     Joshua  himself  also  conquered  a  king 

of  the  Gojim  in  "  v3  ..2  "(Josh.  xii.  23).  From 
the  position  given  to  this  king  in  the  catalogue,  no 
geographical  inference  can  be  drawn,  since  the 
enumeration  is  made  without  any  regard  to  the 
situation  of  localities.     The  passage  becomes  clear 

only  when  ^|/3  is  taken  as  v''73>  making 
Joshua  victorious  over  the  king  of  the  Gojim  in 
(felil.  Now,  it  cannot  escape  notice  that  among 
the  kings  conquered  by  Joshua,  no  king  of  Beth- 
shean  is  found,  although  in  Josh.  xvii.  16  this 
place  appears  so  important,  and  its  territory  mnst 
have  been  conquered,  and  although  the  cities  in  the 
plain  of  Jezreel  are  named.  The  conjecture,  there- 
fore, is  plausible  that  Beth-shean  is  represented  by 
the  king  of  the  Gojim.     Beth-shean  was  the  start- 

1  [To  onr  author's  identification  of  Harosheth  ha-Gojim 
with  Beth-shean,  Cachmann  objects  that  the  latter  city  is 
known  by  its  usual  name  to  the  writer  of  Judges ;  cf.  cli.  i. 
27.  lie  is  "  inclined  to  adopt  the  view  of  Thomson,  TJie 
Lanil  and  the  Book,  ch.  xxix.,  who  finds  Harosheth  in  Har- 
»thieh,  ii  hill  or  mound  at  the  southeastern  corner  of   the 


ing-point  of  the  later  Galilee  (cf.  Lightfoot,  Opera, 
i.  216,  etc.) ;  it  was  the  city  of  iron  chariots  ;  its 
population  was  always  of  a  mixed  character 
(Canaanites,  Gojim,  Jews,  Judg.  i.  27 ;  Chulin, 
6  b).  From  the  date  of  the  first  Greek  notices  of 
it  (in  the  Septuagint,  Josephus,  etc. ;  cf.  Bitter, 
XV.  432  [Gage's  Transl.  ii.  335]),  it  appears  under 
the  name  Scythopolis,  city  of  the  Scythians.  On 
the  question  how  this  name  originated,  we  are  not 
to  enter  here.  Thus  much  is  certain,  that  it  is  not 
unsuitable  to  take  the  term  Scythians  as  equiva- 
lent to  Gojim ;  especially  when  we  compare  Gen. 
xiv.  1,  where  Tidal,  king  of  the  Gojim,  is  named 
in  connection  with  Elam,  Shinar,  and  Ellasar. 
Although  our  historical  data  are  not  suflficient  to 
raise  these  probabilities  to  certainties,  several  con- 
siderations suggested  by  the  narrative  are  of  some 
weight.  If  Harosheth  Hagojim  is  to  be  looked 
for  in  the  vicinity  of  Beth-shean,  the  whole  geog- 
raphy of  the  war  becomes  quite  plain,  Jabin 
and  Sisera  then  occupy  the  decisive  points  at  the 
extremities  of  the  kingdom.  The  southern  army 
of  Sisera  is  the  most  oppressive  to  Israel,  and  its 
dislodgement  is  the  main  object.  Barak  is  not  to 
attack  Hazor,  for  that  is  surrounded  and  supported 
by  hostile  populations,  which  it  is  impracticable  as 
yet  to  drive  out.  Deborah's  plan  is  to  annihilate 
the  tyrannical  power,  where  it  has  established  itself 
in  the  heart  of  Israel.  Tabor  is  the  central  point, 
where  Naphtali  and  Zebulun  can  conveniently  as- 
semble. A  straight  line  from  Kedesh  to  that  mount, 
runs  through  the  territories  of  both.  Sisera  must 
tight  or  allow  himself  to  be  cut  off.  His  overthrow 
is  Israel's  freedom.  His  army  is  Jabin's  only  hold 
on  those  regions.  Hence,  Sisera's  flight  from  the 
Kishon  is  northward,  in  order  to  reach  Hazor. 
On  the  way,  not  far  from  either  Hazor  or  Kedesh, 
his  fate  overtakes  him.^ 

Ver.  4.  And  Deborah  a  prophetic  woman, 
nS'^nD  ntS'S.  According  to  Num.  xi.  25,  the 
prophetic  gift  has  its  source  in  the  "  Spn-it  of  Jeho- 
vah." Its  office  answers  to  its  origin  :  it  preaches 
God  and  speaks  his  praises.  Cause  and  effect  tes- 
tify of  each  other.  Every  one,  whether  man  or 
woman,  may  prophecy,  on  whom  the  "  Spirit  of 
Jehovah  "  comes.  The  prophetic  state  is  a  divine 
ecstasy,  a  high  poetic  enthusiasm  {h'SovaioL^av, 
from  Serfs),  under  the  influence  of  which  the  praises 
of  God  are  spoken.  On  this  account,  the  prophet 
resembled  at  times  the  Greek  fxavris  (from  fj.aivoiu.ai) ; 

compare  especially  Jer.  xxix.  26  '^??'7"?^  ^t^'^  ' 
CDp,  connected  with  nahi,  in  the  same  chapter^ 
ver.  8,  is  actually  rendered  fxavTis  by  the  LXX.). 
In  itself,  however,  both  as  to  derivation  and  mean- 
ing, naha,  niba,  is  to  be  compared  with  iirnv.  The 
prophet  utters  the  €7ros,  in  which  the  Spirit  of  Je- 
liovah  manifests  itself;  he  declares  the  greatness 
and  glory  of  God.  He  is  a  spokesman  of  God  and 
ibr  Him.  Hence  Aaron  could  be  caKed  the  nahi 
of  Moses  (Ex.  vii.  1 ).  He  was  the  ready  organ  of 
the  spirit  which  resided  in  Moses.  Doubtless,  in 
the  highest  sense,  Moses  was  himself  the  nahi 
With  him,  God  spake  mouth  to  mouth,  not  in  vis- 
ions and  dreams  and  enigmas  (Num.  xii.  6-8) ;  not, 
that  is,  as  He  announced  himself  to  Aaron  and 

Plain  of  Akka,  close  behind  the  hills  that  divide  this  plain 
from  that  of  Jezreel,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Kishon,  yet  so 
near  the  foot  of  Carmel  as  only  to  leave  a  pass.ige  for  the 
river.  This  mound  is  covered  with  the  remains  of  old  ram- 
parts and  buildings."  —  Tr.] 


82 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Miriam.  Miriam  was  tlic  lii-st  prophetess  who 
praised  God  in  ecstatic  strains  of  poetry,  with  tim- 
brels and  dances,  before  all  the  people  (1'jX.  xv.  20). 
It  has  been  asked  (cf  my  treatise  Uelicr  Prophet- 
innen  unci  Zauherinneii  iin  Weimar,  Jalirbnch  fur 
Deutsche  Spracke,  vol.  iv.),  how  it  comes  about  that 
jirojjhetic  women  constitute  a  "  significant  feature  " 
of  tile  old  (ierman  heathenism  only,  whereas  Jew 
ish  and  Christian  views  assigned  the  gift  of  proph- 
ecy to  men.  The  contrast  certainly  exists  ;  it  rests 
in  the  main  upon  the  general  difference  between 
the  heathen  and  the  Scriptural  view  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  subjective  nature  of  woman  is  more 
akin  to  the  subjective  character  of  heathenism.  So 
much  the  higher  must  Deborah  be  placed.  She 
was  not,  like  Miriam,  the  sister  of  sixch  men  as 
Moses  and  Aaron.  The  objective  spirit  of  her  God 
alone  elevates  her  above  her  people,  above  heroes 
before  and  after  her.  Not  only  the  ecstasy  of  en- 
thusiasm, but  the  calm  ^visdom  of  that  Spirit  which 
informs  the  law.  dwells  in  her.  Of  no  Judge  until 
Samuel  is  it  expressly  said  that  he  was  a  "  proph- 
et." Of  none  until  him  can  it  be  said,  that  he 
was  possessed  of  the  popular  authority  needful  for 
the  office  of  Judge,  even  before  the  decisive  deed  of 
his  life.  The  position  of  Deborah  in  Israel  is  there- 
fore a  twofold  testimony.  The  less  commonly 
women  were  called  to  the  office  she  exercised,  the 
more  manifest  is  the  weakness  of  those  who  should 
have  been  the  organs  of  divine  impulses.  That 
she,  a  woman,  became  the  centre  of  the  people, 
proves  the  relaxation  of  spiritual  and  manly  en- 
crg}^.  But  on  the  other  hand,  the  undying  might 
of  divine  truth,  as  delivered  by  Moses,  comes  brill- 
iantly to  view.  History  shows  many  instances, 
where  in  times  of  distress,  when  men  despaired, 
women  aroused  and  saved  their  nation ;  but  in  all 
such  cases  there  must  be  an  unextinguished  spark 
of  the  old  lire  in  the  people  themselves.  Israel, 
formerly  encouraged  by  the  great  exploit  of  a  left- 
handed  man,  is  now  quickened  by  the  glowing 
word  of  a  noble  woman. 

The  name  Deborah  does  not  occur  here  for  the 
first  time.  It  was  also  borne  by  the  nurse  of  Re- 
becca, who  was  buried  near  Bethel  (Gen.  xxxv.  8). 
Many  find  the  name  peculiarly  appropriate  for  the 
prophetess.  Its  proper  meaning  is,  "  bee  "  ;  and 
in  Hellenic  oracles  also  bees  play  an  important 
part  (cf.  Pans.  ix.  40,  etc.).  This  honor  they  en- 
joyed, however,  only  in  consequence  of  the  errone- 
ous derivation  of  the  name  melilta  from  melos,  a 

song.     In   like    manner,   Deborah    (rTJH"^),  the 

bee,  is  not  connected  with  dabar  (~15^)>  to  speak  ; 
nor  does  it  properly  mean  the  "  march  of  the  bees  " 
(Gesenius) ;  neither  is  it  "buzzing"  (Fiirst) ;  but, 
as  melilta  from  ineli,  honey,  so  Deborah  is  to  be 

deiived  from  dehasli  (li^^"^),  -ivhich  also  means 
honey,  the  interchange  of  r  and  s  being  very  com- 
mon {honor,  honos,  etc.).  Deborah  is  a  female 
name  akin  in  meaning  to  the  German  Emma,i  — 
and  does  not  necessarily  imply  any  reference  to  the 
projihetic  office  in  the  case  of  our  Deborah  any 
more  than  in  that  of  Rebecca's  nurse. 

A  woman  of  a  fiery  spirit,  HIT'S  J  HKI'M. 
The  majority  of  expositors,  ancient  as  well  as 
modern,  regard  Lapidoth  as  the  name  of  Debo- 
rah's husband.  Yet  it  was  felt  by  many  that  there 
was  something  peculiar  in  the  words.     If  the  ordi- 


nary interpi'ctation  were  the  true  one,  it  would  be 
natural  to  look  also  for  a  statement  of  the  tribe  to 
which  the  husband  belonged.  In  accordance  with 
the  style  of  the  ancients,  the  designation  would 
have  been  at  least  once  repeated  (at  eh.  v.  1).  To 
make  it  seem  cpiite  natural  for  Deborah  always  to 
appear  without  her  husband,  it  had  to  be  assumed 
that  he  was  already  dead.  To  avoid  this,  some  old 
Jewish  expositors  assert  that  Barak  was  her  hus- 
band, —  Barak  and  Lappid  being  of  kindred  signifi- 
cation, namely,  "  lightning  "  and  "  flame."  But 
in  all  this  no  attention  is  paid  to  the  uneommon- 
ness  of  the  phenomenon  presented  in  the  person  of 
a  woman  such  as  Deborah.  What  a  burning 
spirit  must  hers  have  been,  to  have  attained  to  such 
distinction  in  Israel !  It  was  in  perfect  keeping 
with  the  poetical  cast  of  the  langiiage  of  the  age, 
that  the  people  should  seek  to  indicate  the  charac- 
teristic which  gave  her  her  power  over  them,  by 

calling  her  HiT^S  V  Htt'W.     If  a  capable  woman 

was  called  ^'^H  Ht^S,  from  v^fl,  strength  (Prov. 

xxxi.    10), —  and  a    contentions   woman,    i^^^ 

n"^3^-Jtt  (Prov.xxi.  19)  ;  and  if  in  H^b^D?  D^i^ 
(foolish  woman,  Prov.  ix.  13),  we  are  not  to  regai'd 
kesiluth  as  a  proper  name,  it  must  also  be  allowed 

that  nlT^Qv  ^"^^^'^  '^'^y  ^^  rendered  "  woman 
of  the  torch-glow,"  especially  when  we  consider 
what  a  fire-bearing,  life-kindling  personage  she 
was.  It  is  a  fact,  moreover,  that  lappid  (torch) 
occurs  almost  as  often  in  figurative  as  in  literal 
language.  The  salvation  of  Jerusalem  shines 
"  like  a  torch  "  (Isa.  Ixii.  1).  "  Out  of  his  mouth 
torches  go  forth"  (Job xli.  11  (19)).  The  appear- 
ance of  the  heroes  of  Israel  is  "  like  torches " 
(Nah.  ii.  5  (4)).  The  angel  who  appeared  to 
Daniel  had  "eyes  like  torches  of  fire"  (Dan.  x. 
6).  "The  word  of  Elias,"  says  Sirach  (xlviii.  1), 
"  burned  like  a  torch."  Concerning  Phinehas, 
the  priest,  the  Midrash  says,  that  "  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  filled  him,  his  countenance  glowed  like 
torches"  {Jnlknt,  Judges,  §  40). 

Tlie  sjiirit  of  Deborah  was  like  a  torch  for  Israel, 
kindling  their  languid  liearts.  It  was  the  jiower 
of  her  prophetic  breath  which  fell  on  the  ])eople. 
This  is  the  secret  of  her  influence  and  victory. 
The  moral  energy  which  was  at  work  is  traced  to 
its    source  even  in  the  grammatical  form   of  the 

word  which  describes  it  — HiT^'llb,  not  □''1''27,''' 

albeit  that  the  former,  like  n^7'^D2  occurs  but  once. 
She  judged  Israel.  Inasmuch  as  in  the  gift  of 
prophecy  she  had  the  Spirit  of  God,  she  was  able 
to  judge.  Notmthstanding  her  rapt  and  flaming- 
spirit,  she  was  no  fanatic.  She  judged  the  throng- 
ing people  accoi'ding  to  the  principles  of  the  law. 
Tlie  wisdom  of  this  "  wise  woman  "  was  the  wis- 
dom revealed  by  God  in  his  law.      She  deals  in  no 

mysterious  and  awful  terrors.  Tlie  D^^^  (judg- 
ment), for  which  Israel  came  to  Deborah,  was  clear 
—  did  not  consist  in  dark  sayings,  like  the  verses 
of  the  Pythia,  though  these  also  were  called  e^/xKT- 

Tfs,  defxtres  (statutes,  C^lSSt^'O  5  cf.  Nagelsbach, 
Nachbom.  Theolor/ie,  p.  183).  The  comparison 
with  the  Sphinx,  instituted  by  Bochart  (Phaleg,  p. 
471 ),  was  not  fortunate  ;  not  even  according  to  the 
notions  of  the  grammarian  Socrates,  who  rcpre- 


1  [From   the  same   root   with   emsig,   industrious,   and    and  therefore  the  word  which  figuratively  characterizes  it, 
umeise,  emmet,  ant.  —  Tr.]  I  has,  by  a  sort  of  attraction,   a   feminine,   rot   "nasculine 

2  [That  is,  apparently,  the  energy  proceeds  from  a  woman, !  plural  given  it.  —  Ta.] 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-U. 


88 


Bented  the  Sphinx  as  a  native  soothsayer,  who  oc- 1 
casioned  much  harm  because  the  Thebans  did  not  [ 
understand  her  statutes  (cf.  Jaep,  Die  griechische 
Sphinx,  p.  15). 

Ver.  5.  She  sat  under  the  palm-tree  of  Deb- 
orah. Under  the  pahu  still  known  to  the  narrator 
as  that  of  Deborah  (cf.  "  Luther's  oak,"  in  Thiirin- 
gia).  It  is  impossible  to  see  why  C.  Botticher 
(Ueber  den  Baumkultus  der  Hellenen,  p.  523)  should 
speak  of  "  Deborah-palms."  She  sat  under  a  larf;e 
palm,  public  and  ti'ce,  accessible  to  all ;  not  like 
the  German  Velleda,  who,  according  to  Tacitus, 
sat  in  a  tower,  and  to  whom  no  one  was  admitted, 
in  order  to  increase  the  veneration  in  which  she 
was  held.  The  palm  was  the  common  symbol  of 
all  Canaan  ;  it  adorned  the  coins  of  both  the  Phoe- 
nicians (Movers,  ii.  1,  7)  and  the  Jews.^  Prom 
these  coins,  carried  far  and  wide  by  sailors  —  and 
not,  as  is  generally  assumed,  from  the  appearance 
of  the  coast  when  approached  from  sea,  which 
showed  many  other  things  besides  palm-trees, — 
arose  the  custom  of  calling  those  who  brought 
them  Phoenicians  (<^or>'i|,  the  palm).  The  symbol- 
ism of  the  palm,  which  the  ancients  admired  in 
Delos,  was  based  on  ideas  which  were  unknown  to 
Israel.  It  referred  to  the  birth  of  Apollo,  not  to 
divination. 

Between  ha-Ramah  and  Beth-el,  on  Mount 
Ephraim.'-  Beth-el  lay  on  the  border  between 
Ephraim  and  Benjamin;  so  likewise  Ataroth 
(Josh.  xvi.  2).  Robinson  discovered  an  Atara  in 
that  region  (Bibl.  Res.,  i.  575).  Not  far  from  it,  he 
came  to  a  place,  called  er-Ram,  lying  on  a  high 
hill,  which  he  regarded  as  the  Ramah  in  Benjamin 
(Judg.  xix.  13),  while  Ritter  (xvi.  537,  538 
[Gage's  Transl.  iv.  230]),  identifies  it  with  the 
Ramah  of  our  passage.  I3oth  conjectures  are  ten- 
able, since  neither  interferes  with  the  statement 
that  Deborah  sat  betAveen  Beth-el  and  Ramah,  on 
Mount  Ephraim,  —  on  the  border,  of  course,  like 

Bethel  itself  (cf.  ""i^?'  J^sh.  xvi.  1). 

Vers.  6,  7.  And.  she  sent  and  called  Barak 
out  of  Kedesh-naphtaJi.  That  which  especially 
conies  to  view  here,  is  the  moral  unity  in  which  the 
tribes  still  continued  to  be  bound  together.  Debo- 
rah, though  resident  in  the  south  of  Ephraim,  had 
her  eyes  fixed  on  the  tyranny  which  pressed  espe- 
cially on  the  tribes  of  the  north.  While  of  the 
priests  at  Shiloh  none  speak,  she  nevertheless  can- 
not rest  while  Israel  is  in  bondage.  But  she  turns 
to  the  tribes  most  immediately  concerned.  Kedesli, 
to  the  northwest  of  Lake  Huleh,  has  been  identified 
in  modern  times,  still  bearing  its  old  name.  It  is 
situated  upon  a  rather  high  ridge,  in  a  splendid 
region  (Rob.  iii.  366  fF.).  There,  in  Naphtali,  lived 
Barak  ("lightning,"  like  Bare  as),  the  man  fixed 
on  by  Deborah  to  become  the  liberator  of  his  peo- 
ple. The  names  of  his  father  and  native  place  are 
carefully  given,  here,  and  again  at  ch.  v.  1.  The 
•  power  of  Deborah's  influence  shows  itself  in  the 
fact  that  Barak,  though  living  so  far  north,  readily 
answers  her  summons  to  the  border  of  Benjamin. 
At  the  same  time,  Barak's  obedience  to  the  call  of 
the  prophetess,  is  in  itself  good  evidence,  that  he 
is  the  called  deliverer  of  Israel.  But  she  not  only 
calls  him,  not  only  incites  him  to  the  conflict ;  she 

1  [Stanley  (Jewish  Church,  i.  332) :  "  On  the  coins  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  Judaea  is  represented  as.  ai  woman  seated 
under  a  palm-tree,  captive  and  weeping. .  It  is  the  contrast 
of  that  figure  which  will  h^st  place  before  us  the  character 
and  call  of  Deborah.  It  is-  the  same  Judaean  palm  under 
whose  shadow  she  sits,  but  not  with  downcast  eyes,  and 
foldM  bands,  and  extinguished  hopes  ;  with  all  the  fire  of 


also  gives  him  the  plan  of  battle  which  he  must 
follow. 

Go,  and  gradually  draw  toward  Mount  Tabor, 
with  ten  thousand  men  of  Naphtah  and  Zebu- 

lun  (y]r^v  Dnph^  ni^n  nna  nstrm  irb). 

';•       t:'-t;  t  -;       t:-t  *"' 

The  word  ^^^  always  conveys  the  idea  of  draw- 
ing, whether  that  which  is  drawn  be  the  bow,  the 
furrow,  or  the  prolonged  sounds  of  a  musical  instru- 
ment ;  tropically,  it  is  also  used  of  the  long  line  of 
an  army,  advancing  along  the  plain.  Its  meaning 
here,  where  the  object  which  Barak  is  to  draw  is 

put  in  another  clause,  "iD^^V,  ^7^V  S^UU"^"!," 
is  made  plain  by  the  analogous  passage,  Ex.  xii 
21.     There  Moses  says,  "JN^  D?b  ^Hp^  ^3^'^ 

D5"'On?t?^^7 ;  and  the  sense  is  evidently  that 
the  families  are  to  sacrifice  the  passover  one  after 

another  (^3tt7p),  each  in  its  turn  killing  its  own 
lamb.  The  same  successive  method  is  here  en- 
joined by  Deborah.  Barak  is  to  gather  ten  thou- 
sand men  toward  mount  Tabor,  one  after  another, 
in  small  squads.  This  interpretation  of  the  word 
is  strengthened  by  the  obvious  necessity  of  the 
case.  The  tyrant  must  hear  nothing  of  the  rising, 
until  the  hosts  are  assembled ;  but  how  can  their 
movements  be  concealed,  unless  they  move  in  small 
companies  1  For  the  same  reason  they  are  to 
assemble,  not  at  Kedesli,  but  at  a  central  point, 
readily  accessible  to  the  several  tribes.  Mount 
Tabor  [Jebel  Tor),  southwest  of  the  Sea  of  Tibe- 
rias, is  the  most  isolated  point  of  Galilee,  rising  in 
the  form  of  a  cone  above  the  plain,  and  visible  at  a 
great  distance,  though  its  height  is  only  1755 
(according  to  Schubert,  1748)  Par.  feet.**  Barak, 
however,  is  not  to  remain  in  his  position  on  the 
moimtain.  If  Sisera's  tyranny  is  to  be  broken,  its 
forces  must  be  defeated  in  the  plain  ;  for  there  the 
iron  chariots  of  the  enemy  have  their  field  of  action. 
Hence,  Deborah  adds  that  Sisera  will  collect  his 
army  at  the  brook  Kishon,  in  the  plain  of  Jezreel. 
"  And  I "  —  she  speaks  in  the  "  Spirit  of  Jeho- 
vah "  —  "  will  draw  him  unto  thee,  and  deliver 
him  into  thine  hand." 

Ver.  8.  And  Barak  said.  Barak  has  no  doubt 
as  to  the  truth  of  her  words,  nor  does  he  fear  the 
enemy  ;  but  yet  he  will  go  only  if  Deborah  go  with 
him,  not  without  her.  Her  presence  legitimatizes 
the  undertaking  as  divine.  It  shows  the  tribes  he 
summons,  that  he  seeks  no  interest  of  his  own  — 
that  it  is  she  who  summons  them.  He  wishes  to 
stand  forth  as  the  executor  merely  of  the  command 
which  comes  through  her.  The  attempt  to  draw 
a  parallel  between  Deborah  and  Jeanne  d'Arc, 
though  it  readily  suggests  itself,  will  only  teach  us 
to  estimate  the  more  clearly  the  peculiar  character 
of  the  Jewish  prophetess.  The  latter  does  not  her- 
self draw  the  sword,  for  then  she  would  not  have 
needed  Barak.  Joan,  like  Deborah,  spoke  preg- 
nant words  of  truth,  as  wiien,  on  being  told  that 
"  God  could  conquer  without  soldiers,"  she  simply 
replied,  "  the  soldiers  will  fight,  and  then  God  will 
give  victory ; "  but  she  fought  only  against  the 
enemies  of  her  country,  not  the  enemies  of  her 
faith  and  spiritual  life.     It  was  a  romantic  faith  in 

faith  and  energy,  eager  for  the  battle,  confident  of  the  rio- 
tory."  —  Tr.] 

2  The  rendering  of  the  Targum  here  is  quite  remarl^able  ; 
"  And  she  sat  in  the  city,  in  Ataroth  Deborah." 

3  Cf.  Ritter,  xv.  393  [Gage's  Transl.  ii.  311 ;  also  Rob.  ii. 
351flf.l 


84 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


the  right  and  tnith  of  an  earthly  sceptre,  for  which 
the  poor  maiden  fell :  the  voice  which  called  Debo- 
rah to  victory  was  the  voice  of  the  Universal  Sove- 
reign. No  trace  of  sentimentalism,  like  that  of 
Dunois,  can  be  discovered  in  Barak;  neverthe- 
less, he  voluntarily  retires  behind  the  authority 
of  a  woman,  because  God  animates  and  inspires 
her. 

Vers.  9,  10.  She  said:  the  expedition  on 
which  thou  goest,  shall  not  be  for  thine  hon- 
our; for  Jehovah  will  give  Sisera  into  the 
hand  of  a  woman.  The  victory  will  be  ascribed, 
nut  to  Barak,  but  to  Deborah.  It  will  be  said, 
"  a  woman  conquered  Sisera."  This  is  the  first 
and  obvious  meaning  of  the  words ;  i  by  the  deed 
of  Jael  they  were  fulfilled  in  yet  another  sense. 
The  lionor  of  hewing  down  Sisera  did  not  fall 
to  Barak.  Nevertheless,  Barak  insists  on  his  con- 
dition. He  vail  have  the  conflict  sanctified  by  her 
presence.  Something  similar  appears  in  Greek 
tradition :  with  reference  to  a  battle  in  the  Messe- 
nian  war  it  is  said  (Pans.  iv.  16),  that "  the  soldiers 
fought  bravely,  because  their  Seers  were  present." 

And  Deborah  arose,  and  went  with  Barak 
to  Kedesh.  For  the  sake  of  the  great  national 
cause,  she  leaves  her  peaceful  palm ;  and  l)y  lier 
readiness  to  share  in  every  danger,  evidences  the 
truth  of  her  announcements.  Kedesh,  Barak's 
home,  is  the  place  from  which  directions  are  to  be 
issued  to  the  adjacent  tribes.  Thither  she  accom- 
panies him ;  and  thence  he  sends  out  his  call  to 
arms.  Some  authority  for  this  purpose,  he  must 
have  had  long  before  Tit  is  now  supported  by  the 
sanction  of  the  prophetess.  When  it  is  said,  that 
he  "  called  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  to  Kedesh,"  it  is 
evident  that  only  the  leaders  are  intended.  It 
cannot  be  supposed  that  the  troops,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  were  first  marched  up  to  Kedesh,  and  then 
back  again,  southward,  to  Tabor.  In  Kedesh,  he 
imparts  the  plan  to  the  heads  of  families.  Led  by 
these,  the  troops  collect,  descending  on  all  sides 
from  their  mountains,  like  the  Swiss  against  Aus- 
tria, and  proceed  towards  Tabor — "on  foot" 
(Vba^a),  for  they  have  neither  chariots  nor  cav- 
alry." Their  numbers  constantly  augment,  till  they 
arrive  on  Tabor, — Barak  and  Deborah  always 
at  their  head. 

Vcr.  11.  And  Heber,  the  Kenite,  had  sev- 
ered himself  from  Kain,  the  sons  of  Hobab, 
the  brother-in-law  of  Moses.  We  read  above 
that  the  tribe  of  the  Kenite,  the  father-in-law  of 
Moses,  decamped  from  Jericho  with  the  tribe  of 
Judah  (ch.  i.  16),  and,  while  the  latter  carried  on 
the  war  of  conquest,  settled  in  Arad.  From  there 
the  family  of  Heber  has  separated  itself  While 
one  part  of  the  tribe  has  sought  a  new  home  for 
itself  below,  in  the  extreme  south  of  Judah,  the 
other  encamps  high  up,  in  the  territory  of  Naph- 
tali. It  is  as  if  the  touching  attachment  of  this 
people  to  Israel  still  kept  them  located  at  the 
extremities  of  the  Israelitish  encampment,  in  order, 

1  [This  is  the  first  and  obvious  meaning  of  the  words, 
and  it  is  very  strange  that  Baolimann  should  pronounce 
this  interpretation,  from  which  but  for  Jael  no  one  would 
ever  have  dreamed  of  departing,  impossible.  —  Te.] 

2  In  giving  Jethro  seven  names,  homiletical  applications 
were  followed.  Thus,  Ilobab  was  taken  as  a  surname  of 
Jethro,  "because  he  was  dear  to  God."  (Jalkut,  Judges, 
n.  38.) 

8  To  pitch  one's  tent  "  in  the  vicinity  "  of  a  place,  is 

expressed  by  "^V  :  so  here,  "ji7M  "TS  ;  so Oen.  xxxviii.  1, 


as  of  old,  to  show  them  the  way.  Above,  ch.  i.  16, 
they  are  called  "  sons  of  the  Kenite,  the  father-in- 
law  of  Moses";  here,  "  Kain  (cf.  Num.  xxiv.  22), 
the  sons  of  Hobab,  the  brother-in-law  of  Moses." 
Ancient  exi^ositions  -  have  been  the  occasion  of 

unnecessary  confusion  as  to  Jethro's  name.  ?nn 
means  to  contract  affinity  by  marriage  ;  and,  just 
as  in  German  Schwdher  (father-in-law)  and  Sc/iwa- 
ger  (bi-other-in-law)  are  at  bottom  one,  so  the  He- 
brew ]0'^'~'  iii^y  stand  for  both  father-in-law  and 
brother-in-law.  The  father-in-law  of  Moses  was 
Jethro;  as  priest,  he  was  called  Reuel  (7N^^"1). 
He  did  not  accompany  Israel,  but  after  his  visit  to 
Moses,  went  back  to  his  own  land  (Ex.  xviii.  27). 
His  son  Hobab,  however  (Num.  x.  29),  had  re- 
mained with  Israel ;  and  when  he  also  would  return 
home,  Moses  entreated  him  to  abide  with  them, 
that  he  might  be  for  eyes  to  them  on  the  way,  and 
promised  him  a  share  in  whatever  good  might  be 
in  store  for  Israel.  The  proposal  was  accepted, 
and  the  promise  was  kept.  In  the  north  and  south 
of  Canaan,  the  Kenites  had  their  seats.  They 
are  here  designated  "  sons  of  Hobab,"  because  it 
was  from  him,  the  ancient  guide  of  Israel,  that 
they  derived  their  position  in  the  land.  Heber 's 
tent  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Kedesh,  near  Elon 
Zaanannim,^  mentioned  also  at  Josh.  xix.  .3.3,  as  a 
place  on  the  border  of  Naphtali.  The  name  may 
have  originated  from  the  sojourn  of  the  Kenites  ;  a 
supposition  which  becomes  necessary,  if  with  an 
eye  to  Isa:  xxxiii.  20,*  it  be  interpreted .  to  mean 
the  "  oak  of  the  wandering  tent."  ^ 

H03IILETICAL    AND   PRACTICAL. 

Compare  the  reflections  at  the  end  of  the  next 
section. 

[Bishop  Hall  :  It  is  no  wonder  if  they,  who, 
ere  fourscore  days  after  the  law  delivered,  fell  to 
idolatry  alone  ;  now,  after  four-score  years  since 
the  law  restored,  fell  to  idolatry  among  the  Ca- 
naanites.  Peace  could  in  a  shorter  time  work 
looseness  in  any  people.  And  if  forty  years  after 
Othniel's  deliverance  they  relapsed,  what  marvel 
is  it,  that  in  twice  forty  years  after  Ehud  they 
thus  miscarried  ?  —  The  same  :  Deborah  had 
been  no  prophetess,  if  she  durst  have  sent  in  her 
own  name :  her  message  is  from  Him  that  sent  her- 
self. "  Hath  not  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  com- 
manded 'i  "  Barak's  answer  is  faithful,  though 
conditional  ;  and  doth  not  so  much  intend  a  re- 
fusal to  go  without  her,  as  a  necessary  bond  of  her 
presence  with  him.  Who  can  blame  him,  that  he 
would  have  a  prophqtess  in  his  company  1  If  the 
man  had  not  been  as  holy  as  valiant,  he  would  not , 
have  wished  such  society.  —  The  same  :  To 
])rcscribe  that  to  others,  which  we  draw  back  from 
doing  ourselves,  is  an  argument  of  hollowness  and 
falsity.     Barak  shall  see  that  Deborah  doth  not 

4  [Where,  according  to  De  Wette's  translation,  Jerusalem 
is  spoken  of  as  a  "  Zelt  das  tiicht  wandert  "  —  a  tent  that 
does  not  wander.  —  Tb.] 

6  The    reading    Spvos    irKeoveKTOvvrtav,    found  in    soma 

Greek  versions,  expounds  CJlS^!?  ^^  ^^  *'  <^^™®  ^'^°'^ 
2723  ;  while  the  ava.navoiJ.eva>v  of  other  versions  givep  it 
the  sense  of  ^DSt^,  which  is  so  rendered,  Jer.  xlviii.  11 


CHAPTER   IV.    12-24. 


85 


offer  him  that  cup  whereof  she  dares  not  begin : 
without  regard  of  her  sex,  she  marches  with  him 
to  Mount  Tnbor,  and  rejoices  to  be  seen  of  the  ten 
thousand  of  Israel.  —  Hengstenberg  (  Genuine- 
ness of  ike  Pentateuch,  ii.  101):  To  gi^nt  succor 
through  a  woman  was  calculated  to  raise  heaven- 
wards the  thoughts  of  men,  which  are  so  pi'one  to 
cleave  to  the  earth.  If  the  honor  was  due  to  God 
alone,  they  would  be  more  disposed  to  show  their 
gratitude  by  sincere  conversion.  That  Barak  was 
obliged  to  lean  on  Deborah,  depended  on  the  same 


law  by  which  Gideon  was  chosen  to  be  the  deliv- 
erer of  Israel  from  the  Midianites,  though  his  fam- 
ily was  the  meanest  in  lyianasseh,  and  himself  the 
youngest  in  his  father's  house  ;  that  law  by  which 
Gideon  was  divinely  directed  to  take  only  three 
hundred  men  from  the  whole  assembled  host;  tho 
women  Deborah  and  Jael  stand  in  the  same  cate- 
gory with  the  ox-goad  of  Shamgar.  In  all  ages 
God  is  pleased  to  choose  for  his  service  the  in 
considerable  and  the  despised.  —  Tr.] 


The  Battle  of  the  Kishon.     Sisera,  defeated,  seeks  shelter  in  the  tent  of  Jael,  wife  of 
Heber  the  Kenite,  and  is  slain  by  her. 

Chapter  IV.     12-24. 


15 


16 


12  And  they  shewed  Sisera  that  Barak  the  son  of  Abinoam  was  gone  up  to  Mount 

13  Tabor.  And  Sisera  gathered  [called]  together  all  his  chariots  [his  whole  chariot- 
force],  even  nine  hundred  chariots  of  iron,  and  all  the  people  that  ivere  with  him,  from 
Harosheth  of  the  Gentiles  [Harosheth  Hagojim]  unto  the  river  [brook]  of  Kishon. 

14  And  Deborah  said  unto  Barak,  Up;  for  this  is  the  day  in  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
hath  delivered  [delivereth]  Sisera  into  thine  hand :  is  [doth]  not  the  Lord  [Je- 
hovah] gone  [go]  out  before  thee  ?  So  Barak  went  down  from  Mount  Tabor,  and 
ten  thousand  men  after  him.  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  discomfited  [confounded] 
Sisera,  and  all  his  [the]  cliariots,  and  all  his  [the]  host,  with  the  edsze  of  the  sword  ^ 
before  Barak ;  so  that  [and]  Sisera  lighted  down  off  his  chariot,  and  fled  away  on 
his  feet.  But  [And]  Barak  pursued  after  the  chariots,  and  after  the  host,  unto 
Harosheth  of  the  Gentiles  [Harosheth  Hagojim]:  and  all  the   host  of  Sisera  fell 

17  upon  [by]  the  edge  of  the  sword;  and  there  was  not  a  man  left.  Howbeit,  Sisera 
fled  ^  away  on  his  feet  to  the  tent  of  Jael  the  wife  of  Heber  the  Kenite  :  for  the7-e  was 

18  peace  between  Jabin  the  king  of  Ilazor  and  the  house  of  Heber  the  Kenite.  And 
Jael  went  out  to  meet  Sisera,  and  said  unto  him,  Turn  in,  my  lord,  turn  in  to  me  ;  fear 
not.    And  when  he  had  turned  [And  he  turned]  in  unto  her  into  the  tent,  [and]  she 

19  covered  him  with  a  mantle.^  And  he  said  unto  her.  Give  me,  I  pray  thee,  a  little  water 
to  drink  ;  for  I  am  thirsty,    And  she  opened  a  bottle  of  milk  [the  milk-skin],  and  gave 

20  him  drink,  and  covered  him.  Again  [And]  he  said  unto  her.  Stand  in  the  door  of 
the  tent,  and  it  shall  be,  when  any  man  doth  come  and  inquire  of  thee,  and  say.  Is 

21  there  any  man  here  ?  that  thou  shalt  say,  No.  Then  [And]  Jael  Heber's  wife  took 
a  nail  of  the  tent  [the  tent-pin];,  ^nd  took  an  [the]  hammer  in  her  hand,  and  went 
softly  luito  him,  and  smote  [drove]  the  nail  [pin]  into  his  temples,  and  fastened  it 
[and  it  pressed   through]  into  the  ground :  lor  he  was  fast  asleep,  and  weary.     So 

22  he  died.^  And  behold,  as  [omit :  as]  Barak  pursued  Sisera,  [and]  Jael  came  out 
[went]  to  meet  him,  and  said  unto  him.  Come,  and  I  will  shew  thee  the  man  whom 
thou  seekest.     And  when  he  came  into  her  tent,  behold,  Sisera  lay  dead,  and  the 

23  nail  [pin]  was  in  his  temples.     So  God  subdued  on  that  day  Jabin  the   king  of 

24  Canaan  before  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel.  And  the  hand  of  the  children  [sons] 
of  Israel  prospered,  and  prevailed  [grew  continually  heavier]  against  Jabin  the  king 
of  Canaan,  until  they  had  destroyed  Jabin  king  of  Canaan. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  15.  —  2~irT~^D7.  Standing  in  connection  with  Dn'^'l,  these  words  are  of  somewhat  dlflBicult  interpreta- 
tion. Dr.  Cassel's  rejection  of  them  will  not  commend  itself  to  most  critics  ;  nor  is  the  provisional  translation  he  gives 
of  them,  "  in  the  conflict,''  exactly  clear.  The  best  view  is  probably  that  of  Bachmann,  that  the  expression  denotes  the 
peat  operative  cause  by  which  Jehovah  confounded  the  enemy.      Barak's  men,  rushing  down  from  the  mountain,  and 


86 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


(ailing  suddenly  on  the  hosts  of  Sisera,  cutting  down  with  remorseless  sword  all  that  stood  in  their  way,  threw  the  enemy 
into  utter  confusion ;  but  the  effect  is  rightly  ascribed  to  Jehovah  from  whose  Spirit  both  the  impulse  and  the  strength  to 
execute  proceeded.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  17.  —  Dr.  Ca.ssel  translates  by  the  pluperfect :  "  had  fled, "  cf.  below.  But  it  seems  better  to  retain  ^he  indefi- 
nite perfect.  The  narrative  left  Sisera  for  a  moment,  in  order  in  ver.  16  briefly  to  indicate  the  fate  of  the  army,  but  now 
returns  to  him.    Cf.  1  Kgs.  xx.  30,  and  many  similar  instances.  —  Te.J    ■ 

[3  Ver.  18.  —  nD"'S2ti7.  This  word  means  a  "covering;  "  but  exactly  what  sort  of  covering  is  uncertain.  Dr.  Cassel 
translates  here  by  Rei;eiituch,  raincloth,  perhaps  to  indicate  its  close,  impervious  texture.  Dr.  Bachmann  thinks  it  was 
"  probably  a  rather  large  covering  or  mat  of  thick,  soft  material  (perhaps  skin  or  goat's-hair),  on  which  a  person  lay  down 
and  in  which  he  at  the  same  time  wrapped  himself  up,  —  a  sort  of  mattrass  and  coverlet  in  one.     Similar  articles  still 

form  part  of  the  furniture  of  the  Bedouin's  tent  and  the  Fellah's  dwelling."     Ue  derives  the  word  from   T[^ti7  = 

Tr72D,  in  its  usual  sense  to  support,  to  lean,  specifically  to  recline  at  table.  Accordingly  the  proper  meaning  of  the 
svord  would  be  "  supporting ;  "  then,  concretely,  that  which  supports  or  serves  to  recline  upon.  —  Tb.] 

[4  Ver.  21.  —  Dr.  Cassel :  "  and  he  —  for  weariness  he  had  fallen  fast  asleep  —  died."  Keil :  "  Now  he  was  fallen  into 
a  deep  sleep,  and  was  wearied  (!.  e.  from  weariness  he  had  fallen  fast  asleep) ;  and  so  he  died."     Similarly  Bachmann. 

The  clause  K-IH)  —  ?]27*T  is  manifestly  designed  to  set  forth  the  circumstances  which  enabled  Jael  to  approach  Sisera 
unperceived  ;  consequently,  the  "  for  "  of  the  English  version  is  perfectly  proper,  and  formally  not  less  correct  than  Dr. 
Cassel's  German,  which  was  only  designed  to  correct  Luther's  version  ;  "  he  however,  fell  asleep,  swooned  away,  and 
died."  Dr.  Wordsworth  (p.  99)  considers  it  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Jael  "smote  a  nail  into  Sisera's  head  while  he  was 
asleep."  He  would  render  :  "  and  he  fell  down  astounded,  and  fainted  away,  and  died."  The  passage  is  a  curiosity  in 
Interpretation.  —  Tr.] 


liXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Intensely  vivid  pictures,  and  of  the  highest  his- 
torical clearness,  are  drawn  in  these  simple  sen- 
tences. The  reader  is  conducted,  in  imagination, 
into  the  tumult  of  the  battle,  and  stands  horror- 
stricken  in  the  tent  of  Jael. 

Ver.  12.  And  they  told  Sisera.  Jabin  was 
in  Hazor,  Sisera  in  Harosheth  Hagojim.  Since 
the  tidings  from  Tabor  come  to  Sisera,  he  must 
have  been  near  the  scene  of  action ;  whilst  Jabin 
appears  to  be  at  a  distance  from  all  the  events  nar- 
rated. 

Vers.  13,  14.     And  he  caUed  together,  p'Sf.tl- 

pyj  means  properly,  to  cry ;  here,  as  in  ver.  10, 
to  assemble  by  crying,  KripvTTeiv  '■  he  mobilizes  the 
troops  quartered  round  about.  Everything  revolves 
about  Sisera.  He  is  the  prominent,  controlling 
personage  ;  commander,  probably,  of  the  mercena- 
ries, who  on  account  of  their  mixed  ^  character, 
were  also  perhaps  called  Gojiin.  The  chariots, 
which  Sisera  orders  to  be  sent  to  the  brook  Kishon, 
must  already  have  been  in  the  plain,  since  other- 
wise they  could  not  have  been  transported.  Their 
head-quarters  cannot  have  been  anywhere  else  than 
at  Beisfm,  where  at  the  same  time  they  commanded 
the  best  chariot  and  cavalry  roads  to  the  country 
beyond  the  Jordan.  The  plain  of  Jezreel  to  which 
he  conducts  them,  is  ground  on  which  his  army 
can  properly  imfold  itself.  He  leads  them  to  the 
southwest  side  of  Tabor,  where  the  mountain 
shows  its  greatest  depression.  It  must  have  been 
his  intentioii,  in  case  Barak  did  not  attack,  to  sur- 
round him  on  the  mountain,  and  thus  compel  him 
to  descend  into  the  valley.  But  before  the  terrible 
chai-iot-force  has  well  arranged  itself,  the  Israel- 
itish  army,  fired  with  divine  enthusiasm  by  Deb- 
orah, and  led  by  Barak,  charges  down  on  the 
flanks  of  the  enemy,  and  breaks  up  their  battle 
ranks.  Everything  is  thrown  into  confusion  — 
panic  terrors  ensue, — everything  turns  to  flight. 
The  great  captain  has  lost  his  head ;  of  all  his 

1  According  to  Ezekiel  (ch.  xxvii.  10),  Paras,  Lud,  and 
Phut,  were  in  the  army  of  the  king  of  Tyre,  as  mercenaries. 
The  same  prophet  (ch.  xxxviii.  5),  addressing  Gog,  implies 
that  he  had  Paras,  Cush,  and  Phut,  in  his  service.  It  is 
certainly  more  reasonable  to  think  of  the  As.syrian' Cush 
(Cossasaus)  as  connected  with  the  army  of  Gog,  than  of  the 
African.  In  place  of  Gog  and  Magog,  an  ancient  interpre- 
tation ah^ady  puts   Cimmerians  and  Scythians.     In  like 


strategic  plans  nothing  remains ;  only  presence  of 
mind  enough  is  left  him  to  seek  salvation  from 
destruction  by  not  fleeing  in  his  chariot,  nor  -with 
the  otliers. 

Vers.  15-24.  And  Jehovah  confounded  them 
Deborah  had  promised  tliat  God  would  go  Ijefoi'e 
them  —  as  He  went  before  Joshua,  not  visibly  as 
an  angel  (as  the  Targum  has  it),  but  in  the  might 
of  his  Spirit,  which  He  puts  upon  his  heroes.  It 
is  by  that  quickening  Spirit  that,  in  their  charge 
from  the  height,  Barak  becomes  lightning,  and 
Deborah  a  torch,  by  which  the  enemy  is  consumed. 

QI7t-'  "  He  confounded  them,"  as  He  confounded 
the  host  of  the  Egyptians  (Ex.  xiv.  24).  When 
confusion  enters  the  ranks  of  the  chariots,  all  is 
lost.  They  are  then  worse  than  useless.  God  did 
this,  that  Israel  might  conquer. 

In  the  conflict.  n'^iR-'^D^.  This  is  the  only 
meaning  which  these  words  can  have,  if  they  prop- 
erly belong  here.  In  that  case,  however,  the  phrase- 
ology :2nr7"''p^^  ....  DH^T  is  peculiar, 
and  admits  only  of  an  artificial  explanation.  Ber- 
thcau's  idea,  that  God  is  represented  as  a  cham- 
pion hero  with  his  sword,  is  altogether  inadmissible. 

To  me  it  seems  likely  that  Sin^'Dy  did  not 
originally  stand  here  at  all,  but  slipped  in  from  ver. 
16,  an  error  easily  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 

the  next  word,  "'.^Sv,  begins  with  the  same  letters. 

And  Sisera  Ughted  down  off  his  chariot.  Be- 
cause on  that  he  was  likely  to  be  recognized.  The 
bulk  of  the  army,  on  account  of  the  chariots,  can 
only  flee  along  the  plain,  back  to  Harosheth, 
whence  they  advanced.  Sisera  takes  to  his  feet, 
in  order  to  escape  by  other  roads.  He  fore- 
sees that  Barak  will  pursue  the  army,  and  look 
for  him  there.  Therefore  he  secretly  flees  in 
a  northern  direction  towards  Hazor;  and  gains 
thereby  at  all  events  the  advantage  that  Barak 
seeks  him  in  the  other  direction,  towards  Harosh- 

manner,  Symmachus  explains  the  king  of  Elam,  who  in- 
vaded Palestine,  to  be  the  king  of  the  Scythians.  The  his- 
torical fact  that  people  of  Scythian  manners  served  in  the 
armies  of  the  Phoeaicians,  ni.ay  serve  to  render  the  existence 
of  a  Scythian  colony  at  Beisan  more  probable  at  least,  tlian 
it  is  on  the  basis  of  the  traditions  communicated  by  Pliny, 
and  others,  which  are  only  Uke  similar  stories  current  a* 
Antioch  and  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER  IV.    12-24. 


87 


eth.  During  the  tumult  in  which  his  proud  army- 
is  shattered  by  the  heroic  deeds  of  Israel,  he  has 
succeeded  in  o^etting  well  on  towards  his  destina- 
tion, and  thinks  himself  to  have  found  a  safe  hid- 
ing-place with  a  friend.  The  language  is  de- 
signedly chosen  to  indicate  this  order  of  events  : 
first,  ver.  15,  and  Siserafled;  then,  ver.  16,  Barak 
pursued;  finally,  ver.  17,  Sisera  had  fled.  —  Be- 
tween Hebe'-  the  Kenite  and  Jabin  there  was  peace ; 
the  Kenite  therefore  had  not  shared  the  oppression 
under  which  Israel  suffered.  Consequently,  Sisera 
could  hope  to  find  in  his  tent  a  little  rest  ti-om  the 
fatigue  of  his  long-continued^  exertions.  Secrirer 
still  was  the  shelter  of  the  woman's  tent.  In  that 
of  Heber,  he  might  have  feared  the  violen.ce  of 
Barak :  the  tent  of  a  woman  no  one  enters  with 
hostile  purpose.  He  seems  first  to  have  made  in- 
quiries. She  meets  him  with  friendly  mien,  invites 
him  urgently,  and  quiets  his  apprehensions :  "fear 
not,"  she  says ;  she  prepares  him  a  couch  that  he 
may  rest  himself,  and  covers  him  carefully  with  a 

close  covering.  The  covering  is  called  H^'^^tl', 
a  word  which  occurs  only  here.  The  derivations 
given  in  Bochart  {Ph<deg,  748)  and  in  the  recent 
lexicons  (Gesenius,  Fiirst),  throw  no  light  on  it. 

n^^ap  is  the  Syriac  and  Cbaldee  W3U?t3  hide, 

skin,  leather;  Arabic,  ItE'Q  (cf.  Freytag,  Lex. 
Arab.,  iv.,  sub  voce),  cilicium,saccns.  This  is  finally 
indicated  by  those  Greek  versions  (followed  also 
by  Augustine ;  and  cf.  Rurdam,  p.  8.3)  which 
translate  it  Se'ppis ;  for  that  means  not  only  "  hide," 
but  also  "  leathern  covering,"  and  a  female  gar- 
ment, according  to  the  Eti/inol.  Mar/nwii,  where  we 
read  of  a  yw^  jxiXaivav  S4pptv  7in(pte(Tfi(vri.  Thus 
also  the  direction  of  certain  Rabbins  that  this  word 

is  to  be  interpreted  as  Nv3^Ji7P  [stragnla),  ex- 
plains itself.  The  Targum  also  agrees  with  this  ; 
for  it  has  SD3^3,  KawaK-ri,  a  covering  rough  on 
one  side.  Nor  is  anything  else  meant  by  the  word 
^"JpC^lb?  (in  Targum  of  Jon.,  Deut.  xxiv.  13). 
It  must  be  a  close  covering,  fitted  to  conceal  the 
soldier  who  lies  under  it. 

Sisera  is  not  incautious.  He  proceeds  to  ask 
for  drink,  pleading  thirst.  She  gives  him  of  her 
milk.  It  is  an  ancient,  oriental  practice,  common 
to  all  Bedouins,  Arabs,  and  the  inhabitants  of  des- 
erts in  general,  that  whoever  has  eaten  or  drunk 
anything  in  the  teUt,  is  received  into  the  peace  of 
the  house.  The  Arab's  mortal  enemy  slumbers 
securely  in  the  tent  of  his  adversary,  if  he  have 
drunk  with  him.  Hence,  Saladin  refuses  to  give 
drink  to  the  bold  Frank  Knight,  Reinald  of 
Chatillon,  because  he  wishes  to  kill  him  (Marin, 
Hist,  of  Saladin,  ii.  19).  Sisera  thinks  that  he 
may  now  safely  yield  to  sleep.  Only  he  feels  that 
he  ought  first  to  instruct  Jael  how  to  answer  any 
pursuers  that  may  come.     How  did  he  deceive 

1  [ST.UfLET  :  "  It  must  have  been  three  days  after  the 
battle  that  he  reached  a  spot,  which  seems  to  gather  into 
Itself,  as  in  the  last  scene  of  an  eventful  drama,  all  the 
characters  of  the  previous  acts."  —  Tr.] 

2  [Dr.  Wordsworth,  treating  the  question,  "  What  is  the 
true  character  of  Jaels  act  ?  "  argues  that  as  It  was  com- 
mended b3'  the  Song  of  Deborah,  and  as  that  Song  "  is  re- 
cited by  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  utterance  of  one  who  spake 
by  his  own  inspiration,"  it  follows  that  "  Jael  must  have 
received  a  special  commission  from  God  to  attempt  and  per- 
form this  act."  Much  in  the  history,  he  says,  ''•  confirms 
ihis  conclusion."  What  he  adduces,  however,  is  not  forth 
repeating.     J)/.  BachmaoD  enters  into  the  discussion  very 


himself !  Sisera  is  made  to  know  the  demonlik* 
violence  [ddmonische  Gewalt]  of  a  woman's  soul, 
which,  when  it  breaks  loose,  knows  no  bounds. 
True,  Jabin  is  at  peace  with  Heber.  But  Jael's 
race  and  its  history  have  from  time  immemorial 
intergrown  with  those  of  Israel.  Israel's  freedom 
is  her  freedom  ;  Israel's  glory,  her  glory.  How 
many  women  have  been  dishonored  and  carried 
away  as  booty  by  Sisera  (ch.  v.  30)  !  Shall  she 
be  idle,  when  the  tyrant  gives  himself  up  into  her 
hands  ?  What,  if  she  saves  him  1  Will  it  not  be 
treason  on  her  part  against  the  ancient  covenant 
with  Israel  1  Will  he  not,  by  virtue  of  his  vigor 
and  skill,  collect  fresh  troops,  and  threaten  Israel 
anew  1  Shall  it  be  said,  Jael  saved  the  enemy 
of  the  people  among  whom  she  lived  as  among 
brothers,  to  their  destruction  1  The  conflict  in 
which  she  finds  herself  is  great ;  and  none  but 
a  great  and  powerful  soul  could  end  it  as  she 
does.  She  will  not  allow  him  to  escape  —  as  he 
will  do,  if  she  refuse  to  harbor  him ;  and  yet,  she 
can  harbor  him  only  to  destroy,  —  and  that  not 
without  doing  violence  to  ancient  popular  custom. 
She  makes  her  decision.  She  scorns  the  reward 
which  Sisera's  safety  might  perhaps  have  brought 
her.  She  takes  the  nobler  object  into  considera- 
tion—  the  freedom  of  a  kindred  nation,  — and  the 
older  right  preponderates.  A  ruthless  warrior 
stands  before  her,  the  violator  of  a  thou^rvud  laws 
of  right,  and  all  hesitation  vanishes.  She  has  no 
sword  with  which  to  hew  the  oppressor  down,  and 
seizes  the  temble  weapon  of  womanly  cunning, 
before  which  no  law  can  stand.  Besides,  it  has 
been  noticed,  even  in  modern  times,  that  in  gen- 
eral the  women  of  those  regions  care  less  about 
the  rights  of  hospitality  than  the  men.  Burkhardt 
in  his  wanderings  had  personal  experience  of  this 
(Bitter,  xiv.  179). 

Jael,  through  her  terrible  deed,  far  surpasses 
similar  female  characters  of  other  times  and  na- 
tions. Concerning  the  Greek  Aretophila,  of  Gy- 
rene, Plutarch  {On  the  Virtues  of  Women,  n.  19) 
exclaims :  "  Her  glorious  deed  raises  her  to  the 
rank  of  the  most  ancient  heroines ! "  What  was 
her  deed?  By  poison,  lies,  and  perjury,  she 
finally  succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  tyrant  who 
loved  her,  the  husband  who  trusted  her !  But  she 
would  never  have  risen  to  such  an  undertaking, 
had  he  not  slain  her  first  husband.  Still  more 
horrible  is  the  Chriemhild  of  the  German  Nihelun- 
gen.  She  invites  those  whom  she  ^vishes  to  mur- 
der, from  a  great  distance ;  she  not  only  violates 
the  rights  of  hospitality,  but  her  victims  are  her 
own  relatives,  countrymen,  and  friends.  Jael  has 
no  by-ends,  no  personal  wrong  to  avenge;  the 
tyrant  is  a  stranger  to  hei",  and  not  properly  her 
enemy.  But  he  is  the  oppressor  of  the  freedom  of 
the  people  of  God,  with  whose  life  her  own  and 
that  of  her  I'ace  have  become  identified.  She  does 
a  demonlike  deed, — but  does  it  solely  and  purely 
in  the  service  of  general  ideas.^ 

fully.  The  salient  points  of  his  essay  may,  however,  be 
stated  in  few  words.  He  thinks  it  unquestionable  that  the 
language  of  Deborah,  ch.  iv.  9,  ''Jehovah  shall  sell  Sisera 
into  the  hand  of  a  woman,"  is  a  prediction  of  the  chieftain's 
destruction  by  Jael.  This  utterance  of  the  prophetess  can- 
not have  been  unknown  to  Jael.  Hence,  when  the  latter 
sees  Sisera  approach  her  tent  for  shelter,  she  at  once  obtains 
the  clear  and  certain  conviction  that  it  is  by  her  hands  that 
he  is  to  fall.  She  therefore  acts  under  a  divine  commission. 
Iler  invitation  to  Sisera,  her  promise  of  proteclion,  and  her 
honorable  entertainment  of  him,  are  not  to  be  defended.  But 
'■  although  she  transcended  the  proper  limits  in  the  means 
she  employed,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  operation  of 


88 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


It  had  not  been  necessary  for  her  to  kill  him. 
Scarcely  was  her  deed  accomplished,  before  Barak, 
swift  as  li}i:htning  both  in  battle  and  in  pursuit, 
appeared.  But,  since  it  was  done,  it  served  to 
manifest  the  faitnfnlness  of  the  Kenite,  and  to  in- 
crease the  disgrace  of  Jabin.  Barak  had  gained 
nothing  by  personally  slaying  the  flying  foe;  only 
the  honor  of  the  hostile  chieftain  had  been  sub- 
served, if  he  had  fallen  by  the  sword  of  the  hero. 
Filled  with  astonishment,  Barak  enters  the  tent  of 
Jael —  a  noble  subject  for  the  painter's  pencil !  ^  — 
and  before  him  lies  the  mighty  Sisera,  a  dead  man, 
nailed  to  the  earth  by  a  woman  !  A  victory  thus 
begun,  could  not  but  end  magnificently.  Contin- 
ually more  telling  were  the  blows  that  fell  on 
Jabin's  head,  until  his  power  was  annihilated. 
No  other  Jabin  reigned  in  Hazor.  His  name  is 
thrice  repeated  in  verses  23  and  24,  in  order  to 
emphasize  its  importance. 

HOMILETICAIi   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Deborah,  the  female  Judge,  full  of  fire,  and 
Barak  the  hero.  Israel's  sin  remains  ever  the 
same.  When  their  hero  dies,  when  the  elders  who 
have  seen  the  works  of  God  are  no  more,  the 
younger  generation  apostatizes.  So  perverse  and 
cowardly  is  the  human  heart ;  and  times  do  not 
change,  nor  experience  teach  it.  —  Starke  :  Peace 
and  too  prosperous  days  are  not  long  good  for 
men. 

But  the  danger  of  the  judgment  becomes  ever 
greater,  the  tyranny  of  sin  ever  stronger  and  nearer. 
The  king  of  Aram,  whom  Othniel  smote,  was  dis- 
tant ;  the  king  of  Moab,  beyond  the  Jordan  ;  but 
the  king  of  Hazor  is  in  the  midst  of  the  land, 
possessed  of  unprecedented  power.  However,  the 
greater  the  power  of  the  enemy,  the  more  manifest 
become  the  wonders  of  God's  compassion.  The 
deliverer  raised  up  against  Moab,  though  left- 
handed,  is  a  man  ;  but  against  the  master  of  nine 
hundred  iron  chariots,  the  battle  is  waged  through 
a  woman.  Thus,  1 .  the  heathen  learn  that  victory 
comes  not  by  horses  or  horsemen,  but  by  the  word 
of  God;  and,  2.  Israel  is  humbled,  not  only  by 
the  judgment,  but  also  by  the  mercy,  of  God. 

There  was  no  want  of  warlike  men  in  Israel ; 
but  lances  break  like  rushes,  when  the  heart  is  not 
courageous.  Israel,  with  all  its  strong  men,  is  im- 
potent so  long  as  it  lacks  faith  in  its  God.    Barak 

the  Spirit  of  God  influenced  her  deed,  nor  that  she  acted 
from  the  impul.se  of  the  obedience  of  faith.  It  is.  moreover, 
only  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  obtain  an  explanation 
of  the  fact  that  Deborah  in  her  judgment  (ch.  v.  24  ff.)  so 
entirely  overlooked  the  human  weakness  that  clung  to  Jael'a 


is  a  valiant  hero,  but  a  woman  must  call  him. 
His  name  is  "  Lightning,"  and  his  deeds  are 
mighty ;  but  the  lightning  is  kindled  by  the  firc- 
words  of  the  prophetess.  As  Moses  sings  after  the 
exodus,  "  The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war,  the  Lord  is 
his  name,"  so  Deborah's  word  and  song  testify 
that  God  alone  can  save.  To  make  this  truth 
seen  and  believed  by  all.  He  lends  his  victory  to  a 
woman.  Thus  the  vanity  of  men  reveals  itself,  who 
ascribe  to  themselves  that  which  belongs  to  God. 
Military  readiness  is  of  no  avail,  when  readiness 
of  spirit  is  not  cherished.  Not  legions,  but  proph- 
ets, guard  the  kingdom  of  God.  God  only  can 
conquer,  and  He  suffers  not  men  to  prescribe  the 
instruments  of  conquest. 

Barak  was  a  valiant  hero,  for  he  was  obedient. 
He  followed,  but  did  not  begin.  Hence,  also, 
though  he  gained  the  victory  in  the  field,  he  never- 
theless did  not  complete  it.  He  took  his  impulse 
from  a  woman,  —  with  Deborah,  but  not  without 
her,  he  was  willing  to  go  where  he  went ;  a  wo- 
man likewise  finished  the  victory,  when  Jael  slew 
the  leader  of  the  enemy.  He  waited  for  the  spirit 
which  Deborah  breathed  into  him ;  not  so  did 
Jael  wait  for  his  sword  to  lay  Sisera  low.  Hence, 
a  woman's  name  became  connected  both  with  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  the  great  achievement. 
Thus  God  grants  results  according  to  the  measure 
of  courage.  As  we  believe,  so  we  have.  If  Barak 
had  believed  like  Deborah,  he  would  have  been  as 
near  to  God  as  she  was.  But  the  Spirit  of  God 
needs  no  soldiers  to  conquer.  He  -glorifies,  through 
his  word,  the  despised  things  of  the  world.  Jesus 
selected  as  disciples,  not  athletes,  but  children  of 
God  who  sought  their  Father.  Put  up  thy  sword, 
He  said  to  Peter.  When  risen  from  the  dead,  it 
was  to  a  woman  that  He  first  appeared. 

Starke  :  Holy  men  love  holy  company,  for 
therein  they  find  a  great  blessing.  —  The  same  : 
We  with  our  distrust  often  close  God's  hands,  so 
that  but  for  our  own  actions.  He  would  give  us  far 
more  than  He  does ;  for  God  is  more  inclined  to 
give,  than  we  to  receive.  —  The  same  :  So  are 
men's  hearts  in  the  hands  of  God,  that  out  of  the 
timid  He  can  make  heroes,  and  out  of  heroes,  cow- 
ards. —  Gerlach  :  The  holy  faith  that  animates 
the  deed  of  Jael,  is  of  divine  origin  ;  the  ways  and 
methods,  however,  of  rude  and  savage  times  con- 
tinue in  part  until  the  time  when  all  the  promises 
of  God  in  Christ  shall  be  fulfilled. 

deed."     Compare  the  remarks  of  Dean  Stanley,  Hist,  oftht 
Jewish  Churr/i,  i.  365-370.  —  Tr.] 

1  It  is  powerfully  treated  in  the  Bibel  in  Bildem,  pub» 
listed  by  Schnorr. 


CHAPTER  V.   1-31. 


89 


Deborah's   Song   of  Triumph. 
Chapter  V.     1-31. 


TBE   SUPERSCRIPTION. 

Verse  1. 


1     Then  sang  Deborah  and  Barak  the  son  of  Abinoam  on  that  day,  saying, 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  special  sign  of  the  prophetic  spirit,  is  the  use 
Df  lyrical  expression.  The  praise  of  God,  and  the 
proclamation  of  his  mighty  deeds,  burst  from  the 
prophets  in  the  rapture  of  poetic  visions.  Their 
language  is  glowing  and  powerful,  like  a  torch  in 
the  night.  This  lofty  view  of  the  nature  of  poetry 
shows  itself  everywhere.  Poets,  says  Socrates, 
speak  like  men  divinely  inspired,  like  those  who 
deliver  oracles.  Among  the  Romans,  legendary 
tradition  (Liv.  i.  7)  told  of  an  ancient  prophetic 
nymph,  Carmenta  (from  Carmen).  Of  no  Judge 
is  it  expressly  said  that  he  was  a  prophet :  this  is 
affirmed  of  Deborah  alone  ;  and  she  alone  among 
them  sang,  —  and  that,  not  merely  as  Miriam,  who 
with  her  women '  formed  the  responsive  choir  to 
Moses'  song,  but  as  Moses,  the  victor,  himself. 

She  sang,  "'^l.'j'jll.  She  was  the  creator  of  the 
8ong.     Quite  parallel  is  the  expression,  Ex.  xv.  1  : 

"  then  sang  Moses  and  the  sons  of  Israel "  O"^^.^)' 
not  "  they  sang."  Moses,  divinely  inspired,  com- 
posed the  song,  and  the  people  sang  it.  The  case 
was  similar  with  Deborah.     The  feminine  of  the 

verb,  with  the  following  connective,  I?  expresses 
the  independent  creation  and  the  joint-execution 
of  the  Song ;  for  already  in  the  fourth  chapter, 
Barak  stands  for  the  most  part  for  the  people  them- 
selves. Thus,  Barak  has  gone  up  to  Mount  Tabor, 
ch.  iv.  12  ;  Sisera's  army  is  thrown  into  confusion 
before  Barak,  ver.  15;  Barak  pursues,  ver.  16  ;  etc. 
Here  also,  therefore,  Barak  takes  the  place  which 
in  the  Song  of  Moses  the  "  children  of  Israel "  oc- 
cupy. He  and  his  men  raise  Deborah's  hymn  as 
their  song  of  triumph;  and  thus  it  becomes  a  na- 
tional hymn.  Song  is  the  noblest  ornament  which 
tlie  nations  of  antiquity  can  devise  for  victory. 
They  preserve  its  utterances  tenaciously,  both  as 
evidences  of  their  prowess,  and  as  incentives  to 
action  in  times  of  dishonor.  In  the  days  of  Pau- 
sanias  (in  the  second  century  after  Christ),  and 
therefore  about  800  years  after  the  event,  the 
Messenians  still  sang  a  triumphal  song  of  the  time 
of  Aristomenes  (Paus.  iv.  16).  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  remnant  of  German  recollections  of 
Arminius,  is  the  Westphalian  popular  song,  still 
sung  in  the  region  of  what  was  once  the  field  of 

1  [The  author's  version  of  the  Song  forms  an  essential 
part  of  his  exposition,  and  we  therefore  suhstitute  a  transla- 
tion of  it,  adhering  as  closely  as  practicable  to  his  German, 
for  the  ordinary  English  text.     For  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering  of 

rrin^,    cf  "Textual  and  Grammatical,"  note  1,  p.  23.    In 
T     :'  J  I  t- 

general,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  does  not  anxiously  aim  at 
literalness.  The  black-faced  letters  are  designed  to  imitate, 
rather  than  reproduce,  the  alliteration  which  in  our  author's 
view  ^cjrtns  a  marked  feature  of  the  poem  (see  above).     It 


victory  (cf.  Horkel,  in  Der  Gesch.  der  Deutschen  Vor- 
zeit,  i.  257).  In  the  case  of  Israel,  Avhose  victories 
are  the  steps  in  its  national  work,  and  the  evi- 
dences of  its  religious  truth,  the  interest  of  such  a 
song  is  the  greater,  beeause  there  tradition  moulded 
the  conscience  of  the  generations,  and  fidelity  to 
its  earliest  history  formed  the  conditions  of  the 
national  calling,  gi'eatness,  and  glory. 

The  form  of  the  Song,  as  of  the  old  Hebrew 
poeiry  generally,  is  that  of  free  rhythm.  The  Song 
IS  a  poetical  stream  :  everpvliere  poetical,  and  yet 
untrammeled  by  any  artistic  division  into  strophes. 
Such  a  division,  it  is  true,  is  not  altogether  want- 
ing ;  but  it  is  never  made  a  rule.  Consequently, 
efforts  to  force  it  systematically  on  the  poem,  while 
only  traces  of  it  show  themselves,  are  all  in  vain. 
There  is  no  want  of  finish ;  introduction  and  con- 
clusion are  well  defined ;  but  the  pauses  subordi- 
nate themselves  to  the  thoughts,  and  these  unfold 
themselves  free  as  the  waves.  The  peculiar  char- 
acter of  the  Song  consists  in  the  boldness  of  its 
imagery  and  the  force  of  its  unusual  language.  It 
appropriates,  in  a  natural  manner,  all  those  forms 
which  genuine  poetry  does  not  seek  but  produce ; 
but  it  appropriates  them  all  with  a  freedom  which 
endures  none  as  a  rule,  yet  without,  like  the  nat- 
ural stream,  violating  hai-mony.  The  Song,  then, 
has  sti-ophes,  but  they  are  not  of  equal  measure ; 
it  moves  along  in  parallelisms,  but  with  variations 
corresponding  to  the  movement  of  the  thought. 
The  most  interesting  feature  to  be  noticed,  is  the 
alliteration,  which  appears  in  the  highest  develop- 
ment and  delicacy,  as  elsewhere  only  in  the  old 
Norse  poems,  but  also  with  considerable  freedom 
from  restraint.  It  is  important  to  notice  this, 
because  it  testifies,  more  ^han  any  division  into 
strophes  that  may  exist,  to  the  nature  of  the  popu- 
lar song  and  its  lyrical  use.  The  divisions  which 
the  poem  certainly  shows,  are  determined  only  by 
its  own  course  of  thought.  They  are  :  the  praise 
of  God,  as  introduction  (vers.  2-5)  ;  the  delinea- 
tion of  the  emergency  (vers.  6-8) ;  the  call  to 
praise  that  the  evil  no  longer  exists  (vers.  9-11)  ; 
delineation  of  the  victory  and  the  victors  (vers.  12- 
23);  the  fate  of  the  enemy  (vers.  24-31).  The 
renderings  which  distinguish  the  following  trans- 
lation from  the  older  versions  extant,  will  be  jus- 
tified imder  the  several  verses  in  which  they 
occur.i 

may  be  useful  to  some  readers  to  be  referred  to  the  follow- 
ing readily  accessible  English  versions  of  the  Song  :  Robin- 
son's, with  an  extended  commentary,  in  Bibl.  Repository, 
1831,  p.  568  ;  "  Review  of  Hollmann  on  the  Song  of  Deborah," 

Chris.  Spectator  (New  Haven),  ii.  307  ;  Robbins,  "  The  Song 
of  Deborah,"  Bibliotkeca  Sacra,  1855,  p-  597 ;  Milman'a 
version,  in  Hist,  of  the  Jews,   i.   292  ;  Stanley's,  in  Jeivish 

Oiiirch,  i.  370.  The  whole  special  literature  of  the  subject 
is  given  by  Bachmann,  i.  298  ff.  —  Tr.] 


90 


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INTRO  D  UC  TION. 

Vers.  2-5. 

2  That  in  Israel  wildly  waved  the  hair 

In  the  people's  self-devotion,  —  Praise  God ! 

3  Hear,  O  ye  kings,  give  ear,  0  ye  princes  : 
I  for  God,^  unto  Him  will  I  sing, 

I  will  strike  the  strings  unto  God,  the  Lord  of  Israel ! 

4  O  God,  at  thy  march  from  Seir, 

At  thy  going  forth  from  Edom's  fields. 

The  earth  trembled,  and  the  heavens  dropped, 

Yea,  the  clouds  dropped  down  water. 

5  The  mountains  were  dismayed  before  God, 
Even  this  ^  Sinai,  before  God,  the  Lord  of  Israel. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  3.  —  Dr.  Cassel :  Itk  fur  Gott ;  but  the  accents  separate  "'SJM  from  nin^7,   and  there   ippears  no  good 

reason  for  disregarding  them.  The  position  and  repetition  of  the  subject  "'wDM  serve  to  bring  the  persim  of  the  Singer 
prominently  into  view,  and  that  not  in  her  character  as  woman,  but  as  prophetess,  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  there- 
fore entitled  to  challenge  the  attention  of  kings  and  princes.     So  Bachmann.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  5.  —  "'D'^D     TXt '.     literally,  "  this  Sinai."      "  Sinai  is  present  to  the  poetic  eye  of  Deborah  "  (Wordsworth). 
Dr.  Cassel  translates  by  the  definite  article,  der  Sinai.  —  Tr.]    • 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

"Ver.  2.  The  above  translation  of  ver.  2 1  differs 
from  all  earlier  renderings,  which  however  also 
differ  more  or  less  from  each  other.  The  most  in- 
teresting among  them  is  that  of  those  Greek  ver- 
sions which  render  "  eV  rw  ap^affOai  upxvy^"s."  It 
has  been  followed  by  a  multitude  of  esteemed  ex- 
positors (Schnurrer,  Rosenmiiller,  Ewald,  Bei-- 
theau,  Biittger,  Kemink) ;  and  yefc  it  betrays  its 

Egyptian  origin,  since  in  connection  with  37~)221 

ni27T5  it  thought  only  of  the  Egyptian  Pha- 
raoh or  king,  and  expounded  accordingly.  A  simi- 
lar, more  homiletical  interpretation  proceeds  from 
the  Targum.  This  was  more  naturally  reminded  of 
n^22?"1^5,  tdtw,  vindicta ;  the  Midrash,  by  speak- 
ing of  the  cessation  of  the  sufferings,  whose  pre- 
vious existence  is  implied  in  the  necessity  for  ven- 
geance, shows  that  it  adopts  the  same  interpreta- 
tion. Teller  also,  perhaps  unconsciously,  arrived 
at  the  same  explanation.     The  interpretation  of 

Easchi,  Avho  takes  ^^'HQ  as  equivalent  to  VT!?'  and 

of  those  who  suppose  it  equivalent  to  C372)  may, 
like  various  others,  be  passed  over  in  silence.  The 
natural  exposition,  which  is  always  at  the  same 
time  the  poetical,  has  on' all  sides  been  overlooked. 

^1^  is  undoubtedly  (as  in  Arabic)  the  hair  of 
the  head,  and  more  particularly  the  long,  waving 
hair,  the  coma;-  as  appears   from  Ezek.  xliv.  20. 

mj7'1?  is  its  plural  form,  and  is  used  in  Dent. 

T      •  :iT         AT        ••-:.; 

2  That  we  must  go  back  to  the  sense  of  this  word,  is  a,lso 
admitted  by  Keil ;  but  he  attaches  a  meaning  to  it  which 

:t  neyer  has.     [Keil:        iHll'^Q   here  means  properly 


xxxii.  42,  where  blood  is  spoken  of  as  flowing 
down  from  the  hairy  head  (::.':iS  ni37~]Q  tt>«"1Kl). 

Hence  the  vei-b  ^']5,  (cf  Ko/xav,  to  cultivate  the 
hair),  signifies  "to  make  loose,"  to  allow  to  "be- 
come wild,"  as  when  the  hair  flies  wild  and  loose 
about  the  neck;  wherefore  it  is  said  of  Aaron 
(Ex.  xxxii.  25)  that  he  had  caused  the  people 

nU'nQ,  "  to  grow  wild,"  and  of  the  people  that 

they  "had  grown  wild"  (?7'^)'  "^^^  circum- 
stances under  which  the  hair  was  allowed  to  grow, 
are  well  known.  The  person  who  makes  a  vow, 
who  would  be  holy  unto  God,  is  directed  (Num. 

vi.  5)  to  let  his  hair  grow  (^"j^  ^."!^?)-  The  in- 
stance of  Samson,  to  which  we  shall  come  here- 
after, is  'fanuliar.     The  present  occasion  for  this 

observance  arose  217  D|^3nn3,  3  when  the  peo- 
ple consecrated  themselves,  devoted  themselves 
(.se  devovit),  to  God,  —  the  people,  namely,  who  gave 
heed  to  tlie  voice  of  Deborah,  and  placed  themselves 
in  the  position  of  one  who  called  himself  holy  unto 
God.  Israel,  through  disobedience,  had  fallen  into 
servitude.  Those  who  followed  Barak,  had  faith 
in  God ;  upon  the  strength  of  this  faith  they  haz- 
arded their  lives.  They  devoted  themselves  wholly 
as  a  sacriflce  to  God.  The  verse  therefoi'c  exhibits 
a  profound  apprehension  of  the  essential  nature  of 
the  national  life.  It  sets  forth  the  ground  of  the 
very  possibility  of  the  Song,  and  therefore  stands 
at  its  head.  Israel  could  be  victorious  only  hy 
repentance  and  return  to  obedience."*  The  proph- , 
etess  delineates,  poetically  and  with  forcible  beauty, 

comati,  hairy  pei'sons,  i.  e.  those  who  are  endowed  with 
strength.  The  champions  in  battle  are  meant,  who  by 
their  prowess  and  valor  preceded  the  people."  —  Tr] 

3  The  verb  I2l3  occurs  only  in  Exodus,  Ezra,  Chron- 
icles, and  here. 

i  The  Targum,  though  merely  paraphrastic,  in  its  spirit 
agrees  entirely  with  this  interpretation. 


CHAPTER   V.    2-5. 


91 


the  people's  great  act  of  self-devotion,  when  whole 
tribes  give  themselves  to  God,  —  their  hair  stream- 
ing, their  hearts  rejoicing,  —  and  place  their 
strength  and  trust  in  Him.  They  were  the  Kaprj- 
KofiSaivres  ^  of  a  divine  freedom.     This  interpreta- 

tiftn  also  brings  the  parallelism  out  clearly  :  3?~)22 
stands  in  both  causal  and  appositional  correlation 

with  ^'n^D'T'?.  The  preposition  S  points  out 
the  condition  of  the  people  in  which  they  conquered 
and  sang.  The  Song  is  the  people's  consecration 
hymn,  and  praises  God  for  the  prosperous  and  suc- 
cessful issue  with  which  He  has  crowned  their 
vows.  "  Praise  ye  God,"  it  exclaims,  "  for  the 
long  locks,"  —  i.  e.  for  and  in  the  people's  conse- 
cration. The  result  of  every  such  consecration  as 
God  blesses,  is  his  praise.  And  now,  the  nations 
must  hear  it !  The  object  of  Israel's  national 
pride,  is  its  God.  Hence,  Israel's  song  of  triumph 
is  a  call  upon  suiTounding  kings  to  hear  what  God 
did  for  his  people  when  they  gave  themselves  up  to 
Hira.2 

Ver.  3.  Hear,  O  ye  kings  and  princes.  Both 
are  expressions  for  the  "  mighty  ones  "  among  the 

nations,  cf  Ps.  ii.  2.  0"*?^")  are  the  great,  the 
strong.  Rosen  manifestly  answers  to  the  Sanskrit 
I'risna  (Benfey,  i.  3.32),  Old  High  German  riso, 
giant.  —  Deborah  proposes  not  merely  to  sing,  but 

adds,  I  will  play  C"'^?^).  As  in  the  Psalms,  sing- 
ing and  playing  are  joined  together,  one  repre- 
senting thought,  the  other  sound.  The  action  ex- 
pressed by  "ii^^,  is  performed  on  various  instru- 
ments (cf  Ps.  cxliv.  9,  "ten-stringed  lute  "),  chiefly 
on  the  cithern,  a  species  of  harp  or  lyre  (Ps.  xcviii. 
5,  etc.),  but  also  with  timbrels  and  citherns  (Ps. 
cxlix.  3,  cf  Ps.  Ixxxi.  3).  Miriam  also  accom- 
panied her  antiphonal  song  with  timbrels  {ti/mpanis, 
Ex.  XV.  20),  Jephthah's  daughter  used  them  as  she 
came  to  meet  her  fother  (Judg.  xi.  34).  Nor  can 
they  have  failed  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  Song 
of  our  prophetess.  Tympana  {toph,  timbrels)  ap- 
pear in  antiquity  as  the  special  instrument  of  im- 
passioned  women    (Creuzcr,    SymhoUk,    iii.   489). 

The  derivation  of  the  word  "^^|  is  not  clear.  De- 
litzschis  doubtless  right  in  deciding  [Psalter,  i.  19) 
that  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  samar  which 
signifies  to  "prune  the  vine."  That  samar  re- 
minds one  of  the  Greek  (Tfj.iKri,  a  clasp  and  carving- 
knife.  Simmer,  to  play  (sell,  inismor,  \pci^ij.6s),  dis- 
tinguishes itself  as  an  onomatopoetic  word.  The 
primitive  Greek  singer,  whose  contest  with  the 
muses  in  cithern-playing  Homer  already  relates, 
was  named   Thamyris  (II.  ii.  594). 

Vers.  4,  5.  O  God  at  thy  march  from  Seir. 
An  Israelitish  song  can  praise  God  only  by  re- 

1  ["  Long-haired,"  cf.  the  Homeric  KaprjKonowvra^  Ax<"- 
ovs,  "  long-haired  Greeks,"  II.  ii.  11,  etc.  Among  the  later 
Greeks,  long  hair  was  the  badge  of  freedom,  and  hence  was 
not  allowed  to  slaves.  See  Smith's  Diet.  Antiquitits,  s.  v. 
"Coma."  — Tr.] 

'2  [Dr.  Bachmann  adopts  the  view  of  ver.  2  given  by  the 
LXX.  according  to  the  Alexandrine  Codex  :  ei'  tuJ  ap^aa-ffai 
opxiyo"?  ei'TcrpajjA,  and  translates,  <■  that  the  leaders  led," 
etc.     The  idea  of  "  leading  "  or  "  going  before,"  he  sajs, 

may  be  readily  derived  from  the  radical  meaning  of  jy^D, 
"  to  break  forth,  "  sc.  into  prominence  (hervorbrechen).  His 
criticism  on  our  author's  translation  Is  as  follows  :  "  To  say 

aothing  of  the  fact  that  the  partitive  (?)  vH'^ti^'^S  excites 
f urprise,  standing  as  it  does  in  paraUelism  with  D37,  it  may 


hearsing  the  history  of  Israel.  For  the  fact  that 
God  is  in  its  history  constitutes  the  sole  founda 
tion  of  Israel's  national  existence  and  rights  ovet 
against  other  nations.  But  this  immanence  of 
God  in  the  history  of  the  people,  manifests  itself 
most  wonderfully  in  those  events  through  which, 
as  by  steps,  Israel  became  a  nation.  For  not  in 
Egy])t,  where  Israel  was  a  servant,  was  the  nation 
born,  nor  through  the  exodus  alone  ;  the  nation- 
ality of  Israel  is  the  child  of  the  desert.  There, 
through  the  self-revelation  of  God,  Israel  became 
a  free  people.  The  journey  through  the  desert  — 
of  which  Sinai  was  the  central  point, — by  the 
giving  of  the  law  and  the  impartation  of  doctrine, 
by  the  wonderful  provision  of  food  and  the  gift  of 
victory,  and  by  the  infliction  of  awful  judgments, 
became  one  continuous  act  of  divine  revelation. 
Thus,  Israel  came  forth  from  the  desert  a  perfected 
nation.  The  prophetic  insight  of  the  Hebrew 
poets,  at  one  clear  glance,  traces  the  desert-birth 
of  the  nation  back  to  the  manifest  nearness  of  God 
as  its  cause  All  that  happened  to  the  people 
came  from  God.  "  The  Lord  came  from  Sinai," 
says  the  Song  of  Moses  (Deut.  xxxiii.  2),  "and 
rose  up  from  Seir ;  He  shined  forth  from  Mount 
Paran."  The  114th  psalm  (ver.  2)  represents  the 
exodus  from  Egypt  as  the  beginning  of  Israel's 
nationality  :  "  Then  Judah  became  his  sanctuary." 
Deborah  takes  Seir  and  Edom,  whence  Israel  en- 
tered history  as  a  nation,  as  representatives  of  the 
whole  desert;  which  from  her  position  was,  even 
geographically,  quite  natural.  The  G8th  Psalm, 
borrowing  from  this  passage,  at  the  same  time  ex- 
plains it  by  substitiiting  more  general  terms  for 
Seir  and  Edom  :  ^  "  When  thou  wcntest  forth  be- 
fore thy  people,  when  thou  didst  march  through 
the  wilderness."  The  wilderness  was  the  theatre 
of  the  revelation  of  God.  There  He  appeared  to 
his  people.  AVhere  is  there  another  nation  to 
whom  this  occurred  "?  "  Hear,  ye  kings,"  cries  the 
prophetess,  what  nation  was  ever  raised  up,  in- 
structed, and  led*  by  the  manifest  presence  of  such 
a  God  ? 

The  earth  trembled.  The  superior  grandeur 
of  Scriptural  over  the  noblest  Hellenic  conceptions, 
is  scarcely  anywhere  more  clearly  apparent.  The 
earthquake,  with  Hesiod  and  others,  is  symbolic  of 
conflict  between  the  powers  above  and  those  below, 
between  Zeus  and  Typhon  :  — 

"  Great  Olympus  trembled  beneath  the  immortal  feet 
Of  the  Kuler  rising  up,  and  hollow  groaned  the  earth. 

The  earth  resounded,  and  the  heavens  around,  and  the 
floods  of  ocean."  4 

To  the  prophetic  spirit  of  Deborah,  also,  and  of 
the  Psalms,  the  earthquake  becomes  a  powerful 
symbol;  but  it   is  the   symbol  of  the  creature's 

well  be  doubted  whether  the  expression  taken  in  this  sense 
would  ever  have  been  intelligible,  notwithstmding  the  al- 
leged explanatory  apposition  of  the   second  member  of  the 

verse  ;  at  all  events,  in   the   language   of  the   law  3?n9 

-  T 
denotes,  not  an  act,  but  a  condition  (the  consequence  of  the 

~I!327'^'S  V  "l^^n,  Num.  vi.  5),  such  as  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fulfillment  of  a  vow  of  consecration  —  and  to  a  begin- 
ning the  reference  would  have  to  be  here,  —  could  have  no 
existence."  —  Tr.] 

3  For     "I'^^iS'Jp     '?jnW'^'3,     Ps.    IxviU.  substitutes 

it  has  iin"'tt^"'2   ^"^17 ?2. 

4  Hesiod,  T/ieogon.,  v.' 840,  etc. 


92 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


humility  and  awe  on  account  of  the  sacred  near- 
ness of  God.  For  Israel's  sake,  God  descended 
from  on  high ;  the  creature  knows  its  Lord,  and 
trembles.  The  earth  trembles, i  and  "  the  heavens 
pour."  (In  the  desert  peninsula  of  Sinai  the  lat- 
ter is  a  wonder.  Even  at  this  day,  the  Bedouins 
cherish  the  superstition  that  Moses  had  in  his 
possession  the  book  which  determines  the  fall  of 
rain.)  The  heavens  lose  their  brazen  aridity; 
whatever  is  hard  and  unyielding,  rirm  as  rock 
and  stone,  becomes  soft  and  lit[uid :  -^  the  moun- 
tains   stagger,   the  rocks   flow   down  like  water 

(•17TD).  The  earthquake-belt  that  girdles  the 
Mediten'anean  afforded  numerous  instances  of  such 
phenomena.  Tremendous  masses  of  rock  have 
been  shaken  down  from  Mount  Sinai  by  earth- 
quakes flutter  xiv.  601,  etc.).  Even  this  Sinai. 
That  is,  Sinai  especially,  Sinai  before  all  others  is 
the  mountain  that  shook  when  God  descended, 
according  to  the  statement,  Ex.  xix.  18;  "and 
the  whole  mount  quaked  greatly."  Thunders 
rolled  and  heavy  clouds  hung  upon  its  summit 
(Ex.  xix.  16).  "  The  mountains  saw  thee,"  says 
Habakkuk  (ch.  iii.  10),  "  and  they  trembled ;  the 
overflowing  of  the  waters  passed  by."  "  What 
ailed  you,  ye  mountains,  that  ye  trembled  like 

1  Cf.  Jer.  X.  10 ;  Joel  iv.  (iii.)  16,  etc. 


lambs  1 "  asks  the  Psalmist,  Ps.  cxiv.  6  :  "  Before 
the  Lord  the  earth  trembled,  before  the  God  of 
Jacob." 

These  introductory  ascriptions  of  praise  to  God, 
have  no  reference  to  the  battle  at  the  Kishon. 
They  magnify  the  power  and  majesty  of  Israel's 
God,  as  manifested  in  the  nation's  earlier  history. 
Such  is  the  God  of  Israel,  the  nations  are  told. 
Such  is  He  who  has  chosen  Israel  for  his  people. 
It  was  there  in  the  desert  that  they  became  his ; 
and  for  that  reason  the  poet  selects  the  scenes  of 
the  desert  as  the  material  of  her  praise.  She 
speaks  with  great  brevity  :  the  68th  Psalm  ampli- 
fies her  conceptions.  Very  unfortunate  is  the 
conjectvire  (Bottger)  that  by  Sinai  Tabor  is  meant. 
It  is  altogether  at  variance  with  the  ^spirit  of  the 
old  covenant,  which  could  never  consent  to  make 
Sinai  the  repi^esentative  of  any  less  sacred  moun- 
tain. Moreover,  the  battle  was  not  on  Tabor,  but 
in  the  plain,  near  the  Kishon.  With  ver.  5  closes 
that  part  of  the  Song  by  which  the  "  kings  and 
princes "  are  informed  that  the  God  whom  the 
elements  fear,  has  become  the  Lord  of  Isi'ael. 
With  ver.  6  the  poetess  first  enters  on  the  history 
of  the  state  of  affairs  which  existed  in  Israel  pre- 
vious to  her  great  deed. 

2  "  The  mountains  melt  like  wax,"  cf.  Ps.  zcyii.  6. 


TME  PRE  nous   DISTRESS. 

Vers.    6-8. 


After  *  the  days  of  Shamgar,  son  of  Anath, 

After  the  Helper's  (Jael's)  days, 

The  highways  were  deserted, 

Tlie  traveller  went  in  whiding  ways. 

Deserted  were  Israel's  hamlets,^  deserted, 

Till  I  Deborah  rose  up  —  rose  up  a  mother  in  Israel. 

New  g-ods  had  they  got  them  ^  —  therefore   the   press  of  war  approached  their 

gates  ;  * 
Among  forty  thousand  in  Israel  was  there  found  ^  or  shield  or  spear  ? 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 


[1  Ver.  6 —  On  this  translation  of  21,  compare  the  author's  remarks  below.  The  justification  they  attempt,  is,  however^ 
too  forced  and  artificial  to  be  satisfactory.  The  passages  cited  in  its  support,  are  rather  against  it.  For  in  Num.  xiv.  11, 
it  is  the  very  fact  that  Israel's  unbelief  exists  contemporaneously,  in  the  presence,  as  it  were,  of  mighty  wonders,  that 
makes  it  so  culpable.  And  so  in  the  p.assages  cited  from  Isaiah  (ch.  v.  25  ;  ix.  11  (12) ;  x.  4),  it  is  the  continuance  of  Je- 
hovah's anger  while  surrounded,  so  to  speak,  by  the  terrible  evidences  of  previous  punitive  inflictions,  that  gives  it  its 

full  dreadfulness.  It  seems  necessary,  therefore,  to  take  3  here  in  the  sense  of  "  in,"  "  during."  It  is  necessary,  further, 
to  place  Shamgar  not  in,  but  after,  the  eighty  years' rest  procured  by  Ehud,  cf.  on  ch.  iii.  31  ;  for  while  the  "  land  rested," 
such  a  state  of  .affairs  as  Deborah  here  describes  cannot  have  existed.  lie  belongs  to  the  period  of  the  Canaanite  oppres- 
sion in  the  north,  and  fought  against  the  Philistines  who  I'ose  up  in  the  .south  (so  Bachmann  and  others).  A  single  ex- 
ploit is  told  of  him  ;  and  the  comparatively  inferior  position  assigned  him  in  the  Book  of  Judges,  seems  to  warrant  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  the  only  remarkable  deed  he  did.  That  deed,  however,  w.as  one  which  would  make  him  universally 
known  and  held  up  as  a  great  hero.  Deborah  seizes  on  this  popular  estimate  of  Shamgar,  in  oriler  by  contrast  to  heighten 
the  glory  of  the  divine  dehverance  just  achieved.     Such  was  your  condition  when  your  great  hero  lived,  she  says  :  but 

now,  behold,  what  hath  God  wrought !  —  The  words  \"3^  "^^"'S,  "  "n  the  days  of  Jael,"  contain  another  difficulty.  It 
must  strike  every  one  as  inappropriate  that  one  who,  so  lar  as  we  know,  had  only  now  become  famous,  and  that  by  a 
deed  of  deliverance,  namely,  Jael,  the  slayer  of  Sisera,  should  be  connected  with  the  past  misery.  Dr.  Cassel's  sugges- 
tion that  /V'^  is  to  be  taken  as  a  surname  or  popular  designation  of  some  hero  (see  below),  becomes  therefore  exceed- 
ingly attractive.  But  according  to  our  view  of  2,  the  hero  thus  designated  cannot  be  Ehud,  but  must  be  Shamgar. 
—  Tb. 

[2  Ver.  7  —  ^'iT'nQ.    Gesenius  and  Fiirst  define  this  word  as  properly  meaning,  "  rule,  dominion  ;  "  here,  concrete  foi 


CHAPTER   V.   5-8. 


93 


■'  rulers,  leaders."  So  also  Bertheau,  De  Wette,  Bunsen,  and  similarly  many  previous  expositors  and  versions  :  LXX.,  Cod. 
Vat.  SwaToi,  al.  codd.  oi  /tpaToOvTes  (Cod.  Al.  simply  transfers  the  word,  and  writes  c^pa^wv) ;   It.  Vers,  potentes,  Yulg.  foHes. 

This  undoubtedly  yields  a  good  sense  ;  but,  as  Bachmann  points  out,  it  rests  on  a  meaning  of  the  root  T"13,  which  al 
though  belonging  to  it  in  Arabic,  it  does  not  practically  have  in  Hebrev?.  Moreover,  it  appears  to  be  a  hazardous  pro 
ceeding  to  separate  litHD  from  Ht'^Q  in  signification,  if  not  (as  Flirst  does)  in  root-relations.     Accordingly,  Bach 

nianu  and  Keil,  like  our  author  and  others,  explain  "JlT^lB  by  rTnS,  and  make  it  mean  the  "  open  country,''  or  "  the 
unwalled  cities  or  villages  of  the  open  country."  In  this  they  only  "follow  the  Targuni,  Peshito,  most  of  the  RabbinSj 
aud  many  earlier  and  later  expositors.  The  form  of  the  word  sliows  that  it  is  properly  an  abstract,  cf.  Ges.  Gr.  83,  2 ; 
84,  15;  EwalJ,  163.  b,  d.  Keil  and  Cassel  make  it  apply  in  the  concrete  to  the  cities,  villages,  or  hamlets,  Bachmann  to 
the  population,  of  the  open  country  {Landvolh).  The  connection  of  the  passage,  he  thinks,  requires  a  personal,  not  local, 
figmfication  ;  for  as   ver.  8  a  corresponds  to  (or  rather  gives  the  ground  of)  ver.  6  c  d,  bo  ver.  7  a  (the  cessation  of 

Ti"13)    must  correspond  to  ver.  8  b  (the  absence  of  shield  and  spear).     He  further  argues  that  as  in  ver.  2,  7  6,  and 

8  6,  7S'^ti?'*3  refers  to  the  people  of  Israel,  it  must  also  refer  to  them  in  ver.  7  a  ;  and,  finally,  that  the  signification 
"  rural  population,'  is  more  suitable  in  ver.  11.  The  ultimate  result  is  the  same  whether  one  or  the  other  interpretation 
be  adopted  ;  yet,' as  Bachmann's  arguments  do  not  appear  to  have  much  force,  and  as  the  immediately  preceding  men- 
tion of  highways  leads  the  mind  to  think  of  local  centres  of  population  rather  than  of  the  population  itself,  we  prefer  to 
Interpret  villages  or  hamlets.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  8.  —  Dr.  Cassel's  translation  conforms  more  closely  to  the  original :  Gewdhlt  liatlen  sic  neue  Gotter,  —  "they 
had  chosen  new  gods."  The  above  English  rendering  was  adopted  in  order  to  reproduce  the  alliteration  of  the  German. 
-TR.] 

14  Ver.  8. —  n;''~117ti7   CHv    TS  ".  literally,  "then  war  (was  at  the)  gates."    QH  V  is  best  explained  as  a  verbal 

A     T    ;  JV  T         >,T  V  T 

noun  from  piel,  the  vowel  of  the  final  syllable  of  the  absolute  Cn7  being  shortened  because  of  the  close  connection 
with  the  following  word,  and  the  retraction  of  the  tone  being  omitted  on  account  of  the  toneless  initial  syllable  of 
D"'"^^ti7  (Bertheau,  Keil,  Bachmann).  D^~137tl?  may  be  genitive  (in  which  case  2n7  must  be  in  the  construct 
Btate)  or  accusative  of  place,  which  is  more  simple.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  8.  —  nW"^'^~CS.      According  to  Keil  and  others  DS   introduces  a  negative   interrogatory.    But   as    CS 

with  simple,  direct  questions  is  rare,  cf.  Ges.  Gr.  153,.  2,  Bachmann  prefers  to  regard  it  as  the  CS  of  obtestation  :  "if 
Bhield  or  spear  were  seen  1  "  i.  e.  they  were  not  seen.  So  also  Bertheau,  Gesenius,  F'urst  (in  their  Lexicons),  and  many 
others.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  6-8.     After  the  days  of  Shamgar,  '^T^'^'2. 

'^112W.  The  difficulty  of  the  passage  can  scarcely 
be  removed,  if,  as  is  usually  done,  the  preposition 
5  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  "  in,"  "  during."  During 
the  days  of  Shamgar  such  misery  cannot  have 
come  upon  Israel.  The  narrator  could  not  in  that 
case  have  said  of  him,  ch.  iii.  31 ,  that  he  "  delivered 
Israel,"  just  as  (ver.  15)  he  speaks  of  Ehud  as  a 
"  deliverer."  If  Sliamgar  was  no  deliverer,  how 
can  it  be  said  "  and  after  him  (or  like  him,  i.  e. 
Ehud,  cf  on  ch.  iii.  31)  was  Shamgar  ?  "  It  seems 
impossible  to  assume  (as  nevertheless  Keil  also 
does),  that  the  poetess  could  say  of  the  days  of  such 
a  hero,  that  there  was  no  resistance  and  defense,  no 
sword  or  shield,  in  Israel.  The  disparaging  connec- 
tion in  which,  were  this  assumption  true,  it  would 
please  her  to  exhibit  the  hero,  is  also  wholly  at  va- 
riance with  her  spirit.  To  this  must  be  added  that, 
as  was  above  shown  to  be  probable,  Shamgar's 
famous  exploit  and  further  activity  fall  within  the 
eighty  years  of  "  rest "  after  Ehud.  At  all  events, 
Shamgar's  fame  is  related  before  the  time  in  which 
Israel  again  begins  to  sin,  and  consequently  again 
falls  into  servitude.  It  cannot  therefore  be  other- 
wise understood,  than  that  Deborah  retraces  the 
misery  of  her  people  up  to  the  time  of  this  last  hero. 
"  Since  the  days  of  Shamgar,"  i.  e.  upon  and  after 
his  days,   the  highways   began    to  be  deserted.^ 

1  The  use  of  2  in,  in  the  sense  of  upon  =  after,  cannot 
be  considered  surprising,  when  the  poetical  freedom  of  the 
language  is  taken  into  account.  Even  our  German  mif 
("upon  "or  "  on  "),  of  which  Grimm  says  that  in  many 
eases  it  has  appropriated  the  meaning  of  in,  affords  an  in- 
(tance  of  the  same  kind.  To  pass  by  other  examples,  we 
•Iso  say  with  equal  propriety,  ^^in  vielen  lagen  "  (in  many 


Philologically,  this  form  of  expression  is  not  with- 
out analogies.     God  says  (Num.  xiv.  11),  "They 

beL'eve  not  me,  niilSn  vD2,  in,  i.  e.  after  "  all 
the  wonders  I  have  done  among  them."  In  the 
same  manner  we  are  to  interpret  7D2  in  several 

passages  of  Isaiah  (ch.  ix.  11  (12);  v.  25;  x.  4); 
"  the  Syrians  and  Philistines  devour  Israel,  —  in 
all  that,  after  a]l  that,  notwithstanding  all  that,  his 
anger  is  not  turned  away."  Thus  the  sense  of 
our  passage  also  becomes  clear.  Notwithstand- 
ing that  the  days  of  Shamgar  have  been,  i.  e.  after 
them,  misery  began.  His  heroic  deed  against  the 
Philistines,  was  the  last  great  act  performed  by  Is- 
rael. But  the  author  adds,  "  in,  after,  the  days  of 
Jael."  That  this  cannot  be  the  stout-hearted  wo- 
man who  slew  Sisera,  is  self-evident,  since  Deborah, 
speaking  of  her  contemporary,  could  not  say  "  in 
the  days  of  Jael."  But  apart  from  this,  the  Song 
itself  (ver.  24)  distinguishes  this  Jael  by  carefully 
designating  her  as  the  "  wife  of  Heber,  the  Kenite." 
Moreover,  Jael  is  properly  a  man's  name.  The 
other  assumption,  however,  that  Jael  M'as  a  Judge, 
who  lived  before  Deborah's  time,  rests  on  slender 
foundations.  It  is  utterly  inconceivable  that  the . 
narrator,  who  communicates  the  Song  of  Deborah, 
had  he  so  undei'stood  it,  would  not  have  told  us 
something  of  this  Judge  Jael.  He  would  at  all 
events  have  inserted  his  name,  at  least  in  some  such 
manner  as  tliat  of  Shamgar  himself,  of  Elon  the 
Zebulonite,  and  of  Abdon  (Judg.  xii.  11-15),  of 

days),  and  "nach  vielen  tagen  "  (after  many  days),  not  only 
when  the  reference  is  to  the  future,  but  even  when  it  is  to 
the  past.  —  Although  Shamgar  slew  the  Philistines  with  an 
ox-goad,  that  fact  cannot  explain  the  non-employment  of 
sword  and  lance  in  ver.  8  of  the  Song ;  for,  as  Barak"a 
heroes  show  (ch.  iv.  16),  there  is  no  want  of  weapons,  but 
of  courage  to  use  them. 


94 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


whom  nothing  is  reported  beyond  the  general  fact 
that  theyjudged  Israel.  The  only  remclning  sup- 
position, and  one  fully  accordant  with  the  poetic 
cast  of  the  Song,  is,  that  Jael  was  the  knightly 
surname  of  Shamgar,  or  even  more  probably  of 
Ehud.  We  know  that  Gideon  is  frequently  men- 
tioned by  his  heroic  name  Jerubbaal,  and  that  Sam- 
son is  simply  styled  Bedan  (1  Sam.  xii.  11).  That 
Jael  might  readily  become  the  beautiful  popular 
designation  of  a  man  so  determined  and  rapid  in 
his  movements  as  Ehud,  is  evident,  whether  we 
take  it  to  mean  the  Mountain-climber,  the  August 
One,  the  Prince,  or  the  Rock-goat,  whose  facile 
ascent  to  the  most  inaccessible  rocky  heights  is  as- 
tonishing.    Most  probably,  however,  the  name  is 

connected  with  the  word  7'^^irT,  to  help.  The 
same  word,  which  is  often  used  negatively  concern- 
ing heathen  gods  (^7^^i*  Sv,  "  they  help  not,"  1 
Sam.  xii.  21,  Jer.  ii.  8,  etc.),  is  here  employed 
positively  to  denote  one  who  was  a  "  Helper  "  of 
Israel  in  distress.  The  sense,  moreover,  becomes 
thus  perfectly  clear  :  "  After  the  days  of  Shamgar, 
after  the  days  of  Jael  (Ehud),"  the  people  perished 
through  their  sins ;  that  is,  as  ch.  iv.  1  asserts,  and 
ver.  8  of  this  chapter  confirms,  —  "  they  had  chosen 
themselves  new  gods." 

The  highways  were  deserted,  HimS  ^  v"in : 
literally,  they  ceased  to  be  highways.  No  one 
ti'avelled  on  the  ])ublic  roads,  because  there  was  no 
security.  The  enemy  plundered  all  through  the 
country.  He  wlio  was  obliged  to  travel,  sought 
out  concealed  by-paths,  in  order  to  elude  the  ty- 
rant and  his  bands.  These  few  lines  give  a  strik- 
ing picture  of  a  land   languishing  under  hostile 

oppression.    pf'HD  ^  Vin,   open  places,  hamlets, 

ceased  to  exist.  P^^?  is  the  open  country,  in  dis- 
tinction from  cities  surrounded  by  walls  and  gates. 
One  imagines  himself  to  be  reading  a  description  of 
the  condition  of  Germany  in  the  10th  century, 
when  the  Magyars  invaded  the  land  (cf  Widukind, 
Siichs.  Gesch.  i.  32).  Henry  I.  is  celebrated  as  a 
builder  of  cities,  especially  because  by  fortifying 
open  villages  he  rendered  them  moi-e  secure  than 
formerly  against  the  enemy.  All  ancient  exposi- 
tors, Greek  as  well  as  Chaldee  and  later  Rabbinic, 
consent  to  this  explanation  or  P^'^^  i  (cf.  Schnur- 
rer,  p.  46).  Ver.  8  also  agrees  with  it:  no  place 
without  walls  was  any  longer  secure  against  the 
hostile  weapons  of  those  who  oppressed  Israel  ■; 
the  conflict  was  pushed  even  to  the  very  gates  of 
the  mountain  fortresses.  The  attempt  to  make  the 
word  mean  "  princes,"  "  leaders,"  labors  under 
great  difficulties  ;  which  modern  expositors,  almost 

1  Keil  also  has  adopted  it. 

2  [Wordsworth  :  "  Until  that  I  Deborah,  arose.  Deborah, 
•  as  an  inspired  person,  looks  at  herself  from  an  externalpoint 

of  view,  and  speaks  of  herself  objectively,  considering  all  her 
aets  ;is  due,  not  to  herself,  but  to  the  Spirit  of  God.  She 
does  not  praise  herself,  but  blesses  God  who  acted  in  her  : 
to  did  Moses  (see  Num.  xii.  3),  and  so  Samuel  (1  Sam.  xii. 
11). —Tr.] 

8  Isolated  interpretations  of  the  Middle  Ages,  taken  up  by 
B  few  moderns,  find  the  subject  in  Elo/dm,  as  if  '=  God  had 


all  of  whom  have  adopted  it,  have  by  no  means 
overcome.      It  raises  an  internal  contradiction  to 

connect  ^ -'"I'^  ^^^^  P^T'^'  when  taken  in  this 
sense.  We  can  very  properly  say  ^/"Tn  D'^^V'^, 
"  the  hungry  cease  to  be  such,"  but  not  "  princes." 
Of  a  banished  dynasty  there  is  no  question.  A 
Judge  there  was  not ;  none  therefore  could  cease 
to  be.  The  lack  of  military  virtue  is  first  men- 
tioned in  ver.  8.  Situated  as  Israel  was,  the  mis- 
ery of  the  peojjle  might  be  measured  by  the  extent 
to  which  their  fields  and  rural  districts  were  devas- 
tated and  rendered  insecure.  As  to  their  "  princes," 
their  hereditary  chiefs,  they  in  fact  still  existed. 
Nor  does  the  form  of  the  word  need  any  correction 
(cf  ver.  11). 

Till  I  arose  0.nP)?tt7  "T?  for  ^Pi^P.  "lt??W.  ^?) 
a  mother  in  Israel :  -  who,  as  it  were,  bore  Israel 
anew.  It  was  the  regeneration  of  Israel's  nation- 
ality that  was  secured  at  the  Kishon.  How  came 
it  about  (she  adds,  ver.  8),  that  Israel  had  so  fallen 
as  to  need  a  new  mother  ?  They  had  chosen  "  new 
gods  "  for  themselves.  The  eternal  God,  before 
whom  the  mountains  trembled,  Him  they  had  for- 
saken. Hence  the  loss  of  all  their  strength.  They 
were  hard  pressed,  up  to  the  veiy  gates  of  their  for- 
tresses. (Dn^  is  not  simply  war,  but  an  already 
victorious  and  consuming  oppression.)  Resistance 
in  the  open  field  there  was  none  anywhere.  Among 
forty  thousand  not  one  sought  safety  by  means  of 
sword  and  shield.'^  The  poet  says  "  neio  gods,"  not 
"other  gods."  The  objective  idea  is  of  course  the 
same,  but  not  the  subjective  thought  as  here  enter- 
tained. For  Israel  had  from  of  old  its  everlast- 
ing God,  —  Him  whose  glory  the  poem  had  deline- 
ated at  the  outset.  But  instead  of  that  God,  Israel 
chose  them  new  gods,  whom  they  had  not  formerly 
known.  There  is  a  profoundly  significant  connec- 
tion of  thought  between  this  jjassage  and  the  Song 
of  Moses,  Ueut.  xxxii.  17.  There  the  thought, 
which  is  hei'e  implied,  lies  fully  open  :  "  They  shall 
sacrifice  to  gods  whom  they  never  knew,  to  new 
gods,  that  came  newly  up,  whom  their  fathers 
feared  not."  The  heathen  gods  of  Canaan  are  in 
truth  all  new  to  Israel ;  for  their  own  God  had 
already  chosen  them  in  the  desert,  before  ever  they 
set  foot  in  the  land.  Israel's  recent  ruin  was  the 
consequence  of  their  serving  these  new  gods.  That 
all  manliness  had  vanished,  that  servitude  prevailed 
up  to  the  gates  of  their  fortresses,  that  they  were 
shut  out  from  highway,  hamlet,  and  fountain,  was 
the  bitter  fruit  of  their  unfaithfulness  to  their  an- 
cient God.  Nor  was  deliverance  possible,  until,  as 
the  result  of  Deborah's  eftbits,  the  people  became 
i-egenerated  by  means  of  the  ancient  truth. 

chosen  new  things.''  But  ver.  8  itself  opposes  this  construc- 
tion, to  say  nothing  of  the  contradiction  which  it  involves 
with  the  whole   course  of  thought.     To  adopt   Kemink's 

correction,  Q'tySH,  "  God  chose  women,"  would  only  in- 
crease the  distortion  of  the  hymn,  which  even  without  this 
would  arise  from  the  change  of  subject.  That  not  Elohim 
but  Jehnvah,  would  be  used,  were  God  the  subject,  is  re- 
marked by  Bertheau  (p.  88),  who  in  his  turn,  however,  un- 
fortunately gives  a  wrong  sense  to  Elohim. 


CHAPTER   V.   9-11. 


95 


TBE   SUMJIOIfS   TO  PKAISE   GOD  FOR  SELIVERANCB. 

Vers.  9-11. 


9  My  heart  (was)  with  the  Orderers  of  Israel, 

Who  devoted  themselves  among  the  people,  —  Praise  God ! 

10  Ye  who  ride  on  beautifully-saddled  asses. 

Who  sit  on  mats, 

And  -walk  through  ways,  —  Sing ! 

11  Instead  of  the  cry  of  the  contending  at  the  cisterns, 

They  praise  there  the  benefaction  of  God, 

The  benefaction  of  his  freedom  in  Israel, — 

When  the  People  of  God  hastened  down  to  the  gates. 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  9.  Deborah  has  delineated,  first,  the  glori- 
ous majesty  of  God ;  then,  in  contrast  therewith,  the 
ruin  which  overtook  Israel  because  it  forsook  Him, 
and  chose  new  gods  who  cannot  help,  till  she  arose, 
a  mother  in  Israel.  With  that  she  returns  to  the 
beginning.  For  what  had  she  done  ?  She  had 
called  on  the  people  to  turn  back,  and  consecrate 
themselves  to  God.  When  everything  lay  pros- 
trate, Barak  and  his  faithful  followers  had  taken 
the  vows  of  God  upon  themselves.  If  Deborah 
had  become  a  "strong  one"  (gibhor)  in  Israel,  so 
had  those  who  followed  her  inspiring  call.  If  she 
speaks  of  herself  as  Deliverer,  it  is  not  without  in- 
cluding those  to  whom  she  imparted  her  faithful 
and  courageous  "  heart."  Ver.  9  resumes  ver.  2. 
The  ground  of  all  her  praise,  is  that  Israel  turned 
again  to  God.  This  had  been  stated  in  ver.  2 ; 
here,  by  way  of  farther  transition  from  ver.  7, 
she  adds  the  expression  "  my  heart :  "  she  has  in- 
fused the  new  spirit  into  Israel.  She  has  imparted 
her  heart  to  tlte  people,  as  a  mother  to  her  children. 
The  "  heart "  is  the  seat  of  divine  inspirations  and 
hopes  ;  it  is  the  organ  that  praises,  desires,  and 
seeks  after  God.  The  contents  of  Deborah's  heart 
flowed  over  into  Israel.  "  If  thou  wilt  go  with 
me,"  says  Barak,  "  then  I  will  go."  "My  heart," 
she  exclaims,  "  was  with  the  orderei's  of  Israel," 
with  those  loho  devoted  themselves,  so  that  they 
devoted  themselves,  when  they  devoted  themselves  as 

"^i^r/H  of  Israel.!  The  explanation  of  "^f?.!?'"^  has 
been  thought  more  difficult  than  it  is.  It  has 
already  been  remarked  above,  that  the  duty  of  a 
Judge  was  to  execute  the  mishpat,  tiie  law  of  Israel, 
according  to  the  ordinances  of  Moses.  Whenever 
a  Judge  reintroduced  the  observance  of  the  law, 
divine  order  sprang  up  anew  among  the  people. 

Now,  r^T^  and  lOStT^  are  ever  conjoined  (cf.  Ex. 
XV.  25).  "What  nation  is  there,"  asks  Deut. 
iv.  8,  "  that  has  such  chukkim  and  mishpalim  ?  " 
"Hear,  0  Israel,  "reiterates  Moses, in  Deut.  v.  1, 
"  the  chukkim  and  mishpatim  which  I  speak  in  your 
ears."  "Joshua  made  a  covenant  with  the  people 
(Josh.  xxiv.  25),  and  set  them  chok  and  mishpat." 
What  the  Shophet  is  for  the  mishpat,  that  the 
Chokek  is  for  the  chok.  Both  words  have  the  same 
[1  la  this  sentence  our  author  seems  to  combine  two 
different  explanations  of  "^3^,  etc.,  namely  :  1.  I  imparted 
my  spirit  to  the  "  Orderers  "  of  Isra«jl,  by  virtue  of  which 
they  became  such  ;  and,  2.  Mf  heart  loves  those  who  proved 


grarnmatieal  form ;  both  have  the  same  historical 
relations.  Whoever  watched  over  the  cliok  of  Is- 
rael, was  a  chokek.  They  were  the  Orderers  of 
Israel ;  for  chok  is  the  "  order"  resulting  from  law. 
The  men  who  followed  Deborah,  the  leaders  of 
the_  people,  who  staked  their  lives  for  Israel's 
nationality  in  God,  were  not  shophetim,  —  for  that 
word  was  already  used  in  a  definitely  restricted 
sense ;  but  to  the  name  chokekim,  which  the  prophet- 
ess gives  them,  they  were  justly  entitled.  They 
were  men  of  law  and  national  order. 

Ver.  10.  Praise  God.  The  Song  of  Deborah 
is  a  hymn  of  praise  to  God :  praise  forms  the  key- 
note to  all  its  variations.  The  refrain  of  ver.  2 
is  here  repeated,  because  the  thought  of  ver.  2  has 
come  up  in  a  new  form.  The  arrangement  of  the 
poem  is  delicate  and  beautiful.  Ver.  2  called  on 
all  to  praise  God.  Thereupon  she  herself  began 
to  sing,  ver.  3  :  "  I  will  praise ; "  her  own  per- 
sonality comes  to  view  in  her  song  of  God,  and 
again  in  the  saving  power  through  which  she 
became  a  mother  of  Israel.  Erom  ver.  9  she  trans- 
fers the  work  of  praise  to  others.  The  self-devo- 
tion of  "her  heart"  had  communicated  itself  to 
the  people.  "  Praise  God,"  she  resumes ;  but  now 
they  are  to  sing  who  have  been  delivered,  and  en- 
joy the  fniits  of  victory.  The  whole  Song  is  a 
hymn  of  freedom.  How  extreme  and  miserable 
was  the  recent  oppression  !  The  country  was  full 
of  danger,  intercourse  interrupted,  life  enslaved. 
But  now  everything  is  free  again.  Every  kind  of 
movement  is  practicable.  The  highways  are  secure. 
Therefore,  praise  is  to  employ  all  who  enjoy  this 
return  of  rest.  Whoever  now  is  able  to  travel, 
without  being  hindered,  robbed,  or  put  in  peril  of 
his  life,  is  to  thank  God  who  restored  him  this 
privilege.  They  who  can  ride,  rest,  or  walk  in 
peace  again  —  for  now  animals  are  not  stolen, 
tents  are  not  plundered,  foot-travellers  are  not  mur- 
dered,—  are  to  know  and  proclaim  the  precious- 
ness  of  this  ncM^  blessing.  It  is  the  habit  of  Bibli- 
cal writers  to  comprehend  the  various  movements  of 
persons  under  the  terms  "  walking,  standing,  and 
sitting"  (cf  Ps.  i.  1).  Here,  where  the  freedom 
of  the  open  country  is  spoken  of,  riding  is  naturally 
mentioned  in  the  place  of  standing,  which  was  in- 
cluded in  the  other  expressions.     The  riders   are 

represented  as  riding  on  miniJ  ni3nS.  To 
themselves  "  Orderers,"  etc.  The  Latter  explanation,  merely 
hinted  at  by  Dr.  Cassel,  is  that  commonly  adopted  oy  ex- 
positors. Bachmann  remarks  that  if  the  first  idea  had  been 
intended,  it  would  have  been  more  clearly  expressed. — 
Te.] 


96 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


nde  on  asses,  was  certainly  a  well-known  custom 
(cf.  Judpj.  X.  4;  xii.  14);  but  the  mention  of 
"  white,"  or  as  it  is  commonly  rendered,  "  white- 
dappled  "  asses,  would  not  be  very  suitable.    Even 

though  tiie  connection  of  the  word  iTl")!!!?  with 
those  roots  which  signify  "  to  glisten,"  should  be 
iinally  established,  still  it  will  always  seem  more 
appropriate  to  refer  it  to  the  beautiful,  ornamented 
coverings  that  served  for  saddles.  But  there  seems 
to  be  also  a  philological  affinity  between  tsachar 
and  what  the  Greeks  and  Romans  called  cra.y/j.a, 
a-dyri,  sagma,^  and  the  Germans  saumsaltel  (pack- 
saddle).  Asses,  we  know,  carried  burdens:  pro- 
visions, corn,  wine,  etc.  (Gen.  xlii.  2.5;  xlv.  23;  1 
Sani.  XXV.  18  ;  cf  Bochart,  Hieros.  i.  184).  They 
arc  to  this  day  the  important  beast  of  burden  in 
Palestine ;  and  to  leave  the  ass  unladen,  even  on 
steep  mountain  paths,  is  considered  injurious 
(Ritter,  xvii.  295).  The  Targum  (Jonathan),  in 
its  rendering  of  Lev.  xv.  9,  uses  the  word  aayn] ;  for 

W^^,  and  not  i^3lY,  is  to  be  read  in  its  text  at 
that  place  (a  fact  overlooked  by  Sachs,  Beitrdge 
znr  SpracJiJ'.,  note  2,  196).  The  thought  suggests 
itself  naturally  that  restored  freedom  and  security 
must  have  been  of  special  value  to  those  who  trans- 
ported important  and  costly  articles.  The  passage 
becomes  peculiarly  significant,  if  brought  into  con- 
nection with  the  safety  of  traffic  and  intercourse, 
consequent  upon  the  enemy's  destruction.  —  And 
sit  on  mats.  Since  here  also  the  blessings  of  free- 
dom are  the  subject  of  discourse,  those  only  can  be 
meant  who  were  accustomed  to  sojourn  in  tents 
and  tent-villages.  "  To  spread  the  covering,"  and 
"  to  pitch  the  tent,"  are  to  this  day  equivalent 
expressions.  "  To  sit  on  cloths,"  was  the  poetic 
phrase  for  dwelling  in  the  open  country,  in  ham- 
lets, oases,  and  on  highways,  without  needing  the 

protection  of  walls  and  fortifications.    7"''^^  (mats) 

is  undoubtedly  a  plural  of  "T^,  garment.  It  is  in 
keeping  with  the  make  of  ancient,  especially  of 
oriental  dress,  that  the  various  terms  for  garment, 
covering,  cloth,  are  more  indefinite  and  intei-- 
changeable  than  in  modern  times.^  Such,  for  in- 
stance, is  the  case  with  "f^?,  garment  (Num.  iv. 
6-1.3) ;  compare  also  n^S?,  covering  (Deut.  xxii. 
12).  For  the  establishment  of  this  general  signifi- 
cation of  ^'''^^)  Teller  has  rendered  meritorious 
service.  In  a  manuscript  note  in  a  copy  of  his 
"  NotcB  Criticcn,"  now  in  my  possession,  he  directs 
attention  to  IfxaTiov  as  a  cognate  word.  At  all 
events,  that  also  has  the  double  sense  of  garment 
and  covering,  or  cloth.  The  same,  as  is  well  known, 
is  the  case  with  eVflris  and  vestis.  The  woi'd,  mats 
(Latin,  viait.a),  in  the  translation  above,  is  used 
merely  for  the  sake  of  assonance ;  a  philological 
connecti(m  between  it  and  the  Hebrew  word  is  not 

1  For  further  pbilological  comparisons,  see  Benfey,  i.  433, 
and  Dieffenbach,  Cetlica,  1.  85. 

2  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  use  of  the  articles  them- 
selves. The  popular  custom  of  spreading  out  garments, 
like  carpets  or  cloths,  for  persons  to  ride  or  walk  over,  is 
Bufficiently  familiar  from  the  history  of  our  Lord  and  the 
usages  of  both  Greeks  and  Romans. 

3  [It  does  not  appear  how  a  piel  HiJn  can  possibly  be 
obtained  from  a  niphal  n?J3,  The  form  D'^!J!JrT^  in 
the  text,  can  only  be  derived  from  V"n,  either  directly  or 
Indirectly.    In  the  latter  case  it  would  be  a  denominative 


di-scoverable. —  "H"!.'!!"''?  "^5?^)  foot-travellers, 
on  the  proper  public  roads.  They  too  are  no 
longer  driven  to  seek  winding  paths.  All,  whether 
they  ride,  sit,  or  walk,  have  become  free.  There- 
fore, sing  praise  to  God !  ^rT^ti^,  to  celebrate  iu 
song,  as  the  Psalmist  uses  it  (Ps.  cxlv.  5)  :  "  Words 
of  thy  wonders  will  I  sing  "  (nrT^ti^S). 

Ver.  II.  The  prophetess  continues  to  depict 
the  wonderful  change  from  servitude  to  freedom. 
While  the  enemy  had  the  upper  hand,  there  was 
security  only  within  the  gates  ;  up  to  the  threshold 
of  these,  the  inhabitants  were  hunted  and  pursued. 
A  lively  conception  of  such  a  condition  of  society, 
may  be  obtained  from  the  history  of  Germany  from 
the  13  th  to  the  16  th  century,  when  it  often  hap- 
pened that  large  cities  were  at  war  with  their 
neighbors.  In  Palestine,  cities  being  built  on  hill- 
tops, water  must  be  procured  outside  of  the  gates. 
It  was  at  a  well,  ac  the  time  of  water-drawing 
(Gen.  xxiv.  11),  that  Eliezer  met  Rebecca,  coming 
out  of  the  city.  In  time  of  war,  this  water-draw- 
ing was  a  dangerous  occupation.  The  crowd  was 
great,  and  every  one  wished  to  be  the  first  to  get 
away.  Consequently,  there  was  no  lack  of  con- 
tention and  vociferation.  How  all  that  is  changed  ! 
Now  the  maidens  draw  leisurely  and  merrily,  prais- 
ing God  the  while,  who  has  restored  quiet  and 
security.  The  philological  explanation  agrees  per- 
fectly with  this  exposition.  Verse  11  does  not  de- 
pend on  ver.    10;  it  introduces  a  new  thought. 

n"'!J^n)?  is  to  be  taken  or  read  as  D^^^np,/.  e. 

as  participle  of  the  piel  H-^rT,  to  strive,  quarrel, 
rixari  (cf.  Num.  xxvi.  9  ;  Ps.  Ix.  2  ;  etc.),  con- 
nected with  the  niphal  ^'^P)  often  used  of  persons 
who  strive  and  contend  with  each  other  (Deut- 
XXV.  1 1 ;  Ex.  ii.  13  ;  etc.).^  The  "  voice  "  of  those 
who  thus  contend  is  wont  to  attract  attention  ;  aud 

a  voice  is  now  also  heard :  ^^^^  D27,  there  they 
sing  aloud,  there  resounds  the  song  of  those  who 
praise  the  mercy  of  God.  (^2n'^  from  H^Ip,  piel, 
imperfect,  3d  person,  plural,  to  sound,  to  sing; 
Sanskrit,  tana,  tSvos,  German  tijnen.)  The  harsh 
voice  of  contention  is  replaced  by  the  sounds  of 
praise.  The  burden  of  this  praise  ?  The  benefits 
of  God  —  the  benefits  which  his  all-disposing  arm 
has  bestowed  on  Israel,  in  that,  after  their  self-sur- 
render and  return  to  Him,  He  has  made  them  free 
again  from  the  enemy.     The  consequence  of  his 

interposition  is  Pf"!?,  freedom :  Israel  is  free 
again,  and  no  longer  depends  on  walls  for  safety. 
]iT"1^  is  derived  from  t"nS,  just  as  lifSn  from 

f  PH-  It  contains  the  notion  of  that  which  is  free, 
of  freedom,  as  it  is  expressed  by  the  prophet  Zech- 
ariah,  quite  in  the  spirit  of  our  Song,  when  he  says 

from  XTT,  an  arrow,  and  would  mean  "  archers  ;  "  so  Ber- 
theau,  Keil,  and  many  other  interpreters,  both  ancient  and 
modern.     Many,  perhaps  most  expositors,  however,  prefer 

the  direct  derivation  from   T^'?n,   to   divide,  but  with  va- 

'  -  t' 
rious  modifications  of  the  radical  idea.  For  a  full  discussion 
of  the  word  and  the  interpretations  it  has  received,  see  Baoh- 
mann,  i.  pp.  351-359  ;  it  must  suffice  here  to  say  that  ho 
translates  it,  Beutetheilenden,  "  those  who  divide  the  spoil." 
They  (he  explains)  who  frequent  the  places  of  drawing 
water  are  to  praise  the  righteous  acts  of  Jehovah,  with  the 
joyful  voice  of  those  who  divide  the  spoil,  of.  Isa.  ix.  2  (3). 
—  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   V.   12-23. 


97 


(chapter  ii.  8,  9  (4,  5)):  "Jerusalem  shall  dwell 
open  (n'^TnS,  i,  g.  without  walls) ;  and  I,  saiththe 
Lord,  will  be  unto  her  a  wall  of  fire  round  about." 
When  Israel  devotes  itself  to  God,  it  is  at  rest; 
accordingly,  after  the  deeds  of  the  several  Judges 
are  related,  it  is  constantly  added,  "  and  the  land 
had  rest."  Then  enemies  are  powei'less ;  exposed 
hamlets  are  secure ;  God  is  their  protection.  There, 
at  tlie  cisterns,  they  praise  the  goodness  of  God 
which  manifests  itself  in  this  newly  recovered  free- 
dom. 

Wh^n  the  people  of  God  hastened  down  to 
the  gates.  Here  also  the  beauty  of  the  internal  ar- 
rangement of  the  Song  comes  prominently  to  view. 
Verse  8  says,  they  chose   themselves   new  gods, 

a^n^tt'  Cnb  TS  ;  verse  9  —  interrupted  by  the 
praise  of  God,  but  resumed  in  the  last  line  of  ver. 

1  [Keil  and  others  connect  the  last  clause  of  ver.  11,  not 
■with  ver.  9  ;  but  with  the  immediately  preceding  praise  for 
victory.  "  After  this  victory,"  says  Keil,  "  the  people  de- 
scended again  to  its  gates,  from  the  mountains  and  hiding- 
places  whither  it  had  betaken   itself  for  safety  from  the 


1 1 , — when  they  devoted  themselves  to  God,  '"n"]^  ^^ 
D^~l3^t£7^.  When  the  people  apostatized,  they  were 
pressed  up  to  tlieir  very  gates,  and  fled  ;  when,  by 
self-surrender,  they  became  a  people  of  God,  they 
rushed  boldly  down  to  the  gates  and  tin-ough  them. 
The  consequence  of  the  first  was  flight ;  that  of  the 
second,  impetuous  attack. ^  In  the  former  case, 
among  forty  thousand  there  was  not  a  man  capa- 
ble of  making  resistance ;  in  the  latter —  and  here- 
with the  Song  enters  on  the  delineation  of  the  con- 
flict, —  it  was  a  small  band  who  threw  themselves 
upon  the  mighty.  In  vers.  9-11  the  prophetess,  by 
praising  God  for  freedom,  interrupted  the  progress 
of  her  Song's  narrative,  just  as  she  does  in  vers. 
3-5  and  in  ver.  12,  to  which  and  the  following  verses 
we  now  pass  on. 

enemy  (ver.  6  f.)  —  entered  again  into  the  plains  of  the  land, 
into  the  cities  now  relieved  of  enemies."      Similarly,  Bach- 

mann.  Dr.  Cassels  translation  of  TN  by  ^' when  "  is  agaiusi 
the  usage  of  the  word. —  Tn.] 


Delineation  of  the  victors  and  the  ricTOXT. 
Vers.  12-23. 


12  Awake,  awake  Deborah  ! 
Awake,  awake,  compose  the  song  I 
Barak,  arise  !  —  conquer  thy  conquest, 
Thou  son  of  Abinoam  ! 

13  Then  down  against  the  robust  rushed  a  remnant, 

The  People  of  God  rushed  with  me  against  the  powerful.^ 

14  From  P^phraim's  stock,  tlie  victors  of  Amalek ; 
After  thee  (marched)  Benjamin  against  thy  foes,^ 
Masters  came  from  Machir, 

Men  skillful  with  the  accountant's  pencil  ®  distinguished  Zebulun. 

15  But  the  first  *  in  Issachar  were  witli  Deborah, 
Yea,  Issachar  was  the  basis  of  Barak, 

Wlien  into  the  valley  his  men  threw  themselves  on  foot,^  — 
While  by  the  brooks  abode  Reuben's  great  investigators.® 

16  Why  sitt'st  thou  by  the  folds,  listening  to  the  shepherd's  flute? 
By  the  brooks  Reuben  has  great  scrutinizers. 

17  Gilead  stays  beyond  the  Jordan  ; 

But,  Dan,  how  didst  thou  sail  in  ships  ! ' 

Asher  sits  on  the  sea-shore,  sheltered  in  his  bays, 

18  But  Zebulon  hazarded  his  soul  unto  death. 
With  Naphtali,  upon  the  high  plain  of  the  field. 

19  Kings  came  to  fight  —  Kings  of  Canaan  fought, 
At  Taanach  and  by  Megiddo's  waters,  — 
Satisfaction-money*  gained  they  none. 

20  From  heaven  strove  the  stars,® 

They  strove  from  their  stations  with  Sisera. 

21  Kishon's  stream  swept  them  away  — 

A  stream  of  succours  was  Kishon's  stream, — 
Tread  strongly  on,  my  soul  !  ^^ 

22  When  struck  the  sounding  hoof  of  the  rushing  steed, 

7 


98  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Of  the  flying  strong  ones  !  ^^ 
23  The  ban  on  Meroz,  commands  the  messenger  of  God,  the  ban !  — 
The  ban  on  its  inhabitants  ; 

Because  they  came  not  to  the  help  of  the  people  of  God, 
Of  the  People  of  God  against  the  powerful.^ 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver,  13.  —  This  rendering  of  ver.  13  supposes  the  Hebrew  text  to  be  pointed  and  divided  thus  : 

A.    .  -    :  .  T  -T         T 

|.        •  -         •         -T        T      :       - 
So  also  the  LXX.  (in  Cod.  Vat.)  and  many  expositors.     The  most  serious  objection  to  it  is,  that  as  it  is  the  easier  read- 
ing, the  Masorites  must  have  had  strong  traditional  grounds  for  preferring  one  more  difficult.    The  verse  has  been  trans- 
lated and  interpreted  in  a  great  variety  of  ways  ;  but  the  view  of  Dr.  Cassel  commends  itself  strongly,  especially  when 

compared  with  ch.  iv.  14.  Our  English  version  seems  to  talce  ^^^  as  imperf.  apoc.  Piel  from  n"T"1,  after  the  exam- 
ple of  several  Jewish  grammarians  and  interpreters.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Vor.  14.  —  Dr.  Cassel"s  rendering  of  the  first  line  of  ver.  14  —  pb^l^Sl  Dtt7"1C?  D"^~1*DM  "^SQ  —is,  Aus  Efra- 
inVs  Art,  die  Amalelcxieger.  It  does  not  clearly  appear  how  he  would  translate  the  passage  literally,  but  the  following 
would  probably  express  his  view  :  "  Out  of  Ephraim  (came)  their  root  (who  were)  against  Amalek."  The  "root,"  then, 
accordiug  to  our  author's  exposition  (see  below),  would  be  Joshua,  in  his  relation  to  those  whom  he  led  to  victory  against 

"  Amalek."     So  far  as    117^127   is  concerned,  this  interpretation  has  full  as  much  in  its  favor  as  that  which   makes  it 

mean  "  dwelling-place."     On  the  rendering  of   xT^p^l?,  see  the  commentary.     The  majority  of  expositors,  would  prob 
ably  accept  the  rendering  of  the  two  lines  given  by  Dr.  Kobin.'ion  {Bibl.  Repos.  1831) :  — 
"Out  of  Ephraim  (came  those)  whose  dwelling  is  by  Amalek  ; 
After  thee  (was)  Benjamin  among  thy  hosts." 
But  in  a  document  the  language  of  which  is  so  obscure  as  that  of  the  Song  of  Deborah,  much  necessarily  depends  on 
the  conception  formed  of  the  connection  iu  which  one  passage  stands  with  another.     Now,  while  the   majority  of  inter- 
preters assume  that  ver.  14  speaks  of  such  as  took  part  in  the  war  against  ^abin  and  Sisera,  our  author  maintains  that 
it  dwells  on  the  fime  of   those  who  did  not  take  part  in  this  war,  in  order  by  this  comparison  to  exalt  that  of  those  who 
did.     On  the  decision  of  this  question  the  interpretation  in  detail  of  the  whole  verse  depends.      Which  of  the  two  conflict- 
ing views  is  true,  is  not  a  matter  to  be  discussed  here,  but  it  is  certain  that  ch.  iv.  is  very  favorable  to  our  author's  side, 
of.  the  com.  belew.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  14.  —  The  rendering  of  this  line  turns  on  "^DO  135^7.  The  Targum,  Peshito,  and  most  ancient  expositors, 
explain  it  of  the  "  stylus  of  the  writer  ;  "  while  most  moderns  translate  it  "  the  staff  of  the  leader."  Compare  the  remarks 
in  the  preceding  note.  —  Tr.] 

[1  Ver.  15.  —  Dr.  Cassel  probably  reads   ''"Iti?,   with  Bertheau,  Keil,  and  most  expositors.      The  preposition  2    after 

the  construct  state  is  not  unusual  in  poetry,  cf.  2  Sam.  i.  21  ;  Job  xviii.  2  ;  etc.  Some  regard  '^'~)W  as  an  unusual  plu- 
ral (cf.  Ges.  Gram.  87, 1,  c),  or  as  an  archaic  form  of  the  construct  (so  Ewald,  Gram.  211,  c).  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  15.  —  On  V  vD'HS,  compare  "  Grammatical  "  note  on  ch.  iv.  10  ;  also  ch.  viii.  5  ;  2  Sam.  xv.  17  ;  etc.  — 
Tr.] 

[6  Ver.  15.  —  3  V    ''ppri  •  Dr.  Cassel,  Ergrilndler.     For  27    "''Hpn,  in  the  nest  verse,  he  has  Ergriibler,  which 

admirably  reproduces  both  the  paranomasia  and  the  irony  of  the  original,  "^ppn  and  ''"Ipn  are,  of  course,  abstract 
nouns,  followed  by  the  genitive  of  the  subject  to  which  they  pertain.  —  Tr.] 

[7  Ver.  17. —  "  Aber  Dan,  was  zogst  du  auf  Sckiffen  aiis  .' "  Our  author  probably  takes  "1113  in  its  most  usual  sense, 
"  to  sojourn  :  "  to  sojourn  in  or  on  ships,  readily  suggesting  the  idea  of  sailing  in  ships.  Most  expositors  translate  :  "  And 
Dan,  why  abides  he  at  the  ships  ?  "  The  prepositionless  accusative  is  as  easy  or  as  difficult  in  one  case  as  in  the  other. 
—  Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  19. —  ^D3    TSS:   Dr.  Cassel,    Geld  zur  Basse,  "]>ena,nce  money,"  cf.  the  Commentary  below.     Bertheau, 

Keil,  and  others,  taking  ^^2  in  its  Arabic  sense  of  frustum  (cf.  the  root  37352),  translate  :  "  not  a  piece  of  silver  did 
they  take  ;  '■'  but  against  the  Hebrew  use  of  the  word.  —  Tr.] 

[9  Ver.  2C  — Dr.  Cassel.  following  many  previous  expositors,  alters  the  Masoretic  text  division  by  transferring  "the 
stars  "  from  the  second  to  the  first  clause.     But  it  is  justly  objected  to  this  change  that  it  reduces  the  second  clause  to  a 

mere  repetition  by  which  nothing  is  added  to  the  idea  already  expressed  in  the  first.  In  the  next  line,  the  word  H  v'DP 
signifies,  "  a  causeway,"  "  highway."  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering,  Stdtten,  places,  is  manifestly  chosen  for  the  sake  of  allitera- 
tion :   Sie  stritten  von  ihren  Stdtten  mit  Sisera;  compare  the  English  imitation  above.  —  Tr.] 

[10  Ver.  21 —  T37  "^ti^DS  "^S^.TI^.  This  line  has  been  very  variously  interpreted.  It  is  now  generally  agreed,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  an  address  of  the  Singer  to  herself.    '^S'^.'in  is  the  jussive  of  the  second  person,  cf.  Ges.  Gram.  48,  4. 

f!?  may  either  betaken  as  an  adverbial  accusative  (=T372),  or  as  the  direct  objecf  after  the  verb.  Dr.  Cassel 
decides  for  the  former,  after  Herder,  Justi,  Bertheau,  Ewald,  Keil ;  Dr.  Bachmann,  with  Schnurrer,  Kohler,  Holniann, 
etc.,  prefers  the  latter,  and  takos  T37  as  the  abstract  for  the  concrete  :  "Tread  down,  my  soul,  the  strong  ones  !  "  cf. 
Bobbins,  in  EM,  Sacra.    In  either  case,  the  incitement  of  the  line  may  be  directed  to  the  continuation  of  the  Song,  or  to 


CHAPTER   V.    12-23. 


9i) 


the  prosecution  of  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  Bachmann  prefers  the  latter  ;  but  the  former  seems  to  us  more  striking 
and  appropriate.  —  Tr.] 

[11  Ver.  22.  —  Dr.  Cassel :  — 

Da  dtr  Jagewlen  Rosshuf  ha/tend  atifschlug, 

Der  entjagendtn  Starken. 

On  the  translation  of  TS  by  "when,"  cf.  note  1,  on  p.  97.     In  the  second  line  of  the  above  rendering,  the  1Q   does  not 

T  '     • 

come  to  its  riffhts,  and  the  suffix  in  V"^3S  is  neglected.     The  1X2  is  causal,  and  the  suffix   V goes  back  to  the  col- 

T  •     -  '    •  i 

lective  D^D  of  the  first  line,  so  that  it  seems  necessary  to  explain  L;^n"'2S  of  men,  not,  as  our  author  (see  below) 
of  horses.  The  best  rendering  of  the  verse  is  probably  that  adopted,  for  substance,  by  Kail,  Bachmann,  and  many 
others : — 

"  Then  the  hoofs  of  the  horses  smote  the  ground, 
Because  of  the  galloping  of  their  valiant  riders." 

The  last  expression  may  very  well  be  talcen  ironically  :  "runaway  heroes."  On  the  repetition  of  nT^n"^,  to  indicate 
continuance,  see  Ewald,  Gram-,  313  a  ;  cf.  also  Ges.  Gram.  108,  4.  —  Tr.] 

[1-2  Ver.  23.  —  On  the  above  translation  of  ver.  23  it  is  to  be  remarked,  1.  That  the  word  rendered  "  ban,"  is  "l^lS,  and 
does  not,  like  D^IH,  imply  the  actual  destruction  of  the  object  against  which  it  is  aimed.  2.  That  with  the  LXX. 
(Cod.  Vat.)  our  author  transfers  ^nS  from  the  second  line  to  the  first.  On  the  construction  of  ~li~lW  (which  below 
but  not  here,  he  changes  (with  the  LXX.)  into  "l^llS),  cf  Ges.  Gram.  131,  4  b.     3.  That  the  expression  "  People  of  God  ' 

is  our  author's  interpretation  of  what  is  meant  by  "coming  to  the  help  of  Jthovah,"  cf.  below.  4.  That  D''"11232 
is  by  most  recent  expositors  rendered,  "  among  (or,  with)  heroes,"  namely,  the  warriors  of  Israel.  Compare  the  SeptuagiuV 
and  Vulgate  ;  the  Targum  takes  2  in  the  hostile  sense.  —  Tr.] 


,  EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  12.  With  the  words  of  ver.  11,  "when  the 
People  of  God  hastened  down  to  the  gates,"  i.  e. 
out  to  battle,  the  projjhetess  transfers  herself  into 
the  midst  of  the  conflict.  Verse  12  presents  a 
reminiscence  of  the   battle  song.     It  recalls  the 

rallying  cry.  Wake  up !  wake  up  !  C'"]^^  from 
'y\lS,  cf.  Isa.  li.  9.)  "Awake,  awake!"  is  ad- 
dressed to  Deborah,  urging  her  to  fire  the  soldiery 
inrough  her  song ;  "  arise  ! "  refers  to  Barak.   For 

she  sang,  and  Barak  fought.  ^^?t.'t'  i^???;'')  "  lead 
forth  thy  captives."  To  be  able  to  carry  away 
captives,  was  evidence  of  a  complete  victory.  When 
Jerusalem  and  Samaria  fell,  the  people  wei'e  car- 
ried away  prisoners.  The  captivity  of  the  enemy 
ends  the  conflict.  The  reason  why  a  perpetual  ban 
of  destruction  was  pronounced  against  the  enemies 
who  attacked  the  host  of  Israel,  in  the  wilderness, 
near  Arad,  was  not  merely  that  they  fought  against 
Israel,  but  that  they  also  "  took  some  of  them  pris- 
oners" (Num.  xxi.  1)..  The  completeness  of  God's 
victory,  as  the  68th  Psalm  celebrates  it,  is  indi- 
cated by  the  expression,  ver.  19  (18)  :  '^'2W  H"^??^', 
"  thou  hast  carried  away  the  captives."  ^ 

Ver.  13.  The  prophetess  now  continues  to  depict 
the  surprising  contrasts  that  have  arisen  from  Is- 
rael's return  to  God.  A  "f''"".^^,  a  remaining  few,  by 
no  means  all  Israel,  but  a  small  band  —  like  the  rem- 
nant (□^~T"^"'.-^  )  whom,  according  to  the  prophet 
Joel  (ch.  ii.  32  (iii.  5)),  God  calls,  —  takes  up  the 
conflict  with  C~1""'^S,  mighty  ones.  (Cf  my  dis- 
cussion on  Ps.  viii.  2,  in  the  Lutherischen  Zeitschr., 

1860.  "Mighty  kings,"  D'^Tl^  ^''P^'?'  are 
slain  by  God,  Ps.  cxxxvi.  18).  The  next  line  runs 
parallel  with  this  :  "  the  people  of  God  (n^j.H'l  D^) 

1  [According  to  B.achmann  the  first  h.alf  of  ver.  12  con- 
tains the  .SL-lf-iocitement  of  Deborah  to  begin  the  description 
»f  the  battle,  while  tlie  second  half  actually  enters  on  the 
lescription  with  a  reminiscence  of  ch.  iv.  14.  —  Tr] 


charges  against- <7«'66on'7?i."  Gibhorim  are  warlike 
men  of  gigantic  strength.  It  is  applied  here  to 
enemies,  as  elsewhere  to  Nimrod,  who  also  was  an 
enemy.  In  the  view  of  Scripture,  God  alone  is  the 
true  Gihhor  (Deut.  x.  17,  etc.).  Usually,  the  (jib- 
bon'm  conquer  ;  but  hei-e  the  result  is  that  of  which 
Isaiah  speaks  (ch.  xlix.  25),  "the  captives  of  the 
gibhor  are  tak'^n  away  from  him."  There  is  a  pe- 
culiar beauty  in  Deborah's  mode  of  stating  her  own 
share  in  the  war  :  "  the  People  of  God  rushed  for 

me  ("^7)  against  heroes."  Tor  my  sake,  she  sings, 
at  my  call,  with  me,  did  they  hazard  the  conflict 
with  men  of  superior  strength. 

Vers.  14-16.  It  was  truly  a  "remnant"  that 
fought  at  the  Kishon  against  Sisera.  It  was  only 
a  part  of  all  Israel  that  was  entitled  to  the  honor 
of  being  styled  the  "  People  of  God."  A  special 
renown  must  henceforth  attach  to  those  tribes  who 
took  part  in  the  war,  just  as  the  Athenians  never 
lost  the  glory  of  having  alone  gained  the  battle  of 
Marathon.  In  Israel,  as  in  Hellas,  rivalries  ob- 
tained between  the  different  tribes.  Considerations 
like  these  afl^brd  the  proper  introduction  to  ver.  14. 
Expositors  have  made  its  difficulties  altogether  in- 
surmountable, by  supposing  that  all  the  tribes  here 
named  assisted  Barak.-'  But  this  supposition  is 
utterly  untenable :  1 .  The  statement  of  ch.  iv.  is 
positive  and  deffnite,  that  only  Zebulun  and  Naph- 
tali  fought  on  the  plains  of  Issachar.  It  is  more- 
over corroborated  by  the  fact  that,  from  her  resi- 
dence on  Mount  Ephraim,  Deborah  sends  to  just 
those  tribes,  because  the  oppression  under  which 
Israel  suffered  bore  heaviest  on  them.  2.  The 
question  whether  Ephraim  and  Benjamin  took  part 
in  the  war,  could  not  have  been  overlooked  by  the 
narrator ;  for  the  direction  of  the  march  which  he 
had  to  trace  was  altogether  different  from  what, 
had  they  been  combatants,  it  would  have  been. 
And  why,  in  that  case,  would  it  have  been  neces- 
sary for  Deborah  to  go  with  Barak  to  Kedesh  ? 
3.  It  is  contradicted  by  ver.  14  itself  Machir  means 

2  D'^'Tiss?  ■T^^  Cf.  judg.  vii.  9,  npHTsa  I'p, ; 

al.so  Judg.  vii.  13. 

3  Keil  also  has  adopted  this  view. 


100 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


Gilead  proper.^  Manassch  as  a  whole  cannot  be 
intended  by  it  (cf.  tlie  word  ^"T"!^)-  It  is  for  the 
very  purpose  of  desi<,niating  a  part  thiit  the  term 
"Maeliir"  is  employed.  J3iit  Deborah  herself  says, 
vcr.  17,  that  Giliad  did  not  take  part  in  the  eam- 
paij^n.  Nor  would  it  l)eat  all  a])]iavent  why  Zebu- 
lun  should  be  described  by  two  diftl'rent  attributes 
(vers.  14  and  18),  in  relation  to  tlie  same  event. 
4.  If  those  tribes  took  part  in  the  conflict,  why 
does  ver.  18  speak  only  of  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  ^ 
The  PlattBans,  who  alone  stood  by  the  Athenians 
in  the'  day  of  battle,  were  not  thus  forgotten.  The 
most  ancient  Jewi^^^h  expositors,  however,  already 
perceived  the  more  correct  view  to  be  taken  of  the 
verse.:  it  is  to  be  histon'calli/  interpreted.  The 
pojt's  mind,  like  the  action  itself,  moves  over  the 
northern  territory  of  Israel.  The  tribes  of  Judah 
and  Simeon  lie  altogether  beyond  her  present  field 
of  vision.  But  with  the  ancient  glory  of  those  tribes, 
whose  territories  stretched  onward  from  Mount 
Ephraim  —  from  the  sfiot  where  she  herself  resided, 
near  the  border  of  Benjamin,  —  she  compares  that 
of  the  conquerors  whom  she  led  on.  Each  tribe 
had  its  own  glorious  traditions.  No  doubt,  ex- 
claims the  prophetess,  Ephraim  is  renowned,  for 
out  of  him  sprang  he  who  was  against  Amalek. 
The  ancients  rightly  understood  this  of  Joshua, 
the  conqueror  of  Amalek,-  the  pride  of  Ephraim, 
who  was  buried  among  them,  and  on  whom,  un- 
questionably, the  Ephraimites  always  founded  their 

claim  to  the  leadership  among  the  tribes. —  '^''"!7Q^ 
TJ'^^P5?  V^T^^'  ^^"tsr  thee,  Benjamin  against 
thine  enemies.     Since  '^I'^'P'^^:?  (Aram.  plur.  c. 

suffix)  manifestly  answers  to  P ''^?  T)  the  5)  which 
with  the  latter  means  "  against,"  must  be  taken 
in  the  same  sense  with  the  former  This  is  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  the  plural  of  QV  is  always  '^ 
applied  to  the  "  heathen,"  the  "  nations,"  and  car- 
ries with   it  the  idea  of  hostility  against  Israel. 

rl^Qttl?  means  the  hostile  nations  who  stand  ar- 
rayed against  thee, —  "  thy  heathen,"  so  to  speak, 
"  thine  enemies."  "  After  thee,"  says  the  prophetess 
to  Ephraim,  "  Benjamin  advanced  agamst  thine 
enemies  "  —  Benjamin,  who  bears  the  name  of 
Wolf  (Gen.  xlix.  27).  It  is  the  fame  of  Ehud,  that 
renders  Benjamin  illustrious.  The  old  expositors 
understood  these  utterances  of  Deborah,  concern- 
ing Benjamin  and  the  other  tribes,  as  prophetic. 
But  such  an  explanation  cannot  lie  accejited.  A 
prophetess  who  looked  into  the  lionndless  and  in- 
deinite  future,  ccjuld  not  have  compared  tribe  wi;h 
tribe  in  a  manner  possible  only  when  dealing  with 
the  facts  of  history.  —  By  the  side  of  the  warlike 
fame  of  E|ihraim  and  Benjamin,  the  prophetess 
places  the  p.-accfnl  i- enown  of  Machir  and  Zebulun. 
How  far  the  sons  of  Machir  distinguished  them- 
selves as  iitcchoL-ckiin,  orderers  of  the  law,  we  have, 
it  is  true,  no  information.  But  it  is  to  be  noticed 
that  what  is  told  of  Jair,  Judg.  x.  4,  connects  itself 
with  a  Jair  who  lived  as  early  as  the  time  of  Moses 
(Num.  xxxii  41 ).  The  sotis  of  Machir  were  born 
"  upon  the   knees  "    of  their  grandfather  Joseph 

1  Num.  xxxii.  39  ;  cf.  Josli.  xvii.  3. 

2  "  In  the  liirnl  of  Ephraim  "  there  was  a  Mount  of  Ama- 
lek, cf.  Judg,  xii.  15. 

3  ["Always  "  is  too  strong  ;  cf.  Gen.  xlviii.  4  ;  Lev.  xxi. 
I;  KzL-k.  xviii.  18. —  Tr] 

4  As  iu  contlicts  of  the  Bedouin  tribes,  the  Ar.ab  women 
ftt  the  present  time  still  stand  in  the  rear,  and  encourage 


(Gen.  1.  2.3).  It  is  only  by  supposing  that  the  re- 
nown of  Zebulun  also,  is  one  which  existed  pre- 
vious to  the  war,  that  what  is  here  said  can  be 
brought  into  easy  and  proper  connection  with  what 
is  said  in  ver.  18.    Zebulun,  formerly  known  only 

for  his  "15  ^  t^^tZfS  U^'DW^'a,  experts  with  the 
ciphering-pencil,  had  now  become  a  people  coura- 
geoixs  unto  death.  Zebulun  was  a  connnercial  tribe, 
like  Zidon.  The  purple-trade  especially  occupied 
them.  Consequently,  the  art  of  the  Sop/ar,  i.  e. 
writing,  reading,  and  ciphering,  could  not  fail  to 
be  extensively  practiced  in  this  tribe.  The  Sopher 
appears  also  in  Phcenician  inscriptions  ;  Gesenius 
compares  him  with  the  quaestors  of  Carthage,  who 
held  an  office  next  in  importance  to  that  of  the 
Suffetes  (Moniim.  Phwiiic,  17.'5).  A  like  important 
office  was  held  by  the  ^opheriut  at  the  courts  of  the 
Jewi.'^h  kiniis.  They  are  always  natned  in  con- 
junction with  the  high-i)riest  (cf  2  Sam.  viii.  17; 
XX.  25;  1  Kgs.  iv.  3 ;  1  Chron.  xviii.  16;  Isa. 
xxxvi.  3  ;  2  Kgs.  xix.  2).  The  Sopher  and  the 
high-priest  count  the  money  found  in  the  offering- 
box,  2  Kgs.  xii.  10  (11).     King  Josiah   sends  his 

Sopher  Shaphan  (]2K,',  cf.  l^^'-^b^.  Elizaphan, 
a  Zebulonite,  Num.  xxxiv.  25)  to  the  priest.  It  is 
he  who  reads  the  sacred  book,  which  the  priest  has 
found,  to  the  king  (2  Kgs.  xxii.  8).  The  com- 
mander-in-chief has  a  Sopher  who  enrolls  the  army 
(2  Kgs.  XXV.  19  ;  Jer.  lii.  25).  The  uncle  of 
David  is  celebrated  as  a  wise  man  and  a  Sopher 
(1  Chron.  xxvii.  32).  The  Psalmist  praises  the 
stylus  of  a  ready  Sopher  (Ps.  xlv.  I  (2)).  The  ae-  " 
tivity  of  a  Sopher  is  everywhere  pacific  in  its  initure, 
demanding  sagacity,  and  presupposing  knowledge. 

The  stylus,   t23^,  of  the  Psalmist,  is  the  same  as 

Deborah's  ^^^')  staff.  It  was  an  honor  to  Zebu- 
lun, that  in  the  tribe  there  were  able  Sopherim,  who 
could  make  the  art  which  commerce  had  caused  to 
flourish  among   them,  subserve  the  internal   and 

higher  life  of  Israel.  The  word  □"^iptt'tt  suggests 
a  forcible  ]iicture;  we  see  the  writer  artistically 
drawing  the  letters  with  his  stylus.  This  consti- 
tuted the  ancient  renown  of  the  tribe.  But  the 
victory  with  Deborah  at  the  Kishon,  will  not  less 
highly  exalt  those  who  had  a  part  in  it.  That 
thought  forms  the  transition  to  ver.  15.  Issachar, 
it  is  true,  had  not  shared  in  the  battle  ;  but  that 
did  not  diminish  the  signiflcance  of  the  tribe. 
Their  territory  was  the  theatre  of  the  decision. 
\'ery  much  depended  ujion  the  attitude  they  as- 
sumed. Were  the  battle  lost,  Issachar  must  first 
bear  the  consequences.  Nevertheless,  their  chiefs 
decided  to  hearlcen  to  ])eborah.  "  The  princes  iu 
Issachar  were  with  Deborah."  They  surrounded 
Del)orali,  while  Barak  jilunged  into  the  valley.  As 
Mo.-es  did  not  himself  take  the  held  against  .Ama'.ek, 
but  intrusted  Joshua  with  the  coniluct  of  the  bat- 
tle while  he  prayed  on  the  mount,  so  Deborah 
stood  behind  the  "battle-ranks,  surrounded  by  Issa- 
char, uttering  blessings,  or  in  case  discouragement 
showed  itself,*  urging,  encouraging,  ins])iriting,  in  a 
manner  similar  perhaps  to  that  which  the  German 
women  were  wont  to  adopt.^  It  has  been  well  ob- 
the  combatants  by  their  zaldg'it  (singing).  Cf.  Wetzstein, 
Hainan,  145. 

5  This  was  still  done  by  the  women  of  the  crusaders  in 
the  battle  near  Doiyliium,  as  Potrus  Trudebod  informs  ua 
{Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  p.  782):  "  Feminrr.  nostra  in  iltit 
fUefiieruntnn'iisinrefii^iiim  ....  confortantes  not 
forliter  pxignantes  el  viros  proUgentes^  Cf.  Wilken,  Gesch 
der  Kreuzz  ,  i.  155. 


CHAPTER   V.    12-23. 


101 


jerved  that  in  the  expression   P'^?  7?  *^?^"^"^.T 

the  word  ]3  is  not  the  particle,  but  the  noun. 
(Schnurrerwas  the  first  to  adduce  this  from  among 
various  opinions  collected  together  in  the  com- 
mentary of  K.  Tanchum.)  15  signifies  the  base, 
the  pedestal  (cf.  Ex.  xxx.  IS);  and  in  truth 
Issachar  was  this  for  the  whole  battle.  It  was 
fought  on  his  territory,  an  1  his  men  formed  the 
reserve  of  Barak,  when  that  chieftain  threw  him- 
self into  the  valley.  '^"''^^I'?^  ^^hw  pT^^S  ex- 
presses the  storm-like  rapidity  of  Barak's  move- 
ment. The  Pual  H^  Jf  is  to  be  taken  in  the  sense 
of  the  Greek  middle  voice.  — Presently  the  thought 
occurs  to  the  prophetess  that  still  other  neighbor- 
ing tribes  could  have  helped,  Reuben,  namely,  and 
Gilead,  beyond  the  Jordan,  Dan  at  its  sources, 
Asher  on  the  coast;  but  their  assistance  did  not 
come.  Deborah  does  not  blame  the  distant  tribes, 
as  Judah,  Simeon,  Ephraim,  Benjamin,  Gad,  but 
only  the  near  ones.  Reuben  at  that  time  cannot 
have  dwelt  to  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  but  accord- 
ing to  Num.  xxxii.  26,  etc.,  must  have  had  a  more 
northerly  location,  reaching  as  for  up  as  the  banks 
of  the  Jabbok.^  There  he  must  have  dwelt,  pas- 
turing his  herds  by  his  brooks.  nl275,  plural  of 

n27S,  like  2^5i  brook,  stream  (cf.  my  exposi- 
tion of  Ps.  i.  Luther.  ZeitscJir.,  1859,  p.  537).  Reu- 
ben, like  the  tribes  beyond  the  Jordan  generally, 
had  been  called  on  by  Barak  to  take  part  in  the 
war  against  Sisera.  In  like  manner  was  Sparta 
summoned  by  Athens,  before  Marathon.  And  like 
Sparta,  Reuben  considered  long.  Hence  the  de- 
risive description  of  the  men  of  Reuben  as   "^P.pH 

)3v  and  ^l?  ^T'P'?'  investigators  and  scrutinizers. 
They  reflect  upon  the  necessity  and  feasibility  of 
acting,  till  the  time  for  it  is  past.  Reuben  sits 
between  tbe  folds,  and  prefers  to  listen  to  the  shep- 
herd's flute,    ^^IT^,  n"ip"ltf.     Tl^l^nw,    pipe, 

flute,  from  P"^^')  Mhilare,  to  whistle,  to  hiss,  ac- 
cording to  the  root  and  form  of  the  name,  is  noth- 
ing else  than  the  syrinx,  pipe,  whose  invention 
Hellenic  mythology  ascribed  to  Pan.  What  is 
here  said  of  Reuben,  that  he  amuses  himself  with 

listening  to  the  herdsmen's  flutes  ("'"I?  is  properly 
the  herd),  is  the  same  that  Homer  says, ///ac?,  xviii. 
525  :  "  voixTjis  repirSfXivoi  (Tvpiy^i." 

Ver.  17.  And  Gilead  tarries  beyond  Jordan. 
The  fact  that  what  is  here  said  of  Gilead  might  be 
equally  applied  to  Reuben,  since  both  dwelt  beyond 
the  Jordan,  is  suggestive  of  the  excuse  which  Gil- 
ead may  have  urged  in  distinction  from  Reuben. 
Reuben  reflected  ;  hut  (Jilead  denied  that  the  efforts 
of  Barak  concerned  him :  did  he  not  live  beyond 
the  Jordan  ? 

But  Dan,  how  didst  thou  saU  in  ships !  - 
Jewish  tradition  places  the  occurrence   related  in 

1  Only  those  tribes  can  have  been  censured  who  stood 
in  close  geographical  connection  with  Naphtali  and  Zebulun, 
not  those  whose  position  inclined  them  to  southern  alliances. 
Ephraim,  Benjamin,  Judah.  and  Simeon,  receive  no  censure  ; 
but  Asher,  Dan,  and  Gilead,  do.  IIow  could  Reuben  be 
blamed,  while  Judah  was  not,  if  his  seat  were  below  at  the 
Dead  Sea  ? 

2  nVShS,  used  only  of  sea-going  vessels,  cf.  Pror.  xxx. 
19. 

8  [But     DT^itt  assuredly  means    height,    an   elevation 


ch.  xviii.  before  the  time  of  Deborah.  And  to  all 
appearance  this  seems  to  be  the  right  view.  For 
in  its  southern  possessions  the  tribe  of  Dan  did  noi 
hold  the  sea-coast  (Judg.  i.  34).  Moreover,  how 
should  Deborah  complain  of  the  want  of  assistance 
from  southern  Dan,  when  she  entered  no  such 
complaint  against  Judah?  If,  however,  Dan  had 
already  removed  to  the  viciiuty  of  Naphtali,  the 
complaint  was  very  natural.  The  old  expositors 
explain  that  "  Dan  had  shipped  his  goods  and 
chattels  in  order  to  cross  the  Jordan."  But  this  is. 
less  simple  than  the  supposition  that  Dan,  like 
Zebulun,  was  engaged  with  the  Phoenicians  (Tyre) 
in  maritime  commerce,  or  at  least  pretended  to  be, 
as  a  reason  for  refusing  Barak's  summons.  What 
renders  this  interpretation  the  more  probable,  is 
the  fact  that  Deborah  speaks  next  of  Asher,  "  who 
dwells  on  the  sea-shore."  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor, 
cannot  have  domineered  over  the  coast,  where  the 
powerful  maritime  cities  were  in  the  ascendency. 
Therefore  Asher  also  had  nothing  to  suffer  from 
him.  He  dwells  securely  in  his  harbors.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  what  the  singer  here  says  of 
Asher,    the   blessing  of  Jacob   says  in   the'  same 

words  of  Zebulun,  ]'2^'^_  U^Jpi  ^'^^^^,  with  an 
additional  clause,  however,  concerning  the  pursuit 
of  navigation. 

Ver.  18.  This  verse  puts  it  beyond  all  doubt 
that  only  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  engaged  actively 
in  the  conflict ;  for  only  to  them  refers  the  declara- 
tion that  they  "  hazarded  their  souls  unto  death." 
(For  the  sake  of  the  poetical  jjarallelism  Naphtali 
is  ]mt  at  the  head  of  the  second  member,  instead  of 
making  "  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  "  the  composite 
subject  of  the  whole  distich.)  Their  faith  in  Deb- 
orah's word  was  so  firm,  that  they  dared  risk  the 
unequal  conflict  even  in  the  va/lei/  ("  the  high  plain 
of  the  field").  Therein  consisted  the  uncommon 
sacrifice  of  these  tribes.  Hitherto,  Israel  had 
always  given  up  the  valleys  (cf  Judg.  i.  19,  34), 
because  it  could  not  overcome  disciplined  armies 
and  chariots.  Even  down  to  the  time  of  the  later 
kings,  it  was  considered  invincible  on  the  moun- 
tains (1  Kgs.  XX.  23),  which  fact  however  implies 
that  in  the  valleys  it  still  continued  to  be  other- 
wise. Hence,  n"Ttt7  "'X^"!"??  is  to  be  understood, 
not  of  the  "  heights,"  but  of  the  surface,  of  the 
field.*  It  was  a  fearful  battle-crisis  :  a  few  against 
so  nuiny,  a  band  of  footmen  against  a  host  of  iron 
chariots,  a  handful  of  mountaineers  on  the  plain, 
a  few  tribal  chieftains  against  the  mighty. 

Ver.  19.  Kings  came.  This  is  to  be  under- 
stood figuratively,  of  eminent  and  powerful  mili- 
tary leaders:  Sisera  was  no  king.*    Nv  ^p3  ^V? 

•^ni^l^,  gain  of  money  they  obtained  not.  This  is 
usually  understood  only  of  the  booty,  which  the 
enemy  hoped  to  obtain,  but  failed  to  get.  But  the 
troops  of  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  can  scarcely  have 
appeared  to  promise  a  booty  rich  in  inonei/.  It  is 
therefore  probable  that  the  meaning  of  the  proph- 

aboTe  the  general  level,  not  surface.  In  connection  with 
the  facts  of  the  history,  the  expression,  it  seems  to  me,  can 
only  mean  either  Mount  Tabor  or  the  higher  parts  of  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon,  as  the  gathering-place  of  the  warriors, 
where  they  in  thought  and  intention  "  scorned  their  lives." 
So  Bachmann  and  many  other  expositors.  —  Tr.] 

i  [On  Taanach  and  Megiddo  see  at  ch.  i.  27.  The 
"  waters  of  Megiddo  "  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  Kishon 
The  Kishon  valley  was  in  like  manner  called  the  Valley  of 
Megiddo,  2  Chron.  xxxv.  22  |  Zech.  xu.  11.  Cf.  Rob.  Bibl 
Res.,  ii.  aSO.  —  Tft.] 


102 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


etess  includes  something  else.  We  know  from 
instances  of  later  times,  that  when  the  people  did 
not  feel  themselves  strong  enough  to  cope  with  a 
threatening  enemy,  they  sought  to  buy  liini  off  with 
money.  Thus,  in  the  reign  of  Hehohoam,  Shishak, 
king  of  Egypt,  took  away  all  the  treasures  of  the 
temple  (1  Ivgs.  xiv.  2G).  Asa  gave  all  the  remain- 
ing gold  and  silver  to  Benhadad  of  l)am:iseus 
(1  Kgs.  XV.  18).  Menahem  collected  a  large  amount 
of  money  in  order  to  persuade  the  king  of  Assyria 
to  turn  back  (2  Kgs.  xv.  20).  Sisera  was  not 
so  successful.  He  neither  obtained  composition- 
money  before  the  campaign,  nor  did  he  secure  any 
booty  after  it.  The  troops  and  their  leaders  who 
had  accompanied  him,  gained  no  profit  from  this 

expedition.  Profit  is  the  prominent  idea  in  27^2  : 
hence  the  Chaldee  Paraphrast  usually  puts  "  Mam- 
mon "  for  it. 

Vers.  20-22.  From  heaven  fought  the  stars. 
Josephus  has  introduced  into  his  narrative  of  this 
victory,  the  descii]ition  of  a  thunder-storm,  accom- 
panied by  wind  and  hail,  by  which  the  enemy  were 
thrown  into  confusion.  It  is  one  of  those  prag- 
nuitical  endeavors  by  which  he  seeks  to  facilitate 
belief  for  his  Hellenic  readers,  and  to  make  the 
miraculous  more  natural.  The  occasion  for  it  was 
given  by  the  expression,  ch.  iv.  15,  "and  God  con- 
founded them."  The  presence  and  effect  of  thun- 
der and  hail  were  inferred,  by  com]5arison,  from 
two  other  passages,  where  a  similar  divinely- 
wrought  confusion  of  the  enemy  is  related.  Thus 
in  Josh.  X.  10,  11,  when  Joshua  fights  against  the 
enemy,  it  is  said :  "  And  the  Lord  confounded 
them,  and  as  they  fled  cast  down  great  hailstones 
upon  them,  that  they  died."  So  also  1  Sam.  vii. 
10  :  "  And  tlie  Lord  thundered  with  a  great  thun- 
der on  that  day,  and  confoimded  the  Philistines." 
But  there  ajipears  to  be  no  necessity  whatever  for 
transferring  these  occurrences  into  our  passage. 
The  narrator  is  rather  thinking  of  P>x.  xiv.  24, 
which  spe.iks  of  Pharaoh's  confusion  by  God  icitJi- 
out  thunder  and  hail-  Nor  is  there  any  need  of 
thunder  and  hail  to  confound  an  army.  The  con- 
fusion of  llosliach  (Nov.  5,  1757)  was  not  caused 
by  the  intervention  of  a  storm.  All  that  appears 
from  the  statements  of  ch.  iv.  and  the  Song  of 
Del)orali  alone,  is,  that  Barak  and  his  faithful  fol- 
lowers made  a  violent  and  sudden  attack,  before 
the  numerous  chariots  had  been  placed  in  battle- 
array.  This  was  done  as  night  was  coming  on. 
When  Joshua  fought,  sun  and  moon,  assisted  him 
(Josh.  X.  12)  :  on  Barak,  the  stars  shone  brightly, 
—  which  does  not  make  a  thunder-storm  probable. 
Consistently  with  Israelitish  conce])tions,  the  help 
of  the  stars  can  only  be  understood  of  their  shin- 
ing.i      Joshua   also  had  come  upon   his  enemies 

1  [Bertheau  takes  the  words  "  the  stars  fought,"  as  fig- 
urative language,  expressive  of  divine  assistance.  "  From 
the  decisive  victory  it  is  certain  that  God  was  with  Israel 
and  fought  in  the  midst  of  them,  ver.  1-3  [read  according  to 
the  Masoretic  text  division] ;  that  He  himself  threw  the 
hostile  host  into  confusion,  ch  iv.  15  ;  and  that  the  strong 
arm  of  a  higher  Power  directed  the  course  of  the  battle. 
All  this  is  clearly  and  vividly  present  to  the  mind  of  the 
Singer.  Filled  with  the  thoughts  of  God's  wonderful  aid, 
and  venturing  under  the  impulses  of  a  bold  enthusiasm  to 
give  definite  representation  of  his  distinctly  recognized  yet 
mysterious  work  on  earth  and  in  the  midst  of  men,  it  is  to 
her  as  if  the  heavens,  the  eternal  dwelling-place  of  the  holy 
God,  had  bowed  themselves  down  to  earth,  or —  to  use  the 
language  of  the  text  —  iis  if  the  stars,  forsaking  their  usu^l 
orbits,  had  fought  against  Sisera.  Quite  similar  is  the 
imagery  in  Ps.  xviii."  The  same  view  is  adopted  by  Bach- 
niann  and  many  others.  — Tb.] 


suddenly  (3^0^,  Josh.  x.  9).  Gideon,  too,  thre^ 
himself  ujjon  the  hostile  camp  in  the  night.  But 
not  the  stars  alone  assisted  Barak  in  his  heroic 
coiir.se.  As  the  enemy,  either  for  attack  or  in 
Hight,  wished  to  cross  the  Kishon,  in  the  direction 
from  Taauach  and  Megiddo,  the  swollen  stream 
swept   many    of    them    into    the    arms   of  death. 

"  The  brook  Kishon  snatched  (l22"J3)  them  away." 

(^I^i  in  its  Semitic  forms,  corresponds  to  the 
Indo-Germanic  forms  rapere,  Ger.  ruffcn,  Sanskrit, 
rup.)       It  thus  came  to  the  help  of  Israel,  and 

became  a  D"^^-ni7  'Tj^i  brook  of  succors.  In 
what  sense  the  Kishon  should  be  especially  called 
a    brook    of    "  ancient   daj-s,"    as    many   explain 

Q^l^^"f(7,  cannot  be  made  out,  not  at  least  from 
Scripture.-  The  rendering  "  brook  of  battles,"  has 
little  jxround  in  philology.  The  repetition  of 
"  brook  Kishon,"  is  doubtless  intended  to  suggest 
a  definition  of  what  sort  of  a  stream  the  Kishon 
M'as  for  Israel  on  that  day.  It  was  not  merely  the 
scene  of  battle,  but  an  instrument  of  help  against 

the  foe.     C^i2  has  frequently  this  sense,  especially 

in  poetical  language.  In  Ps.  Ixxix.  8  the  poet 
prays,  "  Let  thy  mercy  come  speedily  to  our  help  " 

(•i:n^"^r2":) ;  cf,  Ps.  lix.  11 ;  xxi.  4.  But  in  Deu- 
teronomy, also,  ch.  xxiii.  5,  it  is  said  of  Amnion 
and  Moab  that  they  did  not  help  Israel  with  bread 

and  water  (QpnS  ^D'li?"^^)-     Kedumim   is   the 

plural  of  a  form  D^^i^.  The  Kishon — thus  exults 
the  poet  —  showed  itself  a  helpful  stream.  The 
statement  that  it  snatched  the  enemies  away,  pre- 
sujjposes  its  swollen  condition.  It  is  only  after  the 
rainy  season  that  the  Kishon  runs  full ;  for  which 
reason  the  LXX.  call  it  x^^l^°'-Ppovs,  winter-flowing. 
In  summer  it  is  for  the  most  part  dried  uj) ;  but  in 
the  spring  it  sends  down  a  rushing  flood.  Bitter 
(xvi.  704,  Gage's  Transl.  iv.  351)  adduces  the  fact 
that  on  the  16th  of  April,  1799,  in  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  French  and  Turks,  many  of  the  latter 
perished  in  its  raying  waters.  Hence  we  may  infer 
that  the  time  of  Barak's  battle  is  to  be  fixed  in  the 
latter  part  of  April  or  the  beginning  of  May.  The 
Feast  of  Weeks  fell  in  the  same  season.'^  Immedi- 
ately after  the  narrative  in  Exodus,  it  is  intimated 
that  the  manifestation  on  Sinai  occurred  in  the 
beginninu  of  the  third  month,  and  consequently 
coincided  with  the  Feast  of  Weeks.  The  occur- 
rence of  the  battle  in  a  season  devoted  to  such 
commemorations,  exjdains  with  peculiar  emphasis 
the  opening  lines  of  the  Song,  concerning  the  om- 
nipotence of  God  on  Sinai,  "  when  the  earth  trem- 

'■i  [Bachmann,  who  adopts  this  interpretation,  explains  it 
from  the  fact  "  that  the  ancient  wonder  of  the  Red  Sea 
appears  to  repeat  itself  at  the  Kishon.  As  in  the  whole  of 
the  present  wonderful  deliverance  Deborah  beholds  a  re- 
newal of  the  glorious  occurrences  ai  Sinai  (ver.  4),  so  she 
finds  in  the  experience  of  Sisera's  army  at  the  Kishon  a 
renewal  of  that  which  befell  the  Egyptians  at  the  Red  Sea  ; 
and  thus  the  Kishon  in  her  view  takes  the  place  of  the  Red 
Sea  which  that  ancient  wonder  had  rendered  famous." 
Par  fetched  ;  although  suggested  by  several  earlier  Rabbini- 
cal and  ecclesiastical  expositors.  —  Tr.] 

3  A  Jewish  hymn  of  the  Middle  Ages,  by  R.  Mair,  still 
sung  in  the  synagogues,  at  the  Passover  (Let  Stiemurim), 
transports  the  battle  into  the  Passover  night ;  for  which, 
however,  it  has  no  chronological  grounds,  but  only  the  the- 
ological principle  that  all  achievements  of  freedom  were 
accomplished  in  that  night. 


CHAPTER    V.   24-31. 


103 


bled."  The  ancients  had  a  not  ungrounded  tradi- 
tion, —  to  prove  which  this  is  not  tlie  place,  — for 
regarding  the  Ixviiith  Psalm  as  a  song  for  the  Feast 
of  Weeks ;  and  it  is  just  that  psalm  which  incor- 
porated into  itself  the  introductory  parts  of  Debo- 
rah's Song. 

While  singing,  the  prophetess  sees  herself  trans- 
ported into  the  tumult  of  the  battle.  The  stream 
rushes  violently  onward,  —  the  perishing  foes  con- 
tend with  its  "whirling  eddies.  The  roar  of  the 
conflict,  its  battle-cries,  and  shouts  of  victory,  are 
around  her.  In  the  midst  of  her  Song,  she  ad- 
dresses her  own  soul,  as  the  Greeks  addressed  their 
muse,  with  words  of  animation  and  refreshment  : 
Tread  vigorously  on,  my  soul !  Her  genius  hovers 
over  the  valley  of  conflict ;  her  ear  feels  the  hoof- 
strokes  of  the  flying  foes,  who,  panic  stricken  before 
Israel,  furiously  dash  off  into  flight.  What  a  tri- 
umph !  the  "  strong  ones  "  (C"'"]"'ZlS)  run  away  ! 
*^U'iJ  is  to  run  fast,  used  of  a  horse's  trot,  like  the 

Sanskrit  dm,  Greek  Spavai  (SiS^ao-reoi).  D'^H'^SS, 
as  Bochart  already  remarked  {Hieroz.  i.  99),  is 
probably  used  here,  as  in  Jer.  viii.  16  ;  xlvii.  3,  of 
the  war-horses,  who  with  their  rattling  chariots 
ran  wildly  off.  In  that  case,  the  might  of  the 
steeds  stands  representatively  for  that  of  the  war- 
riors themselves. 

Ver.  23.  The  flying  enemy  had  not  succeeded 
even  in  escaping,  if  all  places  of  the  surrounding- 
country  had  done  their  duty.  The  prophetess 
utters  sentence  of  condemnation  against  the  inhab- 
itants of  Meroz,  because  they  rendered  no  assist- 
ance. Their  aid  had  probably  been  important  in 
the  pursuit.  Hence,  their  conduct  is  referred  to 
here,  —  before  the  blessing  upon  Jael.     The  verse 

1  It  is  altogether  erroneous  to  take  □'""TiSSIl  liere  of 
the  heroes  of  Israel.  For  just  therein  consisted  the  faith- 
lessness of  the  inhabitants  of  Aleroz,  that  though  Israel  was 
threatened  by  heroes  and  mighty  men,  they  offered  no 
issistance. 


first  introduces  a  messenger  of  God,  crying,  "  Curse 
ye  Meroz,  curse  it!"  and  then  continues  itself, 
"  Cursed  are  its  inhabitants."  The  "  messenger 
of  God  "  is  the  singer  herself,  sent  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  to  consummate  the  victorious  achievement. 
In  obedience  to  the  Spirit's  ])rompting,  she  with 
Barak  pronounces  the  national  ban  against  the 
faithless  city.     For  it  came  not  to   the  help  of 

God    (nin^  nit^^),  that  is,  to  the  help  of  the 

nin^  CI7,  the  People  of  God,  as  in  vers.  11  and 

13.  It  left  the  cause  and  the  good  gifts  of  God  to 
their  fate,  when  they  were  endangered  in  battle 
against  heroes. ^  The  greater  the  responsibility, 
the  severer  the  punishment.  The  higher  the  cause 
to  be  served,  the  blacker  the  treason  that  abandons 
it.  To  ascertain,  at  this  date,  the  site  of  Meroz, 
can  hardly  be  jjo^sihle.  It  has  indeed  been  sup- 
posed to  be  identical  with  a  place  on  Robinson's 
map,  southwest  of  Endor,'-  called  Kefr  Musr  (cf. 
Ritter,  xv.  399  [Gage's  Transl.  ii.  316])  ;  Imt  nei- 
ther the  name  of  the  place  is  certain,  nor  its  situa- 
tion entirely  suitable  ;  and,  finally,  considering  the 
popular  odium  which  the  Song  of  Deborah  aflixed 
to  the  name,  it  is  by  no  means  probable  that  it  re- 
mained unchanged,  and  actually  perpetuated  itself. 
Procopius  confirms  this  surmise,  when  he  observes 
(Reland,  Palclslina,  p.  896),  that  concerning  the 
name  he  had  found  nothing  anywhere,  not  even  in 
Hebrew  expositions.  The  curse  itself  most  proba- 
bly implied,  as  in  Josh,  vi.,  the  utter  destruction  of 
the  place,  although  nothing  further  is  said  of  it. 
In  later  times,  this  verse  became  a  Joais  classicus 
for  the  Talmudic  exposition  of  the  ban  against 
persons  and  things  (Mond  Katan,  16,  a;  Sluhnoth, 
36,  a;  Selden,  de  Synedriis,  p.  84,  etc.). 

2  The  battle  took  place  south  of  Endor.  That  Bar.ak  in 
his  swift  descent  from  the  heights  met  the  enemy  there  first, 
appears  from  the  remarkable  statement  of  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  10, 
which  speaks  of  Endor  as  a  point  of  the  battle-field. 


THE  FATE    OF   THE  ENEMY, 

Vers.  24-31. 


24  Blessed  among  women  be  Jael, 
The  wife  of  Heber,  the  Kenite, 
Blessed  among  women  of  the  tents ! 

25  He  asks  for  water,  she  gives  him  milk, 

In  a  beautiful  bowl  she  carries  him  cream. 

26  With  her  left  she  takes  the  nail,^ 
With  her  right  the  heavy  hammer, 
Swings  it  over  Sisera,  smites  his  head, 
Crashes  through,  and  transpierces  his  temples.^ 

27  At  her  feet  he  curls  himself  and  falls. 

At  her  feet  he  lies,  curls  himself  again,  and  falls, 
And  as  he  curls  himself  again,  falls  —  dead  !  * 

28  Through  the  window  she  looks,  at  the  lattice  laments  the  mother  of  Sisera; 
Why  lingers  his  car  so  long. 

Why  stay  the  steps  of  his  chariots  ? 


104  THE   BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


29  Wise  ladies  answer  her,* 

Herself  also  refutes  her  own  words : 

30  Will  they  not  find  booty  and  divide  it  ? 
Two  maidens  for  each  man  ; 

Booty  of  purple  robes  for  Sisera, 

Yea,  booty  of  purple  robes  ! 

Color-embroidered  vestments,  two  for  each  neck  of  the  captured  1 ' 

31  So  may  all  thy  foes  fall,  O  God, 

But  those  who  love  thee  rise  as  the  sun  in  his  strength ! 

And  the  land  rested  forty  years. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[I  Ver.  26.  —  The  rendering  of  (^T^   by  "  her  left  hand,"  —  if  admissible  at  all,  —  must  be  justified  by  the  assumption 

of  an  Intended  contrast  with  (^3^^"^  in  the  next  line.     The  form  rTDPt^U^J^,  according  to  Gesenjus,  Gram.  47,3,3, 

Is  an  improper  use  of  the  3J  plural  for  the  3d  singular;  according  to  Green,  88,  p.  119,  it  stands   for  nSn^Ji?]^ 

"her  hand,  she  puts  it  forth  ;  "  according  to  Ewald,  191  c,  it  is  simply  the  3d  fern.  sg.   n^tL'TH,  with   an  additional 

feminine  characteristic   (773)   in  order  to  distinguish  it  from  the  3d  masc.  singular.     Ewald's  view  is  also  adopted  by 
Bertheau,  Keil,  and  (in  the  main,  by)  Bachmann,  and  is  probably  the  true  one.  —  Tr.] 
[2  Ver.  26.  —  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering  of  the  last  two  lines  of  this  verse  is  as  follows  :  — 

Schwingt  ihn  avf  Sisra,  schldgt  ihn  art's  Hmipt, 
Schmettert  nach  und  durchbokrt  ihm  die  Schldfe. 

We  have  endeavored  to  reproduce  his  alliteration  as  nearly  as  possible,  but  have  nevertheless  lost  the  paranomasia  of 

n^^n  with    niI3    n,   hammer,  in  the  preceding  line,  for  which  our  author  has  ScMdgel,  mallet,  beetle.    The  awful 

T   :  T  :   ~  ' 

energy  of  the  lines,  and  their  onomatopoetic  character,  may  be  distantly  and  somewhat  inelegantly  unitated  in  English, 

thus  — 

"  She  hammers  Sisera,  mashes  his  head, 
Smashes  (him),  and  crashes  through  his  temples."  —  Te.] 

[3  Ver.  27.  —  The  aboVe  translation  of  this  verse  disregards  the  Masoretic  text-division  (according  to  which  3!3tt7, 
"  he  lies,"  belongs  to  the  first  line),  and  takes  "IfSSl   in  a  temporal  instead  of  local  sense.     The  radical  meaning  of 

^T3  is  probably  "  to  bend  or  contract  one's  self  "  (cf  Ges.  Lex.,  Keil,  Bachmann),  the  usual  sense  "  to  kneel "  being 
derivative.  The  mortally  wounded  Sisera,  pinned  to  the  ground  (ch.  iv.  21),  involuntarily  curls  himself  together,  as  Dr. 
Cassel  says  —  i.  e.  brings  his  knees  forward  and  upward.  But  Dr.  Cassel's  idea  that  this  involuntary  muscular  contrac- 
tion was  repeated  three  times  is  inconsistent  with  the  proper  local  sense  of  "1K?S2,  and  with  the  repeated  7QD. 
Dr.  Cassel,  it  is  true,  seeks  to  avoid  the  latter  difficulty  by  supposing  (see  the  com.  below)  that  Sisera  "  seeks  to  rise,  and 
falls  back  ;  "  but  how  could  he  rise  so  as  to  fall  back  when  his  head  was  pinned  to  the  ground  ?  It  is  altogether  more 
likely  that  in  this^-etfng  of  victory,  ^D!3  is  used,  as  in  military  language  (and  perhaps  not  without  a  touch  of  con- 
temptuous irony),  for  "  lo  die,"  "  to  be  slain,"  in  this  sense,  ,  ^"^^  like  TriTTTeii';  cadere,  and  our  "  fall,"  is  frequently 
used,  cf  the  Lexica.  The  repetition  of  the  idea  of  the  first  line  in  the  second  and  third  springs  from  the  great  interest 
of  the  singer  in  the  destruction  of  the  much-dreaded  chieftain,  and  serves  to  intensify  the  impression  to  be  produced  on 
those  who  hear  her.     Accordingly,  we  would  render  : — 

At  her  feet  he  curls  himself,  he  falls,  he  lies. 

At  her  feet  he  curls  himself,  he  falls  ! 

Where  he  curls  himself,  there  he  falls  —  destroyed. 

So  also  Bertheau,  Keil,  Bachmann.     For  ]^3,  in  the  sense  of  "at  "  cf.  remarks  of  Hengstenberg  on  Zech.  xiii.  6,  in 
Chrislol.  iv.  106,  Edinb.  edition.  — Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  29.  —  The  above  translation  neglects  both  the  suffix  in  nT^iltt?,    and  the  construct  state  of    ni^^H 

T       V  T  '  ~  :    - 

(fem.  of    DSn).      In   HSS^?'^     ^^-  Cassel  apparently  finds   the  3d  fem.  sing,  imperf.  with  the  suffix  of  the  3d  fem 

sing.     But  as  the  subject  is  plural,  it  is  better  to  take  n3317ri   as  standing  for  n^'^^^.TH.     The  accented  e  in  th« 

latter  form  seeks  to  strengthen  itself  by  doubling  the  following  consonant,  in  which  case  the  "^  naturally  falls  away, 
although  it  may  also  remain,  as  in  Mic.  vii.  10.  Cf.  Ewald,  Gram.  17  c.  The  true  rendering  of  the  second  line  of  this 
verse  is  much  disputed.  According  to  ICeil  the  sense  of  the  line  is  :  "  Sisera's  mother,  however,  does  not  allow  herself 
to  be  quieted  by  the  speeches  of  her  wise  ladies,  but  repeats  the  an.Kioug  question.  Why  does  Sisera  delay  to  come  ?  " 
Ue  and  Bachmann  translate  the  verse  thus  :  — 

"  The  wise  ones  of  her  princesses  answer : 
—  But  she  repeats  to  herself  her  words  — ".  —  Ta.] 

[6  Ver.  30.  —  On  our  author's  text-division  in  this  verse,  see  the  Commentary  below.     Bachmann,  who  adheres  to  tha 
Masoretic  punctuation,  translates  as  follows :  — 


CHAPTER    V.    24-31. 


105 


"  Will  they  not  find,  divide  booty  ? 
A  maiden,  two  maidens  for  the  head  of  a  man, 
Booty  of  colored  garments  for  Sisera, 
Booty  of  colored  garments,  (of)  variegated  work, 
A  colored  garment,  two  variegated  for  the  neck  of  the  booty."' TR.l 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  closing  part  of  Deborah's  Song  has  justly- 
been  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  poetical  representa- 
tion that  cannot  be  surpassed.  In  it  the  singer 
shows  that  she  is  a  woman.  The  triumph  with 
which  Jael's  deed  is  praised  and  Sisera's  mother 
mocked,  evinces  an  almost  passionate  mental  exal- 
tation. The  picture  of  Sisera's  death  is  drawn 
with  startling  vividness.  On  the  back  ground 
of  a  divine  enthusiasm,  there  rises  an  ecstatic 
delight  in  the  deed  of  one  woman,  and  in  the 
misery  of  another,  such  as  springs  up  in  none 
but  a  woman's  heart.  That  which  in  heathen 
female  characters  becomes  demoniac  in  its  nature, 
is  in  Deborah  puritied  by  the  divine  thoughts 
which  animate  her.  No  subjective  interest,  no  pri- 
vate feeling,  no  personal  passion,  influences  her  ; 
the  highest  interests  of  her  God  and  people  fill  her 
soul.  It  is  not  her  triumph,  but  that  of  her  ever- 
living  Maker,  that  sfie  celebrates;  and  yet  at  the 
height  of  its  exultation  her  Song  breaks  out  in  a 
mood  by  which  the  woman  might  be  recognized, 
even  if  neither  name  nor  other  information  on  the 
authorship  had  been  handed  down  to  us.  That 
which  especially  gives  to  the  conclusion  of  the 
Song  its  great  value  and  attractiveness,  is  the  fact 
that  ft'ora  it  the  genuineness  of  the  whole  becomes 
even  more  psychologically  than  grammatically 
evident  —  that  the  mantic  power  of  a  prophetic 
woman,  unweakened  and  in 'the  full  glow  of  its 
burning  ecstasy,  is  nowhere  else  tilled  and  con- 
trolled as  it  is  here,  by  rational  enthusiasm  borr^ 
of  an  objective,  divinely-given  truth.  How  well  it 
was  said  of  her,  that  she  was  a  "  woman  of  a  fiery 
spirit  ■'  (ch.  iv.  4),  becomes  here  most  manifest. 
The  more  terrible  the  tyranny,  the  more  common- 
place the  enemy,  the  more  intensely  burns  her  soul 
m  her  song  of  victory.  The  glowing  heat  of  her 
prophetic  enthusiasm  shines  through  the  irony, 
witli  which  she  places  the  vain  pride  of  unbelieving 
enemies  over  against  the  almighty  power  of  God. 
It  is  not  an  irony  of  hatred,  distiguring  the  face 
with  scornful  smiles,  but  such  as  springs  from  the 
consciousness  that  God's  wisdom  and  power  are 
superior  to  all  heroes  and  iieathen.  Verse  23,  pro- 
nouncing the  ban  against  Meroz,  says,  "  thus  pro- 
claims the  messenger  of  God."  The  name  of  God 
is  the  source  of  all  power  and  authority.  Apos- 
tasy from  God  incurs  the  ban ;  whoever  helps  to 
advance  his  works,  is  blessed. 

Vei's.  24,  25.  Blessed  among  ■women  be  Jael. 
Meroz  did  not  come  to  the  help  of  the  people  of 
God.  Jael  came,  though  a  woman ;  and  not  of 
Israel,  but  a  dweller  in  tents.  The  name  of  her  hus- 
band is  mentioned  to  distinguish  her  from  others 
of  the  same  name,  and  also  to  give  him  an  inter- 
est in  the  fame  of  his  wife.  Accordingly,  for  her 
sake,  he  also  has  obtained  a  place  in  the  records 
of  history.  The  blessing  which  she  enjoys  before 
ttU  women  "  in  the  tent,"  /.  e.  before  all  who  like 
herself  and  the  Kenites  wandered  about  in  tents, 
after  the  mnnner  of  nomads,  she  did  not  win  by 
accident.  She  made  an  energetic  use  of  her  oppor- 
tunity.     She   deceives   the  flying  Sisera  by  the 

1  [When  soured.  See  Winer's  Healworterbuch,  i.  648. 
—  Tr.] 


signs  of  homage  which  she  presents  to  him.  Ho 
asks  only  for  water;  she  offers  him  milk,  and,  as 
was  befitting  with  such  a  guest,  □"''^'''^S  ^^^^^2, 
in  a  bowl  such  as  princes  use.  She  takes  the 
handsome  show-bowl,  not  used  on  ordinary  occa- 
sions, and  hands  him  nSttn.  This  word,  which 
also  signifies  butter,  expresses  in  general  the  more 
solid  forms  of  milk.  Here,  where  it  stands  par- 
allel with  3bn,  it  signifies,  in  harmony  with  the 
"  show-bowl,"  the  best  milk,  the  cream.  There  is 
absolutely  nothing  to  suggest  the  opinion  of  older 
expositors  (Schnurrer,  p.  83,  received  by  Herder 
also)  that  she  wished  to  intoxicate  him\vith  the 
milk.  Moreover,  we  need  not  assume  that  the 
milk  was  caind-milk ;  and,  at  all  events,  the  intox- 
icating property  of  that  milk  i  must  have  been 
known  to  Sisera.  Before  Bochart  (cf  Serarius,  p. 
145),  Junius  and  Tremellius  had  already  ex- 
pressed the  opinion,  approved  by  Scaliger,  that  in 

''5P  the  Latin  simpulum  reappears.  But  saph, 
sephd,  are  Hebrew  forms  of  a  widely-diflPused  term 
for  round,  scooped-out  vessels,  whether  of  larger  or 
smaller  size,  and  may  be  recognized  in  the  Gi'eek 
<TKa.<p'r),  bowl,  trough,  tub,  Latin  sca/ihiiim,  and  in 
the  Gennan  Schajf' {tnh,  pail),  Schcffel  {niodius),  a 
round  measure).-  It  is  true,  however,  that  sephel 
continued  to  be  used  among  the  Jews  (in  the  Tal- 
mud) and  Syrians,  and  that  the  shape  of  the  vessel 
may  be  most  nearly  expressed  by  simpulum,  which, 
as  Cicero's  proverb,  "Jiuctus  in  simpulo"  —  a  tem- 
pest in  a  nutshell  —  proves,  was  a  smaller  drink- 
ing-vessel. 

Vers.  26,  27.  The  first  of  these  verses  shows 
that  the  narrator  in  ch.  iv.  was  in  possession  of 
traditional  information  beside  that  furnished  by 
this  Song.  The  prophetess  passes  over  interme- 
diate, self-evident  matters.  Sisera,  of  course,  must 
lie  down  and  sleep,  before  a  woman  can  approach 
his  head  with  hammer  and  nail.  The  verse  de- 
picts the  dreadful  work  and  vigor  of  Jael,  as  she 
approaches  and  drives  the  nail  into  Sisera's  head. 

The  terms  employed  (VD'^'  J^^^,  ^^^J)  are 
such  as  cause  us  to  hear  the  blows  of  the  hammer, 
sounding  repeatedly,  till  she  finishes  her  work 
What  a  terrible  picture  !  Before  the  warrior  stands 
the  kindled  woman —  the  heavy  hammer  (as  Her- 
der finely  translated  D'^^pi?  Pl^'obTl,  for  briV 
is  one  who  works  hard  or  heavily,  a  toiler)  in  her 
right  hand.  The  smitten  chieftain  draws  himself 
together,  he  seeks  to  rise,  and  falls  back.  Twice 
more  he  writhes  convulsively,  and  dies.  There  he 
lies,  the  haughty  warrior,  who  thought  to  destroy 
the  People  of  God  —  slain  by  a  woman  in  disgrace- 
ful flight,  tixr  from  his  kindred,  alone  and  unla- 
mented,  an  example  to  conquerors  of  human  weak- 
ness and  divine  power.  ("T^lt^^  is  the  condition  of 
utter  lifelessness,  when  every  sound  and  motion 
has  ceased ;  hence  it  stands  in  contrast  with  j'T^i 
which  describes  the  wounded  man  instinctively  bend- 
ing and  drawing  himself  together,  as  if  about  to  rise.) 

2  Of  two  hollow  measures,  still  in  use  in  Damascus,  tin 
one  is  called  mutid,  the  other  sumbid. 


106 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


Vers.  28-31.  But  the  fall  of  Sisera  in  the  tent 
of  a  woman  does  not  complete  the  jiieture  of  the 
extraordinaiy  triumph.  The  prophetess  shows 
yet  another  view.  She  carries  her  hearers  to  a 
distant  scene.  While  Sisera  lies  here  in  ignomin- 
ious death,  what  takes  place  in  the  palace  of  his 
capitals  The  return  of  the  chieftain,  accustomed 
to  victory,  has  already  been  long  exjiected.  His 
mother  stands  at  the  window  al)ove,i  in  the  airy 
upper  room.  Her  view  commands  the  road  to  a 
great  distance.  She  peers  and  listens ;  but  still 
the  rolling  of  the  victorious  chariots  is  not  heard. 
No  triumphal  procession,  with  Sisera  at  its  head, 
gorgeously  attired  and  proud  of  victory,  lights  up 
the  horizon.  A  sad  presentiment  steals  over  her 
heart :  Why  does  his  chariot  delay  f  she  cries, 
wailingly  ;  '■*  why  does  he  tarry  so  long  ?  Is  there 
no  car^  coming,  to  bring  tidings  at  least?  —  Who 
should  first  suffer  anxiety,  if  not  a  mother  ?  Of  a 
wife,  nothing  is  said ;  such  love  thrives  not  in  the 
harem  of  a  prince.  He  is  his  mother's  pride,  the 
great  hero,  who  had  hiiherto  been  invincible. 
What  she  has  in  him,  and  what  she  loses,  con- 
cerns no  other  woman.  With  this  pride,  her 
women,  noble  ladies,  whom  her  high  rank  as 
mother  of  the  all-powerful  commander  draws 
around  her,  comfort  her.  Victory,  they  say,  has 
also  its  occupations.  If  he  has  not  come  yet,  it  is 
because  these  detain  him.  No  other  explanation 
of  his  non-arrival  is  possible.  Anxiety,  therefore, 
is  improper.  For  it  is  precisely  victory  that  delays 
him.  This  is  Avhat  her  women  say  to  her ;  the 
flattered  mother  admits  the  justness  of  their  obser- 
vations, and  with  them  confutes  her  own  forebod- 
ing questions.*  The  prophetess,  with  delicate 
irony,  calls  the  women  who  thus  counsel,  "wise 
ones."  It  is  the  wisdom  of  a  pride  that  deems  it 
inconceivable  that  Sisera  should  not  have  been 
victorious  ;  how  could  he  prove  unfortunate  against 
this  insignificant  people !  What  to  them  is  the 
God  of  Israel !  It  is  the  booti/  that  hinders  his 
coming.  Booty,  of  course,  delays  the  victor  ;  for 
he  must  cause  it  to  be  divided.  The  mother  and 
her  women  naturally  think  first  of  the  booty  ;  to 
them,  that  is  the  pith  of  all  victories.  Their  fancy 
then  proceeds  to  picture  at  pleasure  the  conquered 
treasures.  How  much  time  must  it  take,  before 
every  soldier  has  the  two  maidens  whom  he  obtains 
as  booty,  assigned  to  him  !  &  And  then  the  heap 
of  costly  clothing.  The  piirple  garments  fall  nat- 
urally to  Sisera,  for  they  are  suitable  only  for 
princes.  But  each  of  the  others  also  obtains  em- 
broidered garments,  always  two  for  each  maiden 
that  fell  to  his  share.  In  this  strain  they  talk  with 
each  other,  and  already  imagine  themselves  to  be 
looking  over  the  goods  which  Sisera  is  bringing 
with  him.  But  all  at  once  the  message  comes  : 
No  booty,  no  victory  —  the  hero  is  dead,  the  anny 
is  shattered  !   AH  is  lost  —  the  castle  falls    .    .    .    . 

1  nQ17t»3  libriil  1V11.  ^W^W  invariably  ex- 
presses  the  act  of  looking  out  from  a  height,  from  a  moun- 
tain, for  instance,  or  from  heaven  ;  also  from  the  upper 
chambers  (Gen.  xxvi.  8),  to  which  persons  of  quality  (Eglon, 
for  example)  retired  to  cool  themselves. 

2  33^ri\  2?**  occurs  only  in  this  passage.  It  is 
an  ononiatopoetic  word,  like  the  German  "ja7ji»iern,"  [cf. 
the  English  "  wailing.'"]  In  Oiialdee,  however,  it  chiefly 
has  the  sense  of  "crying,"  "sounding,"  in  a  favorable  as 
well  as  unfavorable  sense. 

3  "  Why  delay  I'^nl^SlQ  '^'^V^-"  Dl?3  may  be 
ased  of  any  kind  of  repeated'motion,  like  that  of  treading  ; 
ind  therefore  also  of  the  rolling  of  wheels. 


So  perish  they  who  set  themselves  against  God. 
Fearful  sorrow  breaks  their  pride.  But  they  whc 
love  God  conquer.  Their  type  is  the  sun,  who 
like  a  fame-crowned  victor,  every  morning,  every 
spring,  triumphs  gloriously,  with  hero-like  power, 
over  clouds  and  darkness. 

Account  must  here  be  given  for  departures  from 
the  ordinary  division  and  translation  in  ver.  30. 
That  verse,  like  several  others  in  Deborah's  Song, 
has  undergone  an  incredible  amount  of  conjecture 
and  emendation.     It  reads  as  follows :  — 

T  T       '    :   -  :  :    :  •  -; 

ci^^s  bbtt7  4. 
.bbtt7  ''-iK:i!>b  □\-ir2p-i  2?2!5  nnpi  5. 

T  T  ■•  :  -  :  •  -  T  ' :  ■  -  :•  t':  • 
Victors  found  their  greatest  satisfoction  and  joy 
in  the  booty.  Hence,  Moses  also  makes  Pharaoh 
say  (Ex.  xv.  9) :  "I  will  pursue,  I  will  divide  the 
spoil."  The  women  took  for  granted  that  Sisera 
will  find  (^S^^^)  much  booty,  and  that  conse- 
quently a  division  will  commence.  Lines  2-5 
point  out  the  method  of  the  division.  First  (line 
2)  each  man  gets  two  maidens,  or  women.  Then 
the  garments  are  divided.  But  how  this  was  done, 
depends  upon  the  explanation  of  line  5,  particu- 
larly of  the  words  bbtt?  ''"^^^rb.  The  ditticulty  « 
under  which  expositors  labored,  originated  in  their 
failing  to  perceive  that  b^tt?  means  the  booty  of 
maidens  mentioned  in  line  2.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  ''7^  is  booty  ef  persons  as  well  as  of  things, 
cf.  Num.  xxxi.  11.  Zech.  ii.  13(9)  says,  "  They 
Jaecome  a  spoil  to  those  who  have  served  them." 

In  Isa.  X.  2,  Avidows  are  called  b^C?,  cf.  Jer.  xxi. 
9,  as  also  Jer.  1. 10,  where  the  Chaldeans  are  spoken 
of  as  booty.  An  entirely  analogous  error  used  to 
be  made  in  interpreting  the  celebrated  chorus  in 
the  Antigone  of  Sophocles  :  — 

'  Epcos  avLKare  fj.axav, 
"Epccs,  OS  iv  KT'iif^afft  TriirTeis ' 

the  word  KT-fifMffi  being  understood,  not  of  "  the 
unfree,"  but  always  of  things  (cf.  Weimar.  Jahr- 
buch  fur  Deutsche  Lit,  ii.  3.59).  The  "unfree" 
booty  consists  of  men,  animals,  and  things.  So  here, 
^7""  .,-^^^j|^  ^^^  ^^^  necks  of  the  women  taken  as 
booty.  For  each  neck  two  cloths  are  allowed. 
Thus  the  DNn^pT   •^Pr?"l  of  line  5  corresponds 

to  the  n\pttn"]  ann  of  line  2.  The  division  was 
thus  systematized.     As  many  women  as  each  had, 

4  n'^'^fiW   2'^ttJn.    The  mother  replies  herself  to  her 

T       V  T  -;  ■     T 

own  words,  corrects  herself.  She  does  not  answer  the 
others,  —  an  interpretation  neither  philologically  congruous, 
nor  in  harmony  with  the  fact  that  they  have  not  said  any- 
thing which  the  mother  would  wish  to  refute.  Cf.  Job, 
XXXV.  4,  and  Prov.  xxii.  21. 

5  The  following  passage  from  a  letter  written  by  the  Em- 
peror Claudius  II.,  after  his  great  victory  over  the  Goths, 
may  .serve  to  confirm  our  explanation  of  ver.  30  :  "  Tantuni 
midierum  cepitnits,  xit  Unas  et  ternas  mulieres  victor  sibi 
miles  possit  arljungere."      Trebellius  Poilio,  cap.  TiU. 

6  Observable  also  in  Keil's  exposition. 


CHAPTER  V.  24-31. 


107 


so  many  times  did  he  receive  two  cloths  (for  doubt- 
less the  dual  foi-m  here  really  signifies  the  dual 
number).     Now,  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that 

nD)7~]  is  used  only  in  connection  with  the  division 
of  the  cloths  according  to  the  number  of  maidens. 
Elsewhere  also  (Ezck.  xxvi.  16,  excepted)  n^r?"! 
appears  as  an  article  of  female  adornment,  cf.  Ps. 
xlv.  15,  for  instance;  also  in  Ezek.  xvi.  1.3,  the 
figui-e  is  that  of  a  woman.  This  confirms  the 
above  division,  and  explains  the  expression  of  line 

3-    sno-'Db  D-'iy^iJ  bbttJ.     The  D'^i^n" 

Avhich  the  chieftain  is  to  receive,  are  distinguished 

from  the  D\n^l?"l>  which  fiill  to  the  maidens.  The 
latter  are  beautifully-colored  female  dress-cloths  ;  i 
the  former  belong  to  Sisera,  and  are  therefore  to 

be  taken  as  purple  garments.  It  is  trae,  ^^V, 
in  itself,  means  only  to  dip,  i.  e.  to  dye ;  but  the 
spirit  of  the  passage  invites  us  to  think  not  of 
merely  colored,  but  of  purple-colored  garments, 
Kar'  i^oxv"-  Such  garments  were  worn  by  princes 
in  battle  (cf.  Judg.  viii.  26),  and  distinguished 
kings  and  rulers  ;  by  reason  of  which  it  was  an 
honor  for  Mordecai  to  wear  them  (Esth.  viii.  1.5  ;  cf. 
Eosenmiiller,  Morgenland,  iii.  37).  It  is  a  proud 
thought  for  Sisera's  mother,  that  the  princely  gar- 
ments belong  to  her  son.     The  repetition  of  the 

words  D'^P3^  '■i^  (line  4)  is  to  be  taken  as 
expressive  of  this  her  joy.  The  women  do  not 
speak,  as  has  perhaps  been  supposed,  of  what  they 
themselves  shall  receive,  but  simply  repi'csent  to 
themselves  how  rnuch  time  must  be  consumed  in 
dividing  so  much  booty  among  so  many  persons, 
in  order  to  ex])lain  that  which  so  greatly  needed 
explanation  —  the  delay  of  Sisera. 

We  omit  recounting  the  various  different  expo- 
sitions of  this  section.  Nor  is  room  allowed  us  to 
notice  the  manifold  endeavors  that  have  been  made 
to  analyze  the  arrangement  of  the  whole  Song. 
Neither  Koster's,  nor  Ewald's,  nor  Bertheau's 
division  holds  good.  Le  Clerc  attempted  to  ar- 
range the  Song  according  to  endings  of  similar 
sound,  —  an  attempt  that  must  necessarily  fail .  On 
the  other  hand,  alliteration  is  of  such  frequent 
occurrence,  as  to  betray  more  than  anything  else 
the  presence  of  conscious  art.  Since  the  Song, 
however,  is  not  built  up  of  regular  strophes,  it  of 
course  cannot  be  subject  to  the  same  regular  laws 
which  govern  the  Scandinavian  poems.  But  the 
alliterative  form,  in  its  perfect  freedom,  enhances 
the  power  of  the  Song  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 
It  resembles  in  its  effects  the  ])ebble-stones  of  the 
brook,  over  which  the  current  flows  with  aug- 
mented force.  It  would  transcend  the  limits  of  our 
present  task  to  institute  a  comparison  between  the 
■various  productions  of  the  Hebrew  muse  with  ref- 
erence to  this  alliterative  form.  Let  it  sufiice,  that 
in  the  rendering  of  the  original  we  have  endeav- 
ored to  give  prominence  to  the  delicacy  of  the 
alliteration  as  it  appears  in  this  Song  of  Deborah. 

And  the  land  rested  forty  years.  These 
words  do  not  belong  to  the  Song;  but  connect 
themselves  with  the  prose  narrative,  at  ch.  iv.  24, 
nto  which  the  poem  was  inserted. 

1  [This  general  explanation  of  rTDp"1,  as  cloth  or  gar- 
ments "  worked  in  colors,"  is  probably  to  be  preferred  to  the 
more  definite  "  embroidered  in  colors,"  adopted  by  Dr.  Cassel 
In  his  translation  of  the  passage.     Keil  (on  E.'i.  xxvi.  36) 

remarks  \ha,t  in  the  only   passage  where  the  verb   DjT^ 


HOMILETICAL  AND   PRACTICAl,. 

Deborah,  the  prophetic  Singer.  After  the  vie. 
tory,  Deborah  sings  a  noble"  song,  and  thereby 
enables  us  to  recognize  that  the  spirit  which  ani- 
nuites  her  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  The  other 
Judges  conquer  like  herself,  but  they  have  left  us 
no  songs  of  victory.  But,  indeed,  they  are  not 
said  to  have  been  prophets.  Only  prophetic 
tongues  can  sing.  True  poetry  is  a  sacred  art. 
For  that  reason,  all  prophecy  is  a  sublime  hymn 
on  judgment  and  divine  redemption.  Whatever 
the  prophet  sees,  he  proclaims  and  sings  to  the 
harp  of  faith.  What  they  believed,  that  ihey  spake. 
The  wonderful  works  of  God  ai-e  always  spoken 
of  and  preached  with  other  tongues  and  in  ecstatic 
song.  Thus,  from  David's  time  till  now,  the 
church  of  God  has  sung.  Hallelujah  is  the  key- 
note of  all  church-hymns. 

But,  just  as  Deborah,  like  Moses  and  Miriam, 
sang  among  the  people,  so  the  prophecy  of  song  is 
not  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  church.  All 
popular  poetry  is  the  product  of  popular  faith. 
The  decay  of  literature  is  bound  up  in  the  decay 
of  prophetic  inspiration.  Rhymes  and  verbal  dec- 
orations do  not  rouse  the  masses.  But  when  the 
jubilant  heart,  redeemed,  strikes  i;p  its  Easter-song, 
then  every  pulse  will  beat  responses. 

Staeke  :  Although  God  has  not  committed  the 
regular  office  of  preaching  to  women,  he  has  nev- 
ertheless many  times  imparted  his  prophetic  Spirit 
to  them,  and  through  them  has  spoken  great 
things.  —  The  same  -.  All  who  share  in  the  bene- 
fits of  God,  should  also  join  in  bringing  Him 
praise  and  thanksgiving.  —  Gerlach  :  An  age  in 
which  this  sublime,  high-wrought,  and  spirited 
song  could  be  composed,  though  full  of  restless 
and  wildly  antagonistic  movements,  was  certainly 
not  without  deep  and  liviiig  consciousness  of  the 
high  and  glorious  calling  of  the  covenant-people. 

[Wordsworth  :  We  have  a  song  of  victory  in 
Exodus ;  we  have  a  song  of  victory  in  Numbers ; 
we  have  a  song  of  victory  in  Deuteronomy ;  we 
have  this  song  of  victory  in  Judges ;  we  have  a 
song  of  victory  in  the  first  of  Samuel ;  we  have 
a  song  of  victory  in  the  second  of  Samuel ;  we  have 
the  song  of  Zacharias,  and  the  Magnificat,  or  Song 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  song  of  Simeon,  in 
the  Gospel ;  and  all  these  songs  are  preludes  to 
the  new  song,  the  song  of  Moses  and  of  the  Lamb, 
which  the  Saints  of  the  Church  glorified,  from  all 
nations,  will  sing,  at  the  crystal  sea,  with  the  harps 
of  God,  when  all  the  enemies  of  Christ  and  his 
Church  will  have  been  subdued,  and  their  victory 
will  be  consunmiated  forever  (Rev.  xiv.  1-3;  xv. 
2-4).  —  The  same  (on  ver.  17):  Here,  in  Dan 
and  Asher,  is  the  second  hindrance  to  zeal  for 
God's  cause ;  the  other  was  that  in  the  case  of 
Reuben  —  comparative  distance  from  the  scene  of 
danger,  and  rural  occupation  (see  vers.  15,  16). 
They  who  live  in  commercial  and  maritime  cities, 
engaged  in  Avorldly  business,  are  tempted  to  prefer 
their  own  worldly  interest  to  the  cause  of  God  and 
his  Church.  They  who  thns  act,  imitate  Dan,  and 
forfeit  the  blessing  of  Deborah.  They  also  who 
live  in  country  villages,  removed  from  •  the  din  of 
controversy,  and   engaged    in  fiii-ming  and  other 

occurs,  Ps.  exxxix.  15,  it  signifies  "  to  weave."  Robinscn 
(Bibl.  Repos.,  i.  610)  says:  "The  verb  CpT,  both  in 
Hebrew  and  Arabic,  signifies  to  diversify,  make  variegated, 
sc.  in  color  ;  and  is  not  necessarily  applied  to  needlework.' 
Cf .  also  Bachmann,  in  loc.  —  Te.] 


108 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


rural  occupations,  have  strong  temptations  to  live 
merely  to  themselves,  and  to  stand  aloof  from  their 
brethren,  and  not  to  listen  to  Deborah's  voice,  and 
■pot  to  flock  to  Barak's  standard,  and  fight  God's 
battle  together  with  them  against  the  heresy  and 
infidelity  which  assail  his  Churcli.  —  The  sajie 
(on  ver.  18)  :  Zebnlun  and  Ncphtali,  in  "  Galilee 
of  the  Gentiles,"  sent  forth  cluinipions  to  the  Lord's 
battle  against  the  enemies  of  the  Hebrew  Church ; 
and  their  land  was  afterwards  honored  as  the  scene 
of  Christ's  preaching  (see  Matt.  iv.  13),  and  gave 
birth  to  many  of  the  Apostles,  the  first  champions 
of  the  Christian  Church  against  the  spiritual  Sise- 


ras  of  this  world.  — The  same  (on  ver.  31)  :  Aftei 
the  stirring  emotions  of  the  tempest  of  the  ele- 
ments, and  the  rush  of  the  combatants,  and  the 
din  of  arms,  and  shock  of  battle,  described  with 
wonderful  energy  in  tliis  divine  poem,  the  lard  had 
rest;  a  beautiful  contrast,  and  ;in  emblem  of  the 
peaceful  calm  which  will  prevail  when  the  .sKn'ms 
of  this  world  will  be  hilled  in  the  Sabbath  of  Eter- 
nity. —  Henry  :  And  well  had  it  been  if,  when  the 
churches  and  the  tribes  had  rest,  they  had  been 
edified,  and  had  ivalked  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  — 
Tr.] 


FOURTH   SECTION. 


THE  INCURSIONS   AND   OPPRESSIONS   OF   THE   MIDIANITES.     GIDEON,   THE   JUDGE   WHO    REFUSES   TO 

BE   KING. 


The  Midianites  invade  the   land  seven  years.     Israel  cries  to  Jehovah,  and  is  an- 
swered through  a  prophet,  who  7^eminds  them  of  their  sins. 

Chapter  VI.  1-10. 


1  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  : 

2  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  them  into  the  hand  of  Midian  seven  years.  And 
the  hand  of  Midian  prevailed  [was  strong]  against  [over]  Israel  :  and  because  of 
the  Midianites  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  made  them  the  dens  [grottoes]  which 

3  are  in  the  mountains,  and  [the]  caves,  and  [the]  strong  holds.  And  so  it  was, 
when  Israel  had  sown  [his  fieid.-<],  that  the  Midianites  came  up,  and  the  Amalekites, 
and  the  children  [sons]  of  the  east,  even  they  came  up  against  them  [and  passed 

4  over  them]  :  ^  And  they  encamped  against  [upon]  them,  and  destroyed  [ruined] 
the  increase  [produce,  cf.  Deut.  xxxii.  22]  of  the  earth,  till  thou  come  unto  Gaza ; 

5  and  left  no  sustenance  '"  for  [in]  Israel,  neither  sheep,  nor  ox,  nor  ass.  For  they 
came  up  with  their  cattle  and  their  tents,  and  they  came  as  grasshoppers  [locusts] 
for  multitude  ;  for  both  they  and  their  camels  were  without  number  :  and  they 

6  entered  into  the  land  to  destroy  [ruin]  it.  And  Israel  was  greatly  impoverished 
[reduced]  because  of  the  Midianites  ;  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  cried  unto 

7  the  Lord  [Jehovah].     And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel 

8  cried  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  because  of  the  Midianites,  That  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
sent  a  prophet  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  which  [and  he]  said  unto  them, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  [Jehovah,  the]  God  of  Israel,  I  brought  you  up  from  Egypt 
[cf.  1  Sam.  X.  18]  and  brought  you  forth  out  of  the  house  of  bondage  [Ex.  xiii.  o]  ; 

9  And  I  delivered  you  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  all 
that  oppressed  you,  and  drave  them  out  from  before  you,  and  gave  yoxx  their  land ; 

10  And  I  said  unto  you,  I  am  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  your  God ;  fear  not  [ye  shall  not 
fear,  i.  e.  reverence]  the  gods  of  the  Amorites,  in  whose  land  ye  dwell :  but  ye  have 
not  obeyed  my  voice. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GEAMMATICAL. 

I  Ver.  3. —  Vv^?  ^v57'}  :  literally,  "came  up  vpon  him,"  or,  "came  up  against  hSm."  Dr.  Cassel  supplies  ^imC? 
after  2?"^^,  anil  accordingly  makes  "him"  refer  to  "field."  But  although  this  rendering  suits  the  connection  admira- 
bly well,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  Hebrew  writer  would  have  left  the  accusative  after  5?^^  unexpressed  if  he  hnd 


CHAPTER  VI.   1-10. 


109 


Intended  to  refer  back  to  it  by  means  of  a  pronoun,  especially  when  the  latter  could  so  readily  be  referred  to  anothet 
noun.      V  Vl7  ^/l?"!  simply  adds   the  idea  of  hostility,  which  the  preceding  n^27  left  unexpressed.     In  like  man 

ner,  Drt"^  ^^,  in  the  next  verse,  explains  that  the  "  encamping "  was  "  against "  Israel  —  had  hostile  purposes  in 
view.  —  Te.] 

[2  Ver.  4 n"*n?3  :  Br.  Cassel,  Lebensmitteln,  "means  of  life."     So  also  Keil :  "They  left  no  provisions  (produce 

of  the  field)  in  Israel,  and  neither  sheep,  nor  cattle,  nor  ass."  Dr.  Cassel,  in  a  foot-note,  gives  a  simple  reference  to 
2  Chron.  xiv.  12  (13),  where,  however,  the  word  unquestionably  means  anything  "alive."  Bertheau  adopts  that  mean- 
ing here  ;  but  cf.  ch.  xvii.  10.  —  Te.] 


KXEGETICAL   AND  D0CTRIN.4.L. 

V^cr.  1 .  And  Jehovah  delivered  them  into  the 
hand  of  Midian.  Of  the  death  of  Deborah  and 
Barak,  no  mention  is  made  ;  the  peace  which  their 
great  deeds  procured  lasted  forty  years.  But  those 
deeds  were  already  forgotten  again  ;  and  with  them 
the  God  whose  Spirit  had  begotten  them.  Then 
fresh  bondage  and  misery  came,  and  reminded  the 
people  of  Him  who  alone  can  save.  Numerous 
tribes  of  eastern  nomads  invaded,  plundered,  and 
devastated  the  land.  The  transjordanic  tribes  could 
at  that  time  offer  them  no  sut-h  resistance  as,  ac- 
cording to  1  Chron.  v.  10,  19,  they  were  able,  at  a 
later  date,  to  make  against  the  Hagarites,  Jetur, 
Nephish,  and  Nodab.  The  present  invaders  are 
called  Midian,  and  appear  in  league  with  Amalek 
and  the  "sons  of  the  east."  The  Midianites  are 
wandering  tribes  in  the  desert  of  Sinai,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Moabites,  ansAvering  both  in 
name  and  manner  of  life  to  the  Bedouins.     In  the 

constantly  occurring  interchange  of  ^  and  ^  [m 
and  h)  in  the  Semitic  dialects,  the  Arabic  tongue 
seems  to  prefer  the  2,  while  the  Hebrew  inclines 
to  the  J2  (cf.  Timnath  and  Tibneh).  The  Bedouin 
derives  his  name  from  the  Arabic    n''7S3,  the 

desert ;  an  expression  of  which  the  Hebrew  "^7^? 
to  be  desolate  and  waste,  readily  reminds  one.    The 

derivation  from  "^3"TP,  formerly  current,  is  too 
artificial,  since  the  prominent  idea  of  the  term 
Bedouin  is  not  a  reference  to  pasture  lands,  but  to 
the  desei't.     The  name  Midian  manifestly  belongs 

to   the  same  root —  ^^"T^      being   the   same   as 

1"^T3,  primitive  Bedawin,  who,  like  the  Towara  of 
the  present  day  (Bitter,  xiv.  9.37),  engaged  in  the 
carrying  trade  between  the  Euphrates  and  Egypt, 
and  in  general  pillage.  Not  ail  desert  tribes  boast 
tlie  same  descent,  as  in  fact  the  Ishmaelites  and 
the  Midianites  did  not  belong  to  the  same  family ; 
both,  however,  followed  similar  modes  of  life,  and 
hence  are  sometimes  designated  by  one  and  the 
■same  name  (Gen.  xxxvii.  25,  28;  Judg.  viii.  22, 

1  A  Madian  near  the  Arabian  Gulf  is  mentioned  by 
Abulfeda;  cf.  Geogr.,  ed.  Paris,  p.  86  ;  Arnold,  in  Hfrzog's 
Realeircykl.,  i.  463. 

2  [Keil  :  "  The  power  of  the  Midianites  and  their  con- 
federates bore  so  heavily  on  the  Israelites,  that  these  '  made 
for  themselves  the  clefts  which  are  in  the  moun  tiling,  and 
the  caves,  and  the  strongholds,'  those,  namel}',  which  were 
afterwards  (at  the  time  when  our  Book  was  written)  every- 
where to  be  found  in  the  l.-^nd,  and  in  times  Ckf  war  offered 
secure  places  of  refuge.     This  is  indicated  by  the  definite 

article  before  niin^Q  and  the  other  substantives.      The 

T  :  • 
words,  '  they  made   for   themselves,'  are   not   at  variance 
with  the  thct  that  in  the  limestone  mountains  of  Palesfine 
there  exist  many  natural  caves      For,  on  the  one  hand, 
►hey  do  ncj:  a,fflrm  that  all  the  caves  found  in  the  land  were 


24).  They  are  dwellers  in  tents,  as  contrasted 
with  those  who  till  the  earth  or  dwell  in  cities. 

Ver.  2.  And  the  sons  of  Israel  made  them 
the  grottoes  which  are  in  the  mountains,  and 
the  caves  and  the  strongholds.     The  word  for 

grottoes  is  niT^^^,  and  an  entirely  satisfitctory 
description  of  them  is  given  by  Wetzstein  {Han- 
ran,  p.  45)  :  "At  some  rocky,  elevated,  and  dry 
place,  a  shaft  was  sunk  obliquely  into  the  earth ; 
and  at  a  depth  of  about  twenty-five  fathoms,  streets 
were  run  off,  straight,  and  from  six  to  eight  paces 
wide,  in  the  sides  of  which  the  dwellings  were  ex- 
cavated. At  various  points  these  streets  were  ex- 
tended to  double  their  ordinary  width,  and  the 
roof  was  pierced  with  airholes,  more  or  less  numer- 
ous according  to  the  extent  of  the  place.  These 
airholes  are  at  present  called  rdsen,  plural  raimsin 
(windows)."  Erom  this  may  be  seen  how  accu- 
rately Easchi  and  Kimchi  explained  the  above  word, 
when  they  made  it  mean  "  caves  with  air-holes 
like  windows."  The  remark  of  R.  Tanchum  is  like- 
wise correct,  that  watchmen  were  employed,  who 
gave  alarm  signals  when  the  enemy  approached.  As 
soon  as  these  were  given,  the  ploughmen  and  herds 
hurried  quickly  into  the  earth,  and  were  secure. 
Commonly,  says  Wetzstein,  these  excavations  had 
a  second  place  of  exit ;  and  consequently,  in  a 
region  whose  inhabitants  are  liable  to  constant 
attacks  from  the  desert  (he  speaks  of  the  Hauran), 
are  regarded  as  strongholds.  Quite  appropriate, 
apparently,  is  the  rendering  of  that  Greek  version 

which  translates  n^n3^  by  fxavSpa,  an  inclosed 
space,  a  fold,  stable.  In  later  times,  eastern  monks, 
who  lived  in  such  grottoes,  called  the  cloister  itself 
fj.di'dpa.'" 

Vers.  3,  4.  TlU  thou  come  imto  G-aza.^  They 
were  expeditions  for  plunder  and  devastation,  such 
as  the  Bedouin  tribes  of  the  present  day  are  still 
accustomed  to  undertake  against  hostile  commu- 
nities.'*  Their  general  direction  was  towards  the 
plain.  The  invaders,  however,  did  not  content 
themselves  with  ruining  the  growing  crops  from 
east  to  west,  btit  also  scoured  the  land  towards  the 
south.  Gaza,  moreover,  formerly  as  in  later  times, 
was  the  great  bazaar  of  stolen  wares,  brought  to- 
made  at  that  time  by  the  Israelites,  nor  on  the  other  doej 
pm727,  to  make,  exclude  the  u?e  of  natural  caves  for  pur- 
poses  of  safety,  since  it  applies  not  only  to  the  digging  and 
laying  out  of  new  caves,  but  also  to  the  fitting  up  of  nat- 
ural  ones I'or   the    rest,    these  clefts,   caves,   and 

strongholds,  were  to  serve,  not  merely  as  hiding-places  for 
the  fugitive  Israelites,  but  much  more  as  places  of  conceal- 
ment and  security  for  their  property  and  the  nec&ssiries  of 
life.  For  the  Midianites,  lilvc  genuine  Bedouins,  were  mora 
intent  on  plunder  and  pillage,  and  the  de.«olation  of  the 
country,  than  on  the  destruction  of  the  people."  —  Tb.] 

3  On  Gaza,  cf.  the  Com.  on  ch.  xvi.  1. 

4  [.See  Thomson,  The  Land  and  the  Book,  ii.  163  ;  Kitto 
Daily  Bible  Illustrations,  Moses  and  the  Judges,  p.  340,  etc 
—  Tr.] 


110 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


gether  there  by  the  Bedouins  from  their  expedi- 
tions (Ritter,  xiv.  924).^ 

Ver.  5.  As  locusts  (Sept.  S,Kpis,  cf.  II.  xxi.  12) 
for  multitude :  a  cuniparison  suj^gestive  both  of 
their  numbers  and  of  the  effects  of  their  pi-esence. 
The  Midianite  devastation  was  like  tliat  by  locusts. 
In  Hauran,  says  Wetzstein,  various  plaj^ucs  are 
found ;  the  locust  is  bad,  but  the  worst  are  the 
Bedouins  (p.  43).  A  Bedouin  said  to  him  :  "  The 
Ruwala  have  become  like  the  hosts  of  God,"  ;'.  e., 
numerous  as  the  locusts,  for  these  are  called  Gunud 
Allah  (Hauran,  p.  138).  —  Camels  without  num- 
ber. In  such  extravagant  hyperbolisms  the  speech 
of  Orientals  has  alwa3's  abounded.  When  Bui-k- 
hardt  asked  a  Bedouin,  who  belonged  to  a  tribe  of 
three  hundred  tents,  how  many  brothers  he  had, 
throwing  a  handful  of  sand  into  the  air,  he  re- 
plied, "  equally  numberless."  The  invaders'  object 
was  not  to  gather  the  harvest,  but  only  to  destroy 
What  they  needed,  they  had  with  them  —  cattle, 
tents,  and  camels. 

Vers.  6-10.  And  the  sons  of  Israel  cried  unto 
Jehovah.     When  the  people  were  brought  low 

( 'Uf-)'  they  repented.  Distress  teaches  prayer. 
With  Israel  repentance  went  hand  in  hand  with 
the  remembrance  of  their  former  strength.  Tiiey 
lose  themselves  when  they  lose  their  God  ;  they 
find  themselves  when  they  turn  to  Hiui.  This  the 
prophet  sets  before  them.  The  words  put  into 
the  mouth  of  the  unknown  preacher,  reproduce  the 
old  penitential  discourse.  In  various  but  similar 
forms  that  discourse  ever  reappears  ;  for  it  rests  on 
Mosaic  warnings  and  declarations  whose  truth  all 
the  fortunes  of  Israel  confirm.     For  the  first  time, 

however,  the  verb  ^^^,  to  fear,  elsewhere  used  only 
with  reference  to  God,  is  here  connected  with  heathen 
gods  ;  but  only  to  point  out  the  fact  that  disobedient 
Israel  has  yielded  to  idol  gods  the  reverence  which  it 
owed  to  the  eternal  God.  When  such  rebukes  are 
gladly  heai-d  by  the  people,  deliverance  is  near  at 
hand.  When  they  believe  themselves  to  have  de- 
served such  admonitions  and  punishments,  they 
again  believe  God.  In  accepting  the  judge,  we  se- 
cure the  deliverer.  Such  is  the  historical  experience 
of  all  ages. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PEACTICAL. 

Israel  had  again  apostatized,  notwithstanding 

1  [Bertheao  :  "  Since  the  expeditions  of  eastern  tribes 
follow  the  same  plan  at  every  repetition,  and  since,  accord- 
ing to  ver.  .33,  they  encamped  in  the  valley  of  Jezreel,  and 
moreover  made  their  incursion  with  their  herds  and  camels, 
It  is  evident  that  they  must  have  entered  the  country  by 
the  one  great  connecting  road  between  the  East  and  Pales- 


the  victory  and  the  song  of  Deborah.  Sailer 
"  When  one  has  drunk,  he  turns  his  back  upop 
the  fountain  ;  but  it  is  only  the  ingrate  who  does 
this."  Israel  was  altogether  as  it  had  been  for- 
merly, but  God's  judgment  assumes  a  new  form. 
Greater  than  ever  was  the  humiliation.  Israel 
was  not  simply  oppressed  by  a  tyranny  like  that 
of  Sisera,  who  was  in  the  land,  but  it  was  like  a 
slave  who  toils  for  a  foreign  master.  Had  it 
accomplished  its  task  ?  Midian  came  and  seized 
the  fruit.  So  he  who  falls  away  from  God  who 
gives,  must  for  that  very  reason  serve  sin,  which 
takes.  —  Starke  :  The  strongest  fortress,  defense, 
and  weapon,  with  which  in  danger  we  can  protect 
ourselves,  is  prayer. 

[Bp.  Hall:  During  the  former  tyranny,  Deb- 
orah was  permitted  to  judge  Israel  under  a  palm- 
tree;  under  this,  not  so  much  as  private  habita- 
tions will  be  allowed  to  Israel.  Then,  the  seat  of 
judgment  was  in  sight  of  the  sun  ;  now,  their  very 
dwellings  must  be  secret  under  the  earth.  They 
that  rejected  the  protection  of  God,  are  glad  to 
seek  to  the  mountains  for  shelter;  and  as  they  had 
savagely  abused  themselves,  so  they  are  fain  to 
creep  into  dens  and  caves  of  the  rocks,  like  wild 
creatures,  for  safeguard.  God  had  sown  spiritual 
seed  amongst  them,  and  they  suffered  their  hea 
thenish  neighbors  to  pull  it  up  by  the  roots ;  and 
now,  no  sooner  can  they  sow  their  material  seed, 
but  Midianites  and  Amalekites  are  ready  by  force 
to  destroy  it.  As  they  inwardly  dealt  with  God, 
so  God  deals  outwardly  by  them  ;  their  eyes  may 
tell  them  what  their  souls  have  done ;  yet  that 
God  whose  mercy  is  above  the  worst  of  our  sin, 
sends  first  his  prophet  with  a  message  of  reproof, 
and  then  his  angel  with  a  message  of  deliverance. 
The  Israelites  had  smarted  enough  with  their  ser- 
vitude, yet  God  sends  them  a  sharp  rebuke.  It  is 
a  good  sign  when  God  chides  us  ;  his  round  repre- 
hensions are  ever  gracious  forerunners  of  mercy  ; 
whereas,  his  silent  connivance  at  the  wicked  argues 
deep  and  secret  displeasure;  the  prophet  made 
way  for  the  angel,  reproof  for  deliverance,  humil 
iation  for  comfort.  —  Henry  :  Sin  dispirits  men, 
and  makes  them  sneak  into  dens  and  caves.  The 
day  will  come,  when  chief  captains  and  mighty 
men  will  call  in  vain  to  rocks  and  mountains  to 
hide  them.  — Tr.I 


tine,  which  crosses  the  depression  of  the  Jordan  near  Beth- 
shean,  and  issues  into  the  plain  of  Jezreel.  The  extension 
of  their  inroads  thence,  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  Gaza, 
at  the  southwestern  extremity  of  the  land,  is  named  as  the 
limit  of  their  advance."  Cf.  Dr.  Cassel's  remarks  on  ver. 
11,  p.  111.  —  Tr.] 


Tfie  Angel  of  Jehovah  appears  to  Gideon,  and  commissions  him  to  deliver  Israel. 
Chapter  VI.  11-24. 


11  And  there  came  an  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovahj,  and  sat  under  an  [the]  oak 
which  was  [is]  in  Ophrah,  that  pertained,  unto  Joash  the  Abi-ezrite :  and  his  son 
Gideon  threshed  [was  threshing]  ^  wheat  by  [in]  the  wine-press,  to  hide  it  from  the 

12  Midianites.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  appeared  unto  him,  and  said 
unto  him,  The  Lord  [Jehovah]   is  with  thee,  thou  mighty  man  of  valour  [valiant 

13  hero].     And  Gideon  said  unto  him,  O  [Pray,]  my  Lord,  if  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  be 


CHAPTER  VI.   11-24. 


Ill 


with  us,  why  then  is  all  this  befallen  us  ?  and  where  he  all  his  miracles  which  our 
fathers  told  us  of,  saying,  Did  not  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  bring  us  up  from  Egypt  ? 
but  now  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  forsaken  us,  and  delivered  us  into  the  hands  of 

14  the  Midianites.  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  looked  upon  [turned  towards]  him,  anc 
said,  Go  in  this  thy  might,  and  thou  shalt  save   [and  save  thou]  Israel  from  the 

15  hand  of  the  Midianites  :  have  not  I  sent  thee  ?  And  he  said  unto  him,  O  [Pray,] 
my  Lord,'^  wherewith  shall  I  save  Israel  ?  behold,  my  family  is  poor  [the  most 
insignificant]  in  Manasseh,   and  I   am   the  least  [youngest]   in  my  father's   house. 

16  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  him,  Surely  [Nay,  but]  I  will  be  with  thee,  and 

17  thou  shalt  smite  the  Midianites  as  one  man.  And  he  said  unto  him.  If  now  I  have 
found  grace  in  thy  sight,  then  shew  me  a  sign  that  [it  is]  thou  [who]  talkest  with 

18  me.  Depart  not  hence,  I  pray  thee,  imtil  I  come  [again]  unto  thee,  and  bring  forth 
my  present,  and  set  it  before  thee.    And  he  said,  I  will  tarry  until  thou  come  again. 

19  And  Gideon  went  in,  and  made  ready  a  kid,  and  unleavened  cakes  of  an  ephah  of 
flour :  the  flesh  he  put  in  a  [the]  basket,  and  he  put  the  broth  in  a  [the]  pot,  and 

20  brouglit  it  out  unto  him  under  the  oak,  and  presented  it.  And  the  angel  of  God 
said  unto  him.  Take  the  flesh  and  the  unleavened  cakes,  and  lay  them  upon  this 

21  [that]  rock,  and  pour  out  the  broth.  And  he  did  so.  Then  [And]  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  put  forth  the  end  of  the  staff"  that  was  in  his  hand,  and  touched 
the  flesh  and  the  unleavened  cakes  ;  and  there  rose  up  fire  out  of  the  rock,  and 
consumed  the  flesh  and  the  imleavened  cakes.     Then  [And]  the  angel  of  the  Lord 

22  [Jehovah]  departed  [disappeared]  out  of  his  sight.  And  when  [omit :  when]  Gideon 
perceived  that  he  ivas  an  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah,  and]  Gideon  said,  Alas,  0 
Lord  God  [Jehovah]  !  for  because  ^  I  have  seen  an  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 

23  face  to  face.     And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  imto  him.  Peace  be  unto  thee ;  fear 

24  not :  thou  shalt  not  die.  Then  [And]  Gideon  built  an  altar  there  unto  the  Lord 
[Jehovah],  and  called  it  Jehovah-shalom  [Jehovah  (is)  Peace]  :  unto  this  day  it  is 
yet  in  Ophrah  of  the  Abi-ezrites. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  11. — Literally,  "was  beating"  (l^pH)  «e.  with  a  stick,  pa^Si^eiv-     The  more  usual  word  for  threshing  is 

IT-l"^.  Threshing  was  generally  done  by  treading  with  oxen,  or  by  means  of  a  drag-like  machine  drawn  over  the  grain 
by  oxen  or  other  animals.  But  for  small  quantities,  and  for  certain  minor  seeds  (Isa.  xxviii.  27 ),  a  stick  was  used,  of. 
Ruth  ii.  17.  — Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  15.  —  "^3"^^  :  tlius  pointed ,  this  word  always  refers  to  God,  and  the  possessive  suffix  (for  such  ^V  is  most 
probably)  is  lost  sight  of.  "From  the  words  in  ver.  15  Gideon  perceived  that  he  who  talked  with  him  was  not  a  mere 
man.  Hence,  he  now  no  longer  says  :  '  Pray,  my  lord  '  (''STS,  ver.  13),  but,  '  Pray,  Lord  '  ('^^"TS,  God  the  Lord)." 
So  Keil.  Dr.  Cassel  apparently  points  the  text  here  as  in  ver.  13,  for  he  translates  "  My  Lord."  Compare  what  he  says 
on  ver.  17.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  22.  —  ]3"7^"*3  :  "  for  therefore,"  "  for  on  this  account."  Dr.  Cassel  renders  it  here  by  also,  "  so  then  '• 
(illative).  But  the  phrase  regularly  indicates  the  ground  or  reason  for  what  goes  before,  cf.  Gen.  xviii.  5  ;  xix.  8 ; 
xxxlii.  10  ;  etc.  ;  and  Ewald,  Gram.  353  a.  Gideon's  thought  is  :  "  Woe  is  me  I  for  therefore  —  scit.  to  give  me  cause  for 
my  apprehension  of  danger  — have  I  seen,"  etc.  Cf.  Bertheau  and  Keil.  The  E.  V.  would  be  rendered  accurate  enough 
by  striking  oyit  either  "  for  "  or  "  because."  —  Tb.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  11.  In  Ophrah.  The  place  is  expressly 
desijrnated  as  belonging;  to  the  family  of  Abiezer, 
to  distinguish  it  from  another  Ophrah  in  Benja- 
min (Josh,  xviii.  V3).  Abiezer  was  a  son  of  Ma- 
nasseh, whose  seats  were  on  this  siile  the  Jordan 
(Josh.  xvii.  2).  To  the  western  half  tribe  of  Ma- 
nasseh, belonged  also  Beth-shean  (Scytho polls), 
Jibleam,  Taanach,  Megiddo,  the  fertile  districts 
of  the  plain  of  Jezreel.  Manasseh  therefore  suf- 
fered especially,  when  the  Midianit(;s  crossed  the 
Jordan  near  Beisan,  in  order  to  desolate  the  land. 
From  vers.  3.3-35  it  may  be  inferred  that  Ophrah 
was  situated  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  plain, 
in  the  direction  of  Dora,  which  likewise  belongs  to 


Manasseh.  Since  the  enemy,  after  crossing  the 
Jordan,  encamped  in  Jezreel,  and  Gideon  invoked 
assistance  against  them  from  Asher,  Naphtali,  and 
Zebulun,  this  inference  may  be  considered  tolera- 
bly certain.  That  Ashgr  was  called  on,  shows  that 
Ophrah  was  in  the  Vfest,  and  the  appeal  to  Naph- 
tali and  Zebulun  indicates  that  it  lay  to  the  north  ; 
since  otherwise  the  army  of  Midian  would  have 
prevented  a  junction.  Ophrah  was  inhabited  by 
a  branch  of  the  family  of  Abiezer,  at  whose 
head  Joash  stood ;  but  among  them  dwelt  others 

CT>^n  "^t^^W,  "  the  men  of  the  city,"  ver.  27),  who 
were  probably  of  the  original  inhabitants  whom 
Manasseh  had  suffered  to  remain. 

Under  the  oak,  H^SH  nn^.      Septuagint; 


112 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


repefjLtvdos  (interchangeable  with  repe^tvdos),  the 
terebinth.      The    Targums   have    N^I2^2,    oak. 

HvS  and  ^IvM  are  evidently  different  species  of 
the  same  stately  tree,  and  probably  differ  from  each 
other  as  the  quercus  and  ilex.  The  oak  and  tere- 
binth are  too  little  alike  to  make  it  probable  that 
they  liad  almost  the  same  name,  flex  is  clearly 
a  cognate  term.  Bottiger's  remarks  about  an 
"  ancestral  terebinth,"  and  a  "  sacred  tree"  under 
which  "Jehovah  appears"  {Batiwkidtus  der  Ud- 
lenen,  p.  ■521),  have  no  su])port  in  tlie  passages  in 
which  those  trees  are  mentioned.  The  magnificent 
tree  afforded  a  grateful  shade,  and  therefore  in- 
vited persons  to  sit  and  rest  beneatb  it.  Whoever 
knows  the  East,  knows  also  how  to  estimate  the 
value  of  shade ;  ^  though  indeed  everywhere  a 
large  tree  near  a  homestead  or  in  a  village,  be- 
comes the  meeting  and  resting-place  of  the  inhab- 
itants as  well  as  the  traveller.  Besides,  the  tree  in 
Ophrah  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  what 
farther  happens.  The  whole  section  in  Bottiger's 
book  is  a  misunderstanding.  The  tree  is  men- 
tioned here  only  to  make  it  appear  natural  that  a 
stranger  could  seat  himself  under  it  without  draw- 
ing special  attention  and  exciting  surprise. 

And  his  son  Gideon  was  threshing  wheat  in 
the  wine-press.  In  German,  also,  "wine-press" 
[Kelter)  sometimes  stands  for  the  place  in  which 
the  pressing  is  done,  as  well  as  for  the  vat  into 
which  the  wine  flows.     The  same  is  the  case  in 

Hebrew.     While  i*^5  is  the  press-house  or  place, 

^i?.').  stands  for  the  vat;  but  they  are  frequently 
interchanged.  Here  it  is  of  course  the  place,  of 
which  Gideon  makes  use  to  thresh  wheat ;  thresh- 
ing on  exposed  threshing-floors  being  avoided  on 
account  of  the  pillaging  propensities  of  the  Mid- 
ianites.  Here  that  had  again  come  to  pass  which 
Deborah  lamented,  and  the  cure  of  which  she  had 

celebrated  in  her  song  —  there  was  no  "JITHQ,  no 
open  country,  in  the  land. 

Vers.  12,  13.  And  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  ap- 
peared unto  him.  Hitherto  nifT^.  TIH  vSi  always 
signified  a  human  messenger  of  God  (cf.  ch.  ii.  1  ; 
V.  23).  Here  it  is  otherwise.  The  mention  of  a 
"prophet  of  Jehovah"  in  ver.  8,  already  indicated 

that  the  ^^7^  now  spoken  of,  is  not  a  human 
messenger.  That  hint  is  now  rendered  plain  and 
unmistakable  by  the  phrase  V7M  i^'^.^l,  there 
"  appeared  "  to  him,  which  is  only  used  when  the 
invisible  divine  nature  becomes  visible.  As  Gideon 
looked  up,  a  stranger  stood  before  him,  —  who, 
while  exhibiting  nothing  unusual  in  his  outward 
appearance,  must  yet  have  had  about  him  that 
which  commanded  reverence.  This  stranger  greeted 
^lim. 

Jehovah  (is)  with  thee,  thou  vaUant  hero. 
Gideon  cannot  have  referred  this  greeting  merely 
to  heroic  deeds  of  war.  It  is  much  rather  the  evi- 
dent pleasure  of  the  stranger  in  the  nervous  energy 
and  vigor  with  which  he  threshes,  to  which  with  a 
sense  of  shame  he  replies.  True,  indeed,  he  is 
conscious  of  strength  and  energy;  but  of  what 
avail  are  they "?  Is  it  not  matter  of  shame  that  he 
cannot  even  thresh  his  wheat  on  the  threshing- 
floor?  Hence  his  respectfully  spoken  answer  :  No, 
my  lord  ;  God  is  not  with  me ;  for  were  He  with 

1  Clearly  and  charmingly  apparent  iu  Gen.  xviii.  1-4. 

2  [Keil  :  "  In  this  thy  strength,  i.  e.,  in  the  strength 
which  thou  now  hast,  since  Jehovah  is  with   thee.     The 


us,  would  such  things  come  upon  us  1  would  I  b« 
driven  to  thresh  wheat  in  the  wine-press  ?  But 
this  answer  shows  that  he  believed  God ;  from  the 

greeting  (nlH^)  he  had  perceived  that  he  stood  in 
the  presence  of  one  of  the  friends  and  confessors 
of  God.  It  shows,  also,  that  his  courageous  heart 
had  long  demurred  against  Israel's  dishonor.  The 
national  tradition  of  Israel's  ancient  glory  was 
not  yet  extinct.  The  deliverance  from  Egypt  was 
the  "beginning  of  Israel's  nationality  and  freedom. 
Doubtless,  says  the  strong  man,  then,  as  our  fath- 
ers tell  us,  God  was  with  Israel,  and  freed  us  from 
Egypt;  but  now  —  we  are  unable  to  defend  our- 
selves against  the  pillaging  Bedouins  !  The  doubt 
which  he  thus  utters,  does  not  spring  from  an  un- 
believing and  pusillanimous  soul.  He  gladly  be- 
lieved and  delighted  in  what  was  told  of  other 
days.  His  lament  is  that  of  a  patriot,  not  of  a 
traitor.  Because  such  is  his  character,  he  has  been 
found  eligible  to  become  the  deliverer  of  Israel. 
The  Angel  therefore  comes  to  him,  and  says  ;  — 

Vers.  14-16.  Go  thou  in  this  thy  strength'^ 
.  ...  do  not  I  send  thee  ?  The  difterenee  be- 
tween Gideon's  call  and  that  of  former  heroes, 
must  be  carefully  observed.  Of  Othuiel  it  is  said, 
that  the  "  Spirit  of  Jehovah  "  was  with  him  ;  Ehud 
is  "  raised  up  "  to  be  "  a  deliverer ; "  Barak  is  called 
through  the  prophetess.  The  latter  hero  does  not 
immediately  proceed  to  victory.  He  refuses  to  go, 
unless  Deborah  go  Avith  him.  In  Gideon's  fase 
much  more  is  done.  An  angel  of  God  assumes 
the  human  form  in  order  to  call  him.  He  conde- 
scends to  work  miracles  before  him.  How  much 
more,  apparently,  than  Deborah  had  to  contend 
with,  must  here  be  overcome  by  the  angel !  The 
grounds  of  this  difference  have  been  profoundly 
indicated  in  the  })receding  narrative.  What  was 
the  all-important  qualification  demanded  of  one 
who  slionld  be  a  deliverer  of  Israel  ?  Decided  and 
undivided  faith  in  God.  Faith  in  God  Avas  the  root 
of  national  freedom  in  Israel.  Whatever  energy 
and  enthusiasm  the  love  of  country  called  out 
among  the  Greeks  and  Bomans ;  that,  faith  in  God 
called  out  in  Israel.  Israel  existed  in  God,  or  not 
at  all.  The  hero,  therefore,  who  would  fight  for 
Israel,  must  thoroughly  believe  in  God.  This 
fiiith,  undivided,  unwavering,  not  looking  to  earthly 
things,  and  unconcerned  about  life  or  danger  —  a 
perfect  imit  with  itself  in  devotion  to  God,  and 
therefore  hostile  to  the  idol  gods,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  enemies  —  this  faith  the  call  must  find 
in  him  whom  it  selected  for  the  work  of  deliver- 
ance. The  men  hitherto  called  did  not  come  from 
the  same  tribes.  Othniel  was  of  Judah ;  Ehud  of 
Benjamin.  In  these  tribes,  the  worship  of  the  true 
God  was  less  mixed  with  that  of  the  false  gods, 
because  here  the  old  inhabitants  had  been  obliged 
to  yield.  Barak  was  of  Naphtali,  where  idolatry, 
though  existing  in  many  places  along  side  of  the 
true  worship,  did  certainly  not  prevail  as  in  Ma- 
nasseh.  Precisely  those  places  which  constituted 
the  richest  portion  of  this  half  tribe,  and  which 
consequently  suffered  most  from  the  inroads  of 
Midian,  namely,  the  cities  of  the  plain,  had  never, 
as  the  narrator  expressly  recorded,  been  vacated  by 
the  original  inhabitants.  They  had  continued  to 
dwell  in  Beth-shean,  Taanach,  Megiddo,  Jibleam, 
and  Dor  (ch.  i.  27).  Here  altars  of  Baal  raised 
themselves  everywhere,  fully  authorized  and  per- 
fectly unrestrained.     Amid  such  surroui^dings,  the 

demonstrative  '  this '  refers  to  the  strength  now  impartod 
to  him  through  the  divine  promiBe."  — Ta.] 


CHAPTER   VI.  11-24. 


113 


Eosition  of  the  faithful  is  a  difficult  one  at  all  times, 
ut  especially  in  evil  days,  when  Baal  seems  to 
triumph.  Their  hearts  become  saddened ;  and  the 
contrast  between  the  former  glory,  in  which  they 
so  gladly  believe,  and  the  present  impotence,  un- 
mans and  confuses  them.  If  the  modest  soul  of 
Gideon  is  to  be  prepared  for  bold  hazards  in  behalf 
of  the  truth  of  God,  he  must  first  be  fully  con- 
vinced that  God  is  still  what  He  was  anciently  in 
Israel ;  that  He  still  works  wonders,  and  in  them 
reveals  his  love  for  the  nation.  In  his  home  and 
in  his  city  he  is  surrounded  by  idolatry.  He,  the 
youngest,  is  to  assume  an  attitude  of  authority 
towards  all.  That  he  may  do  this  boldly  and  con- 
fidently, the  heavenly  visitant  must  inspire  him 
with  a  divine  enthusiasm  which  shall  rise  superior 
to  the  suggestions  of  common  prudence.  [The 
way  to  this  is  opened  by  the  promise,  "  But  I  will 
be  with  thee ! "  which  is  at  the  same  time  a  chal- 
lenge to  test  the  speaker.  —  Tr.]  The  narrative 
could  not,  ill  so  few  sentences,  teach  the  love  of 
God,  which  will  thus  be  tested,  more  beautifully. 
Gideon  is  no  presumptuous  doubter.  It  is  his 
humility  that  requires  the  miracle.  He  builds  no 
expectations  on  his  personal  strength.  If  God  will 
show  that  He  is  truly  ''with  him,"  he  is  ready  to 
do  everything.  He  asks  much,  because  he  deems 
himself  altogether  insufficient. 

Ver.  17.  Then  give  me  a  sign  that  thou  art 
He  who  talketh  with  me.  The  angel  apjjcared 
to  Gjdeon  as  man  ;  otherwise  he  could  neither  have 
seen  him,  nor  offered  him  food.  His  appearance 
must  have  been  venerable ;  for  Gideon  always  ad- 
dresses  him  deferentially  and  humbly,  with  the 

words  ''^IS  ^2,  "Pray,  my  lord."  Now,  when 
this  stranger  says,  "  I  send  thee  —  I  will  be  with 
thee,"  and  that  without  adding  who  He  is,  Gideon 
could  hardly  fail  to  conclude  that  He  who  addressed 
him  was  a  supernatural  being ;  especially  as  these 
words  were  used  in  answer  to  his  own,  "  if  Jehovah 
were  with  us."  It  is,  therefore  very  instructive 
that  the  doubtful  Gideon  asks  for  a  sign  to  know 
"whether  thou  art  he  who  speaks  with  me,"  i.  e., 
whether  thou  art  one  who  can  say,  "  I  am  with 
thee,"  and  not  to  know  "  whether  thou  art  God," 
a  thought  which  he  is  not  yet  prepared  to  enter- 
tain. 

Vers.  18-20.  Depart  not  hence,  I  pray  thee, 
until  I  come  again  unto  thee.  Gideon  is  not 
yet  convinced ;  but  nevertheless  the  word  that  has 
been  spoken  bums  within  him.     The  remark  in 

ver.  14,  "')??*5'  and  Jehovah  turned  towards  him," 
was  doubtless  intended  to  intimate  that  the  heav- 
enly visitant  turned  his  face,  beaming  with  the 
light  of  holiness,  full  upon  Gideon.  Gideon  feels 
the  breath  of  divinity,  —  but  certain  he  is  not. 
Should  the  apparition  now  depart,  he  would  be  in 
twofold  dread.  He  will  gladly  do  whatever  is 
commanded — but,  is  the  commander  God  1  He 
thinks  to  solve  this  question  by  means  of  the  duties 
of  hospitality  which  devolve  on  him.  Hence  he 
prays  him  to  remain,  until  he  has  entertained  him. 
He  is  not  so  poor,  but  that  he  can  offer  a  kid  and 
something  more  to  a  guest.  Flocks  of  goats  still 
form  a  considerable  part  of  Palestinian  wealth,  and 
find  excellent  pasturage  in  the  plain  of  Jezreel. 
Time  permits  Gideon  to  prepare  only  unleavened 

1  The  same  explanation  is  adopted  by  Josepbus  and 
Philo,  and  is  not  to  be  rejected  as  Delitzsch  {Genesis,  p.  383) 
and  others  have  done.  Genesis  xviii.  to  ver.  12  speaks  only 
of  "  men.'"  But  as  they  only  seemed  to  be  men,  so  they 
only  seemed  to  eat  The  instance  of  the  risen  Saviour  is 
g 


cakes  ;  but  the  supply  is  bountiful,  for  he  uses  an 
ephah  (i.  e.,  a  measure  containing  about  1994, 
according  to  others  1985,  or  onlv  1014,  Par.  cubic 
inches,  cf  BiJckh,  Metrologische  Unlersuchimgen,  p. 
261)  of  flour  in  their  preparation.  That  which 
appears  singulai-,  is  the  statement  that  he  put  tha 

flesh  in  the  basket  ( >'P).  Wherever  else  this  word 
occurs,  it  denotes  a  bread-basket.  The  explana- 
tion is,  that  Gideon  was  unwilling  to  call  a  ser- 
vant, and  hence  used  the  basket  for  both  bread 
and  meat.  He  requires,  however,  a  separate  "  pot " 
for  the  broth,  which  the  basket  cannot  hold.  He 
thinks  now  that  by  this  meal  he  will  leam  to  know 
his  guest.  Celestials,  according  to  popular  belief, 
took  no  earthly  food.  The  angel  who  appears  to 
Manoah,  says  (ch.  xiii.  16)  :  "  I  will  not  eat  of  thy 
bread."  True,  of  the  angels  who  came  to  Abra- 
ham (Gen.  xviii. 8),  it  is  said,  "and  they  did  eat;" 
but  the  Targum  explains,  "  they  seemed  to  him  to 
eat."i  This  belief  has  no  resemblance  to  the 
Homeric  conception,  according  to  which  the  gods, 
though  they  eat  not  bread  or  drink  wine  {Iliad,  v. 
341),  do  nevertheless,  like  mortals,  stretch  forth 
their  hands  after  ambrosia  and  nectar.  The  angels, 
like  all  that  is  divine  in  the  Bible,  hi^ve  their  spir- 
itual abode  in  heaven,  with  nothing  earthly  about 
them,  consequently  with  no  corporeal  wants.    The 

explanation  of  Ps.  Ixxviii.  25,  as  if  D''"^*'?^  ^C^ 
meant  bread  such  as  an'gels  feed  on,  is  erroneous 
(unhappily,  it  has  been  again  put  forth  by  Boh- 
mer,  in  Herzog's  Realencykl.  iv.  20)  ;  the  words 
have  long  since  been  properly  explained  (byHeng- 
stenberg  and  Deliizsch)  of  the  manna,  which  came 
from  heaven,  i.  e.,  from  on  high.  Hence,  as  late 
as  the  author  of  Tobias,  the  angel  is  made  to  say 
(Tob.  xii.  19) :  "  I  have  neither  eaten  nor  drunk, 
but  ye  have  seen  an  apparition."  Nor  did  Gideon 
err  in  his  expectations.     His  guest  does  not  eat. 

In   verse  20,    □"'ribsn    T]S7^    once   takes  the 


place  'i^'^'^_  "n^  rP  '  but  the  rule  that  in  the 
Book  of  Judges  Jehovah  stands  regularly  for  the 
God  of  Israel,  Elohim  for  the  gods  of  the  heathen, 
is  not  thereby  destroyed.  This  is  shown  by  the 
article  prefixed  to  Elohim.  The  reason  for  the 
interchange  in  this  passage  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
nature  of  the  angel,  as  a  divine  being,  here  begins 
to  declare  itself.  In  order  to  describe  the  angel 
who  speaks  to  Gideon  as  the  messenger  of  that 
unity  from  which  the  multitude  of  the  angels  pro- 
ceeds (hence    D"^n7S),  the  narrator  introduces  the 

term  D'^n^Sn.  He  thereby  explains  how  the 
angel  in  his  individual  appearance,  can  neverthe- 
less contain  in  himself  the  power  of  God.  The 
Angel  of  Jehovah,  he  means  to  say,  is  none  other 
than  an  angel  of  the  Elohim ;  hence.  He,  the  mes- 
senger, speaks  as  Jehovah. 

Vers.  21-24.  And  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  put 
forth  the  end  of  his  staff.  The  angel,  like  a 
traveller,  but  also  like  the  prophets,  like  Moses 
and  Elijah,  carried  a  staff.  They  also  used  it,  as 
he  does,  to  work  miracles.  Among  the  Greeks 
likewise,  the  staff,  in  the  hands  of  ^sculapius  and 
Hermes,  for  instance,  is  the  symbol  of  the  divine 
power  to  awaken  and  subdue. ^    The  angel  touches 

not  to  be  adduced,  for  angels  before  Christ  were  not  born 
like  Christ. 

2  On  the  subversion  of  the  staff  as  a  symbol  of  blessings 
into  an  instrument  of  sorcery,  cf  my  Eddischen  Studien, 
p.  76. 


114 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


the  flesh  and  bread,  and  they  ascend  in  fire.  What 
was  brought  as  a  gift  to  the  guest,  is  accepted  by 
fire  as  a  sacrifice.  Eii-e  is  the  element  in  which 
divine  power  and  grace  reveal  themselves.  A  flame 
of  fire  passed  between  the  parts  of  Abraham's  sac- 
rifice (Gen.  XV.  17).  Fire  came  down  on  tlic  offer- 
ings of  Solomon,  when  he  had  made  an  er.d  of 
praying,  and  consumed  them  (2  Chron.  vii.  1). 
Fire  fell  from  heaven  in  answer  to  Elijah's  prayer 
that  the  Lord  would  make  it  manifest" that  He  was 
God  in  Israel,  and  consumed  the  sacrifice  before 
the  eyes  of  the  rebellious  people  (1  Kgs.  xviii.  38). 
To  give  a  similar  sign,  the  angel  now  touched  the 
flesh  and  cakes.  By  the  fire  which  blazed  up,  and 
by  the  disappearance  of  his  visitor,  Gideon  per- 
ceived that  his  guest  was  actually  a  celestial  being, 
who  had  called  down  fire  from  above.  He  was 
perfectly  convinced.  No  doubt  could  any  longer 
maintain  itself,  and  in  place  of  it  fear  seized  upon 
him. 

And  Gideon  said.  Ah  Lord  Jehovah!  Gid- 
eon makes  this  exclamation,  because,  like  Manoah 
(ch.  xiii.  22),  he  thinks  that  he  must  die;  for  he 
has  seen  what  ouiinarily  no  living  man  does  see. 
This  view  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  Israclitish  idea 
of  God,  and  directly  opposed  to  Hellenic  concep- 
tions. In  fact,  heathenism,  as  pantheism,  knows 
of  no  real  partition-wall  between  the  individual 
gods  and  men  (cf.  Niigelsbach,  Homer.  Theoloqie, 
p.  141 ) ;  but  between  the  God  who  inhabits  the 
invisible  and  eternal,  and  man  who  dwells  in  the 
world  of  sense,  there  was  seen  to  be  an  absolute 
difference.  Every  human  being  is  too  sinful,  and 
too  much  under  the  dominion  of  sense,  to  en- 
dure the  immediate  glory  of  the  Incomprehensible. 
He  cannot  see  God,  to  whom  "  to  see  "  means  to 
receive  the  light  of  the  sun  into  eyes  of  flesh. 
When,  therefore,  Moses,  notwithstanding  that  he 
spake  with  God,  as  friend  converses  with  friend 
(Ex.  xxxiii  11),  would  see  his  glory,  the  answer 
was  (ver.  20)  :  "  Thou  canst  not  see  m}'  face ;  for 
no  man  sees  me,  and  continues  to  live."  It  is 
implied  in  this  idea,  that  only  the  living  man  can- 
not see  God,  that  to  see  Him  is  to  die.  That, 
therefore,  the  dead  can  see  Him,  is  an  infei-ence 
close  at  hand,  and  important  for  the  O.  T.  doc- 
trine concerning  the  soul  and  immortality.  —  Gid- 
eon, however,  has  no  cause  for  lamentation,  for 
after  all  he  has  only  seen  the  man.  Jacob's  life 
also  was  preserved,  for  his  wrestling  had  been  with 
"  the  man  "  (Gen.  xxxii.  24,  31  (30)).  "  No  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time"  (John  i.  18).  When, 
therefore,  Philip  says,  "  Show  us  the  Father," 
Jesus  answers :  "  He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen 
the  Father"  (.John  xiv.  9).  Hence,  a  voice  is 
heard  —  the  voice  of  the  now  iinseen  God  —  say- 
ing :  "  Fear  not ;  thou  shalt  not  die  !  "  It  was  for 
the  very  purpose  that  Gideon  might  live,  that  the 
angel  had  not  appeared  as  God.  The  wife  of 
Manoah  wisely  draws  this  same  conclusion  herself 
(ch.  xii-t.  23).  And  God  speaks  "Peace"  to  him. 
Where  peace  is,  there  is  no  occasion  for  fear ;  for 
peace  is  the  fruit  of  reconciliation.  The  divine 
messenger  did  not  come  to  punish  Israel  still  fur- 
ther, but  to  bring  them  help.  When  He  comes  to 
save.  He  must  have  previously  forgiven.  This  for- 
giveness is  the  "  peace."  So  Gideon  understands  it, 

when  he  builds  an  altar,  and  calls  it  Divtf'  nin^, 

T        T      :' 
God-Peace,  /.  e.,  the  Peace  of  God.     Humility  and 

1  [Keil  :  "  The  design  of  this  altar  ....  is  indi- 
cated in  the  name  given  to  it.  It  was  not  to  serve  for  sac- 
rifices, but  as  a  memorial  and  witness  of  the  theophany 
vouchsafed  to  Gideon,  and  of  his  experience  that  Jehovah 


penitence  prompt  him  to  this.  Above,  in  ver.  13,. 
when  he  was  not  yet  certain  that  God  had  ap" 
peared  to  him,  he  had  said  nothing  to  indicate  that  il 
was  Israel's  own  fault  that  God  was  not  with  them. 
Of  this  he  becomes  conscious  while  standing  in  the 
presence  of  the  divine  messenger.  The  fear  that 
to  see  God  involves  death,  rests  first  of  all  on  the 
moral  ground  of  conscious  sinfulness.  Undoubt- 
ing  faith  is  ever  followed  by  trvie  repentance, 
namely,  love  for  truth.  Gideon  builds  his  altar  to 
the  Peace  of  God,  i.  e.,  to  his  own  reconciliation 
with  God,  and  salvation  from  the  judgment  of 
God.i  The  narrator  seizes  on  this  penitential 
feeling  of  Gideon's,  to  which  he  joyfully  conse- 
crated his  altar,  and  by  means  of  it  continues  the 
thread  of  his  story.  The  altar  was  known  to  the 
author  as  still  extant  in  his  time. 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Israel  repented,  and  God's  compassion  renewed 
itself.  Manifold  as  nature  is  the  help  of  God.  It 
is  not  confined  to  one  method ;  but  its  wonders 
become  greater  as  Israel's  bondage  becomes  more 
abject.  It  was  a  great  thing  to  select  a  woman  to 
be  the  deliverer  of  Israel.  This  woman,  however, 
had  grown  up  in  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah ;  she  was  a 
prophetess  already,  accustomed  to  counsel  the  peo- 
ple. The  choice  of  Gideon  was  therefore  still 
more  extraordinary.  He  was  not  only  the  youngest 
in  the  least  family,  but  he  belonged  to  a  city  in 
which  the  heathen  had  for  the  most  part  remained. 
Idolatry  prevailed,  invading  even  his  father's  house. 
God  took  him  like  a  brand  from  the  fire,  to  make 
him  the  deliverer  of  his  people. 

So  God  converted  his  Apostle,  from  amidst  the 
multitude  of  enemies  and  their  plots,  on  the  way 
to  Damascus.  So  Luther  went  forth  from  his 
cloister  to  preach  the  gospel  of  freedom.  God  calls 
whoever  He  will,  and  no  school,  faculty,  or  coterie, 
limits  the  field  of  his  election. 

Starke  :  When  we  think  that  God  is  farthest 
from  us,  that  in  displeasure  He  has  entirely  left  us, 
then  with  his  grace  and  almighty  help  He  is  nearest 
to  lis.  —  The  same  :  Even  in  solitude  the  pious 
Christian  is  not  alone,  for  God  is  always  near 
him. 

God  does  not  err  in  his  calling.  Gideon  was 
the  right  man,  though  he  himself  did  not  believe 
it.  He  desires  a  sign,  not  from  unbelief,  but  hu- 
mility. He  who  thus  desires  a  miracle,  believes  in 
miracles.  He  desires  it  not  to  be  a  proof  of  God, 
but  of  himself  To  him  the  censure  of  Jesus  does 
not  apply :  "  Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders,  ye 
will  not  believe ; "  for  those  wished  them  as  grounds 
of  faith  in  Jesus,  Gideon  as  evidence  that  him- 
self was  the  right  man.  Gideon's  humility  was 
evidence  of  his  strength. — Hedinger:  Conceit 
and  pride  do  not  lead  man  to  God,  but  humility 
and  lowliness  do. 

Thus  Gideon  believed  the  angel  whom  he  beheld 
vanishing  toward  heaven  ;  the  Jews  did  not  believe 
Jesus,  when  He  wrought  miracles  and  rose  from 
the  dead.  But  Gideon's  eye  was  the  humility  with 
which  he  looked  at  himself.  When  Christians  do 
not  believe,  it  is  because  of  pride  which  does  not 
sec  itself.  It  is  not  for  want  of  a  theophany  that 
many  do  not  believe ;  for  all  have  seen  angels,  if 
their  heart  be  with  God.     "  For  the  angel  of  the 

is  Peace,  i.  c,  does  not  desire  to  destroy  Israel  in  his  wrath] 
but  cherishes  thoughts  of  peace."  Cf.  Hengsteuberg,  Dis^ 
on  Pent.  ii.  p.  34.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   VI.   25-32. 


115 


Lord  encampeth  round  about  them  that  fear  Him, 
and  delivereth  them"  (Ps.  xxxiv.  8). 

Starke  :  Even  the  strongest  faith  has  always 
something  of  weakness  in  it. — Lisco  :  From  ver. 
14  Gideon  seems  already  to  have  perceived  who  it 
was  th.-it  spake  with  liini.  His  answer  is  the  lan- 
guage not  so  niueh  of  unbelief  as  of  modesty. — 
Geiu,.\cii  :  His  jjrayer  was  not  dictated  by  unbe- 
lief, but  by  a  childlike,  reverential  acknowledgment 
of  the  weakness  of  his  faith,  as  in  the  case  of 
Abraham. 

[Bp.  Hall  (ver.  11)  :  What  shifts  nature  will 
make  to  live  !  0  that  we  could  be  so  careful  to 
lay  lip  spiritual  food  for  our  souls,  out  of  the 
-each  of  those  spiritual  Midianites  !  we  could  not 


but  live  in  despite  of  all  adversaries.  —  The  same 
(ver.  13)  :  The  valiant  man  was  here  weak,  weak 
in  fiiith,  weak  in  discourse,  whilst  he  argues  God's 
absence  by  affliction,  his  presence  by  deliverances, 
and  the  vmlikelihood  of  success  by  his  own  inabil- 
ity —  all  gross  inconsequences.  —  Scott  :  Talents 
suited  for  peculiar  services  may  for  a  time  be 
buried  in  obscurity;  but  in  due  season  the  Lord 
will  take  the  candle  from  "  under  the  bushel,"  and 
place  it  "  on  a  candlestick,"  to  give  light  to  all 
around  ;  and  that  time  must  be  waited  for,  by 
those  who  feel  their  hearts  glow  with  desires  of 
usefulness  which  at  present  they  have  no  oppor- 
tunity of  executing.  —  Tr.] 


Gideon  destroys  the  altar  of  Baal,  and  builds  one  to  Jehovah.     His  father,  Joash, 
defends  him  against  the  idolaters.     His  new  name,  Jeruhhaal. 

Chapter  VL  25-32. 

25  And  it  came  to  pass  the  same  [that]  night,  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto 
him,  Take  tliy  father's  young  [ox]  bullock,  even  [and]  ^  the  second  bullock  of 
seven  years  old,  and  throw  [pull]  down  the  altar  of  Baal  that  thy  father  hath,  and 

26  cut  down  the  grove  [Asherah]  that  is  by  [upon]  it:  And  build  an  altar  unto  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  thy  God  upon  the  top  of  this  rock  [fortification],  in  the  ordered 
place,-  and  take  the  second  bullock,  and  offer  a  burnt-sacrifice  Avith  the  wood  of  the 

27  grove  [Asherah]  which  thou  shalt  cut  down.  Then  [And]  Gideon  took  ten  men 
of  his  servant.*,  and  did  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  liad  said  unto  him :  and  so  it  was, 
because  he  feared  his  father's  household,  and  the  men  of  the  city,  that  he  could 

28  not  do  it  by  day,  that  he  did  it  by  night.^  And  when  the  men  of  the  city  arose 
early  in  the  morning,  behold,  the  altar  of  Baal  was  cast  down,  and  the  groA^e 
[Asherah]  was  cut  down  that  was  by  [upon]  it,  and  the  second  bullock  was  offered 

29  upon  the  altar  that  was  built.  And  they  said  one  to  another,  who  hath  done  this 
thing  ?     And  when  [omit :  when]  they  inquired  and  asked  [searched],  [and]  they 

30  said,  Gideon  the  son  of  Joash  hath  done  this  thing.  Then  the  men  of  the  city 
said  unto  Joash,  Bring  out  thy  son,  that  he  may  die  :  because  he  hath  cast  down 
the  altar  of  Baal,  and  because  he  hath  cut  down  the  grove  [Asherah]  that  was  by 

31  [upon]  it.  And  Joash  said  unto  all  that  stood  against  [about]  him.  Will  ye  plead 
[contend]  for  Baal  ?  will  ye  save  him  ?  he  that  will  plead  [contendeth]  for  him,  let 
him  be  put  to  death  whilst  it  is  yet  morning ;  *  if  he  he  a  god,  let  him  plead  [con- 

32  tend]  for  himself,  because  one  [he]  hath  cast  down  his  altar.  Therefore  on  that 
day  he  [they]  called  him  Jerubbaal,  saying,  Let  Baal  plead  [contend]  against  him, 
because  he  hath  thrown  down  his  altar. 

TEXTUAL,  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


fl  Ver.  2.5.  —  Bertheau  and  Wordsworth  also  find  two  bullocks  in  the  text.  "The  original  text,"  says  the  latter, 
"seems  clearlj-  to  speak  of  two  bullocks,  and  the  ancient  versions  appear  to  distinguish  them  (see  Sept.,  Vulg..  Si/riac, 
Arabic]."  De  Wette  and  Bunsen,  too,  render  ''and,"  not  "even."  Keil  argues,  that  "if  God  had  commanded  Gideon 
to  take  two  bullocks,  lie  would  surely  also  have  told  him  what  he  was  to  do  with  both."  But  does  lie  not  tell  him 
plainly  enough  in  the  words,  "and  pull  down  the  altar  of  Baal  ?  "     See  the  commentary,  below. —  Tr] 

[2   Ver.  26.  —  n3~'1^^3.     Our  author's  trauslation  of  this  word,  "  on  the  forward  edge,"  is  too  precarious  to  allow 
T  T  -:  -  - 
of  its  introduction  into  the  text.     It  probably  means  :  "  with  the  arrangement  of  wood  "  (cf.  below).     On  the  use  of 

"2  in  this  sense,  see  Ges.  Lex.,  a.  v.,  B.  2,  a. —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  27.  — The  E.  T.  is  singularly  awkward  here.  Dr.  Cassel :  "and  as,  on  account  of  the  house  of  his  father  and 
the  men  of  the  city,  he  feared  to  do  it  by  day,  he  did  it  by  night."  —  Tk.] 

[4  Ver.  31.  —  Dr.  Cassel  translates  the  foregoing  clause  thus:  "he  that  contendeth  for  him,  let  him  die !  Wait  till 
morning  f  "  etc.     Keil  interprets  similarly.  —  Tr.] 


116 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  25.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  night. 
"  Yc  have  honored  fiil^c  gods  instead  of  the  eter- 
nal God,"  the  projjhet  had  said  above,  "  and  there- 
fore are  come  under  the  yoke."  For  apart  from 
its  God,  the  maintenance  of  Israel's  nationality  is 
an  unnecessary  thing.  If  they  attach  themselves 
to  the  gods  of  the  nations,  they  must  also  wear 
their  fetters.  Only  when  they  believe  the  Eternal 
is  freedom  either  necessary  or  possible.  The  war 
against  the  oppressors,  must  begin  against  the  gods 
of  the  oppressors.  Gideon,  'fully  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  Israel's  God,  cannot  summon  to  battle 
against  the  enemy,  while  an  altar  of  Baal  stands 
in  his  father's  own  village.  Israel's  watchword  in 
every  contest  is,  "  God  with  us ; "  but  before  that 
word  can  kindle  the  hearts  of  the  people,  it  must 
luive  been  preceded  by  another  —  "  Down  with 
Baal ! "  This  truth  God  himself  enunciates  in 
the  valiant  soul  of  Gideon.  For  now,  being  wholly 
filled  with  divine  fire,  he  will  delay  no  longer. 
But,  only  he  who  fears  not  Baal  will  find  confi- 
dence among  the  people.  The  vigorous  blows  of 
his  axe  against  the  Asherah  are  the  clearest  proofs 
of  his  own  faith.  Such  a  faith  kindles  faith.  Ac- 
cordingly, Gideon  must  begin  the  liberation  of 
Israel  in  his  own  house.  VVhoever  will  be  truly 
free,  must  commence  with  himself  and  by  his  own 
fire-side  —  that  is  truth  for  all  ages. 

Take  the  ox-bullock,  etc.  Under  divine  inspi- 
ration, Gideon  is  as  energetic  as  he  is  prudent. 
He  neither  delays,  nor  hastens  overmuch.  He 
chooses  night  for  what  he  has  to  do,  not  from  cow- 
ardice, but  to  insure  a  successful  issue.  By  day, 
an  outcry  and  contest  would  be  inevitable,  and 
would  terrify  the  undecided.  An  accomplished 
fact  makes  an  impression,  and  gives  courage.  His 
task  is  a  twofold  one:  he  must  first  tear  down, 
then  build  up.  The  abominations  of  Baal  must  be 
thrown  down.  The  altars  of  Baal,  as  the  superior 
sun-god,  were  located  on  heights  or  elevated  situa- 
tions. They  were  built  of  stone,  sometimes  also 
of  wood  or  earth  (2  Kgs.  xxiii.  15),  and  were  of 
considerable   massiveness.      Erected   upon   them, 

"planted"  (2?^ri  !r^7,  Deut.  xvi.  21),  stood  a  tree, 
or  trunk  of  a  tree,  covered  Avith  all  manner  of 
symbols.  This  was  consecrated  to  Astarte,  the 
fruitful,  subordinate  night-goddess.  Such  an  im- 
age was  that  of  Artemis  in  Ephesus,  black  (like 
the  earth),  fastened  to  the  ground,  and  full  about 
the  breasts,  to  symbolize  the  fostering  love  of  the 
earth.  In  other  places,  where  the  Greeks  met  with 
similar  figures,  SpartiX,  Byzantium,  and  elsewhere 
(cf.  Gerhard,  Griech.  MijthoL  §  3.S2,  4,  vol.  i.  p. 
;J4.'i),  they  were  dedicated  to  Artemis  Ortliia,  or 
Orthosia.     In  this  name  {6p66s,  straight),  that  of 

the  Asherah  (from  "'^^^j  to  be  straight)  was  long 
since  recognized  (cf.  Zorn,  Biblloth.  Antiquar.,  p. 
383).  Asherah  was.  the  straight  and  erect  idol  of 
Astarte  ;  the  symbol  of  her  sensual  attributes.  Its 
phallic  character  made  it  the  object  of  utter  abhor- 
rence and  detestation  to  the  pure  and  chaste  worship 
of  Jehovah.  And  in  truth  the  worship  at  Sparta 
(Paus.  iii.  16,  7)  did  not  ditfer  essentially  from 
that  on  Mt.  Carmel  (1  Kgs.  xviii.  28).  This  idol 
was  a  common  ornament  of  the  altars  of  Baal,i 

1  V^V  ntt^S  mtrSn.      Hcnce  thov  always  occur 

T  T  V   -:  T   — .  T 

togfther,  cf.  1  Kgs.  xiv.  23  ;  xvi,  33;  2  Kgs.  xvii.  16  ;  xxi. 
J ;  xxiii.  15. 

2  [WoRDSWOBTU :    "  Gideon,   tliough    not   a   priest,    was 


by  means  of  which  these  represented  the  worship 
of  nature  in  its  completeness.  Hence  it  is,  that 
we  find  Baal  and  Astarte  joined  together,  as  well 
as  Baal  and  Asherah.  Accordingly,  Asherah  and 
Astarte  are  not  indeed  altogether  identical,  as  was 
formerly  supposed  ;  but  neither  are  they,  as  Movers 
thought  {Pkoeniz.  i.  561,  etc.),  different  divinities. 
Asherah  was  the  Astarte  Orthia,  the  image  which 
ex})ressed  the  ideas  represented  by  the  goddess; 
but  it  was  not,  and  need  not  be,  the  only  image  of 
the  goddess.  Without  adducing  here  the  many 
passages  of  Scripture  in  Avhich  Asherali  and  Astarte 
occur,  the  foregoing  observations  may  suttice  to 
explain  every  one  of  them.  It  will  be  tbund,  u])on 
reviewing  them,  that  while  persons  could  indeed 
worship  Astarte,  it  was  only  Asherah  which  they 
could  make  for  themselves,  and  again  destroy.  In 
form  and  idea,  Baal  and  Astarte  presented  the  per- 
fect contrast  to  the  living  and  creative  God.  Gid- 
eon, therefore,  if  he  is  to"  build  up  Israel  anew, 
must  begin  with  the  overthrow  of  their  idols.  But 
this  was  not  so  slight  an  undertaking  as  to  be 
within  his  own  sole  powers  of  execution.  He 
needs  men  and  carts  for  the  purpose.  He  must 
wrench  the  altar  of  Baal  out  of  its  grooves,  and 
throw  it  down ;  tear  out  the  Asherah,  and  cut  it 
to  pieces.     In  their  place  (this  is  expressed  by  the 

'^.;TU>  "this,"'  of  ver.  26),  he  is  to  erect  an  altar  to 
the  Eternal  God.  For  this  he  cannot  use  the  pol- 
luted fragments  of  the  altar  of  Baal.  He  must 
bring  pure  earth  and  stones  with  him,  out  of  which 
to  construct  it.  Hence  he  uses  ten  servants  to 
assist  him,  and  a  cart. 

Take  the  ox-bullock  which  belongs  to  thy 
father,  etc.  The  altar  of  Baal  had  been  erected 
on  his  father's  estate.  The  guilt  of  his  father's 
house  must  be  first  atoned  for.  Therefore  his  cat- 
tle are  to  be  taken.     '^ItS'n  ~I3,  ox-bullock,  is  not 

a  young  bullock,  and  does  not  answer  to  "^I^-?  15' 
It  is  rather  the  first  btillock  of  the  herd,  the 
"leader;"  for  even  -the  second,  being  seven  years 
old,  is  jio  longer  young.  Hesiod  advises  agricul- 
turists to  provide  themselves  two  plough-bullocks 
of  nine  years  old  (  Works  and  Days,  447).  In 
Homer,  bullocks  of  five  years  are  offered  and 
slaughtered  (//.  ii.  403  ;  Odyss.  xix.  420).  Down 
to  the  present  day,  the  bullock  of  the  ])lain  of  Jez- 
reel  and  the  Kishon  surpasses,  in  size  and  strength, 
the  same  animal  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  land 
(cf.  Bitter,  xvi.  703).  This  first  bullock,  this  head 
of  the  herd,  answers  in  a  sense  to  the  head  of  the 
family,  which  is  Joasli ;  it  must  help  to  destroy 
tlie  altar  which  belongs  to  the  latter.  But  as 
Gideon  is  not  simply  to  destroy,  but  also  to  build 
up,  the  second  bullock  must  also  bo  taken,  to  be 
offered  upon  the  new  altar,  in  a  fire  made  of  the 
wood  of  the  Asherah.  The  fiames  for  which  the 
idol  must  furnish  the  material  —  and  we  ma^ 
thence  infer  how  considerable  a  log  of  wood  it 
was,  —  must  serve  to  present  an  offering  to  the 
Eternal  God.'-^ 

Vers.  26-29.   On  the  top  of  the  fortification. 

on  the  forward  edge,  TSP^n  ti^'SI  737  :  not  the 
rock,  near  which  God  first  appeared  to  Gideon. 
It  was  stated  at  the  outset,  that  Israel  made  them- 
selves grottoes,  caves,  and  fortifications  against  the 

made  a  priest  for  tlie  occasion  —  as  Manoali  afterwards  wa» 
(cli.  xiii.  19)—  by  the  special  command  of  God,  who  shows 
his  divine  independence  and  sovereign  authority  by  making 
priests  of  whom  he  will,  and  by  ordering  attars  to  be  built 
where  he  will.     Cf.  Heugst.,  PerUateuch,  ii.  48."  —  Ta  ] 


CHAPTER   VI.   25-32. 


117 


enemy.  Some  such  place  of  iirotection  and  de- 
fense we  are  hei'e  to  understand  by  the  term  T127^. 
U])on  this,  the  altar  of  Baal,  the  helper  who  could 
not  help,  had  reared  itself.  In  its  place,  an  altar 
of  the  true  Helper,   the   Eternal  God,  was  now 

built,  and  placed  nD"^i7^S,  on  the  forward  edge. 
This  word  occurs  repeatedly  in  the  first  book  of 
Samuel,  in  the  sense  of  '■  battle-an-ay."  It  an- 
swers to  the  Latin  acies,  and  indicates  that  attitude 
of  armies  in  which  they  turn  their  ofltensive  sides 
toward  each  other ;  so  that  we  are  told  ( I  Sam.  xvii. 
21)   that  Israel  and  the  Philistines  had  arranged 

themselves  HD^l^n  Hi^l^f?  '^^l^-^-  Now,  as 
acies  came  to  signify  battle-array  because  of  the 
sharp  side  which  this  presented,  so  HD^l?^,  as 
here  used  of  the  fortitication,  can  only  signify'  its 
forward  edge.i  The  place  where  Gideon  had  to 
Avork  was  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Joash,  but  at 
some  distance  from  the  city,  since  otherwise  the 
inhabitants  would  scarcely  have  remained  ignorant 
of  his  proceedings  till  the  next  morning. 

Ver.  30.  And  the  men  of  the  city  said  unto 
Joash.  Although  the  altar  belonged  to  Joash,  the 
pco])le  of  the  city  nevertheless  think  themselves 
entitled  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  insult  offered  to 
Baal.  Baal  worshippers  are  not  tolerant.  The 
disposition  of  -Joash  however,  seems  even  before 
this  to  have  been  similar  to  that  of  Gideon.  For 
when  it  is  said  that  Gideon  feared  to  do  his  work 
by  day,  among  all  those  whom  he  considers,  his 
fiither  is  not  mentioned,  though  he  must  be  the 
most  directly  concerned.  The  same  inference  may 
be  drawn  from  the  energetic  and  ironical  answer 
which  he  gives  the  men  of  the  city.  There  is 
nothing  to  support  Bcrtheau's  ccmjecture  that 
Joash  held  the  ofHce  of  a  judge.  He  is  the  head 
of  the  family  ;  as  such,  he  is  required  to  deliver  up 
Gideon,  guilty  of  crime  towards  Baal.  Joash  is 
not  merely  indisposed  to  do  this,  but  even  threatens 
to  use  violence  against  any  one  who  takes  the 
cause  of  Baal  upon  himself.  A  few  such  forcible 
words  were  enough  to  quiet  the  people  of  the  city. 
Israel  had  fallen  into  such  deep  torpidity  and  self- 
oblivion,  that  their  enemies  dared  to  demand  of  a 
father  the  life  of  his  son,  because  he  had  done  that 
which  it  was  the  duty  of  every  Israelite  to  do. 
The  first  energetic  resistance  changes  the  position 
of  parties,  and  puts  the  enemy  to  flight. 

Ver.  31.  And.  Joash  said,  Will  ye  contend  for 
Baal?  In  a  similar  manner,-  Lucian  ridicules  the 
heathenism  of  his  day,  by  representing  Jupiter 
as  laughed  at  for  letting  the  sacriligious  thieves 
depart  from  Olympia,  imtouched  by  his  thunder- 
bolts, although  they  had  cut  from  his  statue  the 
golden  locks  of  hairs,  each  of  which  weighed  six 
minoe  (in  Jupiter  Tragoedus).     It  lies  in  the  nattire 

1  [Keil'  "  rT3~"X''S2j  'with  the  preparation  (^Zuriis- 
tiin«).''     The  explanation  of  this  word  is  doubtful.     Since 


terial,  Studer  an(J  Bertheau   understand  niD~17^  of  the 

T  T  -:  - 
materials  of  the  overthrown  Baal-alt.ir,  out  of  which  Gideon 
was  to  build  the  altar  to  Jeliovah  —  Studer  applying  the 
word  more  particularly  to  the  stone  of  the  altar  itself, 
Bertheau  to  the  materials,  especially  the  pieces  of  wood, 
lying  on  the  altar,  re.ady  to  be  used  in  oflfering  sacrifices. 

Bat  they  are  certainly  wrong  ;  for  neither  does  n!DTI^X2 
mejin  building  material  or  pieces  of  wood,  nor  does  the 
lefinite  article,  which  here   precedes  it,  point  to  the  altar 

if  Baal.     The  verb  Tf  7^  occurs  not  only  quite  frequently 


of  heathenism  to  identify  God  and  the  symbol 
which  represents  Him,  since  in  general  whatever 
testifies  of  God,  every  sensible  manifestation  o{ 
Deity,  is  made  Deity  itself  by  it.  Joash  ridicules 
the  idea  of  his  heathen  neighbors,  that  the  destnic- 
tion  of  his  altar  is  an  insult  to  Baal.  On  the  prin- 
ciples of  heathenism,  Baal's  protection  of  his  altar, 
or  the  contrary,  will  demonstrate  whether  he  is  oi 
is  not.  If  he  is  able  to  take  care  of  his  own  altar, 
Joash  mockino-ly  argues,  it  is  an  insult  for  another 
to  undertake  it  for  him.  In  this  case,  not  he  who 
injures,  but  he  who  would  defend  his  altar,  denies 
his  deity.     The  latter  first  deserves  to  die.     Many 

expositors  have  connected  "^pSH  *T^,  "  till  morn- 
ing," with  n^^"^,  "  let  him  die,"  which  is  against 
the  sense  of  Joash 's  speech.  As  to  the  destroyer 
of  the  altar,  he  says,  we  know  not  yet  whether  he 
has  deserved  death ;  wait  till  morning,  and  let  us 
see  whether  Baal  himself  will  do  anything.  But 
he  who  would  take  Baal's  place,  and  put  the  other 
to  death,  he  deserves  punishment  at  once ;  for  he 
denies  that  Baal  has  any  power  at  all,  and  by  con- 
sequence that  he  exists.  Wait  till  morning,  if  he 
be  a  god,  he  will  contend  for  himself,  because 
he  hath  cast  down  his  altar.  Joash  denies  that 
the  altar  belonged  to  him,  although  ver.  25  states 
that  it  did.  The  altar,  he  says,  belongs  to  its  god  : 
let  him  see  to  it.  The  result  of  these  words  must 
have  been,  to  make  it  evident  to  the  men  of  the 
city  that  Joash  and  his  house  would  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  Baal.  For  this  they  knew  full 
well,  that  their  Baal  would  do  nothing  to  Gideon. 
It  is  one  of  the  characteristic  illusions  of  heathen- 
ism in  all  ages,  that  it  does  not  itself  believe  in 
that  for  which  it  spends  its  zeal. 

Ver.  32.  And  at  that  time  they  named  him 
Jerubbaal,  that  is,  Baal  will  contend  with  him, 
for  he  hath  thrown  down  his  altar.  Why  ex- 
positors have  not  been  content  with  this  significant 
explanation,  it  is  impossible  to  sec^  It  sets  forth 
the  tttter  impotence  of  Baal,  and  the  mockery 
which  it  excited.  Had  Gideon  been  named  "  Con- 
tender with  Baal,"  it  would  have  implied  the  exist- 
ence of  Baal.  But  if  he  was  called,  "Baal  will 
contend  with  him,  avenge  himself  on  him,"  and 
thus  by  his  life,  presence,  and  prosperity,  strikingly 
manifested  the  impotence  of  the  idol-god,  who 
could  not  take  vengeance  on  him,  then  his  name 
itself  was  full  of  the  triumph  of  the  Israelitish 
spirit  over  its  opponents.  Baal  can  do  nothing. 
Baal  will  do  nothing,  when  his  altars  are  over 
thrown.  Baal  is  not :  Israel  has  no  occasion  to 
fear.  The  superstition  that  he  will  avenge  him- 
self on  his  enemies,  is  idle.  Of  that,  Jerubbaal 
affords  living  proof.  In  vain  did  Baal's  servants 
wait  for  vengeance  to  overtake  Gideon  —  it  came 
not ;  the  hero  only  becomes  greater  and  more  tri- 

of  the  arrangement  of  the  wood  upon  the  altar  (Gen.  xxii. 
9  ;  Lev.  i.  7,  and  elsewhere),  but  also  of  the  preparation  o< 
the  altar  for  the  sacrifice   (Num.   xxiii.  4).     Accordingly, 

n!5nl?^  can  scarcely  be  understood  otherwise  than  of 
the  preparation  of  the  altar  to  be'bulU  for  the  sacrificial 
action,  in  the  sense  :  'Build  the  altar  with  the  preparation 
(equipment)  required  for  the  sacrifice."  According  to  what 
follows,  this  preparation  consisted  in  piling  up  the  wood  of 
the  .\sherah  on  the  altar  to  consume  the  burnt-offering  of 
Gideon."  —  Tr.] 

2  The  same  idea  underlies  the  .Tewi.sh  legends  of  Abra- 
ham's destruction  of  the  idols  in  his  father's  house.  Cf. 
Beer,  Leben  Abraham^s,  Leipzig,  1859.  p.  10. 

3  Keil  has  come  back  to  it. 


118 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


nmphant.  The  name  is  therefore  of  greater  eth- 
ical significance,  than  has  been  generally  supposed. 
This  fact  secured  its  perpetuation  and  popular  use. 
Even  believers  in  the  eternal  God  are  deeply  im- 
bued with  superstitious  fear  of  Baal,  which  forbids 
them  to  do  anything  against  him.  How  idle  this 
fear  is,  Gideon  shows.  Samuel  in  his  fiirewell  ad- 
dress speaks  of  Gideon  as  Jerubbaal  (1  Sam.  xii. 
11) ;  while  Joab,  speaking  of  Abimelech,  calls  him 

"sonof  Jerubbosheth"(2  Sam.  xi.  21).  HtC'S  is  a 
term  of  reproach  for  Baal  (Hos.  ix.  10). i  Any 
connection  between  the  name  Jerubbaal  and  that 
of  a  god  Jaribolos,  discovered  on  Palmyrene  in- 
scriptions, is  not  to  be  thought  of.  First,  for  the 
self-evident  reason,  that  no  heathen  god  can  possi- 
bly be  called  Jerubbaal ;  and  secondly,  because  the 
like-sounding  Jar   can   be  better  explained  from 

'^T?^'  the  moon,  thus  suggesting  a  moon-baal  (ef. 
Corpus  Insc.  Gnvc.  iii.  n.  4502,  etc. ;  Eitter,  xvii. 
1531,  etc.).    It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  Gideon's 

proper  name,  P27"T2,  appropriately  expresses  the 

act  with  which  he  began  his  career.  J^^S  is  equiv- 
alent to  the  Latin  caedere,  to  fell.  Beut.  vii.  5 
says :  "  Their  altars  ye  shall  throw  down,  .... 

their  asherahs  ye  shall  fell  (]^37^3^,  cf.  Deut.  xii. 
3).  The  same  word  is  used  (2  Chron.  xiv.  2  ;  xxxi. 
1 )  of  the  felling  of  the  Asherah,  and  Isa.  ix.  9,  of 
the  felling  of  trees.  Gideon,  therefore,  is  the 
Feller,  Ccesor  (Caesar). 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PR.ICTICAL. 

After  the  miracle  of  his  election,  Gideon  enters 
on  his  calling.  Othniel  begins  his  official  career 
in  battle,  Gideon  in  his  own  house.  He  mnst  test 
at  home  his  courage  against  foes  abroad.  Before 
he  can  proclaim  the  call  of  God  against  the' ene- 
mies of  Israel,  who  are  inflicted  on  account  of  the 
prevalent  idolatry,  he  must  throw  down  the  altar 
of  Baal  in  his  fiither's  house.  The  most  difficult 
battle  is  to  l^e  fought  first.  Nearest  neighbors  are 
the  worst  adversaries.  But  he  dares  it  because  he 
believes  God,  and  wins.  So,  when  preachers  of 
the  gospel  reap  no  fruit  and  gain  no  victory,  it  is 
often  because  they  have  not  yet  overthrown  the 
altars  in  their  own  houses.  The  road  to  the  hearts 
of  the  congregation,  is  over  the  ruins  of  the  min- 
ister's own  Baal.  —  Starke:  Christian  friend, 
thou  also  hast  a  Baal  in  thine  own  heart,  namely, 
evil  concupiscence.  Wilt  thou  please  the  Lord, 
first  tear  that  idol  down.  ' 

But  Gideon  must  not  merely  tear  down,  but 
also  build  up ;  not  only  destroy  the  old  altar,  but 
also  sacrifice  on  the  new.  Tearing  down  is  of 
itself  no  proof  of  devotion  ;  for  an  enemy's  enemy 
is  not  always  a  friend.  The  sjjirit  that  only  de- 
nies, is  an  evil  spirit.  Divine  truth  is  positive. 
Building  involves  confession ;  hence,  to  build  up 
(edify)  is  to  proclaim  our  confession  and  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  Him  who  is  Yea  and  Amen.  So 
did  the  Apostle  not  merely  undermine  the  idolatry 
of  Diana,  but  build  up  the  church  in  Ephesus. 
Boniface,  the  Apostle  of  the  Germans,  not  only 
cut  down  the  oaks  of  heathenism,  but  founded 
churches.  All  churches  arc  Gideon-altars,  dedi- 
cated to  Him  who  overthrew  death,  that  He  might 
build  up  the  New  Jcrusalomr —  Stauke  :  He  who 

1  On  the  names  Ishbo.sheth  and  Mcphibo.sheth,  comp;u"e 
for  the  present  my  article  on  Ishbosheth  in  Herzog's  Real- 


would  truly  reform,  must  not  only  abolish,  bnt 
put  something  better  in  its  place. 

Gideon's  sacrifice  was  to  be  consumed  by  tha 
wood  of  the  idol-image.  The  sole  use  which  can 
be  made  of  wooden  gods,  is  to  kindle  a  sacrifice  to 
the  true  God.  The  wood  was  not  unholy,  but 
only  the  heart  that  fashioned  it  into  an  idol-image. 
The  mountains  on  which  the  people  worshipped 
were  not  unholy,  but  only  the  people  who  erected 
idols  upon  them.  All  sacrificial  flames  arise  from 
the  wood  of  idols  previously  worshipped.  So  the 
Apostle  consumed  his  zeal  as  persecutor  in  the 
burning  zeal  of  love.  When  the  heart  burns  with 
longmgs  after  its  Saviour,  the  flames  consume  the 
worldly  idols  which  it  formerly  served.  When 
prayer  rises  like  the  smoke  of  sacrifice,  it  springs 
from  penitence  in  which  old  sins  ai-e  burned  to 
ashes. 

Gideon  is  obedient  to  every  direction,  and  is 
crowned  with  success.  Notwithstanding  ap])arcnt 
danger,  obedience  to  God  conducts  only  to  happy 
issues.  The  most  painful  injunction  is  laid  on 
Abraham  ;  he  obeys,  and  it  turns  to  salvation. 
The  enemies  seek  to  slay  Gideon  ;  but  they  are 
sent  home  with  derision.  Gideon  not  only  threw 
down  the  altar  in  his  father's  house,  bnt  also  won 
his  fiither's  heart  for  God.  So,  confession  of  Christ 
often  draws  after  it  the  hearts  of  parents.  It  is 
salvation,  even  if  the  first  be  last.  However  late, 
if  at  last  men  only  come  to  God!  —  Lisco  :  The 
father  had  evidently  derived  new  coui-age  from  his 
son's  bold  exploit  of  faith,  and  declares  war  to  the 
idolaters,  if  they  touch  his  son.  —  Gbrlach  :  The 
bold  deed  of  the  son  inspired  the  father  also  with 
new  fiiith  and  courage.  Hence,  in  this  strife, 
Joash  dared  to  judge  as  faith  demanded. 

And  Gideon  was  called  Jerubbaal.  The  hero  is 
the  wonderful  type  of  the  militant  church:  militant, 
that  is,  against  ifnbelief,  not  engaged  in  internal 
warfare.  His  name  proclaimed  that  Baal  is  noth- 
ing and  can  do  nothing ;  but  that  God's  word  is 
irresistable.  Hence,  it  is  a  symbol  of  encourage- 
ment for  all  who  confess  the  truth.  He  who  fears 
and  hesitates,  does  not  love ;  but  for  him  who  has 
courage,  Baal  is  vanished.  Gideon  threw  down 
his  altar,  and  built  another  for  God,  not  for  the 
stones'  sake,  but  for  Israel's  benefit.  Every  Chris- 
tian is  a  Jerubbaal,  so  long  as  instead  of  self- 
righteousness,  he  gives  a  place  in  his  heart  to  the 
Cross.  Thus,  many  in  our  days,  who  have  more 
fear  of  man  than  courage  in  God,  are  put  to  shame 
by  Jerubbaal.  They  exercise  discretion,  regard 
their  position,  look  to  their  income,  defci*  to  supe- 
riors, and  wish  to  please  all,  —  but  only  he  who 
seeks  to  please  God  alone,  loses  nothing  and  gains 
all.  —  Stauke:  As  names  given  to  men  in  mem- 
ory of  their  good  deeds  are  an  honor  to  them,  so  to 
their  adversaries  they  are  a  disgrace.  —  Geulach  : 
Henceforth  the  life  and  well-being  of  Gideon  be- 
came an  actual  proof  of  the  nothingness  of  idol- 
atry ;  hence  he  receives  the  name  Jerubbaal  from 
the  mouth  of  his  father. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  The  wood  of  Baal's  grove  must  be 
used  to  burn  a  sacrifice  unto  God.  When  it  was 
once  cut  down,  God's  detestation  and  their  danger 
ceased.  The  good  creatures  of  God  that  have  been 
profaned  to  idolatry,  may,  in  a  change  of  their  use, 
1)0  employed  to  the  holy  service  of  their  Maker.  — 
WoRDSWOKTii :  The  Parthenons  and  Pantheons 
of  heathen  antiquity  have  been  consecrated  into 
Basilicas  and  Churches  of  Christ.  —  Henry  :  Gid- 

eneykl.  vii-  83,  where,  however,  the  printer  has  erroneously 

put  b373n  ^np  for  b2?2  n^na. 


CHAPTER   VI.   33-40. 


119 


eon,  as  a  type  of  Christ,  must  first  save  his  people 
from  their  sins,  then  from  their  enemies.  —  The 
SAME :  It  is  good  to  appear  for  God  when  we  arc 


called  to  it,  though  there  be  few  or  none  to  second 
US,  because  God  can  incline  the  hearts  of  those  to 
stand  by  us,  from  whom  we  little  expect  it.  —  Tk. 


The  Midianite  marauders  being  encamped  in  the  Plain  of  Jezreel,  the  Spirit  of  Jeho- 
vah takes  possession  of  Gideon.      The  double  sign  of  the  fleece. 

Chapter  VI.  33-40. 

33  Then  [And]  all  the  Midianites,  and  the  Amalekites,  and  the  children  [sons]  of 
the  east  were  gathered  together,  and  went  over,  and  i^itched  [encamped]  in  the 

34  valley  [plain]  of  Jezreel.     But  [And]  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  upon 

35  Gideon,  and  he  blew  a  [the]  trumpet ;  and  Abi-ezer  was  gathered  after  him.  And 
he  sent  messengers  throughout  all  Manasseh ;  who  also  was  gathered  after  him : 
and  he  sent  messengers  unto  Asher,  and  vinto  Zebulun,  and  unto  Naphtali ;  and 

36  they  came  up  to  meet  them.-'     And  Gideon  said  unto  God,  If  thou  wilt  save  Israel 

37  by  my  hand,  as  thou  hast  said.  Behold,  I  will  [omit :  will]  put  a  fleece  of  wool  in 
the  [threshing]  floor :  and  if  the  dew  [shall]  be  on  the  fleece  only,  and  it  be  dry 
upon  all  the  earth  [ground]  besides,  then  shall  I  know  that  thou  wilt  save  Israel  by 

38  my  hand,  as  thou  hast  said.  And  it  was  so :  for  [and  when]  he  rose  up  early  on 
the  morrow,  and  [he]  thrust  [pressed'^]  the  fleece  together,  and  wringed^  the  [omit: 

39  the]  dew  out  of  the  fleece,  a  [the  ^'\  bowl-full  of  water.  And  Gideon  said  unto  God, 
Let  not  thine  anger  be  hot  [kindled]  against  me,  and  I  will  speak  but  this  once : 
let  me  prove  [try],  I  pray  thee,  but  this  once  with  the  fleece ;  let  it  now  be  dry 

40  only  u}X)n  the  fleece,  and  ixpon  all  the  ground  let  there  be  dew.  And  God  did  so 
that  night :  for  [and]  it  was  dry  upon  the  fleece  only,  and  there  was  dew  on  all  the 
ground. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  35. —  CnS^p^,  "  to  meet  them,"'  i.  «.,  Gideon  and  the  Manassites  already  in  the  field.  Dr.  Cassel  (De  Wette, 
also)  substitutes  '■  him."  The  LXX.  change  the  number  at  the  other  end  of  the  sentence,  probably  because  they  thought 
that  the  mountaineers  of  Asher  and  Naphtali,  descending  into  the  plain,  did  not  make  a  good  subject  for  n  vl7,   to  go 

T   T 

up,  and  render:  xal  a.vi^r\  ek  <Tvvavrr)<Tiv  avriiv.  As  to  what  may  be  called  the  "  military  ■'  meaning  of  n^l7,  of.  the 
Com.  on  ch.  i.  1,  p.  26.  —  Tr.] 

[•2  Ver.  38.  —  The  words  rendered  "  thrust  together  "  and  "  wringed  "  by  the  E.  V.,  are  "^T^T  (from  "I^T)  and  V'^^'l 
(from  n^-tt).      Dr.  Cassel  translates  the  first  by  "wringing,"  the  second  by  "  pressing."'     The  difference  between  them 

T   T  ' 

eeems  to  be  slight,  if  any.  In  the  text,  one  clause  expresses  the  action,  the  other  the  result.  The  primary  idea  of  "H^T, 
according  to  Gesenius,  is  "  to  straiten,  to  bring  into  a  narrow  compass  ;  "  that  of  H^tt,  "  to  suck."  The  action  ol 
wringing,  though  likely  enough  to  be  used  by  Gideon,  is  not  expressed  by  either  term.  However,  it  lies  nearer  "^^t 
than    nV72.      De  Wette:  Er  drur.kte  die  Wolle  aus,  und  presste  Thau  aus  der  Sc/nir,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

T  T 

[3  Ver.  38.  —  /DEn,  "  t/if.  bowl,"  namely,  the  one  he  used  to  receiye  the  water.  On  the  "  bowl,"  compare  our  au 
tier's  remarks  on  ch.  v.  25.  —  Tr.] 


EXE6ETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAIi. 

Vers.  33-35.  It  was  high  time  that  a  new  spirit 
bestirred  itself  in  Israel.  The  Bedouin  hordes 
already  jjressed  forward  again  from  the  desert  re- 
gions beyond  the  Jordan,  and  were  settling  down, 
like  a  heavy  cloud,  on  the  plain  of  Jezreel.  Gid- 
eon, by  his  bold  deed  against  Baal,  and  because 
the  idol-god  did  nothing  whatever  to  avenge  the 
insult  to  its  altar,  had  acquired  authority  and  dis- 
tinction! amojig  his  people.     As  now  the  enemy 


who  oppressed  and  plundered  Israel  was  near,  tho 
Spirit  of  God  filled  him,  literally,  "put  him  on." 
What  he  had  done  against  the  altar  of  Baal  in  his 
father's  house,  that  he  would  attempt  against  the 
enemy  in  the  open  field.  He  sounds  the  trumpet 
on  the  mountains.  Though  the  youngest  in  his 
family,  and  that  the  least  in  Manasseh,  the  people 
obeyed  his  call,  and  ranged  themselves  under  him 

(V"^nS)  —  such  power  is  there  in  one  courageous 
deed,  in  the  vigorous  resolution  of  one  man  in  a 


120 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


servile  age.  Even  Asher,  who  had  held  back  from 
Barak,  furnished  men.  Nor  were  the  brave  sons 
of  Zebiilun  and  Naphtali  wanting  on  tliis  occasion. 
In  a  short  time  Gideon  stood  at  the  head  of  a  rot 
inconsiderable  army. 

Ver.  36.  And  Gideon  said  unto  God.  The 
success  thus  far  enjoyed  by  Gideon,  has  not  lifted 
him  up.  He  cannot  yet  believe  tiiat  he  is  called  to 
conduct  so  great  an  undertaking.  He  is  aware 
also  of  the  dangers  to  which  he  exposes  his  house 
and  country.  True,  the  divine  manifestation  which 
roused  his  soul,  is  still  acting  on  him.  But  time, 
even  a  few  eventful  days,  envelops  such  memories 
in  shadowy  dimness.  In  his  humility,  he  is  seized 
by  a  longing  for  renewed  certainty.  He  desires  to 
be  assured,  whether  it  was  indeed  destined  for  him 
to  become  the  deliverer.  He  has  recourse  to  no 
superstitious  use  of  tiie  lot.  He  turns  in  prayer  to 
the  God  who  has  already  shown  his  wonders  to 
him,  and  who,  as  angel,  has  conversed  with  him. 
Now,  as  in  ver.  20,  where  the  angel  manifests  his 
supernatural  character,  the  narrator  used  Elohim, 
•with  the  article,  because  from  Jehovah  alone,  who 
is  the  true  Elohim,  the  only  one  to  whom  this  name 
justly  belongs,  angels  proceed  ;  so  here  again,  when 
Gideon  asks  for  a  new  sign,  he  makes  him  pray  to 
"  the  Elohim,"  and  continues  to  employ  this  term 
as  long  as  he  sj)eaks  of  the  miracle. 

Vers.  37-40.  Behold,  I  put  a  fleece  of  wool  in 
the  threshing-floor.  The  sign  he  asks  for  is  such 
as  would  naturally  suggest  itself  to  a  person  in 
rural  life.  The  holy  land  is  favored  with  heavy, 
'  fertilizing  dews,  which  impart  to  its  fields  that 
beautiful  and  juicy  verdure,  by  which  it  forms  so 
grateful  a  contrast  M'ith  the  dry  and  dewless  steppes 
on  which  nothing  but  the  palm  grows  (cf.  Ritter, 
XV.  137;  xvi.  42,  etc.  [Gage's  Trausl.  ii.  164j). 
Wool,  sjjread  on  the  open  threshing-floor,  especially 
attracts  the  dew.  Gideon  proposes  to  consider  it  a 
divine  affirmative  sign,  if  only  the  wool  absorb 
dew,  while  the  ground  around  be  dry.  It  takes 
place.     Pie   finds   the   wool  wet;    after   wringing 

("IT*^,  from  "^^^  =  "l^!i)    the  fleece,  and  pressing 

it  (V??!)'  from  n^'tt  =  V^T^'  he  can  fill  a  whole 
bowl  full  with  the  water ;  the  ground  round  about 
is  dry.  Though  very  remarkable,  he  thinks  never- 
theless, that  it  may  possibly  be  explained  on  nat- 
ural principles.  Perhaps  the  dew,  already  dried 
up  fiom  the  ground,  was  only  longer  retained  by 
the  fleece.  In  his  humility  and  necessity  for  assur- 
ance, and  in  the  purity  of  his  conscience,  which  is 
known  to  God,  he  ventures  once  more  to  appeal  to 
God.  If  now  the  reverse  were  to  take  place,  leav- 
ing the  wool  dry  and  tiie  ground  wet,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  that  God  had  wrought  a  miracle  No 
other  explanation  would  be  jjossible.  This  also 
comes  to  pass,  and  Gideon  knows  now  beyond  all 
doubt,  that  God  is  with  him.  The  naivete  of  an 
uncommon  depth  of  thought  I'eveals  itself  in  this 
choice  of  a  sign  for  which  the  hero  asks.  Faith  in 
God's  omnipotence  lies  at  its  base.  Such  a  request 
could  only  be  made  by  one  who  knew  that  the 
whole  creation  was  in  the  hands  of  God.  Belying 
on  the  grace  and  power  of  God,  he  easts  lots  with 
the  independent  laws  of  nature.     The  childlike 


fitith  which  animates  him,  sounds  the  depths  of 
an  unfathomable  wisdom.  Hence,  in  the  ancient 
eliureh,  his  miraculous  sign  became  the  type  of  tha 
highest  and  most  wonderful  miracle  known  to  th« 
church,  the  birth  of  Jesus  from  tlie  Virgin  INIary. 
Origen  already  speaks  of  the  advent  of  the  Son  of 
God  as  the  fall  of  the  divine  dew  The  dexelup- 
menl  of  this  type  in  pictures  and  customs,  I  have 
elsewhere  attempted  to  trace,  whither  I  must  here 
refer  the  reader  (  Wcihnacliten,  p.  248,  etc.). 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Geklach  :  Gideon  does  not  "  put  on  "  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord,  but  the  Spirit  puts  him  on.  He  clothes 
him,  as  with  a  suit  of  armoT,  so  that  in  his  strength 
he  becomes  invulnerable,  invincible. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  Of  all  the  instruments  that  God  did 
use  in  so  great '  a  work,  I  find  none  so  weak  as 
Gideon,  who  yet  of  all  others  was  styled  valiant. 
The  same  :  The  former  miracle  was  strong  enough 
to  carry  Gideon  through  his  first  exploit  of  ruin- 
ating the  idolatrous  grove  and  altar ;  but  now, 
when  he  saw  the  swarm  of  the  Midianites  and 
Amalekites  about  his  ears,  he  calls  for  new  aid ; 
and,  not  trusting  to  the  Abiezrites,  and  his  other 
thousands  of  Israel,  he  runs  to  God  for  a  further 
assurance  of  victory.  The  refuge  was  good,  but 
the  manner  of  seeking  it  savors  of  distrust.  There 
is  nothing  more  easy  than  to  be  valiant  when  no 
peril  appeareth  ;  but  when  evils  assail  uii  upon 
equal  terms,  it  is  hard,  and  commendable,  not  to 
be  dismayed.  If  God  had  made  that  proclamation 
now,  which  afterwards  was  commanded  to  be  made 
by  Gideon,  "  Let  the  timorous  ile])art,"  I  doubt 
whether  Israel  had  not  wanted  a  guide :  yet  how 
willing  is  the  Almighty  to  satify  our  weak  desires! 
What  tasks  is  He  content  to  be  set  by  our  infirm- 
ity I^Keil:  Gideon's  prayer  for  a  sign  sprang 
not  from  want  of  faith  in  God's  promise  of  vie- 
lory,  but  from  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  which 
l)aralyzes  the  faith  and  energy  of  the  spirit,  and 
often  makes  the  servants  of  God  so  anxious  and 
timorous  that  God  must  assist  them  by  miracles. 
Gideon  knew  himself  and  his  own  strength,  and 
that  for  victory  over  the  enemy  this  would  not 
suffice. —  Scott:  Even  they  who  have  the  S])irit 
of  (iod,  and  by  the  trumpet  of  the  gospel  call 
others  to  the  conflict,  cannot  always  keep  out  dis- 
quieting fears,  in  circumstances  of  peculiar  dan- 
ger and  difficulty.  In  this  struggle  against  invol- 
untary unbelief,  the  Lord  himself,  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  his  people's  faith,  is  their  refuge ;  to 
Him  they  make  application,  and  He  will  help 
them ;  and  M'hen  they  are  encouraged,  they  will 
be  enabled  to  strengthen  their  brethren.  —  Bush  : 
The  result  went,  1.  To  illustrate  the  divine  conde^ 
scension.  God,  instead  of  being  offended  with  his 
servant,  kindly  acceded  to  his  I'cquest.  A  fellow 
creature  who  liad  given  such  solenm  promises, 
would  have  been  quite  indignant  at  finding  his 
veracity  seemingly  called  in  question.  .  .  . 
2.  To  show  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  It  was  prayer 
that  prevailed  in  this  instance.  With  great  hii 
mility  and  much  tenderness  of  spirit,  Gidojn  bo 
sought  the  divine  interposition.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTEE   Vn.    1-8. 


121 


Gideon  in  the  field. 


His  numerous  army  reduced,  hy  divinely  prescribed  tests,  to 

tliree  hundred  men. 


Chapter  VII.   1-8. 

1  Then  [And]  Jerubbaal  (who  is  Gideon)  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him, 
rose  up  early  and  pitched  [encamped]  beside  the  well  of  Harod  [near  En-Harod]  : 
so  that  [and]  the  host  [camp]  of  the  Midianites  were  [was]  on  the  north  side  of 

2  them  by  the  hill  of  Moreh,  in  the  valley.^  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto 
Gideon,  The  people  that  are  with  thee  are  too  many  for  me  to  give  the  Midianites 
into  their  hands,  lest  Israel  vaunt  themselves  against  me,  saying,  Mine  own  hand 

3  hath  saved  me.  Now  therefore  go  to,  proclaim  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  saying, 
Whosoever  is  fearful  and  afraid,  let  him  return  and  depart  early  [turn  away]  from 
Mount  Gilead.     And  there  returned  of  the  peojile  twenty  and  two  thousand  ;  and 

4  there  remained  ten  thousand-  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Gideon,  The  peo- 
ple are  yet  too  many ;  bring  them  down  unto  the  water,  and  I  will  try  them  for  thee 
there  ;  and  it  shall  be  that  of  whom  I  say  unto  thee,  This  [one]  shall  go  with  thee, 
the  same  shall  go  with  thee ;  and  of  whomsoever  I  say  unto  thee.  This  [one]  shall 

5  not  go  with  thee,  the  same  shall  not  go.  8o  he  brought  down  the  people  unto  the 
water  :  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Gideon ;  Every  one  that  lappeth  of  the 
water  with  his  tongue  as  a  dog  lappeth,  him  shalt  thou  set  by  himself ;  likewise  every 

6  one  that  boweth  down  upon  his  knees  to  drink.  And  the  number  of  them  that 
lapped,  putting  their  hand  to  their  mouth,  were  three  hundred  men :  but  all  the  rest 

7  of  the  people  bowed  down  upon  their  knees  to  drink  water.  And  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] said  u'ito  Gideon,  By  the  three  hundred  men  that  lapped  will  I  save  you,  and 
deliver  the  Midianites  into  thine  hand :  and  let  all  the  other  people  go  every  man 

8  unto  his  place.  So  the  people  [And  they]  took  [the]  victuals  [from  the  people] 
in  their  liand,  and  their  trumpets  ;  ^  and  he  sent  all  the  rest  of  Israel  every  man 
unto  his  tent,  and  retained  those  three  hundred  men.  And  the  host  [camp]  of 
Midian  was  beneath  him  in  the  valley. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

p  Ver.  1.  — Dr,  Cassel,  taking  S~)  in  the  last  clause  of  this  verse  (and  also  in  yer.  8)  as  if  it  were  V!)5^,  renders 
fhiis :  "  And  be  had  the  camp  of  Midian  before  him  in  the  valley,  to  the  north  of  the  hill  Moreh."  The  E.  V.  is  more 
correct,  lateraily  rendered,  the  clause  says  that  "  the  camp  of  Midian  was  to  him  (Gideon)  on  the  north,  at  (1Q,  cf. 
Qes.  hex,  s.  v.,  3,  h)  the  hill  of  Moreh,  in  the  valley."  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  8. — On  the  rendering  of  this  clause,  see  the  commentary  below.  Keil  translates  similarly  ("o/  the  people," 
instead  of  "/rom  the  people"),  and  remarks;  "  Cl^n  cannot  be  subject,  partly  on  account  of  the  sense  — for  the  three 
h-undreil  who  are  without  doubt  the  subject,  cf.  ver.  16,  cannot  be  called   Cl^H  in  distinction  of    ,S~lii7'^   ti7'^S'73 

T     T  ••  T   :     •  •  T 

—  partly  also  on  account  of  the  m!i"i"lS,  which  would  then,  against  the  rule,  be  without  the  article,  cf.  Ges.  Gram. 
117,2,     Kather  read  DUH   DtJ^JTlS,  as  Sept.  and  Targum."     So  also  Bertheau.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1 .  And  they  encamped  near  En  Harod. 
The  great  probability  that  Ojihrah  is  to  be  sought 
somewhere  to  the  northwest  of  Jezreel  (the  modei-n 
Zerin),  has  already  been  indicated  above.  The 
battle  also  must  be  located  in  the  same  region,  as 
appears  from  the  course  of  the  flight,  related  farther 
on.  The  camp  of  Midian  was  in  the  valley,  to  the 
north  of  a  hill.  Now,  since  we  are  told  that  Gideon's 
camp  was  on  a  hill  (ver.  4),  below  which,  and  north 
of  another,  Mitlinn  was  encamped,  it  is  evident 
that  Gideon  occupied  a  jiosition  north  of  Midian, 
and  had  that  part  of  the  plain  of  Jezreel  in  which 
the  enemy  lay,  below  him,  towards  the  south.  The 
height  aear  which  the  hostile  army  was  posted,  is 


called  the  Hill  Moreh.  Moreh  (H^iXi,  from  H^^), 
signifies  indicator,  pointer,  overseer  and  teacher. 
The  mountain  must  have  commanded  a  free  view 
of  the  valley.  This  applies  exactly  to  the  Tell  el 
Mutsellira,  described  by  Eobinsou  [Bihl.  lies.  iii. 
117).  He  says  :  "  The  prospect  from  the  Tell  is  a 
noble  one,  embracing  the  whole  of  the  glorious 
plain,  than  which  there  is  not  a  richer  upon  earth. 
It  was  now  extensively  covered  with  fields  of  grain ; 
with  many  tracts  of grnss,  like  meadows;  .  . 
Zeriu  (Jezreel)  ivas  di.stiuetly  in  vi'W,  bearing 
S.  74°  E."  To  this  must  be  added  that  the 
Arabic  Mutsellim  has  essentially  the  same  mean- 
ing as  Moreh,  namely,  overseer,  district-governor, 
etc.     The  peculiar  position  of  the  Tell  has  probablj 


122 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


given  it  the  same  kind  and  degree  of  importance  in 
all  ages.  A  little  north  of  Tell  Mutsellim,  Rohin- 
son's  map  has  a  Tell  Kireh,  which  may  mark  the 
position  of  Gideon  ;  for  that  must  have  hcen  very 
near  and  not  high,  since  Gideon  conld  descend  from 
it  and  hurry  back  in  a  brief  space  of  the  same  night. 
It  may  be  suggested,  at  least,  that  Kirch  has  some 
similarity  of  sound  with  Gharod  (llarod).' 

Ver.  2.  The  people  that  are  with  thee  are  too 
many.  Victory  over  JMidian,  and  deliverance  from 
their  yoke,  would  avail  Israel  nothing,  if  they  did 
not  gain  the  tirm  conviction  that  God  is  their 
Helper.  The  least  chance  of  a  natural  explanation, 
so  excites  the  pride  of  man,  that  he  forgets  God. 
Whatever  Gideon  had  hitherto  experienced,  his 
vocation  as  well  as  the  fulHllment  of  his  petitions, 
was  granted  in  view  of  his  humility,  which  would 
not  let  him  think  anything  great  of  himself  The 
number  of  warriors  with  which  he  conquers  must 
be  so  small,  that  the  miraculous  character  of  the 
victory  shall  be  evident  to  ev^'rybody.  This  belief 
in  divine  intei-vention  will  make  Israel  free ;  for 
not  the  winning  of  a  battle,  but  only  obedience 
toward  God  can  keep  it  so. 

Ver.  3.  Whosoever  is  fearful  and  afraid,  let 
hun  turn  back  and  depart  from  Mount  G-ilead.- 
The  narrative  is  evidently  very  condensed  ;  for  it 
connects  the  result  of  the  proclamation  immediately 
with  God's  command  to  Gideon  to  make  it,  without 
mentioning  its  execution  by  him.  By  reason  of 
this  brevity,  sundry  obscurities  arise,  both  here  and 
farther  on,  which  it  is  ditticult  to  clear  up.     The 

words  T^^Sn  "ina  l'^!?""."],  "  and  turn  away 
from  Mount  Gilead,"  have  long  given  offense,  and 
occasioned  various  unnecessary  conjectures.  "I- v^, 
it  is  true,  occurs  only  in  this  passage ;  but  it  is  mani- 
festly cognate  with  H'^'^D^,  circle,  crown.  Hence, 
that  the  verb  means  to  turn  away  or  about,  is  cer- 
tain, especially  as  the  Greek  crcpalpa,  ball,  sphere, 
must  belong  to  the  same  root.'^    Gideon,  in  bidding 

the  timorous  depart,  after  the  milder  3127^,  uses  the 

somewhat  stronger  "13?^  "  let  the  fearful  take 
himself  off!"* 

But  what  is  meant  by  turning  from  "  Mount 
Gilead  ?  "  ^  For  Gilead  is  beyond  the  Jordan  (eh. 
V.  17),     It   has   therefore   been  proposed   to  read 

^2^2,  Gilboa,  instead  of  "f?*^?,  Gilead,  which 
would  be  a  very  unfortunate  sul>stitution.  For,  in 
the  hrst  place,  the  battle   did  not  occur  at  Mount 

1  [Bertheau  asgumes  that  En  Clmrod  is  the  same  fountain 
as  the  modern  Ain  .lalud,  flowing  from  the  b;ige  of  Gijboa,  see 
Rob.  Bibl.  Res.  ii.  323.  Accordingly,  (iilboa  would  be  the 
mountain  on  which  Gideon  was  encamped,  and  Little  Her- 
mon  (on  which  see  Rob.  ii.  326)  would  answer  to  Moreh. 
On  this  combination  Keil  remarks,  that  "  although  possible, 
it  is  very  uncertain,  and  scarcely  reconcilable  witli  the 
statements  of  ver.  23  ff.  and  ch.  viii.  4,  as  to  the  road 
taken  by  the  defeated  Midianites.''  —  Tr.] 

2  Epaminondas,  when  advancing  against  the  Spartans  at 
Leuctra,  observed  the  unre  i:ible  character  of  some  confed- 
erates. To  prevent  being  endangered  by  tliem.  he  caused 
it  to  be  proclaimed,  that  '<  Whoever  of  the  Koeolians  wished 
to  withdraw,  were  at  liberty  to  do  so."     Piily;T;nu.s,  ii.  3- 

3  Under  this  view,  the  conjectures  adopted  by  Benfcy 
(Ur.   Gr.  i.  579;  ii.  367)  f  il  away  of  themselves. 

4  [The  German  is  :  ''  Wer  feiae  sei,  trol/e  sickvnin  Berge." 
The  author  tlien  adds  :  "The  German  ilroVoi,  troUeii.  ha.s 
in  tia.ct  a  similar  origin  It  means  <  to  turn  one's  self;  "  r/rol 
is  that  which  is  turned,  also  a  "coil."  Sirh  (™W<«  [Eng- 
lish .  to  pack  one's  self],  is  proverbially  equivalent  to  tak- 
ing one's  departure,  recedere.  Cf.  Grimm,  W'drterbmk,  ii. 
1429,  etc.-  — Tr.] 


Gilboa  ;  and  in  the  next  place,  by  this  reading  the 
peculiar  feature  of  the  sentence  would  be  lost.  To 
be  sure,  Gilead  does  not  here  mean  the  country  of 
that  name  east  of  the  Jordan.  Indeed,  it  does  not 
seem  to  indicate  a  country  at  all,  but  rather  the 
character  of  the  militant  tribe,  (jideon  belongs  ta 
the  tribe  of  Manasseh.  From  Manasseh  likewise 
descended  Gilead,  a  son  of  ^lachir  (Num.  xxvi. 
29)  ;  and  the  sons  of  Machir  took  possession  of 
Gilead  (Num.  xxxii.  40).  Nevertheless,  the  Song 
of  Deborah  distinguishes  between  Machir  and  Gil- 
ead. The  name  Machir  there  represents  the  peace- 
able character  of  the  tribe  :  Gilead  stands  for  its 
military  spirit.  Joshua  xvii.  1  affirms  expressly 
that  Gilead  was  a  "man  of  war."  .  From  Gilead 
heroes  like  Jephthah  descend.  Jehu  also  is  reck- 
oned to  it.''  The  valor  of  Jabesh  Gilead  is  well 
known.  In  a  bad  sense,  Hosea  (ch.  vi.  8)  speaks 
of  Gilead  as  the  home  of  wild  and  savage  men. 
Here,  therefore,  Gilead  stands  in  very  significant 

contrast  with  "'^'7 '  "  ^^^  him,"  cries  the  hero, 
"  who  is  cowardly  and  fearful  depart  from  the 
mountain  of  Gilead,  who  (as  Jephthah  said)  takes 
his  life  in  his  hand,  unterrified  before  the  foe."  '' 
For  the  rest,  however,  the  name  Gilead  was  not 
confined  to  the  cast-Jordanic  country.  This  ap- 
pears from  ch.  xii.  4,  whei'e  we  read  that  the 
Ephraimitcs  called  the  Gileadites  fugitives  of  Eph- 
raim,  "  for  Gile;>d  was  between  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh."  N^Sv,  Ephraim's  territorial  posses- 
sions were  all  west  of  the  Jordan.  From  this,  there- 
fore, and  from  the  fact  that  the  western  half  tribe 
of  Manasseh  and  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  were  partly 
interlocated  (cf.  Josh.  xvii.  8-10),  it  is  evident  that 
the  names  of  the  eastern  Gilead  were  also  in  vogue 
on  this  side  the  Jordan.     He  who  would  be  with 

Gilead,  must  be  no  "^TIQ  (trembler)  :  out  of 
.02,000  men,  22,000  perceive  this,  and  retire. 

That  numbers  do  not  decide  in  battle,  is  a  fact 
abundantly  established  by  the  history  of  ancient 
nations  ;  nor  has  modern  warfare,  though  it  deals 
in  the  life  and  blood  of  the  masses,  brought  dis- 
credit upon  it.  It  is  a  fine  remark  which  Tacitus 
[Annal.  xiv.  36,  .'{)  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Sue- 
tonius :  Etiam  in  viultis  legionibus,  puucos  esse  qui 
pi  alia  prqflii/aroit  —  "  even  with  many  legions,  it  is 
always  the  tew  who  whi  tlie  batile."  The  instance 
adduced  by  Serarius  from  Livy  (xxix.  1),  has  no 
proper  relation  to  that  before  us.  It  would  be  more 
suitable  to  instance  Leonidas,  if  it  be  true,  as  He- 
rodotus (vii.  220)  intimates,  that  at  the  battle  of 

5  Dathe  propo.ses  to  read  af/  montem,  and  Michaelis  to 
point  ~inJ3,  "  quickly,"  instead  of  "inO,  "  f^oin  the 
mountain."  Neither  proposition  can  be  entertained  (cf. 
Dtiderlein,  T/ieol.  Bibliuth.,  iii.  326). 

6  [By  the  ancient  Jewish  expositors,  cf  Dr.  Cassel's  article 
on  Jehu    in   llerzog's  Realencykl.   vi.   466.    "  In  so  doing 

they  probably  explained  son  of  Nimshi  ("^tTTi^)  a*  son  of  a 

Man.assite  (^EJ3D),  '•  «.  a  son  out  of  the  tribe  of  Manas- 
seh." —  Tr.] 

7  [Ewald  (  Gesck.  hrnel^s,  ii.  500,  note)  has  the  followine 
on  this  proclamation  :  "  From  the  unu.sual  words  and  tlieit 
rounding,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  they  contain  an  ancient 
proverb,  which  in  its  literal  .«ense  would  be  especially  ap- 
propriate to  the  tribe  of  Mana.«seh.  "  Mount  Gilead,"  the 
place  of  Jacobs  severest  struggles  (Gen.  xxxi.  etc.),  may 
very  well,  from  patriarchal  tiuuf!,  have  become  a  proverbial 
equivalent  for  "  scene  of  conflict,''  which  is  manifestly  all  that 
the  name  here  means.  And  Manasseh  was  the  very  tribe 
which  had  often  found  that  for  thiem  also  Gilead  was  a  placa 
of  battle,  cf  p.  391."'  —  Ta.] 


CHAPTER    VII.    1-8. 


123 


ThermopyltB  he  dismissed  his  confederates  because 
he  knew  them  to  be  detieient  in  bravery ;  in  relation 
to  which,  however,  Phitarch's  vehement  criticism  is 
to  bo  considered  (cf.  Kaltwasser,  in  Pint.  Moral. 
AhhaiuH.,  vi.  732).  Noteworthy  is  the  imitation 
of  Gideon's  liistory  in  a  North-German  legend 
I'Mullenhotl',  -Sdgen,  etc.  p.  426).  In  that  as  in 
manv  other  legends,  magic  takes  the  place  of 
God." 

Vers.  4.  Bring  them  down  unto  the  water, 
and  I  will  try  them  for  thee  there.  There  is  no 
lack  of  water  in  this  region.  Ponds,  wells,  and 
bodies  of  standing  water,  are  described  by  Robin- 
son {Bibl.  Res.  iii.  115,  116).  Beside  these,  Gideon 
had  the  Kishon  behind  him,  which  in  the  rainy 
season  is  full  of  water. 

Vers.  .5-7.  Every  one  that  lappeth  of  the 
water.  The  meaning  of  this  test,  the  second  which 
Gideon  was  to  apply,  is  ob.-cnred  hy  the  brevity  of 
the  narrative.  The  question  is.  What  characteristic 
did  it  show  in  the  300  men,  that  they  did  not  drink 
water  kneeling,  but  lapped  it  with  their  tongues, 
like  dogs.  Eertheau  has  followed  the  view  of 
Josephns  {Ant.  v.  6,  3),  which  makes  those  who 
drink  after  the  manner  of  dogs  to  be  the  faint- 
hearted. According  to  this  view,  the  victory  is  the 
more  wonderful,  because  it  was  gained  by  the  timid 
and  fearful.  But  this  explanation  does  not  accord 
with  the  traditional  exegesis  of  the  Jews,  as  handed 
down  by  others.  Moreover,  it  contradicts  the 
spirit  of  the  whole  narrative.  When  Gideon  was 
chosen,  it  was  for  the  very  reason  that  he  was  a 
"  valiant  hero  "  (eh.  vi.  12).  All  those  who  were 
deficient  in  courage  were  sent  home  by  the  procla- 
mation (ver.  3).  If  faint-heartedness  were  de- 
manded, the  brave  should  have  been  dismissed. 
Finally,  God  saves  by  few,  indeed,  if  they  trust  in 
Him,  but  not  by  cravens.  Cowardice  is  a  negative 
quality,  unable  even  to  trnst.  To  do  wonders  with 
cowards,  is  a  contradiction  in  adjecto  ;  for  if  they 
fight,  they  are  no  longer  cowards.  Cowardice  is  a 
sondition  of  soul  which  cannot  become  the  medium 
of  divine  deeds ;  for  even  the  valiant  few,  when 
they  attack  the  many  and  conquer,  are  strong  only 
because  of  their  divine  confidence.  Besides,  it  is 
plainly  implied  that  all  those  who  now  went  with 
Gideon,  were  resolute  for  war.  The  Jewish  in- 
terpretation, communicated  by  Easchi,  is  evidently 
far  more  profound.  Gideon,  it  says,  can  ascertain 
the  reliixious  antecedents  of  his  men  from  the  way 
in  which  they  prepare  to  drink.  Idolators  were  ac- 
customed to  pray  kneeling  before  their  idols.  On 
this  account,  kneeling,  even  as  a  mere  bodilj'  pos- 
ture, had  become  tinpopular  and  ominous  in  Israel, 
and  was  avoided  as  much  as  possible.  Hence,  he 
who  in  order  to  drink  throws  himself  on  his  knees, 
shows  thereby,  in  a  perfectly  free  and  natural  man- 
ner, that  this  posture  is  nothing  unusual  to  him  ; 
whereas  those  who  have  never  been  accustomed  to 
kneel,  feel  no  need  of  doing  it  now,  and  as  naturally 
I'cfrain  from  it.  It  would  have  been  difficult  for 
Gideon  to  have  ascertained,  in  any  other  way, 
what  had  been  the  attitude  of  his  men  towards 
idolatry.  While  quenching  their  eager  thirst,  all 
deliberation  being  forgotten,  they  freely  and  un- 
restrainedly indicate  to  what  posture  they  were 
habituated.  It  is  a  principle  pervading  the  legen- 
dary lore  of  all  nations,  that  who  and  what  a  person 
is,  can  only  be  ascertained  iiy  observing  him  when 

1  The  same  popular  belief  recurs  In  various  forms  ;  in 
many  of  which  the  rudeness  and  na'ii-ete  of  the  manner 
conceals  the  profundity  of  the  thought.  Cf.  Grimm,  Kin- 
dermdrchen,  ii.  229  ;  MiillenhoEf,  Sagen,  p.  384. 

2  An  iuage  of  heathenism  and  Israel,  wliich  from  incon- 


nnder  no  constraint  of  any  kind.i  The  queen  of  a 
Northern  legend  exchanges  dresses  with  her  maid  * 
but  she  who  is  not  the  queen,  is  recognized  by  hei 
drinking  (cf.  Simrock,  Qupllendes  Shaksp.\\\.\l\). 
That  which  is  here  in  Scripture  accepted  with  ref- 
erence to  religious  life  and  its  recognition,  popular 
literature  applies  to  the  keen  discriminating  observ-  ' 
ance  of  social  life.  —  This  view  of  the  mark  aftbrded 
by  the  act  of  kneeling,  is  not  opposed  by  the  fact 
that  in  the  temple  the  worshipper  bowed  himself 
before  God.  It  is  announced  to  Elijah  (1  Kgs. 
xix.  18),  that  only  7,000  shall  be  left:  "All  the 
knees  which  have  not  bowed  unto  Baal,  and  every 
mouth  which  hath  not  kissed  him."  To  bow  the 
knee  is  an  honor  due  to  God  alone.  Hence,  Mor- 
decai  refuses  to  kneel  to  a  man  (Esth.  iii.  5). 
Hence,  God  proclaims  by  the  prophet  (Isa.  xlv.  23)  : 
'■  Unto  me  every  knee  shall  bow."  The  three 
hundred  —  this  is  what  God  makes  Gideon  to  know 
—  have  never  kneeled  before  Baal ;  they  are  clean 
men  ;  and  with  clean  vessels,  men,  and  animals, 
God  is  accustomed  to  do  wonderful  things.  Mid- 
ian's  idolatrous  people  shall  be  smitten  only  by 
such  as  have  always  been  free  from  their  idols. 

However  satisfactory  and  in  harmony  with  the 
Biblical  spirit  this  explanation  may  be  as  it  stands, 
let  something  nevertheless  be  added  to  it.    Ver.se  a 

says:  "it'.>:3  c':i?n-]n  S^iii^bs  pV"- irs  Vs 
lab  in-^s  Ti^r\  nbsn  pb;.   in  verse  e  the 

phraseology  changes  ;  it  speaks  of  those  who 
::n^iD-'-i^  Ci;5  CVpb^n.  Kow,  as  they  would 
naturally  use  the  hollow  hand  to  take  up  the  water 
and  carry  it  to  the  mouth,  thus  making  it  answer 
to  the  concave  tongue  of  a  dog,  it  is  evident  that 
wc  must  so  understand  the  words  quoted  from  ver. 

5,  as  if  it  read :  ctsn-ip  ii;?  pb;  nr's;  bis 

"^^Sti-'bs  -^-n  pb;  "^ti''i<?,  "  all  who  sip  water 
with  their  hands,  as  the  dog  with  his  tongue." 
However  that  may  be,  the  circumstance  must  not 
be  overlooked  that  a  comparison  with  the  sipping 
of  a  dog  is  here  instituted ;  for  if  the  comparison 
had  no  special  significance,  it  would  have  sulhced 
to  distinguish  between  those  who  drank  standing 
and  those  who  drank  kneeling.  It  was  the  percep- 
tion of  this,  doubtless,  which  induced  the  common 
reference  to  what  ^Elian  (Hist.  Anim.,  vi.  53)  says  of 
the  dogs  of  Egypt,  that  for  iear  of  crocodiles  they 
drink  quickly,  while  running.  And  from  this  arose 
the  view,  already  confuted,  that  the  three  hundred 
who  imitated  the  lapping  of  dogs,  were  spiritless  and 
cowardly.  But  the  comparison  must  be  viewed  more 
profoundly.  Those  Egyptian  dogs  arc  the  type,  not 
of  cowardice,  but  of  caution.  It  is  known  that  the 
crocodiles  of  the  Nile  were  not  the  only  ones  of 
their  kind  eager  to  seize  on  dogs  ;  those  of  Central 
America  (the  Cayman  alligator)  are  not  less  so. 
In  Cuba,  likewise,  dogs  will  not  drink  from  rivers, 
lest  their  greedy  foe  might  suddenly  spring  on 
them  (cf.  Oken.  Naturgesch.,  vi.  666).  The  croco- 
dile is  the  image  of  the  adversary ;  against  whom 
they  are  on  their  guard,  who  do  not  so  drink,  that 
from  eagerness  to  quench  their  thirst,  they  fall  into 
his  hands.2  Sensual  haste  would  forget  the  threat- 
ening danger.  To  these  considerations,  add  the 
following:-^  The  heroic  achievement  of  the  three 
hundred  is  a  surprise,  in  which  they  throw  them- 

siderate  thirst  for  enjoyment,  so  often  falls  into  the  jaws  ol 
sin.  The  feodly  rejoice  with  trembling,  and  enjoy  with 
watchfulness,  that  they  may  not  become  a  prey  to  th« 
enemy. 

3  The  most  remarkable  confirmation  of  this  narrative 


124 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


selves,  as  it  were,  into  the  jaws  of  the  sleeping 
foe.  Now,  the  ancients  tell  of  an  animal,  "  sim- 
ilar to  a  clojr,"  which,  liostile  to  the  crocodile, 
throws  itself  into  the  jaws  of  tlie  reptile  when 
asleep,  and  kills  it  internally.     This  animal,  called 

Hydras,  or  ]V"n2W  (cf.  Phus.  Syrus,  ed.  Tychscn, 
cap.  xxxi.  p.  170),  has  been  rio-htly  considered  to 
be  the  Ichneumon,  the  crocodile's  worst  enciny. 
Its  name  siunifies,  "  Tracker."  Tracking,  Ixvevnv, 
is  the  special  gift  of  dogs.  Among  five  animals 
before  whom  the  strong  must  fear,  the  Talmud 
(Sabbat,  77,  b)  names  the  rT^n^?/  from  12^5, 

dog,  as  being  a  terror  of  the  "JH^"]?}  crocodile. 
The  band  who  drink  like  the  Egyptian  dog,  per- 
form a  deed  similar  to  that  which  the  dog-like 
animal  has  ascriiied  to  it.  They  throw  themselves 
upon  the  sleeper;  and,  courageous  though  few, 
become  the  tc'rror  of  the  mighty  foe.  If  it  may  be 
assumed  that  for  the  sake  of  such  hints  the  simili- 
tude of  the  sipping  dog  was  chosen  for  the  three 
hundred  companions  of  Gideon,  the  whole  passage, 
it  must  be  allowed,  becomes  beautiful  and  clear. 
He  who  has  never  inclined  to  idolatry,  who  has 
exercised  caution  against  hostile  blandishments 
and  mastered  his  own  desires, — he,  like  the  ani- 
mal before  alluded  to,  will  be  fitted,  notwithstand- 
ing his  weakness,  to  surprise  and  overcome  the 
enemy,  how  strong  soever  ho  be.  The  similitude, 
in  this  view,  ,is  analogous  to  various  other  sig- 
nificant psychological  propositions,  expressive  of 
fundamental  moral  princij)les.^ 

Ver.  8.  They  took  the  victuals  from  tlie  peo- 
ple in  their  hands.     The  words  of  the  original 

are :  Dl^?  C^?  HT-^-nb^  ^Hi^^X  OflTense  has 
naturally  been  taken  at  "^7?  "  instead  of  which 

j'Tl^*,  in  the  stat.  constr.,  was  to  be  expected.  Tlie 
older  Jewish  expositors  endeavored  to  support  the 
unusual  form  by  a  similar  one  in  Ps.  xlv.  5,  i^^^??) 

Vl"^  ;  but  the  two  are  not  exactly  parallel,  either 
in  sense  or  form,  to  say  nothing  of  Olshausen's 
proposal  to  emend  the  latter  passage  also.     On  the 

other  hand,  it  is  certainly  surprising  that  H^!?  is 
not  found  in  a  single  manuscript,  although  it  was 
so  nattiral  to  substitute  it  in  effect,  as  was  done  by 

the  ancient  versions.  Nor  is  it  clear  that  H'l!^ 
can  be  read.**  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  three 
hundred  men  took  all  the  provisions  of  the  other 
thousands.  It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  compre- 
hend how.  the  former  were  benefited  by  such  sujjer- 
abundancb,  or  how  the  latter  could  dispense  with 
all  means  of  subsistence.  The  sense  can  only  be 
that  the  three  hundred  took  their  provisions  out  of 
the  supplies  for  the  ^\hole  army.  As  the  great 
body  of  the  army  was  about  to  leave  them,  this 
little  troop  took  from  the  common  stores  as  much 
as  they  needed.     We  are  not  therefore  to  correct 

ni"!  into  ni^J",  but  to  supply  112  before  ^'^^V^' 
The  matter  is  further  explained  by  the  addition 
DT*5.  From  the  common  stores  of  the  supply- 
considered  in  its  symbolic  import,  is  found  in  a  German 
legend,  communicated  ty  Birliuger  ( Votk.Ukiimliches  au.s 
Scliwaben,  i.  116),  in  wliich  the  she-wolf  recognizes  as  gen- 
uine only  those  among  her  young  who  drink  water,  while 
the  regards  those  who  lap  like  dogs  as  young  wolf-dogs, 
und  her  worst  enemies.     Accordingly,  dogs  who  lap,  in  the 


train,  they  look  what  they  needed  for  themselvei 
in  their  own  hands,  for  the  others  were  going  away. 
The  case  was  not  much  different  M'ith  the  trum- 
pets. The  three  hundred  needed  one  each ;  so 
many  had  thereftjre  to  be  taken  from  the  ]jeople 
There  is  nothing  to  show,  nor  is  it  to  be  assumed, 
that  the  other  thousands  kept  none  at  all,  or  that 
at  the  outset  the  whole  ten  thousand  had  only 
three  hundred  trumpets.  The  three  hundred  took 
from  the  body  of  the  anny  what,  according  to  their 
numbers,  they  needed  to  venture  the  battle.  —  The 
others  Gideon  dismissed,  "every  one  to  his  tent." 
To  be  dismissed,  or  to  go  to  the  tents,  is  the  stand- 
ing formula  by  which  the  cessation  of  the  mobile 
condition  of  the  army  is  indicated.  The  people 
are  free  from  military  duty ;  but  they  do  not  appear 
to  have  entirely  disbanded. 

He  retained  the  three  hundred.  With  these 
he  intended  to  give  battle ;  and  the  conflict  was 
near  at  hand,  for  the  hostile  army  lay  before  him 
in  the  valley  below. 


hoshletical  and  practical. 

Starke:  Christianity  requires  manliness ;  away, 
therefore,  with  those  who  always  plead  the  weak- 
ness of  the  flesh.  —  The  same:  It  matters  little 
how  insignificant  we  are  considered,  if  we  only 
conquer.  —  The  same  :  We  should  regard,  not  the 
means  which  God  uses  for  our  physical  and  spirit- 
ual deliverance,  but  the  God  who  uses  them.  — 
The  same  :  Though  men  do  nothing,  but  only 
stand  in  the  order  a]ipointed,  God  by  his  omnip- 
otence can  effect  more  than  when  they  work  their 
busiest. —  Gerlach  :  God's  genuine  soldiers  never 
seek  their  strength  in  numbers,  nor  ever  weaken 
their  ranks  by  the  reception  of  half-hearted,  sloth- 
ful, and  timorous  persons.  In  times  of  peace,  they 
may  for  love's  sake  hold  fellowship  with  many.; 
but  when  battle  is  to  be  waged  for  the  Lord,  it  is 
necessary  to  get  rid  of  all  those  who  could  only 
weaken  the  host. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  Gideon's  army  must  be  lessened. 
Who  are  so  fit  to  be  cashiered  as  the  fearful  1  God 
bids  him,  therefore,  proclaim  license  for  all  faint 
hearts  to  leave  the  field.  An  ill  instrument  may 
shame  a  good  work.  God  will  not  glorify  himself 
by  cowards.  As  the  timorous  shall  be  without  the 
gates  of  heaven,  so  shall  they  be  without  the  lists 
of  God's  field.  Although  it  was  not  their  courage 
that  should  save  Israel,  yet  without  their  com-age 
God  would  not  serve  Himself  of  them.  Chris- 
tianity requires  men ;  for  if  our  spiritual  diffi- 
culties meet  not  with  high  spirits,  instead  of  whet- 
ting our  fortitude,  they  quell  it.  —  The  same  : 
But  now,  who  can  but  bless  himself  to  find  of  two 
and  thirty  thousand  Israelites,  two  and  twenty 
thousand  cowards  1  Yet  .all  these  in  Gideon's 
march,  made  as  fiiir  a  flourish  of  courage  as  the 
boldest.  Who  can  trust  the  fiices  of  men,  that 
sees  in  the  army  of  Israel  above  two  for  one  tim- 
orous '?  —  Scott  :  M.any  who  have  real  faith  and 
grace  are  unfit  for  special  services,  and  unable  to 
bear  peculiar  trials,  from  which  therefore  the  Lord 
will  exempt  them ;  and  to  which  He  will  appoint 

manner  which  Gideon  wishes  to  see  imitated  by  his  faithful 
ones,  arc  the  enemies  of  the  rapacious  wolf. 

1  [Nomen  vermis  aquntiiis,  t/ui  ingredilur  aures  pisciutn 
majoriiDi.     Buxtorff,  Lex.  Talm.  —  Tr.] 

2  Cf  my  E.ssay  on  Den  arm  en  Heinrick,  in  the  Weim 
Jahrbuch  Jur  Deutsche  Sprache,  i.  410. 

3  Keil  is  among  those  who  propose  to  adopt  it 


CHAPTKR    Vn.    'J-ll. 


125 


those  to  whom  He  has  given  superior  hardiness, 
boldness,  and  firmness  of  spirit ;  and  very  trivial 
incidents  will  sometimes  make  a  discovery  of  men's 


capacities  and  dispositions,  and  show  wlio  are  and 
who  are  not  to  be  depended  on  in  arduous  under- 
takings. —  Te.] 


Gideon  is  directed  to  advance  against  the  enemy  ;  hut  to  increase  his  confidence  he  is 
authorised  to  make  a  previous  visit  to  the  hostile  encampment. 

Chapter  VII.  9-11. 

9  And  it  came  to  pass  the  same  night,  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  him, 
Arise,  get  thee  down  unto  [descend  against]  the  host  [camp]  ;  for  I  have  deliv- 

10  ered  it  into  thine  hand.     Uut  if  thou  [yet]  fear  to  go  down,  go  thou  [first]  with 

11  Phurah  thy  servant  down  to  the  host  [camp]  :  And  thou  shalt  hear  what  they  say; 
and  afterward  shall  thine  hands  be  strengtiiened  to  go  down  unto  [against]  the 
host  [camp].  Then  went  he  down  with  Phurah  his  servant  unto  the  outside  of  the 
armed  men  that  were  in  the  host  [camp]. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  9.  Arise,  descend !  The  three  hundred 
who  are  with  Gideon  are  enough.  The  hero  may 
venture  the  assault  with  them.  The  hosts  of 
Midian,  despite  their  numbers,  will  not  withstand 
their  enthusiasm  of  faith.  Not  fortune,  but  God, 
will  help  the  brave.  Thei'c  is  no  more  time  for 
delay.  Tlie  harvest  waits  for  the  reaper;  of  that 
Gideon  may  convince  himself.  Let  him  hear  what 
they  say,  and  he  will  learn  that  they  are  more  in 
dread  than  to  be  dreaded.  The  command  addressed 
to  Gideon  in  this  verse,  bids  him  make  a  general 
assault  with  all  his  men  (which  Bertheau  has  failed 
to  perceive).  It  is  only  when  the  undertaking  still 
appears  too  venturesome  to  him,  that  he  is  bidden 
first  to*  convince  himself  of  the  spirit  which  rules 
in  the  camp  of  Midian.  Again  and  again  does 
the  narrative  inculcate  the  lesson  that  victoiy  re- 
sults only  from  full,  undivided,  unbroken,  and  en- 
thusiastic confidence.  Every  shadow  of  hesitation 
is  removed  by  God,  before  the  hero  advances  to  his 
great  exploit. 

Ver.  10.  Go  thou  •with  Phurah  thy  servant. 
The  case  of  Diomed,  who  according  to  Homer  ( //. 
X.  220),  ventures  into  the  camp  of  the  Trojans,  is 
not  altogether  analogous. i  Diomed  is  to  find  out 
what  the  Trojans  aie  doing,  and  design  to  do; 
Gideon  is  only  to  learn  the  spirit  of  his  enemy,  as 
they  freely  converse  together.  Diomed  also  desires 
a  companion,  "  for  two  going  together  better  ob- 
serve what  is  profitable.".  Gideon's  seiwant  goes 
with  him,  not  for  this  purpose,  but  that  he  also 
may  hear  what  Gideon  hears,  and  may  testify  to 
his  fellow  soldiers  of  what  Gideon  tells  them,  so 
that  they  may  follow  with  the  same  assured  courage 
with  which  he  leads.  The  two  commands  are 
very  clearly  distinguished.    Gideon  with  his  troop 

were  to  advance  "  against  "  (3,  as  in  eh.  v.  13)  the 
encampment ;  but  Gideon  and  his  servant  are  to 

1  In  the  inn  "  Zur  Hohen  SckuV  in  Ulm,  there  i.?  still 
shown  a  portrait  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  as  during  the  war 
he  appeared,  disguised,  in  that  city,  as  a  spy,  which  is  only 
a  legend.     In  like  manner,  it  is  told  of  Alfred  the  Great  of 


go  "  unto  '■  ( 7^)  it.  —  The  name  Phurah  (H^G), 

does  not  occur  elsewhere.  Pere  {^~?^.  or  '"'"5) 
is  a  wild  ass,  onnr/er,  an  animal  much  talked  of  and 
greatly  dreaded  among  the  Orientals.  Here,  how- 
ever, the  Masorites  have  pointed  the  same  radicals 

•^"^5  ;  according  to  which  the  name  of  the  servant, 
as  signifying  "  Branch "  (rT^SS),  was  not  un- 
aptly chosen —  "1273  means  both  boy  and  servant 
or  attendant. 

Ver.  11.  As  far  as  the  line  (limit)  of  the  van- 
guard to  the  camp,  W'U^TZnri  nr|7"bs.  The 
meaning  of  C^tt'^rirT  is  obscure,  although  the 
rendering  of  the  LXX.  at  Josh.  i.  14  affords  a  hint 
toward  a  probable   explanation.       ti'^H    is   the 

small  of  the  back,  above  the  hips  {liimhus,  himhi 
qninque  inferiores  spincB  vertebrw),  about  which  the 
girdle,  zona,  was  worn.  The  channisliim  were  not, 
however,  simply  those  who  were  girdled  anu 
equipped,  but  as  the  LXX.  indicate  in  the  passage 
referred  to,  the  sv(u>voi,  the  ?w//-girdled ;  which 
term  the  Greeks  also  used  to  designate  the  light- 
armed  troops,  who  were  everywhere  in  use  as  van 
and  rear  guards.  Among  many  passages  in 
Herodotus,  Thucydides,  Xenophon,  and  others,  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  quote  the  following  from  the 
Cyropaedia  (v.  3,  56),  as  illustrating  this  use  of  the 
Greek  word  :  "Oti  irph  iravrhs  tou  (rTparev/xaTOs  ire- 
(ov9  eu^toi/ous  ....  TTpovTrefXTev.  The  same 
position  as  vanguard  is,  according  to  Josh.  i.  14,  oc- 
ciiiiicd  in  the  Israeliti.<h  host  by  the  two  and  a  half 
trans-.Jordanie  tribes  :  "  Ye  shall  march  before  your 
brethren  as  chamushim."  These  tribes  had  left 
their  families  beyond  the  Jordan,  and  were  there- 
fore freer  and  lighter,  expech'fiores.  To  the  same 
class  of  soldiery  belonged  the  chamushim,  to  whom 

England,  that  in  order  to  inspect  for  himself  the  situation  o 
the  Danes,  he  entered  their  camp  as  a  harper.  Hume, 
Hist.  0/ Eng.  i.  6^. 


126 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


Gideon  approached.  They  formed  the  outer  rim 
of  the  encampment,  and  beyond  them  Gideon  did 
not  venture  to  proceed,  if  for  no  other  reason,  for 

1  [Bertheau  says,  indeed,  that  the  chamiishim  numbered 
135.000  men,  cf  ch.  viii.  10  ;  but  by  the  ckamuskim,  he, 
like  most  scholars,  understands  not  the  vanguard  of  the 
hostile  army,  but  the  whole  body  of  fijjbting  men  in  the 
army.  "  The  eastern  tribes,"  he  says,  "  liad  invaded  the 
land  with   their  herds  and  tents,  i.  e.   families,  ch.   vi.  5. 

Ajnong  such  nomadic  tribes,  the  warriors,  called  D'^Ii^XSn, 


want  of  time.  What  Bertheau  says  about  135, OOC 
men  who  constituted  this  body,^  is  like  his  whole 
explanation  of  tlie  passage,  a  misapprehension. 

or  ilj^*'"^bn,  Josh.  iv.  12,  13,  are  distinguished  from  the 
body  of  the  people.  The  former,  in  view  of  the  impending 
battle,  were  not  scattered  among  the  mass  of  the  people,  bu* 
were  collected  together  in  the  camp  to  the  number  of  135,- 
000."  —  Tr.] 


Gideon  and  his  attendant  secretin/  visit  the  hostile  camp.   The  dream  of  the  soldier  and 
its  interpretation.     The  night-surprise,  confusion,  and  pursuit. 

Chapter  VIL  12-25. 


12  And  the  Midianites,  and  the  Amalekites,  and  all  the  childi'en  [sons]  of  the  east, 
lay  along  in  the  valley  like    grasshoppers   [locusts]  for  multitude ;  and  their  cam- 

13  els  were  without  number,  as  the  sand  by  the  sea-side  for  multitude.  And  when 
Gideon  was  come,  behold,  there  ivas  a  man  that  told  a  dream  unto  his  fellow,  and 
said,  Behold,  I  dreamed  a  dream,  and  lo,  a  [round]  cake  of  barley -bread  tumbled 
into  [rolled  itself  against]  the  host  [camp]  of  Midian,  and  came  unto  a  [the]  tent 
[i.  e.  the  tents ;  the  singular,  used  collectively],  and  smotc  it  that  it  fell,  and  Overturned  it  that 

14  the  tent  [i.  e.  aii  the  tents]  lay  along.  And  his  fellow  answered,  and  said.  This  is  noth- 
ing else  save  the  sword  of  Gideon  the  son  of  Joash,  a  [the]  man  of  Israel :  for  [omit : 

15  for]  into  his  hand  hath  God  delivered  Midian,  and  all  the  host  [camp].  And  it  was 
so,  when  Gideon  heard  the  telling  of  the  dream,  and  the  interpretation  thereof,  that  he 
worshi^iped,  and  returned  into  the  host  [camp]  of  Israel,  and  said,  Arise ;  for  the  Lord 

16  [.Jehovah]  hath  delivered  into  your  hand  the  host  [camp]  of  Midian.  And  he  divided 
the  three  hundred  men  into  three  companies,  and  he  put  a  trumpet  in  every  man's 

17  hand,  with  empty  pitchers,  and  lamps  [torches]  within  the  pitchers.  And  he  said  unto 
them,  Look  on  me,  and  do  likewise  :  and  behold,  when  I  come  to  the  outside  of  the 

18  camp,  it  shall  be  that  as  I  do,  so  shall  ye  do.  When  I  blow  with  a  [the]  trumpet, 
I  and  all  that  are  with  me,  then  blow  ye  the  trumpets  also  on  every  side  of  all  the 

19  camp,  and  say.  The  sword  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  of  Gideon.  So  Gideon,  and 
the  hundred  men  that  were  with  him,  came  unto  the  outside  of  the  camp  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  middle  watch  ;  and  they  had  but  newly  set  the  watch  :  and  tjiey  blew 
the  trumpets,  and  brake  the  pitchers  that  were  in  their  hands.  And  the  three  com- 
panies blew  the  trumpets  [aii  at  once],  and  brake  the  pitchers,  and  held  [took]  the 
lamps  [torches]  in  their  left  hands,  and  the  trumpets  in  their  right  hands  to  blow 

21  withal:  and  they  cried.  The  sword  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  of  Gideon.  And  they 
stood  every  man  in  his  place  round  about  the  camp  ;  and  all  the  host  [camp]  ran  [was 

22  thrown  into  commotion],  and  cricd,  and  fled.  And  the  three  hundred  blew  the  trumpets,  and 
[meanwhile]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  set  every  man's  sword  against  his  fellow,  even  through- 
out [and  against]  all  the  host  [camp]  :  and  the  host  [camp]  fled  to  Beth-shittah 
[the  House  of  Acacias]  in  [toward]  Zererath   [Zererah],  and  [omit:  and]   to  the 

23  border  [edge]  of  Abel-meholah,  unto  [near]  Tabbath.  And  the  men  of  Israel 
gathered  themselves  together  out  of  Naphtali,  and  out  of  Asher,  and  out  of  all  Manas- 

24  seh,  and  pursued  after  the  Midianites.  And  Gideon  sent  messengers  throughout  aU 
Mount  Ephraim,  saying,  Come  down  against  the  Midianites,  and  take  [seize]  before 
them  the  waters  unto  Beth-barah  and  [the]  Jordan.  Then  all  the  men  of  Ephraim 
gathered  themselves  together,  and  took  [seized]  the  waters  unto  Beth-barah  and  [the] 

25  Jordan.  And  they  took  two  princes  of  the  Midianites,  Oreb  and  Zeeb  [Raven  and 
Wolf]  ;  and  they  slew  Oreb  upon  [at]  the  rock  Oreb  [Raven's  Rock],  and  Zeeb  they 
slew  at  the  wine-press  of  Zeeb  [Wolfs  Press],  and  pursued  Midian,  and  brought  the 
heads  of  Oreb  and  Zeeb  to  Gideon  on  [from]  the  other  side  [of  the]  Jordan. 


20 


CHAPTER   Aai.    12-25. 


127 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  12.  And  Midian  and  Amalek.  The 
prejrnant  and  musino- character  of  tlic  style  of  our 
Book,  notwithstandino-  its  entire  simplicity  and 
artlessness,  shows  itself  especially  in  the  episode 
concernino;  Gideon.  In  order  to  emphasize  the 
contrast  which  they  present  to  the  scanty  means  of 
Israel — the  handful  of  men  who  followed  Gideon 
—  the  countless  numbers  and  vast  resources  of  the 
enemy  are  once  more  pointed  out.  On  one  side, 
there  are  three  hundred  men,  on  foot ;  on  the  other, 
a  multitude  numerous  as  an  army  of  locusts,  riders 
on  camels  countless  as  the  sands  of  the  sea-shore 
(cf  above,  on  ch.  vi.  5).  This  contrast  must  needs 
be  insisted  on  here,  that  so  the  wonderful  help  of 
God  may  stand  out  in  bold  relief ;  that  Israel  may 
leara  that  victory  comes  not  of  numbers,  but  is 
the  gift  of  God,  and  that  in  all  their  conflicts,  it  is 
the  spirit  of  God  who  endows  their  enemies  with 
victorious  courage,  that  He  may  chasten  his  people, 
or  fills  them  with  fear  and  confusion,  notwithstand- 
ing their  multitude  and  might,  that  Israel  may  be 
delivered.  God  governs  man's  free  will.  He  turns 
the  hearts  of  men  according  to  his  wisdom.  He 
raises  the  courage  of  the  few  and  small  to  victory, 
and  brings  the  proud  and  great  to  grief  It  is  his 
work  that  Gideon  with  three  hundred  men  dares 
attack  the  enormous  multitude  ;  his  doing  that,  as 
the  soldier's  dream  and  its  interpretation. indicate, 
sad  forebodings  fill  the  heart  of  the  proud  and 
mighty  foe,  and  cause  it  to  faint  before  the  com- 
ing conflict. 

Ver.  13.  And  as  Gideon  came,  behold,  a  man 
told  a  dream.  From  the  enemy's  dream,  Gideon 
will  learn  the  frame  of  mind  in  which  they  are. 
For  this  end  he  was  to  go  into  the  encampment, 
thereby  to  perfect  his  own  confidence.  Jehovah  is 
God  of  the  heathen  also.  Although  they  do  not 
believe  in  Him,  they  are  yet  instruments  in  his 
hand.  It  was  He  wlio,  M'ithout  their  knowing  it, 
raised  them  up  and  directed  their  way.  They  did 
not  learn  to  know  Him  from  his  works  ;  and  yet  He 
shone  above  them,  like  the  sun  concealed  by  clouds 
and  vapors.  The  manifest  God  they  fail  to  sec  by 
day ;  but  the  Hidden  and  Unknown  they  seek  in 
dreams.  All  heathenism  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  a 
great  dream ;  and  it  is  in  accordance  with  its 
nature,  that  as  all  nations  dream,  so  all  are  dis- 
posed to  find  in  dreams  the  indications  of  a  hidden 
truth.  Their  interpreters  did  not  know  the  God 
of  Truth  in  himself  ;  but  He  who  turns  the  nations 
as  water-courses,  fills  their  hearts,  when  He  pleases, 
with  visions  and  interpretations  which  have  their 
rise  in  truth.  Hence,  when  in  Scripture,  God  fre- 
quently favors  heathen  with  dreams  of  truth,  He 
does  not  thereby  sanctify  every  dream  ;  but  only 
uses  dreams  to  influence  the  men  whom  He  takes 
under  the  guidance  of  his  wJfedom,  —  the  Philistine 
king,  for  instance,  Laban  the  Aramaean,  the  Egyp- 
tian baker  and  butler,  —  because  they  already  look 
on  dreams  as  such  as  hiding  a  divine  mystery. 
Dreams  appeai-ed  the  more  significant,  when  great 
events  were  manifes.ly  at  hand.  And  in  the  condi- 
tion of  mental  excitement  which  under  such  circum- 
stances seizes  on  men,  they  are  natural  and  to  be 
expected.  Thus  elsewhere  also  we  hear  of  dreams 
by  generals  before  battle.  Lconidas,  Plutarch  (on 
aerodotus)  tells  us,  had  a  dream  before  the  battle 

1  Joscphus  also  understands  it  thus  :  "  a.vQpiaTroi';  appio- 
roi'-"  His  further  interpretation,  however,  can  scarcely  be 
followed. 

2  [Cf.  Thomson.  T/ii'  Land  and  the  Book,  ii.  166 Tr.] 

i  [WoKBSWORTH :  "  The  tent  was  an  expressive  emblem 


of  ThermopyliB,  which  disclosed  to  him  the  future 
destinies  of  Greece  and  Thebes.  Xerxes  had  a 
dream  previous  to  his  Greek  campaign ;  and  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  is  said  to  have  dreamed  before  the 
battle  of  Leipzig,  that  he  was  wrestling  with  Tilly 
(•Joh.  Schefier,  Memorab.  Suef.  Gentis,  p.  2.3).  It 
was  not  unknown  to  the  Midianites  that  Gideon, 
though  but  a  contemned  foe,  lay  encamped  on  the 
mountain.  The  peculiar  dream'must  therefore  the 
more  impress  the  soldier  who  dreamed  it. 

A  round  barley-loaf  roUed  itself.  The  narra- 
tive, notwithstanding  its  simplicity  and  brevity,  is 

very  vivid  and  forcible.  The  animated  n3n  recurs 
three  times.  The  dream  itself  also  portrays  the 
contrast  with  which  it  has  to  do,  with  uncommon 
clearness.  The  barley-loaf  is  the  symbol  of  wretch- 
edness and  poverty,^  over  against  the  luxury  and 
wealth  of  Midian.  Indigent  Bedouins,  who  have 
nothing  else,  at  this  day  still  subsist  on  barley- 
bread,  which  they  sometimes  dip  in  goat's  fat 
(Ritter,  xiv.  1003).^     The  cake   or  loaf  is   here 

called  7'^7'V)  a  term  variously  explained.     The 

definition  of  Gesenius,  who  derives  it  from  77^ 

=  ,-73,  to  roll,  seems  to  be  the  most  likely.  The 
mention  of  the  round  form  of  the  loaf  was  neces- 
sary to  bring  its  rolling  vividly  before  the  imag- 
ination, since  all  loaves  were  not  round.  The 
Arabs  of  the  desert,  according  to  Niebuhr,  take  a 
round  lump  of  dough,  and  bury  it  in  hot  coals, 
until  they  think  it  baked.  Then  they  knock  off 
the  ashes,  and  eat  it  (Besc/treib.  Arab.  p.  52). 
Such  a  wretched  loaf  is  that  which  the  Mid- 
iaiiite  sees  rolling  in  his  dream.  It  signifies 
Gideon  and  Israel,  who,  by  reason  of  their  ene- 
mies, were  reduced  to  poverty  and  distress  (ch. 
vi.  4).  It  comes  rolling  "against"  the  encamp- 
ment (i^J3np5),  not  "  in "  it,  as  the  expositors 
have  it;  for  the  dream  depicts  the  coming  event. 

And  it  came  to  the  tent,  ^O'^i^  "^•^'  ^^^ 
tent — with  the  article.  It  would  be  an  error  to 
think  here,  with  Bertheau,  who  follows  Josephus, 
of  the  tent  of  the  king  ;  for  there  were  several 
kings.  The  tent  of  the  dream  stands  collectively 
for  all  the  tents  of  the  encampment ;  for  the  very 
idea  of  the  dream  is  that  the  rolling  loaf  comes 
into  collision  with  the  tents  in  general.  One  tent 
after  another  is  struck  by  it,  falls,  and  is  turned 

upside  down.  ^U^i^  ''^?'5'  and  "the  tent,"  all 
the  tents,  one  after  another,  lay  overturned.  By 
this  venaphal,  the  narrator  recapitulates,  as  it  were, 
the  falling  of  the  several  tents,  which  in  ihe  vivid 
dream  vision,  in  which  all  notions  of  time  and 
space  are  forgotten,  appeared  like  the  downfall  of 
a  single  tent.-^ 

Ver.  14.  And  his  fellow  answered.  The  fact 
that  a  true  interpretation  is  given  by  one  comrade 
to  the  other,  must  be  specially  noted.  The  first 
has  not  asked,  but  only  related ;  the  other  is  no 
sooth-sayer,  but  only  a  companion.  So  much  the 
more  significant  is  the  frame  of  mind  in  which  the 
interpretation  originates.  For  there  exists  no  visi- 
ble ground  for  thinking  it  possible  that,  notwith- 
standing their  great  power,  Midian  may  be  deliv- 
ered into  the  hands  of  a  man  like  Gideon.     But 

of  the  Midianites,  being  nomads  ;  their  tent  was  their  all 
iu  all.  Their  wives,  their  children,  their  cattle,  their  goods 
their  vesture,  their  treasure,  were  all  collected  in  it  and 
about  it.''  —  Tr.] 


128 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


what  does  exist,  is  an  evil  conscience.  Through 
seven  years  Midian  liad  plundered  and  trodden 
Israel.  This  is  the  lirst  time,  in  all  tlirse  vrars, 
that  resistance  is  attenii)ted.  That  in  spite  ui'  dis- 
tress and  numerical  weakness,  Israel  ventures  npw 
to  begin  a  war,  must  of  itself  excite  attention  and 
make  an  impression.  How  long  had  it  been,  since 
Israel  liad  unfurled  the  hanners  of  its  God  !  I'roud 
tyranny  is  already  startled  at  the  pros]iect  of  resist- 
ance from  a  few  faithful  ones.i  According  to 
Herodotus  (vii.  16),  Artaban  says  to  Xerxes  :  "  JMen 
are  wont  to  be  visited  in  sleep  by  images  of  what 
they  have  thought  on  during  the  day."  The  prin- 
cijile  applies  in  this  case  to  both  dreamer  and  in- 
terpreter. Dream  and.  interpretation  both  reflect 
tlie  forebodings  of  an  evil  conscience,  which  God 
is  about  to  judge.  The  interpreter  compares  the 
rolling  loaf  with  the  sword  of  Gideon.     (The  liith- 

pael  of  "jI?^'  '^^^'^  applied  to  that  wliieh  symbol- 
ized the  sword  of  Gideon  (ver.  1.3),  is  also  used  by 
the  sacred  writer  of  the  .sword  which  kept  the  en- 
trance to  the  garden  of  Eden.  Gen.  iii.  24.)  He 
it  is  —  continues  the  interpreter  —  who  rises  up 
against  the  domination  of  Midian  :  does  he  venture 
on  this,  and  dreamest  thou  thus,  —  be  sure  that  his 
God  (hence  the  article  with  Elohim,  since  without 
the  article  it  also  designates  their  gods)  has  deliv- 
ered Midian  into  his  power. 

Ver.  15.  When  Gideon  heard  this.  What 
Gideon  hears  is  not  merely  the  interpretation  of  a 
dream  wliich  conhrms  his  brightest  hopes.  The 
dream  is  one  which  his  enemies  liave,  and  the  in- 
terpretation is  their  own.  He  hears  in  it  an  ex- 
pression of  the  tone  and  mood  of  their  minds.  He 
learns  that  the  confidence  of  the  enemy  is  already 
broken  l)y  the  reflection  that  Israel's  Lord  is  once 
more  in  the  field.  xYstonished  and  adoring,  he  and 
his  attendant  hear  this  wonder,  as  great  and  real  as 
any  other  that  God  has  shown  him.  They  feel  that 
God  has  done  this  —  they  see  that  He  is  leader  and 
victor  —  with  thanksgiving  they  bow  before  Him.'- 

Vers.  IG-IS.  And  he  divided  the  three  hun- 
dred men.  ICncouraged,  Gideon  hastens  to  act. 
He  divides  liis  band  into  three  companies,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  surroniul  the  hostile  encampment  (ef 
ver.  21).  He  bids  the  two  companies  who  are  to 
take  their  stations  on  the  other  sides,  to  attend  to 
his  signal,  and  gives  them  the  battle-cry.  Now,  as 
to  tliis  cry,  though  ver.  18  gives  it,  "  Of  Jehovah 
and  of  Gideon,"  yet,  since  ver.  20  has,  "  Sword  of 
Jehovah  and  of  Gideon,"  it  is  evident  that  in  the 
former  verse  the  word  "  sword"  is  to  be  supplied. 
For  the  two  companies  who  were  to  wait  lor  the 
trumpet-blast  of  Gideon  and  those  with  him,  could 
not  understand  the  words  of  the  distant  cry,  and 

1  .i^schylus  {Persa'.,  188,  etc.)  represents  poetically  the 
forebodiiigs  and  dreams  of  Atossa  concerning  the  impend 
'ng  disaster  of  Xerxes  ;  but  the  moral  view,  that  such 
dreams  were  inspired  by  the  evil  conscience  of  the  conijuest- 
loviug  t)  rant,  and  that  the  insignificant  people  triumphed 
through  God,  is  wanting. 

i  [Our  author  treats  ^rii^ti^*"!  as  a  plural,  and  trans- 
lates :  "  C/iey  worshipped."'  The  form  is  undoubtedly  singu- 
lar, cf.  Gen.  x.xiii.  7;  xxiv.  52;  etc.,  and  is  so  reg.irded  by 
most  grammarians.  Ges.  Grmn.  75  Uem.  18  ;  Green,  176,  1. 
Furst,  however,  both  in  his  Lexicon  and  in  his  Hebrew 
Concordance   treats   it  as    plural.     In    his   Lexicon,   i.    v. 

nnt",      he    says  :     "  n_l;7?i^^'^  i     plural,    sometimes 

^nriti?'^,  in  pause  ^niHl^'l,  sometimes  ^inriK?\"  — 
Tb.] 

8  [Dr.  Thomson  remarks  {L.  ^  B.  ii.  166) :  "  I  have  often 
Been  the  small  oil  lamp  of  the  natives  carried  in  a  '  pitcher ' 


yet  they  also  shouted,  "  Sword  of  Jehovah  and  of 

(iiileon  "  (ver.  20).  Rloreover,  the  comm.iml  must 
have  been  executed  as  it  was  given  ;  and  hencc^  the 
fiet  that  according  to  ver.  20  (iideon's  own  com- 
pany joined  in  the  longer  form,  proves  that  to  have 
Ijcen  originally  given.  The  cry  itself  is  very  ex- 
pressive. It  tells  the  Midianites  that  the  sword  of 
the  God  whose  jieople  and  faith  they  have  op- 
pressed, and  of  the  man  whose  insignificance  they 
have  despised,  whose  family  they  have  injured,  and 
who  through  God  becomes  their  conquerui",  is  about 
to  be  swung  over  their  heads. 

Vers.  19-21.  And  Gideon  came  to  the  border 
line  of  the  camp  about  the  beginning  of  the 
middle  watch.  From  the  mention  of  the  middle 
watch,  it  has  been  justly  inferred  that  the  night 
must  be  considered  as  divided  into  three  watches. 
It  was  still  deep  in  the  night  when  Gideon  under- 
took the  surprise.  The  middle  watch  was  just 
begun ;  the  sentinels,  it  is  added,  with  good  rea- 
son, had  just  ("iT^^  been  set  —  for  as  the  middle 
watcli  advanced,  the  army  would  begin  to  stir. 
Prodigious  was  the  alarm  that  seized  on  Midian, 
when  suddenly  the  trumpets  clanged,  the  pitchers 
crashed,  the  thundering  battle-ery  broke  out,  the 

torches  3    blazed Accounts    are    not 

wanting  in  the  history  of  other  nations,  of  similar 
stratagems  adopted  by  bold  generals.  Tacitus  ex- 
presses himself  on  tliis  subject  after  his  own  man- 
ner (Annal.  i.  68,  4)  :  "The  clangor  of  trumpets 
and  the  glitter  of  arms  (soniis  luharwi),  fdhjor  nrino- 
rnm)  easily  become  destructive  to  a  foe  who  thinks 
only  of  a  few,  half  armed  opponents ;  the  more 
unexpected  the  alarm,  the  greater  the  loss  (cadc- 
hant  ut  rebus  secnndis  avidt,  ita  adversis  incauti)." 
So  the  Roman  Minucius  Rufus  terrified  the  Scor- 
disci,  by  causing  trumpets  to  be  blown  from  among 
the  mountains  round  about,  the  sound  of  which, 
echoed  by  the  rocks,  spread  fear  and  terror  (Fron- 
tinus,  Stratagmidticoii,  ii.  3).  The  ancients  named 
such  surprises  Panic  terrors,  because  Pan  put  the 
enemies  of  Dionysus  to  fliglit  with  his  horns'*  (cf. 
Polya>nns,  Slraterjem.  i.  and  ii.). 

The  terror  which  seized  on  Midian  was  in  truth 
a  terror  from  God.  This  the  simple  mirrative 
sets  forth  most  classically.  Ver.  16  had  already 
stated  that  all  had  trumpets  in  their  hands,  and 
pitchers,  with  torches,  whereby  no  hand  was  left 
free  to  use  the  sword.  Ver.  20  says,  still  more 
explicitly,  "  they  had  the  torches  in  their  left,  and 
the  trumpets  in  their  right  hands."  They  did  not 
use  the  sword,  but  only  cried,  "  Sword  of  Jehovah 
and  of  Gideon."     (Not,  however,  as  if  Gideon  were 

put  on   a  parallel  with  God:  ]i^"I2.'^  is  to  be 

or  eartliern  vessel  at   night."     But   the   C"Tt^^   of  this 

history  can  scarcely  be  "oil  lamps,"  for  which  mii 
would  be  more  appropriate.  A  better  explanation  is  sug- 
gested by  the  following  note  in  Smith's  Bible  Diet.  (Art. 
Gideon) :  "  It  is  curious  to  find  '  lamps  and  pitchers  '  in  use 
for  a  similar  purpose  at  this  very  day  in  the  streets  of 
Cairo.  The  Zabit  or  Aiilta  of  the  police  carries  with  hira 
at  night,  'a  torch  which  burns,  soon  after  it  is  lighted, 
without  a  flame,  excepting  when  it  is  waved  through  the 
air,  when  it  suddenly  blazes  forth  ;  it  therefore  answers  the 
same  purpose  as  our  dark  lantern.  Tlie  burning  end  is 
sometimes  concealed  in  a  small  pot  or  jar,  or  covered  with 
something  else,  when  not  required  to  give  light  (Lane,  Mor/. 
Egypt.,  i.  ch.  iv.).'  •' — Tb.] 

4  A  similar  maneuver  terrified  the  inhabitants  of  Her- 
asum  in  Achaia,  when  Diotas  besiegod  them.  Poly.*Enu», 
ii.  36. 


CHAPTER    VII.    12-25. 


V2[^ 


taken  as  supplementing-  the  preceding  words  — 
''  even  that  conmiitted  to  Gideon ;  "  for  Gideon  was 
the  visible  bearer  of  God's  sword.)  Hence,  also, 
ver.  21  says  :  "  They  stood  (tlie  troops  of  Gideon) 
round  about  the  eneamjunent ; "  i.  e.,  they  stand, 
not  otherwise  attacking,  but  simply  blowing  their 
trumpets;    yet  the  enemy   takes   to    "running" 

(V?T-  stands  contrasted  with  ^"TPl?*!!)'  Just  as 
in  Joshua's  time  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell,  while 
the  trum])ets  of  Israel  sounded,  so  here  it  is  — 
"  These  blew,  those  fled."  Terror  and  disorder 
ruled  the  hour  in  the  Midianitish  camp.  In  the 
darkness  and  confusion,  they  no  longer  knew  what 
they  did.  Hence,  ver.  22  states  that  "  while  the 
three  hundred  blew  the  trumpets"  —  this  is  inten- 
tionally repeated,  and  shows  that  they  scarcely 
needed  a  sword  against  Midian  —  the  Midianites 
thought  themselves  attacked  by  enemies,  and  raged 
among  themselves,  for  "  Jehovah  had  set  every 
man's  sword  against  his  fellow,  and  against  the 
whole  camp,"  or  as  we  say,  in  cases  of  great  con- 
fusion, "  All  against  one,  one  against  all." 

Ver.  22.  And  the  host  fled  to  Beth-shittah 
(the  House  of  Acacias),  towards  Zererah,  to 
the  edge  of  Abel-meholah,  near  Tabbath.  The 
direction  of  the  flight,  and  the  situation  of  the 
places  named,  can  only  be  interred  from  the  con- 
nection and  from  a  comparison  of  other  passages. 
The  mention  of  tlie  ])laees  must  have  had  a  local 
signitieance  for  the  reader  who  was  acquainted  with 
their  situation.  From  ch.  viii.  we  learn  that  the 
Midianites  did  not  flee  in  one  body,  but  in  several 
divisions.  This  is  as  might  be  expected,  seeing 
the  army  was  composed  of  dirterent  tribes  —  Mid- 
ianites, Anialekites,  and  "  Sons  of  the  East." 
This  separation  in  flight  is  also  indicated  by  the 
statement  of  the  places  to  which  they  fled.  Eirst, 
they  are  said  to  have  fled  "  to  Beth-shittah,  towards 
Zererah,"  by  which  one  line  of  flight  is  given. 
When  it  is  further  said  that  they  fled  "  to  the  edge 
of  Abel-meholah,  near  Tabbath,"  the  intention 
cannot  be  to  prolong  the  first  line,  which  is  already 
terminated  Ijy  the  phrase  "  towards  Zererah,"  but 
a  second  is  indicated.  This  also  explains  the 
measures  adopted  by  Gideon.  Being  unable  to 
follow  both  himself,  he  calls  on  Ephraim  to  cut  off 
the  other  line  of  flight.  The  enemy's  effort  was 
to  gain  the  fords  of  the  Jordan.  That  one  through 
which  kings  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  must  have 
passed  (ch.  viii.  5),  seeing  they  had  the  start  of  the 

others,  is  evidently  indicat.'sd  by  nn'n'n^,  "  to- 
wards Zererah."  Many  codices  have  nn'l'^'^, 
"  toward  Zeredah,"  daleth  being  substituted  for 
resh.  Kimehi,  however,  expressly  calls  attention 
to  the  two  r's.  But  even  in  the  earliest  times 
Zeredah  was  read  instead  of  Zererah,  as  appears 

from  2  Chron.  iv.  17,  where  we  find  nni^^. 
From  the  same  passage  compared  with  1  Kgs.  vii. 
46,  it  is  evident  that  Zeredah  was  identified  with 

Ipn^*,  Zorthan.  From  both  it  appears  to  have 
been  situated  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Jordan,  not 
very  far  from  Beth-shean  (Beis;\n) ;  and  from  Josh. 
iii.  15,  16,  it  may  be  inferred  that  near  it  there  was 
a  ford  through  the  river.  This  explains  why 
Midian  took  this  line.  They  approached  the  river 
from  the  direction  of  Beth-shittah.  Berthean  did 
well  to  coimeet  this  place  with  the  modern  village 
Shutta,  mentioned  by  Robinson  (ii.  356),  and  sit- 
uated in  the  vicinity  of  Beth-shean.  Keil's  ob- 
jection that  it  lies  north  of  Gilboa,  is  of  no  force 
under  oui-  vii'w  of  the  localities  as  above  indicated. 


Zorthan  (Zarthan)  is  mentioned  in  connection  with 
a  Suceoth  on  this  side  the  Jordan  (1  Kgs.  vii.  46). 
To  this  day  the  Jordan  is  passed  near  some  ruins, 
not  far  from  Beisan,  which  are  supposed  to  indi- 
cate the  site  of  Suceoth  (Kittcr,  xv.  446).  The 
other  line  of  fugitives  took  a  more  southerly  direc- 
tion, "towards  the  edge  of  Abel-meholah."  The 
name  of  this  pLace,  celebrated  as  the  birth-place  of 
the  prophet  Elisha,  has  been  preserved  in  the 
Onomasticon  of  Eusebius  as  AySeAjuae/lai  (ed.  Par- 

they,  p.  8).  The  foct  that  a  nSJi?,  edge,  or  strand, 
is  spoken  of,  indicates  perhaps  the  presence  of  a 
wady.  And  in  fact,  coming  down  from  Beisnn  or 
Zerin,  the  first  western  tributary  of  the  .Jordan 
met  with,  is  a  Wady  el-Maleh  (ef.  Ritter,  xviii. 
432-448,  in  several  passages).  The  fugitives  are 
further  said  to  have  come  to  the  edge  of  Abel- 
meholah  "  near  Tabbath."  There  is  still  a  city 
Tubas,  not  fiir  from  Wady  Maleh,  usually  consid- 
ered to  be  the  Thebez  of  the  history  of  Abimelech 
(ch.  ix.  50),  for  which,  however,  there  is  no  com- 
pulsory ground. 

Vers.  23-25.  Gideon  had  a  definite  plan  of  pixr- 
suit.  To  carry  it  out,  he  required  more  men  than 
the  three  hundred  who  had  stood  with  him  in  the 
victory.  The  troops  whom  he  had  collected  from 
Manasseh,  Asher,  Zebulun,  and  Xaphtali  (ch.  vi. 
35),  though  subsequently  dismissed,  had  not  yet 
disbanded.  They  now  returned  (Zebulun  only  is 
not  named),  and  assisted  in  the  pursuit.  But  to 
overtake  the  Midianites  on  their  fleet  camels  was 
not  an  easy  matter.  If  not  intercepted,  those  of 
them  who  were  hastening  sonthwai-d,  would  get  as 
safely  over  the  Jordan  as  kings  Zebah  and  Zal- 
munna had  done  near  BeisAn  (at  Zorthan).  Gideon 
had  foreseen  this,  and  had  early  sent  a  message  to 
Ephraim,  over  whose  territory  the  fugitive  host 
was  passing,  to  "  seize  the  waters  as  far  as  Beth- 
barah  and  the  Jordan."  Ephraim  acted  promptly, 
and  a  part  of  the  Midianites  were  cut  off'.  The 
"  waters  "  can  only  mean  some  western  tributaries 
of  the  Jordan ;  for  Gideon's  object  is  to  prevent 
that  body  of  the  enemy  which  by  his  pursuit  he 
has  thus  far  kept  away  from  the  river,  from  gain- 
ing the  lower  fords  and  crossing  over.  He  there- 
fore desires  "  the  waters  "  to  be  seized  "  to  Beth- 
barah."  This  name  Beth-barah  cannot  well  have 
originated    from    Beth-abarah  (Ford-house).      It 

does    not   appear   that    the    letter     27    has   been 

dropped  out  of  nn55?.'n''2.  Besides,  if  Beth-ba- 
rah meant  "  Ford-house,"  the  direction  "  to  Beth- 
barah  "  would  have  been  snperfinous ;  for  in  that 
case  the  seizure  of  the  Jordan  would  have  included 
that  of  the  "  waters  "  and  the  ford.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  important  to  provide  for  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  "  waters,"  or  the  jjarticular  stream  in- 
tended, along  its  whole  length  to  its  source ;  lest, 
while  it  was  guarded  below,  the  enemy  should  ei'oss 
it  above.  Beth-bai'ah  is  therefore,  with  Eusebius 
and  Jerome  (Onoinnst.,  p.  104),  to  be  explained  as 
"House    of    the    Spring,"    "Well-house"   (from 

~1W2  or  "^2),  by  which    the    narrative    becomes 

clear  and  intelliuible.  Theremth,  also  fall  all  at- 
tempts to  identify  this  Beth-barah  with  the  Beth- 
abarah  of  Origen's  reading  at  John  i.  28  ;  for  that 
lay  beyond  the  Jordan.  Origen  was,  however,  led 
by  a  riu'ht  critical  feeling  Instead  of  a  Bethany, 
the  people  of  his  day  doubtless  spoke  of  a  Beth- 
abarah  in  that  region;  and  this,  jihilologieally  and 
in  fact,  was  one  and  the  same  with  Bethany.  For 
this  trans-JonlMiiic  Bethany —  not  to  be  confounded 


130 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


with  that  neai-  Jerusalem  —  is  to  he  derived  from 
Bet/i-ain,  ;\s  Beth-abarah  from  Bethbe/r,  and  lik'j 
the  hitter  siii'iiities  "House  of  the  Sprin.t;-,''  —  a 
point  to  wliicli  I  formerly  directed  attention  in  n;y 
"  Bericht  ubcr  Rcnan  (Berlin,  18G4). 

The  E])liraiinites,  to  their  great  glory,  captured 
the  two  Midianite  princes  Oreb  and  Zeeb.  It  was 
the  reward  of  their  prompt  obedience.  Very  sug- 
gestive are  the  names,  under  which  these  two 
princes  of  the  desert  had  perhaps  been  especially 
dreaded  —  "Wolf"  and  "  Haven."  Among  other 
nations  also,  these  animals,  frequenters  of  desolate 
places,  and  eager  attendants  on  battle-fields,  have 
furnished  surnames  for  noted  wan-iors.  The 
Arabs,  because  the  raven  follows  in  the  wake  of 
caravans,  call  him  Ebul-Mirkal,  Father  of  the 
Swift  Camel,  or  Ibn-B'^rsun,  Son  of  the  Sumpter- 
horse.  Noteworthy,  at  all  events,  is  the  conjunc- 
tion of  "  liaven  and  Wolf"  Coupled  in  the  same 
way,  we  find  them  sacred  to  the  Scandinavian 
Udin.  Both  ravens  and  wolves  were  al$o  conse- 
crated to  Apollo.  In  the  early  Roman  legends  the 
woodpecker  (piciis)  takes  the  place  of  the  raven 
as  companion  of  the  wolf,  and  both  belong  to  the 
God  of  War  (cf  my  Schami?;  Erf.  1856,  p.  103). 
The  Arabs  give  to  both  the  bird  and  the  quad- 
ruped the  common  name  Ibnol-Erdh,  Son  of  the 
Earth  (Hammer,  Namen  der  Araber,  p.  48). 

The  iiinie  of  the  deed  perpetuated  itself  in  local 
designations,  and  the  Raven's  Rock  and  Wolf's 
Wine-press  commemorate  the  disgrace  of  Midian. 
The  Ocli/ssea  likewise  speaks  of  a  Raven's  rock 
in  Ithaea  (xiii.  408),  which  name  the  scholiast 
derives  from  a  fallen  hunter  (cf  Bochart,  Hiero- 
zoicon,  ii.  203  )  ;  and  the  use  of  the  German  Raben- 
sttin^    is  undeniably   analogous.      In    the    other 

name,  the  term  jVA:e6  ^^lyv'  wine-press)  is  borrowed 
from  the  hollow  form  of  the  object ;  hence,  the 
name  is  here  equivalent  to  Wolf's-hole.  Similar 
historical  allusions  are  supposed  by  the  German 
Muse  to  lie  concealed  in  Worms  (irom  Wurme, 
slain  by  Siegfried)  and  in  Drachenfels  (cf.  Grimm, 
D.  IL-kkns.,  pp.  155,  316). 

In  Hauran,  Wetzstein  heard  the  name  el-Gurab, 
the  Raven,  applied  to  a  spent  volcano  (p.  16)  ;  and 
Castle  Kerek,  at  the  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
was  called  llisnal-gorab,  Raven's-castle  (Hitter, 
xiv.  1042). 

The  important  remark  in  ver.  25,  that  the  heads 
of  the  two  princes  -were  brought  to  Gideon  "  from 
beyond  the  Jordan,"  induces  the  hope  that  the 
name  and  location  of  the  "  Raven's-rock  "  may  yet 
be  traced.  The  "  waters  "  which  Ephraim  occu- 
pied, must  have  been  those  now  known  as  Wady  el- 
Faria.  Below  this  wady,  there  is  to  this  day  a 
much  used  ford  (Ritter,  xv.  449)  ;  while  over 
against  it,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Jordan,  there 
is  the  steep  height  of  Jebel  Ajlun,  overlooking  the 
Ghor,  and  commanding  the  confluent  valleys  (Rit- 
ter, XV.  369).  On  this  height  there  are  the  ruins 
of  a  castle,  of  which  Ibrahim  Pasha  still  availed 
himself  to  hold  the  robber  hordes  in  check,  and 
which  (according  to  the  reports  of  various  travel- 
lers on  this  yet  but  imperfectly  known  locality) 
bore  the  name  of  Kalaat-cr  Kabbad,or  Rabua.  The 
Ephraimites,  charged  with  the  occupation  of  the 
Jordan,  had  crossed  over  and  seized  on  this  im- 
portant point  in  order  fully  to  command  the  Jor- 
dan valley.  Here  they  captured  the  princes  "  Raven 
and  Wolf."  The  "  Raven's-rock  "  was  still  known 
by  this  name  in  the  time  of  Isaiah  (see  ch.  x.  26)  ; 

1  A  place  of  this  name  occurs  in  Carinthia  as  early  as  ttie 
eleveath  century  (Forstemann,  ii.  768). 


and  in  the  corrupted  designation  Rabua,  a  sim- 
ilarity of  sound  with  Oreb  or  Gorab  may  be  traced. 
The  exploit  was  swift  and  fortunate.  Gideon  in 
his  pursuit  was  still  on  this  side  of  the  Jonlan ; 
while  he  was  making  a  halt  before  crossing  over, 
the  Ephraimites  were  already  returning  in  triumph 
from  the  opposite  shore,  bringing  with  them  the 
heads  of  the  slain  princes.  All  other  explanations, 
as  found  among  others  in  Bertheau  and  Keil  also, 
fail  to  harmonize  satisfactorily  with  the  connection. 
The  narrator  designedly  adds  the  words  "  from 
beyond  Jordan,"  that  the  reader  may  know  that 
Ephraim  had  gained  the  great  triumph,  before 
Gideon  could  so  much  as  cross  the  river.  This 
passing  remark  helps  to  preiiare  the  feader  for  the 
opening  narrative  of  ch.  viii.  It  foreshadows  the 
pride  and  selKshness  of  Ephraim.  Finally,  that 
Ephraim  was  beyond  the  Jordan,  and  there  cap- 
tui'ed  the  hostile  chieftains,  is  evident  even  from  the 
words  (ver.  25),  "  they  pursued  Midian  ;"  for  as 
they  held  the  Jordan  and  "  the  waters,"  they  could 
only  pursue  those  who  had  passed  the  river. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAI,. 

After  his  first  victory  over  idolatry  in  his  father's 
house,  Gideon  has  courage  for  the  second,  over 
enemies  in  the  field.  He  seeks  the  few,  not  the 
many.  He  knows  that  help  comes  from  God, 
not  from  the  multitude ;  and  because  he  knows 
this,  he  conquers.  The  countless  host  of  enemies 
vanishes  like  dust  —  not  because  of  his  three  hun- 
dred :  the  terrors  of  God  dissolve  them,  and  turn 
them  against  each  other.  Doubtless,  Gideon  was 
also  a  hero  of  the  sword  ;  but  first  God's  deed  — 
then  man's.  Therefore  he  succeeds  in  everything, 
from  first  to  last.  Gideon  is  not  envious  of  God, 
as  Ephraim  is  of  him.  To  God  belongs  the  glory, 
first  and  last. 

[Bp.  Hall:  Now,  when  we  would  look  that 
Gideon  should  give  charge  of  whetting  their  swoixls, 
and  sharping  their  spears,  and  fitting  their  armor, 
he  only  gives  order  for  empty  pitchers,  and  lights, 
and  trumpets.  The  cracking  of  these  pitchers 
shall  break  in  pieces  this  Midianitish  clay  ;  the 
kindling  of  these  lights  shall  extinguish  the  light 
of  Midian ;  these  trumpets  sound  no  other  than  a 
soul  peal  to  all  the  host  of  Midian  :  there  shall 
need  nothing  but  noise  and  light  to  confound  this 
innumerable  army.  And  if  the  pitchers,  and  brands, 
and  trumpets  of  Gideon,  did  so  daunt  and  dismay 
the  proud  troops  of  Midian  and  Amalek,  who  can 
we  think  shall  be  able  to  stand  before  the  last  ter- 
ror, wherein  the  trumpet  of  the  archangel  shall 
sound,  and  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a 
noise,  and  the  elements  shall  be  on  a  flame  about 
our  ears  f  —  The  same  :  Those  two  and  twenty 
thousand  Israelites  that  slipped  away  for  fear,  when 
the  fearful  Midianites  fled,  can  pursue  and  kill 
them,  and  can  follow  them  at  the  heels,  whom  they 
durst  not  look  at  in  the  face.  Our  flight  gives  ad- 
vantage to  the  feeblest  adversary,  whereas  our  re- 
sistance foileth  the  greatest.  —  Scott:  In  this 
world,  the  wicked  are  often  left  under  the  ])ower 
of  their  own  <lelusions  and  the  fury  of  their  mad 
passions,  to  avenge  the  cause  of  God  on  each  other  : 
a  jjcriod  is  approaching,  when  we  may  exjiect  that 
the  persecuting  foes  of  Christianity  will  destroy  one 
another,,  whilst  the  host  of  Israel  shall  look  on,  and 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  blow  the  trum])et  of  the 
gospel.  —  Wordsworth  :  Gideon  has  only  threi; 
hundred  men,  and  Christ's  church  is  called  "  a  little 
flock,"  and  their  foes  are  innuipcrabie  ;  but  their 


CHAPTER   VIII.     1-3. 


131 


countless  mj^riads  melt  away,  dispersed  by  the 
breath  of  God. —  The  same:  The  princes  of  Mid- 
iuii  represent  the  spiritual  enemies  of  the  Church. 
Is  it  by  chance  that  they  were  called  Oreb,  the  Ra- 
ven, and  Zeeb,  the  Wolf  <-.  The  Raven  is  contrasted 
\<ith  the  Dove  in  the  history  of  the  Flopd  (see 
Gen.  viii.  7)  as  an  unclean  bird  (of.  Lev.xi.  15) ;  and 
in  the  N.  T.  the  Wolf  is  the  emblem  of  those  false 


teachers  who  tear  and  devour  the  flock  of  Christ.  — 
TiiEODOUET  (as  quoted  by  Wordsworth)  :  Gideon 
overcame  Midian  with  unarmed  soldiers,  bearing 
only  trumpets,  torches,  and  pitchers.  So  Christ 
overcame  the  world  by  unarmed  apostles,  bearing 
the  trumpet  of  preaching  and  the  torch  of  miracles. 
-Tr.] 


Ephraim' s  proud  complaint  and  Gideon's  wise  forbearance. 
Chapter  VIII.  1-3. 

1  .  And  the  men  of  Ephraim  said  unto  him,  Why  hast  thou  served  us  thus,  that  thou 
calledst  us  not  when  [didst  not  call  out  ^  to  us  that]  thou  weutest  [wast  going]  to 
tight  with  [against]  the  Midianites  ?  and  they  did  chide  [quarrel]  with  him  sharply 

2  [vehemently].  And  he  said  unto  them,  What  have  I  done  now  in  comparison  of 
you  ?     Is  not  the  gleaning  of  the  grapes  [omit :  of  the  grapes]  of  Ephraim  better 

3  than  the  vintage  of  Abi-ezer  ?  God  hath  delivered  into  your  hands "  the  princes  of 
Midian,  Oreb  and  Zeeb  :  and  what  was  I  able  to  do  in  comparison  of  you  ?  Then 
their  anger  [excitement]  ^  was  [omit :  was]  abated  toward  [against]  him,  when  he 
had  [omit:  had]  said  that. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  1.  —  n37n  "^2   -ID^  msnp   T1v2v.      It  is  not  necessary  to  take  "^3   in  a  temporal  sense,  which  at 
T  :  -  T      •         T  ':•:•: 

all  events  it  has  very  seldom.     The  mS"1J7   is  followed  by  the  objective  clause  of  that  which  the  persons  addressed 

are  notified  of. 

[2  Ver.  3.  — "Into  your  hands,"'  with  emphasis.     Hence  the  Hebrew  puts  it  first:  "Into  your  hands  (lit.  hand)  God 

gave  the  princes  of  Midian,"  etc.  —  Tr.] 

3  Ver.  3.  —  Cn-'n  nnQlj  Uke  ?]S^   HTlU)  ^^"  ^^^^^"-  8.      TVr\  denotes  violent,  panting  excitement. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

In  his  dealing  with  puffed-up  Ephraim,  even 
more  than  by  his  victories,  Gideon  approves  him- 
self as  a  true  warrior  of  God,  wiser  in  his  humility 
than  his  dazzled  countrymen  in  their  pi'ide.  The 
service  rendered  by  Ephraim  in  slaying  Oreb  and 
Zeeb,  was  after  all  of  but  secondary  merit.  They 
had  only  smitten  an  already  shattered  and  terri- 
fied enemy  :  had  only  captured  the  game  which 
another  had  chased  into  their  hands.  Where  was 
Ephraim  when  Midian  in  full  force  encamped  him- 
self in  the  country'?  Rut  inferior  merit  is  the  more 
arrogant.  The  tribe  is  so  intoxicated  by  the  easy 
victory  over  tlie  two  princes,  that  it  presumes  to 
reprimand  Gideon  for  beginning  a  war  without 
them,  and  thus  undertaking  to  deprive  them  of  the 
Laurels  which  they  would  certainly  have  won.  So 
little  does  Ephraim  understand  the  true  strength 
with  which  Israel  has  conquered,  that  he  accounts 
it  an  insult  to  himself  on  the  part  of  the  smaller 
tribe  to  have  conquered  without  him.  The  pride 
of  the  mighty  men  of  the  world  could  not  be  more 
clearly  depicted.  They  contend  with  him  vehe- 
mently (ni^TnS),  just  as  the  men  of  Nineveh,  re- 
penting, "  cry  vehemently  "  ('~'|^T'7?)  Jon.  iii.  8) 
unto  God.  They  address  the  great  hero  fiercely 
and  vociferously.  His  answer  is  admirable.  He 
might  have  humbled  them  by  a  few  words  about 


his  deed  ;  but  he  will  have  no  sti'ife  where  Israel 
needs  unity.  He  says  nothing  of  his  own  great 
victory.  He  does  not  irritate  them  by  referring  to 
their  previous  inactivity,  although  their  tribe  was 
so  great ;  or  by  reminding  them  that  after  all  he 
had  sent  them  the  word  which  enabled  them  to 
capture  an  enemy  whom  he  was  pursuing.  On 
the  contrary,  he  quiets  them  by  extolling  their 
great  merits.  He  may  not  conceal  that  the  victory 
was  gained  without  them  ;  but,  his  vintage,  is  it 
not  less  than  their  gleaning  ?  What  comparison 
is  there  between  his  spoils  and  theirs  %  He,  still  on 
this  side  the  Jordan  ;  they,  already  adorned  with 
the  trophies  of  the  "  Raven  and  Wolf!  "  He  lets 
them  know,  however,  who  it  is  that  really  gives 
victory,  namely  Elohim.  But  here  also  the  nice 
discrimination  shows  itself,  with  which  the  terms 
Jehovah,  ha-Elohim,  and  Elohim  alternate,  ac- 
cording to  the  spiritual  position  of  the  persons  ad- 
dressed or  spoken  of.  To  Ephraim,  Gideon  says 
that  Elohim  gave  them  victory  —  as  he  sometimes 
gives  it  even  to  heathen.  He  uses  this  term  be 
cause  they  lacked  humility  and  faith  to  know  that 
Jehovah,  ha-Elohim,  the  true  God  of  Israel,  gives 
strength  to  his  people,  and  that,  thus  endowed,  it 
is  of  no  consequence  whether  the  militant  tribe  be 
great  or  small  (cf  ver.  6,  etc.). 

What  have  1  done  now  in  comparison  with 
you  P  The  vain  tribe,  which  only  smarted  at  the 
thought  that  an  insignificant  member  of  Manasseh 


132 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


should  reap  greater  glory  than  Ephraim,  is  quieted 
■when  this  person  liimself  di.sfhiims  the  glory. 
Vanity  that  jiridcs  itsult'  on  seeming  merits,  is  al- 
ways contracted.  The  Ejjhrainiitcs  do  not  under- 
staiid  the  modesty  of  Gideon,  which,  in  denying, 
as  it  were,  his  own  real  merits,  necessarily  jjours 
the  contempt  of  irony  on  their  pretended  deserts. 
But  Gideon's  object  is  gained.  They  allow  them- 
selves to  be  pacified,  and  go  home  to  bask  them- 
selves in  the  sunshine  of  their  achievements.  Gid- 
eon, for  his  part,  teaches  that  victory  alone  does 
not  suffice  to  save  a  people ;  but  that  he  is  the  real 
hero  who  is  truly  humble,  and  for  the  sake  of  peace 
overcomes  himself  To  conquer,  he  must  know 
how  to  bend. 

The  narrative  stands  here  in  its  proper  place. 
It  does  not  presuppose  anything  that  happened 
later ;  but  connects,  historically  and  morally,  what 
goes  before  and  what  follows  after.  Gideon  is  still 
in  the  midst  of  his  campaign,  when  I'jphraim 
attacks  him  with  its  pride.  But  his  subsequent 
career  of  victory,  speaks  louder  than  envy.  Tne 
statement  of  Josephus  {Ant.  v.  6,  6),  that  Ephraim 
was  afterwards  punished  for  its  pride,  rests  on  no 
Scriptural  authority  ;  but  the  confusion  to  which 
they  are  put  by  the  subsequent  deeds  of  Gideon,  to 
whom  after  all  they  were  indebted  for  their  own 
achievement  also,  is  a  discipline  of  the  sharpest 
kind. 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Ephraim  is  jealous  of  Gideon.  Jealousy  is  a 
quality  which  only  seeks  its  own.  It  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  unbelief,  which  envies  God  his  power  and 
love. 

Starke  :  He  acts  wisely,  who  prefers  to  forego 
somewhat  of  his  own  rights,  rather  than  by  a  con- 
trary course  to  invite  the  opposition  of  others,  and 
so  debar  himself  from  attaining  a  greater  good.  — 


Gerlach':  Gideon's  answer,  as  modest  as  it  was 
prudent,  quiets  the  Ephraimites.  He  appears  here, 
as  afterwards,  as  a  high-minded  man,  free  from  low 
ambition  and  domineering  tendencies. 

[Bp.  Hall:  I  did  not  hear  the  Ephraimites 
offeiing  themselves  into  the  front  of  the  army  be- 
fore the  fight,  and  now  they  are  ready  to  fight  with 
Gideon  because  they  were  not  called  to  fight  with 
Midian  :  I  hear  them  expostulating  after  it.  After 
the  exploit  done,  cowards  are  valiant.  Their  quar- 
rel was,  that  they  were  not  called.  It  had  been  a 
greater  praise  of  their  valor  to  have  gone  unbidden. 
.  .  ,  .  None  speak  so  big  in  the  end  of  the  fray  as 
the  fearfullest.  —  The  SAirE  :  Ephraim  flies  upon 
Gideon,  whilst  the  Midianites  fly  from  him  ;  when 
Gideon  should  be  pursuing  his  enemies,  he  is  pur- 
sued by  brethren,  and  now  is  glad  to  spend  that 
wind  in  pacifying  of  his  own,  which  should  have 
been  bestowed  in  the  slaughter  of  a  common  ad- 
versary. It  is  a  wonder  if  Satan  suffer  us  to  be 
quiet  at  home,  -whilst  we  are  exercised  with  wars 
abroad.  Had  not  Gideon  learned  to  speak  fair,  as 
well  as  to  smite,  he  had  found  work  enough  from 
the  swords  of  Joseph's  sons  ;  his  good  words  are  as 
victorious  as  his  sword;  his  pacification  of  friends, 
better  than  his  execution  of  enemies.  —  Scott  :  In 
those  things  which  pertain  to  the  truth,  authority, 
and  glory  of  God,  Christians  should  be  unmoved 
as  the  sturdy  oak ;  but  in  the  little  concerns  of 
their  own  interest  or  reputation,  they  should  re- 
semble the  pliant  willow,  that  yields  to  every  gust. 
—  Henry  :  Very  great  and  good  men  must  expect 
to  have  their  patience  tried,  by  the  unkindnesses 
and  follies  even  of  those  they  serve,  and  must  not 
think  it  strange.  —  Busii :  The  incidents  men- 
tioned afford  a  striking  illustration  of  two  emphatic 
declarations  of  Scripture  :  1.  That  "  only  by  pride 
cometh  contention ; "  and,  2.  That  "  for  every 
right  work  a  man  is  envied  of  his  neighbor."  — 
Tk.] 


Succoth  and  Penuel  refuse  supplies  to  Gideon  while  in  pursuit  of  the  Midianitish 

Icings.     The  Icings  surprised  and  captured.      The  punishment  of  the  traitorous 

cities  and  the  captured  kings. 

Chapter  VIII.     4^21. 


4  And  Gideon  came  to  [the]  Jordan,  and  passed  over,  he,  and  the  three  hundred 

5  men  that  were  with  him,  faint  [hungry],  yet  pursuing  them  [omit :  them].  And  he 
said  unto  the  men  of  Succoth,  Give,  I  pray  you,  loaves  of  bread  unto  the  people 
that  follow  me  :  for  they  be  faint  [hungry],  and  I  am  pursuing  after  Zebah  and  Zal- 

6  munna,  kings  of  Midian.  And  the  princes  of  Succoth  said.  Are  the  hands  of  Zebah 
and  Zalmuuna  now  [already]  in  thine  hand,^  that  we  should  give  bread  unto  thine 

7  army?  And  Gideon  said,  Therefore  when  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  delivered 
Zebah  and  Zalmunna  into  mine  hand,  then  I  will  tear  [thresh]  your  flesh  with  the 

8  [omit :  the]  thorns  of  the  wilderness  and  with  briers.  And  he  went  up  thence  to 
Penuel,  and  spake  unto  them  likewise :  and  the  men  of  Penuel  answered  him  as 

9  the  men  of  Succoth  had  answered  him.  And  he  spake  also  unto  the  men  of 
Penuel,  saying,  Wlicn  I  come  again   [return]  in  peace,  I  will  break  [tear]  down 

10  this  tower.  Now  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  to  ere  in  Karkor,  and  their  hosts  [host]  - 
with  them,  about  fifteen  thousand  inen,  all  that  were  left  of  all  the  hosts  [host]  of 
the  children  [sons]  of  the  east :  for  [and]  there  fell  [had  fallen]  an  hundred  and 


CHAPTER   Vm.  4-21. 


133 


1 1  twenty  thousand  men  that  drew  sword.  And  Gideon  went  up  by  the  way  of  them 
that  dwelt  [dwell]  in  tents  on  the  east  of  Nobah  and  Jogbehah,  and  smote  the  host  : 

y2  for  [while]  the  host  was  [thought  useif]  secure.  And  when  [omit:  when]  Zebah  and 
Zalmnnna  Hed,  [and]  he  pursued  after  them,  and  took  the  two  kings  of  Midian, 

13  Zebah  and  Zalmnnna,  and  discomfited  [terrified]  all  the  host.  And  Gideon  the  son 
of  Joash  returned  from  [the]  battle  [war]  before  the  sun  was  up  [from  the  Ascent 

14  of  the  Sun]."  And  [he]  caught  a  young  man  [a  boy]  of  the  men  of  Succoth,  and 
inquired  of  him :  and  he  described  unto  [wrote  down  for]  him  the  princes  of  Suc- 

15  coth,  and  the  elders  thereof,  even  threescore  and  seventeen  men.  And  he  came 
unto  the  men  of  Succoth,  and  said,  Behold  Zebah  and  Zalmnnna,  with  [as  to] 
whom  ye  did  upbraid  [mock]  me,  saying,  Are  the  hands  of  Zebah  and  Zalmnnna 
now  [already]  in  thine  hand,  that  we   should  give   bread  unto  thy  men  that  are 

1 6  weary  [hungry]  ?     And  he  took  the  elders  of  the  city,  and  thorns  of  the  wilderness, 

17  and  briers,  and  with  them  he  taught  [gave  a  lesson  to]  the'  men  of  Succoth.     And  he 

18  beat  [tore]  down  the  tower  of  Fennel,  and  slew  the  men  of  the  city.  Then  said  he 
[And  he  said]  unto  Zebah  and  Zalmnnna,  What  manner  of  men  were  they  whom 
ye  slew  at  Tabor  ?     And  they  answered.  As  thou  art,  so   were   they ;  each  one 

19  resembled  [looked  like]  the  children  [sons]  of  a  king.  And  he  said.  They  loere 
my  brethren,  even  the  sons  of  my  mother  :  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  liveth,  if  ye  had 

20  saved  them  alive,  I  would  not  slay  you.  And  he  said  unto  Jether  his  first-born, 
Up,  and  slay  them.     But  the  youth   [boy]  drew  not  his  sword :  for  he  feared, 

21  because  [for]  he  ivas  yet  a  youth  [boy].  Then  Zebah  and  Zalmnnna  said.  Rise 
thou,  and  fall  upon  [strike]  us  :  for  as  the  man  is,  so  is  his  strength.  And  Gideon 
arose,  and  slew  Zebah  and  Zalmunna,  and  took  away  the  ornaments  [moons]  that 
were  on  theu*  camels'  necks. 

TEXTUAL    AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  6.  —  Dr.  Cassel:  "Hast  thou  the  fist  of  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  already  in  thy  hand,"  etc.  Bertheau  and  Keil, 
In  their  commentaries,  haye  the  same  rendering,  merely  changing  Luther's  plural,  Sind  die  Faiiste,  to  the  singular. 
fjS  is  properly  tlie  hollow  hand,  the  palm  ;  accordingly  the  Dutch  Version  renders,  rather  awkwardly  to  be  sure,  "  Is 
dan  the  handpalm  van  Zebah  en  Tsalmuna  alreede  in  uwe  hand,"  etc.  The  word  "  fist,"  even  if  it  did  not  somewhat 
niter  the  metaphor  involved,  lacks  dignity  in  modern  English,  although  it  avoids  the  tameness  of  using  "hand  "  twice. 
For  an  independent  version,  De  Wette's  would  be  better :  "  Hast  thou  then  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  ah-eady  in  thy  hand.'" 
etc.  —  Tr.] 

p  Ver.  10.  —  DH'^Sntt  :   singular,  with  plural  suffix.     Cf.  Ges.  Gram.  Sect.  93,  9.  —  Tr.] 

\3  Ver.  13. — D~inn  n^l?^^^.  The  above  rendering  takes  no  account  of  the  7.  "  At "  would  be  better 
than  "  from."  It  is  literally,  "  from  at "  the  ascent  of  the  sun.  It  indicates  the  point  to  which  Gideon  came,  and  nt 
which  he  turned  back.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  4-9.    And  Gideon  came  to  the  Jordan. 

The  ]iride  of  Ejjhniim  was  not  the  only  incident 
by  which  Gideon  was  taught  that  the  liberation  of 
his  peojjle  recjuired  more  than  victory  over  its  ene- 
mies :  that  its  servitude  consisted  not  merely  in 
external  sulijoction,  but  much  more  in  the  internal 
bondage  of  sin  and  unbelief.  Gideon  also  experi- 
ences the  truth,  which  the  political  history  of  all 
ages  demonstrates,  that  the  friends  of  the  people 
and  its  true  interests,  do  not  always  find  their 
natural  su]i|ii)rters  in  the  people  itself.  Instead  of 
confederates,  they  find  obstructors  and  ojjponents. 
Was  not  Gideon's  a  national  achievement,  for  the 
freedom  and  hap])iness  of  all  ?  Is  it  not  fOr  all 
that  he  risks  his  life  ?  For  whom  docs  he  wage 
war  even  to  extermination  with  Midian,  but  for  all 
Israel?  Was  it  anything  unreasonable,  that  he 
asked  vSuccoth,  a  considerable  city,  for  some  bread 
for  the  men  who,  notwithstanding  the  many  hard- 
ships endured,  had  not  ceased  to  follow  their  en- 
thusiastic  leader ?  —  The   Septuagint  justly  puts 

reivaivTi'i,  hungry,  for  2^^127.     The  same  word 


(^l'.^)  is  used  by  Esau,  when  he  returns  from  the 
chase,  and  sees  the  dish  of  lentiles  (Gen.  xxv.  30). 
Had  the  men  been  wearied,  they  could  not  have 
prosecuted  the  pursuit.  But  nutritious  food  would 
strengthen  them.      For  that   they  longed.      The 

term  is  not  specific,  like  ^l?"^)  but  signifies  need 
of  physical  nourishment.  It  includes  thirst  as  well 
as  hunger  (cf  Job  xxii.  7).  —  But  what  did  Suc- 
coth 1  Instead  of  compassion  and  patriotic  sym- 
pathy, it  consulted  its  own  petty  interests.  8iic 
coth  believed  not;  nor,  consequently,  saw  God's 
hand  in  Gideon's  victories.  Materialism,  which 
rather  than  risk  a  loss,  will  serve  a  foreign  tyrant, 
is  here  depicted  to  the  life.  The  magisti-ricy  of 
Succoth  consider,  not  the  duty  to  assist,  but  the 
danger  which  may  result  from  such  a  siding  with 
Gideon  as  would  be  implied  in  rendering  him  aid. 
For,  not  to  mention  that  a  quantity  of  bread  costs 
something —  and  it  is  noticeable  that  while  Gideon 

modestly  intercedes  for  his  "  followers  "  ('".r?'75) 
they  talk  of  his  band  as  a  host  ('irTSIi*'  ),  —  there 
is  a  chance  that  Gideon  may  fail  in  his  expeditioD. 


134 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Zebah  and  Zalmnnna  may  possibly  conquer  and 
take  vengeance.  So  do  slaves  speculate.  Not  so 
thought  the  German  cities  in  1813,  when,  driven 
by  the  hand  of  God,  Napoleon-  fled  from  Russia; 
a  disposition  M'liicli,  in  spite  of  Davoust  and  Van- 
damme,  brought  victory  to  those  cities.  "  Hast 
thou,"  they  ask  mockingly,  "  the  fist  of  the  kings 

already  in  thy  hand  1 "  The  full  hand,  ^?,  must 
be  seized,  in  order  to  apply  the  fetters  to  captives. 
This  is  the  seconil  time  that  Gideon  encounters 
such  folly  among  his  people.  But  he  instantly 
perceives  tlnit  humility  and  gentleness  like  those 
sliovvn  towards  Ephraim,  would  here  be  out  of 
place.  Ephraim  had  at  all  events  done  something, 
and  had  not  refused  assistance.  Here  were  cow- 
ardice and  treason  combined.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, chastise  them  at  once.  Therein  also  he  shows 
a  soul  ])enetrated  by  spiritual  strength.  He  will 
not  manifest  personal  resentment ;  he  will  show 
them  that  they  have  offended  against  the  cause  of 
God.  He  is  sure  of  victory;  but  before  he  pvm- 
islies  them,  they  shall  see  that  finished,  the  accom- 
plisliment  of  which  they  now  doubt.  When  he 
shall  ap])ear  before  Succoth  with  Zebah  and  Zal- 
munna  in  fetters,  they  will  no  doubt  be  glad  to 
give  him  bread  ;  but  then  he  will  give  them  that 
to  which  now  on  his  king-chase  through  the  desert 
they  refer  him  —  he  will  thresh  thehiwith  "  thorns 
of  the  desert  and  v/kh  barkanhn-"  Owing  to  the 
brevity  of  the  narrative,  which  only  gives  the  lead- 
ing speeches,  while  it  omits  all  transitions,  it  is  not 
altogether  clear  why  Gideon's  threat  against  the 
inhabitants  of  Succoth  takes  the  precise  form  of 
"  thorns."     The  ingenious  Kimchi  thought  that  it 

was  a  play  on  the  name  of  the  city,  since  n3tJ7 

(by  the  constant  Chaldee  substitution  of  D  for  ^, 

nSD,  plur.  niSp)  means  a  thorn  (Job  xl.  31 ;  cf. 

"TIE?,  plural  □^3Ct').  He  even  thinks  that  the 
name  of  tlie  city  may  perhaps  have  been  derived 
from  this  word.  But,  though  such  a  word-play 
might  not  have  been  altogether  at  variance  with 
the  spirit  of  antiquity,  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed 
to  have  such  controlling  influence  in  our  passage. 

For  then  why  is  not  the  word  •^2!i!'  used  by  Gid- 
eon 1  But  instead  of  it,  other  and  rather  remote 
terms  are  chosen.  The  choice  of  the  punishment 
denounced  seems  to  have  a  deeper  reason.  The 
magistracy  of  Succoth  refuses  bread  :  is  not  that 
of  itself  a  mocking  reference  to  the  food  which  the 
desert  affords  '?  But  what  does  Gideon  find  there? 
That  which  can  nourish,  not  men,  but  at  best  only 
the 'camel,  that  marvel  of  the  desert  —  acacia- 
thorns,  thistles,  tarfa-needles,  springing  up  amid 
sand  and  rock.  Shall  he  thresh  these  like  grain, 
in  order  to  bake  bread  ?  He  re(iuites  their  mock- 
ery, by  promising  with  such  thorns  to  belabor  their 
flesh.     Hence,  tlie  most  probable  explanation  of 

D''?!^"??  will  continue  to  be  that,  which,  after  the 
constant  exegetical  tradition  of  the  Jews,  makes  it 
thistles  or  thorns  (Haschi  explains  it  by  the  French 
ronces,  briers),  and  the  same  as  those  already  indi- 
cated by  "  thorns  of  the  desert."  The  idea  sug- 
gests itself  that  kotse  hamidbar  may  only  precede 
harkaniin  by  way  of  explanation ;  in  which  case 

nWl  would  have  the  sense  of  "  namely :  "  "  thorns 

i  Analogies  to  this  word,  such  as  poxo5,  thorn  =  j3pa;;^os 
(cf.  paSii/o;  aud  /SpaSti/ds,  pi^ot  and  frii^us),  cannot  here  be 
further  investigated,  lu  Scandinavian  dialects,  rhamnus, 
thornbush,  is  called  gelbaric  or  geitbark. 


of  the  desert,  namely  6a?'^-anim."  ^  For  that  Barka 
(Barca)  designates  stony  stjrtes,  may  be  considered 
as  made  out  (see  on  cli.  i.  4).  The  thorns  meant 
are  probably  those  of  the  acacia,  called  talk  by  the 
Arabs,  which  cover  the  ground  to  such  an  extent, 
that  many  Arabs  are  accustomed  to  carry  thorn- 
exlractors  about  them  (cf.  Ritter,  xiv.  207,  336). 

That  the  threatened  chastisement  corresponds  to 
the  expressions  made  use  of  by  the  ungrateful  citi- 
zens in  reply  to  Gideon's  request,  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that,  though  he  receives  the  same  treat- 
ment from  tlae  inhabitants  of  Penuel,  he  does  not 
threaten  them  with  the  same  punishment.  These, 
who  deemed  themselves  secure  in  their  tower,  he 
promises  to  tear  down  that  btilwark  of  their  pride. 

Divli75  '^mtii'jl :  not  exactly,  when  I  return  in 
peace  ;  but,  when  I  return  prosperously,  with  suc- 
cess and  victory. 

Vers.  10-12.  And  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  were 
in  Karkor.  We  are  yet  to  trace  the  course  of 
Gideon's  pursuit.  Succoth  lay  bej^ond  the  Jordan, 
for  he  came  to  it  after  crossing  the  river  (ver.  4; 
cf.  Josh.  xiii.  27).  It  was,  moreover,  south  of  the 
Jabbok  (Zerka),  for  the  scene  of  Jacob's  wrestling 
was  north  of  that  stream,  he  alone  having  re- 
mained behind,  while  his  people  had  crossed  over 
(Gen.  xxxii.  23,  24).  The  place  of  the  wrestling 
was  afterwards  occupied  by  Penuel.  When  morn- 
ing had  come,  Jacob  passed  over  the  stream  at 
Penuel  (Gen.  xxxii.  31),  joined  his  family,  met 
Esau,  and  afterwards  came  to  Succoth,  vi'hich  was 
therefore  south  of  .the  Jabbok.  TJiis  position  of 
Succoth  agrees  with  that  in  which  we  left  (jideon 
at  his  meeting  with  Ephraim.  That  tribe  had 
guarded  the  Wady  el  Faria  and  the  fords  in  its 
neighborhood.  It  was  in  the  vicinity  of  this  Wady 
that  they  met  with  Gideon,  prosecuting  the  pur- 
suit, and  brought  him  the  heads  of  the  captured 
princes.  Now,  if  he  passed  over  at  this  point,  he 
would  land  south  of  the  Jabbok,  and  reach  Succoth 
first.  He  then  crossed  the  Jabbok,  and  came  to 
Penuel.  The  hiding-place  of  the  terrified  enemy 
was  no  secret  to  him.  There  is  in  Hauran  an 
almost  unassailable  place  of  refuge  for  the  robber 
tribes  —  the  volcanic  rock-desert  of  Si\fa  (both  in 
the  wider  and  narrower  sense),  concerning  which 
some  very  valuable  information  is  given  by  Wetz- 
stein.  It  embraces  a  fertile  district,  "a  Ruhbeh, 
Paradise,"  for  some  months  of  the  year,  which  is 
almost  as  inaccessible  as  Paradise.  Says  "Wetz- 
stein  (Hauran,  p.  15,  etc.)  :  "Here  is  the  strong- 
hold of  the  Gejat,  and  StSye,  and  all  tlie  tribes  of 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Hauran  mountains."  The 
peojDle  of  Syria  have  a  proverbial  expression  which 
says,  "  he  fled  into  the  Wa'r  of  the  Siifa,"  i.  e., 
into  an  unassailable  refuge.  The  Ruhbeh  can 
only  be  reached  by  two  roads,  from  the  north  and 
the  south.  The  northern  is  especially  dangerous  ; 
even  in  our  own  days  hostile  tribes  have  made 
inroads  at  Rigiu  el  Mara.  The  Snfa,  and  the  whole 
of  this  terrible,  rock-walled  asylum,  is  what  we  are 

here  to  understand  by  the  term  ~lp~'r27  Karkor. 
For  this  word  signifies  ruins,  destruction  :  cf.  Num. 

xxiv.  17:  "he  destroys  —  "1^121  —  all  the  sons 
of  Sheth."  The  same  verb  is  used.  Is.  xxii.  5,  of 
the  destruction  of  walls ;  and  in  Talmudic  as  well 

as  modern  Hebrew  ^>"^^P''i2  means  destruction.^ 

2  Eusebius  (Onomast.,  Perthey,  p.  252)  does  not^say  that 
this  Karkor  and  Carcaria  near  Petra  are  one  and  the  same 
place.  Nor  can  they  be  the  same,  although  the  uamet  may 
be  similarly  explained. 


CHAPTER   VIII.    4-21. 


135 


Such  being  the  situation  and  topography  of  the 
place,  the  significance  of  the  brief  statement  that 
the  kings  were  in  Karkor,  becomes  manifest.  It 
not  only  explains  the  sense  of  security  felt  by  the 
enemy,  hut  also  and  especially  displays  the  bold- 
ness, endurance,  wisdom,  and  energy,  with  which 
Gideon  followed  them  into  their  hiding-place.  We 
can  still  trace  his  route  ;  for  it  passed  to  the  east 
of  Nobah  and  Jogbehah.  Nobah  is  the  same  as 
Kenath  (Num.  xxxii.  42),  which  again  is  the  Iva- 
natha  of  I\oman  times,  and  the  Kanvdt  of  the 
present.  He  who  is  north  of  the  Jabbok,  and 
passes  east  of  Kanvat,  if  he  be  in  search  of  an 
enemy  retired  to  his  hiding-place,  must  be  bound 
for  the  Safa.  But  Jogbehah  also  can  be  identified. 
Since  (lidcon's  way  is  said  to  have  gone  to  the 
east  of  "Nobah  and  Jogbehah,"  ^  the  latter  must 
have  lain  farther  north  than  the  other,  and  there  is 
thus  the  more  reason  for  regarding  it  as  the  same 
with  Jcjhbah,  the  Sliobah  of  Seetzen,  Shuhubah 
of  Buckingham  (cf.  Hitter,  xv.  881),  and  Shubbah 
of  Wetzstein. 

Gideon's  attaciv  was  so  unexpected  and  sudden, 
that  a  renewed  attempt  at  flight  fails  (ver.  12). 

The  host,  it  is  said,  "T^'^nrj  :  terror  seized  it,  so 
that  no  resistance  was  offered,  and  the  army  sur- 
rendered. The  celerity  of  this  victorious  career, 
and  its  results,  finds  many  parallels  in  the  history 
of  the  desert  tribes.  When  Mehemet  Ali,  in  1815, 
fought  against  Asyr  in  Arabia,  he  pursued  the 
defeated  enemy  with  such  haste,  that  all  his  stores 
of  subsistence  had  to  be  left  behind,  and  he  him- 
self was  at  last  reduced  to  a  diet  of  dates.  But  he 
was  rewarded  for  this  by  the  capture  of  the  chiefs 
of  his  adversaries,  and  many  others  went  over  to 
him  (cf  Ritter,  xii.  932).  But  that  for  which  no 
parallels  can  be  adduced,  is  Gideon's  aim,  his 
cause  for  war,  and  the  fewness  of  his  enthusiastic 
warriors  compared  with  the  overwhelming  num- 
bers arrayed  against  him  to  the  last.  Even  if  the 
120,000,  lost  by  Midian  in  the  course  of  their  defeat, 
from  the  Hill  of  Moreh  to  Karkor,  were  a  round 
number,  a  stream  of  l)lood  nevertheless  marked 
the  track  of  the  smitten  tyrants,  as  it  marked  that 
of  Napoleon's  retreat  from  Russia.  It  was  proba- 
bly from  prisoners  'and  wounded  left  behind,  at 
Stations  of  Death,  that  Gideon  learned  the  secret 
way  into  the  rocky  asylum,  called  "hell  "  by  Ara- 
bic poets,  on  account  of  its  volcanic  formations, 
and  now  become  a  place  of  judgment  for  a  seven 
years'  oppression  (eh.  vi.  1  ;  compare  the  period 
of  1806-1813  in  German  history). 

Vers.  13-17.  And  Gideon,  the  son  of  Joash, 
returned  from  the  war  from  the  Ascent  of  the 
Sun.  The  addition  Son  of  Joash,  is  here  put  to 
Gideon's  name  for  the  first  time  since  his  rising 
against  idolatry.  The  glory  of  having  finished  the 
conflict,  accrues  to  the  family  and  name  of  Joash, 
because  in  the  hour  of  danger  he  had  sided  with 
his  son.  For  that  tlie  conflict  is  ended,  was  already 
indicated  by  ver.  10,  which  said  that  "  all  that 
were  left  "  of  the . "  whole  host "  were  in  Karkor. 
The  victory  over  this  remnant  ended,  not  merely  a 

oattle,  but  nDR^^n,  the  war.  The  hero  can 
now  turn  back,  but  not  yet  to  his  own  house.  He 
must  first  settle  accounts  with  Succoth  and  Penuel. 
He  comes  to  Succoth  first.  Had  he  returned  the 
way  he  went,  he  must  have  reached  Penuel  first. 

1  Greek  texts  ha,ve  a  corrupt  form  *Ieyej3a\.  The  Syrian 
v.ersion  of  Paul  of  Tela  does  not  have  the  name  at  all  (Riir- 
dani,  p.  16*^),. 

2  For  which  the  Jewish  .expositors  decide,  because  they 
issigu  H\^  ^irevious  expedition  to  the  night-time. 


His  design  was  evidently  to  surprise  both  places, 
but  chiefly  Succoth,  so  that  when  he  came  to  pyn- 
ish,  the  scourge  might  fall  only  on  the  persons 
who  had  deserved  it.    Bearing  this  in  mind,  the 

connection  makes  it  clear  that  3"inn  PT^yj^^p 
is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  note  of  time,'^  sunrise,  but 
of  locality.  It  is  designed  to  explain  how  Gideon 
comes  to  reach  Succoth  first,  and  from  a  direction 
from  which  the  inhabitants  did  not  expect  him. 
Gideon  everywhere  displays  that  great  quality  of  a 
general,  the  skill  to  baffle  the  calculations  of  his 
adversary.  What  sort  of  a  locality  "  Maaleh  Ha- 
cheres  "  was,  the  following  hypothesis  may  perhaps 
indicate  with  some  degree  of  probability.    Succoth 

lay  in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  the  Gl;or,  P^i^S 
(Josh.  xiii.  27).  The  expression  Hvl?^  can  only 
be  used  in  connection  with  motmtains  (cf.  "  Maa- 
leh Akrabbim,"  ch.  i.  36).  The  heights  from 
which  Gideon  descended  in  order  to  reach  Succoth, 
were  the  mountains  east  of  the  Jordan,  which 
unfortunately  are  yet  too  little  known.  About 
the  names,  also,  which  in  earlier  and  later  periods 
they  bore,  we  are  very  much  in  the  dark.  Now, 
in  the  territory  of  Reubep,  we  find  (Josh.  xiii.  19) 
a  "  Tsereth  Hashachar  on  the  Mountain  of  the  Val- 
ley." The  name  ^"1^  signifles  the  sun.  "  Sun- 
rise "  (n"JT^)  always  indicates  the  east  side.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  the  passage  just  cited,  we  have  a 
Tsereth  Hashachar,  i.  c,  "  Splendor  of  the  Dawn," 
on  the  mountains  of  the  Ghor,  in  the  east.  It  may 
therefore  be  assumed  with  great  probability  that 
the  name  "  Ascent  of  the  Sun  "  also  was  borne  by 
the  heights  of  the  mountains  east  of  the  Jordan, 
whether  those  mountains  were  named  "  Sun  "  or 
"  Sunrise  "  on  local,  or  what  is  more  probable  on 
religious  grounds. 

As  Gideon  appeared  quite  unexpectedly,  he 
succeeded  in  laying  hold,  unnoticed,  of  a  boy,  who 
wrote  down  for  him  the  names  of  those  who  com- 
posed the  magistracy  of  the  city.  It  is  not  with- 
out interest  to  observe  that  the  boy  ("^P?)  coulc 
write,  that  he  knew  the  names  of  the  authorities, 
and  that  these  numbered  seven  and  seventy,  of 

whom  seven  or  five  may  be  regarded  as  D^'^tt?, 
princes,  and  seventy  or  seventy-two  as  elders.  If 
the  government  of  the  city  was  in  the  hands  of 
certain  families,  the  boy  would  not  find  it  difficult 
to  give  their  names.  The  astonishment  and  terror 
of  the  inhabitants  were  doubtless  great.  The  more 
haughty  they  had  formerly  been,  the  more  terrified 
were  they  now.  It  is  to  be  carefully  noted  that 
Gideon's  purpose  is  to  punish  only  the  rulers  o/ 
Succoth,  and  that  after  he  has  done  it,  the  remark 

is  made:  HiSD  "'tt^^S  HS  l?Y>y^_"he 
taught  the  men  of  Succoth  a  lesson."     This  alone 

shows  that  the  reading  ^'7*-'  "  ^^^  threshed," 
already  proposed  by  Serarius,  and  again  by  Ber- 
theau,  is  not  to  be  approved.  For  the  fact  that 
"  he  took  the  elders  of  the  city  and  the  thorns," 
makes  it  clear  that  he  cannot  have  chastised 
the  people  of  Succoth.  But  he  "  made  them  —  the 
whole  people, — to  know;"  gave  them  a  lesson 
which  showed  how  badly  their  rulers  had  acted, 
and  what  penalties   such  distrust  and  selfishness 

S  That  ^T^l  need  not  necessarily  be  written  l^Tl^l 
(Bertheau),  and  is  found  elsewhere,  has  already  been  justly 
remarked  by  Keil,  who  refers  to  Num.  xvi  5,  and  Job 
xxxii.  7. 


136 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


entail  (which  has  been  well  apprehended  by  the  I 
Jewish  expositors).  At  Penuel,  however,  which,  I 
having  heard  of  the  visitation  of  Sueeoth,  had  the 
folly  to  defend  itself,  tlie  traitors  lost  their  lives. 
It  is  truly  admirable,  how  finely  the  narrative,  with 
all  its  plainness,  brings  out  the  specially  decisive 
points  of  view.  Gideon  went  first  to  Succotli,  be- 
cause he  did  notwisii  to  punish  all  tlie  inliabitants, 
and  it  became  necessary  therefore  to  surprise  the 
city,  lest  the  guilty  should  escape,  and  to  "  catch  a 
boy,"  who  unreservedly  gives  him  their  names. 
His  purpose  as  to  Penuel  requires  no  surprise  — 
the  tower  cannot  run  away ;  and  it  is  the  folly  of 
the  inhabitants,  that  in  defending  it,  they  lose  their 
lives  as  well  as  their  tower. 

Vers.  18-21.  And  he  said  to  Zebah  and  Zal- 
munna.  This  took  ])lace  on  his  arrival  at  home, 
i.  e.  in  Israel,  for  his  sou  Jether  was  present,  who, 
being  but  a  boy,  cannot  have  shared  in  the  heroic 
expedition.  The  place  cannot,  however,  be  defi- 
nitely determined ;  perhaps  it  was  his  old  battle- 
field, the  plain  of  Jezreel,  where  the  people  came 
flocking  together,  in  order  to  behold  the  terrible 
kings  in  fetters. 

The  closing  scene  of  Gideon's  dealings  with 
these  robber-kings,  like  every  other  in  his  history, 
is  worthy  of  a  hero  who  has  been  raised  up  to  bat- 
tle with  tlie  sword  and  mete  out  punishment.  To 
spare  tlie  lives  of  enemies,  especially  of  enemies  so 
barbarous  and  cruel  as  these,  was  not  the  custom 
of  antiquity,  least  of  all  in  the  east.  Pyrrhus  (in 
Seneca)  says :  ^  Lf-x  nulla  caplo  parch  aid  pocnaiii 
impedit;  and  even  Josejdins  [Ant.  ix.  4,  .3^  makes 
Elisha  say — what,  however,  he  never  did  say  — 
that  it  is  right  to  kill  captives  taken  in  a  just  war. 
But  Gideon,  who  respects  the  royalty  of  his  cap- 
tives, enemies  though  they  be,  would  gladly  spare 
them,  and  believes  himself  obliged  at  least  to  show 
them  why  he  cannot  do  it.  Through  this  circum- 
stance, we  hear  of  an  occurrence  otherwise  un- 
known —  a  fact  which  may  suggest  and  cause  us 
to  regret  how  much  other  information  has  perhaps 
failed  to  reach  us.  The  kings,  it  seems,  had  caught 
and  slain  on  Mount  Tabor  the  brothers  of  Gideon, 
sons  of  the  same  mother^  as  well  as  father  with 
himself.  It  is  probable  that  this  took  place  after 
some  earlier  liattle,  engaged  in  by  Mauasseh  —  but 
without  ( jod's  help  —  against  the  invaders.  They 
were  ])ut  to  death,  though  only  engaged  in  de- 
fending their  native  laud,  and  though  —  as  Zebah 
and  Zalmunna  flatteringly  say  —  they  looked  like 
Gideon,  like  men  of  royal  blood.  In  their  persons, 
therefore,  "  kingly  bearing,"  stately  presence  and 
chivalrous  valor,  had  not  been  respected  ;  and  shall 
Gideon  spare  those  who  were  robbers  and  murdei-- 
ers  of  seven  years'  standing  ?  Impossible !  Gid- 
eon's sword  has  been  whetted  for  the  veiy  purpose 
of  administering  righteous  judgment.  When  Tur- 
nus  entreated  /Eneas  for  his  life,  the  latter,  remem- 
bering that  the  former  had  slain  I'allas,  the  son  of 
Evander,  and  "  fur  lis  accensus  et  ira  tcrribilis,"  ex- 
claimed, "  PalUis  te  immolat,"  etc.,  and  thrust  the 
spear  into  his  heart  {yEneid,  xii.  949).  And  yet 
Turnus  was  a  native  of  the  country,  and  fought 
against   aliens,  and  Pallas  was  neither  son   nor 

1  Cf.  Grotius,  De  Jure  Pads  et  Belli,  lib.  iii.  4,  10. 

2  [Hush  :  "In  countries  wlici-e  polygamy  is  tolerated,  the 
ties  of  brotlierliood  are,  as  miglit  be  expected,  much  more 
clot-e  and  tender  between  those  who  are  born  of  the  same 
mother,  than  those  wlio  are  connected  only  as  the  ehildreu 
of  the  same  father.  Ttiis  explains  why  '  son  of  my  mother  ' 
was  among  the  Hebrews,  as  now  among  the  Arabs  and 
others,  a  far  more  endearing  expression  than  that  of  'my 
orotliei,"   ill   t!ie  general  sense  ''     The  same  remarks  hold 


brother  of  ^neas.  The  intimation  that  the  fam- 
ily of  Joash  had  previously  already  bled  fur  Isr.icl, 
throws  a  new  light  on  the  question  why  of  all  men 
Gideon  was  selected  to  be  the  comjueror.  llov,- 
ever,  notwithstanding  their  ill  deserts,  he  does  no; 
treat  his  captives  cruelly.  He  neither  makes  them 
objects  of  taunt  or  insult,  nor  uses  them  for  jiiir- 
poses  of  ostentation  and  self-glorification.  He  does 
not  load  them  with  ignominy,  as  Sapor  is  said  to 
have  done  to  the  Koman  Emperor  Valerian,  and, 
according  to  the  legend  in  Eutychius,  Galerius  to,^ 
a  Sapor,  and  Tamerlane  to  Bajazet.^  The  honor 
of  the  captives  was  sufficiently  consulted,  even 
when  Gideon  wished  to  make  his  eldest  son  the 
executor  of  his  sentence.  But  he,  a  boy,  and  ap- 
parently of  timid  bearing,  shrinks  from  drawing 
his  sword  against  the  mighty  foemen,  still  distin- 
guished by  royal  state  and  show.  And  truly,  tliey 
must  have  been  terrible  warriors  ;  they  ask  not  for 
life,  as  Turnus  and  Homeric  warriors  do,  but  de- 
sire to  be  slain  by  the  hand  of  an  equal,  and  not  to 
be  hacked  and  hewn  by  the  sword  of  a  boy ;  for, 
say  they,  "as  the  man,  so  is  his  strengths"  They 
have  no  other  request  to  make  than  that  (iideon 
will  kill  them  himself;  and  he  complies  with  it  — 
they  fall  by  his  sword.  The  "  moons  "  which  liave 
hitherto  ornamented  their  camels'  necks,  he  now 
takes  off;  an  evidence  that  even  in  captivity  they 
have  experienced  kingly  treatment.  That  he  does 
not  take  them  ott"  until  after  the  kings  are  dead, 
indicates  that  they  are  the  special  insignia  of  roy- 
alty, and  crescent-shaped.  Thus,  according  to 
Philostratns  (lib.  ii.  cap.  1),  Apollonius  of  Tyana 
received  the  convoy  of  a  camel  from  the  Persian 
king,  which  headed  the  train,  and  by  a  golden 
ornament  on  its  face  indicated  its  royal  ownership. 
In  the  poem  of  Statins  (cf.  Bochart,  Hierozoicon,  i. 
17)  the  horse  of  Parthenopajus,  the  fi\bled  assail- 
ant of  Thebes,  wears  crescent-shaped  ornaments 
[lunata.  vionilia].  Mention  is  made  of  an  Arabic 
exjiression,  which  speaks  of  "  moon-shaped  camel 
ornaments  "  (Ritter,  xii.  486).  The  ornament,  in 
its  peculiar  shape,  was  evidently  an  escntclieon  of 
the  ancient  Ishmaelites,  who  were  worshippers  of 
the  moon  (Herod,  iii.  8).  as  Scripture  also  speaks 
of  a  son  of  Joktan,  the  progenitor  of  many  Arab 
tribes,  whose  name  was  Jerah,  moon  (Gen.  x.  26). 
The  crescent  of  the  Arabizing  Ottomans  of  mod- 
ern times  may  be  referred  to  it  as  to  its  original. 
For  the  lunuUe  also,  which  adorned  the  shoes  of 
ancient  Roman  senators  and  nobles,  and  whose 
significance  was  obscure  even  to  antiquity  (Rlut. 
Quest,  liom.,  73),  liad  only  the  shape  of  the  half- 
moon. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Henky  :  "Faint  and  yet  pursuing;"  much 
fatigued  with  what  they  had  done,  yet  eager  to  do 
more.  Our  spiritual  warfare  must  thus  he  prose- 
cuted with  what  strength  -we  have,  though  but  lit- 
tle; it  is  many  a  time  the  true  Christian's  case,  faint- 
ing, yet  pursuing.  —  Bp.  Hall  :  It  is  hard  if  those 
who  fight  the  wars  of  God  may  not  have  necessary 
relief;  that  whilst  tiie  enemy  dies  by  them,  they 

also  of  the  tribes  of  Western  Africa.  Speaking  of  polygamy 
and  family  life  among  them,  the  Uev.  J.  G.  Auer  observes 
{.'Spirit  of  Missions  for  IStiT,  p.  729):  "  Cliildren  cleave  to 
their  mother  more  than  to  tlieir  fatlior,  and  a  full  broi,lier 
or  ."ister  is  called  '  my  mother's  child.'  "  —  Tr.] 

8  [On  the  first  of  these  stories,  see  Giblioifs  Dfcllvc,  etc.. 
Milman's  cd  ,  Boston,  i.  319  ;  on  the  second,  vol.  vi.  271 
note  58  ;  on  the  third,  vi.  267-71,  with  Milmairs  no'e  o-i  p 
271.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   Vm.   22-32. 


137 


»hould  die  by  famine.  If  they  had  labored  foi-  God 
at  home  in  peace,  thej*  had  been  worthy  of  main- 
tenance ;  how  much  more  now  that  danger  is 
added  to  tiieir  toil?  —  The  same:  Those  that 
t\<i\\t  for  our  souls  against  spiritual  powers,  may 
challenoe  bread  from  us ;  and  it  is  shameless  un- 
thankfulness  to  deny  it. 

The  sajie  (on  the  punishment  of  Succoth)  :  I 
know  not  whether  more  to  commend  Gideon's  wis- 
dom and  moderation  in  the  proceedinffs,  than  his 
resolution  and  justice  in  the  execution  of  this  busi- 
ness. I  do  not  see  him  run  fuiiously  into  the  city, 
;ind  kill  the  next ;  his  sword  has  not  been  so 
drunken  with  blood,  tliat  it  should  know  no  dif- 
ference ;  but  he  writes  down  the  names  of  the 
princes,  and  sinjrles  them  forth  for  revenge.  —  The 
s.\me  :  It  is  like,  the  citizens  of  Succoth  would  have 
been  glad  to  succor  Gideon,  if  their  rulers  had  not 
forbidden.  They  must  therefore  escape,  while  their 
princes  perish.  —  The  same  (on  Fennel):  The 
place  where  Jacob  wrestled  with  God  and  prevailed, 


now  hath  wrestled  against  God  and  takes  a  fall ; 
they  see  God  avenged,  which  would  not  believe  Him 
delivering.  —  Wordsworth  :  They  who  now  de- 
spise the  mercy  of  Christ  as  the  Lamb,  will  here- 
after feel  the  wrath  of  Christ  as  the  Lion  (Rev.  v. 
5).  — BcsH  :  The  whole  of  this  remarkable  trans- 
action tends  to  inspire  us  with  confidence  in  God, 
and  to  encourage  our  exertions  in  his  cause  ;  but 
there  are  two  lessons  especially  which  we  shall  do 
well  to  learn  from  it :  1.  To  prosecute  our  spiritual 
warfiire  under  all  discouragements  ourselves  ;  and 
2.  To  be  careful  to  put  no  discouragements  in  the 
way  of  others.  God  is  indignant  with  those  who 
would  weaken  the  hands  of  his  people. 

Bp.  Hall  :  The  slaughter  of  Gideon's  brethren 
was  not  the  greatest  sin  of  the  Midianitish  kings ; 
[yet]  this  alone  shall  kill  them,  when  the  rest  [of 
their  sins]  expected  an  unjust  remission.  How 
many  lewd  men  hath  God  paid  with  some  one  sin 
for  all  the  rest !  —  Scott  :  Sins  long  forgotten 
must  be  accounted  for  to  God.  —  Tr.] 


Crideon  refuses  to  he  hing.      Prepares  an  ephod,  which  is  followed  hy  evil  consC' 
quences.      Gideon's  death  and  burial. 

Chapter  VIII.     22-32. 

22       Then  [And]  the  men  of  Israel  said  unto  Gideon,  Rule  thou  over  us,  both  thou,  and 
thy  sou,  and  thy  son's  son  also  :  for  thou  hast  delivered  us  from  the  hand  of  Mid- 
23  ian.     And  Gideon  said  xuito  them,  I  will  not  rule  over  you,  neither  shall  my  son 

24  rule  over  you :  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  shall  rule  over  you.  And  Gideon  said  unto 
them,  I  would  desire  a  request  of  you,  that  you  would  give  me  every  man  the  ear- 
rings [the  ring]  ^  of  his  prey.     (For  they  had  golden  ear-rings  [rings],  because 

25  [for]  they  were  Ishmaelites.)  And  they  answered,  We  will  willingly  give  them. 
And  they  spread  a  garment,:  and  did  cast  therein  every  man  the  ear-rings  [ring] 

26  of  his  prey.  And  the  weight  of  the  golden  ear-rings  [rings]  that  he  requested, 
was  a  thousand  and  seven  hundred  shekels  of  gold ;  beside  [apart  from  the]  orna- 
ments [moons],  and  [the]  collars  [ear-drops],  and  [the]  purple  raiment  [garments] 
that  ivas  \_were^  on  the  kings  of  Midian,  and  beside  [apart  from]  the  chains  [col- 

ii7  lars]  that  were  about  their  camels'  necks.  And  Gideon  made  an  ephod  thereof, 
and  put  it  in  his  city,  even  in  Ophrah  :  and  all  Israel  went  thither  [omit :  thither] 
a  whoring  after  it  [[there]  :  which  thing  [and  it  ^.  e.  the  ephod]  became  a  snare  uirto 

28  Gideon,  and  to  his  house.  Thus  was  JVIidian  subdued  [But  Midian  was  humbled] 
before  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  so  that  they  lifted  up  their  heads  no  more. 

29  And  the  country  was  in  quietness "  forty  years  in  the  days  of  Gideon.    And  Jerub- 

30  baal  the  son  of  Joash  went  and  dwelt  in  his  own  house.     And  Gideon  had  three- 

31  score  and  ten  sons  of  his  body  begotten  :  for  he  had  many  wives.  And  his  concu 
bine  that  was  in  Shechem,  she  also  bare  him  a  son,  whose  name  he  [they]  *  called 

32  Abimelech.  And  Gideon  the  son  of  Joash  died  in  a  good  old  age,  and  was  buried 
in  the  sepulchre  of  Joash  his  father,  in  Ophrah  of  the  Abi-ezrites. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


[1  Ver.  24-  ^"  DT3,  ring;  whether  ear-ring  or  nose-ring,  the  word  itself  does  not  declare.  Cassel  and  De  Wette  both 
render  it  by  the  singular  (De  Wette,  Ohrring).  It  is  used  as  a  eollective,  and  simply  indicates  the  class  of  ornaments 
desired,  without  any  reference  to  the  number  which  each  man  was  supposed  to  have,  or  was  expected  to  give.  This 
ndefinitesingular  is  best  rendered  in  English  by  the  plural,  as  in  E.  V.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  25.  —  "vjptiTI:  Dr.  Cassel,  ein  Gewatid,  "  a,  guvment."  The  definite  article  simply  indicates  the  gar- 
ment i^sd,  oa  the  occasion.     The  term    71?72U^,     though  also  used  in  the  general  sense  of  garment  and  raiment,  is 


138 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


specially  applied  to  the  outer  garment,  the  mantle  or  cloak,  of.  Bib.  Diet.,  s.  v.  "  Dress."  Being  a  four-cornered  piece 
of  cloth,  it  was  quite  suitable  for  the  present  purpose.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  28.  —  '^"nSn  l3pti7^^^,  "and  the  land  rested."  The  E.  V.  departs  herefrom  its  own  previous  render- 
ings, see  ch.  iii.  11,  30  ;  v  31,  where  the  Hebrew  has  the  same  words.  —  Tn.] 

[4  Ver.  31.  —  1J2tP'nS  □ti?*'!  Dr.  Cassel  :  man  naiinte  seiiien  N.tmeii.  Bertheau  also  takes  QJi?*!  as  the 
indeterminate  3d  pers.  (see  Ues.  Gr.  137,  3),  and  says  :  "  the  name  sounds  like  a  nickname,  given  him  becau.se  his  lord- 
ship was  of  such  brief  duration,  and  he  so  very  far  from  being  Father  of  a  King."  The  difficulty  is  that  the  text  gives 
no  hint  of  a  change  of  subject.     But  cf.  the  commentary  below,  and  Keil's  view  in  note  on  p.  140.  —  Tr.1 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

An  extraordinary  victory  had  been  gained  —  a 
tiiiimph  without  a  parallel.  A  glory  surrounds 
Gitleon  in  the  eyes  of  Israel,  such  as  had  distin- 
guished no  one  else  within  the  memory  of  men. 
Who  can  stand  lieside  him  ?  How  has  the  arro- 
gance and  vain-glory  of  Ephraun  been  put  to 
shame !  Having  caught  a  couple  of  princes, 
already  fleeing  for  their  lives,  they  ceased  from  the 
conflict,  though  still  far  from  flnished.  Gideon, 
whose  courage  began,  and  whose  untiring  en- 
ergy prosecuted  the  war,  has  also  flnished  it.     He 

has  captured  and  destroyed,  not  princes  C*"?.^) 
merely,  but  —  as  the  narrative  emphatically  inti- 
mates—  the  kings  057^^  themselves.  And  what 
kings !  The  chiefs  of  all  Midian.  Kings,  there- 
fore, whose  defeat  and  capture  was  of  the  greatest 
consequence,  as  the  narrative  sufficiently  indicates 
by  the  constant  repetition  of  their  names.  Their 
names,  also,  like  those  of  the  "  princes,"  are  pe- 
culiar ;  those  were  borrowed  from  animals,  these 
from  "  sacriflce  "  and  "  carved  work."  The  latter 
therefore  indicate  perhaps  the  conjunction  of 
priestly  with  royal  authority.  Nor  did  Gideon 
smite  the  hostile  armies  in  his  own  country  merely, 
but  he  ventured  far  into  a  strange  land.  To  pur- 
sue a  great  army  into  the  rock  desert,  and  as  it 
were  drag  the  enemy  out  of  his  hiding-place,  was 
an  exploit  of  the  most  astounding  character.  Who 
hut  Gideon  would  have  dared  to  enter  the  terrible 
Harra,  there  to  seize  his  royal  prey  ?  Apart  from 
this,  how  imposing  his  assurance,  his  wisdom,  his 
moderation  and  strength !  If  nien  admired  the 
discreetness  of  his  answer  to  Ephraim,  they  were 
startled  by  the  punishment  of  Succoth  and  Penuel, 
and  the  terrible  recompense  meted  out  to  the 
kings.  Success  carries  the  day  with  the  people : 
how  surprising,  grand,  and  dazzling  was  its  form 
on  this  occasion  !  The  people  feel  that  now  they 
ha"vc  a  man  among  thein,  who  towers,  not  physi- 
cally, but  in  soul  and  spirit,  far  above  them  all. 
No  wonder  that  Israel,  gathered  from  all  quarters 
to  see  the  hero  and  his  captures,  urgently  presses 
him,  and  sa3's  :  — 

Ver.  22._  Rule  over  us,  thou,  thy  son,  and 
thy  son's  son.  This  is  the  language  of  gratitude 
and  admiration.  Excited,  and,  like  all  multitudes, 
easily  carried  away  by  momentary  impulses  of  joy 
and  approval,  they  oft'cr  him  the  supreme  authority, 
and  even  propose  to  make  it  hereditary.  It  is  only 
done,  however,  in  a  storm  of  excitement.     Nor  do 

they  propose  that  he  shall  be  their  T]  ^^,  but  their 

vK'D  —  not  their  King,  but  their  Imperator.  What 
they  desire  is  to  be  not  only  for  his  honor,  but  also 
for  their  welfare.  His  family  is  to  continue  forever 
the  champion  of  Israel.  But  in  this  vehement 
urgency  of  the  moment,  the  people  show  how  little 
they  comprehend,  notwithstanding  this  and  many 
nther  great  events  of  their  history,  to  whom  they 
an    real'y  indebted  for  victory.     They  show  that 


I  they  regard  the  strength  by  which  Gideon  has  con- 
quered to  be  physical,  rather  than  moral.  Thou 
shalt  rule,  for  thou  hast  delivered  us  fi-om  JMidian. 
They  fail  to  perceive  the  contradiction  to  which 
they  give  utterance  when  they  talk  of  an  hereditary 
"Judge,"  or  as  they  word  it,  "ruler."  It  belongs 
to  the  essence  of  a  Judge,  that  he  be  raised  up  by 
the  Spirit,  and  fllled  witli  the  strength  of  God.  He 
is  God's  military  ambassador  to  a  people  that  has 
no  king.  Not  the  people,  but  God,  had  made 
Gideon  what  he  was  —  their  military  leader  and 
commander.  His  children  will  not  be  able  to  lead 
the  nation,  unless  they  also  are  culled  by  God. 
The  kingship  is  hereditary,  because  it  rests  on  the 
broad  basis  of  established  order,  and  not  merely  on 
the  endowments  of  extraordinary  persons.  The 
divinely  inspired  imperator  can  at  m.ost  transmit 
only  his  treasures.  It  was  not  without  a  purpose 
that  the  narrative  fold  of  the  timid  boy,  Jether, 
Gideon's  flrst-born.  Will  he  —  if  God  do  not  call 
him  — be  able  to  smite  the  Midianites  '!  and  if  he 
be  not  able,  will  the  men  of  Israel  obey  him  !  None 
the  less  great,  however,  was  the  temptation  for 
Gideon.  He  on  whom  but  recently  Ephraim 
looked  superciliously  down,  has  now  the  offer  of 
dominion  over  Israel  laid  at  his  feet.  It  requires 
more  strength  to  resist  the  allurements  of  proffered 
power,  than  to  defeat  an  enemy.  But  Gideon  is  a 
great  man,  greater  than  Washington,  to  whom 
absolute  dominion  was  not  offered,  and  who  ac- 
cepted the  Presidency  because  he  would  obey  "  the 
voice  of  the  people,""  saying  as  he  did  so,  that  "  no 
people  could  Ije  more  bound  to  acknowledge  and 
adore  the  invisible  hand  which  conducts  the  attiiirs 
of  men,  than  the  people  of  the  United  States  "  (cf. 
Marshall's  Life  of  Washinr/fon,  ii.  146). 

Ver.  23.  And  Gideon  said  unto  them,  I  will 
not  rule  over  you,  neither  shall  my  son  rule 
over  you:  Jehovah  shall  rule  over  you.  God 
—  not  "  Elohini,"  but  "  Jehovah,"  the  God  of 
Israel  —  is  your  only  Imperator.  With  this  he 
repels  the  idea  that  he  was  the  sole  and  real  con- 
queror, as  also  the  supposition  that  any  others  than 
those  whom  God  calls  can  be  of  service.  He 
declares,  moreover,  that  God  must  be  obeyed, 
because  He  is  the  Ruler ;  and  that  as  in  this  war 
against  Midian  victory  was  gained  only  because 
his  ( Gideon's)  orders  were  followed,  so  victory  will 
always  be  contingent  on  obedience  to  God. 

With  these  words  Gideon  worthily  crowns  hi.s 
heroic  deeds ;  and  there  he  should  have  sto])ped. 
But  the  moment  that  he  connects  the  cause  of  (Jod 
with  a  measure  of  his  own,  albeit  with  the  best 
intentions,  he  falls  into  error,  and  without  design- 
ing it  leads  the  people  astray. 

Vers.  24-26.  Give  me,  every  man,  the  ring 
of  his  booty.  Since  the  rings  were  taken  from 
men,  they  must  be  understood  to  be  ear-rings,  the 
use  of  which,  especially  among  the  ancients,  was 
to  a  great  extent  common  to  both  men  and  women. 
In  Ceylon  and  among  the  Burmese,  the  perfora- 
tion of  the  ears  is  to  this  day,  for  both  sexes,  a  relig- 
ious ceremony  ;  just  as  the  habit  of  wea,  nig  ring* 


CHAPTER    VIII.   22-32. 


139 


did  not  have  its  origin  solely  in  desire  for  finery. 
The  observations  of  modern  travellers  among  the 
Arabs,  are  confined  to  female  ornaments,  but 
"sons"  also  wore  such  rings  as  ai-e  here  men- 
tioiK'il,  even  among  tlie  Israelites  (Ex.  xxxii.  2). 
Piiuitus  (Pdiiuhis,  V.  2,  ;i2)  says  jecringly  of  the 
Carthaginians  :  ''Di)/itos  in  iiuinibits  non  habent,qnia 
inccdint cum  unnuUttis  auribus"  (cf.  Serarius).  The 
explanation,  "  they  had  golden  rings,  for  they  were 
Ishmaelitcs,"  i  is  to  be  referred,  not  to  the  rings, 
tmt  to  the  material  of  which  they  were  made.  It 
calls  attention  to  the  love  of  finery  and  splendor 
ivliieh  then  as  now  characterized  the  Arab  tribes,^ 
and  at  the  same  time  accounts  for  the  wealth  of 
gokl  implied  in  the  possession  of  so  many  rings  of 
that  metal  by  the  Midianitish  army.  Gold  is  still 
extensively  used  by  the  Arabs  for  the  same  pur- 
poses (cf  Hitter,  xiv.  415,  etc.;  xv.  828,  etc.). 

The  army  must  have  been  pervaded  by  thorough, 
even  though  temporary,  enthusiasm  for  their  heroic 
leader,  since  they  willingly  gave  up  the  most  val- 
uable part  of  the  booty,  without  knowing  but  that 
he  wanted  it  for  personal  use.  Accordingly,  an 
abundance  of  gold  rings  were  brought  together. 
Now,  for  the  first  time,  was  Israel  astounded  at  the 
magnitude  of  the  spoil ;  now  was  it  seen  that  the 
man  who  formerly  ranked  his  harvest  second  to 
the  gleaning  of  Ephraim,  had  obtained  glory  and 
wealth  beyond  comparison.  For  not  only  were 
1,700  shekels  of  gold  handed  over  to  him  at  this 
time,  but  to  him  also  belonged  (for  ver.  26  speaks 
only  of  his  possessions)  the  moons  (ver.  21),  the 

mD''T£:3,  and  the  purple  garments  of  the  kings, 

and  the  decorations  of  their  camels.  The  HID'^pi 
are  ear-pendants,  made  of  pearls  and  precious 
stones,^  peculiar  to  their  kings,  in  distinction  from 
the  simple  rings  worn  by  all  other  Midianites. 
The  name  signifies  a  "  drop,"  which  the  ])earl 
resembled.  The  Greek  ffraXayixiov,  with  which 
(Tcsenius  compares  it,  I  have  met  with  onh^  in 
Plautus  (Menechmei,  iii.  3)  as  sfalagmia.  The 
monument  of  Cyrus  was  adorned  with  ear-pend- 
ants of  precious  stones  (Arrian,  vi.  29).  Proco- 
pius  represents  the  Persian  king  Pherozes  with  a 
costly  pearl  hanging  from  his  i-ight  ear  (Brisson, 
De  Rfcjno  Pe.rs.,  p.  83).  Among  the  Indians, 
persons  of  distinction  wore  precious  stones  in  their 
ears  (Curtius,  viii.  9,  21).  In  the  Ramayana  it  is 
stated,  that  in  Ayodhya  no  one  was  without  eai'- 
pendants  (akimdati)  and  other  ornaments  (Bohlen, 
Al.tes  /ndim,  ii.  170).  —  Great  wealth  stood  now  at 
Gideon's  command  ;  but  he  had  no  thought  of  ap- 
propriating the  gifts  of  the  men  of  Israel  to  him- 
self. All  that  he  retained  was  the  booty  which 
had  fellen  to  him  from  the  Midianitish  kings. 
Hannibal  also,  caused  the  rings  of  the  Roman 
knights  who  fell  at  Cannae  to  be  collected  by  the 

1  [Beriheau:  "  Ishmaelites  is  the  general  name  of  a 
number  of  tribes,  among  whom  the  Midianites,  thougli 
ifcordin;;  to  Gen.  xxv.  2,  not  descended  from  Ishmael,  but 
from  Keturah,  were  also  reckoned,  cf  Gen.  xxxvii.  25,  28  ; 
xxxix.  1."  —  See  also  above,  on  eh.  vi.  1.  —  Tr] 

^  [Wellsted  {"Reisen  in  Arahien,"'  i.  224,  quoted  by  Keil) : 
—  "The  women  in  Omm  squander  considerable  sums  in  the 
purchase  of  silver  ornaments,  and  their  children  are  literally 
laden  with  them.  I  have  sometimes  counted  fifteen  ear- 
rings on  each  side,  and  head,  breast,  arms,  and  ankles,  were 
adorned  with  equal  profusion.''  —  Tr.] 

8  In  Silius  Italicus  also  (Pi/nica,  xii.  231),  we  find,  "  In 
mtre  Inpis,  riibris  adieitiis  ah  oris." 

4  [IvEiL  .  "  It  is  not  necessary  so  to  understand  this,  as 
If  the  1,700  shekels  (fifty  lbs.)  of  gold  were  worked  up  into 
She   ephod,  but  only  that   the   expense   of  making   it  was 


peck  (Liv.  xxiii.  12),  —  but  Gideon  has  no  Punic 
ends  in  view. 

Vers.  27,  28.  And  Gideon  made  an  ephod 
thereof.''  The  high-priestly  significance  of  the 
ephod  is  clearly  explained  in  Ex.  xxviii.  It  is  the 
special  sacred  garment,  by  which  Aaron  and  his 
sons  are  distinguished  as  priests.  With  the  e])hod, 
the  breastplate  is  connected,  fastened  to  it  by 
strings,  and  not  to  be  displaced  (Ex.  xxviii.  28). 
This  garment,  with  the  breastplate,  the  high  priest 
wears  in  the  sanctuary.  With  it  therefore  are 
connected  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  through 
which  divine  instructions  are  imparted,  and  to 
which,  after  the  death  of  Moses  and  Joshua,  Israel 
applies  for  directions.  It  is  this  high-priestly  char- 
acter of  the  ephod,  and  the  gift  of  prophetic  com- 
munication through  the  Urim  and  Thummim  of 
its  breastplate  (cf  1  Sam.  xxx.  7),  that  exjilains 
the  consecration  of  such  a  garment  by  (iideon.  Its 
procurement  is  closely  connected  with  the  words  : 
"  Jehovah  shall  rule  over  you."  The  people  has 
been  saved  by  God's  revelation  of  Himself  to  Gid 
eon.  To  his  service,  therefore,  the  choicest  of  the 
spoil  must  be  devoted.  Not  on  man,  but  on  Him, 
is  hope  to  be  built.  He  will  say  what  the  people 
are  to  do.  Through  the  priestly  ephod,  the  heav- 
enly King  will  speak,  and  rule  his  obedient  people. 
The  consecration  of  the  ephod,  theretbre,  as  that 
with  which  the  Urim  and  Thummim  are  connected, 
expresses  the  truth  that  God  governs  ;  and  is  Gid- 
eon's declaration  that  He,  and  not  any  human 
Imperator,  is  to  be  honored. 

Thus  far,  Gideon's  action  was  blameless,  and 
worthy  of  his  faith.  But  he  "deposited^  the 
ephod  in  his  city,  in  Ophrah."  Now,  Ophrah  was 
not  the  seat  of  the  common  sanctuary,  the  taber- 
nacle, nor  of  the  national  priesthood.  And  thougfl 
the  jiriestly  family  of  that  day  may  have  been  in  a 
decline,  though  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  among  whom 
it  had  at  that  time  its  principal  seat,  gave  unequiv- 
ocal evidence  of  unbelieving  pride,  on  which  ac 
count  alone  Gideon  might  hesitate  to  commit  the 
oracle  to  their  keeping;  yet,  all  these  reasons, 
however  indicative  of  spiritual  wisdom,  were  not 
sufficient  to  authorize  the  consecration  of  an  ephod, 
and  the  establishment  of  a  priesthood,  in  Ophrah. 
It  was  the  inauguration  of  a  separate  sanctuary, 
the  establishment,  so  to  speak,  of  an  opposition 
ephod,  under  the  controlling  influence  of  Gideon. 
The  ecclesiastical  centre;  of  Israel  was  thus  severed 
from  the  tabernacle.  The  hero,  not'witiistanding 
his  personal  fidelity  to  God,  evinces  herein  concep- 
tions of  Israel's  calling  too  subjective  to  be  secure 
against  disastrous  error.  The  result  soon  makes 
tliis  apparent. 

And  all  Israel  -went  a  -whoring  after  it-  The 
expositions  of  recent  interpreters,  who  ascribe  to 
Gideon  the  erection  of  a  golden  calf,  are  founded 

defrayed  with  this  money."  —  Wordsworth  :  "  The  im-- 
niense  quantity  of  gold  was  probably  bestowed  not  only  on 
the  robe  itself,  but  on  the  chains  and  ouches,  and  settings 
of  the  stones  on  the  shoulders,  and  on  the  breastplate,  and 
on  the  setting  of  the  stones  therein  ;  and  perhaps  also  in 
the  purchase  of  the  precious  stones  for  the  shoulders,  and 
for  the  workmanship  of  the  whole."  —  Tr.] 

5    2l"^'*\    On  this  word  compare  Keil  on  this  passage, 

[Keil  remarks  :  "  S^S  3?'*1  does  not  say,  he  set  it  up  ; 
but  may  as  well  meAn,  he  preserved  it,  in  his  city  Ophrah, 
3'^.*'n  is  nowhere  used  of  the  erection  of  an  image  ot 
statue:  and  .signifies,  not  only  to  place,  but  also  to  lay 
down  (p  g-  ch.  vi  37),  and  to  let  stand,  leave  behind,  Gen. 
xxxiii.  15."  —  Tr.) 


140 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


in  utter  misappi'ohension.  The  use  of  rings  by 
Aaron  in  casting  liis  idol,  was  simply  the  result  of 
his  having  no  other  gold,  and  has  surely  no  ten- 
dency to  estalilish  a  necessary  connection  between 
the  collection  of  rings  and  the  casting  of  golden 
calves.  The  establislimeut  by  the  recreant  Micah, 
in  the  closing  part  of  our  Book,  of  "  an  ejjhod  and 
a  graven  image,"  is  itself  evidence  that  he  who 
only  consecrated  an  ephod,  did  not  erect  an  image. 
Gideon,  with  the  words  "Jehovah  shall  rule!"  on 
his  lips,  cannot  intend  to  give  up  that  for  which 
he  has  risked  his  life  —  fidelity  towards  the  God 
who  will  have  no  graven  images.  The  erection 
of  an  idol  image  is  the  worst  of  sins.  It  was  from 
that  very  sin  that  Gideon  had  delivered  his  people; 
he  was  tlie  Contender  against  Baal,  the  destroyer 
of  idol  altars,  —  the  man  who  would  not  even  suf- 
fer himself  to  be  made  Imperator,  an  idol  of  the 
people.  Gideon  continues  faithful  to  the  moment 
of  his  death,  which  he  reaches  in  a  good  old  age. 
If,  nevertheless,  Israel  goes  a  whoring  after  the 
ephod,  this  was  no  part  of  Gideon's  wisli ;  still,  the 
snare  was  of  his  laying,  because  he  placed  the 
ephod  "  in  his  own  house."  He  thought  that  by 
that  means  the  people  would  better  remember  from 
what  distress  they  had  been  delivered  ;  but  it  is  the 
nature  of  the  multitude  to  pervert  even  faith  into 
superstition.  They  come  to  Ophrah  with  worship 
and  prayer  for  direction,  because  this  particular 
ephod  is  there  —  not  because  they  seek  to  honor 
God,  but  because  this  is  Gideon's  ephod.  They 
regard  not  the  word  which  issues  from  the  breast- 
plate to  him  who  believes  in  God,  but  only  the  fact 
that  the  ephod  is  made  of  the  spoils  of  Midian. 
Thus  they  turn  Gideon's  faith  into  superstition ; 
and  Israel's  moral  strength,  instead  of  being  in- 
creased, is  weakened.  The  unwholesome  desire 
has  been  excited  to  present  worship,  not  in  the 
customary  place,  but  wherever  the  subjective  sense 
of  novelty  allures  the  worshipper.  If  Gideon  had 
not  consecrated  the  ephod  in  his  house,  it  had  not 
become  a  snare  for  Israel.  It  helped  him  indeed 
to  retain  the  leadership  of  Israel,  under  the  su- 
premacy of  Jehovah  ;  but  by  it,  discarding  as  it 
did  the  lawful  priesthood,  he  led  the  people  astray 
into  an  historical  sulijeetivism  instead  of  establish- 
ing them  in  their  objective  faith,  and  thus  prepared 
the  way  fof  apostasy.  For  what  but  apostasy 
could  follow  at  his  death,  when  the  popular  faith 
became  thus  connected  with  his  person,  his  govern- 
ment, and  the  ephod  in  his  house  1  The  hero 
erred,  when  he  also  made  himself  a  priest.  His 
house  fell,  because  he  undertook  to  make  it  a  tem- 
ple for  the  peo])le.  The  ephod  with  the  breast- 
plate became  a  snare,  because  the  God  of  Israel  is 
not  to  be  led  by  Gideon,  but  Gideon  by  Him  — 
even  though  there  be  no  ephod  in  his  house. ^ 

The  renewed  apostasy,  however,  for  which  the 
way  was  thus  prepared,  manifested  itself  only  in 
the  sequel.  As  long  as  Gideon  lived,  his  powerful 
spirit  kept  the  enemy  in  fear,  and  the  people  at 
rest.  The  eiTects  of  his  achievement  lasted  forty 
years,  although  the  hero,  refusing  dominion,  had 
retired  as  a  private  person  to  his  house  and  stayed 
there,  —  unlike  Washington,  who,  though  at  the 

1  With  this  explaiiiition  of  the  ephod  and  its  conse- 
quence."!, the  old  .lewi.sh  expositors  agree.  The  Midrash 
(.falkiit.  ii.  n  Cyi)  gives  a  profound  hint,  when  it  opposes 
the  tril)e-fW;(iii);  of  Gideon,  as  a  member  of  Manasseh,  to 
that  of  Epliraim.  However,  even  that  was  already  regarded 
«s  a  species  of  "  unclean  service." 

2  [Keil  interprets  the  name  as  meaning  f  Father  of  a 

King"    i  Koniosvaier),   and    says:    "  i^t^'HS   Cti7*'1 


end  of  the  war  he  returned  with  "  inexpressil)Ie 
delight"  to  his  country-seat  at  JNIount  Vernon  on 
the  Potomac,  yet  soon  left  it  again,  to  become 
President  of  the  new  republic. 

Vers.  29-.32.  And  Jerubbaal,  the  son  of 
Joash,  went  and  dwelt  in  his  own  house 
The  surname  Jeinibbaal  has  not  again  called  for 
attention,  since  the  events  which  gave  rise  to  it. 
But  now,  that  Gideon's  work  is  finished,  the  nar- 
rative, with  a  subtilty  of  thought  that  is  surprising, 
speaks  of  him  under  this  name.  It  was  given  him 
because  he  had  overthrown  the  altar  of  Baal,  for 
which  the  superstitious  populace  expected  to  see 
the  vengeance  of  Baal  overtake  him  (cli.  vi.  .'32). 
The  result  shows  that  Baal  is  nothing.  Gideon 
has  smitten  him  and  his  servants,  and  is  covered 
with  success  and  glory.  "  There  goes  "  —  so  speak 
the  people  among  themselves  —  "Jerubbaal  into 
his  house  ;  the  greatest  man  in  Israel,  because  he 
smote  Baal."  Baal  is  impotent  against  the  faith- 
ful and  valiant.  Victory  constantly  attends  his 
enemies,  for  God  is  with  them.  May  this  truth 
never  be  forgotten  by  our  o\^^l  people  and  princes ! 
As  long  as  he  continued  to  live,  Gideon  had  every- 
thing that  ministered  to  fame  and  happiness  in 
Israel  —  many  sons,  peace,  riches,  and  a  "good 
old  age."  The  last  expression  is  used  of  no  one 
else  but  Abraham  (Gen.  xxv.  8)  ;  for  of  David  it 
is  employed  not  by  the  Book  of  Kings,  but  only  by 
the  late  Chronicles  (1  Chron.  xxix.  28).  The 
"  goodness  "  of  his  old  age  consisted  in  his  seeing 
the  blessed  results  of  his  great  deed  of  faith,  con- 
tinuing unbroken  and  unchanged  as  long  as  he 
lived.  Nevertheless,  the  narrative  already  hints 
at  the  shadow  which  after  his  death  darkened  his 
house.     In  Sheehem,  a  concubine  bore  him  a  son, 

whom  they  called  Abimelech.  C£i7*|l,  I  think,  re- 
fers not  to  Gideon,  but  indefinitely  to  those  about 
the  concubine ;  for  it  was  in  Sheehem  that  the  name 
originated.  Gideon,  who  would  not  "  rule,"  much 
less  be  king,  would  not  have  named  his  son,  "  My 
Father  is  King."  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  but 
natural  that  the  vanity  of  the  concubine,  when  she 
bore  a  son  to  the  great  Gideon,  the  man  of  royal 
reputation  and  distinction,  would  gladly  consent  to 
have  him  named  Abimelech.-  This  vanity  of 
Sheehem  is  the  foundation  of  the  coming  trag- 
edy. 

Of  no  previous  hero  has  the  account  been  so 
extended.  It  is  even  mentioned  that  he  was 
buried  in  his  father's  sepulchre,  in  the  family  vault. 
That  also  is  a  sign  of  his  happy  and  ])eaeef'ul  end. 
Here  also,  as  always  at  the  close,  the  name  of  the 
hero's  father  is  associated  with  his  own,  as  a  tribute 
of  honor  for  the  support  he  once  afforded  his  son 
(eh.  vi.  31);  beyond  this,  however,  nothing  is 
recorded  of  him.  (iideon,  as  conqueror,  dwelt  no 
longer  in  his  father's  house,  but  in  his  own  (\er. 
29)  ;  but  at  deatli  he  is  buried  in  his  father's  toml). 
In  that  tomb,  the  glory  of  Manasseh  sleeps  ;  he  in 
whom,  tradition  declares,  the  blessing  of  Jacob  on 
this  grandson  was  fulfilled,  and  of  whom  the  Mid- 
rash  says,  that  what  Moses  was  at  an  earlier  time, 
that  Gideon  was  in  his. 

is  not  the  same  as  "l^iy'inS  S^p,  to  give  one  a  name, 
to  name  liim,  but  signifies  to  give  one  a  by-name,  to  sur- 
name him,  cf  Neh.  ix.  7;  Dan.  v.  12  (Chald.).  It  follows 
from  this,  that  Gideon  gave  Abimelech  this  name  as  a  sur- 
name suitable  to  his  character  ;  consequently,  not  at  hil 
birth,  but  afterwards,  as  he  grew  up  and  developed  charao 
teristics  which  suggested  it."  —  Te.] 


CHAPTEll   VIII.  33-35. 


141 


UOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Gideon  puts  kino-s  to  flight,  pursues  them  like 
wild  !)casts  ro  tlioir  dens,  slays  them  with  ids  own 
hand  —  an  lionor  not  allowed  to  Bai-ak, — but 
himself  will  he  no  kin"'.  Dominion  belonLrs  to 
God,  he  says ;  for  the  victory  v/as  of  God.  It  is 
not  majorities  tliat  make  a  king  in  Israel,  but  the 
call  of  God  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophets.  AVhat 
Gideon  had  won,  was  not  his.  How  should  he 
take  God's  title,  to  whom  everything  in  Israel 
belongs "?  So  long  as  we  render  God  what  belongs 
to  Him,  we  shall  also  have  what  pi-operly  falls  to 
us.  ^V^hen  Gideon  inaugurated  his  ephod,  he  de- 
sireil  an  honor  for  his  house  ;  and  this  only  honor 
whicli  he  sought  for  himself,  beyond  that  which 
he  already  had,  proved  the  downfall  of  his  house 
after  him.  Let  us  therefore  seek  first  the  kingdom 
of  God  :  all  other  things  will  come  of  themselves. 
So  soon  as  we  seek  to  honor  and  immortalize  our- 
selves beside  God,  our  labor  jiroves  vain,  and  our 
glory  falls  into  the  dust. 

Lisco  :  Gideon  refuses  to  accede  to  the  propo- 
sal of  the  people,  because  he  is  conscious  that 
everything  is  to  be  ascribed  only  to  the  Lord,  ami 
that  it  would  be  nothing  else  than  arbitrariness 
and  self-seeking  to  accept  the  royal  dignity  without 
special  direction  from  above.  —  Gerlach  :  He 
rejects  the  offered  crown  from  genuine  fidelity  to 
the  Lord  -whom  alone  he  serves  ;  but  another  temp- 
tation he  fails  to  withstand. 

[Heney  :  They  honestly  thought  it  very  reason- 
able, that  he  who  had  gone  through  the  toils  and 


perils  of  their  deliverance,  should  enjoy  the  honor 
and  power  of  commanding  them  ever  after  ;  and 
very  desirable,  that  he  who  in  this  great  and  criti- 
cal juncture  had  had  such  manifest  tokens  of  God's 
])resence  with  him,  should  ever  after  preside  in 
their  affairs.  Let  us  apply  it  to  the  Lord  Jesus  ; 
He  hath  delivered  us  out  of  the  hand  of  our  ene- 
mies, our  spiritual  enemies,  the  worst  and  most 
dangerous,  therefore  it  is  fit  He  should  rule  over 
us ;  for  how  can  we  be  better  ruled,  than  by  One 
that  appears  to  have  so  great  an  interest  in  heaven, 
and  so  great  a  kindness  for  this  earth  '.  —  Bp. 
Hall  :  That  which  others  plot  and  sue,  and  swear 
and  bribe  for  (dignity  and  superiority),  he  seri- 
ously rejects,  whether  it  were  for  that  he  knew 
God  had  not  yet  called  them  to  a  monarchy,  or 
rather  for  that  he  saw  the  crown  among  thorns. 
Why  do  -we  ambitiously  affect  the  command  of 
these  mole-hills  of  earth,  when  wise  men  have 
refused  the  jjrofi'ers  of  kingdoms  ']  Why  do  we 
not  rather  labor  for  that  kingdom  which  is  free 
from  all  cares,  from  all  uncertainty? 

WoKDSWORTH  :  Gidcou's  history  is  a  warning 
that  it  requires  more  than  a  good  intention  to  make 
a  good  act ;  and  that  the  examples  of  the  best  of 
men  are  not  a  safe  guideof  conduct ;  and  the  better 
the  man  is,  the  more  will  be  the  consequences  of 
bad  t.cts  done  by  him.  The  only  right  rule  of  life 
is  the  Li\w  of  God.  —  The  same  :  Gideon  is  num- 
bered among  the  saints  of  God  in  the  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  (ch.  xi.  32) ;  but  the  saints  of  God  were 
men,  and  no  man  is  free  from  some  blemish  of  hu- 
man infirmity.  —  Tk.] 


Apostasy  from  God,  and  ingratitude  to  man. 
Chapter  VIII.  33-35. 

33  And  it  came  to  pass  as  soon  as  Gideon  was  dead,  that  the  children  [sons]  of 
Israel  turned  again,  and  went  a  whoring  after  [the]  Baalim,  and  made  Baal-berith 

34  their  god.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  remembered  not  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
their  God,  who  had  delivered  them  out  of  the  hands  of  all  their  enemies  on  every 

35  side  :  Neither  showed  they  kindness  to  the  house  of  Jerubbaal,  namelf/,  Gideon 
[Jerubbaal  Gideon],^  according  to  all  the  goodness "  wliich  he  had  showed  unto 
Israel. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  35.  —  The  word  namely  is  added  by  the  translators,  who  supposed,  as  Bertheau  does,  that  the  writer  designed 
once  more  to  point  out  the  identity  of  Gideon  with  Jerubbaal.     Cf.  the  Com.  — Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  35- —  n!litSn"7D2  :    Dr.  Cassel:  trotz  alter  Wo lilthat,    "  notwithstanding  all  the  good."     The  "  notwith- 
standing "  lies  perhaps  in  the  thought,  but  not  in  the  language.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

A^'ers.  33,  34.  And  it  came  to  pass  as  soon  as 
Gideon  was  dead.  The  fact  soon  became  mani- 
fest that  the  people  had  been  raised  only  by  the 
personal  character  of  Gideon  ;  he  is  scarcely  dead, 
before  they  fall  back  again.     The  narrator  says 

skarply  ^n^f^l,  "  they  returned."  The  same 
word  which  elsewhere  describes  the  turning  of  the 
rteople  towards  God,  is  here  used  to  indicate  their 
passion  for  sin.  Ad  vomitum  redierunt,  as  Serarius 
(veil  remarks. 


And  went  a  whoring  after  the  Baahm,  ana 
made  Baal-berith  their  god.  Nothing  could  put 
the  stupid  thoughtlessness  of  the  people  in  a 
stronger  light.  They  have  become  great  and  free 
through  victory  over  Baal ;  and  now  they  again 
run  after  him.  Jerubbaal  —  the  contender  with 
Baal  — has  just  died,  and  thej^  enter  into  covcTumt 
with  Baal  (see  on  ch.  ix.  4).  That  the  nations  in 
the  Baal-covenant  (Baal-berith)  kept  the  ])eace  to- 
wards them,  was  because  Jehovah  had  given  them 
victory,  —  and  lo !  ihey  make  idols  their  god  !  The 
error  of  Gideon,  in  supposing  that  by  setting  up 


142 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


his  ephod  he  could  preserve  the  people,  now  shows 
itself.  Since  he  is  dead,  in  whom  they  conceived 
their  salvation  to  be  personified,  they  think  neither 
of  the  spoils  out  of  which  the  ephod  was  made,  nor 
of  him  who  procured  them.  Inj^ratitude  is  the  pa- 
rent of  all  unbelief.  Thankfulness  comes  from 
thought. 1  Israel  thinks  not  on  the  God  who  has 
delivered  it  from  all  its  enemies;  how  then  should 
it  think  on  the  human  hero  when  he  has  passed 
away.  They  withhold  obedience  from  the  God  of 
their  fathers  ;  what  recognition  can  they  have  for 
the  house  of  their  benefactor.  The  ephod,  to  be 
sure,  was  still  in  Ophrah ;  but  who  that  despises 
the  sanctuary  of  Moses  and  Josliua,  will  respect 
this  private  institute  of  Gideon,  when  his  voice  has 
ceased  to  be  heard. 

Ver.  33.  Neither  showed  they  kindness  to 
the  house  of  Jerubbaal  Gideon.  In  the  name 
Jerubbaal,  all  the  hero's  meritorious  service,  and 
its  great  results,  are  enunciated.  For  that  reason 
the  narrator  mentions  it  here.  It  serves  to  aggra- 
vate the  sinfulness  of  Israel's  ingratitude,  and  to 
show  that  he  who  enters  the  service  of  Baal,  will 
also  ignore  his  obligations  towards  those  who  con- 
tend with  Baal.  The  people  ai-e  unwilling  to  be 
reminded  that  to  tight  against  Baal  brings  pros- 
perity. They  seek  to  forget  everything  that  ad- 
'monishes  to  repentance.     It  has  always  been  the 

1  [The  German  is,  "  Dank  komrnt  vom  Denken."  It  is 
interesting  to  observe,  whether  the  author  meant  to  suggest 
it  or  not,  that  the  remark  is  sound  etymology  as  well  as 
psychology.     Grimm  (  Wiirierb.  ii.  pp.  727, 927)  derives  both 


case,  that  those  who  apostatize  from  God,  do  no* 
do  well  by  the  "  house  "  of  God.  —  Notwithstand- 
ing aU  the  benefits  which  he  had  shown  unto 
Israel.  The  nan-ator  intimates  that  the  endeavor 
of  Gideon  to  perpetuate,  by  means  of  the  ephod, 
the  religious  and  godly  memory  of  his  deeds,  -was 
altogether  vain.  For  let  no  one  imagine  that 
where  God's  own  deeds  fail  to  command  remem- 
brance and  gratitude,  those  of  men,  however  de- 
serving, can  maintain  themselves  against  the  sinful 
sophistry  of  unbelief. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Hexry  :  Gideon  being  dead,  the  Israelites  found 
themselves  under  no  restraint,  and  went  after 
Baalim.  They  went  tirst  after  another  ephod  (ver. 
27),  for  which  Gideon  had  himself  given  them  too 
much  occasion,  and  now  they  went  after  another 
god.  False  worships  made  way  for  false  deities. — 
Scott  :  As  we  all  need  so  much  mercy  from  our 
God,  we  should  learn  the  more  patiently  to  bear 
the  ingratitude  of  our  fellow-sinners,  and  the  un 
suitable  returns  we  meet  with  for  our  poor  services, 
and  to  resolve,  after  the  divine  example,  "  not  to 
be  overcome  of  evil,  but  to  overcome  evil  with 
good."  —  Tr.] 

dank  a.nd  denken  from  "  the  lost  root  dinke,  danc,  diinken," 
expressive  "  of  an  action  of  the  mind,  a  movement  and  up- 
lifting of  the  soul."  Thank  and  thinle  beiong,  of  course,  to 
the  same  root. —  Tb.] 


FIFTH  SECTION. 

IHB  USURPED  RULE  OF  ABIMELECH,   THE  FRATRICIDE  AND  THORN-BUSH  EIITO. 


77ie  election  and  coronation  of  Ahimelech.     JotharrCs  parahle. 

Chapter    IX.  ,1-21. 

And  Abimelech  the  son  of  Jerubbaal  went  to  Shechem  unto  his  mother's  breth' 
ren,  and  communed  with  [spake  unto]  them,  and  with  [unto]  all  the  family  of  the 
house  of  his  mother's  father,  saying,  fSpeak,  I  pray  you,  in  the  ears  of  all  the  men 
[lords]  ^  of  Shechem,  Whether  [Which]  is  better  for  you,  either  [omit :  either]  that 
all  the  sons  of  Jerubbaal,  which  are  threescore  and  ten  persons,  reign  [rule]  over 
you,  or  that  one  reign  [rule]  over  you  ?  ^  remember  also  that  I  am  your  bone  and 
your  flesh.  And  his  mother's  brethren  spake  of  him  in  the  ears  of  all  tlie  men 
[lords]  of  Shechem  all  these  words :  and  their  hearts  inclined  to  follow  [inclined 
after]  Abimelech  ;  for  they  said.  He  is  our  brother.  And  they  gave  him  threescore 
and  ten  pieces  of  silver  out  of  the  house  of  Baal-berith,  wherewith  Abimelech 
hired  vain  [nt.  eirtpty,  l  s.  loose,  worthless]  and  light  [wanton,  reckless]  persons,  which  [and 
they]  followed  him.  And  he  went  unto  his  father's  house  at  Ophrah,  and  slew  his 
brethren  the  sons  of  Jerubbaal,  being  threescore  and  ten  persons,  upon  one  stone  : 
notwithstanding,  yet  [and  only]  Jotham  the  youngest  son  of  Jerubbaal  was  left; 
for  he  hid  himself.  And  all  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem  gathered  together,  and  all 
the  liouse  of  Millo  [all  Beth-millo],  and  went  and  made  Abimelech  kuig,  by  the 
plain  [oak]  of  the  pillar  [monument]  '^  that  ivas  in  [is  near]  Shechem.  And  when 
[omit :  when1  they  told  it  to  Jotham,  [and]  he  went  and  stood  in  [on]  the  top  of 


CHAPTER  IX.   1-21. 


14a 


mount  Gerizim,  and  lifted  up  his  voice,  and  cried,  and  said  unto  them,  Hearken 

8  unto  me,  ye  men  fiords]  of  Shechem,  that  God  may  hearken  unto  you.*  The 
trees  went  forth  on  a  time   to   anoint  a  king  over  tliem ;  and  they  said  unto  the 

9  olive-tree.  Reign  thou  over  us.  But  the  olive-tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  leave 
my  fatness,^  wherewith  by  me  they  honour  God  and  man,"  and  go  to  be  promoted 

10  [go  to  wave]  over  the  trees?     And  the  trees  said  to  the  fig-tree,  Come  thou,  and 

1 1  reign  over  us.     But  the  fig-tree  said  unto  them.  Should  I  forsake  ^  my  sweetness, 

12  and  my  good  fruit,  and  go  to  be  promoted  [to  wave]  over  the  trees?     Then  said 

13  the  trees  unto  the  vine,  Come  thou,  and  reign  over  us.  And  the  vine  said  unto 
them,  Should  I  leave  ^  my  wine  [must],  which  cheereth  God  and  man,  and  go  to  be 

1  -4  promoted  [to  wave]  over  the  trees  ?     Then  said  all   the  trees  unto  the  bramble 

]  5  [thornbush].  Come  thou,  and  reign  over  us.     And  the  bramble  [thornbush]  said 

unto  the  trees,  If  in  truth   [i. «.  in  good  earnest]   ye  anoint  me  king  over  you,  then 

come  and  put  your  trust  [take  shelter]   in  my  shadow :  and  [but]  if  not,  let  fire 

16  come  out  of  the  bramble  [thornbush],  and  devour  the  cedars  of  Lebanon.  Now 
therefore,  if  ye  have  done  truly  and  sincerely,  in  that  ye  have  made  Abimelech  king, 
and  if  ye  have  dealt  well  with  Jerubbaal  and  his  house,  and  have  done  unto  him  ac- 

17  cording  to  the  deserving  of  his  hands  :   (For  my  father  fought  for  you,  and  adven- 

18  tured  his  life  far,^  and  delivered  you  out  of  the  hand  of  Midian :  And  ye  are  risen 
up  against  my  father's  house  this  day,  and  have  slain  his  sons,  three  score  and  ten 
persons,  upon  one  stone,  and  have  made  Abimelech,  the  son   of  his  maid-servant, 

19  king  over  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem,  because  he  is  your  brother:)  If  ye  then 
have  dealt  truly  and  sincerely  with  Jerubbaal  and  with  his  house  this  day,  then  re- 

20  joice  ye  in  Abimelech,  and  let  him  also  rejoice  in  you :  But  if  not,  let  fire  come 
out  from  Abimelech,  and  devour  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem,  and  the  house  of 
Millo  [and  Beth-millo]  ;  and  let  fire  come  out  from  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem, 

21  and  from  the  house  of  Millo  [from  Beth-millo],  and  devour  Abimelech.  And 
Jotham  ran  away,  and  fled,  and  went  to  Beer,  and  dwelt  there,  for  fear  of  Abime- 
lech his  brother. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  2.  —  '\>'3,'^  :  used  interchangeably  with  ''t273M,  cf.  ver.  46  with  49 ;  2  Sara.  xxi.  12,  with  ii.  4,  5.  See  also 
eh.  XX.  5,  and  Josh.'  xxiv.  11.     Dr.  Cassel :  Herren  ;  De  "W'ette,  and  many  others,  Bilrger,  "  citizens."  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  2.  —  The  E.  V.  unnecessarily  departs  from  the  order  of  the  Hebrew,  and  thereby  obscures  the  antithesis  which 
is  primarily  between  "seventy  "  and  "one,"  and  secondarily  between  "sons  of  Jerubbaal"  and  "your  bone  and  flesh," 
thus  :  "  Which  is  better  for  you,  that  seventy  men,  all  sons  of  Jerubbaal,  rule  over  you,  or  that  one  man  rule  over  you  1 
Remember,  also,"  etc.  —  Tr.J 

[3  Ver.  6.  — KEa:  " The  explanation  of  3*?p  ]"i7S  is  doubtful.  2??^,  anything  'set  up,'  is  in  Isa.  xxix.  3  a 
military  post  [garrison],  but  may  also  mean  a  monument,  and  designates  here  probably  the  great  stone  set  up  (Josh.  xxiv. 
28)  under  the  oak  or  terebinth  near  Shechem  (cf.  Gen.  xxxv.  4)."  De  Wette  also  renders:  Denkmal-Ekhe,  "monument- 
oak."— Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  7.  — -  Dr.  Cassel  translates:  "and  may  God  hear  you."  This  is  very  well,  but  hardly  in  the  sense  in  which  he 
takes  it,  see  below.  Whether  we  translate  as  in  the  E.  V.,  or  as  Dr.  Cassel,  the  realization  of  the  second  member  of  the 
address  must  be  regarded  as  contingent  upon  that  of  the  first.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Vers.  9,  11,  13.  —  ^m'lTTlW   "^ribinn.     According   to  Ewald  {Gram.,  51  c.)  "^ribinn  is  a  contracted 

hiphil  form  (for  ''Pi  7"innn),  the  second  71  being  dropped  in  order  to  avoid  the  concurrence  of  too  many  gutturals, 

/  '     ■  I 

and  the  resulting  ^Hn  (cf.  Ges.  Gr.  22,  4)  being  changed  into  IHU  ^°  order  to  distinguish  the  interrogative  particle 
more  sharply.  Others  regard  it  as  hophal  (see  Green,  53,  2,  b).  But  as  there  are  no  traces  anywhere  else  of  either  of 
these  conjugations  in  this  verb,  It  is  commonly  viewed  as  a  simple  kal  form  =  '^JJI  yinH.      Keil  seeks  to  explain  the 

anomalous  vowel  under  PI  by  saying  that  "  the  obscure  o-sound  is  substituted  for  the  regular  a  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
pronunciation  of  successive  guttural  syllables."     Dr.  Cassel  renders  :   "  Have  I  then  lost  [better  :  given  up]  my  fatness  1  " 

But  as  the  notion  of  futurity  must  manifestly  be  contained  in  the  following  ^nSTTTl,  the  ordinary  rendering,  "  Should 

1  •  :   -  T  :' 
I  give  up  ?  "  is  preferable.  —  Tr.  | 

[6  Ver.  9.  —  D'^tt73^5T  DTibN  ^"fSpl*  ^S'ltt'S  :  "which  God  and  men  honor  (esteem)  in  me."  Compar« 
rer.  13.     Dr.  Cassel  renders  as  the  E.  V.  —  Tr.] 

[7  Ver.  17.  —  "T35^3  iti^DTHS  T[^K^*T  :  literally,  "  cast  his  life  from  before  (him) ;  cf.  the  marginal  reading  of 
he  E.  V. :  i.  e.  "  disr  garded'his  own  life."  — Tr.| 


EXEGETICAL  and  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1.     Shechem  was  a  chief  city  in  E]ihraim 
(cf.  Josh.  xxiv.  1).     That  tribe  still  continued  to 


be  jealous  of  the  consideration  to  which  under 
Gideon  Manasseh  had  attained.  Thono-h  (iideon 
was  now  dead,  the  ei:)hod  was  still  in  Ophrah,  and 
the  house  of  Gideon  continued  to  hold  a  certain 


lU 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES 


degree  of  authority.  The  narrative  distinn;iiishes 
between  the  sons  of  Gideon  and  Abiinelech. 
While  eh.  viii.  30  stales  tliat  Gideon  had  seventy 

sons  by  "  many  wives  "  (D''E?3),  ver.  31  remarks 
that  the  mother  of  Abimelech  was  a  concubine 
(Ii''37''?))  ill  Sheehcm.i  Just  this  son,  an  Ephra- 
imite  on  his  mother's  side,  bore  the  name  of 
Abiinelech,  "  My  Fatlier  is  King."  The  origin  of 
tbat  lust  after  power,  which  manifests  itself  in  his 
wild  and  ambitious  heart,  is  thus  psychologically 
sxphiined. 

Vers.  2,  3.  For  they  said,  He  is  our  brother. 
Abiuiclech,  when  he  turned  to  Shechem  with  his 
criminal  plans,  was  perfectly  acquainted  Avith  the 
vain-glorious  lust  after  power  indulged  in  by  the 
Ephraimites.  He  kn(.'W  that  it  irritated  them,  to 
liear  of  tlic  "  rule  of  the  seventy  sons  of  Gideon." 
Gideon,  it  is  true,  desired  no  dominion,  nor  cuuld 
his  sons  exercise  it;  but  the  centre  of  distinction 
was  nevertheless  at  Ophrah,  in  his  house,  where 
the  ephod  was.  The  negotiations  into  which  Abim- 
elech now  enters  with  iShechem  arc  very  instruc- 
tive. Tliey  show,  iirst,  that  the  distinction  which 
the  ephod  conferred  on  the  house  of  Gideon,  al- 
though it  implied  no  claim  to  dominion,  properly 
speaking,  was  yet  the  very  thing  which,  by  excit- 
ing envy,  became  a  snare  to  that  house  ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, that  Shechem,  as  Gideon's  heir,  will  never- 
tbeless  not  surrender  this  distinction,  but  desires 
1,0  transfer  it  to  one  of  its  own  people.  The  nar- 
rative is  throughout  of  a  tragic  cast.  Precisely 
those  things  which  should  exhort  to  greatness  and 
faithfulness,  are  shamefully  metaniorpliosed  by  sin 
into  incentives  to  treason  and  mischief  In  the 
hearts  of  the  "  loi'ds  of  Shechem,"  no  voice  of 
truth  or  justice  raises  itself  against  the  unnatural 
plan  of  Abimelech.  They  convict  him  not  of 
falsehood,  by  ])ointiug  out  that  his  brothers  do  not 
exercise  dominion,  but  support  his  project,  because 
he  is  their  brother,  and  by  him  they  will  rule.  It 
is  manifest  that  the  whole  of  Shechem  is  morally 
depraved.  As  Abimelech,  so  his  kindred  ;  and  as 
they,  so  all  the  Shechemites  were  disposed. 

Vers.  4,  5.  And  they  gave  him  seventy  sil- 
ver -  pieces  out  of  the  house  of  Baal  -  berith. 
Israel  was  forbidden  to  enter  into  covenant  [henih) 
with  the  nations  round  about  (ef  eh.  ii.  2).  The 
tirst  synijjtom  of  apostasy  among  them,  was  al- 
ways the  inclination  to  remove  the  barriers  be- 
tween themselves  and  their  heathen  neighbors. 
The  concessions  required  to  make  the  establish- 
ment of  covenant  relations  possible,  were  alto- 
gether one-sided :  it  was  always  Israel,  and  Israel 
only,  that  surrendered  any  part  of  its  faith.  The 
worshi])  of  a  Baal-berith  was  the  symbol  of  fellow- 
ship with  the  heathen,  whereby  the  comnnuul  to 
make  no  covenants  was  violated.  His  temple  was 
the  point  of  union  for  both  parties.  The  support 
of  Abimelech  in  his  undertaking  came  fit^m  all 
the  W()rshi]j])ers  uf  Baal-berith  ;  for  was  it  not  di- 
rected against  the  house  of  Jerubbaal,  the  declared 
enemy  of  Baal  ?     Such  being  its  character,  it  had 

1  Jotliain,  also,  speaks  of  Abimelech,  with  special  con- 
tempt, as  the  "son  of  the  .slave-woman"  (ver.  18). 

2  [KErL;  ''Milld  is  unquestionably  the  name  of  the  for- 
tress or  citadel  of  the  city  of  Shechem,  the  same  with  the 

vers.    46-i9.      The    word     SiVtt 


Towoi    of   Shechem 

(Millo),  as  also   the  Chaldce  SjT^^^,  '  filliuic,' sifcnifios  a 

^  T      ••   ■    '  .  7         =.  , 

rampart  formed  of  two  walls,  the  space  between  wliich  is 
'  filled  up  '  with  rubbish.  There  was  also  a  Millo  at  Jeru- 
laleui   ?  Sam.  v.  9  '  1  ligs.  \\.  1.5.     '  All  the  hou.se  of  Millo,' 


moreover  a  proper  claim  on  the  treasures  of  tlie 
temple  of  Baal-berith.  What  a  disgrace,  wlimi 
the  son  of  the  "  Baal-vanepiisher "  takes  mo«iey 
from  the  temple  of  that  same  Bnal,  for  the  jnir- 
pose  of  murdering  his  brothers  !  What  a  victory  of 
Satan  over  the  youthful  votary  of  ambition  !  And 
cheap  enough  was  the  price  of  blood.  The  idle 
rablde  who  hired  themselves  as  body-guard  to 
Abimelech,  received  a  silver-piece, )'.  e.  a  shekel,  for 
the  head  of  each  of  Gideon's  sons.  However 
vague  the  impression  we  get  of  a  piece  of  money 
in  that  age  by  computing  its  equivalent  in  our 
coin,  it  is  nevertheless  frightful  to  think  how  little 
it  cost  (scarcely  more  than  half  a  dollar),  to  pro- 
cure the  performance  of  the  most  horrible  deed. 

And  he  slew  his  brethren.  Abimelech  is  a 
perfect  type  of  the  tyrant,  as  he  frequently  apjjears 
in  Greek  history,  continental  and  insular,  and  also, 
in  more  recent  times,  on  Italian  soil.  Machiavelli 
(Prince,  ch.  viii.)  says,  that  "whoever  seizes  a 
crown,  unjustly  and  violently,  must,  if  cruelty  be 
necessary,  exercise  it  to  the  full  at  once,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  necessity  of  beginning  it  anev>'  every 
day."  In  support  of  this  maxim,  he  refers,  first 
to  Agathocles,  and  then  to  the  petty  tyrant  of 
Fermo,  Oliverotto,  who  in  order  to  become  master 
of  the  city,  caused  his  uncle,  who  was  also  his 
foster-father,  friend,  and  benefactor,  to  be  traitor- 
ously slain  at  a  banquet.  —  Only  one  escaped,  the 
youngest,  Jotham  by  name.  The  confession  of 
Jehovah,  which  this  name  of  his  youngest  son  im- 
plies, evidences  the  constant  piety  and  faithfulness 
of  Gideon,  and  confirms  our  conjecture  that  not 
he,  but  Shechem,  invented  the  name  Abimelech. 

Ver.  6.  And  all  the  lords  of  Shechem  held 
an  assembly.  Gideon's  sons  being  miuxlered,  an 
election  of  a  king  now  takes  place.  As  the  elec- 
tors, so  their  king.  The  noble  undertaking  had 
succeeded ;  the  house  of  Gideon  was  destroyed. 
What  a  contrast !  After  the  glorious  victory  over 
Midian,  Gideon,  though  urgently  besought  by  the 
men  of  many  tribes,  will  not  consent  to  continue 
to  be  even  their  imperator ;  now,  the  Shechemites 
raise  the  assassin  of  his  brothers  to  the  dignity  of 
a  king !  A  kingship  like  that  of  the  heathen  cities 
on  the  coast,  with  no  law,  but  with  plenty  of  blood, 
without  the  oil  of  consecration,  but  steeped  in  sin, 
is  thus  violently  and  vain-gloriously  set  u]i  by 
Shechem  and  its  fortress  (Beth-Millo  ^)  ;  and  that 
too,  with  a  reckless  hardihood  as  great  as  that 
which  characterized  the  preliminary  murders,  in 
a  spot  consecrated  by  sacred  memories.  There 
where  Joshua,  before  he  died  (Josh.  xxiv.  2.5,- 26), 
made  a  covenant  with  the  people  on  God's  behalf, 
where  he  had  solemnly  bound  them  to  the  observ- 
ance of  the  law,  and  where  they  had  promised  to 
obey  God  alone,  —  there,  at  the  great  stone,  set  up 
by  Joshua  under  the  oak,  two  apostate,  self-seek- 
ing cities,  stained  with  murder  and  unbelief  elect 
a  son  of  Jerubbaal.  who  sutferi'd  himself  to  be 
bought  in  the  interest  of  Baal,  to  be  their  king ! 
Forthe  coromition,  the   narrative   tells  us,   took 

place     n-^Jp  ]'^vS  DV,   at  the   monument-oak, 

are  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  citadel,  the  same  who  in  ver. 
46  are  .spoken  of  as  '  all  the  citizens  of  Mijjdol  or  the 
Tower.'  "  Bertheao  :  "  The  high  plateau  of  Mt.  Gerizira, 
by  which  the  city  (Shechem)  is  commanded,  seems  to  offer 
the  most  suitable  site  for  this  Millo,  as  it  also  did  for  later 
fortifications  (Rob.  ii.  277,278,  comp  p.  294).  This  location 
of  the  fortress,  .at  some  little  distance  from  the  city,' which 
lay  iu  the  narrow  valley,  would  explain  the  distinction  con- 
stantly maintained  in  our  chapter  between  the  inhabitants 
of  Shechem  and  the  house,  i.  e.  population,  of  Millo  or  tU« 
Tower."  —  Ta.] 


CHAPTER  IX.   1-21. 


115 


near  Sheclwm."  ^  And  though  nothing  further  is 
said  about  tlie  place,  it  may  nevertheless  he  in- 
ferred, from  the  connection  and  the  tragic  charac- 
ter of  the  occurrence,  that  the  narrator,  in  bring- 
ing its  locality  to  tiic  mind  of  the  reader,  designs 
to  make  the  shameful  character  of  the  transaction 
more  strikingly  evident,  just  as  throughout  this 
passage  he  constantly  writes  Jerubbaal,  not  Gid- 
eon, in  order  to  render  more  prominent  the  con- 
trast between  these  servants  and  that  great  victor 
of  Baal.- 

Ver.  7.  And  they  told  it  to  Jotham.  While 
the  preparations  for  the  coronation  are  in  progress, 
til.ngs  of  them  are  brought  to  Jotham,  the  last 
scion  of  the  stock  of  Gideon.  What  shall  he  do  ? 
The  whole  nation  is  fallen  into  listlessness  and  in- 
activity. The  hoiTible  massacre  has  called  forth 
no  rising.  Even  those  tribes  who  had  perhaps 
heard  of  it,  but  took  no  part  in  it,  continue  quies- 
cent. Sin  has  dulled  every  nerve  of  courage  and 
gratitude.  The  son  of  the  hero  still  receives  in- 
telligence; a' few  helpers  are  with  him  in  his 
flight ;  a  few  others  perhaps  sigh  Avith  him  in 
secret :  but  beyond  this,  he  fs  alone.  The  spirit, 
however,  of  his  father,  has  not  left  him.  While  be- 
low they  crown  the  fratricide,  he  appears  above,  on 
the  rock,  like  an  impersonation  of  conscience.  So 
the  modern  poet,  with  like  grandeur  of  conception, 
makes  Tell  appear  on  the  rock  above  the  tyrant. 
Jotliam's  arrow,  however,  is  not  sped  from  the 
fatal  bow,  but  from  a  noble  spirit.  It  is  the  arrow 
of  ])arabolic  discourse,  dipped  in  personal  grief 
and  divine  retribution,  that  he  sends  down  among 
them.  jSIount  Gerizim  was  the  mount  of  blessing 
(Dent,  xxvii.  12)  ;  but  through  the  sin  of  Shechem, 
it  becomes,  in  the  parable  of  Jotham,  a  mount  of 
judgment.  Its  present  name,  already  borne  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  is  el  Tur  (the  Mountain).  It 
rises  to  a  height  of  eight  hundred  feet  above  the 
present  Mblus  (Rob.  ii.  276).  Jotham  probably 
appeared  on  some  projecting  point,  near  enough 
to  be  heard,  and  distant  enough  to  be  not  easily 
caught. 3  Hearken  unto  me,  he  says,  and  may- 
God  hear  you.  He  wishes  them  to  hear  his  par- 
able, as  he  desires  God  (Elohim)  to  hear  the  coron- 
ation rejoicings  that  rise  tip  from  the  valley. 

Vers.  8-21.  The  parable  belongs  to  the  most  re- 
markable productions  of  Israelitish  life,  not  only 
on  account  of  its  political  significance,  but  also  for 
what  may  be  called  its  literary  character.  Fable 
and  so-called  apologue  are  of  oriental,  non-Israel- 
itish,  as  also  non-Grecian,  origin.  They  spring 
fronr  a  pantheism  in  which  trees  and  animals  fur- 
nished .symbols  for  expressing  the  popular  ideas. 
Although  rooted  in  the  religious  vivification  of 
nature,  their  employment  was  nevertheless  brought 

1   3*'^  is  most  probably  to  be  taken  as   rT2*'?D    or 

'^  [KiTTO  {Daily  Bible  Illustrations :  Moses  and  the  Judges, 
p.  365]  :  —  "It  will  occur  to  the  reader  to  ask  what  right 
the  people  of  Shechem  had  to  nominate  a  king,  by  their 
sole  authority.  In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  land  had  formerly  been  governed  by  a  number  of 
petty  kings,  ruling  over  some  strong  town  and  its  immedi- 
ate district  and  dependent  villages  ;  and  it  is  hkely  that  the 
Shechemites  claimed  no  more  than  to  appoint  Abimelech  as 
8uch  a  king  over  themselves,  assuming  that  they  for  them- 
selves, whatever  might  be  the  view  of  others,  had  a  right 
to  choose  a  king  to  reign  over  them.  Besides,  Shechem 
was  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  Ephraim  ;  and  that  proud 
and  powerful  tribe  always  claimed  to  take  the  leading  part 
In  public  affairs,  if  not  to  determine  the  course  of  the  otlier 
-rib»!S  —  except,  perhaps,  of  those  connected  with  J  udah  iu 
10 


to  maturity  by  the  pressure  of  social  necessines. 
In  the  East,  fable  and  tale  were  always  the  weap- 
ons of  mind  against  violence  and  tyranny  (cf  my 
Eddischen  Studlcn,  p.  15).  They  furnished  the 
people  with  individual  consolation  against  general 
misery.  In  their  original  appearance  among  the 
Greeks  also,  they  fn\\  not  to  exhibit  this  character. 
In  the  same  way,  Jotham  speaks  to  the  tyrants  of 
Shechem  in  this  popular  language,  which  all  un- 
derstand. He  does  not  speak  like  a  prophet,  for 
he  is  none,  and  Baal  has  stopped  the  ears  of  his 
auditors.  He  does  not  even  speak  of  the  power 
and  mighty  deeds  of  Jehovah,  from  whom  his  own 
name  is  derived.  He  speaks  of  "  Elohim  "  and 
his  retributions  —  of  the  Deity  in  the  general  sense 
in  which  the  heathen  also  acknowledge  him.  He 
speaks  altogether  in  their  language,  popularly, 
with  popular  wisdom.  But  what  a  difference  be- 
tween the  moral  strength  which  justifies  Jotham 
to  put  forth  his  parable,  and  (for  instance)  the 
motives  of  the  Greek  Archilochus.  There  we  hear 
the  wounded  vanity  of  a  rejected  suitor;  here,  one 
solitary  voice  of  indignation  and  truth  against  the 
tyrant  and  murderer.  By  this  moral  motive,  Jo- 
tham elevates  the  parable  to  the  level  of  the  divine 
word,  and  furnishes  the  first  illustration  of  how  a 
popular  form  of  discourse,  the  offspring  of  directly 
opposite  principles,  could  be  employed  for  mdral 
purposes,  and  (in  the  parables  of  Christ)  become  a 
medium  for  the  highest  doctrines  and  mj-steries. 
Jotham  gives  a  parable  and  points  out  its  applica- 
tion (from  ver.  16  onward)  ;  but  also  apart  from 
the  latter,  the  narrative  conveys  an  independent 
political  idea  with  a  force  which  has  scarcely  been 
equaled  by  any  subsequent  expression  of  it.  It 
manifests  a  political  consciousness  so  matui-e,  as  to 
surprise  one  who  looks  at  the  apparently  simple 
and  common-place  relations  of  the  time  and  peo- 
pie. 

The  trees  will  have  a  king.  No  reason  is  given, 
but  the  history  of  Israel,  to  which  reference  is  had, 
furnishes  one.  People  felt  that  in  the  dangers 
of  war,  one  common  leadership  was  important. 
They  supposed  that  their  frequent  sufferings  at  the 
hands  of  Moab  and  Midian,  were  owing  to  defects 
in  their  form  of  government.  They  would  have  a 
king,  in  order  to  be  able,  as  in  their  folly  they 
think  they  shall  be,  to  dispense  with  obedience  to 
the  commands  of  God.  Gideon  says  :  God  is  your 
Ruler.  The  apostate  people  will  fill  his  place  with 
a  king,  and  think  that  in  their  selection,  they  act 
iu  accordance  with  the  will  of  God. 

Offers  of  kingly  dignity  are  seldom  refused. 
Solon,  properly  speaking,  never  received  a  tender 
of  royalty  ;  and  Otto,  Duke  of  Saxony,  the  father 
of  Henry  I.  was  already  too  old  to  bear  such  a 

the  south.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  desire  for 
supremacy,  that  the  revolt  against  the  house  of  David  was 
organized  in  that  tribe,  and  resulted  in  the  estiiblishmeiit 
of  the  separate  kingdom  for  the  ten  tribes,  in  wliich  Epli- 
raim  had  the  chief  influence.  Indeed,  that  establishment 
of  a  separate  monarchy  was  accomplished  at  this  very  place 
where  Abimelech  is  now  declared  king.  Taking  all  this 
into  account,  it  may  seem  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the 
Shechemites  had  the  support  of  the  tribe  in  this  transac- 
tion, or  might  at  least  reckon  with  reasonable  confidence 
upon  its  not  being  withheld.  Then,  again,  a  king  chosen 
at  Shechem,  and  supported  by  this  powerful  tribe,  might 
reasonably  calculate  that  the  other  tribes  would  soon  give 
in  their  adhesion,  seeing  that,  in  the  time  of  his  father, 
their  monarchical  predilections  had  been  so  strongly  mani- 
fested."—Tr.] 

3  [Cf.  Thomson,  The  Land  and  the  Book,  ii.  209. —Tr  | 


146 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


burden  (as  Widukind  says,  Ipse  vero  quasi  jam 
gravior  annis  rcc.uschat  imp'rii  o?}us).  The  good 
trees,  liowevtr,  notwithstandiiiij^  their  strength, 
will  not  becleeted;  they  deem  the  s))ecies  of  roy- 
alty which  is  otifercd  them,  too  insigniheant  to 
warrant  the  saeritiee  of  what  they  already  possess. 
Tlie  olive  tree,  tig  tree,  and  grape-vine,  enjoy  suffi- 
cient honor,  happiness,  and  distinction,  not  to 
prefer  this  sort  of  coronation  to  their  present  ac- 
tivity. They  will  rather  continue  in  a  condition 
which  secures  their  personal  worth,  than  go  to 
'•  wave  over  the  ti'ees."  It  is  a  beautiful  image  of 
])opular  favor,  uncertain,  unequal,  affected  by  every 
wiud,  which  is  afforded  by  the  branches  of  trees, 
never  at  rest,  always  waving.  The  proffered  roy- 
alty is  dependent  on  popular  fiivor.  it  is  a  royalty 
which  must  bend  to  every  breeze,  if  it  would  avoid 
a  fall.  For  they  to  whom  the  office  is  offered,  are 
too  noble  to  u^e  the  means  necessary  to  maintain 
their  authority  when  popular  favor  deserts  them. 
They  must  first  have  lost  their  nobility  of  nature, 
before  they  can  follow  the  call  now  made  to  them. 
It  was  a  noble  king  of  recent  times,  who,  from 
.-imilar  motives,  strenuously  resisted  to  accept  what 
was  offered  him. 

It  is  very  significant  that  this  doctrine  proceeds 
from  Jotham,  the  son  of  (lideon.  He  has  his  eye, 
of  course,  on  the  refusal  of  the  crown  by  his  father  ; 
only  he  brings  the  negative  side  of  that  refusal  into 
special  prominence.  He  makes  it  evident  that 
even  then  the  fickle  and  discordant  character  of 
]jopular  favor  and  popular  will  was  thoroughly  ap- 
]irehended.  But  one  needed  to  be  the  son  of  a 
divinely  called  hero,  to  be  able  to  set  forth  with 
euttinii'  force  the  unprincipled  conduct  of  revolu- 
tionary malcontents.  Against  a  true  kingship,  as 
afterwards  established  in  Israel,  and  which  in  its 
id'M  forms  the  highest  jjerfection  of  the  theocracy, 
Jodiam  says  nothing.  The  jieople  that  applies  to 
Samuel  for  a  king,  is  a  very  different  one  from 
these  criminal  iSlieehemites,  who  attempt  to  get  a 
king  in  opposition  to  (iod  These  latter,  for  this 
reison,  can  only  use  a  king  who  has  nothing  to 
lose,  anil  is  worthy  of  them  :  whose  fit  symbol  is 
the  thorn-bush,  ^in  loves  arbitrariness  ;  therefore 
they  deserve  a  tyrant.  The  thorn-bush  is  the  type 
of  persons  who,  after  they  have  accepted  power 
oifered  by  bloody  hands,  are  qualihed  to  preserve  it 
by  bloody  means. 

The  lesthetic  beauty  of  the  parable  is  also  to  be 
noted.  Trees  afford  the  best  representation  of  a 
republic;  each  tree  has  its  own  sphere  of  action, 
and  no  one  is  in  a  position  to  exercise  any  special 
influence  over  the  others.  Whoever  among  them 
would  attempt  this  in  the  character  of  king,  must, 
so  to  speak,  leave  the  soil  in  which  he  is  planted, 
and  hover  over  them  all.  Their  will  would  then 
be  for  him,  what  otherwise  the  nourishing  earth 
is  lor  all.  Any  ])roductive  tree  would  thereby  lose 
its  fruit.  For  the  unfruitful  thorn-bush  alone,  the 
office  would  involve  no  loss.  The  fable  is  especi- 
ally beautiful  as  typical  of  Israelitish  relations. 
The  trii)es  are  all  equal.  Like  the  trees,  they  all 
receive  their  strength  from  God.  If  they  with- 
draw themselves  from  Him,  in  order  to  crown  the 
thorn -bush,  they  will  experience  that  which  issues 
from  the  thorn-bush  —  namely,  fire. 

The  ])rofouud  significance  of  the  parable  is  in- 
exhaustible. Its  truth  is  of  perpetual  recurrence. 
More  than  once  was  Israel  in  the  position  of  the 
Sheehemires;  then  especially,  when  lie  whose  king- 
dom is  not  of  this  world,  refused  to  be  a  king. 
Then,  too,  Herod  and  Pilate  became  friends.  The 
thorn-Dush  seemed  to  be  king  when  it  encircled 


the  head  of  the  Crucified.  But  Israel  experienced 
what  is  here  denounced:  a  fire  went  forth,  and 
consumed  city  and  people,  temple  and  fortress. 

And  they  said  to  the  olive-tree.  The  olive 
tree  is  already  a  king  among  trees  in  his  own 
right  ;  hence,  Columella  calls  it  "the  first  among 
trees."  His  product  is  used  to  lionor  both  "  God 
and  man."  His  oil  consecrates  "  kings  and 
priests,"  and  feeds  the  light  that  burns  in  the  sanc- 
tuary of  God.  The  olive  tree  is  the  symbol  of 
peaceful  royalty  ;  its  leaf  and  branch  are  signs  of 
reconciliation  and  peace :  hence,  Israel  in  its  divine 
glory  is  compared  to  the  "  beautiful  olive  tree " 
(Hos.  xiv.  6). 

Denying  the  request  of  the  trees,  the  olive  tree 

says  :  "  Have  I  then  lost  (^•T' /'"TpT!')  an  unusual 
form,  which  with  Keil  I  regard  as  a  sim])le  Kal) 
my  oil,  that  I  should  wave  over  the  trees  ?  " 
Has  Israel  then  lost  its  life  of  peace  in  God.  its 
sacred  anointing  through  God's  servants,  its  pious 
light  and  life  in  God's  law  ?  Has  it  grown  j»or  as 
to  its  God,  that  it  must  suffer  itself  to  be  governed 
by  heathen  arts  ?  The  product  of  the  olive  tree 
and  the  deeds  of  Abimelecli  stand  in  the  shaipest 
contrast  with  each  other. 

The  same  result  follows  an  application  to  the 
fig  tree.  This  also  is  a  symbol  of  that  divine  peace 
which  fills  the  land  when  God  governs.  The  an- 
cients believed  that  if  a  wild,  untamed  bullock 
were  fixstened  to  a  fig  tree,  he  would  become  quiet 
and  gentle  (Plutarch,  Si/mposion,  lib.  vi.  quaist.  10). 
Athens,  on  similar  symbolical  grounds,  had  a  sa- 
cred fig  tree  as  well  as  olive  tree.  In  Scripture, 
especially,  the  fig  tree  appears  as  a  symbol  of 
holy  peace,  as  the  prophet  Micali  says  (ch.  iv. 
4)  :  "  They  shall  sit  every  man  under  his  vine 
and  fig-tree,  and  none  shall  make  them  afraid." 
So  Jotham  makes  the  fig  tree  say  suggestively : 
Have  I  then  —  Israel  —  lost  the  possibility  of  sit- 
ting in  the  peace  of  God  1  Was  there  not  an  abun- 
dance of  rest  and  happiness  during  forty  years  un- 
der Gideon  ?  shall  I  surrender  all  that  in  order  to 
fall  into  the  arbitrariness  of  sin  ?  For  it  can  act 
like  Shechem  only  when  the  peace  of  God  no 
longer  exists ;  but,  in  that  case,  it  withers  away, 
like  the  fig  tree  rebuked  by  Chri.<t,  and  ceases  to 
bring  forth  fruit. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  grape-vine.  The  orientiil 
vine  attains  the  height  of  elms  and  cedars,  and  af- 
fords a  grateful  shade.  Hence  it  is  the  widely- 
diffused  symbol  of  government,  as  that  whkdi  gives 
peace  and  comfort.  "  The  mountains,"  says  the 
Psalmist  (Ixxx.  11),  "  are  covered  with  the  shadow 
of  it."  A  golden  vine  canopied  the  throne  of  the 
Persian  monarch.  Vines  of  gold  were  frequently 
presented  to  kings  in  recognition  of  their  sov- 
ereignty (ef.  my  essay,  Der  Goldene  Tliron  Sa- 
loino's,  in  WIss.  Bericht,  i.  p.  124).  A  celebrated 
golden  vine,  mention  of  which  is  nnxde  by  Tacitusi 
also,  stood  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  The 
Mishna  says  of  it:  At  the  entrance  to  the  temple 
porch  there  stood  a  golden  vine,  trained  on  |)oles; 
whenever  any  one  consecrated  anything,  he  conse- 
crated it  as  "  leaf"  or  "  grape."  Elieser  b.  R. 
Zadok  related,  that  once  it  was  so  vast,  that  300 
priests  were  necessary  to  take  it  away  (Mishna, 
Mlildot.  iii.  8). 

The  olive  tree  said  that  with  him  God  and  men 
were  "  honored ;  "  the  vine  expresses  the  same 
thing  when  he  speaks  of  the  "joy  "  which  "  God 
and  men  "  find  in  him.  Usually  all  that  is  said 
of  wine  is,  that  "  it  makes  glad  the  heart  of  man  :  " 
it  is,  however,  also  over  wine,  and  wine  only,  thai 


CHAPTER  IX.    1-21. 


147 


the  "blessing  of  God  "  is  pronounced,^  and  Mel- 
chizedck,  as  "  jjriest  of  the  Most  High  God,"  brings 
"bread  and  wine  "  (Gen.  xiv.  18).  Nevertheless, 
the  plirase  "  God  and  men,"  is  probably  to  be  re- 
f'.arded  as  proverbial,  and  as  signifying  that  wine 
eheers  all  jiersons,  not  excepting  the  highest  and 
noblest.  Since  the  Middle  Ages,  we  [Germans] 
use  the  expression  Gotl  und  die  Welt  —  God  and 
tlie  world  —  in  a  similar  manner.  Hartmann  von 
Aue  (in  his  Iwein,  ver.  262)  says:  Verkgeniu 
mlleztkeit  1st  gote  und  der  werlle  kit  (mouldering 
idleness  is  offensive  to  God  and  the  world). 

The  transition  from  the  shade-giving  vine  to 
the  thorn-bush  presents  us  with  a  very  striking  con- 
trast. It  is  indeed  in  connection  with  the  thorn- 
bush,  that  the  narrative  displays  its  nicest  shading. 

While  the  trees  say  ^/  .-  ^  to  the  olive  tree,  and 

*'  ''7"^  to  the  fig  tree  and  vine,  iinnsiial  forms  of 
tlie  imperative  which  convey,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the 
idea    of  a    respectful  petition,   they  address    the 

thorn-bush  in  common  style :  ^^^vV  T|^P.  When 
it  comes  to  calling  on  the  thorn-bush  to  be  king, 
the  respect  which  was  felt  for  the  olive  tree  and  his 
compeers,  has  no  longer  any  place.  It  may  also 
be  remarked  that  the  shady  vine  is  often  at  no 
gr.at  distance  from  the  thorn-bush.  Not  unfre- 
quently,  even  at  tliis  day,  fertile  wine-hills  in  the 
holy  land,  rejoicing  also  in  olive  and  fig  trees, 
arc  hedged  in  by  thorn-bushes  (cf.  Rosenmiiller, 
Moir/enlaiid,  on  Trov.  xv.  19). 

And  the  thorn-bush,  said:  If  you  really 
anoint  me  king  over  you.  There  lies  in  this  the 
sharpest  censure  for  the  trees.  The  thorn-bush  it- 
seU'can  scarcely  believe  that  its  election  as  king  is 

hmestly  meant  (■"^'P.^'?).  Equally  striking  is  it, 
that  Jotham  makes  the  thorn-bush  speak  of  the 
tiees  as  wishing  to  "  anoint "  him.  Anoint  with 
what';  With  oil.  But  the  "oil  tree"  has  al- 
ready refused  to  be  king  over  such  subjects  !  The 
idea  is  :  they  anoint  with  oil,  the  symbol  of  peace, 
while  they  have  murder  and  the  opposite  of  peace 
in  their  hearts.' —  The  thorn-bush  declares  his  readi- 
ness to  give  them  all  he  has.  They  are  at  liberty 
to  shelter  themselves  in  his  shadow.  But  he  gives 
no  protection  against  the  sun,  and  his  branches 
are  full  of  thorns.  In  case  of  disobedience  and 
apostasy,  he  will  cause  fire  to  go  forth,  and  with- 
out respect  of  persons  consume  all  rebels,  even  the 
cedars  of  Lebanon.  For  these  are  his  only  arts 
and  abilities  —  to  prick  and  to  bum.  ^sop  has 
a  fable  (No.  8)  which  teaches  a  similar  moral,  al- 
beit playfully  weakened.  It  treats  of  the  "  Fox 
and  the  Thorn-bush."  The  fox,  to  save  himself 
'"rom  falling,  lays  hold  of  the  thorn-bush,  and  gets 
dreadfully  torn  by  the  sharp 'needles.  In  answer 
.0  his  outcry,  the  thorn-bush  says  :  How  canst 
'hou  hope  to  lay  hold  of  me,  who  am  accustomed 
only  to  lay  hold  of  others. 

Jotham's  application  in  ver.  16  forms  a  perfect 
')ar;dlel  to  the  speech  of  the  thorn-liush  in  ver.  15. 
A  minute  explanation,  that  the  Shechemites  are 
,he  trees ;  that  the  heroes  who  heretofore  bene- 
(ited  Israel  (not  merely  Gideon,  nor  as  the  Rabbis 
think,  Othniel  and  Barak  only),  correspond  to  the 
jlive  tree  and  his  equals ;  and  that  the  thorn-bush 
means  Abimelech,  is  altogether  unnecessary.  The 
scene  which  he  delineates,  is  it  not  transpiring  be- 
fore him  in  the  valley  below  ?     All  he  needs  to  do, 

1  [The  third  cup  at  the  Passover  meal  w.is  called  the 
"  Cup  of  Blessing,'"  because  it  was  accompanied  by  a  prayer 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving.     Cf.  1  Cor.  x.  16.  — Tr.] 


is  to  call  their  attention  to  the  certainty  that  the 
threatening  of  the  thorn-bush  will  be  fulfilled  on 
them ;  for  that  is  yet  future. 

As  the  thorn-bush  says  to  the  trees,  "  If  you 
honestly  anoint  me  king,"  so  Jotham,  with  "crush- 
ing irony,  says  to  the  people  :  If  now  you  have 
acted  honestly  and  sincerely  in  making  Abime- 
lech king.  The  heathen,  as  well  as  the  worship- 
pers of  tlie  true  God,  believed  that  good  or  evil 
deeds  are  recompensed  by  good  or  evil  results. 
Even  when  the  Persian  Oroetes  unlawfully  mur- 
ders the  tyrant  Polycrates,  and  afterwards  perishes 
himself  in  a  .similar  manner,  Herodotus  (iii.  128) 
remarks  :  "  Thus  did  the  avenging  spirits  of  Poly- 
crates the  Samian  overtake  him."  It  was  main- 
tained that  the  tyrant  Agathocles  had  perished  on 
the  same  day  in  which  he  had  coTnmitted  his  hor- 
rible treason  against  his  confederate  Ophelias. 
This  belief,  prevalent  even  among  heathen,  pointed 
out  the  most  vulnerable  side  of  conscience.  Though 
they  turn  away  from  the  ■A\tiiv . of  Jehovah,  they 
will  not  be  able  to  escape  the  law  of  E/ohini,  who 
is  even  now  listening  to  their  loud  acclamations. 
If  they  think  —  such  is  the  bitter  irony  of  Jotham's 
indignant  heart  —  that  the  collective  trees  (v«r.  14, 

'-^^r??'?  ?)  '^•"^  mean  it  honestly,  when  they 
anoint  a  thorn-bush,  then  they  also,  perhaps,  acted 
"  honestly  and  sincerely"  when  they  called  Abime- 
lech their  king,  slew  the  house  of  the  hero  who 
regarded  not  his  own  life  to  save  them,  and  crowned 
the  murderer,  the  son  of  the  bondwoman.  Such 
"  honesty  and  virtue  "  will  not  fail  of  their  ap 
propriate  recompense.  The  words  of  the  thorn- 
bush  will  be  fulfilled.  The  sequel  will  show  the 
reward.  Israel  will  then  perceive  the  enormity  of 
that  which  in  its  present  state  of  moral  prostration 
it  allows  to  pass  unchallenged.  If  such  a  horrible 
deed  can  be  deemed  "good,"  he  repeats  —  and  the 
repetition  marks  the  intensity  of  his  grief —  then 
may  you  rejoice  in  Abimelech,  as  now  down  there 
in  the  valley  you  (hypocritically)  shout  for  joy  ; 
but  if  not,  then  may  you  experience  what  it  means 
to  have  the  thorn-bush  for  king !  Then  will  sin 
dissolve  what  sin  began ;  crime  will  dissever  what 
treason  bound  together.  Then  will  fire  from  the 
thorn-bush  consume  the  sinful  trees,  and  fire  from 
the  trees  the  tyrannical  king.  Thus  he  spake,  and 
thus  they  heard.  But  sin  and  excitement  drowned 
the  voice  of  conscience.  The  friendship  between 
them  and  their  king,  and  the  joy  they  felt  in  him, 
wei'e  yet  young.  Israel  kept  silence,  and  Jotham, 
the  hero's  son,  fled  to  Beer.  Where  this  place  lay, 
cannot  be  determined.  Probably  in  the  south  — 
near  the  desert,  which  would  afford  the  fugitive 
security  against  Abimelech's  persecution.  Of 
Jotham,  nothing  moi'c  is  known ;  but  from  amidst 
the  tragedy  which  throws  its  dark  shadows  over 
the  house  of  his  father,  his  discourse  sounds  forth, 
an  impeushable  call  to  repentance,  addressed  to 
the  world  in  the  language  of  the  world,  and  an  ad- 
monisher  to  kings  and  nations  of  the  certainty  of 
retribution. 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Abimelech  the  Fi-atricide.  Gideon  doubtless  ex- 
celled in  power  all  previous  Judges ;  the  deliver- 
ance wrought  out  by  him  surpassed  ail  previous 
deliverances.  This  fact  perhaps  helps  to  explain 
the  greatness  of  the  shadow  that  fell  upon  the  land 
after  his  death.  The  story  of  Abimelech  displays 
before  us  a  terrible  contrast  to  the  government  of 
Gideon.     It  exhibits  strength  attended  by  the  most 


148 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


abominable  lust  after  power,  energy  with  ungod- 
liness, victorious  talents  with  utter  criminality. 
Such  was  the  contrast  oflFered  by  Abimelech  with 
the  memory  of  his  father,  in  whom  strength  was 
united  to  humility,  energy  to  piety,  and  victory  to 
righteousness.  The  history  of  Abimelech  teaches 
that  sin  (1)  forgets  good  deeds;  and  (2)  inspires 
misdeeds;  but  also,  (3)  that  one  abomination 
punishes  another,  even  to  destruction.  If  Gideon 
had  not  taken  a  concubine,  this  miseiy  would  not 
have  come  upon  Israel !  Why  did  he  take  her, 
and  frona  Shechem,  a  city  whose  eharacterhe  must 
have  known !  Why  did  he  allow  her  son  to  be 
called  "  My  Father  is  King  ! "  The  little  weak- 
nesses of  a  great  man,  become  the  great  tempta- 
tions of  small  men.  Against  the  murderous  fury 
of  sin,  there  is  no  protection.  The  true  sons  of 
Gideon  were  peaceable.  They  were  sons  of  a 
hero,  but  not  trained  to  bloodshedding  (ch.  viii. 
20).  They  had  among  them  the  ephod,  reminder 
of  Gideon's  victory.  They  were  related  to  Abim- 
elech, related  more  closely  than  the  Shechemites; 
for  they  were  his  brothers,  and  brothers  by  such  a 
father :  but  it  availed  them  nothing.  "  Piety," 
says  the  great  poet  (Goethe),  "  is  a  close  bond,  but 
ungodliness  still  closer."  The  hand  once  lifted 
up  to  murder,  does  not  spare  its  own  brothers. 
Bloodthirstiness  beclouds  both  eye  and  heart.  It 
makes  no  distinction.  Thus,  sin  lies  lurking  at 
the  door,  until  its  victim  bids  it  enter.  Abime- 
lech's  conduct  has  found  imitatoi's  among  Chris- 
tians. The  murderous  deeds  committed  since  his 
day,  some  of  them  at  the  bidding  of  church  author- 
ities, lie  like  a  blood-cloud  over  the  face  of  his- 
tory. Only  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  can  penetrate 
through  it,  with  the  sunbeam  of  his  reconciliation. 

Abimelech  was  tyrant,  and  Jotham  must  flee. 
The  bloody  knife  reigns  and  the  spirit  which 
speaks  in  ])arables  and  lives  in  faith  is  banished. 
But  Abimelech  comes  to  shame,  smitten  by  a  des- 
perate woman  (ver.  5.3),  while  Jotham's  parable, 
like  a  winged  arrow,  pierces  all  fratricides,  from 
Abimelech  down  to  Richard  III.  of  England. 
While  Abimelech,  a  false  king,  passed  on,  bur- 
dened by  a  load  of  hatred,  Jotham  spent  his  life, 
as  befitted  a  mourner,  in  a  profound  quiet.  Seb. 
Schmidt  says,  that  "  God  knows  how  to  give  peace 
and  safety  to  those  who  innocently  become  faint- 
hearted, although  men  fail  to  espouse  their  righte- 
ous causes."  Such  is  the  ]jreaching  of  the  word 
of  God  concerning  the  world's  condition,  (1)  when 
a  Gideon  reigns;  (2)  when  an  Abimelech  rules. 
The  government  of  the  faithful  is  the  salvation  of 
all ;  and  likewise  sin  is  the  destruction  of  men,  not 
excepting  those  who  commit  it.  There  is  a  judg- 
ment.    God  is  not  mocked. 

Starke:  Those  are  ignoble  souls,  who  seek  to 
reach  an  office,  not  through  their  own  gifts  and 
virtues,  buj  through  the  favor  .and  influence  of 
their  friends.  —  The  same  :  To  lift  one's  self  up  by 
unlawful  and  sinful  means,  is  sure  to  bring  a  curse. 
The  same  :  (jood  men  are  all  alike  in  this,  that 
they  do  what  is  godly  and  righteous,  because  they 
know  well  that  "ihere  is  but  one  godliness  and  one 


righteousness.  —  The  same  :  The  unity  of  bad 
men  can  speedily  be  changed,  by  the  judgment  of 
God,  into  enmity  and  mutual  destruction.  —  Geu- 
LACH  :  Jotham  stands  forth  like  a  warning  prophet, 
who  interprets  coming  events  before  they  occur, 
and  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  sign  that  the  Lord 
has  not  left  the  faith  of  Gideon  unrewarded,  not- 
withstanding the  terrible  judgment  that  overtakes 
his  house. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  Those  that  are  most  unworthy  of 
honor,  are  hottest  in  the  chase  of  it ;  whilst  the 
consciousness  of  better  deserts  bids  men  sit  still, 
and  stay  to  be  either  importuned  or  neglected. 
There  can  be  no  greater  sign  of  unfitness,  than 
vehement  suit.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  there  be 
more  pride  or  arrogance  in  ambition.  —  The 
same  :  The  Shechemites  are  fit  brokers  tor 
Abimelech :  that  city  which  once  betrayed  itself 
to  utter  depopulation,  in  yielding  to  the  suit  of 
Hamor,  now  betrays  itself  and  all  Israel  in  yield- 
ing to  the  request  of  Abimelech.  —  The  same  : 
Natural  respects  are  the  most  dangerous  corrupt- 
ers of  all  elections.  What  hope  can  there  be  of 
worthy  superiors  in  any  free  people,  where  near- 
ness of  blood  carries  it  from  fitness  of  disposition? 
Whilst  they  say,  "  He  is  our  brother,"  they  are 
enemies  to  themselves  and  Israel.  —  The  same: 
Who  would  not  now  think  that  Abimelech  should 
find  a  hell  in  his  breast,  after  so  barbarous  and  un- 
natural a  massacre  ?  and  yet,  behold,  he  is  as  sense- 
less as  the  stone  upon  which  the  blood  of  his 
seventy  brethren  was  spilt.  Where  ambition  hath 
possessed  itself  thoroughly  of  the  soul,  it  turns  the 
heart  into  steel,  and  makes  it  incapable  of  a  con- 
science. All  sins  will  easily  down  with  the  man 
that  is  resolved  to  rise.  —  Henry  :  Way  being  thus 
made  for  Abimelech's  election,  the  men  of  Shechem 
pi'oceed  to  choose  him  king.  God  was  not  con- 
sulted, there  was  no  advising  with  the  priest,  or 
with  their  brethren  of  any  other  city  or  tribe, 
though  it  was  designed  he  should  rule  over  Israel. 

—  Scott  :  If  parents  could  foresee  their  children's 
sufferings,  their  joj^  in  them  would  be  often  turned 
into  lamentations ;  we  may  therefove  be  thankful 
that  we  cannot  penetrate  futurity,  and  are  re- 
minded to  commit  those  whom  we  most  love  into 
the  hands  of  the  Loi'd,  and  to  attend  to  our  pi"es- 
ent  duty,  casting  our  care  upon  Him,  respecting 
ourselves  and  them.  —  Bush:  The  general  moral 
of  Jotham's  parable  is,  (1.)  That  weak  and  worth- 
less men  are  ever  forward  to  thrust  themselves  into 
yjower,  while  the  wise  and  good  are  more  prone  to 
decline  it.  (2.)  That  they  who  unduly  affect  honor, 
and  they  who  unjustly  confer  it,  will  prove  sources 
of  misery  to  each  other.  —  Kitto  :  There  are  in- 
deed legitimate  objects  of  the  highest  ambition, 
and  of  the  most  exalted  aspirations.  Crowns  and 
kingdoms  lie  beneath  the  feet  of  him  who  pursues 
witii  steady  pace  his  high  career  towtird  the  city 
of  the  Great  King,  where  he  knows  there  is  laid 
up  for  him  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away 

—  a  crown  of  righteousness  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  will  bestow  upon  all  that  love  his 
appearing.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  IX.   22-30. 


149 


Discord  hetiveen  Ahimelech  and  Shechem.     The  intrigue  of  Gaal. 
Chapter  IX.  22-30. 

22  When  [And]  Abimelecli  had  [omit :  had]  reigned   [held  sway]  three  years  over 

23  Israel,  [.]  Then  [And]  God  sent  an  evil  spirit  between  Abimelech  and  the  men 
[lords]  of  Shechem  ;  and  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem  dealt  treacherously  with 

24  Abimelech  :  That  the  cruelty  [violence]  done  to  the  three-score  and  ten  sons  of 
Jerubbaal  might  come,  and  their  blood  be  laid  upon  Abimelech  their  brother  which 
slew  them,  and  upon  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem  which  aided  him  [strengthened 

25  his  hands]  in  [for]  the  killing  of  liis  brethren.  And  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem 
set  liers  in  wait  [ambuscades]  for  ^  him  in  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  they 
robbed  all  that  came  along  that  way  by  them :  and  it  was  told  Abimelech.  And 
Gaal  the  son  of  Ebed  came  with  his  brethren  [on  an  expedition],  and  went  over  to 
[passed  over  into]  Shechem:  and  the  men  [lords]  of  Shechem  put  their  confidence 
in  him.  And  they  went  out  into  the  fields,  and  gathered  their  vineyards  [held  vin- 
tage], and  trode  the  grapes,  and  made  merry  [prepared  harvest-feasts],  and  went 
into  the  house  of  their  god,  and  did  eat  and  drink,  and  cursed  Abimelech.  And 
Gaal  the  son  of  Ebed  said,  Who  is  Abimelech,  and  who  is  Shechem,  that  we  should 
serve  him  ?  is  not  he  the  [a]  son  of  Jerubbaal  ?  and  [is  not']  Zebul  his  officer  ? 
serve  the  men  of  Hamor  the  father  of  Shechem  :  for  why  should  we  serve  him  ?  ^ 
And  would  to  God  this  people  were  under  my  hand !  then  would  I  remove  Abim- 
elech. And  he  said  to  Abimelech,  Increase "  thine  army,  and  come  out.  And 
when  [omit :  when]  Zebul  the  ruler  [prefect]  of  the  city  heard  the  words  of  Gaal 
the  son  of  Ebed,  [and]  his  anger  was  kindled. 


26 


28 


29 
SO 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  25.  —  "17.    Keil  :  '  Dat,  incommodi ;  to  his  disadvantage."     Cf.  the  Commentary.  — Tb.] 

[i  Ver.  28.  —  De  Wette  :  ■'  Why  should  we  serve  him,  we?"     The  position  of  ^lin^Si  at  the  end  of  the  sentence, 
marks  the  speaker's  indignation  at  tlie  thought  of  Shechem 's  serving  a  son  of  Jerubbaal.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  29.  —  The  pronunciation   HST  (with  seghol)  is  perhaps  designed  to  give  to  the  imperative  piel  form  th« 

strengthening  effect  of  the  ending  Pf—  found  with  the  other  imperative  (nS^^),  but  of  which    71 V  verbs  do  not 
admit.     Cf.  Ewald,  Gram.  p.  511,  note.  — Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  22.  And  Abimelech  lield  sway.  The 
narrator  says  not,  "he  reigned"  (Tf_^),  nor 
"he  ruled"  (brrtt),  but  "it?'*!:  Abimelech  was 

nothinj^  but  a  '^'^'  He  is  not  acknowledged  either 
as  a  rightful  king,  or  as  a  military  chieftain  of 
Israel  :  he  is  only  a  usurper,  whom  his  adherents 
have  clothed  with  arrogated  power.  And  though 
his  authority  is  said  to  have  been  "  over  Israel," 
this  does  not  mean  that  it  extended  over  the  whole 
nation.  The  history  shows  that  his  authority  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  the  moun- 
tains of  ICphraim.  Deference  and  consideration 
were  doubtless  paid  him  in  more  extended  regions, 
for  these  no  fail  arcompll,  whether  it  be  good  or 
evil,  ever  fails  to  command. 

Ver.  23.  And  God  sent  an  evil  spirit.  Friend- 
ship among  the  wicked  is  only  a  league  of  vice 
against  others.  In  itself  it  cannot  stand.  Wick- 
edness, says  Hcsiod,  prepares  its  own  punishment. 
Abimelech,  it  seems,  ruled  three  years  in  peace. 
Plutarch,  in  his  noble  treatise  on  "the  purposes  of 
the  Deity  in  so  often  delaying  the  retribution  due 
to  crime,  finds  the  ground  of  it  in  the  wisdom  of 

1  "A  something  is  meant  which  operates  upon  the  in-   neither  a  disposition,  nor  yet  a  demon."     Hoffmann,  iScAri/l 
tellectual  nature  {das    GeisCige  Wesen)  of  man  j  therefore,    beweis,  i.  109. 


Providence,  which  knows  the  opportune  moment 
for  punishment.  Here,  as  in  other  passages  where 
he  speaks  of  unholy  men,  our  narrator  names  the 
recompensing  deity  Elohim,  not  Jehovah.  Elo- 
him  sends  the  evil  spirit  of  discord  among  them  ; 
for  the  undeviating  law  by  which  sin  punishes  it- 
self, is  grounded  in  the  very  nature  of  the  Deity. 
It  would  be  the  destniction  of  the  justice  and  truth 
of  the  divine  government,  if  worthlessness  escaped 
its  recompense.  The  moral  universe  is  so  consti- 
tuted as  to  ensure  evil  fruits  to  evil  deeds.  The 
experience  which  here  presents  itself  is  one  of  the 
most  common  in  the  history  of  states  and  individ- 
uals. It  is  the  type  of  all  unnatural. conspiracies 
against  right,  and  of  their  issue.  It  is  moreover 
demonstrative  of  the  perfect  clearness  with  which 
the  divine  government  of  the  world  is  apprehended 
in  the  Book  of  Judges,  that  the  falling  out  of  vice 
with  itself,  and  the  stopping  up  by  wickedness  of 
the  natural  sources  of  its  own  advantage,  are  rep- 
i-esented  as  the  action  of  an  evil  spirit  sent  by  Elo- 
him.^  Shechem  now  seeks  to  deal  with  Abime- 
lech, as  heretofore  it  helped  him  to  deal  with  the 
sons  of  Gideon.  Ti-eason  began,  and  treason 
ends,  the  catastrophe. 

Ver.  24.     That  the    violence    ....    might 
come    home.      The    twofold  expression    of    the 


150 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


thought,  first  by  W"127,  and  then  by  Q^!277, 
serves  to  give  it  emphasis.  The  whole  lustory  is 
related  so  fully,  only  to  show  Israel  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  retributive  justice,  —  that  sin  bears 
its  guilt  and  punishment.  Blood  comes  home  to 
murderers  as  guilt.  Who  did  ever  experience  this 
more  terribly  than  Israel  itself,  when  it  slew  Him 
who  was  more  than  Gideon  and  his  sons !  That 
which  this  narrative  exhibits  as  coming  on  Abim- 
elech  and  Shechem  in  the  course  of  three  years, 
the  history  of  the  world,  has  manifestly  fulfilled 
through  centuries  on  those  who  cried,  "  His  blood 
be  on  us  and  on  our  children  !  "  Both  are  pun- 
ished, Abimelech  and  Shechem ;  for  both  are 
equally  guilty.  So  likewise  both  Jerusalem  suf- 
fered, and  the  empire  by  which  Pilate  was  ap- 
pointed. 

Ver.  25.  And  they  laid  ambuscades  for  him. 
What  it  was  that  gave  immediate  occasion  for  dis- 
cord, is  not  communicated.  But  Shechem  found 
that  it  had  deceived  itself,  in  thinking  that  Abime- 
jech's  elevation  would  make  itself  the  virtual  ruler. 
It  had  tallen  into  the  hands  of  an  iron  despot, 
against  whom  the  cowardly  and  pleasure-loving 
Shechemites  did  not  dare  openly  to  rise.  They 
resorted  therefore  to  underhanded  sti'atagems  to 
make  him  odious.  For  the  robberies  committed 
from  places  of  concealment  become  perfectly  in- 
telligible, and  fall  moreover  into  harmonious  con- 
nection with  the  expression  ^^^?f^,  they  dealt 
treacherously"  (ver.  23),  when  they  are  regarded 
as  carried  on  by  the  Shechemites,  but  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  them  appear  to  be  ordei'ed  or 
instigated  by  Abimelech.  Through  them  he  had 
become  a  murderer ;  they  would  now  make  him 
seem  to  be  a  robber  and  highwayman.  But 
Abimelech  received  intelligence  of  the  deception. 
Henceforth,  the  peace  between  them  was  broken  ; 
and  people  such  as  are  here  portrayed,  know  very 
well  that  now  it  is  time  to  be  on  their  guard 
against  each  other. 

Vers.  26-28.  And  Gaal  Ben-Ebed  came.  An 
adventurer,  probably  a  Shechemite,  whose  name^ 
perhaps  already  expresses  the  popular  contempt 
into  which  the  braggart  subsequently  fell,  having 
come  to  the  city  with  his  followers,  the  Shechemites 
thought  that  in  him  they  had  found  a  party-leader 
who  could  ])rotect  them  against  Abimelech.  Ac- 
cordingly, they  held  their  vintage,  celebrated  their 

harvest-home  with  songs  of  rejoicing  (Q^/^vn), 
and  then  observed  the  customary  sacrificial  ban- 
quet in  the  temple  of  their  god.  The  narrative 
seeks  to  exhibit  the  dramatic  contrast  between  the 
present  jubilant  enjoyment  and  the  approaching 
terrible  issue,  the  present  boldness  and  the  subse- 
quent cowardice,  the  passing  luxury  and  the  im- 
pending death  and  destruction.  Such  sacrificial 
feasts,  particularly  as  connected  with  the  temple 
of  the  "  Covenant-God,"  were  also  known  else- 
where (cf.  Dion.  Hdlirarn.  iv.  2.5,  on  the  "  covenant- 
feast"  at  Ephesus;  cf  K.  F.  Hermann,  R.  A.  der 
Griechen,  ed.  Stark.  §  C6,  4).  Among  all  nations, 
says  Athenasus  (lib.  v.  p.  192),  every  meal  was  re- 
ferred to  God,  and  He  was  honored  with  song  and 
praise.  But  these  fcasters  in  the  temple  at 
Shechem  had  no  thought  of  religion.  To  them 
applies  what  Plutarch  says,  in  the  introduction  to 

1  [The  author,  by  writing  Ben  (Ebed)  instead  of  trans- 
lating it  as  he  did  in  the  text,  seems  to  intimate  that  tlie 
wliole   name,  Gaal  Ben-Ebed,  was  perhaps  the   expression 

of  subsequent  contempt.      Gaal,  from    ,  372,  to  abhor,  to 


his  Sijmposium :  "  when  barbarity  and  immoralit} 
betake  themselves  to  wine,  the  banquet  comes  to  a 
disastrous  end."  The  fumes  of  wine  make  these 
men  rash  and  thoughtless.  That  which  they  had 
hitherto  kept  secret,  they  now  divulge.  Maledic- 
tions against  Abimelech  make  themselves  heard. 
The  scene  enables  us  to  estimate  aright  the  polit- 
ical wisdom  of  the  Corinthian  Tyrant  Periander, 
when  he  forbade  social  feasts  to  his  opponents 
The  speech  of  the  poltroon  Gaal  is  especially  re- 
markable. The  episode  in  which  the  narrator  ac- 
quaints us  with  the  divina  judgment  on  Abimelech, 
affords  at  the  same  time  a  glance  into  the  hidden 
springs  of  political  life  in  a  city  like  Shechem. 

Let  us  serve  the  men  of  Hamor,  the  father 
of  Shechem.  The  apostasy  of  Israel,  after  the 
death  of  Gideon,  in  Shechem  took  the  form  of  a 
covenant  entered  into  with  the  remaining  heathen. 
The  contrast  between  heathenism  and  the  relig- 
ious life  of  Israel  was  founded  in  the  existence  and 
the  characters  of  national  and  local  idol  gods  over 
against  the  true  God  of  Israel.  The  covenant  be- 
tween the  heathen  and  the  apostate  Israelites  in 
Shechem,  found  its  expression  in  the  election  of 
Abimelech  as  king,  on  the  ground  that  on  the  one 
hand  he  was  Shechcm's  brother,  and  on  the  other 
Gideon's  son.  This  covenant  now  breaks  up.  The 
wine -heated  Gaal  pronounces  the  word:  even 
Abimelech  is  still  too  much  of  Israel.  "  By  what 
right,"  he  s.ays,  "  does  Abimelech  command  our 
homage  1  Is  he  not  always  still  a  son  of  Jerub- 
baal,  the  enemy  of  our  god?  "  The  reaction  of 
heathenism  must  be  made  complete.  Shechem 
must  hold  fiist  to  its  own  ancestors.  The  fauiilics 
who  trace  their  descent  from  the  heathen  Hamor 
(Gen.  xxxiv.)  i.  e.  those  who  desire  to  banish  all 
Israelitish  traditions,  must  be  the  masters !  The 
offspring  of  Hamor,  the  heathen  progenitor,  must 
not  serve  the  descendants  of  Jacob  !  When  the 
Tyrant  of  Sicyon  ^  sought  to  throw  off  the  influ- 
ence of  Argos,  he  expelled  from  the  city  the  wor- 
ship of  Adrastus,  the  primitive  Argive  hero.  That 
was  his  way  of  declaring  himself  independent. 

Is  he  not  a  son  of  Jerubbaal  P  and  is  not 
Zebul  his  overseer?  Zebul,  who  in  ver.  30  is 
called  the  "  prefect  of  the  city,"  was  not  of  the 
party  who  now  feasted.  He  evidently  belonged  to 
the  Israelites,  who,  though  they  had  made  a  cove- 
nant with  the  heathenism  of  Shechem,  were  not 
willing  to  serve  the  children  of  Hamor.  He  be- 
longed to  the  upper  fiimilies  of  the  city ;  and  Gaal 
in  his  drunken  audacity,  disci- )ses  the  idea  that  he 
also  must  be  overthrown,  "because  Abimelech's 
tool." 

Vers.  29,  30.  Verse  29  giv<  s  the  further  speech 
of  Gaal  in  a  very  vivid  and  forcible  manner.  "  O 
that  some  one  would  give  this  people  into  my 
hands!  then  would  I  quickly  remove  Abime- 
lech! That  is  directed  against  Zebul.  What 
Gaal  means,  is,  that  if  he  were  prefect  of  the  city, 
as  Zebul  is,  he  would  make  short  work  with  Abiui- 
elech. 

And  he  said  to  Abimelech,  Increase  thine 
army,  and  come  out.  Gaal  does  not  actually  say 
this  to  Abimelech,  nor  does  he  cause  it  to  be  said 
to  him,  as  many  expositors  think,  for  Abimelech 
hears  of  it  for  the  first  time  through  Zebul.  It  is 
only  an  animated  apostro])he  to  Abimelech,  in 
which  Gaal   boastingly  challenges  Abimelech  to 

loathe,  means  loathing,  Gesenius,  Lex.;  Ben-Ebed,  Son  of 
a  Slave.  Cf.  ver.  18,  where  Jtithani  speaks  of  Abimelech  as 
a  son  of  Gideon"s  bondwoman.  —  Tr.J 

2  [Ciisthenes.  See  Herod.,  v.  67,  and  Qrote,  Hist,  cf 
Greece,  iii.  33,  seq.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  IX.   31-41. 


151 


prepare  himself  as  if  he  were  present.  The  in- 
tial)itant.s  of  Sliechem,  between  tlieir  potations, 
doubtless  upijlaiided  Gaal,  which  had  the  usual 
t'tf^'cr  of  emboldening  the  wine-heated  orator.  But 
this  drunken  jubilation  resulted  in  the  ruin  of 
Sheehem ;  for  it  reached  the  cars  of  Zebul.  His 
anger  kindled ;  for  his  own  overthrow,  he  learned, 
was  to  be  connected  with  that  of  Abimelech. 

The  narrative,  in  its  admirable  simplicity,  allows 
us  clearly  to  trace  the  advancing  progress  of  that 
fatal  destiny,  in  which  secret  treachery  and  open 
dissipation,  boasting  and  jealousy,  conspire  to- 
gether to  precipitate  a  righteous  doom  ujjon  the 
city. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  The  yjrosperity  of  the  wicked  is  but 
short  and  tickle.  A  stolen  crown,  though  it  may 
look  fair,  cannot  be  made  of  any  but  brittle  stutf. 
All  life  is  uncertain ;  but  wickedness  overruns 
mxture.  —  The  same  :  It  had  been  pity  that  the 
ShAhemites  should  have  been  plagued  by  any 
othci  hand  than  Abimelech's.  They  raised  him 
unjustly  to  the  throne ;  they  are  the  first  that  feel 
the  weight  of  his  sceptre.     The  foolish  bird  limes 


herself  with  that  which  grew  from  her  own  excre- 
tion. Who  wonders  to  see  the  kind  peasant  stunf 
with  his  own  snake  ?  —  The  same  :  How  could 
Abimelech  hope  for  fidelity  of  them,  whom  he  had 
made  and  found  traitors  to  his  father's  blood  ?  No 
man  knows  how  to  be  sure  of  him  that  is  uncon- 
scionable. He  that  hath  been  unfaithful  to  one, 
knows  the  way  to  be  perfidious,  and  is  only  fit  for 
his  trust  that  is  worthy  to  be  deceived ;  whereas 
faithfulness,  beside  the  present  good,  lays  aground 
of  further  assurance.  The  friendship  that  is  be- 
gun in  evil  cannot  stand :  wickedness,  both  of  its 
own  nature  and  through  the  curse  of  God,  is  ever 
unsteady.  —  The  same  :  If  the  men  of  Sheehem 
had  abandoned  their  false  god  with  their  false 
king,  and  out  of  a  serious  remorse  and  desire  of 
satisfaction  for  their  idolatry  and  blood,  had  op- 
posed this  tyrant,  and  preferred  Jotham  to  his 
throne,  there  might  have  been  both  warrant  for 
their  quarrel,  and  hope  of  success;  but  now,  if 
Abimelech  be  a  wicked  usurper,  yet  the  Shechem- 
ites  are  idolatrous  traitors.  —  The  same:  When 
the  quarrel  is  betwixt  God  and  Satan,  there  is  no 
doubt  of  the  issue ;  but  when  one  devil  fights  with 
another,  what  certainty  is  there  of  the  victory  ?  — 


Abimelech  appears  before  Sheehem.    GaaVs  defeat  and  expulsion. 
Chapter  IX.    31-41. 


31  And  lie  sent  messengers  unto  Abimelech  privily,  saying,  Behold,  Gaal  the  son 
of  Ebed,  and  his  brethren,  be  come  to  Sheehem ;  and  behold,  they  fortify  [excite] 

32  the  city  against  thee.     Now  therefore  np  by  night,  thou,  and  'the   people  that  is 

33  with  thee,  and  lie  in  wait  in  the  field :  And  it  shall  be,  that  in  the  morning,  as  soon 
as  the  sun  is  up,  thou  shalt  rise  early,  and  set  [move]  upon  the  city ;  and  behold, 
when  [omit :  when]  he  and  the  people  that  is  with  him  [will]  come  out  against 
[to]  thee,  [and]  then  mayest  [shalt]  thou  do  to  them  as   thou  shalt  find  occasion. 

34  And  Abimelech  rose  up,  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him,  by  night,  and  they 

35  laid  wait  against  [near]  Sheehem  in  four  companies.  And  Gaal  the  son  of  Ebed 
went  out,  and  stood  in  the  entering  [at  the  entrance]  of  the  gate  of  the  city :  and 
[lo  i]  Abimelech  rose  up,  and  the  people  that  loere  with  him,  from  lying  in  wait 

36  [from  their  place  of  ambush].  And  when  [omit :  when]  Gaal  saw  the  people,  [and] 
he  said  to  Zebul,  Behold,  there  come  people  down  from  the  top  [tops]  of  the  moun 
tains.     And  Zebul  said  unto  him,  Thou  seest  the  shadow  of  the  mountains  as  if 

37  tliey  were  men.  And  Gaal  spake  again,  and  said,  See,  there  [also]  come  people 
down  by  the  middle  [from  the  height]  of  the  land,  and  another  [one]  company  come 
along  by  the  plain  of  Meojienim  [cometh  from  the  way  of  the  Magicians'  Grovel. 

38  Then  said  Zebul  unto  hiin,  Where  is  now  thy  mouth,  wherewith  thou  saidst,  Who 
is  Abimelech,  that  we  should  serve  him  ?  is  not  this  the  people  that  thou  hast  ^les- 

39  pised  ?  go  out,  I  pray  now,  and  fight  with  them.     And  Gaal  went  out  before  [at 

40  theheariof]  the  men  [lords]  of  Sheehem,  and  fought  with  Abimelech.  And  Abime- 
lech chased  him,  and  he  fied  before  him,  and  many  were  overthrown  and  wounded 

41  [many  fell  slain],  even  unto  the  entering  [entrance]  of  the  gate.  And  Abimelech 
dwelt  [remained]  ^t  Arumah  :  and  Zebul  thrust  out  Gaal  and  his  brethren,  that 
they  should  not  dwell  in  Sheehem. 


EXEQETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 
Ver.   31,    And  he  sent  secretly,     H^'ina- 
Althotigh,  the  form   nn"]n  (cf.  rT^tt'iri)  is  an 


unusual  one,  the  connection  suggests,  not  the  name 
of  a  place,  but  the  fiict  that  Zebul,  though  "  prefect 
of  the  city,"  concealed  his  measure  from  the  citi- 
zens.    The  messengers  whom  he  sent  must  have 


152 


THE  BOOK   or  JUDGES. 


gone  "secretly"  (as  the  Sept.  and  Targum  trans- 
late), since  Gaal  had  not  learned  of  their  going 
(ver.  36).  How  were  such  intercourse,  as  ver.  36 
implies,  possible  between  Zcbul  and  Gaal,  if  Zebul's 
cooperation  with  Abinielech  against  Gaal  hud  been 
publicly  known  7  Nor  is  Zebul  to  be  regarded  as 
one  of  Abimclech's  generals,  but  as  a  Sliecheiuite 
magistrate,  who  is  incensed  because  Gaal  plots  his 
own  overthrow.      It  may  be  confidently  assumed 

that  if  n^~!Jp  were  the  name  of  a  place,  ver.  34 

would  read :  "  And  Abimelech  rose  up,    rTD'Hj^ZS, 

from  Tormah."  H^nri,  however,  conveys  not 
only  the  idea  of  secrecy,  but  of  secrecy  combined 
with  deceit,  secret  deceit;  and  such  was  certainly 
the  character  of  Zebul's  act.^  It  is  also  to  be  no- 
ticed that  in  his  me  sage  Zebul  docs  not  accuse  the 
city,  but  only  Gaal  as  exciting  the  city  against 
Abimelech.  As  magistrate,  he  does  not  wish  to 
bring  the  wrath  of  Abimelech  upon  the  city,  but 
only  upon  his  rival.  Very  gi-aphie  is  the  expres- 
sion C~^^)  commonly  used  of  besiegers.  Gaal 
and  his  brLthren,  says  Zebul,  ]jress  the  city  like  be- 
sieL,''ers,  to  induce  it  to  rise  against  thee.  Their 
expulsion  is  therefore  all  that  is  necessary.  But 
since  this  is  not  the  whole  truth  —  for  Shechem,  as 
we  have  seen,  first  elected  Gaal  because  it  had  al- 
ready offended  against  Abimelech  —  it  is  evident 
that  Zebul's  policy  of  exciting  Abimelech  against 
Gaal  only,  is  dictated  by  regard  to  his  own  inter- 
ests. 

Vers.  32-41.  And  move  upon  the  city.  The 
place  of  Abimelech's  abode  is  not  given  ;  but  he 
was  in  the  midst  of  his  army.  He  must  have  been 
some  distance  from  Shechem,  since  he  needed  a 
part  of  the  night  (ver.  32)  to  get  within  easy  reach 
of  it.  He  is  to  place  himself  in  ambush,  so  as  not 
to  be  prematurely  observed.  Abimelech  follows 
the  counsel.  In  the  morning,  Gaal  and  Zebul 
naturally  betake  themselves  to  the  gate  of  the  city  : 
Gaal,  because  it  h;id  become  his  business  to  watch 
over  Shechem ;  Zebul,  because  of  his  office  as 
magistrate.  Gaal,  who  has  no  misgivings  —  for 
he  has  slept  away  the  effects  of  the  wine  —  sees 
troops  descending  from  the  mountains,  Zebul  thinks 
it  yet  too  soon  to  tell  him  the  truth  ;  he  will  give 
Abimelech  time  first  to  bring  up  all  his  forces ; 
and  therefore  deceives  and  at  the  same  time  mocks 

1  [KEa  :     "  na~in2  :  either  with  deceit    (na"in, 
T   :  T  :  T    :  T  ' 

from  riD^).  i.  c.  exercising  deceit,  inasmuch  as  he  had 

T    t" 
listened   quietly  and   apparently  with  approbation    to  the 
speech  of  Gaal ;  or,  in   Tormah,  —  noting  a  locality,  —  in 

which  case  77X3"^]^   would  be  an  error  of  transcription  for 
T  :  T 

*1D1M  =  nX2^1S  (ver  41).     The  LXX.  and  the  Tar- 


Gaal  by  saying,  "  It  is  the  shadow  of  the  moun- 
tains that  thou  seest."  Immediately,  however,  a 
body  of  troops  is  seen  advancing  whose  identity  as 
such  cannot  be  mistaken.  By  the  "  tops  of  the 
mountains "  we  are  to  understand  the  more  dis- 
tant mountains ;  by  the  "  height  ("1^2^)  of  the 
land,"  a  nearer  hill,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  city  (the  "navel"  of  the  land);  and  by  the 
"  Elon  Meonenim,"  a  dusky  forest  ("Magicians' 
Grove  "),  against  the  near  horizon.  From  all  these 
points,  conunanding  the  avenues  to  the  city,  troops 
of  soldiers  advanced,  to  the  consternation  of  Gaal 
and  the  surprise  of  the  citizens.  Now  Zebul  throws 
off  his  mask,  and  reminds  Gaal  of  his  previous  au- 
dacity. The  latter  is  compelled  to  try  his  fortunes 
in  battle.  At  the  head  of  the  "  lords  of  Shechem," 
he  marches  out  against  Abimelech.  But  he  is  far 
from  being  a  match  for  him.  He  is  utterly  unable 
to  stand  his  ground.  A  terrible  rout  begins. 
Gaal  saves  himself  through  the  open  gate  ;  but  the 
road,  up  to  the  very  threshold  of  the  gate,  is  cov- 
ered with  the  slain.  His  boasting  has  a  miserable 
end.  His  authority  is  gone.  Zebul,  who  pre- 
viously did  not  dare  insist  on  his  expulsion,  now 
carries  it  through.  He  persuades  the  timid  and 
terrified  Sheehemites  that  they  will  thus  allay  the 
anger  of  Abimelech.  He  believes  it  himself;  for 
he  has  carefully  thrown  the  whole  blame  on  Gaal. 
Abimelech's  conduct  seems  to  favor  this  persua- 
sion ;  for  he  does  not  prosecute  the  attack,  but  re- 
tires to  Arumah.-  But  what  a  delusion !  The 
banished  Gaal  is  the  only  one  who  escapes  destruc- 
tion. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  Never  any  man  was  so  ill,  as  not 
to  have  some  favorers  :  Abimelech  hath  a  Zebul 
in  the  midst  of  Shechem.  Lightly  all  treasons 
are  betrayed,  even  with  some  of  their  own. — 
Henry:  Proud  and  haughty  people  are  often 
made,  in  a  little  time,  to  dread  those  whom  they 
had  most  desjascil.  Justly  are  the  insolent  thus 
insulted  over.  —  The  same:  Most  people  judge 
of  men's  fitness  for  business  by  their  success,  anc 
he  that  docs  not  speed  well,  is  concluded  not  to  dc 
well.  Gaal's  interest  in  Shechem  is  soon  at  an 
end,  nor  do  we  ever  hear  of  him  any  more.  — 
Tr.] 

gum  take  the  word  as  a  common  noun  :  ei'  Kpvtl>fj,  secretly  , 
so  Rasehi,  and  most  of  the  older  expositors,  while  R.  Kim- 
chi,  the  Klder,  decides  for  its  being  a  nom.  propr.  No 
certain  decision  can  be  arrived  at."  —  Tr.] 

2  The  site  of  Arumah  cannot  be  definitely  determined. 
The  probability,  however,  is  that  it  was  .somewhere  on  the 
hills,  not  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Shechem,  but  yet 
near  enough  for  the  sudden  assault  on  Shechem  which  fol- 
lowed. 


The  destruction  of  Shechem,  and  hurning  of  the  "  Tower  of  Shechem."   The  siege 
of  Thehez,  and  Abinielech^ s  death. 

Chapter  IX.     42-57. 


42  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  the  people  went  out  into  the  field  ;  and 

43  they  told  Abimelech.  And  he  took  the  [/.  e.  his]  people,  and  divided  them  into  three 


CHAPTER  rX.     42-57.  153 


companies,  and  laid  wait  in  the  field,  and  looked,  and  behold,  the  peojile  were  come 
[coming]   forth  out  of  the  city ;  and  he  rose  up  against  them,  and  smote  them. 

44  And  Abimelech,  and  the  company  [companies]  that  was  [were]  with  him,  rushed 
forward,^  and  stood  [placed  themselves]  in  the  entering  [at  the  entrance]  of  the 
gate  of  the  city:  and  the  two   othe7-  companies  ran  [advanced]  upon  all  the  people 

45  that  were  in  the  fields,  and  slew  them.  And  Abimelech  fought  against  the  city  all 
that  day ;  and  he  took   the  city,  and  slew  the  people  that  was  therein,  and  beat 

46  [tore]  down  the  city,  and  sowed  it  with  salt.  And  when  all  the  men  [lords]  of  the 
tower  of  Shechem  heard  that,  they  entered  into  an  [the]  hold  -  of  the  house  of  the 

47  god  Berith   [house  of  El-Berith].     And  it  was  told  Abimelech,  that  all  the  men 

48  [lords]  of  the  tower  of  Shechem  were  gathered  together  [there].  And  Abimelech 
gat  him  up  to  Mount  Zalmon,  he  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him  ;  and  Abim- 
elech took  an  axe  in  his  hand,  and  cut  down  a  bough  from  the  trees,  and  took  it 
[lifted  it  up],  and  laid  it  on  his  shoulder,  and  said  unto  the  jaeople  that  were  with 

49  him,  What  ye  have  seen  me  do,  make  haste,  and  do  as  I  have  done.  And  all  the 
people  likewise  cut  down  [off]  every  man  liis  bough,  and  followed  Abimelech,  and 
put  them  to  the  hold,  and  set  the  hold  on  fire  upon  ^  them  :  so  that  [and]  all  the 

50  men  of  the  tower  of  Shechem  died  also,  about  a  thousand  men  and  women.  Then 
went  Abimelech  to  Thebez,  and  encamped  against  [laid  siege  to]  Thebez,  and  took  it. 

51  But  there  was  a  strong  tower  within  [in  the  midst  of]  the  city,  and  thither  fled  all 
the  men  and  women,  and  all  they  [the  lords]  of  the  city,  and  shut  it  to  [after]  them, 

52  and  gat  them  up  to  the  top  [roof]  of  the  tower.  And  Abimelech  came  unto  the 
tower,  and  fought  against  it,  and  went  hard  [approached]  unto  the  door  of  the  tower 

53  to  burn  it  with  fire.  And  a  certain  woman  cast  a  piece  of  a  [cast  an  upper]  mill- 
stone upon  Abimelech's  head,  and  all  to  [omit :  all  to]  *  brake  his  skidl  ^  [to  pieces]. 

54  Then  he  called  hastily  unto  the  young  man  his  armour-bearer,  and  said  unto  him, 
Draw  thy  sword,  and  slay  me  [put  me  to  death],  that  men  say  not  of  me,  A  woman 

55  slew  him.  And  his  young  man  thrust  him  througli,  and  he  died.  And  when  the 
men  of  Israel  saw  that  Abimelech  was  dead,  they  departed  every  man  unto  his 

56  phxce.     Thus  God  rendered  [caused  to  return]  the  wickedness  of  Abimelech,  which 

57  he  did  unto  his  father,  in  slaying  his  seventy  brethren  :  And  all  the  evil  of  the 
men  of  Shechem  did  God  render  [cause  to  return]  upon  their  heads :  and  upon 
them  came  the  curse  of  Jotham  the  son  of  Jerubbaal. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

p  Ver.  44.  —  ^tilTQ  :  spread  out,  sc.  in  hostile  array.  The  same  word  occurs  ver.  33  ;  and  in  both  places  seems  to 
contrast  the  expanded  form  of  a  body  of  men  freely  advancing,  with  its  contraction  when  lying  in  ambush.  The  verse 
is  somewhat  difficult.  Dr.  Cassel  renders  it  as  follows  :  ''And  Abimelech  and  the  companies  that  were  with  him,  spread 
themselves  out.  Part  stood  [took  their  stand]  at  the  entrance  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  two  companies  threw  them- 
selves on  all  that  were  in  the  field,  and  slew  them."  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  46.  —  n^"1!i.-  The  meaning  of  this  word  is  doubtful.  Our  author  renders  it  Halle  ,•  De  Wette,  Veste,  strong 
hold  ;  Keil  suggests  Zwinger  (cf.  arx,  from  arceo),  citadel,  fortress  ;  while  according  to  Bertheau,  ver.  49  (where  he  would 
render  :  and  they  put  the  boughs  on  the  H'^'^!?,  and  infer  thence  that  the  place  bearing  this  name  was  low),  "  rather 
implies  a  cellar-like  place,  some  sort  of  hollow.  Cf.  1  Sam.  xiii.  6,  thte  only  other  passage  where  the  word  occurs,  and 
where  it  is  conjoined  with  caves  and  clefts  of  the  rocks."  — Ta.] 

[3  Ver.  49. —  DH^^V  :   Cassel,   "witli  them,"  i.  c.   the   boughs.     But  this  rendering  will  scarcely  find  favor.    De 

Wette:  "over  them."  (.  e.  the  people  in  the  rT^"!^.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  53.  —  "  All  to  brake,"  is  old  English  for  "'entirely  brake."     Cf.  Webster,  Diet.,  under  «  all,"  adv.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  53.  —  iribsbS,  from  nVsbS,  is  undoubtedly  to  be  read  irivS/!!,     which  reading,   according  to  Bet 

theau  and  Keil',  is  found  in  the  edition  of  R.'  Norzi,  Mantua,  1742-44.  —  Tr.] 


exigetical  and  doctrinal. 

A'crs.  42-44.  The  people  went  out  into  the 
Geld.  Sin  is  blind,  and  must  he,  for  only  rejient- 
ance  o])ens  the  eyes.  The  jjeople  of  Shechem,  not- 
withstanding their  treasonable  ])raetices,  actually 
hink  that  the  matter  is  now  settled,  and  that  Abim- 
elech is  content  with  the  banishment  of  Gaal.  It 
is  a  constant   characteristic  of  the  natural  man, 


to  silence  it  by  persuading  himself  that  the  guilt  to 
which  he  shuts  his  own  eyes  is  also  unseen  by 
others.  He  thinks  only  of*  sin  and  its  ])leasure, 
not  of  its  punishment.  The  Shechemites  have  for- 
gotten, to  their  own  hurt,  what  Jotham  told  them. 
The  thorn-bush  emits  fire,  and  consumes  those  who 
despise  it.  Abimelech  only  tarries  in  his  concealed 
height,  until  he  has  inspired  the  foolish  Shechem- 
ites with  confidence.     With  true  Punic  stratesj 


that  t\e  9^ther  does  not  hear  his  conscience,  or  seeks  he  allures  them  to  the  open  fields,  th^so,  to  attend 


154 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


to  tlieir  labor,  as  if  all  were  peace,  and  nothing 
more  were  to  be  feared.  Caught  in  the  snare, 
their  retreat  is  cut  off.  One  of  Abimeli'ch'.s  com- 
panies holds  the  gate,  while  others  deal  destruction 
to  all  in  the  lields.  Similar  strategies  are  told  of 
Ilaniilcar,  the  Carthaginian,  against  Agrigentum, 
and  of  Hannibal  against  Saguntum  (Frontinus, 
lib.  iii.  10,  1). 

Ver.  45.  He  destroyed  the  city  and  sowed  it 
with  salt.  Notwithstanding  Abimclech's  sangui- 
nary disposition,  it  would  be  difficult  to  account  for 
his  savage  treatment  of  Shechcm,  if  we  did  not 
remember  that  the  city  stood  in  the  covenant  of 
Baal-berith  with  him.  The  very  money  that  as- 
sisted him  to  the  throne,  had  been  taken  from  the 
temple  of  this  god.  Now,  among  oriental  nations, 
as  among  others,  infidelity  to  covenant  obligations 
was  the  greatest  of  crimes.  The  God  of  Israel, 
also,  who  made  his  divine  covenant  with  the  nation, 
says  ( Dcut.  iv.  2.3)  :  "  Take  heed  unto  yourselves, 
lest  ye  forget  the  covenant  of  Jehovah  your  God, 
which  he  made  with  you.  For  Jehovah  your  God 
is  a  consuming  fire,  a  jealous  God."  He  utters 
the  threat  (Lev.  xxvi.  25):  "I  will  bring  the 
sword  upon  you,  that  shall  avenge  the  quarrel  of 
my  covenant."  In  the  book  of  the  prophet  Ezek- 
iel  (ch.  x\ii.  15)  we  read:  "  He  hath  broken  the 
covenant,  and  shall  he  be  delivered  ;  " 

This  covenant  with  Jehovah,  Abimelech  has 
desecrated  in  the  most  horrible  manner.  Does  he 
fear  no  ]iuni>hinent  for  that  transgression  1  But 
the  natural  man,  who  lightly  breaks  the  covenant 
of  his  God,  nevertheless  claims  the  terrible  right 
of  punishing  those  who  have  failed  in  duty  toward 
himself,  with  a  severity  greater  than  that  threat- 
ened by  God.  The  breach  of  a  covenant  born 
of  blood  and  sin,  is  visited  with  vengeance  like 
a  "  consuming  fire."  '  Shechem  is  razed  to  tlie 
ground,  and  salt  is  strewn  over  its  site.  The 
usual  explanation  of  this  proceeding,  of  which  no 
other  instance  occurs,'-  is,  that  by  it  Abimelech  in- 
tends  to  declare    Shechem  an   unfruitful  land,  a 

land  of  salt,  as  it  were  (nn^p).  But  this  expla- 
nation, although  accepted  by  all  recent  expositors, 
does  not  appear  to  be  satisfactory.  For  to  make 
the  land  unfruitful,  he  neither  intends,  nor,  if  he 
did,  were  he  able  ;  for  no  one  will  think  of  such  a 
salting  as  would  actually  bring  about  this  result.'-^ 
He  can  only  intend  to  say,  that  this  city,  being  un- 
faithful to  its  covenants,  and  forgetful  of  its  oaths, 
has  ceased  to  exist,  and  is  never  more  to  be  known 
as  a  city.  When  Joshua  inflicted  a  similar  de- 
struction on  .Jericho,  he  swore  that  it  should  never 
be  rebuilt  (Josh.  vi.  26).  Abimelech  makes  the 
same  declaration  in  the  act  of  strewing  salt;  for 
salt  is  the  symbol  of  an  oath,  just  as  among  all  na- 
tions, not  excepting  the  dull  tribes  of  Siberia,  it 
was  the  symbol  of  covenants.  The  salt  which  he 
strewed  over  Shechem  intimated  both  the  cause 
and  the  perpetuity  of  the  vengeance  inflicted.  A 
fate  still  worse,  but  less  deserved,  was  suffered  by 

1  [In  Scripture,  the  author  means,  of  course.  The  fol- 
lowing iu.stance.s  in  conipanitively  recent  times,  probably 
mere  imitations  of  what  from  this  p.igsage  is  usually  a.ssunied 
to  have  been  an  ancient  custom,  are  noted  by  Wordsworth  : 
"  When  .Milan  was  t  lUen  in  A.  D.  1162,  it  w,as  sown  with 
salt  (W/?h;i/»s)  ;  an  1  tlie  house  of  Admiral  Coligny,  mur- 
dered in  the  nias.^acre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  a.  d.  1,572,  was. 
by  the  command  of  Charles  IX.,  king  of  France,  sown  with 
Bait."  — Til.] 

■i  [Wordsworth  does  however:  "  Sowed  it  with  gait,  to 
destroy  its  ferlility,  and  to  make  it  b;irren  for  ever,  like 
Solom,  comp.  I'iiny,  xxxi.  7."  But  this  idea  is  not  at  all 
auces3ar,\  to  the  common  e.xplann'ion  (as  given  by  Bertheau, 


the  descendiints  of  the  Milesian  Branchidye  whc 
had  betrayed  the  treasures  of  the  temple  of  Ajiollo, 
at  Didymi,  into  the  hands  of  Xerxes,  and  had  ob- 
tained through  him  a  city  in  Persia.  Alexander, 
coming  upon  this  city,  gave  it  up  to  the  vengeance 
of  the  Milesians  in  his  army.  These  destroyed  it 
to  its  ve^y  foundations,  killed  all  the  inhabitants, 
so  that  not  a  trace  of  them  remained,  and  tore  up 
the  groves  by  their  roots,  so  that,  as  Curtius  says 
(vii.  5,  34),  "  vasta  solitudo  et  sterilis  liunnts  linqnere- 
tur."  Shechem's  destruction  was  nof  so  bad  as 
that :  antl  it  was  aftervvards  rebuilt  (1  Kgs.  xii.  25). 
Vers.  46-49.  And  the  lords  of  the  Tower  of 
Shechem  heard  of  it.  Still  more  cowardly  than 
that  of  the  Shecliemites,  is  the  conduct  of  the 
men  of  the  Tower  of  Shechem.  They  venture  no 
resistance  at  all,  but  run  for  safety  to  the  temple- 
asylum  of  El-Bcrith.  The  House  of  El,  here  men- 
tioned, cannot  well  l)e  the  same  with  the  House 
of  Baal  hitherto-spoken  of.  The  matter  pi'ohably 
staiuls  thus  :  Under  the  covenant  entered  into  by 
Israel  and  the  heathen,  both  parties  served  the 
Covenant-Deity,  the  Israelites  in  the  temple  of  El- 
Berith,  the  heathen  in  that  of  Baal-Berith.  Aside 
from  this  difference  of  locality,  tlie  worship  was 
perhaps  identical ;  and  the  covenant  itself  was  al- 
ready a  sin.  It  would  however  bo  an  error,  to 
suppose  that  during  such  times  of  apostasy  all  dis- 
tinction between  Israel  and  the  heathen  ceased  to 
exist.  Abimelech  still  continued  to  be  an  Israel- 
ite ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Tower  of  Shechem 
])robably  expected  to  find  greater  security  in  the 
House  of  El-Berith  than  could  be  looked  for  in 
the  asylum  of  a  wholly  heathen  temple.  The  place 

to  which  they  retired,  is  called  H'^H''',  and  is  prob- 
ably a  hall  of  the  temple  ^  (like    -'^'^Uj    used   to 

denote  a  special  part  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem). 
The  sanctuary  privileges  of  temples  were  very 
great  among  all  nations  ;  and,  as  is  well  known 
with  reference  to  the  temple  at  Ephesus,  were  not 
seldom  misused.  In  order  to  destroy  Pausanias 
without  violating  the  rights  of  sanctuary,  the  doors 
of  the  temple  of  Minerva,  at  Sparta,  in  which  he  had 
taken  refuge,  were  built  up,  and  the  roof  taken  off 
"that  under  the  open  sky  he  might  more  quickly 
perish"  (Corn.  Nejtos,  Pans-  ch.  5).  Abimelech  re- 
sorted to  more  terril)le  means.  He  ascended  the 
neighboring  wooded  hill,  MountZalmon — so  named 
from  its  forest  shades,  —  and  ht'\ved  off  a  multitude 
of  boughs,  himself  being  the  first  to  swing  the  axe. 

(The  plural,  ni^l^P,  stands  for  all  the  axes  that 

were  used.)  These'boughs  were  piled  up  about 
the  building,  and  all  its  inmates  j)erisln'd  in  the 
flames.  A  like  deed  is  related  by  Herodotus  (iv. 
164)  of  Arcesilaus  :  a  number  of  Cyrenaians  hav- 
ing taken  refuge  in  a  tower,  he  heaped  wood 
around  it,  and  burned  them  to  death.  It  is  a 
species  of  violence  which,  especially  among  the 
northern  nations,  has  been  practiced  oftener  than 

Keil,  Bush)  that  the  act  was  designed  symbolically  to  turn 
the  city  into  a  .sait.de.sert.  Our  author's  explanation  does 
not  conflict  with  that  of  his  predecessors,  but  rather  com- 
pletes it.  —  Tn.] 

3  The  extent  of  the  temple  building  which  this  implies 
is  not  unparalleled.  Tlie  temple  of  Diana  in  Samos  was 
so  large  as  to  afford  sanctuary  to  the  300  Clorcvra'an  boy« 
whom  Periander  dispatched  to  Alyathes,  king  of  Lydia,  foi 
eunuchs,  and  yet  leave  room  for  choirs  of^  Samian  youth  t« 
execute  certain  religious  dances  before  them,  ingeniously 
invented  as  a  means  of  conveying  food  to  them  (Uerod.  iii 
48). 


CHAl'TEU   IX.  42-57. 


155 


cnce,  —  as,"  for  instance,  by  king  Olaf  (Tryg'gves- 
gon),  who  burned  in  this  manner  all  the  warlocks 
of  his  land  (Snorro,  Heimcixkringla,  Saga  vi.  eh.  69). 

In  connection  with  these  events,  a  number  of 
topographical  references  to  the  region  of  Shechem, 
which  prove  that  the  narrator  was  an  eye-witness, 
but  which  although  alluding  to  permanent  land- 
marks, as  mountain,  valley,  and  forest,  are  yet  not 
easily  traced.  Migdal  (Tower  of)  Shechem,  how- 
ever, mav  be  confident! v  assumed  to  be  the  same 
as  Beth  "(House  of)  MUlo  (vers.  6,  20).  Abime- 
lech's  wrath  against  it  is  thus  readily  understood  ; 
for  its  inhabitants  had  taken  part  in  his  election 
at  the  Monument-Oak,  and  had  now  doubtless 
made  common  cause  with  those  of  Lower  Shechem. 
Forit  is  perhaps  safe  to  assume  that  the  places 
were  related  to  each  other  as  Upper  and  Lower 
Shechem.  Migdal  Shechem,  as  the  Acropolis,  was 
a  little  city  by  itself,  and  might  have  ventured  on 
further  resistance  ;  but  its  ])eople  preferred  to  pray 
for  mercy,  which  Abimelcch  was  not  the  man  to 
exercise. 

Vers.  50-53.  And  Abimelech  went  to  Thebez. 
Since  the  course  of  the  narrative  leads  to  the  in- 
ference that  Abimelech's  march  upon  this  city 
formed  part  of  his  vengeance  on  Shechem,  its  lo- 
cation must  be  sought  for  at  a  very  short  distance 
from  that  jjlace.  The  opinion  of  recent  expositors 
and  travellers  (Robinson,  Berggren,  cf.  Kitter,  xv. 
448  [Gage's  Transl.  ii.  341 1),  who  identify  Thebez 
with  the  modern  Tub^s  at  the  head  of  Wady  el- 
^lalih,  does  not  therefore  appear  to  be  altogether 
certain.  To  me,  Tub&s  has  appeared  moi'e  suit- 
able for  Tabbath  (ch.  vii.  22).  Thebez  must  have 
been  closely  connected  with  Shechem.  Since,  in 
accordance  wiih  Jotham's  parable,  the  two.  miser- 
able associates,  Abimelech  and  Shechem,  perish  by 
each  other,  aiul  since  Abimelech  finds  his  end  at 
Tiiebez,  the  inhabitants  of  the  latter  must  have 
been  among  those  who  at  first  patronized  Abime- 
lech. 'J'hebez  was  built  in  circular  form,  like  the 
rJrecian  Thebai,  for  it  had  its  Tower  in  the  centre. 
Irs  inhabitants  preferred  desperate  battle  to  mercy ; 
but  they  were  already  on  the  verge  of  destruction, 
•when  Abimelech  ("uiter  confertissimos  violeniisxime 
diiiiicans,"  fighting  furiously  in  the  thickest  of  the 
ciowd,  as  Justin  says  of  Pyrrhus)  was  struck  on 
the  head  by  a  mill-stone,  which  crushed  his  skull. 
It  a])pears  that  the  inhabitants  of  Thebez  were 
pre])ared  for  a  lengthy  siege,  since  along  with  pro- 
vi.-ions  they  had  also  brought  a  hand-mill  into  the 
tower.     Such  a  mill  consisted  of  a  movable  upper 

(3^~1,  wagon,  Eng.  runner.  Germ.  Ldufer),  and 

of  an  immovable,  nether  stone  (n"*rinri  n|?^), 
on  which  the  other  turned.  The  duty  of  grinding 
generally  devolved  on  women.  Abimelech  falls, 
as  the  Jewish  expositors  say,  by  a  stone,  as  on  a 
stone  he  had  murdered  his  brothers.  Other  usurp- 
ers also  have  met  with  the  same  fate.  When  in 
1190,  impious  men  sought  to  destroy  the  poor 
Jews,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  royal  castle  at 
York,  one  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  mob  fell, 
■  crushed  by  a  stone  (Milman,  Hist,  of  the  Jews,  iii. 
242). 

Vcr.  54.  That  men  say  not,  A  woman  slew 
him.  Poor  Abimelech,  in  the  moment  of  his  fall, 
thinks  of  nothing  save  that  his  death  will  be 
ascribed  to  a  woman ;  an  end  whioh  has  at  all 
times  been  considered  inglorious.  To  his  latest 
jreath,  men  were  to  be  deceived  by  appearances. 
Jor  though  his  attendant  gave  hiin  the  finishing 
stroke,  it  was  nevertheless  the  woman  that  killed 
him.     And,  as  2  Sam.  xi.  21  shows,  he  was  not 


able  to  avert  the  dreaded  infamy.  Still,  this  utter- 
ance also  goes  to  show  the  warlike  spirit  of  the 
fallen  man.  Energy,  valor,  and  iron  strength, 
were  inherited  characteristics  of  the  son,  not  un- 
worthy of  his  heroic  father.  He  towers,  at  all 
events,  fiir  above  the  cowardly  Shechemites,  the 
braggart  Gaal,  and  the  intriguing  Zebnl.  If  am- 
bition and  iinrestrained  fury  had  not  stupefied  his 
conscience  ;  if,  like  Gideon,  he  had  learned  to  serve 
and  to  suffer;  had  faithfully  tarried  the  call  of  his 
God,  and  had  not  sought  to  found  by  the  sword 
what  only  God's  Spirit  can  establish,  it  might  have 
been  said  of  him,  as  of  the  noblest:  "he  judged, 
delivered  his  people."  As  it  was,  he  is  never  even 
named  by  the  title  "  King"  which  he  arrogated  to 
himself;  and  Jewish  tradition  exalts  the  heathen 
king  Abimelech  of  Aljraham's  time,  above  the 
valiant  son  of  Gideon. 

Vers.  55  57.  When  the  men  of  Israel  saw 
that  Abimelech  was  dead.  In  Abimelech's 
death,  also,  we  may  read  the  fate  of  tyrants.  His 
attendant  thrusts  him  through  without  hesitation, 
and  the  dead  chieftain  is  forsaken  by  all.  The 
interest  created  by  his  person  and  his  wages,  is 
gone.  How  much  more  beautiful  is  the  otherwise 
so  tragical  death  of  Saul !  His  attendant,  influ- 
enced by  reverejice,  refuses  to  kill  him,  and  finally 
follows  him  in  voluntary  death.  The  songs  of 
David  celebrate  his  memory  :  Abimelech's  epitaph, 
is  Itis  brother  Jotham's  curse ! 


HOMILETICAL  AND    PKACTICAL. 

Compare  on  p.  147. 

[Bp.  Hall:  0  the  just  successions  of  the  re- 
venges of  God !  Gideon's  ephod  is  punished  with 
the  blood  of  his  sons;  the  blood  of  his  sons  is  shed 
by  the  procurement  of  the  Shechemites  ;  the  blood 
of  the  Shechemites  is  shed  by  Abimelech ;  the 
blood  of  Abimelech  is  spilt  by  a  woman.  The  re- 
taliations of  God  are  sure  and  just. —  Thk  s.\]\ie  : 
The  pursued  Shechemites  fly  to  the  house  of  their 
god  Berith :  now  they  are  'safe ;  that  place  is  at 
once  a  fort  and  a  sanctuary.  Whither  should  we 
fly  in  our  distress,  but  to  ouV  God  ?  And  now  this 
refuge  shall  teach  them  what  a  god  they  have 
served.  —  Thk  same:  Now,  according  to  the 
propheev  of  Jotham,  a  fire  goes  out  of  the  brain- 
ble,  and  consumes  these  cedars,  and  their  eternal 
flames  begin  in  the  house  of  their  Berith.  The 
confusion  of  wicked  men  rises  out  of  the  false 
deities  which  they  have  doted  on.  —  Henry 
What  inventions  men  have  to  destroy  one  an 
other!  —  The  same:  About  1,000  men  and 
women  perished  in  these  flames,  many  of  whom, 
probably,  were  no  way  concerned  in  the  quarrel, 
nor  meddled  with  either  side  ;  men  of  factions  tur- 
bulent spirits,  perish  not  alone  in  their  iniquity, 
but  involve  many  more,  that  follow  them  in  their 
simplicity,  in  the  same  calamity  MUth  them.  — 
Wordsworth  :  Many  powerful  enemies  of  God 
and  of  his  people,  after  victorious  nets  of  oppres- 
sion, have  been  overthrown  at  last  by  weak  instru- 
ments, even  bv  women  :  Sisera,  by  Dcborali  anil 
Jael;  Haman, "by  Esther  ;  Holofernes,  by  Judith; 
and  the  Church,' by  the  power  of  the  Seed,  over- 
comes the  woHd.  —  Bush  :  The  end  of  Abimelech 
suirgests  the  remark,  1.  That  tliey  who  thirst  for 
blood,  God  will  at  last  give  them  their  own  l)!ood  to 
drink.  2.  The  we.nk,  in  God's  hand,  can  confound 
the  miuhtv ;  and  those  who  walk  in  pride.  He  is 
able  to  abase.  3.  They  who  in  life  consulted  only 
their  pride  and  ambition,  will  usually  die  as  thej 


156 


THE    300K  OF  JUDGES. 


lived,  more  solicitous  that  their  honor  should  be  I  cure  a  great  name,  often  only  serve  to  perpetuate 
preserved  on  earth,  than  that  their  souls  be  saved   their  infamy.  —  Tk.] 
from  hell.    (4.)  The  methods  proud  men  take  to  se- 1 


SIXTH  SECTION. 


TWO  JUDGES  IN  QUIET,  PEACEFUL  TIMES  :  TOLA  OF  ISSACHAK  AND  JAIE  THE   OILEADITB. 


Tlie  Judgeships  of  Tola  and  Jair. 
Chapter    X.    1-5. 

1  And  after  Abimelech  there  arose  to  defend  [deliver]  Israel,  Tola  the  son  of  Puah, 
the  son  of  Dodo,  a  man  of  Issachar ;  and  he  dwelt  in   Shamir  in  mount  Ephraim. 

2  And  he  judged  Israel  twenty  and  three  years,  and  died,  and  was  buried  in   Shamir. 

3  And  after  him  arose  Jair,  a  [the]  Gileadite,  and  judged  Israel  twenty  and  two  years. 

4  And  he  had  thirty  sons  [,]  that  rode  on  thirty  ass  colts,  and  they  had  thirty  cities, 
[those]  which  are  called  Havoth-jair  [the  circles  of  Jair]  unto  this  day,  which  are  in 

5  the  land  of  Gilead.     And  Jair  died,  and  was  buried  in  Camon. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1.  And  after  Abimelecli  there  arose 
Tola,  the  son  of  Puah,  the  son  of  Dodo.  The 
record  of  tliis  man's  life  contains  no  stirring  ac- 
tions, like  those  of  Abimelech,  but  tells  of  some- 
thing bi'tter.  He  "delivered"  and  "judged" 
Israel.  This,  however,  always  presupposes  re- 
newed consciousness  of  sin  on  the  part  of  Israel, 
and  return  to  the  living  God.  It  is  probable  that 
the  horrible  deeds  and  the  terrililc  end  of  Abime- 
lech and  Shechem  made  such  an  impression  upon 
the  conscience  of  Israel,  as  to  open  the  way  for  de- 
liverance. Under  this  view,  the  words  "  after  Abime- 
lech" receive  a  deeper  significance;  and  the  rea- 
son why  the  history  of  that  personage  was  so  copi- 
ously narrated  becomes  still  more  evident.  That 
which  at  other  times  was  the  result  of  terrors  from 
without,  is  this  time  brought  about  by  the  civil 
catastrophe  within. 

The  deliverer's  name  was  "  Tola,  the  son  of 
Puah,  the  son  of  Dodo."  The  mention  of  father 
and  grandfather  both,  is  unusual,  and  occurs  in 
the  case  of  no  other  Judge.  It  was  therefore  nat- 
ural, that  already  at  an  early  date,  and  also,  it 
would  seem,  by  the  Masora,  "  ben  Dodo "  Avas 
taken  appellativcly,  as  meaning  "  Son  of  his  Un- 
cle or  Cousin."  The  "  his"  in  that  case  must  re- 
fer to  Abimelech  ;  and  Tola  would  have  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  son  of  a  brother  or  a  sister  of  Gideon. 
The  son  of  Gideon's  brother,  he  cannot  have  been 
(although  this  is  just  the  relation  indicated  by  an- 
cient ex])Ositions,  cf.  thciraTpa56'\(^ouof  tlieLXX.); 
(or  he  belonged  not  to  Manasseh,  but  to  Issachar. 
If  a  sister  of  (iideon  had  married  a  man  of  the 
tribe  of  Issachar,  this  person  might  indeed  have 
been  ealkd  an  uncle  {dud)  of  Abimelech.  But  if 
such  were  the  relation,  is  it  not  more  likely  that 
the  writer  would  have  said,  "  Son  of  the  sister  of 


1    On    the  vessels  excavated   in   the  sandstone,   which    Wilde,  Voyage  in  the  Mediterranean,  Dublin,  1840,  ii  148  i 
were  used  ia  'he  preparation  of  the  purple  dye  at  Tyre,  see    quoted  by  Ritter,  xvii.  372. 


Jerubbaal  1 "  The  names  Tola  and  Puah,  as 
borne  by  sons  of  Issachar,  are  already  found  in 
Gen.  xlvi.  13.  They  became  established  in  the 
families  of  that  tribe,  and  frequently  recur.  It  was 
just  so  in  German  families,  especially  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Particular  names  were  peculiar  to  particu- 
lar flmiilies.  (Instead  of  rtS^3,  Puah,  we  have 
n^S,  Puvah,  in  Gen.  xlvi.  13  and  Num.  xxvi.  23, 

though  not  in  all  MSS.  1  Chr.  vii.  1  has  nS^3, 
Puah.)  These  names  indicate  a  certain  industry, 
which,  it  may  be  inferred,  must  have  been  carried 

on  in  Issachar.  Tola  (1?^W)  is  the  Kermes- 
worm  {coccus  ilicis),  from  which  the  crimson,  or 
deep  scarlet  color  C^^K?  Hl^^"^''"^))  of  which  we 
read  so  much  in  connection  with  the  tabernacle, 
was  derived  ;  and  Puah  is  Chaldee  for  rubia  tincto- 
riiin,  or  madder  red  (cf  Buxtorif,  sub  voce).  We 
shall  not  err,  perhaps,  if  we  conjecture  tliat  the 
third  name  also  is  added  because  of  its  agree- 
ment in  meaning  with  the  two  preceding.      For 

Dodo,  if  we  derive  it  from  "T^"^,  dud,    instead  of 

TT^,  clod,  cousin,  means  "  pot,"  or  "  vessel,  "  a 
prominent  utensil  in  the  preparation  of  dyes.^ 
Names  of  this  kind,  it  is  well  known,  are  not  un- 
frequent  in  the  East.  Hammer  {Namen  der  Arabci-) 
even  adduces  the  name  Fihr,  which  signifies  the 
stone  used  for  grinding  perfumes. 

He  dwelt  in  Shamir,  on  Mount  Ephraim.  The 
centre  of  his  judicial  activity  was  ])ermanently 
fixed  in  Ephraim.  As  to  Shamir,  this  name  (on 
its  import,  compare  my  treatise  Schamir,  Erf. 
18.56)  may  be  identified  with  Shemer,  name  of  the 
owner  of  the  hill  on  which  king  Omri  afterwards 
built  Shomeron,  Samaria  (1  Kgs.  xvi.  24). 

Vers.  3-.5.     And   after   him   arose   Jair,   the 


CHAPTER  X.    1-5. 


157 


Gileadite.  Just  as  Tola  was  a  family-name  in 
Issachar,  so  was  Jair  in  (iilcad.  The  ancestor  of 
this  Jair  was  the  son  of  Manasseh,  whose  name 
was  associated  with  the  acquisition  of  the  greatest 
jinrt  of  the  territory  in  possession  of  the  eastern 
half  trilie  of  Manasseh.  Machir,  it  is  stated,  Num. 
xxxii  .■?9-41 .  took  Gilead,  and  "  Jair,  son  of  Manas- 
seh," the  "  circles,"  wliich  were  afterwards  called  the 
"  circles  of  J  air."  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  in 
connection  with  our  explanation  of  the  name  Hiv- 
ite  (Chivi),  that  c/i«ya/i,  (plur.  chavoth,  Eng.  Ver. 
Havoth),  means  "circle,"  from  the  form  in  which 
those  \illages  to  which  it  is  applied  were  laid  out 
(see  on  ch.  iii.  3).  It  would,  therefore,  involve  a 
twofold  error  to  explain  IlavothJair,  as  modern 
expositors  do,  by  making  it  analogous  to  such  Ger- 
man names  f.o  Eistehen  and  Asc/iersleben;  for,  in 
tlie  first  place,  chacah  does  not  mean  "  life  "  here  ; 
and,  secoiully,  in  such  names  as  the  above,  the 
German  lehen  does  not  mean  viin  but  mansio. 

By  these  "  circles  of  Jair  "  we  are  evidently  to 
understand  the  whole  of  the  present  western  Hau- 
ran,  reaching  as  far  as  Jebel  Hauran,  for  Kcnath 
(tiie  present  Kenawath)  is  reckoned  among  the 
sixty  cities  of  Jair  (1  Chr.  ii.  23  ;  1  Kgs.  iv.  13). 
Wetzstein's  conjecture  ( //«»«■««,  j).  101),  that  these 
cities  are  only  sixty  tent-villages  of  the  nomadic 
order,  is  by  no  means  to  be  accepted  ;  for  the  books 
of  Kings  and  Chronicles  are  conversant  with  great 
cities,  with  walls  and  brazen  bars,  in  the  region 
that  "  pertained  to  Jair."  The  objection  that  if 
such  cities  had  existed,  the  Assyrians  could  not 
have  subjected  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  so  i-eadily,  is 
not  borne  out.  In  the  first  place,  because  the  ac- 
counts of  this  coiKpiest  are  very  brief  and  scanty  ; 
and  in  the  second  place,  because  the  history  of  all 
ages  teaches  us,  that  when  the  Spirit  has  left  a  peo- 
l)lc,  neither  fortresses  nor  "  steep  heights  "  avail  to 
detain  the  enemy.  At  all  events,  the  Assyrian  suc- 
cesses do  not  prove  that  the  architectural  remains 
of  tlie  Hauran  cannot  in  their  elements  be  referred 
back  to  the  time  of  the  Amorites  and  Israelites. 
Without  at  present  entering  into  any  discussion  of 
tills  subject,  we  hold  the  contrary  to  be  highly 
probable,  even  though,  at  the  places  which  would 
here  come  into  consideration,  more  recent  build- 
ings bear  the  stamp  of  more  recent  times.  Indeed, 
it  seems  to  me,  that  just  as  it  was  possible  to  iden- 
tify Kenath,  Salcah,  Golan,  etc.,  so  the  name 
Jair  also  is  in* existence  to  this  day.  I  find  it  in 
the  name  of  the  city  called  "  Acre  "  by  Burckhardt, 
"Eera"  by  Seetzen,  and  "  Ire  "  by  Wetzstein.  It 
is  still  the  seat  of  an  influential  (Druse)  chieftain. 
Eitter  (xv.  944)  warns  us  against  confounding  it 
with  the  Aera  which  the  Itinerary  of  Antouine 
jjuts  in  the  jilace  of  the  present  Szanamein  ;  but  it 
wei'e  more  ])roper  to  say  that  the  repeated  occur- 
r  'lice  of  the  name,  should  be  regarded  as  evidence 
that  the  whole  region  was  once  called  "  Jair's  cir- 
ides." 

The  narrator's  remark  that  the  cities  of  Jair  "  are 
:;alled  Havoth  Jair  iTuto  this  day,"  has  been  sup- 
posed to  conflict  with  the  statement  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, wherein  this  name  is  derived  from  the  first 
Jair  (cf.  Hengst.,  Pent.  ii.  193).  With  regard  to 
some  other  names  of  places,  such  an  exchange  of 


1  rin  the  text,  Br.   Cassel  renders 


r--n^ 


by  "  those," 


while  here  he  writes  "of  those."  The  first  rendering  may 
be  defended,  but  the  second  is  as  doubtful  as  it  is  unneees- 
pary.  If  the  intention  be  to  avoid  all  appearance  of  con- 
flict with  the  Pentateuch,  this  is  just  as  effectually  reached 
by  the  unimpeachable  version  of  De  Wette :  Man  nennet 
%ie  Jair's  D'dr/er  b:s  auf  diesen  Tag  —  they  are  called-  Jair's 


one  derivation  for  another,  may  perhaps  be  made 
out ;  but  here  it  is  quite  impossible  that  one  should 
have  taken  place.  The  narrator,  who  keeps  the 
Pentateuch  constantly  before  his  eyes,  designs  only 
to  remind  the  reader  of  what  was  there  stated.  In 
themselves,  his  words  would  have  been  entirely  in- 
sufficient to  explain  the  origin  of  the  designation 
Ha L-oth- J ixir,  seeing  the  discourse  was  about "  cities  " 

iD'^'^T??).  Moreover,  the  number  of  these  cities, 
at  a  later  date,  was  reckoned  at  sixty,  whereas 
here  mention  is  made  of  only  thirty.    The  sentence 

is  indeed  peculiar  on  account  of  the  double  CD7J 
for  which  reason  a  few  codices  read  it  but  once. 
But  the  word  does  not  bear  the  same  sense  in  both 

cases.  The  second  CHv,  introduces  an  explana- 
tory clause;  so  that  the  meaning  of  the  sentence  is 
this:  "thirty  cities  belonged   to  them  (Sn^),  of 

those  (CHv)  which  (the  relative  "iti'^  is  fre- 
quently omitted)  are  called  Havoth-Jair  unto  this 
day."  The  closing  words  of  this  sentence  ("  unto 
this  day")  are  evidently  a  mere  verbal  citation 
from  Ueut.  iii.  14  ;  for  no  other  occasion  exists 
here,  where  the  question  is  only  of  Jair's  distin- 
guished position,  for  their  use.  Jair,  by  his 
strength  and  virtue,  had  diffused  his  family  over 
one  half  of  the  entire  district,  with  which  his  an 
cient  progenitor  had  long  ago  associated  his  own 
name. 

And  he  had  thirty  sons,  who  rode  on  thirty- 
asses,  and  had  thirty  cities.     The  paronomasia 

between  C'^"1^I',  asses,  and  the  rare  form  C''n^l7 

for  "cities,"  authorizes  the  conjecture  that  we  have 
here  a  sentence  from  a  song  of  praise  in  honor  of 
Jair  and  his  prosperous  fortune.  That  which  is 
celebrated  is,  not  that  he  possessed  thirty  asses  — 
what  would  that  be  to  a  man  who  had  thirty 
cities  ?  —  but  that  he  was  the  father  of  thirty 
sons,  all  of  whom  enjoyed  the  honor  and  distinc- 
tion implied  in  the  statement  that  they  rode  upon 
asses.  They  rode,  that  is  to  say,  not  merely  as 
men  of  quality — the  usual  explanation,  —  but  as 
chiefs,  governors,  and  judges.  It  was  peculiar  to 
such  persons  especially  that  they  made  use  of  the 
ass,  as  the  animal  of  peace.  Their  very  appear- 
ance on  this  animal,  was  expressive  of  their  calling 
to  reconcile  and  pacify.  The  sons  of  Jairs  judged 
their  thirty  cities.  This  is  something  not  given  to 
all  rich  fathers;  it  was  a  happiness  wliich  not 
even  Samuel  the  Priest  was  destined  to  enjoy. 

Jair  was  buried  in  Camon,  doubtless  one  of  the 
thirty  cities  of  Hauran.  The  farther  and  more 
thorough  investigation  is  carried  in  the  country 
east  of  the  Jordan,  the  more  instructive  will  its  re- 
sults become.  Perhaps  we  may  take  the  Sahwed 
el-Kamh,  on  Wctzstein's  majj,  not  far  from  Ire 
(Jair),  for  the  Camon  of  the  text.  However  little 
may  be  told  of  many  of  the  Judges  of  Israel,  of 
their  place  of  burial  information  is  given.  The 
whole  land  was  to  b'e,  as  it  were,  a  memorial  hnll, 
by  which  the  people  are  reminded  of  the  men  who 
brought  help  in  distress,  when  they  repented,  and 
which  may  also  teach  them  to  know  that  all  men. 

Villages  unto  this  day.     •*1S~'P'^    is  the  indeterminate  3d 

per.  plural,  and  (as  is  remarked  by  Bertheau  and  Keil)  does 

not  at  all  affirm  that  the  name  was  now  first  given.   CH^ 

the  dative  of  that  to  which  the  name  is  given,  and  stand' 
first  for  the  sake  of  emphasis;  "they  had  thirty  cities, 
precisely  tho.-ie  cities  people  call  Havoth-Jair."  — Tr.J 


lo8 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


however  raliant,  die,  and  that  only  the  one,  eter- 
nal God  survives  in  deathless  existence.  But  how 
inad^'([U!ite  nionunieuts  and  sepulchres  are  to 
preserve  energy  and  piety  among  the  people,  that 
the  following  section  once  more  teaches. 


HOMILETICAL   AND    PRACTICAL. 

Two  judges  in  times  of  quiet.  After  the  terrible 
storm,  comes  a  calm.  For  half  a  century  Tola  and 
Jair  judge  Israel,  without  committing  frightful 
wrongs,  or  performing  enviable  deeds.  The  great- 
ness of  Gideon's  times,  and  the  baseness  of  Abime- 
lech's,  are  both  exhausted.  An  unknown,  but 
hap])y,  generation  lives  and  works  in  peace  imder 
piou-;  Judees.  No  enemy  threatens,  the  word  of 
God  is  quick  and  active,  the  country  prospers, 
comn^erce  flourishes.  A  quiet  life  is  rich  in  seeds. 
Amid  the  silence  of  repose,  the  germs  of  spring 
prejiare  themselves.  It  is  a  type  of  the  Kingdom 
in  the  future,  when  through  the  eternal  calm  only 
the  anthems  of  adoring  choirs  will  be  heard,  like 
the  voices  of  nightingales  resounding  thi-ough  the 
night. 


So,  it  is  not  given  to  every  one  to  live  a  quiet, 
peaceful  life,  undisturbed  by  political  and  social 
alarms.  Let  him  who  enjoys  it,  not  envy  the 
fame  with  which  juiblicity  surrounds  great  names. 
In  quietness  and  confidence  shall  be  your  strength, 
says  the  prophet  (Isa.  xxx.  15). 

Starke  :  To  govern  a  nation  well  in  times  of 
peace,  is  not  less  praiseworthy  than  to  carry  on 
wars  and  overcome  enemies.  —  Lisco :  Tola 
saved  his  people,  not  indeed  by  wars  and  victims, 
but  by  right  and  justice,  by  the  concord  and  peace 
which  he  restored  in  Israel. 

[Scott  :  The  removal  of  hardened  sinners,  by 
a  righteous  God,  often  makes  way  for  reformation 
and  public  tranquillity,  and  proves  a  great  mercy 
to  those  who  survive.  —  Wordsworth:  The 
time  in  which  they  [i.  e.  Tola,  Jair,  Ibzan,  Elon, 
and  Abdon]  judged  Israel  amounted  to  seventy 
years,  but  the  Holy  Spirit  does  not  record  a  single 
act  done  by  any  one  of  them  ;  and  thus  He  leads 
us  to  look  forward  and  upward  to  another  life,  and 
to  that  heavenly  chronicle  which  is  written  with 
indelible  characters  in  the  memory  of  God  Him- 
self, and  is  ever  open  to  his  divine  eye.  —  Te.] 


SEVENTH   SECTION. 


THE   OPPRESSION   OF   THE   MIDIANITES.     JEPHTHAH,   THE   JUDGE   OP   THE   VOW. 


Renewed  apostasy  and  'punishment.     Awakening  and  repentance. 
Chapter    X.    6-16. 


6  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  evil  again  [continued  to  do  evil]  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  served  [the]  Baalim,  and  [the]  Ashtaroth,  and  the  gods 
of  Syria  [Aram],  and  the  gods  of  Zidon,  and  the  gods  of  Moab,  and  the  gods  of 
the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon,  and  the  gods  of  the   Philistines,  and  forsook  the 

7  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  served  not  Him.  And  the  anger  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  was 
hot  [kindled]  against  Israel,  and  he  sold  [delivered]  them  into  the  hands  of  the  Phil- 

8  istines,  and  into  the  hands  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon.  And  that  year  they 
vexed  and  oppressed  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  eighteen  years,^  all  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  that  were   on  the  other  side  Jordan  in  the  land  of  the  Amorites, 

9  which  is  in  Gilead.  Moreover,  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon  passed  over  [the] 
Jordan,  to  fight  also  against  Judah,  and  against  Benjamin,  and  against  the   house 

10  of  Ephraim  :  so  that  Israel  was  sore  distressed.'^  And  tlie  children  [sons]  of  Israel 
cried  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  saying.  We  have  sinned  against  thee,  both  [namely], 
because  we  have  forsaken  our  God,  and  also  [omit :  also  ;  read  :  have]  served  [the] 

11  Baalim.  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  Did  not 
/  deliver  you  from  the  Egyptians  [from  Mizraim,  i.  e.  Egypt],  and  from  the  Amorites, 

]  2  from  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon,  and  from  the  Philistines  ?  *  The  Zidonians 
also  [And  when  the  Sidonians],  and  the  Amalekites,  and  the  Maonites  did  oppress 

13  you  ;  [,]  and  ye  cried  to  me,  and  [then]  I  delivered  you  out  of  their  hand.  Yet  ye 
have  forsaken  me,  and  served  other  gods  :  wherefore  I  will  deliver  yoix  no   more. 

1 4  Go  and  cry  unto  the  gods  which  ye  have  cliosen  ;  let  them  deliver  you  in  the  time 

15  of  your  tribulation  [distress].  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  said  unto  the  Lord 
[Jehovah],  We  have  sli^iied:  do  thou  unto  us  whatsoever  seemeth  good  unto  thee ; 


CHAPTER  X.   6-16. 


151J 


1 6  deliver  us  only,  we  pray  thee,  this  day.  And  they  put  away  the  strange  gods  from 
among  them,  and  served  the  Lord  [.Jehovah]  :  and  his  soul  was  grieved  for  [en 
dured  no  longer]  the  misery  of  Israel. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  8.  — Dr.  Cassel  translates  this  clause  as  follows  (reading   n^'V^,   instead   of    nUVi'S.  see  the  Commentary 

T     T     -  '  T      T     -   ' 

below)  :  "  And  they  vexed  and  plagued  the  sons  of  Israel,  as  this  jeir,  eighteen  years  long,"  etc.     The  better  way  is  to 
repeat  the  idea  of  the  verbs  after  "  eighteen  years,"  thus  :    "  And  they  broke  and  crushed  the  sons  of  Israel   in  that 
year  ;  eighteen  years  did  they  oppress  all  the  sons  of  Israel  who  were  beyond   the  Jordan,"  etc.      1^3^"!   and    UfH 
come  from  the  same  root,  and  are  synonyms  used  to  strengthen  the  idea.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  9.  —  Literally  :  "  and  it  became  exceedingly  strait  to  Israel,"  of.  ch.  ii.  15.     On  the  use  of  the  fem.  gender 
(n^^lj  from   ~1!i^l     in  impersonal  constructions,  see  Green,  Gram.,  243,  3.  —  Tr.] 

[i  Ver.  11.  —  For  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering  of  this  verse,  see   the  comments  on  it.     The  sentence  is  anacoluthic  in  tho 
original ;  the  construction  being  changed  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  verse.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  and  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  6.      /Lnd  the  sons  of  Israel  continued  to 
do  tlie  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah.     Sin  and 

forgiveness  are  the  hinges  of  all  liistory,  especially 
of  the  history  of  Israel,  including  in  that  term  the 
spiritual  Israel  of  modern  times.  They  follow 
each  other  like  night  and  morning.  As  soon  as 
the  prayers  and  faith  of  a  great  man  cease  from 
among  the  people,  and  the  earth  is  heaped  over 
his  grave,  the  new  generation  breaks  loose,  like  an 
unrestrained  youth.  After  Jair's  death,  idolatry 
spreads  far  and  wide.  Israel  plays  the  harlot,  in 
the  east  with  Aram,  in  the  west  with  the  Phreni- 
cians,  in  the  southeast  with  Moab  and  Ammon,  in 
the  southwest  with  the  Philistines.  Those  gods 
are  named  first,  whose  people  have  already  op- 
pressed Israel,  and  have  been  turned  back  by  men 
of  God.  First,  the  Baalim  and  Ashtaroth,  whose 
service  Gideon  especially,  the  Jerubbaal,  overthrew 
(ch.  vi.  25)  ;  next,  the  gods  of  Aram,  whose  king 
was  defeated  by  the  hero  Othniel ;  then,  the  gods 
of  Zidon,  the  mention  of  whom  —  since  Zidon,  the 
metropolis,  stood  for  all  Phoenicia,  i.  e.  Canaan  — 
reminds  us  of  the  victory  of  Deborah  and  Barak 
over  .Jabin,  king  of  Canaan  ;  and  finally,  the  gods 
of  Moab,  smitten  by  Ehud.  Israel  served  these 
gods,  although  they  were  ttnable  to  stand  before 
the  eternal  God.  And  beside  these,  it  now  also 
serves  the  gods  of  the  Ammonites  and  Philistines. 
These  also  will  first  cause  it  to  experience  oppres- 
sion ;  but  then,  though  only  after  long  penance, 
become  the  occasion  of  divine  displays  of  grace 
and  mercy  to  Israel.  In  truth,  this  "  young  "  Israel 
selves  all  gods,  except  only  the  living  and  the  true. 
It  runs  after  every  superstition,  every  delusion, 
e\ery  sensual  gratification,  every  self-deception,  but 
fur.;ets  the  truth  and  peace  of  God.  It  seeks  false 
friends,  and  forsakes  the  true. 

Vers.  7-10.  And  He  deUvered  them  into  the 
hand  of  the  Phihstines,  and  into  the  hand  of 
the  sons  of  Ammon.  As  far  as  their  sufferings 
and  conflicts  with  the  western  nations  are  con- 
cerned, these  are  related  subsequently  under  the  his- 
tory of  Samson.  The  chastisement  which  they  ex- 
perience by  means  of  Ammon,  leads  the  way.  This 
falls  especially  upon  the  people  east  of  the  Jordan, 
the  neighbors  of  Ammon ;  and  the  enervating  and 

1  [On  this  translation,  see  note  1  under  "  Textual  and 
Grammatical."  Dr.  Cassel  evidently  takes  S^HH    PT^K' 

•      T  IT 

"  this  year,"  to  mean  the  first  year  of  the  oppression.     Oth- 
ers (Usher,  Bush,  etc.)  make  it  the   last   year   both   of  the 


weakening  effects  of  sin  and  unbelief  become  clearly 
manifest  in  the  fact  that  one  of  the  most  valiant 
of  the  Israelitish  tribes,  Gilead,  the  homo,  as  it 
were,  of  heroes,  is  not  al)le  successfully  to  oppose 
the  enemy.  Israel  is  pressed,  plagued,  plundered  ; 
"  as  in  the  first  year,i  so  through  eighteen  years  " 
(for  nr.^2  read  >1T^2).  The  inflictions  to 
which  they  were  obliged  to  submit  one  year,  the 
spoliation  of  their  harvests,  tlie  plundering  of  their 
villages,  the  imposition  of  tribute,  are  repeated 
year  after  year,  eighteen  times.  The  manifest 
weakness  of  Israel,  the  dismemberment  of  the  na- 
tion, so  that  one  tribe  finds  no  help  from  any  other 
(ch.  xii.  2),  emboldens  the  oppressor.  Amnion 
passes  over  the  Jordan,  and  attacks  Israel  in  the 
heart  of  its  most  powerful  tribes,  without  meeting 
resistance.  But  how  came  Israel  into  such  a  con- 
dition of  disruption  ?  Whence  this  inability  to 
unite  its  forces  against  the  overbearing  enemy  1 
This  question  has  already  been  answered  in  ver. 
6.  The  people  has  forsaken  the  one  God,  and 
worships  many  idol  gods.  Falling  away  from  the 
national  faith,  it  has  fallen  into  the  disintegration 
of  egoism.  The  tribes  are  divided  by  their  special 
idols,  their  respective  evil  consciences,  and  by  local 
selti.shness.  Only  one  thing  is  common  to  all, — 
des]iondency  and  powerlessness ;  for  the  ideal 
spirit  of  the  theocratic  people,  the  source  of  union 
and  courage,  is  wanting.  Hence,  after  long  dis- 
tress, they  all  share  in  a  common  feeling  of  repen- 
tance. Thej'-  come  ijow  to  the  tabernacle,  long 
neglected  —  for  while  attending  at  near  and  local 
idol  temples,  they  have  forgotten  to  visit  the  House 
of  God  —  and  say  :  we  have  sinned. 

Vers.  11,  12.  And  Jehovah  said  to  the  sons 
of  Israel,  Not  from  Mizraim  (Egypt),  and  Irom 
the  Amorite,  from  the  sons  of  Ammon,  and 
from  the  Philistines  !  It  is  the  Priest  who  an- 
swers the  people,  in  the  name  of  God,  through 
Urim  and  Thummim,  as  in  ch.  i.  1.  It  has  been 
observed  that  in  ver.  6  seven  different  national  idols 
are  enumerated  as  having  been  served  by  Israel,  and 
that  in  vers.  11  and  12  seven  nations  are  named, 
out  of  whose  hand  Israel  had  been  delivered.  The 
number  seven  is  symbolical  of  consummation  and 
completion.  All  false  gods,  whom  Israel  h<is  fool- 
ishly  served,   t.re   included  with   those   that  are 

likely.  Hitherto,  aposta.sy  and  servitude  have  always  fol- 
lowed the  death  of  the  Judge.  If  the  present  case  were  an 
exception,  the  narrator  would  certainly  have  noted  it  as 
such.  The  use  of  the  word  "  this,"  would  perhaps  be 
quite  plain,  if  we  could  have  a  glance  at  the  sources  ftom 


ipprxssion  and  of  Jair's  life.     But  this   is  altogether  uu-    ,,l^^^.■^J^  j^^  narrator  here  draws.  —  Tb.] 


IGO 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


named  in  ver.  6,  from  the  northeast  and  southeast, 
the  northwest  and  southwest.  Such,  undoubtedly, 
is  likewise  the  sense  of  vers.  11  and  12.  To  Israel's 
prayer  for  deliverance  from  Amnion  in  the  land  of 
I  lie  Amorite,  and  from  the  Philistines,  God  re- 
plies, reproachfully  :  that  Israel  hears  itself. as  if  it 
had  sinned  for  the  first  time,  and  asked  deliverance 
in  consideration  of  its  repentance.  But,  says  God, 
fi'om  of  old  I  have  liberated  you  from  all  the  na- 
tions that  surround  you,  —  from  Egypt  first,  and 
I'rom  every  nation  that  troubled  you  —  etist,  west, 
north,  and  south, — in  turn.  The  voice  of  God 
speaks  not  in  the  style  of  narrative,  but  in  the 
tone  of  ini))as<ioned  discourse.  Under  general 
descriptions,  it  comprehends,  with  rhetorical  vigor, 
special  occurrences.  It  introduces  the  Ammonites, 
Philistines,  and  Araorites,  immediately  after  Egypt, 
l.eeauLie  these  nations  are  now  in  cpiestion.  Have 
I  nut  already,  since  your  exodus  from  Egypt,  given 
yo;i  peace,  even  from  these  very  Philistines  (Ex. 
xiii.  17),  Ammonites  (Num.  xxi.  24),  and  Amorites 
(Num.  xxi.  21  ff)  ?  Thereupon,  the  discourse  passes 
over  into  another  construction  ;  for  from  the  ancient 
part  it  turns  now  to  events  of  more  recent  times. 
In  those  early  times,  when  Moses  led  you,  you  saw 
no  oppression,  but  only  victory.  Later,  when  Zi- 
donians,  Amalekites,  and  Maonites  oppressed  yon, 
I  helped  you  at  your  cry.  All  three  names  in- 
dicate only  in  a  genjral  way,  the  quarters  from  which 
the  ntore  recent  attacks  had  come.  Since  Joshua's 
death,  Israel  had  experienced  only  one  attack 
from  the  north  and  northeast,  all  others  had  come 
from  the  east  and  southwest.  That  from  the  north, 
was  the  act  of  Jabin,  king  of  Canaan.  It  is  true, 
that  in  the  narrative  of  Barak's  victory,  the  name 
Zidonians  does  not  occur  ;  but  Zidon  is  in  emphatic 
language  the  representative,  the  mother,  as  she  is 
called,  of  Phoenicia,  /.  f.  Canaan.  In  a  like  gen- 
eral sense  do  Amalek  and  Maon  here  stand  for 
those  eastern  tribes  from  whose  predatory  incur- 
sions Israel  had  suffered  ;  for  Amalek,  the  earliest 
and  most  implacable  enemy  of  Israel,  assisted  both 
Midian  and  Moab  in  their  attacks.  Thus  also,  the 
mention  of  Maon  becomes  intelligible.  Modern  ex- 
])(),4tors  (even  Keil)  consider  the  Septuagint  read- 
ing Ma5<a^  (Midian)  to  be  the  correct  one.  We 
cannot  adojjt  this  view  ;  for  this  reason,  if  no 
other,  that  difficult  readings  are  to  be  preferred 
to  plain  ones.  Maon  is  the  name  of  the  southeast- 
ern wilderness,  fiimiliar  to  us  from  David's  history. 
The  name  has  evidently  been  preserved  in  the 
Maon-  of  Arabia  Petra2a  (of.  Ritter,  xiv.  1005). 
Amalek  and  Maon  represent  the  Bedouin  tribes, 
who  from  this  quarter  attacked  Israel.  Ever}' 
]ioint  from  which  Israel  could  be  assailed  has  thus 
lieen  included ;  for  the  first  three  nations,  Philis- 
tines, Ammonites,  and  Amorites,  range  from  the 
southwest  to  the  northeast,  just  as  the  other  three, 
Zidonians,  Amalekites,  and  Maonites,  reach  from 
the  norciiwest  to  the  southeast. 

Vers.  1.3-16.  Go,  and  cry  unto  the  gods 
which  ye  have  chosen.  From  all  nations,  says 
the  voice  of  God,  have  I  liberated  you.  It  has 
1)',  en  demonstrated  to  you  that  I  am  your  true  De- 
liverer, and  that  all  the  tribes  round  about  you 
are  your  enemies,  especially  when  they  perceive 
that  you  have  forsaken  Me.  Every  part  of  your 
land  teaches  this  lesson  ;  and  yet  you  apostatize 
always  anew.  I  have  chosen  you  without  any 
in(uit  on  your  part,  to  be  a  great  natioy,  and  you 
ha\e  left  Me  ;  go,  therefore,  in  this  your  tinie  of 
need,  and  get  you  help  from  the  idol  gods  whom 
you  have  chosen  in  my  place.  This  answer  cuts 
the  sharper,  because  the  idols  to  whose  service  Is- 


rael apostatized,  were  identical  with  the  very  na- 
tions by  whom  they  were  oppressed.  For  every 
idol  was  national  or  local  in  its  character.  God 
speaks  here  with  a  sorrow  like  that  of  a  human 
father  who  addresses  an  inconsiderate  child.  Noth- 
ing but  a  sharp  goad  of  reprehension  and  threat- 
ening will  drive  it  to  serious  and  thorough  consid- 
eration. But  though  inconsiderate,  it  neverthe- 
less continues  to  be  a  child.  The  father,  though 
for  the  present  he  disown  it,  cannot  in  good  earnest 
intend  to  abandon  it  altogether.  And,  in  truth, 
Israel  did  not  miscalculate.  When  they  not  only- 
confessed  their  sins,  but  even  without  any  visible 
assistance,  imitated  Gideon,  and  in  faith  remc  ci 
their  idol  altars,  the  anger  of  their  Father  wai  at 

an  end.  The  phrase  l^'??  "^ril^l)  elsewheris 
employed  of  men  (ef.  Num.  xxi.  4,  where  the  peo- 
ple find  the  way  of  the  wilderness  too  long),  is  here 
applied  with  artless  beauty  to  Israel's  tender 
Father.  "  His  soul  became  too  short "  for  the 
misery  of  Israel,  L  e.  the  misery  of  the  penitent 
people  endured  too  long  for  Him.  He  could  no 
longer  bring  himself  to  cherish  anger  against  them. 
The  love  of  God  is  no  rigid  human  consistency  : 
it  is  eternal  freedom.  Man's  parental  love  is  its 
image,  albeit  an  image  obscured  by  sin.  The  par- 
able of  the  Prodigal  Son,  especially,  gives  us  some 
conception  of  the  wonderful  inconsistency  of  God, 
by  which  after  chastisement  He  recalls  the  penitent 
sinner  to  himself.  Nothing  but  the  freedom  of 
God's  love  —  ever  right  as  well  as  free  —  secures 
the  v.orld's  existence.  Love  —  as  only  God  loves ; 
love,  which  loves  for  God's  sake ;  love,  that  par- 
dons the  penitent  offender  seven  and  seventy  times, 
—  is  true  consistency.  Put  away  the  strange 
gods,  and  the  withered  stock  will  become  green 
again.  This  Israel  experiences  anew,  and  first  in 
Gilead. 

This  notice,  however  brief,  of  the  removal  of  all 
strange  gods,  and  of  Israel's  return  to  Jehovah,  is 
the  necessary,  intimately  connected,  introduction 
to  the  narrative  of  the  deeds  of  Jephthah.  It  is  in- 
dispensable to  the  understanding  of  his  victory  and 
suffering.  It  explains,  moreover,  why  in  the  nar- 
rative concerning  him,  only  the  name  Jehovah  ap- 
pears. It  teaches  us  to  consider  the  nature  and 
measure  of  that  life  in  which  God,  once  lost  but 
found  again,  reigns  and  rules. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Apostasy  and  Repentance.  Neither  Deborah's 
jubilant  song  of  triumph,  nor  Gideon's  exulting 
trumpet  notes,  could  secure  succeeding  generations 
of  Israel  against  renewed  apostasy.  It  reappeared 
even  after  a  season  of  quiet  piety.  But  equally 
sure  was  the  coming  of  divine  judgments.  They 
came  from  all  sides,  in  ever-growing  severity  and 
magnitude.  The  gods  of  the  heathen  brought  no 
help,  —  for  they  were  nothing ;  and  yet  for  their 
sake  had  Israel  betrayed  its  living  God.  Then 
Israel  began  seriously  to  reflect.  They  not  merely 
wept,  they  did  works  of  true  repentance.  And 
whenever,  by  jirayer  aiul  actions,  they  call  upon 
their  merciful  God,  He,  like  a  tender  father,  cannot 
withstand  them.     He  hears  and  answers. 

Not  so  do  men  act  toward  each  other  ;  and  yet 
they  are  called  on  to  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ. 
What  wonder  that  men  find  their  kindness  ill  re- 
quited, when  God  experiences  a  similar  treatment ! 
But  how  then  dare  they  cherish  anger,  when  be- 
sought for   reconciliation  !      If  God  was  moved, 


CHAPTER  X.   17,18. 


IGl 


how  can  we  remain  untouched?  And  yet  grudge- 
bearing  is  a  characteristic  against  which  even  pious 
Christians  bear  no  grudge.  The  sinless  God  for- 
gives, anil  gives  ever  anew,  —  and  witnesses  of  God, 
men  of  tlieological  pui-suits,  cherish  ill-will  and 
rancor  lor  years  ! 

"  IIow  well,  ray  friend,  in  God  thou  livest, 
Appears  from  how  thy  debtor  thou  forgivest." 

Starke  :  Men  are  very  changeable  and  incon- 
stant, and  prone  to  decline  from  the  right  way  ; 
neither  sufficiently  moved  by  kindness,  nor  in- 
fluenced by  punishment. —  The  same  :  True  re- 
pentance  consists   not  in  words  but  in  deeds.  — 


Lisco  :  Israel  confesses  its  guilt  and  ill-desert, 
and  gives  itself  wholly  up  to  God's  will  and  right- 
eous chastening;  yet,  full  of  faith,  asks  for  mer- 
ciful, albeit  unmerited,  deliverance.  —  Gerlach: 
That  the  Lord  first  declares  that  He  will  no  lonuer 
help  Israel,  afterwards,  however,  takes  compassion 
on  them  and  makes  their  cause  his  own,  is  a  rep- 
resentation which  repeats  itself  tVequently  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Each  of  its  opposite  elements  is 
true  and  consistent  with  the  other,  as  soon  as  we 
call  to  mind  that  God,  notwithstanding  his  eter- 
nity and  unchangeableness,  lives  with  and  loves 
his  people  in  time,  and  under  human  forms  and 
conditions. 


Repentance  followed  hy  energy,  concord,  and  mutual  confidence. 
Chapter   X.  17,  18. 


17 


18 


Then  [And]  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon  were  gathered  together,  and  en- 
camped in  Gilead.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  assembled  themselves  to- 
gether, and  encamped  in  IMizpeh  [Mizpah].  And  the  people  and  princes  [the 
people  (namely)  the  chiefs]  of  Gilead  said  one  to  another,  What  man  is  he  [Who 
is  the  man]  that  will  [doth]  begin  to  fight  against  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon  ? 
he  shall  be  head  over  all  the  inhabitants  of  Gilead. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  call  of  Gideon  to  be  a  deliverer  took  place 
just  when  the  national  distress  was  at  its  greatest 
height,  and  Midian  had  entered  on  a  new  expedi- 
tion of  pillage  and  plunder.  A  like  coincidence 
marked  the  present  crisis.  The  sons  of  Ammon 
were  just  making  a  new  incursion  into  Gilead,  when 
they  met  with  a  new  spirit.  -The  signature  of 
apostasy  and  sin,  is  discord  and  weakness,  despon- 
dency and  self-seeking,  issuing  in  failure  and  dis- 
aster, whenever  action  be  undertaken.  The  sign  of 
conversion  and  true  penitence  is  concord  and  con- 
fidence, leading,  by  God's  assistance,  to  victory. 

Ver.  17.  And  the  sons  of  Ammon  were  gath- 
ered together  ....  the  sons  of  Israel  also 
assembled  themselves.  The  phrase  "  sons  of  Is- 
rael "  does  not  always  include  all  the  tribes.  The 
men  of  any  single  tribe  maybe  so  designated.  The 
narrator  uses  the  expression  here,  however,  in  or- 
der to  intimate  that  though  Gilead  alone  actually 
engages  in  the  war  it  is  nevertheless  done  as  Is- 
rael, according  to  the  mind  and  spirit  of  the  whole 
nation.  As  soon  as  Israel  repents,  the  collective 
national  spirit,  the  consciousness  of  national  unity 
through  the  calling  of  God,  reawakes  in  each  of  the 
tribes.  The  localities  at  which  the  respective 
armies  are  said  to  have  assembled  and  prepared  for 
the  conflict,  will  be  considered  under  ch.  xi.  29. 

Vcr.  18.    And  the  body  of  the  nobles  of  Gil- 

1  [Dr.    Cassel   eTidently    takes    Ql^H    as    stat.   const. 

T  T 

Scarcely  correct.     First,    because  of  the  article   (cf.  Qes. 
"Sram.  110,  2) ;  and,  secondly,  because    Q^    never    stands 


II 


ead  said.  The  hitherto  cowed  Israelites  assembled 
themselves  ;  but  that  was  not  all :  they  Avere  more- 
over united  in   all  they  did.     The  narrative  says 

expressly  1^^2  ^'^XD  D^rt,  "  the  people  of  the 
nobles  of  Gilead,"  i.  e.  all,  without  exception. i  No 
envious,  self-seeking  voice  of  protest  or  dissent  was 
heard.  In  times  in  which  distress  is  recognized 
with  real  repentance,  private  interests  cease  to  gov- 
ern. People  then  begin  to  honor  truth  and  actual 
merit.  No  deference  is  then  paid  to  personal 
vanity,  family  connections,  or  wealth ;  but,  all  by- 
views  and  self-seeking  being  set  aside,  he  is  sought 
after  who  renders  service.  The  nobles  of  Gilead 
could  not  more  clearly  indicate  their  new  temper, 
than  bj'  unitedly  promising-  to  subordinate  them- 
selves to  him  Avho  begins  to  render  the  banners  of 
Israel  once  more  victorious,  as  their  head. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  they  say,  ''  yvhoso  heginneth 
to  fight  against  the  sons  of  Ammon."  In  him  who 
first  again  gains  an  advantage  over  the  enemy  in 
battle,  it  will  be  manifest  that  God  is  w  th  him. 
He,  accordingly,  is  to  be,  not  what  Gideon's  legions 

desired  him  to  become,  their  ^^"'^5  ruler,  nor  what 
the  sinful  people  of  Shechera  made  of  Abimelec  h, 
their  "i]!?'?,  king,  but  their  Wik~^,  leader.  Him^ 
who  conquers  with  God,  they  desire  to  follow 
unanimously,  as  a  common  head. 
And  this  one  soon  appeared. 

for  the  mere  notion  of  totality.     It  is  better  to  take   ^"^127 

^l' yH  as  standing  in  apposition  to  Dl^H  ;  "the  people 
(namely)  the  chiefs  of  Gilead,"  i.  e.  the  people  through  Iheil 
chiefs,  as  represented  by  them.  —  Ta.] 


162 


THE.  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


The  previous  history  and  exile  of  Jephthah.     His  recall  hy  the  elders  of  Gilead. 

Chapter    XL  1-11. 

1  Now  [And]  Jephthah  the  Gileadite  was  a  mighty  man  of  valour  [a  valiant  hero], 

2  and  he  was  the  son  of  an  liarlot :  and  Gilead  begat  Jephthah.  And  Gilead's  wife 
bare  him  sons  ;  and  his  [the]  wife's  sons  grew  up.  and  they  thrust  [drove]  out 
Jephthah,  and  said   unto  him,  Thou  shalt  not  inherit  in  our  father's    house ;  for 

o  thou  art  the  son  of  a  strange  [another]  woman.  Then  [And]  Jephthah  fled  from 
his  brethren,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Tob  :  and  there  were  gathered  [there  gath- 
ered themselves]  vain  men   [lit.  empty  men,  i.  e.  adventurers]  ^  to  Jephthah,  and  went  out 

4  with  liim.     And  it  came  to  pass  in  process  of  [after  a   considerable]  time,   that  the 

5  children  [sons]  of  Amnion  made  war  against  [with]  Israel.  And  it  was  so,  that 
when  the  children  [sons]  of  Amm6n  made  war   ngainst  [with]  Israel,  the  elders  of 

G  Gilead  went  to  fetch  Jephthah  out  of  the  land  of  Tob  :  And  they  said  unto  Jephthah, 
Come,  and  be  our  captain,  that  we  may  [and  let  us]  fight  with  the  children  [sons] 

7  of  Ammon.  And  Jephthah  said  unto  the  elders  of  Gilead,  Did  not  ye  hate  me, 
and  e:^pel  me  out  of  my  father's  house  ?  and  why  are  ye  come  unto  me  now  when 

8  ye  are  in  distress  ?  And  the  elders  of  Gilead  said  unto  Jephthah,  Therefore  we 
"turn  again  to  thee  now,  that  thou  mayest  go  with  us,  and  fight  against  the  children 

9  [sons]  of  Ammon,  and  be  our  head  over  all  the  inhabitants,  of  Gilead.  And  Jeph- 
thah said  unto  the  elders  of  Gilead,  If  ye  bring  me  home  [back]  again  to  fight 
against  the   children   [sons]   of  Ammon,  and  the   Lord   [Jehovah]  deliver  them 

10  before  me,  shall  I  [then  I  will]  be  your  head?  [.]  And  the  elders  of  Gilead  said 
unto  Jephthah,  The   Lord   [Jehovah]   be  witness  [lu.  hearer]  between  us,  if  we 

11  do  not  so  according  to  thy  words  [word].  Then  Jephthah  went  with  the  elders 
of  Gilead,  and  the  people  '^  made  [placed]  him  [for  a]  head  and  captain  over  them : 
and  Jephthah  uttered  all  his  words  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  m  Mizpeh  [Miz- 
pah]. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  3  —  D*p'''^,  Dr.  Cassel  here  (cf.  ch.  is.  4)  renders,  loxe  Leute,  loose,  unsettled  persons.  In  his  article  on 
'■  Jephthah  "'  in  Hcrzojj's  Renl-Enryklop'd'lie,  vi.  466,  he  describes  them  as  —  "  people  who  had  nothing  to  lose.  The 
character  and  condition  of  such  persons  is  more  definitely  described  in  1  Sara.  xxii.  2,  where  distressed  persons,  embar- 
rassed debtors,  and  men  of  wild  dispositions,  are  said  to  have  attached  themselves  to  the  fugitive  David."  To  prevent 
erroneous  inferences,  it  is  necessary  to  add  the  next  sentence  :  "But  that  Jephtbah,  like  David,  engaged  in  marauding 
expeditious,  cannot  be  proved."  —  Tr.1 

r-2  Ver.  11.  —  D17n.  Dr.  Cassel  :  Gesammtheit  —  "  the  collective  body,"  —  evidently  with  reference  to  his  previous 
rendering  in  ch.  x.  18.    Cf.  note  1,  p.  161.  —  Tr.] 


EXEOETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  storv  of  Jephthah  is  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable episodes  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  But 
ai  the  same  time  it  is  one  of  tliose  episodes  which, 
from  liiiiiL;  too  exclusively  considered  in  the  charac- 
ter of  disconnected  fL-aunients,  have  been  subjected 
both  anciently  and  in  modern  times,  to  the  most  sin- 
frular  misai)preliensions  and  distortions.  It  gives 
th(^  moral  likeness  of  an  Israelitish  tribe,  in  the  time 
of  its  awakening-  and  return  to  God.  Manasseh  is 
a<i;ain  the  coiiperatins;  tribe,  —  not  the  western  half, 
iio\ve\'er,  but  the  eastern,  its  eejual  in  warlike  s])irit 
(I  Chr.  V.  24)  and  strenjith,  l)ut holding  a  relation 
to  the  hero  who  appears  among  them  different 
from  that  formerly  held  by  the  other  toward  Gid- 
eon. When  Gideon  entered  on  his  work,  every- 
thing depended  on  his  own  personality.  No  di- 
vine awakening  hacl  preceded,  not  even  in  his  own 
city.  In  his  own  house,  there  was  an  altar  to  be 
destroyed.  The  number  of  those  who  deserved  to 
be  his  fol  lowers  was  only  three  hundred.      Even  in 


the  time  of  his  success  and  greatness,  it  is  he  alone 
who  keeps  and  upholds  the  divine  life  in  the  na- 
tion. 

The  history  of  Jephthah  furnishes  a  different 
picture.  Gilead  too  had  sinned,  but  it  had  repented. 
The  whole  people  liad  put  away  its  false  gods, 
before  it  found  its  hero.  This  hero,  on  his  part, 
finds  himself  supported  by  a  spiritually  awakened 
tribe,  thoroughly  animated  with  the  spirit  of  faith 
and  obedience  toward  Jehoxah.  Every  part  of  the 
picture  is  projected  on  a  background  of  true  piety. 
Jephthah  is  the  hero,  the  leader,  the  head  of  the 
tribe :  but  he  is  not  the  only  one  whose  eyes  are 
fixed  on  God  ;  the  wliole  tribe,  like  members  of 
the  head,  obey  .the  same  attraction.  It  is  only  be- 
cause this  background  was  ignored,  i.  e.  because 
the  connection  betweoii  chapters  x.  and  xi.  was 
overlooked,  that  the  principal  incident  in  the  his- 
tory of  Jephthah  has  from  the  earliest  times  given 
rise  to  such  singular  ex])lanations. 

Vers.  1 ,  2.  And  Jephthah  the  Gileadite  was 
a  valiant  hero.     The  same  terms  were  aoplied  ur 


CHAPTER  XL    1-il. 


163 


Gideon  by  the  Messenger  of  God  (ch.  vi.  12).  The 
nobles  of  Gilead  had  determined  (ch.  x.  18)  to  elect 
as  their  leader,  him  who  should  give  evidence  that 
God  is  with  him,  by  beginning  to  wage  successful 
warfare..  Thercuiion  the  narrative  proceeds: 
"  And  Jeidithab  was  a  valiant  hero."  It  was  he 
Joncerning  whom  they  learned  that  he  answered 
their  deseripti;>n.  His  history  is  then  related.  A 
noble  of  (iilead  had  begotten  him  by  a  public  har- 
lot, and  taken  him  into  his  house.  The  name  of 
the  father  is  unknown.  In  the  statement:  "Gil- 
ead begat  Jephthah  ;  "  and  also  when  we  read  of 
the  "wife  of  Gilead;"  the  term  "Gilead,"  as 
tribe  name,  takes  the  place  of  the  unknown  per 
sonal  jiame.  Not,  indeed,  as  if  "Gilead"  could 
not  be  a  personal  name ;  but  if  it  were,  Jephthah 
would  have  been  designated  as  "  son  of  Gilead,'' 
and  not  as  a  "  Gilcadite,"  without  any  paternal 
.surname,  as  he  is  styled  at  the  first  mention, 
wjicn  he  enters  on  the  scene,  and  at  the  last,  when 
he  dies  (ch.  xii.  7).  This  conclusion  is  strength- 
ened by  a  comparison  with  the  names  of  other  he- 
roes ;  with  that  of  his  predecessor  Gideon,  for  in- 
stance, who  is  constantly  styled  the  "  son  of 
i^iash;  "  and  also,  among  others,  with  that  of  one 
of  his  successors,  "  Elon  the  Zebulonite  (eh.  xii. 
1 1 1,  as  to  whom  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was 
of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  and  had  no  more  definite 
patronymic.  —  The  father,  subsequently,  had  other 
sons  by  his  lawful  wife.  These,  when  they  had 
grown  np,  and  their  father  had  died,  expelled 
Gideon  from  the  house,  although  the  eldest ;  for, 
said  they,  — 

Thou  art  the  son  of  another  woman    ("^^W 

n"iriS).    "Other"  is  here  to  be  taken  in  a  bad 

sense,  as  in  the  expression  "other  [aclierim)  gods." 
As  those  are  spiyious  gods, 'so  "  another  ishah  "  is 
a  spurious  wile.  The  expulsion  of  Jephthah  was 
a  base  act ;  for  his  father  had  reared  him  in  his 
house,  and  left  him  there,  and  he  was  the  oldest 
child.  The  act  cannot  be  compared  with  the  re- 
moval of  Ishmael  and  the  sons  of  Keturah  from 
the  house  of  Abraham.  Those  the  ftither  himself 
dismissed  with  presents.  But  Jephthah's  father 
had  kept  him  in  the  house,  and  had  thus  signified 
his  purpose  to  treat  him  as  a  son.  Nevertheless, 
Jephthah  could  obtain  no  redress  from  the  "  elders 
of  Gilead  "  (vcr.  7).  If  he  had  been  the  son  of  one 
who  was  properly  a  wife,  his  brothers  would  doubt- 
less have  been  obliged  to  admit  him  to  a  share  in 
the  inheritance  ;  for  Rachel,  the  ancestress  of  Gil- 
ead, had  also  several  co-wives,  whose  sons  —  of 
whom,  be  it  observed  in  passing,  Gad  in  Gilead 
was  one  —  inherited  as  well  as  Joseph  himself 
But  they  maintained  that  his  mother  had  not  been 
a  wife  of'  their  father  at  all,  not  even  one  of  sec- 
ondary rank,  —  that  she  was  nothing  but  an 
harlot.  On  the  ground  of  bastardy,  they  could 
drive  him  out  of  the  house ;  and  at  that  time,  no 
voice  raised  itself  in  Gilead  but  that  of  mockery 
and  hatred  toward  Jephthah.  Such  being  the  case 
he  lied. 

Ver.  3.  And  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Tob-  The 
name  Tob  is  found  again  in  2  Sam.  x.  6,  in 
connection  with  a  war  of  the  Ammonites  against 
king  David.  Its  subsequent  mention  in  the  Books 
of  the  Maccabees  (I.  ch.  v.  13;  II.  xii.  17),  as  Tcu3, 
Toi''(3,  affords  no  material  assistance  to  any  attempt 
at  identification.  But  since  Jephthah  flees  thither 
as  to  an  asylum ;  and  since  adventurers  collect 
about  him  there,  as  in  a  region  of  safety,  whence 
ue  is  able  to  make  successful  expeditions,  we  may 


be  justified  perhaps  to  hazard  a  conjecture  which 
would  tend  to  increase  our  knowledge  of  the  Ilau- 

ran.  Erets  tob  (HitS  \^"7]S )  means  good  land,  and 
fertile,  as  Canaan  is  said  to  be  (Ex.  iii.  8).  The 
best  land  in  Hauran,  still  named  from  its  fertility, 
and  with  which  Wetzstein  has  made  us  again  ac- 
quainted, is  the  Rnhbeh,  in  eastern  Hauran.  Its 
name  signifies,  "fertile  cornfield."  It  is  the  best 
land  in  Syria.  It  is  still  the  seat  of  Bedouin  tribes, 
who  extend  their  pillaging  expeditions  far  and 
wide.  Of  the  present  tribes,  Wetzstcin  relates  that 
they  frequently  combine  with  the  Zubed,  whose 
name  reminds  us  of  the  Zabadeans  ( 1  Mace.  xii. 
31).  Their  land  is  an  excellent  place  of  refuge, 
difficult  of  attack,  and  easily  defended. 

At  the  head  of  adventurous  persons  whom  the 
report  which  soon  went  out  concerning  his  valor, 
had  collected  about  him,  ho  made  warlike  expedi- 
tions like  those  of  David  (1  Sam.  xxii.  2),  directed, 
as  David's  were  also,  against  the  enemies  of  his 
nation.  Of  the  son  of  Jesse,  it  is  true,  we  know 
for  certain  that,  notwithstartding  his  banishment, 
he  attacked  and  defeated  the  Philistines  (cf.  1  Sam. 
xxiii.  1  ff.)  ;  but  though  we  have  no  such  direct 
statements  concerning  Jejihthah,  we  yet  have 
good  grounds  for  concluding  that  his  expeditions 
were  directed  against  the  Ammonites.  For  he 
evinced  himself  to  be  a  mighty  hero  ;  and  the  Gil- 
eaditish  nobles  had  pledged  themselves  to  elect 
him  as  their  head  who  should  initiate  victories  over 
Ammon.  Therefore,  when  their  choice  fiills  on 
Jephthah,  it  must  be  because  they  have  heard  of 
his  deeds  in  the  land  of  Tob  against  this  enemy.  — 
Modern  writers,  especially,  have  made  a  real  Abal- 
lino  of  Jephthah,  steeped  in  blood  and  pillage. 
The  character  belongs  to  him  as  little  as  to  David. 
Though  banished,  he  was  a  valiant  guerilla  chief- 
tain of  his  people  against  their  enemies.  He  was 
the  complete  opposite  of  an  Abimelech.  The  lat- 
ter sought  adventurers  (Q'^il"''^)  for  a  wicked  deed ; 
to  Jephthah,  as  to  David,  they  come  of  their  own 
accord  and  subordinate  themselves  to  him.  Abime- 
lech was  without  cause  an  enemy  of  his  father's 
house,  and  dipped  his  sword  in  the  blood  of  his 
own  brothers.  Jephthah,  banished  and  persecuted 
by  his  brothers,  turned  his  strength  against  the 
enemies  of  Israel ;  and  when  recalled,  cherished 
neither  revenge  nor  grudge  in  his  heart.  Abime- 
lech had  fallen  away  from  God ;  Jephthah  was  his 
faithful  servant.  All  this  appears  from  his  words 
and  conduct. 

Vers.  4-6.  And  after  a  considerable  time  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  sons  of  Ammon  made  war 
with  Israel.  It  was  during  the  time  of  sin  and 
impenitence,  that  Jephthah  was  driven  away  by 
violence  and  hatred.  He  returned  as  an  elderly 
man,  with  a  grown-up  daughter.  The  Ammonit- 
ish  conflict  and  oppression  lasted  eighteen  years. 
The  flight  of  Jephthah  to  Tob  occurred  probably 
some  time  previous  to  the  beginning  of  these 
troubles.  In  the  course  of  these  years  he  had 
acquired  fame,  rest,  house,  and  possessions.  He 
had  found  God,  and  God  was  with  him.  If  this 
were  not  his  character,  he  would  not  have  met  the 
"elders  of  Gilead"  as  he  did.  Meanwhile,  how 
ever,  another  spirit  had  asserted  itself  in  Gilead 
also.  For  it  is  the  sign  of  new  life,  that  the  elders 
of  Gilead  do  not  shun  the  humiliation  of  going  to 
Jephthah.  To  be  sure,  they  must  have  been  in- 
formed that  he  also  served  no  strange  gods  ;  for  how 
otherwise  could  he  be  of  service  to  them  "?  In 
any  case,  however,  it  was  no  small  matter  to  go  to 


164 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


the  hero  whom,  not  liis  brothers  only,  but  they  also, 
the  judges,  had  once  ignominiously  driven  forth, 
and  now  say  to  him  :  Come  with  us,  and  be  our 

ca])tain  !  (1^-i^  •  a  leader  in  wai*,  and  accoi'ding 
to  later  usage  in  peace  also. ) 

Vers.  7-9.  And  Jephthah  said  unto  the  elders 
of  Gllead,  Did  ye  not  hate  me,  and  expel  me 
out  of  my  father's  house  ?  The  interview  be- 
tween him  and  the  elders  alfords  a  striking  proof 
of  the  subduing  influence  which  the  confession  of 
God  exercises,  even  over  persons  of  vigorous  and 
warlike  sj)irits.  Jephthah's  speech  does  not  conceal 
the  reproach,  that  alter  the  hard  treatment  he  re- 
ceived, they  should  have  invited  him  back  before 
this,  not  lirst  now  when  they  are  in  distress.  He 
speaks  in  a  strain  similar  to  that  in  which  the 
voice  of  God  itself  had  recently  addressed  Israel 
(ch.  X.  11). 

And  nobly  do  "the  elders"  answer  him.  For 
that  very  reason,  say  they,  because  we  are  in  dis- 
tress, do  we  come  to  thee.  Such  being  the  fact, 
thou  wilt  surely  come.  Did  matters  stand  differ- 
ently, thou  wouldest  probably  (and  not  unjustly) 
refuse;  but  as  it  is,  we  call  thee  to  go  with  us  to 
fight,  and  be  our  head  over  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Gilead.  The  satisfaction  thus  made  to  Jephthah 
is  indeed  great;  but  the  danger  and  responsibility 
to  which  he  is  invited  are  not  less  eminent.  His 
answer,  nevertheless,  exhibits  no  longer  any  trace 
of  sensitiveness  or  pride.  If  his  tribe  call  him  to 
fight,  he  will  obej'  their  summons  —  as  all  heroes 
have  ever  done,  who  loved  their  native  land.  He, 
however,  does  it  under  a  yet  nobler  impulse.  Un- 
der other  circumstances  —  such  is  the  underlying 
thought  —  I  would  not  have  come  to  be  your  head. 
If  you  were  now  as  heretofore,  wlio  would  wish  to 
come !  for  for  as  it  is  from  being  a  blessing  to  the 
trees  when  the  thorn-bush  reigns,  so  far  is  it  from 
pleasing  to  a  noble  mind  to  rule  over  thorn-bushes. 
But  since  you  come  to  get  me  to  fight  with  you 
against  Ammon  —  full  of  a  new  spirit,  so  that  I 
can  cherish  the  hope  that  God  will  deliver  the 
enemy  before  me  —  1  consent  to  be  your  head.  It 
is  not  to  be  overlooked  that  Jephthah  speaks  of 
"Jehovah,"  not  of  "  Elohim,"  and  that  he  places 
the  issue  in  God's  hand;  for,  as  ch.  x.  teaches, 
Gilead  luid  learned  to  see  that  only  God  can  help. 
Jephthah  is  called  because  God's  Spirit  is  recog- 
nized in  him.  Verse  9  has  often  been  taken  as  a 
question  ;  a  construction  which  Keil  has  already, 
and  very  properly,  rejected. i  The  position  of 
affairs  has  altogether  erroneously  been  so  appre 
bended,  as  if  Jephthah  were  fearful  lest,  after  vic- 
tory achieved,  they  would  then  no  longer  recog- 
nize him  as  head,  and  wished  to  assure  himself  on 
this  point  beforehand.  This  view  originates  in 
the  failure  to  perceive  the  spiritual  background  on 
wiiich  the  action  is  projected.  Jephthah  is  not  a 
man  who  will  1)C  their  head  at  any  cost.  There  is 
no  trace  of  aml)ition  in  his  language.  He  is  will- 
ing to  be  their  heail,  if  they  are  such  members  as 
will  insure  the  blessing  of  God.  Whoever  knows 
his  countrymen  as  he  knew  them,  and  has  himself 
turned  to  God,  will  not  be  willing  to  be  their 
leader,  unless  they  have  become  other  than  they 
were.  For  that  reason  he  says  :  If  you  bring  me 
back,  in  order  truly  and  unitedl}^  to  fight  Am- 
mon, and  be  worthy  of  God's  blessing, — in  that 
case,  I  will  be  your  head.     The  guaranty  of  vic- 

1  [Keil  observes  tliat   the  reply  of  the  elders  in  ver.  10, 

ntt^3?5  11?  "^~'^~IT'  "  presupposes  an  affirmative,  not 
t,a  interrogativo  utterance  ou  ttie  part  of  Jephthah."    The 


tory  is  sought  by  this  valiant  man,  not  in  his  own 
courage,  but  in  the  worthiness  of  the  warriors  be- 
fore God. 

Ver.  10.  Jehovah  be  a  hearer  between  us, 
if  we  do  not  so  according  to  thy  word.  They 
invoke  God,  mIioui  they  have  penitently  supplica- 
ted, as  witness;  tliey  swear  by  Him  that,  they  will 
do  whatever  Jephthah  will  command.  They  give 
him  thereby  a  guaranty,  not  only  that  as  soldiers 
they  will  obey  their  general,  but  also  that  in  their 
conduct  towards  God  they  will  be  guided  by  their 
leader's  instruction  and  direction.  For  not  in 
military  discipline  only,  but  much  rather  in  the 
moral  and  religious  spirit  by  which  Israel  is  ani- 
mated, lies  his  hope  of  victory. 

Ver.  1 1 .  And  Jephthah  spake  all  his  words 
before  Jehovah  in  Mizpah.  Jephthah  goes  along ; 
the  people — the  collective  nobility — make  him 
head  and  leader  ;  but  not  by  means  of  sin  and  dis- 
honor,' as  Abimelech  became  king.  Jephthah  re- 
ceives his  appointment  from  the  hand  of  God.  In 
the  sjjirit  of  God,  he  enters  on  his  work.  As  chief 
tain,  it  devolves  on  him  to  tell  his  people  what 
course  must  be  pursued  :  he  does  it  in  the  presence 
of  God.  It  is  the  ancient  God  of  Israel  before 
whom,  at  Mizpah,  where  the  people  are  encamped, 
he  issiies  his  regulations,  addresses,  and  military 
orders.     On  Mizpah,  see  at  ch.  xi.  29. 

Keil  has  justly  repelled  the  idea  that  the  expres- 
sion nin^  ^1??^)  "before  Jehovah,"  necessarily 
implies  a  solemn  sacrificial  ceremony.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  impossibility  of  such  a  solemnity 
cannot  be  maintained.  Whatever  the  ceremonial 
may  have  been,  the  meaning  is,  that  Jephthah,  in 
speaking  all  his  words  before  God,  thereby  con- 
fessed Jehovah  and  bis  law,  in  contradistinction  to 
heathenism  and  idolatry.  In  the  spirit  of  this  con 
fession,  he  entered  on  his  ofiice. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  manner  in  which  divine  compassion  fills 
men  with  his  Spirit,  for  the  salvation  of  Israel,  is 
wonderful.  The  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  the  he- 
i-oes  who  suddenly  arise  in  Israel,  and  in  nations 
generally,  to  deliver  and  save,  is  one  which  leads 
down  into  the  profoundest  deiHlis  of  divine  wisdom. 
The  selection  of  every  Israelitish  Judge  is  a  new 
sign  of  compassion,  but  also  of  corrective  chasten- 
ing. For  presumption  and  self-sufficiency  were  al- 
ways at  the  bottom  of  their  apostasies.  Hence, 
in  the  selection  of  the  Judges,  the  admonition  to 
humility  becomes  continually  more  iirgent.  Israel 
is  made  to  know  that  God  chooses  whom  He  wills, 
and  raises  from  the  dust  him  whom  the  people 
will  place  at  their  head.  They  have  already  ex- 
perienced this  in  the  cases  of  Ehud,  the  left-handed, 
of  Deborah,  a  woman,  of  Gideon,  the  youngest  and 
least  of  his  family.  All  these,  however,  had  been 
well-born  persons,  connected  with  the  ])eople  by 
normal  relations.  In  Jephthah's  case,  the  choice 
becomes  still  more  extraordiiuiry.  A  bastard,  an 
exile  and  adventurer,  must  be  gone  after.  The 
magnates  of  the  land  must  humble  themselves  to 
bring  the  exile  home,  to  submit  themselves  to  him, 
and  make  him  the  head  of  the  tribe.  That  they 
do  it,  is  proof  of  their  repentance ;  that  the  choice 
is  just,  is  shown  by  the  result. 

^23S  (ver.  9)  is  simply  the  emphatic  correlative  of  the  pre- 
ceding CriS.  —  Te.] 


CHAPTER  XL  12-28. 


165 


Thus,  many  a  stone,  rejected  by  the  builders, 
has,  typically,  even  before  Christ,  become  the  head 
of  the  corner.  Unbelief  deprives  a  nation  of  judg- 
ment. To  discern  spirits,  is  a  work  to  be  done 
only  by  an  inward  life  in  God.  Sin  expels  whom- 
soever it  cannot  overcome ;  but  penitence  recalls 
him,  whenever  it  perceives  the  ground  of  its  own 
distress.  Only  he,  however,  returns  without  a 
grudge  in  his  heart,  who  shares  in  the  penitence. 

Starke  :  JVIen  are  accustomed  to  go  the  near- 
est way ;  but  God  commonly  takes  a  roundabout 
way,  when  He  designs  to  make  one  noble  and 
great.i  —  The  same  :  Happy  he,  who  in  all  he 
speaks  and  does  looks  with  holy  reverence,  even 
though  it  be  not  expressed  in  words,  to  the  omnis- 
cient and  omnipresent  God;  for  this  is  the  true 
foundation  of  all  faithfulness  and  integrity. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  The  common  gifts  of  God  respect 
not  the  parentage  or  blood,  but  are  indifferently 
scattered  where  He  pleases  to  let  them  iall.     The 

1  [Bp.  Hall  :  "  Men  love  to  go  the  nearest  way,  and 
often  fail.  God  commonly  goes  about,  and  in  his  own 
time  comes  surely  home."  —  Tr.] 


choice  of  the  Almighty  is  not  guided  by  our 
rules  :  as  in  spiritual,  so  in  earthly  things,  it  is  not 
in  him  that  willeth.  —  Scott  :  As  the  sins  of  par- 
ents so  often  occasion  disgrace  and  hardship  to 
their  children,  this  should  unite  with  higher  mo- 
tives, to  induce  men  to  govern  their  passions  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  God.  —  Bush:  The  pre- 
tense of  legal  right,  is  often  a  mere  cover  to  the 
foulest  wrongs  and  injuries.  —  Henry  :  The  chil- 
dren of  Israel  were  assembled  and  encamped,  ch. 
X.  17  ;  but,  like  a  body  without  a  head,  they  owned 
they  could  not  fight  without  a  commander.  So 
necessary  it  is  to  all  societies  that  there  be  some  to 
rule,  and  others  to  obey,  rather  than  that  every 
man  be  his  own  master.  Blessed  bo  God  for  gov- 
ernment, for  a  good  government !  — Bp.  Hall  (on 
ver.  7)  :  Can  we  look  for  any  other  answer  from 
God  than  this  ?  Did  ye  not  drive  me  out  of  your 
houses,  out  of  your  hearts,  in  the  time  of  your 
health  and  jollity  ?  Did  ye  not  plead  the  strict- 
ness of  my  charge,  and  the  weight  of  my  yoke  1 
Did  not  your  willful  sins  expel  me  from  your  souls  ' 
What  do  you  now,  crouching  and  creeping  to  me 
in  the  evil  day  ?  —  Tr.] 


JephthaNs  diplomatic  negotiations  with  the  king  of  Ammon. 
Chapter  XL    12-28. 


12  And  Jephthah  sent  messengers  unto  the  king  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon, 
saying,  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  me  [What  is  there  between  me  and  thee],  that 

13  thou  art  come  against  [unto]  me  to  fight  in  my  land?  And  the  king  of  the  chil- 
dren [sons]  of  Amnion  answered  unto  the  messengers  of  Jephthah,  Because  ^  Israel 
took  away  my  land,  when  they  [he]  came  up  out  of  Egypt,  from  Arnon  even  unto 
[the]  Jabbok,  and  unto   [the]  Jordan :  now  therefore  restore  those  lands  again 

1 4  peaceably.     And  Je])hthah   sent  messengers   again   unto  the  king  of  the  children 

15  [sons]  of  Ammon  :  And  said  unto  him,  Thus  saith  Jephthah,  Israel  took  not  away 

16  the  land  of  Moab,  nor  the  land  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon  :  But  [For]  when 
Israel  [they]  came  up  from  Egypt,  and  [then  Israel]  walked  through  the  wilderness 

17  unto  the  Red  Sea,  and  came  to  Kadesh  ;  [.]  Then  [And]  Israel  «  sent  messen- 
gers unto  the  king  of  Edom,  saying,  Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  pass  through  thy 
land : ''  but  the  king  of  Edom  would  not  hearken  [hearkened  not]  thereto.  And  in 
like  manner  they  sent  unto  the  king  of  Moab  ;  but  he  would  not  consent.    And  Is- 

18  rael  abode  in  Kadesh.  Then  they  went  along  through  the  wilderness,  and  'com- 
passed c  the  land  of  Edom,  and  the  land  of  Moab,  and  came  by  [on]  the  east  side '' 
of  [to]  the  laud  of  Moab,  and  pitched  [encamped]  on  the  other  [yonder]  side  of  Ar- 
non, but  came  not  within  the  border  of  Moab  :  for  Arnon  was  [is]  the  horder  of 

19  Moab/  And  Israel  sent  messengers  unto  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites,^  the 
king  of  Heshbon  ;  and  Israel  said  unto  him.  Let  us  pass,  A\e  pray  thee,  through 

20  thy  land  s  unto  my  place.  But  Sihon  trusted  not  Israel  to  pass  through  his 
coast  [territory]  :  hut  Sihon  g-athered  all  his  people  together,^  and  [they] 

21  pitched  [encamped]  in  Jahaz,  and  [he]  fought  against  [with]  Israel.*  And 
the  Lord  [Jehovah,  the]  God  of  Israel  delivered  Sihon  and  all  his  people  into  the 
hand  of  Israel,  and  they  smote  them  ;-!--  so   [and]  Israel   possessed  [took  possesgion 


"  Ver.  1".  —  The  words  printed  in  blackfaced  type  are 
ound  in  Num.  xx.  and  xxi.  The  first  part  of  ver.  17  is 
from  Num.  xx.  14,  except  that  there  "  Moses  ''  takes  the 
place  of  "  Israel."  On  the  other  hand,  the  expression, 
''  Thus  saith  thy  brother  Israel,"  there  used,  is  here  wanting. 

'•  Ver.  17.  — Num.  xx.  17  ;  only,  "  let  me  pass,"  is  there 
read,  "  let  us  pass." 

c  Ver.  18. —  Num.  xxi.  4  has   Ulnpb. 
d  Ver.  18.  —  Num.  xxi.  11. 


c  Ver.  18.  —  Num.  xxi.  13. 
/  Ver.  19.  —Num.  xxi.  21. 

0  Ver.  19.  — Num.  xxi.  22  has  n"l317S  for  "n~l3273 
T  :    ;    V  T  :  ;  - 

S3. 

■     ft  Ver.  30.  —  Num.  xxi.  23. 

i  Ver.  20  —  Num.  xxi.  23,  the  words  "they  encampedl ' 
being  substituted  for  "  he  came." 

k  Ver.  21.  — Num.  xxi.  24  ;  "Israel  smote  him." 


166 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


22  of,  /.  e.  conciuered]  all  the  land  of  the  Amorites,  the  inhabitants  of  that  country.  And 
they  possessed  [conquered]  all  the  coasts  [the  entire  territory]  of  the  Amorites,  from 
Arnon  even  unto  [the]  Jabbok,  and  from  the  wilderness  even  unto  [the]   Jordan. 

23  So  now  the  Lord  [Jehovah,  the]  God  of  Israel  hath  dispossessed  the  Amorites  from 
before  his  people  Israel,  and  shouldest  thou  possess   [dispossess]  ^  it  ['•  e.  the  people 

24  Israel  ]  ?  Wilt  uot  thou  possess  that  which  Chemosh  thy  god  giveth  thee  to  possess  ? 
So  whomsoever  [whatsoever]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]   our   God  shall  drive  out  from 

25  before  us  [shall  give  us  to  possess],  them  [that]  will  we  possess.  And  now  art 
thou  any  thing  better  than  Balak  the  son  of  Zippor  king  of  Moab  ?  did  he  ever  strive 

26  against  [litigate  with]  ^  Israel,  or  did  he  ever  fight  against  them,  [?]  While  [Since] 
Israel  dweltin  Heshbon  and  her  towns  [daughter-cities],  and  in  Aroer  [Aror]  and 
her  towns  [daughter-cities],  and  in  all  the  cities  that  he  along  by  the  coasts  [banks] 
of  Arnon  [there  have  passed]  three  hundred  years  ?  [;]  why  therefore  did  ye  not  recover 

27  them  within  that  time  ?  Wherefore  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee,  but  thou  doest 
me  wrong  to  war  against  me :  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  the  Judge  be  judge  this  day  be- 

28  tween  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  and  the  children  [sous]  of  Ammon.  Howbeit, 
the  king  of  the^  children  [sons]  of  Ammon  hearkened  not  unto  the  words  of  Jeph- 
thah  which  he  sent  him. 

TEXTUAL  AND  QRAMIMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  13 Dr.  Uassel  omits  "  Because."    "^3,  in  this  place,  may  be  either  the  sign  of  a  direct  quotation,  as  which  it 

would  be  sufficiently  indicated  by  a  colon  after  "  Jephthah  "  ;  or  a  causal  conjunction  (E.  V.,  De  Wette).  If  the  latter, 
the  sentence  is  elliptical :  "  We  have  much  to  do  with  each  other,"  or,  '■  I  am  come  to  fight  against  thee,"  became,  etc.  — 

[2  Ver.  23. J|3li7"l^n     lit.  "  seize  him."  "  The  construction  of  W^^  with   the   accusative    of  the  people,'-  says 

Keil,  "arises  from  the^fact  that  in  order  to  seize  upon  a  land,  it  is  necessary  first  to  overpower  the  people  that  inhabits 
it."  '  Both  he  and  Bertheau,  however,  refer  the  suffix  to  "  the  Amorite,"  and  are  then  obliged  to  make  the  Amorite  .stand 
for  the  "  land  of  the  Amorite."  — Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  25.  —  ^"^"1  to  contend  in  words,  to  plead  before  a  judge.  Dr.  Cassel  translates  by  rechten,  to  litigate,  which 
must  here  of  course  be  taken  in  a  derivative  sense.  —  Te.] 


BXEQETICAL   AND    DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  12.  The  peaceable  negotiations  into  which 
Jephthali,  before  he  proceeds  to  war,  enters  with 
Ammon,  demonstrate  —  and  the  less  snccessful 
snch  eiforts  nsually  are,  the  more  characteristically 
—  the  truly  God-fearing  character  of  the  new  chief- 
tain. The  Ammonites  were  a  strong  and  valiant 
people  (cf.  Num.  xxi. ;  Deut.  ii.  20,  21);  but  it 
was  not  on  this  account 'that  he  sought  to  negotiate 
with  them  once  more.  The  Ammonites  were  de- 
scended from  Lot,  the  nephew  of  Abraham  ;  and 
Israel,  on  their  journey  to  Canaan,  had  not  been 
allowed  to  assail  them  (Deut.  ii.  19).  Jephthah, 
before  he  draws  the  sword,  wishes  to  free  himself 
from  every  liability  to  be  truthfully  charged  with 
the  violation  of  ancient  and  sacred  prescriptions. 
He  desires  to  have  a  clear,  divine  right  to  wax-,  in 
case  Aramon  will  not  desist  from  its  hostile  pur- 
poses. He  hopes  for  victory,  not  through  strength 
of  arms,  but  through  the  righteousness  of  his  cause. 
This  he  would  secure  ;  so  that  he  may  leave  it  to 
God  to  decide  between  the  parties. 

"What  is  there  between  me  and  thee,    "'yTIip 

T|^'"1.  A  proverbial  form  of  speech,  which  .may 
serve  the  most  divergent  states  of  mind  to  express 
and  introduce  any  effort  to  repel  and  ward  off. 
Wliile  it  might  here  be  rendered,  "  What  wilt 
thou  ?  what  have  I  done  to  thee "?  "  in  the  mouth 
of  the  projihet  Elislia,  repelling  the  unholy  king 
(2  Kgs.  iii.  13),  it  means,  "  How  comest  thou  to 
me  i  I  know  tliee  not ! "  and  in  that  of  the  woman 
tvhose  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  her  child  breaks  out 


afresh  when  she  sees  Elijah  (1  Kgs.  xvii.  18),  "  Alas, 
let  me  alone,  stay  away !  "  The  Gospel  translates 
it  by  Tt  e/tol  Kixl  croi;  in  Avhich  form  it  appears  in 
the  celebrated  passage,  John  ii.  4,  where  Jesus 
speaks  to  Mary.  But  it  has  there  not  the  harsh 
sense,  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  thee !  "  (which  it 
has  not  even  here  in  the  message  of  Jephthah),  but 
only  expresses  a  hurried  request  for  silence,  for  his 
"  hour  was  not  yet  come." 

Ver.  13.  Israel  took  away  my  land.  For  a 
question  of  right,  Ammon,  like  other  robbers  and 
conquerors,  was  not  at  all  prepared ;  but  since  it 
is  put,  the  hostile  king  cannot  well  evade  it.  Rea- 
sons, however,  have  never  been  wanting  to  justify 
measures  of  violence.  Although  unacquainted 
with  the  arts  of  modern  state-craft,  ancient  nations, 
as  well  as  those  of  later  times,  understood  how  to 
base  the  demands  of  their  desires  on  historical 
wrongs.  Only,  such  claims,  when  prefeiTcd  by 
nations  like  the  Ammonites,  usually  did  not  wear 
even  the  appearance  of  truth.  The  king  of  Am- 
mon seeks  to  excuse  his  present  war  against  Israel, 
by  asserting  that  Avhen  Israel  came  up  out  of 
Egypt  they  took  from  liim  the  territory  between 
Arnon,  Jabbok,  and  Jordan,  about  coextensive 
with  the  inheritance  of  Kcuben  and  Gad.  It  was 
utterly  itntruc.  For  when  Israel  went  forth  out 
of  Egypt,  this  territory  was  in  the  hands  of  Sihon, 
king  of  the  Amorites,  who  ruled  in  Heshbon  (Num. 
xxi.).  This  king,  it  is  true,  had  obtained  it  by 
conquest;  but  not  so  much  from  Ammon  as  from 
Moab,  even  though  some  connection  of  the  Am- 
monites with  the  conquered  lands  is  to  be  inferred 
from  Josh.  xiii.  25.     Israel  itself  had  fought  wilb 


CHAPTER  XI.    12-28. 


167 


neither  Mjab  nor  Ammon,  taken  nothing  from 
them,  nor  even  crossed  their  borders. 

Jephthah  does  not  fail  to  reduce  this  folse  pre- 
tense to  its  nothin<;ness  ;  for  it  was  of  the  utmost 
imj)ortance  in  Iiis  view  to  make  it  manifest  that  the 
war,  on  the  side  of  the  Ammonites,  was  thoroughly 
nnjust.  The  memoir  which  he  sends  to  the  king 
of  Ammon,  is  as  clear  as  it  is  instructive.  It  shows 
the  existence  of  a  historical  consciousness  in  the 
Israel  of  that  day,  asserting  itself  as  soon  as  the 
people  became  converted  to  God.  for  only  a  be- 
lieving people  is  instructed  and  strengthened  by 
history.  Jephthah  unfolds  a  piece  of  the  history 
of  Israel  in  the  desert.  It  has  been  a.sked,  in  what 
relation  the  statements  here  made  stand  to  those 
contained  in  the  Pentateuch.  The  answer  is,  that 
the  message  of  Je]ihthah  makes  a  free  use  of  the 
statements  of  the  Pentateuch. 

Vers.  15-28.  Thus  saith  Jephthah.  This  in- 
troduction to  ver.  15  already  indicates  the  free 
combiiuUion  l)y  Jejihthah,  of  statements  derived 
from  the  ancient  records.  That  which  is  of  pecul- 
iar interest  in  this  document,  and  strongly  evinces 
its  originality,  is,  that  while  the  turns  of  the  lan- 
guage and  the  various  ^-erbai  repetitions  (already 
pointed  out  in  the  text)  indicate  the  source  whence 
it  was  borrowed,  its  departures  from  that  source 
evidence  the  freedom  with  which  the  material  is 
used  for  the  end  in  view.  Nothing  is  said  which 
is  not  contained  in  the  Pentateuch ;  only  a  few 
fects,  of  present  pertinence,  are  brought  forward 
and  freely  emphasized.  Berthean  is  inaccurate, 
Avhen  he  thinks  that  the  statement  in  ver.  17,  con- 
cerning Israel's  sending  to  Moab  to  ask  for  passage 
through  their  land  and  JNIoab's  refusal,  is  alto- 
gether new.  For  in  the  first  place  the  perfect 
equality  of  Edom  and  jMoab  as  regards  the  policy 
])ursued  towards  them  by  Moses,  is  already  inti- 
mated in  Deut.  ii.  9  ;  and  in  the  next  place,  ver. 
29  of  the  .same  chapter  makes  Moses  reqiicst  Sihon 
to  give  a  passage  to  Israel  through  his  land,  and 
that  he  will- not  do  "  as  the  sons  of  Esau  and  tlie 
Moabites  did/'  to  wit,  deny  them.  That  which 
connects  ver.  29  with  ver.  28  (Deut.  ii.),  is  not 
that  Esau  and  Moab  had  granted  what  Moses  now 
requests  of  Sihon,  but  that  they  had  not  allowed 
his  petition,  by  reason  of  which  he  is  compelled  to 
demand  it  of  iSilion.^  Here,  therefore,  it  is  plainly 
intimated,  that  Moab  also  refused  a  passage.  This 
fact,  Jephthah  clothes  in  his  own  language,  and 
weaves  into  his  exact  narrative  with  the  selfsame 
design  with  which  Moses  alluded  to  it  in  the  pas- 
sage already  quoted,  namely,  to  prove  that  Israel 
was  compelled  by  necessity  to  take  its  way  through 

1  [This  interpretation  of  Deut.  Ii.  29,  whieli  would  clear 
it  of  all  appearance  of  conflict  with  Nuni.  xx.  14-20,  is  un- 
fortunately not  supported  by  the  language  of  the  original. 
The  natural  rendering  of  the  text  is  substantially  that  of 
the  E.  V.  :  "  Thou  shalt  sell  me  food  for  money,  that  I  may 
eat ;  and  thou  .shalt  give  me  water  for  money,  that  I  may 
drink;  only  I  will  pass  through  on  my  feet:  as  did  unto 
me  the  sons  of  Esau  who  dwell  in  Seir,  and  the  Moabites 
who  dwell  in  Ar :  until  I  pass  over  Jordan,  into  the  land 
which  .lehovah  our  God  giveth  us."  The  reader's  first 
thought  is,  that  the  coaduct  of  Edom  and  Moab  is  referred 
to  .as  a  precedent  coTering  both  parts  of  the  present  request 
to  Sihon  :  "  Sell  me  food  and  grant  me  a  passage  —  as  Edom 
and  Moab  did,  so  do  thou."  But  history  relates  that' 
Edom  deiiitd  a  pass;ige,  and  that  Israel  made  a  detour 
iround  the  Edomite  territories.  May  we  then  regard  thi! 
precedent  as  referring  only  to  the  matter  of  supplies  ?  and 
the  clause  which  recalls  it  to  the  memory  of  Sihon,  as  oceu- 
pj"  ig  a  place  (ifter  that  which  a  Ic^cal  arrangement  of  the 
?lauscs  would,  assign  it  ?  This  supposition,  by  no  means 
Unlikely  in^  i.tsslf,  seems  to  be  favored  by  the  construction 


the  land  of  the  Amorite.  The  same  tracing  of 
events  to  tlieir  causes,  leads  Jephthah  in  ver.  20  to 
say  of  Sihon  :  "  he  trusted  not  Israel,"  whereas 
Num.  xxi.  23  merely  says  :  "  he  permitted  not." 
Jephthah  seeks  to  give  additional  emphasis  to  the 
fact,  that  if  Sihon  lost  his  land,  the  fault  lay  not 
with  Israel.  Sihon  could  not  but  see  that  no 
other  passage  remained  for  Israel ;  but  he  refused 
to  credit  the  peaceable  words  of  Moses.  His  dis- 
trust was  his  ruin.  Further :  instead  of  the  ex- 
pression, "  until  I  pass  over  Jordan,  into  the  land 
which  Jehovah  our  God  giveth  us  "  (Dent.  ii.  29), 
Jephthah  writes,  "  let  us  pass  through  thy  land  to 
mil  place."  At  that  time,  he  means  to  say,  the 
Canaan  this  side  the  Jordan  was  Isi-ael's  destina- 
tion ;  for  not  till  after  that  —  and  this  is  why  he 
changes  the  jjhraseology  —  did  God  give  us  Canaan 
beyond  the  Jordan  also.  For  the  same  reason  he 
substitutes  "  Israel  "  for  "  Moses  "  in  the  expres- 
sion, "  And  Moses  sent  messengers"  (Num.  xx. 
14).  Over  against  Ammon,  he  brings  Israel  into 
view  as  a  national  personality. 

On  the  basis  of  this  historical  review,  Jephthah 
in  a  few  sentences  places  the  unrighteousness  of 
his  demands  before  the  king  of  Ammon.  What, 
therefore,  Jehovah  our  God  allowed  us  to  conquer 
—  that  thou  wilt  possess  ?  thou,  who  hadst  no 
claims  to  it  at  any  time,  since,  properly  speaking, 
it  was  never  thine  1  If  any  party  could  maintain 
a  claim,  it  was  Moab ;  but  Balak,  the  king  of 
Moab,  never  raised  it,  nor  did  he  make  war  on 
that  account.  The  conquest,  by  virtue  of  which 
Israel  held  the  land,  v/as  not  the  result  of  wrongful 
violence,  but  of  a  war  rashly  induced  by  the  enemy 
himself  God  gave  the  victory  and  the  land.  A 
more  solid  title  than  that  which  secures  to  Israel 
the  country  between  the  Arnon  and  the  Jabbok, 
there  cannot  be.  Or  has  Ammon  a  better  for  his 
own  possession  ?  Were  they  not  taken  by  force 
of  arms  from  the  Zamzuramim  (Deut.  ii.  21 )  ?  or,  as 
Jephthah  expresses  it,  "  were  they  not  given  thee 
by  Chemosh,  thy  god  ] "  He  makes  use  of  Am- 
nion's own  form  of  thought  and  expression.  Che- 
mosh (the  desolater,  from  ti'^i)  =  C^?)  is  the 
God  of  War.  As  such,  he  can  here  represent  the 
god  of  Ammon,  although  usually  regarded  as  the 
Moabitish  deity ;  for  it  is  the  martial  method  in 
which  Ammon  obtained  his  land  on  which  the 
stress  is  laid.  Chemosh  is  war  personified,  hence 
especially  honored  liy  the  Moabites,  whose  Ar  Moab, 
the  later  Areopolis,  is  evidently  related  to  the 
Greek  Ares -^  (Mars).  Hence  also  the  represen- 
tation of  him  on  extant  specimens  of  ancient  Are- 

of  the  sentence.  It  does  not,  however,  relieve  the  passage 
of  all  difficulty.  For  it  still  leaves  the  implication  that 
Edom  and  Moab  sold  food  and  water  to  Israel,  whereas  ac- 
cording to  Num.  XX.  20  they  refused  to  do  that  also.  Keil 
therefore  argues  that  this  refusal  was  made  when  Isrsiel  was 
on  the  western  boundary  of  Edom,  where  the  character  of 
the  mountains  made  it  easy  to  repulse  an  army  ;  but  that 
when  Israel  had  reached  their  eastern  boundary,  where  the 
mountains  sink  down  into  vast  elevated  plains,  and  pre 
sent  no  difficulty  to  an  invading  army,  the  Edomites  took 
counsel  of  prudence,  and  instead  of  offering  hostilities  to 
the  Israelites,  contented  themselves  with  the  profitable  sale 
of  what  would  otherwise  have  been  taken  by  force.  This 
is  at  least  a  plausible  explanation,  although  not  founded 
on  historical  evidence,  unless,  what  is  by  no  means  improb- 
able, Deut.  ii.  2-9  is  designed  to  expla.in  the  eoui-se  of  ac- 
tual events  by  a  statement  of  divine  instructions.  —  Tr.] 

■.2  Hence,  the  name  Aroer  proves  also  that  the  worship  o, 
the  '■  War-god  "  obtained  in  Ammon  as  well  as  in  Moab. 
For  a  city  of  that  name  existed  in  the  territories  of  each  of 
these  nations. 


168 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


opolitan  coins,  where  he  appears  with  a  sword  in 
his  right,  and  a  lance  and  shield  in  his  left  hand,  with 
torches  on  either  side  {Eckhd,  Doctr.  Nummor,  in. 
394;  Moycr»,  I^/ioiiizier,  i.  334:). 

Jeidithiih  is  sincere  in  thia  reference  to  the  title 
by  which  Animon  holds  his  land.  He  does  not 
dispute  a  claim  <;roundedon  ancient  conquest.  For 
in  Dent.  ii.  21,  also,  it  is  remarked,  from  a  purely 
Israelitish  point  of  view,  that  "Jehovah  gave  the 
land  to  the  sons  of  Amnion  for  a  possession." 
Quite  rightly  tcjo ;  inasmuch  as  Jehovah  is  the 
God  of  all  nations.  But  as  Jephthah  desires  to 
speak  intelligibly  and  forcibly  to  Amnion,  who 
does  not  understand  the  world-wide  government 
of  Jehovah,  he  connects  the  same  sentiment  with 
the  name  of  Chemosh,  to  whom  Ammon  traces 
back  his  warlike  deeds  and  claims. i  He  thereby 
points  out,  in  the  most  striking  and  conclusive 
manner,  that  if  Ammon  refuses  to  recognize  the 
rights  of  Israel  to  its  territory,  he  at  the  same 
time  undermines,  in  principle,  his  own  right  to  the 
country  he  inhabits.  Aside  from  this,  300  years 
have  passed  since  Israel  first  dwelt  in  Heshbon, 
Aroer,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Arnon.  The  state- 
ment exhibits  a  fine  geographical  arrangement: 
Heshbon,  as  capital  of  the  ancient  kingdom,  is  put 
first ;  then,  to  the  north  of  it,  Aroer  (or  Aror,  prob- 
ably so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  the  southern 
Aroer)  in  Ciad,  over  against  the  capital  of  Amnion  ; 
and  finally,  Iti  the  south,  the  cities  on  the  Arnon. 
Possession,  so  long  undisputed,  cannot  now  be 
called  in  question.  Jephthah  concludes,  therefore, 
that  on  his  side  no  wrong  had  been  committed ; 
•but  Animon  seeks  a  quarrel  —  may  God  decide  be- 
tween them!  But  Ammon  hearkened  not — a 
proof  how  little  the  best  and  most  righteous  state 
papers  avail,  when  men  are  destitute  of  good  in- 
tentions. On  the  other  hand,  let  this  exposition 
of  Jephthah  be  a  model  for  all  litigating  nations, 
and  teach  them  not  only  to  claim,  but  truly  to 
have,  right  and  justice  on  their  side.  For  God, 
the  judge,  is  witness  and  hearer  for  all. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[P.  H.  S. :  Jephthah  as  Diplomatist  —  a  noble 
model  for  modern  imitation.  His  document  is,  1. 
Straightforward    and  convincing   by  its    truthful- 

1  [Wordsworth  :  "  It  does  not  seem  that  .Tephthah  is 
here  using  the  language  (ft"  insult  to  the  Ammonites,  but  is 
giving  them  a  courteous  reply.  He  appears  to  recognize 
Chemosh  as  a  local  deity  ;  and  he  speaks  of  the  Lord  as  the 


[ness;  2.  Firm  in  its  maintenance  of  righteous 
claims;  yet,  withal,  3.  Winning  and  conciliating 
in  its  tone. —  The  most  npriglit  dij)Iomacy  may 
fail  to  avert  war;  but  it  is  nevertheless  jjowerful 
for  the  right.  Israel  doubtless  fought  better,  and 
with  higher  feelings,  when  it  saw  t-Jie  righteousness 
of  its  cause  so  iioi)ly  set  iorth  ;  while  the  enemy 
must  have  been  proportionably  depressed  by  con- 
victions of  an  opposite  character.  — .Jephthah 's  di- 
plomacy as  contrasted  with  that  of  the  king  of 
Moab.  Alas,  that  representatives  of  Christian 
nations  should  so  often  imitate  the  heathen  king 
rather  than  the  Hebrew  Judge,  .and  that  Ghristian 
nations  should  uphold  them  in  it ! 

Hknrt  :  Jephthah  did  not  delight  in  war, 
though  a  mighty  man  of  valor,  but  was  willing  to 
prevent  it  by  a  peaceable  accommodation.  War 
should  be  the  last  remedy,  not  to  be  used  till  all 
other  methods  of  ending  matters  in  variance  have 
been  tried  in  vain.  This  rule  should  also  be  ob- 
served in  going  to  law.  The  sword  of  justice,  as 
the  sword  of  war,  must  not  be  appealed  to  till  the 
contending  parties  have  first  endeavored  by  gentler 
means  to  understand  one  another,  and  to  accom- 
modate matters  in  variance  (1  Cor.  vi.  1).  —  The 
SAME  :  (on  vers.  17,  18)  :  Those  th.at  conduct  them- 
selves inoffensively,  may  take  the  comfort  of  it,  and 
plead  it  against  those  that  charge  them  with  in- 
justice and  wrong.  Our  righteousness  will  answer 
for  us  in  time  to  come,  and  will  "  put  to  silence  the 
ignorance  of  foolish  men."  —  The  same  :  One  in- 
stance of  the  honor  and  respect  we  owe  to  God,  as 
our  God,  is,  rightly  to  po.ssess  that  which  He  gives 
us  to  possess,  receive  it  from  Him,  use  it  for  Him, 
keep  it  for  his  sake,  and  part  with  it  when  He  calls 
for  it.  —  The  same  :  (on  vers.  27,  28) :  War  is  an 
appeal  to  heaven,  to  God  the  Judge  of  all,  to  whom 
the  issues  of  it  belong.  If  doubtful  rights  be  dis- 
puted, He  is  thereby  requested  to  determine  them ;  if 
manifest  rights  be  invaded  or  denied.  He  is  thereby 
applied  to  to  vindicate  what  is  just,  and  ]junish  what 
is  wrong.  As  the  sword  of  justice  was  made  for 
lawless  and  disobedient  persons  (1  Tim.  i.  9),  so 
was  the  sword  of  war  for  lawless  and  disobedient 
princes  and  nations.  In  war,  therefore,  the  eye 
must  be  ever  up  to  God ;  and  it  must  always  be 
thought  a  dangerous  thing  to  desire  or  expect  that 
God  should  patronize  unrighteousness.  —  Tr.J 

God  of  Israel,  and  as  our  God  ;  and  calls  Israel  his  people. 
He  regards  llim  [speaks  of  Him  ?]  as  a  national  deity,  but 
does  not  claim  universal  dominion  for  Him."  —  Te.] 


Jephthah  proceeds  to  the  conflict.     He  vows  a  vow  unto  Jehovah. 
Chapter    XI.  29-33, 


29  Then  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  upon  Jephthah,  and  he  passed  over 
[through]  Gilead,  and  [namely,]  Manasseh,  and  passed  over  [through]  Mizpeh  of 
Gilead  [Mizpeh-Gilead],  and  from  Mizpeh  of  Gilead   [Mizpeh-Gilead]  he  passed 

30  over  unto  [against]  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon.  And  Jephthah  vowed  a  vow 
unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  said.  If  thou  shalt  without  fail '  deliver  the  children 

SI  [sons]  of  Ammon  into  mine  hands.  Then  it  shall  be,  that  whatsoever  cometh  forth 
[out]  of  the  doors  of  my  house  to  meet  me.  when  I  return  in  peace  from  t3ie  chil- 
dren [sons]  of  Ammon,  shall  surely  be  the  Lord's  [Jehovah's],  and  I  will   offer  i' 


32 


33 


CHAPTER  XI.   29-33. 


169 


up  for  a  burnt-ofFering.  So  [And]  Jephthah  passed  over  unto  the  children  [sons] 
of  Ammou  to  fight  against  them :  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  them  into  his 
hands.  And  he  smote  them  from  Aroer  even  till  thou  come  to  Minnith,  even 
twenty  cities,  and  unto  the  j^laiu  of  the  vineyards  [unto  Abel  Keramim],  with  a 
very  great  slaughter.  Thus  the  children  [sons]  of  Ammon  were  subdued  before 
the  children  [sons]  of  Israel. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAIMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  30.  —  It  would  be  better,  perhaps,  with  Dr.  Cassel  to  omit  the  words  "  without  fail."  The  Hebrew  infinitive 
before  the  finite  verb  serves  to  intensify  the  latter  ;  but  the  endeavor  to  give  its  value  in  a  translation,  Is  very  apt  to  re- 
sult in  the  suggestion  of  thoughts  or  shades  of  thought  foreign  to  the  original.     Cf.  Ges.  Gram.  1.31,  8,  a. Tr.I 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOOTRINAL. 

Vers,  29,  33.  Noble  words  are  followed  by- 
splendid  deeds.  It  is,  however,  no  easy  matter  to 
determine  the  geourapliical  arena  in  which  the  his- 
tory of  Jephthah  is  enacted.  The  sons  of  Israel, 
according  to  ch.  x.  17,  assembled  tliemsclves  in 
Mizpah.  To  Mizpah  also,  Je)>lithah  is  brought 
from  the  land  of  Tob :  and  there  he  utters  his 
words  before  Jehovah  (ch.  xi.  11).  This  Mzpah 
cannot  l>c  identical  with  Mizpeh-Gilead  ;  for,  ac- 
cording to  ver.  29,  Jephthah  "  proceeded  —  namely, 
from  Mizpah  —  tlirough  Gilead,  even  through  that 
part  of  it  which  belonged  to  Manasseh,  thence  to 
Mizpeh-Gilead,  and  from  Mizpeh-Gilead  against 
the  son.s  of  Ammon."  The  position  of  Mizpeh- 
Gilead  may  be  ])i-obably  determined.  According 
to  Josh.  xiii.  26,  there  was  in  the  territory  of  Gad 
a  place  called  Ramath  ha-Mizpch.  This  place,  the 
same  doubtJess  which  is  elsewhere  called  Ramoth- 
Gilead  (1  Kgs.  iv.  13)  and  Ramoth  /«  Giload  (Josh. 
xxi.  38),  a  possession  of  the  Levites,  and  dis- 
tinguished as  a  city  of  refuge  (Josh.  xxi.  8  ff.),  is 
with  great  probability  referred  to  the  site  of  the 
present  es-Salt,  in  modern  times  the  only  important 
place  south  of  the  Jabbok,  the  central  point  of  the 
belkii,  and  meeting-place  of  all  its  roads  ( Ritter, 
XV.  1122).  Being  built  around  the  sides  of  a  steep 
hill,  which  is  still  crowned  with  a  castle,  this  place 
answers  very  well  to  a  city  bearing  the  name  Ra- 
moth /Height).  It  is  still  a  place  of  refuge;  and, 
as  Seetzen  relates,  those  who  flee  thither,  are,  ac- 
cording to  ancient  custom,  protected  by  the  inliab- 
itants,  even  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives.  Now, 
as  Ramoth  ha-Mizpeh  may  be  compared  with  es- 
Sait,  so  Mizpeh  or  ha-Mizpeh  Gilead  with  what  in 
modern  times  is  called  el-Belka.i  If  this  be  al- 
lowed, the  point  of  departtxre  of  Jejihthah's  course 
of  victory  is  plain.  From  Mizpeh-Gilead  he  pressed 
forward  against  the  enemy,  and  smote  him  "from 
Aroer"  (ver.  33).  Now,  according  to  Josh.  xiii. 
25,  Aroer  lay  over  against  Rabbath  Ammon  (at 
present  Amnran),  the  capital  of  the  Ammonites, 
and  its  position  may  therefore  not  improperly  be 
compared  with  that  of  the  modern  Aireh.  The 
places  "unto"  which  Jephthah  smote  the  enemy, 
Minnith  and  Abel  Keramim,  can  scarce!}^  be  dis- 
covered. They  only  indicate  the  wealth  and  cul- 
tivation of  the  now  desolate  land.     Minnith  sup- 

1  [El-Belka  is  a  modern  division  of  the  east-jordanic  ter- 
dtory,  and  is  bounded  by  AV'ady  Zerka  (the  Jabbok)  on  the 
north,  and  by  U'ady  Mojeb  (the  Arnon)  on  the  so_uth.  It 
is  evident,  therefore,  that  our  autlior  regards  Mizpeh-Gilead 
as  the  name  of  a.  district,  not  of  a  city.  The  reasoning  from 
'he  identification  of  Ramoth-Miipeh  with  es-Salt  to  that  of 
Mizpeh-Gilead  with  el-Belka,  is  not  so  clear,  but  seems  to 
Be  this  :  S^co  Ranioth-Mizpeh  is  also  called  Ranioth-Gilead 
and  Ramoyi  in  Gilead,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  Mizpeh,  like 
tii lead,  indicates  the  district  in  which  Ramath  is  situated, 
with  tibi^  dilference,  however,  that  Mizpeh  is  more  definite, 


plied  Tyre  with  wheat  (Ezek.  xxvii.  17).  As  to 
Abel  Keramim  (Meadow  of  VineyardsJ),  it  implies 
the  vicinity  of  the  Ammonitish  capital,  whose 
ruins,  and  also  many  of  its  coins,  still  exhibit  the 
grape-bunch  prominent  among  their  omaments 
(Ritter,  xv.  1152,  1157).  But  with  all  this,  Miz- 
pah, whence  Jephthah  and  his  men  set  out  to  go 
to  es-Salt  and  Aireh,  pursuing  their  march  through 
Gilead,  more  definitely,  through  the  Gilead  of 
Manasseh,  north  of  the" Jabbok,  remains  yet  unde- 
termined. Although  it  docs  not  occur  again,  it 
nmsc  yet  have  been  a  place  of  some  importance. 
Inasmuch  as  it  has  a  name  which  characterizes  its 
situation  only  in  a  general  way,  it  may  in  later 
times  have  borne  a  different  one.  It  seems  to  agree 
most  nearly  with  what  in  Josh.  xi.  3  is  called  the 
"  land  of  Mizpeh," — "  the  Hivite  tmder  Hermon 
in  the  land  of  Mizpeh."  For,  as  is  also  stated  1 
Chr.  V.  23,  "  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  dwelt  in 
the  land  of  Bashan,  as  far  as  Baal-Hermon,  and 
Senir,  and  Mt.  Hermon."  Now,  the  Rella  of  later 
times,  so  named  on  account  of  the  similarity  of  its 
situation  to  the  Macedonian  city  of  the  same  name 
—  it  lay  on  a  height,  surrounded  by  water  —  is 
said  formerly  to  have  been  called  Butis,  still  in 
agreement  with  the  Macedonian  city,  which  lay  in 
the  district  Bottia^is.  A  similarity  of  sound  be- 
tween the  name  Butis  and  Mizpah  could  only  then 
be  found,  if  it  might  be  assumed  that  as  Timnah 
was  also  called  Timnatah,  so  Mizpah  had  also 
been  called  Mizpatah.  It  would  at  all  events  be 
worth  while  to  fix,  even  conjeeturally,  tipon  the 
place  where  the  great  hero  prepared  himself  for  his 
victory.  As  he  enters  on  the  conflict,  the  Spirit 
of  Jehovah  rests  upon  him.  He  has  given  the  de- 
cision into  Jehovah's  handj? ;  he  looks  to  Him  for 
victory  ;  and  to  Him  he  makes  a  vow. 

Vers.  30-32.  This  vow  has  been  the  subject  of 
the  most  singiilar  misapprehensions ;  and  yet, 
rightly  understood,  it  crowns  the  deep  piety  of 
this  hero  of  God.  Jephthah  perceives  the  full 
significance  of  the  course  on  which  he  decides. 
He  knows  how  greatly  victory  will  strengthen 
faith  in  God  throughout  all  the  tribes.  He  sees  a 
new  Israel  rise  up.  The  people  have  trustingly 
committed  themselves  to  his  leadership,  and  he  has 
uttered  all  his  "  words  before  Jehovah."  In  this 
state  of  mind,  he  bows  himself  before  his  God  (1 
Sam.  i.  28),  and  makes  a  vow.^     To  the  national 

being  only  a  division  of  Gilead.  But  R-imoth  may  be  identified 
with  es-Salt  in  the  Belka  ;  hence  the  ancient  district  Mizpeh 
may  be  compiired  with  the  modern  province  el-Belka.  —  Tr.] 
2  For  the  history  of  the  exegesis,  and  its  characteristic 
points,  I  refer  to  my  article '"Jephthah,"  in  Herzog's  lienl- 
Encyklopadie,  the  materials  of  which  cannot  here  be  repro- 
duced, but  the  drift  of  which  is  here,  I  trust,  provided  with 
fi-esh  support.  The  other  recent  literature  on  the  suljject  is 
indicated  by  Keil,  who  justly  explains  that  the  assumption 
of  a  spiritual  sacrifice  is  .almost  imperatively  demanded.  The 
opinions  of  the  church  fathers   are  collected  in  the  Cou* 


170 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


spirit  which  expresses  itself  in  the  Bible,  vows  fire 
the  signs  and  ex])ression  of  the  deepest  self-sur- 
render to  God.  Jiieol)  makes  vows  to  be  fulfilled 
on  his  prosperous  return  home  (Gen.  xxviii.  20  tf.). 
In  the  I'salms,  "  to  pay  one's  vows,"  has  become 
synonymous  with  "  to  live  in  God"  (Ps.  Ixi.  8; 
cxvi.  Ujff. ).  The  prophet  describes  the  coming 
salvation  ol'  the  nations  by  saying  that  they  shall 
"  make  vows  and  ])erform  them  "  (Isa.  xix.  21). 
And  this  idea  is  deeply  grounded  in  truth :  for  in 
the  vows  which  man  makes  to  God,  there  is  evi- 
dently expressed  a  living  faith  in  the  divine  om- 
nipotence and  omniscience.  Man  expects  from 
Him,  and  would  fain  give  to  Him.  The  more  one 
feels  himself  to  have  received  from  God,  the  more 
will  he  desire  to  consecrate  to  Him.  Such  is  the 
feeling  under  which  Jephthah  makes  his  vow  to 
Jehovah.  He  promises  that  if  God  grant  him 
victory,  and  he  return  home  crowned  with  success, 
'  then  that  which  goeth  forth  from  the  doors 
of  my  house  to  meet  me,  shall  be  Jehovah's, 
and  I  will  present  it  as  a  whole  burnt-offer- 
ing." He  makes  this  vow  I'rom  the  fullness  of  his 
conviction  that  victory  belongs  to  God  alone,  and 
from  the  fulhiess  of  his  love,  which  would  give  to 
God  that  wliicli  belongs  to  Him  as  the  author  of 
success.  He  would  make  it  known  to  God,  that 
he  regards  Him,  and  not  himself,  as  the  command- 
er-in-chief. There  exists,  therefore,  a  profound 
connection  between  the  words,  "when  I  return  in 
peace  from  the  sons  of  Ammon,"  and  the  expres- 
sion, "whatsoever  cometh  forth  to  meet  mc;  "  and 
it  is  essential  to  the  right  understanding  of  the 
vow  that  this  be  borne  in  mind.  Victory  will 
awaken  great  rejoicings  among  the  people.  Tiiey 
will  meet  the  returning  victor  with  loud  acclama- 
tions of  gladness.  They  will  receive  him  with  gifts 
and  adornments,  with  garlands  and  dauces.  Such 
receptions  were  customary  among  all  nations. 
The  multitude  scattered .  roses,  myrtles,!  and  ]Kr- 
f'umes.  Similar  customs  obtained  in  Israel  (1  Sam. 
xviii.  6).  Jejihthah  will  be  celebrated  and  praised. 
But  not  to  him — to  God,  belongs  the  honor! 
That  which  is  consecrated  to  him,  belongs,  wholly 
and  entirely,  to  God.  This  is  the  first  ground  of  his 
vow.  Je])hihah's  overflowing  heart  knows  not 
what  to  consecrate.  He  feels  that  notliing  is  suf- 
ficient to  be  presented  to  God.  But  all  things  are 
subject  to  God's  disposal.  Therefore,  whatever 
comes  forth  over  the  threshold  of  his  house  to 
meet  him,  when  he  returns  victorious,  —  it  shall 
be  for  God.  He  will  have  no  part  in  it.  By  this 
first  ground  of  the  vow,  its  analogy  with  heathen 
narratives  is  so  far  limited,  that  there  is  here  no 
talk  of  a  sacrifice  to  consist  of  just  theirs/  -  whom 
he  meets,  and  the  first  alone.     Nor  is  it  necessary 

to  assume  that  W!^.?  1^'?;?  i^""'"'"!',  "that  which 
goeth  forih,"  must  be  understood  to  mean  only  one 
person.  It  is  as  little  necessary  as  that  in  Nuni. 
XXX.  3  (2),  where  vows  are  treated  of,  the  words 

mentary  of  Senrius.  Certhcau's  decision  for  an  actual 
Bacrificial  deatli,  may  probably  be  explained  by  the  supposi- 
tion that  he  did  not  view  the  transaction  freely  and  inde- 
pendently, but  only  with  reference  to  the  opinions  of  others, 
a  proceeding  of  too  frequent  occurrence. 

1  Cf.  Gerhard,  Auserlesene  griech.  Vasengemdlde,  i.  130, 
166. 

2  Which  is  the  decisive  point  in  the  legends  concerning 
Idomeneus,  as  told  by  Servius,  and  Alexander,  as  related 
by  Valerius  Waxiniua  (vii.  3  ;  cf.  my  article  in  Herzog,  vi. 
472).  This  also  is  the  turning  point  in  a  series  of  later.es- 
pecially  German,  popular  tales,  in  which  the  "first  "  is  not 
?o  much  freely  promised  to,  ;is  demanded  by,  the  demon 
power  who,  for   that  price,  has  supported  or  delivered  the 


VSp  Stii^n,  "  that  which  proceedeth  out  of  his 
mouth,"  must  mean  one  word.  The  jiarticiplc  is  in 
the  singular  on  account  of  its  neutral  signification. 
This  indefiniteness  is  the  peculiar  characteristic  of 
the  votive  formula.  Equally  indefinite  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  verb  W!i."]  {"  goeth  forth  "),  which  may  be 

used  of  persons  and  things,  men  and  animals  (cf. 
Gen.  i.x.  10).  But  the  occasion  of  the  vow  shows  also 
that  Jej)hthah  must  have  thought  oi persons  as  com- 
ing forth  to  meet  him.  At  all  events,  he  cannot  have 
thought  that  precisely  a  lamb  or  an  ox  would  come 
forth  from  his  doors  to  meet  him.  Notwithstanding 
the  breadth  of  the  vow,  notwithstanding  all  its  indefi- 
niteness, which  is  left,  as  it  were,  to  be  filled  out 
by  God  himself,  the  chieftain  must  have  thought 
oi persons  coming  to  meet  him  ;  for  they  come  forth 
on  account  of  the  victory,  and  for  that  reason  may 
be  given  to  God  who  gives  the  triumph.  Doubt- 
less, the  abundance  of  his  love  is  as  boundless  as 
that  of  his  faith.  As  little  as  he  analyzes  the  lat- 
ter, by  which  God's  victorious  might  enters  his 
heart,  so  little  does  his  vow  separate  and  individ- 
ualize the  ol)jects  of  the  fornier.     He  calculates  not 

—  raises  no  difficulties :  whatever  comes  to  meet 
him,  that  he  will  give  to  God.  But  as  surely  as 
this  does  not  include  things  beyond  the  range  of 
possible  contingencies,  so  surely  must  he  have  had 
some  thoughts  as  to  who  might  meet  him  on  a  vic- 
torious return  home.  And  if  he  was  aware  that 
not  only  oxen  and  lambs  might  come  out  to  meet 
him  —  for  such  a  limitation  would  contradict  the 
breadth  of  the  vow  itself —  he  was  equally  aware 
that  not  everything  which  might  como  forth,  could 
be  offered  up  like  oxen  and  lambs. 

Due  stress  being  laid  on  the  fact  that  the  meet- 
ing is  contemplated  as  one  taking  place  in  conse- 
quence of  victory,  there  is  suggested,  for  the  fur- 
ther understanding  of  the  vow,  a  second  point  of 
view,  not  yet  properly  considered.  Jej)hthah's  war 
is  a  national  war  against  Ammon.  The  freedom 
and  rights,  which  Israel  had  received  from  Jeho- 
vah, are  thereby  vindicated.  The  negotiations 
about  the  claims  to  certain  lands,  set  up  by  Ammon, 
and  refuted  by  Je])hthah,  have  not  been  related  in 
vain.  They  exhibit  the  God  of  Israel  in  his  abso- 
lute greatness,  over  against  Chemosh,  the  false  de- 
ity of  the  Ammonites.  Israel  has  repented ;  and 
it  is  not  one  maii,  but  the  whole  tribe,  that  is  rep- 
resented as  beseecliing  Jehovah  for  help.  To  bring 
out  this  contrast  between  Jehovah  and  the  gods  of 
the  heathen,  the  history  of  Israel,  which  rests  on 
the  power  and  will  of  Jehovah,  is  referred  to  in  a 
free  and  living  way.  Jephthah  is  conversant  with 
the  divine  record.  He  calls  on  Jehovah  to  decide 
as  judge  between  himself  and  Ammon  (ver.  27), 
just  as  in  his  dealings  with  the  Gileadites  he  ap- 
peals to  Him  as  "  Hearer  "  (ver.  11).  He  utters  his 
words  "  before  Jehovah,"  and  the  "  Sjiirit  of  Je- 
hovah "  comes  upon  him.     The  name  "  Elohim  " 

person  from  whjojn  the  sajjrifice  is  required.  This  "first" 
is  usually  the  person  most  beloved  by  liim  who,  to  his  .i;reat 
regret,  has  made  the  pi'omise  (cf  MiillenhofT,  .Sct^'cn,  pp.  384, 
385.  395;  Sommer,  Sai^eii,  pp.  87,  131).  Sometimes,  the 
"  first  human  being  '  is  succe)=sfully  rescued  from  the  devil 

—  for  it  is  he  who  appears  in  Christian  legends  —  by  the 
substitution  of  an  animal.  In  one  of  Miilleuhcffs  legends 
(p.  li)2,  Anmerk.)  a  dog  bccouies  the  "first  ;  "  in  Grimm's 
Mi/t/ioloi;ie,  p.  973  (cf.  Wolf,  Deutsche  Sniieii,  p.  417,  etc.), 
it  is  a  goat.  No  doubt,  a  mistaken  exposition  of  .Jephthah'* 
vow,  had  its  influence  here.  It  is,  therefore,  the  more  im- 
portant to  insist  that  in  the  vow  nothing  is  said  of  a  fira' 
one  who  may  meet  the  returning  conqueror. 


CHAPTER   XI.   29-33. 


171 


!b  not  used,  —  for  that  Amnion  considers  applicable 
to  his  gods  also,  —  but  always  that  name  which  in- 
volves the  distinctive  faith  of  Israel,  namely,  Je- 
hovah. All  throiifih,  Jcphthah  is  represented  as 
familiar  with  the  Mosaic  institutes,  and  imbued 
with  their  s])irit;  and  this 'just  because  the  his- 
tory deals  with  a  iialioiuil  war  against  Ammon. 
The  vow  also,  which  Jejjlitliah  makes,  is  modeled 
by  this  contrast  between  Israel  and  Ammon.  The 
tribes  descended  from  Lot  are  especially  notorious 
for  the  .nature  of  their  idolatrous  worship.  The 
abominations  practiced  by  Ammon  and  Moab  in 
h(Hior  of  Milcora  (as  they  called  Molech)  and 
Chemosh,  are  sufficiently  familiar  from  the  history 
of  Israel  under  the  kinus  (1  Kgs.  xi.  7,  etc.).  The 
sacrifice  of  human  beings,  particularly  children, 
formed  a  terrible  part  of  their  worship.  They 
burned  and  slaughtered  those  whom  they  loved,  in 
token  of  devotion  and  surrender  to  the  clreaded  de- 
mon. The  same  practices  were  generally  diffused 
among  the  Phcenicians  (cf  Movers,  i.  302).  On 
great  national  occasions,  such  as  war  or  pestilence, 
parents  vowed  to  sacritice  their  children  on  the 
public  altars.  In  the  Second  Book  of  Kings 
(ch.  iii.  27)  n'c  have  the  horrible  story  of  the  king 
of  Moab,  who  slaughtered  his  eldest  son  on  the 
walls  of  his  city.  Without  entering  farther  into 
this  terrible  superstition,  the  explanation  of  which 
by  Movers  is  not  exhatistive,  thus  much  it  is  nec- 
essary to  say  here :  that  the  sacrifices  it  required 
were  regarded  by  the  nations  who  offered  them,  as 
the  highest  expression  of  their  self-surrender  to  the 
idol-god.  Hence,  it  is  only  upon  the  background 
of  this  jn-actice,  that  the  offering  of  Isaac  by  Abra- 
ham can  be  rightly  understood.  Abraham  is  put 
to  the  proof,  whether  he  will  show  the  same  free 
and  obedient  self-surrender.  As  soon  as  he  has 
(lone  that,  it  is  made  clear  that  such  sacrifices  God 
does  not  desire. 

A  similar  contrast  is  unquestionably  exhibited 
in  the  vow  of  ,Iephtliah  ;  only,  here  the  reference 
is  specially  to  Ammon.  Jejjhthah  appears  before 
Jehovah  with  devotion  and  readiness  to  make  sac- 
rifices not  inferior  to  that  of  which  idolaters  boast 
themselves.  He  promises  to  present  to  God  what- 
ever shall  come  to  meet  him.  In  the  form  of  a 
vow,  and  with  indefinite  fullness,  he  declares  his 
readiness  to  resign  whatsoever  God  himself,  by  his 
providential  orderings,  shall  mark  out.  It  is  pre- 
cisely in  this  that  the  conscious  opposition  of  the 
vow  to  the  abominable  sacrifices  of  the  Ammon- 
ites expresses  itself.  The  highest  self-abnegation 
is  displayed ;  but  in  connection  with  it,  the  will  of 
God  is  sought  after.  God  himself  will  determine 
what  is  acceptable  to  Him  ;  and  Jcphthah  knows 
that  this  God  has  said  :  "  When  thou  art  come  into 
the  laud  which  Jehovah  thy  God  giveth  thee,  thou 
^halt  not  learn  to  do  after  the  abominations  of 
tho.se  nations.  There  shall  not  be  found  among 
you  any  one  that  maketh  his  son  or  his  daughter 
to  pass  through  the  fire  (which  was  the  Molech- 
worship  of  the  Ammonites)  ;  ....  for  every 
one  that  doeth  these  things,  is  an  abomination 
unto  Jehovah ;  and  because  of  these  abominations 
doth  Jehovah  thy  God  drive  them  out  froni  before 
thee"  (Deut.  xviii.  9  ff.).  To  the  expulsion  of  the 
nations  by  God,  in  favor  of  Israel,  Jephthalii  liim- 

1  That  it  is  just  Jephthah,  and  he  as  the  hero  of  law 
and  faith,  who  presents  this  contrast  with  Ammon  and  hu- 
man sacrifices,  those  expo.sitors  have  overlooked,  who,  in 
spite  of  the  God  wiio  was  with  him.  describe  this  very  Jeph- 
thah as  a  barbarous  transgressor  of  law. 

2  Our  exposition   puts  no  new  and  strained  interpreta- 


self  formerly  appealed.  We  conclude,  therefore, 
that  the  very  formula  of  this  vow,  made  on  the  eve 
of  war  with  Ammon,  excludes  the  idea  of  a  human 
sacrifice. 

The  sacrificial  system  of  Israel  stands  through- 
out in  marked  contrast  with  the  Canaanitish  Mo- 
lech service.  Its  animal  sacrifices  are  the  spiritual 
symbols  which  it  opposes  to  the  abominations  of 
Canaan.  To  see  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer 
once  more  to  the  sacrifice  of  Abraham.  God  says 
to  him  :  Offer  me  Isaac  for  a  whole  burnt-offering 

(nvl77);  and  when  Abraham  is  about  to  give 
Isaac  wholly  up,  an  animal  is  substituted  for  him 
(Gen.  xxii.  2,  10  ff.).  Since  that  time,  nbi? 
(burnt-offering  or  whole  burnt-offering)  is  the  typ- 
ical and  technical  term  for  an  animal  sacrifice, 
symbolical  of  perfect  surrender  and  consecration  to 
God.  The  offerings  which  were  thus  named,  were 
wholly  consumed  by  fire.      Nothing  was  left  of 

them.  Hence,  precisely  '^!^-^  in  its  sense  of  ani- 
mal sacrifice,  presented  a  Strong  contrast  with  the 
worship  of  the  Ammonites,  for  among  them  hu- 
man beings  were  offered  up  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  Israelites  offered  animals. 

When  Gideon  is  directed  to  destroy  the  aliar  of 
Baal,  he  is  at  the  same  time  commanded  to  offer  a 

bullock  as  a  whole  burnt-offering  (i~l^'l57)  on  an 
altar  to  be  erected  by  himself,  and  to  consume  it 
with  the  wood  of  the  Asherah  (ch.  vi.  26).^    Such 

also  is  the  whole  burnt-offering  (H  ^),  to  offer 
whicli  permission  is  given  to  Manoah,  the  father 
of  Samson,  without  any  mention  being  made  of 
the  animal  (ch.  xiii.  16).  The  influence  of  wor 
ship  on  language  in  Israel,  brought  it  about  that 

n757,  to  offer,  signifies  the  offering  of  an  animal 
whicli  is  to  be  wholly  consumed  in,  the  sacred  fire. 
It  is  therefore  significant  and  instructive,  when  in 
Jephthah's  vow  we  find  the  expression  :  "  It  shall 
be  Jehovah's,  and  I  will  present  it  as  a  whole  burnt- 
offering  (n  vlJ).  In  no  other  instance  in  which 
the  bringing  of  a  whole  burnt-offering  is  spoken  of, 
is  the  additional  expression,  "  it  shall  be  Jeho- 
vah's," made  use  of.  not  even  in  the  instances  of 
Gideon  and  Manoah,  although  this  of  Jcphthah 
is  chronologically  enclosed  between  them.  How 
strangely  would  it  have  sounded,  if  it  had  been  ■ 
said  to  Gideon  :  "Take  the  bullock;  it  shall  be- 
long to  Jehovah,  and  thou  shalt  present  it  as  a 
whole  burnt-offering.  For  the  bullock  is  presented 
in  order  that  Gideon  may  belong  to  God.  It  is 
offered,  not  for  itself,  but  for  men.  It  is  placed  on 
the  altar  of  God,  just  because  it  is  the  property  of 
man.  It  is  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  Biblical  lan- 
guage and  life  to  say  of  a  sacrificial  animal,  "  it 
shall  belong  to  God,"  for  the  reason  that  the  ani 
mal  comes  to  hold  a  religious  relation  to  God, 
only  because  it  belongs  to  man,  and  is  offered  in 
man's  behalf.  An  animal  belonging  to  God,  in  i' 
religious  sense,  without  being  offered  up,  is  incon- 
ceivable.    At  least,  it  cannot  be  permitted  to  live. 

Very  important  for  this  subject,  is  the  passage 
in  Ex.  xiii.  12,  13.  It  is  there  commanded  that, 
when  Israel  shall  have  come  into  Canaan,  every 

tions  on  113  and  H    Si?,  but  leaves  them  to  be  under 

T  ' 

stood  in  their  general  and  well  known  Biblical  acceptation  — 
n  ^'iy    being  here  the  symbol  of  a  .spiritual  truth,  while 

yet  it  ignores  animal  sacrifices  as  little  as  does  H^^.,  ^e* 
Ps.  li.  21  (19). 


172 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


first-born  shall  be  set  apart  unto  Jehovah,  both 
the  firstlings  of  every  beast  "  which  thou   hast " 

(^^  i^':p''.  "'??^-^)'  and  the  first-born  of  man.  The 
firstlinj;-  of  such  animals  as  cannot  be  offered,  the 
ass,  for  instance,  is  to  be  redeemed  with  money ; 
or,  if  the  owner  do  not  wish  to  redeem  it,  he  must 
kill  it.  The  first-born  of  man,  however,  must  be 
redeemed.  The  first-born  animal  is  moreover  set 
apart  for  God  only  on  account  of  man,  its  owner. 
This  substitutionary  "  belonging  to  God,"  it  can 
only  represent  in  death.  Hence  the  expression, 
"it  shall  belong  to  God,"  is  never  used  of  animals, 
but  they  are  said  to  be  "offered."  On  the  con- 
trary, it  can  be  applied  only  to  human  beings ;  "  he 
shall  belong  to  God,"  shall  live  for  God,  conscious 
of  his  own  freewill  and  of  the  divine  Spirit,  which 
consciousness  is  wanting  in  animals.  Scripture 
itself  gives  this  explanation,  Num.  iii.  12,  Avhere 
it  is  said  :  "  Behold,  I  have  taken  the  Levitcs  from 
among  the  sons  of  Israel,  instead  of  all  the  first- 
born ;  therefore,  the  Levites  belong  to  me  (^'^'7': 
n=;ibn  "^b)."  The  Levites  belong  to  God  for  all 
Israel  through  their  life ;  the  first-born  of  animals, 
through  their  sacrificial  death.  Accordingly,  Han- 
nah also,  when  she  makes  her  vow  to  God,  says, 
that  if  a  son  be  granted  her,  she  will  give  him  unto 
Jehovah  ;  and  when  she  brings  him  to  the  taberna- 
cle, that  he  is  "  lent  unto  Jehovah  (nin''7  7^Stt?, 
1  Sam.  i.  28)  as  long  as  he  liveth." 

We  perceive,  therefore,  that  in  the  words  of 
Jephthah,  "  it  shall  be  Jehovah's,  and  I  will  pre- 
sent it  as  a  whole  burnt-offering,"  there  can  be  no 
mere  tautology.  The  two  clauses  do  not  coincide 
in  meaning ;  they  cannot  stand  the  one  for  the 
other. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  attend  to  every  word 
of  this  remarkable  verse.  For  the  vow  is  a  con- 
tract, every  point  of  which  has  its  importance,  and 
in  which  not  only  one  being  is  thought  of,  but  in 
which  all  creatures,  human  beings  as  well  as  brute 
beasts,  the  few  or  the  many,  that  may  come  forth 
to  meet  Jephthah,  are  included,  and  each  is  con- 
secrated as  his  kind  pernjits.  The  vow  speaks  of 
whatsoever  cometh  forth  "  out  of  the  doors  of  my 
house."  Many  will  come  to  meet  him,  but  he  can 
offer  only  of  that  which  is  his ;  over  the  rest  he 
has  no  power  of  disposition.  His  promise  extends 
to  what  comes  out  of  his  own  house  ;  and  not  to 
anything  that  comes  accidentally,  but  to  what 
comes  "  to  meet  him."     It  must  come  forth  for  the 

Curpose  of  receiving  him.     But  even  then,  the  vow 
ecomes  binding  only  when  he  returns  crowned 

with  victory  and  salvation  (D'l'^tt^?),  and  that,  not 
over  any  and  every  foe,  but  over  Animon.  If  thus 
he  be  permitted  to  return,  then  whatever  meets 
him  "  shall  be  Jehovah's,  and  he  will  present  it  as 
a  whole  burnt-offering." 

The  promise  must  necessarily  be  expressed  with 
the  greatest  exactitude.  This  was  demanded  by 
the  requirement  of  the  law,  that  he  who  makes  a 
vow  "  shall  keep  and  perform  that  which  is  gone 
out  of  his  lips,  even  as  he  vowed"  (Deut.  xxiii.  24 
[2.3l  ;  Num.  XXX.  2).  Had  Jephthah  thought  only 
i)f  animals,  he  would  merely  have  employed  the 
formula  usual  in  such  cases  —  "and  I  will  present 
it  unto  thee  as  a  whole  burnt-offering."     It  would 


not  "have  been  sufficient  to  have  said,  "  it  shall 
belong  to  Jehovah,"  because  an  animal  belongs  to 
God  in  this  sense  only  when  saci'ificed  for  men 
Precisely  the  insertion  of  the  words,  "  it  shall 
belong  to  Jehovah,"  proves,  therefore,  that  ho 
thought  also  of  human  beings.  The  generality 
and  ijreadth  of  the  vow  makes  both  clauses  neces- 
sary, since  either  one  alone  would  not  have  cov- 
ered both  men  and  animals.  The  first  was  inap 
plicable  to  animals,  the  second  to  human  beings. 
Both  being  used,  the  one  explains  and  Unfits  the 
other.  The  main  stress  lies  on  the  words,  "  it  shall 
belong  to  Jehovah,"  for  therein  is  suggested  the 
ground  of  the  vow.  They  also  stand  first.  Were 
human  beings  in  ([uestion  ]  then  the  first  clause  went 
into  full  operation;  and  the  second  taught  that  a 
life  "  belonging  to  God  "  must  be  one  as  fully  with- 
drawn from  this  earthly  life  as  is  the  sacrificial  vic- 
tim not  redeemed  according  to  law ;  while  the  first 
limited  the  second,  by  intimating  that  a  human 
being  need  not  be  actually  offered  up,  as  the  letter 
of  the  promise  seemed  to  require,  but  that  the  im- 
portant point  is  that  it  belong  wholly  to  God. 

God  demands  no  vows.  It  is  no  sin,  when  none 
are  made.  But  when  one  has  been  made,  it  must 
be  kept.  Jephthah  obtains  the  victory  :  God  does 
his  part ;  and  the  trying  hour  soon  comes  in  which 
Jephthah  must  do  his.  But,  as  in  battle,  so  in  the 
hour  of  private  distress,  he  approves  himself,  and 
triumphs,  albeit  with  tears. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Jephthah  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  extraor- 
dinary nature  of  the  call  he  has  received.  For 
it  is  only  because  he  is  humble,  that  he  is  called, 
Gideon,  in  his'  slight  estimate  of  himself,  asks  of 
God  to  show  him  miraculous  signs  on  such  objects 
as  he  points  out.  Jephthah,  regarding  the  under- 
taking as  great  and  himself  as  small,  would  fain 
give  to  God  whatever  He  himself  shall  elect.  His 
vow  is  the  offspring  of  his  humility.  It  is  pressed 
out  of  him  by  the  extraordinary  calling  which  is 
imposed  upon  him.  His  love  values  nothing  so 
highly,  that  he  should  not  leave  it  to  God  to  decide 
what  shall  be  given  up  ;  but  the  will  of  God  often 
goes  sorely  against  the  heart. 

So  deeply,  also,  does  every  truly  humble  man 
feel  his  calling  as  Christian  and  as  citizen.  "  It  is 
difficult  to  be  a  Christian,"  says  the  heart,  terrified 
at  itself.  And  yet,  for  him  who  has  been  redeemed 
through  penitence  and  faith,  it  is  so  easy.  He 
only  would  give  all,  who  knows  that  he  must  re- 
ceive all.  But  the  love  of  the  soul  that  gives  itself 
up,  is  stronger  than  its  own  strength.  No  true 
vow  is  made  to  the  Lord  without  self-crucifixion. 
God's  ways  are  incomprehensible.  Whom  He 
loves.  He  chastens.  We  are  ready  to  give  Him 
everything ;  but  when  He  takes,  we  weep.  A 
broken  heart  is  more  pleasing  to  Him  than  sacri- 
fice.    No  Passion,  no  Gospel. 

Gerlach  :  The  design  of  this  history  (concern- 
ing the  vow)  is  not  so  much  to  set  forth  the  rude- 
ness of  the  age,  or  the  dangers  of  rashly  made 
vows,  as  leather  to  show  how  Israel  was  saved  fiom 
its  enemies  by  the  faith  of  Jephthah,  and  how  the 
service  of  the  triu3  God  was  restored  under  th« 
heaviest  sacrifices  of  the  faithful. 


CHAPTER  XL    34-40.  173 


Jephthah,  returning  victoriously,  is  met  hy  his  daughter.      The  fulfillment  of  his  vow 

Chapter  XI.     34-40. 

34  And  Jephthah  came  to  Mizpeh  [Mizpah]  unto  his  house,  and  behold,  his  daugh- 
ter came  [comes]  out  to  meet  him  with  timbrels  and  with  dances :  and  she  was  his 

3o  only  child ;  beside  her  ^  he  had  neither  son  nor  daughter.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
when  he  saw  her,  that  he  rent  his  clothes,  and  said,  Alas,  my  daughter  !  thou  hast 
brought  [thou  bringest]  me  very  low,  and  thou  art  one  of  them  [the  only  one]  '^ 
tliat  trouble  [afflicteth]  me  :  for  I  have  opened  my  mouth  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah], 

36  and  I  cannot  go  back.  And  she  said  unto  him,  My  father,  (/'  [omit :  if]  thou  hast 
[laast  thou]  opened  thy  mouth  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  [then]  do  to  me  according 
to  that  which  hath  proceeded  out  of  thy  mouth  ;  forasmuch  as  the  Lord  [Jeho- 
vah] hath  taken  ^  vengeance  for  thee,  of  thine  enemies,  even  of  the  children  [sons] 

37  of  Ammon.  And  she  said  unto  her  father.  Let  this  thing  be  done  for  [to]  me :  "* 
Let  me  alone  two  months,  that  I  may  go  up  and  down  [may  go  and  descend]  ^ 
upon  the  mountains,  and  bewail  [weep  over]  my  vii'ginity,  I  and  my  fellows  [com- 

38  panions].  And  he  said,  Go.  And  he  sent  her  away  [dismissed  her]  for  two 
months :  and   she  went  with  her  companions,  and  bewailed  [wept  over]   her  vir- 

39  ginity  upon  the  mountains.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  two  months,  that 
she  returned  unto  her  father,  who  did  with  her  according  to  his  vow  which  he  had 

40  vowed :  and  she  knew  no  man.  And  it  was  [became]  a  custom  in  Israel,  That 
the  daughters  of  Israel  went  yearly  to  lament  [praise]  the  daughter  of  Jephthah 
the  Gileadite  four  days  in  a  [the]  year. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  34.  —  J12SXD,    for  77312^2,  because  the  neutral  conception  "  child  "  floats  before  the  writer's  mind,  cf.  Ber- 

V     •  '  T    V     •  ' 

theau.  The  explanation  of  ^3^^  by  ex  se,  implying  that  Jephthah,  though  he  had  no  other  child  of  his  own,  had 
ftep-children,  would,  as  Bertheau  says,  be  "  unworthy  of  mention,"  were  it  not  suggested  in  the  margin  of  the  E.  V. 

~  Tr.J 

[2  Ver.  35. —  ^"^SUS  iT^'^n  might  be  rendered :  "thou  art  among  those  who  afaict   me."     But  the  Hi    is  prob- 

Rbly  the  so-called  3  essenticp.  (Keil),  and  simply  ascribes  the  characteristic  of  a  class  to  the  daughter  (cf.  Ges.  Gram. 
1.54,  3,  a).  Dr.  Cassel's  "  only  "  is  not  expressed  in  the  original,  but  is  readily  suggested  "by  the  contrast  of  the  sad  scene 
with  all  the  other  relations  of  the  moment.  —  Te.J 

[3  Ver.  36. —  Htt?!?,  lit.  "  done,-'  with  evident  reference  to  the  same  word  used  just  before  :  "  do,  since  Jehovah  hath 
done,"  cf  the  Commentary.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  37  —  Dr.  Cassel  makes  this  clause  refer  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  vow,  and  renders  :  "  Let  this  thing  be  done 
unto  me,  only  let  me  alone  two  months,"  etc.  But  it  clearly  introduces  the  request  for  a  brief  period  of  delay,  and  ia 
rightly  rendered  by  the  E.  V.,  with  which  Bertheau,  Keil,  De  Wette  agree,  cf.  the  Commentary.  —  Tr.] 

[5  \'er.  37.  —  "^W7"1^1,  "  descend,"  i.  e.  from  the  elevated  situation  of  Mizpah  (cf.  on  vers.  29,  33),  to  the  neighbor- 
ing lower  hills  and  valleys  (Keil).  ^~l'^  does  not  mean  to  "  wander  up  and  down,"  a  rendering  suggested  only  by  the  ap- 
parent incongruity  of"  descending  "  upon  the  "mountains."  —  Te.] 

EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL.  i  dances,  to  celebrate  her  father's  victory !     He  sees 

her,  and  is  struck  with  liorror.  It  is  his  only 
Vers.  34-36.  And  behold,  lus  daughter  comes  ^hild  ;  and  his  vow  tears  her  from  his  arms,  and 
..mt  to  meet  him.  A  great  victory  had  been  !  ^^^^^  Y{\m  childless.  Broad  as  his  vow  was,  he 
Kamed.  Thenational  enemy  was  thoroughly  siib-  I  ^^^^^.  thought  that  he  could,  even  if  he  would,  in- 
dued. All  Gilead  was  in  a  joyful  uproar  Ihe  p],j(j^  j^^^.  j^  jj  rp,^j^  ^^^^.^j,^  appears  from  the  cir- 
return  of  the  victorious  hero  is  a  triumphal_  prog-  cumstance,  already  adverted  to,  that  the  victory 
ress;  but  when  he  approaches  his  home   hi.s  vow    ^nd  the  vow  are  against   Ammon.     The  heathen 


receives  a  most  painful  and  unexpected  definition 
"It  shall  he  God's,  and  not  belong  to  the  victor" 
—  so  runs  the  vow  —  "whatsoever  comes  out  of 
my  house  to  meet  me."  And  here  is  his  daughter 
coming  towards  him,  with  tambourines  and  choral 

1  [Dr.  Cassel  manifestly  views  Jephthah's  vow  as  sui 
generis  —  not  belonging  to  the  class  of  vows  treated  of  in 
fev.  xxvii   1  ff.  and  therefore  not  falling  under  the  provis- 


promised  or  sacrificed  their  first-born  sons.  Ac- 
cording  to   the  Mosaic  law,   also,   the  first-born 

males  (Q'^'^^'^)  belong  to  God.  The  same  law 
permitted  only  male  ^  victims   to  be  presented  as 

ions  there  made.  Jephthah  proposes  a  whole  burnt-offering 
—  spiritual  indeed  so  far  as  its  possible  human  subjects  are 
concerned,  but  still  bound  by  the  law  of  whole  burnt-offer 


174 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


whole  burnt-offerings  (Lev.  i.  3).  Jephthnh's  de- 
gio-n  v,ri\s  to  testify  that  he  fjave  himself  up  to  liis 
God  as  entirely  as  the  Ammonites  iniagined  tlicm- 
selves  to  do  to  their  idols.  He  would  have  conse- 
crated his  first-born  son  to  God  —  Abraham's 
child,  also,  was  a  boy,  — but  he  had  none.  Hence, 
he  expresses  his  self-renunciation  in  the  form  of  a 
vow,  in  which  he  leaves  it  to  God  to  select  whatever 
should  be  most  precious  in  his  eyes.  But  of  his 
daughter  he  did  not  think.  It  never  even  occurred 
to  him  that  she  might  come  forth  to  meet  him ;  for 

that  was  usually  done  only  by  women  ^  (C^tp3, 
Ex.  XV.  20  ;  1  Sam.  xviii.  6),  not  by  maidens,  who 
remained  within  the  house ;  and  Jephthah's  daugh- 
ter Avas  yet  a  n>in2,  virgin.  But  this  daughter 
was  wortliy  of  her  father.  The  victory  was  so 
great,  that  she  breaks  through  the  restraints  of 
custom,  and,  like  Miriam  (the  same  terms  are  ixsed 
here  as  on  the  occasion  of  Moses'  song  of  victory, 
Ex.  XV.  20),  goes  forth  to  meet  the  conqueror.  As 
soon  as  Jephthah  sees  her,  he  recognizes  the  will 
of  God.  His  vow  is  accepted ;  but  comprehen- 
sive as  he  consciously  made  it,  it  is  God  who  now 
first  interprets  it  for  him  in  all  its  fullness.  The 
hero  had  nuide  the  vow  in  this  indefinite  form,  be- 
cause he  had  no  only  and  dearly  loved  son  like 
Isaac.  Trne,  he  had  a  daughter ;  but  he  deemed 
himself  debarred  from  consecrating  her,  and  the7-e- 
fore  makes  his  vow.  God  now  teaches  him  that 
he  looks  not  at  the  sex  of  the  consecrated,  but  at 
the  heart  of  the  consecrator.  However  compre- 
hensive Jephthah's  vow,  without  his  daughter  it 
would  at  most  have  cost  him  money  or  property, 
but  his  heart  would  have  offered  no  sacrifice.  God 
teaches  him  that  He  delights  not  in  he-goats  and 
oxen ;  '^  that  that  which  pleases  Him  is  a  broken 
lieart.  His  heart  breaks  within  him,  when  he  sees 
his  daughter.  She  is  his  darling,  his  sole  orna- 
ment, the  light  of  his  house,  the  jewel  of  his  heart; 
and  from  her  he  must  separate.  He  comes  home 
the  greatest  in  Israel ;  he  now  feels  himself  the 
poorest.  But  he  j^erceives  that  this  is  the  real  ful- 
fillment of  his  vow  ;  that  God  cares  not  for  money 
or  property.  The  highest  offering,  which  God 
values,  is  a  chastened  heart.  Obedience  is  better 
than  sacrifice.  The  life  is  not  in  the  letter :  every 
contract  with  God  must  be  kept  in  the  spirit. 
Jephthah's  faith  revealed  itself  before  the  battle, 
"^rhat  (jod  was  with  him,  was  proved  by  his  victory. 
But  his  entire  self-surrender  to  God  ap])roves  itself 
still  more  beautifully  after  the  battle.  For  he 
eoiupiers  himself.  He  bowed  himself  reverently  be- 
fore God,  before  the  decision  was  given ;  but  his 
deepest  piety  manifests  itself  afterwards.  He  gives 
his  own  people,  he  gives  Ammon  and  Moab,  an 
instance  of  the  power  of  an  Israelite  to  perform 
the  vows  he  has  made.  He  suffers  his  vow  to  bind 
him,  but  does  not  attempt  to  bind  it.     He  inter- 

ings.  Now,  that  law  requires  that  offerings  shall  be  of  the 
mate  gender  ;  whereas  ordinary  vows  might  embrace  fe- 
males, Lev.  x.xvii.  4.  This  view  will  impart  clearness  to 
fome  of  our  author's  sentences  farther  on,  where  he  inti- 
niates  that  Jephthali  could  not  redeem  his  daughter  with- 
out taking  "  refuge  hehiod  external  formulie,''  (.  e.  without 
interpreting  the  vow^  as  if  it  belonged  to  a  class  of  vows  to 
which  it  was  not  originally  meant  to  belong.  —  Ta.] 

1  [Fraiten,  by  which  the  author  evidently  means  mar- 
ried women.  But  D"^li73  bears  no  such  restricted  sense, 
rf.  Ges.  Lex.  s.  v.  Moreover,  tliat  maidens  were  confined  to 
the  house  i.i  a  proposition  decidedly  negatived  by  all  we 
I.UOW  of  the  position  of  the  female  sex  among  the  Hebrews. 
Bee  Bihie   Diet.,  art.  "  Women.-'  —  Tr.] 

2  Apparently  similar  thoughts,  it  is  true,  arc  suggested 


prets  it,  not  according  to  the  letter,  bait  the  spirit 
Lev.  xxvii.  4,  5  prescribes  the  way  in  which  a 
woman,  concerning  whom  a  vow  has  been  made, 
is  to  be  redeemed.  But  his  only  little  daughter, 
who  comes  to  meet  him,  he  cannot  protect.  Since 
God  leads  her  forth  towards  him.  He  cannot  in- 
tend an  ortering  often  shekels  (Lev.  xxvii.  5).  His 
pious  soul  does  not  take  refuge  behind  external 
formula ;  as  we  i-ead  in  connection  with  heathen 
vows  and  bad  promises.^  He  recognizes  the  fact 
that,  since  his  only,  dearly  loved  child  comes  to 
meet  him,  God  demands  of  him  all  the  love  which 
he  cherishes  for  her,  aiul  all  the  pain  which  it  will 
cost  him  to  part  with  her.  And  in  this  conviction, 
he  hesitates  not  for  an  instant.  He  believes  like 
Abraham ;  and,  like  him,  albeit  with  a  bleeding 
heart,  makes  full  sui-render  of  what  God  requires. 
The  scene  of  Jephthah's  meeting  with  his 
daughter  has  no  equal  in  pathetic  power.  Her  we 
see  advancing  with  a  radiant  face,  giving  voice  to 
her  jubilant  heart,  surrounded  by  dancing  com- 
panions, and  longing  to  hear  her  father's  happy 
greeting ;  while  he,  in  the  midst  of  sounding  tim- 
brels and  trium])hant  shouts  —  hides  his  face  for 
agony  !  What  might  have  been  a  moment  of  loud- 
est jubilation,  is  become  one  of  the  deepest  sorrow. 
That  on  which  his  imagination  had  fondly  dwelt 
as  the  crowning  point  of  his  joy  —  the  honor  with 
which  he  could  encircle  the  head  of  his  only  child, 
his  virgin-daughter,  now  the  first  in  all  the  nation 
—  was  instantly  transformed  into  the  heaviest  woe. 
"  O  my  daughter,  deeply  hast  thou  caused  me  to 
bow,  and  thou  alone  distressest  me."  He  borrows 
the  words  perhaps  from  the  panegyrical  song  in 
which  she  celebrates  him  as  "  having  caused  the 
enemy  to  kneel,*  and  to  be  distressed ;  "  and  in  the 
extremity  of  his  grief  applies  them  to  his  child, 
thus  suddenly  astonished  and  struck  dumb  in  the 
midst  of  her  joy.  "  But,"  continues  the  hero, 
though  his  heart  weeps,  "  I  have  opened  my  mouth 
unto  Jehovah,  and  I  cannot  go  back."  I  promised 
God  in  the  spirit  of  sincerity,  and  must  perform  it 
in  the  same  spirit.  And  there  is  not  in  all  an- 
tiquity, no,  nor  yet  in  Holy  Scripture,  an  instance 
of  a  maiden  uttering  a  more  beautiful,  more  pro- 
foundly pathetic  word,  than  that  which  Jephthah's 
daughter,  a  hero's  daughter,  a  true  child  of  Israel, 
speaks  to  her  fiither,  even  while  as  yet  she  knows 
not  the  jmrport  of  the  vow :  "  Hast  thou  opened 
thy  mouth  to  Jehovah,  then  do  according  to  that 
which  proceeded  out  of  thy  mouth;  for  Jehovah 
also  hath  done  according  to  thy  word,  and  hath 
taken  vengeance  on  thy  enemies."  She  neither 
deprecates  nor  laments,  gives  no  start,  exhibits  no 
despair  —  does  nothing  to  make  her  father  waver  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  eucourages  him,  refers  him 
to  what  God  has  done,  and  bids  him  do  as  he  has 
promised,  not  to  think,  as  he  might  perhaps  be 
tempted  to  do,  of  change  or  modification  in  her 

from  a  heathen  point  of  view,  not  only  by  such  examples  as 
that  of  Iphigenia  (cf  Cicero,  /le  Officlis,  ii.  95),  and  of  Cur- 
tius  in  Rome,  but  also  by  that  of  Anchurus,  the  son  of  the 
Phrygian  king  Midas,  who  deemed  his  own  life  the  most 
precious  sacrifice  that  could  be  offered  from  his  father's  pos- 
sessions to  the  gods.  Hut  in  reality,  these  exhibit  only  the 
principles  that  underlie  tlie  practice  of  human  s.acrifices  — 
principles,  with  which  the  spirit  of  the  Scriptures,  and  their 
spiritu.al  modes  of  conception,  stand  strongly  in  contrast. 

3  Cf  Niigelsbach,  Nachhomerische  Theologie,  p.  244,  etc. 

4  ''ariinpn  ^"n^n,  from  "ynS,  to  kneel;  ffiphil, 
to  cause  to  kneel,  to  subdue.  She  sang  perhaps  about  the 
enemies  whom  he  had  subdued  (cf  ch.  v.  27) ;  he  sadly  ap- 
plies her  words  to  what  she  is  doing  with  reference  to  him 
self. 


CHAPTER   XI.   34-40. 


175 


favor.  Such  is  the  delicacy  and  tenderness  of  the 
narrative,  that  the  modes  of  thought  and  feeling 
characteristic  of  this  heroic  daughter,  as  such,  stand 
out  in  full  relief;  for  it  is  in  true  womanly  style 
that  she  says  to  her  father:  "  Since  Jehovah  hath 
taken  vengeance  of  thine  enemies."  The  utter- 
ance is  altogether  personal,  as  her  womanly  inter- 
est was  personal.  She  concentrates  the  national 
victory  in  that  of  her  father;  the  national  enemy 
in  the  enemies  of  her  father.     God  has  given  him 

vengeance  (ni!3|73) ;  consequently  he  is  bound, 
personally,  to  give  to  God  what  he  has  promised. 

Vers.  .37-40.  And  she  said  to  her  father,  Let 
this  thing  be  done  to  me.  The  noble  maiden 
may  boldly  take  her  ]>hice  by  the  side  of  Isaac, 
who,  according  to  the  narrative  in  Genesis,  was  not 
aware  of  the  sacrifice  to  which  he  was  destined. 
She  gives  herself  up  to  her  father,  freely  and  joy- 
fully, to  be  dealt  with  as  his  vow  demanded. 
Heathen  antiquity,  also,  has  similar  instances  of 
virgins  voluntarily  offering  themselves  up  for  their 
native  land.  But  comijarison  will  point  out  the 
difference  between  them  and  the  case  of  Jephthah's 
daughter,  and  will  help  to  show  that  here  there 
can  be  no  thought  of  a  literal  sacrifice  of  life. 
Pausanias  (i.  32)  relates  the  legend,  dramatically 
treated  by  Euripides,  that  when  the  Athenians, 
who  harbored  the  descendants  of  Hercules,  were  at 
war  with  the  Peloponnesians,  an  oracle  declared 
the  voluntary  death  of  one  of  those  descendants 
to  be  necessary  in  order  to  secure  victory  to  the 
Athenians ;  whereupon  Macaria  killed  herself.  — 
When  the  Thebans  were  waging  war  with  the 
Orchomenians,  the  oracle  advised  them,  that,  if 
they  were  to  conquer,  their  most  distinguished  fel- 
low-citizen must  sacrifice  himself  (Pans.  ix.  17). 
Antipcenus,  who  is  this  most  distinguished  citizen, 
despises  the  oracle  ;  his  daughters,  on  the  contrary, 
honor  it,  and  devote  themselves  to  death.  —  In  the 
war  of  Erechtheus  with  Eumol])us,  the  oracle  re- 
quired of  the  former  the  sacrifice  of  his  daughters. 
They  voluntarily  killed  themselves  (ApoU.  ill.  1.5, 
11  ;  cf.  Heyne  on  the  passage).  The  same  thing 
is  told  of  "Marius  by  Plutarch.  Defeated  by  the 
Cimbrians,  a  divine  oracle  informed  him  that  he 
would  conquei',  if  he  offered  up  his  daughter, 
which  he  did.  In  all  these  legends,  which  might 
be  greatly  multiplied,  an  oracle  commands  the 
virgin -sacrifice ;  in  all  of  them,  a  vigorous,  super- 
stitious belief  in  the  atoning  efficacy  of  pure  blood, 
such  as  appears  in  the  German  legend  of  Poor 
Heinrich,  is  the  underlying  motive  ;  in  all  of  them, 
also,  the  virgin-sacrifice  forms  the  preliminary  con- 
dition of  victory.  But  in  the  history  of  Jephthah 
all  this  is  changed.  Jephthah  makes  a  vow,  but 
does  not  think  of  his  daughter.  In  his  case,  the 
vow  is  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  victory  belongs, 
not  to  men,  but  to  God.  He  makes  a  vow,  although 
God  has  not  required  one.  He  keeps  it,  even  after 
victory,  although  the  extent  of  the  sacrifice  had 
not  been  anticipated.  Neither  he  nor  his  daughter 
think  of  evasions,  such,  e.  (].,  as  Pausanias  (iv.  9) 
speaks  of  in  connection  with  similar  histories  in 
Messenia.  And  yet,  the  offering  which  each  of 
them  brings  is  as  trying  as  death  would  be,  al- 
though it  cannot  actually  involve  death.  For  that 
point  is  decided,  not  only  by  the  different  state- 
ments of  the  history  itself,  but  especially  by  the 
fiict  that  the  offering  is  made  to  Jehovah,  who,  even 
when,  as  in  the  case  of  Abraham,  he  himself  re- 

1  Similar  customs  may  he  found  even  in  modern  times. 
In  a  West-Slavic  legend  a  maiden  is  blamed  for  having 
aiJ'-iied  v.ithout  having  taken  leave  of  maidenhood,  which 


quires  a  sacrifice,  will  not  suffer  obedience  to  con- 
summate itself  in  deeds  of  blood. 

Let  me  alone  two  months,  that  I  may  go  and 
descend  upon  the  mountains,  and  weep  over 
my  virginity,  I  and  my  companions.  No  equiv- 
ocal intimation  is  here  given  of  the  fate  which 
befell  the  daughter  of  Jephthah.  She  was  still  in 
her  father's  house,  an  only  daughter,  not  yet  mar- 
ried. Since  the  vow  touches  her,  and  devotes  her 
entirely  as  an  offering  to  God,  she  must  belong  to 
no  one  else,  consequently  not  to  her  father,  nor  to 
a  Imsband.  She  cannot  be  married,  and  will  never 
rejoice  over  children.     That  is  Jephthah's  sorrow 

—  his  house  is  withered  away  C'~}"'~'.1?),  his  family 
disappears.  The  highest  happiness  in  Israel,  to 
have  children,  and  thus  to  see  one's  name  or  house 
continued,  will  not  be  his.  The  dearest  of  all 
beings,  his  only  child,  is  dead  to  him.  The  same 
sorrow,  and  in  accordance  with  ancient  feelings 
with  even  greater  severity,  if  that  were  possible, 
falls  on  the  virgin  daughter  herself.  An  unmar- 
ried life  was  equivalent  to  death  for  the  maidens  of 
ancient  Israel.  For  the  bud  withers  away.  Con- 
jugal love  and  duty,  the  blossoms  of  life,  do  not 
appear.  Unmarried  maidens  have  no  place  in  the 
life  of  the  state.  Marriage  forms  the  crown  of 
normal  family  life.  The  psalm  (Ixxviii.  63)  notes 
it  as  part  of  the  utmost  popular  misery,  that  "  the 
fire  ('of  war)  consumes  the  young  men,  and  the 
maidens  are  not  celebrated  "  (in  mai-riage  songs). 
Analogous  sentiments  are  frequent  in  the  life  of 
ancient  nations.  The  Brahminism  of  India  looks 
upon  a  childless  condition  as  in  the  highest  degree 
disgraceful.  A  woman  is  always  in  need  of  manly 
guidance  and  protection  ;  be  it  as  daughter  from 
her  father,  as  wife  from  her  husband,  or  as  mother 
from  her  sons  (cf.  Bohlen,  AUes  Indien,  ii.  141  ff.). 
The  laws  of  Lycurgus  concerning  marriage,  and 
their  penalties  against  men  who  did  not  marry,  are 
familiar.  Noteworthy,  with  reference  to  the  cus- 
toms of  Asia  Minor,  is  an  episode  in  the  history 
of  Polycrates,  the  tyrant  of  Samos.  Being  urgently 
warned  by  his  daughter  against  leaving  his  island 
to  go  to  Oroetus,  who  was  on  the  continent,  he  be- 
came angry,  and  threatened  her,  that  in  case  of 
his  safe  return  home,  she  should  long  afterwards 
continue  to  be  a  virgin  ;  to  which  the  dutiful  daugh- 
ter replied,  that  she  would  gladly  remain  virgin 
much  longer  still,  if  only  she  did  not  lose  her 
father  (Herod,  iii.  124). 

And  weep  over  my  virginity.  Not,  then,  it 
appears,  to  mourn  her  own  untimely  death.  If  she 
was  to  die,  it  would  have  been  unnatural  to  ask  for 
a  space  of  two  months  to  be  sjient  on  the  moun- 
tains in  weeping.  In  that  case,  why  depart  with 
her  maiden  companions  ?  why  not  remain  at  home 
with  her  father?  A  person  expecting  death  and 
ready  for  it,  would  ask  no  time  for  lamentation. 
Such  a  one  dies,  and  is  lamented  by  others.  But 
Jephthah's  daughter  is  to  live  —  a  virgin  life,  to 
which  no  honor  is  paid,  from  which  no  blossoms 
spring  —  a  life  of  stillness  and  seclusion.  No  nup- 
tial song  shall  praise,  no  husband  honor,  no  child 
grace  her.  This  weeping  of  virgins,^  because  they 
remain  without  the  praise  of  wedlock,  is  character- 
istic of  the  naive  manners  and  candid,  unaffected 
purity  of  ancient  life  through  wide-extended  cir- 
cles. Sophocles,  in  "  King  CEdipus  "  (ver.  1504), 
makes  the  father  express  his  fears  that  "  age  will 
consume  his   children,  fruitless   and  iinmarried." 

it  was  customary  to  do  in  pathetic  and  elegiac  terms. 
Wenzig,  West-Slav.  Mdrchenschatz,  pp.  13,  311. 


176 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Elcctra,  in  the  tragedy  ^^■hiell  bears  her  name,  says 
of  Chrysotheniis  (ver.  962  f.)  :  "  Well  inayest  tlioii 
lament  that  thou  must  grow  old  so  long  in  unmar- 
ried joylessness ; "  just  as  she  is  her:^elt'  commis- 
erated by  Orestes  (ver.  1183)  :  "  Oh,  the  years  of 
unmarried,  anxious  life  which  thou  hast  lived." 
In  many  other  instances  of  virgins  who  must  die 
or  have  died,  tlie  fact  of  their  dying  unmarried  is 
lamented.  So,  for  example,  in  the  beautiful  in- 
scription of  the  Anthology  (cf.  Herder,  Werke,  xx. 
73) :  "  Dear  daughter,  thou  Aventest  so  early,  and 
ere  I  adorned  thy  bridal  couch,  down  to  the  yellow 
stream  under  the  shades;"  and  in  the  plaint  of 
Polyxena  ^'^uripides,  Hecuba,  ver.  414):  "Un- 
married, without  nuptial  song,  which  nevertheless 
is  my  due."  The  daughter  of  Jephthah  laments 
not  that  she  must  die  as  a  virgin,  but  with  her 
maiden  companions  bewails  her  virginity  itself. 
From  year  to  year  the  daughters  of  Israel 

go  to  celebrate  in  songs  (HlSriy,  cf.  eh.  v.  11) 
the  daughter  of  Jephthah.  Of  this  festival  ^ 
nothing  further  is  known.  A  reflection  of  the 
feelings  it  expressed  might,  however,  be  found  in 
very  ancient  analogies.  After  the  maiden,  with 
her  companions,  has  wept  on  the  mountains  for 
two  months,  over  the  vain  promise  of  her  youth, 
she  returns  to  her  father.  The  mountains  are  the 
abode  of  a  pure  and  elevated  solitude,  in  which 
her  own  chaste  heart  and  those  of  her  companions 
can  open  themselves  without  being  overheard.  On 
mountains,  also,  and  in  unfrequented  pasture-lands 
and  forests,  abode  the  Greek  Artemis,  the  virgin 
who  goes  about  alone,  without  comjianions,  like 
the  moon  in  the  sky.  It  was  on  account  of  this 
her  virginity,  that  Greek  maidens  celebrated  her 
in  many  places  with  song  and  dance  ;  from  which 
piactice  she  derived  the  name  Artemis  /{ijiniiia, 
especially  current  in  the  mountains  of  Arcadia. 
The  hymns  were  sung  by  virgin-choirs  (cf.  Welcker, 
Gricc.li.  Mijtliol.  i.  SS.")).  A  similar  festival  was  de- 
voted to  Artemis  on  Mount  Taygetus.  At  Caryaj, 
also  in  Laeonia,  festive  choral  dances  were  yearly 
executed  in  her  honor  (Pans.  iii.  10).  The  virgin 
goddess  was  also  called  Hecaerge  ('E/caepyr;),  and 
U))is  or  Oupis  f^Cliris  or  Oinris).  OvirLyyos  is  the 
song  of  praise,  with  which,  esjiecially  in  Delos, 
and  in  accordance  with  peculiar  myths,  virgins 
celebrated  the  chaste  Oupis,  and  brought  her,  as 
soon  as  they  married,  a  lock  of  their  hair  (Callim. 
in  D,l.  ver.  292  ;  Pans.  i.  43).  The  same  custom  was 
observed  at  Megara  with  reference  to  Iphinoe,  who 
died  a  virgin  (Pans.  i.  43).  Here  also  ti'adition 
leads  us  back  to  Artemis,  who  is  styled  protectress 
of  her  father.  That  it  is  the  attributes  of  chastity 
and  virginity  which  are  thus  celebrated,  is  indicated 

1  On  tlie  statement,  of  Epiphanius,  tliat  a  festival  of  the 
lauijhter  of  .leptithah  was  .still  celebrated  in  his  time,  com- 
pare uiy  article  in  Herzog,  p.  476. 

i  Heug.stenberg,  in  his  valuable  essay  on  Jephthah 's  vow 
(PeiUaleiich,  ii.  105  ff.),  seeks  to  explain  the  daughter's  des- 
tiny by  menus  of  an  institute  of  holy  women,  into  which 
she  perhaps  entered.  This  is  not  the  place  to  treat  that 
subject,  which  must  be  referred  to  1   Sam.  ii.   22.     This 

much  only  seems  to  me  to  be  certain,  that  by  the  niSI2'!i 
Ex.  xxxviii.  8  and  1  Saui  ii.  22,  we  are  not  to  understand 
ministering  women.     It  must  be  remarked,  in  general,  that 

the  fundamental  signification  of  W2t5  is,  not  militare.  but 
"to  be  in  a  multitude."  From  this  the  idea  of  the 
nlS^"-*,  ^^^  hosts,  in  heaven   and  on  earth,  is   derived. 

^31^  derives  its  meaning  "  host,"  not  from  military  disci- 
iiline.  but  from  the  assembling  of  a  multitude  at  one  place. 


by  the  transfer  of  the  custom  in  honor  of  a  man, 
in  the  legend  of  iIi])polytus.  "  Him,"  Euripides 
nnikes  Artemis  say,  "  shall  virgins  ever  ju-aise  in 
Ij-rie  songs  ;  "  and  locks  of  hair  were  dedicated  to 
him  bv  Troezeuian  brides  (cf.  Euripides,  llippol. 
ver.  142,5;  Pans.  ii.  32). 

These  observances  are  a  reflection  of  the  narra- 
tive concerning  Jephthah's  daughter,  for  the  reason 
that  they  present  us  with  virgin  festivals,  and  with 
songs  to  the  goddess  who  did  not  die,  but  remained 
a  virgin.  In  point  of  fact,  the  existence  of  such 
festivals  points  to  conceptions  of  life  under  whose 
influence  woman,  contrary  to  the  common  rule, 
lived  in  a  state  of  virginity.  The  circumstance, 
also,  that  it  became  a  custom  in  Israel  to  "praise" 
the  daughter  of  Jephthah  four  days  in  every  year, 
is  itself  a  proof  that  the  practice  did  not  refer  to  a 
maiden  who  had  been  put  to  death.  For  what 
would  there  have  been  to  praise  in  what  was  not 
necessarily  dependent  on  her  own  free  will  ?  As 
in  Artemis,  so  in  her,  it  is  voluntary,  self-guarded 
chastity  that  is  praised,  just  as  Hippolytus  also  is 
not  celebrated  because  he  died  unmarried,  but  be- 
cause his  life  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  virtuous  con- 
tinence. 

And  he  did  with  her  according  to  his  vow, 
and  she  knew  no  man.  Had  she  been  put  to 
death,  that  fact  must  here  have  been  indicated  in 
some  way.  The  narrator  would  have  said,  "  and 
he  presented  her  as  a  sacrifice  at  the  altar  in  Miz- 
pah,"  or,  "and  she  died,  having  known  no  man," 
or  some  other  similar  formula.  At  all  events,  it 
does  not  "stand  there  in  the  text,"  as  Luther 
wrote,  that  she  was  offered  in  sacrifice.  Much 
rather  does  this  sentence  show  the  contrar}^  For 
its  second  clause  is  explanatory  of  the  nature  and 
purport  of  the  vow  as  it  was  fulfilled.  The  eiul 
to  which  it  looked  was  the  very  thing  which  it  is 
stated  was  actually  secured,  that  she  should  know 
no  man. 2  On  any  other  interpretation,  the  addi- 
tion of  this  clause  would  be  inexplicable  and  ques- 
tionable. For  the  fact  that  she  was  a  virgin  in  her 
father's  house,  has  already  been  twice  brought  for- 
ward. Moreover,  it  is  surely  not  an  event  of  very 
rare  occurrence,  for  young  women  to  die  before 
they  are  married.  And  why  should  the  narrator 
have  hesitated  to  speak  of  the  transaction  in  such 
terms  as  properly  and  plainly  described  it  1  In 
other  cases  he  does  not  fail  to  speak  of  the  most 
fearful  aberrations  just  as  they  are.  The  truth  is, 
the  whole  narrative  derives  its  mighty  charm  only 
from  the  mysterious,  and  at  that  time  in  Israel 
very  extraordinary  tact,  that  the  daughter  of  the 
great  hero,  for  whom  a  life  of  brilliant  happiness 
opened  itself,  spent  her  days  in  solitude  ami  vir- 
ginity .^    Death,  even  unnatural,  was  nothing  un- 

The  women  of  the  passages  alluded  to  are  therefore  not 
ministering  women,  but  persons  who  coUecteil  together  at  the 
tabernacle  for  purposes  of  prayer,  requests,  and  thanks- 
giving, hke  the  wis-es  of  Klkanah  (1  S.am.  i.),  or  to  consult 
with  and  inquire  of  tlie  priests.  Some,  of  course,  were  more 
instant  and  continuous  in  their  attendance  than  others  (cf. 
Kimchi  on  1  S.am.  ii.  22).  At  all  events,  they  were  women 
who  were  either  married  or  widowed.  But  the  history  of 
.Jephthah's  daughter  is  related  as  something  extra,ordinary. 
Her  virginity  must  remain  intact.  On  this  account  she  is  la 
mented,  and  a  fe.stival  is  celebrated  for  her  sake.  These  are 
uncommon  matters,  not  to  be  harmonized  with  the  idea  of  a 
familiarly  known  institute  Even  among  the  Talmudists,  a 
female  ascetic  is  a  phenomenon  unheard  of  and  un.approved 
{Sota,  22  a). 

3  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  assume  anything  more  to  explain 
the  lament  of  the  daughter  or  the  grief  of  the  bereaved 
father.  Even  Roman  fathers  took  it  sorrowfully,  when  their 
daughters  became  vestal  rirgius,  notwithstanding  the  great 


CHAPTER  XII.    1-7. 


common.  But  a  life  such  as  Jephtliali's  daughter 
henceforth  h'ved,  was  at  that  time  unparalleled  in 
Israel,  and  aftbrds  therefore  profound  instruction, 
not  to  be  overlooked  because  issuing  from  the 
silence  of  retirement. 

Jephthah  performs  his  vow.  That  which  comes 
to  meel  liim,  even  when  it  proves  to  be  his  dau<;h- 
ter,  he  consecrates  entirely  to  God,  as  a  true  offer- 
ing of  righteousness  (cf.  Ps.  li.  21  :    p^^'^Ti:?'? 

b'^bs^  nbil7).  He  fulfills  Ms  vow  so  fully  as  to 
put  it  beyond  his  own  reach  to  annul  or  commute 
its  jnirport.  For  he  fultills,  as  he  vowed,  volun- 
tarily ;  no  one  called  on  him  to  make  his  promise 
good.  The  background  of  the  history,  without 
which  it  cannot  be  understood,  is  life  in  and  with 
(iod.  The  providence  to  wiiich  the  hero  commits 
the  definition  of  his  vow,  is  that  of  Jehovah.  And 
if  God  leads  his  daughter  forth  to  meet  him,  and 
thus  in  her  receives  the  highest  object  in  the  gift  of 
Jephthah,  the  consecration  of  wliich  she  becomes 
the  subject  cannot  be  of  a  nature  opposed  to  God. 

The  event  throws  a  brightness  over  the  life  of 
perpetual  virginity  which  rescues  it  from  ignominy 
and  dishonor.  Jephtliali's  daughter  tyitieally  exem- 
plifies the  truth  that  a  virgin  life,  if  it  be  consecra- 
ted to  God,  is  not  such  an  utter  abnormity,  as  until 
then  it  had  appeared.  In  Jephthah's  fulfillment 
of  his  vow  and  the  consequent  unmarried  life  of 
his  daughter,  there  is  a  foreshadowing  of  those 
evangelical  thoughts  by  means  of  which  the  Apos- 
tle liberates  woman  from  the  dread  of  remaining 
unwedded.  Not,  however,  tiiat  we  are  to  look  here 
for  the  germ  or  type  of  the  nunnery  system ;  ^  but 
for  an  example  of  belonging  wholly  to  God,  and 
of  living  unmarried,  without  being  burdened  or 
placed  in  a  false  position. 

That  Jephthah  through  his  vow  became  the 
occasion  of  such  an  example,  is  already  some  miti- 
gation of  his  fate.  He  has  become  the  father',  not 
of  children  who  inherited  his  house,  but  of  count- 
less virgins  who  learned  from  his  daughter  to 
remain  free  and  wholly  devoted  to  God.  Jephthah 
is  a  truly  tragic  hero.  His  youth  endures  perse- 
cution. His  strength  grows  in  exile.  His  victory 
and  fame  veil  themselves  in  desolation  when  his 
only  daughter  leaves  his  home.  But  everywhere 
he  is  great.  Whatever  befalls,  he  comes  out  con- 
queror at  last.  God  is  always  the  object  of  his 
faith.  He  suffers  more  than  Gideon  ;  but  what  he 
does  at  last  does  not  become  a  snare  to  Israel.  He 
also  had  no  successors  iii  his  office  of  wisdom  and 
heroism — just  as  Gideon,  and  Samson,  and  Sam- 

honpr  of  such  a  vocation.  They  were  glad  to  leave  such 
honors  to  the  chililrea  of  freedmen  (Sueton.  Aug.  31 ;  Dio 
Cass.  55,  p.  563). 

1  On  this  point,  compare  my  article  in  Herzog,  p.  474, 
note. 

'2  Poets,  unfortunately,  have  almost  without  exception 
considered  a  sacrificial  death  more  poetical,  and  have  thus 
done  sei'ious  injustice  to  the  memory  of  Jephthah.  It  was 
done,  among  others,  by  Dante  {Paradise,  v.  66),  who  herein 


uel  had  none ;  but  it  was  not  his  fault  that  he  had 
them  not.  His  daughter,  who  resembled  a  Miriam, 
gave  herself  up  to  God.^ 


HOMILETICAL   AiND  PRACTICAL. 

Jephthah's  call  was  extraordinary :  extraordi- 
nary also  is  the  manner  of  his  own  endurance  and 
his  daughter's  obedience.  He  parts  with  her, 
though  deeply'  aitiieted.  He  yields,  though  pos- 
s'essed  of  secular  power.  His  daughter  comforts 
him,  though  herself  the  greatest  loser.  Isaac  did 
not  know  that  he  was  to  be  the  sacrifice;  but 
Jephthah's  daughter  knows  it,  and  is  content. 

1.  Thus  it  apjicars  that  a  child  who  loves  its 
father,  can  also  love  God.  In  true  devotion  of 
children  to  parents,  there  lies  a  germ  of  the  like 
relation  to  God.  The  daughter  of  Jephthah  loves 
her  father  so  dearly,  that  for  his  sake  she  calmly 
submits  to  that  which  he  has  vowed  to  God.  It  is 
written  :  Honor  thy  father  and  mother,  that  tliy 
days  may  be  long  in  the  land  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  givetli  thee.  To  Jephthah's  daughter  this 
was  fulfilled  in  the  spirit.  Her  memory  has  never 
faded  from  the  books  of  Israel,  nor  from  the  heaven 
of  God,  where  all  sorrows  are  redeemed. 

2.  Jephthah  might  have  conquered  without  a 
vow  ;  but  ha'i'ing  vowed  before  his  victory,  he  ful- 
fills it  after  the  same.  Faithfulness  to  his  word  is 
man's  greatest  wisdom,  even  though  he  moisten  it 
with  tears.  Faithfulness  towards  a  sin  is  inconceiv- 
able; because  unfaithfulness  lies  in  the  nature  of 
sin.  Faithfulness  has  the  promise  :  be  thou  faith- 
ful unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  crown  of 
life. 

3.  Jephthah's  daughter  does  not  die  like  one 
sacrificed  to  Molech  :  she  dies  to  the  world.  She 
loses  a  thousand  joys  that  are  sweet  as  love.  But 
no  one  ever  dies  to  the  world  and  lives  to  God, 
without  experiencing  sorrow.  A  virgin  life  is  a 
nameless  life,  as  Jephthah's  daughter  is  nameless 
in  Scripture.  But  the  happiness  of  this  world  is 
not  indis]iensable  ;  and  like  the  solitary  flower,  the 
unmarried  v/oman  can  belong  to  her  God,  in  whose 
heaven  they  neither  give  nor  are  given  in  mar- 
riage. 

Gerlach  :  That  the  Judges  whom  God  raised 
up,  when  they  thus  ottered  to  the  Lord  even  that 
which  they  held  most  dear,  did  not  deliver  the  es- 
tranged and  deeply  fallen  people  in  a  merely  out- 
ward sense,  is  shown  by  this  act  of  believing  sur- 
render. 

followed  the  Catholic  exegesis  of  his  day  (cf.  my  article  in 
Herzog,  p.  470).  To  be  sure,  Herder  did  the  same.  Lord 
Byron  also,  in  his  Hebrew  Melodies  (see  a  translation  of  his 
poems  in  Klein's  Volkskalender,  for  1854,  p  47).  The  names 
in  Handel's  Oratorio  .seem  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the 
poem  of  Buchanan,  published  in  Strasburg,  1568.  Cf. 
Giideke,  Pampkilus  Gengenhach,  p.  672.  In  Faber's  His- 
torisc/ier  Liistgarten  (Augsburg  and  Frankfort,  1702),  the 
daughter  is  called  "  Jephtina." 


Ephraim^s  proud  and  envious  conduct  towards  Jephthah. 
.   Chapter    XIL  1-7. 


I       And  the  men  of  Ephraim  gathered  themselves  together,  and  went  northward  [pro 
ceeded  to  Zaphon],  and  said  unto  Jephthah,  Wherefore  passedst  thou  over  [Why 


178 


THE   BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


didst  thou  pass  on  —  proceed— ]  to  fight  against  the  children   [sons]  of  Amnion,  and 

2  didst  not  call  ns  to  go  with  thee  ?  we  will  burn  thine  house  upon  thee  with  fire.  And 
Jephthah  said  unto  them,  1  and  my  people  were  at  great  strife  [in  a  severe  conflict] 
with  the  children  [sous]  of  Amnion  ;  and  when  [omit :  when]  I  called  you,  [and]  ye 

3  delivered  me  not  out  of  their  hands  [hand].  And  when  I  saw  that  ye  delivered  me 
not,  I  put  my  life  in  my  hands  [hand],  and  passed  over  [on]  against  the  children 
[sons]  of  Amnion,  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  them  into  my  hand :  where- 

4  fore  then  are  ye  come  up  unto  me  this  day,  to  fight  against  me  ?  Then  [And] 
.Jephthah  gathered  together  all  the  men  of  Gilead,  and  fought  with  Ephraim :  and 
the  men  of  Gilead  smote  Ephraim,  because  they  [had]  said,  ye  Gileadites  are  fugi- 
tives of  Ephraim   among  the  Ephraimites,  and  among  the  Manassites   [fugitives  of 

5  Epliraim  are  ye  Gilead,  in  Ephraim  and  Manasseh].  And  the  Gileadites  took  the 
passages  [fords]  of  [the]  Jordan  before  the  Ephraimites  [toward  E^ihraim]  :  and  it 
was  so,  that  when  those  Ephraimites  which  were  escaped  [the  fugitives  of  Ephraim], 
said,  Let  me  go  over  ;  that  tlie  men  of  Gilead  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  an  Ephraimite  ? 

G  If  he  said.  Nay  ;  Then  said  they  unto  him,  Say  now  Shibboleth :  and  he  said  Sibboleth  : 
for  he  could  not  ^  frame  to  pronounce  it  right.  Then  they  took  him  and  slew  [slaugh- 
tered] him  at  the  passages  [fords]  of  [the]  Jordan.    And  there  fell  at  that  time  of  the 

7  Ephraimites  forty  and  two  thousand.  And  Jephthah  judged  Israel  six  years  :  then 
died  Jephthah  the  Gileadite,  and  was  bm'ied  in  one  of  the  cities  of  Gilead. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAIIMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  6.  —  "  Could  not,"  is  too  strong.     Keil  :       ?"^!prT,  stands  elliptically  for  37    ^"^^H,  to  apply  the  mind,  to 
give  heed.     Cf.  1  Sam.  xxiii.  22 ;  1  Chr.  xxviii.  2,  with  2  Chr.  xii.  14  ;  xxx.  19."  — Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND    DOGTillNAL. 

The  victory  of  Jephthah  is  followed  by  a  repeti- 
tion of  what  took  phice  after  Gideon's  heroic 
achievement.  The  overbearing'  pride  of  the  chief 
tribe,  Ephraim,  vents  itself  in  each  instance  against 
the  victor  who  has  risen  up  within  the  smaller 
tribe,  and  has  become  the  saviour  of  the  people. 
Now  as  then  the  presumptuous  jealousy  of  the 
tribe  complains  that  it  has  not  been  invited  to  take 
))art  But  this  apparent  eagerness  for  war  was 
liy])ociitical.  The  thing  really  desired  was  a  share 
in  the  booty  and  the  results  of  success.  Ephraim 
would  help  to  reap,  where  it  had  not  sown.  The 
injustice  of  the  tribe  was  even  greater  on  this  occa- 
sion than  in  the  time  of  Gideon.  For  then  it 
really  did  render  some  little  assistance,  albeit  only 
after  Gideon  had  first  led  the  way.  But  here  it 
had  been  called  on  for  help,  and  had  stayed  at 
home.  As  soon,  however,  as  victory  had  been  ob- 
tained, it  came  A'ith  threats  and  Mar.  But  it  was 
not  so  successful  now  as  with  Gideon.  That  hero, 
when  they  clamored  against  him,  Avas  still  in  pur- 
suit of  the  enemy,  and  was  obliged,  for  the  sake 
of  his  own  success,  to  allay  their  pride  and  pre- 
sumption by  gentleness  Jephthah  had  no  reason 
for  submitting  to  such  arrogance.  Nor  did  the 
lOphraimites  come  with  words  only  ;  they  were  pre- 
]iared  to  use  force.  They  derided  the  people,  and 
thought  that  with  arms  in  their  hands  they  could 
chastise  Gilead  and  humble  Jephthah.  They  will 
set  his  house  on  tire  over  his  head.  Then  Jephthah 
shows  that  he  is  not  only  a  hero  against  enemies, 
but  also  the  Judge  in  Israel.  It  is  his  authority 
which  he  tries  and  proves  by  chastising  Ephrainii. 
But  here  also,  as  in  his  dealings  with  the  sons  of 
Amnion,  he  first  establishes  the  righteousness  of 
his  conduct  by  clear  words.  However,  if  sinful 
Ephraim  had  cared  for  righteousness,  it  would  in 
no  case  have  entered  on  this  course.  It  relied  on 
violence,  like  Ammon  ;  and  like  Amnion  it  experi- 
tnccd  the  chastisement  of  violence.     No  Judffc  of 


whom  the  history  tells  us  inflicts  such  chastisement 
and  exercises  such  power  within  the  nation  as  well 
as  against  alien  enemies,  as  does  Jephthah.  But 
it  was  needed;  and  the  humiliation  of  Ephraim 
for  its  sin  was  less  severe  than  it  might  otherwise 
have  proved,  because  the  punishment  came  in  the 
time  of  Israel's  freedom,  and  not  at  the  expense 
of  that  freedom. 

Ver.  1.  And  proceeded  to  Zaphon.  The  older 
Jewish  expositors,  whom  Ewald  and  Keil   have 

followed,  already  found  in  HDID^,^  not  direction 
toward  the  north,  but  the  name  of  a  city,  which 
lay  beyond  the  Jordan  in  the  tribe  of  Gad  (Josh, 
xiii.  27).  This  interpretation  rests  on  the  require- 
ments of  the  context.  For  in  order  to  explain 
verses  4  and  5,  ]<^]ihraim  must  have  advanced  across 
the  Jordan.  The  remark  in  the  Jerusalem  Tal- 
mud [Shiviith,  9,  2),  which  identifies  Zaphon  with 

iriDl?,  Amathus,  Aemath,  cf.  Amateh  (cf.  Bitter, 
XV.  10.31),  is  therefore  altogether  suitable.  For 
this  city  was  still  known  in  later  times  as  a  strong 
point  on  the  Jordan,  as  Josephus  repeatedly  states. 
The  Onomasticon,  also  (ed.  Parthey,  p.  26),  says 
concerning  it,  that  it  lay  beyond  the  Jordan,  to 
the  south  of  Bella ;  for  Bitter's  oversight,  who 
supposes  that  the  Onomasticon  identifies  Amathus 
with  another  Aemath  in  the  tribe  of  Beuben,  is 
not  to  be  concurred  in.  Amathus,  according  to 
its  stated  distance  from  Bella  (in  vi(jesivio  prima 
inilliario),  could  not  lie  in  the  tribe  of  Reuben  — 
which  agrees  so  far  with  the  tact  that  Zaj)hon  was 
in  Gad. 

Ver.  2.  And  Jephthah  said  unto  them.  It 
was  not  related  above  that  Jejihthah  called  on  the 
tribe  of  Ephraim  to  assist,  as  he  here  reminds 
them  ;  but  that  he  would  do  so,  was  to  be  expected. 
But  even  if  he  had  not  done  so,  what  was  there  to 
justify  Ejihraim  in  its  eoiUention  and  war?  Jeph- 
thah's  answer  is  not  defiant :  it  allows  that  Gilead 
would  gladly  have  accepted  help,  if  only  a  helper 
had  been  at  hand.     Jephthah  would  gladl»  have 


CHAPTER  XII.   1-7. 


17  y 


yielded  the  precedence  in  victory  to  Ephraim,  if 
Kpliraim  had  only  wielded  arms  against  the  enemy 
as  bravely  as  it  now  uses  words  against  its  brethren. 
But  when  he  saw  that  there  was  no  deliverer,  he 
put  his  lire  in  his  hand,  and  God  gave  the  victory. 
Did  not  Jephthah  devote  his  dearest  possession  in 
order  to  obrain  from  Uod  the  victory  for  which  he 
entreated  Him  ? 

The  Midrash  has  a  thought  in  this  connection, 
which,  when  disengaged  from  its  unhistorical  wrap- 
pings, is  judicious  and  profound.  It  says  that  for 
the  things  which  befell  Israel  under  Jephthah  only 
the  priests  wei*e  to  blame.  Why  did  they  not 
annul  the  vow  of  Jephthah !  Why  did  they  not 
restrain  Ephraim  from  civil  war  !  It  is  manifest 
that  a  truth  is  here  suggested  which  applies  to  all 
times.  It  is  undoubtedly  the  duty  of  persons 
equipped  with  spiritual  power,  to  lift  up  their  voices 
i'n-  peace,  and  especially  to  labor  for  concord  be- 
tween the  single  tril)e  and  all  Israel.  If  they  neg- 
I'ct  this  duty,  their  candlestick  —  this  also  the 
^J'idrash  intimates  —  will  sooner  or  later  be  over- 
tlirown. 

Ver.  3.  'Wherefore  then  are  ye  come  up  tmto 
me  this  day  to  fight  against  me  ?  Ephraim's 
attempt  is  actually  more  culpable  than  Ammon's. 
In  itself  considered,  civil  war  between  cognate 
tril)es  is  a  disgrace,  which  can  only  spring  from 
ungodliness.  But  the  sin  of  Ephraim,  when  it 
])r(>poses  to  burn  the  house  of  Jephthah,  is  still 
further  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  it  is  directed 
ag  iinst  the  restorer  of  the  divine  law  and  the  de- 
liverer of  Israel.  It  is  moral  and  national  treason. 
The  Spartans  also,  under  all  sorts  of  pretexts,  had 
left  Athens  to  face  alone  the  advancing  Persians. 
]>ut  when  the  battle  at  Marathon  had  been  won, 
th.^  auxiliary  troo]>s  who  arrived  too  late  to  be  of 
.si'i'-i'ice,  praised  and  applauded  the  heroism  of 
Athens  (Herod,  vi.  120).  Jephthah  dwells  on  the 
injustice  of  E])hraim,  who  would  not  indeed  tight 
against  Amnion,  i)ut  now  ("  this  day  ")  undertakes 
to  make  war  on  him  (he  always  stands  personally 
for  his  people),  in  order  to  excuse  his  armed  resist- 
ance. Ephraim  now  receives  the  punishment  which 
properly  it  had  already  deserved  at  Gideon's  hands. 
It  is  totally  defeated  by  the  hero ;  and  its  men  find 
themselves  entered  on  a  calamitous  flight. 

Vers.  4,  5.  And  the  men  of  GUead  smote 
Ephraim.  It  was  not  Jephthah,  as  the  tine  repre- 
sentation gives  us  to  remark,  who  prosecuted  the 
bloody  ])ursuit.  He  contented  himself  with  chas- 
tising Ephraim  according  to  its  presumption  ;  but 
the  people  of  Gilead  had  been  exasperated  by  the 
contempt  of  the  Ephraimites.  It  is  true  that  the 
sentence  in  which  the  ground  of  the  wrath  of  the 
Gileadites  over  an  utterance  of  the  Ephraimites  is 

expressed,    is    not   easily   expounded :    ^"'P^    ''S 

D."]-^  "n'i'"'^  "f^^?  i^jriS!  :i:'.']?^4  '~'^\^ 

n  "2P  Tfin3.  For  it  is  not  at  once  apparent 
how  the  Gileadites  could  be  called  "fugitives  of 
Ei)hraim,"  seeing  they  were  descendants  of  Manas- 
seh.  A  closer  inspection,  however,  makes  this  in- 
telliuible.  Ephraim  raised  a  claim  to  participate 
in  \Y  ir,  only  in  the  cases  of  Gideon  and  Jephthah, 
nut  in  those  of  the  other  Judges.  It  is  manifest, 
therefore,  that  it  based  its  claim  upon  the  fact  that 
Gideon  and  Jephthah  belonged  to  Manasseh,  its 
own  sister-tribe.  At  any  rate,  the  House  of  Joseph, 
Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  had  from  of  old  a  con- 
sciousness of  a  certain  unity  of  its  own.  It  treated 
as  one  with  Joshua  (Josh.  xvii.  14  if.).  It  entered 
together  into  Its  territory  (Judg.  i.  22).     Under 


king  Solomon  it  was  under  a  common  administra- 
tive officer  (1  Kgs.  xi.  28).  Now,  in  the  "  House 
of  Joseph  "  Ephraim  had  the  chief  voice  ;  for  Ma- 
nasseh was  divided,  and  its  possessions  lay  scattered 
among  other  tribes.  Hence,  it  could  with  some 
plausibility  claim  it  as  its  right  that  no  division  of 
the  House  of  Joseph  should  undertake  a  warlike 
expedition  without  its  participation.  Nor  do  Gid- 
eon and  Jephthah  deny  this  right.  "  We  did  call 
thee,"  says  the  latter  ;  "  but  thou  didst  not  come." 
Only  the  manner  in  which  Ephraim  raised  its 
claim  was  sinful,  unjust,  and  arrogant.  For  it 
raised  it,  not  in  the  time  of  distress,  but  for  the 
sake  of  the  booty ;  and  instead  of  applauding  a 
great  achievement,* it  indulged  in  derision,  which 
exasperated  the  warriors  of  Gilead.  For  in  storm^ 
ing  at  Jephthah  for  not  calling  it,  it  denies  to  Gil- 
ead every  right  of  separate  action.  "  How  can 
Gilead  presume  to  exercise  tribal  functions,  and 
set  a  prince  and  judge  over  Israel  1  "  "  Gilead  is 
no  community  at  all,"  but  only  a  "  set  of  fugitives," 
who  act  as  if  they  were  a  tribe,  whereas  in  fact 
they  belong  elsewhere.  They  use  the  word  peletiin 
(fugitives)  by  way  of  contumely,  just  as  among 
the  Greelcs  (pvyds  meant  both  fugitive  and  ban- 
ished. Ye  are  "  fugitives  of  Ephraim,"  taunted  the 
Ephraimites,  and  would  set  yourselves  up  as  an 
independent  principality.  In  so  saying,  Ephraim 
arrogantly  put  itself  in  the  place  of  the  House  of 
Joseph,  to  which  Gilead  also  belonged,  since  it  was 
the  son  of  Machir  of  Manasseh.  "  Gilead  belongs 
in  the  midst  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh."  This 
addition  was  intended  to  add  point  to  what  pre- 
ceded. Gilead  is  nothing  by  itself,*  has  no  tribal 
rights  ;  it  belongs  to  the  House  of  Joseph.  This 
was  true,  indeed ;  and  Gilead's  descendants  lived 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  (Num.  xxvi.  30  ff.)  ;  but 
"fugitives  "  they  were  not.  The  half-tribe  of  Ma- 
nasseh beyond  the  Jordan  was  as  independent  as 
any  other  tribe ;  and  in  the  war  against  Amnion 
Gilead  proper  was  doubtless  joined  by  men  of  other 
tribes,  especially  Gad.  It  was  therefore  no  wonder 
that  the  men  of  Gilead  became  greatly  exasperated, 
and  did  not  spare  the  Ephraimites  even  in  thcii 
flight.  Jephthah  only  defeated  them  ;  but  the  mul 
titnde  slew  them  like  enemies,  and  gave  no  quarter. 
Thus,  sin  and  contumely  beget  passion  and  cru- 
elty. The  discord  of  brethren  inflicts  the  deepest 
wounds.  Nowhere  does  hatred  rise  higher,  than 
where  concord  is  natural. 

Ver.  6.  Then  said  they  to  him,  Say  Shib- 
boleth. Ephraim  meets  with  remarkable  expe- 
riences at  the  fords  of  the  Jordan.  In  Gideon's 
time,  it  gained  easy  victory  there  over  the  Midian- 
ites  whom  that  hero  chased  into  their  hands  ;  now 
it  is  itself  chased  thither  and  there  put  to  death 
In  the  outset,  its  men  had  taunted  Gilead  with  the 
term  "fugitives  of  Ephraim,"  and  pow  they  are 

themselves  in  very  truth  D"!"??^   "'t^'^yQ.  Before 

they  prided  themselves  upon  their  tribe  name  Eph- 
raim, which  they  haughtily  used  for  the  whole 
House  of  Joseph  ;  and  now,  when  an  Ephraimite 
came  to  the  stream,  he  is  fain  to  deny  his  tribe  in 
order  to  save  his  life.  The  enraged  men  of  Gilead 
will  not  suffer  one  Ephraimite  to  cross  the  river; 
hence  the  requisition  of  every  one  who  wished  to 
pass  over,  to  say  SJnbboleth,  which  no  Ejihraimite 
could  do,  for  he  could  only  say  Sibholetn.  What 
"  Shibboleth  "  meant,  is  of  minor  importance  ;  but 
as  its  enunciation  was  required  at  the  river,  and  in 
order  to  pass  it,  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  Gilead- 
ites thought  rather  of  the  signihcation  "stream" 
than  "  ear,"  both  of  which  the  word  has.     Every 


180 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Ephrainiite  in  this  extremity  had  the  feeling  after- 
wards depicted  in  the  Psahn  (Ixix.  3  [2])  :  "  I  am 
come  into  depths  of  waters,  and  the  stream  over- 
flows me,"  ''3i"pD^t|:7  nVaiT'J.  _  When,  during 
the  Flemish  M'ar,  the  insurrection  against  the 
French  broke  out,  May  25,  1302,  the  gates  were 
guarded,  and  no  one  was  suffered  to  pass  out,  ex- 
cept such  as  were  able  to  say,  "  Scill  ende  friend," 
which  words  no  Frenchman  could  pronounce. 
(Mensel,  Gesch.  von  Frankr.  ii.  134  ;  Schmidt,  ^'escA. 
von.  Frankr.  i.  682). 

And  there  fell  at  that  time  of  the  Ephraim- 
ites  forty  and  two  thousand.  The  number  42 
(7  times  6)  appears  to  be  not  far  removed  from 
a  round  number ;  but  its  occurrence  is  associated 
with  severe  and  well-merited  judgments  on  sin. 
As  here  42,000  sinful  E]ihraiiuites  fall,  so  42  of 
the  mockers  of  the  prophet  Elijah  are  killed  by 
bears  (2  Kgs.  ii.  24) ;  and  when  the  judgment  of 
God  breaks  forth  over  the  house  of  Ahab,  42  breth- 
ren of  Ahaziah  are  put  to  death  by  Jehu  (2  Kgs. 
X.  14). 

Ver.  7.  And  he  was  buried  in  one  of  the 
cities  of  Gilead.  Herein  the  mournful  lot  of 
Jephtluih,  resulting  from  the  surrender  of  his 
daughter,  shows  itself  He  had  no  heir,  as  he  had 
had  no  inheritance.  He  was  the  tii-st  and  the 
last  in  his  house.  The  greatness  of  his  deeds  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  they  were  nevertheless  re- 
membered ;  for  in  what  city  he  was  buried  was  not 
known,  just  as  to  us  Mizpah,  the  place  where  he 
had  his  home,  is  also  unknown,  and  as  the  place 
of  his  birth  is  not  mentioned.  It  is  not  known 
what  his  father's  name  was  ;  it  is  not  known  where 
his  own  grave  is.  "  Gilead  "  begat  him,  and  Gil- 
ead received  his  corpse.  He  shares  no  father's 
tomb,  and  no  son  shares  his.  He  was  a  great 
hero  who  lived  and  died  solitary ;  only  faith  in 
God  was  with  him.  Six  years  he  ruled ;  when 
they  were  finished,  liis  rest  from  labor  and  sorrow 
began.  His  name  did  not  return  ;  Gilead's  power 
rose  not  again  :  but  he  was  not  forgotten  in  Israel. 
His  sorrow  and  victory  are  typical  —  so  the  older 
expositors  suggest  —  of  Him  who  said  :  "Not  mij 
will,  but  thine,  be  done !  " 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Jeplithah's  vocation  was  extraordinary,  and 
equally  extraordinary  was  his  fate.  He  gave  up 
everything  to  God  for  his  people ;  and  yet  at  last 
the  envy  of  his  countrymen  pursues  him.  They 
threaten  to  burn  his  house,  which  for  their  sake  he 
has  made  desolate-  He  makes  no  boast  of  this, 
liowever  ;  yet  exercises  discipline  with  a  strong 
hand.  Six  years  he  judged,  and  in  the  seventh 
listed  from  an  office  that  had  brought  him  so 
nuich  grief. 

1.  Prior  to  success  friends  are  few;  but  after- 
wards all  wish  to  share  in  it.  While  tliere  is  dan- 
ger, he  who  takes  the  lead  is  called  valorous ;  after 
the  victory,  usurper.  Sin  regards  not  the  oti'erings 
which  the  warrior  lirings,  but  only  the  results  which 
he  has  obtained.  The  evil  will  not  assist  in  sowing ; 
but  ja't  would  fain  participate  in  the  harvest. 

2.  Life  offers  nothing  to  such  as  serve  not  God, 
even   though  one   rise  as  high  as  Jephthah.     If 

1  [Dr.  Wordsworth  looks  on  .lephthah  as  "  one  who  does 
mighty  deeds  in  an  irret^idar  manner,  at  a  time  when  those 
persons  who  are  placed  in  authority  by  God,  and  who  ought 
to  employ  (iod"3  appointed  inean.s  in  a  regular  way,  are  faith- 
less to  their  trust,  and  ncgleet  their  duty  to  God  and  his 
Dhureh.     Ills  work  may  be  compared  to  that  of  the  Wes- 


Jepbthah  had  not  rebuilt  the  altar  of  Jehovah  in 
Israel,  he  had  been  happier  in  the  desert  and  the 
silence  of  seclusion.  The  charm  of  life  must  bo 
sought  in  the  gospel.  Life  is  .short;  and  though 
prolonged,  full  of  trouble.  Every  religion  builds 
its  altar  lor  eternity.  For  Him  who  has  wrought 
six  days  for  his  Saviour,  and  confessed  Him,  there 
o])ens  on  the  seventh  the  Sabbath  of  eternity. 

Starke  :  The  godly  are  never  long  without  a 
cross  :  they  are  tried  at  home  and  abroad ;  with- 
out is  fighting,  within  is  fear  (2  Cor.  vii.  5). — 
Sailer  :  The  gospel  without  suffering  belongs  to 
heaven  ;  suffering  without  the  gospel,  to  hell ;  the 
gospel  with  suffering,  to  earth. 

(  Henry  :  It  is  an  ill  thing  to  fasten  names  or 
characters  of  reproach  on  persons  or  countries,  as 
is  common,  especially  on  those  who  lie  under  out- 
ward disadvantages ;  it  often  occasions  quarrels  of 
ill  consequences,  as  here.  See  likewise  what  a 
mischievous  thing  an  abusive  tongue  is.  —  Words- 
worth :  Here  we  see  a  specimen  of  that  evil 
spirit  of  envy  and  pride  which  has  shown  itself  in 
the  Church  of  God.  They  who  are  in  high  place 
in  the  Church,  like  Ephi-aim,  sometimes  stand 
aloof  in  the  time  of  danger.  And  when  others  of 
lower  estate  have  stepped  into  the  gap,  and  have 
stood  in  the  breach,  and  braved  the  danger,  and 
have  fought  the  battle  and  gained  the  victory,  as 
Jephthah  the  Gi/eadite  did  (the  man  of  Gilead, 
which  was  not  a  tiibe  of  Isi-ael),  then  they  are 
angry  and  jealous,  and  insult  them  with  proud 
words,  and  even  proscribe  and  taunt  them  with 
being  runaways  and  deserters,  and  yet  daring  to 
claim  a  place  among  the  tribes  of  Israel.  Has  not 
this  haughty  and  bitter  language  of  scorn  and  dis- 
dain been  the  language  of  some  in  the  greatest  west- 
ern church  of  Christendom  against  the  churches 
of  the  reformation  1  Has  it  not  sometimes  been 
the  language  of  some  in  the  Church  of  England 
towards  separatists  from  herself?  Schism  doubt- 
less is  a  sin ;  but  it  is  sometimes  caused  by  the  en- 
forcement of  anti-scriptural  terms  of  communion, 
as  it  is  by  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  and  the  sin  of  the 
schism  is  hers.  It  is  often  occasioned  (though  not 
justified)  by  spiritual  languor  and  lethargy  in  the 
Church  of  God.  Zeal  for  God  and  for  the  truth  is 
good  wherever  it  be  found.  Let  the  churches  of 
Christ  stand  forth  in  the  hour  of  danger  and  fight 
boldly  the  good  fight  against  the  Ammonites  of 
error  and  unbelief  Then  the  irregular  guerrilla 
warfare  of  separatist  ^  Jephthahs  and  their  Gilead- 
ites  will  be  unnecessary,  and  they  will  fight  side 
by  side  under  the  banner  of  JKphraim.  —  This 
SAME :  The  Gileadites  did  not  slay  the  Ephraim- 
ites  because  they  did  not  agree  with  them  in  pro- 
nunciittion,  but  because  they  were  Ephraimitcs, 
which  was  discovered  by  their  different  pronuncia- 
tion. The  strifes  in  the  Church  of  God  lie  deeper 
than  differences  of  expression  in  ritual  observances 
or  formularies  of  faith.  They  lie  in  the  heart, 
which  is  depraved  by  the  evil  passions  of  envy, 
hatred,  and  malice ;  and  slight  difterences  in  ex- 
ternals are  often  the  occasions  for  eliciting  the 
deep  rooted  prejudices  of  depraved  will,  aiul  the 
malignant  feelings  of  unsanctified  hearts.  Let  the 
heart  be  purified'by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  peace,  and 
the  lips  will  move  in  harmony  and  love.  —  The 
SAME  :     That  river  which  in  the  days  of  Joshua 

leys  and  Whitefields,"  etc.  see  on  ch.  xi.  1.  The  definition 
of  ''irregularity"  here  given,  applies  to  all  the  Judges. 
In  a  certain  sense,  they  were  all  irregular  ;  but  that  Jeph- 
thah was  so  in  any  special  sense  is  abundantly  refuted  by 
Dr.  Cassel's  exposition.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  XII.  8-15. 


181 


had  been  divided  by  God's  power  and  mercy,  in 
order  that  all  the  tribes  might  pass  over  together 
into  Canaan,  the  type  o^'  heaven,  is  now  made  the 
scene  of  carnage  between  Gilead  and  Ephraira. 
In  the  Chnrch  of  God,  the  scenes  of  God's  dearest 
love  have  often  been  made  the  scenes  of  men's 
bitterest  hate.  The  waters  of  baptism,  the  living 
waters  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  the  holy 


sacrament  of  the  Lord's  vSupper  —  these  "  passages 
of  our  Jordan  "  —  the  records  and  pledges  of  God's 
love  to  the  Israel  of  God,  have  been  made  the 
scenes  of  the  bitterest  controversies,  and  of  blood 
shed  of  brethren,  by  those  who  bear  the  name  of 
Christ.  The  holy  sepulchre  itself  has  been  made 
an  aceldama.  —  Te.] 


EIGHTH  SECTION. 

THBEE   JUDGES   OF   tTNEVENTFUL   LIVES     IK   PEACEFUL  TIMES  :     IBZAN   OF    BETHLEHEM,   ELON   THK 
ZEBULONITE,    AND    ABDON    THE    PIRATHONITE. 


Ibzan  of  Bethlehem,  Elon  the  Zehulonite,  and  Abdon  the  Pirathonite. 
Chapter    XII.    8-15. 

8  9  And  after  him  Ibzan  of  Beth-lehem  judged  Israel.  And  he  had  thirty  sons  [,] 
and  thirty  daughters  whom  [omit:  whom]  he  sent  abroad  [sent  out,  i.  e.  gave  in  mar- 
riage], and  took  in  [brought  home]  thirty  daughters  from  abroad  for  his  sons :  and 

10  he  judged   Israel   seven  years.      Then  died   Ibzan  [And   Ibzan  died],  and  was 

1 1  buried  at  Bethlehem.     And  after  him  Elon,  a  [the]  Zebulonite,  judged  Israel,  and 

12  he  judged  Israel   ten  years.     And  Elon  the  Zebulonite  died,  and  was  buried  in 

13  Aijalon  in  the  country  of  Zebulun.     And  after  him  Abdon  the  son  of  Hillel,  a  [the] 

14  Pirathonite,  judged  Israel.    And  he  had  forty  sons  and  thirty  nephews  [grandsons], 

15  that  rode  on  threescore  and  ten  ass  colts:  and  he  judged  Israel  eight  years.  And 
Abdon  the  son  of  Hillel  the  Pirathonite  died,  and  was  buried  in  Pirathon  in  the 
land  of  Ephraim,  in  the  mount  of  the  Amalekites  [Amalekite]. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  special  value  of  the  notices  concerning  these 
three  Judges  consists  in  the  contrast  which  they 
offer  to  the  fortunes  of  Jephthah.  These  three  all 
have  what  Jephthah  had  not.  They  all  have  chil- 
dren in  abundance,  and  are  happy  in  them  (Ps. 
cxxvii.  3  ff.).  Ibzan  has  thirty  daughters,  whom 
he  gives  in  marriage,  and  thirty  daughters-in-law. 
Abdon,  likewise,  has  forty  sons,  and  looks  on  thirty 
flourishing  grandsons,  The  people  is  familiar  with 
the  places  of  their  nativity,  and  knows  where  their 
sepulchres  are.  Indeed,  some  of  these  places,  even 
with  their  old  names,  are  not  lost  to  this  day. 
For  even  the  native  place  of  Ibzan,  although  it 
was  not  the  celebrated  Bethlehem,  but  another  in 
Zebulun  (Josh.  xix.  15),  has  in  our  day  been  iden- 
tified as- Beit  Lahm  by  Robinson  (iii.  113).  Keil's 
lemark  that  we  are  not  to  think  here  of  the  Beth- 
lehem in  Judah,  must  indeed  be  allowed,  although 
the  Jewish  legend  docs  think  of  it  and  identities 
Ibzan  with  Boaz.i  But  that  this  Bethlehem  al- 
ways appears  with  the  addition  "in  Judah"  (so 
also  in  Judg.  xvii.  7),  has  its  ground  in  the  very 
fact  that  the  other  I3ethlchem  was  not  unknown. 

1  The  unhistorical  character  of  the  legend  is  the  more 
evident,  the  more  clear  it  is  that  chapter  xii.  treats  only  of 
iiorthern  heroes,  whereas  the  narratives  of  southeastern 
heroes  and  struggles  begin  at  chapter  xiii.,  and  continue 
down  to  Samuel  and  David. 


The  definition  "  in  Judah  "  could  here  be  the  less 
omitted  because  the  next  Judge  also  belonged  to 
Zebulun. 

Aijalon  also,  the  place  where  Elon,  the  second 
mentioned  Judge,  is  said  to  have  died,  and  where 
he  probably  also  resided,  seems  to  be  recognized  in 
Jalun,  a  place  of  ruins  (cf.  Van  de  Velde,  referred 
to  by  Keil).  Pirathon,-  the  birthplace  of  the  third 
Judge,  whose  name  Hillel  is  a  highly  celebrated 
one  among  the  Jews  of  later  times,  was  already 
recognized  by  Esthor  ha-Parchi   in   the  modern 

Fer'ata  (nn27"1D),  and  has  been  rediscovered  by 
Robinson  and  others  (cf  Zunz,  in  Asher's  Benj.  of 
Ttidela,  ii.  426  ;  Robinson,  iii.  134).  They  all  en- 
joy in  fact  every  blessing  of  life  of  which  Jephthah 
was  destitute ;  we  hear  of  their  children,  their 
fathers,  and  their  graves ;  but  of  their  deeds  we 
hear  nothing.  They  have  judged,  but  not  delivered. 
They  enjoyed  distinction,  because  they  were  rich  ; 
but  they  never  rose  from  the  condition  of  exiled 
and  hated  men  to  the  dignity  of  princes,  urged 
thereto  by  the  humble  entreaties  of  their  country- 
men. Of  them,  we  know  nothing  but  theit 
wealth ;    of  Jephthah,  nothing  but    his   renown. 

2  It  lies  on  a  Tell,  which  ver.  15  calls  the  mountain  of 
Amalek,  perhaps  from  Joshua,  the  conqueror  of  Amalek, 
cf.  eh.  v.  14. 


182 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


They  had  herds,  but  made  no  sacrifices.  Their 
daughters  were  married  ;  but  the  unmarried  daugh- 
ter of  Jephthah  sui-vives  them  all  as  an  example 
of  the  obedience  and  faith  of  every  noble  maiden 
heart.  They  had  full  houses,  and  widely  known 
monuments ;  and  Jephthah  went  from  an  empty 
house  to  an  unknown  grave  :  but  his  name,  conse- 
crated by  the  Apostle's  benediction,  shines  for- 
evermore  as  that  of  a  hero  of  faith.  Such  con- 
trasts the  narrator  wishes  to  rescue  from  conceal- 
ment. The  heathen  Achilles,  according  to  the  le- 
gend of  the  Greeks,  chose  immortal  fame  in  pref- 
erence to  length  of  life  and  pleasure.  What  would 
we  choose,  if  choice  were  given  us  between  Ibzan 
or  Hillel  and  Jephthah  ?  Or  rather,  let  us  Chris- 
tians choose  the  Cross  of  Him  who  lives  forever  ! 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

After  Gideon  and  Abimelech,  two  peaceful 
Judges  are  named,  concerning  whose  official  life 
nothing  is  reported.  A  similar  relation  subsists 
between  Jephthah  and  his  successors.  The  com- 
parison may  serve  for  instruction.  The  result  of 
Gideon's  deeds  was  glory  and  greatness  ;  of  Abim- 
elech's  tyranny,  terrors  and  punishment.  Both 
kind?  of  results  were  brought  to  view,  for  the 
instnjction  of  the  nations,  in  the  career  of  Jeph- 
thah    His  victory  was  mighty  against  those  with- 


out ;  his  chastisement  towards  those  witliin.  The 
seed  which  he  sowed  in  tears,  sprang  up  in  joy  for 
others. 

The  three  Judges  have  everything  that  Jephthah 
has  not,  —  children,  paternal  home,  and  commem- 
oration of  their  death.  But  they  have  no  heroic 
victory  like  his,  and  his  only  daughter  is  an  exam- 
ple for  all  time.  Jephthah  judged  only  a  short 
time,  and  died  bowed  down  with  grief  and  loneli- 
ness. But  neither  can  prosperity  avail  to  lengthen 
years.  These  peaceful  Judges  judged  only  seven, 
ten,  and  eight  years,  respectively.  How  different 
is  Jephthali's  life  from  theirs !  But  the  kingdom 
of  God  does  not  move  onward  in  tragedies  alone, 
but  also  in  meekness  and  cjuietude. 

The  teachings  of  God  are  calculated  to  serve 
truth,  not  to  promote  human  glory.  Worldly  van- 
ity strives  for  the  immortality  of  time.  It  is  a 
strange  exhibition  of  human  folly,  when  great 
deeds  are  performed  for  the  sake  of  the  monuments 
and  statues  with  which  they  are  rewarded.  In  the 
kingdom  of  God,  other  laws  obtain.  Jejjhthah  is 
the  great  warrior  hero  ;  but  neither  the  place  of  his 
birth  nor  that  of  his  death  is  known.  Monuments 
determine  nothing  in  the  history  which  God  writes, 
but  only  Godlike  deeds.  The  faithful  who  have 
died  in  God,  are  followed  by  their  works. 

Starive  :  It  is  better  to  bestow  celebrity  on  one's 
native  land,  by  virtuous  actions,  than  to  derive 
celebrity  from  one's  native  land. 


NINTH  SECTION. 


THE  OPPRESSION  OF  THE  PHILISTINES.      SAMSON,  THE  NAZAKITE  JUSOB. 


Renewed  apostasy. 
Chapter  XIIL  1. 

And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  did  evil  again  [continued  to  do  evil]  in  tne 
sight  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  ;  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  delivered  them  into  the 
hand  of  the  Philistines  forty  years. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The  same  fatal  history  repeats  itself  everywhere. 
Not  one  single  tribe,  the  Book  of  Judges  teaches 
us,  is  exempted  from  it.  Apostasy  is  constantly 
followed  by  subjection,  whether  it  be  inflicted  by 
eastern  or  western  neighbor-tribes.  It  is  writ- 
ten, ch.  ii.  14,  that  when  Israel  falls  into  sin,  it 
will  be  persecuted  by  all  the  nations  round  about. 
And  ch.  iii.  3  includes  the  "  five  princes  of  the  Phil- 
istines "  among  those  through  whom  Israel  is  to 
become  acquainted  with  distress  and  war.  The 
Book  began  with  the  oppression  of  the  Mesojio- 
taminn  king  in  the  east,  from  which  Othniel,  the 
hero  of  Judali,  liberated  the  people.  After  tracing 
a  circular  course  through  the  east  and  northeast, 
it  ends,  like  the  daily  course  of  the  sun,  in  the 


west;  and  the  tribe  of  Judah,  with  which  the  nai 
rative  began,  is  again  brought  foi-ward  at  its  close. 
As  far  back  as  ch.  x.  7,  in  connection  with  events 
after  the  death  of  Abimelech,  we  read  that  God 
"gave  Israel  up  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines 
and  the  sons  of  Ammon."  The  heroic  achieve- 
ment of  Jephthah  against  Ammon  is,  however, 
first  reported.  (The  Judges  named  immediately 
afterwards  belong  to  northern  tribes,  two  to  Zebu- 
lun,  one  to  Ephraim.)  Now  tlie  writer  comes  to 
speak  of  the  great  conflicts  which  Israel  had  to 
wage  with  tlie  brave  and  well-equipped  people  of 
the  five  Philistine  cities  on  the  coast,  and  which, 
witli  varying  fortunes,  continued  to  the  time  of 
David.  The  tribes  especially  concerned  in  them 
were  Dan,  the  western  part  of  Judah,  and  Simeon, 
encircled  by  Judah.    How  changed  were  the  timrs ! 


CHAPTER  XIII.  2-7. 


183 


Once,  the  men  of  Judah,  in  their  stormlike  career 
of  victory,  had  won  even  the  oreat  cities  on  the  sea- 
coast.  Afterwards,  they  were  not  only  unable  to 
maintain  possession  of  them,  but  through  their 
own  apostasy  from  God  and  the  genuine  Israel- 
itish  spirit,  became  themselves  dependent  on  them. 
Dan  liad  already  been  long  unable  to  hold  its 
ground  anywhere  except  on  the  mountains  (eh.  i. 
34).  Now,  the  Philistines  were  powerful  and  free 
in  all  the  Danite  cities.  Chapter  x.  1.5  f.  tells  of 
the  earnest  repentance  of  the  sons  of  Israel  before 
God.  But  such  a  statement  is  not  made  here,  al- 
though the  history  of  a  new  Judge  is  introduced. 
Everywhere  else  the  narrative,  bel'ore  it  relates  the 
mighty  deeds  of  a  Shophet,  premises  that  Israel  had 
cried  unto  God,  and  that  consequently  God  had 
taken  pity  upon  them.  Now,  unless  it  be  assumed 
that  ch.  X.  15  refers  also  to  Dan  and  Judah,  as  in 
ver.  6  the  Philistines  are  likewise  already  spoken 
of,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  narrative  of  Samson's 
exploits  is  not  preceded  by  a  similar  remark.  It 
is  a  point  worthy  of  special  notice.  For  since  the 
story  of  Israel's  apostasy  is  repeated,  that  of  its 
repentance  would  likewise  have  been  repeated. 
That  which  he  does  not  relate,  the  narrator  must 
have  believed  to  have  had  no  existence.  And  in 
fact  no  such  repentance  can  have  taken  place  at 
this  time  in  Dan  and  Judah,  as  we  read  of  in  Gil- 
ead.  The  history  of  the  hero,  whose  deeds  are 
about  to  be  related,  proves  this.  If,  then,  such  a 
man  nevertheless  ai-ose,  the  compassion  which  God 


thereby  manifested  toward  Israel,  was  doubtless 
called  forth  by  the  few,  scattered  here  and  -there, 
who  sought  after  and  acknowledged  Him.  The 
power  which  shows  itself  in  the  history  of  Sam- 
son's activity  is  of  a  similarly  isolated,  individual 
character.  It  is  only  disconnected  deliverances 
which  Israel  receives  through  him.  It  is  no  entire 
national  I'cnovation,  such  as  were  brought  about 
by  former  Judges  within  their  fields  of  action. 
Herein  the  history  of  Samson  diifers  entirely  from 
the  events  of  Othniel's,  Ehud's,  Barak's,  Gideon's, 
and  Jephthah's  times,  just  as  he  himself  differs 
from  those  heroes.  Jepbthah  also  speaks  as  an 
individual  I,  when  he  treats  with  the  enemy;  he 
was  in  fact  the  national  I,  for  his  will  was  the  will 
of  the  people,  his  repentance  their  repentance.  He . 
can  say,  "  I  and  my  people,"  (ch.  xii.  2) :  his  people 
have  made  him  their  prince.  Samson  is  an  indi- 
vidu.al  without  a  people ;  a  mighty  I,  but  no 
prince ;  a  single  person,  consecrated  to  God,  and 
made  the  instrument  of  his  Spirit  almost  without 
his  Qwn  will ;  whereas  Jephthah  and  his  people  are 
one  in  penitential  disposition  and  trust  in  God. 
Hence,  the  circumstance  that,  although  Samson 
was  a  Judge,  and  announced  by  an  angel  of  God, 
it  is  nevertheless  not  recorded  that  before  his  ad- 
vent the  "  sons  of  Israel  had  cried  to  God,"  affords 
an  introductory  thought  important  for  the  right 
apprehension  of  the  peculiar  and  remarkable  nar- 
ratives in  which  the  new  hero  appears. 


An  angel  foretells  the  hirth  of  Samson. 
Chapter  XIH.  2-7. 


2  And  there  was   a  certain  man  of  Zorah,  of  the  family  of  the  Danites,  whose 

3  name  ivas  Manoah ;  and  his  wife  loas  barren,  and  bare  not.  And  the  [an]  angel 
of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  appeared  unto  the  woman,  and  said  unto  her,  Behold,  now, 

4  thou  art  barren,  and  bearest  not :  but  thou  shalt  conceive,  and  bear  a  son.  Now 
therefore  [And  now]  beware,  I  pray  thee,  and  drink  not  wine,  nor  strong  drink, 

5  and  eat  not  any  unclean  thing :  For  lo,  thou  shalt  conceive,  and  bear  a  son  ;  and 
no  razor  shall  come  on  his  head :  for  the  child  [boj^]  shall  be  a  Nazarite  unto 
[of]  God  from  the  womb :  and  he  shall  begin  to  deliver  Israel  out  of  the  hand  of 

'6  the  Philistines.  Then  [And]  the  woman  came  and  told  her  husband,  saying, 
A  man  of  God  came  unto  me,  and  his  countenance  [appearance]  was  like  the 
countenance  [appearance]  of  an  angel  of  God,  very  terrible  [august] :  but  [and] 

7  I  asked  him  not  whence  he  tvas,  neither  told  he  me  his  name :  But  [And]  he  said 
unto  me,  Behold,  thou  shalt  conceive,  and  bear  a  son ;  and  now  drink  no  wine  nor 
strong  drink,  neither  eat  any  unclean  thing :  for  the  child  [boy]  shall  be  a  Naza- 
rite  to  [of]  God  from  the  womb  to  the  day  of  his  death. 


EXEGETICAIi  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  2,  3.  And  there  was  a  certain  man  of 
Zorah.  In  the  times  of  Israel's  penitence,  men 
rose  up  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God ;  when  this 
was  not  the  case,  God  had  to  bring  forth  the  hero 
for  himself.  Samson's  election  was  unlike  that  of 
any  other  Jtidge.  Concerning  Othniel  and  Ehud, 
it  is  simply  said,  "  and  God  set  them  up  as  deliver- 
ers" (QP.^)-  »Barak  was  called  through  Deborah, 


who  was  a  prophetess.  An  "  angel  of  God  "  came 
also  to  liberate  the  people  from  Midian ;  but  he 
came  to  Gideon,  a  man  of  valor  already  pi'oved. 
Jephtliah's  case  has  just  been  considered.  The 
election  of  Samson  presents  an  altogether  different 
phase.  He  is  chosen  before  he  is  born.  An  angel 
of  God  comes,  not  to  hira,  but  to  his  mother.  Jeph- 
thah is  recognized  by  Gilead  as  the  right  man,  be- 
cause he  has  begun  (^H^j  to  triumph  over  the  en- 
emy.     In   Samson's  case,  it-  is  predicted  to  hi 


184 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


mother  that  her  son  "shall  begin"  (^n|j)  to  de- 
liver Israel. 

The  father  of  Samson  was  of  Zorah  (see  below 
on  ver.  ^5),  of  the  I'ace  of  Dan;  whence  Samson 
is  also  called  Bedan  (1  Sam.  xii.  11).  He  bears 
the  beautiful  name  Manoah,  "Rest,"  equivalent  to 
the  Greek  "Ho-uxoJ)  Hesychius, —  a  name  sufficient- 
ly peculiar  for  the  father  of  so  restless  a  spirit  as 
Samson.  The  name  of  his  wife  is  not  given.  Jew- 
ish tradition  [Baha  Bathra,  91)  derives  her  from 
the  tribe  Jiidah,  and  with  reference  to  1  Chron.  iv. 
3,  names  her  Zelelponi  or  Hazelelponi.  The  parents 
were  at  first  childless.  The  mother  was  barren,  as 
Sarah  was  before  her.  But  it  is  not  related  of  her, 
any  more  than  of  Sarah,  that  she  prayed  for  a  son. 
Tliis  can  only  be  inferred  from  the  similar  instance 
of  Hannah  (1  Sam.  i.  10) ;  but  it  does  not  appear, 
that,  like  Hannah,  she  made  a  vow.  Nor  is  it  said 
of  her  and  Manoah  that  they  were  old,  as  in  the 
eases  of  Sarah  and  Elizabeth  (Luke  i.  7).  They 
were  pious,  uncomplaining  people,  who  lived  in 
retirement,  and  had  hitherto  borne  their  childless 
condition  with  trustful  resignation.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  this  childless  condition  that  peculiarly 
adapted  the  wife  for  the  right  reception  of  the  an- 
nouncement which  is  made  to  her.  The  joy  which 
it  inspires  prepares  her  fully  for  the  sacriiice  which 
it  requires.  It  holds  out  a  scarcely  hoped  for  hap- 
piness, which  she  will  gladly  purchase  with  the 
restraints  imposed  upon  her.  But  this  is  not  the 
only  ground  why  she  is  chosen.  An  announce- 
ment like  that  made  to  her  requires  faith  in  the  re- 
ceiver. The  pious  disposition  of  the  parents  shows 
itself  in  this  faith,  by  which,  less  troubled  with 
doubt  than  Sarah  and  Zacharias,  they  receive  as 
certain  that  which  is  announced  to  them. 

Ver.  4.  And  now  beware,  I  pray  thee,  and 
drink  not  wine  nor  intoxicating  drink.  For 
Samson,  the  child  that  is  to  be  born  to  her,  shall  be 
a  "  Nazir  of  God."  The  ideas  which  here  come  to 
light,  are  of  uncommon  instructiveness.  They  reveal 
a  surprisingly  free  and  discriminating  conception  of 
the  life  and  wants  of  the  Israel  of  that  time.  Far- 
reaching  thoughts,  which  still  influence  the  Chris- 
tian Church  of  our  own  day,  are  reflected  in  them, 

I.  The  law  of  the  Nazarite  and  his  vow,  in  Num. 
vi.,  rests  upon  the  great  presuppositions  which  are 
implied  in  Israel's  calling.  In  Ex.  xix.  6,  God  says 
to  Israel,  "  Ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests, 
and  an  holy  nation;"  but  he  precedes  it  (ver.  .5) 
by  the  words,  "  Ye  shall  be  a  possession  unto  ?ne 
out  of  all  nations,  for  all  the  earth  is  mine."  All 
nations  are  God's ;  but  among  them,  Israel  was  to 
be  his  holy  people  ;  and  the  law  expresses  in  sym- 
bolic actions  the  moral  ideas  through  which  Israel 
exhibits  itself  as  holy  and  consecrated.  Within  the 
holy  nation,  the  priests  occupy  the  same  relation 
which  the  nation  holds  to  the  world.  Their  service, 
in  sacrifice,  prayer,  and  atonement,  expresses  es- 
pecially consecration  and  nearness  to  God.  More- 
over, with  respect  to  this  service  they  have  likewise 
a  law,  whose  external  command  represents  the  in- 
ternal idea  of  their  consecration.  The  command  to 
Aaron  is,  that  the  priests,  when  they  go  into  the  tab- 
ernacle, are  not  to  drink  wine  nor  strong  drink,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  able  to  distinguish  between 
iioly  and  unholy,  and  to  teach  the  children  of  Israel 
(Lev.  X.  9);  for  wine  is  a  mocker  (Pro v.  xx.  1). 
Wine,  says  Isaiah,  with  reference  to  the  priesthood 

1  [The  English  version  renders,  "  tool."  The  word  is 
X.'^^P,  in  the  sense  of  "  chisel."   The  interpretation  "  iron  " 


of  his  day  (eh.  xxviii.  7),  has  drowned  all  priestly 
consecration.  The  consequences  of  intoxi<'ation 
show  themselves  not  only  in  a  man  like  Nabal  (1 
Sam.  XXV.  .36),  but  also  in  the  case  of  a  pious  man, 
like  Lot. 

That  death  is  the  wages  of  sin,  the  Old  Testa- 
ment teaches  on  every  page.  The  priests  are  to 
abstain  from  wine,  lest  they  die.  Hence,  also,  they 
are  not  to  touch  a  corpse,  for  it  has  the  nature  of 
sin  and  uncleanness  (Lev.  xxi.  1),  and  the  priests 
are  to  be  holy.  But  although  the  special  official 
priesthood  was  given  by  law  to  the  tribe  of  Levi, 
holiness  and  consecration  of  life  were  not  limited 
to  that  tribe  :  every  one,  no  matter  what  his  tribe, 
can  consecrate  himself  to  God,  and  without  the  aid 
of  office,  visibly  realize  the  general  priesthood  in  his 
own  person.  It  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  law,  that 
it  expresses  every  internal  religious  emotion  by 
means  of  a  visible  act.  It  obliges  the  inward  life 
to  allow  itself  to  be  visibly  recognized.  All  Israel 
was  to  be  holy  ;  but  when  an  Israelite,  in  a  con- 
dition of  special  spiritual  exaltation,  rising  above 
the  common  connection  between  God  and  the  peo- 
ple, as  mediated  by  the  priests,  vowed  himself  to 
God,  this  act  also  was  made  the  subject  of  ordi- 
nances, by  which  the  Nazir,  as  he  who  thus  vowed 
was  called,  was  distinguished  from  other  men,  and 
held  to  special  obligatidns.  Hence,  an  Israelite 
can  vow  himself  to  God  for  a  time,  and  is  accord- 
ingly during  that  time  holy  to  God  in  an  especial 
sense  (Num.  vi.  8).  Without  holding  any  priestly 
office,  he  enters  into  a  free  and  sacred  service  before 
God.  Hence,  during  the  whole  time  of  his  vow,  he 
is  forbidden  to  touch  wine  or  strong  drink,  as  if  he 
were  constantly  officiating  in  the  tabernacle,  al- 
though the  priests,  when  not  actually  engaged  in 
service,  were  under  no  restraint.  The  priests,  gen- 
erally forbidden  to  touch  a  corpse,  are  yet  allowed 
to  do  so  in  the  case  of  a  blood  relative  (Lev.  xxi. 
1  ff) ;  but  the  Nazir,  who  is  to  look  upon  him.self 
as  if  lie  were  ever  in  the  sanctuary,  from  Avhich 
every  impurity  is  excluded,  is  not  to  know  any  ex- 
ception. He  may  not  touch  the  dead  body  of  even 
father  or  mother.  Yea,  he  is  himself,  as  it  were,  a 
temple  or  altar  of  God,  as  appears  from  the  per- 
sonal mark  by  which  he  is  distinguished.  The 
priest  comes  only  to  the  altar  ;  and  is  forbidden  to 
wear  the  signs  of  the  idolaters  on  his  hair  and  beard 
(Lev.  xxi.  5),  and  is  moreover  distinguished  by  his 
clothing.  The  Nazir  is  in  the  congregation,  his 
clothing  is  not  diflf'erent  from  that  of  others  ;  but 
he  is  himself  an  altar;  and  therefore,  as  over  an 
altar,  so  over  his  body,  and  over  the  head  of  that 
body,  no  iron  may  be  lifted  up.  "  When  thou 
makest  an  altar  of  stone,"  says  Moses,  "  tliou  shalt 
not  build  it  of  hewn  stone ;  for  if  thou  lift  up  thy 
iron  1  upon  it,  thou  hast  desecrated  it "  ( Ex.  xx.  25). 
Accox'dingly,  Joshua  built  an  altar  of  stones  "  over 
which  no  man  had  lifted  up  any  iron  "  (Josh.  viii. 
31).  The  reason  for  this  jirohibition  is  grounded, 
not  in  the  nature  of  stone,  but  in  the  symbolical 
significance  of  iron.  Iron,  as  the  Mishnah  observes 
{Middoth,  iii.  4),  must  not  even  touch  the  altar  ;  for 
iron  is  used  to  shorten  life,  but  the  altar  to  lengtheti 
it  (comp.  my  treatise  Schamir,  pp.  .57,  58).  It  is 
well  known  that  other  ancient  nations  regarded 
iron  in  the  same  way.  Tiie  Egyptians  called  it 
"  Typhon's  Bones  "  (Plutarch,  de  Osirid.  cap.  Ixii). 
Iron,  according  to  the  oracle  (Pausan.  iii.  3,  4), 
is  the  image  of  evil,  because  it  is  used  in  bat- 
is  justified  by  Josh.  vili.  31,  where,  with  eTJdeat  reference  to 
Ex.  XX.  25,  bt'^a  is  substituted  for  !2"in.~Ttt,/ 


CHATTEES  XIII.  2-7. 


18.' 


tle.^  When,  therefore,  it  was  enjoined  upon  the 
Nazir  to  let  no  knife  come  upon  his  head  during 
the  time  of  his  vow,  the  ground  of  the  injunction 
was  none  other  than  this  :  that  since  the  Nazir,  like 
the  altar,  is  holy  and  consecrate  to  God,  iron,  the 
instrument  of  death  and  terror,  must  not  touch 
him.'^ 

The  Nazir  is  a  walking  altar  of  God ;  and  his 
flowing  hair  is  the  visible  token  of  his  consecration, 
reminding  both  himself  and  the  people  of  the  sacred 
vows  he  has  assumed.  It  is  the  proper  mark  of  the 
Na2ir,  as  the  linen  garment  is  tliat  of  the  Levite. 
By  it  he  is  known,  and  from  it  prot>ably  comes  his 
name.  It  may  be  assumed  that  the  signitication 
"  to  devote  one's  self,  to  abstain  from,"  of  the  verb 

"^L?'  belongs  to  it  only  in  consequence  of  the  dis- 
tinction attached  to  the  ~^'^}^-  It  seems  to  me  that 
JVazir  is  equivalent  to  KapTiico/iSoov,  long-haired,  Cin- 
cinnatus,  curly-haired,  or  Hur/aijr  (Haralld  hinn 
Harfagri).  For  it  has  been  justly  remarked  that  in 
Num.  vi.  the  terra  Nazir  is  already  accepted  as  a 
familiar  expression.  It  may  he  compared  with  the 
Latin  cirrus,  curl,  lock,  or  tuft  of  hair  (cf.  ciesarles 
=  cceraries) ;  for  comparative  philology  shows  that 

in  most  verbs  beginning  with  -,  this  letter  is  a  spe- 
cific Hebrew  prefix  to  the  root,  so  that  ^^3,  to 
guard,  to  keep,  may  be  compared  with  T-rjpeai ;   /p3, 

to  bear,  with  rXaw;  tTTO,  brass,  with  ces;  ^'P?' 
serpent,  with  the  onomatopoetic  zischen,  to  hiss ; 
Dn3  with  gemei-e ;  ^^5  with  satire,  etc.  The  word 
■^.^3  would  then  get  its  signification  diadem,  orna- 
ment (cf.  "1.^,  in  the  same  sense),  just  as  the  Greek 
KOfifxSs,  derived  from  kS/xt),  Kofiiw,  comes  to  signify 
adornment.  To  trace  the  original  etymological 
identity  of  cirrus,  cicinmis,  and  the  Sanskrit  kikura, 
with  the  Hebrew  nazir,  or  to  inquire  whether  the 
terms  ^vpofxai,  to  shave  one's  self,  and  Keipeiv,  to  cut 
the  hair,  are  connected  with  the  same  root,  would 
be  out  of  place  here.  Precisely  those  terms  which 
designate  objects  of  primitive  interest  to  man,  are 
most  deeply  imbedded  in  the  general  philological 
treasures  of  all  nations.  But  not  to  pursue  these 
speculations  any  farther,  it  must  already  appear 
probable,  that  the  use  of  rmzir  in  Lev.  xxv.  .5,  where 
it  is  applied  to  the  imtrimmed  vine  of  the  sabbatic 
year,  is  to  be  explained  by  reference  not  to  the 
Nazaritic  custom  of  human  beings,  vowing  and 
consecrating  themselves  to  God,  but  to  the  original 
meaning  of  the  root.  The  Sabbath-year  being  time 
belonging  to  God  (Lev.  xxv.  4),  no  knife  was  ap- 
plied during  its  course  to  the  vine,  which  from  that 
circumstance  was  named  nazir.  This  would  have 
been  an  unsuitable  designation,  if  it  had  been 
derived  from  the  vows  assumed  by  the  human 
Nazir;  for  such  subjective  activity  could  not  be 
ascribed  to  the  vine.  It  was  the  objective  appear 
ance  of  the  Nazir,  who,  whether  man  or  vine,  was 
holy,  and  therefore  had  not  been  touched  by  the 
knife,  which  gave  rise  to  the  name.  The  name 
suggests  the  unshaven  condition,  the  long  hair,  of 
the  Nazarite,  not  primarily  his  consecration,  al- 
Jiough  the  sacred  character  of  the  person,  through 

1  The  fallowing  is  said  to  have  beeu  tittered  by  Apollo- 
nius  of  Tyana :  "  Let  the  iron  spare  the  hair  of  a  wise  man. 
For  it  is  not  right  that  it  should  touch  a  place  where  lie  the 
sources  of  all  the  senses,  whence  all  sacred  sounds  and  voices 
issue,  and  prayers  proceed,  and  the  word  of  wisdom  inter- 
pret%''r=  Philostrat.,  Yit.  Apolion. ,  yiii.  6. 


the  law,  gave  sanctity  to  the  name  and  set  it  apart 
from  common  uses,  just  as  the  rite  of  circumcision 

was  indebted  for  its  name  (n>1^),  not  to  the  sac- 
ramental character  of  the  rite,  but  to  the  mere  act 
of  cutting  (7^^,  (r/xi\7i),  and  then  reflected  its  own 
sanctity  upon  the  name.  Long  hair,  although  with- 
out any  reference  to  the  Nazaritic  institute  it  may 

be  called  *^.p  (cf.  Jer.  vii.  29),  was  the  proper  mark 
of  the  Nazir,  because  regularly  set  apart  for  this 
purpose  by  the  law.  To  sanctify  the  natural  life, 
is  the  very  thing  at  which  the  law  constantly  aims. 
By  its  institutions  its  spiritual  requisitions  are  ren- 
dered visible  and  personal.  The  circumcision  of  the 
foreskin  is  after  all  but  the  national  image  of  cir- 
cumcision of  the  heart,  and  the  Nazaritic  institute 
is  the  symbol  of  the  general  priesthood,  in  which 
no  sin  or  impurity  is  to  sully  the  free  service  of  God. 
But  the  visible  character  in  which  each  of  these 
conceptions  appeared,  was  more  than  a  subjective, 
mutable  image  :  it  was  a  definite  and  unchange- 
able law.  It  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  sacrament. 
It  is  instructive  to  see  how  the  relation  of  spirit  and 
law  affects  Biblical  language  and  conceptions.  The 
wearing  of  long  hair,  a  purely  natural  act,  is  first, 
by  spiritual  ideas,  raised  into  an  expression  of  the 
general  priesthood,  in  which  man  is  a  living  altar ; 
but  when  long  hair  has  become  characteristic  of  the 
sacred  Nazir,  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  far  from  im- 
purity, a  new  verb  is  derived  from  his  name,  with 
the  sole  spiritual  signification  of  "  withholding  one's 
self  from  what  is  unclean."  The  same  process  may 
be  noted  in  connection  with  circumcision.  Origi- 
nally elevated  into  a  sacrament  by  the  intervention 
of  spiritual  ideas,  incorporated  into  the  law,  it 
affords  occasion  for  the  transfer  of  its  name  to  the 
spiritual  conceptions  of  the  circumcision  of  tongue 
and  heart.  But  especially  remarkable  is  the  appre- 
hension of  the  relation  between  spirit  and  law  in 
the  history  of  Samson. 

II.  Why  was  it  necessary  for  the  hero  who  should 
begin  to  deliver  Israel,  to  be  a  Nazir?  Why  was 
the  same  election  and  education  not  necessary  in 
the  cases  of  the  other  great  judges,  as,  for  instance, 
Gideon  and  Jephthah  ?  Were  then  those  heroes 
not  spiritual  Nazarites,  who  gave  their  lives  to  the 
service  of  God  ?  May  we  not  understand  the  open- 
ing words  of  Deborah's  Song  as  indicating  their 
spiritual  consecration  to  Jehovah  :  "  That  in  Israel 
waved  the  hair,  in  the  people's  self-devotion  "  (see 
on  ch.  v.  2)  ?  No  doubt ;  and  for  that  very  reason 
Samson  is  distinguished  from  them.  For  those 
men  arose  in  times  when  the  tribes  of  Israel  them 
selves  repented  and  turned  their  hearts  to  God.  In 
Samson's  day,  the  situation  was  different.  Dan  and 
Judah  were  oppressed,  but  not  repentant.  An  up- 
rising from  within  through  faith,  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected. It  is  brought  about,  therefore,  as  it  were 
from  without,  by  means  of  the  law.  The  power 
of  the  objective,  spiritual  law  manifests  itself.  Ii 
becomes  an  organ  of  deliverance,  when  the  sub- 
jective source  of  freedom  no  longer  flows.  The 
angel  would  have  found  no  Gideon.  A  prophetess 
■ike  Deborah,  there  M-as  not.  But  the  law  abides  : 
it  is  indejiendent  of  the  current  popular  spirit.  It 
is  thus  the  last  sure  medium  through  which  the 
help  of  God  can  come  to  Israel.     This  significance 

2  Ilence,  we  cannot  agree  with  the  explanations  cited  and 
proposed  in  Oehler's  article  on  the  Nasiraat,  in  Ilerzog's  En- 
cyklopdiJie  (x.  208).  A  poem  by  Max  Letteris,  on  the  "Lock* 
of  the  Nazarite,"  in  Joloivicz  BliUhenkranz,  p.  239,  has  en- 
tirely missed  the  idea  of  the  Nazaritic  institution. 


186 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


of  the  law,  and  its  objective  power,  is  very  in- 
structively set  forth  before  the  people  in  the  person 
of  Samson.  It  is  this  also  which,  from  Samson 
onward,  becomes  the  ruling-  force  in  the  vocation 
and  appointment  of  deliverers,  until  the  kinushi]) 
is  established,  which  by  the  objective  rite  of  ])riestly 
anointing,  changes  liavid  the  shepherd-boy  into 
David  tlie  victorious  ruler.  And  this  instruction 
concerning  the  law  as  a  whole,  is  imparted  through 
the  medium  of  the  special  law  concerning  the  Nazir, 
because  it  is  here  that  the  relation  to  be  pointed  out 
comes  most  clearly  to  view.  For  precisely  the  Na- 
zariteship  is,  according  to  the  Biblical  law,  the  oitt- 
liow  of  unrequired,  voluntary  consecration  to  God 
on  the  part  of  an  individual.  No  doubt,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  the  earlier  heroes,  though  not  Nazar- 
ites  in  form,  were  such  self-devoted  men.  But 
heroes  such  iis  they  do  not  arise  in  times  when  the 
absence  of  penitence  and  faith  dulls  the  prophets 
and  Nazarites  (cf  Amos,  ii.  12).  Hence,  the  his- 
tory of  Samson  teaches  that  Israel  would  have  had 
nothing  to  hope  for  iVom  the  Nazariteship,  if  it  had 
had  no  other  than  subjective  validity.  When  faith  is 
wanting  among  the  people,  no  man  becomes  a  Na- 
zir ;  but  the  objective  law  can  make  of  the  Nazir,  a 
man.  In  Samson's  case,  the  Nazariteship  makes 
the  hero,  the  long  hair  characterizes  his  strength, 
the  renunciations  of  the  mother  consecrate  the 
child.  Samson,  a  Nazarite  from  his  birth  and  with- 
out his  own  will,  becomes  what  he  is  only  as  such, 
and  continues  to  be  a  hero  only  so  long  as  he  con- 
tinues to  be  a  Nazarite.  The  Nazariteship  is  first, 
everything  else  second,  in  him.  Its  power  over  him 
is  so  objective,  that  it  already  operates  on  him  be- 
fore he  is  born,  before  anything  like  free  conscious- 
ness can  be  thought  of.  The  command  addresses 
not  him  whom  it  concerns,  but  his  mother,  and  she, 
during  her  pregnancy,  becomes  a  female  Nazir,  in 
order  that  her  son  may  be  able  to  become  a  hero. 
It  is  this  that  properly  distinguishes  Samson  from 
the  other  heroes ;  and  its  occasion  appears  in  the 
fact  that  the  narrator  could  not,  as  at  other  times, 
introduce  his  story  by  stating  that  the  tribes  had 
persistently  "cried  unto  God." 

III.  The  Mishnah  [Nazir,  i.  2)  already  distin- 
guishes between  g,  perpetual  Nazarite  and  a  Samson- 
Nazarite.  And  in  fact,  the  Nazariteshij)  of  Samson 
is  unique,  has  never  repeated  itself,  and  never  can 
repeat  itself;  for  it  is  conditioned  by  the  history  of 
his  age.  Samuel  also  is  consecrated  by  his  motlier's 
vow  that  he  shall  belong  to  God,  and  that  no  razor 
shall  come  upon  his  head ;  but  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  the  mother  observed  the  Nazaritic  rules 
in  her  own  person,  nor  is  anything  said  about  any 
virtue  in  long  hair  in  connection  with  Samuel. 
Hannah  was  wholly  self-moved  in  the  making  of 
her  vow.  The  case  of  John  the  Baptist  likewise 
stands  entirely  by  itself.  Here,  the  birth  of  the 
child  is  indeed  announced  by  an  angel,  but  his 
character  as  a  Nazarite  is  expressed  in  language 
altogether  peculiar :  "  He  shall  be  great  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord,  and  shall  drink  neither  wine  nor  strong 
drink."  John  will  be  great  before  God,  and  because 
of  that  greatness  will  drink  no  wine.  Nothing  is 
said  about  long  hair,  and  the  origin  of  John's  vow 
is  placed,  not  in  the  act  of  another,  but  in  the 
strength  with  which  God  had  endowed  himself. 
'IMie  Mishnah  j)uts  it  as  a  possible  case  that  a  person 
should  vow  to  be  a  Nazarite  like  Samson ;  that  is, 
the  vow  is  hypothetically  so  limited  that,  while  it 
requires  him  who  makes  it  to  wear  his  hair  long, 
he  is  not  required  to  bring  sacrifices  for  defilement. 
Such  a  vow  was  named  after.  Samson,  because  a 
uart  of  lus  life  was  imitated  by  it.     But  properly  I 


speaking,  a  vow  to  be  like  Samson,  is  impossible 
For  Samson's  vow  began  not  with  himself,  bu( 
with  his  mother.  According  to  the  law  in  the  6th 
chapter  of  Numbers,  an  Israelite  could  take  a  vow 
uj)on  himself  for  a  longer  or,  like  the  four  friends 
of  James  (Acts  xxi.  23),  for  a  shorter  period. 
When  the  time  was  expired,  he  shaved  himself, 
and  brought  an  offering.  But  no  one  could  vow  to 
be  like  Samson.  It  was  indeed  within  the  power 
of  a  mother  to  promise  to  bring  up  her  child  like 
Samson,  but  even  then  she  had  no  right  to  expect 
the  same  results  as  in  the  case  of  Samson.  It  is 
precisely  the  impotence  of  human  subjectivity  that 
is  demonstrated  by  Samson's  history.  It  cannot 
be  the  wish  of  all  mothers  to  have  Samson-children, 
when  they  suffer  the  hair  of  their  offspring  to  grow. 
The  angel's  announcement,  through  which  the 
spirit  in  the  law  begins  to  operate  even  in  the 
maternal  womb,  is  the  original  source  of  strength. 
The  Spirit  of  God  operates  on  mother  and  son, 
through  the  Nazariteship  as  its  organ.  The  power 
of  the  Nazir,  the  holy  influence  of  the  law,  opens 
the  man  himself;  the  outflow  of  divine  consecra- 
tion into  the  life  of  the  consecrated  cannot  take 
place  without  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  theological 
doctrine  of  the  preparatory  history  of  Samson,  is 
just  this  :  that  while  the  law  in  its  immutable  ob- 
jectivity is  placed  over  against  the  subjective  forces 
of  prophecy  and  heroic  inspiration,  yet  it  can  never 
of  itself,  but  only  by  virtue  of  the  Spii'it  of  God 
pervading  and  quickening  it,  become  the  organ  of 
deliverance. 

The  Nazaritic  institute  is  the  image  of  the  gen- 
eral priesthood,  of  the  fact  that  outside  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi,  it  is  possible  for  man  to  belong  wholly  to 
God.  The  visible  acts  which  it  prescribes,  repre- 
sent, as  in  a  figure,  the  purity  and  sinlessness  of  the 
heart  consecrated  to  God.  In  the  case  of  Samson, 
this  Nazariteship  begins  from  his  mother's  womb. 
Were  it  in  the  power  of  a  son  born  of  human  par- 
ents, to  be  sinless  through  the  law,  Samson  the 
Nazarite  ought  to  have  been  sinless.  But  only 
Christ  is  the  true  Nazarite  in  spirit,  whose  life  re- 
alizes the  purity  of  the  idea,  and  whose  free  love, 
rooted  in  God,  continues  among  men  from  the 
womb  until  death.  Jacob,  the  dying  patriarch,  an- 
nounced a  blessing  "  on  the  head  of  Joseph  and  on 
the  crown  of  the  head  of  the  Nazir  of  his  brethren  " 
(G<?n.  xlix.  2G) ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  primitive  Christian  consciousness  inter- 
preted the  expression  "Nazir  of  his  brethren  "  not 
of  Joseph,  but  found  in  the  "  and  "  a  link  connecting 
the  blessing  of  Joseph  with  the  person  of  Him  who 
was  a  Nazir  of  the  brethren  of  Joseph.  It  saw  in  the 
passage  a  projjhecy  of  the  Messiah,  who  though  not 
descended  from  Levi,  was  yet  the  true  holy  and 
consecrated  high-priest.  Hence,  the  opinion  that 
in  the  language  of  the  evangelist  Matthew  (ii.  23), 
"  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the 
prophets.  He  shall  be  called  uNa^copaioi,"  reference 

is  made  to  the  VHS  'T'*3,  the  "  Nazir  of  his  breth- 
ren," is  not  to  be  hastily  set  aside.  Remarkalde, 
at  all  events,  is  it  that  the  ancient  Jewish  interpre- 
tation, when  Jacob  after  the  blessing  on  Dan  (Gen. 
xlix.  17)  adds  the  words :  "I  wait  for  thy  salva- 
tion, Jehovah  !"  conceives  him  to  glance  from  the 
nearer  but  transient  deliverance  by  Samson,  to  the 
more  distant  but  etei'nal  redemption  of  Messiah 
(Beresch.  Rabba,  p.  86  c ;  cf.  the  Targuras  on  the 
passage) ;  and  that,  as  already  mentioned,  the 
mother  of  Samson,  in  1  Chron.  iv.  3,  is  nained 
Hazelelponi  or  Zelelponi,  i.  e.,  "  the  shadow  falls 
on  me,"  which  may  be  compared  with  the  words  of 


CHAPTER  XIII.    2-7. 


187 


the  angel  to  the  mothei-  of  Jesus  :  "  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadow  thee." 

Ver.  5.  And  let  no  razor  come  upon  his  head. 
Here,  and  in  tlie  history  of  Samuel,  the  razor  is 

called  n"V1D,  whereas  in  Num.  vi.  4  "^^•'T!  is  used. 

Both  terms  come  from  the  same  stem  H^^,  nu- 
dare,  to  uncover,  as  it  were  novare,  to  renew,  whence 
al.so  novaciiln,  sharp  knife,  razor.  There  appears  to 
be  less  ground  for  comparison  with  the  Greek  jidp- 
pov,  Latin  marra,  the  signification  "  spade"  being 
too  far  removed.     On  the  other  hand,  a  certain  re- 

lationsliip  of  i^"^^  with  the  Greek  i,vp6v,  Sanskrit 
khsrhiini,  shears,  may  not  be  altogether  denied. 

He  shall  begin.  For  the  Philistines  oppressed 
Israel  forty  years,  and  Samson  judged  his  people 
only  twenty.  Samson  began  to  restore  victory  to 
Israel,  he  did  not  make  it  full  and  final.  The 
angel  of  God  who  calls  the  hero  out  of  the  womb 
of  his  mother,  knows  that  he  will  not  finish  that 
for  which  God  nevertheless  gave  him  strength. 
He  knows  it,  and  therefore  does  not  speak  as  he 
did  to  Gideon :  "  Thou  shalt  deliver  Israel "  (ch. 
vi.  14). 

Vers.  6,  7.  And  the  woman  came  and  told 
her  husband.  Before  telling  him  what  the  angel 
had  said,  she  excuses  herself  for  having  obtained 
no  particular  information  about  the  bearer  of  the 
announcement.  She  should  have  asked  him  whence 
he  was,  but  dared  not ;  for  he  was  a  "  man  of 
God,"  with  the  look  of  an  "  angel  of  God."  The 
angel  appeared  in  human  form ;  but  there  was  an 
imposing  splendor  about  him,  which  terrified  the 
woman.  Such,  ]irobably,  had  also  been  the  case 
in  Gideon's  ex])erience.  In  her  narrative  she  sup- 
plies what  we  do  not  tiud  in  ver.  5,  that  the  child's 
character,  as  a  Nazir  of  God,  is  to  last  from  the 
womb  until  "  the  day  of  his  death." 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

The  grace  of  God  shows  itself  constantly  more 
wondrously.  It  was  to  be  made  ever  clearer  in 
Israel  that  all  salvation  comes  from  God,  and  that 
without  God  there  is  no  peace.  With  God  all 
things  are  possible.  He  can  raise  up  children  for 
himself  out  of  stones.  His  works  are  independent 
of  human  presuppositions  and  conditions.  He  has 
no  need  of  antecedent  historical  conditions  in  order 
to  raise  up  men.  When  in  times  of  impenitence 
even  vessels  are  wanting,  He  creates  the  vessels  He 
needs. 

How  differently  God  proceeds  in  the  election  of 
grace  from  the  methods  human  thought  would 
conceive,  is  shown  by  the  history  of  all  previous 
Judges.  The  deliverer  arises  there  where  the  nat- 
ural understanding  would  never  have  looked  for 
him.  But  Samson  God  raises  up  in  a  manner  in 
which  no  man  ever  conjectured  the  growth  of  a 
hero  to  take  place.  The  other  Judges  He  selected 
as  men  :  Samson  He  brought  up  to  be  a  hero. 

The  earlier  Judges  were  to  a  certain  extent  pre- 
pared for  their  work  even  before  their  election. 
Ehud  had  the  abilities  of  a  Benjaminite,  Deborah 
was  a  prophetess,  Gideon  a  strong  man,  Jephthah 
a  successful  military  leader.    When  the  Spirit  of 


!  God  came  upon  them,  they  became  Deliverers  and 
Judges.  In  Samson,  God  made  it  known  that  hif 
grace  is  able  to  save  Israel  even  when  such  persons 
are  not  to  be  found.  Before  birth,  He  consecrates 
the  child,  through  his  Spirit,  to  be  a  Nazarite. 
Hence  grows  a  hero. 

Earlier  Judges  were  able,  like  Ehud,  to  perform 
single-handed  exploits  ;  but  they  achieved  deliver- 
ance only  in  connection  with  the  people.  They 
were  all  military  leaders  of  Israel,  and  had  to 
stand  at  the  head  of  pious  hosts.  In  Samson  it  is 
seen  that  this  also  is  not  indispensable.  Only  in- 
dividuals among  the  people  were  penitent;  the 
tribes,  as  such,  were  unbelieving.  Therefore  the 
Spirit  raised  up  a  single  man  to  be  Judge :  he 
alone,  Avithout  army  and  without  people,  fought 
and  delivered. 

For  this  reason,  the  ancient,  deeply  thinking 
church  regarded  Samson  especially  as  a  type  of 
the  history  of  Christ.  His  birth  was  similar  to 
that  of  Jesus.  Like  the  eternal  Word  who  became 
flesh,  he  was  typically  born  and  consecrated  of  the 
Spirit.  In  Christ,  also,  it  is  his  sinlessness  that 
presupposes  his  office  as  Saviour.  The  birth  of 
Christ  determines  his  resurrection.  He  must  be 
born  from  heaven  in  order  to  return  to  heaven 
No  one  can  ascend  into  hea\'en  but  He  who  came 
down  from  heaven. 

There  was  also  no  penitence  in  Israel  when 
Christ  was  born.  A  few  sought  the  promised 
Messiah  in  the  prophets.  Christ  did  not  come  to 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  host  of  believers  ;  but 
alone,  as  He  was,  so  He  stood  among  the  people. 
He  performs  his  entire  work  alone.  He  needs  no 
legions  of  angels.  His  work  is  unique ;  and  He, 
the  worker,  is  a  solitary  hero. 

Every  believing  heart  treads  in  the  footsteps  of 
Christ.  Fellowship  is  good  in  Christian  work,  but 
not  essential.  A  Christian  can  live  alone,  if  he 
be  with  Christ. 

Starke  :  God  cares  for  his  people  when  they 
are  in  misery,  and  often  thinks  of  their  redemption 
before  they  think  of  it  themselves.  —  The  same  : 
God  connects  his  grace  and  gifts  with  mean  things, 
in  order  to  make  men  know  that  everything  is  to 
be  ascribed  to  the  grace  of  God,  and  not  to  the 
merits  of  men. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  If  Manoah's  wife  had  not  been 
barren,  the  angel  had  not  been  sent  to  her.  Afflic- 
tions have  this  advantage,  that  they  occasion  God 
to  show  that  mercy  to  us,  whereof  the  prosperous 
are  incapable.  It  would  not  beseem  a  mother  to 
be  so  indulgent  to  a  healthful  child  as  to  a  sick. — 
The  same  :  Nature  pleads  for  liberty,  religion  for 
restraint.  Not  that  there  is  more  uncleanness  in 
the  grape  than  in  the  fountain,  but  that  wine  finds 
more  uncleanness  in  us  than  water,  and  that  the 
high  feed  is  not  so  fit  for  devotion  as  abstinence.  — ■ 
Wordsworth  :  Samson  is  a  type  of  Christ;  and 
in  all  those  things  where  Samson  fails,  there 
Christ  excels.  Samson  began  to  deliver  Israel 
but  did  not  effect  their  deliverance  (see  ch.  xiii.  i  , 
XV.  20).  He  declined  from  his  good  beginnings; 
and  fell  away  first  into  sin,  and  then  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  But  Christ  not  only  began 
to  deliver  Israel,  but  was  able  to  say  on  the  cross, 
"It  is  finished."  < — Tk.] 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Manoah,  believing,  yet  desirous  of  confirmation,  prays  that  the  "Man  of  God"  may 

return,  and  is  heard. 

Chapter  XIII.  8-23. 

8  Then  [And]  Manoah  entreated  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  said,  0  my  Lord 
[Pray,  Lord  —  cf.  ch.  vi.  15],  let  the  man  of  God  which  thou  didst  send  come  again 

9  unto  us,  and  teach  us  what  we  shall  do  unto  the  child  that  shall  be  born.^  And 
God  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  Manoah ;  and  the  angel  of  God  came  again  untc 
the  woman  as  she  sat  in  the  field :  but  Manoah  her  husband  was  not  with  her. 

10  And  the  woman  made  haste,  and  ran,  and  shewed  [informed]  her  husband,  and  said 
unto  him,  Behold,  the  man  hath  ajipeared  unto  me,  that  came  unto  me  the  other 

11  day.  And  Manoah  arose,  and  went  after  his  wife,  and  came  to  the  man,  and  said 
unto  him,   Art  thou  the  man  that  spakest  unto  the  woman  ?     And  he  said,  I  am. 

12  And  Manoah  said,  Now  let  [When  now]  thy  words  come  to  pass.  [,]     How  [how] 

13  shall  we  order  the  child,  and  how  shall  we  do  unto  him  ?^  And  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Manoah,  Of  all  that  I  said  unto  the  woman,  let  her  be- 

14  ware.  She  may  not  eat  of  any  thing  that  cometh  of  the  vine,  neither  let  her  drink 
wine  or  strong  drink,  nor  eat  any  unclean  thing :  all  that  I  commanded  her  let  her 

15  observe.  And  Manoah  said  unto  the  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  I  pray  thee, 
let  us  detain  thee,  until  we  sliall  have  made  [and  make]  ready  a  kid  for  [iic.  before] 

16  thee.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said  unto  Manoah,  Though  thou  de- 
tain me,  I  will  not  eat  of  thy  bread :  and  if  thou  wilt  offer  [prepare]  a  burnt- 
offering,  thou  must   [omit :  thou  must]  offer  it  unto  the  Lord   [Jehovah].     For 

17  Manoah  knew  not  that  he  was  an  angel  of  the  Lord  [.Jehovah].  And  Manoah  said 
unto  the  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  What  is  thy  name,^  that  when  thy  sayings 

18  come  [word  comes]  to  pass,  we  may  do  thee  honour  ?  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  said  unto   him,   Why   askest  thou  thus  [omit :  thus]  after  my  name, 

19  seeing  [and]  it  is  secret  \_Peli,  Wonderful]  ?  So  [And]  Manoah  took  a  [the]  kid, 
with  a  [and  thel  meat-offering,  and  offered  it  upon  a  [the]  rock  unto  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  ;  and  the   angel  did  wondrously   [and    he    caused  a  wonder   to    take 

20  place],  and  Manoah  and  his  wife  looked  on.  For  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  flame 
went  up  toward  heaven  from  off  the  altar,  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
ascended  in  the  flame  of  the  altar,  and  Manoah  and  his  wife  looked  on  it  [omit :  it], 

21  and  fell  on  their  faces  to  the  ground.  But  [And]  the  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
did  no  more  appear  to  Manoah  and  to  his  wife.     Then  Manoah  knew  that  he  loas 

22  an  angel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah].     And  Manoah  said  unto  his  wife.  We  shall  surely 

23  die,  because  we  have  seen  God  [Elohim].  But  his  wife  said  unto  him.  If  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  were  pleased  to  kill  us,  he  would  not  have  received  a  burnt-offering  and 
a  meat-offering  at  our  hands,  neither  would  he  have  shewed  us  all  these  things,  nor 
would  as  at  this  time  have  told  us  such  things  as  these. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  8.  —  T  V^*n.      This  form  may  be  the  imperfect  of  pual,  with  the  article  used  as  a  relative  ;  but  it  is  prob- 
ably more  correct,  with  Keil  (after  Ewald,  169  d),  to    regard  it  as  the  pual  participle,  the  preformati-re  H  being  fallen 

away.     Even  then,  however,  the  more  regular  mode  of  writing  would  be   "T •.*?!.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  12.  —  Dr.  Cassel  renders  the  clause  more  literally:  "What  will  be  the  manner  of  the  boy,  and  his  doing'" 
But  the  rendering  of  the  E.  V.  correctly  interprets  the  language  of  the  original,  and  agrees  with  our  author's  exposi- 
tion. Whatever  obscurity  there  may  appear  to  be  in  ver.  12,  is  removed  by  ver.  8  ;•  for  it  is  clear  that  the  petition  pre- 
ferred in  ver.  12  can  be  no  other  than  that  made  in  ver.  8.  "12?5n  I^Stl'D  is  the  statute  or  precept  (cf  the  monastic 
term  "rule")  to  be  observed  with  regard  to  the  boy  — the  right  treatment  of  him  by  his  parents;  and,  similarly, 
^nti73^^  is  that  which  they  are  to  do  to  him.  The  genitives  are  genitives  of  the  object,  cf.  Ges.  Gram.  114,  2 ;  121, 
5.  —  Tii.] 

[3  Ver.  17.  —  "  Tjtttt?  "^D  ;  properly  quis  nomen  tuum,  equivalent  to  quis  nominaris.  "^1^  asks  after  the  person,  HQ 
alter  the  nature,  the  quality,  see  Ewald,  325  a."  (Keil).  —  Te.] 


CHAPTER   XIII.    S-23. 


189 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  8  ff.  And  Manoah  entreated  Jehovah. 
The  narrative  affords  a  plciising  vie.v  of  the  cliild- 
like  piety  of  an  Israelitisli  husb:uid  and  wife  under 
tht'  old  covenant. 

The  adventure  with  the  angel  takes  upon  the 
whole  the  same  course  as  the  simihir  incident  in 
tlie  life  of  Gideon  (cf  on  eh.  vi).  The  angel  here 
conies  and  goes  as  there,  yields  to  entreaties  to 
tarry,  receives  an  offering,  disapjiears  in  the  flame. 
But  the  present  passage  discloses  also  new  and 
beautiful  features,  growing  out  of  the  mutual  rela- 
tions of  Manoah  and  his  wife.  The  peculiar  char- 
acteristics of  both  husband  and  wife  are  most  deli- 
cately drawn.  Manoah  is  a  pious  man,  he  knows 
how  to  seek  God  in  prayer,  and  is  not  unbelieving ; 
but  the  statements  of  his  wife  do  not  appear  to 
him  to  be  sure  enough,  he  would  gladly  have  them 
confirmed.  And  for  the  instruction  and  strength- 
ening of  Israel,  that  faith  may  be  full  and  strong, 
not  being  compelled  to  content  itself  with  the 
testimony  of  one  woman  only  to  the  wonderful 
event,  —  God,  having  respect  to  the  unawakened 
condition  of  the  people,  allows  himself  to  be  en- 
treated.^  But  although  Manoah  sees  in  the  second 
appearance  of  the  angel  the  fulfillment  of  his 
prayer,  he  still  recognizes  in  him  nothing  but  a 

man  (ty"^S).  And  truly,  nothing  is  more  difficult 
for  man,  even  though  he  prays,  than  to  receive  the 
fulfillment  of  prayer  !  The  believing  obedience  of 
JManoah  to  the  connuands  touching  his  wife's  con- 
duct with  reference  to  the  promised  child,  although 
he  conceives  them  to  be  delivered  by  no  other  than 
a  man,  indicates  that  the  coming  and  preaching  of 
such  a  man,  here  spoketi  of  as  a  "man  of  God," 
was  nothing  unusual.  There  had  probably  been  a 
lack  only  of  such  obedience  as  Manoah  here  shows 
him.  What  is  more  surprising,  is,  that  even  when 
the  angel  declines  to  eat  of  his  bread,  Manoah  yet 
does  not  perceive  that  his  visitor  is  not  a  man. 
He  had  intended,  according  to  the  manner  of  an- 
cient hospitality,  as  known  also  to  Homer,  first  to 
entertain  his  guest,  and  then  to  inquire  after  his 
home  and  name.  Such  inquiries  have  interest, 
and  afford  guarantees,  only  in  the  case  of  a  man. 
But  even  the  answer  concerning  the  "  wonderful " 
name,  does  not  yet  excite  his  attention.  It  is  only 
after  the  angel's  disappearance  in  the  flame  thai 
he  perceives, — what,,  however,  none  but  a  believ- 
ing heart  could  perceive,  —  that  he  who  had  just 
departed  was  not  a  man.  The  wife  shows  herself 
more  receptive  and  sensitive  to  the  presence  of  a 
divine  being.  To  her,  the  stranger's  appearance, 
even  at  his  first  visit,  seemed  like  that  of  an  angel. 
At  his  second  visit  also,  she  speaks  of  his  coming 
in  language  usually  applied  to  angels,  —  "  Behold, 

he  hath  appeared  xmto  me  (nS~IZI,  ver.  10).  She 
had  needed  no  proof  or  explanation.  She  asks  no 
questions,  but  knows  what  he  has  said  to  her 
heart;  and  hence,  she  also  is  in  no -dread  when 
now  it  becomes  manifest  that  it  was  indeed  an 
angel  of  God.  Her  husband  is  apprehensive  of 
death;  she  is  of  good  courage,  and  infers  the  con- 
trary. She  had  long  since  foreboded  the  truth, 
and  belongs  to  the  number  of  those  women  of 
sacred  history  whose  sensitive  hearts  enabled  them 
to  feel  and  see  divine  secrets,  and  whose  appear- 
ance is  the  more  attractive,  the  more  unbelieving 
and  unreceptive  the  times  are,  in  which,  as  here, 

1  "iriV.*.!)  ^  "*  ^^°-  ^^''-  21 ;  Ex.  viii.  25. 


angels  reveal  themselves  to  women  rather  than  to 
men.  For  although  it  is  Manoah  who  prays  that 
the  man  of  God  may  come  again,  he  appears  not 
to  him,  but  again  to  the  wife.  He  waits,  however, 
while  she,  intuitively  certain  that  though  feelings 
of  reverence  do  not  allow  her  to  entreat  him  to 
tarry,  he  will  nevertheless  do  so,  hastens  to  call 
her  husband. 

Vers.  12,  13.  And  Manoah  said,  When  now 
thy  words  come  to  pass,  what  will  be  the  man- 
ner of  the  boy  and  his  doing?  It  is  peculiar 
that  notwithstanding  the  plain  words  told  him  by 
his  wife,  Manoah  cannot  rest  satisfied  with  them. 
Doubtless,  it  could  not  but  appear  singular  to  him, 
that  his  wife  tells  him  of  what  she  is  to  do,  although 
the  call  to  be  a  Nazir  pertains  to  the  son  whose 
birth  is  promised.  Of  such  directions,  the  Mosaic 
statute  contained  no  traces.  It  appeared  to  him 
as  if  the  report  of  his  wife  must  contain  a  misun- 
derstanding on  this  point.  He  therefore  asks  twice, 
what  is  to  be  done  with  the  child,  since  hitherto  he 
had  principally  heard  only  what  the  mother  is  to  do. 
Hence,  the  angel  answers  him  plainly :  "  What  I 
commanded  the  motJur,  that  do  !  " 

Nor  eat  any  unclean  thing.  It  had  already 
been  said  in  ver.  4,  "  Thou  shalt  drink  neither  wine 
nor  intoxicating  drink,  nor  eat  any  thing  iinclean." 
The  older  expositors  identified  this  prohibition  as 
to  food  and  drink  with  that  imposed  on  Nazarites 
in  Num.  vi.  4.  But  this  is  not  altogether  accurate, 
as  appears  from  ver.  14  of  our  passage.  Express 
mention  is  here  made  of  all  that  Num.  vi.  4  forbade 
to  be  eaten,  namely,  everything  that  comes  from 
the  vine,  and  yet  it  is  added,  "nor  eat  any  un- 
clean thing."  Num.  vi.  does  not  speak  at  all  of 
anything  "  unclean,"  as  forbidden  to  the  Nazarite, 
because  no  Israelite  was  allowed  to  eat  what  was 
itnclean.  Here  the  angel  adds  this  injunction, 
first,  because  it  was  a  time  in  which  much  of  the 
law  and  customs  of  Israel  had  perhaps  fallen  into 
neglect ;  and,  secondly,  in  order  to  serve  to  Ma- 
noah and  his  wife  as  an  explanation  of  all  that 
was  enjoined  upon  the  latter.  The  wife  was  to 
abstain  from  the  use  of  everything  that  can  render 
unclean,  because  a  holy  and  pure  consecration  was 
to  rest  on  him  whom  she  was  to  bring  forth. 

Vers.  17  ff.  "Why  askest  thou  after  my  name, 
and  it  is  Peli?  llenewed  attention  must  con- 
stantly be  directed  to  the  nice  discrimination  with 
which  the  designations  Jehovah,  Elohim,  and  the 
Eiohim,  are  used  in  the  narrative.  Whenever  the 
narrator  sjieaks,  he  always  writes  Jehovah.  Con- 
cerning Samson,  the  expression  (ver.  5)  is,  that  he 
will  be  a  Nazir  of  Elohim ;  because  there  Elohim  in- 
dicates the  general  divine  afflatus  by  which  he  is  to 
be  surrounded,  and  is  the  term  also  used  in  Num. 

vi.  7  :    "  For  the  consecration   of  his    God  (~1.T.5 

Vn^S)  is  t;pon  his  head."  When  the  believing 
parents  first  speak,  they  speak,  as  in  Judg.  vi.  20 
(see  above),  of  the  man  or  angel  of  "the  God," 
i.  e.,  the  God  of  Israel  (vers.  6,  8).  Especially, 
however,  do  they  characterize  themselves  in  vers. 
22  and  23.  Manoah  anticipates  death,  "for  we 
have  seen  Elohim,"  a  divine  being  in  general.  The 
wife,  impressed  by  the  appearance  and  announce- 
ment, says:  "If  Jehovah  were  pleased  to  kill  us, 
he  would  not  have  accepted  our  offerings."  When- 
ever full  faith  returns  in  Israel,  the  full  name  of 
Israel's  God,  Jehovah,  returns  with  it. 

But  when  Manoah  asks  the  angel  for  his  name, 
the  reply  is  not,  Jehovah,  bi(t  ''^T^     The  Masora 


190 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


reads  ""r??  Peli ;  later  authorities  (cf.  Keil  m/oc), 
"':;'■_  S,  Pilci.     In  either  case,  the  word  is  adjective, 

but  identical  in  meaning  with  ^!?3.  In  Isa.  ix.  5 
(6),  it  is  said  :  "  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,  and  liis 
name  is  S.7|3."  His  name  is  Wonder,  Wonder- 
worker. Isa.  xxix.  14,  which  passage  serves  lit- 
erally to  explain  our  present  passage,  says  :  "^5  4 

••  :  -        V  -        T  T         V  •  :  -  :        '  •  •  ;  • 

'^!??5'  -'■  ^^^11  continue  to  show  myself  doing  won- 
ders to  this  people,  doing  wonder  upon  wonder." 
The  epithet  of  wonder  points  to  the  power  of  him 
to  whom  it  is  applied.  He  who  is  a  wonder,  does 
wonders.  In  Isa.  ix.. .5  (6)  the  child  is  named  Pole, 
not  as  a  passive  wonder,  but  as  active ;  all  its  epithets 
are  active  :  Pele,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  Father, 
Prince.  Hence,  here  the  angel  also  calls  himself 
Peli,  Wonder-worker.  For  what  he  does  appears 
extraordinary.  A  child  was  chosen  in  the  matrix, 
and  endued  with  the  power  of  doing  wonders.  God 
testifies  in  times  of  distress  that  He  saves  Israel  by 
wonders,  and  docs  not  cease,  even  in  their  ruin,  to 
interest  himself  wonderfully  in  their  behalf.  Ordi- 
nary means  of  salvation  are  wanting.     God  ever 

again  manifests  himself  in  Israel  as  the  S^pSTItyi^, 
"the  wonder-worker,"  as  He  is  styled  Ex.  xv.  11. 
As  such  He  gives  his  name  in  ver.  18,  and  shows 
his  power  in  ver.  19,  when  He  reveals  himself  in  the 
wonderful  manner  of  his  vanishing  away :  for  the 

expression  S^'yD^^  ("he  caused  a  wonder"),  in 

the  latter  verse,  refers  back  to  ^i^/?,  Peli,  of  ver. 
1 8.  The  name  Manoah  had  not  understood ;  but 
in  the  deed  he  recognized  the  God  of  wonders. 

The  key  to  the  whole  narrative  is  contained  in 
this  word.  It  sets  forth  that  Israel's  preservation 
and  deliverance  rest  not  in  itself,  but  in  the  grace 
of  Him  who  is  wonderful  and  does  wonders  beyond 
all  understanding,  not  merely  in  nature,  but  also  in 
liuman  life  and  history.  Those  explanations  are 
therefore  wholly  insufficient,  which  render  the  word 
by  "secret"  or  "ineffable."  From  the  old  Jewish 
point  of  view,  this  interpretation  is  intelligible;  for 
to  them  the  external  ineftableness  of  the  name  Je- 
hovah appeared  to  be  its  chief  characteristic.  Jacob, 
when  he  wrestled  with  the  angel,  asked  after  his 
name.  "  Why  askest  thou  1 "  replied  the  angel,  and 
gave  it  not.  As  he  wrestled  in  the  night,  so  he 
gave  no  name.  Here  the  unseen  corresponds  with 
the  unnamed.  But  in  the  instance  of  Samson's 
parents,  the  angel  is  seen.  What  he  says  and  does 
is  manifest  and  visible.    It  is  stated  with  emphasis, 

that  both  "  saw  "  (C^Sl).  If  the  angel,  by  say- 
ing, "  Why  askest  thou  after  my  name  ?  "  had  de- 
signed to  refuse  an  answer  to  Manoah's  question, 
he  would  have  contented  himself  Avith  these  words. 
But  he  gives  him  a  name,  and  that  name  teaches 


that  Manoah  is  to  attend  rather  to  the  message 
than  the  manner  of  him  who  brings  it.  If  from  the 
word  "Peli"  Manoah  was  to  learn  that  the  name 
for  which  he  asked  was  "ineffable,"  he  would  on 
hearing  it  have  already  perceived  that  the  messen- 
ger was  no  man,  for  tiiere  was  only  One  to  whose 
name  this  could  apply.  But  it  -yvas  not  till  after- 
wards that  Manoah  made  this  discovery.  The 
angel,  however,  does  not  design,  in  this  nuiimer  to 
reveal  himself  As  in  the  case  of  Gideon,  so  here, 
the  deed  is  to  show  who  the  announcer  was.  There- 
fore, with  fresh  kindness,  he  gives  him  the  name  he 
bears.  Angels  on  earth  are  always  named  from 
their  mission  and  work.  The  Word  of  the  jMew 
Covenant,  likewise,  when  He  became  flesh,  was 
called  Christ  Jesus,  from  his  work.  The  angel  in 
saying  "Peli,"  gave  one  of  the  names  of  God,  — 

that  name  to  which  his  work  here  testified  (^7?^"^ 

nl£i72?7).    Manoah  received  it  as  the  name  of  a 

man,  as  later  a  man  occurs  named  Pelaiah  (H^^l^p, 
Neh.  viii.  7). 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Starke  :  The  names  of  God  are  of  great  cir- 
cumference and  vast  importance,  and  enclose  many 
secrets.  Nomina  Dei  non  sunt  nominalia,  sed  realia. 
—  Lisco :  "My  name  is  wonderful,"  mysterious, 
whose  depths  of  meaning  can  only  be  guessed  at 
by  human  thought,  never  fully  comprehended. 

[Bush  :  The  petition  of  Manoah  reminds  us 
also  that  the  care  of  children  is  a  great  concern, 
and  that  those  who  have  the  parental  relation  in 
prospect  can  make  no  more  suitable  prayer  at  the 
throne  of  grace  than  that  of  the  pious  Danite  on  this 
occasion.  Who  upon  the  eve  of  becoming  parents 
have  not  need  to  say,  as  said  Manoah,  "  Teach  us 
what  we  shall  do  to  the  child  that  shall  be  born."  — 
Bp.  Hall  :  He  that  before  sent  his  angel  unasked, 
Mall  much  more  send  him  again  upon  entreaty.  — 
The  same  :  We  can  never  feast  the  angels  better, 
than  with  our  hearty  sacrifices  to  God.  —  Bush  (on 
ver.  23) :  This  was  a  just  mode  of  arguing;  for 
such  mercies  were  both  evidences  and  pledges  of 
God's  love ;  and  therefore  were  rather  to  be  con- 
sidered as  earnests  of  future  blessings,  than  as  har- 
bingers of  ill.  The  woman  in  this  showed  herself 
not  only  the  strongest  believer,  but  the  wisest 
reasoner.  The  incidents  related  may  teach  us, 
(1 )  That  in  times  of  dark  and  discouraging  provi- 
dences or  sore  temptations  we  should  remember  the 
past  experience  of  God's  goodness  as  a  ground  of 
present  support.  "  Account  the  long  suffering  of 
God  to  be  salvation."  He  that  hath  so  kindly 
helped  us  and  dealt  with  us  hitherto,  means  not  to 
destroy  us  at  last.  (2)  That  the  sinner  ojipressed 
with  a  sense  of  his  deserts  has  no  reason  to  despair.* 
Let  him  remember  what  Christ  has  done  for  him  by 
his  bloody  sacrifice,  and  read  in  it  a  sure  pr-jof,  that 
he  does  not  design  his  death.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   Xin.   24,25. 


191 


The  hirth  and  growth  of  Samson. 
Chapter  XIIL  24,  25. 

24  And  the  woman  bare  a  son,  and  called  his  name  Samson  [Shimshon].     And  the 

25  child  [boy]  grew,  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  blessed  him.  And  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  [Jehovah]  began  to  move  him  at  times  [omit :  at  times]  in  the  camp  of  Dan, 
between  Zorah  and  Eshtaol. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  24.  And  called  his  name  Shimshon.  The 
Se])tuagint  has  'S,a.fv^d)v,  Samson  ;  Josephus  also, 
{Anliq.  v.  8,  4).     This  pronunciation  refers  to  tlie 

ancient  derivation  of  the  name  from  tt^^t^,  the 

sun,  just  as  "K'^tp  (Shirashai,  Ezra  iv.  8)  is  pro- 
nounced Samsai  (2a^(7ai;  according'to  the  Vat. 
Cod.  2a^i^a),  and  as  we  hear  in  later  times  of 
Sampsteans,  a  sun-sect. ^  The  Masora  seems  to 
have  pointed  Shimshon  after  the  analogy  of  Sliim- 

eon  (Simeon),  and  to  have  had  the  word  ^^•IJ') 
to  hear,  in  view.  The  derivation  from  shemesh, 
the  sun,  is,  however,  of  long  standing  among  the 
Jewish  expositors  also,  and  offers  the  best  grounds 
for  acceptance.  Other  explanations,  "  mighty," 
"  bold,"  "  desolator,"  proposed  by  various  expos- 
itors, from  Serarius  to  Keil,  appear  to  be  without 
any  histoi-ical  motive.  The  name  may  be  brought 
into  connection  with  the  announcement  to  the 
parents,  that  their  son  would  "  begin  to  deliver 
Israel."  To  Hebrew  conceptions,  the  rising  of 
the  sun  is  an  act  of  victory.  In  this  spirit  Deb- 
orah sings  :    "  So  fall  all  thy  foes,  0   God ;  but 

inn^3?2  ^%^r\  ns!??  v^ns,  those  who 

love  thee  are  as  the  rising  of  the  sun  in  his 
strength"  [gebaratho,  as  Samson  was  a  gibbor). 
The  Jemsh  expositors  (cf.  Jalkut,  Judic.  n.  69) 
said,  that  "  Samson  was  named  after  the  name  of 
God,  who  is  called  Sun  and  Shield  of  Israel"  (Ps. 
Ixxxiv.  12).  The  symbol  of  servitude  is  night, 
and  accordingly  the  tyranny  of  Egypt  is  so  called  ; 
but  the  beginning  of  freedom  is  as  the  daM^n  of 
day  or  the  rising  of  the  sun.  The  interpretation 
of  our  hero's  name  as  laxvpS^,  mighty,  by  Jose- 
phus, is  only  a  translation  of  gibbor,  tor  the  sun 
also  is  called  a  hero  (Ps.  xix.  5,  6).  It  is  an  alle- 
gorical, not  etymological  interpretation,  and  gives 
no  warrant  for  charging  Josephus  with  philolog- 
ical error,  as  Gesenins  does  ( Gesch.  der  hebr.  Spr. 
p.  82).  That  some  writers  find  a  sun-god  in  this 
interpretation,  is  no  reason  for  giving  it  up ;'-  espe- 
cially when  this  is  done,  in  a  manner  as  bold  as  it 
confused,  as  by  Nork  {Bibl.  Mi/th.,  ii.  40.5),  who 
goes  so  far  as  to  compare  a  father  of  Adonis, 
"Manes"  ("?!?),  with  Manoah,  and  drags  in  the 
"  Almanack  "  besides.  The  Mosaic  law  forbade 
to  make  idol  images  of  wood  and  stone  as  repre- 
sentations of  nature ;  but  the  use  of  spiritual, 
figurative  images  drawn  from  sun  and  moon,  is 
constantly  characteristic  of  Scripture.  Notwith- 
standing all  nature-worship  as  connected  with  the 
sun,  and  its  censure  in  Scripture,  God  Himself  is 

1  On  other  similar  forms,  cf.  Selden,  De  Diis  Syris  Synt. 
u.  225. 

•i  As  little  reason  as  there  is  to  doubt  the  etymology  of 
Heliodorufl,  because  the  author  of  the  ^thiopica,  Bishop 


called  the  "Sun  of  Righteousness."  The  false 
syncretisms  to  which  more  recent  times  are  in- 
clined, have  their  origin  in  the  failure  to  separate 
rightly  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Biblical  and  of 
heathen  life. 

The  celebrated  Armenian  family  of  the  Amaduni 
considered  itself  to  be  of  Jewish  extraction.  It 
descends,  says  Moses  Chorenensis  (lib.  ii.  cap.  Ivii. 
ed.  de  Florival.  i.  283),  from  Samson,  the  son  of 
Manoah.  "  II  est  vrai,  qu'on  voit  encore  aujourd'- 
hui  la  meme  chose  dans  la  race  des  Amaduni,  car 
ce  sont  des  honimes  robustes,"  etc.  A  parallel  to 
this  is  afforded  by  the  Vilkina-legend,  which  places 
at  the  head  of  its  narratives  the  powerful  knight 
Samson,  dark  of  complexion,  like  an  Oriental, 
with  "  hair  and  beard  black  as  pitch  "  (cf  the  edi- 
tion by  von  der  Hagen,  i.  4),  and  from  whom  the 
mighty  race  of  the  Amelungen  springs  (cf.  W. 
Grimm,  Die  Deutsche  Ili-ldensin/e,  p.  264). 

Ver.  2.5.  And  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  began  to 
move  him.  llic  fulfillment  had  taken  place.  The 
son  had  been  born.  He  grew  up  under  the  bless- 
ing of  God.  His  flourishing  strength,  his  great- 
ness of  spirit,  are  the  consequences  of  this  blessing. 
But  the  consecration  which  was  on  his  head,  and 
which  through  the  abstinence  of  his  mother  he 
had  already  received  in  the  earliest  moments  of 
corporal  formation  and  growth,  was  a  power  which 
imparted  to  him  not  only  physical  strength,  but 
also  spiritual  impulses.  No  angel  ever  comes  to 
Samson ;  God  never  talks  with  him ;  no  appear- 
ances, like  those  to  his  parents,  occur  to  him. 
Whatever  he  carries  in  his  soul  and  in  his  mem- 
bers, he  has  received  from  the  consecration  that  is 
upon  his  head.  It  is  from  this  source  that  he 
derives  that  elevation  of  spirit  which  raises  him 
above  the  level  of  common  life,  and  urges  him  on 
to  deeds  of  heroism. 

In  the  camp  of  Dan,  between  Zorah  and  Esh- 
taol. Zorah  was  Samson's  native  place,  always 
appears  in  juxtaposition  with  Eshtaol  (Josh.  xV. 
33;  xix.  41),  and  was  inhabited  by  Danites  and 
men  of  Judah.  Its  site  is  recognized  in  the  Tell 
of  Sur'a,  from  whose  summit  Robinson  had  a  fine 
and  extensive  view  (Bibl.  Res.  iii.  153).  For  Esh- 
taol no  probable  conjecture  has  yet  been  offered. 
The  "Camp  of  Dan "  (cf  ch.  xviii.  12)  vas  a 
place  between  the  two  cities,  both  of  which  are 
located  by  the  Onomasticon  in  the  region  north  of 
Eleutheropolis.  Eusebius  in  mentioning  Eshtaol 
says,  ""EyBei/  ip^uoTo  Sa^if-crrvj/,"  thence  Samson  set 
out,  which  Jerome  corrected  into,  " nbi  mortuus  e.<< 
Samson,"  where  Samson  died.  The  "  Camp  of 
Dan,"  if  it  were  not  a  regular  military  post,  must 
at  all  events  have  had  warlike  recollections  con- 

Ileliodore  of  Tricka,  calls  himself  a  "descendant  of  Helios," 
from  the  fact  that  he  belonged  to  Emesa,  the  city  '  f  a  cele- 
brated temple  of  the  sun  (lib.  x.  at  the  close) 


192 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


nectcd  with  its  name  and  liill-top  situation  (cf.  ch. 
i.  34).  It  was  there  that  the  passiuu  for  exploits 
against   the   Philistines    tirst   seized    on    Samson. 

The  expression,  H  H  Iflp}"),  "  tlie  spirit  began," 

manifestly  answers  to  tlie  ^H"'  S^H,  "  he  sliall 
bej;in,"  of  ver.  .5.  The  yount:  man  was  first  seized 
ujion  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  "'T2V^'b.  The  opera- 
tion which  this  word  0^3  ex])resses  is  not  an 
oraanic  work  of  faith,  sucli  as  Gideon  or  Jephtliah 
perform.  It  is  an  impulsive  inspiration  ;  the  sud- 
den ebullition  of  a  spiritual  force,  which,  as  in  the 
I'a.se  of  the  Seer  it  manifests  itself  in  words,  in  that 
yf  Samson  breaks  forth  into  action.  But  yet  it  is 
no  demoniac  paroxysm,  nor  the  drunken  madness 


of  a  Bacchant  or  the  frenzy  of  a  rude  Berserker, 
but  the  sober  movement  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
whiel),  wliile  giving  heroic  power,  also  governed 
it.  How  little  mythical  the  history  is,  is  evinced 
by  the  fact  that,  according  to  the  narrator,  the 
place  is  still  known  where  the  young  man  first 
became  con.scious  that  he  had  another  calling  than 
to  assist  his  father  at  home  in  the  field.  The 
Spirit  of  God  thrusts  him  out  into  public  activity. 
His  father's  house  becomes  too  narrow  for  him. 
His  public  career  begins.  What  that  career  is  to 
be,  is  yet  to  be  revealed  to  him.  But  he  is  driven 
out,  and  he  goes.  From  the  Camp  of  Dan  he 
issues  forth,  a  youthful  hero,  like  Parcival,  in  quest 
of  adventure.  With  what  result,  is  related  farther 
on. 


The  opening  step  of  Samson's -career :  his  unlawful  desire  to  marry  a  daughter  of 
the  Philistines  overruled  by  God  for  Israel's  good. 

Chapter    XIV.  1-4 

1  And  Samson  went  clown  to  Timnath  [Timnathah],  and  saw  a  woman  in  Tim- 

2  nath  [Timnathah]  of  the  daughters  of  the  Phihstines.  And  he  came  up,  and  told 
his  father  and  his  mother,  and  said,  I  have  seen  a  woman  in  Timnath  [Timnathah] 

3  of  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  :  now  therefore  get  her  for  jne  to  wife.  Then 
[And]  his  father  and  his  mother  said  unto  him,  Is  there  never  a  woman  among  the 
daughters  of  thy  brethren,  or  among  all  my  peoi^le,  that  thou  goest  to  take  a  wife 
of  the  uncircumcised  Philistines  ?     And  Samson  said  unto  his  father,  Get  her  for 

4  me  ;  for  she  pleaseth  me  well  [is  pleasing  in  my  eyes]^  But  [And]  his  father  and 
his  mother  knew  not  that  it  teas  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  that  [for]  he  sought  an 
occasion  against  [from]  the  Philistines :  for  at  that  time  the  Philistines  had  do- 
minion [were  lording  it]  over  Israel. 


EXEGETICAL    AND    DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1.  And  Samson  went  down  to  Timnah. 
Timnah  or  Timnathah,  the  present  Tibneh,  sit- 
aated  to  the  southwest  of  Zorah,  at  the  confluence 
Df  Wady  Sumt  with  Wady  Surar  (Hitter,  xvi.  116  ; 
[Gage's  Transl.  iii.  241  J),  on  the  border  of  >lie  tribe 
Df  Judah  (Josh.  xv.  10),  was  assigned  by  Joshua  to 
ihe  tribe  of  Dan  (Josh.  xix.  43),  but  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  Philistines. 

Ver.  2,  3.  Get  her  for  me  to  wife.  The  history 
of  Sam-ou  abounds  with  instructive  notices  of  the 
social  life  of  the  times.  The  women  lead  a  free 
life,  not  shut  up,  as  they  are  in  the  East  of  the 
present  day.  The  stranger  can  see  the  beauty  of 
the  daughters  of  the  land.  But  Samson  cannot  yet 
dispense  with  the  permission  of  his  parents.    He  is 

yet  in  their  house,  unmarried,  a  "l-inSl.  From  the 
choice  of  Samson,  and  his  mode  of  life,  there  comes 
to  view,  in  the  first  place,  the  prevalent,  tiiough  un- 
lawful, admixture  of  Israeliti.sh  and  heathen  fami- 
lies and  customs.  But  the  barriers  raised  by  differ- 
ence of  nationality  are  nevertheless  manifest.  The 
parents  at  first  refuse  their  consent  to  Samson's 
choice ;  but  they  cannot  resist  his  prayer.     He  is 

1  [Keil  :  It  is  true  that  in  Ex  xxxiv.  16  and  Deut.  vii.  3  f. 
only  marriages  with  Canaanitish  women  are  expressly  for- 
bidden ;  but  the  ground  of  the  prohibition  extended  equally 


their  only  son,  — and  such  a  son  !  full  of  strength 
and  youthful  promise,  —  therefore  it  gives  them 
pain.i 

Ver.  4.  And  his  father  and  his  mother  knew 
not.  If  the  mother  kept  in  her  heart  the  saying 
that  her  son  would  begin  to  deliver  Israel,  his 
strength  and  gifts  doubtless  awakened  many  hopes 
within  her.  But  his  wish  to  marry  a  •Philistine 
maiden,  seemed  to  destroy  every  expectation.  He 
who  when  in  his  mother's  womb  was  already  con- 
secrated to  be  a  Nazarite,  desires  to  enter  into  cov- 
enant with  those  who  have  not  even  the  consecra- 
tion of  circumcision, —  and  that  against  the  law! 
He  who  was  endowed  to  be  a  deliverer  and  cham- 
pion of  Israel  against  the  national  enemies,  shall 
he  become  a  friend  of  the  tyrants,  a  member  of  one 
of  their  families  ?     For  the  parents  knew  not,  — 

That  this  was  of  Jehovah,  for  it  became  an 
occasion  of  assailing  the  Philistines  ;  and  at 
that  time  the  Philistines  ruled  over  Israel. 
The  parents  could  not  but  be  painfully  attected, 
for  they  knew  not  what  the  consequence  would  be 
But  although  ignorant  on  this  point,  they  never- 
theless yielded.  They  unconsciously  submit  to  ^ho 
stronger  spirit  of  Samson ;  and  thus  their  indul- 

to  mai-riages  with  daughters  of  the  Philistines.  For  the 
same  reason,  in  Josh.  xiii.  3,  the  Philistines  also  are  reck- 
oned am'-ng  the  Canaanites.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  XIV.     1-4. 


193 


gence  united  with  the  unconscious  longing  of  their 
son  to  bring  about  the  fulfillment  of  what  the  angel 
had  announced. 

The  career  of  Samson  is  an  historical  drama 
without  a  parallel.  Its  dark  background  is  the 
national  life  out  of  which  he  emerges.  Israel  is 
under  Philistine  oppression,  because  of  sin  and 
consequent  enervation.  It  is  not  without  I'esent- 
ment  against  the  enemy,  but  it  lacks  spirit.  It 
prefers  slavish  peace  to  a  freedom  worth  making 
sacrifices  for.  It  hates  the  national  enemies,  but  it 
holds  illicit  intercourse  with  them.  Such  a  national 
life  in  itself  can  beget  no  heroes,  nor  use  them  when 
they  exist. 

The  influence  of  this  national  life  is  evident  in 
Samson  himself  He  has  unequaled  spirit,  strength, 
and  courage ;  but  he  is  alone.  The  young  man  finds 
no  sympathy,  at  which  to  kindle  himself.  There 
are  no  patriots  in  search  of  heroes.  There  is  no 
national  sorrow,  that  waits  longingly  for  deliver- 
ance and  a  deliverer,  and  in  consequence  thereof 
recognizes  him  when  he  appears.  On  the  contrary, 
luxury  and  sensuality  prevail,  eating  away  the 
heart  of  the  rising  generation ;  for  national  char- 
acter also  is  wanting,  by  which,  conscious  of  their 
power,  Israel's  youth  might  clearly  recognize  their 
proper  goal.  Samson  too  had  perished  in  sensu- 
ality, which  does  not  distinguish  between  friend 
and  foe;  but  his  genius  has  a  seal  that  cannot  be 
broken.  The  consecration  on  his  head  presen'es 
in  his  soul  an  impulse  that  cannot  miss  its  goal. 
The  law  of  this  consecration  is  freedom.  For  free- 
dom's sake,  it  lends  him  strength  and  spirit.  Han- 
nibal's father  made  him  when  but  a  boy  swear 
everlasting  war  against  the  Romans.  Samson,  as 
Nazarite  from  his  birth,  is  borne  onward,  less  con- 
sciously, but  even  more  surely,  to  a  hatred  with 
which  he  is  not  acquainted,  and  to  wrath  and  bat- 
tle for  the  freedom  of  Israel. 

Samson  is  without  an  army,  without  a  congenial 
popular  spirit,  without  sympathy  and  courage  on 
the  part  of  his  countrymen, — not  even  Gideon's 
three  hundred  are  with  him ;  he  has  no  teacher 
and  spiritual  leader;  he  is  alone,  and  moreover 
exposed  to  every  temptation  to  which  gigantic 
strength  and  corporal  beauty  give  rise ;  but  in  his 
consecration  to  God  he  has  a  guidance  that  does 
not  lead  astray.  Hence,  that  by  which  others  are 
fettered  and  subjected,  becomes  for  him  the  means 
of  attaining  his  destiny.  The  paths  on  which  others 
go  to  destruction,  for  him  become  highways  of  vic- 
tory and  of  strength.  It  is  an  act  of  national  trea- 
son, when  he  takes  a  Philistine  wife ;  and  yet  for 
him,  it  becomes  the  occasion  for  deeds  in  behalf  of 
national  freedom. 

There  is  no  historical  drama  in  which  the  no- 
bility and  invincible  destiny  of  a  great  personality, 
reveal  themselves  so  luminously  as  in  the  life  of 
Samson. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  the  history  and  fiction 
of  all  nations,  as  in  the  heroic  poems  of  all  ages, 
love  for  women  has  formed  a  chief  motive  for  con- 
flict and  adventure.  Even  the  circumstance  which 
throws  so  great  a  charm  over  the  lives  and  contests 
of  the  licroes  to  whom  it  appertains,  that  their  love 
breaks  through  the  confines  of  their  own  nation  or 
party,  and  attaches  itself  to  women  who  live  within 


the  circle  of  the  enemy,  is  constantly  recurring. 
But  in  those  narratives,  as  also  in  the  Persian 
legend,  where  Rudabe,  the  mother  of  Rustem,  is  the 
daughter  of  her  Iranian  lover's  hereditary  foeman, 
and  as  in  Tasso's  Jerusalem  Delivered,  in  Romeo 
andJuUet,  and  in  the  dramas  of  Schiller,  —  love 
is  the  central  point  and  principal  motive.  Politi- 
cal barriers,  national  hatreds,  ancient  passions,  all 
must  yield  to  love,  whether  it  ends  in  joy  or  trag- 
edy. How  different  is  its  position  in  the  history 
of  Samson  !  The  antagonism  between  Israel  and 
the  Philistines  is  justified  and  commanded.  Truth 
cannot  intermix  itself  with  idolatry.  The  over- 
leaping by  sensuality  of  the  spiritual  barriers  be- 
tween the  two,  is  the  cause  of  Israel's  sunken  con- 
dition. That  love  through  which  Samson  desires 
the  maiden  of  Timnah,  can  be  no  joyful  goal. 
Hence,  the  relation  of  his  inborn  heroism  to  love 
shows  itself  to  be  very  different  fi-om  that  which 
obtains  in  heathenism  and  romance.  There,  the 
exploits  of  heroism  become  the  occasions  of  love ; 
for  Samson,  romance  becomes  the  occasion  of  hero- 
ism. There,  love  overleaps  the  lines  that  separate 
nationalities  ;  in  Samson's  case,  it  becomes  the  oc- 
casion by  which  he  becomes  mindful  of  the  separa- 
tion. Elsewhere,  weakness,  sensuality,  enjoyment, 
become  the  snares  which  bind  the  inflamed  hero ; 
but  for  Samson,  they  become  only  the  occasion  for 
rending  asunder  the  fetters,  and  for  understanding 
the  purpose  for  which  he  is  endowed  with  divine 
strength. 

And  at  that  time  the  Philistines  niled  over 
Israel.  The  addition  of  this  remark  is  by  no 
means  superfluous.  It  serves  to  indicate  the  back- 
ground of  all  Samson's  deeds.  The  mere  fact  that 
the  Philistines  ruled,  demonstrated  Israel's  apos- 
tasy and  punishment;  that  they  continued  to  rule, 
was  evidence  of  Israel's  powerlessness  and  ina- 
bility to  repent.  It  was  because  they  ruled,  and 
Israel  was  without  repentance,  that  Samson  ap- 
pears so  different  from  Gideon  and  Jephthah.  la 
the  midst  of  the  Philistine  suj)remacy,  he  enters  on 
his  single-handed  conflict  with  them.  Notwith- 
standing that  they  ruled  by  means  of  Israel's  own 
sin,  the  objective  power  of  the  divine  law  and  spirit 
evinces  itself  in  the  hero-nature  of  Samson,  almost 
asrainst  his  own  will. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Bush  :  "  I  wish,"  says  an  old  divine,  "  that 
Manoah  and  his  wife  could  speak  so  loud  that  all 
our  Israel  could  hear  them."  By  nothing  is  the 
heart  of  a  pious  parent  more  grieved  than  by  the 
prospect  of  the  unequal  yoking  of  his  children 
with  profane  or  irreligious  partners ;  for  he  knows 
that  nothing  is  so  likely  to  prove  injurious  to  their 
spiritual  interests,  and  subject  them  to  heartrend- 
ing trials.  —  Bp.  Hall  :  As  it  becomes  not  children 
to  be  forward  in  their  choice,  so  parents  may  not 
be  too  peremptory  in  their  denials.  It  is  not  safe 
for  children  to  overrun  parents  in  settling  their 
affections ;  nor  for  parents  (where  the  impediments 
are  not  very  material)  to  come  short  of  their  chil- 
dren, when  the  affections  are  once  settled  :  the  one 
is  disobedience;  the  other  may  be  tyranny. — Te.] 


IS 


194 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Samson  goes  down  to  Timnah,  with  Ms  parents,  to  speak  with  his  bride-elect, 
the  way,  he  meets  and  tears  a  young  lion. 

Chapter  XIV.    5-9. 


On 


5  Then  went  Samson  [And  Samson  went]  down,  and  his  father  and  his  mother,  ta 
Timnath  [Timnathah],  and  [they]  came  to  the  vineyards  of  Timnath  [Timnathah] 

6  and  behold,  a  young  lion  roared  against  him  [came  to  meet  him,  roaring].  And 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  mightily  [suddenly]  upon  him,  and  he  rent 
him  as  he  would  have  rent  [as  one  rends]  a  kid,  and  he  had  nothing  in  his  hand 

7  but  [and]  he  told  not  his  father  or  his  mother  what  he  had  done.  And  he  went 
down,  and  talked  with  the  woman ;  and  she  pleased  Samson  well  [was  pleasing  in 

8  the  eyes  of  Samson].  And  after  a  time  he  returned  to  take  her,  and  he  turned 
aside  to  see  the  carcass  of  the  lion :  and  behold,  there  was  a  swarm  of  bees  and 

9  honey  in  the  carcass  of  the  lion.  And  he  took  thereof  in  his  hands,  and  went 
on  [,]  eating  [as  he  went],  and  came  to  his  father  and  mother,  and  he  gave  them, 
and  they  did  eat :  but  he  told  not  them  [them  not]  that  he  had  taken  the  honey 
out  of  the  carcass  of  the  lion. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  5.  And  Samson  went  down,  with  his 
father  and  mother,  to  Timnathah.  The  parents 
give  way;  at  all  events,  they  now  first  go  down, 
with  Samson,  to  see  the  maiden,  and  ascertain 
more  about  her.  The  proper  object  of  the  journey 
appears  from  ver.  7,  where  we  are  told  that  Sam- 
son "  talked  with  the  woman,  and  she  pleased  him." 
Hitherto  he  had  only  seen  her  (ver.  1).  His  par- 
ents urge  him  to  "  speak  Avith  her,"  in  order  to 
convince  himself  of  her  character  j^  and  he  de- 
termines to  do  so.  On  this  account,  the  statement 
of  ver.  3  is  repeated  in  ver.  7  :  "  she  pleased  him  " 
now,  after  speaking  with  her,  as  formerly  after 
seeing  her ;  he  therefore  persists  in  his  suit,  and 
appoints  the  time  of  his  marriage.  The  hope  of 
the  parents  that  the  woman,  by  her  want  of  agree- 
ableness  and  spirit,  would  discourage  their  son,  is 
not  realized.  No  such  want  seems  to  have  existed, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned. 

And  a  young  lion  came  to  meet  him,  roaring. 
Samson  went  to  Timnathah  to  look  for  a  wife,  not 
to  engage  in  a  lion-hunt.  The  comparison  of  his 
lion-fight  with  that  of  Hercules  in  Nemea,  is  alto- 
gether superficial  and  uncritical ;  and  the  idea  that 
his  victory  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  first  of  twelve 
exploits,-  has  no  foundation  either  in  his  spirit  or 
history.  The  Nemean  victory,  as  I  hope  yet  to 
show  elsewhere,  is  the  expression  of  a  mythical 
symbolism,  and  is  accordingly,  to  a  certain  extent, 
an  epos  complete  in  itself  Samson's  conflict  with 
the  lion  is  an  incidental  occurrence.  It  Avas  neither 
the  object  of  his  expedition  originally,  nor  did  it 
come  to  be  its  central  point  of  interest  afterwai'ds. 
The  cliief  difference  between  the  two  stories  lies  in 
the  totally  different  vocations  of  the  heroes  :  Her- 
cules wrestles  with  beasts,  conquers  the  hostility 
which,  according  to  the  Hellenic  myth,  inheres  in 
Nature ;  Samson  is  a  conqueror  of  men,  a  national 
hero  who  triumphs  over  the  enemies  of  his  people 
and  their  faith,  a  champion  of  freedom,  whose 
strength  is  so  great  that  he  can  well  afford  to  ex- 

1  Of.  Abarbancl  in  Incum.  The  offease  (if  such .  mar- 
riages, the  later  Jews,  with  reference  to  Samson  and  Solo- 
mon, sought  to  avoid  by  assuming  that  the  heathen  had 
caused  their  women  to  be  converted  to  the  true  religion. 


pend  a  little  portion  of  it  in  a  passing  encounter 
with  a  lion.  Samson  is  not  elected  to  take  the 
field  against  lions  and  foxes,  —  that  would  never 
have  given  him  a  name  in  the  history  of  Israel ; 
but  his  strength  and  dexterity  are  great  enough  to 
enable  him  to  make  use  of  even  lions  and  foxes, 
dead  or  alive,  as  means  of  his  national  conflict. 
Among  his  exploits,  only  the  blows  ai-e  reckoned, 
which  he  inflicted  on  the  Philistines,  —  not  the  oc- 
casional means  which  he  employed  in  their  deliv- 
ery. As  little  as  David's  royal  vocation  was  rooted 
in  the  battles  of  his  shepherd  days  with  lions  and 
bears,  so  little  was  Samson's  destiny  as  a  hero  the 
outgrowth  of  his  victory  over  the  lion  whom  he 
did  not  seek,  but  who  quite  unexpectedly  I'oared 
out  against  him.  He  had  left  his  parents  a  little 
space,  and  when  near  the  vine  hills  of  Timnathah 
had  entered  into  a  wilderness  skirting  the  road, 
when  the  monster  rushed  upon  him. 

Ver.  6.  And  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  came  upon 

him,  n^"1  nb^nt  The  peculiar  force  of  nb^ 
is,  that  it  expresses  the  fortunateness  of  an  occur- 
rence, its  happening  just  at  the  right  time.  In  the 
very  moment  of  need,  the  "Spirit  of  Jehovah" 
came  upon  him.  In  five  passages  where  the  ex- 
pression "  Spirit  of  Jehovah"  occurs  (ch.  iii.  10; 
vi.  34;  xi.  29;  xiii.  25,  and  here),  the  Chaldee 
translation  renders  it  "  spirit  of  heroic  strength  " 
((jeburah) ;  for  God  also  is  a  Gibbor,  a  Hero,  and 
the  translator  wishes  in  this  way  to  distinguish 
between  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  the  spirit  of  divine 
speech,  which  was  also  a  spirit  of  God  (cf  e.  g.,  the 
Targum  on  Num.  xxiv.  2-xxvii.  H,  and  also  1 

Sam.  x.  6,  etc.,  HS^^?  VVT),  and  the  spirit  of 
heroic  action.  But  the  original,  very  justly,  makes 
no  distinction  ;  for  in  the  view  of  divine  doctrine 
all  that  man  does  is  referred  to  the  Spirit-source. 
Nothing  succeeds  without  God.  Samson  needs 
that  moral  strength  which  does  not  fear  the  lion. 
The  might,  not  of  his  arms,  but  of  his  soul,  was 
of  the  first  importance.  For  courageous  undertak- 
ings, there  is  need  of  divine  inspirations.     Hence, 

Cf.  Danz,  Baplismus  Proselytorum,  §  26;  Meuschen,  Nov. 
Test,  in  Talm.,  p.  263. 

2  This  idea  has  been  set  forth  with  special  plausibility  by 
Beitheau,  and  is  justly  and  ably  combated  by  Keil. 


CHAPTER  XIV.   5-9. 


195 


the  attack  of  Samson  on  the  lion  is  here  ascribed 
to  an  impulse  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  well  as 
Jephthah's  resolution  to  attack  Ammon  in  his 
own  country  (ch.  xi.  29).  And  it  is  to  be  further 
noted,  that  in  every  case  the  expression  is,  not  the 
Spirit  of  Eloliim.  but  the  S])irit  of  Jehovah;  for  it 
was  He  on  whom  Isr.iel  was  to  believe,  and  from 
whom,  fur  his  own  ylory  and  the  salvation  of 
Israel,  proceeded  the  power  which  Samson  pos- 
sessed against  the  enemies  who  knew  not  Jeho- 
vah. 

And  he  rent  him.     It  was  a  terrible  lion  that 

came  to  meet  him  :  a,  ~''*-?i  a  term  especially  used 
when  the  rapacious  and  bloodthirsty  nature  of 
the  lion  is  to  be  indicated.  Bochart  explains  the 
compound  name  HV^S  1^22  very  beautifully  by 

means  of  D^"T^  "^l^,  especially  here,  where  the 
fierceness  of  the  lion  is  opposed  to  the  weakness 
of  a  hoedtis,  kid  of  the  goats.  "SuW  is  equivalent 
to  (rxiC'^>  to  rend  asunder.  As  the  lion  comes 
rushing  towards  him,  Samson  awaits  him,  seizes 
him,  and  rends  his  jaws  asunder.  And  this  he  did 
as  easily  as  if  it  were  a  kid  of  the  goats.  For  the 
remark,  "  as  one  rends  a  kid,"  does  not  imply  that 
it  was  customary  always  to  rend  kids  in  this  man- 
ner, but  simply  means  that  a  kid  could  not  have 
been  more  easily  overcome  than  this  powerful  lion 
was.  According  to  some  ancient  statements,  Her- 
cules choked  the  Nemean  lion  in  his  arms  ;  and  it 
is  undoubtedly  with  reference  to  this  that  Josephus 
says  of  Samson  also,  that  he  strangled  (07x^0  the 
monster.  According  to  a  French  romance,  Iwain, 
the  romantic  hero  of  the  Round  Table,  derived 
his  epithet,  "  Knight  of  the  Lion,"  from  the  tact 
that  after  a  long  struggle  he  had  choked  a  lion  : 
'■  i!  prist  Lionian  parnii  la  gorge  as  poinz  ....  si 
I'estrangla."  Cf  Holland,  Chretien  de  Troyes,  p. 
161. 

And  he  had  nothing  in  his  hand.  He  had 
gone  forth  to  look  for  a  wife,  not  expecting  a 
battle.  If,  however,  it  be  nevertheless  surprising 
that  a  young  man  like  Samson  carried  no  weapons, 
we  are  to  seek  for  the  reason  of  it  in  the  domina- 
tion of  the  Philistines.  Those  tyrants  suffered  no 
weapons  in  the  hands  of  the  conquered,  and  hin- 
dered and  prohibited  the  introduction  of  them  and 
the  traffic  in  them  (cf.  1  Sam.  xiii.  20).  The  sus- 
picion of  the  enemy  had  found  matter  enough  for 
its  exercise,  if  young. men  like  Samson  had  come 
armed  into  their  cities.  But  even  without  arms, 
the  heroic  strength  of  Samson  everywhere  evinces 
itself;  for  not  iron,  but  the  Spirit,  gives  victory. 
Pausanias  (vi.  5)  tells  of  Polydamas,  a  hero  of 
Scotussa  in  Elis,  who  lived  about  400  b.  c,  that 
he  overcame  a  great  and  strong  lion  on  Olympus, 
without  a  weapon  of  any  kind. 

And  he  told  not  his  father  or  his  mother 
what  he  had  done.  It  is  certainly  instructive  to 
institute  a  comparison  between  Samson  and  the 
numerous  lion-conquerors  of  history  and  tradition. 
For  it  reveals  Samson's  greatness  of  soul  in  a 
mo.'t  sii^nificant  way.  To  him,  the  victory  over 
the  lion  is  precisely  not  one  of  the  twelve  labors 
wliich  in  the  Heraclean  mythus  is  glorified  by  tra- 
•Jition  and  art.  He  wears  no  lion's  skin  in  conse- 
quence of  it.  He  makes  so  little  ado  about  it,  that 
he  does  not  even  inform  his  parents  of  it,  probably 
in  order  not  to  startle  them  at  the  thought  of  the 
danger  to  which  he  has  been  exposed.  For,  at 
that  time,  he  could  not  yet  have  thought  of  his 
subsequent  fanciful  conceit.     There  is  nothing  un- 


usual about  his  appearance  and  demeanor,  when 
he  again  overtakes  them.  He  exhibits  neither  ex- 
citement nor  uncommon  elation.  The  divine  spirit 
that  slumbered  in  him  has  just  been  active ;  but 
the  deed  he  performed  under  its  impulse  appeared 
to  him,  as  great  deeds  always  do  to  great  souls,  to 
have  nothing  of  a  surprising  character  about  it, 
but  to  be  perfectly  natural.  Others  are  impressed 
to  astonishment  by  what  to  such  persons  are  but 
natural  life  utterances.  What  we  call  geniality, 
what  in  Samson  appears  as  the  result  of  divine 
consecration,  cannot  exhibit  itself  moi'C  beauti- 
fully. It  is  the  fullness  of  spirit  and  strength  in 
men,  out  of  which  exploit  and  heroism  flow  as 
streams  flow  from  their  sources.  To  this  very 
day,  it  is  only  small  spirits,  albeit  often  in  thick 
books,  who  watch  like  griffons  over  each  little 
thought  that  occurs  to  them,  fearing  to  lose  the 
mirror  in  which  they  see  themselves  reflected,  and 
the  lion-skin  with  which  proprietorship  invests 
them.  Of  Samson's  victory  nothing  had  ever  been 
heard,  had  it  not  furnished  him  with  the  means 
for  indulging  in  a  national  raillery  against  the 
Philistines. 

What  subjects  of  ostentation  these  conflicts  with 
lions  have  everywhere  been.  Neither  the  great 
Macedonian  nor  the  Roman  Emperors,  could  dis- 
yjense  with  them.  An  Alexandrian  poet  procured 
for  himself  a  life-long  pension  from  the  Emperor 
Hadrian,  by  showing  him  a  flowering  lotus  sprung 
from  the  blood  of  a  lion  whom  the  Emperor  had 
slain.  (More  definite  references  to  this  and  fol- 
lowing passages,  as  also  discussions  of  them,  will 
be  contained  in  my  Hierozokon.  Other  matei'ial, 
being  already  found  in  Bochart  and  the  older  com- 
mentators (cf.  Serarius  ad  locum),  may  here  be 
passed  over.)  The  extravagance  of  the  later  writ- 
ers of  romance,  both  eastern  and  western,  was  no 
longer  content  with  common  lion-encounters  for 
their  heroes.  The  Arabian  Antar  conquers  a  lion 
although  the  hero's  feet  are  fettered.  For  Rustem 
and  Wolfdieterich  such  exploits  are  performed  even 
by  their  horses.  It  was  only  when  the  crusades 
put  the  knightly  spirit  to  the  test  in  the  land  of 
the  lion,  that  Europeans  experienced  the  historical 
terribleness  of  such  conflicts.  And  few  of  them 
had  the  strength  and  resoluteness  of  Godfrey  of 
Bouillon,  who  stood  his  ground  against  a  bear,  or 
of  the  bold  and  powerful  Wicker  von  Schwaben, 
who,  near  Joppa,  killed  a  great  lion  with 'the  sword 
in  his  hand  (Albert  Aquensis,  vii.  70;  Wilken, 
Gesch.  der  Kreuzziige,  ii.  109).  Yet  these  men 
are  not  myths,  because  such  deeds  are  ascribed  to 
them  ;  nor  do  we  suspect  only  mythical  echoes  in 
the  stories  that  are  told  of  them. 

The  deed  of  Samson  is  executed  with  such  ease 
and  freedom,  and  represented  with  such  simplicity 
and  naturalness,  that  if  the  narrative  were  not 
historical,  it  would  be  impossible  to  account  for  its 
origin.  And  yet,  according  to  some,  it  is  a  myth- 
ical reflection  of  the  legend  concerning  Hercules. 
The  theories  of  these  critics  have  their  false  basis 
in  the  Hellenistic  one-sidedness  by  which  the  rela- 
tion, according  to  which  the  myth  must  receive  its 
symbols  from  nature  and  history,  is  often  quite 
reversed,  so  that  historical  life-utterances  are  at- 
tenuated into  ideas  and  mythical  phantasies.  It  is 
as  easy  to  show  that  every  lion-conqueror,  down  to 
Gerard  of  our  own  days, — yea,  that  all  menag- 
eries to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  the  lion 
himself  must  be  declared  mythical,  as  it  is  to  prove 
that  Samson's  encounter  with  a  lion,  in  a  region 
where  the  animal  was  then  indigenous,  related 
without  the  least  approach  to  ostentation,  and  per- 


196 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


formed  in  the  trreatuess  of  an  unassuming  spirit, 
cannot  be  historical. 

Ver.  8.  And  after  a  time  he  returned.  The 
hetrothiil  had  taken  phice,  the  weddinii,-  was  to  fol- 
low.i  Samson  and  his  parents  descended  the  same 
road  again.  As  the  hero  came  to  the  spot  where 
on  their  recent  journey  he  turned  off  from  the 
road,  ami  had  the  adventnre  with  tlie  lion,  the  in- 
cident came  again  into  his  mind,  and  he  turned 
aside  once  more,  in  order  to  see  what  had  become 
of  the  dead  lion.  Then  he  found  that  a  swarm  of 
bees  had  settled  themselves  in  the  skeleton  of  the 
beast. 

The  swarm  of  bees  is  significantly  spoken  of  as 

the  Q"'"]2"!T  niV,  the  congregation  of  bees.  Com- 
monly, i^7"^  designates  the  congregation  of  the 
Israelitish  people,  as  regulated  by  the  law.  It  is 
only  on  account  of  its  wonderful  social  organiza- 
tion that  a  swarm  of  bees,  but  no  other  brute 
multitude,-  was  denoted  by  the  same  name.'^  Hora- 
pollo,  in  his  work  on  Hieroglyphics  (lib.  i.  62), 
informs  us  that  when  the  Egyptians  wished  to  pic- 
ture the  idea  of  a  people  of  law  {TreiB-iii'toi'  \a6v), 
they  did  it  by  the  figure  of  a  bee. 

The  skeleton  of  the  lion  had  been  thoroughly 
dried  up  by  the  heat,  for  which  process,  as  Oed- 
mann*  long  ago  remarked,  scarcely  twenty-four 
hours  are  required  in  the  East.  In  this  case  many 
days  had  intervened.  That  bees  readily  settle  in 
situations  like  the  present,  long  since  freed  from 
all  offensive  odors,  is  well  known  from  what  ex- 
positors have  adduced  from  Bochart  and  others. 
Tlie  instance  of  the  swarm  found  settled  in  the 
head  of  the  slain  Onesilaus,  in  Amathus,  may  also, 
familiar  as  it  is,  be  alluded  to  (Herodot.  v.  114). 
The  opinion  of  the  ancients,  that  bees  originate 
out  of  the  carcasses  of  steers,  wasps  out  of  those 
of  asses,  and  other  insects  out  of  dead  horses  and 
mules,  niay  perhaps  have  some  connection  with 
the  observation  of  phenomena  like  that  M'hich  here 
met  Samson's  eye  (cf.  Voss,  Idololatria,  lib.  iv.  p. 
556,  and  others). 

Bees  must  have  a  place  of  refuge  from  the 
weather.  It  has  been  observed,  in  recent  times, 
that  at  present  the  bees  of  southern  Palestine  are 
smaller  in  size,  and  of  a  lighter  yellow  brown 
color  than  those  of  Germany   (Hitter,  xvi.  283). 

The  term  tt'''5"75  honey,  is  connected  with  n'^13'|T, 
bee  (by  an  interchange  of  r  and  s).  It  is  a  re- 
markable fact,  to  which  I  have  already  directed 
attention  in  my  Berlin  Wochenblatt,  1863,  that  our 
German  [and  by  consequence,  our  English]  names 
for  wax  and  honey  are  perfectly  identical  with  the 
Semitic  terms  for  the  same  objects,  although  in  an 

inverted  relation.  The  Hebrew  t^""??  (pronounce: 
f/vash),  honey,  answers  to  the  German  Wachs  (0. 
H,   G.  wahs),  English,  "wax; "and  the  Hebrew 

31"^  [donag),  wax,  to  the  German  Honig  (honec), 
English,  "  honey  ;  "  and  this  is  the  only  pro])er  ex- 
planation to  be  given  of  the  etymology  of  these 
German  words. 

Ver.  9.  And  he  took  thereof.    The  word  ni^J^, 

1  Tho  assumption  of  earlier  expositors,  tliat  an  interval 
of  a  year  must  elap-'^e  between  betrotlial  and  marriage,  is 
iiftcr  all  but  an  arbitrary  one. 

2  [The  exception  in  Ps.  Ixviii.  31  (30),  is  only  apparent. 

C'^"1^3S  jITy,  "the  congregation  of  bullocks,"  like  the 

beast  of  the  reed,''  is  a  metaphorical  mode  of  designating 

i  body  of  men  — Tr  ] 


according  to  my  view,  has  nothing  to  do  either 
with  a  signification  "  to  tread,"  or  with  the  idea 
of  "  seizing,"  "  making  one's  self  master  of; "  but 
has  preserved  its  original  meaning  in  the  later 
nsiis  lingiue  of  the  Mishna  and  Talmud,  where  it 
bears  tlie  signification  "  to  draw  out,"  as  bread  is 
drawn  out  of  the  oven.  The  examples  given  by 
Buxtorff  are  borrowed  from  the  Aruch  of  R.  Na- 
than (172  a),  where  they  may  be  found  still  more 

plain.     Of  bread  in  the  oven  it  is  said,    mil 

7D3  ]m31,  "  it  is  drawn  out  and  put  into  the 
basket."  R.  Nathan  also  justly  explains  our  pas- 
sage by  this  signification.  For  S;imson,  in  like 
manner,  drew  the  honeycomb  out  of  the  hive,  and 

put  it  on  the  palm  of  his  hand  (^?).  Ivimclii 
takes  it  in  the  same  way  (in  his  dictionary  of 
roots,   sub  voce,   near    the    close).      Henct    also, 

n"T"lX2,  mirda,  is  the  oven-fork,  with  which  things 
are  drawn  out  of  the  fire,  Latin  rutahulum.  It  is 
easily  seen  that  a  widely  diffused  root  comes  to 
view  here  (comp.  forms  like  rutrum,  rutdlum,  from 
ento,  erutum,  Greek  pvcc,  pvT7]p,  puffra^o},  etc.). 

He  drew  out  the  honey,  and  as  he  had  no  other 
vessel,  took  it  on  his  hand,  and  refreshed  himself 
with  it  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  as  Jonathan 
strengthened  himself  with  it  after  the  battle  (1 
Sam.  xiv.  29).  He  also  gave  to  his  parents,  who 
likewise  relished  it;  but  neither  did  he  now  tell 
them  whence  he  had  taken  it.  It  would  have  in- 
volved telling  them  the  history  of  the  encounter 
with  the  lion ;  and  though  they  might  not  now 
have  been  terrified  by  it,  they  would  doubtless 
have  caused  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  it. 

Roskcff,^  in  his  book  Die  Simsonssage  iind  der 
Heraklesinijthus,  1860,  ]).  65,  thinks  that  the  cir- 
cumstance of  Samson's  eating  of  honey  taken  from 
the  lion's  skeleton,  is  a  proof  that  the  rule  by 
which  the  Nazarite  was  required  to  abstain  from 
anything  unclean  had  not  j'Ct  received  its  later 
extension,  and  that  consequently  the  Mosaic  law 
was  not  yet  in  existence.  We  cannot  regard  this 
position  as  very  well  founded.  For  this  reason,  if 
no  other,  that  the  Book  which  is  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  Mosaic  law,  relates  this  act  of 
Samson  without  the  addition  of  any  explanatory 
remark.  And  it  has  very  good  reason  for  adding 
no  explanation  ;  for  the  objection  proceeds  u))on  a 
view  of  Samson's  Nazaritie  character  which  is  for- 
eign to  the  Book,  and  greatly  affects  the  proper 
understanding  of  his  history.  The  truth  is,  the 
hero  was  not  at  all  such  a  Nazarite  as  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Numbers  contemplates.  The  introduc- 
tion to  his  history  clearly  shows  that  definite  pre- 
scriptions concerning  food  and  drink  were  given 
only  to  his  mother;  concerning  himself,'' nothing 
more  is  said  than  that  no  razor  is  to  come  upon 
his  head.  It  is  only  npon  this  latter  obligation, 
as  the  history  shows,  that  the  strength  of  his  Naz- 
ariteship  depends.  The  Nazariteship,  abstractly 
considered,  is  an  image  of  the  general  priesthood. 
On  Samson  particularly  there  rests  a  glimmer  of 
that  gospel  freedom,  with  reference  to  which  the 
Apostle  says  to    the  disciples  :    "  All   things   are 

3  Hence  also  the  Sept.  (rvvaywyri. 

4  Vcrwisclite  Sannnl.  aiis  der  NatvrkunrJe,  vi.  135.  Rosen- 
muller,  Moraeiilawl,  No.  462. 

5  On  a  general  refutation  of  whom  we  cannot  here  enter 
He  agrees  in  his  results,  for  the  most  part,  with  Uertheau 
and  Ewald. 

6  Jerusalem  Talmud,  "  Nazir,"  cap.  1,  Hal.  2,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XIV.     10-14. 


197 


yours."  From  the  consecration  of  his  spirit,  Sam- 
Ron  has  a  typical  strengtli  liv  which  to  the  pure  all 
things  are  pure.  Samson  can  do  everything:,  and 
that,  as  the  ancients  explained  of  their  Samson- 
Nazarite,  without  sin-offerings;  only  one  thing  he 
may  not  do,  —  desecrate  this  his  consecration,  sin 
against  this  spirit  itself.  But  this  his  freedom  is 
naturally  held  within  hounds  by  his  calling.  It 
must  have  war  against  the  Philistines  for  its  cause 
and  goal.  The  Apostle's  meaning  is.  All  things 
arc  yours,  if  ye  be  Christ's.  Samson  may  do 
everything,  when  the  honor  of  his  God  against  the 
hereditary  enemy  is  at  stake.  This  freedom  was 
given  him,  not  that  he  might  live  riotously,  as  with 
Delilah  —  for  which  reason  he  fell  —  but  only  to 
do  battle.  Herein  lies  the  key  to  the  profound 
observation  of  the  narrator,  when  the  parents  of 
Samson  did  not  approve  of  his  proposed  marriage 
with  the  woman  of  Timnah  :  "  They  knew  not 
that  this  was  an  occasion  from  God."  The  whole 
Samson  was  an  occasion  from  God  against  the 
Philistines.  It  is  therefore  also  with  a  profound 
purpose  that  the  hero  himself  is  not  commanded 
to  abstain  fi^om  wine  and  unclean  things.  He  is 
born,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  a  state  of  pure  conse- 
cration, in  which  for  the  ends  of  this  consecration 
everything  becomes  pure  to  him.  He  continues  to 
be  the  hero,  even  when  he  eats  that  which  is  un- 
clean, and  marries  foreign  women,  which  yet, 
according  to  ch.  iii.  6,  forms  one  of  the  causes  of 
divine  judgments  ;  but  he  falls,  when  in  divulging 
his  secret  he  docs  that  which,  though  not  in  itself 
forl)idden,  profanes  his  consecration. 

Samson's  character,  in  that  spiritual  freedom 
which  makes  war  on  the  Philistines,  is  a  type  of 
the  true  Christian  freedom,  —  so  long  as  it  does 
not  consume  itself. 

It  would  therefore  lead  to  useless  hair-splitting, 
to  inquire  wh(?ther  it  was  right  in  Samson  to  bring 
of  the  honey  to  his  parents  without  telling  them 
whence  he  had  taken  it.  He  brought  it  as  an  evi- 
dence of  his  childlike  heart,  and  committed  no 
wrong.  It  was  a  Talmudic  question,  whether  the 
honey  was  unclean,  although  the  rule  enjoined  on 
Samson's  mother  extended  only  to  the  time  of  her 
son's  birth.  He  was  silent  about  the  history  of 
the  honey,  in  order  to  avoid  boasting. 


HOMILETICAL   AND    PR.iCTICAL. 

Samson  is  stronger  than  lions  and  more  cun- 
ning than  foxes.  He  must  be  this  in  order  to 
conquer  the  Philistines.  Por  there  is  no  one  to 
assist  him.  The  Philistines  have  enervated,  terri- 
fied, desecrated  Israel.     Israel,  on  their  account. 


has  no  more  faith  in  its  faith.  It  is  afraid  of  the 
strength  of  its  own  spirit.  Desirous  of  peace  at 
any  price,  it  has  surrendered  even  its  own  senti- 
ments and  beliefs. 

Beautiful,  on  this  account,  is  the  use  which  the 
ancient  church  made  of  Samson  the  Lion-slayer  as 
a  type  of  Christ.  The  rending  lion  is  also  an 
image  of  Satan,  the  destroyer  of  men.  As  Sam- 
son rends  the  lion's  jaws  asunder  with  his  hands, 
so  Christ  tears  to  pieces  the  kingdom  of  Satan  and 
death.  Hence  the  old  custom  of  putting  the  picture 
of  Samson  the  Lion-conqueror  on  church  doors. 
But  that  lion  who  goes  about  seeking  to  snatch  us 
away  from  Christ  is  still  ever  terrible.  The  battle 
with  him  is  still  daily  new.  The  victory,  however, 
is  sure,  if  only  we  believe  in  the  conquest  of  the 
true  Samson.  But  if  we  have  the  Spirit  only  on 
our  tongues,  and  not  in  our  souls,  we  shall  never 
conquer  like  Him.  Only  faith  will  enable  us  to 
stand.  But  every  victory  flows  with  honey;  and 
with  it  we  refresh  father  and  mother.  Every  new 
victory  strengthens  the  old  love. 

Starke  :  They  who  do  the  greatest  works,  make 
the  least  noise  and  boasting  about  them.  Enmity 
and  war  are  easily  begun,  but  not  so  easily  ended. 
The  Philistines  could  readily  make  an  enemy  of 
Samson,  but  to  make  a  friend  of  him  was  more 
difficult.  —  The  Same  :  Christian,  imitate,  not 
Samson's  deed,  but  his  faith  and  obeclience.  — 
Li  SCO  :  Samson's  life  and  deeds  can  be  rightly 
judged  only  when  viewed,  not  as  those  of  a  private 
person,  but  as  the  activity  of  a  theocratic  deliverer 
and  judge. 

[Wordsworth  :  "  He  told  not  his  fether  or  his 
mother,"  though  they  were  not  far  from  him  at 
the  time  (ver.  5).  So  our  Lord  would  not  that 
any  one  should  spread  abroad  his  fame.  He  said, 
"  Tell  no  man  "  (Matt.  viii.  4  ;  xvi.  20).  Hitherto, 
then,  Samson,  in  his  spiritual  gifts,  in  his  self- 
dedication  to  God,  in  his  strength,  courage,  and 
victory,  and  in  his  meekness  and  humility,  is  an 
eminent  type  of  Christ.  But  afterwards  he  de- 
generates, and  becomes  in  many  respects  a  contrast 
to  Him.  And  thus,  in  comparing  the  type  and 
the  antitype,  we  have  both  encouragement  and 
warning,  especially  as  to  the  right  use  to  be  made 
of  spiritual  gifts,  and  as  to  the  danger  of  their 
abuse. — Bp.  Hall:  The  mercies  of  God  are  ill 
bestowed  upon  us,  if  we  cannot  step  aside  to  view 
the  monuments  of  his  deliverances ;  dangers  may 
be  at  once  past  and  forgotten.  As  Samson  had 
not  found  his  honeycomb,  if  he  had  not  turned 
aside  to  see  his  lion,  so  we  shall  lose  the  comfort 
of  God's  benefits,  if  we  do  not  renew  our  perils  by 
meditation.  —  Tk.1 


Samson's  wedding-feast.     He  proposes  a  riddle  to  his  companions. 
Chapter  XIV.  10-14. 


10  So  [And]  his   father  went  down  unto  the  woman:  and  Samson  made  there  a 

1 1  feast ;  for  so  used  [it  is  customary  for]  the  young  men  to  do.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  when  they  saw  him,  that  they  brought  [chose]  tliirty  companions   to  be  with 

12  him.  And  Samson  said  unto  them,  I  will  now  put  forth  a  riddle  unto  you  :  if  ye 
can  certainly  [if  ye  indeed]  declare  it  me  within  the  seven  days  of  the  feast,  and 
find  it  out,  then  I  will  give  you  thirty  sheets  [shirts]  ^  and  thirty  change  [changesj 


198 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


13  of  garments  But  if  ye  cannot  declare  it  me,  then  shall  ye  give  me  thirty  sheets 
[shirts]  and^thirty  change  [changes]  of  garments.     And  they  said  unto  him,  Put 

14  forth  thy  riddle,  that  we  may  hear  it.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Out  of  the  eater 
came  forth  meat,  and  out  of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness.  And  they  could  not 
in  three  days  expound  the  riddle. 

TEXTUAL    AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  12.  —  D^3'^"Tp.    Dr.  Cassel  translates  this  word  by  the  general  term  Gewajuie,  garments.    He  apparently  con- 
siders the  only  distinction  between  the  C^ID  and  the  D'^~T"l2l  nD^H,  to  be  that  between  common  and  more  costly 
garments  (see  below).     But  the  D^3^^P  are  probably  under-garments,  iuniccB,  shirts,  made  of  a  fine  linen.     The  deri- 
vation of  the  word  ^*'^D,  and  whether  it  be  related  to  the  Greek  a-CvSiav  (Sept.),  can  hardly  be  determined.  — Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  10.  And  his  father  went  down  unto  the 
woman.  The  whole  narrative  is  full  of  naive  de- 
lineations of  manners  and  customs.  The  father's 
present  visit  to  the  maiden  is  in  his  son's  behalf, 
and  expresses  the  parental  approbation  of  Sam- 
son's marriage  engagement.  That  the  parents  of 
the  bride  were  consulted  about  the  marriage  is  not 
indicated  in  any  way,  although  we  know  that  the 
father  was  still  living  (cf.  ch.  xv.  6).  Are  we  to 
suppose  that  among  the  Philistines  an  application 
to  the  parents  was  unnecessary  ■?  Did  not  Isaac, 
through  Eliezer,  make  suit  for  Rebecca  to  her 
father  ^  and  Jacob  to  Laban  7  Was  not  the  same 
custom  current  also  among  other,  heathen  nations  ? 
Is  not  the  young  woman  in  the  nuptial  song  of 
Catullus  {Carmeyi,  xii.  ver.  61)  exhorted  that  it  is 
the  father  and  mother  who  must  be  obeyed  1  ^  The 
Philistine  women  seem  really  to  have  enjoyed  a 
position  of  great  social  freedom.  They  are  seen  on 
the  street,  and  are  visited  by  men,  without  being 
on  that  account  regarded  as  "  harlots." 

And  Samson  made  there  a  feast ;  for  such  is 
the  custom  of  young  men.  He  did  not  take  her 
with  him  into  his  father's  house,'^  after  the  mar- 
riage was  settled,  but  remained  in  Timnah,  and 
there  gave  the  feast.    Among  the  Philistines  it  was 

customary  for  the  bridegroom  C^^nS)  to  arrange 
the  banquet.  At  the  wedding  of  Cana,  also,  de- 
scribed by  St.  John  (ch.  ii.  10),  the  bridegroom 
seems  to  have  been  the  enteitainer.  But  this  was 
not  the  case  when  Laban  gave  his  daughter  to 
Jacob,  or  when  Tobias  married  the  daughter  of 
Raguel  (Tobit,  viii.  19).  In  those  instances,  the 
])arents  of  the  bride  give  the  feast. 

Marriage  feasts  were  much  liked  among  all  na- 
tions. When,  in  the  Odyssey  (iv.  3),  Tcleniachus 
comes  to  king  Menelaus,  the  latter  is  just  cele- 
brating the  nuptial  leasts  of  his  children.  Among 
the  Romans,  the  name  repotia  ^  was  in  use  for  the 
entertainments  which  (according  to  Festus)  were 
given  on  the  day  after  the  marriage  at  the  new 
husband's  house  (cf.  Horace,  Sat.  ii.  60).  Plutarch 
makes  the  question,  Why  even  law-givers  have 
appointed  a  certain  degree  of  luxury  to  be  ob- 
served in  connection  with  such  feasts,  a  subject  of 
discussion  in  his  Sipuposium  (lib.  iv.quajst.  3).  Sam- 
son's marriage-celebration  lasted  seven  days.  The 
parcnts-in-law  of  Tobias,  in  their  joy,  appropriated 
fourteen  days.  But  down  to  late  times  luxury  and 
sensuality  are  more  characteristic  of  such  feasts 

1  Quihvs  parere  nfresse  est. 

2  Bicause  she  was  an  alien.  He  does  not  impose  upon 
his  father's  house  that  in  which  he  allows  himself.  That 
would  have  been  an  insult  to  the  law  and  customs  of 
Israel. 


than  is  compatible  with  their  proper  observance. 
Neither  the  spirit  of  Samson,  nor  the  piety  of 
Tobias  fills  and  governs  them,  albeit  in  some  in- 
stances the  duration  of  those  ancient  celebrationa 
may  be  rivaled.  We  hardly  seem  to  have  taken  a 
long  leap  backward,  when  in  the  fourteenth  century 
we  hear  it  provided  by  the  Ravensburg  Regulation 
concerning  weddings,  that  "  the  nuptial  celebration 
shall  only  last  till  the  next  day,  no  longer"  (Bir- 
linger,  VolksthUmliches,  ii.  399);  or  when,  in  1643, 
the  Wiirtzburg  bishop,  John  Philip,  orders  that 
the  custom  of  protracting  banquets  through  three 
days  be  discontinued,  "as  a  useless  and  hurtful 
expense"  (Schaltjahr,  i.  445).  For  even  in  our 
day,  like  excesses  occur,  wherever  there  is  money 
and  wantonness.  So  late  as  ten  years  ago,  it  was 
stated  that  in  Swabia  the  feasting  attendant  upon 
a  village  wedding  still  frequently  lasted  from  four 
to  five  days  (Meier,  Schwab.  Satjen,  p.  479). 

Ver.  11.  And  when  they  saw  him,  they  chose 
thirty  companions,  who  were  with  him.  A 
bridegroom  is  like  a  king's  son.  Mis  wedding  is 
his  coronation.  Hence,  also,  crown  and  chaplet 
are  not  wanting  for  the  wedded  pair.  For  the 
same  reason  they  have  also  a  following.  These 
are  ancient,  universally  diffused  ideas,  which  it 
would  lead  us  too  far  to  collect  together  from  all 
nations  and  languages.  In  comparatively  recent 
times,  the  Jews  have  minutely  traced  the  analogy 
of  the  bridegroom  with  the  king,  through  all  the 
customs  pertaining  to  them  respectively,  even  to 

the  point  of  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  I'^H 

and  "H/p  have  each  three  letters.     (On  the  proofs 

that  "^^^^  n^lT  li'^n,  compare  the  liturgical 
works,  of  which  Tania,  cd.  Cremona,  1565.  p.  130, 
and  Taschbaz,  of  R.  Meier  of  Rotenburg,  p.  45, 
may  here  be  especially  cited.) 

Accordingly,  the  lj-TIS'S,  "when  they  saw 
him,"  is  to  be  so  understood,  that  when  Samson  ap- 
])eared,  i.  e.  publicly,  both  at  the  time  of  the  mar- 
riage, concerning  the  manner  of  which  nothing  is 
said,  and  during  the  seven  festive  days,  it  was 
always  with  a  retinue  of  thirty  companions,  some- 
what as  in  our  day  brides  are  still  attended  by  suites 
of  bridesmaids. 

^^i??!)  and  they  chose.  It  was  customary,  no 
doubt,  when  a  daughter  or  son  of  the  city  was 
married,  for  the  bridegroom  to  provide  himself 
with  a  retinue.     As  Samson  was  a  stranger,  his 

8  "An  after  drinking."  The  Sept.  renders  Hirlti^D 
(ver.  10)  by  ttotos,  a  drinking. 

4  Cf.  Jalkut,  Shop/ietim,  n.  70,  p.  11  c 


CHAPTER  XIV.    10-U. 


199 


bride  and  her  father  told  him  whom  to  invite,  and 
therefore  the  writer  sa^-s  "  thet)  chose."  The  num- 
ber of  young  men  chosen  was  thirty.  Samson's 
parents  seem  to  have  lieen  in  uood  circumstances, 
and  hence  the  bridegroom  appeared  not  without 
s])lendor,  as  the  giver  of  a  seven  days'  feast.  That 
thirty  was  the  unvarying  number,  cannot  be  main- 
tained. The  ancients  had  a  philosophical  num- 
ber, which  they  called  the  "  wedding,"  and  which 
consisted  of  five  or  six.  (Both  chosen  on  account 
of  ( beir  being  formed  from  2X3  and  2  -|-  3,  one 
even,  tlie  otJaer  odd.)  But  5  X  6  is  also  =  30. ^ 
In  later  times,  also,  the  Jews  had  many  brides'- 
men.  In  Worms,  their  number  had  been  restricted 
to  eight.     The  later  'Jews  called  such  a  brides'- 

nnan  1^2Ii?II7,  which  terra  does  not,  however,  come 
from  the  Syriac,  as  Sachs  thought  {BeitrOge,  i.  82), 
but  is  only  the  Hebraized  form  of  sponsor  (other- 
wise auspex,  paranj/m/ihlos,  cf.  Matt.  ix.  15).  —  The 
idea  of  Joscphus,  which  Bertheau  adopts,  that  the 
thirty  young  men  were  to  watch  Samson,  is  to  be 
rejected.  For,  in  the  first  place,  nothing  was  as 
yet  known  concerning  Samson  that  could  render 
him  so  seriously  suspected  ;  and,  in  the  next  place, 
it  is  mauifl?st  from  ver.  15,  that  they  were  invited 
on  the  part  of  the  bridegroom  himself. 

Vers.  12,  13.  I  will  put  forth  a  riddle  unto 
you.  The  custom  of  projjounding  riddles  for 
amuserfient  is  very  ancient.  1'he  acuteness  which 
exercised  itself  therei^i,  was,  as  it  were,  the  coun- 
terpart of  that  which  invented  the  language  of 
figure,  signs,  and  symbols.  For  it  brought  to  light 
again  the  secrets  which  the  latter  had  locked  up. 
"In  ancient  times,"  says  Plutarch,  "the  Greeks 
were  already  in  the  habit  of  propounding  riddles 
to  each  otliier."  It  is  related  of  the  maiden  Cleob- 
iiline,  the  daughter  of  a  wise  man,  that  she  was 
so  ingenious,  as  to  play  with  riddles  as  if  they 
were  dice,  propounding  or  solving  them  with  equal 
ease.  The  banquet  of  the  seven  wise  men,  in  Plu- 
tarch, shows  the  high  estimation  in  which  the 
diversion  was  held ;  and  Cleodemus,  the  physieiali, 
who  was  iinskillful  at  solving  riddles,  is  not  un- 
aptly rebuked  by  iEsop,  for  holding  such  occupa- 
tion to  be  suitable  only  for  girls  when  engaged  in 
knitting  girdles  and  hoods,  but  not  for  intelligent 
men,  Athenaius,  also,  in  his  work  (pp.  453-459), 
cites  large  extracts  from  the  book  of  Clearchus  on 
xiddles,  and  adds,  "that  the  unraveling  of  such 
riddles  is  very  similar  to  the  pursuit  of  philosophy, 
and  that  therefore  tlieir  solution,  as  a  sign  of  wis- 
dom, is  held  in  favor,  and  deemed  an  appropriate 
mode  of  entertainment  at  table."  We,  however, 
pass  by  these  examples  from  Clearchus,  not  only 
because  tlicy  were  already  brought  to  the  notice 
of  expositors  by  Bochart,  but  especially  because 
in  the  case  of  Samson's  riddle  the  real  stake  at 
issue  is  higher  than  a  gai-land  for  the  winner,  or 
the  drinking  of  a  forfeit-cup  ^  by  the  loser.  It 
evokes  a  stern  conflict. 

Then  I  will  give  you  thirty  garments  (Cp'^'ip) 

and  thirty  changes  of  raiment  (D^'T?5  ^"^-"^ .'  H)- 
With  this  explanation,  the  more  recent  expositors 
would  probably  agree.  By  a  "change"  of  rai- 
ment we  are  tc  understand  a  dress  of  state  —  a 

1  Cf.  Plutarch,  oa  the  doctrine  of  the  Timceus  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  souls. 

2  [That  5s,  a  cup  of  unmixed  wine,  or  of  wine  mixed 
with  salt-wate-r,  to  be  emptied  at  one  draught.  Sec  Smith's 
Diet.  Anlic/.^  s.  v.  "Symposium."  It  will  be  remembered 
chat  the  Greeks  always  mingled  water  witli  their  wine. 
I'hey  eoijs^ered  it  not  only  unhealthy,  but  barbarous,  to 


Sunday  suit,  as  we  would  say  —  for  which  the 
every-day  dress  may  be  exchanged  on  festive  occa- 
sions. The  Targum,  however,  has  another  expla- 
nation, which  deserves  to  be  mentioned.     Like  the 

Septuagint  and  Josephus,  it  translates    nb'^/n 

(changes)  by  iT^^lStiW,  cr-roK-rf,  assuming  thereby 

for  ^^n,  a  signification  which  indeed  it  sometimes 
seems  to  have,  namely,  to  fight,  to  wound  (Sept 
irardaffeiv,  riTpcoaKeiv).  For  ar6\y)  is  the  classical 
term  for  a  soldier's  dress.  lu  like  manner,  it 
translates  D"'3np  by  D'^Slbs,  i.  e.  balteus,  the 
girdle  or  belt  which  the  soldier  buckled  around 
his  body  (cf.  2  K.  v.  23).  —  It  was  thus  no  small 
price  that  was  put  upon  the  solution  of  the  riddle. 
But  in  other  cases  also  it  was  probably  not  un- 
usual for  large  sums  to  be  staked.  Thus,  if  we 
are  to  believe  Dius,  quoted  by  Josephus  {Antiq. 
viii.  5,  3  ;  cf.  Jablonski,  Pantheon  ALgijpt.,  Proleg., 
p.  cxiv),  Solomon  and  Hiram  lost  a  great  deal 
of  money  to  each  other.  Plutarch  relates  how  that 
the  Ethiopian  king  staked  many  cities  and  villages 
on  a  riddle  propounded  to  Amasis,  and  would  have 
won  them,  had  not  the  philosophical  Bias  come  to 
the  aid  of  the  Egyptian  monarch.  It  was  in  con- 
sequence of  solving  a  riddle  that  the  legendary 
Persian  hero  was  permitted  to  marry  Rudabe,  the 
mother  of  Rustem.  According  to  ancient  Scandi- 
navian law,  criminals  could  save  themselves  from 
death  by  means  of  a  riddle  (Olin  Dalin,  Gesch. 
Schwedens,  German,  i.  155).  The  same  idea  oc- 
curs in  German  riddle-book.s  (Simrock,  Rathsel- 
buch,  p.  463;  Menzel,  d.  Dichtung,  i.  427).  —  King 
Heidrik  in  Ridgotland  had  a  severe  war  with 
Gester  Blindc,  king  in  Gothland.  Finally,  he 
challenged  him  to  solve  riddles.  The  latter  in- 
voked Odin,  and  conquered  ((Jlin  Dalin,  i.  186). 

Ver.  14.  Out  of  the  consumer  came  material 
for  consumption,  and  out  of  the  terrible  came 
sweetness.     The  translator  must  take  care  not  to 

destroy  the  ambiguity  of  the  term  vD^^,  consumer. 
For  this  reason,  the  rendering  of  De  Wette  and 
Arnheim,  "vom  Fresser  komnd  Frass"  [from  the 
feeder  comes  feed],  is  not  good ;  for,  on  the  one 
hand,  Frass  [feed,  a  term  used  only  for  the  food 
of  beasts]  '^  is  not  applicable  to  the  lioneij  which  is 
meant,  and  on  the  other  hand,  human  beings  [do 
not  feed,  but]  eat.  Ewald's  rendering,  "  aits  dem 
Esser  kam  ein  Essen  "  [out  of  the  eater  came  an 
eating,  i.  e.  something  eatable],  is  unsuitable,  be- 
cause the  lion,  who  is  meant,  is  not  an  Esser,  eater, 
nor  yet  as  Bertheau  renders,  a  Speisei-  [both  terms 
being  used  of  human  beings  only].  Equally  erro- 
neous is  it  to  translate  T!^  by  "sour."    For  the 

antithesis  between  this  word  and  P'l^"'^  is  here  to 
be  taken  in  a  wider  sense,  so  as  to  give  rise  to 
a  second  equivoque ;  for  p1i"l^  means  not  only 
"  sweet,"  but  metaphorically  also  "  pleasant," 
agreeable.  The  ingenuity  of  the  riddle  consists 
precisely  in  this,  that  the  ambiguity  both  of  its  lan- 
guage and  contents  can  be  turned  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  thus  conceals  the  answer.  It  is  like  a 
knot  whose  right  end  cannot  be  found,  —  a  figure 

drink  clear  wine,  which  may  suggest  an  explanation  of  the 
above-mentioned  penalty.  —  Tr] 

3  [In  German,  the  act  of  eating  on  the  part  of  be.asts  is 
called  fressen ;  on  the  part  of  human  beings,  es^n  or 
apeisen.  The  nearest  approach  we  have  to  this  distinction 
in  English  is  between  feeding  and  eating.  —  Tr.] 


200 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


from  which  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  ^^^,  to  pro- 
pose :i  riddle,  as  also  that  of  the  Greek  yptcpos  (cf. 
yplnos,  the  braided  fisliiiif,Miot),  is  doubtless  to  be 
derived.  The  Gordian  knot  was  likewise  an  em- 
blematical riddle.  Samson's  jjroblem  distinguishes 
itself  only  by  its  peculiar  ingenuity.  It  is  short 
and  simple,  and  its  words  are  used  in  their  natural 

signification  (7pM  is  to  consume,  in  general,  with- 
out regard  to  the  specitic  form  or  nature  of  the 
consumption,  and  T^  is  terrible,  as  "  the  strong 
one,"  whether  in  a  good  or  evil  sense,  always  is). 
It  is  so  clear  as  to  be  obscure.  It  is  not  properly 
liable  to  the  objection,  that  it  refers  to  an  historical 
act  which  no  one  could  know.  The  act  is  one 
which  was  natural  in  that  country.  Its  turning- 
point,  with  reference  to  the  riddle,  was,  not  that  it 
was  an  incident  of  Samson's  personal  history,  but 
that  its  occurrence  in  general  was  not  impossible. 

The  ingenuity  of  the  riddle  shows  itself  further 
in  that  it  applies  equally  well  both  to  an  histoiical 
occurrence  and  a  mere  abstract  conception.  This 
was  a  characteristic  of  ancient  popular  riddles  in 
general,  and  indicates  their  origin.  Just  as  it  was 
an  art  to  represent  historical  facts  symbolically  by 
pictures  (of  which  the  modern  rebus  is  an  insipid 


distortion),  so  it  was  an  art  out  of  such  abstrac- 
tions to  disinter  an  historical  fact.  Most  popular 
riddles  call  for  the  exercise  of  this  art.  The  in- 
stance showing  most  likeness  to  the  riddle  pro- 
posed by  Samson,  is  found  in  a  story  current  in 
North  Germany,  and  communicated  by  Miillenliotf 
{Sci'/fi),  p.  504)  :  A  man  was  condemned  to  death. 
His  wife  intercedes  for  him.  The  judges  otter  to 
let  him  go,  if  she  can  propose  a  riddle  which  they 
shall  not  be  able  to  solve.     The  woman  says  :  — 

"  As  ik  hill  gUng,  as  ik  wedder  kam, 
Den  Lebeyidigen  ik  tut  den  Doden  nam. 
Siiss  (Sechs)  de  giingen  de  Snnvten  (den  Siebenten)  quitt, 
Raet  to,  gy  Herren,  nu  i.it  Tyt.''^  1 

The  woman  had  found  the  carcass  of  a  hor3e 
by  the  way,  and  in  it  a  bird's-nest,  and  in  the  nest 
six  young  birds.  The  six  young  ones  she  took 
with  her,  whereby  these  became  quit  of  the  sev- 
enth ;  and  thus  she  had  taken  the  living  out  of  the 
dead.  It  went  with  the  wise  judges  even  as  it 
did  with  the  proud  Philistines  —  they  guessed 
nothing. 

1  ["  As  I  came  along,  I  took  ttie  living  out  of  the  dead ; 
six  got  quit  of  the  seventh  ;  guess  away,  my  masters,  now 
is  the  time."  —  Tr.] 


The  Philistines  solve  the  riddle  hy  means  of  treachery.     Samson's  anger  and  payment 

of  the  forfeit. 

Chaptek   XIV.  15-20. 

15  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  day,  that  they  said^  unto  Samson's  wife,  En- 
tice [Persuade]  thy  husband,  that  he  may  declare  unto  us  the  riddle,  lest  we  burn 
thee  and  thy  father's  house  with  fire  :  have  ye  called  [invited]  us  to  take  that  we 

16  have  [plunder  us]  ?  is  it  not  so?  And  Samson's  wife  wept  before  him  and  said, 
Thou  dost  but  hate  me,  and  lovest  me  not :  thou  hast  put  forth  a  [the]  riddle  unto 
the  children  [sons]  of  my  people,  and  hast  not  told  it  me.     And  he  said  unto  her, 

17  Behold,  I  have  not  told  it  my  fother  nor  my  mother,  and  shall  I  tell  it  thee  ?  And 
she  wept  before  him  the  seven  days,  while  their  feast  lasted  [during  which  they  had 
their  feast]  :  and  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  day,  that  he  told  her,  because  she 
lay  sore  upon  him  [pressed  him  hard]  :  and  she  told  the  riddle  to  the  children  [sons] 

18  of  her  people.  And  the  men  of  the  city  said  unto  him  on  the  seventh  day  before 
the  sun  went  down.  What  is  sweeter  than  honey  ?  and  what  is  stronger  than  a 
lion  ?     And  he  said  unto  them,  If  ye  had  not  ploughed  with  my  heifer,  ye  had  not 

1 9  found  out  my  riddle.  And  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came  upon  him,  and 
he  went  down  to  Ashkelon,  and  slew  thirty  men  of  them,  and  took  their  spoil 
[attire],  and  gave  [the]  change  [changes]  of  garments  unto  them  which  expounded 

i30  the  riddle.  And  his  anger"  was  kindled,  and  he  went  up  to  his  fiither's  house.  But 
[And]  Samson's  wife  was  given  to  his  companion,  whom  he  had  used  as  his 
friend  [who  had  attended  him]. 

TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  15.  —  ^'n^S"''\      Dr.  Cassel  treats  all  that  comes  after  the  phrase,  "and  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  day," 

iown  to  the  same  phrase  in  ver.  17,  as  parenthetic,  and  consequently  renders  !l"H3S*T  by  the  jjluperfect :  '  and  they 
»ad  said."     Cf.  below.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

The   {Esthetic .beauty   and    psychological   truth 
n  Inch  characterize  the  narrative  notwithstanding: 


its  compressed  brevity,  and  which  would  be  incom- 
parable even  though  the  narrative  were  not  found 
in  the  Bible,  and  had  not  divine  truth  for  its  con- 
tents and  object,  can  scarcely  be  adequately  pointed 


CHAPTER    XIV.  15-20. 


201 


out,  so  manifoidly  do  they  manifest  themselves. 
The  drama  is  represented  with  such  historical  life- 
likeness,  and  its  development  is  so  natural,  that 
while  no  one  could  foresee  why  the  wedding-  should 
give  rise  to  a  conflict,  yet  in  the  sequel  it  becomes 
manifest  that  its  occurrence  was  unavoidable. 
Samson  really  loved  the  maiden  of  Timnah,  and 
took  the  full  measure  of  youthful  delight  in  the 
nuptial  banquet  and  i'estival ;  but  it  is  impossible 
for  an  Israelite,  as  he  is,  to  enter  into  any  kind  of 
close  connection  with  the  enemies  and  oppressors 
of  his  people,  without  getting  into  a  conflict.  It 
must  never  be  supposed  that  covenants,  even  in 
the  sim])lest  relations  of  life,  can  be  made  with 
those  who  are  opponents  in  principle  and  tyrants 
in  disposition.  No  occasion  is  so  slight,  but  it 
suffices  to  inflame  the  fires  of  antagonism.  Sam- 
son is  too  genial  of  nature  to  be  a  far-seeing  party 
man  ;  but  he  deceived  himself  when  he  exjiected 
to  find  a  covenant  of  love  and  fidelity  in  a  Philis- 
tine family.  The  preventing  cause  lay  not  only 
in  his  opponents,  but  also  in  himself,  in  that  he 
was  always,  even  unconsciously,  showing  who  he 
was.  Everything-  appeared  to  l)e  harmonious  when 
be  propounded  the  riddle.  He  did  it  in  the  most 
peaceful  spirit,  from  the  impulse  of  an  active  mind. 
But  it  immediately  brought  the  hidden  antagonism 
to  light.  For  they  to  whom  it  was  proposed  for 
solution  were  Philistines.  As  such,  they  would  at 
all  events  be  put  to  shame,  if  they  failed  to  solve 
it.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  true,  the  nobility  of 
Samson's  disjX)sition  reveals  itself,  in  contrast  with 
the  vulgar  natures  of  the  Philistines.  He,  for  his 
part,  risks  thirty  times  the  value  of  what,  in  case 
of  failure,  each  uf  the  thirty  has  to  pay.  This  is 
the  very  reason  why,  in  their  covetousness,  they 
accept  the  wager.  The  result  was  natural.  They 
cannot  solve  tlie  riddle,  but  neither  are  they  will- 
ing to  admit  this.  They  are  too  vain  to  be  hum- 
bled by  an  alien,  but  especially  too  covetous  to 
endure  a  loss.  They  therefore  turn  to  Samson's 
young  wife.  Had  she  not  been  a  Philistine,  they 
would  not  Liave  dared  to  do  this.  But,  as  it  is, 
they  expect  to  find  in  her  an  ally  against  the 
Israelite,  even  though  he  be  her  husband.  She 
seems  indeed  to  have  resisted  for  a  while,  —  until 
they  arouse  both  her  fears  and  her  vanity.  Her 
fears,  by  the  threat  to  burn  her  father's  house  over 
her  heastl ;  her  vanity,  by  hinting  that  probably  the 
riddle  was  only  put  forth  in  order  to  plunder  the 
guests.  The  latter  .suspicion  she  maj^  have  found 
especially  intolerable,  women  being  ever  peculiarly 
sensitive  to  similar  surmises  of  village  slander- 
mongers.  Perhaps,  however,  she  merely  invented 
these  threatening  speeches  afterwards,  in  order  to 
pacity  Samson.  For  else,  why  did  she  not  confess 
the  truth  to  Samson?  That  alone  would  have 
ended  the  trouble.  Either  he  would  have  felt  him- 
self strong  enough  to  protect  her,  and  to  humble 
:he  miserable  enemies,  or  he  would  have  consented 
to  the  sacrifice  of  ap))earing  to  be  vanquished.  But 
she  did  not  do  this,  just  because  she  did  not  forget 
that  she  was  a  Philistine.  Samson,  she  conjec- 
tured, would  not  allow  himself  to  be  humbled. 
She  sought,  therefore,  to  persuade  him  by  means 
f  that  very  antagonism  for  the  sake  of  which  she 
betrayed  him.  vShe  com])lained,  weeping,  that  he 
still  ti-eated  her  like  her  countrymen,  and  also  kept 
from  her  that  which  he  would  not  tell  them.  She 
desires  to  make  it  appear  that  her  love  has  so 
entirely  brought  her  over  to  his  interests,  that  she 
ought  not  to  be  put  on  the  same  footing  with  her 
countrymen.  Tbis  would  have  been  the  right  re- 
lation.,    The  -Yvile  may  assist  no  party  but  that  of 


her  husband.  But  she  only  dissembled,  in  order 
to  betray.  Finally,  on  the  seventh  day,  —  the  sun 
was  already  declining,  —  she  had  so  tormented  the 
hero,  that  he  told  it  to  her.  He  had  a  heart  not 
only  great,  but  also  tender,  which  at  last  succumbs 
to  the  prayers  and  tears  of  the  wife  whom  he  loves 
and  holds  to  be  true.  The  treachery  is  completed. 
The  miserable  Philistines  act  as  if  they  had  them- 
selves found  the  solution,  and  claim 'the  reward. 
Then  a  light  goes  up  for  Samson.  He  sees  the 
whole  contrast,  —  the  incongruity  and  error  of  a 
covenant  with  Philistines.  Before  the  treason  of 
which  he  has  been  made  the  subject,  the  mists  with 
which  a  seductive  sensuality  had  obscured  his  vis- 
ion are  scattered.  National  wrath  and  national 
strength  awake  within  him.  His  whole  greatness 
reveals  itself.  He  does  not  refuse  the  Philistines 
the  promised  reward.  But  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  given,  is  full  of  contempt  and  humiliation. 
He  throws  to  them  the  spoils  of  thirty  slain  Philis- 
tines. He  leaves  the  woman,  and  returns  to  Israel. 
The  conflict  has  begun,  and  Samson's  true  calling 
becomes  manifest.  He  who  wears  the  consecra- 
tion of  God  on  his  head,  cannot  revel  in  the  houses 
of  Philistines. 

Ver.  15.  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh 
day.  More  recent  expositors  have  made  no  re- 
marks on  this  difficult  statement.  To  assume  that 
the  Philistines  first  applied  themselves  to  the  wo- 
man on  the  seventh  day,  is  rendered  impossible  by 
ver.  1 7,  which  says  that  she  wept  before  Samson 
"  seven  days.."  The  LXX.  therefore,  read  here, 
"on  the  fourth  day,"  because  ver.  14  states  that 
for  three  days  they  were  not  able  to  find  the  solu- 
tion. Considering  how  easily  T  and  '?  may  be  in- 
terchanged, the  substitution  of  "  seven  "  for  "  four  " 
appears  very  likely.  But  the  clearer  it  seems  that 
the  reading  should  be,  "  on  the  fourth  day,"  the 
more  surprising  it  is  that  the  Masora  retained  "  on 
the  seventh  day."  The  Masora,  however,  supposed 
the  Sabbath  to  be  meant  by  the  seventh  day,  —  an 
opinion  also  followed  by  some  of  the  older  expos- 
itors (cf.  Serarius),  but  which  cannot  be  correct.^ 
For  in  ver.  17  a  "  seventh  day"  is  again  mentioned, 
which  cannot,  however,  be  another  Sabbath  ;  for 
as  the  first  "  seventh  day  "  is,  by  the  supposition, 
the  fourth,  so  this  second  is  the  seventh,  day  of 
the  wedding-feast.  The  reading  "on  the  seventh 
day  "  can  be  retained,  if  the  passage  which  begins 
immediately  after  it  in  ver.  15,  and  extends  to  the 
same  phrase  in  ver.  17,  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of 
parenthesis.  The  writer  was  already  on  the  point 
of  stating  that  after  they  had  inefiectually  puzzled 
over  it  for  three  days,  Samson  on  the  seventh  day 
told  it  to  his  wife,  when  it  occurred  to  him  first  to 
interpose  the  statements  of  vers.  15-17,  as  showing 
the  motives  by  which  Samson  was  influenced.  Ac- 
cordin.cly,  "on  the  seventh  day,"  in  ver.  17,  only 
continues  what  the  same  words  in  ver.  15  had 
begun.  The  statement  in  the  parenthesis  that  she 
wept  before  him  "  seven  days,"  falls  in  with  this 
view.  The  idea  is,  that  from  the  time  at  which 
she  began,  she  continued  to  torment  him  through- 
out the  whole  seven-day  period  of  the  feast. 
Throughout  the  whole  week,  therefore,  instead 
of  cheerful  guests,  Samson  had  sullen  Philistine 
faces,  and,  instead  of  a  happy  wife,  crocodile  tears 
and  reproaches.- 

1  Least  correct  of  all  would  it  be,  with  Lilienthal,  to 
leave  the  words  out  because  the  Konigsberg  MSS.  did  uot 
have  them. 

2  [Dr.  Cassel's  explanation  of  this  matter  does  not  strike 
me  favorably.     It  certainly  fails  to  justify  the  remark  of 


202 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Persuade  thy  husband,  that  he  declare  unto 

us  the  riddle.  ^^?)  persuade  ;  most  frequently, 
it  is  true,  "  ijef'ool,"  "  entice  by  flattery."  Very 
si^nitieiint  is  tlie  cxjiression,  "  that  he  deehire  unto 
us  the  riddle."  It'  he  tells  it  to  her,  they  intimate, 
he  will  nave  told  it  to  them.  For  do  not  they  and 
she  constitute  an  "us?"  She  belongs  to  them, 
and  must  act  accordingly,  if  she  would  not  incur 
their  enmity  against  herself  and  her  house. 

Have  ye  invited  us  to  plunder  us  ?  is  it  not 

so?     ^3t£'"]^yn  is  the  kal  infinitive  with  suffix, 

and  is  to  be  derived  from  ^Tt'  to  inherit,  to  get 
by  conquest,  to  take  into  possession.  The  word  is 
aptly  chosen  here.  When  Israel  was  taking  pos- 
session of  the  land,  ^"^^  was  a  word  in  constant 
use.  The  Philistines  mockingly  ask  whether  they 
were  invited  that  Israel,  in  the  person  of  Sam- 
son, might  "conquer,"  "inherit,"  their  property. 

K/rr,  at  the  close,  is  an  interrogative  particle,  like 
the  Latin  )ie,  used  enclitically. 

Ver.  16.  Thou  dost  but  hate  me,  ^iilSpt??. 
Samson,  she  intimates,  must  look  on  her  as  one 
looks  on  a  person  who  belongs  to  a  hostile  tribe, 
seeing  that  he  conceals  the  solution  of  the  riddle 
from  her  as  well  as  from  the  other  people  of  the 
city.  The  woman,  pressed  to  decide  lietween  her 
people  and  Samson,  inclines  to  the  Philistines.  A 
lesson  for  Samson  and  others  like  him. 

Behold,  I  have  not  told  it  my  father  nor  my 
mother?  It  is  true,  he  deferred  not  to  father  and 
mother  in  the  matter  of  his  marriage,  but  not  from 
want  of  reverence  for  them.  They  are  his  most 
beloved.  To  them  he  brings  of  the  honey.  (  V^ery 
insipidly,  .loseplius  adds  here  that  he  brought 
honey  to  the  woman  also.)  And  the  woman,  in 
the  midst  of  her  flatteries  and  tears,  must  endure 
to  hear  him  say  to  lier  :  Have  1  not  told  it  to  my 
parents,  and  shall  I  tell  it  to  thee  '.  To  be  sure,  it 
would  have  been  ine.Kcusable  to  have  put  his  par- 
ents —  and  such  parents  !  —  on  the  same  level  with 
a  Philistine  wonuin. 

Ver.  18.  Belbre  the  sun  went  down.     Here 

also  we  have  the  poetical  name  '^^"in  (instead  of 

the  form  D^jn),  for  the  sun,  cf.  on  ch.  viii.  13. 

Beautiful  is  the  expression  Wl3,  to  come,  for  "to 
set."  The  sun  comes  home,  as  it  wei-e  —  comes 
into  his  house,  like  a  bridegroom  after  his  wed- 
ding. On  the  other  hand,  when  the  sun  rises,  the 
Hebrew  says  that  he  'goes  forth"  into  activity, 
forth  for  victory  like  a  hero. 

Had  ye  not  ploughed  with  my  heifer,  ye  had 
not  found  out  my  riddle.  The  answer  of  the 
angry  Samson  is  elegantly  couched  in  the  form  of 
a  proverb,  full  of  spirit,  as  arc  all  his  sayings 
which  have  been  ]ireserved.  It  starts  from  the 
experience  that   buried   treasures  come   to   light, 

ver.  17  :  "  she  wept  l)efore  him  se^en  daj'S."  The  natural 
explanation  seems  to  be  this  :  As  soon  as  the  rii.ldle  wa.s 
given,  the  youu;;  wife  at  onee  be^an  to  teaze  for  its  solu- 
tion. Refusal  both  stiuinlated  lier  curiosity  .and  wounded 
her  vanity,  fo  that  even  before  the  end  of  the  first  day  she 
had  recourse  to  the  iirgunient  of  tears.  Day  by  day  slie 
renewed  the  assault,  but  always  ineffectually.  Finally,  on 
the  seventh  day  she  brings  a  new  argument,  furnished  her 
by  the  guests.,  For  the  first  three  days  of  the  festivities 
these  had  souglit  to  solve  the  riddle  in  a  legitimate  way. 
Bucli  appears  to  be  the  import  of  the  remark  in  ver.  14  : 
"  and  they  could  not  in  three  days  expound  the  riddle.'' 
What  they  did  on  the  next  three  days  is  not  stated.     They 


when  the  soil  is  turned  by  the  plough.  (Tages, 
the  Roman  Genius,  was  fabled  to  have  been  thus 
ploughed  up.)  But  not  every  one  knows  where  to 
draw  the  furrow.  The  Philistines  woidd  not  liuve 
known  it ;  but  his  heifer  had  shown  them  the  way. 
The  comparison  is  not  very  flattering  to  the  trai- 
toress,  but  (pnte  appropriate.  For  no  merit  accrues 
to  the  heifer  when  it  ploughs  the  right  furrow  :  it 
has  been  shown  to  it.  So  also  the  woman  :  she 
has  solved  nothing,  but  only  played  the  traitor. 

Ver.  1 9.  And  he  went  down  to  Ashkelon,  and 
slew  thirty  men  of  them.  Why  to  Asltkelon  ? 
Against  the  ])eople  of  Timnah  he  could  not  turn 
his  wrath.  He  had  eaten  M'itli  them,  and  he  would 
not  withdraw  himself  from  the  obligations  he  had 
assumed.  But  their  conduct  had  awakened  him 
to  a  sense  of  the  great  national  contrast  between 
them  and  Israel.  At  this  moment  he  felt  that 
Israel  lay  in  the  bands  of  servitude.  Between  his 
people  and  the  Philistines  no  other  treaty  existed, 
than  that  which  is  made  by  the  cowardly  and  the 
God-forsaken  with  their  enemies.  Israel  endured 
servitude,  because  it  had  fallen  away  from  its  an- 
cient spirit.     It  ventured  no  longer  on  resistance. 

All  this  came  home  to  Samson's  mind  at  this 
moment.  He  determined  to  give  a  pioof  of  Israel- 
itish  strength.  Hence  we  read,  "  the  Spirit  of  Je- 
hovah came  upon  him,"  a  remark  always  found 
where  Israel  manifests  a  determination  to  lift  up 
heart  and  hand  against  the  enemies -of  God.  His 
relations  would  have  advised  him  to  collect  money 
and  buy  the- garments.  It  was  a  divine  inspiration 
which  moved  him  to  pay  by  battle.  Why  did  he 
go  to  Ashkelon  ?  Because  there  were  rich  and 
valiant  men  there,  whom  it  was  worth  while  to 
attack  and  overcome.  Probably  it  was  a  nuptial 
party,  graced,  as  his  own  had  been,  with  thirty 
attendant  groom'sinen,  that  he  surprised.  It  was 
not  done  in  the  midst  of  peace.  There  was  no 
peace  between  Philistines  and  Israel.  He  con- 
quered the  thirty  Philistines  (mend)ers,  perhaps, 
as  we  have  said,  of  a  nuptial  train)  with  the  sword, 
as  he  vanquished  his  own  retinue  in  a  conflict  of 
intellect.  The  fame  of  the  wonderful  young  Is- 
raelite resounds  through  the  land.  No  reprisals 
are  made.  The  princes  of  the  Philistines  look  on 
the  occurrence  as  a  private  att'air.  But  a  silent 
quaking  of  conscience,  such  as  seizes  on  tyrants 
when  a  fresh  spirit  stirs  itself  among  the  op- 
pressed, contributed  no  doubt  to  the  preservation 
of  repose. 

Took    their    attire,     □ni!i"^bn.       ChaUtsah 

(n^'^yin)  is  the  military  equipment,  of  which  the 
fallen  are  stripped,  cf.  2  Sam.  ii.  21.  There,  the 
Sept.  renders  it  iravoirXia ;  here,  (tt6\to-  This  sup- 
ports the  opinion  of  the  Targum,  adduced  above, 
that  the  promise  of  Samson  referred  to  military  gar- 
ments. For  the  chaliphoth  (changes  of  garments) 
which  he  paid,  were  doubtless  ])art  of  the  chalhsoth, 
or  military  suits,  which  he  took ;  so  tluit  Samson 

may  have  remained  inactive,  trusting  in  some  way  to  com- 
pass the  solution  at  last,  or  they  may  have  been  already 
ploughing  with  Samson's  heifer.  liut  if  tlie  latter,  they 
had  not  yet  recourse  to  threats.  On  tlie  last  day  of  the 
feast,  however,  when  they  find  that  waiting  has  been  as  in- 
effective as  working,  and  that  the  wife's  importunities  (of 
which  they  were  probably  cognizant,  even  though  they  did 
not  stimulate  them),  have  likewise  accomplished  nothing, 
they  resort  to  threats  against  the  wife.  The  latter  there- 
upon becomes  more  urgent  and  tearful  than  ever,  and  gains 
her  point.  Compare  Bertheau  and  Keil,  who  give  esseu 
tially  the  same  explanation.  —  Ts,] 


CHAPTER  XV.    1-8. 


203 


did  not  first  sell  liis  booty,  and  then  buy  new  gar- 
ments. It  is  in  harmony  with  the  dramatic  course 
of  the  action,  that  Samson  flung  to  his  treacherous 
friends,  as  the  ]>ricc  of  their  deception,  garments 
siiatelied  from  their  own  countrymen. 

And  he  went  up  to  his  father's  house.  His 
wrath  hhized  u])  into  a  national  flame  against  the 
Philistine  brood.  He  turns  his  back  upon  them, 
and  goes  home.  It  seems  to  be  his  intention  never 
to  conic  l)ack.  How  little  they  were  worthy  of 
him,  is  shown  by  the  conduct  of  the  woman,  after 
his  dejjarture.  That  she  may  not  be  without  a 
husband  in  consequence  of  her  ti'cason,  she  is  re- 
warded with  the  hand  of  another  man.  One  of 
the  companions  for  whose  sake  she  deceived  Sam- 
bon,  man-ies  her.  To  treason  she  adds  infidelity. 
Meanness  of  disposition  gives  birth  to  everything 
that  is  bad.  It  can  neither  love  nor  be  faithful ; 
hut  least  of  all  can  it  comprehend  a  man  such  as 
Samson  was. 

A  survey  of  only  that  which  chapter  xiv.  shows 
of  Samson,  shouhl  have  excited  the  attention  of 
those  who  find  pleasure  in  comparing  him  with 
Hercules.  While  all  the  ancient  statements  about 
the  Greek  hero  have  value  only  as  the  vehicles 
of  mythico-symbolical  ideas,  Samson  appears  in 
the  nudst  of  history,  wearing  the  living  hues  of 
actual  existence.  Hercules,  the  more  the  later 
Greeks  take  him  historically,  the  more  he  assumes 
the  character  of  a  coarse  giant  and  glutton,  who, 
averse  to  culture,  kills  his  master;  while  Samson 
is  at  once  j)ortrayed  as  a  genial  man,  of  noble  dis- 
position. It  were  more  feasible  to  institute  a  com- 
parison lietwecn  Samson  and  many  traits  in  the 
character  of  Ulysses,  were  it  not  that  in  the  latter, 
as  in  Greek  heroes  generally,  there  is  wanting  the 
jiathos  of  the  national  champion,  and  that  eleva- 
tion of  sjiirit  whieli,  in  the  case  of  Samson,  breaks 
through  tlie  fetters  of  even  his  deepest  sensuality. 
It  is  already  a  misapprehension  when  some  would 
assign  twelve  exploits  to  Samson,  seeing  .that  his 
whole  lite  is  given  for  a  testimony;  but  when  his 
slaying  of  the  thirty  Philistines  is  counted  as  the 


second  (as  e.  g.  by  Bertheau),  there  is  a  want  of 
understanding  even  of  the  Heraclean  performances! 
These  are  a  didactic  poem  ;  what  is  told  of  Sam 
son,  signifies  an  ethical  deed.  The  deeds  of  Her- 
cules have  no  mutual  connection  :  those  of  Samson, 
ethico-historical  in  their  nature,  are  conditioned 
one  by  the  other.  The  succeeding  history,  related 
in  chap,  xv.,  connects  itself  with  what  has  gone 
before. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Henry  (on  vers.  10,  12) :  It  is  no  part  of  re- 
ligion to  go  contrary  to  the  innocent  usages  of  the 
places  where  we  live ;  nay,  it  is  a  reproach  to  relig- 
ion, when  those  Avho  profess  it  give  just  occasion 
to  others  to  call  them  covetous,  sneaking,  and 
morose.  A  good  man  should  strive  to  make  him- 
self, in  the  best  sense,  a  good  companion. — Thu 
SAME  :  ''If  ye  had  not  ploughed  with  my  heifer, 
you  had  not  found  out  my  riddle."  Satan,  in  his 
temptations,  could  not  do  us  the  mischief  he  does, 
if  he  did  not  plough  with  the  heifer  of  our  own 
corrupt  nature.  —  The  same  :  "  And  he  went  up 
to  his  father's  house."  It  were  well  for  us,  if  the 
unkindness  we  meet  with  from  the  world,  and  our 
disappointments  in  it,  had  but  this  good  effect  upon 
us  to  oblige  tis  by  faith  and  prayer  to  return  to 
our  heavenly  Father's  house,  and  rest  there. — 
The  same  :  "  Samson's  wife  was  given  to  his  com- 
panion, whom  he  had  used  as  his  friend."  See 
how  little  confidence  is  to  be  put  in  man,  when 
those  may  prove  our  enemies  whom  we  have  used 
as  our  friends.  —  Bp.  Hall  (on  ver.  19):  If  we 
wonder  to  see  thirty  throats  cut  for  their  suits,  we 
m.ay  easily  know  that  this  was  but  the  occasion 
of  that  slaugliter  whereof  the  cause  was  their  op- 
pression and  tyranny. 

Wordsworth  :  At  the  marriage  feast  of  Cana 
in  Galilee,  Christ  manifested  forth  his  glory  (John 
ii.  11).  But  at  this  marriage  in  Timnath,  Samson 
betrayed  the  first  signs  of  moral  weakness  and 
degeneracy.  —  Tr.] 


Samson  returns .  to  visit  his  wife.     Finding  that  she  has  heen  given  to  another,  he 
avenges  himself  on  the  Philistines  hy  firing  their  standing  corn. 

Chapter  XV.  1-8. 


1  But  [And]  it  came  to  pass  within  a  while  after  [after  a  while],  in  the  time  of 
wheat-harvest,  that  Samson  visited  liis  wife  with  a  kid  ;  and  he  said,  I  will  go  in 
to  my  wife  into  the  chamber  [the  female  apartment].     But  her  father  would  not  suffer 

2  him  to  go  in.  And  her  father  said,  I  verily  thought  that  thou  hadst  utterly  hated 
her  ;  therefore  I  gave  her  to  thy  companion :  is  not  her  younger  sister  fairer  than 

3  she  ?  take  her  [be  she  thine],  I  pray  thee,  instead  of  her.  And  Samson  said  con- 
(jerning  [to]  them,  Now  shall  I  be  more  [omit:  more]  blameless  than  [before]  the 

i  Philistines,  thougli  I  do  them  a  displeasure  [do  them  evil].  And  Sanson  went 
and  caught  three  hundred  foxes  [jackals],  and  took  fire-brands  [torches],  tnd  turned 

0  tail  to  tail,  and  put  a  fire-brand  [torch]  in  the  midst  between  two  tails.  And  when 
he  had  set  the  brands  [torches]  on  fire,  he  let  thejn  go  [sent  them  off"  —i.e.,  the  ani- 
mals] into  the  standing  corn  of  the  Philistines,  and  burnt  up  both  the  shocks,  and 
also  the  standing  corn,  with  the  vineyards  and  olives   [with  the  olive-gardens]. 

6  Then  the  Philistines  said,  Who  hath  done  this  ?     And  they  answered,  Samson,  the 


-'04 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


son-in  law  of  the  Timnite,  because  he  had  taken  [took]  his  wife,  and  given  [gave] 
her  to  his  companion.     And  the  Philistines  came  up,  and  burnt  her  and  her  father 

7  with  fire.     And  Samson  said  unto  them,  Though  ye  have  done  this  [If  ye  act  thus]. 

8  yet  will  I  [(I  swear)  that  I  will]  be  avenged  of  you,  and  after  that  I  will  cease.  And 
he  smote  them  hip  [shank]  and  thigli  with  a  great  slaughter.  And  he  went  down 
and  dwelt  in  the  top  [cleft]  of  the  rock  Etam. 


EXEQETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  1,  2.  And  it  came  to  pass  after  some 
time.  Samson's  disposition  wiis  too  nolile  to  cher- 
ish anger  long:  only  small  souls  bear  grudges. 
But  great  natures  measure  others  by  themselves. 
Because  they  have  forgotten  the  wrong  that  was 
done  them,  they  think  that  others  are  no  longer 
mindful  of  the  wrong  they  have  done.  Samson 
feels  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  Kindly-disposed 
as  ever,  he  comes  to  visit  his  wife.  His  conciliatory 
feeling  declares  itself  in  tlie  present  of  a  kid  which 
he  brings.  His  wife,  it  says,  has  nothing  to  fear. 
Conscious  of  harmless  intentions,   he  wishes  to 

enter  her  room  ("'TI'?  i^  ^^^'  ^'^'^  most  part  the 
inner  apartment,  where  the  women  slee]j).  But 
this  leads  to  the  disclosure  of  how  he  has  been 
treated.  Her  father  does  not  allow  him  to  enter, 
on  the  ground  that  she  is  no  longer  his  wife,  hut 
another's.  The  injustice  of  the  transaction  thus 
disclosed  was  patent.  For  Samson's  absence  can- 
not have  been  long.  He  returned  in  the  season 
of  tiie  wheat-harvest  (mentioned  on  account  of 
ver.  5),  which  fell  perhaps  in  May.  It  is  probable 
that  in  Palestine,  as  elsewhere,  most  weddings  took 
place  in  the  spring.  Samson,  at  his  departure, 
had  not  said  that  he  would  not  return.  His  father- 
in-law  excuses  himself  only  by  intimating  that  he 
thought  he  would  not  come  back.  The  words  of 
ver.  2  enable  us  almost  to  see  the  anxiety  and  fear 
with  which  the  father  seeks  to  exculpate  himself 
before  Samson,  —  M-hom  he  now  knows  better  than 
formerly,  —  and  snider  the  influence  of  which  he 
offers  him  his  other  daughter  as  indemnification. 
He  cannot  restore  his  wife  for  fear  of  the  Philis- 
tines ;  and  lie  fears  him  because  of  the  injustice  he 
has  done  him.  • 

Ver.  S.  And  Samson  said  to  them  :  This  time 
I  shall  be  blameless,  etc.  The  greatness  of  his 
nature  shows  itself  here  also.  To  the  fearful  father 
he  does  no  harm.  Small  heroism  there  would 
liave  been  in  that.  He  iises  no  violence  —  brings 
the  man  into  no  awkward  relations  with  his  coun- 
trymen. He  remembers  that  his  daughter  has 
been  his  wife,  love  of  whom  has  brought  him 
there.  Besides  —  and  this  again  manifests  the 
warrior  of  God  in  him  —  he  speedily  sinks  all  per- 
sonal interests  in  the  general  interests  of  his  peo- 
jile.  At  every  conflict  the  consciousness  of  hfs 
divine  vocation  breaks  forth.  He  turns  his  per- 
sonal wrong  into  an  occasion  of  a  national  exploit 
against  the  enemy  of  his  people  as  a  whole.  The 
.sign  of  consecration  is  n])on  his  head  in  order  to 
lead  him  on  from  small  things  to  great,  from 
things  personal  to  those  that  are  general,  from 
olijects  of  sense  to  things  of  the  spirit,  and  to  re- 
mind him  of  his  call  to  be  a  hero  for  Israel  against 
the  Philistines. 

1  It  may  be  mentioned  as  an  exegetical  curiosity  tliat 
earlier  interpreters  sought  to  e.xplain  the  worj  shunliin  of 
trisps  of  straw.  Cf.  Stark,  Observ.  Select.  (Lips,  1714)  p. 
127. 

•i  A  great  deal  of  debate  was  formerly  had  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  greater  or  less  difficulty  involved  in  the  capture 


He  said  to  them.  To  whom?  To  his  own 
people  —  to  his  own  family.  Israel  was  utterly 
dispirited.  The  ]jeople  did  not  feel  deeply  enough 
the  disgrace  in  which  they  lived.  Special  grounds 
were  wanting,  in  their  view,  to  justify  Samson's 
hostility  against  the  Philistines.  The  Philistines 
were  not  harming  them;  v,^hy  then  attack  them'' 
Probably  Samson's  former  exploit  had  been  dis- 
approved. He  himself  they  may  have  told  him, 
had  been  to  blame  in  the  riddle-matter.  None 
more  law-abiding  and  careful  than  a  slavish  peo- 
ple that  will  make  no  saeri flees.  Now,  says  Sam- 
son to  them,  have  you  still  nothing  to  say  ?  I 
have  a  cause  ;  I  have  been  undeniably  wronged. 
It  was  the  Philistines  who  forced  my  wife  and  her 
father  to  take  the  step  they  took.  They  did  it 
because  I  am  an  Israelite.  For  what  I  now  do 
against  them  I  am  not  to  be  blamed.  He  thus 
takes  advantage  of  the  letter  of  personal  rights  in 
behalf  of  the  spirit  of  general  freedom.  Since  his 
people  are  insensible  of  their  bondage,  he  makes 
his  private  affliir  the  basis  of  a  declaration  of  war. 

Ver.  4.  And  he  caught  three  hundred  shu- 
ahm  (jackals,  foxes).  Samson  found  himself  alone 
in  his  hostility  against  the  Philistines.  No  one  of 
his  father's  house  followed  him.  He  had  not  even 
three  hundred  men,  like  those  that  stood  by  Gid- 
eon. He  turns,  therefore,  to  the  beasts  of  the 
forest  for  confederates.  As  bears  come  to  the  help 
of  Elisha,  so  he,  instead  of  three  hundred  soldiers, 
procures  three  hundred  jackals, ^  and  constitutes 
them  his  army  against  the  national  foe.  It  was 
an  ancient  and  common  war  measure,  still  em- 
ployed by  the  hostile  tribes  of  the  East,  to  set  fire 
to  the  standing  grain.  The  Lydian  king  Alyattes 
used  this  terrible  means  for  twelve  successive  years 
against  the  Milesians  (Herod,  i.  17-19).  It  was 
the  most  telling  damage  that  Samson  could  inflict 
on  the  Philistines.  They  had  not  stirred  when 
he  slew  the  thirty  men  The  living*  received  no 
injury  from  that.  But  when  the  harvest  disap- 
pears in  flames,  the  calamity  is  felt  far  and  wide. 
For  this  reason,  Samson  could  not  execute  his 
work  alone.  The  fire  would  have  been  more 
quickly  perceived  and  more  readily  quenched ;  for 
he  could  begin  only  in  one  spot.  He  chose  this 
measure,  not  only  to  show  his  strength  and  his 
warlike  humor,  but  also  to  let  the  enemy  see  how 
much  he  was  to  be  feared,  albeit  he  stood  alone. 
True  it  is,  undoubtedly,  that  no  other  man  would 
have  found  it  an  easy  matter  thus  to  catch  and  use 
three  hundred  jackals.-  But  what  a  fearful,  run- 
ning,' and  illimitable  conflagration  arose,  when  the 
three  hundred  animals,  almost  crazed  by  the  burning 
torches  that  wrapped  their  tails  in  flre,  sped  through 
the  standing  grain  to  seek  deliverance  and  freedom 
for  themselves  and  —  so  to  speak  —  for  Samson. 
The  fire  not  only  spread  of  itself,  but  was  carried 

of  the  jackals.  It  was  finally  concluded  that  a  good  pair 
of  niitttus  had  rendered  useful  service.  Oedmann,  Venn 
Samml,  ii.  32. 

3  The  Greek  name  of  the  jackal,  eta's,  is  derived  from  goo?, 
nimble,  swift,  since  they  run  very  ftist,  faster  than  wolves 
Benfey  holds  a  different  opinion  (  Gram.  11.  276). 


CHAPTER   XV.    1-8. 


20.5 


by  the  pain-maddened  animals  ever  deeper  into 
the  possessions  of  the  Philistines.  Three  hundred 
bnrnin«-  torches  ran,  with  the  swiftness  of  the 
wind,  in  the  dry  season,  throngh  the  waving-  fields, 
])iist  ihe  shocks,  and  up  the  mountain  vine-yards,i 
wirli  which  at  all  times  the  fox  is  too  well  ac- 
quainted for  the  interests  of  the  owner.  In  this 
blow  Samson,  ever  ingenious,  translated  a  widely 
diti'used  popular  figure  into  terrible  reality.     The 

word  -  "''^t-'  is  the  general  term  for  that  class  of 
animals  of  which  the  cam's  aureus,  alopex,  and  cam's 
i-ulpes  are  the  species.  It  is  thought  that  we  must 
here  think  of  the  canis  aureus,  the  jackal,  inas- 
much as  this  animal  is  found  in  those  regions  in 
large  troops.  All  we  can  be  certain  of,  is,  that  a 
member  of  the  red  fox  fiimily  is  intended,  whose 
tail  itself  looks  like  a  red  burning  torcii  or  glow- 
ing coal.-  For  Grimm's  remark  (made  in  the  year 
1812,  (I.  Museum,  p.  .39.3),  that  in  the  narrative  of 
Reynard  "  the  tail  and  its  red  color  are  indispensa- 
ble," is  indeed  true.  "  The  witnesses  of  foxes  are 
their  tails,"  is  an  old  Arabic  ])roverb  (Diez,  Denk- 
wurd.  V.  Asien,  ii.  88).  The  Greeks,  for  this  rea- 
son, called  the  fox  Xa/xirovpis,  bright,  burning  tail. 
Expositors  have  frequently  directed  attention  to 
the  statements  of  Ovid  (Fast.  iv.  681)  concerning 
an  ancient  Roman  custom,  practiced  in  Carseoli, 
at  the  festival  of  the  Cerealia,  of  letting  go  foxes, 
witli  burning  torches  tied  to  them,  by  means  of 
which  they  were  consumed.  The  idea  of  the  cere- 
mony was  undoubtedly  to  present  the  fox,  who, 
according  to  the  story,  once  set  the  grain-fields  on 
fire,  as  a  propitiatory  offering  to  ward  oflP mildew,^ 
of  wiiich  he  is  a  type.  The  mildew  is  called  robigo* 
in  Latin,  Greek  ipvat^-n;  both  to  be  derived  from 
the  reddish  color  of  the  affection  (Preller,  Rom. 
Mi/th.  p.  437).  This  is  confirmed  by  the  fiict  that 
Aa/jLTTovpls  was  also  the  name  for  the  glow  worm. 
The  Bceotians  were  not  the  only  ones  who,  as 
Suiilas  mentions  (cf.  Bochart,  lib.  iii.  xxii.),  be- 
lieved that  fire  could  be  kindled  with  the  glow- 
worm ;  in  Germany  also  tradition  related  that 
glow-worms  carried  coals  into  buildings  (Wolf, 
Deutsche  Mi/thologie,  i.  233),  just  as  by  a  similar 
figure  the  phrase,  "  to  set  the  red  cock  on  the  roof" 
(den  rollien  Hahn  auf's  Dach  setzen),  was  used  to 
denote  incendiarism. 

It  was  a  fearful  reality  into  which  the  idea  of 
the  incendiary  fox  was  converted  by  Samson.^ 
The  Philistines  were  terrified. 

Ver.  6.  And  the  Philistines  said,  Who  hath 
done  this?  They  are  informed  of  the  author  and 
the  occasion  of  his  wrath.  They  determine  to 
avenge  themselves,  but  choose  a'  mode  as  cowardly 
as  it  was  unjust.  As  in  the  former  instance  they 
left  Samson's  deed  unpunished,  so  now  they  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  him.  It  would  be  impos- 
sible to  show  more  delicately  how  tyrannous  power 
becomes  conciliatory  and  circumspect  towards  de- 

1  [Dr.    Cassel   renders  H'^*   D~l3   (ver.    5)  by   "  vine- 

T 

yards."  It  is  difBcult  to  account  for  this,  except  upon  the 
supposition  of  inadvertence.  C*^3  is  in  the  construct 
state,  and  is  used  here  in  its  general  sense  of  garden,  plan- 
tation.— Tr.] 

2  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  Persian  for  jackal 
(sliaiihal)  occurs  also  with  the  sense  of  cnrhn  and  prima,  glow- 
ing coal  (cf.  Vullers,  Ptrs.  Lex.,  ii.  433,  438),  and  that  the 
Old  High  German  chnlo,  a  coal,  seems  to  be  the  same  word. 
Hence  the  terms  B'and/uchs,  Kohlenfuchs,  renard  char- 
bonier,  volpe  carbonaja. 

3  [The  German  word  is  kornhrand,  "corn-burn."  —  Tr.] 

i  From  rv/us.     Cognate  names  for  the  fox  are  found  in 


pendents,  as  soon  as  a  man  of  spirit  appears  among 
them.  Instead  of  risking  anything  against  him, 
they  commit  an  outrage  on  the  weak  in  order  to 
pacify  him.  They  fall  upon  the  family  of  the  wife 
of  Samson,  and  burn  father  and  daughter  in  their 
house.  It  was  a  sad  fate.  It  was  to  avert  the 
very  same  danger  that  the  woman  had  betrayed 
Samson.  It  was  on  account  of  the  Philistines  that 
she  was  separated  from  him.  And  now  these  exe- 
cute the  cruel  deed  in  order  to  pacify  Samson's 
hostility.  Such  is  the  curse  of  treason.  But  the 
instruments  of  this  fate  were  still  more  guilty  than 
its  victims.  For  did  they  not  know  that  it  was 
against  themselves  that  Samson  had  directed  his 
national  vengeance  1  Had  he  been  desirous  of 
personal  vengeance  on  his  wife's  family,  could  he 
not  have  inflicted  it  himself  as  well  as  they?  If 
they  intended  to  ]iunish  the  recreant  family  for 
having  deprived  Samson  of  his  wife,  they  certainly 
could  not  expect  thereby  to  inflict  ])ain  on  Sam- 
son 1  What  a  difference  between  them  and  him ! 
The  injured  hero  turns  his  vengeance  against  the 
powerful ;  and  these  take  satisfaction  on  the  weak. 
He  elevates  a  personal  conflict  into  a  national 
challenge,  which  they  lower  into  vengeance  on  in- 
dividuals. He  spares  the  house  of  the  Timnite, 
although  Philistines  :  they  murder  it,  from  cow- 
ardly circumspection,  although  it  is  the  house  of  a 
countryman.  He  burns  their  fields  in  order  to 
rouse  them  to  battle,  and  they  burn  their  brethren 
in  order  to  pacify  the  enemy. 

Ver.  7.  And  Samson  said  to  them.  If  ye  act 
thus.  This  cruel  cowardice  awakens  Samson's 
utmost  contempt  and  resentment.  They  seek  to 
conciliate,  but  only  provoke.  They  judge  the  hero 
by  themselves  when  they  think  to  have  quieted 
him  by  such  an  abomination  ;  and  he  smites  them 
according  to  their  deserts.  The  loss  which  he  had 
suffered  was  not  great;  but  what  the  Philistines 
do,  becomes  to  them,  through  his  action,  a  source 
of  misery.  The  words,  "if  ye  act  thus,"  express 
the  full  measure  of  his  contempt.  In  ver.  3  he 
only  spoke  of  "doing  them  evil"  (damage) ;  but 
now  he  says,  I  will  not  cease  until  "I  have  taken 

satisfaction  on  yourselves  "  (D5^).  The  cowardly 
Philistines  afforded  him  an  occasion  for  wrath  and 
victory  such  as  he  had  not  hitherto  possessed.  For 
he  must  take  advantage  of  such  opportunities,  on 
account  of  the  torpor  of  his  own  people.  He  must 
estimate  the  loss  of  a  faithless  wife  and  a  charac- 
terless Philistine  father-in-law  sufficiently  liigh,  in 
order  to  give  free  course  to  the  national  wrath 
against  the  pusillanimous  foe. 

Ver.  8.  And  he  smote  them,  shank  and  thigh, 
with  a  great  slaughter.  What  Philistines  he 
smote  is  not  stated;  but  it  is  to  be  supposed  that 
he  surprised  those  who  burned  the  Timnite.  These 
he  attacked,  man  by  man  ;  and  inflicted  a  "great 

defeat."     For  the  words  ^^."'^■5  "^l-T  are  explan- 

various  dialects:  Spanish,  raposo ;  Portuguese,  rapozo , 
Danish,  racu ;  Swedish,  rq/,-  in  the  Finnish  tongues,  repe., 
rebbajie  (cf.  Pott,  Eli/m.  Forsr.h.,  i.  Ixxxii.). 

5  Speaking  of  Hannibal's  stratagem  of  fastening  fire- 
brands to  the  horns  of  two  thousand  cattle,  Livy  (xxii.  17) 
says  :  "  Haii'l  secu.i,  qurnn  silvis  mo>itibii.'<que  arcciisif,  om- 
nia circiim  virgidla  arcJtre.'"  —  The  instance  of  the  burning 
fox-tails  from  Roman  customs,  is  remarkably  paralleled  by  a 
Persian  superstition.  \\  henever  from  want  of  rain  the 
grain  threatened  to  burn  up,  it  was  the  practice  to  fasten 
combustible  materials  to  the  tail  of  a  young  bullock,  and 
set  them  on  fire.  If  the  bullock  thus  treated  ran  over  a 
hill,  it  was  regarded  a  favorable  sign.  Cf  Kichardsou 
Abhandlungen,  iibf.r  Spracheii  etc.  morgenlatidischer  VUl/cer 
p.  236. 


206 


THE   BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


atory  of  the  proverbial  expression  TJ^"^"  vV  piti7, 

"shank  and  thigh."  In  the  piti'"' — the  word  is 
manifestly  the  same  as  the  German  Sc/iinke,  Schen- 
kel,  English,  ''shank"  —  tlie  Hebrew  saw  a  sen- 
sible representation  of  the  strength  of  the  body. 
"God,"  says  the  Psalmist  (Ps.  cxlvii.  10),  "takes 

no  pleasure  in  the  '^pT^  of  a  man."  When  ori- 
ental narrators  wish  to  indicate  a  close  battle-array, 
they  say:  "shank  stood  on  shank"  (cf  Uiez, 
Denkw.  von  Asien,  i.  13.3).  Both  Romans  and 
Greeks  employed  forms  of  expression  which  im]ily 
that  to_  break  a  person's  loin,  hip,  and  shank  to 
pieces  is  equivalent  to  hewing  him  down  com- 
pletely (cf.  infringere  lumbos,  percutere  femur,  firipovs 
■Karaaffiiu).  The  shank  is  underneath  the  thigh. 
The  proverbial  phrase  is  therefore  equivalent  to  : 
'•  he  smote  them  upper  leg  and  lower  leg,"  i.  e. 
completely ;  and  the  completeness  of  the  defeat  is 
yet  more  vividly  expressed  in  that  the  writer  says, 

'H'^t'^P  P"!^  (literally,  "shank  upon  thigh"), 
whereas  the  natural  order  is  piti7"  ,"3  TJ^^  ("  thigh 
upon  shank  ").  He  turned  them  upside  down,  and 
cut  them  to  pieces.  Bertheati's  endeavor  to  ex- 
plain the  words  by  the  Arabic  expression,  "  he 
smote  them  shank-fashion,"  is  not  satisfactory, 
since  this  phrase  seems  I'ather  to  denote  a  man  to 
man  conflict.  The  explanation,  "horseman  and 
footman,"  given  by  the  Targum,  is  worthy  of 
notice,  by  reason  of  the  knowledge  of  oriental 
languages  which  its  authors  may  be  supposed  to 
have  had.  Marvelous  are  the  explanations  of 
many  of  the  church  fathers  and  elder  expositors 
(cf  Serarius,  in  loc).  The  LXX.  translate  ver- 
bally: Ki/r]/u.rju  €7ri  firjp6y ;  but  only  Kprifir]  koI  /iripos 
is  found  in  Greek  authors  (Plato,  Tinuvus,  74  e). 

And  he  went  down  and  dwelt  in  the  cleft 
of  the  rock  Etam.  After  such  a  deed  he  deemed 
himself  no  longer  safe  in  Zorah  and  its  vicinity. 
He  looked  now  ibr  a  determined  attack  from  the 
enemy,  and  sought  therefore  a  secure  place  for  de- 
fense and  refuge.  He  found  it  in  a  "  cleft  of  the 
rock  p]tam."  Opinions  differ  widely  as  to  the 
position  of  this  locality.  Bertheau  flnds  it  in  an 
Etam  near  Bethlehem  (the  Urtas  of  Robinson, 
Bil)l.  Res.  i.  477),  which  seems  to  be  too  far  cast, 
while  Kcil  looks  for  it  too  far  south,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Khuweilifeh.  Samson  cannot  have  intended 
to  withdraw  altogether  from  further  conflicts,  his 
declaration,  "  after  that  I  will  cease,"  notwith- 
standing; for  this  referred  only  to  his  recompense 
of  the  abominable  deed  at  Timnah.  Nor  can  he 
have  removed  to   too  great  a  distance  from  his 


home.  Etam  is  a  name  which,  from  its  significa- 
tion, might  naturally  be  of  frequent  occurrence, 
and  which  is  very  suitable  for  the  abode  of  the  lion- 
slayer  and  jackal-conqueror.  It  signifies  "  wild- 
beasts'  lair ; "  for  10^ V  is  a  ravenous  beast.  The 
name,  which  probably  still  answered  to  the  reality, 
offered  a  guaranty  for  the  sustenance  of  the  hero 
who  took  up  his  dwelling  there.  From  Deir  Dub- 
bSn  to  Beit  Jibrin  (Eleutheropolis)  there  are  found 
remarkable  rock-caverns,  which  in  later  times  be- 
came places  of  refuge  for  Christians,  and  which 
even  in  very  ancient  times  doubtless  served  as  asy- 
lums for  warriors  and  wild  beasts.  Their  position 
is  such  that  for  Samson  it  could  not  have  been 
better  (cf  Ritter,  xvi.  136,  etc.).  In  the  name 
Deir  Dubban  —  dub,  dob,  is  a  bear — a  reminis- 
cense  of  that  of  Etam  might  still  be  found.i 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Henkt  :  "  Visited  her  with  a  kid."  The  value 
of  the  present  was  inconsiderable,  but  it  was  in- 
tended as  a  token  of  a  reconciliation It  was 

generous  in  Samson,  as  the  party  offended,  and 
the  superior  relation,  to  whom  therefore  she  was 
bound  to  make  the  first  motion  of  reconciliation. 
When  differences  happen  between  near  relations, 
let  those  be  ever  reckoned  the  wisest  and  the  best, 
that  are  most  forward  to  forgive  and  forget  inju- 
ries, and  most  willing  to  stoop  and  yield  for  peace 
sake.  —  The  same  :  "  I  verily  thought  thou  hadst 
utterly  hated  her."  It  will  never  bear  us  out  in 
doing  ill,  to  say,  We  thought  others  designed  ill. — 
The  same  (on  ver.  6) :  See  His  hand  in  it  to 
whom  vengeance  belongs  !  Those  that  deal  treach- 
erously, shall  be  spoiled  and  dealt  treacherously 
with,  and  the  Lord  is  known  by  these  judgments 
which  He  executes  ;  especially  when,  as  here.  He 
makes  use  of  his  people's  enemies  as  instruments  for 
revenging  his  people's  quarrels  one  upon  another. 
—  Bp.  Hall,  :  If  the  wife  of  Samson  had  not  feared 
the  fire  for  herself  and  her  father's  house,  she  had 

not  betrayed  her  husband That  evil  which 

the  wicked  feared,  meets  them  in  their  flight.  How 
many,  in  a  fear  of  poverty,  seek  to  gain  uncon- 
scionably, and  die  beggars !  How  many,  to  shun 
pain  and  danger,  have  yielded  to  evil,  and  in  the 
long  run  have  been  met  in  the  teeth  with  that  mis- 
chief which  they  had  hoped  to  have  left  behind 
them  !  —  Tr.] 

1  Keil  (on  Josh.  xii.  15)  inclines  to  locate  the  Cave  of 
AduUam  at  Deir  Dubban. 


The  Philistines  threaten  war  against  Judah.     The  men  of  Judah,  to  save  themselves, 

seek  to  deliver  up  Samson,  who  allows  himself  to  be  ■  bound,  but  tears  his  bonds 

when  brought  in  sight  of  the  Philistines,  and  slays  a  thousand  of  the  enemy. 

Chapter   XV.    9-20. 


0       Then  the  Phihstines  went  up,  and  pitched  in  [encamped  against]  Judah,  and 

10  spread  themselves  in  Lehi.     And  the  men  of  Judah  said,  Why  are  ye  come  up 
against  us  ?     And  they  answered.  To  bind  [i.  e.,  to  capture]  Samson  are  we  come  up,  to 

1 1  do  to  him  as  he  hath  done  to  us.     Then  three  thousand  men  of  Judah  went  [down] 


CHAPTER   XV.    9-20. 


2U>7 


to  the  top  [cleft]  of  the  rock  Etam,  and  said  to  Samson,  Knowest  thou  not  that 

.   the  Philistines  are  [omit :  are]  rulers  [rule]  over  us  ?  what  is  this  that  thou  hast 

done  unto  us  ?     And  he  said  unto  them,  As  they  did  unto  me,  so  have  I  done  unto 

12  them.  And  they  said  unto  him,  We  are  come  down  to  bind  thee,  that  we  may 
deliver  thee  into  the  hand  of  the  Philistines.     And  Samson  said  unto  them.  Swear 

13  unto  me,  that  ye  will  not  foil  u^aon  me  yourselves.  And  they  spake  unto  him,  say- 
ing, No ;  but  [for]  we  will  bind  thee  last  [omit :  fast],  and  deliver  thee  into  their 
hand  :  but  surely  [omit :  surely]  we  will  not  kill  thee.     And  they  bound  him  with 

14  two  new  cords,  and  brought  him  up  from  the  rock,  ^no?  when  he  came  unto  Lehi, 
the  Philistines  shouted  against  ^  him :  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  came 
mightily  [suddenly]  upon  him,  and  the  cords  that  were  upon  his  arms  became  as 
flax  tliat  was  burnt  with  fire,  and  his  bands  loosed  [melted]  from  off  his  hands. 

15  And  he  found  a  new  [fresh]  jaw-bone  of  an  ass,  and  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took 

16  it,  and  slew  a  thousand  men  therewith.     And  Samson  said,^ 

With  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass 
A  mass,  yea  masses  : 
With  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass 
I  slew  a  thousand  men. 

17  And  it  came  to  pass  when  he  had  made  an  end  of  speaking,  that  he  cast  away  the 
jaw-bone  out  of  his  hand,  and  [people]  called  that  place  Ramath-lehi  [Hill  of  the 

18  jaw-bone].  And  he  was  sore  athirst,  and  called  on  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  said, 
Thou  hast  given  this  great  deliverance  into  [by]  the  hand  of  thy  servant :  and  now 

19  shall  I  die  for  thirst,  and  fall  into  the  hand  of  the  uncircumcised  ?  But  [And] 
God  clave  an  hollow  place  [ut.  the  mortar]  that  toas  in  the  jaw  [in  Lehi],"  and 
there  came  water  thereout ;  and  when  he  had  drunk,  [and  he  drank,  and]  his  spirit 
came  again,  and  he  revived.     Wherefore  he  [men]  called  the  name  thereof  En- 

20  hakkore  [Well  of  him  that  called],  which  is  in  Lehi  unto  this  day.  And  he  judged 
Israel  in  the  days  of  the  Philistines  twenty  years. 


TEXTUAL  AND    GRAMJIATICAL. 


.r^. 


[1  Ver..l4.  —  IjIS^lp"^:  " towards,"  rather  than  "against."  The  idea  is  that  when  the  Philistines  saw  Samson 
eoming,  they  set  up  sliouts  of  exultation  which  "met  him,"  so  to  speak,  as  he  approached.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  16.  —  We  place  the  amended  rendering  of  this  poetic  utterance  in  the  text,  and  for  convenience'  sake  subjoin 
here  that  of  the  E.  V. :  — 

With  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass, 
Heaps  upon  heaps  ; 
■With  the  jaw  (if  an  ass 
Have  I  slain  a  thousand  men. 

The  unusual  form  'm^rj  =  "^prT  (found  elsewhere,  if  at  all,  only  in  1  Sam.  xvi.  20),  is  manifestly  chosen  for  the  sake 
of  a  pun.  It  means  a  "  lieap  ;  •'  but  in  order  to  reproduce  the  paronomasia  as  nearly  as  possible,  we  have  substituted 
the  word  "mass,"  as  sugge.sted  by  Dr.  Wordsworth,  in  loc.  According  to  Keil,  the  expression,  "a  heap,  two  heaps,"  in- 
timates that  the  victory  was  accomplished,  not  in  one  combat,  but  in  several.  But  as  the  ma^niliule  of  the  victory  ia 
evidently  celebrated,  rather  than  the  process  of  its  aecomplLshment,  the  dual  is  better  regarded  as  designed  to  amplify 
and  heighten  the  idea  of  the  preceding  singular  :  "  a  heap  —  yes,  a  pair  of  heaps  I  "  —  Tr.j 

[3  Ver.  19.  —  ^n-  3.  The  article  occasions  no  difficulty,  as  it  is  frequently  used  with  proper  nouns,  especially  with 
names  of  places,  rivers,  etc.  ;  see  Ges.  Gram.  109,  3,  and  especially  Ewald,  277  c.  Keil  very  properly  observes,  that  if  a  tooth- 
socket  in  the  ass's  jaw-bone  were  intended,  the  expression  would  naturally  be   TIvTI    tTin^Q  or   TI v2    ITj^p^ 

rather  than  Tf-  3  ^y^^  l^'j^ptt.  Wordsworth,  speaking  of  the  opinion  that  God  clave  the  rock,  objects  "that  the 
words  are,  'God  clave  the.  macfe.sh,'  which  seems  much  more  applicable  to  tlip  mortar  of  the  jaw  than  to  a  place  in  the 
rock."'  As  if  an  ass  had  but  one  tooth  to  a  jaw-bone!  Bush  is  probably  not  far  wrong  when  he  suggests  that  "a 
fondness  for  multiplying  miracles,"  may  have  had  some  influence  over  the  renderings  of  "several  of  the  ancient  ver 
sions  "  at  this  place.  —  Tu.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  9,  10.  And  the  Philistines  went  up  and 
encamped  against  Judah.  Samson  had  foreseen 
that  the  Pliilistincs  would  now  seek  vengeance  on 
a  larger  scale,  and  had  therefore  ])rovided  himself 
with  a  place  of  security  against  both  friend  and 
foe.  This  time  also,  however,  the  enemy  proceed 
not  directly  against  him,  but  take  the  field  against 
Israel.  As  on  a  former  occasion,  they  seek  satis- 
"action  from  those  who  were  really  innocent,  and 


who  would  gladly  remain  at  peace.  They  an 
nounce  that  they  have  come  to  bind  Samson,  i.  e., 
to  make  him  powerless  to  injure  them.  It  is  no 
sign  of  forbearance  that  they  do  not  say,  "  We  will 
kill  him ; "  on  the  contrary,  it  appears  from  ch.  xvi. 
that  they  entertained  still  more  cruel  designs.  It 
was  easy  for  Judah  to  perceive  how  cowardly  was 
the  hatred  they  cherished  against  Samson,  and 
thence  to  infer  what  heroic  deeds  of  conquest  the 
victor  might  yet  achieve  ;  but  the  great  tribe,  on-^ 
so  powerful  in  action,  lay  helpless  in  the  deepest 


203 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


decay.  It  would  not  be  possible  to  portray  the 
slavish  disposition  of  a  peo])le  that  has  doparted 
from  God  more  strikingly,  than  is  here  dune  by 
the  conduet  of  Jiid.ih. 

\'cr.  11.  Then  three  thoiisand  men  of  Judah 
■went  down  to  the  cleft  of  the  rock  Etam.  Jii- 
dah  never  enjoved  sueh  an  ()]i])ortnnity  to  free 
irself  from  the  yoke  of  the  l-'hiiistines.  It  had  a 
leader  of  incomparable  streiifith  and  enerfj:y.  The 
enemy  had  been  smitten,  and  was  apprehensive  of 
further  defeats.  If  it  had  risen  now,  and,  ranged 
under  Samson,  undertaken  a  war  of  liberation  in 
God's  name,  where  was  tlie  station  that  the  Philis- 
tines could  have  continued  to  hoUn  The  heroic 
deeds  of  Joshua  and  Caleb  would  have  been  re- 
enacted.  The  power  of  the  Philistines  would  have 
been  broken,  perhaps  forever.  But  what  did  Ju- 
dah 1  Terrified  by  the  threatening  advance  of  the 
Philistines,  coming  to  seek  Samson,  it  has  not 
even  courage  to  say,  "  Go,  and  bind  him  your- 
eelvcs."  Three  thousand  armed  men  are  quickly 
got  together,  not  to  avail  themselves  of  Samson's 
leadersiiip  against  the  enemy,  but  —  alas!  for  the 
cowards  —  to  act  as  the  enemy's  tools,  pledged  to 
deliver  the  nation's  hero  into  their  hands.  The 
Philistines,  with  malicious  cunning,  probably  de- 
manded this  as  the  ])riee  of  peace.  For  either 
Samson  refuses  to  follow  the  men  of  Judah,  and 
smites  them,  which  would  be  gain  to  the  Philis- 
tines, or  he  is  taken  and  brought  by  them,  in 
which  case  they  will  have  heaped  disgrace  on  both, 
and  tilled  them  with  wrath  toward  each  other. 
And  in  fact  the  number  of  the  men  who  proceed 
to  Etam,  shows  that  they  feel  obliged,  if  need  be, 
to  use  violence. 

And  they  said  to  Samson,  Knowest  thou  not, 
etc.  No  lost  battle  jiresents  so  sad  a  picture  as  do 
these  three  thousand  armed  men,  with  their  com- 
plaint against  Samson  that  he  has  provoked  the 
Philistines,  and  their  question,  Knowest  thou  not 
that  they  rule  o\  er  us  !  It  was  so  easy  to  sa}'  to 
him  :  U}),  Samson  !  the)/  come  to  bind  thee ;  come 
thou  to  free  us  from  their  bonds.  But  they  cannot 
s])cak  thus.  Their  heart  is  lost  in  idolatry.  No 
one  can  raise  himself  to  freedom,  who  has  not  first 
repented — for  penitence  is  courage  against  self, 
and  confession  before  others  —  and  among  the  three 
thousand  there  are  no  three  hundred  who  have  not 
Ixjwed  to  Baal.  Samson's  negotiation  with  them, 
although  comprised  in  a  few  sentences,  is  worthy 
of  admiration.  After  all,  he  had  I'eally  fought 
only  fbr  them,  and  had  attacked  the  oppressor  of 
the  nation.  But  he  does  not  upbraid  them  with 
this.i  Since  they  have  not  comprehended  the  fact 
that  his  own  cause  was  the  cause  of  the  nation,  he 
lays  no  stress  on  this,  but  shows  them  his  personal 
right  to  engage  in  the  war  he  had  waged.  The 
justification  liP  sets  up  was  such  that  they  could 
not  in  honor  turn  against  him.     For  he  says  :  — 

As  tl:ey  did  unto  me,  so  have  I  done  unto 
them.  Uetaliation  was  a  ]irimiti\e  oriental  right, 
still  sanctioned  by  the  Koran .^  To  this  right  the 
Philistines  had  appealed  in  ver.  10:  "  We  will  do 
to  Samson  as  he  did  to  us."     The  men  of  Judah 

1  Milton  rsglitly  makes  Sam.'soii  say  :  — 

"  I,  on  th'  other  side. 
XTsed  no  nmbiUim  to  coiiimm  J  my  deeds." 
•2   Sura.  5,  53,  wliicli  refers  to  Ex.  xxi.  24.   whi'i-e,  how- 
ever, the  law  intends  to  limit  retaliation  by  determining  its 
measure.     C'ompare  the  narrative  in  Diez,  DenkwiirdigkeiUn 
Asians,  ii.  179. 

3  The  following  translation  of  vers.  15-17,  from  a  Ger- 
man book  puolished  in  1705,  at  Halle,  may  serve  as  a 
SDHcimen  of  the  exegesis  which  sometimes  passed  current : 


do  not  undertake  to  decide  upon  the  right  of  either 
])arty.  They  desire  nothing  but  peace — with  the 
Philistines.  They  would  sulimit  to  them  at  any 
price.  Any  admission  of  Samson's  right  would 
have  obligated  tlicm  to  stand  by  him.  The  fact  is 
they  came  to  serve  not  as  judges  but  as  tools  of 
the  Philistines.  Whosoever  is  weak  enough  to  ac- 
cept such  a  mission,  will  not  be  brought  to  thought 
and  reason  by  any  exposition  of  right.  Idolatiy 
is  ever  blindness  Reason  had  evanished  from  the 
tribe.  How  else  could  it  surrender  such  a  man,  or 
hope  for  peace  from  the  Philistines  after  the  hero 
whom  they  feared  was  in  their  possession  1  How 
can  such  slaves  — in  recent  times  also  such  conduct 
as  theirs  has  been  called  peace-loving — expect  to 
remain  at  peace  ? 

Vers.  12,  13.  "We  are  come  to  bind  thee,  said 
the  three  thousand  to  the  one  courageous  man. 
And  never  does  Samson  show  himself  greater  than 
when  he  voluntarily  allows  himself  to  be  bound. 
Against  his  countrymen  he  is  powerless.  With 
the  blood  of  Israel  he  must  not  and  will  not  stain 
himself.  He  makes  but  one  condition,  and  that 
the  least  possible.  No  Juda;an  hands  must  medi- 
tate his  death.  That  condition  alone  would  have 
sufticed  to  inform  the  men  of  Judah,  had  they  been 
able  to  comjn-ehend  such  heroism  at  all,  that  he 
consults  only  their  feelings,  because  they  are  Israel- 
ites, but  does  not  fear  the  Philistines. 

Ver.  14.  When  he  came  unto  Lehi,  the  shouts 
of  the  Phihstines  met  him.  What  a  spectacle! 
That  cowardice  can  brazen  hearts  and  faces  until 
all  sense  of  shame  is  lost,  is  shown  by  the  memor- 
able scene  here  depicted.  Judah  is  not  ashamed 
to  drag  its  hero  forward,  bound  with  strong  cords. 
It  does  not  blush  when  the  Philistines  shout  aloud 
at  the  s]>ectacle.  But  this  cowardly  jidjilation  was 
soon  to  be  turned  into  groans  and  flight.  As  the 
hero  comes  in  sight  of  the  enenu'  and  hears  their 
outcries,  the  Spirit  of  God  conies  upon  him.  His 
heart  boils  with  indignation  over  the  ignominy 
of  his  people.  His  strength  kindles  for  resistless 
deeds.  His  cords  fall  off  like  tow  seized  by  the 
fire.     He  is  free,  and  his  freedom  is  victory. 

Vers.  15,  16.  And  he  saw  a  fresh  jaw-bone  of 
an  ass.  The  enemy  is  before  him  :  therefore,  for- 
ward !  to  battle  !  Any  weapon  is  welcome.  The 
jaw-bone  of  a  recently  fallen  ass  is  at  hand,  not 
yet  dried  up,  and  therefore  less  easily  broken.-^ 
Before  the  enemy  can  think,  perhajis  before  their 
shouts  over  the  prisoner  have  ceased,  he  is  free, 
armed,  and  dealing  out  deadly  blows.  The  panic 
is  as  great  as  the  trium])h  had  been.  There  was 
nothing  but  flight  and  death  for  the  wretched  foe. 
There  ensued  a  slaughter  and  victory  so  extraor- 
dinary, that  Samson  himself,  in  poetic  ecstasy,  cries 
out :  — 

With  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass 

I  slew  two  armies  : 

With  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass 

I  took  vengeance  on  a  thousand. 

For  in  the  clause  D.^H'^'^G  "I'l^Q  "li^nn  ^H^? 

the  paronomasia  is  to  be  noted  between  "TlfiH,  an 

"  Samson  found  a  troop  of  lively  soldiers,  stretched  forth 
his  hand  and  commanded  them,  and  led  them  against  the 

Phili.stines And  when  he  had  thus  spoken,  ho  dis- 

mi.s.ved  the  troops."  Against  such  insipidity  protests  arose 
at  that  time  from  all  sides  (cf.  Starke,  A^ot.  Select.,  p,  127), 
from  Gebhardi  (De  Mnxitta  Si7nsonls,  1707)  in  Greifswald, 
Sidelmann  (Dc  Ma^ritla,  etc.,  1706)  in  Copenhagen,  and  in  a 
little-known,  but  thorough  refutation  by  Heine,  of  Berlin 
(Dissert.  Sacra,  p.  245). 


CHAPTER  XV.  9-20. 


209 


ass,  and  "^^17)  a  heap,  which  latter  is  here  poet- 
ically used  of  an  "  army." 

German  tradition  relates  a  similar  deed  of  Walter 
of  Aquitania.  His  enemies  pursne  him  in  the 
forest,  -while  he  and  Hilfletiunde  roast  and  eat  a 
swine's  back.  He  seizes  the  swine's  bone,  and 
throws  it  against  the  enemy  witli  such  violence 
that  the  latter  loses  his  eye  (  Wilkinasage,  trans- 
lated bv  Hagen,  i.  289,  ch.  Ixxxvii.).  In  the  Latin 
poem  Waltarius,  the  hero  tears  out  the  shoulder- 
blade  of  a  calf,  and  with  it  slays  the  robbers 
CGrimm  and  Schmeller,  Lateinsche  GecUrhte  des 
Miltelahers,  p.  109  f.).  In  both  versions  the  fiction 
is  unreasonable  and  tasteless,  whereas  the  history 
of  Samson  is  full  of  dramatic  power  and  spirit.  — 
The  mystical  sect  of  the  Nasairians,  in  Syria,  are 
said  to  venerate  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass,  because 
an  ass  devoured  the  plant  on  which  the  original 
documents  of  their  religion  had  been  written  (cf. 
Kitter,  xvii.  97,  6). 

Ver.  17.  The  name  of  the  place  was  called 
Ramath-lechi  (Hill  of  the  Jaw-bone).  To  the 
height  upon  which  Sam>on  threw  the  jaw-bone, 
the  tradition  of  an  admiring  people  gave  and  pre- 
served a  name  commemorative  of  that  circum- 
stance. The  narrative  evinces  artistic  delicacy  in 
that  it  relates  that  Samson  uttered  his  poetic  words 
while  he  was  still  victoriously  swinging  the  un- 
usual weapon  in  his  hand.  The  humiliation  of 
the  Philistines,  forni'^rly  smitten  by  means  of  foxes, 
and  now  with  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass,  was  too  deep 
to  allow  the  historical  recollection  of  it  to  perish. 
To  seek  another  explanation  of  the  name  is  quite 
unnecessary.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  moun- 
tainous peaks  sometimes  derive  names  from  their 
forms,  as,  for  instance,  "Ass'-ears"  (on  the  coast 
of  Aden,  cf.  Eittcr,  xii.  67.5),  or  "  Tooth"  (1  Sam. 
xiv.  4),  or  "Throat,"  "Nose,"  and  "Horn"  (cf 
my  Thur.  Oris  name  n,  ii.  p.  47,  n.  304)  ;  but  the 
possibility  of  an  historical  explanation  is  not 
thereby  diminished  :  for  although  peculiar  names 
have  sometimes  given  rise  to  historical  legends, 
the  above  instances  show  that  quite  as  often  this  is 
not  the  case.  Lehi  (properly,  Lechi),  as  the  name 
of  a  locality,  does  not  elsewhere  occur ;  ^  and  a 
criticism  which  would  make  it  the  source  of  a  his- 
tory in  which  it  has  but  an  incidental  significance, 
and  which  forms  an  organic  part  of  the  history  of 
Samson  as  a  whole,  has  lost  all  claim  to  be  called 
criticism. 

Ver.  18.  And  he  was  sore  athirst,  and  called 
unto  Jehovah.  The  exertion  of  the  day  was  too 
great.  The  burning  sun  and  the  unusual  excite- 
ment also  contributed  their  part  to  exhaust  the 
powerful  niiin.  But  where  was  there  any  refresh- 
ment 1  He  was  alone,  as  always.  The  cowardly 
men  of  Judah  had  taken  themselves  off,  in  order 
not  to  be  held  responsible  by  the  Philistines  on  the 
ground  of  participation  in  the  conflict.  Against 
the  enemy  he  had  that  mediate  divine  help  which 
came  to  him  through  bis  Xazaritic  consecration ; 
but  this  was  no  protection  against  thirst.  He 
turns,  therefore,  to  God  in  prayer  for  direct  deliv- 
erance. 

1  In  2  Sam.  xxiii.  11,  where  some  .are  disposed  to  find  it 

In  the  form  H'p      fhy  roading  rTTI    ,  i-  «-,   TlV  with 
T  —    -  T  :  Jv'  •   : 

n    local,  cf.  Thenius,  in  loc.  and  Flirst,  Lex.  s.  w.  n^H 

'  T    - 

and    Tl/],  the    V  is  manifestly  the  prefix  preposition,  as 
appears  from  ver.  13.     The  Targum,  it  is  true,  distinguished 
ketween  tlie  two  forms,  and  rendered  the  first  by  jH^  ^'^) 
14 


Thou  hast  given  this  great  salvation  by  the 
hand  of  thy  servant.  These  words  illustrate  and 
confirm  the  view  \\c.  have  thus  far  souuht  to  de- 
velop of  Samson's  spiritual  life.  In  his  hours  of 
lofty  elevation  of  soul,  when  the  Spirit  of  God 
impels  him  to  great  deeds  in  behalf  of  national 
freedom,  he  is  fully  conscious  of  the  work  to  which 
he  is  called.  Although  he  stands  alone,  the  ends 
he  pursues  are  not  personal.  And  though  his  peo- 
ple sink  so  deeply  into  cowardice  and  weakness, 
as  to  deny  him,  yet  all  his  powers  are  directed 
against  the  enemies  of  this  people.  Although  he 
himself  has  scarcely  escaped  from  their  hands,  and 
has  no  one  to  stand  by  his  side,  he  nevertheless 
considers  himself  their  leader  and  champion,  in 
duty  bound  to  vindicate  the  honor  and  glory  of 
Israel  against  the  Philistines.  Properly  speaking, 
no  one  was  delivered  in  the  conflict  on  Ramath- 
Lehi  but  himself;  but  he  thanks  God  for  "the 
great  salvation  given  l)y  the  hand  of  thy  servant." 
He  finds  this  salvation  in  the  humiliation  expe- 
rienced by  the  Philistines,  and  in  the  fact  that  he, 
as  sole  representative  of  the  true  Israel,  has  not 
been  allowed  to  be  put  to  shame.  For  with  his 
fall,  the  last  bulwark  had  been  leveled.  The 
shouts  of  the  Philistines  over  his  bonds  were  shouts 
of  triumph  over  the  faith  of  Israel  and  over  Is- 
rael's God.  Hence  he  can  pray:  "  Thou  hast  just 
performed  a  great  deed  through  me,  by  which  the 
honor  of  the  national  name  of  the  children  of 
Israel  has  been  rescued  and  e.xalted,  let  me  not 
now  die  of  thirst,  and  in  that  way  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  uncircumcised."  All  benefit  of  the 
victory  would  be  lost,  if  Samson  were  now  to  per- 
ish. The  triumph  of  the  cowardly  enem}^  would 
be  greater  than  ever,  should  they  next  see  him  as 
a  helpless  corpse.  He  speaks  of  them  as  "  the  un 
circumcised  "  for  the  very  purpose  of  expressing 
his  consciousness  that  with  him  to  fight,  to  con- 
quer, and  to  fall,  are  not  personal  matters,  but 
involve  principles.  He  is  none  other  than  the 
Nazir  of  God,  i.  e.,  the  consecrated  warrior  for  God 
and  his  people  Israel  against  the  enemies  of  the 
divine  covenant  —  the  uncircumcised.  His  petition 
springs  from  the  profound  emotion  into  which  the 
successive  experiences  of  this  day  have  plunged 
him.  The  greater  his  ardor  in  battle  and  joy  in 
victory,  the  more  painful  is  now  the  thought  of 
losing  the  fruits  of  the  advantage  gained,  for  want 
of  a  little  water.  Here,  too,  what  instruction  we 
find  !  "  What  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of 
him."  The  mighty  warrior,  before  whom  thou- 
sands tremble,  cannot  conquer  thirst,  and  must  per- 
ish unless  a  fountain  opens  itself. 

Ver.  19.  And  God  clave  the  mortar  that  was 
in  Lehi.  At  the  place  where  Samson  was,  God 
clave  a  mortar  like  cavity  in  the  rock,  from  which 
water  sprang,  of  which  Samson  drank,  and  re- 
freshed himself.  This  spring  was  ever  after  named 
"Well  of  liim  that  called;"  for  it  was  his  salva- 
tion and  second  deliverance.  The  words  at  the 
close  of  our  verse,  "which  (well)  is  in  Lehi  unto 
this  day,"  to  which  those  at  the  beginning  of  the 
verse  correspond,  "  God  clave  the  mortar  that  was 
in  Lehi,"  put  it  beyond  all  doubt  that  the  refer 

the  term  which  it  regularly  employs  to  express  I2S*!)2  "^2?  ; 

T  T    ' 

but  Gesenius  and  others  before  him  made  a  mistake  when 
they  took  r"i"^^n7  as  the  proper  name  of  a  locality.  It 
was  only  a  general  term,  fagus,  village,  which  waa  tTan»- 

lated  into  "1^  (~i"'27). 


210 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


ence  is  to  a  mortar-like  well-opening  in  the  place 
Lehi,  and  tliat  (as  Keil  very  well  remarked)  the 
old,  frequently  reproduced  exposition  (a])i)roved 
also  by  IJertlvau),  which  bids  us  think  of  "  the 
socket  of  a  tooth  in  the  jaw-bone,"  is  entirely  erro- 
neous. For  from  ver.  17,  where  ISamson  throws 
tlie  jaw-bone  away,  nothing  more  is  said  about  it, 
and  the  name  Lehi  refers  only  to  the  place;  just 
as  in  ver.  9  the  meaning  is,  not  rhat  the  Philistines 
spread  themselves  about  a  real  jaw-bone,  but  about 
the  jjlace  of  this  name.  The  well,  it  is  said,  "  is 
in  Lehi  unto  this  day."  The  place  derived  its 
name,  Uamath-lehi,  from  the  battle  of  the  jaw- 
bone ;  but  the  place  was  not  the  jaw-bone,  which 
could  not  exist  "  unto  this  day."  The  calling 
forth  of  the  well  was  a  second  deliverance,  distinct 
fiom  the  tirst,  which  was  won  in  battle.  It  oc- 
curred at  Lehi,  where  Samson  had  conquered,  in 
order  that  he  might  there  also  experience  the  van- 
ity of  all  sti-ength  without  God.  The  old  opinion 
arose  from  rhe  fact  that,  except  in  ver.  9,  the  an- 
cient versions  (the  Sept.)  everywhere  translated 
the  term  Lehi,  whereas  it  is  a  proper  noun  in  ver. 
19  as  much  as  in  ver.  9,  as  Bochart  should  have 
known  precisely  from  the  article,  for  it  is  used  in 
all  three  instances,  ver.  9  included.  It  is  indeed 
true  that  later  medical  writers  call  the  sockets  of 
the  double  teeth  oAuoi,  mortars ;  but,  granted  that 
a  similar  m^»a-  lor/uendi  ]n'evailed  in  the  Bible, — of 
which  we  have  no  other  evidence  than  this  passage 
can  give,  —  the  use  of  the  article  would  be  sur- 
prising, because  elsewhere  (as  in  Zeph.  i.  11)  it 

points  (in  connection  with  the  noun  ^71^?^)  to  a 
certain  definite,  mortar  like  ^  locality.  Mention 
might  also  be  made  of  the  cities  in  Phrygia  and 
Cilicia  that  bore  the  name  Holmos.  The  true  view 
was  already  held  by  Josephus,  the  Chaldee  Tar- 
gura,  and,  with  peculiar  clearness,  by  11.  Levi  ben 
Gerson.  Perhaps  it  would  receive  further  illustra- 
tion from  the  locality  which  we  may  probably  ven- 
ture to  fix  upon  for  the  event.  For  the  question 
where  the  event  took  place  is  not  unimportant. 
It  must  be  assumed  (cf.  vers.  13,  14)  that  Etam 
and  Lehi  were  not  far  distant  from  each  other. 
Moreover,  it  is  evident  from  the  connection  of  the 
entire  narrative,  that  the  Philistines  must  have 
threatened  es])ecially  that  part  of  Judah  which  lay 
continuous  to  the  region  whence  Samson  made  his 
attacks.  For  this  reason  alone,  the  o])iuion  of  Van 
de  Velde  (adopted  by  Keil),  who  looks  for  it  on 
the  road  from  Tell  Kewelteh  to  Beer-sheba,  ap- 
pears im]n-obable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  very 
ancient  tradition  whieli  locates  the  Well  of  Lehi 
in  the  vicinity  of  Eleuthero])olis,  a{)pears  to  me, 
notwitlistaiuling  all  opposition,  to  be  entirely  prob- 
able. It  was  by  a  series  of  interesting  observa- 
tions and  arL;uments  that  Robinson,  Riidiger,  and 
others,  established  the  fact  that  Eleutheropolis  and 
the  modern  IJeit  Jibrin,  the  Betogabra  of  the 
Taliidd  Peulingeriana,  are  the  same  jilaee  (cf.  Bit- 
ter, xvi.  1.39) ;  but  the  hints  of  the  Midrash  might 
have  led  to  the  same  conclusion,  and  even  now 
aifonl  additional  instruction.  To  the  peculiarities 
of  the  rciiion  iielong  the  numerous  cave-formations, 
which,  by  their  more  or  less  ])erfect  artilicial  finish, 
])rove  themselves  to  have  been  the  abodes  of  men 

1  Including,  doubtless,  a  comparison  witli  the  tiard, 
rocky  nature  of  a  mortar. 

i  Beri-sh.  Hnh'ja,  §  i'l,  p.  37  b.  The  right  reading  has 
been  preserved  by  Avuch,  sub  voce.  Our  editions  of  the 
Midrash  read  metropolis,  which  only  uncritical  editors  could 
have  overlooked,  .since  the  explanation  which  follows  indi- 
^t«  the  true  reading. 


in  ancient  times.     ~l"li~I  {clior)  is  a  cavern,  and  the 

term  "'IH  (Chorite,  E.  V.  Horite)  signifies  troglo- 
dytes, pco])lc  who  dwell  in  caverns.  Now,  wher- 
ever the  Chorite  is  sijoken  of,  the  Midrash  explains 
by  substituting  Eleutheropolis.'-^  It  has  not  hith- 
erto been  discovered  what  circumstance  induced 
the  Romans  to  give  this  beautiful  name  to  the 
place.  But  since  the  tradition  of  an  heroic  ex- 
ploit (n^il^  nr^lUri)  was  connected  with  the 
place,  the  Jewish  inhabitants  derived  the  name 
"'■nin  iT'Il  or  "^"lin  "T'I?,    which    it    may   have 

borne,  not  from  "^^H,  a  caveim,  but  from  "^H,  a 
freeman.  "  Bene  Chorin,"  is  the  title  assumed  by 
those  whom  heroic  feats  have  made  free.^  The  same 
idea  leads  the  Midrash  when  it  derives  Eleuther- 
opolis from  chiruth,  freedom.  The  name  Eleuther- 
opolis was,  in  fact,  only  a  translation  of  the  ancient 
name,  whose  meaning  the  inhabitants  had  changed 
from  "  City  of  the  Troglodyte"  to  "City  of  the 
Free,"  and  is  undeniably  found  in  the  Mishna  and 

Talmud   under  the  forms  '}*'")in  n"'n^and  H'^D 

■J'^mnn.  If  the  inhabitants  expound  the  present 
name  Beit  Jibrin  as  meaning  "  House  of  Gabriel," 
every  one  capable  of  forming  a  judgment  in  the 
case  perceives  at  once  that  this  became  possible 
only  with  the  prevalence  of  Islam  in  those  regions. 
But  as  the  name  itself  is  older  than  Islam,  and  is 

apparently  found  in  the  Midrash  (as  '!''~i;n:i  H'^Il, 
Beth  Goberin),  the  conjecture  suggests  itself  that  it 
is  related  to  "1122,  hero,  HH^^S,  heroism  ;  which, 
if  true,  connects  it  once  more  with  Samson's 
achievement.  The  "  House  of  Heroism  "  answers 
entirely  to  the  "  House  of  Freedom."  And  it  is 
at  least  not  impossible  that  a  change  of  etymolog- 
ical derivation,  like  that  in  the  case  of  Chorite, 

occurred    here    also,   aamely,    from     W2*^2)    212, 

a  hole,  to  "1122,  a  hero.     The  expression  ni23 

"{"^^n,  in  the  sense  of  jaw-bone,  occurs  also. 

The  change  of  the  "Troglodytes'  City"  into 
the  "  City  of  Heroes,"  demonstrates  the  existence 
of  an  old  tradition,  which,  so  far  as  the  names 
(Freedom,  Heroism)  can  explain  anything,  spoke 
of  the  hero  who  there  became  free.  Springs  are 
still  found  near  the  city.  One  in  particular,  near 
the  Church  of  St.  Anne,  flows  from  the  hard  rock, 
is  "  fifty-two  feet  deep,  and  apparently  ancient " 
(Hob.  ii.  26).  It  is  to  be  noted  that  Josephus 
makes  Samson's  fountain  to  spring  out  of  a  rock, 
and  declares  that  its  name  was  still  known  in  his 
day.     The  Targum   likewise  says  that  God  did 

split  the  i'ock  G*^^^^),  and  translates:  "They 
called  it '  the  well  that  arose  at  the  prayer  of  Sam- 
son,' and  it  exists  in  Lehi  unto  this  day." 

No  other  well  than  this  [one  near  the  church  of 
St.  Anne],  can  be  intended  by  Jerome,  when  on 
passing  Socoh,  he  visits  the  Fountain  of  Samson 
(Ep.  ad  East.,  106,  cd.  Benedict.  86).  The  tradi- 
tion cutitinued  steadfast  until  the  time  of  Anto- 
ninus Martyr,  who  says  (cii'ca  600  a.  d.)  :  "  We 

3  Cf.  Buxtorff,  LejT  ,  p.  83(5.  Israel  calls  itself  by  this 
name  in  the  beautiful  hymn  Pesacli  ka^sadkah,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  time  when  Mes.«iah  shall  have  made  it  free.  It 
is  true,  at  least,  that  He  alone  makes  free. 

4  On  the  consentaneous  position  of  the  place  'A.  Zunz, 
in  Benj.  of  Tudela,  ii.  438,  note. 


CHAPTER  XVI.    1-3. 


211 


came  into  the  city  called  Eliotropolis,  where  Sam- 
Boii,  that  most  valiant  mail,  slew  a  thousand  men 
with  a  jaw-bone,  out  of  which  jaw-bone,  at  his 
{irayer,  waf  r  spran<^  forth,  which  fountain  iiTi- 
gates  that  place  unto  this  day  :  and  we  wei'e  at 
the  place  where  it  rises."  Traditions  reaching  so 
far  beyond  the  ane  of  Ishim,  are  always  worthy  of 
attention,  especially  when  they  suit  so  well  in  their 
localities.  For  the  distance  from  Eleutheropolis 
combines  very  well  with  the  theatre  of  Samson's 
exploits  hitherto,  and  confirms  our  assumption 
that  Etam  lay  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present 
Deir  Dubb.'m.  When  the  Jews  grounded  the  name 
"  City  of  Freedom  "  on  this  tradition,  they  followed 
considerations  not  only  beautiful,  but  also  both 
ethically  and  historically  correct. 

It  is  unquestionably  a  remarkable  feature  in  the 
narrative  of  the  occurrence,  that,  while  Samson 
prays  to  "  Jehovah,"  the  answer  is  ascribed  to 
"  Elohim  :  "  "  Elohiin  clave  the  mortar."  Keil's 
explanation,  that  it  is  thereby  intimated  that  God 
worked  the  miracle  as  Lord  of  nature,  does  not 
seem  sufficient.  For  is  not  "  Jehovah  "  the  Cre- 
ator of  Nature  ?  The  Targum  uses  that  name 
here.  According  to  our  view  of  the  relations  of 
the  names  Jehovah  and  Elohim  in  our  Book,  the 
latter  appears  not  only  when  heathen  gods  are 
spoken  of,  but  also  when  others  than  believing 
Israelites  speak  of  God.  Elohim  is  here  nsed  in 
order  to  intimate  that  non-Israelites  also  ascribed 
the  wonderful  fountain  in  Lehi  to  divine  inter- 
vention. Not  only  Israel  tells  of  it,  how  Jehovah 
clave  it,  but  all  admit  that  it  is  a  woi'k  of  Elohim. 

Ver.  20.  And  Samson  judged  Israel,  in  the 
days  of  the  Philistines,  twenty  years.  In  the 
introduction  to  the  history  of  Samson  (ch.  xiii.  1), 
it  is  stated  that  the  Philistines  lorded  it  over  Israel 
forty  years.  In  ch.  xiii.  5  it  is  said :  "  he  shall 
bei/iti  to  deliver  Israel  "  Their  entire  downfall  he 
did  not  accomplisli.  The  blame  of  this  rested  not 
only  with  the  people,  of  whom  ch.  xiii.  does  not 
say  that  they  had  repented,  but,  as  ch.  xvi.  shows, 
also  with  Samson.  But  tlie  twenty  years  during 
which  he  wrought  are  not  tilled  out  by  the  occur- 
rences related.  These  only  indicate  what  feats  and 
dangers  were  necessary  to  qualify  Samson  for  gov- 
ernment in  Israel.  And  it  may  well  be  supposed 
that  after  this  the  Philistines  scarcely  undertook  to 
confront  him.  Doubtless,  the  tribe  of  Judah  also, 
must  after  this  last  exploit  have  acknowledged  his 
divine  strength,  and  yielded  him  their  confidence. 
He  himself,  in  thirst  and  faintness,  had  learned 
that  God  alone  gives  strength  and  help  ;  and  this 
may  have  served  for  the  moral  elevation  of  the 
people  also.  Israel  dwelt  in  security  and  peace  for 
twenty  years,  through  the  consecration  and  deeds 


of  Samson.  For  this  reason  he  stood  among  them 
as  Judge.  It  was  only  the  want  of  courage  on 
Israel's  part  —  due  to  its  imperfect  faith  — and  the 
excess  of  it  on  Samson's  part,  that  plunged  both 
alike  into  new  distress  and  sutfering. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

[Bp.  Hall:  The  Philistines  that  had  before 
ploughed  with  Samson's  heifer,  in  the  case  of  the 
riddle,  are  now  ploughing  a  worse  furrow  with  a 
heifer  more  his  own.  I  am  ashamed  to  hear  these 
cowardly  Jews  say,  Knowest  thou  not,  etc.  — 
Scott  :  Heartless  professors  of  religion,  who  value 
the  friendship  and  fear  the  frown  of  the  world,  and 
who  are  the  slaves  of  sin  and  Satan,  censure,  hate, 
and  betray  those  who  call  them  to  liberty  in  the 
service  of  God.  To  save  themselves,  in  times  of 
persecution,  they  often  apostatize  and  turn  betray- 
ers and  accusers  of  the  brethren.  —  Bp.  Hall: 
Now  these  Jews,  that  might  have  let  themselves 
loose  from  their  own  bondage,  are  binding  their 
deliverer.  —  Henry  :  Thus  the  Jews  delivered  up 
our  Saviour,  under  pretense  of  a  fear  lest  the 
Romans  should  come,  and  take  away  their  place 
and  nation.  —  Wordsworth  :  This  conduct  of 
the  men  of  Judah,  saying  that  the  Philistines  are 
their  rulers,  and  delivering  Samson  to  them,  may 
be  compared  to  that  of  the  Jews,  saying,  "  We 
have  no  king  but  Caesar"  (John  xix.  15),  and  de- 
livering up  Christ  to  the  Romans. 

Wordsworth  (on  Samson's  victory) :  A  greater 
miracle  was  wrought  "in  the  time  of  wheat-harv- 
est" (cf.  ver.  1),  namely,  at  the  first  [Christian^ 
Pentecost,  when  three  thousand  were  converted  by 
the  preaching  of  Peter  and  of  the  other  Apostles, 
filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God.  —  Bp.  Hall  :  This 
victory  was  not  in  the  weapon,  was  not  in  the 
arm;  it  was  in  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  moved 
the  weapon  in  the  arm.  0  God !  if  the  means  be 
weak.  Thou  art  strong ! 

Henry  (on  Samson's  prayer) :  Past  experiences 
of  God's  power  and  goodness,  are  excellent  pleas 
in  prayer  for  further  mercy.  "  Lest  the  uncircum- 
cised  triumph,  and  so  it  redound  to  God's  dis- 
honor." The  best  pleas  are  those  taken  from 
God's  glory.  —  Kitto  :  Not  many  would  have  had 
such  strong  persuasion  of  the  Lord's  providential 
care  as  would  lead  them  to  cry  to  Him  for  water 
to  supply  their  personal  wants  in  the  like  exi- 
gency. 

Henry  (on  En-hakkore) :  Many  a  spring  of 
comfort  God  opens  to  his  people  which  may  fitly 
be  called  by  this  name :  it  is  the  "  well  of  him  that 
cried."  —  Tk.] 


Samson  visits  Gaza.     The  Philistines  meditate  his  destruction  ;  hut  he  escapes  at 
midnight,  carrying  the  gate  of  the  city  away  with  him. 

Chapter   XVI.  1-3. 


1  Then  went  Samson  [And  Samson  went]  to  Gaza  ['Azzah],  and  saw  there  au 

2  harlot,  and  went  in  unto  her.^  And  it  was  told-  the  Gazites  ['Azzites],  saying, 
Samson  is  come  liither.  And  they  compassed  him  ^  in,  and  laid  wait  for  him  all 
night  in  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  were  quiet  all  the  night,  saying.  In  the  morning 


212 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


3  when  it  is  day  we  shall  kill  him.*  And  Samson  lay  till  midnight,  and  [he]  arose  at 
midnight,  and  took  [laid  hold  of]  the  doors  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  the  two 
posts,  and  went  away  with  them  [pulled  them  up],  bar  and  all,  and  jjut  them  upon 
his  shoulders,  and  carried  them  up  to  the  top  of  an  [the]  hill  that  is  before  He- 
bron. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1. —  n^vM  SD*1.  Dr.  Cassel,  m  accordance  with  his  exposition  (see  below),  renders,  iwirf  kam  zu  i/ir, 
''and  came  (went)  to  her."  This  rendering  is  certainly  possible  (cf.  Gen.  vi.  20;  Ps.  li.  1,  etc.) ;  but  as  the  expression  is 
a  standing  euphemism,  the  writer  of  Judges  would  scarcely  have  employed  it  in  its  more  proper  sense  here,  where  the 
context  would  inevitably  suggest  the  least  favorable  interpretation.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  2.  —  *T3.*1  (<^f-  Gen.  xxii.  20)  or  ^~ipS''*l,  bas  doubtless  been  dropped  out  of  the  text  by  some  oversight  of 
transcribers.  Tlie  Sept.,  Targum,  and  other  ancient  versions,  supply  the  deficiency,  if  indeed  it  existed  in  their  day. 
—  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  2.  —  ^SD**"!  :  the  accusative  (cf.  Eccles.  ix.  14)  object  of  this  verb  is  to  be  disengaged  from  i^^  the  object 
of  the  immediately  following  verb.  So  Bertheau  and  Keil.  Dr.  Cassel  takes  the  word  in  the  sense  "  to"  go  about,"  to 
patrol,  which  would  require  the  object  "1^37  (Isa.  xxiii.  16)  or  "1^173  (Cant.  iii.  3)  to  be  expi'essed.  —  Tr.] 

•    T 

[4  Ver.  2.  —  ^np^'nrTI  "^pSH  ~liS"l!?  :  Uterally,  "  Until  morning  light !  then  we  kill  him."  That  is,  "  Wait 
(or,  with  reference  to  the  preceding  !lti7"inn'^. :  Be  quiet)  until  morning  light,"  etc.  Cf.  1  Sam.  i.  22.  '"lIS  is  the 
infinitive  construct,  cf.  Ges.  Lex.  s.  v.  "717,  B,  2  b.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1.  And  Samson  went  to  'Azzah.  The 
heroic  deeds  of  Sainsou  have  driven  the  Philistines 
back  within  their  old  boundary-lines.  They  no 
longer  venture  to  come  anywhere  near  him.  He, 
however,  with  the  fearlessness  of  genius,  under- 
takes to  visit  them  in  their  own  fortified  chief  city. 
'Azzah,  the  Gaza  of  the  Greeks,  was  the  most 
powerful  border-city  and  capital  of  the  Philistines. 
There,  as  in  Gath  and  Ashdod,  remnants  of  the 
Anakim  are  said  to  have  remained  (Josh.  xi.  22). 

Concerning  the  etymology  of  the  name  i~^:T5? 
('Azzah),  different  opinions  have  been  expressed. 
Hitzig's  derivation  from  TV,  "  she-goat,"  has  been 
justly  called  in  question  by  Stark  ( Gaza  und  die 
philist.  Kiiste,  ]).  46).  But  by  the  side  of  the  view 
which,   after  the  older  authorities  (from  Jerome 

down)  he  adopts  —  which  makes  H^T^  to  be  "  the 
strong,  fortified  city,"  in  contrast  with  the  open 
country,  and  ajipeals  to  such  names  as  Rome  and 
Valentia  as  analogous  —  I  would  place  another, 
perhaps  more  accordant  with  the  national  spirit  of 
the  Philistines.  The  origin  of  the  name  must 
probably  be  sought  in  the  worship  of  Mars-Ty- 
phoii,  the  warlike  Death-god.  Movers  has  com- 
jiared  'A(7]aia,  the  Trcezenian  name  of  Persei^hone, 

with  ^i^V  (Phoiilzier,  i.  367).  "Strong,"  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  may  be  appropriately  pred- 
icated  of  death ;    accordingly  it   is    said    in  the 

"  Song  of  Solomon  "  (ch.  viii.  6) :  "  Strong  (H-T!^) 
as  death  is  love."  To  the  name  'A^rjo-i'a  (Azesia) 
not  only  el-Asa,  the  idol  of  the  ancient  Arabians 
(Mars-Asiz)  would  correspond,  but  also  and  espe- 
cially <^^^^  (Azazel),  to  whom  the  Mosaic  law 

sent  the  goat  laden  with  the  sins  of  the  people. 
The  name  'Azzah  had  its  origin  in  the  service  of 
subterranean,  typhunic  deities,  peculiar  to  the 
ioasts  of  the  Mediterranean  sea.  Although  the 
Greeks  called  the  city  Gaza,  it  is  nevertheless  clear 
that  the  Indo-Germanic  etymology  of  this  word 
(71x^0),  which  signifies  "  jiublic  treasure,"  is  not  to 
be  brought  into  comparison. 
Samson  comes  not,  alas !  like  the  tribe  of  Judah 


(ch.  i.  18),  to  conquer  the  city.  But  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  the  sensuality  which  at  other  times 
lulled  his  heroism  to  sleep,  was  also  the  occasion 
of  his  present  visit  to  Gaza.  The  cultiis  of  the 
Canaanitish  nations,  and  the  beauty  of  the  Philis-, 
tine   women,   were   favorable    to  voluptuousness. 

Ancient  expositors  explained  H^IT  to  mean  a  fe- 
male inn-keeper,  a  hostess.  They  were  so  far 
right,  that  the  houses  of  harlots  were  those  that 
stood  open  to  all  comers,  including  such  strangers 
as  had  no  relations  of  acquaintance  and  mutual 
hospitality  with  any  one  in  the  city.  (Compare, 
in  Latin,  the  transition  into  each  other  of  caupo 
and  leno,  caupona  and  lena.)  Hence,  the  Targum 
has  everywhere  (including  Judg.  xi.  1)  translated 

n3"lT  by  Mri^i7"T';^2,  ?.  e.,  "female  innkeeper," 
■7rai>S6Kfia.  On  this  account,  the  spies,  also,  whom 
Joshua  sent  out,  and  who  were  influenced  by  no 
sensual  impulses,  could  quarter  themselves  no- 
where in  Jericho  but  in  the  house  of  a  zonah  (Josh, 
ii.  1).  Samson  did  not  come  to  Gaza  for  the  pur- 
pose of  visiting  a  harlot :  for  it  is  said  that  "  he 
went  thither,  and  saw  there  a  zonah."  But  when 
he  wished  to  remain  there  over  night,  there  was 
nothing  for  him,  the  national  enemy,  but  to  abide 
with  the  zonah.  This  time  the  iiarrative  gives  no 
occasion  to  tax  him  with  sensuality.  We  do  not 
read,  as  in  ver.  4,  "and  he  loved  her."  His  stay 
is  spoken  of  in  language  not  different  from  that 
emploj'cd  with  reference  to  the  abode  of  the  spies 
in  the  house  of  Rahab.  The  words,  "  he  saw 
her,"  only  indicate  that  when  he  saw  a  woman  of 
her  class,  he  knew  where  he  could  find  shelter  for 
the  night.  The  purpose  of  his  coming  was  to  give 
the  Philistines  a  new  proof  of  his  fearlessness, 
which  was  such  that  he  did  not  shun  to  meet  them 
in  their  own  chief  city. 

Ver.  2.  And  when  the  ' Azzites- were  told, 
that  Samson  was  come  thither.  He  had  been 
seen.  It  was  probably  towards  evening  when  he 
entered  the  city.  The  houses  in  which  the  trade 
of  a  zoiuili  was  carried  on,  lay  anciently  and  still 
lie  on  the  walls  of  the  city  (Josh.  ii.  1.5),  not  far 
from  the  gates.  Although  it  is  not  stated  whether 
the  inhabitants  knew  where  he  was,  it  must  be 
assumed  that  they  did ;  for,  being  in  the  city,  hs 


CHAPTER  XVI.  1-3. 


213 


had  no  choice  as  to  his  phxce  of  abode.  The  king 
of  Jericho  commands  Kahab  to  deliver  up  the 
spies ;  but  the  description  here  given  of  the  way 
in  wliich  the  'Azzitcs  set  to  woik  to  catch  the 
dreaded  foe,  is  liighly  amusing  and  characteristic. 
The  most  direct  way  would  have  been  to  have 
attacked  him  in  the  house  of  the  zo?iah ;  but  that 
course  they  avoid.  They  propose  to  lie  in  wait  for 
him  when  he  comes  out.     Our  author's  use  of  the 

imperfects  -ISD*]  and  ^^'T'^*.!  is  peculiar  and  in- 
teresting. That  of  which  they  speak,  and  say  it 
must  be  done,  as:  "patrols  must  go  about,"  and 
"  bands  must  lie  in  wait  all  night  at  the  gate,"  the 
graphic  narrator  relates  as  if  it  were  actually  done. 
They  did  nothing  of  the  kind,  however,  but  instead 
of  patrolling  and  watching  "  all  night,"  they  were 

afraid,  and  kept  quiet  "all  night"  (i^7V-^"  ?' 
used  twice  in  order,  to  hint  at  the  contrast  between 
counsel  and  action  which  they  exliil)ited).  They 
should  doubtless  have  lieen  on  their  legs  through- 
out the  night,  but  in  fact  they  •1tL''"inn";,  kept 
themselves  still,  made  no  noise,  and  heard  nothing, 
just  as  a  timid  householder,  who  is  afraid  of  the 
burglar,  feigns  to  be  fast  asleep,  so  as  not  to  be 
obliged  to  hear  the  robbery  going  on.  The  gate, 
they  say  to  each  other,  is  firmly  fastened,  so  that 
he  cannot  get  out  of  the  city,  and  to-morrow,  at 
sunnse,  we  have  certainly  killed  him  (the  narrator 
again  represents  the  thing  talked  about  as  done, 

•^nD5"!?L!)'  "  Ah  yes,  to-morrow  ! "  To-morrow, 
to-morrow,  only  not  to-day,  is  the  language  of  all 
lazy  people  —  and  of  the  timorous  as  wcli.^ 

Ver.  3.  But  Samson  slept  till  midnight.  He 
had  been  told  that  his  presence  in  Gaza  was 
known.  How  little  fear  he  felt,  a])])cars  from  the 
fact  that  he  slept  till  midnight.  Then  he  arose, 
went  calmly  to  the  gate,  and  (as  it  was  closed  and 
barred)  lifted  out  its  posts,  placed  the  doors  on  his 
!>houlders,  and  tranquilly  proceeded  on  his  way 
home.  Humor  and  strength  characterized  all  his 
deeds.  On  this  occasion,  howmer,  the  mighty  jest 
which  he  ])layed  otf  on  the  inhabitants  of  Gaza, 
was  also  the  worst  humiliation  which  he  could  in- 
flict upon  them.  The  gates  of  a  place  symbolized 
its  civic  and  national  strength,  inasmuch  as  they 
represented  ingress  into  it.  Samson  enacted  lit- 
erally, as  it  were,  the  promise  made  to  Abraham  : 
"  Thy  seed  shall  possess  the  gate  of  its  enemies  " 
(Gen.  xxii.  17).  The  fact  that  Rebecca  is»dis- 
missed  with  the  same  blessing  (Gen.  xxiv.  60) : 
"  May  thy  seed  possess  the  gate  of  those  who  hate 
it ! "  indicates  the  popufixr  ditfusion  of  the  idea 
that  to  take  possession  of  an  enemy's  gate  is  to 
obtain  a  complete  victory  over  him.  Hence,  in 
the  East  victorious  princes  have  frequently  literally 
carried  away  the  gates  of  conquered  cities  (ef. 
Hammer,  Gesch.  des  Osman.  Reichs,  i.  267).  For 
the  same  I'cason,  Almansor,  when  he  took  Com- 
postella,  caused  the  doors  of  the  St.  James'  Church 
to  be  lifted  out,  and  to  be  carried  on  the  shoulders 

]  [The  above  explanation  of  ver.  2  is  more  ingenious 
than  satisfactory.  The  text  does  not  speak  of  what  the 
Philistines  .said  ought  to  be  done,  but  of  what  was  done. 
It  is  true,  that  this  view  meets  with  the  difficulty  of  ex- 
plaining how  Samson  could  carry  off  the  gate,  and  the 
watchers  be  apparently  none  the  wiser.  The  answer  is 
probably  that  after  the  guards  and  liers-in-wait  were  posted, 


of  Christians,  to  Cordova,  in  sign  of  his  victory 
(Ferreras,  Gesch.  von  Spanien,  iii.  14.5).  The  same 
idea  presents  itself  in  North-German  legends,  when 
giants  are  represented  as  carrymg  away  churches 
from  their  places,  in  order  to  show  their  hostility 
against  Christianity  (Schambach  and  Miiller,  Me- 
ders.  Sagen,  pp.  150,  1.51). 

But  precisely  because  the  removal  of  the  gate 
of  Gaza  was  expressive  of  the  national  humiliation 
of  the  Philistines  before  Israel  —  Israel  having,  as 
it  were,  in  the  person  of  its  representative,  taken 
their  chief  city  by  storm  —  it  is  necessary  to  take 
the  statement  that  Samson  carried  the  gate  "  up 

to  the  top  of  the  mountain  before  C'59'^'2?)  He- 
bron," in  a  more  literal  sense  than  Keil  feels  him- 
self bound  to  do.  Hebron  was  the  centre  and 
chief  seat  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  It  was  probably 
the  abode  of  Samson  also  during  the  twenty  years 
of  his  judgeship.  Israel's  triumph  and  the  Philis- 
tines' ignominy  w^ere  both  most  plainly  expressed 
when  the  gate  of  Gaza  was  lying  before  Hebron ; 
for  it  was  found  appropriate  to  carry  the  gates  of 
the  chief  city  of  the  enemy  to  the  chief  city  of  the 
conqueror,  otherwise  Hebron  would  not  have  been 
mentioned  at  all.  As  to  the  difWcuky  of  carrying 
the  gate  so  far  as  Hebron,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
waste  a  word  upon  it.  He  who  wrenched  the  gate 
from  its  firm  security,  could  also  carry  it  to  He- 
bron. Besides,  as  soon  as  he  was  in  Judtea,  he 
had  time  enough.  In  Hebron  the  evidences  of  the 
great  hero's  triumph  and  the  Philistines'  humilia- 
tion were  probably  exhibited  long  after  the  event 
took  place.  Even  when  nations  seem  least  capa- 
ble of  doing  great  things,  it  is  yet  a  cheering  sign, 
promissory  of  better'  days,  if  they  take  pleasure  in 
the  great  deeds  of  former  times.  Israel  was  in 
servitude  for  the  very  reason  that  it  no  longer 
knew  the  greatness  of  its  ancestors  (eh.  ii.  10). 
Whoever  takes  pleasure  in  Samson,  affords  some 
ground  to  hope  for  freedom. 


HOMILETICAL  .AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  ancient  church  used  the  gate  of  Gaza,  as  a 
type  of  the  gates  of  hell  destroyed  by  Christ.  A 
modern  art-critic,  it  is  true,  has  remarked  that 
most  of  the  pictures  which  were  supposed  to  be 
representations  of  Samson,  carrying  away  the 
gates  of  Gaza,  are  not  such,  but  represent  the  par- 
alytic of  the  gospels,  who  took  up  his  bed  and 
walked  (Martigny,  Dictionnaire ,  p.  599).  But  the 
essential  matter  is,  not  the  pictures,  but  the  spirit. 
Gaza  is,  as  it  were,  the  stronghold  of  the  enemy. 
Samson,  who  enters  it,  resembles  Christ,  who  is 
laid  in  the  grave.  But  the  enemy  cannot  bind  the 
living  Word.  He  not  only  rises  from  the  dead,  but 
He  deprives  the  fortress  of  its  gates,  so  that  it  cau 
no  longer  detain  any  who  would  be  free.  Only 
he  remains  a  captive,  in  whom  sin  reigns,  and  pas- 
sion is  supreme  —  who  would  be  free  from  Christ. 

these  rendered  sleepy  by  inaction  (^tE'TP'iT'),  and  confi- 
dent that  Samson  would  not  leave  the  zonah  until  morn- 
ing, became  "  quiet "  in  a  sense  beyond  that  intended  by 
the  instructions  they  had  received  —  in  other  words,  aV 
lowed  themselves  to  fall  asleep.  Cf.  Bertheau  and  Kelt.  -  - 
Te.J 


214  THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Samson's  fall.     He  loves  a  Philistine  woman,  and,  confiding  to  her  the  secret  of  his 
strength,  is  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

Chapter  XVI.  4-20. 

4  And  it  came  to  pass  afterward  [after  this],  that  he  loved  a  woman  in  the  valley  of 

5  Sorek,  whose  name  was  Delilah.  And  the  lords  [princes]  of  the  Philistines  came 
up  unto  her,  and  said  unto  her.  Entice  [Persuade]  him,  and  see  wherein  his  great 
strength  lieth,  and  by  what  means  we  may  prevail  against  him,  that  we  may  bind  him 
to  afflict  [lit.  humble,  i.  e.,  subdue]  him :  and  we  will  give  thee  every  one  of  us  eleven  hun- 

6  dred  pieces  of  silver.  And  Delilah  said  to  Samson,  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  wherein 
thy  great  strength  lieth,  and  wherewith  thou  mightest  be  bound  to  afflict  [subdue] 

7  thee.  And  Samson  said  unto  her.  If  they  bind  me  with  seven  green  withs  [moist 
cords],^  that  were  never  [have  not  been]  dried,  then  shall  I  be  weak,  and  be  as  an- 

8  other  [any  other]  man.  Then  the  lords  [princes]  of  the  Philistines  brought  up  to  her 
seven  green  withs  [moist  cords],  which  had  not  been  dried,  and  she  bound  him 

9  with  them.  (Now  there  loere  men  lying  in  wait,  abiding  with  her  in  the  chamber.)"^ 
And  she  said  unto  him,  The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,  Samson.  And  he  brake  the 
withs  [cords]  as  a  thread  of  tow  is  broken  when  it  toucheth  [smelleth]  the  fire.    So 

10  his  strength  was  not  known.  And  Delilah  said  unto  Samson,  Behold,  thou  hast 
mocked  [deceived]  me,  and  told  me  lies  :  now  tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  wherewith  thou 

1 1  mightest  be  bound.  And  he  said  unto  her.  If  they  bind  me  fast  [omit :  fast]  with 
new  ropes  that  never  were  occupied  [with  which  no  work  was  ever  done],  then  shall 

12  I  be  weak,  and  be  as  another  [any  other]  man.  Delilah  therefore  took  new  ropes, 
and  bound  him  therewith,  and  said  unto  him.  The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,  Sam- 
son.    (And  there  were  liers  in  wait  abiding  in  the  chamber.)^     And  he  brake  them 

13  from  off  his  arms  like  a  thread.  And  Delilah  said  unto  Samson,  Hitherto  thou  hast 
mocked  [deceived]  me,  and  told  me  lies :  tell  me  wherewith  thou  mightest  be  bound. 

14  And  he  said  unto  her.  If  thou  weavest  the  seven  locks  of  my  head  with  [i.  e.,  into] 
the  web  [i.e.,  the  warp].  Aud  [she  did  so,  and]  slie  fastened  it  with  the  pin,  and  said 
unto  him.  The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,  Samson.     And  he  awaked  out  of  his  sleep, 

15  and  went  away  with  [pulled  out]  the  pin  of  the  beam  [loom],  and  with  [omit :  with] 
the  web  [or,  warp].  And  she  said  unto  him.  How  canst  thou  say,  I  love  thee,  when 
thine  heart  is  not  w|th  me  ?    Thou  hast  mocked  [deceived]  me  these  three  times,  and 

16  hast  not  told  me  wherein  thy  great  strength  lieth.  And  it  came  to  pass  when  she 
pressed  him  daily  with  her  words,  and  urged  him,  so  that  his  soul  was  vexed  unto 

17  death ;  That  he  told  her  all  his  heart,  and  said  unto  her.  There  hath  not  come  a 
razor  upon  mine  head  ;  for  I  have  been  [«/«]  a  Nazarite  unto  God  from  my  mother's 
womb  :  if  I  be  shaven,  then  my  strength  will  go  from  me,  and  I  shall  become  weak, 

18  and  be  like  any  [all]  other m^n  [men].  Arid  when  [omit:  when]  Delilah  saw  that 
he  had  told  her  all  his  heart,  [and]  she  sent  and  called  for  the  lords  [princes]  of 
the  Philistines,  saying.  Come  up  this"  once,  for  he  hath  shewed  me  ^  all  his  heart. 
Then  the  lords  [princes]  of  the  Philistines  came  up  unto  her,  and  brought  [the] 

1 0  money  in  their  hand.  And  she  made  him  sleep  upon  her  knees ;  and  she  called  for 
a  man,  and  she  caused  him  to  shave  [and  she  shaved]  *  off  the  seven  locks  of  his 

20  head ;  aud  she  began  to  afflict  [subdue]  him,  and  his  strength  went  from  him.  And 
she  said,  The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,  Samson.  And  he  awoke  out  of  his  sleep, 
and  said,  I  will  go  out  as  at  other  times  before,  and  shake  myself  [free].^  And  he 
wist  not  that  the  Lord  [Jrhovah]  was  departed  from  him. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  7.  —  tH'^n^  D'^'nn"^ :   literally,  "moist  cords  or  strings."     Khl  :  "  "IH")  means  string,  e.  g.,  of  a  bow,  Pb 

si.  2 ;  and  in  Arabic  and  Syriac  both  bow-string  and  guitar-string.    Now  since  tlie  D'^'IH")  are  here  distinguished  from 

the  D"^ni2V,  ropes  (ver.  11),  the  former  must  be  understood  of  animal  tendons  or  gut-strings."     It  is  certainly  in  favoi 

of  this  view  that  the  □'^"in'^  are  to  be  "  moist,"  as  also  that  it  makes  a  strong  and  climactic  distinction  betwe<  n  D^^jT^ 
.   T :  '  •  t: 

and  DTIS^?.      Compare  the  rendering  of  the  LXX. :  vevpali  vypaZi.  —  Te.] 


CHAPTER  XVI.   4-20. 


215 


[2  Ver.  9. —  "ITHIl  n^  itp^  i^Sm. :  "and  the  lurker  sat  for  her  in  the  apartment."  In  itself  considered, 
!2"7^^  might  be  collective,  as  rendered  by  the  E.  V.  (of.  ch.  xx.  33) ;  but,  although  other  Philistines  may  have  been 
near  at  hand,  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceal  the  presence  in  the  room  itself  of  more  than  one,  and  hence  it  would  hardly 
be  attempted.  (TT^  is  dot.  commodi.  The  rendering,  "  with  her,"  adopted  also  by  Cassel  (and  De  Wette),  is  not  indeed 
impossible,  but  gives  to  ^  a  meaning  which  it  rarely  has,  and  which  is  here  less  suitable.  —  Tr.] 

3  Ver.  18.  —  The  reading  "'^  of  the  keri  is  evidently  the  correct  one,  notwithstanding  Keil's  remarks  in  favor  of  PT7, 
Keil  would  make  the  clause  a  remark  inserted  by  the  narrator  :  "  for  he  had  showed  her  (HT')  all  his  heart."  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  19.  —  nvUri"!  :  "and  she  shaved."  The  piel  is  not  causative  here  ;  compare  the  pual  in  ver.  17.  The  E. 
V.  seems  to  accept  the  interpretation  of  the  Vulgate  and  Alex.  Sept.,  which  translate  tf'^ST'  by  "barber."  "The 
man  "  (ti?*S V  =  tyWH  v)  '^  probably  the  Philistine  who  was  on  duty  at  the  time  as  "  lurker  ; "  and  Delilah  calls 
on  him,  in  order  to  have  somebody  near  to  defend  her  should  Samson  wake  during  the  shearing  process.    Cf.  Keil.  — Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  20.  —  *1373S  :  Dr.  Cassel  translates,  will  mich  ermannen,  "  put  on  and  assert  my  manhood."  He  supposes 
Samson  to  see  the  Philistines,  and  to  express  his  determination  to  give  them  battle  as  heretofore  (see  below).  But  not 
to  say  that  "15733  will  not  bear  this  sense,  it  seems  clear  that  the  "  other  times  "  refer  to  the  previous  attempts  of  Deli- 
iah  to  master  his  secret.  —  Te.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  4.  ^And  it  came  to  pass  that  he  loved  a 
■woman  in  the  vaUey  of  Sorek,  whose  name  was 
Delilah.  Let  him  who  stands,  take  heed  lest  he 
iall.  This  is  valid  also  for  the  powerful  person- 
ality of  Samson.  It  is  true  that  the  adTentures, 
in  which  sensuality  ensnared  him,  had  hitherto 
been  only  occasions  for  acting  as  the  hero  of  his 
people.  But  it  is  true  also  that  his  present  love 
differs  in  many  respects  from  that  which  he  gave 
to  the  woman  of  Timnah.  Then  he  was  young, 
and  for  his  ])eople's  sake  needed  natural  occasions 
for  war  against  the  Philistines  —  to  say  nothing 
of  the  fact  that  at  that  time  he  sought  lawful  mat- 
rimony. Now,  he  has  long  been  a  man.  His 
strength  and  greatness  need  no  more  demonstra- 
tion. Delilah  was  not  his  wife  :  if  not  a  "■  zonah," 
she  was  still  l)ut  a  weaver-woman,  whom  he  saw 
and  loved.  Moral  dangers,  like  all  dangers,  may, 
in  the  jirovidence  of  God,  serve  to  give  experience 
to  a  man,  and  afford  him  opportunities  for  vic- 
tory;  but  to  run  into  them,  in  the  confidence  of 
■winning  new  victories,  is  not  ])erniitted,  even  to  a 
Samson.  The  "  Nazir  of  Elohira "  is  not  to  be 
measured  by  common  rules  :  everything  is  lawful 
for  lihn ;  but  only  so  long  as  he  does  not  desecrate 
by  means  of  itself  the  strength  with  which  he  is 
endowed. 

By  giving  the  name  of  the  place  where,  and  of 
the  woman  whom,  Samson  loved,  the  narrator 
already  foreshadows  the  temptation  into  which  he 
placed  himself.  The  Naclial  ( Valley  of)  Sorek  is 
evidently  named  after  a  variety  of  the  grape  —  in 
appearance  almost  stoneless,  yet  provided  with  a 
soft  stone,  and  productive  of  a  prticious  red  wine 
(cf  Jcr.  ii.  21  ;  Isa.  v.  2) — which  elsewhere  gives 
the  name  Kischmi  to  an  Arabian  island  (Ritter, 
xii.  4.52).  Of  the  position  of  the  Nachal  Sorek 
we  have  no  other  tradition  than  that  of  Eusebius, 
who  knew  a  place  named  Sprech  (al.  I.  Barech), 
aorth  of  Eleutheropolis,  in  the  vicinity  of  Zorah, 
the  home  of  Samson.  But  this  tradition  can 
scarcely  be  accepted.  For  the  place,  judging  from 
the  connection  of  the  narrative,  cannot  have  been 
remote  from  Gaza  (cf.  ver.  21).  Nay,  even  the  im- 
mediate connection  of  our  narrative  with  the  pre- 
vious occurrenCiB  in  Gaza,  ])oints  to  the  vicinity  of 
the  latter  city.  Moreover,  it  is  to  be  supposed  that 
precist^ly  ia  the  region  indicated  by  Eusebius,  all 


Philistine  supremacy  was  abrogated  by  the  grow- 
ing fear  of  Samson's  activity  as  Judge.  Nor  is  it 
difficult  to  see  that  the  tradition  followed  by  Euse- 
bius, connects  itself  with  the  exegesis  of  ch.  xiii. 
25.  It  will  therefore  be  an  allowable  conjecture, 
to  assume  as  the  theatre  of  the  sad  catastrophe 
which  is  now  related,  the  present  wretched  village 
Simsim,  whence  the  Wady  (Nachal)  Simsim,  passed 
by  the  traveller  on  the  way  from  Gaza  to  Ashke- 
lon,  where  it  debouches,  derives  its  name  (Ritter, 
xvi.  68).  It  is  remarkable  that  another,  albeit  in 
this  respect  erroneous  ti-adition,  led  astray  by  the 
name  Askulan,  Ashkelon,  has  identified  this  wady 
with  the  brook  Eshcol,  which  must  indeed  be 
sought  near  Hebron,  but  which  likewise  derived 
its  name  from  the  grapes  of  that  region. 

The  name  of  the  woman  would  not  have  been 
given  by  the  narrator,  had  he  not  wished  to  inti- 
mate the  same  idea  which  R.  Mair  expressed  (Sota, 
9,  2 ;  Jalkut,  n.  10)}  when  he  remarked,  that  ever> 
if  Delilah  had  not  been  her  name,  she  might  nev- 
ertheless properly  be  so  called,  because  n7T7''"T 
imD  nW,  "  she  debilitated  his  strength."     The 

form  V~T7T  (from  Chaldce  v7^)  has  clearly  also 
given  rise  to  the  name  AaAi5c(,  which  is  given  to 
Delilah  in  the  Septuagint  and  in  many  MSS.  of 
Josephus,  and  which  is  therefore  probably  not  a 
fltlse  reading.  We  meet  also  with  a  Greek  female 
name  Aa\is,  5oXi5oj.  The  name  Delilah  reminds 
lis  readily  of  the  onomatopoetic  German  word 
ein4ullen  [English,  to  lull  asleep],  Greek  fiavKaXdu 
(whence  a  proper  name  Bau/coAos).  Sensviality 
sings  and  lulls  the  manly  strength  of  the  hero  to 
sleep.  The  volujjtuous  chiefs-  of  the  Philistines 
know  this  full  well,  and  therefore  they  say  : 

Ver.  5.  Persuade  him,  and  see  wherein  his 
great  strength  heth.  Samson  was  no  giant, 
coarse  and  elejihantine,  like  a  Cyclops ;  otherwise, 
they  would  have  been  at  no  loss  to  explain  his 
strength.  The  shoulders  on  which  he  bore  the 
gate-doors  of  Gaza  were  not  sixty  ells  apart,  as  in 
the  figurative  expression  of  the  Talmud.  He  was 
regularly  built,  although  we  may  conceive  of  him 

1  Cf.  Bamidbar  Rabba,  §  9,  p.  194  b. 

2  Q'^3'1P,  T^D :  probably  etymologically  connected 
■with  the  Greek    ipavvo^.     The  Tai-gum  translates  *'3"1^t3. 


216 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


as  tall  and  stately;  full  of  spirit,  yet  good-natured 
and  kind,  as  the  possessor  of  true  divine  genius 
always  is. 

But  on  this  very  account,  because  physically  he 
did  seem  very  ditlerent  from  themselves,  and  as 
they  knew  not  the  power  of  divine  inspiration, 
they  entertained  the  wide-spread  superstition,  still 
current  in  the  East,  that  he  had  some  occult  means 
at  his  service,  from  which  he  derived  his  unusual 
strength.  The  expressions  for  amulets  and  charms 
for  such  and  similar  purposes,  are  still  very  numer- 
ous in  the  Persian  and  Arabic  idioms.  Kustem, 
according  to  the  Iranian  legend,  could  not  have 
overcome  Isfendiar,  if  he  had  not  previously  learned 
the  charm  wiiich  gave  the  latter  his  strength. 
Scandinavian  mythology,  also,  puts  Thor  in  pos- 
session of  his  highest  strength,  only  when  he  puts 
on  the  girdle  which  assures  it  to  him.  Even  in 
Germany,  the  superstition  was  prevalent  until  com- 
paratively recent  times,  that  persons  had  some- 
times become  "fearfully  strong"  through  the  use 
of  demoniac  flesh  (Meier,  Schwab.  Sw/eri,  p.  HI). 
In  the  year  1718  a  person  confessed  that  the 
devil  had  given  him  a  receipt,  in  the  possession  of 
which  he  ielt  himself  stronger  than  all  other  men 
(cf.  Tharsander,  Schauplatz  unger.  Meinungen,  iL 
314  f ). 

It  was  all  important  for  the  Philistines  to  learn 
Samson's  charm,  in  order  to  render  it  powerless. 
They  hear  of  his  love  for  Delilah.  They  were 
aware  that  before  this  the  hero  had  failed  to  with- 
stand the  cajoleries  of  the  woman  ho  loved.  In 
both  earlier  and  later  times,  the  orientals  were 
conversant  with  the  dangers  which  often  arise  to 
even  the  greatest  heroes  and  kings,  from  their 
weakness  toward  women.  Tradition  and  poetry 
are  full  of  it.  In  the  apocryphal  Esdras  (I.  ch. 
iv.  26  f )  we  read :  "  Many  have  gone  out  of  their 
wits  for  women,  and  have  become  slaves  on  ac- 
count of  them.  Many  have  perished,  and  erred, 
and  sinned,  by  reason  of  women."  And  the  Turk- 
ish poet  ilamdi  says :  "  Brother,  if  thou  comest  to 
women,  do  not  trust  them.  Women  have  deceived 
even  prophets."  Though  this  be  true,  all  v/omen 
are  not  thereby  defamed.  Traitors  like  Delilah 
are  only  those  who  are  such  as  she  was,  just 
as  the  only  lovers  of  treason  are  cowardly  men, 
like  the  Pliilistines,  who  dare  not  meet  greatness 
openly. 

And  we  will  give  thee  eleven  hundred  pieces 
of  silver  each.  It  is  a  very  mean  trade  that  is 
here  driven  with  the  affections  of  Samson.  It  is 
an  instance  so  deterrent,  that  it  might  well  move 
deeply  and  instruct  both  young  and  old.  The 
woman  of  Timnah  betrayed  Samson  either  from 
fear  or  from  Philistine  zeal :  this  one  sells  him  for 
money  ;  and  the  Philistines  with  wlujra  she  trades 
are  very  careful  in  making  their  promises.  It  is 
not  enough,  they  stij)ulate,  that  she  ascertains  the 
secret;  it  must  be  such  that  use  can  be  made  of  it, 
and  that  with  the  particular  specified  result.  This 
carefulness  shows  that  the  cold-blooded  Philistines 
knew  with  whom  they  had  to  do.  So  much  the 
sadder  is  it  to  see  Samson  lavish  caresses  on  such 
a  woman.     The  sum  for  which  Delilah  consents 

1  The   Targum   sjveaks   of  1,100   silver  sUin    (7'^1?^D, 

from  'i''~D).  On  the  relation  of  the  scia  to  the  sheltel, 
zi  ujy  "  JiiiilKche  Geschic/ite,'^  in  Krsch  and  GruberS  Ency- 

IclOpMlic,   p.  CO.  ■        , 

■i-  [Compare  ,)os.,  Ant.  v.  8,  11  —  Ta.] 

3  [Dr.  Cassel  assumes  all  through  the  present  dtscusBion 
that  Delilah  was  a  Philistine  woman,  lie  is  probably  cor- 
rect, cf.  Smith's  Bible  Diet.,  art.  "  Delilah."     WordBworth, 


to  sell  the  hero  is  not  insignificant.  Since  each 
of  the  princes  promises  1,100  shekels  of  silver,  and 
since,  according  to  Judg.  iii.  3,  the  number  of 
princes  may  be  set  down  as  five,  the  sum  pledged 
amounted  to  .5,.500  shekels,  between  4, ,500  and  ,5,000 
[Prussian]  Eeichsthaler  [i.  e.,  between  3,000  and 
3,500  dollars].! — \hv\  Curius,  the  Roman,  been 
less  niggardly  towards  Fulvia,  his  scorluin,  the 
Catilinian  conspiracy  might  perhaps  have  been 
more  successful  (Sallust,  Calilhia,  23). 

Vers.  6-9.  If  they  bind  me  with  seven  fresh 
cords.  Delilah  accepts  the  oft'ers  held  out  by 
treason,  and  begins  to  insinuate  herself  into  Sara- 
son's  favor  ^  by  inquiries  about  his  strength.  But 
Samson  does  not  tell  her  the  truth.  Why  not'? 
Because  from  that  moment  he  would  have  been 
obliged  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  her.  For 
her  questions  reminded  him  of  the  divine  origin 
of  his  strength,  which  was  not  given  for  such  a 
house,  and  which  after  a  true  answer  could  no 
longer  be  secure  there.  As  soon  as  he  told  the 
truth,  he  must  either  depart  or  perish,  separate 
from  his  charmer  or  suffer.  The  medieval  poetry 
in  which  heroes  of  superior  origin  live  peaceably 
with  women,  but  are  obliged  to  separate  from 
them  as  soon  as  these  begin  to  inquire  after  their 
descent,  represents  the  same  thought  in  poetical 
garb.  The  wife's  questions,  however,  in  these  fic- 
tions, are  not  put  with  treasonable  intent.  They 
nevertheless  drive  the  man  away  (cf.  my  work : 
Der  Schivan,  p.  21,  etc.). 

Want  of  confidence  and  national  fellowship*  do 
not  permit  Samson  to  give  the  true  answer  to 
Delilah.  But  if  these  be  wanting,  how  can  he 
consort  with  her,  even  leaving  her  (juestions  out 
of  view  ?  That  this  is  not  impossible,  is  but  too 
plain ;  but  the  explanation  of  it  is  unpleasing. 
Samson,  in  his  sensual  sports,  lays  no  claims  to 
morality,  and  the  heroism,  in  which  he  feels  him- 
self secure,  sleeps  under  the  pleasing  sensations 
of  the  play.  He  would  continue  to  divert  himself, 
and  therefore  prefers  not  to  tell  the  truth.  In  the 
"  seven  cords,"  however,  he  already  hints  at  the 
"  seven  locks"  of  his  head.  Here  is  the  germ  of 
his  fall.  He  seeks  to  quiet  Delilah  by  some  sort 
of  answer.  Seven  cords  of  animal  tendons,  nM 
yet  stretched  (cf.  Saalschiitz,  Arc-hadogie,  i.  141, 
note  8),  are  undoubtedly  sufficient  to  render  a 
strong  man  incapable  of  defentling  hire^self.  It 
was  an  answer  which  Delilah  might  reasonably 
believe,  ■^^ilile  for  himself  it  contained  no  danger; 
for  who  will  j)ut  the  cords  on  him,  except  by  his 
own  permission  ?  Even  when  at  a  subsequent  visit 
Delilah  had  the  cords  in  readiness,  and  coaxed  hira 
to  allow  her  to  bind  him  with  them,  he  could  still 
consent  to  be  passive.  Had  the  Philistines  ac- 
tually attacked  hini,  it  would  but  have  attbrded 
him  a  desirable  opportunity  for  an  heroic  teat. 
But  the  Philistines  are  careful,  and  keep  at  a  dis- 
tance until  they  see  liow  the  trial  will  end.  When 
Delilah  raises  the  cry  of  Philistines,  Samson  rends 
the  cords  suuuider  as  so  many  threads  of  tow.  He 
gave  a  i)roof  of  his  strength,  but  gained  no  vi«- 
tory. 

however,  who  regards  her  a*  "a  light,  venal  woman  oi" 
Samson's  own  triho,"  mak«s  a  sjjggestion  worthy  of  consid^ 
eration  on  the  other  side.  "'  Jience,'"  he  says  (namely,  she 
being  an  Isrjielitess),  "she  professed  love  for  Samson,  whers 
she  said,  'The  Philistines  '  (mine  Guemies  as  well  as  thinejj 
'are  upon  thee,  Samson.'  He  was  the  more  easily  caught 
in  the  snare  because  he  could  not  imagine  that  a  womaa 
of  Israel  would  betray  him."  —  Tr.J 


CHAPTER  XVI.  4-20. 


217 


That  which  the  principle  of  evil  here  attempts 
against  the  hero,  Scandinavian  mythology,  in  the 
Edda,  represents  inversely.  The  "Ases"  (demi- 
gods) are  afraid  of  the  "  Wolf"  (the  representative 
of  evil).  They  persuade  him  to  allow  himself  to 
be  bound,  in  order  to  show  his  strength.  He  tears 
asunder  one  cliain  after  another,  until  he  is  bound 
by  means  of  a  singular  cord,  whose  symbolical 
sense  makes  it  the  same  as  that  under  which  Sam- 
son succumbs  :  for  it  is  the  cord  of  sensuality.  —  It 
is  a  distorted  form  of  our  narrative  which  we  find 
in  the  Slavic  story  of  the  strong  son,  who  rends 
tlie  rope  in  pieces,  but  succumbs  under  the  thin 
string,  which  cuts  into  his  flesh. 

Vers.  10-12.  If  they  bind  me  with  new  ropes 
with  w]iich  no  work  was  ever  done.  Samson's 
fonterapt  of  the  Philistines  is  so  great,  that  he 
does  not  even  become  angry  with  Delilah,  whose 
behavior  nevertheless  could  not  but  appear  sus- 
picious to  him.  And  she  knows  her  power  over 
him  so  well,  that,  after  the  ancient  manner  of 
\vomen,  she  seeks  to  escape  the  reproaches  which 
he  might  be  expected  to  make  against  her,  by  an- 
ticipating them  with  her  own  against  him.  And 
that  with  all  the  brazen  efl'rontery  characteristic 
of  women  whose  charms  are  great  and  whose 
hearts  are  bad.  "  I  saw  Apame,''  it  is  said  in  the 
apocryphal  Esdras  (I.  ch.  iv.  29  ff.),  "  taking  the 
crown  from  the  king's  head,  and  striking  him.  If 
she  laughs  upon  him,  he  laughs ;  if  she  is  angry 
at  him,  he  flatters  her,  that  she  may  be  reconciled 
to  him."  Delilah,  with  treason  in  her  heart,  dares 
to  tax  Samson  with  falsehood.  But  she  uses  this 
feigned  sensitiveness  and  her  crocodile  tears  to 
renew  her  attempts  to  gain  his  secret  and  her  re- 
ward. Still  he  does  not  tell  her  the  truth ;  hut 
yet  she  makes  an  advance  towards  her  end.  It 
could  not  be  otherwise.  For  although  Samson's 
greatness  only  jests,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  his 
godlike  strength  was  not  given  for  sport.  The 
playfully  received  reproach  that  he  had  told  her 
lies,  drives  him  involuntarily  a  step  nearer  the 
truth  which  her  demand  profanes.  Satan  already 
draws  his  snares  one  stitcii  closer.  For  when  he 
tells  her  that  he  can  be  bound  by  new  cords  "  with 
which  no  work  has  been  done,"  the  added  qualih- 
cation  is  not  an  empty  and  meaningless  one.  He 
was  already  once  bound  with  "  new  cords  "  (ch. 
XV.  13),  and  set  himself  free.  But  the  cords  "  with 
which  no  work  has  yet  been  done,"  are  an  image 
of  his  strength  ;  the  hair  of  his  head  also  is  un- 
profaned  —  no  razor  has  ever  touched  it.  Strength 
and  consecration  were  characteristic  of  the  things 
yet  uncontaminated  by  the  uses  and  defilements 
of  life.  The  vehicle  on  which  the  ark  of  God  is 
transported  must  be  drawn  by  animals  never  be- 
fore yoked,  and  must  itself  be  new.  The  Philis- 
tine diviners  (1  Sam.  vi.  7)  know  this  ;  the  law  of 
Israel  also  recognizes  the  principle,  in  its  j-ecjuire- 
ment  that  the  red  heifer  of  purification  shall  be 
one  upon  whom  yoke  never  came^  (Num.  xix.  2). 
Availing  himself  of  this  belief,  Samson  speaks  of 
"  new  cords,  which  have  never  done  service,"  in 
order  by  this  suggestion  of  special  strength  in 
them,  to  make  his  answer  mere  credible,  while  it 
it  the  same  time  gives  a  reflection  of  the  truth 
with  regard  to  himself. 

But  the  treason  does  not  yet  succeed.  The 
Philistine    spy,    who    is    present    hut    concealed 

^"ITinS}  in  the  inner  apartment),  must  for  the 

1  Mediaeval  superstition  reproduces  this  also.  Cloths  are 
required  for  alchemistio  purjio'es  which  have  been  finished 
bj'  "  ftudel^l^  persons  "' 


second  time  depart,  disappointed  and  gloomy.  The 
cords  fall  from  his  arms  like  threads.  It  was  for 
him  hut  a  pleasant  pastime  thus  to  give  Delilah 
one  more  proof  of  his  strength,  hoping  perhaps  to 
deter  her  from  further  questioning.  If  lie  did  believe 
this,  it  could  only  be  in  consequence  of  his  mag- 
nificent confidence,  which  in  the  consciousness  of 
strength  verged  toward  weakness.  But  natures 
like  Delilah's  do  not  relax  :  avarice  and  vexation 
urge  them  on.  In  the  Old-French  romance  of 
Merlin,  that  wise  man  says  that  such  women  are, 
"  hamecons  a  prendre  poisso)is  en  riviere,  reths  a 
prendre  les  oiseaulx  a  la  pipe'e,  rasouers  tranchans  et 
affilez." 

Vers.  13,  14.  If  thou  weavest  the  seven  locks 
of  my  head  into  the  web.  He  still  conceals  the 
truth  ;  but  also  once  more  yields  a  step.  The  un- 
truth constantly  diminishes,  the  danger  constantly 
increases.  He  thinks  no  longer  of  actual  ropes ; 
he  speaks  already  of  the  locks  of  his  head.  For- 
merly, he  hinted  at  them,  under  the  figure  of  that 
which  is  untouched  of  labor,  but  named  cords ; 
now  he  names  his  hair,  but  does  not  yet  speak  of 
its  untouched  consecration.  So  organically  does 
his  own  noble  nature  press  him  onward  into  the 
snares  set  for  him  by  the  reproaches  and  tears  of 
the  traitoress.  As  soon  as  he  determined  either  to 
tell  the  truth,  or  not  to  tell  it,  he  must  break  with 
the  traitorous  tempter,  and  part  from  her ;  and  if 
he  does  not  do  this,  it  is  precisely  his  ordinary, 
noble  impulse  toward  truth,  which  even  in  jest  and 
in  the  face  of  treason  he  cannot  deny,  that  drives 
him  on  to  destruction. 

Expositors  hnd  the  answer  of  Samson  very  diffi- 
cult to  be  understood,  but  needlessly.  Delilah  had 
in  her  apartment  a  weaver's  loom,  at  which  she 
worked.  It  was  doubtless  of  the  upright,  prim- 
itive form.  It  is  probable  that  the  technical  terms 
connected  with  the  weaver's  art  in  Egypt  were  also 
prevalent  on  the  Phoenician  coast.  Weaving  wo- 
men have  also  been  found  depicted  on  Egyptian 

monuments.  The  word  HSD^  signifies  the  web. 
on  the  loom.  Hesychius  (cf.  Schleusner,  Thes.  iii. 
529)  has  a  form  fiiaaKvov,  which  is  explained  to 
mean  "  weaver's-beam."  It  is  then  added :  "  Some 
make  it  mean  olvt'iov,  others  ^eaaKrav."  The  lat- 
ter word  is  manifestly  Hp^^i  and  the  same  as 
fiicravTwv,  which  only  the  LXX.  know,  and  is  cer- 
tainly not  Greek,  although  avTiov  occurs  elsewhere. 

The  Targum  represents  it  by  Sn"*rili7^,  which  is 
evidently  derived  from  the  same  technical  expres- 
sion. Delilah  is  to  work  the  hair  of  Samson,  who 
places  himself  near  the  loom,  into  her  web  as 
woof.  This  could  only  be  done  from  above.  He- 
rodotus (ii.  35)  informs  us,  that  the  Egyptians, 
unlike  other  nations,  inserted  the  woof,  not  from 
below  upward,  but  from  above  downward.  Sam- 
son's locks  were  long  enough  to  form  a  close  and 
perfect  web ;  for  it  is  added  that  she  also  struck  in 

the  "^Ot'  the  batten,  in  order  to  show  that  it  was 

a  regular  piece  of  weaving.  *Til^  is  what  Homer 
calls  the  KepKis,  staff,  equivalent  to  our  "batten." 
The  Greek  KepKts,  also,  means  a  pin,  nail,  just  af. 

the  Hebrew  ^7.^  does  elsewhere.  During  the 
weaving,  Samson  had  fallen  asleep.  Had  he  been 
unable  to  extricate  his  hair,  he  would  at  least  have 
been  unfree  in  his  movements.  But  at  the  cry 
"Philistines  !  "  he  awakes.  He  gives  one  wixnch, 
and  the  web  tears,  the  batten  shoots  out,  and  the 

seven  locks  are  free.     They  are  called  j"Tl2^ntt, 


218 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


a  word  found  only  here.  It  comes  from  ^^H, 
not,  however,  from  that  which  means  '"  to  change," 
Dut  from  the  equivalent  of  jrAe/co),  with  which,  con- 
sonant  changes    being  taken    into   account,  it  is 

identical  (^ibn  =  nb3  =  "fbs  :==TrA6/ca>).  The 
irXoKafjLoi,  locks,  are  seven,  in  accordance  with  the 
sacred  number  of  perfection  and  consecration.  De- 
lilah finds  herself  deceived  for  the  third  time.  The 
Philistines  become  im])aticnt  and  dubious.  No 
mention  is  made  this  third  time  of  a  spy,  awaiting 
the  issue  of  the  trial.  Even  the- second  time,  it  is 
not  stated,  as  at  the  first  attempt,  that  the  Philis- 
tines brought  her  the  cords.  The  woman  sees  her- 
self defrauded  of  her  large  gains,  and  turned  into 
a  laughing-stock  besides.  She  therefore  brings 
everything  to  bear  to  overcome  the  hero.  She 
employs  all  her  arts  to  torment  him.  He  does  not 
love  her  —  has  no  heart  for  her  —  has  deceived 
her :  such  is  the  gamut  on  which  her  tears  and 
prayers  are  pitched.  In  point  of  fact,  the  three- 
fold reproach  is  a  threefold  injustice.  The  three 
answers  he  lias  given,  looked  at  carefully,  form  as 
it  were  an  enigma,  in  which  the  truth  lies  con- 
cealed :  in  the  first,  the  "  seven ; "  in  the  second, 
the  "  consecration  ;  "  in  the  third,  the  "  locks." 
He  is  really  too  great  to  lie ;  and  therefore  he  falls 
a  victim.  Had  he  only  lied  thoroughly,  lied  once 
more,  he  had  been  free.  The  Philistines  would 
not  have  returned ;  Delilah  would  have  ceased. 
But  Samson's  history  is  a  finished  tragedy.  He 
falls  by  reason  of  his  greatness,  which  hinders  him 
from  avoiding  the  thrust  of  the  serpent  whom  he 
has  once  suftercd  to  approach  his  heel. 
y  Samson's  pliableness  has  met  with  sufficiently 
frivolous  apprehension.  "  Strong  Samson,"  says 
Kousseau  {Emile,  ed.  1782,  iii.  p.  200),  "was  not 
so  strong  as  Delilah."  This  is  erroneous.  It  was 
because  he  was  so  strong  and  Delilah  so  weak, 
that  he  fell.  He  stumbled  over  an  opponent  who 
was  too  little  to  contend  with.  Rousseau  com- 
pares him  with  Hercules  in  his  relations  to  Om- 
phale.  This  also  is  incorrect.  That  myth  is 
nothing  but  a  representation  of  the  sun,  who  as 
hero  descends  into  the  lap  of  repose.  It  has  no 
dramatico-historical  interest.  ( )mphale  makes  no 
demand  of  anything  with  which  the  prosperity 
and  freedom  of  a  nation  are  connected.  Nor  is  it 
more  correct  to  look  for  analogies  among  the 
tasks  which,  in  tradition  and  poetry,  are  imposed 
on  lover-heroes  by  their  mistresses.  Those  are  mere 
trials  of  strength,  without  moral  character.  The 
historian  of  the  Incas  says,  panegyrieally,  of  Hu- 
ayna  Ca])ac,  one  of  the  last  monarehs  of  Peru 
(died  152;")),  that  "he  was  never  known  to  refuse 
a  \^•oman,  of  whatever  age  or  degree  she  might  be, 
any  favor  that  she  asked  of  hini "  (Prescott,  Peru, 
i.  339,  note).  Sainson  had  certainly  refused  Deli- 
lah, had  he  not  been  so  great  in  his  strength,  so 
uniipie  in  his  manifestation,  so  elevated  above  his 
time,  so  true  even  in  evasion,  so  earnest  in  sport! 
The  weakness  of  Pericles  for  Aspasia,  even  if  not 
without  influence  on  affairs  of  state,  was  not  dra- 
matic—  for  they  mutually  valued  each  other;  but 
Samson's  love  is  tragic,  because  the  jday  in  which 
in  his  greatness  he  indulges,  causes  his  feet  to  slide 
on  account  of  it. 

1  \^  7  S  occurs  only  here;  cf.  iA.yos,  iAyuVo).     Similar  is 

Uib^S,  hunger. 
•  T  :       ' 

2  In  the  Middle  Agee  it  was  believed  that  she  had  stupi- 
fied  him  by  means  of  opium.  Thij?  view  transmitted  itself 
feren  into  the  "Chronicon^ngelhusii,"  in  Leibnitz,  Script. 


Vers.  15,  16.  And  his  soul  was  vexed  tinto 
death.  If  Samson  remained,  he  must  succumb. 
The  national  liero  of  Israel  who  cannot  separate 
himself  from  a  Philistine  woman,  must  fall.  In 
vain  has  he  sought  three  times  to  put  her  off  with 
a  jest.  The  avarice  and  knavery  of  such  women 
arc  not  to  be  escaped  from  by  witty  turns.  She 
knows  that  at  last  he  cannot  hide  the  truth  from 
her.  Precisely  his  greatness  and  fearlessness  ena- 
ble her  to  compass  his  destruction,  lie  remains  ; 
and  she  does  not  cease  her  efforts,  until  at  last  he 

is  wearied  of  her  ceaseless  teazing  (^f^^_?^^l). 

She  bored  him  to  death  (itt?Dj  "1^1?^!!)  with  tears 
and  reproaches.  He  wished  to  have  rest  —  and  to 
remain  ;  nothing  was  left,  therefore,  but  to  grant 
her  wish.  Such  is  the  philosophy  of  many  hus- 
bands who  yield  to  women  ambitious  of  rule.  To 
be  sure,  they  are  their  wives,  before  God  and  men, 
and  the  danger  is  not  always  so  great  as  here. 
Samson,  although  he  remains,  finds  himself  so 
plagued,  that  in  order  to  quiet  Delilah,  everything 
else  is  indifferent  to  him.  He  determines  to  tell 
her  the  true  reason  of  his  great  strength.  But 
will  she  not  wish  to  test  the  truth  of  what  he  tells 
her  ?  and  Avill  he  not  thereby  lose  his  strength  1 
He  considers  it  not.  But  this  strength  which  he 
puts  in  jeopardy,  it  is  not  his  own  possession  1 
He  does  not  reflect.  It  was  given  him  for  the 
freedom  of  his  peo])le  against  the  Philistines.  But 
he  will  tell  her  the  truth,  come  what  may,  in  order 
to  have  peace.  Delilah  had  doubtless  promised 
him  not  to  abuse  his  secret.  He  believes  her 
promise,  if  only  he  can  silence  her.  He  was 
wearied  to  death,  so  that  his  courage,  the  freshness 
of  his  mind,  and  his  passion  for  victory  were  be- 
nutnbed  —  and  all  that,  when  one  step  out  of  her 
house  would  have  set  him  free !  Abstinence  un- 
folded his  strength  :  Delilah  in  the  Wine- Valley 
{Nachal  Sorek)  put  it  to  sleep.'-^  When  he  killed 
lions,  he  was  full  of  happiness  and  relish  for  life  : 
now,  he  is  wearied  unto  death.  In  'limnah,  his 
wife  betrays  him,  and  affords  him  an  opportunity 
for  a  glorious  victory  :  now,  he  betrays  himself, 
and  falls. 

Ver.  17.  If  I  be  shaven,  then  my  strength 
wiU  go  from  me.  Ex]jositors,  from  the  earliest 
ages  down,  have  here  made  mention  of  the  Greek 
myth  of  king  Nisus  of  Megara,  and  have  even 
regarded  it  as  a  disfigurement  of  what  is  stated 
here.  But  on  closer  inspection  of  the  sources 
whence  we  derive  our  knowledge  of  the  Greek 
myth,  the  greater  part  of  the  analogy  which  it 
seems  to  offer  with  our  narrative  falls  away,  and 
the  idea  from  which  it  springs  is  seen  to  be  very 
different.  It  is  nowhere  stated  that  Nisus  would 
lose  his  dominion  if  his  hair  wei'c  shaved  off;  but 
only  that  on  his  gray  head  there  grew  a  single  pur- 
]jle  hair,  with  which  his  fortune  was  connected 
(Apollod.  XV.  2:  xopcpvpeau  iv  fiiari  Tjj  Ke<l>aK'p 
rpixa  ;  cf  Ovid,  Metam.  viii.  8  :  "  Splendidus  (cri- 
nis)  ostro  iMer  honoratos  medio  de  rertice  corwos.")* 
It  is  true  that  his  daughter  betrayed  him  ;  but  that 
was  not  his  fault.  Not  he,  but  his  daughter,  was 
blinded  by  sensual  love  for  the  enemy.  The  prin- 
cipal idea,  the  weakness  of  Samson  himself,  is 
wholly  unrepresented.     Why  only  the  purple  hair 

Rer.  Bninsvic.  lllustr.  Insert',  ii.  989  :  "  Samson  opio  po' 
tatiis"  etc. 

3  Cf.  Hyginus,  i^Vift.  198;  pifrpwrejcwi  cr/ne»2.  Virgil,  Ciris, 
ver.  121 :  Candiila  ccpsarles  .  .  .  .  et  roseus  medio  fidgibat 
vertice  crinis.  The  "  golden  hairg  •'  of  Schwa  rz  (  Vrspr.  det 
Mythol.  p.  144)  are  therefore  tp  tw  (Corrected  as  also  Ber 
theau's  "  protecting  hair." 


CHAPTER   XVI.     4-20. 


219 


contained  this  Jiducia  maiini  regni,  we  are  not  in- 
formed. But  it  must  probably  be  explained  by 
the  assumption  of  some  connection  with  the  pur- 
ple lij^'ht  of  the  Sun,  and  the  vast  knowledge  which 
that  deity  was  su]iposcd  to  possess  —  thus  making 
it  a  pledge  of  wisdom  rather  than  strength ;  for 
Nisus  was  no  Hercules.  This  view  is  corroborated 
by  the  ditferent  turn  given  to  the  idea  in  popular 
traditions.  For  just  as  Christianity  portrayed  the 
devil  as  one  who  arrogates  the  power  and  appear- 
ance of  the  light,  and  presents  himself  as  an 
angel  of  light,  so  popular  conceptions  have  rep- 
resented him  with  a  cock's  feather,  as  the  sym- 
bol of  light,  and  from  a  kindred  point  of  view, 
have  invented  the  charm  of  "  golden  devil's-hairs  " 
to  attain  to  universal  knowledge  (cf.  my  Eddisrhen 
Sttidien,  p.  86).  In  all  this  there  is  no  resemblance 
to  the  life-like,  historical  picture  here  drawn  of 
Samson.  Still,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Bibli- 
cal narrative  has  apparently  furnished  the  basis 
of  many  superstitious  distortions,  however  coarse 
most  of  them  may  be.  Among  these  the  case  of 
Apollonius  of  Tyana,  whom  Domitian  caused  to 
be  shaved,  is  not  to  be  reckoned,  however;  for 
that  was  probably  only  designed  to  inflict  dis- 
honor. But  it  is  not  delusive  to  find  one  of  them 
in  the  opinion  that  magicians  and  witches  were 
insensible  to  torture,  until  the  hair  had  been  shaven 
from  the  whole  body  —  an  opinion  which  led  to 
many  detestable  proceedings,  but  was  also  speedily 
condemned  by  many  (cf.  Martin  Delrio,  Disquis. 
Muqicce,  lib.  v.  §  9,  pp.  764  f.,  ed.  Ciiln.  1679  ; 
Paulini  (1709),  Philosoph.  Luststiniden,  ii.  169; 
Schedius,  De  Diis  Germanis  (1728),  p.  388). 

Ver.  18.  And  Delilah  saw  that  he  had  told 
her  aU  his  heart.  Old  Jewish  expositors  say 
that  she  knew  this  because  "  words  of  truth  are 
readily  recognizable,"  and  because  she  felt  sure 
that  he  wouhl  not  "  take  the  name  of  God  in 
vain."  She  followed  up  her  discovery  with  pro- 
ceeilings  sufficiently  satanical.  She  at  once  sent 
to  the  Philistine  chiefs  to  request  them  to  visit  her 
once  more.  This  time  he  had  undoubtedly  opened 
his  heart  to  her.  She  did  not,  however,  intoxicate 
him,  and  proceed  to  her  work,  before  they  came. 
They  must  first  bring  the  money  with  them.  As 
for  them,  they  soon  made  their  appearance,  and, 
concealed  from  Samson,  awaited  her  call. 

Ver.  19.  And  his  strength  went  from  him. 
As  soon  as  the  seven  locks  of  his  head  had  fallen, 
he  ceased  to  possess,  the  superhuman  strength 
whicii  had  hitherto  resided  in  him.  But  in  the 
beginning  of  his  history,  in  the  annunciation  of 
his  birth  and  character  to  his  parents,  it  is  not  in- 
timated that  by  reason  of  the  hair  which  no  razor 
was  to  touch,  he  should  possess  such  strength. 
Nor  is  it  anywhere  mentioned  that  Samson,  the 
child,  was  already  in  possession  of  this  giant 
strength,  as  soon  as  his  hair  had  grown  long.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  said,  "  And  Jehovah  blessed 
him."  Had  it  been  his  long  hair  that  made  him 
so  strong,  there  would  have  been  no  necessity  for 
.the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  to  "  come  upon  him,"  when 
he  was  about  to  perform  some  great  deed  foi- 
which  the  occasion  presented  itself.  What  sort  of 
strength  his  long  locks,  as  such,  could  give  him, 
is  clearly  seen  when  nothing  but  God's  intervening 
help  saves  him  from  perishing  through  thirst. 
The  growth  of  the  unshaven  hair  on  the  head  of 
a  Nazarite,  was  only  a  token  of  his  consecration, 


not  the  consecration  itself.  Similarly,  the  seven 
locks  of  Samson  were  only  the  sign  of  his  strength, 
not  the  strength  itself.'  'The  strength  of  Samson 
depended,  not  on  the  external  locks,  but  on  the 
consecration  of  which  they  were  the  symbol. 
Hence,  he  needed  God's  help  and  Spirit,  and  re- 
ceived his  strength  not  because  of  his  long  hair, 
but  because  of  his  vocation.^  Fur  God's  nearness 
is  granted  not  to  all  whose  hair  is  long,  but  only 
to  those  devoted  to  his  service.  But  just  as  in 
Israel  he  ceased  to  be  a  Nazarite  who  shaved  his 
hair,  so  Samson's  consecration  departed  from  him 
when  he  removed  its  sign.  When  he  failed  to 
withstand  Delilah,  he  surrendered  not  so  much 
his  hair,  as  his  divine  consecration.  He  denies 
his  election  to  be  a  "Nazir  of  God,"  when  he 
gives  his  hair  to  profanation.  His  consecration 
was  broken,  ibr  he  voluntarily  allowed  it  to  be 
profaned  by  the  hands  of  the  Philistine  woman ; 
his  courage  was  broken,  for  he  had  done  what  he 
would  not  do ;  his  joyousness  was  broken,  when 
he  yielded  with  half  his  heart,  wearied,  and  in 
conflict  with  himself;  his  conscience  was  broken, 
and  would  not  be  drowned  in  the  intoxication  of 
Sorek-grapes ;  his  manhood  is  broken,  for  he  is  no 
longer  a  whole  man  who,  in  a  waking  dream,  be- 
trays the  sanctuary  and  glory  of  his  life  to  the 
enemy :  in  a  word,  his  strength  is  broken ;  and 
of  all  this,  his  fallen  locks  are  not  the  cause,  but 
the  sign.  The  departure  of  his  strength  is  not 
an  externally  caused,  but  an  inwardly  grounded 
moral  i-esult.  Virgil  says  (^iield,  iv.  705)  that 
the  real  life  flame  (calor)  of  the  deceased  Dido 
ceased  to  exist  only  with  the  severing  of  the  hair 
from  her  head.  This  idea,  raised  into  the  sjihere 
of  moral  truth,  a])plies  to  Samson.  His  long  hair 
was  no  amulet,  conditioning  the  enjoyment  of  the 
Spirit  of  God — for  without  it  the  Spirit  rested 
on  Gideon  and  Jej)hthah,  filling  them  with  heroic 
virtue ;  but  when,  with  a  restless  heart,  he  con- 
sciously threw  himself  and  his  people,  for  wine  and 
love,  into  the  power  of  the  harlot,  he  became  a 
broken  hei'o.  Since  he  himself  says,  and  fully  be- 
lieves, that  his  strength  is  in  his  hair,  and  never- 
theless gives  himself  up,  it  is  evident  that  a  breach 
has  opened  between  his  passions  and  his  reason  ; 
and  this  breach  made  him  a  broken  man.  This 
moral  rupture  distinguishes  Samson's  fall  from 
similar  histories.  The  legend  concerning  Sheikh 
Shehabeddin,  in  the  "  Forty  Viziers  "  (ed.  Behr- 
nauer,  p.  25)  is  in  many  respects  shaped  after  tlie 
catastro]ihe  of  Samson  ;  but  the  arts  by  which  he 
escapes  from  the  Sultan  who  persecutes  him,  are 
those  of  magic.  When  a  woman  finally  persuades 
him  to  betray  his  secret,  it  turns  out  that  it  con- 
sists only  in  certain  external  washings.  All  moral 
interest  is  wanting,  both  in  the  attack  and  in  the 
defense.  The  Siegfried  legend  in  the  Nibelungen 
is  more  beautiful.  The  wounded  part  of  the  hero 
is  also  entirely  external ;  but  its  betrayal  is  wrought 
by  love,  not  by  malice.  Chriemhild,  from  love  to 
her  husband,  becomes  the  discloser  of  his  weak- 
ness, which  a  man  betrays.  In  Slavic  (cf.  Wenzig, 
p.  190)  and  North  German  legends  (cf  Miillenhotf, 
p.  406)  magicians  and  strong  persons  do  not  cany 
their  hearts  about  with  them,  but  keep  them  won- 
derfully concealed.  It  is  only  by  women's  arts  that 
opponents  ascertain  where  it  is.  The  primitive, 
moral  ideas  contained  in  these  legends,  are  disfig- 
ured under  the  wi-appings  of  childish  distortions. 


1  Such  is  also  the  Roman  Catholic  representation  found    de  son  jiazarcal,  mais  nuUement  la  cause   de  sa  force  sur 
in  Bergier,  Diet.  Theotogique,  p.  636  :  "  La  conservation  de    naturelle ." 
tfs  cheveux  etait  la  condition  de  ce  privilege  comme  la  marque  \      2  Cf.  Bamidbar  Rabba,  §  14.  p.  214  d. 


220 


THE   BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


Vcr.  20.  And  she  said,  The  Philistines  are 
upon  thee  !  In  previous  trials,  cords  and  weaver's 
loom  had  shown  Dolilah  and  lier  confederates  the 
unimpaired  condition  of  Samson's  strenj;th.  This 
time,  rendered  confident  by  Delihih's  word,  the 
Philistine  chief's  are  tliemseives  present.  Samson 
rises,  reeling,  from  sleep,  sees  the  thick  iTOvvd,  and, 
thinking  that  everything  is  as  formerly,  says :  "  I 
will  go  out  to  battle  as  at  other  times !"  He  suits 
the  action  to  the  word  —  but  — 

He  wist  not  that  Jehovah  was  departed  from 
him.  Appropriately  does  the  narrator  substitute 
"  Jehovah  "  here  for  "  strength,"  thus  confirming 
what  has  been  remarked  ai)ove.  The  Spirit  of 
strength,  consecration  to  God,  integrity  of  soul, 
the  fullness  of  enthusiasm,  the  joyousness'of  the  un- 
broken heart,  were  no  longer  his.  This  is  already 
apparent  from  the  fact  that  he  did  not  know  that 
God  had  left  him.  Whoever  has  God,  knows  it ; 
whomsoever  He  has  left,  knows  it  not.  When  he 
was  near  his  end,  he  could  pray ;  but  now,  in  his 
state  of  semi-intoxication  and  intellectual  obscura- 
tion, he  can  neither  fight  as  formerly,  nor  call  on 
God,  and  so  —  he  falls. 


HOMILETICAL    AND    PRACTICAL. 

Samson  was  a  Nazarite.  He  bore  the  sign  of 
the  general  priesthood.  The  consecration  of  God 
was  upon  his  head.  It  fired  his  will,  gave  his 
strength,  and  guided  his  error  into  the  way  of 
salvation.  But  when  he  profaned  it,  and  in  weak- 
ness allowed  Delilah's  unholy  hand  to  touch  it,  he 
lost  both  strength  and  victory.  God  left  him,  be- 
cause he  held  the  honor  of  his  God  cheaper  than 
his  own  pleasures.  Because  he  gave  up  that  which 
he  knew  was  not  his  own,  God  left  him  in  dis- 
honor to  find  his  way  to  penitence.  He  who  could 
not  withstand  the  allurements  of  a  woman,  even 
when  they  demanded  the  surrender  of  his  voca- 
tion, was  not  worthy  any  more  to  withstand  the 
enemy.  His  eyes,  blinded  by  sensuality,  saw  not 
the  treason :  soon,  blinded  by  the  enemy",  lie  should 
see  neither  sun,  nor  men,  but  only  God.  That 
done,  he  turned  back,  and  God  came  back  to  him. 

It  is  not  a  beautiful  comparison  which  is  some- 
liimes  instituted  between  Delilah  and  Judas  the 


traitor.  For  Samson  was  in  fault,  and  Delilah 
was  a  Philistine.  The  woman  is  more  excusable 
than  the  disciple  who  rose  against  his  pure  Master. 
But  Samson  is  the  ty])e  of  all  such  children  of 
men  as  know  God,  jiraise  his  grace,  jiray  to  Him, 
derive  strength  and  love  from  liim,  and  yet  fall. 
Sin  is  the  ever  present  Delilah,  who  caused  David, 
the  Singer,  to  fall,  and  brought  him  to  tearful 
repentance.  Samson  himself,  rather  than  Delilah, 
was  for  a  moment  the  traitor,  who  delivered  the 
honor  of  his  Lord  to  the  insults  of  the' enemy. 
Let  no  one  think  that  he  can  safely  enter  danger. 
Pride  goes  before  a  tall.  Self-confidence  co/nes 
to  a  bad  end ;  only  confidence  in  God  conducts 
through  temptation.  It  is  very  proper  to  pray : 
Lord,  lead  me  not  into  temptation;  but  very  far 
from  proper  to  enter  into  it  oY  one's  own  free-will. 
The  lust  of  the  eyes  is  not  guiltless.  It  is  the 
gate  to  the  most  carnal  desires.  Sin  always  tor- 
tures, even  as  Delilah  tortured  Samson.  It  is 
never  wearied  in  its  efforts  to  induce  virtue  to 
betray  itself.  Flee,  if  thou  canst  not  withstand ! 
To  flee  from  sin  is  heroism.  Had  Samson  but  run 
away  from  Delilah,  as  a  coward  runs,  he  had  surely 
smitten  the  Philistines.  Every  lapse  into  sin  must 
be  repented  of.  None  of  us  have  aught  wherein 
to  glory,  but  all  stand  in  need  of  repentance. 
When  Saul  recognized  his  sin  in  having  persecuted 
Jesus,  he  became  blind.  But  soon  he  saw,  like 
Samson,  no  one  but  his  Saviour. 

"  Make  me  bliud, 
So  I  but  see  tliee,  Saviour  kind." 

Starke  :  Even  great  and  holy  persons  may  fall 
into  gross  sins,  if  they  do  not  watch  over  them- 
selves. —  The  same  :  To  uncover  our  whole  heart 
to  God  is  our  duty,  but  we  are  not  bound  to  do  it 
to  our  fellQW-men.  —  The  same  :  In  the  members 
with  which  men  sin  against  God,  they  are  also 
usually  punished  by  God.  —  Gerlach  :  Samson 
thinks  to  hold  as  his  own,  and  to  use  as  he  pleases, 
that  which  was  only  lent  to  him,  and  of  the  bor- 
rowed nature  of  which  his  Nazaritic  distinction 
continually  reminded  him.  It  is  thus  that  he  pre- 
pares his  deep  fall  for  himself.  —  [Wordsworth  : 
Samson  replied  to  Delilah's  temptations  by  three 
lies ;  Christ  replied  to  the  devil's  temptation  by 
three  sayings  from  the  Scripture  of  truth.  —  Tr.] 


iSamson's  end.     He  slays  more  Philistines  in  his  death  than  he  had  done  in  life. 

Chapter  XVL  21-31. 


21  But  [And]  the  Philistines  took  him,  and  put  out  his  eyes,  and  brought  him  down 
to  Gaza  ['Azzah],  and  bound  him  with  fetters  of  brass  ;  ^  and  he  did  grind  in  the 

22  prison-house.     Howbeit  the  hair  of  liis  head  began  to  grow  again  after  ^  he  was 

23  shaven.  Then  [Ajid]  the  lords  [princes]  of  the  Philistines  gathered  them  [them- 
selves] together,  for  to  offer  a  great  sacrifice  unto  Dagon  their  god,  and  to  rejoice : 

2  i  for  they  said,  Our  god  hath  delivered  Samson  our  enemy  into  our  hand.  And  when 
[omit :  when]  the  people  saw  him,  [and]  they  praised  their  god  :  for  they  said,  Our 
god  hatli  delivered  into  our  hands  our  enemy,  and  the  destroyer  [devastator]  of  our 

25  country  [laud]  ;  which  'slew  many  of  us  [who  multiplied  our  slain].  And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  their  hearts  were  merry,  that  they  said,  Call  for  [omit :  for]  Samson 
that  he  may  make  us  sport.^  And  they  called  for  [omit :  for]  Samson  out  of  the 
prison-house ;  and  he  made  them  sport :  and  they  set  him  between  the  pillars. 


CHAPTER  XVI.   21-31. 


221 


26  And  Samson  said  unto  the  lad  that  held  him  by  the  hand,  Suffer  me  that  I  may 
feel  [touch]  ^  the  pillars  whereupon  the  house  standeth,  that  I  may  lean  upon  them. 

27  Now  the  house  was  full  of  men  and  women  :  and  all  the  lords  [princes]  of  the 
Philistines  toere  there  :  and  there  were  upon  the  roof  about  three  thousand  men 

28  and  women,  that  beheld  [looked  on]  while  Samson  made  sport.  And  Samson  called 
unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  and  said,  O  Lord  God  [Jehovah],  remember  me,  I  pray 
thee,  and  strengthen  me,  I  pray  thee,  only  this  once,  O  God,  that  I  may  be  at  once 

29  avenged  ^  of  the  Philistines  for  my  two  eyes.  And  Samson  took  hold  of  the  two 
middle  pillars  upon  which  the  house  stood,  and  on  which  it  was  borne  up  [and  he 
leaned  upon  them],  of  [on]  the  one  with  his  right  hand,  and  of  [on]  the  other  with 

30  his  left.  And  Samson  said.  Let  me  die  with  the  Philistines.  And  he  bowed  him- 
self with  all  his  [omit:  all  his']  might ;  and  the  house  fell  upon  the  lords  [princes], 
and  upon  all  the  people  that  were  therein.     So  the  dead  which  he  slew  at  his  death 

31  were  more  than  they  which  he  slew  in  his  life.  Then  [And]  his  brethren  and  all 
the  house  of  his  father  came  down,  and  took  him,  and  brought  him  up,  and  buried 
him  between  Zorah  and  Eshtaol  in  the  burying-place  of  Manoah  his  father.  And 
he  judged  Israel  twenty  years. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  21.  —Dr.  Cassel  translates,  "put  him  in  fetters  {Ke.tten)\  "  and  adds  the  following  foot-note:  "  Q^j^li"'n3 
»s  at2  Kgs.  XXV.  7.  etc.,  are  iron  fetters  (eiserne  Ketten],  compare  our  expression  to  lie  in  irons.  The  fetter  consisted' of 
two  corresponding  parts,  hence  the  dual."  The  word  "  iron  "  in  this  note  is  probably  to  be  taken  in  the  general  sense 
of  "metal,"  for  C^rnt.'"n!3  unquestionably  means  "brazen  fetters."  —  Tn.] 

p  Ver.  22.  —  "If/'SZ  :  "about  the  time  that,"  or  "as  soon  as."  The  word  intimates  that  Samson  was  not  long  in 
the  wretched  condition  of  prisoner.  As  soon  as  his  hair  began  measurably  to  grow,  the  events  about  to  be  related  oc- 
curred.    So  Bertlieau  and  Keil.  —  Tb.J 

[3  Ver.  25.—  ^27"pnti.''"^\  Like  the  E.  V.,  Dr.  Cassel,  De  Wette,  and  Bunsen  (Bibehuerk).  adopt  general  render- 
ings, whicTi  leave  the  kind  of  sport  afforded  by  Samson,  and  the  way  in  which  he  furnished  it,  undetermined.  Bush 
remarks  that  "  it  is  quite  improbable  that  Samson,  a  poor  blind  prisoner,  should  be  required  actively  to  engage  in  any- 
thing that  should  make  sport  to  his  enemies."  But  the  decidedly  active  expression  in  the  next  clause,  CPf^iD  7  pn!i''1 
can  scarcely  be  interpreted  of  a  mere  passive  submission  to  mockery  on  the  part  of  Samson  (cf  also  ver.  27).  The  word 
pntt  (pnUl?  is  a  softening  of  the  same  form)  is  used  of  mimic  dances,  cf.  Ex.  xxxii.  6 ;  1  Sam.  xviii.  7 ;  2  Sam.  vi.  5 
21,  etc.  There  is  surely  no  great  improbabihty  in  supposing  that  the  Philistines  in  the  height  of  their  revels  should  call 
upon  "  a  poor,  blind  prisoner  "  to  execute  a  dance,  for  their  own  delectation  and  for  his  deeper  humiliation  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  Samson"s  acquiescence  may  be  explained  from  his  desire  to  gain  a  favorable  opportunity  for  executing 
his  dread  design.  After  the  Iktiguing  dance,  his  request  to  be  permitted  to  "  lean  upon  "  the  pillars  would  appear  very 
natural.  —  Tr.] 

4  Ver.  26.  —  "^itf'^JSn  (instead  of  the  erroneous  Kethibh  "^^ffi'ttTT,  from  a  root  ITJS*',  which  does  not  occur): 
from  t27*J7^,  IT-IC,  tida-cru,  to  touch  ;  onomatopoetic,  like  palpare. 

[5  Ver.  28.  —  nnS"Cp3  n""?S1.  Dr.  Cas.sers  rendering  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  E.  V. :  Dass  ich  noch 
einmaL  Vergeltung  nekme  urn  meiner  zwei  Augen  willen  —  "  let  me  once  more  take  vengeance,  this  time  for  my  two  eyes." 
But  unless  Dp^  is  here  feminine,  contrary  to  rule,  this  rendering  is  against  the  consonants,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vowel 
points.  The  text,  as  it  stiinds,  must  be  read  :  "that  I  be  avenged  with  the  vengeance  of  one  (sc.  eye,  which  is  fem.) 
out  of  my  two  eyes."     Compare  the  exegesis  below.  —  Te.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  21.  And  the  Philistines  laid  hold  of  him. 

The  catastrophe  is  terrible.  The  fall  of  a  hero  is 
sorrowful  and  lamentable  beyond  anything  else. 
Wretched  enemies  make  themselves  master  of  one 
who  for  twenty  years  had  been  victorious.  In  the 
fiiddiness  of  a  broken  spirit  he  succnmbs  to  the 
multitude,  as  a  wounded  lion  succumbs  to  a  pack 
of  yel])in<j  hounds.  But  even  in  this  extremity, 
lie  must  have  given  proof  of  the  strength  of  his 
arm.  The  cruel  ])rcc!intion  of  the  Philistines  indi- 
cates this.  They  do  not  kill  him,  for  they  hate 
him  too  iuten.sely ;  but  even  before  they  bring  him 
to  Gaza,  they  put  out  his  eyes.  He  must  be  made 
powerless  by  blindness  ;  not  until  then,  they  think, 
will  it  he  wise  to  lay  ajide  all  fear  of  him.     Well 


does  the  Jewish  expositor  remark  on  this  infliction, 
that  Samson  now  loses  his  eyes,  and  is  fettered 
with  chains,  because  heretofore  he  followed  his 
eyes  too  much,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  fettered 
by  the  allurements  of  the  senses.  In  what  horri- 
ble sins  will  not  the  savage  hatred  of  men  engage  ! 
All  cruelty  is  a  frenzy  of  unbelief;  but  sin  is  rav- 
ing mad  when  it  otlends  against  the  eye,  and  stops 
up  the  fountain  of  light,  life's  source  oi'  joy  and 
freedom.  It  does  not  excuse  the  Philistines  that 
they  are  not  the  only  ones  who  have  resorted  to 
this  Satanic  practice.  The  practice,  like  every  other 
sin,  has  its  world-wide  history.  A  profound  and 
thoughtful  myth  concerning  this  matter  is  found  in 
Herodotus  (ix.  9-3),  according  to  which  the  l)lind- 
ing  of  Evenius,  a  priest  of  the  Sun-god,  is  pun- 
ished on  the  false  zealots  who  inflicted  it.     Never- 


222 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


thelcss,  this  infernal  fury  has  been  familiar  to  men 
in  evtry  huid  on  which  the  sun  shines.^  The  mon- 
uments of  Nineveh  show  us  a  king,  who  with  hit 
hmce  puts  out  the  eyes  of  his  prisoners,  as  Neb- 
uchadnezzar caused  to  be  done  to  Zedekiah,  the 
fallen  king  of  Judah.  There  existed  even  ditfercnt 
theories  of  this  cruel  art.  Among  the  Persians,  as 
Procopius  informs  us  (in  his  Persian  Memorahilia, 
i.  6),  it  was  usual  either  to  pour  red-hot  oil  into  the 
eyes,  or  to  dig  them  out  with  red-hot  needles.  The 
latter  mode  is  probably  expressed  by  the  Hebrew 

~1)^D,  to  bore  out  the  eye,  oculum  effodere  (cf  my 
Schamir,  p.  86).  The  terrible  method  of  passing 
over  the  eye  with  a  glowing  iron,  was  not  consid- 
ered to  be  always  effective,  and  left  in  many  cases 
some  slight  power  of  enjoying  the  light  (cf  Ues- 
guigne's  Gesc/i.  der  Hunnen,  iv.  93,  etc.).  The 
Middle  Ages  called  it  abbacinare  (so  the  Italian 
still) ;  for  Christian  nations  have  not  kept  them- 
selves free  from  this  abomination.  It  was  prac- 
ticed not  only  among  the  Byzantines  (where  Isaak 
Comnenus  is  a  celebrated  example),  but  also  among 
the  Franks  (cf  Chilperich's  laws,  in  Gregor.  Turon., 
Hist.  Franc,  vi.  46)  ;  likewise  among  the  Normans, 
where,  to  be  sure,  Robert  of  Belesme  (the  Devil) 
did  not  content  himself  with  it.  German  popular 
law  also  placed  it  among  its  penalties.  In  the  se- 
dition of  Cologne  (1074),  it  was,  as  Lambert  re- 
lates, inflicted  on  his  enemies  by  the  ecclesiastical 
prince  of  the  city.  Reminiscences  of  it  are  pre- 
served in  the  popular  legends  of  North  Germany. 
We  may  cite  the  story  of  the  man  who  derived 
great  strength  by  means  of  a  blue  b.and  which  he 
wore,  and  who,  after  a  woman  had  betrayed  him, 
was  deprived  of  his  eyes  (Miillenhotf,  p.  419). 

The  story  which  represents  Belisarius,  the  great 
hero  of  Justinian's  reign,  as  deprived  of  his  eyes, 
and  begging  for  oboli  in  the  streets  of  Constanti- 
nople, is  a  fiction  of  later  times ;  but  it  fiiUs  far 
short  of  the  unspeakable  misery  actually  endured 
by  Samson.  The  consciousness  of  the  treason  of 
which  he  had  been  guilty  towards  God,  and  which 
had  been  so  terribly  practiced  toward  himself;  the 
fall  from  a  height  so  glorious  and  prosperous,  into 
an  indescribable  dishonor ;  the  impotence  of  the 
formerly  victorious  freeman,  the  blindness  of  one 
so  shari)-witted,  the  chains  on  his  consecrated  body, 
the  yells  of  triumph  of  the  cowardly  foe,  —  all  this 
overwhelmed  his  soul  so  powerfully,  that  one  less 
great  than  he  had  died  for  grief.  And  his  people 
kept  silence.  But  the  Philistines  still  feared  him, 
even  in  his  blindness.  They  fettered  him  with  iron 
chains,  and  made  him  turn  a  mill  in  the  prison.-^ 
Deeper  dishonor  could  not  be  inflicted.  For  the 
liero  of  divine  freedom  was  made  to  perform  the 
work  of  a  slave.  It  is  well  known  that  in  an- 
tiquity the  work  of  grinding  was  done  by  slaves 
( Ex.  xi.  5  ;  xii.  29).  The  slaves  thus  employed  were 
moreover  considered  the  lowest,"*  worth  less  money 
than  any  others,  and  as  such  found  themselves  in 
the  worst  situation  (cf  Bockh,  Staalshaushalt  der 
Athener,  i.  95,  ed.  2d).  The  depth  of  Samson's 
humiliation  is  as  great  as  his  former  elevation. 
Bnt  in  the  midst  of  his  untold  sufferings, — 

Ver.  22.  The  hair  of  his  head  began  to  grow 
again.  With  blinded  eyes  he  began  spiritually  to 
sec  —  fettered  with  chains  he  became  free  —  under 
slavish  labor  he  ripened  for  the  freedom  of  God. 

1  If  Herodotus  is  to  be  believed,  the  Scythians  blinded 
cvory  slave  (iv.  2).  Alexander  Severus  is  reported  to  have 
«aid,  that  whenever  he  sjiw  a  bad  judge  he  felt  inclined  to 
tear  his  eye  out  with  his  finger  (Lampridius,  17  ;  cf  Salma- 
31  u3  on  the  passage.) 


While  he  was  yet  prosperous,  the  person  of  De- 
lilah inter])Osed  between  his  sight  and  his  calling 
and  duty  for  his  people;  now,  though  blind  ana 
within  |)rison  walls,  he  saw  the  power  and  great- 
ness of  his  God.  He  recognized  his  error,  and  re- 
pented. The  greatness  of  the  fallen  Samson  cot'- 
sisted  in  this,  that,  like  all  noble  natui'es  in  siniil.ir 
circumstances,  he  became  greater  and  freer  in  ilij; 
deepest  suffering  than  he  had  been  before. 

Vers.  2-3,  24.  And  the  princes  of  the  Philis- 
tines assembled  themselves.  A  general  feast  of 
thanksgiving  and  sacrifices  was  to  be  celebrated  in 
Gaza.  This  shows  that  Gaza  was  at  that  time  the 
leading  Philistine  city,  and  that  Dagon,  the  fish- 
shaped  god  (^^,  fish),  was  regarded  by  them  as  the 
embodiment  of  the  religious  antithesis  between 
them  and  Israel.  Dagon,  the  sea-god,  as  it  were, 
who  protects  the  cities  on  the  coast,  over  against 
the  God  of  Israel,  who  has  won  the  main  land. 
The  celebration  arranged  by  the  Philistines,  at- 
tended by  all  their  tribes  and  princes,  testifies  to 
the  unheard-of  terror  inspired  by  Samson.  The 
circumstance  that  they  express  their  joy  in  the 
form  of  thanksgivings  and  sacrifices  to  their  god, 
is,  in  itself  considered,  singular,  seeing  that  they 
well  knew  by  what  foul  means  the  victory  had  been 
gained  ;  but  it  is  none  the  less  instructive.  Israel 
could  learn  from  it  that  the  Philistines  regarded 
every  victory  over  one  of  their  number  as  at  the 
same  time  an  act  of  their  deity,  — being  better  in 
this  respect  than  the  Israelites,  who  continually 
forgot  the  great  deeds  of  their  God. 

Vers.  25-27.  Call  Samson  that  he  may  make 
us  sport.  The  Philistine  thanksgiving  was  like 
themselves.  Men  may  be  known  by  their  feasts. 
Here  there  was  no  thought  of  humility.  Sei'ious- 
ness  also  is  wanting,  although  they  remind  them- 
selves of  their  losses.  The  truth  is,  repentance^ 
most  attractive  in  prosperity,  is  unknown  to 
heathen.  They  praise  their  god,  it  is  true,  but 
they  do  not  pray.  They  celebrate  a  popular  festi- 
val, characterized  by  eating,  drinking,  and  boast- 
ing. They  were  in  high  spirits  over  a  victory  for 
which  they  had  not  fought.  Their  joy  reaches  its 
acme  when  they  send  for  Samson.  He  is  brought 
in,  chained  like  a  bear.  A  people  shows  its  worst 
side  when  it  heaps  mockery  and  insult  on  a  de- 
fenseless foe.  How  would  the  Romans  have  treated 
Hannibal  had  they  taken  him  prisoner  ?  How  was 
Jugurtha  treated,  when  he  was  dragged  into  Rome 
in  the  triumph  of  Marius  ?  But  this  Numidian 
fox  was  rendered  insane  over  the  disgrace  inflicted 
upon  him  (Pint.,  Vita  Mar.,  12).  The  blind  lion 
of  Israel,  on  the  contrary,  walks  calmly  on,  al- 
ready conscious  of  the  restored  consecration  of  God 
on  his  head.  His  appearance  afforded  the  highest 
sport ;  and  the  circumstance  that  every  Philistine 
could  dare  to  touch  and  mock,  and  otherwise  abuse 
the  blind  hero,  raised  their  mirth  to  the  highest 
pitch.  But  pride  goes  before  a  fall ;  and  they  did  not 
yet  sufficiently  know  the  man  whom  they  derided. 

And  they  placed  him  between  the  pillars. 
Much  has  been  written  concerning  the  architec- 
tural style  of  the  building  in  which  the  occurrence 
took  place.  Bertheau  is  not  wrong  in  saying  that 
it  is  impossible  to  come  to  any  particular  deter- 
mination in  this  matter.  It  was  not  essential  to 
our  narrator's  purpose  to  give  an  architectui-al  de- 

'i  Later  writers,  in  putting  king  Zedekiah  at  the  same  la- 
bor, intended  doubtless  to  conform  his  fate  to  that  of  Sam- 
son (cf.  Ewald,  Geach.  Israels,  iii.  748,  2d  edition). 

-  \Vliicli  fact  explains  the  anecdote  in  Jilian,  Varla 
HistoricB,  xiv.  18 


CHAPTERS  XVI.  21-31. 


223 


Bcription.  Nevertheless,  his  language  affords  the 
matciials  for  an  intelligible  concej)tion.  The  de- 
sign of  placing  Samson  between  the  jiillars  was 
evidently  to  enable  all  to  see  hini  :  in  other  words, 
to  put  him  in  the  midst  of  the  assembly.  Now, 
according  to  ancient  conceptions.  Heaven  and  At- 
las are  keepers  of  pillars  ;  and  whether  they  hold 
fast  1  both  pillars,  or  with  their  shoulders  themselves 
constitute  the  pillars,  they  cannot  leave  their  places 
without  causing  the  heavens  to  fall.  This  poeti- 
cal view  is  also  found  in  Job  xxvi.  II,  where  the 
])illars  of  the  heavens  reel  at  God's  reproof  Of 
this  conception  the  temple-building  at  Gaza  was  a 
representation.  Two  mighty  pillars  supported  the 
chief  beams  of  the  vast  building.  Round  about  the 
house  there  ran  a  gallery,  where  the  populace  found 

a  place.  This  was  called  33,  the  same  term  which 
is  applied  to  the  flat  roofs  of  oriental  houses,  which, 
properly  speaking,  are  only  open  galleries,  sur- 
rounded by  trellis-work.  These  estrades  or  galleries 
cannot  have  been  supported  by  the  main  pillars;'^ 
for  in  that  case  many  would  not  have  been  able  to  see 
Samson.  The  hero  would  be  visible  to  all,  only  if  he 
stood  in  the  lower  space,  between  the  pillars  on 
which  the  house  was  supported,  the  gallery  extend- 
ing around  the  sides  of  the  house,  and  fastened  to 
them;  and  there  is  nothing  at  variance  with  this  in 
his  request  to  the  lad  to  be  allowed  to  lean  upon  the 
pillars.  On  closer  inspection,  our  narrator  tells 
much  more  than  is  at  first  apparent.  Samson  was  ev 
idently  previously  acquainted  with  the  arrangement 
of  the  building.  He  knew,  too,  that  he  had  been 
placed  in  the  centre,  or  it  may  have  been  told  him 
by  the  lad.  There  were  other  pillars  :  perhaps  a  por- 
tico e.xtended  around  the  building.  But  Samson  re- 
quests expressly  to  be  led  to  the  principal  pillars, 
"  on  which  the  house  rests."     The  lower  part  of 

the  house  was  filled  with  D'^tt73i;<  and  ^"'f^'2,  men 
and  women  of  distinction,  together  with  the  princes, 
and  was  called  ^"^^5;    the  gallery   (33)  contained 

three  thousand  persons,  Ht^ST  li7"^S5  *"•  ^-j  the 
common  people.  That  this  gallery  was  in  the 
house,  that  is,  under  the  covering  upborne  by  the 
pillars,  and  hence  fell  with  the  house,  is  evident 
from  ver.  30,  where  we  read  that  the  "  house  fell " 
upon  all  "  that  were  therein." 

Ver.  28.  And  Samson  called  unto  Jehovah. 
This  shows  that  he  had  fully  recovered  himself. 
As  soon  as  he  can  pray  again,  he  is  the  hero  again. 
The  prayer  he  now  offers  is  full  of  fervor  and  in- 
tensity, rising  heavenward  like  smoke  from  the 
altar  of  incense.  It  is  the  deep  and  vast  com- 
plaint which,  after  the  awful  experiences  of  the 
last  days,  grief  and  hope  have  caused  to  gather  in 
his  soul.  He  uses  all  the  names  of  God  with 
which  he  is  acquainted,  and  confesses  Him,  in  the 
darkness  which  surrounds  him,  more  deeply  and 
fervently  than  formerly  when  enjoying  the  light  of 
the  sun.  And  withal,  his  thoughts  are  beautifully 
arranged.  For  fervor  excels  all  homiletical  art. 
The  prayer  divides  into  three  parts,  and  makes 
use  of  three  names  of  God.  Each  part  con- 
tains three  nicely  separated  thoughts.     He  begins  : 

"Lord  C*3"TS)  Jehovah  (niiT^),  remember  me." 
In  the  midst  of  servitude,  chained  and  fettered  by 
the  Philistines,  who  lord  it  over  him,  bring  him  in 
and  send    him  out  as  they  choose,  his  spirit  calls 

1  As  iiiipliej  in  the  words  :   ^^ei  Sere  Ki'ofas    Oi/ys.,  i.  5.3. 

2  As  Stark  thiuks  (Gasa,  p.  .332)  uhose  foincpiioa  is  for 
vU  tiiat  by  do  means  «;lear.     Nor  is  it  uecessjiy  to  suppose 


upon  AdoiKii,  the  Lord  who  is  in  heaven.  In  the 
midst  of  Philistine  jubilations  over  the  victory  of 
their  idol,  the  seeming  triumph  of  their  Dagon,  he 
calls  on  Jehovah,  the  great  God  of  Israel,  for  He 
alone  is  the  Lord.  Alone  and  forsaken,  surrounded 
by  raging  foes,  he  cries  to  God  :  "  Do  thou  remem- 
ber me."  The  word  "1?|  is  most  frequently  used 
of  God's  gracious  mindfulness  of  any  one,  ex- 
pressing itself  in  caring  for  him.  It  is  with  a 
heart  full  of  penitence  that  lie  makes  this  petition. 
For  formerly  God  hi'.d  departed  from  him,  and  he 
had  been  deprived  of  God's  care  over  him.  If  now 
God  but  takes  thought  of  him,  he  will  once  more 
be  received  into  divine  favor. 

And  strengthen  me,  only  this  once,  O  God. 
'_'  Strengthen  me."  He  no  longer  puts  his  trust 
in  himself,  nor  yet  in  his  growing  hair.  The 
source  of  the  consecration  and  strength  which 
formerly  adorned  him,  and  for  the  return  of  which 
he  pleads,  is  in  God.     For  this  reason,  he  invokes 

God  anew,  —  this  time  as  D^i7".i?^i7'  Elohim, 
with  the  article,  is  the  true,  the  only  Elohim, 
namely,  the  God  of  Israel  (cf  above,  on  ch.  vi.  20 
and  .36  ;  and  on  ch.  viii.  3  ;  xiii.  18).  While  all 
around  him,  the  enemies  praise  their  god  as  the 
victor  (ver.  24),  he  prays  to  the  God  of  Israel,  that 
He,  the  real  Elohim,  the  true  strength,  would 
strengthen  him  "  yet  this  once."  He  does  not  ask 
to  be  the  former  Samson  again.  He  has  done  with 
life.  After  such  disgrace,  he  would  not  wish  to 
return  to  it.  Only  for  "  this  time,"  he  prays 
for  strength,  which  God  gives  and  takes  as  He  will, 
allowing  no  one  to  suppose,  as  Samson  formerly 
did,  that  it  is  an  inalienable  possession,  whether 
used  or  abused.  In  the  third  place,  he  declares  the 
purpose  for  which  he  desires  the  strength  :  — 

That  I  may  yet  once  take  vengeance  on 
the  Phihstines,  by  reason  of  my  two  eyes. 
Is  it  right  to  pray  thus '?  For  Samson  it  is.  For 
he  was  called  to  recompense  the  Philistines ;  his 
whole  task  was  directed  against  the  tyrants.  He 
fell  only  because  instead  of  avenging  the  wrongs 
of  his  people  on  their  oppressors,  he  squandered  his 
strength  with  the  Philistine  woman.  If  now  he 
desires  the  restoration  of  his  lost  strength,  he  can 
lawfully  do  so  only  ibr  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
originally  given.  To  rend  cords  in  pieces  for  sport 
was  not  his  business,  but  to  make  the  enemy  ac- 
quainted with  the  power  of  the  gracious  God  of 
Israel. 

But  may  he  then  demand  recompense  for  his 
"  two  eyes  ?  "  As  Samson,  he  may.  In  his 
prayer,  it  is  true,  he  did  not  plead  his  consecration 
as  a  "  Nazarite  of  God ;  "  in  his  humility  he  dares 
not  use  this  plea,  since  a  razor  has  passed  over  his 
head.  But  it  was  nevertheless  on  this  account 
that  he  had  his  strength.  It  resided  in  him,  not 
as  man,  but  as  Nazarite.  It  was  not  his,  although 
he  misused  it ;  it  was  lent  him,  for  his  people, 
against  the  enemy.  But  now,  his  strength,  even 
if  fully  restored,  would  avail  him  nothing.  The 
loss  of  both  his  eyes  rendered  it  useless.  He  could 
not,  like  a  blind  chieftain,  —  like  Dandolo,  the  doge 
of  Venice,  and  Ziska,  the  Bohemian,  —  lead  his 
people  to  battle,  for  he  is  no  chieftain,  but  a  hero, 
who  stands  and  fights  alone.  The  loss  of  his  eyes, 
therefore,  closes  his  career.  Blindness  disables  him 
from  serving  longer  as  the  instrument  of  the  God 
of  Israel.      Hence,  he  desires  vengeance,  not  fot 

tliat  the  pillars  were  wooden  posts.     In  a  building  of  such 
siiie,  they  were  most  likely  of  stone. 


224 


THE  BOOK  OF   JUDGES. 


the  scorn,  dishonor,  chains  and  prison,  to  which' 
he  has  been  subjected,  but  only  for  liis  tivo  cyes^ 

—  had  thev  left  him  but  one!  The  vengeancL'  he 
seeks  is  not  for  himself,  but  for  his  people  and  the 
God  who  chose  him. 

His  language,  it  is  tnie,  contains  the  contrast  of 

of  one  recompense  (nnS"np3)  for  his  hoo  eyes. 
The  exi)lanation  is  that  he  can  strike  but  one 
blow  more  ;  but  that  one,  in  his  mind  and  within 
his  reach,  will  suffice  for  both  eyes.  He  will  inflict 
this  blow  on  the  rhilistines,  who  all  around  him 
praise  tiie  idol  who  gave  them  victory,  whereas  it 
•  was  only  his  former  mcTital  blindness  that  caused 
his  fall,  and  his  present  physical  blindness  that 
gives  them  their  sense  of  security. 

Three  times  he  attempted  to  withstand  Delilah 

—  three  times  he  played  with  his  strength,  —  and 
fell.  Now,  he  prayed  three  times,  to  the  thrice- 
named  God,  the  triunity  of  Jehovah,  for  understand- 
ing and  strength. 

Ver.  29.  And  Samson  took  hold  of  the  mid- 
dle pillars.  He  shows  himself  in  all  his  old  great- 
ness again.  For  the  first  time  he  stood  again  in  a 
crowd  of  Philistines,  and  at  once  began  to  think 
of  battle.  And  notwithstanding  the  wretched 
condition  in  which  he  found  himself,  he  fixed  at 
once  on  the  point  where  he  intends  to  execute  his 
deed.  His  blindness  becomes  a  means  of  victory. 
He  stands  between  the  central  pillars,  on  which  the 
building  rests,  and  between  which  the  distance  is 
not  great.  Being  blind,  it  may  be  allowed  him  to 
take  hold  of  them,  in  order  to  support  himself  by 

them.  (That  ^"1?/  '"''^y  mean  to  take  hold  of, 
although  found  in  that  sense  only  here,  is  shown 
by  the  analogy  of  the  Sanskrit  labh,  Greek  \afjL&d- 
viii/,  AajSerc.)  He  presses  them  firmly  with  both 
arms,  and  says  :  — 

Ver.  30.  Let  me  die  with  the  Philistines. 
The  very  conception  of  the  deed  is  extraordinary. 
While  the  Philistines  rejoice,  drink,  and  mock, 
worse  than  Belshazzar,  and  fivncy  the  blinded  hero 
deeply  humiliated  and  i)ut  to  shame,  he,  on  the 
contrary,  is  about  to  ])crlbrm  the  deed  of  a  giant, 
and  stands  among  them  in  the  capacity  of  a  war- 
rior about  to  enter  battle,  who  only  tarries  to  com- 
mend his  cauhc  to  God.  It  is  true,  he  cannot  do 
what  he  intends  to  do  without  losing  his  own  life  ; 
but  he  lived  only  to  conquer.  Victory  is  more 
than  life.  To  talk  here  of  suicide  is  wholly  un- 
suitable. He  did  not  kill  himself  when  plunged 
in  the  deepest  dishonor.  He  is  too  great  for 
cowardly  suicide ;  for  it  is  a  species  of  flight,  and 
heroes  do  not  flee.  No  :  the  blinded  man  perceives 
that  the  present  moment  holds  out  an  occasion  fot 
victory,  and  avails  himself  of  it,  notwithstanding 
that  it  must  cost  him  his  own  lifc.-^  It  is  not  as  if 
he  wouUl  lia\e  killed  himself,  had  he  escaped.  He 
knows  that  if  his  deed  be  successful,  he  cannot 
escape.  But  he  is  also  ready  to  die.  He  is  recon- 
ciled with  his  God  :  his  eyes  haye  again  seen  Him 
who  was  his  strength. 

1  Consequently,  I  cannot  follow  the  unsuitable  exegesis 
which  makes  Samson  asic  to  be  avenged  for  07ie  of  his  two 

ryes.     'Dint  would  be  simple  viudictiveuess.     The   Ttt  in 

"'n^E'Q  is  comparative.  He  desires  a  vengeance  greater 
than  bis  two  eyes,  and  taken  on  account  of  them.  Tlie  Jew- 
,sh  exegesis  only  follows  a  speciiU  homiletieal  idea,  which  at 
Dottom  understands  "  two  eyes." 

2  Augustine,  De  Chit.  Dii,  1,  26  :  Quid  si  enim  hoc 
f'ecerunl  non  liumanitus  decepttg  sed  divinilus  jiissce.,  nee  er- 
mntes,  sed  obedientes,  sicut  de  Sanisone  aliud  nobis  fas  non 
KSl  credere. 


The  tragedy  ends  terribly.  Laughter  and  shout 
and  drunken  revel  arc  at  their  highest,  when  Sam- 
son bends  the  jiillars  with  great'  force  :'^  they 
break,  the  building  falls,*  —  a  terrific  crash,  and 
the  terajde  is  a  vast  sepulchre.  O  Dagou,  where 
is  thy  victory  ?  0  Gaza,  where  is  thy  strength  "? 
Princes  aiul  priests,  together,  with  cups  at  their 
lips,  and  mockery  in  their  hearts,  are  crushed  by 
the  falling  stone.  With  piercing  Cries,  the  vast 
crowds  are  pressed  together.  The  galleries,  with 
their  burdens,  precipitate  themselves  upon  the  heads 
of  those  below.  Death  was  swifter  than  any  res- 
cue ;  the  change  from  the  sounds  of  rejoicing  to 
groans  and  the  rattle  of  death,  tea-rible  as  the  light- 
ning. In  the  midst  of  them,  great  and  joyous, 
stood  the  hero,  and  met  his  death.  Not  now  with 
the  bone  of  an  ass,  but  with  jiillars  of  marble,  had 
he  conquered  the  foe.  Dagon's  temple,  with  its 
thousands,  had  been  heaped  up  as  his  grave-mound. 
Since  Samson  must  die,  he  could  not  have  fallen 
greater.  Traitors,  tormentors,  mockers,  enemies, 
tyrants,  all  lay  at  his  feet.  The  blind  hero  died  as 
the  great  victor,  who,  in  penitence  and  prayer,  ex- 
piated, by  suffering  and  death,  the  errors  of  which 
he  had  been  guilty. 

The  history  of  Samson  excels  all  poetry.  The 
simple  narrative  of  it  is  at  the  same  time  adorned 
with  the  highest  art.  Its  fidelity  and  truth  are 
testified  to  by  the  heart  of  every  i-eader.  Without 
magic  arts,  with  only  natural  grief  and  death,  it  is 
nevertheless  full  of  spiritual  marvels. 

But  who  furnished  the  report  of  the  last  hours  of 
the  hero's  life  ?  Who  escaped,  so  as  to  set  forth  his 
praying  and  acting  ?  It  would  seem  as  if  this  also 
were  not  left  quite  unhinted  by  the  brief  narrative. 

A  lad,  an  attendant  ("'V?))  leads  him,  when  the 
Philistines  call  him  in  from  the  prison  (ver.  26). 
It  may  be  plausibly  conjectured  that  this  was  no 
Philistine.  It  seems  not  improbable  that  Sam- 
son, the  Judge,  was  followed  into  his  prison  by  an 
attendant,  whose  hdelity  continued  unshaken.  It 
enhanced  the  triumph  of  the  Philistines  to  allow 
this.  Upon  this  supposition,  many  points  explain 
themselves.  This  attendant,  then,  may  have  fur- 
nished him  with  a  description  of  the  festive  scene 
into  the  midst  of  which  he  was  introduced,  and  in- 
fcn-med  him  in  what  part  of  the  building  he  was 
placed.  From  him  he  could  also  obtain  guidance 
to  the  spot  which  he  deemed  it  necessary  to  occupy. 
This  attendant  was  in  the  secret  of  his  prayer  and 
purpose ;  and  if  we  assume  that  he  dismissed  hin\ 
before  the  catastrophe,  we  are  at  once  enabled  to  ex- 
plain how  he  could  take  up  his  peculiar  position  by 
the  pillars  without  exciting  attention.  Thus  Ihe 
faithful  follower  escaped  death,  and  quickly  re- 
ported the  event  at  home. 

Ver.  31.  And  his  brethren  and  all  his  father's 
house  came  down.  This  is  the  first  hint  we  have 
of  interest  in  Samson  on  the  part  of  his  brethren, 
and  the  house  of  his  father.  The  haste,  however, 
with  which  they  proceeded  to  Gaza,  and  the  great 

S  The  occurrence  in  Pans.  vi.  9  is  not  well  aikipted  to  be 
brought  into  comparison. 

4  The  terrors  of  a  similar  calamity,  although  on  a  smaller 
scale,  were  experienced  by  King  Henry,  the  son  of  Barba- 
rossa,  in  1183,  when  the  pillars  and  floor  of  the  "  Probstei^" 
at  Erfurt,  gave  way.  Many  perished.  Only  the  king  and 
the  bishop,  who  sat  in  a  niche,  escaped  (of.  C/iron.  Mont. 
Sntni,  uniier  1183,  p.  48,  ed.  Mader).  On  the  21st  of  July, 
1864,  one  of  the  granite  pillars,  which  supported  the  dome 
of  the  Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  at  St.  Petersburg, 
broke.  A  frightful  cata,strophe  ensued,  as  the  church 
crumbled  to  pieces  over  the  masses  whom  curiosity  had 
drawn  together. 


CHAPTER  XVI.   21-31. 


225 


fellowship  in  which  they  did  it,  speak  well  for 
them.  They  may  have  arrived  soon  enouf;h  to  see 
the  heap  of  ruins,  with  its  countless  dead  bodies, 
just  as  it  fell.  They  took  Samson  and  carried  iiim 
up  in  solemn  funeral  procession  (such  is  probably 

the  meaning  of  iHi^  ^S^f  1),  to  the  burial-place 
of  his  father,  who  had  not  lived  to  see  the  sorraw 
of  his  great  son.i  The  terrified  Philistines  permit- 
ted everything.  Anguish  and  mourning  reigned 
among  them.  Everything  was  in  confusion  — 
their  princes  were  dead.  And  so  the  corpse  of  the 
hero  who  smote  them  more  fearfully  in  death  than 
in  life,  was  borne  in  silent  procession  along  their 
borders. 

And  he  judged  Israel  twenty  years.  This 
statement  is  here  repeated  in  order  to  intimate  that 
Samson's  official  term  had  not  come  to  a  close  be- 
fore the  events  just  related,  but  terminated  with 
it. 

Samson  lived  and  died  in  conflict  with  the  na- 
tional enemies,  the  Philistines.  The  same  fate  has 
befallen  his  history  and  its  exposition,  from  the 
time  of  Julian  the  imperial  Philistine  to  that  of 
many  writers  of  the  last  centuries.  It  was  espe- 
cially in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
that  irreverence  was  too  often  called  criticism,  and 
that  frivolous  insipidity  was  considered  free  in- 
quiry. The  sesthetic  vapidness  wiilch  was  in  part 
banished  from  the  field  of  classical  and  German 
literature,  continued  to  nestle  in  the  exegesis  of  the 
Old  Testament.'^  Joh.  Philipp  Heine  may  indeed 
have  been  right  in  saying  {Dissniat.  Sacrce,  p. 
259),  that  the  mockery  at  Samson's  jaw-bone  and 
foxes,  had  an  ulterior  object  in  view  ;  but  it  was  for 
the  most  part  the  Philistine-like,  prosaic  character 
which  ordinarily  marks  genuine  unbelief,  that  was 
unable  to  comprehend  and  rightly  estimate  the 
wonderful  drama  of  Samson's  life.  An  unfruitful 
comparison  with  Hercides  was  constantly  iterated, 
although  deeper  insight  clearly  shows  that,  apart 
from  the  lion-conquest  common  to  both,  Hercules 
is  of  all  Greek  heroes  the  least  suitable  to  be  com- 
pared with  Samson. "  The  ingenuity  of  the  earlier 
ecclesiastical  teachers  might,  nevertheless,  have  led 
them  to  this  comparison.  But  according  to  Piper 
(Myth,  der  Christl.  Kunst.,  i.  131),  primitive  Chris- 
tian art  never  represented  even  so  much  as  the  con- 
flict of  Samson  with  the  lion;  and  later  works  of 
art  connected  Hercules  with  David  as  well  as  with 
Samson.  Mcnzel  {Si/mbolik,  ii.  380),  is  of  opinion 
that  the  representation  of  Samson,  in  the  act  of 
tearing  open  the  jaws  of  the  lion,  over  French  and 
German  church  doors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  an 
imitation  of  similar  Mithras  pictures.  The  repre- 
sentation of  Samson  with  one  foot  on  the  lion, 
while  \vith  his  hands  he  throttles  him,  typical  in 
Byzantine  pictures,  is  essentially  the  same  concep- 
tion (Schafer,  HancUmch  ckr  Malerd,^.  127).  The 
noblest  conception  of  him  in  modern  poetry,  is  that 
of  Milton's  Samson  Agonisies ;  but  that  drama 
treats  only  the  end  of  Samson's  life,  and  notwith- 
standing its  lofty  thoughts  and  Christian  fervor 
disfigures  the  l)eautiful  simplicity  of  Scripture  by 
operatic  additions.  Handel's  oratorio,  Samson 
(performed  for  the  first  time  in  London,  October 
12,  1742).  the  text  of  which  is  by  Milton,  but  not 
worthy  of  the  great  subject,  is  celebrated.  The  es- 
teemed composer,  Joachim  Raft',  intended  to  pre- 
pare a  Samson  opera ;  but  whether  it  was  ever  per- 

1  It  is  therofore  only  poetically  that  Milton  represents 
Manoah  as  still  alive  at  the  time  of  Samson's  catastrophe. 

2  In  a  wiit.in^  against  the  Jews  (Berlin,  1804),  Samson's 
ftctloa  is  si)h'i  "  acheiisslich"  (abominable). 

15 


formed  I  do  not  know.  At  what  a  low  ebb  the 
appreciation  of  the  Book  of  Judges  and  of  Samson 
stood  in  the  last  century,  is  shown  by  Herder's 
dialogue  (  Geisl  der  Elirdisch.  Poesie,  Werlce,  ii.  204), 
in  which  the  poet  endeavors  indeed  to  elevate  the 
narrative,  but  can  only  find  its  "  most  character- 
istically peculiar  and  beautiful  features,"  in  mat- 
ters incidental  to  the  main  story. 

It  is  not  quite  clear  how  the  Roman  Catholic 
legend  made  a  physician  of  Samson  ;  ^  and  it  was 
certainly  far  from  appropriate  when  a  jurist  of  the 
seventeenth  century  (La  Mothe  le  Bayer,  died 
1672)  represented  him  as  the  model  of  a'skcptical 
thinker.*  He  is  a  type  of  the  ancient  people  Israel 
itself  (cf.  the  Introduction),  which  is  everywhere 
victorious,  so  long  as  it  preserves  its  consecration 
intact,  but  falls  into  sen^itude  and  bondage  as  soon 
as  it  profanes  its  own  sacred  character.  The  types 
of  the  ancient  Church  fathers,  in  which  they  com- 
pare the  life  and  sufferings  of  Samson  with  Christ, 
are  very  ingenious  ;  and  the  pure  and  elevated  dis- 
position they  manifest  therein,  finding  spirit  be- 
cause they  seek  it,  is  greatly  to  be  admired.  A 
wood-carving  over  the  choir-chairs  in  the  Maul- 
bronn  monastery  represents  Samson  with  long 
waving  hair,  riding  on  the  lion,  the  symbol  of 
death,  whose  jaws  he  tears  apart;  while,  on  the 
opposite  side,  the  unicorn  lies  in  the  lap  of  the 
Virgin,  —  together  symbolizing  the  birth  and  resur- 
rection of  Christ.  For  to  him  applies  the  saying 
of  the  Apostle  (Heb.  xi.  32,  33),  that  by  faith  he 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  while  the  names  of 
the  other  Judges,  Othniel,  Ehud,  Barak,  Gideon, 
Jephthah,  scarcely  ever  recur  among  the  Jews,  that 
of  Samson  was  frequently  used,  both  anciently  and 
in  modern  times. 

In  the  address  of  Samuel  ( 1  Sam.  xii.  1 1 ),  the 
name  of  a  hero  Bcdan  is  inserted  between  Jerubbaal 
and  Jephthah,  who  can  be  none  other  than  Samson. 
The  reading  Bopa/c  of  the  LXX.  is  without  any 
probability  in  its  favor.  Bcdan  is  Ben  Dan  (liter- 
ally, "Son  of  Dan"),  ;.  e.,  "the  Danite."  The 
familiar  use  of  this  name  in  honor  of  the  tribe,  was 
undoubtedly  connected  with  the  blessing  of  Jacob 
on  Dan,  which  after  the  life  of  Samsoti  must  have 
seemed  to  have  special  reference  to  him  :  "  Dan 
shall  judge  his  people,  as  one  of  the  tribes  of  Is- 
rael." The  primitive  consciousness  of  the  prophecy 
of  Jacob  reveals  itself  herein  ;  and  nowhere  could 
it  be  said  with  more  profound  significance  than 
here,  —  "I  wait  for  thy  salvation,  0  Jehovah" 
(Gen.  xlix.  18). 


HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

Samson,  having  found  his  God  again,  died  as  a 
hero.  His  brethren  carried  him  into  his  father's 
grave.  His  victory  was  greater  in  death  than  in 
life. 

Ancient  expositors  compare  his  death  with  that 
of  Christ.  But  Samson  gave  up  his  life  in  order 
to  cause  his  enemies  to  die  :  Christ  in  order  to  give 
them  life.  Samson  died  gladly  because  he  had 
found  his  God  again ;  in  Christ  God  was  never 
lost.  It  is,  however,  a  good  death,  when  one  sees 
himself  restored  to  communion  with  God.  If  the 
Christian,  in  the  last  brief  hour  of  the  cross,  holds 
fast  his  faith,  the  thousand  foes  let  loose  against 

3  If  indeed  Samson  be  meant.  Cf.  RaynanJi,  Tituli  Cut 
tvs  Liigdunmsis,  Works,  viii.  571. 

4  Cf.  Bayle,  Diet   iii.  26b8. 


226 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


him  by  sin  and  temptation  fell  before  him.  When 
a  Christian  suffers,  the  representatives  of  evil  place 
themselves  round  about  him  with  laiiLrhter  and 
mocker}';  and  if  he  endures,  his  victory  in  death  is 
greater  than  in  life.  Stron.sj;  as  Samson,  was  the 
weak  woman  l\'ri>etua  (in  the  second  century) ;  in 
the  midst  of  tortures  she  said,  "  I  know  that  I  suf- 
fer, but  I  am  a  Christian."  Thousands  of  martyrs 
have  died  as  Samson  died.  They  have  conquered 
through  the  cross,  and  have  heaped  mountains  of 
dishonor  upon  their  enemies.  But  they  were  not 
all  buried  by  their  brethren.  They  found  no  places 
in  tlieir  fathers'  graves.  Only  He  from  whom 
nothing  is  hidden  knows  where  they  lie.  At  the 
last  day  they  shall  rise,  and  the  eyes  of  them  all 
shall  be  free  from  tears.  Samson  was  alone ;  he 
also  died  alone.  For  his  people  he  fought  alone 
and  suffered  alone.  After  his  death,  the  tribe  of 
Judah  raised  itself  again  to  faith.  The  remem- 
brance of  Samson  preceded  the  deeds  of  David. 
Let  no  one  fear  to  stand  alone,  whether  in  suffer- 
ing or  in  conflict.  The  words  of  a  faithful  heart  are 
not  spoken  in  vain.  The  seed  falls,  not  into  the 
blue  sky,  but  into  God's  living  kingdom,  and  in  its 
spring  time  will  surely  rise. 


Starke  :  The  eyes  of  the  mind  are  better  than 
the  eyes  of  the  body.  We  can  better  »))are  the 
latter  than  the  former.  —  Tiik  same  :  For  God  and 
native  land  life  itself  is  not  to  be  accounted  deai\ 
but  should  gladly  be  surrendered  ;  and  he  alone 
who  does  this  is  truly  entitled  to  the  name  of  a 
valiant  hero.  Thus,  also,  didst  thou,  0  Saviour, 
our  better  Samson,  conquer  in  dying. —  Gerl.^ch  . 
Samson  sported  before  the  Philistines,  not  as  one 
who,  fallen  from  a  merely  human  height,  endeavors 
with  smiling  scorn  to  maintain  his  self-conscious- 
ness amid  the  downfall  of  tlie  perishable  thingo 
of  this  world,  but  deeply  impressed  with  the  vanit/ 
of  everything  that  seeks  to  set  itself  up  against  the 
Lord  —  of  "  the  vain  war  of  the  earthen  pots 
against  the  rock  "  of  which  Luther  speaks  —  and 
therefore  seizing  with  faith  on  the  renewed  prom-' 
ises  of  divine  grace.  —  The  Same:  He  becomes 
thoroughly  convinced  that,  mutilated  in  his  face, 
he  could  never  again  live  among  men,  exposed  to 
the  scorn  of  the  enemies  of  the  Lord,  and  that 
therefore  his  work  is  done  ;  his  play  is  turned  into 
bitter  earnestness,  and  while  he  falls  and  dies,  he 
gains  the  greatest  victory  of  his  whole  life. 


PART   THIRD. 

The  conclusion  of  the  Book,  tracing  the  evils  of  the  period,  the  decay  of  the  priest- 
hood, the  self-will  of  individuals,  and  the  prevalence  of  licentiousness,  passion,  and  dis- 
cord, to  the  absence  of  a  fixed  and  permanent  form  of  government. 


FIRST   SECTION. 

THE    HISTORY    OF    MICAH'S    PRIVATE    TEMPLE    AND    IMAGE-WORSHIP  :    SHOWING    THE    INDIVIDUAL 

ARBITRARINESS    OF   THE     TIMES,    AND    ITS    TENDENCY    TO    SUBVERT  AND    CORRUPT    THE 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    OF    ISRAEL. 


Micah,  a  man  of  Mount  Ephraim,  sets  up  a  private  sanctuary  and  engages  a  wan- 
dering Levite  to  he  his  Priest. 

Chapter  XVII.  1-13. 


1  And  there  was  a  man  of  Mount  Ephraim,  whose  name  tvas  Micah  [Micayehu]. 

2  And  he  said  unto  his  mother,  The  eleven  hundred  shekels  of  silver  that  were  taken 
from  thee,^  about  which  thou  cursed^t,  and  spakest  of  also  in  mine  ears,  behold,  the 
silver  is  with  me ;  I  took  it.     And  his  mother  said,  Blessed  be  thou  of  the  Lord 

3  [Jehovah],  my  son.  And  when  he  had  [And  he]  restored  the  eleven  hundred 
shekels  of  silver  to  his  mother,  [and]  his  mother  said,  I  had  wholly  dedicated  ^  the 
silver  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  from  my  hand  for  my  son,  to  make  a  graven  image 

4  and  a  molten  image :  ^  now  therefore  I  will  restore  it  unto  thee.  Yet  [And]  he 
restored  the  money  [silver]  unto  his  mother  ;  and  his  mother  took  two  hundred 
shekels  of  silver,  and  gave  them  to  the  founder,  who  made  thereof  a  graven  image 


CHAPTER  XVII.    1-13.  227 


5  and  a  molten  image  :  and  they  were  in  the  house  of  Micah  [Micayehu].  And 
the  man  Micah  had  an  liouse  of  gods  [a  "Beth  EioUim,"  God^s-house],  and  made  an  ephod, 
and  teraphim,  and  consecrated  [appointed]  one  of  his  sons,  who  [and  he]  became 

G  his  priest.     In  those  (hiys  there  teas  no  king  in  Israel,  but  every  man  did  that  which 

7  tvas  right  in  his  own  eyes.  And  there  was  a  young  man  out  of  Beth-lehem-judah 
of  the  family   of  Judah,  who   was  a  Levite,  and   he  sojourned  there  [temporarily]. 

8  And  the  man  departed  out  of  the  city  from  [out  of]  Beth-lehem-judah,  to  sojourn 
where  he  could  lind  a  place :  and  he  came  to  mount  Ephraim   to  the  house  of 

9  Micah,  as  he  journeyed.  And  Micah  said  unto  him.  Whence  comest  thou?  And 
he  said  unto  him,  I  am  a  Levite  of  Beth-lehem-judah,  and  I  go  to  sojourn  where  I 

10  may  fmd  a  place.     And  Micah  said  unto  him,  Dwell  [Abide]  with  me,  and  be  unto 
me  a  fatherand  a  priest,  and  I  will  givQ  thee  ten  shekels  of  silver  by  the  year,  and 

1 1  a  suit  of  apparel,  and  thy  victuals.     So  the  Levite  went  in.     And  the  Levite  was 
content  [consented]  to  dwell  with  the  man,  and  the  young  man  was  [became]  unto 

1  2  him  as  one  of  his  sons.  And  Micah  consecrated  [appointed]  the  Levite ;  and  the 
IcJ  young  man  became  his  priest,  and  was  in  the  house  of  Micah.     Then  said  Micah, 

Now  know  I  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  will  do  me  good,  seeing  I  have  a  Levite  to 

[seeing  the  Levite  has  become]  my  priest. 

TEXTUAL  AND   GRAM?JATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  2 Tf  V  n|77  ~1??'^-    W^  '^^  *^®  ''"'•  incommodi.     Strictly  spealtiDg,  7  simply  marks  some  sort  of  rela- 

Uoo,  the  exact  nature  of  which  must  be  otherwise  determined.  The  present  phrase,  rendered  as  literally  as  possible,  is : 
"which  (so.  ^p3)  was  taken  for  thee,"  cf.  our  popular  use  of  the  same  phrase,  and  the  German,  welches  dir  genom- 
men  ward.  Ewald  (who  with  characteristic  self-confidence  announces  that  he  must  leave  the  "  silly  absurdity  "  of  the 
ordinary  explanation  of  this  passage  "to  those  who  do  not   hesitate  to  find  their   own  folly  in  the  Bible,-')  seems  to 

take  T|7  as  the  dative  of  the  author:  the  money  taken  (received)  by  thee  from  my  father.  For  he  relates,  quite  in 
Iiistorical  style,  that  a  young  man  of  Mount  Ephroim,  whose  father  probably  died  early,  took  the  money  which  had  been 
left  to  his  mother  into  his  own  hands,  in  order  by  using  to  increase  it  (1)  ;  and  that,  followed  by  his  mother's  blessing, 
he  was  fortunate,  and  was  about  to  restore  the  money  to  her,  as  became  a  dutiful  son,  when  she  made  him  a  present  of 

it  in  the  shape  of  a  handsome  {sckmucken)  god,  etc.     The  perfect    THnp^,  he  says,  is  the   perfect  of  volition  (like 

^/^tp^pn,  ver.  3) :  "I  will  take  ;  it  is  my  will  to  take."  But  if  the  Hebrew  author  meant  to  tell  thi?  story,  he  ex- 
pressed himself  very  obscurely.  The  imprecatory  oath,  too,  is  thus  left  without  explanation.  And  notwithstanding  all 
Ewald's  efforts  in  behalf  of  him,  Micah  is  still  in  suspicious  possession  of  the  money  (^I^S  J^pSn  nSn),  before  he 
tells  his  mother  that  he  will  take  it.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  benediction  which,  according  to  Ewald,  the  mother 
pronounces  on  her  son,  might  be  more  politic  than  free.' — Ta.] 

[2  Ver.  3.  —  ''i^f'^pn  tl^'^prr.  Render  :  "I  verily  dedicate."  Although  Dr.  Cassel  also  translates  here  by  the 
pluperfect,  he  explains  it  of  the  present,  see  below.  On  this  use  of  the  perfect  cf.  Ges.  Gram.  126,  4.  The  word 
"  wholly  "  of  the  E.  V.  is  better  omitted.  The  infln.  absolute  in  this  construction  is  intensive,  not  extensive.  It  does 
BOt  assert  the  completeness  of  the  consecration,  but  simply  makes  it  prominent,  as  Deing  the  use  to  which  she  determines 
to  put  the  money.    Cf.  Ges.  131,  3. — Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  3.  —  n!D5X2^  /DQ.  Dr.  Cassel:  Bild  tind  Gusswerlc,  "  image  and  cast-work  "  ;  i.  e.,  an  image  of  wood  or 
stone  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  silver  or  gold,  see  below.  This  explanation,  although  concurred  in  by  several 
critics,  is  not  yet  sufficiently  certain  to  make  it  worth  while  to  disfigure  our  English  text  by  inserting  it.  — Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

After  the  .story  of  Samson's  heroic  life  and  death, 
there  follow  in  tonclusion  two  narratives,  of  which 
the  first  embraces  cha|is.  xvii.  and  xviii.,  the  second 
cliaps.  xix.-xxi.  'I'hougli  not  connected  with  each 
other  either  by  time  or  place,  they  are  nevertheless 
not  mere  accidental  ajipendages  to  the  preceding 
historical  narrative,  but  essential  parts  of  the  well- 
considered  organism  of  the  entire  Book,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  also  they  received  the  position  in 
which  we  find  them.  The  profound  pragmatism 
of  the  Book  (see  Introduction,  .sect.  1)  designs  to 
show,  that  the  heroic  period  of  the  Judges  is  full 
indeed  of  the  wonders  of  God's  compassion,  but 
lacks  that  organic  centralization  and  unity  which 
only  the  kingly  office,  rightly  instituted  and  rightly 
exercised,  could  afibrd.  Tliis  want  manifested  it- 
'^elf  even  under  the  greatest  Judges.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  Judge  extended,  for  the  most   part, 


only  over  the  individual  tribes  to  which  he  be- 
longed, while  in  others  it  was  not  seldom  resisted ; 
and,  being  wholly  personal  in  its  nature,  disap- 
peared from  his  house  as  soon  as  he  died. 

In  chaps,  xvii.  and  xviii.  another  lesson  is 
brought  forward,  hints  of  which  had  already  oc- 
curred in  earlier  parts  of  the  Book.  The  religious 
central  point  of  the  nation,  also,  became  unsettled. 
And  this  was  the  greater  danger.  The  sanctuary 
at  Shiloh,  the  law  and  covenant  of  God  that  were 
in  the  sacred  ark,  were  the  real  pillars  of  Israel's 
nationality.  The  existence  of  this  spiritual  unity 
was  brought  out  in  the  opening  sentence  of  the 
Book :  "  And  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  the  sons 
of  Israel  asked  Jehovah."  It  had  in  dark  times 
demonstrated  itself  to  be  the  guaranty  of  national 
cohesion.  The  tribes  were  twelve,  indeed,  and  tlieir 
cities  lay  scattered  from  Beer-shcba  to  the  sources 
of  the  Jordan  ;  but  there  was  but  one  sanctuary, 
where  the  God  of  Israel  was  inquired  of.     It  an- 


228 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


peared,  however,  that  the  long-continued  want  of 
a  closer  political  organization,  threatened  also  the 
unity  of  the  religious  organism.  For  not  only 
was  the  service  of  foreign  idols  introduced,  threat- 
ening tlie  nerve  of  popular  strength  and  national 
freedom,  but  subjective  superstition,  also,  and  in- 
considerate division,  asserted  themselves  within  the 
religious  organization.  This  is  shown  by  the  stoiy 
of  Micah's  sanctuary. 

Ver.  1 .  And  there  was  a  man  of  mount  Eph- 
raim,  and  his  name  was  Micayehu.  Avarice, 
the  Apostle  tells  us,  is  the  root  of  all  evil.  Covet- 
ousness,  like  all  sin,  knows  no  shame.  Its  lustful 
eyes  profane  even  that  which  is  holy.  The  treas- 
ures of  temples  have  ever  excited  the  rapacity  of 
savage  enemies.  The  gifts  of  the  pious  convert 
houses  of  pi-ayer  into  objects  of  envy.  Faithful 
Israelites,  who  believed  in  Jehovah,  went  to  Shi- 
loh,  in  Ephraim,  performed  there  their  pious  duties, 
inquired  of  God  after  truth,  prayed,  and  brought 
their  offerings  for  the  honor  and  maintenance  of 
the  house  of  God.  Among  those  who  did  this, 
was  doubtless  also  the  father  of  Micayehu.  For 
that  he  confessed  Jehovah,   is   evident  from   the 

name  which  he  gave  to  his  son :  ^iT^S'^tt,  "  who  is 
like  Jehovah."  Such  names  are  only  given  in 
homes  where  Jehovah  is  honored,  at  least  in  ap- 
pearance. The  mere  ftict,  however,  that  persons 
are  named  " Theodore," ^  "Nathaniel,"  "  Theophi- 
lus,"  or  other  like  names,  gives  no  assurance  that 
they  are  what  their  names  declare  them  to  lie. 
The  father  of  Micayehu  must  also  have  been  rich  ; 
for  he  left  his  widow  large  sums  of  money.  The 
latter,  according  to  all  appearances,  was  avaric- 
ious ;  and  it  was  probably  on  this  account  that 
true  faith  in  Jehovah  took  no  root  in  her  heart, 
although  the  name  of  Jehovah  was  often  on  her 
lips. 

Vers.  2,  3.  Behold,  here  is  the  money ;  I  took 
it.  The  rich  \\'oman  had  been  deprived  of  a  large 
sum  of  money.  Eleven  hundred  shekels,  at  that 
time,  evidently  represented  a  very  considerable 
amount;  large  enough  to  be  spoken  of  in  "round 
figures."  The  woman  was  beside  herself;  her  soul 
was  in  her  money :  and  so  she  cursed  the  thief. 
Cursing  is  still  a  frightful  oriental  custom.  It  was 
regarded  as  an  invocation  of  judgments  from 
heaven..  Hence,  the  dread  of  the  effects  of  curses, 
in  heathenism,  arose  not  only  from  faith,  but  still 
-xnore  from  superstition.  The  sin  was  indeed  en- 
gaged in,  but  the  curse  was  dreaded ;  just  as  other 
thieves  do  not  refrain  from  stealing,  but  guard 
themselves  anxiously  against  the  police.  To  this 
must  be  added  that  parental  curses  were  feared  as 
the  heaviest  of  all  bans  (among  the  Greeks  cf. 
Nagelsbach,  Nnchhom.  TIieoL,  p.  350).  Sirach  (iii. 
',»)  still  said  in  his  day,  that  "the  curse  of  a  mother 
overturns  the  houses  of  children."  Micah  heard 
the  awful  imprecations  of  his  mother's  maledic- 
tion, .and  shuddered.  He  could  not  say,  "a  cause- 
less curse  takes  no  effect"  (Prov.  xxvi.  2).  lie 
had  taken  the  money,  which  was  now  charged 
with  his  mother's  curses.  With  these  he  will  not 
have  it.  "  Here  is  your  money  back,"  he  says ; 
"  I  took  it."     As  one  shakes  off  rain,  so  he  would 

1  The  priest  who  subsequently  entered  the  service  of 
Micah,  was  named  "Jonathan,''  i.  e.,  Theodore.  See  at 
eh.  xviii.  30. 

2  Bertheiiu  assumes  that  tlie  mother  devoted  the  money 
(O  this  purpose,  inasmuch  as  her  son  liad  alreaily  .a  Bfth 
'Elokhn.  But  it  was  only  the  image  that  could  make  any 
house  a  ''  House  of  God."  It  is  certainly  more  natural  to 
suppotie  that,  when  he  utterly  refused  to  accept  the  money, 


free  himself  of  this  curse-laden  money.  "  It  is  thj 
son,"  he  says,  "  and  his  house,  whom  thou  hast 
cursed.  Take  the  money  —  I  do  not  wish  it." 
His  words,  so  fiir  as  we  can  see,  express  more  of 
reproach  tlran  of  consciousness  of  guilt.  And  the 
mother  resembles  those  people  of  whom  James 
says  (ch.  iii.  10)  :  "Out  of  the  same  mouth  pro- 
ceedeth  blessing  and  cursing."  She  had  cursed,  in 
inconsiderate  wrath,  and  without  investigation,  on 
account  of  her  lost  money.  That  being  recovered, 
she  will  save  her  son  from  the  effects  of  her  male- 
diction. As  if  blessing  and  curse  were  under  hu- 
man control,  she  exclaims  :  "  Blessed  be  thou,  my 
son,  unto  Jehovah." 

The  son  was  in  any  case  wrong  in  taking  the 
money  secretly.  The  purpose  for  which  he  took 
it,  seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  context  and  the 
speech  of  the  mother.  He  wished  it  for  the  pur- 
pose which  he  afterwards  carried  out.  This  also 
explains  sufficiently  why  he  took  it  secretly :  he 
probably  did  not  believe  that  his  mother  would 
approve  his  design.  For  the  preparation  of  pesel 
and  massekah,  an  image  and  cast-work,  for  the 
purpose  he  had  in  view,  was  itself  a  theft,  notwith- 
standing that  it  looked  like  an  act  of  service  to 
God.  But  it  turned  out  differently.  It  was  nat- 
ural that  his  mother  should  ask  for  what  jiurpose 
he  had  taken  it ;  and  he  replies  that  he  had  des- 
tined it  for  Jehovah,  to  fit  out  a  private  sanctuary 
with  an  image  and  cast-work.  The  mother,  in 
order  to  appease  him,  says  :  then  do  I  consecrate 
it  for  Jehovah,  from  my  hand  for  my  son  (the  for- 
mula of  dedication),  that  he  may  make  an  "  image 
and  cast-work  ;  "  '^  now  therefore  take  the  money. 
Hereupon  there  arises  a  genuine  contest  of  super- 
stition. He  is  now  al'raid  of  the  curse-laden  money. 
And  she  is  in  dread  lest  the  frustration  of  the  seera- 
ingl}^  religious  end  for  which  her  son  intended  to 
use  it,  should  fall  back  upon  herself.  He  has  ex- 
cused his  theft  with  the  word  "  Jehovah  ;  "  and  she 
seeks  to  cover  up  her  curse  with  it.  Superstition 
thus  shows  itself  to  be  the  worst  profanation,  trans- 
muting eternal  truth  into  subjective  personal  in- 
terest. 

Ver.  4.  And  his  mother  took  two  hundred 
shekels  of  silver.  Micah  hail  once  more  refused 
the  money.  He  still  fears  the  curse  that  it  may 
bring  with  it.  Thereupon  the  mother  causes  the 
"image  and  cast-work"  to  be  made;  applying, 
however,  not  1,100  shekels,  but  only  200.  This 
shows  that  it  was  only  avarice,  and  not  the  fact 
that  she  had  dedicated  the  money  to  religious  pur- 
poses, that  had  inspii'cd  her  curse.  For  even  now 
she  cannot  part  with  more  than  200  shekels  out 
of  the  1,100.  On  the  other  hand,  it  becomes  evi- 
dent that  tiie  purpose  for  which  Micah  took  the 
money  was  the  manufacture  of  the  image ;  for  it 
is  set  up  "  in  his  house,"  and  he  combines  with  it 
still  other  operations. 

Ver.  5.  And  he  set  up  an  ephod  and  tera- 
phim.  These  words  give  the  key  to  the  whole 
transaction,  and  even  afford  a  clew  to  the  time  in 
which  it  took  ])lace.  The  paternal  house  of  Micah, 
it  ajipears,  had  not  openly  broken  Avith  the  service 
of  Jehovah.  This  is  clear  from  both  his  and  his 
mother's  words  (vers.  2,  3,  13).     But  their  hearts 

she  took  it  upon  herself  to  provide  the  image  with  the 
money  in  question,  in  order  to  deliver  him  from  the  curse. 
She  can  have  come  to  this  use  of  the  money,  only  because 
he  gave  it  as  the  object  for  which  he  took  it.  The  mother 
applies  only  two  hundred  shekels  ;  the  opinion  that  the 
others  were  used  by  way  of  endowment  is  at  least  not  in- 
dicated in  the  text. 


CHAPTER  XVII.     1-13. 


229 


»,ore  not  wholly  with  God.  This  is  evident  from 
her  avarice  and  malediction.  Theirs  was  not  a 
house  in  which  the  Canaanitish  Baal  was  sacri- 
ficed to  ;  but  neither  was  it  one  in  which  there  was 
mure  of  true  rcli;:ion  than  the  form  and  name. 
In  the  house  of  Joash  there  stood,  before  Gideon 
destroyed  it,  an  altar  of  Baal  and  an  Asherah. 
That  was  not  the  case  here.  But  seltishness  and 
superstitious  egoism  are  idolatrous  in  their  nature 
and  consequences,  even  when  Jehovah,  that  is,  the 
God  of  Israel,  is  still  spoken  of.  What  R.  Juda 
Hallevii  says  of  Micah  and  others,  applies  espe- 
cially to  him  :  '"  He  resembles  a  man  who,  while 
ince.stuou.sly  -nnirrying  his  sister,  should  strictly 
observe  the  customary  laws  of  mari'iage."  He 
makes  use  of  the  name  of  God,  but  for  that  which 

is  vanity  (Syj?7,  Ex.  xx.  7).  "He  made  an 
ephod."  The  sin  of  which  he  was  thus  guilty, 
lay  not  in  the  ej)hod,  but  in  the  fact  that  he  set  it 
up.  The  ephod  was  designed  for  the  lawful  priest- 
hood. The  Urim  and  Thummim  were  intended 
for  Lsi-ael's  high-priests  (Ex.  xxviii.  30),  in  order 
that  by  means  of  them  they  might  be  the  constant 
oigan  of  objective  divine  wisdom  for  the  whole 
people,  at  tlie  place  where  they  served  before  God. 
Hence,  they  neither  could  nor  ought  to  serve  the 
sul)jective  interests  of  individual  men  or  tribes,  or 
be  inquired  of  anywhere  else  than  where  the  priest 
was  who  bore  them  on  his  heart.  This  fact  also 
renders  the  meaning  of  Judg.  viii.  27  clear,  where 
it  is  related  that  after  Gideon  had  set  up  an  ephod 
with  the  golden  booty  obtained  from  the  Midian- 
ites,  all  Israel  went  a-whoring  after  it,  and  found 
a  snare  in  it.  Gideon,  it  is  true,  served  Jehovah 
sincerely  and  truly,  and  meant  only  that  his  ephod 
should  serve  as  -a  reminder  to  the  people  of  the 
wonderful  deeds  of  God  ;  but  in  setting  it  up,  he 
nevertheless  introduced  a  precedent  which  sub- 
jective superstition  misused  to  its  own  hurt.  For, 
inasmuch  as  he  set  it  up  in  his  own  house,  he 
gave  occasion  for  others  to  think  that  they  also 
might  do  the  same  in  their  houses.  The  deeds  in 
consequence  of  which  he  instituted  the  ephod  were 
soon  lost  sight  of;  and  the  eye  was  directed  only 
to  the  money  out  of  which  it  proceeded.  It  may 
be  assumed  that  precisely  for  Micah  Gideon's  ex- 
ample proved  a  source  of  danger,  —  for  which, 
however,  the  blame  falls  not  on  the  hero,  but  on 
Micah.  We  thus  obtain  a  clew  to  the  time  in 
which  the  event  here  related  occurred.  Micah  was 
a  man  of  Ephraim  who  lived  not  long  after  the 
days  of  Gideon.  There  was  pride  enough  in  Epli- 
raim  to  arrogate  to  itself  the  right  of  doing  what 
was  done,  however  grandly  and  nobly,  in  the 
smaller  tribe  of  Manasseh.  It  is  at  all  times  the 
practice  of  paltry  seltishness  to  dishonor  the  ex- 
traordinary actions  of  great  men,  by  using  them  as 
cloaks  for  their  own  mean  ends.  Gideon  destroyed 
the  altar  of  Baal  secretly,  and  for  this  purpose 
made  use  of  his  father's  people  and  means  without 
his  father's  knowledge.  Micah  probably  excused 
)r;inibelf  by  this  example,  when  he  secretly  took  his 
mother's  money,  in  order  to  set  up  tliat  which  in 
his  own  interest  he  destined  for  God. 

The  anarchy  of  arbitrary  individualism  exhibits 
itself  very  strikingly  here,  in  the  fact  that  a  mere 

common  man  (""'i^  ^"7^1'  ver.  1),  without  name 

1    Kiisari,  iv.  14,  ed.  Cassel,  p   335. 

■■i  The  Talmud,  Sanhedrin,  103  b,  calls  the  name  of  th« 

place  where  Micah  lived,   ^^H,   and  puts  it  at  a  distance 

Df  three       *I2  t'om   Shiloh.     So  far  as  the  name  is  Con- 


or merit,  has  the  presumption  to  do  the  same  thing 
which  Gideon,  the  Judge  and  Deliverer  of  Israel, 
had  undertaken  to  do  ;  and  that  he  does  it  on  the 
same  mountains  of  Ephraim  on  which,  at  no 
great  distance,  in  Shiloh,  the  ark  of  God  and  the 
lawful  ephod  were  to  be  found. .  R.  Nathan  '•' 
thinks  that  the  places  were  so  near  to  each  other, 
that  the  smoke  from  both  sanctuaries  might  com- 
mingle, as  it  rose  upward.  A  mere  common  man, 
who  had  nothing  but  money,  presumed  to  found  a 
sanctuary,  with  an  ephod  and  a  priest,  and  to  pass 
this  otf  as  an  oracle  of  Jehovah.  The  object  he  had 
in  view  can  hardly  have  been  any  other  than  to 
ensnare  the  people  who,  in  the  pressure  of  their  re- 
ligious needs,  sought  for  instruction,  and  brought 
votive  offerings  and  gifts.  For  this  purpose,  the 
house  which  he  founded  must  have  been  assimilated 
to  the  tabernacle ;  yet  not  so  completely  as  to  be 
attractive  only  to  the  thoroughly  pious  worshippers 
of  Jehovah.  For  as  these  would  not  under  any  cir- 
cumstances visit  any  sanctuarj-  but  that  at  SLiloh, 
Micah's  house  would  then  have  failed  of  its  pur- 
pose. It  could  be  made  attractive  only  by  mak- 
ing it  minister  to  the  superstition  of  sensual 
worship,  and  by  vesting  this  ministry  in  the  forms 
of  the  service  of  Jehovah.  Hence  he  speaks  of 
consecration  to  Jehovah,  but  at  the  same  time  rep- 
resents the  latter  by  means  of  nDOtt^l  ^^3.  (an 
image  and  cast-work).  He  set  up  an  ephod,  and 
supplemented  it  with  teraphim.  He  needed  a 
priest ;  and  in  the  absence  of  a  Levite,  he  himself 
selects  one  of  his  sons  for  the  office.  Every  part 
of  his  proceeding  is  thus  marked  by  subjective 
arbitrariness,  which  under  pious  names  concealed 
self-interest  and  superstition.  The  narrator  strik- 
ingly points  out  this  his  sin,  by  means  of  a  few  deli- 
cate strokes.  Hitherto  the  man  had  always  been 
called  Micayehu,  distinctly  bearing  the  name  of 
Jehovah.  But  from  ver.  5,  where  he  sets  wp  his 
sanctuary,  onward,  he  is  only  spoken  of  as  Micah. 
The  name  of  God  was  not  to  be  desecrated  in  him. 
And  although  Micah  speaks  of  "  Jeliovah  "  (v.  13), 
his  house  is  only  called  a  Beth  Elohim,  —  a  name 
also  given  to  the  temples  of  heathen  deities,  —  not 
Beth  Jehovah,  house  of  Jehovah.  No  description 
is  given  of  what  the  goldsmith  shaped  out  of  the 
mother's  two  hundred  pieces  of  money;  but  it  is 

called  i^pDQ^  VpS,  an  image  and  cast-work. 
These  words  at  the  same  time  pronounce  judg- 
ment against  the  sin  that  had  been  committed,  for 
they  are  the  technical  expressions  under  which  the 
law  forbids  the  making  of  every  kind  of  image- 
work  for  idolatrous  purposes.  The  narrator  has 
his  eye  doubtless  on  Deut.  xxvii.  15:    "  Cursed 

("I^IS)  is   the  man  that  maketh  nDDD^  ^S^, 

an  abomination  tmto  Jehovah,  the  work  of  the 
hands  of  the  artificer."  He  intinuites,  assuredly, 
that  the  same  man  who  stood  in  such  dread  of  his 
mother's  curse  on  the  thief  of  her  money,  ren- 
dered himself  obnoxious  to  the  more  awful  curse  of 
the  divine  law,  when  he  de>ired,  or  at  any  rate  ac- 
cepted, such  image-work.  The  form  of  the  image 
cannot,  however,  be  determined  with  certainty. 
The  opinion  that  it  represented  a  calf,  is  certainly 
not  tenable.  It  is  not  true  that  Jehovah,  the  God 
of  Israel,  was  ever  or  anywhere  represented  under 

cerned,  it  appears  to  be  only  a  name  of  reproach,  with  a 
reference  to  Deut.  xxviii.  27 ;  Lev.  xxi.  20.     In   Pesac/iim 

117  a,  the  place  seems  to  be  named  ^DD  [fietits,  ploratus], 
probably  m  pursuance  of  a  similar  homiletical  explanation. 


230 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


the  figure  of  a  bull  or  calf.  On  the  contrary,  this 
figure  was  symbolical  of  a  contrast,  a  national  and 
historical  contrast,  with  Jehovah.  This  appears 
both  from  the  golden  calf  of  the  desert  and  li'om  th(! 
history  of  Jeroboam. i  To  infer  from  the  analogy 
of  the  latter,  tlnit  Micah  also  cast  a  calf,  would 
likewise  be  errotieous.  For  Micah's  act  has  no 
national,  but  only  a  religious  significance.  He 
does  not  intend  to  set  up  a  contrast  to  Jehovah, 
but  only  a  superstitious  syncretism  with  other 
sanctuaries.  Had  the  image  been  a  calf,  the  nar- 
rator would  have  taken  occasion  to  say  so  ;  for 
that  of  itself,  in  its  relation  to  the  idolatry  of  the 
desert,  would  have  indicated  the  nature  of  Micah's 
sin.  Since  it  must  be  assumed  that  Micah  in- 
tended to  establish  a  sort  of  tabernacle,  it  is  to  be 
supposed  that  in  his  image-work  also  he  carried 
out  this  imitation  to  the  extreme  of  superstition. 

In  the  tabernacle,  on  the  n~)D3  ["mercy-seat"] 
there  were  two  cherubim,  with  outspread  wings ; 
and  in  Ex.  xxv.  22,  God  says  :  "  I  will  speak  with 
thee  from  upon  the  kapporelh  [mercy-seat],  from 
between  the  two  cherubim."  Now,  if  Micah, 
while  in  general  imitating  this  arrangement,  trans- 
formed the  cherubim  into  sphinx-like  figures,  such 
as  were  found  in  Egyptian  temples,  and  sym- 
bolyzed  (as  Clem.  Alex.,  Strom,  lib.  v.  ch.  5,  well 
explains.)  the  mysterious  problems  concerning  the 
Deity,  which  received  their  solution  at  the  hands 
of  the  priests,  he  would  at  the  same  time  minister 
to  the  superstition  of  the  time.  And  it  was  espe- 
cially the  establishment  of  an  oracle  that  Micah 

had  in  view.  The  verb  705  means  to  cut,  to 
(;,hisel,  especially  in  wood,  to  carve ;  for  the  image, 
vp2,  can  be  burnt   (Dent.  vii.  5,  25),  or  sawed 

in  pieces  (Dent.  xii.  3).  T\'^'G1^  is  the  coating  of 
gold  with  which  the  image  was  covered  (cf  Ewald, 
AlterthUmer,  p.  256,  2d  edit.),  and  is  therefore 
oftenest  mentioned  in  connection  with  pesel,  but 
frequently  also  without  it.  Such  wooden  images 
(called  ^6aua,  by  the  Greeks),  says  K.  O.  Miilier 
(Archiiologie,  §  69),  were  adorned  with  chaplets 
and  diadems,  neck-chains,  and  ear-pendants.  To 
this  the  lawgiver  refers,  when  he  says  (Deut.  vii. 
25)  :  "  The  images  of  tlieir  gods  ye  shall  burn 
with  fire  ;  thou  shalt  not  desire  the  silver  or  gold 
that  is  on  them."  Beside  the  ephod  Micah  also 
made  terapliivi.  This  addition  shows  that  he  de- 
signed the  ephod  for  divining  purposes.  The  sub- 
ject of  the  teraphim  has  hitherto  remained  envel- 
oped in  a  great  deal  of  obscurity.  From  Ezek.  xxi. 
26  (21),  2  Kgs.  xxiii.  24,  and  Hos.  iii.  4,  (cf  also 
1  Sam.  XV.  23),  it  is  certain  that  they  were  con- 
sulted, like  oracles.  They  were  shaped  like  human 
beings,  see  1  Sam.  xix.  13  ;  and  they  were  small, 
otherwise  Rachel  could  not  have  concealed  them 
(Gen.  xxxi.  34).  Antiquity  conceived  of  every  thing- 
connected  with  divination  as  wrapped  in  dark- 
ness and  mystery.  The  heathen  oracle  issued  out 
of  the  depth  and  darkness  in  enigmatic  language. 

1  Cf.  my  treatise,  Jeroboam,  Erf.  1856.  Unfortunately, 
Keil  also  thinks  that  this  opinion  is  "scarcely  to  be 
doubted,"  although  he  adduces  no  grouuds  for  it.    For  that 

the  term  '^3'y,  in  Ex.  xxxii.  4,  is  also  followed  by 
n  ^"1;^,  is  as  natural  as  it  is  that  this  latter  word  is  always 

5>und  whenever  cast  images  are  spoken  of.  Cf.  Ex.  xxxiv. 
17.  The  error  is  so  widespread  that  it  has  even  found  a 
place  in  the  reply  of  Thomas  {Union,  Kalli.  Kircke,  p.  4()), 
to  Stahl's  book  on  "Union."      [On  this   question  of  the 


At  Megara,  there  was  an  oracle  of  the  goddess 
Night,  represented  as  a  high  and  closely  veiled 
figure.  The  little  teraphim  also  must  have  borne 
about  them  tokens  of  their  mysterious  nature. 
We  may  venture  to  recognize  them  in  the  little 
shapes  of  Greek  art,  enveloped  in  a  thick  mantle 
and  hat,  who  constantly  accompany  the  figures  of 
^sculapius,  the  divining  god  of  the  healing  art 
(where  also  the  tablets  usually  appear,  symbolic 
of  the  responses  of  the  god.  Miilier,  Archdol.,  §  394, 
1).  Among  the  various  names  given  to  these 
attendant  figures  by  the  Greeks,  is  that  of  Teles- 
phoros,  end-bringing.-  It  is  well  known  that  ora- 
cles were  most  frequently  consulted  with  reference 
to  physical  ailments.  In  Israel,  also,  in  days  of 
apostacy,  idols  were  applied  to  for  healing  (2 
Kgs.  i.  2).  The  teraphim,  accordingly,  appear  to 
represent"  oracles  of  healing.  Their  name,  at  all 
events,  teraphim  (trophim),  approximates  closely 
to  that  of  Trophonius,''  for  which  also  the  Greek 
language  affords  no  suitable  etymology.  Tropho- 
nius  is  the  healing  oracle,  who  delivered  his  re- 
sponses in  a  dark  chasm,  and  who,  like  ^2scula- 
pius,  is  represented  with  a  serpent,  from  which  he 

probably  derived  his  name  (cf  H"^'?)-  The  relation- 
ship of  teraphim  and  "  seraphim  "  is  plain  enough. 
The  serpent-divination  of  Greece  is  manifestly  of 
Asiatic  origin.  That  the  Israelites  offered  incense 
to  the  healing  serpent  erected  by  Moses,  we  learn 
from  the  history  of  Hezekiah,  who  destroyed  it 
(2  Kgs.  xviii.  4).  The  teraphim,  then,  explain 
themselves  and  some  other  matters,  when  we  re- 
gard them  as  Telesphoroi,  possessed  of  oracular 
healing  attributes.  Every  passage  in  which  they 
appear  is  in  this  way  fully  explained. 

Ver.  6.  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in 
Israel.  There  was  no  central  civil  authority,  that 
could  interpose  against  sin  and  its  seductive  arts. 
The  sentence  teaches  that  in  Israel  it  was  consid- 
ered the  ofiice  of  the  king,  not  to  allow  such  arbi- 
trariness and  sin  as  those  of  Micah  to  assert  them- 
selves. It  was  regarded  as  a  mark  of  anarchy, 
when,  alongside  of  the  sanctuary  at  Shiloh,  a 
common  man  took  it  upon  himself  to  seduce  the 
people  into  superstition.  It  must,  however,  be 
said,  that  even  though  the  worship  of  God  in  Shi- 
loh was  strong  enough  to  face  such  dangers,  it 
is  nevertheless  presumptively  a  sign  of  weakness 
in  the  contemporary  ministers  of  that  worship,  that 
Micah  had  the  courage  to  do  as  he  did.  The  com- 
plaint of  our  verse  is  made,  because  in  reality 
Micah  sinned  against  the  very  foundations  of  the 
Mosaic  faith  and  law.  It  is  not  the  freedom  which 
permitted  a  man  to  have  a  chapel  of  his  own,  that 
is  lamented;  but  the  license  which  enabled  him  to 
fit  out  an  idol-temple,  to  establish  an  oracle,  and 
arbitrarily  to  disfigure  the  genuine  national  cul- 
tus.  For  the  rest,  the  utterance  is  one  that  could 
be  made  only  when  the  kingly  office  was  either  ex- 
pected to  exhibit  or  had  exhibited,  its  efficiency  in 
protecting  the  law  in  its  purity.  It  was  possible 
only  until  the  most  flourishing  point  of  Solomon's 

meaning  of  calf-idols  in  Israel,  cf.  Smith's  Bible  Diction- 
ary,  art.  "  Calf"  —  Tr.] 

2  It  is  only  by  the  gift  of  foretelling  limit  and  end,  from 
amid  concealment  and  mystery,  that  the  nature  and  sym- 
bol of  the  Telesphoroi  can  be  explained  ;  and  only  thus  fai 
can  a  connection  between  them  and  the  sages  of  telesphoria. 
of  which  Biickh  speaks,  be  allowed.  It  is  only  their  connec- 
tion with  the  teraphim  that  explains  both  these  and  them. 
This  fact  escaped  both  Preller  [Grieck.  Mylli.,  i.  327)  and 
Welcker  {Grieck.  Myth.,  ii.  740). 

3  Whose  connection  with  Serapis  and  Saraph  is  to  be 
more  minutely  explained  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER    XVIII.  1-13. 


231 


reign,  and  probable  only  in  the  times  when  men 
were  seeking  a  king  to  remedy  the  prevalent  an- 
archy. 

Vers.  7-12.  And  there  was  a  Levite.  Micah 
probably  I'omul  that  his  sanctuary  lacked  consid- 
eration, because  it  had  no  priest.  There  were 
priests  enougli  in  Ephraim,  to  be  sure ;  but  it 
would  seem  that  none  of  them  were  willing  to 
serve  him  —  which  redountls  to  their  honor.  As- 
sistance came  to  him,  however,  from  another 
quarter.     A  your.g  man,  who  according  to  rule 

was  settled  in  Judah  (ni^H)  nnSt^Sp,  cf. 
Josh.  xxi.  4),  became  discontented  at  home,  and 
took  to  travelling  about,  after  the  manner  of  a 
scholar  in  the  Middle  Ages.  He  stopped  some 
time  in  Bethlehem,  but  left  that  place  also ;  and 
on  his  way  over  the  mountains  of  Ephraim,  he 
came  to  Micah.  The  position  of  Micah's  sanctu- 
ary must  have  been  a  favorable  one,  near  the  high- 
ways from  south  to  nortli  ;  for  the  Danites,  who 
came  from  Eshtaol  and  Zorah,  and  the  young 
Levite,  who  came  from  Eethlehem,  passed  by  it. 
Micah,  hearing  that  the  Levite  was  unengaged, 
proposed  to  him  to  take  service  with  himself.  The 
proposition  was  made  sufficiently  inviting.     The 

voung  man  was  to  be  honored  as  "  a  father  "  (2S, 
pater),  become  a  ]iriest,  and  be  placed  in  good  cir- 
eumstances.  Vanity,  and  the  offer  of  a  good  place 
led  the  young  Levite  astray,  —  and  he  was  not  the 
last  who  fell  thus.  He  forgot  who  he  was  (see  at 
ch.  xviii.  30),  and  whom  as  Levite  he  ought  to 

serve,  and  consented  (  •^?*1''^,  cf.  on  ch.  i.  27). 
Micah  took  him  in  with  great  joy  ;  so  that,  even 
beyond  his  promises,  he  received  him  as  "  one  of 


his  sons,"  —  an  expression  which  stands  in  sug- 
gestive contrast  with  Micah's  promise  to  regard 
him  "  as  a  father."  For  the  sake  of  money,  thf 
Levite   submitted  to  be  "consecrated,  ordained," 

by  an  Ephraimite.  (The  words  ""IlT  I^.TlS  SvP!*! 
are  a  standing  expression  for  to  induct,  to  ordain 
The  expression  is  derived  (as  Ex.  xxix.  33  com 
pared  with  ver.  24  clearly  shows),  from  the  cere 
mony  of  laying  the  offerings  required  at  the  conse 

cration  of  a  priest  upon  his  hands,  ^5?  ''P?  Ex 
xxix.  24).  At  all  events,  Micah  valued  the  Leviti- 
cal  dignity  more  highly  than  the  Levite  himself 
did.  When  the  latter  had  entered  his  house,  be 
exclaimed  :  — 

Ver.  13.  Now  know  I  that  Jehovah  will  do 
me  good,  seeing  the  Levite  has  become  my 
priest.  These  words  indicate  most  strikingly,  the 
thorough  self-deception  of  the  man.  He  looks  for 
blessings  to  Jehovah,  against  whom  be  has  com- 
mitted the  mortal  sin  of  image-worship.  He  ex- 
pects these  blessings  on  account  of  a  Levite,  who 
did  wrong  when  he  allowed  himself  to  be  hired. 
He  who  sets  up  ephod  and  teraphim  for  the  en- 
lightenment of  others,  has  himself  so  little  insight 
into  the  spirit  of  truth  as  not  to  perceive  that  in 
the  falsehood  of  his  entire  establishment  its  down- 
fall is  already  assured.  Perhaps,  he  also  found 
pleasure  in  the  descent  of  his  Levite  (ch.  xviii.  30), 
although  it  ought  rather  to  have  frightened  him. 
But  self-love  blinds  him,  and  his  soiled  conscience 
builds  hopes  on  tlie  name  of  a  Levite,  whose  doings 
in  his  house  challenged  the  judgments  of  God. 
"  Now  know  I,"  he  exclaims.  He  will  soon  learn 
how  deceptive  this  knowing  is. 


The  trihe  of  Dan,  desirous  of  more  room,  despatches  explorers.     These,  after  spending 

a  night  near  Micah's  religious  establishment,  become  aware  of  its  existence, 

and  consult  its  oracle.    Proceeding,  they  find  at  Laish  an  inviting 

place,   easy   of  conquest.      They   return    home,    and   a 

colony  of  six  hundred  families  is  sent  out. 

Chapter.  XVIII.  1-13. 


In  those  clays  there  was  no  king  in  Israel :  and  in  those  days  the  tribe  of  the 
Danites  sought  tliem  an  inheritance  to  dwell  in ;  for  unto  that  day  all  their  [no] 
inheritance  -^  had  not  [omit :  not]  fallen  unto  them  among  the  tribes  of  Israel. 
And  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan  sent  of  their  family  five  men  from  their  coasts  [of 
their  whole  number],  men  of  valour,  from  Zorah,  and  from  Eshtaol,  to  spy  out  the 
land,  and  to  search  it ;  and  they  said  unto  them.  Go,  search  the  land  :  who  when 
[and]  they  came  to  mount  Ephraim,  to  [as  far  as]  the  house  of  Micah,  [and]  they 
lodged  there.  When  they  were  by  the  house  of  Micah,  they  knew  the  voice  ^  of 
the  young  man  the  Levite  :  and  they  turned  in  tliither,  and  said  unto  him,  Who 
brought  thee  hither  ?  and  what  makest  [doest]  thou  in  this  place  ?  and  what  hast 
thou  here  ?  And  he  said  unto  them.  Thus  and  thus  dealeth  Micah  with  me,  and 
hath  [he]  hir^l  me,  and  I  am  [became]  his  priest.  And  they  said  unto  him,  Ask 
counsel,  we  pray  thee,  of  God,  that  we  may  know  whether  our  way  which  we  go 
shall  be  prosperous.  And  the  priest  said  unto  them,  Go  in  peace  :  before  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  is  your  way  wherein  ye  go.  Then  the  five  m6n  departed,  and  came  to 
li^ish,  a.u,^  ?aw  the  people  that  were  therein,  how  they  dwelt  ^  careless  [securely], 


232 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


after  the  manner  of  the  Zidonians,  quiet  and  secure  ;  and  there  was  no  nuigisti'ate 
[potentate]  in  the  land,  that  might  put  them  to  shame  [injure  them]  in  any  thing ; 
and  they  were  far  from  the  Zidonians,  and  had  no  business  with  anij  man  [had*  o 

8  intercourse  witii  other  men].     And  tliey  came  unto  their  brethren  to  Zorah  and  Eslitaol  : 

9  and  their  brethren  said  unto  them,  What  say  ye  ?  And  they  said,  Arise,  that  we 
may  [and  let  us]  go  up  against  them :  for  we  have  seen  the  land,  and  behold,  it  is 
very  good :  and  are  ye  still  ?  be  not  slothful  to  go,  and  to  enter  [come]  to  possess 

JO  the  land.     When  ye  go,  ye  shall  come  unto  a  people  secure,  and  to  a  lai-ge  land: 
for  God  hath  given  it  into  your  hands ;  a  place  where  there  is  no  want  of  any  thing 

11  that  is  in  the  earth  [land].     And  there  went  from  thence  of  the  family  of  the  Dan- 
ites,  out  of  Zorah  and  out  of  Eshtaol,  six  hundred  men  appointed  [girded]  with 

12  weapons  of  war.    And  they  went  up,  and  pitched  [encamped]  in  Kirjath-jearim,  in 
Judah:  wherefore  they  called  [call]  that  place  Mahaneh-dan  [Camp  of  Dau]  unto 

13  this  day  :  behold,  it  is  behind  Kirjath-jearim.     And  they  passed  thence  unto  mount 
Ephraim,  and  came  unto  [as  far  as]  the  house  of  JMicah. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[I  Ver.  1.  —  n  7QD5  properly  means  :  "  in  the  character  of  an  inheritance,  as  an  inheritance,"  cf.  Num.  sxvi.  53, 

etc.     The  nominative  to   nT>53"^7  is  to  be  supplied  from  the  thought  of  the  preceding  clause,  either  in  the  form  of 

•^/D?)  or,  better,  in  the  more  general  form  of  \'^^,  land.  The  writer  probably  intended  to  introduce  the  subject 
after  the  verb,  but  as  he  proceeded  his  attention  was  diverted  by  subordinate  clauses,  and  so  he  ended  with  an  anaco- 
luthon.  —  Tr.] 

[2  V«r.  3.  —  yyp-  Dr.  Ca.ssel  renders  "sound,"  see  his  explanation  below.  Keil  and  others  understand  it  of  dialectic 
pronunci»:ioD  or  otlier  peculiarities  of  speech.  Bertheau  thinks  that  in.asmuch  as  the  envoys  had  to  "  turn  aside  "  Irom 
their  way  in  order  to  get  to  Micah's  temple,  they  could  not  have  been  near  enough  to  hear  the  Levites  voire  or  note  his 
pronunciation.  He  therefore  assumes  that  what  they  recognized  was  the  "  tidings  ''  that  were  told  them  of  the  sanctu- 
ary near  by.  But  why  not  fcike  the  words  in  the  sense  in  which  any  man  would  naturally  take  them  at  the  first  read- 
ing ?  The  J^evite  bad  been  a  wanderer  ;  name  one  (or  more)  of  the  five  envoys  had  met  with  him,  and  now  recognizes  hia 
voice,  as  they  lie  eiacamped  near  by.  The  conversation  that  ensues  when  they  meet  with  him  is  certiiinly  exactly  such 
as  would  be  expected  under  such  circumstances ;  and  the  account  which  Micah  gives  of  his  personal  affairs  (ver.  4),  can 
scarcely  be  explained  on  any  other  supposition.— Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  7.  —  Ditt'"!'*  is  predicate  to  D^HTIW,  and  as  such  ought  to  be  masculine.  The  feminine  is  accounted  foi 
on  the  principle  that  the  writer's  imagination  identifies  the  people  with  the  city  in  which  they  live,  and  so  speaks  of  them 
as  feminine,  cf.  Ewald,  Leiwb.  174  b  ;  Green,  Gram.  275,  2,  b.  The  appositional  masculine  participles  nt?b!)  tip27 
only  show  that  this  identification  is  no  longer  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  —  Tr.J 


JEXEGETICAL  AND   DOCIKINAL, 

Ver.  1 .  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in 
Israel.  This  is  rejjeated  in  order  to  iiitimate 
that  the  author  does  not  approve  of  what  he  is 
alK)ut  to  rehite  concerning  the  Diuiites.  Such  a 
piratical  expedition  was  possible  only  when  thci-e 
was  ijo  o]-j;aiiie  national  authority  to  truard  the 
public  i>eacc  and  watch  over  the  enforcement  of 
law.  The  kingly  office  is  a  guaranty  of  the  safety 
of  property  and  of  tlie  coutiniiance  of  puWic  peace,, 
and  does  not  jiernnt  adventurous  expeditions,  uji- 
dertaken  for  the  injury  of  others.  These  very 
evils,  however,  were  prevalent  in  Germany,  not- 
withstanding imperial  rule;  and  that  jiot  only  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  a  matter  of  g^eat  diffi- 
culty, in  the  fourteenth  century,  to'briug;ibout  the 
formation  of  local  peace-compacts ;  and  even  then 
they  had  inserted  in  them  the  clause  of  the  West- 
phaliaii  treaty  of  1371,  according  to  which  a  citv  or 
lord  was  only  forbidden  to  engage  in  hostilities  with- 
ont  a  previous  declaration  of  war.  Even  this  princi- 
ple would  have  condemned  the  Danites,  it  is  true, 
but  the  organic  government  in  the  interests  of  peace 

and  order  which  Israel  undci-stood  by  mSvK, 
kingdom,  royal  dominion,  had  no  existence  in  Ger- 
many, even  until  after  the  thirty  years'  war. 

For  that  unto  that  day  no  taheritance  had 
fallen  unto  them.     These  words  do  not  express 


the  view  of  the  narrator,  but  rehearse  the  complaint 
of  the  Danites,  M'hich  was  causeless  however.  Dan 
had  certainly  received  an  inheritance  ;  and  in  proot 
of  it  is  the  fact  that  even  at  this  time  the  tribe 
dwelt  in  the  district  cf  Zorah  and  Eshtaol.  Its 
territory  extended  over  Timnah  and  Ekvon,  as  fiir 
as  Joppa  on  the  coast  (Josh.  xix.  41-4G)  ;  but  it 
had  been  crowded  into  the  mountains  l>y  the  Amor- 
ites  (Judg.  i.  34),  and  had  failed  to  dispossess  the 
Philistines  of  the  plain  along  the  sea  coast.  On 
this  account  the  tribe  might  indeed  have  too  nar- 
row liounds  ;  but  instead  of  enlarging  their  bor- 
ders by  making  war  on  their  lieatlu'n  neighbors, 
they  complained.  If  they  had  not  l«.'eij  lacking 
in  the  trire  entliusiasm  of  faith  in  Jehovah,  their 
.onsets  of  irresistible  prowess  wocild  not  have  failed 
to  win  the  t-erritory  allotted  to  them.  But  it 
was  easier,  it  must  be  allowed,  to  siarprise  tin- 
defended  houses  and  lands,  than  to  contend  with* 
the  five  princes  of  the  Philistines,  and  their  numer- 
ous armieg.  The  words  before  us  are  only  the 
subterfuge  with  >vhlch  Dan  defended  the  unusual 
resolution  it  had  taken  before  the  other  tribes. 

Ver.  2.  And  the  sorus  of  Dan  sent  of  their 
fs-mily  five  men.  .Only  in  Israel  was  it  an  mi- 
usnal  thing  to  look  abo.vt  for  other  possessions  than 
those  which  had  been  assigraed-  Among  other  na- 
tions, the  reduction  of  a  too  r>umerous  population 
by  means  of  colonization,  was  a  matter  of  frequent 
occurrence  {cf.  Movers,  Phjonjkm,  iii.  5,  etc.).    In 


CHAPTER   XVIII.    1-13. 


233 


'he  case  of  Dan,  however,  the  resolution  to  look 
about  for  new  territory  was  not  arrived  at  by  a  few 
iul venturers,  who  uiieeremoniously  eut  themselves 
loose  from  their  people,  but  by  the  whole  commu- 
nity. The  commissi(jners  and  envoys  to  whom  the 
promotion    of    the    scheme    was    entrusted,    wei'e 

elected  from  among  the  whole  (2ni!2p!p)  and  were 

not  ordinary  spies,  but  chosen  men  (^'H  '*Ii''3S), 
upon  whom  the  matter  naturally  devolved.  (Com- 
pare the  Roman  plan  of  appointing  commission- 
ers to  supeivise  the  establisliment  of  a  colony.) 
The  express  statement  that  they  were  told  "  Go, 
explore  the  land,"  is  added,  in  order  to  relieve 
tjiem  from  every  appearance  of  having  acted  only 
on  their  own  responsibility. 

Vers.  3,  4.    There,  near  the  house  of  Micah, 

they  recognized  the  sound.      "  There  "  (Ctt?), 
I.  e.,  in  the  vicinity  of  tile  "  temple-house,"  which  is 
here,  in  a  special  sense,  called  the  "  house  of  Micah." 

When  they  were  near  this  house  (n^2"D17),  they 

beard  the  "  sound  {71p)  of  the  young  Levite." 
This  has  been  curiously  enough  understood  of  the 
voice  of  the  Levite.  But  how  could  the  Danites  tell 
by  the  voice  that  it  liclonged  to  a  Levite  ?  The 
statement,  however,  becomes  instructive,  when  we 
call  to  mind  what  is  written  in  Ex.  xxviii.  35. 
The  Levite  in  Micah's  House  wore  the  priestly 
dress,  which  was  provided  with  bells,  in  order  "  that 

their  sound  maybe  heard  Cl^lp  37^K.''3)  when  he 
enters  into  and  comes  out  of  the  Holy  Place." 
The  Danites,  having  passed  the  night  (^2^7^^), 
heard,  in  the  morning,  the  bells  of  the  officiating 
priest,  and  thus  learned,  to  their  astonishment,  that 
there  was  a  Levite  there. 

Vers.  5,  6.  Inquire,  we  pray  thee,  of  God 
(Elohim).  The  Danites,  it  is  evident  from  all  they 
do,  are  not  steadfast  in  their  faith  in  Jehovah. 
Hence,  also,  they  hnd  no  fault  with  the  Levite  for 
having  "  hired  "  himself  to  Micah  ;  nor  do  they 
hesitate,  when  they  learn  that  he  has  an  ephod  and 
teraphim  (ver.  14),  to  consult  his  oracle  .ibout  the 
success  of  their  vuidertaking  ;  but  that  Jeho'-ah  was 
worshipped  here,  did  not  appear  to  them  to  be  tlie 
case.  The  narrator  indicates  this  very  delicately, 
by  making  them  say,  "  Inquire  of  Elohim,"  al- 
though the  Levite,  in  the  account  he  gave  of  him- 
self, had  used  the  name  Jehovah,  for  to  his  service 
Micah's  House  was  nominally  devoted.  The  Le- 
vite's  response  is  oracular,  i.  e.,  thoroughly  ambig- 
uous :  "  Go  in  peace  :  C:^?^!!  JI'^H'^^  HJb."  n?i3 
is  simply  equivalent  to  coram ;  no  such  accessory 
idea  as  '"' favoi-able,"  lies  in  the  words.  "  Your  way 
is  before  Jehovah  "  —  an  answer  unquestionably 
correct.  The  Danites  probably  explained  it  in  a 
favorable  sense,  on  account  of  the  "go  in  peace" 
which  preceded  it. 

Ver.  7.  And  the  five  went,  and  came  to  Laish. 
fnnce  the  city  was  afterwards  called  Dan,  whose 
name  and  situation  at  one  of  the  sources  of  the 
Jordan  (and  that  not  the  spring  at  Banias),  was 
known  in  the  time  of  Josephus,  Robinson  was 
doubtless  right  in  saying  {B.  R.  iii.  392),  that  "of 
the  identity  of  its  situation  and  that  of  Tell  el- 
Kfidy  there  can  be  no  question."  Rittcr  (xv.  217) 
even  communicates  Wilson's  observation,  accord- 

1  [Our  author,  both  in  his  versioa  of  the  Hebrew  text 
ind  here,  transfers  D*^7  from  the  end  of  one  verse  to  the 
hegiiuaing  of  anothei,  Uut  without  good  reason.  —  Tr.] 


ing  to  which  the  name  Dan,  i.  e.,  judge,  survives  by 
translation  in  Kady,  the  surname  of  the  Tell 
Laish,  however,  lay  "in  the  valley  that  leads  to 
Bethrehob"  (ver.  28).  This  valley  can  scarcely 
be  any  other  than  the  present  WadV  et-Teim,  the 
great  longitudinal  valley  which  extends  from  the 
])lain  of  Lake  Huleh  upward  to  Rasheiya.  Through 
this  valley  and  the  Buka'a  runs  the  direct  road 
from  the  sources  of  the  Jordan  to  Hamath  (Rob. 
iii.  371).  The  S])iesof  Moses  explored  the  land  as 
far  as  Rchob,  where  the  road  leads  to  Hamath 
(Num.  xiii.  21).  Rehob  (prop.  Rechob)  is  a  name 
suggested  by  topographical  characteristics,  and  re- 
curs therefore  in  various  places.  It  always  presup- 
poses the  presence  of  a  plain  or  level  surface.'-^  It 
is  to  be  noted  that  Scrijjture  itself  does  not  speak 
of  either  Dan  or  Laish,  as  situated  at  the  sources 
of  the  Jordan.  We  may,  nevertheless,  venture  the 
conjecture  that  this  situation  may  be  found  indi- 
cated in  the  name  Laish  (tt.'^~),  Laish  signifies  a 
lion  ;  and  ancient,  originally  Egyptian,  symbology, 
has  made  the  lion  the  sign  of  flowing  stream-sources. 
For  as  soon  as  the  sun  enters  his  sign  in  the  zo- 
diac, the  sources  of  the  Nile  begin  to  rise.  Hence, 
says  Horapollo,  the  mouths  of  fountains  are  pro- 
vided with  the  figures  of  lions.  This  also  accounts 
for  the  statement  of  Pollux,  that  the  lion  is  called 
KprifocpvKa^,  "  guardian  of  springs,"  and  for  the 
wide-extended  usage  of  setting  up  figures  of  the 
lion  near  springs.  The  place  of  the  source  of  the 
Orontes  is  named  Lobweh,  which  also  means  lion. 
The  river  which  rises  near  Baalbek-Heliopolis  was 
called  Leontes  (at  present  Litany)  ;  and  the  lion 
himself,  as  Egyptian  symbol,  signified  "  House  of 
the  Sun."  On  the  front-side  of  a  building  over  the 
spring  of  Ain  'Anub  there  are  found  figures  of 
animals,  considered  to  be  either  lions  or  dogs  (Rit- 
ter,  xvii.  676).  The  name  Laish  may  be  supposed 
to  indicate  in  a  similar  nnxnner  the  fountain,  "one 
of  the  lai-gest  in  the  world,"  which  leaps  down  in 
an  "  immense  stream  "  from  Tell  el- Kady  (Rob.  iii. 
390).  We  are  reminded  by  it  of  the  blessing  of 
Moses  (Dent,  xxxiii.  22) :  "  And  of  Dan  he  said, 

Dan  is  a  ^."l"?^  "^^^  (lion's  whelp) ;  he  leaps  forth 
fromBashan."  The  attribute  thus  expressed  cor- 
responds, as  it  were,  to  that  indicated  in  the  name 
Laish.  Lcshem,  the  name  under  which  the  place 
appears  in  Josh.  xix.  47,  gives  literal  expression, 
perhaps,  to  the  same  idea  which  was  figuratively 

indicated  by  Laish.  The  verb  57ty7,  to  break 
through  (of  a  spring),  to  flow,  belongs  to  an  an- 
cient  and   widely   diffused   root.     Hence,   as   the 

source  of  the  Jordan  was   called    C3tf?]^,    so  the 

warm  springs  near  the  Dead  Sea  were  called  ^KJ^, 
Lesha,  changed  afterwards  into  Callirrhoe  (cf. 
lehhan,  Licus,  Lech,  Celtic,  Leis,  Lias,  and  numer- 
ous similar  river  names). 

Ver.  7.  There  was  no  hereditary  potentate 
in  the  land,  to  oppress  them  in  any  respect. 
The  observations  of  the  five  env9ys  are  remark- 
able. They  find  the  city,  as  a  colony  of  Sidon, 
quietly  devoted  to  industrial  arts,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  mother  city.  It  had  not  entered  into 
relations  for  mutual  jn-otection  with  other  cities, 
])robably  on  the  ground  of  its  being  a  colony. 
That  notwithstanding  this,  it  could  teel  itself  se- 
cure, and   live   without  much  warlike  vigilance, 

a  On  Rehob,  equivalent  to  Paltos,  compare  above,  oc 
Judg.  i.  31. 


234 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


although  Sidon  was  so  far  away,  evinces  the  very 
peaceful  condition  of  the  Syria  of  that  day.     Tlie 

iiivoys  observe  also,  that  "  there  is  no  "^^??  '^'!}'^^ 
in  the  hind."  The  exjjression  is  obscure  by  reason 
of  its  uncommonness.  It  seems  to  me,  that  it  can 
only  be  understood  in  this  way:  The  Danite  en- 
voys, during  their  stay  in  Laish,  investigate  par- 
ticularly the  abhity  of  the  city  to  defend  itself.  In 
this  investigation  they  find  not  only  that  the  peo- 
ple are  engaged  in  j^eaceful  industry  (t^i/.tll'),  while 
their  natural  allies  are  far  away,  but  also  that 
tliere  is  no  "I???  ^"''i*''^''?  '•  e.,  no  dynast  or  tyrant, 
in  the  land,  with  armed  troops  in  his  pay,  ready 
for  war.  The  presence  of  such  a  one  would  make 
it  necessary  to  anticipate  serious  and  ready  resist- 
ance. Hence,  the  Persians,  when  they  took  pos- 
session of  Ionia,  deposed,  the  tyrants  and  instituted 
popular  governments  everywhere  (Herod,  vi.  4.3). 

Under  the  ">'.*??  ^^-'T?'^"'  of  our  passage,  we  are  to 
understand  what  the  Greeks  called  dynasts,  hered- 
itary despots,  who  exercised  supreme  control  in 
the  city.  There  is  no  thought  here  of  a  king  or  of 
suffetes,  but  of  a  tyrannical  oppressor,  who  with- 
out consent  of  the  inhal)itants  has  jjccome  their 
master,  and  who  surrounds  himself  with  armed 
troops,  in  order,  as  instances  in  both  (ireek  and 
I'hoeiiician  islands  and  cities  sufficiently  prove,  to 
preserve  the  succession  to  this  sort  of  government 
in  his  own  family  by  means  of  force.  In  this  ex- 
planation, "^t!??  may  either  be  taken  as  the  object 

after  ^^'?.1^?  in  the  sense  of  enforced  supremacy,  — 
in  which  case  1  Sara.  ix.  17  may  be  compared,  for 
~^17  is  indeed,  both  in  letter  and  sense,  the  Latin 
arcere,  and  sometimes  also  equivalent  to  coercere  ; 
or  it  may  be  regarded  as  standing  in  subjective 

opposition  to  ti7'!!?1%  and  be  compared  with  "^?^ 

=  "Ip^,  lord,  commander  (cf.  the  Sanskrit  cira), 
in  the  Aramaic  names  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Esar- 
haddon  (cf  my  Ortsnamen,  i.  118).  Since  sucii  a 
Joresh-elsev  wields  his  power  by  violence  and  with- 
out the  consent  of  his  subjects,  it  is  not  said  that 

none  such  "reigns"  in  the  land,  but  2'^7-?'?"]'^^' 
none  such  "injures,  oppresses." ^  But  for  de- 
fense against  attacks  from  without,  such  a  ruler  is 
undoubtedly  well  adapted,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
instance  of  Polycrates.  The  envoys,  therefore,  are 
right,  when  they  consider  the  absence  of  such  a 
commander,  where  powerful  friends  are  far  away, 
and  military  activity  is  altogether  wanting,  as 
favorable  to  the  success  of  an  assailant. 

Vers.  8-10.  And  they  said.  Arise,  and  let  us 
go  up  against  them.  The  narrative  allows  an- 
cient manners  to  speak  for  themselves  in  a  very 
delicate  way.  Tiic  hve  envoys,  on  their  arrival  at 
home,  keep  quiet,  until  they  are  asked,  What  have 
ye  1  Then,  however,  they  are  the  ones  who  stim- 
ulate the  irresolute  and  douV)tful  :  "  why  are  you 

silent  ■?  be  not  slothful  nt^i":?^,  i^'^^^,  nsbb;" 
for  to  go,  to  come,  and  to  have  what  you  desire,  is 
one  and  the  same  thing.     You  will  find  an  attrac- 

1  [Keil's  explanation  of  this  passage  is  in  all  essential 
points  very  similar,  except  that  he  defines  'H^V  ttJ'll'^, 
is  "  one  who  seizes  on  power,"  and  derives  (right)y,  no 


five  country  without  defense,  a  large. land,  to  which 
nothing  (either  of  wealth  or  attractiveness)  is 
wanting.  This  representation  was  not  extrava- 
gant. Laish  was  situated  in  the  valley,  perhaps  on 
the  same  spot  afterwards  occupied  by  the  Dajilini' 
mentioned  by  Josephus ;  which  nan'ie,  in  the'ilel- 
leiiistic  period,  was  only  given  to  attractively  sit- 
uated places.  Accordingly,  Josephus  himself  also 
speaks  of  his  Daphne  as  a  delicious  place,  rich  in 
water-springs  ( IVars,  iv.  1,  1).  The  tract  of  land 
in  which  it  lay,  is  still  called  Ard  Difneh,  and  is 
covered  with  glorious  wheat-fields  and  noble  old 
trees  (Rob.  iii.  394).  The  emigrating  Messenians 
were  in  similar  manner  invited  by  Anaxilaus  of 
Rhegium  to  make  themselves  masters  of  Zankle 
in  Sicily,  being  told  that  it  was  a  blessed  land,  and 
in  a  tine  part  of  the  island  (Pans.  iv.  23).  Seneca 
remarks  {Consoiatio  ad  Hetviam  matrem,  cap.  y'l.), 
that  many  emigrants  have  been  deceived  by  un- 
measured praises  of  the  fertile  territory. 

The  envoys,  in  order  to  strengthen  their  people, 
add  that  "  Elohim  has  given  the  land  into  their 
hands,"  referring  probably  to  the  response  of  the 
Levite's  oracle. 

Ver.  1 1 .  And  there  broke  up  from  thence  six 
hundred  men,  girded  with  weapons  of  war. 
Six  hundred  families  either  volunteered,  or  were 
selected.  The  number  may  correspond  with  an- 
cient usage.  Livy  relates  that  the  Romans,  when 
engaged  in  a  colonizing  enterprise,  in  the  year  197 
before  Christ,  sent  out  three  hundred  families  into 
each  several  city  (xxxii.  29).  The  Danites,  like 
Greek  and  Roman  colonies,  set  out  as  if  for  war, 
with  banners,  arms,  and  means  of  subsistence  (ver. 
21).  In  a  speech  of  Demosthenes  it  is  said: 
'EXafxISavov  ire/UTrd/.ievoi  OTrAa  e'«  tov  d7]fxoffiov  Ka\ 
f<(>6Sia  (cf  Hermann,  Grieck.  StaatsalterthUmer,  § 
75,  2). 

Ver.  12.  Wherefore  that  place  is  called 
"  Camp  of  Dan,"  unto  this  day:  behold,  it  is 
behind  Kirjath-jearim.  The  expedition  was  at 
that  time  an  extraordinary  event.  It  seemed  to 
renew  the  old  marches  of  Israel  in  the  desert,  for 
the  conquest  of  Canaan.  There  doubtless  existed 
notices  concerning  the  various  stations  which  they 
made  on  the  journey.  It  seems,  however,  that 
only  three  of  the  stations  are  known  to  us.  The 
first  was  the  "Machaneh  Dan,"  with  which  the 
first  awakening  of  Samson  to  his  life  of  heroism 
was  connected  (ch.  xiii.  25).  It  lay  between  Zorah 
and  Eshtaol,  and  was  therefore  donbtless  the  place 
of  rendezvous  for  the  expedition,  which  came  for 
the  most  part  from  those  cities  (ver.  ll,cf.  ver.  2). 
This  cannot  be  the  same  with  the  Machaneh  Dan 
near  Kirjath-jearim,  in  the  tribe  of  Jutlah,  of  which 
mention  is  here  made.  The  researches  of  Robin- 
son enable  us  to  locate  the  latter  near  the  modem 
Kuryet  el-'Enab,  whence  the  high  road  appears  to 
have  gone  over  the  mountains  of  Ephraim.  The 
third  is  the  sanctuary  of  Micah,  where  irkevise 
the  "  camping-place  of  Dan  "  was  probably  long 
remembered.  At  all  events,  the  remark,  that  since 
this  exjxulition  the  name  Machaneh  Dan  exL>«te(l, 
>hows  that  the  event  took  ]ilace  before  the  diisys  of 
Samson  (during  whicij  Dau  appears  also  to  have 
been  in  an  enfeebled  c<oudition),  and  is  therefore  tc 
Ije  put  between  Gideon  and  Samson. 

doubt)  ti7~li^  from  W  ''"'  jn  tlu;  sense  of  seizing,  and  no< 
as  our  author  does,  in  the  sense  of  "  inheriting,"  or  ra'diei, 
perhaps,  in  both  senses  at  the  Sfma  time.  —  Ta.] 


CHAPTER   XVIII.    14-31.  235 


The  Danitcs,  on  the  loay  to  Laish,  pillage  the  sanctuary  of  Mlcah,  and  persuade  his 
priest  to  go  with  them.     Micah  pursues,  but  finding  the  robbers  too  strong,  turns 
•     back.      The  conquest  and  destruction  of  Laish,  and  the  building  of  Dan. 

Chapter  XVIIL  14-31. 

14  Then  answered  the  five  men  that  went  to  spy  out  the  country  of  Laish,  and  said 
unto  their  brethren,  Do  ye  linow  that  there  is  in  these  houses  an  ephod,  and  tera- 
phim,  and  a  graven  image,  and  a  molten  image  ?  now  therefore  consider  what  ye 

15  have  to  do.  And  they  turned  thitherward,  and  came  to  the  house  of  the  young 
man   the   Levite,  even  unto  [omit :  unto]  the   house  of  Micah,  and  saluted  him. 

16  And  the  six  hundred  men  appointed  [girded]  with  their  weapons  of  war,  which 

17  were  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan,^  stood  by  the  entering  of  the  gate.  And  the 
five  men  that  went  to  spy  out  the  land  went  ujj,  and  came  in  thither  [entered  the 
"house'"],  and  took  the  graven  image,  and  the  ephod,  and  the  teraphim,  and  the 
molten  image :  and  the  priest  stood  in  the  entering  of  the  gate  with  the  six  liun- 

18  dred  men  that  were  appointed  [girded]  with  weapons  of  war.  And  these  went 
[when  these  had  gone]  into  Micah's  house,  and  fetched  the  carved  image,  the 
ephod,  and  the  teraphim,  and  the  molten  image.  [,]     Then  [then]  said  the  priest 

19  unto  them.  What  do  ye?  And  they  said  unto  him.  Hold  thy  peace,  lay  thine  hand 
upon  thy  mouth,  and  go  with  us,  and  be  to  us  a  father  and  a  priest:  Is  it  better 
for  thee  to  be  a  priest  unto  the  house  of  one  man,  or  that  thou  be  a  priest  unto  a 

20  tribe  and  a  family  in  Israel  ?  And  the  priest's  heart  was  glad,  and  he  took  the 
ephod,  and  the  teraphim,  and   the  graven   image,  and  went  in   the   midst   of  the 

21  people.     So  they  turned  and  departed,  and  put  the  little  ones,  and  the  cattle,  and 

22  the  carriage  [baggage]  before  them.  And  when  they  were  a  good  way  from  the 
house  of  Micah,"^  the  men   that  were  in  the  houses  near   to  Micah's  house  were 

23  gathered  together,  and  overtook  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan.  And  they  cried 
[called  out]  unto  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan.  And  they  turned  their  faces,  and 
said  unto  Micah,  What  aileth  [What  is  the  matter  with]  thee,  that  thou  comest 

24  with  such  a  company  ?  And  he  said.  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods  which  I  made, 
and  the  priest,  and  ye  are  gone  away :  and  what  have  I  more  'i  and  what  is  this 

25  that  ye  say  unto  me.  What  aileth  [is  the  matter  with]  thee  ?  And  tho  children 
[sons]  of  Dan  said  unto  him.  Let  not  thy  voice  be  heard  among  us,  lest  angry 
fellows  [men  fierce   of  spirit]  run  [fall]  upon  thee,  and  thou  lose  [destroy]  thy 

26  life,  with  [and]  the  lives  of  thy  household  [house].  And  the  children  [sons]  of 
Dan  went  their  way:  and  when  [omit:  when]  Micah  saw  that  they  were  too 
strong  for  him  [stronger  than  he],  [and]  he  turned  and  went  back  unto  his  house. 

27  And  they  took  the  things  which  Micah  had  made,  and  the  priest  which  he  had,  and 
came  unto  [upon]  Laish,  unto  [upon]  a  people  that  were  at  [omit :  that  were  at] 
quiet  and  secure :  and  they  smote  them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  burnt  the 

28  city  with  fire.  And  there  tvas  no  deliverer,  because  it  [i.  e ,  the  city,]  was  far  from 
Zidon,  and  they  had  no  business  with  any  man  [i. «.,  no  intercourse  with  other  people]  ;  and 
it  [the  city]  was  in  the  valley  that  lieth  by  [extends  to]  Beth-rehob.     And  they 

29  built  a  [the]  city,  and  dwelt  therein.  And  they  called  the  name  of  the  city  Dan, 
after  the  name  of  Dan  their  father,  who  was  born  unto  Israel :  howbeit  the  name 

30  of  the  city  was  Laish  at  the  first.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Dan  set  up  the 
graven  image  [for  themselves]  :  and  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Gershom,  the  son  of 
Manasseh  [Moses],  he  and  his  sons  were  priests  to  the  tribe  of  Dan  until  the  day 

!'»]  of  the  captivity  of  the  land.^  And  they  set  them  up  Micah's  graven  image  which 
he  made,  all  the  time  that  the  house  of  God  was  in  Shiloh. 

TEXTUAL   AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

[l  Ver.  16. —  "JT  '^3'^tt  '^^*'^.  The  unusual  position  of  this  clause,  separated  from  the  words  to  which  it  belongs, 
3iay  be  explained  by  supposing  that  at  the  end  of  the  sentence  it  occurred  to  the  author  that  his  language  might  pos- 
iibly  be  understood  of  six  hundred  men  stationing  themselves  to  guar//  the  temple,  and  prohibit  the  approacli  of  tin 
Danites,  and  that  he  obviates  this  by  adding  the  present  clause.  The  E.  V.  places  the  words  where  according  to  th« 
sense  they  belong.  —  Tr.] 


236 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


[2  Ver.  22.  —  rT!3'*S3  n"^2lH  ^p'Tl^n  T^^i:,'^  :  "  they  had  just  withdrawn  from  the  house  of  Micah,  when  tin 
men,"  etc.  So  Dr.  Cassel,  but  not  so  well  as  the  E.  V.  The  verb  ^p^n"in  properly  requires  a  complemental  infin- 
itive,   np^^,     cf.  Ex.  viii.  24,  but  is  frequently  also,  as  here,  used  without  it.  — Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  30.  —  Dr.  Cassel  adopts  hi>re  the  conjectural  reading  "ark"  instead  of  "  land  ;  "  and  it  certainly  seems  that 
if  criticism  is  ever  justified  in  resorting  to  conjecture,  it  is  so  in  this  passage.     See  the  discussion  below. —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  14.  Do  ye  know  that  there  is  in  these 
houses  an  ephod,  teraphim,  and  image  and 
cast-work  ?  The  five  men  whu  had  recoiinoitered 
Laish,  accompany  the  colony,  and  form  the  soul 
of  the  whole  undertaking.  This  is  manifestly  not 
conceived  and  carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  the  God 
of  Israel.  The  Danites  present  us  with  a  military 
expedition,  reckless  and  violent,  such  as  the  his- 
tory of  migrations  and  conquests  is  full  of  Their 
road  leads  them  over  the  mountains,  and  past  the 
House  of  Micah.    What  houses  are  those  1  ask  the 

Danites.  And  their  guides  inform  them  (•'217*1, 
for  the  question  is  only  presupposed),  that  here 
there  is  a  private  sanctuary,  fully  provided  with 
everything  necessary  to  such  an  institution.  No 
Koman  colony  was  sent  forth  without  the  author- 
ity of  taking  auspices,  or  without  an  attendant 
puHarius.  The  Danite  envoys  had  asked  the 
priest  concerning  the  mind  of  Elohim,  and  had 
communicated  his  favorable  answer  to  their  breth- 
ren. The  need  of  an  oracle  of  their  own  becomes 
strongly  felt  by  these  warriors,  who  take  the  field 
from  wholly  subjective  motives.  The  people  have 
not  left  their  hereditary  landed  possessions  in  order 
to  lose  themselves  in  a  strange  land,  but  to  pre- 
serve their  tribe-consciousness.  This  conscious- 
ness was  alive  in  them,  however,  only  so  far  as  its 
national  character  went.  They  remember  Dan, 
their  ancestor,  but  not  Jehovah,  their  God.  They 
were  not  unbelieving,  but  superstitious  ;  and  su- 
perstition is  subjective.  It  desires  to  be  helped  by 
Elohim,  but  it  has  no  penitence,  so  as  to  serve 
Jehovah.  The  Danites  desire  to  have  a  deity  of 
their  own,  to  direct  them  by  his  responses ;  and 
think  that  they  can  steal  him,  as  gold  and  prop- 
erty may  be  stolen.  Before  Jehovah  they  could 
not  stand  with  the  thoughts  of  robbery  and  death 
that  fill  their  hearts ;  but  in  these  houses,  they 
hear,  there  is  an  image  and  cast-work,  ephod  and 
teraphim.  They  conclude  to  conquer  for  their 
future  city  its  appropriate  temple  service  also. 

Vers.  15-20.  And  they  came  to  the  house  of 
the  young  man  the  Levite,  the  house  of  Micah. 
The  manner  in  which  the  robbery  is  accomplished 
is  vividly  and  beautifully  portrayed.  The  live 
leaders  are,  of  course,  acquainted  with  the  Levite 
from  their  former  visit.  They  were  also  acquainted 
with  the  situation.  They  go  to  him,  and  greet 
him.  The  priest  recognizes  them,  and  permits 
them,  the  five,  to  enter  the  sanctuary.  He  him- 
self remains  at  the  gate,  where  the  six  hundred, 
in  their  warlike  array,  have  placed  themselves, 
while  the  families,  the  cattle,  and  the  rest  of  the 
train,  are  already  moving  ofT.  The  five,  being 
alone  in  the  temple,  take  .all  its  treasures,  image 
and  image  adornments,  ephod  and  teraphim  (an- 
other proof  that  the  latter  were  small),  and  bring 
them  forth  (ver.  18),  when  the  jiriest  addresses 
them  :  "  What  do  ye  ! "  Even  at  this  stage,  the 
narrative  does  not  conceal  the  lukcwarmncss  of  the 
priest.  Ho  was  not  watchful  when  the  people 
tame,  sent  no  information  of  anything  to  Micah, 
ind  even  now  raised  no  alarm  to  prevent  the  theft 


which  he  could  not  but  know  was  in  progress.  He 
was  just  an  hireling.  Hence,  when  the  five  pro- 
pose to  him  to  be  priest  to  them,  a  whole  tribe, 
rather  than  to  a  mere  individual,  but  in  that  case  to 
keep  still,  and  come  along  with  the  idols,  without 
making  a  noise, — he  accepts  the  offer  with  joy, 
takes  the  idols  into  his  priestly  hands,  and  is  fer 
security  inclosed  in  the  midst  of  the  warriors. 
What  a  strange  thing  is  superstition  !  This  priest 
has  first  of  all  betrayed  his  God  and  his  office  for 
money,  has  by  liis  name  as  priest  led  many  asrrav, 
and  now,  from  mere  vanity,  abandons  his  benefac- 
tor, who  has  treated  him  as  a  son  (ch.  xvii.  11), 
and  leaves  him  in  the  lurch;  and  yet  he  is  eagerly 
snatched  up  as  something  valuable,  and  it  is  con- 
sidered a  great  point  gained  when  such  hands  as 
his  carry  gods  who  allow  themselves  to  be  taken 
off  by  robbers,  and  to  be  honored  and  praised  by 
traitors.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that,  according  to 
ver.  20,  the  priest  when  he  joins  the  warriors,  re- 
gains custody  only  of  the  "  ephod,  teraphim,  and 
image  :  "  the  massekah,  the  ornament  of  the  image, 
containing  its  gold  value,  the  Danites  do  not  trust 
out  of  their  own  hands. 

Vers.  21-26.  They  had  just  departed  from 
the  house  of  Micah.  The  Danites  show  them- 
selves well  versed  in  the  arts  of  freebooters.  They 
assume  that  they  may  be  pursued.  Accordingly, 
they  cause  everything  that  cannot  defend  itself  or 
is  difficult  of  transportation,  to  proceed  in  advance 

of  them.  (The  term  rTJ^DS,  from  "T?3»  heavy, 
must  here  undoubtedly  be  taken  of  what,  like  cat- 
tle, admits  of  only  slow  transportation  ;  i  for  many 
valuables  the  Danites  can  scarcely  have  had  with 
them.  Moreover  —  and  this  is  important  here  — 
the  meaning  "  valuable,"  in  this  word,  is  only  a 
derivative  one  from  "  he.avy.")  Thus  they  march 
along  —  behind  their  cliildren,  sheep,  and  beasts  of 
burden  —  ready  for  instant  action.  Meanwhile, 
information  of  the  theft  had  reached  Micah.  About 
his  sanctuary  a  little  village  had  formed  itself. 
The  people  are  quickly  collected.  They  pursue. 
But  there  was  no  Abraham  here,  who  with  three 
hundred  and  eighteen  men  smote  great  armies. 
Neither  Abraham's  faith,  nor  Abraham's  good 
cause  were  here.  The  Danites,  when  they  hear 
the  outcries  of  the  pursuers,  act  at  first  as  if  noth- 
ing had  happened.  But  when  by  Micah's  anger 
they  perceive  that  he  knows  all,  they  —  probably 
the  five  leaders  —  tell  him  that  it  were  better  for 
him  to  be  quiet  —  he  might  otherwise  lose  more  ; 
for  the  people  there,  whom  he  sees,  are  fierce  of 
disposition,  and  know  no  mercy.  And  Micah  was 
obliged  to  yield  to  superior  power.  The  narrative 
shows  strikingly  how  men,  when  excited  about 
their  property,  show  their  true  faces.  Micah,  who 
has  always  talked  of  Jehovah,  as  he  who  did  him 
good,  now,  forgetting  himself  entirely,  calls  out 
to  the  Danites  :  "  Ye  have  taken  the  gods  which  I 
made."  For,  of  course,  only  "gods"  can  be  taken 
away,  not  Jehovah;  and  his  right  to  them,  is 
based  on  the  fact  that  he  made  them.  Strictly 
speaking,  he  cannot  complain.    He  had  taken,  and 

1  R.  Judah  Hallevi,  Kusarl,  iv.  3,  explains  it  to  mean 
"  retinue,"  such  as  comports  with  the  honor  of  a  king 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  U-31. 


237 


athers  have  taken  from  him.  He  had  committed 
treason,  and  he  has  been  forsaken.  He  sees  now 
what  sort  of  fortune  the  priest  and  idolatry  brought 
him.  That  which  Micah  liad  set  up  to  lead  others 
astray,  became  the  occasion  in  consoquL-nce  of 
which  he  was  robbed.  Ho  carried  sorrow  back 
with  him  into  his  house;  his  return  was  desolate, 
—  without  yold,  but  with  the  judy-ment  of  his  con- 
science. If  he  was  led  thereby  to  repentance,  we 
may  be  sure  that  he  soon  found  the  Eternal  God 
ajrain,  who  pardotis  sinners,  even  though  they  have 
fallen  seven  and  seventy  times. 

Vers.  27-29.  And  they  called  the  name  of  the 
city  Dan.  As  tlie  Messenians  changed  the  name 
of  the  city  Zankle  into  Messene,  so  the  Joktanides, 
who  migrated  froui  Yemen  into  Central  Arabia, 
gave  their  tribe  name  to  the  possessions  they  con- 
quered, as  is  proved  by  the  kingdom  of  the  Ghas- 
sanides  on  the  borders  of  Syria  (cf.  Ritter,  xii. 
86).  It  has  been  the  general  and  constantly  re- 
curring usage  of  all  migrating  nations.  The 
strange  country  was  embellished  with  homelike 
names.  It  was  the  opinioa  of  ancient  thinkers, 
that,  as  Seneca  wrote  to  his  mother,  the  best  con- 
solation in  exile  and  emigration  was  to  take  along 
what  one  had  been  accustomed  to  {natura  com- 
viunis),  as  also  one's  peculiar  gift  (propria  virtus). 
The  Danites  did  this.  They  held  their  ground  in 
the  new  Dan,  whose  fame  had  wholly  eclipsed  that 
of  the  old  home,  had  not  Samson  subsequently 
arisen  iu  Zorah.  But  though  the  new  Dan  never 
overshadowed  the  old,  the  name  certainly  took 
firm  root  in  the  North,  and  in  the  expression  "  from 
Dan  to  Beer-sheba,"  indicated  the  northern  ex- 
tremity of  the  actual  possessions  of  the  twelve 
tribes,  although  the  JNIosaic  boundaries,  and  some- 
times (as  under  David)  even  temjiorary  occupa- 
tion, extended  beyond  this  point. 

Nevertheless,  whenever  the  history  of  Israel  was 
riglitly  apprehended,  in  its  properly  spiritual  char- 
actei',  the  usurpation  of  Laish  was  never  approved 
or  justitied.  It  was  an  arbitrary  breaking  in  upon 
the  given  order,  and  upon  the  claims  of  another 
tribe ;  for  the  new  Dan  settled  itself  in  districts 
which  formed  part  of  the  original  territories  of  the 
Northern  tribes,  particularly  of  Naphtali  (who,  it 
is  true,  had  also  failed  to  drive  out  the  inhabitants 
o^  Beth-anath,  /.  e.,  Paneas,  cf  ch.  i.  33).  The 
new  possession  was  associated  with  no  other  mem- 
0  ies  than  such  as  conflicted  with  the  true  service 
of  God  :  it  was  dedicated  with  the  idolatrous  image 
of  Micah,  and  it  was  destroyed  with  the  Calf  of 
Jeroboam.^  The  usurpation,  it  should  be  care- 
fully observed,  proceeded  not  from  individuals,  but 
from  the  common  will  of  the  whole  tribe.  The 
division  of  Manasseh  was  contemplated  in  the  plan 
of  the  lawgiver  ;  but  the  self-division  of  Dan  was 
a  sin  against  the  organic  constitution  of  the  nation. 
Hence,  when  the  emigrants,  who  speak  of  them- 
selves as  a  "tribe"  and  "family"  in  Israel  (ver. 
19),  succeed  in  grafting  the  tribe  name,  Dan,^  on 
the  conquered  territory,  although  the  larger  ]3art 
of  the  tribe  renmined  behind,  tiie  result  is,  that, 
after  the  career  of  Samson,  the  name  became 
wholly  lost  from  its  old  home.  Even  in  Samson's 
day,  the  Danites,  as  such,  are  no  longer  spoken 
of  The  trilie  Judah  already  attracts  everything 
to  itself  The  very  remembrance  of  the  families 
pf  Dan  peiished,  for  which  reason  we  find  no  lists 
Df  them  in  the  Books  of  Chronicles,  while  the 
families  of  Simeon,  whose  possessions  were  also 

1  Cf.  Amos  Tiii.  14,  and  Talmud,  Sabbat,  67  b. 


inclosed  by  those  of  Judah,  are  nevertheless  dulj 
enumerated  (1  Chron.  iv.  24  ff.).  By  appropri- 
ating to  himself  that  which  did  not  belong  to  him, 
Dan  lost  even  that  Avhich  he  had.  It  is  on  such 
spiritual  grounds  as  these,  that  among  the  twelve 
tribes  of  the  Apocalyjise  (ch.  vii.),  Dan  finds  no 
place.  For  of  this  tribe  alone  do  we  find  such  a 
notice  as  the  following  : 

Vers.  30,  31.  And  the  sons  of  Dan  set  up  the 
graven  image  for  themselves;  and  Jonathan, 
the  son  of  Gershom,  the  son  of  Moses,  he  and 
his  sons,  were  priests  to  the  tribe.  Even  as  late 
as  the  last  century,  expositors  (as  Lilienthal,  Com- 
mentat.  Critica,  p.  192)  have  defended  the  reading 
Manasseh,  despite  its  suspended  2,  and  found  ap- 
proval in  so  doing  (cf  Ernesti,  Theol.  Bibliot/iek, 
1771,  p.  112).  Whoever  is  able  to  form  a  concep- 
tion of  the  exegeticar  scrupulousness  of  the  Jew- 
ish transcribers,  will  readily  perceive  that  if  HtC'XS 
had  not  stood  in  the  MSS.,  that  reading  could 
never  have  been  introduced.  The  Talmudic  teach- 
ers admit  this  [Daha  bathra,  109  a),  and  ascribe 
the  circumstance  tliat  Moses  could  have  such  a 
descendant,  to  his  wife  (cf  Julkut,  n.  72).  Now, 
although  it  be  touching  to  observe  the  reverential 
piety  which  could  not  bear  to  have  the  name  of 
Moses  connected  with  that  of  an  idolatrous  priest, 
and  which,  therefore,  without  altering  the  Hebrew 
text  itself,  as  early  as  the  time  of  the  Talmudical 

teachers,  read  the  suspended  3  in  HJi?  12,  the  pro- 
ceeding stands  nevertheless  in  striking  contrast 
with  the  admirable  frankness  of  Biblical  writers, 
who  without  regard  to  men  state  facts  as  they  are, 
and  direct  the  confidence  of  the  faithful  people, 
away  from  mortals,  to  the  living  God  alone.  The 
priest  would  not  have  been  named  at  all,  but  for 
the  wish  to  point  out  the  contrast  between  his 
descent  from  the  lawgiver  who,  in  the  name  of 
God,  condemned  all  idolatry  as  mortal  sin,  and 
his  official  position  as  ]iricst  at  the  shrine  of  an 
image.  To  this  contrast  alone,  Jonathan  owes  it 
that  his  name  was  not  forgotten.  Sad,  uniloubt- 
edly,  beyond  most  similar  cases,  is  this  instance 
of  degeneracy.  But  Scripture,  which  does  not  con- 
ceal the  human  weakness  of  even  Moses  himself, 
humbles  herewith  all  vanity  based  on  ancestors 
and  descent.  It  avails  nothing  to  be  a  descendant 
of  Moses,  if  there  be  no  personal  worth ;  and  the 
incomparable  greatness  and  legal  purity  of  the 
ancestor,  give  no  guaranty  that  his  descendants 
shall  not  become  apostates.  The  fate  of  Moses,  in 
this  respect,  was  equally  that  of  AViraham  and 
Jacob,  from  whom  Dan  was  descended.  Many 
have  called  themselves  children  of  Christ,  who 
acted  as  Micah  did.  It  is,  no  doubt,  remarkable, 
that  while  Micah's  priest  was  a  descendant  of 
Moses,  he  himself  was  an  Ephraimite,  conse- 
quently of  the  same  tribe  with  Joshua.  The 
priest  is  called  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Gershom,  the 
son  of  Moses,  not  as  if  he  were  the  immediate  son 
of  Gershom,  but  as  being  descended  from  Closes 
through  Ger.shom.  The  significance  of  the  state- 
ment lies  in  the  contrast  between  descendant  and 
ancestor.  It  is  this  also  that  is  made  ])roniinent 
by  the  Talmndists,  when  in  connection  witii  the 
change  of  Moses  into  Manasseh,  they  associate  the 
latter  name  with  the  idolatrous  king  of  Judah. 
Since  Manasseh,  the  progenitor  of  the  tribe  of  the 

2  And  that  not  with  the  prefix  "New  "  with  which,  foi 
instance,  Carthago  Nova  tools  the  name  of  the  mother  city. 


238 


TIIE  BOOK  or  JUDGES. 


same  name,  was  not  a  Levite,  they  could  not  think 
of  him,  a-  but  for  this  we  might  sii]ipose.i 

Until  liie  day  of  the  exile  of  the  ark  (land). 

The  words  V^^V^  nib^  □i"'"'TS'  have  acquired 
extraordinary  importance  lor  the  criticism  of  the 
Book  of  Judges.  Had  the  jjassage  been  found 
less  peculiarly  adapted  to  prove  the  late  composi- 
tion of  our  Book,  bringing  it  down  to  a  time  after 
the  exile  under  Shalmaneser,  the  attention  of  critics 
would  doubtless  have  been  arrested  by  the  singu- 
larity of  the  expression  V^^"?  '"^"^ ''?  *^V>  "unto 
the  captivity  of  the  land."  For,  properly  speak- 
ing, there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  "  captivity  of  the 
land."  A  captivity  of  Jerusalem  (Jer.  i.  3),  of 
Judah  (Jer.xl.  1),  of  Samaria  (cf.  2  Kgs.  xvii.  28, 

"|i-inii?jp),  of  Jehoiachin  (2  Kgs.  xxv.  27),  of  Cush 
(Isa."  XX.  4),  is  indeed  spoken  of,  for  these  are  his- 
toiical  names,  representative  of  historical  nations 
that  were  carried  into  exile.  But  erets,  land,  is  not 
an  historical,  but  only  a  natitral  name.  A  "  cap- 
tivity of  Canaan"  would  be  intelligible,  but  not  a 
"captivity  of  the  land."  Moreover,  there  were  no 
other  "  captivities  "  than  those  of  Israel  and  Judah. 
Now,  since  only  the  former  could  be  intended,  and 
since  a  detinition  of  time  is  to  be  given,  we  should 
expect  to  tind  it  definitely  connected  either  with 

Samaria  or  Israel  (cf.  2  Kgs.  xvii.  23,  bS'^J??.''  b^.*T  ; 
cf.  2  Kgs.  XV.  29;  xviii.  11).  Nor  does  the  verb 
n73,  n^^n,  to  take  into  exile  or  captivity,  or  its 

cognate  nouns,  ever  occur  in  connection  with  ^TT!^ 
(land)  alone,  while  in  2  Kgs.  xxiv.  15  wc  find  the 
entirely  intelligible  expression :    '^I?'^^  HH   73*1 

VT?^'7'  "  ^®  carried  away  the  nobles  of  the  land." 
The  linguistic  improbability  of  the  assumption 

that  the  narrator  wrote  V~'^'7'  the  land,  is  rein- 
forced by  even  stronger  historical  considerations. 
In  the  first  place,  there  would  arise  an  irremov- 
able contradiction  between  vers.  30  and  31,  if  ac- 
cording to  the  one  the  cultus  of  the  image  at 
Dan  continued  until  the  exile  of  Israel,  while  ac- 
cording to  the  other  it  endured  only  to  —  say  the 
death  of  Eli.  For  Bertheau's  endeavor  to  show 
that  no  such  contradiction  arises,  cannot  stand 
examination.  The  descendants  of  Jonathan  are 
spoken  of,  not  as  having  been  priests  in  general, 

but  most  definitely  as  having  served  the  ''?  v' 
image,  of  the  tribe  of  Dan.  For  this  reason,  the 
setting  up  of  the  image  (^J2"^f7*"!_,)  and  the  ap- 
pointment to  its  priesthood,  are  first  spoken  of, 

1  [Kell  has  the  following  note  on  this  subject :  "  The 
Talmud  remarks,  Bab  a  bathra,  f.  109  b:  An  Gersom 
Jilius  Mf7iiissis  ftiit,  et  non  potiits  Moais  ?  siciil  scriptioii 
est :  Filii  Moxts  fuerunl  Gersom  et  Eliescr  (1  Cliron.  xxiii. 
14),  Sfil  propterea  quorl  fecit  n/iera  Blenassis  (the  idolatrous 
son  of  Hezekiah,  2  Kgs.  xxi.),  appendil  eiim  scriplura  familicE 
Manassis.  On  thi.s  Rah  ha  bar  Clianna  observe.^  : 
prophetam  (i.  e.,  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Judges)  studio 
noliiisse  Gersoniim  appellate  f  ilium  Mo  sis  quia  igno- 
miniosum  falssel  id  Mosi,  liabmsse  filium  irrjpium,  sed  vocat 

eiim  filium  Menassis,  litera  tamen  3  sursum  elevata, 

in  signum  earn  adesse  vel  abesse  posse,  et  sit  fiUus  nU?3^ 

Menassis  vel  TXQ^}2  Mosis ;  Menassis,  studio  et  imitatione 
impietatis,  Mosis,  prosnpia.  Cf.  Buxtorff,  Tiber,  p.  171. 
Later  Rabbins  say  tlie  same  thing.     R.  Tanchum  calls  the 

irriting   nti73Q   with   3  suspended,  a  □"'IDID  ^^j?^, 


in  ver.  30,  while  its  permanent  preservation  and 
maintenance  (^tt"^tt?''T  are  set  forth  in  ver.  31. 
This  was  already  seen  bj^  Jewish  expositors,  who 
were  not  influenced  by  what  Bertheau  calls  "  pet 
ideas  "  of  modern  times.  R.  Jesaia  says  :  The 
exile  of  Sanheril),  cannot  be  meant;  for  the  time 
during  which  the  House  of  God  was  at  Shiloh 
is  spoken  of.  It  must  al.-^o  be  considered  quite  im- 
probable that  this  separatistic  idolatrous  worship 
in  Dan  should  have  been  allowed  to  exist  unmo- 
lested during  the  time  of  Samuel,  David,  and 
Solomon.  The  story  of  Micah's  image  is  intro- 
duced with  the  words,  "  in  those  days  there  was  no 
king  in  Israel,"  in  order  to  explain  the  possibility 
of  such  an  occurrence.  Could  the  author  have 
written  thus,  if  the  history  of  the  kings,  from 
Jeroboam  to  Manasseh,  had  already  been  before 
him  'i  And  was  not  David  just  such  a  king  as  there 
was  not  in  the  time  of  Micah  ?  Head  the  history 
of  the  first  years  of  Soloinon,  the  eighth  chap- 
ter of  the  first  Book  of  Kings  among  others,  and 
consider  whether  it  seem  possible  to  receive  the 
existence  at  that  time  of  a  separate  idolatrous 
worship  in  Dan,  with  a  priestly  family  of  its  own. 
And,  certainly,  if  such  a  worship  had  still  ex- 
isted when  Jeroboam  cut  himself  loose  from  the 
house  of  David,  he  would  not  have  found  it  neces- 
sary to  institute  in  that  very  place  the  new  cultus 
of  the  calf.  Not  upon  him,  would  the  burden  of 
this  sin  have  rested  in  that  case  (cf.  1  Kgs.  xiv.  16). 
Nor,  if  in  his  time  there  had  been  a  family  of  Le- 
vitical  priests  in  Dan,  would  he  have  needed  to 
look  for  others,  "who  were  not  of  the  sons  of 
Levi"  (1  Kgs.  xii.  31). 

If  what  has  here  been  briefly  ^  stated  be  duly 
considered,  it  will  be  felt  to  be  necessary  to  substi- 
tute P"!^!;!,  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  for  VP^lJilJT, 
the  land.  This  departure  from  the  letter  of  Scrip- 
ture is  demanded  by  true  reverence  for  its  spirit. 
It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  even  the  positive 
expositoi-s  among  the  Jews  maintained  that  V^^*^ 
must  be  explained  as  l'i~'Sn,  although  naturally 
they  do  not  speak  of  another  reading.  Thus  Kim- 
chi :  p"lSn  nb:3^7  ni"^  sin.  Abarbanel  takes 
it  in  a  similar  manner.-^  It  was  probably  under 
the  influence  of  similar  considerations  that  Hou- 

bigant  conjecturally  read  P~'^?n,  to  which  Bleek 
[Einhitung,  p.  347)  and  Ewald  { Alter thilmer,  p. 
258,  2d  ed.)  are  likewise  strongly  inclined.  The 
conjecture  is  so  clear  and  easy,  that  the  refusal  to 
entertain  it  may  well  be  met  with  the  saying,  "the 
letter   killeth."      The   statement  intended   to  be 

and  speaks  of  ntZ7T2  "J2  as  Kethibk,  and  of  ntZ73D  ^3, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  Keri.  According  to  this,  ben  Moslieh 
is  certainly  the  original  reading,  albeit  the  reading  ben  Me- 
nashshek  is  also  very  old,  seeing  that  it  was  read  by  the 
Targum,  the  Peshito,  and  the  Septuagint,  although  in  a 
few  codices  of  the  latter  the  reading  vlov  M.uiv<rij  is  still 
found,  cf.  Kennic.  Dissert.  Gener,  in  V.  T.  §  21.  Jerome 
al.so  hanflii  Moysi."  —  Tr.] 

2  For  much  of  it  wivs  long  since  strongly  brought  for- 
ward (cf.  Keil  in  loco).  [Keil,  it  may  be  proper  to  remark, 
does  not  propose  to  change  the  reading,  but  quotes  approv- 
ingly Hengstenberg"s  explanation  of  it,  as  indicated  in  the 
following  words  :  "  The  historian  considers  the  whole  land 
as  carried  away  into  captivity  in  its  sanctuary,  which,  as  it 
were,  formed  its  kernel  and  essence  "  (Pent.  i.  191_  Ryland's 
edit.).  —  Tr] 

3  ^Tiwn  nbn  inn?  pm  bi?  in^s  bns, 

od.  Lips.  p.  67. 


CHAPTER  XVin.  14-31. 


289 


made  is,  that  the  priests  in  Dan  server!  at  the 
shrine  of  the  idol  until  the  exile  of  the  ark.  It  is 
precisely  the  Book  of  Samuel,  in  which  the  cap- 
ture of  the   ark  is   related,  that   uses   the   word 

''^/S  more  frequently  than  any  other  historical 
book.  The  wife  of  the  slain  priest  cries  out,  while 
she  gives  birth  to  a  child,  and  dies  :    Ti3!3  n73 

1  .  T  T  T 

''^"?^^  "  gone  is  glory  from  Israel  "^  (1  Sam.  iv. 
5l )  ;  and  hence,  the  son  whom  she  bore  was  called 
"  Ichabod  :  where  is  the  glory."  The  very  same 
word  is  here  used.  Now,  the  removal  of  the  ark, 
and  the  death  of  the  .sons  of  Eli,  were  matters  of 
vxtraordinary  importance,  not  for  the  people  only, 
but  more  especially  for  the  priests.  Their  pride 
and  sinfulness  had  been  previously  delineated  by 
the  narrative.  They  had  thought,  without  re- 
pentance, to  conquer  with  the  sacred  ark.  The 
humiliation  touched  them  with  peculiar  force.  Eli 
dies  from  dismay ;  his  sons  are  slain  by  the  enemy  ; 
the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  precious  jewel  of  the 
priestly  charge,  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  heathen. 
The  moral  degeneracy  of  the  priestly  family  is 
already  indicated  in  the  election  of  Samuel.  He, 
too,  was  an  Ephraimite,  but  one  of  a  different 
stamp  from  Micah.  Now,  however,  the  whole 
fabric  of  priestly  \wide  falls  into  ruins,  and  under 
the  leadership  of  Samuel,  the  era  of  repentance 
begins.  It  is  only  when  all  this  is  taken  into  con- 
sideration, that  the  parallelism  of  vers.  30  and  .31 
stands  out  in  unexpected  light.  Jonathan  and  his 
descendants,  suns  of  Levi  and  of  Moses,  continued 
to  officiate  as  priests  in  Dan,  until  the  ark  went 
into  exile.  After  this  great  national  calamity,  a 
reformation  ensued,  including  both  the  head  and 
the  members.  The  priests  were  terrified,  and  re- 
pented ;  their  vainglorious  assumjjtion  that  wher- 
ever they  were  there  the  worship  of  God  was  also, 
was  thoroughly  overthrown,  and  they  retired  from 
the  theati'e  of  their  evil  doing.  Eor  this  reason  it 
is  said  of  Jonathan  and  his  successors,  that  "  they 

were  priests  P'^^?n  m72"l^,  until  the  exile  of 
the  ark."  And  as  in  ver.  30  the  duration  of  their 
priestly  activity  corresponds  with  the  time  that  in- 
tervened until  the  fall  of  the  ark,  so  in  ver.  31,  the 

1  The  great  significance  of  the  exile  of  the  ark  of  the 
coTenaiit,  was  still  fully  felt  when  Ps.  Ixxviii.  was  written, 
compare  vers.  60  and  61 :  "  He  rejected  the  tabernacle  of 
Bhiloh,"  and  "lie  delivered  his  strength  (glorjjinto  captiv- 
i^."     The  whole  bearing  of  the  psalm  forbids  the  supposi- 


idolatrous  House  of  Micah  stands  in  contrast  with 
the  House  of  the  true  God  in  Shiloh.  The  .same 
point  of  time  is  indicated  in  both  verses.  For  with 
the  removal  of  the  ark,  the  significance  of  Shiloh 
ceased.  Where  the  ark  was,  there  God  could  bt 
inquired  of.^  With  the  fall  of  the  ark,  the  priests 
in  Dan  ceased  ;  when  the  true  sanctuary  in  Shiloh 
was  broken  up,  the  spurious  sanctuary  of  Micah 
also  was  no  longer  esteemed.  The  lesson  con- 
veyed is,  that  if  the  true  spirit  of  devotion  to  Jeho- 
vah had  been  preserved  in  connection  with  Shiloh 
and  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  such  things  as  were 
done  by  Micah  and  in  Dan  would  have  been  mor- 
ally impossible.  The  priesthood  must  suffer  and 
repent,  before  idolatry  could  be  removed.  It  is 
true,  that  while  the  House  of  Micah  was  formerly 
spoken  of  as  a  Beth  Elohiin,  a  term  applicable  to 
every  heathen  temple  as  well,  the  House  at  Shiloh 
is  here  called  Beth  ha-Elohim,  House  of  the  true 
and  real  God  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  very  signifi- 
cant that  it  is  not  called  Beth  Jehuvah.  During 
Shiloh's  existence,  the  glory  of  the  Levites  had 
become  greatly  tarnished.  The  descendants  of 
Aaron — as  witness  the  sons  of  Eli  —  had  dese- 
crated their  office;  the  descendants  of  Moses  served 
the  idol  in  Dan.  But  when  with  the  fall  of  the 
ark  the  time  of  repentance  had  come  for  the  priests 
of  Aaron's  tribe,  the  sin  of  the  children  of  Moses 
also  came  to  an  end.  Repentance  leads  the  chil- 
dren back  to  their  fathers. 

In  this  way,  the  necessity  of  finding  in  our  text 
a  i-eference  to  the  removal  of  the  aik demonstrates 
itself  both  externally  and  internally.  The  fact 
that  this  exposition  is  not  found  indicated  in  the 
Masora,  is  to  be  explained  from  the  fidelity  with 
which  every  letter  was  preserved,  but  especially 
from  the  circumstance  that  during  the  exile  of 
the  people,  the  minds  of  the  writers  and  readers  of 
the  ancient  manuscripts  were  naturally  full  of  that 
sad  event,  while  the  historical  fiict  of  the  exile  of 
the  ark  of  the  covenant  belonged  to  the  hoary  past. 
In  exile,  Israel  read  and  found  this  fate  on  every 
page.  To  their  thoughts,  "  the  land,"  which  they 
had  left,  was  ever  present.  The  banished  reads 
*'  home,"  in  every  thing. 


tion   of  a  sanctuary  in  Shiloh  until  the  Assyrian   period 
(Delitzsch,  on  Ps.  Ixxviii.  60  ff.  )• 

i  This  is  also  clearly  proved  by  ch.  xx.  27:  "And  th« 
sons  of  I.srael  inquired  of  JehoTah  ;  for  the  ark  of  the  cov§ 
nani  of  God  was  there  in  those  days  " 


240  THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


SECOND  SECTION. 


rilE  STORY  OF  THE    INFAMOUS  DEED  PERPETRATED  AT  GIBEAH,  AND    ITS    TERRIBLE  CONSEQUENCES; 

ANOTHER    ILLUSTRATION    OF    THE    EVILS    THAT    RESULT    WHEN    "EVERY   MAN    DOES 

WHAT    IS    GOOD    IN    HIS    OWN    EYES." 


A  Levite,  whose  concubine  has  left  him,  goes  to  her  father's  house,  and  persuades  her 
to  return.    On  their  journey  home,  they  enter  Gibeah  to  pass  the  night  there, 
but  are  inhospitably  left  in  the  market-place,  until  an  ^phraimite  resi- 
dent of  the  city  takes  them  home. 

Chapter  XIX.  1-21. 

1  And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  when  there  was  no  king  in  Israel,  that  there 
was  a  certain  Levite  sojourning  on  the  side  [in  the  hinder  parts]  of  mount  Ephraim, 

2  who  took  to  him  a  concubine  out  of  Beth-lehem-judah.  And  his  concubine  played 
the  whore  against  him,-*^  and  went  away  from  him  unto  her  father's  house  to  Beth- 
lehem judah,   and  was    there    [some   time  (namely),]   four  whole  [omit :  whole] 

3  months.  And  her  husband  arose,  and  went  after  her,  to  speak  friendly  unto  her, 
and  to  bring  her  again,^  having  his  servant  with  him,  and  a  couple  of  asses :  and 
she  brought  him  into  her  father's  house  :  and  when  the  father  of  the  damsel  sa\r 

4  him,  he  rejoiced  to- meet  him.  And  his  father-in-law,  the  damsel's  father,  retained 
him  ;  and  he  abode  with  him  three  days  ;  so  they  did  eat  and  drink,  and  lodged 

5  there.     And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  fourth  day,  when  [that]  they  arose  early  in  the ' 
morning,  that  [and]  he  rose  up  to  depart :  and  the  damsel's  father  said  unto  his  son- 
in-law.  Comfort  [Strengthen]  thine  heart  with  a  morsel  of  bread,  and  afterward  go 

6  your  way.  And  they  sat  down,  and  did  eat  and  drink  both  of  them  together :  for 
[and]  the  damsel's  father  had  [omit :  had]  said  unto  the  man.  Be  content,  I  pray 

7  thee,  and  tarry  all  [pass  the]  night,  and  let  thine  heart  be  merry.  And  when  the 
man  rose  up  to  depart,  his  father-in-law  urged  him :  therefore  he  [turned  and] 

8  lodged  there  again.  And  he  arose  early  in  the  morning  on  the  fifth  day  to  depart : 
and  the  damsel's  father  said.  Comfort  [Strengthen]  thine  heart,  I  pray  thee.  And 
they  tarried  ^  until  afternoon  [until  the  day  declined],  and  they  did  eat  both  of 

9  them.  And  when  the  man  rose  up  to  depart,  he,  and  his  concubine,  and  his  ser- 
vant, his  father-in-law,  the  damsel's  father,  said  unto  him.  Behold  now,  the  day 
draweth  toward  evening,  I  pray  you  tarry  all  [pass  the]  night :  [and  again :]  behold, 
the  day  groweth  to  an  end  [declines],  lodge  here,  that  [and  let]  thine  heart  may 
[omit :  may]  be  merry ;  and  to-morrow  [you  shall]  get  you  early  on  your  way, 

10  that  thou  mayest  go  home  [and  thou  shalt  go  to  thy  tent].  But  the  man  would  not 
tarry  that  night,  but  he  rose  up  and  departed,  and  came  over  against  Jebus,  which 
is  Jerusalem :  and  there  were  with  him  two  asses  saddled,  his  concubine  also  was 

1 1  with  him.  And  when  they  were  by  Jebus,  the  day  was  for  spent ;  and  the  servant 
said  unto  his  master.  Come,  I  pray  thee,  and  let  us  turn  in  into  this  city  of  the 

12  Jebusites,  and  lodge  in  it.  And  his  master  said  unto  him,  We  will  not  turn  aside 
hither  ■*  into  the  city  of  a  stranger,  that  is  not  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel ; 

13  we  will  pass  over  to  [as  far  as]  Gibeah.  And  he  said  unto  his  servant,  Come,^ 
[forward:]  and  let  us  draw  near  to  one  of  these  [the  sc.  neighboring]  places  [,]  to  lodge 

14  all  [and  pass  the]  night,  [omit:  ,]  in  Gibeah,  or  in  Ramah.  And  they  passed  on 
and  went  their  way  ;  and  the  sun  went  down  upon  them  tvhe7i  they  loere  by  Gibeah, 

15  which  belongeth  to  Benjamin.  And  they  turned  aside  thither,  to  go  in  and  to  lodge 
in  Gibeah:  and  when  he  went  in,  he  sat  him  down  in  a  street  [the  open  space]  of 

16  the  city  :  for  [and]  there  was  no  man  that  took  them  into  his  house  to  lodging.  And 
behold,  there  came  an  old  man  from  his  work  out  of  the  held  at  even,  which  was 
also  [and  the  man  was]  of  mount  Ephraim  ;  and  he  sojourned  in  Gibeah  ;  but  the 


CHAPTER  XIX.  1-21.  241 


17  men  of  the  place  were  Benjamites^  And  when  [omit :  when]  he  had  [omit:  had] 
lifted  up  his  eyes,  he  [and]  saw  a  [the]  wayfaring  man  in  the  street  [open  space] 
of  the  city  :  and  the  old  man  said,  Whither  goest  thou  ?  and  whence  comest  thou  ? 

18  And  he  said  unto  him,  We  are  passing  from  Beth-lehem-judah  toward  the  [hinder] 
side  of  mount  Ephraim  ;  from  thence  am  I :  and  I  went  to  Beth-lehem-judah,  but 
I  am  noiv  going  to  the  house  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  ;  ®  and  there  is  no  man  that 

19  receiveth  me  to  house.  Yet  there  is  [we  have]  both  straw  and  provender  for  our 
asses  ;  and  there  is  [we  have]  bread  and  wine  also  for  me,  and  for  thy  handmaid, 
and  for  the  young  man  which  is  with  thy  servants  :  there  is  no  want  of  any  thing. 

20  And  the  old  man  said.  Peace  he  with  thee  ;  howsoever  [only],  let  all  thy  wants  lie 

21  upon  me  ;  only  lodge  not  in  the  street  [open  space].  So  he  brought  him  into  his 
house,  and  gave  j^rovender  unto  the  asses  :  and  they  washed  their  feet,  and  did  eat 
and  drink. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Tcr.  2.  —  V  v2?  nSyjjII.  Dr.  Cassel  renders  :  Vnd  es  gelilslete  seinem  Nebemveib  itber  ilin  hinau$ ;  which  may 
possibly  be  good  interpretation,  but  cannot  be  admitted  as  translation.  The  Sept.  and  Vulg.  do  not  render  the  phrase  at 
all,  while  the  Chaldee  softens  it  down  to  "she  despised  him."  Uenoe,it  has  been  thought  that  the  present  reading  of  the 
Hebrew  text  is  wrong ;  but  the  fact  that  the  Peshito  has  it,  and  that  the  other  ancient  versions  do  not  agree  in  their  read- 
ing, shows  that  the  diversity  arose  from  a  sense  of  incongruity  between  what  was  affirmed  of  the  woman  and  the  efforts 

of  the  Levite  to  recofer  her.      V^17  is  "against  him."  —  Ta.l 

T  T 

2  Ver.  3.  —  The  keri  J^S'^CrrT^  is  evidently  the  more  appropriate  reading,  a^  Studer  and  Bertheau  have  con- 
ceded. [In  the  kethibh,  in^tt'n^,  tti^  suffix  refers  to  the  preceding  27  ;  "to  cause  her  heart  to  return."  i.  e.,  to 
turn  again  to  her  husband.     Compare  Keil,  who  deems  the  keri  a  "  needless  correction."  —  Tr.J 

3  Ver.  8.  —  'inCn^rin.  OWer  Jewish  expositors,  as  Abarbanel  and  Meir  Obernick,  very  properly  take  this, 
not  as  imperative,  but  as  3d  per.  perf.  It  is  against  the  sense  to  make  the  father  say  :  "  Delay  till  it  become  evening." 
Ver.  9  also  is  against  this.     On  the  word,  see  ch.  iii.  26.     Beza  has  correctly  :  cuvctati  sunt. 

[4  Ver.  12. —  The  "  hither  "  of  the  E.  V.  seems  to  be  intended  as  a  rendering  of  n3n.  which,  however,  belongs  to  the 

next  clause.     HSH  must  be  taken  with  Htt'St,  in  the  sense  Cti7    •   •    •    ■   "Itt'SI,    "where."      "It  is  true"  (says 

Bertheau),  "  that  H^rT  does  not  elsewhere  occur  in  this  construction  with  "1C-"'S,  but  this  is  the  only  suitable  way  of 
taking  it  here,  for  it  cannot  be  the  plur.  fem.  pronoun,  and  must  therefore  mean  '  there.'  '  The  proper  rendering  of  the 
verse,  then,  would  be  :  "  We  will  not  turn  aside  into  the  city  of  the  stranger,  where  there  are  none  of  the  sons  of  Isra<!l.'' 
The  E.  V.  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  "  that  "  refers  to  "  city  "  or  to  "stranger."     Dr.  Cassel  refers  it  to  the  latter,  and 

ignores  the  17371  altogether.  —  Te.] 

[5  Ver.  13.  —  tJ  7  is  for  H^  V,  the  Imperative  of  "^  j-Tl,  with  He  paragogic. 1)3  7  is  the  1st  per.  plur.  perfect,  con 

tracted  from  •133^'.  —  Tr.] 

[6  Ver.  18.  —  "ry^n    ''JS   rTifT)  n"^2"nSX     The  meaning  of  this  clause  is  obscure.     The  Sept.  renders  as  if  it 

read  \n"'2  instead  of  JT^n^   iT'S  :    1  am  going  to  my  house.     The  Targum,  Peshito,  Vulgate,  and  among  moderns, 

Bertheau,  De  fl'ette,  Bunsen  (the  two  latter  in  their  versions),  take   n'ln"'  jH^S'/lS  as  the  accusative,  and  render  as 

the  E.  V.  Others,  as  Studer,  Keil,  and  our  author,  take  jHS  as  a  preposition,  in  the  sense  "  with,"  " at,"  or  "  by  :  "  "I 
■walk  by  (or,  in)  the  House  of  .Jehovah,"  i.  c,  I  perform  priestly  service  in  connection  with  the  sanctuary.  This  gives  a 
good  .sense  (cf.  the  commentary  below),  but  the  mode  of  expressing  it  seems  singular.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no 
compulsory  evidence  in  fivor  of  this  and  against  the  other  rendering.  The  sanctuary  being  at  Sliiloh,  there  is  (so  far  as 
the  site  of  this  place  is  known)  no  conflict  betsvcen  the  Levit«"s  first  statement  that  be  is  going  to  the  "  hinder  parts  '"  (a 
necessarily  indefinite  expression)  of  the  mountains  of  Ephraim,  and  his  subsequent  supplementary  statement  that  he  is 

going  to  the  "House  of  Jehovah."  Keil's  objection  that  j^S  Typn  does  not  mean  to  go  to  a  place,  but  to  pass 
through  it  (cf  Dent.  i.  19  ;  Isa.  1.  10.  etc.),  cannot  be  considered  decisive.  Since  the  "  through  "  does  not  lie  in  the 
i"*lS,  it  proves  only  that  the  accusative  may  indicate  either  the  place  to  which,  or  that  through  which,  one  goes.  It  L] 
true,  that  the  place  to  which  one  goes,  is  usually  put  in  the  accusative  without  n^4,  either  with  or  without  77  local  ; 

out  as  nS  was  constantly  used  with  the  definite  accusative,  and  had  withal  so  entirely  lost  all  meaning  of  its  own,  it 
is  certainly  quite  conceivable  that  it  might  almost  unconsciously  slip  from  the  pen  in  a  place  where  ordinarily  common 
usage  did  not  employ  it.  And  since,  as  already  remarked,  the  idea  of  "  through  "  does  not  lie  in  jlS,  it  may  well  be 
asked  whether  the  instances  referred  to  by  Keil  are  not  exceptions  to  common  usage  quite  as  much  as  the  present  phrase. 
Upon  the  whole,  we  are  inclined  to  adopt  the  rendering  of  the  E.  V.  —  Tr.] 

EXE6ETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL.  I  ready   remarked,    no    special    connection,    either 

chronolofjical  or  local,  with  the  history  related  hi 
Ver.  1.  "When  there  was  no  king  in  Israel.  |  chaps,  xvii.  andxviii. ;  but  it  none  the  less  affords, 
The  following  narrative  has,  indeed,  as  was  al-  in  conjunction  with  that  history,  occasion  for  a 
16 


242 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


Bevies  of  obsei'vations  which  testify,  in  a  highly  in- 
structive manner,  of  the  organic  idea  which  per- 
vades the  whole  I3ook.  We  shall  attempt  to  indi- 
cate them  at  the  close  of  the  narrative.  "There 
was  no  kinj^  in  Israel :  "  this  alone  it  was  that 
made  the  occurrences  of  both  chaps,  xvii.  and 
xviii.,  and  chaps,  xix.-xxi.  possible.  In  the  pres- 
ent history  also,  a  Levite  is  involved.  The  decay 
of  the  priesthood  is  here  also  indicated.  From 
the  connection  it  is  sufficiently  clear  that  the  con- 
duct of  the  Levite  who,  living  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  mountains  of  Ephraim,  procures  him- 
self a  concubine  out  of  Bethlehem  —  probabl}'  for 
no  other  reason  than  that,  as  Josephus  rightly 
conjectures,  he  was  smitten  with  her  beauty,  —  is 
not  approved.  From  the  fact  that  the  residence  of 
the  Levite  is  here  spoken  of  as  being  in  the  "  hinder 
parts"  of  the  mountains,  by  wliich  the  northern 
parts  are  to  be  understood,  no  reliable  inference 
can  be  drawn  as  to  the  locality  of  the  writer ;  for 
the  Levite  himself  uses  the  same  expression  (ver. 

IS").     Since   the  Levite  took  a  concubine  (HW^S 

^3  „'^)i  it  must  be  assumed  that  he  already  had  a 
wife.  Else  why  did  he  not  make  this  woman  his 
wife  1  For  other  grounds,  such  as  have  been  con- 
jectured, find  no  support  in  the  narrative.  Pre- 
cisely here  lies  the  blot  upon  the  character  of  the 
priest,  which  the  narrative  hints  at.     The  word 

^'^V??  is  both  etymologically  and  in  sense  identi- 
cal with  the  Greek  and  Roman  irdwa^,  pellex, 
iraWaKts ;  but  Benfey's  derivation  cannot  be  re- 
ceived.    The  sense  "  concubine,"  which  the  word 

has,  may  perhaps  be  explained  from  3  _  ".  Among 
the  ancient  Greeks  also  the  taking  of  a  concubine 
was  not  considered  exactly  blameworthy,  but  La- 
ertes refrained  from  touching  Eurycleia  for  "  fear 
of  the  anger  of  his  wife"  {Odijs.  i.  434).  The 
sequel  shows  that  the  Levite  had  done  better  if  he 
had  not  taken  a  concubine.  A  concubine  also  was 
the  ruin  of  Gideon's  family  (ch.  viii.  31). 

Ver.  2.  And  the  concubine  lusted  after  others 
beside  himself.  The  concubine  was  unchastely 
disposed.  This  is  only  a  stronger  expression  for 
what  the  moderns  mean  when  with  palliative  ex- 
tenuation they  say :  "  She  did  not  love  her  hus- 
band." Her  sensuality  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
Levite.  In  this  way  the  narrator  explains  the 
ground  of  her  leaving  him.     The  correctness  of 

nStrn])  T,Yns  frequently  doubted  in  former  days, 
but  only  because  the  connection  of  the  entire  nar- 
rative was  misapprehended.  H^T  is  to  play  the 
harlot,  not  only  in  act,  but  also  in  disposition  and 
spLi'it   (cf   fj.oixeii€iv    eV  TTJ  KapSia,   Matt.  v.  28)  : 

hence  used  also  of  idolatry.  In  the  added  1^  <■?' 
"  over  him,"  ^  it  is  delicately  indicated  that  she 
did  not  so  act  as  to  be  put  away  by  him,  but  that 
she  was  of  such  a  disposition  as  to  be  unwilling  to 
live  with  him.  That  she  left  him  without  his  con- 
sent can  have  had  its  ground  only  in  her  concupis- 
cence, which  the  narrator  intentionally  designates 

by  the  term  H^J,  jn  order  to  blame  the  Levite  for 
yet  running  after  such  a  woman.'^  For  it  is  writ- 
ten, Lev.  xxi.  7  :  "  A  HST,  harlot,  and  one  pol- 

1  [Tbe  German  is  :  iiber  ikn.  The  sentence  seems  to 
mean  tbat  if  the  woman  had  actually  committed  adultery, 

the  fa<;t  would  have  been  expressed  by  n_3T^  alone,  but 
that  since  her  sin  existed  only  in  disposition,  the    V    2?. 


luted,  they  shall  not  take  to  Avife."  Although  this 
passage  speaks  only  of  the  sons  of  Aaron,  it  ap- 
plies nevertheless  to  all  who,  as  the  Levite  says  of 
himself,  "walk  in  the  house  of  .Jehovah"  (ver. 
18). 

And  she  was  there  some  time  (about)  four 
months.  She  had  perhaps  gone  away  under  pre- 
text of  visiting  her  parents,  and  did  not  come 

back.  The  Q^^^  befoi-e  the  more  definite  state- 
ment of  time,  expresses  the  Latin  circiter.  As  she 
had  already  remained  away  some  four  months,  it 
looked  as  if  she  would  not  return  to  her  husband's 
house  at  all;  wherefore  the  Levite  set  out  to  per- 
suade her  to  come  back.  He  should  not  have  dona 
this,  since  she  was  such  as  that  it  was  said  of  her : 

•^P.T^]-  Her  father,  for  his  part,  ought  to  have 
sent  her  back;  for  the  Levite  had  undoubtedly  not 
failed  to  pay  him  a  morning-gift  (cf  Ex.  xxii.  15), 
the  remembrance  of  which,  and  the  fear  that  if  his 
daughter  did  not  go  back  with  her  husband  he 
might  be  called  upon  to  return  it,  had  probably  no 
little  influence  in  producing  the  friendliness  with 
which  he  received  him.  Such  was  also  the  ancient 
Homeric  custom,  as  illustrated  in  the  instance  of 
Hephaistos,  who  having  proved  the  infidelity  of  his 
spouse,  demands  back  the  gifts  with  which  he  had 
presented  her  father  (Odt/s.  viii.  318). 

Ver.  3.  And  her  husband  arose  and  went 
after  her.  The  Levite,  however,  desires  only  the 
woman,  not  any  money.  Hence  it  is  said  that  he 
went  after  her  in  order  to  speak  "  to  her  heart." 
And  he  shows  it  by  bringing  two  asses  with  him, — 
one  of  them  for  her  use.  It  never  occurs  to  him 
to  think  that  her  father  may  perhaps  provide  her 
with  one.  Only  after  the  daughter  has  again 
become  friendly  to  him,  does  he  allow  her  to  lead 
him  to  her  father.  The  uncommon  hospitality 
which  the  latter  extends  to  the  Levite,  has,  it 
must  be  allowed,  a  peculiar  by-taste  to  it.  No 
doubt,  it  is  apologetic  in  its  design,  and  expressive 
of  a  wish  for  reconciliation.  This  is  clearly  enough 
expressed  in  the  acts  of  eating  and  drinking  to- 
gether. But  the  urgency  with  ^vhich  after  three 
days  he  presses  the  Levite  to  remain,  although  the 
latter  is  desirous  of  returning  home,  is  not  sanc- 
tioned by  the  delicate  laws  of  ancient  hospitality. 
The  incident  illustrates  the  beauty  of  the  words 
which  Menelaus  addresses  to  Telemachus  who 
desires  to  go  home  (Och/s.  xv.  69)  :  "I  will  not 
detain  thee  here  ;  for  I  also  am  angry  with  a  ho.=* 
who  through  troublesome  friendship  offers  trouble- 
some enmity,  for  order  is  best  in  everything. 
Equally  bad  are  both  he  who  hastens  the  guest 
who  would  stay,  and  he  who  detains  him  who 
would  go"  (cf  Nagelsbach,  Horn.  Theol.  p.  2.56). 
The  injuriousness  of  exaggerated  hospitality  is 
here  also  put  in  insti'uctive  contrast  with  the  utter 
absence  of  it,  which  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Levito 
soon  to  experience. 

Vers.  4-9.  And  his  father-in-law  detained 
him.  The  carnal  nature  of  the  Levite  manifests 
itself  here  also.  Soon  after  the  reconciliation,  he 
wished  to  depart  again  ;  but  he  yields,  and  spends 
three  days,in  eating  and  drinking.  On  the  fourth 
morning,  he  will  go  ;  but  his  host  urges  him  first 
to  take  a  "  morsel  of  bread."  He  might  neverthe- 
less have  set  out  on  his  journey  ;  but  "  they  ate 

was  added  to  indicate  this.  But  hnw  our  author  conceives 
this  to  be  indicated  by  the  preposition  and  suffix,  does  not 
appear.  —  Tr.] 

2  Other  views,  as  advanced  by  Starke  and  others,  accord- 
ing to  which  this  journey  of  the  Levite  redounds  to  hi» 
praise,  do  not  appear  to  have  any  support  in  the  text. 


CHAPTER  XIX.   1-21. 


243 


and  drank,"  and  it  became  evening.  He  proposed 
indeed  to  go,  but  turned  about  and  remained.  On 
the  fiftli  morning,  everything  is  ready  for  a  start. 
But  refreshments  are  first  fallen  at  the  request  of 
the  host:  tiiey  "  both  ate,"  and  thus  spent  the  day 
jintil  the  evening  approached.  No  right-minded 
Levite  manifests  Jiimself  here.  We  hear  of  noth- 
ing but  eating  and  drinking.  It  reflects  no  honor 
on  a  man  who  "  walks  in  the  house  of  God,"  that 
he  runs  after  a  concubine,  and  cannot  resist  a 
good  table. 

When,  however,  at  last  he  sets  out,  late  in  the 
afternoon,  his  conscience  appears  to  urge  him  for- 
ward, and  to  make  him  ashamed  of  having  re- 
mained so  long.  Perhaps  he  has  no  time  to  spare, 
if  with  his  servant  and  animals,  he  is  to  rest  at 
home  on  the  Sabbath.  For  if  we  may  suppose 
that  the  reconciliation  took  place  on  the  Sabbath, 
the  first  three  days  of  feasting  would  fall  on  our 
Sunday,  Monday,  and  Tuesday :  the  "  fourth 
day "  of  ver.  5  would  be  Wednesday,  and  the 
"  fifth  day  "  our  Thursday  ;  and  he  might  think 
it  possible  to  reach  hcnne  before  the  next  evening. 
But  in  that  case  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  His  ex- 
perience is  that  of  all  weak  and  vacillating  people  : 
first,  unnecessary  delay,  and  then  overstrained 
hurry. 

The  delineation  of  these  scenes,  which  repeat 
themselves  so  frequently  in  life,  is  notwithstanding 
its  brevity,  full  of  vivacity  and  beauty.   The  guesis 

continually  rise  at  early  daybreak  ("li/23) !  but 
the  evening  still  finds  them  in  the  same  place. 
The  host  is  unwearied  in  encouragements  "  to  re- 
fresh the  heart"    (^T^ib  I27p,  ?i:?:nb  nw";'));^ 

but  the  "refreshing"  continues  until  "the  day 
declines."  Verses  8  and  9  especially  give  a  striking 
picture  of  irresolution  and  dilatoriness.  They  per- 
mit us  to  follow  the  various  stages  of  the  day  that 
were  thus  dissipated.  With  breakfast  they  lin- 
gered along  (^nnrTKOn)  until  D^fT  n'lt^^, 
say  after  noon.  While  they  prepare  themselves 
anew  to  take  their  departure,  time  passes,  and  the 
host  begs  them  to  remain,  "  for  the  day  draweth 
toward  evening ;  "  and  after  a  little  more  lingering 

—  for  this  idea  must  be  interposed  before  •'"Tl^n 

D1*i7 — he  is  able  to  urge,  "spend  the  night,  for 
the  day  declines." 

It  is  unmistakably  clear  that  the  father-in-law 
meant  it  well  with  the  Levite,  when,  according  to 
general  popular  usage,  he  overwhelmed  him  with 
food  and  drink  and  pressing  invitations  ;  but  it  is 
incumbent  on  Levites  especially,  not  to  be  too 
much  ■  taken  up  with  such  matters.  It  is  better 
that  they  make  it  evident,  that  in  case  of  necessity 
they  are  quite  content  with  a  path  lechem,  a  morsel 
of  bread. 

Vers.  1 0  fF.  But  the  man  would  not  tarry  that 

1  "1173.       In   this   unusual   fbrm    an    imperative    of 

T    ; 
sourreous  respect,  is  probably  indicated. 

2  It  does  not  by  any  means  follow  from  this,  however, 
that  the,  city  at  that  time  did  not  yet  bear  the  name  Jerusa- 
lem. The  place  tvas  still  a  Jebu.site  city  ;  and  that  fact  is 
here  made  prominent  in  order  to  explain  why  the  Levite 
would  not  turn  in  thither. 

3  [This  identification  of  Gibeah  with  Jeba  does  not  appear 
to  be  tenable  ;  for  it  makes  it  incomprehensible  how  the 
Levite  could  come  to  Gibeah  before  he  came  to  Ramah,  as 
the  narrative  manifestly  implies  that  he  did.  Keil  also  most 
strangely  speaks  here  of  Gibeah  as  being  Jeba,  although  on 
losh.  xviii.  28,  he  identifies  it  with  Tnleil  el  Ful,  a  high  hill 


night.  At  last  —  but  now  unseasonably,  for  the 
night  is  at  hand — he  is  firm  in  his  resolution  to 
depart.  The  sun  is  already  rapidly  declining, 
when  he  comes  past  Jerusalem,  at  that  time  still 
called  Jebus,-  for  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  had  not 
yet  conquered  it  (ch.  i.  21).  He  will  not  turn  in 
thither,  although  advised  to  do  so  by  his  servant, 
because  he  has  "  two  saddled  asses  and  his  concu- 
bine with  him," — the  repetition  of  which  state- 
ment is  thus  explained,  —  and  the  city  belongs  not 
to  Israel.  In  other  words,  he  fears  lest  in  Jebus 
the  rights  of  hospitality  might  be  violated,  and 
himself  be  plundered.  He  hastens  forward,  there- 
fore, in  order  to  reach  one  of  the  Israelitish  cities 
farther  on,  Gibeah,  perhaps,  or  Ramah.  He  suc- 
ceeds only  in  reaching  the  former.  Darkness  had 
set  in  :  it  was  unavoidably  necessary  to  stay  there 
over  night.  It  will  soon  be  seen  that  it  would 
have  been  better  if  he  had  not  suffered  himself  to 
be  detained  in  the  morning,  and  that  he  could  not 
have  done  worse  if  he  had  turned  into  the  heathen 
city. 

Vers.  1.5-21.  And  no  man  took  them  to  his 
house.  Gibeah  (the  present  Jeba,  Geba),'^  lies  an 
hour  from  Ramah  (at  present  er-RSm),  about  two 
and  a  half  hours  from  Jerusalem,*  and  towards 
four  hours  from  Bethlehem.  It  belonged  to  Benja- 
min.    Strangers  disposed  themselves  on  the  open 

space  or  square  of  the  city  (^H"?)  platea),  whence 
according  to  ancient  usage  the  residents  took 
them  to  their  own  homes.  ,^lian  relates  (  Var. 
Hist.  iv.  1),  that  the  Lucanians  went  so  far  as  to 
make  the  man  who  did  not  show  hospitality  to  the 
stranger  entering  the  city  at  sunset,  liable  to  legal 
punishment.  But  here  in  Israel,  where  love  to- 
ward the  stranger  was  enjoined  by  the  law  (Deut. 
X.  19),  and  where  Job  exclaims:  "The  stranger 
did  not  lodge  in  the  street"  (ch.  xxxi.  .32),  no 
one  invited  the  traveller  to  the  shelter  of  his  roof. 

This  inhospitable  disposition  was  characteristic 
only  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  ;,  for  a  man  of 
Ephraim,  who  resided  in  Gibeah,  did  not  share  it. 
When  he,  an  old  man,  came  from  the  field,  and 
saw  that  a  stranger  had  already  made  prepara- 
tions to  pass  the  night  in  the  open  air,  he  went  to 
him  with  hospitable  intent.  That  he  first  asks. 
Whence  art  thou "?  and  whither  goest  thou  ?  is 
only  the  result  of  his  astonishment  that  anybody 
should  purpose  to  pass  the  night  in  Gibeah  out  of 
doors.  For  the  city  had  probably  a  bad  name  in 
the  neighboring  region,  so  that,  when  possible,  it 
was  shunned  by  travellers.  Hence  the  question. 
Whence  comest  thou,  that  thou  hast  turned  in 
here  for  the  night "? 

My  walk  in  life  is  at  the  house  of  Jehovah. 
The  narrator  has  hitherto  spoken  of  the  Levite 
only  as  "the  man,"  The  character  of  a  Levite 
did  not  show  itself  in  him.  But  now,  in  his  an- 
swer to  the  aged  Ephraimite,  the  Levite  himself 
makes  mention  of  his  order.     I  come,  he  says, 

about  midway  between  Jern.salem  and  er-Ram.  This  place, 
fixed  upon  by  Robinson  (6  R.  i.  577),  and  after  bim  by 
Ritter  (cf.  Gage's  transl.  iv.  219),  and  many  others,  is  un- 
doubtedly the  site  of  the  ancient  Gibe.ah  (cf  Smith's  Eib. 
Did.  s.  V.  "  Gibeah  '").  The  distance  of  Gibeah  from  Jeru- 
salem given  by  Josephus  (compare  the  next  note)  agrees 
■with  this  ;  for  the  distance  of  Tuleil  el  Ful  from  Jerusalem 
is  about  two-thirds  that  of  15i;thlehem  (while  Jeba  is  much 
farther,  cf.  Dr.  Cassel's  "  two  hours  and  a  half").  Jeba  is 
the  Geba  of  Scripture  (Rob.  i.  440  ;  Bib.  Bid.  s.  v 
"Geba").  —  Tr.] 

4  Josephus  has  stated  the  distance  at  twenty  stadia, 
while  from  Bethlehem  to  Jerusalem  he  reckons  thirty  sta- 
dia. 


244 


THE  BOOK  or  JUDGES. 


from  Bethlehem,  but  reside  behind  the  mountains. 
The  purpose  for  which  he  went  to  Bethlehem,  he 
does  not  conmiunicate ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  does  take  occasion  to  state  that  he  is  a  Lcvite 
(.Josephus).  He  expresses  this  paraphrastically, 
by  sayin<;' that  "  he  walks  in  the  house  of  God," 
namely,  as  a  servant  of  God.  He  chooses  this  filrm 
of  expression  in  order  to  invite  hospitality,  and  to 
place  the  refusal  of  it  in  its  worst  light.  A  man 
who  is  at  home  in  the  House  of  God,  no  one  here 
receives  into  his  house.  But  one  degeneracy  fol- 
lows in  the  wake  of  another.  When  Levites  are 
so  weak  as  he  has  shown  himself,  the  virtues  of 
6thers  cannot  continue  strong.  The  dignity  of 
which  it  now  occurs  to  him  to  speak,  he  himself 
should  have  respected  heretofore.  The  explana- 
tion of  iVri  ^Di^  nin";  n^a-ni^i,  as  if  it 

meant,  "  and  I  am  going  to  the  house  of  Jeho- 

1  This  also  removes  the  supposition  that  the  Levite  was 
from  Shiloh.  This  is  not  to  be  assumed,  since  it  is  not  stated. 
The  above  words  give  no  more  information  concerning  the 


vah,"  is  not  only  philologically  difficult,  but  on  ac- 
count of  the  sense,  impossible.^  Whither  he  goeS; 
he  has  already  said,  namely,  to  the  rear  part  of 
the  mountains  ;  he  wishes  now  to  say  who  he  is  ; 
that  he  enjoys  the  dignity  of  walking  "with  (i.  e., 
in)  the  house  of  Jeh(jvali,"  as  its  servant.  He  is 
very  anxious  to  obtain  shelter,  for  the  prospect  of 
spending  the  night  in  an  inhospitable  city  without 
a  roof  over  him,  could  not  but  till  him  with  appre- 
hensions. The  same  cause  prevented  him  from 
continuing  his  journey.  Hence  the  humble  re- 
quest to  the  aged  householder  to  take  him  in.  He 
has  everything  necessary  with  him,  —  his  enter- 
tainer shall  be  at  no  expense.  He  speaks  of  him- 
self as  his  "  servant,"  and  of  the  woman  as  "  thy 
handmaid."  The  old  man  gladly  complies  with 
the  ancient  hospitable  usage,  according  to  which 
animals  are  fed  _first,  and  the  wants  of  men  are 
attended  to  afterwards. 

birth-place  of  the  Levite,  than  is  conveyed  in  the  general 
statement  that  he  was  a  Levite. 


The  wicked  deed  of  the  Giheathites,  and  the  measure  taken  hy  the  Levite  to  invoke  the 
judgment  of  the  nation  on  the  perpetrators. 

Chapter    XIX.  22-30. 

22  Now  as  they  were  making  their  hearts  merry,  behold,  the  men  of  the  city,  cer- 
tain [omit:  certain]  sons  of  Belial  [worthless  fellows],  beset  the  house  round 
about,  and  beat  at  the  door,  and  spake  to  the  master  of  the  house,  the  old  man, 
saying,  Bring  forth  the  man  that  came  into  thine  house,  that  we  may  know  him. 

23  And  the  man,  the  master  of  the  house,  went  out  unto  them,  and  said  unto  them, 
Nay,  my  brethren,  nay,  I  pray  you,  do  not  so  wickedly ;  seeing  that  this  man  is 

24  come  into  mine  house,  do  not  this  folly.  Behold,  here  is  my  daughter,  a  maiden 
[virgin],  and  his  concubine  ;  them  I  will  bring  out  now,  and  humble  ye  them,  and 
do  with  them  what  seemeth  good  unto  you  :  but  unto  this  man  do  not  so  vile  a  thing 

25  [lit.  the  matter  of  this  folly].  But  the  men  would  not  hearken  to  him  :  so  the  man 
took  his  concubine,  and  brought  her  forth  unto  them ;  and  they  knew  her,  and 
abused  her  all  the  night  until  the  morning  :  and  when  the  day  began  to  sprmg,  they 

26  let  her  go.     Then  came  the  woman  in  the  dawning  of  the  day,  and  fell  down  at 

27  the  door  of  the  man's  house  where  her  lord  was,  [and  lay  there]  till  it  was  light.  And 
her  lord  rose  up  in  the  morning,  and  opened  the  doors  of  the  house,  and  went  out 
to  go  his  way :  and  behold,  the  woman  his  concubine  was  fallen  down  at  the  door 

28  of  the  house,  and  her  hands  were  upon  the  threshold.  And  he  said  unto  her,  Up, 
and  let  us  be  going.     But  none  answered.     Then  the  man  took  her  up  upon  an 

29  [the]  ass,  and  the  man  rose  up,  and  gat  him  unto  his  place.  And  when  he  was 
come  into  his  house,  he  took  a  knife,  and  laid  hold  on  his  concubine,  and  divided 
her,  together  with  [according  to]  her  bones,  into  twelve  pieces,  and  sent  her  into 

30  all  the  coasts  [country]  of  Israel.  And  it  was  so,  that  all  that  saw  it,  said,^  There 
was  no  such  deed  done  nor  seen  from  the  day  that  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel 
came  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  unto  this  day :  consider  of  it,  take  advice,  and 
speak  your  minds. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


ri  Ver.  30.  —  "  The  perfects   ~!X2W\   n^ni,    ver.    30,    do   not   stand   for   the   imperfects   with   vav  consecutive 
"•  -  T  :'        TT  :' 

IttM*"!    TT'I,  as  Hitzig,  Bertheau,  and  others  suppose,  but  are  -perfecta  consequentia,  expressive  of  the  result  which 


CHAPTER   XIX.    22-30. 


245 


the  Levite  expects  from  his  action.  It  is  only  necessary  to  supply  a  "^^S^  before  PlTn,  which  in  lively  narration 
or  agitated  discourse  is  frequently  omitted  (cf.  e.  g.  Ex.  viii.  5  with  Judg.  vii.  2).  The  narrator  uses  the  perfects,  instead 
of  the  imperfects  with  simple  T,  iL<!ual  in  clauses  expressive  of  design,  quia  quod  fat  urum  ease,  prmvidcbat  tanquam  factum 
(inimn  siio  obcersnbatur  (Ro.senmiiller).  The  Levite's  expectation  that  the  moral  indignation  of  all  the  tribes  will  be 
roused  against  such  wickedness,  and  will  lead  them  to  resolve  on  punishment,  is  thus  represented  not  as  a  doubtful  con- 
jecture, but  as  tlie  confident  anticipation  of  a  certainly  ensuing  tact  "  (Keil).  It  is  impossible  to  imitate  this  exactly  in 
English,  but  the  better  rendering  of  the  passage  would  be  :  '-sent  her  into  all  the  territory  of  Israel,  saying  [or,  as  we 
would  say,  thinking]  it  shall  be  that  all  who  see  shall  say,  There  was  no  such  deed  done  or  seen,"  etc.  Chapter  xx. 
Bhows,  as  Keil  remarks,  that  the  Levite  was  right  in  his  anticipations.     Dr.  Cassel  translates  as  the  E.  V.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETIC.\L  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  22  ff.  The  narrator  is  aware  that  he  has 
to  relate  a  history  similar  to  the  one  that  occurred 
in  Sodom  in  the  days  of  Lot ;  for  at  suitable  points 
his  language  takes  the  saiie  turns  of  expression 
(cf.  Gen.  xix.  5,  7,  8).  Lot  was  only  a  resident  in 
Sodom,  just  as  here  the  aged  Ephraimite  is  in 
Gibeah.  He,  like  the  hitter,  hud  invited  the  guests 
to  his  house.  The  Sodomites  surrounded  the  house, 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  strangers,  as 
the  (iibeathites  do  here.  Lot  proposes  to  bring 
forth  his  daughters,  and  the  aged  host  of  our  his- 
tory makes  the  same  proposition.  The  dissim- 
ilarities, it  is  true,  are  equally  conspicuous.  The 
guests  of  Lot  were  angels,  who  frustrated  iiU  sin- 
ful designs  :  here,  the  entertainer  receives  but  an 
iraj)erfect  Levite.  Although  the  aged  host  cannot 
be  compared  with  the  hosjiitable  nephew  of  Abra- 
ham, it  must  be  admitted  that  he  acts  like  a  good 
Israelite.  The  men  of  Gibeah  were  personally 
sinners  even  beyond  those  of  Sodom,  for  they  had 
a  God  who  does  not  tolerate  such  abominations. 
liut  their  sin  was  the  outbreaking  of  individual 
depravity;  in  Sodom  it  was  the  fruit  of  the  na- 
tional life.  Hence,  both  were  punished  according 
to  their  guilt.  Benjamin  perished  almost ;  Sodom 
was  wholly  destroyed.  In  Sodom  all  sinned,  from 
the  youth  to  the  gray  head  (Gen.  xix.  4):  in 
Gibeah,  the  criminals  were  "  sons  of  wickedness," 

who,  however,  by  being  called  "T'^^i^  "'ti/'IlS,  "  men 
of  the  city,"  are  shown  to  belong  to  the  higher 
classes,  which  circumstance  also  accounts  for  their 
unchecked  attainment  of  such  great  proficiency  in 
evil.  This  nightly  vagabondizing  of  wanton  youth 
was  but  too  well  known  to  antiquity,  even  in  Ro- 
man times,  when  Roman  emjierors  took  part  in  it. 
Here,  however,  unholy,  idolatrous  usages  seem  also 
to  have  come  into  play,  according  to  which  stran- 
gers were  abused  for  pui-poses  of  sensuality,  as,  con- 
trariwise, in  the  service  of  the  Syrian  Goddess 
natives  were  given  up  to  the  stranger.  It  was  a 
night-riot,  which  began  with  sundown  and  ceased 
with  the  morning.  Hence,  the  Levite  probably 
remained  unnaolested  until  night  had  fully  set  in, 
and  could  depart  unhindered  when  the  day  broke. 
It  was  at  all  events  a  fearful  crime  in  Israel. 
The  Mosaic  law  punished  it  with  death  (Lev.  xx. 
13;  cf  ch.  xviii.  22,  etc.).  Even  the  infringement 
of  the  rights  of  hospitality  was  in  Hesiod's  opin- 
ion, which  was  followed  l)y  the  later  Greeks,  a 
crime  of  equal  magnitude  with  adultery  or  the  de- 
filement of  a  father's  bed  (Nagelsbach,  Nachhom. 
TheoL  252  f ).     The  aged  host  was,  therefore,  right 

1  He  imitates  the  example  of  Lot.  Therein  lies  his  ex- 
cuse. He  seeks  to  prevent  one  sin,  and  commits  another 
without  knowing  whether  he  can  prevent  the  first. 

•2  This  act  of  his  also  testifies  to  the  degeneracy  of  the 
lievitical  body.  He  lias  not  moral  strength  enough  to  die 
n  order  to  preserve  hini>elf  from  defilement,  and  hence 
thinks  himself  obliged  to  surrender  tils  concubine.  His 
own  head,  therefore,  shares  in  the  guilt  of  the  crime  done 
jn  the  woiD&D 


in  speaking  of  the  matter  as  a  '^7?'=''  ^"  abom- 
inable crime.  But  the  savage  Benjamites  are 
no  more  willing  to  hear  reason  than  the  men  of 
Sodom  were.     Their  violent  thundering   at  the 

door  (Q'*^2^n^),  and  their  language  (cf.  Gen. 
xix.  9),  afforded  sufficient  occasion  to  the  host  to 
fear  that  they  would  soon  break  into  the  house 
itself.  He  is  most  especially  concerned  to  shield 
the  Levite,  for  in  this  direction  lay  the  chief  crime. 
Hence,  no  requisition  is  made  upon  the  servant 
to  give  himself  up  for  his  master  —  for  that  would 
not  have  changed  the  nature  of  the  crime,  —  but 
the  host,  like  Lot,  offers  them  women, i  his  own 
daughter  being  one.  But  he  is  not  called  upon  to 
make  this  sacrifice :  the  Benjamites  will  not  have 
his  daughter ;  for  she  is  no  stranger,  and  belongs 
to  their  neighbor.  It  is  especially  to  this  offer  of 
his  daughter  that  the  opening  words  of  ver.  2.5 
apply:  "  they  would  not  hearken."  Hereupon  the 
Levite  takes  his  resolution,  and  leads  forth  his  con- 
cubine. Her  beauty  pacifies  the  violent  wantons; 
but  she  herself  falls  a  victini  to  their  horrible  lusts. 
The  beastly  treatment  she  receives  deprives  her  of 
life.  What  an  awful  lesson  !  The  same  woman, 
whose  sensuality  was  heretofore  unsatisfied,  is  now 
killed  by  excess  of  illicit  intercourse.  The  Levite 
who,  notwithstanding  her  wanton  disposition,  runs 
after  her,  is  now  obliged  to  give  her  up  to  others.^ 
She  who  would  not  live  for  him,  must  now  die  for 
him.  —  In  Christendom,  also,  similar  horrors  have 
occurred.  Who  could  bear  to  write  the  history  of 
licentiousness  !  At  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury a  Thuringian  knight  abducted  a  maiden. 
Placing  her  on  his  horse  behind  himself,  he  in- 
tended to  reach  Erfurt  the  same  evening  before  the 
closing  of  the  city-gates.  He  failed,  and  was  com- 
pelled to  seek  shelter  with  the  maiden  in  the  hos- 
pital situated  outside  of  the  city.  The  inmates, 
when  they  saw  the  beautiful  woman,  murdered 
the  knight,  and  abused  her  until  she  died.  The 
crime  being  discovered,  the  house  was  burned 
down,  together  with  the  criminals  (Falkenstein, 
Hist,  von  Erfurt,  p.  277). 

Vers.  29  f.  And  he  came  into  his  house.  It 
must  have  been  a  fearful  night  for  the  Levite, 
knowing  that  his  concubine  was  in  the  power  of 
the  wanton  mob,  and  it  was  a  terrible  morning 
when  he  found  her  dead  on  the  threshold  of  the 
house.  He  had  risen  early,  and  made  better  haste 
to  get  aw.ay  from  the  house  of  his  host  than  ho 
had  done  to  leave  that  of  his  father-in-law,  in  order 
to  avoid  a  meeting  with  the  inhabitants.'^  His 
journey  was  a  sad  one ;  for  his  second  ass  carried 

3  [He  probably  gave  up  all  idea  of  recovering  his  concu- 
bine, as  being  hopeless.  So  Bertheau  and  Keil.  He  may 
have  entertained  plans  for  rescuing  her  in  some  more  effec- 
tive w!iy.  There  is  at  all  events  nothing  in  the  text  that 
justifies  us  to  suppose  that  he  went  on  his  way,  "as  if  he 
did  not  once  thiuk  what  had  become  of  his  unhappy  com- 
panion," and  was  ''  reminded  of  her  only  by  stumbling 
upon  her  hfeless  corpse,"  as  Bush  rather  wildly  comment 
—  Tr.] 


246 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


the  lifeless  body  of  the  dishonored  woman.  Filled 
with  these  horrors,  perpetrated  against  him  in 
Israel,  he  appeals  to  all  the  people  of  Israel.  He 
cuts  the  corpse  into  twelve  pieces,  and  sends  them 
out  in  every  direction.  Expositors  have  one  after 
another  spoken  here  of  Lucian's  narrative  (in  Tov- 
aris)  of  the  Scythian  custom  of  sitting  on  the  hide  : 
"if  any  man  is  injured  by  another,  and  is  unable 
to  revenge  himself,  he  sacrifices  an  ox,  cuts  up  the 
flesh,  and  dresses  it ;  then  spreading  the  skin  on 
the  ground,  he  sits  down  on  it,  etc.  Whoever 
pleases  then  comes,  takes  a  part  of  the  flesh,  and 
placing  his  right  foot  on  the  hide,  makes  a  solemn 
promise  to  assist  him  to  the  utmost  of  his  abil- 
ities." It  must  be  said  that  there  is  no  analogy 
whatever  between  this  usage  and  the  act  of  the 
Levite.  The  Scythian  usage  is  the  symbolical 
formula  of  an  oath,  by  which  all  who  take  part  in 
it  promise  to  unite  themselves  into  one  body  with 
the  supplicant.  But  such  is  not  the  idea  in  our 
passage,  nor  yet  in  1  Sam.  xi.  7.  Saul  sends  out 
the  pieces  of  the  divided  oxen  with  the  threatening 
message,  that  thus  it  shall  be  done  to  the  oxen  of 
every  one  who  does  not  take  the  field  after  him. 
The  Levite  has  no  right  to  do  anything  of  this  kind. 
He  issues  no  threat  which  he  himself  can  execute. 
Nor  does  he  place  Israel  under  oath  i  to  avenge 
his  wrong.  But  he  shows  the  nation  what  is  pos- 
sible within  its  borders,  and  what  may  happen  to 
any  one  in  Israel  as  well  as  it  has  happened  to 
himself.     Hence,  he  sends  not  a  divided  ox,  but 

1  It  might  be  thought  that  an  analogy  is  afforded  by  the 
iingular  oath  on  the  sacrificial  pieces  of  a  boar,  a  ram,  and 
a  bull,  which  Demosthenes  mentions  as  taken  by  the  accuser 


the  divided. woman.  Saul  threatens  that  the  oxen 
of  those  who  do  not  follow  him,  shall  be  cut  to 
pieces.  The  Levite  intimates  that  unless  such 
practices  are  abolished  in  Israel,  the  same  fate 
may  befall  any  woman.  He  points  to  the  anarchy 
which  breaks  out  in  Israel,  when  the  rights  of 
hospitality  are  no  longer  respected,  and  the  rights 
of  the  householder  no  longer  secure,  and  when 
heathen  abominations  like  those  of  Sodom  are 
practiced  in  the  land.-  The  woman  cut  in  pieces 
speaks  more  loudly  than  any  other  language  could 
do.  Of  course,  a  message  accompanied  the  pi(!ces 
of  the  body,  the  contents  of  which  are  given  in 
verse  30.  Every  one  who  saw  must  say  that  any- 
thing like  this  had  not  occurred  in  Israel  since  the 
nation  dwelt  in  Canaay.  It  closed  with  the  words  : 
"  Take  the  matter  to  heart,  advise,  and  s])eak." 

Doubtless,  the  divided  body  spake  loudly  to  all 
the  tribes  of  Israel.  But  it  spoke  not  of  repent- 
ance, but  only  of  the  necessity  of  taking  prudent 
measures  against  the  recurrence  of  similar  out- 
rages, of  which  any  one  might  himself  become  the 
victim.  And  yet  the  thing  needed  was  not  merely 
the  removal  of  the  abomination  which  was  man- 
ifest, but  the  conversion  of  the  heart,  whose  hidden 
wickedness  had  produced  the  abomination.  The 
Levite  .points  'to  the  sins  that  had  been  com- 
mitted ;  but  does  he  also  confess  the  share  he  him- 
self had  in  them,  and  in  the  guilt  that  attached  to 
them  ?  The  same  self-righteousness  is  revealed  by 
the  whole  people,  as  is  shown  by  eh.  xx. 

in  cases  of  murder  {adv.  Aristocratem,  p.  642) ;  but  here  also 
none  exists. 

2  This  sense  is  also  contained  in  the  words  of  the  Levite 
in  ch.  XX.  6. 


The  tribes  of  Israel,  convened  at  Mizpah,  resolve  to  punish  the  outrage  committed 

at  Gibeah.     They  call  on  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  to  deliver  up  the  guilty, 

but  are  met  with  a  refusal. 

Chapter   XX.  1-13. 


1  Then  all  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  went  out.  and  the  congregation  was  gath- 
ered together  as  one  man,  from  Dan  even  to  Beer-sheba,  with  [and]  the  land  of 

2  Gilead,  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  in  Mizpeh  [Mizpah].  And  the  chief  [chiefs]  of 
all  the  people,  even  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  presented  themselves  in  the  assem- 
bly of  the  people  of  God,  [which  assembly  numbered]  four  hundred  thousand  footmen 

3  that  drew  sword.^  (Now  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  heard  that  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel  were  gone  up  to  Mizpeh).    Then  said  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel, 

4  Tell  us,  how  was  [happened]  this  wickedness  ?  And  [the  man,]  the  Levite,  the 
husband  of  the  woman   that   was   slain,  answered  and  said,   I  came  into  [unto] 

5  Gibeah  that  belongeth  to  Benjaiaiin,  I  and  my  concubine,  to  lodge.  And  the  men 
[lords]  of  Gibeah  rose  against  me,  and  beset  the  house  round  about  upon  me  by 
night,  and  thought  to  have  slain  me  :  and  my  concubine  have  they  forced  [humbled], 

6  that  she  is  dead  [that  she  died].  And  I  took  my  concubine,  and  cut  her  in  pieces, 
and  sent  her  throughout  all  the  country  of  the  inheritance  of  Israel :  for  they  have 

7  committed  lewdness  and  folly  in  Israel.     Behold,  ye  are  all  children  [sons]  of  Is- 

8  rael  ;  give  here  your  advice  and  counsel.  And  all  the  people  arose  as  one  man, 
saying.  We  will  not  any  of  us  go  to  his  tent,  neither  will  we  any  of  us  turn  into 

9  his  house  :  But  now  this  shall  be  the  thing  which  we  will  do  to  Gibeah  :  we  will  go 


CHAPTER  XX.   1-13. 


247 


10  uphj  lot  against  it ;  ^  And  we  will  take  ten  men  of  an  hundred  throughout  all  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  and  an  hundred  of  a  thousand,  and  a  thousand  out  of  ten  thousand, 
to  fetch  victual  for  the  people,  that  they  may  do,  when  they  come*  to   Gibeah  of 

11  Benjamin,  according  to  all  the  folly  that  they  have  wrought  in  Israel.^     So  all  the 

12  men  of  Isi-ael  were  gathered  against  the  city,  knit  together  as  one  man.  And 
the  tribes  of  Israel  sent  men  through  [into]  all  the  tribe  [tribes]  of  Benjamin, 

13  saying,  What  wickedness  is  this  that  is  [was]  done  among  you  ?  Now  therefore 
deliver  ?ts  the  men,  the  children  of  Belial  [worthless  fellows],  which  are  in  Gibeah, 
that  we  may  put  them  to  death,  and  put  away  evil  from  Israel.  But  the  children 
[sons]  of  Benjamin  would  not  hearken  to  the  voice  of  their  brethren  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel. 

,  TKXTUAL    AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  2,  —  Dr.  Cassel  renders  this  ver.se  as  follows  :  "  And  the  heads  of  the  whole  people,  out  of  all  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  formed  themsulve:?  into  a  Congregation  of  the  I'eople  of  God,  which  [sc.  people]  furnished  four  hundred  thousand 
men  (namely)  footmen,  practiced  with  the  sword."'  The  E.  V.  is  better;  only,  to  make  it  unequivocally  clear,  it  needs 
some  such  interpolation  as  we  have  suggested  in  the  text.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  y.  —  Dr.  Cassel  triuislates  :  "  And  now  in  the  matter  which  we  do  against  Gibeah,  (proceed  we)  against  it  ac- 
cording to  the  lot.'"  This  does  not  differ  essentially  from  the  E.  V.,  but  is  noted  here  as  explaining  what  the  author  means 
by  saying  tha,t  the  words  "which  we  do   against  Gibeah"  are  parenthetical  (see  below).     Bcrtheau  and  Keil  explain: 

"This  is  the  thing  we  will  da  against  Gibeah:  against  it  with  the  lot!"  "  The  words  7ni33  iT^^^,  says  Keil, 
"contain  the  resolution  taken  with  reference  to  the  sinful  city,  and  are  characterized  by  the  enigmatical  brevity  of  ju- 
dicial sentences,  and  ai^  to  be  explained  by  the  proceedings  prescribed  by  the  Mosaic  law  against  the  Canaanites.  The 
CanaanJtes  were  to  be  destroyed,  and  their  land  was  then  to  be  divided  among  the  Israelites  by  lot.  Accordingly,  to  proceed 
with  the  lot  against  GJbeatt,  is  to  proceed  with  it  as  with  the  cities  of  the  Canaanites,  to  conquer  and  burn  it,  and  to  divide 
its  territory  by  lot,''  Oise  argument  advanced  in  favor  of  this  (the  view  of  the  Peshito  :  "  we  will  cast  the  lot  over  it  !  ")  and 
against  tlie  curi-ent  view  (that  of  the  LXX  ),  that  the  latter  leaves  the  judgment  itself  unexpressed,  and  passes  at  once  to  a 
subordinate  point  which  has  reference  only  to  the  execution  of  the  judgment,  has  no  great  force,     for  is  not  the  judgment 

•jufficiently  expressed  in  n**^  '^,  "  against  it !  "  ?  The  other,  however,  that  according  to  ver.  10,  as  ordinarily  under- 
stood, the  lot  decides,  not  who  shall  go  against  Gibeah,  but  who  shall  act  as  purveyors  for  the  army,  it  is  difficult  to  meet, 
Except  by  rendering  ver.  10  as  Dr.  Cassel  does.     Compare  the  next  note.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  10.  — Br,  Cassel's  rendering  is  as  follows  :  (ver.  9  b)  "  proceed  we  against  it  according  to  the  lot ;  (ver.  10:) 
i,nd  take  ten  meia  of  a  hundred  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  and  a  hundred  of  a  thousand,  and  a  thousand  of  ten 
thousand,  to  tatoe  to  themselves  provisions  for  the  host,  and  when  they  come  to  Gibeah  of  Benjamin  to  do  according  to 
*11  the  abominatioin  which  it  wrought  in  Israel  (('.  e.,  to  inflict  just  retribution)."  The  onlydiflficulty  in  this  rendering 
Is  the  expresstou  "  to  take  provisions  for  the  host  "  (lit.  people),  which  strikes  one  as  an  unnatural  way  of  saying,  "  to 
take  provisions  for  themselves."  But  this  difficulty  is  less  Gerious  than  that  which  arises  if  we  adopt  the  common  ren- 
dering, anil  explain  (as  we  must  do  in  that  ca.se)  ver.  9  as  Bertheau  and  Keil  do  (cf.  preceding  note).  For  the  fact  that 
fcefore  .proooeiing  to  extremities,  demand  is  made  for  the  surrender  of  the  guilty,  is  incompatible  with  a  prior  determina- 
tion to  "•cast  the  lot  "  over  Gibeah,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  such  a  confiscation  of  territory  belonging  to  Benja 
min,  a?  this  is  supposed  to  imply,  would  havo  been  in  glaring  conflict  wifh  OJ:ie  of  the  most  important  laws  of  the  nation, 
that  whioli  nsndered  land  an  inalienable  possession,  first  in  the  family,  then  in  the  tribe.  On  the  other  hand,  it  certainly 
seems  as  sf  40,000  men  must  have  been  deemed  sufficient  to  meet  the,  26,700  of  Benjamin  (ver.  15);  and  the  statement 
of  ver.  17,  where  the  400,000  of  Israel  aro  set  over  against  the  26,700  of  Benjamin,  may  be  explained  by  supposing  that 
the  narrator,  being  about  to  relate  the  terrible  losses  on  the  national  side  in  the  first  two  engagements,  wishes  to  re- 
mind ttee  ireader  of  the  reserved  strength  from  which  thg  beaten  army  coujd  draw  reinforcements.  —  Tr.J 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Veis.  1,2.  And  the  chiefs  of  all  the  people 
1'ormed  themselves  into  a  congi-egation  of  the 
Teople  of  God.  The  consciousness  of  an  ofganic 
coiuiniinity  is  as  yet  fully  alive  in  Israel.  All  the 
'tribes  were  horrified  at  the  crime  in  Benjamin. 
'The  necessity  of  conferring-  together  is  felt  every- 
where, from  the  north  to  the  south.  The  natural 
representatives  of  the  jieople  (cf.  on  ch.  i.  1)  hasten 
to  Mizpah,  "  to  Jehovah,"  that  is  to  say,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  high-priest  in  the  name  of  Jeho- 
vah, against  vv^liose  holy  law  the  crime  was  directed. 
■  For  it  may  be  assumed  that  whenever  a  popular 
movement,  which  has  Jehovah  for  its  centre,  is 
spoken  of,  while  no  human  personage  as  that  of  a 
Judge,  is  named,  the  priesthood  was  still  the  leading 

spiritual  power.     An  f^"J5>  congregation,   assem- 


bled itself,  ^n{7FI5  j  or  rather,  was  convoked,  fof 

^U'Q  is  the  Greek  Ka\eaj,  old  Latin  calare  (i.  e. 
curia  calahra ) .  It  was  formed  of  the  heads  i  of  th| 
people  \yho  constituted  themselves  a  "  Congrega- 
tion of  the   People  of  God."  ^      (^a;2\'p'*_,    from 

2'^^  =  3^3,  cons//(i<e?-e).  It  is  not  by  way  of 
tautology  that  the  narrator  says  :  "  the  whole  peo- 
ple, all  the  tribes  ;  "  for  the  fact  is  to  be  made  prom- 
inent that,  except  Ecnja.niin,  not  one  tribe  was 
wanting.  The  addition:  "fouv hundred  thousand 
men,"  explains  why  only  the  "heads  "  constitute 
the  "  congregation,"  namely,  because  the  "  People 
of  G<xl,"  as  a  whole,  was  too  numerous.  The 
number  is  mentioned  with  reference  to  ver.  10.  Is- 
rael is  still  the  warlike  people  which  took  posses- 
sion of  Canaan.     The  number  of  its  sword-prac- 


1   7739,    the  pinnacle,  or  highest  point  of  a  building,  2  The   regular  designation,  for  which  moderp   nation! 

and  thonco  transferred  to,  the  he.ads  of  the  people,  summl.  have  substituted  the  less  spiritual  and  noble  terms  "  pariia- 

The  word  is  philologically  identical  with  the  Latin  pmna  as  ment,"   "meeting,"    "chamber,"   "house."     [How  could 

wput  jpi^ugnaQuH.  "^^^  otherwise,  seeing  they  are  not  theocracie.n  ?  —  Te.] 


248 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


ticed  warriors  is  the  measure  of  its  greatness. 
Those  who  assemble  themselves  here  about  "Je- 
hovah," are  the  heads  of  a  community  of  warriors 
(ecclesia  militdus.) 

Ver.  3.  And  the  sons  of  Benjamin  heard  that 
an  a'fesembly  of  the  tribes  took  phice  in  Mizpah. 
Tliis  Mizpaii  is  probably  the  same  as  that  wiiich 
in  Samuel's  time  also  was  the  national  gathering 
place  (1  Sam.  vii.  5),  and  which  is  regarded  as 
represented  by  the  Neby  Samwil  of  the  present 
day,i  in  the  western  part  of  the  Benjamite  terri- 
tory. The  Lcvite,  the  narrator  informed  us,  di- 
vided his  unhappy  concubine  into  twelve  parts,  and 
sent  them  throughout  all  Israel.  We  must  agree, 
therefore,  with  the  Jewish  expositors,  who  main- 
tain that  he  sent  a  part  to  Benjamin  also.  It  must 
likewise  be  assumed  that  Benjamin  was  invited  to 
the  council  at  Miz])ah,  both  on  account  of  the 
sense  of  national  community  which  characterized 
the  period,  and  because  the  assembly  was  sum- 
moned at  a  place  within  the  borders  of  Benjamin. 
The  tribe  already  manifested  its  partisan  feeling  in 
favor  of  Gibeah,  when  it  "  heard,"  indeed,  of  what 
was  going  on,  but  neither  sent  representatives  to 
the  assembly,  nor  gave  any  token  whatever  of  indig- 
nation at  the  deed,  or  of  desire  to  exculpate  itself 

Vers.  4-7.  And  the  man,  the  Levite,  made 
answer.  When  the  assembly  proceeded  to  investi- 
gate the  fticts,  the  accuser  only  appeared  ;  the  ac- 
cused were  wanting.  The  speech  of  the  Levite  is 
remarkable  in  inoie  respects  than  one.  Of  the 
aged  Ephraimite  who  took  him  into  his  house,  he 
makes  no  mention  ;  for  in  order  to  a  riglit  judg- 
ment of  the  matter  it  is  not  necessary  to  con- 
sider whose  guest  he  was,  but  that  his  right  to 
hospitality   has    been  violated.      Hence  he  says, 

"  they  I'ose  against  me  "  0 /^)  '  and,  "  they  sur- 
rounded the  house,  "^^"^t  on  my  account."  The 
men  in  Gibeah  had  no  designs  against  his  host : 
he  alone  was  the  object  of  their  attack.  Nor  does 
he  speak  of  individuals  in  Gibeah,  but  of  the 
"lords  of  Gibeah,"  as  if  the  whole  city  were 
guilty ;  which  inasmuch  as  it  had  not  prevented 
the  excess,  was  indeed  true.  His  accusation,  "  they 
thought  to  murder  me,"  is  not  literally  in  accord- 
ance with  their  intentions,  because  he  is  ashamed 
to  speak  of  the  matter  by  its  right  name.  More- 
over, the  crime  intended  was  worse  than  death,  and 
submission  to  it  punishable  with  disgrace  and 
death.  But  he  does  not  say  that  he  himself  deliv- 
ered his  concubine  up  into  their  hands,  that  they 

1  [So  Dr.  Uobitison,  B.  R.  i.  460.  Dean  Stanley  (Sin. 
and  Pal.  p.  212),  claims  Nebi-Samuel  for  the  "  high  place  "  of 
Gibeon,  and  transfers  Mizpah  to  Scopus  (p.  222).  The  diffi- 
culty arising  from  the  fact  that  in  either  case  the  assembly 
was  held  within  the   territorial  limits  of  Benjamin,  who 


might  treat  her  according  to  their  lusts,  instead 
of  himself  And  finally,  he  does  not  represent  the 
violent  deed  as  directed  against  an  individual,  Inir 
tells  the  assembled  tribes  that  he  cut  the  wonum  in 
pieces,  and  sent  her  throughout  the  whole  country', 
because,  as  we  already  remarked  above,  it  was  a 
crime  against  all  Israel.  "Behold,  all  of  you  are 
sons  of  Israel."  Without  delay,  he  desires,  that 
here  and  now,  they  consult,  and  that  they  separate 
not  before  they  have  formed  a  resolve.  He  fears 
lest  otherwise  the  impression  of  the  monieni  might 
wear  off,  and  the  crime  be  left  unpunished. 

Vers.  8  tF.  And  all  the  people  arose.  The 
people  comprehend  this,  and  unanimously  proceed 
to  action.  Not  one  tribe  shall  be  entrusted  with 
the  execution  of  the  common  resolve,  but  all  shall 
take  part  in  it,  in  order  that  the  labor  and  odium 
may  not  fall  on  any  one  exclusively.     The  words 

n^nsb  nipV2  IttJy,  ver.  9,  are  to  be  regarded 
as  parenthetical.  'The  sense  is  that  the  executive 
array  is  to  be  selected  out  of  the  tribes,  not  by  votes, 
but  according  to  the  lot.  It  is  thought  that  the 
tenth  part  of  Israel,  or  forty  thousand  men,  will  suf- 
fice ;  for  these,  who  belong  to  all  Israel,  since  they 
were  raised  out  of  the  whole,  provisions  aiid  equip- 
ments are  to  be  supplied.  This  is  looked  to,  in 
order  that  Israel  may  need  7»o  sustenance  from 
Benjamin,  while  desolating  its  territory  in  war. 

The  words  Cl?^  TTl'2  nn)]^  remind  us  of  ch. 

vii.  8,  where  we  have    nVil   niSTllr*!  ^npll, 

and  make  it  probable  that  there  also  ^^7  should 
be  read. 

The  expressioji,  ver.  11,  "  and  all  the  men  of  Is- 
rael were  gathered  together  as  one  man  Q''^2in> 
is  to  be  understood  of  the  army,  wjiieh,  forty 
thousand  inen  strong,  was  gathered  from  all  Israel 
as  if  no  tribe  distinctions  existed.  It  was  precisely 
in  this  perfect  national  unity  and  unanimity,  that 
Israel  sought  its  right  to  take  the  step  it  had  in 
view.  From  the  consciousness  of  this  national 
character  of  the  army,  proceeded  the  effort  to  in- 
duce Benjamin  to  surrender  the  guilty,  before  the 
final  resort  to  extreme  measures.  Iii  the  statement 
that  "  they  sent  into  all  the  tribes  of  Benjamin," 
the  expression,  "  tribes  of  Benjamin,"  forming  as 
it  were  an  antithesis  to  the  "  tribes  of  Israel,"  is 
peculiar.  Properly  speaking,  there  could  not  be 
"  tribes  "  within  a  "  tribe  "  ;  but  since  Benjamin 
formed  an  opposition  camp,  his  "lamiltes"  might 
be  so  named. 

nevertheless  only  "  heard "  of  it,  is  met  by  Mr.  GroT« 
(Smith's  Bible  Bid.,  g.  v.  "Mizpah")  by  the  apparently  no 
less  difficult  supposition  that  the  Mizpah  of  the  p^resent  p»»- 
sage  is  to  be  located  beyond  the  Jordan.  —  Tr.} 


The  war  against  Benjamin.     The  armies  of  Israel  are  twice  smitten.     The  dimn» 

promise  of  victory. 

Chapter  XX.  14-28. 


14  But  [And]  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  gathered  themselves  together  out 
of  the  cities  unto  Gibeah,  to  go  out  to  battle  against  [with]  the  children  [sons  J  of 

15  Israel.     And  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  were  numbered  at  that  time  out  of 


CHAPTER  XX.  14-28.  249 


the  cities  twenty  and  six  thousand  men  that  drew  sword,  beside  the  inhabitants 

1  6  of  Gibeah,  which  were  numbered  seven  hundred  chosen  men.     Among  all  this 

people  there  were  seven  hundred  chosen  men  left-handed ;  every  one  could  sling 

17  stones  at  an  h-Axv-hreadth,  and  not  miss.^  And  the  men  of  Israel,  beside  Benjamin, 
were  uuml>ered  four  hundred  thousand  men  that  drew  sword :  all  these  were  men 

18  of  war.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  arose,  and  went  up  to  the  house  of  God 
[Beth-el],  and  asked  counsel  of  God,  and  said.  Which  of  us  shall  go  up  -  first  to 
the  battle  against  [with]  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  ?     And  the  Lord  [Jeho- 

19  vah]  said,  Judah  shall  go  up  first.     And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  rose  up  in 

20  the  morning,  and  encamped  against  Gibeah.  And  the  men  of  Israel  went  out  to 
battle  against  [widi]  Benjamin ;  and  the  men  of  Israel  put  themselves  in  array  to 

21  fight  against  [with]  them  at  Gibeah.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  came 
[went]  forth  out  of  Gibeah,  and  destroyed  [feiied]  down  to  the  ground  of  the  Isra- 

22  elites  that  day  twenty  and  two  thousand  men.  And  [But]  the  people,  the  men  of 
Israel,  encouraged  themselves  [took  courage],  and  set  their  battle  again  in  array 

23  in  the  place  where  they  put  themselves  in  array  the  first  day.  (And  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel  went  up  and  wept  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  until  even,  and 
asked  counsel  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  saying,  Shall  I  go  up  [advance]  again  to 
battle  against  [with]  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  my  brother  ?    And  the  Lord 

24  [Jehovah]  said,  Go  up  against  him.)     And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  came  near 

25  against  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  the  second  day.  And  Benjamin  went 
forth  against  them  out  of  Gibeah  the  second  day,  and  destroyed  [feiied]  down  to  the 
ground  of  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  again  eighteen  thousand  men  ;  all  these 

26  drew  the  sword.  Then  all  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel,  and  all  the  people,  went 
up,  and  came  unto  the  house  of  God  [Beth-el],  and  wept,  and  sat  there  before  the 
Lord  [Jehovah],  and  fasted  that  day  until  even,  and  offered  burnt-offerings  and 

27  peace-offerings  before  the  Lord  [Jehovah].  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel 
inquired  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  (for  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  God  laas  there  in 

28  those  days,  And  Phinehas,  the  son  of  Eleazar.,  the  son  of  Aaron,  stood  before  it  in. 
those  days,)  saying.  Shall  I  yet  again  go  out  to  battle  against  [with]  the  children 
f  sons]  of  Benjamin  my  brother,  or  shall  I  cease  ?  And  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  said, 
Go  u^  ;  for  to-morrow  I  will  deliver  them  into  thine  hand. 

TEXTUAL   AND    GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  16.  —  St^n^,  from  St^H,  to  miss,  whence  JHSlSn,  a  miss,  failure,  sin.  The  Greek  ajbtaprta  is  explained 
In  a  similar  way  (cf.  Ernesti,  die  Theorie  vom  Ursprung  der  SUnde,  p,  10,  where  the  reference  to  our  passage,  however 
must  not  be  suffered  to  mislead,  as  if  the  substantive  i"1St3n  were  read). 

[2  Ver.  18.  —  ^li^Tlbl?^  ''12  :  "  Who  shall  go  up  for  us."  Compare  "  Textual  and  Grammatical,"  note  2,  on 
ch.  i.  1.~Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

The  tribe  of  Benjamin  refuses  to  confess  its 
guilt,  and  to  surrender  the  guilty.  Defiant  and 
warlike  of  spirit,  it  prefers  to  run  the  risks  of  war. 
It  builds  its  hopes  on  the  unwieldiness  of  the  na- 
tional organization,  on  differences  of  opinion,  on 
partisan  sympathies  in  its  favor,  and  on  the  lack 
of  inclination  to  war,  especially  to  a  war  waged 


fend  itself  against  the  executionary  army  of  the 
Amphictyonic  Council.  And  it  succeeded  in  a 
degree.  The  war,  waged  against  the  unaided  city 
by  the  Thessalians,  Athenians,  and  Sicyonians, 
assisted  by  the  wisdom  of  Solon,  lasted  ten  years. 
It  was  ended  at  last  by  an  oracular  response  and 
a  stratagem  of  war,  as  in  the  case  of  the  war  with 
Benjamin  (Pans.  x.  37).  John  Frederick  the 
Intermediate,  of  Gotha,  likewise,  expected  to  be 
against  a  brother-tribe.     It  hopes,  therefore,  not-   able  to  maintain  himself  on  his  Gibeah,  the  Grim- 


withstanding  the  great  preponderance  of  force  on 
the  other  side,  to  maintain  its  ground.  And  it  is 
certain  that  by  reason  of  the  divisions  of  great  con- 
federacies (like  the  German),  many  a  small  gov- 
ernment has  often  maintained  itself  in  defiance 
and  resistance.  Thus  also  in  antiquity,  the  Pho- 
cian  town  of  Crissa,  having  injured  Delphi  and 
therewith  wronged  the  national  sanctuar^^  of  the 
Greeks,  and  being  charged  with  other  moral  delin- 
■juencies,!  thought  nevei'theless  to  be  able  to  de- 
1  Compare  Dunker,  Ge.ic/i.  des  AUerlhums,  iv.  38,  who 


menstcin,  in  order  to  protect  Grumbach,  despite 
all  his  sins,  against  the  ban  of  the  German  Em- 
pire; but,  like  Benjamin,  he  had  to  succumb  before 
his  brethren  (of  Saxony.  Cf.  Beck,  Gescli.  Joh. 
Fried,  des  Mittleren,  i.  518).  A  similar  war  was 
that  waged  by  the  States  of  North  America,  in 
which  the  South  defended  itself  like  Benjamin, 
and  with  even  greater  success,  albeit  that  the  mo- 
tives of  the  conflict  were  less  manifest  than  they 
were  at  Gibeah. 

Benjamin,  however,  would  certainly  have  given 
however  leans  towards  the  side  of  Crissa  as  against  the  i  up  all  thought  of  resistance,  if  the  singular  expo- 
pr^^tt^ood  of  Delphi.  |  sition  were  correct,  which  makes  all  the  400,00C 


250 


THE   BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


men  of  Israel  to  proceed  against  Gibeah  of  Benja- 
min. This  tribe  numbered  26,700  men  fit  for 
military  service  That  the  whole  of  this  force  is 
at  once  brought  into  the  field  is  a  matter  easily 
explained,  seeing  they  are  about  to  enter  on  a 
desperate  war.  But  that  all  the  400,000  men  of 
all  Israel  appeared  within  the  limited  district  of 
Gibeah,  is  both  in  itself  and  strategically  improba- 
ble. The  renewed  mention  of  this  number  in  ver. 
17,  is  only  designed  to  point  out  the  enormous 
superiority  of  Israel  in  the  means  of  war ;  just  as 
to  indicate  the  siipeiior  strength  of  Prussia  over 
Denmark,  it  has  doubtless  happened  that  persons 
have  spoken  of  the  500,000  men  at  the  command 
of  the  Prussian  state.  But  it  surely  could  not 
occur  that  those  500,000  should  all  be  sent  against 
Schleswig.  Nor  is  there  anything  in  our  narrative 
to  re(]uire  a  different  conclusion  with  reference  to 
the  400,000  of  Israel.  On  the  contrary,  we  have, 
as  above  explained,  the  definite  statement  that 
40,000  men  were  chosen  for  the  war  against  Ben- 
jamin, which  still  left  the  advantage  of  numbers 
with  the  national  army.  The  expositors^  in  con- 
sidering ver.  9,  have  overlooked  the  fact  that  tlie 
purpose  for  which  the  lot  was  used  is  fully  de- 
scribed in  ver.  10;  that  the  mere  business  of  pro- 
curing provisions  was  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
demand  such  exactness  of  statement;  that  further, 

nn|2^    stands  perfectly   parallel  with    ni^'j^lP 

and  17115  ?  ^^"i- ■ )  and  that  therefore  the  tenth 
part  was  levied  for  the  purpose  of  executing  judg- 
ment on  Benjamin.  It  is  also  well  known  that 
the  expression  "sons  of  Israel,"  in  ver.  19,  stands 
not  only  for  all  the  tribes,  but  is  used  in  all  the 
war  narratives  we  have  hitherto  considered,  of  sin- 
gle tribes  as  well.  Should  it  be  objected,  that 
especially  according  to  Biblical  narratives,  the  de- 
feat of  great  armies  by  small  ones  is  not  an  un- 
heard of  thing,  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  is 
indeed  true.  But  whenever  this  occurred  in  Bibli- 
cal narratives,  the  victoi's  had  the  cause  of  God 
and  of  truth  on  their  side.  And  whenever  that 
was  the  case  —  and  it  may  perhaps  be  as.sumed  to 
have  been  the  case  in  the  battle  of  Marathon  also 
—  the  victory  was  of  so  decisive  a  character  as  to 
almit  of  no  comparison  with  the  ultimately  useless 
successes  of  Benjamin.  Gibeah  means  "  height ;  " 
and  victory  remained  with  the  Benjamites,  as  long 
as  they  kept  their  position  on  the  elevated  jioints. 
But  what  specially  proves  that  the  narrator  yiews 
tiie  army  of  Israel  as  composed  of  40,000  men,  is 
the  circumstance  that  in  the  first  engageme(it 
22,000,  and  in  the  second,  18,000,  together  exacljly 
40,000,  were  ]>ut  hors  de.  couiJiat.  He  mentions  this' 
to  show  that  the  assurance  which  Israel  felt  thjit  a 
tenth  part  of  its  forces  were  enough  to  sett]e  with 
Benjamin,  was  not  justified  in  the  event.  ]^ro,perly 
speaking,  they  are  only  ten  tribes  wlip  corifront 
Benjamin  ;  and  40,000  are  the  tenth  part  pf  their 
available  military  strength  :  it  costs,  therefore,  the 
military  capacity  of  what,  in  a  certain  sense,  is  a 
tribe,  before  a  tribe  like  Benjamin  succumbs.  The 
losses  indicate,  as  we  shall  jjoint  out  farther  on, 
that  Israel's  cause  in  this  war  was  by  no  means  a 
parfectly  pure  one. 

Vers,  14-17.  And  the  sons  of  Benjamin  gath- 
ered themsehes  togetb.er  out  of  their  districts 
unto  Gibeah.     E}v;ijosjtor£  have  taken  offense  here 

at  the  word  D^'7''t^'  ^^  ^^  ^^®  Benjamites  had 
only  lived  in  cities;  but  the  narrator  designs  to 
state  that  the  fighting  men  of  Benjamin  assem- 
oled  themselves  from  all  the  regions  assigned  to 


the  tribe  at  Gibeah,  as  a  fixed  point  of  rendezvous, 
and  at  the  same  time  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
this  city,  as  the  special  object  of  attack,  against 
the  other  tribes,  'i'lie  numl)er,  also,  here  given  of 
the  tribe,  20,700,  appeared  to  many  not  to  har- 
monize with  the  subsequent  enumeration  of  25,700 
men  (vers.  35,  47).  But  it  would  have  been  sui'- 
prising,  indeed,  if  after  two  engagements,  in  which 
the  enemy  lost  40,000  men,  none  of  Benjamin's  men 
had  been  found  wanting.  Accordingly,  the  correc- 
tions suggested  even  as  anciently  as  the  Septuagint 
and  Josephus,  are  less  credible  than  this  natural 
difference  between  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
the  war.  Of  the  26,700,  only  700  belonged  to 
Gibeah,  —  a  statement  which  is  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  testifying  to  the  strong  sense  of  commun- 
ity, through  which  the  whole  tribe  takes  up  the 
cause  of  these  few.  The  connection  of  ver.  16 
with   the  preceding  is  perfectly  clear.      It  states 

expressly  that  in  the  entire  host  ('^^v'  ''•^'?)' 
thei'c  were  700  left-handed  persons  (cf  on  these  at 
ch.  iii.  15),  who  were  skillful  slingers.  This 
number  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  700  of  ver.  15. 
Since  the  Benjamites  defended  themselves  from 
the  heights,  the  far-throwing  slingers  were  of  spe- 
cial value.  They  were  slingers,  perhaps,  because 
they  were  left  handed.  According  to  the  Cijropoe- 
dm,  Cyrus  caused  all  who  were  incapable  of  bear- 
ing other  arms  to  exercise  themselves  in  slinging. 
The  Persians  were  fond  of  lising  slingers  (Brisson, 
p.  658).  The  friend  of  the  younger  Cyrus,  Mith- 
ridates,  had  four  hundred  slingers,  "exceedingly 
light  and  active"  {Anab.  iii.  3,  6).  The  Illiodian 
slingers  threw  leaden  plummets  to  a  great  distance. 
The  AchiBans  struck  any  part  of  the  body  at  which 
they  aimed. 1  That  skill  in  slinging  was  not  con- 
fined to  Benjamin,  is  evident  from  David's  victory 
over  Goliath.  What  a  terrible  weapon  the  sling 
could  be,  is  demonstrated  by  the  narrative  of  Livy 
concerning  the  Balearians,  who  hurled  such  a 
quantity  of  stones,  like  thickest  hail  showers,  on  the 
approaching  Carthaginian  fleet,  as  to  prevent  them 
from  casting  anchor  (xxviii.  37). 

Ver.  18.  And  the  sons  of  Israel  arose,  and 
went    up    to    Bethel,    and    inquired    of    God 

(Cn^SS).  It  is  Jehovah  who  answers,  but  their 
inquiry  was  addressed  to  Elohim.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  they  suffered  a  defeat.  For  they  approach 
God  without  sorrow  because  they  are  obliged  to 
fight  against  a  brother  tribe,  without  repentance 
for  their  own  sins,  and  without  sacrifices.  It  is 
thus  that  heathen  inquire  of  their  Elohim,  just  as 
oracles  were  consulted  from  a  desire  to  know  the 
future.  Nor  do  they  ask  whether  they  should 
advance,  ivhetlier  they  shall  conquer  —  that  they 
regaj[-d  as  certain  —  but  who  shall  first  attack. 
The  answer  was  ;  "Judah  shall  go  up  first.'  It 
conforms  in  scope  to  their  inquiry.  They  have 
not  inquired  concerning  victory ;  hence,  the  an- 
swer contains  nothing  to  inform  them  on  this 
head.  Had  any  other  tribe  but  Judah  been 
named,  that  might  have  been  interpreted  into  an 
assurance  of  victory  ;  for  Judah  always  maifhed 
at  the  head  (cf.  on  ch.  i.  2).  Judah's  leading  on 
the  present  occasion  is,  therefore,  only  in  aci'ord- 
ance  with  the  common  rule.  The  divine  response 
abstains  from  giving  any  information  beyond  what 
the  inquiry  called  for.  This  circumstance  might 
have  been  a  warning  to  ttiem,  had  they  been  less 

1  Livy  (xxxviii.  29)  describes  tiicir  slingsrs  quite  fully  : 
Non  ctipita  solum  hostiuni  vutner<fJpaftt^  ted  quern  locum  Uey- 
tinassent  cris. 


CHArTER  XX.  14-28. 


251 


certain.  But  docs  not  the  inquiry  and  its  answer 
countenance  the  opinion  that  all  the  troops  of  all 
the  tribes  (400,000  men)  were  encamped  before 
Gibeah '?  But  in  that  case,  we  would  have  to  sup- 
pose, in  accordance  with  the  analogy  of  ch.  i.  2, 
that  Judah  began  the  conflict  alone,  which  is 
against  the  whole  narrative.  On  the  contrary,  the 
question  rather  serves  to  show  that  the  40,000 
.represented  all  Israel  on  a  decimated  scale;  that 
they  were  not  chosen  according  to  tribes,  but  by 
the  lot,  out  of  the  whole  people.  Consequently, 
the  internal  relations  of  this  army  differed  from 
what  they  would  have  been,  had  the  selection 
been  according  to  tribes.  Hence  arose  the  ques- 
tion :  Who  shall  take  the  lead  in  (his  army  1  God 
replies  :  "  Judah,  —  as  always  " ;  and  leaves  evei-y 
other  question  undetermined. 

Vers.  19  fi".  And  the  men  of  Israel  arrayed 
themselves   for   battle   with    them   at    Gibeah 

(^D")!?^!,  they  formed  a  nD'nl^Qi  an  acies,  cf  on 
ch.  vi.  26),  but  the  untrustworthy  character  of 
their  generalship  demonstrates  itself  thereby.  With- 
out a  definite  plan  of  attack  and  of  the  war,  they 
dispose  tiiemselves  before  the  city,  and  hope  thereby 
to  terrify  the  threatened  tribe.  But  the  latter  falls 
upon  them,  and  institutes  a  great  destruction  among 

them.    The  text  says:   bs^t??^^  ^n^ntTH-    The 

word  nnK7  is  not  only  to  kill,  but  also  to  wound, 
and  to  disable  for  war. 

It  is  to  be  assumed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  al- 
though it  is  not  stated,  that  after  this  first  engage- 
ment, and  again  after  the  second,  some  time 
elapsed  before  a  renewal  of  hostilities  took  place. 
It  was  unnecessaiy  to  state  a  fact  that  lay  in  the 
nature  of  the  case.  The  troops  were  reinforced 
after  the  first  defeat,  although  no  thought  was  as 
yet  entertained  of  adopting  a  different  battle-plan, 
by  which  the  enemy  might  be  drawn  away  from 
his  fiivorable  position  on  the  height.  They  deter- 
mined, however,  not  to  await  an  attack  this  time, 

as  formerly,  but  to  make  one  (^3"]7*2,  vers.  24)  ; 

for  this  is  the  meaning  of  ^"Dl^  (to  advance  at  a 
rapid  march),  when  used  of  movements  in  war. 
But,  more  important  still,  they  begin  to  lose 
their  self-righteous  assurance.  They  go  to  Bethel, 
and  weep  there.  They  see  how  lamentable  it  is,  to 
fight  against  their  brethren,  and  lose  thousands 
of  lives  in  such  a  war.  They  begin  to  doubt 
whether  their  cause  be  a  good  one ;  and  hence 
they  inquire  not  now  of  an  Elohim,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  heathen,  but  of  their  Elohim,  Jehovah. 
The  answer  says  :  "  Go  up,"  but  gives  no  promise 
of  victory.  In  this  way,  the  battle  is  renewed,  — 
not  on  the  next  day  after  the  former,  but  for  the 
second  time.  They  still  fail  to  conquer  Gibeah  : 
the  attack  i.s  repulsed,  and  the  loss,  though  not  as 
great  as  before,  is  yet  terribly  large. 

The  divine  reply,  "  Go  up,"  was  not  a  deception 
of  the  people,  but  was  grounded  in  the  sad  neces- 
sity of  chastizing  both  parts  of  the  warring  nation. 

1  [How  came  the  ark  to  be  at  Bethel,  if  the  one  national 
laoctuary  was  at  Shiloh  ?  Hengstenber^  (Keil  also)  replies 
tliat  it  was  brought  from  Shiloh  to  Bethel  during  the  war. 


Had  the  answer  been,  "  Go  not  up,"  Israel  wouk 
have  abandoned  the  war,  and  Benjamin  would  have 
been  hardened  in  the  pi-ide  of  successful  resistance. 
Israel,  on  the  other  hand,  by  going  up  and  expe- 
riencing defeat,  would  again"  be  l)rought  nearer  to 
the  right  spirit,  which  alone  insures  victory  in 
Israel.  Accordingly,  in  ver.  26  this  spirit  niani- 
fests  itself.  Proceeding  to  Bethel,  they  no  longer 
merely  weep  there,  and  lament  over  tlie  calamUy 
of  waging  war  on  their  brethren  at  such  fearful 
sacrifices,  but  they  abide  in  prayer  and  fasting.  It 
is  a  sign  of  the  penitence  which  they  feel  on  ac- 
count of  theii-  own  sins.  Hitherto,  thev  had  fought 
against  Benjamin  under  a  feeling  of  their  own  Su- 
perior virtue,  as  if  among  their  opponents  tliere 
had  been  only  sinners,  among  themselves  none  hut 
Israelites  without  guile.  Theirs  was  an  exhibi- 
tion of  Pharisaism,  which  modern  history  also  car 
ries  on  all  its  pages,  in  which  there  is  much  to  be 
read  of  "  moral  indignation,"  but  very  little  of 
"  righteous  self-  knowledge  "  and  repentance. 
Through  the  command  of  Lev.  xxiii.  26-.'?2,  con- 
cerning the  day  of  atonement,  on  which  all  nour- 
ishment was  to  be  withheld  from  the  body,  fasting 
became  in  Israel  the  sign  of  confession  of  sin  and 

repentance.  The  word  ilV-;*  occurs  here  for  the 
first  time :  in  the  Books  of  Samuel  it  is  the  ordi- 
nary term.  The  great  victory  of  Samuel  over  the 
Philistines  is  also  preceded  by  a  fast  ( 1  Sam.  vii. 
6).  The  signification  of  the  word  resembles  that  of 
n''3r.ri,  a  fast,  from  H^X-  (Lev.  xxiii.  27:  Dn"31?1) 
opprestfit,  domuit,  and  is  etymologically  connected 
with  the  Sanskrit  dam,  da/xau,  domare,  to  tame. 
The  Sanskrit  pra/a,  to  fast,  is  in  like  manner  ex- 
plained as  meaning  "  to  restrain  one's  self"  (cf. 
Benfey,  Gr.  Gram.  ii.  202). — Israel  now  performs 
what  it  had  formerly  neglected  •  it  brings  burnt- 
offerings  and  peace-oflerings  —  the  burnf-ofl^erings 
as  penitential  offerings  for  the  past,  as  in  ch.  vi. 
26  ff ;  the  peace  offerings  as  votive  offerings  with 
reference  to  the  future  (Lev.  vii.  16).  The  Jewish 
expositors  have  a  beautiful  explanation.  They  de- 
rive D''P^tp  from  Cibci7,  peace.  The  last  word 
of  the  law  concerning  sacrifices  in  Lev.  vii.  is 
D^P^^  (ver.  37) ;  and  peace,  say  they,  is  the 
close  of  every  holy  life  (cf  my  Irene,  p.  37.) 

In  vers.  27  and  28,  the  words  :  "  for  the  ark 
....  those  days,"  form  a  parenthetical  interca- 
lation, which,  as  we  shall  point  out  below,  is  of 
importance  in  determining  the  time  to  which  the 
events  belong.  After  repentance  and  sacrifices, 
Israel  inquires  now  for  the  third  time  of  the  Urim 
and  Thummim;  and  now  only,  when  they  who 
inquire  are  in  the  right  frame  of  mind,  and  receive 
a  full  and  favorable  reply,  is  the  statement  inserted 
that  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  at  Bethel, ^  and 
that  Phinehas,  the  grandson  of  Aaron,  was  the 
high-priest.  And  now  the  answer  is  not  simply 
"  Go  up,"  but  conveys  the  assurance,  "  to-morrow 
will  I  give  victory  into  thine  hand." 

For  his  arguments,  see  Pentateuch,  ii.  37-39,  Uyland's  edition 
for  our  author's  explanation,  see  the  "  Concluding  Note, 
on  p.  259.  —  Te.] 


252  THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


The  men  of  Israel  recommence  hostilities.     By  feigned  flight  they  draw  the  Benj a 
mites  away  from  Giheah,  which  thereupon  falls  into  their  hands  and  is  de- 
stroyed, together  with  nearly  the  whole  tribe. 

Chapter   XX.    29-48. 

29  30  And  Israel  set  liers  in  wait  round  about  Gibeah.  And  the  children  [sons]  of 
Israel  went  up  against  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  on  the  third  day,  and  put 

31  themselves  in  array  against  Gibeah,  as  at  other  times.  And  the  children  [sons]  of 
Benjamin  went  out  against  the  jDeople,  and  were  [thus]  drawn  away  from  the  city ; 
and  they  began  to  smite  of  the  people,  cmid  kill,^  as  at  other  times,  in  the  highways, 
of  which  one  goeth  up  to  the  house  of  God  [Beth-el],  and  the  other  to  Gibeah  in 

32  the  field,  about  thirty  men  of  Israel.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  said, 
The}''  are  smitten  down  [omit :  down]  before  us,  as  at  the  first.  But  the  children 
[sons]  of  Israel  said.  Let  us  flee,  and  draw  them  from  the  city  unto  the  highways. 

33  And  all  the  men  of  Israel  rose  up  out  of  their  place,  and  put  themselves  in  array 
at  Baal-tamar :  and  the  liers  in  wait  of  Israel  came  forth  [also]  out  of  their  jjlaces 

34  [place],  even  out  of  the  meadows  [naked  fields]  -  of  Gibeah.  And  there  [they] 
came  against^  Gibeah  ten  thousand  chosen  men  out  of  all  Israel,  and  the  battle 

35  [there]  was  sorc  :  but  they  [/.  t.  the  Benjamites]  knew  not  that  evil  loas  near  them.  And 
the  Lord  [Jehovah]  smote  Benjamin  before  Israel :  and  the  children  [sons]  of  Is- 
rael destroyed  of  the  Benjamites  that  day  twenty  and  five  thousand  and  an  hundred 
men  :  all  these  drew  the  sword. 

36  So  [Now]  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  saw  that  they  [the  bods  of  Israel]  were 
smitten  :  *  for  the  men  of  Israel  gave  place  to  the  Benjamites,  because  they  trusted 

37  unto  the  liers  in  wait  which  they  had  set  beside  [against]  Gibeah.  And  the  liers 
in  wait  hasted,  and  rushed  upon  Gibeah  ;  and  the  liers  in  wait  drew  the?nselves 

38  along,^  and  smote  all  the  city  with  the  edge  of  the  sword.  Now  there  was  [omit : 
there  was]  an  [the]  appointed  sign  between  the  men  of  Israel  and  the  liers  in  wait 
[was],  that  they  should  make  a  great  flame  [cloud  —  lit.  elevation,  rising]   with  [of] 

39  smoke  rise  up**  out  of  the  city.  But  when  [omit:  when]  the  men  of  Israel  re- 
tired in  the  battle,  [and]  Benjamin  began  to  smite  a7id  kill  of  the  men  of  Israel 
about  thirty  pex'sons :  for  they  said.  Surely  they  are  smitten  down  [omit:  down] 

40  before  us,  as  ^n  tlie  first  battle.  And  when  the  flame  [cloud  —  cf.  ver.  38]  began  to 
arise  up  out  of  the  city  with  [omit :  with]  a  pillar  of  smoke,  the  Benjamites  looked 
behind  them,  and  behold,  the  flame  [whole]  of  the  city  ascended  up  [in  fiames,  or  smoke] 

41  to  heaven.  And  when  [omit :  when]  the  men  of  Israel  turned  again,  [and]  the 
men  of  Benjamin  were  amazed  [confounded]  :  for  they  saw  that  evil  was  come 

42  upon  them.  Therefore  they  turned  their  backs  before  the  men  of  Israel  unto  the 
way  of  the  wilderness  ;  but  the  battle  overtook  [or,  pursued  after]  them  ;  and  them 

43  which  came  out  of  the  cities  they  destroyed  in  the  midst  of  them.*^  Thus  [omit: 
Thus]  they  [They]  inclosed  the  Benjamites  round  about,  and  chased  them,  and  trode 
them  down  with  ease  [at  their  place  of  rest,]  over  against  [as  far  as  before]  Gibeah 

44  toward  the  sun-rising  [on  the  east.]  ^     And  there  fell  of  Benjaniin  eighteen  thou- 

45  sand  men ;  all  these  ivere  men  of  valour.  And  they  turned  and  fled  toward  the 
wilderness  unto  the  rock  of  Rimmon :  and  they  gleaned  of  them  in  the  highways 
five  thousand  men  ;  and  pursued  hard  after  them  unto  Gidom,  and  slew  two  thou- 

4G  sand  men  [more]  of  them.    So  that  all  which  fell  that  day  of  Benjamin  were  twenty 

47  and  five  thousand  men  that  drew  the  sword  ;  all  these  were  men  of  valour.  But 
six  hundred  men  turned  and  fled  to  the  wilderness  unto   the   rock  Rimmon,  and 

48  abode  in  the  rock  Rimmon  four  months.  And  the  men  of  Israel  turned  again  upon 
[returned  unto]  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin,  and  smote  them  with  the  edge 
of  the  sword,  as  well  the  men  of  every  city,"  as  the  beast  [cattle],  and  all  that  came 
to  hand  [was  found]  :  also  they  set  on  fire  all  the  cities  that  they  came  to  fthat 
were  found]- 


CHAPTER   XX.  29-48.    ■  255 


TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMJIATICAL. 


11  Ver.  31.  —  D'^bbn  D^ntt  nSSnb  ^  vn*T  :   "  and  they  began  to  smite  of  the   people,  slain  ;  "  i.  e  ,  they 
•t-:tt"  -:"t-  i-j-i  i.- 

imote  so  that  the  smitten  became  slain.     D'^  V7n  is  the  accusative  of  closer  definition.     Dr.  Ca.?sel   takes  it  i 


;  as  nomi. 


native  :  "  They  began  to  smite,  (so  that,)  as  at  the  former  times,  slain  of  the  people  were  [J.  e.,  lay]  on  the  highways,  of 
which  one,"  etc.     Similarly  in  ver  39.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  .33.  —  mi?^.      Dr.  Cassel :  BlUsse,  "  nakedness  " ;  cf.  his  remarks  below.     The  Peshito  read  mi7^,  a 

save  ;  the  LXX.  in  Cod.  Alex.,  and  the  Vulgate,  ^^PO,  "  from  the  west."     Fiirst  (in  his  Lexicon)  defines  n"12?tt   as 

"forest,"  and  derives  it  from  a  conjectural  root  n^^  III.,  to  sprout  thickly,  to  which  he  also  assigns  the  participle  in 
Ps.  xxxvii.  35.  Keil  seeks  to  remove  the  difficulty  of  connecting  the  ambuscade  with  an  open,  treeless  plain,  by  remark- 
ing that  "  the  words  of  the  text  do  not  require  us  to  suppose  that  the  forestless  region  was  the  place  of  hiding,  but  may 
be  80  understood  as  to  affirm  that  the  ambuscade,  having  broken  up  from  its  hiding-place,  advanced  against  the  city  from 

the  forestless  region."  But  he  has  failed  to  notice  that  the  participle  ri"^2D  speaks  precisely  of  the  "breaking  forth," 
and  leaves  the  idea  of  ''  advancing  o?i  the  city  "  entirely  unexpi'essed.  —  Tr  ] 

[3  Ver.  34.  —  ni753!?  "f.4?.P  ^^i^^l:  "from  before  Gibeah."  Dr. Cassel,  like  the  E.  V.,  has  "against."  Bertheau 
8;iys  :  "  The  ambuscade,  consisting  of  ten  thousand  chosen  men,  came  '  from  straight  before  '  Gibeah  ;  whither  they  came,  is 
not  stated,  but  from  the  connection  it  appears  that  they  attacked  the  Benj.imites,  who  were  fighting  at  .some  distance  from 
the  city,  in  the  rear."  Keil  adopts  the  same  explanation.  But  it  is  manifest  from  vers.  37,  38,  and  especially  vers.  40 
and  41,  that  Bertheau  and  Keil  are  wrong,  and  the  E.  V.  and  our  author  right."  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  36. —  "533  ^3  1S3"*33'"*33  •IMT'1.      With  this  verse,  a  new  and  more  detailed  account  of  the  conflict  be- 
T  •      .    '   •  T :  •      ••  :  :  •- 

gins.     So  Bertheau,  Keil,  and  Bunsen,  as  well  as  our  author.     To  indicate  this  to  the  eye,  we  have  introduced  a  new 

paragraph  division  into  the  text.  Bertheau  and  Bunsen  agree  with  our  author  that  the  subject  of  '?333  is  "the  sons  of 
Israel."  According  to  Keil,  "  the  sons  of  Benjamin  saw  that  they  were  smitten,  and  that  the  men  of  Israel  only  gave 
way  before  them  because  they  depended  on  the  ambuscade  which  they  had  laid  against  Gibeah.  They  became  aware  of 
this  when  the  ambuscade  fell  on  their  rear."  But  this  is  inconsistent  with  ver.  37,  and  certainly  with  ver.  40.  Ver.  36 
is  a  restatement  of  ver.  32,  introductory  to  tbe  detailed  account  that  now  follows.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  37.  —  TfCi?^*''!.      Dr.  Cassel  translates :  '"  and  the  ambuscade  overpowered  and  smote  the  whole  city  ;  "  and 

adds  in  a  foot-note  :  "  In  the  sen.se  of  Job  xxiv.  22  :  IHSS  Q'^'H^SS  T[tt"'tt.  But  there  the  word  probably  means 
"  to  hold  fast,  to  pre.serve,"  cf.  Delitzsch  in  locum.  It  seems  better  to  take  it  here  in  the  sense  "  to  march,  advance,"  cf 
ch.  iv.  6.  —  Tr.] 

[6  Ver.  38  —  CiTl  vl^nv  ^^T"^'  '^^^  ^''^''  "^  these  words  being  taken  as  the  apocopated  hiphil  imperative,  a 
mixture  of  the  direct  with  the  indirect  address  arises  from  the  suffix  of  the  third  person  in  the  second  word.     Dr.  Cassel 

avoids  this  by  declaring  I3^.rT  to  be  an  apocopated  infinitive  (see  below) ;  but  it  is  better  to  admit  the  existence  of  a 
grammatical  inaccuracy.  —  Tit.] 

[7  Ver.  42.  —  i^inS  iniW  C^in'^nttJa  C^nVn^  1tt^S\  Dr.  Cassel  translates  :  «  and  they  of  the  cities 
(through  which  Benjamin  came)  destroyed  them  in  the  midst  of  them."  Compare  the  exegetical  remarks.  Keil  :  "  Tha 
words  Q"^"127nJ3  "1B?ST  can  only  be  an  appositional  explanation  of  the  suffix  in  !innj7^2"TrT,  in  the  sense  :  Benja- 
min, namely,  they  who  out  of  the  cities  of  Benjamin  had  came  to  the  aid  of  Gibeah  (cf.  vers.  14  f),  i.  e.,  all  Benjamites. 
The  following  V^  C^rT^ntTD  is  a  circumstantial  clause  illustrative  of  the  preceding  STH  n^H  vSH  :  'in  that 
they  (the  meu  of  Israel)  destroyed  him  (Benjamin)  in  the  midst  of  it.'     The  singular  suffix  in   ISl/IIl,   refers  not  to 

Benjamin  —  for  that  yields  no  tolerable  sense  —  but  to  the  preceding  *13"773rT  TI^T  :  '  in  the  midst  of  the  way  to  th« 
desert.'  " 

[8  Ver   43.  —  This  verse  continues  the  description  begun  in  ver.  42,  by  means  of  an  animated  constructio  asyndeta. 

1J3''32"inSt  ^"1i^3,  they  surrounded  Benjamin  (by  throwing  out  bodies  of  men  on  his  flanks)  ;   ^inp'^Tin,    pur- 
sued after  him  ;   !in3*'*TTrT  nn^3tt,  fell  upon  and  trode  him  down  at  his  resting-place  (that  is,  when,  exhausted,  he 
••.•:•         T        ;  '  ' 

halted  to  take  breath —  nn-13a,  accusative  of  place)j  and  this  pursuit  and  slaughter  continued  until  the  pursuers, 
who  stivrted  from  some  distance  north  of  Gibeah  (ver.  31),  had  come  south  "  as  far  as  before  Gibeah  on  its  eastern  side." 
There  the  remnant  of  the  pursued  found  means  to  turn  northward  again,  ver.  45  ;  and  were  again  pursued  as  far  as 
Gidom  (a  place  evidently  somewhere  between  east  of  Gibeah  and  Rimmon).  Compare  our  author's  remarks  below,  which, 
however,  indicate  a  slightly  different  conception  on  some  points  —  Tr.] 

[9  Ver.  48.  —  CHP  T'i^XS.  Dr.  Cassel  renders  :  "  everything  of  the  city,  to  the  cattle  and  whatever  else  was  found  ;  " 
und  adds  the  following  note  :  "  Many  MSS.,  and  the  more  recent  expositors,  point  Di*ip,  men,  and  yet  it  cannot  be  said 
that  with  riDnS.  this  forms  an  altogether  suitable  antithesis,  inasmuch  as  it  still  fails  to  express  the  idea  that  every- 
thing  was  put  under  the  ban  of  destruction.  The  pointing  Diip  finds  support  in  Josh.  viii.  24  ;  x.  20,  where  similar 
Sostructions  nan"*!!?  are  spoknn  of."  —  Tb.] 


254 


THE  BOOK   OF  JUDGES. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  29  if.  From  the  detcrniineil  purpose  of  the 
ten  tribes  to  prosecute  the  war,  Bciijaiuin  should 
have  taken  occasion  to  yield.  Since  Israel  con- 
tinued firm,  notwitlistandini^  severe  losses,  it  niiyht 
have  concluded  that  it  was  impossible  to  resist 
permanently.  It  might  also  have  observed  that 
another  spirit  animated  this  second  war,  and  that 
Israel  had  become  thoroughly  in  earnest  to  com- 
plete the  work  it  had  taken  in  hand.  Another  in- 
terval of  time  had  manifestly  passed  by.  After 
the  dissolution  of  the  first  army,  Israel  had  to  levy 
a  new  one  (illustrative  examples  of  this  may  be 
found  in  the  North  American  Union  war).  Ac- 
cordingly, the  hrst  engagements  are  spoken  of  to- 
gether, as  the  "former"  or  the  "first"  war  (vei's. 
32  and  39 J.  The  tribes  of  Israel  now  first  con- 
clude to  use  strategic  arts.  This  circumstance  in- 
cidentally affords  data  which  enable  us  to  obtain  a 
somewhat  clearer  idea  of  the  theatre  of  the  war. 
Gibeah  lay  high;  the  attack  of  the  Israelites  came 
from  the  direction  of  Bethel,  i.  e.,  from  the  North- 
west. Two  highways  are  mentioned,  along  which 
the  sons  of  Benjamin  advanced  to  meet  the  assail- 
ants— one  leading  to  Bi^thel,  the  other  to  "  Gibeah- 
in-the-Field  "  (a  Lower,  or  Field-Gibeah  in  contrast 
with  the  Higher,  or  Mountain-Gibeah).  The  Is- 
raelites allure  the  Benjamites,  rendered  unwary  by 
former  successes,  f  irther  and  farther  away  from  the 
heights  and  the  city.  It  is  expressly  said  that  Ben- 
jamin went  out  "  to  meet  them  "  (H^^T'P />  ver.  31 ). 
They  offer  scarcely  any  resistance,  but  retreat,  con- 
stantly followed  by  Benjamin,  who  already  sees  the 
triumj)hs  of  the  first  two  battle  days  reenacted  (ver. 
32).  Not  until  they  have  reached  Baal  Tamar,i 
doubtless  at  a  suitable  distance  from  Gibeah,  do 
they  lialt,  and  wait  tor  the  prearranged  signal  from 
other  divisions  who  lay  in  ambush',  and  who  were 
to  attack  the  city  as  soon  as  the  Benjamites  should 
leave  it.     The  place  from  which  the  city  is  thus 

suddenly  attacked,  is  called  V^TTl'^VD  (ver.  33). 

The  Masora  has  pointed  HHl^Q,  evidently  deriving 

the  word  from  "^^^i  to  be  naked,  and  intending 
to  express  by  it,  as  Ilaschi  also  explains,  the 
"  nakedness "  of  Gibeah,  i.  e.,  its  accessible  part. 

The  Targura  renders  it  by  "^^"^^ ;  the  same  term 

by  which  it  constantly  renders    TIDHV,  so  that 

possibly  it  may  have  read  H^'nrp.  It  might 
then  be  understood  of  the  point  where  the  hill 
slopes  down  to  the  plain,  and  thus  becomes  more 
accessible.     The   simplest  way  would  be  to  point 

so  as  to  read  Pfl'Vp,  a  cave,  as  the  Septuagint  also 
seems  to  do:  Maapa')e0a  (instead  of  Mapaayi^i). 
North  of  the  present  Jeba,  with  which  our  Gibeah 
is  held  to  be  identical,  runs  the  Wady  es-Suweinit. 
It  comes  from  Beitin  and  el-Bireh,  to  the  North- 
west, and,  after  passing  Jeba,  runs  between  high 
precipices,  in  one  of  which  is  a  large  cavern  called 
Jaihah  (Hob.  i.  441). 

Vers.  34,  3.5.  And  they  came  against  Gibeah, 
ten  thousand  men.     We  now  first  learn  the  nu- 

1  Movers  {Pk'iniziir,  i.  681)  proposes  to  explain  this  name 
of  a  place  by  means  of  the  I'lioenician  Tjimyrus,  Zeus  De- 
marus.  Raschi,  on  the  other  hand,  connected  it  with  the 
district  of  Jericho. 

■i  This  is   supported  by  the  Syriac-Hexaplar  version  of 

Paul  of  Telia,  which  has  S2~iyi!2  ]J2,  which  gives  us  a 
rendering  of  ayrb  Svg-ixuv  (Rdrdam,  p.  179). 


merical  strength  of  the  ambuscade,  the  placing  of 
which  was  stated  in  ver.  29.  It  is  scarcely  neces 
sary  to  ])oint  out  that  we  have  here  another  fact 
going  to  show  the  improbability  of  a  besieging 
army  of  400,000,  who  could  have  surrounded  the 
whole  of  Gibeah  on  all  sides.  Verses  34  and  35, 
while  telling  about  the  ambuscade,  take  occasion 
briefly  to  indicate  the  result  of  the  whole  war,  ac- 
cording to  what,  as  Keil  justly  observes,  is  a  char- 
acteristic practice  of  Hebrew  historiography.  This 
is  followed,  vers.  36  ff.,  by  the  more  detailed  ac- 
count derived  from  ancient  notes.  Nor  is  there 
any  discrepancy  between  ver.  35,  which  states  that 
there  fell  25,100  men  of  Benjamin,  and  ver.  46, 
which  gives  the  number  at  25,000.  The  latter  is 
only  the  sum  total  of  the  three  round  numbers  of 
vers.  44  and  45,  namely,  18,000  -f-  5,000  -\-  2,000; 
and  the  great  tidelity  of  the  report  shows  itself  in 
the  fact  that  since  the  hundred  over  25,000  is  not 
divided  between  the  round  sunas,  it  is  also  not  in- 
cluded in  the  sum  total,  although  according  to  vei*. 
35  its  inclusion  was  only  a  matter  of  course.  The 
artihee  employed  by  the  Israelites  against  the  Ben- 
jamites, was  in  a  different  way  also  used  against 
Shechem  by  Abimelech.  Similar  stratagems,  prac- 
ticed by  Scipio,  Hannibal,  and  others,  are  collected 
by  Fi'ontinus  (Stralagematicon,  lib.  iii.  cap.  10). 
Scipio  besieged  a  city  in  Sardinia,  feigned  to  take 
to  flight  before  the  besieged,  and  when  they  thought- 
lessly followed  him,  per  eos,  qiios  in  proximo  occulta- 
verat,  oppidum  invasit. 

Ver.  36.  For  the  sons  of  Benjamin  had 
thought  that  they  were  smitten.  The  "  they  " 
of  this  sentence  refers  to  tiie  Israelites,  as  appears 
from  the  succeeding  words.  The  verse  is  a  re- 
capitulation of  verse  32,  and  is  therefore  to  be 
rendered  by  the  pluperfect :  "they  had  seen  or 
thought."  They  actually  had  seen,  that  the  sons 
of  Israel  allowed  themselves  to  be  smitten. 

Ver.  38.  And  the  appointed  sign  between  the 
men  of  Israel  and  the  tiers  in  wait  was,  that 
they  should  cause  a  great  cloud  of  smoke  to 

rise  up  out  of  the  city.     The  form  —in  (^10 

Dni^S^np)  is  explained  by  the  phrase    nS")!! 

"'Sp^a,  Ps.  li.  4,  where  the  keri  has  '^'^xj-  For 
not  the  imperative  only,  but  precisely  the  infinitive, 
which  forms  it  (both  HS'^iD,  is  also  apocopated 

into  2"nn,  and  takes  in  consequence  the  advei'bial 
signification,  "strongly,"  "very,"  "fully."  The 
word  is  quite  essential  to  the  full  understanding 
of  the  sentence.  The  men  of  the  ambuscade  are 
to  cause  a  (]reat  pillar  of  smoke,  like  that  of  a 
burning  city,  to  ascend,  such  as  could  not  fail  to 
be  visible  at  a  distance,  and  could  not  be  mistaken, 
Bertheau  must  have  overlooked  this,  when  he  pro- 
posed to  remove  the  word  out  of  the  text.'* 

Vers.  42  ff.  And  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities 
destroyed  them  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  men 
of  Benjamin  fled;  and  in  flight  passed  through  the 
cities  that  lay  in  their  course.  Thereupon  the  in- 
habitants of  these  cities  also  arise,  and  slay  the 
fugitives  in  their  midst.  The  same  thing  occurs 
in  all  wars,  when  disorganized,  fugitive  troops  must 
pass  through   the  enemy's  land.*      Other  expla- 

3  On  the  very  ancient  false  reading  ^'n,  found  in 
some  Hebrew  WSS.  and  in  the  LXX.,  cf.  Keil.  Paul  of 
Telia  has  given  a  similar  rendering  in  his  Syriac  version 
(Rordam,  p.  ISO). 

4  [But  on  this  occasion  the  fugitives  do  not  pass  through 
the  enemy's  land.     From  first  to  last,  'rbether  fighting  or 


CHAPTER  XXL  1-14. 


255 


nations,  such  as  have  been  given  from  time  im- 
memorial, do  not  appear  to  harmonize  with  the 
connection  and  the  langiuigc.  The  chiuse  cannot 
refer  to  those  who  hurncd  the  city;  for  how  could 

they  be  called  "D^rnn  ~li'^^^"?  Equally  in- 
comprehensible is  the  reason  for  using  this  ex- 
pression, and  the  iDlnS  connected  with  it,  if 
Bertheau's  explanation,  which  Keil  has  mostly  fol- 
lowed, be  adoj)ted ;  for  the  pursuit  and  inclosure 
are  first  delineated  in  ver.  43.  The  explanation 
of  Le  Glerc  appears  to  me  to  come  nearest  the 
sense  :  Cum  coiifayrunt  Benjaininike  ad  urbes  alio- 
ritiu  Ii.raelitarain,  ab  Us  occidebantur.  Only,  this 
must  not  be  understood  of  a  systematic  apijlication 
for  refuge  on  the  part  of  the  Benjamites ;  but  of 
the  natural  phenomenon  that  against  a  pursued 
and  smitten  foe  everything  rises  up.  The  narrator 
evidently  points  in  this  way  to  the  embittered  feel- 
ings against  Benjamin  which  everywhere  prevailed. 
In  proportion  to  Benjamin's  former  overbearing 
haughtiness,  is  his  present  experience  of  misery. 
Kot  only  is  the  hostile  army  continually  at  his 
heels,  but  he  meets  with  enemies  everywhere.  Only 
the  wilderness,  wliieli  he  endeavors  to  reach  by 
fleeing  in  an  eastern  and  northeastern  direction  to- 
ward the  Jordan,  promises  safety.  But  before  he 
arrives  there,  divisions  of  his  men  are  cut  otf  and 

BeeiDg,  Benjamin  moves  on  his  own  soil  within  his  own 
boundaries  ;  and  this  fact  makes  our  author's  explanation 


surrounded  (^"'^S,  ver.  43).  The  pursuit  is  un 
ceasing  (this  is  the  sense  of  Hn^^D  ^np*'"T~in, 
"  they  chase  his  rest,"'  lience  probably  the  hiphil) ,, 
he  scarcely  thinks  to  be  able  to  take  breath  for  a 
moment,  before  they  are  behind  him  again  :  in  this 
way  he  is  driven  until  he  finds  himself  within  the 
limits  of  the  wilderness  east  of  Gibeah.  Finally, 
still  pursued  as  far  as  an  unknown  place  called 
Gidom,  a  remnant  of  his  shattered  hosts  finds  an 
asylum  in  the  rock  Kimmon,  northeast  of  Gibeah 
and  below  Ophra,  for  the  modern  Rummon,  lying 
high,  on  a  rocky  Tell,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
great  Wady  el-'Asas,  is  held  to  be  the  rock  Rim- 
mon  of  our  narrative  (Rob.  iii.  290;  ii.  440). 

Six  hundred  men  of  the  whole  tribe  savpd  them- 
selves on  that  rock.  All  the  rest  fell  slain  by  the 
hands  of  brethren.  They  owed  their  safety  to  the 
eagerness  of  their  pursuers  to  turn  back,  and  de- 
stroy everything  belonging  to  Benjamin,  cities, 
houses,  and  lierds.  The  cities  are  put  under  the 
ban  and  burned,  like  Jericho  and  other  cities  of 
the  enemy.  The  Israelites  are  even  more  severe 
in  their  treatment  of  Benjamin,  than  the  Pytliia 
was  toward  the  hostile  Crissa,  which  was  to  be 
"  warred  on  by  day  and  by  night  and  be  made 
desolate,  and  whose  inhabitants  were  to  become 
slaves."  But  grief  and  regret  did  not  fail  to 
come. 

of  the  last  clause  of  ver.  42  impossible.  Cf.  note  7  under 
"  Textual  and  Grammatical."  —  Tk.J 


Israel  bewails  the  desolation  of  Benjamin,  and  takes  measures  to  preserve  the  tribe 

from  extinction.     Twelve  thousand  men  are  sent  to  punish  Jabesh-Gilead  for 

not  joining  in  the  war  against  Benjamin,  and  to  take  their  daughters 

for  wives  for  the  remaining  Benjamites. 

Chapter   XXI.  1-14. 

1  Now  the  men  of  Israel  had  sworn  in  Mizpeh  [Mizpah],  saying,  There  shall  noi 

2  any  of  us  give  his  daughter  unto  Benjamin  to  wife.  And  the  people  came  to  the 
house  of  God  [Beth-el],  and  abode  [sat]  there  till  even  before  God,  and  lifted  up 

3  their  voices,  and  wept  sore  ;  And  said,  O  Lord  [Jehovah,]  God  of  Israel,  why  is 
this  come  to  pass  in  Israel,  that  there  should  be  to-day  one  tribe  lacking  in  Israel  ? 

4  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  the  people  rose  early,  and  built  there  an 

5  altar,  and  offered  burnt-offerings,  and  peace-offerings.  And  the  children  [sons]  of 
Israel  said,  Who  is  there  among  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  that  came  not  up  with  [in] 
the  congregation  unto  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  ?  For  they  had  made  a  great  oath  con- 
cerning him  that  came  not  up  to  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  to  Mizpeh,  saying.  He  shall 

6  surely  be  put  to  death.     And  the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  repented  them  for  Ben- 

7  jamin  their  brother,  and  said.  There  is  one  tribe  cut  off  from  Israel  this  day.  How 
shall  we  do  for  wives  for  them  that  remain,  seeing  we  have  sworn  by  the  Lord  [ Je- 

8  hovah],  that  we  will  not  give  them  of  our  daughters  to  wives  ?  And  they  said. 
What  one  is  there  of  the  tribes  of  Israel  that  came  not  up  to  Mizpeh  to  the  Lord 
[Jehovah]  ?  and  behold,  there  came  none  to  the  camp  from  Jabesh-gilead  to  the 

9  assembly.     For  the  people  were  numbered  [mustered],  and  behold  there  xvere  none 

10  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh-gilead  there.  And  the  congregation  sent  thither  twelve 
thousand  men  of  the  valiantest,  and  commanded  them,  saying,  Go  and  smite  the 
inhabitants  of  Jabesh-gilead  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  with  the  women  and  the 

11  children.     And  this  is  the  thing  that  ye  shall  do,  Ye  shall  utterly  destroy  every 

1 2  male,  and  every  woman  that  hath  lain  by  man.     And  they  found  among  the  inhab 


256 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


itants  of  Jabesh-gilead  four  hundred  young  [women,]  virgins [,]  that  had  known 
no  man  by  lying  witli  any  male :  and  they  brought  them  unto  the  camp  to  Shiloh, 

13  which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  the  whole  congregation  sent  some  to  speak 
to  the  children   [sons]    of  Benjamin   that  tvere  in  the  rock  Rimmon,  and  to  call 

14  peaceably  unto  them  [and  otlered  (lit.  called)  j^eace  to  them].  And  Benjamin  came 
again  [returned]  at  that  time  ;  and  they  gave  them  wives  [the  women]  which  they 
had  saved  alive  of  the  women  of  Jabesh-gilead :  and  yet  so  they  sufficed  them  not 
[but  they  found  not  for  them  so  many].^ 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  14.  —  I'D  nn^  ^S  — tt"S7l.     Here,  as  in  Ex.  x.  14,   "J3  means  tot ;  and,  in  general,  it  answers  to  tantus, 
tans,  tot,  where  to  "  so  "  we  add  the  appropriate  atijectire. 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Vers.  1-4.  Now  the  men  of  Israel  had  sworn 
ir.  Mizpah.  Oui-  author  now  informs  us,  by  way 
of  supplementing  the  preceding  narrative,  of  two 
oaths  taken  by  the  congregation  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war.     All  Israel   premised,  man  by  man 

(hence  the  expression  ^^v^')  ^J'^S),  that  they 
would  not  give  their  daughters  as  wives  to  any 
men  of  Benjamin.  They  abrogated  the  conmibium 
(the  right  of  intermarriage)  with  the  tribe.  They 
determined  to  treat  Benjamin  as  a  heathen  people, 
or  as  heathen  nations,  in  the  absence  of  special 
treaties  (eTn-ya/xia),  were  accustomed  to  look  upon 
each  other.  There  were  instances  of  heathen 
tribes  who  did  not  at  all  intermix.  Such  cases 
were  found  among  Germanic  tribes  also,  until 
Christianity  had  fully  conquered  them.  It  was  the 
church  that  brought  East-Goths  and  West-Goths, 
Anglo-Saxons  and  Britons,  Franks  and  Eomans, 
to  look  upon  each  other  as  tribes  of  one  Israel. 
Very  great,  therefore,  must  have  been  the  indign.a- 
tion  of  the  collective  Israel,  when  they  thus,  as  it 
were,  cast  Benjamin  out  of  their  marriage  cove- 
nant. The  Komans  once  (335  b.  c.)  punished 
certain  rebellious  Latin  tribes  by  depriving  them 
of  the  privileges  of  connubia,  commercia,  et  concilia 
(Liv.  viii.  14).  The  Latins  were  subject  tribes: 
Benjamin,  a  brother-tribe  with  equal  rights.  It 
might  be  thought  that  such  a  resolve  was  of  itself 
sutticient  to  punish  Benjamin  for  its  immorality. 
But  is  it  not  probable  that  in  that  case,  the  tribe, 
through  its  stubbornness,  would  have  sunk  alto- 
gether into  heathenism  ?  It  must  be  admitted, 
however,  that  double  punishment  was  too  severe. 
For  it  was  to  punish  the  guilty,  not  to  destroy  a 
tribe,  that  Israel  had  taken  the  field.  This  they 
now  perceive  —  but  too  late — after  their  passion- 
ate exasperation  has  subsided.  They  now  sit  be- 
fore the  altar  of  God  in  Bethel,  weeping  over  the 
calamity  that  has  taken  place.  The  consequences 
of  their  unmeasured  severity  are  now  perceived. 
To  what  purpose  this  utter  destruction  by  the 
sword  of  everything  that  pertained  to  the  brother 
tribe  ?  When  Benjamin  took  to  flight,  would  it 
not  have  sutheed  then  once  more  to  demand  of  hira 
the  surrender  of  the  guilty  ?  Would  he  still  have 
resisted,  when,  helpless,  he  sought  the  wilderness 
for  refuge  1  To  what  purpose  the  slaughter  of  the 
flying?  the  indiscriminate  use  of  sword  and  fagot 
in  the  cities  1  Israel  has  cause  for  weeping  ;  for 
it  feels  the  horrors  of  civil  war.  Humanity  and 
kindness  are  frightened  away  when  brethren  war 
with  brethren.  The  worst  and  most  detestable 
crimes  are  committed  against  nations  by  them- 
selves, under  the  iijfluencc  of  foolish  self-deception. 


when  they  fall  victims  to  internal  strife.  The  ex- 
asperation of  the  feelings  puts  moral  causes  entirely 
out  of  sight.  Leaders,  says  Tacitus,  are  then  less 
valued  than  soldiers  {Hist.  ii.  29,  6  :  "civilibus  bellis 
plus  militibus,  qiiam  diicibus  licere").  Israel  may 
bewail  itself  before  God,  but  it  cannot  accuse  its 
leaders.  The  Urim  and  Thummim  approved  the 
punishment  of  Benjamin,  but  not  the  oaths  and 
cruelty  with  which  it  was  accompanied.  However, 
if  Israel  in  this  war  furnishes  an  illustrative  in- 
stance of  the  results  to  which  defiant  obstinacy  (on 
the  side  of  Benjamin),  and  fanatical,  self-exasperat- 
ing zeal  (on  the  side  of  the  ten  tribes),  may  lead, 
it  is  also  instructive  to  note  that  it  knows  that  such 
doings  must  be  repented  of.  It  builds  an  altar, 
and,  as  before  the  war,  brings  burnt-offerings  and 
peace-offerings,  the  first  expressive  of  penitence  for 
the  past,  the  other  of  vows  for  the  future. 

Vers.  5  ff.  For  they  had  made  a  great  oath 
concerning  whoever  came  not  up  to  Jehovah 
to  Mizpah,  saying.  He  shaU  surely  be  put  to 
death.  Israel  here  also  again  clearly  shows  in  its 
history,  what  every  man  may  observe  in  his  own 
experience  :  that  repentance  and  vows,  with  refer- 
ence to  past  precipitate  sin,  have  scarcely  been  ex- 
pressed, before  the  same  thing  is  done  again,  and 
iVeqixently  with  the  same  blind  zeal  which  was  just 
before  lamented.  At  that  time,  when  indignation 
at  the  outrage  in  Gibeah  filled  all  hearts,  an  oath 
was  also  taken  that  every  city  in  Israel  that  did 
not  send  its  messengers  to  the  national  assembly, 
consequently  took  no  part  in  the  general  proceed- 
ing against  Benjamin,  which  was  the  cause  of  God, 
should  be  devoted  to  destruction.  Such  a  city  was 
considered  to  make  itself,  to  a  certain  extent,  an 
ally  of  Benjamin,  and  to  be  not  suflSciently  dis- 
turbed by  the  outrageous  misdeed,  to  give  assur- 
ance that  it  did  not  half  approve  of  it.  Amid  the 
terrible  events  of  the  war,  it  had  been  neglected  to 
ascertain  whether  all  cities  had  sent  messengers ; 
it  is  only  now,  when  the  question  how  to  help 
Benjamin  up  again  without  violating  the  oath,  is 
considered,  that  the  absence  of  messengers  from 
Jabesh-Gilead  is  brought  to  light.  And  what  is 
it  proposed  to  do !  To  deal  with  that  city  as  they 
have  just  lamented  to  have  dealt  with  Benjamin. 
In  order  to  restore  broken  Benjamin,  another  and 
in  any  view  far  less  guilty  city  is  now  to  be 
crushed.  The  reconciliation  of  breaches  made  by 
wrath  is  to  be  made  by  means  of  wrath.  The 
people  lament  that  they  have  sworn  an  untimely 
oath,  and  instead  of  penitently  seeking  to  be 
absolved  from  it  before  God,  undertake  to  make  it 
good  by  executing  another,  equally  hard  and  se- 
vere, and  that  after  "Jehovah"  has  smitten  the 
rebellious  (ch.  xx.  35),  and  peace  has  been  re- 


CHAPTER   XXI.    15-25. 


257 


stored.  Jabesh-Gilead  was  a  valiant  city,  full  of 
men  of  courage,  as  all  Gileadites  were.  According' 
to  Euschius,  it  lay  six  miles  from  Pella.  Kobin- 
sou  searched  for  its  site  along  the  Wady  which 
still  bears  the  name  Yabis,  and  thought  it  proba- 
bly that  now  occupied  by  some  ruins,  and  culled 
ed-Deir  {Bibl.  Ees.  iii.  319).  The  city  must  have 
been  one  of  importance  in  Gilead.  This  is  indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  the  Ammonite  king  Nahash 
selects  it  as  his  point  of  attack  (1  Sam.  xi.).  In 
the  history  of  Jephthah  its  name  does  not  occur. 
When  king  Saul  hears  of  the  danger  threatened 
the  city  by  Nahash,  he  cuts  a  yoke  of  oxen  into 
pieces,  which  he  sends  throughout  all  Israel  with 
a  summons  to  march  to  the  relief  of  Jabesh-Gilead, 
and  obtains  a  splendid  victory.  These  historical 
notices  suggest  some  noteworthy  connections. 
Against  Jabesh  the  Israelites  now  undertake  the 
execution  of  a  severe  vow,  in  order  to  assist  Ben- 
jamin. At  a  later  date,  Saul  of  Benjamin  collects 
Israel  around  him,  in  order  to  deliver  Jabesli. 
Jabesh  does  not  come  when  summoned  against 
Benjamin,  by  the  pieces  of  the  slain  woman.  Un- 
der Saul,  Benjamin  summons  the  whole  people 
for  Jabesh,  by  the  pieces  of  a  sacrificial  animal. 

Israel  sends  12,000  valiant  warriors  against 
Jabesh-Gilead  —  a  duly  proportioned  number,  if 
40,000  proceeded  against  Benjamin.  The  com- 
mander of  these  troops  is  instructed  to  destroy 
everything  in  Jabesh,  except  the  virgin  women, 
who  are  to  be  brought  awaj',  in  order  to  be  given 
to  Benjamin.  It  may  be  assumed,  however,  that 
these  instructions  ai'e  to  be  so  taken  as  that  the 
army  was  to  compel  Jabesh  to  deliver  up  its  virgin 
daughters  as  an  expiation  for  its  guilt,  under 
threat  of  being  pi-oceeded  with,  in  case  of  refusal, 
according  to  its  proper  deserts. i  For  it  is  not 
stated  that  the  destruction  was  carried  out ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  under  Saul,  Jabesh  is  again,  to 
all  appearances,  the  chief  city  of  Gilead.    The  four 

1  The  .Athenian  lonians,  according  to  Herodotus  (i.  146), 
stole  Carian  women  for  themselves,  and  killed  their  fathers. 
Hence,  he  says,  the  Milesian  custom  which  did  not  permit 
women  to  eat  with  their  husbands,  or  to  call  them  by  their 
aames. 


hundred  ■\'irgins  are  then,  so  to  speak,  the  expia- 
tory sacrifice  for  the  guilty  in  Gilead.  As  such, 
and  because  the  Gileadites  were  forced  to  surren- 
der them,  they  could  be  given  to  Benjamin,  not- 
withstanding the  oath,  which  contemplated  a  vol- 
untary giving.  The  words  in  ver.  14,  "which 
they  had  saved  alive  of  the  women  of  Jabesh- 
Gilead,"  do  not  imply  that  the  others  were  actu- 
ally killed,  but  indicate  that  these  were  those  who 
in  any  event  were  to  be  permitted  to  live  for  tha 
sake  of  Benjamin,  and  who  by  their  life  —  not  as 
frequently  among  the  heathen,  by  their  death  — 
helped  to  preserve  the  existence  both  of  the  Gilead- 
ites, from  whom  they  were  taken,  and  of  the  Ben- 
jamites,  to  whom  they  were  given.'-  Inasmuch  as 
they  were  preserved  alive  when  it  was  possible  to 
kill  them,  they  were  no  longer  considered  to  be 
such  as  ought  not  be  given  to  Benjamin.  How 
instructive  is  all  this  !  Israel  will  not  break  its 
oath,  but  evades  it  after  all !  If  Gilead  had  de- 
sei-ved  death,  then  its  virgin  women  could  not  be 
allowed  to  live.  If  these  may  be  saved  alive,  why 
should  the  children  die  ?  The  Gileadites  may  not 
give  their  daughters  voluntarily,  but  do  not  the 
Israelites  give  them  for  them '?  The  surrender  of 
these  maidens  is  indeed  a  violent  solution  of  the 
dilemma  in  which  Israel  finds  itself,  but  the  solu- 
tion is  only  formal,  not  natural.  The  Greeks  also, 
in  cases  of  oaths  thoughtlessly  made,  whose  per- 
formance was  maliciously  insisted  on,  had  recourse 
to  formal  exegesis,  which  avoided  the  real  exe- 
cution (cf  Herod,  iv.  154;  Niigelsbach,  Nachhom. 
Tlieol.,  p.  244).  For  the  sake  of  kindness  to  Ben- 
jamin, Israel  here  thought  itself  justified  in  adopt- 
ing a  similar  course ;  for  in  order  not  to  weaken 
the  sanctity  of  oaths,  they  evaded  that  which  they 
had  sworn  by  a  formal  compliance.  They  soon 
found  occasion  to  repeat  the  process;  for  the  four 
hundred  Gileaditish  maidens  were  not  sufficient. 


2  [Unfortunately,  this  exegesis  has  not  a  parti'cle  of  sup- 
port in  the  text.  To  use  a  favorite  phrase  of  the  Ger- 
mans on  such  occasions,  it  is  entirely  aus  der  Luft  gegx\f' 
fen.  —  Tr.] 


A  second  expedient   to   supply  the   Benjamites  toith  wives :   they  are  instructed  to 

carry  off  the  maidens  in  attendance  at  one  of  the  feasts 

held  periodically  in  Shiloh. 

Chapter  XXL  15-25. 


15     And  the   people  repented  them  for  Benjamin,  because  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 
1  6  had  made  a  breach  in  the  tribes  of  Israel.     Then  [And]  the  elders  of  the  congre- 
gation said,  How  shall  we  do  for  wives  for  them  that  remain,  seeing  the  women  are 

17  destroyed  out  of  Benjamin?     And  they  said,  There  must  he  an  inheritance  for  them 

18  that  be  escaped  of  Benjamin,^  that  a  tribe  be  not  destroyed  out  of  Israel.  How- 
beit,  we  may  no't  give  them  wives  of  our  daughters  :  for  the  children  [sons]  of 

19  Israel  have  sworn,  saying,  Cursed  he  he  thatgiveth  a  wife  to  Beitjamin.  Then  they 
said.  Behold,  there  is  a  feast  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  in  Shiloh  yearly  [,]  in  a  place 
[omit :  in  a  place]  which  [namely,  Shiioh]  is  on  the  north  side  of  Beth-el,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  highway  that  goeth  up  from  Beth-el  to  Rhechem,  and  on  the  south  of 

20  Lebonah.    Therefore,  they  commanded  the  children   [sons]  of  Benjamin,  saying  Go, 

17 


258 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


21  and  lie  in  wait  in  the  vineyards  ;  And  see,  and  behold,  if  [when]  the  daughters  of 
Shi] oh  come  out  to  dance  in  dances,  then  come  ye  out  of  the  vineyards,  and  catch 
you  every  mau  his  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Shiloh,  and  go  to  the  laud  of  Benjamin. 

22  And  it  shall  be,  when  their  fathers  or  their  brethren  come  unto  us  to  complain 
[contend],  that  we  will  say  unto  them,  Be  favourable  unto  them  for  our  sakes 
[Give  us  them  kindly]  :  because  we  reserved  [took]  not  to  [omit :  to]  each  man  his 
wife  in  the  war ;  -  for  ye  did  not  give  unto  them  at  this  time,^  that  ye  should  be 

23  guilty.  And  the  children  [sons]  of  Benjamin  did  so,  and  took  thein  wives,  accord- 
ing to  their  number,  of  them  that  danced,  whom  they  caught :   and  they  went  and 

24  returned  unto  their  inheritance,  and  repaired  the  cities,  and  dwelt  in  them.  And 
the  children  [sons]  of  Israel  departed  thence  at  that  time,  every  man  to  his  tribo 
and  to  his  family,  and  they  went  out  from  thence  every  man  to  his  inheritance. 

25  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel :  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in 
his  own  eyes. 

^TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  17.  —  y^y^  ■  ^  f    nti^72  nC^n^.        Dr.  Cassel  renders  :  "  A  portion  of  escape  yet  remains  foi  Benjamin," 

t  e...  a  means  of  delivering  the  tribe  from  extinction.  This  agrees  well  with  the  context,  but  is  expressed  somewhat  sin- 
ixularly.  Keil  :  "  '  Possession  of  the  saved  shall  be  for  Benjamin,"  i.  e.,  the  territory  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  shall  con- 
tinue to  be  a  separate  possession  for  those  Beujamites  who  have  escaped  the  general  slaughter.'-  But  this  is  not  only 
incongruous  witU  the  context,  but  puts  a  meaning  into  tbe  words  which,  as  they  stand,  they  cannot  have.  It  seems  to  me 
that  tlie  better  interpretiition  is  as  follows  :  In  ver.  15,  the  people  lament  that  a  tribe  is  broken  off.  Thereupon  the 
Elders  meet  for  consultation.  It  is  agreed  that  tbe  only  thing  needed  to  avert  the  catastrophe,  lamented  by  the  people  as 
if  it  had  already  taken  place,  is  a  supply  of  wives.  "There  is  a  possession  of  escaped  to  Benjamin,"  say  tlie  elders 
(ver.  IT),  "  and  a  tribe  will  not  be  destroyed  out  of  Israel  "  (as  the  people  lament).  "  We,  it  is  true,  cannot  give  them 
our  daughters  (ver.  18),  but  behold  there  is  a  feast  in  Shiloh"  (ver.  19) Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  22.  —  rT73n77S3      Our  author  translates  :  als  Kriegsbeute,  i.  e.,  as  captives  of  war,  cf.  the  exegetical  remarks 
'                             T  T   :  •  -  ■ 
below.     It  seems  better  to  refer  the  word  to  "  the  war  "  against  Jabesh-Gilead Tb.] 

[3  Ver.  22 ^Dti^SJ^   rW3.    The  word  ni73,  rendered  "at  this  time"  by  the  B.  V.,  belongs  to  the  last  clause 

of  the  verse.     The  two  clauses  together  are  well  rendered  by  Dr.  Cassel :  "  for  you  have  not  given  them  to  them,  in 

which  case   (jIj^S)   you  would  be  guilty."     He  adds  in  a  foot-note:   "  ri573  as  in  ch.  xiii.  23;   'in  which  case  he 

would  not  have  caused  us  to  hear  things  like  these."  "     Bertheau  refers  also  to  Num.  xxiii.  23 Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  15  ff.  The  fact  that  the  number  of  maidens 
obtained  at  Jabesh-Gilead  proved  insufficient,  fur- 
nishes the  occasion  of  another  consultation,  insti- 
tuted by  the  "elders  of  the  congregation"  (ver. 
16),  in  order  not  to  let  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  die 
out.  Finally,  they  hit  on  one  last  piece  of  deliv- 
erance (n^'^b?  ntt7.7p  that  is  yet  left  them: 
they  conclude  to  point  out  to  the  Benjamites  a 
method  by  which  tliey  may  .seise  for  themselves 
those  wives,  which  Israel,  lay  reason  of  its  oath, 
cannot  give  them.  The  inhabitants  of  Jabesh, 
likewise,  did  not  give  their  daughters;  they  were 
forcibly  taken  from  them,  and  turned  over  as 
booty  to  the  sons  of  Benjamin. 

Siiiloh  was  the  scene  of  a  periodically  recurring 
feast,  at  which  the  maidens  assembled  from  all  re- 
gions, and  executed  dances  in  certain  fixed  ])laccs. 
I^or  the  sake  of  these  places,  and  to  enable  the 
Benjamites  to  reach  the  proper  locality  without 
exciting  particular  attention,  an  exact  description 
of  the  situation  of  Shiloh  i  is  added.'-  For  that 
it  is  not  gone  into  for  the  sake  of  Shiloh  itself,  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  such  descriptions  are 
not  elsewhere  customary.      The  Benjamites  are 

1  The  description  may  still  be  recognized,  since  Robinson 
seems  to  have  discovered  Shiloh  in  Seilun,  and  Lebonah 
ill  Lubban.  The  description  of  Shiloh  as  ''  Shiloh  which 
Is  in  the  land  of  Canaan  "  (ver.  12),  is  more  peculiar.  This 
was  only  the  full  name  of  the  place,  cf  Josh.  x.xi.  2,  and 
xxii.  9,  where  it  is  named  in  the  same  way.  Cf.  Lugdunum 
Batavonim. 


told  of  the  vine-hills  that  enclose  the  dancing-places. 
There  they  are  to  wait,  concealed  in  the  thickets, 
until  the  maidens  come  forth ;  when  they  are  to 
rush  upon  them,  seize  each  a  wife,  and  return 
with  them,  along  theVell-known  roads,  southward 
over  liimmon,  to  their  territory,  now  again  peace- 
ably held  by  them.  The  Benjamites  appear  to 
have  directed  attention  to  the  consequences  of 
such  an  exploit,  and  the  ill-will  of  fathers  and 
brothers  likely  to  be  engendered  by  it.  But  the 
elders  of  the  congregation  quiet  their  apprehen- 
sions, and  say  :  — 

Ver.  22  ff.  "When  their  fathers  or  their  breth- 
ren come  unto  us  to  contend.  Verse  22  also 
has  experienced  the  most  singular  expositions. 
The  Syriac  and  Arabic  versions  have  substituted 

^nf^b  for  ^Snp^,  wherein  Studer  proposes  to  fol- 
low them.  Others,  as  Bertheau,  deem  it  necessary 
to  leave  out  the  words  n^nyZ^S  .  .  .  .  Sv  ^3. 
Keil  thinks  that  the  words  express  the  sense  of  the 
Benjamites,  as  if  they  had  uttered  them.  And 
yet  the  matter  is  clear.  The  Benjamites,  having 
recent  experience  of  the  consequences  of  lawless- 
ness, are  apprehensive  of  new  troubles,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  proposed  seizure.     The  elders  quiet 

2  [Better  Keil :  "  The  exact  description  of  the  situation 
of  Shiloh  serves  to  show  that  it  was  peculiarly  adapted  for 
the  execution  of  the  advice  given  to  the  Benj.amites,  who. 
after  seizing  the  maidens,  could  easily  escape  into  their  ter 
ritory  by  the  highway  leading  from  Bethel  to  Shechem,  with 
out  being  apprehended  by  the  citizens  of  Shiloh."  — Ta.l 


CHAPTER  XXI.    15-25. 


25S 


their  fears,  and  say :  No  doubt,  the  fathers  or 
brothers  will  come  and  contend  warmly  ;  and  with 
us,  for  it  will  be  manifest  that  we  have  piven  the 
occasion.  Without  this,  you,  the  tribe  of  Benja- 
min, would  not  now  have  dared  to  do  this  thing. 
They  will  reproach  us  with  having  brought  them 
under  the  curse  of  having  violated  their  oath,  inas- 
much as  you  have  obtained  their  daughters.  Then 
shall  we  say  to  then  (the  fathers) :  Be  quiet  and 
gentle;  give  the  maidens  kiudly  to  j<s.  You  know 
that  we  did  not  take  them  in  war,  as  booty,  as  for 
instance,  at  Jabesh.  We  have  indeed  allowed  them 
to  be  taken  (for  which  no  grudge  is  to  be  held 
against  Benjamin)  ;  but  in  peace,  not  for  injury: 
and  as  you  did  not  give  them,  no  guilt  attaches  to 
you.  What  else  could  we  do  to  provide  wives  for 
Benjamin,  without  involving  ourselves  in  the  curse 
of  a  broken  oath  ?  We  therefore  allowed  your 
daughters  to  be  seized,  but  not  as  captives  of  war. 
Your  daughters  have  gone  to  them  involuntarily  ; 
and  no  curse  can  come  on  you,  since  you  cfid  not 
give  them  to  them.     The  emphasis  of  the  sentence 

lies  on  this  very  word  ^3np^.  Since  we  permit- 
ted them  to  be  taken,  there  can  be  no  thought  of 
disgrace  and  war,  or  of  insult.  Therefore,  do  not 
contend ;  for  why  should  there  be  contention  where 
there  is  no  war.  The  "  elders  "  will  ask  forgive 
ness  for  themselves,  on  the  ground  that  they  meant 

it  well  with  the  seizure  (n^nbsS  S7),  not 
in  war;  and  fathers  and  brothers,  whose  wrath 
against  Benjamin  has  now  subsided,  will  all  be  sat- 
isfied, as  soon  as  they  are  convinced  tTiat  what  has 
been  done  does  not  render  them  liable  to  the  curse 
which  lights  on  oath-breakers.  For  the  oath  that 
had  been  taken  was  latterly  the  chief  hindrance  in 
the  way  of  reconciliation  with  Benjamin. 

The  Benjamites,  thus  encouraged,  and  made  to 
feel  secure  against  bad  consequences,  actually  exe- 
cute the  proposed  exploit,  and  with  the  wives  thus 
won  return  happy  to  their  renovated  inheritance. 
Roman  history,  it  is  well  kno^vn,  has  a  celebrated 
occurrence  of  a  similar  nature  in  the  rape  of  the 
Sabine  women.  A  few  analogous  features  are  un- 
doubtedly observable  therein.  The  tribes  of  Italy 
refuse  to  enter  into  marriage  treaties  with  the  Ro- 
mans ;  and  the  latter  feared  the  destruction  of  their 
scarcely  founded  state.  The  Sabine  rape  occurred 
in  the  fourth  month  of  Rome  (Blutarch,  Romulus, 
14)  ;  and  four  months  Benjamin  had  been  sitting 
in  the  rock  Rimmon..  Benjamin  received  only 
maidens  (vers.  12,  21) ;  and  only  maidens  likewise 
did  the  Romans  seize  (Plut.  /.  c. ;  Schwegler,  Rom. 
Gesch.  i.  478).  It  was  also  a  feast  for  which  the 
Sabine  women  appeared  in  Rome,  albeit  not  as 
active  participants.  In  Israel,  it  has  been  thought- 
fully conjectured,  the  dancing  maidens  perhaps  cel- 
el'vated  the  memory  of  Miriam's  festive  chorus  of 
timbrel-striking  maidens,  when  Israel  had  safely 

!)asscd  through  the  Red  Sea.  The  Romans  cele- 
)rated  the  consualia  on  the  anniversary  of  the  rape 
of  the  Sabine  maidens,  and  conceived  the  observ- 
ance sacred  to  the  sea-god.  In  like  manner,  the  ani- 
mal that  symbolized  Mars,  the  god  whom  Romulus 
chiefly  served  at  Rome,  was  the  wolf,  whom  also 
his  worshippers  did  not  disgrace.     Benjamin  is 

compared  with  a  wolf,  and  the  word  ^^H'  "sed  of 
the  seizure  of  the  virgins  (ver.  21),  is  afterwards 
applied  as  characterizing  the  wolf  ^ 

1  Cf.  the  Targum  on  Ezek.  xxii.  27,  and  my  Gold.  T)iron. 
Salomonis.  p.  164. 

2  The  usages,  also,  of  which  he  makes  mention,  as,  for 
tustance     the  Spartan,    havo   a   different   meaning.      The 


Schwegler  (Rum.  Gesch.  i.  469)  declares  that  the 
rape  of  the  Sabines  is  a  myth,  sprung  from  the 
conception  of  marriage  as  a  robbery.'-'  But  it  is 
precisely  in  this  story  that  the  seizure  of  women  is 
contrasted,  as  a  thing  improper  in  itself,  with  the 
regular  marriages  of  the  other  tribes.  The  idea 
of  the  narrative  is  rather  to  show  the  impossibility 
of  maintaining  laws  prohibiting  intermarriage  bo- 
tween  different  tribes.  It  contained  the  lesson 
that  the  marriage  connections  of  men  ovei'leap  the 
historical  divisions  of  tribes  and  families,  and  that 
just  as  the  ship  converts  the  separating  sea  into  an 
highway  of  fellowship  (Neptunus  Equestris,  for 
the  sea  is  a  steed),  so  connuiium,  the  practice  of 
intermarriage,  is  the  commingling  of  different 
tribes.  Consualia  are,  therefore,  conjugalia ;  Consus 
is  Conjux ;  the  veiling  and  concealment  connected 
with  his  festivals,  corresponds  to  the  concealment 
of  the  married  (nubere,  connubiuin) ,  and  the  sacrifice 
of  a  mule  corresponded  to  the  wish,  that  although 
the  union  was  one  of  heterogeneous  elements, 
analogous  to  that  from  which  the  animal  sprang, 
it  might  nevertheless  not  be  marked  by  the  barren- 
ness of  which  he  was  a  symbol. 

But  all  this  is  yet  more  clearly  taught  by  Benja- 
min's seizure  of  the  maidens  of  Shiloh.  Israel  is 
the  type  of  an  organic  nationality  with  different 
tribes.  Should  it  attempt  to  abolish  the  practice  of 
intermarriage,  the  result  must  be,  either  the  forci- 
ble taking  of  women,  or  the  death  of  a  member  of 
the  living  whole.  In  peace  the  Benjamites  regain 
what  they  had  lost  in  war.  An  ambuscade  almost 
annihilated  them  :  by  an  ambuscade  they  now  win 
new  life.  Then  Israel  lay  breathing  forth  wrath, 
in  desolate  wadys,  in  oi'der  to  inflict  barrenness  : 
now,  Benjamin  lies  among  fertile  vine-hills,  in 
order  to  procure  a  blessing.  It  is  frightful  to  think 
of  Benjamin  dissolving  in  flames,  and  his  women 
and  maiilens  falling  by  the  inexorable  sword  ;  so 
that  it  must  be  acknowledged  a  grateful  change 
when  we  can  picture  to  ounselves  the  Benjamites 
hurrying  away  with  their  kidnapped  prizes.  But 
the  seeming  act  of  war  was  yet  not  without  its  ter- 
rors and  tears,  as  suddenly  the  timbrels  ceased  to 
sound,  and  daughters  screamed,  and  mothers  wept. 
It  was  an  image  of  war  sufficient  of  itself  to  mark 
the  horribleness  of  civil  war.  The  narrative  is 
given  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  into  what 
irregularities  a  people  naturally  falls  when  it  lacks 
the  organic  unity  of  one  general  regimen.  It 
closes  with  the  words,  which  might  form  the  super- 
scription of  the  entire  Book  :  "  There  was  no  king 
in  Israel,  and  every  man  could  do  what  seemed  right 
in  his  own  eyes. 

Concluding  Note.  —  The  time  in  which  the 
occurrence  at  Gibeah  and  the  events  that  grew 
out  of  it  took  place,  it  is  not  difficult  to  ascertain. 
Everything  points  back  to  the  time  in  which  the 
memories  and  traditions  of  Israel's  military  fellow- 
ship under  Joshua  were  yet  living  and  fresh.  It 
is  the  period  concerning  which  it  is  said.  Josh, 
xxiv.  31,  and  Judg.  ii.  7  :  "And  the  people  served 
Jehovah  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days 
of  the  elders  that  outlived  Joshua,  who  had  seen 
all  the  great  works  of  Jehovah,  which  he  did  for 
Israel." 

It  is  also  evident  from  the  narrative  that  God 
was  still  zealously  served.  Counsel  was  sought  from 

mother  must  be  robbed  of  her  child  because  she  loves  it. 
The  narrative  in  question  exhibits  the  necessity  of  robbery, 
because  the  stranger  does  not  meet  with  love. 


260 


THE  BOOK  OF  JUDGES. 


the  Urim  and  Thummim.  The  people  wept  and 
fasted  before  God.  They  brought  burnt-sacrifices 
and  peace-offerings.  Of  idohxtry,  there  is  not  a 
trace.  Union  with  heathen  women  is  held  incon- 
ceivable. All  Israel  still  feels  itself  under  a  mili- 
tary organization  such  as  obtained  under  Moses 
and  Joshua.  In  all  probability,  no  great  length 
of  time  had  elapsed  since  military  operations  for 
the  conquest  of  the  land  had  come  to  a  stand-still. 
.From  Judg.  i.  22-26,  it  may  be  seen  what  great 
importance  was  attached  to  the  conquest  of  Bethel. 
When  the  house  of  Joseph,  in  whose  territory 
Sliiloh  and  the  estate  of  the  higii-pricst  lay  (Josh. 
xxiv.  .3.3),  went  up  against  Bethel,  "Jehovah  was 
with  them."  It  is  probable  that  from  that  time 
until  into  the  days  of  the  events  that  have  just 
been  related,  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  at  Bethel, 
and  that  that  place  was  the  centre  of  military  ac- 
tions. The  ark  must,  however,  have  been  removed 
before  the  end  of  the  Benjamite  war;  for  when 
peace  is  restored,  it  is  found  in  Shiloh.  Its  stay  at 
Bethel  cannot  have  been  long,  for  there  is  there  no 
permanent  altar  (ch.  xxi.  4).  The  maidens  of 
Jabesh,  also,  are  not  brought  to  Bethel,  but  to 
Shiloh  (ch.  xxi.  12).  The  exodus  from  Egypt  is 
still  in  living  remembrance  (ch.  xix.  .30).  Just  as 
after  the  death  of  Joshua,  the  order  was,  "  Judah 
first"  (ch.  i.  1),  so  it  is  now  (ch.  x.x.  18).  Nothing 
is  visible  as  yet  of  the  partial  efforts  of  single 
tribes.  All  this  is  most  clearly  deducible  from  the 
fact  that  Phinehas,  the  son  of  Eleazar,  and  the 
grandson  of  Aaron,  stands  at  the  head  of  the  sanc- 
tuary (ch.  XX.  28).  He  was  yet  one  of  those  who 
had  seen  the  great  works  of  Jehovah.  Eleazar, 
his  father,  had  died  after  Joshua.  Until  he  him- 
self died,  Israel's  religious  condition  was  doubtless 
such  as  is  described  in  ch.  ii.  7.  Moreover,  his 
name  and  character  suggest  the  inference  that  the 
events  just  treated  of,  are  immediately  connected 
with  the  preceding  great  age.  It  was  Phinehas 
whose  moral  zeal  incited  him  to  slay  the  sinning 
Israelite  in  the  territory  of  Moab,  for  which  act 
he  was  praised  as  having  "  turned  away  the  wrath 
of  God"  (Num.  xxv.  7-12).  To  him,  therefore, 
the  moral  indignation  of  Israel  over  the  criminal 
outrage  of  Benjamin,  is  doubtless  to  be  especially 
attributed.  He  had  been  selected  by  Moses  to  ac- 
company a  hostile  expedition  against  Midian  by 
which  Israel  had  been  seduced  into  heathen  prac- 
tices (Num.  xxxi.  6).  This  expedition  numbered 
twelve  thousand  men.  —  one  thousand  from  each 
tribe.  The  expedition  against  Jabesh-Gilead  was 
organized  in  a  similar  manner.  If  this  type  of 
priestly  zeal  for  faith  and  purity  of  morals  stood  at 
the  head  of  Israel,  the  whole  war  against  Benjamin, 
at  least  so  far  as  its  motives  are  concerned,  becomes 
plain.  Before  tliis,  a  similar  war  against  the  two 
and  a  half  transjordanic  tribes  had  almost  occurred. 
These  tribes,  as  we  are  told  in  Josh,  xxii.,  had 
built  themselves  an  altar :  the  sons  of  Israel  this 
side  the  Jordan  thought  that  it  was  intended  for 
idolatrous  purposes.  They  came  together  in  Shi- 
loh, and  resolved  to  proceed  against  the  supposed 
apostates.  But  first  an  embassy  was  sent,  at 
whoso  head  Phinehas  again  stood  (ver.  13).  The 
address  which  he  made  to  them  is  altogether  in  the 
spirit  of  the  action  determined  on  against  Benja- 
min. 

But  it  is  precisely  this  last  named  occurrence 
that  enables  us  to  characterize  yet  more  narrowly 
the  catastrophe  related  in  chaps,  xx.  and  xxi.,  and 
to  comprehend  the  design  with  which  it  stands, 
not  at  the  beginning,  but  at  the  close  of  the  Book, 
and  alongside  of  the  history  of  Micah.     It  is  not 


stated  that  a  solemn  embassy,  like  that  in  Josh, 
xxii.  19  ff.,  was  sent  to  Benjamin,  to  set  his  sin 
before  him  in  the  spirit  of  kindness.  Everything 
is  indeed  done  according  to  the  forms  of  the  law 
and  under  priestly  instruction,  but  with  such  as- 
sured consciousness  of  power,  and  with  such  car- 
nal fanaticism,  that  the  zeal  is  not  pleasing,  and  is 
finally  attended  by  lamentable  consequences.  The 
moral  motive  of  the  war  against  Benjamin  is  cer- 
tainly to  be  praised ;  but  the  blind  rage  in  victory 
is  of  the  flesh.  The  crime  of  Benjamin  was  hor- 
rible ;  but  the  unity,  determination,  and  perse- 
verance which  Israel  manifests  against  this  tribe, 
end  in  a  fanaticism  which  at  last  forgot  that  the 
war  was  waged  only  because  Benjamin  was  a 
brother,  and  that  he  was  treated  wor.se  than  national 
enemies  had  ever  been.  This  is  the  lesson  which 
the  narrator  designs  to  teach  by  placing  this  nar- 
rative at  the  close  of  his  Book.  He  censures  what 
his  narrative  contained,  for  both  at  its  beginning 
and  at  its  close  he  says :  "  there  was  no  king  in 
those  days." 

In  the  next  place,  he  furnishes  an  opportunity 
to  compare  the  tribes  of  Dan  and  Benjamin  with 
each  other,  in  their  characters,  their  deeds,  and 
their  fortunes.  Both  were  preeminently  warlike. 
But  this  valor,  to  what  did  they  turn  it  ?  Why 
was  not  Dan  as  bold  against  the  Philistines  as 
against  peaceful  Laish  7  or  why  did  not  Benjamin 
turn  his  martial  spirit  against  Jebus,  a  place  of 
such  importance  to  him  ?  Dan  founds  an  idolatrous 
worship  in  order  not  to  lose  his  tribe-consciousness ; 
and  Benjamin  defends  a  crime  by  way  of  resenting 
the  interference  of  other  tribes.  Dan's  oflTense, 
however,  is  justly  deemed  more  heinous  than  that 
of  Benjamin  ;  for  it  committed  a  spiritual  sin  against 
the  Spirit  of  the  eternal  God,  while  Benjamin  pro- 
tected a  terrible,  indeed,  but  yet  only  Jicshli/  crime. 
The  difference  shows  itself  also  in  the  consequences. 
It  is  true  that  both  Benjamin  and  Dan  lose  their 
proper  importance.  The  cities  and  territories  of 
both  are  taken  by  Judah.  But  the  hero  who  comes 
out  of  Dan,  Samson,  is  none  of  theirs  who  prac- 
tice idolatry  in  the  north.  His  fame  did  not  re- 
dound to  their  honor.  But  out  of  Benjamin  ai'ose, 
after  this,  more  than  one  glorious  deliverer.  When 
he  was  yet  but  a  remnant,  Ehud  rose  up  in  the 
midst  of  him  to  be  a  deliverer.  Saul  and  Jona- 
than —  the  first  king  and  his  royal  son  —  were 
Benjaraites. 

This  being  so,  the  narrator  allows  the  reproach 
to  fall  on  Israel  of  having  acted  so  differently  with 
respect  to  Dan  and  Benjamin.  In  the  face  of 
deeds  like  those  of  Micah  and  Dan,  it  remained 
inactive,  neither  warned  nor  took  any  other  meas- 
ure, although  the  sins  were  mortal  in  their  nature ; 
whereas  it  nearly  destroyed  Benjamin.  And  even 
before  these  occurrences  in  Benjamin,  where  was 
this  united  strength,  when,  in  disregard  of  the  law, 
heathen  people,  as  the  prophet  tells  them  in  ch.  ii., 
were  left  to  pursue  their  own  modes  of  life  and 
idol  service  1 

It  was  this  that  drew  the  punishment  after  it. 
Had  the  external  unity  been  in  possession  of  its 
earlier  internal  strength,  not  only  would  the  vic- 
tory over  Benjamin  have  been  gained  more  quickly, 
but  the  servitude  under  foreign  foes  would  not 
have  come  so  soon.  The  observance  of  external 
forms,  the  customary  prayei',  the  usual  routine  of 
worship  in  war  and  peace,  are  of  no  avail,  unless 
animated  by  living  faith. 

Israel  felt  that  one  tribe  was  lacking  to  protect 
its  eastern  flank  on  the  Jordan,  when  Moab  in- 
vaded the  country.     True,   it  was   a  Benjamit*, 


CHAPTER  XXI.   15-25. 


26^ 


Ehud,  who  delivered  the  country  from  the  tyrant, 
but  it  was  only  by  the  help  of  Ephraim  (ch.  iii. 
27)  that  he  gained  the  complete  victory.  His  own 
tribe  were  too  few  in  numbers.  Even  Saul  was 
still  conscious  that  ho  came  from  the  smallest  tribe 
of  Israel  (1  Sam.  ix.  21),  although  under  him 
Israel  already  lelt  that  "  there  was  a  king  in  the 
land." 

HOinLETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL.! 

The  Book  closes  with  two  highly  significant 
narratives.  In  connection  with  what  has  gone  be- 
fore, they  demonstrate  the  insufficiency  of  the  exist- 
ing national  organization.  Even  under  the  great 
heroes,  national  unity,  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
word,  did  no  longer  exist.  Deborah  complains  of 
the  indifference  of  the  tribes  to  the  common  weal. 
Gideon  experiences  the  envy  of  Ephraim,  which 
under  Jephthah  breaks  out  into  bloody  hostility. 
Samson  stood  alone,  whom  his  own  people  them- 
selves propose  to  hand  over  to  the  enemy.  The 
Judgeship  affords  no  guaranty  of  national  unity. 
With  this,  there  is  wanting  also  concentrated  dis- 
cipline against  sin.  Sin,  therefore,  can  do  what  it 
will.  There  is  a  lack  of  authority.  Hence,  the 
Book  of  Judges  forms  the  introduction  to  the 
Books  of  the  Kings.  Both  concluding  narratives 
show  what  the  consequences  are  when  the  law  loses 
its  force,  when  faith  grows  weak,  when  apostasy 
breaks  loose,  and  subjective  arbitrariness  asserts 
itself.  The  first  sketches  more  particularly  the  de- 
cay of  nationality,  as  exhibited  in  the  arbitrari- 
ness of  the  individual;  the  second,  the  discords 
that  result  from  the  passionate  procedures  of  the 
whole  nation.  The  arbitrariness  revealed  by  the 
first,  concerns  spiritual  matters ;  that  by  the  sec- 
ond, is  fieshly  in  its  nature.  The  first  shows  that 
against  the  service  of  God  anything  may  be  done 
with  impuniry :  the  second,  that  for  fleshly  sins 
blood  is  made  to  flow  in  streams.  In  both  cases, 
indeed,  sin  punishes  itself;  but  it  broke  forth,  be- 
cause every  one  did  what  he  would.  Moral  decay 
always  shows  itself  first  in  the  priestly  order.  In 
both  narratives,  the  frivolity  of  a  Levite  is  a  prin- 
cipal cause  of  the  lamentable  results  that  ensue. 
This  opens  the  way  to  subjective  arbitrariness  of 
every  kind,  which  superstition  uses  to  its  own  ad- 
vantage. IMicah  builds  a  private  sanctuary,  and 
under  priestly  forms  sets  up  idolatry.  He  was 
punished  for  his  sin,  by  being  made  to  experience 
the  thing  he  had  done.  He  committed  a  robbery 
on  the  spirit  of  Israelitish  law,  and  he  was  robbed, 
by  Dan,  of  all  he  had  applied  to  this  purpose.  As 
he  had  done,  so  it  was  done  to  him.  The  arbitra- 
riness which  he  had  exercised,  was  pleasing  to 
others  also.  The  priest  who  had  sold  himself  to 
him,  departed  when  he  found  a  better  buyer.  The 
insubordination  allowed  the  individual,  because 
there  was  no  one  vested  with  general  authority, 
permitted  also  a  tribe  to  leave  its  appointed  terri- 
tory. One  tribe  (Dan),  strong  enough  to  rob  the 
■weaker,  but  with  not  enough  spirit  to  win  the  land 
assigned  it  from  the  Philistines,  removes  into  a 
distant  region,  and  destroys  a  peaceable  city. 
]{obbery  and  murder  are  followed  by  permanent 
idolatry  under  the  priestly  charge  of  a  descendant 
of  Moses. 

From  all  this  we  may  see  what  the  consequences 

1  [The  following  "  Homiletical  and  Practical "  paragraphs 
are  baaed  on  the  whole  of  "  Part  Third  "  of  the  Book,  from 
ehap.  xvii.  to  xxi.  inclusive.     As  will  be  seen,  it  was  iro. 


would  be  were  Christianity  to  become  wholly  in- 
active in  the  state.  Persons,  who  deem  them- 
selves virtuous,  suppose  that  the  religion  of  a  living 
God  is  by  no  means  absolutely  necessary  for  social 
life.  But  as  soon  as  religion  falls  into  decay,  and 
before  its  influence  ceases  altogether,  the  moral 
supports  of  society  fall  to  pieces.  When  the  min 
isters  of  the  Word  begin  to  regard  good  positions 
more  than  truth,  ruin  is  at  hand.  Venality  is 
followed  by  its  evil  consequences,  although  he  who 
is  ready  to  sell  himself  know  enough  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  day  to  conceal  it.  A  Christian  must 
serve  no  idols.  The  more  surely,  therelbre,  is  it  a 
sign  of  decay,  when  he  makes  a  business  of  serving 
superstition. 

Starke  :  The  creature  is  to  be  applied  for  God's 
honor,  but  not  in  honoring  him.  Arbitrariness  in 
parts,  leads  to  arbitrariness  in  the  whole.  If  the 
foundation-stone,  piety,  be  removed,  then  the  tribes, 
like  stones  of  a  building,  fall  apart.  The  fear  of 
God  is  the  beginning  of  all  wisdom,  and  also  the 
protector  of  all  peace. 

On  Chaps,  xix.-xxi.  —  When  the  command  of 
God  is  no  longer  in  the  heart,  priests  become  car- 
nal, and  their  flocks  lawless.  As  the  Levite  runs 
after  a  concubine,  so  the  people  of  Gibeah  seek  the 
indulgence  of  bestial  lusts.  Who  will  imitate  the 
morals  of  a  master,  who  rejects  God's  sacred  com- 
mand. If  in  Gibeah  the  law  of  Jehovah  is  dis- 
honored with  impunity,  how  can  it  be  expected  that 
they  will  show  obedience  toward  their  brethren  ? 
Israel  is  indignant  at  the  sins  of  Benjamin,  but 
does  it  turn  away  from  its  own  ?  Virtuous  indig- 
nation is  not  difficult,  but  carefid  self-examination 
is  more  necessary.  The  rod  may  undertake  to 
maintain  supremacy,  but  only  truth  can  succeed  in 
doing  it.  Civil  war  arises  not  from  political,  but 
from  moral  dangers.  The  love  of  peace  will  begin 
as  soon  as  self-righteousness  ceases.  Seb.  Schmidt 
observes  :  "  The  best  way  of  conciliating  an  enemy 
is  to  do  him  good."  But  kind  deeds  towards  an 
enemy  spring  only  from  love,  which  is  a  daughter 
of  repentance.  The  severest  judges  of  morals  often 
know  least  of  this  love.  Love  is  most  needed  when 
it  becomes  necessary  to  punish.  Israel  began  to 
grieve  bitterly  when  Benjamin  was  almost  de- 
stroyed. Men  recognize  only  when  too  late,  what 
the  root  was  in  the  beginning.  Lewdness  strangles 
compassion.  Carnal  zeal  consumes  considerate- 
ness.  Self-righteousness  irritates  the  minds  of 
men.  Only  at  the  altar  of  God,  through  the  pious 
priest,  does  peace  come  into  being. 

Gerlach  :  In  all  this  it  becomes  manifest  what 
Israel  might  have  been  and  continued  to  be,  if  it 
had  clung  faithfully  to  the  Lord  and  his  command- 
ments, and  had  preserved  its  covenant  with  the 
Lord,  and  by  that  very  means  its  national  purity, 
unimpaired.  —  The  same  :  The  people,  drawing 
near  to  God  in  the  presentation  of  expiatory  burnt- 
offerings,  sought  in  these  offerings  to  remove  the 
breach  between  the  holiness  of  the  Lord  and  their 
own  sinfulness  ;  and  in  the  sacred  meals  that  fol- 
lowed the  offering,  to  obtain  the  assurance  of  the 
assistance  of  divine  grace  as  they  went  forth  into 
the  holy  war. 

Only  where  the  gospel  is  heard  and  followed,  is 
there  peace.  For  that  reason,  the  Lord,  our  Sav- 
iour, says  to  all  his  disciples  :  Peace  be  with  you  ! 

practicable  to  place  them  under  the  several  parts  of  the 
text  to  which  they  refer,  according  to  the  plan  pursued  in 
the  other  parts  of  the  volume  (of.  the  note  on  p.  19).  —  Tr. 


THE 


EOOK    OF    RUTH. 


PAQLUS   CASSEL,  D.  D., 


PROFESSOR    IN    BERLIN. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN,  WITH  ADDITIONS, 


P.  H.  STEEI^STEA, 


PROFESSOR  OF   BIBLICAL   LITERATURE   IN  THE   PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  DIVINITY   SCHOOL 
AT   CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 


NEW   YORK: 
SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG,  AND  COMPANY. 

1875. 


0 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

Chaklks  Scribnek  and  Company, 

to  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  "Washingtoa, 


RIVERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE: 

flKREOTYPED    AND    PRINTED    BT 

H.   O.    HOUGHTON   AND   COMPANT. 


THE  BOOK  OF  RUTH. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.     Contents  and  Aim. 

The  little  Book  of  Ruth,  the  exposition  of  which  usually  follows  that  of  the  Book  of 
Judges,  consists  of  only  eighty-five  verses  ;  but  these  inclose  a  garden  of  roses,  as  fragrant 
and  full  of  mystic  calyxes,  as  those  which  the  modern  traveller  still  finds  blooming  and  twin- 
ing about  the  solitary  ruins  of  Israel  and  Moab,  this  side  the  Jordan  and  beyond.  The  si"-- 
nificance  and  beauty  of  the  brief  nai-rative  cannot  be  highly  enough  estimated,  whether 
regard  be  had  to  the  thought  which  fills  it,  the  historical  value  which  marks  it,  or  the  pure 
and  charming  form  in  which  it  is  set  forth.  It  will  be  necessary  rightly  to  seize  its  funda- 
mental idea,  in  order  to  treat  to  advantage  the  other  historical  questions  which  present 
themselves  with  reference  to  the  time  of  its  composition  and  place  in  the  canon  of  the  Old 
Covenant. 

An  ancient  Israelitish  family  of  Bethlehem  fell  into  misery.  They  had  left  their  native 
country  in  a  time  of  distress,  in  order  to  save  themselves  from  participating  in  it.  But  in 
the  stranger's  land,  in  Moab,  a  harder  fiite  alights  upon  them.  Death  carries  oflf  father  and 
sons ;  the  mother  remains  beliind,  childless  and  widowed.  True,  she  has  daughters-in-law ; 
but  these  are  without  ofispring,  and  —  Moabitesses,  aliens,  not  without  fault  chosen  to  be 
wives  of  her  sons.  Naomi's  situation  is  as  bad  as  it  can  be.  In  Moab  she  cannot  remain ; 
sorrowfully  she  returns  to  Bethlehem.  Her  house  is  desolated  ;  upon  herself,  rests  the  hand 
of  God.  But  in  the  midst  of  despair,  a  consolation  arises  for  her.  Ruth,  her  Moabitish 
daughter-in-law,  remains  with  her,  —  no  dissuasion  of  her  mother-in-law  restrains  her.  She 
gives  up  everything,  native  land  and  paternal  home,  yea,  even  the  hope  of  better  fortunes, 
continues  faithful  to  her  love  for  Naomi,  and  goes  with  her  to  her  God  and  her  people,  —  but 
in  tears,  poverty,  and  bereavement. 

Naomi  arrives  at  Bethlehem,  but  no  one  helps,  no  one  comforts  her.  Ruth  alone  becomes 
her  support,  —  she  labors,  she  begs  for  her.  Her  piety,  however,  does  not  remain  unknown. 
The  kindnesses  done  to  these  women  by  Boaz,  on  whose  fields  Ruth  had  been  gleaning,  origi- 
nated solely  in  the  man's  admiration  of  the  pious  love  of  Ruth,  although  it  is  true  that  he  was 
a  kinsman  of  Naomi.  Ruth  the  noble  man  blesses,  because  she  has  taken  refuge  under  the 
wings  of  God  in  Israel.  She  reinstates  her  mother-in-law  in  the  good-will  of  her  relatives. 
She  overcomes  the  prejudices  of  Israel  against  the  stranger.  The  rights  of  an  Israelitish 
wife  fall  to  her  lot.  But  it  is  only  on  account  of  her  love  and  purity  that  the  blessing 
of  Boaz  fulfills  itself.  For  her  mother's  sake  she  enters  once  more  on  a  hard  and  difficult 
road.  But  thereby  the  sorrow  of  Naomi  is  at  last  lifted  away.  Boaz  fulfills  to  Ruth  the 
law  of  Israel,  and  marries  her.  From  the  Moabitess  springs  the  son,  of  whom  David,  the 
king  of  Israel,  who  rose  from  among  the  flocks  of  Bethlehem  to  be  a  hero  and  a  prophet,  is 
the  celebrated  grandson. 

With  good  reason  the  book  is  not  called  "  Naomi,"  or  "  Boaz,"  or  "  the  Descent  of  David," 
but  "  Ruth."  For  she  is  the  central  point  of  the  whole  narrative.  Her  love  is  the  ground- 
work of  the  history  it  relates.  That  she  became  the  ancestress  of  David  was  only  the  reward 
of  her  virtue.  The  idea  to  be  set  forth,  and  which  gives  such  great  significance  to  the  little 
book,  is,  the  power  of  love,  as  conquering  all  national  contrarieties,  hostilities,  and  prejudices. 

It  is  not  a  story  of  romantic  love  between  man  and  woman,  but  of  the  reverential  love  of  a 
widow  for  the  mother  of  her  deceased  husband.  The  love  portrayed  in  the  character  of  Ruth 
is  of  the  purest,  most  unselfish,  most  extraordinary  kind.     It  is  for  the  sake  of  this  love,  to 


INTRODUCTION. 


indicate  its  nature,  that  the  strength  which  leaves  father  and  mother,  and  accepts  the  God 
of  Israel,  is  delineated.  For  Naomi  can  be  thus  loved  of  Ruth  only  because  the  latter  has 
some  intuitive  perception  of  the  higher  life  of  the  God  of  Israel  in  her  mother-in-law. 

The  Jewish  narrative,  therefore,  does  not  only,  with  unselfish  uprightness,  set  forth  the  over- 
powering depth  of  affection  of  a  Moabitess  ;  it  teaches  also  that  such  love  is  valid  before  God, 
without  respect  of  race,  that  through  it  Ruth  is  more  deeply  implanted  into  the  kingdom  of 
the  true  Israel  than  are  natural  children  —  consequently  the  women  say  to  Naomi,  that 
Ruth  is  better  for  her  than  seven  sons  —  and  that  the  blessing  of  God  was  poured  out  in 
superabundant  measure  on  Ruth,  although  a  foreigner,  because  she  had  confessed  the  God 
of  Israel  in  love  and  from  love. 

The  narrative  displays  no  hatred  toward  foreigners,  gives  no  prominence  to  the  keen  dis- 
criminations of  the  Mosaic  law  against  them,  notwithstanding  that  they  form  the  background 
of  the  story ;  does  not  blame  the  really  well-disposed  Orpah,  although  she  turns  back  ;  has 
not  a  word  of  reprehension  for  the  anonymous  relative  who  refuses  to  marry  Ruth  ;  but  in 
contrast  to  these  facts,  it  causes  the  brightness  of  the  blessing  that  lights  on  Ruth  to  become 
known.  Orpah  is  forgotten,  the  name  of  the  superstitious  kinsman  unknown,  but  Ruth  — 
is  the  grandmother  of  David. 

The  Book  was  not  written  for  the  glorification  of  the  king ;  for  how,  according  to  human 
views,  could  he  be  flattered  by  such  a  descent !  But  the  fact  of  David's  descent  from  Ruth, 
demonstrates  and  glorifies  the  praise  of  such  as  act  as  she  did.  It  is  a  book  of  praise  of  true 
love  and  virtue  ;  a  book  of  reconciliation  for  those  alien  nations  who  betake  themselves  under 
the  wings  of  the  living  God.  In  Boaz  and  Ruth,  Israel  and  the  Gentiles  are,  as  it  were,  per- 
sonified. In  order  to  come  under  the  wings  of  Israel,  nothing  is  needed  but  the  love  and 
faith  of  Ruth.  From  these,  and  not  from  legal  descent  according  to  the  flesh,  do  the  might 
and  glory  of  the  kingdom  of  God  proceed.  The  Book,  it  is  often  said,  with  its  contents,  stands 
at  the  portal  of  the  history  of  David  ;  according  to  its  spirit,  it  stands,  like  the  Psalms,  at 
the  gates  of  the  Gospel.  And  this  not  only  on  account  of  the  genealogy  oC  Christ  in  the 
latter,  which  carries  us  back  to  David  and  Boaz,  but  because  of  the  spirit  which  informs  the 
doctrine  of  our  Book,  that  the  greatest  king  of  Israel  sprang  from  the  reconciliation  of  Israel 
and  the  Gentiles,  from  the  marriage  of  Boaz  and  Ruth  in  the  confession  of  Jehovah. 

§  2.      Time  of  Comjjosition, 

It  is  precisely  the  free  and  loving  spirit  with  which  Ruth  is  depicted,  the  Moabitess  set 
forth  as  the  ancestress  of  David  for  the  instruction  and  joy  of  the  reader,  that  enables  us,  on 
somewhat  closer  inspection,  to  determine,  with  considerable  definiteness,  the  time  in  which 
alone  the  book  can  have  been  written.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  Books  of  Samuel  say 
nothing  of  the  descent  of  David  from  Ruth.  Without  the  little  book  now  under  considera- 
tion, this  fact  would  be  entirely  unknown  to  us.  For  the  Book  of  Chronicles  also,  although 
it  names  Boaz  as  the  ancestor  of  David  in  such  a  way  that  it  were  easy  to  believe  that  use 
was  made  of  the  last  verses  of  Ruth,  passes  over  the  name  of  Ruth  in  utter  silence. 

That  our  Book  cannot  have  been  written  after  Solomon,  is  evident  from  1  Kgs.  xi.  1,  where 
the  king  is  blamed  for  having  taken  many  foreign  Avives  of  Moab,  Ammon,  Edom,  Zidon,  and 
Heth,  "  nations  concerning  which  Jehovah  said  to  the  sons  of  Israel,  Ye  shall  not  go  in  to 
them,  neither  shall  they  come  in  unto  you."  It  is  not  for  the  honor  of  Rehoboam  that  the 
historian  relates  that  his  mother  was  Naamah,  an  Ammonitess  (1  Kgs.  xiv.  21).  Nor  is  it 
without  design  that  the  (second)  Book  of  Chronicles,  ch.  xxiv.  26  (the  passage  is  wanting  in 
Kings)  informs  us  that  the  mother  of  one  of  the  murderers  of  King  Joash  was  a  Moabitess, 
of  the  other  an  Ammonitess.  Ezra  says  (ch.  x.  10)  :  "  Ye  have  transgressed,  and  have 
taken  strange  wives ;  "  and  the  names  of  those  who  were  to  separate  from  their  wives  were 
noted  down.  Nehemiah  (ch.  xiii.  1  ff.)  went  so  far  as  to  execute  strictly  the  law  that  "  no 
Ammonite  or  Moabite  should  come  into  the  congregation  of  God  forever."  These  nega- 
tive data  are  sufficient  of  themselves  to  refute  the  opinion  that  the  book  written  in  praise  of  a 
Moabitess  who  did  enter  into  the  congregation  of  God,  was  perhaps  composed  in  the  times 
after  Solomon,  or  during  the  exile,  or  when  the  spirit  of  Ezra  or  Nehemiah  was  in  the 
ascendant.  It  is  especially  clear  that  it  cannot  have  been  wi-itten  in  the  Exile,  for  in  that 
situation  Israel  maintained  the  sharpest  separation  between  itself  and  the  Gentiles  ^  (cf.  Esth. 

1  The  Mishna  (Jebamoth,  ii.  5)  decided  that  a  Levirate  marriage  cannot  be  demanded  by  a  brother-in-law,  if  he  be  the 
Bon  of  a  slave  woman  or  of  a  foreigner. 


INTRODUCTION. 


iii.  8).  The  Book,  moreover,  exhibits  a  homelike,  peaceful  coloring  inconsistent  with  thai 
time  of  expatriation  and  distress.  It  cannot  even  be  assigned  to  the  reign  of  Solomon  ;  foi 
in  that  case  the  genealogy  at  the  close  would  hardly  have  ftiiled  to  add :  "  And  David  begai 
Solomon." 

But  there  are  not  wanting  positive  grounds  which  make  it  highly  probable  that  the  Book 
originated  in  the  time  of  David,  and  while  he  occupied  the  throne,  —  circumstances  whicL 
add  their  own 'instruction  to  that  of  the  Book.  It  must  indeed  be  admitted  that  our  informa- 
tion concerning  the  great  revolution  brought  about  in  Israel  by  the  achievements,  spirit,  and 
reign  of  David,  is  very  meagre  and  fi-agmentary.  But  it  is  also  true  that  too  little  atten- 
tion has  been  paid  to  the  fact  that  the  new  occupant  of  the  throne  at  Jerusalem  was  nol 
merely  a  hero,  but  a  creative  genius,  whom  singular  sufferings  and  experiences  had  thor- 
oughly tried,  and  in  whom  the  full  heart  of  Israel  beat  powerfully  and  grandly,  although  he 
appears  not  without  the  human  coloring  of  his  age.  From  the  very  opening  of  his  public 
career  in  the  combat  with  Goliath,  and  ever  afler,'he  displays,  as  no  one  else  did,  the  enthu- 
siastic strength  of  faith  and  the  immovable  religious  convictions  of  a  true  Israelite ;  and  yet 
it  was  he,  driven  into  exile  through  Saul's  distrust,  who  more  than  any  other  hero  or  prince, 
before  or  after,  came  into  peculiar  contact  with  alien  nations.  It  was  doubtless  due,  in  part 
at  least,  to  the  recollection  that  his  great-grandmother  was  a  Moabitess,  th%t  he  went  to  the 
king  of  Moab  and  said,  "  Let  my  father  and  my  mother,  I  pray  thee,  cope  forth  and  be 
with  you,  till  I  know  what  God  will  do  to  me"  (1  Sam.  xxii.  3).  Accordingly,  he  causes  his 
father  and  mother  to  emigrate  to  the  same  country  whither  Elimelech  and  his  family  had 
gone.  And  they  remained  in  Moab  until  Datid  was  master  of  Jerusalem.  So  also,  at  a 
later  time,  he  remembers  that  the  king  of  Ammon  had  formerly  shown  him  kindness  (2  Sam. 
X.  2).  While  he  was  hiding  in  the  cave  of  AduUam,  all  sorts  of  wild  and  warlike  people 
collected, about  him,  of  whom  he  formed  his  band  of  heroes  and  afterwards  his  body-guard. 
Their  names  Kerethi  and  Pelethi  (2  Sam.  viii.  18,  etc.)  sufficiently  indicate  their  foreign 
origin.  He  abode  a  long  time  in  the  Philistine  city  of  Gath  (1  Sam.  xxvii.)  ;  and  there 
bands  of  brave  men  attached  themselves  so  entirely  to  him,  that  they  continued  faithful  to 
him  even  in  his  last  great  distress,  brpught  upon  him  by  Absalom  (2  Sam.  xv.  18).  But 
everywhei-e  he  bore  aloft  the  banner  of  his  God  and  people.  Whoever  followed  him,  entered 
not  merely  into  his  personal  interests,  but  also  into  those  of  Israel  (cf  1  Sam.  xxvi.  10,  etc.). 
Through  the  glory  and  heroism  of  his  history,  aided  by  the  preparatory  influence  of  Saul's 
achievements,  the  heathen,  who  till  then  continued  to  reside  among  Israel,  were  undoubtedly 
for  the  most  part  amalgamated  with  Israel,  so  that  the  intellectual  preponderance  of  Israel, 
reinforced  by  military  superiority,  suppi'essed  idolatry  and  ex^tended  the  acknowledgment  of 
Jehovah. 

We  are  reminded  here  especially  of  Uriah,  who  fell  a  victim  to  David's  unlawful  passions. 
This  man,  a  hero  and  distinguished  personage  in  Israel,  was  a  Hittite  or  descendant  of  Heth 
(2  Sam.  xi.  3).  From  his  widow,  that  is,  from  an  Israelitish  woman  once  married  to  a 
Hittite,  sprang  king  Solomon,  just  as  David  descended  from  a  Moabitish  woman,  the  widow 
of  an  Israelite.  •  Nor  is  Uriali.  the  only  foreigner  among  David's  distinguished  warriors  ;  the 
list  includes  also  an  Ammonite  named  Zelek  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  37),  It  is  remarkable,  also,  that 
David  deposits  the  ark  of  God  in  the  house  of  a  Gittite,  that  is,  a  man  who  originated  in 
Gath,  a  city  of  the  Philistines.  He  was  called  Obed  Edom,  thus  bearing  the  same  name 
with  David's  grandfather,  the  son  of  Ruth.*  His  surname  Edom  also  betrays  his  alien 
origin.  The  ark  of  God  was  three  months  in  his  dweUing,  and  God  blessed  him  and  his 
house. 

Yet  more  noteworthy  is  the  fact  that  in  the  saddest  hours  of  David's  life,  when  his  favorite 
feon,  Absalom,  and  the  chief  men  of  Isi-ael  fell  away  from  him,  only  such  as  had  turned  from 
among  alien  nations  to  Israel  and  its  God  remained  true  to  him.  He  liimself  had  the  same 
experience  which  Naomi  had  with  Ruth  ;  they  who  loved  him  dared  everything  for  him  and 
with  him.  An  Ammonite  supplies  liira  with  provisions  in  his  flight  (2  Sam.  xvii.  27). 
Especially  prominent  is  Hushai  the  Archite,^  the  companion  of  David,  who  in  the  hour  of 
distress  adheres  to  him,  and  renders  him  most  important  service  at  the  court  of  Absalom,  in 

1  In  the  Lerirate  marriage  of  Ruth  the  symbolism  of  the  shoe  was  employed.  Obed  Edom  was  the  son  of  such  a 
marriage.  It  is  precisely  with  reference  to  Edom  that  the  figurative  expression  :  "  I  cast  my  shoe  upon  it,"  twice  occurs 
iu  the  Psalms  (Ix.  and  cviii.).  The  Book  of  Chronicles  first  calls  Obed  Edom  a  Levite.  Errors,  however,  such  as  thos« 
Into  which  expositors  fell  concerning  Kenaz  (cf.  Com.  on  Judges,  ch.  i.  16),  must  here  also  be  avoided. 

■i  Of  Arke,  in  Phoenicia.     Cf.  Movers,  Phontzier,  II.  i.  115. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 


thwarting  the  intrigues  of  the  apostate  Ahithophel  (2  Sam.  xv.  32  ff.).  Touching  is  the 
fidelity  of  Ittai,  the  man  'of  Gath.  The  king  says  to  him  (2  Sam.  xv.  19  fF.)  :  "  Wliereforp. 
goest  thou  also  with  us  ?  return  to  thy  place,  and  abide  with  the  king,  for  thou  art  a  stranger. 
If  thou  art  banished,  go  to  thy  native  place.^  Whereas  thou  camest  but  yesterday,  should 
I  this  day  make  thee  go  up  and  down  with  us  ?  seeing  I  go  whither  I  may  ;  return  thou,  and 
take  back  thy  brethren  :  mercy  and  truth  be  with  thee  !  "  David,  the  fleeing  king,  who  in 
his  old  age  must  leave  his  capital,  speaks  like  Naomi.  The  answer  of  Ittar  shows  that  he, 
like  Ruth,  has  turned  to  the  God  of  Israel :  "  As  Jehovah  liveth,  and  as  my  lord  the  king 
liveth,  surely  in  what  place  my  lord  the  king  shall  be,  whether  in  death  or  life,  even  there 
also  will  thy  servant  be."  Never  again,  in  the  history  of  the  ancient  Israel,  do  such  relations 
come  to  view.  Under  their  influence,  and  therefore  during  the  reign  of  David,  the  composition 
of  a  book  which  commemorates  the  truth  and  love  of  a  Gentile,  was  pei-fectly  natural.  It  is 
a  signature  of  the  spirit,  more  active  in  Israel  then  than  at  any  other  time,  which  recognized 
faith  in  God  as  the  kernel  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  saw  that  not  only  natural,  but  also 
spiritual  Israelites  could  become  its  children.  It  must  not  be  overlooked  that  it  is  especially 
in  the  Psalms  that  the  relations  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  kingdom  of  God  are  unfolded.  Take 
as  specimens  of  many  similar  passages,  these  two  :  "  Thou  makest  me  the  head  of  the  nations  ; 
a  people  that  I  knew  not,  serves  me  "  (Ps.  xviii.  43).^  "  All  the  families  of  the  nations  shall 
bow  down  before  thee ;  for  the  kingdom  is  Jehovah's,  and  he  rules  among  the  nations  "  (Ps. 
xxii.  27,  28).3 

To  point  out  definitely  the  years  of  David's  reign  during  which  the  Book  was  written,  will 
hardly  be  possible.  But  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  Avas  done  when  he  stood  on  the  summit 
of  his  glory  and  enjoyed  peace  on  all  sides.  At  that  time,  a  contemplative  view  of  the  king's 
history,  in  which  so  many  men  of  alien  origin  had  distinguished  themselves  by  wonderful 
fidelity,  gave  rise  to  our  Book.  It  may  be  assumed  that  its  narrative  concerning  David's 
excellent  ancestress  influenced  the  bearing  of  the  king's  faithful  Gentile  subjects,  as  manifested 
in  the  catastrophe  of  Absalom.  It  is  a  genuine  historical  characteristic  of  the  reign  of  David, 
that  it,  and  not  the  Psalter  merely,  is  Messianic.  It  is  informed  by  the  idea  of  universality 
bounded  only  by  the  acknowledgment  of  Jehovah.  It  brought  about  closer  connections 
between  Israel  and  the  Gentiles,  which  continued  to  exist  in  the  reign  of  Solomon.  The 
fall  of  this  king,  toward  the  close  of  his  reign,  consists  in  the  very  fact  that  he  no  longer 
subjected  these  connections  to  the  domination  of  the  God  of  Israel,  but  suffered  his  own  faith 
and  morals  to  be  overcome  by  heathen  influences.  Solomon  would  not  have  been  to  blame 
for  taking  wives  of  Moab  and  Ammon,  if  these,  like  Ruth,  had  confessed  Jehovah  ;  his  fall 
consisted  in  his  taking  heathen  wives,  who  withdrew  him  from  the  pure  service  of  God.  The 
Messianic  idea  was  distorted,  consequently  obliterated  and  for  a  long  time  lost,  and  only 
restored  by  the  vision  of  the  prophets. 

Nothing  of  importance  can  be  urged  against  assigning  the  origin  of  our  Book  to  this  period, 
almost  the  only  time  in  which  it  can  have  been  written.  The  arguments  which  Bertheau, 
after  Ewald  and  other  earlier  critics,  founds  on  linguistic  peculiarities,  are  not  at  all  conclu- 
sive, and  are  sufficiently  met  by  Keil's  counter-remai'ks  (Einleit.  §  137).  The  more  unusual 
expressions  are  due  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  matter,  and  are  also  to  be  met  with  elsewhere. 
The  narrative  exhibits  life  in  its  popular  aspect,  and  probably  makes  use  of  popular  forms  of 
speech  Avhich  to  us  seem  Chaldaizing.  This  very  circumstance  attests  the  antiquity  of  the 
Book.  A  book  of  similar  character,  written  in  the  Exile,  would  no  longer  possess  the  mani- 
fold idioms  peculiar  to  original  forms  and  views  of  life.  Considering  the  small  number  of 
literary  pi'oductions  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  several  earlier  centuries  of  Hebrew 
history,  and  our  ignorance  of  the  places  of  their  composition  and  the  dialect  of  their  writers, 
it  is  manifest  that  any  attempts  to  fix  the  time  in  which  any  work  was  written  by  means  of  a 
few  granmiatical  peculiarities  alone,  must  always  be  exceedingly  problematical.  In  the 
present  case,  however,  the  contents  of  the  Book  itself  contradict  the  conclusion  to  which  such 
a  method  of  argumentation  has  led.  For  these  speak  decidedly  against  an  exilic,  and  in  favor 
of  a  Palestinian  origin,  in  a  peaceful,  and  indeed  a  definitely  limited  period.  Critics  have 
paid  only  too  little  continuous  attention  to  these  contents,  and  iieQce  were  led  to  overesthnate 
sundry  externalities  of  the  Book. 

1  [This  Is  Dr.  Cassel's  owq  rendering  of  tUe  difficult  words    rj^'lppb   HnM   T^TUy].—  Te.] 

2  This  Psalm,  at  least,  is  admitted  by  Olshausen  also  to  be  Davidic. '  Psalmen,  p.  98. 

8  The  history  of  this  Psalm  might  alone  testify  to  a  higher  antiquity  than  modern  criticism  will  allow  it.  Delitisek 
»ays  ( Die  Fsalmen,  p.  19-1) ;  "  It  is  a  Davidic  Psalm,  of  the  time  duriag  which  its  author  was  persecuted  by  Saul." 


INTRODUCTION. 


§  3.     Position  in  the  Canon. 

The  position  wliich  Jewish  tradition  assigned  to  our  Book  in  the  Canon,  may  likewise 
be  due  to  the  spirit  of  its  contents.  The  Septuagint,  it  is  true,  attached  it  closely  to  the 
Book  of  Judges,  as  if  it  were  but  an  appendix  of  that  work,^  and  was  followed  therein  by 
Josephus  and  the  Christian  Fathers  who  were  for  the  most  part  dependent  on  that  version. 
Possibly,  the  desire  to  make  the  number  of  books  equal  to  the  number  of  letters  in  the  alpha- 
bet may  have  contributed  to  this  result ;  for  even  in  later  times  the  supposed  coincidence  was 
invested  with  symbolical  significance.  Ecclesiastes,  Proverbs,  and  Canticles  could  not  be  so 
directly  attached  to  another  book,  there  being  none  specially  devoted  to  the  history  of  Solo- 
mon, while  Ruth  and  Lamentations  could  readily  be  joined  to  other  writings.  But  it  cannot 
have  been  for  liturgical  purposes  merely,  that  the  Canon  of  the  Palestinian  Jews,  as  appears 
from  the  Talmud,  corroborated  by  manuscripts  and  traditions,  considers  Ruth  as  well  as 
Lamentations  as  a  separate  work,  and  never  unites  it  with  Judges.  If  the  little  work  be 
viewed  simply  as  a  genealogical  narrative  introductory  to  the  history  of  David,  then,  indeed, 
its  proper  place  is  between  Judges  and  the  Books  of  Samuel.  But  since  this  is  not  its  true 
character,  since  it  sets  forth  a  higher  idea,  of  which  the  bu'th  of  David  is  but  the  crown  and 
confirmation,  an  independent  position  was  rightly  assigned  to  it.  The  Messianic  doctrine 
contained  in  it  invested  it  with  greater  importance.  Now,  from  the  fact  that  the  Jews  con- 
tinued the  Book  in  this  separate  and  independent  position,  although  they  saw  that  the  follow- 
ers of  Christ  viewed  him  as  the  descendant  of  Ruth,  it  may  be  inferred  that  in  the  Palestin- 
ian canon  Ruth  held,  even'before  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  the  same  position  as  at  present.  It 
harmonizes  well  with  this,  that  from  primitive  times  the  Book  was  read  during  the  Feast  of 
Weeks.  For  this  cannot  have  been  done  simply  because  a  harvest  scene  occurs  in  it.'^  The 
practice  must  rather  be  connected  with  a  beUef  that  Ruth  prefigures  the  entrance  of  the 
heathen  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  with  the  idea  that  the  Feast  of  Weeks  was  a  celebra- 
tion of  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai,  which  law,  as  the  Midrash  explains,  was  given  to  all 
nations,  only  it  was  not  accepted  by  them.  The  Feast  of  Weeks,  we  know,  corresponded  to 
the  Christian  Pentecost,  when  the  Holy  Ghost  was  poured  out,  according  to  the  words  of  Joel, 
on  all  flesh,  and  the  Gospel  was  preached  to  all  the  world. 

Undoubtedly,  however,  the  Book  of  Ruth  offers  an  interesting  parallel  to  that  of  Judges. 
While  the  latter  exhibits  the  military  history  of  Israel,  the  former  introduces  us  to  the  peace- 
ful private  Kfe  of  the  people.  We  hear  no  trumpet-blasts  or  pseans  of  triumph,  only  the  rus- 
tling of  the  sickles  among  the  grain  stalks  salutes  our  ears.  We  find  ourselves  transported 
into  the  rural  family  life  of  Israel.  Not  the  warrior  or  king,  but  the  farmer  and  householder 
find  their  prototypes  here.^  The  little  book  relates  a  narrative  of  social  village  life,  and  within 
its  brief  compass  exhibits  the  profoundest  sorrow,  the  noblest  love,  and  all  the  attractiveness 
of  an  Israelitish  life  of  fliith.  Naomi  and  Boaz  are  not  painted  in  the  same  colors  as  Deb- 
orah and  Gideon.  But  the  love  of  Ruth  and  Orpah  can  only  have  grown  up  in  the  household 
of  Naomi.  Israel's  fothers  and  husbands  must  have  so  lived  as  to  enchain  even  after  their 
death  the  hearts  of  foreign  and  childless  widows.  With  what  nobility  and  moral  beauty  the 
faithful  in  Israel  were  adorned,  is  seen  in  Boaz.  The  whole  picture  is  surmounted  by  a  calm, 
clear  sky.  The  reader  finds  himself  now  in  the  open  field^  now  on  the  road,  and  anon 
among  the  assembly  of  citizens  at  the  gate.  The  unadorned  narrative  shows  such  art  in 
grouping,  preserves  such  moderation,  causes  the  finest  lessons  to  shine  through  so  gently,  and 
withal  displays  such  great  vivacity,  that  the  aesthetics  of  the  little  work  alone  yield  an 
important  testimony  to  its  origin.  It  can  have  arisen  only  under  surroundings  such  as  those 
it  describes.     It  breathes  an  air  of  freedom  and  peace  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  imrest 

1  [Subjoined  it  without  a  separate  title.  The  Jewish  canon  places  it  in  the  third  class  of  0.  T.  books,  the  Kethubim 
or  Hagiographa.  Its  place  in  this  class  is  variable  ;  the  Talmud  and  some  MSS.  give  it  the  first,  but  most  MSS.  the  fifth 
place.     Cf.  Wright,  Book  of  Ruth,  introd.  §  xi.  4.  —  Tr.] 

■2  The  reasons  for  this  usage  given  by  Raschi  and  others,  are,  in  their  final  consequences,  undoubtedly  tantamount  to 
the  proclamation  of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  the  nations.     Cf.  Heidenheim,  Mac/isor  Schebnoth,  1811,  p.  106,  note. 

3  [Wordsworth  (contrasting  the  Book  of  Kuth  with  that  of  Judges) :  The  Book  of  Ruth  is  like  some  beautiful  land 
scape  of  Claude,  with  its  soft  mellow  hues  of  quiet  eventide,  and  the  peaceful  expanse  of  its  calm  lake,  placed  side  by 
side  with  some  stern  picture  of  Salvator  Kosa,  exhibiting  the  shock  of  armies  and  the  storm  of  war  ;  and  receiving  mora 
beauty  from  the  c/iiaro-oscuro  of  the  contrast.  Or,  if  we  may  adopt  another  comparison,  derived  from  classical  literature, 
the  Book  of  Ruth,  coming  next  after  the  Book  of  Judges  [which  he  regards  as  its  proper  place],  is  like  a  transition  from 
the  dark,  terrific  scenes  of  a  tragedy  of  .Slschylus,  to  the  fresh  and  beautiful  landscapes  of  some  pastoral  idyl  of  Theoc- 
ritus, transporting  us  to  the  rural  Thalysia,  or  harvest-home,  under  the  shade  of  elms  and  poplars,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ilalis  (Idyl  vii.  1,  8),  or  to  the  flowery  meadows  and  sheepwalks  on  those  of  the  Arethusa  or  Anapus  {Idyl  i.  68,  117  • 
tii   151;.  -  Te.] 


8  INTRODUCTION. 


and  servitude  of  the  Exile.  Indeed,  one  is  tempted  to  believe  that  the  author  must  have 
lived  in  Bethlehem  itself.  He  loves  to  indicate,  with  untutored  art,  the  peculiarities  of 
speech  which  obtain  among  his  dramatis  personce.  He  makes  his  rustics  talk  in  rustic 
fashion,^  while  yet,  when  Boaz  speaks  on  elevated  subjects,  the  language  rises  to  the  level  of 
the  theme. 

§  4.     Time  of  the  History. 

The  time  in  wliich  the  occurrences  themselves  took  place,  can  hardly  be  more  closely 
determined.  Boaz  was  the  great-grandfather  of  David.  For  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
between  Boaz  and  Obed,  or  Obed  and  Jesse,  other  names  have  fallen  out.  A  wider  remove 
of  Ruth  from  David  contradicts  the  thought  and  doctrine  of  the  Book.  The  view  that  Boaz 
may  have  been  a  contemporary  of  Gideon  ^  is  without  anytliing  to  support  it.  The  Book 
suggests  not  a  hint  of  war ;  and  although  it  speaks  of  famine  in  the  land,  there  is  not  the 
least  indication  that  it  was  a  result  of  hostile  devastations.  Much  rather  does  ch.  i.  6  (cf  the 
Comment.)  suggest  elemental  causes.  The  ancient  opinion,  found  in  Josephus,  which  places 
the  occurrences  of  our  Book  in  the  time  of  Eli,  has  certainly  much  greater  probability  in  its 
favor,  since  the  later  years  of  Boaz  and  the  life  of  Obed  may  be  conceived  as  running  parallel 
with  the  life  of  Eli,  and  that  of  Samuel  with  Jesse.  It  is  also  remarked  below  that  an  atti- 
tude of  mutual  hostility  between  Israel  and  the  Philistines,  may  explain  why  Elimelech  emi- 
grated to  Moab. 

Some  expositors  (Ewald,  Bertheau)  have  found  that  the  author  of  our  Book  maintains  a 
gpecially  "  learned  bearing,"  because  in  ch.  iv.  he  gives  information  concerning  certain  old 
customs,  and  have  inferred  from  it  that  he  must  have  written  at  a  late  period.  But  he  has 
only  done,  in  the  simplest  manner,  what  it  is  the  duty  of  every  narrator  to  do,  nan^ely,  explain 
and  give  information  on  points  in  need  of  it.  He  gives  a  picture  of  popular  life ;  in  Avhich 
he  no  more  excuses  himself  from  drawing  the  pursuit  of  the  humble  gleaner  than  the  transac- 
tions at  the  gate  of  the  city.  Perhaps  nothing  testifies  more  clearly  for  the  antiquity  of  the 
Book  than  ch.  iv.  The  Mosaic  law  speaks  of  the  pulling  off  of  the  shoe  only  in  the  particu- 
lar case  in  which  a  widow,  being  refused  marriage  by  her  deceased  husband's  brother,  is 
authorized  to  subject  the  offender  to  this  action  as  a  sign  of  disgrace.  But  this  was  only  a 
special  application  of  a  more  general  symbolical  idea  connected  with  the  shoe,  and  explana- 
tory of  its  earlier  use  in  transactions  of  exchange  and  redemption  generally.^  Now,  it  was 
just  because  the  Mosaic  law  prescribed  the  use  of  the  shoe  only  in  the  case  just  mentioned, 
that  it  ceased  to  be  used  on  other  occasions.  Consequently,  it  was  precisely  during  the  better 
observance  of  the  law  under  Samuel,  Saul,  and  David,  that  its  use  as  the  general  symbol  of 
transfer  of  rights  or  property  had  become  obsolete.  That  which  takes  place  at  the  gate  of 
Bethlehem  is  no  such  transaction  as  is  described  in  Deut.  xxv.  7  ff.  The  unknown  kinsman 
does  not  i-egard  it  as  such.  It  has  reference  solely  to  the  redemption  of  the  landed  property. 
Nor  is  liuth  present.  Had  the  Book  been  written  in  the  Exile,  when  the  letter  of  the  law 
bad  become  impressed  upon  the  people^  an  explanation  of  this  absence  would  not  have  been 
wanting,  just  as  Josephus  conceives  it  oecessary  to  add^  quite  in  opposition  to  the  narrative, 
that  Kuth  having  been  sent  for  by  Boaz,  the  wliole  levirate  process  was  performed  according 
to  legal  prescription.     In  our  author's  time  the  recollection  of  the  usages  he  describes,  was 

1  A  feet  which  clearly  manifests  itself  ia  the  so-called  0hal(Jaisiij3.  Compare,  for  instance,  the  conTejPsatioD  cf  Naomi 
with  her  (laughters,  ch.  i.,  that  of  Boaz  with  Ruth,  ch.  ii.,  etc.     Cf.  Keil,  Einleitung,  §  137,  note  2. 

2  [Among  later  writers  who  favor  this  opinion,  Hengstcnberg  jjiay  ija  mentioned,  who  urges  that  if  the  femine  had 
resulted  from  bad  harvests,  it  must  also  have  extended  to  the  neigljboring  land  of  Moab,  and  points  out  how  well  the  ten 
year.s'  sojourn  in  Moab  agrees  with  the  seven  years'  oppression  by  tte  Midianites,  for  "  some  years  must  neeessarily  have' 
elap.sed  till  the  land  could  recover  from  its  effects,  and  again  present  that  flpurishing  state  of  cultivation  in  whkh  Naomi 
found  it  on  her  return"  (Dissert,  on  Pent.,  ii.  92,  note,  Rylaud"s  translation).  Bertheau  {Cov^.  p.  234)  replies  that  the 
time  of  Gideon  is  inconsistent  with  the  genealogy  of  ch.  iv.  21,  ii.  which  alfords  tlie  only  certain  data  for  de-terminiDg 
the  question,  lie  places  the  history  in  the  latter  part  of  the  tfnie  jif  the  Judges.,  or  somewhere  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
Philistine  domination  over  Israel.  Iveil  in  his  Einleitung,  §  137,  note  1  (2d,edit.,  1859)  agrees  with  Bertheau,  and  fixes 
on  the  time  shortly  before  Eli ;  but  in  his  commentary  (publ.  1883)  adopts  the  view  of  Iteiigstenberg,  and  altbeugh  h« 
thinks  it  not  impossible  that  the  genealogy  is  incomplete,  so  tliat  Obed  may  have  been  the  grandfather  of  J».»se,  yet 
endeavors  to  show  that  even  on  tlie  supposition  that  it  is  complete,  Obed  may  hav.e  been  born  in  the  last  years  of  Gideon. 
But  he  appears  to  forget  that  the  combination  of  the  femine  with  the  Midianftic  devastations  requires  Obed  to  ht  born, 
not  in  the  last,  but  in  the  earlier  years  of  Gideon  ;  for  the  impression  left  by  the  nayj^tive  is  that  the  union  of  Rutb 
with  Boaz  took  place  not  very  long  after  the  return  from  Moab  (cf.  ch.  i.  ^  b).  Now.,  supposing  that  the  emigration 
occurred  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  Midianite  oppression,  thje  return,  ten  years  afterwards,  would  fall  in  the  8th  year  of 
Gideon.  But  from  say  the  10th  year  of  Gideon  to  the  birth  of  David  is  accoi'ding  to  Keirs  owb  reckoning,  a  period  o^ 
127  years,  somewhat  too  long  to  be  spanned  by  means  of  one  intervening  birth.  According  to  Dr.  Cassel's  chronologj 
(cf.  Introd.  to  Judges,  §  4)  the  interval  would  be  thirty  years  longer.  —  Xb.] 

3  Cf.  the  Commentary  oa  chs.  iii.  and  iv. 


INTRODUCTION. 


fresher  ;  the  usages  themselves  having  disappeared  but  a  few  generations  before.  Nor  is  this 
notice  of  obsolete  customs  peculiar  to  the  Book  of  Ruth.  Other  O.  T.  books  make  similar 
explanations.  Thus,  the  author  of  the  Books  of  Samuel  observes  that  "  formerly  "  prophets 
were  called  "  seers  "  (1  Sam.  ix.  9)  ;  and  the  author  of  the  Book  o£  Judges  frequently  gives 
the  earlier  names  of  cities  of  which  he  has  occasion  to  speak. 

§  5.      Translations  and  Commentaries. 

The  translation  of  our  Bopk  in  the  Septuagint  bears  a  verbal  character.  The  relation 
of  Josephus  (Ant.  v.  9)  evinces  his  efforts  to  bring  the  statements  of  the  Biblical  accounts 
into  harmony  with  tbe  prescription  of  the  law  as  observed  in  his  time,  and  not  to  allow  the 
virtues  of  Israel  to  be  too  much  eclipsed  by  those  of  foreigners.  The  Chaldee  translation, 
the  Targum,  being  intended  for  the  public  instruction  of  the  people,  follows  the  same  course 
yet  more  decidedly.  It  carries  back  into  the  ancient  times  of  Ruth  a  good  deal  of  later 
apprehension  and  exposition.  Its  interpolations  may  be  found  collected,  for  the  most  part,  in 
the  Midrash  Ruth  Rabba,^  which,  on  its  part,  has  chiefly  drawn  from  the  Gemara  of  Jerusa- 
lem and  older  Midrashim.  The  Babylonian  Talmud  gives  expositions  of  detached  passages 
of  Ruth:  Berachoth,  7;  Sabbat,  113;  Jebamoth,  47;  Nasir,  23;  Babakama,  30;  Baba- 
bathra,  91 ;  Sanhedrin,  19.  There  is  another  collection  of  Rabbinical  interpretations  in 
Jalkut  Simeoni,  torn.  ii.  ed.  Venez.  n.  596  ff. 

Interesting  philological  explanations  on  the  Chaldee  version  of  the  Targum  are  given  in 
the  rare  book  :  Perush  hamiloth,  Krakau,  1540-44.  The  most  important  commentaries  of 
mediaeval  Jewish  scholars,  are  those  of  Raschi  and  Ibn  Esra.  The  commentary  of  Solomon 
ben  Melech  was  published  by  Job.  Ben.  Carpzov,  in  the  Collegium  Rabbinico  Biblicum  in 
librum  Ruth,  Lips.  1703,  and  republished  by  Reland. 

The  earlier  Christian  theology  accorded  little  special  treatment  to  the  Book  of  Ruth.  Cas- 
siodorus  (De  Divlnis  Lectionibus,  cap.  1)  says :  "  Ancient  expositions  I  have  nowhere  been 
able  to  find.  I  have  however  persuaded  the  pious  presbyter  Bellator  to  write  explanations, 
and  he  has  said  much  in  praise  of  this  woman  and  others  in  two  books."  But^  of  the 
work  of  this  Bellator  nothing  is  known,  cf.  Serarius,  p.  680,  ch.  8.  In  later  ages,  the  expos- 
itors, older  and  more  recent,  «of  the  Book  of  Judges,  are  also  to  be  consulted  on  Ruth.  Most 
prominent  among  these  are  the  commentaries  of  Rupert  v.  Deutz,  Saa^ctius,  Serarius, 
Grotius,  Clericus,  Rosenmiiller,  Maurer,  Bertheau,  and  Keil.^ 

For  special  treatment  of  the  Book  of  Ruth,  the  following  are  to  be  named  :  Christ.  Auof. 
Heumann,  Poecile,  torn.  i.  180,  and  ii.  383  ;  J.  W.  Weinrich,  Hist,  und  theol.  Betrachtungen 
gelehrter  Dinge,  p.  237,  etc.;  Job.  Jac.  Rambach,  Notce  liberiores  in  libellum  Ruthce  ex.  rec. 
J.  H.  Michaelis  in  liberior.  adnot.  in  Hagiographos,  torn.  ii.  Halse,  1720.  The  Collegium  of 
Carpsov  has  already  been  mentioned. 

The  Book  was  translated  [into  German]  and  explained  by  Dereser,  Frankfort,  1806,  and 
by  von  Riegler,  Wiirzburg,  1812.  Compare  Umbreit  on  the  spirit  and  design  of  the  Book,  in 
the  Studien  und  Kritiken,  1834,  ii.  In  1856  appeared:  Metzger,  Liber  Ruth  ex  hebr.  in  lat. 
versus  perpetuceque  interpret,  illustf.  Tiib.  4. 

Useful  especially  for  teachers  of  Hebrew  is  :  The  Book  of  Ruth  in  Hebrew,  with  a  critically 
revised  Text,  various  Readings,  including  a  new  collation  of  tiuenty-eight  Hebrew  MSS.,  and 
a  grammatical  and  critical  Commentary ;  to  which  is  appended  the  Chaldee  Targum,  etc.,  by 
Charles  H.  H.  Wright,  M.  A.,  British  Chaplain  at  Dresden.     Leipzig,  1864, 

[Wordsworth's  Commentary  mentioned  in  the  Introduction  to  Judges  contains  notes  on 
Ruth  also.  A  Comment  on  Ruth,  by  Thomas  Fuller,  D.  D.,  London,  1868  (originally  pub- 
lished in  1654),  is  a  homiletical  production,  abounding  in  striking  thoughts  quaintly  expressed. 
It  only  extends,  however,  to  the  end  of  ch.  ii.  The  Rich  Kinsman,  or  History  of  Ruth,  by 
S.  H.  Tyng,  D.  D.,  N.  Y.—  Tr.] 

§  6.     Homiletical  Introduction.^ 

The  Book  of  Ruth  is  one  of  the  smallest  in  the  O.  T.,  but  abounds  in  material  for 
homiletical  instruction.     It  was  admitted  into  the  canon  of  Holy  Scriptures  not  merely  on 

1  Cf.  Zunz,  Gotteidienstliche  Vortrdge,  p.  265. 

2  Cf.  also  Wolff,  Bibliotlieca  Hehra;a,  ii.  78  ;  iv.  18. 

3  [Here,  as  in  Judges,  the  author  appended  his  "  Homiletical  Hints  "  in  a  body  at  the  close  of  the  Commentary.     For 
he  sake  of  conveuience  aa  well  as  uniformity,  they  have  here  also  been  distributed  and  placed  in  immediate  connection 


10  INTRODUCTION. 


account  of  its  ultimate  aim  and  issue,  but  also  for  the  instructiveness  of  the  narrative  in 
itself.  The  O.  T.  points  everywhere  through  history  to  completion,  even  as  Christ  liim 
self  says  :  I  am  the  Way  and  the  Truth,  the  Alpha  and  Omega. 

The  Book  of  Ruth  does  not  preach  by  means  of  mighty  deeds  of  war  inspired  by  faith,  like 
those  of  Gideon  and  Samson,  but  by  acts  of  love,  which  demand  no  less  strength  of  soul. 
God  can  be  praised  not  only  with  timbrels  and  trumpets,  but  also  in  quietness  and  silence. 
There  is  a  heroism  of  faith  in  the  family,  at  the  sick-bed,  and  in  grief  for  those  we  love, 
which  is  not  inferior  to  that  of  Barak.  Jephthah  found  it  easier  to  triumph  over  Ammou 
than  to  subdue  his  sorrow  on  account  of  his  daughter.  It  is  often  easier  to  die  for  the  faith, 
than  in  the  midst  of  men  to  live  for  it. 

The  Book  tells  of  no  prophetic  woman  like  Deborah.  But  it  tells  of  women  whose 
hearts  were  capable  of  pure  love,  and  such  love  is  always  prophetic.  The  fires  which  rouse 
a  nation  to  enthusiasm  glowed  in  Deborah  ;  but  in  the  women  of  our  book  burned  the  gentle 
flames  of  the  household  hearth,  which  distress  and  desertion  cannot  quench.  The  Book 
of  Judges  tells  of  a  prophetess  who  was  strong  as  a  man ;  the  Book  of  Ruth  of  a  man  who 
was  tender  as  a  woman. 

No  psalms  Uft  up  their  lofty  strains  in  the  Book  of  Ruth.  The  scene  of  its  history  is  not 
laid  in  the  temple  where  the  harp  of  God  resounds,  —  its  central  figure  is  neither  king  nor 
poet.  But  the  whole  Psalter  was  born  of  suffering  and  love  in  God,  like  as  David,  the 
psalmist,  descended  from  Ruth.  A  people  must  first  have  families  in  whom  God  is  mani- 
fested forth  by  love  and  truth,  before  inspired  singers  can  rise  up  from  it  to  tune  their  harps 
with  power.  By  the  side  of  Sarah  and  Rebecca  stands  the  retiring  woman,  who  as  Dante 
says  (Parad.  xxxii.  11),  was 

"  Ancestress  of  the  singer,  who  for  dole 
Of  the  misdeed  said,  Miserere  mei." 

Our  Book  contains  no  stern  denunciations  nor  sorrowing  lamentations  over  Israel,  its  peo- 
ple, princes,  and  priests ;  but  deeply  impressive,  penetrating  to  the  heart,  is  the  instance  it 
gives  of  suffering,  love,  and  victory.  It  jsroposes  not,  like  Daniel,  to  unveil  the  destinies  of 
nations  and  the  world ;  but  at  its  close  apj^ears  the  Son  of  David  into  whose  Godhood  nil 
history  empties  as  the  rivers  into  the  ocean.  No  miracles  occur  in  it  like  that  of  the  three 
men  in  the  fiery  oven  ;  but  it  tells  of  three  believing  ones,  who  in  the  glowing  heat  of  suffer- 
ing and  temptation,  were  found  strong  and  true. 

with  the  sections  of  the  text  out  of  wliich  they  grow.  The  opening  paragraphs,  as  applying  to  the  whole  Book,  are  here 
inserted.  The  "  Uints  "  proper  are  arranged  by  Dr.  Cassel  uuJer  heads  which,  being  suggestive  ia  themselves,  are  here 
Bubjoined  :  I.  Naomi  the  Beloved.  II.  Ruth  the  Loving  :  1.  The  confessor  of  the  true  religion  ;  2.  The  woman  of  action  ; 
8.  The  difficult  suit.  III.  Boaz  the  Well-doer  :  1.  The  landed  proprietor ;  2.  The  professor  of  religion  ;  3.  The  man  of 
action ;  4.  The  blessing.  —  Ta.] 


THE  BOOK  OF  RUTH. 


CHAPTER    FIRST. 

Verses  1-6. 
Distress  in  a  Foreign  Land. 

1  Now  [And]  it  came  to  pass  in  the  days  when  the  judges  ruled  [judged],  that 
there  was  a  famine  in  the  land.  And  a  cert.ain  [omit :  certain]  man  of  Beth-lehem- 
judah  went  to  sojourn  in   the  country  [territories^]   of  INIoab,  he,  and  his  wife,  and 

2  liis  two  sons.  And  the  name  of  the  man  was  EHmelech,  and  the  name  of  his  wife 
Naomi  [Noomi],^  and  the  name  of  his  two  sons  Mahlon  and  Chilion,  Ephrathites  of 
Beth-lehem-judah.     And  they  «ame  into  the  country  [territories]  of  Moab,  and  con- 

3  tinned    [lit.  were,  i.  e.,  abode]   there.     And   P^limelech  Naomi's  husband   died  ;  and  she 

4  was  left,  and  her  two  sons.  And  they  took  them  wives  of  the  women  of  Moab 
[Moabitish  wives]  ;  the   name  of  the  one  was  Orpah,  and  the  name  of  the  other 

5  Ruth  :  and  they  dwelled  there  about  ten  years.  And  Mahlon  and  Chilion  died  also 
both  of  them  ;  ^  and  the  woman  was  left  [behind]  ^  of  her  two  sons  and  her  husband. 

6  Then  she  arose  with  her  daughters-in-law,  that  she  might  return  [and  returned]  from 
the  country  [territories]  of  Moab  :  for  she  had  heard  in  the  country  [territory]  of 
Moab  how  [omit :  how]  that  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  had  visited  his  people  in  giving  [to 
give]  them  bread. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  1.  — Prop,  fields,  plains.     The  form    '^^tt7  is  variously  explaiaed.     Bertheau  regards  it  as  another  mode  of 
writing   m£i7,   which  occurs  in  yer.  6  of  this  chapter,  and  in  ch.  iv.  3,  and  according  to  Wright  is  in  many  MSS.  found 

here  also.  The  original  ^  of  nouns  derived  from  ri  V  stems  frequently  reappears  before  suffixes  (Oes.  Gr.  93,  9, 
Rem.),  and  Berth,  thinks  that  the  same  change  is  occasioned  by  the  close  connection  of  the  word  with  the  following 
genitive  (cf.  Ges.  89,  1).  Ewald  also  takes  ^"^W  to  be  singular,  but  derives  it  from  the  ancient  form  *'"TtI7.  the  con- 
Btruct  of  which  might  be  '^~\W  after  the  analogy  of  ""H  const.  "*n,  "^"^  const.  "^"^^  etc.  But  "'T'l?  is  not  found 
in  Ruth,  unless  it  be  in  the  disguise  of  the  construct,  while  iTlti?  occurs  not  less  than  nine  times.  Better,  therefore, 
with  Gesenius,  Fiirst,  and  others,  take  ^'^W  as  plural  construct  of  ^^K7,  Keil  proposes  to  make  ''^^7  plural  const, 
of    "'ICi?,   pi.   □''^ti?  (which  however  is  not  found  anywhere) ;  for  what  reason  does  not  appear,  unless  it  be  that  the 

plural  of  rnti?  is  usually  feminine,  whereas  "^ICi?  is  masc.  But  such  irregularities  are  not  uncommon  ;  see  Green, 
Gr.  200,  c.  The  interchange  of  the  singular  and  plural  is  readily  accounted  for  from  the  meaning  of  the  word,  whichj 
according  to  the  more  or  less  definite  conception  in  the  mind  of  the  writer  at  the  moment,  may  represent  the  territory  as 
one  great  field  or  as  made  up  of  many  smaller  fields.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  2.  —  "D173  :   Noomi,  as  the  name  should  be  written.     Sept.  NcoefitV  ;  "Vulg.  Noenri.  —  Te.] 

[3  Ver.  5.  —  Better  :  "  Then  died  they  two  also,  Mahlon  and  Chilion."  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  5.  —  nS*STn  :    not,  "  was  left  from,  t.  e.  was   bereaved  of,"  as  Wright  (with  the  Vulgate)  interprets, —  on 

\he  ground  that  the  'J^  changes  the  simple  meaning  of  the  verb  as  found  in  ver.  3.  "JT3  has  its  proper  partitive  meaning, 
and  points  out  the  whole  of  which  Naomi  is  now  the  only  part  left,  cf.  Deut.  iii.  11  ;  Neh.  1.  2,  3.  The  enumeration  of  the 
whole  is  so  far  incomplete  that  it  does  not  expressly  include  Naomi  herself.  In  ver.  3  the  verb  is  used  without  ^Q 
because  there  is  there  no  direct  reference  to  the  whole,  but  only  the  statement  that  at  the  death  of  her  husband,  she  and 
her  sous  were  left  behind.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

"Ver.    1.     And  it  came   to  pass  in  the  days 
when  the  judges  ludged.      Nothing   more   defi- 


nite is  hereby  expressed  than  that  the  occurrence 
about  to  be  related  toolc  place  in  the  time  wben 
there  was  yet  no  king  in  Israel.  In  those  days 
there  was  no    governor   armed  witli   imperative 


12 


THE  BOOK   OF  RUTH. 


authority,  who  could  help  and  discipline  the  whole 
people.  Everybody  did  what  he  would,  and  helped 
lihnsclf  in  whatever  way  he  thought  best.  Tart 
of  the  tribe  of  Dan  forsook  the'  laud  in  a  body, 
because  they  were  no  longer  pleased  with  it,  and 
had  no  mind  to  overcome  the  remaining'  enemies  ; 
and  Elimelech,  an  individual  citizen,  abandoned 
his  home  when  the  times  became  bad. 

There  was  a  famine  in  the  land.  No  rain 
fell,  and  the  crops  did  not  prosper.  Notwithstand- 
ing- good  and  diligent  cultivation,  with  which  that 
at  present  observed  in  those  parts  is  not  to  be 
compared,  no  harvests  were  reaped  from  those 
extensive  grain-bearing  plains  which  in  good  years 
produce  abundant  supplies.^  In  such  seasons  of 
scarcity,  southern  Palestine  naturally  resorted  to 
importations  from  Egypt,  as  the  history  of  Joseph 
has  already  shown.  The  increased  prices,  how- 
ever, necessarily  resulting  from  a  failure  of  the 
home  crops,  pressed  with  two-fold  weight  on  the 
less  affluent  among  the  people.  And  if,  by  hostil- 
ities on  the  part  of  the  Philistines,  or  for  any  other 
reason,  they  were  also  «ut  oft'  from  the  granaries 
of  Egypt,  nothing  remained  but  to  look  for  sup- 
plies to  eastern  countries.  Even  ancient  Rome 
suffered  famine  Miienever  its  connections  with 
Egypt  were  interrupted,  an  occurrence  which 
sometimes,  as  under  Vespasian  (Tacit,  iii.  48,  5), 
involved  serious  political  consequences. 

The  famine  extended  to  the  most  fertile  parts 
of  the  land,  for  it  visited  Bethlehem.  The  very 
name,  "House  of  Bread,",  bespeaks  a  good  and 
fertile  district.  Even  yet,  notwithstanding  poor 
cultivation,  its  soil  is  fruitful  in  olives,  pomegran- 
ates, almonds,  figs,  and  gra])es  (Ritter,  xvi.  287 
[Gage's  transl.  iii.  341]).  The  region  was  "re- 
markably well  watered  in  comparison  with  other 
parts  of  Palestine."  2  On  this  account,  the  name 
Ephratah,  applied  to  Bethlehem  and  the  country 
around  it,  is  perhaps  to  be  explained  as  referring 
to  the  fruitfulness  insured  by  its  waters.^ 

And  a  man  went.  The  man  left  Bethlehem 
with  his  family  in  the  time  of  famine,  in  order, 
during  its  continuance,  to  sojourn  in  the  fertile 
territories  of  Moab,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  whither  the  calamity  did  not  extend. 
For  this  the  Jewish  expositors  rightly  blame  him. 
He  left  his  neighbors  and  relatives  in  distress,  in 
order  to  live  in  the  land  of  the  enemy ;  forsook  his 
home,  in  order  to  reside  as  a  stranger  in  Moab. 
If  what  he  did  was  right,  all  Bethlehem  should 
have  done  the  same  !  The  case  stood  very  diflfer- 
ent,  when  Abraham  for  a  like  reason  went  to 
Egypt  (Gen.  xii.  10);  for  Abraham  went  with  all 
his  house,  left  no  one  behind,  and  was  everywhere 
a  stranger.  But  Isaac  is  already  forbidden  from 
•adopting  the  same  method  of  relief  (Gen.  xxvi.  2), 
and  Jacob  removes  to  Egypt,  not  on  account  of  the 
famine,  but  because  his  lost  Jose])h  has  been  found 
again.  But  this  man  undertakes,  by  his  own 
strength  and  in  selfish  segregation  from  his  fellows, 
to  change  the  orderings  of  divine  providence.  The 
famine  was  ordained  as  a  chastening  discipline; 
but  instead  of  repenting,  he  seeks  to  evade  it  by 

1  Ritter  {Erdkunde,  xiii.  458)  states,  on  the  authority  of 
Burkhardt,  that  in  Nejd,  in  Arabia,  similar  famines  recur 
lit  intervals  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  years. 

2  Which  even  Benjamin  of  Tudela  (Asher's  edit.  p.  40) 
particularly  notices. 

3  n~12S.   nn~l5S,  trom    n"l3,   to  bear,  sc.  fruit, 

T  :  /  '         T    T  ;  V  '  T  T 

cf.  jn~15,  Phrath,  in  its  Greek  form  Euphrates,  an  j*T)pS, 
as  it  were. 


going  to  a  foreign  land.  Whether  this  can  be 
done,  the  ensuing  narrative  is  about  to  show. 

Ver.  2.  And  the  name  of  the  man  was 
Elimelech.  His  family  was  of  importance  in  the 
tribe  of  Judah  (cf.  chaps,  ii.  and  iu.),  well  known 
in  Bethlehem  (ch.  i.  19  fi". ;  iv.  1  ft'.),  and  by  no 
means  poor  (ch.  i.  21).  The  names  of  its  mem- 
bers may  be  held  to  testily  to  tlie  same  effect.  In 
accordance  with  tiie  spirit  of  Israelitish  life,  they 
may  be  supposed  to  refiect  those  obvious  peculiari- 
ties which  popular  discernment  remarked  in  the 
persons  of  those  who  bore  them.  The  man  is 
named  Elimelech,  "  my  God  is  King."  All  names 
compounded  with  "  melech,"  king,  with  which  we 
are  acquainted,  Abimcloch,  Ahimelech,  etc.,  are 
borne  by  distinguished  persons.  Now,  it  was  pre- 
cisely in  contest  with  a  king  of  Moab,  Eglon,  that 
Israel  had  experienced  that  God  is  king  ;  and  yet, 
here  an  Elimelech  withdraws  himself  from  the 
favor  of  God  in  order  to  live  in  Moab  !  His  wife's 
name  was  Naomi,  "  the  lovely,  gracious  one."  The 
name  unquestionably  corresponded  to  the  charac- 
ter. Whoever  is  loved  as  she  was,  and  that  by 
daughters-in-law,  is  most  certainly  worthy  of  love. 
As  to  the  names  of  the  sons,  Mahlon  and  Chilion, 
the  derivations  which  make  them  signify  "  sickly  " 
and  "  pining,"  suggested  perhaps  by  their  subse- 
quent fafe,  are  undoubtedly  erroneous.  For, 
surely,  they  bore  them  already  when  in  Bethle- 
hem, after  leaving  which  they  continued  in  life 
over  ten  years  in  Moab.  It  is  much  more  likely 
that  by  these  names,  bestowed  at  birth,  the  parents 
expressed  the  feelmg  that  these  sons  were  their 
"joy  "  and  "  ornament."   Mahlon  (properly  Mach- 

lon)  may  then  be  derived  from  7'n^,  viachol, 
"circle-dance,"  Greek  c/wros.  Comp.  1  Kgs. iv. 31, 
where  Heman,  Chalcol,  and  Darda,  are  called  sons 
of  Machol ;  and  in  Greek,  Chor-er/is  or  ChoroMes, 
from  choros.     In  like  manner,  Chilion  *  (or  rather 

Kilion),  may,  like  HvS,  kallah,  a  bride,  be  re- 
ferred to  ''^3?  to  crown.  The  name  M'ould  thus 
signify  coronatus,  just  as  kallah  (bride)  signifies  a 
coronata.  It  is  particularly  stated  that  they  are 
"  Ephrathites  "  of  Bethlciiem-judah.  Ephratah 
was  the  ancient  name  of  Bethlehem  and  the  region 
around  it.  Accordingly,  Ephrathites  are  natives 
of  the  city,  persons  properly  belonging  to  the  tribe 
of  Judah,  not  mere  residents  in  Bethlehem  from 
other  tribes  (cf.  Judg.  xvii.  7).^  So  David  also,  by 
a  use  of  the  word  in  obvious  accord  with  this  pas- 
sage, is  spoken  of  as  the  son  of  an  Ephrathite 
of  Bethlehem-judah  (1  Sam.  xvii.  12)  ;  and  the 
prophet,  when  he  announces  Him  who  in  the 
future  is  to  come  out  of  Bethleiiem,  expressly 
speaks  of  Bethlehem-Ephratah  (Micah  v.  1).  For 
the  same  reason,  the  full  name  Bethlehem-judah  is 
constantly  used,  in  order  to  prevent  any  confusion 
with  Bethlehem  in  Zebulun  (Josh.  xix.  1.5 ;  cf  Com. 
on  Judg.  xii.  8)^  and  also  to  make  it  impossible  to 
think  of  Ephrathites  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim. 

Vers.  3-5.  And  Elimelech  died.  I'robably 
not  long  after  his  arrival  in  Moab.     This  appears 

4  Sept.  XeKanav,  Josephus  XeAAi'ioi/.  The  magnificence 
of  the  names  might  rather  seem  to  contrast  with  the  un- 
happy issue.  For  Elimelech  Josephus  puts  Abimelech, 
probably  also  in  consequence  of  some  allegorical  exposi- 
tion. 

5  Some  of  the  older  Jewish  teachers  not  inappropriately 
render  "  Ephratiui  "  by  cuyefeo-TaToi,  high-born,  oi  lata- 
tini  (Ruth  Rabba,  29,  etc.). 


CHAPTER   I.   1-6. 


13 


not  only  from  the  connecting  "  and  " :  "  they 
came  to  Moab,  were  there,  and  Elimelech  died  " 
(cf.  tlie  Com.  on  Jndg.  i.  1),  but  may  also  be 
inferred  i'rom  the  circumstance  that  the  sons  did 
not  marry  while  he  was  yet  living. 

The  death  of  the  father  is  the  beginning  of  the 
sad  catastrophe  ;  but  notwithstanding  its  occurrence 
the  sons  are  unwilling  to  return.  On  the  contrary, 
they  proceed,  in  violation  of  the  Mosaic  law,  to 
take  Moabitish  wives  (cf  Com.  on  Judg.  iii.  6  f ). 
That  su(-h  marriages  full  within  the  prohibition  of 
Deut.  vii.  3  is  not  to  be  doubted.  The  restrictions 
of  that  passage  apply  to  all  who  serve  false  gods, 
and  the  idolatry  of  Ammon  and  Moab  is  as 
strongly  abominated  as  any  other.  That  Moab 
and  Ammon  are  not  expressly  named  in  the  pas- 
sage, is  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  speaks  with  ref- 
erence to  the  country  on  this  side  of  the  Jordan. 
In  other  passages,  the  worship  and  fellowship  of 
JNIoab  are  rejected  in  the  same  way  as  those  of 
the  other  nations  (cf.  Judg.  x.  6).  The  ques- 
tion is  not  what  name  a  people  bears,  but  what 
its  religion  and  Avorship  are.  No  doubt,  how- 
ever, the  old  Jewish  expositors  are  right  when 
they  maintain  that  the  law  which  forbids  the  en- 
trance of  an  Ammonite  or  Moabite  into  the  con- 
gregation of  Jehovah,  even  to  the  tenth  genera- 
tion (Deut.  xxiii.  3),  does  not  bear  on  the  case  of 
Ruth.  For  this  can  apply  only  to  men,  who  from 
their  sex  are  enabled  to  act  independently,  not  to 
women,  who  are  selected  and  taken.  A  woman 
founded  no  family  in  Israel,  but  was  taken  into 
one.  For  that  reason,  also,  there  is  no  connection 
whatever  between  this  law  and  that  in  Deut.  vii. 
2  ff.  Israel  was  forbidden  to  take  wives  for  their 
sons  from  among  the  neighboring  nations,  not 
because  these  entered  into  the  congregation  or 
founded  strange  families,  but  because  marriage  is 
a  covenant,  and  involves  the  danger  of  becoming 
mi.xed  up  with  idolatry. 

Inapplicable,  likewise,  to  the  present  case  is 
the  passage  in  Deut.  xxi.  10  If.,  adduced  by  Le 
Clerc  in  defense  of  Naomi's  sons.  Doubtless,  the 
fact  that  a  woman  was  a  captive  taken  in  war  gave 
marriage  with  her  an  altogether  diffei'ent  charac- 
ter. In  that  case  all  the  presuppositions  which 
underlie  the  enactment  in  Deut.  vii.  were  want- 
ing. The  woman,  moreover,  must  first  bewail  her 
kindred  as  dead,  before  she  is  allowed  to  be  mar- 
ried. But  Ruth  and  (Jrpah  were  not  captives. 
MarViage  with  them  was  in  all  respects  such  as 
Deut.  vii.  provided  against.  Nor  does  the  narra- 
tive seek  to  hide  the  sin  of  the  young  men.i  It  is 
precisely,  as  we  shall  see,  the  most  striking  beauty 
of  the  thought  of  our  Book,  that  the  wrong  which 
has  been  done  is  overcome,  and  turned  into  a  step- 
ping-stone to  a  great  end.  The  Midrash  makes  a 
daughter  of  king  Eglon  out  of  Ruth.  Her  heart 
at  least  is  noble  and  royal  as  any  king's  daughter 
could  be,  and  her  exterior  was  doubtless  such  as 
to  correspond  with  it. 

The  name  of  tlie  one  was  Orpah,  and  the 
name  of  the  other  Ruth.  The  designation  of 
irirls  by  names  borrowed  from  pleasing  animals  or 

1  The  Targum  justly  brings  it  into  full  relief.  [It  para- 
phra.ses  :  "  and  they  transgressed  the  command  of  the  Lord, 
and  took  foreign  wives  from  among  the  daughters  of  Moab."] 
The  answers  of  Le  Clerc  are  misunderstandings,  which  have 
been  repeated  down  to  Bertheau.  Ranibach's  excuses  for 
the  brothers  are  already  offered  by  older  Roman  Catholic 
expositors.  "  But,'  says  one  of  these  (cf  Serarius,  p.  690), 
"  why  make  excuses  for  theui  ?  for  Scripture  does  in  no 
way  represent  them  as  holy  men." 

'    tri'll    is  usually  regarded  sus  a  contraction  either  of 


flowers  is  common  to  all  nations.  The  conjecture 
that  Oqjah,  or  Orpha,  as  the  LXX.  pronounce  it, 
like  Ophra,  signifies  a  hind,  is  therefore  undoubt 
edly  in  accordance  with  Moabitish  usage.  A 
comparison  might  apparently  be  made  with  cerva, 
Celtic  carv  (cf.  Benfey,  ii.  174).  The  name  of 
Ruth  would  gain  in  "interest,  if  the  derivation 
which  I  propose,  were  approved.  Singularly 
enough  the  name  of  the  rose  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  Scriptures,  although  this  flower  to  this  day 
adorns  the  ruins  of  the  holy  land  with  wondrous 
beauty.  The  Mishna  and  Talmud  speak  of  it 
under  its  Greek  name,  (>6Bov  (cf.  my  Roue  und 
Nachtlgall,  p.  19).     Now  it  seems  to  me  that  in 

n^~l  we  have  the  ancient  form  of  the  word  'p6hoi>, 
rosa,  undoubtedly  derived,  from  the  redness  o{  the 
flower,  ipvdpSs,  rutilus,  Sanskrit  rudh-ira,  Gothic 
rauds  (Benfey,  ii.  125).  That  even  the  so-called 
Semitic  and  classical  languages  have  many,  words 
and  roots  in  common,  especially  such  as  denote 
common  objects,  as  colors,  animals,  plants,  is  mani- 
fest from  numerous  instances,  as  e.  f/.  a\(p6s,  albus, 

T^7*  -^^  ^^^  events,  the  thought  of  Ruth  as  the 
Moabitish  Rose  is  in  itself,  apart  from  the  philolog- 
ical probability,  too  attractive  to  refrain  from  giv- 
ing expression  to  the  conjectui'e.'^ 

And  they  dwelt  there  about  ten  years.  The 
selection  of  such  maidens  as  the  sequel  shows 
Ruth  and  Orpah  to  be,  and  the  peaceful  relations 
which  must  have  existed  between  all  parties  con- 
cerned, may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  reduce  the 
offense  of  Naomi's  sons  against  the  marriage  law  to 
its  mildest  form.  But  the  distance  at  which  they 
keep  themselves  from  their  native  land  and  people 
when  these  are  in  distress,  in  order  to  find  happi- 
ness and  rest  for  themselves  elsewhere,  does  not 
prove  productive  of  blessings.  The  lot  that  be- 
falls them  is  very  sad.  The  father,  who  feared  lest 
he  should  not  be  able  to  live  at  home,  had  scarcely 
reached  the  strangers'  land  before  he  died.  The 
sons  founded  their  houses  in  Moab,  and  Moab  be- 
came their  grave.  They  were  probably  determined 
not  to  return  home  before  the  famine  was  over ; 
and  when  it  was  over,  they  themselves  were  no 
more.  The  father  had  emigrated  in  order  to  have 
more  and  to  secure  his  family ;  and  now  his  widow 
had  neither  husband,  nor  sons,  nor  property. 
Mahlon  and  Chilion  had  died  childless  ;  "joy  "  and 
"  ornament  "  had  given  way  to  mourning  and  the 
signs  of  bereavement  —  Naomi  stood  alone  in  a 
foreign  land.  Then  she  arose  with  her  daughters- 
in-law. 

Ver.  6.  For  Jehovah  had  visited  his  peoplo 
to  give  them  bread.  Believing  Israel  sees  the 
government  of  God  in  everything.  Everything 
comes  from  Him  and  is  designed  to  discipline  and 
instruct  mankind.  In  Deut.  xxviii.  47,  48,  it  is 
written  that  in  case  Israel  shall  apostatize  from 
God  and  cease  to  serve  Him,  it  shall  serve  its  ene- 
mies, and  that  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  nakedness 
and  want.  That  the  famine  which  had  at  this 
time  befallen  Bethlehem  was  the  consequence  of 
one  of  those  military  tyrannies  which,  as  the  Book 

n-lW^,     vision,  appearance,  or  better,  of  jn-l^T      female 

friend.     The  explanation  of  n2"127  as  hind,  rests  on  the 
T  :  T 

supposition  that  it  is  the  same  with  JTIC^'  '^®  *^°  mid- 
dle letters  being  transposed.  Gesenius  derives  it  from  the 
Arabic  'Orphtn,  a  mane  ;  cf.  the  Heb.  ^^37,  neck.  "It 
may,  however,  bo  more  suitable,"  says  U'right,  "as  the 
name  of  a  female,  to  regard  it  as  identical  with  the  Arabic 
'  Orpkun  in  the  sense  of  liberality.^''  —  Tr.] ' 


14 


THE   BOOK   OF  EUTH. 


of  Judges  relates,  chastised  the  people,  there  is 
not  the  least  indication.  But  a  chastisement  it 
certainly  was,  even  though  this  is  not  asserted. 
And  doubtless,  the  people,  as  it  usually  did  under 
such  circumstances,  turned  with  penitence  and 
prayer  to  its  God.  Then  the  years  of  famine  came 
to  an  end.  God  remembered  his  people.  It  is  a 
judgment  of  God  when  He  allows  men  to  go  their 
own  ways  and  help  themselves  in  their  necessities 
and  sufferings  (cf.  tlie  inrepiSttiv,  Acts,  xvii.  30)  ; 
but  in  his  mercy  He  remembers  them,  as  he  re- 
membered Israel  in  Egypt  (Ex.  ii.  24).    The  word 

"Tr2^  here  used,  occurs  repeatedly  for  such  a  re- 
turn of  divine  remembrance.  God  remembered 
Cli^S)  Sarah,  silently  mourning  over  her  childless- 
ness (Gen.  xxi.  1).  After  Moses  had  performed 
wonders  before  Israel  in  Egjqit,  the  people  believed, 

and  when  they  heard  that  God  had  observed  (~Ti2^) 
the  sviffcrings  of  the  people,  and  had  looked  upon 
their  affliction,  they  bowed  down  and  worshipped 
(Ex.  iv.  31) 

Erom  the  turn  of  the  language  that  God  "  re- 
membered "  to  "  give  bread  "  to  his  people,  more 
particularly  to  Bethlehem,  the  "  House  of  Bread," 
it  may  properly  be  inferred  that  the  famine  was 
not  the  result  of  war,  but  of  drought. 

NoT^  ON  Betiilkiiem  and  the  grave  or 
Rachel.  "  No  one,"  says  Robinson  {Bihl.  Bes.  i. 
471),  has  ever  doubted,  I  believe,  that  the  present 
Beit  Lahm,  '  House  of  Flesh,'  of  the  Arabs,  is 
identical  with  the  ancient  Bethlehem,  '  House  of 
Bread,'  of  the  Jews.  The  present  distance  of  two 
hours  from  Jerusalem  corresponds  very  exactly  to 
the  six  Roman  miles  of  antiquity."  Schubert 
justly  calls  it  the  most  attractive  and  significant 
of  all  the  world's  birthplaces. 

This  Bethlehem,  where  Rachel  died,  where  Boaz 
married  Ruth,  where  David  was  born,  and  Jesus 
Christ  entered  the  world,  is  to-day,  as  Ritter  re- 
marks, a  little  city  or  village  "  hardly  worthy  of 
mention  on  its  own  account,  having  scarcely  a 
single  noteworthy  characteristic,  except  the  un- 
changing carpet  of  green,  and  the  beautiful  sky 
from  which  once  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone 
round  about  the  shepherds." 

Bethlehem  lies  two  short  hours  south  of  Jerusa- 
lem, on  two  moderate-sized  hills,  on  whose  north- 
ern and  eastern  declivities  the  dwelling-houses 
of  the  place  are  built.  It  is  bounded  on  the  south 
by  the  Wady  et  Taamirah.  During  the  reign  of 
the  emperor  Justinian  it  flourished  greatly  for  a 
season,  which,  however,  did  not  prove  long.  Its 
present  inhabitants  are  mostly  Christians.  They 
are  a  strong  and  energetic  race.  During  the 
Middle  Ages,  warlike  feuds  seem  to  have  given  the 
place  a  better  title  to  be  called  Bethlachem,  House 
of  War,  than  Bethlehem. 

Toward  the  west,  there  is  a  succession  of  irregu- 
lar hills  and  v.iUeys  as  far  as  the  chapel  over 
Rachel's  sepulchre.  The  Jews  considered  this  as 
an  especially  sacred  spot.^  The  monument  is  de- 
scribed by  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  who  visited  Pales- 
'ine  somewhere  between  a.  d.  1160  and  1173, 
IS  consisting  of  "  eleven  stones,  according  to  the 
number  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  with  a  cupola  resting 

1  [They  do  still.  Dr.  llackett,  who  visited  the  tomb  in 
1852,  says :  "  The  Jews,  as  would  be  expected,  regard  the 
spot  with  peculiar  interest.  One  of  them  filled  a  bag  with 
earth  collected  near  the  tomb,  and  gave  it  to  one  of  my 
travelling  companions  to  bring  home  with  him  to  this 
country,  as  a  present  to  a  brother  of  the  Jew  residing  here." 


on  four  pillars  over  them ;  and  all  passing  Jews 
write  their  names  on  the  stones  of  the  monument" 
(ed.  Asher,  p.  40).  The  Jewish  traveller  Petachia 
(circa  a.  i>.  1175-80),  writes  as  follows:  "Eleven 
stones  lie  on  the  grave  of  Rachel,  according  to  the 
eleven  tribes,  for  Benjamin  was  only  born  as  his 
mother  died.  The  stones  are  uf  marlile  ;  and  the 
stone  of  Jacob,  also  marble,  covers  all  the  others, 
and  is  very  large,  so  that  it  requires  many  persons 
to  move  it."  This  induces  the  author  to  add  the 
following  legend  :  "  The  monks  who  live  a  mile 
away,  once  took  the  stone  from  the  grave,  and  de- 
posited it  by  their  church ;  but  the  next  morning 
they  saw  it  again  at  the  grave  as  before  "  (ed. 
Carmoly,  p.  97). 

The  author  oi  Jichus  ha  Ahot  givfis  a  description 
of  the  cupola  as  it  was  in  his  time  (cf.  Hottinger, 
CippI  Hebrnici,  p.  33,  Carmoly,  Itineraires,  etc., 
p.  436).  The  Arabian  traveller  Edrisi  (about 
A.  D.  1150  ;  ed.  Jaubert,  i.  345)  and  another  anon- 
ymous writer  [Fundgruben  des  Orients,  ii.  135* 
Carmoly,  p.  457)  also  .speak  of  it. 

Buckingham's  description  (a.  t>-  1816)  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  We  entered  it  on  the  south  side  by  an 
aperture  through  which  it  was  difficult  to  crawl,  as 
it  has  no  doorway,  and  found  on  the  inside  a  square 
mass  of  masonry  in  the  centre,  built  up  from  the 
floor  nearly  to  the  roof,  and  of  such  a  size  as  to 
leave  barely  a  narrow  passage  for  walking  around 
it.  It  is  plastered  with  white  stucco  on  the  outer 
surface,  and  is  sufficiently  large  and  high  to  enclose 
within  it  any  ancient  pillar  that  might  have  been 
found  on  the  grave  of  Rachel.  Around  the  in- 
terior face  of  the  walls  is  an  arched  recess  on  each 
side,  and  over  every  part  of  the  stucco  are  written 
and  engraved  a  profusion  of  names,  in  Hebrew, 
Arabic,  and  Roman  characters."  (Cf.  Palestine,  i. 
336.) 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL.2 

"A  man  of  Bethlehem-judah  went  to  sojourn  in 
Moab."  Because  there  is  famine  at  home,  the 
family  of  Elimelcch  migrate  to  a  foreign  coimtry. 
They  alone  think  that  the  distress  cannot  be  borne. 
Instead  of  crying  to  God  and  trusting  in  Him, 
along  with  their  brethren,  in  Bethlehem,  they  pro- 
ceed to  an  enemy's  land,  where  heathen  worship 
false  gods.  Their  emigration  testifies  to  a  decrease 
in  their  faith.  Here  it  is  not,  as  in  the  case  of 
Abraham,  Go  to  a  land  that  I  will  show  thee  ;  but 
it  must  rather  be  said,  They  went  to  a  land  that 
God  had  rejected.  The  result  was  such  as  mi.Lflit 
have  been  expected.  God  did  not  bless  their  de- 
parture, and  therefore  their  entrance  brought  no 
joy.  They  sought  to  avoid  one  affliction,  and  fell 
into  a  heavier.  The  men  escaped  famine,  but  death 
overtook  them.  They  had  not  trusted  God's  love 
at  home,  and  so  his  judgments  smote  them  abroad. 

Results  like  these  should  also  be  contemplated  by 
many  who  undertake  to  emigrate  in  our  days.  Not 
many  go  as  Abraham  went  to  Canaan,  or  as  Jacob 
went  to  Egypt;  the  majority  follow  in  the  steps  ot 
Elimelech. 

Continue  in  thy  land,  and  support  thyself  hon- 
estly. "  To  many  "  —  says  a  book  called  Snhbat- 
lirhe  Erinnerwifjen,  —  "it  may  be  a  necessity  to 
leave  their  native  land,  for  the  relations  of  life  are 

See  Scripture  Illustrations,  Boston,  1855,  p.  102,  where  a 
small  engraving  of  the  present  exterior  of  the   sepulchre 

is  al-!0  given Tr.] 

'2  [Compare  the  Introduction,  Sect.  6,  for  some  general 
Homiletical  Hints  on  the  whole  Book.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  I.   1-6. 


15 


manifold  and  often  strange  ;  but  most  of  those 
A'no  in  these  days  seize  the  pil;^rim-statF,  are  not 
driven  by  distress.  It  is  not  hanger  after  bread, 
or  want  of  work  that  urges  them,  but  hunger 
after  gain,  and  the  want  of  life  in  God."  ^ 

St.\rke  :  Dearth  and  famine  are  a  great  plague, 
and  we  have  good  reason  to  pray  with  reference 
to  them,  "  Good  Lord,  deliver  us !  " 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  Elimelech  emigrated  to  a 
Ix'athen  land,  where  the  living  God  was  not  ac- 
knowledged, while  emigrants'  of  the  present  day 
go  for  the  most  part  to  lands  where  churches  are 
ah'eady  in  existence.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
Elimelech,  notwithstanding  his  unbelieving  flight, 
became  after  all  no  Moabite.  The  emigrant's 
grand  concern  should  be  not  to  have  the  spirit  of 
a  Moabite  when  he  leaves  his  native  land.  Many 
have  ended  much  more  sadly  than  Elimelech,  and 
have  left  no  name  behind.  Elimelech's  kindred  was 
vet  visited  with  blessings,  because  the  faithful, 
believing  spirit  of  an  Israelitish  woman,  Naomi, 
worked  in  his  household. 

Starke  :  Husband  and  wife  should  continue  true 
to  each  other,  in  love  and  in  sorrow,  in  good  and 
evil  days. 

"  A7id  the  name  of  his  wife  was  Naomi."  Naomi 
means,  "  pleasant,  lovely."  As  her  name,  so  her 
character.  Her  name  was  the  mirror  of  her  na- 
ture. And  truly,  names  ought  not  to  be  borne  in 
vain.  [Fuller  :  Names  are  given  to  men  and  wo- 
men, not  only  to  distinguish  them  from  each  other, 
but  also,  —  1 .  To  stir  them  up  to  vei'ify  the  mean- 
ings and  significations  of  their  names.  Wherefore 
let  every  Obadiah  strive  to  be  a  "  servant  of  God," 
every  Nathaniel  to  be  "  a  gift  of  God,"  Onesimus 
to  be  "  profitable,"  every  Roger  "  quiet  and  peace- 
able "  (?)  Robert  "famous  for  counsel"  (?),  and 
William  "  a  help  and  defense "  to  many.  2.  To 
incite  them  to  imitate  the  virtues  of  those  worthy 
persons  who  formerly  have  been  bearers  and  own- 
ers of  their  names.  Let  all  Abrahams  be  faithful, 
Isaacs  quiet,  Jacobs  painful,  Josephs  chaste ;  every 
Lewis,  pious  ;  Edward,  confessor  of  the  true  faith ; 
William,  conqueror  over  his  own  coiTuptions.  Let 
them  also  carefully  avoid  those  sins  for  which  the 
bearers  of  the  names  stand  branded  to  posterity. 
Let  every  Jonah  beware  of  frowardness,  Thomas 
of  distrustfulness,  etc.  If  there  be  two  of  our 
names,  one  exceedingly  good,  the  other  notoriously 
evil,  let  us  decline  the  vices  of  the  one,  and  prac- 
tice the  virtues  of  the  other.  Let  every  Judas  not 
follow  Judas  Iscariot,  who  betrayed  our  Saviour, 

1  [Without  questioning  the  correctnes.'?  of  the  foregoing 
remarks,  it  may  nevertheless  serve  a  good  purpose  to  call 
attention  to  the  following  sentences  from  Dr.  Tbos.  Fuller 
(1654),  which  read  to-day  suggest  the  great  need  of  that 
caution  in  "  application  "  which  they  alsoexemplity  :  "  Now 
if  any  do  demand  of  me  my  opinion  concerning  our  breth- 
ren which  of  late  left  this  kingdom  to  advance  a  plantation 
in  New  England ;  surely  I  think,  as  St.  Paul  said  concern- 
ing virgins,  h?  Kad  '  received  no  commandment  from  the 
Lord  ; "  so  I  cannot  find  any  just  warrant  to  encourage  men 
to  undertake  this  removal ;  but  think  rather  the  counsel 


but  Judas  the  brother  of  James,  the  writer  of  the 
General  Epistle  ;  each  Demetrius  not  follow  him 
in  the  Acts  who  made  silver  shrines  for  Diana,  but 
Demetrius,  3  John,  ver.  12,  who  had  "  a  good  report 
of  all  men  ;  "  every  Ignatius  not  imitate  Ignatius 
Loyola,  the  lame  father  of  blind  obedience,  but  Ig- 
natius, the  worthy  martyr  in  the  primitive  church. 
And  if  it  should  chance,  through  the  indiscretion 
of  parents  and  godfathers,  that  a  bad  name  should 
be  imposed  on  any,  O  let  not  "  folly"  be  "with" 

them,  because  Nabal  is  their  name In 

the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  there  was  a  royal 
ship  called  "  The  Revenge,"  which,  having  main- 
tained a  long  fight  against  a  fleet  of  Spaniards 
(wherein  eight  hundretl  great  shot  were  discharged 
against  her),  was  at  last  fain  to  yield ;  but  no 
sooner  were  her  men  gone  out  of  her,  and  two 
hundred  fresh  Spaniards  come  into  her,  but  she 
suddenly  sunk  them  and  herself;  and  so  "  The  Re- 
venge "  was  revenged.  Shall  lifeless  pieces  of  wood 
answer  the  names  which  men  impose  upon  them, 
and  shall  not  reasonable  souls  do  the  same  ?  —  Tr.]. 

[Bp.  Hall  :  Betv/i.xt  the  reign  of  the  judges, 
Israel  was  plagued  with  tyranny ;  and  while  some 
of  them  reigned,  with  famine.  Seldom  did  that 
rebellious  people  want  somewhat  to  humble  them. 
One  rod  is  not  enough  for  a  stubborn  child. 

Fuller  :  The  prodigal  child  complained,  "  How 
many  hired  servants  of  my  father  have  bread 
enough,  and  I  die  for  hunger !  "  So  here  we  see 
that  the  uncircumcized  Moabites,  God's  slaves  and 
vassals,  had  plenty  of  store,  whilst  Israel,  God's 
children  (but  his  prodigal  children,  which  by 
their  sins  had  displeased  their  Heavenly  Father), 
were  pinched  with  penury. 

The  same  :  Let  us  not  abuse  strangers,  and 
make  a  prey  of  them,  but  rather  let  us  be  courteous 
unto  them,  lest  the  barbarians  condemn  us,  who 
so  courteously  entreated  St.  Paul,  with  his  ship- 
wrecked companions,  and  the"  Moabites  in  my  text, 
who  suffered  Elimelech,  when  he  came  into  the 
land,  to  continue  there. 

The  same  :  "  And  Elimelech  died."  I  have 
seldom  seen  a  tree  thrive  that  hath  been  trans- 
planted when  it  was  old. 

The  same  :  "  And  she  was  left,  and  her  two 
sons."  Here  Ave  see  how  mercifully  God  dealt 
with  Naomi,  in  that  He  quenched  not  all  the  sparks 
of  her  comfort  at  once,  but  though  He  took  away 
the  stock.  He  left  her  the  stems.  Indeed,  after- 
wards He  took  them  away  also  ;  but  first  He  pro- 
vided her  with  a  gracious  daughter-in-law.  —  Tr.] 

best  that  king  Joash  prescribed  to  Amaziah.  'Tarry  at 
home.'  Yet  as  for  those  that  are  already  gone,  far  be  i*. 
from  us  to  conceive  them  to  be  such  to  whom  we  may  not 
say,  '  God  speed,"'  as  it  is  in  2  John  verse  10  :  but  let  us 
pity  them,  and  pray  for  them  ;  for  sure  they  have  no  need 
of  our  mocks,  which  I  am  afraid  have  too  much  of  their 
own  miseries.  I  conclude  therefore  of  the  two  Knglanus, 
what  our  Saviour  saith  of  the  two  wines,  Luke  t  39  :  '  N< 
man  having  tasted  of  the  old  presently  desireth  the  new 
for  he  saithj  The  old  is  better.'  »  —  Tr.J 


16  THE   BOOK   OF   RUTH. 


Verses  7-18. 
Faithfulness  until  Death. 

7  Wherefore  [And]   she  went  forth  out  of  the  place  where  she  was,  and  her  two 
danghters-in-law  with  her  ;  ^  and  they  [already]  Avent  on  the  way  to  return  unto  the 

8  land  of  Judah.     And  Naomi  said  [Then  said  Naomi]  unto  her  two  daughters-in-law, 
Go,  return  each  to  her  mother's  house :  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  deal  kindiy  with  you,''^ . 

9  as  ye  have  dealt  with  the  dead,  and  with  me.     The  Lord  [Jehovah]  grjint  you  that 
ye  may  find  ^  rest  [a  resting-place],  each  of  you  in  the  house  of  her  husband.     Then 

1 0  she  kissed  them  ;  and  they  lifted  up  their  voice,  and  wept.     And  they  said  unto  her, 

1 1  Surely  *  we  will  return  with  thee  unto  thy  people.  And  Naomi  said.  Turn  again 
[Return],  my  daughters :  why  will  ye  go  with  me  ?   are  there  yet  any  more  sons  in 

12  my  womb,  that  they  may  be  your  husbands  ?  Turn  again  [Return],  my  daughters, 
go  your  way  [omit :  your  way]  ;  for  I  am  too  old  to  have  [to  belong  (again)  to]  an 
husband.     If  [Even  if]  I  should  say,^  I  have  hope,  if  I  should  have  [should  belong 

13  to]  an  husband  also  to-night,  and  should  also  bear  sons  ;  would  ye  [then]  ®  tarry  for 
them  [omit :  for  them]  till  they  were  grown  ?  would  ye  stay  for  them  [would  you 
then  shut  yourselves  up]  from  having  husbands  [in  order''  (after  all)  not  to  belong 
to  a  husband]  ?  nay,  my  daughters ;  for  it  grieveth  me  much  for  your  sakes  [it  is 
much  more  bitter  to  me  than  to  you],^  that  [since]  the  hand  of  the  Lord  [Jehovah] 

14  is  gone  out  against  me.     And  they  lifted  up  their  voice,  and  wept  again.^     And 

15  Orpah  kissed  her  mother-in-law  [and  turned  back]  ;  but  Ruth  clave  unto  her.  And  she 
[Naomi]  said.  Behold,  thy  sister-in-law  is  gone  back  unto  her  people,  and  unto  her 

16  gods  [God]:^°  return  thou  [also]  after  thy  sister-in-law.  And  Ruth  said.  Entreat 
[Urge]  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  [and]  to  return  from  following  after  thee :  for 
whither  thou   goest,   I   will  go  ;   and  where   thou   lodgest   [abidest],   I   will   lodge 

17  [abide]  :  thy  people  shall  be  [is]  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God:  Where  tliou 
diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried :  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  do  so  to  me,  and 

18  more  also,  (/"".  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me.  AVhen  [And  when]  she  saw 
that  she  was  steadfastly  minded  to  go  with  her,  then  she  left  speaking  unto  [ceased  to 

dissuade]  her. 

TEXTUAL   AND    GKAJIMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  7.  —  From  this  Terse,  and  the  preceding  (cf.  also  ver.  10),  it  appears  plain,  as  Bertheau  remarks,  that  not  only 
Naomi,  but  also  both  her  daughters-in-law,  set  out  with  the  intention  of  going  to  Judah.  It  may  be  true  that  JSaotni, 
determined  from  the  start  that  they  must  not  carry  out  this  intention,  "  looked  upon  them  as  only  bearing  her  company 
for  a  while  before  parting  "  (Dr.  Cassel,  below)  ;  but  it  seems  at  least  as  likely  that  in  the  struggle  between  duty  and 
Inclination,  she  did  not  finally  reach   this  conclusion  until  the  moment  that  she  attempted  to  giye  it  effect.     The 

3^Ji7v  is  of  course  strictly  applicable  only  to  Naomi.  —  Tr.] 

T 

[2  Ver.  8.  —  IDPl  WDTZV  n'in"'.  nJi?57.''  :  lit-  Jehovah  do  kindness  with  you.  On  the  form  Hti?!?^  as  opta- 
tive, cf.  Ges.  127,  3,  b.     Although  the  shortened  form  tt^PMs  more  usual,  its  substitution  by  the  Keri  is  unnecessary. 

In  Q3!2^  the  suffix  is  masc,  although  referring  to  women,  cf.  also  □H'^ti^l?  in  the  next  member  of  the  clause. 
Similar' departures  from  strict  grammatical  propriety  occur  in  vers.  9,  11,  13,  19',  22,  ch.  iv.  11.  Gesenius  regards  them 
as  originally  colloquial  inaccuracies,  which  afterwards  passed  into  books,  §  121,  6,  Rem.  1.  All  but  two  (vers.  19,  22)  of 
those  in  our  Book  are  actually  found  in  conversations. 

[3  Ver.  9.  — ^M!J7p^,  imperat.  .icripiio  defect,  for  7138^^.  On  the  construction,  cf  Ges.  130,  1.  The  imperat.  w 
only  a  stronger  jussive,  hence  easily  connected  with  it.  —  Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  10.  —  ■'S  :  Dr.  Cassel  first  supplies  :  "  We  will  not  turn  back,"  and  then  renders  ''S  by  denn,  "  for,"  cf.  Ges 
Lex.  8.  V.  "^S,  B.  3,  b.    In  that  case,  however  (after  the  implied  negation),  sondern,  "  but,"  would  be  better  than  "  for." 

But  it  is  best  taken  like  Srt  in  N.  T.  before  words  directly  quoted,  cf.  Lex.  1.  c.  B.  1,  b.  Keil's  remark,  that  "  "^3  before 
words  in  direct  discour.ie  serves  to  strengthen,  being  almost  equal  to  an  assurance,"  is  certainly  not  true  in  all  cases,  cf. 
1  Sam.  X.  19  ;  1  Kgs.  xi.  22.  —  Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  12.  —  ''I^IQW  ^3  :  "^3  is  causal,  and  introduces  another  but  closely  connected  reason  (the  first,  also 
bitroduced  by  ''3,  being  given  in  the  preceding  clause)  why  they  should  return,  cf.  Isa.  vi.  5  ;  Vs.  xxii.  12.  In  English, 
WB  should  represent  this  "*3  —  "^3  by  "for —and."   ""ri^l^S,  '^^'^^"^,  =""1  ^^l^'^i    ^®  ^^  conditional  perfects, 


CHAPTER   I.    7-18. 


17 


K^ith  the  conditional  particle  omitted,  as  in  Ps.  Ixix.  33 ;  ciii.  16  ;  Amos  iii.  8,  etc.  Cf.  Ew.  357  b.  In  English  we  might 
Imitate  the  sentence  thus  :  "  For  (let  us  suppose)  I  say.  I  have  hope  ;  I  have  a  husband  ;  I  have  children  ;  will  you,'" 
etc.] 

[6  Ver.   13.  —  ]n^n  is  the  fem.  suffix  ^H^   used  as  a  neuter  (cf.  Ges.  107,  3),  with  prep.    7  and  the  interrogative 

Tl  '  "under  these  circumstances,"  or  briefly  "then,"  as  inserted  in  the  text  after  Dr.  Cassel.  The  word  in  this 
sense  is  not  unusual  in  Chaldee,  cf  Dan.  ii.  6,  9,  2-i  ;  Ezri  v.  12.  la  Hebrew  it  is  found  again  at  Job  xxx.  24.  As  it 
occurs  here  in  the  colloquy  of  Naomi  with  her  daughters,  it  is  probably  to  be  regarded  as  a  word  current  iu  the  language 
of  daily  life.  See  Keil,  Iiitrod,  to  O.  T.  §  137,  2.  The  rendering  of  the  E.  V.  (after  Sept.,  Vulg.,  etc.),  "  for  them,"  is  very 
improbable,  both  on  account  of  the  position  of  the  word,  the  emphasis  being  clearly  on  "  wait,"  and  also  because  of  its 
fem.  suffix.  —  Tr.] 

[7  Ver.  13. —  "^n/lll/}  lit.  "  to  not,"  Dr.  Cassel,  WW.  "'J^ySv  expresses  negative  design,  as  127J37  positive. 
The  necessary  result  is  here  represented  as  designed,  cf.  the  use  of  iVa,  Win.  53,  10,  6.  —  Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  13.  —  33^  TS^  "^^'H^'^S  :  Dr.  Cassel  interprets  rather  than  renders  :  "  for  X  am  much  worse  off  than 
jou,  since  against  me,"  etc.  Substantially  the  same  rendering  is  given  by  Keil,  De  Wette,  Wright,  Wordsworth,  etc 
"  So  Sept.,  which  has  in-ep  vfj-a.';,  not  {/trip  v[i.mv,  and  so  Syr,  and  Arabic  "  (Wordsworth).  Bertheau,  like  E.  V.  takes 
C3Z3  =  on  your  account,  for  your  sake.  The  objection  that  this  would  require  D3"^717  instead  of  D3^  (of.  2 Sam. 
i.  26),  does  not  hold,  cf.  Prov.  r.  18  ;  Eccles.  ii.  10,  etc.  But  the  other  rendering  yields  a  better  sense.  "1Q  may  be 
adjective,  noun,   or  verb,   viz.   3   sing.  perf.   of  "THQ,   used  impersonally.  —  Tr.] 

[9  Ver.  14.  —  T127  :  Dr.  Cassel — "exceedingly."  But  there  is  no  good  reason  to  change  the  English  "again  ■' 
referring  to  ver.  9.  — Tr.] 

[10  Ver.  15. —  n'^nvS:  Sept.  and  Vulg.  render  by  the  plural,  "  gods."  Luther  has  the  sing.,  and  so  Dr.  Cassel. 
The  reference  is  apparently  to  the  national  deity  —  "  her  people  and  her  god  "  —  namely,  Chemosh  (Num.  xxi.  29) ; 
hence,  the  sing,  is  to  be  preferred.  It  seems  almost  superfluous  to  observe  that  Naomi's  words  do  not  necessarily  con. 
tain  any  recognition  of  the  Moabitish  deity,  or  indicate  (as  Wright  suggests)  tbat  "  she  was  possibly  led  astray  by  the 
false  idea  that  Jehovah  was  only  the  God  of  Israel."  Was  Jephthah,  then,  similarly  led  astray  (cf.  Judg  xi.  24,  27)  ?  — 
Tr.] 

[11  Ver.  17.  — "'S  is  not  "if"  (DM,  1  Sam.  iii.  17,  etc.),  but  "  that,"  cf.  1  Sam.  xiv.  44  ;  1  Kgs.  ii.  23.  "»ri373K70, 
"I  swear,"  or  some  such  expression,  is  understood,  cf.  Gen.  xxii.  16.  The  E.  y.  might  be  corrected  by  leaving 
"^3   untranslated,  and  rendering  :  "  only  death  shall  part  thee  and  me."     The  Hebrew,  instead  of  invoking  a  definite 

judgment  or  calamity  on  himself,  in  case  he.breaks  his  oath,  simply  says  PTS,  which  with  the  addition  "  and  more  too," 
is  perhaps  more  awful  to  the  imagination  because  it  is  not  definite.  —  On  the  article  with  "  death,"  cf.  Ges.  109,  Kem. 
1.  c.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND    DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  7.  And  she  went  forth  out  of  the  place. 
The  jDlace  is  not  named,  nor  is  it  necessary.  The 
Israelitish  family  had  after  all  not  become  nat- 
uralized in  it.  No  one  asks  Naomi  to  stay.  No 
one  accompanies  her,  save  her  two  daujjhters-in- 
law,  the  youthful  widows  of  her  too  early  faded 
sons. 

And  they  already  went  on  the  way.  Until 
then  Naomi  had  looked  on  her  dauahters-in-law  as 
only  bearing  her  company  for  a  while  before  part- 
ing. But  being  now  far  from  their  place  of  resi- 
dence, on  the  highway  from  Moab  to  Judah,  she 
stops,  and  bids  them  return. 

Ver.  8.  Jehovah  deal  kindly  with  you,  as  ye 
have  dealt  with  the  dead  and  with  me.  A 
scene  now  begins  of  unequaled  tenderness  and 
amiableness.  We  get  a  look  into  a  family-life  that 
may  serve  as  a  model  for  all.  It  is  an  honor  to 
the  deceased  sons,  Mahlon  and  Chilion,  that  they 
made  such  a  selection  of  wives  ;  but  they  must  also 
have  been  worthy  of  the  enduring  love  they  awak- 
ened, notwithstanding  that  there  were  no  children 
to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  affection.  The  attach- 
ment of  the  Moabitish  women,  Ruth  and  Orpah, 
■  to  their  new  family,  must  be  grounded  in  psycho- 
logical facts,  with  a  knowledge  of  which  exegesis 
cannot  disjjense.  The  Moabitish  women  had  en- 
tered into  an  Israelitish  house,  and  had  breathed 
the  beneficent  atmosphere  of  a  family  of  Judah. 
Marriage  and  ftimily  life  form  the  real  mirror  of 
religious  belief  and  worship.  Hence,  the  apostle, 
in  his  sublime  manner,  arranges  the  relations  of 
husband  and  wife  by  referring  to  the  love  of  Christ 
for  his  church  (Ephes.  v.  22  ff.).     Ancient  Israel, 


therefore,  distinguished  itself  from  the  inhabitants 
of  Canaan,  not  merely  by  the  name  of  its  God,  but 
by  its  life  at  home  in  the  family,  by  faithfulness 
and  love  to  wife  and  child.  Purity  and  morality 
in  maiTiage  were  the  necessary  results  of  faith  in 
the  only,  living  God,  as  much  as  a  life  of  unchaste 
and  sensual  pleasures  belonged  to  the  abomina- 
tions of  idolatry  among  the  Ammonites  and  Moab- 
ites.  Among  the  worst  sins  into  which  Israel  fell 
in  the  desert,  was  the  whoredom  with  the  daugh- 
ters of  Moab  in  the  service  of  Baal-Pcor  (Num. 
XXV.)  ;  by  executing  summary  and  terrible  pun- 
ishment on  which,  Phinehas  the  priest  won  for 
himself  an  enduring  blessing.  The  Mosaic  law 
does  not  contain  special  and  extended  instructions 
as  to  the  treatment  of  wife  and  child.  But  the 
command,  "  thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery," 
stands  among  the  Sinaitic  Ten  as  the  reflection  of 
that  other  which  says,  "  thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods."  An  affectionate,  moral  family  life  had 
become  an  Israelitish  characteristic  through  the 
influence  of  the  Israelitish  faith,  as  is  evident 
already  in  patriarchal  times  from  the  instances  of 
Sarah,  Rebecca,  Rachel  and  Leah.  But  it  showed 
itself  still  more  brightly  in  Israel  as  a  nation,  liv- 
ing by  the  side  of  other  tribes  in  Canaan,  since 
monogamy  had  become  its  natural  and  ])revailing 
])ractice.  Every  profounder  ajiprehension  of  do 
mestic  relations,  brought  about  by  man's  con 
sciousness  of  God,  affects  the  wife  esjjccially.  IShe 
experiences  most  deeply  the  beneficence  of  a  life 
sanctified  by  the  law  of  God.  Her  hajjpiness  and 
her  love,  indissolubly  connected,  depend  upon  the 
moral  education  of  the  man  she  follows.  Ruth 
and  Orpah  felt  the  impression  of  the  higher  moral- 


18 


THE   BOOK   OF  KUTH. 


ity  which,  in  contrast  with  the  Moabitish  home, 
l^ervaded  every  Israelitish  household.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  conceive  of  Mahlon  and  Chilion  as 
men  of  eminence  in  this  respect ;  but  they  held 
fast  to  their  faraile  traditions,  according  to  Whicli 
the  wite  oeeiipied  a  position  of  tenderness,  pro- 
tected by  love  and  solicitude.  They  did  not  act  in 
entire  accortlancc  with  the  law  when  they  married 
Moabitish  wives ;  but  neither  did  they  unite  with 
them  in  the  idolatry  of  Baal-Peor.  Although  they 
may  not  have  been  specially  pious  and  god-fearing 
men,  their  national  mode  of  home  and  married 
life  nevertheless  contrasted  with  that  of  Moab,  and 
all  the  more  strongly  because  they  lived  in  the 
mid.st  of  Moab.  Both  the  young  women,  ac- 
quainted with  the  fate  of  Moabitish  marriages,  felt 
themselves  gratefully  attracted  to  the  Israelitish 
house  into  which  they  entered.  They  had  not  ac- 
cejited  the  law  and  the  God  of  Israel ;  but  they  re- 
quited the  kind  and  tender  treatment  they  received 
with  equally  self-sacrificing  love.  That  Naomi 
can  acknowledge  this,  after  having  observed  them 
through  ten  years  of  married  life,  what  a  picture 
of  peace  and  happiness  does  it  suggest !  The 
women  had  not  only  heard  the  religion  of  Jehovah 
confessed  in  Moab  (cf.  the  expression  :  Jehovah 
deal  kindly  with  you,  etc.),  but  they  had  seen  the 
expression  of  it  in  the  life.  What  they  have  done 
and  are  yet  ready  to  do,  is  the  consequence  tJiereof. 
For  national  divisions,  we  here  see,  arc  overcome 
rather  by  the  preaching  of  the  life  than  by  the 
verbal  proclamation  of  doctrine. 

Naomi  praises  not  only  the  "love  Avhieh  Ruth  and 
Orpah  have  nuinitested  toward  their  husbands, 
but  also  that  which  they  have  shown  towards  her- 
self, the  mother-in-law.  And  this  is  yet  more 
noteworthy.  Ancients  and  moderns  unite  in  com- 
plaints of  the  unhappy  relations  between  daugh- 
ters- and  mothers-in-law.  Plutarch,  treating  of  the 
duties  of  married  persons,  relates  that  in  Leptis,  in 
Africa,  it  was  customary  for  the  bride  on  the  day 
after  the  wedding  to  send  to  the  bridegroom's 
mother  to  ask  for  a  pot,  which  the  latter  refuses, 
pretending  that  she  has  none,  in  order  that  the 
young  wife  may  speedily  become  accjuainted  with 
the  stepmotherly  disposition  of  her  mother-in-law, 
and  he  less  easily  pi-ovoked  when  subsequently 
more  serious  troubles  arise. ^  In  Terence  {Hecipa, 
ii.  1,  4),  Laches  laments  "that  all  mothers-in-law 
have  ever  hated  their  daughters  in-law  "  [uno  aniina 
otiines  sornis  oderunt  minis). '■^  Juvenal,  in  his 
satire  against  women  (vi.  231),  says,  in  a  rather 
coarse  way,  that  matrimonial  peace  is  inconceiva- 
ble so  long  as  the  mother-in-law  lives  (desperanda 
snlva  Concordia  socru).  Old  German  popular  say- 
ings faithfully  reproduce  the  ancient  maxims : 
"  Diw  Swii^cr  ne  weiss,  dasB  sie  Snu?-  gewesan  "  (the 
mother-in-law  has  forgotten  that  she  was  ever  {i 
daughter-in-law) ;''  "  Die  beste  Swigar  ist  die,  auf 
derm  Hock  die  Ganxe  we.iden  "  ( the  best  mother-iu- 
law  is  one  on  whose  gown  the  geese  feed,  i.  e.  yvho 
is  dead). 

The  family  life  of  Naomi  with  her  .daughters-in- 
law  affbrtls  no  trace  whatever  of  such  sad  experi- 
ences. They  mutually  love  each  other — both 
during  the  lives  of  the  husbands  and  after  their 
decease,  —  although  they  belong  to  different  tribes. 
The  praise  for  this  naturally  belongs  largely  to 

1  Cf.  Jerome,  adv.  Joi-inian,  lib.  i.  48,  p.  317,  and  Cotn- 
meitt.  ad  Michaam,  on  ch.  vii.  p.  519  (ed.  Migne,  vi.  p. 
1221). 

•2  Pliny,  in  his  Panegyr.  Trajani,  cap.  84,  says ;  "  quo 
quidem   admirabilius  existimanduui  est,  quod  mulieribus 


the  mother,  whose  kind  and  genial  soul  evidently 
answered  to  her  beautiful  name.  Thus  much  may 
also  be  gathered  from  her  further  conversation 
with  her  daughters.  But  the  unhappy  relations 
between  daughter  and  mother-in-law,  elsewhere 
usual,  must  in  general  have  been  unknown  in 
Israel.  Otherwise  the  prophet  could  not  represent 
it  as  a  sign  of  the  extremest  social  ruin  that, 
as  the  son  against  the  father,  and  the  daughter 
against  the  mother,  so  the  daughter-in-law  rises 
up  against  the  mother-in-law  (Mie.  vii.  C)  ;  a  pas- 
sage to  which  Christ  alludes  when  he  speaks  of  the 
effects  to  be  brought  about  in  social  life  by  his 
gospel  (Matt.  x.  35). 

Vers.  9,  10.  Jehovah  grant  you  that  you 
may  find  a  safe  place.  If  he  be  truly  A\'orthy  of 
love  who  amid  his  own  sorrow  still  thinks  of  the 
welfare  of  others,  then,  surely,  Naomi  is  worthy 
of  love.  She  has  been  called  upon  to  part  with  all 
that  was  dear  to  her,  with  hustand  and  children. 
She  stands  quite  alone  in  her  advanced  age.  But 
even  yet  all  partings  arc  not  over.  She  thinks 
that  now  also  she  must  no  longer  allow  herself  to 
be  accompanied  by  Orpah  and  liuth.  Both  the 
daughters-in-law  are  yet  young ;  should  she  take 
them  with  her  into  her  uncertain  lot !  She  has  not 
the  presumption  to  forget  their  future  in  thoughts 
about  her  own  ;  nor  the  vanity  to  think  that  the 
widows  of  her  sons  should  not  marry  again.  The 
position  of  a  single  woman  in  antiquity  was  an 
unhappy  one.  It  was  altogether  customary  for 
youthful  widows  to  marry  again.  Only  a  hus- 
band's house  is  the  true  asylum  for  a  woman. 
There  she  finds  protection,  safety,  and  honor.  That 
is  the  idea  of  the  menuchah,  the  rest,  which  Naomi 
wishes  that  Jehovah  may  give  each  of  them  in  the 
house  of  another  husband.  It  is  impossible  to 
imagine  a  more  beautiful  expression  of  the  end  of 
marriage  to  a  woman.  The  possession  of  a  menu- 
chah, an  asylum  of  honor  and  freedom,  is  the  high- 
est happiness ;  the  want  of  it,  a  terrible  misfor- 
tune. Among  other  evils,  Israel  is  told  that  in 
the  event  of  disobedience  it  shall  have  no  memichnh 
(Dcut.  xxviii.  6.5).*  The  holy  land,  if  it  be  poS' 
sessed  in  faith,  is,  as  it  were,  the  earthly  house  to 
which  Israel  has  come,  like  a  wife  to  the  house  of 
her  husband.  "  Hitherto,"  says  Moses,  I3eut.  xii. 
9,  "  you  have  not  yet  come  unto  the  menuchah 
which  Jehovah  your  God  gives  you."  The  desert 
had  no  place  of  rest,  properly  speaking  :  it  was 
only  the  way,  not  the  goal.  Solomon  was  the 
first  who  could  praise  God  for  the  complete  gift  of 
menuchah  to  his  people  ( 1  Kgs.  viii.  56).  It  is  true, 
Israel's  highest  menuchah  is  God,  Jehovah  himself 
and  his  redemption.  He  is  the  true  goal  of  life... 
Says  the  prophet  (Isa.  xi.  10)  :  "  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  in  that  day  :  the  Root  of  Jesse  —  to  hira 
shall  the  nations  repair,  and  his  menuchah  is  glory." 
And,  hence,  Christ  also  says,  Matth.  xi.  29  :  "  Learn 
of  me,  that  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  yoo 
shall  find  rest  (aviiravfftv,  menuchah)  for  ySat 
souls,''' 

Suda  a  menuchah  Orpah  and  Ruth  had  enjoyed 
in  the  homes  of  their  husbands ;  and  they  are,  as  il 
were,  vocatioiUess,  if  they  find  not  another.  It 
was  in  the  natural  course  of  ancient  social  life  that 
they  should  marry  again  among  the  people  to 
whom  they  belonged.     Naomi  thinks  it  wrong  for 

duabus  in  una  dome,  pajricjue  fortuna,  nullum  certameai 
nulla  contentio  est." 

3  Similar  ideas  are  treated  of  in  his  peculiar  way,  by 
Abraham  a  Sancta  Clara,  in  Juda»,  der  Erzsckelm,  v.  p.  15 

4  [The  word  in  the  passage  referred  to  is  J«a7!0ac/i,  whicli, 
Uowever,  differs  only  in  form,  cf.  ch.  lii  1.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER   I.    7-18. 


19 


her  to  take  them  iiway  fi'om  that  people.  Turn 
hack,  slie  says ;  may  the  blessin;;  of  the  God  of 
Israel  lie  with  you  even  in  the  midst  of  Moab  !  JMay 
He  grant  you  rest  in  the  house  of  a  new  husband  ! 
And  she  kisses  them,  as  the  sij^nal  of  parting  (cf. 
ver.  14),  —  but  a  loud  weeping  arises.  Naomi  tinds 
it  hard  to  be  obliged  to  leave  these  last  dear  friends 
whom  she  has  become  accustomed  to  regard  as 
daughters.  Orpah  and  Ruth  are  unwilling  to  turn 
back,  unwilling  to  let  the  loved  Naomi  proceed 
alone  on  her  solitary  way  through  life.  '*  AVe  go 
with  thee,"  they  say,  "  to  thy  people." 

Vers.  11-13.  And  Naomi  said  :  Have  I  then 
yet  sons  in  my  womb  ?  It  is  by  means  of  two 
considerations  tliat  Naomi  seeks  to  persuade  her 
daughters-in-law  to  return  :  first,  slie  holds  out  to 
them  the  prospect  of  new  family  connections  in 
Moab ;  and,  secondly,  she  shows  them  that  all 
hope  of  renewed  married  happiness  is  ended  if  t'.iey 
go  with  her.  The  surprising  delicacy  with  which 
this  is  done,  is  such  as  to  show  clearly  how  truly 
a  religious  love  educates  and  refines.  The  ulti- 
mate cause  of  the  grief  occasioned  by  the  necessity 
of  impending  separation,  lies  after  all  solely  in  the 
fact  that  Ruth  and  Orpah  are  Moabitesses.  Na- 
omi could  not  bear  to  tell  tliem  that  if  they,  as 
daughters  of  Moab,  went  with  her  to  Israel,  they 
would  find  themselves  in  a  less  hospitable  situation 
than  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed.  Slie  is  too  tender 
to  remind  these  good  children  of  the  fiict  that  Is- 
rael does  not  sanction  connections  with  Moab. 
On  this  account,  she  had  already  suggested  (ver.  8), 
with  special  emphasis,  that  they  should  return  to 
Moab,  each  to  her  mother's  house,  thus  putting  the 
natural  Moabitish  mother  over  against  herself,  the 
Israelitish  mother-in-law.  She  would  thereby  in- 
timate to  them,  as  delicately  and  indirectly  as  possi- 
ble, that  they  could  hope  for  nothing  in  Israel 
except  what  she  herself  could  give ;  that  they 
could  enter  into  her  house,  indeed,  but  not  into 
Israel's  national  life.  Naomi's  speech  in  vers.  12, 
13,  is  a  climactic  utterance  erf  grief.i  which  often 
says  so  many  really  unnecessary  things,  in  order 
to  conceal  others  which  it  dares  not  say.  Orpah 
and  Ruth  are  themselves  aware  of  all  that  Naomi 
says  to  them  in  these  verses.  In  wishing  to  go 
with  her,  they  cannot  possibly  have  a  thought  of 
building  hopes  on  sons  yet  to  be  born  to  Naomi  by 
another  marriage.  But  —  and  this  is  what  Naomi 
would  make  them  feel  —  any  other  hope  than  this 
vain  one,  they  as  Moabitish  women  could  not  have 
i'li  Israel.  If  I  myself —  she  gives  them  to  under- 
stand—  could  yet  have  sons,  I  would  take  you 
with  me.  My  home  would  then  be  your  home  too. 
To  nie  you  are  dear  as  daughters-in-law,  whether  in 

1  The  climax  of  grief  shows  it<!elf  in  the  climax  of  im- 
possibilities adduced  to  show  that  .sUe  can  have  no  other 
fons  for  Ruth  and  Orpah.  In  the  fir.st  place  she  says,  I  am 
too  old  ;  but  if  I  were  not,  I  have  no  iiusband.  But  even 
if  I  had  a  husband,  and  brought  forth  children  this  very 
night,  two  of  them,  and  they  sons,  would  you  wait  till  they 
were  grown  up,  and  shut  yourselves  in  until  they  were  mar- 
riageable 1  The  word  7^^)  '^*^'"^  'ase^y  in  the  sense  of  shut- 
ting one's  self  in,  does  not  occur  again  in  Scripture,  and  re- 
ceives its  explanation  only  from  its  use  in  this  sense  in 
the  later   Hebrew.     This  meaning,    however,  is   evidently 

very  ancient.  It  is  connected  with  "j?,  garden,  the  irapa.- 
cSeitros,  which  was  closed  in,  hedged  in.  Ruth  and  Orpah 
would  have  had  to  look  upon  themselves  as  brides  of  the 
supposed  sons  of  Naomi,  and  must  therefore  have  been  shut 

ii.  With  this  the  explanation  of  the  word  71 --3  itself 
stands  connected.  Kallak  means  bride  and  daughter-in-law 
^as    newly-married  wife),  in    the  same  way  as  the    Greek 


Israel  or  in  Moab,  but  other  prospect  have  you 
none.  Here  where  everything  turns  on  love,  the 
fnlfiller  of  every  law,  Naomi  does  not  think  of  the 
legal  provisions  with  respect  to  levirate  marriages ; 
but  she  heaps  up  the  improbabilities  against  her 
being  able  to  furnish  husbands  to  her  daughters- 
in-law  in  Israel,  in  order  in  this  veiled  manner  to 
indicate  that  this  was  nevertheless  the  only  possi- 
ble ground  of  hope  for  them  in  Israel. 

For  I  am  worse  ofF  than  you  are.  It  is  very 
painful  for  Naomi  to  let  them  go,  for  she  is  entirely 
alone.  But  she  cannot  answer  it  to  take  them 
with  her,  seeing  she  can  offer  them  no  new  home. 
Undoubtedly,  she  is  in  a  worse  situation  than  that 
of  the  young  women.  For  them  there  is  yet  a 
possible  future  among  their  people.  Naomi  has 
buried  her  happiness  in  a  distant  grave.  For  her 
there  is  no  future.  The  last  of  those  dear  to  her, 
she  herself  must  tear  away  from  her  heart.  "Je- 
hovah's hand,"  she  says,  "went  forth  against  me." 
She  is  soon  to  experience  that  lii.s  mercy  is  not  yet 
exhausted- 

Ver.  14.  But  Ruth  clave  unto  her.  Orpah 
sufters  herself  to  be  persuaded,  and  goes ;  but 
Ruth  remains,  and  will  not  leave  her.  The  result 
of  Naomi's  tears  is,  that  Orpah  takes  leave  of  her, 
and  that  Ruth  clings  to  her  only  the  more  closely. 
The  hopelessness  of  the  future,  on  which  the  mother 
had  dilated,  leads  Orjiah  back  to  Moab,  l)ut  suffers 
Ruth  to  go  with  her  to  Israel.  All  that  Naomi 
had  said,  her  solitariness,  poverty,  sorrow,  only 
served  to  attach  her  more  firmly.  Orpah  too  was 
attached  and  well  disposed ;  but  still,  with  eyes  of 
love,  although  slie  had  them,  she  yet  saw  herself, 
while  Ruth  saw  only  the  beloved  one.  It  might 
be  said  with  a  certain  degree  of  truth,  that  the  same 
cause  induced  Orpah  to  go  and  Ruth  to  remain, 
the  fact,  namely,  that  Naomi  had  no  longer  either 
son  or  husband.  The  one  wished  to  become  a 
wife  again,  the  other  to  remain  a  daughter.  Few 
among  the  natural  children  of  men  are  as  kind 
and  good  as  Orpah  ;  but  a  love  like  that  of  Ruth 
has  scarcely  entered  the  thoughts  of  poets.  An- 
tigone dies  for  love  of  her  brother ;  but  the  life 
which  awaited  Ruth  was  more  painful  than  death. 
Alcestis  sacritices  herself  for  her  husband,  and 
Sigunc  (in  the  Pan-ivuJ  of  Wolfram  v.  Eschen- 
bach)  persistently  continues  in  a  solitary  cell,  with 
the  corpse  of  her  lover  whom  she  had  driven  into 
battle,  until  she  dies  ;  but  Ruth  goes  to  a  foreign 
land  and  chooses  poverty,  not  for  a  husband  or  a 
lover,  but  for  the  mother  of  him  who  long  since 
was  lorn  away  from  her.  She  refuses  to  leave  her 
for  the  very  reason  that  she  is  poor,  old,  and  child- 
less.    Naomi,  having  lost  her  sons,  shall  not  on 

vvfi-ii-q  (cf.  Matt.  X,  35,  as  also  the  rendering  of  the  LXX. 
and  the  German  Brnut,  Grimm.  Wirtfrh.  ii.  332).  The 
Greek  vvfj.ii>y}  explains  itself  from  the  Latin  niibtrf.  to  cover, 
to  veil.  The  bride  already  covered  herself,  like  the  wife, 
withdrew  herself  from  the  eyes  of  men,  and  was  shut  up. 
The  goddesses  themselves  were  originally  called  vvfi-^ai. 
probably  because  they  were  conceived  of  as  rendered  invisi- 
ble by  the  nature-covering  of  tree  and  fountain.  The  use 
of  (Tuwu;ii0o5,  for  sister-in-law,  by  the  LXX.  in  ver.  15.  is 
peculiar,  and  doubtless  intended,  to  mean  "  the  other,  second 
the  sister-daughter-in-law,"  rather  than  "sister-in-law.' 
In  classic  authors  it  does  not  occur  ;  for  in  (ru^'nl|a0oKOjaos 
the  tTvv  refers  to  jcofio?.  The  Hebrew  bride  derives  her 
name  from  the  garland  with  which  it  was  customary  tc 
crown  both  bride  and  bridegroom  (cf.  Mader,  de  Coronis, 
Helmst.  1662,  p.  35,  etc.).  The  symbolism  of  the  word  con- 
tains profound  poetical  ideas.  It  represents  a  shutting  in, 
it  is  true;  but  by  flowers, — a  shutting  up  unto  perfection 
and  coronation. 


20 


THE  BOOK   OF  KUTH 


ifiat  account  lose  her  daughters  also.  Rather  than 
leave  her  to  suiter  alone,  Kuth  will  starve  with,  or 
beg  for  her.  Here  is  love  for  the  dead  and  the 
living,  sur])assing  that  of  Alcestis  and  Sigune. 
That  Ruth  does  for  her  mother-in-law,  what  as  the 
highest  filial  love  the  poet  invents  for  Antigone, 
when  he  represents  her  as  not  leaving  her  blind 
father,  is  in  actual  life  almost  unexampled.  Nor 
would  it  be  easy  to  tind  an  instance  of  a  deeper 
conrtict  than  that  which  love  had  to  sustain  on  this 
occasion.  The  foundation  of  it  was  laid  when 
Elimelech  Iqft  his  people  in  order  not  to  share  their 
woes.  It  was  rendered  inevitable,  when,  against 
the  law  of  Israel,  his  sons  took  wives  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Moah.  It  broke  out  when  the  men  died. 
Their  love  for  their  Israelitish  husbands  had  made 
the  women  strangers  in  their  native  land;  and  the 
love  of  Naomi  for  her  Moabitish  daughters  made 
her  doubly  childless  in  Israel.  Nationality,  laws, 
and  custom,  were  about  to  separate  mother-  and 
daughters-in-law.  But  as  love  had  united  them, 
so  also  love  alone  has  power  to  solve  the  conflict, 
but  only  such  a  love  as  Ruth's.  Orpah  escapes 
the  struggle  by  returning  to  Moab ;  Ruth  ends  it 
by  going  with  Naomi. 

Ver.  15.  Thy  sister-in-law  returned  home  to 
her  people  and  to  her  God.  In  these  remarka- 
ble words  lies  the  key  to  the  understanding  of  vers. 
11-13.  Her  daughters  had  said  to  her  (ver.  10), 
"We  will  go  with  thee  to  thi/  peoj>/f."  It  grieves 
Naomi  to  be  obliged  to  tell  them,  with  all  possible 
tenderness,  that  in  the  sense  in  which  they  mean 
it,  this  is  altogether  impossible.  It  was  necessary 
to  intimate  to  them  that  a  deeper  than  merely  na- 
tional distinction  compels  their  present  parting: 
that  what  her  sons  had  done  in  Moab,  was  not 
customary  in  Israel ;  that  her  personal  love  for 
them  was  indeed  so  great,  that  slie  would  gladly 
give  them  other  sons,  if  she  had  them,  hut  that  the 
pm/ile  of  Israel  was  separated  from  all  otlicr  na- 
tions by  the  Gon  of  Israel.  Orpah  understood 
this.  Strong  as  her  affection  for  Naomi  was,  her 
natural  desire  for  another  resting-place  in  a  hus- 
band's house  was  yet  stronger ;  and  as  she  could 
not  hope  for  this  in  Israel,  she  took  leave  and  went 
back.  P'or  the  same  reason,  Naomi  now  speaks 
more  plainly  to  Ruth :  thy  sister-in-law  returned 
home  to  her  people  and  to  her  (Jod.  It  is  not  that 
we  belong  to  difftTent  nations,  but  that  we  worship 
different  Gods,  that  separates  us  here  at  the  gates 
of  Israel. 

Vers.  16,  17.  And  Kuth  said,  Thy  people  is 
my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God.  Naomi's 
house,  her  character  and  life,  have  won  for  her  the 
love  of  her  daughters-in-law.  Ruth  cleaves  to  her 
and  will  not  leave  her,  althougli  poverty  and 
misery  await  her.  For  love  to  her  she  jjroposes 
to  give  up  not  only  home  and  family,  but  also 
all  the  heart-joys  that  might  there  yet  be  hers. 
She  cleaves  to  her  thus,  although  she  is  of  Israel, 
Naomi  and  her  house  have  made  Israel  also  appear 
lovely  in  the  eyes  of  Ruth.  Who  would  not  wish 
to  go  to  a  people  whose  sole  known  representatives 
were  so  amiable  as  Naomi  and  her  f:\mily !  In 
Moab,  the  young  women  had  not  been  made  aware 
that  one  cannot  he  united  to  Israel  witiiout  ac- 
knowledging Israel's  God,  for  they  had  entered  the 
marriage  relation  with  sons  of  Israel  without  en- 
tering into  covenant  with  their  God.  Now,  how- 
ever, they  learn,  from  Naomi's  intimations,  that 
that  which  Mahlon  and  Chihon  had  done,  was 
against  the  custom  of  Israel.  The  discovery  in- 
stantly manifests  itself  in  different  effects  on  Orpah 
and  Ruth.     Orpah  is  repelled,  because  she  thinks 


only  of  the  bridal  she  might  lose.  Ruth  is  attracted , 
for  if  that  which  distinguishes  this  people  which 
she  already  loves  be  its  God,  then  she  loves  that 
God  also.  In  Naomi  she  loves  both  people  and 
God.  Ruth's  love  is  true  love  :  it  cleaves  to  Na- 
omi not  for  advantages,  but  on  account  of  her  vir- 
tues and  amiability.  Ruth  desires  to  be  one  with 
her  for  life.  She  will  not  let  her  be  alone,  wher- 
ever she  may  be.  What  Naomi  has,  she  also  will 
have,  her  people  and  her  God.  And  this  she  ex- 
presses at  once,  so  clearly  and  decidedly,  that  in 
ver.  17  she  swears  by  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel. 
The  Jewish  expositors,  after  the  example  of  the 
Targum,  suppose  a  dialogue  to  have  taken  place 
in  which  Naomi  has  first  explained  to  Ruth  the 
difficulties  connected  with  faith  in  the  God  of  Is- 
rael. All  this,  however,  should  be  considered 
merely  as  a  didactic  anticipation  ot  her  subsequent 
experiences.  In  our  narrative,  the  confession  of 
Ruth,  "  thy  God  is  my  God,"  is  the  highest  stage 
of  that  devotion  which  she  yields  to  Naomi  lor 
life.  She  has  vowed  that  nothing  shall  separate 
her  love  from  its  object ;  for  whatever  could  sep- 
arate it,  would  make  it  imperfect.  But  since  the 
God  of  Israel  is  the  true  ground  of  all  the  love 
which  she  fijlt  for  her  Israelitish  friends,  it  follows 
that  her  confession  of  Him  is  the  keystone  of  her 
vow.  It  is  at  the  same  time  the  true  solution  of 
the  conflict  into  which  persons  who  mutually  loved 
each  other  had  fallen.  It  recti Kes  the  error  com- 
mitted by  her  husband  when  he  took  the  Moabi- 
tish wonum  notwithstanding  her  relation  to  the  idol 
of  Moab.  The  unity  of  the  spirit  has  been  attained, 
which  not  only  shows  true  love,  but  even  in  mem- 
ory i-econciles  what  was  amiss  in  the  past.  For 
Naomi's  grief  was  so  great,  not  only  because  she 
had  lost  her  sons,  but  also  because  the  daughters- 
in-law  which  she  had  must  be  given  up,  and  she  be 
left  alone.  And  as  love  enforced  the  separation, 
so  love  also  becan^e  the  cord  drawing  to  a  yet 
closer  union.  If  Naomi  believed  herself  fallen  out 
of  the  favor  of  God  on  Moab's  account,  she  could 
derive  comfort  from  Ruth  who  for  her  sake  entered 
into  the  people  of  God. 

Ver.  18.  And  when  she  saw  that  she  was 
flrmly  resolved.  Older  expositors  have  imagined 
that  Naonu's  efforts  to  persuade  her  daughters-in- 
law  to  return  homeward,  were  not  altogether  se- 
riously meant.  She  only  wished  to  test  them. 
They  take  this  view  in  order  to  free  Naomi  from 
the  reproach  of  being  too  little  anxious  to  intrcn 
duce  her  daughters  into  Israel  and  the  true  faitk 
(Rambach:  Qmvrunt  hie  fnterpretes  an  rfde  fecerit 
Notimia,  etc.).'  But  this  whole  exposition  is  a 
dogmatic  anachronism.  Naomi  eonUl  entertain  no 
thoughts  of  missionary  work  as  understood  in  mod-* 
ern  times,  and  for  that  she  is  not  to  be  reproached. 
Tlie  great  love  on  which  the  blessing  of  the  whole 
narrative  rests,  shows  itself  precisely  in  this,  that 
Naomi  and  her  daughters-in-law  were  persons  of 
different  nationality  and  religion.  This  contrast  — 
which  a  niarriage  of  ten  years  has  only  afl'ection- 
ately  cy-yered  up  —  it  is,  that  also  engeniders  the 
conflict  oif  se])aration.  During  more  then  ten  years, 
the  uiarrfage  of  Naomi's  sons  to  Moabisesses  was 
and  continue4  to  ije  wrong  in  principle,  althougli, 
•in  the  happy  issue  of  their  clioicc,  its  unlawfulness 
was  lost  sight  of-  What  she  had  not  done  then  in 
the  spring-tide  of  their  happinef^s,  Naomi  conUli  not 
think  of  doing  now.  Her  generous  love  shows  it- 
self now  rather  in  dissuaxJing  her  daughters-in-liaiW 

I  "  Sed  alii  tanien  Uebran  jiariter  suj  Christiani  intt-ipre- 
tes  Nooniiam  areata  liberaot,  «t  noa  serio  sed  teubumdi; 
auimo  id  egisse  statuuat.''  -  Uamba«b,  p,  743- 


CHAPTER   I.    7-18. 


21 


iVom  going  with  lier  to  Israel.  For  they  surely 
would  have  gone  along,  if  their  deceased  husbands, 
instead  of  remaining  in  Moab,  had  returned  to  Is- 
rael. But  their  death  had  in  reality  dissolved  every 
CNternal  bond  with  Naomi.  No  doubt,  Naonii 
now  feels  the  grief  whieh  the  unlawful  actions  of 
her  husband  and  sons  have  entailed.  Had  her 
daughters-in-law  been  of  Israel,  there  would  nat- 
urally be  no  necessity  of  her  returning  solitary  and 
forsaken.  She  feels  that  "  the  hand  of  Jehovah  is 
against  her."  How  indelicate  would  it  be  now, 
nay  how  unbecoming  the  sacredness  of  the  rela- 
tions involved,  if  Naomi,  at  this  moment,  when 
she  is  herself  poor,  and  with  no  prospect  in  the 
future,  were  to  propose  to  her  daughters-in-law  to 
leave  not  merely  the  land  but  also  the  god  of 
Moab,  that  thus  they  might  accompany  her.  If 
she  had  ever  v,-;shed,  at  this  moment  she  would 
scarcely  dare,  to  do  it.  It  is  one  of  the  symptoms 
of  the  conflict,  that  she  could  not  do  it.  The  ap- 
pearance of  self  interest  would  have  cast  a  blot  on 
the  purity  of  their  mutual  love.  Naomi  miglit  now 
feel  or  believe  what  she  had  never  before  thought 
of,  —  she  could  do  nothing  but  dissuade.  Anything 
else  would  have  rudely  destroyed  the  grace  and 
elevation  of  the  whole  beautiful  scene.  The  great 
difference  between  Orpah  and  Ruth  shows  itself 
in  the  very  fact  that  the  one  yields  to  the  dissuasion, 
the  other  withstands.  Ruth  had  the  tenderly  sen- 
sitive heart  to  understand  that  Naomi  must  dis- 
suade ;  and  to  all  Naomi's  unuttered  reasons  for 
feeling  obliged  to  dissuade,  she  answers  with  her 
vow.  Naomi  dissuades  on  the  ground  that  she  is 
poor,  —  "  where  thou  abidest,  I  will  abide,"  is  the 
answer ;  that  she  is  about  to  live  among  another 
people,  —  "  thy  people  is  my  people  ;  "  that  she 
worships  another  God,  —  "  thy  God  is  my  God  ;  " 
that  she  has  no  husband  for  her, — "only  death 
shall  part  me  fi-om  thee."  Under  no  other  circum- 
stances could  the  conflict  have  found  an  end  so 
beautiful.  Naomi  must  dissuade  in  order  that 
Ruth  might  freely,  under  no  pressure  but  that  of 
her  own  love,  accept  Israel's  God  and  people. 
Only  after  this  is  done,  and  she  holds  firmly  to  her 
decision,  does  Naomi  consent  and  "  cease  to  dis- 
suade her." 

Note  to  verse  8:  "Jehovah  deal  kindly  with 
you,  as  ye  hare  dealt  tvith  the  dead  and  with  me." 
The  love  which  unites  husband  and  wife  in  mar- 
riage, reconciles  the  contrasts  inherent  in  difference 
of  nationality,  makes  peace,  gives  a  good  con- 
science, and  leaves  a  blessed  memory.  C^hristian 
families,  too,  will  do  well  to  look  upon  the  good 
understanding  existing  between  Naomi  and  her 
daughters-in-law  as  an  example  to  be  followed.  It 
orig-inated  in  the  right  love  of  the  wives  for  their 
husbands,  and  of  the  mother  for  her  sons.  A  right 
love  rejoices  in  the  happiness  of  its  objects,  even 
though  derived  through  others.  Tlie  jealousy  of 
mothers  toward  their  children-in-law,  and  of  wives 
toward  their  husbands'  parents  does  not  spring 
from  love. 

A  ])leasing  instance  of  right  relations  with  a 
mother-in-law  comes  to  light  in  the  gospel  history. 
Jesus  enters  into  the  house  of  Peter,  whose  mother- 
in-law  lies  sick  of  a  fever.  Request  is  immediately 
made  in  her  behalf,  and  He,  always  full  of  love 
ready  to  flow  forth  in  miracles  wherever  He  sees 
love,  heals  her  (Matth.  viii.  14  ff.  and  paral.).  The 
term  irevOepd,  used  iH  this  account  by  the  gospels, 
is  also  employed  by  the  Sept.  with  reference  to 
Naomi. 

Origen  has  a  remarkable  passage,  thoroughly 
.vorthy  of  his  noble  spirit  (cf.  on  Job,  Lib.  i.) : 


''  Blessed  is  Ruth  who  so  clave  to  her  aged  mother- 
in-law  that  she  would  not  leave  her  until  death. 
For  this  reason.  Scripture  iiuleed  has  justly  ex- 
tolled her;  but  God  has  beatified  her  forever. 
Hut  He  will  judge,  and  in  the  resurrection  con- 
demn, all  those  wicked  and  ungodly  daughters-in- 
law  who  deal  out  abuse  and  wrong  to  their  parents- 
in-law,  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  they  gave  life 

and  sustenance  to  their  husbands If, 

therefore,  thou  lovest  thy  husband,  O  wife,  then 
love  them  also  who  gave  him  being,  and  thus 
brought  up  a  son  for  themselves  and  a  husband  for 
thee.  Seek  not  to  divide  the  son  from  his  father 
or  mother !  Sedv  not  to  bring  the  son  to  despise 
or  father  or  mother,iest  thou  fall  into  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Lord  in  the  day  of  awful  inquest 
and  judgment." 

But  these  excellent  words  never  found  the  right 
echo.  Even  Jerome  says  :  prope  modum  natiirale  est, 
tit  nurus  socriun  et  socriis  oderit  niiriim.  And  yet  it 
never  was  the  case  where  Christian  virtue  was 
actually  alive. 

Monica,  the  mother  of  Augustine,  had  to  endure 
not  a  little  from  her  mother-in-law.  The  lat- 
ter supported  Monica's  disobedient  maid-servants 
against  their  mistress.  She  allowed  them  to  bring 
her  all  sorts  of  evil  reports  about  her.  Her  daugh- 
ter-in-law she  daily  chided  and  provoked.  But 
Monica  met  her  with  such  complaisant  love,  quiet 
obedience,  and  amiable  patience,  as  to  conquer  the 
irritable  mother-in-law,  so  that  she  became,  and 
continued  to  be  to  the  last,  the  friend  and  protect- 
ress of  her  dauuhter-in-law.  No  wonder  that  from 
such  a  heart  there  sprang  the  faith  and  spirit  of  a 
man  like  Augustine  (cf.  Barthel,  Monica,  p.  31). 

Not  only  the  history,  but  also  the  traditions  and 
the  poetry,  of  the  Middle  Ages,  frequently  depict 
the  sufferings  of  daughters-in-law,  inflicted  on  them 
by  the  mothers  of  their  husbands.  As  part  of  the 
"  swan-legends  "  of  the  lower  Rhine,  we  have  the 
peculiar  story  of  Matabruna,  the  bad  wife  of  the 
king  of  Lillefort,  who  persecuted  and  tormented 
her  pious  and  believing  daughter-in-law  Beatrix, 
until  at  last  the  latter,  by  God's  help,  came  off  vie 
tovious  (cf.  Wolf,  Niederliindische  Sagen,  p.  175; 
also  my  treatise  on  the  Schwan,  p.  24). 

Hermann  Boerhaave's  step-mother  having  died, 
the  universally  celebrated  physician  wrote  as  fol- 
lows :  "  All  the  skill  with  which  God  has  endowed 
me  I  apjilied,  and  spent  whole  half-nights  in  con- 
sidering her  disease,  in  order  to  prolong  her  life,  — 

but  all  in  vain But  I  weep  too,   as 

often  as  the  thought  occurs  to  me  that  now  I  shall 
have  no  more  opportunity  to  show  her  my  love, 
veneration,  and  gratitude  ;  and  I  should  be  alto- 
gether inconsolable,  if,  since  my  coming  of  age,  1 
had  been  even  once  guilty  of  disrespect  or  ingrat- 
itude toward  her." 

It  may  hence  be  seen  how  deeply-grounded  in  the 
nature  of  things  it  is,  that  in  German  [and  ;'/'  in 
German,  then  in  English  too. — Tr.]  (jlanhen  [to 
believe]  and  liehen  [to  love]  are  really  of  the  sam 
root.  In  Gothic,  //«/'S  means,  "  dear,  beloved  "  ;  hn 
ban,  "  to  be  beloved."  With  this,  the  likewise  Gothic 
Laiil>jan,gnlaiihjan,  "  to  believe,"  is  connected.  In  the 
version  of  Ulhlas,  even  e'ATr/j,  hope,  is  at  Rom.  xv 
1 3  translated  by  Inhaiiis.  And  in  truth  :  Faith,  Love, 
Hope,  ti.cse  three  are  one  ;  but  the  greatest  of  them 
is  Love. 

UOMILKTICAL    AND   PRAC'iUCAL. 

"  .Tehovah  deal  kindly  with  you,  as  ye  have  dea'. 
with    the   dead  and   with   me."     Naomi's  husban  1 


00 


THE   BOOK  OF  RUTH. 


was  dead.  Her  sons  had  married  Moabitesses,  and 
had  died  childless.  Usually,  and  sometimes  even 
in  "  bclievini;  "  fomilies,  mothers-in-law  and  daugh- 
ters-in-law are  not  on  the  best  of  terms.  But 
Naomi,  although  in  Moab,  enjoyed  such  love  in  the 
liouse  of  her  sons,  that  her  daughters-in-law  did 
not  leave  her,  but  went  with  her,  and  that  Ruth, 
for  her  sake,  left  native  land,  parents,  and  property. 
She  won  love  because  she  was  Naomi,  "  pleasant'" 
Slie  cherished  no  vanity,  sought  no  strife,  and 
did  not  wish  to  rule;  hence  she  had  peace  and 
love. 

kSr.ARKE  :  "  Piety,  wherever  foimd,  has  the  power 
to  win  the  hearts  of  people.  It  is  able  to  diffuse 
ioy  even  among  those  who  do  not  believe." 

Naomi  was  pleasant  and  pious.  She  illustrated 
the  saying  of  the  apostle  Peter  (1  Epis.  iii.  1)  : 
"  that,  if  any  obey  not  the  word,  they  may  also 
without  the  word  be  won  by  the  conversation  of 
the  wives."  By  her  conduct  she  preached  the  God 
of  Israel,  "  in  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  in  the 
midst  of  Moab  ;  and  hence  the  love  which  she  won 
redounded  to  the  ])raise  of  Israel,  and  became  a 
silent  preaching  of  the  truth  to  unbelievers. 

Starkk  :  "As  long  as  the  Church  is  called  Na- 
omi, there  is  no  lack  of  adherents ;  but  when  she 
appears  as  Mara,  and  is  signed  with  the  cross  of 
Christ,  many  go  bnck." 

"  And  Until  said,  T/ii/  people  is  my.  people,  and 
till/  God  mi/  God."  liuth  is  a  prophecy,  than 
which  none  could  be  more  beautiful  and  engaging, 
of  the  entrance  of  the  heathen  world  into  the  king- 
dom of  God.  She  comes  forth  out  of  Moab,  an 
idolatrous  people,  full  of  wantonness  and  sin,  and 
is  herself  so  tender  and  pure.  In  a  land  where 
<lissolute  sensuality  formed  one  of  the  elements  of 
idol  worship,  a  woman  appears,  as  wife  and  dau^h■ 
ter,  chaste  as  the  rose  of  spring,  and  unsurpassed 
in  these  relations  by  any  other  character  in  Holy 
Writ.  Without  living  in  Israel,  she  is  first  ele- 
vated, then  won,  by  the  life  of  Israel,  as  displayed 
in  a  foreign  land.  Amid  surrounding  enmity  and 
jealousy  toward  Israel,  she  is  capable  of  being- 
formed  and  attracted  through  love. 

It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  women  have  at  all 
times  entered  more  deeply  than  men  into  the  higher 
moral  spirit  of  the  fellowship  with  God  mediated 
by  Christ.  Women,  especially,  feel  that  marriage 
is  a  divinely  instituted  and  sacred  union.  Their 
hearts  teach  them  to  know  the  value  of  the  great 
treasure  and  consolation  which  faith  in  the  living 
God  gives  to  them  especially.  Ruth's  confession 
of  (iod  and  his  .people  originated  in  the  home  of 
her  married  life.  It  sprang  from  the  love  with 
which  she  was  permitted  to  embrace  Israelites.  It 
was  because  in  these  persons  she  loved  the  con- 
fessors of  Jehovah,  that  her  feelings  had  a  moral 
power  which  never  decays. 

An  ancient  church  teacher  says  :  "  Had  she  not 
been  inspired,  she  had  not  said  what  she  said,  or 
done  what  she  did.  For  what  is  she  chiefly  praised? 
For  her  love  to  the  people  of  Israel  or  her  inno- 
cence, for  her  obedience  or  her  faith  ?  For  her 
love  to  the  people  of  Israel.  For  had  she  desired 
marriage  only  as  a  means  of  pleasure,  she  would 
rather  have  sought  to  obtain  one  of  the  young 
men.  But  as  she  sought  not  sensual  gratification, 
out  the  satisfaction  of  conscience,  she  chose  a  holy 
family  rather  than  youthful  age." 

How  great  a  lesson  is  here  for  the  church  con- 
sidered in  its  missionary  character !     The  conduct 


of  one  Israelitish  woman  in  a  foreign  land,  was 
able  to  call  forth  a  love  and  a  confession  of  God, 
like  that  of  Ruth.  How  imperative,  then,  the  duty 
of  Christians  at  home,  and  how  easy  of  execution, 
to  win  Jews  and  other  unbelievers.  For  love  is 
the  fountain  of  faith.  It  is  written,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart.  The  Jews  must 
learn  to  love  Christ  in  the  Christian,  and  the 
Christian  in  Christ.  Love  removes  all  prejudices, 
divisions,  and  sad  remembrances.  Ruth  loves  a 
woman,  and  is  thereliy  led  to  the  God  whom  that 
woman  confesses.  Must  not  men  love,  if  they 
would  be  loved  1  Only  love  opens  the  fountain  of 
faith,  but  faith  sanctities  and  confirms  love. 

Pascal  :  "  The  heart  has  reasons  which  the  rea- 
son does  not  comprehend.  This  is  seen  in  a 
thousand  things.  It  is  the  heart  that  feels  God, 
not  the  reason.  Hence,  that  is  the  more  pc-fect 
faith  which  feels  God  in  the  heart." 

Ruth  is  not  only  the  type  of  a  convert,  but  also 
a  teacher  of  those  who  seek  to  convert  others.  For 
she  shows  that  converts  are  made,  not  by  words, 
but  by  the  life,  not  by  disputations,  but  by  love, 
not  by  the  legerdemain  of  a  sentimental  sermon, 
but  by  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  life. 
She  teaches  also  by  what  she  gives  up,  —  people, 
home,  parents,  customs,  —  and  all  from  love.  She 
has  had  a  taste  of  an  Israelitish  heart  and  house- 
hold. Whoever  has  tasted  Christ,  can  never  again 
live  without  him,  —  can  never  leave  him  who  loves 
all,  suffered  for  all,  weeps  with  all,  and  redeems  all. 
If  Jews  and  heathen  taste  him,  this  is  effected,  not 
through  external  institutions,  through  dead  works, 
but  through  prayer,  which  fills  the  lives  of  Chris- 
tians with  its  sweetness.  To  the  fanatical,  the 
disputatious,  the  canting,  the  selfish,  the  avaricious, 
—  and  also  to  the  characterless  and  slavish,  —  who 
would  say :  thy  people  is  my  people,  thy  God  is 
my  God  1 

"  Where  thou  ahidest,  I  will  abide  ;  ivhere  thou 
diest,  I  will  die."  Ruth  is  not  only  enrolled  among 
the  feminine  worthies  of  Israel,  with  Sarah,  Re- 
becca, Leah  and  Rachel,  but  heathenism  itself 
throughout  its  vast  extent  cannot  show  a  single 
woman  who  is  her  equal  in  love.  For  hers  is  a 
love  outliving  the  grave,  and  sustained  by  no 
fleshly  relationship,  for  when  her  husband  was 
dead  no  livinsr  person,  mutually  dear,  existed  to 
connect  her  with  Naomi.  Neither  self  interest,  nor 
hope,  nor  vanity,  mix  themselves  up  with  this  love. 
It  is  a  purely  moral  and  spiritual  love,  of  which  no 
other  instance  is  on  record.  It  is  in  fact  the  love 
of  those  whom  God  by  his  mercy  has  won  for  him- 
self, and  who  love  God  in  their  brethren.  It  is  the 
evangelical  love  of  the  Apostles,  who  loved  Greeks 
and  Franks,  Persians  and  Scythians,  as  their  own 
flesh  and  blood.  Such  love  as  this  followed  the 
steps  of  our  Lord,  and  tarried  where  he  was.  Con- 
fession, martyrdom,  prayer,  and  every  brotherly 
thought  or  deed,  spring  from  the  love  of  the  con- 
verted heart.  The  more  heartily  the  soul  cries  out 
to  Christ  himself.  Thy  people  is  my  people,  and 
thy  God  my  God,  the  more  fervently  burns  this 
love. 

ZiNZENDORF  :  I  speak  because  I  believe  ;  I  love, 
because  many  sins  are  forgiven  me. 

Sailer  :  Lead  men  through  love  to  love.  For 
love  cultivates  and  preserves  the  true  and  the  good 
by  doctrine,  life,  prayer,  watchfulness,  and  hv  a 
thousand    other  inventions  *of   its    inexhaustiHe 


CHAPTER   I.    19-22. 


23 


Verses  19-22. 
Sorrow  and  Repentance. 

19  So  they  two  Avent  until  they  came  to  Beth-lehem.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they 
were  come  to  Betli-lehem,  that  all  the  city  was  moved  ^  about  them,  and  they  said,2 

20  Is  this  Naomi  ?  And  she  said  unto  them,  Call  me  not  Naomi,  call  me  Mara  :  for  the 
Almighty  hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with   me  [hath  intiicted  bitter  sorrow  upon  me]. 

21  I  went  out  full,  and  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  hath  brought  me  home  again  empty:  why 
tlien  call  ye  me  Naomi,  seeing  the  Lord  [.lehovah]  hath  testified  against  me,  and  the 

22  Almighty  hath  afflicted  me  ?  So  Naomi  returned,  and  Ruth  the  Moabitess  her 
daughter-in-law  with  her,  which  returned  out  ot"  the  country  [territories]  of  Moab:^ 
and  they  came  to  Beth-lehem  in  the  beginning  of  barley-harvest. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  19 nnrn    Niphal   imperf.  of  CQH,  cf.  Ges.  67,  Rem.  5 ;  22,  1.   So  Ges.,  Berth.,  Ewald,  etc.   Keil,  Fiirat, 

stc,  consider  it  Niph.  imperf  of   ClH,  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  19. —  n3"7CSm  ;  lem.  plural  (cf.  ^iT'^Sl,  etc.  in  ver.  20).  Not  exactly,  dicebavtgue  mulieres,  a.s  the  Vulg. 
has  it  ;  the  population  of  the  city  are  the  subject  of  the  verb,  but  in  a  matter  of  this  kind  women  would  naturally  be  so 
prominent  as  to  lead  the  narrator  insen.sibly  to  use  the  feminine.  Perhaps  Naomi  arrived  at  an  hour  of  the  day  when 
the  labors  of  the  field  left  none  but  women  in  the  city.  —  Tr.J 

r^  Ver.  22  2S^^  "'T'9^  M3*':^n  :  Dr.  Cassel  translates  the  whole  clause  thus :  "  And  so  Naomi  was  returned  home, 

T  ••    :     •  T  T    - 

and  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  her  daughter-in-law,  with  her,  [who  accompanied  her]  nfter  [or  on.  cf.  the  Com  below]  hpr  departure 
from  the  fields  of  Moab."  This  rendering,  is,  of  course,  intentionally  free,  and  is  designed  to  indicate  that  what  seems  an 
unnecessary  remark,  really  adds  to  the  sense,  namely,  that  Ruth  was  the  (only)  one  that  clave  to  Naomi,  that  came  with 
her  from  Moab.  But  this  seems  rather  forced.  As  the  .same  expr"Ssion  occurs,  at  ch.  iv.  3,  in  connection  with  Naomi,  it 
may  be  supposed  that  it  became  customary  to  speak  of  Naomi  and  Ruth  as  "  the  returned   from  Moab,''  or  as  we  should 

say,  popularly,  "  the  returned  Moabites."  In  that  case,  it  would  be  best  (with  Berth.)  to  take  n^^-^H  (accented  in  the 
text  as  3d  fern,  perf.,  with  the  art.  as  relative,  cf  Ges.  109,  2d  paragr.),  as  the  fern,  participle.  The  epithet  would  be  applied 
to  Ruth  by  virtue  of  her  connection  with  Naomi,  cf.  ver.  7.  — Tu] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  19.  So  they  two  went.  Naomi  said  noth- 
i'l'j^  more.  She  ceased  to  dis.suade.  She  allowed 
liiith  to  go  with  her,  and  the  iatter  was  as  good 
its  her  words.  She  actually  accompanied  l^er 
mother-in-law ;  and  so  it  came  to  pass,  that  Naomi 
did  not  return  home  alone,  that  is  to  say,  entirely 
forsaken  and  helpless. 

The  whole  city  was  moved  about  them.  Na- 
omi's return  was  an  uncommon  occurrence.  The 
city,  and  especially  the  women,  were  thrown  into 
a  peaceable  uproar.  Everybody  ran,  told  the  news, 
and  wondered.  For  more  than  ten  years  had  parsed 
since  she  had  left  Bethlehem.  Then  there  had 
doubtless  been  talk  enough,  as  Naomi  went  away 
with  her  husband,  in  far  ditferent  and  better  cir- 
cumstances. It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that 
even  then  her  character  had  awakened  sympathy 
and  affection  in  Bethlehem.  Her  husband,  we 
know,  belonged  to  a  prominent  family  of  the  city. 
All  this  renders  it  natural  that  the  news  that  Na- 
omi had  returned  to  Bethlehem,  poor  and  sorrow- 
ful, spread  like  wildfire,  and  created  what  to  her 
was  an  unpleasant  sensation. ^  "  Is  that  Naomi !  " 
!s  the  universal  e.Nclamation. 

Ver.  2'^.  Call  me  not  Naomi,  call  me  Mara. 
Undoubtedly,  the  general  astonishment  over  such 
a  return,  gave  rise  to  many  reflections  which  a 
woman  especially  would  feel  deeply.  Not  merely 
the  external  comparison  of  "  then  "  and  "  now," 
hut  also  the  motives  of  the  former  departure  are 

1  The  Midrash  makes  the  scene  still  more  dramatic  by 
the  explanation,  that  the  concourse  of  the  inhabitants  was 


orought  to  mind.  Then,  Naomi's  life  and  circum 
stances  corresponded  with  the  amiable  and  joyous 
name  she  bore.  Now,  she  were  better  named  Mara, 
the  bitter,  sorrowful  one.  It  is  evident  that  names 
were  still  preserved  with  conscious  reference  to 
their  meaning.  Naomi  manifestly  intends,  by  these 
and  the  following  words,  to  inform  the  inhabitants 
of  Bethlehem  of  her  fortunes.  I  am  no  longer  the 
old  Naomi ;  for  what  of  happiness  I  possessed,  I 
have  lost.  I  have  no  more  anything  that  is  pleas- 
ant about  me  :  my  life,  like  a  salty,  bitter  spring, 
is  without  flavor  or  relish. 

For  the  Almighty  (Shaddai)  hath  inflicted 
bitter  sorrow  upon  me.  Why  Shaddai  f  The 
use  of  this  divine  surname  must  here  also  be  con- 
nected with  its  pregnant,  proper  signification.  Tho 
explanation  which  must  necessarily  be  given  to  it, 

is  not  consistent  with  its  derivation  from  "T"?^'? 
which  always  ap])ears  in  a  bad  sense.  What  this 
explanation  is,  will  become  apparent  when  the  pas- 
sages are  considered  in  which  the  name  is  first, 
and  with  emph.asis,  employed.  We  select,  there- 
fore,, those  of  Genesis,  in  which  book  the  name 
Shaddai  occurs  more  frequently  than  in  any  other 
except  Job,  and  always  as  designative  of  the  gra- 
cious, fertile  God,  by  whom  the  propagation  of 
mankind  is  guaranteed.  Thus,  it  is  assumed  by 
God  in  Gen.  xvii.  1  ff.  where  he  says  to  Abram, 
"  I  make  thee  exceedingly  fruitful,  —  to  a  fiithcr  of 
a  multitude  of  nations,"  etc.  So  likewise,  it  occurs 
Gen.  xxviii.  .3 :  "  El  Shaddai  will  bless  thee  and 

occasioned  by  the  fact  that  the  first  wife  of  Boaz  had  that 
very  day  been  carried  to  her  grave  (cf.  Ruth  Rabba,  31,  d). 


24 


THE  BOOK   OF   RUTH. 


make  tliee  fruitful."  Gen.  xxxv.  11  :  "I  am  El 
Shiuldai,  be  fruitful,  and  multiply."  Geu.  xlviii. 
3:  "El  Shaddai  appeared  unto  me  —  and  said, 
Behold,  I  make  thee  fruitful  and  multijjly  thee." 
Gen.  xli.\.  25  :    "Shaddai  shall  bless  thee  —  with 

blessings  of  the  breasts  (2^7^-')  and  of  the  womb." 
For  the  same  reason  it  is  used  at  Gen.  xliii.  14, 
where  the  fate  of  the  children  of  Jacob  is  in  ques- 
tion. This  gracious  God,  the  source  of  fruitfulness 
and  life,  gives  his  blessing  to  his  chosen  saints,  but 
from  sinners,  and  from  those  whom  He  tries,  He 
takes  away  what  to  others  He  gives.  Hence  the 
frequent  use  of  the  name  in  Job,  who  is  chastened 
in  his  children,  cf  chap.  viii.  3  :  "  Will  Shaddai  per- 
vert justice  1  If  thy  children  sinned  against  Him, 
He  gave  them  over  into  the  hand  of  their  trans- 
gressions." And  in  this  sense  Naomi  also  uses  the 
name  Shaddai,  in  speaking  of  her  misery.  For 
tlie  death  of  her  husband  and  her  sons  has  rendered 
her  family  desolate  and  unfruitful.  The  word 
must  therefore  unquestionably  be  referred  to  a  root 

nit^,  still  in  use  in  Arabic,  in  the  sense  "  to  wa- 
ter, to  fertilize."  For  that  all  fertility  comes  from 
water,  by  which  aridity  is  removed  and  thirst  as- 
suaged, is  a  deeply  rooted  conception,  especially  in 
oriental  antiquity.  Numerous  mythical  pictures 
of  heathenism  represent  their  heroes  as  conquering 
drought  and  unfruitfulness  by  liberating  ftie  rain 
and  the  streams.  The  name  of  the  Indian  god 
Indra  is  derived  from  Ind  =  mid,  to  flow,  and  is 
tlierefore  equivalent  to  "  the  rain-giver,"  who  frees 
tlie  citfuds  so  that  they  can  dispense  their  showers 
(cf  E.  Meier,  Ind.  Liederb.,  p.  147'f ).  The  true 
Ilain-giver,  tlie  dispenser  and  increaser  of  fertility, 
of  the  earth  and  among  beasts  and  men,  is  the 
living,   personal    God,    as    Shaddai.       The   root 

^7t^  must  also  explain  "^K",  mamma,  propei'ly 
the  fountain  of  rain  and  blessings  for  man  and 
bejist,  as  Gellius  (xii.  1)  calls  it,  fonlem  sanctissiinvDi. 
corporis,  and  the  bringer  up  of  the  human  race. 
Hence  we  arc  enabled  to  recognize  the  wide-spread 
philological  root  to  which  shadah,  to  water,  shad 
{.\ram  Uid),  //(awmo,,  belong ;  for  it  is  connected 
>vith  the  Sanskrit  dlie,  Greek  6r}(rat,  Gothic  dad- 
djiin  ((.)Id  German,  tnltn,  etc.,  ct'.Bcnihy,  Gr.  Gram. 
ii.  270),  in  all  which  forms  the  idea  of  giving  drink, 
suckling,  is  present.  From  the  Greek  word,  the 
name  of  the  goddess  Thetis  is  derived,  as  "  Nurse 
of  the  Human  Race"  (cf.  Welcker,  Gr.  Ali/thoL,  i. 
618).  That  Artemis  of  Ejihesus  was  represented 
as  a  tiinUlinnminia,  is  known  not  only  from  antique 
sculptures,  but  also  from  the  writings  of  the  church 
fathers ;  cf  the  words  of  Jerome  (in  Proam  Ep. 
Pauli  ad  Efihes.) :  omnium  besfiaram  el  viventium  esse 
nutricem  mentiuntnr.  Naomi  was  rightly  named 
when,  with  a  flourishing  farhily,  she  went  to 
Moab  —  but  now  Shaddai,  who  gave  the  blessing, 
has  taken  it  away. 

Ver.  21.  I  went  out  full,  and  Jehovah  hath 
brought  me  home  again  empty.  Full  of  family 
happiness,  of  joy  in  her  sons,  and  of  hope  of  a 
cheerful  old  age  surrounded  by  children  and  chil- 
dren's children  ;  but  empty  now  of  all  these,  with- 
out possessions  and  without  hope.  A  penitent 
feeling  pervades  her  lamentation.      I  went  away 

1  [Anil,  therefore,  hardly  to  be  called  a  "reading  "   That 

the  LXX.  read   n337,   as  some   have    thought,  ii  hardly 

possible,  as  that  word  could  not  be  suitably  construed  with 

12.    For  the  same  reason  Bertheau  takes  lH  n!l27  in  the 

:        T  T 
eensf    "  tr   b«=*^ow  labor   on  anything,-'  cf.   Eccles.   1.  13. 


notwithstanding  my  fullness,  and  because  I  went 
full,  do  I  return  empty.  For  this  reason  she  says  : 
"  /  went  away,  and  Jehovah  has  brought  me  home 
again."  I  went  because  it  was  my  will  to  go,  not 
(iod's;  now,  God's  judgment  has  sent  me  back. 
With  that  one  word  she  gives  vent  to  her  sorrow 
that  in  those  times  of  famine  she  forsook  her  peo- 
ple, although  she  herself  was  happy.  What  an 
evil  thing  it  is  to  follow  one's  own  will,  when  that 
will  is  not  directed  by  the  commandments  of  God! 
Man  goes,  but  God  brings  home.  But  beside 
this  penitential  feeling,  there  is  another  feature 
indicative  of  Naomi's  beautiful  character,  which 
must  not  be  overlooked.  She  says,  /  went,  me 
hath  God  afflicted;  not,  IFe  went  —  my  husband 
took  me  with  him,  —  after  all,  I  only  followed  as  in 
duty  bound.  She  utters  not  a  breath  of  accusation 
against  Elimelech  or  of  excuse  for  herself.  Prop- 
erly speaking,  the  fault  did  lay  with  her  husband 
and  sons.  They  were  the  originators  of  the  under- 
taking that  ended  so  disastrously ;  bixt  of  this  she 
has  no  memory.  She  neither  accuses,  nor  yet  does 
she  commiserate  and  bewail  them.  Of  the  evils 
which  they  experienced,  she  does  »iot  speak.  / 
went,  and  me  has  God  brought  home  agaui,  empty 
and  bereft  of  husband  and  child.  Therefore,  she 
repeats,  call  me  not  Naomi !  That  name,  when 
she  hears  it,  suggests  the  entire  contrast  between 
what  she  was  and  what  she  now  is. 

For    Jehovah    hath    testified    against    me, 

''II  n3^.  The  internal  connection  with  the  pre- 
ceding thoughts  confirms  the  correctness  of  the 
Masoretic  pointing.  The  reading  of  the  LXX., 
"  he  humbled  me,"  was  justly  departed  from,  for  it 
is  only  a  paraphrase  of  the  sense. i  That  which 
Bertheau  considers  to  be  the  difficulty  of  the  pas- 
sage, that  it  makes  God  to  testify  against  a  person, 
while  elsewhere  only  men  bear  testimony,  is  pre- 
cisely the  special  thought  of  Naomi :  "  I  went," 
she  says,  "  and  God  has  testified  that  this  going 
was  a  sin.  Through  the  issue  of  my  emigration 
God  has  testified  that  its  inception  was  not  rooted 
in  Him,  but  in  ourselves."  It  is  a  peculiarity  of 
piety  that  it  ascribes  the  issue  of  all  the  affairs  of 
life  to  God.  "  Was  it  right  or  not,  that  I  (namely, 
Elimelech  and  she)  went  away  to  Moab  ■?  "  Men 
might  be  in  doubt  about  it.  But  the  end,  she 
says,  bears  witness  against  us,  who  followed  our 
own  inclinations.  God  testified  against  her,  for 
"  Shaddai  hath  afflicted  me."  In  other  words,  in 
that  God,  as  Shaddai,  made  sorrow  my  portion.  He 

testified  against  me.  The  two  clauses,  n^iT^ 
"^3'  r^2V,  and  "^Viynn  ''IW,  are  not  so  much 
parallel  as  mutually  explanatory.  In  the  loss  of 
my  children  and  family,  says  Naomi,  I  perceive 
that  He  "  declares  me  guilty,"  as  the  Targum  also 

excellently  renders  "^^  n3^.  At  the  same  time, 
the  meaning  of  Shaddai  comes  here  again  clearly 
to  view.  For  it  is  He  who  inflicts  sorrow  upon 
her,  only  in  that  her  children  arc  taken  from  her. 
That  which  God,  as  Shaddai,  the  giver  of  fruitful- 
ness, did  to  her  when  he  caused  her  sons  to  wither 

away,  proves  that  God  testifies  against  her.  2?"nn 
is   here   used   just   as   it    is    in   Josh.   xxiv.   20: 

This  general  idea,  he  thinks,  is  then  determined  by  what 
follows,  so  as  to  mean  :  "  Jehovah  has  worked  against  me." 

On  13  rr!]^,  in  the  sense,  to  testify  against,  cf.  Ex.  xx 
16;  2  Sam.  i.  16;  Is.  iii.  9,  etc.  Bertheau's  objectioo 
seems  to  be  Hufflciently  met  above.  —  Tr.] 


CHAPTER  I.   19-22. 


'ZD 


"  If  ye  forsake  Jehovah  —  he  will  do  you  liurt 
(SPjP  ^IT})  and  utterly  destroy  you." 

Ver.  22.  So  Naomi  returned  and  Ruth  with 
her.  The  curiosity  of  tlie  inliabitants  of  Bethle- 
hem is  satisfied  ;  they  have  also  heard  the  liistory 
of  Ruth  ;  but  with  this  their  sympathy  has  like- 
wise come  to  an  end.  Naomi  was  poor  and  God- 
forsaken,—  at  least  according  to  the  pious  and 
penitential  feeling  of  the  good  woman  herself. 
How  natural,  that  in  her  native  place,  too,  she 
should  stand  alone.  But  Ruth  was  with  her.  She 
had  continued  firm  on  the  road,  and  she  remained 
faithful  in  Bethlehem.  Since  there  also  no  one 
assisted  her  mother-in-law,  she  continued  to  be  her 
only  stay  and  the  sole  sharer  of  her  lot.  Her  pres- 
ence is  once  more  expressly  indicated  :  "  and  Ruth, 
the  Moabitess,  with  her,  on  her  departure  from  the 
fields  of  Moab."  No  one  was  with  her  but  Ruth, 
—  xho  made  the  journey  from  Moab  with  her,  in 
order  to  take  care  of  her  mother-in-law.  What 
had  become  of  Naomi,  if  Ruth,  like  Orpah,  had 
forsaken  her !  She  had  sunk  into  poverty  and 
humiliation  more  bitter  than  death.  It  is  true,  she 
too,  with  her  husband,  had  left  Israel  in  times  of 
distress.  But  for  this  she  could  not  be  held  respon- 
sible, although  her  generous  spirit  accused  herself 
and  no  one  else.  On  the  other  liand,  she  had  been 
sufficiently  punished,  and  had  confessed  her  guilt. 
But  in  Bethlehem  poor  Naomi  was  made  to  feel 
that  she  now  bore  the  name  of  Mara.  Only  Ruth 
had  respect  to  neither  before  nor  after.  Slie  re- 
flected on  neither  happy  nor  sorrowful  days.  As 
she  had  loved  in  prosperity,  so  she  remained  true 
in  adversity.  Naomi,  in  her  native  place  and 
among  kindred,  in  Israel,  had  been  alone  and  in 
want,  had  not  the  stranger,  the  widow  of  her  son, 
accom])anied  her  from  her  distant  land.  Wliile 
such  love  was  hers,  Naomi  was  not  yet  wholly  mis- 
erable ;  for  God  has  respect  to  such  hdelity. 

And  they  came  to  Bethlehem  in  the  begin- 
ning of  barley-harvest.  Consequently,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  harvest  season  in  general.  This 
statement  is  made  in  order  to  intimate  that  the 
help  of  God  did  not  tarry  long.  The  harvest  itself 
afforded  the  opportunity  to  prepare  consolation 
and  reward  for  both  women  in  their  highest 
need. 

HO>nLETIC.\L   AND   PRACTICAL. 

"  Call  me  not  Naomi,  but  Mara."  Naomi  does 
not  conceal  her  condition  when  she  reaches  her 
native  place.  Usually,  the  natural  man,  even  as  a 
beggar,  still  desires  to  shine.  She  has  lost  every- 
thing ;  and  what  she  had  gained,  the  companion- 
ship of  Ruth,  is  not  yet  able  to  console  her.  Her 
very  love  fills  her  with  anxiety  for  this  daughter. 
Recollections  are  very  bitter,  and  the  future  is  full 
of  care.  It  is,  however,  only  because  she  is  empty 
of  all  joys,  that  she  wishes  to  be  called  Mara.  But 
it  was  made  evident  even  in  her  misery  that  what- 
CYcr  she  had  lost  she  had  found  the  grace  of  God ; 


for  then  too  she  was  not  only  named,  but  truly 
was,  Naomi.  Nor  will  one  who  in  sorrow  does  not 
cease  to  be  lovely,  retain  the  name  of  Mara.  Tope 
Gregory  the  Great,  when  praised  (by  Leander) 
replied  :  "  Call  me  not  Naomi,  /.  e.  beautiful,  but 
call  me  Mara,  since  I  am  full  of  bitter  grief  For 
I  am  no  more  the  same  person  you  knew  :  out- 
wardly I  have  advanced,  inwardly  I  have  fallen. 
And  I  fear  to  be  among  those  of  whom  it  is  said  : 
Thou  castedst  them  down  when  they  were  lifted 
up.  For  when  one  is  lifted  up,  he  is  cast  down  ; 
he  advances  in  honors  and  falls  in  morals." 

Thomas  a  Kempis  :  "  It  is  good  at  times  to  be 
in  distress  ;  for  it  reminds  us  that  we  are  in  exile." 

Bengel  :  "  If  God  have  loved  thee,  thou  canst 
have  had  no  lack  of  trouble." 

"  For  Shaddai  hath  afflicted  me."  Naomi  did  not 
go  to  Moab  of  her  own  accord,  for  she  followed  her 
husband.  Her  stay  also  in  the  strange  land  was 
prolonged  only  because  her  sons  had  married  there. 
After  their  death,  although  poor  and  empty,  she 
returned  home  again,  albeit  she  had  but  little  to 
hope  for.  And  yet  in  the  judgment  she  perceives 
only  her  own  guilt.  Her  loving  heart  takes  all 
God's  judgments  on  itself.  The  more  she  loved,  the 
more  ready  she  was  to  repent.  Being  a  Naomi, 
she  did  not  accuse  those  she  loved.  The  sign  of 
true  love  is  unselfishness,  which  ascribes  ills  to  self, 
blessings  to  others.  As  long  as  she  was  in  misery, 
she  took  the  anger  of  God  upon  herself;  but  as 
soon  as  she  perceived  the  favor  of  God,  she  praised 
Him  as  the  God  who  showed  kindness  to  the  living 
and  the  dead. 

[Fuller  :  "  And  all  the  city  was  moved,"  etc. 
See  here,  Naomi  was  formerly  a  woman  of  good 
quality  and  fashion,  of  good  rank  and  repute: 
otherwise  her  return  in  poverty  had  not  been  so 
generally  taken  notice  of  Shrubs  may  be  grubbed 
to  the  ground,  and  none  miss  them ;  but  every  one 
marks  the  felling  of  a  cedar.  Grovelling  cottages 
may  be  evened  to  the  earth,  and  none  observe  them ; 
but  every  traveller  takes  notice  of  the  fall  of  a  stee- 
ple. Let  this  comfort  those  to  whom  God  hath 
given  small  possessions.  Should  He  visit  them  with 
poverty,  and  take  from  them  that  little  they  have, 
yet  their  grief  and  sliame  would  be  the  less  :  they 
should  not  have  so  many  fingers  pointed  at  them, 
so  many  eyes  staring  on  them,  so  many  words 
spoken  of  them  ;  they  might  lurk  in  obscurity  :  it 
must  be  a  Naomi,  a  person  of  eminency  and  estate, 
whose  poverty  must  move  a  whole  city.  —  The 
SAJiE  :  "  Seeihij  the  Lord  hath  testijied  nr/ainst  me, 
and  the  Almighty  hath  afflicted  me."  Who  then 
is  able  to  hold  out  suit  with  God  in  the  court  of 
heaven  ?  For  God  himself  is  both  judge  and  wit- 
ness, and  also  the  executor  and  inflicter  of  punish- 
ments. 

Bp.  Hall  :  Ten  years  have  turned  Naomi  into 
Mara.  What  assurance  is  there  of  these  earthly 
things  whereof  one  hour  may  strip  us?  What 
man  can  say  of  the  years  to  come,  thus  will  I  be  1 
-Tb.]       ^  ^ 


26 


THE  BOOK  OF  RUTH. 


CHAPTER   SECOND. 


Verse  1. 


The  Relative. 


1  And  Naomi  had  [in  Bethlehem]  a  kinsman  [lit.  acquaintance,]  of  her  husband's,  a 
mighty  man  of  wealth  [a  valiant  hero],  of  the  family  of  Elimelech ;  and  his  name 
was  Boaz. 

EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTKINAL. 

Before  relating;  the  wonderful  deliverance  through 
a  kinsman,  by  which  flvithfiilness  and  love  are  re- 
warded, the  writer  first  informs  lis  briefly  of  the 
existence  of  the  person  who  is  chosen  to  effect  this 
deliverance.  Hitherto  the  acting  persons  have  been 
only  women,  both  of  them  loving  and  excellent; 
now,  the  portrait  of  a  man  is  drawn,  who  is  the 
model  of  an  Israelite,  as  family-head  and  as  land- 
lord, in  war  and  in  peace. 

Naomi   had   a  kinsman.      The  expression  for 

tliis  is  ^^]]P.     In  our  texts,  it  is  true,  it  is  pointed 

^1^^,  with  "VTStZi,  as  Keri,  in  the  margin.     But 

J'Vy'd  occurs  only  once  more  (Prov.  vii.  4),  and 

there  also  we   must  probably  read  'S'T'72.      The 

reading  3?'11^  was  preferred  by  the  Masora  only 

on  account  of  the  fem.  ni7"T1tt,  which  occurs  at 

eh.  iii.  2.  The  participle  ^^.'P  is  of  more  frequent 
occurrence,  cf.  Ps.  Iv.  14.  Hitherto,  Naomi  could 
say,  as  does  the  Psalmist  (Ixxxviii.  9):    "Thou 

hast  put  my  kinsmen  C^^^.'^^)  far  from  me."  Com- 
pare also  ver.  1 9  of  the  same  psalm,  where  it  stands 
in  parallelism  with  ^HS,  lover,  and  ?1?5  compan- 
ion. She  has  likewise  experienced  what  is  written 
Ps.  xxxi.  12,  cf.  Job  xix.  14.  Literally,  to  be  sure, 
the  word  means  only  an  "  acquaintance ; "  but  it 
expresses  more  than  we  mean  by  that  term.  The 
man  was  not  a  very  near  relative,  but  one  "  known  " 
to  the  family,  as  belonging  to  it.  It  was  an  ac- 
quaintance valid  within  the  family  lines ;  hence  the 
word  signifies  as  much  as  famll inn's.  It  is  used  in 
a  noteworthy  connection  at  2  Kgs.  x.  11,  where 

Jehu  slays  all  the  great  men,  the  D'^3?"tT.')^,  and 
the  ])riests  of  Ahab,  — i.  e.  everybody  that  adhered 
to  him,  whether  from  family  connection  or  interest. 
The  Latin  notas  may  occasionally  appi'oximate  to 
the  idea  of  the  Hebrew  term  even  more  closely  than 
the  Greek  yvtiptiuos;  not  so  much,  however,  in 
(ilatnll.  Ixxix.  4  {si  ti'ia  notorum  basia  re.per erit) ,  as 
in  Liv.  iii.  44,  where,  with  i-eference  to  the  violence 
done  to  Virginia,  is  said  :  notos  gratia  (patris  et 
sponsi)  turbam  indignitas  rei  virgini  conciliat. 
The  fact  is  emphasized  that  Boaz  was  only  a 

2?'^!^^       This  not  only  explains  a  certain  remote- 


ness of  Naomi  from  him,  but  it  makes  the  piety, 
which  nqtwithstanding  the  distance  (manifest  also 
from  ch.  iii.  12)  of  the  relationship,  performs  what 
the  narrative  goes  on  to  relate,  more  conspicuously 
great  than  it  would  appear  if,  according  to  an  un- 
founded conjecture  of  Jewish  expositors,  he  were 
held  to  be  the  son  of  Elimelech's  Ijrother. 

A  valiant  hero.  These  words  are  applied  to 
Boaz  in  no  other  sense  than  to  Gideon  (Judg.  vi. 
12),  Jephthah  (xi.  1 ),  and  others,  and  have  no  refer- 
ence to  his  wealth  and  property.  He  was  a  strong 
and  able  man  in  Israel,  in  war  and  in  peace. 
Probably  he  had  distinguished  himself  in  conflicts 
of  Israel  against  enemies,  perhaps  against  Moab. 
The  ancestor  of  David  is,  as  the  Midi-ash  (Ruth  31, 
d)   remarlvs,  rightly  thus   described.      His  name, 

Boaz  (^^3)7  is  to  be  explained  by  reference  to 
the  name  of  one  of  the  pillars  erected  by  Solomon, 
and  called  Boaz,  while  the  other  was  named  Jachin 
(cf.  my  Gold.  Thron  Salomo's,  p.  45).     It  is  not  a 

compound  of  ^^  ^3,  but  a  contraction  of  t^"]5» 
"  son  of  strength,  of  enduring  vigor."  The  signifi- 
cation aloctitas  (Ges.,  Keil,  etc.),  would  hardly  be 
applicable  to  the  pillar. 

HOMILETICAL   AND    PRACTICAL. 

The  same  characteristic  is  ascribed  to  Boaz  as  to 
Gideon,  and  to  David.  But  concerning  his  warlike 
deeds  nothing  is  related.  In  Israel,  however,  there 
was  no  valor,  properly  so  called,  except  such  as 
sprang  from  the  acknowledgment  of  the  living  God. 
The  word  is  not  applied  to  wild  battle-rage,  but  to 
moral  strength,  which  valiantly  repels  distress  and 
dishonor,  as  Abraham  drew  the  sword  for  his  coun- 
try against  foreign  oppressors.  Boaz  was  a  hero  in 
war  through  his  virtue  in  peace.  And  this  virtue 
comes  so  clearly  to  view  in  the  Book  of  Ruth,  that 
the  narrator  could  justly  add  :  he  was  a  brave  man. 
For  morally  brave  he  shows  himself  in  every  rela^ 
tion :  1.  as  landlord;  2.  as  confessor  of  God;  3. 
as  man  of  action  ;  and  hence  he  receives  the  reward 
both  of  him  who  dispenses  blessings  and  of  him 
who  receives  them. 

[Fuller  :  "  This  first  verse  presents  us  with  two 
remarkable  things  :  1 .  Poor  Naomi  was  allied  to 
powerful  Boaz.  2.  Boaz  was  both  a  powerful  man 
and  a  godly  man."  —  Tb.J 


CHAPTER  11.   2-17.  27 


Verses  2-17. 
The  Reward  of  Faithfulness  begim. 

2  Aiid  Ruth  the  Moabitess  said  unto  Naomi,  Let  me  now  go  to  the  field,  and  glean 
ears  of  corn  ^  after  him  in  whose  sight  I  shall  find  grace.     And  she  said  unto  her, 

3  Go,  my  daughter.'  And  she  went,  and  came,  and  gleaned  in  the  field  after  the 
reapers:  and  her  hap  was  to  light  on  a  [the]  part  of  the  field  ^  belonr/ing unto  Boaz, 

4  who  was  of  the  kindred  [famil}']  of  Ellimelech.  And  behold,  Boaz  came- from  Beth- 
lehem,  and  said  unto  the   reapers.   The   Lord   [Jehovah]   be  with  you  :  and   they 

5  answered  him.  The  Lord  [Jehovah]  bless  thee.     Then  said  Boaz  [And  Boaz  said] 

6  unto  his  servant  that  was  set  over  the  reapsrs.  Whose  damsel  is  this?  And  the 
servant  that  was  set  over  the  reapers  answered  and  said.  It  is  the  ^  Moabitish  dain- 

7  sel  that  came  back  with  Naomi  out  of  the  country  [territories]  of  Moab  :  And 
she  said,  I  pray  you  [thee],  let  me  glean  and  [I  will]  gather  after  tlie  reapers  among 
the  sheaves :  so  she  came,  and   hath  continued  even  from  the  morniii!;  until  now, 

8  that  *  she  tarried  a  little  in  the  house.  Then  said  Boaz  [And  Boaz  said]  unto  Ruth, 
Hearest  thou  not,  my  daughter  ?     Go  not  to  glean  in  another  field,  neither  go  from 

9  hence,  but  abide  here  fast  by  my  maidens  :  Let  thine  eyes  be  on  the  field  that  they 
do  reap,  and  go  thou  [fearlessly]  after  them  :  have  1  not  charged  the  young  men  that 
they  shall  not  touch  [molest]  thee  ?  and  when  thou  art  athirst,^  go  unto  the  vessels, 

10  and  drink  oi^  that  which  the  young  men  have  drawn.  Then  she  fell  on  her  face,  and 
bowed  herself  to  the  ground,  and  said  unto  him,  Why  have  I  found  grace  in  thine 
eyes,  tiiat  thou  shouldest  take  knowledge  [frieadiy  notice]  of  me,  seeing  I  am  a  stranger? 

11  And  Boaz  answered  and  said  unto  her.  It  hath  fully  been  shewed  me,  all  that 
thou  hast  done  unto  thy  mot!ier-in  law  since  the  death  of  thine  husband :  and  how 
thou  hast  left  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  and  the  land  of  thy  nativity,  and  art  come 

12  unto  a  people  which  thou  knewest  not  heretofore.  The  Lord  [Jehovah]  recom- 
pense thy  work,  and  a  full  [complete]  reward  be  given  thee  of  the  Lord  [Jehovaii] 

13  God  of  Israel,  under  wiiose  wings  thou  art  come  to  trust  [seek  refuge].  Tlien  she 
said,  Let  me  find  favour®  in  thy  sight,  my  lord;  for  tliat  thou  hast  comforted  me, 
and  for  that  thou  hast  spoken  friendly  unto  [to  tiie  heart  of]  thine  handmaid,  though 

14  I  be  not  like  unto  one  of  tiiy  handmaidens.  And  Boaz  said  unto  her.  At  meal-time'' 
come  thou  hither,  and  eat  of  the  bread,  and  dip  thy  morsel  in  the  vinegar.  And  she 
sat  beside  the  reapers  :  and  he  reached  iier  parclied  corn,  and  she  did  eat,  and  was 

15  sufficed  [satisfied],  and  left  [over].  And  when  she  was  risen  up  to  glean,  Boaz 
commanded  his  young  men,  saying.  Let  her  glean  even  among  [between]  the  sheaves, 

16  and  reproach  her  not:  And  let  fall  [pull  out]^  also  some  oH  [from]  the  handfulls 
[bundles]  of  purpose  for  her,  and  leave  them  [{<].  that  she  may  glean  them  [zV],  and 

17  rebuke  her  not.  So  she  gleaned  in  the  field  until  even,  aud  beat  out  that  she  had 
gleaned  :  and  it  was  about  an  ephah  of  barley. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

ri  Ver. 2.  —  D^^bs'^n  ntSpbSI :  Ut.  "and  glean,  among  the  ears."     The  construction  is  exactly  parallel  to  that 
•t:  •    -        T ':  --:- 

in  ver.  7  :  i-  e-    Tli^r)-^  is  used  absolutely,  without  an  accus.,  as  frequently  in  our  Book  and  elsewhere.     The  idea  is, 

Let  me  gather  (sc.  some  ears)  among  those  that  are  left  lying  in  the  field  by  the  harvesters.  —  Tr.] 

[■i  Ver.  3.  —  rrrfyrr  nrbn  :  "  the  field-portion,"  i.  e.  that  part  of  the  grain-fields  about  Bethlehem  that  belonged 
to  r.naz  "  Thougii  gardens  and  vineyards  are  usually  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall  or  hedge  of  prickly  pear,  the  grain 
fie.ds,  on  the  contrary,  though  they  belong  to  different  proprietors,  are  not  separated  by  any  iuclosure  from  each  other. 
The  boundary  between  them  is  indicated  by  heaps  of  small  stones,  or  sometimes  by  single  upright  stones  placed  at  inter- 
nals of  a  rod  or  more  from  each  other  "  (Hackett,  lUust.  of  Scripture,  p.  167).  In  Tini?-^  "'l"7.*l)  '''•  "  '^^^  ^^P  ^^^ 
pened,"'  n"1|772  is  the  subject  of  "lp.*1,  cf.  Ecoles.  ii.  14.  rflb^n  npvn  is  the  accus.  of  place,  cf.  Ges.  118,  1. 
-Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  6.  —  Or  :  "  She  is  a  Moabitish  maiden,  who  came  back  with  Naomi  from,"  etc.  This  supposes  that  nSffiTl 
is,  as  the  accentuation  makes  it,  and  ag.ainst  which  nothing  is  to  be  said  here,  the  third  fem.  perfect,  cf.  the  note  on  ch. 
i.  22.  Thus  taken,  the  answer  does  not  assume  that  Boaz  is  acquainted  with  the  return  of  Naomi.  The  E.  V.  may 
liowever,  be  justified  by  taking  n~;rR^n  as  a  participle,  cf.  Ges.  Ill,  2,  a.  —  Tr.] 


'2o 


THE  BOOK   OF   RUTH. 


[4  Ver.  7.  —  nt  is  joined  by  Dr.  Cassel  to  n/^S"~Tl7  1,  as  adv.  of  time  (so  also  Gesenius  and  Fiirst,  cf.  Lexica, 
s.  T.):  "and  until  now  her  resting  (cf.  below)  in  the  house  was  little."  But  this  unnecessarily  disturbs  the  accentua- 
tion. Better  translate  :  "  this  her  sitting  in  the  house  (H^lUn,  accus.  of  place)  is  but  for  a  little  "'  (tS^P,  adv.  or 
accus.  of  time).     VVt    TM^'DIW  is  an  Aramseizing  of  the  more  regular  Hebrew  n-Tn  71/^3117,  cf.  Ew.  293,  b,  and  the 

Lexica,  s.  v.  TV(. —  On  "'IHCDS^,  in  the  preceding  clause,  see  Ges.  126,  6.  Ruth  says  :  Pray,  permit  me  to  glean,  and 
nnd  (in  consequence  of  this  permission)  I  will  gather,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

rs  Ver.  9.  — nZDS,  from  S^^,   but  inflected  as  if  from  a  form   Htt^,  cf.  Ges.  75,  Rem.  21,  c.     On  the  use  of  the 

L  .   .pl  ••  T  '  T   t' 

word  as  perfect,  cf.  on  ch.  i.  12.     On  the  perfects  1^13  7ni  and   n^ilC^I,    Ges.  126,  Rem.   1;    and  on   the  imperf. 

I'l.lStt?'^      Ges.  127,  4,  b.      "It^SJS  is  rendered   "out  of  which"   by  Bertheau  and  Keil  (because  water-drawing  was 

ordinarily  done  by  women?);  but  in  that  case  the  more  natural  position  of  iT^ntt^l  would  be  after  □"^13?2n, 
thus  :  and  out  of  what  the  young  men  draw  (drink),  drink  thou  (too).  —  Te.] 

re  Ver.  13.  —  Sl?ttS  :    optative.     "  To  take  it  as  present  indicat.  :  I  find  favor,  as  is  done  by  Le  Clerc  and  Bertheau, 
T   :  V 
is  not  in  accordance  with  the   modesty  of  humility  which  Ruth  manifests  in   the   following  words  "  (Keil).     Nor  is  the 

word  expressive  of  a  permanent  state  or  condition,  which  would  justify  the  imperfect  indicative ,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
n^nS  of  the  next  clause,  cf.  Ges.  127,  2.  —  Tr.] 

[7  "Ver.  14.  —  According  to  the  accentuation  of  the  Masorites,  these  words  belong  to  the  preceding  clause':  "  And  Boaz 
said  to  her  at  the  time  of  eating.  Come  hither,"  etc.  "*tp2,  from  'Wyi',  an  anomalous  form  for  ""tCS,  as  ^ItTS  for 
•11272  Josh.  in.  9 ;  1  Sam.  xiv.  38.  The  second  accent,  merca,  is  here,  as  in  other  instances  (Gen.  xxviii.  2 ;  Num. 
xvii.  23,  etc.)  used  instead  of  metheg.  —  T\^  without  mappik  as  in  Num.  xxxii.  42  ;  Zech.  v.  11.  —  Tr.] 

8  Ver.   16.  —  ^  v'iC'n  "'7127.      The  use  of  7^t27  in  the  sense  "  to  draw  out  "  is  only  a  return  to  the  original  mean- 

T  ~     T 

ing  of  the  word.  It  is  the  same  word  as  cruXdio,  which  also  originally  meant  to  draw  out,  for  it  was  from  the  drawing 
off  or  stripping  of  their  armor  from  the  slain  that  it  obtained  the  signification  "  to  make  booty,  to  plunder."  [On  the  use 
of  the  infin.  const,  for  the  absol.  see  Ges.  131,  4,  Rem.  2.  —  Tr,] 


EXEGETIGAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  2.  And  Ruth,  the  Moabitess,  said  to 
Naomi.  Naomi  was  manifestly  in  need.  No  one 
seemed  to  heij)  her,  nor  had  she  the  lieart  to  aslc. 
It  is  hut  too  clear  now  that  her  lot  would  have  been 
a  dismal  one,  if  at  her  return  Ruth  had  not  faith- 
fully cluno;  to  her.  But  tliis  young  woman's  fidel- 
ity shows  itself  now  also.  As  the  barley-harvest  is 
in  jirogress,  she  offers  to  go  to  the  field  and  ask  for 
permission  to  glean.  It  was  no  easy  offer.  Ruth 
was  jirobably  ignorant  of  those  provisions  of  the 
Israelitish  law  according  to  which  the  gleanings  of 
the  harvest-field  and  even  a  forgotten  sheaf  were 
to  be  left  to  the  poor  and  the  stranger,  the  widow 
and  the  orphan  (cf  Lev.  xxiii.  22  ;  Dent.  xxiv.  19). 
At  least,  she  did  not  seem  to  expect  the  observance 
of  such  a  custom ;  for  she  hoped  to  obtain  ])ermis- 
eion  to  glean  from  the  possible  kindness  of  some 
proprietor.  But  at  best,  what  a  miserable  task  for 
the  once  hapjjy  and  jji-osperous  widow !  Possibly 
to  see  herself  treated  as  a  beggar,  harshly  addressed 
or  even  personally  maltreated  by  rude  reapers  !  to 
pass  the  day  in  heat  and  distress,  in  order  at  even- 
ing, hungry  and  weary,  to  bring  home  a  little  bar- 
ley !  For  this  then  she  had  left  paternal  house 
and  land,  in  order  in  deepest  misery  to  be  per- 
chance yet  also  abused  as  a  foreigner !  But  the 
love  she  cherishes,  makes  everything  easy  to  her. 
It  not  only  gives  utterance  to  good  words,  but 
it  carries  them  into  practice.  She  forgets  every- 
thing, in  order  now  to  remember  her  filial  duty  to 
Naomi.     And  Naomi  accepts  her  offer. 

Go,  my  daughter.  Until  now,  she  has  only 
silently  endured  every  expression  of  Ruth's  self- 
sacrifice.  She  had  indeed  ceased  to  dissuade  her 
from  going  with  her,  but  she  had  also  refrained 
from  encouraging  her.  Ruth  might  even  now, 
ifter  having  reached  Bethlehem,  exjierienced  the 
poverty  of  her  mother-in-law,  aTid  tasted  the  sense 
r>f  strangeness  in  Israel,  have  returned  to  Monb. 
Bi-*   the   meekness   with   which,   instead   of  thid, 


she  asks  permission  to  encounter  toil  and  misery 
for  her,  overcomes  in  Naomi  too  every  ulterior 
considei'ation.  Such  a  request  could  no  longer  be 
silently  accepted ;  nor  could  it  be  refused.  Naomi 
permits  her  to  glean  in  the  harvest-field.  Nor  was 
It  an  easy  thing  for  the  mother  to  give  this  consent. 
The  remarkable  characters  of  both  women  come 
here  also  nobly  to  view.  Riith,  who  has  given  up 
everything,  is  humble  as  a  dutiful  child,  and  asks 
for  permission  to  give  up  more.  Naomi,  who  in 
her  highest  need  would  accept  nothing  from  Ruth, 
in  order  not  to  involve  her  in  the  same  distress, 
—  who  retains  her  maternal  authority  in  circum- 
stances of  want  in  which  people  generally  would 
deem  this  impossible,  —  has  no  other  reward  for 
Ruth's  self-sacrificing  disjwsition  than  that  she  is 
ready  to  accept  its  efforts  for  herself. 

Ver.  .3.  And  she  hghted  providentially  on 
the  field  of  Boaz.     More  literally  :  "  And  her  lot 

met  her  on  the  field  of  Boaz."     Op.^^)  fut.  apoc. 

from  nnp,  S^kJ,  occurrere.)  Ruth,  as  a  stranger 
in  Bethlehem,  knew  neither  persons  nor  projjerties. 
She  might  have  chanced  on  fields  of  strange  and 
unfriendly  owners.  Providence  so  ordered  it,  that 
without  knowing  it,  .she  entered  the  field  of  one 
who  was  of  the  family  of  Elimelech,  and  therefore 
also  a  distant  relative  of  her  deceased  husband. 

Ver.  4  ff.  And  behold  Boaz  came  from  Bethle- 
hem. A  finer  picture  of  rural  harvest-scenes  is 
nowhere  extant.  We  hear,  as  it  were,  the  rustling 
of  the  reapers'  sickles.^  Behind  them  are  the  wo- 
men, binding  the  cut  grain  (ver.  8).  The  overseer's 
presence  promotes  industry  and  order  (ver.  .5).  In 
case  of  thirst,  there  stand  the  water-vessels  at  no 
great  distance.  The  fields  surround  the  country- 
house  with  its  various  outbuildings,  where  the 
weary  may  find  a  moment's  rest  and  refreshment. 

1  Cf.  Homer,  H.  xviii,  550,  in  the  description  of  the  shield 
of  Achilles  :  "On  it  he  also  graved  a  field  thick  with  grain; 
and  there  with  sharp  sickles  reapers  plied  tiiiii-  ULsli  " 


CHAPTER  II.   2-17. 


ii9 


At  meal-time,  the  laborers  are  supplied  (as  at  the 
present  day,  cf.  Rob.  ii.  50),  with  roasted  grain  - 
and  bread.'-  The  latter  they  dip  in  a  refresliinp 
drink,  consisting:  of  vinegar  and  water,  with  per- 
haps some  oil  mixed  in  it.'* 

I3ut  rural  life  has  not  in  itself  that  paradisaic 
happiness  which  Virgil  contrasts  so  enthusiastically 
with  the  luxuriant  and  slavish  life  of  Rome.  It 
may  perhaps  be  true  that  a  country  population  is 
more  patient  of  labor  and  more  readily  contented 
with  small  means  ("  paiien-<  operiim  exit/uoque  adsueto 
jurenitts,"  —  Gcorg.  ii.  472) ;  but  it  is  only  when  a 
pious  and  godfearing-  spirit  rules  in  the  hearts  of 
proprietor  and  dependents  that  it  is  good  to  live 
amid  the  quiet  scenes  and  rewardful  toil  of  th 
country.  Only  then,  too,  is  the  poet's  word  ap- 
plicable :  "  the  chaste  dwelling  preserves  virtue " 
[ca^'ta  puJicitiam  servat  doiiius) . 

An  example  of  such  a  country  life  meets  us  here 
in  the  good  times  of  Israel.  Boaz  himself,  when 
the  day  has  considerably  advanced,  comes  to  look 
after  his  people  in  the  field.  His  greeting  is,  "Je- 
hovah be  with  you  !  "  Their  answer,  "  Jehovah 
bless  thee  !  "  Nor  is  this,  in  his  mouth,  merely 
a  customary  form  :  the  reality  of  his  piety  is  mani- 
fest from  his  life  and  works.  Hence,  also,  as  the 
master,  so  the  servant.  The  overseer  knows  the 
benignity  of  his  master,  and  imitates  it.  This 
appears  as  soon  as  Boaz  comes  and  notices  the 
strange  maiden.  That  he  does  this  at  once,  is  only 
a  new  feature  in  the  rural  picture.  On  the  tields 
of  Boaz,  the  poor  were  not  hindered  in  their  legal 
privilege  of  gleaning.  But  the  proprietor  knows 
not  only  his  work-people,  but  the  needy  also. 
Ruth  he  had  never  yet  seen.  It  may  be  supposed 
also  that  her  modest  and  reserved  bearing  served 
at  once  to  mark  her.  She  who  had  so  long  been 
mistress  herself,  had  not  the  look  of  those  who 
have  grown  bold  in  beggary.  Such  a  one  as  she 
was  must  have  sufficiently  manifested  her  supe- 
riority over  the  female  servants  by  the  natural 
charm  and  grace  of  her  presence,  even  though  she 
dressed  in  the  same  style  and  engaged  in  similar 
toil.  She  could  not  fail  to  surprise  Boaz,  as  he 
sui-veyed  his  people  and  their  labor.  He  turns  to 
his  overseer  with  the  natural  inquiry,  "  Whose  is 
this  damsel  ?  "  It  was  in  accordance  with  national 
custom  to  ask,  not,  "  Who  is  this  damsel" — for 
that  was  of  comparatively  little  importance, —  but. 
Whence  is  she  ?  how  comes  she  here  1  to  what 
estate  does  she  belong  ?  With  the  overseer's  an- 
swer begins  the  beautiful  delineation  of  the  two 
principal   persons  of  the   narrative  in  their  'first 

'  [The  following  remarks  on  parched  corn  are  from  Dr. 
Thomson's  The  Ijiiid  ami  the  Boot  (ii.  510)  :  "  It  is  made 
thus  :  a  quantity  of  the  best  ears,  not  too  ripe,  are  plucked 
with  the  stalks  attached.  These  are  tied  into  small  parcels, 
a  blazing  fire  is  kindled  with  dry  grass  and  thorn  bushes, 
and  the  corn-heads  are  held  in  it  until  the  chaff  is  mostly 
burnel  off.  The  gniin  is  thus  sufficiently  roasted  to  be 
eaten,  and  it  is  a  favorite  article  all  over  the  country.  When 
travelling  in  harvest-time,  my  muleteers  have  very  often 
thus  prepared  parched  corn  in  the  evenings  after  the  tent 
las  been  pitched.  Nor  is  the  gathering  of  these  green  ears 
for  parching  ever  regarded  as  stealing.  After  it  has  been 
roasted,  it  is  rubbed  out  in  the  hand  and  eaten  as  there  is 
occasion."  —  Tr.] 

2  Which  they  probably  consumed  under  the  shade  of 
beautiful  trees,  as  in  Goethe's  picture  (Her/n.  u.  Doroth.)  : 
"It  (a  tree  of  which  he  is  speaking)  was  visible  far  and 
wide  :  under  it  the  reapers  were  accustomed  to  enjoy  their 
noonday  meal." 

n  In  describiui?  his  servituile  in  Egypt,  M.  Ileberer  says 
.R'lSenmiiller,  Mor^'nlnii'/.  iii.  Ii8)  :  "  It  is  truly  incredible 
ho*  the  bisi'iiit.  e.it.^n  with  viue^rar  and  oil,  strengthens  the 


meeting.  The  overseer  knew  Ruth;  and  it  was 
not  necessary  to  tell  Boaz  much  about  her,  since 
the  return  of  Naomi  had  been  much  talked  of. 
But  it  is  honorable  to  him  that  he  at  once  recom- 
mends her  by  praising  her  diligence.  Since  morn- 
ing she  had  not  ceased  to  glean,  —  had  scarcely 
rested  a  little  in  the  house.*  This  praise  of  her 
diligence  included  praise  of  the  pi'opriety  and  re- 
serve of  her  demeanor.  She  was  very  unlike  other 
gleaners.  Those  were  apt  to  chatter  and  do  many 
other  things  beside  that  tor  which  they  came. 

Ver.  8.  And  Boaz  said  to  Ruth,  Go  not  to 
glean  in  another  field.  The  interest  of  Boaz, 
who  had  already  heard  of  the  Moabitess,  especially 
as  Naomi  was  at  least  something  more  to  him  than 
an  entire  stranger,  —  a  fact  either  unknown  to  the 
overseer,  or  which,  like  a  good  and  sagacious  serv- 
ant, he  discreetly  passed  over,  —  could  not  but  in- 
crease by  reason  of  the  praise  bestowed  on  Ruth. 
He  therefore  went  to  her,  to  speak  with  her  person- 
ally. In  the  case  of  another  maiden  of  whom  he 
had  heard  similar  good  reports,  he  would  have 
given  a  few  favorable  directions  concerning  her  to 
his  overseer.  But  here  he  was  met  by  various  pe- 
culiar considerations.  Was  it  Naomi,  the  widow 
of  a  relative  of  his,  who  was  forced  to  lay  claim  to 
the  widow's  rights  in  the  harvest-fields  of  Israel, 
or  was  it  the  Moabitess,  who,  for  having  attached 
herself  with  all  her  heart  to  Israel,  now  com- 
manded the  favor  of  the  Israelite  !  Both  these 
thoughts  are  at  work  in  the  noble  mind  of  Boaz. 
He  recognizes  the  existence  of  a  certain  relation- 
ship, the  benefit  of  which  -is  due  to  Ruth.  It  is 
not  a  common  maid-servant  who  stands  before  him. 
Had  he  been  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  modern 
sentimentality,  he  would  probably  have  been 
ashamed  of  her.  He  would  have  offered  her  a 
piece  of  money,  and  sent  her  away,  that  it  might 
not  become  known  that  this  Moabitish  beggar  is 
his  relative !  He  would  at  all  events  not  have 
allowed  her  to  go  on  gleaning  1  But  according  to 
the  ancient  delicate  and  religious  view,  he  cannot 
act  thus.  Nothing  has  been  asked  of  him ;  conse- 
quently, he  has  no  right  to  wound  the  self-respect 
of  others.  The  privilege  of  gleaning  belongs  of 
right  to  the  widow  and  the  stranger.  It  is  not 
well  that  she  needs  it;  but  needing  it,  he  cannot 
hinder  her  from  using  it.  Even  while  he  admits  her 
relationship,  he  can  only  support  her  in  this  right, 
and  enlarge  its  advantages.  And  this  is  what  he 
does.  Ruth  had  modestly  gleaned  at  a  distance 
from  the  reapers  and  binders. °  He  calls  her  nearer, 
and  says  :  "  Go  not  to  glean  in  another  field."    In 

weary  and  exhausted  system  and  restores  its  powers."  The 
drink  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  called  po.sca,  consisted  of  wa- 
ter and  vinegar.  Hadrian,  to  encourage  his  troops,  used  it 
himself  (Spartian.  Vit.  Ha'lr  ch.  x).  Of  a  different  nature 
is  the  food  which  in  Virgil  {Ed.  ii.  10)  is  prepared  fnr  thi 
reapers  {rapiiio  ferris  messoribus  (zstu)  and  others,  with  gar- 
lic and  thyme.  Some  other  learned  observations  see  in 
Serarius,  Qiifrst.  xxiv.  p.  738. 

*  n^3rT  nnSK?.  The  alluslon  can  only  be  to  * 
field-building,  since  otherwise  her  sitting  in  it  could  not 
be  known  to  the  laborers.  And  as  the  ''  sitting  ''  forms  a 
contrast  with  her  laboring,  it  must  be  taken  in  the  sense  of 
"  resting."  In  the  Sept.  rendering  iv  aypiZ,  aypoi  standi 
for  a  building  in  the  fieid,  villa,  castra  in  agro. 

5    There    is    a   difference    when,    according    to    ver.  7, 

she  gleans  near  the  sheaves,  after  the  reapers,  "'irjN 
D^"1tt'y2  Q^'1!i"^i^n,  and  when,  in  ver.  15,  she  is  al 

•   -'T.T  .    ;        r       _   ' 

lowed  to  glean  "  between  the  sheaves,"  □"^"^ttl^n  1^2. 
among  the  reapers 


30 


THE   BOOK   OF   RUTH. 


these  words  lie  acknowlcd}j:;es  tlie  first  deo:ree  of  the 
interest  to  which  his  relationship  hinds  liiin.  Both 
for  her  sake  —  for  would  she  every  where  have  such 
fiivorable  opportunities  to  glean  as  he  gave  lier  1  — 
and  also  for  his  own  !  That  which  is  a  benefit  to 
her.  is  also  seemly  with  resjiect  to  himself  as  re- 
lated to  her,  in  order  that  Elimelech's  dauphter-in- 
law  may  not  wander  from  field  to  field  like  one 
utterly  helpless. 

Nor  go  from  hence,  but  keep  here,  with  my 
maidens.  He  lius  called  her  to  him  where  he 
stands,  near  the  reapers.  Only  on  this  supposition 
are  these  words  intelligible.  Immediately  behind 
the  reapers,  came  the  maidens  who  bound  the 
?rain.  The  gleaner  who  was  allowed  to  approach 
nearest  tlie  latter,  had  the  best  opportunity.  Ruth 
had  hitherto  kept  back,  which  perhaps  allowed 
others  to  anticipate  her  and  take  away  the  best. 
Boaz  bids  her  come  close  up  to  the  binders,  and  to 
stay  there.i  He  allows  her  to  glean  indeed,  but  he 
makes  her  gleaning  more  productive. 

Ver.  9.  Keep  thine  eyes  on  the  field  that 
they  reap,  and  go  after  them,  etc.  He  takes 
.  care  not  only  to  provide  her  an  abundant  gleaning, 
but  also  to  ensure  the  safety  of  her  person.  He  is 
not  dealing  with  a  gleaner  of  the  common  class. 
Close  by  the  reapers  is  no  doubt  a  good  place  for 
finding  ears,  but  it  involves  also  the  possibility  of 
rude  treatment.  Her  appearance  may  have  been 
such  as  would  not  unlikely  provoke  the  coarse  jests 
with  which  such  jieasant  laborers  were  perhaps  in 
the  habit  of  assailing  women.  She  would  prefer, 
therefore,  as  he  foresees,  to  keep  herself  back,  rather 
than  work  in  their  immediate  neighborhood.  Be 
not  concerned,  he  says  :  I  have  already  given 
charge  that  no  one  touch  thee.^  Act  without  fear ; 
and  when  thou  thirstest,  go  boldly  and  drink. 

Ver.  10.  Then  she  fell  on  her  face,  etc.  It 
may  be  clearly  seen  here,  that  only  such  as  can  ex- 
ercise love,  understand  how  to  receive  it.  No  one 
is  humbler  than  he  who  truly  gives  from  love  — 
of  that  Ruth  is  a  proof;  and  for  that  reason,  hu- 
mility never  shows  itself  more  l)eautiful,  than 
when  love  receives.  Ruth  had  made  the  greatest 
sacrifices,  although  no  one  had  a  right  to  expect 
them  from  her,  and  is  withal  so  unassuming,  as 
not  to  look  for  anything  from  others.  Most  peo- 
ple in  her  place  would  have  made  the  first  favor 
shown  them,  the  occasion  for  saying  that  in  truth 
they  were  not  at  all  used  to  such  work.  Their 
thanks  would  have  been  combined  with  complaints 
and  accusing  insinuations  about  the  distress  in 
which  they  found  themselves,  although  they  had 
exchanged  the  people  and  God  of  Moab  for  those 
of  Israel.  Ruth's  love  did  not  spring  from  selfish- 
ness, and  hence  did  not  give  birth  to  any  proud  self- 
consciousness.  Instead  of  a  sigh  that  she  who  had 
said,  "  thy  people  is  mj'  people,  thy  God  my  God," 
could  scarcely  by  weary  toil  procure  sustenance  in 
Israel,  she  utters  her  humble  thanks  to  Boaz : 
How  is  it  that  I,  a  stranger,  obtain  such  favor ! 

1  The    words     H-T^     ''"^^I^Vn'S^     [OQ   the    form 

"""l^^lJiJl,  cf.  Ges.  47,  Rem.  1]  would  be  a  useless  repetition, 
if  they  did  not  express  the  idea  that  she  is  not  to  leave  the 
pluce  svhere  she  now  stands  before  him  (.and  whither  he  prob- 
ibly  caused  her  to  be  oalled),as  being  favorable  to  her  success. 

2  [Dr.  Thomson.  T/ie  Land  ami  the  Book,  ii.  510,  ex- 
plains the  charge  of  Boaz  to  the  reapers  iu  almost  the  same 
langu.age  as  our  author,  and  adds:  "Such  precautions  are 
not  out  of  place  at  this  day.  The  reapers  are  gathered  from 
all  iiarts  of  the  country,  and  largely  fron>  the  ruder  class, 
and,  living  far  from  home,  throw  off  all  restraint,  and 
give  free  license  to  their  tongues,  if  nothing  mox'e."  —  Tr.] 


Instead  of  taking  it  as  a  matter  of  course  tha 
Boaz  should  especially  regard  ('^''v'^)  her,  being 
a  stranger,  she  is  so  unassuming  as  to  deem  this 
very  fact  an  enhancement  of  his  kindness. 

Ver.  1 1.  And  Boaz  said.  It  hath  been  told  me, 
etc.  The  answer  which  Boaz  gives,  is  not  simply 
that  of  the  landed  ])roprietor,  but  of  the  Israelite. 
He  speaks  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  iaith  of 
Israel.  We  feel  that  he  acts  as  he  does  from  a 
sense  of  his  duty  as  an  Israelite.  The  Jewish  ex- 
positors have  identified  Boaz  with  Ibzan  the  judge 
(Judg.  xii.  8),  because  the  latter  also  was  of  Beth- 
lehem—  manifestly  the  northern  Bethlehem,  how- 
ever, and  not  that  of  Judah  (cf.  the  Comment,  on 
Judges).  But  in  enunciating  such  <  pinions,  they 
have  their  eyes  more  on  the  spirit  than  on  the  his- 
torical fiicts.  They  only  felt  themselves  bound  to 
point  out  that,  since  Boaz,  like  other  Judges,  is 
said  to  have  been  a  "  valiant  hero,"  and  is  evi- 
dently rich  and  highly  esteemed,  he  must  also  have 
exercised  the  functions  of  the  judge.  Litei-ally, 
this  cannot  be  maintained;  for,  had  it  been  the 
case,  our  Book  would  not  have  been  silent  on  the 
subject.  But  during  the  so-called  period  of  the 
Judges,  there  were  certainly  other  able  men  in  Is- 
rael than  the  heroes  mentioned  in  the  Book  of 
Judges,  who  filled  the  office  of  judge  in  their  cities 
(ef  Com.  on  Judg.  ii.  16)  ;  and  Boaz  would  cer- 
tainly furnish  us  with  a  beautiful  likeness  of  one  of 
these.  In  his  words,  at  least,  there  is  undeniably 
the  breathing  of  a  pious,  national  consciousness, 
such  as  becomes  an  Israelitish  family-head  and 
liero  in  the  presence  of  a  lecent  proselyte  to  his 
faith  and  ]X'oi)le. 

All  that  thou  hast  done  unto  thy  mother-in- 
law,  etc.  The  words  of  Boaz  here  clearly  state 
what,  in  accordance  with  the  delicacy  of  ancient 
narration,  was  not  expressly  said  above.  Ruth 
has  nowhere  hinted  that  she  was  showing  kindness 
to  her  mother-in-law  in  g'oing  with  her  to  Israel. 
All  she  said,  was,  "  I  will  not  leave  thee."  Winn 
Naomi  arrives  at  Bethlehem,  and  everj'body  is 
eager  with  curiosity,  the  lamentations  in  which  she 
breaks  out  arc  indeed  recorded,  but  not  the  words  in 
which  she  praised  her  daughter-in-law.  Neverth-.^- 
less,  she  fully  appreciated  what  Ruth  did  for  he; . 
This  was  the  very  reason  why  she  at  first  refused 
to  accept  her  sacrifice.  Afterwards,  however,  she 
gratefully  recounted  her  obligations  to  her  daugh- 
ter-in-law, but,  as  discreet  minds  are  wont  to  do, 
behind  her  back.  Boaz  could  have  derived  his 
knowledge  only  from  narrations  proceeding  from 
Naomi  herself. 

The  merit  which  Boaz  imputes  to  Ruth  is  of  a 
twofold  nature.  Induced  by  affection,  she  has  left 
the  highest  possessions  of  life.  She  was  no  or- 
phan, she  was  not  homeless ;  she  had  what  she 
needed,  but  left  all,  and  that  for  something  un- 
known, the  value  of  which  she  was  not  able  to  esti- 
mate. "  Thou  eamest,"  he  says,  "  to  a  people  which 
yesterday  *   and  the  day  before   yesterday    ( /.    e 

s  It  is  remarkable  that  this  belongs  to  the  same  root  with 
^"133,  "  stranger,"  which  also  occurs  in  the  address  of  Ruth. 

In  the  Hiph.  ~l^?n,  and  the  adject,  form  "^153,  the  two 
offshoots  of  the  radical  signification  appear  in  juxtaposition 
to  each  other,  as  in  the  German  7/>i(frscheiden  (to  distin- 
guish) and  a!/-«scheiden  (to  separate). 

*  /^^ri  is  an  abbreviation  of  VlttpS.  The  ex- 
planation becomes  clearer  by  comparison  with  other  lan- 
guages. The  Greek  x^i^  (e\0e<;),  the  Latin  heri  {/lestenuis), 
and  the  Germau  i;estern  (Goth,  gislra),  may  all  be  recognized 


CHAPTER   II.   2-17. 


81 


formerly)  thou  didst  not  know."  How  1  had  she 
not  known  lier  family,  Naomi,  and  her  own  hus- 
liantl,  who  wore  of  Israel  1  Bnt  this  family  lived 
in  Moab,  where  Israel's  law  was  not  in  force.  The 
national  usages  and  institutions  which  had  been 
impressed  upon  Israel  by  Israel's  God,  she  did  not 
know.  And  notwithstanding  this,  she  had  said, 
"  Thy  people  is  my  people,  thy  God  my  God." 

Vcr.  12.  Jehovah  recompense  thy  work.  As 
Boaz  ])raises  a  doiible  merit  in  Ruth,  so  he  gives  a 
double  form  to  his  wish  for  her.  First  he  says, 
generally,  "Jehovah  recompense  thy  work."  In- 
depenilently  of  Naomi's  connection  with  Israel, 
Ruth's  love  lor  her  mother-in-law,  for  whose  sake 
she  has  left  parents  and  native  land,  deserves  the 
reward  of  God.  But  she  came  to  Israel  with  Na- 
omi, and  for  her  sake  has  trustfully  connected  her- 
self with  a  people  whose  laws  she  did  not  know, 
and  whose  character  she  has  only  seen  mirrored 
forth  in  her  husband  and  his  mother.  For  this 
love  and  trust  may  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  as 
he  expressly  adds,  reward  thee  !  Jehovah  is  known 
in  Israel.  Whoever  accepts  him,  may  build  on 
Him.  He  covers  with  his  wings,  him  who  confides 
in  Him  and  sets  his  hopes  on  Him  (Ps.  xei.  1  IF.), 
Ruth  has  come  trustfully  expecting  to  be  able  to 
live  in  Israel  with  Naomi.  She  has  brought  noth- 
ing with  her;  has  left  everything.  They  have 
come,  both  poor  ;  and  have  scarcely  what  is  neces- 
sary to  sustain  life.  Nevertheless,  for  her  love's 
sake,  she  dared  to  make  the  God  of  Israel  her  God. 
Like  Abraham,  leaving  all,  she  went  abroad.  And 
as  to  Abraham  God  said,  "  I  am  thy  great  reward  " 
(Gen.  XV.  1),  so  Boaz  wishes  that  God  may  be  to 
her  a  full  reward.  A  "  full  reward,"  abundant  as 
her  love,  so  that  she  shall  miss  nothing,  but  recover 
all ;  and  so  that  in  her  it  may  be  seen,  how  those 
are  entertained  who  shelter  themselves  beneath 
His  wings.  Boaz  docs  not  discoui-se  as  one  would 
speak  to  a  Moabitish  beggar.  Having  heard  who 
she  is,  he  looks  upon  her  with  eyes  full  of  joy  over 
her  pious  actions.  He  speaks  to  her  as  a  priest 
and  prophet.  And  since  he  spoke  from  the  en- 
thusiasm of  piety,  and  she  was  deserving,  his  words 
found  fulfillment.  She  received  a  reward  which 
was  not  only  full,  but  which  completed  and  wholly 
filled  her,  all  of  which   is  implied  in   the  words 

Li\W)  and  n9btt\ 

Ver.  1-3  ff.  May  I  find  favor  in  thy  sight ;  for 
thou  hast  comforted  me.  The  impression  of  the 
words  of  Boaz  must  have  been  very  grateful  to  the 
humble  mind  of  Ruth.  It  was  the  first  sunbeam 
that  broke  through  the  grief  and  tears  of  many 
weeks.  Hitherto,  she  had  tasted  only  parting  sor- 
row. She  had  suffered  at  the  grave  of  her  husband, 
suffered  on  the  way  from  the  land  which  held  the 
dwelling  of  her  parents,  and  her  sufferings  were  not 
yet  at  an  end  when  she  reached  Israel.  There  she 
had  hitlierto  suffered  from  the  sense  of  loneliness. 
Everybody  talked  of  her  as  the  "Moabitess."  She 
was  ])Oor"to  beggary.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  she 
is  addressed  about  the  God  of  Israel  and  his  grace, 
and  hears  the  voice  of  blessing  from  one  of  that 
people  with  members  of  which  she  has  endured  so 
much.  The  full  import  of  his  words  her  humble 
heart  does  not  presume  to  appropriate.  But  the 
kindliness  and  benevolence  of  the  speaker's  voice, 

in  the  Sanskrit  /ijas  (Benf.  ii.  208).  Jas  (in  hjas)  is,  "  the 
iay,'"  and  the  h  is  the  demonstrative  article  pointing  back- 
ward, cf.  Lat.  ilte  ;  so  that  hjas,  and  the  other  cognate  forms, 
signify,  "that  day,"' i.  <?.   "the  forcier  day."     The  forma- 

'jon  of    vl^nS  is  analogous.    vlQ  (v^D)  isequiTalent 


is  for  her  like  the  sound  of  a  bubbling  spring  in 
the  desert  to  the  thirsty.  I  have  long  been  sad,  she 
intends  to  say ;  thou  hast  convforted  me.  I  look 
for  no  reward ;  but  thou  hast  spoken  to  the  heart 
of  thy  servant,  that  was  full  of  grief  and  anguish. 
Her  phraseology  also  indicates  her  sincere  humility. 
"  ]\Iay  I  find  lin'or  in  thy  sight,"  she  says,  by  way 
of  humble  introduction  to  her  grateful  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  comfort  he  has  imparted  to  her. 
It  is  a  formula  expressive  of  the  reverence  she  feels 
for  Boaz.  She  invokes  his  favor,  that  she  may 
tell  him  how  his  words  have  refreshed  her.  Who- 
ever has,  like  her,  left  everything,  in  order  to  live 
in  Israel,  will  feel  that  the  highest  and  best  utter- 
ance she  could  make,  when  for  the  first  time  she 
tasted  the  kindness  of  Israel,  was  gratitude  for  the 
comfort  experienced .  A  word  of  love  comes  on  a 
loving  heart  like  hers,  long  afilieted  by  sorrow, 
like  morning  dews  on  a  thirsty  field. 

And  yet  I  am  not  as  one  of  thy  handmaidens.^ 
No  one  can  speak  so  well  and  beautifully  as  an 
unassuming  person.  Ruth  manifests  no  conscious- 
ness of  having  done  anything  special.  Boaz  she 
thinks  is  doubtless  equally  kind  and  good  to  all  his 
people.  So  much  the  more  is  it  her  part  to  be 
grateful  that  he  has  also  been  kind  to  her,  who 
does  not,  as  they,  belong  to  his  household,  nor  even 
to  his  people.  It  might  be  thought  strange  that 
Boaz  says  nothing  to  her  of  his  relationship  to  her 
husband.  But  if  he  thought  of  it,  he  purposely 
kept  silent  about  it.  He  showed  her  kindness,  not 
because  she  was  distantly  related  to  him,  but  solely 
because  of  her  excellence.  In  the  case  of  one  like 
Ruth,  he  needed  not  the  remembrance  of  kinship 
to  stir  him  up  to  take  interest  in  her.  It  was  not 
as  the  widow  of  his  kinsman  that  he  distinguished 
her  with  special  favor,  but  as  one  who  had  taken 
refuge  under  the  wings  of  Israel's  God.  Ruth 
likewise  did  not  know  what  Boaz  was  to  her  hus- 
band's family ;  nor  had  she  wasted  a  word  to  make 
him  aware  that  she  had  ever  been  more  than  a 
maid-servant,  which,  had  she  done,  might  have 
brought  their  relationship  to  speech. 

The  answer  of  Ruth  raised  her  still  higher  in  the 
esteem  of  Boaz.  He  is  not  satisfied  with  the  pro- 
■vasions  already  made  in  her  behalf.  He  bids  her 
join  in  the  common  meal,  and  helps  her  to  a  por- 
tion of  everything  on  hand.  Nor  is  he  satisfied  to 
let  her  have  merely  a  common  gleaning.  He  orders 
that  now  and  then  some  ears  be  intentionally 
drawn  out  of  the  "  bundles  "  and  left  for  her  to 
gather  up.  This  last  injimction  he  gives  to  the 
workmen  themselves,  not  merely  to  the  overseer. 

It  is  interesting  also  to  notice  the  ditt'erent  ex- 
pressions in  which  he  forbids  any  rude  treatment 
of  Ruth  by  the  workpeople.  Above,  in  ver.  9,  he 
told  them  not  to  "  touch"  her.  In  ver.  15,  where 
she  receives  permission  also  to  glean  between  the 
sheaves,  he  tells  them  not  to  "  shame "  her,  in 
other  words,  to  say  things  to  her  that  would  make 
her  blush,  Avhethcr  they  referred  to  her  nationality 
or  to  the  special  favor  by  which  she  was  directed  to 
glean  close  behind  the  reapers.  In  ver.  1 6,  finally, 
having  ordered  the  people  even  to  pull  ears  ou  t  of 
the  bundles  for  her,  he  charges  them  not  to  "  speak 

harshly  "  to  her  C^P^)}  or  to  scold  her,  on  account 
of  the  extra  trouble  which  this  order  might  occa- 

to  "  former,"  while  JHS,  as  pronoun,  "  that,"  indicates 
the  defined  former  day,  yesterday. 

1  [Keil  :  "  With  this  clause  she  restricts  the  expreFsion 
'  thy  handmaid,'  which  she  has  just  used  :  '  thou  hast 
spoken  to  the  heart  of  thy  handmaid.'  "  —  TE.J 


32 


THE  BOOK   OF   RUTH, 


tiion  them.  It  is  necessaiy  to  distinguish  carefully 
between  "^^37  and  H^'if.  The  foi-mer  is  the 
sheaf,  already  bound  by  the  maid-servants,  and 
lyinjj;  on  the  ground  ;  the  latter,!  j^  ^]-^q  bundle  as 
''  taken  uj)  "  and  still  held  in  the  arm,  maiii/tuliis. 
Amid  all  the  unusual  favors  bestowed  on  her, 
Ruth  does  not  cease  for  a  moment  to  be  herself 
Boaz  reached  or  caused  to  be  reached  to  her  an 
abundance  of  roasted  ears.  She  eats  and  is  satis- 
fied—  this  is  stated  in  order  to  indicate  the  abun- 
dant supply ;  the  remainder  she  carefully  takes 
up  to  carry  home.  She  never  thinks  only  of  her- 
self After  the  meal,  —  at  which  it  is  appropriate  - 
to  suppose  Boaz  to  be  present,  —  gleaning  is  an 
easier  task  than  before  his  coming ;  she  finds  ears 
in  plenty,  but  not  on  that  account  does  she  cease 
the  sooner.  She  gleans  till  evening,  takes  the 
pains,  too,  to  beat  out  what  she  has  gathered,  and 
carries  home  a  plentiful  harvest,  almost  an  ephah. 
It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  quantity,  still  less 
its  weight,  exactly,  but  it  was  considerable,  say 
fifty-five  pounds. 

HOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

"  Let  me  go  to  the  field  and  c/lean  ears  of  corn." 
Ruth  manifested  her  confession  of  the  God  of  Israel 
not  merely  by  words  :  she  testifies  her  love  also  by 
deeds.  She  is  inclined  to  Avork  for  Naomi  as  well 
.as  to  live  with  her.  She  not  only  learned  to  pray 
to  God  with  her,  but  she  will  also  beg  for  her 
among  men.  Accordingly,  Naomi,  in  her  poverty, 
is  not  maintained  by  the  friends  of  her  family,  but 
by  the  love  of  her  proselyte  daughter-in-law.  What 
Ruth  had  never  done  in  Moab,  —  the  hard  service 
of  begging  at  the  hands  of  men,  and  of  gleaning 
in  the  hot  days  of  harvest-time  in  the  midst  of  vul- 
gar surroundings,  —  that  she  freely  offers  to  do  in 
Israel.  As  proselyte  she  felt  herself  comjielled  to 
what  as  heatlien  she  had  never  had  need  of.  Had 
a  sister  Moabitess  met  her  in  this  employment,  and 
inquired  what  it  was  that  could  urge  her  to  it,  she 
would  have  answered  her  as  Elger  von  Hohcnstein 
did  his  brother,  who  finding  him,  away  from  his 
castle  and  its  life  of  ease,  engaged  in  taking  care 
of  the  poor,  exclaimed,  "  Alas,  my  brother,  what 
are  you  doing?  what  distress  compels  you  to 
this  1 "  "  Sir  brother  mine,"  was  the  answer, 
"  distress  compels  me  not ;  but  the  love  of  Christ 
my  Lord  constrains  me." 

Here  also  Ruth  is  the  great  type  of  all  true  con- 
version in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church. 
While  Pharisees  and  priests  were  too  dull  to  recog- 
nize the  light  of  Christ,  the  apostles  whom  he  had 
won  to  himself,  constrained  by  love,  labored  for 
their  nation,  and  were  willing  to  be  banished  and 
to  suffer,  if  only  they  might  win  some.  While  in 
Southern  Europe,  in  the  old  cities  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  the  love  of  Christians  had  become  cold, 
the  new-won  proselytes  from  Celtic,  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  German  heathendom  went  forth,  and  in  the 
heat  of  conflict  and  suffering,  gleaned  rich  harvests 
for  their  Lord  in  the  North  and  East. 

Enough  has  never  been  done  in  the  way  of  seek- 
ing to  win  and  train  converts  by  the  force  of  exam- 

1  But  neither  are  rO^*   (H!!'!?)   and   t23!J  (ver.  14) 

V   V       ^         -  T  '  -  T  ' 

both  of  which  words  occur  only  here  in  Hebrew,  to  be 
referred  to  the  same  radical  signification,  as  has  been  done, 
[e.  g.  by  Fiirst  (in  Lfx.),  who  renders  ver.  14  :  "  and  they 
bound  together  for  her  parched  ears  of  corn  (in  bundles) :  " 
iud  declares  the  meaning  "  to  reach  out,"  after  the  Targ. 

to'^BU'iS,  to  l>e  merely  conjectural.  —  Ta.]     The  one  comes 


pie  and  doctrine.  Of  example,  indeed,  they  have 
often  seen  too  much.  Everything  that  has  ever 
been  done  for  them,  and  which  is  sometimes  nmJe 
matter  of  disguised  boasting,  is  not  equal  to  what 
a  single  proselyte,  burning  with  love  for  tlie  king- 
dom of  his  Lord,  has  suffered  and  acct  mplished. 

Starke  :  "  To  begin  a  good  work  is  glorious  ; 
but  to  continue'  in  it,  notwithstanding  all  induce- 
ments to  apostasy,  is  godly." 

True  love  can  never  fail  in  its  purpose,  although 
success  may  tarry  long.  Ruth  had  been  married 
ten  years  in  Moab,  before  she  could  say,  "  Thy 
God  is  my  God."  But  now  only  a  few  harvest- 
days  elapsed,  and  the  favor  of  God,  exerting  itself 
through  a  genuine  Israelite,  overspread  her.  Fail- 
ure always  has  its  ground  in  the  spirit  of  the  pur- 
pose. If  that  spirit  be  love  rooted  in  God,  as  in 
Ruth,  it  will  not  be  disappointed.  Hence,  the 
surest  sign  of  love  is  gentle  and  thankful  patience. 

Chrysostom  :  "  Observe  that  what  happened 
to  Ruth  is  analogous  with  what  ha])pened  to  us. 
For  she  was  a  sti'anger,  and  had  fallen  into  the 
extremest  distress  ;  but  Boaz,  when  he  saw  her, 
neither  despised  her  poverty,  nor  contemned  the 
lowliness  of  her  family.  So  Christ  took  up  the 
Church,  and  chose  the  stranger,  who  lacked  the 
most  necessary  posses'sions,  for  his  bride.  But  as 
Ruth  Avould  never  have  attained  to  such  a  union, 
had  she  not  previously  left  her  parents  and  given 
up  people,  home,  and  kindred,  so  the  Church  also 
does  not  become  dear  and  deserving  in  the  eyes  of 
her  Bridegroom,  until  she  has  left  her  ancestral 
(heathen)  morals  and  customs." 

"  Boaz  came  from  Bethlehem  and  said  tinto  the 
reapers,"  etc.  A  true  believer  is  also  the  best  em- 
ployer. He  greets  them,  "  Jehovah  be  with  yon  !  " 
They  answer,  "Jehovah  bless  thee!"  Living  faith 
in  God  is  the  best  bond  between  master  and  work- 
man, preventing  a  wrongful  use  of  power  on  the  one 
side,  and  presumptuous  insubordination  on  the 
other.  Not  as  if  the  servants  of  Boaz  were  free  frcnn 
the  rude  manners  so  generally  characteristic  of  their 
class ;  but  the  just  demeanor  of  their  master,  refined 
by  humility,  controlled  them.  Where  a  pious  and 
brave  spirit  like  that  of  Boaz  pervades  the  com- 
munity, social  questions  and  crises  do  not  ari.-^o. 
For  external  laws  can  never  restrain  the  inwaid 
cravings  of  the  natural  man.  But  where  the  landed 
proprietor,  in  his  relations  to  his  people,  is  governed 
by  other  principles  than  those  of  self  interest,  and 
cares  also  for  their  moral  and  religious  develop- 
ment ;  where,  further,  the  laborer  understands  that 
an  increase  in  wages  is  not  necessarily  an  increase 
of  peace  and  happiness;  where,  in  a  word,  the  con- 
sciousness of  an  omnipresent  God  regulates  tbe  up- 
rightness and  care,  of  the  one,  and  the  honest^  and 
devotion  of  the  other,  there  no  artificial  sohuions 
of  conflicts  between  capital  and  labor  will  be  re- 
quired. Boaz  lives  in  God,  and  therefoi-e  knows 
what  duties  of  faith  and  love  are  obligatory  upon 
him. 

Starke  :  "If  God  be  witij  work-people,  an- 1  if 
they  are  reverently  mindful  of  his  oninipresetice, 
they  will  be  preserved  from  idleness  and  unfaithfiil- 
ness,  and  restrained  from  all  sorts  of  frivolous  and 

from  a  root  which  means  "  to  give,"  the  other  from  one 
which  means  "  to  take."  The  fii'st  is  cognate  with  the 
Arabic  dlmbatka,  to  take,  to  lay  hold  of  with  tlie  hand, 
hence  a  "  handfull,"  nianipuluf  (cf.  11.  xi.  69).  The  other 
is  (o  be  compared  with  the  Greek  fiaTr-atTj,  expense,  "out- 
give,"  cf  6t5<u/xi,  Sanskrit  iJailami.,  dure. 

'1  [And  necessary,  too,  if  we  follow  the  Masoretic  accentu- 
ation, according  to  which  Boaz  himstflf  calls  Ruth  at  meal- 
time :  "  Come  hit  ber."     Cf.  ncte  under  the  text.  —  Ta.] 


CHAPTER  II.   18-23. 


33 


oifcnsivc  babble ;  and  such  labor  draws  after  it  God's 
especial  blessing." 

"■Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  give  thee  a  com- 
plete reward."  Boaz  finds  that  liuth  has  come  to 
glean  on  his  field.  He  had  not  yet  seen,  but  had 
heard  of  her.  But  now,  seeing  her  diligence,  but 
also  her  ncediness,  he  yet  does  not  speak  to  her  as 
a  rich  man  to  one  on  whom  he  bestows  an  alms, 
nor  as  one  relative  to  another,  but,  before  all  else, 
as  an  Israelite  to  one  who  has  come  to  shelter  her- 
self under  the  wings  of  Israel's  God.  The  Israeiit- 
ish  proprietor  speaks  like  a  priest  of  Jehovah.  Be- 
fore all  his  people,  he  blesses  her  in  her  confession 
of  his  God.  He  announces  to  her  prophetically  the 
reward  of  her  love.  And  his  word  was  fulfilled, 
for,  as  a  church-father  expresses  it,  "  every  believer, 
in  spirit  and  iu  truth,  is  a  prophet."  Boaz  pre- 
sents a  beautiful  contrast  with  Ruth ;  with  him, 
love  comes  of  faith.  The  chief  and  special  reason 
why  he  does  good  to  her,  is,  that  she  is  a  guest  iu 
Israel,  a  dove  under  Jehovah's  protection,  —  that 


love  has  made  her  a  believer.  His  religion  has  the 
uppermost  place  in  his  soul.  It  gives  birth  to  his 
works — it  makes  him  conscious  of  his  duty  as  an 
Israelite.  It  gives  him  also  that  delicacy  of  percep- 
tion which  enables  him  to  sympathize  with  the  anx- 
iety, lonesomeness,  and  isolation,  which  attend  an 
entrance  into  a  new  land,  among  a  new  people.  Only 
a  genuine  believer  is  truly  discreet.  Refinement  of 
the  heart  springs  only  of  faith.  There  may  be  a 
lack  of  courtly  manners ;  but  the  most  elevated 
style  of  intercourse  with  men,  and  the  truest  polite- 
ness, are  the  natural  outgrowth  of  a  disposition 
permeated  with  the  humility  of  the  gospel  of  truth. 
Starke  :  "  This  also  is  given  to  pious  souls  by 
God,  that  being  devoted  to  him,  he  often  secretly, 
and  even  without  their  becoming  aware  of  it,  im- 
pels them  to  this  or  that  good  action."  The  sa.me  : 
"  A  meritorious  person  may  well  enough  be  in- 
formed that  his  merits,  or  whatever  there  be  worthy 
of  praise  and  love  about  him,  are  recognized  and 
properly  estimated." 


Verses  18-23. 


The  Beginning  of  the  Blessing. 

18  And  she  took  it  up,  and  went  [came]  into  the  city  :  and  her  mother-in-law  saw  * 
what  she  had  gleaned:  and  she  brought  forth,  and  gave  to  her  that  she  had  reserved 

19  [left  over]  after  she  was  sufficed  [satisfied].  And  her  mother-in-law  said  unto  her, 
Where  hast  thou  gleaned  to-day  ?  and  where  wroughtest  '^  thou  ?  blessed  be  he  that 
did  take  knowledge  [friendly  notice]  of  thee.  And  she  shewed  her  mother-in-law  with 
whom  she  had  wrought,  and  said,  The  man's  name  with  whom  I  wrought  to-day 

20  is  Boaz.  And  Naomi  said  unto  her  daughter-in-law.  Blessed  be  he  of  the  Lord 
[Jehovali],  who  hath  not  left  off  his  kindness  to  the  living  and  to  the  dead.^  And 
Naomi  said  unto  her.  The  man  is  near  of  kin  [related,  lit.  near,  i.  e.  near,  not  in  comparisoa 

with  other  relatives,  but  with  men  in  general]    UUtO  US,  One    of  OUr  next   kinsmCU    [oue    of  OUr 

21  redeemers].     And  Ruth  the  Moabitess  said,  He  said  unto  me  also,*  Thou  shalt  keep 

22  fast  by  my  young  men  [by  my  people],  imtil  they  have  ended  all  my  harvest.  And 
Naomi  said  unto  Ruth  her  daughter-in-law.  It  is  good,  my  daughter,  that  thou  go  out 

23  [only]  with  his  maidens,  that  they  meet  [maltreat]  thee  not  in  any  other  field.  So 
she  kept  fast  by  the  maidens  of  Boaz  to  glean  unto  the  end  of  barley-harvest  and  of 
wheat-harvest;  and  dwelt  [and  then  s-he  abode,  remained]  with  her  mother-in-law. 

TEXTUAL   AND   GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  18. —  nmX^n   M"lFn:     Wright  points  the  first  word  a3  Hiph.,  S~lim,   "and  she  showed."     "So  w* 

prefer  to  read,  following  the  Vulg.,  Syr.,  and  Arab.     It  is  rather  harsh  with  the  ordinary  punctuation  to  make  HiH^n 

the  nom.  to  S'^i^l   (so  pointed  by  the  majority  of  MSS.),  when  Ruth  is  the  subject  of  all  the  verba  that  precede  and 

of  those  that  follow  immediately  after.    Two  of  Kennicott  and  De  Rossi's  MSS.  read   rTn^H'nSI,  which  would  seem  to 

imply  a  reading  S"im  '   but  while  two  of  my  own  MSS.  have  the  reading   nnOn'jnH,  either  by  first  or  second 

'hand,  the  verb  is  pointed  as  ordinarily,  NTI^I.       The  absence  of  iHSI  does  not  provfe  that  PTm^n  is  not  an  accus., 
cf.  Ges.  117,  2.— Tr.] 

fi  Ver.  19.  —  Ty^^HV  ■  used  absolutely  for  "  to  labor,''  as  in  Prov.  xxx.  13  ;  Job  xxiii.  9.  Dr.  Cassel  translates : 
""■  ' 
«  und  woher  hast  du  (dies)  seschaffc,"  i.  e.  "  and  where  {woher,  whence,  freely  for  wo,  where)  didst  thou  procure  (H  tt^J^, 
acquire,  oiake,  cf.  Gen.  xxxi.  1  ;  2  Sam.  xv.  1),  this  ?  "  But,  1,  in  this  sense  the  verb  could  hardly  be  left  without  an 
object  •  &nd  2,  the  word  must  have  the  same  sense  here  in  the  question  which  it  has  in  the  answer  in  the  next  clause. 
Wright  prefers  to  render  "  where  hast  thou  stayed,"  i.  e.  spent  the  time,  piV  being  understood  (cf.  Eccles.  vi  12  and 
the  phrase  Troieii/  XP''>'<"'>  ^^^^  ^''-  ^'-  •^"'  ''^hen  the  talk  is  of  gleaning,  it  is  certainly  more  natural  for  Ruth  to  say, 
"  the  man  with  whom  (on  whose  fields)  I  worked  to-day  is  Boaz,''  than  "  the  "uan  with  whom  I  spent  my  time  to-day,'- 
3 


84 


THE  BOOK   OF   IIUTH. 


.3tc.  Wright  says  that  "  Gesenius  in  the  Lex.  Man.  prefers  this  rendering."  It  is  not  impossible  that  Ges.  may  have 
varied  in  different  editions  ;  but  lie  has  no  such  preference  in  the  sixth  edit  of  his  German  Handw'orterbitc/i,  uor  in  Robinson's 

transl.  of  his  Lat.  Lex.  Man.  — In   H^W,   the  force  of  PT  local  is  lost,  as  in   H^JIM  =  V^S,    H'^'^b  —  b'^b.  —  Tr.I 
it'  t   :  -        «  V  V '        t  :  -  •  - 

[3  Ver.  20.  —  ;:;:'^ri^^n"nS1  D^^nnTlSI  •  "  with  reference  to  the  living  and  the  dead."  Accusatives  of  the 
objects  to  which  the  kindness  is  done,  cf.  Ges.  139,  2.  "  The  verb  3T3?  is  here  construed  with  a  double  accusative  ; 
for  if  nS  were  used  as  a  preposition,  it  would  have  to  be  nSp  as  we  find  ]2V12  in  Gen.  xxiv.  27  "  (Keil).  —  Jl^  '^S'SQ 

according  to  Ges.  (Lex.  s.  v.  bSl3  and  172)  is  a  sg.  noun,  bS'SD,  with  the  plur.  suff.  of  first  person  =  "  our  second 
goel."  But  as  no  such  word  is  found  elsewhere,  and  as  there  is  no  real  difficulty  in  the  way,  the  form  in  the  text  is  to  be 
taken  as  script,  defect,  for  !13"'vS2!2,  and  rendered  "one  of  (on  ^12  in  this  sense,  cf.  Ges.  154,  3,  c)  our  redeemers."  — 
Tr.j 

[i  Ver.  21.  —  D2  :    not  "even  so,  i.e.  may  he  be  blessed,  as  you  have  said"  (Wright),  which  with  the  following 

"for  C^S)  he  said  to  me,"  etc.,  would  make  but  a  mercenary  amen  to  Naomi's  prayer,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that 
by  the  intervention  of  another  clause  the  prayer  is  too  far  away  ;  but,  "  also  !  "  as  we  say,  "  more  !  I  have  not  told  you 
a.11 ;  for  he  said,"  etc.,  cf  Ges.  155,  2,  a.  —  On  the  periphrastic  genitives  of  the  verse,  cf.  Ges.  115,  1  Ta.] 


EXEGETIOAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1 8  f.  And  her  mother-in-law  saw  what 
she  had  gleaned.  Naomi  looked  with  astonish- 
ment at  the  larjTc  quantity  brought  home  by  Ruth  ; 
and  her  amazement  increased  when  lluth  in  addi- 
tion produced  and  gave  her  the  remains  of  her  din- 
ner. To  tliis  astonishment  she  gives  utterance  by 
asking,  "  Where  hast  thou  been '?  in  whose  fields 
canst  thou  have  been  at  work  'i  "  Piety,  however, 
docs  more  than  indulge  in  curiosity  simply.  The 
natural  heart  would  have  rejoiced,  received,  en- 
joyed, and  inquired  just  as  Naomi  did,  but  withal 
with  no  thought  except  of  self.  She,  on  the  con- 
trary, before  her  inquiries  are  answered,  induced 
simply  by  the  abundance  of  the  gifts  and  the  man- 
ifest ha])piness  of  Kuth,  blesses  the  giver.  For 
this  she  needs  not  to  know  who  he  is.  Whoever 
treated  Ruth  kindly  and  loaded  her  with  presents, 
must  have  designed  to  indicate  his  appreciation  of 
her  lot  and  her  virtues.  He  must  know  what  Ruth 
has  done,  seeing  he  manifested  so  much  solicitude 
for  her,  a  Moabitess.  "  Blessed  be  he  who  has 
taken  special  notice '  of  thee  !  "  It  had  been  a  hard 
thing  for  her  to  send  Ruth  out  for  such  Avork. 
The  man  who  has  treated  her  dear  child  so  kindly 
that  she  comes  home,  not  only  eiiriched  with  pres- 
ents, but  also  ciieerfiil  and  happy,  deserves  a  bless- 
ing, and  that  before  she  knows  anything  more. 
This  done,  R«th  has  opjjortunJty  to  relate  the  par- 
ticulars of  her  good  fortune,  and  finally  gives  the 
name  of  the  man  who  has  befriended  her,  namelj', 
Boaz.  She  could  not  know  what  a  consolation 
and  joy  the  utterance  of  this  name  .eoiu'eyed  to 
Naomi. 

Ver.  20.  Blessed  be  he  of  Jehovah,  who 
hath  not  left  oflf  his  kindness  ito  the  hviag  aijd 
to  the  dead.  This  peculiar  exclamation  of  Naomi 
on  hearing  the  name  of  Boaz  is  undoubtedly  worthy 
of  more  careful  attentiou  than  it  .has  l^itherto  re-, 
ceived.  Light  is  thrown  upon  it  by  a  passage  in 
the  history  of  Abraham.  iSliezer  hafe  come  .to 
Aram,  to  procure  a  wife  for  Isaac  from  among 
Abraham's  kindred.  He  is  aware  of  the  great 
importance  which  his  master  attaches  to  his  mis- 
sion. Arrived  at  the  well  outside  of  the  city  of  his 
destination,  he  prays  that  Jehovah  would  so  "  or- 
der "  it  (^P"^"!}!?!??  Gen.  xxiv.  12),  that  he  may 
there  meet  with  the  one  appointed  to  answer  the 
wishes  of  liis  master.    And,  in  fact,  it  turns  out 

1   "?]"1^3Q  :  the  same  word  used  by  ButU  in  expressieg 
ber  gratitude  to  Boaz  (ver.  10);  ''?"1^2n7. 


that  the  affable  maiden  who  draws  water  for  him- 
self and  his  camels,  is  Rebecca,  the  daughter  of 
Bethuel,  Abraham's  nephew.  The  desired  "order- 
ing" has  been  vouchsafed,  and  the  astonished 
Eliezer  exclaims,  "  Blessed  be  Jehovah     .     .     .     . 

who  hath  not  left  off  his  kindness,"  etc.  (31^    ^v 

T^pn,  precisely  the  same  expression  as  in  our 
passage). 

A   similar    providence  has   happened  to   Ruth 

(nnp:^  ~lp*l,  ver.  3).  Without  knowing  what 
field  to  select,  she  lights  on  that  of  Boaz.  With- 
out knowing  who  he  is,  she  is  favored  by  him. 
Naomi  recognizes  God's  hand  in  this,  even  more 
profoundly  than  Eliezer  did.  It  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  above  (ch.  i.  1.3,  20,  etc.)  she  has  re- 
peatedly lamented  that  God's  hand  is  against  her, 
that  God  has  inflicted  sorrow  upon  her.  She  has 
indicated  that  in  her  view  this  fate  comes  upon  her 
because  she  —  or  properly  her  husband  and  sons, 
although  she  does  not  say  this  —  went  to  Moab. 
In  the  wonderful  providence  which  made  Ruth  find 
a  friend  in  Boaz,  the  rich  relative  of  her  husband, 
she  feels  herself  justified  to  find  an  indication  that 
God  is  once  more  gracious  to  her,  and  has  not 
left  off  his  kindness.  If  now  it  was  through  the 
fault  of  her  dear  departed  ones  that  she  had  hith- 
erto experienced  distress,  then  it  also  Ibllows  that, 
since  God's  goodness  again  manifests  itself  so  con- 
spicuously, his  anger  against  those  must  likewise 
be  come  to  an  end.  For  that  reason,  she  speaks 
of  his  kindness  not  only  to  the  living  but  also  to 
the  dead.  For  these  had  died  through  the  same 
sin  which  had  brought  suffering  on  herself.  Hence, 
God's  help  to  her  in  her  suffering,  is  a  manifesta- 
tion of  his  unwearied  grace  toward  both  .the  living 
and  the  dead. 

But  it  is  certainly  proper  to  find  a  yet  farther 
meaning  in  these  words.  Independently  of  the 
special  history  of  the  family  of  Elimclech,  tliis 
utterance  of  Naomi  concerning  God's  kindness  to 
the  living  and  the  dead,  must  have  its  absolute  and 
gcne,'-<al  application.  Indeed,  it  must  be  assumed 
that  in  xu^^ing  it,  Naomi  only  applied  a  generally 
employed  formula  to  her  special  case.  When  one 
says  oi'  Gpd  that  "  He  does  not  leave  off  his  kind- 
ness," he  thereby  praises  him  as  the  God  of  par- 
doning' love ;  as  the  God  who,  though  He  tarry 
long,  hears  at  last,  and  docs  not  leave  the  penitent 
forsaken.  In  tlris  shorter  form,  the  expression  was 
ajjprojjriate  in  tJie  ;ib.oye-mentioned  passage  from 
Abraham's  history.  For  Eliezer  is  in  perplexity, 
iajiid  knows  not  well  how  t&  perform  his  task.    But 


CHAPTER  II.    18-23. 


it  was  especially  appropriate  in  the  mouth  of 
Naomi,  who  liad  thought  herself  wholly  forsaken 
of  God.  And  hence,  it  would  seem  natural  to 
.  think  that  if  the  saying-  had  not  already  been  cur- 
rent in  a  fixed  form,  Naomi  would  have  contented 
herself  with  saying,  "Jehovah  who  hath  not  left 
off  his  kindness  toward  us,"  or  "  toward  the  wid- 
owed and  the  poor,"  etc.  The  kindness  of  God 
"  toward  the  living  and  the  dead,"  is  the  most  gen- 
eral furm  of  which  the  saying  is  susceptible.  Now, 
that  God  does  not  leave  oli"  his  kindness  toward 
the  living,  is  evident  to  believers  from  the  history 
of  every  individual  human  being,  of  Israel,  and  of 
the  world  in  general  (Ps.  liii.  4).  The  very  exist- 
ence of  the  world  testifies  of  mercy  that  never 
ceases,  of  love  that  is  never  embittered.  But 
wherein  is  his  "  kindness  toward  the  dead  "  mani- 
fested '?  If  these  words  do  not  presuppose  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  as  an  article  of  Israelitish 
faith,  what  meaning  can  they  have  I  Although 
Naomi,  reassured  by  the  benevolent  actions  of 
Boaz,  may  regain  confidence  in  God's  mercy 
toward  herself,  she  surely  cannot  speak  of  them 
as  kindness  to  the  dead,  if  the  dead  have  no  longer 
any  being.  In  that  case,  the  actions  of  J3oaz, 
however  viewed,  are  and  continue  to  be  kindness 
to  the  living  only.  God  could  indeed  release  the 
living  from  the  consequences  of  the  guilt  of  the 
dead  ;  but  when  in  one  and  the  same  mercy  He  is 
said  to  show  kindness  to  the  latter  as  well  as  to  the 
former,  this  can  have  its  ground  only  in  the  pre- 
supposition that  the  grave  ends  but  this  earthly 
state  of  existence.  Bertheau  and  Keil  both  ex- 
plain, in  the  same  words,  that  God,  "  by  his  cai-e 
for  the  widows,  showed  himself  merciful  to  the 
husband  and  sons  even  after  their  death."  But 
how  can  mercy  be  shown  to  such  as  exist  no 
long  r  ?  It  would  never  occur  to  any  one  to  speak 
or  think  of  that  as  a  mercy  to  the  dead,  which,  in 
whatever  light  it  be  put,  is  just  mercy  to  the  living, 
and  nothing  more.  No  ;  we  have  in  this  exclama- 
tion of  Naomi  a  significant  indication  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  which 
existed  in  Israel.  It  had  its  natural  basis  in  that 
very  mercy  of  God  which  does  not  cease.  In  this 
mercy  the  history  of  Israel  in  the  world  and  in  the 
domain  of  the  spirit  originated  and  lives.  The 
Sadducaic  doctrine  was  raised  on  no  other  founda- 
tion than  an  I^picurean  negation  of  history.  On 
the  enduring  mercy  of  God,  toward  the  living  and 
the  dead,  rests  our  Saviour's  great  answer  (Matth. 
xxii.  32)  :  "  God  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead,  but  of 
the  living." 

Ver.  21  f  The  man  is  related  to  us.  Naomi, 
observing  the  astonishment  of  Ruth  at  her  exclama- 
tion, explains  the  reason  of  it.     (The  "  redeemer," 

b><12  will  be  treated  of  farther  on.)  That  Ruth 
had  been  directed  to  the  field  of  a  blood-relative, 
seemed  to  her  a  sufficiently  great  mercy.  For  from 
all  that  Ruth  had  told  her,  it  was  evident  that  she 
was  there  well  and  securely  situated.  The  fear 
lest  Ruth  might  meet  with  rude  treatment  in  the 
harvest-fields,  must  have  been  one  of  Naomi's  chief 
anxieties.  Ruth,  having  learned  who  Boaz  is,  now 
adds,  as  if  she  now  understood  the  reason  of  it, 
what  is  not  expi-essly  brought  out  in  the  foregoing 
conversation,  namely,  that   Boaz    had   given    her 


1  [In  the  Pentateuch  "1273  is  used,  in  every  instance 
except  one  {Deut.  xxii.  19),  where  the  later  language  would 
write  n^372,  cf.  S^n  for  M^n.  Gesenius  and  FUrst 
take  the  plural  here  in  the  .same  way,  as  used  for  the  femi- 
oioe  ;  but  both  Boaz  (ver.  3)  and  Naomi  (ver.  22)  use  the  I  ^'^'^^■ 


permission  to  keep  with  his  people  (D'^"1^3)  duringf 
the  whole  harvest-season.  And  it  testifies  again 
of  the  loving  solicitude  with  which  Naomi,  like  e 
tender  mother,  thinks  for  Ruth,  that,  as  soon  as 
she  hears  the  latter  repeat  the  words  of  Boaz  about 

keeping  with  his  ^"^l^rl  (people,  masc.i),  she  at 
once  rejoins  :  "  Good,  my  daughter,  go  with  his 

maidens  (Vni"1275)»  that  they  injure  thee  not  in 
any  other  field."  She  has  in  all  tliis  as  yet  no 
other  thoughts  than  those  of  joy  and  gratitude 
toward  God,  that  He  has  so  ordered  it  as  to  direct 
Ruth  to  a  relative  on  whose  estate  she  can  glean 
safely  and  profitably  through  the  entire  hanest, 
and  thus  provide  the  sustenance  of  both  for  a  whole 
year.  The  great  question,  how  to  live,  was  by  this 
providential  intervention  answered.  The  fear  of 
want  was  dissipated  and  that  without  insult  or 
shame.  While  all  other  means  of  help  failed 
Naomi,  she  was  first  comforted  by  the  love  of  her 
daughter-in-law,  then  ujjheld  by  her  self-sacrifice, 
and  finally  saved  from  want  by  the  fame  of  her 
virtues.  Amid  the  sorrows  that  befell  her  in  Moab, 
Naomi,  as  she  herself  acknowledged,  was  not  alto- 
gether free  from  blame,  for  she  too  had  gone  thither ; 
only  Ruth  of  all  the  family  had  nothing  to  repent 
of;  and  it  was  through  her  that  God  now  showed 
that  He  had  not  left  off  his  kiiidness  to  the  living 
and  the  dead. 

Ver.  23.  So  she  kept  fast  by  the  maidens  of 
Boaz  unto  the  end  of  the  harvest.  It  is  mani- 
festly not  without  design  that  it  is  added  concern- 
ing Ruth,  that  she  continued  with  the  maidens 
throughout  the  harvest-season.  Her  diligence  did 
not  relax  from  what  it  was  the  first  day,  although 
she  now  knew  more  than  then.  Her  demeanor  was 
modest  and  unassuming  as  ever,  so  that  she  re- 
turned to  the  field  not  othenvise  than  as  she  had 
left  it.  Her  eyes  were  on  the  field ;  and  to  pro- 
vide for  her  mother-in-law  continued  to  be  her  only 
solicitude.  Boaz  had  opportunity  enough  to  ob- 
sen'e  this.  He  daily  saw  her  gentle  and  virtuous 
conduct.  Externally  and  internally,  she  was  no 
longer  a  stranger  to  him.  He  doubtless  found 
opportunities  to  show  her  favors.  After  an  ac- 
quaintance so  long  and  hearty,  the  naiTative  of 
chap.  iii.  is  happily  introduced. 

HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

["  Blessed  be  he  that  took  kindly  notice  of  thee." 
Fuller:  "Learn we  from  hence,  upon  the  sight 
of  a  good  deed,  to  bless  the  doer  thereof,  though 
by  name  unknown  unto  us.  And  let  us  take  heed 
that  we  do  not  recant  and  recall  our  prayers,  after 
that  we  come  to  the  knowledge  of  his  name ;  as 
some  do,  who,  wheii  they  see  a  laudable  work, 
willingly  commend  the  doer  of  it;  but  after 
they  come  to  know  the  author's  name  (especially 
if  they  be  prepossessed  with  a  private  spleen  against 
him),  they  fall  then  to  derogate  and,  d,etract  from 
the  action,  quarrelling  with  it  as  don,e  put  of  osten- 
tation, or  some  other  sinister  end." 

Bp.  Hall  :  "  If  the  rich  can  excl),ange  their 
alms  with  the  poor  for  blessings,  they  have  no  cause 
to  complain  of  an  ill  bargain." 


fem.  form,  which  seems  to  show  that  at  that  time  the  dis 
tinction  of  gender  was  no  longer  neglected.       D"*~1^3     it 
here,  as  in  Job  i.  19,  to  be  taken  as  including  both  sexes 
there  in  the  sense  of  "  young  people,"  here  in  that  of  "  ser 

XB.] 


36 


THE  BOOK  OF  RUTH. 


■'  Kindness  to  the  dead."  The  following  re- 
marks, though  based  on  an  interpretation  which 
Dr.  Cassel  decidedly,  and  in  so  far  as  it  assumes  to 
be  exhaustive,  probably  justly  rejects,  may  never- 
theless suggest  a  very  true  and  useful  line  of 
thought.  Its  entire  exclusion  by  our  author  is 
certainly  an  error.  Nothing  is  more  natural  or 
universal  than  the  feeling  that  kindness  done  to 
those  left  behind  by  the  dead  is  kindness  done  to 
the  dead  themselves ;  but  it  may  well  be  asked 
whether  this  feeling  is  rooted  in  anything  else  than 
the  conviction,  natural  and  instinctive,  or  other- 
ttrise,  of  the  continued  existence  of  the  soul  after 


death.  Fuller  :  "  To  the  dead.  Art  thou,  then, 
a  widower,  who  desirest  to  do  mercy  to  thy  dead 
wife ;  or  a  widow,  to  thy  dead  husband ;  or  a  child, 
to  thy  deceased  parent '(  I  will  tell  thee  how  thou 
mayest  express  thyself  courteous.  Hath  thy  wife, 
thy  husband,  or  thy  parent,  any  brother,  or  kins- 
man, or  friends  surviving  1  Be  courteous  to  them ; 
and,  in  so  doing,  thy  favors  shall  redound  to  the 
dead.  Though  old  Bavzillai  be  uncapable  of  thy 
favors,  let  young  Chimham  taste  of  thy  kindness. 
Though  the  dead  cannot,  need  not  have  thy  mercy, 
yet  may  they  receive  thy  kindness  by  a  proxy,  — 
by  their  friends  that  still  are  living."  —  Tk.] 


CHAPTER    THIRD. 


Verses   1-6. 


Obedience  in  Innocence. 


Then  [And]  Naomi  her  mother-in-law  said  unto  her,  My  daughter,  shall  I  not  seek 
rest  [a  resting-place]  for  thee,  that  it  may  be  well  Avith  thee  ?  And  now  is  not 
Boaz  of  our  kindred  [  nt.  our  acquaintance,  ^.  e.  relative],  with  whose  maidens  thou 
wa-t?  Behold,  he  winnoweth  barley  to-night  in  the  threshing  floor.  Wa-h  thyself 
therefore,  and  anoint  thee,  and  put  *  tiiy  [best]  raiment  tipon  thee,  and  get  thee 
down  to  the  floor  :  but  make  not  thyself  known  unto  [suffer  not  thyself  to  he  per- 
ceived by]  the  man.  until  he  shall  have  done  eating  and  drinking.  And  it  shall 
be  when  he  lieth  down,  that  thou  slialt  mark  the  place  where  he  shall  lie,  and  thou 
shalt  go  in,  and  uncover  [the  place  at]  his  feet,  and  lay  thee  down ;  and  he  will  tell 
thee  what  thou  shalt  do.  And  she  said  unto  her.  All  that  thou  sayest  unto  me  ^  I 
will  do.  And  she  went  down  unto  the  floor,  and  did  according  to  all  that  her  moth- 
er-in-law bade  her. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GEAMMATICAL. 


[1  Ver.  3.  —  On  "^Fipti^T  and  '^FlTT'l,  cf.  Ges.  59,  1,  c  They  are  older  forms  of  the  second  per.  fern.,  and 
there  is  no  occasion  to  siibsti'tute  the  ke'ri  for  them.     Another  instance  occurs  in  ver.  4.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  5. —  ^^^,  supplied  by  the  Masorites,  is  unnecessary,  cf.  yer.  11  (where,  however,  Wright  also  inserts  it  on 
the  authority  of  versions  and  some  MSS.).  The  same  remark  is  applicable  to  the  case  in  ver.  17.  SoBertheau  and  Keil. 
Dr.  Cassel  omits  it  here,  but  retains  it  in  ver.  17.  —  Tr.] 


EXEGETICAL,  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1 .  Shall  I  not  seek  a  resting-place  for 
thee  ?  The  peculiar  proceeding  which  these  words 
introduce,  may  appear  somewhat  surprising  wlien 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  modern  social  life 
and  relations.  At  all  events,  this  explains  why  its 
psychological  significance  has  not  yet  been  prop- 
erly appreciated.  But  the  narrative  of  the  for- 
tunes of  Ruth  is  so  deeply  embedded  in  the  char- 
acteristic life  of  Isr.ael,  that  in  order  to  appreciate 
its  full  beauty,  it  is  indispensable  to  enter  thor- 
oughly into  the  spirit  of  that  life.  Perhaps  no 
history  teaches  more  cleai-jy  than  this,  that  when 
love  and  trust,  in  their  childlike  and  therefore  di- 
vine strength,  first  suffer  and  thcTi  conquer,  there 
is  a  presentation  in  actual  history  of  that  which 
the  highest  works  of  the  imagination  present  only 
in  idea. 

That  which  made  the  fate  of  the  daughter  of 
Tephthah  so    lad,    was  that  she  never  found  a 


"  resting-place  "  in  the  house  of  a  husband.  With 
regplVd  to  woman,  marriage  was  viewed  as  the  nat- 
ural fulfillment  of  her  calling,  without  which  her 
lifL\was  helpless  and  defenseless,  as  that  of  a  peo- 
ple without  a  God.  *  Hence  the  prayer  of  Naomi; 
.when  about  to  part  from  her  daughters-in-law,  that 
they  may  find  "  rest "  in  the  house  of  a  husband. 
Orpah  returns  because  she  fears  never  to  find  it  in 
Israel.  Ruth  goes  with  her,  because  she  places  her 
love  for  Naomi  alx)vc  all  other  considerations. 
Then,  indeed,  the  hearts  of  them  all  were  filled 
with  sorrow.  But  since  then  God's  mei-cy  has 
again  become  manifest.  New  hope  has  dawned 
i\\x)n  their  tears.  What  a  beautiful  and  happy 
contrast  ])rescnts  itself  now !  The  same  mother- 
in-law  who  form^'rly,  in  her  selfforgetfulness,  bade 
her  daughters-in-law  return  to  Moab  and  find  rest- 
ing-places for  themselves,  is  now  in  a  position, 
self-forgetful  as  ever,  to  seek  for  Ruth  the  Moab- 
itess  a  place  in  Israel,  where  ^t  may  be  well  with 
her.    And  what  was  the  force  ;that  brought  abf>ut 


CHAPTER   III.    l-G. 


37 


this  beautiful  revolution  ?  The  love  of  Ruth  which 
seeks  not  her  own,  the  faithfulness  of  Naomi  which 
deserved  such  love. 

The  understanding:  of  what  chap.  iii.  relates  will 
be  chieHy  facilitated  by  a  comparison  with  the 
beginninii-  of  chap.  ii.  While  the  women  are  in 
distress,  it  is  Ruth  who  takes  the  initiative ;  now, 
when  hope  jj:rows  large,  it  is  Naomi.  When  hard- 
ship was  to  be  endured,  the  mother  submitted  her 
will  to  the  daughter,  —  for  Ruth  was  not  sent  to 
glean,  she  went  of  her  own  accord;  now,  when  the 
endeavor  is  to  secure  the  joy  and  happiness  held 
out  in  prospect,  the  daughter  yields  in  all  things 
to  the  direction  of  the  mother  The  thought  of 
labor  for  the  mother  originates  with  the  daughter ; 
but  it  is  the  mother  who  forms  plans  of  happiness 
for  the  daughter.  On  both  occasions,  Ruth  under- 
takes a  mission.  The  first  time  she  sets  out,  a 
strangei",  without  a  definite  place  in  view,  and 
dressed  in  the  garb  of  toil  and  mourning;  the 
second  time,  with  a  definite  plan,  encouraged  by 
the  former  success,  and  decked  in  holiday  attire. 
And  yet  the  second  undertaking  was  not  less  hard 
than  the  first.  Humiliation  which  she  had  to  fear 
on  the  first,  might  also  lietall  her  on  the  second. 
Indeed,  anything  that  might  have  befallen  her  on 
her  first  expedition,  had  not  God  ordered  her  go- 
ings, would  have  been  far  less  wounding  to  her, 
the  foreign  and  needy  woman,  than  that  which  on 
this  second  expedition  might  pierce  her  sensitive 
heart.  The  first  undertaking  was  more  sorrowful, 
the  second  more  delicate.  At  the  first  she  could 
act  openly,  at  the  second  only  secretly.  Then  the 
worst  risk  she  ran  was  to  suffer  hunger,  now  her 
honor  is  at  stake.  The  faithfulness  to  Naomi 
which  she  then  showed  was  not  greater  than  the 
obedience  which  she  now  manifests. 

And  yet  Naomi  is  as  little  to  be  reproached  for 
sending  Ruth  on  this  second  mission,  as  she  was 
for  accepting  her  proposal  to  go  on  the  first.  On 
the  contrary,  her  course  rather  shows  that  she  did 
not  bear  her  name,  or  had  won  such  love  among 
strangers,  for  nothing. 

Neither  journey  of  Ruth,  taken  with  the  appro- 
bation of  Naomi,  can  be  measured  by  modem 
measuring-i'ules.  They  are  not  attempts  at  specu 
lative  adventure.  In  both  cases,  what  was  done 
was  in  accordance  with  unimpeachable  rights  af- 
forded by  Israelitish  law  and  custom. 

When  Ruth  went  to  the  field  to  glean,  she  only 
asked  a  right  guaranteed  to  the  widowed  and  the 
poor.  To  deny  her  the  privilege  of  gleaning  would 
have  been  to  deprive  her  of  her  right;  to  injure  or 
put  her  to  shame  in  the  exercise  of  it,  would  have 
been  to  diminish  it.  True,  the  liberal  treatment 
she  received  from  Boaz  was  no  longer  a  right  to  be 
claimed,  but  the  expression  of  good-will  and  kind- 
ness. Naomi  recognized  in  this  the  pi-ovidential 
arrangement  of  God.  And  it  is  precisely  this  also 
that  gives  courage  to  Ruth  to  claim  for  herself  and 
for  Naomi  the  second  right  to  which  she  is  enti- 
tled. 

It  was  an  ancient  law  in  Israel,  sanctioned  by 
the  Mosaic  legislation  (Dent.  xxv.  5),  that  when  a 
taan  died  without  issue,  his  brother  was  bound  to 

1  The  sensual  abuse  into  which  the  practice  of  levirate 
marriage  is  said  to  have  fallen  among  the  Nairs  of  Malabar, 
has  extinguished  the  family  proper  among  them.  All  are 
blood-relatives.  They  are  a  tree  without  branches  The 
correction  of  many  of  the  views  of  Bohlen,  alles  liidien,  ii. 
142,  however  much  they  need  it,  cannot  here  be  under- 
taken. 

2  Fiirst  ( ConcordanticB,  a.  t.    7Mi)   lias  truly   remarked 


marry  his  widow.  This  is  a  right  of  the  woman. 
She  can  demand  it  of  him,  and  if  he  refuses,  put 
him  openly  to  shame.  How  early  and  deeply  this 
usage  was  rooted  in  Israel,  may  be  seen  from  Gen 
xxxviii.,  where  the  death  of  Onan  is  ascribed  ro 
his  refusal  to  marry  the  widow  Tamar.  The  sig- 
niticance  of  this  usage  is  clear.  It  is  also  found 
among  other  nations,  although  distorted  and  ren- 
dered impure.  It  rests  on  the  historical  feeling  of 
the  nations,  which  leads  them  to  attach  importance 
to  the  preservation  not  only  of  the  national  spirit, 
but  also  of  the  national  body,  by  propagation. 
In  the  first  psalm,  the  pious  man  is  compared  with 
a  tree  whose  leaf  never  withers.  And  the  tree  is, 
in  fact,  the  image  best  adapted  to  explain  the  rea- 
son of  the  usage  in  question.  It  is  not  without 
reason  that  the  fouiuler  of  a  people  is  called  its 
slammvater   [stem-father,  trunk-father,  cf.  the  Heb, 

terms  n^?2  and  HIlE?  shoot,  sprout,  branch, 
used  for  "  tribe."  —  Tr.].  United  about  this  com- 
mon trunk,  the  ancient  peoples  distinguished  them- 
selves nationally  (from  nasci)  very  sharply  from 
those  who  were  not  his  offshoots. ^  The  different 
families  are  the  branches  of  this  tree.  But  the 
head  of  a  family  is  in  his  turn  a  stem,  putting 
ibrth  boughs,  as  a  tree  puts  forth  branches. 

The  withering  of  the  tree  is  the  image  of  death. 
As  no  branch  in  the  tree,  so  no  member  in  the 
family,  should  perish.  Now,  the  nation  lives  in  its 
families.  Hence,  if  a  man  dies  without  children, 
it  is  as  if  a  branch  withered  in  the  tree.  To  rem- 
edy this,  a  new  branch  is,  as  it  were,  engrafted  on 
the  tree.  This  is  done  when  the  brother  marries 
the  widow,  and  regards  the  son  she  bears  as  heir  to 
the  name  and  possessions  of  the  deceased  husband. 
But  what  if  there  be  no  brother"?  Is  the  name 
then  to  be  after  all  extinguished  and  tiie  brancii  to 
be  forever  wanting  ?  The  law,  as  given  in  Ueut. 
xxv.  5  'X.,  does  not  indeed  declare  it,  but  it  is  an 
inference  in  accordance  with  its  spirit,  that  in  that 
case  the  obligation  passes  over  to  the  nearest  rela- 
tives of  the  deceased.  Every  family  —  such  is  man- 
ifestly the  idea  of  the  usage  —  must  take  care  that 
no  member  in  it  dies  out.  What  the  brother  is  to 
the  brother,  that,  when  he  has  no  brother,  his  more 
distant  blood-relatives  must  be.  The  letter  of  the 
law,  it  is  true,  did  not  command  this ;  but,  as  the 
narrative  of  our  Book  shows,  the  spirit  of  that 
usage  which  the  law  sanctioned,  required  it.  Na- 
omi, by  way  of  explaining  to  her  daughter-in-law 
her  joy  over  the  way  in  which  God  had  ordered 

her  steps,  says,  Boaz  is  related  (21~1|]/,  like  propin- 

quus)  to  us,  he  belongs  to  our  goelim  (^^5).     The 

word  900/  ( '^3),  to  which  god  belongs,  is  philo- 
logically  and  in  its  original  signification  one  and 
the  same  with  the  Greek  Kva>,  "to  loose." ^  It  is 
not  to  be  ascribed  to  the  same  root  with  the  simi- 
larly sounding  7!^3,  although  it  is  true  that,  ow- 
ing to  the  well-known  interchange  of  W  and  27, 
it  sometimes  occurs  instead  of  it.^  The  latter  word 
means,  "  to  pollute ;  "  and  is  related  to  the  former 

that  7S3   was  lengthened  from  73,  as  tCH^  from  a^. 

-  T  t'  -  T  T 

This    v3,   originally  related  to  both   Auio  and  luo,  has  re- 
tained its  ff,  which  in  the  ancient    languages  has  been  fre- 
quently thrown  off.     The  copious  discussion  of  Benfey,  Or. 
Gram.  ii.  119-124,  should  be  compared 
3  The  few  instances,  Isa.  lix.   3,    Ixiii.  3,    Zeph.   T.  1 

Mill  1.7,12,  Lam  iv.  14,in which  7S3— i.q-  7^3  written 


38 


THE  BOOK   OF  RUTH. 


as  the  Latin  luo,  pollute  (cf.  liittim,  pol-hio),  to  the 
Greek  \va>,  "  to  loose."    The  coiTespondence  of  the 
ifleas  "to  redeem"  and  "to  loose,"  in  their  exter- 
nal relationship,  testifies,  both  in  Hebrew  and  in 
Indo-gernianic,  to  their   internal   mutual  connec- 
tion.    The  idea  currently  attached  in  Israel  to  the 
term  (jaal,  "  to  loose,"  is  everywhere  definitely  de- 
termined by   the  conception  of  the  people   as  an 
historical  organism.     By  this  it  was  defined  mainly 
as  a  "redeeming"  [ehilosen,  "inloosing,"  from  ein, 
"  in,"  and  liisen,  "  to  loose ; "  i.  e.  a  loosing  of  that 
which  has  been  bound,  by  means  of  which  it  is 
Jjiought  back  into  its  original  position  (e.  g.  a  cap- 
tive into  his  home,   a  slave  into  his  freedom)  or 
ownership  [e.  g.  a  piece  of  land,  a  promissory  note, 
etc.).  —  Tr.]  1    According  to  the  social  philosophy 
of  the   Mosaic   law,  no  member  of  the  national 
organism  was  to  perish,  no  branch  of  the  tree  was 
to  wither.     Whatever  had  been  dislocated  by  nat- 
ural events  was  to  be  re-set;  whatever  had  been 
alienated  must  be  redeemed.     This  applied,  as  an 
example  in  our  Book  itself  teaches,  to  lands  as  well 
as  to  persons;  and  the  duty  of  i-edemjition  rested, 
as  within  the  nation,  so  within  the  families  into 
which   the  nation   branched  out.     No   one  could 
redeem  anything  for  a  family,  who  did  not  belong- 
to  it  by  blood-relationship.     Hence  also  the  transi- 
tion of  the  idea  of  goel.  into  that  of  blood-relative 
was   perfectly  natural.     Properly  speaking,  there 
could  be  no  redeemer  who  was  not  a  blood-rela- 
tive.    The  meaning  of  the  word  is  profoundly  set 
forth    in   the  various   grand    historical  unfoldings 
of  its  idea.     For  every  redemption   [einlosimg,  "  in- 
loosing,"]   has  always  heen  a  setting  free  [losimg, 
"loosing"],  albeit   not  alwaj'S   without    security. 
The  Greek  Kvio  also  passes  over  into  the  idea  of 
"  setting  free,"    "  releasing."      Dionysos,   in    his 
character   as    god   of  the  spring-season,   is  called 
Lysios,  the  Liberator.     The  Liberator  of  Israel  is 
God.     He  frees  out  of  and  from  servitude.     For 
that  reason,  the   Messiah   who   delivers   Israel  is 
especially  called  GneL     When  he  appears,  he  will 
come   as   Israel's   blood-relation   and  brother,    as 
Christ  was.     The  dismal  counterpart  of  the  goel 
as   redeemer  and   deliverer,  is  the  goel  as  blood- 
avenger.     He  owes  his  origin  to  the  opinion,  which 
slowly  and  painfully  disappeared  in  Israel,^   but 
which  is  still  partially  prevalent  in  the  East,  and 
inspires  many  current  superstitions,  that  the  blood 
of  the  slain  cannot  be  put  to  rest  and  liberated, 
until  his  murderer  has  been  killed.     The  duty  of 
this  blood-revenge  rests  upon  the  blood-relatives, 
not  only  on  tlie  brother,  strictly  so  called,  but  on 
the  nearest  relative,  whoever  he  may  be.     So  far 
this  terrible  usage  becomes  instructive  with  refer- 
ence to  the  beneficent  national  custom  which  made 
it  the  duty  of  the  blood-relative  not  to  let  the  house 
of  his  kinsman  die  out;  for  this  also  was  a  blood- 
redemption,  not  unto   death,   however,  but   unto 
happiness  and  peace.     The  goel  was  no  judge  —  as 

with  an   S  —  occurs  in  the  sense  "  to  pollute,"  should  not 

have  been  placed  under  vM3,  "to  loose,"  in  the  concordance 

-  t' 
[cf.  Fl'irst].     No  one  would  identify  luo  (poUuo)  with  Kvui  in 
tliat  w.ay. 

1  Our  losen,  "  to  loose,"  also,  has  in  M.  H.  Germ,  the 
sense  of  eint'isen,  "  to  redeem,"  "  to  ransom,"  sc.  a  pledge, 
land.  etc.  It  occurs  in  this  sense  in  poet,-*  and  documents, 
especiiiUy  Low  German,  cf.  Riedel,  Cod.  Brand,  i.  2,  207  : 
"  van  dtn  droszltn  dal  land  losete."  In  another  document 
llerr  Heinrich  von  Mecklenburg  is  to  "  lede^:eii  vnd  losen 
(  'niusen)  aUe  hiis  und  stede  vnd  de  land;"  cf.  lirocher, 
IJrkundenbuch.  zur  Gesc/p.  rf«*  Gesc/ilechtg,  j.  1/3;  alfio,  i. 
143,  etc. 


also  the  greatest  Goel  came  not  to  judge  the  world 
—  but  a  comforter,  a  dispenser  of  life  and  love. 

Ver.  2.  Is  not  Boaz  of  our  kindred?  By 
these  words  Naomi  explains  to  Buth  the  right  she 
has  to  engage  in  the  undertaking  she  is  about  to 
recommend.  His  relationship  gives  her  a  right  to 
apply  to  him  for  a  performance  of  its  duties.  It  is 
not  to  be  thought  singular  that,  if  Ruth  had  this 
right  of  marriage,  the  first  motion  toward  its  ful- 
fillment did  not  come  from  Boaz.  In  the  first 
place,  it  was  in  accordance  with  ancient  usage  tr 
leave  the  assertion  of  a  right  with  its  possessoi 
It  was  not  the  duty  of  a  landowner,  for  example, 
to  go  after  the  jioor,  and  make  them  glean  ;  but  it 
was  his  duty  not  to  forbid  them,  when  they  came. 
In  the  next  place,  however,  we  learn  farther  on 
that  Boaz  was  not  the  nearest  i-elative.  The  ob- 
jection which  Ruth  in  her  humility  might  find  in 
her  Moabitish  nationality,  or  which  she  might  en- 
tertain even  without  reference  to  that  fact,  is  met 
by  Naomi  in  the  words  :  "  with  whose  maidens 
thou  Avast."  She  thus  reminds  Ruth  that  Boaz,  so 
far  from  slighting  her  on  account  of  her  nation- 
ality, has  distinguished  her,  and  put  her  on  perfect 
equality  with  his  Israelitish  work-people. 

Behold,  lie  winnoweth  barley  to-night  in  the 
threshing-floor.-'  This  remark  shows  that  since 
Ruth's  participation  in  the  han'cst  of  Boaz,  Naomi 
must  have  come  into  closer  connection  with  her 
relative.  She  is  minutely  informed  of  what  he 
does  and  where  he  is.  We  must  also  siippose  that 
it  had  not  escaped  her  how  much  kindness  Boaz 
had  shown  to  Ruth.  She  could  not  but  feel  sure 
that  the  claim  which  Ruth  was  to  prefer,  would 
not  be  addressed  to  a  hard  and  unsympathetic 
heart.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  natural  to  think 
that  although  Boaz  was  an  elderly  man,  Ruth 
must  be  heartily  attached  to  him.  It  was  he,  whose 
kindliness  fell  like  a  first  beam  of  light  on  her  sad- 
ness. Such  an  impression,  after  scenes  and  moods 
like  those  through  which  R^^th  had  passed,  is  never 
lost.  She  went  forth  on  her  first  undertaking  at 
the  beginning  of  barley-harvest ;  she  enters  on  the 
second,  when  the  barley  is  winnowed  on  the  thresh- 
ing-floor. Between  the  two  there  lies  an  interval 
of  time  sufficient  to  explain  how  Naomi  could  have 
the  courage  and  the  information  necessary  to  send 
her  daughter  on  such  an  en-and. 

Ver.  3  ft".  But  let  not  thyself  be  perceived 
by  the  man.  Ruth  was  directed  to  pay  special 
attention  to  the  adornment  of  her  person,  to  which, 
to  this  extent  at  least,  she  had  since  the  death  of 
her  husband  been  a  stranger.  She  is  to  lay  aside 
the  weeds  of  mourning  and  the  garments  of  toil, 
and  after  bathing  and  anointing,  don  the  festive 
garb ;  for  the  expedition  on  which  she  goes  is  of  a 
joyous,  bridal  nature.  All  this,  however,  is  not 
done  in  order  to  win  Boaz  by  external  beauty ;  for 
she  is  specially  cautioned  against  allowing  him  to 
see  her  by  day.     Bat  why  this  caution  ■?    Boaz  was 

2  My  observations  in  my  treatise  on  "  de>i  armen  Hein- 
rich,"  will  hereafter,  D.  V.,  be  further  elaborated.  Cf.  the 
article  of  J.  G.  Uoffinann  on  Biutrache,  in  the  Hallischen 
Encykl. 

3  [Winnowing  is  done  by  tossing  the  mingled  grain  and 
chaff  up  into  the  air,  when  the  chaff  is  blown  away  to 
a  distance,  while  the  heavier  grain  falls  straight  down. 
Hence,  the  evening  and  early  night  when  a  cool  wind  fre- 
quently arises  after  hot,  sultry  days  (cf.  Gen.  iii.  8),  was 
talien  advantage  of  by  Boaz  for  this  work.  For  "  to-night," 
the  Targum  has,  "  in  the  night  wind."  On  threshing  aad 
thi^shiug-florrs,  cf.  Rob.  i.  650;  Thomson,  ii.  314  ff.— 
Tk.] 


CILU'TER   III.    7-1 S. 


39 


a  believing  Israelite,  and  therefore  also  a  man  of 
strict  morals.  It  would  have  perplexed  and  dis- 
pleased him  to  think  that  anybody  else  had  seen 
Ruth,  and  niiiiht  suspect  both  her  and  himself  of 
an  illicit  meeting  on  the  solitary  threshing-floor. 
He  would  have  scarcely  listened  to  her,  but  re- 
moved her  at  once.  The  purpose  for  which  slie 
came  had  also  an  appropriate  symbolism,  which 
ftiiy  previous  meeting  would  have  disturbed.  By 
whatever  means,  Naomi  knew  that  this  night  — 
for  it  was  in  the  night  that  Ruth  was  to  present 
her  petition  —  Boaz  was  to  be  alone  on  the  thresh- 
ing-floor. The  floor,  albeit  not  entirely  closed  in, 
may  have  been  partially  surrounded  by  some  sort 
of  fencing,  by  means  of  which  Ruth  could  conceal 
herself  until  the  proper  time,  and  within  which 
Boaz  ate  and  drank.  Mo.>t  probably  the  grain- 
\ieaps  themselves  formed  the  natural  boundaries, 
between  which,  accordingly,  Boaz  also  betook  him- 
self to  repose. 

Ver.  6.  And  did  according  to  all  that  her 
mother-in-law  bade  her.  Ruth  was  to  do  some- 
thing a  little  beyond  what  the  prudence  and  deli- 
cacy of  a  woman  ordinarily  permitted.  For  that 
reason,  it  is  expressly  repeated  that  she  did  as  her 
mother-iu-law  directed  her.  She  was  justly  confl- 
dent  that  the  latter  would  order  nothing  that 
could  injure  her.  True  love,  such  as  Ruth  cher- 
ished for  Naomi,  always  incltides  perfect  obedience. 
It  was  not  in  Ruth  that  the  thought  of  a  new  mar- 
riage had  originated.  Her  heart  had  no  other 
thought  than  to  serve  Naomi  like  a  dutiful  child. 
But  Naomi,  equally  self-forgetful,  busied  herself 
with  plans  for  a  "  resting-place  for  her  child." 
She,  too,  thought  not  of  herself  only,  but  of  Ruth. 
She  had  undoubtedly  done  all  that  was  in  her 
power  by  way  of  prejjaration,  before  she  directed 
liuth  to  take  the  decisive  step.  From  thiit  step 
she  could  not  save  her,  for  custom  devolved  it  on 
her.  It  is  the  beauty  of  the  present  instance,  that 
this  custom  compelled  Ruth  to  nothing  that  was 
against  her  will.  For  although  she  acted  in  a 
matter  regulated  by  law,  it  was  not  settled  in  this 
case  that  Boaz  was  the  right  man.  So  much  the 
more  essential  was  it  that,  by  Ruth's  personal 
action,  the  perfect  freedom  and  inclination  of  the 
woman  should  be  manifested.  The  greater  the 
stress  that  was  laid  on  this  by  the  whole  symboli- 
cal proceeding,  the  more  significant  is  the  I'emark 
that  Ruth  "  did  everything,  as  her  mother-in-law 
commanded  her," 


HOMILETIOAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

"  Go  down  to  the  threshinri-Jloor."  Love  speakf 
only  of  duties,  not  of  rights.  Ruth  offered  to  go 
to  the  field  and  glean  ;  but  of  the  right  of  redemp- 
tion which  she  had,  she  said  nothing.  She  thought 
of  the  duties  that  devolve  on  the  poor,  but  not  of 
her  right  to  marriage.  In  going  to  Boaz,  she  man- 
ifested the  obedience  of  love,  the  most  difficult  of 
all  love's  perforiftances.  It  is  much  to  toil  for  a 
loved  one,  to  humble  one's  self,  to  give  up  every- 
thing, and  to  forget  the  past ;  but  the  hardest 
thing  for  a  woman  is  to  conquer  the  fears  of  femi- 
nine delicacy,  to  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  the 
heart,  and  that  not  by  boldly  transgressing  moral 
law,  but  by  virtue.  Ruth's  visit  to  Boaz  in  the 
night  was  harder  for  her,  than  it  is  for  a  young 
girl  to  leave  home  and  enter  service.  Her  obedi- 
ence in  this  matter  was  the  utmost  sacrifice  she 
could  make.  She  risked  her  womanly  feelings  ; 
and  that  to  a  virtuous  woman  is  more  than  to  risk 
life.  She  claimed  a  right,  to  claim  which  was 
more  painful  than  the  heaviest  duties.  But  her 
self-forgetful  love  pours  an  auroral  glow  of  divine 
purity  over  everything.  Her  love  was  not  the  sen- 
sual love  of  romances.  She  loved  Naomi,  her 
mother ;  and  in  order  to  procure  honor  and  love 
in  Israel  for  this  mother,  and  to  save  the  name  of 
her  deceased  husband  from  extinction,  she  does 
what  only  a  chaste  woman,  inspired  by  the  obedi- 
ence of  love  dare  do,  and  what  the  polluted  eyes  of 
impure  souls  never  understand.  Vanity  and  self- 
interest  had  found  but  a  slight  trial  in  her  under- 
taking. To  virtue  and  ancient  patriarchal  man- 
ners, the  visit  of  Ruth  to  Boaz  was  the  utmost  of 
womanly  endui'ance.  It  was  harder  for  Ruth  to 
don  her  best  attire  for  this  purpose,  than  to  go 
about  in  her  working  clothes.  For  virtue  would 
rather  put  on  sackcloth  and  ashes,  than  the  gar- 
ments of  a  joy  which  may  easily  be  misconceived. 
It  is  more  of  a  martyrdom  to  fiice  the  possil)ility  of 
appearing  as  a  sinner,  than  to  suffer  punishment 
for  the  sake  of  virtue.  But  the  chaste  love  of  obe- 
dience succeeds  in  everything.  Ruth  conquers, 
and  is  neither  seen  nor  misap])rehended.  She  re- 
ceives the  crown  of  love  and  faith. 

Sailer  ;  Galleries  of  beautiful  pictures  are  pre- 
cious ;  but  virtuous  young  men  and  maidens  are 
moi-e  precious  than  all  the  picture-galleries  of  the 
world. 

Starke  :  The  bride  of  Christ  is  pleasing  to  her 
Bridegroom  only  when  anointed  with  the  Spirit, 
and  clothed  in  the  garments  of  salvation. 


Verses  7-18. 


Innocence  and  Piety. 

7  And  when  Boaz  had  eaten  and  drunk,  and  his  heart  was  merry  [cheerful],  he 
went  to  lie  down  at  tlie  end  of  the  heap  of  corn  [-sheaves]  :  and  she  came  sofilj,^ 

3  and  uncovered  [the  placQ  at]  his  feet,  and  laid  her  down.  And  it  came  to  pass  at 
midnight,  that  tlie  man  was  afraid  [startled],  and  turned  liimself  [bent  himself  over]  : 

9  and  behold,  a  woman  lay  at  his  feet.  And  he  said,  Who  art  thou?  And  slie  an- 
swered, 1  cwi  Ruth  thine  handmaid :  spread  therefore  thy  skirt  [wings]  ^  over  tliine 
10  handmaid  ;  tor  thou  art  a  near  kinsman  [a  redeemer].  And  he  said.  Blessed  be  tliou 
of  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  my  daughter  :  for  thou  hast  sliewed  more  kindness  in  the 


40  THE  BOOK   OF  RUTH, 


latter  end  than  at  the  beghining,^  inasmuch  as  thou  foUowedest  not  [didst  not  go 

11  after]  young  men,  whether  poor  or  rich.  And  now,  my  daughter,  fear  not;  I  will 
do  to  thee  all  that  thou  requircst  [sayest]  :  for  all  the  city  [gate]  of  my  people  doth 

12  know  that  thou  art  a  virtuous  [brave]  *  woman.  And  now  it  is  true^  that  I  am  thy 
near  kinsman  [a  redeemer]  :  howbeit  there  is  a  kinsman  [redeemer]  nearer  than  I. 

13  Tarry  ^  this  [to]  night,  and  it  shall  be  in  the  morning,  that  if  he  will  perform 
unto  thee  the  part  of  a  kinsman  [redeemer ;  lit.  if  he  will  redeem  thee],  well ;  let 
him  do  the  kinsman's  part  [let  him  redeem] :  but  if  he  will  not  do  the  part  of  a 
kinsman  to  thee  [shall  not  be  inclined  to  redeem  thee],  then  will  I  do  the  part 
of  a  kinsman  to  thee  [then  will  I  redeem  thee],  as  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  liveth: 

14  lie  down  until  the  morning.  And  she  lay  at  bis  feet  until  the  morning :  and  she 
rose  lip  before  "^  one  [a    man]    could    know  another  [recognize  his  friend].     And 

15  [Foi"]  he  said.  Let  it  not  be  known  that  a  [the]  woman  came  into  the  floor.  Also 
he  said,  Bring  the  vail  [mantle]  ^  that  thou  hast  upon  thee,  and  hold  it.  And  when 
she  held  it,  he  measured  six  measures  of  barley,  and  laid  it  on  her :  and  she  [he]  ^ 

16  went  into  the  city.  And  when  [omit:  when]  she  came  to  her  mother-in-law,  [and] 
she  [i.  e.  the  mother-in-law]  Said,  Wlio  art  tliou,  my  daughter  ?  and  she  told  her  all  that 

17  the  man  had  done  to  her.     And  she  said,  These  six  measures  of  barley  gave  he  me  ; 

18  for  he  said  to  me.  Go  not  empty  unto  thy  mother-in-law.  Then  said  she,  Sit  still 
[Remain  quiet],  my  daughter,  until  thou  know  how  the  matter  will  fall :  for  the  man 
will  not  be  in  [omit :  be  in]  rest  until  he  have  finished  the  thing  this  day. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  7. — t2v2  :  not  "secretly"  (Keil),  which  would  be  superfluous  here;  but  as  in  Judg.  iv.  21,  "quietly," 
"  softly,"  so  as  not  to  wake  the  sleeper  —  in  a  muffled  manner,  cf.  Lex.  s.  v.  tO*l /.  —  Tr.] 

[2  Ver.  9  —  tJQ^S  must  be  regarded  as  dual,  with  the  suffix  defect,  written  (Ges.  91,  2,  Rem.  1);  for  as  the  word 
does  not  .stand  in  pau.se,  the  seghol  cannot  be  a  mere  lengthened  sheva  (Ges.  29,  4,  b).  The  Masoretic  tradition,  there- 
fore, understands  "  wings  "  here,  and  not  "  skirt,"  or  '■  coverlet,"  in  which  sen.se  the  word  ia  always  used  in  the  singular. 
The  covering  wing  is  a  favorite  emblem  of  protection  in  the  p.salms  and  elsewhere,  and  is  here  far  more  beautiful  and  sug- 
gestive than  "  skirt  "  or  "  coverlet,"  even  though  the  translation  of  the  metaphor  into  the  language  of  action  did  carry 
with  it  an  actual  spreading  of  the  skirt  over  one,  cf.  the  commentary.  The  rendering  "  wings  "  is  also  adopted  by  Ber- 
theau,  Iveil,  Wright,  etc.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  10.  — Dr.  Cassel :  itu  /utst  deine  Liebe,  die  spdtere,  nocli  sdioner  gemacht,  als  die  erste ;  or,  as  Dr.  Wordsworth 

very  happily,  as  well  as  literally  renders  :  "  thou  hast  bettered  (riZl^'^'D)  ^^^  latter  loving  kindness  above  the  former." 
The  comparison  is  not  as  to  quantity,  but  as  to  quality Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  11.  —  v'^n  nfS'W  :  lit.  "a  woman  of  strength."  Dr.  Cassel  here  renders  it  (with  DeWette)  by  wackres 
Weib,  brave,  valiant  woman,  while  he  afterwards  (see  foot-note  on  p.  43)  substitutes  braves  Weib,  i.  e.  good,  excellent  wo- 
man (so  also  ICeil).  Others  :  "  capable  woman."  All  these  renderings,  including  that  of  the  E.  V.  (which  is  not  to  be 
taken  in  the  restricted  sense  of  "  chaste,"  but  in  that  of  its  Latin  original),  agree  much  better  than  they  seem  to  do. 
They  are  all  embraced  in  ^Tl,  which  is  here  manifestly  used  of  moral  strength,  cf.  Prov.  xii.  4,  xxxi.  10.  A  morally  strong 
person  is  brave  and  good,  capable  in  the  noblest  sense;  in  a  word  virtuous,  possessed  both  of  virtue  and  of  virtues. — Tr.] 

[5  Ver.  12.  —  "  "'S  before  Q^^S,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  assurance  :  '  and  now,  truly  indeed,'  cf.  Job  xxxvi.  4. 
Beside  the  Kethibh  QS  ^3,  we  have  here,  as  in  2  Sam.  xiii.  33,  xv.  21  ;  Jer.  xxxix.  12,  the  Keri  ^'2,  After  the  as- 
severating □3HS,  "^3  occurs  in  Job  xii.  2,  as  elsewhere  after  an  oath,  Gen.  xxii.  16  f. ;  2  Kgs.  iii.  14:  but  CS  "^3 
T  ;  T "       •  •        • 

occurs  also  in  such  a  position,  2  Sam.  xv.  21  (Kethibh) ;  2  Kgs.  v.  20  ;  Jer.  li.  14,  cf.  Ew.  356  b.  ;  and  there  is  therefore 

no  ground  for  preferring  the  easier  reading  of  the  Keri,  especially  as  QS  "^3  excludes  from  the  assurance  the  opposite  of 
what  forms  its  object  yet  more  decidedly  than  the  simple  "*3,  thus  :  truly,  indeed,  only  a  goel  am  1=:  truly,  I  am  cer- 
tainly a  goel —  I  am  that  and  nothing  else."  (Bertheau.)  Keil  also  thinks  that  the  meaning  of  DS  "^3  is  to  be  ex- 
plained from  its  use  in  the  sense  of  nisi,  cf  Lex.  —  Tr.] 

6  Ver.  13.  —  "'i'^^.  The  MSS.  have  here  either  a  large  V  or  a  large  3.  The  Masora  parva  remarks  that  the  Ori- 
ental ((.  e.  Babylonian)  Jews,  especially  preserve  the  Ifirge  7.  Many  conjectures  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  large  letter 
are  clearly  wide  of  the  mark.  The  ground  of  such  majusculcE  is  undoubtedly  to  be  sought  in  the  purpose  of  ancient  tran- 
scribers (as  Le  Clerc  rightly  intimates),  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  facts  or  thoughts  which  to  them  appeared 
especially  noteworthy.     Thus  in  Eccles.  vii.  1,  where  the  first  letter  of  D1t2  is  a  majuscula.   The  value  of  a  good  name 

impressed  itself  here.  So  also  in  Eccles.  xii.  13,  where  the  D  in  P|1D  is  written  large.  The  fidelity  of  later  transcribers, 
uiiwilling  to  obliterate  any,  even  subjective  marks,  has  preserved  such  peculiarities.  With  doctrine  or  any  special  exe- 
gesis, these  letters  have  nothing  to  do.     Thus,  in  Esth.  i.  6,  the  transcriber,  wishing  to  direct  attention  to  the  splendor 


CHAPTEE  III.   7-18. 


41 


»f  the  royal  banquet,  the  description  of  which  begins  with  "l^in,  wrote  H  large.  And  so  in  our  passage,  it  seemed 
Important  to  the  pious  transcriber  (as  Buxtorf  not  without  reason  indicates),  to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  the  language 
and  moral  conduct  of  JBoaz. 

7  Ver.  14.  —  Instead  of  the  usual  D~)13,  we  have  here,  and  only  here,  m"1t2  in  Kethibh.  The  pointing  D^ID 
was  occasioned  by  the  endeavor  to  derive  the  word  from  a  specifically  Hebrew  root.  I  hold  the  form  C^ntS  D"1ti 
to  be  it.self  original.  Comparative  philology  satisfactorily  explains  the  word.  It  belongs  to  n-piV,  irpofios,  primus,  pararn'a, 
Goth,  fruma  (as  liniO  belongs  to  purus,  TITO  to  paries,  etc.),  and  is  not  at  all  to  be  explained  from  the  Hebrew.  The 
Midrash  («k«/i  Rabba  34  d.)  has  also  noted  the  reading  D1"ll3,  and  in  its  usual  way  explains  the  added  1  of  Six 
hour.s,  which  Ruth  spent  in  the  threshing-floor.  [According  to  Bertheau  DTltD  is  a  later  Aramaic  form  for  the  old, 
genuine  Heb.  D'^tS,  and  is  by  Aram,  analogy  to  be  pronounced  D^~ltD.  Not  likely  ;  as  D!l~ll2  is  not  found  in  Aram. 
Fiirst  derives  it  from  TCD  ("^-ItS,  an  unused  root,  meaning  "  to  wait  ")  with  the  termination  DV  ^  "J  V.  Ewald  seema 

to  regard  QTHtp  as  a  shortened  (?)  form  of  D^lD,  which  he  derives  from  mt3,  an  unused  root,  meaning  "  to  be 
fresh,"  cf.  Lehrb.  337  c.  —  Tr.] 

[8  Ver.  15.—  nn^lpSn  ""Dry.  ''Iin  (mileU,  as  it  is  written  in  most  MSS.,  is  the  second  per.  sg.  fem.  imperat.  ot 
^n^,  to  give,  cf  Ges.  69,  3,  Rem.  2.  The  reading  "^Zf^,  found  in  some  MSS.  is  either  for  S^I^n  (t.  «.  the  hiph.  inf. 
const,  of  S12    used  imperatively,  like  an  infin.  absol.),  or  better  for  "^N^Sn,   second  fem.  imper.,  of.  Green,    Gram. 

164,  2.  —  On  the  nHSt?^,  Wright  quotes  the  following  explanation  from  Schroeder,  De  Vest.  Mill.  Heb. :  "  Quia  adeo 
ampla  erant  veterum  pallia,  ut  pars  in  humerum  rejiceretur,  altera  brachio  subduceretur,  Rutha,  prehendens  aliquam 
partem  ejus  sinu  oblatas  a  Boaso  fruges  excepit.  Imo  aliam  vestem  quam  pallium  ne  admittere  quidem  ipse  textus  videtur. 
Nam  ex  verbis  "^^^^^  "^V."^i  "^^  vestem  qua  est  super  te,  haud  obscure  coUigitur,  vestem  iutelligendum  esse  totum  cor- 
pus tegentem  ;  quoniam  alias  pro  genio  linguae  Uebraeae,  specialius  membrum  corporis  cui  ilia  applicata  fuisset,  expres- 
sis  potius  verbis  fuisset  nominatum.  Accedit  quod  aliud  quodcunque  tegumentum,  nonnisi  uni  corporis  parti,  v.  g. 
capiti,  destinctum,  ad  usum,  quern  volebat  Boasus,  fuisset  ineptum.  Neque  insolitum  id  veteribus  fuit,  ut  in  sinu  vesti- 
menti  exterioris  aliquid  deportarent."  —  Tr.] 

[9  Ver.  15.  —  SD'*^,  "  and  he  went."  Wright  proposes  to  read  S^ni,  "and  she  went,"  on  the  ground  that  many 
MSS.  have  this  reading,  and  that  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  Boaz  should  go  to  the  city  at  so  early  an  hour.  The 
MS.  authority,  however,  loses  all  its  force  when  the  strong  probability  is  considered  that  the  reading  is  only  a  conjectural 
emendation.  Wright's  other  ground  is  by  no  means  decisive.  The  simple  idea  is,  that  Boaz,  after  he  had  dismissed  Ruth, 
also  went  to  the  city,  probably  to  his  house,  whence  afterwards  he  "went  up"  (TT^V,  expressive  of  the  reverence  with 
which  the  mind  regards  the  place  of  judgment,  cf.  Deut.  xvii.  8),  to  the  gate,  ch.  iv.  1.  So  Keil ;  but  cf.  Dr.  Cassel  oa 
ch.  iv.  1.  — Te.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  7.  And  Boaz  ate  and  drank,  and  was 
cheerful.  It  illustrates  the  simplicity  of  ancient 
patriarchal  times  and  manners,  that  Boaz,  the 
wealthy  proprietor  of  a  great  estate,  himself  keeps 
watch  on  his  threshing-floor,  works  till  late,  and 
then  hctakes  himself  to  rest  in  the  solitude  of  the 
open  field.'  It  is  clear  that  he  did  not  do  this  every 
day;  for  the  well-informed  Naomi  says,  "iotiiglit  he 
winnows  barley."  It  is  probable  that  this  night 
he  relieved  his  overseer.  The  remark,  that  "  his 
heart  was  cheerful,"  is  not  added  without  a  reason. 
It  is  not,  however,  intended  to  indicate  that  this 
was  why  Ruth  was  directed  to  present  her  petition 
after  he  had  eaten  and  drunk.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  it  was  a  current  and  probably  well-founded 
maxim  among  the  ancients  that  requests  should 
not  be  made  of  great  men  before,  but  after  eating 
(cf  Esth.  vii.  .3),  they  being  then  more  kindly  dis- 
]ios"il.  But  Kuth  made  no  use  of  this  post-prandial 
benevolence,  for  she  allowed  Boaz  to  betake  him- 
self to  rest  before  she  approached  him.  These 
words  are  rather  designed  to  point  out  the  danger 
encountered  by  Huth  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
virtue  of  Boaz  on  the  other. 

1  [The  same  practice  is  still  continued  in  Palestine,  cf. 
Rob.  ii.  83 ;  Thomson,  ii.  511  Its  design  is,  of  course,  to 
keep  the  grain  from  being  stolen.  Thomsion  says,  that  "  it 
is  not  unusual  for  husband,  wife,  and  all  the  fimily  to  en- 
camp at  the  threshing-floors,  and  remain  until  the  harvest 
e  over."  — Ta.] 


Ver.  8.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  midnight, 
etc.  Boaz  had  laid  himself  down ;  it  had  become 
dark.  Thereupon  Ruth  had  come,  and  had  laid 
herself  softly  down  at  his  feet,  drawing  over  her- 
self a  part  of  the  cover  under  which  he  lay.  The 
simple  narrative  paints  most  beautifully.  It 
was  midnight,  when,  perhaps,  by  a  movement  of 
his  foot,  bringing  it  in  contact  with  the  person  of 
Ruth,  he  was  startled  out  of  his  sleep.  He  bends 
himself  forward-  in  order  to  see  what  it  is  he 
touches,  and  lo,  a  woman  lies  at  his  feet!  He 
says,  Who  art  thou  ■?  and  she  answers  : 

Ver.  9.  I  am  Ruth  thine  handmaid;  spread 
thy  wings  over  thy  handmaid,  for  thou  art  a 
redeemer.  Ruth  had  been  sent  to  demand  the 
fulfillment  of  an  ancient  right.  This  right,  pecu- 
liar as  it  was,  had  its  symbol,  under  which  it  was 
claimed.  We  ai-e  made  acquainted  with  it  by  the 
words  addressed  by  Ruth  to  Boaz,  and  by  her  ac- 
tion in  drawing  an  end  of  his  coverlet  over  herself. 
The  words  are  not  contained  in  the  instructions  of 
Naomi  to  Ruth,  as  to  what  she  is  to  do ;  but  the 
action  taught  her,  necessarily  presupposes  them. 
Marriage  is  a  resting-place.  The  wife  finds  rest 
under  the  protection  of  her  husband,  as  Israel  finds 
it  under   the    overshadowing  wing  of   Jehovah. 

2  np--  ^1,  as  it  is  said  of  Sampson,  Judg.  xvi.  29,  that 
he  bent  over  the  pillars,  nSv^T, 


42 


THE   BOOK   OF   RUTH. 


Even  until   the  latest  times,  tlie  fi_f::urative  repre- 
sentiition  of  God  as  the  loving  Uridegroom  of  his 
people,  continues,  instructively  and  .sublimely,  to 
run  throujih  Scripture  and  tradition.     Christ  says 
(Matt,    xxiii.    37):    "How   often    would    I   have 
feathered  you,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens 
under  her -wings."  Israel  has  rest  {mcvuchaJi)  when 
God  spreads  out  his  wings  over  them.     The  psalm- 
ist prays  to  be  covered  by  the  shadow  of  Jehovah's 
wings.     Boaz  says  to  Ruth  (chap.  ii.  12)  :     "May 
thy  reward  be  complete,  since  thou  hast  come  to 
take  refuge  under  the  wings  of  Jehovah,  the  God 
of  Israel."     Tiiat  which   Ruth  there  did  with  re- 
spect to  the  God  of  Boaz,  she  now  asks  to  be  per- 
mitted to  do  with  respect  to  Boaz  himself.     The 
husband  gives  "  rest"  to  his  wife  by  spreading  out 
his  wings  over  her.     For  this  reason  the  covering 
of  his  bed,  under  which   he   took   the  wife,  was 
designated   by   the  beautiful   term,    "wing"    (ef. 
Deii't.  xxiii. 'l    [E.  V.  xxii.  30],  etc.).     Very  at- 
tractive is  the  use  of  this  expression,  with   figura- 
tive application  to  God,  in  Ezekiel,  when  Jehovah, 
speaking  through  the  prophet,  says  (eh.  xvi.  8)  : 
"  Behold,   thy   time  was  the   time  of  love ;  and  I 
spread  out  my  wing  over  thee,  and  covered  thy 
nakedness,     .     .     .     and  entered  into  a  covenant 
with  thee."     As   the  chicken  takes  refuge  under 
the  wings  of  the  hen,  so  Ruth  hid  herself  under  a 
comer  of  the  coverlet  of  Boaz.     It  was  the  sym- 
bol of  the  right  which   she  had   come  to  claim. 
"  Spread  out  thy  wings  over  thy  handmaid ;  for 
thou  art  a  redeemer    {(/oel).     It  is  because  he  is  a 
blood-relative    that   she    can    make    this   demand. 
Hence,  she  does  not  say,  I  am  Ruth,  the  Moabitess ; 
but,  I  am  Ruth,  thy  handmaid.     Here,  where  she 
laj^s  claim  to  an  Israelitish  right,  she  drops  all  re- 
membrance of  Moab.     And  has  he  not  himself 
received  and  treated  her  as  an  Israelitish  maiden  ? 
Undoubtedly  this  symbolical  method  of  claiming 
the  most  delicate  of  all  rights,  presupposes  man- 
ners  of  patriarchal  simplicity  and  virtue.      The 
confidence  of  the  woman  reposes  itself  on  the  honor 
of  the  man.    The  method,  liowever,  was  one  which 
could  not  easily  be  brought  into  operation.     For 
every  foreknowledge  or  pre-intimation  of  it  would 
have  torn  the  veil  of  silence  and  secrecy  from  the 
modesty  of  the  claimant.     But  when  it  was  once 
put  into  operation,  the  petition  preferred  could  not 
be  denied  without  disgrace  either  to  the  woman 
or  the  man.     Hence,  we  may  be  sure  that  Naomi 
did  not  send    her   daughter-in-law  on   this  errand 
without  the  fullest  confidence  that  it  would  prove 
successful.     For  it  is  certain  that  to  all  other  diffi- 
culties, this  peculiar  one  was  added  in  the  present 
case :  namely,  that  Boaz,  as  Ruth  herself  says,  was 
ijuleed  a  (/oel,  but  not  the  f/oel.      The  answer  of 
Boaz,  also,  suggests  the  surmise  that  such  a  claim 
was  not  wholly  uriexpected  by  him.     Not  that  he 
had  an  understanding  with  Naomi,  in  consequence 
of  which  he  was  alone  on  the  threshing-floor ;  for 
the  fact  that  he  was  startled  out  of  his  sleep,  shows 
that  the  night  visit  was  altogether  unlooked  for. 
But  the  thought  that  at  some  time  the  claim  of 
Ruth  to  the  rights  of  blood-relationship  might  be 
addressed  to  himself,  may  not  have  been  strange 
to  him.     Even  this  conjecture,  however,  of  what 
might  possibly  or  probably  take  place,  could  not 
be  used  to  relieve  Ruth  of  the  necessity  of  manifest- 
ing her  own  free  will  by  means  of  the  symbolical 
proceeding.     The  ancient  usage  spoke  a  discreet 
language,  with  which  not  even  a  certain  mutual 
understanding  would   have  dispensed.      For   the 
••est,  how  truly  the  action  of  Ruth,  far  from  cloud- 
ng  her  womanly  delicacy,  was  a  new  evidence  of 


the  nobility,  purity,  and  genuine  love  that  ruled 
her,  is  unequivocally  testified  to  by  the  answer  of 
Boaz. 

Ver.  10.  Blessed  be  thou  of  Jehovah,  my 
daughter !  Thou  hast  made  thy  latter  kindness 
even  more  beautiful  than  the  former.  This  an- 
swer also  opens  to  our  view  the  simple,  unassum- 
ing soul  of  Boaz,  whose  modesty  and  sincere  heart- 
iness are  truly  admirable'.  He  makes  no  complaint 
of  being  disturbed  in  the  night,  nor  of  the  too 
great  importunateness,  as  another  might  have 
deemed  it,  with  which  the  request  is  made.  On 
the  one  hand,  he  entertains  no  thought  of  abusing 
the  confidence  of  the  woman,  nor  on  the  other  does 
he  play  the  modern  eonserver  of  virtue,  who  loudly 
blames  another  because  he  distrusts  himself.  He 
has  only  words  of  divine  benediction  for  the  blame- 
less woman,  so  attractive  in  her  naive  humility. 
He  knows  ho^v  to  value  her  act  in  its  purelj^  ob- 
jective character,  apart  from  every  consideration 
of  its  relation  to  himself,  as  only  a  heart  trained 
by  the  word  of  God  could  do.  He  blesses  Ruth, 
whom  like  a  father  he  addresses  as  "  my  daughter," 
because  he  found  her  present  kindness  yet  nobler 
and  more  beautiful  than  the  former.  But  how  is 
that  to  be  understood  ?  Ruth's  former  kindness 
approved  itself,  when,  after  the  death  of  her 
husband,  she  left  parents  and  home  in  order  to 
console  and  take  care  of  her  mother-in-law,  un- 
moved by  the  certainty  of  misery  and  humiliation 
in  a  foreign  land.  What  does  she  now  ?  Young, 
comely,  and  fiivorably  known,  she  might  before 
this  have  looked  out  a  husband  according  to  her 
wish,  i-ich  or  poor,  from  among  the  young  men  of 
Israel.  Did  she  do  it?  By  no  means;  she  subor- 
dinates every  such  possibility  to  her  mother-in-law 
and  the  usages  of  Israel.  Instead  of  preferring  the 
love  of  a  young  man,  as  were  natural,  —  says  Boaz, 
—  thou  comest  to  assert  thy  right  with  one  more 
advanced  in  life,  solely  because  he  is  a  goel.  Thou 
askest  him  for  the  protection  of  his  wings,  in  order 
that  a  blood-relative  may  again  raise  up  a  name 
for  thy  husband  and  mother-in-law  in  Israel.  In 
this,  also,  thou  off'erest  thine  own  heart  and  happi- 
ness as  a  sacrifice  of  love  to  thy  family !  It  is  in- 
deed possible  that  as  Boaz  intimates,  Ruth's  pres- 
ent act  of  kindness  was  even  a  severer  test  of  her 
love  than  the  earlier.  For  those,  done  in  the  time 
of  sorrow  and  mourning,  were  for  that  very  reason 
easier  than  this,  rendered  at  a  time  when  perhaps 
a  new  life  and  fresh  joy  had  been  offered  her.  But 
the  modesty  of  Boaz  was  too  great.  It  is  doubt- 
less correct  to  think  of  him  as  a  contemporary 
of  Elimelech,  and  consequently  no  longer  yotmg. 
But  in  ancient  as  in  modern  times,  a  woman  like 
Ruth  Avill  find  a  more  engaging  "  rest "  with  a 
man  like  Boaz  than  she  would  find  among  thou- 
sands of  young  men. 

Ver.  11.  And  now,  my  daughter,  fear  not. 
Trembling  with  excitement,  Ruth  had  done  as  she 
had  been  directed;  and  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  the  tremulous  tones  of  her  voice  had  in- 
formed Boaz  of  her  anxiety.  What  he  had  hitherto 
said,  contained  no  decision,  but  only  praise.  She, 
however,  trembles  for  the  answer  to  her  prayer,  on 
which  so  much  depended.  Hence,  he  saj's,  again 
addressing  her  by  the  kindly  name  of  daughter, 
"  fear  not."  As  above  he  invoked  on  her,  in  Je- 
hovah's name,  a  full  reward,  because,  led  by  love 
to  Israel,  she  had  trustfully  come  to  take  refuge  un- 
der the  wings  of  Israel's  God,  so  he  will  not  deny 
her  who  has  come  to  himself  to  ask  for  the  pro- 
tection of  his  "  resting-place."  Her  Moabitish  na- 
tionality can  offer  no  obstacle,  since  he  has  already 


CHAPTER  III.    7-18. 


U 


commended  her  to  the  blessing  of  Jehovah.  She 
has  shown  no  Moabitish  morals.  There  exists  no 
ground  whatever  for  denying  her  the  rights  of  Is- 
rael. For  the  whole  gate  of  my  people  knows 
that  thou  art  a  brave  woman.  In  the  words 
"  my  people,"  he  hints  at  the  sole  reason  on  whieh 
a  refusal  could  base  itself.  But  there  is  no  Israel- 
ite among  us  in  Bethlehem,  who  does  not  know 
how  good  thou  art.i  Whatever  thou  hast  a  right 
to  claim,  can  be  nnhesitatingly  done  for  thee,  for 
thou  art  loved  by  all. 

Ver.  12.  But  yet  there  is  a  redeemer  nearer 
than  I.-  These  words  teach  us  that  what  Ruth 
demanded  was  an  actual  objective  right,  which  be- 
longed to  her.  Although  Boaz  perhaps  surmised 
that,  apart  from  the  consideration  of  her  right,  she 
applied  with  special  contidence  to  himself  for  the 
boon  desired,  he  modestly  and  considerately  de- 
cides only  on  the  question  of  her  formal  right. 
Her  proceeding  receives  its  unimpeachable  justifi- 
cation only  when  putting  aside  every  personal  in- 
clination, it  simply  regards  the  matter  of  right. 
Thy  claim,  he  says,  cannot  be  gainsaid  ;  but  I  am 
not  the  one  to  whom  it  is  to  be  directed  in  the  first 
instance.  There  is  another,  who  is  more  nearly 
related  to  Elimelech.  But  he  does  not  leave  her  a 
moment  in  doubt,  whether  this  be  not  an  excuse 
for  refusing  her  petition.  If  that  other  person 
prove  not  able  to  t'ulhll  his  duty,  then  he  himself 
will  do  it.  This  he  conhrms  with  an  oath  by  the 
living  God.  Nor  will  she  be  required  to  repeat  the 
proceeding  of  this  night.  A  noble,  womanly  heart 
—  this  is  what  his  tenderness  implies  —  does  not 
dare  to  undertake  such  a  mission  more  than  once. 
He  himself  will  prosecute  the  matter.  The  sym- 
bolic act  with  which  she  came  to  him,  addressed 
itself  not  so  much  to  him,  individually,  as  through 
him  to  the  whole  family.  Perhaps  he  knew  very 
well  that  Naomi  had  for  good  i-easons  sent  Ruth  to 
his  threshing-floor,  —  that  the  other  relative  would 
not  be  able  to  act  as  redeemer ;  but  it  is  best  for 
both  Ruth  and  himself  that  due  I'egard  be  had  to 
formal  right. 

Ver.  13  ff.  Abide  here  to-night ;  lie  down  un- 
til the  morning.  He  repeats  the  same  injunction 
twice.  He  cannot  send  her  away  in  the  dai'kness  of 
night ;  nor  is  he  afraid  to  let  her  remain.  She,  for 
her  part,  hears  his  words,  and  obeys,  with  equal 
contidence.  But  she  is  only  to  remain  till  earliest 
dawn.  Before  it  was  possible  to  recognize  each 
other  clearly,'^  both  were  up ;  that  it  might  not 
be  known  that  the  woman  came  into  the  floor.* 
By  an  early  departure,  he  hopes  that  Ruth 
may  escape  meeting  with  any  one,  who  might 
put  injurious  suspicions  into  circulation.  He  un- 
doubtedly speaks  of  "  the   woman,"  with  special 

1  "  All  know  that  thou  art  a  good  woman."  The  LXX., 
■with   siognlar    literalness,    render    7")n   i"^t^'^  ^y  V^ 

2  The  Midrash  (/Ji/(A  Rabba,  p.  34  b),  which  would  fain 
hold  fast  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  which  speaks  only  of  the 
brother  as  et"^',  thinks  that  the  name  of  the  nearer  relative 
was  Tob  (cf.  ver.  1.3).  As  if  Bnaz  had  intended  to  say  :  "  If 
Tob  will  redeem  thee,  let  hiin  redeem."  But  Ibn  Ezra  already 
found  this  unsuitable,  and  ch.  iv.  makes  it  wholly  iuipo.'sible. 

3  The  Talmud  (Bemc/ioM,  p.  9  a)  teaches  how  to  measure 
the  break  of  day.  The  Mishna  had  decided  day-break  to 
begin  when  it  becomes  possible  to  distinguish  between 
white  and  blue  ;  R,  Mair,  when  a  wolf  and  a  dog  —  R. 
Akiba,  when  an  ass  and  a  wild  ass  —  could  be  distinguished. 
■'But  others  said,  when  one  sees  and  recognizes  another 
person  at  the  distance  of  four  ells." 

4  [Wright  :  "  These  words  express  Boaz's  opinion,  which 
he  had  previously  intimated  to  Ruth  ;    for  the  use  of  the 


emphasis.  It  would  have  been  very  unpleasant  to 
Boaz  to  have  jjeople  connect  himself  with  any  wo- 
man in  a  suspicious  way ;  but  scandalous  rumors 
of  this  kind,  with  Rutli  for  their  object,  would  have 
been  exceedingly  injurious.  To  say  nothing  of 
the  fact  that  an  undeserved  stain  woiikl  have  l)een 
hxed  on  the  good  name  of  Ruth,  it  would  have 
rendered  it  very  difficult  for  him  to  prosecute  her 
claims  in  Bethlehem.^ 

But  as  she  is  about  to  go,  he  bids  her  first  spread 
out  her  cloak  or  shawl,  into  which  he  empties  six 
measures  of  barley,"  to  be  carried  home  to  her 
mother-in-law.  What  is  his  intention  in  this  act  i 
That,  as  he  says,  she  "come  not  empty  to  lier 
mother-in-law."  A  mere  sign  of  his  friendly  dis- 
position, it  cannot  have  been  ;  for  Ruth  will  tell 
her  all  that  he  has  said.  He  must  have  had  other 
reasons  for  not  wishing  her  to  go  away  empty.  If 
notwithstanding  every  precaution,  Ruth  was  recog- 
nized when  she  returned  from  the  threshing-floor, 
her  appearance,  laden  with  grain,  would  be  less 
suspicious,  than  if  she  were  met  dressed  up  as  a 
fine  lady.  Thus  laden,  it  was  usual  to  see  her  come 
from  the  fields  of  Boaz.  Thus,  the  last  occasion 
of  possible  suspicion  was  cut  off.  Still,  the  whole 
significance  of  the  proceeding  is  not  exhausted 
with  this.  Decided  stress  is  laid  on  the  fact  that 
he  gave  her  six  measures  of  barley.  When  Ruth 
comes  home,  and  Naomi  asks,  "  Who  art  thou,  my 
daughter,"  i.  e.  "  how  comest  thou  1  as  one  whose 
claim  has  been  acknowledged,  or  otherwise  f  "  she 
informs  her  mother-in-law  of  all  that  Boaz  said,  and 
expressly  adds,  what  the  reader  has  already  been 
informed  of,  and  what  if  only  the  liberality  of  the 
giver  came  into  consideration,  Naomi  could  see 
without  being  told  :  "  these  sir  measures  of  barley 
gave  he  me."  She  evidently  deems  it  important 
that  Naomi  should  know,  that  he  gave  her  just  six 
measures  of  grain.  The  old  'Jewish  expositors 
have  made  all  sorts  of  allegorical  attempts  with 
this  "  si.x."  They  are  imdoubtedly  so  fir  right, 
that  apart  from  the  friendly  custom  of  sending  vis- 
itors away  enriched  with  gifts  tor  their  families, 
Boaz,  on  this  occasion,  meant  to  give  a  hint  to  Na- 
omi of  the  result  of  Ruth's  application.  This  re- 
sult was,  that  in  any  event  Ruth  would  obtain  a 
"  resting-place."  The  number  six  is  the  symbol 
of  lal)or  and  ser\'ice,  which  is  followed  by  seven, 
the  time  of  rest.  Whoever  has  served  six  years, 
is  released  in  the  seventh.  Naomi  receives  what 
she  may  take  as  an  intimation  that  the  time  has 
come,  when  after  long  labor  she  must  let  Ruth  go 
out  free.     The  day  of  rest  is  at  hand. 

Ver.  18.  Ajid  she  said,  Rematti  quiet  [cf  Gen. 
xxxviii.  11],  my  daughter.  Ruth  is  to  remain  at 
home,  like  an  affianced  bride.     Erora  both  words 

article  (the  i.  e.  this  woman)  forbids  us  to  suppose  that 
they  were  actually  addressed  to  Ruth.  The  Targumist, 
probably  influenced  by  this  reason,  and  considering  it  un 
likely  that  Boaz  should  have  been  alone  in  the  threshing 
floor,  renders:  "and  Boaz  said  to  his  young  men,"  etc. 
-  Tr  ] 

5  The  Mishna  (Jebamnt/i,  ii.  8|  determined  that  one  sus- 
pected of  previous  intercour.se  with  a  foreigner,  even  though 
she  were  a  convert,  was  not  allowed  to  per*',rm  the  duty  of 
levirate  marriage. 

6  The  measure  is  not  given  ;  the  expression  is  simply 
"  six  of  barley.'"  It  made  a  considerable  load,  for  he  haa 
to  put  it  on  her.  The  allegorical  interpretiition  of  the  Mid- 
rash  (in  the  Tnr^iim)  brings  out  six  descendants  of  Ruth, 
namely,  David,  Daniel,  '-the  companions  "  (D.in.  i.  6)  and 
■'  the  king,  Mes.'ias  "  Rii'k  Rabba.  p.  31  a,  counts  eight 
descendants  with  six  prominent  characteristics.  In  thia 
case,  llezekiah  and  Josiah  are  added  to  the  others  already 
named. 


44 


THE  BOOK   OF   RUTH. 


and  actions  of  Boaz,  Naomi  perceives  that  he  will 
not  rest,  until  he  makes  good  his  promise.  This 
very  day  will  decide  the  issue  of  the  matter.  And 
whatever  that  issue  may  be,  it  willnot  be  without 
a  blessing.  "  The  man  will  not  rest,  until  he  have 
provided  for  thee  a  resting-place." 

HOMILETICAL   AND    PRACTICAL. 

"  And  vote,  my  daughter,  fear  not ;  I  will  do  to 
thee  all  that  thou  sayest."  The  ftiith  of  Boaz  is  such 
as  leads  to  action.  He  not  only  instiiicts,  by  his 
prophetic  words  to  Ruth  (ch.  ii.  12),  and  by  the 
pious  spirit  that  breathes  in  his  intercourse  with 
his  servants  ;  he  not  only  gives,  moved  by  sympa- 
thy sprung  from  feith  ;  he  not  only  enters  into  the 
necessities  and  anxieties  of  Ruth  ;  but  he  has  also 
a  clean  heart,  in  which  no  impure  thought  arises, 
and  stands  as  firm  in  the  hour  of  temptation  and 
secrecy  as  when  the  eyes  of  all  Bethlehem  are  upon 
him.  He  is  an  Israelite  not  only  before  man,  but 
also  before  God  alone.  And  it  was  because  he  did 
not  forget,  what  man  is  naturally  so  prone  to  for- 
get, that  God  sees  him,  that  he  is  so  mindful  of  his 
duty.  Hypocrites,  when  alone,  are  different  from 
what  they  appear  in  company ;  Israelites  like  Boaz 
feel  and  act  in  the  presence  of  the  all-knowing  God 
alone,  not  othenvise  than  they  would  if  all  the 
stars  of  heaven  and  all  the  creatures  of  earth  could 
testify  against  them.  Boaz  showed  an  active  faith 
when  he  gave  no  place  to  temptation.  Pious  and 
ofFenseless  as  he  was  when  Ruth  came  to  claim  the 
right  of  the  poor,  he  is  equally  so  now  when  she 


asks  for  her  right  of  redemption.  Then  the  que?- 
tion  M'as  only  about  a  few  ears  of  grain,  now  it 
involves  his  own  person  and  estate.  Then  he  was 
kind  in  the  presence  of  Ruth's  humility,  now  he  is 
humble  in  the  presence  of  her  claim  to  be  righted. 
Then  he  forgot  herself  in  the  fact  that  she  had  left 
the  land  of  Moab,  now  he  forgets  that  she  had  ever 
owned  another  law  than  that  of  Israel.  Then  his 
tender  delicacy  made  Ruth  assured  of  her  safety  in 
his  fields ;  now  that  same  delicacy  understands 
that  since  she  has  come  to  him,  the  right  she  claims 
must  be  fulfilled.  He  might  have  released  himself  by 
the  letter  of  the  law  to  which  she  appeals,  —  there 
was  a  nearer  relative ;  but  his  faith  is  an  active 
faith.  The  question  was  one  of  right,  not  of 
ingenious  play  with  the  letter.  The  claimant  must 
be  satisfied  ;  and  he  does  what  he  promised  to  do. 
Freely  and  purely,  full  of  that  love  which  is  the 
chai'acteristic  of  faith,  he  keeps  himself  and  keeps 
his  word.  People  speak  of  a  man's  "  word  of 
honor ;  "  it  were  more  connect  to  speak  of  "  the 
word  of  a  Christian,"  "  the  word  of  a  confessor  of 
God."  For  only  the  Christian  does  not  walk  in 
the  crooked  ways  of  intrigue  and  false  advocates. 

Starke  :  "  Christian,  behold  the  kindness  and 
gentleness  of  Boaz  !  Will  it  then  be  possible  that 
God,  when  thou  art  in  need,  will  send  thee  empty 
away  ?  Never  !  his  generous  hand  is  never  closed. 
Only  open  Him  thy  heart,  and  divine  gifts  flow  in 
upon  thee,  without  any  action  on  thy  part." 

The  same  :  "  A  Christian  must  be  upright  in 
word  and  deed." 


CHAPTER    FOURTH. 


Vekses  1-12. 


The  Israelite  without  Guile. 


1  Then  went  Boaz  [And  Boaz  went]  up  to  the  gate,  and  sat  him  down  there  :  and 
behold,  the  kinsman  [redeemer]  of  whom  Boaz  spake  ^  came  [passed]  by ;  unto  whom 
he  said,  Ho,  such  a  one  !  turn  aside,  sit  down  here.     And  he  turned  aside,  and  sat 

2  down.     And  he  took  ten  men  of  the  elders  of  the  city,  and  said,  Sit  ye  down  here. 

3  And  they  sat  down.  And  he  said  unto  the  kinsman  [redeemer],  Naomi,  that  is 
come  again  out  of  the  country  [territory]  of  Moab,  selleth  [sold]  a  parcel  of  land 

4  [the  field-portion],  which  was  our  brother  Elimelech's  :  And  I  thought  to  advertise 
thee  [determined  to  inform  thee  ^],  saying.  Buy  it  before  the  inhabitants  [the  sitters, 
t.  e.  those  present^],  and  before  the  elders  of  my  people.  If  thou  wilt  redeem  it,  redeem 
it ;  but  if  thou  *  wilt  not  redeem  it,  then  tell  me,  that  I  may  know :  for  there  is  none 
to  redeem  it  besides  thee ;  and  I  am  after  thee.     And  he  said,  I  will  redeem  it. 

5  Then  said  Boaz,  What  day  thou  buyest  ^  the  field  of  the  hand  of  Naomi,  thou  must 
buy  [thou  buyest]  it  also  of  Ruth  the  Moabitess,  the  wife  of  the  dead,  to  raise  up 

6  the  namv.  of  the  dead  upon  his  inheritance.  And  the  kinsman  [redeemer]  said,  I 
cannot  redeem  it  for  myself,  lest  I  mar  [injure]  mine  own  inheritance  :  redeem  thou 
my  right   [my  redemption,  i.  «.  that  which  it  is  my  right  or  duty  to  redeem]  to   thyself ;  for  I 

7  cannot  redeem  it.  Now  this  was  the  manner  [custom]  in  former  time  in  Israel 
concerning  [in  cases  of]  redeeming  and  concerning  [in  cases  of  ex-]  changing,  for 
to  confirm  all  things  [every  matter]  ;  a  man  plucked  off  his  shoe,  and  gave  it  to  his 

8  neighbour :  and  this  was  a  [omit :  a]  testimony  ®  in  Israel.  Therefore  [And]  the 
kinsman  [redeemer]  said  unto  Boaz,  Buy  it  for  thee.     So  [And]  he  drew  off  his 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-12. 


45 


9  shoe.     And  Boaz  said  unto  the  elders,  and  unto  all  the  people,  Ye  are  witnesses  this 
day,  that  I  have  bought  all  that  was  Elimelech's,  and  all  that  was  Chilion's  and 

10  Mai  lion's,  of  the  hand  of  Naomi.  Moreover,  Ruth  the  INIoabitess,  the  wife  of  Mah- 
lon,  have  I  purchased  [acquired]'^  to  be  my  wife,  to  raise  up  the  name  of  the  dead 
upon  his  inheritance,  that  the  name  of  the  dead  be  not  cut  off  from  amonor  his  breth- 

11  ren,  and  from  the  gate  of  his  place  :  ye  are  witnesses  this  day.  And  all  the  people 
that  were  in  the  gate,  and  the  elders,  said.  We  are  witnesses.  The  Lord  [Jehovah] 
make  the  woman  that  is  come  [that  cometh]  into  thine  house  like  Rachel  and  like 
Leal),  which  two  did  build  the  house  of  Israel :  and  do  thou  worthily  [ut.  make  thou 

12  strength]  in  Ephratah  and  be  famous  [and  get  a  name]  in  Beth-lehem:  And  let 
thine  house  be  like  the  house  of  Pharez  [Perets,  Perez],  whom  Tamai'  bare  unto 
Judah,  of  the  seed  which  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  shall  give  thee  of  this  young  woman. 


TEXTUAL  AND   GRAMMATICAL. 
[1  Ver.  1.  — Sc.  "  toRuth,"ch.  iii.  12.  ItSSl  is  the  accus.  after — 15"7,  cf.  Gen.  xix.  21 ;  xsdii.  16.  — On  the  fonof 

n"1^D  and  niltt?,  cf.  Ges.  48,  5;  72,  Rem.  3 ;  69,3,2;  on  ~lD*\  72,  Rem.  4.  — Tr.] 
T  T   :  '  -T-'       '  •■ 

['■2  Ver.  4.  —  Lit.  "  And  I  said,  I  will  uncorer  thine  ear,"  i.  e.  I  determined  to  inform  thee.     TT^HS,  is  the  same  in 

sense  as  the  fuller  "^372  ""nn^S,  Gen.  xvii.  17,  etc.,  cf.  Ex.  ii.  14,  etc.  It  might  be  supposed  to  refer  to  what  Boaz  said 
to  Ruth,  ch.  iii.  12  f.  ;  but  as  Ruth  is  not  spoken  of  until  the  next  verse,  this  is  less  likely.  The  expression  "to  uncover 
the  ear,"  originated  in  the  practice  of  removing  the  hair  that  hangs  over  the  ear,  for  the  purpose  of  whispering  a  secret 
to  a  person.  In  general  it  means  to  communicate  anything  confidentially,  but  is  here  used  in  the  wider  sense  of  impart- 
ing information.     The  suffix  of  the  second  per.  in  tJ^TS  is  perhaps  best  explained  by  regarding  the  whole  clause  after 

"•^nSM  as  mentally  uttered  by  Boaz,  while  considering  how  to  proceed  in  the  matter  of  Ruth.  In  this  consideration, 
the  nearer  kinsman  was  present  to  his  mind,  and  to  him  he  addressed  the  conclusion,  which  he  now  only  rehearsea,  "  I 
will  inform  thee,"  etc.  —  Tr.] 

[3  Ver.  4.  —  So  Dr.  Cassel.  Keil :"  Many  translate  C^Stt^^n  by  '  inhabitants,' sc.  those  of  Bethlehem.  Butalthough 
according  to  ver.  9,  a  goodly  number  of  the  people,  besides  the  elders,  were  present,  this  can  scarcely  be  conceived  to  have 
been  the  case  with  the  inhabitants  of  Bethlehem  generally,  so  as  to  meet  the  requirement  of  "T3D,  Nor  would  the  in- 
habit;ints  have  been  named  before,  but  as  in  ver.  9,  after,  the  elders  as  principal  witnesses  [but  cf.  ver.  11].  For  these 
reasons    3tt?^   is  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  '  to  sit,'  and  D''3ti7*rT   is  to  be  understood  of  the  same  persons  who  form  the 

subject  of  1)3 tt""*1  in  ver.  2,  the  elders.  The  following  "^3I7T  lyi')  is  to  be  taken  explicatively  :  before  those  who  sit 
here,  even  before  the  elders  of  my  people."  — Tr.] 

[4  Ver.  4.  —  The  Text^  Recept.  reads  vSS**,  tliird per. , concerning  which  Keil  remarks,  that  "it strikes  one  as  singu- 
lar, since  one  expects  the  second  person,  /S2ll^,  which  is  not  only  read  by  the  LXX.,  but  also  by  a  number  of  MSS., 
and  seems  to  be  required  by  the  context.  It  is  true,  the  common  reading  may  (with  Sebastian  Schmidt,  Carpzov,  and 
others)  be  defended,  by  a-iisuming  that  in  uttering  this  word  Boaz  turned  to  the  elders,  and  so  spoke  of  the  redeemer  as 
of  a  third  person  :  '  if  he,  the  redeemer  here,  will  not  redeem  ; '  but  as  this  is  immediately  followed  by  a  resumption  of 
the  direct  address,  this  supposition  —  to  our  mind  at  least  —  seems  very  artificial."  —  The  substitution  by  the  Keri  of 

n3?7S1   for    3?"TST  is  not  necessary,  cf.  Ges.  127,  3  b.  —  TR.] 

[5  Ver.  5.  — *'jn''3p.-  Keil :  "  According  to  sense  and  connection,  this  form  must  be  the  second  per.  masc. ;  the  "*  at 
the  end  was  either  added  by  a  slip  of  the  pen,  or  it  arose  from  an  original  ^,  so  that  we  must  read  either  jT^Sp  (with 
the  Keri)  without  an  accusative,  or,  with  an  accusative,  "liT'Sp,   *  thou  buyest  it.'  "  —  Tr.] 

[6  Ver.  7.  —  n"T^57J]n.  Gesenius  and  Furst  define  this  word  here  as  "custom  having  the  force  of  law,"  "attested 
usage."  Dr.  Cassel's  rendering,  Weissthum,  is  probably  intended  to  convey  the  same  idea  (cf.  Hoffmann's  Wdrterb.).  But 
it  seems  better  to  take  the  word  here  in  its  proper  sense  of  "  attestation,"  as  in  E.  V.  So  the  ancient  versions,  Bertbeaii, 
Keil,  etc.    Cf.  the  root  'VW.  —  Tr.] 

[7  Ver.  10. —  The  Heb.  H^D  is  less  specific  than  our  word  "purchase."  It  means  to  obtain,  to  acquire;  which 
may  be  done  in  a  variety  of  ways.  The  rendering  "  purchased  "  is  unfortunate  in  this  particular  case,  as  it  tends  to 
convey  the  erroneous  idea  that  Ruth  was  treated  as  a  chattel,  or  at  least  as  a  sort  of  adxcripta  gleba.  The  same  word  is 
used  also  in  vers.  4,  5,  and  9,  where  there  is  no  particular  objection  to  represent  it  in  English  by  "  buy,"  although  "  ac- 
luiro  "  would  be  preferable  for  the  sake  of  uniformity.  —  Tr.] 


EXEQETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  1 .  And  Boaz  went  up  to  the  gate,  and 
seated  Mmself  there.  Very  e.arly,  even  before 
Ruth  with  her  burden  of  barley  had  yet  started  for 
home  (ch.  iii.  15),  Boaz,  energetic  in  deed  as  he 
was  kind  in  word,  took  the  way  to  Bethlehem.    It 


was  necessary  to  set  out  so  early,  in  order  to  be 
sure  of  reaching  the  gate  before  the  person  with 
whom  he  wished  to  speak,  and  who  like  himself 
was  probably  in  the  habit  of  coming  to  the  city 
from  the  country.  The  gate,  it  is  well  known,  was 
the  place  where  judicial  business  was  transacted 
and  markets  were  held  (Deut.  xxi.  19  ff. ;  cf.  Ps. 


46 


THE  BOOK  OF   RUTH. 


cxxvii.  5).  This  is  still  the  case  in  the  East.  In  |  Others,  it  is  true,  as  we  leam  further  on,  had  assem- 
Zach.  viii.  16,  the  prophet  says:  "Judge  truth  and  bled  about  the  two  relatives;  but  the  ten  elders 
the  judgment  of  peace  in  your  gates ;  "  on  which  formed,  so  to  speak,  the  necessary  official  witnesses. 
Jerome  (ed.  Migne,  vi.  p.  1474)  remai'ks :  "It  is  Ver.  3.  The  inheritance  of  our  brother ^ 
asked,  why  among  the  Jews  the  gate  was  the  place  Ehmelech,  Naomi  has  sold.  The  expositors, 
for  administering  justice.     The  judges  sat  in  the  with  one  consent,  demand  by  what  right  Naomi 


gates  that  the  country-people  might  not  be  com- 
pelled to  enter  the  cities  and  suffer  detriment 
Sitting  there,  they  could  hear  the  townsmen  and 
country-people  as  they  left  or  entered  the  city ;  and 
each  man,  his  business  finished,  could  return  at 
once  to  his  own  house."  At  the  gate  was  the 
proper  forum ;  and  it  is  certainly  more  satisfactory 
than  all  other  .explanations  of  the  Latin  word,  to 
derive  it,  notwithstanding  the  later  central  situa- 
tion of  the  place  to  which  it  was  applied,  fi-om  the 
archaic _/bra,  gate,  whence /ocas,  cf  biforis,  septlforis. 
Certain  Some-one,  come  and  seat  thyself. 
We  have  here  the  whole  course  of  an  ancient  legal 
procedure  before  us,  Avith  its  usages  and  forms. 
The  fact  that  Boaz  sat  at  the  gate,  plainly  declared 
that  he  sought  a  judicial  decision.  When  the  per- 
son for  whom  he  Avaited  made  his  appearance,  he 
made  no  delay  to  seat  himself  as  requested,  for  the 
language  addressed  to  him  was  a  formal  mdicial  sum- 
mons. His  name  is  not  mentioned.  JPdoni  almoni 
is  a  formula  like  our  German  N.  N.  [used  as  in  Eng- 
lish we  now  generally  use  a  simple or  "  blank." 

—  Tr.]  In  former  times,  it  was  customary  among 
us,  in  legal  documents,  to  use  in  the  same  way 
names  that  were  very  common,  such  as  Hans,  etc. 
(cf  mj  Erf.  Bilder  u.  Brduche,  ji-  29).  The  un- 
derlying idea  of  Peloni  ahnoni  is  a  different  one 
from  that  of  Selva  (cf  Matth.  xxvi.  18)  or  quidam. 
It  intimates  that  the  name  is  unknown  and  hidden. 
It  conveys  the  idea  of  anoni/nms,  in  every  sense  of 
the  word.  There  is  an  ancient  explanation  to  the 
effect  that  the  name  of  the  first  goel  is  not  given, 
because  he  was  iinwilling  to  raise  up  a  name  for 
his  deceased  relative.  This  is  the  reason,  probably, 
why  the  LXX.  here  have  Kpv(pte,  "  hidden  one." 
Without  maintaining  this,  but  even  supposing 
that  the  narrator  omitted  the  name  merely  because 
he  did  not  know  it,  it  remains  none  the  less  an 
instructive  fact  that  he  who  was  so  anxious  for  the 
preservation  of  his  own  inheritance,  is  now  not 
even  known  by  name. 

Ver.  2.  He  took  ten  men  of  the  elders  of  the 
city.  That  the  number  of  elders  in  any  city  was 
not  necessarily  limited  to  ten,  may  be  inferred  fi-om 
Judg.  viii.  14 ;  but  ten  were  sufficient  to  form  a 
college  of  witnesses.  In  post-biblical  times  it  was 
a  maxim  that  an  assembly  for  religious  worship 

(n"737,  "congregation"),  must  consist  of  ten  per- 
sons (cf.  the  Jerus.  Targum  on  Ex.  xii.  4) ;  but 
the  attempt  of  the  Mishna  (Sanhedrin,  i.  6)  to 
ground  this  biblically  on  the  supposed  fact  that  the 
ten  faithless  spies  are  spoken  of  as  a  congregation 
(Num.  xiv.  27),  can  hardly  be  deemed  satisfactory. 
The  custom,  however,  of  selecting  exactly  ten  men 
for  such  service  as  was  here  required,  was  so  old 
and  well-established  among  the  Jews,  that  the  term 

1^3^,    "number,"  by  itself,   meant  ten  persons. 

1  •ID'^nM.  It  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  thp  Com- 
mentaries of  Bertheau  and  Keil,  to  perceive  in  what  respects 
I  have  deemed  it  needful  to  depart  from  their  expositions  of 
this  passage.  Benary  {tie  HtbrcEonim  Leviratu,  Berlin, 
1835,  p  23  ff.),  following  Jewish  example,  has  made  Boaz 
a  nephew,  and  the  Pelotii  a  brother,  of  Ehmelech.     But  no 

great  stress  is  to  be  laid  on  this  tradition.  HM,  brother, 
i8  our  passage  itself  shows,  is  often  used  where  the  rela- 
tionship   is  more  distant  than   that  which  exists   between 


could  sell  the  inheritance  of  Elimelech,  since  the 
Mosaic  law  contains  nothing  to  indicate  that  it 
considered  the  widow  as  the  rightful  heir  of  her 
deceased  husband.  But  this  view  of  the  law  is 
incorrect.'"'  The  whole  system  of  leviratical  marriage 
presupposes  that  the  title  of  the  deceased  husband's 
property  vests  in  the  widow.  When  a  man  dies 
childless,  leaving  a  widow,  the  brother  of  the  de- 
ceased is  to  marry  her,  in  order  "  that  the  first-born 
may  enter  upon  the  name  of  the  dead,"  i.  e.  that 
the  name  of  the  dead  rnay  continue  to  be  connected 
with  the  inheritance  Avhich  he  has  left  behind,  for  in 
no  other  sense  can  the  expression  "  to  raise  up  the 
name  of  one "  have  any  meaning  in  Israel ;  and, 
accordingly,  in  ver.  5  the  words  of  the  law,  "  to 
raise  up  the  name  of  the  dead,"  are  supplemented 
by  the  addition,  "  upon  his  inheritance."  But  in 
case  the  brother-in-law  refused  to  marry  the  widow, 
and  consequently  refused  to  raise  up  the  name  of 
his  brother,  he  thereby  also  gave  up  all  right  to  en- 
ter on  the  inheritance  of  his  brother.  The  duty  and 
the  right  were  indissolubly  connected.  The  law 
would  have  been  illusory,  if  the  brother,  notwith- 
standing his  refusal  to  marry  the  widow,  haU  ob- 
tained the  inheritance.  In  that  case,  possession 
remained  with  the  widow,  who,  albeit  childless, 
carried  within  herself,  so  to  speak,  the  embryonic 
right  of  the  heir.  Of  the  symbolical  act  of  drawing 
off  the  shoe,  we  shall  speak  farther  on.  But  it  is 
to  be  noted  here  that  when  the  widow  drew  off  the 
shoe  of  the  recusant  brother-in-law,  she  thereby 
declared  that  he  must  withdraw  his  foot  from  the 
possessions  of  his  brother. 

Naomi  was  a  widow.  But  although  she  herself 
says  (ch.  i.  12)  that  she  is  too  old  to  become  a  wife, 
even  this  fact  gives  no  right  to  her  property  to  any 
blood-relative,  without  marriage.  Undoubtedl}'^, 
the  name  of  her  husband  would  vanish  from  his 
estate  as  soon  as  she  died ;  but  until  then  it  re- 
mained upon  it,  and  Naomi  had  the  same  right 
and  power  to  dispose  of  the  property  as  the  law 
gave  to  the  husband  himself  Now,  in  Lev.  xxv. 
25,  we  read :  "  If  thy  brother  become  impover- 
ished and  sell  his  possession,  let  his  nearest  blood- 
relative  (^"li^L'  "^^^3)  come  to  him,  and  redeem 
that  which  his  brother  sold."  This  contingency 
was  here  actually  come  to  pass.  Naomi  had  be- 
come impoverished,  —  she  had  sold.  The  name  of 
Elimelech  was  still  on  the  property  :  consequently 
the  law  demanded  its  redemption,  and  directed 
this  demand  to  the  nearest  blood-relative.  It  is 
on  the  basis  of  this  prescription,  that  Boaz  begins 
his  negotiation  with  the  unnamed  kinsman,  in  the 
interest  of  Naomi. 

The  sale  of  the  land  had  hitherto  not  been  men-, 
tioned.  Nothing  was  said  about  it  in  the  conver- 
sation between  Ruth  and  Boaz  on  the  threshing-' 
floor.     The  fact  that  Boaz  knew  of  it,  confirms  the 

sons  of  the  same  parent.  Blood-relatives,  and  even  friends, 
are  also  "  brothers."  The  very  law,  by  which  the  usage 
now  under  consideration  is  sanctioned,  uses  the  term  in  a 
wider  sense,  Deut.  xxv.  5  (cf.  Uengst.  Pentateuch,  ii.  83  ff., 
Ryland's  ed.). 

2  Compare  the  later  determinations  in  the  Mishna  {Jeba^ 
moth.  4,  3),  the  spirit  of  which,  at  least,  confirms  what  ifl 
said  in  the  text.  Both  Rabbinical  schools  admit  that  a 
wife  can  sell. 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-12. 


47 


snrmise  that  before  Ruth  came  to  him  with  her 
great  request,  he  and  Naomi  had  already  had  some 
communication  with  each  other.  These  communi- 
cations, having  reference  to  the  sale  of  the  land, 
and  the  necessity  of  its  redemption  according  to 
law;  may  be  regarded  as  having  ultimately  led  to 
the  proposition  made  by  Naomi  in  ch.  iii.  1.  Naomi 
advanced  from  the  redemption  of  tlie  land  to  that 
of  the  widow,  just  as  Boaz  does  here  in  his  negotia- 
tion with  the  nearer  kinsman. 

Ver.  4.  Buy  it  before  these  who  sit  here, 
and  before  the  elders  of  my  people.  Boaz  had 
said  to  Ruth,  that  he  would  ask  the  nearest  kins- 
man whether  he  "  will  redeem  thee ;  and  if  not, 
then  will  I  redeem  thee."  But  this  is  not  the  way 
in  which  he  oj)ens  his  addi-ess  to  the  man.  He 
does  not  mention  the  name  of  Ruth  at  first.  He 
desires  of  him  apparently  only  the  redemption  of 
the  land.  This  testifies  to  the  uncommon  deli- 
cacy of  legal  proceedings  at  that  time,  as  con- 
ducted by  pious  and  believing  persons.  The  cause 
is  entirely  saved  from  appearing  as  if  Boaz  had 
begun  it  only  in  behalf  of  the  woman.  Nor  does 
Boaz  put  the  nearer  kinsman  under  any  constraint ; 
for  he  says  at  once:  "If  thou  wilt  not  redeem  it, 
then  will  I,  for  I  come  next."  He  admonishes  the 
other  of  the  duty  imposed  on  him  by  the  law,  by 
the  recognition  of  his  own ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  facilitates  the  other's  decision,  by  inti- 
mating his  readiness  to  render  the  service  de- 
manded, if  the  other  should  prefer  to  be  excused. 
He  says  nothing  of  Ruth's  connection  with  the 
matter.  He  leaves  it  to  the  kinsman  himself  to 
take  the  open  and  generally  known  relations  be- 
tween Naomi  and  Ruth  into  consideration,  and  to 
shape  his  answer  accordingly.  His  address  is 
gentle,  noble,  and  discreet.  It  brings  no  complaint 
that  the  kinsman  as  nearest  relative  has  not  troub- 
led himself  about  the  matter  in  haad.  It  asks 
nothing  of  the  other,  that  he  is  not  willing  to  do 
himself.  It  is  sufficiently  discreet  to  wait  and  see 
how  far  the  other  will  limit  his  duty.  And  withal, 
the  interest  and  decision  with  which  he  urges  the 
matter  to  a  conclusion,  make  tlie  transaction  a 
forcible  example  to  the  people,  teaching  them  to 
make  the  law  a  living  spirit,  and  openly  to  ac- 
knowledge the  duties  which  it  imposes. 

And  he  said,  I  will  redeem.  The  kinsman, 
therefore,  acknowledges  the  right  of  Naomi  to  sell, 
and  also  his  own  duty  to  redeem.  But  he  thinks 
only  of  the  land.  He  answers  the  question  of  Boaz 
only  according  to  the  literal  import  of  its  terms. 
By  saying,  "  1  will  redeem,"  he  declares  his  readi- 
ness to  buy  back  the  land  left  by  Elimelech,  but 
his  words  do  not  indicate  whether  he  is  conscious 
of  the  further  duties  therewith  connected.  Boaz 
may  have  expected  that  he  would  make  further 
inquiry  concerning  them  ;  but  as  he  did  not  do 
this,  Boaz  could  not  rest  contented  with  the  brief 
replv,  "  I  will  redeem,"  seeing  that  he  was  chiefly 
solicitous  about  the  future  of  Ruth,  and  that  the 
duty  to  redeem  not  only  the  land  but  also  the 
widow  must  be  expressly  acknowledged  before  all 
who  were  present.     Hence  he  says  farther : 

Ver.  5.  In  the  day  that  thou  buyest  the 
field  of  Naomi,  thou  buyest  it  also  of  Ruth  the 

Moabitess, to  raise  up  the  name  of 

the  dead  upon  his  inheritance.  With  these 
words,  the  law  of  entailment  as  recognized  in  Is- 
rael, becomes  perfectly  clear.  Elimelech  had  left 
sons,  who,  had  they  lived,  would  have  been  the 

I  This  view  of  the  reason  of  the  refusal  is  also  indicated 
by  the  Midrash  (Ruth  Rabba  35  a).  Le  Clerc  is  very  far 
from  the  right  understinding.     Other  opinions,  to  which  he 


proper  heirs.  But  they  died.  Now,  if  Rutli  had 
not  come  from  Moab  with  Naomi,  Naomi  would 
have  been  the  sole  possessor  of  the  land.  Having 
no  means  to  cultivate  it,  she  could  have  sold  it, 
and  the  blood-relative  could  have  bought  it  back 
without  taking  upon  himself  levirate  duties,  since 
her  age  rendered  it  improbable  that  they  would 
answer  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  instituted. 
But  Ruth  did  come  ;  and  having  entered  into  the 
Israelitish  community,  she  also  possesses  Israelit- 
ish  rights.  She  is,  consequently,  the  heiress  of 
Mahlon  ;  and  no  one  can  redeem  her  inheritance, 
without  at  the  same  time  providing  for  the  contin- 
uance of  the  name  of  the  dead.  In  her  case,  con- 
siderations like  those  which  applied  to  Naomi, 
have  no  existence.  Her  husband  Mahlon,  whether 
he  were  the  younger  or  the  older  brother,  was  an 
heir.  Since  Orpah  remained  in  Moab,  the  claims 
of  Chilion  as  heir,  were  also  transferred  to  the  es- 
tate of  his  brother.  Separate  possessions  of  their 
own,  the  sons  of  Elimelech  probably  had  not,  as 
long  as  they  lived  in  Israel.  Consequently,  the  land 
was  the  joint  possession  of  Naomi  and  Ruth.  And 
just  because  Ruth  was  part  proprietress,  the  obli- 
gation existed  not  to  let  the  names  of  Elimelech 
and  Mahlon  perish.  The  inheritance  alone  could 
not,  therefore,  be  redeemed,  as  the  anonymous  rel- 
ative proposed  to  do. 

Ver.  6.  And  the  redeemer  said,  I  cannot  re- 
deem it  for  myself,  lest  I  injure  mine  own  in- 
heritance. Thus  far  the  kinsman  has  accurately 
acknowledged  his  duty  as  prescribed  by  the  Mosaic 
law.  He  is  ready  to  redeem  the  land.  Nor  does 
he  challenge  the  right  of  Ruth,  as  wife  of  the  de- 
ceased Mahlon.  Why  then  does  he  think  that  the 
performance  of  levirate  duty  to  her  will  damage 
his  own  inheritance  1  For  although  accepted  even 
by  the  most  recent  expositors,  the  idea  that  he  is 
influenced  by  the  thought  that  the  land  which  he 
is  to  buy  with  his  own  money  will  one  day  belong 
not  to  himself,  but  to  his  son  by  Ruth,  has  no 
great  probability.  There  is  something  forced  in 
an  exegesis  that  makes  a  father  regai-d  it  as  a  per- 
sonal detriment  and  injury  when  his  own  son  en- 
ters upon  an  inheritance.  Nor  could  the  kinsman 
justify  himself  with  a  ground  so  external,  befoi-e  the 
assembly  present.  No ;  as  he  has  hitherto  not 
ftiiied  to  honor  the  requirements  of  the  law,  it  is  to 
be  assumed  that  he  deems  his  present  refusal  also 
to  be  not  in  contravention  of  its  provisions.  Boaz 
here  expressly  speaks  of  Ruth  as  the  "  Moabitess." 
It  must  be  her  Moabitish  nationality  that  forms 
the  ground,  such  as  it  is,  of  the  kinsman's  refusal. 
Elimelech's  misfortunes  had  been  popularly  as- 
cribed to  his  emigration  to  Moab ;  the  death  of 
Chilion  and  Mahlon  to  their  man'iage  with  Moab- 
itish women.  This  it  was  that  had  endangered 
their  inheritance.  The  yoel  fears  a  similar  fete.' 
He  thinks  that  he  ought  not  to  take  into  his  house 
a  woman,  marriage  with  whom  has  already  been 
visited  with  the  extinguishment  of  a  family  in  Is- 
rael. To  him,  the  law  against  intermarriage  witli 
Moabites,  does  not  appear  to  be  suspended  in  favor 
of  Ruth.  He  is  unwilling  to  endanger  his  own 
femily  and  inheritance ;  and  as  Ruth  is  a  Moab 
itess,  he  holds  it  possible  to  decline  what  in  any 
other  case  he  would  deem  an  imperative  duty. 

The  man  appears  to  be  superstitious,  and  de- 
voted to  the  letter  of  the  law.  He  sees  only  its 
formal  decisions,  not  the  love  that  animates  it.  He 
fears;    but  love  knows   no  fear.     From  anxioui 

refers,  come  no  nearer  to  it.  Cf.  Selden,  Kror  HebrtBa,  lib.  i. 
cap.  9. 


i8 


THE  BOOK  OF   RUTH. 


regard  to  the  lower,  he  overlooks  the  higher  duty. 
He  thinks  of  Moab ;  whereas  Ruth  has  taken 
refuge  under  the  wings  of  the  God  of  Israel.  He 
does  not  comprehend  the  difference  of  the  condi- 
tions under  which  Mahlon  once  married  her,  and 
those  under  which  he  is  now  called  upon  to  act 
toward  her.  He  knows  not  how  to  distinguish 
times  and  spirits.  The  legal  severity  which  he 
would  bring  to  bear  on  the  noble  woman,  recoils 
on  himself.  He  is  unwilling  to  endanger  his  name 
and  inheritance,  and  —  history  does  not  even  know 
his  name.  While  the  guilt  of  Elimelech  and  his 
sons  is  removed  through  the  love  of  Kuth,  so  that 
their  name  sui-vives,  his  lovelessness  toward  Ruth 
is  visited  by  namelessness.i  What  a  priceless 
lesson  is  hereby  taught !  What  an  honor  does  it 
award  to  love,  and  what  a  punishment  does  it  hold 
out  to  the  superstitious  Pharisee  ! 

Ver.  7  f.  Formerly,'^  in  cases  of  redemption 
and  exchange,  a  man  pulled  oflF  his  shoe  and 
gave  it  to  the  other.  The  symbolism  of  the  shoe, 
as  it  existed  in  Israel  and  among  other  nations,  has 
been  so  wretchedly  misunderstood  and  perverted, 
especially  in  the  books  of  a  man  whose  distorted 
and  dishonest  compilations  will  be  injurious  to 
many  (Nork's  Mythol.  der  Volkssagen,  p.  459,  etc.), 
that  it  will  be  worth  the  trouble  to  explain  it,  at 
least  in  outline. 

The  shoe  is  the  symbol,  first,  of  motion  and  wan- 
deriftg;  secondly,  of  rest  and  possession.  The  fol- 
lowing may  serve  to  illustrate  the  first  of  these  signi- 
fications :  When  Israel  is  directed  to  eat  the  Passover 
in  a  state  of  readiness  for  instant  departure,  among 
other  specific  injunctions,  is  this  :  "  your  shoes  on 
your  feet "  (Ex.  xii.  1 1 ) .  With  reference  to  the  wan- 
derings through  the  desert,  it  is  said  :  "  thy  shoe 
did  not  grow  old  "  (Deut.  xxix.  4  (5)),  etc.!*  The 
wanderings  of  the  gods  form  a  singular  feature  of 
the  old  heathenism,  in  its  search  after  God.  The 
fact  of  their  passage  was  often  supposed  to  be  at- 
tested by  the  footprints  they  left  behind ;  but  in 
Chemmis  in  Egypt,  a  blessing  ensued  (as  Herodo- 
tus tells  us,  ii.  91)- whenever  the  gigantic  shoe  of 
Perseus  was  seen.  It  was  not  the  shoe,  but  the 
god,  who  brought  the  blessing.  Heathendom,  es- 
pecially Germanic  heathendom,  continued  to  search 
and  wander  even  after  death.  The  dead,  when 
buried,  were  provided  with  an  helsko,  or  shoe,  for 
the  journey  they  had  to  make  (Grimm,  Mjith.  79.5). 
Even  until  comparatively  recent  times,  there  were 
popular  legends  concerning  deceased  persons  who 
lament  that  they  received  no  shoe  ( Stciber,  Ekas- 
sische  Sagen,  p.  34).  In  certain  districts,  any  last 
token  of  respect  shown  the  dead  is,  perhaps  to  this 
very  day,  called  "  the  dead-man's  shoe."  The  sor- 
rowful "idea  expressed  in  the  practice  was  that  the 
dead  must  be  helped  on  in  his  last  journey.  Sim- 
rock's  explanation  concerning  good  works  is  en- 
tirely erroneous  {Myth.  154).  The  passage  of 
Pope  Gregory  on  Ex.  xii.  11,  means  something  al- 
together different.  Gregory  intends  there  to  refer 
to  the  example  of  pious  persons  who  have  gone  be- 
fore. The  Christian  Church  opposed,  rather  than 
favored,  the  heathen  usage. 

1  The  Greeks  also  spoke  of  an  oIkos  ai'conifios  yei/ofie^os, 
in  case  a  family  died  out  witliout  leaving  heirs  to  its  name, 
Cf.  Isocrates,  xix.  35. 

*  □"^35  V.  Formerly  it  was  customary  to  pull  off  the 
•  T  : 
fhoe  on  every  ocoasion  of  exchange  or  barter;  now.  i.  e.  at 
the  time  when  the  writer  of  our  Book  lived,  it  was  done  only 
in  the  special  case  contemplated  in  Deut.  xxv.  7  ff.,  and 
then  it  was  removed  not   by  the  man  himself,  but  by  the 


Of  cognate  and  yet  very  different  signification 
are  certain  passages  of  the  Talmud  and  the  Mid- 
rash  (Jerus.  Talmud,  Kekijim,  §  9,  p.  23,  b; 
Midrash  Rabha,%  100,  p.  88  a),  where  the  aged 
teacher  desires  that  when  he  is  buried  sandals  may 
be  fastened  to  his  feet,  in  order  that  he  may  be  able 
to  follow  after  the  Messiah  as  soon  as  He  comes. 

Luther  gave  utterance  to  the  saying :  "  Tie  a 
pair  of  sandals  to  his  door,  and  let  them  be  called 
'  Surge  et  anibula.'  "  Hence  also  the  still  current 
popular  superstition  of  throwing  the  shoe  on  New 
Year's  day,  the  alighting  of  which  with  its  toe 
pointing  outward,  is  considered  to  be  indicative  of 
departure  (cf.  my  Weihnnchten,  p.  273). 

The  shoe  was  the  symbol,  secondly,  of  rest  and 
possession.  With  the  shoe  one  trod  the  earth, 
whence  on  holy  ground  it  must  be  pulled  off;  over 
it,  one  had  complete  control,  and  hence  it  symbol- 
ized the  poAver  of  the  possessor  over  his  possession. 
Ill  the  Psalms  (Ix.  10  (8) ;  cviii.  10  (9)),  God  casts 
his  shoe  over  Edom.  Rosenmuller  [Moi-genland,  n. 
483)  has  already  directed  attention  to  the  practice 
of  the  Abyssinian  Emperor,  Avho  throws  his.  shoe 
over  that  which  he  desires  to  have.  That  which 
in  ecclesiastical  architecture  is  called  Marten- 
xchuli  *  points  to  nothing  else  than  th§  domin- 
ion ascribed  by  the  mediaeval  church  to  the  mother 
of  God.  The  custom  of  kissing  the  pope's  slipper, 
likewise  refers  to  his  dominion.  The  idea  of  the 
old  Scandinavian  legend,  according  to  which,  at 
the  last  day  the  wolf  finally  submits  to  Widar,  who 
sets  his  shoe  upon  him,  is  that  of  the  victory  of  the 
new  earth  over  the  old  wicked  enemy. 

The  shoe  symbolized  a  possession  which  one  ac- 
tually had,  and  could  tread  with  his  feet,  at  pleas- 
ure. Whoever  entered  into  this  possession  con- 
jointly with  another,  put  his  foot  into  the  same 
shoe,  as  in  old  German  law  was  done  by  an  adopted 
child  and  the  wife  (Grimm,  Rechtsalteiih.  -p.  \^^). 
Hence,  when  in  our  passage  the  goel  pulled  off  his 
shoe  and  gave  it  to  Boaz,  he  therewith  surrendered 
to  him  all  claims  to  the  right  of  possession  which 
would  have  been  his  had  he  fulfilled  its  conditions. 
Nor  has  that  use  of  the  shoe,  of  Avhich  the  law 
speaks,  in  connection  with  the  leviratical  institute, 
any  different  meaning.  The  widow,  whose  brother- 
in-law  refuses  to  marry  her,  is  authorized  to  juill  off 
his  shoe,  and  to  spit  in  his  face.  His  house,  hence- 
forth, is  "  the  house  of  him  that  hath  had  his  shoe 
pulled  off."  Had  he  performed  his  duty,  he  would 
have  set  his  shoe  upon  the  inheritance  of  his  brother 
(including  wife  and  estate)  as  Jiis  own.  But  hav- 
ing contemned  this,  he  undergoes  the  shame  of 
having  his  shoe  drawn  off  by  the  widow.  The 
shame  of  this  consisted  in  the  fact  that  he  must 
submit  to  it  at  the  hands  of  the  woman.  A  man 
might  pull  off'  his  own  shoe,  and  hand  it  to  another, 
without  suffering  degradation.  This  was  done  in 
every  instance  of  exchange.  It  was  but  the  exercise 
of  his  manly  right.  But  when  the  shoe  was  taken 
from  him,  he  was,  as  it  were,  declared  destitute  of 
every  capacity  and  right  toward  the  widow  symbol- 
ized by  the  shoe,  and  in  this  consisted  the  disgrace. 

Now,  although  in  our  passage,  strictly  speaking, 

woman.     The  present   case  does  not  fall   under  the  latter 
head  (Cf.  the  Introd.  p.  8). 

3  [  Wordsworth :  The  returning  prodigal  in  the  gospel 
has  shoes  put  on  his  feet  (Luke  xv.  22) :  he  is  reinstated  ia 
the  lost  inheritance.  We,  when  reconciled  to  God  in  Christ, 
have  our  "feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel 
of  peace"  (Eph.  vi.  15).  — Tr.] 

4  [Marienscliuh,  "Our  Lady's  slipper."  A  sculptured  rep- 
resentation of  the  flower  or  plant  usually  called  "  Lady's  slip 
per?"  — Te.] 


CHAPTER  IV.    1-12. 


49 


a  similar  case  to  that  contemplated  by  the  law  in 
Deut.  XXV.  7  ff.  occurs  —  for  the  kinsman  refuses 
to  marry  Ruth  —  yet  the  ceremony  of  the  kins- 
man's delivering  his  shoe  to  Boaz  was  significant 
only  of  his  simple,  voluntary  renunciation  of  his 
rights.  On  the  one  hand,  Ruth  was  not  his  sister- 
in-law;  and  although  custom,  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Mosaic  law,  acknowledged  the 
dutj  even  in  cases  of  more  distant  relationship,  the 
letter  of  the  law  did  not  reach  him.  On  the  other 
hand,  —  and  this  was  undoubtedly  a  point  of  real 
weight,  —  his  refusal  to  marry  Ruth  was  itself 
based  on  regard  for  the  law,  albeit  narrow  and 
unspiritual ;  for  from  his  readiness  to  redeem  the 
land,  it  is  but  fair  to  infer  that  he  would  have 
been  equally  ready  to  do  his  duty  by  her,  had  she 
been  an  Israelitess.  Inasmuch,  therefore,  as  he 
thinks  it  possible  to  separate  the  redemption  of  the 
land  from  that  of  the  woman,  he  comes  off  more 
honorably  than  would  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances have  been  the  case.  His  language  refers 
explicitly  only  to  the  estate,  which  had  the  effect 
of  lessening  the  dishonor  done  to  Ruth,  especially 
as  Eoaz  declares  himself  ready  to  take  his  place. 
Finally,  according  to  ch.  iii.  18,  Ruth  was  not 
present  at  the  negotiation,  the  representation  of 
Josephus  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. i 

Ver.  9  f.  And  Boaz  said,  Ye  are  witnesses 
this  day  that  I  have  acquired  (do  acquire),  etc. 
The  kinsman  having  drawn  off  his  shoe,  in  token 
of  his  renunciation  of  his  rights  as  nearest  goel, 
Boaz  arose,  and  declared,  fully  and  formally,  that 
he  acquires  everything  that  belonged  to  Elime- 
lech,  and  (as  is  now  expressed  at  full  length)  every- 
thing that  belonged  to  Cliilion  and  Mahlon.  He 
acquires  it  from  Naomi ;  but  as  he  cannot  acquire 
it  without  also  marrying  the  wife  of  Mahlon,  as 
Ruth  is  here  for  the  first  time  called,  —  for  which 
reason  he  made  special  mention  of  the  possession 
of  the  sons,  —  he  adds  that  he  takes  her  "  to  raise 
up  the  name  of  the  dead  upon  his  inheritance,  in 
order  that  his  name  be  not  cut  off  from  among  his 
brethren,  and  from  the  gate  of  his  place."  In 
these  words,  he  thoroughly,  albeit  indirectly,  re- 
futed the  motive  by  which  the  anonymous  kins- 
man was  actuated  in  his  refusal.  When  the  name 
of  a  brother  is  to  be  rescued  from  oblivion  among 
his  own  people,  all  scruples  vanish.  The  fulfill- 
ment of  a  duty  so  pious,  lifts  a  man  up  beyond  the 
reach  of  fear.  Boaz  apprehends  no  damage  to  his 
own  inheritance ;  but  hopes  rather,  while  taking 
Ruth  under  his  wings,  to  repair  the  evil  which  the 
migration  to  Moab  has  inflicted  upon  the  house  of 
Elimelech.  This  pious  magnanimity,  this  humble 
acceptance  of  duty,  this  readiness  to  act  where  the 
nearer  kinsman  hesitates,  and  this  true  insight  of 
faith,  which  looked  not  at  the  birthplace  of  Ruth, 
but  at  what  she  had  done  for  Israel  and  now  was 
in  Israel,  and  thus  dissolved  all  superstitious  fear 
in  the  divine  wisdom  of  love,  win  for  him  also  the 
approbation  of  all  present.  The  public  voice  spoke 
well  of  Ruth ;  all  knew  how  loving,  virtuous,  and 
self-sacrificing  she  was  (cf.  eh.  ii.  11  ;  iii.  11). 
Hence,  not  only  the  elders  who  had  been  sum- 
moned as  witnesses,  but  also  all  the  people,  uni- 
tedly invoked  the  blessing  of  God  upon  him. 

1  Although,  singularly  enough,  Grotius  has  adopted  it. 
tta  the  manner  in  which  the  law  against  the  recusant  ^oel 
Has  e-tecutod  in  the  times  of  the  second  temple,  cf.  the 
Mishna,  Jrbmno'.li,  cap.  xii. 

"J  [It  is  perhaps  supertluous  to  remark,  that  our  author 
intend.'!  this  as  an  interpretation,  not  as  a  translation.  His 
translation  is  bracketed  in  the  text.  —  Tr.] 


Ver.  11.  Jehovah  make  the  woman  that 
Cometh  into  thy  house,  hke  Rachel  and  Leah, 
which  two  did  build  the  house  of  Israel.  From 
Rachel  and  Leah  came  the  tribes  of  Israel.  Aa 
these  built  the  house  of  Jacob,  so,  say  the  people, 
may  Ruth  build  thy  house.  The  extent  of  the 
general  delight,  may  be  measured  by  the  fact  that 
it  wishes  for  Ruth  the  Moabitess  a  blessing  equal 
to  that  of  the  wives  of  Jacob  who  were  Isi'aelitesses. 
The  Jewish  expositors  point  out  that  Rachel  stands 
before  Leah,  although  younger  and  less  blessed 
with  children,  and  although  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
and  Bethlehem  with  it,  descended  from  Leah.  It 
is  pi'obable  that  the  whole  sentence  was  already  at 
that  time,  the  usual  formula  of  blessing  in  Israel- 
itish  marriages.  However  that  may  he,  the  tradi- 
tions of  Israel  made  Rachel  more  prominent  than 
Leah.  Rachel  was  Jacob's  first  and  best  beloved 
Rachel  took  away  her  father's  idol  images.  As 
she  suffered  many  sorrows  up  to  her  death,  so  the 
prophet  represents  her  as  weeping  bitterlv  after 
death  for  her  children  (Jer.  xxxi.  15;  Matth.  ii. 
18).  It  was  Rachel,  too,  who  after  she  had  been 
long  unfruitful,  as  Ruth  in  Moab,  had  brought 
forth  most  of  those  sons  in  whom  Jacob  was  most 
highly  blessed.  But  the  people  desire  not  merely 
that   many  children   may  adorn  her  house ;  they 

proceed :  7']n  nt£75?)  may  she  make,  produce, 
strength,  ability,  heroism.^  They  wish  that  sons 
may  be  born,  who,  like  Boaz,  shall  be  heroes  of 
strength  (cf.  ch.  ii.  1),  so  that  "  great  names"  may 
proceed  out  of  Bethlehem.'*  The  blessing  was 
most  abundantly  fulfilled. 

Ver.  12.  And  be  thy  house  hke  the  house 
of  Perez.  After  the  general  comes  the  special 
wish,  which  in  this  instance  is  of  peculiar  impor- 
tance. Boaz  was  descended  from  Perez,  and  Perez 
was  the  son  of  Tamar.  Now,  although  the  history 
of  Tamar  (Gen.  xxxviii.)  is  not  as  pure  as  that  of 
Ruth,  it  yet  contained  features  which  might  have 
served  as  precedents  to  Boaz.  Tamar's  first  two 
busbands  had  died  on  account  of  their  sins,  and 
Judah,  their  father,  would  not  give  her  the  third, 
"  lest  he  also  die  as  his  brethren."  This  was  the 
sam,e  motive  as  that  which  must  have  influenced 
the  nearer  kinsman.  The  very  fact  that  he  had 
this  history  betbre  him,  confirms  the  conclusion  we 
have  already  reached  concerning  the  grounds  of  his 
refusal.  Tamar  suffered  injustice,  her  right  being 
withheld  from  her.  The  same  thing  happened  to 
Ruth.  iSTo  one  thought  of  her  rights,  until  she 
laid  claim  to  them.  Tamar  did  the  same,  albeit 
not  in  the  pure  and  graceful  manner  adopted  by 
Ruth.  Nevertheless,  Judah,  when  he  found  him- 
self outwitted  by  her,  said  :  "  She  is  more  righteous 
than  I,"  thus  acknowledging  his  injustice.  Boaz 
had  not  been  guilty  of  any  such  injustice  ;  but  he 
telt  it  his  duty,  in  behalf  of  the  members  of  his 
family,  to  see  that  that  which  had  hitherto  been 
neglected  was  neglected  no  longer.  His  proceed- 
ing involved  an  admission  that  Ruth  had  not 
received  what  was  her  rightful  due  in  Israel.  The 
confession  of  injustice  draws  after  it  a  blessing; 
especially  here  in  the  case  of  Boaz,  Avhose  kind  and 
noble  conduct  is  beyond  all  praise. 

3  These  groat  names,  as  sprung  from  Boaz,  would  of 
course  redound  to  his  honor.  To  be  nameless  was  to  be 
fameless,  as  is  illustrated  in  the  Pdoni.  The  Greeks  also 
used  a.vuiwfj.o';  as  the  opposite  of  xAeii/ds,  i-  e.'in  the  sense 

of  fameless,  like  Ctt7   "^b?. 
LXX.,  i.  315. 


Cf.  Schleussne.r,  Iax.  cq  the 


50 


THE   BOOK  OF  KUTH. 


UOMILETICAL   AND   PRACTICAL. 

"  Ye  are  witnesses  this  dai/  that  I  take  Ruth  the 
Moahitess  to  be  mij  wife."  What  a  noble  pair  con- 
front each  other  in  the  persons  of  Ruth  and  Boaz  ! 
They  are  types  for  all  times  of  the  mutual  relations 
of  man  and  woman.  The  remark  of  Pascal,  that 
the  Old  Testament  contains  the  images  of  future 
joy,  is  here  especially  applicable.  Ruth  acts  to  the 
utmost  of  her  power  out  of  love :  Boaz  is  a  man  of 
unfeigned  faith.  Ruth  takes  voluntary  duties  upon 
herself  from  love  to  Naomi :  Boaz  meets  these 
duties  in  the  spirit  of  obedience  to  the  commands 
of  God.  Ruth,  moved  by  love,  dares  to  risk  the 
delicate  reserve  of  woman ;  and  Boaz  offsets  her 
deed  by  a  delicacy  of  faith  which  would  comply,  if 
it  were  but  to  avoid  wounding,  and  gives  all,  in 
order  to  satisfy.  He  promises  everything,  if  only  he 
may  relieve  Ruth  from  fear.    Ruth  followed  into 


poverty  from  love ;  and  Boaz,  though  rich,  regards 
only  the  duty  prescribed  by  faith.  Ruth  was 
ignorant  of  the  prejudices  that  stood  in  her  way  ; 
Boaz  knew  and  overcame  them.  Ruth  thought 
she  had  a  right  to  claim  ;  Boaz  was  under  no  obli- 
gation, and  yet  acted.  The  nearest  I'cdeemer 
retreated,  most  probably  because  Ruth  was  a 
Moabitess  ;  Boaz  says,  "  Ye  are  witnesses  that  I 
take  the  Moabitess  to  wife."  An  ancient  church- 
father  says  :  "  Boaz,  in  accordance  with  the  merito- 
riousness  of  his  faith  received  Ruth  for  his  wife,  in 
order  that  from  so  sanctified  a  marriage  a  royal 
race  might  be  born.  For  Boaz,  well  advanced  in 
years,  received  his  wife,  not  for  himself,  but  for 
God  ;  not  to  fulfill  the  desires  of  the  Hcsh,  but  to 
fulfill  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  in  order  to  raise 
up  a  seed  for  his  relative.  He  was  inflamed  more 
by  conscience  than  by  passion  ;  he  was  old  by 
years,  but  youthful  by  faith,  —  and  for  this  perhaps 
he  was  called,  Boaz  — '  in  him  is  virtue.' " 


Verses   13-22. 


The  Completion  of  the  Blessing. 

13  So  Boaz  took  Ruth,  and  she  was  [became]  his  wife  :  and  when  [omit :  when] 
he  went  in  unto  her,  [and]  the  Lord  [Jehovah]  gave  her  conception,  and  she  bare  a 

14  son.  And  the  women  said  unto  Naomi,  Blessed  be  the  Lord  [Jehovah],  which  hath 
not  left  thee  this  day  without  a  kinsman  [redeemer],  that  his  name  may  be  [and  may 

15  his  name  be]  famous  in  Israel.  And  he  shall  [may  he]  be  unto  thee  a  i-estorer  of  thy 
life  [soul],  and  a  nourisher  [support]  ^  of  thine  old  age  :  for  thy  daushter-in-law, 

16  which  loveth  thee,  which  is  better  to  thee  than  seven  sons,  hath  borne  him.     And 

17  Naomi  took  the  child,  and  laid  it  in  her  bosom,  and  became  nurse  unto  it.  And  the 
women  her  neighbors  gave  it  a  name,  saying.  There  is  a  son  born  to  Naomi ;  and  they 
called  his  name  Obed :  he  is  the  father  of  Jesse,  the  father  of  David. 

18,  19       Now  these  are  the  generations  of  Pharez :  Pharez  begat  Hezron,  and  Hezron 

20  begat     Ram,    and    Ram    begat  Aminadab,  and   Aminadab    begat    Nahshon,  and 

21  Nahshon    begat    Salmon   [Salmah],^  and   Salmon     begat    Boaz,  and  Boaz  begat 

22  Obed,  and  Obed  begat  Jesse,  and  Jesse  begat  David. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  15.  — Lit.  "and  may  he  support  thine  old  age."     On  the  form  of  7373   (from  V-IS),  cf.  Ges.  55,  4  ;  on  its 

construction  after  rt^n.  which  here  however  has  the  force  of  the  jussive  (optative)  through  its  connection  with  the  pre. 
T  t' 

ceding  verb,  Ges.  132,  3,  Rem.  1.  —  Da  the  forms  "TTnSnM  and   Jimb"^,  cf.  Ges.  59,  Rem.  3.  —  Tr.] 

'  V  T  — :  -  T  :' 

[2  Ver.  20.  —  Salmah  (n737£i?  or  WJ27Ci7,  1  Chron.  ii.  11)  appears  in  ver.  21  as  Salmon,  which  many  MSS.  read 
here  also.  Originally,  the  name  was  probably  used  indiscriminately  either  with  the  termination  ^ —  or  ^1  cf.  Ges. 
84,15).    By  detrition  of  the  3,   "[^btt?   became   n?2bt2?.  —  Te.] 


EXEGETICAL   AND   DOCTRINAL. 

Ver.  13.  And  she  brought  forth  a  son.  With 
this  happy  event  the  last  shadows  disappear  from  the 
checkered  lives  of  the  two  women.  The  fears  of  su- 
perstition are  shown  to  have  been  groundless.  Soi-- 
vow  in  Moab  has  been  changed  into  happiness  in 
Israel.  The  reward  of  love  has  begun,  and  Jehovah 
mercifully  owns  the  daughter  of  Moab,  who  has  left 
home  and  native  land  for  his  people's  sake.  Great 
are  the  joys  which  surround  the  cradle  of  the  child 


of  such  parents  as  Boaz  and  Ruth.     The  father  of 

Nero  is  said  to  have  made  the  terrible  exclamation  : 
"  What  shall  come  of  a  son  who  has  me  for  his 
father  and  Agrippina  for  his  mother !  "  But  here, 
where  love  had  been  married  to  piety,  humility  to 
heroism,  innocence  to  believing  insight,  everybody 
must  look  for  a  future  of  blessings.  A  chdd  of 
Ruth  and  Boaz  had  no  need  of  goddesses  and  fairies 
to  come  to  its  cradle,  in  order,  according  to  popu 
lar  legends,  to  bi'ing  wealth  and  good  wishes.  The 
blessing  of  the  Almighty  God,  who  locks  not  at  the 


CHAPTER  IV.   13-22. 


51 


person,  but  at  the  heart,  has  spread  out  its  wings 
over  the  child. 

Ver.  14.  And  the  women  said  unto  Naomi. 
What  a  difference  between  the  beginning  and  the 
end  of  Naomi's  life  in  Israel  since  her  return ! 
When  she  came  back,  poor  and  lonely,  where  were 
the  women  and  neighbors,  who  ought  to  have  com- 
forted, supported,  and  stood  by  her  in  her  necessity  ? 
Nothing  is  heard  of  them.  Nobody  was  with  her 
but  Ruth.  But  now  they  appear  with  their  good 
wishes  for  Naomi  and  praises  to  God ;  for  adversity 
has  vanished.  Ruth  is  no  longer  the  poor  gleaner, 
who  painfully  gathers  a  living  for  her  mother,  but 
the  happy  wife  of  Boaz.  A  new  name  has  been 
raised  up  for  the  inheritance  of  Elimelech. 

Who  hath  not  left  a  redeemer  to  be  want- 
ing to  thee  this  day.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiar 
beauties  of  our  narrative  that  its  last  words  are 
almost  wholly  devoted  to  Naomi  (vers.  14-18). 
And  justly  so ;  for  it  was  Naomi  who  by  her  exem- 
plary life  in  Moab  had  been  the  instructress  of 
Ruth.  For  her  sake,  the  noble  woman  had  come 
to  Israel.  Upon  her,  affliction  had  fiillen  most  se- 
verely (ch.  i.  13),  bereaving  her  of  both  husband 
and  children.  Against  her,  the  hand  of  Jehovah 
had  gone  forth,  so  that  she  bade  acquaintances  to 
call  her,  not  Naomi,  but  Mara.  Moreover,  a  heart- 
union  existed  between  herself  and  Ruth,  such  as  is 
not  often  to  be  found  between  even  natural  mother 
and  daughter.  The  happiness  of  Ruth  would  have 
been  her  happiness  also,  even  if  no  national  usages 
and  habits  had  come  in  to  make  it  such.  How  ten- 
der and  delicate  is  the  feeling  which  these  usages 
and  habits  set  forth,  of  the  sacred  and  indissoluble 
character  of  the  marriage  bond.  And  yet  modern 
self-conceit  —  that,  and  not  Christian  self-knowl- 
edge—  perpetually  talks  of  the  inferiority  of  wo- 
man's position  under  the  old  covenant !  Boaz  had 
'married  Ruth,  as  a  blood-relative  of  her  former 
husband,  in  order  to  raise  iip  the  name  of  the  latter 
upon  his  inheritance.  The  childless  widow  did  not, 
as  happens  so  often  among  us,  leave  the  family  of 
her  deceased  husband,  as  if  she  had  never  become 
a  member  of  it.  The  blood-relative  obtains  a  son 
by  her,  and  the  birth  of  this  son  becomes  an  occa- 
sion for  congratulations  to  the  mother  of  the  former 
husband.  The  child  borne  by  Ruth  to  Boaz  as  a 
blood-relative,  although  not  the  nearest,  of  Naomi's 
husband,  is  called  by  the  women  the  goel  of  Naomi, 
and  they  praise  God  that  he  has  not  left  Naomi 
without  him.  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  legal  ground 
for  this.  For  the  child  inherits  the  estate  of  Elim- 
elech, because  its  mother  was  formerly  the  wife  of 
his  son,  and  with  this  estate  the  life  of  Naomi  also 
is  connected.  Not  Boaz,  who  has  redeemed  the  in- 
heritance, but  the  child  for  whom  he  redeemed  it, 
is  the  real  goel  of  Naomi  —r  the  person,  that  is,  in 
whom  her  sinking  house  again  raises  itself;  for  he 
is  the  son  of  her  son's  wife,  albeit  by  another  hus- 
band. He  is  the  grandson  of  her  family,  though 
not  of  her  blood.  Ruth's  god  was  Boaz,  but  Nao- 
mi's the  son  of  Ruth  ;  for  Ruth  lives  in  the  house 
of  Boaz,  but  Naomi  in  that  of  the  child,  which  be- 
longs to  him  by  virtue  of  his  birth  from  Ruth. 
These  are  practical  definitions  of  the  leviratical 
law  ;  but  how  thoroughly  moral  the  views  on  which 
they  rest !  how  close  the  sympathy  and  brotherhood 
they  seek  to  establish,  and  how  indissoluble  the 
marriage  covenant  which  they  presuppose ! 

Undoubtedly,  the  most  moral  law  can  become 
torpii,  and  receive  only  an  external  fulfillment  or 
even  be  evaded.  Laws  are  living  and  active  among 
a  people  only  so  long  as  the  spirit  that  gave  them 
being  continues  to  live.    The  conduct  of  the  un- 


known blood-relative  has  sufficiently  shown,  that 
the  law  alone  could  have  afforded  no  help  to  Ruth 
and  Naomi.  The  whole  history  of  Naomi  in  Israel, 
after  her  return  fi-om  Moab  and  up  to  the  interven- 
tion of  Boaz,  testifies  to  the  inability  of  the  letter 
of  the  law  to  avert  misery  and  distress.  Boaz  fol- 
lowed, not  the  letter  of  the  law,  but  its  spirit ;  and 
hence  did  more  than  the  letter  demanded.  In  the 
persons  of  those  with  whon  our  narrative  is  mainly 
concerned,  the  doctrine  vei  -fies  itself  that  there  is 
no  law  so  strong  as  the  law  of  love.  It  is  this  doc- 
trine which  the  women  also  bave  come  to  recognize 
when  they  say  to  Naomi :  — 

Ver.  15.  For  thy  daughter-in-law,  who  lov- 
eth  thee,  and  who  is  better  to  thee  than  seven 
sons,  hath  borne  him.   The  child,  say  the  women, 

shall  refresh  thy  soul,  —  the  soul  t^??3,  animus,  of 

Naomi  was  bowed  down  with  sorrow,  the  child 

will  restore  (^"^ffi'n)   her  courage,  —  and  support 

thy  old  age ;  and  tliis,  they  add,  not  because  the 
law  makes  him  heir  to  the  estate  of  his  mother's 
family,  but  because  Ruth  has  borne  him.  The  re- 
vivication  of  Naomi's  happiness  through  the  birth 
of  this  child,  was  more  securely  guaranteed  by  the 
love  of  Ruth,  than  by  friendship  and  blood-relation- 
ship. True,  Naomi  herself  is  childless ;  but  seven 
sons  could  not  have  done  for  her  what  Ruth  did. 
The  women  acknowledge  now  how  far  short  the 
legal  friendship  of  Israel  towards  Naomi  has  fallen, 
in  comparison  with  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  Moab.  And  thus  there  comes  to  view  here 
so  much  the  more  plainly,  the  doctrine  —  in  its 
higher  sense  prophetic,  under  the  old  covenant  — 
that  love,  living,  active,  self-forgetful,  self-sacrificing 
love,  transcends  all  law  and  family  considerations. 
Christ  announces  the  same  doctrine  in  its  highest 
form, when  he  says  :  "  Whosoever  shall  do  the  wUl 
of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my 
brother,  and  sister,  and  mother"  (Matt.  xii.  50). 
Ruth's  love  for  Naomi  takes  the  place  of  physical 
descent.  It  engrafts  her  child,  as  it  were,  into  the 
heart  of  Naomi.  In  itself  the  child  is  only  the 
grandson  of  her  family  and  estate;  on  account  of 
Ruth's  love,  it  becomes  to  her  a  veritable  grand- 
child of  love,  nearer  to  her  heart  than  if  a  daugh- 
ter of  her  own  had  given  birth  to  it.  The  power 
of  pure  and  self-forgetful  love,  such  as  Ruth  had 
entertained,  could  not  be  more  beautifully  delin- 
eated. 

Ver.  16.  And  she  became  foster-mother  to 
it.  She  took  it  into  her  lap,  like  an  actual  grand- 
mother. She  formed  the  child  in  Israelitish  life 
and  customs.  She  became  to  it  what  Mordccai 
was  to  Esther,  an  instructress  in  the  law  and  Israel- 
itish culture.  The  son  of  Ruth  became  to  her  an 
actual  grandchild  of  love.  For  this  reason  the  fe- 
male neighbors  give  him  a  name  whose  significa- 
tion is  equivalent  to  Naomi's  son. 

Ver.  1 7.  They  called  his  name,  Obed.  There 
are  several  noteworthy  points  connected  with  this. 
The  female  neighbors,  in  order  to  give  pleasure  to 
Naomi,  give  the  child  a  name.  But  beside  this,  he 
doubtless  received  a  name  from  his  parents,  prob- 
ably one  that  belonged  to  the  family.  But  that 
given  by  the  women  continued  to  be  his  usual  name, 
and  by  it  he  was  inserted  into  the  femily  genealogy. 
Consequently,  the  idea  enunciated  in  it  must  have 
been  specially  characteristic.  The  text  says  : 
"  They  gave  him  a  name,  namely,  a  son  is  bom 
to  Naomi ; "  and  hence  they  called  him  Obed. 
Now,  whether  the  name  Obed  be  explained  as  ser- 
vant of  Grod  or  servant  of  Naomi,  the  sense  in  either 


52 


THE  BOOR  OF  RUTH. 


case  remains  insipid.^  What  the  women  mean  is, 
not  that  the  child  is  the  servant  of  Naomi,  but  that 
he  is  to  her  as  a  son.^  If  the  words  of  ver.  17  are  to 
have  a  plain  sense;  nay,  if  the  preservation  of  just 
that  name  which  the  female  neij^hbors  gave  him  is 
to  have  an  explanation,  the  name  Obed  must  in 
some  way  express  the  idea  of  the  word  "  son."  For 
in  this  name  "  son,"  given  with  reference  to  Naomi, 
there  is  contained  the  idea  that  the  sin  which  lay 
at  the  base  of  her  evil  fortune  had  been  atoned  for. 
She  who  lost  the  children  of  her  own  body,  had 
now  a  son  in  the  spirit  of  true  love.  It  is  true,  that 
from  the  philological  stores  extant  in  the  Bible,  the 
explanation  of  Obed  in  the  sense  of  "son  "  is  not 
possible ;  but  it  may  be  done  by  the  assistance  of 
other  languages.  It  is  sufficiently  clear  that  Obed 
is  to  be  connected  with  the  Greek  TratSiov  {ttois, 
TraiSds),  Latin  pulus,  Sanskrit  jjdta,  pulra,  Pei'sian 
pussr.* 

The  circumstance  that  Obed  was  used  in  the  sense 
of  "  son,"  justifies  the  conjecture  that  in  the  Hebrew 
of  that  day  there  were  various  foreign  words  in  use, 
probably  introduced  through  Aramaic  influences, 
without  postulating  a  closer  contact  of  the  so-called 
Semitic  with  the  Indo-germanic  tongues  than  is 
usually  assumed. 

He  is  the  father  of  Jesse,  the  father  of  David. 
In  these  words  the  doctrine  of  the  whole  Book 
reaches  its  point  of  culmination.  They  point  out 
the  completion  of  the  blessing  pronounced  on  Ruth 
by  Boaz.  The  name  of  the  superstitious  kinsman, 
who  thought  that  marriage  with  the  Moabitess 
would  endanger  his  inheritance,  is  forgotten  ;  but 

from  Boaz  descends  the  Hero  (^**n  "1^23),  the 
King  of  Poets,  David,  the  Prophet,  and  type  of 
the  Messiah.  From  him  Christ  comes  through 
the  promise,  even  as  Obed  was  the  son  of  Naomi 
through  the  love  of  Ruth.*  The  doctrine  of  the 
whole  narrative  is  expressed  in  the  words  of  the 
Apostle,  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 

Note.  — Verses  18-22  are  an  addition  from  the  genealogi- 
cal tables  of  tbe  House  of  David.  Tlie  chronological  ques- 
tion involved  in  them  must  be  considered  in  connection 
with  the  other  analogous  data,  for  which  reason  we  refer 
here  to  1  Chron.  ii.  8  ff. 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

"Naomi  took  the  child."  Whoever  was  on.ce 
capable  of  true  love,  preserves  its  power  forever  af- 
ter. Throughout  her  history,  until  the  close  of 
the  narrative,  Naomi's  name  is  truly  descriptive  of 
her  character.      Her  love  is  the  cause  of  the  bless- 

1  The  subterfuge  of  Le  Clerc,  who  proposes  to  read-^f^S^S, 
In  the  sense  of  "  unfortunate,  poor  one,"  with  reference  to 
the  poverty  once  suffered  by  Ruth,  is  entirely  wrong,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  fact  that  the  word  itself  does  not  have  the 
Bense  wliich  he  assigns  to  it. 

2  [But  is  not  the  emphasis  to  be  laid  on  "  to  Naomi " 
rather  than  on  "  son  ?  "  It  is  true,  that  analogy  leads  us 
to  exi>ect  the  name  to  contain  specifically  the  same  idea  ex 
pressed  by  the  women  (cf.  however  Gen.  xxix.  32);  but  it 
must  also  be  admitted  {with  Berth.)  that  Obed  in  the  sense 
of  "  one  that  serves,"'  sc.  Naomi,  harmonizes  well  with  the 
word.s  in  ver.  15  :  "  May  he  be  to  thee  a  soul-restorer,  and 
a  support  of  thine  old  age."  —  Tr.] 

8  As  regards  the  17  in  "i!!!'?,  its  value  (best  compared 
perhaps  with  a  spirltus  axper)  is  exactly  the  same  as  fn 
C^717    to  bo  compared  with  Icetari  and  Icetus,  7?227  with 


inoliri,  p!337  with  jix^koi,  etc. 


ing  that  finally  ensues,  for  by  it  she  won'  love.  It 
sustained  her  in  suffering,  —  it  prompted  her  to  ac- 
tion in  behalf  of  her  daughter-in-law.  Now  in  the 
end  she  enjoys  its  blessing,  and  becomes  the  loving 
foster-mother  of  the  child  of  her  who  was  better  to 
her  than  seven  sons. 

Naomi  is  everywhere  an  image  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  which  wins,  confesses,  and  fosters  through 
love.  Men  whose  natural  hearts  are  hostile  to  her, 
become  her  obedient  children.  When  there  is 
apostasy  and  misery  in  the  church,  it  is  for  priests 
and  preachers  to  repent,  as  Naomi  did,  and  not  to 
excuse  themselves.  If  they  really  have  the  spirit 
of  love,  they  cannot  but  feel  that  they  have  to 
blame  themselves  first  of  all.  When  the  church 
does  not  make  converts  among  heathen  and  Jews, 
the  attempt  to  lay  the  guilt  of  this  judgment  on 
them,  and  to  excuse  ourselves,  is  a  sign  of  a  hard 
heart.  Alas !  God  alone  knows  what  heavy  loads 
of  guilty  responsibility  rest  on  the  church  for  hav- 
ing herself  given  the  impulse  by  which  thousands 
were  kept  from  coming  to  the  Saviour.  And  how 
greatly  she  sins,  when  she  does  not  rightly  foster 
those  who  do  come,  exhibiting  neither  love,  nor 
wisdom,  nor  faith  in  her  treatment  of  them,  —  that 
too  will  one  day  be  made  manifest.  Impatience  is 
not  in  love ;  and  a  little  money  does  not  make 
amends  for  the  coldness  of  consummate  self-right- 
eousness. They  are  children,  who  are  laid  in  the 
lap  of  the  church,  —  children  according  to  thfj 
spirit,  that  is  to  say  real  children,  who,  by  God'» 
grace,  bring  a  greater  blessing  to  the  church  thar 
seven  sons  according  to  the  flesh. 

Pascal  :  "  Two  laws  are  sufficient  to  regulati 
the  whole  Christian  Church  more  completely  thar 
all  political  law  could  do :  love  to  God,  and  love 
to  one's  neighbor." 

"  They  said,  there  is  a  son  bom  to  Naomi,  and 
called  his  name  Obed ;  he  is  the  father  of  Jesse,  the 
father  of  David."  Boaz  predicted  a  blessing  for 
Ruth,  and  the  faith  through  which  he  did  it  was 
rewarded  by  his  being  made  a  sharer  in  it.  All  he 
did  was  to  utter  a  word  of  prophecy,  promjjted  by 
his  faith  in  the  grace  of  his  God,  and  lo,  he  was 
made  the  progenitor  of  David,  the  prophet !  He 
who  firmly  relies  on  the  love  of  God,  is  always  a 
seer.  Boaz  had  faith  enough  to  bring  about,  in 
due  time,  the  fulfillment  of  his  own  benediction, 
and  became  the  ancestor  of  Him  in  whom  all  the 
prophecies  of  David  are  fulfilled.  Of  Boaz  him- 
self no  warrior  deeds  are  known,  and  yet  the  great- 
est of  Israel's  heroes,  the  conqueror  of  Goliath,* 
sprang  from  him.  He  concjucred  himself,  and  on 
that  account  became  the  ancestor  of  Him  who  tri- 
umphed over  sin  and  death.     Similarly,  Ruth  had 

.4  Th.e  reference  of  Grotius  to  the  traditionary  history  of 
Oorisia,,  who  became  the  mother  of  Servius  Tullius,  is  very 
unfortunatie.  Ocrisia  was  a  slave.  Her  story  has  no  eth- 
ical backgrpund.  The  legends  concerning  her  were  only 
designed  to  glorify  the  derivation  of  the  king.  Cf.  NiebnUr, 
KoJM.  f7«r/i.  i.  375  (2d  edit.). 

5  It  is  on  the  ground  of  this  contrast  that  Jewish  tradi- 
tion homiletically  advanced  the  idea  that  Goliath  descended 
from  Orpah.  who  returned  to  Moab,  as  David  from  Ruth. 
The  early  teachers  of  the  church  were  acquainted  with  this 
tradition,  and  Prudentius  even  introduced  it  into  his  poem, 
Hamartigenia,  ver.  782:  — 

"  Sed  pristiOjUS  OrphM 
Fanorum  ritus  pr£epu(iji  barbara  suasit 
Malle,  et  semiferi  stirp(,'(B  nutrire  Goliae. 
Ruth,  dum  per  stipula3  agre-sti  aniburitur  sstu 
Fulcra  Booz  meruit,  ca*t<ique  ad.sclta  cubili 
Christigcuam  fecunda  domum,  Davidica  regna 
Kdidit  atque  deo  mortales  misctiit  ortus." 


CHAPTER  IV.    13-22. 


53 


nothinj^  but  a  heart  full  of  love,  and  yet  to  her, 
once  a  daughter  of  Moab,  there  was  given  what 
neither  Deborah  nor  Jael  obtained,  —  to  become  the 
mother  of  Him  by  whom  all  the  nations  are  re- 
deemed. 

Jkromk  (on  Is.  xvi.  1 ) :  "  O  Moab !  out  of  thee 
shall  come  forth  the  imspotted  Lamb,  which  bears 
the  sins  of  the  world,  and  rules  over  the  whole 
earth  !  From  the  rock  of  the  wilderness,  i.  e.  from 
Ruth,  widowed  by  the  death  of  her  husband,  Boaz 


derived  Obed     ....    and  from  David  came 
Christ." 

Gerlach  ;  "  Thus  the  comirg  of  the  great  King 
is  prepared  for,  u])on  whom  the  Lord  had  deter- 
mined to  eontirm  the  dominion  over  bis  peo])lc  for 
evermore ;  and  the  converted  Moabitess,  who  en- 
tered as  a  worthy  member  into  the  commonwealth 
of  the  people  of  God,  became  the  mother  of  David 
and  of  Christ." 


The  Jewish  tradition  which  makes  Ruth  a  descendant  of  Eglon,  the  Moabitish  king  who  oppressed 
Israel  as  a  punishment  for  its  sins,  contains  an  allegory  worthy  of  notice.  The  daiuihter  of  the  op- 
pressor, becomes  the  mother  of  the  Liberator,  the  Redeemer  out  of  the  House  of  David.  According  to 
the  Jewish  expositors  the  name  Ruth  is  derived  from  a  root  which  signitics  to  give  drink,  to  assmuje 
thirst  {Berachoth,  7  a)  ;  and  from  her,  say  they,  David  came,  wiio  with  his  songs  and  psalms  supplied 
the  wants  of  those  who  tliirst  after  God.  And  from  David,  we  may  add,  came  the  Saviour  who 
gave  to  the  Samaritan  woman  when  she  thirsted,  of  that  fountain  which  springs  up  unto  everlasting 
life. 

The  ancient  church  selected  the  sixteenth  of  July  as  the  day  on  which  to  commemorate  Ruth.i  The 
reason  for  this  is  probably  to  be  found  in  the  following  considerations :  In  Deut.  xxiii.  .3,  it  is  said  : 
"  An  Ammonite  or  Moabite  shall  not  enter  into  the  congregation  of  Jehovah  ;  even  to  their  tenth  gen- 
eration they  shall  not  enter."  This  was  supposed  to  have  been  fulfilled  in  Ruth.  In  the  geneaiogT  o'' 
the  Gospel  according  to  Matthew,  Boaz,  through  whom  Ruth  was  received  into  the  congregation  of 
Jehovah,  is  the  tenth  from  Abraham.  But  it  was  the  Lord  and  Saviour,  whose  day  Abraham  saw, 
and  who  according  to  the  flesh  descended  from  Ruth,  who  first  took  away  the  curse  "from  Moab  also. 
This  was  announced  by  Isaiah,  when  in  addressing  Moab,  he  says  (ch.  xvi.  .5)  :  "  In  mercy  shall  a 
throne  be  prepared,  that  one  sit  upon  it  in  truth,  in  the  tabernacle  of  David,  and  judge,  and  seek  judii- 
ment,  and  hasten  righteousness."  Now,  as  the  ancient  church  set  apart  the  sixth  of  July  for  Isaiah, 
because  he  prophesied  of  Christ,  who  suffered  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  week,  and  whose  incaniation  was 
celebrated  on  the  sixth  of  January,  it  fixed  the  anniversary  of  Ruth  ten  days  later,  on  the  sixteenth  of- 
July.  Thus  her  name  and  the  number  of  her  day  are  symbolical  of  prophecy  and  grace.  But  ten 
days  farther  on,  the  twenty-sixth,  is  the  day  of  Anna,  whom  tradition  makes  to  be  the  mother  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  Thus  the  name  of  Ruth  stood  ten  days  after  the  prophecy  and  ten  days  before  its  ap- 
jjroaching  fulfillment,  equally  distant  from  him  wlio  pro]ihecied  of  the  Virgin  and  from  her  Avbo  was 
the  Virgin's  mother.  The  Moabitish  stranger  finds  herself  in  the  middle  between  the  seer  who  beheld 
the  wilderness  of  Moab  become  fruitful,  and  the  nearest  ancestress  of  Him  who  delivers  Moab  and  all 
the  world  from  barrenness  and  thirst. 

Pictorially,  the  ancient  church  represented  Ruth  with  a  sheaf  in  her  hand.  As  was  natural,  she  was 
always  conceived  as  youthful.  She  might  be  represented  with  a  rose,  in  accordance  with  what  may  be 
the  meaning  of  her  name  (see  on  ch.  i.  4).  The  Rose  of  Bethlehem  was  the  ancestress  of  the  Rose  of 
Jesse  (Mary),  whom  ancient  pictures  represent  sitting  in  a  rosebush.  Both  rose  and  sheaf  are  symbols 
of  the  truth  that  though  love  may  sow  in  tears,  it  will  through  God's  compassion  reap  in  joy. 

1  Cf.  my  article  in  the   BeH.  Wochenblatt,  1863.  Num.  32 


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